An Art Design & Dine Date Night in Cheyenne

“Wanna dance?” Chris asked.

“I looked at her. “I haven’t had a beer yet.”

“It’s a slow song, one that you like.”

She had me there. It was “Masquerade” by Leon Russell. Keith “Boxcar” Blaney was doing a great job with it on the stage inside the Hynds Building.

“And we’re the only ones here.” Chris gestured around the room. We were the only audience members at the moment on this Art Design and Dine Artwalk Thursday. So nobody would be watching my geeky dance floor moves.

But while I was pondering the dance, a trio of young women wandered in and, while they helped themselves to some lemonade and cookies, Keith wrapped up the song.

“Darn,” I said.

“Procrastinator.” Chris gave me the evil eye. She stood. “Time to move on.”

She was right. I’d enjoyed Keith’s repertoire of Beatles, Keb Mo and Leon Russell. But we had other stops to make. It was date night and there was no time to waste. We were prowling around downtown, hitting those ADD venues we hadn’t seen before. We’d been to the Hynds for art shows but had never seen Keith perform.

Earlier, our first stop had been The Ancient Sage on the corner of 18^th and Capitol. It features handmade products by local artists and Fair Trade artisans. There are books on natural healing and racks filled with herbal remedies. Proprietors Lisa Marie and Jody had filled a table with veggies and fruit and boxes of wine. I snacked and talked to Lisa Marie about her role as a medium/clairvoyant. She spoke of “cleaning” homes of unwanted spirits, about how she can sense their presence. An odd sort of gift to have. 

Out front, BeatGrass, an up-and-coming Cheyenne bluegrass band, warmed up. Some police cruisers appeared on Capitol Avenue, the advance guard for a parade of Senior Olympians in Cheyenne to compete for the gold. A group of 100 or so senior athletes were led by the Cheyenne Pipe Band. Parade Marshal Kenny Sailors cruised down the street in the back of an old convertible. Kenny is credited with bringing the jump shot to college basketball when he played for UW in the 1940s and led his team to the NCAA tournament.

When the sounds of pipes and drums faded into the distance, BeatGrass performed some bluegrass standards and a few unexpected tunes, such as “The Breeze” by Lynyrd Skynyrd and “Beat It” by Michael Jackson. I hadn’t seen BeatGrass perform, although they’ve had a busy summer playing at bars, the Atlas Theatre and the American Legion. They are good musicians and a lot of fun to watch.

Chris and I had no preconceived notions for the evening. We like doing things together. We had been pleasantly surprised by the music and the parade. In the distance, we could hear the strains of “Ghost Riders in the Sky” coming from a band playing for the senior athletes at the Depot. Here on the corner, while BeatGrass played, a girl twirled her hula-hoop and a skateboarder rolled up on a long board. The Cheyenne Trolley rolled up and the people gazed out the window at the street spectacle, as if it were an everyday occurrence here in the Capital City.

Our next stop was Studio 17. We looked at photography by proprietor Dana Gage and talented local Briana Barber. Dana showed off one of Briana’s framed portraits, a larger than life image of a local street person. The man’s face bore the marks of a hard-knock life. Briana’s specialty is street scenes of Cheyenne, but she also shoots flowers and Wyoming’s big sky. Dana has some incredible landscapes in the studio. He let me have two hand-painted tiles left behind several months ago by a street artist who never returned for them. Very odd and colorful pieces.

"The Tivolism," photo by Briana Barber at Studio 17. The Tivoli
is the home of Freedom's Edge Brewing Company.

Our next stop was Freedom’s Edge Brewing Company at the Tivoli. It was not a part of the ADD Artwalk but its beers are a work of art. Freedom’s Edge opened in March but I’d never been inside to quaff a pint. But that was remedied when I sat down with a pint of Frontier Daze IPA and Chris ordered up a Strawberry Blonde Ale. The interior is a combination of Old West and 2012 craft brewery. There’s an outdoor beer garden that opened for Frontier Days and looks like a great way to while away a summer evening. Freedom’s Edge is bottling their beers. You can take home a monster of its limited edition stout or a growler of any of its other beers. But Chris and I halted at one. It was getting late and we needed to eat.

Our last stop was the Morris House Bistro patio on Warren Avenue. No tables were available so we hung out and talked to some old friends as they wrapped up their dinner. Morris House is friendly that way – we always see someone we know. It was bustling on this August Thursday night. Chris and I split an order of crab cakes. She ate marlin and black rice while I had shrimp and grits and collard greens. Some friends wandered in and joined us for dessert. When I went inside to use the facilities, I saw that all the tables were filled. I heard some southern drawls and a foreign accent that I couldn’t place. We later heard from the manager that there were lots of out-of-town visitors who are referred to the bistro by TripAdvisor.com. I don’t know the site but our friends use it when they travel. Apparently it’s a great way to find good food and cool places to stay. It’s terrific to see that MHB, open only a year, is becoming the place to eat in Cheyenne. (I checked out TripAdvisor and Morris House is the top-rated Cheyenne restaurant out of 86 choices.)

We closed down Morris House and headed home. Chris wanted to keep the night alive so we sat out on our back porch and watched the lightning light up the eastern sky. The night’s breeze carried a promise of rain but it fell only on our friends in Burns and Pine Bluffs or maybe nowhere at all. Teased again. But we went to bed with the promise of rain in our heads. That’s about all that we’ve had this summer – teased by rain but delivered once again into the dry hands of drought. But on this night, I didn’t care.

The Art Design & Dine Intown Art Tour takes place the second Thursday of the month, 5-8 p.m., April through December, at various Cheyenne venues. Get more info at artdesigndine.org.

Tim O'Brien writing workshop: "The Things We Carry"

One of America's best writers will be in Cheyenne Oct. 5-6. 

