From the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/01/health/01attention.html?hpw
Monday, May 31, 2010
Who's running on the side of the Democrats?
On Friday, Wyoming Democrats' Chair Leslie Peterson filed to run for governor.
Tuesday afternoon, she'll announce her candidacy in the Wyoming Capitol Rotunda in Cheyenne.
Friday's news surprised me. I haven't met Ms. Peterson but have followed her press releases and policy statements for the past year. Feisty and well-written, possibly with the help of Party HQ. That's what PR people are for (I know -- I've been one).
As far as I can call tell, she has several strikes going into the primary. One, she's from Teton County, land of second-home Coasters, retired Republicans of dubious ethics (Dick Cheney et. al.) trust-fund babies, spectacular scenery, artists, writers, more Democrats (including Gary Trauner and Ted Ladd) than is usually permitted in this one-party state, and more tourists than residents from now until Labor Day.
Two, she's a woman. Wyoming is The Equality State, you might say. Surely it's had at least one woman gov. Yes it has -- and don't call me Shirley. Nellie Tayloe Ross (D) served as governor of Wyoming from 1925-27.
Since then, it's been a long dry spell for women governors. Kathy Karpan ran on the Dem ticket in 1994 but lost. I'm not sure if women have waged campaigns (Dem or Repub or other) since then, but none have come close to being elected.
At the same time, we've had six-term U.S. Rep. Barbara Cubin and current U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis. Both are diehard Repubs. So, Wyoming is not allergic to voting for women in Congress, but they don't like women running for Gov.
That's the bad news. The good news is that Ms. Peterson is a Wyoming native. She was born in Lovell, a conservative farming community on the northeast side of the Big Horn Basin. She graduated from University of Wyoming. Here's part of her bio:
Pretty good credentials. Wyoming likes its natives, even its Democrats such as Dave Freudenthal and Mike Sullivan. And they're both lawyers! Go figure.
More possible good news -- there are four strong candidates running for Gov on the Repub side. They might beat themselves up this summer and the right-wing candidate Ron Micheli might end up as the candidate. Wyoming tends to be more moderate than other mid-American red states such as Idaho and Utah and even Oklahoma. Once Micheli's wacko Tea Party credentials come to light, a "Freudenthal Democrat" might sneak in and win the governor's race.
Welcome to the fight, Ms. Peterson. We may yet dare to hope for victory in November.
Get more info at http://www.peopleforpeterson.com/
Tuesday afternoon, she'll announce her candidacy in the Wyoming Capitol Rotunda in Cheyenne.
Friday's news surprised me. I haven't met Ms. Peterson but have followed her press releases and policy statements for the past year. Feisty and well-written, possibly with the help of Party HQ. That's what PR people are for (I know -- I've been one).
As far as I can call tell, she has several strikes going into the primary. One, she's from Teton County, land of second-home Coasters, retired Republicans of dubious ethics (Dick Cheney et. al.) trust-fund babies, spectacular scenery, artists, writers, more Democrats (including Gary Trauner and Ted Ladd) than is usually permitted in this one-party state, and more tourists than residents from now until Labor Day.
Two, she's a woman. Wyoming is The Equality State, you might say. Surely it's had at least one woman gov. Yes it has -- and don't call me Shirley. Nellie Tayloe Ross (D) served as governor of Wyoming from 1925-27.
Since then, it's been a long dry spell for women governors. Kathy Karpan ran on the Dem ticket in 1994 but lost. I'm not sure if women have waged campaigns (Dem or Repub or other) since then, but none have come close to being elected.
At the same time, we've had six-term U.S. Rep. Barbara Cubin and current U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis. Both are diehard Repubs. So, Wyoming is not allergic to voting for women in Congress, but they don't like women running for Gov.
That's the bad news. The good news is that Ms. Peterson is a Wyoming native. She was born in Lovell, a conservative farming community on the northeast side of the Big Horn Basin. She graduated from University of Wyoming. Here's part of her bio:
"Like a lot of us in Wyoming, I've had broad experience and done a lot of different things to get along" she said. Petersen was born in Lovell, grew up in Dubois and graduated from Dubois High in a class of six. She attended the University of Wyoming in the 1958-59 school year and was on the rodeo team and was selected for the Spurs honor society. She grew up on the CM Ranch, one of the oldest dude ranches in Wyoming and also worked in the family hunting business in the fall. Her father, Les Shoemaker was the first President of the Wyoming Outfitters' Association. Petersen moved to Jackson in 1975 and her husband of 34 years is Henry (Hank) Phibbs, a Jackson attorney, who grew up in Casper and is currently serving as a Teton County Commissioner. They have two grown sons, Travis Petersen and daughter-in-law Kristi, of Wilson, and Monte Petersen of Pagosa Springs, CO.
Pretty good credentials. Wyoming likes its natives, even its Democrats such as Dave Freudenthal and Mike Sullivan. And they're both lawyers! Go figure.
More possible good news -- there are four strong candidates running for Gov on the Repub side. They might beat themselves up this summer and the right-wing candidate Ron Micheli might end up as the candidate. Wyoming tends to be more moderate than other mid-American red states such as Idaho and Utah and even Oklahoma. Once Micheli's wacko Tea Party credentials come to light, a "Freudenthal Democrat" might sneak in and win the governor's race.
Welcome to the fight, Ms. Peterson. We may yet dare to hope for victory in November.
Get more info at http://www.peopleforpeterson.com/
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Wyoming Writers, Inc. gather in Cody
On June 3, I leave for the Wyoming Writers, Inc., conference in Cody.
It's a great gathering of writers and poets from throughout the state (and beyond) who travel many miles to attend workshops and meet with editors and agents and read their work and listen to the work of others. There's also some catching up to do with people you see only once a year.
This year's conference features the Wyoming father-daughter writing team of Bob Roripaugh and Lee Ann Roripaugh. Bob is Wyoming Poet Laureate Emeritus and retired from teaching at UW. He's mainly known for his poetry but he was first published as a novelist.
Lee Ann is Bob and Yoshiko Roripaugh's daughter. She began college as a musician and ended with an M.F.A. in creative writing. One of her mentors was the great Yusef Komunyakaa. Lee Ann's first book, "Beyond Heart Mountain," won the National Poetry Series Prize. It features poems told in the persona of internees at Heart Mountain Relocation Camp. Located between Cody and Powell, the camp was the third-largest city in the state from 1942-46, home (?) to more than 10,000 Japanese-Americans moved from the West Coast during the hysteria following the Pearl Harbor attack.
The Heart Mountain Foundation is building an interpretive center at the camp, now a National Historic Site. Wyoming Writers, Inc., wanted to hold an event at the center but it won't have its debut until August. Instead, the Roripaugh family will talk about Heart Mountain at the conference's lead-off session at 7 p.m. on Friday, June 4. A book signing will follow, and then an open mike reading. Saturday and Sunday are full of workshops and readings and schmoozing. All events are at the Holiday Inn in Cody.
Come on up and join us.
It's a great gathering of writers and poets from throughout the state (and beyond) who travel many miles to attend workshops and meet with editors and agents and read their work and listen to the work of others. There's also some catching up to do with people you see only once a year.
This year's conference features the Wyoming father-daughter writing team of Bob Roripaugh and Lee Ann Roripaugh. Bob is Wyoming Poet Laureate Emeritus and retired from teaching at UW. He's mainly known for his poetry but he was first published as a novelist.
Lee Ann is Bob and Yoshiko Roripaugh's daughter. She began college as a musician and ended with an M.F.A. in creative writing. One of her mentors was the great Yusef Komunyakaa. Lee Ann's first book, "Beyond Heart Mountain," won the National Poetry Series Prize. It features poems told in the persona of internees at Heart Mountain Relocation Camp. Located between Cody and Powell, the camp was the third-largest city in the state from 1942-46, home (?) to more than 10,000 Japanese-Americans moved from the West Coast during the hysteria following the Pearl Harbor attack.
The Heart Mountain Foundation is building an interpretive center at the camp, now a National Historic Site. Wyoming Writers, Inc., wanted to hold an event at the center but it won't have its debut until August. Instead, the Roripaugh family will talk about Heart Mountain at the conference's lead-off session at 7 p.m. on Friday, June 4. A book signing will follow, and then an open mike reading. Saturday and Sunday are full of workshops and readings and schmoozing. All events are at the Holiday Inn in Cody.
Come on up and join us.
Monday, May 24, 2010
We are not weinies. We are Dems.
Are Wyoming Democrats weinies?
No. We take our licks, persevering against overwhelming odds. Repubs outnumber us 2-to-1. At gatherings, we often admit that we are Democrats, risking public humiliation. In 2008, we made thousands of phone calls and knocked on many doors to utter the name "Barack Obama." Very few of us were cursed at or beat up for our troubles.
But there were signs at tonight's Laramie County Democrats' meeting that we're not the champs we think we are.
Bryon Lee is Wyoming's Organizing for Obama chair, the only full-time paid Obama person within 97,818 square miles. He's from Gillette and now lives in Sheridan. He's been traveling the state to find Democrats grumbling about Obama and Gov. Freudenthal and lack of Dem candidates and even the horrible spring weather which must be Obama's fault. Sometimes he arrives at meetings to find tumbleweeds rolling through an empty room. A sad state of affairs.
He and six like-minded Dems waded into a Sheridan rally of some 250 Tea Party people a few weeks ago. They were hoping to serve as an antidote to the usual fawning media attention give to teabaggers.
They got it. Name-calling -- commies! socialists! When Bryon applauded the mention of Obama's name, he was shoved by a Tea Party goon. "You assaulted me," Bryon said. The menacing crowd closed in. Fortunately there was a reporter there and the incident ended up on the front page of the Sheridan Press.
The moral of this story -- nothing happens if you don't show up. Also -- don't let the teabaggers have all the fun.
Speaking of showing up -- Organizing for America is holding a meeting Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Windflower Room of the Laramie County Public Library in Cheyenne. Bryon will be there to talk about organizing for the 2010 elections.
The weinie issue continued when Ken McCauley spoke. Ken is an Air Force combat veteran and now flies big passenger planes for a living. He put together a presentation on national security because he was upset about wording in the 2010 Wyoming Democrats platform approved at last weekend's state convention in Casper. Ken distributed a handout that looked to be from PowerPoint (I'll ask him if it's available online and provide a link to it).
WyoDems adopted the following phrase in its platform:
I'm a peacenik and even I couldn't believe that a phrase like this ended up in the party platform. I spent most of the 2004 state convention trying to get "U.S. Out of Iraq" planks in the WyoDems' platform. I received a smattering of support but the votes were overwhelmingly against the efforts. Maybe it was my Dennis Kucinich T-shirt that turned off the John Kerry multitudes. Maybe it was too soon to openly oppose a war that hadn't yet turned into its "extremely ugly" phase.
At last week's Casper convention, Ken tried to replace the platform statement with a hastily-worded one of his own:
His suggestion was ignored by the conventioneers.
