Word Back: America, Part 1: More a circus than a country

I began to write this Word Back column as Memorial Day weekend began. I was making fun of what America has become in 2025 but forgot about what America has been in my lifetime. I kept hearing the voices of all of those departed family members who served their country. They are gone but not silent. Their voices still ring out in the bardo.

If I attached no value to my lifetime on Earth, 1950-present, how could I value the present or maybe what the present should be? If I let the Trump years define my view of my country, well, then I will be stuck with that the rest of my days. That may be the source of so much anger among my Boomer friends. We remember a different country.

Really, though, what is the America I am mourning? Some of that is one forged by the family, the church, the Boy Scouts, and Catholic school. I can bore anyone of the younger generation with tales of the ‘burbs. “I remember when…” Not a conversation starter at a holiday gathering. MEGO! It’s just a part of our transitions along life’s timeline. We are forgettable and boring. Not to all. There is always one person who is curious about times gone by. I can see it in their eyes. The crowd will thin out and there’s one little person left, high school or college kid. I mention something that makes him/her think. A book, a film, an event. Maybe it’s my life as a writer, my career as an arts worker. It sounds more exotic than it really is but it’s my life, my truth. It is being destroyed daily which really give it a nostalgic feel.

What to make of America? Strangely enough, it may be Bob Hope. He was America’s comedian, a stand-up before stand-up was in the dictionary. I was looking for a list of performers at University of Florida’s Gator Growl, a homecoming ritual at Florida Field. I had been looking for a comedy skit that featured a chorus of “God Bless Vespucciland,” a satiric take on “God Bless America” substituting Vespucciland for America or Americus Vespucci, namesake of Americans North and South.

I thought: that sounds like something Firesign Theater would do. Remember them? Of course you don’t. They were part of a wave of satiric performers who emerged in the late-60s and early-70s as part of the counterculture. They were the stage-version of National Lampoon, a less druggy Cheech and Chong, a more buttoned-down version of Saturday Night Live and Second City. Firesign’s skits were edgy and brainy.

To appreciate “God Bless Vesapucciland,” you have to know America’s origins which you knew from school, home, and Scouts. You might ask here: what version of American history are you referring to? Is it Lynne Cheney and Newt Gingrich version or is it Howard Zinn’s? Is it the Christian Nationalist version wherein Jesus rode his dinosaur to an all-White private school? Or a world that’s millions and billions of years old and The Big Bang gave us the building blocks of homo sapiens with a few hiccups along the way?

Read Part 2 Friday

May showers bring August tomatoes -- we hope

During my recovery from April's knee replacement surgery, my friend Liz brought me a Roma tomato seedling. I placed the sprout in my kitchen's south-facing window. If I lived in a more temperate climate, I would have marched the plant outside and put it into the ground. But I live in Wyoming, where April is still winter. Many of us have turned to the use of high tunnels or cold frames or other sheltering devices to ensure an adequate harvest. But not me. I continue to wait for those frost-free days of late May. Very late May, or even early June.

Two weeks ago, on a rare sunny day, I bought some flowers. I sat out on the porch, repotted them and set them out to enjoy the sun. While I was at it, I repotted the Roma and two cherry tomato plants brought over by my neighbor.  The dirt had a calming effect on my throbbing left knee. The sun, a welcome visitor. Still, I knew I was tempting fate to ignore the first commandment of High Desert gardeners: "No outdoor planting until Memorial Day."

True to form, rain and snow and frost arrived in southeast Wyoming this week. I could have hauled the potted plants inside, as I'd already done once. Instead, I pulled out my trusty tarp and covered them. It traps heat and moisture, and keeps snow and frost from the leaves. It's a big tarp -- I can cover the entire garden plot adjacent to my back porch. There was no need as I had kept to the letter of the law and not planted anything in the ground. I did cover the strawberries, But there's really no need, as my strawberries are hardy varieties cultivated at the Ag Dept.'s old High Plains Research Station. These babies can take the snow and ice and, to prove it, keep coming back year after year.

The tarp covered the plants four days and four nights, through a light snow and two overnight frosts and days of rain. I uncovered them Thursday evening after work, the moment I glimpsed the first ray of sun. The weathercasters assure me that the frosts are over, with low temps going down to 40 degrees but no colder. Soon, the usual warm, low-humidity days of summer will take over and I can put away the tarp.

This morning, the sun is out. Soon, so shall I be.

