In the suburbs and in our minds, there are little fires everywhere

Just finished reading "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng. I had seen the title as I cruised Amazon Prime at night, looking for something to absorb me until sleep. The Amazon series features Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington, two great actors. But I was more interested in "Bosch" and Netflix's "Politician" to embark on another streaming fest.

I came across the title on Kindle and said, "this sounds familiar." I read some of the reviews, read the author's bio. One reviewer called it "a suburban drama" and, for a second, I thought about leaving and finding an "urban drama," usually more my liking. But Kindle offers samples so I pulled it up and read it, all in one sitting. I was so bummed out when it ended that I bought the book and dove right in. The book had captured me. Resistance was futile.

Best thing about my Kindle is portability. Also, you can reset type size and screen brightness, all a boon when you read in bed and your partner is already snoozing away. Sill, it wasn't until the pandemic was in its third month that I uncovered the Kindle buried under manuscript pages and thought about giving it a try. My daughter Annie had give it to me two Christmases ago. I told her I was pleased. I charged it, roamed around on the settings screen, explored Goodreads, and then abandoned it. The coronavirus shutdown gave me plenty of time to clean my office and I found quite a few things on my Island of Abandoned Toys. Noise-cancelling headphones, a book about World War I nurses that I thought had been shipped to the library bookstore by Annie, needle-nose pliers, and assorted other things.

The Kindle was the big find. I bought a Michael Connelly novel. "Fair Warning" features Jack McEvoy, former daily newspaper beat reporter now working for a nonprofit company that investigates consumer complaints. I let the Kindle cool for a few weeks and then found Ng's novel.

Ng builds tension with the simplest tools. I was reading the first few chapters and thought well, we know the house burned down. But the fire caused me to ask the usual questions: the 5 Ws and H. I wanted some answers.

The author varies time and place. One of the terms bandied about by writers is "info dump." Usually it's a couple of paragraphs explaining a character's childhood or motivations. It can slow down a story. We prefer fast-paced stories. Think of 19th century novelists and how they spent a few pages describing a character's mannerisms or a manse's manicured gardens. Think of Charles Dickens and his sweeping sagas that have so many words in each chapter. Dickens serialized his work to boost book sales. Often, he promised the publisher to write 20 chapters of 32 pages each. That's a big book. His info dumps could be chapter-length but they always served some sort of purpose. 

Ng does this in "Little Fires." We flash back to origins of major characters in order to understand the present that begins and ends with a burning house. The suburbs, it seems, is comprised of many types of people with many stories worth telling. Big surprise, right? As if "Weeds" and "American Beauty" and "Ordinary People" didn't delve into that deeply enough. It's a wonderful structure that Ng creates. I began to look forward to the flashback sections because I knew that mysteries lurked, that their structure is as exciting as the main narrative and amps up the tension. A great invented story, which is what we seek during this grim time. 

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!

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.

If Tea Party Slim had a pair of spurs, he'd wear them to the farmer's market to rattle veggie-eating Liberals

Tea Party Slim and I sip coffee and talk about progress.

“I don't want to see Cheyenne get any bigger,” he says. “It will lose its Old West character.”

I sip my latte. “Old West character?”

He nods. “You know, Cheyenne Frontier Days, rodeo, country-western music, steaks as big as my cowboy hat, Old West shootouts, horses and cattle, boots and spurs.”

I look at Slim. He was wearing a plaid shirt and jeans. His UW ball cap rested on the table. On the way in, I saw that he wore sensible shoes. “Nobody's trying to take away your boots, Slim.”

He shakes his head. “All of these people moving into Laramie County,” he said. “They'll change the place. It will lose its conservative character.”

I thought about the recent election. Wyoming's lone Republican House member and one of its Republican senators were reelected by wide margins. Democrats lost one of their 14 legislative seats (out of 90). Tea Party types were elected to the county commission. The state gave Romney his second-biggest margin (after Utah) over President Obama. Meanwhile, our southern neighbor Colorado legalizes marijuana and goes even more blue and it's one of the battleground states that hands Obama the victory.

