Last chance to chip in for WY outlaw bloggers SD road trip

The ChipIn! widget goes down Wednesday, Oct. 26. We're almost at the $500 mark! Chip in now for the Wyoming outlaw bloggers road trip to the John R. Milton Writers Conference at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion. You'll be glad you did -- we will!

See the widget on the right sidebar. Or on the blogroll at Cognitive Dissonance and Out in WY.

Get the details of our trip here.

Speak your piece in peace at Occupy Cheyenne General Assembly Nov. 1

Occupy Cheyenne, Depot Plaza, 10/15/11

General Assembly for Occupy Cheyenne

Tuesday, Nov. 1, 6:30 p.m.

Highlands Presbyterian Church

2390 Pattison, Cheyenne

Get directions here

Discussion item: Occupy Cheyenne Black Friday – who, what, when, where, why and how

All are welcome

All will be heard

Keep checking Occupy Wyoming and Occupy Cheyenne 

We are the 99%

Public-private partnership aims to accelerate "creative placemaking" all across the U.S.

I, for one, like terms such as "creative placemaking." It heats up my blood, embiggens my hopes for a better America.

Some big foundations have joined with the National Endowment for the Arts (and several other federal agencies) to establish ArtPlace, a nationwide initiative "to accelerate creative placemaking across the U.S."

ArtPlace believes that art, culture and creativity expressed powerfully through place can create vibrant communities, thus increasing the desire and the economic opportunity for people to thrive in place. It is all about the local.

ArtPlace invites Letters of Inquiry from initiatives involving arts organizations, artists and designers working in partnership with local and national partners (in fields such as economic development, transportation, neighborhood development, entrepreneurship, sustainability, health, etc.) to transform communities. 

To apply: http://www.artplaceamerica.org/loi/. Requests must be submitted by November 15, 2011.

Here are some examples of some cool creative placemaking projects already underway:

Creative Work Fund in northern California

Lakota Art Market at Red Cloud Indian School on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in S.D.

Farm/Art DTour in Sauk County, Wisconsin

And this Whirligig Park in Wilson, N.C.

The Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park Project from Gerret Warner on Vimeo.

Denver in 2008: Obama clinches Dem nomination. Denver in 2011: Shame on Obama!

Occupy Denver Rally starts from the Greek theater in the Civic Center Park on Saturday. Three years ago, Barack Obama accepted the Democratic Party's nomination for president at the convention in Denver. I was there, cheering him on. Now Occupiers are holding up images of Obama that say "Shame." I was there 10/8/11. What is going on? Will Denver be the place that both launched Obama's career and also brings him down? Photo by Hyoung Chang of the The Denver Post

Just the beginning -- things getting serious at Occupy Denver

Jonny 5 from the local band the Flobots performed during a day of events organized in association with the Occupy Denver movement Oct. 22 in Denver at Civic Center Park. There were bands, speakers, a rally and a march throughout the day. Things are getting serious after overreaction by the Governor, mayor and DPD. Denver may well turn out to be the hottest Occupy site in the U.S. Photo by Leah Millis/Special to The Denver Post.

In the news: Occupy Laramie 10/22/11

Laramie County Dems meet at the IBEW hall Oct. 25

The Laramie County Democratic Party meets on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 6:30 p.m., at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) union hall, 810 Fremont Ave., Cheyenne. Network and socialize with Democrats from the county, some of whom you may know and some of whom you may not. Open to all. Menu: Chili dogs.

Snarky Slacktivists join other Wyoming presenters at 2011 Milton Conference in Vermillion, S.D.

This year's John R.Milton Writers’ Conference Oct. 27-29 at the University of South Dakota has a decidedly Wyoming flavor.

You can't get much more Wyoming that Mark Spragg of Cody, who's the keynote speaker. Mark is the author of Where Rivers Change Direction, a memoir that won the 2000 Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers award, and the novels, The Fruit of Stone, An Unfinished Life, and in 2010, Bone Fire. All four were top-ten Book Sense selections and An Unfinished Life, was chosen by the Rocky Mountain News as the Best Book of 2004. Spragg’s work has been translated into fifteen languages. He lives in Cody with his wife, Virginia, with whom he wrote the screenplay for the 2005 film version of his novel, An Unfinished Life, starring Robert Redford and Morgan Freeman.

