Want to schmooze with real-live writers? Go no further than Casper & Cheyenne & Laramie

I'm a writer who, in my middle-class youth, never met a living breathing writer until I went off to college at University of South Carolina, met James Dickey at a campus gathering, and said, "Who are you?"

That was after his National Book Award and his stint as poet-in-residence at the U.S. Library of Congress but a few years before "Deliverance."

Pam Houston

Now I'm a writer who works in the arts. I learn something every time a writer speaks. I'm always amazed when people don't take advantage of meeting and hearing from real live writers. Great talents such as Naomi Shihab Nye, Pam Houston, David Madden, Margaret Coel, Lee Ann Roripaugh, Craig Johnson, Mark Spragg, etc.

Next weekend in Casper, you can schmooze with some of these cool writers for free and take some workshops with them for a nominal fee. Here are some details:

You're invited to a free reading by Wyoming Arts Council creative writing fellowship winners on Saturday, Sept. 24, 2-4 p.m., in the lobby of the Goodstein Foundation Library at Casper College. This is part of the three-day Casper College Literary Conference.

The event gets underway at 2 p.m. Saturday with a presentation by WAC fellowship judge Pam Houston, "A Reading and Conversation about Places and Moving Among Therm." Pam knows a lot about moving among places. Two days before she flies into Casper, she'll be returning from a trip to Hungary. After the conference, she goes off to Colorado and then California. Pam is author of two short-story collections, including "Cowboys are My Weakness." Her new novel, "Contents May Have Shifted," will be out in 2012. 

At 3 p.m., Pam will join me at the podium to introduce fellowship winners Sam Western, Sheridan; Kathy Bjornestad, Sundance; and Stefani Farris, Lander. They will be reading from their award-winning fiction submissions.

At 4 p.m. in the lobby, Kristen Elias Rowley of the University of Nebraska Press will talk about "Book Business: Publishing with a University Press."

At 5 p.m., there will be a free public reception in the library. Everyone is invited to stick around for food and beverages provided by Casper College President Dr. Walt Nolte.

At 9 p.m., the literary conference hosts its closing session -- a raucous open reading and poetry slam at Metro Coffee Company, 241 S. David in downtown Casper. Poet George Vlastos will serve as emcee. Bring your prose and poetry. Musicians are also invited to get up on stage.

There may be slots remaining in some of the workshops. For more info on workshops, contact Jill Hughes at 307-268-2383 orjhughes@caspercollege.edu. For general questions, contact Terry Rasmussen at trasmuss@caspercollege.edu or call 307-268-2480.

For full schedule, go to http://www.caspercollege.edu/events/lit

To RSVP, go to event Facebook page.

If you're in Cheyenne and can't get up to Casper, you will have three fine writers coming to town Sept. 30-Oct. 1 at Laramie County Community College. Margaret Coel, Lee Ann Roripaugh and Ben Mikaelsen will lead a free writing workshop on Friday at LCCC. They will lead a series of paid presentations on Saturday (lunch included). Book singing to follow.

LCCC's Literary Connection got its start a decade ago when faculty member Leif Swanson arranged an appearance by Robert Bly who, in Red-State Wyoming, had a few choice things to say in public about Dark Lord Dick Cheney, wars of convenience and reactionary dimwits in the Republican Party, among other things. Never shy, Robert Bly. He also led a writing workshop for a small group of 300 souls.

Ain't public funding of the arts a glorious thing?

Ed Roberson

Here are a few other upcoming Wyoming events that feature real live writers:

On September 19, at 5 p.m., the UW MFA program in creative writing in Laramie will host a reception welcoming poet Ed Roberson to campus, followed by a reading by Roberson at 5:30 p.m.  The reception and reading will be held at the UW Art Museum. This event is free and open to the public, and will be followed by a book-signing. Tonight, Roberson is giving a reading in Jackson sponsored by the Teton County Public Library. In February, Roberson’s residency will be followed by that of nonfiction writer John D’Agata. D’Agata’s non-fiction book, “About a Mountain,” was one of the best books I’ve read in the past ten years. FMI: Visit the MFA website at www.uwyo.edu/creativewriting or contact Gwynn Lemler at cw@uwyo.edu or 766-6453.

