Reflections on Wisconsin
I recently accepted a new position in California (more on that later) and packed up my things into my Honda Civic and set out across the country. I had spent about a decade living in Wisconsin (with occasional sojourns to Michigan and Ohio) mixed in and it feels right to do some reflection on it. Even though I am a midwesterner, Wisconsin is the first place I was ever living permanently where I felt like a bit of a foreigner—surrounded by smiley blonde giants who kept you at arm’s length for as long as possible. People from farther afield would probably not think the distinctions of the midwest matter very much, but it was strangely difficult for me at first living there as a schlubby trash talking intimacy-craving degenerate catholic lower midwesterner. This difficulty was compounded by what brought me there in the first place — graduate school — and by the place I was initially living within the state — Madison. In my many travels across the U.S., I have pinpointed Madison as the beginning of Western antisocial values. They are not as strong as in the true prairie states but Wisconsin is where I first encountered a genuine interest in self-reliance and a disdain for those in need. I don’t want to sound overly negative, because I grew to really love Wisconsin and even Madison but I need to start where I started and say I found people to be sort of hypocritical. It was also my first time living in an area dominated by Protestantism, which I think is not a coincidence.
I’ll skip over the usual grad school woes… suffice to say I was in graduate school in the sciences — you can fill in the details from there. What is maybe more interesting is where I ended up for the last year or so of it — homeless and couch surfing where I could. Upper Midwesterners do not like a perceived freeloader! A bit later I ended up drifting through Michigan and Ohio, where people are much more accommodating. After that I thought I was through with Wisconsin, but I ended up taking a job as an environmental educator in Southeast Wisconsin. There were a few special people in Wisconsin who I wanted to see again, which sweetened the deal. I ended up being promoted to director of that organization and staying in Wisconsin for another couple years. I grew to appreciate the principled nature of Wisconsinites and their dedication to coziness. I will definitely miss supper clubs, fish fries, biker bars, and a very special piano tuner who will remain unnamed for now! I’m now in California enjoying temperateness in its extreme, but I’m grateful for the extremity I experienced in Wisconsin. I’ll leave it with a silly poem I wrote about one of the most ancient mountain ranges in the world, which just happens to be in central Wisconsin and which arguably birthed the American environmental movement:
stressed stone submerged slow slam slants salt sifts silt stirs strains shudders sets sickle slides sleds slipshod staggers scars stiffens slate stands stares sleets snows seeds slacken slab sloughs softens slowly sweats see saws sees thaws sells saints sandwiches salty snacks sausages scrambles syrup swirls salami & swiss sips sullen spent strawberry soda smeared smothered steeled smoked striated suppose single silk slipper (sodden) sounds cymbal “Strike up the band!” circus signal scurries streams cellophane snaps sails sends songbirds soaring spinning scattered circles stalling still subsisting sands suns seams subside sins sit secret slouch smoothed saved sacred syncline
