Give me good food with a good story

Where Does Your Food Come From?

That was the above-the-banner teaser in this morning Wyoming Tribune-Eagle. The subhead was this:

With hundreds of people sickened by food-borne illness in a spate of recent outbreaks, traceability has become a critical food industry goal.

The story was written by Georgia Gustin of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. It begins on an upbeat note with Askinosie Chocolate Factory, which operates out of an historic building in Springfield, Mo. Owner Shawn Askinosie says that he wants to "profit-share with farmers" and tracks his cocoa beans from growers in Eduador to the end product. Using a code on chocolate packages, consumers can go to the company's web site and trace the origins of their treat. Askinosie offers Single Origin Chocolate Bars. One variety is a 77 percent Davao Dark bar from the Philippines. It comes in a brown wrapper with a photo of chief farmer Peter Cruz, his signature and a stamp of authenticity. A map of the farm's location is enclosed. The web site provides a story on the history of cocoa growing in the Philippines.

This is very cool -- and smart. Some may consider it a gimmick, but Foodies like me approve of this tactic. And the writer in me says that a chocolate bar that comes with its own story has my vote.

Why can't we do the same thing with lettuce? The AP sidebar to this story focused on tainted Romaine lettuce grown in Yuma, Ariz., and shipped to states east of the Mississippi including Florida. Why Florida, breadbasket to the East Coast, requires massive infusions of Arizona lettuce is a mystery.

So is the entire food "industry."

That's the key word -- industry. Ag became an industry and we haven't been safe or even healthy since.

The newspaper story doesn't have an answer. But it does pose some questions.

What if we nurtured and tracked a head of lettuce as Shawn Askinosie does a chocolate bar? Let's say that farmer Peter Cruz grows lettuce on a factory farm in Hot As Hell, Arizona. He nurtures the lettuce stalks as he would his own child. When it comes time to ship a batch to Florida, he labels the hemp bag with a stamp of authenticity which includes his signature and photo. The lettuce goes off to Humid As Hell, Florida, to be sold at $5 per pound.

Oops. Winn Dixie shoppers will probably pass up Peter Cruz's lettuce-with-a-story to cheaper, less wordy, alternatives.

Industry lettuce doesn't have a story. Corporate growers don't have time for creative writing. They want to plant thousands of acres, fertilize the hell out of it, spray it with pesticides, harvest it with illegal aliens from Poor As Hell in Jalisco State, load it in big trucks and ship it off to Florida. This lettuce sells for 99 cents a pound.

It also gives you E. coli.

Quite a bargain.

I am growing my own lettuce this summer in Windy As Hell, Wyoming. It will come with stories because I will insist. I will bore my family with those stories and then will turn on you, my faithful readers. You will not be able to buy my organic, homegrown lettuce because I don't want to buy stamps of authenticity and fancy wrappers. Besides, I don't know if my Romaine will come up this summer. It did last year but one never knows about late frosts and hailstorms.

There are alternatives. Go to your local farmers' market and ask for a story while you buy lettuce and tomatoes and peaches. Sometimes there are good stories and sometimes the sellers look at you funny. Some sellers have no stories because they are hired hands and don't know -- don't want to know -- the real stories. In those cases I say -- move on to the next stall.

You can buy your food from local farms. Many are organic but not all. Join the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs offered by Wolf Moon Farms, Grant Farms and Cresset Community Farm in northern Colorado and Meadow Maid Foods near Yoder, Wyo., which also has grass-fed beef and beef jerky. These are just a few -- new "craft" farmers and ranchers are sprouting all the time.

Each has a story to tell.

WY Education Czar Jim McBride worried that Ayers' visit could ruin UW brand

Amazing how the University of Wyoming president and rich donors and former Sen. Al Simpson and Gov. Dave Freudenthal and Republican gubernatorial candidates all got into the act in opposing Bill Ayers' visit to the state's only public university.

Now we hear that State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. Jim McBride, also was scared to death by having former sixties radical and educational reform expert Ayers appear in Laramie.

Shouldn't Dr. McBride be spending more time addressing the state's sky-high high school dropout rate? Didn't he recently voice his concern about the education system's over-reliance on standardized tests?

Here's the news item I plucked this morning from the Wyoming Public Radio web site:

Top education official pushed for Ayers cancellation Molly Messick (2010-05-06)

LARAMIE, WYO. (wpr) - Documents released last week through a public records request show that the state's top elected education official called for the cancellation of William Ayers' visit to the University of Wyoming based on the potential for lost donations. Ayers is the former militant activist turned education professor who was originally scheduled to speak at UW in early April.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jim McBride said in three separate emails that Ayers' visit could cost the university "millions." Reached this week, McBride described his thinking this way. "If you were the Board of Trustees of Coca-Cola, and someone inside Coca-Cola was going to damage your brand name and maybe make it more difficult for you to make money, would it be wise to call the CEO of Coca-Cola, call it to his attention and ask him to do something about it?"

