One of the things I mentioned in the first one, more than once, is that the decision had ramifications for states other than Wyoming.
Montana clearly agrees with that.
Sheep in the Gallatin Valley, 1930s. Contrary to the way those not familiar with it imagine it, National Forest land is in fact used by agriculture. Indeed, that fact sometimes angers some people who don't appreciate that recreation is in fact not part of the original reason for designating lands as national forest, and isn't even close to the reason.
The details of what will occur will take some time to sort out, but the head of the Montana Game & Fish (which sends out some of the niftiest emails, such as the one I got this Fall warning pheasant hunters to watch for grizzly bears), has directed his wardens not to cite Crow Indians hunting in the Gallatin National Forest in Montana.
For those who are now aware of the Gallatin National Forest is an over 1,800,000 acre stretch of National Forest of which has been joined for administrative purposes to the Custer National Forest which is considerably to its east.
The Gallatin National Forest borders Wyoming, with most of that border laying to the immediate north of Yellowstone National Park. About 1,000,000 acres of the combined Custer Gallitin has been designated as wilderness.
Montana and Wyoming actually face different geographical challenges here. One of the original issues in the Herrera matter was whether or not Herrera was in Wyoming or knew that he was. That did not become a feature of the Supreme Court case however and would have been totally irrelevant to it.
Indeed, the differences don't stop there. The Big Horn National Forest, which was the area involved in the Wyoming matter, is 1,100,000 acres in extent. That's big, but it's small compared to the Gallatin. Indeed, the wilderness areas inside the Custer Gallatin exceed the size of the Big Horn. That actually makes the logic of the "unoccupied" argument much stronger for the Gallatin.
Indeed, with some of the dust having been settled, a quick look at the map of the areas administered just by the Forest Service in Wyoming shows that a lot of it clearly is occupied. A lot of it isn't even forest. The Gallatin situation, however, is considerably different.
Also different is how the border areas work out. The Big Horn is bordered on its north, as noted, by the Crow Reservation. The Gallatin doesn't border any reservations, although the Custer National Forest does, as it borders the Crow Reservation to the north. But the Gallatin shares a long southern border with Yellowstone National Park.
Train going over Bozeman Pass in the 1930s.
That may seem alarmist, but I don't intend it to be. I think it's simply pointing out the facts as they are. The Montana Game and Fish obviously believe that Herrera will result in unlicensed native hunters in the Gallatin and they've instructed their wardens not to interfere with them, meaning that they've conceded to unlicensed and unregulated hunting in the Gallatin this year. This year, and likely next if this continues on, will therefore be a test as to how this will impact things.
But beyond that, thinking that this doesn't spread over at least a little bit into Yellowstone is naive. Even in this era of GPS people can get off course, and under the Herrera decision there's no rationale legal basis to argue that Yellowstone National Park, which is a national park because it is unoccupied, isn't open under the decision.
As I noted in my earlier commentaries, while I think this could rapidly turn into a wildlife management disaster, I feel somewhat differently about Yellowstone which, in actuality, suffers from having too much game that isn't hunted. This could alleviate that problem, although a lack of regulation to continue on for years will create a new problem.
This is a Cessna 182T that belongs to the Civil Air Patrol at the Natrona County International Airport.
To date, there's one other post on this blog about the Civil Air Patrol, featuring its aircraft from the 1940s, and noting:
The Civil Air Patrol is the official auxiliary of the United States Air Force. Created during World War Two, it's original purpose was to harness the nations large fleet of small private aircraft for use in near shore anti submarine patrols. The light aircraft, repainted in bright colors to allow for them to be easily spotted by other American aircraft, basically flew the Atlantic in patterns to look for surfaced submarines. As submarines of that era operated on the surface routinely, this proved to be fairly effective and was greatly disruptive to the German naval effort off of the American coast.
The CAP also flew some patrols along the Mexican border during the same period, although I've forgotten what the exact purpose of them was. Early in the war, there was quite a bit of concern about Mexico, given its problematic history during World War One, and given that the Mexican government was both radical and occasionally hostile to the United States. These fears abated fairly rapidly.
The CAP still exists, with its post war mission having changed to search and rescue. It also has a cadet branch that somewhat mirrors JrROTC. Like JrROTC it has become considerably less martial over time, reflecting the views of boomer parents, who have generally wished, over time, to convert youthful organizations that were organized on military or quasi military lines into ones focusing on "citizenship" and "leadership"..
