by Citizen Wausau on March 31st, 2008
[A note from Dino: As spring springs on us, our thoughts take us away from the computer, and outdoors. To new hobbies, and to bikes, and camping. Well, WNRB is a community radio station, and while it might not be a Santa Cruz full suspension dream bike, it might be a hobby you're interested in. I have a feeling that it might be a little bit like Citizen Wausau, where it is what you bring to it a little bit. So, thank you to Tom Neal for this post.]
Saturdays are wide-open … ready for you to jump in and become a part of the community’s Saturday experience. I’m talking about hosting your own radio program on WNRB-LP (93.3 FM, Wausau). Time slots are open on Saturdays for people who’d like to bring their own personalities/musical tastes/viewpoints to the airwaves. Provide the spring/summer soundtrack for people outside washing their cars, or driving around with the windows down, or jogging with their radio headphones on.
Just think: Do an early morning wake-up show, maybe with acoustic alternative or folk music. Or a late-morning classic rock exploration of “B-sides” and deep album cuts. How about blues or classical music in the afternoon? Rule Saturday night with a party mix. Do a one-hour or two-hour show. Buddy up with someone and do a 2-person show.
It’s easy and it’s a gas. A fun sideline/hobby for your life. Takes about 10 minutes to learn the ropes in the studio. Pay is $0 … it’s an all-volunteer station. Studio is on 6th Street on Wausau’s east side at the Wausau Area Hmong Mutual Assoc. offices. Contact me here if you’re interested (there are also open slots on weekdays). And, of course, tune in for my show, Roundtrip, Thursday nights 7-9 for music you just won’t hear on any station in these parts.
by Andy Laub on March 28th, 2008
Coming on the heels of yesterday’s enviro-post I started to think about my bike and when it will be warm enough to ride it to work again. If I’m lucky, it will be at the end of April, and that’s because I have an aversion to cold weather.
But on that subject, did you know Wausau now has a Trek Store? It’s over by Hardees on Stewart Ave (I guess it used to be a carwash?). I’m not totally sure whether it is a Trek-sponsored venture (like a Nike Store) or if that sort of thing even exists, but they only sell Trek and it’s very streamlined and corporate-looking.
What it lacks is any personality, at least for now, that extends beyond the “how can we get you on a bike today?” rhetoric. The other bike stores all have their own, and each have some sort of following (at least the one I go to does), and I wonder if this type of place can pull those people away.
So what say you Wausau? What kind of environment do you prefer when bike shopping? Is Trek even a desirable brand? They’re kind of the Toyota of bikes, in my mind.
by Dino Corvino on March 28th, 2008
I have come down. Truly. The Easter Weekend was the mighty Scott Holt weekend up north, and from that I finally have returned to Earth. I did not have voice, so I could not record anything at work, and as a result spent a whole week reading.
Tonight, the walls shake, the dog looks on me with a pained expression of self knowledge, and I dance. I dance the dance of release. The dance that brings it all around to 1991, and a joy for life that I have longed for. The big-brained super discussion from the past today, the collaboration of a willing partner that has inspired me since 1988, and lambasted my 20’s like a schooner in a storm.
So I come to you tonight, with a rolling piano in my head, and a booty I am backing up in my own basement. A booty rich in fun, and silly Nike Rufus shoes not made for dancing, but rather made for post hockey warmth. I no longer wonder who reads these questions, the questions in and of themselves matter in only the asking, not the lurking reader judging those of us who do drop that booty in our basement, not the lurking eye rolling at our celebration, not the scoff who doubts the joy of Keith Uhlig making burnout sound as he runs organinically through his days on Earth.
I have decided it’s not about the best and the shiniest. It’s about laughing, slow dancing, lilacing, and the secret language of friends. I wish you the best for this weekend. I wish you the best forever. I shall wear a watch, not to tell time, but if I ever see Cameron Loos I want to have a better tan line than he does.
I ride my bike, not to go fast, but to realize that someday Jim Frame and Steve Marshall will return and decide to jump the crik in Kennedy Park, or ride around the mountain until someone ends up in the hospital. But not for aerobic threshold work, but rather to go fast. Really fast.
Burritos rule.
- Let’s start off hot. Do you like spicy food? What is the hottest dish on a menu here in Wausau? Just an on the menu thing, not a custom deal. My friend Scott told a story of eating at 7 on Seventh, and the heat of what he touched actually made him hurt. I like spicy food, but the next day is often hardest.
