Hardly any politics during mountain trek

Spent the weekend camping with the family in Rocky Mountain National Park (view from the campground above). The first real weekend of summer weather. The sky blue, creeks full, and most of the trails free of snow. I barely thought about the big DNC meeting on Saturday where the fate of the Florida and Michigan delegates were being decided. I got my answer when we dropped out of the mountains into Estes Park this afternoon and saw the Sunday headlines: "Delegate count decided; rancor remains." The lede said that the Clinton camp is unhappy with the one delegate-half vote decision, as well as elimination of up to four delegates. The Clintonites, apparently, are prepared to take the fight all the way to the streets of the Mile High City. I haven't scanned the blogs since Friday, so I look forward to staying up until the wee hours to catch up.

My first thought: good thing they reached a decision. Second thought: bad thing they reached a decision. Nobody seems happy, although the Obama people seem semi-O.K. with it. So, now we await the decisions of the voters in South Dakota and Montana, who likely will side with Obama. But will probably not provide an end to this long march.

Who won Puerto Rico? Bet it was Hillary.

One more thing. For our camping trip, we left the minivan at home and jammed everything into Chris's Saturn Ion. We don't backpack anymore (bad knees!), surviving the weekend on granola and cooking on a stove so tiny it can fit in the palm of your hand. We're not "roughing it" campers, either, just a step up from that. We're car campers, which means that we assemble everything in the basement that looks like camping gear, throw it into the car and take off. No TVs or electronic devices except for the cellphone that my wife needs for work. This plan works well when you're using the minivan which also has a car-top carrier we can use for overflow.

We don't have the luxury of space in the car. We can put a small cooler or a box of food in the back seat with the kid and dog. The rest has to go in the trunk. I had to do triage as we hauled stuff from the house. Yes to the sleeping bag, yes to the roll-up ground pad, no to the gigantic inflatable mattress, no to the camp chair with the cup holder. Yes to the battery-powered lantern, no to the propane lantern and propane canisters and extra mantles. A hue and cry went out every time a tough decision was made. "Dad -- I need that huge air mattress." Says I: "Then the dog has to stay home." Pouting ensued. My wife usually likes to bring about 50 pillows but I requested a two-pillow limit. Fine, she said, I'll use yours. Which she did.

We wanted to prove that a family can go camping without the minivan or the SUV. The family can, but it's a pain in the ass. We saved money on gas, as the Saturn gets 35 mpg on the highway to less than 20 for our Dodge Caravan. We can send the savings the the Democratic Party candidates and causes of our choice. Less fuel used, less carbon in the atmosphere. And we can feel superior to all the SUVs and Hummers on the road. We can feel vastly superior to the RV users, as they are driving the dinosaurs of the open road.

But most of what I felt this weekend was gratitude for national parks and outdoor spaces. And for family. The jury's still out on the dog....

Progblog-o-rama set for Denver convention

The Democratic National Convention Committee announced this yesterday:

In 2004, the DNCC credentialed about 30 blogs to cover the Convention in Boston - the first Convention to credential bloggers. Recently, the DNCC announced that 55 blogs focused on state and local politics were selected to be members of the DemConvention State Blogger Corps. Altogether, the DNCC will credential more than 120 blogs for the Convention and many more individuals will blog the Convention via credentials issued through the U.S. Congressional Press Galleries.The complete list of blogs credentialed to date can be found at www.DemConvention.com/credentialed-blogs.

More Wyoming super-delegates for Obama

The Casper Star-Tribune and the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle both carried stories today that Sen. Barack Obama had picked up his fifth super-delegate from the state. Nancy Drummond, vice chair of the state party, announced Tuesday that she'll throw her support behind Obama.


On Monday, I posted news that three super-delegates had announced publicly their support for Obama. I'm not sure whom I missed. It's either Rep. Patrick Goggles or State Committeewoman Cynthia Nunley. I'll check this out and get back to you tomorrow with all the names. If it is five supers that have declared for Obama, that gives him a 12-5 delegate advantage over Sen. Hillary Clinton.


What will the last three state contests bring? More Obama delegates. Will Florida and Michigan get half-votes for their delegates, as rumored by the media today?

Every delegate counts....

What is your favorite Sen. Enzi moment?

Last night, the Laramie County Democrats grilled U.S. Senate candidate Chris Rothfuss about energy, health care, and his strategy for defeating Republican incumbent Mike Enzi.

Rothfuss said that Enzi had spent his time in the Senate "just saying yes to George Bush" and the asked: "What is your favorite Sen. Enzi moment? I can't think of any."

Well, some of us Dems do have some favorable Sen. Enzi moments. That's the problem. He's a smart, likable guy with a responsive D.C. staff who shows up at events, everything from the state fair to book festivals. He buys and reads books!

But he's one of them. He votes with the Bushies almost 100 percent of the time. He supports the Iraq War, refuses to support Sen. Webb's "21st Century G.I. Bill," says that Social Security is "an entitlement program," and says that our broken health care system can be solved with free-market solutions.

"He works hard but not effectively," said Rothfuss. He emphasizes that this is "a winnable election for the Democrats." His specialty as a chemical engineer is energy, which is a big plus in the era of $4-per-gallon gas, alternative fuels, and a raging debate over coal gasification. "I've had hands-on experience with the types of energy development Wyoming will be involved in."

Wyoming is the leading exporter of energy to the rest of the U.S., he said, "but when we're in D.C., we sit back and let California and Texas tell us what to do. Wyoming needs a strong voice on energy. This is how I see the delineation between me and Sen. Enzi."

More about Rothfuss vs. Enzi in future posts.

Trying to make sense of delegate count

While I was in Jackson over the weekend, I was diligent in tracking the votes for delegates to the national convention. I documented the results in a May 24 on-site post.

Along the way, there was some confusion as to who -- and what -- we were voting for.

Convention chair Debbie Hammonds led us through two sets of delegate votes. The first was fairly clear-cut, as we elected the district and at-large delegates. Those who wanted to run for a spot to Denver had to register in advance. Many lobbied delegates in creative ways. Sara Burlingame from Cheyenne made large campaign buttons featuring her and her very cute (and very bald) baby boy. At her behest, and because she's a fine poet and bread maker, I wore one of those buttons throughout the proceedings.

Other district candidates distributed pens (Willie Neal of Teton County), candy (again, Willie Neal), postcards (Marcia Kunstel, Teton County), pseudo-prescription forms (Jason Bloomberg, M.D., Laramie County), and color flyers on the flip side of Obama placards (Rev. Rodney McDowell, Laramie County).

The most effective pitch came from four Obama supporters from Albany County. Lorraine Saulino-Klein, Rey Fuentes, Jacquelyn Bridgeman, and Mike Massie pooled resources and bought an ad featuring all of their smiling faces in the convention program. They also worked the crowds at the Friday reception and during the convention. Fuentes and Saulino-Klein mailed letters to each delegate several weeks before the convention.

All four earned slots to DenDemCon08. Pretty good marketing, I'd say. It helps that Massie is a well-known and respected senator from the county. And their slate represented a real ethnic and experiential cross-section of Democrats in the county.

But Massie almost didn't make the cut. There was some confusion after lunch as we voted for the rest of the delegates. We Obama supporters had a large slate of at-large candidates to pick two delegates and one alternate. Clinton supporters had a pretty large field to choose their one delegate in this category. Then came the much smaller slates for Party Leader Elected Officials (PLEO). Sen. Mike Massie's name wasn't on the list, which startled the Albany County delegation. The very tall senator went to the podium for an appeal. The Obama slate was quickly amended and Massie was chosen as the PLEO.

The confusion came with the Unpledged Add-On candidate. Only one name was projected on the screen: Rep. Patrick Goggles. Some of the Clinton delegates wondered aloud how Goggles could be a candidate when his name wasn't on the Fremont County delegate list. They were more concerned that Goggles wasn't "uncommitted" but, in reality, a stealth Obama delegate. Some of them brought their concerns to the convention chair and to John Millin, who nominated Goggles. Not sure what transpired, as I was trying to decide among the gazillion names on the Obama at-large list.

Goggles won, making him the sixth super-delegate in the Wyoming delegation to Denver.

