Joe Minicozzi returns to Wyoming to talk about "The Smart Math of Mixed Use Development" in Casper

Urban planner Joe Minicozzi will talk about "The Smart Math of Mixed Use Development" on Thursday, April 26, at the Casper City Council Chambers at 6:30 p.m. in City Hall, 200 N. David St. Casper's Downtown Development Authority is co-sponsoring the program. It will compare the value of new development outside of downtown with redevelopment within the city core. Minicozzi did similar studies for Cheyenne and Laramie, as well as Fort Collins, Colo. Read more about it in today's Casper Star-Tribune. Arts and culture usually plays a major role in Minicozzi's studies. It did during an excellent presentation he made in Cheyenne in December. He does his homework -- and he's funny, too. Read my post about it here.

Want adsurdist humor in your novels? Think Tim, not Tom

Great quote from a 2011 Wyofile article on Wyoming novelist Tim Sandlin: “When you think American master of absurdist humor with acute observations about contemporary society, characters to fall in love with, and lines you’ll be quoting to your friend, the first name to spring to mind should be ‘Tim’ (Sandlin), not ‘Tom’ (Robbins),” said Sarah Bird, Austin, Texas, novelist and a friend of Sandlin’s.

Sioux City Journal: It takes a community to stop bullying

Sioux City (IA) Journal devotes Sunday front page to anti-bullying campaign. Neat graphic, gutsy move. A new resource is available locally for parents whose children have been the target of bullying in the Laramie County No. 1 School District. Contact UPLIFT for its bullying ombudsman program at 307-778-8686 or 1-888-875-4383.  

LCCC hosts National Poetry Month Open Mic on April 26

National Poetry Month OPEN MIC at LCCC Thursday, April 26. 1-2:45 p.m. in the student lounge. FREE and OPEN to students, community members and faculty & staff. This is a celebration of language, so all performances welcome (singer-songwriters, actors/scenes from plays, poets, fiction and nonfiction writers, readers of classic work by famous authors, etc.). Refreshments provided and drawings for cool door prizes! Even if you can't make it, please spread the word!

Slow start to gardening during a year when the weather warmed too fast

Got tomato seedlings?

Cheyenne blogger Karen Cotton tipped me off to today's "Gardening on the Cheap: 10 Steps to Becoming a Cheerful Cheapskate in the Garden" presentation by Denver's Jodi Torpey at the library. It was sponsored by Laramie County Master Gardeners and the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens. Jodi had many good tips for us frugal gardeners, and I plan to take her up on most of them. I am slow getting started on my veggies this year. I am slow and the weather is warming fast -- not a great combination. I've been posting for the past 4-5 years about my return to vegetable gardening after a long hiatus. First it was all about having a Victory Garden ("Eat a tomato for peace, ya'll!") and then it growing your own and being a locavore and sustainability and all that jazz. But gardening is a struggle around here. It's 6,200 feet and arid and possesses a very short growing season. We have been reclassified from Zone 4 to Zone 5, but a tad more warmth every summer won't make a big difference. It may 50 years from now, but I'll be long gone by then (to Florida).

So I'll persevere with herbs and lettuce and tomatoes and squash and beans, etc.

Meanwhile, I ran into Lindi Kirkbride at the gardening talk and her Cheyenne Alliance Church has started a Seed & Feed Community Garden. Church members and residents of a nearby housing complex are gobbling up the plots. Some of the church's teens will be raising veggies for local shelters and the food bank. Anyway, Lindi says that there are five plots left to interested parties. Fee for each raised bed is $20 per year and water is provided. This is good news because both of the community gardens in Lions Park are booked solid and have waiting lists. If you're interested, e-mail seed&feed@gmail.com.

Bad company: Ayn Rand, Paul Ryan and Cynthia Lummis

What do Ayn Rand, Paul Ryan and Cynthia Lummis all have in common? A lot, as it turns out. Read Rodger McDaniel's new blog post at http://blowinginthewyomingwind.blogspot.com/2012/04/what-do-ayn-rand-paul-ryan-and-cynthia.html

Bid on work by local artists during May at the Cheyenne Family YMCA silent auction

Works by local artists Marlin Glasner, Tom Shaffer, Aaron Curry, Win Ratz, Joyce & Casey Stone will be up for bids at a silent auction held during May by the Cheyenne Family YMCA. The artwork may be viewed beginning May 1 in the swimming pool lobby. Proceeds go to the YMCA's Community Support Campaign. Hours 5 a.m.-9 p.m., M-F; Saturday 7 a.m.-9 p.m.; Sunday noon-4 p.m. FMI: Chris Shay at 307-634-9622.