- Can you name your city council person? Can you name your aldermanic district? Can you name the wife of your alderman? Have they knocked on your door?
- What kind of batteries do you buy? I am partial to duracell, but really would like to explore rechargeable batteries, but they seem a mystery to me.
- Are you a baseball fan? Did you think about the season as anything other than a steroid fill crapola deal? I love baseball.
- Were you a high school athlete? I was. I played tennis with Jim Beier. We actually had a chant…We suck at Practice. We threw challenge matches to other teams so we would not have to be the number 1 doubles team. That was bad. Coach John was sort of a moron though.
- When was your first kiss?
- Do you think we are in or going to be in a recession? What steps are you taking to protect yourself?
- Do you think that you will ever see gas prices so high you ride the bus? What is the ceiling? How much are we willing to take? All of a sudden that Rosenbergian scooter seems like a good idea.
- Does live music shake you to your soul? Or are you there to be entertained? I ask because I am faced with teh self doubt that I might be living my life the wrong way, the passionate pursuits might be a mistake. I might be doing it wrong. I listen to Pearl Jam and the TEN record, and it makes me shudder at the power of it. Yet to some, music is just music. Its not to me. I worship it.
- Am I going to out grow this anytime soon? This reflexive self discussion, the desire to communicate? Do we outgrow that? You old dudes, mentor a guy.
- Have you ever slept under the stars for a whole night? No tent. Just laid down, and slept outside. Drunk does not count.
- Who is the Paris Hilton of Wausau? When you go out, do you see a certain group everytime? Where do the cool kids go?
- How often do you get a new toothbrush?
I wish you nothing but the best. The world changes in every moment, in every tone, in every dial. Its right there, in the spinning of your arms in your backyard. Dizzy and powerful, your skin on fire in the cold air.
Thank you Walk Whitman. You bring me spring, and I laugh with joy at it.
by Dino Corvino on March 27th, 2008
Clearly we think this is important. We are young and professional, and as a result knowing others who are young and professional makes sense to us. Citizen Wausau is about the community, and as a result we like to support the community activities, especially those activities that seek to enhance the community (and that overuse of the word was totally on purpose). I think that supporting an effort like this, on the part of an individual group is the sort of thing that makes Citizen Wausau a real resource. We hope to hear about more of this stuff.
To Wausau Young Professionals,
Are you looking for a way to connect with Wausau area young professionals ages 21 to 40? Do you miss the social events that the Chamber used to hold for area young professionals? Do you want to get in on the beginning a newly formed social organization and have a say in what you want to see happen for young professionals in the Wausau area?
In April, we are holding our 3rd event of 2008!!!!
Who: Young professionals from the Wausau area are welcome to come
When: Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Time: 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Where: Malarkey’s Pub Downtown on the Square (www.malarkeyspub.com)
Featuring:
The Brian West Show
Game Show Mania – Jeopardy for Morons
Karaoke
Street Magic
Appetizer’s
Drinks for purchase
NO MEMBERSHIP DUES OR EVENT ADMISSION
Our first two events were a success due to an average attendance of 75 young professionals looking for a social outlet to meet other like minded professionals in the area. The Bar was also a major contributor to the success of the events providing us with our own private area off the bar, two-for-one drink specials and great food available for purchase. Thank you… we’ll be back!!!!
The Wausau Young Professionals are a group of like-minded professionals whose primary goal is to provide a social outlet for young professionals in order to facilitate the retention of young professionals for the Wausau area. Our events are in no way related or sponsored by the The Chamber-Wausau Region.
If you know of anyone who is between the ages of 21 and 40 and would be interested in this event please let them know or bring them along!
by Citizen Wausau on March 27th, 2008
[A Note from Dino: I know typically we pull a post from the Community on Monday for Your Voice. We felt that this was such a welcome addition that we would put it up here in a timely manner. I have personally pledged to take public transit to and from work each day, all month. What will you do? What commitment can you make?]
Hi,
The Commission for a Greener Tomorrow was established in the summer of 2007 by the City of Wausau to encourage greater awareness of sustainability issues in the Greater Wausau area. Volunteers staff various teams dealing with issues ranging from waste and recycling to transportation, locally-produced food and clean water. The goal is to reduce waste, promote healthier lifestyles, adopt more environmentally-friendly practices and also capture cost savings where that is possible, too.The objective of the Commision has been to enhance all the wonderful things that are already happening in Central Wisconsin in relationship to “sustainability” NOT reinvent new projects and activities! The Commission members have been working very hard to identify what is happening, We know we still have a way to go — but it is a wonderful start!!
