ASA Annual Meeting in Baltimore

The American Studies Association (ASA) holds a conference every year, and this October, it was in Baltimore. Students can attend fairly cheaply and since I enjoyed going to the British Association for American Studies conference this spring, I registered.

A cool little street near our hotel

Our flight out was at 6am, so after spending the night in Denver, got up at 3:15am for the flight to Baltimore and arrived in time to attend the afternoon panels. I went to ten panels over the three days and heard some great papers, including one on commemoration and the politics of the past, where they discussed a ‘mobile museum’ of Latino culture in southwest Detroit, a virtual community of Japanese-Americans and a bike ride as part of a class project looking into the experiences of ethnic groups in the now largely-homogeneous community of San Luis Obispo. It was great to see and feel a part of the larger American Studies community and everyone I spoke to was so friendly and interested. The comments that followed the papers made it very clear that the conference was about helping one another out, contributing ideas and suggesting sources. It was funny, however, to see the ways in which many of the attendees were not so different from the undergraduates they teach back at their universities – checking their phones behind their notepads, showing signs of nerves before giving presentations, falling asleep during sessions.

ASA student members were provided with a free breakfast by the students’ committee, which is always welcome. However, I saw no other MA students there, because at most places, it’s very hard for them to get funding. The American Studies program at UW has funding available for conferences, so the five grad students who applied were all provided with funds that helped cover the cost of travel, accommodation and attendance.

Nick Selby and Sarah Garland from UEA were both at the conference so we met up and chatted about the various panels. Over burritos, Nick and I discussed how American Studies was different in the UK from the US and what I have learnt about the field since coming to Wyoming. It was particularly interesting to see topics play out at the conference that we had discussed in class about the state of American Studies– issues of where its focus lies (flyers for the ‘Early American Studies Caucus’ criticized the ASA’s “way-presentist” stance), whether we need a method, what American Studies is and so on.

Occupy Baltimore was just a few blocks from the conference and I passed it a couple of times. One of the signs at the entrance to the site (much smaller than many similar sites in other parts of the country) listed all the committees that had been established to keep the site running safely and effectively, including Medical, Translation, Sanitation, Legal and Media. A sign stated that no drugs or alcohol were allowed and one poster based on Fairey’s famous Obama ‘Hope’ sign, had the face of The Wire’s Clay Davis, above his ever-famous catchphrase – a particularly appropriate poster, given its location. On Friday evening, while at the ASA reception, I saw two guys eating canapés who looked a little out of place. We exchanged a knowing look and soon after, one banged on his glass to make an announcement: “We are from Occupy Baltimore, a few blocks away. We would love it if you would come join us. Thanks for the food!”, which was met with loud applause. As they walked away, one shouted “We love you academics!” Just a couple of hours earlier, the President-elect of the ASA had announced “We are the 99%” so the men certainly had a sympathetic audience. Nick told an interesting story which illustrates well the individualistic attitudes of so many Americans (coupled with the absence of a fully thought-through argument). He saw a guy and his girlfriend passing the Occupy site and heard the guy angrily ask “Why don’t they just get jobs?” His girlfriend suggested that it may be harder for them to get jobs because of their backgrounds or other factors and his response was simply that they should work harder. It’s these kinds of attitudes that make fighting inequality that much harder.

Attending the conference got me thinking more about how I might like to (try to) use my Master’s once I’m done – about its possible practical applications, or how work in the public sector might complement research. I’m not sure yet exactly where I want to go with it, but it’s always good to start thinking. 

The Occupy Baltimore guys who came to the reception

Gorbachev in Laramie

The University of Wyoming has an impressive schedule of speakers and cultural events and on October 14^th, former head of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev came to town. He was clearly a popular speaker – a long line formed outside the Arena-Auditorium and although it was slightly chaotic when they opened several doors at once, we got in without much difficulty. When Gorbachev came into the auditorium, he cheerfully waved at everyone and began his speech, through an interpreter, and although there were sound issues at first, they were quickly remedied after the crowd started shouting(!)

It was an interesting speech and Gorbachev is quite as a funny speaker – his anecdotes made the audience laugh and some of his comments prompted big rounds of applause, including his saying that books influenced him more than any person. I admit to not knowing a great deal about him, but now am interested to learn more. He said that you can criticize Communism, but that you should not hate the people – that they’re not so different from everyone else. He remarked that he would be occupying Wall Street right now if he could and reflected upon the challenges facing the world, describing the eradication of poverty as a top priority. As I exited the arena, his convoy was leaving at the same time, so I got another look at the ever-waving Gorbachev.

