Wyoming GOPers get ready to rumble in 2014

Today's Casper Star-Tribune lead editorial carried news of a brewing Republican rumble.

The Wyoming GOP Central Committee recently approved a resolution to repeal Senate File 104 -- the so-called "Hill Bill." SF 104 stripped State Superintendent of Public Instruction Cindy Hill of most of her superintendent duties. She and her minions were unceremoniously moved from her suite at the Hathaway Building to a bunker in an undisclosed location. Hill only has a few duties left in her job description. Those include roles as the state graham-cracker-and-milk monitor and manager of arithmetic flash cards.

Republicans are miffed. Thing is, SF 104 was a Republican-generated bill. The Central Committee is the steering mechanism for the WY GOP. It appears that the CC was egged on by the Constitution Party and Tea Party members in its ranks. So one core group of Repubs was responsible for the bill that removed Hill, and another core group of Repubs want to repeal said bill.

To make matters more complicated, Hill is suing Gov. Mead for signing off on the bill, and has announced she is running for governor in 2014.

This clash will further alienate Wyoming's usually sensible conservative majority. They may come out in droves to vote for Mead's reelection, or they may sit home in disgust. They may even vote for the Democratic Party candidate, as they often have in the past. Thanks to solid support by Democrats and a sizable bloc of moderate Republicans, I have spent more than half of my 22 years in Wyoming serving a Democrat in the State Capitol. They were Mike Sullivan and Dave Freudenthal. What Dem might run in 2014? Maybe Nancy Freudenthal could be tempted to give up her judge's robes for the many pairs of sensible shoes it takes to go door-to-door in a gubernatorial run. Probable not very likely. Who else is waiting in the wings?

Good question. The Dems have had a tough time fielding good candidates for Gov and other state elected offices. Laramie Democrat Mike Massie was the best candidate for the state superintendent's job in 2010. That was the year of the Tea Party's rise, when it was the kiss of death to have a "D" by your name on the ballot. About Hill, we can now say to Republicans: "We told you so."

We may take the same stance in 2014. How delicious it will be to sit on the sidelines and witness the GOP bloodletting. Problem is, it will be a huge embarrassment to the state. As the CST put it:

The answer will impact far more than education. The near future of the GOP in Wyoming, given the disparate percentage of Republicans here. will dictate the long-term fate of Wyoming.

Businesses are watching. Tourists are watching. Entrepreneurs are watching. The energy sector is watching.

Gov. Mead is a moderate on most things. Yes, he was part of the ridiculous  lawsuit over the Affordable Care Act, and he's stubbornly resisted Medicaid expansion. But he is a strong supporter of economic development in our communities and tourism. He knows that the state's future has more to do with high technology, education, entrepreneurs and creatives than it does with the extractive industries and whether or not a person can carry a gun into his favorite restaurant.

Sure it would be fun watch a GOP Battle Royal. But if you like this place and its people (as I do), you hope for something more civilized.

Nice horsey. Wheeze. Cough. Gasp!

In my childhood dreams, I was Roy riding Trigger while Dale Evans cheered us on. I had a serious crush on Trigger and Dale.

My cowboying experience is limited.

As a kid, I yearned to ride the range with Roy Rogers and John Wayne. My favorite shows were all westerns: Gunsmoke, Cheyenne, Bonanza, The Lone Ranger, Rawhide, Sugarfoot, Have Gun Will Travel, Maverick, and so on. I galloped through my dreams on Trigger or Silver or any number of TV horses.

In reality, I couldn't get anywhere near a horse without heavy wheezing and gasping for breath. I had asthma, and horses and hay and tree pollen and weeds and cats were the enemy. That ruled out any horseback riding, or even horseback viewing from a close proximity. Petting zoos were out of the question.

It was tough on a kid of the West.

I was 27 and living in Florida the first time I rode a horse. My asthma had abated, and a nice young woman named Chris had asked me to accompany her on a horseback ride. This nice young woman had owned a horse at one time, and had been riding since she was a kid. I asked her if she would help me pick out a very docile horse, the kind of horse which would be nice to a newbie. "What's the fun in that?" she said with a smile.

At the stables, she selected a steed with spirit, and then found an old nag for me. We rode along together for awhile, and then she asked if I minded if she galloped ahead. She took off, horse hooves pounding the ground, disappearing into the Central Florida forest. My horse and I galumphed along. Eventually we rounded a bend to find Chris standing in the trail next to her horse. Chris has sand and twigs in her hair. The horse had an innocent look on his face.

"He threw me," Chris said. She held up her right hand. "And he stomped on my hand."

I regarded her nice hand. "Is it broken."

She flexed it. "No. I'm glad the ground's sandy."

I patted my horse, urged her to not get any bad ideas from her colleague. Chris got up on her horse and we rode together for the rest of the afternoon. It was a warm January day, the kind of days tourists flock to Florida for. We rode into the sunset and later got married, moved back to the West and had kids, only occasionally taking time for horseback riding. I must admit that I have successfully ridden horses a half-dozen times.

I'm no cowboy.

But I just published a story entitled "Cowboy Stories." It's part of a new anthology from Colorado's Western Press, "Manifest West." It features poetry, essays and short stories about contemporary cowboys. My fictional cowboy is an urban variety, but has little to do with John Travolta or saloon line dancing. He's just an old cowboy who hangs around a Cheyenne downtown dive bar and tells stories. He has lots of stories. It was seem as if he's too old to have adventures, but he's not. He gets mixed up with some animal rights advocates and some coasters making a film about the New West. Hijinks ensue.

Read the story to find out what happens. Keep posted as to publication dates by going to Western Press at Western State Colorado University in Gunnison.

Hi-yo Silver! Away!

I like beverage stories with heavy peach tones and a profoundly bitter bite

I know that it’s trendy to want to know the origins of what you eat and drink. Much fun has been made of foodies and craft beer snobs on Portlandia. There was that one memorable episode when a foodie duo was adamant about finding the name and origins of the chicken they were about to consume. 

This isn’t new. Mo Siegel, founder of Boulder’s Celestial Seasonings, composed paeans to his Rocky Mountain teas on each box.  Ben & Jerry are side-of-the-ice-cream-carton storytellers. Every inch of Dr. Bonner’s Pure Castile Peppermint Soap is filled was advice to the human race:  “Do one thing at a time, work hard! Enlarge the positive!” He loved exclamation marks!!!!!

Not all of these are edible, although Dr. Bonner swore that his soap had 18-in-1 uses. But you get my point – advertising has long told stories on the sides of cans and boxes and bags. I read all about Frosted Flakes and Sugar Pops at the breakfast able. No mention was made of the cereal’s sugar content, which was probably 1001%. Storytelling can be very selective.

Today, our beers and wines and food come with stories. I bought a batch of Clif Bars yesterday at Safeway. These are actually energy bars that taste good. They are high in protein and low in sodium with no trans fat. Sugar is high, so my diabetic wife cannot eat them. The stories are good. The bar is named after founder Gary’s father, Clifford. Gary tells the story about how he was living in a garage “with my dog, my skis, climbing gear, bicycle and two trumpets.” He went on a long bike ride with his friend Jay and experienced an epiphany when he “couldn’t take another bite” of those “other” energy bars. So he spent two years in his mother’s kitchen perfecting his own energy bars, which you can find at any supermarket.  Kind of a nice story, right? He’s probably moved out of that garage, too, although I wonder what he did with his twin trumpets? 

I came across a bottle of wine with a story the other night at Uncle Charlie’s. The red wine is on the Dreaming Tree label and is called “Crush” after a song by Dave Matthews, one of the partners in the vineyard. On the back of the bottle, he tells a story about dogs in the back of a pick-up. Not sure what that has to do with blending Merlot and Zinfandel to get “Crush,” but I’m willing to cut the guy some slack. 

