The Irish diaspora brought us The Great Shame and -- for many -- much better lives

Looking for some especially depressing books to read during St. Patrick's Day week, I chose The Great Shame, and the triumph of the Irish in the English-speaking world by Thomas Keneally. Keneally is an Australian of Irish descent who wrote such great books as Schindler's List, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith and To Asmara. I've met Keneally several times and he looks a bit like a leprechaun (see book jacket). A leprechaun who can write!

It's an old story. Irish peasant gets sideways with his landlord, goes to jail and is convicted, and eventually is deported to Australia. Hugh Larkin was his ancestor who was shipped away in chains and, strangely enough, into a better life. He missed the Great Potato Famine, for one thing. There were jailers and landlords in Australia but not nearly so many. A man with grit and wit could make it there.

That's what so many Irish found during the diaspora. If they survived.

Thomas O'Shea, who somewhere along the line changed his surname to Shay, was born in County Clare, Ireland, on Dec. 20, 1815. He died in Clear Creek Township in Johnson County, Iowa, on May 14, 1879. According to his very precise gravestone at St. Joseph's Cemetery in Iowa City, he was "63 years, 4 mos, and 24 days." Not sure about the hours and minutes.

His wife was Ann (Anna, Annie) Agnes Burns, born somewhere in Ireland about 1825. My daughter Annie bears her name. My daughter was born on March 9, 1993, in Cheyenne in County Laramie, USA. Wonder how much of the Irish Annie is in our Annie? She's stubborn as hell and beautiful and smart. I wonder if she would have made it to the U.S. intact from famine-ravaged Ireland. I think so.

Annie and Thomas emigrated around 1850. It could have been earlier. But the cause is clear -- threat of starvation. The 1850 New York census shows Thomas Shay, 30, and Annie Shay, 23, living with their three children in Brockport in Monroe County, just a bit west of Rochester. The family left for Iowa about 1859, just in time to avoid most of the Civil War.

The 1870 federal census records show that Thomas Shay owned real estate worth $4,000 in Clear Creek Township, Iowa. It was 96 acres. He and Annie, 43, now had eight children. The youngest was Michael, 6. The family owned three horses, four mules, four milk cows, four "other cattle," and 18 swine. He and his family farmed wheat, corn, oats and (of course) "Irish potatoes." They harvested 15 tons of hay and produced 300 pounds of butter and 30 gallons of molasses.

Beats the hell out of eating weeds or grass, the only crops growing in the Irish countryside. Not an easy journey across the ocean and across half of the country. But, in the end, Thomas probably thought it was worth it.

Ann Burns Shay was buried next to her husband in 1909. By then, her youngest son Michael's first-born son Raymond was 16. Raymond's son Thomas was born in 1923 and, after he married Anna Marie Shay in February, 1950, I was born 10 months later.

There are many family stories mixed in with the data. And so many relatives named Michael and Patrick and Molly. Show a little imagination people! Our names are traded like baseball cards. My father was named after his great-grandfather Thomas from Ireland and his uncle Thomas, who died in 1918 from the Spanish flu. He was in the Iowa National Guard at the time with his older brother Ray. They were in France with the AEF. More Johnson County boys died of the flu than died in battle during World War I.

My middle name is Thomas. I have a younger brother Thomas. We call him Tom or Tommy. I have a nephew Thomas who is trying to get into medical school. My sister Molly is his mother.

We've done pretty well here in the States. My parents never traveled to Ireland to look up relatives. Neither did I. Maybe we're beyond that. The Republic of Ireland, until recently, was known as the Celtic Tiger and some Americans of Irish descent traveled back to The Old Sod to work. They may be back soon.

Happy St. Patrick's Day on Thursday.

I'll raise a pint to the dear departed -- here's to you, Pat! -- the living, and all those Michaels and Annies and Patricks and Mollys yet to come.

Many local events lead up to March 29 talk in Cheyenne by activist and author Greg Mortenson

I try to spend some of that time I once devoted to Sunday morning mass to the contemplation of nature, spirituality and even organized religion.

While reading this morning’s Cheyenne paper, I saw an ad promoting the appearance of activist, educator and author Greg Mortenson. He wrote the acclaimed bestseller, “Three Cups of Tea,” about his experiences promoting primary education in Afghanistan. He will speak on Tuesday, March 29, 7-8:30 p.m., at the Taco John’s Event Center in Cheyenne. Tickets are $5 for students and $15 for the general public.

Presented by these Cheyenne Community Partners: Laramie County Community College, LCCC Foundation’s Gerald and Jessie Chambers Speakers Series, Rotary International, Laramie County Library System and Foundation, Laramie County School District #1.

Great cooperation on this project by all levels of the public education system. That includes the library. Kudos to Rotary International. I admire their good work. So many selfless and community-minded organizations out there. The Lions work on behalf of better vision, the Shriners sponsor childhood learning disability clinics, the Kiwanis Club seems to do all the good things a community needs, such as the amazing free pancake breakfasts during Cheyenne Frontier Days. I find it compelling that a bunch of people can gather together to perform good works. Such a contentious age we live in, yet altruism continues. We must crave it.

A few words about Mortenson from the LCCC Foundation web site:

Greg Mortenson, co-author of the New York Times bestseller, "Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time," will share insightful commentary and stunning photography to educate and promote awareness of the importance of primary education, literacy and cross-cultural understanding about the remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Mortenson has dedicated his life to bringing education where few education opportunities existed before. In 1996, he co-founded the Central Asia Institute with his wife, Tara Bishop, and since then has managed to construct 145 schools in the Middle East and bring educational opportunities to more than 64,000 students, including 52,000 girls. Mortenson’s extraordinary journey has had many hardships, but recently it also has brought international appreciation. In 2009, he was awarded the "Star of Pakistan" and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in both 2008 and 2009. FMI: 307.433.0024.

A number of events this month lead up to the March 29 event. Our family has been collecting pennies for Pennies for Peace. The library has focused many of its events around the concepts of altruism. Here’s one:

TEENS MAKE A DIFFERENCE, March 16, 6 p.m.: Join us for an evening with Judge Ronn Jeffrey as we explore ways you can impact your community in a positive way. Teens will have a chance to win a ticket to hear Greg Mortenson speak at the Taco John’s Event Center on March 29, 7 p.m. Don’t forget to bring your Pennies for Peace! (Grades 7-12 & parents, Cottonwood Room, 1st floor).

