Opinions – Wisconsin Top News

Stellpflug column: Burning socks just one more spring ritual to add to the list

Capital Newspapers — Tue, 20 Mar 2018 19:50:58 +0000

Many rituals throughout history include fire in the form of bonfires, candles and fireworks. Some are more familiar than others.

Bra burning was the standard-bearer for the women’s movement. It represented being free from bondage. It was a symbolic representation of not being bound by traditional roles. Burning bras was a brief but lasting image of a rebellious time for women.

Why men didn’t follow suit and quickly create a tie burning ritual is beyond me. Those neck chokers seem uncomfortable and it seems they get into soup and spaghetti sauce with regularity. I understand the finished look of being dressed up, and the need for a sure-fire Father’s Day gift, but seriously, bondage is bondage.

Another kind of burning ritual takes place in Annapolis, Maryland, and this year the date has been set for March 24. It is the annual Oyster Roast and Sock Burning. Yes, you read that right. The story is that one particularly snowy winter in 1978, Bob Tuner invited his friends to celebrate the end of winter by gathering and burning their socks. Although the headline for this was “only in Maryland,” the ritual has caught fire all over the country from the Pacific Northwest to even some landlocked areas of Pennsylvania.

In Georgetown, South Carolina, the sailors celebrated the coming of spring by burning socks worn all winter long. I guess the sailors, boatbuilders and dockworkers go sockless until the following winter. Kicking off canoe season in Williamsburg, Virginia, they have a bonfire of socks as well.

One would think this all dates back to the 1700 or 1800s, and Tuner just rekindled an idea, but apparently 1978 is the first record of such a ritual that caught on for the fun of it.

There are other spring rituals we don’t always hear about in the Midwest, but when we do, we join in the fun. There are sock burning festivals in Sturgeon Bay and they have burnings at the Roxbury Tavern outside Sauk City. All to celebrate freeing feet from the bondage of thick socks.

We had a fire one winter’s eve. We did it at my in-laws’ house, throwing fire permits to the wind. We needed to burn things. One brother needed to burn his chemo treatment charts, one sister-in-law needed to burn her maternity pantyhose. Another sister tossed onto the fire all the inappropriate notes given to her by a less-than-adequate babysitter. We all had things to let loose into the universe and a celebration of cleansing by fire came naturally.

Sock burning has never been on my priority list of spring rituals, but I see the potential. I might want to add it to my docket of routines as summer approaches. Letting feet go naked and lighting our socks for the equinox sounds a lot more fun than spring cleaning.

It also is a lot less complicated than drinking dandelion and burdock cordials to cleanse the blood while chanting and playing music. (That takes place March 20 at Stonehenge this year if you are interested.)

Everybody loves a celebration and welcoming a spring thaw is worthy of taking note. The breaking up of iced-over lakes and above-freezing temperatures seems reason enough. Some places explode snowmen to end winter, others decorate and hide eggs.

Burning socks is all fine and dandy, unless you live in Wisconsin. Here the ticks are plentiful and the nights can get down into the 30s well past when others might call it summer. We might hang onto those socks a bit longer. The truth is, we in Wisconsin are from a more frugal heritage. Most of us would just wash them and put them back in the drawer; the top of the drawer at that. Is that so wrong?

Kay Stellpflug is an educator and trainer in interpersonal and professional communications. She works and lives in Beaver Dam and can be reached at kaystellpflug@gmail.com.

Letter to the Editor: A ‘healthy and stable community’

Express News — Fri, 12 Jan 2018 19:06:13 +0000

To the Editor,

As I reflect on the last several years and look ahead to 2018, our village (Menomonee Falls) has never been more blessed, vibrant, and successful. The chairman of my employer recently said that the signs of a healthy and stable community are a good infrastructure, small business and manufacturing growth, and the ease of starting a business – ironically all the characteristics that describe Menomonee Falls! It isn’t any surprise then that our community has become the preferred place to live and work in our region and one of the fastest growing communities in the State of Wisconsin.