Tim O'Brien, author of "The Things They Carried" and "Going After Cacciato," will be at the Literary Connection at Laramie County Community College on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 5-6. On Friday, between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., he will join two other award-winning writers -- John Calderazzo and Cat Valente -- who will each conduct a free workshop. Tim is a Vietnam veteran whose work continues to explore the legacy of that conflict on the American psyche. Here are the workshop details:

Tim O'Brien: The Things We Carry

"In this workshop I'll be discussing my approach to writing fiction and will touch on such topics as the use of autobiographical materials in fiction, the principle of simultaneity, animating a story, thematic gravitas, etc."

Tim O’Brien received the National Book Award in Fiction in 1979 for his novel Going After Cacciato. In 2005 The Things They Carried was named by the New York Times as one of the twenty best books of the last quarter century.

Beatgrass at The Ancient Sage for Art Design & Dine Aug., 9

You might have seen Georgia Rowswell Monday morning on Channel 5 promoting the Art Design & Dine Art Tour. Georgia launched ADD three years ago. She's an artist and proprietor of The Artful Hand Gallery. 

Beatgrass will perform at The Ancient Sage during Thursday's Art Design & Dine

17th Street Arts Festival set for Cheyenne's Dinneen Downtown Plaza

We'll breathe life into this old downtown yet.

The inaugural 17^th Street Arts Festival, located at the new Dinneen Downtown Plaza in Cheyenne, will feature dozens of visual and performance artists, children’s activities, food and fun. The festival begins Friday night, August 17, with an Artist Preview Reception, including performances by local artists and a wine tasting bar. The Reception is from 5-9 p.m. Then all day Saturday, August 18, from 10 a.m.–8 p.m., enjoy visual and performance art, a children’s area complete with bounce house, all day family arts and crafts, and local art exhibits. The Performance Stage will showcase continuous local music and theatre acts through the day. There is no charge to attend the Festival.

The 17th Street Arts Festival is hosted by Arts Cheyenne and the Cheyenne Downtown Development Authority.

Learn more at http://artscheyenne.com/programs/17th-street-arts-festival/

Munis memorial concert tonight at Depot Plaza will benefit Safehouse

From the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle:

Singer Robin Munis died five years ago when her estranged husband fired a bullet from a high-powered rifle as she was performing inside Old Chicago.

But her death did not silence her wonderful voice. Friends and fans are continuing a tradition to keep her memory alive.

Area musicians will pay tribute to Munis at the fifth annual benefit concert from 4-10 p.m. Saturday [tonight] at Cheyenne Depot Plaza, 121 W. 15th St.

Four bands whose styles range from jazz to blues rock to variety will perform. They are Avenue, Jazztet, Second Opinion and Beatgrass. The musicians will donate their time.

The concert is free but donations will be accepted for Safehouse Services. Safehouse provides shelter for those people fleeing abusive situations. 

Read more here: Munis memorial concert to benefit Safehouse

"Muslim Self Portraits" exhibit at Heart Mountain Interpretive Center comes under fire

From the Heart Mountain Foundation web site:

The Heart Mountain Interpretive Center at the site of a World War II Japanese-American internment camp outside of Cody, Wyo. will present a new exhibit featuring self-portraits that reveal Muslim Americans in everyday life. The exhibit is intended to counteract stereotypes and preconceived notions about Muslims in America at this time in history. Esse Quam Videri: Muslim Self-Portraits will be exhibited in the Ford Foundation Special Exhibition Area through Sept. 18, 2012.

"This exhibit is the first in a series of exhibits at the Interpretive Center that will encourage visitors to think about prejudice, stereotyping and religious, racial and ethnic profiling," said Stevan Leger executive director.

"Esse Quam Videri" means "to be rather than to seem." The exhibit includes photographs, collaged images and self-drawn portraits of and by Muslim Americans are presented with short essays to add context.

For more information, please contact Steve Leger at 307-754-8000 or by email at sleger@heartmountain.org.

Interesting to note that the exhibit has drawn a fair number of critics. This was in an excellent July 30 editorial in the Casper Star-Tribune:

Leslie Maslak of Cody recently questioned the new exhibit in a letter published in The Billings Gazette. “What in the world does a Muslim exhibit have to do with the Japanese-Americans’ internment?” she asked.

Maslak added, “Is this a ‘comparison’ to how we mistreat the ‘peace-loving’ Muslims? Whatever the reason, this exhibit does not belong at the Heart Mountain Relocation Camp.”

Many other area residents apparently agree. An online poll by The Powell Tribune showed that through July 27, 55.9 percent of 1,101 respondents agreed with the center’s decision to host the exhibit, while 44.1 percent disagreed.

--clip--

Shirley Ann Higuchi, chairwoman of the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation’s board of directors and the daughter of Heart Mountain internees, explained why the exhibit is perfectly in keeping with the story told by the center.

Higuchi said even 70 years after the internment camps were opened, “We are still sometimes misled by the power of false stereotypes to express mistrust and intolerance toward fellow Americans simply because they resemble an enemy.”

“This exhibit takes a thoughtful look at the diversity and challenges of real Muslim-Americans today, and we hope it will prompt visitors to reflect on possible parallels between perceptions of Japanese-Americans after the attack on Pearl Harbor then and Muslim-Americans now,” Higuchi said.

It's tempting to label the exhibit's critics as narrow-minded rubes. We are at war (and have been for more than ten years) with people who resemble those in the exhibit. Stereotypes are hard to counter, especially when they are reinforced so readily and so often.

But look at the mission of the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center and tell me that this exhibit doesn't belong there or somehow defames the place. Thanks to the Casper Star-Trib for standing up for something that is so obviously righteous and, judging by the criticism, so necessary.

University of Wyoming officials destroy artwork to placate energy industry funders

Chris Drury's art installation "Carbon Sink: What Goes Around Comes Around" as it was seen last spring on the UW campus (top photo) and the site as it looks now, the artwork dismantled in the dead of night by university officials and the location covered with neat new sod. Read the whole sordid tale, as told by writer and UW prof Jeffrey Lockwood on wyofile, at http://wyofile.com/2012/07/behind-the-carbon-curtain-art-and-freedom-in-wyoming/. Photos by Chris Drury and Jeff Lockwood (from wyofile).

