I'm not a Florida beach guy. Not anymore.
Salt water once ran in my veins. The sun freckled my skin on a daily basis. All summer long, I lived in my baggies and toughened my feet by walking barefoot on scalding asphalt on my way to the beach's hard-packed sand. My car wore surf racks and patches of rust. By the time I graduated from high school, it was almost ready for the scrap heap, although a neighbor forked over $100 so he could turn it into a dune buggy.
Nights and evenings, we worked so we could surf during the day. I was a busboy at a combination Kentucky Fried Chicken joint and a pancake house. We busboys spent a lot of time flirting with the waitresses, trying to get them into our cars for an after-work beachside rendezvous. When that didn't work, we'd drive down to the Daytona pier and see if any tourist girls were interested in canoodling with busboys. We lonely guys often ended up parked on the beach (you could drive on it back then) talking about our plans for the future.
I had plans. I didn't know what they were, but I had them. Life was waiting for me and I had no desire to remain a beach boy or, worse, a beach bum. The world was tough on me and I did return to the beach after being booted out of college. I surfed and worked, waited for the Army to pluck me from the waves and send me to Vietnam. But the call never came and I had to figure out the next steps. Traveled, returned to school, worked, returned to the beach again although spent less and less time actually on the beach. Guess I always thought it was something to grow out of.
My brother Dan found that the beach was something you could grow into. He surfed until he was almost 60, until leukemia claimed him late last year. His 50- and 60-something buddies all surfed. They formed a church called the Salty Church that is a block from the beach.
Meanwhile, I made my home in the Rocky Mountain West and only rarely looked back. Until recently. When retirement raised its head. Now I'm spending time at funerals and weddings of my loved ones in The Sunshine State. It's not the place I left in 1978. Scads more people, traffic, developments. I was surprised during my recent trip that you can still walk with your best girl on the beach -- and be the only two out there. It has to be windy and 45 degrees, but it can be done.
But as I said in a previous post, the beach is nice but I can't see basing a retirement on that one thing alone. I can't surf until I get my knees fixed and/or replaced. I don't fish, like some of the codgers I came across on my beach walks. My Celtic skin won't tolerate sunbathing. I don't own a boat.
The warm weather is nice. Lots of cultural offerings. My family members are there, as are old friends. I care deeply about my old Florida schools -- they shaped me.
Still...
Spend a few decades in a place and you change. I've lived in Wyoming since 1991, with two years off in the mid-90s to work in D.C. As it turns out, I still have salt water in my veins. That's because all humans have salt water in our veins, even those of us who live in the Land of the Ancient Seas. Millions of years ago, my little lot in Cheyenne was underwater. If I excavated my entire backyard instead of just my small garden plot, I would find fossils of sea creatures. When the wind blows from the south, I smell the salt air. It could be from the nearest saltwater patch in the Gulf of Mexico. More likely, it's the moisture by storms. Or it could be my imagination.
Most of the time, the wind brings the scent of the dry prairie or of snow from Gulf of Alaska storms. The landscape reveals no waves, unless I use my imagination and wonder what it would be like to surf a wave as high as the nearest sandstone bluff.
I have to admit that I am more of this place than of the place where I did my growing up. I am no longer a beach guy unless you count the fact that I have walked "the beaches of Cheyenne" that Garth Brooks sings about. No longer the beach boy but a beach cowboy.
Monday, January 27, 2014
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Wyoming Writers, Inc., and Bearlodge Writers offer conference scholarship in Gaydell Collier's name
Not too early to contemplate summer arts events....
Wyoming Writers, Inc., holds its 40th anniversary conference June 6-8 in Sheridan. It's a terrific writers' conference, one I've been attending for more than 20 years.
How does a mostly volunteer-run organization persevere for four decades? The passion of its members -- writers and poets and memoirists and children's book authors and mystery writers and digital scribes and so on. Attendees get tons of good advice and have a great time in the bargain. Sheridan is home to an energetic group of writers and was the site of the first WWInc conference.
WWInc has traditionally offered conference scholarships. Now there's a new one. WWInc board member and Bearlodge Writers member Andi Hummel provides the details:
Wyoming Writers, Inc., holds its 40th anniversary conference June 6-8 in Sheridan. It's a terrific writers' conference, one I've been attending for more than 20 years.
How does a mostly volunteer-run organization persevere for four decades? The passion of its members -- writers and poets and memoirists and children's book authors and mystery writers and digital scribes and so on. Attendees get tons of good advice and have a great time in the bargain. Sheridan is home to an energetic group of writers and was the site of the first WWInc conference.
WWInc has traditionally offered conference scholarships. Now there's a new one. WWInc board member and Bearlodge Writers member Andi Hummel provides the details:
A founding member of both Wyoming Writers, Inc., and Bearlodge Writers (BLW), Gaydell Collier’s dedication to the craft of writing and her encouragement to writers of all ages buoyed many people for many years.Bearlodge Writers, with the gracious approval of the Collier family, is honored to remember Gaydell by offering a scholarship in her name for the upcoming WWInc conference. Keeping Gaydell’s generosity in mind, we hope this scholarship will prove an encouragement and help its winner to grow and become the best writer he, or she, can be.
The Gaydell Collier Memorial Scholarship (GCMS) will be awarded for the first time at the 2014 WWInc conference to be held in Sheridan, Wyoming, June 6-8 at the Holiday Inn Convention Center. The GCMS is open to any writer wishing to apply (BLW members are not eligible) and will include a full conference fee, a one-year membership to WWInc, and a $200 stipend. BLW will pay the registration and membership fee directly to WWInc, and award the stipend to the recipient at the conference. The recipient’s name will be publicized.
To apply for this scholarship, applicants are expected to follow a few simple guidelines. In a maximum of 250 words, answer this question, “How will attending the Wyoming Writers, Inc., conference propel you forward as a writer?” The author’s response must be typed, double-spaced, with one-inch margins, in Times New Roman font, size 12, on one side of one sheet of 8.5” X 11” white paper. Name, address, email address, and phone number should appear at the top of the page. Submissions should be mailed to Bearlodge Writers, P. O. Box 204, Sundance, WY 82729-0204, and postmarked no later than March 1, 2014.
The GCMS recipient and one alternate — chosen should the initial recipient be unable to attend the conference — will be notified on or slightly before April 21.
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Artspace comes to Cheyenne Jan. 29
Cheyenne's downtown needs help.
I'm not the first one to say that. The lead editorial in today's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle said it. So has our mayor, city council people and just plain folks such as you and that person standing next to you.
Artspace, by itself, doesn't have the only answer to a vital downtown. But it can help. And it's good to see action replace complaining.
This Minneapolis-based organization's mission "is to create, foster and preserve affordable space for artists and arts organizations." It has helped cities from Minot, ND, to Fort Lauderdale rehab old spaces into thriving live/work spaces for artists. On Valentine's Day in Loveland, CO, Artspace will be part of a ground-breaking for artist residences at the old Loveland Feed & Grain Building, part of new arts campus. Loveland once was known as Fort Collins' sleepy southern cousin. Then it carved out a niche as a hotbed for sculpture, and now it boasts a downtown focused on the arts.
The Cheyenne Downtown Development Authority and Arts Cheyenne propose to partner with Artspace to create downtown spaces for artists to live, work and collaborate. Plan to attend one of the meetings on Wednesday, Jan. 29, to share your ideas with Artspace, and to hear what the organization can do for our downtown.
Here are the public meetings:
11:45 a.m.: City Council and community leadership work session at the Historic Plains Hotel, 1600 Central Ave.
2 p.m.: Artists and arts organization focus group, Old West Museum, 4601 Carey Ave.
5:30 p.m.: Public meeting, Plains Hotel Ballroom.
The 2 and 5:30 p.m. meetings will include a summary of Artspace artist survey results, possible sites for Artspace in downtown Cheyenne, and PowerPoint loop presentation on arts organizations.
Not every Artspace visit leads to a project. As an Arts Council staffer, I attended an Artspace session in Casper that did not lead to a project. However, it started the ball rolling on the revitalization of the city's downtown and its adjacent Old Yellowstone Historic District. The Casper Artists' Guild has designs on an old downtown warehouse and is halfway to its fund-raising goal of a million dollars to purchase and rehab the structure which it will share with a business, possibly a brewpub. The Nicolaysen and the city and a private developer teamed up to replace a crime-ridden apartment complex with LEED-certified low-income housing units, a public plaza and a unique sculpture, with funding help from the National Endowment for the Arts.
I also attended the "Living Upstairs in Wyoming" conference in Sheridan which explored the city's thriving downtown and the trend toward transforming the upstairs units of those buildings into living spaces. Sheridan's downtown is also home to dozens of outdoor sculptures. Cheyenne could learn a lot from its northern neighbors.
Southern neighbors, too: Loveland, Fort Collins, Greeley. Yes, I know that Wyomingites are intensely proud of the state and profess a dislike for its neighbors, "The Greenies." But it's self-defeating to not use all the ideas we can find to reinvent our downtown.
I'm not the first one to say that. The lead editorial in today's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle said it. So has our mayor, city council people and just plain folks such as you and that person standing next to you.
Artspace, by itself, doesn't have the only answer to a vital downtown. But it can help. And it's good to see action replace complaining.
This Minneapolis-based organization's mission "is to create, foster and preserve affordable space for artists and arts organizations." It has helped cities from Minot, ND, to Fort Lauderdale rehab old spaces into thriving live/work spaces for artists. On Valentine's Day in Loveland, CO, Artspace will be part of a ground-breaking for artist residences at the old Loveland Feed & Grain Building, part of new arts campus. Loveland once was known as Fort Collins' sleepy southern cousin. Then it carved out a niche as a hotbed for sculpture, and now it boasts a downtown focused on the arts.
The Cheyenne Downtown Development Authority and Arts Cheyenne propose to partner with Artspace to create downtown spaces for artists to live, work and collaborate. Plan to attend one of the meetings on Wednesday, Jan. 29, to share your ideas with Artspace, and to hear what the organization can do for our downtown.
Here are the public meetings:
11:45 a.m.: City Council and community leadership work session at the Historic Plains Hotel, 1600 Central Ave.
2 p.m.: Artists and arts organization focus group, Old West Museum, 4601 Carey Ave.
5:30 p.m.: Public meeting, Plains Hotel Ballroom.
The 2 and 5:30 p.m. meetings will include a summary of Artspace artist survey results, possible sites for Artspace in downtown Cheyenne, and PowerPoint loop presentation on arts organizations.