“So you expect an invasion of Colorado Liberals any day?” I ask.

“We have a new supercomputing center west of town and Microsoft is building a data center right next door. Microsoft is also building a test site east of town to see if biogas from our waste treatment plant can power computers.”

“What's wrong with that,” I say. “Isn't that economic development? Don't you want your kids and grandkids to find good jobs in Wyoming?”

“But we give these companies millions of dollars in financial incentives. Why do the taxpayers have to foot the bill? Microsoft owns the damn planet.”

“That's Google that owns the planet, and maybe Facebook.” I smile. I know that Slim is on Facebook a lot with his pet rants. I've been tempted to unfriend him but don't want to hurt his feelings.

“And downtown? Why does the city have to subsidize downtown development. Let the free market decide what businesses go downtown.”

“The free market turned downtown into a ghost town. It wasn't until the legislature provided funding and the city matched it that we were able to save the train depot and turn it into a gathering place and a museum and that wonderful outdoor plaza. I've seen you at the downtown farmer's market.”

“You can have a farmer's market anywhere. A Wal-Mart parking lot, for instance.”

“Why isn't it at the Wal-Mart parking lot?”

“Hell if I know.”

“Maybe Wal-Mart fears the competition? Maybe it doesn't like vegans and assorted Liberals wandering around its parking lot?”

“It's no competition to Wal-Mart. They're even building another Super Wal-Mart east of town. I love shopping at Wal-Mart because I know it irritates you Lefties.”

He had me there. “What would you do about downtown, Slim? How would you deal with all of those absentee landlords who are holding on to their properties so they can maximize their investment when commercial real estates improves.”

“I have no problem with that. People should be able to do what they want with their property. We don't need the U.N. coming in a taking away our God-given right to own a building or a piece of land.”

“Even when doing so damages the livability of your town?”

Slim puts down his coffee. “Livability. There you go with some of that U.N. Agenda 21 lingo.”

“I'm just talking about making my town a nice place to live. Isn't that what you want?”

“I want to live in a place where a man's home is his castle and he can protect it any way he wants. I don't need some urban city planners coming in spouting about social justice and environmental justice, telling me I can't burn wood in my fireplace or park my RV out on the street.”

I'd read an interview in our local paper with new county commissioners M. Lee Hasenauer and Buck Holmes. They are both fixated on Agenda 21 and urban planners spouting off about social justice. They want to keep Laramie County western, whatever that means. “You're against planning for the future?”

“I'm against big city experts coming in and doing the planning,” says Slim.

“You don't want any planning?”

“Let the free market decide.”

I drain the last of my coffee. “What would you do, Slim?”

He looks pensive as he stares into his cup. “Not a thing,” he finally says. “I like this place the way it is. Conservative. Gun rights protected. Governor fights the feds. I can park my RV where I want.”

Slim has a hulking RV. It blocks out the sun when he parks it in front of my house.

“Why would the U.N. Want to tell you where to park your RV?” I ask.

“That's what they want. They want to tell us where to live and what to drive and the width of our streets and what kind of energy we can use.”

“And they want to take away our boots and spurs. Do you have boots and spurs Slim? If I remember correctly, you grew up in suburbs somewhere in Ohio.”

He shifts in his chair. “That may be, but I'm a Wyomingite now. I don't need any spurs but I have five pairs of boots and I wear them.”

“When you go shopping at Wal-Mart?”

He levels his gaze at me. “I'll wear them any damn where I please.”

“Even to the downtown farmer's market?”

“Especially the downtown farmer's market. My cowboy hat, too, and my Wranglers, and my gun because I have a concealed carry permit. If I had spurs, I'd wear those too, so you pantywaist organic-farming Liberals would hear them jingle-jangle-jingle as I walked toward you.”

“They might quiver in their Birkenstocks, Slim. Then they'll sell you some organically-grown local produce and some home-baked bread and some grass-fed bison steaks and locally roasted coffee sweetened with unpasteurized goat's milk.”

