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.

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.

Montana unveiled “Gold Star Family” license plates this week, and at the ceremony, the Helena High School Ambiance Choir performed – simply beautiful.

I saw the documentary “Prodigal Sons” on Saturday, and it is quite remarkable.

If you grew up in Helena in the mid-80s, you might remember the name Paul McKerrow – he was the star quarterback for the Bengals, co-valedictorian, and BMOC in general. His brother Marc – adopted just a year before Paul was born – graduated with him, and younger brother Todd came along a year later.

The movie tells an intriguing tale: Paul returns to Helena in 2005 for his high school’s 20-year reunion, but he returns as Kimberly Reed, having complete gender-reassignment surgery and now living life as a woman. He is re-introduced to brother Marc, who suffered a car accident years ago, had part of his brain removed due to seizures, and is now suffering from bizarre mood swings and mental illness. Todd is now living in San Diego as an architect.

Turns out that Helena seems pretty blase about Paul’s’ transformation into Kimberly – there was no sign (in the movie, anyway) about any discrimination or hostility.

During the course of the movie, Marc discovers who his birth mother is: Rebecca. Sadly, he learns this just days before she passes away, and sees her for the only time in his life in her casket at her funeral.

And then comes arguably the biggest surprise of the movie: Rebecca was the daughter of cinema icon Orson Welles and actress Rita Hayworth: Marc is the grandson of Orson Welles, and the physical resemblance is uncanny.

If you have the opportunity to see “Prodigal Sons,” it is highly recommended. Might want to bring a hankie.

Took a day trip down to Helena a few weeks ago, and it was a blast. Stopped at the Staggering Ox, the Parrot Confectionery, the Archie Bray Foundation, Toi’s Thai restaurant, and a few antique shops.

The highlight was Toi’s Thai restaurant. And since I don’t like Thai food, that might sound odd, but check this out: me, my girlfriend, and her College Buddy (visiting from out of state, but raised in Helena) stopped by Toi’s mid-day on a Saturday, not realizing that it is only open for dinner. We saw the CLOSED sign and were disappointed. But some amazing timing played in our favor: as we stood there wondering what to do next, Toi herself approached!
She and College Buddy smiled at each other, gave big hugs, and it turns out that they had worked together many years ago at a grocery store. She insisted on opening up and cooking for us, and we couldn’t refuse.

I didn’t sample the food, but my girlfriend – who absolutely loves loves loves Thai food – proclaimed it the best she’s ever had. Seriously.

And Toi couldn’t have been nicer. She told us that she had been featured in “Montana Quarterly” magazine recently, and how her customers had generously donated money to her so that she could help relatives and friends back home after the 2004 tsunami. She and College Buddy updated each other on mutual friends, family, and such. What a great experience.
So if you’re looking for what I believe to be the best Thai food in Montana, check out Toi’s Thai at 423 N. Last Chance Gulch. But call ahead (443-6656) to make sure they’re open!

And then it was off to The Parrot Confectionery for some delicious chocolates, and the a quick stop at the Archie Bray Foundation to check out some unusual and/or nifty ceramic art.
And on the way home, natch, we stopped to pick up some hams for the holidays.

Heard earlier today that CNN political reporter John King was in Montana, and here’s a screen shot from this evening with John reporting from Helena:

Isn’t it amazing how much attention The Last, Best Place has received this year, thanks to the Presidential campaign? The Obama team spent plenty of time here, including his much-covered Independence Day stay in Butte; both Clintons campaigned here in Montana; and recently our Governor’s election-tampering remarks garnered some MSM coverage.

Montana’s not used to this kind of attention. But we’re OK with it…as long as it doesn’t last…right?

PS to John King: if you’re reading this, visit me at GreaterFalls.com! Better yet, take a scenic drive up here – lunch is on me!

Got an e-mail from Montana author and blogger TL Hines, and his new project sure sounds intriguing – especially to fellow bloggers, I suspect:

My new book, THE UNSEEN, is about a loner who hides in unexpected places. So to help roll out the project, it’s time to hide reminders about the book in unexpected places.

I’m calling it the Unseen Pages Project, and here’s how it works. I’m disassembling one complete copy of the book, and I’d like to hide every one of those pages–192 in all–across the United States and Canada. Bookmarks attached to each page direct people to my web site, inviting them to leave a comment about the page, where they found it, where they left it for someone else to find, or whatever. The page that gets passed around most–that is, the page that gets the most comments–wins prizes for each and every person who found it. If you’re a fan of the BookCrossing site, it’s kinda like that, except we’re hiding individual pages instead of entire books. (I explain why at my site, along with more details.)

Which brings me to you. I hope you…will be interested in hiding two or three pages in their first hiding places. You’ll get a link to your own site or blog for each page you hide, as well as chances to win prizes, and my eternal gratitude. And I hope it’s something fun for all of us.

Unseen Pages Project information

If you live in or near Helena, Montana, I’ll be doing a library program at the Lewis & Clark Public Library this Thursday, September 18th, at 7:00 pm. We’ll be discussing writing, the publication process, tiddlywinks, and anything else that comes up. I’ll also be doing other library programs in October and November across Montana (and maybe a few other places in the Rocky Mountain West), so stay tuned for details.

I hope you’ll be part of the Unseen Pages Project. I hope you’ll read the new book and let me know what you think. If nothing else, I hope you’ll drop a quick note to say “hi.” As always, thanks for taking the journey with me.

TL Hines

Seems like a pretty cool project – and the book sounds like a good read, too! Best of luck with the project, TL!

Soyamaven sent me this picture with this information: “Reportedly, this 9′ 1″, 97 lb. snake was recently found east of Helena, near Canyon Ferry Lake.”

I don’t know if snakes in Montana routinely grow this large…but I’d hate to meet up with one.

So…can anyone confirm or deny that this snake was indeed captured near Canyon Ferry Lake?

Fellow Montana bloggers, please forgive me if you haven’t yet received an invitation to join this site, and please don’t fret if your site is not yet added to the sidebar! I just started this site the other day, and haven’t yet had the time to fully “create” everything — as you can tell from the bizarre design, missing links, and such. Hang in there — you ALL will get invitations within the next few days so that we can truly make this a BIG SKY BLOG – of, by, and for Montanans!