I didn't note in that earlier entry that eons ago, at the dawn of flight, I was a Civil Air Patrol cadet. I did post a bit more about that here, on our companion blog:
I was in the Civil Air Patrol in the 1970s and at that time it was in fact very much like Air Force JrROTC. Drill and Ceremony was a big deal with it, for example. We wore Air Force uniforms and normally the fatigue version of that. We focused on aircraft, of course, and on the CAP's mission of search and rescue. Looking back it seems like I was in it for a long time, but in reality that simply reflects the concept of time possessed by youth. I was in it while I was in junior high, three years.
Looking back, and I can recall it only dimly, I probably thought when I joined it in 7th Grade, after learning about it at the junior high, of staying in it until I was in high school and could join JrROTC. However, I enjoyed it in its own right. For reasons I can't really recall, once I was of high school age I dropped my membership entirely. Once I walked in the door of NCHS, I didn't walk back in the door of the CAP Wing's building here. I couldn't tell you why, I just didn't.
CAP still has a youth wing but I don't know anything about it. It appears to be focused on aircraft still, of course, but also on "leadership", something a lot of youth organizations focus on. If it resembles the old organization much, I wouldn't know. It's still around, but how popular it is I don't know. I don't know of any kids that I know being in it, but here the opposite is true as compared to the Scouts. I'm often quite surprised by how many people I'll run into that were in the CAP as teens. I know that two of my best friends were in it when was first in it, although they dropped out (just getting there was an ordeal for one who lived out in the country) and I know adults here and there that were. Just the other day the Byzantine Catholic priest from the Catholic Stuff You Should Know podcast mentioned having been a CAP cadet.
One thing I'd note is, at least appearance wise, the CAP Cessna here is a much nicer looking aircraft that anything the CAP had locally when I was in it as a kid. Indeed, for the most part the CAP simply relied upon the private aircraft the adult members had.
The news was beginning to read like it had in 1916 once again. Border tensions were rising, and Texas was hoping that the President would federalize the wartime State Guard to provide border security in light of increased concerns about border incursions.
Oddly, the Laramie Boomerang was running a story expressing concern over developments on the border but praising Felipe Ángeles, whom was conceived of as the putative head of state in the areas that Villa controlled. Elsewhere, in Germany more precisely, Russian POWS were being repatriated. Of course, they'd be repatriated right into a country in the midst of a civil war.
In other news of the day, Governor Carey wasn't in a big hurry to deal with the 19th Amendment and wasn't going to convene a special session to deal with it. The Amendment, which had just passed the Senate, provided for female suffrage, but that had always been a feature of Wyoming's law and Carey commented to the effect that the amendment didn't impact Wyoming in any fashion, and therefore the cost of a special session wasn't worthwhile.
I didn't realize you could every buy canned whale. This ad is from 1919, so you could apparently get it then, at least in Canada. I wonder if you could buy canned whale anywhere else, and for how long canned whale was a dining option?
Makes you wonder what other odd canned foods there were that are now gone.
When we think of this day in terms of history, we naturally think of June 6, 1944. But just a short twenty five years prior there was a lot going on, including a lot associated with the war that had just ended . . . and some that would figure in the war to come.
Some American troops who were not American citizens were becoming the same.
"Large group of overseas soldiers who applied for Naturalization, June 6, 1919. Man in center is Raymond Crist, Director of Citizenship, Bureau of Naturalization, Department of Labor". June 6, 1919.
Those men had survived the Great War. I wonder where they were when the Second World War came about and was raging?
Russian POWs who had survived at least the latter part of the war remained in German captivity while their country was itself aflame.
"Interior of the Clothing Supply Room, at American Red Cross Headquarters, Berlin. Sgt. Carl Olson, U.S.A. Supplying two Russian officers, Prisoners, with complete new outfits, Berlin." The officer on the right retains the Imperial Roundel on his cap and the one on the left is a Cossack. I wonder if they returned home?
Russian POWs in a POW camp, June 6, 1919.
I really wonder about the fate of the men depicted above. All we can really tell is that if they returned home, and most likely did, that fate was grim. The country they had fought for was in a horrific civil war and they were of military age. They were likely going into it, and no doubt many didn't survive it. Those who did, had World War Two in front of them, and no doubt many of the men shown here, if still living during the Second World War, served in their second war with the Germans.
And the nature of their country they had served here would never be the same again.
Residents of Cheyenne received the word that the last of Wyoming's Guardsmen still in service were now on their way home.
