Cool vid from Occupy Denver's Oct. 8 rally

There are at least two people I know in this time-lapse vid

Something organic (and very soggy) about Occupy Denver rally

Author with soggy sign

Whenever I attend a protest in another state, I always try to exhibit a little bit of Wyoming. It ties me to home. It causes strangers to approach and say, "Hey, I'm from Wyoming too." On a fall football Saturday, someone might come up and say "Go Pokes."

That's what happened today in Denver during the Occupy Denver rally and march. A young man perused my soggy sign (see above).

"You're from Wyoming?"

"Yes" I said out of my soggy face.

"I'm from Torrington."

"Cheyenne," I said.

"Go Pokes," he said, making a fist.

"Go Pokes," I answered. "They're going to need a lot of Go-Poking today at Utah State."

He laughed and moved on. We were marching and the rain was coming down. My wife Chris and I took turns holding the sign. It was permanent marker inked on poster board. Neither of us are great sign makers as we lack whatever genome helps you make readable yet artistic lettering on a white board. But the sign possessed some Wyoming soulfulness which probably drew the young Torringtonite to us. And later, two young women from Gillette who now live in Denver.

Getting ready to march

They were young, most of the occupiers. The age of our kids. Motivated and peaceful too. Their signs were mostly better than ours, and some had machine-lettered placards which looked really good. Some had covered their placards with plastic. They had planned ahead. It takes some planning to attend a protest, even when that protest seems to have grown organically out of the wet ground.

Some of the Occupy Denver people have been living outside for weeks. Their impetus comes from Occupy Wall Street, which began its life in Manhattan's Liberty Square Sept. 17. The weather, for the most part, has been glorious. Treatment from the Denver Police, pretty good. People drop off clothes and food. The multitudes have assembled their own security force. I asked one of the security guys how he got his job. "I was tall," he said, "so they asked me."

When it comes to visibility, it helps to be tall. Tall and festooned with orange. It is hunting season, after all, and you can't be too careful.

This teacher testifies about the damage done to public education by the undue influence of large corporations. 

Chris and I located the core of Occupy Denver on the Capitol grounds along Broadway. There's also a small tent city which provides shelter for the hardcore OD crew. Each occupy event focuses on what night be called "testifying." A person calls "mike check," comes to the center of the circle and proceeds to outline his/her reasons for attending. Savvy folks break their narrative into bite-bized chunks so the rest can follow. It's basically repetition. It turns all of us into motivational speakers. It engages the audience.

He: The top 400 in this country

Us: The top 400 in this country

He: Have more money

Us: Have more money

He: Than the bottom 150 million

Us: Than the bottom 150 million

Former First Lady Dottie Lamm interviews one of the more seasoned occupiers

And that person goes on until he/she is finished -- or until someone else in the crowd calls "mike check" and take the soapbox. That person may want to dispute what the previous testifier said. That happened at least once today. One guy, obviously infused with the populism of the day, told everyone that the streets were ours and that we were going to walk in the streets during our march, no matter what the police said.

"Mike check," said one of the tall security guards.

Despite what the previous person said!

Despite what the previous person said!

We are not going to walk in the street!

We are not going to walk in the street!

He went on to explain that OD did not have a permit for today's march and that it might be in the best interest of everyone here not to rile the police who, for the most part, have been very helpful and understanding. We were policing ourselves, he noted, and wrapped up with "peace."

"Peace" we all said.

As we testified, two DPD paddy wagons rolled down Broadway. I couldn't help but notice that a squad of riot-equipped officers clung to the side of each wagon.

"Uh oh," I thought.

"Uh oh," thought those around me.

Occupy Denver occupies Colfax Avenue

As it turned out, there was little cause for alarm. Marchers chanted and followed the rules and we walked down Colfax Avenue. Police prowlers prowled the inside lane and the security teams made sure we followed the walk-don't-walk signs. A seasoned woman in a funky hat came up to me and said that she was interviewing "older" participants and she couldn't help but notice that Chris and I were, possibly, a bit older than the majority of the assemblage. She hoped that we didn't mind if she pointed that out. We didn't mind. She introduced herself as Dottie Lamm and said she was writing a column for the Denver Post. She asked why were here on this cold rainy day. We believe in the cause. We were curious. A good excuse to get out of town. She asked for our phone number so she could interview us in detail later. We traded numbers. And she moved on to interview other older participants.

Dottie Lamm, in case you don't know, is Colorado former First Lady, wife of Governor Dick Lamm (1975-87). Dick Lamm was a firebrand in his day, as was his wife. She ran from the U.S. Senate in 1998 and was defeated by Ben Nighthorse Campbell, who had earlier defected to the Republicans.