Craft breweries excel in beer label stories.New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins has a story for each of its beers. Here's the story for its new Rampant Imperial IPA:

A burly and bitter Imperial IPA, Rampant pours a pure copper and carries the sheen of a rightly hopped beer. The Mosaic and Calypso hops bring stonefruit to the front seat, and the addition of Centennials nod towards citrus for a well-rounded aroma.

The taste expands these hops with heavy peach tones and a profoundly bitter bite. There is some malt sweetness to stand this beer up, and Rampant’s finish is bone-dry.

As stories go, it's no Rick Bass or Flannery O'Connor. But we beer drinkers appreciate its bone-dry finish.

I should say "we former beer drinkers." I'm drinking red wine now, in limited qualities. I could say it's doctor's orders. My cardiologist did say that red wine is a better choice than beer, even those that bring stonefruit to the front seat. Red wine outdoes beer in the resveratrol and flavonoid categories.Tastes pretty good too.

It's all in the story....

Marcia Tatroe talks about "Embellishing the Garden with Art" April 20

My father's Irish sweater

It’s April 16 in Wyoming, the snow is falling and I’m wearing my father’s cream-colored cableknit cardigan. Sometimes it’s called an Aran sweater or, in Ireland, an Aran jumper. It wasn’t made on the islands but in the village of Glen Columb Kille in Donegal. 

My father didn’t get the sweater in Ireland because he never traveled there. That’s what the Internet is for, to order Irish sweaters online and have them delivered a few days later by the UPS man. A few members of Dad's family have been back to Ireland since Thomas O’Shea and family departed the potato famine in 1848. My father was overseas just once and that was during WWII. He was stationed in England but didn’t make the jump over the Irish Sea.  He did make the jump over the English Channel, as did his father in WWI. They both got to France to fight Germans but didn't make it to The Old Sod.

Aran jumpers have a history. I didn’t know that until I looked them up on the Internet. Aran Island women used to make the sweaters from unscoured wool so that the lanolin remained in the fiber to deflect the moisture faced by their fisherman husbands. They didn’t keep them afloat, alas, as many went down to the sea in ships (and boats). In fact, once the fishermen went into the drink the sweaters probably got waterlogged and dragged the lads to their deaths.

My sweater was knitted with a rope design, meant for either a Boy Scout, a hangman or a fisherman. I looked it up on the Aran Sweater Market web site. I couldn't find my design there, although I was pleased to see that I could buy an O'Shea clan sweater for $199. More than 500 Irish clans have their own sweater design, according to the site. 

O’Shea is the Anglicisation of the original Gaelic Ó Séaghada, which comes from the personal name meaning ‘hawk-like’ or ‘fortunate’. The sept was located in the Barony of Iveragh in County Kerry, where they were lords until the 12th century. Some of the family migrated to counties Tipperary and Kilkenny as early as the 14th century. In Kilkenny the name is often spelled O’Shee. One of the most famous O’Sheas was Katharine, or Kitty, who was the mistress of Charles Stuart Parnell.

The hand knit O’Shea sweater (shown at right) incorporates the blackberry, rope, honeycomb, link, and zig-zag stitches. The blackberry stitch represents the Holy Trinity, rope represents good luck, honeycomb is symbolic of work, link stands for the unbroken chain between the Irish that emigrate and those who remain at home, and the zig zag stitch symbolises the ups and downs of marriage. This beautiful Aran sweater has been hand knitted in the traditional báinín (pronounced ‘baw neen’) colour, the natural white of the wool. It comes to you complete with a clan history and crest. It is made of 100% pure new wool, is water repellent and breathable. It has been hand crafted in the traditional Irish style, and, with care, will last a lifetime.

That's a lot of thought going into one sweater. And is there an "unbroken chain between the Irish that emigrate and those who remain at home?" I feel very Irish-American but not very Irish. Quite a few generations separate me from Thomas O'Shea. My maternal grandfather, Martin Hett, emigrated from Ireland to England when he was 12. He labored in coal mines for five years until he could afford the trip to America. Grandpa Martin lived to be 90. During his 72 years as an expatriate, he never returned to Ireland. His memories were of privation, a drunken father, an evil stepmother and sadistic priests. Not the kind of memories that breeds nostalgia.

Despite all that, I celebrate my Irish roots. I may even get an O'Shea sweater. It may never stop snowing here in The New Sod.

Celebrate Earth Day! Buy a Bulgemobile!

Bruce McCall's Bulgemobiles, first seen in National Lampoon.

I was a clean-cut lad of 19 when the first Earth Day was christened on April 22, 1970. I remember it well. The magnolias, dogwoods and the Carolina coeds were all in bloom. Not that it mattered much, as my chances were better going out on the town with a bloomin' tree than a real-live coed, most of whom seemed to be focused on their hippie boyfriends. A year later, I would trade my weekly ROTC haircuts for none at all. But in the spring on 1970, I was one squared-away but clueless guy. I was unaware that such a thing as Earth Day had sprouted amidst the counterculture. The earth was a mess. Polluted American rivers, such as the Cleveland's Cuyahoga, caught fire regularly. A few years earlier, Rachel Carson's had exposed the deadly effects of pesticides in Silent Spring. Counterculture types were getting back to the earth with Whole Earth Catalog as their bible and ganja as their guide.

Here it is, 43 years later, and Earth Day has shown a surprising persistence. In some places it's treated as an official holiday, without the day off and newspaper advertising supplements. Celebrate Earth Day! Buy a Bulgemobile!

Yesterday, while perusing the library's electronic card catalog, I saw a number of Earth Day books, most geared to young readers. There were surprisingly few for adults, although there is a new bio of Rachel Carson. The library had plenty of titles on climate change and global warming, many reflecting the battle over the topics, one that has been settled on the side of real science instead of right-wing fantasies.

Governmental entities are even getting into the act when it comes to sponsoring Earth Day events. The much-maligned Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is sponsoring a bunch of Earth Day events all over the U.S. Our region (CO, MT, etc.) boasts a number of them. Alas, there are none in Wyoming, which should make WY Rep. Cynthia Lummis very happy.

My employer, the Wyoming Division of State Parks and Cultural Resources, has teamed up with the Cheyenne Parks and Recreation Department to celebrate Earth Day and National Let’s Get Outside Day at the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens' Paul Smith Children’s Village on Saturday, April 20, from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. Activities including the making of trash robots, plant necklaces, a story time and a Story Walk, featuring the Giving Tree. Parents are encouraged to recycle old garden hoses by bringing them to the event for use at the Children’s Village. FMI: Ashley Rooney at 307-777-6560 or Ashley.rooney@wyo.gov.

In the "health and fitness" category, local gubment is stepping up to the plate with Step Up Cheyenne. What does health and fitness have to do with the environment? You don't want to be the human equivalent of a bulgemobile, do you? My family participated in StepUp last spring and summer and it did wonders in reducing our unwanted bulges. Walking 10,000 steps a day took 20 pounds off of me, leading to a svelte appearance that caused me to consume fewer resources. This is a public-private collaboration, sponsored by businesses (Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, WinHealth Partners) in partnership with Cheyenne Parks & Rec, Cheyenne Greenway Foundation, Laramie County School District No. 1 and a host of others.

A Republican walks into a bar...

One of the things that irritates me about living in Wyoming: Republicans think they own the joint.

And maybe they do. But I'm irritated when I'm at a gathering and someone assumes that every man- and woman-jack amongst us is a conservative.

At a meeting today, someone told a blonde joke. I often laugh at blonde jokes. I didn't laugh at this one.

Here it is:

A  blonde and a pilot are flying together on a small plane. The plane gets up to altitude and the pilot keels over dead. The blonde makes a frantic call to the control tower. The air traffic controller tells her to keep calm. He asks, "What is your height and your position?" She thinks for a moment and then responds. "I'm 5-foot-3 and I voted for Barack Obama for president." There is a pause on the microphone. Then the ATC says, "Repeat after me: Our father who art in heaven..."