My count now shows Obama with 7 delegates and Clinton with 5. So far, three super-delegates have pledged for Obama: John Millin, state central committee chair; Pete Jorgensen, national committeeman; and Gov. Dave Freudenthal. That makes it 10-5, Obama. You can add a "strong maybe" to the list for Patrick Goggles. Cynthia Nunley, the state's national committeewoman, is uncommitted, as is Nancy Drummond, the vice chair for the state central committee. If they all come over to Obama, that will make it it 13-5. Good numbers.

Thanks for your patience with this political arcana. Seems as if politics is made up of such stuff. Stepping-stones to more exciting times, such as the future moment when Sen. Obama accepts the Democratic Party nomination in Denver.

To view some convention photos, go to my web site and click on WyoDemCon08 under "Slideshows" on sidebar.

Happy Memorial Day, Mr. President

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

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

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

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

Broyles: "America, we have a problem"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Broyles bio:

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

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

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

Friday at the Democratic State Convention

I'm going to have to sharpen my live-blogging skills before the Democratic National Convention in Denver. I prefer to keep track of events the old-fashioned way -- by writing in my journal. And then I transfer those notes to MS Word or the blog. There's something about taking notes that activates some part of my brain and helps with creativity. Live-blogging takes an incredible amount of attention because you have to compose at the same time. I used to be pretty good at that when I was a newspaper reporter, but when I moved to fiction writing, my process changed. I've also added a few decades, which figures into the equation somehow.

So I've been taking notes and making observations during the past two days at the Democratic State Convention here in Jackson. I have some entries in my journal to share and there will be more over the next few days, especially when I get back to Cheyenne and download my photos. I have a great post planned for Memorial Day. Jackson's Bill Broyles delivered the luncheon speech yesterday during the convention. He's a Marine Corps veteran of Vietnam, a lifelong Democrat, and a writer of books and screenplays. His speech was a knockout and, on a Memorial Day during wartime, I'll do my best to deliver it via blog.

Meanwhile, here's a journal entry I put together Friday night....

Dems will meet in Jackson if the Good Lord is willin' and the creeks don't rise.

Don't know about the will of the Lord -- I'll leave that to the Rapture Right. But the creeks did rise, tornadoes spun from black skies, blizzards obscured I-80, and -- according to some unnamed sources -- frogs fell from the heavens.

Still, we all managed to gather across the (Snake) River in Jackson for the Wyoming Democratic Convention.

I don't have a head count, but to judge by the hordes crowding the buffet tables Feriday evening, I'd say that most of the delgates and alternates arrived safely. Some even brought their little kids and babies (family values!). Sara Burlingame from Laramie County brought five-month-old Atticus. The mother-son duop were featured on a campaign button seeking votes as an Obama delegate to the August national convention (she was voted in -- see previous post).

The Dems were in a jolly mood -- and not just from the mass quantities of Snake River Lager. This is a big year for Democrats. We have two great candidates running for president. We have become mightily pissed off during the past eight years of Bush and part-time Jackson resident Dick Cheney. We’ve been working hard for a Dem victory in 2008 and a return to sanity. We also have great candidates running for the U.S. House and Senate, and for the State Legislature.

A truly great time to be a Democrat in Wyoming. This phrase was uttered innumerable times during the course of the convention.

And then there was the free food and beer.

Gary Trauner was at the reception, swarmed by delegates and alternates from Crook County in the northeast corner to Uinta County in the southwest – and everyone in between. In 2006, Gary did well in my corner of the state (southeast) and his corner, the northwest, land of the Tetons and Jackson Hole. He captured the cities but fell short in rural counties, and plans a more concentrated effort this time. So, when I saw him talking to the Big Horn County delegates from Lovell and Manderson, I grew hopeful. You can do it!

Other candidates at the reception included Nick Carter and Keith Goodenough, candidates for U.S. Senate. A number of current, former, and future state legislators were on hand.

Governor Dave Freudenthal and First Lady Nancy were some of the last Dems at the reception. Even after the food ran out, they still were encircled. Gov Dave is a Bill Clinton-style pol (although an Obama supporter) with the ability to stay at any political event until the last hand is shook and the last person is schmoozed (can that be a verb?).

After the reception, and down on the pool deck, Wyoming for Obama Director Chris Farrell briefed us on Saturday’s proceedings. We were charged to be at the Ice Arena/Conference Center early to hang signs and get primed for the day. As Chris briefed, rain sluiced off the Snow King roof onto our fatigued heads. Even this baptism by Teton County rain couldn’t ease my tired bones. So, my wife Chris and I were early to bed Friday night.

Next post: Saturday at the convention

WyoDems select national delegates

First, the news....

Here are the names of the Wyoming Democrats elected to go to the national convention in Denver Aug. 25-28:

Obama district-level delegates are Sara Burlingame, Laramie County; Jacquelyn Bridgeman, Albany County; Rey Fuentes, Albany County; and Willie Neal, Teton County. Obama alternates are Mike Bell, Laramie County; Jean Jorgensen, Teton County; and Michelle Sullivan, Sheridan County.

Clinton district-level delegates are Jason Bloomberg, Laramie County; Kathy Karpan, Laramie County; and Ann Robinson, Natrona County. Alternate is Dave Lerner, Laramie County.

Obama at-large delegates are Lorraine Saulino-Klein, Albany County; and Layha Spoonhunter, Fremont County. Alternate is Marcia Kunstel, Teton County.

Clinton at-large delegate is Shirley Davis, Natrona County.

Obama Party Leader Elected Officials (PLEO) delegate is Mike Massie, Albany County.

Clinton PLEO is Mary Hales, Natrona County.

The gavel rang down on the convention at 5:45 p.m. at the Ice Arena. In a hurry to move on to the evening's events. More WyoDemCon08 blogging during the next two days....

Great idea: debates in all 23 Wyo. counties

Cynthia Lummis, a Republican U.S. House candidate from Laramie County, wants to debate her Repub opponents in all 23 Wyoming counties before the Aug. 19 primary election. This comes from a story in today’s Casper Star-Tribune.

She would go toe-to-toe against the other three announced candidates: Mark Gordon, a Sheridan County rancher; Bill Winney of Bondurant; and Dr. Michael Holland of Green River.

Said Lummis:

"We want to heighten awareness of Republican issues and Republican races... All the attention lately has been on the Democratic presidential race, and we want to shift the emphasis, at least here in Wyoming, to another very competitive race, which is the Republican U.S. House race."

Very funny. "Heighten awareness of Republican issues" in a state where Repub voters outnumber Dems two-to-one and control the State Legislature and four of five elected offices.

If she clinches the primary, I hope that Ms. Lummis will also agree to debate Gary Trauner, the probable Democratic Party candidate for Barbara Cubin’s old U.S. House seat. Maybe those debates could raise issues that are important to ALL Wyomingites.

Political mail rolling in

The political mail is elbowing the bills out of my mailbox. That's fine by me. Today I received campaign letters from The Committee to Elect Nick Carter for U.S. Senate. Carter is running against Dr. John Barrasso and I plan on voting for the Gillette Democrat.

But Keith Goodenough of Casper also wants the Barrasso seat. He calls himself a "Democratic party-builder since 1984, the first year I placed my name on the ballot as a Wyoming Democrat." Back in those dark days, they'd run you out of town if they knew your Liberal leanings. These days, it's a little bit safer in Cheyenne and maybe even in Casper, although Goodenough notes that "Natrona County is not a hotbed of liberalism." And it's the place where Dick Cheney grew up and went to high school. Goodenough writes an e-mail newsletter that it informative and quirky, not necessarily in that order.

Carter and Goodenough and some others will face off in the August primary.

Tim Kingston sent a letter asking for my support as an Obama delegate to the national convention. He's past-chairman of the Laramie County Democrats and has been the state platform chair for the past twelve years. I admire anyone who takes on the platform chores.

Other Obama delegates seeking my support for the big bash in Denver include my state representative, Lori Millin, and current county chairman Mike Bell. Cynthia Nunley asked for my vote in her re-election at national committeewoman for Wyoming. Laramie's Chris Rothfuss, who's running against our other Republican U.S. Senator, Mike Enzi, sent me an e-mail seeking support and a contribution. And Tony Reyes wants my support in his run for House District No. 9, although I'm in a different district. Maybe I'll have to move before August.

