Meet the Equality State Book Festival presenters: Jaimee Wriston Colbert

Jaimee Wriston Colbert is one of the presenters for the Equality State Book Festival Sept. 24-25 in Casper.

Here's some info about Jaimee:

Jaimee Wriston Colbert is the author of a new novel, Shark Girls, nominated for the ALA Notable Books of 2010 List and a finalist for the Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Awards; a linked stories collection, Dream Lives of Butterflies, which won the gold medal in the 2008 Independent Publisher Awards; a novel in stories, Climbing the God Tree, winner of the Willa Cather Fiction Prize; and the story collection Sex, Salvation, and the Automobile, winner of the Zephyr Publishing Prize. Her stories have appeared in numerous journals, including TriQuarterly, Prairie Schooner, Tampa Review, Connecticut Review and New Letters, broadcast on “Selected Shorts,” archived in “New Letters on the Air,” and anthologized. Two recent stories won the Jane’s Stories National Short Story Award, 2008, and the Isotope Editors’ Fiction Prize, 2009. Originally from Hawai’i, she is a Professor of English and Creative Writing at SUNY, Binghamton University.

Jaimee will wrap up the festival with “Stories that Bite Back: A Reading from Shark Girls” from 8-9 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 25, in the Aley Fine Arts Center, Durham Hall, Casper College. The event is free and open to the public.

Shark Girls has been nominated for the ALA Notable Books of 2010 List and as a finalist for the Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Awards. The novel takes place in Hawai’i and follows the lives of two sisters, from Hawai’i to Maine, in the aftermath of a shark attack in Oahu. Books will be available for purchase and signing at this event.

For a full schedule of bookfest events, go to http://www.equalitystatebookfest.com/

Hawaiian Pa'ina Party at Plains Hotel

The Historic Plains Hotel in downtown Cheyenne presents a "Wyoming Pa'ina Party" on Friday, July 18, 6-9 p.m.

Planned to tie in with Cheyenne Frontier Days and its celebration of the Hawaiian cowboys' contribution to the event, the Plains Hotel party features entertainment by Ekolu Na Paniolo, hula dancers, and Jon Chandler and the Wichitones.

Dinner will include salads, pulled pork, Chicken Pineapple Bake, corn on the cob and cobbler.

Tickets are $25 per person and can be purchased at the Plains (307-635-3311) or at The All Around, 8214 Hutchins Dr. (seven miles east of Cheyenne, I-80 and Campstool Rd.), 307-632-9053.

July 21 lecture on Hawaiian quilting

Hawaiian quilter Nancy Lee Chong will talk about her work and conduct a trunk show on Monday, July 21, 7 p.m., at Creative Ministries, 600 Carlson Rd., Cheyenne. Admission is free for members of Cheyenne Heritage Quilters; $5 for non-members.

FMI: 307-638-2002.

Hawaiians take Cheyenne again for opening reception

Ikua Purdy's leather hat

Eban Law (front), Ikua Purdy (center back)

(l) Amanda Alamea Igaki, (center) Keoni Coelho, (r) Tammie Ha'awina Chaumillon

The Cheyenne Frontier Days Museum's exhibit, Hawaiians Take Cheyenne had it's opening reception on May 9. The exhibit features items from 1908 when Hawaiian cowboy Ikua Purdy won 1st place in roping at the rodeo. Newspaper clippings about the Hawaiians' arrival in San Francisco; Hawaiian saddles and ropes; photos of how the Hawaiian's herded cattle onto the ships stationed off the coasts of the islands, were just a few of the fascinating memorabilia. There were also Hawaiian dancers from the Halau Hula O Na Mauna Pohaku Hula School of the Rocky Mountains in Denver. Ikua Purdy's great, great, great, great granddaughter was there and did a Hawaiian dance. Keoni Coehlo from Hawaii with Hawaiian-Way Entertainment & Promotion provided island guitar playing and singing. There were island appetizers, and drinks served with those little folding umbrellas. A great turnout.

If you're in Cheyenne, the Museum is a great place to explore.

"Hawaiians Take Cheyenne" on May 9

The opening reception for the "Hawaiians Take Cheyenne" exhibit will be on Friday, May 9, 5-8 p.m., at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum in Cheyenne. Tickets are $10 for members, $15 for general public.

The evening will include a sneak preview of the exhibit, as well as Hawaiian dance demonstrations, music, island appetizers and drinks.

FMI: Aimee Reese at 307-778-1416.

Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum

In 1908, the Cheyenne Daily Leader announced the pending arrival of future CFD Hall of Fame inductee Ikua Purdy and a group of Hawaiian cowboys (Paniolos) to compete at Cheyenne Frontier Days. 100 years later, the City of Cheyenne and the City of Waimea, Hawaii, have established a sister city bond. This partnership will be celebrated through a new exhibit at the museum commemorating the day that champion roper of the Hawaiian Islands, Ikua Purdy, secured the 1908 title of World Champion Steer Roper at Cheyenne Frontier Days. Ikua's victory in Cheyenne is memorialized in a Hawaiian folk song (see below). In Waimea, there is a sculpture dedicated to Purdy. A smaller version of this bronze will donated to the CFD Museum by the Paniolo Society.


Waiomina (Wyoming) - by Helen Parker

Kaulana Ikuwa me Ka`au`a, lä
Na `eu kïpuka `ili
Na äiwaiwa `o Eulopa, lä
Waimea e ka `eu
Ka ua Kïpu`upu`u
Kahua Waiomina

`Olua nä moho puna ke ao, lä
Na `eu kipuka `ili`
A`ohe kupu`eu nanä e a`e, lä
Waimea e ka `eu
Ka ua Kïpu`upu`u
Meke anu a`o Kaleponi

Na ke kelekalapa i ha`i mai, lä
Na `eu kïpuka `ili
Ikuwa e ka moho puni ke ao, lä
Waimea e ka `eu
Ka ua Kïpu`upu`u
Na kuahiwi `ekolu

Piha hau`oli ou mau kini, lä
Na `eu kïpuka `ili
Kaulana ka ua Kïpu`upu`u, lä
Waimea e ka `eu
Na kuahiwi `ekolu
Kahua Waiomina

Ha`ina hou mai ka puana, lä
Na `eu kïpuka `ili
Ke kaula `ili a`o kani ka uwepa, lä
Waimea e ka `eu
Na kuahiwi `ekolu
Waimea e ka `eu

English translation:

Famous are Ikuwa and Ka`au`a
Both mischievous with the lariat
Both experts in Europe
Waimea full of gusto
The hard rain named Kipu`upu`u
To the stadium of Wyoming

Both are delegates to the world championship
Both mischievous with the lariat
No expert to excel you
Waimea full of gusto
The hard rain named Kipu`upu`u
To the cold of California

A telegraph brought us the word
Of your mischievous lariats
Ikuwa is the champion of the world
Waimea full of gusto
The hard rain named Kipu`upu`u
And the three mountains

Your people are full of happiness
Of your mischievous lariats
Famous is the Kipu`upu`u rain
Waimea full of gusto
The three mountains
The stadium of Wyoming
Tell the refrain
Of your mischievous lariats
The sound of the lariats
Waimea full of gusto
The three mountains
Waimea full of life