The Laramie County Public Library Foundation’s annual Booklovers’ Bash will be host to mystery writer Craig Johnson. The Bash, to be held on Friday, October 28 at Little America and includes dinner and silent and live auctions. For a preview of Johnson’s books, please visit his web site at craigallenjohnson.com. Craig also will be featured at the Central Wyoming College Library Open House in Riverton on Nov. 2, 4 p.m.

I have enough experience as an arts administrator and arts presenter and writer to know that you can't make people attend arts events.

Craig Johnson

But there is one thing you can do. You can keep creating and arranging and planning. Doing is in the doing, ya'll. The audience does eventually arrive. When that prize-winning poet from Georgia walks in the door to talk about his craft, you might ask, "Who are you?"

He just might answer: "Sit yourself down. Open your mind. You might learn something tonight."

Read a few of Dickey’s best poems at http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/james-l-dickey

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

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

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

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

Ecclesiates 3 1-8

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bang, bang!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Presenters: 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wyoming August night haiku

Dog nights of summer

So still outside my window

Distant barking dogs

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

Ramada Plaza Riverside.

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

Many local events lead up to March 29 talk in Cheyenne by activist and author Greg Mortenson

I try to spend some of that time I once devoted to Sunday morning mass to the contemplation of nature, spirituality and even organized religion.

While reading this morning’s Cheyenne paper, I saw an ad promoting the appearance of activist, educator and author Greg Mortenson. He wrote the acclaimed bestseller, “Three Cups of Tea,” about his experiences promoting primary education in Afghanistan. He will speak on Tuesday, March 29, 7-8:30 p.m., at the Taco John’s Event Center in Cheyenne. Tickets are $5 for students and $15 for the general public.

Presented by these Cheyenne Community Partners: Laramie County Community College, LCCC Foundation’s Gerald and Jessie Chambers Speakers Series, Rotary International, Laramie County Library System and Foundation, Laramie County School District #1.

Great cooperation on this project by all levels of the public education system. That includes the library. Kudos to Rotary International. I admire their good work. So many selfless and community-minded organizations out there. The Lions work on behalf of better vision, the Shriners sponsor childhood learning disability clinics, the Kiwanis Club seems to do all the good things a community needs, such as the amazing free pancake breakfasts during Cheyenne Frontier Days. I find it compelling that a bunch of people can gather together to perform good works. Such a contentious age we live in, yet altruism continues. We must crave it.

A few words about Mortenson from the LCCC Foundation web site:

Greg Mortenson, co-author of the New York Times bestseller, "Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time," will share insightful commentary and stunning photography to educate and promote awareness of the importance of primary education, literacy and cross-cultural understanding about the remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Mortenson has dedicated his life to bringing education where few education opportunities existed before. In 1996, he co-founded the Central Asia Institute with his wife, Tara Bishop, and since then has managed to construct 145 schools in the Middle East and bring educational opportunities to more than 64,000 students, including 52,000 girls. Mortenson’s extraordinary journey has had many hardships, but recently it also has brought international appreciation. In 2009, he was awarded the "Star of Pakistan" and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in both 2008 and 2009. FMI: 307.433.0024.

A number of events this month lead up to the March 29 event. Our family has been collecting pennies for Pennies for Peace. The library has focused many of its events around the concepts of altruism. Here’s one:

TEENS MAKE A DIFFERENCE, March 16, 6 p.m.: Join us for an evening with Judge Ronn Jeffrey as we explore ways you can impact your community in a positive way. Teens will have a chance to win a ticket to hear Greg Mortenson speak at the Taco John’s Event Center on March 29, 7 p.m. Don’t forget to bring your Pennies for Peace! (Grades 7-12 & parents, Cottonwood Room, 1st floor).

The library also will host a tea party on St. Patrick’s Day, celebrating tea-drinking cultures such as Ireland, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Very innovative. ON St. Patrick’s Day, many of us forget that the Irish also drink tea.  

LCCC has also planned a number of related events. This coming week is spring break on campus. But on Wednesday, March 23, these are scheduled:


Ethnic food tasting: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., Center for Conferences & Institutes, Room 129/130. Food tasting limited to LCCC students and employees. Roundtable discussion: “Women and Islam in a Central Asian Context” with Dr. Marianne Kamp, Dr. Mohammed Salih and Arshi Nisley. 1-3 p.m., Center for Conferences & Institutes, Room 129/130.

See other events celebrating the work of Greg Mortenson

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.

