Democrats host Nellie Tayloe Ross banquet Feb. 26

http://www.wyomingdemocrats.com

With a tip of the Nellie hat to Andy Warhol...

Tea Party Slim's budget worries

My old pal, Tea Party Slim, told me that he had a great time at this week’s inaugural festivities in Cheyenne.

“Now that Republicans rule the roost, the days of government throwing money at problems are a thing of the past.”

“What’s the government throwing money at?” I asked this in all sincerity.

“Education, for one. We throw more and more money at the public education system and still get the same results. Why not cut funding and see if that helps.”

“Why not just eliminate public school spending?” I said. “Home-school all the kids. Put those overpaid socialistic unionized teachers out of work.”

Slim smiled. “Sen. Hank Coe has those socialistic unionized teachers in his sights. He’s proposing a bill to end teacher tenure.”

“That’s one way to save money. Get rid of all those highly-paid experienced teachers and replace them with low-paid inexperienced teachers. Better yet, just close all those expensive schools and do that book-learnin’ at home. If it was good enough for pioneers, it’s good enough for us.”

Slim chuckled. “If this wasn’t such a great all-Republican week, I might take offense at that.”

“What other ways will the Legislature save money?”

“Glad you asked. End Obamacare. It’s expensive and unconstitutional. Gov. Mead says that we can do health care better in Wyoming because we have true grit.”

“Didn’t a legislator propose a bill that would earmark $2 million for that lawsuit against healthcare reform?”

“It’s not an earmark. And you know as well as I do, Mike, that lawyers cost money.”

“But it’s the Wyoming Attorney General’s office that’s doing the suing. Aren’t those AG attorneys state employees getting paid at the high end of the scale?”

“Sure, but you have expenses.”

“Lots and lots of trips to D.C. Phone calls. Photocopies.”

“Research, too. Lots and lots of research.”

“Still, $2 million is a lot of money for a lawsuit that doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of succeeding.”

“Says you. “ He chuckled again. “You’re not going to ruin this week for me. I’m feeling good and I plan on feeling this way right through the next presidential election.”

“When Sarah Palin gets elected?”

“She supports the Tea Party. She’s from Alaska – and an N.R.A. member. She’d be a great president.”

I could have fallen off my chair laughing. But I let it go. “What other cost-cutting measures are in the works?

“I have two words for you: illegal immigration.”

I waited patiently for more. When nothing was forthcoming, I had to ask how stopping illegal immigration into Wyoming would save the state money.

“Illegals are taking our jobs. Those jobs should go to Americans. We have unemployed people in this state.”

“We have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the U.S. Jobs go begging at fast-food joints and motels and farms. Illegals do the jobs that we don’t want to do.”

“We educate their kids too – and teach them English. That’s expensive. And don’t forget law enforcement. You’ve seen what those Mexican gangs are doing in Arizona. Cutting off people’s heads! You don’t want that here, do you?”

“Gov. Brewer invented the story about headless corpses littering the Arizona desert.”

Slim removed his hat and placed it over his heart. “Gov. Brewer is our hero. Don’t say anything bad about that great lady. She’s saving her state by kicking out illegals and stopping unnecessary heart transplants.”

“Not to mention head transplants.” I laughed this time.

“You Liberals think you’re all so smart. But you’re a dying breed in this state.”

“Don’ I know it. What are you going to do when all the Liberals are gone and this is the only one-party state in the U.S.A.?”

“Have a party,” said Slim with a grin. “And put up a big fence.”

“Won’t that be expensive?”

Slim looked thoughtful for a minute. “Unemployed teachers can build it. We’ll pay them Wyoming’s minimum wage, which is the lowest in the country.”

It was my turn to be thoughtful. “That would save the state money.”

“And we’d all sleep better at night knowing that we live in the safest and most secure place on earth.”

Winter Farmers' Market this Saturday at Depot

The next winter farmers' market will be held on Saturday, Jan. 8, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., inside the Historic Depot in downtown Cheyenne.

I was at the December market buying Christmas presents and assorted foodstuffs. Now that we're in January, it's time to look for seeds for the spring and, as always, assorted foodstuffs. Too early for most veggies. But there are breads and jams and meats and original art and handmade crafts.

Here's an overview:

Our vendors sell items that are produced in Wyoming or northern Colorado, but within 150 miles of Cheyenne. All items are produced by the vendors behind the tables, no food brokers are allowed. This is a fun indoor market with great energy and super vendors. Look for: PerrBear Chocolates, Bavarian pretzels, Black Forest Ham, beef, bison, lamb, chicken, duck and chicken eggs, take out Bar-B-Que, artisan breads, cookies, cakes, and much more.

Not to to mention the schmoozing. Top-notch schmoozing at the winter farmer's' market.


FMI: Kim Porter, Farmers Market & Education Program Manager, Wyoming Business Council, 307.777.6319.


The Business Council is testing an online farmers' market for southeast Wyoming. Here's more info:

Triple Crown Commodities is an online farmers market focused on south-eastern Wyoming.  This commodities cooperative offers a large variety of products ranging from free-range eggs to value-added products such as honey and pies.  We also have a wide variety of naturally and organically raised pork and beef.Triple Crown Commodities allows you to buy local and buy fresh.  Fresh local products offer peace of mind as well as healthy, nutritious choices.  All products are raised locally so you know where your food came from, how it was handled, and who produced it.  The online farmers’ market also allows for easy shopping — right from your computer, with the convenience of local distribution points.

Design your new year around art & food

http://artdesignanddine.blogspot.com

Ogallala Commons' Southern Plains Conference poses the question: "What Makes Communities Healthy?

Map of the Ogallala Commons. I live in the northwest corner of the commons, where the High Plains meet the Laramie Range foothills.

I think of myself as a city boy. The title's not entirely accurate. I was born in a city (Denver) but lived in a few small towns in my youth. I was a suburban dweller, too. I'm a product of populations centers and not of the Great Wide Open. That colors my approach to many issues.

Cities have long been portrayed as evil. How ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm after they've seen Paree? That was true about World War I, when many farm boys returned from the war and settled in cities. It was really true during and after World War II. Those farm boys that trained in Denver and San Diego and Tucson liked what they saw and gravitated to cities rather than returning to Lusk or Goodland or Gallup. Rural areas, especially those in the Rocky Mountain West, have been depopulating ever since.

Most Westerners live in cities. Not sure what the 2010 U.S. Census shows, but 2007 figures show that 82 percent of the people in the eight Rocky Mountain states live in cities and towns. This may shock those who envision a West with small picturesque villages nestled against a mountain range. Yes, there are those places. Think of Ranchester or Centennial or Afton or Wilson. Idyllic Wyoming towns surrounded by farms and ranches. Residents are salt of the earth folks, descendants of pioneers.

In reality, the more picturesque the town, the more likely it is that it's populated by too many rich people with second or third homes. Often those people don't care about the happenings in their adopted town as long as they are left alone by the hoi polloi. Gated communities help ensure that tranquility.

On the opposite end of that spectrum, the Ogallala Commons organization strives for community in a mostly-rural area in the Great Plains. From its web site:

The Ogallala Commons is a nonprofit community development network, offering leadership and education to reinvigorate the commonwealth that forms the basis of all communities, both human and natural.

Ogallala Commons country is centered over the vast High Plain-Ogallala Aquifer, covering about 174,000 square miles across parts of eight Great Plains states. The backbone of Ogallala Commons country extends along the long north-south axis of U.S. Highway 385 and the 102nd Meridian... but our commons region also stretches west to the Rocky Mountain foothills and eastward to the river-braided prairies of the Midwest.

"River-braided prairies of the Midwest." I like that. I also like the themes for their annual Southern Plains Conferences. The 2010 version was an exploration of the 75th anniversary of The Dust Bowl. It included presentations by writers such as Dan O'Brien and Stephen Forsberg, performance of an operetta and the  "Sabor del Llano Estacado reception featuring locally-grown and produced heavy hors d’oeuvres, beer, and wine." There were even talks about global warming. Global warming did not have quotes around it.

