I ask Slim: "Why are Tea Party people so damn mean?"

I asked Tea Party Slim, "What makes you people so damn mean?"

Slim seemed taken aback. "Mean?"

"You're doing pretty well, aren't you?" I said, feeling a need to elaborate and/or rub it in. "Many of you are retired. Your homes are paid off and you have cars and RVs. You can visit your grandkids any time you want. Some, like you, are veterans and have the entire VA medical system at your disposal."

Slim appeared thoughtful. "We worked hard for our money. And some of us slogged through rice paddies protecting our freedoms."

"Were you ever actually in a rice paddy, Slim?"

He seemed to blush a bit. "You know what I mean. Some of us served."

I had come to grips with my non-service during the Vietnam era. Apparently Slim had not. "But you're doing pretty well now, right? No a rice paddy in sight here in Wyoming."

"We're taxed to death. I wouldn't say that's 'well off' "

"Just how are you taxed to death? We don't have a state income tax. Property taxes are low. Sales taxes are 5 percent...."

"But they tack on that 1 percent to pay for things we don't need."

"Like road improvements?"

"They are always working on the roads but nothing gets improved. And how come sand trucks take all day to 'improve' the roads every winter?"

I had to admit he had some good points. "But overall, our roads are good. No muddy quagmires to get bogged down in, right?"

Slim shrugged.

"Sewer and water system improvements. Flood control. New landfill. New library. I know that you and the misses use our library."

"All right, all right. The 1 percent added tax isn't so bad."

"There's no regressive grocery tax."

"We buy our groceries at the base BX."

"Like I said..."

"You wouldn't deny a veteran his benefits, would you?"

"I'm happy to pay my taxes so that you get those benefits." I smiled. It was my Cheshire Cat grin.

"Federal taxes are too high. Government too big."

Slim often digs these holes for himself. We sat there for several minutes while his words drifted through the air.

"Government...." I began.

"O.K., I was a government employee most of my life," Slim sputtered. "We all know that. But government is way too big. You wouldn't believe the waste that I saw. Taxpayer money isn't being spent wisely."

"At last we can agree on something," I said. Then I was silent as a Buddha. I felt like crawling out of my chair and sitting cross-legged on the floor. I would have too, if my knees weren't so ancient and bad.

Slim broke the silence. "Mr. Anti-War Pinko," he said.

"Make that Mr. Bleeding Heart Anti-War Pinko."

"Done."

"You call me names. Why is that?"

"You call us names. Teabaggers, filthy things like that."

"But that's a sexual term. And you guys yourselves used that, at least in the beginning."

"No we didn't."

"Maybe not. But the words you direct at Occupy Wall Street are so much more hurtful."

"They're bums," spat Slim.

"See what I mean? They're kids just trying to make a living."

"Why aren't they making a living? They're out on the streets throwing bricks at cops."

"First of all, they're not throwing bricks at cops. The protesters are nonviolent. The cops are the violent ones."

"They have to protect themselves!"

"From what -- peace, love and understanding?"

"A cop in San Francisco -- your favorite hippie town -- was slashed by a razor during a demonstration."

"I heard about that. There have been a thousand of these Occupy events and that's all you have?"

"There have been thousands of violent acts."

"Name them -- all of them."

Slim stared at me.

"You can't, can you? Meanwhile, you Tea Party guys pack heat to your demos and the cops look on meekly."

"Second amendment."

"Spare me," I said. "Name one incident where there was gunplay at an Occupy event." I could tell that Slim was replaying in his head hours upon hours of Fox broadcasts. "If this was a violent revolution by a bunch of wild-eyed radicals, don't you think there would have been gunplay by now?"

"Just wait," said Slim. "It will happen." He grinned. "And when it does, the cops can count on us loyally armed citizens to back them up."

I had a mental image of thousands of well-armed geezers taking to the streets. A cop's worst nightmare.

"I keep asking the same question but don't get an answer: Why are you so damn mean?"

"It's our God-given right as American citizens," said Slim.

"God, I'm sure, will be pleased to hear that."

EPA Chief: Pavillion tests are "of concern" and fracking may be the culprit

This just in from the Casper Star-Tribune:

The head of the Environmental Protection Agency says high levels of methane, benzene and chemicals found in two Wyoming water-monitoring wells are “of concern” and said hydraulic fracturing may be responsible.

In an interview set to air on the Bloomberg cable news channel Saturday and Sunday, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said the agency discussed results from two monitoring wells in the Pavillion area with state and local officials. The well data was released to the public last week.

Read more: http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/epa-chief-wyoming-water-well-results-of-concern/article_0aacd635-c62a-5eae-9f79-e6ae14eb1906.html#ixzz1e3vm0Cwo

I know that Rep. Cynthia "Kill the EPA" Lummis will pooh-pooh these findings to cater to her Know Nothing base, but the finding are the results of sound science and should be listened to. Do we really want to poison our fellow Wyomingites, such as John Fenton, a Pavillion rancher and member of Pavillion Area Concerned Citizens? John and his family were featured in the documentary “Gasland” (go to www,gaslandthemovie.com)

Howard Dean: "Where will you be Nov. 17?"

It appears that not everyone in the Democratic establishment has abandoned Occupy Wall Street

Butte, Montana, native Barbara Ehrenreich: Dem establishment has abandoned OWS

Barbara Ehrenreich, 2008 photo by Jay Westcott/Rapport

Barbara Ehrenreich knows something about America’s working people. She grew up in the hard-knock western mining town of Butte (Wyomingites know something about tough mining towns). Her best-known book is “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America.” She’s a life-long Democrat and an advocate for the “get out and vote” school of social change.

