On This Date in 1998

Dear Shelia and Roger,

We’re down to the wire this year, as you can see by the date. There was just too much to do before we left Middleton for the rest of the year. For the first time since the boys have been in school, Christmas break lasts for two weeks, and we decided that was plenty of time to make the trips to both Two Rivers, Wisconsin, and Warren, Pennsylvania. We have two more days in TR with the Richard family. The boys are excited because tonight is when we open our gifts. Andy is hoping to get a Playstation video game system, a wish granted, and Eddie will settle for anything Star Wars related. Another wish granted. As for me, I just want peace on earth and goodwill toward men. Yeah, right! Just like in Washington D.C.!

Speaking of politics, JoAnna is temporarily living the life of a stay-at-home Mom, an out-of-character role for her. She resigned her position as chair of the State Democratic Senate caucus after 3 years of enough stress that would last most people an entire career. She goes out on a high note, though, having won back the senate in this last election. She deserves a breather, as far as I’m concerned, and, financially, her decision won’t have an impact for awhile. She feels, and I agree with her, can afford to be choosy as to what she does next.

As for me, I finished my term as WLA president so now I can put a sharper focus on my Middleton responsibilities. It’s hard to believe that we’ve been here almost 13 years. Of course, that pales against your longevity at OPL, Shelia.

We make the trip to Pennsylvania on Saturday, a 12-hour drive. I strained my back on Tuesday – don’t ask me how; probably lifting one too many Brandy Old-fashioneds –but I’m feeling almost back to normal right now so I should be able to put in my full time behind the wheel.

Maybe when I don’t feel so rushed for time, I can provide you with some more detailed coverage of what’s been going on with JoAnna and me and the boys. To quote a movie title, “It’s a Wonderful Life”, but you’ d probably like to know the how and why!

On This Date in 1998

Dear Connie,

I passed the gavel to my successor on December 10th with a clear conscience and a clean record. No censure. No impeachment. No reporters hounding me about extramarital activities. I lead such a dull life.

In all seriousness, my year as president of the Wisconsin Library Association can be described with a warm bundle of positive adjectives: rewarding, productive, gratifying, enlightening. Even though we have entered a no-growth period in membership numbers, we were still able to expand the scope of our organizational activities and services. I’d like to think that this was the result of my eagerness to tap the right people to chair the various board committees. I’ve always felt that my ability to delegate responsibilities has been one of my greatest strengths.

Refresh my memory, but was it this year that I stumbled across Alma Jacobs obituary? She offered me my first job when I was fresh out of library school. No interview. Just, “Hello, how’d you like to be the librarian at the Montana State Prison?” I always thought that an M.L.S. would give me increased mobility, but going behind bars, actually having to be zapped through four different grill gates, wasn’t exactly what I had in mind. But nobody else was knockin’ on my door in the mid-70s. Having lived in Great Falls for almost five years, from the fall of 1952 until the summer of 1957, I may have just wanted an opportunity to explore my past, which I did on the third or fourth weekend after my arrival in Deer Lodge. That walk through the old neighborhood was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. I saw the world I remembered as a seven year old through the eyes of someone in his mid-20s. What a jarring juxtaposition. What seemed like a destination out of my childhood orbit was just a short walk away.

So what am I doing here? you must be wondering. I’m attempting to write a series of notes to special friends without repeating myself. As a result, for the past few days, I’ve been doing a major archaeological into my brain cells. What fun!

On This Date in 1998

Dear Jim and Arden,

JoAnna and I decided we weren’t going to send a “form” letter this year, but I quickly tired of jotting down the same note, with slight variations every once in awhile, on the inside of every card. So now I really have my work cut out for me just a week before Christmas. I plan to write a personalized note to the special people on our mailing list. The library “business” is going well. I just finished my year as president of the Wisconsin Library Association. It was a productive and rewarding year with no crises or controversies.. I still have another year to serve on the WLA board before I finish my commitment. On the local front, the library received in 10% budget increase for 1999, thanks to a very supportive city council who collectively felt it was time to add another librarian to the staff, provide a substantial increase to the book budget, and allow us to offer Sunday hours.