Check out the new Cheyenne Botanic Gardens web site -- and the proposed new building

Architect's rendering of the proposed Cheyenne Botanic Gardens building

The Cheyenne Botanic Gardens has a new web site. I don't know how new it is because this is my first check-in of the growing season. But it looks fantastic. It's a product of Warehouse Twenty One, the very fine local "full-service marketing firm" that also is working with us at the Wyoming Arts Council. We, too, will soon have a new web site, logo, social media strategy, etc., from WH21. Its staff is creative and energetic and a pleasure to work with.

The Cheyenne Botanic Gardens has grown dramatically during my two decades in Cheyenne. It recently added the Paul Smith Children's Village and its new facility will be on the next sixth penny tax ballot. The renovation/expansion cost is $14 million, with an additional $2 million for operations maintenance. And, yes, I'm voting for it. The only time I've voted against a city building project was the bloated $55 million rec center project of a couple years ago. The 2012 ballot has another proposal for a rec center that makes more sense.

Why is it important to have a new CBG building? On the aesthetic side -- the current building is way too small and cramped. Not enough space to grow seedlings for the gardens and to educate the public about our High Plains oasis. More room is needed to showcase those plants and flowers that grow in more tropical climes.

People have never been more interested in sustainable living. Everyone is a gardener, it seems, and no better place to feed the frenzy than the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens. There are two community garden plots adjacent to the CBG grounds. People need guidance on how to coax their own veggies from this rocky, high altitude soil. I've been fighting the good fight for years, folks -- it ain't easy.

My wife Chris and I love the summer evening concerts and plays on the CBG grounds. A larger facility will enable Director Shane Smith and staff to program more year-round events. Our community is growing and so is the demand for quality events.   

Finally, projects such as the new Botanic Gardens building show that Cheyenne is serious about being a great place to live. Our public library has been voted the best in the U.S. We boast one of the region's best greenway systems. The Historic Depot Plaza downtown is a gem, although the rest of downtown still needs a lot of work. But things are looking up with the Hynds Building project and the Dinneen complex which will hold the first 17th Street Art Fair in its parking lot this summer.

To sum it up -- if you believe in a vital Cheyenne, you need to vote yes on the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens.

LCCC Celtic Ensemble debuts April 22 with concert at St. Mark's in Cheyenne

Laramie's Meg Lanker-Simons taking Cognitive Dissonance to Netroots Nation 12

Meg Lanker-Simons of Laramie (a.k.a. Cognitive Dissonance) was one of the top three vote-getters in round two of the Netroots Nation 12 scholarship contest. That means she gets her registration and lodging paid to attend the largest annual gathering of progressive bloggers June 7-10 in Providence, R.I. Interesting to note that Meg was the only Wyoming blogger in the sweepstakes. She undoubtedly will be telling us the story this Friday night on her KOCA-FM radio show and on her blog at http://cognitivedissonance.tumblr.com/

Wyoming Democratic Party moves headquarters back to Cheyenne

This news was announced over the weekend at the county caucuses. Here's coverage from today's Casper Star-Tribune:

After spending more than a decade in Casper, the Wyoming Democratic Party is moving its headquarters back to Cheyenne, a party spokesman said Tuesday. 

As of May 1, the state Democrats will set up shop in a converted house at 1909 Warren Ave., according to spokesman Brodie Farquhar. 

The Democrats have had their headquarters in downtown Casper since 2000. Farquhar said several Democratic legislators in southeast Wyoming – about the only area of the state that still has Democratic lawmakers – pushed for the move to Cheyenne so they could have access to the party office and so party staffers could help them during the legislative session.

Wyoming Democratic Party hires Brodie Farquhar as new communications director

This is good news:

The Wyoming Democratic Party has hired Brodie Farquhar as its new communications director.

Farquhar came to Wyoming in 2000 and has written extensively for state and regional media.

