Lest we forget about Big O's victories (and ours)

Celebrate the end of Don't Ask Don't Tell and hard-fought battles for LGTB equality in The Equality State

From Jeran Artery, Director of Social Change, Wyoming Equality:

Dear Wyoming Equality Members and Allies,

In case you hadn’t heard September 20th marks the official end of the Military’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy. This is a huge milestone in our fight for LGTB equality across this country. We think that calls for a celebration!

What’s more, over the last year we’ve seen marriage equality arrive in New York State. President Obama’s Administration has decided to stop defending DOMA, and right here in Wyoming we defeated two very ugly anti-LGTB bills. We’ve accomplished many great things over this last year and we want to throw a party to say thank you for helping us fight the good fight.

So, drum roll please… On Tuesday, September 20, from 6-10 p.m. at the Historic Plains Hotel in Cheyenne we will be hosting this celebration. The cost of admission is free. Wyoming Equality will provide some tasty snacks, and a cash bar will be available for you to enjoy a cocktail or two.

We will be having a silent auction on a handful of nifty items to help offset the cost of the event, but mostly we just want you to come and celebrate with us! Save the date and I hope to see all of you Sept. 20.

Cranky Old White People Magazine says: Come to Wyoming!

The National Conference of State Legislatures has compiled a Legislator Demographic Map for each state. I looked up the Wyoming map and found it very interesting. Not horribly depressing but pretty darn close. I also found some inaccuracies.

As far as ethnicity, the NCSL site lists our legislature as 97 percent Caucasian and 2 percent Latino. O.K., I know the 2 percent of Latinos: brothers Floyd and Ken Esquibel of Cheyenne.It's kind of funny that I know the only ethnic legislators in the state. Often I am at the same meeting with them, as they are both Democrats (no surprise).

Therein lies the problem. What happened to our lone African-American Legislator, Jim Byrd of Cheyenne? Since there are 90 legislators, Jim's African-Americanness makes up one-ninetieth of this august body. That makes the legislature at least 1 percent black. Now here's another problem: Patrick Goggles is Native American and a a rep from Fremont County. That makes the legislature at least 1 percent Native American.

Both Jim and Patrick are Democrats, of course. So let's add this up. Latino: 2 percent. African-American-American: 1 percent. Native American: 1 percent. That makes 4 percent ethnic and 96 percent Caucasian. Hey NCSL -- time to hire some real researchers!

Four of 14 Democratic legislators represent minorities in this very white state. That's 29 percent. Not bad in a state that is 91 percent white (U.S. Census stats show that 86 percent of the population is white non-Hispanic). In case you're keeping score, the Republican Party representation in the legislature is all white. 100 percent.

But that's just the beginning of the problem.

The NCSL lists Wyoming's gender make-up as 94 percent and 16 percent female. That's 110 percent, as in "My team gave 110 percent today." Even my own math-challenged self can see that this doesn't add up. I am beginning to lose faith in the NCSL.

Here are the real numbers: There are now 13 non-men in the legislature. There were 14 but one (Lisa Shepperson) just resigned. So you could say that the legislature is (was) 16 percent non-men and 84 percent men. Three of the 13 remaining are Democrats. That makes 21 percent of the legislature's Democratic Party representation as female. That's still better than the 13 percent female percentage in the Republican camp.

You can now see why Wyoming legislative sessions have become so bat shit crazy.

That's just the beginning. If the NCSL numbers can be trusted (do you have any doubt at this point?), fully 34 percent of our legislators are 65 and older. There has been some speculation that at least some of these senior Republican members are living part of the year (winter?) in Arizona retirement communities. If this is true throughout the West, you can begin to see why Arizona is so bat shit crazy.

The Wyoming Legislature does have some younger members. Fifty-one percent of its members are 50-64 years old. This is roughly the age of the Baby Boomer generational cohort, the ones who have brought such balance and civility to politics. Within it you find such moderating influences as Rick Perry ("Secede!"), Michelle Bachmann, Rand Paul, David Duke, Ann Coulter, Glenn Beck, etc. Democrats don't have the same track record on extremists, unless you want to go back to the sixties. Even Al Sharpton has mellowed out. Safe to say that there are wackos in this age group all over the political spectrum but mostly on the Right.

However, there is one statement that can be made about this age group: it is not on the cutting edge of anything. Once you hit 60, you are looking toward retirement. Most of your prejudices and priorities are set in stone. Often you are stone-like in your approach to politics. And not like a rolling stone.

So, 85 percent of our legislators are 50 or over. Most of them are white. Most of them are men. Most of them are very conservative.

A pattern is emerging. Stats in our neighboring states aren't much better. National totals are a bit better but not by much.

No wonder we're in trouble.

Our legislative bodies do not reflect the population.

How can we change it? I would say go out and vote. But many of our state legislators come from very conservative districts and usually there is nobody running on the Dem side. So if I tell people in Big Horn County to get out there and vote, the lone Repub on the ballot will just get more votes.