Says Slim: “Those are some Old West traditions I can get behind.”

Wyoming Legislature stocks up for Doomsday. First purchase: aircraft carrier

Wyoming can't afford to fully fund its Health Department or rebuild its roads.

But House Republicans want to spend thousands of dollars to study the purchase of an army, strike aircraft and an aircraft carrier in case of "a complete economic and political collapse."

Here's the strange news in this Casper Star-Tribune article by Jeremy Pelzer (and thanks to Meg at Cognitive Dissonance for alerting me to this pressing issue):

State representatives on Friday advanced legislation to launch a study into what Wyoming should do in the event of a complete economic or political collapse in the United States. 

House Bill 85 passed on first reading by a voice vote. It would create a state-run government continuity task force, which would study and prepare Wyoming for potential catastrophes, from disruptions in food and energy supplies to a complete meltdown of the federal government. The task force would look at the feasibility of Wyoming issuing its own alternative currency, if needed. 

And House members approved an amendment Friday by state Rep. Kermit Brown, R-Laramie, to have the task force also examine conditions under which Wyoming would need to implement its own military draft, raise a standing army, and acquire strike aircraft and an aircraft carrier. 

The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. David Miller, R-Riverton, has said he doesn’t anticipate any major crises hitting America anytime soon. But with the national debt exceeding $15 trillion and protest movements growing around the country, Miller said Wyoming — which has a comparatively good economy and sound state finances — needs to make sure it’s protected should any unexpected emergency hit the U.S. 

Several House members spoke in favor of the legislation, saying there was no harm in preparing for the worst. 

“I don’t think there’s anyone in this room today what would come up here and say that this country is in good shape, that the world is stable and in good shape — because that is clearly not the case,” state Rep. Lorraine Quarberg, R-Thermopolis, said. “To put your head in the sand and think that nothing bad’s going to happen, and that we have no obligation to the citizens of the state of Wyoming to at least have the discussion, is not healthy.” 

--clip-- 

The bill must pass two more House votes before it would head to the Senate for consideration. The original bill appropriated $32,000 for the task force, though the Joint Appropriations Committee slashed that number in half earlier this week.

I'm all in favor of being prepared. I'd even be in favor of purchasing an aircraft carrier for emergencies if we had adequate port facilities in this landlocked state. But we don't. And won't, unless global warming due to excess burning of Wyoming coal accelerates and the Left Coast encroaches on Star Valley.

Wyoming Republicans seem to excel at crackpot bills. But this one is a doozy.

Wyoming Occupy groups invited to Colorado People's Assembly Feb. 18 in Boulder

Wyoming Occupy groups are invited to the Colorado People's Assembly on Saturday, Feb. 18, 9 a.m.-6:30 p.m. on the University of Colorado campus in Boulder. Gathering followed by a march and overnight occupation. “This is a chance for occupy activists in the state and the region to get together, share resources, build relationships and contacts, to learn, plan events, etc.” Attendance is limited to 342 people (per CU occupancy  limitations). More info here. Attendees should RSVP here.

The great big hole in Cheyenne's downtown makes for a hole in its soul

Ball drops at the Depot Plaza on New Year's Eve, causing all of us to think good thoughts about downtown Cheyenne's future.

After two years of railing against Wyoming's woeful public education system, the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle editorial staff is shifting its focus.

It's time to kick Cheyenne in the ass.

The city is "mired in the doldrums and doing little to find its way out." It has "lost its desire to chase after pre-eminence." Cheyenne needs to "recapture the vision of being a great city."

Most shocking of all, the WTE has discovered that there is a a great big hole in the middle of downtown. It's not a metaphoric hole, either, but a very real one.

The downtown hole is a manifestation of Cheyenne's lack of vision. I recently asked the question of whether any other city of Cheyenne's size would tolerate a mega-hole to exist at its city center for seven years. A gas explosion leveled almost a city block in downtown Bozeman two years ago. The hole was filled in short order followed by rebuilding. Downtown Deadwood was able to fill its downtown hole (an old mine) with businesses and now has a bustling economy. Many other Rocky Mountain cities have faced explosions and blights and economic downturns. They have come up with viable plans to enliven their downtowns. 

