by Cheryl Mathis on December 3rd, 2008
Almost every morning, I spend a good deal of time on my laptop. I check my email, write something nice to my mom, start plurking, and read all of the updated local blogs on my list. I don’t “twitter” every single blog that updates, but nearly all of them. If you don’t have time to check out all of the links I find for you every day, here’s your alternative. Blogs You Should Know will let you know the best blog posts from the last few days.
Dr Rent thinks the speed trailer on Franklin St is poorly placed.
I have a hard time finding sympathy for people who speed in residential zones, but even I agree with him on the “going uphill” struggle. But again…. Please don’t speed in residential areas. Children make stupid decisions sometimes… like running out between parked cars. Be prepared for the unexpected, and it’s impossible to do that if you are going 40 in a 25.
Jayna Hintz at Woodson Wanderings has lots of little moments of joy in her life at work.
I had joy when I pulled the brownies out of the oven and when my daughter squealed at the Christmas lights. Later on, I had a laughter party with my kids while we were driving to the store. Laughter for the sake of noise, followed by a myriad peal of giggles and guffaws at the silliness of our laughter.
It reminds me of random acts of kindness and the thrill that gives. One year, I felt bad for a bell ringer outside of Fleet Farm on a night when it was near or below zero. I brought him a hot chocolate from McDonalds. I felt like I had won the lottery. So it is when you pull out bits of joy from the tapestry of your day.
Ann Liebmann shares a couple of her fallback recipes.
Once again, I feel stymied by my limited pantry. Someday I’ll have the funds to keep sun-dried tomato pesto in my cupboard. My fallback recipes usually include cream of mushroom soup and noodles. Let’s also not forget the constant “surprise” of scrambled eggs and hashbrowns on my dinner table more than once a week.
Do you have fallback recipes? My mom makes a concoction she calls American spaghetti. Or chipped beef on toast. Or a chicken casserole. Or a beef stew. Some days, it’s as basic as peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with our house.
Katie Rosenberg gives a melange of political tales, from a hunting Joe McCarthy to a pithy ad campaign.
The grandma story is my favorite. I think I’d spit out my cranberry sauce if my relative started spouting off memories like those.
It reminds me of some of my favorite college professors who would go on tangents about random events in their lives. All of a sudden they are name-dropping or describing something really spectacular. I’m left stunned and a little depressed at the ordinary-ness of my own life sometimes.
MsMamma transforms an innocent-looking child into a flying monkey.
Adorable… and more than a little creepy. A must-see photo again from this first-class photographer and blogger. Flying monkeys are cute, but come on. That’s scary! I love her photos, though. You should really add MsMamma to your blog reader.
428CJ describes the result of an ethics study of today’s teenagers.
Hmmm. It leads into fuzzy territory. I’m relatively certain I never cheated on a test in high school, but I lied to my parents lots. Stealing is absolutely wrong, cheating is abhorrent. Lying is unfortunate in the best of times.
What are you opinions on these issues? Where do you fall on the ethical fence?
Growing up, my cardinal rule was that I shouldn’t do anything I could get in trouble for. Add hormones and teenage drama to the mix, and that cardinal rule only held in certain academic situations, but it’s still something that comes back to me. The still small voice.
Chris Conley rebuts Mercutio’s diatribe against WSAU’s programming choices.
If you want an alternative to NPR, you listen to conservative talk radio. I personally love Catholic radio. It’s a delicious palate cleanser. I listened to a lot of Rush Limbaugh growing up in my parents’ house, and I still turn him on once in a while. Maybe it’s a matter of knowing what the opposition is talking about.
Keith U thinks that bike booties are the bestest things ever.
They certainly are … um … cute. But whatever works. Those serial-killer full face masks are also ridiculous looking, but so necessary. I enjoyed a lot of winter activities a lot more after I got one in high school. I don’t have one now because I fear it would frighten my children.