After watching the Democratic Party’s weak-kneed, lily-livered support for the Occupy movement, she may be changing her tune. I’ve been thinking along these same lines. Why should I support Pres. Obama when he turns a blind eye to those of us taking risks to advocate for real “change.” Why should America’s young people work for Obama’s reelection when he seems to be complicit in the overreaction to peaceful street protests, some of them visible from the White House? Why should I turn out to vote for any of those Democratic mayors and governors (I’m looking at you, John Hickenlooper of Colorado) who have used heavy-handed tactics against Occupiers?

Go to: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/15/barbara-ehrenreich-occupy-wall-street

Also read Ehrenreich’s essay about OWS in Oct. 12 issue of The Progressive: http://www.progressive.org/one_percent_barbara_ehrenreich.html

JH Weekly: Wyoming downwinders nervous (again) after two incidents at Idaho facility

Jake Nichols reports about two separate incidents at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) nuke facility across the border in Idaho. Read all about it here

In new "Over It (for the 99%)" video, Dane Clark says: "Stand up for yourself today"

Performance poet M.L. Liebler of Detroit sent the above link along with this news:

This just in from my musical partner Peter Lewis and his pal Dane Clark (John Mellencamp's drummer & Moby Grape producer). From the heart of Indiana. Peter is playing some guitar on the track. Dig We Must!

M.L. and Peter Lewis performed in Cheyenne last March and served as judges for the Wyoming Poetry Out Loud competition. Two very talented performers. Two big-hearted human beings. And great vid, Mr. Clark.

Why have the police resorted to violence against Occupy Wall Street protesters?

Following last month's police brutality in Oakland, and today's summary eviction of the Occupy Wall Street camp (and don't forget Seattle and Denver -- see above photo from Oct. 29 by Craig F. Walker of The Denver Post), American activists are reaching the conclusion that "police protect the 1%". More at Police Violence Reveals a Corrupt System (The Guardian via Common Dreams).

Seattle activist Dorli Rainey, 84, reacts after being hit with pepper spray during an Occupy Seattle protest on Tuesday, November 15, at Westlake Park. Protesters gathered in the intersection of 5th Avenue and Pine Street after marching from their camp at Seattle Central Community College in support of Occupy Wall Street. Many refused to move from the intersection after being ordered by police. Police then began spraying pepper spray into the gathered crowd hitting dozens of people. A pregnant woman was taken from the melee in an ambulance after being struck with spray. Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO / SEATTLEPI.COM

Retired cop tells NYPD: "Don't be Wall Street Mercenaries"

Captain Ray Lewis (Ret.) of the Philadelphia police has joined Occupy Wall Street. His sign is perfect: “NYPD: Don’t Be Wall Street Mercenaries!” That's exactly what the NYPD has become, as we witnessed throughout the day today. (Thanks to Cognitive Dissonance in Laramie for the photo.)

NEA Chair Rocco Landesman gets a taste of the SD/WY Black Hills this week

The Heritage Center at Red Cloud Indian School will be showcasing the musical group Scatter Their Own at the reception for National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman on Thursday, Nov. 17, 10 a.m. at The Dahl Center in Rapid City. Juliana, the bass player, is a recent honors graduate of Red Cloud High School on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Landesman will be in S.D. to talk about “Creative Placemaking in the Black Hills Region.” Last time we looked at a map, some of that Black Hills region was in Wyoming. And it still is! Some of our Black Hills artists and arts group reps might want to traipse over to Rapid on Thursday to what’s cooking, creative placemaking-wise.

Call for entries: Open Window online literary magazine

Lori Howe sends out a call to writers in Wyoming:

Open Window, the new on-line literary magazine of LCCC’s Albany County Campus in Laramie, invites you to submit your creative work for publication in its inaugural issue. 

Open Window is a literary magazine that publishes three regular issues and one special topics issue each year. We publish new and established writers, and invite you to submit in one or more of the following categories:

*Fiction: up to 5 pages of fiction

*Non-fiction: up to 5 pages of non-fiction

*Poetry: up to three poems or one long poem

*Please submit your creative work via email as an attachment in MS Word document format; work submitted in any other form will not be considered for publication. Submit your work by NOVEMBER 25, 2011, to openwindow.howe78@gmail.com

*Please observe the standard of numbering your pages and using 12-point font.

*Simultaneous submissions are acceptable with immediate notification of alternate publication.

*Please include a short cover page with bio, along with your work; in it should be your full name, some information about yourself, and a description of the work you are submitting for consideration, so that it will be read by the appropriate editor.

There are no reading or submission fees at Open Window. 

The first issue of Open Window will be published the third week of December, 2011. Acceptance/rejection notices will be sent via email before this date. 

Open Window Launch Party/Reading: A gala opening of Open Window, with a reading by the writers published in the first issue, will be held in the reading space above Night Heron Books in Downtown Laramie the week before Christmas, 2011. All of our writers are invited to participate and bring friends and family to help celebrate the occasion with appetizers and desserts by The Cakelady.

