"No Human is Illegal" the theme of Cheyenne May Day march

Front page of this morning's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle

The WTE second-page jump header quoted Rev. Rodger McDaniel over a photo of me. This struggle is biblical in many ways. Love thy neighbor as oneself. Stuff like that. 

Artwork and protest signs complement each other at the May Day March in the Depot. The multimedia piece in the foreground is CylieAnn Erickson's "Executive Order 13769."

I was one of a hundred-plus souls who came out on a rainy Monday for the May Day March to Keep Families Together in Cheyenne.

Organized by Juntos, the march protested Trump & Company's cruel attempts to demonize people from Mexico or anywhere south of the border. Put it together with Trump's attempted Muslim ban and you have a set of racist policies that deserve protesting.

Juntos enlisted the arts as part of its rally. One of the organizers, Gonz Serrano, read his poetry to the crowd as it sought shelter post-march in the Cheyenne Depot. A high school mariachi band played. Laramie artist Adrienne Vetter worked with Juntos organizers to stage an art show. The arts both personalize and magnify the cause.

Before the poetry and music came the march. The goal was to carry a letter, signed by organizers, to Gov. Matt Mead. His HQ resides at the other end of  Capitol Ave., the route  followed by most marches in Cheyenne. Rally at the Depot Plaza and walk eight blocks to the capitol, usually with a police escort. The capitol complex will be under construction for three years. So we visited the governor at his temp HQ at the old Schraeder Funeral Home quarters on the corner of 24th and Carey.

A delegation, led by Juntos Director Antonio Serrano, left the march and walked inside to deliver the letter to the Gov. They returned a few minutes later with the news that the Gov was in meetings all day and couldn't meet with them. The crowd was not pleased. Since the goal was peaceful protest and not civil disobedience, we turned around and walked back to the Depot.

A sound system had been set up on the Depot stage. But rain and a bit of hail forced us inside. I pondered the largest artwork in the exhibit. CylieAnn Erickson's multi-media piece, "Executive Order 13769," featured a human-sized Statue of Liberty behind a chain-link fence. The artist had included cutouts of newspaper headlines on the subject. It included a snake-like lamp jutting from the panel far enough that I almost bonked my head on it. It appeared that the lamp worked and was meant to illuminate the assemblage.

Writers attempt to comprehend the deeper meanings behind an event, and not always successfully. Marches like this were held all over on this May Day. L.A. had a huge crowd with reps from more than 100 organizations and unions, including the Screen Actors Guild, which may go on strike soon. Why should I care about a Hollywood screenwriter making a lot more money than I ever did as a writer? Because they are fellow humans trying to make a living in an economic system that does not care if you live or die. You must fight for it. Just as these immigrants are doing. ICE agents bust into their homes and haul away family members. Schoolkids taunt Hispanic peers. Cruelty abounds. Trump and his minions lead the charge.

The headline on the news clip above speaks of the universal nature of this issue.

Biblical? Shakespearean? Historic? You could describe our current situation with any of those. Or find your own term. We need witnesses. In print. In art. In music.

Big turnout at Governor's Offfice for signing of Children's Mental Health Awareness Week proclamation

Top photo: Big turnout Wednesday morning for Governor Matt Mead's signing of the proclamation for Children's Mental Health Awareness Week. A large group of concerned parents and children joined with UPLIFT staffers and board members, representatives from the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services Division, and Sen. Floyd Esquibel. Everyone received a "Children's Mental Health Matters" ribbon and balloon, even the Governor. Bottom photo: UPLIFT’s Kim Conner asked me, as an UPLIFT board member, to share some national stats on children's mental health with Gov. Matt Mead at Wednesday’s proclamation signing.

Slow start to gardening during a year when the weather warmed too fast

Got tomato seedlings?

Cheyenne blogger Karen Cotton tipped me off to today's "Gardening on the Cheap: 10 Steps to Becoming a Cheerful Cheapskate in the Garden" presentation by Denver's Jodi Torpey at the library. It was sponsored by Laramie County Master Gardeners and the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens. Jodi had many good tips for us frugal gardeners, and I plan to take her up on most of them. I am slow getting started on my veggies this year. I am slow and the weather is warming fast -- not a great combination. I've been posting for the past 4-5 years about my return to vegetable gardening after a long hiatus. First it was all about having a Victory Garden ("Eat a tomato for peace, ya'll!") and then it growing your own and being a locavore and sustainability and all that jazz. But gardening is a struggle around here. It's 6,200 feet and arid and possesses a very short growing season. We have been reclassified from Zone 4 to Zone 5, but a tad more warmth every summer won't make a big difference. It may 50 years from now, but I'll be long gone by then (to Florida).

