Last year my dad, brother and I all had our own bikes. My dad was a bike racer in college and my brother has tons of energy. They were naturally significantly faster than me and I felt left in the dust. The hardest day last year was climbing over the mountain from Ten Sleep to Buffalo. It was steep, hot and buggy and I finished the ride about a minute behind my dad and brother. My goal was to get through the ride without needing to sag a ride in a car. I was slower than snot but I made it.

This summer my goal was to keep up with my dad and brother. There were a couple times where they got a head of me but for the most part I kept them in sight. Going up mountain passes I have an unfair advantage because of my third gear. We call the granny gear, or call granny Irma, because no one under fifty has one has three gears.

Going up Teton Pass in to Jackson my brother challenged me not to use Irma. It was on, there was no way I could back down from a personal challenge and my brother knew it. The pass has an average ten percent grade, which can feel steep in a car let alone in a bike. People were walking their bikes and I had to fight to pass them. I thought of getting off my bike and walking, it would have been faster not to mention easier on my thighs, but decided that if I got off I would never be able to get back on. As I rounded the final bend I could hear cheering. I knew that if I could just keep my feet moving I would make it.

I’m not sure what was harder, riding to the top of the pass or passing calculus III. Both felt like an impossible journey that would never end but my pride would not let me go half way. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it and smile after words.

About 100 feet from the end an amazing biker woman, or fellow biker chick, rode up to me and we shared words of inspiration and finished together. Climbing to the top of mountains and after a 100 mile day reminded me that although college can seem near impossible, frustrating, and undervalued there always is a great sense of accomplishment at the end. During mile 80 it feels like the end will never come but I am here to say keep on pedaling, studying, follow your heart and stay true to who you are and you will make it to that breath taking view.

Zoe N. McDonald

More Posts

Homeowner Bill Pratt and his wife were working in Woods Landing when they received the pre evacuation notice. “They said to leave,” Pratt said. The notice did not mention what items to take from their home. Pratt made sure his horses and dogs were looked after in nearby Laramie and that his children and wife were safe in Loveland, Colo. and Fort Collins, Colo.

“I was told to leave but of course I didn’t,” Pratt said.

Another Woods Landing resident stayed with his wife in a camper in Laramie. He left his sprinklers running on his roof in an attempt to fight the fire, the Associated Press reported.

The Fourth of July fireworks show was canceled in Woods Landing and surrounding communities to prevent further fires. In Colorado one homemade sign read, “FAIR WARNING: Anyone using or allowing use of fireworks in this neighborhood will be dealt with harshly! And that doesn’t mean just by the police!”

Firefighters from Big Laramie Volunteer Fire Department, Little Laramie, Centennial, Tie Siding, the Forest Service and hot shot crews from around the country fought the wildfire with engines, helicopters and airplanes from the Air Force according to Big Laramie Fire Fighter Larry Laflam.

“We work to help each other,” Bill Sheehan, Big Laramie firefighter and owner of Woods Landing, said. “We are a very close knit group and it’s nice to be a part of it.”

Saturday June 30 the local fire fighters fought to protect structures along Fox Creek Road.

“It was Hell there was fire everywhere,” Laflam said.

Laflam was riding in engine six fighting the fire and said “the glass was hot with flames.”

With the help of weekend rain the wildfire was declared 100 percent contained on July 9, according to the Albany County website.

Residents and local business made signs in support of the firefighters.  “The community stepped right up,” Laflam said. A local Quality Inn rented half price rooms, allowed late checkout and alowed pets for evacuees.

“All residents are relieved,” Sheehan said. “Hopefully nothing else will happen.”

Zoe N. McDonald

More Posts

Photo: Zoe N. McDonald

This fall Y Cross ranch could be sold, in a move that frustrates students, donors and the Wyoming community.

The 50,000-acre ranch sits in the heart of southeast Wyoming spanning 78 square miles between Laramie and Cheyenne.

A Denver philanthropist, Amy Davis, donated Y Cross ranch, cattle and machinery to CSU and UW in 1997 to aid agricultural programs.

Davis told the Associated Press, “I don’t think they’ve taken advantage in the last 14 years of what this ranch opportunity should have given to the students.”

“CSU professors didn’t know the ranch was available [for internships],” CSU summer ranch intern Ben Wurz said.

UW student, Drake Jorns, only knew about the internships when he looked up the ranch online.

“The ranch is intended to be a model of a working cattle ranch and to provide opportunities for students,” ranch caretaker Manny Monserrate said.