Dear Gov. Matt Mead: Expand Medicaid to cover Wyoming's uninsured

From the Rev. Rodger McDaniel and friends:

A group of us are putting together a letter to Governor Matt Mead to urge him to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. If you would like your name to appear on the letter, please respond and let me know exactly how you'd like it to appear. If you have friends who will sign, please let me know. I will need their e-mail authorization. A copy of the draft letter is attached. The more the better...by the end of this week. The letter will be hand-delivered to the Govenor by former State Rep. Pete Jorgensen.

I've added my name to the letter. You can too. Rodger's e-mail is rodger.mcdaniel@bresnan.net

Read the details in Rodger's Saturday column at http://blowinginthewyomingwind.blogspot.com/2012/07/mead-thinks-insuring-uninsured-is-not.html

Cheyenne's Yellowstone super-computer will bring new precision to climate research

This L.A. Times article on Cheyenne's new super-computer has so many cool, mind-blowing facts in it, and it's so well-written by Scott Gold, that I hate to point out one annoying oddity.

So I won't do that right now. Instead, read these opening paragraphs and feel proud about Laramie County's new claim to fame:

Out on the shortgrass prairie, where being stuck in the ways of the Old West is a point of civic pride, scientists are building a machine that will, in effect, look into the future. 

This month, on a barren Wyoming landscape dotted with gopher holes and hay bales, the federal government is assembling a supercomputer 10 years in the making, one of the fastest computers ever built and the largest ever devoted to the study of atmospheric science. 

The National Center for Atmospheric Research's supercomputer has been dubbed Yellowstone, after the nearby national park, but it could have been named Nerdvana. The machine will have 100 racks of servers and 72,000 core processors, so many parts that they must be delivered in the back of a 747. Yellowstone will be capable of performing 1.5 quadrillion calculations — a quadrillion is a 1 followed by 15 zeros — every second. 

That's nearly a quarter of a million calculations, each second, for every person on Earth. In a little more than an hour, Yellowstone can do as many calculations as there are grains of sand on every beach in the world.

Our new computer, Yellowstone, is amazing. One of the goals of all that wizardry, according to the article, is to replace the guesswork of climate sience with precision. It is, after all, a project of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, or NCAR. The National Science Foundation paid $50 million of the $70 facility. The rest was paid by the University of Wyoming. UW aims to plumb the mysteries of carbon sequestration, which makes sense for a university that gets giant coal shovels full of money from the energy industry. Wonder what will happen if long-term, safe carbon sequestration turns out to be as viable as spinning straw into gold?

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Those quarter of a million calculations per second will solve the riddle in due time. Meanwhile, climate scientists all over the globe will be crunching numbers and analyzing data about global warming, polar ice melt, super hurricanes, prolonged droughts, weather effects of solar flares, etc.

NCAR hopes to bring "regional accuracy" to forecasting. As NCAR's Richard Loft says: "The disaster of climate change happens on a regional scale. Everything is connected.""  

Everything is connected. What I like is that Cheyenne will be connected to the super-computer because it is right next door, or nearby. Whatever insights are gained about climate in the next decade, the data will come from Yellowstone. The computer, not the national park.

Which brings me to the one strange fact in the story. Yellowstone is a "nearby national park?" Well, Rocky Mountain National Park is two hours and about 120 miles from Cheyenne. That's nearby. But Yellowstone? That's 450 miles and a good eight hours from Cheyenne. O.K., maybe that's nearby if you live in Wyoming. But I wonder if Yellowstone (the super-computer) would think so? How would a super-computer quantify "nearby?"

Wanted: Wyoming scenic vistas to showcase at Democratic National Convention

Imagine if there were as many active Democrats in Wyoming as there are scenic vistas. This request for Wyoming photos comes from Ricky Kirshner, Executive Producer for the 2012 Democratic National Convention (via Wyoming Democratic Party web site):

On behalf of the Democratic National Convention Committee, the Wyoming Democratic Party has been asked to contact you to secure photographic imagery showcasing Wyoming. This photography will be incorporated into the large video screens used during the upcoming convention. The producers of the screen content have requested the following type and format of photography:

"State photography should include wide landscapes, iconic locations and scenic panoramas. The state should provide imagery as high resolution still photography in one of the following format options: JPEG, PSD, TIFF”

We want to provide the producers with "approved" photography void of rights issues and licensing costs. By submitting said photography you acknowledge that you have the authority to do so and indemnify the DNCC and RK Corporate Productions for its use of the photos as indicated herein.

Photos can be uploaded to the following ftp site:
www.mightydotsclient.com
username – stateimagery
password – dnc (all lowercase)
*Click on the name of the folder that represents your state or territory, then use the File Upload protocol on the left side of the page to upload up to 10 files at a time.  For best results when uploading several photos, compress the photos into one zip file and upload the one zipped file

Please contact Juli Pritchard at 323-219-9974 or pritchard.juli@gmail.com to coordinate this effort or to answer any questions you may have. The deadline for receipt of your state's photography is Tuesday, July 31, 2012.  We want to make sure each state is represented visually at the upcoming convention so please make this request a priority. We look forward to receiving your imagery and to helping you coordinate this effort.