After the drought comes the deluge

DAN CEPEDA Star-Tribune:  Vicky Marlow takes snapshots of the swollen North Platte River near the whitewater park in Casper on Friday afternoon. The river has risen past its highest point last year, according to experts, and is expected to keep rising.

I spent most of my day working in the yard. Normally on May 28, I would have applied a healthy dose of sunscreen. I am a freckle-faced Celt, prone to sunburn and skin cancer. However, the sun made only a brief appearance in Cheyenne today. No sunscreen required. The rest of the day was cloudy and, as I was grilling salmon for dinner, the rains came. We're not getting cataclysmic storms, just steady rains. The mountains continue to get snow and, when the thaw does come, we're going to have some bitchin' floods.

Gov. Mead has dispatched the Wyoming National Guard to flood-prone areas of the state, which includes all but my own Laramie County, land of little rain and small creeks. Our local waterway is Dry Creek, which gives you some idea of how little water we usually have. All I can say about Dry Creek is that it is a bit less dry than normal, but not exactly a raging torrent.

On the other hand, the North Platte in Saratoga and Casper and the Laramie River in Laramie are out of their banks. The Popo Agie and the Snake are flooding, as is the Belle Fourche. You've got to hand it to us -- we have some sweet names for our creeks/rivers.

Last spring, I was in Lander as the Popo Agie roared through town, undercutting foundations of riverside homes and roiling over its banks. On the reservation, water was over the roads and more was expected. Much more is expected this year.

We have it pretty good compared to our fellow Americans in Mississippi and Louisiana. Still, our neighbors that serve in the National Guard will not be barbecuing but will be on alert this weekend, prepared to sandbag and rescue as the need arises. Think of them on Memorial Day. Think of them as you pay your taxes. Think of them the next time you criticize government employees.

New Cheyenne studio and gallery plans sneak preview on May 25

This invitation comes from my Wyoming Arts Council colleague, Camellia El-Antably, and local artist and arts teacher Mark Vinich:

You are all invited to the Sneak Preview opening of Clay Paper Scissors Gallery & Studio.

We will have a Sneak Preview show of work by the studio artists: Laura Skoglund, Jon Gilbert Beach Dawson, Abi Peytoe Gbayee, Mark Vinich, Mary Keane and Camellia El-Antably.

The opening will be on Monday, May 25 (Memorial Day) from 5-8 p.m. at 1506 Thomes, Suite B and is open to all. Please come down and see us!Clay Paper Scissors still has a studio opening. If you are interested in seeing it, please contact Camellia at claypaperscissors@gmail.com. Located in the historic Asher building on the corner of 15th and Thomes, Clay Paper Scissors offers studio space for artists, a gallery which will have changing exhibits and classes for all ages.

Artists interested in participating in the Gallery, but not studio space, may join as an associate. We will also have individual memberships for those interested in classes, openings, etc. At present, Clay Paper Scissors is open by appointment only.

FMI: claypaperscissors@gmail.com

Sunday Web Reading Roundup -- yee-hah!

Cheyenne's Joanne Kennedy Smyth writes about mirror neurons, empathy and writers.

Maureen Dowd: Dick Cheney as Snidely Whiplash (via Daily Kos).

Vincent Miller provides some perspective to this weekend's anti-Obama protests at Notre Dame in the National Catholic Reporter.

Former Jacksonian jhwygirl on Montana's 4&20 blackbirds gets the brain cells percolating with a haiku slam challenge .

Memorial Day gifts for the antiwar veteran (and non-veteran) at Iraq Veterans Aginst the War.

Gardening begins at White House, Wyoming still a month (or so) away

In the High Lonesome, we're more than a month away from planting our gardens. Seeds have been sprouted, plans have been made, but the planting comes somewhere between mid-May and Memorial Day. Even then, we can get snow -- which isn't so bad -- and frost -- which is bad. This is why many of us plant container gardens. And the rest of us keep a ready supply of old sheets and other frost-defying coverlets. Watch the sky!

Meanwhile, in the White House low country, Michelle Obama and kids from Bancroft Elementary School were turning the soil and putting in the crops including heirloom varieties from jefferson's Monticello). A press release from FLOTUS (First Lady of the United States) had lots to say on the subject. Gardening is good for kids, it can help with the obesity epidemic, drives the wingnuts crazy. I made that last part up. It's true, but the White House won't say it in print. But the wingnuts start foaming at the mouth when any mention is made of ecology, gardening, Michelle Obama, locavore, global warming, peace & justice, etc. Almost anything can make them foam at the mouth.

