Meet Me at the Corner

The title of this blog conjures up memories of childhood when we’d tell a friend, “Meetcha at the corner,” and we would walk or pedal our bicycles to that meeting place.

These days I’ve been meeting up with some of my blog readers by e-mail, and I thought I’d devote some blog space to those contacts.

After one of my blogs was published in the CNI NOW paper, I heard from Amber Rauter-Stockton of Oak Creek. She asked if I remembered her from 30 years ago when she and her grandmother, Mary Schubert, took piano lessons from me: “We STILL, to this day, talk about those lessons,” Amber wrote. “She now lives in Mesa, Arizona, but our memories of your piano lessons always bring our thoughts together when we can't be together in person.”

I loved the enthusiasm of Amber’s e-mails so will reprint excerpts from them here: “I now live in Oak Creek. I have two wonderful kids: Jackie, 16, and Kyle, 9. I still drive past our old house [on Scherrei Drive]. I loved that neighborhood! I still play a little piano. In fact I picked up an old 1900's high back piano from the Salvation Army about two years ago that I plan on refurbishing, but it's still sitting until I have time.”

In response to my question, Amber wrote a follow-up: “Yes, I’m working for the Oak Creek schools (Cedar Hills) as a Food Service Worker. I LOVE the hours, and am able to be home with the kids for summer! After high school, I worked as a Technical Service Representative for an environmental firm. We were a sort of "broker" to dispose of various company's hazardous waste materials. That was an interesting job I had for approx. 7-8 years. Then I became a mom and I'm happier than ever!

“I thoroughly believe that if all moms could stay home with their kids, the world would be a happier place. Not to be the ‘50s mom’ but to be home and supportive. Even I, at 39 years old, look back and think, ‘What has happened to things?’ I remember when kids played outside until dark. I remember when teenagers didn't NEED cell phones. The world is too fast! Kids should slow down and take more piano lessons!

“I've actually taught my daughter a little piano over the years too! She has the ‘basics’ down. My son - well, he's more the "drummer" type if you know what I mean!”

Thanks for writing, Amber, and thanks for sharing happy memories and happy news.

Then I heard from Kristen Wilhelm – a name familiar to everyone in this area concerned about preserving our natural environment. Kristen wrote nothing about herself – just wanted to say she enjoyed my blog about “Shaking a Stick at All Those Sticks.” In case you didn’t already know, Kristen received the “Conservationist of the Year” award by Gathering Waters organization last year. She is featured in “Our Heroes” on the Gathering Waters website.

A founding member of the Milwaukee Area Land Conservancy, Kristen is also Vice-Chair of the City of Franklin Environmental Commission, and staff member with the River Revitalization Foundation. Quoting from that webpage: “Through Kristen’s vision, tenacity and passion for land protection, Milwaukee County citizens are guaranteed access to pristine natural areas in the heart of expanding urban development. Most recently, Kristen worked tirelessly over the course of several years to protect the Fitzsimmons Woods area in the City of Franklin. Franklin Woods is made up of more than 20 acres of high quality maple-beech forest, containing woodlands, wetlands, and rare flora and fauna, and was purchased with the help of Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Funds by the Milwaukee Area Land Conservancy in February 2006.”

Also included on that website are these remarks from Franklin Mayor Tom Taylor: “We believe Kristen Wilhelm not only qualifies for Conservationist of the Year, but is a perfect example of a concerned citizen becoming involved in improving her community. Through her hard work, dedication and passion for conservation of natural resources, Ms. Wilhelm has without a doubt improved the quality of life for citizens of Franklin and its surrounding communities.”

In an earlier blog I praised visionaries Charles Whitnall and Alfred Boerner who helped preserve parkland in the Milwaukee – metro area. I think both of those men would be proud of Kristen Wilhelm’s efforts in the 21st century. I know I am.

Another person I’ve been happy to meet at the “Internet Corner” is John Michlig, who wrote to tell me he enjoyed my blog, “B.C. - Before Computers (there were typewriters).” He also updated my Computer Age lingo: “I think the new email-age colloquialism for ‘CC’ is ‘Courtesy Copy,’” he said. Thanks, John, for that update.