So he put together his presentation and tonight offered a revised version, borrowing wording from Pres. Obama's recent speech to West Point cadets:
There was a spirited discussion. A motion was made to adopt the statement as a resolution. It passed unanimously.
We are not weinies. We are Dems.
No. We take our licks, persevering against overwhelming odds. Repubs outnumber us 2-to-1. At gatherings, we often admit that we are Democrats, risking public humiliation. In 2008, we made thousands of phone calls and knocked on many doors to utter the name "Barack Obama." Very few of us were cursed at or beat up for our troubles.
But there were signs at tonight's Laramie County Democrats' meeting that we're not the champs we think we are.
Bryon Lee is Wyoming's Organizing for Obama chair, the only full-time paid Obama person within 97,818 square miles. He's from Gillette and now lives in Sheridan. He's been traveling the state to find Democrats grumbling about Obama and Gov. Freudenthal and lack of Dem candidates and even the horrible spring weather which must be Obama's fault. Sometimes he arrives at meetings to find tumbleweeds rolling through an empty room. A sad state of affairs.
He and six like-minded Dems waded into a Sheridan rally of some 250 Tea Party people a few weeks ago. They were hoping to serve as an antidote to the usual fawning media attention give to teabaggers.
They got it. Name-calling -- commies! socialists! When Bryon applauded the mention of Obama's name, he was shoved by a Tea Party goon. "You assaulted me," Bryon said. The menacing crowd closed in. Fortunately there was a reporter there and the incident ended up on the front page of the Sheridan Press.
The moral of this story -- nothing happens if you don't show up. Also -- don't let the teabaggers have all the fun.
Speaking of showing up -- Organizing for America is holding a meeting Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Windflower Room of the Laramie County Public Library in Cheyenne. Bryon will be there to talk about organizing for the 2010 elections.
The weinie issue continued when Ken McCauley spoke. Ken is an Air Force combat veteran and now flies big passenger planes for a living. He put together a presentation on national security because he was upset about wording in the 2010 Wyoming Democrats platform approved at last weekend's state convention in Casper. Ken distributed a handout that looked to be from PowerPoint (I'll ask him if it's available online and provide a link to it).
WyoDems adopted the following phrase in its platform:
"Wyoming Democrats support a foreign policy that reflects and promotes the principles of freedom, human rights and compassion without the use of force."
I'm a peacenik and even I couldn't believe that a phrase like this ended up in the party platform. I spent most of the 2004 state convention trying to get "U.S. Out of Iraq" planks in the WyoDems' platform. I received a smattering of support but the votes were overwhelmingly against the efforts. Maybe it was my Dennis Kucinich T-shirt that turned off the John Kerry multitudes. Maybe it was too soon to openly oppose a war that hadn't yet turned into its "extremely ugly" phase.
At last week's Casper convention, Ken tried to replace the platform statement with a hastily-worded one of his own:
"Wyoming democrats support the suppression of domestic and international terrorism that threatens U.S. security. We support the promotion of stable world democracy, safeguarding nuclear material, and worldwide reduction of WMDs."
His suggestion was ignored by the conventioneers.
So he put together his presentation and tonight offered a revised version, borrowing wording from Pres. Obama's recent speech to West Point cadets:
"Laramie County Democrats support combating the root causes that lead to terrorism, and we support the Obama administration's efforts to disrupt and dismantle known terrorist organizations so that legitimate and peaceful leadership can prevail in areas that spawn terrorism."
There was a spirited discussion. A motion was made to adopt the statement as a resolution. It passed unanimously.
We are not weinies. We are Dems.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Michael Pollan chronicles "food movement"
Looking forward to reading this (from a Grist column by Bonnie Azab Powell):In what is ostensibly a five-book review for the June 10 New York Review of Books, journalist Michael Pollan has an epic essay charting the emergence and character of the food movement. Or, as he puts it, "movements." They are unified, for now at least, by little more than the recognition that industrial food production is in need of reform, "because its social/environmental/public health/animal welfare/gastronomic costs are too high." (Pollan, of course, has been indispensable to the rise of this movement, even though he omits his 2006 best-seller, The Omnivore's Dilemma, from his list of its catalysts -- among them Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation and Marion Nestle's Food Politics.)
Ethnic Studies 212: Superiority of the Irish
My friend Sean Seamus O'Casey Yeats Swift Cuchulain Beckett Guinness Doyle teaches high school in Tucson. His most popular course is Ethnic Studies 212: "The Irish are Superior to All of You F**kin' Gobshites." Tucson kids of all ethnicities clamor to get into the class so they can learn the meaning and proper use of "gobshite." Once in the class, they are flummoxed to learn from Mr. Doyle that there will be a fair amount of reading of fine Irish literature, performance of Irish drama and singing of Irish songs with just an occasional mention of gobshite, mostly in reference to the Arizona governor, legislature and assorted teabaggers.
Sean is upset with Arizona's new law banning ethnic studies classes. Gov. Jan Brewer just signed the law that bans classes that "promote the overthrow of the U.S. government, promote resentment toward a race or class of people, are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group, advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals."
"It's not fair," bemoaned Sean during a recent phone call. "Only once have I called for the overthrow of the U.S. Government, and that when that gobshite Reagan was president. And his people are Irish, so I can call him what I want."
I asked Sean if he promoted resentment toward a race or a class of people.
"Guilty," he said. "Once my students read The Great Hunger, they resent the Brits. After we watch Gangs of New York, they resent the American Nativists who advocated sending the Papists back to Ireland or killing them, whichever was easiest. They also hate Leonardo DiCaprio for his pathetic Irish accent. After seeing a performance of Synge's Playboy of the Western World, they resent me because they thought there would be lots of nudes in it. After reading Year of the French, they resent the French for being so inept on the Irish battefields against the Brits. After reading How the Irish Saved Civilization, they resent the Roman Catholic Church and all the popes. After hearing about Cuchulain's magnificent warp-spasms in Cattle Raid of Cooley (Táin Bó Cúailnge), they resent all of the wimpy comic-book heroes from their mis-spent youth. After reading An Béal Bocht(The Poor Mouth) by Flann O'Brien, they don't think much of the Irish.
"So you are teaching resentment."
He laughed. "I'm not teaching resentment. I'm teaching literature and drama and media arts and history."
"What about solidarity? Gov. Brewer says that teachers must teach about individualism and personal freedom."
"So maybe I should teach only Ayn Rand?," said Sean. "Look, the Irish are all about personal freedom and individualism. They could teach Ayn Rand a thing or two. You ever try to organize the Irish to do anything? Why do you think the Brits had such a free hand in Ireland for 500 years?
I asked him if he designed ES 212 for pupils of a particular ethnic group, such as Irish-Catholic Americans?
"That may be the class's saving grace. Irish-Americans don't want to hear the real story. They like leprechauns and St. Patrick's Day and Notre Dame's "Fighting Irish." They want to talk about great-grandpa leaving the old sod and coming to America with no shoes and not a penny to his name. They want to talk about finding their colorful relatives in Roscommon or Cork.
"They mostly avoid my class like the plague. Kids that want myths can take history classes that use Texas-sanctioned texts. Or Lynne Cheney's books. My best students tend to be recent immigrants from Mexico, Vietnam, the Sudan, Iraq, Sri Lanka, El Salvador. They know that life is messy. They came to the U.S. so they wouldn't be murdered or starved to death in their native lands. When they read Seamus Heaney and Jonathan Swift, or some Irish-American writers like Flannery O'Connor and James T. Farrell, they can relate to it."
"I'll take a kid from Darfur with a name like Mabior Dau over a Yuppified Republican Phoenix suburbanite named Maureen O'Sullivan any day."
"So Gov. Brewer's law may not apply to you?" I asked.
"That gobshite can kiss my arse. I don't care what she thinks. I'm going to keep teaching kids that life is wonderful and cruel and complicated and ridiculous and funny as hell. Especially if you're an immigrant in Arizona."
Sean is upset with Arizona's new law banning ethnic studies classes. Gov. Jan Brewer just signed the law that bans classes that "promote the overthrow of the U.S. government, promote resentment toward a race or class of people, are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group, advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals."
"It's not fair," bemoaned Sean during a recent phone call. "Only once have I called for the overthrow of the U.S. Government, and that when that gobshite Reagan was president. And his people are Irish, so I can call him what I want."
I asked Sean if he promoted resentment toward a race or a class of people.
"Guilty," he said. "Once my students read The Great Hunger, they resent the Brits. After we watch Gangs of New York, they resent the American Nativists who advocated sending the Papists back to Ireland or killing them, whichever was easiest. They also hate Leonardo DiCaprio for his pathetic Irish accent. After seeing a performance of Synge's Playboy of the Western World, they resent me because they thought there would be lots of nudes in it. After reading Year of the French, they resent the French for being so inept on the Irish battefields against the Brits. After reading How the Irish Saved Civilization, they resent the Roman Catholic Church and all the popes. After hearing about Cuchulain's magnificent warp-spasms in Cattle Raid of Cooley (Táin Bó Cúailnge), they resent all of the wimpy comic-book heroes from their mis-spent youth. After reading An Béal Bocht(The Poor Mouth) by Flann O'Brien, they don't think much of the Irish.
"So you are teaching resentment."
He laughed. "I'm not teaching resentment. I'm teaching literature and drama and media arts and history."
"What about solidarity? Gov. Brewer says that teachers must teach about individualism and personal freedom."
"So maybe I should teach only Ayn Rand?," said Sean. "Look, the Irish are all about personal freedom and individualism. They could teach Ayn Rand a thing or two. You ever try to organize the Irish to do anything? Why do you think the Brits had such a free hand in Ireland for 500 years?
I asked him if he designed ES 212 for pupils of a particular ethnic group, such as Irish-Catholic Americans?
"That may be the class's saving grace. Irish-Americans don't want to hear the real story. They like leprechauns and St. Patrick's Day and Notre Dame's "Fighting Irish." They want to talk about great-grandpa leaving the old sod and coming to America with no shoes and not a penny to his name. They want to talk about finding their colorful relatives in Roscommon or Cork.
"They mostly avoid my class like the plague. Kids that want myths can take history classes that use Texas-sanctioned texts. Or Lynne Cheney's books. My best students tend to be recent immigrants from Mexico, Vietnam, the Sudan, Iraq, Sri Lanka, El Salvador. They know that life is messy. They came to the U.S. so they wouldn't be murdered or starved to death in their native lands. When they read Seamus Heaney and Jonathan Swift, or some Irish-American writers like Flannery O'Connor and James T. Farrell, they can relate to it."
"I'll take a kid from Darfur with a name like Mabior Dau over a Yuppified Republican Phoenix suburbanite named Maureen O'Sullivan any day."
"So Gov. Brewer's law may not apply to you?" I asked.