In the West, crowds gather for Obama

Everyone in Wyoming turned out to see Sen. Barack Obama today...

Just kidding. This photo shows the crowd along the banks of the Willamette River in Portland, Ore., on Sunday. Somewhere between 75,000 and 80,000 people turned out for the rally in advance of the May 20 primary. Sen. Obama was in Montana today, campaigning for the state's June 3 primary. He also was adopted into the Crow Nation.

County Dems set May 30 press conference

The Laramie County Democrats will host a press conference for county Democrats who have declared they will seek public office. The event will take place at 117 W. 17th St. in Cheyenne on Friday, May 30, beginning at 11:30 a.m.

May 30 comes at the tail end of the registration period. Here's some info from the Wyoming Democratic Party web site:

Candidates for for any county, state or federal office must file between May 18, 2006 and June 2, 2006. Candidates for county offices file their statement of candidacy at the local county clerk's office. Candidates for
state legislature, statewide office, and federal office must file during this period with the Secretary of State. To comply with federal law, candidates for federal office may also need to file statements of candidacy and campaign finance reports with the Federal Election Commission and the Secretary of the Senate. For help with the filing process, please contact the state party office at 800-729-3367.

LarCoDems Chairman Mike Bell stated that, "This is a great year for Democrats to seek public office. We hope to give candidates an opportunity to meet with the media and the public to kick off their campaigns with enthusiasm.”

The Laramie County Democratic Party office at 117 W. 17th St. also serves as the Cheyenne branch of the Wyoming Democratic Party headquarters.

FMI: Nicole Novotny, LarCoDems secretary, 307-514-4685.

Obama delegates get campaign briefing

This evening, Chris Farrell dropped into a local gathering of Obama delegates and briefed us on our role in the upcoming Wyoming Democrats state convention. To sum up: attend the convention and cast your vote for Sen. Barack Obama.

The tally of confirmed delegates, thus far, is 189 for Obama and 121 for Clinton. In Laramie County, we are sending 34 for Obama and 21 for Clinton. We have the largest slate of delegates in Wyoming. The second largest is Natrona County with 42 total delegates, split evenly between the two remaining candidates.

At the meeting, Farrell handed out call sheets of Obama delegates, and we volunteered to make calls to encourage their attendance in Jackson. I volunteered to make calls to Torrington, Sundance, Hulett, Riverton, Arapahoe, Glenrock, Douglas, Saratoga and Rawlins. These will be friendly voices at the other end, unlike some of the curt and sometimes hostile voices we encountered when making calls leading up the March 8 Wyoming primary and the recent primary in Pennsylvania (still calls to make in Montana). All of us are hoping that a late-spring blizzard does not disrupt the delegate flow to Teton County.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the action gets underway Friday at 6 p.m. with a reception. This will be followed by an 8 p.m. reception in Rafferty's Bar at Snow King to boost the campaign of Kathryn Sessions for national committeewoman. The business of the convention gets going at 8 a.m. on Saturday.

Before arriving in Wyoming, Farrell was the regional director for the Obama campaign in northeastern Indiana. He'll be in the state through the convention and then it's off to somewhere else.

If you need info about "Wyoming for Obama," call Farrell at 319-371-8180. Or go to the web site at my.barackobama.com/page/content/wyhome

Why Obama is our guy in the West

Great article by Matthew Frank posted May 15 in the newly redesigned New West: "Why Obama is Winning the West: Western Democratic leaders give glimpses into why they -- and people in Colorado, Utah, Idaho and Wyoming -- have chosen Obama as their guy." Don't forget to linger over the many comments (pro, con and puzzling) at the end. Go to http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/why_has_obama_won_over_westerners/C37/L37/#comments

WyoDemCon08 opens May 23 in Jackson

The countdown begins for the Wyoming Democrats' state convention in Jackson May 23-24.

Actually, the countdown began March 8 at all 23 county caucuses when delegates were chosen. Laramie County has 55 delegates, split among Sen. Obama and Sen. Clinton. The presidential preference vote determined the split. On March 8, 941 votes were cast for Obama, 588 for Clinton. I'm an Obama delegate. There's a batch of alternates for each candidate, although I'm not sure how many. My wife Chris is a Clinton alternate.

Activities in Jackson will begin Friday at 9 a.m. with candidate training. Because it's 430 miles from Cheyenne to Jackson, anyone involved in these meetings will have to depart on Thursday. Unless they have their own corporate jet -- we'll leave that to the Republicans. Most of us won't be able to take off until Thursday after work or Friday morning. The opening reception is at 6 p.m. Friday. The fun really begins on Saturday morning, with registration starting at 8 a.m. and the proceedings at 9 a.m.

There's a lot riding on this gathering of Democrats in the nation's least populous state. We will choose 18 delegates and four alternates to the national convention. Some of those spots are already spoken for. The WyoDems use a "two-tiered delegate selection process." You can read the details at http://www.wyomingdemocrats.com/ht/d/sp/i/1015876/pid/1015876. I'm not in the running for a spot because I'm going to DenDemCon08 as a blogger and maker of ridiculous abbreviations.

This afternoon, Chris Farrell of the Obama campaign is going to brief us on our roles at the state gathering. Sen. Obama's organizers have been very active in the state all year. Gov. Dave Freudenthat cited those skills as one of the main reasons he became an Obama supporter. I've seen the names of those organizers who staffed "Wyoming for Obama" involved in the campaigns in Montana, Colorado and other Western states.

See you in Jackson. And then on to Denver.

Writing workshop with an antiwar slant

Here’s yet another summer writing workshop, this one with an antiwar slant. This invitation comes from Kevin Bowen, director of the William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences, for its 21st annual summer writing workshop June 16-26. Excerpted from the Poets Against War web site:

As we face current world conflicts -- and our own personal writing journeys -- we have a powerful tradition to build on. Our workshop faculty have produced some of the most significant literature to emerge from the Vietnam experience as well as other areas afflicted by war. These
include poets/veterans Bruce Weigl and novelist Larry Heinemann; non-fiction writer Lady Borton (who has lived for 35 years in Vietnam); poet Fred Marchant was discharged from the U.S. Marine Corps as an conscientious objector;
poet/translator Martha Collins, who has been teaching a translation class, which has focused on works in Vietnamese. Novelist Demetria Martinez once faced a potential 25 years in prison for writing about Americans aiding Central American refugees. Poet MacDara Woods brings a perspective to teaching shaped by his experiences of living through "the troubles" in Ireland. One of the high points of the writing workshop is always a visit by Vietnamese writers -- their participation in Martha's class, and in panels. Bruce Weigl, Lady Borton and myself also work on translations as part of the Center's commitment to build bridges with our former "enemies." Last year we had a first-ever panel of veterans of the Gulf War and the Iraq War, moderated by Vietnam veteran Larry Heinemann. As for the 2008 workshop, we very much anticipate participation by poet Afaa Michael Weaver.

The William Joiner Center and our annual workshop are both a hub and a sanctuary for writers coming from all over the
world: people who have fought in wars, protested wars; and all who have survived to bear witness. This letter is an invitation for you to consider being part of the workshop community in 2008. First let me stress that students write about a variety of topics. We do not in any way wish to limit what anyone writes: We are open to the surprises that writing produces, and how that helps us to grow as individuals who, as the late Grace Paley always said, can be "useful" in a troubled world.

To apply, send a letter of interest (the sooner the better) with a writing sample. Include an indication of what genre you wish to work in. Address applications and inquiries about the workshop to T. Michael Sullivan, William Joiner Center, University of Massachusetts. Boston, 100 Morrissey Blvd. Boston, MA 02125-3393. You can contact him at Michael.Sullivan@umb.edu or at 617-287-5850. Last summer we managed, as always, to keep costs relatively low: $400 for two weeks, $220 for one week.