LCCC Theatre Club sponsors open mic night Nov. 17

The Laramie County Community College Theatre Club is sponsoring an open mic night on Thursday, Nov. 17, 7 p.m., at the LCCC Theatre in Cheyenne. Show up and sign up to go on stage with your original work. No admission fee, but donations of canned food items are appreciated and will be donated to local charities for the holidays. Coffee provided. More info on LCCC Theatre Club Facebook page.

Evening at Bas Bleu Theatre on Nov. 17 will help the homeless

Bas Bleu in Fort Collins is one of the best theatres in the region. Bas Bleu does good work, and it does good works. For more: Evening at Bas Bleu will help the homeless

Militarized police continue to attack unarmed Occupy protesters

Illustration of the continued militarization of our police forces. While this may look like a phalanx of armed soldiers closing in on a nest of well-armed jihadis in Afghanistan, it is instead armed Chapel Hill police moving against a handful of unarmed Occupy Chapel Hill "sympathizers." More disturbing details here.

You can "harumph" all you want, but a generational shift is underway in the arts world

Argentango is one of the many artists and
arts groups seen on Old Town Fort Collins
street corners during "Streetmospheres."

Way back in the previous century -- 1998 I think it was -- Fort Collins, Colo., sent out the call for a new motto. The old one was getting frayed around the edges.

The city received lots of ideas. But this is the one I remember best: "Fort Collins: Where Cheyenne Shops."

It was meant tongue and cheek and wasn't adopted. Without looking it up, I cannot tell you the current motto of F.C. This points out that they are probably unnecessary and a waste of the citizenry's time. It also illustrates the fact that there are any number of truisms attached to a city that probably don't belong -- or won't fit -- on its web site banner. I can think of several for Fort Collins:

• Where Cheyenne and Laramie shop
• Where Cheyenne and Laramie teens go to party and see indie bands on weekends
• Where Mike Shay and his beloved wife go to dine
• Where Wyoming craft beer fans go to refill their growlers
• Where Cheyenne people go to marvel at a vibrant downtown that doesn't have a huge hole as its centerpiece
• Where Cheyenne people go to get their hail-damaged cars repaired because we can't wait until February 2013 for an appointment

I could go on, but won't. The whole shopping thing is not as true in 2011 as it was in 1998. Cheyenne has many of the same big box stores that line College Avenue in Fort Collins. We have chain restaurants by the score. Our arts and entertainment offerings are growing.

But we live in the era of thriving downtowns. Fort Collins has one of the best in the West. It has that odd diagonal parking scheme in the middle of the street. It has galleries and funky shops and concert venues and sidewalk cafes.

You just can't get this in Cheyenne. Cheyennites say that it's just so much easier to travel 45 minutes to Fort Collins (or 90 minutes to Denver) than create something similar in our own downtown.

Harumph, harumph.

Part of that is a generational thing. Cheyenne gets high marks from Old Codger Magazine as a great place for retirement. Low crime rate! Low taxes! Low energy level! Cheyenne gets high marks from Old Military Codger Magazine as one of the top ten places for military retirees. Military base amenities and two-for-one hip replacements at the VA! Retirees of all stripes have a future (albeit a limited one) in Cheyenne!

Zzzzzzz....

Meanwhile, down in the city named after a fort that never existed, young people gather. Hipster.com recommends F.C. highly for its many hipster hangouts. Bust Your Head Wide Open mag calls the place one of "America's dream towns" for its active outdoor sports culture. The signature label at New Belgium Brewery is Fat Tire and it's brewed by wind power and tended by goatee-sporting brewmeisters. Almost 30,000 young people attend CSU and many grads stick around to start businesses in a town known for its entrepreneurship.

So it's only natural that Fort Collins entities have banded together to create the Arts Incubator of the Rockies. Those of us at the AIR meeting this past week in F.C. were anything but hipsters. Our median age may have been 45. But we're all looking ahead rather than behind. Our futures depend on it.

Traditional art forms are on the decline, and have been for at least a decade. Symphonies, opera, ballet, art museums, and all the rest see declining attendance. The audiences that remain are older. Expenses continue to climb. Even a math-challenged person such as myself (age 60.9163) can see that this is a losing proposition.

On the other hand, art schools continue to crank out record numbers of artists and writers and musicians. The supply side is thriving. The traditional demand side is shrinking. But a survey by Julliard shows that only 10 percent of music grads stay in the industry. Wonder how other university departments would look at such dismal statistics. "UW School of Geology: 90 percent of our grads work at McDonald's!" "CSU Veterinary School: Only 10 percent of our grads have anything to do with animals!"

Beet Street in Fort Collins is trying to breathe some new life into both the creation and the presentation of the arts. They are joined in this regional endeavor by the CSU School of the Arts and the City of Fort Collins. They were partners in a successful National Endowment for the Arts' Our Town grant that brings $100,000 to the AIR effort. The Western States Arts Federation in Denver and nine state arts agencies gathered in F.C. last week to discuss our involvement.

In Saturday's post, I outlined some of the core and potential programs that will be addressed by AIR. The major physical effort will be the renovation of the old Carnegie Library into a regional arts center.

We toured the building on Thursday. It's one of a cluster of historic buildings in City Park. Next door is the sprawling county library, which once was housed in the Carnegie Building, as was the case in hundreds of American towns and cities.

