Artists go where the cautious fear to tread

People who open businesses in downtown Cheyenne are cockeyed optimists, to steal a line from Nellie Forbush in "South Pacific."

The failure rate is sobering. Rents are high. The consumer's taste is fickle. Parking is a problem, Cheyenne is just short of the population base needed for a thriving downtown. Sometimes, it's just too damn cold to venture downtown.

And the booming cities of the Colorado Front Range are just down the road.

Still, they persevere. New restaurants are opening in Cheyenne almost as fast as others go out of business. Downtown residences are being built and people explore ways they can live in those second stories that sit empty in almost every building.

Artists are busy occupying empty spaces. I recently wrote an article for Wyofile about artists invading the Hynds Building at Capitol and Lincolnway. See my commentary and get a Wyofile link here. I just wrote an article for WAC Artscapes about pop-up galleries in Cheyenne and Laramie. That appears in the summer issue.

The Hynds is a big block of a building. Its main claim to fame was that it was built by Harry Hynds, an early settler in Cheyenne. It's been empty for decades. Next door is the infamous "Hole." Nothing says downtown redevelopment like a gaping hole on your main drag. Like a black hole, it has threatened to suck the entire downtown into oblivion.

Then came the artists. Still, they persevere.

A group of artists has moved into the Hynds, encouraged by building owner and Cheyenne native David Hatch. Arts @ the Hynds features work by Mitch Guthrie, Mike McIntosh, Kevin Robinett and Greg Fladager. Next door is Blue Doors Arts, a space occupied by Terry Kreuzer and Georgia Rowswell. On the building's east side is Three Crows Gallery & Gifts. This triumvirate gives the Hynds that live/work look, even though the artists don't live in the building. One of the many plans floated for the structure was a live/work facility by ArtSpace, a Minneapolis-based non-profit property manager. ArtSpace promoters envisioned living spaces on the upper floors and a gallery and some retail spaces on the main level. This would liven up this part of downtown. As it is now, the Cheyenne Artwalk is the best time to visit these spaces. It's held the second Thursday of each month.  Get more info at http://www.cheyenneartwalk.com/

One of the most interesting downtown exhibits is "The Hidden Language of Horses" at Clay Paper Scissors Gallery, 1513 Carey Ave. Here's a short description:

For the July Artwalk, Clay Paper Scissors will feature artwork that showcases the beauty and utility of horses. A variety of paintings, prints and mixed media will be on display from John Giarrizzo, Mark Ritchie, Lynn Newman, David Klarén and Eric Lee. The horse represents freedom, energy, strength, endurance, stamina, and power. Don’t miss this creative interpretation of one of our state and nation’s enduring symbols!

Part of Artwalk is Fill the Space Gallery. The 17th Street storefront has been the site, so far, for two versions of a pop-up gallery. Artist and art teacher Steve Knox is the catalyst for this project, supported by a collaboration among local artists, the DDA, the Cheyenne Artwalk, and Arts Cheyenne. Go see the next pop-up during the July 11 Artwalk, 5-8 p.m. Go here for the list of artists.

Keep up with the arts scene at WyoFile's Studio Wyoming Review

WyoFile periodically runs art reviews in its Studio Wyoming Review section. I, periodically, write one of those reviews. My latest appeared on April 9. The subject was "The Art Of Assemblage" exhibit at Blue Door Arts in the Hynds Building downtown. Read it here.

Running through the review is some commentary on the role of the arts in Cheyenne's downtown redevelopment. I moved my family from Fort Collins to Cheyenne in the summer of 1991. The people we met thought we were crazy moving from a cool university town to a cold and windy Wyoming burg. Those same people escaped to FoCo when the roads were passable. It boasted good food, swinging bars, lots of concerts and other activities. It also had a lively downtown.

Cheyenne had none of those things. "There's nothing to do in this town" was the constant refrain, and not only from my kids. Downtown was a ghost town after 5 when the staties (like me) went home.

A lot can change in 28 years. I mentioned some of them in my last post. New restaurants opening. Condo complex even going up, probably the first new residences built downtown since World War II. I dropped by West Edge Collective's parking lot yesterday to buy a six-pack at the Pufkins food truck. It's Cheyenne Restaurant Week and pufkins (muffin-style pancakes) are $10 for six and I bought a couple of breakfasts' worth. Tomorrow I am getting some $1 tacos at La Paz ("Best Tacos y Burritos") on 18th Street just catty-corner from Danielmark's Brewery. IPA first, then tacos.

But wherefore the arts? I have been writing about them for years, both as writer/editor at the Wyoming Arts Council and as a free-lancer. The future looks good for a concert space at the old Lincoln Theatre. The Civic Center offers a great new line-up of events. The summer outdoor concert season will begin as soon as we get all of the snow out of the way. I'll be writing more about the arts in Cheyenne and around the region as time goes by. See you soon.

We take a look at coal-fired arts projects

Coal has been on my mind lately. Not in my mind, but I wouldn't be surprised if our Republican geniuses in Congress plan to replace our precious bodily fluids with coal dust. That should open up a new market for a dying industry.

Coal mining has a long tradition in Wyoming. I don't want to see it disappear. I would like to see some creativity applied to the issue instead of fear-mongering. The state has been home to coal mines since its settlement by white folks. Many families have been sustained by miners hacking rock out of underground mines or scooping it up in strip mines. Many communities owe their existence to coal. Some of our museums celebrate what you could call the coal culture. Rock Springs just added a coal mural to the side of a building in its flourishing downtown.

Coal mural in downtown Rock Springs. Artist is Dan Toro.

Underground Rock Springs is honeycombed with old mines. Mines and miners' unions made this city. It's good to see it acknowledged on a mural, and there is probably more to come. The main building at Western Wyoming College celebrates coal, too, with its large exhibit of the dinosaurs that once roamed the area, Consider dinos pre-coal, before the earth swallowed them up, applied heat and pressure, and then surrendered it to men with picks and shovels. I've always been crazy about dinosaurs and wonder why they are not more celebrated in Wyoming.

For 25 years, I was tasked with helping arts projects get off the ground. I was paid to be creative. I was also paid to fill out a lot of paperwork and read hundreds of grants. It taught me about this state of the arts. Lots of creativity and creative people. You could call them creatives as Richard Florida most famously did. Creatives, however, rarely are seen in the wild and seem to thrive only in urban enclaves, places such as Willaimsburg in Brooklyn and RiNo in Denver. It's a surprise to many coasters when they find pockets of creativity in small places that have no catchy nicknames.

I was pleased to hear a story on Wyoming Public Radio about another very creative person in an out-of-the way place. Mosaic artist Rachel Sager returned to her hometown in western Pennsylvania mining country. She wanted to practice her art and help her town recover from doldrums caused by closing of its mines. So she did what any other creative person would do -- she bought a defunct coal mine and turned it into an arts destination. Actually, she bought a swath of property that also was the site of an abandoned coal operation. She reclaimed the walls of the ruins from decades of vines and weeds and thought that it  would be a great place to show off her mosaics. She also thought it was a great way to show off the work of other like-minded artists from around the world and, in the process, give her tiny town of Whitsett and economic shot in the arm. She called it The Ruins Project. Sager dubs herself "the forager mosaicist" for her love of using found materials in her artwork. She is classically trained in the techniques of andamento, so also teaches classes and invites other visiting artists to do the same. Summer is an especially lively time at The Ruins Project.

