Vote for these good people for the LCSD No. 1 Board of Trustees

The Wyoming Public Employees Association (WPEA), the union that represents Wyoming's public servants, has endorsed a slate of candidates in Laramie County. In my previous post, I forgot the mention the endorsements for the Laramie County School District No. 1 Board of Trustees. They are:

Nate Breen
Mark Klaasen
Tim Lockwood

There is another great candidate in the running. That is Lynn A. Storey-Huylar. Not sure why she didn't get the endorsement. It's possible she didn't come into the WPEA for an interview. Anyway, all of these people are worthy of the post. They decide school district policy and make sure that we have the best teachers and administrators. They believe in public education. Pick the best three.

There are a few knuckle-draggers among the other candidates. Avoid them.

In his second term, President Obama should say "I Like My Inner Ike!"

I recall the 1950s political slogan "I Like Ike!"

So does my thoughtful friend and writer Larry Letich.

He has penned an essay entitled "In Obama's Second Term -- Should He Have One -- Obama Must Embrace His Inner Eisenhower." He's posted it as a note on his Facebook page. If you like reasonable discourse (or even if you don't), I encourage you to read it. Go to http://www.facebook.com/notes/larry-letich/in-obamas-second-term-should-he-have-one-obama-must-embrace-his-inner-eisenhower/10151223979882305

New York Times editorial: Republican voter intimidation is a big fail

While voter intimidation may be attempted in Wyoming, it won't have nearly the impact that it will have in swing states such as Colorado and Florida.

Here's a brilliant staff editorial in today's New York Times:

This year, voting is more than just the core responsibility of citizenship; it is an act of defiance against malicious political forces determined to reduce access to democracy. Millions of ballots on Tuesday — along with those already turned in — will be cast despite the best efforts of Republican officials around the country to prevent them from playing a role in the 2012 election.

Even now, many Republicans are assembling teams to intimidate voters at polling places, to demand photo ID where none is required, and to cast doubt on voting machines or counting systems whose results do not go their way. The good news is that the assault on voting will not affect the election nearly as much as some had hoped. Courts have either rejected or postponed many of the worst laws. Predictions that up to five million people might be disenfranchised turned out to be unfounded.

Read the rest at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/opinion/sunday/voting-rights-upholding-democracy.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0

Laramie artist asks readers to step out of their political comfort zone for new takes on creativity

GRACE, Felicia Follum, 24"x36", $150 

Laramie artist Felicia Follum made this poster to celebrate "grace," and also to help us think about what it means. She also asks her readers to design graphics based on the upcoming election:

All right, to kick off my Art+ Creativity Prompts I figured I would start with some election inspiration.  So many people seem to be fueled by the politics surrounding us though we never really step out and look at the 2012 election (or any other for that matter) from the other side or analyze the benefits of the opposition. Regardless of results, we need to learn to honor and support our country/president even if we disagree. Since this post is a little late in the game I am offering a couple alternative options. 

She's requesting a bit of grace from all of us. Read the "alternative options" at Creativity Prompt: Political Promo. And then turn loose your creativity.

Rodger McDaniel outs Richard Wall's McCarthyism

In today's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, and on his blog, Rev. Rodger McDaniel explores a case of home-grown McCarthyism.

Richard Wall, a well-known local Republican extremist, "outed" Democratic Party candidates in his Tuesday WTE column. This was his lame attempt to purge Wyoming, once and for all, of that annoying two-party system that is a hallmark of our democracy. True, we could use more than two serious political parties. But in Mr. Wall's universe, a one-size-fits-all, one-thought-process-for-all, is in tune with his reactionary political philosophy.

In keeping with transparency, Rodger also names those Democrats who are running in all local races, whether those are bipartisan or non-partisan race. He is as proud of them as I am. It's not easy being a Democrat in Wyoming. Only the bravest and most thoughtful follow that course.

Read Rodger's blog post at http://blowinginthewyomingwind.blogspot.com/2012/11/are-you-now-or-have-you-ever-beena.html

I also encourage you to buy and read today's WTE. Interesting and well-researched cover story on "Agenda 21," the United Nations' plan that allegedly will allegedly force us to live in "prescribed habitation zones" where we all will dwell in identical, government-built hobbit homes. We will be forced to abandon our cars and ride bicycles to work, unless Cheyenne builds a U.N-mandated monorail -- we'll commute on that instead. Sing it folks: Monorail!

