Veterans, artists, writers and colleges team up for the Combat Paper Project

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From Nov. 5-9, the Combat Paper Project is teaming up with the Colorado

State University Veterans Organization right down the road in Fort Collins

for a week-long program of workshops, film screenings, presentations and 

an exhibit leading up to Veterans Day on Nov. 11. The completed works 

will be exhibited at the William E. Morgan Library at CSU from 7-9 p.m. on

Thursday, Nov. 8. The event is free and open to the public. For more 

information, contact Drew Waldbauer, alvs_staff@mail.colostate.edu, 

970-491-3977. 

Here's some info on the project:

The Combat Paper Project utilizes art-making workshops to assist veterans in reconciling and sharing their personal experiences as well as broadening the traditional narrative surrounding service and the military culture.

Through papermaking workshops veterans use their uniforms worn in combat to create cathartic works of art. The uniforms are cut up, beaten into a pulp and formed into sheets of paper. Veterans use the transformative process of papermaking to reclaim their uniform as art and begin to embrace their experiences in the military.

The Combat Paper Project is based out of art studios throughout the United States and has traveled to Canada and the United Kingdom, providing veterans workshops, exhibitions, performances and artists' talks. This project is made possible by a multifaceted collaboration between artists, art collectors, academic institutions and veterans.

Through ongoing participation in the papermaking process, combat papermakers are attempting to progress from creating works specific to their military experiences to expressing a broader vision on militarism and society. The work reflects both the anger of the past and hope for the future. Through this collaboration between civilians and veterans, a much-needed conversation is generated regarding our responsibilities to the returned veteran and an understanding of the dehumanizing effects of warfare.

The Combat Paper Project is a collaboration initiated by Drew Matott and Drew Cameron, involving war veterans, activists and artists. More information about our beginnings or the papermaking process can be found in our basic papermaking primer.

Cody's Steve Schrepferman brings his quirky ceramics to Cheyenne's Art Design and Dine

From my arts pal and fellow arts worker, Camellia El-Antably:

This month we are featuring Steve Schrepferman, a Cody ceramicist, at Clay Paper Scissors in honor of National Crafts Month. Steve is a highly versatile potter with work from the gorgeously functional (drinking from one of his cups is lovely experience in balance and texture) to quirky functional to large scale urns and vases and wall hangings. The work is often thrown and then modified and always glazed with rich, deep colors. Some of the pieces in the gallery now have an almost African sense to them. You can get a taste of his work at his website, http://www.steveschrepferman.com/, where he says:

My visual sensibility is rooted in the colors, textures, and rugged forms in the landscape of the American West. I am in awe of the immense vistas and canyons and feel a strong connection to the great physical and spiritual energy of this land. These are the energies I strive to capture in my work.

Art Design & Dine will be tomorrow, Thursday, Oct. 11, from 5-8 p.m. Clay Paper Scissors is located at 1506 Thomes, Ste B, at the southeast corner of the building facing the tracks. Steve's work will be up through November.

Also during ADD: Mark Vinich, a studio artist, has artwork in the Teacher Show at the Civic Center; Mark and Camellia El-Antably's show, "Memories & Curious Conversations," continues at the Hynds Building at the corner of 16th and Capitol.

Studio Space is available! Please come talk to us about it.

9th U.S. Court of Appeals reinstates Montana's campaign donation limits

Good news from Huff Post Politics:

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated Montana's campaign donation limits, telling the federal judge who struck down the limits that the panel needs to see his full reasoning so it can review the case.

The court intervened late Tuesday less than a week after the judge's decision opened the door to unlimited money in state elections – during the height of election season.

Read all about it at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/10/montana-campaign-donation-limits_n_1954591.html

Some good advice for writers from Clarissa Pinkola Estes

"The most difficult endeavor is not to create something. The most difficult endeavor is not even to begin. The most difficult is to keep rowing all the way through to completion. And this, in spades, is the content of the night-sea journey... making the descent to true self, nourishing the work from that locus of control, and completing the work. Then beginning the next, and the next... and completing them."

--Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes, from her Creative Fire manuscript 

Dr. Estes will be conducting a creativity workshop, "Rowing Songs for the

Night-Sea Journey," Oct. 20-25 at Sunrise Ranch in the foothills between

Fort Collins and Loveland. Go here for more info: 

http://sunriseranch.org/personal-growth/rowing-songs/

Suite 1901 is new addition to Art Design & Dine art walk

Cheyenne's Art Design & Dine has added a new location, Suite 1901 at 1901 Central Avenue. Not surprising, as the bar/restaurant is now under new management and has a new mission. Four quilters will be exhibiting their work in the downstairs banquet area. The show opens with an artist’s reception on Thursday, Oct 11, from 5-8 p.m. Artist's statements below.

