Almost ready for spring planting

WyoDems meet Saturday for elections

Bill Luckett, executive director of the Wyoming Democratic Party, announces this:

The Wyoming Democratic State Central Committee will meet in Casper on Saturday primarily for the purpose of electing state officers for the coming two years, Executive Director Bill Luckett announced today.

The meeting is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday, April 18, at the Natrona County Agricultural Resource and Learning Center at 2011 Fairgrounds Road in Casper. The meeting is open to the public.

Positions up for election include chair, vice chair, secretary and treasurer.

Also on Saturday, young Democrats from across the state (those 35 years old or younger) are invited to participate in elections for the Young Democrats of Wyoming. The Young Democrats of Wyoming will elect the positions of chair, vice chair, state committeeman and state committeewoman, all of whom will be members of the State Central Committee. That meeting begins at noon, also at the Ag Resource & Learning Center.

In March throughout the state, Democrats in each county met to elect their county officers for the coming two years. The county chairs, vice chairs, state committeemen and state committeewomen elected at those meetings comprise the State Central Committee, which will hold the elections in Casper.

Other members of the State Central Committee include the current state chair, vice chair, secretary, treasurer, national committeeman, national committeewoman, and with one representative each from the Democratic House and Senate caucuses.

FMI: Bill Luckett, (307) 473-1457, (307) 631-7638, luckett@wyomingdemocrats.com

Who were all those Cheyenne teabaggers?

One thing's been bugging me since I attended the lunchtime teabagger rally yesterday at the Wyoming State Capitol.

Who were all these people? I've lived in Cheyenne for 18 years. Sure, I hang mostly with Democrats and artists and writers and other nogoodniks. But I do know a lot of Republicans. I recognize Wyoming politicos of all stripes. There are several hundred employees in our division of state government, most of whom I recognize on sight. When I used to go to church on a regular basis, I was surrounded by folks whom I surely would now recognize, as my faculties are mainly intact.

I saw only two people at the rally who looked vaguely familiar. And I did recognize Dave the radio DJ who made one of the speeches.

Where were the state and local politicians? Where were all the right-wing rabble-rousers who yell at us leftists as we're staging antiwar rallies or vigils or holding up peacenik signs at street corners?

The article in this morning's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle featured a photo of an old guy from Lingle holding a sign. The reporter interviewed a couple from California who said they heard about the rally while passing through in their RV. They, of course, were wildly indignant about Obama and taxes and nearly everything else.

One of the speakers was a guy named Perry Martin who seemed to be in charge of the "Sovereignty Petition," which he displayed behind a booth that featured "Constitution Restitution" T-shirts and flyers for the gay-hating WyWatch Family Institute. I did not recognize Perry. You'd think I would have run into such a politically active fella during the past 18 years. Later, I met a well-dressed woman who was taking photos for WyWatch. I asked her where she was from. She said "Cheyenne," but I have my doubts (WyWatch only lists a PO Box as an address).

Who were these outside agitators taking over the Wyoming Capitol? Anyone know?

Top Ten Republican Tax Day Lies

This comes courtesy of Crooks and Liars:

Here, then, are 10 Republican Tax Day lies:

1. President Obama will raise taxes on small businesses.
2. The estate tax devastates small businesses and family farms.
3. 40% of Americans pay no taxes.
4. Tax cuts always increase revenue.
5. The GOP is the party of fiscal discipline.
6. Ronald Reagan was the greatest tax cutter of all time.
7. FDR caused the Great Depression, or at least made it worse.
8. Obama's cap-and-trade plan will cost each American family $3,100 a year.
9. Obama's tax proposals will undermine charitable giving.
10. The rich pay too much in taxes already.

Go to crooksandliars.com for the sordid details.

Scenes from a Cheyenne T.E.A. party

Angry citizens were lining up to sign petitions today at the Tea Bag Rally in Cheyenne. Sign a petition and get a red, white and blue cookie that read "Tea 233," the number signifying the age of the U.S.A. I got close enough to cadge one of the cookies, but felt guilty because there was no way in hell I was signing one of the petitions.

It was a few minutes after noon, and only a handful of teabags were steeping in the brine of outrage.

This trio of teabaggers were holding signs along 24th Ave., which runs by the Wyoming Capitol Building. I believe they were trying to goad passers-by into honking, but weren't having much luck. The signs read: "What would George Washington do?" and "Memo to Barry (a.k.a Pres. Barack Obama): 1. America is Judeo-Christian; 2. We don't bow to anybody!; 3. Give better gifts." The third sign read: "Save our auto companies -- get rid of the unions."

What would George Washington do? Probably go to the dentist, as dental care was sorely lacking in The Father of Our Country's time. I was a bit puzzled by the "give better gifts" part of the memo to Barry. Did I miss something on Fixed News? I do know about the bowing reference. As for saving the auto companies by getting rid of unions? Ha, ha, ha. Funny teabagger.

I like the juxtaposition of these two signs. The one in the foreground is held by an African-American on a cell phone. The one held by an old white guy in the background reads: "Deport!!! All Illegals! Close the Border! Preserve America."

Wandering through the crowd, I heard one grey-haired guy quip to another: "This is like spring break for old people." The average age of Tea Party attendees was about 60. There were some young people, but they were few and far between. Lots of men wearing "Vietnam War Veteran" and "Korean War Veteran" caps. Cheyenne is heavy on ex-military.

The gentleman on the right tried to put his "Bring troops home now" sign on the Nellie Tayloe Ross statue in front of the Capitol. And he succeeded -- for a few minutes. A dour gentleman came by and whispered something to the old guy and he reclaimed his sign. Maybe he said something like "Why do you hate the troops?" or maybe "get that sign out of here or I'll see that your taxpayer-funded V.A. benefits go away."