Not really funny, right? I think a much better punchline would: "I'm 5-foot-3 and I'm sitting down." She's a blonde, right?

What was my response to the joke? I said to the teller (a blonde woman, BTW): "We Democrats would have had a much different punchline."

She smiled. "Hope I didn't offend anybody."

I wasn't offended. Miffed, maybe.

I took it one step further: "You know that blonde jokes are not politically correct?"

She moved away from me, obviously uncomfortable with the tenor of the conversation. After all, Democrats don't exist in Wyoming. And if they do, they should have the good manners to keep their traps shut.

I'm a forgiving person. Sort of. But note to Republicans: Maybe you should ask your gathering if there are any Democrats in the room or if anyone would be offended by a joke about the President of the United States.

Or maybe you should just keep your trap shut. 

Kittens and hummingbirds just don't mix

Thanks to Dave Lerner at Cheyenne Network for making hummingbirdminds one of his "Weekly Net Pics" in the Trader's periodical that comes out every Friday at a grocery store or liquor store near you (I get mine at Albertson's on Yellowstone). I'm in good company, with blogs by liberal hell-raiser Rev. Rodger McDaniel and Arts Cheyenne, the local arts council. I can't wait to check out Angi Harper's kitten blog and Michelle Davis's family blog. I like blogs of all kinds, especially if they have kittens. I would have kittens too but they don't mix very well with the minds of hummingbirds.

Invest in a few hours of "Rent"

Chris and I attended the Cheyenne Little Theatre Players production of "Rent" on Saturday night at the Historic Atlas Theatre.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that this won't be a critical review of the musical due to the fact that I've been a player in CLTP productions. I've served as emcee at the Old-Fashioned Summer Melodrama. Technically, I'm not a member of the cast but I keep the show moving along with witty banter and wry observations. Chris and I also volunteer for various CLTP plays. Chris usually staffs the box office and has to deal with a computer ticketing program, phone calls from lost patrons and, sometimes, complaints from disgruntled customers. I sometimes am house manager engaging in witty banter and wry observations with loitering theatre-goers. I often have to flick the house lights five minutes before show time. Sometimes I go up on stage at intermission to draw the winning ticket for the 50/50 raffle. They only choose the most trusted volunteers for this job.

I have some emotional capital invested in community theatre. I know the time and commitment that goes into each production. The "Rent" cast rehearsed for almost eight weeks. Sets had to be built by John Lyttle and crew; costumes made by Dana and Katie Heying; music rehearsed by Dr. Judy Ransom and the band. A decision was made to go with wireless body microphones on all of the cast. They were expensive, and the cast had less than two weeks to get used to them.

I also must admit that I have never seen "Rent," neither the play nor the movie. Because I work in the arts, people think I've seen every play in the book, possibly on Broadway. I do know people who take yearly trips to The Great White Way. But I've never been. Most of my theatre-going has been of the community variety. I've made the 90-minute trip to Denver for "The Book of Mormon" and other DCPA offerings. After a slow start, I am on a lifetime quest to see every play and concert and art museum exhibit that I can reasonably afford. As a writer, I've spent most of my life buying books and attending literary events. Writing, too -- can't forget that. It's time to branch out.

So, you may ask, should I go see "Rent" during the remainder of its run.

Yes.

Get tickets here.

You must be young to be a bone marrow donor

Did you know that if you're older than 60, docs don't want your bone marrow?

I found that out by perusing the web site for the Be the Match Registry at the National Bone Marrow Program. Transplant doctors are thrilled to work with your bone marrow if you're from 18-44. They might use your precious bodily fluids if you're from 45-60. Over 60? Forget it.

I understand the reasoning.

The age guidelines are in place to protect donors and provide the best treatment for patients:

• Donor safety: As one ages, the chances of a hidden medical problem that donation could bring out increases, placing older donors at increased risk of complications. Since there is no direct benefit to the donor when they donate, for safety reasons we have set age 60 as the upper limit. It is important to note that the age limit is not meant to discriminate in any way.
• To provide the best treatment for the patient: Research shows that cells from younger donors lead to more successful transplants.

My 60-year-old brother Dan needs bone marrow. He was diagnosed with leukemia in December after checking into the hospital for a routine gall bladder surgery. His blood counts were abnormal. His doctors performed additional tests and discovered the leukemia. He underwent treatment at his local hospital in Florida, and then transferred to M.D. Anderson in Houston, well-known for its extraordinary care and facilities.

My brothers and sisters submitted samples to test their compatibility for donations. I wasn't involved because I had a heart attack during Christmas season. Heart disease and age ruled me out. Never have I felt so old or so left out.  

My sister Mary was a perfect match. She is the youngest of nine children, younger than me by 15 years. Not in the 18-44 range, but close. Family matches are preferred because it cuts down on rejection by the body to the new, implanted cells.

While Mary was going through the usual battery of donor tests at M.D. Anderson, cancer was discovered. Now she's going through treatments while my brother Dan is going through his last batch of chemo to prepare him for a bone marrow transplant from someone other than Mary.

So, if you have ever thought about being a bone marrow donor, go to the Be the Match Registry and request a donor kit. All it takes is a cheek swab or blood sample to be tissue-matched. The next step, donating your marrow, is not painless. But the life you save may be that of your brother or sister. Or someone else's brother or sister.

Not the best witness for the prosecution, but entertaining

As Roy Elson, I wasn't the best witness for the prosecution at today's mock trial of senators Joe McCarthy, Styles Bridges and Herman Welker. And Gov Dave, as the prosecutor, gave me a good grilling. But all the witnesses testimonies together did lead to a conviction. Read Rodger McDaniel's book, "Dying for Joe McCarthy's Sins: The Suicide of Wyoming Senator Lester Hunt." See more cool photos from the trail at Cognitive Dissonance. Thanks, Meg.

The era of witch hunts, loyalty oaths and the "Lavender Scare" returns to Cheyenne today

Authors appreciate full-page newspaper coverage, especially if it appears on the day of a major book promo event.

Wyoming Tribune-Eagle Managing Editor Reed Eckhardt wrote an opinion piece this morning that explores Rodger McDaniel's book "Dying for Joe McCarthy's Sins: The Suicide of Wyoming Senator Lester Hunt." The book explores the dark days of the Red Scare in Washington, D.C., when many careers were ruined by Wisconsin Sen. Joe McCarthy. It was a time of loyalty oaths and blacklists and the anti-homosexual "Lavender Scare" and extreme partisan politics. Sen. Hunt was ensnared and ended up killing himself.

Read the book to discover the whole sordid story, and why it took 60 years to tell it. Better yet, come to today's mock trial of McCarthy and his two U.S. Senate Republican fellow travelers, Styles Bridges of New Hampshire and Herman Welker of Idaho. Presiding will be retired Wyoming Supreme Court Justice Michael Golden and former Gov. Dave Freudenthal will serve as prosecutor. Defense will be represented by Diane Lozano, director of the State Public Defender's Office. The trial gets underway at 1 p.m. today at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, 1908 Central Ave. Free and open to the public. Buy a copy of the book while you're at it.

I mentioned this before but I'm a witness at today's trial. I am playing the role of Roy L. Elson, administrative assistant to Sen. Carl Hayden and candidate for the U.S. Senate. I know some secrets....

Meanwhile, go read Eckhardt's column in the WTE. Like any good reviewer, he takes the author to task for perceived oversights. But it's a good overview of Rodger's book and the scary era that spawned it.

New York Times article explores death-dealing nature of sodium in our food

Great NYT graphic by Anthony Freda for April 1 article about a new effort to reduce sodium in food, one that could save up to a half-million lives. It's only April 3 but I have already used up my five free monthly reads at NYT Online. But you can go to http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/01/sodium-hiding-in-plain-sight/?ref=health.Take a look at the American Heart Association's new book, "Eat Less Salt."

The Cardiac Chronicles: Orgasmatron meets Tardis

An ICD in someone else's chest (from ECU web site)

The Cardiac Chronicles continue...

