Literature drop for Ken McCauley Aug. 14

Linda Stowers sends this Dem news:

Ken McCauley, Wyoming House District 8 candidate, is having a literature drop on Saturday, August 14. If you are interested in particpating in this activity join him at 3612 Moore Ave at 8 a.m. on the 14th. You will just be leaving literature on neighborhood doors.

I am in Ken's district. He has visited me and my neighbors at least once already. He is a Democrat. He is a great candidate. Not sure if I can make lit drop as I may be out of town. But I will drop lit on other days.

Good luck Ken!

FMI: http://www.mccauleyforhouse.com/

"Cowboy up" mentality doesn't prevent suicides

The Wyoming Department of Health Aug. 27 on-line newsletter about suicide prevention carried this article:

The "Cowboy Up" motto of self-reliance can be deadly for vulnerable Wyoming residents.

Rugged individualism prevails in Wyoming and other frontier states, where residents “cowboy up” to take care of problems on their own — even if that may mean taking their own lives.

Halloween 1991 was a happy time for siblings Beau, Brett and Blair Wagner of Cheyenne. Yet before one brother turned 20 he would be dead by suicide. A second brother ended his life four years later.

Cheyenne Frontier Days™ had wrapped its 113th year a mere week before Beau Wagner ended his life. The date was August 4, 2009, and while local and national media were reporting on record attendance and rodeo champions, Beau was living his last hours. “He was in such a dark place,” recalls his mother BJ Ayers.

Like many who contemplate suicide as a final escape from unrelenting “psychache,” Beau hid the depth of his pain—and hid it well. Reflecting the rugged western independence that Wyoming citizens abide by, Beau handled his problems in his own way. So did his kid brother Brett.

Less than four years earlier, Brett too had died by suicide. He was 19 years old, and the youngest of the three Wagner boys. It was December 1, 2005, the day that Brett's sudden and unforeseen death first shattered this Wyoming family.

The Wagner brothers -- Beau, Brett and Blair -- resemble one another in more ways than their rugged good looks. Genetic predisposition to depression, a mood disorder that is often present in people who die by suicide, is something else Brett and Beau likely had in common. But both coped with their emotional pain in their own ways that didn't include clinical treatment—medication, therapy, or ideally both in combination with one another.

After Brett's passing, he left many drawings, sketches and letters that now serve as a testament to his emotional pain—a pain so great he saw no way out other than to end his life. Mom BJ hoped her two remaining sons would be insulated from thoughts of suicide by their youngest brother's death. That was not to be for Beau. Research shows that people who lose a loved one to suicide are at much higher risk of dying by suicide themselves. As unfathomable as it may be, Beau's following in the footsteps of his younger brother, while tragic and incomprehensible, is not surprising to experts in suicidal thoughts, gestures and attempts.

In 2009 the boys' mom established a non-profit organization, Grace for 2 Brothers Foundation. Its mission is two-fold—to serve as a resource for those in emotional crisis or for those who know a person in crisis, and also for people who have lost a loved one to suicide. These "survivors of suicide loss" often experience traumatic, complicated grief and can be prone to anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder, along with potential onset of clinical depression, as an outcome of coping with a loss as profound as suicide, particularly that of a child.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS! SATURDAY, AUGUST 14: 1st ANNUAL "WALK OF GRACE" at 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Lions Park Amphitheater in Cheyenne. For information or to register, visit http://www.gracefor2brothers.com/. SUNDAY, AUGUST 15: 2nd ANNUAL MEMORIAL GOLF TOURNAMENT the Airport Golf Course in Cheyenne; registration begins at 11 a.m., with tee-off at 12:30 p.m. For information or to register, contact Rick Boheler at 307-432-0547 or rboheler@comcast.net.  

On stage in Casper on Aug. 9

ARTCORE announces its MUSIC & POETRY Series: Betsy Bower ("Lycra, Music, Yoga") and Michael Shay (writer and yours truly) on Monday, Aug. 9, 7:30 p.m., at the Downtown Grill & Venue, Casper,.

In Betsy’s own words: “My father owns a welding shop where I grew up playing with fire and tools twice my size. Though I never wanted to grow up, I live in a 24-year-old body playing as if I have faery wings stretching out behind me. I build my own toys out of the resources around me. In high school, I studied abroad for one year as a Rotary exchange student in Japan. Breathing, eating, and socializing in another culture cured me of believing that there is only one way to live. Traveling became another passion for me and since I have met, it seems like, countless amazing philosophers, circus freaks, artists, dancers, musicians, transcendentalists, teachers, and muses. I generally move every few months, and I dream of living on the road in an art/music studio on wheels. I enjoy watching Casper blossom. Every time I return from somewhere the culture has grown.”

Michael Shay’s fiction and essays have been published in Northern Lights, High Plains Literary Review, Colorado Review, Owen Wister Review, Visions, Relief Journal, High Plains Register, and In Short, a Norton anthology of brief creative nonfiction. His book of short fiction, The Weight of a Body, was published by Denver’s Ghost Road Press in March 2006. Michael was co-editor of the Wyoming Center for the Book’s 2003 anthology, Deep West: A Literary Tour of Wyoming. Michael blogs about writing and politics and Wyoming on his hummingbirdminds blog. He is the individual artists’ program specialist for the Wyoming Arts Council in Cheyenne.

FMI: http://www.artcorewy.com/

Depressed? Get over it, cowboy!

Wyoming teens still engage in risky behavior.

That’s not really news for teens living anywhere or at any time. I must admit that I engaged in some risky behaviors as a lad. Lived to tell the tale and to lament the fact that we don’t seem to be making any progress on this front.

In its Kids Count report, the Annie E. Casey Foundation says this:

Wyoming’s death rate among people 15 to 19 years old, based on accidents, suicides, homicides and other causes, was 86 per 100,000. Only seven other states had a higher rate.

In 2000, Wyoming’s teen death rate was 81 per 100,000.

For our teens, things are getting worse, not better.

And this happening during boom times, a time of budget surpluses and increases in state spending on education and, to a certain extent, health care. This includes boosts in funding for mental health care, too.

So, if throwing money at a problem fixes it, we should all have happy and productive and living teens.

Some of us do not. In 2008, six percent of the state’s teens were not attending school and had not graduated from high school. That’s better than 2000 when that figure was 10 percent. Teen pregnancy is up. Fifty-one births were recorded in 2007 for every 1,000 females 15-19 years old. That was 42 per 1,000 in 2000.

Lots of bad news sprinkled with some good news.

These are more than boring stats for those of us with teen children. Our 17-year-old daughter Annie has engaged in some risky behavior. I’m sure that Chris and I know only some of it. The war on drugs has failed us and our country. Teens seem to get booze any time they want. Annie seems to know more high school drop-outs than kids still in school. There’s a batch of homeless teens in Cheyenne who roam from one friend’s house to another and occasionally sleep under bridges. One only has to wander through the mall to see our town’s array of teen mothers.

One could write a book on this subject, but someone else will have to do that. I just want to explore one factor that underlies all of these problems.

Wyoming.

A conservative state with a frontier mentality. If you live here, you get to enjoy some incredible scenery and outdoor activities. Peace and quiet and low crime rates. In exchange, you will be underpaid and have access to second-rate health care and third-rate amenities in the arts and culture. Mental health care is almost nonexistent. This is a state without a single child psychiatrist and only one drug and alcohol treatment center for teens. The reigning attitude is that you can tough it out, no matter what the “it” is? Drunk? Quit drinking. Depressed? Get over it, boy, and get to work. Suicidal? If you want to shoot yourself, please do it outside.

This is all tied in with the rugged individualism that made Wyoming great. That’s the myth, anyway. Our State Legislature actually spent time during the past session on an official code based on some pretend cowboy past. I blogged about during the session (http://hummingbirdminds.blogspot.com/2010/02/wyomings-new-code-of-west.html) and last spring http://hummingbirdminds.blogspot.com/2010/04/uw-panel-discusses-wyomings-new-code-of.html.

The Legislature is representative of Wyoming in that it is overwhelmingly Republican and more conservative that most of the Wyomingites I know. It has many more members from the ranching and agricultural fields than is represented in the population as a whole. The part-time Wyoming House and Senate should be made up of mainly of those from the extractive industries, tourism and government – local, state and federal. A columnist once postulated that if Wyoming had a logo that better represented its population, it would replace the bucking horse with a bureaucrat carrying a briefcase. Just imagine that image on state letterhead.

We hate gubment. We are the gubment. Wyomingites get more back in funding from Uncle Sam then they pay in taxes.

We hate gubment.

Back to our teenagers. We have some fine teens in this town. Smart, energetic, talented. In a few years, they’ll be of to college and exciting careers in places other than Wyoming. Some will had for the military, and still others for the oil patch.

Many others will be left behind. Pregnant at 16, or working fast-food jobs while something better opens up. Others will die while driving drunk.

And we’ll sit back, watch the unfolding chaos, and ponder the wonders of the Cowboy Code.