That's what I was thinking, looking at all the veterans and their anti-government signs. Who do you think paid your salary for 20 years? Who do you think pays for your health care? Just asking...

This was a very nice young mother who posed with her baby and sign. The other side of the sign said "7 months old and in debt." She was the one who really made me think. This is a huge debt burden we are leaving our kids and grandkids and beyond. Many of these people at the rally are genuinely concerned about their kids' future. They have enough gumption to go to the Capitol Building, baby in tow, to make a statement. Later, KGAB Radio talk show host Dave Chapman told the crowd not to blame the Democrats or Republicans or anybody else. Just look in the mirror -- and then take action. Dave's the guy who keeps us updated on road and school closures on snowy days.

Who can argue with that?

A guy and his tea bag hat

More signs of the times

Right-wing kooks on the march

A report from the Department of Homeland Security says membership in right-wing extremist groups may be increasing. Here are some of the details via an online CNN story:

Though the nine-page report said it has "no specific information that domestic right-wing terrorists are currently planning acts of violence," it said real-estate foreclosures, unemployment and tight credit "could create a fertile recruiting environment for right-wing extremists and even result in confrontations between such groups and government authorities similar to those in the past."

The report, prepared in coordination with the FBI and published April 7, was distributed to federal, state and local law enforcement officials under the title "Right-wing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment."

It compares the current climate the 1990s, "when right-wing extremism experienced a resurgence fueled largely by an economic recession, criticism about the outsourcing of jobs, and the perceived threat to U.S. power and sovereignty by other foreign powers."

It cites proposed restrictions on weapons as likely to increase membership in extremist groups and expresses concern the groups might try to recruit veterans.

The election of President Obama is cited as a key recruitment tool.

"Many right-wing extremists are antagonistic toward the new presidential administration and its perceived stance on a range of issues, including immigration and citizenship, the expansion of social programs to minorities, and restrictions on firearm ownership and use," the report said.

"Celebration of Wind" in Rawlins

The entire I-80 corridor, from Pine Bluffs on the Nebraska border to Evanston on the edge of Utah, is wind country.

Rawlins doesn't seem to be any windier than Cheyenne, but it is is adjacent to one of the largest wind farms in the state. The city is hosting its "Celebration of Wind" on Friday and Saturday, April 24-25. The event includes lectures and demonstrations on wind energy, activities in the schools, dinners, kite flying, weather stations, radio-controlled helicopters and display booths. Locations include Rawlins High School, 1401 Colorado, and the Depot, 400 W. Front St., and Carbon County Fairgrounds. Most events are free.

FMI: 307-328-9274, http://www.cchec.org.

Thanks to Nancy Sindelar's e-mail newsletter for this info.

More Earth Day activities April 18 in Cheyenne

The Wyoming State Museum in Cheyenne will hold an Earth Day Festival on Saturday, April 18, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Sixteen organizations from around Cheyenne will be set up booths to inform visitors about conservation, recycling, wildlife, ecology, and other topics related to maintaining a clean and healthy environment for Wyomingites. This is an educational family event that will include a scavenger hunt and free t-shirts for kids, face painting, refreshments, and a bake sale. There will also be a cell phone recycling booth, so please bring your old cell phones!

FMI: Sue Castenada, 307-777-7021.

Earlier, hummingbirdminds wrote about an Earth Day Festival at the Cheyenne UU Church. The two venues are only six blocks apart. Catch one, and then the other. Both precede the actual Earth Day date of April 22.

Pres. Obama takes on student loan industry -- and it's about time

Reporter David M. Herszenhorn reported in the New York Times April 12 about the brewing student loan clash in Congress:

The private student lending industry and its allies in Congress are maneuvering to thwart a plan by President Obama to end a subsidized loan program and redirect billions of dollars in bank profits to scholarships for needy students.

The plan is the main money-saving component of Mr. Obama’s education agenda, which includes a sweeping overhaul of financial aid programs. The Congressional
Budget Office says replacing subsidized loans made by private banks with direct government lending would save $94 billion over the next decade, money that Mr. Obama would use to expand Pell grants for the poorest students.

But the proposal has ignited one of the most fractious policy fights this year.

I'm backing Obama on this one. The private lending industry has abused our trust. The whole system is out of whack and we need a new -- and better -- one.

Why are Wyoming Republicans protesting taxation without representation?

One person's protest in another one's pointless exercise.

I'm a long-time supporter and participant in protests and marches. The protest is usually against something, but isn't that what they're supposed to be about?

Ruffin Prevost writes in today's Billings Gazette about so-called "tea party" protests on April 15 in Montana and Wyoming. You may have heard about these protests on Glenn Beck or Bill O'Reilly -- any of those Fixed News shows. Ostensibly, these protests are against high taxes and taxation without representation.

"Taxes have always been too high, but I think this year, what's going on has really concerned Americans," said Eric Olsen, an organizer of a tax day "tea party" protest scheduled in Billings, Mont. Olsen, who owns an independent oil and gas company, said he has been politically active for years, and writes his congressional representatives weekly. His most recent letters have focused on stopping federal bailout and stimulus spending."What it's going to take is a bigger collection of Americans standing up and talking, and I believe we'll see that this year," he said. He expects 2,000 or more to show up at noon Wednesday in front of the Yellowstone County Courthouse.

That's a pretty good crowd. These people have neen energized by wingnut radio hosts and right-wing advocacy groups. Hey, they deserve some time on the streets too. Progressive activists pretty much dominated the protest circuit during the last eight years. Turnabout is fair play.

I'm just not sure what the protestors are protesting. Reminds me of some of the Lefty anti-war gatherings during Bush's rush to war in Iraq. Speakers would rant about homelessness and greed and the military-industrial complex and the 9-11 conspiracy and poisons in our food and just about everything else under the sun and moon. Worthy topics (except for the 9-11 hoaxers) but the message got mangled amongst all the diatribes.