I was surprised to find that WTE had posted the story on its low-tech web site. But it did. Reading the comments is half the fun (I've heard of "whackadoodles" but "whackaloons?"). Go to http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2012/11/04/news/01top_11-04-12.txt

Wyoming Tribune Eagle: Early voting eclipses 2008 numbers

Lots of people voting early in Wyoming, including a fair number of our Laramie County neighbors. Read more here: Early voting eclipses 2008 tally.

You can still vote early in downtown Cheyenne on Monday. And on Tuesday, vote at your precincts. 

For all of my writer friends -- and me too: Everybody gets a trophy!

From the New York Times Sunday Book Review

Vote for balance and equality in The Equality State's Legislature

Linda Stowers from the Laramie County Democrats sends this info: Daily through November 5 we will be making calls to precincts to get out the vote on November 6. We need all of your help. The script is very easy and more of a courtesy call. We will be calling by precincts. The calls can be made from your home or the office and can be done within this time frame. Please help the Democrats in Laramie County get elected. E-mail me at lpstowers at bresnan dot net if you can help and I will arrange to get you a list and script. Your help will make a difference this year.

Multimedia Environmental Concert in Laramie asks "What Can I Do -- to help this planet?"

Vote for Pres. Obama, for one thing.

Here's the event:

"What Can I Do?" Multimedia Environmental Concert
8 p.m., Saturday, November 3
Coal Creek Coffee Company
110 E. Grand Ave, Laramie

This is a 60-75-minute educational keynote presentation featuring the photography of renowned John Fielder, Karl Snyder and Laurie Dameron, video, information and live music. Special guest speaker Erik Molvar, Wildlife Biologist, City Council member in Laramie and Executive Director for Biodiversity Conservation Alliance. 

FMI: www.facebook.com/WhatCanIDoSpaceshipEarth and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml4gzZthi5o

Think about this before you shop at the new Menards store being built in Cheyenne

This story originally ran on AlterNet and was reposted on Salon Nov. 1:

This January, as the Iowa Caucuses were underway, Menards began encouraging employees to take an at-home online “civics” course that characterizes the economic policies of President Barack Obama as a threat to the success of businesses such as Menards, and by extension, to the employees’ own well-being.

The course, titled “Civics 101: The National Self Governing Will In-Home Training,” incorporates much of the material comprising the Prosperity 101 program that AlterNet, working in partnership with the Investigative Fund at the Nation Institute, exposed last year — a program concocted by Koch-linked political operatives Mark Block and Linda Hansen, late of the now-defunct Herman Cain presidential campaign. In March, Daniel Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the FBI is investigating possible financial improprieties involving two non-profit organizations founded by Block that are linked to Prosperity 101, which is a for-profit venture.

Full story at Retailer pressures workers to take anti-Obama “civics course”

Slate asks: What if UW President Tom Buchanan had given a speech defending "Carbon Sink?"

From an Oct. 31 article by Michelle Nijhuis on Slate Online about the "Carbon Sink" brouhaha at the University of Wyoming (the controversy that wouldn't die):

The University of Wyoming, like most public universities, has a mission statement that calls for academic freedom and free expression. University donors are supposed to further that mission, not try to restrict it, and university leaders are supposed to defend it.

What if President Buchanan had given a speech...? He could have acknowledged the reaction to Carbon Sink (taking care to first learn its name), and acknowledged the economic and political power of the coal industry in Wyoming. He could have acknowledged the science -- some conducted at his own university -- that demonstrates the connections between coal power and climate change, and climate change and forest decline. And he could have said that while coal is useful and important, it’s equally important to not only acknowledge its costs but also work to reduce them. He could have pointed to existing university programs aimed at doing just that, and called on the legislature -- and the industry -- to fund more.

It wouldn’t have ended the controversy. But it might have opened the conversation.