So I'll persevere with herbs and lettuce and tomatoes and squash and beans, etc.

Meanwhile, I ran into Lindi Kirkbride at the gardening talk and her Cheyenne Alliance Church has started a Seed & Feed Community Garden. Church members and residents of a nearby housing complex are gobbling up the plots. Some of the church's teens will be raising veggies for local shelters and the food bank. Anyway, Lindi says that there are five plots left to interested parties. Fee for each raised bed is $20 per year and water is provided. This is good news because both of the community gardens in Lions Park are booked solid and have waiting lists. If you're interested, e-mail seed&feed@gmail.com.

Gardeners gather in Gillette to rethink the future

Gardening is in again. Rethinking Gardening in the 21st Century is the title for the Gillette Master Gardeners Conference. My fave garden blogger, David Schmetterling of Montana Wildlife Gardener, is Friday's keynote speaker. The conference will bring together authors, Master Gardeners, vendors, horticulture experts, and backyard gardeners to share enthusiasm and knowledge. To view the complete conference agenda, click here.

Grants Farms Store celebrates 30 fruitful (and veggieful) years in Cheyenne

My daughter has worked at the Grant Farms Store in Cheyenne and I have purchased many of my seedlings and seeds there. Great place. Happy birthday:

Thirty years ago in early August, Andy Grant opened this store to sell the veggies from the farm. The store has evolved over the last 30 years and is now a beautifully eclectic home and garden store with bedding plants and some of the most beautiful flowers out there! 

Come out on August 6 from 10-7 p.m. to celebrate with us. Entrance is free. There will be music, dancing, food, beverages, and good times for all!

2120 East Lincolnway
Cheyenne Wyoming
(307) 635-2676
August 6th
10:00AM-7:00PM 

Call for Talent
Do you have a band, or know of someone you would love to see play at our 30th Anniversary Celebration? Email amy@grantfarms.com.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Going up! Imagining the future of farming

Chris gave me the book The Vertical Farm: Feeding the world in the 21st century for Christmas. She saw me thumbing through it at Barnes & Noble and, not one to ignore a hint, she bought it for me. The author is vertical farming guru Dr. Dickson Despommier. His proposals are pie-in-the-sky now. But they make so much sense. Can we tackle the food challenges of the 21st century by plowing more land and felling more forests? Maybe, but the main problem is that we're running out of arable land. According to Despommier, we now use a land area the size of South American for the world's farming needs. To feed projected population, we'd need another area the size of Brazil. Anyone know where we might find a farm that big? Not on this planet. Unless we build up and use technology that already exists and some that could exist if we bend our collective wills to the task. You know, we can put a man on the moon so why can't we grow lettuce and strawberries in a tower in downtown Cheyenne? Find out more at the Vertical Farm web site.

If Dallas can re-vision, why can't Cheyenne?

I have nothing against Dallas. It's a good city, a sprawling megalopolis that creeps as far as Fort Worth to the west and sends tentacles into surrounding counties in all directions.

But who would have thought that Dallas would be the model for "Green" city planning?

The city recently held a competition to submit eco-friendly designs for a block near the city center. The winning design recreates a hillside in the city -- with some amazing results.

Here's some samples from last week's article in Re:Vision Dallas that I thought were interesting:

Forwarding Dallas is modeled after one of the most diverse systems in nature, the hillside. The site is a series of valleys and hilltops, the valleys containing trees and more luxurious plants which transition into more resistant plants as the altitude increases. Atop the hills, solar thermal, photovoltaic and wind energy is harvested.

Other design components include open ‘green’ spaces, housing options from studio apartments to three bedroom flats, a rooftop water catchment system designed to recycle water collected from rooftops and store underground for later use, a 100% prefabricated construction system and public green houses, including a sensorial greenhouse, swimming pool green house and meeting point green house.

A spiritual space, gymnasium, café and exhibition space are also planned to accommodate various lifestyles. There is a temporary accommodation center as well as a daycare center designed for both children and the elderly.

“What I would love to see is an entire section of downtown notable for innovative, sustainable design–an attraction in the southern part of downtown balancing the Arts District in the northern part of downtown," said John Greenan, Executive Director for Central Dallas CDC. "There are already some interesting, green projects in The Cedars immediately to the south of downtown.

