I'm working on a short story set in 1939 Cheyenne. I rarely venture this far back in time. Two stories in my first collection were set in post-World War II Wyoming and Colorado. I have gone far into the future with some of my sci-fi. But never back to the 1930s. I wasn't around then, but my parents were, both young people struggling through the Great Depression with their working-class families. I've read fiction set in the thirties. Nelson Algren, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Dorothy Parker, Steinbeck, Eudora Welty, Irwin Shaw. The twenties and thirties may have been the golden age of the American short story. I've read hundreds of them. Big Blonde. How Beautiful with Shoes. A Rose for Emily. A Bottle of Milk for Mother. The Killers. Flowering Judas.
One of my favorites is Irwin Shaw's "Sailor Off the Bremen." Shaw is best known for his post-war novels such as "The Young Lions" and "Rich Man, Poor Man." But it's his stories that I've read and studied. They were collected into a volume, "Five Decades."
"Sailor Off the Bremen," published in The New Yorker in February 1939, is about international politics and revenge. In New York Harbor, communists stage an anti-Nazi demonstration aboard the German ship Bremen. A Nazi steward beats up a demonstrator, whose family and friends believe that the Nazi should pay. They find out who the steward is, trap and beat the crap out of him.
When I first read that story decades ago, I knew little about the years leading up to World War II. I was a student of the war. As was the case with many Baby Boomer boys, we watched movies and TV shows about the war our fathers fought in. Some of us read books, too, as my father had a great library. We knew war as boys know war. Names of battles, famous generals, types of airplanes and tanks.
What caused the war? Hitler and the damn Nazis. Tojo and the stinkin' Japs. Excuse my use of the term "Japs" -- that's how Americans spoke about residents of the Empire of Japan during the war and after it. That's about as far as it went until I got older and began reading about it. America was dragged kicking and screaming into it. I don't mean after Pearl Harbor, but before it, when many Americans had no reason to care what happened to French farmers and Chinese peasants. We'd been dragged into another European war in 1917, and many wondered why we had to bail out the French and the Brits once again. Isolationism was rampant, especially among those in the individualist-minded Rocky Mountain West. Many of the leading isolationists in Congress were from Montana and Idaho and South Dakota. Probably Wyoming, too, although I haven't done any research on the matter.
I am reading a book on the subject. "Those Angry Days: Roosevelt, Lindbergh, and America's fight over World War II, 1939-1941," by Lynne Olson. I just finished a section about the very close Congressional vote to extend the conscription act, a vote held four months before Dec. 7, 1941. Conscription had been passed a year before in which young men were drafted into the army for a year. That year was up and many of those young men wanted to go back home. They spent their time digging ditches and marching around with fake rifles and didn't see the point as the U.S. wasn't at war. So when Roosevelt and his interventionist allies tried to extend the draft, many in Congress weren't eager to sign on, including ,many Democrats. The final vote was 203 aye and 202 nays. And some of the ayes were about to change their votes when Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn closed the vote with an arcane procedural move. It took the U.S. a long time to mobilize after the Dec. 8 declaration of war. Imagine how long it would have taken if the draft had been abandoned? History can turn on a single vote.
One thing is clear -- even four months before we entered the war, isolationism was strong in this country. I wondered what it was like for the average joe, the guy who became G.I. Joe in the war years. The economy had picked up once we got into the 1940s, but problems of the Great Depression hadn't gone away. What made you an interventionist and what made you an isolationist? in 1941, there wasn't a bomber or missile that could reach the U.S. from potential enemies. But what would happen if Hitler took over the world and eventually threatened us? And what about all of those rumors of Nazis murdering Jews?
As always, I tried to put myself in that era in the form of a fictional character. And so goes my story and along with it, hours of research. Research can be addictive, especially in this age of unlimited accessibility to online sources. But I stopped myself and wrote the story. It's called "Ras Tafari in Cheyenne." I'm excerpting it on my blog because I don't know what else to do with it. If you have any ideas for markets, let me know. The excerpts will begin in mid-January -- I'll keep you posted.
Sunday, January 04, 2015
Friday, January 02, 2015
What makes Cheyenne Cheyenne?
One of the best things to happen to Wyoming communities in 2014 is a resurgence of downtown redevelopment. Wyoming Main Street gets some credit for that. But the energy to get the job done comes from within the community. That's the way it should be, don't you think?
Rock Springs, Gillette, Rawlins -- all communities that refurbished downtowns in the past year. They rebuilt streets and sidewalks, added new lighting and purchased public art. Rock Springs and Rawlins provided funds for businesses to redo their storefronts. All of these places added business to their central core, the traditional heart of their cities.
What do I-80 travelers think about when they buzz through Rawlins? Who would want to live there -- it's so desolate? Sure, on a bitter January day, Rawlins can look at bit intimidating. Sure, the state's hulking gray prison lurks just behind the bluffs to the south. The rock escarpments that ring the town may look a bit foreboding to coasters. And that 60 mph west wind that strips the enamel from your teeth? Not much to say but keep your mouth shut. I suppose that's good advice anytime.
But there's so much to see and do. The intriguing historic prison is downtown and the site for some entertaining candlelight tours during Halloween season. The old prison even appeared on an episode of "Ghost Adventures" in which Zak & Co. discovered that the exploration of a quirky local home was almost as exciting as the haunted prison. We acknowledge that the show is filled with P.T. Barnum hoopla -- but it also showcases some great historic tidbits. And how many nationally-televised shows get to Rawlins?
Rawlins recently revamped their downtown streetscape and added two beautiful hawk sculptures by Boulder's Joshua Wiener. Next time, get off the interstate and do some exploring -- and maybe some dining and shopping.
It's the people who make the place -- and those creative ventures that people undertake. Art, music, writing, sculpting, cooking, ghost adventuring, etc. You just have to ask yourself: what makes my community tick?
What makes Cheyenne Cheyenne? That's the question we're asking locally. Everyone knows about our Old West heritage. Every July, we stage a big party with that theme at its center. But Cheyenne also is about transportation -- railroads, highways and air travel. That last one may be a bit of a surprise, as our tiny airport is outshone by so many others in the region. But our town has a storied history when it comes to flying. The Carl Spaatz Flying Circus, Eddie Rickenbacker's crack-up, Lindbergh and the Army Airmail Service, the advent of United Airlines, etc. -- you can look it up.
Dinosaurs walked here -- and I'm not just talking about Republican legislators. Native Americans were the first human inhabitants and Cheyenne, as its name suggests, is rich in pre-white-settlement history. Buffalo soldiers? We had them at Fort D.A. Russell.
We are enriched by the arts. An article in Sunday's WTE celebrated a banner year in music for Cheyenne. Arts Cheyenne will engage in an "arts blitz" in 2015 to build interest for a downtown Artspace project that will rehab an old building and turn it into live-work spaces for artists and -- possibly -- offices for arts groups and visual arts and performing spaces. The Children's Museum project is really taking off.
This is what Cheyenne needs -- thinking and acting locally. For too long we have thrown up our hands and ceded arts and culture and music and beer to Fort Collins. For good reason -- FoCo almost invented the craft beer scene in the Rocky Mountain West. It also has a thriving arts scene. But it wasn't always that way. When I was a grad student there in the late 1980s, nobody called it FoCo but they did call it an aggie town or cowtown -- a sleepy place which young people deserted on weekends to go to Denver and Boulder and the mountains. Meanwhile, bored kids from Cheyenne were traveling to Fort Collins because that's where things were happening. Weird.
From the Fort Collins Coloradoan:
And what makes Wyoming Wyoming? Volunteerism and generosity. Neighbors helping neighbors.
News comes about a devastating Dec. 30-31 fire in Dubois that destroyed several historic downtown buildings. Needs of Dubois is handling contributions for relief efforts. Send checks to NOD, PO Box 865, Dubois, WY 82513, and please note "Dubois Fire" in the memo of the check. You can also contribute online at http://www.gofundme.com/duboisfire. Almost $10,000 had been raised by noon on Jan. 2.
Rock Springs, Gillette, Rawlins -- all communities that refurbished downtowns in the past year. They rebuilt streets and sidewalks, added new lighting and purchased public art. Rock Springs and Rawlins provided funds for businesses to redo their storefronts. All of these places added business to their central core, the traditional heart of their cities.
What do I-80 travelers think about when they buzz through Rawlins? Who would want to live there -- it's so desolate? Sure, on a bitter January day, Rawlins can look at bit intimidating. Sure, the state's hulking gray prison lurks just behind the bluffs to the south. The rock escarpments that ring the town may look a bit foreboding to coasters. And that 60 mph west wind that strips the enamel from your teeth? Not much to say but keep your mouth shut. I suppose that's good advice anytime.
But there's so much to see and do. The intriguing historic prison is downtown and the site for some entertaining candlelight tours during Halloween season. The old prison even appeared on an episode of "Ghost Adventures" in which Zak & Co. discovered that the exploration of a quirky local home was almost as exciting as the haunted prison. We acknowledge that the show is filled with P.T. Barnum hoopla -- but it also showcases some great historic tidbits. And how many nationally-televised shows get to Rawlins?
Rawlins recently revamped their downtown streetscape and added two beautiful hawk sculptures by Boulder's Joshua Wiener. Next time, get off the interstate and do some exploring -- and maybe some dining and shopping.
It's the people who make the place -- and those creative ventures that people undertake. Art, music, writing, sculpting, cooking, ghost adventuring, etc. You just have to ask yourself: what makes my community tick?
What makes Cheyenne Cheyenne? That's the question we're asking locally. Everyone knows about our Old West heritage. Every July, we stage a big party with that theme at its center. But Cheyenne also is about transportation -- railroads, highways and air travel. That last one may be a bit of a surprise, as our tiny airport is outshone by so many others in the region. But our town has a storied history when it comes to flying. The Carl Spaatz Flying Circus, Eddie Rickenbacker's crack-up, Lindbergh and the Army Airmail Service, the advent of United Airlines, etc. -- you can look it up.