Mentoring the next generation of veteran-writers

On a flight to Washington, D.C., a few weeks ago, my seatmate was a woman who works for the U.S. Army’s Wounded Warrior program. She found out that I was a writer, and asked if I knew writers in Denver or Colorado Springs who might want to serve as mentors to returning vets. She had one soldier, in particular, who’d been diagnosed with Severe Brain Injury (SBI) had written a book. He wanted help editing it and maybe trying to get it published. I thought of the vets I knew in Colorado, mostly from the Vietnam War era. I offered to look them up and see if they were interested. I also offered my humble services in Wyoming as a non-veteran fiction writer who also works with poets and writers and artists as part of my job.

Since that day, I’ve been e-mailing my Wounded Warrior contact with news about various writers and writing programs that might be helpful for her soldiers. There’s the NEA’s Operation Homecoming which just announced a new round of writing workshops around the country. Here’s an excerpt from a May 8 NEA press release:

The new phase of Operation Homecoming is the first instance in which the NEA will hold writing workshops at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers, military hospitals, and affiliated centers in communities around the country. St. Louis VA Medical Center in Missouri and Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC, served as pilot sites for the new phase of the program, and both facilities will host workshops this summer.

The first batch of Operation Homecoming workshops were directed by such fine writers as Tobias Wolff, Jeff Shaara, Marilyn Nelson, Richard Bausch, Bobbie Ann Mason, Ethelbert Miller, Joe Haldeman, and Mark Bowden. Not all veterans, but writers skilled in helping writers of all kinds find their voices. Some of them, such as Barry Hannah, was never in the military but clearly imagined warfare in Airships. Kentucky’s Bobbie Ann Mason, for instance, wrote In Country, which explores the plight of returning Vietnam vets through the eyes of a young girl whose father was killed in the war. Maybe you saw the film starring Bruce Willis. Mark Bowden’s a reporter and Marilyn Nelson serves as the poet laureate of Connecticut. Tobias Wolff wrote some hair-raising stories of his Vietnam experience in his collections. Thing is, they don’t come close to the memoir of his bizarre childhood, A Boy’s Life. These workshops birthed the anthology Operation Homecoming: Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Home Front in the Words of U.S. Troops and Their Families (Random House, 2006). Some new writers have joined the program:

The Arts Endowment has added three new faculty members who served in the conflicts: playwright Ryan Kelly, poet Brian Turner, and journalist Nathaniel Fick. Matthew Eck, author of the novel The Farther Shore and an Army veteran who served in Somalia and Bosnia; Vietnam War veteran Robert Timberg, editor of the U.S. Naval Institute’s Proceedings magazine and author of The Nightingale’s Song; and Kristin Henderson, a military spouse and author of While They’re at War, are other new faculty members.

If you haven’t yet read Brian Turner’s award-winning poetry collection, Here, Bullet, you must. He was already a knowledgeable writer and graduate of an M.F.A. program before he joined the Army and served in Bosnia and Iraq. In the midst of warfare, he found his voice, writing most of the Here, Bullet poems while in Iraq.

Vets can find other programs to nurture their writing. Prowling the web recently, I came across one in Vermont in which vets make their own paper and then build books featuring their writing about the war(s). I can’t find the link now, but I believe it was in Burlington. I’ll keep looking...

During my college marathon (1969-1976), first as a Navy ROTC midshipman and then as a civilian with a low draft number, I met a lot of Vietnam vets. They weren’t always anxious to share their stories in creative writing classes. The temper of the times weren’t exactly conducive to it. But some found on-campus mentors. At University of Florida, ex-Marine Harry Crews nurtured and kicked the asses of scores of writers, some of them veterans. Larry Heinemann (Paco’s Story) found his voice when he went to college in Chicago on his G.I. benefits. John Clark Pratt, an Air Force pilot in Vietnam, taught lots of zoomies at the AFA in Colorado Springs and later, at Colorado State University, whipped M.F.A. writers (such as myself) into shape. He also helped establish the CSU Library's excellent special collection on the Vietnam War. It contains first drafts of books by well-known writers, but also unpublished memoirs and other books by veterans.

Yusef Komunyakaa from very-rural Louisiana went to CSU after Vietnam and received some poetry mentoring from former football player and campus radical Bill Tremblay. Yusef went on to win an NEA fellowship and teach at Princeton and NYU. I guess you just never know where that help may come from. I’ve read a lot of Yusef Komunyakaa’s poems. They’re powerful and beautiful, whether based on his experiences in Vietnam, Louisiana or Colorado. His view in "Facing It" (Dien Cai Dau, Wesleyan University Press, 1988) of "The Wall" in D.C. is very personal:

I'm inside/the Vietnam Veterans Memorial/again, depending on the light/to make a difference./I go down the 58,022 names,/half-expecting to find/my own in letters like smoke.

To read the entire poem (and others), go to http://www.poets.org/

There are other poets and writers who will be speaking to us like this about Iraq and Afghanistan (Iran?) 10 or 20 years from now. Some do it now on blogs or through hip-hop or via video. Others will seek out the permanence of the written page. Let’s help them find it. Forget the politics, for a few minutes anyway. This is all about humaneness.

Freudenthal supports "Post 9-11 G.I. Bill"

It's great to see that Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal is one of the 23 governors signing a May 15 letter to the U.S. Senate urging the passage of the "Post-9/11 G.I. Bill." Today, the House of Represenatives passed the bill 256-166, with Wyoming's lone rep, Barbara Cubin, voting against it. The bill now goes on to the Senate, where it appears that Wyoming's Mike Enzi and John Barrasso will join their Republicans colleagues and vote against it. C'mon, guys. Do you have more loyalty to your party bosses than you do to the troops? We'll keep track of the votes and report them here.

Vietnam veteran and author Sen. James Webb of Virginia is the impetus for this legislation. He gathered a lot of supporters along the way, but he's the one who got the ball rolling.

For more info, go to the site of Irag and Afghanistan Veterans of America at http://www.iava.org/ or the G.I. Bill site at http://www.gibill2008.org/.

DemConvention State Bloggers: The List

Below is the full list of the DemConvention State Blogger Corps as announced on video yesterday by Howard Dean. Some of these I read regularly, others I've heard of but have never been to, not even to lurk. Many are new to me, but I intend to remedy that over the next few months.