We walked down Colfax in the rain. We received quite a few honks and we yelled in response.

Who are we?

We are the 99 percent!

What's democracy look like?

This is what democracy looks like!

Whose street is it?

Our street!

But we didn't walk in it. We walked along the sidewalk to Fillmore, crossed the street (with police assistance) and headed back to the Capitol. More chanting. More rain. We called it quits, had lunch and drove back to Cheyenne in a heavy rain.

What had we learned? A lot, as it turns out. I'll explain tomorrow...

Cheyenne's Reproacher in concert this weekend

Joel Funk, one of my son Kevin's friends, is in the local metal band Reproacher, Cheyenne’s “crust punk heavyweights.” The band plays with three others this Sunday, Oct. 9, at the Lion's Park Old Community House. Bring earplugs, says the Facebook invitation. Of course, that’s also what CFD tells patrons attending summer concerts by Taylor Swift and Lady Antebellum. Amplified music is loud! Bring earplugs! For event info and to RSVP, go to http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=140694529361884&notif_t=event_invite. Support local music!

REMINDER: Dems meet Sept. 27 to talk social media

A joint meeting of the Laramie County Democratic Grassroots Coaliton and the Laramie County Democrats will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 7 p.m. at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Union hall. The speaker will be Juliette Rule and she will be discussing social media. Please plan to attend. The meeting is open to everyone.

Call for applications: "Snow White Sessions" in Laramie

Works of Wyoming in Laramie is always up to new and interesting things. Here's another one: 

On Dec. 4, Ballet 7220 will perform the Brothers Grimm version of Snow White at the Laramie Plains Civic Center. Works of Wyoming, in partnership with the Laramie Dance Center, is inviting artists to attend rehearsals to document the making of Snow White through whatever media they choose.... painting, drawing, film, etc!

Selected works created during the "Snow White Sessions" will be on display in the Works of Wyoming gallery Dec. 2-Jan. 6. An opening reception will be held on Dec. 9. 

Download an application here.

Cheyenne artist takes many pieces and creates a work of peace

Cheyenne artist Forrest King took these items from Sept. 11 ceremony...

...and constructed this work of art seen in background at International
Day of Peace ceremony in Herschler Building.

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead penned a proclamation marking Sept. 21 at the International Day of Peace. At today's lunchtime ceremony at the Herschler Building honoring this day of peace, the Rev. Rodger McDaniel read the proclamation because the Gov was busy with the "lying in state" events for the late U.S. Sen Malcolm Wallop.

Gov. Mead's proclamation mentioned the United Nations many times. The International Day of Peace originated in the U.N. in 1981 and was first celebrated on Sept. 21 in 2002. I couldn't help but wonder how nuts the proclamation would make Gov. Mead's U.N.-hating Tea Party followers. They'll never read it, of course. But if they did, heads would be exploding all over Wyoming.

Sen. Wallop was no fan of the U.N. or of peacenik ways. He was a Cold Warrior, one of Ronald Reagan's staunchest supporters.  I doubt if the International Day of Peace ever deserved a ceremony, much less a mention, at Sen. Wallop's digs in Sheridan County.

My thoughts were not in keeping with the peace and justice ways of today's ceremony. But that's how it goes when you've spent two decades as an outlier in the reddest of red states.

Cheyenne's International Day of Peace featured fine words by Christian, Jewish, Muslim and UU leaders. Music too. And a work of art by local artist Forrest King.

At the Sept. 11 commemoration at the State Capitol, Forrest collected mementos from different faith communities. These items represented the brokenness of 9/11. Forrest was charged with bringing a sense of hope to these materials via his art.

And he did. Forrest is sending more photos. For now, the above images show the items from the Sept. 11 ceremony and the sculpture fashioned by Forrest. I'll do a more complete description of the work in future posts.

I leave you with the words that Rev. McDaniel left us with: "All in Peace. Go in Peace. Create in Peace. Live in Peace."

Shalom

Cheyenne graphic novelist and librarian gets "Artist of the Month" honors

The growth of graphic novels in the past few years has been amazing. Some of my writer friends thinks that this is one of the signs of the decline of western civilization, or of civilization's general decline. But it's just the opening of a door to other ways of expression. 

Laurel Shelley-Reuss is a comic author and illustrator living in Cheyenne. As is the case with many creatives, she has a full-time job -- hers is at the Laramie County Public Library. Her mother was a librarian in Cheyenne and has since moved on to greener fields in Colorado. In her teen years, Laurel was babysitter to my daughter on a several occasions. Laurel loved to draw and was an anime and manga fan back before most of adults knew what those were. She and my son are about the same age and they could talk anime until the illustrated cows came home. 