They were returning, of course, by sea.
Hampton Roads, Virginia. June 6, 1919. Hampton Roads was a major Navy installation. It would have been busy in 1919, just as it would have been in 1944.
One country turned towards regulating the air, and became the first to do so.
Air Board ensign from 1922 and 1923.
Canada established its Air Board, making it the first country to have a regulatory body over air travel. It's duties would be assumed by a successor entity in 1923.
An older means of transportation was also in the news.
Man o' War won the Belmont stakes, the first race on his way to fame.
Chicago Police Department inspection at Grant Park, June 6, 1919
Chicago's finest, who were about to endure one of the worst decades in their history, due to Prohibition, stood for inspection.
Mussolini's fascists, meanwhile, published their Manifesto in an Italian newspaper. They were on their rise and just becoming a force that some would come to think, for a time, was the wave of the future, including some in the free world who thought that such movements had perhaps eclipsed democracy.
Here's what it stated:
Italians! Here is the program of a genuinely Italian movement. It is
revolutionary because it is anti-dogmatic, strongly innovative and
against prejudice.
For the political problem: We demand:
a) Universal suffrage polled on a regional basis, with
proportional representation and voting and electoral office eligibility
for women.
b) A minimum age for the voting electorate of 18 years; that for the office holders at 25 years.
c) The abolition of the Senate.
d) The convocation of a National Assembly for a three-years
duration, for which its primary responsibility will be to form a
constitution of the State.
e) The formation of a National Council of experts for labor, for
industry, for transportation, for the public health, for communications,
etc. Selections to be made from the collective professionals or of
tradesmen with legislative powers, and elected directly to a General
Commission with ministerial powers.
For the social problems: We demand:
a) The quick enactment of a law of the State that sanctions an eight-hour workday for all workers.
b) A minimum wage.
c) The participation of workers' representatives in the functions of industry commissions.
d) To show the same confidence in the labor unions (that prove to
be technically and morally worthy) as is given to industry executives
or public servants.
e) The rapid and complete systemization of the railways and of all the transport industries.
f) A necessary modification of the insurance laws to invalidate
the minimum retirement age; we propose to lower it from 65 to 55 years
of age.
For the military problem: We demand:
a) The institution of a national militia with a short period of service for training and exclusively defensive responsibilities.
b) The nationalization of all the arms and explosives factories.
c) A national policy intended to peacefully further the Italian national culture in the world.
For the financial problem: We demand:
a) A strong progressive tax on capital that will truly expropriate a portion of all wealth.
b) The seizure of all the possessions of the religious
congregations and the abolition of all the bishoprics, which constitute
an enormous liability on the Nation and on the privileges of the poor.
c) The revision of all military contracts and the seizure of 85 percent of the profits therein.
Or, in the published Italian:
Italiani!
Ecco il programma di un movimento sanamente italiano.
Rivoluzionario perché antidogmatico e antidemagogico; fortemente
innovatore perché antipregiudizievole. Noi poniamo la valorizzazione
della guerra rivoluzionaria al di sopra di tutto e di tutti. Gli altri
problemi: burocrazia, amministrativi, giuridici, scolastici, coloniali,
ecc. li tracceremo quando avremo creata la classe dirigente.
Per questo NOI VOGLIAMO:
Per il problema politico
a. Suffragio universale a scrutinio di lista regionale, con rappresentanza proporzionale, voto ed eleggibilità per le donne.
b. Il minimo di età per gli elettori abbassato ai 18 anni; quello per i deputati abbassato ai 25 anni.
c. L'abolizione del Senato.
d. La convocazione di una Assemblea Nazionale per la durata di tre
anni, il cui primo compito sia quello di stabilire la forma di
costituzione dello Stato.
e. La formazione di Consigli Nazionali tecnici del lavoro,
dell'industria, dei trasporti, dell'igiene sociale, delle comunicazioni,
ecc. eletti dalle collettività professionali o di mestiere, con poteri
legislativi, e diritto di eleggere un Commissario Generale con poteri di
Ministro.
Per il problema sociale:
NOI VOGLIAMO:
a. La sollecita promulgazione di una legge dello Stato che sancisca per tutti i lavori la giornata legale di otto ore di lavoro.
b. I minimi di paga.
c. La partecipazione dei rappresentanti dei lavoratori al funzionamento tecnico dell'industria.
d. L'affidamento alle stesse organizzazioni proletarie (che ne siano
degne moralmente e tecnicamente) della gestione di industrie o servizi
pubblici.
e. La rapida e completa sistemazione dei ferrovieri e di tutte le industrie dei trasporti.
f. Una necessaria modificazione del progetto di legge di
assicurazione sulla invalidità e sulla vecchiaia abbassando il limite
di :età, proposto attualmente a 65 anni, a 55 anni.
