by Citizen Wausau on June 30th, 2008
This week’s installment of links to the great stuff going on in CW’s personal blogs section:
• A beautiful girl, some sort of love-triangle, someone getting out of a car wearing what appears to be a fish suit, someone getting punched in the face – all this and more in the completed trailer for forthcoming film Microcosm, courtesy of Erik’s “El Video de Wausau” blog.
• On an intense post called “Invitation to a Sexual Predator,” Alex Tallitsch tries to make contact with someone from his past. Follow-up post here.
• Billie from the “A Stable Personality” blog checks in with some updates, plus the tidbit of information that she has an Amish neighbor who picks her asparagus for her. Exploitation of the Amish? You decide…
• Jill Knetter has a song of the week, and it is…click here to find out.
• Everyone, Ben. Ben, everyone. Weeks ago he promised us “more productive” posts, but he totally hasn’t delivered. We would happily take for utterly non-productive content, if that is the stumbling block here.
by Cheryl Mathis on June 30th, 2008
“So Cheryl, how’s the essay contest coming?”
“What essay contest?”
It’s not an essay contest anymore, it’s a blog blast! Instead of limiting yourself to talking about your vision for the future of Wausau, we want you to keep doing what you are doing (or should be doing) … blogging.
You write about what’s going on in your lives, moments of brilliance or not-so-brilliance that occur to you, things that piss you off, things that redeem the world in your eyes. And we’re reading it.
At the end of August, the Citizen Wausau editorial board will reconvene to decide what blog post deserves our grand prize of a $50 Chamber Bucks gift certificate or an iPod® Shuffle, winner’s choice.
The great part about this Blog Blast is that you don’t have to write a specific post for entry. Just write your usual posts, and you just might end up with something beautiful, something that stirs us or something that makes us pee our pants laughing. If you write something that you think is especially fabulous, feel free to send us an email (submit at citizenwausau dot com) and let us know, but it won’t guarantee that you win. We’ll be reading everyone’s posts as they come on the site.
We are turned on by originality, humor, sensitivity and depth. Get blogging, and see what you come up with!
by Dino Corvino on June 27th, 2008
I suppose, that as we grow, older, that part of us really, really feels like we want to do something, to feel a sense of accomplishment, to look into the abyss, and have it look back with our reflection. But, does the abyss look back, or does the abyss, as all self-loathing metaphors, just sit there like a black hole of abyssiness? I do not know.
What I do know though is that I am sick. I came back to work a day early, and with that am not healed. As such I am going to end up wasting another weekend in the bed. Which is never appropriate for an unmarried 37-year-old good-looking dude.
So let us ponder somethings, and share some information. And yeah, the comma thing was on purpose.
- What was the most clichéd life lesson you have ever heard, that turned out to be true? For me it was living in the moment. Being present right now, and not trying to solve things that have not happened.
- Is it the heat or the humidity? I have been to Vegas and Prescott, AZ … and they are not so humid. But more than that, when did the heat become the ONLY thing you can talk to me about? The checkout person at the grocery store and 10 minutes later, the drive-up person at the bank. Both people in air-conditioned buildings. Not like these are dudes who are working on the road crews.
- Will Bill Forest replace Mike Morrissey? Will he have to step down as a City Council person? Dr Rent, I know your answer. Let others have a turn.
by Cheryl Mathis on June 25th, 2008
I don’t think I realized it until last Saturday when I talked myself out of cutting back. Earlier in the day, my husband and I had agreed that we will no longer have ice cream every evening. Instead, we will save the frosty treat for Wednesday afternoons when we walk to the West Side Tasty Treat from work. We shook on it.
Yeah. That didn’t last long. Knowing that I wouldn’t have ice cream that day made me crave it all the more. I yearned. I ached. I needed. Within hours, I had devised a scheme to convince my husband that we should amend our previous resolution.
