Juliette Rule speaking to Laramie County Dems Monday evening. She's also putting on the SocialWyo conference. More info: SocialWyo: Take Three Point Oh!
Showing posts with label conference. Show all posts
Showing posts with label conference. Show all posts
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:”
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.
“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: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.
1. A shared interest
2. A way to communicate.
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.
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:
Find out more about the Milton conference at http://miltonconference.wordpress.com
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.comGo 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
Keith Olbermann first confirmed speaker at NN12
Netroots Nation has announced that Keith Olbermann is its first confirmed speaker for the 2012 conference June 7-10 in Providence, R.I.
Great news. I plan on being there. Hope I have an opportunity to discuss James Thurber with Mr. Olbermann. Thurber was a favorite of his late father's and Keith read excerpts to close out each Friday's show on MSNBC. That was before he was cancelled by corporate giant NBC. I also am a big fan of the man's righteous anger, which I miss these days. I'll have to check and see if Optimum (formerly Bresnan) carries Keith's network.
More on NN12 at http://www.netrootsnation.org
Great news. I plan on being there. Hope I have an opportunity to discuss James Thurber with Mr. Olbermann. Thurber was a favorite of his late father's and Keith read excerpts to close out each Friday's show on MSNBC. That was before he was cancelled by corporate giant NBC. I also am a big fan of the man's righteous anger, which I miss these days. I'll have to check and see if Optimum (formerly Bresnan) carries Keith's network.
More on NN12 at http://www.netrootsnation.org
On the road to Netroots Nation 2011
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.
Wyoming doesn't have "forever" when it comes to rebuilding its infrastructure
He wants his home state to invest in its local communities. He wants the Legislature to treat the issue seriously. He wants all of us to speak out with one voice and say “Invest in Wyoming
Meanwhile, over at State Capitol’s House and Senate chambers, crickets chirp.
There’s nobody there now to listen. But the place was crowded last winter when Gov. Mead delivered his “State of the State” address. As he spoke of his plan for “Wyoming First!” investment, it was so quiet you could hear crickets chirp if they weren’t hibernating or doing whatever crickets do in February. The Gov was speaking to his people – 76 of 90 legislators are Republicans. They weren’t in the mood for any new initiatives, especially one that messed with the state’s severance tax structure.
The Gov’s proposal was fairly simple. Set aside one-half of 1 percent of the severance tax. Divide it into thirds. Use one-third for local communities, one-third for highways and one-third for savings. He wanted this in place for the foreseeable future – or for at least seven years in order to generate enough revenue.
“We need predictability of funds,” the Governor said. “I wanted it at least for seven years.”
“I go the National Governors’ Association convention and Wyoming Wyoming
He noted that the Legislature did approve $45 million more for local communities. Not insignificant but still far short of the needs.
“If you want healthy economic development, you must have infrastructure. I will work with WAM to make sure that our towns and counties are strong.”
He asked WAM attendees for support and ideas. He asked us to speak up with one voice when talking to lawmakers.
Remember this. Infrastructure is crucial. You cannot have a prosperous state without it. And keep this in mind: Wyoming
As the Gov said: “Invest now!”
Gov. Mead did not mention the arts specifically. But you can’t spell “infrastructure” with A-R-T-S. Just try to.
Encountering ghosts in my imagination and along the North Platte River
I take lots of notes at any gathering I attend. Old habit from my days as a reporter. And, as a writer, I never know when or where I might find ideas for the next story.
This weekend at the Wyoming Writers, Inc., conference in Casper, I heard many good stories. Historical novelist Lucia St. Clair Robson has parlayed her background as a librarian into a career where she researches and writes novels about the Apaches' "Apacheria," Comanches, the U.S.-Mexico War, Episcopalian settlers to The New World, warlords in feudal Japan and many others. She finds many fascinating facts while conducting research. Facts are important but it is the real people she attempts to portray.
I was drawn to her opening session on Saturday because she named it after a James Thurber short story: "The Night the Ghost Got in." Thurber, she said, didn't believe in ghosts. Neither does she, but she lives with the ghosts of people she's met in her research and the characters who have sprung from it. During a school residency a few years ago, Lucia admitted that she lived with ghosts. One student warily asked: "They're not here with you now, are they?"
For writers, the ghosts are always with us. My characters live with me while I'm writing about them. They are with me now. This gives me the distracted, absent-minded professor persona that my wife Chris loves so dearly. They feed my dreams. In fact, I don't dream if I'm not writing. If I'm writing well, the dreams become vivid and strange. They've led to a few nightmares.
