Girls Gone Mild, with a side of Mustard

My friend Michelle came to visit this weekend.
I introduced her to Madison in our per-usual, "Girls Gone Mild" style, which included activities like snowshoeing on Lake Mendota, trying out the aqua-massager in the mall, and visiting the Mustard Museum.
Yep - a museum (and mostly store), devoted to mustard.
I don't even LIKE mustard.
But it was hilarious, and tasty. You can try any mustard they sell.
I bought a garlic and dill flavored mustard - perfect for dipping pretzels into.
Here are some photo highlights from the museum:

Michelle cozying up with the mustard bottle. We thought the store would be exponentially more awesome of someone had actuall been wearing this.

Michelle, Nate and I watched a little of the "Mustard Piece Theatre."

Apparently I should try a mustard bath for my insomnia.

This entire wall showcased mustards from around the United States. Around the room were cases full of mustard from around the world as well. I had no idea the ham sandwich had so many condiment options!

While she didn't purchase this shirt, Michelle did earn a diploma for herself from Poupon U. Some of the options were 'Philosphy of Dijon,' 'Doctor of Mustard' or 'Master of Bad Attitude.' She got the MBA. :)

Yep - if you come to Madison, maybe you, too, can have a weekend of this kind of fun!

Protesters Need to Eat, Too!

Here are a few photos from the capital today. Most of them are signs that are made on Ian's Pizza Boxes.

Ian's Pizza is a local establishment, less than a block from the capital. One night they donated (when asked) their extra food after closing, and ever since, they have been inundated from phone calls around the world. People are donating money so they can feed protesters.
HOW FREAKING COOL IS THAT?
I love it. They've got the longer version of the story, and the history of Ian's on their website, but here's a snippet that I think is awesome.

FROM THE IAN's PIZZA Website:
"It takes a leap of faith to call a place you've never heard of, order a pizza that you'll never see, and just hope that those people on the other end of the phone do what they say they will. It's now 9am on Sunday, February 20th, and at last count we had sold over 430 of our signature 20" mac n' cheese pizzas to callers worldwide, and have at least 60 still waiting to be made so we could help feed what has turned into a city within a city.
When this is all over, we'll gather these order tickets, compile a list, post it on our website and Facebook and in-store, and we'll have a final count of who ordered what and just how many people we helped feed.
In the meantime, just know that we are so honored that you have entrusted us with feeding the people you're supporting and we're so grateful for your trust and your business -- thank you so much!"

If you are inspired, you can DONATE HERE

I think this sign was inspired from Jesse Jackson - when he was here, he called us - Superbowl Champions of the Labor Movement.

And . . . since we all need a little humor, I share a photo of a magnet that I almost bought today, from a cute store called Anthology. Seems fitting.

Especially right now.

So . . . I contained myself from buying this magnet, but I couldn't help but buy a few of these and these buttons. I heart craftiness!

THANK A UNION

I stole this, from the ED show, on msnbc. Why recreate the wheel if you don't have to?

 Because of collective bargaining, many of us have:
- A 40 Hour Work Week
- Weekends Off
- Worker Safety Standards
- Health Care
- Pensions
- Vacation Time

Huh. Who knew? [Wisconsinites because we have great teachers! (Yep - couldn't help that plug!).]
Here's a little Wisconsin history, in case you're interested:
* A fight for the 8 hour workday, which led to the 40 hour workweek: http://linkstothepast.com/milwaukee/bayviewmassacre.php

An Update from the Epicenter (Madison, WI)

Last week (two weeks ago? Three years?), I had an agenda item to ask about how our resident’s from Egypt were doing with all the riots. We talked about one woman who had been glued to her tv – she couldn’t stop watching what was happening in her homeland.

As I drove home from work tonight (wondering if I could get some quick grocery-shopping done in time to catch the governor’s address), I thought that perhaps many of us are going through this same need for information. There is a ton flowing via word of mouth, facebook, email, online articles . . . you name it, people are sharing updates in any way they can. I feel like it’s becoming a bit of an assault on my brain – and yet things change so quickly, that it’s hard to know when to say ‘enough is enough.’

And there’s kind-of a lot going on right now:

§ The Budget Repair Bill [This is what the governor calls his plan to fix the $3.6 billion dollar budget, which includes removing state worker’s rights to collectively-bargain.]

§ The Budget Repair Bill Protest

§ UW-Madison might split off from the UW-system.

§ Yep, you read that right. If this other “stuff” wasn’t drawing so much other attention, this might have more air-time.

§ SO MUCH GOING ON I don’t even know where to begin. So, I won’t.

And so . . . with emails from the provost and friends and colleagues and news articles and conversations in the restroom, it’s hard to pull away from the craziness. But I know that I need to, and so tonight I’ll be finding some other kind of drama to watch from the DVR besides the stuff that’s happening in my backyard.

As an aside .  . .

For those of you that are wondering – because you’ve been kind enough to ask, and I haven’t had time to answer, life for me is good. I’m just a little tired. J But who isn’t right now? There’s a lot going on everywhere. My staff is great. I’m worried about them – many are burning the candle at both ends – they are working full shifts, and then heading to the capital at night to protest. I’m really glad they feel supported. Just before I left work tonight someone said “I’m so thankful we can talk about this stuff at work – I would hate it if I had to come in and keep my mouth shut.” That makes me feel pretty good. They know that we need to stay open and running to serve our residents, but they are able to use their voice both inside and outside the workplace, so they don’t mind doing both. Now if only we could get that darn governor to listen . . .