Other presenters with Wyoming ties: Conference director and USD creative writing program prof Lee Ann Roripaugh, Laramie native; Robert Roripaugh, Wyoming Poet Laureate emeritus; Paul Bergstraesser, poet and UW prof from Laramie; Val Pexton, Laramie; Julianne Couch, Laramie (now in Ames, Iowa); Meg Lanker, Laramie; Jeran Artery, Cheyenne; and Michael Shay, Cheyenne (me).

Yes, I realize that Wyoming is not the center of the universe. It's just the place where I look out on the universe. I also spend my days promoting the state's writers, poets, essayists, visual artists, performers and musicians. I know them pretty well after 20 years on the job. We are pleased to share our views of Wyoming with our colleagues in South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota and North Dakota.

My role at the conference is as a free-range political blogger from The Equality State. Jeran Artery and Meg Lanker will join me for the presentation: "Snarky Slacktivists or Online Outlaws: Leftie Bliggers in Red-State Wyoming." Drop in to hear us 10:30 a.m.-noon on Saturday at the conference. Details here.

The three-day literary conference will include readings and book signings by award-winning featured authors, scholarly panel sessions exploring the conference theme of “Outlaw!: Law and (Dis)order in the American West,” as well as creative writing panels and pop culture sessions.  Other conference highlights include a showcase presentation of USD graduate creative writing students, a conference book fair, as well as a poetry slam sponsored by the Vermillion Literary Project at the Muenster University Center pit lounge featuring poet Kristin Naca.

Other featured presenters are Sherwin Bitsui, Kristin Naca, Karen Shoemaker, William Trowbridge, and USD visiting writer David Chan, who will give readings and book signings along with permanent USD creative writing faculty Ed Allen and Lee Ann Roripaugh.

FMI: http://miltonconference.wordpress.com or contact the Department of English at (605) 677-5229.

Winners announced for the Wyoming Outdoor Council calendar photo contest

This photo of a Golden Eagle in Sinks Canyon, by Scott Copeland, is among the winners of the Wyoming Outdoor Council photo contest and will appear in the 2012 calendar. Buy a calendar. Support Wyoming's outdoor legacy. Join here.

Occupy Wall Street occupies your TV

High Plains Register looking for local fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, drama, art and music

This comes from Karen Cotton, one of the editors of LCCC’s literary and arts magazine, High Plains Register:

The magazine is accepting submissions from:

Writers of poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, or drama

Arists

Photographers

Musicians

DEADLINE IS OCT. 28

Here are the submission guidelines:

All submissions, up to six per person, must include a cover letter with submitter's contact information.

Writing: Send typed hardcopy or e-mail attached Word document (10 pages maximum each; double space prose)

Artwork and music: Digital files preferred (CD or e-mail attachment)

ALL LCCC student submissions will be eligible for the High Plains Register Award for Best Poem, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Drama, Artwork or Music.

Submissions from the community also encouraged.

Send submissions to:

Liz Jackson

c/o LCCC Arts and Humanities

1400 E. College Drive

Cheyenne, WY 82001

or e-mail LJackson@lccc.wy.edu

Facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/people/HighPlains-Register/600142279

The 2012 High Plains Register release and public reading will be noon, Friday April 27, 2012 in the Student Lounge. Call 778-1330 or search for HPR at lccc.wy.edu.

Occupy Cheyenne Oct. 22 at Depot Plaza

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Occupy-Cheyenne/188084631268023

Occupy Cheyenne Oct. 21 at State Capitol

This is what I'll be doing on my lunch hour on Friday.

Info at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Occupy-Cheyenne/188084631268023

Easy to be driven to distraction by UW's "Distracted"

I have a special interest in this play:

DISTRACTED

Oct. 25-29, 7:30 p.m.; Oct. 30, 2 p.m.

