Wyoming Creative MediaPlex wants co-working creatives

This info comes from Alan O'Hashi of Wyoming Community Media: 

Do you have a New Creative Economy business that you'd like to nurture with like minds? Primary job creation will be happening not in garages but in collaborative work environments such as what's being planned for The Historic Hynds Building Capitol Core Project in downtown Cheyenne! Join the movement! Find out more and discuss possibilities at Wyoming Creative MediaPlex 

Precious Wyoming water leaves the state with every trainload of coal

Did you know that Wyoming ships its water out of state with each shipment of coal? Maybe I'd heard that before, but sometimes I have to hear it anew for the facts sink in.

One of the speakers at the Wyoming Business Alliance's annual meeting in Cheyenne yesterday was Wanda Burget, director of sustainable development for Peabody Energy, a major coal producer in Wyoming.

Energy producers are notorious water hogs. The fracking process uses notorious amounts of water, polluting it in the process. Energy production is crucial to the state's economy, but we can't drink or eat coal, and our water resources --- lakes, streams, reservoirs -- are at the center of Wyoming's tourist industry.

Casper Star-Tribune business editor Jeremy Fugleberg wrote about the WBA conference in today's edition. Here's an interesting snippet:

Coal from the Powder River Basin is full of water. Burget recognized the Wyoming Research Institute’s work to establish a way to procure the large amount of water shipped out of the state in the coal — about 720 gallons per 1,000 tons of coal, she [Wanda Burget] said.

Let's hope the Wyoming Energy Institute gets busy on finding ways to suck that water out of the coal before it leaves our borders. That's a lot of H2O. According to UW's Coalweb, Wyoming ships 25,882 coal trains out of state each year. Each train has 100-120 hopper cars, each loaded with 100-115 tons of coal. That means that at least 19 trillion gallons of water leave the state annually locked inside lumps of coal. That would slake the thirst of a lot of people and irrigate a lot of crops and absorb the attention of thousands of fishing enthusiasts and boaters. So why isn't Wyoming pouring even more revenue into research on ways to coax the water out of coal?

A trio of Wyoming businesspeople say the future of the state depends on diversifying its economy, developing a statewide water policy, and investing in new technology and infrastructure.

Two of the speakers, members of a panel on Wyoming’s future at the Wyoming Business Alliance’s annual meeting in Cheyenne, said they were troubled by Wyoming’s commodity-dependent economy.

What's to be done? Don't expect much help from our Republican-dominated legislature. The energy industry calls the shots. If the past gives us any clues to activities during the 2013 session, we can anticipate an embarrassing amount of time and energy spent on social issues. Some Republicans seem obsessed with women's reproductive equipment. Others want to stop married LGBT people at the border. Still others openly call state workers "bums" and are intent in taking away our pensions. Others demonize teachers and will again try to strip them of any collective bargaining rights. Who has time to focus on diversifying our economy?

Wyoming Retirement System holds its next town hall meeting Nov. 28 in Casper

The Wyoming Retirement System will hold its next town hall meeting in Casper on Wednesday, November 28, 7-8:30 p.m. It will be held in Nichols Auditorium, McMurry Career Studies Building, Casper College. The meeting is open to anyone who is concerned about the threat by Republicans to mess with the state retirement system in the name of Tea Party politics. At a town hall meeting on Nov. 8 in Cheyenne, WRS Director Thom Williams sounded a cautionary note about any changes to the state's defined-benefits plan. This is from the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle:

The head of the Wyoming Retirement System says a major overhaul of the state's public pension program is unnecessary and potentially dangerous.

Thom Williams, executive director of the WRS, told a group of state workers and retirees Thursday that the Legislature should resist any efforts to move to a 401(k)-style defined-contribution plan. 

"The problem is (defined-contribution plans) are not a reliable means for providing retirement security," he said. "These defined-contribution plans oftentimes result in people running out of money."

HM urges state employees in Natrona County to attend the meeting. Maybe some of those right-wingers that county residents keep electing to the legislature will show up and learn something.

The town meeting is co-sponsored by the Coalition for a Healthy Retirement and the Equality State Policy Center.  