Not every Artspace visit leads to a project. As an Arts Council staffer, I attended an Artspace session in Casper that did not lead to a project. However, it started the ball rolling on the revitalization of the city's downtown and its adjacent Old Yellowstone Historic District. The Casper Artists' Guild has designs on an old downtown warehouse and is halfway to its fund-raising goal of a million dollars to purchase and rehab the structure which it will share with a business, possibly a brewpub. The Nicolaysen and the city and a private developer teamed up to replace a crime-ridden apartment complex with LEED-certified low-income housing units, a public plaza and a unique sculpture, with funding help from the National Endowment for the Arts.
I also attended the "Living Upstairs in Wyoming" conference in Sheridan which explored the city's thriving downtown and the trend toward transforming the upstairs units of those buildings into living spaces. Sheridan's downtown is also home to dozens of outdoor sculptures. Cheyenne could learn a lot from its northern neighbors.
Southern neighbors, too: Loveland, Fort Collins, Greeley. Yes, I know that Wyomingites are intensely proud of the state and profess a dislike for its neighbors, "The Greenies." But it's self-defeating to not use all the ideas we can find to reinvent our downtown.
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Mike the lawn ornament
Walked outside barefoot this morning just to see what 35 degrees feels like on coastal Florida.
It was cold.
Freeze warnings were in effect. A wind chill warning.
I spied no frost on my rental car's windshield. I did last week during the previous cold front.
Do I walk outside barefoot in Wyoming in January?
In a word, no.
It's much colder, for one thing. For another, my front yard is filled with pine cones and pine needles which are tough on tender feet. And often there is snow, also tough on bare feet. We had 20 below at the tail end of 2013 with wind chills down to 40 below. Flesh freezes quickly at 40 below. I may have stuck to the ground, might still be there if not for our usual January thaw. Mike the lawn ornament.
"Love your new lawn ornament, Mrs. Shay," said the postman
"That's my husband," Chris said. "He went outside barefoot. Thought he was in Florida."
"He'll be right as rain by May," said the postman.
"I'll miss him," she replied.
Yesterday I walked on the beach after the rain and before the cold front charged in. The ocean was calm, waves tiny. Wind blew in clouds from the west. I came across some quaint fisherfolk on the beach. Guy with New York accent reeled in his line. I greeted him. He said that he was having no luck today. His pals were up on the sand building a fire. "Smoking your fish?" I asked.
"No fish to smoke," he said.
He reeled. I walked, wished him good luck.
A half hour later, I walked by the fisherfolk again. Guy said, "Caught two big ones."
"Great!" I said.
He shook his head. "Just kidding."
"Maybe later."
"Maybe."
That's fishing for you. As I walked, I followed a set of smaller footprints, a women's shoe size, I guessed. Saw someone way ahead, on her way south. Came across a middle-aged woman playing fetch with her German Shepherd. As I got close, she hooked the big beast to a leash. Dogs aren't officially allowed on the beach. Wouldn't do to have a tourist from Wyoming mauled by this big fella. As she walked her dog back up the approach, the hound tugged on the leash toward me. Probably wanted to come over and say hello. I'm a dog guy. Dogs can tell that. I'm not a cat guy. Cats can tell that and swarm all over me, bathing me in dander until I sneeze.
Today, I take my last walk on the beach for awhile. I may even remove my shoes if it warms up. Leave my footprints for the surf to wash away.
Mike was here -- for a short while.
It was cold.
Freeze warnings were in effect. A wind chill warning.
I spied no frost on my rental car's windshield. I did last week during the previous cold front.
Do I walk outside barefoot in Wyoming in January?
In a word, no.
It's much colder, for one thing. For another, my front yard is filled with pine cones and pine needles which are tough on tender feet. And often there is snow, also tough on bare feet. We had 20 below at the tail end of 2013 with wind chills down to 40 below. Flesh freezes quickly at 40 below. I may have stuck to the ground, might still be there if not for our usual January thaw. Mike the lawn ornament.
"Love your new lawn ornament, Mrs. Shay," said the postman
"That's my husband," Chris said. "He went outside barefoot. Thought he was in Florida."
"He'll be right as rain by May," said the postman.
"I'll miss him," she replied.
Yesterday I walked on the beach after the rain and before the cold front charged in. The ocean was calm, waves tiny. Wind blew in clouds from the west. I came across some quaint fisherfolk on the beach. Guy with New York accent reeled in his line. I greeted him. He said that he was having no luck today. His pals were up on the sand building a fire. "Smoking your fish?" I asked.
"No fish to smoke," he said.
He reeled. I walked, wished him good luck.
A half hour later, I walked by the fisherfolk again. Guy said, "Caught two big ones."
"Great!" I said.
He shook his head. "Just kidding."
"Maybe later."
"Maybe."
That's fishing for you. As I walked, I followed a set of smaller footprints, a women's shoe size, I guessed. Saw someone way ahead, on her way south. Came across a middle-aged woman playing fetch with her German Shepherd. As I got close, she hooked the big beast to a leash. Dogs aren't officially allowed on the beach. Wouldn't do to have a tourist from Wyoming mauled by this big fella. As she walked her dog back up the approach, the hound tugged on the leash toward me. Probably wanted to come over and say hello. I'm a dog guy. Dogs can tell that. I'm not a cat guy. Cats can tell that and swarm all over me, bathing me in dander until I sneeze.
Today, I take my last walk on the beach for awhile. I may even remove my shoes if it warms up. Leave my footprints for the surf to wash away.
Mike was here -- for a short while.
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Whale of a tale
We ran into the whale watchers at the beach today. An elderly couple about my age, already retired, on the beat to record the right whales lurking off Ormond Beach. Chris and I were sitting at the beach approach, decompressing after a long walk in the sand. Actually, Chris took a long walk as I tried to coax my knees into overdrive without much success.
The couple is on the lookout for whales every Thursday, 8 a.m.-noon. They hit five stations during that time, recording any right whales they happen to spy. The Atlantic is home to some 500 of these whales, not many when you look out and ponder the size of the ocean. The man in the duo said that he's seen three humpback whales off of this coast. I replied that I didn't know that humpback whales came to this part of the world. He said that humpbacks are easier to see that others because they have a dorsal fin and white marking that help them stand out against the blue-green waters. They also move fast. Right Whales are slow movers. Humpbacks are more like linebackers while the right whales are no-neck linemen. I have football on the mind.
I took it all in, wondering about the different whales and why some are endangered and others are not. We must have had whales in Wyoming when our state was drenched by the inland seas. Forty million years ago, give or take. My property and that of my neighbors was under tons of water, home to prowling plesiosaurs, but not sure about whales. But it's pretty clear that the demise of the dinosaurs opened the door for all of the mammals, including whales. About 55 million years ago, 10 million years after a giant asteroid and/or a swarm of erupting megavolcanoes put an end to the dinosaurs, even-toed ungulates started branching off from pigs and deer to become the whales glimpsed off the coast of Florida. Cool -- whales are related to barnyard pigs in Arkansas and foraging mule deer in Wyoming. I also have science on my mind.
I liked the fact that these two retirees were scouting the sea for whales even on their volunteer day off. They must be very dedicated to the cause. During this trip to Florida, I've been reading a lot about the shifting sands of tourism, about the fact that tourists are not just coming to Florida for the beaches but for trips along inland waterways, bird-watching tours, wildlife watching and explorations of Florida's many cultures. We plan a side trip to St. Augustine to explore its 500 years of settlement by Europeans preceded by many generations of Indian settlement. We won't be going to the beach, although St. Augustine has a fine one. I like beaches. I like warmth. But many people have left the freezing north for the warmth and the beaches and have found heartache instead. They leave friends and family and the life they know for slick online ads or glossy brochures It's warm here! Friendly, too! Come on down to paradise!
It's never that simple. When my dying father in Ormond Beach was being attended by Hospice personnel, I talked to them. One nurse said that it was a nice thing that my father had many visitors and that we all seemed to care so much. I replied that this must be the case with many of her charges. She shook her head. Sadly, no, she said. Most of her patients died alone. The spouse had already passed and the children and grandchildren and friends all lived in Michigan or New York or even Wyoming. There was an occasional visit from a new acquaintance or a pastor, but a lonely departure was the rule rather than the exception. Made me think. Why are so many retirees willing to give it up for life in paradise? I know what it's like to be cold and old. I know what it's like to be braced against a 20-below wind chill imagining a warm walk on a beach.
But a beach is not enough. I could imagine living here. I can imagine whale-watching. We would go to many events and explore the historic sites and museums. We have passions and pastimes to keep us involved and alert.
But I think this mantra will be on my mind: The beach is not enough. Repeat after me: The beach is not enough.
Or, as a cynical, bleary-eyed bartender in Key Largo once said to me and my new bride on a brilliant May evening in 1982, the setting sun coloring the sky, "Just another day in paradise."
The couple is on the lookout for whales every Thursday, 8 a.m.-noon. They hit five stations during that time, recording any right whales they happen to spy. The Atlantic is home to some 500 of these whales, not many when you look out and ponder the size of the ocean. The man in the duo said that he's seen three humpback whales off of this coast. I replied that I didn't know that humpback whales came to this part of the world. He said that humpbacks are easier to see that others because they have a dorsal fin and white marking that help them stand out against the blue-green waters. They also move fast. Right Whales are slow movers. Humpbacks are more like linebackers while the right whales are no-neck linemen. I have football on the mind.
I took it all in, wondering about the different whales and why some are endangered and others are not. We must have had whales in Wyoming when our state was drenched by the inland seas. Forty million years ago, give or take. My property and that of my neighbors was under tons of water, home to prowling plesiosaurs, but not sure about whales. But it's pretty clear that the demise of the dinosaurs opened the door for all of the mammals, including whales. About 55 million years ago, 10 million years after a giant asteroid and/or a swarm of erupting megavolcanoes put an end to the dinosaurs, even-toed ungulates started branching off from pigs and deer to become the whales glimpsed off the coast of Florida. Cool -- whales are related to barnyard pigs in Arkansas and foraging mule deer in Wyoming. I also have science on my mind.
I liked the fact that these two retirees were scouting the sea for whales even on their volunteer day off. They must be very dedicated to the cause. During this trip to Florida, I've been reading a lot about the shifting sands of tourism, about the fact that tourists are not just coming to Florida for the beaches but for trips along inland waterways, bird-watching tours, wildlife watching and explorations of Florida's many cultures. We plan a side trip to St. Augustine to explore its 500 years of settlement by Europeans preceded by many generations of Indian settlement. We won't be going to the beach, although St. Augustine has a fine one. I like beaches. I like warmth. But many people have left the freezing north for the warmth and the beaches and have found heartache instead. They leave friends and family and the life they know for slick online ads or glossy brochures It's warm here! Friendly, too! Come on down to paradise!