THE MAN IN ( MOSTLY) BLACK

Most of us break out our Western duds only during Cheyenne Frontier Days. The cast in this city-wide spectacle has to look the part. Question: Can you tell by my outfit that I'm a fake cowboy?

What health care reform looks like for people with mental illness

National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) provides fact sheets on the huge new health care reform law and what it means for those of us struggling with depression and bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and behavior health issues. Mental health parity is finally becoming a reality. I just discovered that my health insurance has caught up with the times, removing caps on mental health treatment, both out-patient and long-term hospitalization. Change! And hope!

http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=Issue_Spotlights&template=%2FContentManagement%2FContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=100489

National Geo Geotourism Map worth a look

Atlantic City Mercantile, Dark Horse Books and 7D Dude Ranch all part of the National Geographic's Yellowstone Region Geotourism Map at http://www.yellowstonegeotourism.org/map.php.


The region emcompasses quite a distance, further than most of us in Wyoming consider the Yellowstone ecosystem. For instance, the Little Bighorn Battlefield on Montana's Crow Reservation is on the map. It's worthy, no doubt, but so far away from the old Yellowstone caldera at around 150 road miles.


Entirely possible that National Geo knows more than I do.

U.S. Army stats: Discharges for mental disorders increase by 64 percent

Disturbing news from a USA Today story as reported in The (Pakistan) Nation on the Web:

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are taking a toll on minds as well as bodies, statistics released by the U.S. Army indicate.

The Army said the number of U.S. soldiers forced to leave the military because of mental disorders increased by 64 percent from 2005 to 2009, USA Today reported.

Last year 1,224 soldiers received a medical discharge for mental illness such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

The number accounts for one in nine medical discharges.

Army Lt. Col. Rebecca Porter, a behavioural health official, said research shows "a clear relationship between multiple deployments and increased symptoms of anxiety, depression and PTSD."

The Pentagon reported in May that mental health disorders caused more hospitalizations among U.S. troops in 2009 than any other medical condition.

Joe Davis, a spokesman for Veterans of Foreign Wars, said the military is excellent at treating visible wounds but not wounds to the mind.

ANTICIPATION

These beauties from one of my Silvery Fir Tree tomato plants are not bound for the ketchup bottle. These will be the first to ripen and will no doubt be bound for glory as I snatch them right off the vine to eat. That is summer!

Hot music on a cool night in Cheyenne

Backyard concert July 22 in Cheyenne with Jeff Finlin of Fort Collins and Cory McDaniel and Amy Geiske of Casper. Photo by Linda Coatney. Cross-posted on wyomingarts blog.

Military seeks out new advice for Afghan quandary

Greg Mortenson, the Bozeman, Mont., mountain climber turned activist turned author, is in the news for his unique approach to winning the war in Afghanistan.

NYT article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/world/asia/18tea.html?src=me&ref=homepage

My garden becoming picturesque

Homegrown bounty.

The fence keeps out our mutt and two new kittens, who like to munch on greenery. Also the occasional rabbit that wanders into the yard.

Kathleen Parker: "Good Golly Ms. Molly"

Columnist Kathleen Parker writes today about a new Islamic fatwa, this one issued against Molly Norris, a Seattle cartoonist.

The Islamic fundies have issued a fatwa against Morris for attempting to draw the prophet Muhammed. Islamists says that thou shalt not draw or even attempt to draw or talk about drawing the prophet Muhammed. I should add that not all Islamic scholars agree that such a prohibition exists.

...In support of Norris and others, 19 Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonists have signed a petition condemning threats and attacks against cartoonists. The petition is posted on the Cartoonists Rights Network International website (http://www.cartoonistrights.com/). It hasn't enough signatures.

So what are you waiting for? Go sign. I did.

Community volunteering, Cheyenne style

Why do people volunteer?

There isn’t much glory in picking up trash along the city’s greenway. Sure, your organization gets a sign: “This section of the Greenway sponsored by the Old Timey Choo-Choo Train Collectors Club” – something like that. People see it every day as they walk or skate or bike by. But is that all there is?

People like to help. They like to hang around with like-minded people. As you pluck candy bar rappers from a patch of nettles, you are with other people who like what you do. And you’re performing a public service.

You get bragging rights, too.

“Have you ever been on the quarter-mile stretch of Greenway between Chattanooga Road and Rock Island Lane? Ever notice how the nettles are free of Snickers wrappers? Our club did that. All aboard!”

Scientists tell us that humans may be hard-wired for empathy and philanthropy and community service. We may even come equipped with an “empathy gene.” We could all be do-gooders at heart. This may come as a shock to Ayn Rand fans, who believe that greed and self-preservation are the only hard-wired human virtues. It may shock others who love to point out that only humans and our chimp cousins kill their own kind for the thrill of killing. That kind of attitude gets us off the hook in so many ways.

But if we are hard-wired for empathy and social interaction, it doesn’t let us off the hook in so many ways.

I’ve been thinking about this lately because Chris and I are volunteer coordinators for Cheyenne’s Old-Fashioned Summer Melodrama, now in its 54th year. It’s a production of the Cheyenne Little Theatre Players, now 80 years old and counting. As with all community theatres, the CLTP depends on volunteers. The melodrama is an all-volunteer show – directors, cast, backstage crew, olio acts, bartenders, ushers, and all the rest. It takes a lot of volunteers to run 28 shows, especially when this one is the organization’s largest annual fund-raiser. And the most fun.

Most people I know aren’t anxious to staff the old-fashioned (and very hot) popcorn maker in our historic (non-air-conditioned theatre) just for the joy of sweating. Jeanne knows the popcorn maker frontward and backward and is one of the few people who can get it to behave. She takes a joy in that, and in teaching the rest of us rookies. She divvies up the extra popcorn, and takes some home for her family. Small physical reward for five hours of hard work.

I was house manager for last night’s show. My job is to look important and handle the money. During one of my frequent breaks, I looked around the lobby and could see the following: behind the bar was a tee totaling Mormon and former Miss Wyoming contestant, a writer who sometimes takes care of her twin boy grandkids and a retired sheriff. Jeanne was disciplining the popcorn machine, ably assisted by 16-year-old Erica, whose grandma (a former school librarian) was backstage helping her granddaughter get dressed for a performance. Selling raffle tickets were mother and daughter, both long-time volunteers. My wife Chris was taking care of the box office and Joyce was sitting at the “will call” table – she was in melodrama performances back in the 1960s. She contends that she’s too old for acting but still loves to help out.

Waiting on tables were an Air Force NCO and his wife, who also supervises the theatre’s craft shop. There was Lew, an 82-year-old Air Force veteran and American Legion volunteer and Mark, a twenty-something guy who also volunteers backstage. Barb, too, who auditioned for the melodrama but didn’t get a call-back. So I called her up for duty in the lobby.

On stage were college kids, high school kids, state government employees, teachers, entrepreneurs, realtors and even one person who is looking for work and still found the time and energy to volunteer.

Signed up for volunteering later is the county clerk, several attorneys, government types, retirees, day-care providers, police officers, homemakers, men and women from Warren AFB, college kids, and several people running for public office.

None of these people are being paid, although waitrons get to keep their tips.

So they get something else out of it. Some of the young people are looking for experience that can lead them into careers in theatre or film. One of the card girls this year is back from college for the summer and working as the tech person for the local TV station’s morning show. The honoree at this year’s Cheyenne Film Festival was a former melodrama volunteer, Daniel Junge, who has gone on to make documentaries nominated for Academy Awards. My son Kevin runs the sound and lights for his community college theatre program. He was waiting tables at the melodrama last year.

Others who spent part of their childhood at the theatre are now volunteering with their kids. Some are in show biz, but most are teachers, bureaucrats, serving in the military, working at carwashes, ranching, or maybe just ne’er-do-wells. Never know how people are going to turn out.

I’m an arts bureaucrat and writer. My wife runs the arts programs at the local YMCA.

Volunteering makes us feel good. We also know it’s part of being an active member of the community. It’s part of valuing our community, even creating community where it didn't exist before.

Where did we pick up such crazy ideas? Our families, for one, and growing up Catholic. We were also influenced by hippe values, which were a strange amalgam of "love thy neighbor" and "me-me-me!" All of us Baby Boomers seem to still be struggling with this issue.
Community is what it’s all about. You may not have a single empathy gene in your body. But almost everyone agrees that there is such a thing as “community values.”

A bit of French DNA makes me nostalgic on Bastille Day

Not much singing in my grandfather's house on Bastille Day.

Martin Hett was born on July 14 inside a thatched hut in County Roscommon, Ireland, either in 1899 or 1900 -- there always seemed to be some confusion about the year. My sister Molly had to dig up his birth certificate in order to apply for dual Irish/U.S. citizenship. Maybe she knows the year.

Martin had many siblings -- and step-siblings. An evil stepmother, too. If it was a nice day in Roscommon on that Bastille Day so long ago, he might have been born outside to avoid the crowds. A few hundred miles away in Paris, fireworks were erupting, illuminating the Eiffel Tower and the wine-flushed faces of thousands of French citoyens. By 1918, a lot of them would be dead in the mud of their homeland.