More bad news: a legislative committee is finishing up redistricting as we speak. Repubs have a veto-proof majority in the legislature now. They outnumber Dems 76-14. Are they after a bigger majority?

You could say that Democrats could do a better job in recruiting and funding candidates. Go ahead, say it. I have, many times. But I ain't running. I've worked for many fine Democratic candidates who were superior in every way to their Republican opposition. They were all trounced. The exception is Dave Freudenthal who was often accused of being a DINO (Democrat in Name Only). But at least he was that. Imagine the conversation that this Thermopolis boy had with himself: I yearn for a career in politics. I want to stay in my home state. Democrats are as popular as prairie dogs but not nearly as plentiful. I'll run for Gov as a Democrat. Brilliant! Gov Dave and one of his predecessors, Mike Sullivan, were exceptions to the rule.

In the 2010 election, almost all of the good Democratic candidates fell to the Tea Party onslaught.

Demographics spell doom for Wyoming. Our children have departed in droves. They leave to attend college and find jobs in Austin and Chicago and L.A. But it's not only jobs. They also seek the amenities of big cities and better educations for their children. They also seek cultural diversity which speaks to a more cosmopolitan environment.

Wyoming has many fine things to offer. The arts scene is booming, especially in Cheyenne, Casper and Jackson. If you love the outdoors, there is no finer place than Wyoming. Our unemployment rates is one of the lowest in the U.S., although most of those jobs are in the oil and gas fields and service industries. Cranky Old White People Magazine always lists Wyoming as one of the best places to retire if you're a cranky old white person. Taxes are low. You can carry guns in public. Tea Party rallies galore. And you have lots of people just like you in the state legislature.

Young people, even if you're white and cranky, don't really want to be around a bunch of cranky old white people.

When it's time to retire, my wife and I will seek warmer climes. We may go to Florida or Arizona, but not  just so we can live in a gated community with a lot of conservative knuckleheads. We will go for adventure. We will go for the arts. We will go so we can be around our kids (one in Arizona, one in Florida) and other family members in the southeast and southwest.

Take a look at this legislator demographic map. Despite the errors, it does offer a snapshot on what the populace has elected to allegedly represent our interests. Is this what you want our august elected body to look like for your kids and grandkids?

Wyoming Advisory Panel for Students with Disabilities plans "public meeting by phone" Friday

My two children were both served by Individualized Education Plans (I.E.P.) during their time in Laramie County School System No. 1. My son was diagnosed with ADHD when he was 5 and my daughter struggled with mental health issues and learning disabilities.

I bring this up because the Wyoming Advisory Panel for Students with Disabilities, the group that advises the Wyoming Department of Education on services for youth with disabilities, is conducting a "public meeting by phone" Friday. One of the hard lessons learned by parents of special needs' students is that eternal vigilance is the price of a public school education. There are a whole set of federal regulations that assist students with disabilities. School administrators aren't always up to date on those rules and regs. Sometimes they know the rules but choose to ignore them. This would be a great time to point out that there are superb administrators and counselors in our school system -- I'm looking at you, Cheyenne Central High School. But many of our schools can do better.

My kids have left the K-12 system and are on their own (and doing very well, thank you). If you have a child whose needs are not getting met, get on the phone Friday and see what's happening:

The Wyoming Advisory Panel for Students with Disabilities will hold a public meeting by phone Friday to discuss proposed rules for student seclusion and restraint, among other issues.

The panel, which advises the Wyoming Department of Education about ways to promote services for children and youth with disabilities, will also talk about an upcoming federal report that examines the unmet needs of such students, said Barb Yates, the panel's administrative assistant.

As required under a new state law, the panel is asking for public comment on proposed rules for when and how students can be secluded or restrained while in school.

Yates said the panel may decide to offer its recommendations on the policy as well.

The meeting will be held from 8 a.m. until noon at the Wyoming Advisory Panel for Students with Disabilities' Riverton office. Members of the public may offer their opinions to the panel from 11:30 a.m. until noon by calling 877-278-8686; the passcode is 095102.

Read more: http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/article_f12ec331-1f66-5eea-9777-9b3df0c04996.html#ixzz1XvjqWUg7

Celebrate "Read Any Damn Thing You Want To Read" Week Sept. 24-Oct. 1

Don't let the Know Nothings take away your reading choices.

Read any book you want all year 'round. But be especially forceful on your reading choices Sept. 24-Oct. 1.

Banned Books Week is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association;American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression; the American Library Association; American Society of Journalists and Authors; Association of American Publishers; and the National Association of College Stores.  It is endorsed by theCenter for the Book in the Library of Congress. In 2011, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund; National Coalition Against Censorship; National Council of Teachers of English; and PEN American Center also signed on as sponsors.

For more information on getting involved with Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read, please see Calendar of Events, Ideas and Resources, and the new Banned Books Week site. You can also contact the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom at 1-800-545-2433, ext. 4220, or bbw@ala.org.

Tribes of creatives gather for WY Convergence conference

There are two terms that I’ve been hearing a lot lately: “creatives” and “tribe/tribal.” I guess that’s actually three words, although “tribe” and “tribal” are often intermingled when the subject is brought up.

