The Fix list is in, and hummingbirdminds is on it

Chris Cilliza at the Washington Post's The Fix recently put out a call for the year's best political blogs in each of the 50 states.

Making the list for Wyoming are Jeremy Pelzer's Wyoming Capitol Journal at the Casper Star-Tribune and hummingbirdminds. Thanks to Larry Kurtz at South Dakota's Interested Party for pointing this out.

Regional prog-blogs making the list are Square State in Colorado, Madville Times in S.D., and Montana Cowgirl in Montana.

Great company for this humble ink-stained electron-drenched wretch.

If you want to see candidates for future best-of lists, go to my right sidebar under WY Progressives and click away.

Congressional Republicans just want to watch the world burn

From Meg Lanker . I know that Sen. Dr. Barrasso is in here somewhere with all these OWGs from the GOP.

Not nice to fool Mother Nature -- or the Internet

On Monday, I was musing about my garden and telling you folks out home about my wonderful high plains strawberries. I ended the post with this: "Now if we can just keep the hail at bay..."

You know what happened on Tuesday. A torrent of golfball-sized hail destroyed gardens and roofs and cars. Nobody hurt, thank goodness.

Except for the strawberries. They were shredded. I have a few plants with leaves and blossoms remaining. I plucked a half-dozen ripe fruits from the wreckage. As I surveyed the carnage, I thought about how it's not nice to fool Mother Nature. Or tempt her with a hail challenge.

Maybe it was the Internet's fault. Perhaps we have underestimated its power.

From now on, this blog will only spell out things like h-a-i-l and t-o-r-n-a-d-o.

"Freedom Riders" asks: Would you put your life on the line?

An amazing documentary. My wife and I saw it on WY Public TV several weeks ago. Donate to Truthout and get a fee copy. 

Worth repeating: Closing Netroots Nation speech by MN Rep. Keith Ellison

Tonight CSPAN was replaying its live broadcast from Netroots Nation 11 in Minneapolis. Here's Rep. Keith Ellison's inspiring speech.

Daily Kos: "Why I'm Boycotting The Huffington Post, And I Hope You Will Too"

I do not provide free content (or any content, for that matter) to the Huffington Post, and don't plan to. I'm boycotting Huff Post until my brothers and sisters in the writing/blogging trade get paid. I just removed Huffington Post link from my blogroll.

Here's an excerpt from the Kos post:

Even Kos himself pays his front pagers for their work. He gives them fair pay and even health insurance for the work they put into this site. And for good reason. The front-pagers work very hard to put in quality work that gives the site a solid reputation for progressive activism. Arianna Huffington makes way more money from her site than Markos does (unless Kos made $315 million for this site, which I strongly doubt). She should not only pay her bloggers, but pay them damn well!

P.S.: I'm a Kossack but not a front-pager. I cross-post from my site four or five times a year, creating original material for hummingbirdminds and then sharing it with the larger world.

Why I'm Boycotting The Huffington Post, And I Hope You Will Too

Moveon.org mag looking for new-media savvy interns

Had to pass on this announcement to my fellow Progressive writers/bloggers. Sounds like a great opportunity for some of those energetic young activists I met at Netroots Nation 11. Go for it:

Backpack: paid internship: MoveOn's magazine for the Facebook era is at http://moveonorg.backpackit.com.

MoveOn.org Civic Action is looking for a couple of fiercely intelligent, hard-working, impressively creative, technically savvy interns to help develop its new media project.

Location: Anywhere. We have a virtual office, and collaborate online.
Stipend: $1,000 to 1,500 a month, based on experience, plus health benefits.
Start Date: As soon as possible, no later than July 15, 2011.
End Date: Sept 15, 2011 (but may be extended indefinitely if it works out).
If you’re interested: Please send a cover letter, writing sample, link to something amazing you’ve seen online lately, and resume to editorialintern@moveon.org. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Talking about Netroots Nation Monday night at Laramie County Democrats meeting in Cheyenne

Van Jones

If I can get my laptop (and myself) to function properly, I will be showing a few clips from happenings at the recent Netroots Nation conference during the monthly meeting of the Laramie County Democrats at the IBEW Union Hall, 810 Fremont St., Cheyenne, on Monday, June 27, 7:30 p.m.

Although I have an entire composition book filled with notes, I thought that a few vids might be a lot more fun than a reading a batch of my scribbles from the event. I am especially fond of Jill Sobule's new song about the Tea Party that she debuted at the conference. There's a rousing speech by Van Jones and a wry, deadpan address by Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota, Minneapolis hometown boy. And if we get bored, we can always look at footage of Wingnut Andrew Breitbart trying to crash NN11 because The Right Online conference across the street was so bloody boring.