Mosaic by Rachel Sager from The Ruins Project

I don't know if Sager has ever visited Wyoming, but she certainly has found some influences there, as shown in the following:

"American Jackelope" by Rachel Sager

Not sure if I have ever seen a mosaic jackelope. I have seen them in the wild, of course, on nights when the full moon shines on the North Platte River Valley.

To bring this story back to Wyoming, I wonder about other coal-inspired projects. Do you know of any? Certainly there are some in Gillette. Hard to imagine creating an arts project out of an abandoned open-pit mine. But who knows? Wyoming artists have been tasked with tough jobs before, such as surviving as an artist. Who knows what brilliant coal-inspired things could happen.

Remind your legislators that the arts and humanities make Wyoming great

I won't be attending the Governor's Arts Awards Gala tonight in Cheyenne. Not because I don't think it's important -- it is. I'm taking a year off. As a Wyoming Arts Council staffer, I helped put on the event for 20-some years. Now I'm retired, and filling my time with my own artistic pursuits. 

What is the Governor's Arts Awards? Every summer, the WAC opens nominations for individuals, organizations, patrons, and businesses who have helped make the arts a major player in this state. The WAC board chooses some worthy honorees and those are sent over to the Governor who makes the final decisions. This year's honorees are ART 321/Casper Artists' Guild, Susan Moldenhauer of Laramie, Leslie O'Hashi of Cheyenne, and Dr. Patrick Patton of Casper College. I have worked with them all. A deserving group. They will be feted Feb. 9 and receive a huge framed plaque.

We all talk about downtown redevelopment. The Casper Artists' Guild takes it seriously. The group has been around for decades, much of the time in its old location near downtown. When an old Yellowstone District warehouse came up for sale, the guild's Holly Turner and cohorts raised funds to take over half of the building. It's now Art 321 (for its address) and is a great gallery and workshop space for Casper artists. Stop in the next time you're in Casper. View the art. Check out the gift shop. Have lunch in the funky neighboring bistros, such as Racca's Pizzeria Napoletana. Art 321 is just down the street from the new David Street Station where I took in a few concerts during last summer's eclipse festival. A cosmic event brought people to Casper last summer. The arts made it come alive.

Art organizations and businesses often serve as catalysts for further development. That, alone, does not deserve a Governor's Arts Award. But it does demonstrate the importance of the arts. The arts are a necessity and not a luxury if you want a well-rounded populace. That's the key question: what kind of state do you want? Wyoming features lots of outdoors but, as the saying goes, you can't eat the scenery. But you can eat by painting or writing about or singing songs about the scenery. Our open spaces inspire artists in all fields. That takes the form of a a bronze sculpture of running pronghorn by Guadalupe Barajas or a surreal photo of a windy day on the prairie by Moldenhauer, one of this year's honorees. Tim Sandlin, one of last year's honorees, is inspired by both the landscape and the foibles of the people of Teton County. Dr. Patton and his wife Marcia, the first couple to receive the UW Arts and Sciences Outstanding Alumni Award, bring help students in Casper find their voices. O'Hashi teaches her students how to express themselves through movement.

I could go on and on but I won't. Read about the Arts Council at its web site. Check out past issues of its magazine, Wyoming Artscapes, too. In it, you will find scores of examples of the contributions of artists and arts orgs to this state.

When the legislature convenes next week, remind your rep and senator how important the arts are to your family and your state. They need reminders as they face a budget shortfall and atrocious bills that should never see the light of day. Tell them that all people are important, that they find their value through the arts and humanities.

I will write about the legislature's upcoming sessions. There are sure to be some legislative humdingers; there already are. To check out proposed legislation, go here  

It takes funding to make the arts thrive. It is more important that ever to make our politicians accountable. The past year in this country has been a lesson on getting involved and staying involved in the political process. And what happens when you don't.

First comes the reading and then the literary tourism

I start each weekday watching the network news. Not sure why. Goes good with oatmeal, I guess.

I usually watch until Trump's smarmy face appears. It doesn't take long. I then switch around the the Weather Channel or Turner Classic Movies. Today I clicked on TCM just to see the middle part of "The Adventures of Mark Twain," a 1944 film starring Frederic March as Twain. I was shocked to learn that Twain ran a publishing company or, rather, he hired his nephew, Charles Webster, to run the company and named it after him. Two early successes were "Huckleberry Finn" and "The Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant," Parts I and 2.  I read Huck Finn. I have poked around in my 1885 copy of U.S. Grant, long enough to know it is not just a pretty good presidential memoir but a pretty good book. I wonder if Twain played a part in that? I will probably read the trade paperback copy as the old hardback is falling apart. Too bad I got to it so late -- it's probably worth something in pristine condition.

Twain's press folded in 1894, after publishing several Twain books and two volumes by some Russian guy, Leo Tolstoy. Twain had hoped to get rich off of other authors' works. Instead, he owed creditors more than $200,000, which adds up to millions in today's dollars. Instead of making a deal with them, he embarked on a world speaking tour to every continent. He made enough to pay off his debts. Meanwhile, his wife died. Twain's death coincided with the year that Halley's Comet returned. But I already knew that from the Wonderful World of Disney version of Twain's life.

Seems as if Twain is the gift that keeps on giving.

He may be the most notable American author of the 19th century. We continue to read him. His books, mainly Huck Finn, continue to be banned by school districts upset with the casual use of the N word, realistic depictions of slavery, and youngsters defying their elders.

I am a Twain fan. I have seen Hal Holbrook's stage presentation of "Mark Twain Tonight." The author was quotable, that's for sure, and Holbrook does a great job with the part.

I am a bit miffed at his participation in the "Gilded Age" with Rockefeller and Carnegie et. al. His youthful goal was thee be rich, not to be a notable man of letters. He reached that goal several times but keep losing it on other dubious get-rich-quick schemes.

He wrote some great novels and some scathing literary criticism. I dare you to read "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses" and not laugh. Anyone who has read any of Cooper's convoluted "Deerslayer" tales should enjoy the humor. Here's a sample from the piece:

There are nineteen rules governing literary art in domain of romantic fiction -- some say twenty-two. In "Deerslayer," Cooper violated eighteen of them. These eighteen require: 

1. That a tale shall accomplish something and arrive somewhere. But the "Deerslayer" tale accomplishes nothing and arrives in air. 

2. They require that the episodes in a tale shall be necessary parts of the tale, and shall help to develop it. But as the "Deerslayer" tale is not a tale, and accomplishes nothing and arrives nowhere, the episodes have no rightful place in the work, since there was nothing for them to develop. 

3. They require that the personages in a tale shall be alive, except in the case of corpses, and that always the reader shall be able to tell the corpses from the others. But this detail has often been overlooked in the "Deerslayer" tale.

Remember that this was way before bloggers invented snark.

If we are looking for purists among our literary practitioners, well, the boat has already sailed on that one (not the one that Hart Crane jumped from). Hemingway was a misogynist, Fitzgerald a drunk. Flannery O'Connor couldn't stop talking about those scary creatures she invented to frighten us out of our lethargy. In this New Gilded Age, we want some literary heroes, or at least cool  hometowns to play tourist in, such as Cather's Red Cloud or Hurston's Eatonville. And Twain's house in Hartford.

