As a journalist, I’m often required to stay impartial on many subjects. The only way to write a fair and balanced story about something in which people may have opposing viewpoints on is to simply not have an opinion about the matter, and see it from the viewpoint of both sides.
For the most part, this isn’t difficult. Oftentimes, the matter doesn’t affect me personally, so I have no reason to choose a side. When it does affect me, I do my best to keep an open mind, which has always worked for me.
I know it works, because on some of the most controversial topics in which people choose sides – usually something involving politics – I’ve received calls from people on both sides of the issue complaining my writing was more biased toward the other side. When neither side is happy, then I know I’m doing my job in a fair and balanced manner.
But one issue in Stevens Point is bugging me, and I’m going to voice an opinion. It’s an issue I’m not aware of anyone complaining about, and I’m sure it’s not one the Stevens Point Common Council or any of the appropriate committees is discussing. It has nothing to do with the Downtown Square, CenterPoint MarketPlace, school funding or local municipal budgets.
It has everything to do with traffic lights in this city.
In my opinion, the traffic lights aren’t timed right. It seems like I hit red lights more often than green lights, and a continuous drive is nearly impossible.
Maybe it’s the routes I take from home to work and back. From home, I get onto Division Street from North Point Drive, and then take Division to Main Street, where I encounter every red light along the way. I take Main Street to Clark Street where I park, once again hitting every red light.
Going home, I travel down Clark to Division, and from Division I go to North Point Drive, once again hitting every red light.
I wouldn’t complain if this was all I knew, but until three months ago, I was living in Plover where I encountered a whole different batch of traffic lights. The lights in Stevens Point frustrated me, but not to the extent the ones on my current route annoy me now, but once I got to Whiting and Plover, it was smooth sailing. That’s probably because those municipalities use sensors to control their lights, allowing for the more traveled roads – such as Post Road – to have a more continuous flow. I never appreciated this until moving to Stevens Point.
I know this is a petty thing to complain about, and most people will probably tell me I should just be more patient. They will say other issues are more pressing.
And I’ll agree with them. It’s likely the city has done studies on this, and the timed traffic lights are perfectly suited to get the best traffic flow. It’s possible if I was traveling straight from Interstate 39 onto Division that I would hit every light perfectly.
I’d probably be less likely to complain, too, if it didn’t seem as though every vehicle I was following was a Ford Focus in which the driver took his or her time slowly accelerating from every red light like a Sunday driver with no care in the world.
Maybe I need to take that attitude, too. After all, why should I be in a hurry to go to work? It’s just a job, and getting there two minutes earlier won’t result in me getting a lot more done during the day.
I could get my morning coffee a few minutes earlier, though. Nothing wrong with some caffeine that will make me more impatient on the ride home at lunch.
****
Originally published in The Portage County Gazette on Friday, Aug. 26, 2011.
Showing posts with label Stevens Point. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stevens Point. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Dean Ziegler is one Stevens Point resident people should know
Who is Dean Ziegler? And why should we care?
Dean Ziegler is an insurance salesman who likes to party and have fun, but deep down he’s got a sad heart because his wife just left him.
We should care because he’s from Stevens Point and he’s a major character in an excellent new film, “Cedar Rapids.”
Perfectly played by John C. Reilly, Ziegler is the guy Tim Lippe (played by Ed Helms), another insurance salesman, is told to avoid at a regional conference in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It’s clear why Lippe is given this advice, as Ziegler is the only one there who doesn’t suck up to Orin Helgesson (Kurtwood Smith), the president of the insurance accreditation firm in charge of awarding the coveted “Two Diamonds” award at the conference.
Ziegler moons Helgesson, tells him he’s a hypocrite and drives him crazy every chance he gets. At first it embarrasses the high-strung Lippe, but the more he gets to know Ziegler, the more he realizes Ziegler is the most real person at the conference.
And being real is something Lippe comes to realize is more important than any award could ever mean.
The only references to Stevens Point in the film are the two times characters point out that Ziegler is from Stevens Point. It makes sense, especially given the number of insurance salesmen and people involved in the insurance industry that live here.
And Ziegler doesn’t seem out of place being from Stevens Point. He’s got a perfect Wisconsin accent (John C. Reilly is a Chicago native), and his party-hard ways would seem normal in many local taverns on a Friday or Saturday night.
More importantly, he’s got a big heart, even if it’s really sad. The people he likes, he cares for immensely. He knows Lippe is high-strung, but that doesn’t stop him from trying to get him to open up and live life a little.
Although we never learn why his wife left him within the last year, viewers will probably pick up quite easily that his carefree ways probably contributed to the end of the relationship. He’s sad about it, though, as evidenced by a scene in which he stares in bed one night at a photo of the two together.
If Ziegler were a real person who did live in Stevens Point, my guess is he would live in a downtown apartment after his divorce, mainly so he could have easy access to the bars at night. A big fan of chicken wings, I would assume he’d spend a lot of time at Graffiti’s, which does offer excellent boneless wings, although I could be wrong because he does seem like someone who might like bones in his wings.