The next conference will be held in Texas in February. Here are the details:

22nd Annual Southern Plains Conference: “What Makes Communities Healthy?"

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Home Mercantile Building & Community Hall, Nazareth, TX.

When it comes to health care, Americans find a lot to argue about these days. But something is missing in these heated debates. Shouldn’t we begin by talking about what we mean by health? Essayist and poet Wendell Berry writes that “community is the smallest measure of health, and that to speak of the health of an isolated individual is a contradiction in terms.” 

Starting from this premise, presentations at our Southern Plains Conference will explore community health as a participatory work, and an unbreakable circle of interdependent dimensions: environmental, economic, social, physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional health. Join with us as we re-member these dimensions and reacquaint ourselves with the tools necessary to develop an inclusive practice of community health that fits our time.

Reports from the Cul-De-Sac Preservation Society

Are Liberal city dwellers trying to take away Conservative suburbanites’ God-given right to a cul-de-sac?

In November,  I wrote about the Tea Party’s latest bugaboo – "sustainable development." Tea Partiers, most of whom live in suburbs, are afraid that Liberal city dwellers are going to roust them from their cul-de-sac neighborhoods and stuff them into tiny Hobbit homes surrounded by light rail stations and Starbucks and pushy minorities. Sustainable development is the catch-all term for this alarming trend.

One of the scarifiers is Ed Braddy in Gainesville, Florida. He leads the American Dream Coalition. 

Another is Virginia activist Donna Holt (from Mother Jones):.

In Virginia, Holt is trying to whip up tea party opposition to a comprehensive development plan being drafted in Chesterfield County, where she lives near Richmond. She believes such plans will, among other things, ban cul de sacs, and she happens to live on one. So far, though, she hasn't made much progress with the county. "They don't want to hear from us," she says. "They think we are wackos with tinfoil hats."

After a recent trip to Florida, I have a bit more empathy for their cause.

Imagine that you are one of the millions of Americans who have worked very hard for a house in the suburbs. It’s a big house, bigger than you need for your two kids, but it’s an investment, right?  Americans want big houses with many bathrooms along tree-lined streets in family-friendly, low-density neighborhoods.  

Commercial development should be located far away, as convenience stores and big box stores bring in the riff-raff. You can walk the neighborhood but you can’t walk to work or school or the store.  That’s part of the charm. It’s what Americans want in their lifestyles.

That was the zeitgeist from the 1950s until now. That’s changing. Younger people (older types, too) want to live in the city surrounded by light rail and Starbucks and farmers' markets. They think that minorities make for a lively cityscape, as long as those minorities aren’t crackheads. New Urbanism has taken hold, even in the burbs. Developers want multi-use zoning that allows for more compact neighborhoods and local shopping and walkable schools and alternative energy. Public transportation is a sought-after commodity, not one to be feared.  

Meanwhile, housing prices have dropped precipitously. So much for that two-story, many-bathroomed mini-manse. Several foreclosures have cropped up in the neighborhood. Jobs are threatened. Surefire Wall Street investments don’t look so hot. Pensions are not a sure thing. People with foreign-sounding names are in the White House.

Some of the fears are real. They are stoked by the Tea Party and Fox News. Pretty soon you believe that government types are out to remove your cul-de-sac and put you in a hobbit home.

After spending a week in suburbs in north and central Florida, I understand that fear a bit better.  Without a GPS, I’d be challenged to find the homes of my sisters’ families in Tallahassee. In fact, GPS may have been invented for suburban sprawl. In olden times, streets were laid out in grids using numbers and letters. Almost every city has at last a remnant of that design.

Suburbs, especially in hilly Tallahassee, follow the terrain. Names are confusing, too. Winding Hills Street leads to Winding Hills Lane leads to Winding Hills Court which, of course, is a cul-de-sac. When you reach this dead end, you have to backtrack through the Winding Hills names to get to Forest Vista Street to Forest Vista Lane to Forest Vista Court and – you guessed it – another cul-de-sac. I imagine cars circling like the Flying Dutchman, searching for a way out of this confusion. Before GPS, of course. Now it’s a snap.

We drove long distances through Tallahassee neighborhoods without seeing a store, not even a convenience store, which are ubiquitous. Zoning and neighborhood groups hold stores at bay. The price you pay is that everyone in the family needs a car. The price we all pay is that all those cars pollute and lead to global warming.

As long as I’ve been alive – 60 years – the move has been to this sort of development and not the clustered, walkable, open-zoned, public transportation and locavore-friendly type being promoted  now. If these crazy ideas catch hold, how am I going to sell my house in 10 or 20 years? Could my neighborhood become a dead zone, with foreclosed falling-down houses and bad roads and crime and squatters? That old phrase of location location location would turn out to be a curse rather than a bonus.

Many of my friends around the U.S. live in old-style suburban developments. Many people I know in Cheyenne live out north and east so they can have peace and quiet and property and horses. They are unfettered by city zoning rules.

I live in a near-suburb, I guess you’d call it. I can walk to work but don’t. If needed, I could walk to stores to buy groceries, pastries, fast food, building supplies, beer, tires, pizza, sandwiches, tacos, insurance. I can walk to my credit union. During the summer, there’s a weekly farmer’s market nearby, although it’s moving downtown this year. When they were young, my kids walked or rode their bikes to school. The excellent Cheyenne Greenway is only blocks from our house. I could walk to the airport if needed, although there’s plenty of free parking.

You can probably guess that there are trade-offs. I live close to two of the busiest streets in Cheyenne – Dell Range and Yellowstone. The interstate is a half-mile away but I can hear the Harleys roar down it on August mornings. C-130s make a racket operating out of the Air National Guard base – its entrance is three blocks from my house. We have rental properties in the neighborhood. One of them is an eyesore. The other looks like a used car lot. We’ve had a few broken windows and robberies but nothing substantial, crime-wise.

I like my neighborhood. But I’m a city boy. I don’t want to live on the windy prairie. Or on a suburban cul-de-sac. These people are spitting into the wind. The age of cheap oil and the internal combustion engine and sprawl is drawing to a close. It's just a fact. And I'm not scared. 

Except of the Cul-De-Sac Preservation Society activists. They're a bit spooky. In their fears of being left behind, they may do some crazy things, such as elect a horde of Tea Partiers to Congress. 

Old King Coal not such a merry old soul

Laramie River coal plant near Wheatland 

China burns half of the world's coal production every year. It pollutes its air and kills its people, making heart disease the nation's number one killer. China's fossil-fuel habit is one of the main culprits of global warming.

Wyoming and Montana companies dig thousands of tons of coal from the ground every day. Our power plants can't burn all that coal to send power to Colorado and Texas and Utah. Other U.S. plants can't burn that much coal. Many states, Texas included, are scrubbing plans for new coal-fired plants.

To fill China's endless coal appetite, and to contribute to the further spread of cardiopulmonary illnesses, our states want to export more coal to China. There's money to be made, too. Not only for the coal companies, but for severance taxes which pay the salaries of government workers such as myself.

But Washington state is getting in the way of progress.

The Cowboy State and The Treasure State want to ship their coal directly to Asia through a port in Cowlitz County, Washington (a.k.a. The Gateway to Mt. St. Helens). Officials in the county have approved an upgrade to its Columbia River port, but environmental groups say not so fast (from the Casper Star-Tribune). 

On Tuesday, the Washington Department of Ecology petitioned to intervene in the appeal filed by Earthjustice. Ecology spokeswoman Kim Schmanke said the agency wants a seat at the table because it may be asked to approve other permits for the project.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer plans to travel to Washington state next week to seek support for the project. He said he's going to tell state officials it's irrational for them to oppose a port to export Montana coal when utilities that serve Washington state burn Montana coal.Freudenthal said Thursday that he would not expect Schweitzer to accomplish anything but making the trip. 

Freudenthal doubts Washington state officials will receive advice from someone from another state any more than Wyoming officials do when they get similar visits from an outsider. 