To bring you up to date, I've had several tests and doctor's appointments since my last cardiac post. One test involved breathing into a tube while sitting in a Tardis-like contraption. Actually, it looked more like the Orgasmatron from Sleeper than Dr. Who's machine. Remember how much pleasure Woody experienced in his contraption? My results were nowhere near as marvelous. I just sat in the contraption and breathed into a tube. "Deep breath! Hold it! Hold it! Breathe!" Over and over again. In one series, I was given a solution of carbon monoxide and methane. A small dose, much less toxic than the atmosphere on Jupiter. The goal was to breathe in the solution and see how readily it is absorbed (or not) into my system. This was supposedly a test of my pulmonary efficiency.

When it was all over, this test (DLCO -- Diffusing capacity of the Lung for Carbon Monoxide) showed that I was abnormal but for no specific reason.

I could have told them that before the test.

The second test was an echocardiogram or sonogram or, sometimes, ultrasound. You may know this test from the time that you were pregnant and a tech greases up a sensor and moves it all over your belly searching for the fetus lurking in your womb. I watched many of these tests during my wife's two pregnancies. It was always amazing to see the forms of these strange undersea creatures appear on the monitor. He Kevin! Hi Annie! Those two tiny varmints have now grown into full-fledged adults.

My beating heart was no less fascinating on-screen. I saw the chambers pumping away. I saw the flowing technicolor blood. I heard the soundings of the electronic pulses bouncing off my bloodstreams. The tech, who happened to be my neighbor, explained it all for me. He wasn't allowed to say anything diagnostic, as that's the purview of the docs. But he would make a good teacher for Echo 101 classes.

What did the echo show? My ejection fraction has improved but is not at normal levels. PA Amanda referred me to the gadget guy at Cardiology Associates. Not surprisingly, the gadget guy (hereafter known as Dr. S) wants me to get a gadget. It's called an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD). It would replace the external defibrillator I now carry around like a man purse. The doc implants the ICD in my chest and strings electrical leadsin to my heart. 

This explanation from the East Carolina University Cardiac Psychology Lab web site:

An Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) is a device that doctors surgically implant inside of your body to protect you from irregular heart rhythms. The ICD is working for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It is like having the paramedics with you at all times. An ICD is an incredibly advanced piece of medical technology that is programmed specifically for you and your heart. If you are chosen to receive an ICD, you may have suffered from a cardiac episode in the past and your doctors want to best protect you from another in the future. Or, you may be at risk for experiencing a cardiac event in the future.

An ICD detects abnormal heart rhythms evident through tachycardia and bradycardia. It closely monitors and keeps track of whether or not the abnormal rhythms are corrected by the heart. If the heart is unable to restore a normal heartbeat by itself, the ICD sends the appropriate amount of electrical current needed to return the heart back to pumping effectively and efficiently. This is what is referred to as a "shock." In effect, the ICD shock "resets" your heart. The shock is delivered from the device (about the size of a stopwatch) via electrical leads anchored in the wall of the heart.

Like having the paramedics with me at all times? I'm not that lonely.

This isn't an easy decision. I'd be living with the ICD for the rest of my life. "Living with" is the key phrase. It may be the difference between living and not.

Still, I get a second opinion on Friday. We'll see what Dr. G says.

Gregory Hinton returns to Shepard Symposium for performance of "Diversity Day"

Gregory Hinton is a Montana native who grew up in Cody. He now is the creator and producer of Out West at the Autry, a historic public program featuring a series of lectures, plays, films and gallery exhibitions dedicated to shining a light on the history and culture of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender & Two Spirit (GLBT2) communities in the American West.

I first met Gregory a few years ago when he performed his play "Beyond Brokeback" at the Shepard Symposium for Social Justice in Laramie. The play was based on online testimonials by GLBT2 people responding to "Brokeback Mountain," the Ang Lee film based on the short story by Wyoming's Annie Proulx.

Gregory's been back in Wyoming several times since, most recently to serve as a research fellow at the Buffalo Bill Center for the West in his old stomping grounds of Cody. This week he's in Laramie for a Shepard Symposium performance of "Diversity Day" in the Wyoming Union's Yellowstone Ballroom on Friday, April 5, 1:30-2:45 p.m. 

This is a one-hour staged reenactment—with voluntary audience participation— of combative public testimony adapted from Missoula City Council Minutes to add anti-discrimination protection for the LGBTQ community, a first in Montana history.  Footage of the original April 12, 2010 hearing will screen silently as testimony is read. A workshop and discussion will follow.

After Mayor John Engen of Missoula declared April 12, 2010 “Diversity Day,” six hours of powerful public testimony was heard prior to a Missoula City Council vote to add sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression to the city’s existing antidiscrimination ordinance – a first in Montana state history.

'Diversity Day’ offers a frank glimpse into the day-to-day lives of Montana’s LGBT community and those who oppose their call for anti-discrimination protection.”  

"Diversity Day" was first presented at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival – Region 7, (KCACTF-7) in Ft. Collins in February, 2012.  It was then presented in June, 2012 at the West Hollywood Library as a featured event of West Hollywood’s One City/One Pride Culture Series. In association with the National Coalition Building Institute it will be presented in Missoula on April 12th, 2013 and in Billings in association with ACLU Montana the following weekend.  

Hinton has produced and directed stage readings of the AFER and Broadway Impact marriage equality play ‘8,’ both at KCACTF-7 in Ft. Collins and at the Bozeman Public Library.  Written by Academy Award winning Dustin Lance Black, ‘8’ is adapted from the transcripts of the 2010 California Prop. 8 trial where cameras were barred.  

For more information about "Diversity Day" or Out West programming, please contact Gregory Hinton at 323.876.9585 gregoryhinton@earthlink.net

Second-to-last Cheyenne Winter Farmers Market set for this Saturday

There are only two more Winter Farmers Markets "inside the sunny and cozy lobby of the Historic Train Depot Museum in downtown Cheyenne," which is how the monthly press release puts it. During Cheyenne winters, I am always pleased to shop in a sunny and cozy place. Even when it's not officially winter any more, as it is now, I prefer sunny and cozy to cloudy and blustery.

The next market will be held this Saturday, April 6, May 4, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Here are some of this Saturday's offerings:

• Gourmet local mushrooms
• Fresh yogurt
• Farm-fresh eggs, goat and sheep cheese
• Gourmet pastas, flavored oils and vinegars
• Locally roasted fair-trade coffee and herbal teas
• Fresh breads and home-baked treats
• Locally made chocolates and candies
• Grass-fed beef, lamb, and bison, free-range chickens, pork, goat's meat
• Locally produced jams, honey, and Amish-style peanut butter
• Take-home BBQ, bratwurst, cabbage burgers, chowders and bisque, smoked wild-caught salmon
• Soup mixes, rubs, and dip mixes
• Natural, locally-produced body care products
• Hand-crafted jewelry, cutting boards, cards, and other hand-made crafts

Some of this stuff I can no longer eat, due to a heart condition. The chocolate-covered bacon is out, as is the BBQ and the handmade tamales. Mushrooms are in, as are all of the grass-fed meats and craft pastas and vinegars. And I can buy arts and crafts until the grass-fed cows come home.

Acoustic Celtic and folk music to shop by will be performed by Dave Kramer and Steve Scott.      

For more information about the market, please contact Kim Porter, kim.porter@wyo.gov, or Cindy Ridenour, cindyr@meadowmaidfoods.com.   

P.S.: Can't wait until summer!

Welcome to the internet tubes, Casper Citizen

The Casper Citizen went live at 5:30 p.m. MDT.

According to a press release:

Civic and corporate leaders and professional journalists have joined to provide a free public platform to connect the people of Casper and surrounding areas and engage them on issues, programs and activities that make their lives better.

"Journalism is meant to educate, inform, bring us together, help us be better community members," said Deirdre Stoelzle Graves, the founding director. "This new media venture combines community input with journalistic expertise to make an online site that's by and for the community."

