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In the wee hours of the morning on Thursday, I left my apartment and walked to the Fargo train station to catch a train to Milwaukee to visit my friend Lia with probably too much luggage. The train was supposed to leave at 2 am. The train actually left at 6 am. I really could have gone home and gotten some sleep, but I'm too stubborn for that, so instead I read a book and a half while I waited. There weren't any window seats available when I boarded the train, so I took a seat next to a guy I had seen smoking outside. I was really hoping to get some sleep, but my seat mate was feeling talkative, and I am, if nothing else, amenable to conversations with strangers. It turns out his name was Michael, he looked just like River Phoenix, and he was going to Minnesota from Portland for his "Midwest Farewell-Fuck You Tour," as he called it. We covered a lot of topics in the four hours or so we were on the train together, including his love life, my studies, and the likelihood that humanity will colonize Mars (obvi). As other passengers woke up around us, I learned that several of the guys on the train had been riding with Michael and had gotten to know each other, and I was treated to several stories about Clayton, who had gotten off at Minot in the midst of a bad acid trip. Jack, an aging hippie sitting across the aisle from me, also talked a lot about his conspiracy theories about the government, including the idea that the NSA is renting out cell phone towers and using them to control our thoughts. There was an Iowan whose name I didn't get, but who offered the following observation: "I don't go to the Minnesota State Fair, I go to the Wisconsin State Fair. The Minnesota State Fair is gay" -- a statement which I found more confusing than offensive. Finally, there was the guy sitting in front of us, who borrowed Michael's phone and began the call he made, "Hi, Mr. Showalter? This is your son, David." After Michael got off the train in Minneapolis, I put my headphones on and ignored my fellow passengers.
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I got into Milwaukee around 6:30, where Lia met me at the station. After a few weeks in Fargo, Milwaukee, which I remembered as a Barnes & Noble and the Miller brewery on a river, looked unbelievably urban. When Lia told me there was an Ethiopian restaurant not too far away, I almost lost it. So, we ate some delicious Ethiopian food, and then hopped on a bus to Lia's neighborhood, which is adorable. Seriously, you guys, Milwaukee is an awesome city. I love that industrial aesthetic, and Milwaukee's got that in spades, but it also has a lot of really nice looking older architecture, hip neighborhoods, great restaurants and a ton of bars. After I dropped my stuff off at Lia's apartment, we went to one of those bars where they sell $2 beers, like, all the time, which doesn't make any sense to me as a business strategy, but I'll take it. I was basically delirious at this point, having not slept in many, many hours, so we went home pretty early and went to sleep not long after.
We set out after breakfast for downtown Milwaukee. After doing some shopping and testing my will power at Anthropologie, we got lunch at a big food market a few blocks away, bought a copy of the New York Times for the crossword puzzle, and then started walking along the river. Unfortunately, I do not have any photos of industrial river front scenes, I can imagine how disappointed you all are, I'm sorry about that. It really is a beautiful city, though, there's a lot to do, and a really vibrant social scene. The beer certainly doesn't hurt. And speaking of beer, in the afternoon we went on a brewery tour at Lakefront Brewing Company. Ok, folks, this is a $7 tour, you get the tour, obviously, plus four free beers, plus a free pint glass, plus a coupon for a free beer at a local restaurant. It's a ridiculous deal. Again, I don't understand how they can do this, but I'll take it. Our tour guide was funny in an excessively boisterous way, but the beer was really good, and I learned a few things.
We met up with Lia's roommate, Cari, at a bar for that final free beer. I got to hear about their work at a college prep service organization, their colleagues and friends, and life in Milwaukee generally. Lia loves Milwaukee, and I'm so happy for her and also can understand why she likes it so much. It's sort of a perfect city for young people, unless you want to be geographically close to people outside the Midwest.
Lia and I walked back to Lia's apartment, where we met up with Lia's other roommate, Tyia, a coworker Sarah, and Sarah's two year old daughter, who introduced herself to me by running over and throwing her arms around my legs. That was pretty adorable. We hung out for a few hours, and then Lia and I went to dinner at Beans and Barley. When we got home, the rest of the crew was watching The Sound of Music, which has been forever ruined for me by this.