“It’s too hard to just quit cold turkey. We should start tapering off, say every other day for a couple weeks, then every third day, etc. We could have ice cream tonight, and then again on Monday, and then our date on Wednesday.”
After a great deal of eye rolling, he acquiesced. We went to Briq’s.
Our weight has stabilized at a forty-pound loss since January. We exercise occasionally, and overall, we eat better. I can only guess that the weight would keep dropping off if we would just stop eating the ice cream.
Chris loves chocolate, I favor simple vanilla. If it’s an option, we both love mint chocolate chip. What’s your favorite flavor? Where do you get your icy indulgences in town? If it’s not ice cream, what is your guilty pleasure?
by Citizen Wausau on June 23rd, 2008
This week’s installment of links to the great stuff going on in CW’s personal blogs section:
• Jill Knetter of the “View from the Stage” still loves the children’s book “Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH.” And who can blame her? And she is also a fan of other childish pursuits:
“I think that once in a while it’s nice to go back to things you used to enjoy. The other day I got out some sidewalk chalk and drew all over my front walk with my cousin. And you know what? It’s still fun. I drew a crappy picture of a purple cat, and I proudly (and poorly) signed my name under it. There’s nothing like leaving colorful dust all over the front of your clothes when you brush your hands off. It was like being a kid again.”
• Dino Corvino – you know Dino? – offers instructions on some very Eastern-sounding breathing methods.
• Alex Tallitsch has a helpful prompt for those who suffer from writer’s block.
• Cheryl Mathis on beating cancer.
• And the Green Bay Packers News blog is still at it with more posts that you Packers obsessives truly do seem to enjoy. What is it that you people like so much about football, when baseball is clearly the superior sport, and besides that it is summer?
by Dino Corvino on June 20th, 2008
I sometimes think that we miss out on a lot of human interaction. Nothing specific, but in general. A sort of general missing out, a quiet missing out. Not a big deal, but nevertheless, we miss out. I do not know what makes me think that rowing in a rowboat will make it better, but I know for a fact I have a better chance to meet a girl that way than I do at the grocery store.
1. As you look at the environment, what is your biggest concern? I mean let us all assume we are going to live to be 200, what changes NEED to be made? I think the fact that we are all going to die, and won’t really be able to get yelled at by the people that we are screwing over, is our only reason for keeping on the way we are. For me, I thought about Kleenex this morning. Oily, lotion-soaked, pieces of paper. I am going to buy a handkerchief. I do not know where they are, but I am going to go look.
2. Have you ever gone to the ear doctor? As a music dude, I have gone a few times. I even had a pair of prescription earplugs made a decade ago. Do you take care of your ears? What part of your body do you think you have done the most damage to?
3. I accidentally shaved my head a bit ago, after taking too many Advil PM. Please, let us not have an intervention. What is the worst hair cut you ever got? I have two, one time I went to the Beauty College, because I had a crush on a girl and she flirted with me and I went, and she shaved my beard and I had a mustache, like a cop. I looked so silly. The other was college, and I do not want to talk about it.
4. Have you gone swimming yet?
by Dino Corvino on June 18th, 2008
As some of you know by now, the Immel report has been released. I found it completely unsatisfactory; it documented the alleged incident in almost a passing matter. Mr. Immel failed to investigate Ms. Jasurda, and couched it in a claim not involving himself in a criminal case. Instead, I think it reflected that he simply did not ask. Nothing more. Ms. Jasurda has representation, and as such has protection. She is more than able to say no to answering questions, but instead, he chose to not even ask.
This process was outside of the eyes and oversight of the City Council, and directly the HR Committee. As such, no elected official, save the Mayor, had any involvement in this investigation of senior staff. It appears the HR Committee will discuss this matter on the 23rd of June.
So I say this, let us once again see leadership on this committee. Clearly, Mr. Immel has documented his friendship with Jim Brezinski. Let us see Jim Brezinski excuse himself from this discussion, so that the people’s business can be addressed more freely. Let us see the elected officials of this city show us the leadership that we have sought from them. This is not a group of fresh-faced council folks; in fact, these are grizzled leaders who have been there for a while. Let us see them lead.