The library also will host a tea party on St. Patrick’s Day, celebrating tea-drinking cultures such as Ireland, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Very innovative. ON St. Patrick’s Day, many of us forget that the Irish also drink tea.  

LCCC has also planned a number of related events. This coming week is spring break on campus. But on Wednesday, March 23, these are scheduled:


Ethnic food tasting: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., Center for Conferences & Institutes, Room 129/130. Food tasting limited to LCCC students and employees. Roundtable discussion: “Women and Islam in a Central Asian Context” with Dr. Marianne Kamp, Dr. Mohammed Salih and Arshi Nisley. 1-3 p.m., Center for Conferences & Institutes, Room 129/130.

See other events celebrating the work of Greg Mortenson

Role-switching and the ADHD family

I can’t help noticing that Frank S. and I are the only members of the male gender posting on the easy to love but hard to raise blog. That’s cool – and not entirely unexpected.

I’m the writer in our family. My wife Chris has ADHD and learning disabilities. Oddly enough, she’s had the jobs that require the most organizational skills. Banking, for one. Supervisor at the local YMCA for another. When I come into the YMCA to exercise or to pick her up for lunch, it seems as if all 8,000 members are there at once. Chris is flitting around the place, attending to member and staff needs. I stand there, amazed, wanting to flee the chaos to the quiet safety of my car. How does she do it? Her ADHD helps her multi-task, yet it also contributes to flittering. I’m standing still, sometimes because I’m depressed and other times because I’m thinking up clever blog posts like this one.

We complement one another.

We’re also a bit of an anomaly. As we’ve seen on this blog, it’s usually the adult male in the relationship who has ADHD. Most diagnoses of childhood ADHD are in boys. Hyper-boys grow up, meet lovely and competent women, sweep them off their feet and into marriage.

My friend L is married to H. H is a psychologist and L has all the traits of an ADHD boy grown into a hyper-adult. He’s a Brainiac but never quite reached his full potential. Wherever he goes, he leaves a trail of chaos in his wake. When all of us lived in Maryland, L said he was coming over the make me a gourmet birthday dinner. He’s a good cook and it gave all of us a chance to hang out.

Later that evening, Chris and I surveyed the kitchen. Every pot and pan in the kitchen was dirty. Red sauce stains were on the walls on the floor. Empty spice containers littered the counter like empty beer cans after a frat party. The stove was still on and cabinet doors remained flung open.

“The meal was good,” I replied, surveying the damage.

“Never again,” said Chris.

After that, we ate out with L and H.

We also were in an Adult ADHD Support Group. The men and one woman (Chris) was in the support group while the women (and one guy – me) shared our horror stories. He never graduated from college. He forgets to pick up the kids from school. Can’t keep a job. He leaves a terrible mess when he cooks dinner. And so on.

This was 1995. The Maryland suburbs that ring D.C. are made up of some of the best-educated people in the U.S. Liberals, mainly, just like me, an out-of-place Westerner. The women were strong and had careers in business or medicine or government.

But even in the closing decade of the 20th century, three decades into the women’s movement, the men were still considered primary breadwinners. So when they have ADHD, they not only struggle with inattention and hyperactivity, they also are underachievers in an overachieving world. And it’s not just their spouses who notice. One of the first questions asked in D.C. is about your work. My buddy L worked at home as a freelancer. Later, he was also a stay-at-home dad. I saw the strange looks that other men gave him. I guessed their thoughts: you’re not even a lobbyist? Remember that this is a place where you can get into policy wonk discussions at any time and any place.

One fine spring day during a clean-up hike of the Potomac with the Cub Scouts, one of the other dads found out that I worked at the National Endowment for the Arts. He was a conservative think-tank lobbyist and proceeded to tell me all the reasons the arts shouldn’t be government funded. Another adult leader chimed in that the arts were crucial and deserved even more federal funding. We were engaged in a lively debate when one of the Scouts came up and told us to get back to work. We looked at each other sheepishly and then returned to the task of picking up Snickers wrappers from the historic trails along the Potomac.

When I first met Chris 33 years ago, I was drawn like a hummingbird to her beauty and her vivacious nature. She was the lively one; I was the laid-back one. Later, she uncovered her learning disabilities and ADHD. I uncovered deep wells of depression. We discovered them, I should say. Some of it came about after the birth and toddlerhood of our son Kevin revealed his ADHD. It took us decades to unwrap all of these secrets. We didn’t do it alone – and it’s an ongoing process.

Cross-posted to easy to love but hard to raise.

Anne Coulter to speak at UW on April Fool's Day Eve

You're foolin', right?

I'm not. Anne Coulter is coming to University of Wyoming on March 31. I can barely stand the excitement.

If you're not a fan of Ms. Coulter's hate speech, there's a great way to contribute to LGBT causes in Wyoming. A new Facebook page is Ann Coulter's Homo Rainbow. She's said some nasty things about gays and lesbians. So, you can pledge a certain amount for every minute she speaks and the money will be split among these causes:

GetEqual WY

Their mission: GetEqual WY aims to empower the LGBTQ community and our allies to take action to demand full legal and social equality, and to hold accountable those who stand in the way.

Equality for All

Their mission: Equality for All is dedicated to the support of progressive policies in Wyoming and election of candidates who support moving Wyoming into the future. We believe in upholding Article 1, Section 2 of the Wyoming Constitution - "Equality of all: In their inherent right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, all members of the human race are equal."

The Matthew Shepard Foundation

Their mission: The Matthew Shepard Foundation tries to raise awareness and promote human dignity for everyone by engaging schools, corporations, and individuals in dialogues. These dialogues take many forms; some are presentations, some are interactive seminars, and some are web-based. Ultimately, we try to cross boundaries between straight and gay in order to bring people together.

I pledged 25 cents a minute. My contribution will total $15 if she speaks for 90 minutes. There is a real threat that she will speak longer, which she should for the $20,000 fee. I'll take my chances.

FMI: http://www.facebook.com/AnnCoultersRainbow

Made in the USA? Good idea 'til greed got in the way

This is a 1983 song by Bob Dylan but it's even more relevant today. It reflects what's happening in Wisconsin and what Republicans are trying to do to all working people in the USA -- bring our wages down to the levels conglomerates pay labor in Indonesia and Latin America:

Union Sundown (excerpt)
Bob Dylan

Well, my shoes, they come from Singapore,
My flashlight's from Taiwan,
My tablecloth's from Malaysia,
My belt buckle's from the Amazon.
You know, this shirt I wear comes from the Philippines
And the car I drive is a Chevrolet,
It was put together down in Argentina
By a guy makin' thirty cents a day

Well, it's sundown on the union
And what's made in the USA
Sure was a good idea
'Til greed got in the way.

