Victory, WI – The nation’s highways are dotted with commemorative plaques, memorials and points-of-interest. Wisconsin alone has 520 such markers, each offering a tidbit of state-approved history. Many of these markers are tributes to obscure local figures, events or milestones, significant to few beyond the civic boosters who raised the money for their creation. Most are forgotten as quickly as they’re read. But every once in a while one will arouse the imagination and compel you to contemplate an unimaginable history.
Here, just south of Victory, Wisconsin, a tall tombstone-shaped marker with a weathered inscription summarizes two bloody days of… Continue Reading Category Archives: Dispatches
Highway History: Myself, a Marker and the Massacre
Victory, WI – The nation’s highways are dotted with commemorative plaques, memorials and points-of-interest. Wisconsin alone has 520 such markers, each offering a tidbit of state-approved history. Many of these markers are tributes to obscure local figures, events or milestones, significant to few beyond the civic boosters who raised the money for their creation. Most are forgotten as quickly as they’re read. But every once in a while one will arouse the imagination and compel you to contemplate an unimaginable history.
Here, just south of Victory, Wisconsin, a tall tombstone-shaped marker with a weathered inscription summarizes two bloody days of… Continue Reading The Unlucky Civilian
Gettysburg, PA – Mid-afternoon on July 1, 1863, a young seamstress named Virginia Mary “Jennie” Wade, along with her mother and two younger brothers, left her home in the center of Gettysburg to be with her oldest sister, who earlier that day endured a horrific childbirth, as Confederate soldiers marched on the 2,400-resident town.
The Confederacy’s push into Union territory was the first salvo of what would later be seen as the most decisive battle of America’s Civil War. For three days Gettysburg shook as nearly 94,000 Union and 72,000 Confederate troops slaughtered each other with bayonets and close-range… Continue Reading The Daily Dose of Indignities
Brent Delzer, 36, is currently serving a three-year federal prison sentence after pleading guilty in August to one count of conspiracy to traffic marijuana. “The Worst Summer Camp Ever” is a series of Delzer’s dispatches from the Federal Prison Camp in Duluth, Minnesota. The Feral Scribe interviewed Delzer on the eve of his surrender to federal marshals in September. That interview, which provides more details about his case, can be found here.
Wow, it is really hard to stay motivated in this place. You’d think that, with all the time I have that I be cranking shit out… Continue Reading Tempin’ Ain’t Easy: A New Dawn
By late March, the work goes from a torrent to a trickle and us temps become anxious about the impending lay off day. The company each year has gotten bigger, and so has the department. Each year, as things winded down, the boss began making decisions about who to keep permanently. Usually it is fairly obvious by this time who’s being eyed for the job, but until it’s uttered by the boss, rumors are subject to change. And sometimes we suspected her of uttering falsehoods just to throw us off the scent.
Each year there was more than a little… Continue Reading Tempin’ Ain’t Easy: Prerogatives of Pious Polly
Patience and focus weren’t easy virtues to harness amid the mind-numbing monotony of the work we did. Scrolling through the same pages over and over, scouring for formatting and copy errors, also required physical endurance. If extreme sitting were an Olympic sport, this gig would provide ample training. From the dark of morning to the dark of night we sat in our squeaky seats beneath flickering fluorescent lights so white and bright that they seemed to wash out the rest of the world. The workday for many of us was bookended by an hour slog through traffic from Philly and… Continue Reading Tempin’ Ain’t Easy: Dealing with Queen Bees
The work we did editing and proofreading year-end financial statements for high-risk investment vehicles was easy. Essentially it’s tedious monkey work that anyone with all his chromosomes could perform. But it paid well and the overtime hours were great. It’s how I’ve funded my travels the last two years.
From September through mid-April, about 13 of us spent an obscene number of hours editing and proofing well over a thousand funds dozens of times over. We’d quibble with the accountants over such trifles as the difference between a hyphen and an m-dash. It’s a really quarrelsome climate, with everyone blaming… Continue Reading The Warlock Speaks, but Doesn’t Dazzle
Manhattan, NY - The warlock arrived at 7:30 p.m. in a black SUV just outside the stage door of Radio City Music Hall. I had been in contact with the warlock’s publicist, Larry Solters, which is to say that Solters had denied my request for an interview with his client, a.k.a. Charlie Sheen.
Undeterred, I told the security guard prior to Sheen’s arrival that I was supposed to meet Solters at 7 p.m. by the stage door. It’s a trick that has worked to get me backstage in the past, but New Yorkers are savvier when it comes to… Continue Reading I Heart Baltimore, Hon
Baltimore, MD – We rolled into Baltimore just after 6 p.m. on Friday, arriving at my friend’s home in the Hampden section on the city’s northwest side. Kendra, an old friend from Madison, moved to Baltimore 18 months ago, where she landed a nice job and has made enviable inroads into Baltimore’s comedy scene. I’ve been meaning to visit and catch a performance. She’s an insanely funny person, and when she’s on, she’s on. But as it happened, she had nothing booked, so instead we went out on the town.
After grabbing dinner, we headed to the Lithuanian Hall for… Continue Reading The People in My Day
Brent Delzer, 36, is currently serving a three-year federal prison sentence after pleading guilty in August to one count of conspiracy to traffic marijuana. “The Worst Summer Camp Ever” is a series of Delzer’s dispatches from the Federal Prison Camp in Duluth, Minnesota. The Feral Scribe interviewed Delzer on the eve of his surrender to federal marshals in September. That interview, which provides more details about his case, can be found here.
Hello again from the frozen north. I wanted to start this installment with just a little more on my intentions and reasoning behind this series of articles.… Continue Reading 
Killing Time in the Dells