The immediate problem, Freudenthal said, is how to get the port exporting Wyoming coal. The larger issue is the need to figure out carbon capture and sequestration in order to receive support from the "rational" environmental groups, he said.

Meanwhile, Gov.-elect Matt Mead is working on a letter of support to send with Schweitzer next week, Mead spokeswoman Susan Anderson said Thursday. Mead takes office Monday. 

Freudenthal said people need to realize that the coal industry is "at risk" whether they agree that climate change is real or not. "This is about coal production, market share and jobs," Freudenthal said.

We're going to see more of these conflicts as we attempt to switch from fossil fuels to alternative energy sources that don't melt the ice caps and lead to the flooding of port cities from Seattle to San Diego. Red states want to ship their coal to China but the coastal blue states won't let them. No alternative but to send it to Houston and then on to the Panama Canal and then on to China. But that route would add time and miles and make the whole enterprise less cost-effective. The states could send the coal to Vancouver, B.C., which shipped about 26 million tons of coal to China this year. But how would that look, red-state Wyoming shipping its coal from Socialist Canada?

Even George Will is getting into the act. In a column this week, he could barely contain his glee that millions of tons of global-warming-contributing coal could be shipped out of a port adjacent to the Green Capital of the U.S. and maybe the world -- Portland, Oregon.

Cowlitz County in Washington state is across the Columbia River from Portland, Ore., which promotes mass transit and urban density and is a green reproach to the rest of us. Recently, Cowlitz did something that might make Portland wonder whether shrinking its carbon footprint matters.

I wonder why conservatives take such delight in destroying the planet? The fundies are all convinced that the end is coming anyway so why fight it? Doesn't matter to them if it's flood or fire. But George Will isn't in this Know Nothing camp. He's smarter than that. While he will no longer be with us when Washington Post columnists commute by gondola, one wonders why he doesn't care for the future of his family or your family or my family.

George Will makes his living by being the conservative curmudgeon in the bow tie. He's also a language scold and a know-it-all baseball fan. That's his platform and to turn Green (or even hint at it) at this late date will cost him.

He provides several quotes from James Fallows' recent cover story about coal in The Atlantic. In "Dirty Coal, Clean Future," Fallows makes the case that we can only get out of this hydrocarbon dilemma by trusting in China's new technologies to burn coal cleaner. The only way out is through. I just read the synopsis, but it seems as if Fallows would give a green light to the shipping of coal from Washington state. And the more we can ship, the better.

I'll read the article and respond. Meanwhile, here's a few parting words from George Will:

If the future belongs to electric cars, those in China may run on energy stored beneath Wyoming and Montana. 

And so run the hopes of the Govs of Wyoming and Montana. 

As pricey live/work artist spaces arise in Jackson, what's in store for the rest of the state?

Planet Jackson Hole's JH Weekly at least once a week due to the fact that its header demands it. I also like alternative weeklies. I used to edit and write for one. You read stories there that you don't find in MSM.

I missed the Dec. 21 article by Teton County wise-guy art critic Aaron Wallis. It's about a new live/work development for artists by architect Stephen Dynia in Jackson. You can read the whole thing at JH Weekl

Here are some excerpts:

The development is now under construction and when completed it will total eight units in two buildings. As of press time, three of the eight units have been sold.

The units are supposed to be affordable and from what I can tell, Dynia and Prugh did everything within their power to keep the price down. Unfortunately, the units are still in the $400s. Which, is again, affordable for Jackson, but that’s like saying the $10 burrito at Pica’s is a good deal just because everything else is in town is equally overpriced.

The project’s vision ­– to create a space where artists can live and work ­– is laudable. I know Tom Woodhouse would move into the Center for the Arts if they would let him. Seriously, why are residential and commercial space always zoned separately? Why not eliminate the necessity of commuting? Commuting by its very nature is a waste of time and resources. What’s the point of driving back and forth from Wilson to Jackson twice a day? It’s a colossal waste of gas, but I guess as long as there’s a “Please Don’t Idle” sticker on your SUV, it’s OK.

Anyway, if I had $400k, I would definitely consider moving in 1085 Broadway. What could be better than having artists for neighbors, creating in a clean modern space, and living in Jackson Hole? Well a Range Rover and a trust fund would be nice, but we can’t all be so lucky. I asked my Magic 8-Ball if the new development would change the art scene in Jackson.  “Signs point to yes,” it replied.

Live/work spaces "in the $400s" are a bit pricey for most artists and writers of my acquaintance. But that price is pretty reasonable in Teton County. Here's some recent info from Trulia:

There are currently 323 resale and new homes in Jackson on Trulia, including 3 homes in the pre-foreclosure, auction, or bank-owned stages of the foreclosure process. The average listing price for homes for sale in Jackson WY was $2,153,991 for the week ending Dec 22, which represents an increase of 0.4%, or $9,134, compared to the prior week.

Wowzir! Now we're talking real money.

Other live/work spaces have attempted to get off the ground in Wyoming. Project planners from ArtSpace in Minneapolis have advised arts groups in Casper and have conducted workshops in Sheridan ("Living Upstairs in Wyoming") and in Cheyenne ("Arts Summit 2008"). ArtSpace bills itself as the largest non-profit real estate management company for the arts in the U.S. As of this writing, it hasn't come up with any solid projects in the state. But it does have one in Billings.

I've been looking into an ArtSpace project called The Arts Exchange in Tallahassee. Yes, that's in Florida and nowhere near the Great Wide Open. I was in Tallahassee with family a few weeks ago and decided to take a look. The site now houses an old warehouse. It's located next to the Railroad Square Art Park and close to downtown, Florida A&M and Florida State. My sister Maureen and I drove there on graduation Saturday in December. Not much to see except potential at the Arts Exchange site. A few galleries and stores were open in the arts district. Nowhere near as lively as it is on its First Friday celebrations, which includes drinking and revelry and arts and music.

At the art park, we wandered into the South of Soho Art Co-op where Stephen Bennett was minding the store. He's from Daytona, our family's old stomping grounds, so we visited for awhile. I liked his work and the work of his colleagues on the walls. We went into the hippy-dippy Athena's Garden, with its array of herbs and teas and tinctures. The two young women minding the store were from Boulder, which didn't surprise me. The back room featured clothes and purses and hemp products, along with Wiccan stuff. My daughter Annie would have loved the place. Maureen bought her a peace sign purse. We visited the Cosmic Cat which was just the place for my son Kevin. It features manga and zines and graphic novels.

I'm interested in The Arts Exchange because it looks like a nice place to live in my artistic retirement. Not sure if I'd qualify. I plan an active post-65 life, creating fiction and also advising arts groups. For that, I have 25-some years in arts administration. The Arts Exchange will be home to the Boys' Choir of Tallahassee, the Tallahassee Ballet, and the Council on Culture & Arts. Arts orgs always ned an extra hand or grants writer. Tallahassee also puts Chris and I close to our families.

What will happen with live/work spaces in Wyoming? Well, there's one project already being built in Jackson. Not sure what will arise in Cheyenne or Laramie or Sheridan or Casper or Meeteetse. The potential is there. Someone -- or some group -- must do the planning.

Blizzards can be hazardous for mayors

A blizzard sweeps through southeastern Wyoming. Not much snow but lots of wind and cold. A piker compared to other big snowstorms from my 32 years on the High Plains.

Blizzards arrive at inopportune times. New York City is having a tough time cleaning up after the recent Christmas blizzard of 2010. Mayor Bloomberg has been apologizing for the city’s response. No announcement yet on his resignation, or that of his public works department. The New Jersey governor has been vacationing at Disney World for the past week. He's keeping in touch by phone, said a spokesman. Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell railed about "wusses" or "wussies" who couldn't make it to a snowy stadium Sunday for the Philadelphia Eagles and Minnesota Vikings match-up. The game was postponed until Tuesday.

