Joy of fall in Harrison

Fall flew in last week. After a gorgeous interlude of late summer-like weather, Wisconsin October crept in more like a crouching tiger than a roaring lion, as daytime high temperatures dropped 20-25 degrees from the beginning to the end of the week, with a short rain interlude.

Not that we can complain. Summer had a good, long run, maybe too long with insects galore. Crisp autumn air is somewhat seductive -- I can walk in shorts, wear some light longsleeves, and walk free of gnats, mosquitoes, and assorted flying nuisances.

The leaves left sooner than expected, without much color or startling beauty. Thinking about what I find beautiful or at least quite pleasing to the eye, I tend to find beauty in natural, physical elements, from the human form to natural landscapes. Wisconsin does not have the same demographic that occupied and surrounded me for fifty years, i.e., college-aged students and other than some stunning sunsets, the relatively flat terrain of northeastern central Wisconsin offers few striking landscapes, yet I find great beauty in fields of corn, old wooden barns (not quite natural but a necessary part of the agricultural nature off the state), and seascapes of Michigan and Winnebago.

So I can find joy in the somewhat limited confines of a small, rural city in a large, relatively rural state. Much of what is enjoyable in Wisconsin is less what we have and more of what we don't have: We don't have much traffic, much crime, much conflict. The cynic would say we don't have much diversity, but diversity is greatly overrated and, possibly, positively correlated with crime and conflict. More diversity often means more tribal behaviors, more inter-tribe conflict. There is something about the agricultural and northern European history and culture of the area that produces some useful homogeneity, namely about values and traditions that sustain any countries, and certainly the United States.

One new Wisconsin experience occurred last night, with the Better Together marriage event with Kristy and Preston Kendall at Holy Spirit. Slowing assimilating, working to find our socioeconomic niche, our peers, our traditional social network, hard to do as outsiders.