Exhibits, archives and storage for the Fort Collins Museum are now crammed into the Carnegie. All of it, along with the staff, will move to the new 47,000-square-foot Fort Collins Museum and Discovery Science Center by the summer. This new public-private partnership will feature interactive exhibits that blend history and science. It also has a new Digital Dome Theatre that is part planetarium and part IMAX

Meanwhile, back at the Carnegie, Beet Street's Beth Flowers tells us about the plans for the space. It will feature physical classrooms, a virtual learning center, an AIR resource center, Beet Street offices, black box theatre, gallery and other public spaces. The city owns the building so will maintain and manage it. CSU will conduct community-based continuing ed courses as well as classes that will feed into its new minor in Arts Business and Leadership and Master of Music in Arts Leadership and Administration.

"Bronwyn's Factory" by UW Prof Ricki Klages was 
selected from 1,200 entries for the prestigious
Manifest Press's inaugural
 International Painting Annual.

Yet to be decided is how neighboring states fit into the equation. We spent two days last week discussing options in the newly renovated Lincoln Center. Wyoming trains scads of artists at its lone four-year public university and its many community colleges. How will AIR serve them? The University of Wyoming could have its own CSU-like "A" for "Agricultural" on a mountain if one were close enough to campus. And that "A" could stand for "Arts." UW is in the midst of a complete revamping of its arts infrastructure. The massive new visual arts building, located strategically next to the award-winning UW Art Museum, will open in January. The old fine arts building will get a complete renovation over the course of the new two years. The English Department's creative writing program (ranked No. 30 in the nation by Poets & Writers mag) continues to be housed in the oldest building on campus (go figure).

Beefed-up endowments bring amazing performers, artists and writers to campus. Internationally-renowned dancer and choreographer Bill T. Jones wraps up his UW residency this month. Rebecca Solnit, Camille Dungy, Colson Whitehead and Salman Rushdie have taught young writers the past few years. Visual artists such as Jesus Moroles, Deborah Butterfield and Ursula von Rydingsvard have taught at UW and their sculptures have been featured on campus.

But the problem remains. UW does not have an arts administration degree program. And students still get a limited exposure to the business side of the arts. Some will get teacher certification and teach. Some will go on to master's and Ph.D. programs and teach. May others will want to make a living as artists and will have to figure it out for themselves.

We in Wyoming have an option that other regional players don't have -- we're right down the road from the AIR project in Fort Collins. Those arts business courses will be nearby. Some will be offered online, too. But since you're already traveling down snow-clogged roads to go to the hookah bar, why not take a workshop while you're there?

At last week's meeting, we talked extensively about ways that state arts agencies such as the Wyoming Arts Council could help sponsor AIR courses. Wyoming students could attend physical classes in F.C. Or maybe some of those courses could be offered at UW in some sort of cooperative agreement with border rival CSU. We talked about a partnership among regional land-grant universities -- all of our states have one.

We have hundreds of talented artists in Wyoming. We also have a problem with our college grads moving out of state to start careers in Denver, Salt Lake City, L.A., and Portland. Wouldn't it be amazing if we could find ways for our homegrown creatives to stay in Casper and Pinedale and Evanston? They will need business acumen to do so. Luck helps, too. But what's that famous saying about luck? "The harder I work the luckier I get." Maybe that should be: "The smarter I work the luckier I get."

We all need to work smarter in tough times. AIR could be one of the ways to work smarter. Wouldn't it be great if Cheyenne could claim a new motto that said: "Cheyenne: Where Fort Collins buys art and attends arts events."

Music on Cheyenne's Depot Plaza

I'll keep you posted on AIR developments. Also get updates on the Wyoming Arts Council blog.

It's a great time to be working in the arts!

Me: It's a great time to be working in the arts.

You: The heck you say. Local, state and national arts budgets are on the chopping block. The Kansas governor eliminated its state arts agency. K-12 arts teachers are being laid off. Music and visual arts and poetry graduates can't find jobs. Arts orgs and galleries and museums and performance spaces everywhere are crashing and burning.

Me: As I said, it's a great time to be working in the arts.

You: No hope for a fool.

Me: Or is there?

I'm flying high on the arts after a two-day meeting in Fort Collins, Colo. Arts types from nine states came to town to brainstorm ideas for the Arts Incubator of the Rockies (AIR.). This multi state effort to turbo-charge the region's artists and arts orgs and was spearheaded by a triumvirate of Ft Collins entities: Beet Street, the City of Fort Collins and Colorado State University School of the Arts.

It's a great thing when an arts organization, a city government and a major land-grant university get together to forge a plan for the future. A rare thing, too. Together they applied to the National Endowment for the Arts and received a $100,000 Our Town grant. Another major step. And then they invited their neighbors from WY, CO, NM, UT, ID, MT, NE, NV, SD and ND to town to talk about next steps.

So we did.

Fort Collins can brag about its arts and culture scene. This city of 140,000 sprawls along the Poudre River Valley and butts up against the Front Range of the Rockies. There's a big "A" up on the mountain that gets a fresh coat of whitewash every year from CSU students. The "A" stands for the "Agricultural" in Colorado Agricultural College and later Colorado A&M. Ag continues to be a big deal on campus and in the community. It stands for both flora and fauna, such as the large fauna investigated and studied and treated each year in the CSU Veterinary Program, one of the best in the U.S. "A" and "M" prompt students from all over the world to study water hydrology in Fort Collins. Water ministers from many parched Middle Eastern, Asian and African countries learned their trade at CSU. The university is home to the Colorado Seed Laboratory, where the genomes of the West's native plants are explored and safeguarded.

CSU's "A" and "M" creds are well-established.

But these days the "A" up on the hill could stand for "Arts."

