April, 27, 1992

Lately when I think about the library, I imagine Julie Brunnette and Don Damon wielding a big axe at budget time.  I am already considering how to absorb budget cuts:  reduced hours of operation, reduced hours for part-time staff.  Then -- Superman to the rescue -- I explain to the community what the cuts mean and a tremendous uproar ensues.  The Gang of 5 is recalled, and the City of Middleton finally has a progressive form of government.  Make this dream reality.

April 7, 1992

During the morning, I can avoid thinking about the election because of the need to focus on my ETN presentation, which goes well.  Like the Nuts and Bolts program, I feel as though I have skimped on the preparation time, but my delivery is smooth and confident for the most part.  Amazingly, about halfway through the program, I have to put a lid on the discussion so I can get to the heart of my notes.

After driving home, I find that I have no appetite for lunch.  I take a container of yogurt out of the refrigerator and methodically spoon out the contents.  The afternoon at the library is fairly unfocused.  I leave at 4 to pick up both boys at daycare.  We eat out at McDonald's -- yesterday it was Burger King -- where I chow down three chicken fajitas, a fast-foot entree I actually find myself salivating over.  I'm actually feeling less stressed out, even a bit more confident about JoAnna's chance.  I endure a rather comical Common Council meeting, but considering these are the folks that will be voting on the library budget later in the year, it's a frightening display of pigheadedness and ignorance.  Before the meeting, Bruce Kaufmann addresses Don in such as way as to suggest that Don has the election in the bag.  I remain poker-faced but am chuckling on the inside.

The results are a long time comin'.  Yesterday Tim said he'd have all the totals tabulated by 9:15, 9:30 at the latest.  Guess again.  Considering the speed with which he gets the checks mailed out, I certainly should have known better.  Still hoping for speedy returns, I wait with Jim Wexler and Mike Duren in the administrative office.  Who should join us but Don and his wife, who seems a real friendly sort but studiously avoids eye contact with me.  Once they learn about the delay, they decide to wait things out at the Village Green.  I decide to join the party -- in progress at home, the tension mounting each time the phone rings -- and it rings, chirps, actually, every five minutes. Around 11, Jim calls with the news that JoAnna has won, the 1st, 3rd, and 5th districts he clarifies after JoAnna hands me the phone.  But the 5th is Don's district  so we are heartened.  Fifteen minutes later, Jim calls to ask to speak to the new supervisor from the 26th district.  I relay the news to JoAnna across the living room and a joyous communal cheer raises the roof. JoAnna takes the phone and I give her the hug of a lifetime and feel the pleasant sensation of my eyes welling up with tears of joy.  It's a feeling that rivals the birth of a child.  I'm so proud and elated that I hug everyone in sight.  It's especially nice to have JoAnna's parents with us to share this fantastic moment.  For them it will be a memory of a special time that ranks with the best.  It will certainly be for me.

April 6, 1992

Today JoAnna showed what her campaign is made of.  Commitment, real commitment, not just fat cats digging into their deep pockets, but a deep base of support saying that we definitely have the best candidate, and we don't care what conservative Republicans we tell it to.

About 20 people help her distribute a response to Don's negative piece.  Don, of course, has to depend on the U.S. Mail -- and insignificant stuffing in newspapers -- to get his message across.

April 5, 1992

Russ Feingold is on JoAnna's side

If there's one image I'll retain from this day, it's JoAnna looking helpless and crying as the impact of Damon's latest lit drop hits her in the face.  I'm not as supportive as I should be, but maybe that's just as well.  I give her the time and space she needs to formulate a comeback.  And after Jim Wexler and I revise her first draft, we have a solid response.  Don's biggest mistake is not being secretive enough.  If he wants to have the last word, he needs to be sneakier.

The boys and I spend most of the day outside.  I manage to get some yard work done even though Andy has nothing on his mind but playing baseball.  We spend at least half the day outdoors.

Tuesday, February 18, 1992

Tuesdays @ 8:00 p.m.  We occasionally tuned in.



