If anyone sees Sen. Barrasso shoveling snow off of the Yellowstone roads, I want a photo

Snow plowing at the east entrance to Yellowstone near Sylvan Pass in spring 2011. National Park Service photo.

Instead of urging its Republican Congressional delegation to remedy the federal budget sequestration, Wyoming's leaders have discovered an opportunity to brand road plowing in Yellowstone with a conservative "Code of the West" stamp.

First of all, just what is the "Code of the West?"

It's a list of 10 precepts invented by author and retired Wall Street investor James P. Owen. He now lives in Austin, Texas, and founded the Center for Cowboy Ethics and Leadership, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) foundation. His book credits include Cowboy Ethics (2004 and Cowboy Values (2008). Owen ccoined the phrase “Cowboy Ethics” and wrote his book distilling the unwritten Code of the West into “Ten Principles to Live By.” In 2010, the State of Wyoming adopted the Ten Principles of Cowboy Ethics as its official state code.

To sum up, the state code admonishes residents and lawmakers to live courageously, take pride in their work, finish what they start, do what's necessary, be tough but fair, keep promises, ride for the brand, talk less and say more, remember that some things aren't for sale, and know where to draw the line.

You got that? Somehow, this translates into using state equipment driven by my fellow state employees to plow snow-clogged roads in Yellowstone, roads that were set to open late because of $1.8 million in sequestration budget cuts. These are the same budget cuts that Wyoming's Congressional delegation has proudly trumpeted as necessary and good for the country.

Nobody has seen Sen./Dr. John Barrasso out in Yellowstone shoveling snow off the road to Old Faithful. We should put him to work during his two-week spring break.

Here's the recent press release from the Wyoming Office of Tourism:

YELLOWSTONE OR BUST!

Thanks to a collaborative effort between state, federal and private entities, Wyoming ensures America’s National Treasure will open on time

(Cheyenne, Wyoming, March 21, 2013) – Wyoming has set an example of how to deal with federal budget cuts by putting into action the “Code of the West.” Simply put, this “Code” consists of behaviors and rules that center around hospitality, fair play, loyalty, and respect for the land.

As Yellowstone National Park struggled with the nearly $1.8 million budget cut due to sequestration and ways they could alleviate the impact on visitors and gateway communities, they chose to delay plowing roads this spring; which in turn would have delayed the opening of the East Gate from Cody and the South Gate from Jackson by two weeks.

“The delays would not have been good for our local or state economy,” said Scott Balyo, executive director of the Cody Chamber of Commerce, “Almost immediately upon hearing that the East Gate would not open on time we began working with local and state partners to find a solution.”

Governor Matt Mead along with mayors and private businesses in the gateway communities of Cody and Jackson met to discuss possible solutions. Collectively they agreed that the potential revenue loss from a delay would have real financial consequences, especially on small business owners.

Governor Matt Mead led the discussion by saying, “We value our national parks as the true assets they are, not only to Wyoming’s economy, but to the nation’s economy. Yellowstone is internationally recognized and by delaying the opening we not only lose the opportunity to generate millions in revenue but we lose the opportunity to host visitors who might be experiencing this natural wonder for the first time.”

Gateway communities in particular are an integral component of the national parks system and rely heavily on the traffic generated from their national and international draw. In addition to providing a supporting role, these communities provide air service, lodging, restaurants, outfitter and guide services and other activities that enhance and enrich the national park experience.

Jeff Golightly, executive director with the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce reiterated, “Jackson Hole as a community takes stewardship of our national parks very seriously.  The idea that our nation’s first national park would not open on time for the world to enjoy was something we felt compelled to avoid. The Jackson Hole Travel and Tourism Board and the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce felt it was our responsibility to protect our local tourism economy so we backed the plan right away by committing one time funds.”

Governor Mead offered equipment and personnel to assist with plowing efforts while the gateway communities pooled their resources, began fundraising and came up with money to fund the operation.  Wyoming’s entrances to Yellowstone National Park will open as previously scheduled. The East Gate from Cody will open on May 3, 2013 and the South Gate from Jackson will open on May 10, 2013.

Superintendent Dan Wenk agreed to start plowing from inside the park while Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) crews make their way from the east and south gates to complete the snowplowing operations.  WYDOT plows will be donning a large banner that reads “Yellowstone or Bust” based around a summer road trip campaign that the Wyoming Office of Tourism is currently rolling out.

Diane Shober, Director of the Wyoming Office of Tourism attests, “Wyoming represents the iconic cowboy and not just because we’re a Western state, but because cowboys stand for something, they are entrepreneurs and they live by the simple basic values that lie at the heart of the cowboy way. This is what the “Wyoming, Forever West” brand is all about.” As the Wyoming Office of Tourism gets ready to launch their national summer campaign, the goal remains to promote Wyoming as a vacation destination to domestic and international visitors while increasing revenue for stakeholders and the state of Wyoming.

ABOUT

·         Yellowstone National Park (YNP) received 3.4 million visitors in 2012. Source: National Park Service reports
·         Traffic through the East Gate in the first two weeks of May in 2012 totaled 11,500 people in 4,200 cars. The estimated local economic impact for Cody is $2 million for that time period.
·         At the South Gate in Jackson, 17,553 visitors passed through during the entire month of May generating an estimated $2.3 million.
·         Tourism is Wyoming’s second leading industry. In 2012 travelers generated $3.1 billion in direct expenditures to the State of Wyoming.  Source: 2012 Economic Impact Report
·         Xanterra Parks & Resorts of Yellowstone will open all lodging and visitor services as scheduled
·         East Gate from Cody opens May 3, 2012
·         South Gate from Jackson opens May 10, 2012

Yellowstone is saved. Tourism is saved. Thanks, "Code of the West."

No telling yet how many park rangers will be furloughed or how many park restrooms won't be cleaned or how many other services will be curtailed due to the cuts. In Cheyenne, some 410 National Guard and 700 Warren AFB personnel have received notices about one-day-a-week furloughs. That's a 20 percent cut in their pay. That's 20 percent less dough that won't contribute to the Wyoming economy (OK -- some of it goes to Fort Collins and Denver).

BTW, my favorite month to travel Yellowstone is May. Nothing quite like navigating the East Gate road to Lake Yellowstone flanked by 10-foot walls of freshly-plowed snow. No traffic. No bear jams.

If anyone sees Sen. Barrasso, snow shovel in hand, out on the road near Fishing Bridge, take a photo. I'd love to post it.

Memo to Rep. Hunt: With more population comes more Liberals and inevitable change

The U.S. Census Bureau shows that Casper is the eighth fastest growing metro area in the U.S. while Cheyenne is number twenty. Some Natrona County businesses aren't so sure that the boom is here to stay. Stewart Moving & Storage reports that its ratio of move-ins to move-outs is about 50/50. This is probably due to the recent downturn in the energy biz since the Census numbers were tallied in mid-2012. Cheyenne, however, is a different story. This was in today's Casper Star-Trib:

People are moving to Cheyenne to cash in on the city’s transformation as a technology hub, economists and demographers say.

“I think the main reason is we had that super computer open last year,” said Wenlin Liu, a senior economist with the Wyoming Division of Economic Analysis, referring to the National Center for Atmospheric Research-Wyoming Supercomputing Center. “There’s also the plan to open the Microsoft data storage center. These created an image about Laramie County, I think that helped. People probably moved in.”

Before the supercomputer and Microsoft Corp. eyed Cheyenne, there were other high-tech companies doing business in the city. Those companies paved the way, said Randy Bruns, CEO of Cheyenne LEADS, the Cheyenne-Laramie County Corporation for Economic Development.

From Cheyenne, EchoStar Corp. flies satellites, has an uplink data center and a data storage center. Green House Data has a storage center. Aside from four outlet stores, Sierra Trading Post sells outdoor clothing and gear online. “The technology behind all of their Web work is right here,” Bruns said.

When high-tech companies observe other high-tech companies' success in a region, they consider it as a place to relocate, Bruns said.