In the Fine Arts Studio Theatre, UW in Laramie

 

What’s wrong with nine-year-old Jesse? He can’t sit still, he curses, he raps, and you can’t get him into—or out of—pajamas. His teacher thinks it’s Attention Deficit Disorder. The psychiatrist thinks he needs medication. Dad thinks he’s just being a boy. And Mama’s on a quest for answers. Is Jesse dysfunctional, or just different? This Off-Broadway hit by the author of GIRL, INTERRUPTED and THE WAITING ROOM is a fast-paced and disarmingly funny look at “parenting in the age of the Internet and Ritalin.” 

DISTRACTED contains language and themes that some might find objectionable.

“Witty and insightful.” — Theatermania
“A smartly comic, sharply observant and surprisingly humane play.” — Associated Press
“...an issue-driven play about parenting and pills that tickles both your brain and your funny bone” — Time Out New York

Read more | Get tickets

Wyoming Democratic Party: Dead, or just near death

I have been a member of the Laramie County Democrats since 2004. I've served as secretary and even spent a few trying weeks rewriting the county party's bylaws. I've been to many boring meetings and a few scintillating ones. I've leafletted neighborhoods and waved signs on icy street corners. I've been the precinct guy at the polls. I've represented Laramie County at two state conventions.

It's a pretty good track record. During that time, I have worked for some winning legislative candidates: Lori Millin, Mary Throne, Jim Byrd. I helped Dave Freudenthal win a second term in 2006. We almost claimed Wyoming's lone U.S. House seat for Gary Trauner -- think how much better off we'd be if he had been the one to replace the inept Barbara Cubin. We're now stuck with Cynthia Lummis, one of the 1% (11-richest member of Congress).

The committed few are getting tired and older, just like the state of Wyoming, which has one of the oldest populations in the USA. The party is tired and needs new blood. Money, too, of course. It also needs to fight back against an ingrained Republican Party that's really feeling its oats now that the Tea Party controls its legislative agenda. The 2011 legislative sessions was no picnic. The upcoming session would be worse if it wasn't a budget session. There will be some crazymaking right-wing bills proposed, but not as many as time will be a factor. But those same crazies that gave you The Legislative Nightmare of 2011 will be back in 2013 (most of them). They are out to push women's reproductive rights back into the Stone Age, demonize gays and lesbians, bash teachers, take away your voting rights, water down environmental regulations, eliminate job protections and slash retirement benefits for state workers, and so on.

It seems like a no-brainer. Go vote, people. But Dems don't show up at the polls in large numbers unless there is something very big at stake. We had the exciting Barack Obama and Gary Trauner running in 2008. That might do it in 2012. But the state party has to step up to the plate to recruit and train candidates. Our leaders have to go toe-to-toe with the Republicans on every issue.

There is now another factor at play. Our young people are showing up in the streets at Occupy-style rallies, such as the ones held in Cheyenne, Casper, Jackson and (yes) Pinedale this past weekend. These are just some of the in-state rallies sparked by Occupy Wall Street. These rallies are happening all over the globe. There were some old hands at Occupy Cheyenne on Saturday. But they were outnumbered by people in their 20s and 30s. It's been a long time since I've seen that.

The Occupiers are not going away. They are young and they are pissed, at both Republicans and Democrats. They are angry at me. Not personally, maybe, but at what I represent -- the Baby Boomer cohort which has not left this country a better place for our children and grandchildren. They have no jobs and huge student loan payments. Moreover, the weight from the top 1% is crushing them and their dreams. Most people my age are in the 99%, and we share the views of the younger Occupiers. But we are also symbols of the wretched excess of the 1980s and 1990s that mortgaged their future.

Something to think about as you read the following fund-raising letter from Chuck Herz, chair of the WY Democratic Party. To be fair, Chuck has spoken out loudly against some of the worst transgressions of WY Republicans. He knows that there are more voices like his that need to be heard. But the Dems need much more than fund-raising pleas. They need reasons to respond to them.