Aurora connections bring tragedy closer to home

My 19-year-old daughter was at the midnight showing in Cheyenne of "The Dark Knight Rises" on Thursday night. When I awoke Friday morning, I had no idea about the shootings in Aurora. I skipped the news and watched the Weather Channel to see how hot it was going to get in Cheyenne. Very hot, as it turns out in this normally temperate place. It wasn't until I got to work and fired up the computer that I understood the scope of the tragedy. Sick at heart -- that would be a good way to describe it. I was sad for my home state of Colorado, site of so much tragedy with this summer's fires. I was sad for Aurora, too, the now-huge Denver suburb that was the site of my parents' first house, one that was a block away from the old Fitzsimons Army Medical Center where, as fate would have it, was the place where my paternal grandparents met after World War I. He was a soldier recuperating from gas attacks and she was a nurse. Fitzsimons closed in 1999 and that now houses the sprawling hospital campus where many of the shooting wounded were taken. When we moved from Florida to Denver 30-plus years ago, my wife and I lived in an apartment in Aurora. It all hits close to home. But you don't have to have any connection to Colorado at all to be affected by this. Any of us could have been in that movie theater. One of the wounded was on a cross-country jaunt and decided, on a whim, to go to a movie Thursday night. A young female sports reporter had to talk her boyfriend into going to the film in Aurora that night. She didn't make it. While I can only imagine the loss that her family feels, I have enough empathy to do so. It is a tragedy and our prayers are with you all.

"American Exotic" films use magic realism to illuminate the fringes of American society

I like indie movies for the places and the characters that they portray.

They can be USA places, or somewhere far away, such as Bombay or a Ukrainian village or some remote Chinese outpost.

That’s probably the short story writer in me speaking aloud. My stories are set in a place, usually Wyoming or Colorado, and they are about the dilemmas of real people. There is not a single super-hero or mutant battleship-on-steroids in any of my stories. They are about real people. Period.

I am delighted to read this piece by Tom Shone on Slate. He has the same complaints about movies! They are planetized, bland entertainments. And boring as hell to anyone with half a brain or an ounce of empathy.

No longer the indigenous film industry of North America, Hollywood is now the world’s jukebox, pumping out what Michael Eisner once called “planetized entertainment.” It’s one reason the Oscars have turned into such a mad scramble of late, even fishing overseas for quality crowd-pleasers—The Artist, The King’s Speech, Slumdog Millionaire—while reserving a spot on the nominations list for something flinty and home-spun from the indie world. Two years ago it was Winter’s Bone, which plunged audiences into the meth labs of the Ozarks. This year it is most likely to be Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild, which takes us deep into the swamplands of Louisiana. Together they almost amount to a new genre: the American Exotic, mixing myth and magic realism to trawl the furthermost reaches of the American disaster zone for wide-eyed urban audiences, the same way they used to trawl the Third World.

He then takes the next step. Many indie movies now employ the magic realism elements of the Latin American master novelists – Cortazar, Marquez, Borges, and the rest – to portray the fringes of American society, what he calls "American Exotic.” The hot new film, “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” fits in this category.

Even the genre is telling: Magic realism used to be the genre of South America, not North, the way storytellers make sense of the everyday absurdities and violent disparities of the developing world. That the genre has found any purchase on the northern American continent is a subtle but damning indictment, both of how broken down America has gotten around its edges, but also of just how foreign the country now seems, even to Americans. It’s a whole other world out there. Somebody really ought to make a movie about it.

What movies, large and small, actually rely on a real place and time and real people to make its point? I think of the films by Victor Nunez, who lives and works in Tallahassee, Fla. He made the great “Ulee’s Gold” and “Ruby in Paradise.” The latter film starred a young Ashley Judd and gave viewers a stark and strange and funny view of Panama City Beach during the off-season. “Little Miss Sunshine” portrayed a family full of exotic, down-on-their-luck Americans from Albuquerque who accompany their young one to southern Cal to compete in a beauty pageant. Albuquerque – you can’t get any more Americana than that. Just ask Walt in “Breaking Bad.”

Real people in real places in real situations. Is that too much to ask? He does finds some Hollywood exceptions:

Among their generation, maybe only the Coens are out there taking soil samples, dirtying their mud flaps in Mississippi in the 1930s (Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?), Arkansas in the 1880s (True Grit), LA in the 1940s (Barton Fink), Minnesota in the 1960s (A Serious Man),Texas in the 1980s (Blood Simple, No Country for Old Men), and—in their latest—the Greenwich Village folk scene of the 1960s (Inside Llewyn Davis).

Read the rest at http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2012/07/john_ford_s_westerns_hitchcock_s_north_by_northwest_woody_allen_s_upper_east_side_remember_when_american_movies_were_set_in_america_.2.html

House Republicans, including Wyoming's Cynthia Lummis, vote themselves health care for life while voting against health care for the rest of us

This article comes from Michael McAuliff in the Huffington Post. Make sure to watch the video in which Rep. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming is asked by a reporter: "Why did you just vote yourself health care for life?" Lummis screamed response: "What?" Lummis is one of the wealthiest members of the U.S. Congress:

Democrats are mocking Republicans in the House of Representatives for voting to repeal the health care reform law and keep their own enhanced medical care. 

When Congress passed the health care law, it required members of Congress to get their insurance on exchanges with the rest of the public. But in voting to repeal that law, Republicans and a handful of Democrats were also voting to go back to the old system where the lawmakers get a sweeter deal than most of the rest of the country..

They also voted against a Democratic motion that said members of Congress who support repealing the health care law must also repeal the good stuff they get, such as lifetime care and insurance regardless of pre-existing conditions.

Democrats tried to demonstrate how Republicans distanced themselves from voting to protect their own deal by capturing a slew of GOP members on video saying they didn't vote to protect their own care, as seen below. The clip features a number of Republicans in tight races this year, as well as GOP budget guru, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.

“House Republicans refuse to admit they voted to give themselves taxpayer funded lifetime guaranteed health care instead of having the same health care as their constituents,” said Jesse Ferguson, spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, referring to the fact that members of Congress are eligible for retirement benefits after just five years.

“House Republicans didn’t just vote to protect insurance company campaign donor profits this time, they’re even helping themselves to lifetime taxpayer-funded government health care and now they need to be honest with their constituents and admit it,” Ferguson said.

