Civics Lesson

Today we visited the Barnes & Noble in Appleton to buy some fun stuff with Jodi's gift certificates. Jodi noted later that while our old B&N on 82nd St & Broadway specialized in psychology and Judaica, there is a bit more of a conservative focus in northeastern Wisconsin. These two books were prominently displayed on the welcome table.


I think I was offended not so much by the titles (it's fine to have a "case against Barack Obama", and despite his objective qualifications he has gained a cult of personality) as by the super-evil-looking pictures used on the front covers. In any case, I vented my political rage with an act of minute civil disobedience, turning one of the books over so you couldn't see the front cover.

A few minutes later, walking through the bargain stacks, I found this book:


Someone had apparently felt a similar call to political protest from the other side; whether an Obama or McCain supporter we can't tell, but I have to guess a Republican since Obama supporters should have stopped focusing on her by now. But this person had taken a slightly less agressive approach, turning the target book not backwards but simply upside down. This strikes me as simulataneoulsy less rude and more effective, since a customer can now immediately see the object of dissent. It also matches the only vandalism we've received thus far to our own Obama bumper magnet.

Having been taught a valuable lesson by my conservative neighbors on effective First Amendment expression, I returned to the anti-Obama books and turned them simply upside down.

Edit: By the way, Mom, I turned the Hillary book back right-side up.

My Car Is a Northeastern Liberal

With its Red Sox World Championship bumper sticker (2004 edition) and Obama car magnet, the back of our little "Galaxy Grey" Mazda 3 does look a bit like a Northeastern liberal stereotype. (True, Obama is "from" Illinois, but that Harvard Law School part is quite New England). We've never had a car magnet of any kind before (ok, we've only even had a car for one year) and Maccabee maintains it will eventually get stolen. I initially thought that was unlikely, but on a recent day, we returned to the car (parked in a university lot) and someone had turned the Obama magnet upside down.

Charming people. Really enlightened and educated of y'all.

Even more charming was the car I happened to park next to at the doctor's office one day:



That would be a gen-u-ine confederate flag sticker in the window there. Really friendly, eh?

Sigh.

In general, politics are heating up in Oshkosh, with the fall election approaching... tomorrow is the grand opening of the Oshkosh/Winnebago County Democratic/Obama headquarters, with Senator Feingold (yay anti-FISA man!!) in attendance. I wish I could be there but I'm headed off quite early tomorrow to a very cool workshop at the Jewish Women's Archive in... my beloved Boston. M. might get to the go.

At the moment, we've in the Milwaukee region because of aforementioned early flight (didn't want to chance missing it or get up ridiculously early to drive down here). We had a pleasant visit to the fancy-schmantzy Bayshore Town Center outdoor mall, which is.... well, it's a really nice mall, with a lot of high-end stores, a cute water fountain, and tasty restaurants. The Joisey girl part of me enjoys a good mall; the part of me that doesn't want to acquire too much stuff finds them less fun than they used to be. Based on the stores, actually, it felt quite a bit like what the Upper West Side has (sadly) become. But we had a really nice evening nonetheless.

Everything I Need to Know, I Learned in the Oshkosh Floods of 2008

A few weeks ago, Oshkosh had some fairly major flooding due to the torrential thunderstorms spread across the Midwest. While we were in decidedly better shape than Iowa, much of Oshkosh did end up underwater. We're personally lucky here-- we don't have a basement-- but most people weren't.

We had the interesting fortune to be driving home from work when the thunderstorms hit, and had to pull over as soon as we noticed that, well, on previously clear streets, our car had an actual WAKE (don't drive through standing water, people). The car is just fine and we're fine too, but for an hour or two we were treated to a view of the student revelry on flooded streets.

Here's what we learned:

1. Budweiser floats in floodwater

2. In the worldview of the frat boy, ANYTHING is cause for drinking (this isn't really news)

3. Someone actually ordered Chinese takeout in the midst of the storm. As the delivery vehicle floated by, frat boys flocked around it, chanting "kung pao chicken! kung pao chicken!" as they splashed away

4. Trucks have really big wakes

5. If there is a thunderstorm watch, check the damn radar online before you leave work

6. Don't drive when there are massive thunderstorms on the radar

At a certain point, this starts to sound like Into the Woods: "When going to hide, know how to get there. And how to get back. And eat, first."

Definitely, eat first.

Also: consider living in a town with better drainage.

...but did He have a tattoo?

And if so, what did it say?

Above, a storefront on North Main St. I've been meaning to photograph it for months now.

Wisconsin Crime Wave, Part I

Ah summer, when criminals get antsy and start making trouble for good people everywhere. We neglected to post last year about that summer's biggest crime story, the lemonade-stand robbery saga. To remedy this omission, I now begin an occasional series on local crime reported unironically in the Oshkosh Northwestern.

