FREE WHITEWATER

Boo! Scariest Things in Whitewater, 2014





Here’s the eighth annual FREE WHITEWATER list of the scariest things in Whitewater for 2014. The 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 editions are available for comparison.

The list runs in reverse order, from mildly frightening to super scary.

10. Hard work & standard usage. Everyone makes mistakes, typos, etc.  (I’m appreciative of every correction or suggestion a reader makes.)  It shouldn’t be too much, though, to expect officials to try harder to speak and write properly. 

What does it profit a committee to have two or three professionals if their presence does nothing to lift policies and documents beyond the quality of a struggling high-school student’s work? 

Whitewater is filled with smart and studious people who, at work or in school, will proofread important term papers or notes. 

There is no ‘special’ or ‘separate’ path on which we should not at least try to write as our forefathers did.  They did so with far fewer technological advantages than we have; we can do at least as well as they did. 

9. Ordinary input.  It’s hard to gather, but we should try harder to survey large numbers through sound methods.  It’s not enough to rely on ad hoc committees.  Their small numbers may lead astray from a selection bias. 

8. Ordinary streets.  The East Gateway project looks great, but do you feel $2,300,00 richer for it?  When you awoke this morning, was the sun $2,300,000 brighter, children that much happier, or merchants that much better off? 

One-hundred thousand on potholes and simple repair would have been useful, and another one-hundred thousand on emergency poverty assistance,  and taxpayers would have been millions better off. 

7. Small merchants.  What strange brick-and-mortar-phobia causes leaders to shy from supporting our own merchants?   

Snazzy tech ventures sound great, but their results are often sketchily unverifiable.  They’re bright and shiny, but then so is a fishing lure. 

Sales pitches from these tech-ventures work on the gullible, the ignorant, or the intoxicated. 

By contrast, we haven’t done enough for brick-and-mortar merchants.  For a fraction of the vast sums (hundreds of thousands) we’ve spent on rejected tech projects from other cities, we could boost brick-and-mortar merchants in traditional, conventional ventures that will attract customers to our own downtown. 

Boosting what we have is both cheaper and more sensible.  Here’s hoping the 2015 budget item for merchants passes and helps overcome this fear by supporting the small retailers we now have.  Their success will bring others.

6. Layers.  Fifteen-thousand people in our small city, but hierarchies like the Pentagon’s.  It’s an insecure person’s attempt to seem important or profound.  Few are truly impressed, so why bother?  

5. Speaking without a press release. Is it so scary to speak to people directly?  Must every official hide behind a press agent? 

Honest to goodness, the quality of their press releases is laughable in any event; tired boilerplate that everyone’s heard a thousand times before. 

When campus officials speak, why must they do they do so in the stilted and tired language of bureaucracy? 

It’s as though they each had a pack of Oxford 3X5 Glow Index Cards, Ruled, Assorted Colors, 300 Count, with words written for each occasion (spending of public money, responses to investigations, name-dropping at parties, etc.) 

They should forget the script, and the middling scriptwriter.   

4. Parking.  People live in town, and so they want to park in town.  It’s neither unexpected nor frightening that they do. 

3. Extreme. So a new apartment building at Main & Prince is ‘too extreme’ in design for Whitewater?  Well, I would guess that existing landlords must think so.  [Update: For consumers it’s a good thing, and a bad joke that anyone from the CDA would shill against it.]

2. Practical solutions.  Small and simple isn’t inadequate because it’s small and simple. 

1. A city without a proposal from a big vendor.   There are a few gentlemen who act as though Whitewater would shrivel if there were not a multi-million-dollar proposal for a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious project always in the oven. 

The supposed benefits are shouted; the risks unspoken. 

There will be another of this kind, soon I wouldn’t wonder. 

There’s the 2014 list.  We’re more than able to overcome these fears, and assure a happier and more prosperous city. 

Best wishes to all for a Happy Halloween. 

Daily Bread for 10.31.14

Good morning, Whitewater.