So I'm not sure about the tea party message. The original Boston Tea Party protested taxes levied by the King in a faraway land called England. The merchants dumped the tea into the harbor rather than pay the taxes. That's a pretty good protest. Something big was at stake. Something real.

Organizers will circulate petitions opposing federal bailout spending, budget priorities and tax rates, he said. David Kellett, owner of a computer networking support business, said the protest he is planning in Powell is one of nearly 2,000 in the works across the country, all modeled after the Boston Tea Party of 1773, which protested taxes on tea without legislative representation.

April Poley, who operates a home-based business in Buffalo, has set up a blog and Facebook page to publicize a tea party she is helping to organize in Sheridan."I sent out a little e-mail and very quickly, within 24 hours, started receiving e-mails from people I don't even know, all wanting to help," she said. The Sheridan protest, planned for 5 p.m. at Grinnell Plaza, in front of City Hall, has attracted people of varying political backgrounds, Poley said. "It doesn't matter what your politics are, you can still be angry at spending and Washington not listening to you, although we're fortunate in Wyoming in that our representatives have listened to us," she said.

So Wyomingites already have taxation WITH representation. If you're a Republican. I've been protesting taxation without representation in Wyoming. I'm being taxed to pay for a pointless war in Iraq, Cold War military weaponry that is useless in guerrilla wars, and no-bid contracts for Halliburton war profiteers who pay fewer taxes than I do. Every time I brought up these expenditures to our Wyoming delegation during the past decade, I was basically told: "Hey buddy, there's a war on. Why do you hate the troops?"

And here's the kicker:

U.S. Census data put Wyoming 10th in 2007 in federal spending per capita, while Montana ranked 20th. Both states are perennial net federal spending winners, with Wyoming receiving $1.11 back for every dollar paid in federal taxes in 2005, while Montana got back $1.43.

Taxation without representation in Wyoming and Montana? Give me a break. Our delegation really brought home the bacon during the Bush years. Let's see what happens now.

Student loan borrowers "too small to help"

Arthur Delaney reports this on Huffington Post:

A new report released Thursday on the private student lending industry offers a bit of deja vu.

"It's the same sad story: irresponsible lending," says Deanne Loonin, author of the report and director of the National Consumer Law Center's Student Loan Borrower Assistance Project, in an interview with the Huffington Post.

The report (PDF), titled "Too Small To Help: The Plight of Financially Distressed Student Loan Borrowers," laments that "unlike the lenders that made these loans" -- potential beneficiaries of the government's TALF and TARP bailouts -- "the borrowers are 'too small' to help."

Private lenders like Sallie Mae, Wells Fargo, and Citi relaxed their standards as the economy boomed and extended private loans to more students at lower-tier schools -- students often already maxed out on federal loans and unlikely to able to pay up.

The report calls out the newly infamous process of securitization for fueling bad lending: "Creditors made and sold loans to borrowers, but with the specific goal of selling them to investors. Loan products were thus developed for the repackaging rather than to provide the most affordable and sustainable products for borrowers."

Loonin's report says the Obama administration's Home Affordable Modification Program for modifying mortgages should be a blueprint for student borrowers. The report says the government should require lenders benefiting from bailout funds to work with borrowers, restore bankruptcy rights to student lenders, and increase industry regulation in the areas of underwriting and interest rates, among other things.

A poem to accompany "The Disappeared"

"The Colonel" (From The Country Between Us, by Carolyn Forche.)

What you have heard is true. I was in his house. His wife carried a tray
of coffee and sugar. His daughter filed her nails, his son went out
for the night. There were daily papers, pet dogs, a pistol on
the cushion beside him. The moon swung bare on its black cord over
the house. On the television was a cop show. It was in English.
Broken bottles were embedded in the walls around the house to scoop
the kneecaps from a man's legs or cut his hands to lace. On the
windows there were gratings like those in liquor stores. We had
dinner, rack of lamb, good wine, a gold bell was on the table for
calling the maid. The maid brought green mangoes, salt, a type of
bread. I was asked how I enjoyed the country. There was a brief
commercial in Spanish. His wife took everything away. There was some
talk then of how difficult it had become to govern. The parrot said
hello on the terrace. The colonel told it to shut up, and pushed
himself from the table. My friend said to me with his eyes: say
nothing. The colonel returned with a sack used to bring groceries
home. He spilled many human ears on the table. They were like dried
peach halves. There is no other way to say this. He took one of them
in his hands, shook it in our faces, dropped it into a water glass.
It came alive there. I am tired of fooling around he said. As for
the rights of anyone, tell your people they can go fuck themselves.
He swept the ears to the floor with his arm and held the last of the
wine in the air. Something for your poetry, no? he said. Some of the
ears on the floor caught this scrap of his voice. Some of the ears
on the floor were pressed to the ground.

"The Disappeared" still haunt us

Nothing prepares you for the exhibition currently at the University of Wyoming Art Museum.

"The Disappeared/Los Desaparecidos" brings together the work of 26 living artists from Latin America who, over the course of the last 30 years, made art about those who have disappeared.

I viewed the exhibit last week when I was in Laramie for the UW Art Museum's public art symposium.

The largest of the works shows a Guatemalan flag made from the exhumed bones of those killed during the country's dirty wars, which really were Cold War proxy battles between the U.S. and Soviet Union. Many of Latin America's killer thugs were military men trained at the U.S. Army's School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia. Not all, of course. Paramilitary bands roved Guatemala and Argentina and El Salvador and Uruguay. They operated with the sometimes explicit -- and always implicit -- consent of the ruling juntas.

