JUNE 27, 2021 – On Saturday we took friends on a cruise aboard our pontoon. We “steamed” across the lake, then putted along the “Barbary Coast” before heading for the islands in the southwest corner. As we passed by the small, public campsite on the south end of Observation Island, we saw two large tents pitched next to a fire pit, two coolers, and an over-stuffed chair. No boats or people were on site. The campers were off fishing, canoeing, or kayaking.
What surprised our party was the large sheet of plywood propped against a tree at the water’s edge. Painted crudely on the plywood: “[You-Know-Who] in 2024.” Who in the world, we wondered, would go to the bother of painting such a sign, then hauling it to the island for prominent display?
But of course, we were in northwest Wisconsin—hard-core [You-Know-Who]land. We motored around a bit in the vicinity of the island to see if the campers were close by. Soon we spotted a five guys in a fishing boat making their way toward the campsite. They passed near us, then slowed as they approached the landing site. Two guys waved. We waved back. The five looked like a bunch of 15- or 16-year-olds.
We glared at them, watched them pile out of the boat after landing, and made several passes by their campsite. They waved again at us, and we waved back. They set off some minor firecrackers.
My wife decided she should call the DNR—the encampment looked like a long-term stakeout, prohibited, she was sure, by posted rules. Good luck with that—the DNR is “government,” underfunded by the Republican legislature. I haven’t seen an enforcement officer on our lake in more than a decade. Besides, the sign bore protected speech.
As we headed away from the island, we expressed our indignation over the sign. We assigned to the ill-guided youth the usual epithets reserved for supporters of You-Know-Who.
But I regretted that we hadn’t engaged these “ill-guided youth.” After all, they’d waved at us twice. Maybe they figured we were “You-Know-Who” people ourselves and given our location—the middle of You-Know-Who country—such an assumption would’ve been a reasonable one. On the other hand, as is common in those parts, maybe they were in possession of firearms . . .
In any case, I wanted to talk to them; find out who they were, what influenced their worldview, what they perceived about You-Know-Who that would motivate them to go to all the trouble of making and transporting that sign.
I also pondered another possibility: as products of a Republican stronghold, their minds have been high-jacked by overwhelming You-Know-Who support in their community. I imagined a golden chance to sow germs of doubt in their impressionable minds—one small step in changing the world.
Today we cruised back to the island. I was determined to talk, but the tents, coolers, over-stuffed chair . . . and kids, along with their sign—and my opportunity—had vanished.
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© 2021 by Eric Nilsson