As a literary tourist, I have seen most of these sights. They are interesting. But you can't really get to the heart of Hemingway's Nick Adams' stories by ogling the descendants of his six-toed Key West cats. You have to read the books. That comes first -- you cannot skip this step. Then you can talk to me about Annie Proulx's Wyoming influences or D.H. Lawrence's New Mexico years.

Read. And just think: every book you read is another blow against Trumpism.

Looking for some post-ecliptic music and prose in Casper on Aug. 21?

Musician Ethan Hopkins and writer Mike Shay

I will be on stage with musician Ethan Hopkins on Eclipse Day, Aug. 21, 7:30 p.m., at Metro Coffee in Casper. This is the final outing of the summer for the "Music and Poetry" series sponsored by ARTCORE, Casper's vibrant local arts agency. The title is slightly misleading. I will be reading prose, not poetry, as I need many more words to express myself than the average (even above-average) poet. I will be reading from my novel-in-progress, "Zeppelins Over Denver," which has Wyoming characters in it but takes place in the Denver of 1919. I will share some excerpts here in the month or so leading up to the event. I also want to give you some tastes of Ethan's music. Take a look and listen of this vid clip from Ethan's web site: https://www.facebook.com/ethanhopkinsmusic/videos/1824071751243851/

Casper will be in the cone of totality for the solar eclipse. During the day, I will be somewhere in that cone of totality. But at night, I will be in the spotlight at Metro.

To get tix to the ARTCORE event, go to http://www.artcorewy.com/tickets.php. Also check out ARTCORE's upcoming season. Excellent, as always.

What do the Mozambique and Fort Collins beer cultures have in common?

No surprise to find an exhibit about beer in the craft-brewing Nirvana of Fort Collins, Colo.

What is surprising is to find an art museum exploring beer making in Africa. The exhibit, "Crossing Communities: Beer Culture Across Africa," is up in the Griffin Foundation Gallery at the CSU Gregory Allicar Museum of Art through Sept. 23. The Griffin is in the new wing of the museum that opened last year.

I visited on a particularly hot afternoon in late June. Good day for a cold one. I didn't find that at the Allicar but I did find a fascinating exhibit of handmade beer-making equipment from Uganda, Cote d'Ivoire, Malawi and other African cultures.

Exhibit sponsor is Maxline Brewing, a newbie to FoCo, getting its name from its site along the Max Bus Line in Midtown. According to the exhibit catalog, Maxline joined the project in its early days. Brewery staff toured the exhibit, "examined the ceramic brewing pots and learned about traditional African brewing methods, rituals, and ceremonies." Maxline's brewer then went to work crafting a beer meant to imitate those traditional brews. The brew, named "Kulima" for the Swahili word for "cultivate," is made from millet, maize, barley, hops, gesho leaves, and grains of paradise. Maxline's Crowler label was designed by CSU's Liz Griffin.

The public-private partnership is music to the ears of this former arts administrator. A privately-endowed gallery at a publicly-funded land grant university teams up with an eager local start-up company to educate the public about a commodity -- beer -- and traditions of other cultures. The African ceramic vessels were donated to the museum's permanent collection by Robert F. Bina and Delores De Wilde Bina. An anonymous donor helped fund the purchase. Partnership such as this one have been going on for a long time. Often the catalyst is a local or state arts agency or the NEA. But not always, as I found no mention of Fort Fund or Colorado Creative Industries in the catalog. Not necessary. This is America and we don't requite the imprimatur of the culture ministry to approve an exhibit. We damn well can show anything we want. Almost anything, as attempts at censorship are often in the news. But if I was the culture minister, I would want to be associated with this fine show.

The exhibit is comprised of 39 pieces. They include water and grain-carrying vessels, brewing pots, and drinking vessels. All are handcrafted in a technique displayed in the film that accompanies the exhibit. The drinking vessels may be the most interesting. Some were large enough to serve an entire village while other were akin to mugs we use in the West. One featured five spouts, looking almost like an invitation to a drinking game.

Beer in Africa is not just for pleasure. It also serves a ceremonial function. Find out more about this in exhibit catalog essays by CSU student art major Laura Vilaret-Tuma and Dr. David Riep, associate curator of African art. Vilaret-Tuma's essay is "Ceramics Across the African Continent." Dr. Riep writes about "the spiritual aspects of terra firma in ceramic arts across the African continent." Get more info and photos of the exhibit at the museum's web site.

The making and drinking of beer is ritualized all over the world. Beer is a staple at football games and backyard barbecues. Friends sit in a pub drinking beer and swapping tall tales. some of them true. The advent of craft beer caused beer brewing to become almost ceremonial, with brewmasters concocting their creations in public view. Like ancient magicians, they combine intriguing ingredients, such as the aforementioned gesho leaves and grains of paradise, to the mixture. True, their brewing vats are stainless steel and not ceramic, but they serve the same purpose. We sample the beers with a reverence that startles, even annoys, the casual beer drinker slamming down a few cold Buds. Advancing age and good sense led me away from keggers to craft beers. I can sip them at my leisure, marveling at the brewer's art. Most of these beers have a higher alcohol content that mainstream varieties (I am talking about you, Melvin Brewing Co. of Alpine, Wyo.). This can ambush newbies. They won't see God but they may end up talking to Ralph on the big white telephone.

If you require an excuse to travel to FoCo for a ritual beer tasting. the museum invites you to the reception for the exhibit on Thursday, June 29, 5-7 p.m. View the arts and sample Maxline's Kulima out in the sculpture garden.

What better way to spend a summer evening?

Studio Wyoming Review makes first appearance on WyoFile

Studio Wyoming Review debuted this week on WyoFile, Wyoming's online news source that covers  "people, places and policy." And now, the arts.

Camellia El-Antably wrote the first SWR "guest column" last week about Touchstone Laramie. This every-other-year exhibit, now in its sixth iteration, is unique in that it features many of Laramie's artists during a weekend-long event (Nov. 11-13) at a local motel. It may be Wyoming's first pop-up gallery and it does pop-up in a big way, by clearing an entire floor of furnishings and replaces them with art and artists. I won't tell you any more. Best to go read Camellia's column.

Camellia and I worked together for many years at the Wyoming Arts Council. There's a new crew at the WAC and they have come up with some innovative programs the past year, including the Wyoming Independent Music Initiative and Health and Wellness in the Arts. If you have any involvement with programs with health and wellness components, go fill out the WAC survey. You will feel better for it. I did. You might say that every arts program supports health and wellness, especially mental health. I agree, but I was an arts worker for 25 years and had the privilege of seeing that in action. And promoting it. Now I'm retired and get to enhance my mental health by writing every day. I may show up on the e-pages of Studio Wyoming Review. You never know...

Welcome to Trumplandia

Greetings from somewhere to the south and east of Trump's America.

Florida went for Trump. One of the Nov. 8's first disappointments, In the beginning, Florida goes for Hillary Clinton and then for Trump and then to HRC and then.....