So come on out. All are welcome. It's free, although LarCoDems' treasurer Gary Roadifer may badger you for spare change. Sometimes we have cookies. Get more info at www.laramiecountydemocrats.org

UPDATE: Wyoming Progressives -- you may be alone!

My previous post was all about the Wide, Wide World of Online Progressives. I wanted to reassure my fellow Wyoming Liberals/Democrats/Progressives that there is an ever-widening online world at our disposal and that we all should make haste to use it.

Global Internet resources are one thing. But what about Wyoming online resources? What about resources on the ground for our far-flung folks in Crook and Big Horn counties?

I talked yesterday about some fine prog resources that focus on Wyoming issues and dilemmas. You can see many of them on the blog feed on the right sidebar. I invite other progressive bloggers who post regularly to drop me a line and I will happily add you.

We are all painfully aware how few resources are available on the ground. Last night at an Organizing for America planning session at the IBEW Union Hall in Cheyenne, OFA's Bryon Lee outlined a 2012 election strategy that focused on seven crucial counties. I didn't ask him for the list but I know that Laramie County is on the list and neighboring Platte and Converse counties are not. Platte County has a particularly active group of Democrats. Their web site is worth checking out. Wheaterville does a great job of keeping track of wacky activities in Wheatland and Glendo and Guernsey. Natrona County Democrats are organizing to oust the most Tea Party-prone of their legislators which, unfortunately, is all of them.

But Bryon Lee is it as far as the OFA structure. His intern Hannah was assisting as last night's meeting in Cheyenne. The state party is directed by Bill Luckett and just added Dana Walton (sp?) as field director. Congratulations to Dana.

So those of us who have active county parties are in the minority. On the plus side, that leaves many opportunities to get involved. The Wyoming Democratic Party features a list of county party meetings and contact info. Once you volunteer, you may still be alone but you will be too busy to notice, what with canvassing and phone banks and leafletting at the county fair. You can always head down the road to Cheyenne and attend Super Day this Saturday and seek out the Laramie County Democrats' booth -- I'll be there signing up people for Obama in 2012. You can also attend the monthly meeting of Laramie County Democrats on Monday, June 27, 7:30 p.m. I will give a short talk on my experiences at Netroots Nation 11.

And you always know where I am on the web...

Wyoming Progressives -- you are not alone!

One of the most encouraging aspects of Netroots Nation was this: we are not alone. Lots of progressive bloggers out there -- lots of progressives, period! As one speaker said, NN is the annual occasion to recharge and then charge back into the fray at the local level. Netroots bloggers are globally connected but are most effective at acting locally. Where have I heard that before? I learned the tricks of the blogging trade from my fellow bloggers at 4&20 blackbirds and Left in the West in Montana, and from the Kossacks at Daily Kos.

Here's an invitation to progressive bloggers in Wyoming. Get connected with one another. I was a lone wolf for years. I'm a writer, after all, and an independent-minded westerner. Only lately have I started reaching out to my Wyoming brethren and sistren. We need to connect with on another. This blog has a news feed from active WY bloggers such as Out in the West and Blowing in the Wyoming Wind and Equality State Watch.

Next step: start planning for Netroots Nation 12 in Providence, R.I. Democracy for America, America's Voice, Presente and Sojourners. DFA will begin voting next spring for scholarship candidates. Vote early and often, as you did for me. And start saving now for a plane ticket.

Netroots Nation has many sponsors, including SEIU (my union), MoveOn.org, the National Education Association, LiUNA!, AFL-CIO, and a host of others. Hundreds of people contributed to the DFA scholarship fund. I contributed to next year's fund. As I wrote my check, other people at the closing keynote session slipped credit card slips and $20 bills into envelopes as the hat was passed. A generous bunch. We were thinking about how much we got out of this gathering and how energizing it would be for others.

NN12 will be June 7-10. We already know that our presidential candidate will be Barack Obama. But who will be the Republican choice? Whoever it is, he or she will not have our best interests in mind on the long campaign trail to the November elections. He (Mitt Romney?) or she (Michelle Bachmann?) will be actively working to kill union jobs, curtail voting rights, privatize Social Security, dismantle Medicare and Medicaid, and expand tax cuts for corporations and millionaires. Sounds like an anti-American agenda to me.

NN12 will be exciting and energizing. I will be there. Will you?

Netroots Nation 11: Day One

Mayor R.T. Rybak

R.T. Rybak, the mayor of Minneapolis, spoke to us tonight last night at a reception hosted by Democratic GAIN. (I meant to post this last night but couldn't get my my wireless to engage. So Austin, the IT guy from Democracy for America, tapped a few keys on my laptop this morning and engaged the wireless. If this clueless blogger can't find help at a "Netroots" conference, where can he find it?) 