Dear Gov. Mead: Make Wyoming a healthier place by embracing Medicaid expansion

When Rodger McDaniel writes about mental health and substance abuse treatment in Wyoming, he knows his subjects. Under Gov. Dave Freudenthal, the Rev. McDaniel was Director of the Mental Health Health and Substance Abuse Division of the Wyoming Health Department. Today in his blog (and on the op-ed pages of the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle), he makes the modest proposal that the Great Conservative State of Wyoming should embrace Medicaid expansion. It's a hard sell because Wyoming and its Governor were parties to the Affordable Care Act lawsuit that recently was spured by the conservative-dominated Supreme Court. Read on:

The enormous investment Wyoming made in mental health and substance abuse treatment in the last decade puts the state in a position to cash in big on the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). Governor Mead and state legislators should weigh the opportunity before rushing to join other Republican governors rejecting federal funding of Medicaid expansion. 

Today Wyoming taxpayers spend more than 95 million dollars each budget period on mental health and substance abuse services. If Wyoming implements the Medicaid expansion under Obamacare, most of that money can be returned to the general fund.

Read the rest here.

Wyoming is not always a trailblazer when it comes to mental health and substance abuse programs. But its Children's Medicaid Waiver has been a godsend to many Wyoming families in crisis. The Medicaid Waiver has helped both uninsured and underinsured families who've sent their children to a treatment program that is usually hours away from home, often out-of-state. When our daughter was diagnosed as bipolar, we had to send her to treatment for four months in Colorado and seven months in Casper. We signed her up for the Medicaid Waiver which kicked in when our insurance company limited her treatment. Before Obamacare, insurance companies either placed caps on mental health treatment or disallowed it as a pre-exisiting condition. The same held true for substance abuse treatment. When our son needed help for substance abuse almost ten years ago, our insurance lapsed after 50 treatment sessions. Since he was in a residential center and had daily sessions, the insurance was up way before the therapy could bear fruit -- nine months before he successfully returned home, clean and sober. We spent my father's inheritance to pay for some of the treatment and our son worked on the center's landscaping crew to pay for the rest. Expensive but worth it.


Many other families share our experience. Others will face problems in the future. The Medicaid Waiver helped pay for our daughter's treatment and for the "wraparound care" that followed her return to the home. A treatment team of parents, siblings, relatives, friends -- led by a certified mental health professional -- guided her back into her community. This beats the old approach of letting our teens sink or swim on their own, which didn't work our too well. Teens with mental illnesses or substance abuse problems have enough problems without having to readjust to school and home and work all by themselves.


Many families never use the Medicaid Waiver or similar programs because they don't know about it. There's a great statewide organization, UPLIFT, that is a resource for these services. I'm on the UPLIFT board and that's how I found out about the waiver. Get more info by calling UPLIFT at 307-778-8686. And be not afraid to go directly to the source at the Wyoming state offices. Yes, I know, it's a big state agency located in a monolithic grey building. But you can talk to real people there -- I did.


This web site is a good place to start: http://www.health.wyo.gov/mhsa/treatment/SystemofCare.html. As you'll see, the waiver program is now focused on keeping the child in the community by providing that wraparound care I talked about earlier.


I do not know how Obamacare, with or without Medicaid expansion, will affect these programs. But in a time of budget cuts in state funds, more Medicaid money from the Feds is a good thing, is it not?


No surprise that health care will be a major topic at this week's National Governors Association conference in Virginia. Also on the agenda is a discussion about the needs of military members returning home from the wars. Gov. Mead co-chairs the NGA committee addressing this issue. Some of the most pressing needs involved mental health care, not only for veterans but their families. The Veteran's Administration Hospital in Cheyenne recently expanded its services by hiring four new psychologists. 

Cheyenne's "Bibles & Beer" featured in USA Today

My Liberal Wyoming pals Rev. Rodger McDaniel and Jason Bloomberg. Rodger started "Bibles & Beer" at Uncle Charlie's Tavern last year and it was featured in today's USA Today. I love the final line of the story:  McDaniel says he got questions in the beginning from people concerned about associating alcohol with the Bible. His answer: "Jesus didn't change wine into water."

Wyoming gets creative with its roadside public art

"Wind Code," Stan Dolega

Mountain range or snow fence or mountain range fashioned from snow fence building blocks: Stan Dolega's cool new sculpture, WIND CODE, will be installed at the Southeast Wyoming Welcome Center this coming Monday, July 16. The sculpture is composed of welded steel and natural rock, and resembles the classic and iconic Wyoming snow fence. The Welcome Center will be open to the public late this summer. This is a Wyoming 1 Percent for Art Project. The Welcome Center is a work of art in itself.

Southeast Wyoming Welcome Center, south of Cheyenne on I-25

Happy 100th birthday, Woody Guthrie -- "He loved writing!"

On the eve of Woody Guthrie's 100th birthday, Nora Guthrie talks about her father's love for writing in an NPR piece: "He loved writing — he loved it. My mother would say, 'He loved the feeling of a pen on paper' — just that visceral experience. He loved that. It was his energy coming out of his fingertips." Pictured is one of Woody's notebooks (circa 1942) from his extensive archive.

Save the Date: Dinner in Jackson July 12 with Mitt and Dick and Lynne for only $30,000

Courtesy of jh underground, which shares with us the address of Dick and Lynne, 4205 W. Greens Place, just in case you lost the invitation.

"Love Can Build a Bridge" concert July 12 in Laramie, July 13 in Denver

From the Matthew Shepard Foundation:

The Matthew Shepard Foundation is proud to present Love Can Build a Bridge featuring the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus and the Denver Gay Men’s Chorus. July 12 the choruses will present a concert in Laramie, WY at the the University of Wyoming at the Fine Arts Building, 1000 E. University Ave, 8PM. You can by your tickets for that concert here. July 13 they will perform at St. Johns Episcopal Cathedral in Denver, CO, 1350 Washington Street, 7:30PM. You can buy tickets for this concert in our store. If you have any questions about tickets or the event, please call (303) 830-7400 ext 16

Note that a portion of ticket proceeds will go to Wyoming Equality, an organization that works tirelessly for LGBT equality in our state. Check out the WY Equality web site.