Laurel went to school at the well-respected Savannah College of Art and Design. She returned to Cheyenne to mind our library's books and to get to work on her own. Her first graphic novel, “Olive Peril,” was released by Arcana Comics in November of 2010, following the “Olive Peril” webcomic, which went live in late 2008. She’s been featured in the Sugar Ninjas Sugar and Spice anthologies in 2009 and 2010, a series of comics created by women artists working in the comic book industry and will be in the upcoming 2011 editions. She currently works on both the “Olive Peril” webcomic as well as a second webcomic, “Chorus of the Neverborn.” Her freelance work has included book covers, websites and logo design for private and non-profit organizations.

Laurel was featured in Sunday's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle as the Arts Alliance of Cheyenne's "Artist of the Month" (see image at the top of this post). Much deserved honor for a talented young person who is really going places.

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

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

Local actors on stage for New Play Project

Our theatre pal Lois B. Hansen sends this notice:

You are invited to a staged reading of “Rust to Dust” by John Remington, winner of the Cheyenne Little Theatre Players New Play Project, on Friday and Saturday, September 9 and 10, 7:30 pm. Tickets are $5. At the Laramie County Community College Playhouse. The play is set in the time of gunfighters and camp fires, it sees a notorious gunfighter finally meeting his match ... Jane Mortier, played by ... me!!! FMI: http://www.cheyennelittletheatre.org/new_play_project_2011-12.asp

Wyoming Millennial artists doin' it for themselves

I spent my afternoon at the U today.

That's U as in University of Wyoming in Laramie. It's the state's only four-year public university. Many of its leaders, including ones that I can't stomach such as war profiteer Dick Cheney, reactionary U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis and Tea Party fave Ron Micheli, graduated from UW. On the plus side, former Democratic Governor Dave Freudenthal was a UW grad, as was artist Dick Termes, literary publisher Rick Campbell, mountain climber Todd Skinner, artist Sue Sommers and basketball jump-shot pioneer Kenny Sailors.

Chris Drury's sculpture, Carbon Sink: What
Goes Around, Comes Around,
one of the many fine public art works
 on the UW campus.

Pretty campus, especially on a late-summer Saturday afternoon. Kudos for the UW Buildings & Grounds crew for its love of fragrant petunias. It's an aggie campus after all, founded to provide diplomas and wives for the sons of cattle and oil barons. It's moved a damn sight further along, graduating strong women in fields such as geology and law and the arts. And the aggie tradition is still strong, although taking paths that stress biodiversity and sustainability over corporate farming and ranching.

As we walked, a group of male and female students played a game of Frisbee football on Prexy's Pasture. Over on frat row, there was a “Greek Week” party going on that involved a massive slip-n-slide -- great way to spend a hot day.

My wife Chris and I are several decades removed from Greek Week on our own campuses of origin. I never rushed a frat. I started college in 1969 and frats were about as relevant as its Greek alphabet. My frat friends at the University of South Carolina seemed to have more dates and better drugs. In fact, they did have more dates and better drugs. I was able to maintain my dignity by looking down my nose at frat boys, possibly the origin of my very annoying Liberal Know-It-Allness.

Chris and I smelled the state-subsidized flowers and investigated the public art, such as Chris Drury's "Carbon Sink" (see photo). UW has gone in for public art in a big way. In fact, it has gone in for all art forms in a big way. This is why the largest campus construction project is the new visual arts building. It is located adjacent to the UW Art Museum and, when completed later this year, will be the largest and most complete visual arts facility in the Rocky Mountain West. Right now, the visual arts department shares a building with theatre and dance and music. There regularly are brawls, pitting the Sharks & Jets' thespians against post-modern neo-formalist painters.

Dear kindly Sergeant Krupke,
You gotta understand,
It's just our bringin' up-ke
That gets us out of hand.
Our mothers all are sculptors
Our fathers play the drums.
Golly Moses, natcherly we're punks!

Doesn’t rhyme, but you get the picture.

After the visual artists move to their new building, the Fine Arts Building will be inhabited only by performing artists. They always get along famously.

We saw some of them in action today.

Chris and I attended a screening of a film inhabited by UW actors and musicians and Laramie roller derby skaters.

O.K., it's bit of a strange combo. But it made for an entertaining 7-minute short.

K. Harrison Sweeney is the filmmaker. He graduated in 1996 from Worland High School in the Big Horn Basin and UW in 2001. He moved to L.A. and has acted in commercials and TV. He now wants to make movies in Wyoming, and will soon be moving back to do just that.