A sustainable district that extends from downtown all the way into The Cedars neighborhood is a very reasonable possibility.”

For more information on Urban Re:Vision, visit http://www.urbanrevision.com/

I like the fact that Dallas is thinking big. What's more Texas than that? Wish that my much-smaller city of Cheyenne, Wyoming, would take a few leaps forward. Lots of empty buildings downtown. There is a big hole that's been sitting vacant on our main drag ever since a building burned down. Perhaps we could hold a similar competition to come up with an ecological design for Cheyenne's Big Hole.

And the Dallas CDC guy's quote includes talk about the city's Arts District. I prefer the term "Artists' District," as in Phoenix's Roosevelt Row, a place where artists live and also exhibit their work, sometimes in the same building. Arts districts that just feature galleries and museums can be as dead as any downtown block when the businesses close. Make a place for artists, and you have a lively neighborhood.

It can be one that replicates a Texas Hill Country hillside. Or it can be one in which artists rehab abandoned buildings to make live-work spaces. Just takes some imagination and creativity.

"How old will you be in 2050?"

A recent Grist post talked about climate change sparking a grassroots movement that will cross borders:

The prospects for a borderless protest movement will be put to the test on Saturday, selected by grassroots group 350.org as a “day of global action” with some 3,000 events around the planet. The brainchild of U.S. environmentalist Bill McKibben, 350.org takes its name from a warning issued by climate expert James Hansen, who says atmospheric concentration of CO2 must be pegged below 350 parts per million (ppm) to avoid potential catastrophe.

Levels are currently around 385 ppm and on track to bust a 450 ppm threshold previously viewed as safe.

Launched in March 2008, the Web-based network says it has nearly 200,000 activists in dozens of grassroots groups spread across 170 countries.

“It has worked beyond our wildest expectations,” McKibben told AFP. “We’ve basically got the whole world organized, much of it for the first time. Oct. 24 is going to be, by a very large margin, the most widespread day of environmental action ever.”

Two demographic profiles dominate among 350.org’s rank-and-file, McKibben said: educated youth and people linked by religion.

“I was aware of climate change but didn’t know what I could do,” Gan Pei Ling, 22, a student at Tunku Abdul Rahman University in Malaysia, said this month at climate talks in Bangkok, where she had come to lobby negotiators.

Meeting a small node of activists in Malaysia gave her the courage to speak out, and 350.org put her in touch with like-minded young people across Asia and beyond.

Gan Pei Ling and hundreds of other 20-something activists who converged on Bangkok—many sporting T-shirts asking “How Old Will You Be in 2050?”— see global warming as an injustice toward the poor and the young.

“Older people don’t seem to care,” said Lokendra Shrestha, a 28-year-old sociology student from Nepal, where vanishing glaciers threaten much of Asia’s water supply.

Nothing makes me feel older than talking to 20-somethings, such as my son and his friends. They are engaged in a global struggle for existence. They know it, and we're only beginning to understand.

How old will I be in 2050? 100. I'll be gone. My wife will be gone. All our friends and classmates will be gone.

The better question is: How old will my kids be in 2050? Seems odd to say this but my son will be 65 -- retirement age, at least that's the way we see it now. My daughter will be 57 -- just a year younger than I am now.

They will have kids and maybe grandkids by then. What will the planet be like? What will their lives be like? Will Planet Earth be a dystopia with our coastal cities inundated with rising sea levels and our high plains prairies turned to dunes? Or will we be coming to grips with our past excesses, those that we're only now beginning to understand?

I prefer the latter scenario.

What am I going to do about that today?

How old will I be in 2050?

How Wyoming progressives can take action on health care reform

Brianna Jones, the excellent communications director of the Wyoming Democratic Party, sends this list health care reform action items:

Taking Action for Health Insurance Reform

Be informed -- Know what is happening locally, state-wide, and nationally by glancing at the paper to see what elected officials, media, and activists are saying. Get the facts straight so you have the most up-to-date information. Along with your local media, some great sources are:
Wyoming Public Radio
Casper Star Tribune
WyoFile News Reader

Spread the word -- This may seem like a very small thing, but speaking to your neighbors, chatting in the local coffee shop, and generally voicing your opinion can be extremely powerful. Keep in mind that you must have your facts straight and keep your cool. This isn't about confrontation, it is about moving forward for positive change.