It's never that simple. When my dying father in Ormond Beach was being attended by Hospice personnel, I talked to them. One nurse said that it was a nice thing that my father had many visitors and that we all seemed to care so much. I replied that this must be the case with many of her charges. She shook her head. Sadly, no, she said. Most of her patients died alone. The spouse had already passed and the children and grandchildren and friends all lived in Michigan or New York or even Wyoming. There was an occasional visit from a new acquaintance or a pastor, but a lonely departure was the rule rather than the exception. Made me think. Why are so many retirees willing to give it up for life in paradise? I know what it's like to be cold and old. I know what it's like to be braced against a 20-below wind chill imagining a warm walk on a beach.
But a beach is not enough. I could imagine living here. I can imagine whale-watching. We would go to many events and explore the historic sites and museums. We have passions and pastimes to keep us involved and alert.
But I think this mantra will be on my mind: The beach is not enough. Repeat after me: The beach is not enough.
Or, as a cynical, bleary-eyed bartender in Key Largo once said to me and my new bride on a brilliant May evening in 1982, the setting sun coloring the sky, "Just another day in paradise."
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Such a huge ocean and such a small beach
We watched the trucks pour sand on Melbourne Beach. Truck after truck dumped their loads and returned for more.
"Where does all of that sand come from?" Chris asked.
"They may be dredging it from the ocean," I guessed.
The sand poured in. A grader pushed it into long piles against the dunes.
I looked out at the ocean from the sixth floor of the Double Tree. Compared the thin strand of beach with the wide swath of the Atlantic Ocean. Every few seconds, a wave broke on the shore, carrying with it grains of sands and taking away grains of sand. Many poems have been written about the relentless nature of the ocean's actions. I can't think of any right now because I lack coffee and my blood has no rhythm.
You wonder how long this process takes, from dumping the sand, to the waves eating it away to the dredging of the sand and the replacing the sand for the gamboling tourists.
My brother Tim found out that the cost of the replenishment will be around $22 million.
Wonder how many times it will have to be done as global warming raises the sea levels and bigger and meaner storms batter the coast.
More sand!
"Where does all of that sand come from?" Chris asked.
"They may be dredging it from the ocean," I guessed.
The sand poured in. A grader pushed it into long piles against the dunes.
I looked out at the ocean from the sixth floor of the Double Tree. Compared the thin strand of beach with the wide swath of the Atlantic Ocean. Every few seconds, a wave broke on the shore, carrying with it grains of sands and taking away grains of sand. Many poems have been written about the relentless nature of the ocean's actions. I can't think of any right now because I lack coffee and my blood has no rhythm.
You wonder how long this process takes, from dumping the sand, to the waves eating it away to the dredging of the sand and the replacing the sand for the gamboling tourists.
My brother Tim found out that the cost of the replenishment will be around $22 million.
Wonder how many times it will have to be done as global warming raises the sea levels and bigger and meaner storms batter the coast.
More sand!
Friday, January 17, 2014
On the beach
Thursday...
Walked the beach today in the face of a north wind. It was slightly cold, but nowhere near the ferocity of a Wyoming January gale.
We were the only ones on the beach. A few sandpipers skittered along the surfline. A stray pelican dive-bombed the waves for gullible fish. A shrimp boat rode the swells a half-mile out.
We walked the beach close to where the whitewater swept clean the sand. Bird tracks and human tracks. Sticks and seashells scattered along the sand.
Chris used to walk this beach every day when she was growing up in Ormond Beach. I spent less time walking and more time surfing, but my beach was down in Daytona, just up the street from the house my parents bought in 1965 and my father sold in the late 1990s. I drove by it on Wednesday and it looked foreign. I spent my high school years in that house, and was a frequent visitor during the '70s and '80s. My mother spent her last days there, rushed off to Halifax Medical Center in April 1986, dying there a day later, just a month short of her 60th birthday. She died young, just how young sinks in as I age into my 60s.
We walked the beach. Inhaling the oxygen-rich, salt-laden air, lungs grateful for the infusion after decades at 6,200 feet in the Rockies.
It was difficult to keep my mind on the wind, sky, waves. Flashbacks to 1967 and the joy of a day of good surf. Arms throbbing from paddling out over and over again, stroking hard to catch a good wave. Stoked from a good ride. Just hanging out at the beach, when time stands still. All of us, sunburned, happy but not truly understanding the depth of it because we haven't seen a lot of sorrow. Plenty of teen angst but not the adult kind which can grind you down to nothing.
Walked on the beach. Remembered.
Walked the beach today in the face of a north wind. It was slightly cold, but nowhere near the ferocity of a Wyoming January gale.
We were the only ones on the beach. A few sandpipers skittered along the surfline. A stray pelican dive-bombed the waves for gullible fish. A shrimp boat rode the swells a half-mile out.
We walked the beach close to where the whitewater swept clean the sand. Bird tracks and human tracks. Sticks and seashells scattered along the sand.
Chris used to walk this beach every day when she was growing up in Ormond Beach. I spent less time walking and more time surfing, but my beach was down in Daytona, just up the street from the house my parents bought in 1965 and my father sold in the late 1990s. I drove by it on Wednesday and it looked foreign. I spent my high school years in that house, and was a frequent visitor during the '70s and '80s. My mother spent her last days there, rushed off to Halifax Medical Center in April 1986, dying there a day later, just a month short of her 60th birthday. She died young, just how young sinks in as I age into my 60s.
We walked the beach. Inhaling the oxygen-rich, salt-laden air, lungs grateful for the infusion after decades at 6,200 feet in the Rockies.
It was difficult to keep my mind on the wind, sky, waves. Flashbacks to 1967 and the joy of a day of good surf. Arms throbbing from paddling out over and over again, stroking hard to catch a good wave. Stoked from a good ride. Just hanging out at the beach, when time stands still. All of us, sunburned, happy but not truly understanding the depth of it because we haven't seen a lot of sorrow. Plenty of teen angst but not the adult kind which can grind you down to nothing.
Walked on the beach. Remembered.
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Sunday morning round-up: Medicaid expansion, Buffy rock & shark sighting
Blustery Sunday morning in WYO....
Lots of news this week on the Medicaid expansion front. Wyoming Association of Churches sponsored a big rally Thursday on the plaza between the Capitol and Herschler Building. Wind raged that day so the crowd took shelter within the flared wings of the strangely structured Herschler, named for a WYO Gov, as is the case with most of the state buildings. Rally organizers (and two of the speakers) were Rev. Rodger McDaniel of Cheyenne and Rev. Dee Lundberg of Casper. One counter protester showed up. A young man clad in a stocking cap and a Duck Dynasty T-shirt held a sign that read, "Support Gov. Mead." Have to give the guy some credit, not only for braving the cold in a T-shirt but for showing up. I heard someone at the rally say, "I've been that guy," meaning that Liberals in our state tend to always be outnumbered when it comes to protests. Think of the brave few who showed up for Iraq War protests back in 2003 or those folks in Laramie and Sheridan who showed up for weekly peace vigils for years. During the heyday of the Occupy movement, three hardy souls in Pinedale attended rallies and posted photos on Facebook.
I received a call last weekend requesting phone calls and e-mails to legislators urging them to support Medicaid Expansion. The barrage of e-mails and the rally had some effect -- two ME bills made it out of committee this week. Kudos to the Wyoming Assn. of Churches and local Democrats for all their hard work on behalf of the state's uninsured.
To read the bills:
Medicaid expansions –- limited benefits -– 14LSO0139.C1 (Medicaid Fit)
Medicaid expansion –- insurance pool -– 14LSO0140.C1 (Arkansas model with modifications)
I continue to be amazed by the volume and quality of arts events springing up all over the state. My day job is spent broadcasting the good news about the arts via print and electronic resources. I'm especially impressed by some of the unique ways local organizers come up with the nurture the arts. Over the hill in Laramie, the indie newspaper News from Nowhere keeps tabs on cultural events and provides a forum for creative writing. It's sponsoring "It's Another Art and Music Thing" on Saturday, Jan. 18, at noon to whenever in the Gryphon Theatre and the gymnasium in the Laramie Civic Center, 710 E. Garfield St. One of the bands on tap is Laramie's Sunnydale High which performs songs based on the 1990s TV show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." My son and wife are both Buffy fans, although I never really got into it. But that there's a band which is devoted to the show says a lot about creativity and fun and all the cool local resources that we have in WYO. The Jan. 18 event showcases other area bands and local artists. The Laramie Burlesque Troupe will perform. You'll also run into poets and writers and other scribes and bloggers and ne'er-do-wells. Tickets are $5 in advance and $8 at the door, which is yet another art and music thing bargain. E-mail for info: events@newsfromnowhere.info
Starting Wednesday, I'll be blogging from Florida for a week. I would say that I'll be in my shorts and flip-flops blogging from Florida, but temps are only expected in the 50s and 60s. That's warm for us snowbirds, but not sure how much beach time I'll get. May seem funny for Wyomingites, but it gets cold in January in The Sunshine State. But there should be plenty to blog about. Read this headline in today's Daytona Beach News Journal: "Great White Shark lingers off Daytona Beach coastline."
We're gonna need a bigger boat.
Lots of news this week on the Medicaid expansion front. Wyoming Association of Churches sponsored a big rally Thursday on the plaza between the Capitol and Herschler Building. Wind raged that day so the crowd took shelter within the flared wings of the strangely structured Herschler, named for a WYO Gov, as is the case with most of the state buildings. Rally organizers (and two of the speakers) were Rev. Rodger McDaniel of Cheyenne and Rev. Dee Lundberg of Casper. One counter protester showed up. A young man clad in a stocking cap and a Duck Dynasty T-shirt held a sign that read, "Support Gov. Mead." Have to give the guy some credit, not only for braving the cold in a T-shirt but for showing up. I heard someone at the rally say, "I've been that guy," meaning that Liberals in our state tend to always be outnumbered when it comes to protests. Think of the brave few who showed up for Iraq War protests back in 2003 or those folks in Laramie and Sheridan who showed up for weekly peace vigils for years. During the heyday of the Occupy movement, three hardy souls in Pinedale attended rallies and posted photos on Facebook.
I received a call last weekend requesting phone calls and e-mails to legislators urging them to support Medicaid Expansion. The barrage of e-mails and the rally had some effect -- two ME bills made it out of committee this week. Kudos to the Wyoming Assn. of Churches and local Democrats for all their hard work on behalf of the state's uninsured.