“Most students in the department now do not come from an agricultural background and are not familiar with agriculture in general. Internships on the Y Cross provide the much needed understanding of agricultural and the livestock industry from the ground up,” said Annette Monserrate in a letter to UW President Tom Buchanan.

“You can’t learn [ranching] in a classroom,” Jorns said.

“I’ve been ranching for almost 40 years and am still learning,” Manny Monserrate said. “We are here to teach the next generation how to work.”

To date, the ranch has had 25 interns and employees from both universities studying geology, range and wildlife management, and equine studies. The ranch also provides student scholarships.

“For the state of Wyoming to support the sale of a beneficial educational gift to the students of Wyoming and Colorado appears unethical and endangers the university’s Land Grant Mission,” said Annette  Monserrate in a letter to the state legislator. “Neighbors and the ranching community are aware of the facts surrounding the issue and are watching to see if the education of future leaders and the ethics of our political system are upheld.”

UW dean of the College of Agriculture, Francis Galey, told the AP, “It’s a very, very efficient and lean working operation. So the way it was set up staffing-wise, there just wasn’t a way to accommodate the teaching we wanted to do.”

In 2009, negotiations began for CSU to buy out UW’s portion of the ranch. The Davis Foundation agreed to help CSU purchase UW’s half of the ranch, but negations fell through as UW refused to be bought out.

The two schools attempted to trade Y Cross with land east of Laramie last year but decided that the land swap would not follow the intent of the gift.

In early June the presidents of CSU and UW met in La Jolla, Calif. to announce that they are moving forward with the sale of the ranch.

The ranch will be sold under a sealed bid method and could be sold early fall. Davis told the AP she estimates the ranch could be worth between $20 and $30 million.

The profits from the sale will be used to fund agricultural scholarships and internships at both schools.

Taylor Haynes, a Cheyenne area rancher told the AP, “Basically it’s a great teaching tool and it’s just too bad it would be gone.”

Zoe N. McDonald

More Posts

The program coordinators, professors Liu and Dillon from the UW’s mathematics department, hope to foster a system of understanding and mutual benefit between the mathematicians and biologists at this year’s conference.

“We have a good mix of students – biologists who want to learn more about math, and mathematicians who are interested in ecology and epidemiology,” says Michael Dillon in an interview for UW news, UW Department of Zoology and Physiology assistant professor. “Those two groups generally speak very different languages. By bringing them together, we hope they’ll learn how to communicate with one another.”

This year’s guest speakers come from: the University of Utah, Arizona State University, Purdue University, the University of Alabama, Oakland University, the University of California-Davis, Vanderbilt University and UW.

The conference has been held at UW summer school for the last 32 years, but this is the first year that it has focused on the spread of disease. The participants will be studying the spread of HIV, smallpox, yellow fever, SARS, white nose disease in bats, change in plant populations, infection rates in hospitals and the population changes of otters in California, according to the conference website. The research groups will present their discoveries to the group on the final day of the conference.

Professors Dillon and Liu from UW’s mathematics department predict increased used of the Cheyenne based super computer, the National Center for Atmospheric Research-Wyoming Supercomputing Center, to make mathematical models.

Zoe N. McDonald

More Posts

The Fort Collins based group has been writing, performing and touring for three years. The band of Wyoming natives consists of the front woman Alysia Kraft who sings, plays guitar and writes songs, Dee Tyler on guitar and bass, Sean Francis on drums and Ansel Foxley on the electric dobro.

Photo: David Demic. Children dance along as Patti Fiasco performs as part of the CAC free concert series.

“I love playing in front of Laramie crowds,” Kraft said. “It’s great to see a lot of good, old best friends in the crowd, you know.”

Kraft said her upbringing influenced her band’s style, as well as the musicians she is collaborating with.

“A lot of it has to do with growing up in Wyoming. I think that I’ve always had an affinity for old school country music and playing with musicians,” she said. “Who I’m playing with now has shaped the collective sound. It’s an interesting dynamic with the electric dobro. It’s very much like roots music with a rock and roll edge.”

The band will continue their tour throughout the U.S. during the summer.

“We’ve got a busy summer ahead,” Kraft said. “We are playing … quite a few festivals in Wyoming. We’ll be touring to Texas in late summer. We just got done doing a mini run to New Mexico, west Texas and Colorado. Our hope is to release an album in September of next year. We’ve just started pre production.”

Devin Morse of SCENE magazine said, “If you haven’t heard of the Patti Fiasco yet, you surely will hear them soon. Stay tuned.”