John Shepard, a senior planner for Laramie County, knows firsthand about growth. He moved his wife and three children from Slayton, Minn., to Cheyenne for his new job in November. He believes the relatively low cost of doing business in Cheyenne is attracting people.

“People who would be priced out of the Denver market can have a small business or machine shop,” he said.

A few weeks ago, I was talking to Dean Dexter. He's the founder of Gizmojo, a company that builds "seriously cool exhibits and graphics," designer of the education exhibits at the new NCAR/UW Supercomputing Center east of Cheyenne. Gizmojo just merged with Warehouse 21. Warehouse 21/Gizmojo staffers work among the bare bricks and exposed pipes of a renovated warehouse on Snyder Avenue. Gizmojo is renovating the old garage space in the building as a place to design and assemble its displays.

Dean moved his company from Huntsville, Ala., a few years ago. He tells the same story that I heard from Microsoft's Gregg McKnight at the Wyoming Broadband Summit last fall. The city's business leaders welcomed him with open arms. "Western hospitality," you might say, although I'm not always clear on what that means. Cheyenne LEADS as put out the read carpet for the Wal-Mart and Lowe's distribution centers, as well as various data center and the NCAR/UW project. This sort of public/private partnership has helped spawn a boom in Laramie County, boosting our population 2 percent since 2011, making Laramie County the home to 16 percent of the state's population. Our population is nearing 95,000. Wonder if we'll throw a party when that reaches 100,000?

Some of us will. The Tea Party, anti-Agenda 21 crowd may hold a wake. To them, growth means change and the threat of more Liberals rolling in with the data centers and small businesses and an unreasonable expectation to fund the arts with public money. They will want change. You know, more coffee shops and brew pubs and public transportation and the filling in of the downtown hole. Heavens to Betsy! Just like Rep. Hans Hunt's response to a Cheyenne Liberal during the most recent legislative session. "If you don't like Wyoming the way it is, move back to the Liberal Shangri-la you came from." I'm paraphrasing here. I doubt if Rep. Hunt knows James Hilton's book wherein Shangri-la dwells. There you go again. Just like a know-it-all Liberal to think that a guy that represents rural constituencies in Weston/Niobrara/Crook counties doesn't (or can't) read.

OK, I'm guilty. Rep. Hunt's letter ticked me off. Talk about your conservative know-it-all.

But I digress. I bid welcome to all of you newcomers. I know that for every 10 Republicans that move into the county, there will be five others that are Democrats or have Democratic sympathies. That's the ratio of Ds to Rs in Laramie County. They may not arrive in the same truck or minivan (alas, some will drive a Prius), but come they will, followed by an inevitable push for change.

"I promise to tell the truth, the whole truth..."

Cheyenne writer Rodger McDaniel has opened a web site for his book “Dying for Joe McCarthy’s Sins: The Suicide of Wyoming Senator Lester Hunt.” Find out about the book at http://www.lesterhuntbiography.blogspot.com/. Rodger will launch the book with an April 2 signing at the Historic Governor’s Mansion followed by a mock trial on April 7 at St. Mark’s. In the guise of a farmer Senate staffer, I am a witness at the trial. “I promise to tell the truth, etc.” Here are launch events for the book: 

APRIL 2, 7 p.m., HISTORIC GOVERNORS' MANSION, CHEYENNE

Light refreshments provided. Copies of the book will be available for $20. Half of all book proceeds that evening will go to the Historic Governors' Mansion Foundation.

The Historic Governors’ Mansion is located at 300 E. 21st Street in Cheyenne. For more information about the Historic Governors’ Mansion programs and/or exhibitions, please call 307-777-7878.

APRIL 7, 1 p.m., ST. MARK'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, CHEYENNE

"The Trial of Joe McCarthy" - As a part of the book’s release, three colleagues of Senator Hunt, Senators Joseph McCarthy, Styles Bridges and Herman Welker will “be put on trial,” accused of crimes leading to Hunt’s suicide on June 9, 1954. The “mock trial” will take place at 1 PM on April 7, 2013, in the Parish Hall at St. Mark’s. Retired Supreme Court justice Michael Golden is the trial judge. Former Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal is the prosecutor. State Public Defender Diane Lozano will be defense counsel. A jury of local citizens will render a verdict. The public is invited. Admission is free.

Rodger’s book will be available for purchase and proceeds will be divided with St. Mark’s outreach team.

APRIL 11, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., CITY NEWS, CHEYENNE

Book signing at City News at Carey Avenue and 18th Street in downtown Cheyenne.

I'm pleased to join line-up of presenters at this summer's Wyoming Writers, Inc., conference

Gayle Irwin sent out a Facebook message today that the Wyoming Writers, Inc., 2013 conference brochure was going out in the mail. She urges poets and writers in the region to come out to the conference set for June 7-9 in Laramie. I'm pleased to be one of the conference presenters along with Colorado author Margaret Coel (author of the Wind River mysteries and Catherine McLeod novels), poet and essayist Rick Kempa of Rock Springs, children's and young adult writer and educator Gene Gagliano of Buffalo, Casper author and historian Tom Rea and literary agents Sandra Bond and Katharine Sands. Additionally, Chris Madson, editor of Wyoming Wildlife magazine will be speaking on Friday evening, June 7. I will be talking about short stories, online publishing and blogging. Get registration info at http://www.wyowriters.org.

One more thing about the conference... My old pal Page Lambert will be conducting a pre-conference workshop at the Vee Bar Guest Ranch near Laramie June 1-6. If you can't make it for the six-day workshop, check out the special two-day "Mini-Retreat" June 6-7 prior to the Wyoming Writers Conference in Laramie: Literature and Landscape of the Horse. Learn more at http://www.pagelambert.com/horse_literature.html

I'm big on writing and eating and campfires and camaraderie but not much of a horse guy. But if you are, you can't go wrong with this mini-retreat near the ramparts of the Snowy Range that moves right into the conference a few miles away in Laramie. 

Habitat for Humanity of Laramie County holds "Jump Into Jewels" fundraiser April 27

Kate Wright sends this news about a fundraiser sponsored by the organization she leads, Habitat for Humanity of Laramie County. I was on Habitat's first board back in 1992-93. I don't have much in the way of jewels to offer but there must be hundreds of you out there who do. The proceeds from Jump into Jewels will benefit Habitat's Women's Build Project that will build a home for a hard-working Cheyenne family. Kate urges you to donate your new and gently used jewelry and accessories to the cause. The event is free and open to the public from noon until 6 p.m. A Champagne Brunch Preview Party will be held from 10 a.m.-noon. Tickets to the preview party are $15.

May I Have an Atom Heart, Mother?

My dream heart

I was treated to an echo cardiogram at CRMC on Wednesday. If you're not a heart patient, you might know the "echo" as the Ultrasound test performed on pregnant women. "Hooray -- it's a boy." or maybe "Good God -- triplets."

My echo was scheduled to determine the shape of my heart following a Christmas heart attack and an early January angioplasty and stent placement in my LAD artery (a.k.a. "The Widowmaker"). I "presented late" (as my doc puts it) due to the fact that I was futzing around with our family doctor who didn't know what he was doing so my heart muscles were damaged. Ideally, heart attack patients get to the ER ASAP so the blockage can be cleared or so the docs can get to work on a bypass. I was late to the ball. But I got my stent, a dozen or so medications, 36 weeks of cardiac rehab and lots of TLC.

Wednesday's echo showed that my heart still had some healing to do. The docs think I should have a defibrillator implant but I'm a bit unsure. I'm going to get a second opinion from heart docs down in Colorado.

Or I might get an atomic heart. The story, according to The Atlantic:

In 1967, the National Heart Institute and the Atomic Energy Agency began a ten-year effort to develop an artificial heart powered by plutonium-238. The atomic hearts would have pumped human blood with the energy provided by the radioactive decay of that isotope. The effort failed thanks to technical challenges, intra-governmental infighting, and the souring of the public mood about both medical devices and atomic energy, but it remains a fascinating episode at the confluence of two grand American dreams.

This is the story told by Shelley McKellar, who teaches the history of medicine at at the University of Western Ontario in the most recent issue of the quarterly journal Technology and Culture.

The Federally funded programs continued for a decade, sometimes at cross-purposes, and they foreshadowed the rhetoric that came to surround later attempts at creating other types of artificial hearts in the 1980s. There are lessons to be learned, McKellar implies, about how people receive a particular technology changes along with the social and regulatory environment. Ideas that make sense one decade can seem totally ridiculous ten years later.

But, you might be asking yourself, "What in the hell was anyone even thinking trying to stick a radioisotope generator into a human being's chest cavity?"

 Because, that's why.

Tale of a Wasted Youth, Part One

News comes from afar (OK, I read it on my laptop) about the demise of the Boston Phoenix. The late great alt-weekly was not alt enough for the 2010s. Its wise-ass editorial attitude was no match for multitudes of snarkmeisters on the blogosphere. Its advertising dollars migrated to Craigslist and a whole roster of Boston area web sites.

As is the case with most alternative newspapers, the Phoenix rose out of the sixties counterculture in 1966. Its rock-and-roll soul made it a must-read for a 21-year-old college dropout like me who was trying my luck in the big city. On my way home from my night-shift hospital job, I would drop a quarter in some longhair's palm to claim my weekly copy. It was fat with articles and music listing and bar ads and personals.I would take it back to my shabby walk-up on the cheap side of Beacon Hill (there was such a thing in 1972) and devour it while sipping a pre-Starbucks coffee and scarfing down a few doughnuts. Articles covered local politics, the antiwar movement, music, drugs, food and a 1,001 other topics.

 I'd read a variety of alternative papers during my cross-country travels: Atlanta's Great Speckled Bird, the Village Voice, the Berkeley Barb, and others whose names I can't remember. They were a refreshing change to the stodgy daily papers with their reliance on the 5 Ws and deference to all sides of an issue. Phoenix writers took a stand on the left (or at least the iconclastic) side of most issues which was just fine with me. After a lifetime of Catholic school and two years of college ROTC, I was fairly new to the counterculture. I wanted to roll around in it. I was openly living in sin with a wild Protestant girl namd Sharon, growing my hair long, smoking pot whenever I felt like it and reading alternative weeklies from cover to cover. I was hauling around bedpans at night at a local hospital, but a guy had to make a living. As soon as Sharon and I saved up enough, we were hitting the road again. At least that was the plan.

I lived in Boston from August through March. I read every issue of the Phoenix and its cousin, the Real Paper. I briefly flirted with the idea of becoming a nurse. My boss thought I was pretty good at hauling bedpans and wondered if I'd like to pursue a higher calling of administering enemas and starting IVs. She said the hospital would pay for it.

Unfortunately, the Phoenix was ruining me. I'd always wanted to be a writer but didn't know how to start. First the nuns and then the U.S. Navy said I should major in something practical, something in the sciences. Medicine, for instance. Or marine biology. But after a steady diet of wise-assery courtesy of the Phoenix and then Rolling Stone, I started writing in a journal. I made pithy observations. I recorded snatches of conversation overhead in local bars. I began to chronicle the break-up of my relationship with a wild Protestant girl who wondered why I was spending so much time scribbling in journals. She finally packed up and went back to school at UConn, leaving no forwarding address. I packed up my journals and Phoenix copies and headed back to Florida. It took me awhile to actually publish something. I then started writing feature stories for the Independent Florida Alligator in Gainesville. I free-lanced for some regional and national mags. I graduated and went on to write sports for both Denver dailies and then manage a weekly alternative newspaper called Up the Creek that got its start as an advertising sheet from suburban softball leagues and saloon-sponsored wet T-shirt contests. I wrote a wise-ass column and features about street gangs and local politics and religious cults and sports. I had a small staff of good writers, although they didn't stay around long. It wasn't the Phoenix but, hey, you take what you can get.

I publish short stories and essays in literary magazines. I've written more than my share of press releases and business articles. I've been prog-blogging since 2005. I can't say I have hordes of devoted readers. But I write what I want. I believe it was A.J. Liebling who said this: "The free press belongs to those who own one."  I don't own Blogger but I do lay claim to my little part of the blogosphere. I provide an alternative voice within the Wyoverse. I could fold at any time. But it won't be due to stodginess or lack of advertising. One day, I may just decide to fold up my tent and go home.

Thanks for the memories, Boston Phoenix. I haven't read you regularly in 40 years. But just knowing that you no longer exist makes a hole in the creative universe.

Marking the tenth anniversary of the Iraq invasion with a photo sampler

These three photos come from The Atlantic magazine's series of photo essays commemorating the tenth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. This is only a sampler of the 150 photos featured in The Atlantic. They each spoke to me in different ways. The above photo was taken on Wednesday, March 13, 2013. It shows a view of Baghdad's Firdos Square at the site of an Associated Press photograph taken by Jerome Delay as the statue of Saddam Hussein was pulled down by U.S. forces and Iraqis on April 9, 2003. Ten years ago on live television, U.S. Marines memorably hauled down a Soviet-style statue of Saddam, symbolically ending his rule. Today, that pedestal in central Baghdad stands empty. Bent iron beams sprout from the top, and posters of anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in military fatigues are pasted on the sides. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

I work in the arts and have often wondered about the fate of artists and musicians and writers during the war. A student practices playing the oud (above) at the Institute of Musical Studies in Baghdad, on October 21, 2012. The once quiet courtyards of Baghdad's Institute of Musical Studies, located in the busy Sinak area, where violence was rife during the height of Iraq's sectarian violence in 2006 and 2007, are thriving again as the Iraqi capital enjoys a noticeable ebb in violence (for now). Many of Iraq's most talented musicians fled during the rule of Saddam Hussein, fearing persecution for their political views and suffering from a lack of funding and exposure if they refused to glorify the leader in their art. Now, slowly, some musicians are making plans to come back, hoping to revive Iraq's rich musical tradition on home soil. (Reuters/Mohammed Ameen)

I've written a lot about veteran suicides during the past decade (go here and here and here). In the above photo, Matt and Cheryl Ecker hold a photo of their son, Army veteran Michael Ecker, in Champion, Ohio, April 19, 2012. In 2009, Michael committed suicide, shooting himself in front of his father. Veteran suicides remain a serious problem in the U.S. A recent Veteran's Administration study using data from 21 states between 1999 and 2011 suggested that as many as 22 veterans were killing themselves every day. (Reuters/Jason Cohn)

Hal Holbrook's "Mark Twain Tonight" reminds me of some of his wry observations about 1861 Wyoming

I finally got around to seeing Hal Holbrook in Mark Twain Tonight. I've been trying to it most of my adult life. Coincidentally, Holbrook has been performing it most of his adult life, nigh on 60 years. He was 29 when he first assumed the guise of the famous author. Now he's 88, looking a lot closer to what Twain looked like on the lecture circuit in 1905, when he was 70.

Holbrook resurrected Twain Saturday night before a capacity crowd at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts' Buell Theatre. Twenty-two Democrats, most of us from Cheyenne along with a few from Denver and Colorado Springs, thought that Mark Twain Tonight would be the perfect venture. In the show, Twain lambastes Democrats and Republicans, professing to a more independent nature than allowed by the two-party system. As he aged, though, he grew more radical, blasting organized religion, disorganized politicians and life's assorted vagaries.    

Mark Twain traveled by coach through Wyoming in 1861 on his way from Missouri to California. He wrote in his 1872 book Roughing It about Laramie Peak:  

"We passed Fort Laramie in the night, and on the seventh morning out we found ourselves in the Black Hills, with Laramie Peak at our elbow (apparently) looming vast and solitary -- a deep, dark, rich indigo blue in hue, so portentously did the old colossus frown under his beetling brows of storm-cloud. He was thirty or forty miles away, in reality, but he only seemed removed a little beyond the low ridge at our right."

Later, Twain described his passage through Wyoming's South Pass City:

Toward dawn we got under way again, and presently as we sat with raised curtains enjoying our early-morning smoke and contemplating the first splendor of the rising sun as it swept down the long array of mountain peaks, flushing and gilding crag after crag and summit after summit, as if the invisible Creator reviewed his gray veterans and they saluted with a smile, we hove in sight of South Pass City. The hotel-keeper, the postmaster, the blacksmith, the mayor, the constable, the city marshal and the principal citizen and property holder, all came out and greeted us cheerily, and we gave him good day. He gave us a little Indian news, and a little Rocky Mountain news, and we gave him some Plains information in return. He then retired to his lonely grandeur and we climbed on up among the bristling peaks and the ragged clouds. South Pass City consisted of four log cabins, one if which was unfinished, and the gentleman with all those offices and titles was the chiefest of the ten citizens of the place. Think of hotel-keeper, postmaster, blacksmith, mayor, constable, city marshal and principal citizen all condensed into one person and crammed into one skin.

Thus Twain became one of the many chroniclers of Wyoming. Many, like Twain, were just passing through, noting for posterity the rugged landscapes and quirky characters. Others stayed, noting the quirky landscapes and rugged characters. 

I am one of them. I love Twain's humor and attempt to honor it by imitation. Laramie's Bill Nye was another humorist from Wyoming, spending time as a newspaperman in Laramie. He founded the Laramie Boomerang, naming it after his mule. Contemporary Wyoming writers such as Tim Sandlin follow in Nye's footsteps. 

Viewing O'Keeffe on St. Patrick's Day in Denver

Your humble blogger (far left) with Georgia O'Keeffe peeking over my shoulder on St. Patrick's Day at the Denver Art Museum's O'Keeffe retrospective. Next to me in my wife, Chris, followed by Kate McMorrow Wright, Lori Brand, Rachel Kelley and Ray Brand. A batch of Democrats from Wyoming let loose on the big city. Photo by Unsuspecting Bystander using Kate's iPhone.

Start Roaming, Try Wyoming

This intriguing photo was on the Buffalo Bill Center of the West Facebook page. It shows a Wyoming delegation to Washington, D.C. in 1925 with President Calvin "Silent Cal" Coolidge and Wyoming Senator John Kendrick. The banner must be a tourism promotion. Note that the president is wearing a cowboy hat. Coolidge was from Vermont and served as governor of Massachusetts. He probably had little use for a cowboy lid. The catch-phrase on the banner is nice for its near-rhyme. It's often hellish to find rhymes for "Wyoming." But if I was in the tourism game, I'd have a phrase that said: "Start Roaming, Try Wyoming." Wyoming was made for roaming. By horse. By car. By foot. Lots of room to roam. In 1925, the interstate highway system was 30 years in the future and most roads weren't paved. 

On St. Patrick's Day weekend, I ponder the possibility of a Pope Howdy Doody I

As a kid, I bore a startling resemblance to TV's Howdy Doody.

Each St. Patrick’s Day, I ponder what it means to be an Irish-American. This year, as a new pope takes the reins of Mother Church, I’m also pondering about what it means to be Irish Catholic.

I just had a flashback. I get those occasionally. I wonder if it’s my damaged heart playing tricks on my brain.

Back in those black-and-white days of the 1950s, my younger brother Dan and I found ourselves in the same ward at Denver Mercy Hospital. We had double pneumonia, which is twice as troublesome as single pneumonia. It sound worse, too, doesn’t it? Our mother was a nurse at Mercy, a graduate of the hospital’s nurses’ training program at the tail end of World War II. 

The Mercy nuns were in charge. They wore full habits back then, which lent them an air of authority and mystery seasoned with a dollop of menace. They were neither the horror of the nuns portrayed in some books or plays written by lapsed Catholics. Nor were they the sweethearts portrayed in “Sister Act” or “The Sound of Music.” They were tough yet fair. They seemed to treat Dan and I a bit better than the others. This was probably due to our mother.

One day, Dan seemed to have a brainstorm. He waited until one of the nuns was in the ward, and he sat up and said, “I want to be a priest.”

The nun scurried over. “A priest, is it?” The Mercy nuns all spoke with an Irish brogue, yet another import from that benighted isle. 

“Yes, sister.” Dan beamed angelically. 

“That’s a good boy,” said the good sister, patting Dan on the arm. “And how would you like some ice cream, Daniel boy?”

“Thank you, sister.” More of the beaming. My brother had black hair and blue eyes, Black Irish like my mother. I had bright orange hair and was covered with freckles from head to toe. The kids at school called me Howdy Doody, who was a red-haired, freckle-faced TV puppet. He was an agreeable sort but dopey looking. I didn’t like him.

The nun returned with Dan’s ice cream. None for us. After all, we didn’t want to be priests. This was the highest calling a kid could attain. Parish priests ruled the Catholic roost. We know now that some of them were less than saintly. But back in those patriarchal days, they could do no wrong.

The next time a nun entered the room, Tommy piped up: “I want to be a priest.” The nun came over, patted Tommy on the head and said he was getting some ice cream too. So half of the kids in the ward now had ice cream and I had none. Before the fourth kid, the one in the bed by the wall, could speak up, I also said: “I want to be a priest.”

The nun walked over, put her hands on her hips sand said, “I suppose you want to be a priest so you can have some ice cream.”

“No sister.” I was no dummy, although I looked like one. “I had a dream. In it, I was a priest.” 

This got her attention.  “A dream?”

I nodded. “Yes sister.”

“And in this dream were you eating ice cream?”

“No sister. I was dressed like a priest and was saying mass.”

“You’re a fine lad, saying mass in a dream.  You almost could call that a vision.”

“Yes, sister.” 

She looked down at me. “We’re out of ice cream. I’ll get you a popsicle.” She frowned and walked out.

“Copycat,” said Dan.

“Not,” I said.

“Popsicle.” Tommy snickered. He bit into his ice cream bar.

I got a cherry popsicle. The nun broke it in two so the kid in the far bed could have some. 

As I ate the popsicle and stared at the two ice cream eaters, I vowed that next time I would be quicker on the draw and fake my priestly calling with much more alacrity than I had earlier. Perhaps I should be a bishop? Or pope? Too grandiose, perhaps. But imagine the world’s surprise when Howdy Doody the First donned the papal garments and those bitchin’ red shoes.

The Argentine pope and Borges and a building inspired by Dante's "Divine Comedy"

Our new pope, Francis, is from Argentina and is the former Archbishop of Buenos Aires.

I say "our pope" because I'm a cradle Catholic, attended Catholic School and received all the sacraments in the church, except for holy orders and extreme unction (I'm holding off on that last one). But because I'm a Liberal and don't go to church, I'm usually considered a cultural Catholic or a lapsed Catholic or not a Catholic at all. Listening to NPR during this popapalooza, a conservative caller agreed that the new pope should adopt a zero tolerance policy on sexual predators. But she went on to say that the new pope should also adopt a zero tolerance policy for Liberal Catholics who criticize the church. People like me.

No matter my Catholic status, I'm pleased that the new pope is from a country other than a European one. I know very little about Argentina. I know that the great writer Jorge Luis Borges was an Argentine, as is Manuel Puig ("Kiss of the Spider Woman") and Julio Cortazar, the "modern master of the short story." Alfonsina Storni was a great modernist poet from Argentina. She's the character in the song Alfonsina y el Mar, based on Alfonsina's suicide by walking into the sea. The country has a great literary tradition. In fact, retired writers with at least five books get a special pension from the government. I was ready to pack my bags for Buenos Aires when I discovered that you have to actually be from Argentina and write in Spanish or one of the native languages to qualify. Que?

I wish American writers got literary pensions. We are, after all, part of Mitt Romney's 47 percent. We just take verbs and nouns with no thought of ever giving them back. I'd be happy to give them back if I could find a publisher.

