Features

Today in Riverton, a class full of Native American jewelry makers are learning how to screen print. Eastern Shoshone member Hope Abeyta wants to screen print her logo on a child-size tepee. The Central Wyoming College course was created specifically for the eclipse since Riverton and much of the reservation falls inside the eclipse’s shadow. The goal is to get these artists the business skills they need to be ready for the event. Abeyta says she found the class on Facebook and signed up.

Many Wyoming communities are expecting a surge in visitors in the days surrounding the August 21 eclipse, but Jackson officials say if the weather holds it could be anywhere between 50,000 to 80,000 extra people visiting the area. Jackson is always packed on that date, but the potential increase in visitors has led to months of planning and the hiring of a coordinator to make sure Jackson Hole can get through the event. 

Wyoming Author C.J. Box recently published his 23rd novel – Paradise Valley. It was also his fifth stand-alone book outside the Joe Pickett series. Box spoke with Wyoming Public Radio’s Caroline Ballard about his career, and said he has honed his voice as an author over the years in part by following Elmore Leonard’s 10 rules of writing.

Death, sex, and money – three topics that are sure to stop any polite small talk in its tracks.

Death, Sex & Money is also the name of a podcast out of WNYC that explores these difficult topics. The show’s host Anna Sale is currently spending her summer in Cody, and she spoke with Wyoming Public Radio’s Caroline Ballard about why Wyoming is such a special place for her family.

Wyoming Author C.J. Box is out with a new book today. It's his 23rd novel, but only his fifth outside his popular Joe Pickett series. Box joined Wyoming Public Radio’s Caroline Ballard to talk about how this mystery Paradise Valley is the culmination of the story of a serial killer working as a long haul trucker.

As we all know, the Donald Trump administration has been unique. One of those tasked with following the President is NPR Political Correspondent Don Gonyea.

After beginning his career based in Detroit, Gonyea came to Washington to cover the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations. Gonyea came to Jackson this week to talk about covering this administration. He told Bob Beck that President Trump’s behavior is not all that surprising. 

Dubois author and wilderness outfitter Tory Taylor has released a new book called On The Trail Of The Mountain Shoshone Sheep Eaters: A High Altitude Archaeological Odyssey. The book is a gripping read about Taylor’s personal role in the discoveries of how this prehistoric tribe thrived in Wyoming’s highest elevations, and on how Taylor experimented with a Mountain Shoshone lifestyle.

Fifteen-year-old Kade Clark stood shirtless at a water spigot outside the Niobrara County Fairgrounds in Lusk. He reached into a bucket full of red-brown dirt, grabbed a handful, and ran it under the water. Then, he began to paint himself.

“So we look like Indians and stuff. Yea you get it wet, it gets on easier,” said Clark.

Clark is white, and is one of the dozens of people, from toddlers to the elderly, playing Sioux Indians in The Legend of Rawhide, the annual July Pageant and Wild West re-enactment.

One of the animators for The Beatles Yellow Submarine movie and several other children’s cartoon series will be coming to Casper and Cheyenne this week.

In his fifty-year career, Ron Campbell not only worked on the Beatles film, but on Scooby Doo, Sesame Street, The Flintstones, Rugrats, The Smurfs, The Jetsons, and more. He says cartoon work was always collaborative.

“Everybody that works in animation is very aware of this and knows this. So no one person can take credit for an entire film. Never can they do that,” said Campbell.

After spending the past decade working primarily in New York City as an actress on stage, TV and for the Metropolitan Opera, Oakley Boycott of Lander is playing the character of Nancy in the sci-fi western film, The Rider. Director, writer, and leading actor Jesse Judy says the part was written for Boycott. 

“Oddly enough, the part that I wrote, the woman in mind was actually Oakley Boycott. Oakley read the part exactly how I envisioned writing it.”

As summer gets into full swing in Wyoming, many people will be getting outside and hitting the state’s trails. In his new book On Trails, author Robert Moor explores why animals and humans make trails in the first place, and what they end up meaning to us. He told Wyoming Public Radio’s Caroline Ballard and he got the idea to write a book after hiking the Appalachian Trail. The paperback edition of On Trails is out July 4th.

For almost 20 years, the Wyoming-based punk rock band Teenage Bottlerocket has grown in popularity. Formed by Laramie natives Ray and Brandon Carlisle, and later joined by Kody Templeman and Miguel Chen, the band gained an international following. In fact, a group of Japanese musicians have recorded a tribute album to honor the band and one of their songs even appeared on an NBA broadcast this season. The band is set to release a new album and a couple of extra songs this month.

A new book focused on the people who live and work in Yellowstone is out. Called People of Yellowstone by Steve Horan and Ruth W. Crocker, it features wonderful photography by Horan with prose by Crocker. Horan photographed 120 people who work in and around the park. It features 87 photographs and stories of people who have a number of jobs and roles. Horan says the idea was pitched to him by his brother and it took several years to complete.

Several years ago Cheyenne residents Bob and Jill Jensen went looking for a service dog to assist Jill with her multiple sclerosis. Their search took them to Kansas City where they acquired their animal. The couple then wondered about developing a training facility for various types of service dogs in Cheyenne, which is unique in this region. The project that Bob and Jill Jensen developed is called K9s 4 Mobility.