And Ireland would be a free state. And Martin Hett would be in America not singing "La Marseillaise." He'd be working, though. A hard worker, not much for singing, even though he came from Irish and French stock. De la Hett was the family name, according to one family geneologist. The name brought to Ireland with a Frenchman intent on kicking Brit ass but probably winding up hanged from a gibbet, or just hanged, which was more economical.

But not before he gave a Roscommon lass his Gallic seed and part of his name.

"Let's storm the Bastille!"

"Fine, but let's make some time for a pint."

The French were many times unsuccessful in dislodging the British from Ireland, which was then part of the globe-spanning British Empire. Not clear how many French soldiers survived to mate. At least one.

And here I am, contemplating Bastille Day on a Wyoming afternoon.

I don't feel French. But I do like "La Marseillaise." A rousing anthem about revolution. Remember the scene from "Casablanca" when Victor Laszlo leads the patrons in "La Marseillaise?" One of my favorite movie moments.

During the U.S. invasion of Iraq, many American super-patriots hated the French, who would not cooperate in our misadventure. You recall the whole "freedom fries" fiasco? I do. So stupid. The French have been with us in Afghanistan. The last time I checked icasualties.org, 45 French soldiers had died in the fighting.

I have DNA ties to Ireland and France, although I've never visited either country.

Now, let's celebrate with a pint (or maybe a hometown microbrew) and then storm the Bastille.

Vertical Orchestra concert promises to be very moving

A very creative idea (cross-posted from wyomingarts):

Jackson's Bland Hoke not only has a colorful name but a colorful job title: Public Art Ambasador for the Center of Wonder. He's designed a public art project that combines ski area chairlifts, musicians, and fans relaxing in hammocks -- all on a summer Sunday afternoon.

I'll let Bland describe it:

Vertical Orchestra will transform the Teewinot chairlift at Teton Village into a collaborative instrument on Sunday, July 25. Musicians will ride the chairlift, playing music with each other as the lift slowly mixes the sounds of individual instruments into an auditory environment that spans the length of the ski slope. Meanwhile, hammockers, suspended in the trees below, will listen to their chords waft by.

Custom printed hammocks will be available at the base of the Teewinot lift for $20 before the event on July 25, 1-3 p.m. The hammocks are made from industrial surplus so you can feel good about reducing waste while supporting the event! Proceeds from hammock sales will be used for an artist grant.

Some very interesting volunteer opportunities await anyone that is interested in making the event spectacular:

-Helping print 3,000 feet of artwork on the hammocks with sponge stamps
-Creating the worlds first mobile amplification system on 5 chairlift chairs
-Hanging free hammocks in public places to advertise the event (where will you sling one...?)

Feel free to call or email Bland Hoke if you are interested in volunteering.

FMI: 307-690-0097 or blandhoke@gmail.com

So that's what gives the Vegas Strip its unusual glow...

Just finished reading John D'Agata's book, "About a Mountain." It's a nonfiction account of the on-again, off-again status of Yucca Mountain, where the U.S. wants to store its nuclear waste.

But, in the tradition of creative nonfiction, D'Agata combined this journalistic journey with his own Las Vegas story -- and that of a young man who committed suicide by jumping from the observation deck of the Stratosphere Hotel.

Seems like an odd juxtaposition of subjects. But the author ties it together neatly with facts and speculation.

Nevada Sen. Harry Reid comes off looking like a bad guy. It's odd that Reid recently faulted Pres. Obama for not being tough enough against Republicans, especially when it came to the battle over health care reform.

Burying tons of highly radioactive nuclear waste under Nevada rock won't impart many health-giving properties to Nevadans. It will bring jobs, no doubt about that. Those jobs will have health insurance, which is a good thing. There will be accidents in shipping and handling, which won't cost you any extra but could cost you your life.

Sen. Reid did a pretty nifty job of rolling over for the nuclear power conglomerates and home-state cheerleaders for Yucca Mountain.

But Harry has enough problems, what with Nevada Tea Party types hounding him at every turn.

The book's most compelling sections are these:

1. What happens when a truck carrying radioactive waste wrecks on the overcrowded Vegas freeways and catches fire?
2. How do you make signage for a nuclear repository, a sign that will be understood by humans 10,000 years in the future.

The answer to number one is: Shitstorm.

The answer to number two is a thoughtful treatise on human communication. A panel of artists and linguists and teachers and scientists were asked to come up with effective signage. The challenge was a huge one. Where was humankind 10,000 years ago? Battling sabre-tooth tigers in caves and trying to stay warm during the Ice Age. They weren't doing much recreational reading -- nor consulting any signs.

In 10,000 years, we may be back in caves. That cave may be in what used to be Nevada. There will be a sign that warns of terrible danger if you go any further into the cave but humans may not understand the sign. They may say to themselves, "Hey, this cool sign says there's a nifty surprise at the bottom of this cave." "Great -- I love surprises."

John D'Agata's book comes at a good time. The U.S. is now contemplating building more nuke plants. Uranium is being mined again in Wyoming and Colorado. Turck and rail shipments from the East Coast will have to come through either Wyoming or Colorado.

Read the book for its angst-producing sections. Read it for its fine writing.

"About a Mountain" is published by W.W. Norton, 236 pages, $23.95.

To read the L.A. Times review of the book, go to http://articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/14/entertainment/la-ca-john-dagata14-2010feb14

Got those old non-profit blues?

Non-profit. Nonprofit. Not-for-profit.

No matter your preferred term -- working at a non-profit organization can be challenging.

I work with them every day. I'm also on the board of a big social service non-profit, UPLIFT, and I'm a member and/or supporter of others.

Always need funding, they do. Yet often people running non-profits first got involved because they had a passion for the cause. Actors audition for a local play and the next thing they know, they're the development director for the community theatre group. I'm a board member of UPLIFT because the organization was the only one in the state addressing the needs of children with ADHD and other behavioral problems. I came in seeking advice and the next thing I know, I'm duly sworn in as a board member. That was twelve years ago and I'm now board president, term ending in October.

Volunteers and interns become employees and then specialists and maybe directors and are always learning on the run, never having time to stop and ask, "What's this all about?" They also ask this question: "How do I tell people what we do?"

The 2010 Snowy Range Nonprofit Institute may be just the right thing for you.

Here's some info from a University of Wyoming press release:

Communicating nonprofits' ultimate community value clearly, cohesively, consistently and compellingly is the focus of the 2010 Snowy Range Nonprofit Institute (SRNI) keynote, "Crafting Messages of Value."

Denver-based consultant Richard Male leads the session Monday, Aug. 2. SRNI, now in its ninth year, is scheduled for Aug. 1-3 at the University of Wyoming Conference Center/Hilton Garden Inn in Laramie. Male is a recognized leader in the fields of leadership development, fundraising, community organizing and public policy -- conducting training sessions, consulting, facilitating and speaking on each topic.

Male has served as executive director of nonprofits in Colorado, Missouri and Utah. One of those organizations, the Community Resource Center (CRC), has provided training, consulting and leadership services to more than 3,000 organizations in the Rocky Mountain region and beyond. While at CRC, he received a Kellogg Foundation grant to organize a public policy institute and a statewide organization devoted to grassroots leadership at the local and state levels.

Following his talk, Male will lead a hands-on workshop extending upon the themes of his talk. That session, titled "Connecting with the Community," will provide participants with opportunities to apply what they learn to their individual organizations.

This year's institute theme is "Nonprofit Management: Moving from Surviving to Thriving." Tracks are "Living Your Values" (internal processes) and "Walking the Talk" (external interactions).

For more information on this year's Snowy Range Nonprofit Institute, including the curriculum, an electronic copy of the brochure and access to the online registration system, visit the SRNI Web site: http://www.uwyo.edu/srni.

The Parkman Family Foundation has provided a limited number of full-registration sponsorships for first-time attendees. Sponsorships (scholarships) covering the $175 registration fee are on a first-come, first-served basis, available through the online registration process.

Eat some ice cream, meet Leslie Peterson

From the Laramie County Democrats:

Mike and Amy Bell are having an Ice Cream Social for Leslie Peterson, Democratic Party Candidate for Governor, on Thursday, July 15, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Everyone is invited to attend this social/fundraiser. The address is 7419 Daniel Court which is located in The Point neighborhood.

What does the Fourth of July mean to me?

In 1,000 words or less...

I'm looking out at the high prairie clouds. They drift east, as always, toward Pine Bluffs and Kimball. The people out there will get some fireworks this afternoon -- lightning and thunder and maybe golfball-sized hail. I should be able to see the light show from my backyard. Happy Third of July!

There will be store-bought fireworks in the neighborhood tonight. Already heard some the last two nights. Things that go boom are illegal in the city. Thing is, Cheyenne is ringed by sellers of fireworks. It would be a darn shame to have access to star shell cannons and flaming mortars and not be able to shoot them off. The law seems to stop very few except old law-abiding me.

I respect the law. I've broken a few in my time. Just the usual -- speed limits, marijuana prohibitions (a long time ago!), drinking laws (a very, very long time ago!) and I once watered my lawn on the wrong day. Nothing serious. I've tried to teach my children well, as the song goes.