“Creatives” are people in the creative industries of visual arts, writing, performing, humanities, historic preservation, filmmaking, culinary arts, etc. Only recently have they all been lumped under the heading of “creative industries.” The State of Colorado now has a Creative Industries Department. These entities are engaged in “creative placemaking” on a local level and statewide. Together they power the “creative economy” that includes “cultural heritage tourism.”

You may now curse me for writing (in parentheses) every single buzz phrase swirling around in the 2011 arts world. That’s a lot of creative juju.

Meanwhile, we’re all in these tribes grouped according to our passions. Wine-makers, computer gamers, poets, Americana musicians, progressive political bloggers, Tea Party activists, traditional knitters, cyclists, etc. There are innumerable subsets to these groups.

Tribes are nothing new. Most of our relatives lived in tribal cultures. We banded together for mutual interests, mainly food and shelter. That’s real basic tribal stuff. I heard "tribal" a lot over the weekend at the Scottish Irish Highland Festival. The leader of the Aussie Celtic band Brother announced several times that the band was about to go "tribal." That mainly consisted of beating on drums. Arbannach is a tribal Celtic band from Scotland that gets tribal on every one of its songs. Scottish clans are tribes. In olden times, they banded together for safety against other Scottish clans whose main purpose, it seems, was hacking each other with huge swords. You can still buy the swords and wear them proudly, although hacking of neighbors is usually frowned upon.

These days, clans have gear. My wife Chris's Cumming clan has a brand in its ancient crest, its own tartan and several varieties of scotch. It offered for sale a book about its 13th century clash with ancient enemies in the Bruce clan. You can get bumper stickers and other cool stuff at its web site. And you can join if you have roots as a Comins, Cumming, Cummings, or about 50 other versions of the name. This is important, I think, this sense of belonging to a group, a tradition, a family. That's what we seem to need.

There were many tribes at the Celtic fest. Pipe band tribes, herding dog handler tribes, music tribes, Guinness-drinking tribes (Slainte!), the U.S. Marine Corps, Society for Creative Anachronism, full-armor jousters, and many others.

Entrepreneur Michael Hyatt does a pretty good job of putting this all together on his web site. Here’s part of a post entitled “Marketing is Dead:”

Most creatives I know hate marketing. They want to write, speak, or entertain. But they hate the thought of promoting themselves or selling their art. If this describes you, I have good news. Marketing is dead. Okay, maybe I am overstating my case.

Marketing may not be dead, but, in the world of social media, it has morphed. Dramatically.

Tribe-building is the new marketing.

Marketing is no longer about shouting in a crowded marketplace. It is about participating in a dialogue with fellow travelers.  

Marketing is no longer about generating transactions. It is about building relationships. 

Marketing is no longer about exploiting a market for your own benefit. It is about serving those who share your passion—for your mutual benefit.

In his groundbreaking book, Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us, Seth Godin defines a tribe as “a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea.”  

I reviewed this book right after it came out in 2008. It is just as relevant today as it was then. It is the first book I give to new authors. It is must reading if you are serious about building an enduring career as a creative. 

Seth says that a tribe only has two requirements:
1. A shared interest
2. A way to communicate.

I bring this up because arts and humanities groups around Wyoming are addressing these issues Oct. 6-8 at its Convergence Conference in Cody. Keynoter is well-known "creative economy" guru Steven Tepper from the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and public Policy at Vanderbilt University.

One of my tribes, the Wyoming Arts Council, is offering travel stipends for individual artists and staffers, board members of volunteers of arts organizations. To get a stipend form, call the WAC at 307-777-7742. Get the complete schedule at www.convergencewyoming.com.

I’ll see my fellow tribal creatives Oct. 6 in Cody.

Bring your drum.

Monday morning gardening: Ripe strawberry alert!

My Victory Garden was almost defeated this year.

I began the season with high hopes. Despite the late start to summer (or perhaps because of it) my lettuce leafed out early and grew wildly into the heat of July. Spinach too. My third-season strawberries yielded many ripe fruits. Nothing like getting up in the morning and grabbing a few garden strawberries to much on or add to pancakes. I'm getting a new crop mow that cooler September weather has arrived. I snacked on a few new ripe ones this morning.

Only half of my strawberries survived the back-to-back hailstorms. Ditto for my tomatoes, squash and bean plants. Terrible to see the damage that a golf-ball-sized hailstone can do to a green leaf. Rips it to shreds. I was late getting home that mid-July day and only had time to cover the plants closest to the porch before I got pelted. Like getting smacked in the arm with an errant drive by an old duffer. After 15 minutes, there were thousands of ice balls in my yard. Young green tomatoes mixed in with the ice white. Would have been pretty if not so sad.

I was so busy with the garden that I didn't even think about my car and my roof. They both need replacing. 