JoAnna is taking the month of December off. She resigned her position as director of the state Democratic caucus and is currently considering a number of new job possibilities. Much of her free time this year, what little she’s had, has been devoted to research on her family tree, whose roots extend back to the year 1646 in Nova Scotia (Acadia).

As you can see from the enclosed picture, the boys are growing up all too quickly. Andy’s just starting to get into music, and, unlike my parents when I was 11years old, I actually enjoy much of the music he likes. In small doses, of course. Eddie is our artist, who work was featured on the September page of the school district calendar this year.

I may have mentioned this last year, but I really enjoy using Merriam-Webster’s website. It’s amazing what an important resource the Internet has become for libraries in just the last few years. It certainly hasn’t had a negative impact on library use overall. Our circulation may be flat this year, but the number of visits is up significantly. And now, a lot of reference questions start out, I tried looking for _____ on the Internet, but I couldn’t find anything.

On This Date in 1998

This has been a long and busy week for me, a comparatively slow one for JoAnna, and a regular five-days-at-school week for the boys. Monday was the only day I spent at the library from start to finish. I did have one unexpected interruption, though. Right around noon, I received a phone call from the school nurse at Elm Lawn. Andy had left his classroom a couple times during the morning to lie down on the cot in the nurse’s office, complaining of a headache and stomach ache. He said the noise in the gym during his lunch period was too much to handle. He didn’t feel like eating either. I took an earlier than usual lunch hour and brought him home. When I picked him up, he didn’t look that sick. He didn’t act sick. In fact, he was unusually talkative, very animated, actually, which aroused my suspicions. I warmed him up a bowl of chicken noodle soup and gave him a couple aspirin before returning to the library, leaving him stretched out on the couch in the family room. I told him to keep the TV off, but I’m sure that directive was immediately ignored as soon as I backed the car out of the driveway. That evening he showed no sign of illness. In fact, he acted just like his favorite Atlanta Brave: chipper. I started to wonder if maybe his alleged sickness was a scheme to avoid some school activity. I shared these thoughts with JoAnna while we were sitting at the kitchen table and the boys were in the family room.

“I’m not faking,” Andy bellowed.

Mom and Dad found it interesting that son #1 felt he had to eavesdrop on our conversation.

I was bothered by the fact that he missed a basketball practice, which I don’t think was part of his plan. I wondered if I should contact his teacher to get her perspective on the day. Was there some special afternoon activity that Andy missed? I decided against this investigation since I don’t want to have his teacher think that his mom and dad don’t trust him. For JoAnna and me, though, Andy’s behavior was very puzzling. This is just a preview of his teenage years, I’m sure.

I worked a long day on Tuesday, having morning and afternoon meetings, plus early evening time at the library to catch up on some office work: email, email, organize papers on my desk for the rest of the week. JoAnna had a 9 p.m. interview with Tammy Baldwin’s campaign staff. She’s in the running for the home district coordinator position. Tammy is our newly elected Congressional representative. JoAnna feels that she’s ready for a job change. If she isn’t offered this job, she’ll continue to look for other opportunities. I think she tired of butting heads with her current boss. We’ve always got along well socially with him, but he has a reputation as a very difficult person to work for. Very demanding, which is not a problem for JoAnna. Very hands-on, unwilling to delegate responsibility, which irritates JoAnna to no end. And I don’t blame her. I’d feel the same way if the Middleton Public Library Board was always looking over my shoulder, questioning my every move.

I presented a workshop Wednesday morning at a Waukesha County library, about a 90 minute drive from Middleton. It went extremely well. In fact, it produced a big spike in my confidence in the possibility of freelance continuing education as a fulltime career option. I knew my presentation was well-received when four women from the Brookfield Public Library tried to convince me to apply for the director's job. Their library board has had no luck over the past seven month trying to fill this position. Brookfield, an upscale community of 35,000 that borders Milwaukee County, is a larger library as far as staff, square footage, and collection size is concerned, but its level of use is comparable to Middleton's. Naturally, I was very flattered by their overtures, but I have no interest in changing jobs right now. Moving to Waukesha County, Wisconsin's Republican paradise, would certainly not be a good career move for JoAnna.