Connect Online -- It is fast and simple to update people through a number of online tools. Post a note on facebook, write a tweet on twitter, or tell your thoughts in a blog. It is simple to get an account with any of these websites and to bring more attention to the issues you find important. This is also a great way of letting people know about events in their area. You can find the Wyoming Democratic Party's version through the following links:
Website
Facebook
Twitter

Hold an Event -- One of the most effective ways to gain attention regarding an issue is to hold an event. This could be a:
Roundtable discussion
Table at the farmer's market
Rally or march
House meeting
These events do not have to consume your life, but will help to bring greater attention to the issue. If you are willing to hold an event, please contact me and I will help you with the logistics, information, handouts, and general enthusiasm.

Attend an Event -- Know what is happening in your area and pay attention to events that have to do with health insurance reform. Having a presence, whether they are in favor or against, is important. Be sure to spread the word and then attend events that are happening near you. Some important ones to keep on your radar are town-hall meetings, rallies, conventions, and public forums.

Write a Letter to the Editor -- Letters to the editor can be a great forum for voicing your opinion. I have template letters available that speak specifically about health insurance reform and I can help you with research information or wording if you are unsure. The best letters will be backed up by facts, be concise, direct, and call for a specific action. Letters should not exaggerate, insult, or be riddled with jargon. Be sure to sign your letter with your name, hometown, and contact information. Your letters can be sent to regional papers and also your local papers. If you need help with contact information to your local papers let me know. Editorial emails for the two largest papers are as follows:
Casper Star Tribune: letters@casperstartribune.net
Wyoming Tribune Eagle: opinion@wyomingnews.com

Speak to a Member of Congress -- You can call, write, or go personally to let the Senator or Representative and their staff know how you feel. I do not recommend sending an email in this instance. Contact information for each of the following representatives can be reached by following the links below:
Senator Mike Enzi
Senator John Barrasso
Congresswoman Cynthia Lummis

FMI: Bri Jones, brianna@wyomingdemocrats.com, (307) 752-5288

House Committee reports on benefits of health care reform for Wyoming

Way back on July 24, the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce released a district-by-district assessment of "Benefits of America's Affordable Health Choices Act" in Wyoming's lone district. Rep. Cynthia Lummis take notice. Under the House reform bill, more than 81,000 uninsured Wyomingites would get some -- and some 400 families would be able to avoid bankruptcy due to crushing hospital bills. Speaking of hospitals, they wouldn't have to put out some $23 million in non-reimbursed services if this reform passed. This is ironic, considering all the sob stories Lummis heard from the Wyoming Medical Center in Casper about low Medicare reimbursement rates (as recounted in the Casper Star-Tribune). They told Lummis they were against Pres. Obama's health care plan because they were afraid reimbursements would be even lower. I suppose they were just telling Rep. Lummis what she wanted to hear.

Get the rest of the story by going to http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_111/20090724/WY.Lummis.pdf

Saturday morning at the farmer's market

In honor of slow food, I took my time this morning perusing the wares at the farmer's market at the Cheyenne Depot Plaza.

Trees and bushes lined the entrance. I would love to buy more trees and bushes, but will wait for spring. I spent most of the spring and summer growing things with middling success. I also discovered that the crabapple tree I've nurtured from a sapling for four years is actually a plum tree. I ate one of the fruits, and it was more sour than sweet. I'm just chagrined that I didn't know it was a plum tree. Perhaps I should have known something was up when it never produced crabapples. My horticultural skills still need polishing.

My first stop was the Heritage Hills booth. This organic farm is located a few miles east of Cheyenne. I wrote about it after it was featured in a Wyoming Tribune-Eagle article about eating locally. I bought some spaghetti squash, two bunches of carrots and a bunch of beets. I told the young guy behind the counter that I'm not a beet fan and haven't been since eating too many canned beets as a kid -- and crappy salad bar beets as an adult. But he vouched for his beets, said they would turn me into a beet lover. Also said I should eat the leaves. "Toss 'em in a salad -- they're great." I'll let you know about the beets later.

I know it's corn season, but I passed up hundreds of good-looking ears. I'm sorry -- I know that this jeopardizes corn farmers who need to sell all their corn so they they can carve their fields into spooky Halloween mazes. But last time at the market, I bought three-dozen ears and we couldn't eat them fast enough. My cat liked it, though. I accidentally left out a bowl of shucked corn ears and in the morning found three ears gnawed down to the cobs and my cat passed out on the floor. A sad sight. Perhaps I would have reconsidered but I didn't see any of the Olathe, Colo., sweet corn that usually shows up this time of year.