I recall the 1982 Christmas Eve blizzard in Denver. Two-plus feet of snow in 24 hours. I was a freelancer working from home back then. Chris was at work. She rode the bus downtown that snowy Christmas Eve morning. Her bank was open, as were many other businesses. By noon, most were closing so their employees had a chance to get home. Chris caught a bus which got stuck in a drift after traveling a few blocks. Luckily, a coworker happened by and gave her a ride. It took them about an hour to drive the two miles to our apartment. We spent most of the evening watching local TV reports about "The Blizzard of the Century."

Christmas Day, I rose early and helped people shovel out of their houses and apartments. My wife slept in. No point – getting anywhere was impossible. My car was snowbound for a week. City plows attempted to clear one lane in each direction on the main streets. Side streets were left to the tried-and-true solar melting method.

We lived between City Park and Colfax Ave. I needed to turn in an article downtown. No e-mails or faxes. So I went to Colfax to catch a bus. A mountain of snow clogged the street’s center line and traffic was backed up going and coming. I started to walk. Each time the No. 15 bus caught up with me, I contemplated jumping on. But I kept moving and the bus did not. I delivered my story and got home by dark. The streets were still clogged. Buses still crawled Colfax.

I finally dug out my car in time for a New Year's Eve party at my sister Eileen's apartment. Main streets were clear but side streets had snow ruts as deep as the historic wagon ruts on the Oregon Trail. I made it to the party (Chris was sick) and we all had wonderful blizzard tales to tell over mass quantities of beer.

Denver Mayor Bill McNichols did lose the next election in May 1983 because of his inept handling of the blizzard. This also happened once in Chicago, if I remember correctly. Maybe it’s happened elsewhere. Epic snowstorms provide headaches for politicians but many useful and entertaining stories for the rest of us.

FAQs about Affordable Health Care Act and mental health parity

Researcher Andrea Barnes at National Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health sends this info:

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Labor and the Department of the Treasury jointly prepared a large set of frequently asked questions about the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. From this FAQ I have compiled the questions that were related to dependent children, emergency services, and mental health parity. For a full listing of all the questions, please see DOL’s website.

Check it out. Know the facts, not the wingnut rumors or the fake stuff from FOX.

Get tickets for "Next to Normal" through NAMI

I’ve heard a lot about this musical and plan to make the trip to Denver to see it. From the Denver Center for the Performing Arts web site:

From the director of Rent comes Next to Normal, an emotional powerhouse of a musical with a thrilling contemporary score about a family trying to take care of themselves and each other. Winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize and three 2009 Tony Awards including Best Score, Next to Normal is the most talked about new show on Broadway having recently been chosen as “one of the year’s ten best” by major critics around the country.

Next to Normal is a musical about the emotional dynamic of a family with teenage children, specifically dealing with mental illness. There are no sexual or violent situations, but the content and themes would generally be over a younger child’s head. Age 13 and up. For more info, go here 

And this special offer comes from the newsletter of the Capitol Heights Faith Communities (my old crowd) in Denver:

Purchase your ticket for Next to Normal through NAMI, National Association for the Mentally Ill, and our friends upstairs at NAMI will receive a portion of the sale. “Next to Normal” is a story about a mother and wife who struggles with worsening bipolar disorder. The play received the 2009 Tony Award for Best Original Score, Best Orchestration and the 2009 Tony to Alice Ripley for Best Performance by a Lead Actress. Showing at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, January 4-16, tickets are available at NAMI, 303-321-3104, and start at $28.

Wyoming Women's Foundation wants stories by women struggling to reach economic self-sufficiency

I was talking to a part-time coworker a few days before Christmas. Her full-time job is as a waitress at a restaurant that we shall call ApplebeesPerkinsChilisTexasRoadhouseOutback, etc. She makes $2.13 an hour and looks to make more -- much more -- in tips. On the last day she worked during the “Season of Giving,” she made a buck in tips during the entire shift. For her eight hours, she made $17. This will pay for a half tank of gas, if current prices hold steady..

Tipped workers have their work cut out for them. Sure, on good nights they make more than the $7.25/hour federal minimum wage. If they don’t, their employer is supposed to make up the difference. Most don’t, because there is no enforcement.

Wyoming's legislatively-mandated minimum wage is $5.15/hour. We are tied with Georgia as the state with the lowest minimum wage. Good to see that Wyoming is trying to keep up with the Georgians. Or vice versa. At least Wyorgia has a minimum wage requirement. Five Southern states have none. They include Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, South Carolina and Louisiana. The Feds can’t mandate that states adhere to a minimum wage. They would be told “it’s none of your cotton-pickin’ business what we pay our slaves employees.”

Such good company we keep.

The Wyoming Women’s Foundation is looking for stories from women struggling to make ends meet. Here’s the announcement:

The Wyoming Women’s Foundation announces the launch of a new project designed to help raise awareness of the barriers women face in achieving economic self-sufficiency in Wyoming.

We are seeking to learn about the life of workers who earn minimum wage in Wyoming. Are you earning minimum wage? (The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour).What kind of job do you have? Are you able to make ends meet with that wage? How? We will be asking how your wage impacts you life and that of your family.

We will also specifically be looking for information from Wyomingites who rely on tipped wages. Are your tipped wages enough to get you by and are you aware of the tipped offset? We encourage you to check the WYWF facebook page to share your story. If you would prefer your information remains anonymous and not posted publically, please email us at sarah@wywf.org or call 307-250-0479. Your information will be kept confidential, unless you agree to let us share your story.

Please join the conversation! We want to hear from you so that we can maximize the number of women in Wyoming that have achieved economic self-sufficiency!

Going up! Imagining the future of farming

Chris gave me the book The Vertical Farm: Feeding the world in the 21st century for Christmas. She saw me thumbing through it at Barnes & Noble and, not one to ignore a hint, she bought it for me. The author is vertical farming guru Dr. Dickson Despommier. His proposals are pie-in-the-sky now. But they make so much sense. Can we tackle the food challenges of the 21st century by plowing more land and felling more forests? Maybe, but the main problem is that we're running out of arable land. According to Despommier, we now use a land area the size of South American for the world's farming needs. To feed projected population, we'd need another area the size of Brazil. Anyone know where we might find a farm that big? Not on this planet. Unless we build up and use technology that already exists and some that could exist if we bend our collective wills to the task. You know, we can put a man on the moon so why can't we grow lettuce and strawberries in a tower in downtown Cheyenne? Find out more at the Vertical Farm web site.

Here we go again -- Republican legislators seek to deny equality in The Equality State

It's the day after Christmas. That means it's time to take stock of the year and engage in prognostications for 2011.

I can sum up 2010 in two words -- it stunk.

Especially the November election in Wyoming.

Republicans now control all of the state’s five elected offices and have a commanding majority in the legislature. Veto-proof, as if that was necessary.

Matt Mead is a moderate and I would have voted for him if I weren’t such a dedicated Liberal, and stubborn to boot. Leslie Petersen is a great person but not such a great candidate. It didn’t help that voters were wildly indignant about nearly everything (real and imaginary) and wanted to vote the rascals out but just ended up putting inexperienced people in important positions.

Just 22 percent of us voted for Ms. Petersen. The rest for Mr. Mead and various and sundry, including Taylor Haynes, Laramie County’s own Tea Party favorite. He got more than 13,000 write-in votes.

As I said earlier, Mr. Mead is a moderate and he’ll get grief from the Know Nothings in his own party. They plan some mischief in the upcoming 90-day legislative session. We’ve already been privy to some of their plans.

First, it’s time once again to demonize homosexuals. A resolution will be introduced called The Defense of Marriage Act. A similar bill was defeated in 2009. It has once again reared its ugly head.

The bill’s goal, say supporters, is to allow voters to close the loophole in state law. Wyoming has proclaimed that marriage is between a man and a woman. The legislature already decided that. However, Wyoming also guarantees that marriages performed in other states must be recognized here.