Some very smart people drafted the laws that went into the U.S. Constitution that was codified 234 years ago. This document is allegedly why we celebrate the holiday, although visiting space aliens (let's see some I.D., you four-headed lizard!) might think the holiday is for blowing things up, burning meat on backyard grills and buying furniture at deep discounts. Also fighting Coloradans for camping spots at Glendo and Guernsey.

The Constitution has been in the news a lot lately. Some people think that the Constitution is just fine the way it is. Others want to change it so the freedoms in the document can be protected from Obama. Not sure how changing it will protect it. But many people talk about the Constitution but few seem to know what's actually in it. God and guns are in there. If you listen to Sen. Coburn of Oklahoma, God actually invented gun rights so it doesn't matter what the Constitution says about it.

Tea Partiers seem to be of two minds about the Constitution. Some want to wrap it in concrete (or Glenn Beck's gold) so it can't be touched. Others want to change some of its amendments in order to protect it from that darn Obama. Either way, they're mad as hell. Freedoms! Nobody gets to mess with the Constitution except us!

The odd thing about the Tea Party is they are religious about the purity of the Constitution but they aren't all religious.

But some are.

Writing in today's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle's Religion section, Sunnyside Baptist Church Pastor Max Janzen wrote about freedoms:

"Despite revisions historians' attempts to dismiss it, the Founding Fathers of this great and blessed nation clearly stated what did, would, could, can and hopefully will keep us from our loss of freedom: faith in God. It is on our money, in our pledge and in the second stanza of our national anthem."

And on our bumper stickers and in newspaper ads and on Fox TV, don't forget those. And at NASCAR races.

"Our freedom, most of the general public agrees, is a gift. Gifts require givers, and those who crafted, protected and granted us those liberties have for the far greater part acknowledged they were not the givers, but that God was and is."

Most of the general public agrees with this. However, there is a part of the general public which does not. As a prog-blogger I am probably part of this minority, as are Liberals such as Rachel Maddow and Al Franken, most poets, atheists (of course), skeptics and New Dealers. We hate freedoms! We are cursed.

"So in order to really celebrate liberty, be unabashedly thankful to the God who created you, in this time, allowing you to live in this place.

"And if you don't believe in God, get to work providing freedom for other people who do. Otherwise, you believe in the slavery of others to your own opinions."

Now I've probably broken my own law and written more than 1,000 words. But I'm free to do so. The Constitution protects my right to say anything I want, even if it exceeds the word limit or makes me sound crazy as a loon. The Constitution also gives me the right to shoot off fireworks any darn place I want to. Says so right there in the 234th amendment.

Happy Fourth of July!

Freedoms!

Don't miss Cheyenne Backyard Concert with Jeff Finlin Band July 20

Everyone in Cheyenne is getting cranked up for Cheyenne Frontier Days (only three weeks and counting!). But before we get there, a few other events are in the works. Here's one (courtesy of fellow writer and music fan Linda C):

A yard concert is a casual event that brings together friends, family, neighbors and co-workers in a warm and intimate setting. It’s almost like a command performance and everyone has preferred seating!

Everyone who comes is asked to bring a favorite potluck dish, a lawn chair/s or a blanket, and BYOB. Because the band is coming without any kind of formal contract, a donation of $10 per adult is suggested as a way for them to cover expenses and make a little money, as all artists should. 100% of all contributions go to the band members.

Plates, cutlery, tea, lemonade, and water will be provided. Enjoy food beginning around 5:30 p.m. Music will start around 6:30 p.m. and go until around 9:00 p.m.

Jeff Finlin Band is Amy Gieske on bass and vocals and Jeff, a singer/songwriter/guitarist described by the Chicago Sun Times as writing “with the minimalist grit of Sam Shepard and Raymond Carver.” Jeff’s song, “Sugar Blue” was chosen for the 2005 Cameron Crowe movie Elizabethtown.

Cory McDaniel, Casper native, singer/songwriter/guitarist, a member of The Tremors, “Wyoming’s only 2-piece trio,” with Dale Bohren, now also has his “Crew” — Amy, Jody Taylor and Larry Neff— toured with Spenser Bohren, and performed solo at the Mettman Blues Festival in Germany.

Where: Hacienda del Sol — 5419 Ridge Road

When: Tuesday, July 20

Time: 5:30-9 (or so) p.m

FMI: Linda @ 307-421-6549

Home blogging -- Off and on and off again...

Blogging has been sporadic during the past few weeks. First, the home PC is on the blink. Can't get the PC and the Broadband to talk to one another. IP address seems to be missing. Replaced the Bresnan modem and I got connected a few times, but then it was the same old miscommunicating. Any of you IT geniuses out there know what's going on?

Meanwhile, I hit the library's bank of computers sporadically. I love libraries. I used to just love them for the books but now I love them for all kinds of reasons.

More later...

Getting Melodramatic...

Old-fashioned Melodrama can can dancers and cast gather with Director Andy Dennis at Superday.

Good day to politic outdoors

Dems gather publicly at Cheyenne Superday
Callback #: 307-630-1722

All these boring summer weekends

Too bad there is nothing to do this weekend.

If that sounds like a bored teen, that's because I just heard one say this.

I just spent an hour staring at the PC marveling at the weekend's events. Superday in Lion's Park all day Saturday. Music and vendor booths and food and brew and lots of sun, at least that's what the weatherpeople told me this morning. I grew so weary from our elongated winter/spring that I am thankful for each ray of Sol that hits my very sensitive Celtic skin. I wear layers of sunscreen. All the pols will be out promoting their various agendas. An election year, don't forget.

Speaking of Celts, the Cheyenne Celtic Musical Arts Festival takes place all weekend on Cheyenne's Depot Plaza (see previous post). Highlight will be The Elders from K.C., but also lots of other bands. One thing about these Celtic festivals -- Scots seem to dominate. They lord it over us Irish, them and their stinking tartans and their skirling pipes and their caber-tossing and Robert Burns look-alike contests. What do we Irish have? Music, with our sets of pipes and whistles and fiddles and such. Poetry. Writers by the score. Drinking, too. Can't forget that double-edged sword. We have swords too. And I.R.A. bomb-makers, although most of them are either dead, still in prison or riding The Celtic Tiger, selling I.M.I.R.A. T-shirts (Euros only).

And then there are all the mountain activities, including hiking, camping, fishing and a variety of folk and music festivals. Casper has its NIC Fest, where I always spend too much money on art for my crowded walls. The Jackson Hole Writers' Conference is in Jackson.

At home, there's gardening and reading novels under my oak tree.

I'm not bored.

Last weekend we were all volunteering at Juneteenth. Only a handful of pols showed for that one. They all got to speak. Dem Gov candidate Pete Gosar was there with a retinue. I liked his T-shirt, in UW Cowboy colors. On back it says "Walk On!" As a one-time jock and sports reporter, I know what that means. He was a walk-on player at UW. I asked him about this and he said he had to go head-to-head with about 100 walk ons his freshman year. After day after day of full pads and sun and screaming coaches, the field was narrowed to ten. Gosar eventually earned a scholarship and lots of playing time.

Walk on. He will be doing more running this summer than walking. Primaries in August!

The Elders headline Friday events at Cheyenne Celtic Musical Arts Festival

June 25-27, 2010, is the fifth year for the Cheyenne Celtic Musical Arts Festival on the downtown Depot Plaza. Organizers say that "every year this festival gets a little bigger -- and I think it gets even better!" Events are free.

The Elders will be headliners on Friday, June 25, 9-11 p.m.

Full schedule: http://www.cheyennedepotmuseum.org/_pdfs/2010/celtic%20sched.pdf

All this Republican talk about slashing state spending is giving me a headache

Jeremy Pelzer reported an astonishing fact in yesterday's Casper Star-Tribune -- Republican Gubernatorial candidates want to cut the state budget.

Some more than others.

Can you say Ron Micheli?

According to Pelzer, Micheli sees the budget as a growing threat. Kind of on the order of nuclear annihilation, unstoppable oil spills, F5 tornadoes, and another eight years of a Democrat in the Gov's seat.

On the campaign trail, Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron Micheli has aimed his sights on what he says is a growing threat -- the Wyoming state budget.

The state budget's tripled in the past seven years, he warns in forums and campaign stops around the state, and the current level of spending is simply unsustainable.

"I just know that we cannot sustain the level of growth of government that we have now," he said. "And I don't know what the answer is. Should it be cut in half? I don't know that. Should it be cut 30 percent? Again, I don't know that."

Micheli points to a 2009 report by the ideologically conservative but non-partisan American Legislative Exchange Council that concludes Wyoming's state spending trends can't continue on a sustained basis given current revenue levels.

To reduce spending, Micheli said, he would appoint fiscal conservatives to head state agencies, offer incentives to state agencies and employees to find ways to cut costs, and move to a "zero-based" budgeting process in which every new state budget is drawn from scratch instead of starting from the previous budget's spending levels.