I'm in Central Florida, home of Disney World and Wide World of Sports World and Camping World and Universal Studios and Sea World and all the rest. The Holy Land Experience, alas, has gone out of business. This weekend they are having a big garage sale to get rid of Biblical relics such as couches, statues, fountains and a Harley. Not sure which Holy Land saint rode a hog, but he doesn't need it anymore.

Kissimmee in Osceola County is where we're staying. It used to be home to cattle ranches and cracker cowboys. Last night I learned a bit of history as I quaffed a can of Cigar City Florida Cracker Belgian-style White Ale. The story on the label says this: cracker "relates to the whip these 'cow hunters' used to herd cattle in Florida's Palmetto Prairies." This used to be one of those prairies. Kissimmee was home to cow hunters and ranches and one of the South's largest rodeos.

That was before Walt Disney bought up 43 square miles of palmetto prairie and forest and swampland at $200 an acre. The rodeo still exists. Tough to spot a cowboy along Hwy. 192 on a November afternoon. in post-Trump America. You see some pedestrians braving the six-lane stretch of asphalt that leads to Disney in one direction and, in the other, a seemingly endless line-up of strip malls and motels and dreary resorts.

Let me stop for a second and insert a caveat. I love Florida. Many of the people I care about live here. Old friends live here. The schools that I care about -- Father Lopez Catholic High School and the University of Florida -- are here. I spent hundreds of hours in the Atlantic Ocean off of Daytona Beach, surfing and swimming and just walking in the sand.

But I'm pissed off about Trump and Florida's role in electing this person as president.

Not that Wyoming did us a favor. But WYO has three electoral votes and Florida has 29. WYO helped elect Trump but wasn't crucial to the debacle.

This area is every new urbanist's nightmare. Suburban sprawl. Too many cars. Ugliness everywhere. Disney's planned community, Celebration, is also in the vicinity. It should be a new urbanist's dream -- walkable neighborhoods, tree-lined streets, quaint cafes, pleasing architecture -- yet it seemed weirdly lifeless, a "Stepford Wives" feel. Kind if like a theme park version of a real neighborhood. Not many sentient beings about, although a few older folks sat at cafe tables near the waterfront. I don't think they were droids.

Chris and I went to a pitch session for nearby resort properties. When in Florida, you feel obligated to hear a sales pitch. Think of Trump clones everywhere. I wandered over to the 7-11 to buy some snacks and a guy met me at the door and asked if I needed tickets.

"Tickets to what?"

"Disney, other attractions."

"I just want some cashews."

The man named Doug was not deterred. He looked and acted a bit like Freddy Prinz in the 1970s sitcom "Chico and the Man." He asked if I was interested in a resort, and would pay me $150 to listen to a sales pitch. I told him I already had a pitch session scheduled. That animated him. "I can tell you exactly how to act." He went on to say that I should say very little, don't be friendly and don't ask questions.

"Can I smile?" I asked.

"Don't smile."

I told him I would take him up on his offer if my session didn't work out.

Later that day, Chris and I went to our resort pitch session. Randy The Pitchman told us that he wasn't selling timeshares, which had gone out of fashion. He talked about points that can be used for week-long stays at properties all over the globe.

"In Antarctica?"

"Not Antarctica." He looked slightly annoyed. Think Dustin Hoffman in "Death of a Salesman." "Where's your dream vacation," he asked.

"Ireland," Chris and I said in unison.

He asked us how we would like to go to Ireland for a week for $169.

We were stone-faced. No smiles. No laughter. No convivial Irish-American banter. Randy went on to show us how we could go to Ireland for $169 plus airline tickets. If we also joined the Travel Club we also could get discounts on airline tickets.

"Go on," I said.

Randy went on. He jotted down a series of facts and figures and seemed pretty pleased with himself. I was getting hungry. He showed us the Travel Club website, He showed us the ownership units. All of it was very nice.

"In some of our units, you can see the nightly fireworks from Disney."

Wow. This property abutted Disney property and was only going up in value since everyone all over the globe wants to come to Disney World. Except for me.

We didn't buy anything. Received a $100 gift card for our efforts. Should have told him that Doug over at the 7-11 kiosk would give me $150 to listen to his pitch. But I was just glad to get out of there.

BTW, the Florida Cracker Ale is damn good. Made with coriander, which reminded me of New Belgium's Trippel Ale, although lighter. Florida may not be as well-known for its beers as Colorado but it's getting there. I had another Cigar City beer the other day. Jai Alai is an IPA aged in white oak. Not sure if I could taste the white oak but it is a great beer. Oskar Blues in Longmont recently did a collaboration brew with Tampa's Cigar City. Keep reaching out, craft brewers! We love you, especially the ones in WYO.

Now it's time to find a free arts event in Sales Pitch Land. Trump would definitely be at home here.

Lincoln Court: From old-fashioned motor court to "intentional urban community"

This 1939 auto window decal for Lincoln Court conjures the city's rodeo and Marlboro Man traditions.

Cheyenne native Alan O'Hashi is always cooking up something interesting. 

He's a fine filmmaker. His documentary short "Aging Gratefully: The Power of Community" recently was named one of the International Award of Excellence winners at the International Film Festival for Spirituality, Religion and Visionary. He now lives in Boulder, Colo., which is but 99 highway miles from Denver but light-years away in attitude. 

Alan has come up with a plan for an "intentional urban community" for Cheyenne. Here's a description:

The LINCOLN COURT is an ambitious mixed use intentional urban community. The project is a collaboration among Wyoming Community Media, Caddis Architects, Wonderland Hills Development and Dozzer LLC.

In addition to the innovative mixed uses, including affordable and universally-accessible housing and cohousing is a higher purpose around creativity -- creative aging, nurturing artistic entrepreneurs, cultural exhibits and performances in residence.

Lincoln Court once was a motor court that was part of the legendary Hitching Post Inn. Alan worked at the Hitch as a teen, as did so many Cheyennites who now find themselves in the "creative aging" category. Find out more at https://www.facebook.com/LincolnCourtCheyenne/about/

My brother Tom has accused me of promoting Agenda 21 with this project. In case you don't know the term, it's a United Nations effort to get countries to adopt smart growth development that encourages walkable communities that will reduce carbon use and possibly slow global warming. This effort has caused conservatives, especially those in energy-producing states, to misconstrue this as a plan to take away our cars and trucks and make us live in Hobbit homes instead of sprawling McMansions. At 6-foot-2, I am as unsuited as Gandalf to a Hobbit home, although my tiny wife and cat probably would fit quite nicely in Frodo's house. Lincoln Court, alas, will not feature Middle Earth dwellings but those more suitable to our high and dry western climate and landscape. It also will feature live-work spaces for artists, retail stores (coffee shop is a must) and offices. Alan has a rough plan for the property that will be anchored by the new multipurpose sports facility that's on next year's Sixth Penny Tax ballot and adjacent to the old site of Lincoln Court off of Lincolnway,

I like this project for several reasons. For one, it has a story. I am a storyteller. Maybe I will end up as Lincoln Court's resident storyteller, spinning tales from past and present. There already is an excellent book about the Hitching Post Inn by my state gov colleague Sue Castaneda. You can find "The Hitching Post Inn -- Wyoming's Second Capitol" at local bookstores, including the State Museum store, and probably the library too.  

But there are always more stories to tell. 