Gorbachev and interpreter
with Senator Alan Simpson

Following the talk, there was a special dinner for guests of the Governor and university president, including state legislators, other VIPs and various student organization leaders. The Governor’s guests just had to dress smartly for the dinner, but the dress code for the president’s guests was ‘cowboy chic’ – perhaps to give Gorbachev an ‘authentic’ taste of Wyoming…? A friend of mine (who is from Wyoming) had to borrow some cowboy boots and a bolo tie to achieve this look. I can’t help but wonder what the former leader of the Soviet Union must have made of this small Western town.

Trip to Oregon

Laramie is still 1000 miles from Eugene, OR, but it’s a lot closer than Milton Keynes, so after looking at flights for weeks, I finally bought them. Flights from Denver are cheaper, but Denver is fairly difficult (and expensive) to get to by bus or car, so I decided to take the somewhat-infamous Laramie-to-Denver plane before flying on to Portland.

Laramie Regional Airport

Laramie Regional Airport is the smallest airport I’ve ever seen, with one departure gate and not much else. I got there very early, so while I graded papers, I listened to the airport’s sole TV playing FOX News. The commercials were a combination of Mike Huckabee encouraging people to sign a petition to repeal harmful ‘Obamacare’, adverts for pharmaceutical and adverts for lawyers who could represent you if a particular drug had given you cancer – it was quite an unintentionally interesting combination. 

My tiny plane

The size of the airport was quite fitting considering the plane was a 19-seater propeller plane, with no ‘facilities’, no overhead storage and no cabin crew – just two pilots seated feet away. The fact we were the only plane leaving meant we had an incredibly prompt departure. It was very noisy and since it’s such a small plane, you really feel every movement, so it was fairly bumpy, but I thought it was great. The journey was supposed to take 53 minutes, but we landed in Denver after 28!

The pilots, who seemed to
just push buttons at random

When I arrived in Portland and met up with my friends, there were tears (inevitably) and I had to remind myself not to be so surprised to see people wearing Oregon sweatshirts in the airport. As soon as we arrived in Eugene, we headed straight to Sweet Life Patisserie (going to places to eat was a common theme of the weekend, including brunch in the dorms, Sweet Basil Pad Thai, Voodoo Doughnut…) I bumped into Caitlin who is from UEA and on her year abroad at the Oregon and she seemed to be really enjoying it there. Since my friend Ally recently became a UO Student Ambassador, the next day, Caroline and I went on a campus tour, which reminded me how great Oregon is and the beautiful weather certainly helped. We went to brunch at Studio One, a great little place that I hadn’t been to before, so I got to discover somewhere new. I also got a tour of Delta Tau Delta fraternity house, complete with framed charter, ridiculous composites from the 1980s with Ray-Bans and popped collars and got to see the (slightly creepy) dark room in the basement used for chapter meetings, ceremonies and so on.

I had enough time before my flight to spend 90 minutes in downtown Portland, where I got coffee at Peet’s and reacquainted myself with PDX’s hipsters before taking the MAX to the airport. I’m a big fan of Portland’s public transit – it’s apparently the envy of its (less-cool) Pacific Northwestern cousin, Seattle and I got from downtown to the airport for $2.40. I returned to Laramie to learn that six inches of snow had fallen in my absence, but most of it had disappeared by the time I got back. It was a great, if brief, trip and I hope to return in the spring.

Jefferson-Jackson Dinner

Every year, state Democratic Party organizations across the US hold ‘Jefferson-Jackson dinners’ – fundraising events attended by local party officials and activists, or, as one attendee at this year’s Wyoming dinner put it, “a group of rejects and rabble-rousers”.

Some of Wyoming's big sky

Thanks to funding from State Representative Stan Blake, the UW College Democrats were able to get a table at the dinner and so, in two cars, we set off for Rock Springs – a town known for its history of coal mining, union organizing and for being generally more Democratic. The three-hour drive included part of the same route as we had taken on the trip to Yellowstone and I saw more Pronghorn Antelope and red rock formations. We stayed at the Outlaw Inn, which is a Best Western, but makes a bit of an effort with its Wild West theming – you can read about outlaws that came from Rock Springs, there are various cowboy paintings and cushions in the rooms and, my personal favorite, a display of different kinds of barbed wire used to fence the west.

The theme of the dinner was workers and unions and we heard some really good, inspirational speeches. Democrats here know we face an uphill battle, but with some hard work, we should be able to get Albany County (where Laramie is) and Sweetwater County (where Rock Springs is) to go blue again at the next election, and may be able to extend our success further. You’ve got to dream, right? I got to meet lots of people in the state party and many state officials and politicians would like the College Democrats’ help in the coming months, so that should be good. By the end of the evening, I had sore cheeks from all the smiling, but it was a really good night and a great trip.

