“Be the change you want to see in the world.”  Mahatma Gandhi.  Today, Wednesday from 2 to 3:30 p.m., Rocky Anderson, the former Mayor of Salt Lake City and Maggie Murdock, a Dean in Political Science and Professor of Political Violence will speak about international human rights at the University of Wyoming.  

The event will be in the Agricultural Building, Room 1032.  that she organized The event is designed to “Organize people at a grass roots level to pressure the government to act for human rights,” said Anne McKinnon, Adjunct Professor in the School of Environment Natural Resources, of UW Casper.

On Rocky Anderson’s Web site, he poses this question: “Do you wonder where the leaders are – why so many people are suffering, yet no one is leading the way toward effective solutions?”

“He encourages people to reach across national boundaries to change the world and challenge injustice: genocide in Darfur, human trafficking, [and] global warming,” according to a UW news release.

For more information regarding the event, contact Jeanette Reisenburg, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , 766-3415.

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Classes are taking their toll and students are feeling the almost slow-motion drag of week three, immersed in books and buried under early homework.  Students can kick back tonight with a bluegrass jam featuring the Montana Slim String Band.

Montana Slim is a four-piece string band based in San Francisco. They are currently on tour in the Northwest promoting their debut full-length LP, “Slim Pickins”. They are stopping by and playing in Laramie before they continue on to Fort Collins and the Denver area.  

The band brings a positive energy to the “Newgrass” style and by “combining diverse musical backgrounds and influences, they have succeeded in creating a sound all their own,” according to their official MySpace page.  

Composed of an acoustic guitar, a mandolin, a fiddle, and a stand up bass, The Montana Slim String Band is an energetic mesh of strong individual melodies that, when combined, create a rich cornucopia of sound. 

Influences like the John Butler Trio, Phish, Yonder Mountain String Band, Neil Young, Railroad Earth, and Strangefolk all helped band members mold their own styles.

Jessse Dunn plays bass and acoustic guitar and contributes vocals to the band. He shed some light on how the Montana Slim String Band came to be.  

Two years ago Jesse and fellow band members Sean (lead acoustic guitar/vocals) and Brent (mandolin/vocals) “pretty much found each other through musicians wanted ads in the paper” and just “started jamming and having fun.”  In November of 2007 a fiddle player joined the band and contributed a new sound.

There were 3 songwriters in the group, each with a different approach to a song and how it should be composed, Dunn explained.  

“Sometimes it’s more complete than other times,” Dunn said, “but we work together and improvise and see what works.”  

The Montana Slim String Band will be performing in the Wyoming Union Yellowstone Ballroom and will be joined by the Laramie band the Ozark Country Ramblers.  The show will start at 8 p.m. and pizza and refreshments will be offered.  For more information about the show, email the Student Activities Council at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , or check out the Montana Slim String Band on MySpace at www.myspace.com/montanaslimmusic.

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