The first organizational meeting for Lincoln Court will be held Dec. 6 in Cheyenne. Details to follow. Or keep track on the Facebook page (see link above).  

Cheyenne Comic Con leads to jam-up at Little America parking lot

You'd think that the sprawling parking lot at the Little America Conference Center would be spacious enough for all of the comic book geeks and gamers and cosplayers in Cheyenne.

Think again.

About noon on a gray May Saturday, Little America's lots were overflowing. As Chris and I left for lunch, a Cheyenne traffic cop blocked the entrance, sending Comic Con fans to the overflow lot at the events center on Lincolnway. As we drove away, we saw people parking at the old pancake house on the east side of I-25. Ghostbusters and star troopers and anime girls trudged through the rain for their date with destiny or at least their date with stars in the sci-fi/fantasy universe.

I'm a newbie (noob) to comic cons of all stripes. So, when I use a term such as "cosplay" or "anime," I may not know what I'm talking about. My kids do, but they're away in their own universes. But one thing was clear to me -- the first Cheyenne Comic Con was off to a good start. And I had to wonder -- how come we've never had this kind of parking crush at a poetry reading?

Chris, a long-time Star Trek fan, bought tickets for Cheyenne Comic Con (hereafter known as C3) when news first broke about the event. In the ensuing months, I had retired, collected Social Security, used my Medicare card several times and went under the knife for knee replacement surgery. Not your usual geek pastimes. However, it gave me a leg up (so to speak) at a Comic Con as I was one of the few attendees who was part robot. Not only do I have bionic knees but also an implantable cardioverter device (ICD) that beams signals about my heart condition to a telemetry lab and can shock me back to life should I descend into a fatal arrhythmia. Fatal Arrhythmia -- sounds like a comic book character's name, a villain, I would think.

Fatal Arrhythmia: Die, Captain Cardiac!

Captain Cardiac: Fie on you, Fatal Arrhythmia. I live many lives thanks to modern medical marvels.

F.A.: But I am a super-villain.

C.C.: And I am on Medicare!

Look for more adventures coming soon from You Kids Get Off My Lawn Comics.

At the Comic Con vendor fair, I bought a number of comics. I was curious about this industry which is gobbling up shelf space at all of my local bookstores. We also have several comic book stores in downtown Cheyenne. One of them, The Loft, was the impetus behind C3.

It's no news that comics are big. But I usually read books, such as the kind you find at the library. They are printed (usually without illustrations), bound and finished off with a nice cover. Some of them are several hundred thousand words long, which seems big unless you've read War and Peace.

But writers still write the stories featured in comics and graphic novels. Bob Salley is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh M.F.A. program and studied with a novelist I admire, Lewis "Buddy" Nordan. He was a fan of comic books and entered that world in an attempt to make a living as a creative person, much as other MFAers such as yours truly got into  the world of arts administration, while others enter education, cab driving and the lucrative food service industry.

Salley writes a series called The Salvagers. His is a collaborative process, unlike the act of writing your average literary novel. Illustrator at his Think Alike Productions is George Acevedo, colourist is DeSike and HdE does the lettering. They even designed a special giveaway comic for C3 which features The Salvagers in "The Wreck Raiders." If you bought one of the press's graphic novels, you received a signed copy of the comic. So that's what I did after a lively conversation with Salley. He saw my composition book and pulled his notebook out of a backpack. It was filled with ideas for new stories. I showed him some pages from my journal. They included everything from rough drafts of stories to to-do lists to notes from meetings and events such as C3. This is the kind of geeky stuff that writers do.

Salley and I talked about trading stories and staying in touch. I am fascinated by graphic novels. To belittle them is to negate the life experiences of a big chunk of America. Million read comics. Millions more watch sci-fi/fantasy.superhero movies. Others like to dress and act like Sailor Moon or Iron Man. Creative writing. Filmmaking. Theatre. All creative pursuits being practiced by the people attending any comic con.

I bring this up because the arts funding world has been slow to recognize what's happening all around us. All of these creatives are selling their wares and attempting to make a living. To that end, they travel the Comic Con circuit like bands of gypsies. Do any of them make a living? Some vendor booths are more crowded than others. Some, such as Cheyenne's Warehouse 21 and Winged Brew ("We make tea cool") sell products and services. Others, such as actors on popular cable shows and films, get paid to hobnob with the hoi polloi and charge for autographs and photos. Chris and I paid $60 for an autograph and photo with Ernie Hudson, best known as Winston Zeddimore in the first two "Ghostbusters" movies. He's a nice guy. We like him in the Netflix series "Grace and Frankie" where he plays Frankie's (Lily Tomlin's) love interest. They may have to kill him off as he's slated to be in a new futuristic cop drama called "APB." Hudson let slip later in a Q&A that he attended Yale Drama School with Sigourney Weaver and played boxer Jack Johnson on stage in "The Great White Hope." I was impressed. I am also impressed that Hudson was a Ghostbuster and has a cameo in the upcoming "Ghostbusters" sequel.

Mike and Chris at Cheyenne Comic Con with Ernie Hudson. 

What impressed me most at C3? The size of the crowds. "This is better than the Fort Collins Con," said one vendor. This is especially impressive because Cheytown has an inferiority complex when it comes to out neighbor FoCo across the border, where everything is bigger and better and hipper. Except for Comic Con, it seems -- lots of those cars parked higgledy-piggledy in the parking lot bore Colorado plates.

Also, people had fun. Think about that next time you're at an arts event or a poetry reading or even one of my prose readings. Are you enjoying yourself? If the answer is "no," you may want to plan for C3 Part Deux set for May 2017. Or you can check out a con near you. Find out what floats your boat (or steers your starship) and get after it.

Downtown Art Alley's second mural now complete

Alert readers inform me that there is another new mural in downtown's Art Alley. It's by Laramie artist and UW grad Dan Toro and seems to represent the performing arts history of our fair city. The open space in the alley now used for summer concerts once was the site of the Paramount Theatre. A movie theatre that also held live concerts, thus the grand piano in the mural. It could also allude to the fact that the Atlas Theatre space across the street is newly renovated and a great venue to stage a concert, play, comedy show or zombie film festival. Thanks to Dan Toro and the DDA. Downtown property owners vote Tuesday on a 20 mill tax levy to fund the DDA. Read more about it in today's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle lead editorial. 

Contemplating downtown Cheyenne's new mural

Here's Jordan Dean's mural on the alley wall between the Plains Hotel and the Majestic Building in downtown Cheyenne. I've been watching the mural's progress, even stopping by to talk to the artist as he hung three stories in the air from the boom lift basket. Jordan's done a great job of blending iconic western elements such as the bison and the eagle with more fanciful images. I can see some 60s-style poster art influences, such as the use of punctuation marks (quote marks, periods) to emphasize parts of the design. That may have something to do with Japanese art styles (manga, anime). I'm no art critic, but I know what I like! Someday soon, will grab a latte at the Paramount Cafe (named for the big empty space in the alley that used to be the Paramount Theater before it burned down) and spend some time contemplating this mural. Kudos to the DDA as it continues to bring life to downtown Cheyenne. 

At Cheyenne's Edge Fest, first comes the work and then the party

Cheyenne's West Edge Project will hold a combination planning workshop and music fest on Friday, Sept. 18, at the Asher Building at 500 W. 15th Street downtown. The work has do be done first, and then the party.