Football and Energy Extraction

Although the Wyoming Cowboys (American) football team are perhaps not one of Division I’s finest teams, I had to go to at least a couple of games to experience it – the Cowboys’ sports traditions, the tailgating, the songs and the cannon (I’ll explain). A few weeks ago, I went to the Nebraska game – probably the biggest game of the season, partly because Lincoln, NE, is a mere 8 hours away, so many of their diehard fans came to town to watch. On the way to the stadium, I met guy named Chance (no relation to Lucky from Steamboat Springs), who is from Nebraska, but now lives in Wyoming and works in Colorado. His thoughts on people from the West Coast particularly interested me. While I was living there, I got used to people saying how they thought those from the East Coast were generally ruder, busier and much less relaxed than those on the West Coast. This guy, from the Rocky Mountain West, said the same thing about those from the West Coast. He said he thought that people in California had no manners and were too focused on getting things done quickly, while those in the Mountain West were much more polite and chilled-out. It’s interesting to see how people think of those from other regions (without even bringing the South into this) and how Californians are thought of by one group (themselves, admittedly) as laidback and by another as uptight and rude.

I met up with some friends at the tailgate and since one of them is the nephew of a state legislator, we got into the President’s Tailgate tent (the president of the university. Alas, Obama is only very rarely found out this way) and after talking to State Representative Byrd for a short while, got to meet and shake the hands of the governors of both Wyoming and Nebraska. The stadium was packed, which means, with an attendance of 32,617, there were more people there than live in Laramie. In fact, on that day, the stadium by itself would be the third biggest city in the state.

Guys in cowboy hats at a Cowboys game

Every time a point is scored by the Cowboys, a cannon is fired – a sound that can be heard across town. I’m not entirely sure where this tradition came from, but some have pointed-out the highly militarized nature of the football games, which take place in War Memorial Stadium and ROTC cadets seem to be quite heavily involved. It is also interesting to note that the football field is called Jonah Field, after the huge natural gas field in southwestern Wyoming – apparently one of the biggest in the US. Energy extraction is so important to the state’s economy and it is not at all unusual to see adverts celebrating Wyoming’s high national rankings for supplying energy to the rest of the country. Its impact is also apparent in state politics, and much of the University of Wyoming’s funding comes from the energy industries. Earlier this year, members of the coal industry were insulted when the university decided to permanently install ‘Carbon Sink: What Goes Around Comes Around’, an artistic comment on the damage that coal mining is doing to the climate and its connection to the region’s pine beetle infestation. Industry representatives saw the university as being ungrateful by having such artwork on campus, but I’m glad to see that even though UW does rely on funds from these industries, it is not entirely uncritical of them. (EDIT: the installation has been removed as of July 2012. It seems that the University was not prepared to keep this "insult" to the coal and gas industry around for very long, especially when it will be facing an 8% budget cut from the state in the 2014 fiscal year.)

Back to football – the University of Wyoming has two mascots, one of which is Cowboy Joe. He is not, perhaps surprisingly, a cowboy. He’s not even a man. Joe is a pony. Our ‘human’ mascot is Pistol Pete, complete with creepy over-sized head.. There’s also Cowboy Ken, or Barrel Man – a dedicated fan who comes to every game wearing not much more than a barrel. Although we lost to Nebraska, it was a good game and certainly an interesting insight into how they do things in the West.

Cowboy Joe

Cowboy Ken and Pistol Pete

Last weekend was homecoming, so the university decorated parts of campus in brown and gold and held a homecoming parade the morning of the game, which was against University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Many alumni came to town and although I got a sunglasses sunburn (I guess I’m still not entirely accustomed to living at high altitude, where it is much easier to get burnt!), it was a good game and we beat UNLV 41-14.

Not only was this guy chewing a cocktail stick, he was also chewing tobacco. Nasty. 

GO POKES!*

*A cowpoke is another name for a cowboy, so the team is often referred to as the Pokes. 

‘Many Visitors Have Been Gored By Buffalo’: Yellowstone National Park

When I arrived, I found out that the UW Outdoor Program was running a trip to Yellowstone for Labor Day weekend and even though it meant missing the Oregon vs. LSU game, I decided to go. I definitely wanted to visit Yellowstone during my time here, but I didn't think I’d get the chance to go so soon.

