Ho-Chunk Nation Flag Above the Campus

 

Today I voluntarily went to campus on a Friday, and even with a houseguest at home, because they were raising the Ho-Chunk flag above the main building on campus. I was asked to go as a representative of shared governance, and besides I have always enjoyed powwows. It was a beautiful, sunny day.

I took some videos, but when I tried to insert them here, Blogspot put them at the end of this post, so look for them there. I took some more photos on campus too. Here the carillon is covered with fall foliage.

I can see this tree from our floor on the killer building, which you can see on the left side of this photo.

Here are the US flag, the State of Wisconsin flag, and the Ho-Chunk Nation flag flying over Bascom Hall:

Here is a video of the color guard processing to the music of the drum circle.

In the afternoon there was another ceremony for lowering the flag. While the morning one was well attended, the afternoon one drew a sparser crowd, so I was able to get a better video of the drum circle.

And a closer (but is it better?) video of the color guard processing.

In the evening Travalon wanted to go see a local New Orleans-style brass band called Mama Digdown's Brass Band. He said they were playing at Garver Mill at seven for free, but when we got there just after seven, we discovered that a) they were starting at eight, and b) it cost $20 per person, and c) it was sold out. We had some Ian's Pizza and sat at a table outside of the reserved area, but just before the show they pulled giant curtains around the reserved area. We could still hear the band, but we discovered that up on the mezzanine nobody was checking for wristbands, and we had a perfect view and great acoustics up there.

When the bass from the tuba hits, you just have to move your hips! I got two extra miles today from all that dancing up in the mezzanine, which was a fantastic place to gaze down on the band and the crowd. There were some really good dancers down there! It reminded me of the two-level party for Richard Bonomo's 60th birthday, with some of us dancing to Bahama Bob the steel drum player down on the main floor, and others dancing up in the loft looking down at him. The band played until just after nine, then they took a break, and that was perfect because we had to get home and spend some time with our houseguest. If we had paid, I would have wanted to stay until the very end, but I didn't feel guilty to miss the second set, just a little wistful. Anyway, our houseguest was grateful to see us. She is so sweet. She's like a living stuffed animal, so soft and snuggly.

Famous Hat