Author Archive
What do you want them to do with you?
This week, I was riding my bike on the east side when a strong, oily smell smote my nostrils. I looked around and saw a darkish cloud roiling above a funeral home. “Oh, cripes! They’re incinerating someone!” was my first reaction. And I somewhat recoiled at the sight; and unreasonably so. After all, they do indeed burn dead people — they call it cremation. You get to keep the ashes of your loved one if you want; you can hold onto them or scatter them in some special place.
But, having that blackish smoke invade my day was sobering and I …
Is Wausau Gonna Play Ball, Er What?
The other day, a WDH front page news article caught my eye — dealt with the Wisconsin Woodchucks and Wausau’s Athletic Park. Gist of the article was that the team’s contract with the city expires after next season, and unless the city agrees to step up to the plate (sorry) to pay for significant updates at the ballpark, the team might face a need to relocate. I’m thinking: Remember when there was a Milwaukee Braves team and Atlanta stole them away? Broke my 13-year-old heart. Still hurts today, Brewers and all.
Exhibitionism in Downtown Wausau
This Friday night, Wausau’s downtown gallery night returns with a passel of businesses decked out as host galleries, exhibiting (and selling) original art, and generally treating Citizen Wausonians and neighbors to a good time. If you’ve never attended one of these gallery nights (this is the fourth year for this twice-a-year event), it’s a chance to stroll downtown, from gallery to gallery where you will be offered free delectables and drinkables.
Typically, there are free horse-drawn carriage rides, free collector wine glasses, sidewalk musicians, and just a dynamic social scene. It’s gratifying to see all those heads bobbing down the sidewalk; …
Leftist Claptrap in a Time of Righteousness
I don’t know what all I’m trying to accomplish by writing this article. Venting, yes. Provoking response, maybe. Affecting/changing alternate opinions, not likely. Rambling on in a stream-of-consciousness rant, most likely. Wasting my virtual breath, hope not.
Last week, I read an article on cnn.com about a Congressional hearing in D.C. on the subject of CEO compensation (i.e. huge salaries and perks) even in cases when those executives’ companies have performed miserably. While that story dealt with individuals walking away with dozens, even hundreds, of millions of dollars when their companies are tanking, it brought to mind recent developments in our …
Remuralizing & Demoralizing
I just wanted to attempt to resurrect or take the pulse of the idea bandied about a short while back re: recreating the Scott Street Pub’s upstairs wall mural. The gist of the idea was that, since a detailed photographic record exists of the entire mural, why can’t it become a community project to recreate it in a new home? Some recommended the Fillmor as a good candidate for a home. Or maybe somewhere in/on ArtsBlock. Is there anyone out there in CW land that is taking this project to heart and under their wing?
Airing it Out
(Editors Note: When we started the individual blogs, we mentioned pulling some forward to the front page…at random, or because we really dug them. So we are going to start with this post from Tom Neal about WNRB. I have heard of this WNRB thing, and I bet it is fun.)
Thought I’d take this opportunity to promote something I do and where I do it. On Thursday nights, from 7 to 9, I host a radio show (Roundtrip with Neal at the Wheel) on commercial-free WNRB-LP, 93.3 FM. It’s a kick, groove, self-indulgence that allows me to delve into my preoccupation with music.
Neal Gets Real, So Deal
Preamble
The other day, after reading a news article re: prez-candidate Mitt, I penned the following thoughts, unsure of where I might consider airing them. I figured this was a “national” issue (warning: it’s about abortion) and maybe didn’t fit in with the local thrust of Citizen Wausau content. Then pal Dino encouraged me to “localize” it and post on CW. Well, how’s this for local: do you have a daughter, sister, wife, aunt, female friend? Do you own her? Are you her ruler? Or do you think she has the right to make her own decisions regarding her body and health care? Do you think she should be able to access care she wants here where she lives? Do you think your daughter or other female close to you deserves privileges that other females don’t?
A River Runs Through Us
There’s something I’ve always been interested in since moving to Wausau. It’s our big old river. Yes, I understand the history of logging and mills and industry hugging the banks and as a result most of the venerable stream meanders through our fair city without engaging us overly much.
There are Oak and Fern Islands, Gilbert and Memorial Parks, another couple of seldom-used parks on the west bank, the sometimes kayaking run of whitewater, and some stretches of “riverwalk” paths. But for the most part, there’s scrub and old warehouses, a cement company, some sort of hardware wholesaler and other businesses, …
Beatniks, unite!
Back when I was a little shaver, there emerged a cultural archetype: the beatnik. Pre-hippie, the beatnik was the American follow-up to the cabaret culture of Europe from a half-generation earlier, and was famously and ingloriously portrayed as Maynard G. Krebbs on the Dobie Gillis Show (a harmless, goateed, shaggy work-shirker); as beret-wearing, poetry-spewing, finger-snapping, bongo-playing preachers of “cool”; as philosophy-reading, coffee-swilling, deep thinkers who hung out in dim-lit cafes and acted dark and mysterious; as jazz-loving, commercialism-eschewing, denizens of the counterculture; and as comic stereotypes on sitcoms and even in cartoons.
Building a Better Wausau
This may be one of my most “pet” causes … looking for and finding ways to make Wausau a better place to live. (Why? Because I and my family live here!) You may live in Mosinee, so whenever I write “Wausau” here, you could just as easily substitute “Mosinee” and apply it to your life, maybe altering a few details.
So, what am I on about here? This thing in front of your eyes “citizenwausau.com” is one example of people doing something new to contribute to the quality of life, quality of thinking, quality of discourse in our community. …