For Writers In Idaho: Horse Back Riding Writing Retreat

I got this announcement in my e-mail and was asked to pass it along.

Writing the High Country:
A Fiction Workshop Intensive on a Western Cattle Ranch

Have you ever wanted to spend the morning on horseback and the afternoon writing about the quiet pull of a mountain range?

Here’s your chance: a week long fiction workshop intensive located on a working cattle ranch near the Snake River in the Idaho Tetons. We will read a selection of classic and contemporary western writing, discussing both the legacies of the mythical “old west” and the realities of the “new west” as they play out in literature. Ranching activities (trail rides, round-ups, camp fire yarns) and a rodeo will be interspersed throughout the workshop schedule. Each participant will emerge from the week with a piece of short fiction. Readings from Wallace Stegner, William Kittredge, Richard Hugo, Thomas McGuane, Richard Ford, Barry Lopez, Annie Proulx among others.

The Location: A working cattle ranch, Granite Creek Ranch is located in the Snake River valley in Ririe, Idaho, halfway between Jackson Hole, WY and Idaho Falls. The ranch is on a five-acre lake, surrounded by magnificent mountain vistas. Yellowstone & Teton National Parks are nearby. Accommodations are in rustic cabins. The cost of the workshop includes all meals, lodging, and activities. Participants are responsible for their own transportation to the ranch. For more info go to: www.granitecreekranch.com.

Dates: July 9-15th, 2006. Space is limited to twelve participants.

About the Instructor: Reif Larsen is a writer, filmmaker, and teacher. He has taught writing workshops in South Africa, the UK, and New York City, where he currently teaches writing at Columbia University. He is working on a novel based in Montana about cartographers, cowboys, and scientists.

It sounds interesting, but you won’t find me there. Me riding a horse is cruelty to the poor beast. :) Seriously, last time I rode I couldn’t get the horse to go more than 50 feet without turning around to go eat hay. But if you and horses mix, this could be some fun.

Phone Free Weekend Open Trackbacks Thread

Today (Friday) is my last day in my current position. After find out the Montana News Association was a fraud, I started at Stream International as a Customer Service agent. I’ve been on the phone pretty much constantly since September, 2002 (except for unemployment after the old center closed.) During that time I’ve answered the phone around 60,000 times.

But today’s the last day, and Monday is the start of a new opportunity. :)

Now, welcome to today’s Open Trackback party:

1) Post about anything that’s in good taste. No porn, no spam, no profanity.

2) Send me a trackback of any tasteful post you want and as soon as I check my blog, I’ll update this post with your link provided you link back to this thread. If your software won’t allow you to send trackbacks, just use the Wizbang Standalone Pinger

3) Deadline is Sunday at 11:00 PM MDT. Further trackbacks won’t be posted after that time.

Linking In:

Blue Star Chronicles:

Not Worthy of Respect
Natalie Maines took back her previous appology for her previous statements made overseas as an American citizen during wartime. She said she doesn’t feel that way anymore.

Blue Star Chronicles:

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Planck’s Constant:

Islamic Hierarchy: Men are from Mars – period.
So how do different groups stack up in the Islamic Hierarchy? In order to know why Muslim men treat people with different levels of respect I have made the following list from the highest to the lowest level of respect.

Random Yak

Silence Makes Good Neighbors

Blue Crab Boulevard:

Letter From Iraq

A while back I wrote about “seeing the elephant”, an old phrase that has been used for many years to describe people who have seen war close up. In it, I wrote:
No, unless you have seen the elephant, the best you can do is try your

Blue Star Chronicles

What’s Everybody Talking About Weekend
Weekend Open Trackbacks Link and trackback here to showcase your posts. for more open trackback posts check out

Here’s today’s permalink and the trackback:

http://www.adamsweb.us/blog/htsrv/trackback.php/1956

Click above to see all the great places you can promote your work today.

Open Trackbacks

Idaho 1st Update

First, lets go ahead and start out with Bill Cope writing in Boise Weekly (hat tip: Liberal Idaho) writes :

Yes, come Tuesday, I’m going to the Republican ballot and voting for Sheila Sorensen. I am, what they call, “cross voting.” Democrat party leaders advise against it, but I’ve done it plenty of times. In fact, when it comes to primary elections, I’ve probably voted Republican more often than Democrat. And I know I’m not the only one. There is somewhat of a tradition among Idaho Dems to go Rep in the primaries, and it goes back many election cycles. Maybe back as far as the year Steve Symms ran against Frank Church. Maybe even as far back as when Don Samuelson bumbled out of Sandpoint to become governor. Who knows? Maybe it’s been around since the baby years of Idaho.

Thanks, Bill for making my argument for party registration in this state. Add him to the liberal blogger that endorsed Sorensen. But what does this say about Idaho Dems? They’re party is totally irrelevant. They’ve got a primary for Governor (though that’s one pretty clearly going to be Jerry Brady), they’ve got a much more tightly contested primary for Lieutenant Governor, they’ve got a primary for State Superintendent of Public Instruction which is probably the only office they have a shot at winning statewide, yet what are they doing? They’re playing games in the Republican Primary voting for Vasquez and Sorensen depending on which strategy you take. In Idaho, not even the Democrats believe in the Democratic Party.

Meanwhile Clayton Cramer is leaning towards Vasquez:

Some bloggers have observed that the real problem here is five conservatives and one “centrist” fighting it out for the nomination means that Sorensen could win the nomination because all the liberal and centrist Republicans (which aren’t many, even here in Boise) would vote for her, while the 65-70% of Republicans who are conservatives would split their vote. Obviously, the four weakest conservatives should drop out of the race, and let the strongest conservative stomp all over Sorensen. But who is the strongest conservative candidate?…It is the prospect of watching the Democratic nominee engage in race-baiting in the general election that makes me most inclined to vote for Vasquez

Well, I’d suggest the strongest Conservative is clearly Bill Sali. There are two tests I’d suggest. First, drive through the district, count yard signs and you’ll see a lot more Sali than anyone else than maybe Sorensen.

Second point is that Vasquez, while he’s a great commissioner has run an unbelievably poor campaign. Sorry to say it, but he has. He’s been focused on one issue and one issue alone, and that’s not enough to win. Sali has a record, 16 years and has been a faithful trooper on a ton of issues, and has a lot of friends, the strength of Vasquez’s campaign is the heat of the immigration right now. The two can’t really compare and I’d be very surprised if Vasquez even approached, the votes Bill Sali will get.