Any major budget reduction would likely require cutting the state's employee payroll. Micheli said he favors reducing state jobs through attrition instead of layoffs -- though he hasn't ruled the latter out.

Full disclosure here -- I'm a state employee. When Micheli talks about layoffs, he's talking about me and my colleagues. So I take it personally. When he talks about appointing fiscal conservatives to head state agencies, I cringe. What does he means -- fiscal conservatives? His own coterie of hitmen from the ranks of the Tea Party? Most of the heads of state agencies that I know already are fiscal conservatives. Many are Democrats but most are not. If you wanted each Wyoming state agency headed up by a Dem, we'd still be waiting for slots to be filled eight years after Gov Dave took office.

We all know what Micheli means -- he wants Republicans who hate gubment to be in charge of the government. Remember how well that worked out under eight years of George W. Bush and Cheney and all of his gubment-hating, oil-slurping pals? I can refresh your memory if you forget. Not sure if I have enough time or enough electrons to do so in this space. But I can try.

What do Micheli's three opponents on the Repub side say about budget-cutting?

"I think that we are in pretty good shape right now, although I think that there's always room to take a look at individual agencies and see how we're doing," said GOP gubernatorial candidate Matt Mead. "It's maybe easy to talk about it in terms of political rhetoric, but it's much more difficult when you actually have to get there and make a decision."

House Speaker Colin Simpson has proposed a "sunset advisory commission" that would evaluate the policies of and need for each state agency. Similarly, GOP candidate Rita Meyer touts increasing the number of audits of state agencies and programs.

--snip--

Colin Simpson said even Micheli's assertion that the state budget has tripled since 2003 is misleading. While state revenues have tripled during that time, Simpson said, the Legislature put much of that money toward savings and one-time capital projects.

"Taken out of context, budget numbers can be dangerously deceptive," said State Auditor Meyer. "So you have to be very thoughtful when you're looking at budget numbers, when you're talking about growth."

Read more about Wyoming politics and government at http://tribtown.trib.com/wypolitics.

I wonder how many times Micheli will talk about slashing state budgets and eliminating state employees and wasteful government spending when he talks to Cheyenne audiences? I did hear him speak on the steps of the Capitol a month ago and he did indeed talk about cutting state government. But that was a Tea Party crowd. They know that gubment on all levels is wasteful -- and probably sinful.

Now where my Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security and veteran's benefits at?

Love & hate along the Pridefest parade route

At Denver Pridefest Parade with Chris, Annie and Brandon. Biggest surprise is large number of churches in parade. No surprise to see protester with misspelled sign.

Never been to Pridefest before. Might not have gone to this one if it wasn't time for a Father's Day excursion (a family tradition) and Annie's gay friend who had been in Cheyenne too long and had never seen a "Pride" parade.

I was impressed. Biggest parade I'd ever seen. Young woman standing next to me said that it was one of the biggest outside of San Francisco. Not sure about that. But it lasted about two hours. The Denver Post said that some 100,000 people saw the parade. Dang, and it didn't even have any marching bands. Music was provided mainly by sound systems on the floats. Club music, mostly, and some hip hop.

Annie and Brandon disappeared, as teens do, and Chris and I fell in at the end of the parade and walked down to the Denver Civic Center.

We passed a van that was all about God hating gays. My favorite sign read "Diversity is Perversity."

That's what it's all about, isn't it? O.K. to hate gays because they are different from you and me in this too-diverse society? O.K. to pass anti-immigration laws to keep the "Others" away from us.

"Diversity is Perversity."

Tea Partiers and born-again zealots should wear that on signs around their necks. Then we can see them coming.

Gardening in Wyoming

Garden, with water and sunset (black blob in background is our mutt chewing on bone).

Juneteenth in Cheyenne

Juneteenth committee member, community organizer, YMCA maven (and loving spouse) Chris Shay serves as emcee at Cheyenne event.

Rep. Jim Byrd introduces Juneteenth

Democratic Rep. Jim Byrd speaks about the history of Juneteenth during the celebration at Martin Luther King, Jr., Park in Cheyenne.

Y as in _ _ _ _

Y Guy and Annie S at the "Music on the Plaza" event in Cheyenne Friday evening. At last, the sun...

Send Rev. Mooney your bibles, your torahs, your korans, your atheist texts, your dog-eared W.S. Merwin books...

I receive the weekly newsletter from the Capitol Heights Faith Communities in Denver. Two communities share one building in one of Denver's oldest neighborhoods. One is Capitol Heights Presbyterian and the other is the 10:30 Catholic Community. My family and I were members of the latter. Our son was baptized at 10:30, which had one weekly mass -- at 11 a.m. The explanation is too longto get into now.

It's been awhile since I was an active member but I like to keep up by reading the e-mail "open letter."

This week's issue had info on a unique art project:

Rev. Tim Mooney is the pastor at People's Presbyterian Church and an accomplished artist. For the Biennial of the Americas Celebration in July, he is constructing an art installation at the Space Gallery. The installation will be an American Flag made from some 4000 bibles, torahs, talmuds, korans, vedic texts, etc. - the scriptures/texts of all the major religions/belief systems in proportion to the percentage each religion/belief systems represents in our country's population. Through the installation he hopes to create a visual picture of who we are, and add to the ongoing conversation about religious, spiritual, and even atheistic beliefs that influence and affect us. The installation will be accompanied by a looping audio track with recorded prayers/hopes for our country based on the various perspectives. You can help by sending old bibles and other religious texts, preferably but not exclusively hardback to him. Red and white are particularly needed. Based on the PEW reports latest statistics he will need about 2000 bibles (protestant Christians), 1000 bibles with apocrypha (catholic and orthodox), 70 books of Mormon, 30 writings from Jehovahs Witnesses, 70 Torahs or Talmuds, 30 Sutras or Tibetan books of the Dead, 25 Korans, 15 Vedic scriptures, 70 books on atheist writings, 20 new age books, and about 300 poetry or philosophic books that cover a percentage that are unaffiliated. If you can send books, please e-mail him at timmooneystudio@aol.com and let him know the quantity and kind of book(s) you're sending. He would also gladly receive funds to support this project.

Chris and I have some old Catholic perayer books and Bibles we can send. We have Chris's father's pocket Catholic missal (sp) that he carried through WWII. I also have a Book of Mormon I can part with (I have an extra). Quite a few philosophy tomes, too, that I probably can part with.

I want to contribute. Artists should be encouraged. And this one will be chock full of messages -- subtle and no so subtle.

Contemplating Flannery O'Connor this summer in the Wind River Mountains

I stumbled upon the Ring Lake Ranch site today. It's a retreat center near Dubois. I looked at their summer schedule as was bowled over by some of the offerings.

Here's one I especially like:

Bishop Will Willimon presents "Haunted by God with Flannery O’Connor," August 1-7.

Some commentary by Director Carl Koch from the web site:

Flannery O'Connor may have been haunted by God. She was a devout Catholic who beleived it heaven and hell. I used to be cut from that same cloth. But now am no longer a practicing Catholic. However, I am still haunted by the remnants of my faith. Reading Flannery O'Connor pushes all my buttons.

I have sometimes wondered in recent years about how many mainline Protestants and Catholics consciously raise the issue of their redemption or salvation. I must confess that “Will I be saved?” doesn’t keep me up nights – and it isn’t because I’m all that good. Even so, my recent bout with cancer turned my attention to last things – but only until my tests after treatment came back clear.

On the other hand, one still hears people on opposite sides of many issues – abortion, the death penalty, gay rights, war – condemn their opponents to damnation, in effect claiming that folks on their side will be saved.

Like Flannery O’Connor, my family and I were Catholics raised in a pre-Vatican Council church that seemed a lot clearer about who would and wouldn’t be saved. Good Catholics would make it into heaven – that was a given.

But, there always was some doubt that I still carry with me.

In one of my previous lives I was a professor of American Literature. Naturally I taught Flannery O’Connor’s works from time to time. In virtually every story, O’Connor placed her characters in a situation in which they faced a moral decision – a decision between salvation and damnation. They were given a “moment of grace” during which they had the power to select the good. O’Connor didn’t allow wiggle room either. At the end of the story, the reader knew the fate of each character.

So, who can be saved? How do we recognize our “moment of grace?” Bring your musings about and stories around redemption. This should be a provocative session with a master preacher and teacher who has clearly tackled this subject from many perspectives.

Wyoming's Organizing for America holds June 15 meeting in Cheyenne

From the Laramie County Democrats:

I am happy to announce that Kathy Everingim will be hosting a house meeting on Tuesday, June 15, beginning at 6 p.m.

Her address is 1717 East 22nd St., Cheyenne.

Please bring a little beverage or snack to keep the mood festive and the taste buds guessing!

At this meeting I would like to focus on a couple things that needs to happen in order for Wyoming to keep moving forward.

1. 2010 voter outreach to that large number of 2008 first time voters in Laramie County. There was over 5,000. That's a lot of votes, especially then you consider that in 2006 only 33% of eligible Wyoming voters actually casted a ballot.