"That gobshite can kiss my arse. I don't care what she thinks. I'm going to keep teaching kids that life is wonderful and cruel and complicated and ridiculous and funny as hell. Especially if you're an immigrant in Arizona."
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Local film fest features local filmmaker
Until tonight, I'd never been to a film festival.
"Film festival" means Sundance or Tribeca or -- even further afield -- Cannes or Berlin.
But not Cheyenne, Wyoming, as in Cheyenne International Film Festival.
They said it couldn't be done -- but they did it. Alan O'Hashi, a Wyoming guy now in Colorado (like so many Wyoming creatives) and his partner, Michael Conti, got the jones for putting on a filmfest in Cheyenne. They started last fall with Shoot-Out Cheyenne, a 24-hour hometown filmmaking marathon. And then turned their attention on putting together CIFF.
This weekend, all the films will be shown in the Historic Atlas Theatre in downtown Cheyenne. It used to be a movie theatre -- when Hector was a pup. Now it serves as the venue for the summer melodrama and several seasonal plays offered by Cheyenne Little Theatre Players. There is no movie screen or digital projectors. The dressing room for theatrical players is located down some rickety stairs into a spooky basement. You have to be Rube Goldberg to make the lights and sound effective.
Turns out, it's a perfect place for a filmfest. Credit to O'Hashi and his crew for rigging a screen and setting up a digital projector and getting the sound to work pretty well. This evening, an almost-full-house watched three films by hometown filmmaker Daniel Junge. Three wonderful documentaries by a guy who made his first video at Cheyenne East High School and last year had a film nominated by an Academy Award in the documentary category.
Daniel's father, Mark, is a long-time journalist and author. The past few years, Mark has been known as the guy on oxygen who rides his bicycle cross-country -- and sends dispatches to the Cheyenne paper. A fine writer. A storyteller. Damn fine progressive, too.
In his post-screening talk, Daniel credited his father and his teachers and his mentors in the filmmaking biz for teaching him how to be a storyteller. That's what it comes down to -- storytelling. Film is a visual method to tell a story.
As I watched Daniel's films, I could follow the arc of the story in "Come Back to Sudan" and "No Strings" and "Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner." I know stories -- I write them. I could see why "Last Campaign" was an Oscar nominee. Conflict. Tension. Great characters. Mystery. I was, literally, at the edge of my seat. And I wasn't disappointed.
Film festivals are sprouting up all over. Technology has allowed young filmmakers and newbies with a cause to join the fray. Said Daniel: "Democratization of video allowed schmucks like me to make films."
And even younger filmmakers are jumping in. "Kids have a visual literacy that's out of this world," said Daniel. "I think it comes through their umbilical cords."
Daniel said that he'd like to continue making films, although it would be nice to be able to support his family. He has four films in various stages of development. One is set in Pakistan and follows a Pakistani doctor in London returning to his country to treat women who have been victims of acid attacks by their husbands. He's researching a reggae-based school for the homeless in Jamaica and the medical marijuana issue in Colorado. He's also looking into the case of an Iraq War veteran in Southern California who murdered his girlfriend.
Not all ideas turn into films. But Daniel says that he's been pretty lucky that most of his subjects have become finished films.
Lucky for him. Lucky for us.
The Cheyenne International Film Festival continues at the Atlas Theatre through Sunday evening, May 23.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Rep. Cynthia Lummis: Let's prioritize!
Received a nice note from Wyoming Rep. Cynthia Lummis:
All these links lead to Rep. Lummis's web site. You can prioritize these pre-selected issues and send comments to her on ways to "take America back."
"Take America back" is code for "don't you just hate it that the Democrats kicked our butts in 2008?" Also: "Let's get that black guy out of the White House."
You gotta know how to translate Wingnutese.
Let's see if we can translate Lummis's six items:
Jobs.
What's she really means is "Unemployment sits at about 10 percent. Blame Obama. We Republicans were in charge for the previous eight years and we had nothing to do with it."
Taxes
Translation: "Taxes are for chumps. The only time I want to hear the word tax is in tax cut."
Cut Federal Spending/Balance the Budget
Translation: "Cut all federal gubment spending except defense. Anybody that wants to cut defense spending hates the troops."
Border Security
Translation: "Arizona! Arizona! Arizona!"
Debt (Medicare and Social Security Reform)
Translation: "We hate gubment. We hate debt. We hate taxes. We hate entitlements. Don't touch our Social Security and Medicare."
Health Care Reform
Translation: "Don't let federal bureaucrats come between me and my doctor. Instead, let insurance companies come between me and my doctor."
Dear Friend:
I would like to hear your ideas and concerns for America’s future.I believe that by recommitting ourselves to government of the people - federal policy driven by every day Americans and not by Washington, D.C. insiders – to protect our liberty, revitalize our economy and restore our economic and personal freedom is the best policy. Please share your ideas and concerns so that I may better represent you in Congress. I hope to enlist thousands of Wyomingites' common sense ideas into my work in Congress.
Please forward this email to your friends and family, as we need to involve as many Wyomingites as possible.
Sincerely, Congressman Cynthia Lummis
This is what I think Congress should prioritizePlease rate the following issues you think Congress needs to address on a scale of 1-6, 1 being most important.
Jobs
Taxes (estate tax, flat tax, fair tax, VAT, capital gains tax etc…)
Cut Federal Spending/Balance the Budget
Border Security
Debt (Medicare and Social Security Reform)
Health Care Reform
All these links lead to Rep. Lummis's web site. You can prioritize these pre-selected issues and send comments to her on ways to "take America back."
"Take America back" is code for "don't you just hate it that the Democrats kicked our butts in 2008?" Also: "Let's get that black guy out of the White House."
You gotta know how to translate Wingnutese.
Let's see if we can translate Lummis's six items:
Jobs.
What's she really means is "Unemployment sits at about 10 percent. Blame Obama. We Republicans were in charge for the previous eight years and we had nothing to do with it."
Taxes
Translation: "Taxes are for chumps. The only time I want to hear the word tax is in tax cut."
Cut Federal Spending/Balance the Budget
Translation: "Cut all federal gubment spending except defense. Anybody that wants to cut defense spending hates the troops."
Border Security
Translation: "Arizona! Arizona! Arizona!"
Debt (Medicare and Social Security Reform)
Translation: "We hate gubment. We hate debt. We hate taxes. We hate entitlements. Don't touch our Social Security and Medicare."
Health Care Reform
Translation: "Don't let federal bureaucrats come between me and my doctor. Instead, let insurance companies come between me and my doctor."
Monday, May 17, 2010
New twist in ADHD mystery
I've been writing for 20 years about our family's experience with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Our son Kevin was diagnosed with ADHD when he was five; our daughter was eight. Chris has learning disabilities made worse by ADD.
I'm not distracted or hyperactive -- just depressed.
Many parents and teachers and physicians and therapists now believe that ADHD exists. Some think that it's a conspiracy hatched by psychiatrists and drug companies.
ADHD exists -- I've seen it in action. Yet I can't rule out the fact that drug companies are making a killing marketing Ritalin and Adderall and Concerta. They work. They have side effects but the work to dampen the distraction and hyperactivity. These central nervous system stimulants (and official DEA controlled substance) allow these hyper-kids to concentrate long enough to get through a school day.
But researchers are still working on the causes of ADHD. Genetics? Too much processed sugar in the diet? Dysfunctional home life? Environmental poisons? Secular Socialism?
All attention is now on pesticides with a new study from the Harvard School of Public Health.
Here's a Reuters story about the study:
I'm not distracted or hyperactive -- just depressed.
Many parents and teachers and physicians and therapists now believe that ADHD exists. Some think that it's a conspiracy hatched by psychiatrists and drug companies.
ADHD exists -- I've seen it in action. Yet I can't rule out the fact that drug companies are making a killing marketing Ritalin and Adderall and Concerta. They work. They have side effects but the work to dampen the distraction and hyperactivity. These central nervous system stimulants (and official DEA controlled substance) allow these hyper-kids to concentrate long enough to get through a school day.
But researchers are still working on the causes of ADHD. Genetics? Too much processed sugar in the diet? Dysfunctional home life? Environmental poisons? Secular Socialism?
All attention is now on pesticides with a new study from the Harvard School of Public Health.
Here's a Reuters story about the study:
Children exposed to pesticides known as organophosphates could have a higher risk of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a U.S. study that urges parents to always wash produce thoroughly.
Researchers tracked the pesticides' breakdown products in children' urine and found those with high levels were almost twice as likely to develop ADHD as those with undetectable levels.
The findings are based on data from the general U.S. population, meaning that exposure to the pesticides could be harmful even at levels commonly found in children's environment.
"There is growing concern that these pesticides may be related to ADHD," said researcher Marc Weisskopf of the Harvard School of Public Health, who worked on the study.
"What this paper specifically highlights is that this may be true even at low concentrations."
Organophosphates were originally developed for chemical warfare, and they are known to be toxic to the nervous system.
There are about 40 organophosphate pesticides such as malathion registered in the United States, the researchers wrote in the journal Pediatrics.
Weisskopf said the compounds have been linked to behavioral symptoms common to ADHD -- for instance, impulsivity and attention problems -- but exactly how is not fully understood.
Although the researchers had no way to determine the source of the breakdown products they found, Weisskopf said the most likely culprits were pesticides and insecticides used on produce and indoors.
Garry Hamlin of Dow AgroSciences, which manufactures an organophosphate known as chlorpyrifos, said he had not had time to read the report closely.
But, he added" "the results reported in the paper don't establish any association specific to our product chlorpyrifos."
Weisskopf and colleagues' sample included 1,139 children between 8 and 15 years. They interviewed the children's mothers, or another caretaker, and found that about one in 10 met the criteria for ADHD, which jibes with estimates for the general population.
After accounting for factors such as gender, age and race, they found the odds of having ADHD rose with the level of pesticide breakdown products.
For a 10-fold increase in one class of those compounds, the odds of ADHD increased by more than half. And for the most common breakdown product, called dimethyl triophosphate, the odds of ADHD almost doubled in kids with above-average levels compared to those without detectable levels.
"That's a very strong association that, if true, is of very serious concern," said Weisskopf. "These are widely used pesticides."
He emphasized that more studies are needed, especially following exposure levels over time, before contemplating a ban on the pesticides. Still, he urged parents to be aware of what insecticides they were using around the house and to wash produce.
"A good washing of fruits and vegetables before one eats them would definitely help a lot," he said.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Films and music at CIFF May 21-23
This news comes from the Cheyenne International Film Festival web site:
Buy your tickets for the Cheyenne International Film Festival (CIFF) set for next weekend. The Celtic sounds of the Peat Bog Mysteries will fill the Atlas Theatre.
The night honors Cheyenneite Daniel Junge who was will be screening three movies – his Oscar nominated film “The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner”, “No Strings” and “Come Back to Sudan.”
The CIFF consists of nine programs of 35 films – shorts, documentaries, features and the Wyoming Showcase. The Wyoming Showcase includes of variety of movies shot in Wyoming, set in Wyoming or produced by Wyoming people.
