I was born in Milwaukee; we moved away when I was less than two years old, and as far as I know, I’ve never been back. Despite that, I feel connected to Wisconsin. I was a Milwaukee Braves fan as a kid (the fact that the Richmond Braves were the Milwaukee Braves’ AAA farm club might have had something to do with it, too). I enjoyed the day we spent in Wisconsin in 2016 (and I recommend visiting the Peshtigo Fire Museum if you have the chance). I’ve even drunk beer from Wisconsin once or twice.
Today, I got an email from a Wisconsin-based spice merchant, Penzeys, urging me to support the Wisconsin Democrats by contributing a few dollars and watching a table read of The Princess Bride this afternoon.
I’ve read the book many times, but I’ve only seen movie twice – once when it came out and last year, in preparation for a trivia event – but I liked it and was interested in seeing a table reading. And I definitely liked the cause – I would be very happy if Wisconsin was one of the deciding states this year – on the Democratic side.
I made a contribution and Diane and I watched the event this evening – it was superb. We stayed glued to the TV the entire tine, including the after-reading Q&A – dinner was quite late tonight.
Mandy Patinkin was probably my favorite – he brought as much fire to the role of Inigo Montoya as he had to the original film. But everyone was fabulous, and the after-reading Q&A was interesting, to say the least.
Yes, there were technical glitches (especially in the Q&A), but that’s what live events are all about – and even though everyone was in their own home, you could see the chemistry among the cast.
There are rumors that WisDems will be making a replay available; I hope it’s true. They have already announced a Parks and Recreation townhall and Q&A for September 17th, which could be interesting.
On Wisconsin!