Per il problema militare:
NOI VOGLIAMO:
a. L'istituzione di una milizia nazionale con brevi servizi di istruzione e compito esclusivamente difensivo.
b. La nazionalizzazione di tutte le fabbriche di armi e di esplosivi.
c. Una politica estera nazionale intesa a valorizzare, nelle
competizioni pacifiche della civiltà, la Nazione italiana nel mondo.
Per il problema finanziario:
NOI VOGLIAMO:
a. Una forte imposta straordinaria sul capitale a carattere
progressivo, che abbia la forma di vera ESPROPRIAZIONE PARZIALE di tutte
le ricchezze.
b. II sequestro di tutti i beni delle congregazioni religiose e
l'abolizione di tutte le mense Vescovili che costituiscono una enorme
passività per la Nazione e un privilegio di pochi.
c. La revisione di tutti i contratti di forniture di guerra ed il sequestro dell'85% dei profitti di guerra.
That manifesto did include some radical elements, particularly in regards to the Church, but like a lot of radical movements its radicalism was largely hidden or obscured except where it appealed to simplistic populist elements. There was a lot of that going on in this time frame and it would help bring the world into war in 1939. For that matter, it helped cause a lot of big wars for the remainder of the 20th Century.
Worth noting, and contrary to the way that some latter day pundits tend to view it, the manifesto demonstrated Fascism's hostility to religion. And while it had very strong nationalistic and militaristic elements, it combined those with socialistic elements, which was true of it wherever it was and in all its normal forms. For these reasons, the conventional defining it on a left and right basis isn't really accurate, which has caused some people to debate its classification on the political right from time to time.
Well, at least there was something you could really sink your teeth into. Canned whale.
While the rest of the history minded world has been focusing on 1944 this week, we as usual have been focusing on 1919.
But the focus on 1944 is well placed. Today is the 75th Anniversary of Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy. Or "D-Day" as its sometimes commonly referred to.
We noted it on our companion blog Today In Wyoming's History quite awhile back, even though its not really a Wyoming historical item. We've posted that item below.
Operation Overlord is truly remarkable. It was the largest seaborne landing ever attempted and is likely to remain so for all time. The number of ships involved was so large its not really known and never will be. It also featured a massive airborne phase.
Contrary to the way its sometimes slightly portrayed, it wasn't a "return" of the Western Allies to Europe. The Western Allies had done that when they'd landed in Sicily on July 10, 1943.The fact that the Germans had been unable to push the Allies off Sicily made it clear how the rest of the war would go to some degree, even if a lot of hard fighting lay ahead. That was further emphasized that following September when the Allies landed on the Italian mainland.
But those operations didn't compare in scope or size to the landings in France on this day seventy five years ago. Landing in France, in a war that was as mobile as World War Two was, was a game changer. A straight path lay ahead towards Germany and the end of the war with the only question being how long it would take. Germany could not push the Allies out of Italy, but invading the German homeland from Italy was basically impossible. Things were completely different in regard to France. Following this day a relentless Allied advance from two sides, with occasional set backs, defined the character of the war against Germany.
This blog has of course tended to focus on an earlier era, although it strays occasionally. Given that, it's hard not for us to comment that with lots of posts on the course of World War One and the progress in Paris towards a treaty, June 6, 1944 seems remarkably close in time to June 6, 1919. And it is. Only twenty five years separate the two. World War Two was truly close the World War One.
Technology had certainly advanced between the two and even though there many World War One weapons in use in World War Two, the mobile character of the war, brought about by mechanization, was remarkably different. World War Two remains a war of our own era in a way that World War One doesn't quite. It's still with us.
Less with us are the veterans who fought the war. With it being seventy five years in the past, no wonder. Here too we pause. When we first posted this item on Today In Wyoming's History there were quite a few World War Two veterans left alive. There still are by that's changing daily. When we started posting on this blog, there were living World War One veterans. Now there are none.