More than 100 people gathered Saturday in the UW Fine Arts Theatre to see a screening of "Undead Lovers." Chris and I were not the only Baby Boomers in the house. Cheyenne native and melodrama Sheriff Paul Sahler was there -- he has a role in the film. Paul and Lynn Montoya, long-time arts supporters and owners of a B&B near Vedauwoo, also attended.

Almost everyone else was a Millennial. Dancers, actors, musicians, filmmakers, writers, roller derby dames. Some were in the film; others were there because they thought it was cool and worth supporting. Sheridan's Micah Wyatt (barefoot as always) performed his music as we went into the film. Laramie's Upbeat Project ("Pure Wyoming Reggae") played while we schmoozed at the reception.

Some very talented people in this windswept state of ours. Keeping them here is a challenge. They need to find ways to support themselves through their art. I work for the Wyoming Arts Council. We make a dent in the artistic poverty rate -- but just a dent. We are playing catch-up when it comes to creative ways to support our artists. We lack creativity. That would be funny (ironic funny) if it weren't so sad.

The best I could do Saturday was encourage all these young creatives to meet me at the WAC so we can come up with new ways to make Wyoming work for them. They are working for Wyoming but Wyoming may not be working for them.

Chris and I have one young creative (son Kevin, 26) who works in theatre in Tucson. We have another one (daughter Annie, 18) who is about to lave the nest for the very creative clime of Tallahassee, Florida. Both university towns. Both communities with younger populations. Strangely enough, they are both in Sun Belt states run by Tea Party governors and legislatures who care little or nothing for the future. The Arizona Arts Commission has been slashed to the bone. Even though artists are scrambling, they are finding new and interesting ways to make it. But will they?

Micah Wyatt's (The Barefoot Band) feet 

Chris and I were among the last to leave the festivities at the UW Fine Arts Building ("The Things That Wouldn't Leave!"). Beautiful evening in the Laramie Range. The slanting sun lit up the rocks of Vedauwoo as a dark curtain of rain fell in the distance. It's beautiful, this place. But as is often said: "You can't eat the scenery."

Arts entrepreneurial idea from our neighbor to the South

Cool idea. No surprise that Colorado's Governor was an entrepreneur before a politico

2011 SI Snowsport Entrepreneur Award

Future leaders wanted. Apply here today.

The dynamics of business are changing. Something Independent is looking to hear from future leaders who are creating this change by embracing the core tenets of entrepreneurism – innovation, creativity, purpose and perseverance – in pursuit of their ideas and passions. In the creation of this first-time award, we look to the Colorado snowsport community, all that it represents and all that it inspires, to help us feature the ideas and companies that are poised to become leaders in Colorado’s new entrepreneurial economy. Is that you? Apply today.

Tell us your story by submitting a 60-90 second video demonstrating you’re idea, product or service, why you’re passionate about bringing it to life, how Colorado has inspired your idea and how the industry and culture of snowsports influences your business. All entries must be uploaded to http://tinyurl.com/somethingindependent by Friday, September 9, 2011.

This winning entrant will receive a cash award of $1,500. These funds will be unrestricted and may be used at the discretion of the award winner. Other benefits include a marketing & communications package from Sprocket Communications and media recognition from ColoradoBiz Magazine, media sponsor of the 2011 SI Snowsport Entrepreneur Award.

Requirements

·       Video entry required – 90 seconds or less. Tell us your story. Get creative. Inspire us.

        o      Video entry requirements

                §       Explains and/or demonstrations of idea, product, service;

                §       Why you are passionate about bringing it to life;

                §       How has Colorado influenced and/or inspired your idea, product, service;

                §       How has the industry and culture of snowsports influenced and/or inspired you

·       Idea originator must live in Colorado

·       Idea must be original to the person or business

·       Applicant agrees that SI has right to use their video footage for promotional purposes

·       Applicant agrees by virtue of submitting video application that Something Independent has the right to use all content, in any manner, all or any portion thereof or in connection with the Award

        Program or otherwise

·       Winning idea agrees to show how award has furthered growth

·       Deadline: Submissions must be received by 5 p.m., Friday, September 9, 2011

No monorail for Cheyenne, but plenty of travel thrills and chills at I-25 & College Drive interchange

The Feds are sending $6 million in grants to Wyoming for some much-needed transportation projects.

Unfortunately, my pitch for a Cheyenne monorail went down in flames. Probably a good thing considering Springfield's terrible experience with monorailism.

But Cheyenne did get some much-needed transportation help with a $400,000 grant to address the mess that is the I-25 & College Drive interchange. It's not a big stretch to imagine that Homer Simpson designed this interchange. It features three big truck stops, the Southeast Wyoming Welcome Center and a plethora of fast-food joints. More stuff is being built as part of the new business park. Down College Drive to the east are two of Cheyenne's four high schools (South and Triumph), several new housing developments, as well as the county's community college. To the west, a new road has been built to funnel construction traffic to the business park. 

