Outlaws ain't what they used to be

What does it takes to be an outlaw in the modern West?

That's been the topic today at the John R. Milton Writers' Conference at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion.

In the West, outlaws have been the quintessential badmen (one word). They rob trains and banks. Terrrorize law-abiding citizens. Kill for no discernible reasons.

Lawmen (one word) were the antithesis of badmen. At least in old movies and old books. Later, that changed. It was the 1960s and '70s. Time of the anti-hero, or maybe the unveiling of charlatans, or the humanizing of the mythic. Custer and Wyatt Earp and Buffalo Bill and Bat Masterson and the entire litany of white Western heroes were being colored in shades of gray. We began to look at history from many angles and not just one. It got complicated. Outlaws were lawbreakers and the good guys were out to set things right. Now the good guys were breaking moral and ethical laws in the Jim Crow South and in Vietnam and on Wall Street. The powerless --Southern blacks, the V.C., advocates of Brown Power and women's rights and Native American traditions -- they were out on streets and occupying buildings and generally raising a ruckus.

Today at the conference, speakers have looked at the legacies of a variety of Western characters: Buffalo Bill Cody, pioneers, 19th-century western melodramas, the fictional creations of Louis L'Amour, Walter White in "Breaking Bad," the sheriff and townspeople in "High Noon," Hollywood horse operas, Hollywood space operas, and even the hard-boiled creations of western-based mystery writers such as Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett.

Fascinating discussions. But we are left with the questions: who are the outlaws of 2011? Can a blogger be an outlaw, or just a slacktivist with time on his/her hands? If you take to the streets in a nonviolent protest against the powers-that-be and are beaten senseless by the kindly neighborhood cop in riot gear, are you the bad guy or is he? Are you the outlaw for defying conventions? Or is he the outlaw for resorting to violence? Are you both beyond the pale?

Stay tuned...

Impromptu sculpture marks site of Oakland chaos

Who says that public art has to be planned? From the Oakland Tribune blogs: What's really attracting attention is a stack of cyclone fence, the remnants of a barrier that had been erected around the lawn area but was torn down by protesters. The stack of fencing resembles a sculpture and many people are walking up to take pictures of it. A police officer just went over to snap a shot as well. In photo, City of Oakland worker Norman Hall looks for tent stakes in the ground at Frank Ogawa Plaza at the site of the Occupy Oakland movement in downtown Oakland, Calif. (Kristopher Skinner photo).

Pres. Obama tackles student loan crisis during Denver speech

Pres. Obama seems to like Denver. He returned to the Mile High City today to talk about plans for relieving the student loan crisis. Great news for all of us still paying off loans -- and for our children and grandchildren. Details at http://www.barackobama.com/news/student-loan-reform-cant-wait

Lawmakers always give coal companies a break

Wyoming's coal industry giants taxed unfairly?

Give me a break.

They own our state legislators, guys like Republican Rep. Pat Childers of Park County.

FMI: WPR: Lawmakers consider changing coal tax structure

Suicide solutions in Wyoming should go beyond the glib “it’s a mental health issue”

Thanks to the Casper Star-Tribune, and to reporter Tom Morton, for keeping alive the issue of Wyoming’s high suicide rates.

The Wyoming Survey & Analysis Center reports an average of 107 people a year completed suicides from 2007-2009. Of those completed suicides, 72 percent were accomplished by firearms.

Generally, only 1 percent or 2 percent of people attempt suicide with firearms, but firearms are 85 percent to 90 percent lethal. Other methods, even hanging, can give a person a window to reconsider and get help. Guns by their very nature are lethal. If they weren't, people wouldn't use them for self defense.

--snip—

On personal note, I'm also a survivor of a suicide attempt. I used pills and alcohol. If I had a gun, I wouldn't be here. Preventing suicide by firearm involves many of the practices one finds in hunter safety and the NRA's Eddie Eagle programs. The precautions of storing ammo and firearms separately or using gun locks equals "banning guns."