I learned in future e-mail correspondence that John is a full-time professional writer and author of books about popular culture. You can find out more about him on the website www.fullyarticulated.com with a link to his blog, “Sprawled Out,” related t

On Sunday I attended my first triathlon. It was held in Pewaukee and attracted over 1,500 athletes and at least that many non-competitors who came along to cheer the others on. I was there with my husband and son to support family friend Nancy Gritt, a high school teacher and coach from Green Bay.

It was a perfect day for the competition – sunny and not too warm. Before the race began, each competitor came to the “Body Marking” area to have their assigned numbers written on their arms and legs for easy identification. They also wore ankle bracelets which held microchips to record their time down to the last nano-second. Try to imagine 1,500 adults in swimsuits (and an occasional wetsuit) waiting for their turn to take the initial plunge of this three-part timed competition.

Spectators crowded around the starting area on the beach at Pewaukee Lake but eventually followed orders to move back and make room for the athletes. A little later they were asked to move again, so as not to block the path of emerging swimmers making the transition to their bicycles. Dogs on leashes, babies in strollers – everyone was well behaved and good-natured; the enthusiasm was contagious.

I caught sight of one well-known face among the competitors. Charles Benson of Channel 4 News Team was there to raise money for the MACC Fund. He completed the triathlon in one hour 25 minutes 30 seconds, just a minute behind his teammate, Courtny Gerrish. (See the team’s report at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19781549)

At 6:30 a.m. when the first wave of athletes plunged into Pewaukee Lake for the quarter-mile swim, most spectators wore sweatshirts or light jackets, though we had heard that the water temperature was warmer than the air. There were more than 30 waves of athletes sent out, one after the other, with about 50 competitors in each. Nancy was in the second wave, having earned some status from previous competitions. Meanwhile, volunteers prodded the onlookers off the road which would soon be filled with bikers. Like the first amphibians who emerged from the seas to explore the dry land, these swimmers hurled themselves out of the water, racing to the transition area where each bike had its designated slot to avoid confusion and delay that would necessarily result from an unfocused athlete scratching his head and wondering, “Now where did I leave my Trek?” Hurling themselves onto their bikes, the contestants began pedaling at high speed for 15 miles around Pewaukee Lake.

Our son Matt had been assigned to count the number of bicycling women who reached the point where we stood, so when Nancy sped past he hollered out, “Number 12”. As far as we could tell, she was still Number 12 as she sped past us on foot about an hour later, but a couple of the women who started in later waves (and came in after Matt finished counting) completed the triathlon in less time. Nancy finished 15 in a field of 556 women. Her time – better than last year, she said – was one hour, 16 minutes and 59 seconds. Those microchips are amazing: Nancy’s microchip broke down her times swimming (7 minutes, 47 seconds) biking (44:53) and running (22:13); she lost over two minutes in transition time.

Obviously, with so many competitors, an individual’s goal is not necessarily to “beat” the others, though more than one runner reported that the sound of someone gaining from behind brought an extra adrenaline rush near the finish line. Most of those I saw zipping past me on their bikes or on foot glanced down now and then at the black-banded stop watches on their wrists. They were measuring themselves against previous sprints and the day’s goal. The first triathlete to cross the finish line in the city park completed all three segments in just over an hour. The last one completed the endurance trial in 3 hours 20 minutes. Some of the competitors dropped out along the way from fatigue, injury or other problems.

Anyone who cared enough to get up before the crack of dawn and put himself (or herself) through the vigorous endurance feat deserves fanfare and praise at the end – even those 50-some athletes who didn’t finish the race. I found myself cheering especially loud and long as a woman older than myself neared the finish line. Later I checked the webpage where results were published and learned she was Agnes Reinhard of West Allis, 81years old. She was first (and only woman) in her age group, and she left 16 other women trailing behind her. It took her 2 hours and 11 minutes to finish, but hey! she finished and I hope there were friends and family members there to cheer and applaud her at the finish line.

