When Ike had his heart attack in 1955, coronary care was still in the dark ages

Building 500 on a January afternoon.

Coronary Q & A

After a short visit to the eighth floor of Building 500 on the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora

Q: If you had a heart attack in 1955, what was the likely outcome?

A: Death.

Q: You're kidding, right? I said 1955, not 1855, or 1755.

A: I kid you not. The most common nickname for a garden-variety heart attack in 1955 was "the widow maker."

Q: "Widowmaker" is what my Syrian refugee cardiologist called the heart attack caused by a total blockage of the Lateral Anterior Descending Artery or L.A.D. The kind of heart attack I had to welcome in the new year of 2013.

A: Times change. So does the language.

Q: In 1955, what was the most common prescription for the usual heart attack symptoms such as chest pain, numbness in the left arm, shortness of breath, chronic gastrointestinal problems?

A: R & R. Some time on the beach. A few rounds of golf. A relaxing day fishing by a bucolic Colorado trout stream. That was for men. Women? They didn't have heart heart attacks in 1955. It was probably hysteria. Or penis envy. Freud was in vogue.

Q: Forget Freud. Didn't doctors use electrocardiograms in 1955?

A: Not often. In 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower complained of chronic gastrointestinal pain. His doctor, U.S. Army Major General Howard McCrum Snyder, conducted a month-long physical of Ike without once doing an EKG. He told Ike to relax by going on a vacation and play some golf.

Q: What did Ike do?

A: He flew off to Colorado and played some golf.

Q: Why Colorado?

A: Ike's wife, Mamie Doud, was from Denver. She and Ike usually stayed at the Doud family home in what is now the Seventh Avenue Historic District. He had a heart attack on Sept. 23 after playing 27 holes of golf at Cherry Hills Country Club. According to the Encore newsletter I picked up at Building 500, once known as Fitzsimons Army Medical Center, Ike "complained of chest pains, but but continued to play, assuming it was heartburn."

Q: But it was a heart attack?

A: Right. One of the symptoms the American Heart Association warns you about.

Q: So he went to the hospital?

A: He went back to the Doud's home. "He awoke the next morning at 2 a.m. from chest pains that were not subdued by Milk of Magnesia."

Q: Even I, a layperson and not a doctor, can see the difficulty of subduing a full-blown widowmaker with Milk of Magnesia.

A: Exactly. It wasn't until that afternoon that the Fitzsimons docs administered an EKG to POTUS and "announced that Eisenhower had a coronary thrombosis condition that would be best treated at Fitzsimons."

Q: Don't docs now say that "minutes means muscle," that time is of the essence in the treatment of any heart attack?

A: They didn't know that in 1955.

Q: What did they know?

A: From Encore: "While the American Heart Association was founded in 1924, little was known about heart disease. Doctors knew that death could occur, but provided no causes, symptoms of treatment for coronary thrombosis.... Since the 1920s, heart disease has continued to be America's number-one killer."

Q: That's progress. So the President of the United States, the man who whipped the Nazis, received no treatment for his heart attack? No oblation? No stent? No blood thinners? No pacemaker? No bypass? No weeks of painstaking rehab on the treadmill and weight machines?

A: Those were all treatments of the future. The good news is that the president's seven weeks of rehab in Denver alerted the world to a dangerous killer. When you had your heart attack, the medical establishment had almost 60 years of research behind it.

Q: I could have died.

A: But you didn't. You walk around with a machine in your chest that regulates atrial fibrillation (A-fib) and will shock you back to the present should you ever experience catastrophic heart failure.

Q: One of my earliest memories is from Aurora, Colorado. I was four. We lived in the neighborhood across Colfax Avenue from Fitzsimons. My father pointed out the lights of Room 8002 and announced that the President of the United States was recuperating from a heart attack in that room. Memories are funny things. I'm not sure why I remember it. It's possible that my father told me about it later. He was a good storyteller.

A: When you were in Denver last week, did you get to tour Room 8002 at Fitzsimons, now known as The Eisenhower Suite? It's been lovingly restored by the University of Colorado Hospital, an entity that obviously cares about history and science. It now looks like it did in September of 1955, when the leader of the free world and his wife and a secret service detail lived there.

Q: It was a quick visit. I was in town to take my daughter Annie to some medical appointments. But I will be back. It may have led to my own recovery from coronary artery disease. In Eisenhower's Heart Attack, Clarence Lasby, M.D., states: "The eight floor became, in a way, the nation's first coronary care unit... where shifts of cardiologists, nurses, technicians, medical corpsmen, dietitians, cooks, and security staff were present on a 24-hour basis to serve the patient and his family."

A: I love historic sites and museums. I'm curious. Alive and curious. Thanks, Ike.

Cheyenne joins Main Street development program

Cheyenne took a giant step into the future this week as it was accepted as the latest city in the Wyoming Main Street development program. If it's one thing the city needs, it's downtown development. It's been pursuing it in fits and starts. As part of Main Street, Cheyenne will be eligible for grants and technical assistance from all the good people involved in the program in Sheridan and Rawlins and Laramie and Dubois, etc. Laramie has made some amazing strides in developing its downtown.