Joy Torelli

Joy Torelli – My artistic focus with my art quilts is to use bold, saturated colors and make them vibrate against each other.  I also like to use common images, like fish or flowers, and embellish them to transform them into new and exciting fiber art.  I use several techniques, such as printing photos on fabric and then stitching with thread or applying decorative yarns and paints. Another process is to take an image like a fish and use various fabrics, yarns, threads, beads, and other embellishments to produce an other-worldly, flamboyant fish.  I also like to experiment with new techniques, such as fabric “ruching”  to give three dimensions to flowers on the surface of the piece.

Judy Gilmore

Judy Gilmore – I think life is too complicated. Too much input, with no place to send it. And, it isn’t that there is anything I’d want to miss out on…just a fact…life is too complicated. Therefore, I find that my approach to art means I am going to simplify and organize my subject at every turn. It is kind of a game for me to make things less overwhelming. Working in series is appealing to me. Laying down some “restrictions” to follow and creating within those restrictions seems to open doors to my creativity rather than shut them. For example, only using four values of one color to create portraits changes my focus and is very liberating to me. It is probably because of my innate desire to simplify and organize this “too complicated life” that is such a part of me.

Esther Trevino Neasloney

Esther Trevino-Neasloney – I started quilting in the early 70′s mainly in the traditional aspect. It’s only been in the past few years that I have become involved in Contemporary Art quilting. Although I still enjoy the complexity and precision which is involved with traditional quilting, I prefer art quilting because it allows the artist to break the rules and  “think out of the box” when creating a piece. An art quilt can reflect a quilter’s idea or thought in an unusual or whimsical way. Contemporary art quilting can involve the use of many different forms of media which at times can be a challenge. The whole process can be a challenge but the end results are always an art piece that is “One of a Kind”.

Patricia Messer
 

Patricia J. Messer  – As a fiber artist I like to challenge myself to recreate something I admire or find fascinating. Then Ibegin with the basic idea and let the project guide me as it takes on a life of its own. I incorporate traditional quilting methods with different art techniques to capture the spirit of the quilt.

Keith Coombes at Ernie November: "You have to make things happen"

Poster for the Friday show at Ernie November in Cheyenne. Here's the plug on the Facebook event page: "HORDE OF DRAUGAR's CD-Release Party (Killer Death Metal from Cheyenne) with INCINERATED (Brutal Death/War Metal from Cheyenne). All-Ages/Free Show/Bring Donation$$$/Buy Merch/Always Fun/Never Stop/Ernie's Shows Rule."

I am still low-tech when it comes to music. If I still had a turntable, I would probably be buying vinyl. And I wouldn't be alone. There is still a market for turntables and records. Local music store Ernie November is a case in point. Proprietor Keith Coombes still stocks vinyl and it sells.

I order all of my CDs from Keith and Jason, his right hand man. Last February, when I told Jason that Moby Grape founder Peter Lewis was coming to Cheyenne, his eyes grew wide and he said only one word, "Wow." When I mentioned that Peter would be performing with Detroit spoken word poet M.L Liebler who sometimes performed with Jon Sinclair, his eyes grew wide and he asked this simple question: "You mean Jon Sinclair of MC5?" "Yes," was all that I said. Jason dug out a documentary video of MC5, one that I hadn't heard about.

These guys know their music. And their music history.

During lunch today, I dropped by the store to pick up the Bodeans CD I ordered when I was downtown for the Zombiefest. Keith was there, as he usually is, and my CD was sitting in a stack of special orders. Keith's a heavy metal guy, with multiple tattoos and piercings, but he will order anything. And buyers such as me get the good feeling that we are patronizing a local business. Ernie November is a downtown staple. As Keith rang up the sale, we talked about downtown redevelopment. He's excited about Alan O'Hashi's plan to redevelop the Hynds Building and The Hole directly across 16th Street. He likes the idea that 100-some LCCC students might end up living in the redeveloped space. We both agreed that it will add some much-needed energy, not to mention lots of kids who like to buy their music locally. And go to concerts. Keith has sponsored almost 100 shows in his tiny downtown space. He says that it takes him about 20 minutes to move his T-shirts and tie-dye clothing items into the back room and put screens around the incense and candle section. And then he just packs the fans into the store. This Friday, Horde of Draugar is coming to the store. Not my cup of tea, exactly, but he's aiming for a much younger demographic.