Speaking of nightmares, they happen regularly in real life. During a break in yesterday's action, I walked the Casper riverwalk along the North Platte. The water is high and flowing fast. It was a warm, sunny afternoon. On the far bank, some teens were swimming in the pools created by the rising water. Probably not a great idea but it was hot and the water was cool. On my side of the river, a group of volunteers was putting up tents and stringing banners for Sunday's Casper Marathon. Over at Mike Lansing Field, home of the Casper Ghosts, the grounds crew was preparing the field for Saturday night's Legion Baseball games. The Ghosts, the Class A farm team of the Colorado Rockies, don't start their schedule for a couple more weeks.
Lots of people on the path. Families and cyclists and couples with dogs. I passed the ballfield on my left and walked by the park and playground. In the picnic shelter, a woman sat on the floor cavorting with two miniature chihuahuas. The dogs headed for me and the woman got up to follow.
Meanwhile, I looked to my right and saw a man standing on a fallen tree trunk. The man wore a ballcap, T-shirt, baggy shorts and black sneakers. He clutched something in his right hand as he stood staring at the river. At first I thought it was a brown bag. But the way he held it -- it looked like a grip on the stock of a rifle. Not unusual to see people with rifles in Wyoming. But it seemed all wrong on a sunny June Saturday along the Casper Riverwalk.
As I got closer, he looked over and the grip on the object changed. His hand slipped a bit and he caught the object that wasn't a gun but something inside a brown bag. I suddenly understood.
The woman was now closing in on me, she and her two tiny dogs. She had black hair and wore a colorful blouse, leggings and sandals. I said hello and she responded the same. Couldn't tell if she was happy or sad or mad. The dogs negotiated the tall grass, their pointy brown ears and tail tips about the only things visible.
I walked another 10 yards when I heard this from the woman: "Are you going to carry that around all day? Or drink it and fall down?"
Now things were more clear than ever. The man's voice wasn't. He responsed with something that sounded like "gribble, grabble, mumf."
"Then drink it and throw up."
More "gribble, grabble, mumf." The words hit me hard. I realized that I was in the midst of a domestic drama that had no happy ending. I turned. The man was off the log and on the path facing the woman. They seemed calm. No wild gesturing or -- what I feared most -- punching or kicking or even shooting. The dogs carried on in their hyper way, not paying attention to either human.
I walked on. Could not keep those people out of my mind as I walked until the path was blocked by the rising river and I turned around. The couple wasn't there when I passed their confrontation site. I wondered if they had driven away and if they had, was the drunken man at the wheel? Of had he actually puked or maybe even fallen down in the parking lot.
The two people and their dogs are now part of the crowd of ghosts swirling in my imagination. I may use this scene in a story or I may not. I may use the dialog in a story but different characters. I may use the scene in a new place or time. Time will tell.
Ghosts. I may not believe in them. They are real, just the same.
This weekend at the Wyoming Writers, Inc., conference in Casper, I heard many good stories. Historical novelist Lucia St. Clair Robson has parlayed her background as a librarian into a career where she researches and writes novels about the Apaches' "Apacheria," Comanches, the U.S.-Mexico War, Episcopalian settlers to The New World, warlords in feudal Japan and many others. She finds many fascinating facts while conducting research. Facts are important but it is the real people she attempts to portray.
I was drawn to her opening session on Saturday because she named it after a James Thurber short story: "The Night the Ghost Got in." Thurber, she said, didn't believe in ghosts. Neither does she, but she lives with the ghosts of people she's met in her research and the characters who have sprung from it. During a school residency a few years ago, Lucia admitted that she lived with ghosts. One student warily asked: "They're not here with you now, are they?"
For writers, the ghosts are always with us. My characters live with me while I'm writing about them. They are with me now. This gives me the distracted, absent-minded professor persona that my wife Chris loves so dearly. They feed my dreams. In fact, I don't dream if I'm not writing. If I'm writing well, the dreams become vivid and strange. They've led to a few nightmares.
Speaking of nightmares, they happen regularly in real life. During a break in yesterday's action, I walked the Casper riverwalk along the North Platte. The water is high and flowing fast. It was a warm, sunny afternoon. On the far bank, some teens were swimming in the pools created by the rising water. Probably not a great idea but it was hot and the water was cool. On my side of the river, a group of volunteers was putting up tents and stringing banners for Sunday's Casper Marathon. Over at Mike Lansing Field, home of the Casper Ghosts, the grounds crew was preparing the field for Saturday night's Legion Baseball games. The Ghosts, the Class A farm team of the Colorado Rockies, don't start their schedule for a couple more weeks.
