Spring 2006 #1

Frontiers 2005 • 3

The University of Wyoming student magazine

Volume XVIII, Issue 2

Sacrifice:A journey into the aftermath of Hurricane KatrinaPage 14

comes to LaramiePage 6

FestivalDance

Old School HeroesPage 22

Road Page 10Trippin’

2 • Frontiers 2006


Contents...February, 2006 Volume XVIII, Issue 2

In the SpotlightACDF held in Laramie

by Jessica Todd 6

QuasarsUW Astrophysicists try to unveil the

mysteries of the universe

by Amitava Chatterjee 19

SacrificeA student’s experience

in New Orleans

by Carrie May 14

The Singers’ StoryCentennial Singers celebrates 20 years

by Malerie K. Stroppel 11

old school heroesa look back at uw’s 1943

basketball team

by Lindsey Korsick 22

Cover photo

How to have a successful spring break road tripby Travis Hoff 10

Movie MadnessA Wyoming movie director

works on his movie collectionby Jason Nelson 26

by Laura Mayo 17

Anna Keller, a senior in the dance department,rehearses her dance moves. Photo by Max Miller


Wyoming:A Place

of Opportunity

Sometimes we tend to take Wyoming for granted, thinking nothing good ever comes out of it and that it’s nothing but ‘hickville.’ In this issue of Frontiers, I’ve tried to round up stories on amazing people doing amazing things — and all of them are from Wyoming. For instance, by missing a month of school and helping Hurricane Katrina victims, Eliza Salwei showed us that a Wyomingite can make a big difference in the world. Andy Wiest, a Wyoming movie director, is currently fi lming his second independent movie and is planning on wowing everyone with a third in the future. Wiest shows us that one doesn’t have to leave Wyoming to fulfi ll their biggest dreams. This issue also covers some old school heroes, taking a look back at the 1943 UW basketball team, the only one to come home as NCAA champions. Not only were they looked at as heroes to Wyomingites, they were dubbed ‘world champions.’ Hopefully, these articles won’t just entertain you. I hope they will bring you inspiration and encouragement and make you realize that Wyoming is far from a handicap.

Malerie K. [email protected]

EditorMalerie K. Stroppel

Assistant EditorCarrie May

WritersAmitava Chatterjee

Travis Hoff

Lindsey Korsick

Carrie May

Laura Mayo

Jason Nelson

Malerie K. Stroppel

Jessica Todd

PhotographersMax Miller

Graphic DesignShantana Banta

Kara Peterson

Frontiers is produced threetimes a year by students ofthe University of Wyomingthrough student publications.

Frontiers magazineUniversity of WyomingStudent PublicationsDept. 36251000 E. University Ave.Laramie, WY 82071


Contributors

Carrie is a senior majoring in journalism with a minor in creative writing and will graduate in the spring of 2006. She enjoys writing and reading and spending time with her family and friends. She also works as editor-in-chief for the Branding Iron.

Lindsey Korsick is a freshman majoring in journalism. She writes for the sports section of the Branding Iron. She enjoys writing, watching and playing sports, snowboarding, hiking and basically anything outdoors and adventurous.

Jessica Todd is currently a junior majoring in mathematics. She has written for the Branding Iron for the past two years and recently began writing for Frontiers magazine.

After fi nishing her bachelor’s degree, Todd plans on perusing a master’s degree in either mathematics or business administration.

Todd is an avid tennis player and tries to take advantage of the outdoor opportunities Wyoming offers.

Shantana Banta is a junior majoring in journalism and graphic design. She has been working for the student newspaper, the Branding Iron, for the last two years as a writer and copy desk editor. She is currently the copy desk chief. She enjoys reading, writing, spending her free time with her family and friends and being outdoors.

In the by Jessica Todd

SpotlightT

his spring, the University of Wyoming will host the Northwest Conference of the American College Dance Festival from March 8-11. Since its beginning, the ACDFA has dedicated its

festivals to supporting and developing choreographic and performance excellence in college dance.

From the University of Wyoming, Krystall Stovall, a senior in the dance department, will be presenting a dance piece for the adjudicators. Her piece will either be Th ursday, March 9, or Friday, March 10 at 6:30 p.m. Th ere will be no admission charge.

Jennifer Yarber, another senior in the dance department, will also be presenting from UW. She will be performing in the Informal Concert on Saturday, March 11 at 3 p.m.

“(ACDFA) is the premier

organization for the showcasing of university faculty and student dance choreography,” said Marsha Knight, the festival coordinator and northwest conference regional representative. Th e University of Wyoming joined the ACDFA in 1991 and has since become an active participant. In 1998, UW hosted the regional festival for the ACDFA for the fi rst time.

Although the festivals are very driven towards the aesthetic of modern dance, the ACDFA aims at enhancing the most accurate refl ection of college dance across the

nation and tries to best represent all forms of dance presented

in university programs. Th e

UW hosts the American College Dance Festival

Photos by Max Miller


by Jessica Todd

Spotlight

festivals also provide an excellent chance for dance faculty throughout the country to collaborate and present their ideas to one another as they develop. “It’s an amazing time for the exchange of ideas among faculty,” Knight said.

Over the past 31 years of its existence, the ACDFA has sponsored over 130 dance festivals. During its fi rst years, the association sponsored only one or two festivals per year. Now with branches in 10 diff erent regions across the country, the ACDFA hosts both regional festivals for each division and national festivals sponsored by the Kennedy Center.

Programs from around the country will be traveling to Wyoming to participate in the Northwest regional event, including participants from Wisconsin, California, Texas and Virginia, and the list continues to grow. Twenty-six dance programs from various educational institutions will be represented and 400 individuals are expected to participate, either with a college or university or as an individual entry.

For many of the festival participants, the classes are the highlight of the festival. With so many venues of dance to explore, the classes critique and elaborate on a plethora of styles and techniques within the three-day span of the festival. Seeing the variety of diff erent teachers and methods make the experience so educational, said Keller, a senior in UW’s dance department, who participated in the festival three years ago in Missoula, Mont. “Th ere’s no homework or fi nals, you can just focus on dancing.”

Another key element of the festival will be the panel discussions. Several kinesiology professors from academic institutions across the country will be attending the festival to lead discussions on ways to merge the teaching of science with the development of artists, said UW dance professor Margaret Wilson. All of the panel guests are leaders in their fi elds who teach both kinesiology and dance technique. Th is will be the fi rst time this sort of discussion will

take place at the festival. Th ere are so many ways of thinking about the body

and its movement that there is not enough time to cover within the scope of a dance technique class, Wilson said. Th ey hope to explore how to best present the material to dancers and develop their interest in such benefi cial issues that are not commonly considered. Th e discussions will be a great opportunity to bring dancers and scientists together to discuss new concepts within dance.

Although every aspect of the festival is important, adjudication is the driving force behind the festivals, Knight said. All of the institutions represented have the opportunity to submit works to be judged. Th e three adjudicators, Claire Porter, Elizabeth Zimmer, and Bill Evans, will provide feedback during four sessions throughout the festival and give a detached address on the presented material.