Did you know that here is a building in Buenos Aires inspired by Dante Alighieri's "The Divine Comedy." You can take a look at it here. I don't know of a single American skyscraper inspired by a literary classic.

Argentina was also site of "the dirty war" of the 1970s in which the ruling junta was responsible for the 30,000 "disappeared." The church was criticized for its cozy relationship with the generals whose death squads were murdering at will.

From a story in the Digital Journal:

"We have much to be sorry for," Father Ruben Captianio told the New York Times in 2007. "The attitude of the Church was scandalously close to the dictatorship to such an extent that I would say it was of a sinful degree." Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/345612#ixzz2NTVKbz3X

Read still more on this subject in The Guardian.

I wish Pope Francis a long life. Let's hope he has time to read, and to ponder his role in his country's past.      

3-D printing transforming us from passive consumers to active creators

Amazing stuff. This 3-D printing technology may be an immediate threat to manufacturers but what about artists and crafters? Our work may be covered by copyright, but that hasn't prevented online purloiners from lifting digital images and written work from web sites. The music world faced this a decade ago and they seem to have reached some sort of compromise, one that walks the line between getting stuff for free and paying for it.

Many left behind as Wyoming continues its opposition to Medicaid expansion

Wyoming is one of those Obamacare-hatin' states that have (thus far) refused Medicaid expansion.

This snippet by Virally Suppressed on Daily Kos seemed to be relevant to the issue:

With the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid expansion and mental health parity law all taking place at the present, it is difficult to anticipate where we will end up in ten years time. It is a fairly safe bet that Federal spending on mental health will continue to rise at a lightning pace due to the nature of the Medicaid expansion, which places a minimum of 90 percent of the costs on the Federal government while extending comprehensive mental health care to tens of millions of low income Americans. It is also more than likely that the health gap in this country will become exacerbated by this new legislation, an idea which seems counterintuitive considering the entire point of the Affordable Care Act is to reduce barriers to health care and create a more egalitarian health system. However, thanks to the infinite wisdom of The Supreme Court, state governments have been given an irresponsible amount of power in their legal right to refuse Medicaid expansion and essentially tell their constituencies that they will have to forgo medical care because of an ideological tiff between two political parties who don't have their best interest in mind. This latitude which has been given to state governments and which is arguably in violation of the supremacy clause of the Constitution, will create a two-tiered mental health system in which the healthy get healthier and sick continue to be ignored by the system that is supposed to be protecting them. Thus far, 24 states (and DC) have said that they will be participating in Medicaid expansion, while 14 states have stated that they will not be taking part. Of those 14 states, only 3 are in the top half of the nation's health rankings and 5 rank among the bottom 10. It looks like some states are replacing old state funding with Federal funding, while other states aren't replacing old state funding with anything.

Read the rest here.

If Sen./Dr. Barrasso isn't going to legislate, he can at least medicate at Wyoming health centers hit by sequestration cuts

Sen./Dr. John Barrasso, Sen. Mike Enzi and Rep./Gazillionaire Cynthia Lummis don't have to depend on the Cheyenne Health and Wellness Center on Fox Farm Road for medical and dental care. They get free care courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer. But hundreds of other southeast Wyoming residents are not as fortunate. These low-income individuals will be impacted by the sequestration cuts soon to hit the Cheyenne center and a similar one in Casper, Community Health Center of Central Wyoming. Since both Enzi and Lummis call Cheyenne home during their many vacay days, and Barrasso is from Casper, perhaps they could look in on some of the people who will be affected by their dilly-dallying and political gamesmanship. Better yet, maybe Dr. Barrasso could take some time out of his lackadaisical schedule to minister to those Casper folks needing sutures or prescriptions. If he isn't going to legislate, he could at least medicate. Read about the cuts in today's Casper Star-Trib.

Tickets now on sale for Cheyenne Little Theatre's production of "Rent"

"Rent" casts rehearses title song at Historic Atlas Theatre. "Rent" opens April 5.
Get your tix here.

If you like 21st-century Cheyenne, thank the gubment

Joyce Kilmer at the High Plains Arboretum: I think that I shall never see/A poem as lovely as a tree.

Cheyenne owes its existence to government or, as it's pronounced in certain quarters, gubment (sometimes, gubmint).

That darn federal gubment was nice enough to station troops at Fort D.A. Russell to drive the pesky indigenous residents from the High Plain, thus making way for settlements, ranches and rodeos. This also made the region safe for the railroad, which owes its transcontinental success to the sweet deal it got from that darn federal gubment. The fort eventually grew into F.E. Warren AFB, home to the Peacekeeper Missile and thousands of income-generating Air Force personnel. Further economic development was fueled by federal office for the BLM and IRS. And state gubment grew, too, with hundreds of state employees driving Cheyenne's economic engine, buying weed-whackers at Lowe's and dining on prime rib sandwiches at The Albany Bar & Restaurant downtown. Many of us were forced to go to Fort Collins for more exotic fare, thus allowing the regional economy to grow. It's still a challenge to get good sushi in The Magic City of the Plains. But one must make sacrifices to live in this low-tax, sparsely-populated paradise with its always-entertaining legislature.

According to the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens web site, Cheyenne had 5,000 people and 12 trees in 1876. I now have almost as many trees on my north Cheyenne lot. I have two huge spruces in my front yard, trees that sometimes give me pause during our occasional 50-mph gusts that blow in from the mountains. I sometimes wonder if they will come crashing down on the house, causing yet another call to Neil, my insurance man, who's supervised multiple damages caused by hailstorms and sewer back-ups during the past two years.

It's not easy growing trees in "one of the harshest growing environments in the country," according to the Botanic Gardens.

Again we can thank the gubment for our lush landscape. The USDA's Cheyenne Horticultural Field Station (now High Plains Grasslands Research Station) researched and grew varieties of plants that could stand up to our harsh climate. The Cheyenne Botanic Gardens now is working on a 62-acre High Plains Arboretum on the site. Trees have always been a necessity. Next week at the library, we get to hear from a tree expert. Says the Botanic Gardens:

Early settlers struggled with the arid climate, alkaline soil and constant wind. Hailstorms often hastened the end of an already short growing season. Now Cheyenne can grow trees but it isn’t easy and you need to know what to plant. 

Don’t miss the lecture on Tenacious Trees with expert arboricultureist, Scott Skogerboe.

When: Saturday, March 16, 1 p.m.
Where: Laramie County Library Cottonwood Room
Price: $15.00 ea.
Purchase tickets online at www​.brownpapertickets​.com, type in “Gardening with Altitude,” or purchase at the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens (cash or check only)
NOTE: Lecture Room has limited seating. Advanced tickets are recommended as tickets at the door may sell out. Sponsored by the Laramie County Master Gardeners and the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens

I almost forgot to thank city gubment and its support (since 1986) of the Botanic Gardens. Thank you.

Republican Sequester brings pain to Wyoming

Sequester causes cuts in funding for special needs students: http://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/post/sequester-might-cut-funding-special-needs-students

Mayors from communities around Yellowstone National Park have petitioned Gov. Mead to use state funds to plow the park's roads so it will open on time for tourist season. Yellowstone's budget has been cut by more than $1.5 million due to sequestration. The Governor wonders why the state should have to spend money for federal obligations: http://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/post/governor-ponders-sequestration-help

Cheyenne Airport may have to shutter its air traffic control tower: http://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/post/cheyenne-regional-airport-might-lose-air-tower

April 6 Bluegrass Hootenanny features Hillbenders, Blue Grama and BeatGrass

If you attended the Feb. 9 concert by the Jalan Crossland Band at Terry Bison Ranch, you know that Alicia Padilla knows how to put on a show. A great time was had by all on a snowy winter night. Alicia's Wagon Ruts Productions is staging another show at the ranch on April 6. She sent this info:

On April 6, we're having a Bluegrass Hootenanny featuring the Hillbenders with very special guests: 

Blue Grama -- the massively talented, 6-piece ensemble from Northern Colorado. Blue Grama draws from their Bluegrass heritage and breathes joy, fresh life and excitement into their amazing, rich melodies.