ALASKA - Celtic Diva's Blue Oasis - http://divasblueoasis.blogspot.com/
ALABAMA- Doc's Political Parlor - http://www.politicalparlor.net/
ARKANSAS- Under The Dome.com - http://www.underthedome.com/
ARIZONA - Ted Prezelski - Rum, Romanism and Rebellion - http://www.rumromanismrebellion.net/
CALIFORNIA - Calitics- http://calitics.com/
COLORADO -SquareState.net - http://squarestate.net/
CONNECTICUT -My Left Nutmeg - http://myleftnutmeg.com/
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA- DCist.com - http://dcist.com/
DELAWARE - TommyWonk - http://tommywonk.blogspot.com/
DEMOCRATS ABROAD - Democrats Abroad Argentina - http://www.yanquimike.com.ar/
FLORIDA - Florida Progressive Coalition - http://flaprogressives.org/
GEORGIA- Tondee's Tavern - http://www.tondeestavern.com/
GUAM - No Rest for the Awake - Minagahet Chamorro - http://minagahet.blogspot.com/
HAWAII - iLind.net: Ian Lind Online - http://www.ilind.net/
IOWA - The Iowa Independent - http://iowaindependent.com/
IDAHO - 43rdStateBlues.com - http://www.43rdstateblues.com/
ILLINOIS- Prairie State Blue - http://www.prairiestateblue.com/
INDIANA- Blue Indiana - http://www.blueindiana.net/
KANSAS - EverydayCitizen.com - http://everydaycitizen.com/
KENTUCKY - BlueGrassRoots - http://www.bluegrassroots.org/
LOUISIANA - Daily Kingfish - http://www.dailykingfish.com/
MASSACHUSETTS - Blue Mass. Group - http://www.bluemassgroup.com/
MARYLAND - The Center for Emerging Media - http://www.centerforemergingmedia.com/
MAINE - Turn Maine Blue - http://www.turnmaineblue.com/
MICHIGAN - Blogging For Michigan - http://bloggingformichigan.com/
MINNESOTA - Minnesota Monitor - http://minnesotamonitor.com/
MISSISSIPPI - The Natchez Blog - http://natchezms.blogspot.com/
MISSOURI - Fired Up! LLC - http://www.firedupmissouri.com/
MONTANA - Left in the West - http://www.leftinthewest.com/
NORTH CAROLINA - BlueNC.com - http://bluenc.com/
NORTH DAKOTA - NorthDecoder.com - http://www.northdecoder.com/
NEBRASKA - New Nebraska Network - http://www.newnebraska.net/
NEW HAMPSHIRE - Blue Hampshire - http://www.bluehampshire.com/
NEW JERSEY - PolitickerNJ.com - http://www.politickernj.com/
NEW MEXICO - Democracy for New Mexico - http://www.democracyfornewmexico.com/
NEVADA - Las Vegas Gleaner - http://www.lasvegasgleaner.com/
NEW YORK - Room 8 - http://www.r8ny.com/
OHIO - Ohio Daily Blog - http://www.ohiodailyblog.com/
OKLAHOMA - DemoOkie - http://www.demookie.com/
OREGON - BlueOregon (blog) - http://www.blueoregon.com/
PENNSYLVANIA - Keystone Politics - http://www.keystonepolitics.com/
PUERTO RICO - Jusiper - http://jusiper.blogspot.com/
RHODE ISLAND - Rhode Island's Future - http://www.rifuture.org/
SOUTH CAROLINA - CracktheBell.com - http://www.crackthebell.com/
SOUTH DAKOTA - Badlands Blue - http://www.badlandsblue.com/
TENNESSEE - KnoxViews/TennViews - http://www.knoxviews.com/
TEXAS - Burnt Orange Report - http://www.burntorangereport.com/
UTAH - The Utah Amicus - http://utahamicus.com/
VIRGINIA - Raising Kaine - http://www.raisingkaine.com/
VIRGIN ISLANDS - Democratic Party of the US Virgin Islands - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/democratvi
VERMONT - Green Mountain Daily - http://greenmountaindaily.com/
WASHINGTON - HorsesAss.org - http://www.horsesass.org/
WISCONSIN - Uppity Wisconsin - http://www.uppitywis.org/
WEST VIRGINIA - West Virginia Blue - http://www.wvablue.com/
WYOMING - Hummingbirdminds blog - http://hummingbirdminds.blogspot.com/

Writer and two Western Govs will address Wyo. Democratic convention

The Wyoming Democratic Party is making it awfully difficult not to spend money at the state convention.

First, they recruited Wilson-based author and screenwriter Bill Broyles as the luncheon speaker. Broyles has written extensively for Esquire, The Atlantic and New York Times. He was the founding editor of the feisty and entertaining Texas Monthly magazine. His book "Brothers in Arms" is a fine account of his experiences as a Marine infantry lieutenant in Vietnam. He was the co-creator of the TV series, "China Beach," and wrote screenplays for "Apollo 13," "Cast Away," "Jarhead," and "Flags of Our Fathers." A great batch of screen credits – I’ve seen all of these films and liked them. Broyles won an Oscar for "Apollo 13."

He seems to be able to sneak social commentary into all his work. One of the cool things about "Cast Away" was how useless Tom Hanks (the castaway) found all of the junk he was marooned with on the desert island. He’d spent his entire career working for a company (FedEx) that transported beach balls and paperwork across the oceans. He almost died doing it – his fellow crew members did. Bill’s wife Andrea is an artist. One of her monoprints, which is described on her web site as "an abstracted set of wings," was the image on the FedEx box in "Cast Away." Variations of the wings were made into sculptures which represented the work of an artist character in the film.

Bill Broyles will speak at the convention luncheon on Saturday, May 24. I may have to pop for the $50 ticket and one for my wife so I can hear him speak about his work. It's all for a good cause -- defeat of Republicans in local, state, and national elections.

At that night’s banquet, Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer and Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal are the featured speakers. Banquet tickets are $100 apiece, a little rich for my blood. As much as I’d like to hear Gov Bri and Gov Dave, I may have to give the budget a rest that night and head to the taco shop downtown. The two Govs represent a line of Democrats that tracks along the spine of the Rockies from Canada to Mexico: Mont., Wyo., Colo. (Ritter) and New Mexico (Richardson). And more to come. Schweitzer is the guy to talk to about coal gasification and clean-coal technology. He also knows his beeves, as he was raised on a cattle farm near Havre and got his undergrad aggie creds at CSU in Fort Collins before heading back to Montana.

Said WyoDem Chairman John Millin:

"We are fortunate to have such magnificent speakers for one of the most exciting conventions in our state's history. This has been an incredible year with the visits by the two major candidates on the eve of our county caucuses and the record voter turnout at the caucuses. We are thrilled to have an award-winning author and two Western Democratic governors on hand to address the delegates."

People can purchase tickets for either event by contacting the Wyoming Democratic Party at (800) 729-3367 by May 19.

Hummingbirdminds chosen as WYO blog

This is wild! The Democratic National Committee has announced that my blog, hummingbirdminds, will be the credentialed blog from Wyoming at the Denver convention in August. I’ll be seated on the convention floor with the state’s delegation, posting the action as it happens. A front row seat, as DNCC Chair Howard Dean says in this announcement:

http://www.demconvention.com/bloggercorps/blog-announce-wy.mov (Quicktime file)

Now I'll have to dust off my coal-powered laptop and get it ready to rumble at DemCon08.

Later, I'll post a full list of the prog-bloggers going to Denver.

"Freewheelin" to bring bikes to DemCon08

As a possible delegate or blogger to the big Dem convention in Denver this August, I've been receiving a slew of e-mails from the host committee. Some of these e-mails contain crucial info, others are notices of press conferences, "green" initiatives, contracts with major vendors/sponsors, etc.

Yesterday I received one about a "greening effort" press conference set for today at the Colorado Convention Center for this project:

The Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee, along with representatives from Humana and Bikes Belong have joined to bring 1,000 bikes to Denver for people to use during the week of the Democratic National Convention. Freewheelin is a national bike-sharing program developed by Humana and bike industry leaders like Bikes Belong to encourage healthy living and environmental sustainability. The 1,000 bikes can be used free of charge by anyone looking for an alternative to automobiles while the convention is in town.

Denver is an excellent cycling city. This was true in the 1980s, when I lived there. I rode the South Platte River and Cherry Creek bikepaths, as well as the Highline Canal Trail. While there wasn't as many bike lanes as there are now, I still felt fairly safe riding the streets. Denverites are used to bicycle commuters and don't seem to intentionally go out of their way to run them off the road. Denverites have lots of options for non-auto transportation. Car is still king, but the crown is slipping a bit as gas creeps up to $4 a gallon (diesel's already above $4).

When I lived in Denver's Platte Park neighborhood, I walked to work at the Gates Rubber Company, just five blocks away (now falling to the wrecker's ball). My family and I walked to the library and parks and shops and restaurants along South Pearl Street. If we still lived there still, we could catch the light rail trains a few blocks away that could take us downtown or out to the Tech Center.

Cheyenne is no slouch when it comes to cycling. We boast an incredible Greenway, and voters just approved a major extension. There are bike lanes on some of the major streets, and more and more of us seem to be commuting when the wind is not peeling the skin off our faces and the snow is not forming icicles on our noses. Until I blew out a knee two years ago, I commuted to work by bike four months of the year. Now that the surgeons have fixed me up, I'm back commuting this spring and summer.

We still lack a bona fide public transportation system. We have buses, but their routes and hours are limited. During the summer, there's a downtown circulator bus. Maybe once a week we should all ride the bus, just so the city can boast to federal funders that ridership is growing and we need more buses and longer hours and more frequent service.

It's tough to pry Wyomingites out of their cars and trucks. But higher gas prices has people pondering alternatives.

This summer in Denver, I may grab one of those Freewheelin bikes and cruise around town. One complaint: Did the Dems have to bring Humana in on this? It is one of the biggest of the health care conglomerates, and their concern is always the bottom line. Do we really need Humana's money this badly?

The woeful plight of a Clinton alternate

As she was reading the paper this morning, Chris asked: "What am I going to do at the state convention if Hillary drops out?"