One of the most depressing works of the exhibit shows couples who were disappeared. Their crimes? Subversive activities. Belonging to student activist groups. Consorting with suspicious characters. Complaining about the government. Some couples were married and some weren't. The women were pregnant and they and their babies still are missing. The legend under the pictures read: "Baby was born on or about April 5, 1979" or "Baby thought to be due in December 1977." The mother was bayoneted or thrown from a chopper or beat to death while pregnant. Or the baby was born but never seen again. Neither was the mother and -- oftentimes -- the father. These were young couples who looked a lot like couples I knew when I was in my twenties in the 1970s. They looked like pictures I have of my wife and I. Happy. Together. But we're alive and they aren't.

"Exhumations: Appearing the Disappeared - Uncovering Repressive Archives in the Recovery of Historical Memory in Latin America" will be the topic discussed by Kate Doyle at the next Art Talk hosted by the UW Art Museum. Her presentation is set for Monday, April 13, 7 p.m. Doyle is a Senior Analyst for the National Security Archive at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Her talk will focus on uncovering the truth of military actions in Latin America during the mid-20th century, and the people who disappeared as a result.

Art Museum Director Susan Moldenhauer notes, "This talk comes at an historical moment in time, given the current news regarding the conviction of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori for crimes related to the death squads in that country." Doyle considers Fujimori’s conviction to be a landmark event. She states, "He is the first democratically elected president to be convicted of human rights crimes by his own country... in the world! Ever!"

The National Security Archive campaigns for the citizen’s right to know, investigates U.S. national security and foreign policy, and uses the Freedom of Information Act to obtain and publish declassified U.S. documents. Doyle directs several research projects on U.S. policy in Latin America for the Archive, including the Mexico Project, which aims to obtain the declassification of U.S. and Mexican government documents on the Mexican dirty war, and the Guatemala Project. Since 1992, she has worked with truth commissions in Latin America, including in El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala to obtain records from secret U.S. government archives in support of their human rights investigations.

Doyle’s public talk is in conjunction with the UW Art Museum’s current exhibition The Disappeared/Los Desaparecidos exhibit. Doyle will also be giving a Gallery Walk Through of the exhibition from 10:30 a.m. to noon on Monday, April 13 at the Art Museum.

FMI: UW Art Museum at (307) 766-6622 or visit www.uwyo.edu/artmuseum
or the museum’s blog, www.uwartmuseum.blogspot.com/.

The museum is open Monday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free.

Interesting to see that the exhibit originated with the North Dakota Museum of Art. N.D. poet Thomas McGrath would be proud.

Exhibit photo: Fernando Traverso from Rosario, Argentina, made a wall of silk "tombstones" emblazoned with the ghost image of a bicycle, one for each of his fellow resistance workers disappeared during those dark years of dictatorship. Why the bicycle? Because if someone went missing their abandoned bicycle served as early evidence of their fate. Entitled "In Memory, 2000-2001," the work consists of 29 silk banners, each 10 x 3.5 ft. with screened images of bicycles. Courtesy of the North Dakota Museum of Art.

Earth Day Fest April 18 at UU Church

The local Unitarian Universalist Church actively supports issues relating to peace and justice, the arts and ecology.

On Saturday, Aprul 18, the UU Church will sponsor an Earth Day Festival from 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

Vendor tables will feature info from conservation groups and sale items by companies with green products. Students will display arts and science projects, and there will be screenings of environmental films.

Donate aluminum cans to Habitat for Humanity, eyeglasses to the Lions Club, or prescription meds to the Laramie County Centralized Pharmacy. Recycle your printer cartridges and safely dispose of your hazardous materials.

This free event will take place in the Social Hall of the UU Church, 3005 Thomes Ave.

FMI: Green Coalition of Cheyenne at 307-632-7521.

Hippie-dippy posters at Denver Art Museum

I spent several hours Wednesday revisiting the past. Chris and I, along with 16-year-old daughter Annie and friend Brandon, toured the Denver Art Museum's psychedelic poster exhibit. I didn't actually see any of these original posters in their first incarnation on the streets of San Francisco. But I do remember most of the bands -- even saw a few of them in concert. The great thing about the poster exhibit was the stories behind the work. Rick Griffin, a guy who grew up in the Southern California surfing scene and then moved to San Francisco in the mid-sixties to discover LSD and rock. I remember his Griffin & Stoner comics in Surfer Magazine. Later, I tried to decipher Griffin's work in Zap Comix.

One of the oddest aspects of the exhibit was the wall devoted to work advertising concerts at The Family Dog on West Evans in Denver. Chet Helms, founder and purveyor of concerts at the Avalon Ballroom, decided to expand his psychedelic territory by opening another joint in Denver. I wondered why he chose Denver and not Portland or Seattle or L.A. According to the exhibit descriptions, the Denver cops were not happy about such a hippie-dippy venue place landing in their fair city. Denver cops of that era were not known for their tolerance. In fact, the force was just coming off the biggest scandal in its history. In 1961, 42 cops and former cops were indicted for burglary, embezzlement and other assorted crimes in the biggest such scandal in U.S. history. Over the years, Denver cops have been involved in a variety of nefarious schemes, including a massive snooping campaign aimed at anti-war and anti-nuke activists.

So, in 1967, the cops kept their eyes on the hippies and other nogoodniks. During its three short months, the Family Dog featured some of the big names: Grateful Dead, Blue Cheer, Mothers of Invention, even the Allmen Joy, who contributed to rock lore a few years later under the name Allman Brothers. The Family Dog's closure was due as much to hippie-era mismanagement as to police harassment. Besides, it was a long way from Market Street to Evans Avenue, both in miles and in culture. The museum narrative said that the closing of The Family Dog was the beginning of a long string of business setbacks for Chet Helms.

In San Francisco, the beat went on, even after the so-called Summer of Love was over and the Haight was claimed by addicts and hucksters.

