Features

More than half the U.S. population uses smartphones and apps. And as the appetite for mobile information continues to grow, some Wyoming entrepreneurs are poised to cash in, for the sake of conservation. Wyoming Public Radio's Rebecca Huntington has more.

REBECCA HUNTINGTON: When Story Clark gets into her Prius, she doesn't just start her engine. She also revs up a new mobile app that she's developed with her business partner Madi Quissek.

STORY CLARK: So I'm hooking it up. It's TravelStorysGPS. The app is hands-free. And we're going to get going right now.

A new exhibit offers three painters’ views of protected private lands in Jackson Hole. Wyoming Public Radio’s Micah Schweizer reports on the first-ever collaboration between the Jackson Hole Land Trust and artists, called View 22.

Adrian Shirk was born in a now-defunct Manhattan maternity ward. Her nonfiction has appeared in Wilder Quarterly, The Airship, Owl Eye Review, 7Stops Magazine, and Packet. Currently, she's at work on a book of epistolary essays with poet Amber Stewart and is finishing an MFA in creative nonfiction at the University of Wyoming.

A version of "The Disoriented Express" recently appeared in Packet.

The Gala Holiday Concert at the University of Wyoming on Saturday and Sunday feature performances by the Bel Canto Women’ Choir, Civic Chorus, Singing Statesmen, Symphony Orchestra and Wind Symphony. Orchestra director Michael Griffith previewed a portion of the concert with Wyoming Public Radio’s Micah Schweizer.

Tom Duncan grew up in Lander.  He comes from a family of Scottish immigrants that settled in Wyoming in the 1880s.  In 1900, Duncan’s grandfather trailed 5000 sheep to Fremont County, where he began a ranch along the western border of the Wind River Indian Reservation.  Duncan tells the family story of their Native American neighbor, Togwotee, for whom Togwotee Pass is named.

Because this was recorded during WPR’s fall pledge drive, we have thoughtfully edited out the talking. Enjoy the music of Casper-born, New Orleans-residing Spencer Bohren—guilt-free!

Rebecca Golden is a candidate for the Master of Fine Arts in creative nonfiction at the University of Wyoming. She's the author of a memoir, "Butterbabe: The True Adventures of a 40-Stone Outsider" (Random House UK) and has contributed to Salon, Nerve and the Times of London. Rebecca's current project is a collection of essays about the city of Detroit.

Sneaky Pete and the Secret Weapons is a six-piece funk band based in Jackson.

Poet Matt Daly lives and writes in Jackson Hole. He received a BA in Philosophy from Lewis & Clark College and an MA in English from University of Utah. Daly teaches composition and literature courses at Central Wyoming College’s Jackson Outreach Center.

On Fishing *

I near reverence occasionally,
like when kneeling to release trout.  I guess
 
air feels a bit like how the pew must feel:
for the fish, all that sky, just a hard bench.

Jason Williams is an Iraq War veteran from Lander. In 2004, he was part of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit deployed to Najaf.

Pianist Chi-Chen Wu is a recitalist, chamber musician, and soloist. She teaches piano at the University of Wyoming. Here’s part of a recent recital performance, featuring the first movement of Alexander Scriabin’s third piano sonata, composed 1897-98.

Ed Belbruno is both an astrophysicist and artist. He discovered a new type of route to the Moon that was spectacularly demonstrated in 1991, rescuing a Japanese spacecraft. He is also a recognized painter, with a recent exhibition at Lincoln Center and a painting in NASA’s executive collection in Washington. Ed is affiliated with Princeton University.

Lots of people enjoy the calming and relaxing benefits of yoga, but in Laramie a group is trying to use yoga to help those in the drug court program.  And the early returns are good.  Wyoming Public Radio’s Bob Beck has more. 

BOB BECK:  It’s Friday night at Laramie’s Hot Power Yoga.  The lights are down and the room is lit with candles.  Nine people connected with the Albany County Drug Court program are here holding various poses in an effort to relax and focus. 

Anselmo Roldan Aguilar is from Guatemala. He was a young man when the Guatemalan military attacked his town and killed more than 400 people. This was in 1982, in the midst of Guatemala’s internal armed conflict, during which thousands were massacred.