1944 Allied forces land in Normandy, in an event remembered as "D-Day", although that term actually refers to the day on which any major operation commences. This is not, of course, a Wyoming event, but at least in my youth I knew more than one Wyoming native who had participated in it. Later, I had a junior high teacher whose first husband had died in it. A law school colleague of mine had a father who was a paratrooper in it. And at least one well known Wyoming political figure, Teno Roncolio, participated in it. From the prospective of the Western Allies, it might be the single most significant single day of the campaign in Europe.
All the photos above are courtesy of the United States Army.
Pickup trucks are still used for work, of course, but they've actually become the most popular single line of vehicle in the U.S.. . . at least for the time being.
As that has occurred, they've become lighter duty. Not that there still aren't fine trucks being made, there are. But rather, there's some really light trucks out there as well.
In 1948, when Dodge declared that its trucks were "job rated", they were all stout. Even their "Station Wagon", intended for urban use, was pretty stout compared to any other similar two wheel drive vehicle offered today.
Hearkening back to yesterday's entry, on this day Canadian troops fighting in Italy passed through Rome. By late that night the world's attention would be directed elsewhere as the first airborne operations of Operation Overlord commenced.
Americans are fond of the formulation of one war or another being "the forgotten war", some of which are, and some of which are not. Canadians, however, have by and large forgotten that they even have a distinct martial history.
Canada's role in World War One and World War Two was enormous. It's participation as part of the British Commonwealth forces was outsized and Canadians fought in every theater of the war, something that's been forgotten to a large degree. Even in the Pacific, which is not commonly associated with Canada in World War Two, there was a Canadian contribution, first in the form of Canadian troops attached to the British in the early stages of the war, and then as part of the largely American effort in the Aleutians, where one in six of the soldiers committed to that effort was Canadian.
Canadians are best remembered in World War Two for their role in the Dieppe Raid and their following large role in Operation Overlord and the campaign in France. But they were part of the Commonwealth effort in Italy prior to that.
Americans and at least one soldier (or perhaps a partisan) from some other army fighting in Italy in 1944.
We don't commemorate that many World War Two anniversaries here, but we would note a significant one that's likely to get lost with all of the focus on a huge World War Two anniversary this week.
On this day, in 1944, the Allies took Rome.
Fighting in Italy, which had commenced with the invasion of Sicily in 1943 and then spread to the Italian mainland with Allied landings in September 1944, had been a hard slog all the way. The Italians collapsed but the Germans put up a stout resistance, although the fact that it was a resistance and that they proved incapable of pushing the Allies off of the Italian peninsula pointed inevitably towards how the war would resolve.
The Allies had been pushing towards and around Rome for months and attempted the infamous seaborne landings at Anzio in an attempt to accomplish it. It's occupation on this day in 1944 was actually a strategic blunder as in order to accomplish it Gen. Mark Clark allowed the German 10th Army to escape.
Americans entered Rome on this day in 1944. The Canadian Army passed through the city without stopping the following day. The German Tenth Army would be responsible for doubling Allied casualties in the following weeks, so while the occupation was momentous, it wasn't without significant delayed costs that would have been avoided to some degree if a different more strategic approach had been taken.
Congress passed the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution when the Senate approved the same, providing the franchise to women:
The right had already been confirmed by a variety of states, including Wyoming. It would be ratified by the states on August 18, 1920.
The "Silent Sentinels" ceased picking the White House on this day as a result of the passage of the 19th Amendment. They had been picking six days a week, excluding Sundays.
That one noted how well dressed graduating seniors are presently. A few more.
Ronald McDonald Hair
Long hair among boys is clearly back, and I really dislike it.
It's odd to see, and I haven't only been seeing it in this context. But boys wearing long hair has really made a comeback. And the style I'm seeing a lot of is really poofy, as in Ronald McDonald poofy. It looks just silly.
It might look slightly better than the "man bun", I suppose, which recalls Medieval Japanese coiffures. But only slightly.
Oddly, a type of poofy hair style was in when I graduated, and that's a long time ago. Then, as now, it was a subset of males that affected it. I think the percentage is higher now than then, and it's a bit different now. The poofy style is better now, as opposed to then, but it doesn't look good, and it didn't then.
No Outside Speakers.
There's been some graduations without an outside speaker.
I'm okay with that.
It's been the standard for eons to have an invited speaker. I've seen some good ones. I saw, for example, one of our former Governors deliver an excellent commencement speech. And I saw one delivered by a former Vice President of the United States that was also excellent. But I've sat through some poor ones.
One of the worst ones I've ever sat through was my law school classes'. It was awful.