Whitewater will see a bit of snow in the early morning, on a chilly Halloween day with a high of thirty-nine.

Google has a doodle (one of several, really) to mark Halloween:

Google Doodle Halloween

On this day in 1968, a win:

1968 – Milwaukee Bucks Win First Game
On this date the Milwaukee Bucks claimed their first victory, a 134-118 win over the Detroit Pistons in the Milwaukee Arena. The Bucks were 0-5 at the time, and Wayne Embry led Milwaukee with 30 points. Embry became the first player in Bucks history to score 30 or more points in a regular season game. [Source: Milwaukee Bucks]

Google-a-Day asks about music:

During what musical period did composers perfect and standardize the concerto, sonata and symphony forms?

Here’s an animated graphic from the Saline Project‘s animators for the day:

thewitch_mvhv

Message Independence

Look at Whitewater, and one sees scores of groups with press releases, community announcements, or political viewpoints to publicize.  Even much smaller communities have similar conditions: a dozen people are likely to have more than a dozen views. 

Each day, and especially in an election year, it helps to have the independence to offer views one truly supports, rather than what others expect or want to published.  In this, there’s an advantage in being an independent commentator, aided even more by being a libertarian, a member of a third party. 

Honest to goodness, it’s a blessing to act independently, from a position of strength, without need to please, cater, or oblige. 

Even in more placid times, it’s not worth flacking whatever comes along.  A man or woman should be his or her own man or woman. 

In these times, with schemers near and far looking for someone to push any nutty contention that they’ve concocted for the occasion, it’s even better to stand away from that mud pit. 

Daily Bread for 10.30.14

Good morning, Whitewater.

Thursday in town will be cloudy with a high of fifty-four, and just a one-in-five chance of rain.

On this day in 1938, Orson Welles captivates and scares America with a radio play:

“The War of the Worlds” is an episode of the American radio drama anthology series The Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was performed as a Halloween episode of the series on October 30, 1938, and aired over the Columbia Broadcasting System radio network. Directed and narrated by actor and future filmmaker Orson Welles, the episode was an adaptation of H. G. Wells’s novel The War of the Worlds (1898). It became famous for causing mass panic, although the extent of this panic is debated.[3]

The first two thirds of the 62-minute broadcast were presented as a series of simulated news bulletins, which suggested to some listeners that an actual alien invasion by Martians was currently in progress. Compounding the issue was the fact that the Mercury Theatre on the Air was a sustaining show (it ran without commercial breaks), adding to the program’s realism, and that others were primarily listening to Edgar Bergen and only tuned in to the show during a musical interlude, thereby missing the introduction that proved the show was a drama.[3] In the days following the adaptation, there was widespread outrage in the media.[4] The program’s news-bulletin format was described as cruelly deceptive by some newspapers (which had lost advertising revenue to radio) and public figures, leading to an outcry against the perpetrators of the broadcast and calls for regulation by the Federal Communications Commission.[3] Despite these complaints—or perhaps in part because of them—the episode secured Welles’s fame as a dramatist.

On this day in 1914, Wisconsin gets her first 4-H Club:

1914 – First 4-H Club in Wisconsin Organized
On this date the Linn Junior Farmers Club in Walworth County was organized. This club was started five months after Congress passed the Smith-Lever Act which created the Cooperative Extension Service whereby federal, state, and county governments participate in the county agent system. [Source: History Just Ahead: A Guide to Wisconsin’s Historical Markers]

Google-a-Day asks a question about a band:

The main character in the Broadway production of “Jersey Boys” was the lead singer for a band that celebrated their first commercial release in what year?

For today, from the Saline Project‘s animators, let’s go with a Loch Ness Monster for Halloween:

lochnessmonster_mvhv

Happy National Cat Day

If you like cats, you’re in fine company.  Lincoln, Twain, Hemingway, and countless other great Americans from our history were cat admirers. 

Via Wall Street Journal.