The newspapers are already declaring our time of death.  Last week the Wyoming Tribune Eagle even published an obituary for Wyoming Democrats.

It might sell newspapers, but we know Wyoming Democrats are far from dead. 

Show them that we're alive by pledging your support today.

The Republicans are spending their time abusing stimulus funds and keeping unemployment benefits from out-of-work Wyomingites.  We're hitting the pavement and recruiting candidates across the state to change business as usual in Wyoming.

Contribute today and show we're fighting back!
In states across the country Republicans are making it tougher, even impossible, for Americans to cast their votes; we saw this in Wyoming on the Wind River Indian Reservation.  Wyoming Democrats are fighting to make sure every vote gets counted and respected.

Pledge today and strengthen the Democratic Party in your community!

I know I'm not dead and I know you're not either. 

Democratically, Chuck

Chuck Herz
Chair, Wyoming Democratic Party

PS: We are stronger when we stand together.  Stand with Democrats across Wyoming by contributing today.

Kos Katalogue: Call for artists, crafters, authors

The holidays are coming! Here's a great way to find -- and buy from -- like-minded artists. Find out how to submit your handmade/homemade work to Kos Katalogue

From Salon: Occupy Wall Street: Poster smackdown

Newark Star-Ledger art critic Dan Bischoff rates some of the best-known of the Occupy Wall Street posters on Salon. Bischoff is the former national political editor for the Village Voice and a blogger for The Nation. See a slide show with commentary at Occupy Wall Street: Poster smackdown. The one pictured above is his favorite for these reasons:

Bischoff says that this poster -- his favorite -- is successful in conveying the fact that "this is a uniquely male crisis, with a female response." The influence and involvement of female protesters in the OWS movement, he says, is "inconceivable in Vietnam or any other protest period"; "it's not that there are more women, but that they're equals of the men," he adds. "[And that] complicates the control problem for the police."

Occupy Cheyenne 10/15/11 photo album

Leah Zegan (left) and Ashlee Redig carrying signs across Lincolnway in Cheyenne.

Mike Shay and Ken McCauley at Occupy Cheyenne. FYI -- Ken's sign reads "The middle class is too big to fail."  

Forrest King invokes Proverbs at Occupy Cheyenne

Kids on boot at Depot Plaza -- and Linda Coatney reminds us to occupy the polls on the next election day 

Dominic Syracuse rallies the crowd at Occupy Cheyenne

One of the 89 Occupy Cheyenne participants bring up the inconvenient truth about oilfield fracking

"People over profit"

From left to right (oldest to youngest?): WY public worker; David Dibble wearing his Wisconsin Solidarity T-shirt (and carrying the flag); Sioux who works three jobs and still can't support herself -- covering Occupy Cheyenne for Firedoglake; and a very good sign maker.

Cool signage at Depot Plaza

Rev. Rodger McDaniel

WY Dems Dead? Not yet (perhaps)

The story thus far.

Lifelong Dem, former WY Dem legislator, social activist and ordained minister Rodger McDaniel wrote an op-ed that appeared in today's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle. In it, he sounds the death knell for the Wyoming Democratic Party. Rodger has posted this first on his blog, at which time I made a few comments about it.

Apparently, e-mails and letters and FB posts have been flying fast and furious today. I missed it all, due to a full work schedule and my occasional cluelessness.

Ken McCauley, unsuccessful candidate for WY Legislature in 2010, vice chair of the Laramie County Dems and former A-10 Warthog driver, responded. I volunteered for Ken in 2010. He's a dogged campaigner and not one to give up on a cause. I like what he has to say in this response. He's not ready to bail on the WY Dems, but he has his frustrations -- as all of us do.

Here's his communique:

In today's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle is an op-ed the paper pulled from Rodger McDaniel's blog. The Tribune-Eagle entitled the piece "Wyo. Dems write their own obit.”