From Working Words: Punching the Clock and Kicking Out the Jams, edited by M.L. Liebler and published by Coffee House Press.

Ashes to ashes -- now take the bastards down!

So Ash Wednesday was yesterday. This marks the beginning of Lent. I wore ashes on my forehead for most of my life. I miss them, but I can no longer stomach the Catholic Church and its bigotry against the LGBT community and women. And hypocrisy on child sex abuse by priests. I do like the Pope's cool shoes.

As Lent begins, I also think of St. Patrick's Day and the holiday's importance in our Irish-Catholic family. Many of those memories involve drinking and toasts to The Old Sod where I've never been and to where my Irish grandfather never wanted to return. It'd odd to be nostalgic for a place I haven't visited. But it's in my blood and I grew up with the stories. I credit some of my storytelling and writing skills to DNA and a certain spirit that travels down the generations. My parents, both terrific readers, get a lot of the credit. So do the nuns and priests and public school teachers who educated this lad.

Irish have a creative side, a drinking side, a dark side, a feisty side. I was thinking of that when I watched this Dropkick Murphys song as accompaniment to videos of the worker protests in Madison, WI. "Take the bastards down." Has a good ring, don't you think? As a public service to me and my readers, I'm going to track down the origins of this song. The Murphs are known for their ass-kicking shows. Maybe this is an original. Maybe an old union song. I will let you know. Meanwhile, here's the vid:



UPDATE: Here's a post from the Dropkick Murphys web site (with cool T-shirt):

Hey Everyone -- the Dropkick Murphys would like to take a moment to acknowledge the struggles of the working people of Wisconsin and to pledge our support and solidarity by releasing the song “Take Em Down” from our upcoming album. We think it’s appropriate at the moment and hope you like it.

We have also created a limited edition “Take ‘Em Down” t-shirt which will be available for sale shortly at www.dropkickmurphys.com/merch. Proceeds from the “Take ‘Em Down” t-shirt sales will benefit Workers’ Rights Emergency Response Fund (https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4002/wi-response).

Drinking Liberally mixes with art appreciation for a hot Thursday night in Cheyenne

I'm going to miss this and am not happy about it. The first "Drinking Liberally" event in Cheyenne will be on Thursday, March 10, 6 p.m., at Shadows Pub & Brewery in the Historic Depot Building downtown. Good beers, good company, good conversation.

Here's a thought for all you Liberal drinkers -- on your way to the pub, drop by one of the fine art galleries sponsoring Art Design and Dine Thursday from 5-8 p.m. Participating businesses include Deselms Fine Art (where Wyoming Democrats' legislative reception was held two weeks ago), Rock Paper Scissors Gallery, a coop made up of local liberal artist entrepreneurs, Nagle-Warren Mansion with its basement gallery and long tradition of arts support, and Artful Hand Gallery & Studio in a house in the Avenues, run by Georgia Rowswell and family. Georgia is the force behind Art Design and Dine. She got it started and keeps it energized. For a full line-up of AD&D galleries, go to http://www.artdesignanddine.org (or click on poster at right).

Think of tomorrow evening as a chance to buy (or at least appreciate) fine art and Liberal politics. Not all art is created or sold by Liberals. But creation (small "c") is a progressive act. When you create something, you have some hope that you will be around the next day to finish it and the next day and so on. You hope that other people will be around to appreciate it. You're making a mark that may carry far into the future. Someone in the regressive frame of mind wants to spring backward -- or maybe even slouch there. Not a creative act.

Here's something progressive -- count me in for the next event! I'll be there.

Wyoming Progressives are gathering on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wyoming-Progressives/145187445545047

Mark your calendars for Wyoming Writers, Inc., conference June 3-5 in Casper

I'm a member of this great writing organization. A fantastic summer conference is planned and I urge you to attend.

Here are some details:

Don't miss the 2011 Wyoming Writers, Inc., Conference

Ramada Plaza Riverside Hotel and Conference Center along the North Platte River in Casper, June 3–5

Presentations, Workshops, Agent Pitch Sessions, Contest, Book Signings, Open Mic! In case you're wondering, I'm the emcee for the open mic sessions on Friday and Saturday. 

Presenters:
Author Lucia St. Clair Robson
Poet Chris Fischbach
Peter McCarthy, Vice President of Marketing at Random House
Editor Katie Dublinski, Graywolf Press
Agent Peter Steinberg, Steinberg Agency

Register or get more info at http://www.wyowriters.org. Sign up by May 9 and pay only $155 for the conference ($170 for non-members). 

Conference: bowercorner@juno.com
Contest: phdugan@silverstar.com

Supported in part by a grant from the Wyoming Arts Council, through funding from the Wyoming State Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts.

4&20 blackbirds: "The Tale of Two Rallies" in Montana

I've been missing a lot of good stuff happening in Montana because I haven't been visiting 4&20 blackbirds. But here's a great post by jhwygirl, former WY resident (she still occasionally sneaks over the border) and now a spur under the saddle of Montana knuckleheads.

Read her latest post at http://4and20blackbirds.wordpress.com/2011/03/05/if-it-isnt-clear-now-who-the-legislature-should-be-listening-to-it-should-be-still-more-national-attention/

With a great graphic:

Warning to Governors: Don't use publicly-employed Guard troops to quash dissent by public employees

I've had sidebar links for both Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and its older brother, Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) for years. I am not a veteran but support them and their causes.

This time, they're standing with their fellow public employees. This sums it up:

We believe military service members are public employees too. It is dishonorable to suggest that military personnel should be deployed against teachers, health care providers, firefighters, police officers, and other government employees, many of whom are themselves serving in the National Guard.

It's true that U.S. Army and National Guard troops have sometimes been deployed to quash dissent. This happened regularly during the Vietnam War protests in the sixties and early seventies. I was a ROTC student at University of South Carolina in the spring of 1970 when the Guard was called out to police the campus after Kent State protests erupted. Some of the Guard guys were Carolina students, which made it strange. To my knowledge, none of them beat the crap out of their fellow students. It was a different matter with S.C. Highway Patrol troopers, who swarmed into dorms and beat up any longhairs they could find.

The Guard has been deployed by Governors to carry out racist and anti-union policies. In September 1957, Gov. Faubus called out the Arkansas National Guard to make sure that African-American students didn't enter the state university.