- Ask this question: Why was the HR Committee not a part of this process?
- Ask this question: Why is it acceptable for Mr. Nagle to tell the WDH that this is a 40-hour investigation, and then Mr. Immel bills for 50 hours?
- Ask this question: Why was Mr. Immel selected?
- Ask this question: If we are not interested in the claims of Ms. Jasurda, why was this matter only brought up in reference to those claims? Why did the city not have a policy in place prior to this?
- Ask this question: What other necessary policies do we not have?
I call on CitizenWausau.com readership to attend a meeting like this. Let us hear reports of how the City of Wausau, and its elected leadership go about the people’s business.
HR Committee Agenda
by Cheryl Mathis on June 16th, 2008
Assignment
Write an essay of no less than 500 words, no more than 1,000 words, on a specific, Wausau-themed topic, and enter to win a $50 Chamber Bucks gift certificate.
Due: June 29, 2008 (11:59 pm).
Entering: Post your essay to your Citizen Wausau blog. (Don’t have one? Get one! It’s free!) Be at least 13 years old. Let us know you’ve entered the competition by emailing us at essay at this domain dot com. Wait with bated breath until we announce the winners on Monday, July 14, 2008 at 9 am.
Judging: The posts will be read and judged by the Citizen Wausau Editorial Board. We will prominently feature the winning post on Citizen Wausau’s front page, acknowledge the runners-up, and link to every essay entered in the competition. We will judge based on creativity, style and content.
Prizes: Grand prize winner will receive a $50 Chamber Bucks gift certificate. Second and third place winners will receive Citizen Wausau memorabilia (TBD).
Theme: What is your vision for Wausau’s future? This can be either what you think Wausau will be like years in the future or what you dream Wausau could become. It can be funny or fanciful, serious or realistic.
by Citizen Wausau on June 16th, 2008
A lot of the action at Citizen Wausau happens on the personal blogs. Links to recent posts show up on the sidebar here on the front page, but we also wanted to call attention to the individual blogs by offering a handful of links to posts that caught our eye. This is something we hope to do weekly. So here are a few — and only a few– highlights of what Citizen Wausau users have been blogging about lately.
A few – and only a few – highlights from Citizen Wausau user blogs in the past week or so. CW rolls deep.
The Green Bay Packers News blog has been doing great obsessive off-season coverage and YouTube-pulling for the past month or so. His latest post includes some spirited ESPN-bashing and a passel of videos.
Alex Tallitsch of “The Search for Redemption” blog posted some lyrics to a rap song that were sort of personal and introspective, but then he took that post down for some reason. However, you can still read his first-person account of a fictional African safari:
As a journalist I had been assigned to cover this growing trend for the Centre Daily Times in State College, Pennsylvania, and one would expect that I would have been eager to document the almighty safari, a luxury usually reserved for those with considerably more wealth than me. However, having viewed any kind of hunting as nothing more than savagery, I felt my disinclination justified at the time and had remained skeptical and equally diffident right up until my ship had docked at its Kenyan port.
The “Things I Have Thought of Carefully” blog considers the manners of Wisconsinites and finds them seriously wanting.
What should Wausau be? Jane Neal offers up some thoughts on local politics and the future.
Cheryl Mathis has some personal reflections on life with children, life’s purpose, and living life with grace and kindness.
by Shawn Sullivan on June 13th, 2008
1. What is one band you love that you think no one else in the CW community has heard of? Bonus points for stumping Dino ?
2. Do you think that “social norms” advertising works? I’m referring to the Merrill school district social norms project about underage drinking. The commercials are all over the TV…
3. Are you good at trivia? Have you ever participated in the Stevens Point Trivia Competition?
4. Are you still friends with your childhood best friend(s)?
5. What’s the best way to get on your bad side?
6. Father’s Day Special…Describe your father in one word.
