Getting a handle on health care reform's impact on our families

All of us with special needs children are doing our best to understand health care legislation. Just our luck that we'll have it all memorized and then the Repubs will claim victory in November and try to roll back the clock on this issue -- that's what they've promised. So good at undoing -- so bad at doing.

The following info comes from the Statewide Family and Consumer Networks Technical Assistance Center. It features great links to help families grok the ins and outs of health care reform. Thanks to Peggy Nickell at Wyoming UPLIFT for passing this along:

Links to Resources on Healthcare Reform

On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed The Affordable Care Act into law. This comprehensive healthcare reform law includes many provisions that will impact children, youth and their families. Many websites have been developed and updated with information designed to help families and healthcare consumers navigate these changes. The following are links to sites that provide extremely helpful guidance on the new healthcare reform law and implementation:

 The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has developed a website dedicated to helping people better understand the new healthcare law. It includes a section titled Families with Children that provides resources on a variety of topics. Here is a link to that section of the website: http://www.healthcare.gov/foryou/family/index.html.

 The Kaiser Family Foundation has created a new section of their website titled Explaining the Basics of Health Reform. It includes multiple resources to help explain many of the complex provisions included in the law. Here is a link to that section of the website: http://www.kff.org/healthreform/basics.cfm#explaininghealthcarereformseries.

 The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law has developed a health reform section of their website that helps to explain the comprehensive provisions of the law and includes links to other websites that also provide helpful analysis. Here is a link to the Bazelon site: http://www.bazelon.org/Where-We-Stand/Access-to-Services/Health-Care-Reform/Final-Law-and-Implementation-.aspx.

 The National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare has added a Policy Issues and Resource section to their website dedicated to the recently enacted healthcare reform law. This section of the website also includes access to archived Webinars on Healthcare Reform. Here is a link to the website: http://www.thenationalcouncil.org/cs/healthcare_reform.

 Resources developed as part of a joint project of The George Washington University's Hirsh Health Law and Policy Program and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation have been posted to a website titled Health Reform GPS ~ Navigating Implementation. Here is the link to the website: http://www.healthreformgps.org/.

 Families USA has created a section of their website titled Health Reform Central ~ The Road to Implementation that includes a series of helpful resources. Here is a link to the website: http://www.familiesusa.org/health-reform-central/.

Localarts: Shoot-out at Cheyennewood Oct. 15-17

Wyoming's Barrasso and Enzi join 43 other Senators to block bill to stop sending US jobs overseas

Daily Kos blogger MinistryOfTruth was suitably upset today when Senate Republicans voted to keep sending American jobs overseas.

45 Senators BLOCK bill to stop sending US jobs overseas with a tax cut wet kiss. This is MADNESS!

Americans: Stop being so very, very, very afraid

Ask me. Go ahead.

From Al Haug, Minneapolis.

Leslie Petersen drops into Cheyenne Sept. 28

The Leslie Petersen campaign sent this notice:

Leslie Petersen, Democratic Candidate for Governor, will hold a News Conference in Cheyenne in the Wyoming Capitol on Tuesday, September 28th at 10:30 AM.

Governor Freudenthal will appear with Petersen to talk about her candidacy at the beginning of the press conference.

The subject of the press conference is funding for our communities and the need for adequate and reliable funding for local services.

Leslie will take questions from the media and the public after her opening remarks.

"Helping Hands for Haiti" features art, food and music Sept. 30 in Cheyenne

Clay Paper Scissors Gallery in downtown Cheyenne will host a reception for its new show "Helping Hands for Haiti -- paintings and drawings by Paula Egan-Wright," on Thursday September 30, 5:30-7 p.m. Traditional Haitian food will be served and music will be provided by the Haitian Quartet

Paula Egan-Wright, an East High School French teacher, spent part of the summer in Haiti helping with earthquake relief at an orphanage. While she was there, she produced beautiful and poignant paintings and drawings of the people, places and the destruction wrought by the earthquake. Full of hope and life moving on, these paintings provide a moving documentary of a country struggling to regain its feet after disaster. Paula's drawings include portraits of children and people, and show the changes to famous places like the President's Palace and the Iron Market. All proceeds will go to support the orphanage in Haiti. Helping Hands for Haiti will be up through October 23, 2010.

Current gallery hours are Fridays and Saturday, 1-5 p.m.

FMI: Call 307-631-6039.

Follow the gallery on Facebook! Become a fan at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cheyenne-WY/Clay-Paper-Scissors-Gallery-Studio/84834729244

Wyoming already has its Tea Party candidate in Rep. Cynthia Lummis

David Wendt, Democratic Party candidate for Wyoming's lone U.S. House seat, wrote a fine editorial for Sunday's Casper Star-Tribune. In it, he wonders why Rep. Cynthia Lummis has sided with the Tea Party when that's definitely not Wyoming's cup of tea.

In his words:

Here in Wyoming we didn’t have to wait until the primary election was over to have our Tea Party candidate. This summer Rep. Cynthia Lummis had already signed on as a member within the 435-member U.S. House of Representatives of the 28-member "Tea Party caucus." Others of this group included Rep. Joe Barton, who felt it necessary to apologize to BP for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Do we really want to marginalize our state by sending back as our one representative in the House of Representatives, a member of this extremist caucus? What does the Tea Party know or care about Wyoming’s interests? On issues near and dear to Wyoming, like keeping the Wyoming Range off limits to drilling, Rep. Lummis has distanced herself from even her traditional conservative colleagues, Sens. Mike Enzi and John Barrasso, by opposing this cherished legacy of the late Sen. Craig Thomas.

The Tea Party has reaped a harvest of fear in national politics. They have played upon legitimate fears of economic insecurity, government overreaching, terrorism, and illegal immigration to create a harvest of anti-tax hysteria and religious intolerance. Wrapping themselves in the mantle of God and country, they purport to "take our country back" from their fellow Americans, as if all those who don’t share their views are traitors.

But is fear what we are about here in Wyoming? We pride ourselves on our frontier heritage. We have always brought to our challenges a spirit of self-reliance and courage to face the unknown. Time and again, we have summoned forth the initiative to respond to such challenges as the struggle for women’s equality, the preservation of public spaces and natural resources, and the fulfillment of our role as the nation’s energy workhorse.

Read the rest at http://trib.com/news/opinion/forums/article_6cee1ea1-c2e6-5887-9528-714efe6833e5.html

Read the full list of the members of the Tea Party Caucus at Michele Bachmann's (yes, that Michele Bachmann) web site at http://bachmann.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=199440

Rep. Lummis, the company you keep!

Can you say Equality State?

By Jeremy Pelzer at the Casper Star-Tribune:

Wyoming and nine other states signed onto a legal brief Friday claiming a federal court "exceeded its judicial authority" when it ruled that the U.S. Constitution requires legal marriage to include same-sex couples.

In the amicus brief, which was set to be filed late Friday afternoon with the 9th U.S. Court of Appeals, the states criticized a California federal judge's ruling last month that California's Proposition 8, a voter-passed ban on same-sex marriage, was illegal on federal constitutional grounds.

In the ruling, Judge Vaughn Walker wrote that there was no legitimate state interest in preventing same-sex marriages and that "moral disapproval" alone wasn't sufficient reason to justify banning it.

The case, Perry vs. Schwarzenegger, is currently on appeal. Lawyers for both sides have said they expect the case to ultimately reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

The other states joining the brief are Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, South Carolina, Utah and Virginia.

Among other points, the 39-page brief asserts that same-sex marriage is not a fundamental right; questions the legal grounds of the decision; and holds that individual states, not the federal court system, have final say in decisions about whether to allow same-sex marriages.

The brief also states that Walker's definition of marriage as the state's approval of a couple's choice to live with, commit to and form a household and economic partnership with each other is a "staggeringly broad" definition that could open the door to polyamorous or even non-sexual marriages.

Dogs and cats living together! Married people not having sex! Polyamority!

Why is this the business of the State of Wyoming?

Wyoming Hell Pig rampages through book festival

The "Hell Pig" (a.k.a. Archaeotherium) display at the Tate Geological Museum at Casper College. I was attending "A Conversation about Dinosaurs" at the Tate as part of the Equality State Book Festival. Dino illustrator Ray Troll was one of the speakers. His colorful "Hell Pig" illustration adorns Tate T-shirts.

More on Hell Pig from an October 2009 Casper College press release:

Kent Sundell, Casper College geology instructor, appeared on a new National Geographic TV series: "Prehistoric Predators." The segment in which Sundell appeared was entitled: "Killer Pigs."