Dinosaurs walked here -- and I'm not just talking about Republican legislators. Native Americans were the first human inhabitants and Cheyenne, as its name suggests, is rich in pre-white-settlement history. Buffalo soldiers? We had them at Fort D.A. Russell.
We are enriched by the arts. An article in Sunday's WTE celebrated a banner year in music for Cheyenne. Arts Cheyenne will engage in an "arts blitz" in 2015 to build interest for a downtown Artspace project that will rehab an old building and turn it into live-work spaces for artists and -- possibly -- offices for arts groups and visual arts and performing spaces. The Children's Museum project is really taking off.
This is what Cheyenne needs -- thinking and acting locally. For too long we have thrown up our hands and ceded arts and culture and music and beer to Fort Collins. For good reason -- FoCo almost invented the craft beer scene in the Rocky Mountain West. It also has a thriving arts scene. But it wasn't always that way. When I was a grad student there in the late 1980s, nobody called it FoCo but they did call it an aggie town or cowtown -- a sleepy place which young people deserted on weekends to go to Denver and Boulder and the mountains. Meanwhile, bored kids from Cheyenne were traveling to Fort Collins because that's where things were happening. Weird.
From the Fort Collins Coloradoan:
Collin Ingram, a musician himself, says he's been in Fort Collins for the past three years and, in that time, has seen the music scene grow and expects that to continue.
The next big step, however, is the community determining the value it wants to place on the music scene in Fort Collins, Ingram said.
"We need to decide if the scene is going to be a cool thing that happens here — with bands and a couple festivals every year — or if we're going to kind of move toward the scene being a quintessential part of what makes Fort Collins Fort Collins … the same way beer makes Fort Collins Fort Collins, or the way CSU makes Fort Collins Fort Collins."What makes Cheyenne Cheyenne? You decide.
And what makes Wyoming Wyoming? Volunteerism and generosity. Neighbors helping neighbors.
News comes about a devastating Dec. 30-31 fire in Dubois that destroyed several historic downtown buildings. Needs of Dubois is handling contributions for relief efforts. Send checks to NOD, PO Box 865, Dubois, WY 82513, and please note "Dubois Fire" in the memo of the check. You can also contribute online at http://www.gofundme.com/duboisfire. Almost $10,000 had been raised by noon on Jan. 2.
Sunday, December 28, 2014
2014 -- that was the year that was
A look back at this rapidly-fading year....
January
Wyoming Highway Patrol on the alert for legal Colorado pot crossing the border....The creeds and oaths of our youth....Medicaid expansion rally at Wyoming Capitol....Whale of a tale on a Florida beach....Artspace comes to Cheyenne....From beach boy to beach cowboy....Feeding your fiction-writing habit....Remembering Rep. Sue Wallis.
February
Cheyenne launches Artspace project....Unplanned winter off-roading in Wyoming....Halfway mark of painful legislative session....Colorado burger wranglers commute to Chey-town.
March
Courage v. Wyoming may force state to live up to Equality State brand....Irish or not?...Florida vs. Wyoming in retirement destination battle....Avoid politics in gardening discussions....Psychiatrists aren't crazy about living in Wyoming....Spring is lion time.
April
Welcome to the Magic City of the Plains....Cheyenne corners the market on Gov candidates.... Dumbing down state science standards....Wishing Colorado a happy 420 day....The future belongs to aggies and artists.... Revisiting the Great D&D Panic of the 1990s....Putting the community in community college.
May
Miss Atomic Bomb....Writers Speaking Out Loud....Wonky in Rock Springs....Famous for all of the wrong reasons....Cindy Hill's little red book.
June
Remembering my mother and the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps....Summertime in WYO....St. Michael in downtown Cheyenne....Visiting a sick friend....Lesson for politicians -- beware of poets....That was one super day.
July
How you gonna keep 'em down on the farm....Revisiting a 1970 pot protest in D.C....Welcome to the West's wet years....Old books live on....Music, melodrama and politics at CFD....Wyoming Democrats respond.
August
At the Music & Poetry Series in Casper....As I begin my tenth year of blogging liberally....Gov's science panel....Satire is in the eye of the beholder.
September
Hemingway found a clean, well-lighted place in Wyoming's Big Horn Mountains....Day one of touristing on the high plains.,..Day two of touristing on the high plains....The rich are different -- they want to destroy Wyoming's public pension plan....Americanism trumps conservatism in Colorado schools.
October
Envisioning the future of Cheyenne's downtown....Final words on Mental Health Awareness Week....Wyoming Liberty Group threatens state retirement plans....VOTE!....Book preview for "Living Behind the Carbon Curtain."
November
Lifting of Wyoming's same-sex marriage ban a big surprise....Might be time to change that obnoxious county name....New generation of book censors....If we're going to keep our young people in the state....No Black Friday for me....Yummy Gore-Tex for seniors.
December
This progressive wants to go to Mars...What happens when Wyoming tourists no longer want to drive?....Gubment-hating righties invade Wyoming.
So much to write about. So little time. Happy New Year!
January
Wyoming Highway Patrol on the alert for legal Colorado pot crossing the border....The creeds and oaths of our youth....Medicaid expansion rally at Wyoming Capitol....Whale of a tale on a Florida beach....Artspace comes to Cheyenne....From beach boy to beach cowboy....Feeding your fiction-writing habit....Remembering Rep. Sue Wallis.
February
Cheyenne launches Artspace project....Unplanned winter off-roading in Wyoming....Halfway mark of painful legislative session....Colorado burger wranglers commute to Chey-town.
March
Courage v. Wyoming may force state to live up to Equality State brand....Irish or not?...Florida vs. Wyoming in retirement destination battle....Avoid politics in gardening discussions....Psychiatrists aren't crazy about living in Wyoming....Spring is lion time.
April
Welcome to the Magic City of the Plains....Cheyenne corners the market on Gov candidates.... Dumbing down state science standards....Wishing Colorado a happy 420 day....The future belongs to aggies and artists.... Revisiting the Great D&D Panic of the 1990s....Putting the community in community college.
May
Miss Atomic Bomb....Writers Speaking Out Loud....Wonky in Rock Springs....Famous for all of the wrong reasons....Cindy Hill's little red book.
June
Remembering my mother and the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps....Summertime in WYO....St. Michael in downtown Cheyenne....Visiting a sick friend....Lesson for politicians -- beware of poets....That was one super day.
July
How you gonna keep 'em down on the farm....Revisiting a 1970 pot protest in D.C....Welcome to the West's wet years....Old books live on....Music, melodrama and politics at CFD....Wyoming Democrats respond.
August
At the Music & Poetry Series in Casper....As I begin my tenth year of blogging liberally....Gov's science panel....Satire is in the eye of the beholder.
September
Hemingway found a clean, well-lighted place in Wyoming's Big Horn Mountains....Day one of touristing on the high plains.,..Day two of touristing on the high plains....The rich are different -- they want to destroy Wyoming's public pension plan....Americanism trumps conservatism in Colorado schools.
October
Envisioning the future of Cheyenne's downtown....Final words on Mental Health Awareness Week....Wyoming Liberty Group threatens state retirement plans....VOTE!....Book preview for "Living Behind the Carbon Curtain."
November
Lifting of Wyoming's same-sex marriage ban a big surprise....Might be time to change that obnoxious county name....New generation of book censors....If we're going to keep our young people in the state....No Black Friday for me....Yummy Gore-Tex for seniors.
December
This progressive wants to go to Mars...What happens when Wyoming tourists no longer want to drive?....Gubment-hating righties invade Wyoming.
So much to write about. So little time. Happy New Year!
Saturday, December 27, 2014
Wyoming Community Media to do film on New Deal artists
 |
| Jackson Pollock and Thomas Hart Benton visited the Saratoga, Wyoming, rodeo in 1938. According to Alan O'Hashi at WCM, Benton painted this mural with Pollock as the harmonica player at the card table on the left. |
This news comes from Alan
O’Hashi at Wyoming Community Media:
WCM was funded by the Wyoming Humanities Council and the Wyoming Arts Council to produce a documentary about New Deal artists in Wyoming. We have some leads but need more. Are there any historians out there who have any info or can point us in the right direction:
- EE Stevens murals in Niobrara County
- Jackson Pollock and Thomas Hart Benton in Saratoga during July 4th in the 1930s
- Alan True asked by Lester Hunt to design the license plate bucking horse
- Robert Russin did his WPA art elsewhere but moved to Wyoming and taught at UW
Production will happen when the weather breaks in the spring.
Friday, December 26, 2014
Casper gathering planned for Wyoming Vietnam vets who've written about their experiences
Author Starley Talbott Thompson posted this item on the Wyoming Writers, Inc., Facebook page:
Lee Alley, Wyoming veteran and author of "Back From War: Finding Hope and Understanding in Life after Combat," is part of an effort to put together an event for veterans of the Vietnam War next year in Casper. He is looking for other Wyoming authors who have written about their experiences in Vietnam. For more details contact Lee Alley at leeballey@yahoo.com or Linda Fabian at linda@wyshs.org
Find out more about Lee Alley on the Wyoming Authors' Wiki.
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Gubment-hating righties invade Wyoming
The takeover of Wyoming by right-wing zealots has begun.
It may seem that Wyoming was lost to the rising tide of extremism a long time ago.
But you ain't seen nothing yet.