To be fair, most of the businesses sprang up after the interchange was built. Now it's time to play catch-up. 

To get to almost anywhere from the I-25 on-ramps, you have to turn left without the benefit of traffic lights or even roundabouts. When you come up the ramp from I-25 South and want to turn left to Love's, you have to watch out for traffic turning left on to the interstate access ramp in front of you, AND for traffic exiting McDonald's or the rest area or the travel plaza headed across the viaduct to I-25 North. This wouldn't be too terrible if most of the traffic wasn't made up huge semis bearing windmill blades, oil field machinery and monorail parts for the recently announced Wheatland-to-Glendo Transportation Corridor (get more info from the good folks at Wheaterville -- tell them I sent you).  

Add to the motorized confusion a recent influx of hobos. Not sure where they're coming from, but there is a new generation of hitchhikers and bindlestiffs. It's summer, and everyone is traveling. A lot of them seem to be running out of gas at the interchange. "Need gas money to get me and pregnant wife to Denver. God bless." I give money when I have it. Usually I am stopped behind 12 semis so have plenty of time to look under the seats for spare change. Another sign held by a guy in a nice suit: "Ran out of gas on way to job interview with Standard & Poors. Will accept major credit cards." I might have imagined that one. But not this one. The other day I saw a guy on the I-25 North on-ramp with this sign: "I-80 and Hawaii." He did look a bit like an aging surfer. I gave him creds for creativity. And creativity helps when you're trying to catch a ride. I still remember the hitchhiker I met in California in 1972. He carried a five-gallon gas tank which contained all of his worldly goods. "People more likely to stop if they think you've run out of gas," he said. He did admit that some motorists were not pleased at being duped but most went ahead and gave him a ride anyway. I have a soft spot for hitchhikers. I have a soft spot for anyone trying to get from one place to another without a vehicle.

But they are in the minority at Cheyenne's wacky interchange.

This week's announcement from U.S. Secretary of Transportation carried this wording about the Laramie County grant:

$400,000: Laramie County -- Improve traffic operations at Interstate 25/College Drive interchange in Cheyenne to reduce crashes. 

This is always a worthy goal. I drive this interchange almost every day delivering my daughter to work at the Cheyenne Animal Shelter. It's convenient for me to travel I-25 from the north side of town. Convenient until I get to the College Drive interchange. I sometimes travel through downtown to Lincolnway and then over the railroad tracks to Southwest Drive and the Shelter. But most times the crossing is blocked by a half-dozen trains. I didn't realize there were than many tracks through Cheyenne. But apparently there are. 

Cheyenne is a transportation hub. And we better start acting like it. Problem is, traffic in all forms is increasing. The Tea Party hates gubment and gubment takes care of the roads. Tea Partiers not only want no tax increases -- they want to cut taxes and strangle (or drown) gubment. It's possible they all flit around in autogyros. But even then, airports are crowded and we have a tiny, crowded, gubment-subsidized one in Cheyenne. Where will they park those autogyros?

One more thing. About half of the $6 million coming to WY in these recent grants go to non-motorized transportation projects in Teton, Sublette and Fremont counties. I've been a motorist for 44 years but a bicyclist longer than that. Now a lapsed cyclist (bad knees, lazy bones, etc.), I don't begrudge funding to bike paths and recreation trails. The one in Teton County is especially expensive but will bear much fruit, green-wise, as it will be used by millions of residents and tourists over the years. Yes, Teton County is disliked by many Wyomingites. But it is a huge economic driver and a benefit to the entire state. Three million tourists a year come annually to the national parks and many are taxed as they spend money in Jackson and Wilson and Teton Village. The airport is the best in the state and the roads are (mostly) in great shape. The road over Togwotee Pass to The Hole is being rebuilt this summer. Be prepared for delays! 

You can read about these new grants at the Casper Star-Tribune

Shape-shifting in the arts world and in Yellowstone

The world of arts funding is changing dramatically. The federal-state-local government infrastructure that began with the establishment in 1965 of the National Endowment for the Arts is morphing into something new and different. And this may be a good thing.

I work in that infrastructure, in both the state and federal level, for 20 years. I am 60. My brain and my aesthetics should be as calcified as my knees. But as is the case with many of my colleagues in arts administration, I am being challenged to look at the arts with new eyes.

I mentioned “colleagues.” I have fewer of those these days as state arts agencies are killed off by Tea Party-inspired governors and state legislatures. The Kansas Arts Commission got the ax this year. South Dakota almost disappeared. Nevada and Arizona were cut to the bone.