We left campus a little after 6am on the Saturday to begin the eight-hour drive there. The trip was almost entirely international students, there were only two Americans. The rest of us were from the UK, Germany, Mexico, Estonia, China, the Netherlands and a guy from Libya I sat next to on the way there called Ishmael (who, to my disappointment, introduced himself with “my name is…” and not “call me…”).

We stopped for lunch in Dubois – a tiny town of under a thousand people, but where, surprisingly, I met a man from Doncaster who works in the gas station. Since Yellowstone is on the other side of the state to Laramie, we saw a lot of the varied Wyoming landscape (it didn’t seem like eight hours) and when we turned a corner, we got an amazing view of the Tetons.

Old Faithful

We visited Old Faithful, which was great. While waiting for the next eruption, we looked around the famous Old Faithful Inn, which was built in 1903 and, although damaged by an earthquake in 1959 (which led to the permanent closure of some of the upper staircases), still attracts many visitors and guests, who can watch Old Faithful’s eruption from their viewing platform. My pictures don't capture it terribly well, but it really is very impressive.

Old Faithful Inn

When we arrived at our campsite, we had someone come and speak to us about bears. At one point, he said “I hate to be the bearer of bad news”, which got a bit of an unintentional laugh. We were told we should not have anything in our tents except our sleeping bags – all cosmetics, food, water bottles and so on had to go into the ‘bear box’. Although I didn’t see any bears while I was there, I definitely heard other wildlife outside our tent at night and while in the park and during the drive we saw elk, bison, a bald eagle and pronghorn antelope.

Bison

We were told by the trip leaders to pack lots of layers as it gets very cold at night – the forecast overnight was 32°F (0°C) and last year on this trip, it snowed! Although it didn’t snow for us, in the mornings, ice had formed on the cars and the outside of our tents.

We did a tour of the lower loop of the park and saw the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (where it gets its name from) – one of my favorite parts, the Grand Prismatic, lots of geysers and a strange bubbling-mud spring, which fascinated our group for a good twenty minutes. It was completely beautiful (the park, not the mud, as fascinating as it was) and I definitely want to go back at some point.

Mud Pot

On the way home, we stopped in Thermopolis to go to the hot springs. I spent only 20 minutes in the 104°F (40°C) springs, but it took me days to get the hot spring… odor out of my hair. Since we drove back a different route to the way we came, we got to see more of the state. The scenery really is stunning. I think before I came, I expected Wyoming to be mostly empty and, to be honest, kind of dull. Although it certainly is empty, it’s gorgeous – red mountains, rolling hills, unusual rock formations, dramatic canyons. I love it!

Wind River Canyon.
Taken from inside the car, but you can still see how beautiful it is.

Yellowstone was great and I'm looking forward to exploring more of Wyoming.

Yellowstone Lake

Hot Buttered Rum in Steamboat Springs

After the first week of classes, I went to Steamboat Springs, Colorado. My friend Reilly is friends with one of the musicians in Hot Buttered Rum, a bluegrass-y band from the San Francisco Bay Area, and they were performing in Steamboat Springs, so Reilly, two friends and I headed down for the show.

The drive down was simply beautiful – Steamboat is west of Denver in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains and the drive included some great views of Colorado. We crossed the continental divide (something that has happened quite a few times since my arrival). The town is a popular skiing destination in the winter, but the weekend we were there, the USA ProCycling Challenge was coming through town, so every hotel was full and many fans were staying in tents or RVs on the pass, hoping to catch a glimpse of the cyclists. There were many amateur enthusiasts who were cycling the start of the route before the professional teams, as well as plenty of high-spirited supporters.

Since all the hotels were full, we too decided to camp (but in a campsite, not on a verge by the pass). Unfortunately, we erected our tent at dusk and some unseasonably-late mosquitoes attacked my back, meaning that when we returned to the venue, the Ghost Ranch Saloon, a short while later, I had to keep seeking out hard surfaces (including trees) to scratch my bites, giving me the unfortunate appearance of a bear (more on bears later).

The band and an energetic fan.

We got to hang out with the (super-friendly) band over dinner and then watch them perform. They were fantastic! It was so much fun – the music was great, there was plenty of dancing, lots of Stetsons and a guy named Lucky taught me the Two-Step. And then I tripped over a bucket.

The offending bucket.

It was a great weekend.

Welcome to Wyoming

So much has happened in the last month that it’s quite difficult to capture it all in one blog post. In the future, I hope to write updates more frequently, but for now, I’ll try to provide some idea of what I've been up to since I arrived by writing what may be a slightly-disjointed post.