You can see the dilemma. Marriages between same-sex partners performed in such liberal hotbeds as Iowa and New Hampshire must be acknowledged by The Equality State. If we don’t act quickly, these people will flood into Wyoming and openly establish businesses, teach our children, create fine art, run for office and cause many traditional marriages to be threatened. And I almost forget – they will openly serve as missileers at Warren AFB, train combat troops at Camp Guernsey and fly those lumbering C-130s over my house in Cheyenne.

We don’t want that.

Who are the sponsors and co-sponsors of this bill? All Republicans, of course. Here are some quotes on the issue from an article in today’s Wyoming Tribune-Eagle:

"It's about the right of Wyoming voters to vote," said Sen. Curt Meier, R-LaGrange, who plans on co-sponsoring an updated resolution. "We're setting a community standard for Wyoming."

A community standard for Wyoming? How a senator from the charming Goshen County hamlet of LaGrange (pop. 334) feels he needs to establish a standard for the rest of Wyoming (pop. 563,626 – 2010 census) is beyond me. He has ally from across the state in a Uinta County metropolis. Rep. Owen Petersen of Mountain View (pop. 1,153) plans to sign on as a co-sponsor.

Both of these Republican candidates ran unopposed in the general election. They come from very conservative rural communities. Tea Party Land. Uinta County is home to unsuccessful Tea Party gubernatorial candidate Ron Micheli. I will have to look up the names of the other co-sponsors. My bet is that they all hail from the far rural reaches of The Equality State. You would think they would have better things to do than demonize their fellow citizens. What about the state’s education crisis, energy regulations, rising poverty rate, sky-high teen suicide rate, Medicaid funding shortfall and infrastructure problems, such as the disintegration of I-80? Minor issues that will determine the future of the state.

Here’s what Cheyenne Rep. Ken Esquibel (Democrat) had to say about the DOMA resolution:

Rep. Ken Esquibel, D-Cheyenne, said he believes it's a proposal that does more to make social conservatives feel good than to protect traditional marriage. And while he personally believes that marriage should be between a man and a woman, he doesn't think the argument of tradition should be used to tell others how to live.

"I don't see how we can call ourselves the Equality State when we are singling out a group of people," he said.

Esquibel said a better way to preserve traditional marriage would be to bring forth legislation requiring heterosexual couples to get counseling before divorcing.

Well said, Ken.

The upcoming legislature also plans to revamp the state’s primary election procedures. This is due to the fact that many Democrats switched parties during the August primary to vote against ultra-conservative Ron Micheli. Republicans thought this was dirty pool and that Democrats shouldn’t be allowed to keep right-wing kooks out of the governor’s office. We’ll see what happens with that.

I suppose there will be several bills related to state’s rights and nullification and the scourge that is “Obamacare” and the labeling of wolves as terrorists. While entertaining, all these add up to a huge embarrassment for Wyoming. Let’s hope cooler and more moderate heads prevail.

See you in Cheyenne in January.

Follow the fun on the legislature's web site.

Jim Hightower has a few gift suggestions

Jim Hightower offers ideas on SPECIAL GIFTS FOR IMPORTANT PEOPLE

The Christmas spirit is alive and well with my favorite liberal populist writer.

I especially like this one:

And for those teabag Republicans who got elected to Congress by demonizing Obama's universal health care plan as Big Government Socialism – how about a supersized box of political integrity? Since you oppose providing health coverage to everyone, surely you intend to include yourself by refusing to accept the socialized health care that you Congress critters get from us taxpayers. Take a dose of integrity, and you'll feel much better in the morning.

Save the world, plant something in your neighborhood

This column by Sarah Goodyear in Grist offers some easy ways to improve the world beginning in your neighborhood. Plant something. Get to know your neighbors. Go for a walk. Common sense stuff that gets ignored as we talk about saving the world. Go to http://www.grist.org/article/2010-12-24-seven-new-years-resolutions-to-make-your-neighbrohood-a-better-p

Impulsive 1840s pioneers longed "to see what the next elevation hides from view"

I’m reading Will Bagley’s first volume of a projected three-part series about the West’s overland trails. It's entitled “So Rugged and Mountainous: Blazing the Trails to Oregon and California, 1812-1848.” It's published by the excellent University of Oklahoma Press.

It sat on the new non-fiction shelf at the library. When I saw it, I said, “We need another book on the Western migration?” I opened the book as was glad to see that Bagley acknowledged his predecessors, noting that “some of America’s best writers have told this tale.” We know the names: John Unruh, Francis Parkman, Mark Twain, Washington Irving, A.B. Guthrie, Fawn Brodie, Vardis Fisher, Wallace Stegner, Alvin M. Josephy. And so on.

I’ve read a number of the fictional accounts of the trails, notably A.B. Guthrie’s “The Way West.” As is true for most Americans, I learned my “Way West” history from movies, such as the huge 1962 Cinerama epic, “How the West Was Won.” Many, many movies have been based on the subject, including my favorite, “Blazing Saddles.” And yes, I know this is a lampoon of classic western films and bears no resemblance to the West’s true story. Except for the farting-around-the-campfire scene. So very real.

I’ve read only snippets of non-fiction accounts. That’s now changing.

I was hooked from the first sentence of Will Bagley’s preface: “All peoples have a myth, and as Americans we love our legends but often loathe our history.” A good line to keep in mind during times of revisionist history-making. South Carolinians recently celebrated the sesquicentennial of the Civil War secession in Charleston with a formal ball. Slavery wasn’t mentioned. But all the white folks at the ball looked marvelous.

Conservatives love their mythic West. We saw this most recently in the Wyoming Legislature’s enshrining a new “Code of the West” based on mythic cowboy lore. We Liberals also have our myths. Beginning in the 1960s, we fell all over ourselves romanticizing “the noble savage” and turning it into an icon of popular culture. Native Americans are admirable in many ways. But they are humans, too, and share the same failings as their Anglo brothers and sisters.

Bagley’s dogged research led him to the conclusion that the true story is more exciting than any myth we might conjure. I agree. What makes regular people pull up stakes, pile their goods in a wagon and trek 1,500 1,800 miles from Independence, Mo., to Oregon's Willamette Valley? I’d often wondered. I’m not the first to speculate that it was wanderlust or even ADHD (see my short-short fiction piece, “How the West was Won”). But the definitive answer doesn’t seem to exist. Bagley scrolls through the reasons and makes a great case that it was many things. Some were looking for land and other new opportunities. Others were fleeing the wretched, malarial climate of the Mississippi River Valley. Others were just moving on.

He sums it up this way:

Men often went West to escape debt, the law or family responsibilities. Yet what sets apart the pioneers of the 1840s was that they were generally very ordinary people who undertook an extraordinary task. Many of them were impatient and curious. “Emigrants are generally too impatient, and over-drive their teams, and cattle,” William Ide noted. “They often neglect the concerns of the present, in consequence of great anticipations of the future – they long to see what the next elevation hides from their view.”

Impulsivity and hyperactivity and curiosity. Traits held by so many Westerners.

I can’t wait to get back to Bagley’s book. It’s a long journey, but I have just the right sort of doggedness to see it through.

SALEM 1692 -- an operatic musical set in "interesting times"

We don't get too many operatic musicals based on the Salem Witch Trials. This is especially noteworthy because one of the librettists is my old mentor and friend, Fort Collins poet (and retired CSU prof) Bill Tremblay.

Here's more info on this production:

SALEM 1692 is an operatic musical, a love story in "interesting times." Young Margaret Scott arrives in Salem, hoping to start a new life. The people of Salem are welcoming, and she finds herself in a love triangle with Richard Saltonstal and Sheriff Corwin. Her new friendship with Bridget Bishop shows a fun side of Puritan life, but soon she learns that Salem is rife with tension when charges of witchcraft arise. This is one of America's most classic stories retold with gorgeous music.


Three performances at Bas Bleu Theatre -- January 4th, 5th, and 6th. Curtain rises at 7:30 pm (house opens at 7:00 pm)

Tickets available from Bas Bleu Theatre

401 Pine St., Ft. Collins, CO

Call (970) 498-8949

Or purchase online: www.basbleu.org/tickets
 
Ticket Prices: $15 Regular, $12 Seniors (ages 65+), $10 Students (all ages).