Designed by Russell Weller, with photos from Tim Kupsick, The Casper Citizen highlights arts and entertainment, health and wellness, food and travel, and news and opinion by and for the people of Casper. Its easy-to-use online framework will connect community members with one another around activities and issues that increase social opportunities and volunteerism. The Citizen's professional journalists will develop and train contributors in emerging media to help them report with ethics and compassion on people and issues in Casper.

Editor-in-Chief Kerry Drake said the venture is the next frontier of journalism, the culmination of a longer-term trend in the industry, with downsizing, layoffs and newspaper closures forcing local journalists to find better ways to serve their communities.

"Incorporating as a nonprofit sends a message that local journalism's commitment is to its community," Drake said. "Free and unbiased reporting that accurately and ethically informs is critical to democracy and social well-being."

The Citizen plans to host community discussion forums, provide project and program support, highlight innovation and recognize community heroes and acts of kindness. 

The first issue tackled by the Citizen is the attempted reversal of the smoking ban by the Casper City Council. Something's apparently in the Casper water supply, making normally clear-thinking citizens want to abandon the present and inhabit the dim, dark past. The Citizen points out that after Cheyenne passed its smoking ban, a group of disgruntled smokers tried to get enough signatures to put the issue on the ballot. But they fell short and, guess what, bar patrons got used to the smoke-free environs and liked it. Something about eating and drinking without inhaling clouds of toxic smoke. Bar employees were able to work in a smoke-free environment, thereby avoiding high-risk exposure to lung cancer, emphysema and heart disease.

Good for the Citizen for bringing some attention to this issue.

Kerry Drake is an able editor and a fine writer. His columns for Wyofile have illuminated some of the shadier dealings of the Wyoming Legislature.

Go, Citizen, go!

"Let the Day Begin" may have been the highlight of that terrible, awful 2000 presidential race

You youngsters may not remember the original version of "Let the Day Begin" by The Call. But it was used by Al Gore as a campaign song during his ill-fated run for the presidency. Remember the 2000 election? I'd rather not.... Tom Vilsack also used the song during his short-lived 2008 campaign. Oklahoma's Michael Been was the leader of The Call. Anyway, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club takes a punkier approach than did The Call, even though they came right out of the punk era in 1980. The Call was leftie political with Oklahoma Christian roots, an odd, but very compelling, combo.

There's another chapter to this story (from Wikipedia):

Michael Been died on August 19, 2010 after suffering a heart attack backstage at the Pukkelpop music festival in Hasselt, Belgium, where he was working as sound engineer for his son's band Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.

On April 18-19 2013, The Call's original members Scott Musick, Tom Ferrier, and Jim Goodwin will reunite for a series of shows in San Francisco and Los Angeles with Robert Levon Been taking over the role of bass and vocals.

That is really great news. Let's hope they take the show on the road east of Cal, say, to Red Rocks.

Thanks to Badtux the Snarky Penquin for the BRMC YouTube clip.

"My Two Moms" author is keynote speaker for 17th annual Shepard Symposium on Social Justice

This year's 17th annual Shepard Symposium on Social Justice is next week in Laramie. Its theme is “Counter Narratives: Advocacy at the Intersections.” Here are some highlights (from the Casper Star-Trib Weekender section)::

GLARE and UW faculty panel is 4:30 p.m. WEDNESDAY in the Yellowstone Ballroom. GLARE is a group of faculty and staff in the School of Education at Brooklyn College committed to the well-being of gay and transgender people.

New York Times writer Samuel G. Freedman, author of “Breaking the Line,” speaks at 4:30 p.m. THURSDAY in the Yellowstone Ballroom.

“Equality in the Equality State” panel discussion/luncheon is 11:30 a.m. on FRIDAY, APRIL 5, in the Yellowstone Ballroom. Panelists will examine the Wyoming legislative processes surrounding the introduction a bill granting legal recognition to domestic partnerships.

Zach Wahls’ keynote address is 4:30 p.m. APRIL 5 in the Yellowstone Ballroom. It is free.“The sexual orientation of my parents has had zero effect on the content of my character,” Wahls told the Iowa House Judiciary Committee in a public forum in 2011, then a 19-year-old University of Iowa freshman. His speech got more than 2 million views on You Tube. He has become a gay marriage and gay parents advocate, according to a release. His book, “My Two Moms: Lessons of Love, Strength, and What Makes a Family,” delivers a reassuring message to same-sex couples, their children and anyone who’s ever felt like an outsider.

“Saturday Night Party” begins at 9 p.m. APRIL 6 at the Alice Hardie Stevens Center, 603 E. Ivinson St. Tickets: $5; proceeds benefiting the Tie the Knot Foundation, which created a line of art-inspired bow ties to benefit various gay-rights organizations.

Mary Gillgannon conducts self-publishing workshop April 2 at the Laramie County Library

Writer Amanda Cabot sends this reminder:

If you're interested in self-publishing, either in e-book or print-on-demand format, you won't want to miss Mary Gillgannon's workshop at the Laramie County Library in Cheyenne next Tuesday.  She'll be covering the pros and cons of self-publishing as well as the issues associated with cover art, formatting, distribution, marketing -- in other words, everything you need to know about this important subject.

Tuesday, April 2

6:30 to 8 p.m.

Cottonwood Room (first floor)

Joan McCarter on DKos: 'Greatest retirement crisis' in history looms large

As is often the case, Joan McCarter is one step ahead the rest of us on timely topics. Today it's the retirement crisis facing American Baby Boomers. And I'm not just saying this because I am one of those Boomers on the verge of retirement. Check out Joan's Daily Kos column here and the daily schedule for our fellow Kossacks posting about the topic this week.

If anyone sees Sen. Barrasso shoveling snow off of the Yellowstone roads, I want a photo

Snow plowing at the east entrance to Yellowstone near Sylvan Pass in spring 2011. National Park Service photo.

Instead of urging its Republican Congressional delegation to remedy the federal budget sequestration, Wyoming's leaders have discovered an opportunity to brand road plowing in Yellowstone with a conservative "Code of the West" stamp.

First of all, just what is the "Code of the West?"

It's a list of 10 precepts invented by author and retired Wall Street investor James P. Owen. He now lives in Austin, Texas, and founded the Center for Cowboy Ethics and Leadership, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) foundation. His book credits include Cowboy Ethics (2004 and Cowboy Values (2008). Owen ccoined the phrase “Cowboy Ethics” and wrote his book distilling the unwritten Code of the West into “Ten Principles to Live By.” In 2010, the State of Wyoming adopted the Ten Principles of Cowboy Ethics as its official state code.

To sum up, the state code admonishes residents and lawmakers to live courageously, take pride in their work, finish what they start, do what's necessary, be tough but fair, keep promises, ride for the brand, talk less and say more, remember that some things aren't for sale, and know where to draw the line.

You got that? Somehow, this translates into using state equipment driven by my fellow state employees to plow snow-clogged roads in Yellowstone, roads that were set to open late because of $1.8 million in sequestration budget cuts. These are the same budget cuts that Wyoming's Congressional delegation has proudly trumpeted as necessary and good for the country.

Nobody has seen Sen./Dr. John Barrasso out in Yellowstone shoveling snow off the road to Old Faithful. We should put him to work during his two-week spring break.

Here's the recent press release from the Wyoming Office of Tourism:

YELLOWSTONE OR BUST!

Thanks to a collaborative effort between state, federal and private entities, Wyoming ensures America’s National Treasure will open on time

(Cheyenne, Wyoming, March 21, 2013) – Wyoming has set an example of how to deal with federal budget cuts by putting into action the “Code of the West.” Simply put, this “Code” consists of behaviors and rules that center around hospitality, fair play, loyalty, and respect for the land.