Another interesting aspect of the exhibit was about a band I've never heard of: The Charlatans. Band members dressed in Old West garb and were known mainly for playing bars in Virginia City, Nevada. They came out of the mountains and into San Francisco and were thought to be "the first band to experiment with the fusion of rock ‘n’ roll, blues, folk, and jug band music that became known as the San Francisco Sound. Other bands on the scene included Blue Cheer, Big Brother and the Holding Company, the Grateful Dead, and Jefferson Airplane." That comes from the museum's descriptions. So, I've heard of all these other groups. But The Charlatans? And their Butch Cassidy and The Wild Bunch duds? As we now know, there were a lot of Wild West influences in the bands of the S.F. scene. Many of the exhibition's posters include images of cowboys and Indians -- mostly Indians, as the Native-American cultures were fascinating to hippies.

I'm now formulating an idea for an old-fashioned melodrama that combines the wild-and-wooly aspects of the Old West with the wooly-and-wild characteristics of the New West hippies.

Wish me luck.

Poster art: "Denver Splash" poster from 1967 advertising a concert by Jim Kweskin and the Jug Band and Solid Muldoon at The Family Dog, 1601 West Evans Street, Denver. Art by Rick Griffin and Victor Moscoso.

Gardening begins at White House, Wyoming still a month (or so) away

In the High Lonesome, we're more than a month away from planting our gardens. Seeds have been sprouted, plans have been made, but the planting comes somewhere between mid-May and Memorial Day. Even then, we can get snow -- which isn't so bad -- and frost -- which is bad. This is why many of us plant container gardens. And the rest of us keep a ready supply of old sheets and other frost-defying coverlets. Watch the sky!

Meanwhile, in the White House low country, Michelle Obama and kids from Bancroft Elementary School were turning the soil and putting in the crops including heirloom varieties from jefferson's Monticello). A press release from FLOTUS (First Lady of the United States) had lots to say on the subject. Gardening is good for kids, it can help with the obesity epidemic, drives the wingnuts crazy. I made that last part up. It's true, but the White House won't say it in print. But the wingnuts start foaming at the mouth when any mention is made of ecology, gardening, Michelle Obama, locavore, global warming, peace & justice, etc. Almost anything can make them foam at the mouth.

I read an article the other day about people in more temperate climes replacing their water-sucking front lawns with vegetable gardens. I have contemplated this. But our growing season is so short that the blooms don't stay around and come October we're left with dried-up stems that looks like weeds. Better to have a brown lawn than a weedy rock garden. We're challenged to intersperse the plants with evergreens with rocks with ground covers and mulch and possibly some yard art. Looks better. But it's a chore.

I'm revamping my entire yard this summer. Stay tuned for the painful details.

Lefties hang their heads in triumph

Fox News celebrated the fall of Baghdad six years ago today with some trumpeting by Dick Morris:

"Over the next couple of weeks when we find the chemical weapons this guy was amassing, the fact that this war was attacked by the left and so the right was so vindicated, I think, really means that the left is going to have to hang its head for three or four more years."

My head is hanging so low, so low. Thanks to Greg Mitchell for this quote. He's editor at Editor & Publisher and author of the book "So Wrong for So Long" about the media and the Iraq War.

On May 1, we will mark Pres. Bush's infamous "Mission Accomplished" speech. What, exactly, was the mission? What, exactly, have we accomplished?

Hear that old lonesome whistle blow

Mead Gruver wrote a groovy April 9 AP story about the possibility of passenger rail service returning to Amtrak's Pioneer Route. The route passed through Cheyenne and across southern Wyoming along the old route of the Union Pacific. It didn't actually stop in town at the old depot. Instead, you had to get into an old horse-drawn buggy with a gang of dusty coal-miners and get hauled out to a breezy way station where you were lucky to get on the train before freezing to death.

The route was abandoned by Amtrak in 1996 due to a whopping budget shortage. Unlike olden times, travelers prefer (and still do) the interstate to an aging passenger train that travels slower than the average car and much slower than the average interstate truck. It's a well-known fact that the Rawlins High School track team used to work out by racing the Pioneer through town, usually winning the contest with enough time left over to chug a couple beers and wave at the train as it chugged by.

I rode the old Pioneer in 1980. I was living in Denver at the time and decided to visit my brother in Santa Barbara. Instead of doing the sensible thing -- flying from Denver to L.A. in two hours -- I decided to take the 24-hour train ride. I boarded the train at Union Station, an historic building that still looked a lot like it did when my father left it for Army basic training in 1942. Probably looked about the same as it did when my Irish immigrant grandfather worked there in the 1920s.

The ride was scenic, I'll give you that. The windows were big and you could view the great outdoors with ease. As we left Denver, a passenger from California said he thought that the city's train yards were ugly. You know, he was right but I wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of agreeing with him. If he could only see those rail yards now. Not a train in view. Unsightly tracks ripped up and replaced by condos and coffee shops and a Six Flags and a big retro-style baseball stadium. The only warehouses have been turned into artist studios and galleries. If Amtrak decided to run the Pioneer through Denver, I'm not sure where the passengers could get on. Do any railroad tracks remain at Union Station?

My 1980 trip was mostly uneventful. I viewed the Wyoming scenery on a pretty September day. Changed trains in the middle of the night in Utah. Disembarked in steaming Las Vegas for an hour. And rode through the endless expanses of metro L.A. on the way to its Union Station. I didn't see that California guy on the train. If I had, I would have shared my opinions about the ugliness of the L.A. train yards.

Seems silly that I haven't been on a passenger train since. I've ridden plenty of subways and light rail lines, including the one in Denver. But I would like to see the return of train travel, preferably the high-speed variety. We need options to leave our cars behind. I can only imagine how pleasant it would be to get on a train in Cheyenne in January and zoom across the mountains and high prairie to Rock Springs, leaving the white-knuckle winter driving to others.