Whether Ayers' initial visit was cancelled in part due to threats of lost donations has been a question since the decision was made. Many have voiced concern that the university might have weighed academic freedom and free speech against the potential financial cost of upsetting prominent university donors.

Can Progressives be REAL sports fans?

Phoenix Suns wear "Los Suns" jerseys for Game 2 of NBA playoffs. Christian Petersen, Getty Images

Can Progressives be sports fans? Real fans, not just bowtie-wearing George Will-style life-is-like-baseball-and-vice-versa fans. I mean real fans, those who follow their team's ups-and-downs, cheer wildly when they win and suffer publicly in defeat.

Another question: can sports teams be politically active for Progressive causes? Professional teams are corporations and, as corporations, must be politically savvy. They cannot afford to piss off potential fans, especially rich ones who buy skyboxes. Rich fans who buy skyboxes tend to be corporate titans with similar business interests. They speak the same languages -- money and conservative politics. These traits were put on public display with news that the owners of the Arizona Cardinals NFL team were backers of the awful Arizona anti-immigrant law. The Phoenix Suns offered a counterpoint when its players wore "Los Suns" jerseys for their NBA playoff game on Cinco de Mayo. Two amazing things about this: 1. it was the owner's idea; 2. it actually happened. Thus, a pro sports team is now on record opposing a loony right-wing law, even though some of its ticket holders are undoubtedly loony right-wingers. It is Arizona, right?

Here are a few paragraphs about the Suns' decision by Michael Wilbon, sports columnist for the Washington Post:

Instead of embracing a convenient neutrality that might have helped the bottom line with a great many locals who favor a new law that requires local police to check the legal status of suspected undocumented immigrants, Suns owner Robert Sarver called the law "flawed" and "mean-spirited" and asked his players what they thought of wearing "Los Suns" jerseys during Wednesday night's playoff game. Depending on your point of view, it was either an act of support for the Latin community, whose members feel targeted by the law, or an act of defiance toward those in the larger community who are angry over illegal immigration in a border state and rail at any dissent.

The folks here who wanted, at worst, silence picked the wrong team. The Suns locker room has too many independent thinkers, too many activists, too many players whose experiences and sensibilities are, thankfully, a lot broader than most of their neighbors. Sarver's players not only had no problem wearing "Los Suns" jerseys, they felt, to a man, pretty much the same way he did, damn the backlash, and were quite willing to say it. And there was plenty of backlash. Suns Coach Alvin Gentry, an hour before Game 2 against the Spurs tipped off, pointed to his computer, referring to the angry e-mails from folks who wanted the players in lockstep with the state's misguided new law.

Big-time college sports teams, particularly BCS football, love rich alum who buy skyboxes and sink tons of money into the university, usually in the sports programs -- but not always. Coddling rich conservative patrons of its sports programs was behind the University of Wyoming's refusal to let sixties radical Bill Ayers to speak on campus last month. Good to know that your state's only university considers building a few more skyboxes more important than freedom of speech.

What kind of politics are on display at NFL games? The Star-Spangled Banner, military aircraft fly-overs, tributes to veterans, Honor America Day, etc. Sports team wear their conservative politics openly when they name their stadiums after corporations. That's one conservative corporation wearing the banner of another conservative corporation. A wolf dressed in wolf's clothing.

When U.S. Army Ranger Pat Tillman was killed in Afghanistan, Arizona State University and the Arizona Cardinals fell all over themselves celebrating his sacrifice. On Sunday, September 19, 2004, all NFL teams wore a memorial decal on their helmets in honor of Tillman. One of Tillman's former teammates was Broncos QB Jake Plummer. He wanted to continue to wear the Tillman decal through the rest of the season just like his former Arizona mates. The NFL said no, that Plummer's helmet would not match those of his Bronco teammates. So Plummer grew a beard and long hair to celebrate the pre-Army Tillman.

He was indeed a brave and principled man who gave up big football bucks to join the Army. Then we discovered that the Pentagon covered up the fact that Tillman was killed by his own men. Tillman had become outspoken in his disenchantment with our overseas misadventures. The public celebrations of heroism evaporated into the mists of history.

What would happen if the NFL declared "Man Enough to Wear Chartreuse" day. Pro rodeo marks "Man Enough to Wear Pink" days to declare its support in the fight against breast cancer. But "Man Enough to Wear Chartreuse" day would mark the struggle for LGBT Equal Rights. How many NFL players and rodeo bareback riders would support that? How many NFL fans would complain, making loud empty threats about turning in their season tickets?