Read more here.

"Prison," the horror film that almost destroyed the old Wyoming State Pen, gains cult status

My wife and I watched the recent "Ghost Adventures" episode set in the Wyoming Frontier Prison in Rawlins. Intimations of ghostly presences were everywhere, as always, but the most interesting part was the prison's history.

Zack and his G.A. crew aren't the only ones to film at the prison. Back in 1987, Renny Harlin ("Die Hard II," "Cliffhanger," "Deep Blue Sea") filmed a horror movie there. The film, "Prison," stars actor and poet Viggo Mortensen "("Lord of the Rings," "A History of Violence," Hidalgo")" and Lane Smith. Its recently gained status as a cult film and will be released Feb. 19 in a Blu-Ray disk from Scream Factory. The following info comes from Laramie Live:

Tina Hill, Historic Site Director for The Wyoming Frontier Prison, says that the production company made serious alterations to the historic site that still present problems to this day. One of which is a large hole that was made in the wall of the exercise yard. In the movie the hole was used to construct a second entrance for the prison, but after shooting wrapped the hole remained. 

“We still have the hole in the exercise yard. Which allows people to get in when they’re not supposed to be, and so there’s vandalism on our exercise wall,” Hill says. ”It’s a security issue. You can’t really get spray paint off of concrete. And being that we’re a historic site, we can’t paint over the graffiti because the walls weren’t painted. It would be inaccurate to paint them.”  

Hill also says that the historic site is currently repairing damages the production made to the prison’s A-Block walls. Plaster had been chipped off to expose the brick walls underneath to make the prison look older for the movie. Hill said that the plaster damage was being repaired at the time of the interview.  

Despite the damages, Hill says there’s no sour-grapes about the production of Prison coming through the site. ”Now, we’re pretty much happy that [the production] happened. We wish that the people who were in charge of the prison at the time would have taken a little bit better care, and maybe have not let the production do the damage that they did.” Hill goes on to say the historic prison now has measures in place to prevent further damage from film and television productions.

The "serious alternations" done to the prison caused locals to form a joint powers board that took over the facility and turned it into a museum. It now is on the National Registry of Historic Places. More than 15,000 visitors a year tour the place that's famous for its spooky Halloween tours.

See the "Prison" trailer at http://youtu.be/pYTHIs1c8uo. It's an action-packed flick, gory in spots, and  you can see how some damage might have been done.

"Tinsel Through Time" is like a Cheyenne holiday time machine

My wife Chris and I joined other state employees this evening for a sneak peek of the "Tinsel Through Time" show at the Historic Governor's Mansion in Cheyenne. Christina and her Wyoming State Parks and Historic Sites employees did a great job decorating this 107-year-old building for Christmas. Each room is dedicated to an era of the house's existence, with time-appropriate Christmas decorations. One of the upstairs bedrooms was done up in decor of the pre-war era (known as Edwardian in the U.K.). Did you know that the Christmas fad for that time called for all-white decorations on the tree? White candles, white ornaments, white star on top? The war put an end to that, what with rivers of blood being shed and all.

Post-war decor was much more colorful. Prior to WWII, Americans got most of their Christmas tree baubles from Germany and Japan. When war erupted, Americans were a little ticked so they discarded their not-made-in-the-USA ornaments for those made by Corning in New York. These glass balls were painted on the outside and hung with bobby pins due to most metals going to the war effort. Many homes had electric candles burning in the windows for sons and fathers serving overseas. This room had twin beds, and we could almost imagine that it was home to a couple of teen girls whose older brother was in the Army. Chris thought it might be the parents' room, as there was a snap-brim hat hanging on the bedpost. Maybe it's her boyfriend's hat, I ventured. This is a room for adults, she said. We then realized that we were caught up in the moment, actually believing that this was the room of living, breathing people and hot a museum display.

That's what history, well-presented, can do for you.

My favorite spot in the house is the basement fallout shelter. According to interpretation displays, First Lady Win Hickey made sure that the mansion was fortified for a commie attack with supplies for at least two weeks. It was stocked with survival kits, toilet paper, board games, coffee, battery-powered radio and a mirror. Asked about the last item, Mrs. Hickey replied that you couldn't expect a woman to go without a mirror for two weeks. It's funny to think about the governor's family taking shelter in the basement of a house that was but a few miles away from a nest of ICBM missile silos. If the shit had hit the fan, a mirror would have been the last of her worries. She may have had no worries at all, once the big one dropped.

Let's drop the big one now
Let's drop the big one now

Thanks, Randy Newman.

My father built those missile silos. I never heard him talk about building a fallout shelter. It's possible that he knew the truth about what was in store for us if WWIII broke out.

Strange thoughts for Christmas. Blame it on "Tinsel Through Time." Here are some details about it:

Reminiscence about the traditions of Christmas past with “Tinsel Through Time: Christmas at the Mansion,” a special exhibit at the Historic Governors’ Mansion, December 1-22, Wednesday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

A free opening reception for the exhibit will be held on Friday, Nov. 30, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. The event will feature the St. Mary’s Catholic School Children's Choir, refreshments, entertainment and a free commemorative ornament to our first 75 guests in celebration of State Parks 75th Anniversary.