Farquhar has written for the Casper Star Tribune as a staff writer and as a freelancer, covering natural resources, politics, education, the state legislature and more. He served two years as managing editor for the Wyoming Business Report, building a cadre of freelance writers around the state. He has also written extensively for New West, High Country News, Yellowstone Journal, Billings Gazette and Wyofile.com, which he co-founded.  

Farquhar has also served public relation stints for the Colorado School of Mines, Crested Butte Mountain Resort and Michigan chapter of The Nature Conservancy. “I know how to work with reporters, from small-town weeklies to major dailies and networks,” he said. Guiding reporters around the West’s energy development sites was a particularly valuable experience when Farquhar worked with the Energy & Minerals Field Institute at Mines.

He has a bachelor's degree in journalism and a master's in natural resource policy from the University of Michigan, where he was a Scripps Fellow for Environmental Journalism.

Farquhar said he's always striven to maintain journalistic objectivity, but is looking forward to an opportunity to be an advocate for the Democratic Party and progressive values. "I believe most people have beliefs and values firmly rooted in fairness, common sense and the progressive tradition, contrary to the drumbeat of right-wing talk radio. I want to help Wyoming citizens look beyond the surface, to the real core and context of today's issues," said Farquhar.

Farquhar has covered every conceivable beat in his journalism career, but has developed expertise in covering such natural resource issues as energy development, western water rights, agriculture, wildlife, the Endangered Species Act, snowmobile use in Yellowstone, wolf and grizzly bear recovery plans. In his coverage of the 2006 Wyoming legislative session, Farquhar first wrote about the American Legislative Exchange Council, which writes corporation-friendly legislation, and more recently, voter ID and “shoot to kill” bills.

Farquhar and wife Sharon have three children and one grand-daughter, as well as a mellow golden retriever and calico cat.

"Good Night, Ryan:" Yet another Iraq veteran dies by his own hand

The film that accompanies Nicholas D. Kristof's New York Times story makes me incredibly sad -- and pisses me off. Why isn't more being done to take care of these young people that we send to war?

THERE’S a window into a tragedy within the American military: For every soldier killed on the battlefield this year, about 25 veterans are dying by their own hands.  

An American soldier dies every day and a half, on average, in Iraq or Afghanistan. Veterans kill themselves at a rate of one every 80 minutes. More than 6,500 veteran suicides are logged every year — more than the total number of soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq combined since those wars began.

Investigative reporter Ari Berman to speak at Wyoming Democratic Party state convention May 26

Delegates, alternates and interested parties are invited to hear Ari Berman speak at the Wyoming Democratic Party’s state convention luncheon on Saturday, May 26, noon-1:30 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Laramie. Tickets are $25.

Berman is a contributing writer for The Nation magazine and an Investigative Journalism Fellow at The Nation Institute. He has written extensively about American politics, foreign policy and the intersection of money and politics. His stories have also appeared in the New York Times, Rolling Stone and The Guardian, and he is a frequent guest and political commentator on MSNBC, C-Span and NPR. His first book, Herding Donkeys: The Fight to Rebuild the Democratic Party and Reshape American Politics, was published in October 2010 by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. He graduated from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University with a degree in journalism and political science.

The registration deadline for guaranteed event seating is midnight on Thursday, May 10, 2012. Register at http://www.wyomingdemocrats.com/ht/d/RegisterForConvention/i/1374582

Anti-bullying program on the agenda at tonight's LCSD1 school board meeting

Laramie County School District No. 1 put out a press release on April 3 about its new arrangement with Wyoming non-profit UPLIFT to serve as ombudsman for its anti-bullying program. Not everyone is town is happy with the news. I happen to know that UPLIFT already has a great track record working with families whose children have "emotional, behavioral, learning, developmental or physical disorders." The topic will be discussed tonight at the school board meeting in the Storey Gym. It's also awards night for district students, followed by a bit of official business. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. I am attending as a parent whose children (now in college) have benefitted from UPLIFT's expertise. Here's info from the press release:

Officials at Laramie County School District 1 have announced plans to continue offering bullying ombudsman assistance for families in the community as part of the district’s overall package of services offered to address bullying and provide for safe schools.  

The ombudsman advocacy service will be provided through UPLIFT, a family support network dedicated to the hope, health, and well-being of Wyoming children and families. This service will complement the existing prevention programs and problem-solving efforts of the district. 

“An ombudsman is available to advocate and support kids and families during instances when people believe their concerns have not been addressed through standard processes,” said Dr. Mark Stock, LCSD1 superintendent of schools.