Wyoming's finest, BeatGrass. BeatGrass's diverse sound is an unprecedented coalescence between BlueGrass and innovative originals, jazz standards, Motown classics and covers of some of the more newfangled hits. Their impactful complexities have been packing the house (and the outdoors) since their formation in 2010 across Wyoming.

PRESENTING: From traditional roots, springs the high-octane, instrumental mastery of the HillBenders. Hailing from Springfield, Missouri, these boys have been tearing up the bluegrass circuit, leaving their audiences reeling. Winners of the Telluride BlueGrass Band Competition in 2009 and taking First in the National Single Microphone Championship in 2010, the HillBenders are a contemporary force to be reckoned with. Their latest album, Can You Hear Me?, is an eclectic, compelling rouse to the senses. The richness of their upbringings in traditional BlueGrass provides a foundation upon which they innovate a unique and unforgettable sound. Each member has a jaw-dropping mastery of their instruments, which will hoist you right out of your chair. 

The quintet consists of Nolan Lawrence (Lead-singer/ Mandolinist), cousins Jim Rea and Gary Rea (Guitar and Bass), Mark Cassidy (Banjo), and Chad "Gravy Boat" Graves (Dobro). Their meticulous arrangements ripple into a cascade of improvisational brilliance. Experiencing the bands' skilled harmonies is comparable to drawing a five of a kind Aces, every hand.

TICKETS: $15 Presale, $17 Day of show at the door. $5 for Kids under age 12. Presale tickets available in Cheyenne at Ernie November (217 W. Lincolnway); Colorado presale: Attend one of Blue Grama's March concert dates for purchase. For dates: http://www.bluegramabluegrass.com/shows.html

PRESENTING: From traditional roots, springs the high-octane, instrumental mastery of the HillBenders. Hailing from Springfield, Missouri, these boys have been tearing up the bluegrass circuit, leaving their audiences reeling. Winners of the Telluride BlueGrass Band Competition in 2009 and taking First in the National Single Microphone Championship in 2010, the HillBenders are a contemporary force to be reckoned with. Their latest album, Can You Hear Me?, is an eclectic, compelling rouse to the senses. The richness of their upbringings in traditional BlueGrass provides a foundation upon which they innovate a unique and unforgettable sound. Each member has a jaw-dropping mastery of their instruments, which will hoist you right out of your chair. 

The quintet consists of Nolan Lawrence (Lead-singer/ Mandolinist), cousins Jim Rea and Gary Rea (Guitar and Bass), Mark Cassidy (Banjo), and Chad "Gravy Boat" Graves (Dobro). Their meticulous arrangements ripple into a cascade of improvisational brilliance. Experiencing the bands' skilled harmonies is comparable to drawing a five of a kind Aces, every hand.

TICKETS: $15 Presale, $17 Day of show at the door. $5 for Kids under age 12. Presale tickets available in Cheyenne at Ernie November (217 W. Lincolnway); Colorado presale: Attend one of Blue Grama's March concert dates for purchase. For dates: http://www.bluegramabluegrass.com/shows.html 

Terry Bison will be introducing their delicious Taco Bar Buffet for a steal at $8.95, in addition to regular menu items... They're ready for the PARTY! 

The venue has been designated NON-SMOKING FOR THE EVENING! I apologize for any inconvenience, but, smokers, please come and keep me company on the porch while I puff a couple down! Stay tuned to 103.3 The Range for contests and giveaways!

Marguerite Herman takes A Look at Wyoming Government

Marguerite Herman of Cheyenne ran an unsuccessful campaign for county commissioner in 2012. Instead of a learned, experienced Democrat, we got a Tea Party Republican. So it goes. 

This little setback was just a bump in the road for Herman, who is usually busy with 101 things. She's been writing a book and will stage a signing March 16 in Casper. Here's the info from the Casper Star-Tribune:

Marguerite Herman, author of A Look at Wyoming Government, will sign copies of the book this month in Casper. This is the seventh edition of the book, published by the League of Women Voters of Wyoming. Originally written in 2006, it includes updates in legislative districting, governing of the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapahoe tribes, the creation of circuit courts and other topics.

Herman has been the League’s lobbyist at the Wyoming Legislature for 15 years. She covered state government for The Associated Press from 1980 to 1986 and traced the development of school finance reform through the 1990s. 

“I wrote the seventh edition of A Look at Wyoming Government to cover issues that are useful for people to understand their government, how it raises revenue and spends it, how it passes laws in the Legislature, executes them in the Executive branch and interprets them in the courts,” Herman said in a release.

What: Marguerite Herman book signing

When: 1-3 p.m., Saturday, March 16

Where: Wind City Books in downtown Casper 

Info: http://www.windcitybooks.com/

Rep. Mary Throne (D-Cheyenne) to be honored at Wyoming Race for the Cure

A letter to state legislators from Wyoming Susan. G. Komen Race for the Cure Chair Laurie Heath:

Dear State of Wyoming Legislators:

Thank you for your appreciation of the Wyoming Susan G. Komen efforts on the Day of Hope. 2013 is a very exciting year for Wyoming Komen and in addition to the annual Race for the Cure to be held on August 10, 2013 in Cheyenne, at the Capitol, we have other exciting events going on across Wyoming. We will pass email bites of other awesome Komen or partner efforts over next few months. As always 75% of all monies raised in Wyoming for Komen will stay in Wyoming. The other 25% will be granted by Komen National to various research efforts.

We are glad to honor your very own Representative Mary Throne as our 2013 New Balance Survivor. As a national sponsor for every Race across the country, New Balance® will provide full athletic gear to Mary and our Race committee will honor her with a special tribute to her battle and survivorship throughout this year and at our Race. We appreciate particularly her spirit to serve Laramie County and Wyoming as she fights daily to ‘race for the cure’. Thoughts and prayers are with you Mary!

Time out for a sunny Saturday strawberry moment

I have no pressing reason for posting this. It's just that I was in the backyard looking at my fallow garden and the sun was shining and it was warm on my skin and I was thinking of strawberries.

There was a curious writer from Wyo, to everyone he met he asked "why-o?"

This call for entries comes from Andi Hummel of Wyoming Writers, Inc.:

Do you have a masterpiece tucked away in a drawer? Is a brand new story or poem playing around in that grey matter between your ears? 

Enter your work in the 2013 Wyoming Writers, Inc., writing contest. But hurry — the postmark deadline for entries is March 15. 

In addition to children’s, adult short stories, nonfiction, traditional poetry, and free verse, this contest features our new “Short and Sweet,” a “combo” category set to challenge your writing skills. Tell us a story in flash fiction (500 words or fewer—genre is your choice, but keep it clean!), or entice our judges with limericks (rhymed quintets—again, keep them clean!), the length and style fits well into our way-too-busy life! 

Entry fees vary, depending upon categories chosen and whether or not the author is a member of Wyoming Writers, Inc., but everyone is welcome to join the fun. Again, submissions must be postmarked no later than March 15 and mailed with appropriate entry fees (make checks to Wyoming Writers, Inc., note “contest entry fee”) to: A. M. Hummel, 89 Strawberry Hill Road, Hulett, WY  82720 

For more information on the 2013 Wyoming Writers, Inc. writing contest, check the website at http://www.wyowriters.org  for a more concise set of rules and guidelines or contact Andi Hummel at hummela@dishmail.net.

Two months later, what have I learned about the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself?

Polished red blood cells zipping along the Stent Highway 

Two months ago today, my heart revolted. A plaque logjam blocked the blood flow in my Lower Anterior Descending coronary artery or LAD. Lack of circulation caused my heart muscles to stop working. My ejection fraction fractured. My pump was on the fritz. Fluid built up in my lungs. I couldn't breathe. The EMTs hauled me to the ER. Congestive heart failure. Me?

Yes, me.