Lots of people on the path. Families and cyclists and couples with dogs. I passed the ballfield on my left and walked by the park and playground. In the picnic shelter, a woman sat on the floor cavorting with two miniature chihuahuas. The dogs headed for me and the woman got up to follow.
Meanwhile, I looked to my right and saw a man standing on a fallen tree trunk. The man wore a ballcap, T-shirt, baggy shorts and black sneakers. He clutched something in his right hand as he stood staring at the river. At first I thought it was a brown bag. But the way he held it -- it looked like a grip on the stock of a rifle. Not unusual to see people with rifles in Wyoming. But it seemed all wrong on a sunny June Saturday along the Casper Riverwalk.
As I got closer, he looked over and the grip on the object changed. His hand slipped a bit and he caught the object that wasn't a gun but something inside a brown bag. I suddenly understood.
The woman was now closing in on me, she and her two tiny dogs. She had black hair and wore a colorful blouse, leggings and sandals. I said hello and she responded the same. Couldn't tell if she was happy or sad or mad. The dogs negotiated the tall grass, their pointy brown ears and tail tips about the only things visible.
I walked another 10 yards when I heard this from the woman: "Are you going to carry that around all day? Or drink it and fall down?"
Now things were more clear than ever. The man's voice wasn't. He responsed with something that sounded like "gribble, grabble, mumf."
"Then drink it and throw up."
More "gribble, grabble, mumf." The words hit me hard. I realized that I was in the midst of a domestic drama that had no happy ending. I turned. The man was off the log and on the path facing the woman. They seemed calm. No wild gesturing or -- what I feared most -- punching or kicking or even shooting. The dogs carried on in their hyper way, not paying attention to either human.
I walked on. Could not keep those people out of my mind as I walked until the path was blocked by the rising river and I turned around. The couple wasn't there when I passed their confrontation site. I wondered if they had driven away and if they had, was the drunken man at the wheel? Of had he actually puked or maybe even fallen down in the parking lot.
The two people and their dogs are now part of the crowd of ghosts swirling in my imagination. I may use this scene in a story or I may not. I may use the dialog in a story but different characters. I may use the scene in a new place or time. Time will tell.
Ghosts. I may not believe in them. They are real, just the same.
Wyoming writers and poets meet-up this weekend in Casper
Leaving tomorrow for the annual conference of Wyoming Writers, Inc., in Casper. Doesn't seem as if it's been a year since last year's gathering in Cody. It's a great opportunity to learn about new trends in writing and publishing. Also just a good time to visit with old friends and meet new ones.
One of the best events are open mic readings on Friday and Saturday nights. Attendees get to hear some great writing in five-minute segments. Lit bytes. It's fast-paced and fun. I am the keeper of the timer and take my job seriously. For the first time, my WAC colleague and I, Linda Coatney, will be filming the open mics. So come on our to the Ramada Riverside and join the fun. Rumor has it that the conference may be available by boat. Snow melt is getting serious along the North Platte that flows adjacent to the hotel. I ain't worried. I'm packing my water wings.
Here are all the links you need for information about the June 3-5 WWInc conference in Casper:
2011 Wyoming Writers, Inc. Conference
June 3-5 in Casper, Wyoming
Presenters:
Author Lucia St. Clair Robson
Poet Chris Fischbach
Peter McCarthy, V.P. of Marketing, Random House.
Editor Katie Dublinski, Graywolf Press
Agent Peter Steinberg, The Steinberg Agency
Go to the WWInc web site for conference brochure
Go to the WWInc web site for conference brochure
This progressive blogger is off to the Netroots Nation 2011 Conference in June
I’m pleased to announce that I’ve received a scholarship to the Netroots Nation 2011 Conference in Minneapolis. Thanks to all my friends and acquaintances who voted for me. And thanks to Democracy for America. I’ll be hauling myself, my blog and my laptop off to one of the twin cities June 16-19.
I am told that the Minneapolis summer is warmer than Wyoming’s and a bit more humid. I am also told that it doesn’t snow there in June. In Wyoming, you can’t promise that.