Arkansas National Guard commander blocks black students from entering their taxpayer-supported
university 

Only after Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower federalized the Guard and sent in the 101st Airborne, did these brave students (Little Rock Nine) get to attend the university that their tax dollars supported.

Does this seem crazy? I was six years old and don't really remember it. But I look back on it and am astonished that this happened in my country.

Here's another photo pitting soldiers against workers from the IVAW web site.

And, finally, a quote from the IVAW web site:

Troops have been called out in the past against worker strikes, campus protests, and urban uprisings. However, recent events in Egypt and numerous examples from U.S. history have shown that service members have the power to side with the people and refuse to use violence against their fellow citizens. Troops activated for duty in Madison, WI will have to decide if public sector workers are really the enemy. IVAW says they are not and that troops should support workers fighting for decent jobs, wages, and benefits.

Extremism goes mainstream in Wyoming politics

Lead article in this morning's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle by Josh Mitchell:

Extremism in Wyoming: Neo-Nazis are here. So is the KKK. A white supremacist group thinks this could be a great place to thrive. But when it comes to extremism in Wyoming, that's just the tip of the iceberg.

It's an interesting piece, but the reporting only goes so far. The Southern Poverty Law Center does great work investigating traditional right-wing extremist groups. It earned its chops fighting groups such as the KKK and the John Birch Society that were battling civil rights legislation in the fifties and sixties. Sure, these groups still spout hate and actively recruit new members. The Cheyenne KKK chapter came to the Capitol a decade ago to stage a protest against an issue that I can't recall. There are Birchers in Wyoming, says Bill Hahn, PR guy for JBS national HQ in Wisconsin. He's named in the WTE article, and says he won't give out membership info for Wyoming.

Sorry SPLC, but I don't fear these groups. I fear the mainstreaming of their ideas. The Tea Party is a contemporary offshoot of the John Birch Society. For the past two years, conservative candidates have been falling all over each other to curry favor with the Tea Party. At least one Republican gubernatorial candidate in 2010 spoke at a Tea Party rally in Cheyenne. That was Ron Micheli of notoriously conservative Uinta County. He said what a lot of Wyomingites wanted to hear in 2010 and came within a gnat's eyelash of winning his party's nomination. This was stymied by sensible Republicans and a horde of cross-over Dem voters in the primaries.

If you scoff at the idea that KKK and Bircher nonsense is now mainstream, you didn't pay attention to the recently completed session of the Wyoming Legislature. Gays, lesbians, immigrants, union members, teachers and public employees were all targeted by proposed bills. Very few made it into law. But this is just the beginning. As hate and discrimination goes mainstream, fueled by the Tea Party, with its "strains of extremism," and 24/7 Fox and right-wing radio, more and more legislators with these agendas will be elected. This is especially true in the rural areas of the state, where Democrats are rare but satellite antennae grow like prairie weeds.

This legislation will be supported (as it is now) by lobbyists from conservative think tanks and large corporate interests. Progressive and moderate Wyomingites will have their hands full working against discriminatory bills. We have passion but little money. We are fortunate that there are Republican legislators such as Cale Case who continue the state's strains of moderation. But their days may be numbered as they are targeted as RINOs (Republican in Name Only) by right-wing activists backed by outside funding.

The WTE article is worth reading. It adds to our understanding about the right-wing weirdness that has entered politics in the Equality State.

For the full SLPC report, "U.S. Hate Groups top 1,000," go to http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/news/us-hate-groups-top-1000

Last day at the Wyoming Legislature -- artful words and song overwhelm hatred and fear

I visited the lobby of the Wyoming House chambers on Thursday morning. The combative legislative session was winding down and House members were taking their final coffee break. I ran into local Democratic legislators I know and have campaigned for -- Mary Throne, Ken Esquibel, Floyd Esquibel. They appeared suitably relieved on the last day of official business. I also saw some Republican legislators who have championed some good bills and some that were terribly regressive and anti-human. HB 74, for example.

I thought it was telling that many of the Republicans were waylaid on their way into the chambers by Becky Vandeberghe of WyWatch Family Action. This ultra-conservative org was pushing hard to demonize the LGBT community. Big fail! WyWatch only succeeded in embarrassing The Equality State in the eyes of the nation and in rallying a disparate group of Dems and Repubs to oppose the bills. Some were conservative legislators Phil Nicholas and Cale Case. Take a look at this March 4 clip from MSNBC's Rachel Maddow show.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I really liked Sen. Case's amendment. He is, after all, a conservative economist who knows all about unforeseen consequences of dumb legislation.

There were regressive lobbyists and regressive politicians passing therough the lobby on Thursday. Mrs. Vandeberghe of WyWatch was handing out conservative Christian prayer books and clasping the hands of ultra-conservative lawmakers she had won over. "God Bless You," she said, staring deep into their eyes as if attempting to hypnotize them into submission for next year's session.

On the other side of the wood-paneled room, sitting in a comfy chair, was Wyoming's poet laureate, David Romtvedt. He was awaiting the summons to come in and read poems to House members. This is an annual tradition at the Legislature. On Wednesday, David read his poetry to members of the Senate but the House was overburdened with last-minute stuff and didn't have time for David. But he was back.

The House was called to order and began business with a hymn. You can look at a hymn as another form of poetry or as song or even as propaganda. Singing of the hymn fell to Rep. Bob Brechtel (R-Casper), who supported anti-gay legislation all the way. He sang every single verse of "How Great Thou Art." It was piped into the lobby via loudspeakers. Rep. Brechtel has a nice voice and might even have a music background. Wonder if he knows how many gays and lesbians make of the state's music community, or the arts community in general? As the hymn went on, I ran into House doorman Keith Rounds, an accomplished cowboy poet. I asked him if Rep. Brechtel was a preacher or a minister or just liked to sing. He's very religious, he said. Catholic I think. I responded: "What is a nice Catholic boy doing singing a Protestant hymn?" Growing up Catholic, we always sang Catholic hymns -- badly, and in Latin. Keith didn't know the answer to my question.

Meanwhile, as a right-wing Catholic sang God's praises and a right-wing activist handed out God's words, The Bettys showed up. They are a group of about a dozen young women who make up the University of Wyoming acapella singing group. They were getting a guided tour of the Capitol before they sang to the House. They wore black-and-white outfits with 40s-style poufy hats and pink high-heeled shoes. We invited them into the lobby and we all had a great time talking about singing and dancing and the arts. I'm surprised an alarm didn't go off in the lobby. "Warning, warning, lobby dangerously overloaded with arts types. Warning, warning!" David almost broke out his accordion to accompany The Bettys on "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie." But the music had to wait as the tour guide intervened and whisked the young women away to see the rest of the Capitol.