Final word on the subject

I have delivered eulogies in churches and funeral homes. I've attended too many services and burials, a hazard of aging.

I have never officiated at a memorial service on a softball field. As I think of it now, almost a week later, I realize it may have been one of the most spiritual memorials I've ever attended.

My brother Pat was remembered at a memorial at home plate of softball field number three in Fred Lee Park in Palm Bay, Fla. It was Monday, Dec. 13. The park was deserted when we arrived. Not much softball is played in December, not even in central Florida.

Pat's wishes were clear. Cremate his body. No church service. No ministers or priests. No prayers. This former altar boy and product of Catholic schools had soured on religion. He and I had many talks over the years about fundamentalist Christian crazies. We also discussed the depredations of the Catholic Church. He was tougher on the church than I was. I stayed in it longer than he did. In the end, we both agreed that it wasn't worth it.

The congregation, if you choose to call it that, sat in the metal softball stands. Pat was a coach so he was in the dugout most of the time. When attending a game, he crouched in the grass outside the fence on the third base line. He didn't like the behavior of some parents. They yelled at the refs and kids on the opposing teams. Pat hated this kind of low-rent behavior. He had a temper, and he wasn't above contesting a bad call. But he loved his daughters and he liked the girls they played with. He didn't think it was right for big burly men to yell at skinny twelve-year-old girls playing a game.

On this day at the softball field, the only voice for awhile was my own. And then Pat's daughters Maggie and Erin read their own eulogies, the cool north wind attempting to snatch their words away. Pat's friend, Coach Bill, spoke about their days on ball diamonds all over Florida. Coach Bill's daughter, one of Pat's former players, spoke. Then Roger Ross spoke. Roger was our neighbor in Daytona Beach. Pat helped him land a job as engineer at the Harris Corp. Rounding out the speakers was Pat's nephew, Ryan Shay. Ryan's a communications major at University of North Florida and it was clear he knows how to communicate.

Pat's four years in the Air Force led to his long career at the Harris Corp. The memorial ended with the folding of the flag and Taps, performed by the honor guard from nearby Patrick AFB. The bugler's notes lingered in the air as the folded flag was handed over to Pat's widow, Jean.

We then traveled to Pat and Jean's house for the wake with family and friends. We told stories around the bonfire.

These remembrances that I've posted over the past week are my way of mourning. I'm a writer. How will I know how I feel if I don't write it down? Someone famous once said that.  

Photos: Pat Shay's wake

The ceremonial tossing of the Cheerios onto the bonfire. My brother Pat was a Cheerios fan. When he was a kid, that's all he ate.

Family members at bonfire. I had to come to Florida to attend a bonfire on a freezing night.

Me and my sister Eileen at the wake.

My brothers Dan (left) and Tommy. 

Pat's daughters Katie (left) and Maggie toss the Cheerios.

My brother Tim (left) and his son Finn who rides on my nephew Ryan's Shay's shoulders.

My brother Tom shares a memory of Pat at the wake. Pat's widow, Jean, is sitting at the table on Tommy's left. Photos by Mary Shay Powell.

Photos: Pat Shay memorial

Site of the memorial service, Fred Lee Park softball fields, Palm Bay

The assembled congregation. Most of these people are family members. The woman with red hair in the front row is my youngest sister, Mary. She shot most of these fine photos.

Patrick Kevin Shay, 1954-2010

My first time serving as emcee of a memorial service at a softball field.

Honor guard from Patrick AFB. Pat served in the Air Force from 1977-81.

Poem as eulogy and celebration of family ties

My Tucson son, Kevin Michael Patrick Shay, the poet and theatre guy, wrote the following poem for his godfather, Patrick Kevin Shay. I read it as part of the memorial service for my brother on Dec. 13.

[Untitled]

We are Shay
We are surfers and fishermen
Captains and sand flea enthusiasts
We are collegiate
We are Navy
We are doctors and nurses
We are bandages in one hand
That covers the wound made by the knife in the other
Sometimes

We aren't always the best
At saying no or goodbye
Pushing whatever it may be
Back across the table and into
The back of our minds
Away with us never means forgotten
Shimmering delicately on the edges
Of our overactive subconscious minds

But we remain warriors
Women and men with blood thick
Like hot pitch cascading over the sides
Of castles
Onto enemies mostly defeated
Some remain
Edging their way in and laying siege
They seem overly capable of finding
The most sensitive parts
And sword-plunging through tearing

We are multitude
Thousands of bright candles floating
Across a crystal pond
Water moccasins shivering away from the heat
Gators meandering to some safer bank
Manatees gliding soft
Edging and urging along our lights
With silent swoops of blue-grey tails

We are singular and stand out
Bellowing pride
In politics and sports and intellect
The young and old cohesive
In family's stalwart and commanding glue

We are one

Dec. 8 a sad day in so many ways

Rarely do I go more than a few days without posting to this site. Now here it is, a week later, and nothing from the writer, editor and sole proprietor of hummingbirdminds.

A week ago I was in Florida zooming down a rainy highway. My sister Molly, brother-in-law Jamie and I were on our way from Tallahassee back to Palm Bay for my brother Pat’s memorial service. Right behind us was my sister Mary, husband Neill and their son Morgan. Along the way, we all stopped in Orlando to have lunch with my sister Eileen and her husband Brian.

That’s what made my week a spiritual one – time with my family. Funerals bring us together when vacations and weddings and graduations cannot. Grieving unites. That’s when you most need the support.

I’ve made many such trips from the Rockies to Florida. A mad dash to Denver’s Stapleton in April 1986. Trying to get a flight out to be at my dying mother’s side in Daytona. Approaching spring storm caused cancellation of one flight after another. Before my flight finally left at midnight, I called my brother and he told me that Mom had passed. I phoned my wife Chris, at home with our toddler son, and choked on the bad news.

Before we took off, the plane had to be de-iced twice. Once airborne, the cabin began to fill with smoke. Tendrils of smoke drifted through the beams of overhead reading lights. At first, I thought it was cigarette smoke (yes, children, you could smoke on airplanes back then). But the smoking lamp wasn’t lit. The plane was still climbing. A flight attendant rushed down the aisle to the cockpit. The smoke thickened. A few minutes later, the captain got on the horn and told us no to worry, that ice had clogged some intake or outtake and that had caused a gizmo to overheat, thus the smoke. We’ll get the air cleared in a jiffy, he promised.

I wasn’t comforted. Smoke was now as thick as it was in my favorite bar. My thoughts turned to gruesome thoughts of death by smoke at 30,000 feet. Mike Shay, 35, Denver, Colo., died while flying to his mother’s funeral in Daytona Beach. We are aware of the irony so don’t go pointing it out.

The cabin air cleared, but not before I contemplated an array of death scenarios. Rosy-fingered dawn crept in from the east as we landed in Atlanta. I was in Daytona by 9 a.m.

For this trip, I made it to my brother’s bedside 24 hours before he passed. We spoke, even though he was in a coma and machines breathed for him. He was surrounded by machines. But we spoke. I put my son Kevin on speaker and he spoke to Pat, his godfather. My daughter Annie did the same. Chris didn’t get a chance because the room began to fill with people again and she felt uncomfortable. She got her chance later.

The following afternoon, the family heard the grim assessment from the ICU physician. Massive infection. Organs failing. Brain damage. 90 percent chance he won’t recover and, if he did, on life support or in a coma.

Pat’s wife Jean and daughters Katie, Maggie and Erin decided. Take Pat off life support and let him go.

We all said our farewells privately. Chris said farewell via cell phone. I bawled out my goodbyes. Family members moved into the vacuum created by the silenced machines. We were all with Pat at 10 that night when he slipped away.

That was Dec. 8. The same day that John Lennon died 30 years before. Someone pointed that out to me, wondering if that had been the inspiration for the header on my Dec. 12 post, “Sunflower fields forever.” Not Strawberry fields, but I heard that song in my head as I contemplated my eulogy. Here’s to you, Pat. Sunflower & strawberry fields. Forever.