As a prog-blogger with a healthy skepticism, I simply cannot engage in unbridled hero worship. I'm a fan, but a jaundiced one (and I don't even like yellow). I am happy that University of Florida's Tim Tebow was chosen by the Denver Broncos in the NFL draft. I plan to buy a No. 15 Tebow Broncos jersey and wear it publicly. Will Tebow become another Hall-of-Famer like the legendary John Elway? Elway is a Republican, conservative enough to spurn a post-Super-Bowl appearance at the Clinton White House. Tebow is a conservative, a fundamentalist Christian anti-abortion crusader. I am on the opposite end of that issue, as I've written here before. Tebow has enough guts to declare his views publicly on a Super Bowl ad. I'm man enough to support his NFL aspirations. Until he fails and is traded to the Dallas Cowboys. Sure, Tebow is a Gator. But a dedicated Denver Broncos fan cannot cheer for the Dallas Cowboys, no matter whom the quarterback is.

A real fan, Progressive or not, has scruples.

There is a time to sew, and a time to write

All the cool kids in the neighborhood are turning into farmers.

Jimmy down the street dug up his backyard and planted a corn field. His plan is to use his corn for ethanol production and later, carve out a baseball field because if you build it, Kevin Costner will come over.

Ricky is growing wheat to make his own bread, as did William Alexander is his new book "52 Loaves: A Quest for the Holy Grain." NPR interviewed the author on Sunday morning.

Melanie and her kids are planting a vegetable garden and raising chickens. They're going to to eat the vegetables and the fresh eggs and eventually dispatch the chickens for Sunday dinner.

My plans are modest. Expand my vegetable garden by a few cubic yards. Plant tomatoes, beans, various lettuce varieties, spinach, broccoli, peas. I'm hoping the strawberries come in after a winter under layers of mulch. I'm hoping to get a few more plums from my plum tree and apples from my apple tree.

But no chickens. Neighborhood chicken-raising should be encouraged. If you know anything about corporate chicken-farming, you'll want to avoid the grocery store brands. Local purveyors of chicken and beef and bison sell their wares at farmers' markets.

My grandparents would get a kick out of us urban and suburban farmers. Three of my four grandparents grew up on farms. My fraternal grandmother, Florence, was a Baltimore city kid. Her family probably had a garden, as did most people back then. My maternal grandfather, Martin, grew up in the rocky wilds of Ireland's Roscommon County. The family farmed something. Grandpa was never specific, but it probably was potatoes. In America, he always had a garden. So did my fraternal Grandfather Raymond, who grew up on a farm outside Iowa City. Raymond grew beautiful tomatoes in his Denver garden. Iowa farm boys know how to grow things.

With the exception of a few real farmers and some back-to-the-land hippies, my generation worked to be as far away from the sources of food production as possible. Suburbs gobbled up farm land for big houses and huge stores, including Super Wal-Marts and the ever-expanding grocery store. Out in the hinterlands, farms got bigger with the rise of corporate ag. Cows and pigs and chickens were raised in factories. Gigantic food distribution systems were created to meet the demand. Ridiculously low fuel prices made this system possible.

This shift to corporate ag and corpulence has been well-documented in books (Michael Pollan) and films ("Food, Inc.").

Now we're all gardeners and we frequent farmers' markets. We say nice things about family farmers and curse the corporations. Yesterday, I read an L.A. Times article about an ex-Marine who formed a company that builds, maintains and harvests backyard gardens for suburbanites. First we pause to say tsk-tsk to those Yuppies too lazy or busy to garden. Secondly, though, we have to admire the pluck of this entrepreneur, who's seen an opportunity and seized upon it. New green jobs are created with this new cadre of "Mr. Greenjeans." And, when it comes right down to it, a backyard garden is a backyard garden. Here's another batch of veggies that's homegrown and not shipped from far away places.

I'll remember this in a few weeks when I'm down on my knees sewing seeds and replanting seedlings. There is a time to sow, and that comes late in May in Cheyenne, Wyoming. There is a time to reap, as long as the wind and the frost and the hail don't get the plants. When the planting is done, I can sit back, sip a Fat Tire, and admire my handiwork. I will be serenaded by a symphony of Melanie's backyard chickens.

Wake up and smell the horses

I spent part of Sunday morning reading info posted on the Wyoming Food Freedom site. That included a detailed reading of draft legislation in the works for the 2011 Legislature.

I also read the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle editorial blasting an idea by Rep. Sue Wallis, one of the WFF co-founders, to establish a horse processing facility in Cheyenne that would include a slaughterhouse.

The editorial writers was incenses that visitors to Cheyenne driving along the newly reconstructed Lincolnway would see stock pens filled with horses, some of them destined for cans of Purina Dog Chow.

Shocking to think that visitors to Cheyenne Frontier Days wouldn't like the sights and sounds and smells of horses. As they drive up Lincolnway, they'll hear the boom of six guns from Old West re-enactors and the strains of honky tonk piano coming from the Historic Atlas Theatre. Choo-choo horns will be wailing in the railyards.

"Look at all the pretty horses," says Sis, visiting from Ohio with Mom and Dad and Junior.

Welcome to the Old/New/Old West.