This budget cutting frenzy is inspired by deficits and political ideology. Wyoming has a budget surplus but our arts agency has been told to cut spending – or else. Wyoming is as red as red can be. We’re selling the crap out of coal and shale oil and natural gas (some of which is actually ancient crap) and trona and wind -- and the gubment is raking in the dough through excise taxes. One can only assume that politics trumps reality.

One could get all bent out of shape about this state of affairs. [Pause for blood-curdling scream]  Or, maybe, I can put my energy into alternatives. Change is good, right? Didn’t a presidential candidate say that long time ago in a galaxy far far away?

I will spend time on these pages exploring arts organizations and funders and artists and writers who are looking at this world in new ways.

I came across a great one today. United States Artists has been around for several years. The help artists, writers and performers raise project funding online.

The artists first must pass muster as a recipient of an award from one of USA’s partnering organizations, such as Wyoming Arts Council, Idaho Arts Commission, Lannan Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, etc.

Artist Pearl C. Hsiung, L.A. needed to raise $5,200 for her multimedia project, “Yellow Stoner: Shape-shifting in Yellowstone National Park.” Under “perks,” Hsiung promised $50 donors that she would send e-mail updates of the project. For a $100 donations, you get e-mail updates and an actual postcard sent from YNP. Donors of $250 (limited to 20) receive e-mail updates, a postcard from YNP and a limited edition, signed and numbered, hand-pulled 9x12-inch “Yellow Stoner” screen print created for this fund-raiser. Those who donate $500 (limited to 10) get all of the above, thank you credits, and a signed DVD copy of the finished video piece. The high rollers -- $1,000 donors – get all of the above plus a party.

Hsiung ended up raising 107 percent of her goal. The money pays for travel costs and renting a camera. She plans to be in Yellowstone in late August. The light will be good and many of the tourists (but not all) will be gone.

I write at length about this project for several reasons: 1. It’s innovative and interesting; 2. It’s happening in Wyoming; 3. Hsiung had to earn her artist creds though a public or private arts org to qualify for USA Projects; 4. A number of micro-lending individuals thought enough of the project to fund it.

This latter point is important. True, a kitschy postcard sent from the Old Faithful Inn is a keepsake. But the philanthropists in the $250-and-up categories get something concrete for their money. Call it an investment. That poster or video may be worth something some day. Even the thank you creds on the DVD might lead to other projects and investments in the arts world. At least you get bragging rights when Pearl shows her video and you’re listed as a free-spending arts patron.

Diego: “Thanks for the commission, Mr. Rockefeller.”

Nelson: “You’re welcome. Now tear down that commie mural.”

You may be venturing into unknown country with arts patronage.

I digress. No matter what the future holds, Hsiung wins. Her project gets funding. More people know about her and her work (including this arts administrator in Cheyenne, WY). She’s learned some valuable marketing skills.

Go check out her project at http://www.unitedstatesartists.org/project/yellow_stoner_shape_shifting_in_yellowstone_national_park

And if you’re wandering around Yellowstone the next couple weeks and see a young artist and cameraperson surrounded by shape shifters, you’ll know who it is. Say hi. 

Happy happy joy joy in WY and MT

From the New York Times ArtsBeat blog:

The “pursuit of happiness” map compared the ratio of arts, entertainment and recreation establishments to the total population. On this map, people in Wyoming and Montana apparently are bursting with joy. The high ratios in those states, however, are more of a result of their small populations than glee. 

Excuse me, NYT, but I'm feeling pretty gleeful right now, even though I am just one of a small cohort of Rocky Mountain residents. You will note that Southerners are a disgruntled and sour lot which probably leads to the superiority of its literature.

For details, go to http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/09/what-digital-maps-can-tell-us-about-the-american-way/

Creative placemaking in downtown Cheyenne

Abby Rowswell

Very encouraging to see the Cheyenne Arts Council add music to the gallery walk held the second Thursday of the month in central Cheyenne. I should say "music and the written word." I was the featured writer at AD&D last month at Clay Paper Scissors. Melodic I was not. But there was some humor.


There will be two venues hosting musical performances at the August 11 art tour. 

First make your way to the Cheyenne Artists Guild at 1701 Morrie Ave (in Holliday Park) for a duet by Harpist David Shaul and Oboist Abby Rowswell. The concert will have two sets. The first from 5-6 p.m. and the second from 7-8 p.m.

Abby Rowswell recently graduated from Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, with a Bachelor of Arts in Music and French. Most recently, she played with the Beijing International Chamber Orchestra while working in China. Music is one of her many passions, including knitting, cooking, and reading good books. 