Keith was profiled in the June issue of Liberty's Torch, the local Libertarian newspaper. Under the header "Interviews: Capitalists & Creators," editor Brad Harrington conducted an interesting Q&A with Keith. In it, Keith says that he was like a lot of Cheyenne kids, and couldn't wait to leave town after high school because there was nothing to do. But he eventually moved back and took over Ernie November. He soon discovered that there still wasn't a lot of things for kids to do in Cheyenne.

You've got to make your path instead of to wait for it to come along. So that's what we ultimately did. We throw shows in here and we started because there was a lack of venues in town. We've had almost 100 shows in here, with dozens of touring bands from all over the world. If there's a lack of something out there, you have to take charge and do it yourself. Cheyenne's supposed to be just a 'cowboy,' western town, but here I am, the most un-country thing imaginable -- and I'm thriving. You have to make things happen.

Amen, Keith.

Create locally, submit locally, publish locally, see your work in local litmag

The High Plains Register at Laramie County Community College accepts previously unpublished, original poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, drama, music, and artwork. All LCCC students are eligible to submit; local and greater-Wyoming community submissions also encouraged.

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

Postal (snail) mail submissions must be postmarked no later than October 15, 2012. The deadline for electronic submissions is 5 p.m., October 19, 2012.

Get more info at the HPR's spiffy new web page at http://lccc.wy.edu/life/clubs/HPR

Laramie County marches forward into the future with new NWSC and visitor center facilities

Two building dedications take place during the next two weeks in Laramie County. They point the way toward a future that local Know Nothings and no-growthers and Agenda 21 wingnuts are trying to stop.

The first and most spectacular of these buildings is the new NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center (NWSC) in the North Range Business Park just north of the gigantic Wal-Mart Distribution Center and just east of the Big Wind-Power Farm on the Prairie. The building is a marvel of energy efficiency, taking advantage of Wyoming's weather to super-cool the super-computer. The facility will get at least 10 percent of its energy from wind power.

The NWSC will be open for initial public tours from noon-4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 16; and 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 17. Thereafter, self-guided tours of the visitor center will be offered 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays. Large groups are asked to call ahead to make reservations at (307) 996-4321.

This comes from a UW press release:

The visitor center contains several display stations, which will focus on science, supercomputing and the NWSC, plus a section dedicated to younger visitors.

The science section will focus on science and research from NCAR, the University of Wyoming and the atmospheric sciences community. Some examples include climate models, wildfire simulations, wind shear studies and carbon sequestration. How these examples affect people’s everyday lives, improve safety, and help inform policy and decision making will be included.

The computational science display will provide an introduction to computational science; convey challenges and research, including limitations and explorations of new frontiers; university collaborations and programs; and the role of computational science in everyday life.

Finally, the exhibit also includes a section about the societal impact of research conducted at the NWSC. Climate, microbursts, wildfires, winds, aviation safety, solar phenomena, extreme weather and advances in forecasting are among the subjects covered.

There will be a center dedicated to younger visitors. It will have touch screens and a video of a mini-tornado simulation that kids can play with. There will be a station that measures how quickly you can swipe your hand across a sensor, and then tells you how many calculations the supercomputer can do in that amount of time.

Gizmojo, a Cheyenne company, was chosen to create and build the visitor center.

The second dedication is for the Southeast Wyoming Visitor Center. It opens for public inspection at 3 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 12. The $13 million center is on I-25 at the new High Plains Road exit near the Wyoming/Colorado border. It's a LEED-certified building with some of its power coming from solar panels and some from aerodynamic windmills atop the rise leading up to the building. On the building's northeast side is an art installation by Laramie's Stan Dolega. Stan thinks big and works big. BTW, his sculpture is funded through the state's 1% for Art Program, in which a percentage of a public building's costs go toward exterior and/or exterior art, often (but not always) created by a Wyoming artist.

Inside the visitor center are exhibits. One if a Columbian Mammoth cast. These also are hands-on stations for kids, wildlife exhibits and video displays. You can also peer through the many windows at the snow falling outside, the traffic zooming by, and the huge McMurry Business Park sprouting up on the other side of the interstate. One will be able to see the sprawling tank farm for the storage of oil being pumped via fracking out of the Laramie County underground. Another aspect of the state's multifaceted energy economy.

Sometimes all of this new development seems a bit haphazard. You wonder if anyone in the city and county are planning for the future. Growth is good, but there should be a plan.

LCCC's Literary Connection connects this writer with something old and something new

A few thoughts after spending two days at the Literary Connection at LCCC...

Overheard at my table: "She's a big reader but didn't come because she hadn't heard of any of the writers."