As Minnesota Sen. Al Franken said at Netroots National 2010 in Las Vegas: "It's a little bit less glitzy and glamorous than Las Vegas, but it's also a little bit less hot. It's a place with great fishing, beautiful scenery and tons of energetic progressives ready to show Netroots Nation a good time."
"Lots of progressives." Wow. We have a small but mighty contingent of progressives in this state. And we are formulating big plans to push back against the Wyoming red tide. Now -- and in 2012.
As a Red State blogger, I often feel isolated. The conference is an opportunity to trade tips and organizing strategies with other prog-bloggers. I’ve been paying particular attention to Wisconsin bloggers the past few months. Those are some grassroots community organizers who know how to fight a Tea Party governor and his minions who are trying to dismantle 100 years of progress.
On Wisconsin! And, in June, on to Minnesota!
Mark your calendars for Wyoming Writers, Inc., conference June 3-5 in Casper
I'm a member of this great writing organization. A fantastic summer conference is planned and I urge you to attend.
Here are some details:
Don't miss the 2011 Wyoming Writers, Inc., Conference
Ramada Plaza Riverside Hotel and Conference Center along the North Platte River in Casper, June 3–5
Presentations, Workshops, Agent Pitch Sessions, Contest, Book Signings, Open Mic! In case you're wondering, I'm the emcee for the open mic sessions on Friday and Saturday.
Presenters:
Author Lucia St. Clair Robson
Poet Chris Fischbach
Peter McCarthy, Vice President of Marketing at Random House
Editor Katie Dublinski, Graywolf Press
Agent Peter Steinberg, Steinberg Agency
Register or get more info at http://www.wyowriters.org. Sign up by May 9 and pay only $155 for the conference ($170 for non-members).
Conference: bowercorner@juno.com
Contest: phdugan@silverstar.com
Supported in part by a grant from the Wyoming Arts Council, through funding from the Wyoming State Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Here are some details:
Don't miss the 2011 Wyoming Writers, Inc., Conference
Ramada Plaza Riverside Hotel and Conference Center along the North Platte River in Casper, June 3–5
Presentations, Workshops, Agent Pitch Sessions, Contest, Book Signings, Open Mic! In case you're wondering, I'm the emcee for the open mic sessions on Friday and Saturday.
Presenters:
Author Lucia St. Clair Robson
Poet Chris Fischbach
Peter McCarthy, Vice President of Marketing at Random House
Editor Katie Dublinski, Graywolf Press
Agent Peter Steinberg, Steinberg Agency
Register or get more info at http://www.wyowriters.org. Sign up by May 9 and pay only $155 for the conference ($170 for non-members).
Conference: bowercorner@juno.com
Contest: phdugan@silverstar.com
Supported in part by a grant from the Wyoming Arts Council, through funding from the Wyoming State Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Ogallala Commons' Southern Plains Conference poses the question: "What Makes Communities Healthy?
Map of the Ogallala Commons. I live in the northwest corner of the commons, where the High Plains meet the Laramie Range foothills.
I think of myself as a city boy. The title's not entirely accurate. I was born in a city (Denver) but lived in a few small towns in my youth. I was a suburban dweller, too. I'm a product of populations centers and not of the Great Wide Open. That colors my approach to many issues.
Cities have long been portrayed as evil. How ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm after they've seen Paree? That was true about World War I, when many farm boys returned from the war and settled in cities. It was really true during and after World War II. Those farm boys that trained in Denver and San Diego and Tucson liked what they saw and gravitated to cities rather than returning to Lusk or Goodland or Gallup. Rural areas, especially those in the Rocky Mountain West, have been depopulating ever since.
Most Westerners live in cities. Not sure what the 2010 U.S. Census shows, but 2007 figures show that 82 percent of the people in the eight Rocky Mountain states live in cities and towns. This may shock those who envision a West with small picturesque villages nestled against a mountain range. Yes, there are those places. Think of Ranchester or Centennial or Afton or Wilson. Idyllic Wyoming towns surrounded by farms and ranches. Residents are salt of the earth folks, descendants of pioneers.
In reality, the more picturesque the town, the more likely it is that it's populated by too many rich people with second or third homes. Often those people don't care about the happenings in their adopted town as long as they are left alone by the hoi polloi. Gated communities help ensure that tranquility.
On the opposite end of that spectrum, the Ogallala Commons organization strives for community in a mostly-rural area in the Great Plains. From its web site:
The Ogallala Commons is a nonprofit community development network, offering leadership and education to reinvigorate the commonwealth that forms the basis of all communities, both human and natural.