After the adjudication concerts, the judges will select eight to 10 of the strongest pieces to perform at the closing Gala Concert. Th e adjudicators will review the pieces once more during the Gala Concert, and select a fi nal three to perform at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. in May, 2006, for the National Festival.

Preparing for the festival and putting it on is a collaborative eff ort of all members of the department of theater and dance, Knight said. Without the help of so many, the festival could not take place. On the front lines of the technical battlefi eld are lighting designer Larry Hazlett and technical director Michael Earl. Throughout the duration of the festival, they rely heavily on the students for support and assistance, Hazlett said. With only eight to 10 students, many of which are in the design program, and the Arts and Science stage crew, they will mount and cue lighting for over 40 performances. For

the three days the festival runs, crews will rotate throughout the day, working

from 8 a.m. till 11 p.m.


Since pieces will be viewed one right after another, each set must be highly simplified for the sake of time, Hazlett said. Each entry was sent a packet of information, outlining the lighting and color options that will be provided. The universities are to return the packet, explaining their requests. Hazlett and his crew then program the lights into the computer light system.

Each entry will have a 20 minute technical rehearsal during the day to make technical adjustments, write and order cues, and adjust music levels. During the actual concerts, there will only be five minutes to regroup before the next performance hits the stage.

One key emphasis during the planning of the festival was to bring in a variety of unusual and amazing sounds. Musicians are brought to the classes and performances featuring a large variety of instruments. They are not instruments traditionally played to accompany dances, Knight said. The music offerings range from Chinese to Bulgarian to African. The emphasis on the music and instruments from around the world add an eclectic, unique energy to the entire festival, Knight said.

Among the many features of the festival, the

dance company Alvin Ailey II will perform during the opening concert. Although Alvin Ailey II features primarily modern dance, their repertoire also covers a wide spectrum from jazz to ballet.

The company will be presented as part of the UW Cultural Program Performance Series. Scheduling was arranged for their appearance to coincide with the dance festival, Knight said.

In addition to the appearance of Alvin Ailey II, special guests, teachers and musicians will be brought in to enhance the festival. Throughout the festival, 50 to 60 master classes are scheduled to be taught by faculty, Alvin Ailey II and special guests from around the country.

According to Knight, hosting the festival in 1998 was an excellent learning experience in planning and management.

“Hosting the 1998 Northwest Conference was a tremendous promotional opportunity for the Dance Department and UW,” Knight said. “It is a huge undertaking, but the ACDFA is the finest venue for university dance available in the country.” Hopefully, the festival will bring similar experiences to UW this year.


ff


Th is spring break many Pokes may fi nd themselves having a hard time deciding how to spend their vacation. Some may fl y south, some may go home and some may get stuck in their dorms. For the students that don’t have plane tickets to head south but still want to get out of the Wyoming wind without going home, there is a simple solution: road trip. But before jumping in the car and hitting the road, there are a few guidelines to a successful road trip that a student should know.

Th e fi rst thing someone should know is that the best road trips are spontaneous. Th e less time spent planning the road trip, the more fun it will be. It’s easier to keep the stress levels down if there are less expectations of the trip. But spontaneous does not mean ill-prepared. Be sure to take maps, a few changes of clothes, including something warm just in case, the essential toiletries, a towel and any other essentials you can fi t into your bag. A backpack is ideal luggage. It’s light, easy and it can double as a pillow if needed. Most importantly, homework, projects, essays, take-home tests or any other school related work must not, and I stress, must not, be taken. Th ere is no room for it and it won’t get done anyway, so just leave it in Laramie.

You may also want to remember that road trips aren’t parties on wheels. Who you decide to go on the trip with you can make all the diff erence. Just remember, as far as friends go, quality outweighs quantity. A few good friends is all you need. But fi rst make sure the friends you are going with will be worth taking.

Good qualities to look for in a road trip companion are easy to see. Th ey should be a good driver, a decent navigator, a conversationalist and have suffi cient funds. A large CD collection can also help the trip go more smoothly. Traveling coed could be benefi cial or detrimental depending on the friends, so be careful with the opposite sex. Girlfriends and boyfriends aren’t necessary and depending on the relationship it may be best to leave them behind. As they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder. And spring break is a break after all.

Another thing to know is how to get the right set of wheels. Choosing the right car to take, of course, depends largely on the group of people going. First of all, the group limits what cars are available. You can try to con someone into loaning you their car, but it is more likely that you have to take a car belonging to someone within the traveling party. Second, the amount of space can prove to be more important than gas mileage. If a smaller car has better gas mileage it would seem smarter to take it. But if you can fi t more people in a larger car with worse gas mileage, the individual cost of gas after splitting

it may be less than the small car split between less people. Th ird, comfort is important when choosing a car. A good general rule of thumb to stay comfortable on a road trip is to take one less person than you would be comfortable with driving around town. For example, if you have three people in your traveling group, you should take a car that usually fi ts four comfortably.

Before you leave you also want to make sure you have enough money to get you there and back. Road tripping has the same rule of thumb as college when it comes to money: the cheaper the better.

Once everything is sorted out, with bags packed and friends gathered, leave a soon as possible. If you linger too long the spontaneity of the trip may be threatened. Do not be afraid to leave in the middle of the night. In fact, traveling through the night and arriving in the morning can be better than traveling by day. Night travel can be dangerous due to poor visibility and animals but it can be benefi cial.

For example, you decide to go to Vegas from Laramie and you want to get there in one shot. You decide to take the trip on a long weekend. Leaving Friday morning would seem to be the smartest choice. Leaving Th ursday night, however, could prove far more advantageous.By arriving in the morning you give yourself more time to enjoy your destination.

Th e last thing to know is that for any trip, the quick and easy route is best saved for the return trip. Take my favorite destination: Las Vegas. If it’s the road trip you’re interested in and not so much the destination, I suggest heading south through Colorado, then west to Vegas. Along the way you’ll fi nd the Four Corners, the Grand Canyon, the Hoover Dam and other such desert attractions. Th is does take quite a bit longer, but it’s worth it.

by Travis Hoff


ff


With instruments and sparkling costumes in tow, members of Centennial Singers dance their way into

their 20th year.

The Singers’ Storyby Malerie K. Stroppel


Centennial Singers were originally formed in 1986 as a part of Wyoming’s centennial celebration. The idea for Centennial Singers came from Carlyle Weiss, who, at the time, was the director of choral activities in the University of Wyoming’s music department.

“I wrote a budget proposal to Pete Simpson, who was head of the Foundation office and also a big supporter of the music department,” said Weiss. Weiss had already formed a singing group called the Springtime Singers and decided that another group was needed to “act as good will ambassadors for UW.” The funding was granted by the Foundation, headed then by Kathleen Avery, special assistant to the president, and history was in the making.

Weiss also came up with the name Centennial Singers. He said it was partially because of the centennial celebration, but also because he was living in Centennial, Wyo., at the time with his son.

Weiss had recently encouraged a young graduate student, Bruce Bishop, to attend the university. Bishop was working towards a Masters degree in choral conducting through the music department. Bishop would then be chosen by a panel in the music department to be Centennial Singers’ first director. Professor Patricia Tate, UW’s professor of dance at the time, agreed to choreograph.

