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© 2004 Gary W. Porter Introduction Essay for Wisconsin 24/7 Wisconsin in May By Susan Lampert Smith Wisconsin is a work hard, play hard kind of state. We know we're not the center of the universe, but we don't like people who think they are better than we are. Our Progressive tradition in politics means we like candidates who are looking out for the little guy. We tend to root for the underdog. We're proud of being America's Dairyland and the home of Harley Davidson, but we're worried about all the dairy farms and manufacturing jobs we've been losing. You can't work hard if there's no work. We don't put on airs here, but we're not as slow as our accents make us sound. Wisconsin students regularly top the ACT college tests, and we're proud of our schools. You'll hear guys with thick Wisconsin accents calling in from North Woods to ask questions about astrophysics or genetic engineering when there's an interesting professor on a public radio talk show. Wisconsin bursts wide open in May. Oh, sure, we're tough enough to survive our long, cold winters. But after March's mud and April's cruelty (it always snows one last time, just when you can't take it anymore), the month of May blossoms like a party. Boots are tossed to the back of the closet, and even the bachelor farmers finally take off their long underwear. We feel we've earned our playtime. Ice loosens its grip on our 15,000 lakes, just in time for opening day of the fishing season. The state's walleye warriors and trout tormenters clog the highways heading north to the lakes and west to the trout streams. Skies fill with Sandhill cranes returning from the South. Prehistoric paddlefish begin their ancient migration up the Mississippi. The summer cottage people aren't far behind. The hayfields of Wisconsin turn instantly emerald, making the hilly southwestern part of the state greener than Ireland. That vigorous first crop of alfalfa is what puts the butterfat into the milk, just in time for the ice cream sundaes of June Dairy Days. In central Wisconsin's Sand Country, groves of lilac blossoms are gaudy memorials to the farmsteads that stood, and failed, during the Great Depression. In May, you can smell Wisconsin thawing. There's the yeasty beer breath of Milwaukee's Red Star yeast factory mixing with the smoke of bratwursts grilling at tailgate parties around Miller Park. It's an aroma that can almost convince you that maybe this year the Brewers won't disappoint. At the farmers' market around the Capitol in Madison, spring smells like frying bacon and Amish donuts. May smells like perfume in the pink and white apple orchards above the Kickapoo Valley and in Door County's cherry orchards. Everywhere else, May smells like freshly cut grass and the laundry that dried on the line in the cool sunshine. Having such drastic seasonal changes is like going to sleep in Siberia and waking up in Tahiti. Winter in Wisconsin is like the black-and-white beginning of The Wizard of Oz-all mean schoolteachers and weird relatives and bad, scary weather. May in Wisconsin is like walking out the door and finding that you've landed a bright new country. Milwaukee native SUSAN LAMPERT SMITH writes the "On Wisconsin" column for the Wisconsin State Journal. Browse    View All    Wisconsin in May    Hard at Work    Wisconsin at Play    Reason to Believe    Our Town Photos: 131 Photographers: 37 Towns: 58

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