Thinking about Regional Rail

Awhile back, FiveThirtyEight wrote an interesting post about how American perceptions of different modes of transportation lead to different outcomes in how we use transportation (Link to that post). Particularly, they write that Americans are more disposed to use cars than planes because we have negative perceptions of flying. The article also points out that we discount the cost of driving, when making travel decisions.

The problem with their analysis is that they want to use our incorrect accounting of automobile travel as a justification for additional rail travel. The article fails to realize that forcing consumers to confront the real costs of driving is not plausible. In the real world, people discount their use of a car because they do not have to pay for the wear and tear applied to their car at the point that they use it. Most people, will assume that the cost of owning a car is a sunk cost, independent of the decision to travel. And this sounds like a correct assumption – car owners still have to make a payment on their car for that month whether or not they decide to go on a family vacation. The additional costs of travel are only those created by gasoline. If you’re interested in forcing people to make the correct economic decision, a regional rail system (or any alternative transportation system) is not the answer. Increasing the gas tax is.

However, I certainly agree that we could use more regional rail travel in the midwest between our large cities. But my rationale is not based on attempt to adjust my behavior to account for the full cost of owning a car. Rather, it is based on my hatred of driving in Chicago traffic and the fact that I feel like I lose a significant amount of my time. I want all of the benefits of flying at a lower cost without the disadvantages of delays and oversold flights. There are many paths in the Midwest that are similar to the Madison to Chicago route – where its silly to fly that short of a distance and burdensome to drive the same route (Milwaukee to Minneapolis is another example).

I think other people want the same thing and such an option would have the potential to subsidize economic growth between the cities involved – businesses in each city would get the benefit of reducing the costs of face to face contact and could increase the productivity of their employees.

My argument for additional regional rail travel is based on two additional factors: 1) a preference for urban environments and 2) the fact that I’m single (okay – engaged. Whatever, I don’t have any kids). I think the dislike for flying is still going to apply to rail travel if you happen to be unlike me. If you have to drive a significant distance to link-up to a regional rail system, you are still going to prefer to drive the entire distance rather than to drive and then take a plane or train to your final destination. Similarly, if you have to pay ticket prices for everyone in your family – you are far more likely to prefer to drive than pay for everyone’s ticket.

Film Festival Ends, Baseball Begins

My efforts to post my thoughts to all the movies I attened at the 2009 Wisconsin Film Festival fell short. I’ve been sick since Sunday with some weird sinus infection/cold. In the mean time, ultimate spring season and baseball began. And between fighting infection and other demands for my time, little has been left in the world of writing about the film fest. Here are my non-film specific thoughts, and hopefully, by the end of this week I will get all of my reactions written to the shows I saw.

In the end, I went to nine films. A good amount, but not nearly as hardcore as some of the attendees. (Perhaps, we could make a documentary about the people who go to see a record number of films?) I saw, in chronological order: Anvil: the Story of Anvil, Milk in the Land: Ballad of an American Drink, Illegal Use of Joe Zopp, British Television Ad Awards, Between the Folds (and two accompanying animation shorts), Chef’s Special, Paper or Plastic?, Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Schulman, and Mermaid. This year’s experience for me was much better compared to last year’s. Last year, I saw seven films, but four of those came on Saturday. This year, I wasn’t trying to do too much on any given day and I felt like I saw a lot of shows. I am more of a film – drink – film – coffee – drink – film – drink person. Being social in between shows makes for a much more enjoyable festival experience. One needs a little socialization to spruce up the individual experience of watching film. I’m a bit disappointed that I didn’t gut out the rain on Thursday night to get rush tickets to Rockafire. Regardless, I’m happy the way things worked out.

Meg Hammel and the volunteers deserve a lot of credit. They gracefully handled issues that would have made the rest us panic in a heart beat. A film not in Madison on the day it’s supposed to show up? Not a problem – we have a driver intercepting it on the route back from the Chicago airport. A show canceling the week of the festival? Never fear, we found a backup on an incredibly short notice. On top of it, everyone was extremely polite and helpful.

As soon as the festival ended – like many of the Madison blogs – my attention quickly turned to the next thing. Which is, apparently, baseball. And with the beginning of baseball season, come the usual questions about why I’m a Cubs fan. The Brewers-Cubs rivalry has gotten a bit intense over the last few years, mainly because the Brewers have slowly built a good team. And so, I get some hatred from people who have recently discovered they are baseball fans. For those of you who aren’t sports fans, think of how recently converted evangelicals feel about atheists/Muslims/Jews/liberals/city-folk/gay-people/and well anyone not like them; it’s irrational and makes little sense.

A couple of days ago, Madison’s Decider decided to fan the flames. I found a couple of responses to be extremely identical to how I feel about this kind of garbage.