“Bruce was very successful with the Centennial Singers but a big part of their success was due in part to the wonderful

assistance of Pat Tate in the dance department. Her contribution was why (Centennial Singers) were so visually pleasing to watch,” Weiss said.

Bishop remembered the nervousness he felt as the first director. “It was so new,” Bishop said. “No one had every done it at UW.”

Throughout Bishop’s first couple of years, Centennial Singers’ popularity quickly grew.

“In 1989, Gov. Sullivan called one day and said he (officially) wanted Centennial Singers to be musical a m b a s s a d o r s for Wyoming’s centennial. In 1990, we ended up going to all of (Wyoming’s) counties,” Bishop said. “We had to include We are Wyoming in our shows.” At first, this made Bishop slightly nervous since he didn’t know if the audience

would think it was too much of a “hick song.”“Then I realized that it was perfect,” said Bishop. “It was

exactly how I felt about Wyoming.” He went on to speak of how the people of Wyoming had welcomed his family and how they were so friendly and welcoming. Bishop also recalled how much the students of Wyoming loved the song.

“Since it was Wyoming’s centennial, all elementary school children had to learn We are Wyoming,” said Bishop. “When we sang it at all the schools, we would have hundreds of kids singing with us. It was pretty cool.”

To see people in the audience really feel something and get something out of

the show. To me, that’s very rewarding. Everywhere we go, whether it

would be Wyoming, Arizona or California, we touch people.


One of the music students at the time, Theresa Methiot, arranged the song for Centennial Singers. To this day, Centennial Singers end their shows with the song. “It’s been changed a little, but it’s pretty much the same today as it was then,” said Bishop.

Throughout the years, the one memory that sticks in Bishop’s head the most is one from the very first show.

We were waiting backstage before the first performance, which was held during homecoming in the Arena Auditorium, Bishop said. “One of the girls grabbed my hand and asked ‘do you think anyone will like it.’” Bishop paused for a second and laughed. “I couldn’t answer her honestly then. I think now I could.”

Bishop would direct Centennial Singers for 15 years before going to Eastern Arizona College to teach music there. General Hambrick, who had previously taught dance at UW, came back to the university to take over as director for Centennial Singers.

“After Bruce left they called me up again because they knew I could choreograph and teach music,” Hambrick said.

“They said it would be for a year until they found someone. Five years later, here I am,” Hambrick said with a laugh. “I never intended to stay this long.”

When Hambrick first started directing Centennial Singers, the group’s popularity had grown so much that about one-half of the students in the group had come to UW just to be in it. “Now I’d say it’s about one-third. Probably more than a third, actually,” Hambrick said.

Lynn Hickox, a fifth-year pharmacy senior, has been in Centennial Singers all five years that Hambrick has been a director. “He brought a new angle (to Centennial Singers),” Hickox said of Hambrick. “He’s very passionate about what he’s done.”

Hickox, who will not be able to be in Centennial Singers after this year, says she’ll miss the group. “You become a

family with those you’re performing with. You have a lot of crazy times and have a lot of good fights and gain a lot of good friends,” she said with a smile. Hickox definitely made close friends while in Centennial Singers and even met her husband, Josh, whom she married in August, 2005, while in the group.

Hambrick said that he has made a few changes to the group since Bishop left. “It used to be more of a show choir,” he said. “Before Bruce left, he started to take it more towards musical theatre. And I just took it a little further that way. Plus, I tried to get a more professional look, both on and off stage.”

Since Hambrick arrived, the group has done different Broadway musical revues. The shows have included songs from “I love you, you’re perfect, now change” and “Hairspray” to songs including Dr. Suess characters and three-foot-tall beehive wigs.

In this year’s show, we’re covering different songs that we’ve done since I’ve been here, Hambrick said. The show, called In Retrospect, doesn’t really have a theme, but is a celebration of the 20th year of Centennial Singers.

Hambrick says the highlight of the job is “year to year (watching) students go from one level of performance to a higher level of performance.” He also thinks the audience’s reactions are a huge high point to the job.

“To see people in the audience really feel something and get something out of the show. To me, that’s very rewarding,” Hambrick said. “Everywhere we go, whether it be Wyoming, Arizona or California, we touch people. That’s the highlight.”

Hickox hopes that this year will be just as rewarding as the last four. “I hope we all still have the energy and appeal that we’ve had,” she said. “I hope we can maintain the reputation and aren’t disappointing.”

Based on the last 19 years of performances, it doesn’t seem like Hickox has anything to worry about. ff

Photos courtesy of General Hambrick and Kate Kniss


Sacrifice:In the final days of August, 2005, Hurricane Katrina ravaged the states of the Gulf Coast while the rest of the nation watched on in horror. Images of splintered homes, lost children and families without aid flashed across every television channel, and one University of Wyoming student knew she was being called.

All I wanted to do was go down there and help out…Twenty-one-year-old Eliza Salwei, a dark-haired, soft-

spoken junior at the University of Wyoming, wants to study social work. She has yet to declare her major, but has known that she wanted to help people for years.

At the age of 18, after growing up in Aberdeen, S.D., a town of about 25,000, Salwei joined AmeriCorps, a network of local, state and national service programs in education, public safety, health and the environment. AmeriCorps sent Salwei to Washington, D.C., where she received training in disaster relief.

“Fortunately, we did not get called on a disaster sight—we did not get to use the training until Hurricane Katrina happened—and I was aff ected so much by it,” Salwei recalled.

Th e funny thing, she said, is that as soon as she found out about the hurricane, she knew she had to go. “A lot of people say that they want to help, but don’t … and for many diff erent reasons. But I am young and I am not tied down.”

Before speaking with the Red Cross,

before knowing how she would get there, Salwei knew she had to do something.

by Carrie May

I told my roommate, ‘I have to go, I have to go. Th at’s all I want to do—

is go down there and help out.’ And it ended up happening.

Photos courtesy of Eliza Salwei

S

“I told my roommate, ‘I have to go, I have to go. Th at’s all I want to do—is go down there and help out.’ And it ended up happening,” Salwei remembered. She was excited to get to work and to help out, but she was nervous. She didn’t know what to expect, where she would be working or where she would be staying. She didn’t even know a single person in the area where she would be sent.

But, Salwei called Laramie’s local Red Cross and said she was trained in disaster relief and wanted to help out. Th ey told her to come to the Red Cross offi ces and start fi lling out paperwork. Four days later, she was on a plane to Biloxi, Miss., a town of roughly 50,000, where she would spend the next three weeks.

And oh, man, did people need that…Her fi rst night as a volunteer in Biloxi, Salwei slept in a

tent. But because of approaching Hurricane Rita, the Red Cross moved their volunteers to a navy base nearby. Two thousand volunteers stayed at that navy base, sleeping on army cots in big, open rooms.

“We were out of work for two days because of Hurricane Rita. We didn’t know what was going on—there were so many tornados that were touching down. We were just about in the eye of the storm,” Salwei said, recalling wind gusts of 90 mph.