This year, the exhibit features numerous trees with historic trimmings and our newest collection of more than 400 antique Christmas Ornaments courtesy of Frank and Louise Cole.

The 1905 Mansion, the first official residence of Wyoming’s First Families, has hosted everyone from U.S. presidents to neighborhood children for 71 years. The public is invited to view this enchanting free Christmas exhibit.

The Historic Governors’ Mansion is located at 300 E. 21st Street in Cheyenne. Please call 307-777-7878 for more information. Go here.

Morris House Bistro: Blending the art of food & historic preservation

The Morris House Bistro, a fine dining establishment in downtown Cheyenne featuring South Carolina Lowcountry cuisine, received the Bill Dubois Award for Historic Preservation on Tuesday. Bill Dubois, grandson (and namesake) of Cheyenne's most famous architect, presented the award to Morris House Bistro co-owners Dameione Cameron and Troy Rumpf. The restaurant has been opened barely a year and it's thriving, and soon will offer a Sunday brunch. Read the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle article: Restaurant honored for historic preservation. For more about MHB, go to http://www.morrishousebistro.com/.

Joe Minicozzi returns to Wyoming to talk about "The Smart Math of Mixed Use Development" in Casper

Urban planner Joe Minicozzi will talk about "The Smart Math of Mixed Use Development" on Thursday, April 26, at the Casper City Council Chambers at 6:30 p.m. in City Hall, 200 N. David St. Casper's Downtown Development Authority is co-sponsoring the program. It will compare the value of new development outside of downtown with redevelopment within the city core. Minicozzi did similar studies for Cheyenne and Laramie, as well as Fort Collins, Colo. Read more about it in today's Casper Star-Tribune. Arts and culture usually plays a major role in Minicozzi's studies. It did during an excellent presentation he made in Cheyenne in December. He does his homework -- and he's funny, too. Read my post about it here.

Sh'Bang featured tonight at "Fridays in the Hynds" in downtown Cheyenne

The “Fridays in the Hynds” concert series continues tonight with music by Sh’Bang. This public event features local/regional musicians performing in an open house setting with a social atmosphere in downtown Cheyenne's Hynds Building. The initial series runs for five consecutive Fridays in March 2012, 5:30-8:30 p.m. 

When it comes to downtown revival, we have to start thinking like farmers

An urban planner wants us to think like farmers. Crop yields, stuff like that.

A rural conservation institute with desert roots works to revive our city centers.

A city collaborates with urban and rural entities as it seeks ways to fill a gaping hole in its downtown. 

That's the odd combination of interests that gathered yesterday for "The Dollars and Sense of Downtown Development" at the Laramie County Public Library in Cheyenne. 

Urban planner Joe Minicozzi conducted the PowerPoint presentation. He's V.P. of the Asheville, N.C., Downtown Association. He was introduced by Sheridan's John Heyneman, project manager of the Northern Rockies Region/WY Program of the Sonoran Institute. He, in turn, was introduced by Matt Ashby, planning services director of the City of Cheyenne.

In the audience were downtown business owners, civic activists, government types and interested bystanders such as myself (full disclosure -- I also am a government type who works at the state arts council). My daughter Annie, too, an 18-year-old budding singer/songwriter who finds politics interesting. Not sure if there are other artists in the room, although if would behoove them to attend events such as these. The arts play a huge part in any downtown revival. Just ask Asheville, with its 30-some galleries and public art works and performing arts centers and outdoor street festivals. Go ahead, ask.

Think like a farmer. That's what Asheville's Minicozzi tells us. Think about production per acre. Think about tax policies. 

Do we have to?

Yes we do.

He's studied Cheyenne, and is here with the help of a grant from the State Historic Preservation Office, sister agency to the Wyoming Arts Council. He's looked at the numbers and Cheyenne's coffers would get a much better yield if it was planting businesses downtown instead of on Dell Range.

This appeals to the locavore in me. This appeals to the "shop locally" part in me. It appeals to the artscentric part of me.

The homegrown Laughing Seed Cafe in downtown
Asheville (from The Painted House blog) 

Another thing -- those businesses planted in any city's Central Business District (CBD) tend to be more entrepreneurial and are usually launched by local entities instead of some far-away corporation. 

He has nothing against Wal-Mart, Minicozzi said, but noted that Wal-Mart does one thing very well, and that's "getting money back to Arkansas." You could also say the same about Target (Minnesota) and all the big box stores. 

"They exploit existing tax systems," he said. He shows some funny PowerPoint visuals which illustrate that those systems are not part of our DNA and are not chiseled in stone like the Ten Commandments. Nobody even seems to know how they started. Minicozzi had a chance to talk to the Laramie County tax assessor earlier in the day during some meetings with city and county government leaders. The assessor didn't know the history of tax policy -- not unusual. 