I had a meting to attend so couldn't stick around. I missed hearing David's poetry and music mixing with the strains of hymns and acapella boogie. But I bet if I wander into the empty House chambers on Monday, I'll be able to hear the lingering tones of the arts drowning out the razor-edged words of hatred and fear.

Hanging out in Cheyenne with the Wyoming Poetry Out Loud crowd

Marking the wrap-up of Wyoming Poetry Out Loud outside The Albany Tuesday. Pictured are (left to right) L.A. musician Peter Lewis, one of the founding members of Moby Grape; Mike Shay, no credentials to speak of; Detroit poet and musician M.L. Liebler, editor of new anthology "Working Words: Punching the Clock and Kicking Out the Jams;" Linda Coatney, poet and WAC coordinator or Poetry Ouit Loud; and daughter Annie Shay, poet and musician. Lunch was fab. So was POL.

Slob alert! Slob alert!

On MSNBC, Wisconsin Republican State Senator Glenn Grothman called protesting police and teachers and fire fighters and moms and college students "slobs." People with cameras looked and looked and could not find any slobs singing songs and carrying signs. There were, however, rumors of slobbish behavior in the Wisconsin Senate and on Fox "News." You be the judge.

Can You Find the Slob? (Photo Diary on Daily Kos)

CLTP announces 2011-2012 season at March 24 event

This will be a busy spring on the Cheyenne arts scene. Here's one event I won't miss:

Cheyenne Little Theatre Players will announce our

2011-2012 Season

with a 

Season Kick Off Presentation

Thursday March 24, 2011 @ 5:00pm

at the Historic Atlas Theatre.

Come join us and be one of the first to find out what fabulous shows we will be producing during 2011-2012,

Learn what exciting changes we have made to our Season Ticket Packages,

and Purchase YOURS that evening!

** Season Packages will be available through the

Box Office or online March 25, 2011.

  

If you have questions, please contact our

Box Office at 307-638-6543.

Imagine a protest with imaginative signs

My fellow progressive blogger at thepoliticalenvironment in Wisconsin had the following to say about free speech and protest. Pictured above is an example of the of the "angry, distasteful signs" on display at Saturday's rally in Madison.

Wisconsin Department of Administration Secretary, on behalf of Gov. Walker, told a Madison judge Tuesday that the display of "angry, disdainful signs" was one reason that protesters should be denied access to the State Capitol.

Mean signs? Really? Should we pull up the Tea Party photo album?

No need - - as Wednesday the US Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that truly angry, disdainful signs displayed weirdly and offensively by anti-gay protesters at US military soldiers' funerals is legally protected free speech under the US Constitution.

Huebsch picked the wrong day to complain about signs.

Another miscalculation by the Walker Gang, and for now, the Capitol remains open - - though Huebsch and Co., in slowing down the flow of people through the doors, seem to playing fast and loose with the word "open."

Kevin the Climber, Part II

Vedauwoo photo from climbing site vedauwoo.org

This is a good day to be recalling some of my adventures with our son, Kevin. He’s flying in from Tucson today as a 26-year-old man who has a life of his own a thousand miles away. He’s a groomsman at a good friend’s wedding, and he taking an elongated spring break. He’s on the lifetime plan at a community college. But it’s his plan and I’m glad he has one. He doesn’t do much rock climbing any more, but it was his passion as a youngster growing up in Colorado and Wyoming. This post is the second installment of Kevin the Climber.

I watch my son Kevin as he clambers up the tumbledown boulder field of Vedauwoo in southeastern Wyoming’s Laramie Range during the summer of 1996.  There is something natural about this 11-year-old’s ease with the billion-year-old rock, the way he picks his way through narrow passageways and finds just the right finger hold to get up and over a house-sized chunk of Precambrian granite.  You could say that since he is a third-generation Coloradan, born within the magnetic fields of dozens of mountain ranges, he was destined to climb rocks.  He could just have easily been born to yodel country-western songs or snowboard naked or speculate in Aspen real estate or a thousand-and-one things Westerners seem compelled to do.  Kevin prefers rocks.

Where Kevin sees a ladder to the sky, I see a rocky barrier. I will climb until I get to the top or get stymied by a “radical vertical,” whichever comes first.   The rocks seem to beckon Kevin, to welcome him in ways foreign to me.  I have suggested that he should take rope-climbing classes, learn the traditional roots of the sport.  “Why would I want to do that?” he asks, as if it never occurred to him to place something as foreign as rope between him and the mountain.

It’s possible his rock worship might date back to our Druidic roots, our Celtic ancestors’ reciprocal relationship with the natural world.  It may just be that he likes free-climbing rocks the same way I loved surfing during my teen years on Florida’s Atlantic coast.  The Druid Surfer spawns the Druid Rockhead.  If we could jump back in time a million years or so, we could both be engaged in our separate passions right on this very spot.  He could be climbing Mesozoic rocks, still bursting from the earth’s crust, and I could be surfing the bitchin’ waves of the ancient inland sea.

Because Kevin has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, his love for rocks has physiological roots.  To concentrate is everything for this hyperactive kid.  He can’t do it for extended periods of time unless he is under the influence of Ritalin, a drug that helps him control an aggressive impulsiveness, one of the telltale signs of ADHD.  Right now, as he climbs toward the sharp blue Wyoming sky, the Ritalin, a central nervous system stimulant, is working on my son’s brain stem arousal system causing it to not be aroused.  Why is that?  Don’t look for any help from the medical texts.  Says thePhysicians’ Desk Reference:  There is no “specific evidence which clearly establishes the mechanism whereby Ritalin produces its mental and behavioral effects on children, nor conclusive evidence regarding how these effects relate to the condition of the central nervous system.”

Each time we climb, Kevin eventually disappears, leaving me to my own shortcomings as a climber.  I don’t mind.  Rocks offer him solace and solitude.  They do not call him names.  They do not mistake his energetic aura for anything else.  They are rocks and that is why we came here and why he will continue to climb long after I am sidelined by the aches of an aging Baby Boomer body.