Two days later, I was in the CRMC catheterization lab with Led Zep blasting on the stereo. Dr. Chapman and crew installed a stent in my LAD. I wasn't totally under but I remember nothing until they were hauling me and my new hardware out of there and back to my room. I spent five more days in the hospital.  I recuperated at home for a month. My keister caused a permanent crease on the couch. I knew all 500 TV channels by heart. I was too wrung-out to read and write. Not even enough energy to blog!

So, as they say on TV news shows, what have we learned?

Heart attacks happen to all kinds of people. My colleagues in cardiac rehab are in their 40s to 80s. I'm somewhere in the middle. Some of them had a history of heart disease and others (me) did not. Broken hearts can be mended, although it depends on many factors. Some are out of your control and some art not. What kind of shape are you in? How severe was the blockage? How long did it take to clear the blockage? This last factor seems to be the key. Twenty minutes after I hit the ER, Cardiologist Chapman and his trusted assistant were at my side. The good doctor announced that I had experienced a heart attack and they were whisking me off to the cath lab. Not so fast, said the ER doctor. This man is in congestive heart failure and, since his breathing is compromised, can't lie flat for an hour while you work your magic. They conferred. Meanwhile, I watched and waited and tried to take some cleansing breaths -- any kind of breaths.

I waited two more days for my stent. It was worth it -- I have a nice long stent that keeps he blood flowing. I take medication to make sure that my blood doesn't try to clot around the stent. Blood does that when it detects a foreign object. The med is called Effient. The good folks at Eli Lilly sum it up on its web site:

Effient taken with aspirin helps reduce the risk of a future heart-related event, such as a heart attack or blood clot in the stent, in patients who have had a heart attack or severe heart-related chest pain that was treated with angioplasty. There is no generic form of Effient.

I take Effient with aspirin and approximately another dozen meds. It seems to be doing its job, as I continue to feel better and have had no signs of a gummed-up stent. I visited my cardiologist on Wednesday. Actually, I visited with the P.A. at the Cardiologist's office. She called me a "Problem child" because I had so many low blood pressure readings. It seems that many of the meds I take lower the blood pressure. This is handy because so many hearty attack patients have high blood pressure, which is one of the risk factors. Oddball patients like me who have normal blood pressures, see them drop into the low range. So she and her colleagues have been juggling my meds to see if they can raise my blood pressure without raising it too high. So much of this is a guessing game. "Educated guesses" might be a better term. There's an amazing array of heard medications. Some goose the heart muscles and some increase blood flow. Some thin the blood and others polish the surface of the blood cells. It's fascinating, really, that so much research had been conducted on the heart. Cardiovascular disease is the nation's number one killer, one of the main byproducts of the so-called "obesity epidemic." That has something to do with it. There's big money to be made. That's fine with me, as Eli Lilly & Company's products have kept me alive. I'm just happy to be insured, especially after I took a peek at my hospital bill. There apparently is an obesity epidemic when it comes to hospital bills. But I have to pay very little of it. What do people do who have no insurance, or are under-insured? That's been at the heart of the debate over the Affordable Care Act.

So I take my meds, attend cardiac rehab and think healthy thoughts. Eat well, too. The other day a friend gave me a New York Times article about the benefits of the Mediterranean diet.

About 30 percent of heart attacks, strokes and deaths from heart disease can be prevented in people at high risk if they switch to a Mediterranean diet rich in olive oil, nuts, beans, fish, fruits and vegetables, and even drink wine with meals, a large and rigorous new study has found.

This is something that I'm going to explore. My roots are more closely-linked to the Irish Sea than the Med. But maybe it's possible for a Celt to change his culinary habits from beer and potatoes to olive oil, beans and wine. More on this subject in future posts...

Good weekend for writers and artists in southeast Wyoming

It's a good weekend to be a writer or artist in southeast Wyoming.

Henry Real Bird, former poet laureate of Montana, will present a free writing workshop at the Laramie County Public Library in Cheyenne on Sunday, March 3, 1-3:30 p.m. No need to register; just show up with your journal and your imagination. Henry was born and raised on the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana and is a often is a presenter at the annual Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada. He's in town to serve as a judge for the 2013 Poetry Out Loud competition which takes place on Monday and Tuesday.

The Wyoming Arts Council and UW team up to present CLICK: A Weekend for Wyoming Visual Artists March 1-3 in Laramie. Hear from arts professionals in a series of panel sessions and attend hands-on studio sessions conducted by UW arts professors. On Friday at 7 p.m., hear from UW Eminent Visiyting Artist Judy Pfaff. Registration fee is $100. FMI: http://wyoarts.state.wy.us/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/CLICK-conference-registration-2013.pdf

Rodger McDaniel's new book, "Dying for Joe McCarthy's Sins," will debut on April 2

Here's some good news. Rodger McDaniel's biography of Wyoming U.S. Sen. Lester Hunt will be released on Tuesday, April 2. He's holding a reception at the Historic Governor's Mansion in downtown Cheyenne on that evening from 7-9 p.m. This will be your first chance to get a copy. 

Later that week, you may want to drop in on "The Trial of Joe McCarthy, et. al." on Sunday, April 7,at 1 p.m. at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Cheyenne (Lester Hunt's church). The U.S. senators who were involved in the blackmail of Lester Hunt will be prosecuted in a "mock jury trial." Former Governor and U.S. Attorney Dave Freudenthal will prosecute. Retired Supreme Court Justice Michael Golden will be the trial judge. State Public Defender Diane Lozano will be defense counsel. Witnesses playing the roles of Drew Pearson, TA Larson, Red Jacoby and detective Roy Blick will present the evidence. The jury will render a historic verdict, according to Rodger.

Question: May I serve on the jury?

Tales from cardiac rehab: The return of S

I posted on Monday about my cardiac rehab buddy S. She was hauled away by EMTs after complaining of chest pain and registering a very high blood pressure.

Glad to report that S returned to rehab on Friday. Once again we were treading treadmills side by side. She's 13 years younger than I am but, as I'm discovering, age doesn't spare you from heart disease. I've met people in their thirties who've had heart attacks. I've met people in their eighties who've had heart attacks. We have cardiac rehab participants who've had angioplasties and stents and single bypasses and quadruple bypasses. We are the lucky ones, the quick rather than the dead.

I'm reading Thriving with Heart Disease: Live Happier, Healthier, Longer by William M. Sotile, Ph.D. When the book was published in 2003, Dr. Sotile was the director of psychological services at the Wake Forest University Cardiac Rehabilitation Program. I checked out the book from the library at my rehab program. Nurse Julee recommended it, and I thank her for that. Sotile recommends an assertive approach to cardiac rehab. He urges us to get a second opinion, and possibly a third or fourth. He writes: "If you haven't been referred to a cardiac rehab program, find out why."

Research shows that people who begin cardiac rehab while still in the hospital and continue with the program after they're home -- even if it's only for a few months -- suffer less anxiety, depression and disability than those who try to manage on their own. Further, both rehab patients and their families have a fuller understanding of the illness and so they are better able as a group to weather the storms that invariably blow in.

I like going to rehab and, thanks to health insurance, can keep it up until I'm well on my way to some sort of normalcy. The CRMC Rehab unit employs a great group of cardiac nurses, exercise therapists and nutritionists who supervise our time on the treadmills, rowing machines and universal equipment. They monitor our vitals and intervene if things are going a bit haywire. Witness their intervention with S earlier in the week. The nurses have been a bit concerned over my low blood pressures and have worked with the cardiologists to fine-tune my many medications. This is the first time I've had to store my meds in a plastic container the size of a shoebox. I can begin to understand a patient's confusion over what drug to take and when. I have a list, and it's constantly changing.

Dr. Sotile notes that there is an aura of mystery surrounding heart attacks:

All known cardiac risk factors combined account for only three out of four cases of heart illness -- the others are attributed to unknown causes.

I have no history of heart disease. My family has no history of heart disease. I don't smoke. I exercise regularly and have lost 30 pounds during the past year. My cholesterol is not abnormally high. I don't have a high-stress job.