Thoughts on the 'Budget Repair Bill Protest'

A friend and I walked to the capital after work today. It was pretty quiet, compared to what it was like earlier in the day. Don't get me wrong, there were still a boatload of people, but nothing like the 50,000 or-so crowd-size that they talked about earlier in the day.

I wanted to share some pictures with you from the rally. But I didn’t have my camera, so I only have a few from my phone. They’re pretty blurry. So I’ll use my words to describe what I saw tonight. [And go back tomorrow for photos!].

The crowds were very kind. I can’t tell you how many times I heard “excuse me” while people were bumping into each other. Some people were passing out food. To strangers. Or the woman who said “bless you” to a sneezing stranger. At a protest. I can’t imagine this happening in many other places outside the midwest. I hope this continues. Tomorrow the Tea Party is arriving, and while I’m glad they’re also using their voices, I hope that the crowd will be able to continue to peacefully gather and stand united. Without riot or chaos. Here’s a photo from inside the capital, when the democrats from the house of representatives came out to motivate the crowd. They’re all wearing orange shirts that say “fighting for WI families.” Pretty cool.

I quickly became obsessed with the witty, and poignant, signage that folks were carrying. Some of my favorites were:

-          You screw us, we multiply.

-          My collectively-bargained 30-minute lunch won’t balance the budget.

-          Don’t drink the tea! It’s full of crap.

-          In school we call this Bullying. In politics, progress.

-          Egypt – Libya – Jordan – Yemen – Wisconsin?

-          Teachers Working Conditions are Students Learning Conditions

-          Hey Walker – Just follow the yellow brick road . . . [insert hand-glued brick road] Maybe the wizard can give you a BRAIN, a Heart [insert heart-shape here] and COURAGE to do the right thing! [I’ve decided that this was clearly made by a teacher.]

-          Labor Rights are Human Rights.

The simplicity and power behind this one totally caught me off guard.

I think it’s because I could picture at many of my staff carrying it.

Post 3 - I remembered!

My mom called tonight to check in.
Because Wisconsin is on the national news.
She's worried.
Love it.
#1. I think it's sweet.
#2. It relates back to the previous post about us getting on the news. See . . . it eventually came back full circle.
After I published the post.
And so you get more than one anyway.
And one of them continues to ramble on and on and on.
:)

A Three-For-One-Deal on Posts Tonight

So, there’s kinda a lot going on here in the lovely state of Wisconsin. So much so, that I can’t decide what to write about, so I’ve decided to share it all with you, but it’s pretty disjointed, and should be 3 separate posts. Normally I’d just “save” the information for a post tomorrow, but the world keeps changing quickly, so I feel obligated to share it all tonight. Shocker.

Post #1:

“Have fun at the rally tonight – don’t get arrested!” –  Me. Tonight. Not something I ever imagined myself needing to say to someone I supervised.

Post #2

A little background. . .

- Yesterday morning I talked with a staff member who has been getting pretty involved and passionate about the rallies at the capital. He told me that he needed more people (to be able to go down to the capital to participate in the rally). I said I’d love to be able to allow everyone (who wanted to go) to leave, but I also needed work to get done, so we need to continue to work together. (Longer conversation ensued – I won’t bore you with the whole thing). He then said that he needed this to get on the national news, and he needed the national guard to be called. (I shared concern for what that would mean, and said I hoped we could continue to protest in a peaceful, safe way).

- A few hours later, I joked with my management team that I would ‘email my friend Brian Williams’ and see if he would come to Madison.

- Last night I thought – why not? Maybe this is another way I can do my part. So I went to the nbc news site and emailed them for a story idea. Yep, I sent this: J

Subject: Please Help Wisconsin State Workers!

Dear Brian,

I don't know if you've heard, but there's a bit of 'unrest' in the state of Wisconsin right now. Many people are afraid of the governor cutting out the collective bargaining rights of our unions (except police, firefighters and state patrols). It's scary. I work for UW-Madison (and so would prefer to remain anonymous, as these are my personal opinions, not my administrator-opinions). Many students, faculty and staff are at the state capital, rallying together to protest Governor Walker's "Budget Repair Bill." Teachers from around the state are staging sick-outs and the impact around the state is no doubt going to become even scarier. (Here's a random article - that has a good, quick overview.)

Because of my role and busy schedule today, I won't be able to participate in any of the events during the day (I can in the evening). But I joked with my staff today that I was going to write you. And I decided that I should follow-through on that. It would be great to have you, Lester, or Ann join us in Madison (or anywhere else in the state, but the Capital is hopping!). I honestly think that the governor is attacking unions and is ignoring the people in this state. There are other ways to fix the budget. This isn't it. We could use your help. Thank you!

Kelly

Guess what was on the news tonight?

My email worked – Yay, me! ;)

[Despite the flippant-ness of this statement, I find it very cool that people continue to show up and use their voices, in whatever way they see fit.]

Post #3

Huh. I’m confident that 30 minutes ago, or so, I had something else to say. I’m sure it was witty, poignant and fabulous. But apparently now I can’t remember what that really important thing was. Please forgive me. I’m tired. It’s kinda been a long day.