Presidents' "Furlough" Day in Madison

Presidents Day in Madison.  Our kids weren't supposed to have the day off of school, although many other districts take this day off, but yes, our kids were home today.  We got the phone calls with the recorded message last night that there would be no school once again.  While many other communities in Wisconsin were back to school today, Madison teachers opted to keep on with their presence at the Capitol.  For better or for worse, my kids got word of this early enough to expertly arrange sleepovers and we were off to the races on another odd non-school-night and non-school-day, but not for snow, and not for Christmas, not for vacation.  Although we are all intently focused on what is actually happening at the Capitol, I must say it is odd to have these days of school-less-ness.

Presidents Day is also a furlough day for city, county, and state employees.  "Furlough" is a word that nary passed our lips prior to the last few years, when budget tightening measures imposed forced unpaid days off for many public employees (interesting to note that the pocketbook-tightening had long since begun when this lates budget "crisis" garnered so much attention).  Furlough day means a few important things down on the Square today: (1) Despite teachers returning to work in many districts today, a strong public employee presence could be expected at the protests; (2) Legislators were not expected to be in session despite any of the events of last week, and so its really a non-action day regardless of Dem Senators on the lam or protesters interfering with the inner workings of the Capitol (I can tell you -- while the protesters are not physically barricading legislators from going into session, necessarily, the sheer noise in there, going on and on for hours and days endlessly, fervently -- drums drumming, chants chanting-- must make any real thought or work in any chamber in the building near impossible); and (3) there were actually some parking spots in my ramp.  This was truly helpful for me and my little non-profit fellow colleagues.

I was able to take in the gathering at the Capitol today on my lunch hour.  I worked from home in the early morning while two 13-year-old boys and two 10-year-old girls snoozed away upstairs.  Finally I had to rouse everyone and shuttle everybody off to playdates at other homes.  I rolled into downtown and while the streets seemed fairly quiet downtown in the morning, I did note that I can hardly remember what our quaint little state-government-center "Capitol Square" area of downtown looked like before huge Fox News, NBC, and other national-level media vans were lining the streets.  I worked from my non-profit office in the morning, delighting in some quiet focused work time after a weekend (and then some) of some very unexpected excitement.  Even a block away from the Capitol in the county building where our offices are located, I could hear and feel the noise and excitement escalating on the Square, and finally got out there to check it out on a lunch break. 

The crowds were smaller on the outside of the building than they had been on Saturday (although nothing this week may compare to that spectacle!).  I think the inside of the Capitol building was packed; the weather was hideous, so the only way anybody could really spend all day out there would have been to take breaks inside (although I imagine by now the rotunda is even more laden with locker-room aroma than it was the last time I went in --so, pick your poison). 

There were more organized rallies planned for today -- music performances and the like. Since Jesse Jackson on Friday evening, the speakers have mostly been labor leaders.  I think it would be nice if they'd get some broad-based speakers to drive the point that this is not just a labor issue; it's an issue of the middle class; it's an issue of opportunistic power-grabbing; it's an issue of "for the people".  For the best commentary I've yet seen on that, I was delighted to find this sharp and concise commentary by Paul Krugman in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/21/opinion/21krugman.html?_r=1&hp

Rachel Maddow also hits it from a slightly more cynical angle (but warranted?) on her show tonight, and also does a delightful interview with Tammy Baldwin on-the-ground with constituents on the Square this evening, and reads a delightful thank you letter (for their respectful expressions of democracy) from law enforcement in Madison to the protesters after Saturday's enormous gathering.  Check out if you can find it on her website: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/ (although tonight's show is not up yet).

I am disappointed with a lot of the reporting on the events in Madison these last days, but it seems a few thoughtful commentators are seeing the beauty and significance of the events on the Square.

I also liked these generally informative articles about where we are today:
very basic facts --
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/us/22wisconsin.html?_r=1&hp
Wisconsin Democrats on the lam --
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/116581183.html

All in all, it appears that today there was a strong and well-organized presence at the Capitol on a day when really no action from the inside -- at least on the budget -- was expected.  It seems as if the Governor and the majority Republican legislators do not intend to budge or negotiate.  Session will resume tomorrow at 11 a.m., delayed an hour from the usual time to account for the steps that will be taken to safely permit the hearing to remain public -- emptying of pockets and filing in an the like.

