We failed = end of blog?

Nah. This blog will probably outlive you (provided Google does). But we did fail to deter construction of the new "marina" which is now well underway. We took an interest too late, as did many others, even as the promoters worked quietly to make big changes. The technocrats, the hacks, the self-serving administrators planned and schemed and then unleashed their project when they knew it would be too late to stop it.

That's how such people operate--they do preliminary studies, make sure they have the support of key people, line up at least one big donor (to draw others in), and handle doubters with half-truths and misdirection, all with as little publicity as possible. Always the driving motivation is narcissistic--vanity, ego, self-enrichment (along with a bit of idiocy in this case, to waste $5 million re-dressing the Hoofer lakefront).

***Naming recognition opportunities still available*** :)

Do you think it's not narcissism? The new "marina" will have big bronze plaques proudly displaying the names of big donors, just like the old parking lot-cum-Alumni Park is dotted with huge, vain placards. If you can read this page in its entirety without barfing, you should win a roll of Tums. Try it, it's not that long. And how about the "Badger Pride Wall"... Does anyone really call it that?? Pride, the most egregious of the Seven Deadly Sins--sprayed in your face. I'm not religious, but I find the use of pride as a driving motivation disgusting. It's what motivates managers to remodel things that don't need remodeling.

As for Alumni Park's supposed raison d'être--celebrating the "Wisconsin Idea"--that philosophy has become an inside joke, along with its corollary of "sifting and winnowing." In the 21st century, the UW teaches students to grab whatever they can, to abuse those they can abuse, and to lie about it afterward--and to take pride in getting away with it. This isn't just an outgrowth of the creeping xenophobia at the UW; it is a sea change in the basic philosophy that governs the university.

Metaphorically speaking, UW-Madison is an aging, pimped-up East European whore lathered in makeup, carrying pepper spray and various diseases. Administrators prefer this to a less-glamorous-but-honest-persona because the former naturally draws more notice, more funding, more paying students, more gullible faculty, and so on. It works because people tend to believe what they hear, a fundamental flaw in human nature that lets the few prey on the many. Once a person realizes s/he may have been duped, most don't want to dig any further for fear they won't like what they find.

But hey, hopefully by July we'll have some new piers! Apologies to the poor muskrats who called the old piers home.