Here’s a kitten enjoying a drink of formula as though celebrating the occasion:

Whitewater Educational Referendum Post 3: An Invitation

Like so many others in Whitewater, I am a believer in both proper schooling and lifelong learning.  My father and uncle first introduced me to campus life when I was still a small boy. 

Years later, I had the pleasure of their visits to campus when I was a student.  On those visits, my father enjoyed walking with me through the university’s main library, with long row upon long row of many generations’ works, reminding me of both the hope and humility that accumulated learning suggests. 

After this referendum, however it may end, our schools will have an ongoing task ahead: What will we teach, and how will we teach it?  One may consider this the broad curriculum, of academics, athletics, and the arts. 

In this sincere spirit, I have an invitation to extend to the administrators, teachers, and supporters of education in this community:

I’ll offer this space, for an ongoing written discussion of topics of our schools’ broader curriculum.  We may each pick a set of topics we’d like: I would suggest a few topics, and any number of others may choose topics they’d like to discuss. 

Each topic’s discussion could continue, in post and reply, throughout a week.  One person begins, another replies, and that’s how the conversation goes: post, reply, further replies, back & forth during a week, on a designated topic.

Examples of written discussions like this are available online from the Cato Institute and at the Wall Street Journal in discussions of books, for example. 

Our discussion would be as important as any of those.  We, in Whitewater, can do just as well in conversation as, if not better than, anyone in those publications. 

There are so many in Whitewater who care about education as education, as subjects of study and the teaching to advance them.  Are you not tired of politicking, of finance-driven discussions, and shabby public-relations efforts to boost one statistic or another?  Isn’t learning more than that, more than peddling?

Make no mistake, a New Whitewater is inevitable.  There are years yet ahead in its progress, but there’s no going back.  The future writes the history of the present; it won’t be written in the language or from the viewpoint of a few clinging only to past practices and ideas.

Of our district administration, faculty, and all residents who support education, I’d ask: why not join in a forward-looking discussion on what matters most?

We can pick a time after this referendum to begin: what’s at stake is even bigger than an election.  I have, as do so many others in town, the patience of conviction. 

Members of our community will, I’ve no doubt, have this discussion.  Why not have it together?  We will do better together, one can be quite sure.

I’ll be here, available for scheduling that substantive discussion, waiting patiently just a click away:

adams@freewhitewater.com
.

Previously: Whitewater Educational Referendum Post 1: Overall Politics and Whitewater Educational Referendum Post 2: Local Campaign

Daily Bread for 10.29.14

Good morning, Whitewater.

Midweek in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of forty-eight.

On this day in 1929, Wall Street (and so America) suffers its greatest stock crash. Here’s how the New York Times reported the losses:

Stock prices virtually collapsed yesterday, swept downward with gigantic losses in the most disastrous trading day in the stock market’s history. Billions of dollars in open market values were wiped out as prices crumbled under the pressure of liquidation of securities which had to be sold at any price.

There was an impressive rally just at the close, which brought many leading stocks back from 4 to 14 points from their lowest points of the day.

From every point of view, in the extent of losses sustained, in total turnover, in the number of speculators wiped out, the day was the most disastrous in Wall Street’s history. Hysteria swept the country and stocks went overboard for just what they would bring at forced sale.

Efforts to estimate yesterday’s market losses in dollars are futile because of the vast number of securities quoted over the counter and on out-of-town exchanges on which no calculations are possible. However, it was estimated that 880 issues, on the New York Stock Exchange, lost between $8,000,000,000 and $9,000,000,000 yesterday. Added to that loss is to be reckoned the depreciation on issues on the Curb Market, in the over the counter market and on other exchanges.

Google-a-Day asks a sports question:

In the longest-running prime time sports program on TV, what was the nickname of the person who replaced Don Meredith during the 1974 pre-season?