Salwei went to the Biloxi Red Cross headquarters and was assigned to work at the Isiah Fredericks Community Center doing client case work. Salwei and about 15 other case workers worked 12-hour days, interviewing about 1,200 clients a day.

Th e Center was in a low-class neighborhood, she said, but it was still standing. Th e Center opened at 9 a.m., but people would start lining up outside at 3 a.m., waiting for the doors to open.

Tables were set up and the case workers were given a stack of forms and a pen and would spend the rest of the day writing.

“Part of our job was also to talk to people,” Salwei said. “We were the fi rst ones that some people go to talk to after the storm, to have a shoulder to cry on. And oh, man, did people need that.”

Th e paperwork Salwei tirelessly fi lled out was for relief money for hurricane survivors. Th e money was all from donations and was given based on the number of people permanently living in a household before the storm. Victims were given $350 for a one-person household and up to $1,565 for a fi ve-person household.

“We’d fi ll out this paper for them and send it back to a group of about fi ve or six people writing checks,” Salwei said.

“Th ey would stand outside and wait for a few hours for the check to be written because we were going through so many people.”

Part of Salwei’s job was to point hurricane victims in the right direction—to the Salvation Army and the United Way—to get them the resources for further assistance. Salwei recommended places that could off er victims health care, free food, free water and cleaning supplies. Th ere were also mental heath services at every Red Cross center available for volunteers and clients alike.

“Th ey always had a station set up for people to talk, just to relieve stress,” Salwei said.

A nurses’ station was set up at every service center because a lot of people ended up with heat stroke from waiting outside all day. Th ere were fi ve or six Red Cross centers in Biloxi alone, but not many in Louisiana or Alabama, so a lot of people would travel fi ve or six hours get to Salwei’s Center.

It felt like we knew so much about each other…After seeing hundreds, even thousands of clients in her

time at the Center in Biloxi, after fi lling out endless forms for people who had lost everything, one client stands out in Salwei’s mind.

“First of all, there are a lot of case workers and he got sent to me,” Salwei recalled. “We started talking, and…”

His name was Oscar. He was an older man wearing a nice suit, rumpled and dirty from not changing or showering in days. He didn’t live too close to the coast and had stayed near his house, which was destroyed, through the storm. He had found shelter underneath his car.

He carried all he had into the Center: his briefcase and reading glasses. He had been a social worker in his day and when Salwei told him she hoped to be a social worker, he off ered her kind-hearted advice. He asked where she was from, to which she replied Laramie. Oscar said he had visited Laramie several times.

“He said, ‘Oh, I know the school very well. I’ve walked around that campus.’ He was so familiar with Laramie,” Salwei said. “He even knew where I was born in Aberdeen. We defi nitely related a lot.”

And, on top of it, Oscar had a granddaughter named Eliza. “You just don’t hear that name very often,” Salwei said.

“My heart just went out to him. He knew so much about me without even ever meeting me—it felt like we knew so much about each other. It just hit me so hard.”

Salwei knows that if she ever sees Oscar again, she will recognize him right away. But she rarely hears how people

A bridge across the Biloxi River collapsed during the storm. The middle of the bridge sank into the ocean.

From left, Salwei with other volunteers, Norma from Wisconsin, Gary from Biloxi, and Nancy from Ohio. Gary is the grandson of Isiah Fredericks, the namesake of the community center.

An American fl ag rests in a pile of debris. Debris covered the city for many weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit Biloxi.


she met in Biloxi are doing. Th e volunteers at the navy base continually changed. She sometimes talks to other volunteers that she worked with at the Center, but none are left there that she knows.

It was just unreal…Th e Center closed during the weekends, so Salwei found

volunteer work in other areas of town. Her fi rst weekend she volunteered on a Red Cross emergency response vehicle called an ERV delivering ice cold drinks and hot, home-cooked meals to people working on their houses. Th at weekend, Salwei and the hurricane survivors, many were still without power, worked in over 100-degree heat.

Th e next weekend she volunteered in a warehouse loading and unloading diapers, water, food, cleaning supplies and a little bit of everything onto relief trucks at the navy base.

By the time she left Biloxi six weeks after the storm hit, Salwei said many people still were not allowed back into their homes. As FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, cleared away debris, the number of deceased found in each ruined home was spray-painted on anything that remained of the house, a haunting reminder of the toll of the storm to anyone passing by.

“Sometimes it would be a fraction, like, two out of fi ve made it,” Salwei said. “It was creepy.”

While working on the ERV, driving down a street of ruined homes, Salwei and the other Red Cross volunteers came across a middle-aged man in a pulled over pick-up truck. He got out of his truck and began to tell Salwei and the other volunteers his story, sobbing. During his breakdown, he told Salwei and the other volunteers how he found his neighbors dead in a dumpster after the storm.

“Th ey were trying to survive but they didn’t make it,”

Salwei remembered, eyes downcast. “It is so hard, hearing those stories. Nobody ever expects to go through things like that. It is so heart-wrenching. It’s just unreal.”

A lot of people just lost it; did not have the will to leave their ruined homes or to get help, Salwei recalled. After losing everything but the cement base of their home and a picnic table in their yard, one 80-year-old couple Salwei met would not leave the ruins of what had once been their home.

“Th ey weren’t going to go get help—they were going to wait...they just didn’t want to do anything…” voice shaking, Salwei trailed off without clarifying if the couple was waiting for help or death. “It’s unreal,” she repeated. “Th ey didn’t want to be ever separated; they didn’t want to leave their home.”

Salwei and the other volunteers always made sure the couple was visited by an ERV truck for meals. People were watching out for them, she said.

I’ll never take anything for granted again…Social work has always been what Salwei wanted to

do. Helping others, that was the main reason she joined AmeriCorps. And in Hurricane Katrina, she saw the need for her help.

“I didn’t get trained for nothing—to say I’d been trained. Th ere was no reason that I shouldn’t have gone,” she said.

Salwei would have loved to see Biloxi before the storm. She is sure workers are still doing a lot of the same relief work that was going on while she was there. Th e work will go on, she said.

“When you see people who would never expect to lose their house and then they do, or expect to lose a family member, and go through these traumas…” Salwei’s already quiet voice trailed off to a whisper. “I’ll never take anything for granted again, that’s for sure.”


I didn’t get trained for nothing —to say I’d been trained. Th ere was

no reason that I shouldn’t have gone.

People lined up outside the window looking out of Isiah Fredericks Commu-nity Center in the weeks after the hur-ricane, waiting for Red Cross Relief.

Inside the Isiah Fredericks Community Cen-ter, volunteers are assigned their next job.

A semi truck blew into a residential neighborhood, smashing houses in its path.

ff

The Peacekeeper missile, the largest strategic missile in the United States, went through final deactivation on Sept. 19, 2005, after nearly 20 years of installation at F. E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne.

The missile’s deactivation began Oct. 1, 2002, as the first step of President George W. Bush’s plan to reduce operationally deployed warheads in the U.S. from 6,000 to a level of 1,700 to 2,200.