The next morning, Lia and I went to coffee and worked on the crossword (we did pretty well for a Friday, but ultimately had to consult Rex Parker). I was bound and determined to get a Bloody Mary before leaving, because I'd heard it was a great Milwaukee brunch tradition. After a longish wait I got my Bloody Mary, without the cheese and beef jerky garnishes, and a delicious tofu skillet. After brunch, we perused the records that were for sale on a nearby sidewalk, looked around Urban Outfitters, and then hopped on a bus back to the train station. I will definitely go back to Milwaukee. I definitely will not take the train again.
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When I got on the train back to Fargo, there was a window seat open and I grabbed it and opened up my book. After the train got moving, one of the Amtrak crew members told me I had to move because the seat I was in was reserved for a couple traveling together, which I was fairly sure wasn't true, but I moved to the seat he pointed to, next to a rather intimidating young man, who started a conversation with me that seemed extremely friendly even if it included some rather unconventional career advice ("You don't need a degree, you just need to preach. You need to get some friends at the court house and preach."). He's studying architecture at La Crosse, wants a tattoo of a skull on his neck, and likes all music other than techno. During our last hour or so together, the conversation took a turn for the uncomfortably personal. I won't relate most of it to you, suffice it to say, at one point he started stroking my arm hair and said, "You have more than me." Awesome.
After he got off the train, an older woman got on and was seated next to me. We had a much more conventional and less stressful conversation about her son and her pets and the need for emergency managers. She never touched my arm hair. The last leg of the trip, from Minneapolis to Fargo, I had my own window seat, and I listened to my most abrasive music I could think of and managed to stay awake until 3:45, when the train got into Fargo.
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I woke up late on Sunday and had an overwhelming desire to go to church, so I showered and got dressed and walked over to the cathedral, in spite of the fact that I had been turned off by their peculiar emphasis on "natural family planning" during the first service I went to. Let's just say this service was significantly more... conservative. Now, ok, I'm not the most socially liberal person in the world, and although I consider myself pro-choice, I'm sympathetic to certain pro-life arguments. So the Gospel reading was about Jesus setting the world on fire and turning families against each other, so I was expecting a sermon seeking to resolve this message with Jesus's otherwise peaceful ministry (more on this, perhaps, later). Instead, somehow the priest managed to invoke not only the church's teachings on same sex marriage (which, to be clear, I vehemently disagree with), but it's stance on abortion. And he did this, not by emphasizing the ethical principles behind this position, but by describing chopped up fetuses. I did the most dramatic eye roll I could manage, and almost walked out. It was like a caricature of what people think conservative churches teach. I definitely, definitely, definitely will not be going back.
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Last night I went to dinner at Ellen's house, and it was lovely. Fargo is mostly laid out in a grid, so it's pretty easy to get around, but I have an atrocious sense of direction and got a little lost, but I managed to arrive just about on time and without using my navigation system. Ellen's mom showed me around her garden, and prepared a delicious vegan meal for us. It was so nice to have dinner with a family with pets and all that, and I got to hear some of their family stories and told a few of my own. There aren't necessarily a lot of topics I can talk to people about for a long time, but family and gardening are two that I can. At the end of the evening, I was sent home with tomatoes, basil, parsley, green beans, jalapenos, and all kinds of other delicious produce from their garden. Ellen sent me her mom's contact info this morning so I'll be able to call her if there's some kind of an emergency, which is hopefully unnecessary but comforting nevertheless.
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This morning I got an email from the professor I met with a couple of weeks ago, Jessica, about the assistanceship I was assigned to with her. I went into her office in the afternoon, and we discussed what I'll be doing. I have one small logistical assignment to do, but then the fun stuff starts. I get to do research on insurance and other economic aspects of disasters. I'm super excited to get started on this -- preparedness and mitigation incentives are probably what I'm most interested in studying, so even though this work won't include much original research, I'm looking forward to digging in and getting a handle on the existing research.
After I left, Jessica ran into one of the other graduate students, Laura, who sent me an email this evening inviting me to lunch tomorrow. Looking forward to finally making some friends.
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