"At four feet wide and 1,000 pounds, the killer pig was a prehistoric battle tank that dominated the North American landscape. Endowed with some truly unique bioengineering traits, the killer pig relied on its massive three-foot-long skull and binocular vision to catch its prey," said the National Geographic Society on its website: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/prehistoric-predators/3885/Overview.

The National Geographic crew filmed Sundell in the field at Douglas, Wyo. and at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center for three days in June of 2008. Sundell has proven that the local prehistoric pig specimens from Wyoming, scientific name Archaeotherium, are “definitely predatory in nature.”

GOP pledges to turn back the clock to 2008... or 1958.. or is that 1848?

"Tomorrow, my health insurance will suck less."

That was Rachel Maddow on her Wednesday evening show.

On Thursday, Sept. 23, all our health insurance policies now suck less. That's when some of the provisions in the health reform legislation we fought so hard for kicked in. You can find all the details at http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/benefitsofreform?source=issues.

You can call it Obamacare if you want. The Republicans do this in the form of a curse. Every time they utter the name "Obama" it's in the form of a curse. They have been programmed to do this by Fox, or maybe the Tea Party, or maybe their tiny little minds can do nothing else. The Republican lexicon now consists of very few words that matter.

Which brings me to the Republican "A Pledge to America," released on the same exact day that our insurance plans began to suck less. This is the day that the Republican Party platform began to suck even more and, possibly, stink to high heaven.

"Repeal Obamacare." You probably saw that one. You can translate that any way you want to. I choose to think it sends this message to the Republican Pod People: "Scary black man from Kenya with Muslim origins and no birth certificate still wants to kill grandma! And you too! And billions of unborn white conservative babies!"

Repubs pledge to make the rich even richer than you and me by keeping George W. Bush's tax cuts. This past week, Forbes Magazine released its list of the 400 weathiest Americans. Their wealth, combined, is $1.37 trillion. I don't know about you, but this is a little more than the net worth of me and my closest 399 friends. These richy-rich folks are whining that a return to a reasonable 39 percent tax bracket will stifle American ingenuity and cause them to hire fewer employees. They shall be forced to sleep under bridges and beg for crusts of bread on the streets.

All nonsense, of course. Pres. Bush paid back his rich cronies when he and Congress (Democrats too!) passed these tax cuts and then waged two wars with less tax money than before and ran up a huge deficit.

In its pledge, the GOP vows to "roll the government back to 2008 levels." What the GOP won't have to do it roll back Pentagon spending to 2008 levels because that would be a decrease in spending. To the GOP, defense spending is sacrosanct. So repubs plan to "freeze stimulus spending and impose hard limits on future spending."

Will they do that with Pentagon spending too? No, due to the fact that they don't hate the troops but the Democrats do. This is sometimes just implied by Repubs but often they say it out loud.

Wyoming's Rep. Cynthia Lummis made this statement on Thursday:

"While people in Wyoming and people all over the country have been speaking out, those in power have carried out a job-killing, budget-busting agenda. The wishes of the American people have been blatantly and repeatedly disregarded."

Wyoming is a one-party Red State. It's lone rep and two senators are all GOPers now, as usual. When they speak about "the people of Wyoming," they're thinking of their conservative base, which is almost everyone they know. Those "speaking out" the past year are the Tea Party fringe. When they speak out, the GOP listens. Many Liberals wonder: "Huh?" I've been to Tea Party rallies and have asked that question many times.

At its Sept. 8-9 meeting in Buffalo, the state legislative committee pledged to vote in December on a bill to establish a $2 million "litigation account" to pay for "legal challenges to portions of the new national health care reform law." This was reported Friday in the Casper Star-Tribune. Republican Sen. Charles Scott of Casper wrote the bill. He says that "Obamacare" will result in higher costs in Wyoming.

There's that scary word again. Scott contends that "Obamacare" is an extreme far-left bill. That tickles many of us Progressives who actually wanted a single-payer system. Health reform was a compromise. But Repubs always think they are the only ones who should have a say and they whine when they are forced to compromise. They have very little practice doing this, as "No" and "Hell No" are their favorite terms.   

So, the Wyoming people have spoken. "Stop the scary black man in Washington, D.C. He wants to kill Grandma and take away her guns! And he wants to make rich people less rich! UnAmerican!"

Mrs. P rides again in "unabashedly political" Working Words anthology from Coffee House Press

Word came yesterday that Coffee House Press has released the anthology "Working Words: Punching the Clock and Kicking Out the Jams," edited by Detroit's M.L. Liebler. It includes one of my stories set in Cheyenne. M.L. has been to Wyoming several times. I still remember fondly (and with some disbelief) the 2002 poetry and music performance by M.L. and Country Joe MacDonald at the old Zen's Coffee House on Lincolnway. M.L. may travel this way again soon -- stay tuned). Check out the book at http://www.coffeehousepress.org/working-words.asp.

The Detroit Metro Times had this to say about the book

“Unabashedly political. Tea-partiers beware. Working Words delivers more than 500 pages of unadulterated and unabridged working-class word art. . . . A heavy anthology . . . which suits the mission of Working Words just fine.”

The story, "The Problem with Mrs. P," was in my first collection, "The Weight of a Body," from Ghost Road Press.

Sunflower Sunday

Giant backyard sunflowers still scaring the neighbors and capturing the late summer sun. And what a sun today!

Linda Stowers: Support your local Democratic candidates

Message from Linda Stowers, Chair of the Laramie County Democrats (Go Linda!):

Dear Fellow Democrats,

I am proud to say I’m a Democrat in Wyoming. Not many people are saying that these days, but I think we need to step up and share our views and candidates with our neighbors. We have a great slate of candidates in Laramie County. At the County level we have Jeff Ketcham, County Commissioner, Wendy Soto, District Court Clerk and Tim Thorsen , County Clerk. All three are hardworking and dedicated individuals and we must elect them this fall. At the Legislative level we have Kathryn Sessions, Lori Millin, Ken McCauley, Robert Aylward, Jim Byrd, Mary Throne, Ken Esquibel and Gary Roadifer. We have the opportunity to pick up two additional House seats and a Senate seat. We must also help Leslie Peterson, Mike Massie and David Wendt with their statewide campaigns.

We have our office up and running. Stop by the office located at 408 W 23rd (across from the County Library) and pick up literature, signs or drop off a donation. If you can’t stop by give us a call at 307-634-9001 and we will have a sign delivered or literature sent. We can also use volunteers to help canvass, conduct phone banks or send out flyers on behalf of our candidates.

Upcoming events include an ice cream and pie social in Burns on September 18th, a Roadside rally on September 23rd ,a Chili Dinner on October 17th and a Victory Party on November 2. Candidates also have activities planned so there will be many opportunities to show your Democratic colors whether they be purple, red, blue, yellow or other colors of your choice. Stand up and be counted as a Democrat and support our Laramie County Candidates.

I have three campaign signs in my yard. How about you?

FMI: http://www.laramiecountydemocrats.org/

History of book festivals in Wyoming, part two

Smoke is in the morning air. Residue from the fire that destroyed the Hitching Post Inn, a Cheyenne landmark.

The Hitch was the site for the first Wyoming Bookfest on Oct. 26-27, 2001. We remember that fall for the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers and the anthrax attacks on Congress. Then came the invasion of Afghanistan by U.S. forces. Smoke was in the air that year, too.

Meanwhile, in Cheyenne, a handful of writers and booklovers were organizing what we hoped would become an annual tradition.

If I remember correctly (and I don’t always) the idea started with a meeting of local writers Chip Carlson and Larry Brown with Gene Bryan, who then was in charge of events at the Best Western Hitching Post Inn Resort and Conference Center, a.k.a. “The Hitch.” That’s pretty much what everyone called it, then and now.

The three co-conspirators thought a bookfest was just the thing for Cheyenne. Unlike its surrounding states, Wyoming had yet to have a statewide book festival. It would benefit writers, booksellers and The Hitch.

Linn Rounds, then head of the Wyoming Center for the Book, was pulled into the committee. So was I. Kathy Murphy, secretary to Wyoming Dept. of Commerce Chief John Keck, volunteered to keep track of all the proceedings. She did a great job, Kathy, alas, died a few years later. In the end, we had a great collection of people, including Kathleen Gillgannon of the YMCA Writer’s Voice, and reps from the Laramie County Public Library and the Wyoming Humanities Council.

Warning for anyone planning a book festival – it’s a lot of work. Forty-two poets, writers, editors, storytellers, musicians and at least one wood sculptor participated in the Oct. 26-27 event. That doesn’t include booksellers and presses featured at the book fair. Committee members were running around like crazy people, getting people to the correct rooms and finding more chairs when needed.