User Wallrock wrote:

I’ve been a life-long Cubs fan from the Madison area and I’ve never quite understood the rise of the virulent hate directed my way in the last five years. Three reasons:
1) when I grew up I was kind of a secondary Brewers fan, and since the likelihood of both teams meeting in the World Series was minuscule this went unchecked until ‘98 when the Brewers switched over from the Junior Circuit. Now I obviously can’t really support two teams in the same division but 18 years of Brewers-like doesn’t just go away despite the fact that everyone seems to hate me now.

2) When the switch first happened I was actually kind of happy since it meant an easier trip to Milwaukee to see the Cubs. But back in the seasons following the ‘03 collapse both teams were fucking terrible, so it was a bragging rights 5th place in the Central-type game. You’d sit out in the parking lot and maybe talk a little shit but it was an overall friendly affair punctuated by the sharing of many beers. Of course at that time it was like 3/4 Cub fans in the place, but it’s not exactly like those tickets were stolen from Brewer fans – they weren’t showing up anyways. But I got used to the easy-going nature of those kind of games at Miller Park, so I was not expecting what I experienced the last two years. And let’s be honest – douchebags are douchebags no matter who they’re supporting. My experience with the Marquette fratboys last year may have been due to either my blue hat or red hoodie but it doesn’t change how I saw the Brewer fans afterwards.

3) It pains me to make this comparison, but the whole rivalry comes off like the UW-Michigan one, in that beating Michigan (and hating Michigan fans) is a big part of the Badger psyche, but Michigan is always going to have bigger rivals than Wisconsin. Last year was definitely heated between the Cubs and the Brewers, but I can attest to the fact that as a Cubs fan my sports-hate is directed to the Cardinals and the White Sox more so than the Brewers. And I’m guessing that knowing that your rival doesn’t hate you as much as you hate him, well it probably makes you hate him even more.

Oh yeah, 3.5 – I’m from Madison. I don’t hate Chicago, I hate Milwaukee. I can’t stand anything about that goddamn hole. But that’s the way it works – you hate upward. Madison hates Milwaukee, Milwaukee hates Chicago, and Chicago NY or LA.

And user Klik writes:

Let me preface the following by stating that I am, like Wallrock, a lifelong Cubs fan (also currently residing in Madison), so I grant that a certain amount of my objectivity was lost after reading the article title and certainly after discovering that this laughable attempt at sportswriting was crafted by a hardcore (aka post-2005) Brewers “fan”.

I’m quite glad that you mentioned that your magnificent insights (thanks Rmarshall) are a couple of years old, as this highlights the timeline on the growth of your Cubs hatred. You’ve only been a Brewers fan since 2006, yet you developed an intense hatred for the Cubs by 2007? Despite the hilarious bandwagoning aspect of this admission, rest assured, you’re not the only one. All of the other Brewers fans which I’ve met seemed to share this same sentiment…starting in 2007. Now it’s easy to see why – as a perennial bottom dweller, Milwaukee gained boatloads of new fans by building a team worthy of walking onto the field, and they’ve definitely been an exciting team to watch for the past couple of years. The fact that this anger was born towards the past two years’ division winner is no surprise, and Chicago’s close proximity to Milwaukee doesn’t hurt either.

Klik then takes to task all of the reasoning in the article. It’s almost more amusing than the article itself. You can check out the article and all of the other comments at the link above.

Root for your team. Who ever that is. Rag on the opponent when appropriate, but don’t provide reasons or additional opportunities to hate on others without thinking about why you are doing so. It’d be like if I found reasons to rag on films that didn’t get the same success/participation/acclaim as others. It does little good and doesn’t contribute.

Oh.

And Go Cubs.

(FYI: I’m going to Saturday’s Cubs game @ Wrigley Field North)

Review of Anvil: What I thought of Anvil

After participating in forensics and debate for ten years, Anvil had a unique connection with me. For many coaches, Debate and Forensics is a job, but it’s also a labor of love. There’s a certain disconnect from reality that comes with it. We (coaches) give up our weekends to travel long distances to instruct high school students in an abstract competition. Many of our friends don’t understand it. Many of parents didn’t understand why we were involved. And many of our spouses/significant others don’t understand it either. And in some way, we are always pursuing an unobtainable goal – qualifying for state, winning state, qualifying for nationals, winning nationals, making the college team, qualifying for college nationals… and so on.

Playing Metal music into your 50’s is a strikingly similar. These guys love to play, but the shows are not their real jobs. They have to travel to the shows and there’s a set of unique individuals who are religious to metal concerts. The quest to “make it” in the music business (whatever that success may be), is relatively undefined and hard to obtain. There is a greater goal in entertaining, as there is in educating students in debate and forensics, but sometimes it’s hard to see the big picture.