To read the bills:
Medicaid expansions –- limited benefits -– 14LSO0139.C1 (Medicaid Fit)
Medicaid expansion –- insurance pool -– 14LSO0140.C1 (Arkansas model with modifications)
I continue to be amazed by the volume and quality of arts events springing up all over the state. My day job is spent broadcasting the good news about the arts via print and electronic resources. I'm especially impressed by some of the unique ways local organizers come up with the nurture the arts. Over the hill in Laramie, the indie newspaper News from Nowhere keeps tabs on cultural events and provides a forum for creative writing. It's sponsoring "It's Another Art and Music Thing" on Saturday, Jan. 18, at noon to whenever in the Gryphon Theatre and the gymnasium in the Laramie Civic Center, 710 E. Garfield St. One of the bands on tap is Laramie's Sunnydale High which performs songs based on the 1990s TV show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." My son and wife are both Buffy fans, although I never really got into it. But that there's a band which is devoted to the show says a lot about creativity and fun and all the cool local resources that we have in WYO. The Jan. 18 event showcases other area bands and local artists. The Laramie Burlesque Troupe will perform. You'll also run into poets and writers and other scribes and bloggers and ne'er-do-wells. Tickets are $5 in advance and $8 at the door, which is yet another art and music thing bargain. E-mail for info: events@newsfromnowhere.info
Starting Wednesday, I'll be blogging from Florida for a week. I would say that I'll be in my shorts and flip-flops blogging from Florida, but temps are only expected in the 50s and 60s. That's warm for us snowbirds, but not sure how much beach time I'll get. May seem funny for Wyomingites, but it gets cold in January in The Sunshine State. But there should be plenty to blog about. Read this headline in today's Daytona Beach News Journal: "Great White Shark lingers off Daytona Beach coastline."
We're gonna need a bigger boat.
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Fill in the blank: "_________ should not be a debt sentence"
Sign seen at the Medicaid Expansion rally held Thursday in Cheyenne:
"Cancer should not be a debt sentence."
You could customize that in a number of ways:
"Heart disease should not be a debt sentence."
"Diabetes should not be a debt sentence."
And so on. Plug in the malady that may be afflicting your family. I have heart disease and my wife is a diabetic. We have insurance. Still, my health care costs topped $200,000 in 2013. I ended up paying several thousand dollars out of my own pocket. Heart disease may have been a debt sentence, or possibly even a death sentence if I wasn't able to afford a stent and an ICD and a two trips to the hospital and rehab and many medications, some of them pricey.
Some of the people testifying at Thursday's rally face debt sentences for hospital bills they can't afford. Fate decrees that the insured and the uninsured alike keel over from heart attacks, wreck their cars, contract horrible infections, slip on the ice and break a leg, get a Big C diagnosis, etc.
We got news on Friday that two Medicaid expansion bills made it out of the Joint Labor, Health and Social Services Interim Committee for consideration during the legislative session.
Sounds to me as if Sen. Scott is arguing for government oversight of what is "excessive utilization" and what isn't "excessive utilization." He wants to be the sole arbiter who decides if 17,000 uninsured Wyomingites get health insurance coverage under Medicaid expansion, a plan that will save the state $50 million, according to Wyoming Health Department Director Tom Forslund.
What is good for people and what is not -- and who decides?
Next thing you know, Sen. Scott will be advocating for death panels.
Maybe he already is.
"Cancer should not be a debt sentence."
You could customize that in a number of ways:
"Heart disease should not be a debt sentence."
"Diabetes should not be a debt sentence."
And so on. Plug in the malady that may be afflicting your family. I have heart disease and my wife is a diabetic. We have insurance. Still, my health care costs topped $200,000 in 2013. I ended up paying several thousand dollars out of my own pocket. Heart disease may have been a debt sentence, or possibly even a death sentence if I wasn't able to afford a stent and an ICD and a two trips to the hospital and rehab and many medications, some of them pricey.
Some of the people testifying at Thursday's rally face debt sentences for hospital bills they can't afford. Fate decrees that the insured and the uninsured alike keel over from heart attacks, wreck their cars, contract horrible infections, slip on the ice and break a leg, get a Big C diagnosis, etc.
We got news on Friday that two Medicaid expansion bills made it out of the Joint Labor, Health and Social Services Interim Committee for consideration during the legislative session.
"I think it is the responsibility of this committee bring it forward for a full discussion," said committee chairwoman Rep. Elaine Harvey, R-Lovell. "I would hate to think that 12 people would decide for the whole state to not do any kind of Medicaid expansion at all."Sometimes it seems that there is just one person one person on that committee who wants to deny health coverage to everyone in the state. This from Saturday's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle:
Co-chairman Sen. Charles Scott, urged the committee Friday to table the pending Medicaid expansion bills. He said the federal government's proposal to Medicaid brings out the worst in the American health-care system.Wonder what Scott considers "excessive utilization?" Preventive care? Taking your kids to the doctor when they're sick? Riding in the ambulance to the emergency room when you could walk there on the two good legs the Lord gave you?
"It encourages excessive utilization of health-care services to the extent that they're not good for people," Scott said.
Sounds to me as if Sen. Scott is arguing for government oversight of what is "excessive utilization" and what isn't "excessive utilization." He wants to be the sole arbiter who decides if 17,000 uninsured Wyomingites get health insurance coverage under Medicaid expansion, a plan that will save the state $50 million, according to Wyoming Health Department Director Tom Forslund.
What is good for people and what is not -- and who decides?
Next thing you know, Sen. Scott will be advocating for death panels.
Maybe he already is.
Monday, January 06, 2014
Rally for the Uninsured Jan. 9 in Cheyenne
Isn't it swell to be in the same group of health-conscious states as Louisiana, Alabama, Idaho and Missouri?
From the Rally for the Uninsured Facebook page:
Come and participate in a Rally of Support for Medicaid Expansion in Cheyenne, at the Herschler Building Plaza next to the Capitol Building on Thursday, January 9 at 11:45 am until 12:45 pm. Let the legislature know what you think!
Here's what Tom Forslund, Republican Gov. Matt Mead's appointee to direct the Wyoming Department of Health, says about Medicaid Expansion:
Sunday, January 05, 2014
1950s filled with creeds, oaths and pledges for us Boomers
Remember Hopalong Cassidy on 1950s black-and-white TV?
Remember Hopalong Cassidy's Creed?
Hopalong was in the news this week, A press release from the University of Wyoming noted that the archives at the American Heritage Center contain hundreds of items from the mythic cowboy's career in TV, radio and movies: LP records, photos, scripts, personal memorabilia, copies of the creed and all of the rest.
Wholesomeness was crucial. Hopalong was the “epitome of gallantry and fair play” and his creed reflected that. Honesty, cleanliness, respect for parents, love of country, etc. All great things. We recited the creed along with our TV cowboy hero -- and meant it. If you've lost your copy of the creed, get a copy at Hoppy's web site.
The 1950s were filled with creeds, oaths and pledges for us Boomer kids.
I was a Catholic, too. That meant memorizing the Ten Commandments and various prayers, including the Hail Mary, the Prayer to Saint Francis and the Apostles' Creed. The liturgy still was in Latin, but the nuns and priests and parents had mercy on us and let us memorize prayers in the vernacular. The Apostles' Creed:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord: Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost....
We always said "Holy Ghost" back then instead of "Holy Spirit." I still like saying it. Holy Ghost!
I was a Cub Scout, too. At meetings held at our den mother's house, we recited the oath before launching into various crappy crafts activities. We always wanted to go outside, play tag, shoot BB guns at squirrels, throw snowballs at cars and engage in other healthy outdoor activities. We did like the snacks. They were all-American 1950s snacks. Hostess Twinkees, Snoballs, homemade chocolate chip cookies, Kool-Aid, fat-rich milk, and all the rest. No carrot sticks, apple slices or chia-infused organic juices for us. This was the beginning of the plaque build-up in my coronary arteries. Thanks a lot, Mrs. Lemon.
At school, we recited The Pledge of Allegiance every morning, hand over our hearts.
We were good kids. We meant what we said.
To borrow a few lines from Catch-22 (remember Major Major?): When adults told us to look before we leapt, we looked and then leapt. When they said don't take candy from strangers, we didn't take any candy from strangers -- unless it was chocolate. When they said don't take any wooden nickels, I didn't take any wooden nickels.
It was only later, in the 1960s, when we learned that those creeds and oaths and pledges could not protect us from some things. Heartache, for one. No known creed protects against a broken heart. There may be a "I Will Never Love Anyone" creed but I never heard it. I've heard plenty of friends say they were never going to fall in love again. I've said it. Next thing you know, that friend is up to his eyeballs in love and there's not a thing to be done for it. Love stinks, hell yeah, but it's also a drug. Go figure.
We pledged out troth to institutions: The Church, Boy Scouts, U.S.A. They all betrayed us. The worst betrayal came at the hands of our government. It tried to send all of us to Southeast Asia to get killed for a lie. We know that now, and most of us suspected it then. Problem is, it seemed as if we would betray all of our institutions if we didn't do our duty and go to war. All those creeds and oaths and pledges! I didn't go, but that was only through the luck of the draw and strange circumstances. Some of my peers felt it was their duty to fight communism in Vietnam, to help stop the dominoes from falling. They had pledged loyalty to their government and now their government told them it was time to fulfill that pledge. We all took another oath, even us ROTC types, that said we would defend the constitution of the United States, so help us God.
God help us.
It's a long time gone, as the song says. But some of us still remember what it was like to feel betrayed. It caused some of my pals to take a hard right and blame the gubment for all of their ills. I don't blame them, really. I'm a liberal, though, one of those people who tend to put their faith in institutions. But that faith comes with a skeptical eye. Being a Boomer during Vietnam should have left us all with a bit of skepticism. The war was a lie and the draft lottery was rigged. Our elders would tell us anything to sway us to their righteous cause. Can't really blame then, either, as they had made their own pledges, fought in the war, and been rewarded with peace and prosperity. Why were their children such ingrates?
Generations bang up against each other, sometimes in violent ways. At this moment, we are undoubtedly betraying our children and grandchildren. Some conservatives still bemoan the loose morals of their Boomer peers, blaming all of our present ills on those darn sixties. We lefties tend to regret the scourges of pollution and global warming. Sorry, kids, but you'll be underwater by 2200, maybe sooner. Not in Wyoming, but here in Cheyenne we'll have all of those coastal immigrants to worry about. Wonder if we'll be putting up a fence to keep out fleeing Californians and Carolinians?
If only we could come up with a pledge to save us from ourselves.
Remember Hopalong Cassidy's Creed?
Hopalong was in the news this week, A press release from the University of Wyoming noted that the archives at the American Heritage Center contain hundreds of items from the mythic cowboy's career in TV, radio and movies: LP records, photos, scripts, personal memorabilia, copies of the creed and all of the rest.
Wholesomeness was crucial. Hopalong was the “epitome of gallantry and fair play” and his creed reflected that. Honesty, cleanliness, respect for parents, love of country, etc. All great things. We recited the creed along with our TV cowboy hero -- and meant it. If you've lost your copy of the creed, get a copy at Hoppy's web site.
The 1950s were filled with creeds, oaths and pledges for us Boomer kids.