There were 114 Peacekeeper missiles produced in the U.S. Fifty of them were stored in discrete silos around the state of Wyoming in 1986. “All 50 Peacekeepers deployed in Wyoming left in holes – they are all gone,” said Dave Robblee, the field supervisor of the missiles on F. E. Warren.

In the height of the Cold War, the Soviet Union was fabricating mass amounts of nuclear weaponry. The United States became concerned of an onslaught of attack so it built the Peacekeeper missiles. President Reagan, concerned over issues of the Cold War, began talking with Congress to fund the biggest, most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile system, also known as IBMS, the world had ever seen.

“(The Peacekeeper) was proposed when President Carter was in office and deployed when President Reagan took over,” said Robblee. This 195,000 pound monster was 71-feet-tall and nearly 8 feet in diameter with 10 separate warheads connected on it, according to the public affairs office for the Headquarters Air Force Space Command.These 10 warheads could independently target 10 different locations around the world through the commands of a satellite. The warheads travel at 15,000 m.p.h. with the most accuracy of any nuclear weapon. According to the Web site, www.nuclearweaponarchive.org, “From the onset this missile was intended to be a counter-force hard target weapon, a missile silo killer with inherent first-strike capability.”

The first testing of the missile was carried out on June 17, 1983, from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The missile traveled 4,190 miles before dropping six unarmed test re-entry vehicles on planned target sites in the Kwajalein Missile Test Range in the Pacific Ocean, according to the fact sheet.

The central problem with the missile was that it had so many warheads that it was inherently threatening and was a highly attractive target for the Soviet Union, according to

by Laura Mayo

Frontiers 2006 • 17Photos courtesy of F. E. Warren Air Force Base

Deactivation of a Cold War relic

www.nuclearweaponsarchive.org. Ed Bradley, reporter for “60 minutes”, went to Russia and spoke with an unnamed Russian official. In the episode that aired Oct. 31, 1993, Bradley asked where a particular weapon was aimed during the Cold War. The official said F. E. Warren Air Force Base.

Some Wyomingites were apprehensive about having nuclear weapons underground around the state. Lindi Kirkbride, who had three Peacekeeper missiles on her Ranch north of Cheyenne, said she had fought against the Peacekeeper for years. Kirkbride, who finds these missiles morally and ethically wrong, was concerned what threats these missiles would pose to people living around them.

However, others believed the missiles were safe. Robblee said that these missiles were “highly reliable.” Other Wyomingites believed that the Peacekeeper “was not that big of a deal.” In an interview with the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, Phil Roberts, professor of history at the University of Wyoming said he thought that Cheyenne’s housing of the rocket was a great idea. “If the MX [Peacekeeper] hadn’t come to Cheyenne, I suspect that the local economy would have been very seriously impacted.”

To solve the nervousness some felt, the government placed the missiles in existing hard-shelled Minuteman silos starting in April, 1983. “[The Peacekeeper] had been engineered so that if a bomb hit it, it would not have a nuclear reaction,” Robblee said. “It would have to take a heck of a fall to break the hard silo.” Robblee said the missiles could not be damaged unless in a “direct hit.” The sites containing the missiles make a direct hit almost an impossibility, Robblee said.

Under the terms of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, signed in January 1993, both the Soviet Union and the U.S. wanted to reduce the number of nuclear weapons within their countries. Russia and the U.S. keep each other in check to make sure everyone is reducing their number of weaponry, according to Robblee. “Russians come over here on different times to inspect our missiles and, likewise, we go to Russia to inspect theirs,” he said.

Robblee said the deactivation didn’t happen in a matter of days. Instead it took three years. “When the Peacekeeper missile is deployed in a silo it is put in one stage at a time, and in deactivation it is taken out one stage at a time,” he said.

Robblee said when deactivating the missile, they remove the warheads and then slowly burn the fuel in all of the stages.

“Then we ship the parts of the missiles to different locations to be used for satellite launches.” The empty silos can then be used to house other missiles if necessary.

While the deactivation will save the Air Force $700 million over the next eight years, according to Captain Warren Neary, F.E. Warren officials estimate that 600 active-duty personnel have been affected by the deactivation of the Peacekeeper. The base will try to keep half the personnel on the base with other jobs while the other 300 will leave the state. “They will be reassigned,” said Robblee adding, “the civilians were given severance and went elsewhere.”

Robblee said he feels a sense of loss since the removal the Peacekeeper. “I’ve been with it since the beginning and I wanted it to stick around,” he said. “It was reliable and we could have kept it. The Peacekeeper was what was put on the cutting block.” ff18 • Frontiers 2006

Quasars:by Amitava Chatterjee

UW astrophysicists work to discover the mystery behind quasars.

A Universal Mystery


Th e mysteries of the universe generate the curiosity of humans. Astrophysicists are always keeping their eyes on telescopes, observing and trying to analyze unsolved mysteries. Far away from our solar system, there are star-like objects called quasi-stellar radio sources, or quasars, which are brighter than the sun. Quasars are the most distant and mysterious objects to ever be detected in the universe. Th e outcomes of research done at the University of Wyoming will unveil some of those mysteries and make it more understandable to us.

Michael Brotherton, an assistant professor in the physics and astronomy department at the University of Wyoming and head of his research group Active Galactic Nuclei, or AGN, focuses the group’s research work on solving the mysteries of quasars. AGN describes the activities of centers of other galaxies.

Quasars emit enormous amounts of energy and can burn with the energy of a trillion suns. Some quasars are believed to produce 10 to 100 times more energy than our entire galaxy in an area that is small compared to our solar system. Quasars are super-massive black holes. Th e center of the Milky Way is a black hole consisting of a few billion solar masses. Black holes themselves never shine. However, the center of the galaxy containing the gas that is swallowed by the black hole does shine. Before it is swallowed by the black hole, the gas mass accelerates to a very high velocity. Gas masses moving around a black hole look like a whirlpool. Th e temperature of the gas masses is increased due to their high velocity, which emits light. Th e diff erence between our galaxy and the galaxy where quasars are formed is that in our galaxy, there are less gas masses and lower activity around black holes.

Quasars are the most ancient objects in the universe. Because of their high luminosity, quasars are probes for explaining the evolution of our early universe. “Th e quasars are billions of light years away from us. Light emitted from

quasars takes billions of years to come to the earth. So we are actually looking back in time when we are watching those quasars,” Brotherton said. Th e most distant quasars observed so far are over ten billion light years away. Th is means we are seeing them as they appeared ten billion years ago. It can be assumed that some or all of the quasars visible today may not even exist anymore.

“We can study the early universe and other celestial objects between quasars and us because quasars sometimes give us the opportunity to see objects between the quasars and the earth,” Brotherton said.

Th e research theme of AGN can be categorized into two groups. Th e fi rst one is spectral energy distribution of quasars. “Our research question asks how the quasars release this energy through obedience to the optical spectrum,” Brotherton said. Quasars release all types of electromagnetic radiation including X-rays, gamma rays and ultra violet rays. Th e main problem is collecting data from all kinds of telescopes around the world to fi gure out what quasars look like. Th e major portions of these gas masses contain hydrogen and helium and are ionized with high temperatures. NASA and National Science Foundation are the two major funding sources in their research work.