Speaking of which, I saw the dear bird girl walking down the street this morning, and she was wearing one of those face masks. See? It’s not just downhill skiers, and there is very little excuse for not walking when it’s cold outside.
by Citizen Wausau on September 3rd, 2008
All right everyone, now is the time to get serious. Enough of the fun and frivolity. It is time for LINKS:
• The wonderful and talented Andy Laub – actor, designer, coding monkey, singer, player of Rock Band – has solved a problem that has dogged CW for some time, which is the preponderance of fake-people who want to start fake-blogs dedicated to spamming you and everyone around you. Current real-person bloggers are unaffected, and future real-person bloggers need only undergo a short validation period and then will be set loose into the wide world, where you want to be. (more…)
by Citizen Wausau on August 12th, 2008
Your Voice took a week off last week but we are back in the groove again, and really it is easy because there is so much good stuff being posted in the CW personal blogs:
• Cheryl Mathis has a playground workout that probably lots of us could benefit from. I think she should put out a line of videos.
• Welcome to the new blogger Stephenie and her blog “Adventures of a Midwest Sound Girl.” I’d expect a Midwest sound girl to have some pretty interesting adventures, so it will be fun to hear updates on bands she sees and other aspects of the Audio Life. For instance, I have a question, why are bands always asking for more vocals in the monitor? The vocal levels are fine, just chill out already with the asking for more vocals in the monitor, okay?
• Soundtrack news on Erik’s movie.
• Less word-posts, more pictures of puppydogs. That is what this place needs.
• Our own politicalactorvist has been to the United States Student Association’s Summer Congress and even drafted a resolution of some sort.
• And Billie of the “A Stable Personality” blog reflects rather poetically on the physical aftermath of all that hay-stacking.
by Alex on August 11th, 2008
I really thought that this bit would be an easy one to write. I have spent the better part of the week trying to figure out exactly how I wanted to approach this. By the time all of the thinking had been thought, I still had absolutely no clue what would end up here.
So, I have my picture of an angry Henry Rollins in my head, and I have instead opted to forge ahead and get it done. By choosing honesty and spontaneity over the best laid plans, perhaps in the end the following paragraphs will say exactly what they were supposed to all along.
Explaining what Citizen Wausau means to me is complicated at best. At first, it was an experiment, yet another link sent by an old acquaintance, on that silly little site known as Facebook. I really had no clue how to operate a blog. I always considered blogs to be a diary of sorts, and I certainly wasn’t interested in keeping a daily account of a life that reminds me enough of its mere presence as it is. However, I made my first post, noted my confusion, and decided to pound away.
It’s doesn’t really matter what is left there now, and since you were smart enough to get to this here page, if you really want to find what resides there I am sure you are more than capable of locating it on your own. Those are things that are not significant to me right now. What is important is what I found along the way, and for me, what I ended up finding was something more important than anything that sits in my blog right now.
I found that this place is scary.
Seriously, there are some amazing people here, and it frightens me. The first time you hit the community button, you don’t realize that Citizen Wausau is more than a place to pen. In my experience it is a community in every sense of the word. It expands far past this page and into the vast expanse of social networks, technology, and life itself. It is an open community, and if you take the time to talk to some its members, you will get invited into it as well.
Beware, it is bloodcurdling.
There are amazing writers here. People that do it for real reside here, and most of them that don’t certainly could explore that option if they ever chose to. When I open a page of Nealistically Speaking or A Stable Personality, I am often completely floored. That is only the beginning. Every page you open is stunning. Each and every blog post is a view into the life of someone, someone who has donated it to the world. That on its own is spooky, no matter what synonym you use. I mean for gods sakes, this thirty-six-year-old former pothead spends time thoroughly enjoying a blog about editing and diaper changes, perhaps two of my least favorite things.
It is chilling.
What scared me most was a rogue poster named Katie. Her piece called “My Dada” may be the most miraculous thing I have ever read. It was powerful, it was astounding. It was fantastical. I stared at it for almost an hour.