Democratic State Senators potentially still out of state, a stinky inner rotunda packed with blankets, water bottles, and other provisions for dedicated campers, drumbeats and chants just belllowing out from the Capitol and the Square at a level that disrupts all around, free pizza being brought in to the Square for protesters courtesy of out-of-state supporters, a "fireside chat" planned by Walker for tomorrow night at 6 p.m. (to say what, I wonder?-- more of the same?) and still -- a deadlock and no obvious outcome or solution for tomorrow yet predicted.  I guess, as the protesters on the Square have chanted countless times these last days: "this is what democracy looks like!"

And, interestingly, it kind of looks the same in an increasing number of places these days. . . . .

Madison this week; and, disclosures. . . .

I live in Madison, Wisconsin.  It's not my hometown, and I didn't go to college here, although I am (proudly) very much from Wisconsin.  I'm from a mid-sized town on the Mississippi River (Wisconsin's west coast) and hit the road to get far away early in adulthood.  Ultimately, my home state and all the loved ones rooted in Wisconsin drew me and my young family back after I graduated from college.  I settled here because it seemed like the best place in the state to get started on an adult life -- Madison offered greater size and variety of opportunity for me and my kids than my hometown did, but was still close to family and other loved ones in other parts of the state.  I ended up going to UW Law School and haven't left since.

This week in Madison, we had come to pass one of the most momentous occasions in my almost ten years in this town.  Thousands of protesers gathered at the state Capitol -- inside, on the surrounding steps and in the surrounding streets -- to show their opposition to sweeping legislation proposed by our recently elected Republican Governor Scott Walker.  By now, most of the U.S. has heard about this, so while in future posts I may have the opportunity to dig in a little more on the substance of the proposed bill and subsequent reactions, for now I want to mention why this momentous event matters for this blog.

I have a very strong urge right now to reflect on some simple on-the-ground details that have not been properly represented in the mass media.  The relevance of "the blog" in general seems more salient to me than it ever has.  The last few days, I get home from some time up on the Square either for work (both of my offices are on the Square), or from joining in with the masses to express our concerns about Walker's bill, and obsessively search the interet for published information on the protests.  While some sites have put some meaningful information out there (see, for example, wispolitics.com), most of them gloss over the truly meaningful aspects of the gatherings (for example, how peaceful, intelligent, articulate, diverse, and committed the people up there truly are, and why this bill matters so much beyond just traditional union matters).  Worse yet, some sites and media sources (duh) just get it completely wrong.  For example, I returned home from one the largest "Kill the Bill" rallies of the week yesterday afternoon, which was an absolute panoply of creative, committed expression against the bill -- peppered by a few Walker supporters who had finally showed up for the first time -- and I wake up today to questions from family members further afield about the mass media portrayal of yesterday's gathering as 50/50 anti-bill and pro-Walker protesters.  Absolutely not true.  More like 99% anti-bill and 1% pro-Walker.  That might even be a generously high estimate of the number of pro-Walker supporters. 

Perhaps more importantly, though -- there are just nuanced, notable aspects of what is happening down there that the mass media can't possibly pick up on in their sound bites.  Conversations between college students all fired up to sleep in the Capitol for three days and elder Wisconsin rural folks coming out to back up the interests of the working people of Wisconsin.  People driving in from out-of-state and parking on my block (10 blocks from the Capitol -- closest place to the Capitol to get a parking spot as of yesterday) to walk down in the February cold to join Wisconsinites in their fight, and being invited on the walk down by a bunch of Wisconsinites throwing a break-from-protesting kickball game in a local park (yes, beer included) as they walked by.  Firefighters (some of the crowd favorites) pushing through the crowds conga-line style to the delight of all around. . . and they aren't crowd favorites just because they have sexy jobs; they are loved for their solidarity with their fellow Wisconsin workers because they have come out in support of this movement despite the fact that they, along with other Waker-campaign supporting trade unions such as the cops and road-builders, were exempted by Walker in his proposed sweeping anti-worker-rights legislation.  Or, my kids, their friends, and I walking into Ian's Pizza, just off the Square yesterday, and being delighted to hear from a friendly kid behind the counter via intercom that anonymous donors in other parts of the country had purchased 2 slices for anyone in the joint (all day, as far as I can tell), to show support of the cause; cheers and hollers ensued in the packed-with-protesters pizzeria.  Or, another favorite -- several people holding signs at the Capitol indicating "I am a fool.  I voted for Walker." or "Newly converted Democrat", and those in the crowd warmly expressing sympathy and affection for the sign-holders.