During our two days in Fort Collins, we toured arts facilities. One belongs to the U, the renovated Fort Collins High School ("Go Lambkins!") that now houses the University Center for the Arts, or UCA. When I attended CSU from 1988-91, my little family lived in a little house just down the street from FCHS. My wife and I and our young son played catch on the football field which was a half-block from the house. I dodged student drivers on my daily walks to campus. There was that one Saturday morning when we found a frat boy from Phi Zappa Krappa passed out on our lawn. Apparently he had become disoriented after a frat bash and had settled in for a rejuvenating nap on our not-so-lush lawn. Our son awakened him with a pointy stick.

The frat house is still there. The high school is now the arts school. Our tour guide on Thursday was Jennifer Clary, a graduate of both the old FCHS and the new CSU arts school. She now works at the UCA. So it goes.

We watched a faculty chamber group as they warmed up in the Organ Recital Theatre for an upcoming concert. We saw the student Symphonia rehearse for its performance of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony. Great acoustics in the 550-seat Edna Rizley Griffin Concert Hall. Great facilities overall for music and dance and theatre. Also a fine visual arts museum.

As I watched the tattooed woman violinist and the viola player in his black hoodie bow their way through various symphony movements, I couldn't help but wonder what they'll be doing in 10 years. Playing in a major symphony? Bloody unlikely. Playing in a smaller symphony or community band? Possibly. Teaching music at the K-12 level. That's probable, although too many students look at education as a "fall-back" occupation if music performance doesn't work out. While some of them will be good teachers, others will be second-rate or worse and resentful that they're not making money in their chosen pursuit of music.

During our meeting, CSU School of the Arts Co-Director Dr. Todd Queen quoted from a Julliard study that found that only 10 percent of music school students stay in the industry after graduation. It's tough out there for a musician -- we all know that. It's tough out there for a poet and a dancer and a painter. That's why so many parents (this one included) attempt (with limited success) to steer their children into more practical avenues.

But what if there were other ways to an artist to make a living as an artist? What if we could shift away from the paradigm of "starving artist?"

That is a major goal of AIR.

Arts students need help with the big "B" of "business." They need to find new ways to promote themselves as artists which then will free up time for them to do their art. This is nothing new. Van Gogh painted up a storm but couldn't make a living -- his brother Theo had to keep him in bread and cheese. As a student in the CSU creative writing program, my goal was to write and learn how to write better. I was a teaching assistant too -- a little teaching experience couldn't hurt, right?

But in my third year, after a series of unsuccessful interviews for teaching jobs, I realized that I needed to reassess my goals. I asked the following question: "Just what the hell am I going to do now?" So I looked at all of my career assets and found that I could run or work for an arts organizations. Plenty of those around. My writing and corporate skills would come in handy. My time heading up the writers' committee on the CSU Fine Arts Series would be useful. Teaching skills, too -- I'd already taught at CSU and several community college writing courses in Fort Collins and Greeley.

It all added up to something. And I parlayed that something into 20 years working as an arts administrator at the state and federal level. I'm an acknowledged expert in my field. I've worked as a panelist and arts consultant to Colorado, Utah, Nevada, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kentucky, the Western States Arts Federation in Denver, etc. I've mentored many writers and later, as my job came to encompass all arts disciplines, I've assisted pianists, dancers, sculptors, rock musicians, painters, and so on.

But I have this sorrowful part of me that wishes now that, 20-some years ago, I had asked this question instead: "How can I make a living as a fiction writer?" That should have been my focus because writing is what I love. In the arts, it is all about you pursuing your passion. It also can be about forging a career in the arts world. Not just as a fall-back strategy but as something that a student does on purpose. It may include teaching but it very well may not.

Arts and beers and bikes are all players in
the new creative placemaking economy.

This is what I like about AIR: It addresses both of these tracks through workshops, classes, networking, coaching, mentoring, outreach and internships. It seeks to enlist professionals to mentor those in their field. It will look at ways to provide shared professional services, investment capital and revolving loan funds. It may enlist celebrity actors and musicians and writers to promote AIR goals. It may sponsor local and regional conferences.

The discussion is only beginning. In my next post, I'll address some of the ways that AIR plans to incubate regional artists and arts orgs in the West. I'll also look at the role that Fort Collins itself is playing in the Rocky Mountain West's arts and cultural renaissance. It's not all about "beers, bikes and (snow)boards" -- but all of those "B" words feed "A" energy (as in "Arts").

GOP lawmakers (maybe even WY Rep. Cynthia Lummis) want out of tax pledge

GOP lawmakers want out of Grover Norquist no-tax pledge, according to TheHill.com

Rep. Cynthia Lummis may be one of them. She was quoted this way Nov. 3 in the Casper Star-Tribune:

"Grover Norquist is not in my district. I represent the state of Wyoming and its people."

We'll see how long this lasts... 

Tests of Pavillion groundwater show levels of carcinogen benzene at 50 times the EPA limit

From the Billings Gazette:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it has found high levels of benzene and other chemicals in the latest groundwater samples from a community within a gas field.

A variety of chemicals and high levels of methane turned up in two wells drilled specifically to test for pollution in the central Wyoming community of Pavillion.

The carcinogen benzene measured as high as 50 times the EPA limit, according to a report released at an EPA public meeting Wednesday night in Pavillion.

Elevated levels of diesel- and gasoline-grade organic compounds also were found.