Spring break trip to DAM

I like this photo for the angles and edges and shadows -- and I'm not talking about those tiny people looking at us. The human subjects (left to right) are Chris, my wife; Annie, my daughter; and Brandon, Annie's friend. We were gathered outside the Denver Art Museum before spending the day inside. The DAM roof is under construction (note workers dangling from ropes on the slanted roof in the background). The entranceway is covered with multicolored plastic sheeting with instuctions pointing out the way to out-of-towners. On the far right side of the pic is a massive sculpture that can be dark and foreboding if you face it with foreboding on a dark winter day. It seemed slightly playful the day we were there. Also, out out of the picture on the right was a trio of stoners who were laughing hysterically. Maybe they were laughing at the sculpture, but I prefer to think they were laughing with it. Later, one detached himself from the group and wandered over to bum a cigarette. I began to deliver my standard "smoking is bad for you" routine, when the kid held up his hand and said: "I don't need no lectures, man. I just need a cigarette." I told him that Chris and I quit smoking 25 years ago when Chris was pregnant with our son. He sighed in disgust and wandered away. I'll have to remember how boring my lectures are next time I'm confronted by a big city cigarette moocher or panhandler.

Fiction becomes film becomes reality

Brad Cain of the Associated Press reports that part of the Oregon State Hospital in Salem will be spared the wrecking ball and serve as a museum to commemorate the 1975 film "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," based on the book by Oregonian Ken Kesey.

I don't remember (maybe you do) whether was book was set in the Oregon State Hospital. It's at least implied.

Demolition crews are going to spare one section of the hospital, the marble hydrotherapy device that Chief Bromden throws through the window, Bromden's broom (which earned him the nickname "Chief Broom") and a bathtub used by Danny DeVito in the film. It will eventually become the Museum of Mental Health. Meanwhile, the new Oregon State Hospital will be built next door.

Writes Cain:

The movie based on Ken Kesey's 1962 novel was fictional, but it has become closely associated over the years with real-life problems at Oregon's crumbling, overcrowded psychiatric facility.... Hospital superintendent Roy Orr said mental health advocates are divided on whether "Cuckoo's Nest" helped promote the cause of the mentally ill or was an overly sensationalized depiction of brutality in state mental institutions. But he supports devoting part of the museum to the movie."I guess I just view it as a part of our past; and now it's time to move on," he said.

Care in mental hospitals has come a long way since the lobotomies and forced incarcerations of the 1960s. But mental health care in general has a long way to go.

But I'm all in favor of any museum that raises the issue. It can also become a site on "The Literary Tour of the West," which should include other key sites in the region's (and Wyoming's) fictional history: a Rock Springs motel commemorating Richard Ford's story of the same name; Brokeback Mountain, located somewhere (possibly everywhere) in Wyoming; The Virginian Hotel in Medicine Bow, which does exist; the site of the castle wherein lives Philip K. Dick's "The Man in the High Castle;" and C.J. Box's town of Saddlestring. Others?

"Designing the New West"

"Designing the New West: Architecture & Landscape in the Mountain West" will be held April 16-17 at the Gallatin Gateway Inn in Bozeman, Mont.

After just spending four days at a Laramie conference about "Public Art & Community," I'm not anxious to go to another confab so soon. But I heard great things about the previous New West-sponsored conference, so I encourage all you builders and architects and town planners and -- yes -- artists to attend. We're faced with some big challenges in the West. While the word "planning" tends to irritate denizens of the West, we're sunk without it. And we need creative approaches. City and county planners talking to neighboring ranchers. Artists talking to government officials. And Repubs talking to Dems (and vice versa).

Here's info on the conference from the New West web site:

"Designing the New West" features leading architects, developers, land planners and landscape designers from around the Rockies, with the aim of tracking design and development trends, showcasing best practices, and understanding how thoughtful and place-inspired design can help us shape our region in the most positive possible ways.

Thursday, April 16, will feature three pre-conference design charrettes and workshops, with specialists' presentations, discussions and site visits on a green home, a commercial development, and land planning & subdivision design. The day will conclude with a conference opening reception and social.

Friday, April 17, is a full-day program at the Gallatin Gateway Inn with a mix of presentations, panel discussions, and networking opportunities. Highlights include:

• Analysis of the state of the business in the region in light of the broad-based economic slowdown -- and the opportunities presented by the federal economic stimulus program.
• Discussion of creative approaches to sustainability, conservation-based design, and urban infill, including a look at new materials, new methods for project planning and management, and new financing models.
• Presentations on innovative land design, architecture and community development projects from some of the nation’s leading practitioners.
• Lively networking with some of the top design and development professionals from around the region.

"Designing the New West" will also offer continuing education credits for certified planners, real estate agents and engineers.

Register here

Dr. Temple Grandin headlines autism awareness event in Cheyenne

Veterinarian and author Temple Grandin from Fort Collins will be the keynote speaker for the second annual Autism Awareness Evening beginning at 5 p.m. on Friday, April 3, at Barnes & Noble, 1851 Dell Range Blvd., Cheyenne. Grandin, who is autistic, is best known for bringing more humane practices to the slaughterhouse (if anyone has a better term for it, let me know). Her latest book is "Animals Make us Human," with Catherine Johnson.

Joining Dr. Grandin are local authors Heather Jensen ("Cup of Comfort for Parents of Children with Autism") and John Roedel ("Autism: Heartfelt Thoughts from Fathers"), who also is a member in good standing of the Ozymandian Theatre improv troupe in Cheyenne. Also speaking will be Helen Sumner, Autism Residential Habilitation Trainer.

This event is also a fund-raiser for the Stride Learning Center in Cheyenne.

FMI: 307-632-1164.

Why doesn't Rep. Lummis support young artists as community volunteers?