Strike that debt with Rolling Jubilee

This is a great idea, and yet another offshoot of Occupy Wall Street:

Rolling Jubilee is a Strike Debt project that buys debt for pennies on the dollar, but instead of collecting it, abolishes it. Together we can liberate debtors at random through a campaign of mutual support, good will, and collective refusal. Debt resistance is just the beginning. Join us as we imagine and create a new world based on the common good, not Wall Street profits. Learn more or contribute.

"Arts in the Parks" exhibit opens Nov. 16 at Wyoming State Museum

Arts happening on Friday:

Artwork featured in the 2013 “Arts in Parks” calendar will be on display at the Wyoming State Museum through December 30.  An opening reception for the exhibit will be held on Friday, November 16, at the State Museum in downtown Cheyenne, 5-6 p.m.

As part of Wyoming State Parks, Historic Sites and Trails 75th Anniversary, sponsored by Cameco and in partnership with the Wyoming Arts Council, which also provided logistics and funding as part of our Arts in the Parks programming, the calendar features 13 artistic pieces depicting different State Parks and Historic Sites. The artistic pieces include oils, photography, mixed media, acrylics and watercolors.

In conjunction with the Wyoming Arts Council and the Wyoming State Museum, the Division of State Parks, Historic Sites and Trails invited artists from throughout the state to render artistic depictions of any of Wyoming’s State Parks and Historic Sites.

Some of the sites included in the artistic pieces are Ames Monument, Buffalo Bill State Park, Edness Kimball Wilkins State Park, Fort Phil Kearny State Historic Site, Glendo State Park, Guernsey State Park, Hot Springs State Park, Keyhole State Park, Medicine Lodge State Archaeological Site and Sinks Canyon State Park.

Artists included in the calendar are Glenda L. Heimbuck-Haley, Anthony James and Tim Haley of Cheyenne; Alissa Hartmann and Christine Meytras of Jackson;  Joyce Keown and Mack Brislawn of Laramie; Virginia Butcher of Evansville; Mike Conaway of Evanston; Marie Elena Bramson of Frannie; Pat Schermerhorn of Cody; Nancy Brown of Gillette; and Sally La Bore of Sheridan.

Calendars will be available through the Wyoming State Museum Store and from the Wyoming Division of State Parks, Historic Sites and Trails.

Wyoming State Museum is open Mon.-Fri., 9:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; Sat. 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. Closed Sundays and State and Federal Holidays.

Call in and ask Sen. Enzi about GOP plans to ensure healthy retirements for Wyomingites

Laramie's Nancy Sindelar is a great source for intriguing political happenings around the state. She just alerted me about this:

Thursday, November 15, 7 p.m., Wyoming PBS presents "Wyoming Perspectives: the Future of Medicare and Social Security." This is a discussion with Republican Sen. Mike Enzi; Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services spokesperson Mike Fierberg; University of Wyoming professor and economist Anne Alexander; AARP Vice President/Financial Security Jean Setzfand; and AARP Wyoming Director Tim Summers. This is a live call-in show, or you can watch archived copy afterwards. FMI: http://www.wyomingpbs.org/seniors. Email jamend@cwc.edu. Ask live on-air questions: 1-800-495-9788 or wyomingperspectives@wyomingpbs.org. Twitter @WyoPBS, #WyoPBSseniors. 

My first question to Sen. Enzi: Now that the Republican plans for privatizing Social Security and turning Medicare into a voucher system are as dead as Paul Ryan's budget, how do you plan to spend your time in D.C.? And then there's that little question about avoiding the fiscal cliff. How does the GOP plan to deal with that little issue, eh?

Call for entries: What's sexy about the zombie apocalypse?

This isn't exactly my cup of tea, but thought I'd pass along this call for entries because it comes from a local press. Who knows, I may even try my writing hand at zombie erotica. As they say, write what you don't know -- you might learn something.

This comes from Angelic Knight Press editor Stacey Turner:

That's right, folks! Our new anthology project is all about zombies. Well, zombies and erotica. What's sexy about the zombie apocalypse? You tell us!

What we're looking for is short fiction, 1k-2k words, featuring zombies and erotica in some form or fashion. I'll be taking 50 stories for the anthology. Subs may be submitted starting today. The deadline for submission is December 31. The proposed date of release is February 14, Valentine's Day.