"Development follows the path of least resistance," and that tends to be suburban and exurban development. That's where the open land is and that's where big box stores are built and the big box stores have corporate lawyers and tax experts who know how to take advantage of local policies. The city claims a victory and sees that tax revenues roll in from the big box retailer and then it's time to lure yet another one (Menard's anyone?).

But when crop yields are compared, downtown is a much better investment. But arcane tax policies punish developers who wants to rehab buildings and fill vacant upper stories with living units.  

Minicozzi had a simple message for us: "We can change tax policy."

During the past two decades, Asheville's downtown development plowed ahead despite daunting tax policies and stubborn banks. Asheville traditionally was known for "trains, tourism and tuberculosis." Trains brought tourists to this mountain community. They also brought TB sufferers escaping the vapors of low-country Carolina. TB sanitariums sprang up. The Biltmore Estate was built. Presidents and rich folks and people struggling to breathe all sang Asheville's praises.

Then came the post-war suburbs. An interstate highway ripped through the center of Asheville and "killed downtown." Minicozzi shows us photos of downtown Asheville in the 1970s and 1980s. Vacant buildings. Those that remained were covered by ugly aluminum fronts. Not a pedestrian to be seen.

A few visionaries came to town and used their own money to get things started. They had to use their own money because city leaders and banks kept saying the same thing: "that won't work downtown." A few buildings were rehabbed into small businesses and housing units. A non-profit real estate development group was formed. Classes were held for kids to learn about the history of downtown.

Still, it was an uphill battle. Some young entrepreneurs wanted to open a vegetarian restaurant. Banks told them to go away. Their attitude seemed to be: "This is western North Carolina -- where's the barbecue?" Still, they persevered and opened the Laughing Seed restaurant. It's now a mainstay in Asheville's downtown. Many other restaurants followed. Cafe too, and galleries and living spaces and craft breweries and all the rest. Tax revenue is huge. The numbers are much larger per acre than they are in outlying areas.

Minicozzi urged us to think of precision agriculture. "Why spread fertilizer in the suburbs and grow weeds when you could be doing it in the city and grow tomatoes?" 

Minicozzi had lots of local stats. He's promised to send the presentation via e-mail. I'll share that with you when it arrives. He's done similar research and presentations in Laramie and Sheridan and communities in Montana (Bozeman and Billings) and Colorado (Glenwood Springs).

When "the hole" came up, as it always does at these kinds of events, John Heyneman noted that downtown Bozeman faced a similar situation. A 2009 natural gas explosion flattened four businesses on one city block along Main Street. A young woman was killed. Everyone had different ideas about what to do with the big hole. But now it's being filled. Heyneman said that other cities have faced similar circumstances, and could serve as models for Cheyenne.

Cheyenne residents can get involved in the city's Historic Placemaking effort. For more info, you can talk to urban planner Jan Spires at 307-637-6251. You can also watch for new streetscaping surrounding the Dinneen redevelopment on 17th Street and Lincolnway. You can see details of this $956,000 public-private partnership at Dinneen Downtown.

Architect's rendering of Cheyenne's Dinneen Building looking west in Lincolnway

New craft brewery to open in historic Tivoli Building

Great news for downtown Cheyenne – and for craft beer drinkers like me (from the Cheyenne Convention and Visitor’s Bureau):

Freedom's Edge Brewing Company is scheduled to open as a brew pub in Cheyenne's historic Tivoli Building in the Spring of 2012. The Tivoli Building was built in 1892 and was operated as a saloon (and reportedly a brothel) during the period when Cheyenne was known as the "Paris of the West".

The Tivoli has been completely restored and is ready to once again become one of the finest establishments in Cheyenne.

Here's a link to the Freedom's Edge website: http://www.freedomsedgebrewing.com/index.html

Asheville's Joe Minicozzi speaks about downtown revival Dec. 1 in Cheyenne

Asheville, N.C., complete with downtown, sunset and mountains (Cheyenne has those, too).

You may only know Asheville, N.C., as the fictional Southern Gothic town of Altamont, Catawba, in Thomas Wolfe's famous novel "Look Homeward, Angel." That's how I met Asheville, as a young college student in the South reading my way through all of Wolfe's books. Interesting to note that the city's "favorite son" was not such a favorite after his thinly-veiled portrayal of some 200 Asheville residents in the 1929 novel. The hubbub caused Wolfe to stay away from his hometown for almost eight years.
 
These days, Thomas Wolfe's neighborhood and his mom's boarding house and his father's stone-carving workshop all are on the city's walking tour. But that's not the city's only claim to fame. It's been called one of the most livable cities in the U.S. by all of those magazines that track such things. Modern Maturity calls it one of “The 50 Most Alive Places To Be” while Rolling Stone names it the “New Freak Capital of the U.S.” Recently, the New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins announced that Asheville is one of its top choices for expansion. This means that Asheville must be another one of those “bikes, (snow) boards and beers” destinations like Fort Collins, Burlington, VT, Flagstaff and Bend, OR. It is one of those “best outside towns” according to Outside Magazine.