Mayor Rybak is a Democrat speaking to a roomful of Democrats at Solera, a four-story tapas place along restaurant row. Maybe 100 or so, some drawn by the free beer and others drawn for the opportunity to be in a roomful of progressives.

I was a little of both. Hey, who can turn down free beer?

The mayor pointed out the facts that Minneapolis was a bike-friendly city, a green city, the best volunteer city in America, a gay-friendly city, a sleep-friendly city. I didn’t quite get that last part. I assume that Minneapolisians (Minneapolitans?) enjoy a good night’s sleep because they live in a diverse and forward-thinking city.

Meanwhile, over at the convention center, the American Association of Sleep Societies is staging its annual gathering. Coincidence?

We Liberals are losing sleep over the state of the nation. That’s just one of the reasons that we are gathering along one side of the Twin Cities. We are bloggers of the progressive stripe and, by gum, we are ticked off about it and need to find ways out of this mess.

And Minnesota is no progressive Garden of Eden. Michelle Bachmann reigns in the north country. A “real hockey mom,” said one Minneapolis elected official who shall remain nameless. “She knows how to cross check.”

This was an obvious dig at Sarah Palin, who’s a fake hockey mom and could only tough out two years of a four-year governor’s term in Alaska. She's a weiner (lower-case) when stacked up against Bachmann.

 

I’ve been here only seven hours. But already I’ve meet a number of bloggers from all over. I shared a bus seat with Whitney from Boise. There was Kevin from Eugene, Oregon, and Mike from Alaska. Before this is over, I expect to exchanging liberal chatter with bloggers from all 50 states.

One more thing about the mayor: he gave us restaurant recommendations. I look forward at eating at the place that Mary Tyler Moore would have taken Lou Grant for a steak.

On the road to Netroots Nation 2011

Leaving tomorrow for Netroots Nation 2011 in Minneapolis. I've been blogging seriously (and not so seriously) from Cheyenne since 2006. But I'm just beginning to understand the power of blogs and social media. I also understand that I need to engage in more outreach. This is tough for a writer turned blogger. We fiction writers sometimes feel as if we exist in a vacuum. Combine that with the fact that I live in Wyoming where we all sometimes feel isolated -- that's a double whammy. Connecting across the blogosphere can be easy -- you just have to know who to connect with -- and why -- and how.

I learned from the big prog-bloggers at Daily Kos (posting as Cheyenne Mike) and Crooks & Liars. In the Rocky Mountain region, I studied the bloggers in Montana at 4&20 blackbirds and Left in the West. The sites have multiple authors and get plenty of comments from fellow travelers and their opponents on the Right. I've featured guest bloggers but never felt comfortable relinquishing control. There are some good progressive writers in Wyoming, but I haven't yet made the recruiting effort.

A few months ago I launched a blogroll of some of my fellow progressives, individuals and organizations. That's kept me up to date and helped form a community. In Cheyenne, there's Out in Wyoming by Jeran Artery and Blowing in the Wyoming Wind by Rodger McDaniel. Check out these active blogs. The Equality State Watch at the Equality State Policy Center site tracks the shenanigans of the energy industry and our Republican-dominated Legislature. This is especially helpful in our one-party state. Republicans feel as if they are entitled to their policies but everyone else can go to hell. Witness the latest legislative health care hearings tracked by me, the Equality State Police Center and Rodger McDaniel. Wyoming also has a loosey-goosey open meetings law that allows these sessions to go unattended and unnoticed. There are few newspapers and radio/TV outlets with the reporters to cover hearings. That's where prog-bloggers come in.

Check out the blogs on the sidebar. Comment freely. Start your own blog.

Browsing the Netroots Nation schedule, I realize that I need to be in two or three places at once. Here's a list of sessions that look intriguing:

Where Crazy Comes From: Reckless Republicans in State Legislatures
Getting Ready Now: How Progressives are Mobilizing Early to Support Bold Candidates in 2012
Managing a State Community Blog
Beyond Environmental Justice: Making Conservation Inclusive and Representative
Narrating the Nation: Creating Political Strategies and Poetic Stories for Powerful Effect
Bloggers Unite! How the Netroots Rallied in Wisconsin
Do It Again: Getting 2008 First-time Voters Out in 2012
Current Trends in Website Mistakes

Dozens more. Also a few social gatherings on the agenda. This NN11 scholarship attendee will see how he fares with violating physics to be five places at one. Stay tuned to this blog for on-site revelations and confusions from Minneapolis.

Help send this blogger to summer camp

Dear Friends:


I started my progressive blog, hummingbirdminds, in 2005. Those were the early days of political blogging. Hunkered down in a sod hut, I wrote my posts by candlelight, my PC powered by a coal-fired boiler.