The Call2ACTion links movies with local community-based organizations. This year Call2ACTion organizations are the Southeast Wyoming Intertribal Powwow Association, the YMCA Teen After School Program, The Laramie County Library Foundation, and VFW Post 1881. Call2ACTion gives local groups an opportunity to get their message out to audiences in the safe place of the arts.
Can you be outside looking in when you've spent your entire life on the inside looking out?
The Wyoming Democratic Party is holding its convention in Casper this weekend. For the first time since 2002, I'm not there. My interest in the state party and the Laramie County Democrats has waned since the 2008 elections. We were all tired. Elated by the national results but dismayed by the insistence of Wyoming voters to send Cheyenne Republican Cynthia Lummis to Congress instead of the more-qualified and dynamic Democrat, Gary Trauner. A party-line vote. Party-line votes in Wyoming always favor Republicans. In 2006, Trauner came within 1,000 votes of whipping Rep. Barbara Cubin. She was a sitting duck, disliked by Repub and Dems alike for her absence from House votes -- and nonsensical votes when she did show. But for a few diehard Repubs in northern Wyoming, the state would have a knowledgeable House member instead of a party hack.
Water under the bridge.
The Democrats have no candidate for governor this year. The very popular Dave Freudenthal is leaving. Four major Republican Party politicos are running for the nomination. There are some wild cards in the race, including Repub James Macneil, Dems Rex Wilde and Al Hamburg, and Libertarian Mike Wheeler. But the fact remains -- the 65,000 registered Democrats in the state have nobody to vote for.
According to the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, former Dem Party Chair John Millin of Cheyenne is switching parties in August to vote for Colin Simpson in the primaries. He urges other Dems to do the same. Other Dems around the state are opting for crossover votes to Rita Meyer or Matt Mead. Nobody in their right (left?) minds would vote for Ron Micheli, the most right-wing of all the candidates.
I heard Ron Micheli speak yesterday at the Tea Party-sponsored rally at the Wyoming State Capitol. He was preceded by other speakers spouting the same rah-rah buzzwords we've heard before. "Liberty." "Freedom." "Tenth Amendment." "Independence." "States' Rights." "Founding Fathers." "American Revolution."
All wonderful words and phrases until interjected into nonsensical sentences.
Here are some utterances from Mr. Micheli:
"We're outside the State Capitol looking in."
"It's time to take back the federal government."
"Greatest challenges to Wyoming are coming out of Washington, D.C."
"Federal instrusion the greatest threat..."
"We need a governor with the courage to stand up for the state and protect us from the bullies of the Obama Administration."
"We need a governor who understands the 10th amendment," he said, adding that Wyoming should join other states in the lawsuit against health care legislation. "We should not only join the fight but lead the fight."
"We must be engaged in this fight or this country is doomed."
Micheli also railed against the Obama Administration's "nationalizing of banks, auto industry and now health care" while "Communist China takes on $800 billion of our debt."
"Together, you and I can come in from the outside and make a difference."
One of Micheli's refrains is that everyone at the State Capitol on Friday was "ouside looking in." Very clever, really, in this year of hating insiders and loving outsiders. Micheli, of course, is a veteran insider, as are all of the four major Repub gubernatorial candidates.
Here's some bio info from Micheli's campaign web site:
And there's more:
Mr. Micheli is a fourth-generation Wyoming rancher and went to UW and most of his kids and his brothers and sisters and cousins and cattle went to UW.
That's "Insider" with a capital "I."
But this year, the Tea Party crowd wants -- or at least pretends to want -- "Outsiders" with a capital "O."
"O" as in "Oh my God that's the funniest thing I've heard all year."
Water under the bridge.
The Democrats have no candidate for governor this year. The very popular Dave Freudenthal is leaving. Four major Republican Party politicos are running for the nomination. There are some wild cards in the race, including Repub James Macneil, Dems Rex Wilde and Al Hamburg, and Libertarian Mike Wheeler. But the fact remains -- the 65,000 registered Democrats in the state have nobody to vote for.
According to the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, former Dem Party Chair John Millin of Cheyenne is switching parties in August to vote for Colin Simpson in the primaries. He urges other Dems to do the same. Other Dems around the state are opting for crossover votes to Rita Meyer or Matt Mead. Nobody in their right (left?) minds would vote for Ron Micheli, the most right-wing of all the candidates.
I heard Ron Micheli speak yesterday at the Tea Party-sponsored rally at the Wyoming State Capitol. He was preceded by other speakers spouting the same rah-rah buzzwords we've heard before. "Liberty." "Freedom." "Tenth Amendment." "Independence." "States' Rights." "Founding Fathers." "American Revolution."
All wonderful words and phrases until interjected into nonsensical sentences.
Here are some utterances from Mr. Micheli:
"We're outside the State Capitol looking in."
"It's time to take back the federal government."
"Greatest challenges to Wyoming are coming out of Washington, D.C."
"Federal instrusion the greatest threat..."
"We need a governor with the courage to stand up for the state and protect us from the bullies of the Obama Administration."
"We need a governor who understands the 10th amendment," he said, adding that Wyoming should join other states in the lawsuit against health care legislation. "We should not only join the fight but lead the fight."
"We must be engaged in this fight or this country is doomed."
Micheli also railed against the Obama Administration's "nationalizing of banks, auto industry and now health care" while "Communist China takes on $800 billion of our debt."
"Together, you and I can come in from the outside and make a difference."
One of Micheli's refrains is that everyone at the State Capitol on Friday was "ouside looking in." Very clever, really, in this year of hating insiders and loving outsiders. Micheli, of course, is a veteran insider, as are all of the four major Repub gubernatorial candidates.
Here's some bio info from Micheli's campaign web site:
Ron served for 16 years in the Wyoming House of Representatives. During this time, he held various leadership positions including Majority Floor Leader, Speaker Pro Tempore, and Majority Whip. Ron also was the Chairman of the House Revenue Committee for 6 years where he became known as a tax expert in the House. In addition, he has sponsored and carried many far-reaching and important legislative initiatives, including sweeping protections for victims of crimes, protections for children, and a constitutional amendment to protect taxpayers.
Ron has dedicated his life to service of Wyoming and grassroots political activity. Ron has served as a Republican Precinct Committeeman for over 20 years and has served on the Republican State Central Committee, including service on the State Central Committee Executive Committee as the Treasurer. Ron was the Chairman of the Wyoming State Republican Convention in 1994. He has also been the chairman of the Resolution Committee and the Platform Committee.
And there's more:
After his service in the legislature, Ron served in the cabinet of Governor Jim Geringer as the Director of the Wyoming Department of Agriculture from 1995-2003. While leading this state agency, Ron also served in the Governor’s natural resource sub-cabinet where he became an expert on Wyoming’s natural resource issues including oil and gas development, use of public lands, and the impact of state and federal regulation on small and large business owners. Ron has also worked with many national and regional organizations that direct policy to protect and assist Wyoming businesses.
Mr. Micheli is a fourth-generation Wyoming rancher and went to UW and most of his kids and his brothers and sisters and cousins and cattle went to UW.
That's "Insider" with a capital "I."
But this year, the Tea Party crowd wants -- or at least pretends to want -- "Outsiders" with a capital "O."
"O" as in "Oh my God that's the funniest thing I've heard all year."
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Master Gardeners' Plant Sale and Gardening Fest May 15 at Cheyenne Depot
Mike Ridenhour sent this:
Put away the snow boots and dust off the gardening boots. Spring arrives in Cheyenne with the annual Master Gardeners' Plant Sale and Gardening Festival. Come get supplies to grow your own local food, and get some early season goodies from some of the Wyoming Fresh Market vendors.
Saturday, May 15, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Historic Train Depot Plaza, Downtown Cheyenne
At the Garden Festival:
Annual and perennial flowers, vegetables, herbs, a limited number of small trees and shrubs. Also look for gently-used tools, a garden boutique and books and magazines on gardening. Brief, free lectures and workshops under the tent will cover designing a productive vegetable garden (including meeting the challenge of Wyoming’s climate).
Wyoming Fresh Farmers Market will preview their market season at the Festival. The market booth will include the following local products:
Heirloom tomato plants and bedding plants from Local Roots (formerly Wolf Moon Farms)
Gourmet Pasta from Pasta Pazza
Grassfed Beef, Jerky, and Eggs from Meadow Maid Foods
Grassfed Bison and Jerky from High-Point Bison
Natural Emu-oil Soaps and Lotions from Rabbitt Creek Enterprises
Cheyenne Honey
Pioneer BBQ
Wyoming Fresh Farmers Market starts its regular season on Tuesday, June 8, 3-7 p.m. on North Yellowstone, in front of Smart Sports.
Put away the snow boots and dust off the gardening boots. Spring arrives in Cheyenne with the annual Master Gardeners' Plant Sale and Gardening Festival. Come get supplies to grow your own local food, and get some early season goodies from some of the Wyoming Fresh Market vendors.
Saturday, May 15, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Historic Train Depot Plaza, Downtown Cheyenne
At the Garden Festival:
Annual and perennial flowers, vegetables, herbs, a limited number of small trees and shrubs. Also look for gently-used tools, a garden boutique and books and magazines on gardening. Brief, free lectures and workshops under the tent will cover designing a productive vegetable garden (including meeting the challenge of Wyoming’s climate).
Wyoming Fresh Farmers Market will preview their market season at the Festival. The market booth will include the following local products:
Heirloom tomato plants and bedding plants from Local Roots (formerly Wolf Moon Farms)
Gourmet Pasta from Pasta Pazza
Grassfed Beef, Jerky, and Eggs from Meadow Maid Foods
Grassfed Bison and Jerky from High-Point Bison
Natural Emu-oil Soaps and Lotions from Rabbitt Creek Enterprises
Cheyenne Honey
Pioneer BBQ
Wyoming Fresh Farmers Market starts its regular season on Tuesday, June 8, 3-7 p.m. on North Yellowstone, in front of Smart Sports.
New West: "Why We Need a New Party, A Party for Commonwealth"
As we ponder gridlock in Washington, D.C., and one-party rule in many Rocky Mountain states, it's a good time to read something like this:
Why We Need a New Party, A Party for Commonwealth by Courtney White at NewWest
What we need is a Party that focuses on municipal and county offices, and no higher. Let the Democrats and Republicans gridlock themselves at the state and federal level; what we need is action at the local level, such as the promotion local food production, or the creation of local energy trusts. We need a Party that focuses on the wealth of local communities – by that I mean local history, culture, economic opportunity, and can-do spirit.
Let’s call it the Commonwealth Party and let’s say its mission is to build economic and ecological resilience to meet the steep and diversifying challenges of the 21st century.