I was a Catholic, too. That meant memorizing the Ten Commandments and various prayers, including the Hail Mary, the Prayer to Saint Francis and the Apostles' Creed. The liturgy still was in Latin, but the nuns and priests and parents had mercy on us and let us memorize prayers in the vernacular. The Apostles' Creed:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord: Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost....
We always said "Holy Ghost" back then instead of "Holy Spirit." I still like saying it. Holy Ghost!
I was a Cub Scout, too. At meetings held at our den mother's house, we recited the oath before launching into various crappy crafts activities. We always wanted to go outside, play tag, shoot BB guns at squirrels, throw snowballs at cars and engage in other healthy outdoor activities. We did like the snacks. They were all-American 1950s snacks. Hostess Twinkees, Snoballs, homemade chocolate chip cookies, Kool-Aid, fat-rich milk, and all the rest. No carrot sticks, apple slices or chia-infused organic juices for us. This was the beginning of the plaque build-up in my coronary arteries. Thanks a lot, Mrs. Lemon.
At school, we recited The Pledge of Allegiance every morning, hand over our hearts.
We were good kids. We meant what we said.
To borrow a few lines from Catch-22 (remember Major Major?): When adults told us to look before we leapt, we looked and then leapt. When they said don't take candy from strangers, we didn't take any candy from strangers -- unless it was chocolate. When they said don't take any wooden nickels, I didn't take any wooden nickels.
It was only later, in the 1960s, when we learned that those creeds and oaths and pledges could not protect us from some things. Heartache, for one. No known creed protects against a broken heart. There may be a "I Will Never Love Anyone" creed but I never heard it. I've heard plenty of friends say they were never going to fall in love again. I've said it. Next thing you know, that friend is up to his eyeballs in love and there's not a thing to be done for it. Love stinks, hell yeah, but it's also a drug. Go figure.
We pledged out troth to institutions: The Church, Boy Scouts, U.S.A. They all betrayed us. The worst betrayal came at the hands of our government. It tried to send all of us to Southeast Asia to get killed for a lie. We know that now, and most of us suspected it then. Problem is, it seemed as if we would betray all of our institutions if we didn't do our duty and go to war. All those creeds and oaths and pledges! I didn't go, but that was only through the luck of the draw and strange circumstances. Some of my peers felt it was their duty to fight communism in Vietnam, to help stop the dominoes from falling. They had pledged loyalty to their government and now their government told them it was time to fulfill that pledge. We all took another oath, even us ROTC types, that said we would defend the constitution of the United States, so help us God.
God help us.
It's a long time gone, as the song says. But some of us still remember what it was like to feel betrayed. It caused some of my pals to take a hard right and blame the gubment for all of their ills. I don't blame them, really. I'm a liberal, though, one of those people who tend to put their faith in institutions. But that faith comes with a skeptical eye. Being a Boomer during Vietnam should have left us all with a bit of skepticism. The war was a lie and the draft lottery was rigged. Our elders would tell us anything to sway us to their righteous cause. Can't really blame then, either, as they had made their own pledges, fought in the war, and been rewarded with peace and prosperity. Why were their children such ingrates?
Generations bang up against each other, sometimes in violent ways. At this moment, we are undoubtedly betraying our children and grandchildren. Some conservatives still bemoan the loose morals of their Boomer peers, blaming all of our present ills on those darn sixties. We lefties tend to regret the scourges of pollution and global warming. Sorry, kids, but you'll be underwater by 2200, maybe sooner. Not in Wyoming, but here in Cheyenne we'll have all of those coastal immigrants to worry about. Wonder if we'll be putting up a fence to keep out fleeing Californians and Carolinians?
If only we could come up with a pledge to save us from ourselves.
Wednesday, January 01, 2014
As new year dawns in Colorado, authorities on the lookout for stoned Wyoming Boomers
An Iraq War veteran with PTSD was the first in line to purchase
pot this morning in Colorado, according to a story on
NBC News Online.
Colorado
Highlife Tours promises “fun, affordable and discreet”
cannabis-centered excursions on its bus and limo tours. From NBC:
All hell is breaking loose in my home state of Colorado. Across the border in Cheyenne, we are sober as judges -- most judges, anyway. No legal pot here.
But Wyoming NORML is working on it. It will sponsor a "Walk for Weed" Feb. 10 in Cheyenne. At least two Republican legislators have been discussing marijuana publicly. Sen. Bruce Burns (R-Sheridan) made the news recently when he revealed that 30 years ago he transported illegal ganja to his cancer-stricken uncle (a priest!) back in New York. His momma asked him to do it and he delivered. His uncle started eating better and gained 15 pounds. Burns knows first-hand the benefits of medicinal weed, which is where Wyoming may start. Rep. Sue Wallis (R-Recluse), she of the strong Libertarian streak, has already talked about promoting medicinal marijuana legislation. On most issues, Rep. Wallis is as conservative as most of her neighbors in rural Campbell County. But she is a big promoter of the local food movement, spoke out last year in favor of a civil unions bill and has been very vocal in opposition to anti-women legislation promulgated by the wackos in her own party.
So who knows? Will Legislature focus on pot amongst all of the budgetary items? On day one, 2014 already looks interesting. Don't know about you, but I'm glad to be here.
"I feel amazing. This is a huge step forward for veterans," said Sean Azzariti of Denver, who helped campaign for Amendment 64. "Now I get to use recreational cannabis to alleviate my PTSD."Meanwhile, the state's “potrepreneurs” are preparing for an onslaught of Cannabis tourists.
 |
| From the Colorado Highlife Facebook page |
“You’ll be able to buy a little pot here and there, see a commercial grow, visit iconic Colorado landmarks and take lots of pictures,” said company owner Timothy Vee. “It will be like a Napa Valley wine tour.”
--clip--
Unlike Napa Valley wine tours, however, out-of-states tourists to Colorado’s pot retail stores won’t be able to take home most products they purchase. “It remains illegal to take marijuana out of the state,” said Michael Elliott of the Medical Marijuana Industry Group. And because marijuana also remains on the Transportation Security Administration's list of prohibited items, Denver International Airport will enforce a new policy that bans pot throughout the airport.
Prior to Jan. 1, Colorado Highlife Tours has mixed sightseeing with stops at glass-blowing shops, marijuana grow centers and has offered customers “free samples” — because buying pot was not yet legal.
“You live and learn,” said Vee. “On our tours, we’re getting a lot of empty nesters that haven’t smoked pot in 20 years. We’ve also had people who have never smoked pot take our tours and had one couple get high and so paranoid that we had to interrupt the tour and take them back to their hotel.”Stoned empty nesters. Baby Boomers, high on Bubba Kush, reeling around downtown Denver is search of organic munchies. Busloads of Wyoming retirees rolling down the highway, sweet smoke and Doobie Brothers tunes wafting out the windows.
All hell is breaking loose in my home state of Colorado. Across the border in Cheyenne, we are sober as judges -- most judges, anyway. No legal pot here.
But Wyoming NORML is working on it. It will sponsor a "Walk for Weed" Feb. 10 in Cheyenne. At least two Republican legislators have been discussing marijuana publicly. Sen. Bruce Burns (R-Sheridan) made the news recently when he revealed that 30 years ago he transported illegal ganja to his cancer-stricken uncle (a priest!) back in New York. His momma asked him to do it and he delivered. His uncle started eating better and gained 15 pounds. Burns knows first-hand the benefits of medicinal weed, which is where Wyoming may start. Rep. Sue Wallis (R-Recluse), she of the strong Libertarian streak, has already talked about promoting medicinal marijuana legislation. On most issues, Rep. Wallis is as conservative as most of her neighbors in rural Campbell County. But she is a big promoter of the local food movement, spoke out last year in favor of a civil unions bill and has been very vocal in opposition to anti-women legislation promulgated by the wackos in her own party.
So who knows? Will Legislature focus on pot amongst all of the budgetary items? On day one, 2014 already looks interesting. Don't know about you, but I'm glad to be here.
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Sunday morning round-up
Anyone out there had norovirus, gastroenteritis, the intestinal bug, stomach flu, the cruise ship curse? It's all the same thing. Unpleasant but fast moving. I should be fine by start of work on Monday. Last year at this time, I was told by my doc that my stomach cramps were the onset of the bug. He gave me a nausea shot and sent me home. Meanwhile, my heart kept revolting and I didn't get help until the new year. Yes, I keep bringing this up. And no, I won't stop. Not because I blame my doc. But because heart attack symptoms can be almost anything. A pain in the ass? That's probably something else, such as watching too much Fox TV or spending too much time with that Tea Party relative. But unexplainable pains in the stomach, side, arm, head, back? As my old Wyoming pal Dick Cheney says: "When in doubt, check it out." That doesn't go for weapons of mass destruction in a troublesome foreign country whose initials are I-R-A-Q. But it does for the H-E-A-R-T.
The Broncos play in Oakland today. Normally this would be a cause of great drama, but the Raiders are only a shadow of their former selves and the Broncos have Peyton Manning. This used to be one of the greatest rivalries in the NFL, but you almost have to go back to the John Madden days for that. Howard Cosell belittling the Broncos on Monday Night Football. All those crazy fans in the rickety south stands of the old Mile High Stadium. The fans used to get on Madden, but he has said on national TV that he and his team would always get revved up to play in Denver. Madden, now a video-gaming gazillionaire, probably has softened with time. Those games could be brutal. Gradishar and Alzado and Jackson and Hayes and Stabler-to-Biletnikoff and Morton-to-Moses. My late brother Pat, the only one of us five brothers to play football in high school, was a Raiders fan. He liked the Broncos, too, but only when they weren't playing the Raiders. Wonder what he'd think of the present-day Raiders? I'll think of you today, Pat, when I'm watching the game, especially if (when) a fight breaks out.
I hear that Florida will soon bypass New York as the third most populous state. Not surprising, considering that millions of New Yorkers have deserted Syracuse and Buffalo and Albany for the Sunshine State. I spent about half of November in Florida and experienced first-hand that population boom. Orlando traffic is crazy. A commuter line, SunRail, is being built by Canadians (the original snowbirds) but even that may not help alleviate the congestion. I'm going to central Florida in a couple weeks for my niece's wedding. The difference this time is that I'll be driving instead of leaving that to others. Wish me luck. I live in a small city, one where drivers think nothing of stopping in the middle of the road to chat with neighbors. Our new two-lane roundabout has caused apoplexy in some old-timers who see it as a commie plot against the all-American tradition of streetlights and running those very same lights to cause horrible crashes. As I said, wish me luck.
Have a happy and healthy new year.
And when in doubt, check it out.
