CONFERENCE IN S.D.: On Thursday I travel to the John R. Milton Literary Conference at University of South Dakota in Vermillion. I understand that Vermillion is beautiful this time of year. It will be alive with writers from throughout S.D. and even some stray Wyomingites, thanks to conference organizer Lee Ann Roripaugh. She grew up in Laramie and is the very talented daughter of Robert and Yoshiko Roripaugh. I will be reading with Robert at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 29, in USD's Coyote Student Center. The conference title is “Frontier Nostalgia” and it features many readings and panel discussions, including one on the HBO series “Deadwood” and its veracity or lack thereof. The characters in “Deadwood” are the most foul-mouthed bunch this side of Tony Soprano and his goons. Historians do say that Deadwood in 1876 was not a dainty place. Wild Bill Hickok did get gunned down there – he should have stayed in Cheyenne, which was halfway civilized. And Calamity Jane was constantly getting tanked, which led to some unseemly behavior. I have read that there was a shooting per day during Deadwood’s first year, which makes it safer than Chicago during Prohibition and Baghdad in 2005.