If I was smart, I'd take advantage of my renewed confidence and develop a plan to get into the workshop business fulltime as a consultant. For Wednesday's three hours of work, I received $300 plus mileage. Of course, that doesn't include preparation time, which, when factored into my honorarium, would bring my hourly rate much closer to what I earn at Middleton. But even $50/hr. is twice what I make now.



On the drive to and from the workshop, I listened to the book on tape version of Helen Keller's The Story of My Life. Considering what an historical icon she is, I was surprised, and a little bit humbled, at how little I knew about her and her teacher, Annie Sullivan. Her life is certainly an inspiration to everyone, not just those with disabilities. I reserved a copy of the video The Miracle Worker, a visual account of the early relationship between Keller and Sullivan, as played by Patty Duke and Anne Bancroft, respectively, who both won Oscars in 1962 for their performances. Surprisingly, it's a movie I've never seen.

My Tuesday and Wednesday schedule required that I leave the house at 6:30. Before my Tuesday meeting, I had scheduled a 7 a.m. tune-up for the Saturn (30,000 miles after 2 1/2 years, the 1.000 miles per month average boosted by the three or four trips to Pennsylvania). Wednesday, of course, I had to get an early start so I'd be at my workshop venue in time to set up. (Organize my notes on the lectern, position the overhead projector so that the image is clearly visible from every chair, mingle with the group to help create an informal atmosphere. ) Usually, I'm the one who gets the boys off to school, JoAnna oftentimes on her way to work before th3e boys are out of bed. I almost felt guilty transferring this morning responsibility to her, making her leave for work later than usual. I kept telling myself, though, this is an unnecessary reaction. The election was two weeks ago. (Sometimes I think I'm too considerate a husband.)

Thursday was taken up with a staff meeting and a city department head meeting, the latter now a welcome and regular part of my work schedule. Middleton's new city administrator has really stirred things up in a positive way. His enthusiasm and vision have given me another reason to stay put. Thursday was JoAnna's busiest day of the week, her schedule extending into the late evening. She took Eddie to his Cub Scout meeting and then attended a play with some of her caucus staff. I tried to stay up until she returned home, simultaneously reading a book and watching movie on TV (the second half of Magnum Force, Clint Eastwood's second appearance as Dirty Harry; the first hour of Kiss of Death, a 1948 crime melodrama starring Victor Mature and introducing Richard Widmark in a wickedly evil Academy Award nominated performance. I was asleep when JoAnna returned home at quarter to 12. I attempted a conversation but I'm not sure how coherent I was.



I spent most of Friday at the WLA office, attending meetings of the finance and personnel committees. I walked into the house at 3:30, minutes after Andy returned home from school, feeling that I deserved an early conclusion to the work week. Andy had basketball practice from 6:00 to 7:30. JoAnna went out after work to celebrate Ron's new job as a lobbyist. (Ron is Julie's husband. Julie works for JoAnna. Ron and Julie are part of our sheepshead group.) We could smell JoAnna as she walked into the house. Her clothes and hair reeked of cigarette smoke. Eddie demanded that she change her clothes, so she got into her pajamas. I picked up McDonald's for Eddie after dropping off Andy and Riley at basketball practice. Although JoAnna would probably object, I don't have a problem leaving Eddie home along for less than an hour. He knows that he's not supposed to pick up the phone, answer the door, or use any of the appliances. I find it interesting that, when everyone is in the family room, for example, and it's dark outside, he's reluctant to walk to the other side of the house by himself. But he always insists that he's OK being home alone.

On the way home from practice, Andy and I stopped at two places to fill our dinner orders. Mom wanted Chinese. The guys wanted Mexican. JoAnna felt chilled and went to bed early. I decided to write this letter and let the boys watch TV until 11.

On This Date in 1998

The football game was a few minutes into the 2nd quarter by the time we arrived. Considering it was the last day of October, the weather was surprisingly mild, although jackets were in order. The score was knotted at 7-7, which is where it remained at the half. Middleton scored first in the 3rd quarter on a 60-yard pass, a play that got the fans and team fired up. This psychological advantage was quickly squandered when Wisconsin Rapids returned Middleton’s kick-off 85 yards for a touchdown. Rapids took a 14-13 lead as Middleton’s point-after kick was blocked.

