Eloyda's New York Blog

Welcome to Madison

6:00 a.m. for 2.5 hours on a bus.  Not my idea of a good time.  Several hours later we were experiencing a gorgeous green city, eating cheese curds (I liked the fried ones) and listening to the experts in Wisconsin history.  Stan Schultz was a hoot and, although listening to any lecturer after is difficult, he kept us all listening as he talked on about the progressive era.  I wish that I had a professor like that in my undergrad.  He made history sound so practical and common sense. 

I loved looking at the artifacts at the Wisconsin Historic Society Library.  The information that I looked at was from the Huerfano county and Trinidad area.  I was drawn to it because that is the area where I went to high school.  I found a telegraph dated August 12, 1913 written from the United Mine Workers of America to Adolph Germer (a union official, 1912 candidate of the Socialist Party for the Illinois legislature and a UMWA organizer in the 1914 Colorado coal strike in Denver).   In it he wrote, “I am glad to know the spirit of the men in southern Colorado is genuine and I believe that if everyone is true and if the crooks are kept off of the scene, we will win a sweeping victory in Colorado.  I’m sure the “crooks” that he was referring to were the “company” bosses and 8 months later the Ludlow Massacre happened.  It felt like I had discovered something that no one else had and it was probably pretty unimportant when looking at the big picture.  But, I guess that must be a tiny bit like historians feel when they find some treasure from history. 

Melissa, Eloyda, Crystal

Lunch was great and so was the sunshine (finally).  The location chosen for dinner was amazing and even if I was still full from that big lunch it was felt good to relax and enjoy the moment with new friends.