Hanging out in Cheyenne with the Wyoming Poetry Out Loud crowd

Marking the wrap-up of Wyoming Poetry Out Loud outside The Albany Tuesday. Pictured are (left to right) L.A. musician Peter Lewis, one of the founding members of Moby Grape; Mike Shay, no credentials to speak of; Detroit poet and musician M.L. Liebler, editor of new anthology "Working Words: Punching the Clock and Kicking Out the Jams;" Linda Coatney, poet and WAC coordinator or Poetry Ouit Loud; and daughter Annie Shay, poet and musician. Lunch was fab. So was POL.

On YouTube and in Wyoming: Jam with Peter Lewis and M.L. Liebler

Peter Lewis (left), one of the founding members of Moby Grape, and Detroit performance poet M.L. Liebler perform an impromptu jam in front of the deli counter during the 2010 Midwest Literary Walk in Chelsea outside Detroit. Peter and M.L. will be jammin' and workshoppin' from 2-4 p.m. today at the Laramie County Public Library in Cheyenne. No lox and bagels at the library, but lots of poetry and music. Bring your poetry and/or guitar. And it's free!

Workers rally on a Wyoming Saturday

Unnamed blogger at WY rally

A few words about yesterday's rally at the Wyoming State Capitol supporting public workers in Wisconsin...

About 100 people were there. Teachers, state employees (me and others), railroaders (among them Rep. Ken Esquibel, D-Cheyenne), many teachers, members of CWA, military veterans turned union members, Postal Service workers, a Wisconsin couple who had been in on the early days of the protests in Madison, peaceniks, a former Democratic candidate for Wyoming governor, artists, at least one filmmaker, and so on.

We started with the Pledge of Allegiance and a recitation (by memory) of the preamble to the U.S. Constitution.

"We the People!"

Many people spoke. We did call-and-response, not always in unison. But we were unified.

Rep. Ken Esquibel spoke about how his employer contributed money to his Republican candidate during his run for the Wyoming Legislature. It was something he used in his campaign. Barbara the teacher spoke about how her principal asked her, as a newbie to the red-state school and to the red-state town, how she was going to be involved in the community. He recoiled in horror when she said, "Join a union." She also mentioned something about being a Democrat. A double whammy!

I spoke about my union, the Wyoming Public Employees Association and its mission (written about in yesterday's post) and our mission to stop the the Corporate Right's war against the middle class. I also talked about social justice and quoted a refrain from Daniel Berrigan's poem he wrote from the picket line. "Love. In the end, love." And as the Egyptians said during their protests to bring down a despot: "Peaceful, peaceful, peaceful!"

Scott followed up by noting that Dan Berrigan had been arrested many times in support of workers, peace and justice.

We got honks and waves from motorists. No one-fingered salutes that I saw, but we did get a thumb's down. A guy in a truck kept driving by waving a big American flag from his driver's side window. We didn't know if he was fer us or agin' us. I appreciated his dedication to the cause, whatever that may be. It was a bit cold for waving things out of car windows.

All in all, a great day for a solidarity rally. Getting 100 of anyone out for a February rally is an accomplishment.

NOTE: TV, Radio and newspaper reporters were not there. There were assorted citizen bloggers.

Working Words: "You work, Buddy. You work."

Excerpt of a poem by Ohio's Ray McNiece from Working Words: Punching the Clock and Kicking out the Jams from Coffee House Press:

Grandfather’s Breath (excerpt)

You work. You work, Buddy. You work.
Word of immigrant get-ahead grind I hear
huffing through me, Grandfather’s breath,
when he’d come in from Saturday’s keep-busy chores,
fending up a calloused hand to stop
me from helping him, haggard cheeks puffing
out like t-shirts hung between tenements,
doubled-over under thirty-five years a machine
repairman at the ball-bearing factory, ball-bearings
making everything run smoother -
especially torpedoes. He busted butt
for the war effort, for profiteers, for overtime pay
down-payment on a little box of his own,
himself a refugee from the European economy,
washed ashore after “The War to End All Wars.”
Cheap labour for the winners.

Detroit poet M.L. Liebler, editor of Working Words, will read and perform some of his own poems and those from the book at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Cheyenne's Atlas Theatre. Tix are $5 for adults, $3 for students, military and seniors. He will be on stage with musician Peter Lewis, one of the founding members of Ground-breaking sixties rock group Moby Grape.