I rounded out my purchases with a big basket of Palisade peaches, some Japanese eggplant from Monroe Organic Farms near Lasalle, Colo., a loaf of homemade cinnamon-raisin bread from Baumann's Bakery and a bag of Costa Rican coffee beans from Jackie at Jackie's Java in Fort Collins. I had a couple reasons for buying the coffee. First, Jackie's a fellow CSU grad and started her business while still a student. Second, the cover on the coffee bag told an interesting story. I'm a sucker for good stories, especially ones about food and beverages.

The bad showed a photo of Jackie among the coffee plants when she visited La Amistad Estate last March. Here's the copy: "Located inside a Costa Rican National Reserve, La Amistad is a finca like no other. Powered 100% by hydro electricity, shaded by banana trees dispersed amongst the natural rainforest, and processed completely on the farm to keep quality control at its peak."

Damn. That sounded so good that I wanted to open the bag right then and eat some of the beans. I didn't. I'll brew some of the java in the morning. I'm a coffee snob, that's true. But I also know how coffee was grown for so many decades. Big plantations owned by U.S. firms in cahoots with Latin American dictators. Peasants picking coffee for pennies a day. Coffee in the U.S. was cheap -- and horrible. Now it's expensive and very good. Grown in self-sustaining fincas that deal directly with small vendors and roasters in places like Fort Collins.

Bottom's up, coffee fans.

Why am I at the farmer's market when I have a garden of my own? Good question. I'm still waiting for most of my tomatoes to vine ripen. I've harvested some nice squash and zucchini and green beans and broccoli. But I don't have a peach orchard. I do have one plum tree. Who knew?

Jim Wallis at Sojourners remembers Sen. Kennedy

Jim Wallis remembers Sen. Kennedy's cause in a Sojourners' piece, "Honoring the greatest commitment of Sen. Edward Kennedy's life." Here's a sample:

On the occasion of his death, I pray that God may now move us as a nation to address the greatest commitment of Sen. Kennedy’s life — the need for a comprehensive reform of the health-care system in America — as a deeply moral issue and one that calls forth the very best that is within us. May we honor the life and death of Sen. Edward Kennedy by laying aside the rancor, lies, fear, and even hate that has come to dominate the health-care debate in America this summer, and regain our moral compass by recovering the moral core of this debate: that too many Americans are hurting and suffering in a broken and highly inequitable health-care system, and that it is our moral obligation to repair and reform it — now.

Read the entire column at http://blog.sojo.net/2009/08/26/honoring-the-greatest-commitment-of-senator-edward-kennedys-life/

A story to go with every zuke and tomato

Who put the loca on locavore? Dinner tonight was tomato sauce from homegrown tomatoes, steamed green beans and BBQ zucchini from the Shay garden and pasta from a package. Vegetarian too, which pleased my daughter Annie. Beer from Fort Collins (for me) rounded out the meal.

By the way, Jodi Rogstad's cover story, "Goal: Make a 100 percent local meal," in last Sunday's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle was great. She scrounged up almost all the makings of a meal from local farmers and ranchers. No easy task in this windswept high-altitude place with a short growing season. She found veggies at Lucas Loetscher's huge garden off Railroad Avenue between Cheyenne and Burns. Lucas is 23 and sells his veggies each Saturday at the Cheyenne Farmer's Market. His great-grandfather homesteaded the land in 1918.

That was one of the great things about the article. A story to go with every foodstuff.

Clair Schwan is a self-sufficient Libertarian who lives north of Cheyenne. He calls himself a "thrivalist" instead of a "survivalist." Schwan gives Jodi a bag of summer squash and allows her to harvest some eggs from his chickens. Later, Jodi goes to Catherine Wissner's Wild Winds Sheep Company near Carpenter. Wissner, a horticulturalist for the UW Cooperative Extensive Service, raises lamb and turkeys and grows her veggies in a high tunnels which "makes life here on Mars possible." "Life on Mars" -- I like that.

Jodi wrapped up her article with recipes and a list of food for locavores. Some of the growers were down in Wellington and Fort Collins, Colo., within the 50-mile radius preferred by locavores.

Cowboy boots making smaller carbon footprint

I was glad to see recycling bins on the grounds of Cheyenne Frontier Days events this week. Cheyenne's 10-day summer event must generate tens of thousands of plastic bottles and cans. So many thirsty parade-goers and rodeo fans and music-lovers. Not all the containers find their way into the recycling bins, but installing one next to every trash can helps a lot.