The next concert will be Cary Judd performing on Wednesday June 20th from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Simpson Plaza.

Zoe N. McDonald

More Posts

More women are going to college and earn degrees than men but the current generation of adults, “Generation X,” was raised by Baby Boomers who were raised in the 50s and early 60s when gender roles were rigid and sadly this notion has carried over into the new millennium.

Men experience pressure to provide financially for their families and can even feel emasculated if they are unable to secure a well-paying job.

Women are still expected to be the primary care givers for their children, regardless of their career choices. There is a hidden expectation that the woman will sacrifice time, money and her career in order to spend more time with her kids and that the father will be the one to financially provide for the family. Sadly the “Leave It To Beaver” era where men with a high school diploma could earn enough to support the family and women stayed at home is long gone.

In the current economy, families are lucky if the combined income of partners can keep the family afloat.

The wage gap reaffirms that more women than men miss out on years of career experience and promotions in order to spend more time with their kids. It is true that American family values are changing but they are changing slowly. The generation that was raised by the radicals that protested the Vietnam War, granted African Americans civil rights and elected a president without agreeing with his religion still is trapped in a system of gender roles that originated in the Old Testament era.

Women, or men, deciding to place their careers on hold in order to raise children make a noble choice, one that is highly valued but unfortunately does not provide any sort of monetary compensation. The retirement of a stay-at-home parent will be a big fat zero after 18 years of raising a child. It is impossible to place a monetary value on raising a child and the wage gap shows that on average more men are able or have chosen to work in a system where success is easy to measure where more women work in a system where success cannot be expressed in dollar signs

The system of comparing averages is flawed.

If a survey wants to show true inequality it should compare men and women in the same jobs, doing comparable work. The next study could compare people of different ethnicities.

Our country would be in for a shock to find that as a nation we are not as progressive as we like to think we are.

Zoe N. McDonald

More Posts

NASA photo depicting the north Colorado wildfires and near Guernsey, WY.

Senate president, and acting governor, Jim Anderson activated the Wyoming National Guard to assist in fighting the wildfires in Guernsey. Senator Anderson is acting as governor while Gov. Mead is in China and Secretary of State Max Maxfield is out of the state.

The guard helicopters dumped water on the blaze while Guard members helped to alert residents and assist with evacuations. The team consisted of 41 Guard members, nine firefighters, two fire rucks and three Black Hawk helicopters, according to the governor’s office.

“We are glad we are able to assist in this firefighting effort,” Major General Luke Reiner, Wyoming’s Adjutant General, told the Associated Press. “The National Guard’s role is to assist when called by the governor and we are proud to have this role in protecting Wyoming’s residents and its natural assets.”

The state department has determined the fire to have human origins but the details have not been released.

Several wildfires are approaching Wyoming. Smoke from a New Mexico wildfire, that has destroyed 34,000 acres, covers the Cheyenne skies.

The High Park fire has burned over 70 square miles and is currently burning 50 miles southeast of Cheyenne, according to a recent AP story.

The fire originated from southeast winds blowing the smoke from New Mexico wildfires near Cheyenne.

A combination of decades of vigorous fire suppression and the waning of the timber industry over environmental concerns has left many forests a tangled, overgrown mess, subject to the kind of super-fires that are now regularly consuming hundreds of homes and millions of acres.

In southern New Mexico, a lightning-sparked fire raced across more than 34,000 acres in a matter of three days, damaging or destroying at least 224 homes and other structures in the mountains outside of the resort community of Ruidoso. Hundreds of residents remained out of their homes Wednesday According to a recent AP article.

Another fire about 15 miles north of Fort Collins has burned 73 square miles and destroyed hundreds of structures and forced hundreds out of their homes.  Over 600 firefighters are working to contain the blaze. The forest service has announced plans to start thinning the forest in an attempt to salvage property according to a recent AP story.

In Northeast Albany County an 8,500 acre wild fire is fully contained.

Zoe N. McDonald

More Posts

Orientation leaders during last year's summer session share personal stories and campus experiences. Courtesy Photo.

To prepare students, the admissions office organizes annual summer orientations, which help students and their parents ease into college life and become familiar with campus.

“[The goal of orientation is to] help students feel comfy on campus, register, meet friends and know campus resources,” Orientation Coordinator Mary Aguayo said.

This summer, the university is offering eight different freshmen orientation sessions with an average of 170 students per session, with separate orientations for transfer and international students.