Here's how M.L. described the show (from wyomingarts):

"We'll do some of the songs that are sort of more or less poetic, songs we've written together and then Peter will perform acoustically some of the Moby Grape songs from his group, some of his own original pieces. We kind of have a nice little set where we're merging some of what we do together, some of my poetry in music, some of his Moby Grape and some of his original."

Working Words: Betsy Sholl and "Pink Slip"

Betsy Sholl's poem "Pink Slip" is in the new anthology, Working Words: Punching the Clock and Kicking out the Jams from Coffee House Press. Anthology editor M.L. Liebler will be traveling to Cheyenne this Saturday to conduct a number of events for Wyoming Poetry Out Loud.

Betsy Sholl was named Maine Poet Laureate in 2006. She's published seven collections of poetry and was a founding member of the innovative small press, Alice James Books. She's published widely and won numerous awards, including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Maine Arts Commission. 

In "Pink Slip," Betsy explores the life of a woman fired after 20 years of hard work. In this excerpt, she gets her pink slip:

All you did was check your watch, all
you did was back me to the door,
where outside they were hauling my car,
a pirate company, so not even the cops could say
where it is. Is this America?
I've seen countries on TV where the natives 

give funny looks to the fat men they serve drinks to
on patios. "Bastard" would be
my translation. Or whatever the deaf woman is
banging onto the locked windows of cars jammed at
the on-ramp trying to leave the city....

Read the entire poem in Working Words. And many other poems and short stories and essays about working people.

The work is in the poem, the poem is in the work

This week's news on the international front has been about Bahrainis and Libyans and Yemenis and Iranians protesting their home-grown despots. News on the home front has focused on the world of work. The Wyoming Legislature refused to take federal money for unemployment benefits. Legislators also tried to take away teachers' collective bargaining rights. Rich Republicans in Congress want to cut budgets and the jobs that go with them. Wisconsin teachers and city snowplow drivers and fire fighters went on strike and staged a huge protest at the state capitol. They were outraged that their multi-millionaire governor wanted to eliminate their union rights and their jobs with it.

We're in the middle of a class war. The rich want to turn us into low-paid drones. Some of us are there already, if we have a job. 

I've had so many jobs in my 60 years. I had paper routes in grades 6-8. In high school, I was a busboy and dishwasher and grocery store bagboy. In college, I had these jobs: fast-food clerk and cook, mower of lawns, construction laborer, assembly-line worker building roof trusses, hospital orderly, cafeteria cashier, photographer's assistant, free-lance writer and a few other short-term gigs. After college, I was a bookstore clerk, reporter for a Florida construction trade journal, warehouse order-puller, editor of a journal for a Denver real estate developer, editor of a weekly arts and entertainment weekly, sports reporter, free-lance writer, telephone solicitor, corporate publications editor, tutor, junior high paper grader, college composition teacher and editor of a literary magazine. In 1991, I went to work for the State of Wyoming and, for two years in the mid-1990s, worked for the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C. A public employee for 20 years. 

I know what work is. I'm a Democrat and a union member in a state with a shortage of each. I deeply resent the demonizing of public employees by Republicans. It must stop. If not, who will do the work?

This week, I'm featuring writing about work. Some will be mine, some will come from the anthology "Working Words: Punching the Clock and Kicking Out the Jams," edited by M.L. Liebler. M.L. is coming to Cheyenne this time next week for a performance, workshop and judging of the Wyoming Poetry Out Loud competition, which is co-sponsored by my employer, the Wyoming Arts Council. One of my short stories is in the "Working Words" anthology. You can buy the book and read that and other fiction and essays and poetry about the world of work. I'm glad to be in the book. My payment for my submission was two free copies. This is typical for writers. We tend to be lousy capitalists. But I am very pleased to be included with M.L. and Philip Levine and Wanda Coleman and the late Walt Whitman and the very-much-with-us Eminem.