Never heard of Tim O'Brien? Can't be much of a reader then. He's probably the best known of all the Vietnam War veteran writers and winner of the National Book Award for "Going After Cacciato." On Oct. 27-28, he'll receive the 2012 Texas Writer Award at the Texas Book Festival in Austin, which is where this Minnesota native now lives. This bookfest may be the biggest in the USA -- it's Texas, right?

It's possible that this mysterious person never heard of Cat Valente and John Calderazzo. I can accept that. John is a full-time professor at Colorado State University and has published two books about volcanoes and one about freelance writing. He's been widely published in environmental and outdoor mags -- if you don't read those, you may never have heard of him. He's a terrific teacher, and has won teaching awards from CSU. He also was my mentor when I was in grad school there. Check out John's web site, 100 Views of Climate Change.

Cat is a young writer of sci-fi fantasy novels and most of her readership is the age of my children. She's a multimedia -- or maybe multi-platform -- author. What does that mean? She publishes books in print form, and has been wildly successful at that. However, she also is at home on the Internet. Her web site and blog are updated all the time (even when on the road) and she's a diehard Twitterer and Facebooker. At Saturday's talk, she said that her first three books came out when she was a military spouse living in Japan so the Internet was her pipeline to her U.S. readership.

Cat also has gone on tour with a musician/songwriter friend to promote her work. They hit the road for four months, reading and performing in every little coffee house and gin joint that would have them, making at least one stop in Wyoming. They slept on the car or on couches. "I was younger then," says the thirty-something author. Weren't we all?

I bring this up because I learned as much from those authors I know (O'Brien and Calderazzo) as I did from the author whom I didn't know, Cat Valente. I am old enough to be Cat's father or possibly, her grandfather, but by keeping my eyes and ears open while she spoke, I learned volumes. True, during her Saturday presentation in which she read a blog post on advice to writers partially in blog-speak, she had to translate some of it for us older folks. Here's one line I particularly liked: "You may as well dork-out to the things that thrill you down to your toes." Translation: "Forget all the advice about following the market and writing what sells. Write your passion!" Here's another one: "Do not operate narrative machinery while being an asshole." Translation: "Don't use your fiction to spew your racist or sexist garbage."

Cat is a wizard at marketing and promotion. She credits her upbringing by an advertising clan. Her father's dreams of being a filmmaker were never realized. But he taught some key skills that she used to produce her own book trailers. She would have continued to do those book trailers but her publisher does them now because they can do animation.

She also wants to spend more time writing and less time on promotion. But she knows that today's writers can't just depend on the skills of their publishers and publicists. All of us writers know this, although most of us haven't taken it to Cat's level.

I bought books from the store that Barnes & Noble set up on-site. I am now reading "Breathless" by Cat Valente, which has as its setting Soviet Russia, specifically the World War II Battle of Leningrad. I bought three books by O'Brien -- two reissued in trade paperback by Mariner and one by Broadway Books. I couldn't find my old copy of "Going After Cacciato" so bought a new one.  As Tim was signing them, he mentioned that "In the Lake of the Woods" is his favorite. That's the one I haven't yet read. I did start it at the library but only got a few pages into it before the Literary Connection. I bought an anthology co-edited by John ("The Landscape of Home") and one of Lit Connection emcee Robert Caisley's plays, "Front."

B&N said that it didn't sell as many print books as it would have liked. But the answer for that may lie in the fact that it also was promoting its soon-to-be-released HD versions of the Nook Reader. I was tempted to reserve one of the 9-inch versions but did not. Not sure if I'm ready for Nook. Are you?

"The Mirror of the People" (a.k.a. your Republican-dominated legislature) plans to be the UW arts czar

"Carbon Sink" sculpture at UW before removal (top) and after (wyofile photo)

Thanks to Rodger McDaniel for his excellent three-part series on the University of Wyoming's censorship and eventual removal of the "Carbon Sink: What Goes Around Comes Around" sculpture. Rodger recently filed an open records request that revealed how Republican state legislators, UW donors from the energy industry and the UW administration colluded to destroy a sculpture by world-renowned artist Chris Drury of the U.K.

Rodger outlined the process fully in his series, featured in his Wyoming Tribune-Eagle column and on his blog, Blowing in the Wyoming Wind. I suggest you read it from the beginning. Here are the blog links:

Part 1: Wyoming's mining industry vs. freedom of expression at UW
Part 2: Wyoming legislators as art critics & bullies
Part 3: The art of surrender at UW

The newspaper headline this morning for part 3 was "Mirror of the people shatters," referring to a Rep. Tom Lubnau quote in which he called the Republican-dominated state legislature "the mirror of the people."