Matt Mead's statement on Bill Ayers' visit

Anon sent me a link to a press release from Matt Mead's campaign. In my April 29 post, I had official statements from the other three Republican gubernatorial candidates about the Bill Ayers visit to UW -- and the attendant freedom of speech lawsuit. But I relied on the Casper Star-Trib for Mead's words.

Since Mr. Mead was in my headline, I thought it only fair to include his statement:

Matt Mead, Republican candidate for Governor, issued the following statement regarding Chief Judge William Downes’ ruling in Meg Lanker’s and William Ayers’ suit against the University of Wyoming.

“I am disappointed by Chief Judge Downes’ ruling today. I still believe UW should not be lending its reputation to a known terrorist who has targeted this country. William Ayers does not belong at the University of Wyoming, plain and simple, and I wish he had never been invited. ”

“A federal court proceeding in Wyoming was the correct forum for Ayers’ suit requesting injunctive relief. While not all will agree with the decision rendered today by the chief district court judge, which enjoined the University of Wyoming from prohibiting Ayers’ speech on campus tomorrow, absent an appeal, the matter has been decided. We can be thankful that our judicial system provides for the timely resolution of disputes of difficult legal questions such as the one involved here — the extent of First Amendment protections.”

“I would ask that opponents of this visit remain peaceful and orderly in their opposition to William Ayers’ visit to Laramie. Moving forward, I hope there is clarification by the university of its policies regarding the availability of its facilities.”

Ahhhhh! I feel fair and balanced now.

Memories erupt when you drop the V-bomb

Among people of a certain age, you cannot utter the "Vietnam" bomb without causing an explosion of emotions.

That "certain age" comes under the banner of Baby Boomer. There were many of us in this cohort last Wednesday night as another member of this complicated and conflicted group -- Dr. Bill Ayers -- spoke at the UniWyo Sports Complex at UW in Laramie.

Vietnam, Viet Nam, "Nam." Historians call it the Vietnam War, Second Indochina War, the Vietnam Conflict or the American War. Vets have their own terms.

The war ended April 30, 1975 -- 35 years ago yesterday -- with the evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. May 4 marks the 40th anniversary of the Kent State shootings.

Outside the sports complex, a protester too young for VN held a sign blaming Dr. Ayers for the deaths of 10,000 G.I.s. Not sure why "10,000" and not the 58,000 who officially perished in the conflict, not counting the many thousands who perished when they came home.

Inside the complex, fellow Dem Bobby Marcum wore his Vietnam Veteran cap. He had seen the sign outside and said to me that freedom of speech was one of the causes he was fighting for in Vietnam.

During the Q&A, one Baby Boomer came to the microphone and asked Dr. Ayers if he had apologized for his "terrorist acts" with the Weather Underground. The man said that he knew people who went to Vietnam but he himself did not go due to the fact he was on campus "partying and chasing girls."

Ayers replied that he had apologized many times, yet he became involved with the Vietnam resistance because the U.S. -- his country -- was murdering Vietnamese civilians at an alarming rate. This involvement was an outgrowth of his civil rights activities.

Who's the bad guy here -- Campus Party Boy or Bill Ayers? Both? Neither?

Who's to blame for this never-forgotten forever war? Shall we spread it around among demonstrators and frat boy partiers and chickenhawks (e.g. Dick Cheney and Karl Rove), and draftees and draft dodgers and College Young Republicans and SDS members and SDS FBI informants and misguided generals and oh-so-many politicians such as McNamara's best-and-brightest and Harry T and Ike and JFK and LBJ and RMN? Me?

Not so simple to choose, especially if you have your own complicated history of that era. To read fragments of my own "Conscription Chronicles," go to my web page.

P.S.: "The Forever War" is the title of a fine 1974 sci-fi novel by Vietnam veteran Joe Haldeman.

History of Latinos and Latinas in Wyoming celebrated in new mural

This is very timely, considering what's happening in Arizona:

On Saturday, May 1, Paredes Hablando - Walls That Speak, will be unveiled by La Radio Montenesa Voz de la Gente KOCA in Laramie. The mural by Stevon Lucero commemorates Latinas and Latinos in Wyoming.

There will be an 11 a.m. luncheon followed at 1:30 p.m. by the unveiling of the mural, with an Artist's Talk by Stevon Lucero, “The Unyielding Process of Chicano Art.” All events at the Alice Hardy Stevens Center, 603 E. Ivinson Ave., Laramie. At 5 p.m., there will be a screening of a film by Yolanda Cruz, 2501 Migrantes, about a population of a town in Mexico that has been forced to leave to find work.

Info: Connie, 742-2842 cocaj58@aol.com

Volunteers needed for 54th annual Cheyenne Summer Melodrama

This e-mail bulletin was sent out today by the Cheyenne Little Theatre Players. You will note some familiar names taking the helm of melodrama volunteers. read on...

It's Melodrama Time!