Here's an excerpt from a poem in the anthology. It's entitled "Work Work Work" and written by the late Trinidad Sanchez, Jr. (1943-2006), who grew up in Pontiac, Mich., and became a Jesuit brother who worked with juvenile offenders and prison inmates in Detroit. The excerpt:

Work, work, work, not easy to define

   but easy to delineate

by those standing in line

to punch a clock

to buy a sandwich off the truck

to catch a bus / to catch a bus

to cash a check...

easy to delineate

by those standing in long lines of unemployed, underemployed and food

stamp lines

Detroit comes to Cheyenne Feb. 26

M.L. Liebler and Peter Lewis 

Super Bowl XLV viewers were entranced by the Chrysler commercial featuring Eminem's music along with words and photos portraying Detroit's gritty nature. Detroiters have had to eat the shit sandwich the past couple decades. The results aren't so pretty. Empty factories, abandoned buildings, rampant crime, population decline, and so on. But the Chrysler ad portrayed the tough Detroit. Instead of downplaying the urban decline, it flaunted it. Deserted factories were juxtaposed with Diego Rivera's murals in the Detroit Art Museum. Snowy street scenes gave way to Eminem walking into the restored Fox Theatre to attend the performance of a gospel choir.

Detroit is a symbol of Americans at work. When all the auto companies were going full bore after World War II, Detroit was king. And then came the rise of Japanese automakers and knuckleheaded decisions by The Big Three and gubment. Plants were closed, jobs were sent overseas and Michigan kids had to forget about following in Dad's footsteps as a well-paid union worker with a future.

We loved that Detroit. It was the city that made the muscle cars of the sixties -- and provided all the hot machines that I watched racing around Daytona International Speedway. We loved those cars.

Detroit has a lively literary scene. One of its leaders is performance poet M.L. Liebler. He edited a recent book, "Working Words: Punching the Clock and Kicking Out the Jams," The "kicking out the jams" reference in the subtitle pays homage to the classic rock song by Detroit's MC5, "Kick Out the Jams." The book includes poetry and prose about the lives of working people, particularly those who labored in the Industrial Belt's factories. One of my rural West stories made the cut, "The Problem with Mrs. P." I had the pleasure of reading that piece in Detroit a few years ago. The story is set in Cheyenne but focuses on the plight of working people. By the way, one of Eminem's creations is also in the book. You may remember "Lose Yourself" from the movie "8 Mile." It's not about a Chrysler.

Look, if you had one shot or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted -- one moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip? 

Other contributors to the anthology, winner of a 2010 Michigan Book Award, include Phil Levine, who writes poetry about his own years on the assembly line; Ed Sanders, one-time member of the Fugs and author of the best book about the Manson Family murders; L.A. poet and performer Wanda Coleman; Appalachian-born writer and nurse Jeanne Bryner of Ohio; and Detroit writer Lolita Hernandez, who worked for 21 years at the Cadillac plant.

Anthology editor M.L. Liebler, a Detroit author and performance poet, will join L.A. musician Peter Lewis one of the founding members of Moby Grape, for a performance at the Historic Atlas Theatre in downtown Cheyenne on Saturday, Feb. 26. Showtime is 7:30 p.m. General admission tickets are $5, $3 for students, military and seniors (including over-the-hill hippies).

On Sunday, Feb. 27, Peter and M.L. will conduct a free public workshop at the Laramie County Public Library from 2-4 p.m.

On Monday, Feb. 28, M.L. will serve as one of three judges for the 2011 Wyoming Poetry Out Loud competition. The competition begins at 7 p.m. at the Atlas Theatre. Peter will perform a short performance during intermission. This event is free and open to the public.

These events are all sponsored by the Wyoming Arts Council, the Poetry Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Here is some bio info on M.L. and Peter:

One of our judges for the Poetry Out Loud event will be M.L. Liebler, a mover and shaker in the Detroit poetry scene. He has written several books of poetry including the 2001 Finalist for The Paterson Poetry Prize and was winner of The 2001 Wayne State University Board of Governors’ Award. He has read and worked with Ed Sanders, Diane di Prima, Michael McClure, Allen Ginsberg, Ken Kesey, Timothy Leary & William Burroughs.

In addition, Liebler has recorded his poetry with such musical legends as Al Kooper, Country Joe McDonald, Jorma Kaukonen, Mike Watt, The Magic Poetry Band and many others. Liebler also edited the recently released anthology, "Working Words," from Coffee House Press.

M.L. has been to Wyoming before, serving as one of the judges for the Wyoming Arts Council's FY 2002 creative writing fellowships and as a presenter at one of the last ARTSPEAK conferences, held in Jackson in the fall of 2001. As director of the Detroit YMCA Writer's Voice, he came to Cheyenne in 2002-2003 at the request of the YMCA to conduct poetry and music presentations and workshops with Woodstock legend Country Joe MacDonald.

