Where I live...

"Where I Live" is not a physical house as much as it is an area of Wisconsin, the south central part. Around me are Madison, Monroe, New Glarus, Stoughton, Janesville, Beloit, Baraboo, Portage, and Wisconsin Dells, as well as many other villages and towns. There are many beautiful state parks as well as numerous local and county parks. With the exception of Madison, my part of Wisconsin is quite traditional and politically conservative. The area is a melting pot of Germans, Norwegians, Scots, Irish, Swiss, Native American, and other nationalities who have been here for generations.

Madison, with a population of about a quarter million people, is the second largest city in Wisconsin. Milwaukee, the state's largest city is on the shore of Lake Michigan and about 90 miles directly east of Madison. The Milwaukee area was my home for most of my life. I came to the Madison area about 10 years ago.

Much of southeast Wisconsin is relatively flat with kettles, moraines, drumlins, and other land formations. People visiting the Milwaukee area and going no farther are convinced that Wisconsin is much like Illinois (we affectionately call Illinois residents Flatlanders). Other than that small, southeast corner of the state, Wisconsin is hilly, scenic land with beautiful lakes and rivers. It is also home to some of the most beautiful farm land in the world. Although we are losing farmland at an alarming rate, the family farm is still alive and well in our state.

This journal, while about the area in which I live, is more about who my neighbors are. I don't mean next door or across the street, or about individuals, but about the diverse population of my area, and the heritages that are found here.

The journal is also about progress and the cost of embracing the new while allowing the old traditions to fade into memory. Some places and people are making valiant attempts at keeping the old family and cultural traditions alive and they are doing a great job of it. Specifically, Stoughton (Norwegian), Monroe, (German/Swiss), New Glarus (Swiss), come to mind when I think of towns and communities which are working hard to keep their heritages alive and I will write reviews about them in the future.

I'm going to begin on a less positive note. There are many wonderful customs and traditions that my generation enjoyed that are scarcely thought of today. I will start with The Circus.

First, a little editorializing and a walk down memory lane...

Sunday, May 24, 2009 was a glorious day. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, the temperature was just perfect (70 degrees), and there was a mild breeze. It was a day that was meant to jog my memory and transport me to a much earlier time. But later, after thinking about the day, it was also very sobering, almost sad.

My father loved three activities above all else. He was a nut about parades, circuses, and baseball. His father was a 33rd Degree Mason (York Right) and if there was a parade within 15 miles, he was watching it or marching in it. I watched grandpa quite a few times with my dad. I can remember seeing my grandfather with his black outfit and plumed hat, with his sword and medals and ramrod straight back. He was over 70 years old at the time, but the years dropped off when he put on his uniform. My dad had grown up watching his dad in parades, and my dad was really proud of his dad. It's a wonderful memory and I am still proud of both of them. I still like parades.

The next thing that caused my dad to go bonkers was the circus. My dad loved circuses, most especially "The Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus" otherwise known as The Greatest Show on Earth.

We were not only fans of the circus, we were involved with the circus. Dad would take a week of his vacation and the first day we would stand along railroad tracks in some field watching the circus train rolling toward Boston, Jackson, St Louis, or Milwaukee. As I recall (I may not have the order of events exactly right), the next day was the parade. We were there early. Dad took movies with me sitting on his shoulders. The next day was when the excitement began. We watched the horses and elephants doing the heavy work of setting up the big top. It was a magic time.

Once the tents were set up, they had to do a lot of work setting up the rings and sideshows and all the concession tents, so we skipped a couple days. We always went to the first show and the last show (in some cases over a week apart) and then spent one day just wandering around the whole tent city. We looked at the animals - lions, tigers, panthers, elephants, and Gargantua (the world's largest gorilla) for hours. We ate ten cent hot dogs until we were sick, went to the side shows, then ate popcorn, cotton candy and drank many lime phosphates. It took weeks for me to come down from my sugar high. It was wonderful!

By the time I was about 11 it all changed. First, there were the Tuberculosis and Polio epidemics of the late 1940's and 50's when people were warned against congregating in large crowds. Also, there had been a terrible fire in 1944 in Hartford, CT in which almost 200 people died. Besides the medical situation, during the next decade the fire insurance costs skyrocketed and the Big Top's days were numbered. (The Cole Bros. Circus is still under a tent, but their seating capacity is fewer than 3,000 where The Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey tent capacity was over 7,000.) The Big Top was relegated to city auditoriums and arenas. There were still some circus parades, but it wasn't the same for dad and me. We went to the circus in the Milwaukee Auditorium a couple of times, but... Anyway, that was over 50 years ago...

Last Sunday, for the first time, I went to the Circus World Museum in Baraboo, WI. I hadn't thought much about the circus since I went to one when I was in my early 20's and stationed in Germany. Almost 50 years later the memories came flooding back. They no longer use the Big Top at the museum, but they have a small, one-ring show that is very nicely done. It was truly a wonderful day and I enjoyed every minute of it, but as we wandered around I realized what was missing. It was people, fans of the circus. There were perhaps 500 people in the park, while eight miles away in Wisconsin Dells, thousands of people jammed thrill rides and water parks and that, to me, was sad. Before I condemned the generation of thrill seekers and and video game players, I had to reach back into my memory bank and remember that I never once took my daughter to the circus. I resolved then and there that my grandchildren would have some circus memories. I'll try to talk my daughter into joining us.

In any case, it was later that evening that I started thinking about the huge advantages that I had as a child and that today's kids don't have. First, we didn't get our first television set until I was 10 years old. By that time our play habits were formed and rainy days were terrible. We had no video games, but we did have cap guns and gun belts. We were cowboys and Indians and we played baseball all spring, summer and fall. Rainy days meant board games like Monopoly and Pachisi or card games like "Go Fish" and "War." Mothers did not understand the need to turn the couch over so it could be used as a fort, and they really didn't understand the need for vocal volume when the fort was being attacked by four year old siblings. Rainy days sucked for both adults and children!

When I was a youngster we knew how to amuse ourselves. Whether we were playing or reading, we did not need to rely on parents to entertain us.

I fully understand that times have changed and there are ever fewer "stay-at-home-moms." I understand that children were much safer when I was young. At age 10 my buddies and I could hop a city bus and go to a Red Sox or Braves game and sit in the bleachers for a dime. A quarter got us the bus ride, a ticket, and a soda. My allowance was exactly one quarter per week which allowed me to go to the ball game once each week unless I could con my dad into taking me to a game. That was the best deal of all because baseball was his third love (he had been a semi-pro pitcher), and it meant more hot dogs, peanuts and popcorn, and lime phosphates. Even my mom loved baseball and baseball loved my mom and other moms like her. Ladies Day at the ball park was a day out with her friends and each others kids. Moms were harder to con into buying hot dogs and stuff. "You'll spoil your dinner." I never did understand how she could keep a scorecard, knit, and watch the game at the same time. Our moms were multi-talented. Talk about multi-tasking. Life was pretty good, back then.

The Ringling Brothers Circus is still around and still wonderful, and I know that the era and the old days are gone, but I also understand what has been lost to today's families, and it is indeed a shame. At least we sill have this wonderful museum in the town where "The Greatest Show On Earth" was born.

So ends my soapbox rant...

The Circus World Museum

Words do not adequately describe this wonderful museum. What makes the museum special is the fact that besides being a museum that relates the color and glory of the old days of the circus, it is also a "hands-on" museum with animals, a one ring performance, and wagons from the old days.