Cheddarheads Work & Play!:

Since leaving Wisconsin 17 years ago, I’ve come to find it definitely has it’s own cultural attributes (something you don’t necessarily realize growing up immersed in a place). In fact, at times I’ve said it’s almost worthy of it’s own “planet”! For those of you who’ve never been to the States, BELIEVE ME when I say the amount of sub-cultures within it far extends beyond it’s borders into galaxies unknown! I grew up spinning trucks around in circles on lakes covered in thick ice, as well as waking up at the crack of dawn to go waterski with my brother & friends, so we could catch the “glassy” water. I grew up cheering absolute nonsensical rhymes to the crowds at high school football games at 14 degrees Farenheit in a short woolen skirt. I grew up singing Easter hymns in a cow field. I grew up in a town of 1300 people.

I’ve been thinking recently, as well, about our local high school Homecoming events. Each day we had to come to school dressed up in a certain theme. Monday may have been “TOGA DAY”, Tuesday “NERD DAY”, etc. Then, on Friday, we’d all rally in the gym for a battle amongst the grades. We’d compete to see which class could throw a football (or was it a roll of toilet paper?) through the hanging toilet bowl seat the most times, for example. Afterwards, we’d all go run around the most enormous bonfire I’ve since recalled, shouting & singing out cheers, etc.

I remember one time the high school staff decided to give us “student appreciation day”. They brought a sandbox into the cafeteria, & the principal sat on a lifeguard stand next to it with zinc all over his nose. It was all the center staging for a mid-day dance they put on for us called MORP (aka, PROM backwards). The king wore a toilet seat around his neck, & the queen use a plunger as her sceptor.

This all goes back to my DORK post. It’s so refreshing! I loved MORP way better than PROM. And, why aren’t we dressing up for TOGA day now? Why does this end after a certain age? This is my question of the day.

Go, Wisconsin (or, maybe more aptly, Pardeeville High School?), Go!

But, did you know that despite how poorly the University of Wisconsin’s Badger football team is, the stadium is ALWAYS packed to the hilt with EVERYONE wearing red? Not only that, they always stay for the “5^th Quarter”, where the marching band, which is, opposed to the majority of college bands I’ve seen, actually really good/entertaining, comes out & has everyone do the “chicken dance”, etc. Maybe it’s something in the cheese? Those Wisconsinites seem to have some edge on remembering how to have a good laugh, desipte the cultural understanding that mid-westerners are hard-workers.

Go buy some Wisconsin cheese, see if you get inspired, & maybe you can even convince your work to instill a “PUNK DAY” or “RETURN OF THE JEDI DAY” into the mix?