Lips and Reiner face similar challenges. To persevere for thirty years, and see the toll that it extracts on one’s family was quite revealing. I do hope they “make it” in the end, what ever that may mean. The alternative is that they become a modern day Sisyphus, always trying to roll the ball up the hill. And I’d fear for the destruction that ball would wreak on their families.

On the same note, I felt the first question asked to the UW-Madion alum editor who was at the show, was quite apt: how do you react to people laughing at sad moments? I was quite frustrated that people would laugh at the sad realization that one may not live up to their dreams. After all, these were real people puring their hearts out, and you think it’s funny? Yes, I know, their choice of words may not be poetic. They are, nonetheless, their words and they are real. Perhaps these individuals didn’t get the film. It was  only clear to me until after doing further research that this was not a Christopher Guest film and that this was not a mockumentary. Maybe they were just mislead. I hope so, because I wouldn’t want to live in a society without empathy.

High School Debate Lacking in Madison

Last week’s Isthmus reminded me that school board elections are happening this April. The lack of discussion this time around stands in stark contrast to the amount of discussion that occurred in 2007. Some of the 2007 issues stick out in my memory, because many of the candidates chose to highlight the value of speech and debate. Two year’s later, I wonder if the rhetoric of praising the value of speech and debate has translated into supporting the activity.

In the Spring of 2007, as an assistant forensics coach preparing for the state championship, it was nice to hear that members of the community had taken notice of James Madison Memorial’s success. (Memorial won state forensics championships in 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2006. JMM also won last year and they’ve taken individual championships each year). Back then, we were just about the only game in town. Since then, Madison West, Sun Prairie, and Middleton have developed quality forensic teams. At last year’s state forensics tournament, Memorial went home with the championship, West placed eighth, and Sun Praire placed fourth.

Debate, however, is a different story. Madison West has lost most of their debate team; while Middleton has developed one. Madison East and LaFollette, are no where to be found for either debate or forensics. Sure, they have teams. But their teams do not compete in the same way that Memorial/West/Sun Prairie/Middleton do.

Since becoming the President-elect of the Wisconsin Debate Coaches Association, I’ve tried to facilitate the development of high school debate in Dane County. The Madison area is sitting on a virtual goldmine of talent that has largely gone untapped. The Dane County area has enough schools to support local debate tournaments at virtually no cost. If the four Madison schools participated in a competition with Middleton, Verona, and Sun Prairie – one could almost hold an entire season of competitions without ever traveling outside of the county. Since only Memorial and Middleton competed in debate this year, those schools were forced to travel two hours or more on some weekends just to attend a competition. With a limited budget, this makes it very costly and very difficult for students to participate in an activity that many school board members have said is important.

What have members of the school board said about debate and extracurriculars? Let’s review:

In 2007 Candidate’s Questionaire, Johnny Winston Jr. specifically mentioned debate and forensics as one of the critical extracurricular activities important for Madison area students.

“Extracurricular programs can be linked to the curriculum as a way of extending and enhancing the district’s educational programs. Madison Metropolitan School District students are fortunate to have a multitude of activities to become involved in. They include but are not limited to: sports, fine arts, debate, forensics, literary, newspaper, yearbook, science Olympiad, Distributive Education Clubs of America, foreign language and math competitions and Madison School & Community Recreation.”

Maya Cole made a similar response in 2007.

Extracurricular activities provide students with opportunities to learn more about their community, other cultures and themselves. They provide opportunities for self-expression and creativity while easing the stress of school. I’ve been lucky enough to participate in competitive rowing, recreational skiing, rock climbing and solo hiking in the wilderness. I’ve tried everything from forensics club to newspaper writing to photography to piano lessons.

While not defending, speech or debate, Majorie Passman defined herself as an advocate for all extracurricular activities.

Madison is fortunate that its schools have a rich extracurricular structure. As a board member, I will do everything I can to guarantee that students continue to have equal access to as many of these activities as they find interesting and have the spare time to pursue.

and in a different article, advocated for expanding speech and debate:

We must support programs such as strings, expand foreign language classes, and more extracurricular experiences (debate, forensics, drama) which are important for every child.

Moss has expressed interest in using the population size of Madison to reduce costs and provide a better product for students.

The district and Madison School & Community Recreation are working to increase access to extracurricular activities for all students by removing barriers to participation such as transportation, costs and location. I support continuing and expanding these efforts.

Despite all of this outpouring of support for debate and forensics from the school board (and this is just from the candidates that won – the losing candidates also spoke highly of the value of speech and debate), there has been no administrative action supporting these activities. Any work that has been done to expand these activities is solely the product of committed coaches and educators.