My wife Chris and I went to the downtown New Year's Eve festivities last night. It was great to see so many people downtown. That rarely happens outside of Cheyenne Frontier Days or summer's Friday night concert series. Art Design & Dine has brought some life to downtown each second Thursday but it's still struggling to catch on after two years. Unfortunately, one of the participating AD&D galleries soon will be closing.

WTE identifies what it missing from downtown development: "visionary thinking and risk-taking." We've seen visionary thinking exhibited in the LightsOn! Project at the Hynds Building, which hosted a rocking party last night. We're also seeing some of that with the Dinneen Building and the accompanying screetscaping. Much more is needed.  

I'm with the WTE on this one. They plan to fill their op-ed pages to calls for an end to the miasma that had led to status as a second-rate city of the West.

I'll be reading.

As you might expect, there are some bright spots in Cheyenne's present. We'll talk about those too...

First Occupy Cheyenne GA of the new year Jan. 5 at Paramount Cafe

We got the nod from Leah Z that we can hold the next Occupy Cheyenne General Assembly at the Paramount Cafe, 1607 Capitol Ave., on Thursday, Jan. 5, 5:30-7 p.m. Bring some dough to buy an idea-enhancing coffee. Agenda items include plans for January actions, a protest at the Capitol when the Legislature convenes in February, and ideas about participating in the regional Occupy GA in Boulder, Colo., Feb. 18-19. Agenda will be up and running in a few days on the Occupy Cheyenne Facebook page for additions and subtractions. Happy New Year, Occupiers! Looking for full equality in The Equality State in 2012!

"The Hole," Cheyenne's perpetual eyesore, is in the news yet again

"The Hole" is the site on Lincolnway that once was the site of the Mary's Bake Shoppe Building. When it burned down in 2004 in a yet-unsolved arson fire, who would have thought it would still be a wreck seven years later. The gold-and-white building across Lincolnway is the Historic Atlas Theatre. Photo: Joshua A. Bickell, Casper Star-Tribune

"The Hole" in Cheyenne is in the news again.

Every other day, the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle op-ed pages carries a letter to the editor asking why the city hasn't come up with a plan to fill "The Hole" along downtown's main drag. The correspondent usually is perplexed  that leaders of the state's capital city, the largest metropolitan statistical area in the state, cannot come up with a plan to turn the seven-year-old hole into a building or a park or a retail center or something.

This time around, "The Hole" is the subject of a page 3 article by Joan Barron in the Casper Star-Tribune, Wyoming's statewide newspaper.

Here's a glimpse of a few of the problems holding up progress on the issue: 

Bob Bradshaw, special projects manager for the city of Cheyenne, other city officials and members of the capital city’s Downtown Development Authority are frustrated at the continued presence of the downtown blight because it gives visitors the wrong impression about the character of the city and its residents.

The Downtown Development Authority (DDA) has worked for the past 18 months to make improvements on “The Hole,” but is limited by available money and its lack of legal authority, DDA board President John Sundahl said. 

The organization budgeted $40,000 to build a fence to shield the lot from public view, but the owner of the Hynds Building refused permission, Sundahl said. 

Some citizens want a park created at the site. Sundahl said the DDA doesn’t have the money. 

He said a park would require filing in the hole and removing the old foundation, which, as the engineers warned, could be problematic.

“It’s a terribly complicated issue,” Sundahl said. “You would think it would be easy as a piece of cake.”

And so on. Read the entire article here. 

All we hear are excuses. Blame, too. To make it even worse, the whole of Casper is now laughing at us. 

I think we should put the issue in the hands of artists. They could come up with ideas to turn the gaping hole in a work of public art. Digital artists could come up with a way to project an historic building onto the site. Visitors then would think that our historic downtown is actually in one piece. Perhaps our knitters could yarn-bomb the site, assembling a multi-colored network of fabric that would give all of us the impression that something interesting and useful is happening at the site.