It got off to a heady start with a Friday evening reading by four poets laureate: Robert Roripaugh of Wyoming, Mary Crow of Colorado, David Lee from Utah and Bill Kloefkorn of Nebraska. The crowd was SRO, and it was a real thrill to have four great poets reading their work at one event. Just think of how many square miles are represented by these people from four big almost-square states.

David Lee was fresh from his appearance at the first National Book Festival on the National Mall in D.C. That event was organized by the Library of Congress and First Lady Laura Bush.

We also had a guest speaker that evening in U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi. Sen. Enzi and his staff no longer had offices in D.C. due to the anthrax attacks. So he brought a batch of staffers with him to Cheyenne. He spoke about the recent happenings in the capital, but then launched into one of his favorite subjects – books. He’s a big reader – I’ve watched him buy bags full of books from Wyoming writers. For the life of me, I can’t understand how he can be a booklover and also tolerate some of the Know Nothing views of his Republican Party.

Sen. Enzi also was in town for a very somber event. This was the funeral of one of the first G.I.’s killed in Afghanistan. U.S. Army Spec. Jonn Edmunds of Cheyenne was on a helicopter bringing troops to the war zone when it crashed Oct. 19 in Pakistan. All aboard were killed.

Thousands attended the Saturday funeral. We had hoped for thousands that day at the bookfest, but fell a bit short. It wasn’t for lack of trying. We had fantastic sessions on writing cookbooks, westerns, mysteries and poetry. We had some of the best anthology editors in Wyoming talking about “Editing Western Anthologies.” Local writer C.J. Box, who’s now published more than a dozen mysteries and won the prestigious Edgar Award, talked about “Whodunits on the High Plains.” I was on a panel with writers Teresa Funke and Jeffe Kennedy talking about “Starting (and Maintaining) Your Writing Critique Group.” My group is still intact, as is Teresa’s. Jeffe’s group in Laramie is defunct – and she now lives in Santa Fe.

On the Children’s Stage in the now-destroyed Saddleback Lounge, my son and his pals at East High staged an open mike. It also saw performances by Aussie storyteller Paul Taylor and the Cheyenne Youth Symphony.

We were exhausted by the end of the day. In the ensuing weeks, we went over all the evaluations. Most negative comments were about lack of attendance and lack of book sales. Lots of people had lots of ideas about how to make it better. More publicity. More big-name authors. Bigger book fair. Get more people to do the work. Involve more local organizations and business.

Here’s on comment I liked: “A number of authors travel a great distance to attend —at last give them a sandwich for lunch.”

You want mayo or mustard with that?

Here’s a great comment from C.J. Box: “The bookfest shouldn’t be all things to all people… While musical performances and wood art may bring in some folks, the bookfest should be about books and authors.”

A few months after the bookfest, the committee met for a brainstorming session. We stormed our brains out. We all wanted to have another bookfest, but there wasn’t enough interest to form a solid committee to write grants, enlist sponsors and plan the myriad bookfest details.

It was five years before there was another book festival. This one was a true statewide book event, the Equality State Book Festival in Casper. It was six years before there was another bookfest in Cheyenne, and that was the Wyoming Book Festival in downtown Cheyenne. It’s a project of the Wyoming Center for the Book at the Wyoming State Library.

Planning for the first ESBF began in late 2004. It involved a very motivated and dependable planning committee. A big budget too – more than $100,000. Lots of sponsoring organizations in Casper and throughout Wyoming.

The third ESBF will be held Sept. 24-25 at Casper College and environs. I’m on the committee but the real work is done by the Casper people, especially the co-chairs Laurie Lye and Holly Wendt.

Here’s to you, bookfest organizers. Lots of work and little glory. But people come out to see their favorite authors and buy books. Every year, bookfest authors go to local schools to get kids excited about reading. Bookstores sell books. Authors read from their books. There’s a late-night slam for poets. Workshops for striving writers and poets.

We’ve all learned some lessons since that first bookfest when the smoke from 9/11 was still in the air.

The Hitch was not officially an historic site, just the place of many memories for many people. It fell on hard times, then sold to new owners and then closed by the health department. Nine years ago it was the place where some concerned citizens constructed the foundation for bookfests to come. Part of the state's creative economy, you might say.

Now it’s smoke and ruins.

See you in Casper as we keep building bookfest traditions.

History of book festivals in Wyoming, part one

Before book festivals arrived in Wyoming in the 21st century, we had many localized book events. I remember the mass book signing at the Western Writers of America Conference in Cheyenne in (not sure of the year but I think it was 1999). The writers took over Barnes & Noble, which is the way it should be. Lots of books sold, too.

Wyoming Writers, Inc., always has a bookstore room and an authors’ signing as part of its annual conference. I’ve participated in at least one Wyoming Authors’ Day at the Central Wyoming College Library in Riverton – and there have probably been more. I was part of a huge author signing in Denver in 2006.

I’ve attended many book fairs, such as the one held annually by the Mountains & Plains Booksellers Association in Denver. There is a huge book fair at the annual Associated Writers and Writing Programs annual conference. The last one I attended was in Austin and was trapped for days in the massive book fair, missing such enlightening literary sessions as “Hemingway’s Tiny Penis and How It Made Him a Terrible Writer” and “Chick Lit – Scourge or Menace?” Instead, I bought books and met editors of presses and literary magazines which might some day print my stuff. I attended an intriguing publishing session entitled “Mike Shay’s Stuff Sucks, Which is Why We Don’t Publish it in Our Prestigious Journals.”

But book festivals are a different animal. Lots of writers and lots of books and lots of workshops with writers. Fun, too.

I was on the committee that helped plan the first Rocky Mountain Book Festival in Denver. I served as a volunteer emcee at the 1995 RMBF and planned a reading of Tumblewords writers from Wyoming and the rest of the Rocky Mountain West at the 1996 RMBF. As an emcee, I met and introduced historian Robert Massie, activist/actor/writer Russell Means and children’s writer Jack Gantos. If I remember correctly, the slide projector’s bulb burned out and we couldn’t locate another one, which put a dent in Gantos’s presentation. Fortunately, he’s a forgiving soul, and now is coming to Casper for his second stint at the Equality State Book Festival.

The third biennial Equality State Book Festival is Sept. 24-25 in Casper. I’m the only non-Casper person on the planning committee. Despite my long-distance status, I’ve been on the committee since 2004 when we began planning the first bookfest for fall of 2006. Yes, it took almost two years to put the first one together. We had grants to write, venues to secure and writers to contact. First, the money. I wrote a successful collaborative grant to the National Endowment for the Arts. Co-sponsors were the Wyoming Arts Council, my employer, and the Casper College Foundation. The NEA saw fit to approve $10,000. The foundation came through with some big bucks and we were on our way.

What happened next? Why are book festivals different from literary conferences? Does this blog make my head look big? Tune in tomorrow.

Helpful links:
www.equalitystatebookfest.com
www.mountainsplains.org
http://arts.endow.gov
www.caspercollege.edu
www.wyomingartscouncil.org
www.westernwriters.org
www.wyowriters.org

The Bee... the Bee... the Bee is back...

...sucking nectar as a matter of fact. I think that Sir Elton would give me leave as I take liberty with his (Bernie's?) lyrics. If not, he can go suck nectar. It appears that this is the same bee I see every morning at my giant sunflower. Can that be? Not much bee activity in my garden this summer. Makes me wonder about the bee shortage reported these past few years. When I visited the CSU gardens last week, hundreds of bees swarmed the blossoms.

Bees find home in giant Wyoming sunflower

For this cellphone photo, I was trying to get very close to my giant sunflower. And then I saw the giant bee. It's great to see bees return to the garden. Just didn't want him to sting me in the eyeball.

News from the front: Irish look on as Scots march on Estes Park

I have all sorts of feelings when I go to the Long's Peak Scottish-Irish Festival in Estes Park.

Questions, too. For instance, why do the Scots get top billing?

My wife Chris has a great insight into this: Who better to organize something than Scots?

Talk about your stereotypes. Scots are a no-nonsense, business-minded, well-organized race who can plan the heck out of any event.

The Irish, on the other hand, are Guinness-swilling layabouts who attend the Scottish-Irish Festival to swill Guinness and lay about watching Celtic fusion bands, most of whom are Scottish.

As a disorganized Irishman, I can't disagree. I would much rather have a Scotswoman such as Chris organizing a festival, a checkbook, a life. Of course, she is Scots-Irish by birth and German-Irish by upbringing (she was adopted). If you take all those pedigrees and put them into one person, you should have a well-organized beer-drinking lass who, when offended, will either cut off your head with a William Wallace-style sword or invade your country. Or both.