On Monday, Dec. 13, we held Pat’s memorial on softball field number three at Fred Lee Park in Palm Bay. More on that next time (with photos).

Sunflower fields forever

We awoke to sunflowers.

Millions of them. The rising sun lit up their golds and bronzes and greens.

Pat and I were in Oklahoma, a few exits south of the Kansas border. We had reached the spot late at night after hitchhiking from Houston the day before.

Now it was time to get our gear and get on our way to the Colorado Rockies.

The sunflowers dazzled the eyes. Trucks roared by, tall flower stalks bowed in their wakes.

On this day when we celebrate Pat's life, I remember that summer day 35 years ago. Two brothers on an adventure. We left behind hot and muggy Florida for a high-country jaunt.

But on this Oklahoma morning, the mountains seemed far away. Someone finally had mercy on us and gave us a ride. Later that day outside Salina, Kansas, we almost were arrested. "Go 50 miles per hour or go to jail," said the burly state patrolman. Pat always liked that quote.

No way we were going 50 miles an hour. So we went into town and found the bus station. The bus we took to Denver barely broke the 50 m.p.h barrier But we did arrive in Denver and eventually the mountains.

Backpacking into wild country. In the evening, I cooked freeze-dried meals on my tiny stove. As night fell, Pat built a fire and I read poems from Gary Snyder's "Turtle Island." As a rule, Pat wasn't into poetry. But Snyder wrote of wide-open skies and wild, unconquered nature. It seemed fitting.

A month passed quickly. Too soon I was back in Gainesville and Pat back in Daytona Beach. In a few months he was off to the Air Force.

We talked many times over the years. Once, two years passed in which we didn't speak. I said some harsh things that he didn't like. We each were too stubborn to make the first call. Pat broke the ice and called me when he became a grandpa for the first time. We talked more when he was in treatment for a month. We wrote letters for the first time in decades.

Pat and I talked about our Colorado trip many times. I wish now that we could have done it again. That we could have spent more time together.

But the 1975 trip was a moment in time. Two brothers waking up in a field of sunflowers.

We saw nothing but a bright future spread out before us.

We saw it together, as brothers.

So I say this to my dear departed backpacking brother Pat, to my Air Force brother, to my Gator-loving brother, to my brother the softball coach, my brother the gardener, the planter of trees and flowers and tomatoes....

Pat, may you always be surrounded by fields of flowers.

Update: This is the eulogy I delivered as part of my brother Pat's memorial service on Monday, Dec. 13, at the Fred Lee Park softball field in Palm Bay, Fla. I will share the full text of the memorial in later posts...

In memoriam: My younger brother, Pat

Obituary for my younger brother, Patrick Kevin Shay...

Patrick Kevin Shay passed away Dec. 8 at Palm Bay (Fla.) Hospital. He was 54.

Pat was born in Denver, Colo., on Nov. 18, 1956. After his family moved to Daytona Beach in 1964, he attended our Lady of Lourdes Elementary School and graduated in 1974 from Seabreeze High School.

He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1977-81, stationed overseas for two years in the Republic of South Korea. He was an avionics senior system specialist.

He married the former Jean Weikel on May 1, 1982, in Daytona Beach. They moved to Palm Bay and he joined the Harris Corp. as an engineering specialist, and worked there for more than 25 years.

Pat was a dedicated husband, father and softball coach. He coached for 15 years in the Palm Bay Little League, winning county championships and traveling to tournaments all over Florida. He never missed a single game or school function.

He is survived by his wife, Jean, his three daughters -- Katie, Palm Bay (Jeremy), Maggie, Davenport, and Erin, Palm Bay; one granddaughter -- Riley Ames of Palm Bay. He is also survived by eight siblings -- Michael Shay, Cheyenne, Wyo. (Chris); Dan Shay, Ormond Beach, (Nancy); Molly Shakar, Tallahassee (Jaime); Eileen Casey, Winter Park (Brian); Tommy Shay, Palm Bay; Tim Shay, Daytona Beach (Jen); Maureen Martinez, Tallahassee (Ralph); and Mary Powell, Tallahassee (Neill); and numerous nieces and nephews. He leaves behind a multitude of friends.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Tom and Anna Shay, Daytona Beach.

A celebration of life will be held at 2 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 13, at Fred Lee Park in Palm Bay. Family invites you to a reception at the Shay home immediately following the ceremony. You are encouraged to wear orange and blue, the colors of Pat's favorite sports team, the Florida Gators.

I lieu of flowers, plant a tree in Pat's honor or contribute to the Arbor Day Foundation.

This is the obit I wrote for official announcements. The personal remembrance will come later.

What makes Cheyenne a desireable place to live?

What makes a community a desirable place to live?

That’s the question posed by the Knight Foundation Soul of the Community project.

After interviewing close to 43,000 people in 26 communities over three years, the study has found that three main qualities attach people to place: social offerings, such as entertainment venues and places to meet, openness (how welcoming a place is) and the area’s aesthetics (its physical beauty and green spaces).

--snip--

First, what attaches residents to their communities doesn’t change much from place to place. While we might expect that the drivers of attachment would be different in Miami, Fla., from those in Macon, Ga., in fact, the main drivers of attachment show little difference across communities. In addition, the same drivers have risen to the top in every year of the study.

Second, these main drivers may be surprising. While the economy is obviously the subject of much attention, the study has found that perceptions of the local economy do not have a very strong relationship to resident attachment. Instead, attachment is most closely related to how accepting a community is of diversity, its wealth of social offerings, and its aesthetics. This is not to say that jobs and housing aren’t important. Residents must be able to meet their basic needs in a community in order to stay. However, when it comes to forming an emotional connection with the community, there are other community factors which often are not considered when thinking about economic development. These community factors seem to matter more when it comes to attaching residents to their community.

And finally, while we do see differences in attachment among different demographic groups, demographics generally are not the strongest drivers of attachment. In almost every community, we found that a resident’s perceptions of the community are more strongly linked to their level of community attachment than to that person’s age, ethnicity, work status, etc.

Do I have these types of attachments to my community of Cheyenne, Wyoming?

As far as social offerings, such as entertainment venues and places to meet….

I socialize at arts events. That includes performances by the Cheyenne Little Theatre Players, various music concerts, such as the free Friday concerts at the Depot Plaza, Art Design & Dine gallery walks the second Thursday of the month, author readings at the library, and art openings at museums. My writing group meets twice a month and we do some small-scale socializing before getting down to the dirty work of critiquing manuscripts.

I volunteer for good causes. I meet and schmooze with fellow Democrats at our monthly meetings. I see people I know at Barnes & Noble, the local grocery store and at summer farmers’ markets. I socialize at events sponsored by the YMCA, my wife’s employer. There are always tons of people at the Y.
I’m not a social butterfly, but I’m not a hermit. My job at the Wyoming Arts Council entails lots of socializing.

As a writer, I could be entirely anti-social. But I need some social contact to be able to frame believable characters. And to stay human and at least partially sane.

Many Cheyenne residents socialize at church or in bars or at school functions. Church no longer interests me. I stopped going to Catholic mass during the 2004 elections, when the deacon said in his homily that Kerry supporters were going to hell for their pro-abortion, women’s rights-promoting, liberal-leaning ways. It was sickening. We tried to some other local churches but there wasn’t enough suffering involved. My wife and I no longer go to bars. We’re not against them, especially microbreweries and taverns. But it’s a young people’s pursuit. Our kids are out of school – more PTA, PTO or Halloween Carnivals or volunteering in the classroom. It as fun, but can’t say we made any lasting friendships along the way.

What about the town itself? Family members live in Colorado, Arizona and Florida, mainly. So family roots do not bind us to Cheyenne. My daughter was born at the Cheyenne Medical Center, spending a week in Pediatric ICU. She recovered nicely, and remains the only family member we know (including aunts and uncles and cousins) born in Wyoming. Our blood does not run deep in this place.