Perhaps this is beyond the ken of artists. Many cities have been transforming vacant lots into urban gardens. Our city engineer has said that the site is dangerous, that bricks may come loose from the east wall and tumble onto innocent heads, but maybe we could "seed bomb" the hole, water it down and many crops could grow haphazardly. Squash and beans and cukes could be harvested by guys in helmets or body armor. I'd volunteer to assemble some of the seed bombs (I'll leave the harvesting to hardier souls).

Conventional solutions don't seem to be working. Unorthodox methods may. Do you have any ideas, dear readers?

Occupy Cheyenne General Assembly Dec. 4, 2 p.m.

Occupy Cheyenne General Assembly on Sunday, Dec. 4, 2-5 p.m., at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 3005 Thomes Ave., Cheyenne. Planning for Dec. 10 "We are the 99%" rally at the State Capitol. View Map/Get Directions. 

No Day of the Dead Nov. 1 for Occupy Cheyenne -- it's Day of the Living

Occupy Cheyenne 10/15/11

General Assembly for Occupy Cheyenne

Tuesday, Nov. 1, 6:30 p.m.

Highlands Presbyterian Church

2390 Pattison, Cheyenne

Get directions here

Discussion item: Occupy Cheyenne Black Friday – who, what, when, where, why and how. Other upcoming Occupy events, including Nov. 5.

All are welcome

All will be heard

Keep checking Occupy Wyoming and Occupy Cheyenne

We are the 99%

Speak your piece in peace at Occupy Cheyenne General Assembly Nov. 1

Occupy Cheyenne, Depot Plaza, 10/15/11

General Assembly for Occupy Cheyenne

Tuesday, Nov. 1, 6:30 p.m.

Highlands Presbyterian Church

2390 Pattison, Cheyenne

Get directions here

Discussion item: Occupy Cheyenne Black Friday – who, what, when, where, why and how

All are welcome

All will be heard

Keep checking Occupy Wyoming and Occupy Cheyenne 

We are the 99%

Laramie County Democratic Grassroots Coalition meets Aug. 18 at IBEW hall

The monthly Laramie County Democratic Grassroots Coalition meeting will be held on Thursday, August 18, 7 p.m., in the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) hall, 810 Fremont Avenue, Cheyenne.

Guest Speaker will be Rep. Mary Throne (D-Laramie County)

One of the main items on the agenda is planning for the Democratic Party friend-raiser on Aug. 21 in Holliday Park.

Democratic Party Community Picnic & Friendraiser Aug. 21 in Cheyenne

Democratic Community Picnic & Friendraiser

Sunday, August 21, 2011 4-7 pm

Holliday Park

Fun for the Whole Family!

Good eats! Community organizing! Hijinks!

Wyoming Tribune-Eagle: "Some angry about Wyoming's High Plains Initiative"

Land-use planning? We don't need no U.N.-sponsored Agenda 21 land-use planning in Platte and Goshen counties! Read article here.

Dems gather in scary Casper to plan future

The population of Democrats in Natrona County will increase dramatically this weekend as the Central Committee of the Wyoming Democratic Party gathers April 29-30 in Casper. We hope that this influx of Progressives can influence the bad juju inflicted on the State Legislature this past year by Regressive Know Nothings from Natrona County. You know who I mean -- Gerald Gay, Kit Jennings, Bob Brechtel, etc. Get to know them now as they will return to Cheyenne in 2012 to promote their anti-gay, anti-worker, anti-Obama agendas. So, if you feel like attending, here's the info from Bill Luckett, executive director of the Wyoming Democratic Party:

The Central Committee of the Wyoming Democratic Party meets in Casper on Saturday, April 30, at Casper College, in the Sharon Nichols Auditorium in the McMurry Career Studies Building. 

Members of the Central Committee include county chairs, vice chairs, state committeemen and state committeewomen. But note that this meeting, like all of our meetings, is open to the public, AND we are going to focus heavily on training for county party leaders, so you may want to encourage others from your county who are not technically members of the Central Committee to attend. They’ll be most welcome. We also especially hope any members of the Legislature who are not technically members of the Central Committee will attend.