‘Consentual hickies’ prompt police call

TOWN OF BEAVER DAM — A Dodge County woman called police Sunday afternoon to report that her 17-year-old son had been assaulted by a 36-year-old woman.

The alleged assault apparently involved “consensual hickies only” and was over a week old, according to the Dodge County Sheriff’s Department dispatch log.

Police will follow up on the report, according to the log.

From the Northwestern.

Green East and Green Upper Midwest

Well, we're back. This time, we've returned from a trip to NYC for my official graduation from Columbia. Pictures of that are over here, and further thoughts are on Paideia's Closet (link left).

As you can see above, both New York (Riverside Park, top) and Wisconsin (County Route A between Oshkosh and Neenah, bottom) are now gloriously green and all leafed out. In Wisconsin, when we pass farms we can see crops starting to grow, just a few inches off the ground. Farmers Markets can't be far behind!

New York is gloriously green.... if you are in one of the parks, of course, or on a college campus. Wisconsin is just green everywhere, even in our "downtown" location, with its nice big sky.

Both places have their delectable local fish cuisine: smoked in New York (finally, really good lox!) and decadently fried here in the Badger State. In New York, however, we finally had good (still-Americanized-but-vastly-better) Chinese food again, at our old fave local place, Columbia Cottage.

Oshkosh has Lake Winnebago and the Upper West Side has the Hudson River.

New York has traffic. Oshkosh does not!

New York has everything you could possibly need within walking distance. Plus the subway. Oshkosh has its own adorable public buses (until 6 pm).

Really, it's not about comparisons...both places have enormous benefits and costs. But it's always interesting seeing them in relief next to each other.

Below, a bit of Manhattan granite. This is a rock in Riverside Park right near where Maccabee grew up (and where we lived for one year), the site of many previous climbing expeditions. (You can also see a pic of Maccabee in situ). I love New York's giant rocks in the city's many parks-- they were my favorite thing in Central Park when I was little. In Ft. Tryon park the granite would glitter in the sunlight. When we left nyc, one of our going-away presents from some very dear old friends was a small piece of "Manhattan schism."

Tofu Dog in the Sausage Race?

One of our great neighbors across the hall, who moved to Wisconsin a year ahead of us, is a vegetarian. Being one myself, I was naturally relieved that another of my unusual persuasion could survive in the land of bratwurst. After all, we've posted before about The Bratzooka at our local minor league park, and about the famous sausage race at the Brewers' Miller Park. I naturally assumed that my arrival would simply double the state vegetarian population, approximately.

Of course I've since discovered that we herbivores are not quite that rare up here; Woodman's has a great selection of vegetarian products (actually most local supermarkets do a decent job), and most restaurants have at least a couple of things on the menu, which is about what I used to find in Boston. In fact the most "local" restaurant in town, the Delta diner, has a whole vegetarian section with about 20 choices for us strange folk.

But if someone had told me that there was a vegetarian player in Major League Baseball, the last place I would have looked would be the Milwaukee Brewers. Nonetheless, Prince Fielder, the Brewers' star first baseman, has apparently joined me in the great cult of the carrot.

Everyone must read this article from today's New York Times.

For one thing, it's just good writing. Hilarious, at least to someone who is a vegetarian (me) and someone who is familiar with our strange kind (Jodi). But it's also a great look at the difficulties even a celebrity vegetarian occasionally has finding something he wants to eat when dining out, and the different reactions of his fans and co-workers.

General Manager Doug Melvin said he had no concerns, then or now, about perhaps his team’s strongest player drastically changing the fuel he put in his tank. Melvin is so unmoved by the situation that he said: “Is he still a vegetarian? I don’t even know.”

...

Several spaces down, [tailgaiting fan] Dan Ricksetter of Milwaukee added: “It was a bit disheartening when he decided to become a vegetarian. Brats are intrinsic to our culture. They’re the breakfast of champions. I’m not sure which sport.”

I will say, in defense of our subspecies, that Fielder may be an unusually picky eater. Personally I'm always up for trying new things; today I ate cactus for (possibly) the first time ever at our favorite local tex-mex place. But sometimes you just want a PB&J sandwich, and there's nothing wrong with that. I hope Fielder has better luck in the future.

One minor quibble with the article: it claims that "a tofu dog has yet to be invited" to the Sausage Race. Had the reporter done his homework, he might have added that PETA actually suggested the idea to the Brewers in 2002. At the time, they said they had no plans to add to the four existing sausage contestants (Hot Dog, Brat, Italian and Polish). In 2006, however, they added Chorizo. Maybe with this latest news about Fielder, it's time to break down another barrier in our nation's long history of sausage discrimination. Only time will tell.

P.S. Apparantly OnMilwaukee.com joked about this on April Fools.