But she knows her birth mother’s name and that was Cummings and now she’s an officially enrolled member of the Cumming clan. Its crest has a lion and the motto “Courage.

I took photos as she marched in Saturday’s presentation of the clans. A strong military theme infuses the festival. Cannons sound in the distance. True, those cannons are shooting bowling balls into the reservoir, and one errant bowling ball even sank the green inflatable Loch Ness Monster that is a festival tradition (R.I.P. Nessie). A Colorado pilot did a flyover in a British jet trainer. The Canadian general who now runs NORAD in Colorado Springs was the keynoter at Saturday’s opening ceremonies. World War II vets of Iwo Jima were introduced in a celebration of the 75th anniversary of that World War II battle. Some young marines even recreated the flag-raising ceremony on Mount Suribachi. It wasn’t quite as impressive as the fake flag-raising that opens “Flags of Our Fathers,” but it was pretty good.

And the day included many references to the Sept. 11 anniversary, and the wars that followed.

As a lifelong civilian and peacenik, I look at these military traditions as part of the whole. This is much like the Boy Scouts, which drips with military-influenced traditions but is – at its core – a worthwhile organization for your sons. Unless they are openly gay. Which brings us back to the U.S. military and its don’t ask, don’t tell policy.

Pipe and drum bands have origins in war. I spotted one large bearded gentleman wearing a black T-shirt that had the “Black Watch World Tour” stops printed on the back. Quite a list, including gigs in Guadaloupe and then North America in the late 1700s (we know how that turned out), France in 1916, all the way to Iraq in 2003-2005.

The Black Watch is a famous British military unit and a famous pipe and drum band. My father played Black Watch records real loud on his home-built stereo, and he took my brother and me to see them perform. When they launched into “Scotland the Brave,” you could feel it in your gut.

At Saturday’s Estes Park ceremonies, the music opened with a performance by the Marine Band from Twenty-Nine Palms, California. That’s the desert training base that launches the Marines who fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many casualties over the past nine years. More to come, alas.

The Marine Band was comprised of men and women with lots of different ethnic groups represented. Like all marines, they are trained in combat weaponry. Unlike most marines, they play a mean tuba. The few, the proud, the tuba players. Trombone, too, and drums. Flute, even. Or “pipe,” as in pipe and drums.

The Marines were followed by the police pipe and drum band from Ottawa, Canada. Then came the massed pipe and drum corps from a bunch of different places, including Wyoming. When they marched into view, I got a glimpse of the amazing sight and sound that once confronted African and Indian tribesmen as they lined up to fight the British invaders.

There looked to be hundreds of pipers and drummers. They made that kind of sound.

After her clan march, Chris joined me in the stands. We watched the proceedings together. When it concluded, we were torn. Head over to the clan tents for a wee dram of single-malt Scotch? Or find the Guinness stand for a cold brew? We opted for the latter, and some food. No cultural differences here.

The enemy has been spotted -- and he's right next door

In this cleverly doctored photo from Pavlovian Obeisance (thanks P.O.!), Gen. Petraeus points out the fact that we have much more to worry about from domestic terrorists than from the foreign variety. If you look closely, it appears that the general is pointing to the nest of right-wing subversive elements in Afton, Wyoming. Or is that Pinedale? Looking at it from a Glenn Beck perspective, one might assume that the general is pointing out one of the state's lone cadres of latte-swilling, veggie-chomping Liberal Democrats -- the ones in Jackson and vicinity. They must be eliminated! First Jackson, then prog-bloggers in Cheyenne!

You can read about the recent arrest of a right-wing domestic terrorist at Think Progress:

A study released today by former leaders of the 9/11 Commission finds that “terrorism is increasingly taking on an American cast.” Warning of “a much more diverse threat,” the report urges the U.S. government to prepare for “the radicalization and recruitment of Americans to terrorist ranks.” While the report rightly warns of threats from radical Muslim extremists, law enforcement officials should also be concerned about right-wing zealots, as a 2009 Homeland Security report warned.

For instance, this past Tuesday, the FBI arrested 26-year old Christian radical Justin Carl Moose in Concord, N.C. for “providing information to create explosives” to “blow up a North Carolina abortion clinic.” Through his conversations with an FBI informant and his Facebook page, Moose expressed virulent “anger at abortion doctors, President Barack Obama’s health care plan, and plans to build a mosque near ground zero in New York city.” He goes on to describe himself as “the Christian counterpart to Osama bin Laden” who “has learned a lot from the muslim terrorists and have no problem using their tactics”:

Long's Peak Scottish-Irish Festival

Members of the wandering Celtic clans of Wyoming

Book burning humor featuring that book burnin' guy in FLA (and fellow travelers)

Kurt Vonnegut's books were target of many a book burnin'. Unpatriotic (imagine that?). Bad words. Anti-Christian. Blah, blah, blah. He said he welcomed the bump in book sales created by the publicity. I've never been to a book burning, not even in Gainesville. Have you?

Senate Repubs as Groucho: "I'm Against It!"

Sen. Barrasso of Wyoming does look a bit like Groucho...

Even on Labor Day, corporations busily creating fewer jobs

As always, bona fide populist Jim Hightower is angry and is making sense when it comes to corporate greed. Great reading for Labor Day (or even the day after Labor Day):

America's corporate chieftains must love poor people, for they're doing all they can to create millions more of them.

They're knocking down wages, offshoring everything from manufacturing jobs to high tech, reducing full-time work to part-time, downsizing our workplaces, busting unions, cutting health care coverage and canceling pensions -- while also lobbying in Washington to privatize Social Security, eliminate job safety protections, restrict unemployment benefits, kill job-creating programs and increase corporate control of our elections.

It's said that the poor and the rich will always be among us. But nowhere is it written that the middle-class will always be there. In fact, it is a very recent creation in our society (and an unavailable dream for most people in the world). America's great middle class literally arose with the rise of labor unions and populist political movements in the 1800s, finally culminating in democratic economic reforms implemented from the 1930s into the 1960s.

Read the rest at truthout.

You can light a fire with "Ignite Cheyenne"

Hey, everybody. You can "Ignite Cheyenne." I first heard about "Ignite" last year from Jeff Fruwirth. He's been participating in Ignite Fort Collins for awhile. Here's the info, cross-posted from wyomingarts:

If you had five minutes to say something to the people of Cheyenne, what would you say?

Well think it over, because we are giving you a chance to say it. "Ignite Cheyenne" is a place where people from Cheyenne and southeastern Wyoming can come to share ideas, hobbies, socialize and have a great time. Ignite Cheyenne is about showcasing your ideas and your passion. Both of those things can make Cheyenne an even better place! We want to hear you talk at Ignite Cheyenne.

Location: Historic Plains Hotel, 1600 Central Avenue, Cheyenne

Date: October 5, 2010

Schedule:

6 p.m.: Doors open -- Come for mingling and drinks

7 p.m.:  First group of talks

7:30-8 p.m.: Intermission

8-8:30 p.m.: Second group of talks

9 p.m.: Go home enlightened

Tickets: Starting September 3 at 9:30 am.,. you can get them on the blog. Tickets are free, but you must register to attend.

Agenda: Presenters have not been picked. If you’re interested in presenting, head over here to read some guidelines on the talks, then contact us here

Event Curators: Anna Nowak, Jeff Fruhwirth and Juliette Rule

What is Ignite, exactly?

On the website, Ignite is called a “global movement.” Here we just like to think of it as a group of people gathering around to share stories, tips and tricks that make life and work easier, and a forum for people to talk about their passions.

How does it work?

Each speaker at Ignite will get 20 slides to tell their story. However, there’s a catch: each slide will auto-advance after 15 seconds, making the total time of the talk 5 minutes. The format of the slides embodies the Ignite tagline “Enlighten us, but make it quick.”

How much does it cost?

"Ignite Cheyenne" is free to the public, but you do need to sign up for a free ticket. You can sign up for tickets starting at 9:30 am on Friday September 3, here. Having you register helps us by letting us know how many people to expect, and in turn how much food and beer to provide (also free) at the event.

What do I need to do?

Just show up. If you enjoy yourself, make sure to tell your friends and come back next time (we are shooting to coincide with Global Ignite Week for Ignite Cheyenne 2). If you’re feel really brave, give a talk!

We will be uploading pictures from the event to our Flickr page and the talks to our YouTube Channel.

What are some possible topics? What about these:

Ideas for filling up the hole in downtown Cheyenne

Public arts in Cheyenne -- beyond the bucking bronco.

Oil boom or oil bust?

Cheyenne -- a state of mind or a mind of state?

Cheyenne Frontier Days -- Is that All There Is?