The visitors should have been up by 2 touchdowns. They had fumbled on Middleton’s 3-yard line and had a pass intercepted when they were again deep in Middleton territory. Their defense was able to contain Middleton’s explosive running game. Rapids was able to avoid turning over the ball in the 4th quarter, scoring 2 touchdowns to seal a 28-13 victory and the right to play Sun Prairie, the team that is the odds-on favorite to win the title. Middleton’s soccer team is still in the run for a state title.

The Wisconsin Library Association conference was a big success. We had a great turnout. Over 1300 attendees, almost rivaling last year’s gathering in Milwaukee, the location which is typically our best draw. People were very impressed with the Grand Geneva Resort, which has been extensively remodeled since its days as the Playboy Club.

One of the perks of being WLA President is being given the best room at the conference site. (The organization gets one free room for every 50 room reservations. The other free rooms are used for the conference chair and some of our speakers.) I stayed in the Grand Suite, which has an arrangement of three sumptuously appointed rooms. A sitting area includes three upholstered couches arranged in a U-shape near a gas fireplace framed by a huge mantel, a grand piano, writing desk, and wet bar with 45 stools. A dining room is furnished with a large table, eight chairs, and a hutch. Double doors open from the sitting area into a bedroom, where I had a king-size bed all to myself since JoAnna was too busy to join me and I, of course, had no intention of being unfaithful, despite the fact that I had the perfect setting for sin! The bathroom was as big as a small trailer: double-sink vanity, Jacuzzi bath (which I didn’t have the opportunity to use), shower stall, water closet, and plenty of space to hang my clothes. If only the conference had been a week later, JoAnna and I could have combined business with pleasure.

Everything went smoothly for me. The Tuesday evening board meeting was adjourned 5 minutes before its scheduled conclusion, without having to sacrifice a full discussion of any of the items on the agenda. Russell Banks, our keynote speaker at Wednesday’s opening session, gave an excellent talk on the influence of the writer’s voice in literature. A group of us had lunch with him afterwards and found him to be a very engaging man. I received many compliments on my introduction of Banks, a four-minute speech that I had worked on throughout the month of October. Thursday’s membership meeting proceeded smoothly. Thanks to the prompting of Lisa Strand, WLA’s executive director, and a quarter of voices from the Wisconsin Women Library Workers, I was serenaded with a chorus of “Happy Birthday”. Lisa and Jane, next year’s president, took me out to dinner that evening, to a restaurant that had a rack of lamb on its menu. Friday’s President’s Luncheon was a fitting conclusion to the conference. I returned home late Friday afternoon, very satisfied with the way the conference had turned out.

Friday evening provided me with an encore birthday celebration. JoAnna took her parents, husband, and boys out to dinner at the Club, a Middleton institution that has been in business in one form or another since 1890. I continued my high living and ordered the steak and shrimp scampi special, as did JoAnna and Alice. We returned home for birthday cake, a carrot cake that Alice had baked earlier in the day, and the opening of the gifts. Thanks for the sweater; I love it. JoAnna gave me a portable compact disc player, which Andy enjoys as much as I do.

Larry and Alice left around 9 o’clock yesterday morning, and JoAnna left for work a few minutes later. I tackled a long list of chores. The house was a mess, Grandma and Grandpa either unable or unwilling to pick up after the boys. There was a huge pile of laundry to be done – five loads altogether. Plus I wanted to replace the screens with storm windows in the family room and get the garden areas ready for winter. Although we had beautiful weather a few days ago – Wednesday was picture perfect and helped to promote an almost festive atmosphere at the conference – it has cooled down considerably now that the weekend is here. So far today, it’s been cloudy and breezy, the temperature in the high 40s. And that’s what we can expect through the rest of the week.

And that’s all for now. Or at least all I have time for.