The Broncos play in Oakland today. Normally this would be a cause of great drama, but the Raiders are only a shadow of their former selves and the Broncos have Peyton Manning. This used to be one of the greatest rivalries in the NFL, but you almost have to go back to the John Madden days for that. Howard Cosell belittling the Broncos on Monday Night Football. All those crazy fans in the rickety south stands of the old Mile High Stadium. The fans used to get on Madden, but he has said on national TV that he and his team would always get revved up to play in Denver. Madden, now a video-gaming gazillionaire, probably has softened with time. Those games could be brutal. Gradishar and Alzado and Jackson and Hayes and Stabler-to-Biletnikoff and Morton-to-Moses. My late brother Pat, the only one of us five brothers to play football in high school, was a Raiders fan. He liked the Broncos, too, but only when they weren't playing the Raiders. Wonder what he'd think of the present-day Raiders? I'll think of you today, Pat, when I'm watching the game, especially if (when) a fight breaks out.
I hear that Florida will soon bypass New York as the third most populous state. Not surprising, considering that millions of New Yorkers have deserted Syracuse and Buffalo and Albany for the Sunshine State. I spent about half of November in Florida and experienced first-hand that population boom. Orlando traffic is crazy. A commuter line, SunRail, is being built by Canadians (the original snowbirds) but even that may not help alleviate the congestion. I'm going to central Florida in a couple weeks for my niece's wedding. The difference this time is that I'll be driving instead of leaving that to others. Wish me luck. I live in a small city, one where drivers think nothing of stopping in the middle of the road to chat with neighbors. Our new two-lane roundabout has caused apoplexy in some old-timers who see it as a commie plot against the all-American tradition of streetlights and running those very same lights to cause horrible crashes. As I said, wish me luck.
Have a happy and healthy new year.
And when in doubt, check it out.
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Beer drinking around the world -- and close to home
Watching The Sound of Music Monday night, the 1965 version with Julie Andrews, I grew curious about the setting. Supposedly Salzburg, Austria, pre- and post-anschluss (1938). The action takes place during the summer which must be extremely long in Salzburg, as the anschluss happened in early March 1938 and before the Nazis made their move on the Austrians, Maria was scampering with the Von Trapp kids in lush high meadows and boating with them on an ice-free lake. She fled to the convent, then returned, the Captain fell hard for her, gave the baroness the bum's rush, Cap and Maria got married, took a long honeymoon, and when they returned, the anschluss was over, Nazi flags were draped all over creation and it was still summer.
That's Hollywood.
So I looked up Salzburg's web site. The first link under "Things to do" was "Beer." I immediately fell in love with the place. There are cities in the world known for its beer: Munich, Fort Collins, Colo., St. Louis, Philadelphia. Yet only one of these bergs feature beer prominently on its official web site. Muenchen.de -- Das offizielle Stadtportal, is proud of its Octoberfest and even gives visitors the dates for 2014.
I'm obviously living in the wrong country.
Or the wrong part of the right country.
In November, as I was trying to find my way through the maze of the Philadelphia Airport, I chanced across a display of the city's historic beers. Yuengling ("America's Oldest Brewery" at 180-plus years) figured prominently -- a pretty good beer popular up and down the East Coast. There were beer bottles dating back to Colonial times and cool new craft beers for contemporary tipplers. Given time, I would have settled into a concourses pub and tried some. I'll have to wait for a longer layover.
Another neat exhibit at the airport featured Philadelphia's writers. There was a whole wall of them. Owen Wister was one, a well-to-do native of the city who went to Wyoming for a time and later found fame and fortune with his best-seller, The Virginian: Horseman of the Plains. It may be the first cowboy novel. Wister and Ernest Hemingway went fishing once, although there was nothing about that in Wister's airport bio. Wister wrote The Virginian in the library of The swanky Philadelphia Club, where he was a member, and dedicated it to Theodore Roosevelt, his classmate at Harvard. Other writers from Philadelphia: Sci-fi writer Ben Bova, poet and fiction writer (and physician) William Carlos Williams, legal eagle and thriller writer Lisa Scottoline, one-time U.S. Poet Laureate Maxine Kumin, linguist and author Noam Chomsky and novelist Pearl S. Buck. Pretty good list -- and that's only a few. The author exhibit was very near the beer exhibit, which is only fitting.
Why write about beer? Craft breweries are booming, sprouting in the most unlikely places. Ten Sleep Brewing Company is the newest addition to sleepy Ten Sleep, Wyo., pop. 257. I plan on checking it out next time I'm up that way, most likely summertime, when the living is easy in the Big Horn Basin. Meanwhile, check it out on its Facebook page.
Craft breweries are cool because its founders tend to be young and adventurous, and its products are homegrown. This is the age of "local" and crafters fill the bill. Not all of them can walk out their back doors and harvest a batch of hops and grain for the brewing process. But they make the beer on site, and almost every one has at least a modest-sized tasting room. Snake River Brewing in Jackson is the old man of Wyoming breweries, a place that serves amazing beer (Pako's!), good food and even takes on interns from the nation's craft brewing college programs. They have art displays, such as the unique one last year that displayed hand-crafted bicycles. Hand-crafted beer and hand-crafted bikes.
Cheyenne is relatively new to craft brewing. A brewpub cropped up in the late 1990s downtown but went out of business. We now have Freedom's Edge Brewing Company and Shadows, both housed in historic downtown buildings. Freedom's Edge is bottling its beer, even creating some limited edition brews in fancy bottles. FEBC is expanding into the beer nirvana in 2014:
The state's liquor laws don't help either. I don't want to get into details, but all the beer, booze and wine in the state is regulated by the Wyoming Liquor Division. All the beer on liquor store shelves has to be vetted by the WLC. So, when you wonder why you aren't seeing the newest and coolest and most experimental brews on the shelves at Town & Country and Uncle Charlie's, you know why. I'm a statie myself, so know better than to blame the WLC people for their outmoded rules and regs. The fact is, the craft brewing industry is moving at lightning speed while governmental agencies move at a snail's pace.
So you can do a couple different things. Do your beer drinking at Wyoming's excellent brewpubs, taking home the good stuff in growlers for later consumption. Or you can do all of your drinking in Fort Collins and Longmont or Denver, and your store shopping at Supermarket Liquor's on Mulberry in FoCo, which is what Town and Country could be if it was located eight miles south on the Greeley Highway on the Colorado side of the border.
But Wyoming will catch up. It has to.
That's Hollywood.
So I looked up Salzburg's web site. The first link under "Things to do" was "Beer." I immediately fell in love with the place. There are cities in the world known for its beer: Munich, Fort Collins, Colo., St. Louis, Philadelphia. Yet only one of these bergs feature beer prominently on its official web site. Muenchen.de -- Das offizielle Stadtportal, is proud of its Octoberfest and even gives visitors the dates for 2014.
I'm obviously living in the wrong country.
Or the wrong part of the right country.
In November, as I was trying to find my way through the maze of the Philadelphia Airport, I chanced across a display of the city's historic beers. Yuengling ("America's Oldest Brewery" at 180-plus years) figured prominently -- a pretty good beer popular up and down the East Coast. There were beer bottles dating back to Colonial times and cool new craft beers for contemporary tipplers. Given time, I would have settled into a concourses pub and tried some. I'll have to wait for a longer layover.
Another neat exhibit at the airport featured Philadelphia's writers. There was a whole wall of them. Owen Wister was one, a well-to-do native of the city who went to Wyoming for a time and later found fame and fortune with his best-seller, The Virginian: Horseman of the Plains. It may be the first cowboy novel. Wister and Ernest Hemingway went fishing once, although there was nothing about that in Wister's airport bio. Wister wrote The Virginian in the library of The swanky Philadelphia Club, where he was a member, and dedicated it to Theodore Roosevelt, his classmate at Harvard. Other writers from Philadelphia: Sci-fi writer Ben Bova, poet and fiction writer (and physician) William Carlos Williams, legal eagle and thriller writer Lisa Scottoline, one-time U.S. Poet Laureate Maxine Kumin, linguist and author Noam Chomsky and novelist Pearl S. Buck. Pretty good list -- and that's only a few. The author exhibit was very near the beer exhibit, which is only fitting.
Why write about beer? Craft breweries are booming, sprouting in the most unlikely places. Ten Sleep Brewing Company is the newest addition to sleepy Ten Sleep, Wyo., pop. 257. I plan on checking it out next time I'm up that way, most likely summertime, when the living is easy in the Big Horn Basin. Meanwhile, check it out on its Facebook page.
Craft breweries are cool because its founders tend to be young and adventurous, and its products are homegrown. This is the age of "local" and crafters fill the bill. Not all of them can walk out their back doors and harvest a batch of hops and grain for the brewing process. But they make the beer on site, and almost every one has at least a modest-sized tasting room. Snake River Brewing in Jackson is the old man of Wyoming breweries, a place that serves amazing beer (Pako's!), good food and even takes on interns from the nation's craft brewing college programs. They have art displays, such as the unique one last year that displayed hand-crafted bicycles. Hand-crafted beer and hand-crafted bikes.
Cheyenne is relatively new to craft brewing. A brewpub cropped up in the late 1990s downtown but went out of business. We now have Freedom's Edge Brewing Company and Shadows, both housed in historic downtown buildings. Freedom's Edge is bottling its beer, even creating some limited edition brews in fancy bottles. FEBC is expanding into the beer nirvana in 2014:
We will be opening in the historic Antlers Hotel building at 224 Linden St. [in Fort Collins] with a target opening of late February 2014. This new location will be a true small batch craft brewery that will serve as our pilot brewery, so lots and lots of experimentation! We will also be heavily involved with the home brewing community allowing local brewers to come in and brew along side of us.FoCo already boasts a dozen breweries, including two of the best in the U.S.: New Belgium and Odell. Their customer base down there is appreciably larger than it is in Cheyenne, still predominately a Budweiser city.
The state's liquor laws don't help either. I don't want to get into details, but all the beer, booze and wine in the state is regulated by the Wyoming Liquor Division. All the beer on liquor store shelves has to be vetted by the WLC. So, when you wonder why you aren't seeing the newest and coolest and most experimental brews on the shelves at Town & Country and Uncle Charlie's, you know why. I'm a statie myself, so know better than to blame the WLC people for their outmoded rules and regs. The fact is, the craft brewing industry is moving at lightning speed while governmental agencies move at a snail's pace.
So you can do a couple different things. Do your beer drinking at Wyoming's excellent brewpubs, taking home the good stuff in growlers for later consumption. Or you can do all of your drinking in Fort Collins and Longmont or Denver, and your store shopping at Supermarket Liquor's on Mulberry in FoCo, which is what Town and Country could be if it was located eight miles south on the Greeley Highway on the Colorado side of the border.
But Wyoming will catch up. It has to.
Sunday, December 22, 2013
Year in Review: The Big C
My year can be summed up in one word: heart. Cardiac may be a better term, as my year was filled with issues related to the parts of the hospital with the other C-word in their names: Cardiac Lab, Cardiac Rehab, Cardiology, etc.