Nijhuis also explored another controversy over public art, this one at the University of Indiana at Bloomington. A student group demanded the removal of a Thomas Hart Benton mural that shows KKK members in robes. The KKK almost took over the state of Indiana. Benton was just trying to show his state's history, major warts and all. This controversy ended when the UI President made a speech, refusing to remove the mural, calling on UI students and faculty to use it as a teaching moment. Which they did.

Imagine that?

Whistle Stop Film Festival stops at Mt. Sinai Synagogue in Cheyenne

From Wyoming Community Media's Whistle Stop Film Festival:

Mt. Sinai Synagogue in Cheyenne will present a double feature of two short documentary films on Saturday, Nov. 3, 7 p.m.  The films are:

Shanghai Ghetto (95 minutes): A gentle, loving accounting of 20,000 mostly German Jews who were able to escape the Nazi's before World War II started and go to Shanghai, China, where the Japanese were in control of that city.

Visas and Virtues (30 minutes): 1997 Oscar-winning short by Chris Tashima. Haunted by the sight of hundreds of Jewish refugees outside the consulate gates, a Japanese diplomat and his wife, at the beginning of World War II, must decide how much they are willing to risk. Inspired by a true story, this Academy Award® winning portrait gracefully captured in period black and white by noted cinematographer Hiro Narita poignantly pays tribute to the rescuer of 6,000 Jews from the Holocaust.

The movies will be shown in the Social Hall at the Synagogue. For more information, go to
http://mtsinaicheyenne.org/special_events.asp, or contact Jaimee Sodosky, 303-503-1844

Wyoming Public Employees Association releases its list of Nov. 6 endorsements

Spent yesterday evening at union HQ making phone calls for Kathleen Petersen, Democrat running for the seat in House District 8. I left a lot of messages (other people screen their call too) but did talk to a number of people who had already voted for Kathleen or were going to on Nov. 6. Many had talked to the candidate as she made her rounds in Precinct 2-5, which is just a stone's throw from my precinct. We vote at the same place -- the Cheyenne Berean Church on Powderhouse. Anyone who has talked to Kathleen is impressed. We wish her the best on Nov. 6.

My union is the Wyoming Public Employees Union. The WPEA sent out thousands of postcards listing its endorsements for Laramie County legislative races. They are:

SD4: Tony Ross (R)
SD6: Wayne Johnson (R)
SD8: Floyd Esquibel (D)
HD7: Joe Fender (D)
HD8: Kathleen Petersen (D)
HD11: Mary A. Throne (D)
HD12: Lee Filer (D)
HD41: Ken A. Esquibel (D)
HD42: Gary Datus (D)
HD43: Dan Zwonitzer (R)
HD44: James W. Byrd (D)

The WPEA doesn't endorse a candidate unless he/she comes in for an extensive interview by union members. I did a few of those and was impressed by the scope of the process. Many questions concerned preservation of the state's defined benefits pension plan, which TEA Party Republicans want to dismantle. Suffice to say, none of the R's on this list are pension-busters. Some of their opponents are: Sue Wilson (R-TEA Party), HD7; Lynn Hutchings (R-TEA Party), HD42; David Kniseley (R-TEA Party), HD 12. Not sure about Jerry Zellars who is running against incumbent Mary Throne in HD11. I will look up his web site and read the platform.

I received a postcard today from Kathleen's Republican opponent in HD8, Bob Nicholas. Bob's talking points include increasing funding for Cheyenne and Laramie County, and increased funding for LCCC. Lower down on the list, he says that he wants to "limit government spending and interference." Those are code words for "shrink government so small that it can be drowned in a bathtub." I believe those are right-winger Grover Norquist's words.

You actually have to fund a government so it can be effective in any number of tasks, such as emergency response (remember last summer's raging wildfires), building schools, paving roads, plowing highways, policing the bad guys, licensing food outlets, monitoring the weather, guiding airplanes so they don't crash, etc. You also have to pay those people a living wage with benefits. That's something that this legislature has refused to do.

Vote for the WPEA slate. And support your local union.

Feel like writing 50,000 words in November? The library wants to help...