Regardless of the subject matter, stories must be well written and interesting, with definite emphasis on originality. Please read our submission guidelines page and submit accordingly.

Payment will be shared royalties.

Where did this idea come from? KillerCon of course! It actually began as a joke, but so many people thought it interesting that we decided to run with it. I have to give credit for the title to Benjamin Kane Ethridge. There are already several authors from KillerCon sending stories, so join them and us in this project!

What are you waiting for? Get writing!

Republican political purity trumps the need for mental health and substance abuse services

The need is huge for effective mental health and substance abuse programs in Wyoming. The Wyoming Department of Health has been on the forefront of proving those services through its Medicaid-funded waiver programs. They fund treatments for low income residents but also for middle income people who have no health insurance, or insurance that limits coverage for mental health and substance abuse. National insurance parity legislation has helped some, but treatment is expensive, especially if you have to send a child out of state, which our family has had to do three times. And President Obama's Affordable Care Act has helped in the areas of pre-existing conditions and the ability of families to keep their kids insured until age 26. Thanks Obamacare!

Current treatment tactics in wraparound care call for keeping family members close to home. A worthy goal but not always practical in a rural state such as Wyoming. Your regional treatment center may be full so those located in surrounding states may be your only option. Face it, a person in southeast Wyoming has a slew of treatment options along the Colorado Front Range, from Fort Collins down to Pueblo. Same goes for southwest Wyoming. Yes, the state hospital is in Evanston but not everyone qualifies for a stay there, so residents look to Utah's Wasatch Front for alternatives.

And now the Wyoming Department of Health announces cuts to its mental health and substance abuse treatments. These cuts are in keeping with demands by Republican lawmakers to make budget cuts when none are needed. The current budget-cutting mania is prompted less by necessity than by Tea Party-inspired, We Hate Gubment, politics.

From a Wyoming Public Radio story by Willow Belden:

The Wyoming Department of Health plans to cut millions of dollars of funding for Medicaid and for mental health and substance abuse services. That’s to meet a budget reduction required by the state Legislature. Lawmakers directed the Health Department to reduce spending by 4 percent for fiscal year 2014 and to prepare for additional 8 percent cuts in the following two years. Health Department Director Tom Forslund says the cuts will be painful. “The Department of Health provides critical services and funds critical services, and so we can’t cut our budget without impacting those services,” Forslund said.  He says the cuts will mean healthcare providers won’t be reimbursed as much for treating Medicaid patients, which make it harder for low-income people to get medical care. “There will be some healthcare providers who elect not to serve as many Medicaid patients,” he said. “And that’s what’s happened to a lot of states around the country – that the more they cut payments to healthcare providers, the less healthcare providers are willing to see Medicaid patients.” Forslund says for every dollar that the state cuts in Medicaid funding, Wyoming loses a dollar of federal funding as well.

Stephen Vincent Benet's "John Brown's Body" comes to the Wyoming stage

Nobody, with the possible exception of English majors and classics' scholars, reads epic poetry anymore. The Iliad. The Odyssey. Leaves of Grass. Letter to an Imaginary Friend. John Brown's Body.

Stephen Vincent Benet won the 1929 Pulitzer Prize for "John Brown's Body," a 15,000-line epic about America's Civil War. Benet wrote it in Paris in 1926-1928, his trip financed by a Guggenheim fellowship. I've never encountered Benet in my reading about the "Lost Generation" in Paris, those post-World War I expats from all over who gravitated to Paris for a healthy dose of creativity and mass quantities of boozing (absinthe anyone?).

John Brown usually lies a-moulderin' on the page in Benet's now-neglected book. But a Wyoming family with theatrical roots are performing "John Brown's Body" in a staged reading this week. The reading will be performed by Pete and Lynne Simpson and there three children: Maggie, Milward and Pete. The elder Pete is a retired history professor at the University of Wyoming. Wife Lynne is an accomplished actress and director. Maggie is a singer/songwriter, Milward is a musician and theatre guy (and fellow state employee) and Pete  Jr. performs with the Blue Man Group.