"The mirror of the people?" That's a good one.

Read it and weep for free expression at our state's only four-year public university.

Tea Party Slim sounds the alarm on Agenda 21

Tea Party Slim is hopping mad about Agenda 21.

"What is that?" I asked Slim as we sipped our coffee at the downtown Starbucks.

He shot me a look. "What rock have you been hiding under? It's been all over the blogs."

"Which blogs."

"Tea Party blogs, mostly."

"There's the problem," I said. "I don't read Tea Party blogs."

"You should. They bring enlightenment."

"So enlighten me." I sipped my double mocha caramel latte. "What's Agenda 21?"

Slim sipped his dark roast, took a deep breath and launched into his explanation. When Slim wrapped up his spiel thirty minutes later, I felt none the wiser.

"So the United Nations wants to take over our neighborhoods?"

Slim nodded. "Lock, stock and barrel."

"Why?"

"World domination, son. They won't rest until they have our homes, our pick-ups, our RVs, our guns, our women..."

"Our daughters too?"

"No, not yet, anyway."

"That's too bad," I said. "My wife and I would like to get the last kid out of the house. We need some peace and quiet. Do you think the U.N. could use a 19-year-old with orange spiky hair who plays bass in a band called The Ingrates?"

Slim stared at me.

"Do you?"

He shook his head. "You're not taking this seriously. The U.N. has designs on our property. And they want to tell us how to build our homes, how wide our streets should be, even what kind of energy we can use."

"They don't need a bass player? My daughter's really good, as far as I can tell."

"Do you want the U.N. to tell you how to live?"

"Not really, but..."

"Do you want the U.N. to take away your car and tell you to ride the bus? Or demand that Cheyenne build a monorail?"

"I wouldn't mind getting rid of my car. It has 120,000 miles on it. I need new tires. And my driver's side window is stuck. Did you know that I have to roll down the window and open it from the outside? It's a damn nuisance." I sipped my latte. "And I wouldn't mind a monorail whisking me downtown to work."

Slim's irritation was beginning to show. "You're not taking this threat seriously."

"You're right, Slim. I don't see much of a threat. I don't see how the U.N. would spend its valuable time fretting about my six-year-old Ford Fusion or the amount of natural gas I burn in my 25-year-old furnace or the width of my suburban street."

He shook his head slowly.

"We can't even get the city to pave our street," I said. "Do you think that the U.N. might want to take that on?"

"You're hopeless," he said. "We're having a meeting on this very subject. It's on Saturday, Oct. 20, 5-8 p.m., at the Old Community House in Lions Park. Tea Party patriots from around the country will be protesting against Agenda 21 that day. We all know how dangerous this 'smart growth' nonsense could become. Other true blue conservatives will at the Cheyenne meeting. M. Lee Hasenauer for one. He's running on a patriotic platform for county commissioner. Taylor Haynes will be the emcee -- he's that Libertarian rancher who ran for governor. And so will Brad Harrington, editor of Liberty's Torch."

"That's one heck of a line-up, Slim. And it sounds tempting. But I'm getting my spine straightened that day."

"Didn't know that you had one." He smiled.

"A spine? Yes, I have one. It's been bent out of shape by all the right-wing fooferaw I've heard around here lately."

"Better get used to it."

"Never. All I can say is, 'Don't Tread on Me.' My spine couldn't stand the strain."

Forget the cold and snow -- these Democratic candidates need your help this weekend

From Linda Stowers, Laramie County Democrats:

Of course it is going to be cold this weekend when we need lots 

of volunteers working with our great candidates. Below is a list

of the activities:
 
Lee Filer (HD 12) walking tomorrow at 9:30 a.m., meeting at 

Town and Country on South Greeley Highway. 

Joe Fender (HD 7) walking tomorrow from 10:30 a.m.- 3 p.m. and

Sunday 1-4 p.m. Contact him at 307-421-6082.

Jim Byrd (HD 44) walking tomorrow 10 a.m. and Sunday 9 a.m.- 6 p.m.

Contact him at 307-287-5733.

Mary Throne (HD 11) walking on Sunday at 1:00 p.m., meeting at 

Mary Throne's home at 720 E. 19th Street. 
 
Let's get out and help these candidates!
 
Now that the flowers are gone you probably need some color to fill

the void, come to the LarCoDems office at 1909 Warren and pick up a

yard sign for the candidates.
 
Finally we will be doing our phone banks every Tuesday at 1909 

Warren at 7 p.m. and Wednesday at the home of candidate Lee Filer.

Please help out these activities,

Dress warm.  
 