UPLIFT"s phone number in Cheyenne is 778-8686.

Call for entries: 17th Street Art Festival in Cheyenne

17th Street Art Festival – Call For Entries

Entries Due By May 1, 2012!

Festival is August 17-18 in Historic Downtown Cheyenne at the new 17th Street Dinneen Plaza

Application materials postmarked May 1, 2012
 
Contact: Lynn Newman lynnnewman@bresnan.net
Mail entries to Lynn Newman, 921 Ranger Dr., Cheyenne, WY 82009

WyoPoets holds writing workshop April 28 in Casper

George Vlastos

Casper poet and teacher George Vlastos will present "Place Makes Person" for the WyoPoets’ Spring Poetry Workshop on April 28 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Casper, Wyoming. FMI: See the workshop brochure at http://www.wyopoets.org.

Here's George's bio from the Wyoming Arts Council web site:

Between time spent on his family’s olive farm on Crete, teaching language arts at Star Lane Center, an interdisciplinary problem-based high school in Casper, and his duties as Young Authors District Coordinator for the Natrona County School District, George Vlastos writes poetry. He recently was named the winner of the Neltje Blanchan Memorial Writing Award from the Wyoming Arts Council. He has published several collections, including Strophe (1997), Dreams, Grotesques & Hours (2003) and 9 Cross Sections (2005). Previously in WordBand, a former WAC roster artist literary group that performed choral poetry, George approaches the “mythic procession of community and culture” in his workshop presentations, and “the processes necessary to move from thought to written expression.”

Aran Gupta: "The Wonderful, Unpredictable Life of the Occupy Movement"

Progressive journalist Aran Gupta has been reporting on the Occupy Movement since it began Sept. 17 with Occupy Wall Street. Here's his latest report: The Wonderful, Unpredictable Life of the Occupy Movement. Last fall, he toured the U.S. and stopped in Cheyenne to interview local Occupiers. Read my post on that here.

"There's nothing left to do but sing" -- Climbing Poetree performs April 19 at Center for the Arts in Jackson

Performance poetry group Climbing Poetree will take the stage at the Center for the Arts in Jackson on Thursday, April 19, 7 p.m. FREE! Brought to you by pARTners. This is an amazing chance to see art for social justice in action.

News from the Equality State Book Festival

Most states have at least one statewide book festival. Some, such as Arizona, have several. Wyoming's Equality State Book Festival has been held every other year since 2006 in Casper. It's organized by a committee made up of Casper College faculty and staff and members of the community. And me, Mike Shay of Cheyenne, fiction writer and the individual arts specialist at the Wyoming Arts Council. This year's co-drectors are Holly Wendt and Laurie Lye of Casper College. They just sent me this exciting news:

Equality State Book Festival organizers are pleased to announce this year's festival date has been set for Sept. 14-15 in Casper. This celebration marks the 26th anniversary of the annual Casper College/ARTCORE Literary Conference, which has been called "The Equality State Book Festival" every other year since 2006, this being our fourth venture in that spirit.

For the two-day event, more than 15 authors and illustrators will share their talents, giving readings, leading craft talks, emceeing a poetry slam, visiting local schools, and participating on panels. This year's group includes poets, novelists, memoirists, essayists, illustrators, and publishers. 

Among the participants slated are state-wide and regional favorites: Pat Frolander, current Poet Laureate for Wyoming; Zak Pullen, Cat Urbigkit, Kendra Spanjer and Karla Oceanak who will be making school visits; Alyson Hagy and David Romtvedt, faculty from University of Wyoming's MFA program, who will give readings and lead craft talks; and essayist and poet Linda Hasselstrom. From further regions, we are also joined by Rebecca O'Connor and Renee d'Aoust.

The Wyoming Arts Council will be announcing their annual Creative Writing Fellowship awards which celebrate poetry this year and will be judged by Brian Turner. Our friends at Natrona County Public Library are sponsoring a visit from Luis Carlos Montalvan. 

We hope you can join us to appreciate the good company of fellow readers and writers and help celebrate books and the written word Sept. 14-15, 2012, at Casper College and a few other Casper locations, all to be detailed on this web site soon.

For more book festival information, please contact Laurie Lye at llye@caspercollege.edu or 307-268-2639.