Another hailstorm arrived a week later, right in the middle of our annual Frontier Days celebration. The nerve!  This one brought pea-sized hail, which wouldn't have been too bad, but it brought a lot of it. The storm that kept on giving. Again I covered the plants closest to the house but couldn't reach the rest of my pole beans and pumpkin plants. 

I did end up with a few servings of green beans and crookneck squash. I may get a few more squash if the frost holds off. I've only had a few vine-ripened tomatoes but I will have a bunch of green ones to ripen inside. Not quite the same, but they'll be good for a few salads and the football chili of October and November.

What's the lesson here?

I looked out my office window and spied a strawberry I missed during this morning's rounds. I am rising from my chair right now to go outside and eat said ripe fruit. It is red and inviting. 

Cheyenne artist Forrest King takes a little of this and a little of that for artwork celebrating peace and healing

Forrest King and daughter at table filled with donated items for International Day of Peace artwork

Local artist and community activist Forrest King has his work cut out for him.

During the next ten days, Forrest will craft a work of art from a firefiighter's gear, an empty wine bottle, a string of Islamic prayer beads, shards of a shattered stained glass window and a broken bone.

The items were donated to the cause at today's 9/11 commemoration at the Wyoming State Capitol. It was the first in a series of 11 days of peace that will culminate in the International Day of Peace ceremony Sept. 21 at the Capitol Rotunda.

The ceremony started with a performance by Hands in Harmony and a community chorale made up of the LCCC chorus and members of local church choirs. Speakers came from local Christian churches, Mt. Sinai Synagogue, the Southeast Wyoming Islamic Center and the UU Church. The most touching aspect of the day featured mosque members translating the original Hebrew text and Synagogue members translating work recited in the original language by mosque members. It was all scripted but really illustrated the "healing" theme of the event.

People representing at least a dozen local congregations donated items for Forrest's commemorative work of art.

From the V.A. Medical Center -- a broken bone representing wounded warriors of our many wars.
From Mt. Sinai Synagogue -- Jason Bloomberg, who spent 20 years as an emergency responder, brought an EMT's jump kit found at Ground Zero and a firefighter's helmet.
Community of Christ -- a peace candle
St. Paul's Lutheran -- pieces of a stained glass window.
SE Wyoming Islamic Center -- a broken string of prayer beads

Community choir assembled on the WY State Capitol for 9/11 commemoration

We were piped out of the ceremony by a lone piper performing "Amazing Grace."

We eagerly await Forrest's finished artwork. Its theme is the journey from brokenness to hope.

Shalom

For everything (even 9/11) there is a season

As always, the arts were front and center during this morning’s televised tenth anniversary of trying to make sense of 9/11.

Performances by choirs and singer/songwriters and classical musicians punctuated the reading of the names at the Twin Towers memorial. Each of the politicians who spoke referenced a poem or a Biblical verse, which is another type of poetry. You might even say that the reading of the names is a very long epic poem. The readers themselves ended their recitations by remembering their loved one who died on 9/11. A short personal haiku amidst the epic poem.

Former NYC Mayor Rudy Guiliani read the verse from Ecclesiastes that was put to song (“Turn, Turn, Turn”) by anti-war and environmental activist Pete Seeger in 1959 and made famous among non-Bible readers in 1965 by rock-era legends The Byrds.

Ecclesiates 3 1-8

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to throw away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

This only seems to emphasize the fact that, while poems and music and Biblical verses bring some comfort and understanding to tragedy, they don't seem to make grief any easier to bear. Sometimes they bring up issues that still desperately need to be faced.

After Giuliani’s speech, Paul Simon sang "The Sound of Silence" accompanied only by his guitar. Simon began composing the song after the Kennedy assassination. It became one of the standards of Simon & Garfunkel performances and nearly every young person alive in the sixties knew the words. This morning, Simon’s words and guitar chords echoed eerily off of the big buildings still under construction. His words argue that “silence like a cancer grows” and many prophetic warnings are gobbled up by the sounds of silence. Sounds a little bit like what we’ve seen the past 10 years in the U.S. The silence, however, is really the sounds of millions of screaming voices blaring out of the Tower of Babel worlds of the Internet and Cable TV.

The famous hymn “Amazing Grace” was performed by flautist Emi Ferguson. “Amazing Grace” was co-written by repentant slave ship sailor John Newton and renowned British poet William Cowper. It’s now performed often on bagpipes, notably at the funerals of fire fighters and soldiers. I heard many pipe band renditions of this standard over the weekend at the Scottish Irish Highland Festival in Estes Park.

It’s no namby-pamby verse. The author is crying out in anguish, thanking God’s “amazing grace” for saving “a wretch like me.” This takes humility. This takes courage. Something that we saw plenty of in those who gave their lives for others on 9/11/01.

"Sustainability and the Arts" exhibit reception Sept. 20 at UW

Coming soon to reality TV: jousting

Is jousting the next big thing on reality TV?

That's what people were saying over the weekend at the 35th annual Scottish-Irish Highland Festival in Estes Park.

"Jousting is the next big thing on reality TV."