And my high school speech was delivered by the then current University of Wyoming football coach. I'm not sure why a football coach is even generally interesting. He delivered an okay speech but his resignation as coach shortly thereafter left an ironic note to it.
The speeches I've seen this year were delivered by the students themselves and they've been very good.
We can't get through a graduation without food?
While I've praised the poise and attire of the graduating students, the standards that apply to the viewing audiences are a bit of a contrast.
One event I went to was held at the local large events center, which is run by the city and which serves concession type food. Surprisingly, they had their concession stands open during the graduation ceremony and even more surprisingly a big group of adults in front of me bought a lot of nacho chips.
There's something really odd about buying nacho chips to watch a graduation.
Dressing Rural
On attire, another thing that continues to take me off guard, oddly enough, is the commonality of "western wear" or rural type clothing among the nearly rural or non rural.
When I was that age, there was a sharp divide on those lines. Kids from ranches wore their ranch clothing, including their cowboy hats, into town and school. Kids from town did not affect that clothing style save, to some extent, some who wore cowboy boots. Now that's all changed. There are quite a few kids from just outside of town in the rural subdivisions and near subdivisions who dress in that fashion and even some from town.
Perhaps providing a line on that, however, a recent branding demonstrated to me that the ones really from ranches wear short, short hair. See above re poofy hair, which is affected by some of the others. Long hair in a dirty work is really a pain.
To offer career advice or hold your tongue
I've wondered what to say to recent graduates, if anything at all.
That is in the category of self initiated speech.
For a lot of reasons, recently the irony of the film The Graduate, which I've actually never seen, has been coming to mind.
As noted, I've never seen the movie, but the basic plot of it is well known to anyone my age. In the film a young Dustin Hoffman returns home after graduating from university. In the 1960s, when the movie was filmed and the book written, simply having a university degree meant you could enter the white collar world. It doesn't mean that now.
Anyhow, upon returning home he's confronted by the nature of his World War Two generation parents and their friends and what is shown to be their hypocrisy in all sorts of ways. One of the bits of unsolicited advice the young graduate receives is that he should go to work in the field of "Plastics".
Of course, the real irony of the film is that the advice to go into plastics turns out to have been pretty good advice, in retrospect. Beyond that, the ironies further abound. The generation that's portrayed as rejecting the material work world in fact embraced it in spades and spends all sorts of energy today dumping on Gen X and Millennials for not doing so.
Plastics.
Well, be that as it may, at least in my actual experience, which didn't come from the 1960s but rather the very late 1970s and early 1980s, it was really hard to get that WWII generation to give advice on careers. Maybe that's because they'd been so beat up by the generation that came of age in the 1960s. Of course, the final irony is that same generation that dumped on them in the 1960s had decided that their parents were The Greatest Generation by the 1990s. Go figure.
Anyhow, in looking around, when you know graduating people do you say anything to them about their expressed career goals, if you know them, and aren't asked to venture an opinion, if you have unique insight into them?
I haven't as a rule. Looking back people generally didn't do that when I was that age, unless they were teachers or professors. I sort of wish that they had. But I haven't either. I can think of several instances in which I was tempted to say something, and in both cases I still could, but so far I haven't.
Guess I'm like my folks that way and not saying anything.
Plastics.
The Depth of Cultural Knowledge
Speaking of old movies and whatnot, I'm pretty surprised by the depth of cultural knowledge on stuff that's old.
I don't mean the results of the Treaty of Ghent, or things of that type (although in looking at the history section for IB diplomas I've been stunned by how extremely in depth the tested area is. . . as in university level quite frankly), but rather on things from films and music that are old.
One high school here chose Toto's Africa as their graduating song, although the back story is that it was a joke. Be that as it may, it says something that current graduates are familiar with a song that was released the year I graduated from high school.
Even more surprising, indeed really surprising, was the excellent delivery of the song To Sir, With Love, at a graduation ceremony.
I'm familiar with the song and the movie its from, but I'm flat out stunned that any current high schooler does.
The movie, a tribute to a high school teacher in a role he didn't desire to be in, in a working class English high school, is a real classic, but it came out in 1967 and it's not as if its on twenty four hours a day like Pretty Woman or something. I'm just amazed.
To put this in context, if somebody had sung an equally old song at my high school graduation, it would have been from 1929. I'm pretty certain that hardly anyone, if anyone at all, in my high school graduating class would have been aware of a song from 1929.
I've looked up popular songs from 29, and I know a few of them. . . now. In 1981? Probably not.