David Shaul is a Wyoming native who studied pedal harp with Suzanne McDonald. Over the years his range has expanded to include cross-strung, Celtic, Latin, and Asian harps. He has been principal harpist with symphony orchestras in Arizona and California. A virtuoso performer on both folk and pedal harp, Dave does concerts, workshops, and lectures on World harps, pan-Celtic, and Renaissance/Baroque harp music. Dave's harp styles range from Latin to European to Asian. With a Ph.D. in anthropological linguistics from U.C. Berkeley, he speaks two Native American languages.

From 6-8 p.m., enjoy the fiddling fingers of Phil ‘N' The Blanks at Deselms Fine Arts at 300 East 17th Street. 

Phil ‘N’ the Blanks is a family band from Cheyenne. Julee and Dave Kramer (Mom and Dad) have been performing together since high school so when little Phil started fiddling in the 4th grade it was only a short time before he was begging to go gigging too. Since 2005, the band has performed a mix of bluegrass, Celtic, swing and gospel music in a variety of venues throughout Colorado and Wyoming.

This month's music has been provided through the Cheyenne Arts Council

Dammit, Janet, Jackson Hole isn't a planet but a real place with real people (and the Cheneys)

Planet

Jackson Hole (Ansel Adams photo)

Lander's Bill Sniffin knows Wyoming almost better than anyone in the state. He knows newspapers from the inside as a publisher, editor and columnist. He once ran for governor. These days, he spends much of his time traveling and writing about it.

That's why it was disappointing to read in today's syndicated column that Jackson is the perfect name for Jackson is Planet Jackson Hole, the title of the local alternative online newspaper. This distant planet is famous for only two things: the most expensive real estate in the U.S. and the residence of Dick and Lynne Cheney. You might think that the Cheneys own the richest real estate in the U.S., what with the riches the former Veep reaped from Halliburton, both before, during and after his stint in public office. But the richest spread is owned by Richard Fields of the Coastal casino company. His house and 1,750 acres is worth $175 million and it's for sale.

I went to Planet Jackson Hole to get more info. While Fields and his agent tout the hunting and fishing and scenic properties of the spread, its real value is this: it can be divided up into as many as 35 ranchettes. Now we're talking valuable valley real estate.

Planet Jackson Hole

Mr. Sniffin spends quite a bit of ink praising Lynne Cheney for her service to humanity. She recently received the Louisa Swain Foundation annual award. As far as I can tell, the foundation exists to honor Wyoming women, a worthy goal. In 2010, former First Lady and Democrat Jane Sullivan was presented the award at a ceremony in Casper. This year the award went to Mrs. Cheney.

Lynne Cheney is a strong women -- no doubt about that. But her efforts to support other women is up for debate. She's a powerful Republican who spends more of her time and effort supporting her party's reactionary agenda targeting women's rights, workers' rights, voting rights, immigrant rights, etc. She's a Rightie working hard to abrogate the rights of everyone else. That's one way to be a powerful woman.

Lynne Cheney has worked for years to kill the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. She was director of the NEH from 1986-1993. Here's how the Swain award wording puts it:

"As chairman of the NEH from 1986 to 1993, she wrote and spoke about the importance of teaching children about the leaders, events and ideas that have shaped our world."

Her P.O.V. has always been colored by her conservative politics. It's telling that she wrote her many books as a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. I would say that her history is the polar opposite to Howard Zinn's, but that would be giving her too much credit. Zinn actually did research. Mrs. Cheney read AEI policy papers. In her view, our founding fathers could do no wrong and American foreign policy was always noble.

Here's a sample from a Conservative Book Club review for her children's book, America: A Patriotic Primer:

America: A Patriotic Primer will help you impress upon your children what makes our country great. C, for example, is for "the Constitution that binds us together." Mrs. Cheney doesn't let multiculturalist revisionism stop her from pointing out that "the Constitution of the United States has inspired constitution-writers around the world." Likewise, under "F is for Freedom and the Flag that we fly" she includes instructions on how to fold a flag with the proper respect, and how to say the Pledge of Allegiance! H is for Heroes, I for Ideals, P for Patriotism, and V is for Valor! Those are by no means the only elements in this colorful book that will make liberals blanch. G, proclaims Mrs. Cheney, "is for God in whom we trust. Freedom to worship God as they chose brought people to America. Freedom to worship God as we choose sustains our country today." She also includes capsule profiles of America's heroes: J is for Jefferson, L is for Lincoln, M is for Madison, and W is for Washington!

The book passes the conservative litmus test. America good, rest of world bad. Conservatives good, Liberals bad. White culture good, multiculturalism bad. God-fearing Americans good, non-God-fearing Americans bad. And so on.