On This Date in 1998

Artwork by Eddie

The first week of the boys being home alone proved to be a successful experiment. We didn’t regret our decision and now feel confident that Andy is mature enough to care for his younger brother. No more babysitters! The boys still have lots of room for improvement, though. JoAnna and I had to tell them – repeatedly – that our bedroom was off limited. Why they need to watch TV there when we have two other TVs in the house I can’t understand. We also had to remind them – again repeatedly – that the kitchen is the only room in the house where they can eat. It’s very easy to learn whether or not they’ve broken this rule. They’re not very good at cleaning up after themselves, scattered pieces of popcorn and cracker crumbs giving away their habit of grazing throughout the house. This rule, I’m afraid, is one that will need much reinforcement.

Andy survived his first week of football practice with ease. In fact, he very much enjoyed it. His team is already learning plays. On Thursday, he brought home a sheet with the diagrams of more than a dozen different offensive plays. I think he was supposed to study the over the weekend, but the piece of paper remained in the car until Sunday afternoon when I hand-delivered it to him and suggested he might want to prepare for Monday’s practice.

“I will, Dad,” he said, somewhat impatiently.

The sheet remained on the kitchen counter for the rest of the day.

I traveled to La Crosse on Friday for a Wisconsin Library Association board meeting at the Radisson Hotel. The August board meting is always held at the site of the next year’s conference. As a safety precaution, Andy checks in with me by phone twice a day at the library, so JoAnna reminded him, as I did numerous times Thursday evening, that I would be out of town all day when she left for work. La Crosse being a 2½-hour drive from Middleton, I left the house at 6:45, before the boys were out of bed. I figured that if anything was going to go wrong with this independent arrangement, this would be the day. Around two o’clock, the boys left the house and walked the two blocks to Walgreen’s to buy some candy. How do I know this? I found their empty bag with the sales receipt inside. Two Three Musketeers bars. Two packages of Starburst. (There’s something to be said for computer systems that can itemize individual purchases.) They had finished a bag of Chips Ahoy Thursday evening and needed something to satisfy their craving for sweets.

When they returned home, they found the front screen door locked. (My fault, I think. The only key Andy has is to the front inside door. (They would have exited the house by the side door. (Using good sense, the boys walked across the street to a neighbor’s house and called JoAnna at work. She drove home to let them in. I was pleased that the boys handled this situation so calmly.

Friday evening, JoAnna and I attended a catered picnic at Lakeview Park. This informal gathering provided an opportunity for council members and department heads to meet with the two candidates for the position of Middleton City Administrator. (The previous administrator retired last month.) Earlier in the summer, I had pushed for an opportunity for department heads to have some input in the hiring process. I succeeded, but unfortunately, a series of rotating interviews involving department heads was scheduled for this past Friday, when I was in La Crosse. Just so they would get some exposure to the library, I had a staff member give each candidate a tour. I learned from one of the council members on Saturday afternoon that the candidate I preferred was offered the position.

Saturday morning, the family did a “lit drop” for Rick Phelps, “our” candidate for the 2nd congressional district, delivering a campaign brochure to every residence in the 1st aldermanic district in Middleton. The boys, wearing their rollerblades, joined us during the first hour of this volunteer task. Eddie took a hard tumble on a cracked sidewalk, and though he was able to shake it off, he wanted to go home once we finished the area north of University Avenue. JoAnna and I took another hour to complete the area south of University, including a 10-minute rest stop at the Bavaria Restaurant, so she could have a cup of coffee. I quenched my thirst with a large glass of grapefruit juice.

As a reward for our efforts, JoAnna took us out to lunch at Pasqual’s, a restaurant that specializes in southwestern cuisine. Tired or ordering my usual chicken fajita burrito, I tried the beef quesadilla and think I may have found a new favorite. JoAnna usually orders a chicken taco salad when we eat here and didn’t change her ways on Saturday. Andy is partial to the double beef and bean taco. Eddie is happy with a hot dog off the kid’s menu.

During the afternoon, I sat on the bench along the south side of the house and read 50 pages of Cloudsplitter, the latest book by Russell Banks, who will be giving the keynote address at this year’s WLA conference, and enjoyed the scenery, something I rarely get to do. Due to our busy schedules, the bench is usually nothing more than a decorative touch. The boys alternated between watching TV and rollerblading. JoAnna napped and then finished up a couple of small, isolated neighborhoods that we had missed during the morning.