 

Pat Conroy's response to the "censors, book-banners and teacher-haters" of Charleston, W.V.

Author Pat Conroy has witnessed his books being challenged and banned 

all over the country. Read a letter he wrote to the editor of the 

Charleston Gazette in response to one such incident in 2007, shared in

honor of Banned Books Week (from the Open Road Media blog):

October 24, 2007
 
I received an urgent e-mail from a high school student named Makenzie
Hatfield of Charleston, West Virginia. She informed me of a group of
parents who were attempting to suppress the teaching of two of my
novels, The Prince of Tides and Beach Music. I heard rumors of this
controversy as I was completing my latest filthy, vomit-inducing work.
These controversies are so commonplace in my life that I no longer get
involved. But my knowledge of mountain lore is strong enough to know
the dangers of refusing to help a Hatfield of West Virginia. I also do
not mess with McCoys.
 
I've enjoyed a lifetime love affair with English teachers, just like
the ones who are being abused in Charleston, West Virginia, today. My
English teachers pushed me to be smart and inquisitive, and they
taught me the great books of the world with passion and cunning and
love. Like your English teachers, they didn't have any money either,
but they lived in the bright fires of their imaginations, and they
taught because they were born to teach the prettiest language in the
world. I have yet to meet an English teacher who assigned a book to
damage a kid. They take an unutterable joy in opening up the known
world to their students, but they are dishonored and unpraised because
of the scandalous paychecks they receive. In my travels around this
country, I have discovered that America hates its teachers, and I
could not tell you why. Charleston, West Virginia, is showing clear
signs of really hurting theirs, and I would be cautious about the word
getting out.
 
In 1961, I entered the classroom of the great Eugene Norris, who set
about in a thousand ways to change my life. It was the year I read The
This letter first appeared on the Open Road Media blog during Banned
Books Week 2011.Catcher in the Rye, under Gene's careful tutelage, and

I adore that book to this very day. Later, a parent complained to the

school board, and Gene Norris was called before the board to defend his

teaching of this book. He asked me to write an essay describing the book's
galvanic effect on me, which I did. But Gene's defense of The Catcher
in the Rye was so brilliant and convincing in its sheer power that it
carried the day. I stayed close to Gene Norris till the day he died. I
delivered a eulogy at his memorial service and was one of the
executors of his will. Few in the world have ever loved English
teachers as I have, and I loathe it when they are bullied by
know-nothing parents or cowardly school boards.
 
About the novels your county just censored: The Prince of Tides and
Beach Music are two of my darlings which I would place before the
altar of God and say, "Lord, this is how I found the world you made."
They contain scenes of violence, but I was the son of a Marine Corps
fighter pilot who killed hundreds of men in Korea, beat my mother and
his seven kids whenever he felt like it, and fought in three wars. My
youngest brother, Tom, committed suicide by jumping off a
fourteen-story building; my French teacher ended her life with a
pistol; my aunt was brutally raped in Atlanta; eight of my classmates
at The Citadel were killed in Vietnam; and my best friend was killed
in a car wreck in Mississippi last summer. Violence has always been a
part of my world. I write about it in my books and make no apology to
anyone. In Beach Music, I wrote about the Holocaust and lack the
literary powers to make that historical event anything other than
grotesque. People cuss in my books.
 
People cuss in my real life. I cuss, especially at Citadel basketball
games. I'm perfectly sure that Steve Shamblin and other teachers
prepared their students well for any encounters with violence or
profanity in my books just as Gene Norris prepared me for the profane
language in The Catcher in the Rye forty-eight years ago.
 
The world of literature has everything in it, and it refuses to leave
anything out. I have read like a man on fire my whole life because the
genius of English teachers touched me with the dazzling beauty ofprogre
language. Because of them I rode with Don Quixote and danced with Anna
Karenina at a ball in St. Petersburg and lassoed a steer in Lonesome
Dove and had nightmares about slavery in Beloved and walked the
streets of Dublin in Ulysses and made up a hundred stories in The
Arabian Nights and saw my mother killed by a baseball in A Prayer for
Owen Meany. I've been in ten thousand cities and have introduced
myself to a hundred thousand strangers in my exuberant reading career,
all because I listened to my fabulous English teachers and soaked up
every single thing those magnificent men and women had to give. I
cherish and praise them and thank them for finding me when I was a boy
and presenting me with the precious gift of the English language.
 
The school board of Charleston, West Virginia, has sullied that gift
and shamed themselves and their community. You've now entered the
ranks of censors, book-banners, and teacher-haters, and the word will
spread. Good teachers will avoid you as though you had cholera. But
here is my favorite thing: Because you banned my books, every kid in
that county will read them, every single one of them. Because
bookbanners are invariably idiots, they don't know how the world
works— but writers and English teachers do.
 
