Wisconsin Journal Number 5 1 October 1997 Not long after I arrived, we headed down to the capitol concourse for "A Taste of Madison." It's like "The Bite" in Portland, where local restaurants set up booths and serve a few items off their menus. Lots of brats, steak sandwiches and ribs. I think the most wonderful thing we tried was Bananas Foster, which had won the prize for best dessert. This being Wisconsin, beer was available at eight convenient stations around the capitol square, and about half the adults seemed to be carrying one. I tried to picture people lounging on the capitol lawns in Salem, and just couldn't picture it. Overheard at the Taste: "I told myself if I ever woke up sober on Sunday morning I'd go to the Lutheran church around the corner. I was sober this morning so I went." "How was it?" "A lot of work. You're standing up and sitting down all the time. But they give you this little itinery, so you know where you're headed." Later that evening, Sarah and I walked over to the zoo, which is only about five blocks from our house. Although it was open late that day, most of the buildings closed at 4:30. We did see a lion and lioness at the newly constructed big cat compound, along with animals that were still outdoors: giraffes, deer, buffalo, bears, mountain goats. There is a big flock of flamingos in the middle of the zoo, which Sarah liked. There are also several breeding colonies of monkeys at the zoo that are raised for the primate research center at the university. There's been a minor flap lately because the university's agreement with the zoo is that the monkeys will not be used for invasive experiments, and apparently a few had been. The next day was Labor Day. (I see I've gotten a bit behind.) We bought ingredients for a picnic at the bread store and deli on the next block, and headed around to the other side of Lake Mendota. We stopped at Governor Nelson state park, where we instantly stood out like sore thumbs because we weren't carrying a charcoal grill. I was wondering what everyone did with their hot coals when they wanted to leave, but then Kaye pointed out a large cement receptacle for just that purpose. We checked out a little beach they had there, then took a walk through the woods to look at some Indian mounds, which show up at several places around Madison. At meeting or ceremonial places, the Indians would pile up dirt to form various animal and geometric shapes. We followed the trail until the sign said we were looking at a mound in the shape of a panther. Seeing it took a lot of imagination, since the forest had long ago been allowed to reclaim the mound, and its outline had been greatly softened by many rains and many winters. Luke speculated that it was actually just a joke the locals were playing on the out-of-staters, in order to keep the mosquitos in the woods fed. Drove the rest of the way around the lake, and stopped off at Michael's Frozen Custard (a local landmark) for rootbeer floats and sundaes. Grocery stores are not that different from back home, but there are a few things we've noticed. Shortly after Kaye and the kids arrived, they went to the Super Saver nearby to buy staples and cleaning supplies. While Kaye filled out a form for a membership card, she sent the kids off to start shopping. When she caught up with them, they reported that the dairy case moo'ed at them as they approached it. You can buy lefse in most grocery stores here, which I don't think I've seen in Oregon. In addition to locally made cheeses, sausages and mustards, Kaye brought home "Uncle Guido's German-Style Taco Sauce" recently, which is made here in Madison. Their slogan: Made with Italian Boldness, German Charm and Mexican Efficiency. Also on the food front, our kids report that their milk at school comes in plastic bags. It's time again to talk about Packermania, which is either the leading or second-leading religion in these parts, depending on whether you go by number of adherents or collective zeal. It's hard to walk a block without seeing a Packer pennant in someone's window, or somebody wearing a Packer sweatshirt, or cheeseheads on sale in a store. The local paper runs a full-page color picture of a different player every week. Kaye and I decided to hop on the bandwagon, and signed up for a Packers Checking Account at the local bank. We get a checkbook cover with the Green Bay Packers' logo on it, checks featuring Bart Starr-- no, I mean Brat Starve--um, no it's, uh Brett Favre, and a six-page newsletter on the Packers every week. Our special bonus gift for signing up was a jar of genuine Lambeau Field dirt: "The heart and soil" of the Packers. Anyone who wants his or her own souvenir can send us any quantity of cash. We will write you one of our Packers checks in that amount. (Of course, you don't want to cash it or you would lose your souvenir.) To further blur the line between Packer worship and religion, there are now a couple of people who show up in public as "St. Vince [Lombardi] and his guardian angel;" he in green and gold priestly vestments, and she with a halo and wings. In their last appearance, they blessed a load of cheesehead hats "in the name of the Favre, Coach Holmgren and the holy city of Green Bay." There were a couple letters to the editor from priests denouncing the pair. A few other family adventures. The public school teachers here have been working without a contract, and staged a sick-out a couple Fridays ago to push the issue. Kaye and the kids headed off towards Wisconsin Dells for the day. The main stop was the circus museum in Baraboo. Wisconsin was once the winter home to over 200 circuses, and Ringling Brothers was based in Baraboo. I wasn't along, so I can't report in detail, but