Ogallala Commons country is centered over the vast High Plain-Ogallala Aquifer, covering about 174,000 square miles across parts of eight Great Plains states. The backbone of Ogallala Commons country extends along the long north-south axis of U.S. Highway 385 and the 102nd Meridian... but our commons region also stretches west to the Rocky Mountain foothills and eastward to the river-braided prairies of the Midwest."River-braided prairies of the Midwest." I like that. I also like the themes for their annual Southern Plains Conferences. The 2010 version was an exploration of the 75th anniversary of The Dust Bowl. It included presentations by writers such as Dan O'Brien and Stephen Forsberg, performance of an operetta and the "Sabor del Llano Estacado reception featuring locally-grown and produced heavy hors d’oeuvres, beer, and wine." There were even talks about global warming. Global warming did not have quotes around it.
The next conference will be held in Texas in February. Here are the details:
22nd Annual Southern Plains Conference: “What Makes Communities Healthy?"
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Home Mercantile Building & Community Hall, Nazareth, TX.
When it comes to health care, Americans find a lot to argue about these days. But something is missing in these heated debates. Shouldn’t we begin by talking about what we mean by health? Essayist and poet Wendell Berry writes that “community is the smallest measure of health, and that to speak of the health of an isolated individual is a contradiction in terms.”
Starting from this premise, presentations at our Southern Plains Conference will explore community health as a participatory work, and an unbreakable circle of interdependent dimensions: environmental, economic, social, physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional health. Join with us as we re-member these dimensions and reacquaint ourselves with the tools necessary to develop an inclusive practice of community health that fits our time.
"Lived experience" is the buzz phrase for future mental health care
I am not a clinician.
But I am a parent of two children with mental health issues. As an adult who’s struggled with depression and takes wonder drugs for it, I am also considered a consumer of mental health services.
This “lived experience” may prove to be crucial in the future.
Change, you see, is on the horizon. I would say that the dark clouds of doom are looming, threatening to destroy us all, but that would depress me and I’d have to go lie down and read Kafka for the rest of the day.
The annual conference in Atlanta for the National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health began the day after Black Tuesday, Nov. 2. Many presentations were colored by that fact.
Andrea Barnes, policy wonk for the federation, said this on the opening day’s overview session: “What we know about the Republicans’ agenda is they want to roll back everything, especially prevention funds. The Affordable Health Care Act has some very important pieces regarding mental health. There is no guarantee that all the provisions will be enacted now that the Congress has changed.”
Much talk about change – the bad kind. Some gloom and doom.
But by the end of the conference, I felt hopeful that stressful times and creative thinking may bring about a new and more family- and community-centered way of taking care of our youth.
“We have to find alternative ways to do business,” said Gary M. Blau, Child, Adolescent and Family Branch, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). He urged us to embrace the reality of huge deficits and the changing face of Congress. He said that it was our “lived experience” that will make the difference.
This changing dynamic will not only need involvement from parents and youth and family members and the community. It will be crucial. “We need to implement things that work – things our young people have told us,” Blau said.
As I said earlier – I’m not a clinician. Nor am I part of a social services non-profit and treatment center. I am a lay person on a board for a UPLIFT, the federation affiliate in Wyoming. I do not know all the lingo and acronyms tossed around like confetti at these conferences. However, my wife and I have 20 years of experience helping our children with their mental health challenges.
Here’s a brief intro from Gary Blau as to how this world is changing.
He outlined five areas in substance abuse and mental health that SAMHSA and the federation would like to be included in benefit packages, such as those that are part of Medicaid and Medicare.
1. Respite care, so parents can get a break and even go back to work.
2. Therapeutic mentoring to extend services
3. Behavioral health consultation services. Monitor children in daycare and preschool and get help for those who need it. Can reduce the number of kids kicked out of daycare for aggressive behavior.
4. Use technology to deliver services. “Our kids come out treatment and don’t go to AA meetings. They do communicate via social network sites.” This can be used for e-therapy and peer counseling.
5. Parent and caregiver support services. He said that this is the number one issue for SAMHSA. “We need a cadre of parent support providers, and we’re working on a certification process.”
All of these acknowledge the fact that parents and youth are on the frontlines and know what’s needed. That’s a big change from 20 or even 10 years ago when parents often were blamed for their children’s failing – and therapy was something done to a teen and not with the teen.
These changes will be needed as budgets shrink and more Americans (32 million) enter the health care insurance system via the (mostly) Democratic Party’s reform package.