Shoot, if an equally old song as that of Africa had been the class graduating song for my class, it would have been from 1943. Back at that time I did know some music from the 1940s, but I don't know most of Billboard's Top 100 for 43 now, and I can't see my class having adopted, let's say, Don't Get Around Much Anymore as the class song.
Party!
The institution of the graduation party continues to surprise me.
It surprised me when a few years ago, when I went through the first round of these, and it continues to.
When I graduated here, in 1981, people didn't get parties. Indeed, I know that most of us graduated on a Saturday and went to work in summer jobs that following Monday.
The anxiety of being a parent doesn't abate.
Maybe it's that it doesn't abate for me.
It's really odd to think of, but when this blog started I had two grade school aged children. Now I have two adult children.
I don't know that I found the grade school years to be that stressful, but infancy in some ways was. I think the stress of being a parent notches up when they hit middle school and it definitely does when they hit high school. And it keeps on keeping on when they're in college.
I'm not sure how to explain that and a lot of that may be really personal to the author. I know that I left high school for an uncertain future in college which seemed to stretch out as a long process for which I faced dubious prospects of success, at least in my own mind. I don't know why I felt that way, but I did. I know that I commented to one of my close friends at the time that I doubted that I'd make it through college, and he was stunned. He commented back that he was sure that I would, and that if anyone wouldn't, it'd be him. He was right. He didn't, I did.
In fact I really hit my stride in college and loved it. Maybe too much as I learned later that my father was worried that I was developing the inclination to be a professional student as studying geology took me five years (which was common, actually, it wasn't possible to line up the classes in a manner so that you could take everything in four) and then went on to law school. But that's part of the stress. I can look back now and see it was like getting on a train and that train led right to a narrowing set of career options and practically dictated my entire post education life.
I don't mean for that to sound like a complaint, and it isn't, but what's clear is that by the time I had finished my education my opportunities hadn't opened up, they'd shut down. They'd closed in a manner in which I could and have made a living, but frankly it was in a field in which I knew almost nothing about the daily nature of it at all. Less than nothing, really.
That scares me as in retrospect I can see now how little anyone knows about what they're really going to do. . .maybe. And as a parent you hope and pray it all works out. You hope that people enter a field that the pointless evolution of technology and the economy doesn't make obsolete, you hope that it pays enough to make a decent living at in a place you want to make a living in, and you hope at the same time that people like and enjoy what they do. In the back of your mind you know, looking back, that it was at that age that you first met people whom there was some concept, perhaps far back in your mind, that you would consider building a future life with, and if you are like me, you also feel the hand of Providence making some of those things not work out, for which you are thankful now.
Indeed, one of the oddities of looking back is both the sense of being somewhat lost at the time, but also that people were really themselves to a higher degree, which likely doesn't make sense.
What I mean by that is that at that time, in some odd way, before our careers begin to mold us into somebody else, we're about as close to who we really are possible, while at the same time afflicted by the height of affectation for some people. Later on, careers make people into somebody else, to at least a degree. The lucky ones with strong personalities remain who they really are, but contend with that "occupational identify" for the most part. Some with extremely strong personalities don't experience that at all. But a lot of people become what their career make them and never escape it. Men who were cowboys and outdoorsmen in their youths become totally assumed into their office jobs and the like.
At the same time, a lot of the time, you just don't realize that and feel like you are meandering, because to perhaps some extent, you are.
Well, in the words of the sage Bueller, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."
bringing their service in the Great War and the following Army of Occupation to an end.
The USS Peerless was the former Steamship Eagle which had been brought into U.S. service as a transport during World War One. In that capacity, she brought the troops of the 148th FA home to the U.S., including the Wyoming National Guardsmen that served in that unit, their role in the Great War now complete.
In September she'd be returned to her civilian owner, who once again returned her to her civilian name of Eagle. She'd remain in service as a civilian transport until 1949, when she was scrapped.
The return of the 148th was big long awaited news for Wyomingites as it meant the return of the last of Wyoming's serving National Guardsmen. The news made the front page in Cheyenne, as did the proclamation of Boy Scout Week, if inaccurately, but another big event, a series of anarchist bombings the prior day, not surprisingly became the big headline.
The 1919 anarchist bombings would fuel the Red Scare of 1919 and lead to a rapid crack down on left wing activities in the United States. Some date the event to the bombings, but it was already ongoing and the strikes of 1919 had already begun to fuel, along with other events, national and international.