As Yellowstone National Park struggled with the nearly $1.8 million budget cut due to sequestration and ways they could alleviate the impact on visitors and gateway communities, they chose to delay plowing roads this spring; which in turn would have delayed the opening of the East Gate from Cody and the South Gate from Jackson by two weeks.

“The delays would not have been good for our local or state economy,” said Scott Balyo, executive director of the Cody Chamber of Commerce, “Almost immediately upon hearing that the East Gate would not open on time we began working with local and state partners to find a solution.”

Governor Matt Mead along with mayors and private businesses in the gateway communities of Cody and Jackson met to discuss possible solutions. Collectively they agreed that the potential revenue loss from a delay would have real financial consequences, especially on small business owners.

Governor Matt Mead led the discussion by saying, “We value our national parks as the true assets they are, not only to Wyoming’s economy, but to the nation’s economy. Yellowstone is internationally recognized and by delaying the opening we not only lose the opportunity to generate millions in revenue but we lose the opportunity to host visitors who might be experiencing this natural wonder for the first time.”

Gateway communities in particular are an integral component of the national parks system and rely heavily on the traffic generated from their national and international draw. In addition to providing a supporting role, these communities provide air service, lodging, restaurants, outfitter and guide services and other activities that enhance and enrich the national park experience.

Jeff Golightly, executive director with the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce reiterated, “Jackson Hole as a community takes stewardship of our national parks very seriously.  The idea that our nation’s first national park would not open on time for the world to enjoy was something we felt compelled to avoid. The Jackson Hole Travel and Tourism Board and the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce felt it was our responsibility to protect our local tourism economy so we backed the plan right away by committing one time funds.”

Governor Mead offered equipment and personnel to assist with plowing efforts while the gateway communities pooled their resources, began fundraising and came up with money to fund the operation.  Wyoming’s entrances to Yellowstone National Park will open as previously scheduled. The East Gate from Cody will open on May 3, 2013 and the South Gate from Jackson will open on May 10, 2013.

Superintendent Dan Wenk agreed to start plowing from inside the park while Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) crews make their way from the east and south gates to complete the snowplowing operations.  WYDOT plows will be donning a large banner that reads “Yellowstone or Bust” based around a summer road trip campaign that the Wyoming Office of Tourism is currently rolling out.

Diane Shober, Director of the Wyoming Office of Tourism attests, “Wyoming represents the iconic cowboy and not just because we’re a Western state, but because cowboys stand for something, they are entrepreneurs and they live by the simple basic values that lie at the heart of the cowboy way. This is what the “Wyoming, Forever West” brand is all about.” As the Wyoming Office of Tourism gets ready to launch their national summer campaign, the goal remains to promote Wyoming as a vacation destination to domestic and international visitors while increasing revenue for stakeholders and the state of Wyoming.

ABOUT

·         Yellowstone National Park (YNP) received 3.4 million visitors in 2012. Source: National Park Service reports
·         Traffic through the East Gate in the first two weeks of May in 2012 totaled 11,500 people in 4,200 cars. The estimated local economic impact for Cody is $2 million for that time period.
·         At the South Gate in Jackson, 17,553 visitors passed through during the entire month of May generating an estimated $2.3 million.
·         Tourism is Wyoming’s second leading industry. In 2012 travelers generated $3.1 billion in direct expenditures to the State of Wyoming.  Source: 2012 Economic Impact Report
·         Xanterra Parks & Resorts of Yellowstone will open all lodging and visitor services as scheduled
·         East Gate from Cody opens May 3, 2012
·         South Gate from Jackson opens May 10, 2012

Yellowstone is saved. Tourism is saved. Thanks, "Code of the West."

No telling yet how many park rangers will be furloughed or how many park restrooms won't be cleaned or how many other services will be curtailed due to the cuts. In Cheyenne, some 410 National Guard and 700 Warren AFB personnel have received notices about one-day-a-week furloughs. That's a 20 percent cut in their pay. That's 20 percent less dough that won't contribute to the Wyoming economy (OK -- some of it goes to Fort Collins and Denver).

BTW, my favorite month to travel Yellowstone is May. Nothing quite like navigating the East Gate road to Lake Yellowstone flanked by 10-foot walls of freshly-plowed snow. No traffic. No bear jams.

If anyone sees Sen. Barrasso, snow shovel in hand, out on the road near Fishing Bridge, take a photo. I'd love to post it.

Memo to Rep. Hunt: With more population comes more Liberals and inevitable change

The U.S. Census Bureau shows that Casper is the eighth fastest growing metro area in the U.S. while Cheyenne is number twenty. Some Natrona County businesses aren't so sure that the boom is here to stay. Stewart Moving & Storage reports that its ratio of move-ins to move-outs is about 50/50. This is probably due to the recent downturn in the energy biz since the Census numbers were tallied in mid-2012. Cheyenne, however, is a different story. This was in today's Casper Star-Trib:

People are moving to Cheyenne to cash in on the city’s transformation as a technology hub, economists and demographers say.

“I think the main reason is we had that super computer open last year,” said Wenlin Liu, a senior economist with the Wyoming Division of Economic Analysis, referring to the National Center for Atmospheric Research-Wyoming Supercomputing Center. “There’s also the plan to open the Microsoft data storage center. These created an image about Laramie County, I think that helped. People probably moved in.”

Before the supercomputer and Microsoft Corp. eyed Cheyenne, there were other high-tech companies doing business in the city. Those companies paved the way, said Randy Bruns, CEO of Cheyenne LEADS, the Cheyenne-Laramie County Corporation for Economic Development.

From Cheyenne, EchoStar Corp. flies satellites, has an uplink data center and a data storage center. Green House Data has a storage center. Aside from four outlet stores, Sierra Trading Post sells outdoor clothing and gear online. “The technology behind all of their Web work is right here,” Bruns said.

When high-tech companies observe other high-tech companies' success in a region, they consider it as a place to relocate, Bruns said.

John Shepard, a senior planner for Laramie County, knows firsthand about growth. He moved his wife and three children from Slayton, Minn., to Cheyenne for his new job in November. He believes the relatively low cost of doing business in Cheyenne is attracting people.

“People who would be priced out of the Denver market can have a small business or machine shop,” he said.

A few weeks ago, I was talking to Dean Dexter. He's the founder of Gizmojo, a company that builds "seriously cool exhibits and graphics," designer of the education exhibits at the new NCAR/UW Supercomputing Center east of Cheyenne. Gizmojo just merged with Warehouse 21. Warehouse 21/Gizmojo staffers work among the bare bricks and exposed pipes of a renovated warehouse on Snyder Avenue. Gizmojo is renovating the old garage space in the building as a place to design and assemble its displays.

Dean moved his company from Huntsville, Ala., a few years ago. He tells the same story that I heard from Microsoft's Gregg McKnight at the Wyoming Broadband Summit last fall. The city's business leaders welcomed him with open arms. "Western hospitality," you might say, although I'm not always clear on what that means. Cheyenne LEADS as put out the read carpet for the Wal-Mart and Lowe's distribution centers, as well as various data center and the NCAR/UW project. This sort of public/private partnership has helped spawn a boom in Laramie County, boosting our population 2 percent since 2011, making Laramie County the home to 16 percent of the state's population. Our population is nearing 95,000. Wonder if we'll throw a party when that reaches 100,000?

Some of us will. The Tea Party, anti-Agenda 21 crowd may hold a wake. To them, growth means change and the threat of more Liberals rolling in with the data centers and small businesses and an unreasonable expectation to fund the arts with public money. They will want change. You know, more coffee shops and brew pubs and public transportation and the filling in of the downtown hole. Heavens to Betsy! Just like Rep. Hans Hunt's response to a Cheyenne Liberal during the most recent legislative session. "If you don't like Wyoming the way it is, move back to the Liberal Shangri-la you came from." I'm paraphrasing here. I doubt if Rep. Hunt knows James Hilton's book wherein Shangri-la dwells. There you go again. Just like a know-it-all Liberal to think that a guy that represents rural constituencies in Weston/Niobrara/Crook counties doesn't (or can't) read.