Here's a bit about the workshop:

This open workshop on Sept. 18 from 2-5:30 p.m. will give you the opportunity to get your hands dirty in Cheyenne’s West Edge. You get to be the designer and help transform a parking lot into an activated courtyard! Friday.

After the workshop comes the music and the food and the beverages. I like the way that this group is thinking, this mix of brainstorming and TGIF. The goal of the West Edge Project is to transform this part of downtown into an urban live/work/play space. It already has some money in the bank, some of it voter-approved sixth-penny tax funds, In its first phase, the parking lot across from the municipal building will be repurposed into a parking lot, green space and performance area. To see more, go to the cool web site at http://www.cheyennewestedge.com/ which looks as if it was designed by the creative folks at Warehouse 21. WH21 occupies a refurbished warehouse in the West Edge.

See you Friday!

This shouting and cane shaking is thirsty business

Great to see that Amy Surdam has been named the new executive director of the Cheyenne Downtown Development Authority/Main Street. The organization has been looking for a new director since the departure of Christie DePoorter last year.

Surdam was one of the founders of the Children's Museum of Cheyenne, which will be built sometime soon in "The Hole" downtown. That organization came up with a plan to fill "The Hole," something that the city has been working on for a decade. She and her colleagues get kudos for action in the face of widespread inaction.

Surdam is a nurse practitioner who managed the CRMC Urgent Care Center when it opened near downtown in 2012. She also is a major in the Wyoming Army National Guard. Married to a CRMC ER doctor, she was quoted in this morning's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle as someone who "loves our downtown" and wants to "create a place where my own children will want to return to live and work."

That's the crux of the matter, isn't it? Where will our kids want to live when they're in their 20s and 30s? Good jobs are one thing. Quality of life is another. While young people may find work in Cheyenne, they often choose to live south of the border in Wellington, Fort Collins or Greeley, Colorado. Many would rather live in the college town of Laramie and face the treacherous daily winter commute over the pass than live in Cheyenne. This week, the Laramie City Council passed a measure that would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. This is the first municipality in the state to pass such a measure, an effort that's regularly defeated by the Know Nothings in the State Legislature. Laramie, off course, was the site of Matthew Shepard's murder in 1998.

Laramie's downtown is a happening place. I say this as a 64-year-old soon-to-be-retiree. Let's go over to Laramie, ma, and get one of those Geritol-laced lattes at Coal Creek Coffee, sit outside on the patio and watch the trains rumble by. I'd rather be perusing the shelves at Night Heron Books or lunching at Sweet Melissa's. But you get the idea. Downtown Laramie is full of life while Cheyenne is still working on it. Lots of credit goes to Trey Sherwood, director of the Laramie DDA/Main Street org.

I think Cheyenne may have found a similar dynamo in Ms. Surdam.

The City of Cheyenne received some good news this week. The feds have pledged $3 million to the city's West Edge Project. The city now has $15 million to get that project going. It will transform the west end of downtown into a network of parks, business and living spaces. You can find out more about it here. One of the more intriguing ideas in this effort is an idea to take renovated historic railroad cars, park them on spurs and turn them into bistros and shops. The city is working on this with the High Plains Railroad Preservation Association. This is a terrific way to celebrate Cheyenne's heritage, a city founded in 1867 as a "Hell on Wheels" railroad camp.

The Cheyenne DDA/Main Street has some funding challenges, as we've been reading about lately. Local naysayers don't see the value of a vibrant downtown development organization. They often get the most ink and air time because they're the loudest and crankiest. You kids get out of my downtown! This gray-headed, cane-wielding (knee replacement surgery) old guy could be one of the cranky ones. But if you see me down at the Depot Plaza shaking my cane at a group of young people, I'll probably be saying something like: Welcome to our downtown, kids. Spend your time and money down here, and don't forget to volunteer for some of DDA/Main Street's fine projects. And while you're at it, fetch me an IPA from Freedom's Edge or the Cheyenne Brewing Company. This shouting and cane-shaking is thirsty business.

Loveland getting national attention for its creative placemaking projects

Chris poses with my new car as train rumbles by the Loveland Feed & Grain Building, which is being transformed into the Art @ The Feed and Grain facility. You can't see it in this pic but the new ArtsSpace live/work spaces for artists are being built on the other side of the Feed and Grain.  

SF Gate in San Francisco carried a neat article Saturday about the ArtSpace project in Loveland, located an hour south of Cheyenne on I-25. Loveland is a one-time farming community and jumping-off point to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. The city is known for two things: it amazing array of outdoor sculpture and its dueling summer sculpture shows; Valentine's Day postal cancellations (LOVE-land -- get it?). Loveland once was home to my aunt and grandfather. Back in the eighties, my grandfather used to grabbed his cane and tottered over to the old downtown coffee shop where he used to entertain the waitresses with old war stories. My aunt was a bit concerned that Grandpa would get run over on his morning walks. But Loveland was pretty sleepy back then. As long as he didn't wander over to Eisenhower Blvd./U.S. Hwy. 34, where a steady stream of behemoth motor homes made a beeline for the national park. Grandpa lived to a ripe old age, still spinning his tales to anyone who would listen at the Denver V.A. Hospital.

Thirty years later, Loveland is a different place. The old feed and grain building along the railroad tracks is being renovated into an arts center. Next door, live-work spaces for 30 artists are under construction. The projects are being sponsored by ArtSpace of Minneapolis, the country's lone non-profit property developer. Read more about it here and here. Cheyenne is also trying to get an ArtSpace project off the ground. Read about it here -- and, if you live within 50 miles of Cheyenne, take the survey.

Chris and I visited downtown Loveland two Saturdays ago. We were on our way back from a car-buying trip to Denver. Viewed the nifty ArtSpace project on the edge of a revitalizing downtown. We dropped in on the Loveland Creatorspace on the other side of the tracks from the feed and grain. Place was humming with young people working Cad-Cam computers and 3-D printers. A machinist was making parts for some gizmo. A guy my age tutored students. Such a neat place. Creativity comes in so many forms.

Cheyenne Artspace wants you to take its Artist Market Survey

I've always been pleased when people who live in the far-flung regions on Wyoming refer to Cheyenne as North Denver. They mean it as a slam. I take it as a compliment.

I'm a Denver native. My parents were Denver natives. My son was born in Denver. Both sets of grandparents met, fell in love, got married, and had kids in Denver. They were from elsewhere but found themselves in the Mile High City 100-some years ago and did what humans have been doing for centuries -- they got busy being human.

But this isn't about Denver. It's about NoCoSoWy or, if you prefer, SoWyNoCo. It's about Cheyenne, Laramie, Fort Collins and Greeley. It's about the counties of Laramie, Albany, Larimer and Weld. More than 720,000 souls live in this region, far less than the millions who inhabit Colorado but more than the 580,000 or so who inhabit the Great State of Wyoming.

Some 350,000 people live within a 50-mile radius of Cheyenne. There should be 600 people in there who are interested in taking the Cheyenne Artspace Artist Market Survey that was launched on Thursday. That's the number that Arts Cheyenne and Cheyenne DDA/Main Street hope to reach in the next eight weeks. I think they can do it. I attended the survey launch party Feb. 26 at Asher-Wyoming Arts Center across from the Cheyenne railyards. A pair of engines pulled a line of graffitied railcars toward San Francisco. A teamster was wrangling a loaded semi in the parking lot. Lace-like snowflakes danced on my windshield.