When I ask residents why they’ve chosen the Falls over other areas, their answers all share common themes – low taxes, their employer is located here, a large selection of new and existing housing, ease of access to Milwaukee, the school system, the downtown area, and of course the small village feel. Many have said the small village environment was one of the primary reasons for settling down here. They wanted to live and raise their families in an area known for its strong sense of community, friendliness, and safety. Thanks to our good citizens, a nationally-recognized Neighborhood Watch Program, and a top-notch police department, the Falls has been rated as one of the best and safest communities to live in by several different organizations.

Economically, we are healthy. Menomonee Falls is home to one of the largest manufacturing bases in Wisconsin, behind only Green Bay and Milwaukee. Housing growth has been booming. Out of 37 communities in Waukesha County we are 2nd highest for new construction. Blighted areas have been transformed into economically strong commercial and industrial areas generating millions of dollars in tax base revenue. This has attracted even more business and development because business owners looking for new areas to expand in search out successful, financially solid commercial and industrial areas with strong infrastructure. And our downtown area, the heart of the Falls, has been experiencing a revitalization with infrastructure upgrades and the addition of new businesses, bringing with it a new excitement and energy – Fiddleheads Coffee, the new restaurant owned by Leff’s Lucky Town going into the old Fire Station #1, Quiznos, Poppy & Thyme, and the new Alumni Club restaurant just to name a few.

And it’s not just new businesses that are bringing vibrancy to the downtown! Existing small businesses are benefitting from the loan and grant program administered by the Falls Community Development Authority (CDA) to be able to improve their buildings, make much needed renovations, and purchase new equipment, allowing them to grow and remain successful. At every ribbon-cutting I’ve attended, I hear how helpful and responsive our village departments have been in enabling business start-ups and business growth with minimal red-tape and maximum support.

The chairman of my company was right. These are indeed all signs of a healthy and stable community and I am very excited that this is taking place right here in our community. As your Village Trustee, I will continue to support our residents and our businesses by making decisions that maintain our high-quality of life and ensure that our community will always be a great place to live and work!

Dave Glasgow

Menomonee Falls Village Trustee

Letter to the Editor: Frustration over cell towers

Express News — Fri, 27 Oct 2017 19:07:39 +0000

Frustration over cell towers

To the Editor,
There seems to be a general current of dissatisfaction in Menomonee Falls with the actions of the Village Board – e.g., anger runs high in opposition to the new apartment building now crowding Main Street and blocking view and access to what has given the village its name – the Falls. There is expressed frustration that things are done in secret, behind closed doors, with little regard to the will of the residents. Now we have proof positive of just this kind of activity by our elected officials. Largely if not entirely due to public outcry, plans for a 120-foot cell tower on the conspicuous corner of Appleton Avenue and Lilly Road were withdrawn on Sept 15 and new proposals presented on Sept 18 to build the same structure at the fire station a few hundred feet south in a residential area, as was the first, and at Old Falls Village, also adjacent to residential properties.

Details of the lease agreements were hammered out in “closed session” before the Sept. 18 board meeting and the results were not publicly announced, though the leases were made available to the public the following day if one chose to request them, since they were not evident in the videotaped replay of the board meeting – inspection shows the village will charge US Cellular $1,400 per month for the fire station lease and $1,100 for the Old Falls Village lease monthly. Careful scrutiny of the drawings for the towers reveals that the plans were complete on December 20, 2016 for the fire station tower and those for the Old Falls Village were begun on March 20, 2017 and completed within a few days.

Who knew about these plans? Certainly not the citizenry, of whom more than 900 have signed petitions strongly opposing residential cell towers since the first proposal was presented in July of 2017 – and, by the way, plans for that tower were begun on Jan. 20. Is this transparency in government? Is this a government responsive to the will of the governed? Does $30,000 a year, the sum of the two proposed leases, exceed the value of the health and safety of tax-paying, law-abiding citizens of the Falls? Is this the modern-day equivalent of the infamous thirty pieces of silver, here surpassing the worth of the public will? Is this democracy at work? And how many other secret projects are lurking behind the scene at Village Hall?Signed,

P. Waggoner