The greening of the CFD may have been caused, in part, by similar efforts at the Greeley Stampede that takes place early in July in Greeley, about 45 minutes south of here. Cheyenne Frontier Days is the older and bigger event, but Stampede P.R. people inundated regional media this year with their "going green" promos. Here's how it was described in the June 18 Greeley Tribune:

The annual event, scheduled for June 25-July 5, has partnered with Waste Management, Coors Brewing Co. and the city of Greeley to initiate a multi-phase, environmentally friendly program. The endeavor aims to reduce waste, save energy and leave a lighter carbon footprint during this year's celebration.

Guests will be able to ride their bikes to the Stampede and park them for free. Bike racks will be available by the 14th Avenue entrance, near the Splash Park and by the Poudre River Trail entrance. Guests are not able to ride bicycles through the park during the event, but will now have a place to secure their bikes.

Visitors also can enjoy Coors products served in Greenware disposable cups. Greenware is a line of premium cups made of natural materials that are fully compostable — made entirely from an renewable resource, corn. Once used and disposed of, the cups will be completely composted in about 50 days.

Specially marked blue containers will be available where visitors can place empty plastic bottles and cans. The city of Greeley will collect plastic bottles and aluminum cans for Waste Management to collect and transport to recycling centers.

That's a pretty good start. No word yet on how they plan to cut down on ozone-depleting steer farts.

On a similar note, the CFD recycling plan includes carting thousands of tons of manure to Laramie County's composting facility. That's a dirty job but I'm glad they're doing it. Local gardners make use of that composting facility which in turn leads to tasty veggies and pretty flowers and healthy trees. Conservative cowpokes and hippie-dippy veggie wranglers are more intertwined than either camp will admit.

Here's more green news from the CFD web site:

Cheyenne Frontier Days, Trihydro Corporation (a Laramie-based engineering and environmental consulting firm), Swire Coca Cola and the City of Cheyenne have agreed to partner again in a major recycling program at Frontier Park. According to Concessions Chairman Matt Jones, the recycling program that was started last year was a great success. "We recycled 5 tons of plastic last year, and we hope to beat that amount this year," said Jones. "We encourage all of our guests to use the recycling cans, located with trash cans, on the park."

Trihydro provides engineering and environmental services to industrial, commercial, and government clients. The firm, founded in 1984, has grown strategically to employ approximately 260 professionals and support staff, of which 160 are based in the firm’s Wyoming offices (Cheyenne, Casper, Lander, and Laramie).

CFD has recycled all the manure collected during the ten day event at a local composting facility for many years. "We have also separated and collected our cardboard for recycling for a few years now," said Jones. "This year we will also be recycling aluminum cans along with the plastic bottles." Jones and CFD officials met with Swire Coca Cola, Dennis Pino (City Sanitation), Trihydro, and others earlier this year to discuss the continuation of collecting plastic during CFD for recycling. Working with the City of Cheyenne, CFD will collect as much plastic and aluminum on the park during the celebration as possible, separate these items from the general waste, and send the plastic and aluminum for recycling, thereby keeping it out of the landfill.

In addition to separating plastic bottles and aluminum cans from the trash during show time, CFD will also recycle these items from committee buildings around the park and the headquarters building. Last year, CFD officials made an effort to replace old bathroom fixtures with newer more water efficient models where appropriate. Parking lot lights were replaced with updated fixtures which provide more light while decreasing power usage. In addition, every year, the CFD grounds crew winterizes the park to shut down buildings with only seasonal usage, thereby decreasing energy and water usage. They also pull weeds by hand rather than using chemical pesticides while maintaining the park.

There is a bandwagon effect here that people who put on parades know very well. It's patriotic to fly the green flag, and cowboys are all about being patriotic.

Here at home, my family and our visitors from afar are going through hundreds of plastic water bottles, aluminum soda cans and craft brew bottles. My son Kevin has hauled many containers of recyclables to the Big Blue Bins at the K-Mart parking lot. We're also cutting down on water usage by taking only one shower per week. Just kidding -- that's just me. Hey, I'm on vacation!

The City of Cheyenne has made great strides the past few years toward cutting down on water use. It's expanding its curbside recycling program. The greenway is terrific and it prods residents to get out and walk and run and ride bikes to work. On the negative side, our public transportation system is laughable and sprawl continues to the north and east. Laramie County has no wise-growth plan. Cheyenne needs to support downtown residential efforts, such as those promoted in Sheridan this summer at "Living Upstairs in Wyoming."

We're getting there -- but still playing catch-up to some of Colorado's communities, such as our neighbor Fort Collins and our bigger neighbor, Denver. Read about some of their efforts at http://smartercities.nrdc.org/

"WYOMING: It is for everybody!"