None of it can happen without advocacy. “If folks in this room don’t advocate, our very existence is threatened,” said Blau.
I consider this blog an advocacy tool. More to do, of course, both locally, statewide and in Congress.
For more info, go to the federation web site at http://www.ffcmh.org/ or SAMHSA at http://www.samhsa.gov/. For help in Wyoming, go to http://www.upliftwy.org/ or call 307-778-8686.
But I am a parent of two children with mental health issues. As an adult who’s struggled with depression and takes wonder drugs for it, I am also considered a consumer of mental health services.
This “lived experience” may prove to be crucial in the future.
Change, you see, is on the horizon. I would say that the dark clouds of doom are looming, threatening to destroy us all, but that would depress me and I’d have to go lie down and read Kafka for the rest of the day.
The annual conference in Atlanta for the National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health began the day after Black Tuesday, Nov. 2. Many presentations were colored by that fact.
Andrea Barnes, policy wonk for the federation, said this on the opening day’s overview session: “What we know about the Republicans’ agenda is they want to roll back everything, especially prevention funds. The Affordable Health Care Act has some very important pieces regarding mental health. There is no guarantee that all the provisions will be enacted now that the Congress has changed.”
Much talk about change – the bad kind. Some gloom and doom.
But by the end of the conference, I felt hopeful that stressful times and creative thinking may bring about a new and more family- and community-centered way of taking care of our youth.
“We have to find alternative ways to do business,” said Gary M. Blau, Child, Adolescent and Family Branch, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). He urged us to embrace the reality of huge deficits and the changing face of Congress. He said that it was our “lived experience” that will make the difference.
This changing dynamic will not only need involvement from parents and youth and family members and the community. It will be crucial. “We need to implement things that work – things our young people have told us,” Blau said.
As I said earlier – I’m not a clinician. Nor am I part of a social services non-profit and treatment center. I am a lay person on a board for a UPLIFT, the federation affiliate in Wyoming. I do not know all the lingo and acronyms tossed around like confetti at these conferences. However, my wife and I have 20 years of experience helping our children with their mental health challenges.
Here’s a brief intro from Gary Blau as to how this world is changing.
He outlined five areas in substance abuse and mental health that SAMHSA and the federation would like to be included in benefit packages, such as those that are part of Medicaid and Medicare.
1. Respite care, so parents can get a break and even go back to work.
2. Therapeutic mentoring to extend services
3. Behavioral health consultation services. Monitor children in daycare and preschool and get help for those who need it. Can reduce the number of kids kicked out of daycare for aggressive behavior.
4. Use technology to deliver services. “Our kids come out treatment and don’t go to AA meetings. They do communicate via social network sites.” This can be used for e-therapy and peer counseling.
5. Parent and caregiver support services. He said that this is the number one issue for SAMHSA. “We need a cadre of parent support providers, and we’re working on a certification process.”
All of these acknowledge the fact that parents and youth are on the frontlines and know what’s needed. That’s a big change from 20 or even 10 years ago when parents often were blamed for their children’s failing – and therapy was something done to a teen and not with the teen.
These changes will be needed as budgets shrink and more Americans (32 million) enter the health care insurance system via the (mostly) Democratic Party’s reform package.
None of it can happen without advocacy. “If folks in this room don’t advocate, our very existence is threatened,” said Blau.
I consider this blog an advocacy tool. More to do, of course, both locally, statewide and in Congress.
For more info, go to the federation web site at http://www.ffcmh.org/ or SAMHSA at http://www.samhsa.gov/. For help in Wyoming, go to http://www.upliftwy.org/ or call 307-778-8686.
At children's mental health conference, creative people tell their stories
I rose very early and jetted off to Atlanta on Wednesday, Nov. 3 – the morning after.
I was bound for the 21st annual conference for Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health. I serve on the UPLIFT board, the federation affiliate in Wyoming, and it was my turn to attend the conference. It was especially important to concentrate on something other than the dismal election results. Wyoming is now officially a one-party state, with a full slate of Republican electeds, and a veto-proof (almost Democratic-proof) legislature.
Children’s mental health. Huge topic. I filled half of a composition book with notes and brought back reams of paper and many resource links. I’ll tackle the topics in bite-sized chunks.