In addition to the training, the major orders of business will be to elect state party officers for the next two years and to approve our state party’s Delegate Selection Plan for the 2012 Democratic National Convention. 

The Leadership Group of the Wyoming Democratic Party will meet in Casper on the previous day, Friday, April 29, for a session on party strategy, as previously announced. That meeting is planned for 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Friday the 29th in the downstairs conference room of the Stratton Real Estate/Blue Cross Blue Shield building at 231 E. Midwest Ave., which is between Wolcott and Durbin streets just a half block south of 2nd Street. The Leadership Group and others who’ve indicated interest in attending will get further information on this session early next week.

E-mail Bill at luckett@wyomingdemocrats.com

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.

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

There is a time to sew, and a time to write

All the cool kids in the neighborhood are turning into farmers.

Jimmy down the street dug up his backyard and planted a corn field. His plan is to use his corn for ethanol production and later, carve out a baseball field because if you build it, Kevin Costner will come over.

Ricky is growing wheat to make his own bread, as did William Alexander is his new book "52 Loaves: A Quest for the Holy Grain." NPR interviewed the author on Sunday morning.

Melanie and her kids are planting a vegetable garden and raising chickens. They're going to to eat the vegetables and the fresh eggs and eventually dispatch the chickens for Sunday dinner.

My plans are modest. Expand my vegetable garden by a few cubic yards. Plant tomatoes, beans, various lettuce varieties, spinach, broccoli, peas. I'm hoping the strawberries come in after a winter under layers of mulch. I'm hoping to get a few more plums from my plum tree and apples from my apple tree.

But no chickens. Neighborhood chicken-raising should be encouraged. If you know anything about corporate chicken-farming, you'll want to avoid the grocery store brands. Local purveyors of chicken and beef and bison sell their wares at farmers' markets.

My grandparents would get a kick out of us urban and suburban farmers. Three of my four grandparents grew up on farms. My fraternal grandmother, Florence, was a Baltimore city kid. Her family probably had a garden, as did most people back then. My maternal grandfather, Martin, grew up in the rocky wilds of Ireland's Roscommon County. The family farmed something. Grandpa was never specific, but it probably was potatoes. In America, he always had a garden. So did my fraternal Grandfather Raymond, who grew up on a farm outside Iowa City. Raymond grew beautiful tomatoes in his Denver garden. Iowa farm boys know how to grow things.

With the exception of a few real farmers and some back-to-the-land hippies, my generation worked to be as far away from the sources of food production as possible. Suburbs gobbled up farm land for big houses and huge stores, including Super Wal-Marts and the ever-expanding grocery store. Out in the hinterlands, farms got bigger with the rise of corporate ag. Cows and pigs and chickens were raised in factories. Gigantic food distribution systems were created to meet the demand. Ridiculously low fuel prices made this system possible.

This shift to corporate ag and corpulence has been well-documented in books (Michael Pollan) and films ("Food, Inc.").

Now we're all gardeners and we frequent farmers' markets. We say nice things about family farmers and curse the corporations. Yesterday, I read an L.A. Times article about an ex-Marine who formed a company that builds, maintains and harvests backyard gardens for suburbanites. First we pause to say tsk-tsk to those Yuppies too lazy or busy to garden. Secondly, though, we have to admire the pluck of this entrepreneur, who's seen an opportunity and seized upon it. New green jobs are created with this new cadre of "Mr. Greenjeans." And, when it comes right down to it, a backyard garden is a backyard garden. Here's another batch of veggies that's homegrown and not shipped from far away places.

I'll remember this in a few weeks when I'm down on my knees sewing seeds and replanting seedlings. There is a time to sow, and that comes late in May in Cheyenne, Wyoming. There is a time to reap, as long as the wind and the frost and the hail don't get the plants. When the planting is done, I can sit back, sip a Fat Tire, and admire my handiwork. I will be serenaded by a symphony of Melanie's backyard chickens.