This scourge of suicide by firearm has become a sad political debate instead of its recognition as a terrible personal and social tragedy needing solutions beyond a glib "it's a mental health issue." And so I'll end with a question: If someone told you s/he was considering suicide and had immediate access to a gun, what would you do? Call a mental health professional for an appointment? Look for antidepressants in the medicine cabinet? I doubt it.

I would hope you would dial 911. I also hope you would do whatever you could to take the gun away from the person as soon as possible.

Banning guns is not an option. Gun safety helps, as do education programs and access to suicide hotlines. The gun is a very final solution to what can often be a passing call to end it all.

Read more: http://trib.com/news/opinion/blogs/morton/touching-the-third-rail-of-wyoming-culture-guns-and-suicide/article_b8558df4-1e90-5ff5-90c2-4622c6381e67.html

My laptop was not purchased from a local artisan -- but my coffee cup and cereal bowl were

Hummingbirdminds couldn't agree more with this graphic. Will I buy every Christmas gift from a local artist, writer, crafter or designer? No, as it's not possible to buy an iPad from my neighbor (even though he's very creative). However, the world is a more local place if I buy some of my gifts in Cheyenne. I did that last year at the Cheyenne Winter Market at Depot Plaza. Will do more of that this year. This graphic comes from the Colorado Creative Industries Facebook page. 

Casper comes together to decide on "art space" details

When I was at the Casper College Literary Conference last month, I dropped by the Sunshine Apartments’ construction site across from the Nicolaysen Art Museum. This is one of the more interesting projects in the state. A years-long struggle over removing a slumlord’s run-down property has culminated in a community-wide effort to build affordable “green” housing with arts and education as its centerpiece.

The Nicolaysen Art Museum, in partnership with the Wyoming Community Development Authority, the city of Casper and Grimshaw Investments, received a $50,000 NEA grant to build an “art space” into the Sunshine II Apartments on the corner of Beech Street and Collins Drive.  

Now all the partners are coming together to decide the scope of the project. On Thursday, Oct. 27, 5:30-7 p.m., the public is invited to a town hall forum, “Creating Communities Through Art and Housing,” in the Nic lobby.

At Thursday’s forum, those attending will meet the three artist groups who were selected as finalists from 86 who submitted requests for credentials to a selection panel in the summer. The finalists are the pair of Gail Simpson and Aristotle Georgiades of Actual Size Artworks, Stoughton, Wis.; Sulkang Zhao of New York; and Matthew Dehaemers of Kansas City, Kan.

From yesterday's Casper Star-Tribune:

WCDA Director David Haney said roughly 30 days after the site visit and forum, the finalists will have mock-ups ready of their idea for Casper, based in part on the feedback they receive at the forum. 

“We want something interactive, multigenerational, something that reflects Wyoming culture and Casper’s character. We want it to be practical and educational and reflect sustainability. We don’t want something that isn’t going to reflect Wyoming values. Beyond that, we don’t know what we want, and that’s the purpose of Thursday,” Haney said. 

Those in attendance will be welcome to ask questions of the artist finalists as well as the project partners.

Interesting that so many entities have worked together to change this blighted piece of downtown real estate. It's only fitting that the public is being invited to decide on the next step. Casper's downtown seems to be changing faster than Cheyenne's. New streetscapes are already being built, and traffic rerouted. The Nic is one of the state's best art museums. But the affordable housing units and their art space tied it into the neighborhood. It works the other way too -- people who live in the development will be tied into the Nic and the city's arts community. That's how it should be. 

There some public/private efforts to turn Cheyenne's Hynds Building into a live/work space for artists. That would be a welcome addition to downtown. The big challenge is how to tie it all together -- live/work spaces. galleries, museums, retailers, performing venues, parking, etc. The community will have to meet on this just as they're doing in Casper. 

For more on this issue, go to Casper Star-Tribune Community News editor Sally Ann Shurmur’s blog at trib.com/dishin

Read more on the Oct. 27 meeting: http://trib.com/news/local/casper/nicolaysen-museum-hosts-town-hall-on-public-art-project/article_728ec980-dd09-513b-8e50-c85bf0da6710.html#ixzz1bsQIYqX9

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