Of the 750 registrants, some 150 were “youth,” mostly high school and college ages. The conference had an entire youth track. Much of it revolved around the arts. Viva Vox, an arts mentoring group from St. Louis, conducted workshops in photography, dance and drumming. There also was a youth poster competition for next year’s conference. These young people, all diagnosed with various mental health and behavior issues and substance abuse issues, brought their dance and drum performance to Sunday’s wrap-up session. They were accompanied by two musicians from the Ivory Coast, now living in the U.S. A terrific performance by talented people.
The federation goes out of its way to involve young people, and not just in some token way. They are a crucial part of the conference. They voiced lots of great ideas in sessions. In some cases, they were the centerpiece. Many of them belong to local chapters of Youth M.O.V.E. National. M.O.V.E. stands for Motivating Others through Voices of Experience. It has its own office at the federation, and advisory board members come from all over the U.S.
My two children could be members. My son was diagnosed at 5 with ADHD and spent one of his teen years in drug and alcohol treatment. My daughter was diagnosed bipolar, struggled with self-mutilation and spent most of a year in two different mental health treatment centers. She’s now in an intensive substance abuse treatment center. My wife has a learning disability and ADHD. I struggle with depression. We are veterans of the mental health treatment battles. And, as is true with most of the people at the conference, we have stories to tell.
Most involve battling the stigma of mental illness. Such a huge issue. When you’re young and different, you’re a target. Kids have to be resilient to weather the storms. Sometimes they are able to stand up to the bullying. Other times they wrap themselves in the “weirdo” label and live the life of an outcast. That can have some merits. I don’t know how many poets and artists I know who were outcasts at school and went on to fruitful arts careers. Some kids wrap themselves in the stigma and pursue drug and alcohol and other behaviors that help them fit in or so it seems. And there are those who just give up.
Wyoming has the dubious distinction of leading the nation in teen suicides. This from a Wyoming Tribune-Eagle article last summer:
It was a much-discussed conference topic. We began Sunday morning with a memorial service for those young people who had committee suicide during the past year. At least a hundred people got up to write a name on the easels at the front of the hall. I went up and wrote, “We miss you, Charlie,” for my son’s old friend who hung himself in a closet last winter. We wrote the names in silence in deference to the dead. Many tears.
My 25-year-old son has lost three good friends to suicide since high school. One had mental illness but had just finished art school in Denver. He used a gun. Another used pills. It happens too often.
So the federation addresses the issue by holding sessions on stigma, bullying, suicide prevention and ways to assist youth as they transition from teen years to adulthood. One of the most powerful was the one that featured LGBT youth and their parents. They spoke of having mental health issues (being gay is not one of them, despite what the fundies say) and their LGBT status, especially in high school.
The four youth were Hispanic and African-American. They had at least one supportive parent – all mothers, at least in this group. There are supportive fathers such as Kirk’s dad in “Glee.” But when gay young men come out of the closet, it’s usually the fathers who have the most extreme reaction.
I came home from the conference with a greater understanding of the challenges faced by our young people. There are many other challenges when you work or are an advocate in this field. We’re all facing the fact that the new Republican House will do its darnedest to cut budgets and turn back the clock on health reform. Medicaid programs, such as Wyoming’s excellent Mental Health Waiver, will be in jeopardy. We all will have even bigger roles to play in the future. More about that later…
We have to work with our young people to make this a better place for them. I found encouragement in Youth M.O.V.E.’s activism. They are learning to embrace their realities and move forward, helping themselves and their peers, and showing adults that they can be active participants in the healing process.
At a session entitled “Social Marketing with Digital Video: Celebrating Resiliency, Bridging Divides,” I saw five videos that gave me hope. One, "Bring Change 2 Mind," was directed by Ron Howard and featured Meryl Streep and her adult sister who’s struggled with mental health issues. But local organizations are also tackling these topics in video form. Carol Tiernan and Lisa Preney showed a 90-second video they produced entitled “Together We Can Build a Bridge.” See it here.
Creative people telling stories. That’s what it’s all about.
Find many more resources at the Federation's web site.
I was bound for the 21st annual conference for Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health. I serve on the UPLIFT board, the federation affiliate in Wyoming, and it was my turn to attend the conference. It was especially important to concentrate on something other than the dismal election results. Wyoming is now officially a one-party state, with a full slate of Republican electeds, and a veto-proof (almost Democratic-proof) legislature.
Children’s mental health. Huge topic. I filled half of a composition book with notes and brought back reams of paper and many resource links. I’ll tackle the topics in bite-sized chunks.