One of the city’s many claims to fame is its thriving downtown. Most of its historic buildings did not fall to the wrecking ball during America’s urban renewal craze. They now are inhabited by small businesses, including some 30 art galleries and a slew of cafes and restaurants. This town of 83,000, only a bit larger than Cheyenne, keeps its downtown alive with a variety of performing arts events.

How do they do it? Glad you asked. On Thursday, Dec. 1, Joe Minicozzi will explain it all for you. He’s the executive director of the Asheville Downtown Association. You’re invited to hear him speak from 4-5:30 p.m. Thursday in the Cottonwood Room of the Laramie County Public Library, 2200 Pioneer Ave. His topic will focus on the return that taxpayers receive for investing in downtown. The State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), City of Cheyenne and the Sonoran Institute brought Minicozzi to Cheyenne to analyze downtown’s property tax benefits.

My first question might be: what are the property tax benefits of a giant hole in your downtown?

In case you’re wondering, Thomas Wolfe did spend some time in Wyoming. In June and July 1938, Wolfe and Edward Miller, Sunday editor for the Portland Oregonian, trekked by car to 11 national parks. Yellowstone was one of them. The journal of Wolfe’s experiences were discovered with his belongings after he died in September 1938 of complications from tuberculosis and the flu. They were published by the University of Pittsburgh Press as “A Western Journey: a daily log of a great parks trip, June 20-July 2, 1938.” The Virginia Quarterly Review featured an article about Wolfe’s journey in its August 2009 issue. Here’s a sampling:

The text of “A Western Journey” is full of astute descriptions of dramatic western scenery—“the bay-bright gold of wooded big barks,” “a valley plain, flat as a floor and green as heaven and fertile and more ripe than the Promised Land,” “vast, pale, lemon-mystic plain,”—but the people of the American West fascinated Wolfe as much as the scenery. He describes women feeding deer outside the hotel, the Indian children begging for pennies, the diverse spectators at Old Faithful, the motorists who stop along the road to play with the bears, “a quaint old gal named Florence who imitates bird calls,” the man who pulls his son back from a geyser (“Don’t lean over that, I’ll have a parboiled boy”). Wolfe’s deep interest in people was also apparent to Miller, who later commented, “What stood out to me was the enormous kindliness of the man, his intense sympathy for the average, untalented, decent person."

Thomas Wolfe admiring "Old Faithful" in Yellowstone National Park, June 1938. (Thomas Wolfe Collection, Pack Memorial Public Library, Asheville, NC.

Wolfe is long gone. His books remain vital along with landmarks of his life in Asheville. Not sure what lessons Cheyenne can take from Asheville, but I’m going to be there Thursday to hear about the possibilities.

Convergence Wyoming: Historic preservation not just for Earth anymore.

Milford Wayne Donaldson, California’s state historic preservation officer, will be a featured speaker at the Convergence Wyoming 2011 in Cody Oct. 6-8. He will speak about some of the finer points of historic preservation. And its most otherworldly ones. In 2010, Donaldson successfully sought historic preservation status for the Apollo 11 moon landing sites.

The reasoning behind the first-of-its-kind designation was simple: Scores of California companies worked on the Apollo mission, and much of their handiwork remains of major historical value to the state, regardless of where it is now or what it was for used for then.

“It has a significance that goes way further than whether it came from a quarter million miles away or not,” Mr. Donaldson said. “They are all parts of the event.” 

While Apollo 11 was indeed a landmark mission — during which Neil A. Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon and he and Buzz Aldrin apparently ditched their boots — it wasn’t exactly tidy. Worried about the weight of their landing capsule, the harried lunar explorers left behind tons of trash, including empty food bags, electrical equipment and, yes, several receptacles meant for bodily waste. 

There is also a collection of artifacts of historical note and emotion: Mr. Armstrong’s footprint, for example, and an American flag. Apollo 11 also left behind a mission patch from Apollo 1, in which three astronauts died in a fire, and a message from world leaders. 

And while some of the garbage might seem like, well, garbage, California is just one of several states seeking protection for the items in the face of possible lunar missions by other nations as well as a budding space tourism industry. 

--clip-- 

Mr. Donaldson said he hoped his commission’s vote might help goad the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization into placing the landing site on the World Heritage List, an international compilation of famed landmarks. 

“I think there’s a threat from private companies,” Mr. Donaldson said. “And with today’s technology, they could probably pinpoint this.” 

That said, Mr. Donaldson admitted that there were no “space cops” available to safeguard the state’s newest historical resource. But, like the Apollo astronauts themselves, he seemed optimistic that Friday’s vote might lead to bigger and better things. 

“Hopefully,” he said, “this will take off.”

Register for Convergence Wyoming at http://www.convergencewyoming.com/register-today/. Article source: New York Times

NEA"s "Our Town" grants supports creativity in our towns

Artist's rendering of Casper's Sunshine II development that will include an arts space for resident and neighbors

Here's a whole lot of creative placemaking that will be supported by almost $7 million in "Our Town" grants from the National Endowment for the Arts: http://www.arts.gov/grants/recent/11grants/Our-Town.html

One of those is a $50,000 grant for Casper to develop a public art space alongside the 26-unit Sunshine Apartments II development now under construction. The site is across from the Nicolaysen Art Museum and just west of where the now-demolished KC Apartments were located. Some of you may remember the rundown KC Apartments as a slumlord-run blight on the neighborhood that mercifully was closed down by the city and then demolished.    