Etc.....

History of Haters in America, Part I

Passed along by always-vigilant activist Meg Lanker of Laramie.

Labor Day weekend is good time to order new "Working Words" anthology

A new anthology from Coffee House Press in the Twin Cities is Working Words: Punching the Clock and Kicking Out the Jams. It's edited by my old pal in Detroit, poet and performer M. L. Liebler. The foreword is written by Ben Hamper.

I would be negligent (and totally self-promoting) if I didn't mention that one of my stories is in the book. Entitled "The Problem with Mrs. P," it's in my first collection, The Weight of a Body from Ghost Road Press in Denver.

I was just reading another of the anthology's stories, "Turn the Radio to a Gospel Station" by Ohio writer, poet and nurse Jeanne Bryner. I met Jeanne at a YMCA Writer's Voice retreat at Fur Peace Ranch near Pomeroy, Ohio. The ranch is run by guitar great and bluesman Jorma Kaukonen and his wife. Some of you Boomers may remember Jorma from his days with a little group called Jefferson Airplane. M.L. was also at the retreat. That was back in the days when he ran the Detroit YMCA's Writer's Voice program. Bluiesman, writer and arts administrator Bob Fox was also in attendance. Bob passed away from lung cancer a few years later. I miss Bob.

All of us come from modest roots. Working people. Assembly-line workers. Oil well workers. Cowboys. Accountants. Nurses. Day laborers. Union people of all kinds. Maybe that's why we write about regular folks. Those are whom most writers are concerned with. Even Ayn Rand before she went loony.

But the late Ayn is not in this anthology. Here's some background on the book:

Jobs are at the forefront of the national consciousness, yet there is a dearth of literature written by and for workers. This anthology—of fiction, memoir, poetry, rock lyrics, and astute historical analysis—fills the gap for readers both young and old, as well as students of literature and labor history.

A collection about living while barely making one, about layoffs and picket lines, about farmers, butchers, miners, waitresses, assembly-line workers, and the “Groundskeeper Busted Reading in the Custodial Water Closet,” this is literature by the people and for the people—a transcendent volume that touches upon all aspects of working-class life.

Glad to be sharing the pages with M.L. and Jeanne. And all of these people: Bonnie Jo Campbell, Woody Guthrie, Edward Sanders, Willa Cather, Lolita Hernandez, John Sayles, Andrei Codrescu, Bret Lott, Quincy Troupe, Dorothy Day, Thomas Lynch, Jack White, Diane di Prima, Michael McClure, Walt Whitman, Bob Dylan, Michael Moore . . . and many more!

Happy Labor Day!

What the poem "The Hurt Locker" sounds like

I read Here, Bullet from Iraq War vet Brian Turner when it first came out. He has a new book and I will buy and read that too.

The Poetry Foundation web site posted a video of Brian reading "The Hurt Locker." Here's the narrative from that post:

Brian Turner’s “The Hurt Locker” started as a poem and ended as a Hollywood blockbuster. In his latest collection, Phantom Noise, the poet-soldier continues to explores the contradictions of war and the battles he fights long after returning home. Read a review by Courtney Cook at the Washington Post:


In his new collection, “Phantom Noise,” Turner is the same soldier, with the same keen eye, but he is even more battle-weary. Taken together, these books are an unusual two-part portrait of a decade of war: its strength, its wounds, its fantasies of home and, as it happens, the strange beauty of a stubbornly foreign culture. Taken alone, “Phantom Noise” is an unsettling plunge into a returned soldier’s dislocation. Through images that recur again and again, from Iraq to a podium in Colorado, from a field hospital to a pristine day on Puget Sound, we go deep inside this soldier’s relief, grief and alienation.

Feds to Pavillionites: Don't drink the water!

This post goes along with my earlier one about Laramie County Niobrara Shale drilling boom. At Tuesday's meeting, saw a nice film clip about horizontal drilling and fracking from Noble Energy, one of the boom's major players. It went into details about how drillers take pains to protect the water table. It rang with sincerity. But I wonder: Did Pavillion residents see a similar video before drilling and fracking started in their area?

See the PBS report at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/environment/feds-warn-residents-near-wyoming-gas-drilling-sites-not-to-drink-their-water/3338/

Oil making big "play" in Laramie County

Niobrara Shale -- the blob that ate Laramie County. Map from the Unconventional Gas Center web site.

Cheyenne is not a Wyoming “energy boom town” like Gillette, Rock Springs or Pinedale.

That’s about to change. The oil rush is on in Laramie County. This past spring and summer, I’d read in the paper that leases for the Niobrara Formation were selling like hotcakes. A couple million here, a few million there. Serious money was changing hands – around $90 million -- some of it (and I hope it’s a lot) going into state coffers.

The drilling has begun. Near Carpenter, new high-tech pumping stations stick their straws into the earth, drilling down and then under and over to taste some of that sweet, sweet crude. The oil is sucked out of the ground and put it into storage tanks. You can see them if you drive south on Campstool Road. We’re used to industrial-looking stuff sticking out of the prairie – nuclear missile sites, old-fashioned oil wells, windmills (the new huge wind power kind and the old-fashioned kind), cell towers, etc. But soon, 21st century oil wells will be everywhere.

Last night at the Laramie County Democrats’ meeting at the IBEW Hall, County Commissioner Jeff Ketcham was handing out flyers for the “Southeast Wyoming Oil Shale Seminar.” The first meeting is Tuesday, Aug. 31 (tonight!), 6-8 p.m., at the Laramie County School District No. 1 Administration Building Auditorium in Cheyenne.

“Learn and converse about the Niobrara Oil Play and how it may affect us.”

I meant to ask Jeff to define “oil play” but didn’t get the chance. I was too busy listening to some of the impacts already happening in the county. But here’s what I found out at the Unconventional Gas Center site at http://www.ugcenter.com/:

The Niobrara has the potential to be the industry’s next large oil-shale resource play. Niobrara shales are prevalent throughout the Rocky Mountain region. A thick and continuous Cretaceous source rock, the Niobrara is rich in organics and thermally mature.

I hate to brag, but this sounds like me: “rich in organics and thermally mature.” Maybe I should change my name to Michael Shale.

I still don’t know what a “play” is. More research needed.

Jeff said that there were four voice messages calls waiting for him when he got to work the other day. All were complaining and dust and traffic on the county’s rural roads. And this is just after a few wells. Imagine what it will be like in a few years.

Gary Roadifer, running for the seat in House District 10, said that his town of Pine Bluffs already is home to seven man camps. Man camps, in case you don’t know, are barracks or RV campgrounds that house the people working at the sites. I tried to imagine seven man camps in a small town such as Pine (as the locals call it). That really has to impact a place. Gary quipped that the town’s only café has gone from $3 meals to $16 meals. That’s a whopping increase – you could buy three BK Whopper meals for this price. If there was a BK in PB.

“Discussion highlights” for tonight’s meeting:

• Technical background: geology, technology, and process/time line
• Industry needs: physical and employment
• Environmental concerns
• Planning for socio-economic impact

Big topics all. I’m looking forward to soaking up all the info, including the meaning of “oil play.”

 Q: Can Oil come out and play?
 A: Not today, son – he’s slick in bed.

Get it? Better not tell that one on the Gulf Coast.

Two more of these meetings are scheduled for Torrington and Wheatland, both on Wednesday. More info available from Anja Bendel, High Plains Economic Development District, 307-331-0012; anja.bendel@gmail.com

LarCoDems meet Monday night at IBEW Hall

From Linda Stowers, chair of the LarCoDems:

The Laramie County Democrats will be meeting tomorrow, Aug 30, at 7 p.m. at the IBEW hall in Cheyenne. We will be discussing activities to get Democrats elected in November. Please come if you can.

Cow with 310 million tits? Not in Wyoming...

Stuff Alan Simpson Says is a new web site from http://www.boldprogressives.com/, a production of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee PAC. It’s a liberal group that supports a healthy Social Security system. To do that, the PAC is raising alarums by picking on Sen. Alan Simpson’s quaint Wyoming-bred phraseology.

Sen. Simpson has uttered no end of colorful quotes. You could probably fill a book. But he’s a moderate when compared with Republicans running for the House and Senate this year. He’s a moderate when stacked up against Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso and Wyoming Rep. Cynthia Lummis. He’s trying to bring attention to a huge issue, one that too easily gets swept under the rug.

The BoldProgressives site is very clever. On the home page, you get to take a quiz. Multiple choice, with only two choices. I easily guessed the cow with 310 million tits one. Here it is:

'I've made some plenty smart cracks about people on Social Security who milk it to the last degree. You know 'em too...We've reached a point now where it's like a milk cow with 310 million tits!'