Tea Party people like Lynne Cheney's books. Her bugaboos are also theirs: multiculturalism, immigration, peaceniks, populists, eggheads, etc. Excerpts from her books would be (and probably are) welcome in any Texas Board of Education textbook. 

Mrs. Cheney could be a poster person for the conservatives of 2011. Except for one thing -- she publicly opposes the Defense of Marriage Act constitutional amendment. The Cheneys have a lesbian daughter and their personal knowledge of the LGBT world has caused them to rethink this aspect of the conservative agenda.

Perhaps their views also would change if they came out of their mountain redoubt and mingled with some of the Hispanic service workers at Jackson's many hotels and resorts. Jackson has been a trailblazer in bilingual services for its Spanish-speaking newcomers. The Teton County Public Library offers bilingual services and books and programming. The city and county has worked hard to find affordable housing for service workers. 

Maybe if Dick and Lynne came down from the mountain to talk to some of the 4 million tourists that come to the area each year. Might open their eyes to the hardships faced by ordinary Americans, hardships that will only get worse as the Tea Party Congress continues their assault on wages and unions and the social safety net. Dick and Lynne might learn a lot about ordinary Americans if they spent a summer as a campground host in one of the National Park Service's many fine campgrounds. Well, they're fine now but won't be once Republicans finish their dismantling of government services.

Planet Jackson Hole is a place where real people live. The Cheneys might want to take some time out to meet some of them and hear their stories. It might change their world view. Dick may be too far gone. But Lynne? She was an English major just like me. There must be some liberal arts flexibility remaining in that doctrinaire mind.

Rural states will be hurt the most with arts cutbacks

Kansas

Wyoming

From today's article, "Arts outposts stung by cuts in state aid," in the New York Times:

...much of America’s artistic activity does not happen in major recital halls and theaters; instead it occurs in places like Lucas [KS], population 407, where the cultural attractions include S. P. Dinsmoor’s Garden of Eden historic folk art site and where smaller arts organizations are highly dependent on state grants. 

This is also true in Wyoming. The big differences between Wyoming and Kansas?

Well, Wyoming has a population of 550,000 while Kansas tips the people scale at 2,853,000 -- about five times the Equality State count.

Kansas is flat while Wyoming is anything but. Wyoming is more white than Kansas -- 91 percent to 83 percent. Way above the 50-state average of 72 percent.

One other thing. Wyoming funds the arts a lot better than does Kansas.

Wyoming Arts Council budget: $2.1 million ($1.3 million from the state legislature)

Kansas Arts Commission budget: zero.

Why the difference. Well, the Know Nothings on the Radical Christian Right have a firmer hold on Kansas than on Wyoming. Yes, we have kooky Tea Party types in our legislature. This most recent legislative session told us that. But we can't hold a candle to Kansas.

As do most states, Kansas has a split personality. You have your city liberals and your rural conservatives. But worse -- the state's southern half is part of the Bible Belt. Not only are they conservative. They're bat-shit crazy as is the case with so many on the literalist Radical Christian Right. Remember the battles over evolution (science) vs. creationism in the curriculum.

No Bible Belt in Wyoming. O.K., we have the LDS influence in southwest Wyoming. The most radical Right of the 2010 GOP gubernatorial candidates was Ron Micheli from Uinta County. He's indicative of the very conservative leanings of the state's LDS population.

Here's an irony for you though. Our neighbor Utah, home of the international LDS conglomerate, has the nation's oldest state arts agency, established in 1899. Wonderful ballet and symphony and arts education programs in the Beehive State. But most of the politics is conservative, even reactionary. State firearm anyone?

Wyoming, as a rule, has a live-and-let-live attitude. Not always -- Judy Shepard, Matt's mom, could attest to that. When conflicts arise over art and the funding of art, the battle can get pretty brutal. The Grand Poobahs of the state's oil and gas industry were none too pleased recently with Chris Drury's public installation at UW. Entitled "What Goes Around Comes Around," it illustrates the link between the burning of coal and forest pine beetle infestations caused by global warming. The controversy over the work began with an incendiary piece in the Casper Star-Tribune, raged around the blogs for a day or two, and then died. Perhaps our state's leaders were away fishing in the Wind Rivers or wrapped up in Cheyenne Frontier Days. The fooferaw died out and now Drury's sculpture is drawing lots of visitors.

The biodegradable piece, part of the UW Art Museum's outdoor sculpture project, was partially funded by a grant from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund.

During these crazy times, Wyoming will not be immune from Radical Right attacks on art and arts funding. All gubment programs and all creativity will come under attack from these Know Nothings.

This leaves me with one final question: WTF is wrong with Kansas? With a little editing, this could be a book title.