OK, I'm guilty. Rep. Hunt's letter ticked me off. Talk about your conservative know-it-all.

But I digress. I bid welcome to all of you newcomers. I know that for every 10 Republicans that move into the county, there will be five others that are Democrats or have Democratic sympathies. That's the ratio of Ds to Rs in Laramie County. They may not arrive in the same truck or minivan (alas, some will drive a Prius), but come they will, followed by an inevitable push for change.

"I promise to tell the truth, the whole truth..."

Cheyenne writer Rodger McDaniel has opened a web site for his book “Dying for Joe McCarthy’s Sins: The Suicide of Wyoming Senator Lester Hunt.” Find out about the book at http://www.lesterhuntbiography.blogspot.com/. Rodger will launch the book with an April 2 signing at the Historic Governor’s Mansion followed by a mock trial on April 7 at St. Mark’s. In the guise of a farmer Senate staffer, I am a witness at the trial. “I promise to tell the truth, etc.” Here are launch events for the book: 

APRIL 2, 7 p.m., HISTORIC GOVERNORS' MANSION, CHEYENNE

Light refreshments provided. Copies of the book will be available for $20. Half of all book proceeds that evening will go to the Historic Governors' Mansion Foundation.

The Historic Governors’ Mansion is located at 300 E. 21st Street in Cheyenne. For more information about the Historic Governors’ Mansion programs and/or exhibitions, please call 307-777-7878.

APRIL 7, 1 p.m., ST. MARK'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, CHEYENNE

"The Trial of Joe McCarthy" - As a part of the book’s release, three colleagues of Senator Hunt, Senators Joseph McCarthy, Styles Bridges and Herman Welker will “be put on trial,” accused of crimes leading to Hunt’s suicide on June 9, 1954. The “mock trial” will take place at 1 PM on April 7, 2013, in the Parish Hall at St. Mark’s. Retired Supreme Court justice Michael Golden is the trial judge. Former Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal is the prosecutor. State Public Defender Diane Lozano will be defense counsel. A jury of local citizens will render a verdict. The public is invited. Admission is free.

Rodger’s book will be available for purchase and proceeds will be divided with St. Mark’s outreach team.

APRIL 11, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., CITY NEWS, CHEYENNE

Book signing at City News at Carey Avenue and 18th Street in downtown Cheyenne.

I'm pleased to join line-up of presenters at this summer's Wyoming Writers, Inc., conference

Gayle Irwin sent out a Facebook message today that the Wyoming Writers, Inc., 2013 conference brochure was going out in the mail. She urges poets and writers in the region to come out to the conference set for June 7-9 in Laramie. I'm pleased to be one of the conference presenters along with Colorado author Margaret Coel (author of the Wind River mysteries and Catherine McLeod novels), poet and essayist Rick Kempa of Rock Springs, children's and young adult writer and educator Gene Gagliano of Buffalo, Casper author and historian Tom Rea and literary agents Sandra Bond and Katharine Sands. Additionally, Chris Madson, editor of Wyoming Wildlife magazine will be speaking on Friday evening, June 7. I will be talking about short stories, online publishing and blogging. Get registration info at http://www.wyowriters.org.

One more thing about the conference... My old pal Page Lambert will be conducting a pre-conference workshop at the Vee Bar Guest Ranch near Laramie June 1-6. If you can't make it for the six-day workshop, check out the special two-day "Mini-Retreat" June 6-7 prior to the Wyoming Writers Conference in Laramie: Literature and Landscape of the Horse. Learn more at http://www.pagelambert.com/horse_literature.html

I'm big on writing and eating and campfires and camaraderie but not much of a horse guy. But if you are, you can't go wrong with this mini-retreat near the ramparts of the Snowy Range that moves right into the conference a few miles away in Laramie. 

Habitat for Humanity of Laramie County holds "Jump Into Jewels" fundraiser April 27

Kate Wright sends this news about a fundraiser sponsored by the organization she leads, Habitat for Humanity of Laramie County. I was on Habitat's first board back in 1992-93. I don't have much in the way of jewels to offer but there must be hundreds of you out there who do. The proceeds from Jump into Jewels will benefit Habitat's Women's Build Project that will build a home for a hard-working Cheyenne family. Kate urges you to donate your new and gently used jewelry and accessories to the cause. The event is free and open to the public from noon until 6 p.m. A Champagne Brunch Preview Party will be held from 10 a.m.-noon. Tickets to the preview party are $15.

May I Have an Atom Heart, Mother?

My dream heart

I was treated to an echo cardiogram at CRMC on Wednesday. If you're not a heart patient, you might know the "echo" as the Ultrasound test performed on pregnant women. "Hooray -- it's a boy." or maybe "Good God -- triplets."

My echo was scheduled to determine the shape of my heart following a Christmas heart attack and an early January angioplasty and stent placement in my LAD artery (a.k.a. "The Widowmaker"). I "presented late" (as my doc puts it) due to the fact that I was futzing around with our family doctor who didn't know what he was doing so my heart muscles were damaged. Ideally, heart attack patients get to the ER ASAP so the blockage can be cleared or so the docs can get to work on a bypass. I was late to the ball. But I got my stent, a dozen or so medications, 36 weeks of cardiac rehab and lots of TLC.

Wednesday's echo showed that my heart still had some healing to do. The docs think I should have a defibrillator implant but I'm a bit unsure. I'm going to get a second opinion from heart docs down in Colorado.

Or I might get an atomic heart. The story, according to The Atlantic:

In 1967, the National Heart Institute and the Atomic Energy Agency began a ten-year effort to develop an artificial heart powered by plutonium-238. The atomic hearts would have pumped human blood with the energy provided by the radioactive decay of that isotope. The effort failed thanks to technical challenges, intra-governmental infighting, and the souring of the public mood about both medical devices and atomic energy, but it remains a fascinating episode at the confluence of two grand American dreams.

This is the story told by Shelley McKellar, who teaches the history of medicine at at the University of Western Ontario in the most recent issue of the quarterly journal Technology and Culture.

The Federally funded programs continued for a decade, sometimes at cross-purposes, and they foreshadowed the rhetoric that came to surround later attempts at creating other types of artificial hearts in the 1980s. There are lessons to be learned, McKellar implies, about how people receive a particular technology changes along with the social and regulatory environment. Ideas that make sense one decade can seem totally ridiculous ten years later.

But, you might be asking yourself, "What in the hell was anyone even thinking trying to stick a radioisotope generator into a human being's chest cavity?"

 Because, that's why.

Tale of a Wasted Youth, Part One

News comes from afar (OK, I read it on my laptop) about the demise of the Boston Phoenix. The late great alt-weekly was not alt enough for the 2010s. Its wise-ass editorial attitude was no match for multitudes of snarkmeisters on the blogosphere. Its advertising dollars migrated to Craigslist and a whole roster of Boston area web sites.

As is the case with most alternative newspapers, the Phoenix rose out of the sixties counterculture in 1966. Its rock-and-roll soul made it a must-read for a 21-year-old college dropout like me who was trying my luck in the big city. On my way home from my night-shift hospital job, I would drop a quarter in some longhair's palm to claim my weekly copy. It was fat with articles and music listing and bar ads and personals.I would take it back to my shabby walk-up on the cheap side of Beacon Hill (there was such a thing in 1972) and devour it while sipping a pre-Starbucks coffee and scarfing down a few doughnuts. Articles covered local politics, the antiwar movement, music, drugs, food and a 1,001 other topics.