Press release from the Laramie County Public Library:

Get ready with your laptops, pens and paper (or even quills and parchment!) for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)! Participants begin writing on November 1 and must finish their novel on or before November 30. The Laramie County Library will host several events for adults and teens.

The kick-off will be Thursday, November 1, from 6:00-7:30 pm in the Willow Room. We’ll have plenty of food and drink available as you buckle down and get writing for this annual challenge. Bring everything you need to make this a successful hour and a half and get started on your 50,000 words!

Next, on Saturday, November 10, 10:00am-4:00 pm in the Cottonwood Room, participate in a one-day workshop designed to help you navigate the next steps toward publication of your novel. Paths to Publication will have you joining seven Wyoming authors for a day of workshops filled with insights into the journey from “the end” to publication. These workshops are designed for teen and adult novelists at all levels.

Have some crazy fun on Thursday, November 15 from 6:00-7:30 pm in the Willow Room, where you’ll be designing your own book cover. Now’s your chance in this hands-on workshop to create your own cover for a blank book that could be used as a journal, sketchbook, recipe anthology, or even the first draft of your novel! We provide all the supplies needed – just bring your imagination.  Sign up required for this – call 307.634.3561, or visit the library.

The final event for NaNoWriMo will be the wrap-up party on Sunday, December 2, 3:00-4:00pm in the Willow Room. Prizes will be given to everyone who finishes their 50,000 words on time!

Laramie County Library is located at 2200 Pioneer Avenue, Cheyenne. For more information call the library at 307.634.3561.

Quills and parchment? Count me in...

Mitt Romney: When s*** happens, you are on your own

Columnist Eugene Robinson explores Mitt Romney's stance on disaster response. Let's privatize it! Tell that to the folks in New Jersey, New York, Delaware, Connecticut, etc. Read the entire column at http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/eugene-robinson-romney-would-pass-the-buck-on-disasters/2012/10/29/c1dbbdca-21f2-11e2-ac85-e669876c6a24_story.html

Outlaw Saloon bans same-sex couples at Wednesday night promotions

Welcome to the Equality State! Cognitive Dissonance out of Laramie carried this photo of a sign posted at the Outlaw Saloon in Cheyenne. Read the inside story at http://cognitivedissonance.tumblr.com/post/34689072166/hey-folks-do-you-live-in-or-near-cheyenne-wyo

Reflections by writers and artists featured at "Listening to Nature" on Nov. 9

Walking neighborhoods for Wyoming Democrats can be educational and even exciting

I've been spending my October Saturdays walking neighborhoods for Democratic Party candidates. I canvassed for Mary Throne in HD11. Canvassing means you actually ring the doorbell of likely voters and talk to them if they answer. Sometimes those people are friendly and sometimes not. More and more homes, it seems, have "no soliciting" signs on front doors. Canvassing is technically not soliciting, but we usually treat it as if it was. Some houses carry more serious signs. "Beware of dog" is one that gets my attention. Candidates tell us to rattle the front gate. If a dog appears, go to the next house. If not, proceed. That usually works, but I've been surprised by dogs a few times. They were friendly, thank goodness. A husband and wife team traveling the spread-out House District 7 yesterday pulled into a driveway and were greeted by two pit bulls. They moved on to the next house. Even dog people think twice about dropping off a leaflet to a pit bull-patrolled residence.

Other signs? "Protected by Smith & Wesson" with a large drawing of a handgun aimed at my face usually commands a few paranoid thoughts. Ditto for "No Trespassing." Not too many of those, except in the very rural areas of the county.

Most Saturday's I've been conducting "lit drops." This calls for the lit dropper to place a door hanger on a doorknob or, if it's windy as it usually is, inside the screen door or under the doormat. It was windy yesterday in HD7, where firefighter and friend of the working man Joe Fender is contesting a Republican for an open seat. I found a number of handy jack-o-lanterns and flower planters on those houses that had neither a mat or a screen door. The houses on the shady side of the streets also carried another hazard -- ice. I was wearing boots but slipped a few times. Nothing serious. Made me appreciate those people who actually shovel or snowblow their sidewalks and driveways.