Mike and Chris Shay have agreed to Co-Chair the 54th Melodrama, and they are in need of people to chair the Marketing/PR and Front-Of-House(Front of House consists of Box Office, Concessions, Bar & Wait Staff)Sub-Committees. If you are interested, please email them at melodrama@cheyennelittletheatre.org

We will also be seeking volunteers to staff our bar area during the run of the show. Anyone interested in pouring our refreshments must be 21 or over and TIPS trained. Free TIPS training sessions will be offered from 5-9:30 p.m. on:
Tuesday May 4
Tuesday June 1
Tuesday July 6

Location -- at The American Legion Post 6, 2001 East Lincolnway, Cheyenne

No need to register, just show up and they'll fit you in!

TIPS training is valid for 3 years. If you have been previously trained remember to check your TIPS card or online for the expiration date!

Information to follow soon on our annual Volunteer Round Up and Atlas Clean Up Day to be held at the Atlas Theatre in June. We will provide all of the needed information regarding our other Melodrama Volunteer Opportunities available to those age 16 and up at that time.

Matt Mead: UW should "filter" speakers

The Casper Star-Tribune interviewed three of the four announced Republican candidates for governor on Judge Downes' decision to let Bill Ayers speak on the UW campus. The fourth was quoted from a speech during a First Amendment panel discussion at UW.

Here are some excerpts:

The University of Wyoming should put some kind of "filter" in place to determine who can speak on campus, Matt Mead, Republican gubernatorial candidate and former U.S. attorney for Wyoming, said at a First Amendment panel discussion at the College of Law on Wednesday.

Ron Micheli: "The freedom of speech is one of the most important liberties of a free society. The Constitution protects the rights of individuals to say what they believe. Bill Ayers has that right, along with everyone else. My objection has always been that Mr. Ayers had been invited to speak by the University of Wyoming giving him legitimacy that the people of Wyoming do not wish to bestow. If Mr. Ayers is allowed to speak on the campus of UW, then it is only fair to demand that he and the individuals who invited him pay for 100 percent of the costs of the visit out of their own pockets. If we tax payers must suffer Bill Ayers at UW, fine, but we should not be expected to pay for it as well."

Rita Meyer: "I have been asked what I would do as governor in this situation. I believe that it is not the governor's role to say who should or should not speak at the University of Wyoming. The governor should not reach into that level of activity in the university. The governor's role is appointing the Board of Trustees who hire the president and provide broad oversight for the fiduciary management, academic policies, and general welfare of the students of the university. Clearly some at the university lost situational awareness by inviting Mr. Ayers to speak in the first place. Uninviting him has opened Pandora's box of raising freedom of speech issues in a university environment and given this man a bigger soapbox to shout from."

Colin Simpson: "I think the university did the right thing, and I wish that other types of issues like this would receive the same type of expedient hearing and ruling."

I would love to read quotes on this issue from Democratic Party Gubernatorial candidates.

But there ain't none. No candidates and no quotes.

Bill Ayers talks education and people listen

Bill Ayers speaks Wednesday at the UniWyo Sports Complex in Laramie. Photo by Meg Lanker.

Not everyone in the UniWyo Sports Complex at UW Wednesday evening ventured through a spring snowstorm to hear Dr. Bill Ayers talk about education reform. Some were just curious and wanted to see the subject of a month-long wrangle over freedom of speech. Others came to lodge a protest.

No matter. More than a thousand people heard about the state of education in the U.S. Dr. Ayers has written many books on the subject -- and is still a practicing teacher.

Some boos erupted with the cheers with Ayers was introduced by UW Dept. of Education Professor Steve Bialistock.

That didn't seem to faze Ayers. He acknowledged that the struggle over freedom of speech and academic freedom had taken precedence over the speech itself.

"Students and faculty wanted to enageg in a dialogue with me and they couldn't," he said.

But they could on Wednesday night. Ayers spoke for about 50 minutes, using a stopwatch to time himself.

He offered no magic solution to education in the U.S.A. That's just the problem -- we're stuck in a "sterile debate on education."

On the one hand are the "free-market reformers" who believe in "charter schools and punishment." Then there are the "liberal traditionalists" who think that "the status quo is just great."

He reminded the audience that during the 2008 election, Republican John McCain said "we need to get all those lazy incompetent teachers out of the classroom."

"Didn't we all nod just a little at that?"

Punishing teachers and schools is not the answer -- but neither is just doing nothing.

"We have certain boundaries and barriers of thinking we have to imagine ourselves out of," Ayers said.

He advocates a "curriculum of questioning." Remember those bumper stickers, "Question Authority?" Like that, but apply it to all things.

I grow tired of the topic. I'm taking the reporter route on this piece but others have done it far better than me.

This one I have to mull over....

Cheyenne native Daniel Junge will be honored at Cheyenne International Film Festival

The local arts scene in Cheyenne is expanding its repertoire with the first-ever Cheyenne International Film Festival May 21-23.