The condition of my heart first came to my attention on Jan. 2. The pain in my belly that was first diagnosed as intestinal flu and then as pneumonia, became a full-fledged heart attack on the day after New Year's Day. I related the story in my blog here and here. These blog posts came after the fact, as I was busily being ill for the first two weeks in January. During recovery, I had plenty of time to bemoan my fate and to ponder it. After generous doses of meds and rehab, I went under the knife again in July for an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator, a device that goes by the initials ICD. More recovery and exercise followed. Finally a clean bill of health was issued by my docs in the fall. They don't issue an actual Clean Bill of Health, although a cardiac patient is issued a dazzling arrays of bills for service.
The Cardiac Year.
The original Big C -- cancer -- played a big part in my year. Not for me, but for three of my siblings and several of my friends. Cancer runs in our family. My mother died of ovarian cancer at 59 and my father from prostate cancer at 77. My eight siblings and I all have been diagnosed with various forms of skin cancer, the legacy of growing up Irish on Florida beaches. My brother Dan was diagnosed with melanoma in his early 50s, but the docs caught it in time. Same with prostate cancer, which was treated and dismissed a few years later. Then leukemia came calling. This is the big leagues of cancer. Dan received big-league treatment at Houston's MD Anderson Cancer Center. But it came to naught, as Dan passed away just a few days shy of his 61st birthday. I wrote about this, too, but the words do not seem to assuage the pain. Some farewell posts for my brother here and here and here and here.
The Cancer Year.
Amidst the pain comes humor and its first cousin, politics. I had some fun with our conservative opponents this year. They are such easy targets, especially in this age of viral videos that reveal to all the world their knuckleheaded intentions. I had a great time documenting the comments of the legislature as it discussed a civil unions bill. You can revisit that event here. No aircraft carrier bill on the docket this year, but we can always look forward to 2014.
Some attempted humor on other topics here and here.
The Year of Living Crazily.
To sum up, Cardiac, Cancer and Crazies. The year of the Big C.
The condition of my heart first came to my attention on Jan. 2. The pain in my belly that was first diagnosed as intestinal flu and then as pneumonia, became a full-fledged heart attack on the day after New Year's Day. I related the story in my blog here and here. These blog posts came after the fact, as I was busily being ill for the first two weeks in January. During recovery, I had plenty of time to bemoan my fate and to ponder it. After generous doses of meds and rehab, I went under the knife again in July for an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator, a device that goes by the initials ICD. More recovery and exercise followed. Finally a clean bill of health was issued by my docs in the fall. They don't issue an actual Clean Bill of Health, although a cardiac patient is issued a dazzling arrays of bills for service.
The Cardiac Year.
The original Big C -- cancer -- played a big part in my year. Not for me, but for three of my siblings and several of my friends. Cancer runs in our family. My mother died of ovarian cancer at 59 and my father from prostate cancer at 77. My eight siblings and I all have been diagnosed with various forms of skin cancer, the legacy of growing up Irish on Florida beaches. My brother Dan was diagnosed with melanoma in his early 50s, but the docs caught it in time. Same with prostate cancer, which was treated and dismissed a few years later. Then leukemia came calling. This is the big leagues of cancer. Dan received big-league treatment at Houston's MD Anderson Cancer Center. But it came to naught, as Dan passed away just a few days shy of his 61st birthday. I wrote about this, too, but the words do not seem to assuage the pain. Some farewell posts for my brother here and here and here and here.
The Cancer Year.
Amidst the pain comes humor and its first cousin, politics. I had some fun with our conservative opponents this year. They are such easy targets, especially in this age of viral videos that reveal to all the world their knuckleheaded intentions. I had a great time documenting the comments of the legislature as it discussed a civil unions bill. You can revisit that event here. No aircraft carrier bill on the docket this year, but we can always look forward to 2014.
Some attempted humor on other topics here and here.
The Year of Living Crazily.
To sum up, Cardiac, Cancer and Crazies. The year of the Big C.
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Wants the facts on the ACA? Go to the sources
Keep a few things in mind when trying to understand the Affordable Care Act.
Go to the correct sources for information. The main web site is http://healthcare.gov. That's where you find out the facts, ma'am (and sir). In Wyoming, look up Enroll Wyoming at http://enrollwyo.org. If you prefer talking on the phone, call 2-1-1. That's what smartphones are for.
Enroll Wyoming has a batch of navigators spread around the state. Three of them were at the town hall meeting in Cheyenne on Monday night. Their director said that she and her crew had given more than 30 presentations last week in Laramie County alone. At this point, there is probably no question that they haven't heard.
A crowd of 40 or so people heard a panel of experts spell out the ACA details at the Monday meeting.
In Wyoming, we are bombarded with misinformation from Know-Nothings. If you want to know the facts, avoid any comment or communique from the Republican Party. Don't read Rep. Cynthia Lummis's e-mail missives about Obamacare. Senators Barrasso and Enzi are no help either. Neither are state legislators with an "R" after their names. They all are so blinded by hate for our president that their lies never cease.
And Medicaid expansion? According to Phyllis Sherard, Cheyenne Regional Medical Center Population Health Officer, who was at the meeting, the Wyoming Hospital Association has spelled out the four main objections to Medicaid expansion and refuted each one. Go to http://wyohospitals.com. Here are some highlights of a recent press release from the WHA:
Medicaid expansion, it seems, is one way to ensure that our home-grown hospitals stay solvent and able to treat our rapidly aging population. I spent a fair amount of time and treasure this year at CRMC. As is the case with many in Cheyenne, I cast a dubious eye on our local hospital. I had a heart attack in late December and on January 2 had to be rushed to CRMC. I could have gone to Fort Collins or Denver but "minutes mean muscle" as those alliterative cardiologists say. The longer a heart patient goes without treatment, the more heart muscle can be lost. It's important that good care is close to home especially when it comes to the beating heart. I discovered that the Kardiac Kids at CRMC run a tight ship and make minutes count. There's a fine cardiac lab and a top-notch telemetry unit for recovery and a whole regimen of rehab.
I spent several hundred thousand dollars on my heart. I was lucky as I have insurance that I (and the State of Wyoming) has been paying into for 22 years. Some of those payments go toward paying some of $83 million over the past three years that CRMC has written off in uncompensated care. That shortfall has to come from somewhere. I've done my part and I'm not sorry. I could resent those "freeriders" that I paid for, but that wouldn't be very Christian of me, would it?
So get on with it, Wyoming Legislature, and expand Medicaid.
Go to the correct sources for information. The main web site is http://healthcare.gov. That's where you find out the facts, ma'am (and sir). In Wyoming, look up Enroll Wyoming at http://enrollwyo.org. If you prefer talking on the phone, call 2-1-1. That's what smartphones are for.
Enroll Wyoming has a batch of navigators spread around the state. Three of them were at the town hall meeting in Cheyenne on Monday night. Their director said that she and her crew had given more than 30 presentations last week in Laramie County alone. At this point, there is probably no question that they haven't heard.
A crowd of 40 or so people heard a panel of experts spell out the ACA details at the Monday meeting.
In Wyoming, we are bombarded with misinformation from Know-Nothings. If you want to know the facts, avoid any comment or communique from the Republican Party. Don't read Rep. Cynthia Lummis's e-mail missives about Obamacare. Senators Barrasso and Enzi are no help either. Neither are state legislators with an "R" after their names. They all are so blinded by hate for our president that their lies never cease.
And Medicaid expansion? According to Phyllis Sherard, Cheyenne Regional Medical Center Population Health Officer, who was at the meeting, the Wyoming Hospital Association has spelled out the four main objections to Medicaid expansion and refuted each one. Go to http://wyohospitals.com. Here are some highlights of a recent press release from the WHA:
There are at least three key reasons that legislators should support the full expansion.
First, the full expansion is good for Wyoming’s patients. One of the surest ways to improve overall health and control costs is for patients to receive the right care, from the right provider, at the right time.Who cares about hospitals? We do. Every community wants its own hospital so its citizens can be close to quality medical care. This isn't possible in Wyoming with its low population and great distances between centers of medical care. Casper currently is discussing the wisdom of adding a third hospital to its ranks. Cheyenne Medical Center recently added a cancer center and a state-of-the-art ER. Meanwhile, hospitals in Colorado and Montana and Utah beckon us with slick ads and promises of big-city medical care just a short drive over the border.
Providing coverage for more than 28,000 Wyoming citizens – often described as the working poor – will provide that access to care. We know that patients who receive preventive care, or who receive care earlier, tend not to be as sick when they do need care.
Second, the full expansion could save the state $47 million over six years, according to a study released by the Department of Health. These savings can only be achieved, however, if the Legislature supports the full expansion of the program.
Finally, the full expansion will help ensure that Wyoming’s providers can continue to provide care for our vulnerable populations. In 2011, Wyoming hospitals provided about $200 million in uncompensated care – up from about $126 million in 2007. At the same time, federal assistance for hospitals that treat large numbers of low-income and uninsured patients has been slashed. The impact of both the dramatic growth in uncompensated care and the reductions in this federal assistance would be significantly offset through the full Medicaid expansion.,
Medicaid expansion, it seems, is one way to ensure that our home-grown hospitals stay solvent and able to treat our rapidly aging population. I spent a fair amount of time and treasure this year at CRMC. As is the case with many in Cheyenne, I cast a dubious eye on our local hospital. I had a heart attack in late December and on January 2 had to be rushed to CRMC. I could have gone to Fort Collins or Denver but "minutes mean muscle" as those alliterative cardiologists say. The longer a heart patient goes without treatment, the more heart muscle can be lost. It's important that good care is close to home especially when it comes to the beating heart. I discovered that the Kardiac Kids at CRMC run a tight ship and make minutes count. There's a fine cardiac lab and a top-notch telemetry unit for recovery and a whole regimen of rehab.
I spent several hundred thousand dollars on my heart. I was lucky as I have insurance that I (and the State of Wyoming) has been paying into for 22 years. Some of those payments go toward paying some of $83 million over the past three years that CRMC has written off in uncompensated care. That shortfall has to come from somewhere. I've done my part and I'm not sorry. I could resent those "freeriders" that I paid for, but that wouldn't be very Christian of me, would it?
So get on with it, Wyoming Legislature, and expand Medicaid.
Monday, December 16, 2013
Reminder: Affordable Care Act town hall meeting tonight at library
From the Laramie County Democrats Facebook page:
Do you still have questions about the Affordable Care Act, the health insurance marketplace and exchanges, exchange policies, costs and included benefits, eligibility for tax subsidies or Medicaid, etc. or want to learn how to enroll? If so, please attend and let our expert panel take some of the mystery out of the Affordable Care Act for you. Enrollment for coverage to start January 1, 2014 ends on December 23, 2013 (open enrollment continues through March 2014).