The Commission for a Greener Tomorrow has decided to challenge people in Central Wisconsin to observe “Earth Month” in April to participate in their own way. “The Earth Month Challenge” was created to be a month of education, celebration and action for the natural world in which we live ,” explains Commission f– The Commission hopes to set an example for people and businesses how simple lifestyle changes can make a difference. Earth Month opportunities have been listed on the commission’s webpage and they include everything from using eco-friendly fertilizer to green up lawns this spring to taking a walk around their neighborhoods.*
So, take the Challenge— make your pledge at www.gogreencentralwisconsin.com
Kelly
by Dino Corvino on March 26th, 2008
I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.
I have fallen back on that quote often in my life. It comes as the closing paragraph in Abraham Lincoln inaugural address. I think it says so much, and I think it hits exactly what is happening in this city, and what in fact can derail our progress as a city.
This week, I seek to celebrate you, the voter. I seek to look to the future of this election here in Wausau, and I hope to see you in record numbers. Massive numbers of votes piled to the sky, so many votes it takes over night to count them. So that we wait, with baited breath and live coverage from the news media with polling reports and the whole nine yards. That is my hope for this city. A turnout so massive it dwarfs an Everest football game.
According to the City of Wausau website, in 2005 the city of Wausau had a population of roughly 40,000 people. Election data from the last wave of City Council election is difficult to find, but it seems not uncommon for a person to have won a race 110 to 50. Roughly 160 votes out of the possible 3300 that are said to make up each of the districts. Turnout was low.
That is appalling.
I read today in the Washington Post that a result of the national infighting is a higher voter turnout. Well if that is the case, then we are on course for massive turnout in Wausau.
This election has been one that has been filled with negativity and paranoia. I have met with both of the two candidates, and I liked them both. I came away thinking that I just wanted to give them a hug. They are both fighting very hard, and I fear that they are losing the vision of the forest while standing among the trees. They are both battered people right now, and they are both good people. They need a rest, and I hope they both can take a nap on April 2nd.
My fear is that these are two people who have dug in, and as result will not be able to work together. Some of the behind the scenes stuff put forth by supporters, or people who want to be involved is so hate-filled, and so evil, that it seems to have soured the process.
So, now we come to you. Voters. And your amazing coolness. Your awesome accepted challenge, and your awesome role in the future of our fair city. Your coolness is so cool, it shakes me up.
I had a high school teacher, Mr. Bruce Chopp, tell me that if I did not vote, I did not have any right to complain. Well I love to complain! So, I vote. Often, every chance I get. I vote and I vote and I vote. As a result, I complain. I complain, and I criticize, and I cajole, and I write letters, and I write here in this bloggy blog. I vote so I have earned the right to be a part of the process. My taxes don’t give me that right, my vote does.
As does yours. Your voice is your vote. Here at Citizen Wausau we blather on about providing a voice to people, a place where people can write what they want when they want how they want. Well, right now, your voice is your vote. More than a letter to the editor, or a comment on a blog or a comment in forum, your voice is your vote.
You have a chance to drive out the negative people from local politics. You have a chance to have your voice heard. You have a chance to vote for someone, and have that person win, and you feel amazing about it.
You’re going to decide whom the next Mayor of this city is. We won’t. The Wausau Daily Herald or the City Pages or 550 AM will not. You will. The negative forces at play think that a low turnout is what they want, a chance to really control the numbers gives them a better chance to affect the outcome. You have a chance to stomp that into the ground.
How cool would it be if 40 thousand voters showed up?
So, cool dudes and dudettes, and I know you’re out there, I hope you vote. For someone. Anyone. Write in candidates, Hadley or Tipple, who cares? Go vote. Own the city you live in. Grasp it with your hands.
Your vote is your voice! Shout! Live out loud. Challenge the powers that be; challenge those that want an apathetic population. Rise up voters, and be as cool as I know you can be.
by Dino Corvino on March 25th, 2008
This just in! This just in! Michael Morrissey placed on Administrative Leave.
As you read in the previous post, Mr. Morrissey is in the middle of a rather messy legal issue involving a former Wausau employee who it appears that he terminated. This whole saga is really quite ugly; both sides have spoken in the media using unflattering terms about one another, claiming inappropriate relationships on the staff, violation of city policies regarding cellphones and text messaging, and even accusing people of stealing funds. For some of the details please see the Jasurda document (PDF) regarding her allegations of an unsafe workplace.