As one web site commenter notes, cows have “teats” and not “tits.” But you have to excuse the senator on this one. Wyoming is not really a milk cow state, save for a few farms in the Star Valley. When we think of cows, we think of cattle. Longhorns and shorthorns on the trail, kicking up dust, guided by rugged cowboys. Sure, female cattle have teats. Cattle ranchers would know this. Simpson should know this. But the metaphorical part of his brain – and his loose tongue – got the best of him.

A cow with 310 million teats would be a sight to see. I have no doubt that downwinders in the West have seen mutant cows (a la “The Hills Have Eyes”). All that fallout from those Cold War nuke tests had an effect. Somewhere out in the remote stretches of Utah or Idaho or New Mexico, is a cow with more than the allotted number of teats. There are bloggers in those parts who have seen such a thing. Please immediately report sightings to the deficit commission.

Go take the quiz. See how many you can guess. Hint: Pick the most outrageous of the two choices and you’re in good shape.

The late William Stafford meditates (poetically) on peace in "Every War Has Two Losers"

This new documentary is about William Stafford, one of America's -- and the West's -- best poets. He was a conscientious objector during World War II and spent 1942-46 in a C.O. detention camp. The film has been screened at several film festivals and will be making the USA rounds through the fall. No screenings on the schedule for MT, WY, UT or CO, although there are ones for SD. You can order the DVD at http://www.everywar.com/ and it includes a doc on Stafford and his friend Robert Bly. I was reading on Facebook that Every War Has Two Losers will be shown at the Wine Country Film Festival in California's Napa Valley, along with a new documentary on poet Gary Snyder. I'm going to have to look for that one, too. Can't have too many films on this country's great poets

Herschel Walker speaks out for mental health

I came across this info while perusing the web. It encourages me that a "football legend" such as Herschel Walker would come out of the closet, mental health-wise. Brave man.

Here's the info:

It takes courage to seek help.

Former Dallas Cowboy and NFL football legend Herschel Walker had a stunning football career. However, unbeknown to many he battled with dissociative identity disorder and suffered a severe mental health crisis.

Herschel’s struggle with mental illness is quite common. According to the National Institute of Mental Health one in four adults, some 57.7 million Americans, experience a mental health disorder in a given year.

In partnership with Walker, UBH has instituted a special initiative to raise awareness of mental health disorders and to erase the stigmas attached to them that keep people from seeking help. As part of the effort, UBH offers a specialized Breaking Free treatment program for adults who face multiple mental health disorders.

If you or someone you know and love needs help, call the UBH Care Center at 888-320-8101 today. It takes courage to seek help.

 

FMI: http://www.ubhdenton.com/HerschelWalker.html

From Grist: Another reason why zapping kids and fetuses with pesticides is not a good idea

Bonnie Azab Powell, writing today in Grist:

A new study, published last week in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, looked at the effects of both prenatal and childhood exposure to organophosphate pesticides -- of which 73 million pounds are applied each year in the U.S. -- and found yet another link to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Not surprisingly, children living in agricultural areas are even more at risk.

UC Berkeley researchers have been studying more than 300 Mexican-American children living in California's Salinas Valley, a.k.a. America's "Lettuce Bowl." They tested for levels of pesticide metabolites in urine in pregnant mothers, their newborns, and at 2 years old. The findings? Each tenfold increase in pesticide levels in the mothers' urine was associated with a fivefold increase in attention problems, and boys had it worse than girls.

This study does not surprise me. I've written often about my family's experience with ADHD and ADD. There are environmental and hereditary contributors to ADHD. More research is needed. But the most controversial aspect swirling around this disorder pits ADHD believers against the non-believers. Also, the drug therapy crowd vs. the "don't drug our kids" crowd. I believe that ADHD exists. And I've seen Ritalin and Concerta work on my kids and my wife. More here than meets the eye, Jim.

Mike Massie fund-raiser Aug. 27 in Laramie County

I've been invited to this event. You can come too:

Help us elect Democrat Mike Massie for State Superintendent of Public Instruction at a Fundraiser on Friday, August 27.

Join us, Jayne Mockler, Ken and Peg Decaria, Kathryn Sessions, Terri Lorenzon, Loretta Wolf, Barbara Rogers, Rae Lynn Job, for a party on the prairie, 8315 Westedt Road, between five and eight p.m. Please bring friends and family interested in supporting education by electing Mike Massie. You may RSVP to Jayne at 632-7334 or jmockler@wyoming.com.

To get to the location take Highway 30 East to mile marker 370 and take the left turn lane for Westedt Road. Stay on Westedt and cross Four Mile Road. At that point the road turns into a gravel road. Travel approximately ¼ mile and watch for the event on your left.

FMI: http://www.massieforexcellence.com/

Those darn 20-somethings!

The most-read New York Times article this week is “What Is It About 20-somethings?”

Kids these days! Damn their hides!

One of the paragraphs in the story caught my eye. I’m a 59-something rapidly closing on 60-something. But the story’s description of these 20-somethings (my son is 25) sounded a lot like a description of me when I was 20-something in the 1970s:

The 20s are a black box, and there is a lot of churning in there. One-third of people in their 20s move to a new residence every year. Forty percent move back home with their parents at least once. They go through an average of seven jobs in their 20s, more job changes than in any other stretch. Two-thirds spend at least some time living with a romantic partner without being married. And marriage occurs later than ever. The median age at first marriage in the early 1970s, when the baby boomers were young, was 21 for women and 23 for men; by 2009 it had climbed to 26 for women and 28 for men, five years in a little more than a generation.

When I was 20-29, 1970-1979, I moved 13 times among four different states. And jobs, I had a few – 10, to be exact. I lived with two romantic partners before I was married to the latter of those when I was 31 and she was 26. We’ve been married now for 28 years and spawned two kids, one of whom is an annoying 20-something and another is an annoying teen-something in her last year of high school.

My son Kevin is on the lifetime college plan down in Tucson. Good news is he’s paying for it by working and grants and student loans. He sometimes calls for money but I don’t answer. He’s moved a bunch of times, so many I think he has me beat. He’s lived with several romantic partners and maybe more – some questions I don’t ask. When parents with more linear children asked me about Kevin, I tell them he’s in school in Tucson. They imagine him in some advanced degree program at U of A, party school to thousands. Let them think what they want. I’m pleased that he is talking “lifelong learning” seriously. I am especially pleased because he wasn’t the best student in high school. In fact, he dropped out and later got his G.E.D. Learn away, buddy.

Most middle-class parents anticipate kids spending the usual 4-5 years in college and then out to make a living. They are alarmed when it doesn’t work out this way.

No telling about my daughter when she’s a 20-something. We’re having enough excitement with her at 17. There is time enough for alarm in three years when she enters that NYT “black box.” Just enough time will lapse by then for another article about those slacker 20-somethings of the next decade.

Planning for the other August 28 event

Saturday, Aug. 28.

While Tea Party members sing Lee Greenwood (badly) and carry around racist signs on the National Mall, Organizing for America/Wyoming will be getting out the vote.

There will be a meeting to plan this "proactive voter outreach event" on Monday, 6-8 p.m., at Laramie County Democratic Headquarters, 408 W. 23rd, Cheyenne. It's right across 23rd Street from the library.

Learn more about the event on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=124473114267856

LarCoDems site is at http://www.laramiecountydemocrats.org/

Turns on the lights -- the party's just starting

Here is a very creative (dare we say "arty") video by Alan O'Hashi. The corner of Capitol Avenue and Lincolnway (16th Street) in Cheyenne captured by Scott Eckburg during the Wyoming Plein Air "Quick Draw" event. The Hynds Building is shown on the left in Scott's painting.

His work is melded with "before" interior views of the Historic Hynds Building set to open for the first time in 24 years on September 24.

Buy tickets for the Night D'Light Champagne and Dessert Reception on line at http://lightsonhynds.eventbrite.com/

One has to wonder why a solid brick building such as the Hynds -- located in a prime downtown location -- was empty for 24 years. Yes, we are thankful to have the building put to such a fine use. It could be the catalyst for a downtown arts revival. Hats off to Brian Haberman and Rebecca Barrett (Link Gallery) and the new Cheyenne Arts Council and Alan O'Hashi and the Wyoming Cultural Trust and other visionaries. I know it's a cliche, but "it takes a village." And wily entrepreneurs. And, yes, government funding. Than darn gubment.