Wyoming was far removed from Civil War action. From 1861-65, it was part of Nebraska Territory with very few Anglo settlements outside of military forts. Although there were some Civil War battles in the Rocky Mountains -- New Mexico comes to mind -- none were fought in Wyoming. Slavery was permitted in the territories. But whether the nascent states would be "free states" or slave states" was being argued about regularly in Congress. That struggle came to a head with abolitionist John Brown's raid on the U.S. Army Depot at Harper's Ferry. He was executed for his crime on Dec. 2, 1859. Southern forces fired on Fort Sumter 16 months later, launching the Civil War. The next four years were a horror show for the country. In his epic poem, Benet tried to describe the experience from various points of view. Maybe Ken Burns was thinking of Benet when he filmed his famous Civil War series for PBS. He let the people speak in their own words.

Some of Benet's lines feature John Brown's final words:

Now if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my
life for the furtherance of the ends of justice and mingle
my blood further with the blood of my children
and with the blood of millions in this slave country
whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and
unjust enactments, I say, let it be done.

Let it be done. And it was.

You can see "John Brown's Body, a staged reading," featuring the Simpson family with music by the Cheyenne Chamber Singers, at the Cheyenne Civic Center, Thursday, Nov. 15. Tickets $20 for adults and $10 for students. They are $5 more at the door. Visit www.cheyenneciviccenter.org or call 637-6363.

Read more about Benet and his poem at http://www.historynet.com/john-browns-body-stephen-vincent-benet-and-civil-war-memory.htm

Cheyenne Chamber Singers in concert Nov. 11 at First United Methodist Church

Remember that every act of creativity stymies the Know Nothings amongst us. On Sunday, November 11, 3 p.m., Cheyenne Chamber Singers presents a concert, "Images from the Past," at downtown's First United Methodist Church. Tickets are $15 Adults/$10 seniors & students. FMI: 307-433-1141, www.cheyennechambersingers.com

This just in: Florida puts Obama over the top

I can breathe easier now. From the Association Press:

President Barack Obama was declared the winner of Florida's 29 electoral votes Saturday, ending a four-day count with a razor-thin margin that narrowly avoided an automatic recount that would have brought back memories of 2000.

No matter the outcome, Obama had already clinched re-election and now has 332 electoral votes to Romney's 206.

The Florida Secretary of State's Office said that with almost 100 percent of the vote counted, Obama led Republican challenger Mitt Romney 50 percent to 49.1 percent, a difference of about 74,000 votes. That was over the half-percent margin where a computer recount would have been automatically ordered unless Romney had waived it.

--clip--

"Florida has spoken loudly in support of moving our nation forward," Ashley Walker, the Obama campaign's director for Florida, said in a news release.

Help support our very own "siren of treachery and demagoguery"

Our prog-blogging pal, Meg-Lanker-Simons in Laramie, is raising funds over at Cognitive Dissonance. Meg is not only everywhere on the blogosphere, she also hosts her cool CD radio show each Friday night (D-bag of the week!). She covers Wyoming politics and was our blogger on the scene at the Republican National Convention. She's a wonder! Go read about what she does at http://cognitivedissonance.tumblr.com/post/35324965950/dear-readers-of-cognitive-dissonance. And then kick in a few bucks for enlightened political coverage in WYO.

Here's abit about Meg from her Tumblr profile:

I was once described by a religious conservative as a "siren of treachery and demagoguery." I'll take it. 

So will we. Invisible operators are standing by! Contribute now. I did.

Thom Williams: State retirement system overhaul is unnecessary and potentially dangerous

The Equality State Policy Center and the Coalition for a Healthy Retirement held a town hall meeting Thursday in Cheyenne about impending threats to the state retirement system. Those threats come mainly from extremist Republicans in the legislature, many of whom happen to be inspired and funded by ALEC-written model laws. ALEC is the American Legislative Exchange Council funded by the billionaire Koch Brothers, the same guys who have worked overtime to screw public employees in other states, especially those with a strong union presence (Wisconsin anyone?).

This morning's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle had a lengthy article about the town hall meeting. Here are some snippets:

The head of the Wyoming Retirement System says a major overhaul of the state's public pension program is unnecessary and potentially dangerous.