From the Saline Project‘s Emmy-winning team, here’s a Halloween animation of Frankenstein’s monster:

frankenstein_mvhv

Whitewater Educational Referendum Post 2: Local Campaign

There are a few aspects of the referendum campaign that stand out. Here are five notable characteristics of the local campaign:

1. No organized opposition. There’s no organized opposition to the budget referendum. None at all. There is a district campaign on the referendum’s behalf and a tandem Whitewater YES effort among some residents, but nothing else.

Succeed or fail, no one who supports the referendum will be able to say that they faced an organized opposition. Michael Clish at WFAW suggested that most referendums have no organized opposition. He’s right about recent votes in Jefferson County, but not about our past.

Whitewater had more open controversy over school referendums years ago than she does today.

2. Something old, something new. The pro-referendum effort is a joint effort between district and pro-referendum residents.

Between the district and Whitewater YES, they are using a mix of old and new media to advance their cause: (1) a district website with a presentation and video, (2) a Facebook page for the pro-referendum group, (3) two postcards from the district, (4) door-hangers, (5) a letter writing campaign to local newspapers, (6) two radio appearances on WFAW (one by residents, one by district officials), (7) appearances at community meetings by district officials or activists, (8) favorable coverage in the Banner, (9) favorable coverage in the Register, and (10) an embedded video recording about the referendum on Whitewater Community Television’s website.

What’s the most important of all these? The postcards and door-hangers: they will reach the most people, including people not decided on (or opposed to) the referendum. That’s the audience that matters: those who are not supportive, but where some might be persuaded.

Other activities no doubt took more work and time, but no information about the referendum will reach more people than the information in the mailings and door hangers.

3. Content. Virtually all the information from the district is on the cost of the referendum. The district is leading with its budget manager (Nathan Yeager), and not its curriculum coordinator (Kelley Seichter), so to speak.

I praised the last referendum’s organizers, and it’s mostly the same group now.

Still, I would not have advised a presentation so heavy on financial information. I’ve typically advocated that one should Lead Substantively, Support Fiscally.

This is the opposite approach.

It’s a cautious approach, and almost a majoritarian one in its assumptions about the electorate.

When I write about the curriculum, I’m writing about means not ends, about classes and programs not mere results.

Honest to goodness, is there anyone who truly believes that a declining sample of standardized test-results means more educationally than what sharp students are studying, reading, and doing each day?

This community deserves better than to see a few hawk its high school as a rural version of a Japanese cram school or a giant Sylvan Learning Center.

I’ll be writing about Whitewater even a generation from now, and I dare say not once during those many years ahead will I think proper schooling means so little, or can be achieved so easily.

Others have made an opposite choice, to tout and keep touting (October on WFAW and in the Register) standardized scores on the sketchiest of educational bases.

These scores should have been more than a political talking-point or crass program of the landlords’ and realtors’ lobby.

4. Conservatives. In particular, there’s no open opposition to the referendum among city or town conservative leaders. Some are supporting it, others are quiet.

Mostly-conservative towns nearby have seen a similar dynamic. That suggests to me that there are some Walker voters who are not supporters of his administration’s educational policies. They like him and what he’s done, but not wholly, in every instance.

Even in these partisan times, that possibility suggests that voters are not so singular in their views, after all.

5. Risk of this budget-intensive campaign. On November 5th, the day after the election, a referendum win will answer a budgetary question for the district for the next four years. A loss will be particularly hard, however, because district leaders will go into the spring on an effort that has been mostly about finances and less on the curriculum.

Failure would be no easy spot: the district would face a crunch over money, and that crunch would involve fighting over the curriculum at the same time the district tried to balance its budget (what to keep, what to save, what classes or teachers matter most).

The two would be thrown together under conditions of greater stress and urgency in the spring than this November.

Working under a spring deadline is the worst time to talk a lot about the curriculum: academics, athletics, and art have substantive value that should be considered, initially, away from a ledger-driven timeline.

In that way, this hasn’t been a cautious effort at all, but a risk-taking one.