Since this blog is featured on the online NOW site in Franklin and Hales Corners, I looked through the list of contestants and found four Franklin women who placed among the top 200: Ann Mennell, Jen Kwieunski, Stacy Olson and Elesha Soldan. Congratulations, Franklinites!

I’m in fairly good shape for a woman m

The question for today is: What do the letters “cc” stand for when you send out an e-mail?

People of my generation sometimes joke they were born “B.C.” – before computers. When I was a sophomore in high school, I took a typing class from Mr. Kaczmarek, a tall, thin man in horn-rimmed glasses. I can still remember the sound that reverberated through the classroom as we took a timed typing test on our Remingtons. Reaching the end of a line at our own pace, we each hit the carriage return, creating a keyboard symphony: “Clicky clacky, clicky clacky, WHACK! Clicky clacky, clicky clacky, WHACK!”

It was a decent way to develop our left arm muscles. Later, of course, there was a carriage return key (where the “Enter” key is found on today’s computer keyboards.) To help us keep our eyes off the paper in the typewriter, a bell would sound to let us know we were reaching the end of a line. Momentary pause as we think, Is there room for the entire word or should I hyphenate?

Then came “Word Wrap” – a term many computer literate young people aren’t familiar with. To me, it was a technological miracle that the word processor knew when there was no more room for print on the current line, “wrapping” the word around to the next line. As these machines became more and more sophisticated, they even knew where to place the hyphens.

Typing is definitely one of the most valuable classes I’ve ever taken, and I’m reminded of that every time I watch someone at a computer, searching the keyboard for a particular letter or symbol. Even once they’ve become familiar with the precise location of each letter, number and symbol, the best most of these self-taught typists can do is use two or three fingers on each hand, and they can’t take their eyes off the keyboard while they type. Over the years I sometimes earned extra income by working for temporary agencies; my typing – fast and accurate – helped me learn what it would be like to work in offices at Harley-Davidson, Midwest Express, Northwestern Mutual, Ameritech or Magnetek Engineering. I also worked in a variety of law offices.

One of my first temporary jobs was for the law firm of Lipton and Petrie in downtown Milwaukee. Every letter, every brief, had to be typed perfectly in duplicate. These days duplicating a copy is easy – we just hit the “print” command and specify the number of copies we want. If we send an e-mail, we can send a duplicate e-mail to another person by indicating “cc” (carbon copy) -- or “bcc” (blind carbon copy) if we don’t want Person A to know that Person B is receiving it. In the “B.C.” days at Lipton and Petrie, we used real carbon paper – the kind with the purple backing which marked the hands of any secretary who made too many errors. One mistake on the top copy meant repeated mistakes on the copies underneath, and there was no “erase” key to undo the damage. Each mistake had to be carefully whited out and the correction made so that it was imperceptible. Even one noticeable correction meant the entire page had to be retyped. This, more than anything else, improved my accuracy.

In the 70s, when I started writing news and feature articles for the Hales Corners and Franklin Hub, I worked from home on my personal typewriter. As in the law office, I was required to make a carbon copy of each article submitted for my files. If I made a mistake, I could mark up the carbon copy any way I chose, and the editors weren’t fussy about corrections on the page turned in, as long as they could read it. After editing it, they turned it over to a typesetter where it had to be keyed in a second time. See how these computers save us time?

Back to that question at the top: of course you knew the answer, but would a 10-year-old know what a carbon copy is? Has he ever seen a sheet of carbon paper? But here’s another question for you to mull over: Since there’s no longer any carbon paper involved in these copies, why do we need the double-C?

One of these days I’ll have to check at Franklin and Whitnall high schools to find out if they still teach typing. Most children become familiar with the keyboard before they’re in first grade. Whether or not any of them take the time to learn “touch typing” as I was taught in the 50s, I’m not sure. But I just checked the Internet: Mavis Beacon is still there offering to teach anyone the art of typing. (How old is that woman these days? From the B.C. era, for sure.)