I read an article the other day about people in more temperate climes replacing their water-sucking front lawns with vegetable gardens. I have contemplated this. But our growing season is so short that the blooms don't stay around and come October we're left with dried-up stems that looks like weeds. Better to have a brown lawn than a weedy rock garden. We're challenged to intersperse the plants with evergreens with rocks with ground covers and mulch and possibly some yard art. Looks better. But it's a chore.

I'm revamping my entire yard this summer. Stay tuned for the painful details.

Happy Memorial Day, Mr. President

While Pres. Bush is mouthing platitudes at Arlington National Cemetery, and receiving leather jackets from misguided bikers, the New York Times is telling it like it is:

President Bush opposes a new G.I. Bill of Rights. He worries that if the traditional path to college for service members since World War II is improved and expanded for the post-9/11 generation, too many people will take it.

He is wrong, but at least he is consistent. Having saddled the military with a botched, unwinnable war, having squandered soldiers’ lives and failed them in so many ways, the commander in chief now resists giving the troops a chance at better futures out of uniform. He does this on the ground that the bill is too generous and may discourage re-enlistment, further weakening the military he has done so much to break.

So lavish with other people’s sacrifices, so reckless in pouring the national treasure into the sandy pit of Iraq, Mr. Bush remains as cheap as ever when it comes to helping people at home.

Broyles: "America, we have a problem"

As a writer, screenwriter (Apollo 13) and editor for almost 40 years, William Broyles, Jr., knows a good metaphor when he sees one.

During a speech May 24 at the Democratic State Convention in Jackson, Broyles (shown above at podium) talked about shovels and war. When he had finished his year in Vietnam and was "ready to get on that freedom bird and go home," his Marine Corps sergeant intervened. Lt. Broyles had checked out a shovel and hadn’t returned it. He didn’t have one, but the sergeant insisted: no shovel, no freedom bird. So Broyles bought a shovel on the black market and turned it in. He flew home, carrying with him a lesson in accountability.

"That’s the kind of attitude we used to have," he said. These days, during the Bush Administration’s endless war in Iraq, "we shovel all of our money to a few large corporations" which are also pals of Bush and Cheney. "We worked hard for that money. I take it personally."

Broyles, an Obama delegate to the convention from Teton County, moved the luncheon crowd with the story of his son, David. He moved himself, too, stopping several times as he choked back tears. David graduated from the University of Texas "and enlisted with a great deal of idealism," serving as a pararescue jumper with the U.S. Air Force. He’s the fourth generation of Broyles’ men to serve in combat.

"With each tour in Iraq, he grew to hate the war – for the men in his unit and all the others," he said.

At home, Broyles couldn’t answer the phone when it rang. When he heard about another batch of young Americans blown up by a roadside bomb, he thought of his son.

"There better be a good reason when you go to war," said Broyles. "If you abuse their trust, you create a hole in their soul and the soul of America."

American military men and women are returning home in droves with amputated limbs and traumatic brain injury and mental health problems. Broyles said that a thousand attempt suicide each month.

David’s new mission is to help wounded veterans. He swam the Strait of Gibraltar in 2006 with Army officer Rush Vann, a feat documented in the new film, "Swim," which will be screened this summer at the Jackson Hole Film Festival. Their goal was to raise money and awareness for disabled veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to the JHFF web site, they were only "the 16th and 17th Americans to record a successful crossing. Fewer Americans have accomplished their challenge than have climbed Mount Everest." [See a clip of "Swim" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTABAKB6i38]

So, while some families sacrifice much during wartime, others don’t.

"I take it personally when I see George Bush, who dodged Vietnam, and Dick Cheney, who dodged the draft, talk about sacrifice," Broyles said. He reeled off a list of Republican "warriors" who never served in the military (Rush Limbaugh) to those who have military-age sons with better things to do (Mitt Romney and his five sons). He takes it personally when Bush and John McCain think that sacrifice is giving tax cuts to the rich, many of whom are making a bundle as war profiteers. He takes it personally when he hears about military coffins coming back from the war, some ending up cremated at pet cemeteries. He takes it personally when he sees George Bush "giving up golf to support the troops." [Note to readers: Dubya has ended his golf hiatus, causing many of us to wonder if the war is over and "mission accomplished."]

Broyles wants the U.S. to withdraw now from Iraq. "We can’t solve this – the Iraqis have to solve it," he said. "We withdraw now or five years from now – we’ll have the same result."