Republicans handily outnumber Democrats in both chambers of the state legislature. We got a new batch of right-wing crazies in the most recent election, notably Harlan Edmonds in HD 12 who defeated incumbent Democrat Lee Filer. Filer had been a staunch advocate for his constituency and had shown how to get things done even though outnumbered. But voters in his district, the ones who showed up, punched that "R" button, letting Red State partisan politics rise above their own best interests. Edmonds is a gubment-hating state employee. His wife is on the board of the Wyoming Liberty Group, a right-wing lobbying group funded by Susan Gore and backed by the Koch brothers. Its goals include destroying the state's pension system. Its ultimate goal is to turn Wyoming into the poster child for a philosophy that starves state government to make it small enough to drown in a bathtub, as Tea Party favorite Grover Norquist once famously said. Wyoming can then become the ultimate refuge for the new oligarch class -- energy billionaires, Dick Cheney and family, Susan Gore, Wal-Mart heirs, Wall Street rip-off artists and all of their fellow travelers. Wyofile's Gregory Nickerson has done several articles on the impact of outside forces on Wyoming politics. On Dec. 9, he wrote about a conservative think tank the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA), a 501(c)3 nonprofit based in Naples, Florida, conducting a push poll in Wyoming. The results, of course, showed that 70 percent of Wyoming residents oppose Medicaid expansion in Wyoming.
See more at http://wyofile.com/gregory_nickerson/florida-group-takes-aim-wyoming-medicaid-expansion/
It may seem that Wyoming was lost to the rising tide of extremism a long time ago.
But you ain't seen nothing yet.
Republicans handily outnumber Democrats in both chambers of the state legislature. We got a new batch of right-wing crazies in the most recent election, notably Harlan Edmonds in HD 12 who defeated incumbent Democrat Lee Filer. Filer had been a staunch advocate for his constituency and had shown how to get things done even though outnumbered. But voters in his district, the ones who showed up, punched that "R" button, letting Red State partisan politics rise above their own best interests. Edmonds is a gubment-hating state employee. His wife is on the board of the Wyoming Liberty Group, a right-wing lobbying group funded by Susan Gore and backed by the Koch brothers. Its goals include destroying the state's pension system. Its ultimate goal is to turn Wyoming into the poster child for a philosophy that starves state government to make it small enough to drown in a bathtub, as Tea Party favorite Grover Norquist once famously said. Wyoming can then become the ultimate refuge for the new oligarch class -- energy billionaires, Dick Cheney and family, Susan Gore, Wal-Mart heirs, Wall Street rip-off artists and all of their fellow travelers. Wyofile's Gregory Nickerson has done several articles on the impact of outside forces on Wyoming politics. On Dec. 9, he wrote about a conservative think tank the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA), a 501(c)3 nonprofit based in Naples, Florida, conducting a push poll in Wyoming. The results, of course, showed that 70 percent of Wyoming residents oppose Medicaid expansion in Wyoming.
They spent $742,000 on the Uncover Obamacare project in 2013. The Wyoming effort is part of that campaign for year 2014.
One of FGA’s principal funders is Donors Capital Fund, an Arlington, Va., donor-aggregator group that raised $60 million in 2013. It granted $213,500 to the Foundation for Government Accountability in 2012.
Donors Capital Fund also gave $240,000 to the Wyoming Liberty Group in 2009, $230,000 in 2010, and $15,000 in 2011.Word on the street says that funneled more than $1 million into Wyoming last year. The Wyoming Liberty Group had nine attorney-lobbyists on their staff during the last legislative session and are certain to have more in 2015. As Wyoming blogger Rodger McDaniel stated in a Dec. 13 op-ed in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, Rep. Cale Case (R-Lander) is on the board of directors of the Liberty Group. One wonders why a state legislator would be on the board of a group hell-bent on destroying the state employee retirement system. Rep. Case used to be a moderate. We wonder when that changed.
See more at http://wyofile.com/gregory_nickerson/florida-group-takes-aim-wyoming-medicaid-expansion/
Sunday, December 14, 2014
What happens when Wyoming tourists no longer want to drive?
Gas prices are lower and expected to go even lower. We may be in for $2.50 gas prices in early 2015.
Yellowstone had a record 4 million visitors in 2014.
All good news for Wyoming.
Or is it?
America's love affair with cars may be over. Hard to believe for us Baby Boomers. I've been driving for almost 50 years. I couldn't wait to get my license and a car and tear around Volusia County, Florida -- and possibly use my new motorized self to get a date.
I did get a date or two. And I've driven in hundreds of counties all over this country and had a pretty good time doing it.
But those days may be over, at least in urban centers where most of the population lives. Kids these days -- they don't dream so much about piloting their own car as they do about saving the planet. Public transportation and car-sharing and walking and biking are hip.
Teton County, the gateway to Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks and the cornerstone of Wyoming tourism, just opened a new terminal for its Southern Teton Area Rapid Transit (START) bus line. We have buses in Cheyenne and Casper and maybe a few other communities. But none of us has a transportation terminal that includes a "bus barn" for storing vehicles indoors away from the cruelties of Wyoming weather. The first phase of this transportation terminal was dedicated Friday. When it's completed, it will even include employee housing, a real concern for any middle class person hoping to make a living in one of the richest counties in the country.
The state has no plans to widen tourist-clogged Teton County roads. And many environmentally-conscious residents don't want those roads widened anyway. So the county plans for more rapid transit to get residents and visitors out of their cars. As it is now, visitors can fly into Jackson and spend a week without a car. In fact, they may prefer that.
The town of Jackson's web site had a link to this article written by Tim Henderson for the PEW Charitable Trusts. It talks about the drop in rates for commuting by car, not only in cities but here in the Great Wide Open:
Many tourists "expect to have alternatives for driving a vehicle." They may be prompted by an environmental ethic. They may not want to be bothered with the hassles getting around unfamiliar territory on their own. Or they may not want to endure a National Lampoon-style family summer vacation family trip from Des Moines to Yellowstone. Where's Aunt Edna?
Sure, Jackson may be filled with tree huggers (along with the occasional Dick Cheney). But what about tourists visiting other Wyoming destinations? It's hard to imagine Cheyenne Frontier Days without city streets clogged with coal rollers and RVs. But even at CFD, the city uses school buses to transport tourists from a big parking area off of I-25 to concerts and the rodeo. And the city offers a free downtown circulator bus each summer. Downtown is very walkable and there are more and more reasons to walk around in it. We have a superb bikepath system, although commuting by bike on roadways still can be a harrowing experience.
There is a huge difference between Jackson and Cheyenne, One of the first comments I heard after moving to Wyoming in 1991: "Too bad you live in the ugly part of the state." It's true -- Jackson Hole is gorgeous while you have to hunt for the beauty in the High Plains. It's there, but it's not staring you in the face as it is every day in The Hole. More and more, Teton County residents realize what a gift they have. It's reflected in transportation policies and planning and a strong "locals" movement and arts and cultural activities such as the summer's Wild Festival which has the goal of "deepening our connection to nature through the arts."
In Wyoming, tourism is as important as digging carbon out of the ground to incinerate in giant power plants that obscure our national park vistas and contribute to global warming. But changes in national attitudes and demographics may be the real key to the state's future.
Yellowstone had a record 4 million visitors in 2014.
All good news for Wyoming.
Or is it?
America's love affair with cars may be over. Hard to believe for us Baby Boomers. I've been driving for almost 50 years. I couldn't wait to get my license and a car and tear around Volusia County, Florida -- and possibly use my new motorized self to get a date.
I did get a date or two. And I've driven in hundreds of counties all over this country and had a pretty good time doing it.
But those days may be over, at least in urban centers where most of the population lives. Kids these days -- they don't dream so much about piloting their own car as they do about saving the planet. Public transportation and car-sharing and walking and biking are hip.
Teton County, the gateway to Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks and the cornerstone of Wyoming tourism, just opened a new terminal for its Southern Teton Area Rapid Transit (START) bus line. We have buses in Cheyenne and Casper and maybe a few other communities. But none of us has a transportation terminal that includes a "bus barn" for storing vehicles indoors away from the cruelties of Wyoming weather. The first phase of this transportation terminal was dedicated Friday. When it's completed, it will even include employee housing, a real concern for any middle class person hoping to make a living in one of the richest counties in the country.
The state has no plans to widen tourist-clogged Teton County roads. And many environmentally-conscious residents don't want those roads widened anyway. So the county plans for more rapid transit to get residents and visitors out of their cars. As it is now, visitors can fly into Jackson and spend a week without a car. In fact, they may prefer that.
The town of Jackson's web site had a link to this article written by Tim Henderson for the PEW Charitable Trusts. It talks about the drop in rates for commuting by car, not only in cities but here in the Great Wide Open:
Western areas known for wilderness and a car-loving culture are seeing big decreases. In Oregon, Washington and Colorado, the percentage of workers commuting by car dropped by either 3 or 4 percentage points.
The car commuting rate in Teton County, Wyoming, with its breathtaking mountain views and world-renowned skiing at Jackson Hole, dropped from 79 percent to 70 percent. No other county saw a larger decline.
“We took a number of actions between 2000 and 2010 with the intention of changing the mode of travel away from the auto, particularly for the work trip in our area,” said Michael Wackerly of Southern Teton Area Rapid Transit. Some of the steps included providing commuter buses to get workers from neighboring Idaho, bus passes for Teton Village employees and higher parking fees to encourage bus use. For Teton County, the motivation was largely environmental.
“A transportation system oriented toward automobiles is inconsistent with our common values of ecosystem stewardship, growth management and quality of life,” said the county’s 2012 master plan.You can read the rest of the article at http://townofjackson.com/current/more-cities-and-states-car-commuting-skids/
The Western Greater Yellowstone Consortium, a four-county partnership in Wyoming and Idaho, cites the expectations of Eastern tourists, many of whom come from cities where driving is falling out of favor. “A growing percentage of those visiting our National Parks from the nation’s urban centers and other countries expect to have alternatives to driving a private vehicle,” the group said in laying out its transportation goals.