Why We Need a New Party, A Party for Commonwealth by Courtney White at NewWest
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Next Art Design & Dine event is May 13
From the Art Design & Dine blog:
Art Design & Dine will be taking place in Cheyenne this Thursday, May 13, from 5-8 p.m. Stop at any one of the eleven arts venues to pick up a map. Get your map stamped at any five businesses on the walk and receive 10 percent off your bill at the Historic Plains Restaurant in downtown Cheyenne.
Start your walk at....
Deselms Fine Art
The Link Gallery
Artful Hand Studio and Gallery
Clay Paper Scissors Studio and Gallery
The Quilted Corner
The Unitarian Universalist Church
Ewe Count
Envy PhotoGraphics
Prairie Wind
Glen Garrett - Architect
Nagle Warren Mansion
Art Design & Dine will be taking place in Cheyenne this Thursday, May 13, from 5-8 p.m. Stop at any one of the eleven arts venues to pick up a map. Get your map stamped at any five businesses on the walk and receive 10 percent off your bill at the Historic Plains Restaurant in downtown Cheyenne.
Start your walk at....
Deselms Fine Art
The Link Gallery
Artful Hand Studio and Gallery
Clay Paper Scissors Studio and Gallery
The Quilted Corner
The Unitarian Universalist Church
Ewe Count
Envy PhotoGraphics
Prairie Wind
Glen Garrett - Architect
Nagle Warren Mansion
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
In a land where nurses can fly
My sister Mary tells me that this is Nurses Appreciation Week. She should know, as she works in Big Bend Hospice in Tallahassee, Fla. Our mom was a nurse, as was our fraternal grandmother. Two sisters are trained nurses, although they've found more lucrative careers outside nursing.
I only have one short story featuring nurses. Actually I have two. But this one is a short one and was just published in the latest edition of High Plains Register, Laramie County Community College's excellent literary mag. I share the pages with some excellent writers, poets, artists, photographers and musicians. How do you get music into a litmag? Attach a CD. I'm playing it right now.
Thanks to all nurses, both within and outside my family.
Here's the story:
Flying Nurse
The nurse left work at five o’clock.
The car struck him ten minutes later at the corner of Elm and Vine.
He sailed through the air, all the while thinking that this was a silly thing to happen to an E.R. nurse. He spent long days tending to patients struck by cars or bolts of lightning or random suicidal thoughts or stray bullets. “There, there,” he’d say. “You’ll be right as rain in no time.” Into the E.R. came distraught parents with banged up kids – and grown-up children with disoriented elderly parents. Dog bites and bee stings and everyone feeling sad, as the song says.
Don’t think of the sad parts, he thought as he sailed through the warm urban evening. It didn’t hurt yet but he knew it would by the time he landed with a splat in the street on the sidewalk or on top of another car or in the path of a rush-hour bus. He was light as a feather now. When he landed, he’d be heavy as a ton of bricks even though he only weighed 190 pounds which was only, what, one-tenth the weight of the brick load. Bricks on the brain, that’s what he had. He and his lovely wife and two unruly kids lived in a brick house just a few blocks from downtown. If they looked out the south-facing front window right now, would they see him? “Mommy, I see Daddy sailing through the air – and he has a funny look on his face.” “That’s nice kiddo.” Children and their imaginations! As if nurses could fly.
But here he was, flying just the same.
“Jim, when the end comes – God forbid – your final thoughts won’t be on insurance.” That was Bob, his insurance agent, who was lousy with predictions. His wife Jane’s face in ecstasy – that’s what he should see now. Playing soccer in the park with his kids. His parents when they were young and vital. A geeky ten-year-old Jim riding his bike to school. That raucous college party when he first met his wife and he had to shout over the music to make himself heard and she said, no, she didn’t want to go out with him and he thought it was because he was drunk but it was really because she was engaged to a guy who didn’t last – and that’s when Jim came back on the scene. He lasted and lasted.
Jim hoped for two outcomes. Instant death on the asphalt. Or a miraculous feet-first landing in which his sneakers slapped the pavement one-two and he broke into a run that brought him all the way home. “Run, Jim, run.” The citizenry lined the sidewalks. “Run, Jim, run.” He ran and ran. It was easy as pie. He could do this all day. “Run, Jim, run.” He was flying no more. Running home, Jim was. Running to his family.
When he opened his eyes in the E.R., the wall clock read 8:05. He had a headache and his right leg throbbed. Mouth dry as a desert wind. A nurse swam into view. She looked familiar but Jim couldn’t conjure a name.
She smiled. “Didn’t your mama teach you to look both ways before you cross the street?”
“I was flying,” he said.
The nurse patted his arm. “That’s what they all say.”
You can absorb the latest High Plains Register at http://en.calameo.com/read/000197327b247d5bebebe
I only have one short story featuring nurses. Actually I have two. But this one is a short one and was just published in the latest edition of High Plains Register, Laramie County Community College's excellent literary mag. I share the pages with some excellent writers, poets, artists, photographers and musicians. How do you get music into a litmag? Attach a CD. I'm playing it right now.
Thanks to all nurses, both within and outside my family.
Here's the story:
Flying Nurse
The nurse left work at five o’clock.
The car struck him ten minutes later at the corner of Elm and Vine.
He sailed through the air, all the while thinking that this was a silly thing to happen to an E.R. nurse. He spent long days tending to patients struck by cars or bolts of lightning or random suicidal thoughts or stray bullets. “There, there,” he’d say. “You’ll be right as rain in no time.” Into the E.R. came distraught parents with banged up kids – and grown-up children with disoriented elderly parents. Dog bites and bee stings and everyone feeling sad, as the song says.
Don’t think of the sad parts, he thought as he sailed through the warm urban evening. It didn’t hurt yet but he knew it would by the time he landed with a splat in the street on the sidewalk or on top of another car or in the path of a rush-hour bus. He was light as a feather now. When he landed, he’d be heavy as a ton of bricks even though he only weighed 190 pounds which was only, what, one-tenth the weight of the brick load. Bricks on the brain, that’s what he had. He and his lovely wife and two unruly kids lived in a brick house just a few blocks from downtown. If they looked out the south-facing front window right now, would they see him? “Mommy, I see Daddy sailing through the air – and he has a funny look on his face.” “That’s nice kiddo.” Children and their imaginations! As if nurses could fly.
But here he was, flying just the same.
“Jim, when the end comes – God forbid – your final thoughts won’t be on insurance.” That was Bob, his insurance agent, who was lousy with predictions. His wife Jane’s face in ecstasy – that’s what he should see now. Playing soccer in the park with his kids. His parents when they were young and vital. A geeky ten-year-old Jim riding his bike to school. That raucous college party when he first met his wife and he had to shout over the music to make himself heard and she said, no, she didn’t want to go out with him and he thought it was because he was drunk but it was really because she was engaged to a guy who didn’t last – and that’s when Jim came back on the scene. He lasted and lasted.
Jim hoped for two outcomes. Instant death on the asphalt. Or a miraculous feet-first landing in which his sneakers slapped the pavement one-two and he broke into a run that brought him all the way home. “Run, Jim, run.” The citizenry lined the sidewalks. “Run, Jim, run.” He ran and ran. It was easy as pie. He could do this all day. “Run, Jim, run.” He was flying no more. Running home, Jim was. Running to his family.
When he opened his eyes in the E.R., the wall clock read 8:05. He had a headache and his right leg throbbed. Mouth dry as a desert wind. A nurse swam into view. She looked familiar but Jim couldn’t conjure a name.
She smiled. “Didn’t your mama teach you to look both ways before you cross the street?”
“I was flying,” he said.
The nurse patted his arm. “That’s what they all say.”
You can absorb the latest High Plains Register at http://en.calameo.com/read/000197327b247d5bebebe
Sunday, May 09, 2010
Better smile, pardner, when you call my home place "desolation"
Sunday's Denver Post featured a story about the food deserts that are created in the city by fleeing grocery stores. We're now facing the same issue in Cheyenne, now that the downtown Safeway closed its doors. If you live downtown, the closest grocery store is more than a mile away at the Albertson's on Yellowstone. Or further -- Cole Square Safeway or the Super Wal-Mart on Dell Range.
Several concerned citizens started a group to find a store for downtown -- or start a food co-op. Not sure what's happening with that effort.
I was dazzled by a few lines from the Post story:
Desolation? Colorado's Front Range boasts has some of the richest farmland in the West. The big problem now is that there are houses and highways and Wal-Marts (even grocery stores) sitting on most of it. Huge irony in the idea of an abandoned safeway in Denver sitting on top of land that could grow enough fruits and veggies for the entire neighborhood. Another irony in the idea that a new Super Safeway in the Denver burbs carries foods shipped thousands of miles away from non-desolation areas such as Raleigh, N.C. The land that the store sits on could grow enough food for everyone in the neighborhood. Except the coffee beans for the double mocha latte at the Safeway Starbucks. Still must import those coffee beans.
I wrote about this just the other day. I don't seem to get tired of the subject. I like growing things and cooking and eating and making fun of people who call Colorado "desolation." If Mr. White thinks of rich high plains land as desolation, what would he think of Cheyenne? Most of the land surrounding our city is too high and dry and cold to be used as anything but grazing for cattle and bison. Still, some of us are daring the elements to make a dent in our own food desert. And there are farms and ranches on nearby land of richer soil and lower elevations. There's the North Platte Valley's Wheatland and Torrington. And then there are the small farmers of northern Colorado. Not sure if the green-thumbed folks at Wolf Moon Farms have considered the fact they're living in desolation.
Yesterday, I bought some of my plants at Kathy Shreve's Star Cake Plants on Snyder Ave. in Cheyenne. I noticed the signs posted along Pershing and thought I'd stop in. How big can a backyard plant sale be, especially in the small backyards in the city's central core?
Plenty big, it turns out. Kathy grows all kids of seedlings in her house and in her backyard greenhouse. She also has a garden ready to go. Tables were crowded with pepper and cauliflower and broccoli seedlings. Other tables featured rows of peonies and dianthus. Groundcovers, too. For tomato seedlings, we went into her cozy greenhouse (barely room for two) and pulled out tomato seedlings and some potted plants for shandy areas. I bought two trays full of seedlings, stuff I'm not starting myself, and went on my merry way. It was a cool, windy morning. It smelled like rich earth, though, with a hint of spring.
Interesting to note that one entrepreneurial master gardener in central Cheyenne's food desert can sprout enough seedlings to grow veggies for hundreds of people.
Such abundance here in this desolate land.
Several concerned citizens started a group to find a store for downtown -- or start a food co-op. Not sure what's happening with that effort.
I was dazzled by a few lines from the Post story:
But the city faces a challenge that some other big cities don't: geography. With no major cities nearby, Denver — and the rest of Colorado — is far from most food distribution hubs.
"Trucks have to drive a long way to get to Colorado," said Drew White, supermarket analyst with Sageworks Inc., based in Raleigh, N.C.
"You're a big city in the middle of desolation," he said.