On its opening night on Friday, May 21, the CIFF honors Academy Award-nominated filmmaker and Cheyenne native Daniel Junge by screening three of his latest films, “No Strings”, “Come Back to Sudan” and Oscar-nominated “The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner”.

The screening and “talk-back” with the filmmaker is also a fund-raising event for the Laramie County Library Foundation. Daniel, who now lives in Denver, will be on hand to sell and autograph DVD versions of his movies with the proceeds to benefit the Library Foundation.

The Filmmakers’ Reception will be held on Saturday, May 22. Following the screening of “My Life Without Sex,” the audience will have a chance to visit with the Australian film’s director Sarah Watt live via Skype. Attendees will have a chance to meet and talk movies with film makers and producers. Also screening is the Oscar nominated live action comedic short from Sweden, “Instead of Abracadabra”.

Closing night on May 23 will be a Wyoming Showcase, "Pioneering Spirit," from two different historical perspectives. “On the Trail: Jack Kerouac in Cheyenne” features a personal appearance by John Allen Cassady (son of Beat idols Neal and Carolyn Cassady). That will be followed by the award-winning feature, “In Pursuit of a Dream” by Candy Moulton of Encampment.

John Allen Cassady will be at Phoenix Books in downtown Cheyenne signing copies of his book on Saturday May 22. Candy Moulton will be moderating a panel of women filmmakers Christine Bonn, Sarah Curry and Egija Hartmane–Salem.

The CIFF offers nine programs consisting of 33 films from around the world. The CIFF Call2Action program matches up movies with local non-profit organizations. This year, the Call2Action co-presenting groups include the YMCA youth arts and video program; The Laramie County Library Foundation; Cheyenne area veteran organizations; and the Southeast Wyoming Intertribal Powwow Association.

FMI: Wyoming Community Media at 307-509-0182.

So that's where it's all going?

Cheyenne is shipping its s*** to Colorado

Go to http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20100428/NEWS01/4280340/1002/CUSTOMERSERVICE02

Perhaps "The Laramie Project" needs a sequel -- or an update?

A poem for today by Micah X Wyatt, Wyoming writer and teacher and attorney:

Bill Ayers prepares to speak
in the midst of my state, in
the same place and in the same
manner that Fred Phelps decried
America as the doomed nation
of homosexuals and debauchery.
In the same place and manner
that students perform Albee
and Shakespeare, and Kipling,
where tenured professors
speak of Nazis and Hindi, of
terrorists and patriots, of
humans and beasts as though
those things were different;
the one from the other.

Continue reading at http://www.facebook.com/notes/micah-x-wyatt/the-odd-bedfellows-of-freedom-of-speech/389332644356

Free-speech & music night in Laramie

This will be a very active night on the University of Wyoming campus. Free-speech speaking combined with free-speech music.

From 7-9 p.m., educator and 1960s antiwar radical Bill Ayers will speak on campus at the UniWyo Sports Complex. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Read more about Bill Ayers at http://billayers.wordpress.com/. This is the long-delayed talk that just got its court hearing this week. Should be a very interesting and educational event.

Speaking of interesting -- the Flobots from Denver will perform a free concert tonight at 8:30 p.m. in the University of Wyoming Union ballroom.

Not too many people outside of Denver knew of the Flobots until its first major label release, "Fighting with Tools." The song "Handlebars" became a radio hit in 2008. The group's newest CD, "Survival Story," came out last month.

As you can see in the "Handlebars" vid at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLUX0y4EptA, the Flobots are unabashedly political. Some might call it leftist or radical or maybe even anti-American. Radical it may be, but this talented multi-racial group has a vision for America and spends most of its creative energy looking forward rather than backward.

Opening the concert for The Bots will be Air Dubai, a hip hop group out of Denver. So, you can be at the speech by Mr. Ayers and still catch the music unless the ballroom is totally packed, which it may be.

FMI: 307-766-6340.

A white middle-aged Mid-America voter hitches a ride on the 2010 Obama Express

This comes from the Fox News web site:

President Obama left white, middle-age male voters in his rear-view mirror Monday in launching his first midterm election pitch, calling on "young people, African Americans, Latinos and women" to deliver for Democrats in November.

In a video to supporters, Obama urged those who helped get him elected in 2008 not to abandon Democrats in an election year that is shaping up to take a chunk out of the Democratic majority in Congress.

Every so often I go slumming at Fox News. I especially like this item because I am a white middle-aged voter in Red State Wyoming who should be watching Pres. Obama's 2010 cavalcade disappear into the distance.

But this is more generalization from Fox. Sure, CNN and MSNBC engage in it too, but you always know that Fox stands foursquare against Obama and Progressives. They like to lump white folks together, as if Tom Teabagger and Paul Prog-Blogger were all in the same club.

I worked hard for Obama in 2008. I knocked on doors and made phone calls and blogged my heart out. Am I disappointed in some things that have happened (and not happened) in the past 16 months? Damn straight I am. I wanted a public option in that health care bill. Still do. I want climate change legislation and economic reform. And there is hope that we'll get all that as long as Obama is in the White House and Dems hold some sort of majority in the House and Senate.