Another thought occurred to me. Many people never use their front doors. They drive into the garage and enter that way. In some developments, such as The Pointe, houses have no mailboxes. The mail is delivered to mailboxes clustered for each neighborhood. So the only people using some sidewalks are political candidates, the UPS man, neighbors and friends. Yesterday, I didn't see a whole lot of activity in The Pointe. Saw two people walking their dogs, two joggers, a couple of kids, and cars driving down the street. It was a cold day so people were inside -- I can understand that. Still, it might be a bit more neighborly to clear your sidewalks of snow and ice.

Last Saturday, I did a lit drop for Lee Filer in HD12. His opponent is David Knisely, who attended last week's TEA Party rally in Lions Park. It's another open seat and one that Democrats need to win. We have some great candidates in Laramie County, the state's most populous with 16 percent of its people. It's growing, too. This makes it a real challenge for candidates. Wyoming is a state that likes personal contact with those running for public office. The county has more than 41,000 housing units, according to 2010 census figures (and 2011 updates). That's a lot of walking and riding and talking and hand shaking. Both Filer and Fender have a great shot at winning open seats. It's also good that they are running against TEA Party extremists.

There's another hazard that doesn't get much attention. People are on high alert for strangers in their neighborhoods. We've recently had some high-profile child abductions in Wyoming and Colorado. One girl in Westminster, Colo., was abducted and killed. So it wasn't too surprising when someone called the cops on me last Saturday. I was walking the Harmony Meadows neighborhood in Lee Filer's district. Nice, new affordable houses. Most were occupied, although I did see foreclose signs on two abandoned houses.

I was just about finished with my rounds when a Cheyenne police cruiser drove by slowly. I waved; the car stopped. I walked up to the car's window, expecting it to open. Instead, the police officer got out of the car. He asked me what I was doing. I held up my colorful door hangers and told him. He seemed suspicious. Another police car was coming down the street. The cop explained that someone had called 911 and reported a suspicious man in a blue T-shirt was rattling doorknobs. I was wearing a blue Lee Filer T-shirt. I had hung a number of flyers on doorknobs. I may have rattled some in the process. The policeman asked me about my car. I pointed to the corner and said that's my red Ford Fusion right over there. He looked at the car and back at me. He said O.K., and then walked over to talk to his colleague in the other car. As innocent as I was, I also was a bit shaken. It's no fun getting rousted by the cops. If I was a paranoid type, I might think that some Republican called out of spite. I may have looked suspicious to someone. Maybe an oldster heard the doorknob rattle and then saw my tall shadow pass their window. Two kids had yelled hi to me out of a window and I yelled hi back. Maybe their parents thought something untoward was happening with this guy in their yard. Who knows? I pay attention when I see strangers walking through my neighborhood. Some suspicion is a good thing.

We're rapidly running out of weekends in this election cycle. Thanks goodness, one might say. Hasn't this gone on forever?

Maybe not forever, but it's been a long time. Let's hope we get some Dems into the mix in the Wyoming House and Senate. This one-party state needs some diversity. In this case, we're not only talking cultural and gender diversity but a diversity of opinion and process. Results, too.

This Liberal Arts grad in Wyoming urges Florida creatives to come to a place where they are valued

Florida's Gov. Rick Scott and his hand-picked education commission want to charge creatives more college tuition than science and math majors. Students in creative fields at the big Florida universities, such as UF (my alma mater) and FSU (the enemy campus in Tallahassee), will pay more than students pursuing high-demand fields, such as ag and engineering and medicine. Read all about in the Huffington Post.

I have only one response: Go West, young creatives. In the Big Square States, we value your contributions. Thus far, Colorado and Wyoming and New Mexico and Utah are not talking about charging higher tuition for budding painters than they are for budding lawyers. Sure, tuition is rising, but the Colorado governor (himself a creative sort and an arts supporter) and legislature have said nothing about charging a higher rate for a poet than for a pediatrician. This is a good thing, as I would like to see more writers and musicians attending Colorado State University in Fort Collins than fewer. Sure, I want the pre-med people too, and the computer tech and agronomy majors. We need creativity in all economic sectors. But to charge more? Absurd.