Desolation? Colorado's Front Range boasts has some of the richest farmland in the West. The big problem now is that there are houses and highways and Wal-Marts (even grocery stores) sitting on most of it. Huge irony in the idea of an abandoned safeway in Denver sitting on top of land that could grow enough fruits and veggies for the entire neighborhood. Another irony in the idea that a new Super Safeway in the Denver burbs carries foods shipped thousands of miles away from non-desolation areas such as Raleigh, N.C. The land that the store sits on could grow enough food for everyone in the neighborhood. Except the coffee beans for the double mocha latte at the Safeway Starbucks. Still must import those coffee beans.
I wrote about this just the other day. I don't seem to get tired of the subject. I like growing things and cooking and eating and making fun of people who call Colorado "desolation." If Mr. White thinks of rich high plains land as desolation, what would he think of Cheyenne? Most of the land surrounding our city is too high and dry and cold to be used as anything but grazing for cattle and bison. Still, some of us are daring the elements to make a dent in our own food desert. And there are farms and ranches on nearby land of richer soil and lower elevations. There's the North Platte Valley's Wheatland and Torrington. And then there are the small farmers of northern Colorado. Not sure if the green-thumbed folks at Wolf Moon Farms have considered the fact they're living in desolation.
Yesterday, I bought some of my plants at Kathy Shreve's Star Cake Plants on Snyder Ave. in Cheyenne. I noticed the signs posted along Pershing and thought I'd stop in. How big can a backyard plant sale be, especially in the small backyards in the city's central core?
Plenty big, it turns out. Kathy grows all kids of seedlings in her house and in her backyard greenhouse. She also has a garden ready to go. Tables were crowded with pepper and cauliflower and broccoli seedlings. Other tables featured rows of peonies and dianthus. Groundcovers, too. For tomato seedlings, we went into her cozy greenhouse (barely room for two) and pulled out tomato seedlings and some potted plants for shandy areas. I bought two trays full of seedlings, stuff I'm not starting myself, and went on my merry way. It was a cool, windy morning. It smelled like rich earth, though, with a hint of spring.
Interesting to note that one entrepreneurial master gardener in central Cheyenne's food desert can sprout enough seedlings to grow veggies for hundreds of people.
Such abundance here in this desolate land.
Saturday, May 08, 2010
Give me good food with a good story
Where Does Your Food Come From?
That was the above-the-banner teaser in this morning Wyoming Tribune-Eagle. The subhead was this:
This is very cool -- and smart. Some may consider it a gimmick, but Foodies like me approve of this tactic. And the writer in me says that a chocolate bar that comes with its own story has my vote.
Why can't we do the same thing with lettuce? The AP sidebar to this story focused on tainted Romaine lettuce grown in Yuma, Ariz., and shipped to states east of the Mississippi including Florida. Why Florida, breadbasket to the East Coast, requires massive infusions of Arizona lettuce is a mystery.
So is the entire food "industry."
That's the key word -- industry. Ag became an industry and we haven't been safe or even healthy since.
The newspaper story doesn't have an answer. But it does pose some questions.
What if we nurtured and tracked a head of lettuce as Shawn Askinosie does a chocolate bar? Let's say that farmer Peter Cruz grows lettuce on a factory farm in Hot As Hell, Arizona. He nurtures the lettuce stalks as he would his own child. When it comes time to ship a batch to Florida, he labels the hemp bag with a stamp of authenticity which includes his signature and photo. The lettuce goes off to Humid As Hell, Florida, to be sold at $5 per pound.
Oops. Winn Dixie shoppers will probably pass up Peter Cruz's lettuce-with-a-story to cheaper, less wordy, alternatives.
Industry lettuce doesn't have a story. Corporate growers don't have time for creative writing. They want to plant thousands of acres, fertilize the hell out of it, spray it with pesticides, harvest it with illegal aliens from Poor As Hell in Jalisco State, load it in big trucks and ship it off to Florida. This lettuce sells for 99 cents a pound.
It also gives you E. coli.
Quite a bargain.
I am growing my own lettuce this summer in Windy As Hell, Wyoming. It will come with stories because I will insist. I will bore my family with those stories and then will turn on you, my faithful readers. You will not be able to buy my organic, homegrown lettuce because I don't want to buy stamps of authenticity and fancy wrappers. Besides, I don't know if my Romaine will come up this summer. It did last year but one never knows about late frosts and hailstorms.
There are alternatives. Go to your local farmers' market and ask for a story while you buy lettuce and tomatoes and peaches. Sometimes there are good stories and sometimes the sellers look at you funny. Some sellers have no stories because they are hired hands and don't know -- don't want to know -- the real stories. In those cases I say -- move on to the next stall.
You can buy your food from local farms. Many are organic but not all. Join the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs offered by Wolf Moon Farms, Grant Farms and Cresset Community Farm in northern Colorado and Meadow Maid Foods near Yoder, Wyo., which also has grass-fed beef and beef jerky. These are just a few -- new "craft" farmers and ranchers are sprouting all the time.
Each has a story to tell.
That was the above-the-banner teaser in this morning Wyoming Tribune-Eagle. The subhead was this:
With hundreds of people sickened by food-borne illness in a spate of recent outbreaks, traceability has become a critical food industry goal.The story was written by Georgia Gustin of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. It begins on an upbeat note with Askinosie Chocolate Factory, which operates out of an historic building in Springfield, Mo. Owner Shawn Askinosie says that he wants to "profit-share with farmers" and tracks his cocoa beans from growers in Eduador to the end product. Using a code on chocolate packages, consumers can go to the company's web site and trace the origins of their treat. Askinosie offers Single Origin Chocolate Bars. One variety is a 77 percent Davao Dark bar from the Philippines. It comes in a brown wrapper with a photo of chief farmer Peter Cruz, his signature and a stamp of authenticity. A map of the farm's location is enclosed. The web site provides a story on the history of cocoa growing in the Philippines.
This is very cool -- and smart. Some may consider it a gimmick, but Foodies like me approve of this tactic. And the writer in me says that a chocolate bar that comes with its own story has my vote.
Why can't we do the same thing with lettuce? The AP sidebar to this story focused on tainted Romaine lettuce grown in Yuma, Ariz., and shipped to states east of the Mississippi including Florida. Why Florida, breadbasket to the East Coast, requires massive infusions of Arizona lettuce is a mystery.
So is the entire food "industry."
That's the key word -- industry. Ag became an industry and we haven't been safe or even healthy since.
The newspaper story doesn't have an answer. But it does pose some questions.
What if we nurtured and tracked a head of lettuce as Shawn Askinosie does a chocolate bar? Let's say that farmer Peter Cruz grows lettuce on a factory farm in Hot As Hell, Arizona. He nurtures the lettuce stalks as he would his own child. When it comes time to ship a batch to Florida, he labels the hemp bag with a stamp of authenticity which includes his signature and photo. The lettuce goes off to Humid As Hell, Florida, to be sold at $5 per pound.
Oops. Winn Dixie shoppers will probably pass up Peter Cruz's lettuce-with-a-story to cheaper, less wordy, alternatives.
Industry lettuce doesn't have a story. Corporate growers don't have time for creative writing. They want to plant thousands of acres, fertilize the hell out of it, spray it with pesticides, harvest it with illegal aliens from Poor As Hell in Jalisco State, load it in big trucks and ship it off to Florida. This lettuce sells for 99 cents a pound.
It also gives you E. coli.
Quite a bargain.
I am growing my own lettuce this summer in Windy As Hell, Wyoming. It will come with stories because I will insist. I will bore my family with those stories and then will turn on you, my faithful readers. You will not be able to buy my organic, homegrown lettuce because I don't want to buy stamps of authenticity and fancy wrappers. Besides, I don't know if my Romaine will come up this summer. It did last year but one never knows about late frosts and hailstorms.
There are alternatives. Go to your local farmers' market and ask for a story while you buy lettuce and tomatoes and peaches. Sometimes there are good stories and sometimes the sellers look at you funny. Some sellers have no stories because they are hired hands and don't know -- don't want to know -- the real stories. In those cases I say -- move on to the next stall.
You can buy your food from local farms. Many are organic but not all. Join the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs offered by Wolf Moon Farms, Grant Farms and Cresset Community Farm in northern Colorado and Meadow Maid Foods near Yoder, Wyo., which also has grass-fed beef and beef jerky. These are just a few -- new "craft" farmers and ranchers are sprouting all the time.
Each has a story to tell.
Friday, May 07, 2010
WY Education Czar Jim McBride worried that Ayers' visit could ruin UW brand
Amazing how the University of Wyoming president and rich donors and former Sen. Al Simpson and Gov. Dave Freudenthal and Republican gubernatorial candidates all got into the act in opposing Bill Ayers' visit to the state's only public university.
Now we hear that State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. Jim McBride, also was scared to death by having former sixties radical and educational reform expert Ayers appear in Laramie.
Shouldn't Dr. McBride be spending more time addressing the state's sky-high high school dropout rate? Didn't he recently voice his concern about the education system's over-reliance on standardized tests?
Here's the news item I plucked this morning from the Wyoming Public Radio web site:
Now we hear that State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. Jim McBride, also was scared to death by having former sixties radical and educational reform expert Ayers appear in Laramie.
Shouldn't Dr. McBride be spending more time addressing the state's sky-high high school dropout rate? Didn't he recently voice his concern about the education system's over-reliance on standardized tests?
Here's the news item I plucked this morning from the Wyoming Public Radio web site:
Top education official pushed for Ayers cancellation Molly Messick (2010-05-06)
LARAMIE, WYO. (wpr) - Documents released last week through a public records request show that the state's top elected education official called for the cancellation of William Ayers' visit to the University of Wyoming based on the potential for lost donations. Ayers is the former militant activist turned education professor who was originally scheduled to speak at UW in early April.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jim McBride said in three separate emails that Ayers' visit could cost the university "millions." Reached this week, McBride described his thinking this way. "If you were the Board of Trustees of Coca-Cola, and someone inside Coca-Cola was going to damage your brand name and maybe make it more difficult for you to make money, would it be wise to call the CEO of Coca-Cola, call it to his attention and ask him to do something about it?"
Whether Ayers' initial visit was cancelled in part due to threats of lost donations has been a question since the decision was made. Many have voiced concern that the university might have weighed academic freedom and free speech against the potential financial cost of upsetting prominent university donors.
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
Can Progressives be REAL sports fans?
Phoenix Suns wear "Los Suns" jerseys for Game 2 of NBA playoffs. Christian Petersen, Getty ImagesCan Progressives be sports fans? Real fans, not just bowtie-wearing George Will-style life-is-like-baseball-and-vice-versa fans. I mean real fans, those who follow their team's ups-and-downs, cheer wildly when they win and suffer publicly in defeat.