Kaye especially liked the circus wagons. There was also a circus performance that they attended. Todd Leen, a colleague from OGI who attended UWisc urged me to go see a big 10 football game while I was here, so I took his advice. As the Badgers are still basking in their Rose Bowl victory of a couple years ago, seats were hard to come by, and Sarah and I ended up in the nosebleed seats for a non-league game with Boise State. As there is no alcohol allowed in Camp Randall Stadium itself, people have to get their beer beforehand. We headed down early, to watch the preparations. Many of the bars and restaurants near the stadium set up beer gardens for the crowds, and a lot of local groups set up brat stands to raise money. I passed up the opportunity to take my daughter to a tavern, and headed to the South Union, where the "Badger Bash" was underway. This was a good idea, since the union was selling hard liquor as well as beer. They even had a side table devoted to spices and garnishes to customize your Bloody Mary. I thought we kind of stood out there, though, being about the only people not dressed head to toe in red and white. We headed over towards the stadium, where the rally squad was arriving on their special rally fire truck, which they had custom-painted red. The team itself represented only about a third of the interesting stuff going on. They were playing without their star running back, Ron Dayne, and managed to fumble their first play from scrimmage into the hands of a Boise State player, who ran for a touchdown. In the end, UW prevailed, but only by about 3 points in a game where they were 35-point favorites. However, Sarah and I got most of our entertainment out of watching the students and the band. The students are concentrated in about 5 sections near one end zone, and have several charming rituals. One is for adjoining sections to alternate yelling "F**k you!" and "Eat S**t!" at each other. Another was to jingle their keys during kickoffs. Sarah explained to me that students standing with their hands touching over their heads was a "Standing O-vation" and that barking while clapping with their hands held horizontally was the "Seal of Approval." (I think she learns these things at summer camp.) There was also an activity I can best describe as "rowing", where each student grabs the shoulders of the person in front of him or her and starts leaning forward and back. At the end of the game, groups of students linked arms and descended the bleachers by jumping from row to row in unison. Of course, what football game is complete without a school mascot. UW's is Bucky Badger, who is actually played by several different students during the course of the game, since they get tired and hot inside the costume. The big news this year is that one of the Buckys is a coed. She says there was some resistance to that at first, but that you sort of have to become one big happy family when you are sharing sweat with each other. Best scoreboard message: "Check for bees before you drink." My favorite thing was the marching band. They work all day. We could hear them early in the morning at the stadium, practicing their routines. While Sarah and I were wandering around before the game, we saw both the tuba section and the percussion section parading around campus, stopping to play little concerts for various groups of fans. The drummers have a lot of flourishes in their numbers. I notice that when the drummers headed from place to place, there was one poor girl who had to keep up towing a red wagon behind her. Presumably she was a freshman, and the wagon had drinks and spare sticks for the rest of the section. She was having a hard time getting across some railroad tracks with it, and I helped lift it across. The tubas and the drums converged at the South Union with the rest of the band, and played a preview of their halftime show. Then they headed over to the stadium where they played a pregame show, a halftime show and a postgame show, called the "fifth quarter". The fifth quarter starts out only partially organized, and deteriorates from there. All the band members were wearing their hats backwards, which is a tradition if the UW wins. There is a lot of audience participation. The two sides of the stadium compete in cheering to determine which way the band will face when playing their next number. There were numerous choruses of "On Wisconsin," whose music is used in the school song of over 2000 high schools and colleges. There is a school anthem, "Varsity", for which the crowd sways together and waves their hands at certain points. Then the Budweiser song ("When you've said Wissss-CON-sin, you've said it all"), with fans doing the polka in the stands. While this is going on, various contingents of the band are breaking off to play follow-the-leader, or dance in circles around the director, or play while lying on their backs, or build human pyramids, or dance the polka themselves. Towards the end, there were so many groups split off doing other things that I was surprised there was still music being produced. Anyway, if I got to another game while I'm here, it will be to see the band. Finally, from the "Wisconsin Wierdness" file... The Engagements-Weddings-Anniversaries page of the local paper often includes a few sentences about unusual aspects, beyond the standard bride-groom-parents-date-location facts. Kaye's favorites so far: - The wedding announcement that revealed that the groom proposed by slipping the engagement ring into the bride's mouth while kissing her. - The bride who had the ring delivered tied to the leg of an owl. She wore a thick glove and held bits of rat meat to attract it. The accompanying photo showed bride and bird.