We're in a new era. My PC is still powered by Wyoming coal (and will be forever, thanks to Energy Czar Ken Salazar!) but now I'm blogging in the bright light of day. I've discovered there are others like me in the far reaches of the country, places such as Zephyrhills, Florida, and Minot, N.D. There's a chance for us to gather together in mid-June in Minneapolis. We'll trade tips and learn how to better network with our peers around the country and throughout the West.

But I need your help. Netroots Nation will waive the tuition if I'm selected for a scholarship. I'll still have to ride my horse Blue to Minnesota, but we will graze together in lush garden plots across Nebraska and Iowa and Minnesota. A low-cost trip! Once in Minneapolis, Blue and I can share cheap lodgings at one of the city's many hipster hostels.         

So what are you waiting for? Help send this Wyoming blogger to Netroots Nation summer camp! Vote at http://tinyurl.com/4mspd4s.

Your truly,

Michael Shay

Cheyenne, WY

Ally ASL wins one on the "fair use" front

"The problem is that the various music groups hire zombies and trained monkeys who scour the Internet searching for any use of their licensed material regardless of the context or purpose."

This is an attention-grabbing comment by Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) attorney Cindy Cohn in a Houston Press music blog story. I didn't know that zombies and trained monkeys were scouring the Internet. More about that later...

More importantly, the article focused on Allyson "Ally ASL" Townsend. Using American Sign Language, she interprets popular songs on YouTube videos. I say "interprets" because sign language is more than translation. It's a language unto itself. Anyone who has seen signers at poetry readings and music performances knows what I'm speaking about. Body language and facial gestures are part of it. You can have a demonstrative signer or a laid-back one. You also can have one that censors words or takes other liberties with the language. I am told that language interpreters do this on a regular basis. They have to understand idioms and slang and tone of voice. They try to incorporate all that in their interpretation.

So is Ally ASL translating the songs? Interpreting? Using them fairly or unfairly?

The EFF and Warner and Universal and YouTube all agreed that this was fair use. She is performing a service for the deaf. She has quite a few fans. All interested parties say, "Rock on, Ally ASL."

That's a good thing.

Now back to zombies and trained monkeys. I don't know what they are. I am assuming that record companies have search bots called zombies and trained monkeys that troll the Internet looking for people illegally downloading copyrighted material. But I can't rule out Warner Music actually using actual trained monkeys for this task. Not sure about zombies, but you never know about these music companies.

The Guardian: Tech helps short stories make a comeback

When making pitches to editors and agents, short story writers are often asked two question:

1. Why?

2. Do you have a novel?

My answers are usually these:

1. Because

2. Yes, I have several unpublished novels but right now I am writing stories so why don't you publish them, eh?

We short-form writers have plenty of venues for our work. Most are small magazines or literary magazines attached to colleges and universities. They usually pay in copies or in a subscription or in small amounts of what's known to novelists as "cash."

So, when we see good news regarding short stories, we latch on to it like a Tea-Partier onto a dubious factoid.

Here's part of a story from London's The Guardian:

Technology has enabled literary magazines to solve the two problems holding them back: print and distribution costs, and marketing. The Internet solved the first and social networking is fixing the second.

--snip--

These days, the process of "deep reading" – that is, entering into a trance-like state and becoming mentally and emotionally consumed in another world – often seems like a huge effort, especially when the cheap thrill of Twitter or a blog is just a tap away. However, people are starting to suspect that the Internet connives against us. It sells us the lie that it's better to click or flick in idle spare time than it is to read a book. But after half an hour – after you've exhausted your regular websites and blogs, and everyone on Twitter and Facebook is in bed – you get the same feeling as you do from eating chocolate all day.

Could we be in a place now where technology has brought us full circle? Where that which took us away from stories is now set to bring us back to them?

"The short story is an essential art form again," says [author and blogger] Nikesh Shukla.

Many writers are now selling their stories separately at places such as Shortlist Press and .

Read the full story here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2010/nov/10/literary-magazine-technology-internet

I, for one, am happy about this changing state of affairs. I published one story collection in book form and have been contemplating self-publishing the next one. I have published many stories in small mags, although none of them are strictly online versions. Most print mags keep your stories for 3-6 months and it can be up to a year before your story appears.

I've been blogging since 2005, and started my web site a decade ago. But neither has led to a publishing bonanza. I've posted snippets of stories on the web site and I blog regularly about prog politics and Wyoming and writing and mental health and assorted other issues. Perhaps I'm flitting around too much from topic to topic. But what the heck -- it's my time and my blog so I'll write what I want.

I'll be spending the next couple weeks exploring online publishers of short stories. Stay tuned for future reports....

Attention America: RepubliCorp will own you!