Many tourists "expect to have alternatives for driving a vehicle." They may be prompted by an environmental ethic. They may not want to be bothered with the hassles getting around unfamiliar territory on their own. Or they may not want to endure a National Lampoon-style family summer vacation family trip from Des Moines to Yellowstone. Where's Aunt Edna?
Sure, Jackson may be filled with tree huggers (along with the occasional Dick Cheney). But what about tourists visiting other Wyoming destinations? It's hard to imagine Cheyenne Frontier Days without city streets clogged with coal rollers and RVs. But even at CFD, the city uses school buses to transport tourists from a big parking area off of I-25 to concerts and the rodeo. And the city offers a free downtown circulator bus each summer. Downtown is very walkable and there are more and more reasons to walk around in it. We have a superb bikepath system, although commuting by bike on roadways still can be a harrowing experience.
There is a huge difference between Jackson and Cheyenne, One of the first comments I heard after moving to Wyoming in 1991: "Too bad you live in the ugly part of the state." It's true -- Jackson Hole is gorgeous while you have to hunt for the beauty in the High Plains. It's there, but it's not staring you in the face as it is every day in The Hole. More and more, Teton County residents realize what a gift they have. It's reflected in transportation policies and planning and a strong "locals" movement and arts and cultural activities such as the summer's Wild Festival which has the goal of "deepening our connection to nature through the arts."
In Wyoming, tourism is as important as digging carbon out of the ground to incinerate in giant power plants that obscure our national park vistas and contribute to global warming. But changes in national attitudes and demographics may be the real key to the state's future.
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Wyoming Democrats respond to Rep. Cynthia Lummis's comments about the Affordable Care Act
This was posted on the Wyoming Democratic Party web site today:
Yesterday during a hearing about the Affordable Care Act in the House Oversight Committee, Wyoming Representative Cynthia Lummis suggested that issues enrolling in the Affordable Care Act were partly to blame for her husband’s death.
The following is a response from Pinedale's Ana Cuprill, Chairwoman of the Wyoming Democratic Party:
“Wyoming's Code of the West reminds us to be “tough, but fair” and to “know where to draw the line.” Representative Lummis missed the mark on both accounts yesterday. Rep. Lummis voted more than 50 times with her Republican colleagues to repeal Obamacare. The real consequence of those votes is time and effort wasted by the administration defending the law instead of addressing “glitches” that would make the process of enrolling go more smoothly. I will agree with Rep. Lummis that there is no time to be glib about the problems with healthcare. Now is the time to find solutions that will have real impact on people's lives. While we are sorry for the tragic loss of Rep. Lummis’ husband, we are glad for the thousands of people in Wyoming and millions of Americans with access to quality, affordable care. We’re relieved for families who no longer face bankruptcy, can’t be dropped from coverage when they get sick and don’t face lifetime maximums when a sick child needs care. We’re still concerned for the thousands of people in Wyoming who make important health decisions based not on the best available care, but whether or not they can afford to have any care at all. We believe using her truly unfortunate situation to attack the Affordable Care Act was disingenuous and call on our Congresswoman to join us in finding ways to improve the Affordable Care Act."Well said, Ana Cuprill. And amen.
Monday, December 08, 2014
Aaron Abeyta will be keynoter at 2015 Wyoming Writers conference
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| Aaron Abeyta |
This news comes from Wyoming Writers, Inc., WYO's statewide writing org:
The Board of Wyoming Writers is excited to have the poet, Aaron Abeyta, from Adams State University in Alamosa, Colorado, as our presenter in poetry workshops, and as our keynote speaker. When the word got out that Aaron was coming, we got messages from people praising the choice. Poets, writers, and teachers who have had the privilege of working with Aaron in a variety of workshop and classroom settings were enthusiastic about both his writing and his thoughtful approach to teaching and motivating poetry from the roots up.Aaron will be at the WWInc. conference June 5-7, 2015, in Cheyenne, just a short six months from now. Get more info here.
Aaron says: “The poet must be both ‘piper’ and ‘bard,’ tender and turbulent, dangerous and comforting; the poet must be able to understand, as Czeslaw Milosz put it: ‘In the very essence of poetry there is something indecent: a thing brought forth which we didn’t know we had in us, so we blink our eyes….’ ( Ars Poetica)” In our correspondence he excerpted another poet from workshop material, the American, Mary Oliver: “‘…just/ pay attention, then patch/ a few words together and don’t try/ to make them elaborate, this isn’t/ a contest but the doorway…’ (from Praying). In short, we must be observant and ‘prayerful’ in our watchfulness of the world around us.”
Aaron has a B. A. in English, and an M. F. A. in Poetry from Colorado State University. His most recent collection: Letters from the Headwaters (Western Press Books) in out this year. An earlier collection, Colcha won the American Book Award for Poetry, and the Colorado Book Award. His list of publications and appearances is lengthy.
Aaron is a fellow grad of the excellent CSU creative writing program. One of his mentors was poet Bill Tremblay, who also mentored me although I am not a poet. A slew of CSU writers have visited Wyoming during the 23 years I've been in the state. Both Bill and Aaron taught at the Words Worth Writing Symposium for high school students, a very fine workshop spearheaded by poet Diane Panozzo when she taught at Cheyenne East High School.
See you in June.
Saturday, December 06, 2014
This progressive wants to go to Mars
You can't spell "progressive" without "progress."
That's a fact. But you can be a political progressive without believing in all forms of progress.
Take space exploration, for instance. Baby Boomers recall the space race of the 1960s, the fuss we made over the original batch if astronauts and our passion for the the moon landing. Progressive hero JFK said we would land a man on the moon by the end of that decade and, by gum, we did.
Forty-five years later, I was impressed by the successful Orion launch. Many of my fellow progressives were not. Some considered it a stunt by aerospace companies to suck more money out of taxpayers. Others looked at it as NASA's showy way to continue it's storied but error-plagued ways. Many conservatives aren't fans of NASA, one of those wasteful gubment agencies. Libertarians, of course, want space to be left to free enterprise. Progressives see it as a waste of money and resources in a time when our country's infrastructure is crumbling and the middle class is disappearing. Wouldn't our money be better spent in fixing problems here on earth than it would be to go gallivanting off to Mars?
We can do both, of course. We can tend to business here on earth and still reach for the stars. It takes vision and we have to prioritize. We'd rather snipe at one another than shoot for Mars. Human failings. If we choose, space exploration can help us transcend our earthbound ways.
While all of Friday's fireworks happened at Cape Canaveral, Fla., much of Orion's hardware and software was built by Colorado companies. This from The Denver Post:
But back to politics.
I want equality and accessibility and justice and all those other things that progressives believe in. I also want to go to Mars. Not personally, as astronauts may not get there until 2035 or 2040, which would make me much too cranky for the venture. But just to think that it could happen in my lifetime. That's exciting. That's progress.
That's a fact. But you can be a political progressive without believing in all forms of progress.
Take space exploration, for instance. Baby Boomers recall the space race of the 1960s, the fuss we made over the original batch if astronauts and our passion for the the moon landing. Progressive hero JFK said we would land a man on the moon by the end of that decade and, by gum, we did.
Forty-five years later, I was impressed by the successful Orion launch. Many of my fellow progressives were not. Some considered it a stunt by aerospace companies to suck more money out of taxpayers. Others looked at it as NASA's showy way to continue it's storied but error-plagued ways. Many conservatives aren't fans of NASA, one of those wasteful gubment agencies. Libertarians, of course, want space to be left to free enterprise. Progressives see it as a waste of money and resources in a time when our country's infrastructure is crumbling and the middle class is disappearing. Wouldn't our money be better spent in fixing problems here on earth than it would be to go gallivanting off to Mars?
We can do both, of course. We can tend to business here on earth and still reach for the stars. It takes vision and we have to prioritize. We'd rather snipe at one another than shoot for Mars. Human failings. If we choose, space exploration can help us transcend our earthbound ways.
While all of Friday's fireworks happened at Cape Canaveral, Fla., much of Orion's hardware and software was built by Colorado companies. This from The Denver Post:
Orion will go farther into space than any NASA spacecraft built for humans in more than 40 years, powered by Colorado aerospace: It was designed and built by Littleton-based Lockheed Martin Space Systems, has antennae and cameras from Broomfield-based Ball Aerospace, and will hurtle into space on a Delta IV Heavy rocket, made by Centennial-based ULA.
But these big players could not do what they do without the help of some very specialized skills supplied by businesses such as Deep Space Systems, which worked on backup flight control electronics and camera systems.
There are Colorado companies with as few as six employees working on Orion, all specialized in one specific aspect of engineering or technology.There were hundreds of employees from these companies observing the Orion launch this week on the Space Coast. I didn't realize Colorado's crucial role in this latest space venture. I wondered if there were any Wyoming aerospace companies in the mix. Cheyenne and Laramie have been friendly to auxiliary companies to larger ventures in energy and electronics. What about space? I did several Google searches on the topic and came up empty. Do my loyal readers know of any Wyoming-based companies involved in the Orion project? It would seem to be that Cheyenne, the northern terminus of The Front Range, would be a great location for companies involved in propulsion systems and materials and engineering, among a few I can think of.
But back to politics.
I want equality and accessibility and justice and all those other things that progressives believe in. I also want to go to Mars. Not personally, as astronauts may not get there until 2035 or 2040, which would make me much too cranky for the venture. But just to think that it could happen in my lifetime. That's exciting. That's progress.