Meanwhile, the EPA has sampled 42 domestic water wells to date, finding methane in 10 wells and a chemical called 2-butoxyethanol phosphate in nine.

The EPA told the 50 or so attendees at the meeting that people with polluted water should not use it for cooking and drinking and should ventilate their bathrooms while bathing or showering.

The warning also was issued in Pavillion last year.

Read more: http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/article_06f19c56-0bea-11e1-85f1-001cc4c002e0.html#ixzz1dSfeGd44

Sen. Enzi and Sen. Barrasso vote to eliminate Small Community Air Service Development Program for Wyoming communities

Says Rep. Jim Byrd who represents Cheyenne in the Wyoming State Legislature: "I guess when you've got private jets at your disposal it's easy to forget that the rest of the people (99%) have to rely on local air service in WY." You said it, Jim. 

WyoFile: How one little ol' UW art display hurt the feelings of Big Oil and King Coal

Author, entomologist and UW Professor Jeffrey Lockwood writes in WyoFile about the collision between art and energy policy in Wyoming.

His focus is Chris Drury’s sculpture on the UW campus entitled “Carbon Sink” What Goes Around Comes Around.” The sculpture has ignited a storm of controversy within the energy industry types, who think that everyone in Wyoming should kiss their ass. We usually do, even while we type diatribes against them on our coal-fired laptops. Our state legislators are the biggest ass-kissers of them all.

It’s humorous to watch energy types and their Republican legislators tie themselves in knots saying that they really don’t want to stymie free expression on campus but can’t you please just get rid of that annoying sculpture made up of beetle-kill trees and coal because it hurts our feelings? Pretty please!

Some big energy industry funders have threatened to withhold funding from UW until it gets rid of the sculpture. There is a rumor floating around that "Carbon Sink" has caused one of Wyoming's energy magnates to withhold his precious monetary fluids from UW's funding stream. I'm searching for a name and I'll share it as soon as I have it.

Jeff Lockwood's column has some wonderful quotes. He's a few paragraphs that I especially like:

The core reality of the modern world of energy consumption is that we can’t have it all. My mother was an artist and wise woman. When people asked her to produce a calligraphic piece, she would tell them that there were three qualities in commissioned artwork: good, fast, and cheap. The client could pick any two of these. For example, if a bride-to-be wanted her wedding invitation to be good and fast, then it wasn’t going to be cheap.

The same limitations hold for energy. Pick whichever two you want, but you can’t have all three. What is good (for humans and the environment) and fast (available right now) isn’t cheap (e.g., solar home systems). What is good and cheap isn’t fast (e.g., large-scale alternative energy systems), and what is cheap and fast isn’t good (e.g., burning fossil fuels). No, you can’t have it all. Even an artist knows that.

Yes, even an artist knows that. Writers, too.

Read it all at http://wyofile.com/2011/11/art-energy-coals-reaction-to-carbon-sink-sculpture-reveals-the-power-of-art-%E2%80%94-and-the-essence-of-education/

Occupy Writers -- poetry and prose from the field

Occupy Writers is a web site where writers and poets report on Occupy events. They’ve either attended the events in person or have been moved to write poems or essays on events they’ve observed from afar. Other writers have added their names to OW in support of the cause. Hundreds of names on the list now (mine included). And dozens of dispatches from the field.

Ursula LeGuin reports on Occupy Portland:

Our mayor has been very Taoist in handling the whole business, gracefully evading decisions and ultimatums, then going off to China…. So far, so good!

Jerry Stahl reports on Occupy L.A.:

The other night, for example, outside LA City Hall, a representative from nearby Skid Row took his turn speaking during the general assembly. (Because the Homeless, after all, were living on the Street before it was cool.) The rule was two minutes or less. And after filling in the assembled patriots – a word I don’t use lightly; one, in fact, I don’t think I have ever used before, without irony, which I am not using now – the Skid Row speaker invited everybody to breakfast the next day at 6:30 at one of LA’s best-known shelters, the Midnight Mission.

And yes, to me this is the wet, palpitating heart of Occupy Wall Street. Of Occupy The World. The impromptu, part desperation/part rage/part idealism fueled Rising Up – or in this case, Showing up of Americans for the beautiful and long-forgotten cause of… America itself. Mister Rogers meets Thomas Payne. Which is great. And the ultimate, redemptive silver lining in the hell cloud created by the derivative-driven, un-regulated (with apologies to Ginsberg) Fiscal Moloch itself.

Anne Waldman pens a haiku from OWS:

Haiku from Zuccotti Park
Moloch’s motor got stuck
on the roof of Casino Wall Street
look up! moon, a ghost chip in the sky…

10/10/11 “Columbus” Day/Liberty Plaza

Chicago’s Larry Heinemann observes it all from afar:

I live in extremely rural Texas–I’m the Writer in Residence at Texas A&M in College Station–and getting out of town even to Occupy Austin is a large problem. Right now, all I can contribute is encouragement and praise to the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators. What news of the Occupy movement and events around the country, and now the world, makes it this far into the Great Flat Place makes me think that they are our conscience, and I cannot admire them enough. Let us hope that this ‘movement,’ this state of mind, this way of conducting oneself with dignity and poise endures, and develops into something really fine. It involves the kind of persistent patience leavened with humor that produces no body count and effects the way political business is conducted. I am particularly impressed that The Suits and Talking Heads are baffled, and a little irked, by the lack of a ‘program’ or ‘demands’ or high-profile ‘spokesmen.’ ”What do these people want?” If you have to ask, ladies and gentlemen, then you’re not paying attention.