"You can experience some of the outdoor wonders of the Jackson Hole area," I replied.

She laughed (it was weird -- she sounded just like SNL's Amy Poehler imitating Hillary). "I guess I could shop for some new walking shorts."

I assured her that she could find some very nice walking shorts for a pretty penny at one of the chichi shops in the Jackson Town Square.

"Does the hotel accept dogs? I could bring the dog and take long walks."

"I'll check their web site," I said, returning my attention to the always lively world of the blogosphere.

What will she do as a Clinton alternate if her candidate drops out by May 24? What will she do at the convention as an alternate if Clinton stays in?

I don't have all the answers to Chris's questions, but I know where to find them. She's never been to a state convention, but I'm a battle-hardened veteran of these gatherings, having blundered my way through the 2004 convention in Sheridan. As an Obama delegate, I know what I'm supposed to do -- support Obama and my fellow Obama delegates, and be patient as we discuss the arcane details of the party platform. I caution myself not to become angry when I propose platform planks from the floor, as most of them have been decided the day before in platform committee meetings. I know that a lot of horse-trading transpires, as hundreds vie for the 18 delegate slots to the national convention.

My role as an Obama delegate as already earned me some attention from other Obama delegates who want to go to the national convention in Denver. The other day I received a voice-mail message from an Obama delegate in Evanston, which rests in the far southwestern corner of the state that used to be part of Utah (and still is, in some ways).

I also received a two-page letter from Lander's Cynthia Nunley, who's seeking my support in her bid for re-election as National Committeewoman for Wyoming. The letter outlines her qualifications, which includes experience in democratic activities on the local, state, and national level. She supports Howard Dean's "50 state strategy," which leaves no state behind in the race for the presidency, not even us big square states. She also chaired the 2006 campaign of Michelle Hoffman for Wyoming State School Superintendent. Hoffman was the best candidate, but fell to the onslaught of Republican Party-centric voters.

Ms. Nunley writes a very good letter, persuasive, and she'll have my vote -- unless I get even better letters from other candidates for this position. Let's face it -- everything is up for grabs this year. It's an exciting time.

Meanwhile, my wife, the Clinton alternate, makes plans to fill her free time while in Jackson.

Why I voted against a new rec center

Can a prog-blogger really be progressive if he/she/it votes against cultural and recreational amenities to the city?

On Tuesday, Laramie County held a special election. The ballot had four items seeking funding through the county's sixth-penny tax. The largest and fourth ballot initiative, the one that generated a lot of heat but very little light on the op-ed pages, asked voters to approve a $55 million recreation center. It was a fine-looking rec center, one designed to have an amenity for every taste. Want kilns to bake your pottery? We got it. Want several pools for lap swimming? We got it. Want an indoor walking/running track to avoid winter frostbite and wind attacks? We got it? Want a special section for old codgers to work out in peace while they talk about how rotten the government is? We got it.

In the end, it was too much. The rec center initiative went down in flames while the other three initiatives passed. So, no rec center. But voters okayed almost $3 million for the very popular Greenway, and more than $2 million for design work for the very popular Botanic Gardens and the not so popular airport terminal. We also gave thumbs up on $60,000 for a new sprinkler system in the Pine Bluffs cemetery, and $137,000 so the town of Burns can buy a garbage truck and lease a police car.

I voted yes on 1, 2, and 3, but no on 4. The rec center was too big and unwieldy. City leaders could never decide how much money it was going to cost to run. It was not "green" enough -- designers hadn't incorporated enough energy-saving technology. But most of all, I voted against it because the city had not consulted with the non-profit YMCA and the for-profit exercise centers to see how they could all work together on making Cheyenne a healthier place. I have to admit that my wife works at the YMCA, so I'm far from unbiased. But why didn't people from the city rec department talk to the YMCA? Did they look upon the Y as a threat to their own project? Probably. But the YMCA of the USA is the biggest non-profit in the country and has decades of experience in sports and fitness and even cultural programs. They specialize in programs for youth and families. They have daycare and after-school care for kids. They offer scores of programs for Active Older Adults. Could the YMCA staff have provided valuable advice to the city? Yes. Was it sought out? No.

So I voted "No" on the rec center.

Editor of the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, Reed Eckhardt, wrote in his Saturday editorial today that "the city's reach finally exceeded its grasp." Reed was a champion of the rec center, his paper one of its primary promoters. He sees the rec center as an amenity necessary for a progressive city. When he says "progressive," he means "progress," as in Cheyenne is making progress "with the idea that it can be a great Front Range community." He's always railing against the "naysayers" who want Cheyenne to remain the same high plains backwater it has always been. He promotes the plans of Cheyenne's progressive major, Jack Spiker, and the more forward-looking members of the City Council, such as bicycle shop owner Patrick Collins.

"Cheyenne has come a long way under their direction -- and they need to show the voters just that. They must not concede the direction of this community to go-slowers and naysayers who fret that Cheyenne is going to become Wyoming's Fort Collins, whatever that means."

For readers outside of this region, some explanation may be in order. Fort Collins is the Colorado city 45 minutes south of Cheyenne. To many in Cheyenne and Laramie, it is the land of (soy) milk and (organic) honey, a common destination for those seeking Thai food, independent films, and a plethora of shopping opportunities. On Friday nights, teens motor to Fort Collins to cruise College Avenue in search of ways to get into trouble further from home. In 1988, I dragged my family from Denver (Gomorrah of the Front Range) to Fort Collins so I could attend grad school. To Denverites and especially those citizens of Boulder (Sodom of the Flatirons), Fort Collins was a hick town, home of the aggie college, second-rate when compared to CU. But I loved The Fort, as did my wife and son. When I graduated and went to work in Cheyenne, our friends in F.C. looked on in wonder and asked, "Where's Cheyenne?" You see, it's a lot farther from F.C. to Cheyenne than it is from Cheyenne to F.C., as it's uphill all the way.

One more Fort Collins note. When city leaders were looking for a new slogan, they asked residents for their responses. One of the funniest was this: "Fort Collins -- Where Cheyenne Shops."

Funny, yet true, at least at the time. In the early 1990s, before Sam's Club and Super Wal-Mart, we used to travel to F.C. to shop. Our family had blossomed with another issue, and this issue needed a lot of diapers and stuff. The rest of us continued to eat with no let-up in sight. So every couple weeks we hopped in the car and joined the weekend exodus to The Fort.

Cheyenne still doesn't have a Thai restaurant, although the Mexican and Chinese food selections are pretty good. We now boast a Sam's Club and Super Wal-Mart. Alas, I no longer need their services as the son has flown the coop and the daughter is a vegetarian and is satisfied with occasional helpings of birdseed and tofu.

Maybe I'm getting less progressive in my old age. But I did not vote no on the rec center because I am afraid that Cheyenne is becoming like Fort Collins. I voted no on the rec center because city leaders had not done their homework and they were not following their own advice to seek out collaborations when there's something big you want to accomplish.

Environment focus of May 15 Dem meeting

The May 15 meeting of the Laramie County Democratic Grassroots Coalition will focus on environmental issues. Speakers will be Wyoming State Representative Mary Throne and City of Cheyenne Sanitation Director Dennis Pino. The meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the Sunflower Room in the Laramie County Public Library in Cheyenne. Free and open to the public, even if you're a Republican (who knows -- you might learn that global warming actually exists).

Wyoming faces a host of environmental issues. Oil and gas development tearing up the Wyoming Range. Coal gasification. Wind farms. Solar energy. Geothermal power. Water quality. Air quality (ozone levels rising dramatically near Pinedale). Drought. Threat of unregulated uranium mining returning to the state (Today's Casper Star-Trib: "The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has received 30 applications for new uranium mines, restarts of closed mines and expansions of existing mines. Twenty of them are in Wyoming.")

First question to Mr. Pino: When will curbside recycling begin?

Wyomingites can pursuade Montanans

The Montana primary is on June 3. By the looks of things, the Democratic Party presidential race will still be up for grabs. Gabe Cohen, one of the youngsters who ran the Obama campaign in Wyoming prior to our very successful caucuses, is directing the Obama effort in Montana. Here's part of an e-mail he sent out to like-minded people in the Rocky Mountain region:

As you read this message, there are Democratic ballots sitting on kitchen tables all across Montana.