Check out the new Wyoming Democratic Party web site and blog

The new Wyoming Democratic Party web site is a lively change from the old static site. It was launched yesterday during the grand opening of the new WDP headquarters at 1909 Warren Ave. in Cheyenne. Read Ken McCauley's "push back" against against Republican Sen. John Barrasso's recent radio address blasting the Supreme Court's ACA decision. In the "Featured Democrat" section, read about retired airline pilot Patrick Vann and his bid to re-energize his fellow Goshen County Dems. There's a comprehensive list of county parties with contact info. Find Democratic Party candidates running in this year's elections. There's a blog by Communications Director Brodie Farquhar that will need constant feeding -- you know how those blogs are! Links to political articles and op-eds in WY media outlets. Make sure you check it out and add your comments. Find the WY Dems on Facebook and Twitter, too.

No hurricanoes for "King Lear" but plenty of rain

Yesterday I joked about watching King Lear rail against "thunderbolts and hurricanoes" while the real thing was happening. The Weather Channel predicted a 60 percent chance of rain with possible flash floods.

The Wyoming Shakespeare Festival Company did perform "King Lear" yesterday evening at the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens during a rapidly escalating storm. The lightning and thunder did arrive before cue -- act one instead of act three -- but it only added to the anticipation. The actors persevered as the rain waxed and waned and finally just poured down. The bodies of Lear and Cordelia and all the rest (living and dead) were soaked by the time the curtain came down about 7:15 on the 13th season performance of the Lander company.

The audience was a bit drier under umbrellas and ponchos. We were appreciative, giving the cast a rousing round of applause before we headed to our cars. Thanks to Diane Springford and her cast for a great performance and a demonstration of what it takes to be part of a traveling acting troupe. The show must go on!

A final note: Botanic Gardens Director Shane Smith introduced the performance and spoke about the upcoming vote Aug. 21 for additions and renovations to the facility. Interesting to note that interior spaces large enough for theatre performances are included in the plan. Although Shakespeare in the rain is an experience not to be missed, it would be nice to have a place to keep performers and audience members warm and dry. A number of people gave up and left midway through the play, which was a shame.

Shakespeare in the Botanic Gardens -- as long as the thunderbolts and hurricanoes stay away

Cassie Marple as Cordelia and Dave Geible as King Lear

Barring a monsoon downpour to rival the storm that’s part of the play, the Wyoming Shakespeare Festival Company performs "King Lear" at 5 p.m. this evening at the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens. Based in Lander, the company enters its thirteenth Summer Season bringing great classical theater with an entertaining Wyoming twist to audiences throughout the state. Last night they performed in Torrington's city park. Saturday's performance occurs north of the Botanic Gardens greenhouse and south of Discovery Pond on the lawn. This event is FREE thanks to Cheyenne, Light, Fuel and Power, Holiday Inn and Davis and Cannon LLP Attorneys. Donations to the troupe will also be accepted.


King Lear during the storm in Act III, Scene II:


Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!
You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout
Till you have drench'd our steeples, drown'd the cocks!
You sulphurous and thought-executing fires,
Vaunt-couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts,
Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder,
Smite flat the thick rotundity o' the world!

So where is Wyoming's Health Exchange?

Ever since the SCOTUS ruling on the Affordable Care Act, healthcare topics have been back in the headlines -- with a vengeance. Rodger McDaniel writes today about the Wyoming Health Exchange, and why it's important that the state's lawmakers get busy on this issue. They've already wasted a lot of time in the hopes that the Supreme Court would make the ACA magically disappear. That didn't happen!

Governor Mead earned his spurs opposing the Affordable Care Act. So when he says it's now time to roll up our sleeves and get to work, the Legislature should listen.

Are you listening, Republican-dominated Legislature? I have my doubts...


And Barb Rea of Casper reminds us on Facebook that there will be a public forum about healthcare and Medicaid expansion on Tuesday, July 10, 5-7 p.m., at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne. The stakes are high.

If Wyoming decides to opt out of the Medicaid expansion 30,000 low income adults will be left again, with no where to go for insurance contributing to the same cost drviers that are plaguing the entire system. The state is conducting surveys about "the cost drivers of Medicaid and evaluate design options for Medicaid programs mandated by the ACA" (whatever that means).

Whatever that means. That's the problem, isn't it? These are complicated yet crucial issues. Get out to the forum and make your voice heard.

Casting call for Cheyenne Reality TV show

Alan O'Hashi's Wyoming Community Media makes fine films, launched the Cheyenne International Film Festival and is the impetus behind long-range planning for the Hynds Building in downtown Cheyenne. This guy's the real thing. He also has a sense of fun: 

Wyoming Community Media is casting locally for a TV show pilot. Please pass the info on to 100 of your closest friends. You don't need to be an actor or actress. This is reality TV!

Do you want a chance to be on TV? WCM is working with a New York City based television production company is looking for regular people to drive taxicabs for Cheyenne Frontier Days. 

This is an opportunity to drive for a local cab company, with the potential to participate in a new reality television show. If you appear between the ages of 25-45, and have a valid driver’s license, please send your name, location, phone number, a photo, and a brief description of yourself to cabcasting@gmail.com

Wyoming Dems open new HQ in Cheyenne

From the Wyoming Democratic Party: 

The Wyoming Democratic Party has moved its headquarters and staff from Casper to Cheyenne. For the first time in a decade, Party HQ will be just a few blocks from the Capital, ready to support our Democratic Legislators. To celebrate the move, come for a chili cookoff, see our new website, meet staff, candidates and friends for an afternoon of fun! Beginning at 3 p.m. on Saturday, July 7, 1909 Warren Ave.

BTW, I've seen to the test site of the WDP's new web presence. A vast improvement, with actual up-to-date material and a place for us prog-bloggers to sound off. Come to the party tomorrow and check it out.

Summer is the time to relish good books

When I was a kid, books were my constant companions. I also lived in a house filled with other constant companions -- my family -- which included two parents, four brothers, four sisters, and and an assortment of dogs, cats, lizards and gerbils. That was one crowded house.