That's right. Jousting, as seen in movies such as "The Adventures of Robin Hood," "A Knight's Tale" and "Court Jester," is making a comeback.

Here's an article in New York Magazine about the History Channel's proposed jousting show:

The History Channel is taking a cue from Game of Thrones and putting together a jousting-competition series, Full Metal Jousting. "It's sixteen guys and they're gonna knock the crap out of each other," vows the show's executive producer. Fully armored competitors will charge at each other on horses "bred for warfare," and "someone's going to get hurt." If that sounds appealing, and you're "proficient with horseback riding while simultaneously performing physical activities requiring hand-eye coordination," then this is the casting notice of your dreams. Last summer, the New York Times wondered if jousting was "the next extreme sport," and now it seems the answer is "well, sort of."

For awhile there -- 400 years or so -- jousting had fallen out of favor. Guys kept getting killed and some of them were the knights and nobles who made up the majority of professional jousters. It would have been O.K. if the rabble was getting killed. They were, after all, expendable. But when the King of France (Henry II) had a broken lance puncture his brain -- a fatal wound -- that was enough. 

No nobles in the lists Saturday at Fairgrounds Stadium in Estes Park. There was a guy who was a martial arts champion from Utah and a young man from Texas whose father is in the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame. But no Earl of Cumberland or Sir Ulrich von Lichtenstein of Gelderland. 

There were lots of cameras. Handheld cameras, cameras buried in the ground, cameras embedded into the tips of lances.

It was fun watching fully-armored men charge each other on horseback. Lances shattered. Jousters fell to the ground.

This will make great reality TV.

Now only if we can get Snooky fitted with armor, a lance and a big horse...

Wyoming's Snarky Slacktivists hit the road to Vermillion in October

I'm pleased to announce that the John R. Milton Writers’ Conference Oct. 27-29 at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion will be featuring the roundtable, "Snarky Slacktivists or Online Outlaws? Leftie Blogging in Red State Wyoming”

Panelists include Cheyenne's Rodger McDaniel, Jeran Artery and Mike Shay and Laramie's Meg Lanker-Simons (see their links on the right sidebar blogroll).

We are definitely snarky slacktivists. One has only to look at my sitting-in-front-of-the-computer-all-day waistline to deduce that. But outlaws? Probably not. We are progressives in a decidedly non-progressive state. Putting us in the same camp as Butch Cassidy and Wild Bill Hickok automatically gives us some Wild West creds.

Bang, bang!

We first began thinking about pitching a panel to the Milton conference back in July. Lee Ann Roripaugh, director of the creative writing program at USD, put out the call for proposals early in the summer. Lee Ann is a Wyoming native, offspring of Robert Roripaugh, Wyoming Poet Laureate Emeritus, and Yoshiko Roripaugh, native of Japan and one of the nicest people in the universe. As often happens, Lee Ann escaped her home town of Laramie to do some amazing things. She earned a music performance degree from Indiana University and went on to earn an M.F.A. in creative writing at IU working with Yusef Komunyakaa, a prize-winning poet, Vietnam vet and Colorado State University (my alma mater) grad.

So had did we make the case for outlaw online slacktivism? Read this:

In 2008, Wyoming voters went for John McCain over Barack Obama by a 65-33 percent margin. This was the lowest percentage of “blue” voters in any state, outdoing even neighboring Utah and Idaho (34 percent). In 2010, Republican Matt Mead was elected governor by a 3-to-1 margin. All five elected offices were swept by Republicans and the GOP-dominated Legislature upped its “R” margin to 76 out of 90 seats. 

Democrats are an endangered species in Wyoming. This is a state where sporting an Obama bumper sticker is a radical act. Many Democrats are afraid to speak up in public because they are so tragically outnumbered. In some cases, jobs are on the line. 

The four bloggers in this proposal are not the state’s only outspoken progressives, but they represent voices unheard in Wyoming’s mainstream media. They have been active in Democratic Party politics, and one has served in the legislature as a Democrat. But they are not party functionaries. They often find themselves at odds with a party structure that is timid in the face of Republican onslaughts. It may be a stretch to label them “virtual outlaws.” But they do represent voices that fall into four of your suggested conference categories:
• Outlaw as Other
• Gender outlaws, and/or queering the American West
• Borders, border crossings, and boundary transgressions
• Virtual outlaws, and/or outlaws in the “new frontier” of cyber-space 

In our roundtable session, we will speak about our prog-blogging journeys. It will include a multimedia presentation of our work. All of us will be blogging from the conference.