Thom Williams, executive director of the WRS, told a group of state workers and retirees Thursday that the Legislature should resist any efforts to move to a 401(k)-style defined-contribution plan. 

"The problem is (defined-contribution plans) are not a reliable means for providing retirement security," he said. "These defined-contribution plans oftentimes result in people running out of money."

The Wyoming Retirement System is currently run through a defined-benefits plan. This provides eligible retirees with pre-determined benefits.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am one of those state employees who have contributed to his defined-benefits plan since 1991. I am 100 percent behind the current system, especially considering what's happened to the economy since 2008. Wyoming has done an incredible job of managing the plan, and it is healthy and solvent. There is absolutely no logical reason to change the system. When that's the case, you have to look at other factors. And that's where you find right-wing ideology and the Koch Brothers and ALEC. There are those in the legislature who do ALEC's bidding. We have named names on these pages many times and will continue to do so when it gets closer to the legislative session. It's amazing to me that the same legislators who cry foul when the federal government or outside corporate interests attempt to interfere in state policy have no problem when fat cat billionaires do the same thing. Instead, they're eager to sign on.

Stay tuned for more on this. 

Get more info on ALEC at http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed

Selma Civil Rights March recalled by photo-essay by Wyoming's Wayne Thomas

EDITOR'S NOTE: This was a grad school project by Wayne Thomas that actually never appeared in Doubletake Magazine, which had folded by 2012. Too bad, as it was a great print mag. 

Wayne Thomas of Powell, Wyo., ranges far and wide for his photographs. His photo-essay examining the 47th anniversary of the Selma, Ala., Civil Rights March is featured in the spring 2012 issue of Doubletake Magazine Online. Wayne returned to Dallas County, Ala., to document the area in photos and story in this very moving piece. Read it (and view it) at http://www.waynethomasphotography.com/selma. 

Our family moved from Colorado to the South in 1964. What had only been a distant struggle seen on TV, now became something we experienced every day. In case you don't remember what happened in Alabama back in 1965, maybe these historic photos will jog your memory:

James Karales (American, 1930–2002). Selma-to-Montgomery March for Voting Rights in 1965. Photographic print. Located in the James Karales Collection, Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University.

John Lewis (on the ground), head of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, is beat up by Alabama State Troopers on Bloody Sunday in Selma, Ala. From the Encyclopedia of Alabama.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (center) joins others in the march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., on March 21, 1965.

Aggressive Democratic ground game -- and demographics --made Colorado a "tipping point" for Obama and legislative races

The Denver Post reports that Colorado may have been the tipping point for President Obama on election night. Read all about it here.

One thing is clear -- Colorado voters get lots of credit for getting out the vote for Obama and for its state legislators, as Democrats recaptured the House. The ground game in contested counties such as Larimer (Fort Collins), and some of the suburban Denver counties, was superb. They did get some help from little ol' us in Wyoming, as all of the efforts of Obama for Wyoming were directed southward into The Reefer State. While it's irritating to be relegated to GOTV efforts aimed at Greenies, there was no way in hell that Obama was going to lay claim to Wyoming's hotly-contested three electoral votes.

So what makes Colorado so purplish-blue and Wyoming so fire-engine red? It's population, both the quantity, age and ethnicities thereof. Colorado's population is ten times Wyoming's, and it has big city Denver as well as hipster Boulder, art-and-craft-beer-friendly Fort Collins, working-class Pueblo, chi-chi Aspen and, well, Colorado Springs. Cities draw more people and they tend to be younger and more ethnic. Colorado has always been youth-friendly, going back to the sixties, when people my age gravitated to its outdoor ethos and groovy vibes. My roots are in Denver, where I spent part of my youth and a big chunk of my adult life. Denver has seen its up and downs but it's always been able to climb out of the doldrums and prosper. It's always had its share of hucksters and rip-off artists (Soapy Smith, William Byers and Neil Bush come to mind), but also more than its fair share of visionaries, including its current governor, John Hickenlooper.

