BOUNTIFUL—A new thought provoking book by Davis County native, Alysha Scarlett captures the essence of coming to realizations in society and in life. “Star Wars Is Still Intact: Re-finding Yourself in the Age of Trump,” is a collection of 10 essays from her take on the film, “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” to Trump’s treatment of journalists and body image issues.

“The main theme is coming to realizations,” said Scarlett. “There are different topics but the undercurrent of the book is realization. One of them is when I realized that the President of the United States would be cool with assaulting you.”

At one point Trump sent a tweet where he body slammed CNN in a wrestler meme with a CNN logo, she said. “I looked at my friend at the moment and said, ‘he’s going to get a reporter killed.’ I recognize the media is flawed but promoting assault on journalism is disturbing.”

Scarlett has a degree in journalism and has worked for the Deseret News and papers in Wyoming and Montana. “That’s my craft,” she said. 

The book is a compilation of essays she wrote for Thought Catalog Books that also published it. “I worked on it from 2017 to 2019,” said Scarlett. “It (Catalog) is a series of people’s thoughts.”

In another essay, Scarlett takes a look at the Trump resistance movement in Utah. “After Trump was elected I attended a meeting of Utah Indivisible to develop my own beat,” she said. “I interviewed the founders. It’s not actually political. Getting involved speaks volumes. It was the start of the Trump resistance movement.”

A variety of people stood up at the meeting, said Scarlett. “It wasn’t a right versus left thing. The founders aren’t into politics but they saw a need. They got involved on the grass roots level.”

Scarlett analyzes the Star Wars franchise in another of her essays. “‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi,’” divided the fandom,” she said. “The second time I went to it I thought it was a lot better. Among Disney’s sequels, the company needed 'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker' to make fans feel better in their fandom.”

Scarlett also takes on body image. “I don’t like being so big,” she said. “I’m 6’ 7” and I don’t like it in the slightest. It’s something a lot of folks can relate to. I’m also transgender.”

“Star Wars Is Still Intact: Re-finding Yourself in the Age of Trump,” is available on Amazon and through Barnes & Noble.

“Life is a journey and we come to realizations,” Scarlett said. “It’s a big part of life. There are universal things we encounter in life or geekdom. There are chapters for everyone.”