2. How to host phone banks and community canvasses

3. I would also like for us to meet some candidates, so let us hope they show up

4. There will be specific plans of action conducted, because that is where the fun happens.

Bryon Lee
Organizing for America - Wyoming
State Director
(307) 752-5972
leeb@dnc.org
http://www.facebook.com/ofa.wy

Please, take a couple minutes to check out this Recovery and Reinvestment Act Benefits video: http://www.barackobama.com/recovery/video.php?source=feature

Bad company -- Wyoming Rep. Cynthia Lummis and staffer Johnnie Burton

From today's Casper Star-Tribune:

CHEYENNE -- Wyoming's 2010 congressional race heated up recently, as Democratic candidate David Wendt blasted incumbent U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., for employing the controversial former director of the federal Minerals Management Service.

Lummis' campaign fiercely denounced the accusation, in what could be the start of a contentious election campaign for the state's lone U.S. House seat.

In a letter sent last week, Wendt demanded Lummis explain why she employs Johnnie Burton, who came under fire during her five years as head of the MMS, the federal agency that oversees offshore drilling and revenues from energy exploration on federal lands.

Burton, who served with Lummis in the state Legislature in the 1980s and was also director of the Wyoming Department of Revenue, serves as a Cheyenne-area field representative for the congresswoman, helping constituents with issues such as receiving veterans' benefits or obtaining travel visas.

As MMS director, Burton oversaw the agency plagued with what one federal investigator later called a "culture of ethical failure." Agency workers were caught taking bribes from, having sex with and using drugs with energy industry employees. Burton also promoted a now-defunct royalty-in-kind program that allowed energy companies to avoid making billions of dollars in payments to the government.

She also was criticized for not acting quickly enough to correct blunders on offshore energy leasing contracts that cost the federal government billions of dollars in royalty payments.

Read all about the scandals that plagued the MMS during Burton's tenure in the Denver Post's investigative report from September 2008 at http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_10431998

And read this scary post at emptywheel: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2010/06/02/dick-cheneys-wyomings-face-at-mms/

There's more. So much more. And you thought that the Gulf of Mexico was oily.

Ken McCauley comes calling -- in the rain

Ken McCauley stopped by my house yesterday. Surprised to see him as it was raining and there's still time enough to campaign for the 2010 Wyoming primaries in August.

But he's new to political campaigning and thought he'd get an early start. I invited him in but he said he had a lot of territory to cover. He handed me a flyer. We talked outside in the drizzle.

Democrat for House District 8. My previous rep was Democrat Lori Millin, who's parlaying her two terms in the Wyming House to a campaign for the Wyoming Senate. Both House and Senate need all the Dems it can get. Wildly outnumbered in both houses. Still, there's always hope.

I walked the neighborhood for Lori in 2006 and will probably do the same for Ken. Lori beat long-time House Repub Larry Meuli in 2006 and newcomer Bob Nicholas in 2008. Both were squeakers. In 2008, results on KGAB Radio had Millin the loser. She ended up winning by a handful (documented at the time on this blog -- I forget the number).

Ken has a similar challenge. I've seen him working up to this for some time. He's a fellow traveler in the Laramie County Democrats. We were both handing out Gary Trauner flyers in the dark on election eve 2008, urging people to get out to vote for a good cause, albeit a losing one.

His campaign material displays his name underlined by an A-10 and its contrail. Ken flew A-10s in the USAF and is a combat veteran. He now flies big jets for United. That alone shows dedication and skill. Military service carries with it a mantle of patriotism. But that's not enough, at least for me. Many ex-military politicians have deserved votes. Others have not. I know some of Ken's politics and will research the rest and go to his public appearances. His significant other, fellow writer Joanne Kennedy, thinks a lot of him and that's probably enough for me. Still, an informed voter gets to win the arguments.

For the rest of you -- Ken deserves your attention. And, once you learn about his person and his politics, your vote.

Five Democrats in the Wyoming Gov race

The WyoDems' site lists the following Democrats in the Governor's race:

Pete Gosar, 1774 Coughlin Street, Laramie, WY, 82072
Phone: 307-760-3219. E-mail: gosar4gov@gmail.com

Al Hamburg, 4705 Road 70Y, Torrington, WY, 82240
Phone: 307-532-7710. E-mail: TBD

Leslie Petersen, PO Box 1147, Jackson, WY, 83001
Phone: 307-413-5004. E-mail: leslie@peopleforpetersen.com
http://www.peopleforpetersen.com

Rex Wilde, 1910 E. 22nd Street, Cheyenne, WY, 82001
Phone: 307-274-5450. E-mail: rexwilde2010@gmail.com

Chris L. Zachary, 1015 Warren Ave., Cheyenne, WY, 82007
Phone: 307-514-2891. E-mail: chrislzachary@yahoo.com

Leslie Petersen of Jackson, recently the party chair, is deemed front-runner by those in the know and bloggers, not necessarily the same group. I've been following Mr. Gosar on his Facebook page. His photo is a shot of him on the gridiron. Not a bad thing. I am a prog-blogger but as a one-time jock I don't automatically dismiss former football, basketball and baseball players as viable candidates. Hockey players, maybe.

One problem -- most ex-jocks tend to be Republicans. Sen. Bill Bradley is a notable exception. Maybe it's the legacy of St. Reagan's turn as George "The Gipper" Gipp in the movies. That forever tainted jocks making the transformation from gridiron to backroom politics.

Is there something about sports that makes conservatives? When I think of sports heroes, I think of the hard-chargers and risk-takers. I think of Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods and Joe Namath and Pete Maravich and Dan Issel and Roberto Clemente and Muhammad Ali and John Elway and George Brett and so on. Champions.

Maybe it's the big money of pro sports that makes conservatives. If you make a million dollars a minute, are you going to be radical in your politics? Can you afford it? Probably not.

I wish Mr. Gosar the best. But I do think that Ms. Petersen is going to take the primary and be our candidate for the November election.

What are her chances against Colin Simpson or Matt Mead? Not good. Simpson and Mead are moderates, as is Petersen. When two moderates face off in the Governor's race, the Republican always wins. Repub voters outnumber Dems in Wyoming two to one.

However, when the Dem is a smart moderate with great Wyoming creds (Dave Freudenthal), and is going up against a cuckoo Repub, as happened in both 2006 and 2010, the Dem wins.

I do not put Rita Meyer in the cuckoo category. She is savvy and may end up as the Republican candidate. But Ron Micheli is definitely in cloud cuckoo land. Right winger. Tea Party fave. Wants to cut state government by 40 percent.

Peterson can beat him in the race.

I'm a confirmed Dem. But I could see myself voting for Simpson, possibly Mead. But there is much danger in a Petersen/Micheli face-off. We live in strange times. Anything can happen.

That's why many Dems will switch to the Republican side in August to vote against Micheli. Think about it...

Great news for Cheyenne locavores

This comes from Cindy Ridenour:

Summer Farmers' Market Season officially opens on Tuesday, June 8 as the Wyoming Fresh Market opens.

Wyoming Fresh Market

3:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Tuesdays, June 8 - October 12

Yellowstone Road in front of Sutherland's

"Eat Local. It's thousands of miles fresher."

Opening the Season with:

Fresh Garden Produce,

Grassfed Beef and Bison, Ready-to-eat BBQ, Smoked Salmon and Chowders,

Gourmet Pasta,

Baked Goods,

Local Jams, Honey, and Peanut Butter Spread,

Garden bedding plants and hanging baskets, house plants,

Natural Body Care Products

To come in the following weeks:

Tortillas and Chips, Salsas,

Grassfed Lamb,

Free-range eggs,

Colorado Tree Fruits, starting with cherries - perhaps end of June,

More Fresh Produce and body care vendors,

and more...

Dem Gov hopeful Pete Gosar participates in Energy Expo Gubernatorial Debate

From a press release:

Democratic Party Gubernatorial candidate Pete Gosar will be in Casper on Tuesday, June 8, 2010, at the Democratic Men’s Meeting. The meeting will take place at the Parkway Plaza at noon.

Pete will also attend the Energy Expo Gubernatorial Debate in Gillette. The debate is being
held at from 4-6 p.m. at the Cam-Plex Multi Event Facility.

Pete will be available at both events to answer questions and discuss issues facing Wyoming.

Contact: Pete Gosar, 307.760-3219, gosar4gov@gmail.com

Tales about Heart Mountain -- and the "Octopus in the Freezer"

Photo shows the interpretive walk on the site of the Heart Mountain Relocation Camp between Cody and Powell. Photo taken by Lee Ann Roripaugh on her family's tour of the site yesterday before a presentation at the WWInc conference. (from Facebook)

Lee Ann and Bob Roripaugh presented a fantastic reading last night at the WWInc conference in Cody. They took turns reading poems from Lee Ann's book, Beyond Heart Mountain. Readings were accompanied by slides from the internment camp, provided by Dave Reetz of Heart Mountain Foundation. Very moving.

Lee Ann read the poetic monologues that were in women's voices. Bob, her father, read the men's voices.