Attendance was pretty good for a cold, snowy Thursday. We hung out at tables arrayed around the bare-brick second floor center. Sixty of us ate, chatted and listened to music by Todd Dereemer and his band. The stage was designed as a multi-media stage/altar for the Vineyard Church. The church moved out and the arts center moved in.

Here's how's Arts Cheyenne described this initiative:

Artspace is a non-profit consultancy and property development organization specializing in affordable housing and work space for artists and arts organizations. Artspace has developed 37 similar projects in 13 states, with a dozen more in development or under construction. A nearby Artspace project in Loveland, Colo. is slated for completion this spring.

Artspace representatives visited Cheyenne last year to tour buildings and make presentations to community leaders and artists. The visit convinced Artspace there was a market for an artist live/work project and in Cheyenne Feasibility Report recommended the survey to help determine project specifics, like space, location, and number of potential users. 

Artspace and Arts Cheyenne will work together to promote the online survey to local artists and arts organizations. A survey report will be compiled and delivered in August 2015. 

At Thursday's gathering, Shannon Joern from Artspace HQ in Minneapolis gave us an overview of the project and provided a rough timeline.

The survey may show a need for the project. It may not. That happened in Casper a few years ago. While a live/work style project wasn't in the cards, Artspace is still working with Casper on a consulting basis. Casper's core business area is booming. The Casper Artists' Guild will move into its renovated downtown warehouse on May 1. A brewpub, gelatto shop and other small businesses will occupy the other half of the warehouse. In some ways, Casper is ahead of Cheyenne when it comes to creative placemaking. If only they could get a new library....

Felicia Harmon of Loveland Artspace noted that the arts survey conducted six years ago in the south end of Colorado's Larimer County helped to "quantify and qualify the arts in our community." Even before construction started on the live/work space, Loveland Aleworks opened a block away because it "wanted to be close to another arts community," Harmon said. Across the railroad tracks from the former feed and grain depot, now the arts center adjacent to the Artspace development, is a group of new studios for mid-career artists and in the works is a new maker space. The Arts Incubator of the Rockies (AIR) has moved into the neighborhood, adding a regional arts component to the local one. AIR was based in Fort Collins but heard the drumbeat of innovation and moved south.  

My advice? If you're interested in the arts and the future of Cheyenne, take the survey. A good investment for 15 minutes. I'll wager that you spend at least 15 minutes a year listening to people say, "There's nothing to do in Cheyenne."

Well?

Clever neighborhood nicknames the key to Cheyenne's cultural renaissance

This is for all of you forward-thinking folks who believe in odd concepts. That downtown Cheyenne can be a vital place. That Cheyenne can one day be an arts mecca or, at least, an arts Vatican. That urban planning is a good thing and not a U.N. plot to destroy our Merican way of life and force us to live in Hobbit homes and ride commie bicycles to work.

Here's news from Arts Cheyenne:

The next phase of the Cheyenne Artspace initiative gets underway this week.

Cheyenne DDA/Main Street, Arts Cheyenne and Artspace will begin an eight-week-long Artist Market Survey process designed to measure interest in an artist live/work environment in the downtown Cheyenne area.

The online survey will be unveiled at a public launch event at the Asher-Wyoming Arts Center, 500 W. 15th St. in downtown Cheyenne. That will be held on Thursday, Feb. 26, 5:30-8 p.m. It includes a presentation by Artspace representatives Shannon Joern and Felicia Harmon, music by the Todd DeReemer Band and refreshments. 

Artspace is a non-profit consultancy and property development organization specializing in affordable housing and work space for artists and arts organizations. Artspace has developed 37 similar projects in 13 states, with a dozen more in development or under construction. A nearby Artspace project in Loveland, Colo., is slated for completion this spring. Artspace representatives visited Cheyenne last year to tour buildings and make presentations to community leaders and artists. The visit convinced Artspace there was a market for an artist live/work project and in its Cheyenne Feasibility Report, recommended the survey to help determine project specifics, like space, location, and number of potential users. Artspace and Arts Cheyenne will work together to promote the online survey to local artists and arts organizations. A survey report will be compiled and delivered in August 2015. 

The Cheyenne Artspace survey will open Thursday, February 26. 

The survey will be sent to artists, arts groups, arts businesses and other interested parties within a 50-mile radius of Cheyenne. That includes Laramie, Fort Collins and Greeley which, with Cheyenne, make up the Quad Cities of NoCo/SoWy. It includes all of Laramie County. If you're interested and don't get a survey, contact Arts Cheyenne. You can also come out to the launch on Thursday evening in the DeNo (Depot North) area of downtown Cheyenne.

One of the most important parts of downtown development is to create short, quirky nicknames for each district. In Denver, you have LoDo (Lower Downtown) and RiNo (River North). NYC has the famous SoHo (South of Houston) and TriBeCa (Triangle Below Canal Street) neighborhoods. I  challenge all of my readers to come up with catchy nicknames for our downtown areas. There are no prizes, but you can entertain people at future DeNo loft parties with stories of how you, almost single-handedly, brought the cultural renaissance to Chey-town back in the early part of the 21st century.

I know what kind of state I want to live in

One of the highlights of Gov. Matt Mead’s State of the State speech on Jan. 13 was his proposed initiative called Wyoming Grown. It was prompted by the fact that Wyoming is “losing 60 percent of our greatest talent” when young people educated in Wyoming move elsewhere after graduation. Gov. Mead wants to “keep kids in Wyoming after graduation.” So, Wyoming Grown will recruit those “who have left the state and bring them back."

He was skimpy on the details, which I’m sure he supplied those in his budget request for this program. But it will include a new web page by the Tourism Office. It will strengthen businesses that will be able to hire these young people in Cheyenne and Casper, Lusk and Meeteetse.

Concluded the Governor: “Let’s open the door to get our young people home.”

Kudos to Gov. Mead. This goes along with his description of Wyomingites as builders, not hoarders. We all want to build the state, not see it wither away. The state is aging rapidly and we need new blood desperately. This Republican Governor is big on technology and infrastructure and new jobs. He promotes local economic development, which has led to a downtown resurgence in Rawlins, Casper, Rock Springs, Lander and many other communities. He’s also a supporter of the arts and creativity. 

I cannot speak for young people as I’m not young myself. I am a parent of two Millennials, one of whom – my son Kevin -- lives and works elsewhere, namely Tucson, Arizona. What would lure him back to Wyoming? Well, he likes the outdoors. He was a Boy Scout and is a dedicated camper and rock climber. His parents and sister live in Wyoming and we would like to see him more often.
 

But Tucson is a city with a lively arts and cultural scene. Kevin is involved in theatre and music and also is a dedicated gamer. He’s a big fan of public transportation due to the fact that he’s never had a very reliable car and, well, insurance and car payments really add up. Tucson has light rail and a marvelous bus system. A university with lots of cultural offerings. It’s warm, too. His first summer there he described as “hotter than the surface of the sun.” But he’s acclimated and, like most Tucsonans, ventures out in July only under cover of darkness. But January, well, that’s when his Wyoming family visits.

