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Communing with Vince Lombardi, Harry Houdini and Edna Ferber in stormy (in more ways than one) Appleton An enjoyable trip to speak at the Outagamie County Historical
Society
 February 23, 2011: Since the publication of Third Down and a War to Go, I've been brought back to Wisconsin many times for appearances and functions, the majority of them under the aegis
of the Wisconsin Historical Society. This time, I'm back from an enjoyable trip to Appleton -- 100 miles north of Milwaukee
and 30 miles from Green Bay -- to speak at the annual meeting of the Outagamie County Historical Society on Monday afternoon. That's my amateur shot of the organization's Castle base in downtown Appleton, before heading in for
the function.
 Yes, the Midwest snow storm made it a challenge on several levels -- including getting to the Fox Cities area and
then getting home -- but even on a day when schools were closed and the local television stations covered the weather developments as
one of those monumental storms that challenges Mr. Doppler and everyone else, the meeting went on as scheduled and I was stunned
at how many hearty Wisconsinites showed up.
While there, I also got to eat dinner at the renowned Vince Lombardi's Steak House -- Vince wasn't there, but there were plenty of pictures of him and other Packer greats on the walls -- and at
Fratello's on the Fox River, and those are world-class restaurants. I also learned, in wandering around the Historical Society, that
Appleton is the hometown of illusionist Harry Houdini and the city where novelist Edna Ferber (Giant, Cimarron...)
was raised and also worked for the Appleton newspaper before moving on.
 At least nobody picketed my appearance. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, who finds himself in the eye of the storm because
of his atempt to end the collective bargaining rights of many public employees, was invited to attend the Republican
Party's Lincoln Day dinner at the Radisson Paper Valley Hotel on Monday night. He didn't attend, but that didn't stop
the protests. At left, that's another of my amateur cell phone shots of the hotel, which was across the street from
mine. That's a small portion of the crowd, because protesters were stationed at all entrances to the hotel and spilled
into other nearby areas. Some of them were even wearing cheeseheads. There had been previous demonstrations in the city's
Houdini Square over the weekend and also earlier in the month, when Walker came to Appleton and met with editors of the Post-Crescent
to state his case and answer questions.
My thanks to all connected with the Outagamie County Historical Society,
especially Matt Carpenter, deputy director and curator of collections, who arranged my visit. Also, thanks to Executive
Director Terry Bergen; Communications Specialist Melissa LeDuc; attorney Ed Bush, the organization's president;
and Vice President Ron Altenburg of Schenck, a CPA and business consulting firm.
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