Both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives backs a corps of volunteer artists and musicians to serve in schools in low-income communities, health care clinics, senior centers and other places that might need a helping hand -- along with a surge of creativity.

The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, H.R.1388/S.277 passed the Senate on March 26 by a vote of 79 to 19. Similar legislation was approved, 321-105, in the House of Representatives on March 18. Both bills would triple the number of AmeriCorps service volunteers, from 75,000 to 250,000.

One side note: When the legislation came up for a vote in the House on March 18, Wyoming Rep. Cynthia Lummis voted against it. With her vote, she joined other House denizens of the Grossly Obsolete Party (GOP): Lynn Westmoreland (Ga.), Eric Cantor (Va.), Roy Blount (Mo.) and John Boehner (Ohio). What do these people have against young artists teaching painting classes at a Cheyenne senior center? Ask Cynthia.

The artists service corps provision in the House was proposed by Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-NY) during drafting of the legislation by the House Committee on Education and Labor. In the Senate, Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Judd Gregg (R-NH) offered the artists service amendment, which was included by voice vote in the legislation taken to the floor by the bill's manager. The new provision in the House and Senate bills encourages the use of "skilled musicians and artists to promote greater community unity through the use of music and arts education and engagement through work in low-income communities, and education, health care, and therapeutic settings, and other work in the public domain with citizens of all ages."

Remember Pres. Obama's campaign pledge to create an "Artists Corps" of young artists trained to work in low-income schools and communities? I do. According to people in the know, passage of the national service legislation to support nonprofit organizations in working with community volunteers has been a high priority for the new president.

The measure passed March 26 by the Senate includes an amendment offered by Sens. Max Baucus (D-MT) and Charles Grassley (R-IA) to establish a capacity-building program for nonprofit groups in the Corporation for National and Community Service that will expand organizational development assistance to small and mid-sized nonprofit organizations.

Another side note: Wyoming's Senate delegation split on this issue. Sen. John Barrasso voted against it. What does he have against young musicians teaching finger-picking techniques to special needs kids in Casper, his home town? On the positive side, Sen. Mike Enzi of Gillette, a member of the Senate Arts Caucus and a longtime supporter of the arts in Wyoming, voted for the bill sponsored by his buddy-across-the-aisle, Ted Kennedy. I like it when these two guys work together. Let's hope they can come up with a reasonable health care plan.

Both the House and the Senate bills would set up a fund to help nonprofit organizations recruit more volunteers and establish a "Summer of Service" program for middle and high school students. The two bills differ in provisions aimed at limiting the legislative advocacy and political organizing activities of service volunteers. This sounds like an issue right-wingers might get very paranoid about, as it's a well-known fact that volunteer artists and community organizers are untrustworthy liberals. We all remember Governor Palin's campaign rants against community organizers. Perhaps Sen. Barrasso and Rep. Lummis need a primer on volunteerism.

Let's see if this sticking point can be hammered out in committee. Stay tuned...

Laramie events this week feature the arts, film, social justice and Elton John

Great series of events this week in Laramie.

First up is the Shepard Symposium on Social Justice, sponsored by the Matthew Shepard Foundation. It gets under way on Wednesday, April 1, 7 p.m., with the Wyoming debut of the film "Straightlaced: How Gender's Got Us All Tied Up," which includes a talk by director Debra Chasnoff. Following the film at 9 p.m. is a hip-hop event with Rosa Clemente.

Keynote speaker at the Shepard Symposium is Elizabeth Birch on Thursday, April 2, 7:30 p.m. in the UW Education Dept. Auditorium. She's one of the most recognized leaders in the gay and lesbian civil rights movement, and served as executive director of the Human Rights Campaign for nearly a decade.

Elton John wraps up the Shepard Symposium on Friday night with a concert benefiting the Shepard Foundation.

The Public Art & Community symposium (UW just lousy with symposia all of a sudden) gets started with a 5-7 p.m. reception at the UW Conference Center in Laramie. You have to register for the symposium (and pay the fee) to get into the reception and avail yourself of the foodstuffs and drinkstuffs. But a free "Art Slam" follows at 7:30. This features artists and symposium presenters Jesus Moroles (winner of a 2008 National Medal of Arts), John Henry and Ursual von Rydingsvard. Another free event follows from 10 p.m.-midnight. "20:20" features 20 artists who each will "flash" 20 images of their work for 20 seconds each while they provide the illuminating narration. This should be a fun, fast-faced event.

For a full schedule, go to the Wyoming Arts Council web site at http://wyoarts.state.wy.us/.

The arts symposium features scores of professional artists and sculptors talking about their work in 15- to 30-minute sessions. I'm looking forward to Lawrence Argent's talk about copyright issues at 8:45 a.m. on Friday. Not only good info for artists but for writers, too.

The registration deadline for the arts symposium is Tuesday, March 31. For info, call the WAC at 307-777-7742.

In case this isn't enough stimulation for the creative side of you, you can take in one of these other events:

"Awaken/Shift," the Department of Theatre and Dance's final dance concert of the season, College of Arts and Sciences auditorium, April 1, 2 and 4, 7:30 p.m. Tickets cost $14 for the public, $11 for senior citizens and $7 for students. To get tickets, stop by the Fine Arts Box Office, call 766 6666, or go online at www.uwyo.edu/finearts.

On Friday, April 3, noon: Mary L. Keller, adjunct professor in the Religious Studies and African American Studies programs, presents "Heart Mountain as Home: Foretop's Father in the 21st Century." Room 316 College of Agriculture Building. For more information, contact Ramesh Sivanpillai at sivan@uwyo.edu.

On Saturday, April 4, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., the Kappa Sigma Fraternity will host its first chili cookoff in Fraternity Mall. Tickets cost $5. To enter or for more information, contact David Steinberg at dsteinbe@uwyo.edu or (720) 238-2462.