I mentioned books first. They weren't more important than Mom and Dad and Molly and Tim and Shannon the dog and Polonius the cat. But books did enable me to escape the sometimes frantic pace of daily life. They also helped me understand some odd human behavior. My brother Tommy, for instance, liked to sit down to a bowl of sweet pickle relish for breakfast. While the rest of us munched on Cheerios, Tommy relished his relish. In the beginning, we gave him a hard time, as siblings do. But after awhile, we just had to accept this quirky behavior as you might if coming across something similar in a Dickens' novel.

Summer reading was especially important. We had chores to do and we played baseball and went swimming and spent as much time outdoors as humanly possible. But at some point during the day, I needed time with books. I don't remember official summer reading programs. But Mom took us to the library as often as we needed to recharge the book supply. In elementary school, I read my way through the Hardy Boys series and had a special fondness for dog books ("Lad a Dog," etc.). In junior high, sci-fi was king. I started with the classics -- Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, the Tom Swift series -- and then moved on to the harder stuff. Nothing like spending a lazy summer afternoon sprawled under a cottonwood tree while I traveled to exotic worlds with Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke or Ray Bradbury.     

We moved a lot, so I got to know a libraries in a dozen different places. Just entering a library gave me a feeling of belonging in a strange new town. Whether it was Denver's big main library or the tiny one in Moses Lake, Washington, the books were all arranged in the same order and the card catalogs (remember those?) all looked the same. The librarians, too, all had that schoolmarmish look, or that's how this 11-year-old boy saw them, anyway. 

I was in our local Cheyenne library on Tuesday evening. I selected two novels from the "new books" shelf, and then my laptop and I spent several hours on the third floor revising a short story. The third floor at the Laramie County Public Library is the quiet floor. Back in the day, every floor of a library was quiet (or else!). But libraries are a bit more freewheeling these days, more interactive, and a bit more hectic. So I was working on a story, the gentle tapping of my laptop keys the only sound. A storm blew in and I watched from the big window as lightning snaked across the sky. Below, a mom and her kids clasped their summer books and made a mad dash for the car. At closing time, I checked out my books and realized I hadn't signed up for the summer reading program. I sign up every year, buy a T-shirt, fill in the scorecard to earn ice cream cones and various discounts at local businesses. There wasn't time to do that on this library trip (the guy on the P.A. system was telling me to check out my books as the library was closing), but I knew I would return soon. I always come back to the library.

By the way, if you haven't yet signed up for "Dream Big," LCLS's summer reading celebration, you can by going here. 

Nora Ephron: "Reading is everything"

Flash mob to swarm downtown to query city candidates

Picked this up on Facebook via Wyoming Community Media:

Flash mob! Meet and greet the candidates for Cheyenne mayor and city council on Sunday, July 1, 3-5 p.m., 415 W. 17^th St., downtown Cheyenne

Stop by and visit about the issues facing the broader community with the Mayoral and City Council candidates for each of the three wards:
* Downtown Development
* Optional Sales Tax Projects
* Streets, Water Rates
* Police and Fire Protection Issues
* The Kitchen Sink

While this is primarily an event for municipal candidates, other local, statewide and national candidates are welcome!

If you can or can't make it, this is a flash mob, social media activity, so please invite 100 of your closest friends and family members to attend the event!

See a play in Fort Collins, donate to firefighters

The Bas Bleu Theatre Company in Fort Collins is only one of many arts organizations coming up with ways to support local firefighters who have been battling the devestating High Park fire. Ticket sales for tonight's Bas Bleu presentation of "Buffalo Gal" at 7:30 p.m. will go to the Rist Canyon Volunteer Fire Department. See a play and donate to a great cause. Get tickets at http://www.centerstageticketing.com/sites/basbleu/showdates.php?s_id=202

Governor's Capitol Art Exhibition at the Hynds Building downtown this weekend

For the first time, the Governor’s Capitol Art Exhibition will be held at the Hynds Building in downtown Cheyenne. It features 70 artistic pieces by artists from throughout the state. The exhibit will be open to the public on Saturday and Sunday, June 30 and July 1, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eight of the artists have received purchase awards and will be recognized during the show’s awards presentation ceremony Saturday, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. 

These eight artists include: Mack Brislawn, of Laramie, for his painting “Somewhere in the Powder River Basin;” Travis Ivey, of Laramie, for his painting “Spring Thaw on the Little Laramie;” Tony James, of Cheyenne, for his photograph “High Plains Thunder;” and Georgia Rowswell, of Cheyenne, for her mixed media composition “Paint Pot – Yellowstone.”

GCAE purchase award: Georgia Rowswell, Cheyenne, "Paint Pot - Yellowstone,"
mixed media - compressed fiber, 21" x 21", $1,500.00

Also included are Shane Steiss, of Green River, for his mixed media composition “Aspen #14;” Michele Farrier, of Alta, for her pastel “Stateline Road;” Michael Flicek of Casper for his photograph “Prehistory Revealed;” and Joy Keown, of Laramie, for her painting “Rising From the Plains.”

“In a Hard Place,” a painting by Laramie’s Jerry Glass, received the Juror’s Choice Award.

David Newell, curator of art at the Wyoming State Museum, put this show together.

Take time out this weekend to drop in on this exhibit. Meet the artists and buy some original "Made in Wyoming" artwork.