And as that overly long post makes plain, that's not the first time the topic has appeared here on this blog.
But since them I've been attending a lot of high school graduation functions, and I've been tremendously surprised. A lot of those young folks are quite well dressed.
Not dressed like 1919, but it isn't 1919. They're well dressed by contemporary standards, and I do mean well dressed.
Indeed, I've seen a lot of kids who were better dressed at various functions than I would have been in comparison when I graduated in 1981. And not only are they better dressed, they look quite comfortable in their dress clothes.
That may sound odd to say, but if a person doesn't look comfortable and at ease with what they're wearing, they'll look poorly dressed.
I learned to tie a necktie in basic training and I didn't own a suit until I was very close to graduating with my undergraduate degree. Indeed, I bought that suit not because I was graduating (I skipped my undergrad ceremonies) but because a good friend of mine was getting married and I needed one. I wore it a couple of times while I was in law school, but I didn't really become comfortable with dressing that way until I was a lawyer.
These young people look comfortable in dress clothes now.
Somebody who graduated a few years ago also noted this to me now and noted how much better dressed this class is compared to his own class just a few years back.
A nice log structure in Cody Wyoming, although so obscured by trees, its hard to photograph. Of course my poorly framed photograph doesn't help either.
It was one of those that took me quite awhile to draft and then more time to edit. Not that the topic is old.
Anyway a person looks at this, it's going to have to be addressed. The Wyoming Game & Fish, and frankly the wildlife agencies of the United States, Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas, Utah, Colorado and Idaho. . .and others are all going to be dealing with it this fall.
The Governor has appropriately reacted, particularly as the decision actually leaves a door wide open towards further defining "unoccupied". Indeed, if this gets back up to the Supreme Court, and that's a big "if", my suspicion is that unoccupied will be defined to mean not lands that are not leased for use and are withdrawn from occupation.
Those lands are:
Wilderness areas, maybe (quite a few of those actually have leases on the).
Lands withdrawn under the Antiquities Act
Parks
My suspicion is that the Federal Government, in a self serving manner, will oddly find that Parks are occupied.
I frankly have no problem at all with hunting in the National Parks, and I think it ought to be allowed. Game is excessively plentiful in Yellowstone and I'd support allowing Native Americans to hunt in a regulated fashion in the Parks. I know that this voice is solely a local one, and most people in the U.S. would find that horrifying. But truth be known, the human natural element is the one thing missing from the Yellowstone ecosystem now. I'd close the park in late September and open it to Native hunting through late November, in a regulated permitted fashion.
That's not going to happen, irrespective of the Supreme Court decision.
My second suspicion is that the Court will also say that the state may regulate hunting for conservation, and that means regulate it, but that Native Americans will have to be taken into account for permits. I think there's a very high likelihood of that.
That may all have to be worked out in the Courts, which the Governor's letter, which we'll now set out below, takes into account. I'll come back with commentary below that:
The governor was correct in his comments. But what might those "solutions for all those who hunt" (which includes Governor Gordon) be?
I think there might be some, and I'd suggest they consider them now.
My view is that the state ought to reach out to the native populations who had a historical presence in the state, which would include the Shoshone, Arapaho, Sioux, Cheyenne and Crow and work towards a solution. What I see that solution being is as follows.
A number of licenses, on a draw basis, needs to be set aside for Native American hunters. It doesn't, I don't think, have to be wholly unregulated. Essentially, therefore, they'd be a new classification of hunter.
Or an old one, if you prefer to view it that way.
That classification should buy licenses at the same price as in state hunters. Indeed, some will be instate hunters.
Those numbers, whatever they prove to be, should displace out of state licenses.
The net effect of that would be to allow the impact of the decision to be taken into account. Moreover, it could be done in an efficient manner that doesn't actually need to restrict anyone to just Federal lands for hunting, plenty of that those there is.
And it would help address the slow evolution towards head hunting.
I've addressed that here before, but that's an evolution that operates against hunting and hunters. Most hunters don't have anything against people preserving a trophy from a hunt, but making it the main focus is another matter entirely. Indeed, in recent years there's been a really negative trend towards "donating meat" which I feel leads in an entirely wrong direction and shouldn't be tolerated.
Indeed, awhile back I posted something on subsistence licenses, and this sort of heads in that direction.
Now, of course, while this plays out legally this is unlikely to occur. But I think the state ought to start looking at it. And if they can get to this point either with the cooperation of the Tribes, or perhaps without them, I think they should. They might have to.