My parents were Denver natives. My mother grew up in the Irish-American enclave near Washington Park and my father grew up in City Park, about midway between the Denver Museum of Natural History and Stapleton Field (then an airport, eventually "international"). Their parents, my grandparents, all came to Colorado in their twenties. My mom's father was an Irish immigrant looking for a nicer climate than Chicago, where he'd landed after fleeing Ireland. My mom's mother trekked from Ohio to Colorado on vacation, liked it, returned home, packed her bags, and moved West. My dad' s father was gassed in France and came to Denver's Fitzsimmons Army Hospital to recuperate. Florence Green of Baltimore returned from The Great War to find her hometown boring, so re-upped in the Army Nursing Corps and was sent to Denver to care for all the ailing doughboys.
 
Seems that Denver's always been a draw for young people, for the scenery, the climate, jobs. World War II drew GIs to Colorado in record numbers to train for the Army Air Corps at Lowry Field or for the 10th Mountain Division ski corps at Cooper Hill near Leadville. After the war, they returned to Colorado, prospered and bred lots of Boomer children. Like me.

Back to the election. Colorado has been gathering innovators and yuppies and Deadheads and techies for generations. Denver, especially, has reached a critical mass, turning it from a cowtown into a world-class city. And turning the state into a blue-and-red checkerboard, with all those blue islands of progressivism.

Meanwhile, Wyoming limps toward the political margins. Its population is aging and is mainly rural. The economy is not diversified enough to capture those talented young people graduating from its high schools, community colleges and one public university. It finds it difficult to lure its graduates back from colleges in other states. In some ways, state politics is no more crazier than Colorado's, Montana's or Idaho's. Problem is, right-wing loonies have an easier time getting elected because the Democratic Party is not competitive. And even when we get great Dems to run for the legislature, they often are overwhelmed by the 2-to-1 registered voter margin of the Republicans.

Who went for Romney on Tuesday? Older white voters. What does Wyoming have plenty of? Aging white voters. Who went for Obama on Tuesday? Young voters. Also Hispanic, African-American and Asian-American voters. What does Wyoming have little of? Young, multicultural voters. So great local candidates get defeated and we keep electing more extremists to the Wyoming State Legislature.

There is obviously more to it than that. But it's the start of an explanation. More to come (fair warning!).

Suite 1901 returns to Cheyenne's Art Design & Dine this evening

Suite 1901 in Cheyenne did a terrific job hosting the Democratic Party's election night bash on Tuesday. In case you didn't know, Suite 1901 is under new management and the food and drinks are fabulous. This evening, the downtown bar/restaurant will be participating in the Art Design & Dine art walk for the second time. Welcome back to AD&D! Featured artists in the downstairs exhibition space include Seth Ledger, Heather Johns, Kristine Frankler, and Charles Johns. Suite 1901 is also one of the featured restaurants on the art tour. It's offering 10% off your order and the coupon is good till the end of December. The restaurant is located on the corner of Central and 19th Street. Note to craft beer fans: the bar has New Belgium's Prickly Passion on tap. Locate all of the other AD&D locations by going here.

Note to the GOP: Don't mess with our right to vote!

Andrew Cohen writes in The Atlantic about the main reason that the Republicans lost. And no, it wasn't Super Storm Sandy and Chris Christie's praise for President Obama. It was the GOP's attempt to take the vote away from you and me. Read the column here.

Marilyn Miller brings her socially engaged art to the Cheyenne Family YMCA

In November, Marilyn Miller brings her outspoken Liberal self and her artwork to the Cheyenne Family YMCA. Opening reception for her exhibit is on Friday, Nov. 9, 5-6 p.m. Free and open to the public. Come in, meet Marilyn, view the art and eat some snacks. 

Congrats to Lee Filer, winner in HD12 race for the Wyoming State Legislature

Democrat Lee Filer was elected tonight in House District 12. When the news broke at Suite 1901 in downtown Cheyenne, Lee hooted and hollered and cried. Never saw such joy. He worked hard for this seat in the Wyoming State Legislature. Wishing him good luck as he takes the reins in the House and has to deal with a whole herd of whackadoodles from right-wing Wyoming. But we Wyo Dems know that we're on the correct side of history and will eventually turn this red state blue. Short-term, we'll shoot for purple. 

Hanging out with the Dems on election night

My wife Chris and I at Suite 1901 in Cheyenne for the Laramie County Democrats' celebration. Not all the Wyoming news was good but the national news was fantastic.