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Sunday morning round-up: Yummy Gore-tex for seniors, Wyoming Medicaid expansion and "The Poor Are Always With Us"
As we draw closer to the next Wyoming legislative session, we eagerly anticipate having fun with oddball bills promulgated by Republican legislators. State employees may see attempts to change the pension plan from an almost-fully-funded defined benefit plan to something crafted by the Koch Brothers and their minions at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Fellow prog-blogger Rodger McDaniel wrote yesterday about the Wyoming Liberty Group which is working overtime against the current retirement system, calling it a "gold-plated pension plan." The money behind the WLG is right-winger Susan Gore of Texas, who has nothing better to do with her billions than to ensure that hundreds of retirees eat cast-off Gore-tex plucked from dumpsters instead of living -- and eating -- comfortably in retirement. Wonder if Gore-tex tastes better than three-day-old pizza crusts or half-eaten Big Macs? We may all find out if Gore and her outside agitators have their way with the legislature.
Dem gubernatorial candidate Pete Gosar pressed Gov. Mead on this issue for months during the campaign. Now it appears that Medicaid expansion is coming to Wyoming. This excerpt comes from Talking Points Memo:
Love this quote by a writer I admire, Walter Mosley (from Vintage Shorts):
Dem gubernatorial candidate Pete Gosar pressed Gov. Mead on this issue for months during the campaign. Now it appears that Medicaid expansion is coming to Wyoming. This excerpt comes from Talking Points Memo:
Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead's administration is officially recommending that the state expand Medicaid under Obamacare, making the Republican governor the latest conservative to embrace a key pillar of the health care reform law.
The state department of health released a modified plan to expand the low-income insurance plan, the Casper Star-Tribune reported, which pulls from the alternative expansion plans pursued by some other states.If you are among Wyoming's 17,000-some uninsured, get more info at the Wyoming Department of Health.
Love this quote by a writer I admire, Walter Mosley (from Vintage Shorts):
“A good short story crosses the borders of our nations and our prejudices and our beliefs. A good short story asks a question that can’t be answered in simple terms. And even if we come up with some understanding, years later, while glancing out of a window, the story still has the potential to return, to alter right there in our mind and change everything.”Earlier today, I dug out the 1985 Tobias Wolff story anthology, Back in the World. I was talking about Wolff yesterday after I found out that he's one of the presenters at the 2015 Jackson Hole Writers Conference. I was talking to a writer friend about one of Wolff's stories. I thought it was called "The Rich Are Always With Us." I was in the ballpark -- the story's called "The Poor Are Always With Us." I first read the story a couple decades ago and it stayed with me. It has to do with conflicts between generations in Silicon Valley. Now that I found it, I had to read the story again. I suggest you do the same. I didn't even have to look out the window to realize the effect Wolff's story had on me then and now.
Thursday, November 27, 2014
No Black Friday shopping for me
Chris and I were talking about Black Friday.
"We've never shopped on Black Friday, right?" she asked.
I thought about it. I may have bought something on Black Friday. A book. A cup of coffee. Lunch. But we've never stood in line all night waiting to buy the newest electronic gadget at half price. If I had been thinking clearly in 1994, I would have stood in line all night to get Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers figures for our nine-year-old son, Kevin. As it turned out, I was scampering from store to store up until Christmas to find the figures which were flying off the store shelves as soon as they were trucked in from shops in China. We knew it was ludicrous to get manic about little pieces of colored plastic. But try looking your kid in the eye and telling them that Santa Claus failed to deliver a treasured toy. This could lead to a broken heart and lack of faith in the world which later would mean lots of therapy. Who wanted that?
Twenty years later, our kids are grown and in therapy, as are their parents. It all works out.
If only we'd gone to Black Friday....
Thanksgiving weekend shopping has become a battleground. Months ago, stores such as CostCo began advertising that they would not be open on Thanksgiving in order to give their employees a much-needed day off to spend with family.
The inference is that stores which decided to open on Thanksgiving, stores such as Wal-Mart, hated their employees and their families.
The battle lines were drawn even before Black Friday! Interesting to note that CostCo is the darling of union and liberal circles because it pays its employees well, offers benefits and still manages to thrive in a cutthroat business. Wal-Mart, on the other hand, pays such low wages that many of its employees qualify for food stamps and other social safety net services. Wal-Mart is beloved by conservatives because, well, just because.
Liberals don't shop at Wal-Mart, or at least don't admit it. Same goes for Hobby Lobby and Chick-Fil-A. My guess is that if we knew the politics of a store before we shopped there, we may never shop again.
Saturday is Small Business Saturday and is promoted by corporate giant American Express. If you can skip by the irony, you might get enthused enough to shop at your local independent businesses, if you can find any. Indie businesses are usually found in thriving downtowns nourished by the current localism mania. In the 70s and 80s, downtowns were left to fester as development thrived in the burbs and out on the peripheries, such as the formerly sleepy cowpath that became bustling Dell Range Boulevard in Cheyenne, home of Wal-Mart, Frontier Mall and many of the usual chain stores.
Shoppers in the know now look for purveyors of home-grown food and homemade arts and crafts usually located in the central parts of towns and cities. Coffee shops, craft breweries, art galleries, renovated theatres, boutique hotels and customized/ethnic restaurants make up vibrant downtowns. There are some chain stores, true, but they tend to be appropriate to downtown's quaint nature.
I may shop small on Saturday. Or I may not. What about Wal-Mart? I never rule it out. Many bargains. Great people-watching. And, well, Cheyenne has no CostCo. We are getting a second Wal-Mart. And there is a CostCo being built off I-25 in Fort Collins. But that means shopping in Colorado and paying Colorado sales taxes. This boosts the Colorado economy and fuels growth that inexorably slouches toward Cheyenne. Colorado's liberal influences will seep into Cheyenne's culture and turn us slowly blue. I'd hate to see Cheyenne get Colorado-ized, but a tilt toward liberal politics would be a welcome change.
If you must shop, shop small and locally on Saturday, or any any day.
"We've never shopped on Black Friday, right?" she asked.
I thought about it. I may have bought something on Black Friday. A book. A cup of coffee. Lunch. But we've never stood in line all night waiting to buy the newest electronic gadget at half price. If I had been thinking clearly in 1994, I would have stood in line all night to get Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers figures for our nine-year-old son, Kevin. As it turned out, I was scampering from store to store up until Christmas to find the figures which were flying off the store shelves as soon as they were trucked in from shops in China. We knew it was ludicrous to get manic about little pieces of colored plastic. But try looking your kid in the eye and telling them that Santa Claus failed to deliver a treasured toy. This could lead to a broken heart and lack of faith in the world which later would mean lots of therapy. Who wanted that?
Twenty years later, our kids are grown and in therapy, as are their parents. It all works out.
If only we'd gone to Black Friday....
Thanksgiving weekend shopping has become a battleground. Months ago, stores such as CostCo began advertising that they would not be open on Thanksgiving in order to give their employees a much-needed day off to spend with family.
The inference is that stores which decided to open on Thanksgiving, stores such as Wal-Mart, hated their employees and their families.
The battle lines were drawn even before Black Friday! Interesting to note that CostCo is the darling of union and liberal circles because it pays its employees well, offers benefits and still manages to thrive in a cutthroat business. Wal-Mart, on the other hand, pays such low wages that many of its employees qualify for food stamps and other social safety net services. Wal-Mart is beloved by conservatives because, well, just because.
Liberals don't shop at Wal-Mart, or at least don't admit it. Same goes for Hobby Lobby and Chick-Fil-A. My guess is that if we knew the politics of a store before we shopped there, we may never shop again.
Saturday is Small Business Saturday and is promoted by corporate giant American Express. If you can skip by the irony, you might get enthused enough to shop at your local independent businesses, if you can find any. Indie businesses are usually found in thriving downtowns nourished by the current localism mania. In the 70s and 80s, downtowns were left to fester as development thrived in the burbs and out on the peripheries, such as the formerly sleepy cowpath that became bustling Dell Range Boulevard in Cheyenne, home of Wal-Mart, Frontier Mall and many of the usual chain stores.
Shoppers in the know now look for purveyors of home-grown food and homemade arts and crafts usually located in the central parts of towns and cities. Coffee shops, craft breweries, art galleries, renovated theatres, boutique hotels and customized/ethnic restaurants make up vibrant downtowns. There are some chain stores, true, but they tend to be appropriate to downtown's quaint nature.
I may shop small on Saturday. Or I may not. What about Wal-Mart? I never rule it out. Many bargains. Great people-watching. And, well, Cheyenne has no CostCo. We are getting a second Wal-Mart. And there is a CostCo being built off I-25 in Fort Collins. But that means shopping in Colorado and paying Colorado sales taxes. This boosts the Colorado economy and fuels growth that inexorably slouches toward Cheyenne. Colorado's liberal influences will seep into Cheyenne's culture and turn us slowly blue. I'd hate to see Cheyenne get Colorado-ized, but a tilt toward liberal politics would be a welcome change.
If you must shop, shop small and locally on Saturday, or any any day.
Saturday, November 22, 2014
"If we're going to keep our young people in the state..."
"If we're going to keep our young people in the state....."
How often have you seen that phrase used by Wyoming politicians, community leaders and newspaper columnists? I saw that phrase twice on the op-ed pages of this morning's paper.
"If we're going to keep our young people in the state we have to....."
We hear solutions. Diversify the economy. Transform our downtowns. Emphasize the state's "quality of life." Enhance our recreational opportunities. Give every UW grad a lifetime smartphone subscription and his/her own coffee shop or craft brewery.
I made up that last one. Although it's not bad, as ideas go. Wyoming has $2 billion in its rainy day fund and millions more stashed in coffee cans buried in Republican legislators' backyards. Let's take some of that dough and put it to work keeping our young people in the state and energizing the economy.