Reviving Victory Gardens by growing veggies and art

This is a 1940s-style poster for the Peterson Garden Project, which encompasses "vegetable gardening, history, seed diversity and community... all in a day's work as we revive a World War II Victory Garden in Chicago's 40th Ward." This 2010 growing season poster was designed by E. Karl Fresa Fine Art. Signed limited edition prints were sold at an Aug. 5 fund-raiser geared to collect money for a documentary film on the project. Cool idea. Where were the WWII Victory Gardens located in Cheyenne? Time for some research... Thanks to Red, White and Grew's Facebook page for the tip-off about this effort. Read the latest posts on Red, White and Grew making a case for Victory Gardens as folk art.

"Four Walls" by Iain McGilchrist in Poetry Magazine

A psychiatrist's view of poetry and mental illness: Four Walls by Iain McGilchrist : Poetry Magazine [article/magazine]

At the polls, Democrats are switching over in large numbers

I worked as an election judge today at my polling station in Cheyenne. A half day, thanks to legislation sponsored in the Wyoming House by my District 8 Rep Lori Millin. Still, I was one of the few judges taking a short shift.  I like working the polls. Public service, and all that. Congenial company. Community. We have five precincts in one spot. A good thing that it's a very large spot -- the Kiwanis Community House in Lions Park.

Polling was light today, at least while I was there. Only a third of the eligible voters had shown up, with six hours to go. Primaries play second fiddle to the general election. This seems a bit backward, as it's the primaries wherein you get to make big and interesting decisions.

Democrats were switching party affiliation in large numbers. How large I'm not sure, but I saw a lot of it. This allowed Dems to vote against right-wing gubment-hater Ron Micheli and for a more moderate candidate. In my book, here's the order of moderation: Matt Mead, Colin Simpson and Rita Meyer.

Can't wait to hang out with the LarCoDems tonight to see the results.

I voted the Dem ballot. I wavered several times, thinking I might change affiliation. But in the end I stayed with my party. I understand the motives of the switchers, having watched Micheli in action the past three months or so.

The problem is, I wanted to vote for in the Dem District 8 race. That pits Ken McCauley against Bernie Phelan. Both worthy candidates, but Ken wants it more and I like his dedication. I also wanted to vote in the Dem Gov's race. I did.

Now I have the rest of the day off, thanks to my vacation leave as a state employee. I enjoy my government job. Work hard, too. Several reasons why I have no use for the gubment-haters such as Micheli, who used to work for the gubment.

See you at the polls on Tuesday

A reminder from Bryon Lee at Organizing for America/Wyoming:

Polls are open on Tuesday, August 17th, from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. If you are not yet registered to vote, you can register at the polls on Election Day with a photo ID.

Wyoming voters will cast their ballots for the candidates who will represent them in the halls of Congress -- so it's crucial that as many voters as possible make their voices heard.

You can visit the website below for more information about voting:

http://wy.barackobama.com/WYVotes

Petersen on the Dem side, ABM (anybody but Micheli) on the Repub side

The Wyoming primaries are tomorrow.

I glanced at the sample ballots on the Laramie County Clerk's web site. I'm in precinct 2-7 and a Democrat so, naturally, my ballot is less crowded than the one to be used by my Republican brethren and sistren. There are many names on the Dem gubernatorial slate. Only two serious candidates -- Leslie Petersen and Pete Gosar. When I say serious I mean that they have a serious chance of winning. The others, they are seriously running for governor but don't have a snowball's chance. I like Pete Gosar -- he's thoughtful and has said some interesting things on the campaign trail. But I'm voting for Petersen. She has the best chance in this tough year for Democrats.

My House district (8) has a race between Ken McCauley and Bernie Phelan. Bernie Phelan has the name recognition but has done very little campaigning. Ken's been all over his district several times and on Saturday, assembled a motley crew of local Dems and other ne'er-do-wells for a lit drop. I covered my neighborhood in record time with no rabid dogs or rampaging Tea Party types hot on my tail. Returned to HQ just in time to have brunch, which is the way it should be.  I call this one for McCauley.

I'm voting for Mike Massie for superintendent of public instruction. He's the only one on the Dem slate and he'd be great at it. I don't see much of a choice on the Repub side. McBride is the incumbent but he doesn't seem to have much vision for the state. Cindy Hill shows promise, but Trent Blankenship? He's already had the job and failed so miserably that we sent him packing to Palin Land. Massie is the man for this job.

On NPR this afternoon, Laramie County Clerk Debbye Lathrop said that some 2,500 people had voted absentee at the City and County Building, with another 700-some coming in via the mail. The Secretary of State's office opined that we could see a record turnout for a primary election.

Some of that is no doubt due to the full slate of good governor candidates on the Republican side. I would vote for Matt Mead. I heard him on the radio today saying that Wyoming needs to do a better job with technology, both creating jobs and upgrading our infrastructure. Rita Meyer, who spends most of her TV time boasting of her military credentials, said that Wyoming needs to focus on what it does now but do it better -- the extractive industries. I'm not sure if I got this quote right, but she said something like "trona is glass, oil is gas." So she wants more drilling and digging and to hell with alternative fuels and the future. This scares me.

One of the other Repubs, Colin Simpson, touts those old Wyoming values, which also means more of the same. He comes from a moderate family -- The Simpsons! -- and has a record of supporting the arts. According to our local paper, Simpson has run a lackluster campaign and just doesn't seem to want the job very much. But that name recognition could prove to be very important.

Last and certainly least we have Ron Micheli, the right-winger (and Tea Party fave) from Uinta County. Yes, he's a Mormon and comes from Mormon Country. He will get the Mormon vote, the Tea Party vote, maybe even the Evangelical Christian vote. Although, as you probably remember from Mitt Romney's unsuccessful prez bid in 2008, Mormons and Christian Evangelicals aren't always on the same side. Republicans all, but ask some born agains and they will tell you that Mormons are cultists and not real Christians. Not my view, but I'm a liberal pinko Cafeteria Catholic. I have no soul.

I hope the Repubs slug it out tomorrow. Micheli would be terrible for the state. He wants to cut state government by 30-40 percent and put true believers at the head of state agencies. You can just imagine what he means by true believers. He actually didn't say "true believers," but just people who thinks about things the way he does. Gubment-haters. Obama haters. Let's have an immigration law just like Arizona's. His people are "Let's take Wyoming back to the Stone Age" types. "Wyoming is what America was." A bumper sticker mentality.

Repubs never take my advice. If I was giving it (especially if they were state workers) I'd say ABM -- Anybody but Micheli.

It was a Cold War -- but the art was hot!

A nuke explodes in April 1953 at the Nevada Test Site. Looks like a painting, doesn't it?

As the Cold War recedes into the past, it's tempting to be nostalgic. Gee, the planet didn't go up is smoke, as it did with the Doomsday Device in "Dr. Strangelove" or in dozens of sci-fi books. The Russkis are sort of our friends now, fellow travelers in the world of unbridled capitalism and swarthy mob bosses. Those of us on the far side of the Iron Curtain did have some good times, though. We had hula-hoops and rock'n'roll and PCs and moon walks (the real kind) all happening during those halcyon years. Art, too. Lots and lots of art.

The University of Wyoming Art Museum launches an exhibit of Cold War art on Aug. 21:

"Cold War in America: Works from the 1950s - 1970s, Selections from the Art Museum Collection" opens to the public Saturday, Aug. 21, at the University of Wyoming Art Museum. A free public reception for all the fall exhibitions is scheduled at 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 17.

The end of World War II in 1945 marked the beginning of a new conflict, the Cold War. This ongoing state of political conflict, military tension and economic competition continued primarily between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Abstract expressionism, color field painting, pop art and minimalism all came of age during the Cold War period, representing a radically new engagement with materials and space, and redefining the role and purpose of art.

Abstract expressionist artists, such as Willem de Kooning and James Brooks, who based their works on the pure expression of ideas relating to the spiritual, the unconscious and the mind, will be included.

Color field painting is characterized by large fields of flat, solid color creating areas of unbroken surface and a flat picture plane. It will be represented by the work of artists such as Robert Motherwell and Adolph Gottlieb.

Pop art in the United States, considered a reaction to abstract expressionism, will be represented by artists Alice Neel, Robert Rauschenberg, Ed Ruscha, Lee Krasner and Larry Rivers.

For more information on exhibitions and programs, call the UW Art Museum at (307) 766-6622 or visit the museum's Web page at www.uwyo.edu/artmuseum or blog at http://www.uwartmuseum.blogspot.com/.

The museum has a great blog that's updated regularly. Great visuals, too, as you'd expect.

Wikipedia lists the era of the Cold War as 1947-1991. The U.S. military recognizes Cold War veterans as those serving between September 1945 and December 1991. Other sources say it began in 1948, with the Berlin Airlift.