You can find some strange truths in bumper stickers.

I saw one the other day in Cheyenne. It was on a pick-up. It read: "WYOMING: It's not for everybody."

At first, I thought it was another in a series of "Unique Wyoming" bumper stickers: "Wyoming is what America was." "Wyoming: Like No Place on Earth."

The theme that unites them all could be summed up into the fact that Wyomingites like the state the way it is and its residents don't need any of your newfangled coastal ideas.

That's no revelation if you live here. We're a conservative state, more libertarian that right-wing fundamentalist -- although there's a streak of that here too. At best, the libertarian streak reveals a healthy distrust of big government. At worst, it's venomous, mindless gubment-hating more akin to Nativists and neo-Nazis than any sane political philosophy.

But as I mulled over the "WYOMING: It's not for everybody" bumper sticker, I began to wonder: What if Wyoming was for everybody? What if everybody in the U.S. moved to the Equality/Cowboy State? Latest state population figures show 532,668 in an area of 97,818 square miles. That makes for about 5.4 humans per square mile. So, if Wyomingites were placed equidistant from one another across the state, nobody could see his/her neighbor.

That's impossible, of course. You can't tell Wyomingites where and how to live. Besides, everyone wants to live in scenic locales such as Jackson, Sheridan and Cody, or the not-so-scenic-but-already-settled-places-with-jobs such as Cheyenne and Casper and Gillette.

But what is everybody in the U.S. moved to Wyoming? Sure, there would be a lot of gun play, but let's say that most of the immigrants survived the melee. Wyoming would have some 303 million new residents. Suddenly, there would be 3,108 people per square mile. That's a big boost, for sure. A lot less elbow room, especially if you landed in one of the square mile parcels with citizens from "fat states" such as Mississippi and Arkansas. But if you're sharing space with skinny-state Coloradans, you could stretch until the cows came home, although there would be no room for them if they did.

How crowded would it be? Well, if you increased Cheyenne's population of 56,915 by a factor of 575 times, the city would become a teeming metropolis of 32 million. Now that would put a strain on city services. But hey, we still have the Wal-Mart Regional Distribution Center west of town. Wal-Mart, with its super-efficient delivery system, could keep all 32 million of us supplied with Chinese-made snack foods and diapers for the foreseeable future.

But what if I'm giving short shrift to the bumper sticker's message? What if everybody meant "everybody," even the Chinese, North Koreans and Iranians? Now we're talking a population explosion. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates the worlds population at 6.76 billion souls. If you provided a 4-square-foot space for everyone, Wyoming could easily accommodate everybody in the entire world, with a bit of room left over for rivers and lakes and mountaintops and bears and prairie dogs and Wal-Marts.

So the bumper sticker is incorrect: Wyoming is for everybody. Every person on the planet.

Plant your victory garden with seeds of hope

Last summer, I labeled my three tomato plants and one wayward pumpkin plant a "victory garden."

The term actually meant something during World War II. For many, growing your own was a necessity. Food was rationed for the war effort and gardening meant that you and your family and neighbors would have fruits and vegetables. "Victory," of course, had a symbolic meaning, as in victory over Germany and Japan. Growing beans and corn and squash was not only necessary but patriotic too.

Calling my minimal patch a "victory garden" last year spurred me on to work as hard as I could for victory in the November elections. I would tell myself to water the tomatoes and then hit the neighborhoods for presidential candidate Barack Obama or U.S. House candidate Gary Trauner or U.S. Senate hopeful Nick Carter or local Dems running for the state legislature: Lori Millin, Jim Byrd and others. My victory garden symbolized potential victory over McCain-Palin and Cynthia Lummis and tired old Repub non-ideas. The larger the plants grew, the closer we got to the election and the more effort I invested in the cause.

The harvest -- such as it was -- was in by early November, and it was a mixed bag. Wyoming went for McCain-Palin and the Repub slate for U.S. House and Senate. Lori Millin won in a squeaker (early projections said she lost) as did Jim Byrd. Katherine VanDell was defeated.

Still, we had a major victory in Pres. Obama.

So where's the "victory" in Victory Garden this year? In Wyoming, you are dedicated and lucky if you get anything to grow at all. It's not the bugs. But it is the altitude (6,200 feet), the short growing season, the wind, the hail, late or early frost, the anemic soil, etc.