So, I'm ready to put some more on-the-ground information out there to document some of the real moments of the movement (perhaps it's my almost-masters degree in History kicking in -- let's get it down for the researchers later, people).  I'll keep doing so these next few days, whether it's new reflections from days more of protests, or on movement in the now deadlock on proposed legislation, or whether it's reaching back a few days to keep telling stories from what we saw and what people were saying during this special time for Middle America here in Madison, Wisconsin.

And, now for the disclosures -- admittedly, I want to take advantage of this pointed urge to comment from the ground in Madison in February 2011 to (finally!) get THE blog started.  Ah, yes -- it's been on the big-picture to-do list for some time.  So I'm hoping my urge to comment on what's happening here right now is going to finally help me overcome my inertia to do so.  It's also -- suddenly -- clarified my focus for what to write about.  It's all about the experiences of Middle America, of which I am squarely a part; and, from which I think we need to hear a few more voices.  It seems our society thrives on peculiarity at this point; you get a reality TV show for having an experience or a life that others want to look in on as if in a fish bowl; separate, different.  But those are not the only interesting experiences.  What's happening in all the towns in all the states in all of our Middle American lives is full of complexity, passion, hard work, intelligence, talent, magic.  It just reveals itself in ways more difficult to explain; and let's face it -- most of us dwelling here in Middle America don't have the time to muse about how to put it out there artfully, or to lasso some TV producer to make a show of it even if we knew how to reveal it.

That's why I think the voice of the collective is -- and always has been -- what we Middle Americans must rely on.  On the other hand, "we" have never been so diverse, so our individual stories count, too.   

I'd like to tell some stories from that collective, reflect on things that bemuse all of us, and present my perspective on some important issues from my little patch of the world.  I'm not laying claim to superior insights.  But, I think that any questions I have, or wisdom I've gained, may well be as useful to other folks as any; I am, if nothing else, a thoughtful member of that modern Middle America, as it were.  Some aspects of my life may seem "odd" as compared to some cookie-cutter version of the world, and these quirks will surely reveal themselves through my future posts.  However, if you take a survey of how people are living now in the U.S. today, my example is no more "odd" than the vast majority.  I think my "odd" may be in the wheelhouse of the "new normal", in fact.  My daily trials and tribulations are just like what most of my fellow modern Middle Americans, that diverse bunch, are going through.  These are the trials and tribulations of making ends meet, finding time to stay informed, sorting through imperfect and frustratingly slanted mass media information, raising kids in increasingly complicated communities and the new media world, trying to figure out how to contribute something to the surrounding community with limited time, searching for hope and meaning in what can seem at times a very negative world, being a steward of the environment and a good citizen even though work and kids and life make purist choices impossible.  These trials and tribulations are what join us, notwithstanding the diverse lives, families, and individuals that now constitute "Middle America". 

I think regular Middle Americans like myself have a lot to say, as evidenced by what I've seen this week in Madison.  And, after a week of hearing the chants, in unison, from such a variety of Middle Americans joining in a common inspiration -- to reclaim that middle class dream of modest prosperity for family, self, and citizenry under the guidance and administration of a democratically-elected benevolent governmental leadership that actually works for the betterment of all of the people it represents -- I think it's imperative that when we Middle Americans have something to say, we come out and say it.  There is power in finding common ground, friends, and we must give voice to our common dreams, frustrations, and hopes. 

Some of those hopes are less illustrious than a shift in power dynamics at the State Capitol; they are equally relevant however.  For example, I desparately hope that I can now spend the rest of the afternoon getting my house cleaned up, getting a son and a daughter focused on some healthy activities such as chores and thank-you letters, getting several hours of work-work in, and cooking a healthy delicious Sunday dinner, after a very exciting (albeit not condusive to housekeeping or attending to other "responsibilities") weekend.  So, I'll sign off to work on those projects, with yet more hope this is the beginning of a very consistent and long relationship -- whether it be one between me and my blog, or one between me and readers through this blog.