Road trip, day two: Milwaukee, “the good land,” as Alice Cooper would say. Regrettably, my trip was brief — just a long lunch/walk stop, and not even in the city — but I tipped my hat to Wisconsin’s beeriest city, and renewed my resolution to once again, one of these days, visit the art museum with the flapping-wing thing.
Instead, I dropped in on Deb, who doesn’t have a blog I can link to, apparently because she considers her life more important that chronicling it on a pointless website. She is a regular commenter here; you can recognize her by her refusal to use capital letters, except in acronyms. it’s just a tic.
(Sorry, no picture. My visit was brief and I just flat forgot, even though Deb still looks cute and is even losing weight.)
We walked from her house to the village center of Greendale, known to your heartlander types as the center of the Reiman Publications empire (Country, Country Woman, Reminisce, etc.) We ate in the former Taste of Home restaurant, now under new management but still featuring some Taste of Home menu items, by popular demand. While there I picked up a waiting-area copy of …Country Destinations? Country Discoveries? Can’t remember. (Pause; crickets) OK, let’s ask Google: It’s Country Discoveries, their travel magazine. Anyway, leafing through the pages, whose face should pop out? Why, Rudy Maxa’s, the Savvy Traveler, although there’s no more Savvy Traveler show, just ST pop-ins on Marketplace.
Anyhoo.
Rudy is our fellow Ohio University alum, and was always a big hit at reunions of our college newspaper, because he was living proof an OU grad could go to work at the Washington Post. He broke the Wayne Hays story, and wrote some stylish Style pieces, and then he went here and went there and became the Savvy Traveler and now here he is in this incredibly unhip Reiman publication (It’s all about North America! There’s not a word on romantic, cool getaways in Cambodia!), and if you’re looking for a point to this observation, well, I fear you’ve hit a dead end, because I don’t think I have one. Just: Hey, Rudy Maxa’s writing for Country Discoveries.
It’s been a lot of driving. My brain is working like a car radio set on “scan.” Speaking of radio, if you’re the Real Audio sort, do not miss this week’s “This American Life,” which I stopped scanning long enough to catch on my way out of town. The topic: Testosterone. It was freakin’ brilliant. The gist: Testosterone is the engine of all human endeavor. (Yes, even for women.) It reminded me of when I was having my period of greatest mental instability, which came after Kate was born and my body was buffeted by great waves of hormone shifts, and I recall thinking, “Who am I? Do I actually have a personality, or is it just a manifestation of a few chemical levels in the brain?” The answer seems to be: the second thing. Which is sort of scary but also cool, because there’s hope for a cure.
I’ve come to rest for a while in an undisclosed location in the central time zone. Blogging to be intermittant but present over the next two weeks. Send me e-mail; there’s an internet cafe across the street, where I’m enjoying a mint latte and some world music. Have a great week, all; I’m hoping to.
Bob said on May 2, 2004 at 8:48 pm
I’m familiar with Reiman Publications; my mom gets Farm & Ranch Living and Country Extra, and I always peruse them when I visit her. They may not be hip to urban types, but they have a strong appeal for farm-raised boys like me.
Their scenic photography is superb, their layout and printing quality are decent, and the editors and proofreaders are better at their jobs than their counterparts at many other publications. Typos, bad spelling and grammatical errors draw my attention like magnets, and I rarely find any in their magazines. The magazines are attractive and enjoyable, and there’s plenty of room for those attributes nowadays.
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deb said on May 2, 2004 at 10:18 pm
as a writer/editor for these mags (freelance division), all i can say is: god bless you, bob. no, they’re not the new yorker, but they are carefully put together and well-edited, and it’s nice to know someone notices. i grew up in the sticks myself, and i enjoy working for a publisher where that not only doesn’t elicit snickers but earns you points.
nancy’s always thought i’ve been hiding my light under a bushel with this gig, but hey–a girl’s gotta eat.
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Linda said on May 3, 2004 at 11:35 am
I love the Reiman publications too. I like “Reminisce” because the older I get, the more nostalgic I am for the days when teens didn’t walk around with their butts hanging out of their jeans or shooting each other over jackets and video games.
I subscribe to “Taste of Home” and “Quick Cooking” because for one, I love looking at recipes; I don’t know why, but I always have. And because when I read these I get such a feeling of Mid-west comfort. I always imagine a crispy late October day in Indiana; a bunch of ladies are carrying dishes into a potluck wearing jeans and a turtleneck under a big sweatshirt that says either “World’s Best Grandma” or “Purdue” or has big snowmen on it, and I’m instantly nostalgic for home.
I can’t stand searching for those hatpins and toothpicks and what have you, though. My mom and dad scour the mags from front to back until they find them, but I never even try.
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John Ritter said on May 5, 2004 at 9:12 am
Be glad you are not hiding out in Columbus during the current lion scare. After spending a year eating all that great food you have described, the lion might come looking for you. Evidently this is not Columbus’ first brush with the king of the jungle.
“Mayor Becky Stinchcomb said she was a bit skeptical about the initial report because in another recent reported sighting of a lion, the animal turned out to be a Great Dane.”
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I miss Nancy said on May 5, 2004 at 9:35 am
WHEN IS SHE COMING BACK?!?! WHAT WILL SHE DO WITH HER NEW LIFE?!?!? …..HOW WILL WE BE INVOLVED WITH THE NEW LIFE. ….I just need to hear from Nancy….
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I miss Nancy too said on May 5, 2004 at 11:12 am
Nancy, Nancy, Nancy, Nancy.
It’s been days!!
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Mindy said on May 5, 2004 at 2:46 pm
Nance is kicking up her heels and hopefully having a great time. She may tell us about it. Or not.
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Jennifer said on May 5, 2004 at 6:15 pm
Thanks for the recommendation re: TAL’s testosterone. The reports from the guy without testosterone and the FTM with double the dose just freaked me out! Now I know why men and women can never really be friends, heh.
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Nance said on May 5, 2004 at 7:58 pm
Wasn’t that testosterone stuff totally weird? I’ve started thinking I want some injections; get my groove on without actually, you know, growing a penis and a beard.
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