Amirah Mizrahi reports from Occupy Oakland on Oct. 25:

today
i was wadi salib 1959
i was musrara 1971
i was palestine in oakland
like never before i was
all the places
in all the radical histories
i know and don’t know 

i heard a trumpet in a marching band
play a tune i recognized
bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao
clapping hands marching feet i gave
away shirts as scarves
to shield faces 

today i was a time
place comma date
that some day some one will be
when she is again marching
in the streets and
knowing history
holding it
making
it.

Read more at Occupy Writers.

Local artists and local musicians at the Hynds Building Nov. 10 in Cheyenne

Buy Wyoming this holiday season!

"The Tide is Turning," Occupy version

This beautiful YouTube video by Stonehartfloydfan is set to a Roger Waters song that I didn't know much about. So I looked it up on Wikipedia:

"The Tide Is Turning (After Live Aid)" is a song from the 1987 album Radio K.A.O.S., by Roger Waters. Though Waters had offered his services for the Live Aid concert in 1985 and was turned down by organizer Bob Geldof, the event still inspired Waters to write this song. After he had recorded the Radio K.A.O.S. album, which ends with a simulated nuclear attack in the song "Four Minutes", his record company informed him that the album was too bleak and needed a more upbeat ending. Waters then recorded and added "The Tide Is Turning" to give the album a more optimistic finish. Waters also performed the song with Joni Mitchell, Cyndi Lauper, Bryan Adams, Van Morrison with The Band and Paul Carrack and the Rundfunk Orchestra & Choir in the 1990 concert, The Wall Live in Berlin.

Teach-in at library Nov. 9: "How the 1% stole the American dream"

Breaking newas: Wyoming Rep. Cynthia Lummis will not be there, although she could tell us first-hand what it's like to be one of the 1%.

Kos Katalogue up and running for your holiday shopping

"Never Summer Sunset" in Rocky Mountain National Park by Gilpin County, Colorado, photographer Les Barstow in the Kos Katalogue

It may not be shopping totally locally, but it's the next best thing. By shopping at the Kos Katalogue, you buy handmade goods from honest-to-goodness Progressives. Go to Kos Katalogue -- Where the 99% Shops with the 99%!

Grist: Locally-based arts can save our towns and cities

According to Grist, the arts are being recast as a revitalization strategy for our urban areas.

Roberta Brandes Gratz, a longtime student of cities and author of The Battle for Gotham: New York in the Shadow of Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs, says that this is a refreshing approach. "Usually in the past, money went into creating big cultural venues -- that's not what nurtures the arts. These big venues are good for importing big productions, but for the arts to be of real economic value, it needs to be local."

In other words, if you’re thinking of building a huge symphony hall or museum, forget it. You are much better off nurturing local artists, arts councils, and smaller performance and exhibit venues. Libraries too. And don’t forget about your writers.

Read entire article at http://www.grist.org/cities/2011-11-03-can-save-the-arts-struggling-cities

Art Design & Dine adds venues for "Cheyenne's In Town Art Tours" on Nov. 10 and Dec. 8

More arts and food venues added to the Art Design & Dine schedule. Music too!

Helpful graphic: Tea Party vs. Occupy Wall Street

http://www.facebook.com/ReclaimAmericafromTheLunaticFringe

"Buy American" is something we can all agree on

http://www.facebook.com/bringbackamericanjobs

Think and buy locally as you go a-wassailing and a-caroling and a-gifting this holiday season

The work of Wyoming glass artist Laurie Thal is exhibited and utilized worldwide.  But you can go out to her Teton County studio and gallery and buy locally crafted gifts for under $100. On Saturday, I bought a pair of handmade drinking glasses for $50 and am happy to report that they each one is just right for a 12-ounce Pako IPA handcrafted by the Snake River Brewing in Jackson. What could be more Wyoming than that? In photo above, Laurie is shown at her furnace that is filled with molten glass. To book glass studio tours and workshops, go to www.thalglass.com

Hummingbirdminds is about a lot of things. It is about your blowhard editor regaling you with his deeply held beliefs. It is about progressive politics. It is about fine food and great craft beers. It is about snark.

Most of all, it is about my community. I am a locavore, as much as I can be in high-and-dry-and-cold Wyoming. I also love and promote locallit, localart and localtunes. And what better time to support all that than during this holiday season when all of us will be a-wassailing, a-caroling and a-buying gifts for our loved ones?

I spied the following post by Joseph Segal on the Rebuild the Dream Facebook page. It sums up the “buy local” theme for me this holiday season. As I read it, I kept trying to tally those local businesses that I had patronized the past month or so. Ariel Casiano and his crew aerated my lawn and trimmed my trees. Our family dined at the Morris House Bistro, owned and operated by local entrepreneurs. I got my hair cut last week by local stylists who happen to make their living via the CostCutters chain. I ate at Shadows Brewpub downtown which makes its own beers.

The list is long. Read this and find other ways to help your local economy:

Christmas 2011 -- Birth of a New Tradition

As the holidays approach, the giant Asian factories are kicking into high gear to provide Americans with monstrous piles of cheaply produced goods. Merchandise that has been produced at the expense of American labor.

This year will be different. This year Americans will give the gift of genuine concern for other Americans. There is no longer an excuse that, at gift giving time, nothing can be found that is produced by American hands. Yes there is!