It was frightening.
Perhaps the most unnerving aspect, is that I really hate to read. Crucify me if you will, but I am about as far away from a book guy as you can get. I prefer to read my laptop (which coincidentally is another reason to support your local library – they have the technology available for those who favor that route), indulging in the works that reside there instead. I even find the comment section of Citizen Wausau to be filled with amazing works of thought and writing.
Can I say crapping my pants on here?
Then, there are the behind the scenes people, the dedicated staff and heartbeat of the operation. I still don’t know all of them, or what they do precisely, but those I have met alarm me the most. They are machines of progress and service to this community. You don’t have to write a whole lot to be amazing around here either.
Now I am not fluent in dorkenese at all, but this Andy Laub character has to be an artificial life form, something similar to the Terminator. When I first started writing here I could barely figure out how to fire up the options this site has to offer. I would often find myself irritated, spamming poor Andy with question upon question after coming to my wits’ end. The poor guy took it all with a grain of salt, and answered each and every inquiry without hesitation and without ripping the apparent frustrated look right off my face, as I imagine he wanted to on more than one occasion. Like I said, I am not a tech guy, but I can barely run my own blog much less a hundred others. Even though he cancelled the best podcast on the planet, Andy Laub is tremendous, however you dice it.
It is fear provoking.
Do you know they have editors here? One is named Cheryl, and she scares me, too. She can take an article such as this one, and whip it into shape before you can say “red pen.” The most astounding thing is that she actually likes to do it. She does it willingly. She does it without belittling, without regret, and without hesitation.
That is Freddy Kruger scary.
See what I did there? Probably not, but it is really funny to me.
Now if you think Freddy in a dark alley is scary, then you haven’t met Dino Corvino. I would say without hesitation that this thing called Dino is perhaps the most unique figure I have ever run across. If Santa Claus took up bare knuckle fighting, that would be perhaps the best explanation I can come up with. He is passionate, he demands the best, and he brings out the best as well. I can’t begin to elucidate what Dino has meant to me. It goes further than words, so I won’t even try.
Dino is redoubtable.
There are many more, and I have yet to figure out their roles in the process. But, they all make this community an ominous place for me to be.
It is scary for me to be a part of something this positive. It is scary to be part of something this amazing. It is scary to realize that this thing called Citizen Wausau allowed me to participate in the phenomenon.
I often don’t feel worthy of the support I have received here, or the invitation to contribute that I have been given.
I feel out of place, out of my element, and most certainly out of my league.
Sometimes I feel like I can’t live up to the rest of the treasures I read every day.
Want to know the scariest thing of all?
None of them care about things like that.
by Citizen Wausau on July 14th, 2008
You want personal blog content? We’ve got your personal blog content right here, pal. You might think that everyone would have been too busy over the past week getting ready for Chalkfest and Ribfest and sweating the Brett Favre saga to post in their blogs, but you would be so wrong if you thought that. Here is this week’s dose of the delightful, the debonair, the devilish and destructive and delicious CW personal blogs section:
• The Green Bay Packers News blog considers the “Hottest Chicks in Sports.” Personally I am much too high-minded to enjoy such a thing and would never, ever click on a link like that. Consider its inclusion here a test of your character. Whatever you do don’t click the link.
• Dino is wearing cool sunglasses again, and other milestones.
• Tom Neal has songs about rain. I would add Missy Elliott’s incredibly good breakout hit “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” to his playlist.
• Alex Tallitsch is wondering about many things in a reflective post that I believe we can all relate to. Except for the one about wondering whether he likes cats anymore. What’s not to like? Cats are the best.
• And new blogger Chris Mathis – welcome Chris! – encountered a driver who does not understand the concept of sharing and really, really could use a refresher on some basic rules of the road. This exciting post includes an obscene gesture!