The new Sunshine II low-income development feature LEED-certified buildings and now an arts space. 

Project organizers envision the space as a gathering spot for apartment residents and the surrounding community. The museum also intends to create educational and outreach programs for the site. 

“It’s part and parcel with a whole mindset or plan for downtown Casper on how to integrate arts with our everyday lives,” said museum Curator Lisa Hatchadoorian. 

--clip--

Hatchadoorian isn’t aware of any other public art spaces in Wyoming tied to low-income housing. Organizers hope their project will encourage similar efforts in other parts of the state.

“It’s a community-building experience,” she said. “A lot of times, when you have a public art space where people can interact, it just brings everyone ... it makes the community more available to each other. It just makes a better place to live.”

Read more: http://trib.com/news/local/casper/article_b59063b2-7991-51f2-8698-204d1b7b01fc.html#ixzz1RxrMkUst

Another one of the NEA's "Our Town" grants goes to a neat "arts incubator" project just down the road from Cheyenne in Fort Collins, Colo.:

To support the creation of the Rocky Mountain Regional Arts Incubator (RMRAI) in the historic Carnegie building in downtown Fort Collins. The RMRAI will offer students and professionals a multitude of services to assist them in creating, redefining, and sustaining their creative careers in the new economy, including educational courses, internships, continuing education for practicing artists, and gallery and performance spaces.

The project is a collaboration among the non-profit Beet Street, the City of Fort Collins Cultural Services Department and the Colorado State University School of the Arts. The incubator will be located in the Carnegie Building in the city's Library Park.

The Beet Street web site doesn't say, but the org's name probably trades on Fort Collins' aggie reputation, namely its years as a center of sugar beet production. CSU got its start as Colorado A&M, home of a fantastic veterinary school and lots of farming and ranching courses. That's what the big "A" up on the mountain stands for. CSU grew into a place where the arts shared a campus with the aggie arts. What's interesting is that the university (my alma mater) now is investing heavily in green technology and sustainable agriculture, putting the A&M back into the name in new and interesting ways.

Acting U.S. Solicitor General acknowledges office's lack of candor led to WWII Japanese-American internment

Neal Katyal, acting solicitor general of the United States, wrote an official post Friday acknowledging that evidence was deliberately hidden about alleged anti-American activities by Japanese-Americans at the outbreak of World War II. 

Most Americans acknowledge the fact that the internment of Japanese-Americans was a terrible and unnecessary act. Official apologies have been issued, but it's somewhat gratifying to see that the entire exercise was a paranoid miscarriage of justice.

If you are curious about this episode and its place in Wyoming history, you can attend the grand opening of the new Interpretive Center in August at the Heart Mountain Internment Center Historic Site neat Cody. I've visited the site often over the past 20 years. Until recently, all that remained was the brick power plant (seen in the distance in photo) and several tumbledown barracks. The Interpretive Center was modeled after the barracks that housed some 100,000 American citizens from 1942-1946. And I use the term "housing" loosely. 

Grand opening dates are Aug. 19-21. Go to www.heartmountain.org. Here's some info from the web site:

Registration is now being accepted for the three days of activities, including the Pilgrimage Dinner and All-Camp Get-Together, Dedication Ceremony, tours, mountain hike, and a Gala Banquet which are all part of the Grand Opening of the Heart Mountain Interpretive Learning Center Aug. 19, 20, and 21, announced event chair Kathleen Saito Yuille.  Registration deadline is June 20.The opening of the ILC’s doors on Aug. 20 will symbolize the beginning of a new era of understanding and help remind the nation about the importance of tolerance and the need to balance our concern for national security with a commitment to respect the basic civil rights of all our fellow citizens. 

Public/private partnership brings music treasures to a PC near you

From Voice of America (VOA) comes news about a great public/private partnership:

Grammy-winning performer Harry Connick, Jr., was on hand recently to help the Library of Congress launch a website that offers 10,000 rare and historic sound recordings to the public in digital format for the first time - at no charge.

The massive collection includes popular music, opera and early jazz as well as poetry and famous political speeches. Al Jolson, Arturo Toscanini, Enrico Caruso and George Gershwin are just some of the musical giants featured in the collection.

The site, called National Jukebox, is a collaborative project between the Library of Congress and Sony Music Entertainment. It offers online access to a vast selection of music and spoken-word recordings produced in the U.S. between 1901 and 1925.

James H. Billington, the Librarian of Congress, characterizes the collection as a “vast treasure trove of recordings produced in the U.S. prior to the end of 1925.”

"It includes early jazz, famous speeches, poetry, humor, opera, dance music with authoritative production information for each recording," says Billington.

The Library of Congress holds the largest collection of historic sound recordings in the United States. They're stored and digitally preserved at a special facility in the state of Virginia. The Jukebox recordings come from that facility.