“Th e other thrust of our research work is post star burst quasar,” Brotherton said. Post star burst happens when two galaxies collide. Th e colliding gases of the galaxies unite during star formation. Usually, just after the collision massive stars explode and produce dust. Th is dust hides all types of action inside the galaxy, which makes it diffi cult to explain the formation of quasars. “Sometime after a star burst, dust is kind of cleared away and you can see all bright, new, young stars. Th is collision also brings gasses to the center of the black hole and initiates the quasar activities. We think that these incidents, the black hole growth and expansion of the galaxy, are linked together. We are trying to study exactly how this


Quasar photos courtesy of http://physics.uwyo.edu/

incident happened,” Brotherton said. “We are using ground based telescopes and the Hubble space telescope. We are proposing to use an X-ray infrared space telescope to study these objects. Th ese are objects that have evidence for stellar population of stars in the galaxies in which quasars are living. It is diffi cult to see the light from stars. We can see it through light from quasars. In post star burst quasars, we can see very young, bright and luminous stars.”

Th ese bright and young stars are competing refractively with quasars and shining very brightly. Bright young stars show us how quasars are in central black holes in host galaxies, where they live together. Th ere are lines of evidence that suggest that what is going on in the center of the galaxy refl ects what is going on the whole galaxy. When there is quasar activity, some star formation is going on simultaneously. So, when the black hole grows, it means that the whole galaxy is growing.

Quasars have strong emissions within the optical spectrum which are broad due to high velocity. “Now, we are interested to enumerate the black hole masses and how much gas they are consuming. We are also looking into the diff erent phases and evolution of star burst. We are comparing post star burst quasars with normal quasars,” Brotherton said.

Rajib Ganguly, a postdoctoral research fellow in AGN, is interested in the physics of gases related to the quasar phenomenon.

“I am interested in the structure of the black hole and the geometry of the gases surrounding a black hole. Th e gases orbiting around the black hole have some angular momentum that restricts its fall into the black hole. Somehow, there are some forces that shade the angular momentum to fall inside the black hole,” Ganguly said. “One of the possible ways is that some of the gases with angular momentum move away from the center, allowing only a small amount of gas fall into the black hole.”

Ganguly wonders if astrophysicists can produce detailed gas properties, based on emission lines and time periods. To do so, astrophysicists need to understand the frequencies of emission lines from quasars.

His research will be able to answer questions like whether these post starburst objects are part of an evolutionary phase that every galaxy goes through or whether quasars formed from a one extreme object.

“It looks like a simple question. But in astronomy, where we are watching what the universe is doing, it is far more complicated to fi gure out,” Brotherton said.

Recent outcomes of the group suggest that there are no diff erences between post starburst quasars and normal quasar gas absorption into the black hole. But there may be some gases moving out of the whirlpool surrounded the black hole. Gases moving out from the center of the black hole are not specifi c for post star burst quasars, Brotherton said.

Zhaohui Shang, another postdoctoral fellow in AGN, concentrated his research on post starburst quasars and their spectral energy distribution of quasars. Astrophysicists are able to measure speed and distance of far away objects by measuring the spectrum of their light.

If the colors of this spectrum are shifted toward red, it implies that object is moving away from earth, known as red shift. Since quasars have high red shift, they are extremely far away and are moving away from us.

“If you want to understand the quasars completely, we have to defi ne the diff erent frequencies of spectral energy emissions,” Shang said. “Once we get the data from diff erent telescopes, we can put it together, and we can characterize spectral emissions of diff erent quasars. We have key samples consisting of 40 to 50 quasars. We analyze those sample quasars emissions. Hopefully, they represent the characteristics of other quasars. Th ough we are not sure about this generalization.”


ff

From the back left are Rebecca Stoll, a summer undergraduate student from Wellesley College, Mass., Cassandra Paul, a UW graduate student and Sabrina Cales, a UW graduate student. From the front left are Zhaohui Shang, a postdoctoral fellow, Mi-chael Brotherton, assistant professor in the physics and astrono-my department and Rajib Ganguly, a postdoctoral fellow.

Photo courtesy of Michael Brotherton.


the town of Laramie shut down. Th ere was not a student to be found on the University of Wyoming campus, or a store to be open past 3:30 p.m. Th ere was no tragedy in Laramie. Th ere was a celebration.

Th e 1943 world champion men’s basketball team returned home after a sweep of the NCAA tournament and Red Cross benefi t game. Th e champions arrived back on the Zephyr train from New York, the fastest way of transportation at the time. Th ey were received back into Laramie by a homecoming celebration at the Union Pacifi c train depot by masses of hollering fans.

Laramie, Wyo., was now home to the basketball champions of the world.

by Lindsey Korsick

old school

heroes

Photos courtesy of Kenny Sailors


Cowboys have historically been portrayed as heroes and protectors, but never as dominators of the basketball world. Th e 1943 season for the University of Wyoming changed that.

Few people remember back to the time when the boys from Wyoming were the ones to beat in basketball. One man who has clear recollection of that fairytale season is the captain of the 1943 team, Kenny Sailors. As he spoke of the memories from 1943, he closed his eyes as if taking a trip back to the glory days. A grin slyly shaped over his mouth as he seemed to put himself back on the court of Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Sailors is one of three players still living from the 1943 championship team. Jim Reese, who currently resides in Denver, Colo., and Don Waite of Scottsbluff , Neb., are the only other living members of the team.

Th e team was compiled mostly of Wyoming-born men including Kenny Sailors, Jimmy Collins, Jimmy Reese, Earl (Shadow) Ray, Floyd Volker, Jim Weir and Lewis Rooney. Only Don Waite, of Scottsbluff , Neb., and Milo Komenich, of Gary, Ind., were out-of-state contributors to the team. Head coach, Everett Shelton, was the tenth man. He played as much a part in the Cowboy’s successes as any man on the fl oor. Shelton, a former AAU coach, brought his own ideals and style to court.

it’s all in the coachingTh e season began in 1942 when Shelton, referred to as “Ev”

by his players, had introduced his team to his style of off ense that would take them straight to the top.

“Th e secret to our success was Shelton’s style of off ense,” Sailors said. “He taught it to us, then forced us to do it. If you didn’t do it, you came out.”

Th e “Shelton Weave” is the off ensive set that the Wyoming Cowboys basketball program was based upon. Th e idea that powered the off ense was that instantly after a UW player passed the ball to a teammate, they immediately turned to help a teammate by setting a screen.

By constantly setting screens for each other, the Cowboys kept the ball around today’s three-point line. Th ere was no three-point line in 1943. Th e idea behind the off ense was to keep the middle open and drive inside from the perimeter. Shelton’s style of off ense is what the Cowboys ran, whether the players liked it or not.

Th e Cowboys not only attacked their opponents with their crippling off ense. Th ey verbally tormented their opponents while playing on their home court.

“Defensively if you didn’t keep your man under control, you were out of the game. Shelton used to say to follow your man everywhere. If he went to the bench you’d follow him,” Sailors said.