I earned my master of fine arts degree in creative writing from CSU in 1992. I parlayed that into a career in arts administration. Along the way, I've published my own work and continue to do so.

I'm also talking about the University of Wyoming in Laramie. For the first time, according to the UW President's special assistant Mike Massie. campus enrollment has crept above 14,000. 14,000? That's the number of business majors at UF. And, a few years ago, UW embarked on an amazing building boom. Know what the coolest new buildings are on campus? Visual arts and the expanded library. Anthropology, too, and business. The performing arts building will soon get a multimillion dollar overhaul. And so will one of the oldest buildings on campus, the one that houses the English Department and humanities. The English Department! That includes the fine creative writing program, too, a place that boasts fine writers such as Alyson Hagy and Brad Watson and Jeff Lockwood, who's a bug scientist (entomologist,, for those non-English majors) and a fine writer. There's also a slate of visiting writers that will knock your socks off: Salman Rushdie, Francine Prose, John D'Agata, Rebecca Solnit, Don DeLillo, etc. 

Come West, young creatives. We won't stigmatize you or your passions. It will still remain difficult to find jobs, English majors. No guarantees! You still will have student loans to repay and you still must eat (unofficial Wyoming state motto: "You can't eat the scenery"). But a blue ribbon state commission will not tell you that your dreams are worth less than others.

A word about campus censorship. And this is especially important for visual artists. You may have heard about the removal of Chris Drury's environmental sculpture, "Carbon Sink." It truly was a cowardly act, removing a sculpture just because it offended the state's coal industry. We are a conservative state with some heinous attitudes. We have our own birthers and fundies and "Don't Tread on Me" loonies. But what the heck -- you now live in Florida with the likes of Rick Scott and Marco Rubio. The Florida Panhandle is about as redneck as it gets. And you don't have to read Carl Hiaasen's Miami Herald columns or his funky novels to understand the lamebrain nature of the Florida legislature. If you're going to be embroiled in an arts controversy, you may as well come West where the air is clean and you can escape to nearby mountains for solitude and inspiration.

The Front Range is also known (by some) as the Silicon Valley of Craft Breweries. While I shy away from encouraging indulgence in spiritous substances, I also know that  where there are microbrews, there are artrepreneurs and mountain bike shops and nifty bistros and high-tech start-ups. Scientists have yet to prove the axiom: "Which comes first, the microbew or the creative economy." I do know that they go together. When it comes to overindulgence, it's a fact that the craft beer community polices its own. So, if you want to get drunk and cut the fool, you can go back to Florida, get your Parrothead on and drink Jimmy Buffett's crappy beer. Sorry, Jimmy, I love your music but dislike your books and beer. Can't do everything well, even if you do have a mighty platform to operate from.

In my next post, I'm going to share helpful links that can illustrate to you creatives what "Out West" has to offer.

BTW: Go Gators! Beat the Dawgs!

We dread the call in the night, the knock at the door

I often recommend the blog postings of Rodger McDaniel. I just can't help myself. The topics are, well, topical and meaty. The writing is crisp. And the Rev. McDaniel is a feisty Liberal, something we desperately need in Wyoming.

Rev McD served his state as director of the Health Department's Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services Division during the Freudenthal administration. So, when those topics arise, he has the expertise to address them. That's what he did this morning. He wrote about the late Sen.  George McGovern's greatest loss -- the death of his adult daughter, Teresa. After an eight-year stretch of sobriety, she started drinking again. One cold night, she got drunk, wandered out of her house and froze to death in the snow.

When the men with dour faces came to George McGovern's door in 1994, he knew their mission. This haunted him and his wife Eleanor the rest of their lives. They had decided to put some distance between themselves and their daughter. You could call it "tough love." It is the approach that one learns in AA and Alanon. That's little comfort for parents who lose a child.

We know. All of us who have struggled with this issue. We know how hard it is to say, "No more." We all dread the phone call in the middle of the night. Or the stone-faced messengers at the door. Tough love does not take away the sting of losing that boy or girl that we pushed on the playground swing and carried on our shoulders.

Read Rodger's column here: http://blowinginthewyomingwind.blogspot.com/2012/10/1972-was-not-george-mcgoverns-greatest.html