Richard Story, president of the Commercial Music Group of Sony Music Entertainment, says the remarkable collection traces the roots and development of American music and includes the work of “some of the most influential, most important artists ever."

No Hobbit Homes for Tea Party Slim

When my neighbor, Tea Party Slim, came to the door, I thought he was going to rub my face in the election results.

But I was wrong.

“I guess you won,” I said, extending my hand.

He shook it. “We did. But that’s water under the bridge. Got a few minutes?”

Slim didn’t wait for an invitation. He breezed right past me and sat on the couch. He held a sheaf of papers in his right hand. He shook them at me. “America’s suburbs are threatened with a gigantic conspiracy.”

“Want some coffee?” I asked.

“Not if it’s that shade-tree grown farmer-friendly commie goop they sell at farmer’s markets and serve at trendy city coffee shops.”

I was taken aback. Slim had never refused coffee before.

“That’s what I’m saying. The cities are talking over, trying to push us suburbanites into U.N.-mandated human habitation zones.”

I had many questions. But first, I had to set the record straight. “Slim, we don’t live in the suburbs.”

“We do too. We’re not in the city. That’s downtown.”

“We’re in the city limits. The suburbs ring a city. Suburbanites have to drive to work.”

“I drive to work. So do you.”

“True, but sometimes I walk. Sometimes I ride my bike. I could ride the bus if I wanted.”

“That’s what they want – public transportation.”

During the past year, I’ve had similar one-sided conversations with Slim. Socialized health care. Missing birth certificates. Elitists in Washington. It was best to get a cup of commie coffee and let it play out. So I did.

“You’ve heard of Article 21?” He was shaking the papers at me again.

“I haven’t.”

He smiled. “I knew it.” There followed a long convoluted explanation, so long, in fact, that it forced me back to the coffee pot. When I returned, Slim was still talking. It was peppered with references to "compact development" and "smart growth" and “sustainable development” and "New Urbanism" and "transit-oriented development” and “creative economy” and "livable communities."

“These all lead to the same thing – the U.N. forcing us to live in Hobbit homes.”

“You mean Hobbit like in the movie? Those nifty little houses in Hobbiton with the round doors?”

“Not so cute if you’re 6-foot-2 like I am and are forced to live in one and give up your two-car garage and three bathrooms and big kitchen and back porch with the gas grill.” He looked like he was going to cry.

“Don’t worry, Slim. None of that is going to happen. Hobbiton is just an imaginary place.”

His face took on the rosy red glare of Tea Party outrage. “You’re darn right it’s not going to happen. Americans have the Constitutional right to live in any kinds of houses we want and drive any kind of truck we want.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” I said.

“Trucks are our ‘personal mobility machines” – that’s what Ed Braddy of the American Dream Coalition calls them. He’s a real trailblazer – you should look him up. A true visionary.”

“I drive a Prius, but you know that. But I’m thinking of buying that new electric car. Just plug it in at night – no more gas stations.”

He laughed. “Article 21 already has you by the balls. Next thing you’re going to tell me is that you and your wife are going to retire to a cramped city condo instead of a sprawling retirement community in Arizona with a golf course.”

“Yes, Slim, that’s exactly what I’m saying. The misses and I already have a cool condo picked out in Denver. It’s close to stores and museums and relatives. We can walk everywhere or take the light rail. No lawns to mow and water. The apartment complex even has its own roof garden where I can plant my veggies. It’s close to a bikepath and …..

Slim stood. He’d heard enough. “You go ahead and live in a Hobbit home, Frodo.” He shook his papers. “We’re going to fight this at city hall. No human habitation zones for us.”

I stood. “Good luck, man. You’ve had some recent successes so best to strike while the iron’s hot.”

"Join us, Mike. Join the rising tide of outrage against nearly everything.”

I saw Slim to the door. “I’d love to, Slim, but I have to ride my bike to the winter farmer’s market in the renovated historic Depot downtown to buy my locally produced food and locally made Christmas presents. That’s all part of sustainable development, Slim.”

I thought his head would explode. But he calmed himself and smiled. “We’re on a winning streak, you said so yourself.”

“True, but streaks don’t last forever. Just ask a baseball player. Or a Democrat. Even a Republican.”

With that, he said his farewells, got in his truck and drove to his house two doors down.

Inspiration for this piece came from the recent article in Mother Jones, “The Tea Party Targets… Sustainable Development?” by Stephanie Mencimer. Go to http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/11/tea-party-agenda-21-un-sustainable-development?

Cheyenne statue project should include all those people (and creatures) who influenced Cheyenne

Interesting front page article in today's Halloween edition of the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle.

Local gallery owner Harvey Deselms is promoting a project to put bronze statues on every corner of Capitol Avenue between the Historic Depot and the Capitol Building. That's eight blocks times four corners equals 32 statues.

A cowboy is next up, which is no surprise. There are no shortage of cowboy and/or cowboy with bucking bronco statues in Cheyenne. Sure, I guess there's room for a few more cowboys along the street. But this represents only a small part of Cheyenne's heritage.