I still had a heart attack.

Unknown causes. This appeals to the mystery lover in me. It also speaks to my fiction writer self. Stuff happens. We don't always know why.

Many of us in Wyoming are just one emergency surgery away from ruin

Many of us are a couple paychecks away from ruin. Throw in an emergency surgery and lack of adequate medical insurance, you have a crisis on your hands. This dispatch comes from fellow prog-blogger Meg Lanker-Simons in Laramie:

One of our Bucking Jennys, Meg at Cognitive Dissonance, is recovering from emergency surgery. Like many of us, Meg is underinsured and a member of the working poor. She and her husband will be facing some stiff medical expenses. You've enjoyed her biting editorials on this page, show her some love here if you're able: https://www.wepay.com/donations/send-cognitive-dissonance-your-love

Meg writes that she now has 40,000 followers on Tumblr. That's an impressive number and illustrates how active this indie blogger is on her site. That's the thing -- some of the most interesting content on the web can be found on the blogs of creative people such as Meg. She writes and rants and has her own progressive radio show, not an easy task in Wyoming. But none of this brings in money. That's the blogger's lament, no matter the political bent or passion. We do it because we can't help ourselves. It's a creative outlet too, and unbridled blogging can take you to some amazing places. Meg was blogging at the Republican National Convention in Tampa last year, and at Netroots Nation in Providence.

To keep her  going, I'm kicking in a few bucks. I suggest you do the same.

Wyoming Legislature continues long tradition of anti-worker legislation

We shouldn't be surprised when more anti-worker legislation emanates from the Republican-dominated Wyoming State Legislature. It's a long tradition. Kerry Drake explores this long line of anti-labor legislation today in wyofile. Read it here.

Detroit duo rocks Rock Springs March 1

M.L. Liebler and Steve King rock the Rock March 1 with music and poetry.

Another eventful day at cardiac rehab

The EMTs hauled away S on a stretcher.

Fifteen minutes earlier, she was walking on the treadmill next to mine. She felt a chest pain and reported it to the nurses. One of them told S to step off the treadmill and sit. Nurse 1 took her blood pressure. It was sky high. Nurse 2 nurse arrived with a nitro glycerin tablet for S.

I kept walking the treadmill.

S said she might throw up. Nurse 2 moved over a big trashcan. "How you feeling?"

"Still hurts," S said.

The three nurses conferred. Nurse 3 went to the phone and called 911.

"I can drive to the ER," said S.

"No you can't," said Nurse 1. "Protocol says that the ambulance has to take you, just like you were at home."

I remembered the day that my wife Chris has to call 911. I was hauled away on a stretcher and boosted into the ambulance. The EMTs worked on me as the ambulance hauled my sick self to the ER. Two days later, I was on the catheterizing table and a cardiologist was inserting a stent into my Lower Anterior Descending artery (aka "The Widowmaker").

Three EMT's arrived for S. A young woman with two men. The woman had this on the back of her T-shirt: "EMT Student." She watched as one of the others hooked up S to oxygen and the other took her vitals. Another EMT team arrived with a stretcher. S was surrounded. I'd moved over to the rowing machine and could barely see her. Finally, one of the EMTs raised the stretcher and I could see her. She was smiling, which was good. The nurses waved to her and she waved back. I waved too but I don't think she saw me.

S and I started cardiac rehab on the same cold January day. She's only 49 but a whopper of a heart attack forced her to the ER. The docs did a bypass on her. She returned to work last week, which may have been a bit premature. I returned to work two weeks ago and it's been wearing me out.

S on a stretcher on the way to the ER. Made me wonder if I could get hauled off to the ER while striding on a treadmill or playing the stupid dart game on the rowing machine. It's all good, I tell myself. The exercise and meds and special diet are healing me. No more Big Macs, which seems l;ike a small price to pay for a longer and possibly healthier life.

But last Friday, after only a few strides on the treadmill, I was having trouble breathing. Nurse 1 saw my distress and asked what was wrong. I told her. She took my blood pressure, which was almost normal at 110/65. I told her that the docs had changed my medications. She called the docs. "They're changing them again," she said when she got off the phone. I was taken off diuretics but now I'm going back on them at a smaller dose. Diuretics help rid the body of excess fluid so a guy can breathe. You pee a lot. That doesn't worry me, especially now that we have indoor plumbing.

But that was Friday. Today, S was in distress. I wish her well. I'm hoping for the quick return of my treadmill buddy.

Paul Krza remembers Rock Springs as an "island of Democrats"

Good to see Paul Krza return to the op-ed pages. I used to love reading his rabble-rousing columns when he lived and worked in Wyoming. A good progressive voice in a sea of conservatives. He grew up in Rock Springs, a one-time "island of Democrats" due to its population of unionized coal miners and railroaders. That island has shrunk as union membership dropped over the years in this so-called "Right to Work" state.

In Sunday's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, Krza wrote about how his own Sweetwater County collectivist roots were vindicated by President Obama's inaugural speech in which he stressed that "working collectively is the new political normal -- solving our problems 'together'."

Krza wrote about how his Slovene ancestors worked together to form a fraternal lodge, the Slovenski Dom, where the Socialist Party met and where members could buy health and life insurance. The lodge library was stocked with socialist tracts. Teno Roncalio, the last Democrat to represent Wyoming in the U.S. House, campaigned there. Meanwhile, says Krza, the Rock Springs schools were "an ethnic mishmash that nurtured open-mindedness and my own willingness to ask questions."

As we gaze upon the strange proceedings of our State Legislature, in which even the Sweetwater County delegation is rife with Republicans, one has to wonder what happened to Wyoming Left-leaning traditions. Gone with the wind....

Paul Krza is syndicated by Writers on the Range. Read his latest column, "When frontier socialism thrived in Wyoming."

Recommended reading: "Raising Adam Lanza" in the Hartford Courant

My wife Chris and I raised two kids with special needs. Our son was diagnosed at five with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Our daughter had learning disabilities and mental health challenges. They are both adults now and doing well. But Chris and I know only too well the frantic calls from school, the many meetings with teachers and counselors, the convoluted Individualized Educational Plans (I.E.P.s) and the heartache that goes along with it all.

That's one of the reasons it was so intriguing to read "Raising Adam Lanza," the first installment in a series in the Hartford Courant. It's the kind of article that newspapers used to be known for. Courant reporters interviewed friends, family, teachers and neighbors to try to get to the bottom of Adam Lanza's murderous rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Adam was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism, and sensory integration disorder.

The vast majority of teens with ADHD or OCD or any of the many alphabet soup of disorders or syndromes never turn to violence. Those that do tend to make big, bold headlines. That's why it's important to learn all we can about them. In hindsight, Adam Lanza's mother made poor choices in withdrawing her son from school, and keeping him isolated at home. She also chose the wrong hobbies to help her bond with her sons: gun collecting and target shooting. And Adam spent way too much time playing violent video games. All that taken together led to the Sandy Hook shootings. There may be other reasons, too. I suggest you read the articles and/or watch the concurrent airing of the story on PBS's Frontline. This is an interesting collaboration between a daily newspaper and a PBS show. Maybe it's the wave of the future.

Read today's Courant article here.

Wyoming may be red, but it ain't very religious

Gallup released its religiosity survey this week. Each state is ranked according to how many residents polled by Gallup admit to being "very religious." Red states tended to score high on the survey while blue states were on the lower end of the scale. Although Wyoming is one of the reddest of the red states, with the second-highest margin of victory for Mitt Romney in 2012, it's on the lower end of the scale when it comes to religion. Only 32.8 percent of Wyoming respondents admitted to being "very religious." This puts it just behind godforsaken places such as Connecticut (Damn Yankees) and Hawaii (alleged Obama birthplace). We're slightly less religious than neighboring reefer-mad Colorado, which came in at 33.5 percent. See the entire survey here. And thanks to Rachel Maddow's MaddowBlog, where I first saw this map.