Alone on the rocks, I get a chance to conduct my favorite climbing activity: sitting on a perch, watching the dark patterns that drifting cumulus make on the blue-green landscape.  Across the narrow valley, members of a rope-climbing class from University of Wyoming take turns rappeling down a cliff.  In the far distance on Sherman Hill, a line of trucks crawl along I-80 and a freight train crosses “The Gangplank” of the Laramie Range — a granite sheet that is a centuries-old thoroughfare for Cheyenne and Arapaho, pioneers, railroaders, vacationers and truckers, those transients that have been both boon and curse to the West.

I luxuriate in the feel of the cool breeze on my face, the tart taste of an apple on a July afternoon.  Hawks ride Vedauwoo’s complex air currents. A wonderful dream, to fly like a hawk.  Some time within the next hour Kevin will shout my name and I will look up to see him waving from a pinnacle, his lanky form etched against the blue sky. “Come on up!” he will yell, and I will return his wave and shake my head.

He goes some places where I cannot follow.

Cross-posted from easytolovebut blog. Way back when, this piece appeared in a longer and slightly different form in Montana’s now-defunct Northern Lights magazine.

Right-Wing Group from Utah Spearheading Effort to Recall Wisconsin Dems

Why oh why is a batshit crazy group of Utah right-wingers spending time and money in Wisconsin?

Because they are batshit crazy Utah right-wingers and they've run out of targets in Utah and its satellite states of Wyoming and Idaho and Arizona and are now spreading venom to Wisconsin.

The conservative American Recall Coalition, a group from Salt Lake City, Utah, is leading the charge to reel in eight Democratic Senators in Wisconsin who are among 14 lawmakers who left the state in protest of Governor Scott Walker's budget repair bill, according to the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (GAB).

The out-of-state group last week filed with the GAB website to recall the Senators, but initial filings did not have anyone from the local senatorial district as part of the recall requests.

"They didn't have any local people involved, so we contacted them and said they need to have one local person in each district," said GAB spokesman Reid Magney. "They withdrew those initial filings and made new ones and we are waiting for the signed paperwork."

Wisconsin senators targeted in the campaign are Lena Taylor, Spencer Coggs, Jim Holperin, Mark Miller, Robert Wirch, Julie Lassa, Fred Risser and Dave Hansen.

According to a Reuters report, the American Recall Coalition is also campaigning to recall Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik of Arizona, who drew conservative fire last month after linking the Tucson shootings that killed 6 and seriously hurt 13 people, including U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords, to "political vitriol, prejudice and bigotry."

Read the rest at Workers' Uprising: Right-Wing Group from Utah Spearheading Effort to Recall Wisconsin Dems| AlterNet

SUPER CRIME STOPPERS -- Wisconsin/Wyoming Edition

Seen any suspicious characters lurking around Wyoming the past few weeks? Other than Republican legislators and oil company lobbyists at the State Capitol? If so, the Wisconsin governor needs you! SUPER CRIME STOPPERS wants tips on renegade Wisconsin state senators. Most people think they fled to Illinois, but valid tips have been flooding in from Tuscon to Tucumcari, Tehatchapi to Tonapah, Boulder to Birmingham, from the redwood forests to the Gulf Stream waters. One tipster thought he saw one of these renegades at the McDonald's in Douglas. Turned out to be a jackalope. Other sightings have come in from Jeffrey City and Medicine Bow. A suspicious duo in a Prius were stopped for driving too slowly on I-80 outside of Evanston. They turned out to be the only two Democrats in Uinta County. They were hauled in anyway for preventive waterboarding.

The Wisconsin Governor welcomes all sightings. Call now! Click on the link below and call now! And watch the skies!

SUPER CRIME STOPPERS -- Wisconsin Edition | Crooks and Liars

Forget the MSM -- Russia Today covers Wisconsin

Remember when Pres. Reagan called the Soviet Union "The Evil Empire?" I do. This clip comes from "Russia Today" and takes a look at another Evil Empire -- Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and his union-busting tactics. Link courtesy of our our fine friends at the Solidarity Wisconsin blog -- and others in the Wisconsin Progressive Bloggers Corps (and not the MSM).

Russia Today covers Wisconsin | Solidarity Wisconsin

On YouTube and in Wyoming: Jam with Peter Lewis and M.L. Liebler

Peter Lewis (left), one of the founding members of Moby Grape, and Detroit performance poet M.L. Liebler perform an impromptu jam in front of the deli counter during the 2010 Midwest Literary Walk in Chelsea outside Detroit. Peter and M.L. will be jammin' and workshoppin' from 2-4 p.m. today at the Laramie County Public Library in Cheyenne. No lox and bagels at the library, but lots of poetry and music. Bring your poetry and/or guitar. And it's free!

Wyoming Sen. Kit Jennings: Guns before people!

Republican Sen. Kit Jennings of Casper on Wyoming Legislature's concealed carry bill: "We kind of drew the line in the sand and said we're going to start here and start working back toward everybody having constitutional rights." He also said that Wyoming citizens and lawmakers sent this message with the passage of the bill: "Quit taking away our constitutional rights."

So why did he vote to strip constitutional rights from Wyoming LGBT citizens? Guns before people? Does he have a list of people he is going to eventually endow with constitutional rights? If so, gays and lesbians and teachers and immigrants must be way down at the bottom.

Check out his contradictory votes at http://legisweb.state.wy.us/

Workers rally on a Wyoming Saturday

Unnamed blogger at WY rally

A few words about yesterday's rally at the Wyoming State Capitol supporting public workers in Wisconsin...

About 100 people were there. Teachers, state employees (me and others), railroaders (among them Rep. Ken Esquibel, D-Cheyenne), many teachers, members of CWA, military veterans turned union members, Postal Service workers, a Wisconsin couple who had been in on the early days of the protests in Madison, peaceniks, a former Democratic candidate for Wyoming governor, artists, at least one filmmaker, and so on.

We started with the Pledge of Allegiance and a recitation (by memory) of the preamble to the U.S. Constitution.

"We the People!"

Many people spoke. We did call-and-response, not always in unison. But we were unified.

Rep. Ken Esquibel spoke about how his employer contributed money to his Republican candidate during his run for the Wyoming Legislature. It was something he used in his campaign. Barbara the teacher spoke about how her principal asked her, as a newbie to the red-state school and to the red-state town, how she was going to be involved in the community. He recoiled in horror when she said, "Join a union." She also mentioned something about being a Democrat. A double whammy!

I spoke about my union, the Wyoming Public Employees Association and its mission (written about in yesterday's post) and our mission to stop the the Corporate Right's war against the middle class. I also talked about social justice and quoted a refrain from Daniel Berrigan's poem he wrote from the picket line. "Love. In the end, love." And as the Egyptians said during their protests to bring down a despot: "Peaceful, peaceful, peaceful!"