I like the two new statues proposed for Depot Square. A young woman "dressed in 19th-century garb" leaving the train station and a cowboy on his way into the train station. The titles are, respectively, "A New Beginning" and "Hard to Leave."

But why cowboy-era cowboy and woman? Why not have a World War II G.I. emerging from the station to be greeted by his family? Wonder how many soldiers and sailors and marines and airmen traveled in and out of the depot during the war? Our entire region, from Colorado Springs to Cheyenne and up to Casper, were hugely influenced by war industries. It's often said that many young men who trained in Denver and Cheyenne and Colorado Springs returned here to live after the war. They were drawn by the wide-open spaces and mountains and climate. The Tenth Mountain Division soldiers returned from the war to create the modern ski industry.

I'd love to see oilfield roughnecks and miners and Basque sheepherders represented on the streets of Cheyenne. Native Americans, of course. It is pleasing to note that the renovation plan for the Capitol Building complex will include Esther Hobart Morris and Chief Washakie flanking each other in front of the historic building. We have a Buffalo Soldier in the pocket park outside of F.E. Warren AFB. But we need one on the city's downtown main street.

This is suggested only partly in jest -- what about a guy in a suit carrying a briefcase? Cheyenne is a government town, after all, and government employees outnumber agricultural workers (a.k.a. cowboys) any day of the week. Wyoming soon will add a statue of Governor Stan Hathaway next month to the front of the Hathaway Building. A governor is a bureaucrat -- probably the state's chief bureaucrat -- so it would be appropriate for the Gov statue to be surrounded by his aides and assistants and all the people who make the state work. This is not myth. This is reality.

We should consult the Cheyenne and Arapaho and Lakota tribes who used to inhabit the region before the railroad and horse soldiers arrived. While Wyoming's Chief Washakie is a great addition to the Capitol Complex, he was a Shoshone, a mountain tribe. As far as I know, we have no representation of the many Native American horsemen who inhabited these lands. 

Speaking of the railroads... Irishmen? Scotsmen? Chinese? Local visionary (and fine writer) Lou Madison has proposed a number of sculptures for the city. I especially like his idea of a monumental sculpture for the Cheyenne rail yards which would show workers building the rails that led to the founding of Cheyenne. The city would just be a bump in the road if not for the railroad.

And the highways that bisect our city limits. They are works of art unto themselves. Downtown Cheyenne offers some historic markers dedicated to the Lincoln Highway, and we have a huge Lincoln head at the top of the pass that marks the thoroughfare. But thousands of trucks and cars travel down I-80 and I-25 every day. How about a monument to a trucker on one of the downtown corners? How much money do truckers spend each day at the county's truck stops and restaurants and motels? Perhaps we could commemorate a trucker stopped by a blizzard that closes the Summit? Trucker sits in a booth at a truckstop while waitress serves him coffee and a slice of apple pie. Could call the sculpture: "Long haul trucker parks his ass." Something like that. Maybe "Night owls at the diner?" I think that's already been used.

My father built ICBM missile silos from Kansas to Colorado to Washington State. We should have a representation of that bit of history along Capitol Avenue. In many ways, nukes made Cheyenne. We could have a statue of a missileer at his/her station, or a down-sized version of an MX.

We can't forget our geological history. Cheyenne was once on the fringe of an inland sea. Wouldn't it be great to have a huge ancient crocodile rising from the concrete, trying to snatch its prey? The tourists would love that. Lots of photo opportunities. You could actually put a dinosaur bronze or one of a prehistoric mammal (woolly mammoths, sloths, etc.) on each downtown corner. 

Cowboys are wonderful. That's apart of Cheyenne's heritage. But that's not all there is. Delve into the history and let's come up with a sequence of statues that speak to Cheyenne's interesting and sometimes strange history.

Denver developer/preservationist Dana Crawford to address "Partnerships for Preservation" conference

Just in the past year, many exciting things have been happening to renew Cheyenne's downtown. The Depot and its outdoor plaza have brought life to downtown on summer weekends with concerts, a farmer's market and various events inside the Depot. Just recently, local organizers launched the Lights On! project to turn the main floor of the Hynds Building into an arts center. City planners are still pondering downtown's big hole, hoping that inspiration will strike.

Here's another event, geared mainly toward preservation of historic areas (including downtown):

"Buildings, Business & Bankers - Partnerships for Preservation"

Buildings, Businesses, and Bankers - these are the keys to achieving our collective vision for historic areas in our communities. The mission of this conference is to bring together the best from each of these realms to advance momentum for community development and preservation.

Featuring award-winning preservationist Dana Crawford and community marketing and branding specialist Ben Muldrow.

Join us and be part of the movement!

Wednesday, October 13, 4:30 p.m., through Friday, October 15, 2 p.m., at the Historic Plains Hotel, 1600 Central Avenue, Cheyenne.

RSVP by Oct. 6.

FMI: http://www.cvent.com/EVENTS/Info/Agenda.aspx?e=abc3372d-1d90-4e17-a236-af305b712d88