I wish there was something to do in this wind-scoured, tumbleweed-ridden state.

Cheyenne's C.J. Box writes intro for new mapguide of Yellowstone region

Any publication that features an introduction by a mystery writer demands my attention. That's why I perked up when I saw the new "Yellowstone and Beyond" mapguide from National Geographic. Cheyenne author C.J. Box, nominated this year for an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America, wrote the intro to the guide. It mixes a bit of first-person narrative with history and local color. I was waiting for C.J.'s protagonist, Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett, to make an appearance. Alas, he did not (you have to buy the books).

Read the intro --and download (or order) a copy of the mapguide -- at http://www.yellowstonegeotourism.org/. The site also features an interactive map of the region.
National Geographic's Center for Sustainable Destinations has published an entire series of these publications devoted to Geotourism: "The kind of travel that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place — its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage, and the well-being of its residents."

Others have attempted to treat this area as a region that happens to span three states. But this one seems to get the job done. Travel/tourism bureaus from Wyoming, Montana and Idaho all pitched in to fund the project. Good use of taxpayer funds, I'd say, as all three states mightily depend on tourism income. Yes, we're all energy-producing states, especially Wyoming and Montana. But tourism and the extractive industries overlap geographically and politically. Just take a look at the recent vote in D.C. to protect the Wyoming range, which is part of the Yellowstone region. Both of our senators voted for protection; Rep. Cynthia Lummis did not. Rep. Lummis is rapidly becoming a member in good standing of the Republican "N-O means No" Chorus.

Sen. John Barrasso made protection of the Wyoming Range a campaign promise. So I'm glad that he came through on this issue.

So, take a look at C.J.'s National Geographic's map. Get a copy for your summer travels.

One hour without lights -- but with poetry

At 8:28, we lit the candles, switched off the TV and turned out the lights. By 8:30, we were in the dark, but for the soothing glow of four candles.

We were members of the southeast Wyoming contingent of Earth Hour. All over the globe, people (even entire cities) were turning off lights at the behest of the World Wildlife Fund. It was an effort to bring attention to global warming and the threat it poses to wildlife.

Cheyenne wasn't one of the participating cities. But we decided to do our part, thinking it might be fun and illuminating. Annie's friend Brandon came for dinner and the switching off of the lights. Chris, Annie and I We were celebrating Brandon's first-place finish in the 10th-grade poetry category for Young Authors. He and Annie are fellow writers, which puts them in a minority at their high school. But it's a feisty minority, one that speaks its mind and is only dimly aware that there are many service industry jobs in their future as they work toward that big literary prize.

Brandon brought his poems, which he read by candlelight. They were very good, filled with teen angst and some sharp words and phrases. When he finished, we talked about the work and his delivery style. He said he read too fast and I agreed, but told him that some poems might need to be read faster than others. Often young writers read their work in a burst of syllables, and they're hard to understand. Also, a monotone can be a problem. But Brandon, it seems, had practiced.

We spoke of other things. Brandon's car wreck the week before, which he'd survived without a scratch. Annie's prose writing. A little bit about global warming. I became curious about our neighborhood's darkness level. I looked outside. It seemed darker than usual, but that could just be my imagination. I felt like one of those air raid wardens from World War II. That house is totally dark, but there's some light leaking from the one next door. Don't those idiots know that there's a war on?

Actually, there is a war on. Literal wars, such as Iraq and Afghanistan. But a war on the planet, too. We may have to assume a war footing to battle this one.

Poetry could be one of our secret weapons.

Dickens tackled epic themes -- you can, too

Too-good-to-be-true investments

Rapacious landlords

Clueless government agencies

Phrases ripped out of today's headlines?

Well, yes, but also themes in Charles Dickens' "Little Dorrit," which hits the screen on PBS Masterpiece Theatre this Sunday.

The New York Times gives it an extremely favorable review. So I may watch it, even though I haven't committed myself to a MT series since "Pride and Prejudice" in the mid-90s. That series, according to the NYT, had the same director as "Little Dorrit." So I may watch now, or save to savor later. Read the Times' review at http://tv.nytimes.com/2009/03/28/arts/television/28dorr.html?hpw

As an English major, I read a lot of Dickens, including "Little Dorrit." In it, Mr. Dorrit spends 20 years in Marshalsea debtor's prison. Dickens knew a bit about debtor's prison, since his family spent some time in one. Mr. Dorrit used to be rich and now is a debtor due to some debts which may or may not be his. Nobody can seem to find an answer at the government Department of Circumlocution. It's modern-day equivalents can be seen in the Bush-era "oversight" and "regulatory" agencies that were charged with keeping track of A.I.G., Citigroup, food safety, disaster relief, etc.

Anyway, Mr. Dorrit is kind of clueless and his daughter, Amy, is an innocent ripe for the plucking. Her sister, Fanny, is a bit of a schemer. There are good guys that turn out to be bad; bad guys that turn out to be good. Dickens was a great storyteller if a bit long-winded. But you would be too if you had to constantly churn out chapters for the London periodicals. Dickens was always writing on the run, which gives his books a certain breathless quality when compared with his Victorian-era counterparts. You may find that hard to believe when you pick up "Little Dorrit," all 1,024 pages and 1.5 pounds of it (Penguin Classics edition). But his humor, cliffhanger endings and odd coincidences keep the reader moving along.

This makes me think that more classics from the English major's catalogue needs dusting off. Dickens has never gone out of print, so he's been with us all along. Tolstoy was another one who tackled the big subjects -- in a spectacular way with "War and Peace," but also in his essays and short novels. Epic -- that was Tolstoy and that was his work. He might just be the thing for a country that's been in minimalist mode for the past couple decades. Or maybe that was only university English departments. The world is always in epic mode -- we writers just have to summon the imagination to deal with it.