Scott followed up by noting that Dan Berrigan had been arrested many times in support of workers, peace and justice.

We got honks and waves from motorists. No one-fingered salutes that I saw, but we did get a thumb's down. A guy in a truck kept driving by waving a big American flag from his driver's side window. We didn't know if he was fer us or agin' us. I appreciated his dedication to the cause, whatever that may be. It was a bit cold for waving things out of car windows.

All in all, a great day for a solidarity rally. Getting 100 of anyone out for a February rally is an accomplishment.

NOTE: TV, Radio and newspaper reporters were not there. There were assorted citizen bloggers.

Photos from Wyoming rally supporting Wisconsin public workers

Trio of WI supporters at WY State Capitol

At the WY State Capitol with 100 of my closest friends

On Wisconsin!

Democratic Rep. Ken Esquibel of Cheyenne

Visiting WI Dems tell about experiences at Madison protests

Working Words: "You work, Buddy. You work."

Excerpt of a poem by Ohio's Ray McNiece from Working Words: Punching the Clock and Kicking out the Jams from Coffee House Press:

Grandfather’s Breath (excerpt)

You work. You work, Buddy. You work.
Word of immigrant get-ahead grind I hear
huffing through me, Grandfather’s breath,
when he’d come in from Saturday’s keep-busy chores,
fending up a calloused hand to stop
me from helping him, haggard cheeks puffing
out like t-shirts hung between tenements,
doubled-over under thirty-five years a machine
repairman at the ball-bearing factory, ball-bearings
making everything run smoother -
especially torpedoes. He busted butt
for the war effort, for profiteers, for overtime pay
down-payment on a little box of his own,
himself a refugee from the European economy,
washed ashore after “The War to End All Wars.”
Cheap labour for the winners.

Detroit poet M.L. Liebler, editor of Working Words, will read and perform some of his own poems and those from the book at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Cheyenne's Atlas Theatre. Tix are $5 for adults, $3 for students, military and seniors. He will be on stage with musician Peter Lewis, one of the founding members of Ground-breaking sixties rock group Moby Grape.

Here's how M.L. described the show (from wyomingarts):

"We'll do some of the songs that are sort of more or less poetic, songs we've written together and then Peter will perform acoustically some of the Moby Grape songs from his group, some of his own original pieces. We kind of have a nice little set where we're merging some of what we do together, some of my poetry in music, some of his Moby Grape and some of his original."

Wyoming Tribune-Eagle columnist: Public sector employees are "leftist ideological forces of evil"

Former government employee (U.S. Marine Corps) Bradley Harrington calls government employees "looters" and "leftist ideological forces of evil" in this morning's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle. Unfortunately, you can't read it online as the WTE has a minimalist web site (nothing on it) so you have to go buy a paper. You can borrow mine. I'll bring it to today's rally at the Capitol.

BTW: Here's the column's header: "Public unions' bite could rot Wyo., too"

BTW: Wyoming is a so-called Right to Work State and its public employees union cannot be (and isn't) a closed shop. FMI: Wyoming Public Employees Association. I've been a member about 15 years. Here is its mission statement (the emphasis is provided by me):

It is the mission of the Wyoming Public Employees Association to serve as an advocacy group for state employees and Laramie County School District #1 by classified staff working toward introduction and passage of legislation positively affecting compensation, benefits, and working conditions of all employees. WPEA will work toward electing legislators and Laramie County School District #1 who might better support these goals. WPEA will support the rights and fair treatment of all public employees.

From WI People's House to WY People's House

Great photo of gathering of workers in the Wisconsin People's House. Wyoming workers will be outside the Wyoming People's House today showing solidarity with their WI colleagues. Rally is 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. See you there.

Toxic tulipmania in a Wyoming national forest?

Daily Kos going crazy with posts about Wyoming (see earlier one from today). This one is about the rush to obtain unobtainium and other assorted strategic stuff known as "rare earths" in the Black Hills National Forest. Strip mines are planned. Go to Toxic tulipmania in a Wyoming national forest?

Jackson Hole National Monument

Neat Daily Kos post on the Jackson Hole National Monument

Join us for the Wyoming Rally to Save the American Dream on Saturday in front of the Wyoming Capitol

Attend the Wyoming Rally to Save the American Dream on Saturday, Feb. 26, noon in front of the State Capitol Building, 24th and Capitol Ave., Cheyenne. You know the building -- the "People's House" where the legislature has been cooking up a strange anti-people brew for the past seven weeks.

In Wisconsin and around our country, the American Dream is under fierce attack. Instead of creating jobs, Republicans are giving tax breaks to corporations and the very rich—and then cutting funding for education, police, emergency response, and vital human services.

On Saturday, February 26, at noon local time, the Rally to Save the American Dream is organizing rallies in front of every statehouse and in every major city to stand in solidarity with the people of Wisconsin. We demand an end to the attacks on worker's rights and public services across the country. We demand investment, to create decent jobs for the millions of people who desperately want to work. And we demand that the rich and powerful pay their fair share.

We are all Wisconsin. We are all Americans.

This Saturday, we will stand together to Save the American Dream. Be sure to wear Wisconsin Badger colors—red and white—to show your solidarity. Sign up today to join in! Go to the Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=200463373312615

This event is a project of MoveOn.org Political Action and sponsored by nogoodnik progressive union community organizers such as public employees, fire fighters, teachers, police, nurses and bloggers. My mama union, SEIU, is a co-sponsor. Others are Daily Kos and Media Matters, the prog-bloggers that drive Glenn Beck up a wall. What other reason do you need to attend?

Wyoming Democrats launch weekend with legislative reception at Deselms Fine Art in Cheyenne

Schmooze with legislators, contribute to a good cause and view fine art on Friday, Feb. 25, 6:30-8 p.m. at the Wyoming Democrats annual legislative reception at Deselms Fine Art. You can ask your Dem legislators for their first-hand experiences with some of the wacky Republican-sponsored bills that have come down the pike this year.

A $10 donation is requested.

FMI: 1-800-739-3367 or info@wyomingdemocrats.com

Deselms Fine Art is a great place for Democrats to meet. It's a place that invokes art and creativity and historic development and creative community, all solid progressive issues. Wyoming Democrats took a shellacking in the last election but it had nothing to do with the validity of the candidates and their platforms -- not to mention hard work. It was a surge of regressive politics funded by corporate money and Tea Party wackiness and Fox "News" scare tactics and a nationwide recession caused by Wall Street greed-mongers.