Little Seder on the Prairie (for real this time)

Happy Passover to those of the persuasion! Our first set of little seders out here in Wisconsin was successful, tasty, and of course a bit tiring. It's been a busy week since, but here is a picture from last weekend.

Matzah always tastes so good for the first day or two and then starts to get a bit old.

The Public Enemies filming is all done and the town is finally returning to normal. Over the weekend while they started to strike the set you could walk around it again and take more pictures of the fabulous props. I'll post those on flickr eventually. It was also amusing to see the spatters of fake blood remaining on the bank building.

I did not meet Mr. Depp (or, sadly, David Wenham), but a friend did and reported that he was very nice and had "small, delicate hands."

So Oshkosh had its day in the sun, and now we have (literally) pouring rain and thunderstorms. I fear our minor-league baseball plans for this evening are now in danger.

Hag Sameach! Off to work.

The Celebrity Wave

So today after work I wandered over to watch some of the filming, which has begun downtown. (A crowd was already gathering when I went out this morning). They're not using the totally awesome, really dolled up part of downtown yet, but were shooting a nifty little escape-and-car-shot near our very own library (the escape building was the Masonic Lodge next door). Despite the fact that I felt kind of silly, I stuck around for three takes, until my feet got cold.

After each take, as the car rolled back down the street, Johnny Depp would wave hello to the very, very large crowd (for Oshkosh) that had gathered to watch, which must get old after six or seven takes. On the middle take, he walked back down the street and spent a fair amount of time waving and such, which led to generalized pandemonium. By the third take, a lot of teenagers had arrived and there was really major, Beatlemania-esque screaming and a lot of "I love you Johnnnnnnnnnnnnyyyyyyy!!!!!" (You will note that at this point all of Oshkosh is apparently on a first name basis with Johnny Depp; people kept referring to him in that fond possessive way one sometimes refers to their hometown first baseman-- "has Johnny come out yet?"

All of this leads me to ask: What do we see when we see celebrity? Why the hysteria over a wave from someone 100 feet away? (And why was I the only person among the folks I chatted with who cared about seeing the other members of the cast, or knew who most of them were?) I think celebrity is a reaching out for the transcendent (while everyone simultaneously wants to see papparazzi pictures of celebrities with their kids, pumping gas and being "just like us"). What are we expecting will happen, really, though? Do we expect to be transformed, or healed, or what?

Or are we just really curious?

In New York I had comparatively few celebrity sitings. One year we saw the opening night red carpet for the "42nd St" revival, which included the late Jerry Orbach and the now-fired Star Jones. My most notable nyc celebrity occasion involved seeing Simon Cowell in the Plaza Hotel lobby while friends and I were waiting in line to try to get into afternoon tea. I hadn't watched American Idol at the time so I was vaguely aware of who he was and would have walked right by if there weren't a huge crowd of women mobbing him (and to his credit he appeared to put up with it with a good deal of patience, even posing for pictures).

And, yes, he was wearing a black tee-shirt.

(We also went to a taping of the Daily Show, which I will admit was an all-out fangirl worship experience for me).

Really, though, being a New Yorker is supposed to be about leaving the celebrities the hell alone and letting them go about their business. If I had ever really seen someone I doubt I would have wanted to bother them.

But in Oshkosh--Oshkosh!!--well, there will probably never ever be another Big Movie Star here, so I guess I can really understand everyone going bananas.

Just go bananas for David Wenham too please if you see him (for all I know I DID see him, I didn't have binoculaurs and they're all wearing hats)

It's also funny having a lot of "out of towners" descend. Oshkosh has tourists now. I say to them what I always thought about tourists in New York: come, enjoy our town. SPEND MONEY.

Also: when you've had a bad day at work, watching filming with a lot of gunfire is strangely cathartic.







There he is! Itty bitty in the center of the photo above.

Passover at Woodman's

Somehow it seems that we have not yet posted in this space about the glory that is Woodman's Food Market in Appleton. Granted, NYC dwellers are used to small supermarkets and narrow aisles, but there are plenty of decently-sized, big box supermarkets up here. Festival Foods majors in fresh produce and Packerphilia, Pick 'n' Save has a huge selection of junk food, and the Piggly Wiggly has Broccoli Wokly. But Woodman's has everything. For example, everything includes this:


But for the moment, I just want to point out what a freaking huge Passover section there is for a state with a grand total of 28,330 Jews, most of whom seem to live 90 minutes south in Mequon. On the other hand, the two biggest celebrities featured at Appleton's nearby history museum were both Jewish.

Anyway, here is the usual "Jewish" section of the first (of two) "international" aisle:



here's some more holiday stuff including some giant boxes of matzo



and here's a whole section on the side of the aisle for holiday junk food! 4 kinds of macaroons!



More on the wonder of Woodman's (employee-owned!) at some future date.