Tyme Out!

Wisconsin Lexicon Entry #2

During my first week as a Wisconsin resident, I visited a grocery store near our apartment. As I prepared to pay for my items, the cashier asked me, "Are you using your time card?"

I gave her a blank look, paused, and replied, "I don't...uh, I don't work here."

She said, "No, Tyme card, debit card. T-Y-M-E. Are you using a debit card?"

I felt silly, but then realized people in Wisconsin may actually have to ask someone else, "Do you know if there is a Tyme Machine around here?"

Now if she had asked me if I was using my Cash Station card, I would have totally known what she was talking about. But they don't have Cash Stations in Wisconsin. And I guess the Cash Station name brand was discontinued the year after we left Chicago.

I now just say ATM.

Up North

Wisconsin Lexicon Entry #1

up north (noun): any recreational destination outside of Milwaukee and Madison. The Strombowskis went up north for the weekend.

When we first moved to Wisconsin, we heard coworkers and neighbors refer to going "up north," a mystical vacation spot where people stay in cabins, spend time fishing and boating, and consume beer.

I would ask where this "up north" was and it turns out that there are many rural, wooded locations throughout the state that can be considered "up north." This website suggests that only certain counties should be included in the "up north" category, but I have heard it used in a broader sense.

~~~

Since their infancy, our children were cared for by Busia (boo-sha), which is Polish for grandma. Busia ran a daycare in her home and soon became a close friend of our family. She had a cabin "up north" and eventually closed the daycare last summer and moved there permanently.

I found myself explaining to others that "Busia had retired up north." This phrase reminded me of how parents sometimes explain death to young children:

"Scruffy is now living happily on a farm for old dogs."

"Grandma is in a better place."

"Mr. Miller moved to Florida."

~~~

Our next door neighbors have a place "up north." After several conversations about how they spent their weekends, I couldn't imagine why anyone would even want a second home on a lake. They spend their weekends working! They are mowing the lawn, remodeling, winterizing the cabin, pulling weeds, cooking, cleaning, and doing basic home repairs. These are things I do every weekend at my own house...and I don't have to drive three hours to get there! I can barely stay on top of the upkeep of my own house and yard, I can't imagine have two homes to maintain.

We managed to get invited to our neighbors cabin in the summer of 2007. We joined five other families on our block for a weekend of drinking, eating, and swapping stories around a bonfire. Again, I wondered, "Why can't we do this in the neighborhood?"

Despite a horseshoe injury that nearly landed me in the ER, we did have a great weekend. I was introduced to the secret of "up north" culture -- the supper club. We could walk from the cabin to a supper club less than a block away. The other moms and I spent Saturday night sampling the draft brew at the supper club and walked, err, stumbled back to the cabin with tiny flashlights. The highlight of the evening was the underage drinkers who decided this group of moms were worthy of flirting. Out of respect for my neighbors, I will not post pictures of them dancing on the tables.

This same group of moms and I are venturing back "up north" to the cabin at the end of March for a girls' weekend away. I am hoping to find more cultural nuggets on that trip!

Introduction: Welcome to Wisconsin -- Come and Smell our Dairy Air!

In spring of 2000, I was a newlywed with a brand new masters degree and a rewarding job at a liberal arts college. My husband and I were living just north of Chicago and waiting for the next part of our lives to begin. One day, my soon-to-be-law-school-graduate husband shared some news with me.

"I got the federal clerkship in Milwaukee!"

I'll never forget my reaction:

"Milwaukee? You mean, Wisconsin? People don't LIVE in Wisconsin. They just go there on the weekends in the summer!"

But alas, we were headed to Wisconsin temporarily. A few years at the most. His clerkship was for two years, and then we would move on to some fabulous place to settle down and live our lives. Some place warm.

But the clerkship extended to three years and by that time, we had our first child and the Wisconsin bar exam had been taken and passed. Before I knew it, 2004 was here and my husband was working at a Milwaukee law firm. We also had a mortgage and another baby on the way. Much to my surprise, our future was clear: we weren't stuck in Wisconsin, we had made the choice to live in Wisconsin.

Now, after nearly nine years of living north of the cheddar curtain (aka the Illinois/Wisconsin border), I embrace our decision to settle here and raise our children in suburban Milwaukee. We have made so many wonderful friends here -- both native Wisconsinites as well as other transplants. Most of the time, I really feel like I am home. But, at other moments, I still feel like an outsider observing some curious culture. I take mental notes on my anthropological observations and share stories with my friends and family still in Chicagoland.

I think it's about time that I finally record those observations so that my experience may be of help to other Chicagoans who travel I-94 north into America's Dairyland.