It's time to think outside the box, people. Who says a gift needs to fit in a shirt box, wrapped in Chinese produced wrapping paper?

Everyone -- yes EVERYONE gets their hair cut. How about gift certificates from your local American hair salon or barber?

Gym membership? It's appropriate for all ages who are thinking about some health improvement.

Who wouldn't appreciate getting their car detailed? Small, American owned detail shops and car washes would love to sell you a gift certificate or a book of gift certificates.

Are you one of those extravagant givers who think nothing of plunking down the Benjamins on a Chinese made flat-screen? Perhaps that grateful gift receiver would like his driveway sealed, or lawn mowed for the summer, or driveway plowed all winter, or games at the local golf course.

There are a bazillion owner-run restaurants -- all offering gift certificates. And, if your intended isn't the fancy eatery sort, what about a half dozen breakfasts at the local breakfast joint. Remember, folks this isn't about big National chains -- this is about supporting your home town
Americans with their financial lives on the line to keep their doors open.

How many people couldn't use an oil change for their car, truck or motorcycle, done at a shop run by the American working guy?

Thinking about a heartfelt gift for mom? Mom would LOVE the services of a local cleaning lady for a day.

My computer could use a tune-up, and I KNOW I can find some young guy who is struggling to get his repair business up and running.

OK, you were looking for something more personal. Local crafts people spin their own wool and knit them into scarves. They make jewelry, and pottery and beautiful wooden boxes.

Plan your holiday outings at local, owner operated restaurants and leave your server a nice tip. And, how about going out to see a play or ballet at your hometown theatre.

Musicians need love too, so find a venue showcasing local bands.

Honestly, people, do you REALLY need to buy another ten thousand Chinese lights for the house? When you buy a five dollar string of light, about fifty cents stays in the community. If you have those kinds of bucks to burn, leave the mailman, trash guy or babysitter a nice BIG tip.

You see, Christmas is no longer about draining American pockets so that China can build another glittering city. Christmas is now about caring about US, encouraging American small businesses to keep plugging away to follow their dreams. And, when we care about other Americans, we care about our communities, and the benefits come back to us in ways we couldn't imagine.

THIS is the new American Christmas tradition

Rep. Cynthia Lummis: Grover Norquist is not in my district!

But he is in my head!

From the Casper Star-Tribune:

U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., joined dozens of federal lawmakers from both parties on Tuesday in pressing Congress’ special debt reduction committee to consider all options, including higher revenues, and shoot for $4 trillion in savings

--clip—

Like all but three of the 40 GOP signatories, Lummis has also signed the pledge by anti-tax activist Grover Norquist to oppose tax increases. Lummis said she did so when she was first elected in 2008, but did not sign it last year.

“Grover Norquist is not in my district,” she said. “I represent the state of Wyoming and its people.”

Read more: http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/wyoming-u-s-rep-lummis-debt-committee-should-consider-revenues/article_277e2f5e-4022-5f17-9e1d-fbc233c04187.html#ixzz1cheKEoL8

Bring Change 2 Mind teams up with "Extreme Makeover Home Edition" to provide a home to vet with PTSD

I'm not a big fan of reality shows. But "Extreme Makeover Home Edition" is one of the better ones. It's less about strange behavior and more about helping people. Producers select a deserving family and builds a new one or fully renovates the old one on camera. EMHE brings in its own team of designers and builders and enlists an array of local contractors. It has a green slant, with lots of effort to use alternative energy sources and recycled materials. The show's host is the energetic Ty Pennington. Watching the show, I imagined that Ty was a hyperactive kid who drove his family and teachers crazy. He's his own alternative energy source.

The next EMHE is co-sponsored by one of my favorite orgs, Bring Change 2 Mind. Its goal is to remove the stigma of mental illness. BC2M has a video, directed by Ron Howard, that shows a crowd in a subway station (Grand Central?). One man wears a white T-shirt that reads "Post Traumatic Street Disorder" and he's accompanied by his "Battle Buddy." A woman wears a "Depression" T-shirt and is hugged by her "Better Half." Glenn Close, "Sister," poses with her real sister, "Bipolar." The video ends with the labels disappearing from the T-shirts and people going about their business.

Glenn partners up with Pennington and company on the most recent EMHE project, this one for a veteran with PTSD and his family.

There's no bigger mental health issue now than the challenges faced by our returning veterans. That includes PTSD.

Marion Mealing sends this from the National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health:

This Friday, November 4 at 8 p.m. (ET) “Extreme Makeover Home Edition” is featuring an organization about which I feel strongly: Bring Change 2 Mind. 

Bring Change 2 Mind is an organization dedicated to fighting the stigma of mental illness, and providing information and support to those living with mental illness.  Bring Change 2 Mind has been a partner with the National Federation in the fight against mental health stigma.

The two-hour show will take you through how Extreme Makeover Home Edition built a home that better meets the needs of Allen, who is living with PTSD, , his wife Gina, their children, Makale and Dreyson, and their dog Frankie. Throughout the episode, Glenn Close (Bring Change 2 Mind's founder) talks about the organization and their mission.

Will you join me and tune in for what promises to be a heartwarming story?

http://bringchange2mind.org/ehme

Occupy Cheyenne sez: Nov. 5 is bank transfer day

Stymie the 1% on Nov. 5. Transfer
your account to a credit union. Go to
www.CUlookup.com