Previously in this series: Whitewater Educational Referendum Post 1: Overall Politics.

Tomorrow: Whitewater Educational Referendum Post 3: An Invitation to a Discussion.

Whitewater Educational Referendum Post 1: Overall Politics

This is the first of three posts on the Whitewater Educational Referendum. In this post, I’ll look at the overall political climate for the referendum, one week out from the election. There are three key considerations for the referendum, but only two of them are commonly discussed.

1. The gubernatorial election looks to be close. In this gubernatorial election year, Walker-Burke is polling as a close election. That’s not what most people expected at the beginning of the year. Both polling and conventional opinion would have placed the race somewhere between Scott Walker’s first win over Tom Barrett in ’10 and his recall win over Barrett in ’12. (I thought the same in a January prediction on the race; mine was a garden-variety assessment common at the year’s beginning. No particular data were involved; it was just a hunch that Walker would do fairly well based on his last two statewide races.)

That’s not what this race look like now: most polls, and so most poll aggregators, show this to be a very close race. As of this morning, the Huffington Post aggregator has the race Walker 46.6, Burke 45.8, RealClear Politics has it Walker 47, Burke 46.8, with only the newer Cap Times aggregator showing the race farther apart, at Burke 51.9, Walker 48.1 (of the two-party vote).

If you’re reading that Team Walker is testy about the race, you’re reading solid reporting, and you’re probably reading that news because the race is closer than the WISGOP had hoped or expected. Those stories don’t mean Gov. Walker expects to lose; they reveal that he’d hoped for an easier time of it.

The school district goes into a statewide race with a closer margin between the parties statewide. It’s reasonable to assume (1) that the vote locally will be closer than Walker-Barrett 2010, and that (2) Walker will win the towns outside Whitewater, and Burke will carry the city proper.

2. The last referendum was close. In the spring (4.3.12) rather than the fall, the last operational referendum passed in a close vote, 1,817-1,750. (I’m using the online election results from Walworth, Jefferson, and Rock counties, not considering absentee ballots.)

The April 2012 election was mostly a GOP affair, with a contested presidential primary; Pres. Obama was assured his renomination and so his supporters had less reason for concern about the Wisconsin primary’s outcome. Easily more people cast votes in the contested GOP race than the uncontested Democratic one.

3. Undervotes. Everyone in the district knows the gubernatorial race looks to be close, and that there are differences between a spring primary’s electorate and a fall electorate. But you may not have heard about the number of undervotes between the top of the ticket and a referendum question. Undervotes are simply a voter’s legitimate and lawful choice not to make a selection in a given contest. There might be a hundred ballots cast on election day, but a referendum question, for example, might get only ninety votes for or against. Those voters not making a selection for the referendum either way would be called undervotes.

In the last referendum vote, there were more undervotes than the margin between support and opposition on the question.

Perhaps some voters only wanted to vote in the presidential primary, perhaps some voters didn’t see the referendum question, etc.: there were more votes cast for the candidates at the top of the ballot than for candidates or questions lower down.

But voters will have to find and select the referendum. In the last referendum vote, for example, even in an area as small as the Rock County portion of the district, there were 285 votes cast for or against the referendum, but 39 undervotes, too. Although only Rock County lists undervotes in its publicly-posted results, one can discern a similar if smaller pattern in wards for Walworth or Jefferson counties.

The referendum question will be on the back of the ballot, and it will not be the only referendum question (there’s a statewide transportation question). Voters on the school referendum question will have to follow to the back of the ballot, and want to vote on the referendum when they do. The first step is remedied by information, but the second only by persuasive information.

Some voters will be interested almost exclusively in the gubernatorial race: after years of wrangling between the parties, and now millions in campaign ads, that’s understandable.

Of the three topics I’ve listed, the first two have received political notice in town. The third, on undervotes, not as much. Yet, undervotes may be greater than the deciding margin of votes cast if this should be a close vote.

Next: Whitewater Educational Referendum Post 2: Local Campaign