One of classical music’s most famous pieces is not normally performed the way the composer conceived it. But next week (Nov. 19-24), the University of Wyoming is staging Carmina Burana the way Carl Orff intended—with dancers and actors alongside the orchestra and chorale. That’s 150 performers onstage at once. Wyoming Public Radio’s Micah Schweizer spoke with UW dance professor and choreographer Lawrence Jackson.

Wyoming’s quiet, wild spaces attract adventurers from near and far, but we also hear frequently about adventures gone wrong. Throughout the Mountain West, we hear stories of people who go missing.

By day, Scott Hammond is a management professor at Utah State University, but in his free time, he is a volunteer search-and-rescuer with Rocky Mountain Rescue Dogs. Hammond’s spoke with Wyoming Public Radio’s Rebecca Martinez about his new book “Lessons of the Lost,” which details his experiences with the search and rescue organization.

Following World War I, veterans were offered land in Wyoming. Laurie Quade's grandfather was one of the veterans who started a Wyoming homestead. Now living in Cody, Laurie remembers the home her grandfather built in Torrington.

The 2010 Tony Award winner for Best Play makes its Wyoming debut this week.

RED, by John Logan, is the second production for Laramie-based theatre company Relative Theatrics. The two-person play centers on a major commission New York painter Mark Rothko received in the 1950’s. It explores the line between commercialism and artistic integrity through the relationship between Rothko and his assistant.

Director and Relative Theatrics founder Anne Mason says it’s remarkable for a small company to snag a major contemporary play.

A young Wyoming archaeologist has discovered several more prehistoric villages in the Wind River Range, bringing the total up to 19 confirmed villages at the high altitude archaeology site known as High Rise Village.  His findings are being published in an upcoming scientific journal article.

Matt Stirn was a 20-year-old undergraduate when he developed a model to predict the whereabouts of new lodge sites in the Wind River Range.  Richard Adams was his supervisor. He says Stirn was 13-years-old when he began volunteering on Adam’s crew at High Rise Village.      

Ben Markley is a composer and jazz pianist. He is also a visiting Assistant Professor of Music for the University of Wyoming Music Department. Scott Turpen is a saxophonist and Professor at the University of Wyoming Music Department, teaching Jazz Studies. "And The Wind Came" was written and composed by Ben Markley.

Steve Gyorvary first came to South Pass, Wyoming in 1978. Ever since, he’s been working as a geologist and hard rock gold miner. He tells how he got into gold mining and acquired his own mine.

For Veteran’s Day we have a StoryCorps segment of veteran Ted Gostas telling his wife Jody Gostas about being taken as a prisoner of war in the Vietnam War and his years in solitary confinement. Gostas remained a P-O-W for 5 years, 5 months, and 15 days. Of those captured in Northern Vietnam, he was one of only four POWs to stay in solitary confinement for more than four years. 

Ruth Michels lives in Cody, but she grew up in Laramie. Here, she remembers a childhood encounter with a black bear at Yellowstone National Park.

The Linden String Quartet is a rising star in the chamber music world. The quartet has won first prize in five major competitions and recently completed a residency at Yale University. On Friday, November 8, the Linden performs at the University of Wyoming. Violinist Sarah McElravy spoke with Wyoming Public Media’s Micah Schweizer about the quartet's blossoming career.

Salt Lake City-based singer-songwriter Kate MacLeod has a new album coming out at the end of the year. At Ken Sanders Rare Books is a live collection of songs written over the past 30 years, all based on books. Wyoming Public Radio’s Micah Schweizer spoke with Kate MacLeod about the new record and her Wyoming-inspired songs.

Meeteetse residents Jim and Joan Dunrud remember Jim's parents' famous neighbor at the Double D Ranch, Amelia Earhart.

Born and raised in Sandpoint Idaho, identical twins Katelyn and Laurie Shook make up the Indie Folk-Pop band Shook Twins. They now reside in Portland, Oregon. Kyle Volkman and Niko Daoussis form the core quartet.