Peter Lewis is a founding member of the 1960s band Moby Grape. Their debut album was released in 1967, and it is still to this day one of the most revered rock albums of all times according to Rolling Stone magazine and other cultural critics. The band's energetic and hyper-exciting combination of folk, blues, and country was a unique sound to rock & roll. It was a new kind of American roots music but the band's career never took off the way it should have, due to personal tragedies. It took Peter Lewis a long time to shake off the troubled legacy of his band and begin to make his mark again with a stellar singer/songwriting recording career. Don’t miss out on the chance to see this living legend perform.

M.L. and Peter perform together. These two artists take their audience on a historical, cultural & literary journey from poetry to blues, folk and rock up to original contemporary compositions of both poetry and music. Together they blend words & music with beautiful harmonies, memories and the art of spoken word.

FMI and tix at Wyoming Arts Council and 307-777-7742.

Gathering of writers and fellow travelers in Cheyenne

Last night the Wyoming Arts Council held its annual Governor’s Arts Awards event. A record crowd was on hand in the Little America ballroom in Cheyenne to celebrate the awardees and to hear Gov. Matt Mead’s first “State of the Arts” speech.  For more on that, go to Karen Cotton’s article in this morning’s Wyoming Tribune-Eagle at http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2011/02/12/news/19local_02-12-11.txt

It also was old home week for artists and arts supporters from around the state. This was especially true for writers because Nancy Curtis, proprietor of High Plains Press, was one of the awardees.  Nancy runs the press from her working ranch near Glendo. In the video that accompanied her award, Nancy is shown tending to her books and her cattle, not always in that order. She also showed off her and her husband Doug’s homestead, including the room where she grew up. I never knew that Nancy lived in the same house she grew up in. She showed off the old sign on the bedroom door that said “Nanci” in big letters. Underneath that was “Press.” Guess she always knew she was getting into the publishing biz.

Nancy has been a huge supporter of writers in Wyoming. This is through her press but also through her early work organizing the statewide organizations for writers – Wyoming Writers, Inc., and WyoPoets. Both organizations have annual gatherings that are energizing, informative and fun. WyoPoets will meet during the last weekend in April in Casper and WWInc will meet the first weekend in June, also in Casper. I’ve been a WWInc member for at least a decade and plan my summer schedule around the conference. I just volunteered to run the late-night open mike sessions which are a blast. Last year in Cody we heard some intriguing new voices, one of whom (Jayme Feary) won a Wyoming Arts Council creative writing award later that summer. Another newbie, Reid Rosenthal, just published the first in his “Threads West” series of historical westerns.  To see the line-up of presenters for this year’s conference, go to http://www.wyowriters.org/conference.html.

Last night, Nancy and Doug were surrounded by long-time friends from around the state. Among them were Pat Frolander, Gaydell Collier, Katie Smith and Jeanne Rogers from Sundance, Midge Farmer from Gillette, Barb Smith from Rock Springs, Wyoming Poet Laureate Emeritus Bob Roripaugh from Laramie, Linda Hasselstrom from Hermosa, S.D. (lived in Cheyenne for a decade), Page Lambert, a one-time Crook County resident and Bear Lodge Writers members who now lives in Colorado. I know there were more but you can’t see everybody at an event with 500 people.

I sat with my wife Chris and daughter Annie. Also Joy Thompson, who hired me at the Arts Council 20 years ago and was my first mentor in the world of arts administration. She now lives in Lakewood, a suburb of Denver, and hope we can visit again soon. One thing’s clear – it’s great to see old friends. I’ve lived in so many places during my six decades. I’ve met many people and had some good friends that I’ve let drift away.

We connect occasionally via e-mail and Facebook. But it’s a real treat when you get to sit down with someone and just talk. It may be a sign of age or a byproduct of our frenetic e-lives (or both). We all ache to spend time with family and friends and even colleagues. I find it strange that this shy and withdrawn kid now has a public life. Chris will tell you that one of my catch-phrases is “I hate the living.” Yes, it’s a movie quote, this one by the quirky woman coroner in “Men in Black.” I usually say it in relation to some talentless media star who materializes on the plasma TV screen. I’ll have to amend that to “I hate or at least strongly dislike some of the living.” That means you, Lindsay Lohan and Glenn Beck!