“When we used to play defense at home we used to ask them how they were dealing with the altitude here in Laramie,” Sailors chuckled.

challenging the easteners Th e Cowboys began their 1943 season by building the solid

foundation which would hold strong all season long. Without the high level of competition coming from the West, Shelton knew the only way his team would receive credit for their quality of play was to challenge basketball teams from the East.

Madison Square Garden is where basketball magic was made, as it still is today. With that knowledge Shelton

scheduled the Cowboys to face East Coast teams as often as possible.

“(Shelton) booked two weeks over Christmas to go back East,” Sailors said. “We not only got to play in Madison

Square Garden, but we played in Philadelphia, Baltimore and all up and down the East Coast. We would play anyone

that would play us.”Th e East Coast games in the early part of the season would

be important practice for when the Cowboys returned to the East in April to fi ght for the championship, or championships.

Th e Cowboys recorded one of the most important wins of their season in a New Year’s Eve win over St. Francis of Brooklyn. UW crushed St. Francis 63-30. It was the fi rst St. Francis loss in seven starts.

Wyoming’s string of East Coast wins eventually lead to the NCAA tournament. Th e western division title match-up held between Wyoming and Texas University was played in Kansas City, Mo. After trailing Texas for the entirety of the fi rst half, Shelton used his psychological coaching skills to ignite a fi re in his team.

Sailors recalled the locker room meeting which led to the Cowboys victorious second half eff ort. “After allowing the team to discuss our concerns among ourselves, Shelton walked into the locker room and told Komenich and I to take control of the team because he was heading back to the hotel to pack his bags to return to Laramie,” Sailors said. Shelton left the locker room and the team concluded that they victory was still in their reach, and they couldn’t let Shelton down.


Shelton didn’t return to the court until near the end of the third quarter only to discover his team had rebounded from their defi cit and taken a three point lead. Th e Cowboys slid by Texas with a 58-54 win.

After narrowly escaping with the Western Division Title, the Cowboys headed back to Madison Square Garden to compete for the National title against Georgetown University.

cowboys and culture shockCulture shock is what the boys from Laramie experienced.

All of New York City knew who they were. “Th ere were millions of people,” Sailors said. “It scares a

young kid, like me, to come off the farm. I remember an old man just laying on the sidewalk and nobody stopping to help him. Th ey just stepped over him.”

Madison Square Garden is where names are made. Th e managers knew people were used to seeing city kids playing there all the time, but it was a rarity for a bunch from the west to actually challenge and make a game against an East Coast team in the Garden. Th ey knew the Cowboys were about the greatest publicity they could ever fi nd.

“Th ey (the management of Madison Square Garden) liked our Wyoming team because we were diff erent. Th e managers of Madison Square Garden told us to wear our cowboy hats and boots. To dress like cowboys,” Sailors recalled. “Imagine a bunch of clowns like us walking down the street, arm in arm, with our cowboy hats on.”

While the New Yorkers may have thought they had an upper hand on the “cowboys” who wore their garb and didn’t know the city streets, big man Milo Komenich made sure no one would mess with them.

“One time we were walking and Milo was on the end, with about four of us across and three or four behind,” Sailors remembered. “A big guy came up and said something to Milo and all I heard was ‘whack.’ I looked back and that guy was lying

on the sidewalk.”Th e unusual appearance seemed to catch the attention

of the New Yorkers, for when the Cowboys played at Madison Square Garden they produced the largest crowds up to that point. At the NCAA game there were 13,206 people, followed by a record 18,316 attendance at the NIT Red Cross benefi t game.

Th e NCAA championship game matched-up the two best basketball teams to date from the University of Wyoming and Georgetown University.

Pride and glory radiated from Sailors remembered standing in the tunnel awaiting the team’s entrance to the NCAA championship game.

“I can remember when they held us back in the tunnel at Madison Square Garden until they got the spotlight on us. Th ey were playing “Ragtime Cowboy Joe,” and they turned off all the lights. Th ey put the spotlight on each one of us as we ran out. My hair stood up. It still does. Th e people loved it.”

With the greatness Madison Square Garden has shown since its opening, it is hard to imagine “Ragtime Cowboy Joe” resounding from the stands of Madison Square Garden today.

After falling behind 15-10 early in the game, Sailors knocked down 16 points to forge the Cowboys on the way to their fi rst and only NCAA championship. Following Sailors 16 points, Komenich hit nine points and Jimmy Collins had eight. Th e game was purely about defense though. Th e lead changed possessions four times just in the fi rst half. Komenich held Georgetown’s center, John Mahnken, to six points on the game. Th at was his lowest scoring total for the entire season.

Th e defense of Georgetown was not enough to stop Sailor’s world-renowned jump shot. In an article by Arch Murray, Billy Hassert, the man who guarded Sailors, compared Sailors to a swift sea creature.

“He’s the fastest man I have ever tried to guard,” Hassert said. “I was trying to guard him so close, but he was like an eel in there. I had to give him room because you can’t tell if he’s going to go


around you or shoot. He is the best I have played against all year.”

ncaa title not enough While the Cowboys were ecstatic after being crowned kings

of the NCAA, there was one more throne for them to conquer before they returned to Wyoming. Th e NIT tournament was held annually, like the NCAA tournament, and there was an argument over which tournament produced the best basketball team. After hearing this Shelton decided that 1943 was the year the dispute would be settled. Shelton said his team would play the winner of the NIT tournament for the right to the National Title. Everyone including Madison Square Garden loved the idea.

Th e winner of the NIT tournament was St. John’s, and Madison Square Garden decided that the game between the NIT and NCAA champions would be held as a benefi t for the war. Th e proceeds from the game would go to the American Red Cross who was helping in the eff orts towards World War II. With the record attendance, the Red Cross raised nearly $30,000 for the war eff ort.

Th e public, as well as St. John’s, thought the game was a certain Redmen win. Th e actual bet was that St. John’s would prevail by fi ve. Th at was not the case.

St. John’s had the obvious height advantage with only one player less than six feet, Hy Gothin. Yet the Cowboys kept the score nearly identical throughout the entirety of the game. Th e score was tied 29-29 at halftime, and a last second shot by St. John’s Al Moschetti tied the game at 46-46 at the end of regulation.

Wyoming’s Komenich fi nished the game with 20 points and fouled out early in overtime, and Jim Weir took control of overtime to secure a Cowboy win scoring fi ve out of the six points scored in overtime. Th e season concluded with a 52-47 victory over St. John’s, proving the Cowboys were at the top.

Th e trophy the Cowboys received was engraved with the

title “world champions.” Th is is the only occurrence when a college team has been referred to as world champions.

the new heroes’ welcome homeNewspaper headlines in Kansas City read, “Cowhands

play the garden.” In New York it was, “Wyoming’s Ken Sailors steals the show.” But, a little town in Wyoming could not be prouder for its newly named world champions. Th e headlines in the Laramie Daily Bulletin said, “Today is the day for which Laramie has waited 35 years,” and “Welcome home basketball kings.”

Upon the return home from New York, the team was welcomed back into Laramie as royalty. Th ey rode on fi re trucks around town, where between 9,000 and 10,000 people lined the streets to greet the champions. Young children gazed up at the fi re trucks in awe as their heroes rode past. Th e parade was followed by a dinner and free dance for all of the students. Th e team had left Laramie as basketball players and returned as celebrities.