Lee Ann is Bob's daughter. Bob is Wyoming Poet Laureate Emeritus and retired University of Wyoming professor. Lee Ann teaches in the creative writing program at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion.

Lee Ann talked about growing up in Laramie. Back then, the university town was very, very white -- still is. Life wasn't easy for a shy non-white kid. Her mother, Yoshiko, met Bob when he was serving with U.S. Army occupation forces in Japan.

Bob grew up in west Texas where WWII bomber crews trained at the air base outside town. Meanwhile, in Japan, Yoshiko was a school girl whose town was pounded regularly by those very bombers.

In Japan, they met and fell in love and married and moved to the U.S. Bob taught English and wrote about his experiences. Bob's story "Peach Boy" was published by the Atlantic Monthly in 1958. This led to enquiries by editors. According to Bob, one letter asked if he was working on a novel. "I told him I was, even though I was really working on a book of short stories."

This led to a published novel. It's also a useful tip for short story writers. If an editor or agent ever asks if you're working on a novel, say yes.

In Cody on June 4, 2010, Bob read about one of the internment camp's No-No Boy who refused to serve in the U.S. Army and was sent away from his family to another camp. He read about the Isei building a mini-internment camp for the horned toads he found around the camp.

Lee Ann read in the voice of the camp nurse. She read about a Nisei woman whose son interrogates Japanese prisoners of war. She read in the voice of a young girl who has to listen to the snores of the old lady on one side of her thin barrack's walls (they don't go all the way to the ceiling) and the couple on the other side who fight and then make strange noises like the hooting of owls.

Each of the writers then read samples of their own work. Bob read a part of "Peach Boy" and the poem "Yellow Willow," both based on his experience in Japan. Lee Ann read some poems about growing up in Laramie: "pearls," "Antelope Jerky" and "Octopus in the Freezer." I've heard Lee Ann read "Octopus" before. But it was good to hear again because it alternates between horrifying and hilarious. Lee Ann's mom had bought an octopus at a Denver market and it was stored in the freezer. Lee Ann heard bumps in the night and the clanging of a furnace and thought it was the octopus banging around in the freezer. Not sure which of Lee Ann's three books this is in, but buy them all and pay special attention to "Octopus." A new twist on childhood fears of a monster hiding under the bed.

Lee Ann, Bob, Max McCoy and two literary agents will be conducting workshops and presentations all day today. More info at http://www.wyowriters.org/

Wyoming writers in High Plains Book Awards

Two very talented -- and wildly different -- writers from Wyoming have books as finalists for the High Plains Book Awards.

Samuel Western's book, A Random Census of Souls: Prose Poems (Daniel & Daniel Publishers), is one of three finalists in the poetry category for the awards. Sam lives in Sheridan and has won a creative writing fellowship from the Wyoming Arts Council.

Info about the book:

Prose poems built of strong narratives, keen descriptions, and lively characters Packed with vivid and meaningful detail, these gemlike prose poems bear witness to lives both static and changing, set in well-defined contemporary and historic scenes. The stories reveal real people and their troubles, joys, and desires. The writing is bold and full of social consequence, whether set in among Wyoming high prairie, New England hardscrabble farm, or the metropolis of Ancient Rome.

About the Author:

Samuel Western has served in the Swedish merchant marine and worked as a commercial fisherman, contract logger, longshoreman, and hunting guide. He is the author of the book Pushed Off the Mountain, Sold Down the River: Wyoming's Search for Its Soul, and he has published poems and pieces in The Economist, Wall Street Journal, LIFE, Sports Illustrated, High Country News, Northern Lights, and Owen Wister Review. He holds an MFA from the University of Virginia -- where he also taught English -- and is the recipient of a Wyoming Literary Fellowship. He lives and writes in Sheridan, Wyoming.

Robert Greer's novel Spoon is one of three finalists in the fiction category. Bob has a ranch outside of Wheatland. He may be the only African-American physician best-selling novelist rancher in Platte County. But that's just a guess. Here's some info from Bob's web site:

Make time for SPOON, an engrossing literary novel from Robert Greer about a half-black, half-Indian man searching for his roots. Arcus Witherspoon comes to work for the Darleys as a ranch hand, but he ends up becoming a friend and mentor to their son, T.J., and a resolute ally when a coal company begins to pressure the Darleys to sell. Set in Montana's ranch land, this is a story about family, identity, and as always for Robert Greer, about our land and way of life in the West. A moving, memorable, and suspenseful tale.

Read an interview with Robert here

Fine summer reading.

Hallucinating on the road to Cody, WY ("Visions of Cody?")

Arrived in Cody yesterday as the sun set. We traveled in a caravan from Cheyenne. Seven-hour trip. Gorgeous scenery. The clouds were playing tricks with us, high-altitude winds carving them into a shark, the number two, a wagon pulled by a kid and -- according to my women traveling companions -- schlongs. Over beers, they also spoke of phallic rock formations. Perhaps seven hours on the road brings on hallucinations?

I didn't see any of the latter. One cloud looked like a Titan 3C rocket, another like a giant squid. But I was driving and had very little interest in cloud gazing which might cause me to drive into a shapely rock formation. And I was involved in listening to a book on CD, "The Spies of Warsaw" by Alan Furst. Read several of Furst's books but never listened to one. The reader (must get his name) has great facility for voices, delineating them with just a change in pitch or a bit of an accent. This is the unabridged version, but I may many more miles to go on this trip and will be able to finish this one and maybe another.

"The Schlongs of Wyoming." Enough of that...

The Wyoming Writers, Inc., board meets this morning to talk about budgets, last-minute conference details, elections and all those boring but crucial board details. The conference has a great line-up this year and it will be an exciting weekend.

More conference posts later....

Looking for a real test for ADHD

From the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/01/health/01attention.html?hpw

Who's running on the side of the Democrats?

On Friday, Wyoming Democrats' Chair Leslie Peterson filed to run for governor.

Tuesday afternoon, she'll announce her candidacy in the Wyoming Capitol Rotunda in Cheyenne.

Friday's news surprised me. I haven't met Ms. Peterson but have followed her press releases and policy statements for the past year. Feisty and well-written, possibly with the help of Party HQ. That's what PR people are for (I know -- I've been one).

As far as I can call tell, she has several strikes going into the primary. One, she's from Teton County, land of second-home Coasters, retired Republicans of dubious ethics (Dick Cheney et. al.) trust-fund babies, spectacular scenery, artists, writers, more Democrats (including Gary Trauner and Ted Ladd) than is usually permitted in this one-party state, and more tourists than residents from now until Labor Day.

Two, she's a woman. Wyoming is The Equality State, you might say. Surely it's had at least one woman gov. Yes it has -- and don't call me Shirley. Nellie Tayloe Ross (D) served as governor of Wyoming from 1925-27.

Since then, it's been a long dry spell for women governors. Kathy Karpan ran on the Dem ticket in 1994 but lost. I'm not sure if women have waged campaigns (Dem or Repub or other) since then, but none have come close to being elected.

At the same time, we've had six-term U.S. Rep. Barbara Cubin and current U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis. Both are diehard Repubs. So, Wyoming is not allergic to voting for women in Congress, but they don't like women running for Gov.

That's the bad news. The good news is that Ms. Peterson is a Wyoming native. She was born in Lovell, a conservative farming community on the northeast side of the Big Horn Basin. She graduated from University of Wyoming. Here's part of her bio:

"Like a lot of us in Wyoming, I've had broad experience and done a lot of different things to get along" she said. Petersen was born in Lovell, grew up in Dubois and graduated from Dubois High in a class of six. She attended the University of Wyoming in the 1958-59 school year and was on the rodeo team and was selected for the Spurs honor society. She grew up on the CM Ranch, one of the oldest dude ranches in Wyoming and also worked in the family hunting business in the fall. Her father, Les Shoemaker was the first President of the Wyoming Outfitters' Association. Petersen moved to Jackson in 1975 and her husband of 34 years is Henry (Hank) Phibbs, a Jackson attorney, who grew up in Casper and is currently serving as a Teton County Commissioner. They have two grown sons, Travis Petersen and daughter-in-law Kristi, of Wilson, and Monte Petersen of Pagosa Springs, CO.

Pretty good credentials. Wyoming likes its natives, even its Democrats such as Dave Freudenthal and Mike Sullivan. And they're both lawyers! Go figure.

More possible good news -- there are four strong candidates running for Gov on the Repub side. They might beat themselves up this summer and the right-wing candidate Ron Micheli might end up as the candidate. Wyoming tends to be more moderate than other mid-American red states such as Idaho and Utah and even Oklahoma. Once Micheli's wacko Tea Party credentials come to light, a "Freudenthal Democrat" might sneak in and win the governor's race.

Welcome to the fight, Ms. Peterson. We may yet dare to hope for victory in November.

Get more info at http://www.peopleforpeterson.com/

Wyoming Writers, Inc. gather in Cody

On June 3, I leave for the Wyoming Writers, Inc., conference in Cody.

It's a great gathering of writers and poets from throughout the state (and beyond) who travel many miles to attend workshops and meet with editors and agents and read their work and listen to the work of others. There's also some catching up to do with people you see only once a year.