Another question: can sports teams be politically active for Progressive causes? Professional teams are corporations and, as corporations, must be politically savvy. They cannot afford to piss off potential fans, especially rich ones who buy skyboxes. Rich fans who buy skyboxes tend to be corporate titans with similar business interests. They speak the same languages -- money and conservative politics. These traits were put on public display with news that the owners of the Arizona Cardinals NFL team were backers of the awful Arizona anti-immigrant law. The Phoenix Suns offered a counterpoint when its players wore "Los Suns" jerseys for their NBA playoff game on Cinco de Mayo. Two amazing things about this: 1. it was the owner's idea; 2. it actually happened. Thus, a pro sports team is now on record opposing a loony right-wing law, even though some of its ticket holders are undoubtedly loony right-wingers. It is Arizona, right?
Here are a few paragraphs about the Suns' decision by Michael Wilbon, sports columnist for the Washington Post:
Instead of embracing a convenient neutrality that might have helped the bottom line with a great many locals who favor a new law that requires local police to check the legal status of suspected undocumented immigrants, Suns owner Robert Sarver called the law "flawed" and "mean-spirited" and asked his players what they thought of wearing "Los Suns" jerseys during Wednesday night's playoff game. Depending on your point of view, it was either an act of support for the Latin community, whose members feel targeted by the law, or an act of defiance toward those in the larger community who are angry over illegal immigration in a border state and rail at any dissent.
The folks here who wanted, at worst, silence picked the wrong team. The Suns locker room has too many independent thinkers, too many activists, too many players whose experiences and sensibilities are, thankfully, a lot broader than most of their neighbors. Sarver's players not only had no problem wearing "Los Suns" jerseys, they felt, to a man, pretty much the same way he did, damn the backlash, and were quite willing to say it. And there was plenty of backlash. Suns Coach Alvin Gentry, an hour before Game 2 against the Spurs tipped off, pointed to his computer, referring to the angry e-mails from folks who wanted the players in lockstep with the state's misguided new law.
Big-time college sports teams, particularly BCS football, love rich alum who buy skyboxes and sink tons of money into the university, usually in the sports programs -- but not always. Coddling rich conservative patrons of its sports programs was behind the University of Wyoming's refusal to let sixties radical Bill Ayers to speak on campus last month. Good to know that your state's only university considers building a few more skyboxes more important than freedom of speech.
What kind of politics are on display at NFL games? The Star-Spangled Banner, military aircraft fly-overs, tributes to veterans, Honor America Day, etc. Sports team wear their conservative politics openly when they name their stadiums after corporations. That's one conservative corporation wearing the banner of another conservative corporation. A wolf dressed in wolf's clothing.
When U.S. Army Ranger Pat Tillman was killed in Afghanistan, Arizona State University and the Arizona Cardinals fell all over themselves celebrating his sacrifice. On Sunday, September 19, 2004, all NFL teams wore a memorial decal on their helmets in honor of Tillman. One of Tillman's former teammates was Broncos QB Jake Plummer. He wanted to continue to wear the Tillman decal through the rest of the season just like his former Arizona mates. The NFL said no, that Plummer's helmet would not match those of his Bronco teammates. So Plummer grew a beard and long hair to celebrate the pre-Army Tillman.
He was indeed a brave and principled man who gave up big football bucks to join the Army. Then we discovered that the Pentagon covered up the fact that Tillman was killed by his own men. Tillman had become outspoken in his disenchantment with our overseas misadventures. The public celebrations of heroism evaporated into the mists of history.
What would happen if the NFL declared "Man Enough to Wear Chartreuse" day. Pro rodeo marks "Man Enough to Wear Pink" days to declare its support in the fight against breast cancer. But "Man Enough to Wear Chartreuse" day would mark the struggle for LGBT Equal Rights. How many NFL players and rodeo bareback riders would support that? How many NFL fans would complain, making loud empty threats about turning in their season tickets?
As a prog-blogger with a healthy skepticism, I simply cannot engage in unbridled hero worship. I'm a fan, but a jaundiced one (and I don't even like yellow). I am happy that University of Florida's Tim Tebow was chosen by the Denver Broncos in the NFL draft. I plan to buy a No. 15 Tebow Broncos jersey and wear it publicly. Will Tebow become another Hall-of-Famer like the legendary John Elway? Elway is a Republican, conservative enough to spurn a post-Super-Bowl appearance at the Clinton White House. Tebow is a conservative, a fundamentalist Christian anti-abortion crusader. I am on the opposite end of that issue, as I've written here before. Tebow has enough guts to declare his views publicly on a Super Bowl ad. I'm man enough to support his NFL aspirations. Until he fails and is traded to the Dallas Cowboys. Sure, Tebow is a Gator. But a dedicated Denver Broncos fan cannot cheer for the Dallas Cowboys, no matter whom the quarterback is.
A real fan, Progressive or not, has scruples.
Monday, May 03, 2010
There is a time to sew, and a time to write
All the cool kids in the neighborhood are turning into farmers.
Jimmy down the street dug up his backyard and planted a corn field. His plan is to use his corn for ethanol production and later, carve out a baseball field because if you build it, Kevin Costner will come over.
Ricky is growing wheat to make his own bread, as did William Alexander is his new book "52 Loaves: A Quest for the Holy Grain." NPR interviewed the author on Sunday morning.
Melanie and her kids are planting a vegetable garden and raising chickens. They're going to to eat the vegetables and the fresh eggs and eventually dispatch the chickens for Sunday dinner.
My plans are modest. Expand my vegetable garden by a few cubic yards. Plant tomatoes, beans, various lettuce varieties, spinach, broccoli, peas. I'm hoping the strawberries come in after a winter under layers of mulch. I'm hoping to get a few more plums from my plum tree and apples from my apple tree.
But no chickens. Neighborhood chicken-raising should be encouraged. If you know anything about corporate chicken-farming, you'll want to avoid the grocery store brands. Local purveyors of chicken and beef and bison sell their wares at farmers' markets.
My grandparents would get a kick out of us urban and suburban farmers. Three of my four grandparents grew up on farms. My fraternal grandmother, Florence, was a Baltimore city kid. Her family probably had a garden, as did most people back then. My maternal grandfather, Martin, grew up in the rocky wilds of Ireland's Roscommon County. The family farmed something. Grandpa was never specific, but it probably was potatoes. In America, he always had a garden. So did my fraternal Grandfather Raymond, who grew up on a farm outside Iowa City. Raymond grew beautiful tomatoes in his Denver garden. Iowa farm boys know how to grow things.
With the exception of a few real farmers and some back-to-the-land hippies, my generation worked to be as far away from the sources of food production as possible. Suburbs gobbled up farm land for big houses and huge stores, including Super Wal-Marts and the ever-expanding grocery store. Out in the hinterlands, farms got bigger with the rise of corporate ag. Cows and pigs and chickens were raised in factories. Gigantic food distribution systems were created to meet the demand. Ridiculously low fuel prices made this system possible.
This shift to corporate ag and corpulence has been well-documented in books (Michael Pollan) and films ("Food, Inc.").
Now we're all gardeners and we frequent farmers' markets. We say nice things about family farmers and curse the corporations. Yesterday, I read an L.A. Times article about an ex-Marine who formed a company that builds, maintains and harvests backyard gardens for suburbanites. First we pause to say tsk-tsk to those Yuppies too lazy or busy to garden. Secondly, though, we have to admire the pluck of this entrepreneur, who's seen an opportunity and seized upon it. New green jobs are created with this new cadre of "Mr. Greenjeans." And, when it comes right down to it, a backyard garden is a backyard garden. Here's another batch of veggies that's homegrown and not shipped from far away places.
I'll remember this in a few weeks when I'm down on my knees sewing seeds and replanting seedlings. There is a time to sow, and that comes late in May in Cheyenne, Wyoming. There is a time to reap, as long as the wind and the frost and the hail don't get the plants. When the planting is done, I can sit back, sip a Fat Tire, and admire my handiwork. I will be serenaded by a symphony of Melanie's backyard chickens.
Jimmy down the street dug up his backyard and planted a corn field. His plan is to use his corn for ethanol production and later, carve out a baseball field because if you build it, Kevin Costner will come over.
Ricky is growing wheat to make his own bread, as did William Alexander is his new book "52 Loaves: A Quest for the Holy Grain." NPR interviewed the author on Sunday morning.
Melanie and her kids are planting a vegetable garden and raising chickens. They're going to to eat the vegetables and the fresh eggs and eventually dispatch the chickens for Sunday dinner.
My plans are modest. Expand my vegetable garden by a few cubic yards. Plant tomatoes, beans, various lettuce varieties, spinach, broccoli, peas. I'm hoping the strawberries come in after a winter under layers of mulch. I'm hoping to get a few more plums from my plum tree and apples from my apple tree.
But no chickens. Neighborhood chicken-raising should be encouraged. If you know anything about corporate chicken-farming, you'll want to avoid the grocery store brands. Local purveyors of chicken and beef and bison sell their wares at farmers' markets.
My grandparents would get a kick out of us urban and suburban farmers. Three of my four grandparents grew up on farms. My fraternal grandmother, Florence, was a Baltimore city kid. Her family probably had a garden, as did most people back then. My maternal grandfather, Martin, grew up in the rocky wilds of Ireland's Roscommon County. The family farmed something. Grandpa was never specific, but it probably was potatoes. In America, he always had a garden. So did my fraternal Grandfather Raymond, who grew up on a farm outside Iowa City. Raymond grew beautiful tomatoes in his Denver garden. Iowa farm boys know how to grow things.
With the exception of a few real farmers and some back-to-the-land hippies, my generation worked to be as far away from the sources of food production as possible. Suburbs gobbled up farm land for big houses and huge stores, including Super Wal-Marts and the ever-expanding grocery store. Out in the hinterlands, farms got bigger with the rise of corporate ag. Cows and pigs and chickens were raised in factories. Gigantic food distribution systems were created to meet the demand. Ridiculously low fuel prices made this system possible.
This shift to corporate ag and corpulence has been well-documented in books (Michael Pollan) and films ("Food, Inc.").
Now we're all gardeners and we frequent farmers' markets. We say nice things about family farmers and curse the corporations. Yesterday, I read an L.A. Times article about an ex-Marine who formed a company that builds, maintains and harvests backyard gardens for suburbanites. First we pause to say tsk-tsk to those Yuppies too lazy or busy to garden. Secondly, though, we have to admire the pluck of this entrepreneur, who's seen an opportunity and seized upon it. New green jobs are created with this new cadre of "Mr. Greenjeans." And, when it comes right down to it, a backyard garden is a backyard garden. Here's another batch of veggies that's homegrown and not shipped from far away places.
I'll remember this in a few weeks when I'm down on my knees sewing seeds and replanting seedlings. There is a time to sow, and that comes late in May in Cheyenne, Wyoming. There is a time to reap, as long as the wind and the frost and the hail don't get the plants. When the planting is done, I can sit back, sip a Fat Tire, and admire my handiwork. I will be serenaded by a symphony of Melanie's backyard chickens.