Democrat Joe Fender kicks off Campaign for Wyoming Legislature June 29

Joe Fender is a Democrat running for the Legislature in House District 7. He's a firefighter, a working guy who says on his web site that he's "a public servant" who looks at this as a way "to give back to the community that has been so good to me and my family." He pledges to stand up for the workers of Wyoming and strengthen worker retirements. He'd have my vote on these issues alone. We need someone who will stand up to the extremists who want to gut the state retirement system. Alas, I'm not in Joe's district but an adjacent one. So I can donate and volunteer. And party, too. Joe's having a "Meet, Eat and Greet Kickoff Party" on Friday, June 29, at 5 p.m. at his home, 92 E. Ole Maverick Road (Yellowstone and E. Ole Maverick). Go to his web site for more: http://www.joefender.com

"The Hole" in downtown Cheyenne remains whole, for now

Two interesting front section stories about downtown Cheyenne in this morning's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle. First, a bid to buy and build something in "The Hole" has fallen through. Alan O'Hashi of Wyoming Community Media had plans to combine a revamp of the Hynds Building with construction in "The Hole." He had an option to buy the site from Capital Management LLC of Kansas City but he no longer has the option. "That's just how real estate goes," said O'Hashi. He still has plans to build up to 28 condos in the Hynds and to expand on the artistic space known as LightsOn! He says there's about a 65 percent chance this will happen, but mentioned no details.

Meanwhile, the Cheyenne Downtown Development Authority (DDA) plans on joining Wyoming Main Street. This will make it eligible for $20,000 to pay for downtown projects. It also would put them in league with 14 other Wyoming communities, some of whom have accomplished some amazing things with neglected downtowns. Green River and Rawlins come to mind. Laramie has a very active Main Street program and its downtown is thriving -- not just during special events but all the time. The Buffalo Downtown Association (BDA) was recently named the “Wyoming Main Street Affiliate Community Of The Year.” There was a time in the recent past when the BDA was about to call it quits. Now look. None of the 14 Main Street Wyoming communities has a gaping hole in the middle of its downtown. What's their secret?

The Wyoming Tribune-Eagle locates my long-lost twin, Matthew Shay

Bio from book jacket with photo that looks a lot like me (and Matthew)

The Wyoming Tribune-Eagle has apparently found my long-lost twin, Matthew.

On today’s WTE op-ed pages, Matthew Shay penned a rational argument for the Marketplace Fairness Act “which would require online retailers to to comply with state sales tax laws.” I didn’t find too much to argue with in the editorial, although I'm not totally up-to-speed on internet retailing and the tax laws in all 50 states.

But I didn’t write it. Matthew did.

The reason I think he’s my long-lost twin is the head shot accompanying the article. He looks exactly like me. He has the same chiseled good looks and is wearing the same glasses. The haircut is reminiscent of the one I had several years ago right before a friend took a photo that looks a lot like this one for my book jacket. I can’t see much of it but the shirt also looks very familiar.

If I didn’t know better, I’d say that it was me. In fact, several people asked me already today if I had switched jobs from arts administrator to president and CEO of the National Retail Federation. I haven’t, although I’m open to offers. Another friend just wondered if the paper had gotten my name and job title wrong. I said, that couldn’t happen, could it? I wondered if the editors had just pulled the wrong photo to go with the article. Could it be? I tried calling the newsroom but no answer. Lots going on today so the newsroom must be deserted. 

I concluded that Matthew must be my twin. I’m glad to discover him, at long last, on the op-ed pages of the WTE. I wish him well with the Marketplace Fairness Act. Matt – can I call you Matt? – feel free to call any time so we can get reacquainted. We have a lot to talk about.

Campaign season ramps up with gigantic yard signs, Rothfuss on the radio and a Superday candidate invasion

Campaign season is in full swing. In my neighborhood, I've been seeing increasingly larger signs for county commission candidates. C. Bud Racicky talked one homeowner to put a huge sign in his yard but it was partially blocked from northbound Yellowstone Blvd. traffic by an evergreen hedge. Today a guy was cutting down the hedge. So much for planning ahead... and isn't that one thing that county comissioners are charged with, planning?

If you like progressive radio, and you happen to live in the Laramie Valley, do this (says Meg Lanker-Simons):

Tune into 93.5 KOCA tonight, 10 p.m.-1 a.m. and keep your dial locked for fab music + Legit Conservative + d-bag o' the week! Our special guest tonight is Wyo. Sen. Chris Rothfuss from SD 9 in Laramie. Have a question for Sen. Rothfuss? Post it! Taking your requests for songs, dedications & d-bag nods til 8 p.m. See us at Laramie Civic Center, rm #255.

Chris really distinguished himself during the most recent legislative session. We need him back to fight the Right Wing loonies.


And Cheyenne's Superday is tomorrow. It is quite super, with a 5K run, the Tour De Prairie bike race, food trucks, vendor booths, good music and candidates galore. They'll be swarming the place so beware. Of course, you could do a good turn and support one of the local Democrats running for a legislative seat. If you need some campaign literature or assorted nifty giveaways, visit the booth of the Laramie County Democrats/LC Grassroots Democrats. Get your photo taken with (a) President Barack Obama (life-size cardboard replica)! Get a whole album's worth of photos to amaze your Facebook friends -- and infuriate your Republican brother-in-law.

Wonder if the Laramie County Republicans will have a booth and, if they do, will feature a cardboard replica of Mitt Romney. Cardboard cutout and Mitt Romney. Isn't that redundant?

Gathering of the Celtic tribes this weekend in Cheyenne

Everything you need to know about this weekend's Celtic Musical Arts Festival at the Historic Depot in downtown Cheyenne: http://www.cheyennedepotmuseum.org/plaza-event/cheyennes-celtic-musical-arts-festival-7th-annual

Dems hold Meet the Candidates Open House June 24

From the Laramie County Democrats:

Dear Friends and Fellow Democrats:

Please join us at a Meet the Candidates Open House Sponsored by the Laramie County Democrats Grassroots Coalition  at the home of Joe Corrigan, Treasurer, 3626 Dover Road, Cheyenne, on June 24, 2012 1-5 p.m. 

We are suggesting a minimum donation of $25 for this event, but all donations will be greatly appreciated. If you can't attend the Open House but you want to show your support for the Laramie County Democrats Grassroots Coalition, please send your contribution to LCDGC at PO Box 2986, Cheyenne, Wyoming, 82003. We hope to see you on June 24!!!

Please RSVP by calling Joe at 630.6192 or Wendy at 635.2609