He probably would play softball in a Thursday night league, and he’d have a YMCA membership that he rarely uses.
His friends are probably mostly married, so he doesn’t hang out with many of them and instead latches onto the people he does know when he’s out. They don’t mind, though, because he’s kind of fun and always makes the evening more interesting.
At work, he probably gets a number of disagreements with the boss, but they keep him around because he’s a hard worker and makes a lot of sales. He’ll never move up at work, but he doesn’t care.
If he has kids, he cares for them deeply but he’s not the best dad. He can’t relate to them, so he lets them do whatever they want, which is another reason his wife left him.
Ziegler is a complicated character, making it appropriate he’s from Stevens Point. We may seem like simple folk here, but we’re anything but. And maybe that’s one great reason to live here.
“Cedar Rapids” is available on DVD, following a limited theatrical release earlier this year.
****
Originally published in The Portage County Gazette on Friday, Aug. 5, 2011.
Dean Ziegler is an insurance salesman who likes to party and have fun, but deep down he’s got a sad heart because his wife just left him.
We should care because he’s from Stevens Point and he’s a major character in an excellent new film, “Cedar Rapids.”
Perfectly played by John C. Reilly, Ziegler is the guy Tim Lippe (played by Ed Helms), another insurance salesman, is told to avoid at a regional conference in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It’s clear why Lippe is given this advice, as Ziegler is the only one there who doesn’t suck up to Orin Helgesson (Kurtwood Smith), the president of the insurance accreditation firm in charge of awarding the coveted “Two Diamonds” award at the conference.
Ziegler moons Helgesson, tells him he’s a hypocrite and drives him crazy every chance he gets. At first it embarrasses the high-strung Lippe, but the more he gets to know Ziegler, the more he realizes Ziegler is the most real person at the conference.
And being real is something Lippe comes to realize is more important than any award could ever mean.
The only references to Stevens Point in the film are the two times characters point out that Ziegler is from Stevens Point. It makes sense, especially given the number of insurance salesmen and people involved in the insurance industry that live here.
And Ziegler doesn’t seem out of place being from Stevens Point. He’s got a perfect Wisconsin accent (John C. Reilly is a Chicago native), and his party-hard ways would seem normal in many local taverns on a Friday or Saturday night.
More importantly, he’s got a big heart, even if it’s really sad. The people he likes, he cares for immensely. He knows Lippe is high-strung, but that doesn’t stop him from trying to get him to open up and live life a little.
Although we never learn why his wife left him within the last year, viewers will probably pick up quite easily that his carefree ways probably contributed to the end of the relationship. He’s sad about it, though, as evidenced by a scene in which he stares in bed one night at a photo of the two together.
If Ziegler were a real person who did live in Stevens Point, my guess is he would live in a downtown apartment after his divorce, mainly so he could have easy access to the bars at night. A big fan of chicken wings, I would assume he’d spend a lot of time at Graffiti’s, which does offer excellent boneless wings, although I could be wrong because he does seem like someone who might like bones in his wings.
He probably would play softball in a Thursday night league, and he’d have a YMCA membership that he rarely uses.
His friends are probably mostly married, so he doesn’t hang out with many of them and instead latches onto the people he does know when he’s out. They don’t mind, though, because he’s kind of fun and always makes the evening more interesting.
At work, he probably gets a number of disagreements with the boss, but they keep him around because he’s a hard worker and makes a lot of sales. He’ll never move up at work, but he doesn’t care.
If he has kids, he cares for them deeply but he’s not the best dad. He can’t relate to them, so he lets them do whatever they want, which is another reason his wife left him.
Ziegler is a complicated character, making it appropriate he’s from Stevens Point. We may seem like simple folk here, but we’re anything but. And maybe that’s one great reason to live here.
“Cedar Rapids” is available on DVD, following a limited theatrical release earlier this year.
****
Originally published in The Portage County Gazette on Friday, Aug. 5, 2011.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Stevens Point acts like a magnet
The Stevens Point area is one large magnet. Attracted by many of the wonderful new shopping opportunities, especially in Plover, my family and I were slowly enticed to switch our weekend excursions from Appleton or Oshkosh to Stevens Point.
Instead of driving between 45 and 60 miles one way to the Fox Valley, we could find everything we wanted here driving just 35 miles on quick-moving I-39.
Like a piece of metal stuck on a magnet, we found it difficult to pull ourselves away to go home when we were here. Not satisfied spending just one day in Stevens Point, many times we returned the next, even as gas prices rocketed and kept many would-be travelers home.
In addition to enjoying the shopping sites, we loved the restaurants, cleanliness and the relaxed vibe of this area. Nothing makes me happier than lunch at Noodles and Company. Well, maybe nothing except the flavored fish fry at the Final Score.
Last December, my wife, Jenny, was asked to interview for a job at the Marshfield Clinic. As the news editor at the Waushara Argus in Wautoma, a position I’ve had for the past 10 years, my initial response was to tell her no. I had a good job and we loved our house, family and friends in Wautoma.