The boys were rollerblading fiends this past weekend. Not only were they outside a lot, but they also lobbied for a trip Saturday evening to Fast Forward, a indoor skating rink, but JoAnna said she was too tired for rollerblading and I’m too wobbly to venture out onto hard, slippery floor where kids are speeding around in circles. We ended up going bowling at the Sport Bowl, located two blocks from where we live. We rolled two games, no bumper pads this time. Nobody set the lanes on fire.

Although I had been keeping a tight grip on my wallet, I agreed with the rest of the family that we would go out to eat afterwards. After some debate, we agreed on Old Chicago, a pizza and pasta place, one of our regular haunts. Barb would have liked our waiter; he looked like Andre Agassi before he lost his hair and got pudgy. Once we returned home, we played 5/6s of a round of Trivial Pursuit, the blue-izers against the brown-izers. By 10:30 we were all ready for bed, and it would have taken us another half hour to finish the game. The brown-izers won.

The nighttime calm didn’t last too long. Eddie woke up in the middle of the night, crying hysterically. JoAnna got out of bed first.

“What’s wrong?” she asked him pleadingly.

“I don’t know,” he said repeatedly, whenever we tried to get at what was bothering him. Did he have a nightmare? Was he sick? He wouldn’t tell us anything.

In exasperation, unable to calm him down, we just left him alone. I returned to the bedroom and JoAnna sacked out on the couch in the family room. Andy, if I recall, slept through all this hubbub. When I got out of bed at 7:30, after a very restless sleep, I found Eddie in his own bed, a rare occurrence lately. Everyone else was still sleeping. I retrieved the Sunday papers from the front stoop and stretched out on the living room couch and read. Eddie was the first to stir; he had to go to the bathroom. I intercepted him as she started to walk across the living room and guided him back to his bedroom. I talked to him about what happened during the night and emphasized the fact Mom and Dad become worried if he can’t tell us what is wrong when he is upset. I thought he should get some more sleep, which he did. He didn’t get up for good until after 9:00.

Sunday was a day to catch up on chores around (inside and outside) the house. Laundry, cleaning, shopping, yard work. As they did on Saturday, the boys either watched TV or rollerbladed, their destination being Elm Lawn School, where they usually ran into friends of Andy’s. I think they went through this cycle at least four times. They were always home within an hour of one of their departures, though. They spent most of the early evening at a neighbor’s house playing with a boy Eddie’s age. Surprisingly, because of their proximity, Eddie and Adam don’t get together that often but always seem to get along well when they do.

We’re all in good health. The boys seem increasingly eager for school to start. I think they are getting a little bored living an unstructured life.

March 9, 1992

TIME

Late Sunday evening, I spend a few hours calming down a feverish Eddie.  I'm almost ready to volunteer to stay home, but we decide to take Eddie to daycare.  We get no calls during the day, most of which I spend at the WLA office for the Finance Committee meeting.  I pick up Andy, and JoAnna drops off Eddie before attending a meeting at City Hall.

November 18, 1991

I print out the newspaper column before driving to campus.  I make my usual appearance as reference expert on Darlene's A-50 ETN.  From there I drive to the WLA office, which is locked and darkened when I arrive.  Just as I'm getting into a recent issue of the New York Times Book Review, Larry rushes up the stairs, apologizing profusely for leaving me stranded -- sort of.  I join the rest of the Finance Committee at the Phoenix Gardens.  Having grabbed a McDonald's drive-thru meal on the way out, I skip ordering a second meal.  During the afternoon portion of the meeting, I occasionally wonder why I agreed to run for a major office and get myself involved in all these additional committees.  Oh well, I'll just have to crank it up once the new year starts.

I spend the last two hours of the workday at the info desk, and what a zoo the library is.  Middleton students have swarmed the library to finish an animal lore assignment due tomorrow.

The most strenuous I engage in during the evening is to put in place a couple of wall maps in the family room.