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 Citizen Wausau on March 10th, 2008
[This post comes to us from one of our newest bloggers, Alex. While he is new, he is surely becoming one of our most prolific. This post highlights young love, and we think it is a good tale. We hope you enjoy it.]
March 6th, 2008
I was talking with a virtual friend today. Virtual in that I know virtually nothing about this person, yet for some odd reason have absolutely no problem telling them anything. Anyway, after the conversation was over, I felt compelled to write something about my first. No, not that first, but close. It’s my first love, that rara avis, the girl that started the proverbial ball rolling.
I won’t mention any names. You know who you are. Name dropping would just be wrong and uncomfortable, or for that matter just downright wierd (yes, I know this is spelled wrong, there is a method to my madness dear broccoli lovers). So names aside, let me say she was one unique little gal.
I was a sophomore in high school, and she was a senior. Need I say more? For a young man of sixteen, this is equivalent to floppin’ a royal flush … twice in a row. Fittingly, she was blonde, and had what was a smoking car at the time. It was one of those really weird Subaru’s they came out with in the late eighties, when Subaru decided to morph their all wheel drives with some kind of futuristic sports car looking thing. Regardless, I pretty much thought it was perhaps the coolest object on the entire planet. Now I know this all sounds shallow at this point, but hey I was sixteen. I will make up for it in the near future.
Firstly, to bring everyone back to earth while shedding a little perspective, this story doesn’t take place on the football field, or during the prom, but rather in that pit of popularity known as the high school band room. At this time anyway, there hadn’t been an avalanche of girls showing interest in me and I’m not sure that this one really did either, but I assure you I was going to give it a Boy Scout try despite the consequences.
The whole “how we met” part gets a little muddled at this point, and in general my memory is fair to middling at best. But, in the grand scheme of things I suppose it really doesn’t matter. What do matter are the lessons she taught me, starting with the most important one. Look for a girl with brains.
Don’t take that the wrong way; she was a great looking girl. Outside of that, she was extremely intelligent, unusually witty, and equally creative. We used to spend inordinate amounts of time sitting in her basement watching Monty Python and listening to the Nylons. To this day I cannot listen to a Nylons song without starting to tear up.
New found emotions like these are quite powerful, and they made lasting impressions on me long after we had parted ways. I received my first love letter from the aforementioned female. I kept it for probably ten years or so, until I lost track of it. It was the kind of letter that really tugged at a young man’s heart strings. She told me, “when I saw you my day brightened like a thousand suns had spawned from one.” To this date, that is one of the most romantic things anyone has ever said to me. Coincidentally, I then proceeded to parlay that line into many a one night stand, and possibly (gasp) may have even used it to rope in the current and permanent love of my life. Once again, I say thank you.
So, if you’re out there, three cheers for all of the above. I hold those memories in the highest regard, and truly value that brief moment in time we got to share. You were instrumental in forming my belief in romance. You were my first love and my first heartbreak. Sorry about that whole puppy thing.
by Dino Corvino on January 1st, 2008
As I sit here on this New Year’s morning, lost in the love of my keyboard, I am faced with questions, and answers, and predictions, and more questions. So I thought I would jump in the pool first, and be the first idiot to take on our virtual Polar Bear Plunge of 2008. A veritable cacophony of randomness brought on by long hours of no work, loss of mental stimulation, and overall sitting still for way too long. (more…)
by Andy Laub on November 5th, 2007
A little over a month ago, Citizen Wausau was introduced to the community. We weren’t sure what kind of reception there’d be, or what kind of trials we might face. All we knew was that we wanted to reinvent what community in Wausau could be. There have been some definite ups and downs so far, but CW came out swinging and has been surprising all of us. When the curtain closed on October, we were left with over 4,000 visits and 15,000 pageviews from 13 countries. We’ve been immensely pleased and we owe all of our contributors a heartfelt thanks for sticking with us and helping us grow.
Now it’s time for the next step. (more…)