This year's conference features the Wyoming father-daughter writing team of Bob Roripaugh and Lee Ann Roripaugh. Bob is Wyoming Poet Laureate Emeritus and retired from teaching at UW. He's mainly known for his poetry but he was first published as a novelist.

Lee Ann is Bob and Yoshiko Roripaugh's daughter. She began college as a musician and ended with an M.F.A. in creative writing. One of her mentors was the great Yusef Komunyakaa. Lee Ann's first book, "Beyond Heart Mountain," won the National Poetry Series Prize. It features poems told in the persona of internees at Heart Mountain Relocation Camp. Located between Cody and Powell, the camp was the third-largest city in the state from 1942-46, home (?) to more than 10,000 Japanese-Americans moved from the West Coast during the hysteria following the Pearl Harbor attack.

The Heart Mountain Foundation is building an interpretive center at the camp, now a National Historic Site. Wyoming Writers, Inc., wanted to hold an event at the center but it won't have its debut until August. Instead, the Roripaugh family will talk about Heart Mountain at the conference's lead-off session at 7 p.m. on Friday, June 4. A book signing will follow, and then an open mike reading. Saturday and Sunday are full of workshops and readings and schmoozing. All events are at the Holiday Inn in Cody.

Come on up and join us.

We are not weinies. We are Dems.

Are Wyoming Democrats weinies?

No. We take our licks, persevering against overwhelming odds. Repubs outnumber us 2-to-1. At gatherings, we often admit that we are Democrats, risking public humiliation. In 2008, we made thousands of phone calls and knocked on many doors to utter the name "Barack Obama." Very few of us were cursed at or beat up for our troubles.

But there were signs at tonight's Laramie County Democrats' meeting that we're not the champs we think we are.

Bryon Lee is Wyoming's Organizing for Obama chair, the only full-time paid Obama person within 97,818 square miles. He's from Gillette and now lives in Sheridan. He's been traveling the state to find Democrats grumbling about Obama and Gov. Freudenthal and lack of Dem candidates and even the horrible spring weather which must be Obama's fault. Sometimes he arrives at meetings to find tumbleweeds rolling through an empty room. A sad state of affairs.

He and six like-minded Dems waded into a Sheridan rally of some 250 Tea Party people a few weeks ago. They were hoping to serve as an antidote to the usual fawning media attention give to teabaggers.

They got it. Name-calling -- commies! socialists! When Bryon applauded the mention of Obama's name, he was shoved by a Tea Party goon. "You assaulted me," Bryon said. The menacing crowd closed in. Fortunately there was a reporter there and the incident ended up on the front page of the Sheridan Press.

The moral of this story -- nothing happens if you don't show up. Also -- don't let the teabaggers have all the fun.

Speaking of showing up -- Organizing for America is holding a meeting Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Windflower Room of the Laramie County Public Library in Cheyenne. Bryon will be there to talk about organizing for the 2010 elections.

The weinie issue continued when Ken McCauley spoke. Ken is an Air Force combat veteran and now flies big passenger planes for a living. He put together a presentation on national security because he was upset about wording in the 2010 Wyoming Democrats platform approved at last weekend's state convention in Casper. Ken distributed a handout that looked to be from PowerPoint (I'll ask him if it's available online and provide a link to it).

WyoDems adopted the following phrase in its platform:

"Wyoming Democrats support a foreign policy that reflects and promotes the principles of freedom, human rights and compassion without the use of force."

I'm a peacenik and even I couldn't believe that a phrase like this ended up in the party platform. I spent most of the 2004 state convention trying to get "U.S. Out of Iraq" planks in the WyoDems' platform. I received a smattering of support but the votes were overwhelmingly against the efforts. Maybe it was my Dennis Kucinich T-shirt that turned off the John Kerry multitudes. Maybe it was too soon to openly oppose a war that hadn't yet turned into its "extremely ugly" phase.

At last week's Casper convention, Ken tried to replace the platform statement with a hastily-worded one of his own:

"Wyoming democrats support the suppression of domestic and international terrorism that threatens U.S. security. We support the promotion of stable world democracy, safeguarding nuclear material, and worldwide reduction of WMDs."

His suggestion was ignored by the conventioneers.

So he put together his presentation and tonight offered a revised version, borrowing wording from Pres. Obama's recent speech to West Point cadets:

"Laramie County Democrats support combating the root causes that lead to terrorism, and we support the Obama administration's efforts to disrupt and dismantle known terrorist organizations so that legitimate and peaceful leadership can prevail in areas that spawn terrorism."

There was a spirited discussion. A motion was made to adopt the statement as a resolution. It passed unanimously.

We are not weinies. We are Dems.

Michael Pollan chronicles "food movement"

Looking forward to reading this (from a Grist column by Bonnie Azab Powell):

In what is ostensibly a five-book review for the June 10 New York Review of Books, journalist Michael Pollan has an epic essay charting the emergence and character of the food movement. Or, as he puts it, "movements." They are unified, for now at least, by little more than the recognition that industrial food production is in need of reform, "because its social/environmental/public health/animal welfare/gastronomic costs are too high." (Pollan, of course, has been indispensable to the rise of this movement, even though he omits his 2006 best-seller, The Omnivore's Dilemma, from his list of its catalysts -- among them Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation and Marion Nestle's Food Politics.)

Ethnic Studies 212: Superiority of the Irish

My friend Sean Seamus O'Casey Yeats Swift Cuchulain Beckett Guinness Doyle teaches high school in Tucson. His most popular course is Ethnic Studies 212: "The Irish are Superior to All of You F**kin' Gobshites." Tucson kids of all ethnicities clamor to get into the class so they can learn the meaning and proper use of "gobshite." Once in the class, they are flummoxed to learn from Mr. Doyle that there will be a fair amount of reading of fine Irish literature, performance of Irish drama and singing of Irish songs with just an occasional mention of gobshite, mostly in reference to the Arizona governor, legislature and assorted teabaggers.

Sean is upset with Arizona's new law banning ethnic studies classes. Gov. Jan Brewer just signed the law that bans classes that "promote the overthrow of the U.S. government, promote resentment toward a race or class of people, are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group, advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals."

"It's not fair," bemoaned Sean during a recent phone call. "Only once have I called for the overthrow of the U.S. Government, and that when that gobshite Reagan was president. And his people are Irish, so I can call him what I want."

I asked Sean if he promoted resentment toward a race or a class of people.

"Guilty," he said. "Once my students read The Great Hunger, they resent the Brits. After we watch Gangs of New York, they resent the American Nativists who advocated sending the Papists back to Ireland or killing them, whichever was easiest. They also hate Leonardo DiCaprio for his pathetic Irish accent. After seeing a performance of Synge's Playboy of the Western World, they resent me because they thought there would be lots of nudes in it. After reading Year of the French, they resent the French for being so inept on the Irish battefields against the Brits. After reading How the Irish Saved Civilization, they resent the Roman Catholic Church and all the popes. After hearing about Cuchulain's magnificent warp-spasms in Cattle Raid of Cooley (Táin Bó Cúailnge), they resent all of the wimpy comic-book heroes from their mis-spent youth. After reading An Béal Bocht(The Poor Mouth) by Flann O'Brien, they don't think much of the Irish.

"So you are teaching resentment."

He laughed. "I'm not teaching resentment. I'm teaching literature and drama and media arts and history."

"What about solidarity? Gov. Brewer says that teachers must teach about individualism and personal freedom."

"So maybe I should teach only Ayn Rand?," said Sean. "Look, the Irish are all about personal freedom and individualism. They could teach Ayn Rand a thing or two. You ever try to organize the Irish to do anything? Why do you think the Brits had such a free hand in Ireland for 500 years?

I asked him if he designed ES 212 for pupils of a particular ethnic group, such as Irish-Catholic Americans?

"That may be the class's saving grace. Irish-Americans don't want to hear the real story. They like leprechauns and St. Patrick's Day and Notre Dame's "Fighting Irish." They want to talk about great-grandpa leaving the old sod and coming to America with no shoes and not a penny to his name. They want to talk about finding their colorful relatives in Roscommon or Cork.

"They mostly avoid my class like the plague. Kids that want myths can take history classes that use Texas-sanctioned texts. Or Lynne Cheney's books. My best students tend to be recent immigrants from Mexico, Vietnam, the Sudan, Iraq, Sri Lanka, El Salvador. They know that life is messy. They came to the U.S. so they wouldn't be murdered or starved to death in their native lands. When they read Seamus Heaney and Jonathan Swift, or some Irish-American writers like Flannery O'Connor and James T. Farrell, they can relate to it."

"I'll take a kid from Darfur with a name like Mabior Dau over a Yuppified Republican Phoenix suburbanite named Maureen O'Sullivan any day."

"So Gov. Brewer's law may not apply to you?" I asked.

"That gobshite can kiss my arse. I don't care what she thinks. I'm going to keep teaching kids that life is wonderful and cruel and complicated and ridiculous and funny as hell. Especially if you're an immigrant in Arizona."