Alas, even this modest proposal is doomed to failure. There's more to life than crazy apps and pumpkin spice lattes and bitchin' IPAs. Once these young people discover Wyoming's rapidly aging population, they will desert their funky new shops in Cheyenne to do what millennials do -- find other millennials to hang out with in FoCo and LoDo and Boulder and -- God help us all -- Greeley. Cheyenne could end up with legions of drunk, caffeine-infused oldsters tottering around downtown. Many of us will be flush with cash, recipients of those gold-plated state retirement plans. I, for one, plan to buy a gold-plated house and a gold-plated Caddy with all of my gold. I may even gild a lily or two and sell them in the Ye Olde Gilded Lily Emporium which I hope to open downtown.
It's hopeless, you see.
"If we're going to keep our young people in the state...."
In a pig's eye.
How often have you seen that phrase used by Wyoming politicians, community leaders and newspaper columnists? I saw that phrase twice on the op-ed pages of this morning's paper.
"If we're going to keep our young people in the state we have to....."
We hear solutions. Diversify the economy. Transform our downtowns. Emphasize the state's "quality of life." Enhance our recreational opportunities. Give every UW grad a lifetime smartphone subscription and his/her own coffee shop or craft brewery.
I made up that last one. Although it's not bad, as ideas go. Wyoming has $2 billion in its rainy day fund and millions more stashed in coffee cans buried in Republican legislators' backyards. Let's take some of that dough and put it to work keeping our young people in the state and energizing the economy.
Alas, even this modest proposal is doomed to failure. There's more to life than crazy apps and pumpkin spice lattes and bitchin' IPAs. Once these young people discover Wyoming's rapidly aging population, they will desert their funky new shops in Cheyenne to do what millennials do -- find other millennials to hang out with in FoCo and LoDo and Boulder and -- God help us all -- Greeley. Cheyenne could end up with legions of drunk, caffeine-infused oldsters tottering around downtown. Many of us will be flush with cash, recipients of those gold-plated state retirement plans. I, for one, plan to buy a gold-plated house and a gold-plated Caddy with all of my gold. I may even gild a lily or two and sell them in the Ye Olde Gilded Lily Emporium which I hope to open downtown.
It's hopeless, you see.
"If we're going to keep our young people in the state...."
In a pig's eye.
Sunday, November 16, 2014
New generation of book censors play the same old tune
Fiction must be very dangerous.
Why else would parents and school officials be trying to censor Huckleberry Finn, The Scarlet Letter, and A Farewell to Arms?
Parents of students at Highland Park High School in Texas must sign permission slips for their little darlings to read the above classics. I read all of them in Catholic school. Nobody ever asked my parents if it was OK to read such horrible stuff. Nuns and priests assigned them so they must have been just fine, right?
I could see Sister Miriam Catherine laughing with glee if my mother would have said, “Huckleberry Finn is a dangerous book.” And the good sister didn’t laugh easily. My mother would never had said that. She was too busy raising a passel of kids and working as a nurse. My father? When I was in the fourth grade, he invited me to read any book in his expansive library, courtesy of the Book-of-the-Month Club. Keep in mind that he was a conservative Catholic parent, an accountant by trade who read voraciously. Not read Huckleberry Finn? Don’t be absurd. He would have never said “don’t be absurd.” It’s something a character in a novel might say, an English classic such as “Wuthering Heights” (read it in grade school) or maybe one of the fake royalty riding the raft down the Mississippi with Huck Finn and Jim.
My parents and my four grandparents all were readers. Until my father went to college on the G.I. Bill, none had advanced farther than high school. They all would have considered it strange and un-American to tell us what not to read.
Soon at Highland Park, more books will be added to the list:
Meanwhile, in Arizona, rapidly trying to outpace Texas on the batshit-crazy list, teacher Dave Peterson is under fire for teaching “pornographic” literature to their children. The pornography includes classics, such as “Hills like White Elephants” by Hemingway and “Good Country People” by Flannery O’Connor, as well as gems of contemporary fiction by Junot Diaz, Amy Hempel, Tobias Wolff, Ron Carlson and Alice Walker. I’ve read the entire reading list which has been thoughtfully posted on Facebook. It tickles me that Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron” is on the list, a tale about political correctness gone bonkers (did any of the critics actually read these pieces?). It’s a fine reading list, one that I printed out for my own edification. Peterson also included an introduction to his list which serves as both encouragement and a warning. This is obviously a responsible mentor to our children, which is more than I can say about his right-wing critics.
There is a petition on Facebook supporting Peterson. Go sign it, read his list and then go out and read all of the selections. My fellow fiction writers are counting on you.
Remember what Kurt Vonnegut wrote in a letter to the chairman of the Drake (N.C.) school board who had burned some of the author's books:
Why else would parents and school officials be trying to censor Huckleberry Finn, The Scarlet Letter, and A Farewell to Arms?
Parents of students at Highland Park High School in Texas must sign permission slips for their little darlings to read the above classics. I read all of them in Catholic school. Nobody ever asked my parents if it was OK to read such horrible stuff. Nuns and priests assigned them so they must have been just fine, right?
I could see Sister Miriam Catherine laughing with glee if my mother would have said, “Huckleberry Finn is a dangerous book.” And the good sister didn’t laugh easily. My mother would never had said that. She was too busy raising a passel of kids and working as a nurse. My father? When I was in the fourth grade, he invited me to read any book in his expansive library, courtesy of the Book-of-the-Month Club. Keep in mind that he was a conservative Catholic parent, an accountant by trade who read voraciously. Not read Huckleberry Finn? Don’t be absurd. He would have never said “don’t be absurd.” It’s something a character in a novel might say, an English classic such as “Wuthering Heights” (read it in grade school) or maybe one of the fake royalty riding the raft down the Mississippi with Huck Finn and Jim.
My parents and my four grandparents all were readers. Until my father went to college on the G.I. Bill, none had advanced farther than high school. They all would have considered it strange and un-American to tell us what not to read.
Soon at Highland Park, more books will be added to the list:
They are The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, Dracula by Bram Stoker, The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, and The Working Poor: Invisible in America by David K. Shipler.I regret that I have only read two of the books on this list. Now I have added them to my reading list.
Meanwhile, in Arizona, rapidly trying to outpace Texas on the batshit-crazy list, teacher Dave Peterson is under fire for teaching “pornographic” literature to their children. The pornography includes classics, such as “Hills like White Elephants” by Hemingway and “Good Country People” by Flannery O’Connor, as well as gems of contemporary fiction by Junot Diaz, Amy Hempel, Tobias Wolff, Ron Carlson and Alice Walker. I’ve read the entire reading list which has been thoughtfully posted on Facebook. It tickles me that Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron” is on the list, a tale about political correctness gone bonkers (did any of the critics actually read these pieces?). It’s a fine reading list, one that I printed out for my own edification. Peterson also included an introduction to his list which serves as both encouragement and a warning. This is obviously a responsible mentor to our children, which is more than I can say about his right-wing critics.
There is a petition on Facebook supporting Peterson. Go sign it, read his list and then go out and read all of the selections. My fellow fiction writers are counting on you.
Remember what Kurt Vonnegut wrote in a letter to the chairman of the Drake (N.C.) school board who had burned some of the author's books:
“If you were to bother to read my books, to behave as educated persons would, you would learn that they are not sexy, and do not argue in any favor of wildness of any kind. They beg that people be kinder and more responsible that they often are. It is true that some of the characters speak coarsely in real life. Especially soldiers and hard-working men speak coarsely, and even our most sheltered children know that. And we all know, too, that those words really don’t damage children much. They didn’t damage us when we were young. If was evil deeds and lying that hurt us.”
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Rep. Mary Throne brings some Dem humor to the cancer fight
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| Rep. Mary Throne, Democrat of Laramie County, posted this sign on Facebook. She caught some grief for it, support too. It's funny in ways that only a Democrat in Wyoming can understand. We lose a lot of battles but we win some too, and those victories are sweet. And if Mary's post helps raise funds for cancer, who are Republicans to complain? Cowboy up, Repubs, and give to a good cause! Here are Mary's Facebook comments: "With the election behind me, our 3-day Komen trip is just around the corner. I am oh so close to reaching my fundraising goal--please consider a donation to get me over the top. Here's the link:http://www.the3day.org/ |
Sunday, November 09, 2014
Might be time to change that obnoxious county name
The always-interesting Meteor Blades reported Wednesday on Daily Kos some good news that came out of Tuesday's election. Amongst reports about Berkeley, Calif., passing the first tax on soda pop and voters approving legal pot in Oregon, Alaska and D.C., was this from South Dakota:
It's only fitting when a balance comes to Western history. Little Bighorn Battlefield in Montana used to be called Custer Battlefield. It's web site now acts to correct some of the history surrounding this place:
Our county is named for Jacques La Ramee, a French-Canadian fur trapper who frequented these parts. His name is attached to a Wyoming county, city, river and peak, among others.
In Colorado, the name of Col. Chivington has been wiped from the map for his role in leading the Colorado militia that slaughtered Indians, many of them women and children, at the Sand Creek Massacre. The Sand Creek Massacre Trail now criss-crosses Wyoming and Colorado, its path marked by commemorative signs. Here's some info about it from the Miniscule Guide to Cheyenne blog:
It's Oglala Lakota County now: Voters in Shannon County, South Dakota, whose residents are 92 percent Oglala, a division of the Lakota (Sioux) people, voted overwhelmingly to change the name to Oglala Lakota County Tuesday. The vote was 2161 to 526. Shannon was the name of a guy who a lot to do with prying South Dakota land out of Indian hands.This could be a trend. Wonder if that could ever happen in other counties around the West? Wyoming already has a county named for Chief Washakie of the Shoshone. Washakie is celebrated throughout the state, with a statue in front of the state capitol in Cheyenne and a monumental piece of the chief on horseback in front of the main dining hall at the University of Wyoming in Laramie. Ever wonder how many Native Americans are in Washakie County? Approximately 46 out of 8,289 residents. There was a time, of course, when all of the people in what is now Washakie County were Native Americans.