Presenters: 

Jeran Artery, Cheyenne, blogs at Out in Wyoming, LGBT activist and Director of Social Change for Wyoming Equality, actor and visual artist, a native of Wheatland in very conservative Platte County, Wyo. Blog: http://outinwy.blogspot.com

Meg Lanker, Laramie, blogs at Cognitive Dissonance, hosts a radio show by the same on KOCA FM every Friday night. Meg brought a successful lawsuit against the University of Wyoming when it refused to let 1960s radical turned education reformer Bill Ayers speak on campus. She also organized a fund-raiser for LGBT groups when ultra-conservative commentator Ann Coulter spoke in Laramie earlier this year. She’s a member of the National Writers Union. Her web site is included in Tumblr's featured politics and government directory at http://www.tumblr.com/spotlight/politics and her site has over 3,000 followers. Blog: http://cognitivedissonance.tumblr.com/

Rodger McDaniel, Cheyenne, former Wyoming state legislator, one-time director of Habitat for Humanity in Nicaragua, retired director of Wyoming Mental Health and Substance Abuse Division, ordained minister, Blowing in the Wyoming Wind blogger. Sponsors a Monday night “Beer and Bibles” get-together each week at a Cheyenne bar where Bible stories are explored from a social justice angle. Rodger is a frequent guest columnist for the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle. Blog: http://blowinginthewyomingwind.blogspot.com 

Michael Shay, Cheyenne, fiction writer, essayist and blogger on hummingbirdminds since 2005. One of Michael’s short stories is featured in the 2010 anthology “Working Words: Punching the Clock and Kicking Out the Jams” from Coffee House Press. Other poets, writers and musicians in the anthology include new U.S. Poet Laureate Phil Levine, Wanda Coleman, Diane DiPrima, Bob Dylan, Eminem, Li-Young Lee, Dorothy Day and Daniel Berrigan. One of Michael’s essays is in “Easy to Love but Hard to Raise,” due out in November from DRT Press. Michael’s blog was recently named by the Washington Post as one of the top state-based political blogs in the U.S. Blog: http://hummingbirdminds.blogspot.com

Go read the blogs. What would Judge Roy Bean think: snarky slacktivists or online outlaws?

Find out more about the Milton conference at http://miltonconference.wordpress.com

Robert Greer's "Astride a Pink Horse" explores the twisted legacy of Wyoming's atomic era

Robert Greer

Robert Greer left Gary, Indiana, as soon as he could to attend college and eventually become the only international cancer specialist and best-selling African-American mystery writer to raise cattle in Platte County, Wyoming.

Not a bad claim to fame.

Robert has a new book coming out in March 2012:

ASTRIDE A PINK HORSE North Atlantic Books Hardcover: March 27, 2012, ISBN-13: 978-1583943694 

The Cold War ended years ago, or did it? 

For Thurmond Giles, a decorated African American Air Force veteran found dead, naked, and dangling by his ankles inside an entry tube to a deactivated minuteman missile silo in desolate southeastern Wyoming, the answer is no. The labyrinthine investigation that follows, led by Air Force fighter pilot Major Bernadette Cameron and ex-college baseball phenom-turned-reporter Elgin "Cozy" Coseia, reveals how the atomic era's legacy has continued to destroy minds and lives. 

Set in contemporary times, Astride a Pink Horse follows Bernadette, Cozy, and Cozy's eccentric boss Freddie Dames as they match wits with a gallery of unforgettable murder suspects: a powerful, politically connected cattle rancher, long bitter over government seizure of his land for defense purposes and the expulsion of his son from the U.S. Air Force Academy; a declining 76-year-old WWII-era Japanese internment camp victim and her unstable math professor nephew; an idealistic lifelong nuclear arms protestor; and a civilian Air Force contractor with a 20-year-old grudge against the murder victim. Do three amateur detectives stand a chance against these characters and the conspiracy that may be behind it all? 

Robert Greer's trademark mix of vivid eccentrics, surprising plot twists, and political edge makes this one of his most memorable thrillers.

Despite what the Gov says, Cindy Hill continues her war against public employees

Why does Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Cindy Hill hate her permanent employees?

Probably because she can't fire them every time her little heart desires.

Hill had some juicy quotes in yesterday's Casper Star-Tribune story, "Wyo. Gov. Mead: At-will employment should be consistent."

“I have SOME permanent employees who are very personally committed and find ALL at-will employees are personally committed to their work,” Hill said.

I have capitalized "some" and "all." I am a permanent state employee. If I saw my agency director saying that only SOME of her employees were "personally committed," I would ponder several things:

1. Thank God that there are laws that protect me from Tea Party extremists such as Cindy Hill.

2. Why do Republicans hate the people who actually do the work?

3. This person is in charge of our public schools?

4. What is my union’s (Wyoming Public Employees Association) position in this tug-of-war between its members and Hill?

Cindy Hill is part of the Republican bid to privatize everything. As we've seen in Wisconsin and Ohio and Florida, Republicans governors and their lackeys are trying to undo every gain made by employees since The Great Depression.

One has to wonder how Wyoming will find and keep “personally committed” employees when right-wing extremists such as Hill are calling the shots.

Democracy for America trying to keep a few steps ahead of Dingbats for America

From Monique Teal, Democracy for America:

2012 is almost here and the stakes are high. We've seen what happens when right-wing Republicans get elected at the state and national levels - wars on working families, women and the American Dream. DFA is gearing up to elect more progressives than ever in 2012. This means more actions, more endorsements and a lot more trainings.

We're scheduling our 2012 Campaign Academy trainings right now and we'd love to organize one near you! 