This year, I'm going all out with a real garden. Dug up a patch of soil east of the backyard covered porch. Dumped into it multiple wheelbarrows of humus from the compost pile. Mixed it all up real good. Built furrows. Surrounded it with a fence to keep out the dog. Bought some garden soil and mixed it in. Last weekend bought some of my plants at the annual plant sale put on by the excellent Cheyenne Botanic Gardens. Selections were made quickly due to the fact I didn't wear my parka on a foggy 42-degree spring morning. Signs all over urged us not to plant before Memorial Day. The next day, more than a week before Memorial Day, I planted. I was expecting the skies to open up and dump ten feet of snow on me. Or for an Oz-like twister to drop out of black clouds and carry me and my seedlings off to Nebraska.

But my daughter Annie and I got the plants in the ground and seeded the rest. We put in three mounds of squash and zucchini seeds. Planted some marigolds in several strategic places. Some pole beans on the side yard. We dug up some of the pumpkin plants that seem to grow just fine on their own. We settled back and contemplated the fruits of our labors. Well, I dreamed about the fruits and veggies of my labors.

I'm not a johnny-come-lately to gardening. I've had gardens in Central Florida, Denver and Fort Collins, Colo., and at our old house in Cheyenne. I like growing things, especially if I can eat them later. I'm a cook too, and preparing dinner is more rewarding if I can use my own produce. That's also a victory.

Gardens have become a huge fad as millions jump on the "locavore" bandwagon. Growing and eating locally is very big. Farmers' markets bloom everywhere, even in Cheyenne which now has at least two. Old-time gardeners in the neighborhood find their skills in demand, especially by their Yuppie neighbors striving to be part of the new trend. Some of them dig up their front yards and plant their gardens there. "Look at me," they say, "I am locavore with a capital L." They can also Twitter -- or blog -- their accomplishments without leaving the garden.

What the hell. Let everyone grow gardens. In the front yard, in the back yard, on the roof, in containers on their porch, in community gardens. It's good for you and good for the planet. It teaches patience and persistence. You become an amateur horticulturist and meteorologist, all at the same time.

My garden this year is a victory over complacency. A tribute to Mother Nature -- and to Michelle Obama's White House garden.

Now let us pray. No hail! No hail!

Day of Giving (Empathy) Saturday in Cheyenne

Day of Giving on Saturday, May 8, provides economically disadvantages with non-perishable food, prescription medications, personal care items, donate blood, Register as a Bone marrow and/or organ/tissue donor. Recipients include clients of Needs, Inc., Salvation Army, Comea House, Safe House Sexual Assault Services, Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless, Bethel Outreach Ministries, and Cheyenne Interfaith Hospitality Network. 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Kiwanis Community House, 4603 Lions Park Dr., Cheyenne. Info: Greta, 635-3943, 421-3436, aemorrow@millect.com, Pam, 637-5193, www.cheyennenetwork.com/dayofgiving.

Global Village's arts' innovators

Returned last night from a very cool conference in Denver sponsored by The Association of American Cultures (TAAC) based in San Antonio. The conference, "Global Connections to Cultural Democracy," featured artists and arts organizations from around the world.

The most interesting session had eight young people who were doing an array of innovative things. Quentin Renaudo and Aziz Ridouan are two 19-year-olds in Paris who founded Audionautes ("audio surfers") to provide legal assistance to those accused of illegally downloading music.

Gabriella Gomez-Mont is a young artist in Mexico City who founded (with friends) Laboratorio Curatorial 060 to put on unique art displays. In one, an artist created four round fish tanks on wheels, each about the size of a SCUBA tank. He put a Beta fighting fish in each tank. You can only have one of these fish per tank because they attack and kill other Betas. The fish would see the other Beta but in another tank and move toward that fish. A sensor in the tank picked up the fish's movements and the tank moved in that direction. Each tank had bumpers so it was kind of like fish bumper cars. They also do political projects. They put a bunch of artists on a bus and drove 18 hours to the new town of Frontera on the Guatemalan border. Among other projects, the artists built a barge on the river and equipped it with a satellite laptop where illegal immigrants from Guatemala could consult weather reports, plot their corse through Mexico to Arizona, and check e-mail. According to Gomez-Mont, some 300 people cross the river near Frontera every day.

Another young man, Ivan Duran, opened the first recording studio and record label in his native Belize.

I continue to be amazed and encouraged by the creativity of the up-and-coming generations. Sometimes we have done the mentoring and are proud to see the accomplishments of our students. Now we are seeing the students becoming the mentors, especially in the area of technology.