Politics, too, play a part. I’m a liberal in a conservative town. This most recent election took it out of me. The 2008 presidential race infused me with – dare I say it – hope. I’ve reported on that election year in this blog so go roam around in the 2008 posts if you like. The 2010 election was depressing nationally. Really depressing in Wyoming. Great Democratic candidates got swamped by the Tea Party tsunami. In the lead-up to polling, I couldn’t go anywhere without hearing slams about Obama and demonic Dems. One audience member at the local community theatre production of “The Sound of Music” commented during the intermission that she would enjoy the play a lot more if the woman playing Maria didn’t look like Nancy Pelosi.

Dumb.

It’s this attitude that irks me. Odd thing is, most of the complainers seem to be pretty well off. Many are retirees living on military pensions, state retirement and/or Social Security. Never understood why so many Tea Partiers showed up at rallies wearing their Vietnam Veteran or Desert Storm caps. As government employees, you’d think they would appreciate and encourage the government that provided a living for them, possibly even a skill they wouldn’t have had otherwise.

So how do I rate my attachment to Cheyenne on a scale of 1 to 10?

Probably a 6. High on the arts and friendliness and livability scale. Our greenway is among the best I've seen. Ditto the public library. And potential -- Cheyenne has lots of that. Low on the political and community involvement scale. The politics here are bizarre and byzantine. And much too conservative for my tastes.

I know, I know. If I don't like it, why don't I go somewhere else? I can hear those cranky crackpots now.

But this objection gets to the heart of the matter. I am involved in my community because I want to make it a better place. I could move, or stay at home and complain full time via letters to the editor and wacky blog comments.

But I choose otherwise.

What about you?

Cheyenne's Tuesday farmers' market moves downtown in June

While spending my allowance Saturday at the Cheyenne Winter Farmers' Market at the Depot, I ran into Sara Burlingame-Thomas. Whenever there's a farmers' market or progressive cause, Sara can't be far away. Most of the time she's leading the charge.

Back when Sara was proprietor of the now-defunct Sara's Breads, she started up an alternative market, held each Tuesday in a parking lot on Yellowstone Road just a bit north of Dell Range and about three blocks from my house. The market is sandwiched between Cool River, the neighborhood liquor store, and a chain bread store that makes some nice sweet rolls. It's a small lot, but it's been home to the market for years.

Sara says that in June 2011, the market will move to the Depot Plaza downtown. My neighborhood will miss it, but it will be a big boost to downtown. That means that the plaza will be lively at least three nights a week each summer. There will be the Tuesday market, the Friday evening concerts and the big Saturday market that begins the week after Frontier Days ends. During Frontier Days, the plaza stages nightly concerts. A half-block away is the Atlas Theatre with its nightly melodrama, sometimes featuring yours truly as emcee.

But before and after CFD, tumblin' tumbleweeds are the only things moving downtown on many nights. There are a few bars and restaurants. People come out to see the films at the Lincoln Theater. But there are too many vacant downtown buildings, some that have been empty for decades. And many businesses close at 5, even in summer.

Sara says that the market wants to feature live music and work out some deals with local restaurants to get people to stay downtown to eat after buying their grass-fed beef and lettuce and and bedding plants from vendors. Great ideas.

Now, if we can only come up with a creative idea to fill in downtown's Big Gaping Hole. Just filling it in would be a start. What about a community garden?

I'll plant the first seed.

One surprise after another for Cheyenne's dumpster-diving glass artist

For Beth Rulli, dumpster diving is an art form.

The Cheyenne glass artist gets most of her material at dumpsters at a local window company and various other locales.

She hauls the glass back to her Cheyenne studio. She cleans it, cuts it to size, paints it, places it on a mold and inserts it into the kiln.

Then she waits for the surprises.

"The next day, I get to open the kiln and find out what happened," Beth writes in her brochure. Unexpected colors. Craze lines in the paint. The glass has moved in strange and unexpected ways.

She displayed her distinctive "genuine dumpster glass" Saturday at the Cheyenne Winter Market downtown at the Historic Depot  She occupied the first vendor spot inside the door so had first dibs on all the people streaming into the Depot. She invited me to "dumpster dive" in a large blue plastic bin filled with her glass bowls covered in protective layers of bubble wrap.

While I picked through the bin, she said that she had first labeled her work "trash art."

That didn't go over too well.

"I decided on 'dumpster glass,' " she said. "My husband and daughter were horrified."

She registered the name in Wyoming and Colorado, which is mainly where she sells her work.

I eventually arose from the blue bin clutching a blue bowl with distinctive craze lines. Its rim had some strange bends which might be called imperfections by lesser mortals. Beth described them as "one-of-a-kind charms."

The bowls are food safe but should be washed by hand. And they're breakable since they're made of glass. It will make a wonderful Christmas present for someone less klutzy than I.

That's how it is with handmade goods. They are not made on assembly lines. They are supposed to contain distinctive elements.

Beth Wood is an LCCC student in Pine Bluffs who runs High Country Treasures. She makes her jewelry from an assortment of rocks, precious stones and metals. While she has some tools in her studio, she sometimes has to turn to a local machinist to cut the metal for her pendants.

As a youngster, Beth used to buy rocks at gift shops during family trips. She eventually had more than 400 pounds of a variety of rocks. She decided to make beautiful things with them. While the materials may come from all over, the jewelry is all made in Pine Bluffs.

Some very creative people in this town of 1,153 in eastern Laramie County.

Hard workers, too.

The couple that runs Paisley Farms in Pine Bluffs oversee 250 chickens in a couple little houses. They don't say coops -- they say houses. They look in on all 250 residents daily. That's a claim that definitely can't be made by factory farms.

I bought two dozen eggs from Paisley. I haven't been eating many eggs since the dirty egg epidemic from Iowa factory farms that erupted in September. I will now though. I hope to know each of those 250 hens by this time next year. I see Gertrude and Sally and Philomena and Hortense and Tiffany and....

Anyone heard of a hen called Tiffany?

I worked my way down the line of the Pine Bluffs purveyors. Next stop was High Point Bison. Owners Glen and Jill Klawonn are members of the National Bison Association. I bought some of their fine bison jerky. Next time, I'm claiming some of the steaks.

As it grew closer to noon, I felt drawn to Cheyenne's Pioneer Bar-B-Que. I envisioned beef brisket sandwiches for lunch, so bought a pound of it. At another table, I found some knotty rolls made by Uncle Fred's in -- where else? -- Pine Bluffs.

Goods in hand, I trudged back into the cold and drove home.

The next winter market rolls around Jan. 8. I should be hungry again by then.

Get more info about the Cheyenne Winter Farmers' Market at 307-649-2430.

Peach of a winter farmers' market set for Saturday

I know -- it's harder to get worked up about nondescript winter squash than it is fresh, juicy, fragrant peaches. But winter still offers us many opportunities to eat and shop locally.

I posted the following info a few weeks ago. I see that the Wyoming Business Council web site lists the hours as 8 a.m.-3 p.m. But the hours listed below show 10 a.m.-2 p.m. One thing is certain -- if you go to the Depot during lunch, the vendors will be there.

The Wyoming Business Council sponsors the Cheyenne Winter Farmers Market on six Saturdays throughout the winter. The market will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. inside the Historic Train Depot in downtown Cheyenne. Dates are November 6 (missed this one), December 4, January 8, February 5, March 5, and April 2.

Some of the locally raised and produced products are all-natural eggs, meats from free-range animals (beef, lamb, bison, chicken and turkeys), winter vegetables, salsa, soup mixes, local jams and honey, gourmet pasta, mushrooms, natural hand-crafted body care products, and much more.

For further information contact:
Kim Porter, Farmers Market & Education Program Manager
Phone: 307.777.6319
Fax: 307.777.2838

Read an overview of the Cheyenne Winter Farmers' Market on the Local Harvest web site at http://www.localharvest.org/cheyenne-winter-farmers-market-M40878