Strangely, no one in MMSD seems concerned that only Memorial participates in debate – but yet full head and assistant coaches are paid at each of the schools. I sent an email to the athletic directors in September asking each of them for the email address of their debate coach, so that I could set them up with materials and help them in their debate planning. Not surprisingly, I received no response. If the school board is really concerned about this issue – the administrators from each school should be finding active and supportive coaches, so that East/West/LaFollette can at least compete. Right now, students at those schools do not have an option. The experience difference in extracurriculars between Memorial and East or Memorial and LaFollette is drastic. To make the comparison in sports terms; it’s like East and LaFollette don’t even offer soccer.

While East/West/LaFollette are one extreme for debate, Memorial is on the other for forensics. The James Madison Memorial forensics team averages about 120 students – that doesn’t count students who participate in drama. No other forensics team in the state is that large. And yet, the salary level for JMM’s head coach is the equivalent of a basketball assistant – despite the fact that the Memorial head coach deals with more students and takes on much more responsibility (and has been more successful). What incentive is the district offering to teachers who want to offer this all-agreed upon worthy activity? Additionally, it fails common sense to expect JMM’s coach to continue what he does, when other schools in the district do relatively nothing.

If the school board is serious in its commitment towards debate and forensics, then it should strengthn those activities across the district. All students in the Madison Metro School District should be able to recieve the benefits of debate – not just the students who are fortunate to attend a school with a willing coach. Merely talking about debate when elections are around is ridiculuous. I hope the board is held accountable and that these individuals make good on their promises to improve speech and debate for all members of the MMSD.

Film Fest Scheduled!

I have been following the Wisconsin Film Fest on Twitter. I don’t really use Twitter, because I’m on facebook and they’re like the exact same thing. But I can follow an RSS feed with the best of them. Meg Hamel, the festival’s director recently referred to putting the schedule together as like a “giant jigsaw puzzle.”

Trying to figure out what movies you want to see versus what movies you can reasonably see versus how many movies you can stand to see in a day is a similar puzzle and film goer struggle. It’s like the day when the time table hits – sure you know what courses you are interested in – but it’s all a matter of when things are scheduled. Let’s face it, as interesting as some things are, you are not waking up at 8 am just to do it. The same principle holds true for the Film Festival. I’m hoping for a better distribution than last year. Alissa did six shows, while I did seven (BAFTA, a narrative, a set of shorts, a foriegn film, a set of docs and another narrative; while I did the same with another doc in the mix). While seven shows over four days really isn’t that difficult – but when you do four in one day, it gets a bit hecktick.

This year I’m paying more attention to timing than I am to the films I want to see. I created a matrix of alternatives and let’s just hope that Alissa has similar interests as me. Without further ado, here’s the matrix.

• Thursday – either Win or Lose: A Summer Camp story OR Earth Days OR Anvil OR The Lie of the Land
• Friday – Illegal Use of Joe Zoepp
• Saturday – if seeing Being Bucky, then the following: Being Bucky at 6:15 AND The Taking of Pelham One Two Three OR Winter of Frozen Dreams at 8:45 with the option of adding Between the Fold OR the British TV Ads prior (4:30/ 1:15 respectively).
  Not seeing Bucky, then the following: Between the Fold at 4:30 AND either The Taking of Pelham One Two Three OR Winter of Frozen Dreams at 8:45
• Sunday – If seeing Bucky, then the following: increase number of films for Nick to seven. See Between the Folds early Sunday morning – alone if necessary. Then the following: Visual Accoustics AND BAFTA.
  If not Bucky – then Visual Acoustics and BAFTA with the option of adding Paper or Plastic at 11

For some, that’s way too much crazy logic. But there’s a method to this structure. It all depends on whether or not I want to see Being Bucky/can fight off the other 250,000 badger fans. I decided that I want to see Between the Fold and I’m unsure about whether or not to see Being Bucky. I’m leaning towards avoiding it – because its a major schedule headache and pretty much forces me to do a three film day somewhere. Alissa’s friend is one of the creative forces behind Joe Zopp, so we are seeing that. I’m also undecided about whether or not to see seven films again. Last year that amount was difficult – but that was probably because I put four of those sessions in one day.

Film Fest, Film Fest, Film Fest!

The Wisconsin Film Fest Guide is released today. At practically every break I’ve had today, I have been reading the guide, trying to select the films that I want to see. This is the bright spot of my day, considering how terrible the Badgers played last night.

Dane101 has a pretty awesome post that links to many trailers for a significant amount of the films listed. Check it out. I have already linked to a couple of the films, but there are many more trailers up.