It is my opinion that Mr. Morrissey is being used as a pawn in this power struggle. While I cannot substantiate it as anything other than a theory, the idea of this lawsuit and all these allegations coming forward at this time cannot be seen as a random event. I find it too convenient that this all is starting to coincide with the election.
This is the statement issued by Mayor Tipple. Clearly more is to come. It appears that this evening’s City Council meeting may have some fireworks.
Michael Morrissey Leave (PDF)
by Dino Corvino on March 24th, 2008
Recently there was a credit card scandal reported, one involving a former Development Office employee. We’ve received a copy of a document that is clearly in regards to a suit filed by the former employee regarding the work place, and her position there.
Download the Jasurda Document (PDF)
What I find the most interesting in this document is the intermingling of City departments, and how it all works. Clearly the presence of an employee of a different agency at the meeting, as is alleged in this document is a bit interesting.
Being new, and hopefully unjaded by the whole of city politics, I find this amazing. I cast no judgment about this issue, but I do feel it is significant. Mr. Morrissey and Ms. Fish are arguably two of the most powerful and influential people in city government. Clearly they do a great job, but it is fair to ask these questions.
I find it interesting that this information is coming out now, in this close proximity to the Mayoral race. Clearly there is some intent with this document getting to us in this time frame. As if to frame the city as some how out of control, and it all falls on the Mayors shoulders. I think that it is not the case. Clearly this is a document about Mike Morissey, and his own actions.
But you make your own determination. We thought it was significant.
by Citizen Wausau on March 24th, 2008
[A note from Dino: If the purpose of CW is to celebrate Wausau, and I am not saying that is the point, but if it is, the Wausau Film Festival is an amazing thing deserving of our attention. A film festival is a monolithic undertaking, and James Rubino is out there on his own taking this on. We felt it was important enough to bring to the front of the line, in the hopes that you will add your expertise to what he is working on. Film, movies, cinema, culture, it all matters. It adds to the quality of life, it creates the discussion. Thank you James.]
To make the festival work, their are two major tasks.
1) Get the word out to filmmakers.
2) Get the word out to the audience.
Getting the word out to filmmakers starts well ahead of the festival. To get the word out I use many online outlets to advertise the festival. Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter to create a cohesive publicity presence online. For fun I tried the Google adwords radio advert service. They accepted the professional ad I made in my dorm room on a $15 mic and rolled up sock-pop blocker and it was aired in the Park City, Utah the last weekend of the Sundance Film Festival.
To get the word out to the audience includes elements of all the above plus some modest media coverage.
Their are some sponsors interested but I worry that sponsorship would influence the festival away from the idea of filmmaking as entertainment that the festival started with. If you are seriously thinking about being a sponsor tying your message and business activities into supporting the entertaining aspects of filmmaking (or storytelling) is paramount.
If their are any brand managers or marketing buffs out their that want to build the festival let me know. I love the work but do not have time to put in to the details of the festival. I am also in need of a Technical Supervisor to ensure that all the lights are in synch with the sound. Last year I was able to do all of this on my own but given the current circumstances, this year it’s a little more difficult.
by Dino Corvino on March 21st, 2008
I am getting to these Wednesday evening. My lips are chapped, and my legs are tired. But the amazing glide of Trent Reznor is filling my head, and I am glad I saw this band as many times as I have.
- Have you decided who you’re going to vote for, for Mayor, for City Council, for County Board? Does the recent story about the email from Mr. Kluz as reported in the Wausau Daily Herald affect your choice?
- Have you been in the new Dudley Tower yet? I was talking to Al Post at his book shop, and I told him that in unfamiliar cities, I am often most intimidated by local book stores. I wonder if that does not apply to skyscrapers? Is the Dudley a skyscraper?
- Do you order pie or ice cream or other dessert after a meal? Is that almost an extinct custom? I know that a few folks here are chefs, so your thought on the final course, the sweet farewell, the intoxicating pastry would be appreciated.
- Where do you buy shoes? I am asking because of the tremendous shoe resource we have, a worldwide leader in sneakers and other athletic products right here. Do we support that business, as it has supported so many families?
- What was the last book you read? Would you be interested in contributing to a books, music, movie, review site as a blog within the CW Community section?
- What is your first morning beverage?
I was thinking of the extra questions, but really, it is Easter weekend. And I am off to see Freedown in Woodruff, opening for the mighty Scott Holt band. I hope you’re all well. Eat a chocolate egg.