At least I didn't pass out last night before JoAnna returned home, but I am dead to the world once I fall asleep.  Eddie wakes up squalling around midnight, and I don't respond to JoAnna's rousings.  She's up with him for nearly two hours.  Then around 4, I feel a rumbling in my bowels that demands my attention.  For the next 2 hours, I made 5 trips to the bathroom.  Each time the diarrhea gushes out of my system.  At 7, when I should be getting ready for work, I feel too tired and weak and disoriented to proceed with the day as planned.  I call Jane Robbins and cancel our 8:15 meeting and then sleep fitfully until 10:45.  I consider blowing off the entire day but decide that being active will be the best antidote for my minor physical ailment.

After a trip to the post office, I arrive at the library at quarter to 1.  During the nearly two hours that I'm there, I'm actually quite productive.  At 2:30 I leave to pick Eddie up at daycare.  JoAnna and I think he might have another ear infection, but after a 45-minute wait to see Dr. Ellis, that turns out not to be the case.

I do go back to the library but not until 6:30.  A slow evening is interrupted by a very brief council meeting.  Sandy Allen calls on me to report on how the board responded to a complaint from one of Jim Wexler's constituents.  Then Don Damon volunteers to raise the money through the service clubs after I give him the price info.

Tuesday, February 11, 1992

A partial morning off.  I have an 11 o'clock appointment with Pat to have my hair cut.  My free time is spent at the computer, inputting calendar squares from early 1987.  JoAnna's pregnant; I'm bored.  I still miss the freedom of Oshkosh, the exhilarating bike rides, the crazy Tuesday night, the late-night solitary highs.

Deb is today's interview candidate.  Considering the fact that she's already been offered two jobs this year, both Liz and I are expecting a big-gun showing.  It doesn't happen.  Deb is so overcome with a case of nerves that she can manage only the briefest of answers to our questions.  She doesn't put the slightest dent into Eve's or Diane's chances.

The board meeting is a very useful and productive 2-hour session.  Sandy Allen appears to be very supportive of the library's needs, specifically in the areas of staffing and materials.  Now I have mixed feelings about John Schaffer's candidacy.  I think I'd rather have Sandy go to the mat against Julie and Don.

Wednesday, January 22, 1992

The interview schedule is finally starting to take shape.  Diane is willing to move up her time by three weeks.  After having two candidates decline an interview because they had already been offered jobs, I feel a desperate need to speed up the entire hiring process.  Vincent sound somewhat effeminate over the phone, but I can't let that color my judgment.

Today I provide round-trip taxi service to daycare. When I pick up the boys, Eddie appears to have just run out of patience.  He scrunches his face and lets out a wail as soon as he sees me.  Once I hold him for awhile, he's his usual and happy charming self.

It's dinner preparation time once we get home.  Later on, JoAnna and I discuss Don Damon's and Julie Brunnette's opinion of libraries.  They still see the building as Julie Sherman's library, the type of juvenile thinking you'd expect from these two troglodytes.

Monday, December 9, 1991

JoAnna calls to invite me out to lunch.  She drives out to Middleton to drop off her announcement for county board candidacy.  Old Town is convenient.  I half expect Don Damon to walk in.

I spend most of the afternoon getting job ads placed, an expensive task.  The final tally will easily exceed $500.

Sitting at the information desk, I start to work on a pathfinder for staff, focusing on our directory collection in reference.  Naturally, Liz is nervous about empowering other staff members.  She must feel that her power and authority are being undermined.  The impetus for this project came from Mark, who had asked if the library owned any Hawaii telephone directories.  My feeling is that circ staff should have a basic familiarity in high-demand areas of what we do and don't have.  The more I work on this information sheet, the more complicated it becomes, but I think I can use it for an alternative approach of next Wednesday's presentation in Appleton.

November 11, 1991

I have no idea what to include in this week's newspaper column.  What better week for the WLA brochure on the service and economic impacts of libraries to appear.  Getting a head start on my goals and objectives for 1992, I draft some copy for an annual report.  I manage to avoid the notes for next March's building workshop.

During the evening, JoAnna meets with her campaign manager to discuss a timetable and strategy.  Except when it's necessary to take care of the boys, I'm part of the discussion.  Jim Wexler reports that Don Damon is planning to run.  The boys and I will be spending a lot of time together during the next six months.