American Outlands

A billion-dollar Digital Foundry wants to build outside your town.

City leaders see tax revenue. Developers see opportunity. Residents have questions.

Who pays for new roads, water lines, and public services? Can local governments keep up? And should Wyoming’s Industrial Siting Council, created during the coal boom of the 1970s, play a larger role in reviewing the next generation of industrial development?

In Episode 2 of Silicon Prairie: Chasing the Tax Base, we follow the money behind the digital land rush and examine how communities can avoid repeating the mistakes of past booms.

When the promises start flying, it’s worth asking who benefits and who pays.

Listen now.

The Rocky Mountain West has seen its share of booms from gold and railroads to oil, gas, and coal. Now a new boom is arriving: data centers, artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, and industrial-scale computing.

In this inaugural episode of Silicon Prairie, host Alan O’Hashi explores how communities can prepare for the opportunities and challenges that accompany the digital economy. What questions should local leaders ask before approving a new data center? Who benefits from the jobs and tax revenue? What happens to power supplies, water resources, land use, and quality of life?

Drawing on lessons he learned from past energy booms, this episode offers practical insights for communities seeking to balance economic development with long-term sustainability.

The digital land rush is underway. The question is whether communities will shape it or react to it.

Silicon Prairie is a production of American Outlands, featuring stories from the edges of America.

This is the last episode of the season. We talked about bridging social and economic divides by thinking about how you might have acquired biases and preconceived notions about people unlike yourself. We suggested ways to unwind those recordings in your head to be more accepting of others. Rather than entrenching into our attitudes and beliefs, what can we do to get out of our ruts? 

In 2016, Budweiser changed its label to "America" beer, thinking it would boost sales based on the results of the election that year. The beer eventually returned to its familiar branding. What can we do as individuals to avoid getting consumed by popular trends? What can we do to keep life as we have known it? What would Pope Francis do? How will the historically dominant culture cope with the upcoming "majority minority" population?

We get ideas in our heads about religion, for example, that are unwavering. Why might we change our attitudes, and under what circumstances might those changes happen? Alan did not like India Pale Ale (IPA) beers because they are bitter-tasting. When he recovered from his deathbed illness in 2014, he was offered a Fat Tire Citradelic IPA by his neighbor. The label has since been discontinued. Much to his surprise, the beer tasted great, and he's been drinking IPAs ever since. Alan's physical chemistry had changed. What about our emotional and spiritual selves?

Cerveza Modelo is the most popular beer in the United States, primarily consumed by Caucasians. Are we becoming a "mass society" considering that by 2045, the U.S. is likely to be a "majority-minority"? We'll discuss how personal and cultural narratives shape our perceptions of others, recognizing the biases in the stories we tell and hear about different groups.

Black & Tan

Hosts: Pedro Silva & Alan O'Hashi

Tagline: Bridging Social Divides, One Beer at a Time

Episode 2: How to be an active listener. Have you ever talked to someone and they weren't paying attention? Has someone spoken to you and you weren't listening?

Overview: Black & Tan is a podcast that explores a new story about beer and the intricacies of cultural understanding in today’s rapidly changing world. Hosted by Pedro Silva, an African American advocate for social equity, and Alan O'Hashi, a Japanese American from Wyoming with a passion for cross-cultural engagement, the show offers insightful discussions designed to inspire personal change.

Each episode tackles ways to bridge cultural divides by making intentional, individual adjustments to foster acceptance and empathy.

With engaging conversations, Black & Tan provides listeners with both practical advice and eye-opening perspectives about our evolving world.

Why Listen? Black & Tan is for anyone who wants to:

Black & Tan

Hosts: Pedro Silva & Alan O'Hashi

Tagline: Bridging Social Divides, One Beer at a Time

Overview: Black & Tan is a podcast that explores a new story about beer and the intricacies of cultural understanding in today’s rapidly changing world. Hosted by Pedro Silva, an African American advocate for social equity, and Alan O'Hashi, a Japanese American from Wyoming with a passion for cross-cultural engagement, the show offers insightful discussions designed to inspire personal change.

Each episode tackles ways to bridge cultural divides by making intentional, individual adjustments to foster acceptance and empathy.

With engaging conversations, Black & Tan provides listeners with both practical advice and eye-opening perspectives about our evolving world.

Why Listen? Black & Tan is for anyone who wants to: