Alderperson Vered Meltzer's Invocation At 11/02/2022 Common Council Meeting
Mayor Woodford: Tonight's invocation will be delivered by Alder Meltzer.
Alderperson Vered Meltzer (District 2): I'm going to start tonight with a land acknowledgement. Appleton occupies ancestral lands of the Menominee tribe. For 10,000 years the Menominee ancestral lands spanned Wisconsin and included parts of Michigan and Illinois. Well, today the Menominee tribe's territory is little more than 350 square miles. In 1954, Congress passed the Menominee termination act, removing federal recognition of the tribe in order to undermine their cultural identity. A long and difficult grassroots movement finally saw the passage of the Menominee Restoration Act in 1973. We are responsible for stewardship of this land today. And it's also our responsibility to learn about the history, culture and resiliency of the Menominee people. We need to take it upon ourselves to learn about the Menominee tribe's needs and challenges today, and how we can support them.
Today marks the beginning of Native American Heritage Month. Today is also Dia de Muertos, a Mexican holiday that has been celebrated for thousands of years, which was blended with All Saints Day in the 16th century, when Spanish invaders introduced Christianity. Once a year, the dead are celebrated, and their presence is felt and their memories are cherished. It's interesting to note the parallel with Halloween, which was a Celtic celebration for thousands of years before it was officially co-opted in the eighth century, when Pope Gregory the Third designated November First as All Saints Day.
Now is the time for remembering the dead and also for remembering our ancestors. Now is the time for telling their stories. What were the dreams and aspirations of those who were here before us? What were the dreams and aspirations of those whose legacy we inherited? And what were the dreams and aspirations of our own grandparents and great grandparents? To honor the past, we need to make sure that the future we build remains con
Alderperson Nate Wolff's (District 12) Invocation At 10/19/2022 Common Council Meeting
Mayor Woodford: Tonight's invocation will be delivered by Alder Wolff.
Alderperson Nate Wolff (District 12) Thank you. All right. Today, I will be reading, in its entirety, "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe. Awesome. However, due to time constraints and the likelihood that I would call the question on myself, I will instead be reading you two short and inspirational quotes. “There's a child in every one of us who is still a trick or treater looking for a brightly lit front porch,” by Robert Brault. “If human beings had genuine courage, they'd wear their costumes every day of the year, not just on Halloween,” by Douglas Coupland. That is all. Happy Halloween.
Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim's (District 13) Invocation At 10/05/2022 Common Council Meeting
Mayor Woodford: Tonight's invocation will be delivered by Alderperson Hartzheim.
Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13): My dad was often famous, or maybe I mean infamous, for the phrase "I once thought I was wrong, but I was mistaken." He also really liked the song "It's Hard To Be Humble", but that's a whole different story. Anyway, Dad's catchphrase echoed in my brain earlier this week as I watched the 2011 TED Talk called "On Being Wrong." I stumbled on this brief talk by Katherine Schultz on the way down an internet rabbit hole brought on by reading "The Coddling of the American Mind."
The talk, the book, and countless other resources point to what we all feel happening around us. We feel divided. Instead of trying to see other points of view, we seem to be bent on just trying to prove that we are right. Or at the very least, that we're not wrong. It's as much present in our neighborhoods as it is in this chamber. One of the great untruths presented by the authors of "The Coddling of the American Mind" is that the world is an us-against-them battle of good versus evil with no in betweens.
So I watched "On Being Wrong" and I heard this: We learn at a young age that the way to succeed in life is to never make mistakes, never be wrong. But trusting too much in the feeling of being on the correct side of anything can be very dangerous. Our stubborn attachments to our own rightness keeps us from preventing mistakes when we absolutely need to, and causes us to treat each other terribly. There is this pervasive feeling that the way that I believe, the things that I want, the ways that I want to do them are good, and that any differing opinions--and indeed the people who hold them or express them--are against me or are wrong or are evil.
The talk ends with Miss Schultz advocating that we each quote, "step outside the tiny, terrified space of having to be right, and look out and around at the complexity and mystery of the world and say, 'I don't know, maybe I'm w
Alderperson Vered Meltzer's (District 2) Invocation At 09/21/2022 Common Council Meeting
Alderperson Israel Del Toror's (District 4) Invocation At 09/07/2022 Common Council Meeting
Mayor Woodford: Tonight's invocation will be delivered by Alder Del Toro.
Alderperson Del Toro (District 4): Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Embracing diversity. What makes Appleton a special place to live? Reflect on this thought for just a few moments. Is it our parks? Our safe streets? Our low cost of living? All of these things matter. But for me it's the people—my neighbors, my community. And what makes a community strong, resilient, and special is its diversity. Diversity in race, ethnicity, ages, physical abilities, religious identities, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Appleton is special because we are starting to understand that in this—that this diversity makes our community vibrant, strong, and resilient.
Allow me to make a brief agroecological comparison. We know that monocultural agricultural ecosystems are vulnerable to pests, disease, and unable to handle change. They are ecologically simple and vulnerable places and ultimately require a lot of energy input to have efficient production. In contrast, a multi-species cultivar is less energy intensive, more resistant to pests and diseases, and resilient to change, and maximizes production more efficiently.
Similarly, we can model our community to be diverse in cultures, values, and identities, and make what is already good better.
A change is coming. National census estimates project the US Latino population will grow by 60% by 2050, making it the second largest ethnic demographic in the country. As such it is incumbent upon us to prepare our city to welcome this change. Let's embrace the Latinx men and women that contribute to our community. We are teachers. We are laborers. We are low- and middle- income families who seek a better community and opportunity for our future generations. We do the jobs that many others turn down, and often we do them for lower wages.
It is time to recognize that a change is coming and we as a community can grow to be welcoming of this change, to embrace the possibi
Alderperson Denise Fenton's Invocation At The 08/17/2022 Common Council Meeting
Mayor Woodford: Tonight's invocation will be delivered by Alder Fenton.
Alderperson Denise Fenton (District 6): Good evening. My original plan when I requested tonight's invocation was to commemorate the anniversary of the 19th Amendment on Friday and Women's Equality Day on the 26th of this month. But events of the past week have changed my mind.
I sat down to write and everything demanded to be heard—museums and parks and mental health and gun violence and internet trolls and being afraid and being angry. Clearly impossible. So it seems like a good idea to leave it to Ellen Kort.
Advice To Beginners from her 2010 collection "If I Had My Life To Do Over Again"
Begin. Keep on beginning. Nibble on everything.
Take a hike. Teach yourself to whistle. Lie.
The older you get the more they'll want your stories.
Make them up. Talk to stones. Short-out electric
fences. Swim with the sea turtles into the moon.
Drink wild geranium tea. Everything that happens
will happen and none of us will be safe from it.
Pull up anchors. Sit close to the god of night.
Lie still in a stream and breathe water. Climb to the
top of the highest tree until you come to the branch
where the blue heron sleeps. Eat poems for breakfast.
Wear them on your forehead. Lick the mountain's
bare shoulder. Measure the color of days
around your mother's death. Put your hands over
your face and listen to what they tell you.
Alderperson Kristin Alfheim's (District 2) Invocation At 08/03/2022 Common Council Meeting
Council President Van Zeeland: Tonight’s invocation will be delivered by Alderperson Alfheim.
Alderperson Kristin Alfheim (District 11): Balance.
Man Off Screen: Thirteen
Alderperson Alfheim: She got me. Balance. What makes finding balance so difficult? Perhaps it's that we have so many more things to consider than in the past: education, the economy, individual rights, small businesses, the climate, the arts, multi-cultures, religions, taxes versus service, suburbans versus downtown. The list of issues and priorities is endless and challenging. How are we to find balance in all this?
The first necessity is empathy, the willingness to see and feel from the opposite side of an issue. Without a willingness to understand the opposing view and how it affects them, no progress can be made.
Second is the willingness to learn from new information. Whether it be feelings or facts, new information should be accepted and either added to or replace your initial thoughts.
Third, it's necessary to be unselfish, to realize the greater good often requires common decency and a small sacrifice.
Balance is not about perfection. It is not about right or wrong. It's about acknowledging there are many people and factors involved, causing both positive and negative consequences. Finding balance takes work. I challenge this council and our community to always put in the work to find balance as we move forward together.
Alderperson Brad Firkus' (District 3) Invocation At 07/20/2022 Common Council Meeting
Mayor Woodford: Oh, you're already quiet. Do I even have to do the gavel? Good evening. I now call to order the Wednesday July 20th, 2022 meeting of the Appleton Common Council. Tonight's invocation will be delivered by Alder Firkus.
Alderperson Brad Firkus (District 3): Good night—or good evening. Giving an invocation on this topic is a bit challenging to give in the face of some of the things that have occurred in this country in recent weeks, but something I've tried to spend a lot of time focusing on in the last year. And maybe when it's toughest to exercise these traits it's also the most important.
The traits I'm referring to are humility and grace. The two go hand in hand in that we're often reluctant to exercise one when we feel we are in a place devoid of the other.
To have humility is to have the fortitude to admit when we are wrong, to take the criticism we've earned and maybe some we haven't, to learn and to grow from it. Some see this as a weakness, that we must always double down and insist that we are right and only we are good.
Grace is the ability to forgive without preconditions, to give those around you the room to be wrong and to be better. Grace is patience with the ones who have hurt you, even when they have done so willingly.
In our always-on, hyper-connected world, humility and grace are hard to have. The stakes feel higher because they are. One poorly worded tweet can make you famous in the worst way and the target of endless harassment. Ideas expressed from a place of immaturity or inexperience can be dredged up several years later and cost you your reputation and more.
This is not to say that people should be free from consequences of their words or actions. Taking accountability for our words and actions is an important part of true humility. And grace is having reasonable expectations for what taking accountability looks like.
We live in a world that can often feel like we are constantly at each other’s throats. Some people ha
Alderperson Vered Meltzer's (District 2) Invocation At 06/15/2022 Common Council Meeting
Mayor Woodford: Tonight's invocation will be delivered by Alderperson Meltzer.
Alderperson Meltzer (District 2): Thank you. I'd like to first start with saying that I hope that everyone is taking care and staying safe out there tonight with the weather that we're having. So, since June is Pride Month and we just celebrated Flag Day, during which we honor the flag of the United States of America, it is fitting to talk about another flag, the pride flag.
The rainbow flag wasn't always the emblem that represented the LGBTQ community. A pink triangle was used by the Nazis in Germany to identify homosexuals in internment camps during World War II. After that, the pink triangle because the symbol associated with the LGBTQ struggle against oppression. However, because this symbol represented such a dark part of history, in the 1970s the rainbow flag was adopted after Gilbert Baker and other artists and activists were inspired by Harvey Milk to create a positive symbol to represent the LGBTQ community. This rainbow flag was called the pride flag.
Harvey Milk was an influential gay leader who was assassinated on November 27, 1978 while serving as a city supervisor in San Francisco. After his death, the rainbow flags were in high demand and became ubiquitous.
In 2017, the city of Philadelphia produced a pride flag with black and brown stripes added at the top to draw attention to the disparities experienced by people of color within the LGBTQ community.
In 2018, Danial Quasar designed a flag with a chevron containing additional stripes to represent marginalized people of color, trans people, and those living with HIV or AIDs and those who have been lost, explaining the arrow points to the right to show forward movement, while being placed along the left edge shows that progress still needs to be made.
Just as this flag has evolved, so does our community evolve. This is the beautiful freedom of being American. The LGBTQ community's progress in our country is thanks to th
Alderperson Nate Wolff's (District 12) Invocation At 06/01/2022 Common Council Meeting
Mayor Woodford: Tonight's invocation will be delivered by Alder Wolff.
Nate Wolff (District 12): I just wanna--okay we're good. Thank you. All right. So this month is Pride Month. June. And I couldn't be happier about the progress we've made over the past 6 years. In the past 6 years we have banned conversion therapy, we have gotten businesses to show their support for the LGBTQ community. We have more alders in this room who identify as LGBTQ than we've ever had before, and I couldn't be prouder of that fact.
I would like to thank this administration for their work in protecting the rights of LGBTQ people and the previous administration that, you know, helped get a pride flag flying from City Hall. That couldn't have been done without the previous administration which is something just so beautiful.
I know that on mental health, something that we have been talking about and will talk about again tonight, and have talked about again tonight, the letters and, you know, messages from people in the LGBTQ community that have appreciated what the city and what activists around the city have done has helped them immensely, has saved lives, and will continue to make kids know that they are welcomed in our community, and that is something that we need to continue to push for and, yeah. Thank you.
Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim's (District 13) Invocation At 05/18/2022 Common Council Meeting
Mayor Woodford: Tonight's invocation will be delivered by Alderperson Hartzheim.
Alderperson Hartzheim (District 13): Thank you, Chair. Every year at around this time, I think about graduations. Mostly about how long it's been since I graduated from college. And let's not even talk about high school. But I also think about how the experience is for most graduates simultaneously exciting and daunting.
Graduation preparations and ceremonies make me think of times of great life changes, times when one hopes to take the right next step, not knowing for certain what that step might be or where it might lead. In a way, a graduation ceremony is a kind of a momentous reminder that each of us has to choose the next right step in everyday decisions that we make in our lives.
My father who passed away earlier this year at the ripe old age of 94 had a saying about parenting through life changes. Well, he had a lot of sayings because he was 94 and had 8 children. But regardless, he always said to his kids, “You're going to have to drive over or around potholes. No matter how much I want to, I can't pave the path for you.”
In fact, I think that was his graduation advice to me, though at the times I was like “Thanks, Dad.” But since then, I've often come back to that phrase. I don't always have the right answer or know the right steps, but I'll negotiate the unsmooth path as best I can.
We Council members, in order to take the next right steps for the City of Appleton have to choose kindness and thoughtfulness and, as Mayor Woodford has stated many times, hold fast to the belief that each of our fellow council members comes from a place of wanting what's best for this city and its citizens.
While I often remember my dad's words, it's possible that Admiral William H. McCraven gave better advice in his famous 'Make Your Bed' commencement address in 2014. No disrespect, Dad. Admiral McCraven said, “Respect everyone. Know that life is not fair, and that you will fail o
Alderperson Maiyoua Thao's (District 7) Invocation At 05/04/2022 Common Council Meeting
Council President Van Zeeland: Our invocation this evening will be given by Alderperson Thao.
Alderperson Thao: Thank you, Council President. Good evening, everyone. May marks Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, a time to celebrate and share the history and contribution of our Asian community. I would like to take this time to share with you my life story. It is so important that each one of us remember our heritage as we celebrate our heritage in many ways.
I was born in Laos. I was lucky to be born after the Vietnam War. When I was 3 years old my family escaped persecution by fleeing the country. We walk over hundreds of miles through the villages and jungles, crossing the Mekong River in a raft and inner tube to seek refuge in Thailand. The images we witnessed last summer regarding the fall of Afghanistan and the images happening now in Ukraine was exactly the image my parents endured in 1975 in Laos at the fall of Long Chieng to the communists.
I don't remember what life was like in Laos, but I do remember what life was like as a little girl growing up in the Ban Vinai refugee camp in Thailand. Playing outside in the dirt, using stick and pebbles to create games such as like Jack and drawing on the dirt to create hopscotch template. There was no electricity. We used lard as a wax for candle unless your family was able to afford fresh lights. We used the moon and the star as the source of light to see the evening to guide us home. The sky--the stars were so bright and beautiful. The stars were so bright and beautiful and hung really low in the sky as if we could almost touch it.
I was the oldest of six children. I barely had a childhood and so many responsibility as the oldest. I helped my mother to take care of my sibling as she could work at the Hmong Paj Ntaub story cloth which she sells at the street market to tourists for some money to buy food for our family. My mother was really skillful of her tapestry and make traditional Hmong outfit
Alderperson Vered Meltzer's Invocation At 04/20/2022 Common Council Meeting
MayorWoodford: Tonight's invocation will be delivered by Alderperson Meltzer.
Alderperson Vered Meltzer (District 2): Thank you. The invocation I'm going to deliver tonight is the very first invocation that I every delivered at Council in August of 2014. And I feel that with the seating of a new Council it's very timely to bring this particular invocation back. So, I hope you all enjoy.
Who am I? Am I the person that I want to be? Everyone asks themselves these questions and for those of us in the public eye who can serve as inspiration and role-models to others, these questions are all the more important. I think we all strive to be the same person. Someone who is confident and courageous. Someone who trusts themselves. Someone who gives and receives in equal balance and can be simultaneously responsible and creative. Someone who is always learning new things and always teaching others. Someone who loves their family, friends, and community. Someone who creates positive change in the world, who dispels illusions, and sees through deception. Someone who accepts no limits, resists stagnation, and embraces growth. We stand alone as individuals, but together we create a whole that is greater than its parts. We can turn endings into beginnings. We can all save the world. But we cannot do it alone. In order to be the person we want to be, we need to reach out to each other. We need to communicate with the intent to be understood rather than merely heard. And do do that, we need to listen, not just to each other but to ourselves.
Am I the person that I want to be? Do my words and actions make the world a better place for everyone? We must never stop asking these questions. Thank you.
Deer In Appleton By Jaycee Park - 04/18/2022
We have deer in the middle of Appleton. They frolicked around Jaycee Park for a few minutes and, last I saw, were heading down McKinley Street toward Oneida.
Outgoing Alderperson Joe Martin's (District 4) Invocation At 04/06/2022 Common Council Meeting
Mayor Woodford: Tonight's invocation will be delivered by Alderperson Martin.
Alderperson Joe Martin (District 4): Thank you, Mayor. And I'm sure with this being my last invocation I'll get a little leeway. I'd like to thank Mayor Woodford. We started this in a pandemic and you have kept the keel on an even spot. So thank you for keeping it even.
Thank you to all my constituents that I have served.
Thank you to Tim Hanna. We started our pouring brandy old fashioned [something] with mushrooms at Trim B's. And you went on to become the mayor of the City of Appleton.
Thank you to my colleagues in the chamber. It has been a pleasure to serve with you.
Thank you to all my colleagues that I have served within the past 14 years.
Thank you to all the directors in the chambers and those who have retired or are going to retire.
Thank you to all the Deputy Directors. You are a talented group of individuals. We need to respect them and pay them.
Thank you to all the supporting staff. One of the things about this city when you go around, every one of our staff will--are talented, they're dedicated, and they are great employees.
Thank you to the City of Appleton. In 1987 I moved here from San Antonio, Texas. I fell in love with this city and the four miles of a true riverwalk.
Thank you. I has been a great role.
Alderperson William Siebers' (District 1) Invocation At 03/16/2022 Common Council Meeting
I believe this was the article Alderperson Siebers referenced: https://news.yahoo.com/ukrainian-mother-thanks-slovakian-police-083539263.html
Mayor Woodford: Tonight's invocation will be delivered by Alderperson Siebers.
Alderperson William Siebers (District 1): Thank you, Your Honor. When Mary sent out the invitation to do the invocation for tonight's meeting, I quickly accepted the offer without any idea what I would share tonight. It is then it dawned on me that this is Women's History Month, the month in which we celebrate women's contribution to history, culture, and society. But then the questions became, who should I highlight and what should I highlight? And then with my questions in mind, I met two women. One through a news story and one through my daily devotional reading. Two women most do not know and who are not ones we would recognize during Women's History Month. But yet two very special women.
The news story is that of a mother who has an 11-year-old son. She is a widow and she's taking care of her elderly mother who is limited in her mobility. For a brief moment place yourself in this woman's shoes. Now place yourself living in a country that has been invaded by a foreign power, and your city which is close to a nuclear plant is being bombed daily. You worry about the safety of your family--people are fleeing your city--but your decision to flee is difficult because your mother is not in a condition where you can get up and join were you to decide to flee. And yet you greatly worry about the safety of your son. What do you do? If you stay it is likely you will not survive. But you can't just leave your mother. So, you decide to put your son on a train all by himself. Before he gets on a train, holding back your tears as best as you can, you give him a hug, you tell him you love him, you tell him to be strong, and that one day you will be together again. You say this knowing that there is a good chance you never will be.
Now put yourself in the s
Alderperson Nate Wolff's (District 12) Invocation At 03/02/2022 Common Council Meeting
Mayor Woodford: Tonight's invocation will be delivered by Alderperson Wolff.
Alderperson Nate Wolff (District 12): Thank you. First I would like to say a moment--or have a moment of silence for those who have lost their life at war and are in current battle as we speak.
Thank you. Over the past week, Russia has invaded Ukraine in what has to be one of the most disrepsectful ways to do it imaginably. They have killed civilians, children without disre--with no disregard for civilian life.
Putin has a long history of imprisoning people who protest or speak out against him. He has continued to shut down any form of democ--or tried to shut down any form of democracy because his country has been so bad for his people.
Meanwhile, across the border from Russia, you have a Ukrainian president, Zelensky, who has liberated his people, brought them freedom, given them rights, a voice, and made them love living free.
In America we always speak up for freedom. We always defend it, and we should be inspired by the people of Ukraine. What they have done and how they continue to fight every inch for their homeland is inspiring and is remarkable.
Something you can do to support Ukraine is to wear their colors, fly their flag on local businesses, and show that you're supporting Ukraine.
I want to end with something that happened in Ukraine. This grandmother approached some soldiers and she asked them what they were doing here. She asked them why they were here. She told them to leave, and she said to one of the soldiers--she told him to take some sunflower seeds and put them in his pocket so that when he died sunflowers would grow on Ukraine soil. That was the nice version of what was said.
So I also encourage people this spring to grow sunflowers, 'cause they're amazing and beautiful. Thank you.
Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim's (District 13) Invocation At 02/16/2022 Common Council Meeting
Mayor Woodford: Tonight's invocation will be delivered by Alderperson Hartzheim.
Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13): Thank you, Chair. On this day February 16th in 600 AD Pope Gregory the First also known as Gregory the Great issued a papal decree requiring all Christians to use the expression "God bless you" when in the presence of someone who sneezed. At the time of the decree, the Bubonic plague was spreading across Europe. During this period the plague killed between 25 and 50 million people. It was believed that sneezing spread the disease and in order to protect themselves from the illness Christians should invoke God's blessing. Some also believe that in the act of sneezing, it left the body unguarded for a moment and this could be enough time for the Devil to enter the persons soul. So requesting God's blessing at this theorized moment of vulnerability would protect the person who sneezed from such a fate.
Obviously, a great deal has been learned about infectious disease since 600 AD. But "God bless you" remains a common post sneezing refrain for humans. If the phrase could do all that Gregory the Great decreed it could do in terms of disease protection, the last two years of our lives would have been drastically different, would it not?
Tonight I posit that that phrase can and does still do a great deal for the human race as it spreads a message of care and well wishes for fellow human beings through the invocation of God's blessing, and that is something desperately needed in today's world of division.
And so, I say to you now, fellow Council members, city staff, Mayor Woodford, and all fellow Appletonians, whether you've just sneezed or not, "God bless you."
Alderperson Denise Fenton's (District 6) Invocation At 02/02/2022 Common Council Meeting
Mayor Woodford: Tonight's invocation will be delivered by Alderperson Fenton.
Alderperson Denise Fenton (District 6): I'm a reader. I come from a family of readers. When I was a child, I would hide in my closet with a towel stuffed under the door to hide the light so that I could read far past my bedtime.
While my parents didn't condone this behavior, they never really censored by reading even though there were pretty strict limits on movies and television.
My second-grade teacher gave me the greatest gift a bored child could get by marching down to the elementary school library and asking them to let me check out as many books as I wanted regardless of the grade level. As far as I know, the only lasting damage was that I might have gotten some information about Santa a bit early.
Beverly Cleary's Ramona showed me that there were other little girls who were too loud and too messy and wanted to know everything about the world right now. Judy Blume's characters had many of the same questions about life and growing up that I did when I was 12.
Books allow us to connect with characters who are like us but also, and maybe more importantly, with characters who are very different. James Baldwin said it this way "You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me to that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive who had ever been alive.”
This is why it is really disturbing to read a story every day about an attempt to remove books from public libraries--not school libraries but public libraries. The mayor of Ridgeland Mississippi has withheld funding from the public library unless it removed books with LGBTQ things. A small central Texas library had to shut down for three days to conduct a court ordered review of every children's book in the collection. An attempt to ban a book from the Pela Iowa public library c
Alderperson Alex Schultz's Invocation At 01/19/2022 Common Council Meeting
I apologize for the lateness in getting this Alderperson invocation video posted. This is from the 01/19/2022 Common Council meeting. Before viewing it, you may benefit from watching this clip from the movie “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles” which Alderperson Schultz references: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSUgqLI88OY
Mayor Woodford: Tonight’s invocation will be delivered by Alderperson Schultz.
Alderperson Schultz: Thank you, Chair. Can everybody hear me?
Mayor Woodford: We can hear you.
Alderperson Schultz: Okay, good. Welcome to 2022. I deliver that line like John Candy in "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" because I think it's apropos to where we find ourselves in our collective pandemic journey. In these days, some days it seems like a little comic relief is about all the relief we can find. We've endured so many unexpected twists and turns to get where we are now. We're certainly isn't where we wanted to be entering 3 year of this irrepressible virus and still staring into oncoming traffic with the devil at our side, accepting the enormity of just how far we may still have to go.
Dealing with this pandemic is a little like cruising down the highway in a burned out LeBaron. It's all at once comical and incredibly tragic, and most days it feels like we're still "Going the wrong way!"
Even reflecting on 2021 and 2020 before it for me is a dangerous exercise 'cause there are just so many awful things that happened that are beyond my control, that even upon reflection I still get upset and even angry about leaving me with a lot of unresolved frustration.
And so here we are just a couple weeks into this new year lugging around an enormous trunk of dirty laundry from the last, like so many useless shower curtain rings, while dealing with this new normal--you know the one that, this year already includes deadly extreme weather events, antisemitic hostage standoffs, what seems an inevitable repeat invasion of the Ukraine, and of course the current
Alderperson Joe Prohaska's (District 14) Invocation At 12/15/2021 Common Council Meeting
Mayor Woodford: Okay, here we go. We're gonna have an on-time departure. I now call to order the Wednesday December 15th meeting of the Appleton Common Council. Tonight’s invocation will be delivered by Alderperson Prohaska.
Alderperson Prohaska: This invocation is from a constituent of mine who asked me if I could read it on his behalf.
“Lord of Heaven and Earth, we are grateful to have the freedom to gather together in this chamber tonight freely representing our fellow citizen city residents. We do not take that honor lightly. Especially during a season such as this where many of us honor the deep humility of the Creator God who so longed for reconciliation with His estranged children that He took on the helpless form of a baby to give us a glimpse of His profound love. He came not to be served but to serve.
“We in a lesser way, but still impactful, have gathered to serve and not to be served, and we are grateful. We are here representing varying backgrounds, personalities, convictions, and beliefs. All of us called and given the privilege not to serve our own particular interests but that of the precious and unique fellow neighbors who live near and around us. This is a weighty privilege indeed and we are grateful. We do not claim to know with finality what the best—what is best for those whom we are responsible. And many of us differ in the convictions of what [it] might look like.
“We need Your wisdom, Your guidance, and possibly above all Your humility to seek our common good together, offering our partner Council members the dignity and worth we would desire to receive from them. We recognize we need this as a fitting manifestation of Your humble existence, of Yourself and to our world as an example of that same spirit to our neighbors whom we serve. For that we are grateful.
“We are keenly aware of the challenging times in which we serve where illness has weakened and separated us from one another and for many has tested their limits of e
Alderperson Matt Reed's (District 8) Invocation At 12/01/2021 Common Council Meeting
Mayor Woodford: Tonight's invocation will be delivered by Alderperson Reed.
Alderperson Matt Reed (District 8 ): Thank you, Mayor. So, I wanted to share something brief from a gentleman who you're probably all at least somewhat familiar with. He was from mid-20th century. He was a English professor at Oxford and Cambridge Universities in England, and a prolific author named CS Lewis. So, the name probably rings a bell. And he wrote something here that--I'll let it speak for itself, but just let it--I just want to prelude this with the fact that we're not unique in our generation to experience struggles. Other people have gone through different--different troubling times. I know this is a strange season of Covid, but I'll let this speak for itself. This is from CS Lewis in 1948 regarding the fear of death from the atomic bomb.
"In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. 'How are we to
live in an atomic age?' I am tempted to reply: 'Why, as you would have lived in
the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you
would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and
cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer,
an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway
accidents, an age of motor accidents.'
"In other words, do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation.
Believe me, dear sir or madam, you and all whom you love were already
sentenced to death before the atomic bomb was invented. It is
perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and drawing long faces because the
scientists have added one more chance of a painful and premature death to a world
which already bristled with such chances and in which death itself was not a
chance at all, but a certainty.
"If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let the bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things praying, working
Aldeperson Vered Meltzer's (District 2) Invocation At 11/17/2021 Common Council Meeting
Mayor Woodford: Tonight's invocation will be delivered by Alderperson Meltzer.
Alderperson Vered Meltzer (District 2): November 20th marks the 22 annual observance called Transgender Day of Remembrance which honors the memory of transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence. In 2021 there were 375 names to read, 53 of them from the United States, and this number is under reported. Here are some words from trans journalist Diana Tourjee:
"When a trans woman dies you can read about it in the newspaper where you see her described as a man instead of the woman she died for, and we wonder how to best protect our children, forgetting that some of our children are trans. Transgender Day of Remembrance reminds me that our precious politics have a very real consequence. This is a critical moment in the history of transgender rights. Will we remember those who did not survive it?"
Diana Tourjee said these words to commemorate Transgender Day of Remembrance in 2013. There were 238 names in 2013. How many names will be on this list before it stops growing? How many years until there are no new names to add? There's a terrible intersection of gun violence and anti-trans violence. Last month Jo Acker died running toward an active shooter, giving others time to escape. She'd served in the army and died a hero protecting others from violence. Many members of our trans community struggle with the heaviness of this week. Thankfully we have resources in our very own community that can help. If you are part of the community and need support you can contact Diverse and Resilient. The number for their warm line is 414-856-5428. Diverse and Resilient's LGBTQ anti-violence programs serve survivors of all violence--intimate partner, sexual, and hate or community-based violence. They work directly with survivors of violence by listening, helping safety plan, and providing referrals to local resources.
Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim's (District 13) Invocation At The 11/03/2021 Common Council Meeting
Mayor Woodford: Tonight's invocation will be delivered by Alderperson Hartzheim....Fish for the mic. Which? That was close.
Alderperson Hartzheim: Thank you, Chair. Here we are folks in the 11th month. How is it the 11th month already? The month of honor and remembrance on the 11th day at the 11th hour. And the month of Thanksgiving. It's the time of the year when the weather takes a sharp and earnest turn towards the cold and we'll be asked to endure this for what seems like the next half a trip around the sun.
I'm sure I'm not alone in my sincere, let's just say, distaste for Wisconsin winters. I have to force myself outside on these colder days and search for things to appreciate in the cold.
In the late 1840s Henry David Thoreau went into the woods to live deliberately on Walden Pond in Concord Massachusetts, and no doubt froze his civilly disobedient tuckus off during the winters there. In November 1860 he wrote, "Summer is gone with all its infinite wealth, and still nature is genial to man. Though he no longer bathes in the stream or reclines on the bank or plucks berries on the hills, he still beholds the same inaccessible beauty around him." There's optimism in those words and in that optimistic vein, I hope that each of us can glory in this month's times for remembrance and honor and thanksgiving, despite the impending doom--I mean, the winter ahead.
As Thoreau also wrote, "Live each season as it passes. Breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each."
Alderperson Alex Schultz's (District 9) Invocation At 10/06/2021 Common Council Meeting
Alderperson Alex Schultz (District 9) gave the invocation at the 10/06/2021 Common Council meeting.
Woodford: “Tonight's invocation will be delivered by Alderperson Schultz.”
Alderperson Schultz: "Thank you, Mayor. I'm gonna sit to make sure the mic picks me up. I actually requested invocation this evening because a question was posed after the last Council meeting that I wanted to answer, and I thought it would be good to do that sooner than later.
“One of the things that I really value when we do these invocations are the anecdotes that we share that express our interactions with our constituents, and we hear a lot of really heartening stories of the work that we as Council members do and how we try to move the needle a little bit for the people that we represent, and I've had one of those. You know, we have all of those quite frequently as we represent certain issues that arise in our communities, and I had one recently with a neighbor who was trying to sell their house and a neighboring property that posed issues for that individual who had been attempting to address issues with the neighboring property for many, many years, um, 6-7 years. And I was—took some time to respond to it, go to the property, try to address the situation, see what I could do to ameliorate the situation and maybe help them sell their home. And I received an email a week after that saying ‘I can't believe that you actually responded, you're the first alderperson in 6 years that actually has listened to me even though I've been trying hard to get this issue addressed.’ And I am really proud of this Council because I know every member in here has those conversations and has really engaged with the community which makes me proud to serve in this position.
“The question that was raised at that last meeting when we were discussing a resolution about supporting the Afghan refugees is why didn't I bring up the fact that I was a veteran and served in the military? And I thought
Alderperson Brad Firkus' (District 3) Invocation At 09/15/2021 Common Council Meeting
Alderperson Brad Firkus (District 3) gave the invocation during the 09/15/2021 Common Council meeting.
Mayor Woodford: “Tonight's invocation will be delivered by Alderperson Firkus.”
Firkus: "Thank you. For a time in my early 20s I worked as a cook. I had worked in a kitchen since I was 16, mostly as a dishwasher, but my boss at the time asked me to go cook for a summer at a small kitchen attached to a pro shop of the club I worked at back--excuse me--back then.
“I didn't know much about cooking. I had helped with prep work a little bit here and there. At home I couldn't make anything more elaborate than a frozen pizza or mac and cheese from the box. But my boss's chef gave me a crash course on being in the line. He gave me two pieces of advice that I've been able to apply over and over, both in my career and in life.
“The first lesson was [undecipherable] highlighting the importance of prep work. The other was to keep paddling, no matter how difficult or overwhelming it gets. Both are important. Especially if you're facing down a dinner rush where there's--where the orders are coming in fast and you're running out of room to put the tickets. You're hoping you can keep the order straight and get everything out in a timely fashion. It's chaotic and stressful and when it gets extra special chaotic and the kitchen gets completely overwhelmed, you lean heavily on that second piece of advice to keep paddling. It's advice I've gone back to time and time again at various jobs in the seventeen years since I've worked there. It doesn't matter if it's a service job, manual labor, or office work. It's also good advice for outside of work too, trying to get in shape, learn new hobby, mend a broken relationship. Keep paddling. Keep taking the tiny steps towards that finish line.
“The pandemic is no different. We've been dealing with this for a long time. We've seen setbacks in our progress. We've seen selfish and irresponsible behavior. We've seen hospitals fill
Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim and Parents Denied Entry To AASD Board of Education Meeting For Not Wearing Masks
Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13) along with other Appleton Area School District parents and members of the public were denied entry to the Board of Education meeting unless they put masks on, in spite of their religious/personal beliefs that preclude mask wearing. The District's position is that the meetings are still open to the public because they can make comments via Zoom or email.
Matt Zimmerman: "So, we have our list of speakers. Andrea Klitzke, Stephanie Marshall, Blong Yang"
Woman: "He's not here yet."
Matt Zimmerman: "And Sheri Hartzheim. Okay, so would you guys like to wait out until it's your turn to speak or would you like to wait in our waiting room?"
Sheri Hartzheim: "Either is fine with me."
Matt Zimmerman: "I need to ask any of you who would like to come in at this time, you need to have their mask on in order to be in our premises."
Sheri Hartzheim: "Okay. I do not intend to go in now, but when I go in I intend to not wear a mask."