The WT-E does not have the article on their website. It is posted on Rodger's blog here: http://blowinginthewyomingwind.blogspot.com/2011/10/wyoming-democratic-party-1890-2011.html

There are several ways to take this article.
Ignore it -- which sadly I think many will, and this is a mistake.
Become angry and consider it a rant. Again this is a mistake.

Take this as a plea, a call for help, a call for leadership.

That is my take on the article. There are many in our party who know the Democrat/liberal cause is still vitally important, but we've become silent. We aren't dead yet, but a doctor would say we have a very faint pulse and would hook up a defibrillator. the monitor shows that here in Wyoming we are almost flatlined.

Many of our base members have expelled their last breath. We've seen staunch liberals leave the party. Many believe the party itself has given up the fight. They need to know there's still a reason to hang on. They need someone by their bedside calling their voice. And maybe now, they need a jolt of electricity and a shot of adrenaline to get them going -- to wake them up.

This article is that plea from our party -- not just from one person.

Should we just let them give up? I think not, but we need to realize that they are the life of this party, and we need every last breath we can hang on to.

As the leadership of this party, it is OUR JOB to feed the organization and to give it exercise and a cause to go on. As parent, we all know that we set the tone for the family. If the parents are inactive, the child most likely will be too. If we don't communicate, most likely the children won't either. We need to be more active, more open, more aggressive, assertive, and vocal. We need our children to know we are alive!

This article from Rodger isn't a negative article -- it is a plea. Consider it a call to the party's suicide hotline. Someone has just called -- will we hang up, or will we motivate and encourage them to hang on and show them that there is a reason to live?

Sincerely,

Ken McCauley, Vice Chair, Laramie County Democrats

Occupy Cheyenne Mike vs. Tea Party Slim

Tea Party Slim, or someone
who looks a lot like him

I walked over to Tea Party Slim's house and invited him to Occupy Cheyenne.

I might have had a better reaction had I slapped his face with a cutthroat trout.

"Occupy Cheyenne?" he harrumphed.

"One and the same," I said.

He rose to his full height and demanded: "You have been making fun of my Tea Party sympathies since April 2009, is that correct?"

I had to admit that he was correct.

"You have been making fun of the woefully misspelled signs of my brethren and sistren."

"Check," I said. " 'Get a clue, morans' was one of my favorites."

"You have been running photos of those signs, and ones that have equated Obama with Hitler, for at least two years."

He had me. "Yes," I said.

"You have called us Know Nothings."

"Check," I said.

"You have called us rednecks."

"I did that once. I lost my head."

"You have said that we were the unwitting dupes of the Koch Brothers and other right-wing billionaires."

"True," I said.

Slim started at me. I stared back. It was one of those classic Cheyenne stand-offs. Finally, Slim asked: "Would I be welcomed at your rally?"

"It's not a rally so much as an occupation," I said.

Slim looked at me with uncomprehending eyes.

"Let's just call it a rally."

"Will you Liberal elitists make fun of my age and my demeanor?"

I looked at Slim. "Possibly your demeanor but not your age." I added: "My wife and I were some of the oldest folks at Occupy Denver last Saturday. Not a single person mocked us. We got the stink-eye a couple times, but it might have been due to seasonal allergies."

Slim nodded. "That's an old problem with stink-eye."

"Will you join us?" I asked. "You are the 99 percent."

"I suppose I am," Slim said, "although not in a Liberal Democrat Pinko Commie sort of way."

A stillness descended on the scene.

"If we worked together, do you think we could spark some real change?" This was Slim's question.

I wasn't so sure. But I sought an answer. "Couldn't hurt," I said.

We reached a compromise. I would hold (briefly) Slim's "Ron Paul 2012" sign. He would hold (briefly) my hand-lettered sign that read: "We are WY public workers. We are the 99%."

It was a start...

P.S.: Occupy Cheyenne takes place from noon to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 15, on the north side of the Depot Plaza in downtown Cheyenne. Starting at 10 a.m. that day, the UU Church is holding a sign-making workshop. I gleefully look forward to the workshop as my protest signs are woefully inadequate. See you there.