I flew into Denver on August 8^th, spent the night and a lovely day there before driving up to Laramie in a rental car (which turned out to be a very good idea from my parents). In my first week or so, the high altitude (Laramie is at about 7200ft) and dry air gave me three nosebleeds! The house is great – trying to sort out housing from such a distance was a bit of a headache, especially since a couple of places fell through, but we got a great place in the end. I’m living with another American Studies grad student and her boyfriend and their two dogs (almost everyone here has dogs, even students). I spent quite a bit of time – and money – getting my place all set up. There was a lot to buy, since my room was unfurnished and I was limited in what I could bring with me, but I actually quite enjoyed shopping for everything (think Extreme Makeover: Home Edition when they’re in Sears). It definitely feels like home now. The house had no internet for the first few weeks, which meant I became very familiar with local café Coal Creek Coffee Co. and their free wi-fi. I went every day and must’ve tried most of their drinks (I can tell you about the Orange Slider, Hot Snow, Peach Ice Tea Cooler…), but we’ve, thankfully, now got internet at home (which works most of the time).

I met a lot of nice people in my first few weeks, many of whom are not from the area originally, but who love it and have decided to stay. Almost everyone I’ve spoken to has warned me about the winter – the snow could come as early as the end of September, and often hangs around until May or June(!) I’m really hoping to try skiing while I’m here, since it’s so popular and it makes sense to make the most of all the snow.

The Cooper House, where American Studies is based. Isn't it lovely?

I’ve just finished my third week of classes and they are going well, although there’s quite a lot of work to get used to. I'm enjoying learning much more about the history and evolution of American Studies in my graduate class and I'm hoping to go to the American Studies Association conference in Baltimore in October. I'm quite enjoying TA-ing for Introduction to American Studies and grading papers has certainly been interesting! I was elected the secretary of the UW College Democrats. I really enjoyed getting involved with the College Dems in Oregon, so I'm excited to get involved here too, even though Wyoming’s political landscape is obviously slightly different to Oregon’s!

Freight trains - they actually look oddly majestic crossing the landscape.

I went to one of the western wear stores downtown, Martindale’s. They have all manner of cowboy boots, hats, belt buckles, shirts… it was great. I spoke to the (“NRA lifetime member”) owner briefly about rodeos and was particularly interested by something he said to a couple visiting from Pennsylvania. They said he should visit them back east and he said he didn’t want to – “I hear there’s people standing shoulder to shoulder from the Mississippi to the ocean”. It was similar to something that someone I met from Casper (Wyoming’s second biggest ‘city’ at 55,000 people) said – that he wouldn’t want to move any further east because there’s too many people. People out here (many at least, probably not all) have interesting attitudes towards space – they are very committed to the notion of freedom that living in such an empty state seems to bring.

Finally, a picture of two guys I saw on campus. There are many people in my classes who wear cowboy boots, but these were the most impressive outfits I’ve seen yet.

Move 'em on, head 'em up,
Head 'em up, move 'em out!

Kirsty Goes West*

Welcome to my blog. I hope it will serve as a way of keeping you all up-to-date with what I’m up to and, from time to time, I hope to write posts on particular things that interest me about living in the West or the US in general.

I’m in Laramie, Wyoming for two years to do an MA in American Studies, thanks to an award through the British Association for American Studies. I’m going from East Anglia to the Mountain West, the ‘Fine City’ to the ‘Gem City’. Laramie has had an interesting history. It is a town that was established along the transcontinental railroad, which for a time was a place of gambling, prostitution (you can take a tour of where the various brothels used to be) and general lawlessness. It is a much more respectable place now of course, but I kind of like that I live in a town that was very much part of the mythic West.

When I told people back home that I’d be coming here, I was met with a range of responses, from the “Really…? Wyoming?” to questions about cowboys, Matthew Shepard and Dick Cheney. It is the tenth largest state, but has the smallest population, has mountains, desert, high altitude and has not elected a Democrat to Congress for more than thirty years. It’s certainly one of the more unusual destinations for a Brit, but I really like it so far. In fact, I might go as far to say that I’m falling in love (don’t tell Oregon).

My year in Oregon was one of the most incredible experiences I could have asked for, and now I am really excited to see what Wyoming has in store. I am taking, as my friend put it, something of a reverse Oregon Trail (though hopefully with less dysentery and fewer dead oxen).

Here’s to an adventure!

Forever West.

NB: The name of this blog comes from one of the state’s mottos (the main one is ‘Equal Rights’ due to the state’s apparent history of equality for women, including giving women the right to vote in 1869 – the first state to do so) 
* 'Kirsty Goes West', at least in my usage of it, is a reference to ''Fievel Goes West', from the 'An American Tail' series, which tells the immigrant story through mouse Fievel and his family. Just in case you were wondering.