Last week was the first orientation session and this weekend marks the end of the second session. Students listened to a speech by Professor Meg Flanagan Skinner from the Physiology Department as well as members of the campus police department and the dean of students.

The students got a taste of college life by eating at Washakie dining center and spending the night in Macintyre Hall.

Orientation is student orientated with students breaking into small groups to play games and meet new friends, while parents learn how to support their children through the transition into college, according to the orientation website. Orientation leaders, students currently attending UW who have been undergoing training in preparation for the orientations, led the students through a regimented series of activities that included ice breakers, movies and games.

“Meeting people is fun,” incoming pharmacy freshman Erin Fulton from Cheyenne Wyoming said.

She is confident that she found friends on campus through her orientation already. She also said “foundation was really cool.” Foundation is a time where the students get to know each other in small groups.

When asked about eating at Washakie, Fulton said she likes the choices offered.

Andrew Hill a transfer student from Casper College chimed to say that, “it was hard to find the ketchup.” The room full of orientation leaders and students erupted with laughter, a scene that was characteristic of the totality of the orientation experience, where students, parents and staff filed the room with giddiness.

Orientation serves a practical purpose in addition to a social experience. Students go on campus tours and learn the location of important buildings such as the union, half acre and where they can find the shortest coffee lines. UWPD talks about violence, alcohol and date rape.

Registered Student Organizations set up booths and invited students to join their group. Students can also take the math placement or the foreign language exams. Parents attend presentations on how to adjust to being the parent of a college student.  After, Students break off into their colleges and wait for an advising time.

Mary Aguayo said that she “loves meeting families and students.” She feels confident that this summer’s orientations will be a positive experience for incoming students and their families.

Zoe N. McDonald

More Posts

Lane has served at UW since 2007 and is expected to begin his duties at UT Knoxville on June 25.

“I had not given a lot of thought to leaving, but there were a select few campuses out there that I thought, if something came open I’d have to take a look,” Lane told Knoxville News.

At UW, Lane managed a staff of 14 officers with 10 supporting staff and at UT Knoxville he will manage a staff of 79, according to a UW press release.

Lane works with a “prevention first” methodology that included following strict enforcement when it came to underage drug and alcohol abusers, which he will continue to use in Knoxville, he said.

“People become suspects or victims a considerable amount of the time due to alcohol,” Chief Lane told Knoxville News. “When you start to address those issues it affects other, larger issues that everyone is concerned about, like robbery and rape.”

Lane’s wife, who is currently on staff with UW, said she will join him.

“We’re sorry to see Troy go, but we’re very appreciative of the contributions he’s made to the UW community during his time here,” Interim Vice President of Administrative Operations Mark Collins said.

As of time of print, a replacement police chief has not been announced.

Zoe N. McDonald

More Posts

It does seem a little too convenient that the president chose to let his rainbow flag fly at precisely the time when more states are constructing same sex marriage laws. However, for many members of the LGBTQ community as well as their allies, the president has finally jumped on the still unpopular bandwagon, where it is okay to be gay.

The issue of same sex marriage seems to hit a nerve with people. It is just not a casual conversation topic.

The one side of the opposition comes from religious extremists, who cite their faith and believe that homosexuality is a sin or unnatural.

Personally, I agree with the 1st Amendment that everyone has the right to their beliefs. One of the great freedoms of our country is the freedom of religion, but that freedom goes hand in hand with the separation of church and state. The separation means that the views or beliefs on one religion do not dictate the laws of our country.

Marriage is a tricky issue because it forms an almost impossible-to-untangle knot between religion and the government. Many marriage ceremonies are performed in a religious house of worship and the ceremony grants legal rights.

Granting same sex couple the right to marry does not mean that every church, synagogue, shrine, mosque or temple needs to perform, or even support, these marriages. What same sex marriage means is that two people who are in a monogamous long-term, committed relationship can receive the same legal rights as their heterosexual peers.

No one would want to be told that they have no say in the medical treatment of their partner, the most important person in their life, or could not be the legal parent of an adopted child, lose all their joint assents in the case of separation and generally be treated as a second class citizen simply because of the person they happen to love.

We live in a society that takes pride in diversity and our history of Civil Rights. The issue of same sex marriage is a civil right similar to the rights that Dr. Martian Luther King Jr. fought for.

Granting this right would make a long-closeted group of people legal equals to the majority of society.

Same sex marriage is not simply a personal or religious issue, as some sources would have one believe. It is an issue of equality among an entire demographic of people, who have been our society’s whipping boy for far too long.

Zoe N. McDonald

More Posts