Of the 750 registrants, some 150 were “youth,” mostly high school and college ages. The conference had an entire youth track. Much of it revolved around the arts. Viva Vox, an arts mentoring group from St. Louis, conducted workshops in photography, dance and drumming. There also was a youth poster competition for next year’s conference. These young people, all diagnosed with various mental health and behavior issues and substance abuse issues, brought their dance and drum performance to Sunday’s wrap-up session. They were accompanied by two musicians from the Ivory Coast, now living in the U.S. A terrific performance by talented people.
The federation goes out of its way to involve young people, and not just in some token way. They are a crucial part of the conference. They voiced lots of great ideas in sessions. In some cases, they were the centerpiece. Many of them belong to local chapters of Youth M.O.V.E. National. M.O.V.E. stands for Motivating Others through Voices of Experience. It has its own office at the federation, and advisory board members come from all over the U.S.
My two children could be members. My son was diagnosed at 5 with ADHD and spent one of his teen years in drug and alcohol treatment. My daughter was diagnosed bipolar, struggled with self-mutilation and spent most of a year in two different mental health treatment centers. She’s now in an intensive substance abuse treatment center. My wife has a learning disability and ADHD. I struggle with depression. We are veterans of the mental health treatment battles. And, as is true with most of the people at the conference, we have stories to tell.
Most involve battling the stigma of mental illness. Such a huge issue. When you’re young and different, you’re a target. Kids have to be resilient to weather the storms. Sometimes they are able to stand up to the bullying. Other times they wrap themselves in the “weirdo” label and live the life of an outcast. That can have some merits. I don’t know how many poets and artists I know who were outcasts at school and went on to fruitful arts careers. Some kids wrap themselves in the stigma and pursue drug and alcohol and other behaviors that help them fit in or so it seems. And there are those who just give up.
Wyoming has the dubious distinction of leading the nation in teen suicides. This from a Wyoming Tribune-Eagle article last summer:
Since 1999, Wyoming has had one of highest suicide rates in the nation. In 2002, 2003 and 2006, Wyoming had the highest rate of any state.Cowboy up, ya’ll!
It's a statistic that many say is unacceptable, but is largely ignored or avoided by the general public.
Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among Wyoming youth, said Keith Hotle, the suicide prevention team leader with the Wyoming Department of Health. Only car crashes kill more teens.
It was a much-discussed conference topic. We began Sunday morning with a memorial service for those young people who had committee suicide during the past year. At least a hundred people got up to write a name on the easels at the front of the hall. I went up and wrote, “We miss you, Charlie,” for my son’s old friend who hung himself in a closet last winter. We wrote the names in silence in deference to the dead. Many tears.
My 25-year-old son has lost three good friends to suicide since high school. One had mental illness but had just finished art school in Denver. He used a gun. Another used pills. It happens too often.
So the federation addresses the issue by holding sessions on stigma, bullying, suicide prevention and ways to assist youth as they transition from teen years to adulthood. One of the most powerful was the one that featured LGBT youth and their parents. They spoke of having mental health issues (being gay is not one of them, despite what the fundies say) and their LGBT status, especially in high school.
The four youth were Hispanic and African-American. They had at least one supportive parent – all mothers, at least in this group. There are supportive fathers such as Kirk’s dad in “Glee.” But when gay young men come out of the closet, it’s usually the fathers who have the most extreme reaction.
I came home from the conference with a greater understanding of the challenges faced by our young people. There are many other challenges when you work or are an advocate in this field. We’re all facing the fact that the new Republican House will do its darnedest to cut budgets and turn back the clock on health reform. Medicaid programs, such as Wyoming’s excellent Mental Health Waiver, will be in jeopardy. We all will have even bigger roles to play in the future. More about that later…
We have to work with our young people to make this a better place for them. I found encouragement in Youth M.O.V.E.’s activism. They are learning to embrace their realities and move forward, helping themselves and their peers, and showing adults that they can be active participants in the healing process.
At a session entitled “Social Marketing with Digital Video: Celebrating Resiliency, Bridging Divides,” I saw five videos that gave me hope. One, "Bring Change 2 Mind," was directed by Ron Howard and featured Meryl Streep and her adult sister who’s struggled with mental health issues. But local organizations are also tackling these topics in video form. Carol Tiernan and Lisa Preney showed a 90-second video they produced entitled “Together We Can Build a Bridge.” See it here.
Creative people telling stories. That’s what it’s all about.
Find many more resources at the Federation's web site.
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