Matt Zimmerman: "And we will not let you in unless you wear a mask. Per our district policy.
Woman in pink: "Is that a law though? Is there any law stating that you [undecipherable]"
Matt Zimmerman: "[Undecipherable] a policy right now."
Woman in pink: "It's a policy of [undecipherable]."
Andrea Klitzke: [says something about it being a discriminatory policy.]
Matt Zimmerman: "So, you must wear your mask in order to be in a building of the Appleton Area School District."
Sheri Hartzheim: "So, if I go in now I cannot go in unless I wear a mask? And if I wait to speak, when I'm ready to speak I will be precluded from going in without a mask on?"
Matt Zimmerman: "Unless you wear a mask"
A woman's voice: "Eventhough you're socially distanced."
Sheri Hartzheim: "Eventhough I'm signed up to speak"
Matt Zimmerman: "Correct. There are accomodations. I mean there was something that said we need 24 hours for accomodations. To let us know 24 hours ahead of time. We could then talk about it and work somethin
Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim Speaks Against AASD's "Discriminatory And Indiscriminate" Masking Policy
On 09/13/2021 Appleton Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13) held a press conference outside the Appleton Area School District's Leadership Center in Downtown Appleton and called on the District's administrative team and Board of Education to stop their discriminatory masking policy and accommodate religious and personal belief exemptions.
She as well as two members of the public then sought entry to the leadership center in order to make public comment during the Board of Education meeting that started after the press conference, but they were all denied entry unless they agreed to wear masks.
I apologize for missing the first few seconds when she introduced herself.
"I'm not speaking on the part of the Appleton City Council or fellow Council members. And this is regarding the current masking policy in our schools, and the district administration is prepared to bar me and other concerned tax payers, parents of AASD children from entering this building.
The following comes directly from the district's website, "Masks and face coverings are required at the Leadership Center for onsite public input. If you do not have a mask, one will be provided to you. If you are unable to wear a mask for any reason, please utilize one of the other methods--virtual, or written--for public input. Individuals without a mask or face covering will not be admitted.
This policy is a tyrannical doubling down of the inadequately researched and public health coerced masking policy that is already in place for our children in our schools. All in the name of public safety. It is now clear to me and likely most of you here that this is no longer about the safety of our schools for our children and our teachers, but instead about a dictatorial power grab by this district.
This district relies on Wisconsin State Statute 118.001 which gives them, quote "Broadly construed powers to authorize any school board action" unquote, but they've conveniently neglected the last part of that statute
Alderperson Vered Meltzer's (District 2) Invocation At 09/01/2021 Common Council Meeting
The issue of masking has been talked about a lot recently due to the Health Officer resolution, the recent AASD mask mandate, and the start of the school year. Alderperson Vered Meltzer (District 2) gave the invocation during the 09/01/2021 Common Council meeting and took the opportunity to address masking.
Mayor Woodford: “Tonight's invocation will be delivered by Alderperson Meltzer.”
Alderperson Meltzer: “We talk a lot about kindness. We talk a lot about the importance of being kind to each other. Kindness is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as "the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate." Kindness to others can also sometimes involve self-sacrifice. We are still in the midst of a pandemic. We've lost 65 people in our community to Covid-19. More than 9,500 people have been infected with the virus in Appleton. And many people continue to experience adverse health impacts after their infection is over. But we have tools now that we didn't have at the beginning. We understand which safety precautions are effective and which are unnecessary. Now we need to apply what we've learned over the last year and a half, so that the toll on our community is not repeated. We've learned that Stay At Home orders are damaging in many ways, especially to mental health and the economy. We've learned that vaccinations reduce hospitalizations and death. And we've learned that masking lowers transmission rates. Since almost half of our community remains unvaccinated and breakthrough cases of vaccinated individuals have occurred, wearing a mask is all the more important. The easiest, most generous, and considerate thing that we can do right now is wear a mask. Whether one is vaccinated or not, wearing a mask is helpful. It is not a political statement. It's a way to say that we care about those around us, and that even if we feel we're already personally safe for whatever reason, we recognize that this pandemic is a problem bigger than ourselves. Instead of asking
Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim's (District 13) Invocation At 08/18/2021 Appleton Common Meeting
Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13) gave this invocation to the Common Council on 08/18/2021. As you can see, she is in the Council chambers and not wearing a mask although the Mayor has implemented rules requiring masks to be worn inside city facilities.
Mayor Woodford: Tonight's invocation will be delivered by Alderperson Hartzheim.
Alderperson Hartzheim: It's already the third week of August and summer is fast slipping through our fingers. It will be after Labor Day when we next meet again as a full Council so, with that thought....Gracious God, we come to You at very nearly the end of summer with the blessings of autumn and a new school year just ahead of us, with our many feelings, expectations, fears, and hopes. Help us to remember we have the comforting assurance that you will always be with us. For many of us this is a time of transition--a transition from the leisure of summer and time spent with family and friends back to the days of more structure. So give us patience with ourselves as well as patience with one another. Give us the gift of discernment to make the right choices about the future. Finally, give to each member of this Council and this community the seven gifts of the Spirit: wisdom, understanding, right judgment, courage, knowledge, reverence, and awe and wonder. Amen.