I salute the English teachers of Charleston, West Virginia, and send
my affection to their students. West Virginians, you've just done what
history warned you against—you've riled a Hatfield.
 
Sincerely,
 
Pat Conroy
 
This letter first appeared on the Open Road Media blog during Banned
Books Week 2011.

Post-mortem, Wyoming style, on the first presidential debate

Democrats gathered tonight at Lori Brand's house in Cheyenne for a debate watching party. As always, we had a lot of fun just being together as Liberals in our decidedly un-Liberal state. We ate well, and drank fine wine and beer, as we watched the give-and-take between the candidates. Mitt looked and sounded desperate, trying to be a middle-of-the-roader in the Republican Party that is being driven over a cliff by right-wing crackpots. The moderator, Jim Lehrer, had no real part in the event. As Rachel Maddow quipped when it was concluded: "We've seen the death of this debate format." Or something like that. There was a bit of debate, but both Romney and Obama ran over the moderator. It doesn't work, and we deserve better.

Still, fun was had by all. We met some new people who heard about the event through the Obama for American site. We raised some money for state and local candidates, as well as for the Obama outreach effort from Wyoming to battleground Colorado, site of the debate. Obama needs to win Colorado to win the election. So we have to keep lobbing phone calls from The Equality State to The Centennial State until Nov. 6.

BTW, Jeran Artery of Wyoming Equality is a fine auctioneer. Thanks, Jeran.

On to the Veep debates next week!

Get 'em while they're hot, folks -- Presidential Debate Bingo cards

One of Meg's Presidential Debate Bingo cards

Laramie's Meg Lanker-Simons at Cognitive Dissonance has come up with a series of cards for "Presidential Debate Bingo." Every card is different! Play the game, get five buzzwords or jingoistic phrases in a row, submit the winning entry within an hour following the Oct. 3 Denver debate and win a swag bag of political buttons, bumper stickers, yard signs, and more. You won't find this offer in stores! Go to http://cognitivedissonance.tumblr.com/post/32773853069/inothernews-cognitivedissonance-presidential

"Gardening: Cool Season Crops" continues Oct. 4 at Cheyenne Botanic Gardens

Saw this on Nancy Sindelar's excellent e-mail newsletter: 

"Gardening: Cool Season Crops."  Grow crops for harvest in the hoop house.  Learn to take advantage of the end of the season, to continue the harvest.  Fifth of a seven-week series. At 4 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 4, Cheyenne Botanic Gardens, 710 South Lions Park Dr.  Info & RSVP:  637-6458, www.botanic.org, info@botanic.org.  Cost: $5 for the entire series. 

MoveOn petition asks: Sen. Barrasso, why did you vote to block veterans' jobs bill?

Wyoming MoveOn member Josh Kronberg sent this:

Dear Wyoming MoveOn member,

All over Wyoming we see public support for our troops overseas, but just because their tours of duty might end doesn't mean that the debt owed them by their country ends with them. 

Nonetheless, our troops are coming home to Wyoming and finding it even harder than non-vets to find jobs, housing, and support. We can wave all the banners we want and paste all the bumper stickers we can find but that doesn't put paychecks in veterans' hands or roofs over their heads.

Recently, Senator John Barrasso voted to block a billion-dollar veteran jobs program, and it's time we in Wyoming did more to support our troops than put bumper stickers on our cars and repost pictures on Facebook. 

That's why I created a petition on SignOn.org to Sen. Barrasso, which says:

Senator Barrasso, stop blocking programs to employ our vets, and start showing them the support they have earned. Reverse your decision on preventing the billion-dollar veteran jobs program from going through; put our money where our mouth is.

Click here to add your name to this petition, and then pass it along to your friends.

Thanks!

–Josh Kronberg

This petition was created on SignOn.org, the progressive, nonprofit petition site. SignOn.org is sponsored by MoveOn Civic Action, which is not responsible for the contents of this or other petitions posted on the site. Josh Kronberg didn't pay us to send this email—we never rent or sell the MoveOn.org list.

Debate watch party on the agenda for Oct. 3

Democrats are holding a debate watch party on Wednesday, Oct. 3, 6:30-8:30 p.m. I saw the details on the Obama for America web site. It has a special relevance for those of us in Cheyenne who witnessed Obama's nomination and acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver in 2008. This debate comes to us from the University of Denver campus.