 I'd read a variety of alternative papers during my cross-country travels: Atlanta's Great Speckled Bird, the Village Voice, the Berkeley Barb, and others whose names I can't remember. They were a refreshing change to the stodgy daily papers with their reliance on the 5 Ws and deference to all sides of an issue. Phoenix writers took a stand on the left (or at least the iconclastic) side of most issues which was just fine with me. After a lifetime of Catholic school and two years of college ROTC, I was fairly new to the counterculture. I wanted to roll around in it. I was openly living in sin with a wild Protestant girl namd Sharon, growing my hair long, smoking pot whenever I felt like it and reading alternative weeklies from cover to cover. I was hauling around bedpans at night at a local hospital, but a guy had to make a living. As soon as Sharon and I saved up enough, we were hitting the road again. At least that was the plan.

I lived in Boston from August through March. I read every issue of the Phoenix and its cousin, the Real Paper. I briefly flirted with the idea of becoming a nurse. My boss thought I was pretty good at hauling bedpans and wondered if I'd like to pursue a higher calling of administering enemas and starting IVs. She said the hospital would pay for it.

Unfortunately, the Phoenix was ruining me. I'd always wanted to be a writer but didn't know how to start. First the nuns and then the U.S. Navy said I should major in something practical, something in the sciences. Medicine, for instance. Or marine biology. But after a steady diet of wise-assery courtesy of the Phoenix and then Rolling Stone, I started writing in a journal. I made pithy observations. I recorded snatches of conversation overhead in local bars. I began to chronicle the break-up of my relationship with a wild Protestant girl who wondered why I was spending so much time scribbling in journals. She finally packed up and went back to school at UConn, leaving no forwarding address. I packed up my journals and Phoenix copies and headed back to Florida. It took me awhile to actually publish something. I then started writing feature stories for the Independent Florida Alligator in Gainesville. I free-lanced for some regional and national mags. I graduated and went on to write sports for both Denver dailies and then manage a weekly alternative newspaper called Up the Creek that got its start as an advertising sheet from suburban softball leagues and saloon-sponsored wet T-shirt contests. I wrote a wise-ass column and features about street gangs and local politics and religious cults and sports. I had a small staff of good writers, although they didn't stay around long. It wasn't the Phoenix but, hey, you take what you can get.

I publish short stories and essays in literary magazines. I've written more than my share of press releases and business articles. I've been prog-blogging since 2005. I can't say I have hordes of devoted readers. But I write what I want. I believe it was A.J. Liebling who said this: "The free press belongs to those who own one."  I don't own Blogger but I do lay claim to my little part of the blogosphere. I provide an alternative voice within the Wyoverse. I could fold at any time. But it won't be due to stodginess or lack of advertising. One day, I may just decide to fold up my tent and go home.

Thanks for the memories, Boston Phoenix. I haven't read you regularly in 40 years. But just knowing that you no longer exist makes a hole in the creative universe.

Marking the tenth anniversary of the Iraq invasion with a photo sampler

These three photos come from The Atlantic magazine's series of photo essays commemorating the tenth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. This is only a sampler of the 150 photos featured in The Atlantic. They each spoke to me in different ways. The above photo was taken on Wednesday, March 13, 2013. It shows a view of Baghdad's Firdos Square at the site of an Associated Press photograph taken by Jerome Delay as the statue of Saddam Hussein was pulled down by U.S. forces and Iraqis on April 9, 2003. Ten years ago on live television, U.S. Marines memorably hauled down a Soviet-style statue of Saddam, symbolically ending his rule. Today, that pedestal in central Baghdad stands empty. Bent iron beams sprout from the top, and posters of anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in military fatigues are pasted on the sides. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

I work in the arts and have often wondered about the fate of artists and musicians and writers during the war. A student practices playing the oud (above) at the Institute of Musical Studies in Baghdad, on October 21, 2012. The once quiet courtyards of Baghdad's Institute of Musical Studies, located in the busy Sinak area, where violence was rife during the height of Iraq's sectarian violence in 2006 and 2007, are thriving again as the Iraqi capital enjoys a noticeable ebb in violence (for now). Many of Iraq's most talented musicians fled during the rule of Saddam Hussein, fearing persecution for their political views and suffering from a lack of funding and exposure if they refused to glorify the leader in their art. Now, slowly, some musicians are making plans to come back, hoping to revive Iraq's rich musical tradition on home soil. (Reuters/Mohammed Ameen)

I've written a lot about veteran suicides during the past decade (go here and here and here). In the above photo, Matt and Cheryl Ecker hold a photo of their son, Army veteran Michael Ecker, in Champion, Ohio, April 19, 2012. In 2009, Michael committed suicide, shooting himself in front of his father. Veteran suicides remain a serious problem in the U.S. A recent Veteran's Administration study using data from 21 states between 1999 and 2011 suggested that as many as 22 veterans were killing themselves every day. (Reuters/Jason Cohn)

Hal Holbrook's "Mark Twain Tonight" reminds me of some of his wry observations about 1861 Wyoming

I finally got around to seeing Hal Holbrook in Mark Twain Tonight. I've been trying to it most of my adult life. Coincidentally, Holbrook has been performing it most of his adult life, nigh on 60 years. He was 29 when he first assumed the guise of the famous author. Now he's 88, looking a lot closer to what Twain looked like on the lecture circuit in 1905, when he was 70.

Holbrook resurrected Twain Saturday night before a capacity crowd at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts' Buell Theatre. Twenty-two Democrats, most of us from Cheyenne along with a few from Denver and Colorado Springs, thought that Mark Twain Tonight would be the perfect venture. In the show, Twain lambastes Democrats and Republicans, professing to a more independent nature than allowed by the two-party system. As he aged, though, he grew more radical, blasting organized religion, disorganized politicians and life's assorted vagaries.    

Mark Twain traveled by coach through Wyoming in 1861 on his way from Missouri to California. He wrote in his 1872 book Roughing It about Laramie Peak:  

"We passed Fort Laramie in the night, and on the seventh morning out we found ourselves in the Black Hills, with Laramie Peak at our elbow (apparently) looming vast and solitary -- a deep, dark, rich indigo blue in hue, so portentously did the old colossus frown under his beetling brows of storm-cloud. He was thirty or forty miles away, in reality, but he only seemed removed a little beyond the low ridge at our right."

Later, Twain described his passage through Wyoming's South Pass City:

Toward dawn we got under way again, and presently as we sat with raised curtains enjoying our early-morning smoke and contemplating the first splendor of the rising sun as it swept down the long array of mountain peaks, flushing and gilding crag after crag and summit after summit, as if the invisible Creator reviewed his gray veterans and they saluted with a smile, we hove in sight of South Pass City. The hotel-keeper, the postmaster, the blacksmith, the mayor, the constable, the city marshal and the principal citizen and property holder, all came out and greeted us cheerily, and we gave him good day. He gave us a little Indian news, and a little Rocky Mountain news, and we gave him some Plains information in return. He then retired to his lonely grandeur and we climbed on up among the bristling peaks and the ragged clouds. South Pass City consisted of four log cabins, one if which was unfinished, and the gentleman with all those offices and titles was the chiefest of the ten citizens of the place. Think of hotel-keeper, postmaster, blacksmith, mayor, constable, city marshal and principal citizen all condensed into one person and crammed into one skin.

Thus Twain became one of the many chroniclers of Wyoming. Many, like Twain, were just passing through, noting for posterity the rugged landscapes and quirky characters. Others stayed, noting the quirky landscapes and rugged characters. 

I am one of them. I love Twain's humor and attempt to honor it by imitation. Laramie's Bill Nye was another humorist from Wyoming, spending time as a newspaperman in Laramie. He founded the Laramie Boomerang, naming it after his mule. Contemporary Wyoming writers such as Tim Sandlin follow in Nye's footsteps. 

Viewing O'Keeffe on St. Patrick's Day in Denver

Your humble blogger (far left) with Georgia O'Keeffe peeking over my shoulder on St. Patrick's Day at the Denver Art Museum's O'Keeffe retrospective. Next to me in my wife, Chris, followed by Kate McMorrow Wright, Lori Brand, Rachel Kelley and Ray Brand. A batch of Democrats from Wyoming let loose on the big city. Photo by Unsuspecting Bystander using Kate's iPhone.