That's right. Thousands of folks here in Montana have already received their absentee ballots in the mail, and they're thinking seriously about whose name to check.

You can make this decision easy -- and here's how.

Our team has put together a list of people here who recently received their absentee ballots. Your voice could persuade them to cast their votes for Barack and mail in their ballots today -- but only if you use our simple online tool right now and give them a call.

Get started making calls to absentee voters in Montana now at http://my.barackobama.com/callMT

Right now, we need your help to carry our momentum forward in Montana -- and with absentee ballots waiting to be filled out in homes from Billings to Kalispell, now's the perfect time to get involved.

You can make an especially big impact over the phone, because every single person you contact could vote for Barack today. And you'll feel the impact of your work immediately as the folks you talk to decide to mail in their ballots right away.

Even if you have never made a call for Barack before, you'll be able to make a difference just by logging in and calling a few voters at http://my.barackobama.com/callMT

Thanks, Gabe Cohen, Montana State Director, Obama for America

P.S. -- You can add even more to our campaign here by joining us in Montana in the coming weeks. Between now and election day -- and especially next weekend, May 17-18 -- seasoned veterans and first-time volunteers alike are traveling to neighborhoods all across Montana to talk to voters in person about why they support Barack.

This is the last contest in the country, and our last chance to make a difference for Barack during the primary season, so I hope you'll sign up to come lend a hand.

Might be a kick to travel up to Billings or Bozeman next weekend and knock on some Montana doors for Obama.

Meditations in Green, May 4-10, 2008

Green is the color of insanity. Not sure why, but that’s what it said in the handout distributed today at the Children's Mental Health Awareness Week luncheon in Cheyenne.

In the 1800s, the color green was used to brand people who were labeled "insane." The children’s mental health community decided to continue using the color green, but with a different focus. Green signifies new life, new growth and new beginnings.

We wore green ribbons. Green balloons flanked the entrance to the luncheon. Green flowers graced the tables. Most of us – or our children – have struggled with mental illness. I never related green to my own depression – or vice versa. My son had teen bouts with drugs and alcohol and spent a year in a treatment center. My teen daughter battles depression and has also done time in a treatment center. My wife Chris and I used to wonder "why us?" – until we met all kinds of people with the same problems. Mental health problems are as ubiquitous as health problems. Families are just as likely to experience depression or bipolar disorder or schizophrenia as they are diabetes and cancer. Thing is, you can talk about your skin cancer, but it’s hard to openly discuss how hard it is living inside your own skin.

Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal spoke at the luncheon. Life is difficult and complicated in the 21st century, he said, even in the least populous state in the union. Growing up outside post-war Thermopolis was idyllic, even with seven siblings and the limited budget of a farm family. People took care of one another. Ministers and teachers and the local sheriff could step into bad situations and make a difference. But there was at least one bad thing about the good old days -- people didn't discuss their deranged Uncle Bill or the kid in sixth grade who rocked back and forth all day. These days, we talk about the mentally ill amongst us, and we take strides to assist them. We have the dragon on the run, he said, but we can't beat the dragon until we all start working together. That was a message for all the nonprofits and government entities in the room. Share your resources and pull in the same direction. This is one of our toughest tasks. Too often we guard our territory at the expense of those who need help.

I work in the arts world, but volunteer as a board member for UPLIFT of Wyoming (sponsor of the luncheon) and serve on the Governor's Mental Health Council. Arts organizations fall prey to the same territoriality. None of us are the better for it.

So, here's some background on this huge issue:

The National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health again declares the first full week in May, May 4-10, 2008 as National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week. The National Federation would like to invite all of its local chapters and statewide organizations to use this week to promote awareness about children’s mental health. Join the national office in sending the following messages:

Mental Health is essential to overall health and well being; serious emotional and mental health disorders in children and youth are real and treatable; children and youth with mental health challenges and their families deserve access to services and supports that are family driven, youth guided and culturally appropriate; stigma associated with mental illness should no longer exist.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For my header, I borrowed the title of Stephen Wright's excellent 1983 novel, "Meditations in Green," once out of print but recently reissued by Vintage Contemporaries. It has a lot to say about sanity and insanity as it relates to drug abuse, the Vietnam War, and over-the-top human behavior. One of my favorite authors, Don DeLillo, described the book this way: "Precisely that brutal hallucination we desperately wanted to end."

The Beats return to Wyoming and Colorado

Jack Kerouac was born in 1922, the year before my father, Tom Shay, arrived on the planet. They couldn’t have been less alike, although they might have shared an interesting conversation about Catholicism (said Kerouac: "I’m not a beatnik, I’m a Catholic") during one of Jack’s forays to Denver, my father’s hometown. Who knows? Maybe they ran into each other during Jack’s first trip to Denver in the summer of 1947. My father a college student on the G.I. Bill, rolling around downtown with his buddies, making up for lost time. Jack bumping into Tom at some watering hole and saying, "Excuse me, pal, but I’m on the road and in a hurry." My father replying: "What’s the rush, future famous writer?"

Kerouac was always in a hurry, flinging himself from place to place. He documented everything, a writer always taking notes as the world flew by. He sojourned to most states in the West, even lived in Denver for a time with his mother, sister and brother-in-law. A good boy, Jack was, always trying to take care of his mother but usually hitting her up for cash. He was a reckless and irresponsible young man. He treated his women badly, drank too much, and jumped from job to job. My father would not have approved. Kerouac’s life during the formative years of his writing career is explored in the book, "Jack Kerouac’s American Journey: The Real-Life Odyssey of On the Road" (Thunder's Mouth Press) by Paul Maher Jr. I’m reading it now, and it traces the writer’s physical journey and his development as a writer.

Kerouac left us with all this great writing. And he documented an era in American letters that is now legendary. The Beats. So famous now that we don’t even need their first names: Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs. You can find them all in the canon of university English departments. And then there’s the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University in Boulder, which celebrates The Beat Era with a conference each summer.

Who would have though that Denver would be a way station on the Beatnik Highway? The Queen City of the Plains, an overgrown cowtown, just a distant smudge on the horizon when viewed from Greenwich Village or from North Beach? But it was Neal Cassady’s town, which was what drew the writers, smitten with this wild son of a drunk who grew up on Larimer Street’s skid row. Cassady was kind of a symbol of Denver’s wild side, the town that started as a gold camp (without the gold) and then a raucous pioneer town with a heady supply of bars and brothels. During the 1940s and '50s, the city had a lively jazz scene.

The Beat history of Colorado and Wyoming is being explored this summer when the Wyoming Humanities Council presents "On the Road: 50 Years of the Beatniks." It includes a book discussion series focusing on Kerouac, Ginsberg and Burroughs. There also will be a poetry slam tour of Casper, Cheyenne and Lusk conducted by UW poet and professor Craig Arnold, and a bus trip on June 22 to visit beat locales in Denver. Host sites also will screen B movies from the era. Jenny Ingram at the WCH points out that "the beatniks belong to the history of our region. Thirty pages into ‘On the Road,’ Jack Kerouac visits Cheyenne Frontier Days." In the book, CFD gets a different name. Says Montana Slim: "Hells Bells! It’s Wild West Week!"

The Humanities Council's summer programs are free and open to the public. They are sponsored by the We the People initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities. For more info about the schedule, contact Ingram at jingram@uwyo.edu or visit www.uwyo.edu/humanities.

The New Deal lives on, 75 years later

"The legacy of the New Deal is evident today not just in buildings, roads, bridges and trails across the United States. It can still be seen in the ongoing existence of unemployment insurance, insured bank deposits, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Federal Housing Authority.

"The spirit of the New Deal also lives on in the social programs that we consider important to our society -- those that care for the elderly and the poor, and offer a safety net for even the most productive of our citizens who sometimes fall on hard times."

This comes from Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal's introductory letter for the program distributed at the 75th anniversary New Deal celebration Saturday, May 3, at Guernsey State Park. It's ironic that these are some of the programs that the Republicans have tried to dismantle since they were enacted. Social Security privatizations anyone? John McCain still has that on his agenda.