“It was kind of embarrassing,” Sailors admitted. “I couldn’t go anywhere. I couldn’t pay for a haircut, a meal here in town or anything. I would go in to buy a necktie and they would want to give it to me.”

Th is team of champions were just normal college students blessed with incredible basketball skills and the desire to be great. While attending UW, one would fi nd Sailors and Weir in the student union selling bottles of cola, and occasionally tossing the bottles behind the counter like basketballs. Ms. Sailors’ house was also a team favorite where one could fi nd a number of basketball players rooming at diff erent points in time.

Th is team will always be known as the fi rst team from Wyoming to win an NCAA title. And until Wyoming can muster up another powerhouse team like the one from 1943, they will be the only team. ff

Growing up and living in Wyoming, it would only seem appropriate that independent film director Andy Wiest loves westerns. Using his creative and resourceful talents, Wiest has put a new spin on the old west, adding comedy, drama, action, ghosts and even pizza to his two feature-length films. With one movie finished and another already in production, Wiest’s dedication to filmmaking is starting to snowball with support from anyone around him.

“It’s “A Mad Mad Mad World” meets “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly,”” said 26-year-old Wyoming native Wiest about his first feature-length comedy, “Pizza, Pesos, and Pistoleros.” “It’s my ode to Wyoming and the westerns I grew up with.”

Three pizza delivery drivers, a used car salesman, a bitter hotel employee and a confused pregnant mail carrier get caught up in this “modern day spaghetti western,” which boasts the catch line, “topped with danger, romance, and extra cheese!”

A buried treasure is inherited by a used car salesman and local “celebrity,” Bison Bill. The map to the treasure is stolen from Bill’s mailbox by the mailwoman, which begins a chain of events that leads our characters through a trail of betrayal, greed, gunfights and comedy.

The movie was finished in 2005 and “Pizza, Pesos, and Pistoleros” has already wrangled up some attention, recently being accepted to the Nov. 13 New York Independent Film Festival. The festival is one of the largest in the world and showcases over 300 films from around the world each year, including world premieres, features, shorts, documentaries and animations. The festival is a chance for independent filmmakers to show their work and find distribution from a major studio.

Wiest, his wife and producer Marianne, actor Keith Suta, who plays Bison Bill, and fellow independent film director Matthew Taggart traveled to New York to promote the film and gather reactions.

“After going to New York and comparing myself to other talented filmmakers and talking to them, I think my chances are pretty good,” said Wiest about his chances at stardom.

During the first movie that was screened in the feature film category, essentially the entire audience walked out. Wiest feared that his Wyoming comedy wouldn’t hit home with the New York crowd, but ended up getting the best response yet.

“I was worried that the jokes might be too Wyoming,

but I think that is why the audience enjoyed them. It had to be pretty new to them and I think it was a good break from all the art films,” Wiest said. “I received a better response in New York than I did in Douglas where it was filmed.”

Although Wiest didn’t receive any awards or special recognitions, the New York audience enjoyed his western comedy and embraced the fact that Wiest was a filmmaker from Wyoming.

“Its an advantage being from Wyoming. It’s almost exotic. People in New York thought I was cool. It makes for a good story and that’s half of selling yourself and your movies,” said Wiest. “A guy from Long Island offered me a job shooting commercials after he saw the movie.”

Shortly after returning from New York, Wiest and Taggart came up with yet another idea for a western for which they titled “Dead Noon.” The script, written by Wiest, Taggart and Suta was finished in Dec., 2005, and started shooting in January. The movie is being co-directed by Wiest and Taggart.

Taggart explained that “Dead Noon” is a tale about the past. “Back in the old west, there was a sheriff who killed four outlaws. While in hell, the four outlaws make a deal with the devil to come back as ghosts to kill to the great-great grandson of the sheriff and end the blood line that defeated them,” said Taggart.

Much of the cast from “Pizza, Pesos, and Pistoleros” is returning to “Dead Noon” because of their belief and continued support of Wiest and his filmmaking. Returning cast member and friend Robert Bear returned to Wyoming with more star power for “Dead Noon.” Joining the cast is Elizabeth Mouton, whose credits include the movie “S.W.A.T.” and television’s “CSI.” She also plays the lead role in Kelly Clarkson’s music video, “Trouble with Love.”

The new talent and continued dedication from returning cast members has invigorated the script, giving affirmation to Wiest and Taggart about directing a small-budget independent movie.

“It’s amazing to watch these guys taking our movie so seriously. It is becoming something we never expected,” said Wiest.

Because “Dead Noon” demands more digital work in creating the image of ghosts, Wiest used his resources to hire friend and special effects artist James Teague from Bozeman, Mont. Using green-screen special effects and skeleton models, Teague is able to bring the outlaw ghosts to life, using the same type of effects used in nearly every

by Jason Nelson

Movie Madness

All photos from “Pizza, Pesos, and Pisteleros.”Courtesy of Andy Wiest


movie shot today, while still keeping the movie to a strict budget.

Wife Marianne has acted as producer for both movies, using her fi nancial aid from art school and other small contributions from friends and family to fund her husband’s movies. Oxide, a band from Bozeman, Mont., who Wiest shot a number of music videos for, scored the movie for “Pizza, Pesos, and Pistoleros” and is currently working on “Dead Noon.” Friend Jason Scott recently returned from Hollywood after doing sound work for DVD features including, “Unbreakable,” “Atlantis: Th e Lost Empire” and “Peter Pan” (2003). Scott did sound for “Pizza, Pesos, and Pistoleros” and is continuing his work with “Dead Noon.”

“Andy has a fever, (about movie making) and takes a lot of pride in his work,” said Scott.

Once “Dead Noon” is fi nished, (expected to June 06) the movie will be brought to Los Angeles to fi nd distribution along with being submitted to fi lm festivals like “Pizza Pesos” was.

“I received my offi cial rejection notice from Sundance (for “Pizza, Pesos, and Pistoleros”) which was great,” said Wiest. “I am going to put it on the DVD box: “offi cially rejected from Sundance!””

Wiest and Taggart seem dedicated to bringing the low-budget beauty back into fi lmmaking. With both movies under $3,000 each, they have been able to gain support from the friends, family and the community to help their cause.

“Th e whole reason to do it is just to make movies and not have it be a Hollywood movie. It is a family atmosphere and we are essentially the garage band of movie making,” said Taggart.

“My real goal would be to just make medium-budget, independent movies and keep telling my stupid little stories. And of course get paid to do it,” said Wiest. “I do think I have an advantage because I’m making diff erent genre movies than other independent fi lmmakers and I’m not trying to make the next “life-changing” movie. I just want to entertain people.”

“My real goal would be to just make medium-budget, independent movies and keep telling my stupid little stories. And of course get paid to do it,” said Wiest. “I do think I have an advantage because I’m making diff erent genre movies than other independent fi lmmakers and I’m not trying to make the next “life-changing” movie. I just want to entertain

ff



Spring 2006 #1

Documents