He injected some history from the Vietnam War. Richard Nixon campaigned in 1968 with a plan to end the Vietnam War. Once elected, he changed his mind. "25,000 to 30,000 names on The Wall were written by Richard Nixon," Broyles said, adding that another million or so Vietnamese also died. The main reason give by U.S. strategists for the war was to stop the takeover of Southeast Asia by communists – China and the U.S.S.R. Four years after the end of the war in April 1975, a united communist Vietnam went to war with communist neighbor China. Less than 15 years after the end of the Vietnam War, the Soviet Union collapsed. "Vietnam is now one of the strongest countries in Asia," Broyles noted. It didn’t happen overnight, but both the U.S. and Vietnam were stronger when the war ended.

"The longest love affair of my life is with the U.S. Marine Corps," said Broyles, a lifelong Democrat. "One thing I learned in Vietnam – never ever leave anyone behind. It’s a Marine Corps value. It’s an American value."

The goal for the Democrats in the 2008 election, he said, is to "leave nobody behind," no matter their race or gender or economic circumstances. "We’re going to take everyone with us – and a lot of Republicans, too."

Broyles bio:

Bill Broyles grew up in Baytown, Texas, where he worked in the oil fields to pay his way through Rice University. He was a Marshall Scholar at Oxford University, worked in the civil rights movement, and then served in Vietnam as a Marine Corps infantry lieutenant.

As a journalist, he was founding editor of the very lively Texas Monthly and, from 1982-84, was editor-in-chief of Newsweek.

He has published his work in The New York Times, Atlantic, Esquire, and The Economist, among many others. He wrote the book Brothers in Arms about his Vietnam experience, and was the co-creator of the Emmy Award-winning TV series China Beach. He wrote the original screenplay for the movie Cast Away and the screenplay for Jarhead. He has co-authored six other screenplays, including Apollo 13, Unfaithful, The Polar Express and Flags of Our Fathers. He was nominated for an Academy Award for the screenplay for Apollo 13. He is married to Andrea, a well-known artist. They live in Wilson, Wyoming, and they have five children: David, Susannah, Katie, James and Bettina.

Somewhere in France, January 1945

My father, Thomas R. Shay, was a citizen-soldier in World War II. I have a box of the letters he sent home to his family in Denver -- his father Ray, a World War I veteran; Florence, also a WWI vet; and his younger sister, Pat. The letters are written on the thin paper all GIs used, not exactly onionskin but pretty close. It saved postage, as thousands of soldiers sent letters every day to the States. My father wrote on a letter-sized sheet of paper, folded in half. My guess is that he folded the paper, unfolded it, wrote on the right side of the page, and then continued on the left. He then folded it like a book. He didn't write on the reverse side of the pages because the ink would bleed through and the text would be unreadable. If he wanted to write a longer letter, he just used another sheet of thin paper.

Here's a letter from radio technician Shay, U.S. Army Signal Corps, written when he was 21:

January 29, 1945
France

Dear Mother, Dad, and Pat --

I received another package this evening. It wasn't a Christmas package though it was mailed sometime in November. It contained cheese, salami, crackers, and fudge. I sure did enjoy the magazine about Colorado. Everything was in fine shape and very good. Thanks a lot. Don't worry about anything spoiling; nothing could spoil in this cold weather. I sure don't see how the fellows up front can keep warm. I sure am thankful I have a warm tent. Life isn't so easy or pleasant, but it sure could be a lot worse. There is one thing I would like to mention. When I come home, please don't give me any spam, corned beef, or stew. By the time I get out of the Army, I will have had enough to last me the rest of my life. The last couple of days we have been having real potatoes. Before we had dehydrated potatoes. All of our vegetables are dehydrated, but most of them are pretty good. Potatoes aren't worth a damn, though.

Did I tell you I read "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn"? I thought it was real good. How did you like "The Robe"? I thought it was about the best book I had ever read. Is Pat going to send me a list of my books? I sure would like to have one.

I haven't changed my mind about going back to school. I am more determined than ever. Don't worry about me marrying any French girl. I haven't even seen a girl for the past two months.

I think the war will be over soon, that is some time this spring. I sure would like to know what is going to happen to me then. There are three things possible. I will stay here, go to the Pacific, or come home. I sure hope it is the last one.

Well I guess that is all for now. Thanks again for the package. By the way, Mother, the rest of the fellows in the tent said your fudge was very good and thanks.

Love to all,
Tom