I can't imagine John McCain or Mitt Romney or Mike Hucakabee or (God forbid) Sarah Palin in charge. It would be more of the same stuff we saw under George W. Bush from 2001-2009. The Repubs are tired old white guys, mostly Southerners and Westerners, who are scrambling to control a nation that has outgrown them. They are the middle-aged and elderly white folks angrily shaking their fists as Young & Energetic & Ethnically Diverse America drives off into the future.

I will cast my lot with "young people, African-Americans, Latinos and women" for the forseeable future.

I can't imagine it any other way.

Day 2 of Wyoming Repub Senators siding with their Wall Street Overlords

From a WyoDems press release:

Yesterday and today, Senate Republicans voted to block critical Wall Street reforms. In response, Wyoming Democratic Party Chair Leslie Petersen issued the following statement:

“Yesterday and today, Senators Barrasso and Enzi and the Republican Party voted to block Wall Street reforms that will protect American taxpayers by holding Wall Street accountable. President Obama and Senate Democrats are working hard to pass this critical legislation that will restrict Wall Street’s risky practices and protects consumers. This is disappointing, but it’s no surprise. Once again the Republican Party is playing the role of obstructionist to meaningful change.

“For too long, lax regulations and free-wheeling Wall Street practices fattened bankers’ wallets. And when their house of cards fell apart, American taxpayers were stuck with the fallout. More than 8 million Americans lost their jobs, and American families lost trillions of dollars in savings and assets. It’s time for Republicans to stop playing political games, join Democrats, and pass this critical Wall Street reform that will bring an end to taxpayer-funded bailouts, protect consumers, and help rein in Wall Street’s risky practices”

Specifically, the reform plan before Congress would:

Ensure that Americans have the information they need to make the right financial choices for their families by putting an end to unfair and abusive lending policies and requiring banks and credit card companies to provide clear and complete information about their products.

Hold Wall Street accountable by giving shareholders and investors greater control over company decisions, like the choice of company leaders or the amount of bonuses to be awarded.

Introduce new transparency by requiring that complicated financial transactions occur out in the open – steps that will help to prevent future economic disasters.

Close the legal loopholes that allowed big banks to take big risks – endangering not only their own companies, but also the whole American economy.

Enforce tough new rules that will make sure Wall Street banks pay for their own bad decisions and take taxpayers off the hook for expensive bailouts for institutions some say are ‘too big to fail’.

This judge understands freedom of speech

William Ayers will speak Wednesday 7-9 p.m. at the University of Wyoming Sports Complex.

The ruling came down this afternoon from Federal Judge William Downes in Casper. It's an especially poignant moment for these reasons (as outlined in the Casper Star-Trib):

While William Downes was a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Vietnam War, William Ayers was bombing U.S. government buildings as co-founder of a militant anti-war group called the Weather Underground.

Downes, now a U.S. district judge, made special note of those contrasting backgrounds when he ruled Tuesday against the University of Wyoming's decision to ban Ayers from speaking on campus.

"This court is of age to remember the Weather Underground. When his group was bombing the U.S. Capitol in 1971, I was serving in the uniform of my country," Downes said. "Even to this day, when I hear that name, I can scarcely swallow the bile of my contempt for it. But Mr. Ayers is a citizen of the United States who wishes to speak, and he need not offer any more justification than that."

Downes delivered his ruling Tuesday afternoon in his federal courtroom in Casper, after hearing more than five hours of testimony Monday. The judge, finding that UW had violated Ayers' First Amendment rights, issued an injunction sought by Ayers and UW student Meg Lanker forcing UW to allow Ayers to speak Wednesday at the UniWyo Sports Complex on campus in Laramie.

Ayers is now scheduled to speak from 7-9 p.m. in the sports complex, Lanker said after the ruling. That speech bumps his scheduled appearance at the Laramie Civic Center from the schedule.

"I'm in shock, I'm floating, I'm on cloud nine, I'm excited," Lanker said. "This went better than I expected. I was expecting to win, but I wasn't expecting to win so well, I guess -- to win and get everything that we wanted."

A couple things to note here. The federal courthouse in Casper is named after draft dodger and war criminal Dick Cheney of Casper. While Judge Downes was a Marine fighting in Vietnam and Bill Ayers felt strongly enough about the war to do something about it, Cheney was looking out for his own self and his own political career, enjoying one of his five draft deferments.

Dick Cheney went to law school but has never been a judge. I can't imagine him making such as unbiased decision about Constitutional rights. He certainly did not when he was V.P. of these United States.

UW student and free speech advocate Meg Lanker is a Navy veteran. David Lane, rabble-rousing free-speech attorney from Denver, declared conscientious objector status during the Vietnam War. However, Craig Silverman in Denver, the guy who faced Lane in court more than once, said this about him in a 2009 Denver Post article: "Nobody that I know of goes to trial more than he does. He is a combat veteran."