It's only fitting when a balance comes to Western history. Little Bighorn Battlefield in Montana used to be called Custer Battlefield. It's web site now acts to correct some of the history surrounding this place:
This area memorializes the U.S. Army's 7th Cavalry and the Sioux and Cheyenne in one of the Indians last armed efforts to preserve their way of life. Here on June 25 and 26 of 1876, 263 soldiers, including Lt. Col. George A. Custer and attached personnel of the U.S. Army, died fighting several thousand Lakota, and Cheyenne warriors.My town of Cheyenne, Wyoming, was first named Crow Creek Crossing by Gen. Grenville Dodge when he platted the place as a future railroad camp in 1857. Some of those who accompanied him on this expedition thought a better name was Cheyenne after the Cheyenne nation that traversed the area. I'm glad Cheyenne stuck, as Crow Creek Crossing sounds like the name for a gated community. Maybe there is one by that name. Not sure what Crow Creek looked like in 1857, but these days it's a quaint little stream that only gets significant during spring flash floods.
Our county is named for Jacques La Ramee, a French-Canadian fur trapper who frequented these parts. His name is attached to a Wyoming county, city, river and peak, among others.
In Colorado, the name of Col. Chivington has been wiped from the map for his role in leading the Colorado militia that slaughtered Indians, many of them women and children, at the Sand Creek Massacre. The Sand Creek Massacre Trail now criss-crosses Wyoming and Colorado, its path marked by commemorative signs. Here's some info about it from the Miniscule Guide to Cheyenne blog:
The Sand Creek Massacre Trail in Wyoming follows the paths of the Northern Arapaho and Cheyenne in the years after the massacre. It traces them to their supposed wintering on the Wind River Indian Reservation near Riverton in central Wyoming, where the Arapaho remain today. The trail passes through Cheyenne, Laramie, Casper, and Riverton en route to Ethete in Fremont County on the reservation. In recent years, Arapaho youth have taken to running the length of the trail as endurance tests to bring healing to their nation. Alexa Roberts, superintendent of the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site, has said that the trail represents a living portion of the history of the two tribes.
The Wind River Reservation butts up against Fremont County, Wyoming, and is named for John C. Fremont, celebrated in history books as "Pathfinder of the Rocky Mountains." He also was incredibly ambitious, passive-aggressive and impulsive. He was the Republican Party's first presidential nominee but lost in a three-way race against the Democrats and the Know Nothing Party, which accused Fremont of being a Catholic. This incited horrors in the Know Nothing's immigrant-hating followers. You see the same reaction in Tea Party members today. When the Civil War erupted, Lincoln appointed Fremont as general of the armies of the West. Lincoln fired Fremont for issuing his own Emancipation Proclamation, although two years later, Lincoln issued a similar one.
Wyoming's Fremont Peak, Fremont Canyon and Pathfinder Reservoir all are named after John C. Fremont. The Pathfinder's expeditions certainly opened up the West for the exploitation of its native inhabitants. But if we changed all of the places in the West named for impulsive explorers and money-grubbers and Indian traders and Indian killers and land-grabbers, well, we'd have to change a lot of names.
Saturday, November 08, 2014
Friday, November 07, 2014
Lifting of same-sex marriage ban in Wyoming a big surprise
I don't know about you, but I am still stunned by October's news that same-sex marriage is now the law of the land in Wyoming. I never thought I would see that day. I'm a supporter and have been for many years. The same goes for my wife Chris. We've been married for 32 years. In February 2011, we attended a rally at the Capitol supporting marriage equality. Rev. Rodger McDaniel and his wife Pat were scheduled to burn a copy of their 34-year-old marriage license as were the rest of us married folks who turned out to support the cause. The authorities frowned on burning things on public property so McDaniel used a paper shredder instead. Not as picturesque but we got the point across. If our LGBT friends can't get married, our marriage licenses aren't worth the paper they are printed on.
Now they are.
Credit goes to Wyoming Equality for its efforts. Kudos to Jeran Artery for being the face of the movement in his home state. Jeran and his partner Mike will be married soon. Wishing much happiness to this loving couple.
As is often the case in our strange state, it wasn't just Democrats who stand up for marriage equality. Republicans and Libertarians are also in the mix. Sen. Cale Case and Rep. Sue Wallis spoke out publicly for the legislature's civil unions bill.
Wyoming has come a long way in a short amount of time. So has the country. So have I. I grew up in the South of the sixties. Gays and lesbians were safely in the closet. Those who attempted to live openly gay lives were tormented and beat up. It was nominally OK for gay guys to be hairdressers and florists. It was not OK for them to be teachers, coaches, doctors, carpenters or politicians. Queers. Homos. Faggots. You've heard all of the terms. Name-calling hurts. Getting punched in the face hurts too.
Why am I tolerant when others are not? I lived in cities where I had LGBT neighbors and friends. I worked in the arts where many LGBT people work. The arts has always called those with different sensibilities. I once interviewed a successful dancer for a story. He grew up in Casper. He was an athlete who wanted to be a dancer and not a football player. He had some wonderful teachers, but also had to endure a lot of abuse from classmates. He ended up attending an arts high school in Massachusetts, college in New York City and now is a principal at a Canadian dance company. Why was this Wyomingite called to be a dancer and not a cowboy? There's some mystery in that, but thank goodness he found out what his calling was and had a chance to pursue his dreams.
BTW, there are gay cowboys in Wyoming, and not just in Annie Proulx's short stories.
I like who I have become. An aging tolerant white guy. This puts me at odds with some of my demographic cohort, but it has always been thus. Baby Boomers are a cantankerous lot. All of the battles we fight now, we also fought back in the sixties and seventies. I was a peacenik who was supposed to be a warrior. I was tolerant when I was supposed to be a bigot. I am a feminist who was supposed to be a know-it-all patriarch. I'm a liberal from a conservative family, A writer who was trained to be a priest or a corporate board president or one of those blowhards you see on FOX.
By taking a different path, I took a different path.
And that has made all of the difference.
Now they are.
Credit goes to Wyoming Equality for its efforts. Kudos to Jeran Artery for being the face of the movement in his home state. Jeran and his partner Mike will be married soon. Wishing much happiness to this loving couple.
As is often the case in our strange state, it wasn't just Democrats who stand up for marriage equality. Republicans and Libertarians are also in the mix. Sen. Cale Case and Rep. Sue Wallis spoke out publicly for the legislature's civil unions bill.
Wyoming has come a long way in a short amount of time. So has the country. So have I. I grew up in the South of the sixties. Gays and lesbians were safely in the closet. Those who attempted to live openly gay lives were tormented and beat up. It was nominally OK for gay guys to be hairdressers and florists. It was not OK for them to be teachers, coaches, doctors, carpenters or politicians. Queers. Homos. Faggots. You've heard all of the terms. Name-calling hurts. Getting punched in the face hurts too.
Why am I tolerant when others are not? I lived in cities where I had LGBT neighbors and friends. I worked in the arts where many LGBT people work. The arts has always called those with different sensibilities. I once interviewed a successful dancer for a story. He grew up in Casper. He was an athlete who wanted to be a dancer and not a football player. He had some wonderful teachers, but also had to endure a lot of abuse from classmates. He ended up attending an arts high school in Massachusetts, college in New York City and now is a principal at a Canadian dance company. Why was this Wyomingite called to be a dancer and not a cowboy? There's some mystery in that, but thank goodness he found out what his calling was and had a chance to pursue his dreams.
BTW, there are gay cowboys in Wyoming, and not just in Annie Proulx's short stories.
I like who I have become. An aging tolerant white guy. This puts me at odds with some of my demographic cohort, but it has always been thus. Baby Boomers are a cantankerous lot. All of the battles we fight now, we also fought back in the sixties and seventies. I was a peacenik who was supposed to be a warrior. I was tolerant when I was supposed to be a bigot. I am a feminist who was supposed to be a know-it-all patriarch. I'm a liberal from a conservative family, A writer who was trained to be a priest or a corporate board president or one of those blowhards you see on FOX.
By taking a different path, I took a different path.
And that has made all of the difference.
Saturday, November 01, 2014
Wyoming ACLU shares some tips for election day
Many people in Wyoming have already voted. I'm not one of them, as I'm an election day voter kind of guy. Not sure why really. Voting has always been a pleasurable experience, even when the results don't turn out as you hoped. It is a civic duty, crucial to our democracy. Too bad that half of all Americans don't bother to vote. Wonder how they sleep at night?
I've heard all of the arguments. It doesn't matter who you vote for. It's all rigged. Democrats and Republicans are all the same. I can't get off work. That last one is a real problem, especially for those who work hourly jobs or more than one job or don't have their own transportation or speak English as their second language. Republicans have been working overtime to make voting harder.
Here are some voting tips from the Wyoming ACLU:
Are you ready for Election Day? With less than a week until Election Day, it’s important to remember that every vote counts!
In order to participate in the democratic process all voters need to understand the rules in our state, register on time, and show up at the correct polling place.
Follow these steps to make sure can vote in this year’s election:
- Election Day is Tuesday, November 4
- Wyoming polls are open from 7 am to 7 pm
- Make sure you are registered to vote. If you are not already registered, Wyoming allows qualified voters to register at the polls on Election Day. However, you must bring an acceptable form of ID to the polls for same day registration. (example: passport or Wyoming driver’s license)
- Locate your polling place.
- Get to the polls early to avoid the rush
- Contact your Wyoming County Clerk’s office with any further questions
We encourage all Wyoming voters to make their voice heard and vote in the upcoming election.
- Learn more about the ACLU’s efforts to protect voting rights.
Voting is one of our most basic rights, and it is the fundamental right which all of our civil liberties rest.
Friday, October 31, 2014
UW Prof Jeff Lockwood previews new book, "Living Behind the Carbon Curtain"
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| Jeff Lockwood |
I do. You do too if you're in Wyoming.