This session will be held at the Laramie County Public Library in downtown Cheyenne from 6-9 p.m. tonight (Monday), Dec. 16. Free and open to the public.
Do you still have questions about the Affordable Care Act, the health insurance marketplace and exchanges, exchange policies, costs and included benefits, eligibility for tax subsidies or Medicaid, etc. or want to learn how to enroll? If so, please attend and let our expert panel take some of the mystery out of the Affordable Care Act for you. Enrollment for coverage to start January 1, 2014 ends on December 23, 2013 (open enrollment continues through March 2014).
This session will be held at the Laramie County Public Library in downtown Cheyenne from 6-9 p.m. tonight (Monday), Dec. 16. Free and open to the public.
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Much more difficult to register for health care in red states
Justin Baragona writing on PoliticusUSA about Republicans sabotaging health care registrations in Red States (Wyoming, for instance):
Read the entire article at http://www.politicususa.com/2013/12/13/rachel-maddow-highlights-ap-story-showing-red-states-sabotaging-uninsured.html
The one huge point that needs to be hammered home again and again and again is that that millions and millions or Americans would already be signed up for insurance or be covered by Medicaid if Republicans would have just accepted the law instead of trying to sabotage it at every turn. The fact that 1.2 million got coverage by the end of last month is miraculous when you consider the roadblocks that were laid in place. The sad fact is that if you currently live in a state that is mostly controlled by Democrats, it is quite easy to get covered. If you are in a state controlled by Republicans, it is much more difficult for you to get coverage for no other reason than the people governing your state, as well as the majority of citizens occupying it, just plain hate the President.
Read the entire article at http://www.politicususa.com/2013/12/13/rachel-maddow-highlights-ap-story-showing-red-states-sabotaging-uninsured.html
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Hacking the heart signal
Imagine this....
You're the vice president of the United States. You have a heart attack and are fitted with an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator or ICD. At your bedside is a monitor that pulls readings from your ICD at 2 every morning and sends them to a computer at your cardiologist's office. An enterprising terrorist discovers a way to hack those signals. He sends a rogue signal to the Veep's ICD causing it to generate a massive shock that stops the Veep's heart and kills him.
I didn't make that up. It was a recent plot on the Showtime series Homeland. I read about it in this morning's edition of the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle. It was part of a story about former V.P. Dick Cheney 's Friday stop in Cheyenne to promote the book he co-wrote with his daughter Liz and his cardiologist about his long battle with heart disease. The book is Heart: An American Medical Odyssey.
Cheney received an ICD in 2007. When he discovered its remote signal, he had the technicians disable it, stymieing any attempt by a hacktivist to hijack the signal and transform Cheney's main muscle into a bleeding heart. That's not the way he put it. But that's the way this bleeding heart interpreted it. He did have them disable the signal, which shows an active imagination and more than a little bit of paranoia. But any politician that started two interminable wars and considered waterboarding a patriotic act has a right to his paranoia.
Thinking back, it would have been keen to attend the noon book-signing and talk yesterday hosted by the Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce. Tickets were $50 apiece and that included a copy of the book. The last time I attended a book-signing by a conservative stalwart was in 1995 when I waited in line for hours to get Newt Gingrich's Restoring the Dream. It was a present for my conservative father. I would have done almost anything for my conservative father, including buying a Gingrich or Cheney book and even running for the U.S. Senate in Wyoming. Alas, my father passed in 2002 and has no more need of books or Senate seats.
Dick Cheney and I share a few cardiac traits. He had his first heart attack in Cheyenne, the first of five. I had my one and only heart attack in Cheyenne. He has an ICD and I have an ICD. As far as I know, none of my foes in the right-wing blogosphere has tried to hijack my signal, but that's only as far as I know. Cheney and I both have a daughter, although mine is not running for the U.S. Senate. He has another daughter, too, a married lesbian with a nice family. That daughter is not running for the U.S. Senate, although it's OK with me if she moves back to Wyoming and runs against her right-wing sister. That's not going to happen.
I have to hand it to Dick Cheney -- the guy has been through the ringer, health-wise. Heart attacks and heart transplants and ICDs. Now that I'm a heart attack survivor, I appreciate his struggles. He is right when he says about symptoms: "When in doubt, check it out." He is shouting out the news that heart disease is still the number one killer in the U.S. He praises good ol' American know how when it comes to heart gadgets and surgical techniques.
I do find it odd that the most heartless of contemporary U.S. politicians has had to face mortality via a faulty heart. Literally, he is not heartless.
You're the vice president of the United States. You have a heart attack and are fitted with an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator or ICD. At your bedside is a monitor that pulls readings from your ICD at 2 every morning and sends them to a computer at your cardiologist's office. An enterprising terrorist discovers a way to hack those signals. He sends a rogue signal to the Veep's ICD causing it to generate a massive shock that stops the Veep's heart and kills him.
I didn't make that up. It was a recent plot on the Showtime series Homeland. I read about it in this morning's edition of the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle. It was part of a story about former V.P. Dick Cheney 's Friday stop in Cheyenne to promote the book he co-wrote with his daughter Liz and his cardiologist about his long battle with heart disease. The book is Heart: An American Medical Odyssey.
Cheney received an ICD in 2007. When he discovered its remote signal, he had the technicians disable it, stymieing any attempt by a hacktivist to hijack the signal and transform Cheney's main muscle into a bleeding heart. That's not the way he put it. But that's the way this bleeding heart interpreted it. He did have them disable the signal, which shows an active imagination and more than a little bit of paranoia. But any politician that started two interminable wars and considered waterboarding a patriotic act has a right to his paranoia.
Thinking back, it would have been keen to attend the noon book-signing and talk yesterday hosted by the Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce. Tickets were $50 apiece and that included a copy of the book. The last time I attended a book-signing by a conservative stalwart was in 1995 when I waited in line for hours to get Newt Gingrich's Restoring the Dream. It was a present for my conservative father. I would have done almost anything for my conservative father, including buying a Gingrich or Cheney book and even running for the U.S. Senate in Wyoming. Alas, my father passed in 2002 and has no more need of books or Senate seats.
Dick Cheney and I share a few cardiac traits. He had his first heart attack in Cheyenne, the first of five. I had my one and only heart attack in Cheyenne. He has an ICD and I have an ICD. As far as I know, none of my foes in the right-wing blogosphere has tried to hijack my signal, but that's only as far as I know. Cheney and I both have a daughter, although mine is not running for the U.S. Senate. He has another daughter, too, a married lesbian with a nice family. That daughter is not running for the U.S. Senate, although it's OK with me if she moves back to Wyoming and runs against her right-wing sister. That's not going to happen.
I have to hand it to Dick Cheney -- the guy has been through the ringer, health-wise. Heart attacks and heart transplants and ICDs. Now that I'm a heart attack survivor, I appreciate his struggles. He is right when he says about symptoms: "When in doubt, check it out." He is shouting out the news that heart disease is still the number one killer in the U.S. He praises good ol' American know how when it comes to heart gadgets and surgical techniques.
I do find it odd that the most heartless of contemporary U.S. politicians has had to face mortality via a faulty heart. Literally, he is not heartless.
Friday, December 13, 2013
The return of ALEC to Wyoming
Wyofile's Kerry Drake wrote another excellent column Dec. 10 about the American Legislative Exchange Council or ALEC, This time, he wonders why Wyoming Gov. Mead traveled to a recent ALEC gathering to deliver a speech.
Good question.
ALEC is the well-funded arm of conservative corporate donors such as the Koch Brothers. It drafts model retro legislation, pours it into the empty heads of conservative legislators, and sends them home to craft anti-democratic legislation that abridges workers' rights, make it harder to vote for minorities and the elderly and curtails environmental protections. ALEC was behind Florida's "make my day" gun legislation made infamous in the Trayvon Martin killing. ALEC's latest crusade is to make it illegal for homeowners to install their own solar panels, calling them "free-riders" on the U.S. energy grid. Interesting that a conservative group would use a term commonly used by union memberss to describe their non-union co-workers. Arizona has already passed such a bill. See the Dec. 4 article in the Guardian.
ALEC has found some willing dupes among Wyoming Republican legislators (see list at http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Wyoming_ALEC_Politicians). Only one Democrat was a member but did not renew his membership in 2012. All of this means we can look forward to more wacko bills when the 2014 session convenes. Expect more attempts to weaken the state employee retirement system and new and interesting ways to steal all employees' hard-earned sick and vacation days. I am a state employee and pay close attention to these types of bills. Trustees of the state retirement system have consistently asserted that the retirement system is strong and well-funded, unlike those in other states and cities. Legislation has mandated an increase in employee contributions to the fund. Other modest increases are expected and that is only fair. That hasn't stopped regressive legislators from devising ways to sabotage the entire system.
As noted western conservative Barry Goldwater once said: "Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom." Especially important for us outnumbered progressives living in a conservative state.
Read Kerry Drake's column at http://wyofile.com/kerrydrake/alec-wyoming/
Read a Dec. 12 wyofile article about Gov. Mead's ALEC speech at http://wyofile.com/dustin/matt-mead-alec/
Good question.
ALEC is the well-funded arm of conservative corporate donors such as the Koch Brothers. It drafts model retro legislation, pours it into the empty heads of conservative legislators, and sends them home to craft anti-democratic legislation that abridges workers' rights, make it harder to vote for minorities and the elderly and curtails environmental protections. ALEC was behind Florida's "make my day" gun legislation made infamous in the Trayvon Martin killing. ALEC's latest crusade is to make it illegal for homeowners to install their own solar panels, calling them "free-riders" on the U.S. energy grid. Interesting that a conservative group would use a term commonly used by union memberss to describe their non-union co-workers. Arizona has already passed such a bill. See the Dec. 4 article in the Guardian.
ALEC has found some willing dupes among Wyoming Republican legislators (see list at http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Wyoming_ALEC_Politicians). Only one Democrat was a member but did not renew his membership in 2012. All of this means we can look forward to more wacko bills when the 2014 session convenes. Expect more attempts to weaken the state employee retirement system and new and interesting ways to steal all employees' hard-earned sick and vacation days. I am a state employee and pay close attention to these types of bills. Trustees of the state retirement system have consistently asserted that the retirement system is strong and well-funded, unlike those in other states and cities. Legislation has mandated an increase in employee contributions to the fund. Other modest increases are expected and that is only fair. That hasn't stopped regressive legislators from devising ways to sabotage the entire system.
As noted western conservative Barry Goldwater once said: "Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom." Especially important for us outnumbered progressives living in a conservative state.
Read Kerry Drake's column at http://wyofile.com/kerrydrake/alec-wyoming/
Read a Dec. 12 wyofile article about Gov. Mead's ALEC speech at http://wyofile.com/dustin/matt-mead-alec/
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