FDR recognized that difficult times demanded bold solutions. The Civilian Conservation Corps was a program that put men back to work building roads, bridges, and buildings, paying them $30 a month for their hard work. Of that, the CCC men had to send $25 home to their families. Wyoming had 19 CCC camps, two of them at Camp Guernsey in Platte County. Many of the structures built by the CCC around the reservoir are still standing and part of Guernsey State Park.

The federal government had many programs putting people back to work during the Great Depression. The Works Progress Adminstration employed artists composing guides to each state, painting murals in post offices, and staging plays. Such well-known American writers as Zora Neale Hurston, Nelson Algren, Studs Terkel and James Baldwin were active in the Federal Writers Program. Idaho's renowned writer, Vardis Fisher, was writer and editor for the state guide, still recognized as best-written of all the guides. Fisher fought to finish and release the Idaho guide first, even though the WPA honchos insisted the Washington, D.C., book be first.

Not all writers were excited about government work. Ernest Hemingway, for one, another writer who ended up spending a lot of time in Idaho -- eternity, too. Other writers and artist and performers turned up their noses at the WPA, but many already had a career and means of their own. It's possible they wanted to avoid some of the controversies engendered by some of the plays and films produced by WPA creative types. They often focused on the poor and downtrodden, and aimed the laser of satire at big business. Critics contended that people accepting taxpayer funds should not be biting the hands that fed it. Sound familiar?

It all comes down to your feelings about the role of the federal government. Should it step in when the country is going to hell in a handcart? Yes, I say, as do both Democratic Party candidates for the presidency. No, says John McCain, who wants a market-based health care system, which is what we have now and is failing so miserably.

Governor Freudenthal obviously believes in government's active role. Not only is that evident from his words about the New Deal, but by the fact he's supporting Sen. Barack Obama. He'll be speaking on behalf of Obama May 10 in Montana. I, for one, am happy that he's come out of the closet politically and is ready to stand up for the Democrats. Yes, Wyoming is a Republican-dominated state and most of its residents like the careful balancing act that Freudenthal does with his politics as homegrown free-thinker, hunter and wearer of fine cowboy boots. But, when your country is in trouble, you have to act. As FDR did with his many New Deal programs.

For more about the Gov's support of Obama, go to the May 3 Casper Star-Tribune article at http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2008/05/03/news/wyoming/bc0fc0ad1716cfb88725743e0000ffd1.txt

Tickets still available to Dem bash in Mont.

The Associated Press reports this:

Tickets to the Democratic Party's annual Harry S. Truman Dinner next week in Billings remain available, but if you buy one, don't expect a meal.

The party says tickets to the dinner featuring remarks by former President Clinton and Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal are sold out. Bleacher seats remain available, however. The price is $40.

The event May 10 will be in the gymnasium at Montana State University-Billings. Yellowstone County Democratic Party Chairman Ray Tracy says the gym holds about 3,700 people.

Clinton's appearance is part of the presidential campaign by wife Hillary Clinton. Freudenthal will speak on behalf of her rival, Barack Obama.

New stories due from Proulx in September

Jenny Shank reports at New West that Annie Proulx's new book of stories of people who inhabit "pioneer country" (a.k.a. "Wyoming") will be out in September. "Fine Just the Way it Is" is Annie's third story collection set in Wyoming. The first was "Close Range," which included "Brokeback Mountain," which now is a book and a movie unto itself. The first edition of that book was illustrated (in color) by Denver watercolor artist William Matthews. It now sells for a pretty penny. The second collection was "Bad Dirt." Prior to these flurries of stories, Annie was best known as winner of the Pulitzer Prize for "Shipping News," set in Newfoundland. She lives in the Platte River Valley near Saratoga, Wyoming.

If you don't have time to sit down and read "Close Range," there's a terrific audiobook. Three actors are featured and take turns reading. One of the best driving-across-vast-distances-listening-to-fiction experiences you can have.

Jenny picked up the tip on the new Proulx book from the Buzz Girl blog ("a publishing insider gets the skinny on tomorrow's bestsellers") at http://bookpagebuzz.blogspot.com/2008/03/scribner-summer-2008.html. Buzz Girl originally had the release date in June but then amended that for us readers anxious for the new book.

To be in D.C. in the springtime

One of the great things about D.C. is that there is always something going on. When you work there, it's old hat, maybe even annoying -- maybe you don't even notice the latest demonstration or rally. But to us rubes from the hinterlands, it's wildly entertaining. Anything's better than sitting on the general store bench watching yet another tumbling tumbleweed blow by.

When I was visiting the Capitol this week, Dick Cheney and his entourage blew by. I was just minding my own business, sauntering along the sidewalk past a demonstration of disabled Americans in motorized wheelchairs, when I came to an abrupt halt at the edge of the U.S. Capitol vehicle entrance. A crowd of people I took for tourists lined the sidewalk, waiting for something. A half-dozen cops milled about. I was on the cell phone, trying to straighten out a situation at home (the cattle had stampeded again!) and I thought that the cops were stopping us so the wheelchair-bound protesters could pass by.

Just as I was ringing off, a posse of official Harleys started up with a rattling roar, and a trio of Capitol Cop cars started to roll down the driveway. Then all the sirens came on, and a fleet of black limos and SUVs pulled out of the bowels of the Capitol Building and rolled down the drive. They moved fast, but the tourists lining the street had their cameras out, wildly snapping photos. I asked the guy nearest to me if this was the president's motorcade. "No, it's the vice president." I stepped away from the curb, as if burned by the cinders of hellfire. The Prince of Darkness was passing by. I suppose I should have bowed my head and uttered a prayer to St. Michael to protect me from the fiend. But I stood gawking along with my fellow gawkers. One black SUV had its window open and inside was a soldier in black cradling an automatic weapon. Now that's firepower!

The motorcade passed in a flash, although we could hear the sirens for another five minutes. I thought to myself that the Veep's pals in the oil and gas business would be mighty proud of their boy on this day. That V.I.P. parade was burning some prodigious amounts of fuel. And they must do this every day that Congress is in session, as the Veep is president of the Senate, standing by the break a tie on the Republican side. What sort of nefarious deeds had he been up to on this day, I wondered.

The rest of my afternoon was uneventful. I walked back to my hotel via the National Mall. I stopped for a few minutes on a bench by the National Gallery of Art fountains. I occasionally ate my lunches here when I worked in D.C. Always cooler here in the summer, with the trees and the mist blowing off the fountains. Nobody ever bothers you, unless it's some tourists looking for a bystander to take a group photo.

I visited the World War II Memorial for the first time. It's strangely bland, especially in comparison to the legendary Vietnam Wall and the stark soldier statues at the Korean War Memorial. The more controversial the war, the more invigorating the monument. Not sure if that's true. If it is, the Iraq War Memorial slated for the Mall some time in the next 20 years will be a doozy. I always linger by the Vietnam Memorial (shown above). I'm not a Vietnam veteran, but a product of those times. Something haunting about the black granite wall that will never leave me.

I recall the turmoil surrounding the memorial's design. "A black gash of shame," one critic called it. But it was promoted by Vets and had enough clout on Capitol Hill to weather the storm. The day I was there, a steady stream of tourists walked the path that flanks the wall. One young kid was doing a rubbing of one of the 58,000 names. Maybe he was a grandson or a relative, or maybe doing it for a class assignment. A group of Chinese tourists filed by. Couples and families. Some of the men looked old enough to be vets, but one can't be sure. The Wall draws all kinds. Some, obviously, have never been here. Like the guy who lives in this very white house....

Happy "Mission Accomplished" Day

It's great to be back in Wyoming after four days inside the D.C. Beltway. I kept looking for political insiders while I was there, and I found a few, but more about that later....

Yes, it's the fifth anniversary of Mission Accomplished Day. It seems like only yesterday that a costumed George W. Bush announced from the deck of an aircraft carrier that the Iraq War was over. We looked on in fascination as the president made his landmark speech on May 1, 2003, against the unfurled banner that was the source of our country's pride.

Alas, the announcing and the bannering and the jubilation were premature. The Iraq War rages on and the casualties keep piling up.

Wonder where Dubya will celebrate Mission Accomplished Day?