But the more I thought about it, the more the Stevens Point magnet pulled me in. By centrally locating to Stevens Point, we’d still be close to family and friends and we could move to a booming area that we both loved.
Within two days, I told Jenny she should interview for the job, which she then promptly landed. We put our house on the market and I started my search for a job in Stevens Point.
The job search took a little longer than I anticipated. The last time I had gone looking for a job, the Internet did not play a major factor in the search. I had found my job at the Argus the old-fashioned way – by reading the classifieds.
I spent a month sending resumés and cover letters through several online services only to discover I wasn’t saving my files correctly and the potential employers were receiving blank applications. I was lost in cyberspace without even realizing it.
Eventually, my job search ended when I found a new one in another old-fashioned way – word-of-mouth. Someone I knew at CAP Services knew the Portage County Gazette was in need of a new writer. He put me in contact with Gene Kemmeter, whose knowledge of the newspaper business put any nerves I had about a job switch to rest before they could even emerge from my sometimes worrisome mind.
In the last few months, we have spent many weekends driving around Stevens Point to look at a number of houses for sale. Although we haven’t made the physical move to this area because we’re still trying to sell our house in Wautoma, we are looking forward to the day when we are here permanently.
Our 2-year-old son Braden started this week at a local daycare and we know he will get a good education in the future at the local schools. Even 35 miles away, SPASH has always had a reputation for being synonymous with high quality, along with the other public and private schools.
The magnetic pull became even stronger on June 1 during my first day at the Gazette when Gene drove me around the area and introduced me to many of the people I will be working and dealing with as the associate editor.
I hadn’t been to any of the parks prior to this date, so I did not know the true lure of this area’s beauty. Our decision to move here was deemed the perfect choice after seeing the great hockey rinks, soccer fields, toboggan runs, swimming pools, hiking and biking trails, and countless other park attractions and knowing my little 2-year-old will soon be old enough to do all of these things.
This column will become a weekly fixture in the paper. It originated as a humor column in the Argus as my forum for entertaining people with anecdotes about my life.
My goal is to provide a little “Light of Day” while making you laugh.
Instead of driving between 45 and 60 miles one way to the Fox Valley, we could find everything we wanted here driving just 35 miles on quick-moving I-39.
Like a piece of metal stuck on a magnet, we found it difficult to pull ourselves away to go home when we were here. Not satisfied spending just one day in Stevens Point, many times we returned the next, even as gas prices rocketed and kept many would-be travelers home.
In addition to enjoying the shopping sites, we loved the restaurants, cleanliness and the relaxed vibe of this area. Nothing makes me happier than lunch at Noodles and Company. Well, maybe nothing except the flavored fish fry at the Final Score.
Last December, my wife, Jenny, was asked to interview for a job at the Marshfield Clinic. As the news editor at the Waushara Argus in Wautoma, a position I’ve had for the past 10 years, my initial response was to tell her no. I had a good job and we loved our house, family and friends in Wautoma.
But the more I thought about it, the more the Stevens Point magnet pulled me in. By centrally locating to Stevens Point, we’d still be close to family and friends and we could move to a booming area that we both loved.
Within two days, I told Jenny she should interview for the job, which she then promptly landed. We put our house on the market and I started my search for a job in Stevens Point.
The job search took a little longer than I anticipated. The last time I had gone looking for a job, the Internet did not play a major factor in the search. I had found my job at the Argus the old-fashioned way – by reading the classifieds.
I spent a month sending resumés and cover letters through several online services only to discover I wasn’t saving my files correctly and the potential employers were receiving blank applications. I was lost in cyberspace without even realizing it.
Eventually, my job search ended when I found a new one in another old-fashioned way – word-of-mouth. Someone I knew at CAP Services knew the Portage County Gazette was in need of a new writer. He put me in contact with Gene Kemmeter, whose knowledge of the newspaper business put any nerves I had about a job switch to rest before they could even emerge from my sometimes worrisome mind.
In the last few months, we have spent many weekends driving around Stevens Point to look at a number of houses for sale. Although we haven’t made the physical move to this area because we’re still trying to sell our house in Wautoma, we are looking forward to the day when we are here permanently.
Our 2-year-old son Braden started this week at a local daycare and we know he will get a good education in the future at the local schools. Even 35 miles away, SPASH has always had a reputation for being synonymous with high quality, along with the other public and private schools.
The magnetic pull became even stronger on June 1 during my first day at the Gazette when Gene drove me around the area and introduced me to many of the people I will be working and dealing with as the associate editor.
I hadn’t been to any of the parks prior to this date, so I did not know the true lure of this area’s beauty. Our decision to move here was deemed the perfect choice after seeing the great hockey rinks, soccer fields, toboggan runs, swimming pools, hiking and biking trails, and countless other park attractions and knowing my little 2-year-old will soon be old enough to do all of these things.
This column will become a weekly fixture in the paper. It originated as a humor column in the Argus as my forum for entertaining people with anecdotes about my life.
My goal is to provide a little “Light of Day” while making you laugh.
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