Apply to host a Campaign Academy in Wyoming! 

I can't host but I'll contribute $15 to support the Campaign Academy scholarship fund! 

Since it was created in 2004, DFA has been building the progressive movement by training thousands of progressive activists and candidates every year. We've brought our training program to over 115 cities across the country and trained over 12,000 progressive activists.
A Campaign Academy is more than just a series of lectures. They are gatherings of like-minded and passionate progressives where we assess what is working, learn cutting edge campaign skills and make plans for the future. We bring the best political talent in the country to your city to fire up the local progressive movement. 

Have an active group that can plan a training? Click here to Host a Campaign Academy in NULL.
Thank you for everything you do. 

Monique Teal, National Field OrganizerDemocracy for America

Put your kids first, Wyoming

UPLIFT Executive Director Peggy Nickell was interviewed for the latest edition of Wyoming Kids First. We're all hoping that the State of Wyoming will put its very considerable fiscal resources into its most precious natural resource -- its children. The overall political atmosphere does not look favorable for this, as selfishness and stupidity are on the rise in state and national politics.

Still, Peggy Nickell provides a voice of reason in a difficult time. In the name of full disclosure, I must claim my role of UPLIFT board member since 1998. Here are some kind and wise words from Ms. Nickell:

Question from Wyoming Kids First: In your opinion, what is the most important thing Wyoming can do for its children?

Peggy Nickell: Wyoming is fortunate to have the resources to ensure that all children have a good start to life. The first five years are so critical in the development of children. It all starts with prenatal care and education and then home visiting nursing services for first time moms. It is hard to list one thing because every component of early childhood care, education, and services are so important but it does have to start before these precious children take their first breath of Wyoming’s clean mountain air!

"How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying" cast performs at The Hynds Sept. 8

Things are looking up for Cheyenne’s downtown. Reconstruction, music construction, farmers’ markets, artist lofts, music and big murals. All these help boost the prospects for Wyoming’s Capital City.

Art Design & Dine is one of the many events that have brought new life to downtown. Started two years by arts dynamo Georgia Rowswell, this second-Thursday-of-the-month event has expanded from an art walk featuring a few galleries and a restaurant to an evening gala with arts, food and music. The Cheyenne Arts Council now plays a big part in the event.

The LightsOn! Project at The Hynds Building joined the mix when the building’s renovated ground floor art space opened in June. Big happenings there at the next AD&D:

Join us as we kick off September's ART DESIGN & DINE, Cheyenne's Monthly Art Tour at The Hynd's, on September 8 with a live performance by the cast of Cheyenne Little Theatre's production of How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying.  

This production opens Cheyenne Little Theatre's 82nd Season of continuous entertainment for all theatre enthusiasts throughout the region!  Members of the 28-person cast will be on hand from 5:15-6 p.m. to perform musical selections from the show to give everyone a sneak preview of the show that will open on September 23. FMI: www.cheyennelittletheatre.org

How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying was originally presented on Broadway in 1961, starring Robert Morse as J. Pierrepont Finch. It won seven Tony Awards, the New York Drama Critic Circle Award and the 1962 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It was successfully revived in 1995 starring Matthew Broderick and this past February a new revival with Daniel Radcliff (of Harry Potter Fame) and John Larroquette, opened on Broadway, has won Tony Award's and has been proclaimed a huge hit. With a magnificent score that moves to the rhythm of the city by Academy and Tony Award winner Frank Loesser, this exciting, new production brings one of Broadway’s funniest and best-loved musical comedies to the Cheyenne Little Theatre stage. 

Peat Bog Mysteries will play Celtic music following the musical theatre performance. Harpist Michael Riversong will provide musical accompaniment to the evening's figure-drawing classes.

A good time will be had by all. 

UPDATE: Cheyenne Interfaith Council 9/11 commemoration

September 11, 2011 - 10th Anniversary of 9/11. The theme of the Cheyenne Interfaith Council Observance is “Remembrance, Healing, and Hope." On the 11th, there will be a presentation by Hands in Harmony starting at 2:45 PM at the Capitol. The Interfaith Service will begin at 3:00 PM with a program that includes music, readings from the Quran, Hebrew Bible, Gospel, Greek Orthodox, and other traditions... Each faith community is asked to bring a meaningful “broken” item to the September 11 commemoration. All broken items will be brought forward and used by a local artist, Forest King, to create a work of art symbolizing the transition from brokenness to hope. Please come! 

That Was The Week That Was In Wyoming

Oregon Buttes: Not worth protecting

Rough week for forward-thinking people here in Wyoming. Let me see if I can sum it up:

No "crown jewels" protection for our natural treasures

Check.

FMI: Wyoming fails to identify lands worth saving (KGWN) and BLM: No "crown jewels" worth saving (CST)

Drill, baby, drill -- and feel free to poison the air with ozone

Check.