Intriguing dichotomy here, eh? Young people who cared enough to get involved with their country's present and future, whether in the military or in antiwar activities or in the courtroom, are still engaged in the day-to-day workings of their country.

I hope there are protesters at UW tomorrow night. I may not agree with them, but they'll be spending their evening away from the TV set and out in the rain or snow, speaking (or maybe shouting) their deeply-held thoughts about the situation.

Bring it on...

Enzi & Barrasso abandon Main Streets in Gillette and Casper to vote for Wall Street

Sen. Mike Enzi today joined his Wyoming Republican colleague, Sen. John Barrasso, to vote against debating financial reform in the U.S. Senate.

Not surprising that Senators Enzi and Barrasso vote with the Repub pack. They do that with everything. Like toddlers, they just love to say "NO!"

Ironic to see that Sen. Enzi was one of the backers of this piece of legislation (from his web site):

Washington, D.C. - The U.S. Senate passed a resolution (S. Res. 485) sponsored by Senators Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii) and Michael B. Enzi (R-Wyoming) designating April as Financial Literacy Month. The resolution raises awareness about the importance of personal financial education and the serious consequences that may result from a lack of understanding about personal finances. It passed last night by a unanimous voice vote.

"Americans held $13.6 trillion in household debt last year according to the Federal Reserve," said Senator Akaka. "Increased financial and economic literacy can empower people to more effectively navigate the marketplace and make smart decisions for their families. Financial education helps people save for their homes, their children's education, and deal with financial challenges."

"In the 21st century it is essential for individuals to be financially literate. Financial literacy isn’t just about balancing a check book, it is about having all the resources and information to plan your own financial future with full understanding of the risks and rewards. The more importance financial literacy is given-- the better off this country will be," said Senator Enzi.

The bipartisan resolution is cosponsored by Senators Dodd, Crapo, Johnson, Corker, Schumer, Cochran, Menendez, Wicker, Kohl, Merkley, Inouye, Durbin, Baucus, Murray, Lincoln, Begich, Gillibrand, Feingold, Levin, Carper, Cardin, Stabenow, and Hagan.

If he thinks that rapacious Big Banks and Wall Street corporations are models of responsible finance, Sen. Enzi needs to brush up on his own financial literacy.

Lots of creative writing going on in Wyoming this summer

Micah Wyatt coordinates the Young Writers Camp each summer at the Thorne-Rider Youth Camp near Story, Wyo. The YWC was on hiatus last summer but is back on track for 2010. And now Mr. Wyatt, a YWC alumnus (as is my son Kevin) sends me news about another cool summer creative writing workshop, one that combines writing and backpacking and wilderness awareness.

Here it is:

Join Gretel Ehrlich and the Wyoming Wilderness Association in a journey into the Rock Creek recommended wilderness in the Bighorn National Forest August 6-9 for adventure, reflection, and writing.

Wyoming-based author and poet Gretel Ehrlich will lead workshops and readings during the Wilderness Writer’s Retreat. Gretel is an accomplished author of This Cold Heaven, The Solace of Open Spaces, and The Future of Ice, among other works of nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. Gretel Ehrlich’s essays, short stories, and poems have been included in many anthologies and publications. She has received many prestigious awards and is currently at work on a novel.

Are you a writer? All levels and varieties welcome!

Do you feel comfortable in the backcountry? We will be out for 3 nights and 4 days (with a fabulous camp cook and main camp equipment supplied).

Can you hike uphill carrying a mid-sized pack for 5 miles? The horses will carry camp in, but you’ll have to pack your personal gear.

Scholarship Information: Two full tuition scholarships are available for the 2010 Wilderness Writer's Retreat. Successful applicants will have demonstrated financial need in addition to an aptitude and vocation in the field of writing.

To apply, please submit the following to WWA, PO Box 6588, Sheridan, WY 82801 by noon on June 7, 2010:

Your name, mailing address, phone number and email contact information

Tax return receipt for 2009

One 1,000-word essay demonstrating why your participation in the Wilderness Writer's Camp will have value.

An additional sample of your work in the form of poetry or prose, at least 3 poems/pages.

Essays and writing samples will be judged for composition and development of style, and winners will be announced by noon on June 28.

Fee for the Wilderness Writer's Retreat is $700.

FMI: Contact Sara at the Wyoming Wilderness Association -- 307-672-2751; sara@wildwyo.org; 325 E Loucks St., PO Box 6588, Sheridan, WY 82801

There are two writers' conferences happening in Wyoming in June. First up is the annual Wyoming Writers, Inc., conference June 4-6 in Cody. Presenters include Max McCoy and Lee Ann Roripaugh. The Jackson Hole Writers Conference will be held June 24-27 at the Arts Center in Jackson. Presenters include Janet Fitch, Tim Cahill and Winnifred Gallagher.