Reflections/Jonathan Gramling
Naughty and Nice
Well, we have already come to the last issue of The Hues for 2023. While we used to publish right through the Christmas season, a few years ago, we decided to give ourselves a two-week break. And it is so welcome this year.
We are also looking at who has been naughty and nice this year. On top of the Naughty list is the Republican-controlled legislature — who have tried to keep themselves permanently in power no matter what society needs or how it changes — for their dictatorial pressure on the UW Board of Regents to eliminate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) positions on UW campuses. They basically held UW pay raises — that had already been approved — and funding for a UW-Madison Engineering Building hostage to force their will on UW Systems. Like Donald Trump, the Wisconsin Republicans are exerting their control on all public state institutions to preserve — as is there ultra-conservative tendency — and hold dear a vision of Wisconsin that began to fade away a decade ago. They cling to a past that is falling out of their grip like sand through a person’s fingers. And as they clutch ever more desperately, Wisconsin will be ill-prepared to meet tomorrow’s challenges because of the Republican’s futile efforts to cling to the past.
And they want to create a chair of conservative thought? Well when I was earning my poli sci degree, I studied Edmund Burke and all of the other founders of modern conservative thought. Where were Vos and his cohorts, cutting class so that they could party hardy? To me, this chair is nothing more than a duplication of educational service to appease the whims of a paranoid tyrant.
And while the UW Rents were on our Nice list for voting against Vos’ mandate in his effort to become the Chancellor of all UW colleges, they slid onto the Naughty list after changing their vote and accepted King Vos’ edict. I would love to know what was threatened and promised to the regents. Of course we won’t know because they did it behind closed doors. They have made the UW campuses “safe” for white students again. And with the elimination of the DEI positions we can go on pretending that racism against Black and other students of color doesn’t happen. “It’s those DEI positions that create racial problems and so by eliminating them, we have ended the racial problems.” Where has Vos lived all these years. Or has he been so isolated and lived in a lily-white environment that he doesn’t have a clue what students of color actually experience. Was he not aware of the racist YouTube posting by a white person last spring? Is he saying the victims are the problems? What Vos is doing today will cause Wisconsin’s downfall tomorrow. He is definitely on the Naughty list and if it weren’t that coal is a dirty fuel, we would put plenty in his stocking.
There are also a lot of people on our Nice list. First on the list is our readership. Thank you for picking us up and reading the paper the old fashioned way. There are still people, young and old, who like the full experience reading the paper. We appreciate your positive feedback in the notes you send with your subscriptions and when we run into each other at an event. You, The Hues, are the reason this paper was founded almost 18 years ago and still exists today.
Also on our Nice list is our advertisers. We are forever grateful that you have hung in there with us year in and year out. Many of you hung in there with us during the COVID-19 pandemic and while most other papers stopped publishing, we did continue to help create a little sense of normalcy and community during those isolating times. Thank you for making us look beautiful with your wonderful ads. You are a part of the beauty and the message that make The Hues the publication that it is.
Also on the Very Nice list is my Hues partners. There are 12 of us and they are the foundation of this publication and your presence is greatly appreciated.
And last on our Nice list is the crew over at Capital Newspapers, Diane O’Dair, Erik Bagley and the printing press crew. While we design The Hues using our desktop publishing software, it is their expertise that brings our dream into reality. We thasnk you folks for always being top-notched. We can’t do it without you.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to one and all!