Lungs of Sublette County residents: Not worth protecting

FMI: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9PGLI3G0.htm (thanks to Mead Gruver at AP article via Business Week) and this media release from the Wyoming Outdoor Council.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Cindy Hill attempts to make up her own personnel rules. On the "good news" side, the WY AG rules that she can't do that. More bad news: the fight isn't over

Check.

FMI: http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/article_fc22d342-a26c-5071-ab10-f0385ae6d876.html (Casper Star-Tribune)

Put all juvenile offenders into adult prisons and throw away the key

Check.

FMI: http://blowinginthewyomingwind.blogspot.com/2011/08/wyomings-tradtion-of-selling-out.html

(thanks to Rev. Rodger McDaniel, who's always on the case when it comes to healthcare and youth issues)

WY juvenile offenders: Not worth protecting (Getty Images)

Shoot all wolves on sight!

Check.

FMI: http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/article_d17eccac-d641-11e0-af80-001cc4c002e0.html

Koch Brothers-sponsored Tea Party Express rolls into Cheyenne. WY Dr. Sen. John Barrasso is one of the speakers. He thanks Tea Partiers "for all that you're doing to reclaim America."

Check (and please stop laughing at our esteemed senator).

Get the lowdown (with many fine comments) at "Tea Party members attempt to clarify what they stand for" (neat header, WY Tribune-Eagle)

More fun next week...

On this Labor Day weekend, "Take 'Em Down"

In March, when Wisconsin public workers were battling anti-union legislation, this blog featured a video of the Dropkick Murphys' song, "Take 'Em Down," dedicated to that struggle.

The fight still rages this Labor Day weekend. But it's not only workers in Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio battling regressive governors and legislatures. Workers in almost every state have seen ugly anti-worker legislation raise its ugly head. You can trace these proposals back to ones crafted by the American Legislative Exchange Council or ALEC. Each year, legislators (mostly Republicans) gather at the ALEC conference to pick up their marching orders. This August the conference was held in New Orleans. This fall, you can expect to see more legislation that attempts to take away any protections for public workers, including teachers. Here's a recent article on the subject in The Nation.

In Wyoming, Superintendent of Public Instruction Cindy Hill is attempting to classify all of the department's jobs "at-will." With this designation, any worker can be fired at any time for any reason. Although Wyoming is a so-called "Right to Work" state, permanent state employees (once past the probation period) are covered by various protections from this sort of random, politically-motivated dismissals. Fortunately for state employees such as myself, Wyoming Attorney General ruled this week that agency heads cannot set their own personnel policies. The AG's opinion was issued Aug. 25 and schooled Hill on the law. To put it simply, she cannot make up the rules as she goes along. The Wyoming Department of Administration and Information (A&I) determines personnel policies at the request of the Governor. If it's time for rules to be changed, the Gov has to take that action and not Ms. Hill. Perhaps she forgot to read the state org chart. The Gov's office announced that it may have something to say on the matter next week. Read about the AG's decision in the Sept. 2 Casper Star-Trib.

Interesting to note that 40 people in Hill's 146-employee department have left since the new Superintendent took office in January. In some places, that would be classified as a purge.

Hill came to office in the Tea Party wave of 2010. She handily defeated Democrat Mike Massie, a former state senator and one-time staffer at the Wyoming Humanities Council. Not only did we lose one of our few Democratic senators, we also lost the opportunity to have a highly intelligent and efficient voice for education in the superintendent's chair.

Hill and her pals in the legislature want to blame teachers for Wyoming's lack of progress in public education. The problems go deeper than that. But you know how those Tea Partiers are -- thinking deeply is not their strength.

Meanwhile, let's celebrate workers on this Labor Day weekend. Here are the lyrics to "Take "em Down" by the Dropkick Murphys:

When the boss comes callin' they'll put us down 

When the boss comes callin' gotta stand your ground 
When the boss comes callin' don't believe their lies 

When the boss comes callin' his take his toll 
When the boss comes callin' don't you sell your soul 
When the boss comes callin' we gotta organize 

Let em know 
We gotta take the bastards down 
Let them know 
We gotta smash them to the ground 
Let em know 
We gotta take the bastards down 

When the boss comes callin' you'll be on your own 
When the boss comes callin' will you stand alone? 
When the boss comes callin' will you let them in? 

When the boss comes callin' will you stand and fight? 
When the boss comes callin' we must unite 
When the boss comes callin' we can't let them win 

Let em know 
We gotta take the bastards down 
Let them know 
We gotta smash 'em to the ground 
Let em know 

We gotta take the bastards down 

We gotta take the bastards down 

When the boss comes callin' they'll put us down 
When the boss comes callin' gotta stand your ground 
When the boss comes callin' don't believe their lies 

When the boss comes callin' his take his toll 
When the boss comes callin' don't you sell your soul 
When the boss comes callin' we gotta organize 

Let em know 
We gotta take the bastards down 
Let them know 
We gotta smash 'em to the ground 
Let em know 
We gotta take the bastards down 

Let em know 
We gotta take the bastards down 
Let them know 
We gotta smash 'em to the ground 
Let em know 
We gotta take the bastards down