Big Sky Blog

Carroll College in Helena is looking for some student bloggers:

The Carroll Admission office is looking for 3-5 Carroll students who are interested in blogging their campus thoughts for prospective students looking at Carroll as a college option. This will be a one-way blog, so you won’t be getting any feedback from other users, but you will in fact be blogging about your experiences on campus. We’d like to give our prospective students an honest (and positive) snapshot of campus life through your eyes. You can journal about the mundane, the extraordinary, and everything in between.

Emphasis mine. While I appreciate that they are doing it, it’s a bit sad to see them only “halfway” doing it.

Montana author Laura Munson is holding a fun barn-themed contest! Check it out:

I’m holding a contest here on my blog from now until September 12.
To enter the contest, simply send in your best shot at naming the above barn in the comment section here on this post. Is it a celebrity? A concept? A country? A kind of sandwich? Let your common sense go and dream a little. It’s good for you.
The winner WINS A SIGNED FIRST EDITION copy of my book THIS IS NOT THE STORY YOU THINK IT IS. This contest will be judged by a team of highly skilled professional out-of-the-box thinkers: my two kids.
Additional opportunity for the extra outside-of-the-boxers: A signed book will also be sent to the person who sends in the best original barn photo and name…

There’s lots of pictures of other barns from across Montana, too!

Some good stuff in the Police Blotter published in the Flathead Beacon; among my favorites:

8:55 a.m. Cows stood in the road on MT Highway 83.
10:30 a.m. A suspicious man rode down Holt Stage on a skateboard while cradling a baby.
6:30 p.m. A naked man was spotted standing on the road next to his vehicle in Bigfork.

Never imagined the escaped Arizona convicts would wind up in Montana: MT residents discuss sighting of alleged AZ fugitive

Adam Richman of “Man versus Food” stopped in Butte recently to attempt the Jumboli Stromboli. Any other MT locations he should visit?

Bozeman school using Facebook to try to win $500K.

Billings prepares to host John Mellencamp and Bob Dylan.

Grizzly bears spotted near Brady.

Helena is making lots of waves, not just in Montana, but across the nation, because of a proposed sex-ed curriculum. Usually when Montana makes national news, it’s because of “lone rangers” or severe winter weather, but this time MSNBC and Fox News are covering the Helena beat, and Helena schools superintendent Bruce Messinger was on the Laura Ingraham radio show on Thursday defending the proposal.

Here is a part of the curriculum that is causing such outrage:

It lays out sex education topics for each grade, K through 12. In the first grade, children would be taught that human beings can love people of the same gender; in second grade, kids are taught not to make fun of people by calling them “gay” or “queer.”
By fifth grade, they are taught there are several types of intercourse, and by the sixth grade, the draft document states that students should, “Understand that sexual intercourse includes but is not limited to vaginal, oral, or anal penetration; using the penis, fingers, tongue or objects.”

Click here to read the entire proposed curriculum.

About 500 people turned out for the school board meeting this week – and for a Montana town, that’s a LOT of people.

Not a huge fan of Jewel, but still pretty cool that she wrote and performed “The Missoula Song.” Wonder what she could have done with, say, Two Dot or Wolf Point or Bigfork?

From KXLF in Butte comes a story about the “Jumboli Stromboli” – an 80-ounce monster at Trimbo’s in Butte.

It’s a challenge worthy of the Travel Channel’s “Man Vs. Food” – a five-pound Jumboli Stromboli from Trimbo’s Pizza in Butte. It’s been around for two years and so far, no one has ever finished eating one, but three guys gave it a try Wednesday night.
The rules of the Jumboli Stromboli: one person must consume the entire stromboli in one hour, and competitors are not allowed to leave the table, but they can get up and stretch.

What other Montana restaurants offer up challenges that are worthy of “Man Vs Food?”

The bad news: Billings got hit by a tornado on Sunday evening.
The good news: initial reports indicate that there are no serious injuries.
Even though we don’t live in “Tornado Alley,” Montana can still throw some punches, weather-wise.

If you’re wondering how the oil spill (leak) in the Gulf of Mexico compares to Montana:

Wanna go for a helicopter ride over the Crazy Mountains in central Montana? Marnee Banks, a reporter for KXLH in Helena, did a story on the Montana National Guard, and she got to ride with them in a Blackhawk helicopter – and kept the camera rolling while airborne – cool!