No matter when it started, the end came with the dissolution of the Soviet empire. I wasn't born until 1950, but by then the struggle was going full force. The Korean War had started earlier in the year, pitting the North Korean and Chinese Communists on one side and South Korea, the U.S. and various allies on the other. North Koreans live in the Stone Age while South Koreans drive KIAs and eat sushi. The ChiComs are all capitalists now.

BTW, North and South Korea are still fighting.

The Cold War is becoming an easy way to mark an era. Historians seem to like dealing with handy chunks of time, such as World War II or the sixties. But a span of 44 (or 46) years seems unwieldy, as if you were talking about the the Ice Age or the Jurassic Era. For now, historians like their Cold War subjects in smaller bites. But one day, it will seem as remote as The Day the Dinosaurs got Clobbered by the Comet.

Planet JH asks potential Govs what they think of the future of the arts in Wyoming

Planet JH Weekly staff conducted interviews with all the gubernatorial candidates. Subject: the state of the arts (and arts funding) in Wyoming.

Excerpts from some of the best responses for those of us who want to see the arts thrive in our state:

Matt Mead (R) said that artists' works attract cultural tourists. He sees Wyoming arts as being more closely tied with statewide tourism efforts, but though he confesses “a great passion for playing guitar that is inverse proportion to his talent,” he believes that art adds to individual quality of life. Mead pledges to follow Freudenthal's lead by continuing to make sure the arts remain relevant in Wyoming.

Rita Meyer (R): This is a 'quality of life' issue.” The governor, she said, is responsible for promoting the arts as much as economic development, natural resources and education. She would advocate for “incremental funding increases to the Cultural Trust Fund,” she said, and include the arts in Wyoming's infrastructure.

Leslie Petersen (D) said that she wishes the arts had been included in the Hathaway Scholarship curriculum, which provides incentives for students to pursue post-secondary education. Born in Dubois, Petersen credits her mother, a painter, with instilling her with a strong sense of the arts despite so much as a local movie theater. She would like to see the arts added to the list of accolades for Wyoming life, along with low crime, high education standards and the outdoor lifestyle. Petersen also said that she would use her many years of experience fundraising for various political campaigns and community efforts to increase private funding for individual artists. “I know how to raise money,” she said, “and I think it's very appropriate for the governor to do so.”

Pete Gosar (D) said that his experience as a teacher has given him first-hand knowledge of the value of arts in education. Once a student of the piano – who professes no ability – Gosar said that the arts are a different part of the learning process that add value to education. “It's a different way to put context to culture,” he said.
Read the entire article at http://www.planetjh.com/

Rawlins man publishes a Wyoming mental illness memoir

An amazing story at this Casper Star-Trib link: http://trib.com/article_6d01c998-a490-11df-84c7-001cc4c03286.html

Daniel Meyers, 56, finished his autobiography, "The Spirit of the Lion," after 21 years of work. An earlier version was lost, so he had to begin again. Not many of us writers have such dedication and stamina.

Daniel has schizoaffective disorder. He lived a wayward childhood and was once in an orphanage. He's been in and out of mental health centers and has taken a variety of medications for his disorder.

He started the writing his book around 1989 as part of a non-fiction writing class taught by Helon Raines at University of Wyoming/Casper College.

Rodger McDaniel, head of the Wyoming Mental Health Division, liked the book so much that he bought one for every state legislator. And the Carbon County Library in Rawlins includes it in one of its book discussion groups.

Read the entire CST story. It's inspirational.  And then go buy the book at http://www.authorhouse.com/

Foodies swamp farmers' market, swoon over peaches and squash and roasted peppers and all the rest

I love our farmers' market.

Smells like roasted peppers, for one thing, which excites my senses. I want to buy bags of peppers and shove them up my nose. No good can come from that.

But smelling the pablanos and jalepenos gets me in the mood for buying other foodstuffs.

First up -- peaches. I know that it's slightly early for Colorado peaches but I bought a few from Palisade and some apricots. Nothing quite as sensual as the smell of peaches. I love the juices running down my chin and onto my clothes. Sweet and sticky. Better yet -- slice peaches onto vanilla ice cream.

I also bought some Palisade-grown apricots. Very good. Not sure about apricots and ice cream but I'm willing to give it a try. BTW, Palisade is 12 miles east of Grand Junction, Colo., along the Colorado River Valley. The Palisade Peach Festival is Aug. 19-22.

Vanilla ice cream is the starter for so many fruits. Strawberries, peaches, cantaloupe, blueberries, raspberries, etc.

I bought some pattypan squash from a farm located between Kersey and Greeley, Colo. Before I left for the market, my wife asked me to buy some of those squashes that looks like blossoms and have ridges around the edge. The seller told me that another customer had told her how wonderful these squash were when cooked on the grill.

Did someone say "grill?"

The seller told me to cut them in half, drizzle olive oil over them, and let the propane-fed flames and/or coals lick them to perfection.

I bought some olive oil. Foodies thrive on olive oil. They would drink gallons of the stuff if they though they could get away with it.

Carol Ann Kates, author of "Secret Recipes from the Corner Market," makes some dazzling olive oils. I bought a bottle of the Mexican lime. Sample cups were set out with chunks of bread. I sampled the lime and blood orange and several other varieties. Carol told me that the olive oil comes from California but she juices the limes at her place and puts them together for a fragrant combination. I may end up drinking the Mexican lime olive oil.

Dipping chunks of that bread into the olive oil samples sparked numerous conversations. Good food sparks good talk. We all hung around Carol's stand and dipped and munched and finally bought. My idea is to take the Mexican lime oilve oil and slather it on the squash and grill them. I bought a loaf of Jewish rye from the Styrian Bakery out of Fort Collins. This will be great for dipping. I also may use the olive oil as a marinade for the steaks I bought from the 7 Bar 2 Ranch, which is 20 miles west of Cheyenne along Happy Jack Road.

I bought three sirloins. "Wyoming-raised, dry-aged and all-natural beef."

Can't wait to grill them. I revel in the fact that the beef was raised within a few minutes of my house in Cheyenne. I sampled some of the 7 Bar 2 burger and it was very tasty without any added elements.

After the farmers' market, I headed to Safeway to buy some cilantro grown at Grant Farms in Wellington. I also bought some shrooms for the steaks and ice cream, of course, because farmers' markets aren't the best places to buy ice cream.

I have a lot of my own leaf lettuce that needs to be eaten. Chinese pea pods, too, along with a couple of tomatoes. I am watching the tomatoes very carefully. I want them so bad.

Wyoming primaries are two weeks and counting

Difficult to believe, but the state primaries are only two weeks away -- Aug. 17.

Been so busy with family matters and old-fashioned melodrama and gardening and work that I barely noticed.

I volunteered to be an election judge. I was a judge in the monumental 2006 mid-term elections, supervising the polls so thoroughly and adriotly that they wanted me back for aznother round.

Besides, the county was short of warm bodies, especially those with experience.

It's enjoyable to work at the polls. In the olden times of 2006, volunteers had to work full shifts, from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Lori Millin, our state rep in District 8, shepherded a bill through the House that divided up those shifts. Not monumental legislation, but it may bring in more volunteers when county residents find out that they don't have to work from dawn, when the coffee and doughnuts are fresh, until it gets dark and all that's left is sludge at the bottom of the coffee pot and a few stale dough balls.

Lori has moved on to run for the State Senate. I worked for her election as rep and will do the same for her as senator. New to the race this year is Ken McCauley, who's been very active in the Laramie County Democrats and now makes the leap to running for office.

I have one of his signs in my yard. He did a hit-and-run delivery Sunday evening. It's blue (of course) and a logo that includes an A-10, the same kind of plane Ken flew in combat. Very clever. Ken's a commercial pilot now and has a thoughtful platform. You can read it at http://www.mccauleyforhouse.com/.

I'm not sure who will get my vote on the Dem gubernatorial slate. Pete Gosar and Leslie Peterson are the only serious candidates. Before these two candidates pushed the filing deadline to the last minute, there was nobody to vote for. Some Dems were thinking about registering as repubs and voting for anyone but Micheli, whose only idea is gutting state gubment and keeping the federal gubmint off of our backs. Interesting to note that Micheli collected all kinds of subsidies from the Agriculture Department which happens to be a branch of the dang federal gubmint. Mead did too. But I can forgive Mead, since he's more of a moderate and seems to be one of the few Repubs in the Gov race who takes time out from chewing on the feds. I've been astonished at how much time Colin Simpson spends bashing gubment and gubmint. He's not as moderate as a I first expected.

Most WyoDems are voting for Dems, as it should be. I could vote for Mead. But won't.