It wasn't mentioned, but I wonder if there is a drinking game involved? You have to chug a beer when Mitt mentions socialism? When President Obama mentions Osama bin Laden? When Mitt can't remember the time that he told the Detroit auto industry to go to hell? When President Obama mentions that he's The Savior of Detroit? When the moderators lob a softball question at either candidate?

We'll be drunk by 6:35.

Get more info here.

Sam Western explores the future of AML funding in Wyoming w/update

Sam Western, Sheridan author and correspondent for London's The Economist, spoke last night at the Roosevelt-Kennedy dinner held by the Wyoming Democratic Party.

In a bit of kismet, a column by Sam appeared this morning in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle. In it, he explores the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Trust Fund (AML) legislation, how it's helped and hurt Wyoming.

AML legislation was first passed in 1977 and mandated that a percentage of each ton of coal was designated to clean up abandoned mines. Strip mines of the West, like those in Wyoming's Powder River Basin, were taxed at $.35 per ton while underground mines of the East were taxed at $.15 per ton. Since most of the reclaimed mines were in the East, most of the $3 billion in taxes on Wyoming coal (the largest amount from any state) should have gone elsewhere. But the law also mandated that 50 percent of the taxes collected in a state would go back to that state. So it did. But since Wyoming had so few abandoned mines to reclaim, that money went to new ag facilities at Sheridan College and new classrooms at UW, facilities that normally would be paid for by its citizens.

That darn federal gubment.

In Republican Paul Ryan's Draconian budget plan, all that coal tax money would disappear. Remember, the GOP doesn't like taxes on wealthy corporations or people. The budget failed, but not before Wyoming's entire Congressional delegation, Republicans all, voted for it. Meanwhile, the 50 percent rate of return for AML funding has dropped to 48 percent, which means Wyoming loses out on millions every year. Our Congressional delegation now is backpedaling as fast as it can to save the AML funding.

Thus, this isn't a story about the AML. It's about the the reluctance of Wyoming to accept a new reality: Revenue from minerals, such as AML money, is easy to snatch, and Congress will probably use it for whatever it pleases.

The dilemma also reveals Wyoming's one-dimensional sense of entitlement. It's our money, we yelp, and we want it back. Now.

The reality is that over the years, Wyoming has received tens of billions of non-mineral-related money from taxpayers who don't live in the Cowboy State. In the trade-off department, Wyoming has gotten an awfully good deal.

The old era is fading. What were once Wyoming plums are now low-hanging fruit for a cash-strapped Congress to pluck for other purposes.

The matter is complicated by the unwillingness of Republicans to work across the aisle to reach a compromise on issues which would benefit the state. The doctrinaire thick-headedness of Barrasso, Enzi and Lummis, only make it inevitable that Wyoming will continue to lose federal funds. Not only will they not compromise with Democrats, they also finds compromise tough with members of their own party running for vice president.

What a dilemma.

And Wyoming will be the loser.

This is a summary of an excellent article loaded with details. I recommend that you read it. I would send you to the WTE web site to read the entire column, but it's a terrible web site and Sam is nowhere to be found. If you get the paper, read it on the op-ed pages. If not, try the library.

You can read more of Sam's excellent work (journalism, essays and fiction) at www.samuelwestern.com

10/1/12 UPDATE: Sam's column is on wyofile. Go to http://wyofile.com/2012/09/feds-can-restrict-flow-of-mineral-revenue-to-wyoming/  

Nov. 10 Cheyenne conference outlines steps to getting your novel published

Joanne Kennedy's new novel

Some of my local writing pals are staging a one-day conference "designed to help you navigate the next steps toward the publication of your novel." It will be held on Saturday, Nov. 10, 10:15 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Laramie County Public Library, 2200 Pioneer Ave., Cheyenne.

Presenters include members of my writing group, Mary Gillgannon and Liz Roadifer, and an emeritus member of the group, Joanne Kennedy. Mary writes historical novels, as well as Celtic and Regency romances. Liz writes mysteries and sci-fi fantasy. Joanne is the well-known author of cowboy romances set in Wyoming.

Also presenting are Amanda Cabot, a Cheyenne author of Christian romances; teen novelist and library board member Tina Ann Forkner; "Saucy Lucy" series mystery novelist Cindy Keen Reynders; and memoirist and sci-fi writer Marjie Smith.

That's one heck of a line-up. I attended a recent presentation by Mary, in which she outlined the steps to getting your work published as e-books. I learned a lot and took lots of notes (see my blog about it here).

The workshop is free. The day includes a lunch-hour book signing, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting the Laramie County Library Foundation. You can brown-bag it, or get a delicious lunch at the library cafe (I eat there often).

FMI: 307-634-3561.