University of Wyoming prof and author Jeff Lockwood will preview his new book on the subject Saturday evening in Sheridan at the Powder River Basin Resource Council annual gathering.
Lockwood's book is Behind the Carbon Curtain: The Energy Industry, Political Censorship and Free Speech. The book won't be out for another year -- Lockwood's Saturday talk is but a teaser.
See Dustin Bleizeffer's article about this in Friday's Wyofile. Here's an excerpt:
On one level, the book is about a series of cases in which the energy industry has colluded with government in Wyoming to censor art and education. But in a larger sense, said Lockwood, Behind the Carbon Curtain is about something even more worrisome; it’s about how corporatocracy is rooted in the Equality State and throughout many levels of government nationwide. Corporatocracy is a term used to describe governments that are designed to serve the interests of corporations, and not necessarily citizens. A couple of examples of corporatocracy at work in Wyoming are the removal of Carbon Sink (the sculpture that offended coal industry interests) and the unofficially dubbed “Teeters Amendment” — a last-minute measure tagged onto the state budget bill that prohibited even the discussion of Next Generation Science Standards for its acknowledgment of man’s role in climate change.Read the rest at http://wyofile.com/dustin/uw-professor-previews-book-critical-energy-influence/#sthash.fhTLvQNs.dpuf
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Wyoming Education Association withdraws Balow endorsement
The Casper Star-Tribune reported this last night:
A political group representing Wyoming teachers announced Monday it has withdrawn support for GOP schools chief candidate Jillian Balow based on attacks she made against Democratic opponent Mike Ceballos in a campaign fundraising letter sent last month.
On late Sunday afternoon, the Wyoming Education Association's Political Action Committee for Education, decided to pull its support of Balow, said Kathy Vetter, who is both president of the 6,000-member WEA and chairwoman of the PAC. The group is composed of WEA members who voluntarily donate to the PAC and make decisions on which candidates to support.
The PAC had previously endorsed both candidates for superintendent of public instruction, Vetter said.
You can read Balow's fund-raising letter on the CST site. Its content won't be surprising to anyone familiar with Republican tactics in Wyoming. She links her Democratic opponent, Mike Ceballos, with unions and those liberals in Washington, D.C., such as Pres. Obama and education chief Arne Duncan who "hand-picked" Ceballos to "federalize" education in Wyoming. Balow also asked for campaign contributions, which is what candidates do, but writes that she will need the money to blunt attacks by her liberal opponent. I've been campaigning for Ceballos and haven't seen any attack ads -- or attack letters -- from his team.
As for his ties with all those wicked liberals inside the Beltway:
Ceballos has said the only people he knows in Washington are Wyoming’s all-Republican congressional delegation.
No surprise that our Repub trio in D.C. have all endorsed Balow and, by inference, her tactics. They've all used the "blame Obama for everything" approach in their own campaigns. They're reliably anti-union. This union member wonders why all of these inside the Beltway conservatives always take the side of corporate interests over those of working people such as teachers and state employees.
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Another great reason to vote -- the future of mental health care
Voting on Nov. 4 is important for so many reasons. For us Democrats, it's an opportunity to get our message out and to elect progressives to our Republican-dominated legislature which, frankly, often appears as if it's lost its ever-lovin' mind. Right now, Democrats hold 14 of the 90 seats in this august body. We need new voices, ones that represent women, ethnic minorities, the LGBT community and a younger demographic. We have Democrats running in all of those categories this time. We need them in the legislature. We also have great candidates for governor (Pete Gosar) and superintendent of public instruction (Mike Ceballos). Social-justice advocate Charlie Hardy is running for U.S. Senate. Vote!
There are other good reasons for voting. It gets you out of the office for an hour or two -- if your employer deigns to have this benefit. You see old friends working the polls -- if you're a certain age (mine!). You get that nifty "I Voted" sticker for your shirt or blouse.
Here's another. Mental health care depends on voting for the best candidates.Those candidates are usually Democrats. Don't expect Republicans or Libertarians to give two shits about the mentally ill. What about Dems? Well, our country's mental health system is terrible. Blame Obama! He gets a sliver of the blame, but he also gets credit for the Affordable Care Act and the Mental Health Parity Act. Give some credit to George W. Bush for the latter. There are Republicans that have had mental health challenges and others who have mentally ill family members. But their ideology often gets in the way of logic and compassion. You need a structure to care for those who need it. That usually means gubment. Just saying "get over it" or "cowboy up" won't do it. Wishing it will go away doesn't cut it. It doesn't work for other threats, such as terrorists or Ebola or cat-five hurricanes. You need a sensible structure to deal with these threats.
Republicans have also worked overtime -- with their SCOTUS pals -- to disenfranchise voters. You can count the mentally ill in the category of marginalized citizens. Also include the poor, the undocumented, the elderly, those who speak English as a second language, etc.
And then there's the lack of Medicaid expansion, mostly in red states such as Wyoming.
Dania Douglas wrote this recent post for the NAMI blog. I decided to publish it intact on this blog. Call me lazy. Call me concerned. Just don't call me late for dinner.
Go Vote. Mental Health Care Depends On It
By Dania Douglas, NAMI State Advocacy Manager
It’s that time of year when various colored signs start popping up on lawns and medians across the country. Going to the farmers markets or getting on and off public transportation most likely means you’re going to be handed a pamphlet of sort. In other words, it’s election season. Political advertisements fill the radio airwaves and newspapers are bursting with election-related articles. So what does any of it have to do with mental health? Each year elected officials make decisions related to health care, education, housing and employment that will directly impact the lives of people living with mental illness. Today’s candidates will become tomorrow’s elected officials, with the power to make important decisions. As voters concerned about mental health care, it is critical that we learn about issues, educate candidates about the importance of mental health, and use our votes to elect representatives that will help improve mental health care in this country.
Be Prepared
There are a few important steps you can take to make sure you’re ready for Election Day! Check to make sure you are registered to vote. Make sure you know where to go to cast your vote on Election Day as local polling places can change. Make sure your voter ID is up to date.
Get to Know the Candidates
Do your homework. Listen to what candidates are saying about mental health. Better yet, ask questions. If you feel that candidates are not addressing important issues contact their campaign. Ask them about the issues that are most important to you. If you don’t know where to start, check out our materials for sample questions. Be ready to educate the candidates, to dispel myths or stereotypes, and to explain why mental health issues are so important. If you have a chance tomeet with your candidate in person, take advantage of that opportunity. If not, email, call or write. Visit NAMI’s website for more important tips on talking with candidates.
Know Your Rights
Voting is a Constitutional right and the foundation of our democracy. People with mental illness should have full and equal access to polling places. Unfortunately, misinformation and misunderstanding about mental illness can lead to discrimination. However, there are numerousfederal laws that help safeguard your right to vote. Learning about these laws can help you make sure your rights are protected. Voters with mental illness also have the right to have assistance on voting day. If you need assistance with voting, federal law gives you the right to choose the person, such as a friend or family member, who will help you cast your ballot. In some states, people can be disqualified from voting if they have a guardian or have been declared incapacitated by a court of law. NAMI has created a guide to state laws that affect the voting rights of people with mental illness.
Election Day, Go Vote!
Nov. 4, 2014 is Election Day. Make sure you show up to the polls or find out how to cast an absentee ballot. Every vote counts. Your vote is your voice. Use it to tell candidates that mental health care matters!
Thursday, October 23, 2014
For Democrat Charlie Hardy -- Have lights, will travel
Wyoming Democrat Charlie Hardy doesn't have the funds for fancy billboards, be they old-fashioned variety or the new e-versions. However, he does have some old stage lights and a "Charlie Hardy for U.S. Senate" template. He takes his jerry-rigged projection system around Wyoming on a refurbished 1960 city bus festooned with campaign signs. He projects his electioneering slogan and the simple "Vote!" on the sides of buildings around the state. His favorite screen is the front of Wal-Mart stores, when he can find one.
The projection medium above is one of the many excellent outdoor murals in Laramie, where Charlie and his red-white-and-blue bus prowled last weekend during University of Wyoming's homecoming weekend. When he's not campaigning, he parks the bus in the corner of the most visible intersections in his hometown of Cheyenne.
Charlie is an ex-priest. He ministered to flocks throughout Wyoming then, from 1985-1993, he ministered in poverty-stricken areas in South America. He lived for most of those eight years in a pressed-cardboard-and-tin shack in a barrio on the edge of Caracas, Venezuela.
Charlie's opponent in the U.S. Senate race is incumbent Republican Mike Enzi. He's a kindly gentleman, an indie businessman, a dedicated reader and long-time arts supporter. Problem is, he votes with the right-wing loonies 98 percent of the time. He has to go.
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Don't miss Wyoming author Mark Spragg this Friday at Booklovers' Bash
Plan to attend the Booklovers’ Bash, the primary annual fund-raiser for the Laramie County Library Foundation, on Friday, October 24, 6 p.m., at Little America Hotel & Resort in Cheyenne. Featured speaker this year will be well-known author Mark Spragg.
Mark Spragg grew up working on Wyoming’s oldest dude ranch just east of Yellowstone National Park and is a graduate of the University of Wyoming. His memoir, Where Rivers Change Direction, won the Mountains & Plains Book award for nonfiction in 2000. He is also the author of the novels The Fruit of Stone, An Unfinished Life and Bone Fire. All four were top-ten Book Sense selections and have been translated into fifteen languages. An Unfinished Life was made into a major motion picture starring Robert Redford, Jennifer Lopez and Morgan Freeman in 2005. Spragg and his wife Virginia co-wrote the screenplay. The couple live in Cody, Wyoming.
There will be silent and live auction items.Tickets must be purchased in advance. Call 307.773.7221 for more information.
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