Now get out there Friday evening and have fun!

WI patriots and their impromptu late-night rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner"

From a story by Dan Simmons in the Wisconsin State Journal:

Shortly after 10 p.m. Monday, the drummers and other musicians on the rotunda's ground floor wrapped up for the night. A man grabbed the microphone and, without instrumental accompaniment, started singing "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Most of the protesters packed tightly around the first- and second-floor balconies, joining in the anthem. Police officers and firefighters — about 40 from various departments who spent the night on Monday — sang along, hands on heart. Elliott Tomaro, a union ironworker from Oregon, sang, too, holding his hard hat over his chest as he stood with other protesters.

"It's a moving experience to have so many people singing the national anthem inside the seat of the government," he said.

They knew the words, too.

Go to Singing together in Wisconsin State Capitol

The worst Wyoming legislative session in many years

The Casper Star-Tribune editorial board offered up a fine editorial today on this year's Wyoming Legislature, hijacked by corporate interests, right-wing think tanks, and Tea Party weirdos. Here's a great line:

It’s no wonder that some observers — including veteran legislators — are calling this the worst session in many years. It’s been discouraging. Accomplishments have been few, while so much time has been wasted.

Read the entire thing at http://trib.com/opinion/editorial/article_8eb63ebd-1d4e-53e1-a9a3-2ea56b8e90a8.html

Which Side Are You On?

Dropkick Murphys rock out an old union song. And remember the struggles of the Irish in America.

Working Words: Betsy Sholl and "Pink Slip"

Betsy Sholl's poem "Pink Slip" is in the new anthology, Working Words: Punching the Clock and Kicking out the Jams from Coffee House Press. Anthology editor M.L. Liebler will be traveling to Cheyenne this Saturday to conduct a number of events for Wyoming Poetry Out Loud.

Betsy Sholl was named Maine Poet Laureate in 2006. She's published seven collections of poetry and was a founding member of the innovative small press, Alice James Books. She's published widely and won numerous awards, including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Maine Arts Commission. 

In "Pink Slip," Betsy explores the life of a woman fired after 20 years of hard work. In this excerpt, she gets her pink slip:

All you did was check your watch, all
you did was back me to the door,
where outside they were hauling my car,
a pirate company, so not even the cops could say
where it is. Is this America?
I've seen countries on TV where the natives 

give funny looks to the fat men they serve drinks to
on patios. "Bastard" would be
my translation. Or whatever the deaf woman is
banging onto the locked windows of cars jammed at
the on-ramp trying to leave the city....

Read the entire poem in Working Words. And many other poems and short stories and essays about working people.

Kevin the Climber, Part I: An ADHD Memoir

I’ve been blogging from Wyoming since 2005, but only a portion of my posts focused on our family’s experiences with ADD, ADHD, OCD and mental health challenges. This is fitting in a way because my blog is named hummingbirdminds after a description by Internet hypertext pioneer Ted Nelson. He said in Wired Magazine that people with ADHD have “hummingbird minds.” I always liked that. My blog, like my mind, flits from subject to subject.

Kevin the Climber, Part I

Our son Kevin was diagnosed with ADHD at 5. I guess you could say it was a pretty severe case because it was evident from the time he started walking at 9 months – maybe even earlier. Walking was too tame for Kevin. He was a runner and a climber.

He climbed out of his crib. He climbed out of his playpen. He climbed 100-foot trees. And that was all before he turned 2. Later he climbed cliffs and mountains and buildings. He was more interested in climbing on the top of playground swing sets than he was swinging on them. He liked to shinny up the metal bars that formed the arch that held the swings. Like an inchworm, he would creep along the poles until he was right over the heads of those kids below on the swings.  "Hi down there," he would say with a laugh.  Some kids greeted him; others just stared.  The parents had various reactions. Most seemed concerned for their own children, afraid that Kevin could slip and fall right on them. A falling body builds a tremendous velocity in a very short span of time. Broken bones could result. Concussions and worse.

One day I was at the playground with Kevin while my wife Chris worked. Kevin’s favorite park was three blocks from the university’s married student housing complex where we lived while I worked on my writing and my graduate degree at Colorado State University. When we arrived at the park, Kevin made a beeline for the swing set and climbed up the curve of the rusty red iron pole. Within seconds he was perched 20 feet up, poised over the head of a blonde five-year-old girl wearing a Minnie Mouse T-shirt.  Her mother looked worried.  I didn’t have to be a member of the Psychic Hotline to understand the look of concern that creased that woman’s face. She imagined Kevin losing his grip and falling through space for a collision with her daughter. I imagined a similar scene.  She was thinking: “Why doesn't his father say something to this menace of a boy.”  She pushed her daughter with both hands as she peered up at Kevin. What follows is the conversation as best as I can remember it:

-- Your boy sure likes to climb.
-- Yes he does.
-- He seems pretty good at it.
-- He is.
-- It's a long way up.
-- He likes heights. He climbs mountains.
-- Has he ever fallen?
-- From Mount Everest. But just that once.

Ha ha. I sort of regretted saying it. I just wanted to wound this mother slightly, to get back at her for thinking I might be a lousy father. I felt like it sometimes, that I was a terrible parent for letting my son climb on something that obviously was meant to swing on not climb on.

I felt guilty around these good parents. They all seemed so much more comfortable with their roles than I did with mine. They acted as if parenting is some snug undergarment that never slipped or became wedged in vulnerable bodily cavities. I used to think that parenting would be innate, that I wouldn’t have to learn a series of new dance steps to dance the parent waltz. I wonder if they had all received some sort of parenting gene from kind and loving parents that I did not.

But there was something else: their kids were classified as normal and mine was not. And I was constantly trying to deal with that fact.

Look for Kevin Climber, Part II, in upcoming posts. Also, find this post on the Easy to Love but Hard to Raise blog after Feb.22. 

Netroots Nation: In Wisconsin, Solidarity with unions AND with Bloggers

Great post by Netroots Nation on Daily Kos with info on Wisconsin protests and links to progressive bloggers in WI: In Wisconsin, Solidarity with unions AND with Bloggers

Is that a Robo-hummingbird looking in my window?

This was on Fox, so it must be true:

Pentagon researchers have taken robots for a science fiction spin, building a robotic hummingbird that's ideal for covert surveillance. Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/02/18/robot-hummingbird-spy-drone-flies-minutes-spies-bad-guys/#ixzz1ESId5cZM