Wyoming really can’t compete with the lights of the big city. How you gonna keep ‘em down on the ranch after they’ve seen Portland and Austin and Nashville?  See, we’re not even talking about huge metropolises such as New York and L.A. It’s the urban mix that draws young people. If they aren’t progressive when they arrive, they tend to get that way by mixing with folks that aren’t like them. Different genders. Sometimes people who are bending the genders and shattering the status quo. Different ethnicities. People from different parts of the country – different parts of the world. To be a part of the urban mix, you need tolerance and flexibility. Curiosity, too, a sense that you’d like to know what makes your neighbors tick. Sure, you can say the same thing about city folks coming to Wyoming. They have to be flexible and respectful when living and working in a more conservative climate. Some are better with that than others.

Wyoming has one big problem that won’t go away anytime soon. Some of its residents think that they exist in a “Wyoming is what America was” bubble. Right-wing loonies air their prejudices and grievances as if it were 1915 rather than 2015. We live in a world when the dumbest ideas hit the airwaves with lightning speed. Witness how much fun the talk show hosts had with all of the many nonsensical Republican responses to Pres. Obama’s recent SOTU speech.

So, when a conservative legislator proposes an anti-gay piece of legislation, the news travels far and wide. Young people, the heaviest users of smart phones and social media, are privy to the news immediately and spread the word about those dumbbells in Wyoming. I don’t like it when the legislators in my adopted state get painted as wackos.

But if the shoe (or boot) fits….

So, our Republican legislators promote a “right to discriminate against people we don’t like” (HB83) bill and an “Agenda 21 is a U.N. commie plot” (HB133) bill. Rep. Jaggi from Uinta County speaks like a bit player in an old Hollywood western when he refers to Native Americans as “Injuns” in a public meeting. This makes me wonder if Republicans really care about bringing our young people back to the state. Maybe they are angling for a certain type of young person, one who is already a diehard Republican, watches only Fox News and already believes that it is OK to discriminate against those who don’t think/act/look like you do.

I don’t think that’s what Governor Mead has in mind. He is a college graduate, earning everything up to his J.D. His wife, our First Lady, is a college graduate and a strong supporter of education. They have two children who will go to college and may be the future leaders of the state just as Gov. Mead’s mother and grandfather were leaders. I think that Gov. Mead is thinking ahead to the kind of Wyoming he wants to leave to his children. That’s not the regressive version of the state that the extremist members of his own party envision, if it’s appropriate to use that term. To envision, you need a vision, not just a tendency to dig in your heels and say no to all change and all progress.   

I don’t know if my children or grandchildren will live and work in Wyoming.

I do know what kind of state I want to live in.   

What makes Cheyenne Cheyenne?

One of the best things to happen to Wyoming communities in 2014 is a resurgence of downtown redevelopment. Wyoming Main Street gets some credit for that. But the energy to get the job done comes from within the community. That's the way it should be, don't you think?

Rock Springs, Gillette, Rawlins -- all communities that refurbished downtowns in the past year. They rebuilt streets and sidewalks, added new lighting and purchased public art. Rock Springs and Rawlins provided funds for businesses to redo their storefronts. All of these places added business to their central core, the traditional heart of their cities.

What do I-80 travelers think about when they buzz through Rawlins? Who would want to live there -- it's so desolate? Sure, on a bitter January day, Rawlins can look at bit intimidating. Sure, the state's hulking gray prison lurks just behind the bluffs to the south. The rock escarpments that ring the town may look a bit foreboding to coasters. And that 60 mph west wind that strips the enamel from your teeth? Not much to say but keep your mouth shut. I suppose that's good advice anytime.

But there's so much to see and do. The intriguing historic prison is downtown and the site for some entertaining candlelight tours during Halloween season. The old prison even appeared on an episode of "Ghost Adventures" in which Zak & Co. discovered that the exploration of a quirky local home was almost as exciting as the haunted prison. We acknowledge that the show is filled with P.T. Barnum hoopla -- but it also showcases some great historic tidbits. And how many nationally-televised shows get to Rawlins?

Rawlins recently revamped their downtown streetscape and added two beautiful hawk sculptures by Boulder's Joshua Wiener. Next time, get off the interstate and do some exploring -- and maybe some dining and shopping.

It's the people who make the place -- and those creative ventures that people undertake. Art, music, writing, sculpting, cooking, ghost adventuring, etc. You just have to ask yourself: what makes my community tick?

What makes Cheyenne Cheyenne? That's the question we're asking locally. Everyone knows about our Old West heritage. Every July, we stage a big party with that theme at its center. But Cheyenne also is about transportation -- railroads, highways and air travel. That last one may be a bit of a surprise, as our tiny airport is outshone by so many others in the region. But our town has a storied history when it comes to flying. The Carl Spaatz Flying Circus, Eddie Rickenbacker's crack-up, Lindbergh and the Army Airmail Service, the advent of United Airlines, etc. -- you can look it up.

Dinosaurs walked here -- and I'm not just talking about Republican legislators. Native Americans were the first human inhabitants and Cheyenne, as its name suggests, is rich in pre-white-settlement history. Buffalo soldiers? We had them at Fort D.A. Russell.

We are enriched by the arts. An article in Sunday's WTE celebrated a banner year in music for Cheyenne. Arts Cheyenne will engage in an "arts blitz" in 2015 to build interest for a downtown Artspace project that will rehab an old building and turn it into live-work spaces for artists and -- possibly -- offices for arts groups and visual arts and performing spaces. The Children's Museum project is really taking off.

This is what Cheyenne needs -- thinking and acting locally. For too long we have thrown up our hands and ceded arts and culture and music and beer to Fort Collins. For good reason -- FoCo almost invented the craft beer scene in the Rocky Mountain West. It also has a thriving arts scene. But it wasn't always that way. When I was a grad student there in the late 1980s, nobody called it FoCo but they did call it an aggie town or cowtown -- a sleepy place which young people deserted on weekends to go to Denver and Boulder and the mountains. Meanwhile, bored kids from Cheyenne were traveling to Fort Collins because that's where things were happening. Weird.

From the Fort Collins Coloradoan:

Collin Ingram, a musician himself, says he's been in Fort Collins for the past three years and, in that time, has seen the music scene grow and expects that to continue.  

The next big step, however, is the community determining the value it wants to place on the music scene in Fort Collins, Ingram said.  

"We need to decide if the scene is going to be a cool thing that happens here — with bands and a couple festivals every year — or if we're going to kind of move toward the scene being a quintessential part of what makes Fort Collins Fort Collins … the same way beer makes Fort Collins Fort Collins, or the way CSU makes Fort Collins Fort Collins."

What makes Cheyenne Cheyenne? You decide.

And what makes Wyoming Wyoming? Volunteerism and generosity. Neighbors helping neighbors.

News comes about a devastating Dec. 30-31 fire in Dubois that destroyed several historic downtown buildings. Needs of Dubois is handling contributions for relief efforts. Send checks to NOD, PO Box 865, Dubois, WY 82513, and please note "Dubois Fire" in the memo of the check. You can also contribute online at http://www.gofundme.com/duboisfire. Almost $10,000 had been raised by noon on Jan. 2.