Sunday, May 02, 2010
Wake up and smell the horses
I spent part of Sunday morning reading info posted on the Wyoming Food Freedom site. That included a detailed reading of draft legislation in the works for the 2011 Legislature.
I also read the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle editorial blasting an idea by Rep. Sue Wallis, one of the WFF co-founders, to establish a horse processing facility in Cheyenne that would include a slaughterhouse.
The editorial writers was incenses that visitors to Cheyenne driving along the newly reconstructed Lincolnway would see stock pens filled with horses, some of them destined for cans of Purina Dog Chow.
Shocking to think that visitors to Cheyenne Frontier Days wouldn't like the sights and sounds and smells of horses. As they drive up Lincolnway, they'll hear the boom of six guns from Old West re-enactors and the strains of honky tonk piano coming from the Historic Atlas Theatre. Choo-choo horns will be wailing in the railyards.
"Look at all the pretty horses," says Sis, visiting from Ohio with Mom and Dad and Junior.
Welcome to the Old/New/Old West.
I also read the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle editorial blasting an idea by Rep. Sue Wallis, one of the WFF co-founders, to establish a horse processing facility in Cheyenne that would include a slaughterhouse.
The editorial writers was incenses that visitors to Cheyenne driving along the newly reconstructed Lincolnway would see stock pens filled with horses, some of them destined for cans of Purina Dog Chow.
Shocking to think that visitors to Cheyenne Frontier Days wouldn't like the sights and sounds and smells of horses. As they drive up Lincolnway, they'll hear the boom of six guns from Old West re-enactors and the strains of honky tonk piano coming from the Historic Atlas Theatre. Choo-choo horns will be wailing in the railyards.
"Look at all the pretty horses," says Sis, visiting from Ohio with Mom and Dad and Junior.
Welcome to the Old/New/Old West.
Matt Mead's statement on Bill Ayers' visit
Anon sent me a link to a press release from Matt Mead's campaign. In my April 29 post, I had official statements from the other three Republican gubernatorial candidates about the Bill Ayers visit to UW -- and the attendant freedom of speech lawsuit. But I relied on the Casper Star-Trib for Mead's words.
Since Mr. Mead was in my headline, I thought it only fair to include his statement:
Ahhhhh! I feel fair and balanced now.
Since Mr. Mead was in my headline, I thought it only fair to include his statement:
Matt Mead, Republican candidate for Governor, issued the following statement regarding Chief Judge William Downes’ ruling in Meg Lanker’s and William Ayers’ suit against the University of Wyoming.
“I am disappointed by Chief Judge Downes’ ruling today. I still believe UW should not be lending its reputation to a known terrorist who has targeted this country. William Ayers does not belong at the University of Wyoming, plain and simple, and I wish he had never been invited. ”
“A federal court proceeding in Wyoming was the correct forum for Ayers’ suit requesting injunctive relief. While not all will agree with the decision rendered today by the chief district court judge, which enjoined the University of Wyoming from prohibiting Ayers’ speech on campus tomorrow, absent an appeal, the matter has been decided. We can be thankful that our judicial system provides for the timely resolution of disputes of difficult legal questions such as the one involved here — the extent of First Amendment protections.”
“I would ask that opponents of this visit remain peaceful and orderly in their opposition to William Ayers’ visit to Laramie. Moving forward, I hope there is clarification by the university of its policies regarding the availability of its facilities.”
Ahhhhh! I feel fair and balanced now.
Saturday, May 01, 2010
Memories erupt when you drop the V-bomb
Among people of a certain age, you cannot utter the "Vietnam" bomb without causing an explosion of emotions.
That "certain age" comes under the banner of Baby Boomer. There were many of us in this cohort last Wednesday night as another member of this complicated and conflicted group -- Dr. Bill Ayers -- spoke at the UniWyo Sports Complex at UW in Laramie.
Vietnam, Viet Nam, "Nam." Historians call it the Vietnam War, Second Indochina War, the Vietnam Conflict or the American War. Vets have their own terms.
The war ended April 30, 1975 -- 35 years ago yesterday -- with the evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. May 4 marks the 40th anniversary of the Kent State shootings.
Outside the sports complex, a protester too young for VN held a sign blaming Dr. Ayers for the deaths of 10,000 G.I.s. Not sure why "10,000" and not the 58,000 who officially perished in the conflict, not counting the many thousands who perished when they came home.
Inside the complex, fellow Dem Bobby Marcum wore his Vietnam Veteran cap. He had seen the sign outside and said to me that freedom of speech was one of the causes he was fighting for in Vietnam.
During the Q&A, one Baby Boomer came to the microphone and asked Dr. Ayers if he had apologized for his "terrorist acts" with the Weather Underground. The man said that he knew people who went to Vietnam but he himself did not go due to the fact he was on campus "partying and chasing girls."
Ayers replied that he had apologized many times, yet he became involved with the Vietnam resistance because the U.S. -- his country -- was murdering Vietnamese civilians at an alarming rate. This involvement was an outgrowth of his civil rights activities.
Who's the bad guy here -- Campus Party Boy or Bill Ayers? Both? Neither?
Who's to blame for this never-forgotten forever war? Shall we spread it around among demonstrators and frat boy partiers and chickenhawks (e.g. Dick Cheney and Karl Rove), and draftees and draft dodgers and College Young Republicans and SDS members and SDS FBI informants and misguided generals and oh-so-many politicians such as McNamara's best-and-brightest and Harry T and Ike and JFK and LBJ and RMN? Me?
Not so simple to choose, especially if you have your own complicated history of that era. To read fragments of my own "Conscription Chronicles," go to my web page.
P.S.: "The Forever War" is the title of a fine 1974 sci-fi novel by Vietnam veteran Joe Haldeman.
That "certain age" comes under the banner of Baby Boomer. There were many of us in this cohort last Wednesday night as another member of this complicated and conflicted group -- Dr. Bill Ayers -- spoke at the UniWyo Sports Complex at UW in Laramie.
Vietnam, Viet Nam, "Nam." Historians call it the Vietnam War, Second Indochina War, the Vietnam Conflict or the American War. Vets have their own terms.
The war ended April 30, 1975 -- 35 years ago yesterday -- with the evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. May 4 marks the 40th anniversary of the Kent State shootings.
Outside the sports complex, a protester too young for VN held a sign blaming Dr. Ayers for the deaths of 10,000 G.I.s. Not sure why "10,000" and not the 58,000 who officially perished in the conflict, not counting the many thousands who perished when they came home.
Inside the complex, fellow Dem Bobby Marcum wore his Vietnam Veteran cap. He had seen the sign outside and said to me that freedom of speech was one of the causes he was fighting for in Vietnam.
During the Q&A, one Baby Boomer came to the microphone and asked Dr. Ayers if he had apologized for his "terrorist acts" with the Weather Underground. The man said that he knew people who went to Vietnam but he himself did not go due to the fact he was on campus "partying and chasing girls."
Ayers replied that he had apologized many times, yet he became involved with the Vietnam resistance because the U.S. -- his country -- was murdering Vietnamese civilians at an alarming rate. This involvement was an outgrowth of his civil rights activities.
Who's the bad guy here -- Campus Party Boy or Bill Ayers? Both? Neither?
Who's to blame for this never-forgotten forever war? Shall we spread it around among demonstrators and frat boy partiers and chickenhawks (e.g. Dick Cheney and Karl Rove), and draftees and draft dodgers and College Young Republicans and SDS members and SDS FBI informants and misguided generals and oh-so-many politicians such as McNamara's best-and-brightest and Harry T and Ike and JFK and LBJ and RMN? Me?
Not so simple to choose, especially if you have your own complicated history of that era. To read fragments of my own "Conscription Chronicles," go to my web page.
P.S.: "The Forever War" is the title of a fine 1974 sci-fi novel by Vietnam veteran Joe Haldeman.
History of Latinos and Latinas in Wyoming celebrated in new mural
This is very timely, considering what's happening in Arizona:On Saturday, May 1, Paredes Hablando - Walls That Speak, will be unveiled by La Radio Montenesa Voz de la Gente KOCA in Laramie. The mural by Stevon Lucero commemorates Latinas and Latinos in Wyoming.
There will be an 11 a.m. luncheon followed at 1:30 p.m. by the unveiling of the mural, with an Artist's Talk by Stevon Lucero, “The Unyielding Process of Chicano Art.” All events at the Alice Hardy Stevens Center, 603 E. Ivinson Ave., Laramie. At 5 p.m., there will be a screening of a film by Yolanda Cruz, 2501 Migrantes, about a population of a town in Mexico that has been forced to leave to find work.
Info: Connie, 742-2842 cocaj58@aol.com
Volunteers needed for 54th annual Cheyenne Summer Melodrama
This e-mail bulletin was sent out today by the Cheyenne Little Theatre Players. You will note some familiar names taking the helm of melodrama volunteers. read on...
It's Melodrama Time!
Mike and Chris Shay have agreed to Co-Chair the 54th Melodrama, and they are in need of people to chair the Marketing/PR and Front-Of-House(Front of House consists of Box Office, Concessions, Bar & Wait Staff)Sub-Committees. If you are interested, please email them at melodrama@cheyennelittletheatre.org
We will also be seeking volunteers to staff our bar area during the run of the show. Anyone interested in pouring our refreshments must be 21 or over and TIPS trained. Free TIPS training sessions will be offered from 5-9:30 p.m. on:
Tuesday May 4
Tuesday June 1
Tuesday July 6
Location -- at The American Legion Post 6, 2001 East Lincolnway, Cheyenne
No need to register, just show up and they'll fit you in!
TIPS training is valid for 3 years. If you have been previously trained remember to check your TIPS card or online for the expiration date!
Information to follow soon on our annual Volunteer Round Up and Atlas Clean Up Day to be held at the Atlas Theatre in June. We will provide all of the needed information regarding our other Melodrama Volunteer Opportunities available to those age 16 and up at that time.
It's Melodrama Time!
Mike and Chris Shay have agreed to Co-Chair the 54th Melodrama, and they are in need of people to chair the Marketing/PR and Front-Of-House(Front of House consists of Box Office, Concessions, Bar & Wait Staff)Sub-Committees. If you are interested, please email them at melodrama@cheyennelittletheatre.org
We will also be seeking volunteers to staff our bar area during the run of the show. Anyone interested in pouring our refreshments must be 21 or over and TIPS trained. Free TIPS training sessions will be offered from 5-9:30 p.m. on:
Tuesday May 4
Tuesday June 1
Tuesday July 6
Location -- at The American Legion Post 6, 2001 East Lincolnway, Cheyenne
No need to register, just show up and they'll fit you in!
TIPS training is valid for 3 years. If you have been previously trained remember to check your TIPS card or online for the expiration date!
Information to follow soon on our annual Volunteer Round Up and Atlas Clean Up Day to be held at the Atlas Theatre in June. We will provide all of the needed information regarding our other Melodrama Volunteer Opportunities available to those age 16 and up at that time.
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