2004 Midwest tour!

[gordonzola]

The day I got back from the worker-coop conference in Minneapolis, I found out I’ve been invited to be on a panel at the cheese conference in Milwaukee. I wasn’t planning on going because the conference is super expensive, but now I have a free room, conference fees waived and even a small stipend towards travel. Undoubtedly this is now the year of the Gordonzola Midwest tour.

Unfortunately, it looks like I’ll just miss my co-worker’s metal band there, but I just found out another friend will be in Chicago right after the conference. Who knew it was only a couple of hours away!?! In the coming days I will post my theses on the nature of Midwest culture based on random interactions with people in Minneapolis, but I’m so happy I’ll be able to continue my research so soon afterwards. It’s the great unexplored territory for me.

Comments

[slit.livejournal.com]

Iowa. September 11.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

awwwww. you know I'd love to be there. but that is smack in the middle of the Bay Area Worker Co-op Conference I'm organizing. sorry.

I could send some cheese as a present.

[arasay.livejournal.com]

Surely there's an international worker coop thingy in England soon, no? Or a cheese thing? But speaking of cheese, do you stock crottin de chavignol? Because it is so very very delicious, you should. That it is French and potentially snooty, I only found out after it stole my soul.

I'm looking forward to your take on things midwestern.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

yeah, we often carry that. you know crottin means "turd" right?

England yes! think Fall.

[incendiarymind.livejournal.com]

In a few years, Milwaukee is going to be a suburb of Chicago it's so close. As soon as the northern Chicago suburbs end, the southern Milwaukee suburbs begin.

So, when exactly are you going to be in Chicago?

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

end of July most likely. I'm still waiting for some problem to odccur and cancel the trip.

[incendiarymind.livejournal.com]

End of July, eh? I'll be around.

[walktheplank.livejournal.com]

Just a quick reminder: if you're going to be slumming it in the Midwest, the Mpls. Zine Fest takes place over the weekend of July 23-25. Only seven hours away from Chicago (12 on the Greyhound.)

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

unfortunately, that's when I'll be cheesing it up in Beer Town.

[akki.livejournal.com]

You should post pictures of these cheese conferences. I know I'm really curious about them. Do different cheese companies set up tables with signs made at Kinko's that describe their cheeses?

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

no, the Fancy Food Show is like that, more of a specialty food trade show. This is mostly a conference: meeting rooms filled with white people discussing cheese on a level that most people in the world don't care about. A very uninteresting photo, let me tell you.

On the last day the "Festival of Cheese" is a tasting set up with all the cheeses in the competition for best of show. Last year it was about 600 of them with tiny little signs.

[surlygrrrl.livejournal.com]

come on. we totally need a pic of a room full of "twinklers."

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

no, no, tht's the co-op conference. No one twinkles at the cheese conference.

Believe me...

[felicks.livejournal.com]

you don't want to see that.

Ich

[felicks.livejournal.com]

That's kind of gross - kind of makes me want to go vegan again.

welcome back, cheese man

[superchones.livejournal.com]

Exotify the midwest!!!
Fuck yes!

A few years ago I went to Indiana just because I knew it would be an opportunity to witness worlds I had only ever heard about. There were all these houses that looked like they were from Mama's Family and a restaurant covered in coke cans and a clear white/black divide like I have never seen before. I went on a search for a mexican restaurant in this college town and there wasn't ONE! There were young white kids working at McDonalds! It was a bizarre place.

So, this is a long way of saying that I am looking forward to reading your field notes of the midwest territories.

Re: welcome back, cheese man

[walktheplank.livejournal.com]

I went on a search for a mexican restaurant in this college town and there wasn't ONE!

Are you sure that you were traveling in the Midwest? That sounds more like something you would see in Vermont.

Re: welcome back, cheese man

[jennizane.livejournal.com]

Hey sounds like south carolina, kinda!

scary isn't it?

[superchones.livejournal.com]

i was on a mission to find mexican food there! it was so weird that in the yellow pages there were only three listings for mexican food. two were non existent and one was closed for repairs. (taco bell does not count, of course)

but strangely, there were sushi places and this popular chain for gyros all over the place. i felt like i was wandering around some strange movie set, like back to the future or something where latinos are erased from the past and not around in the future!

Re: scary isn't it?

[jennizane.livejournal.com]

like back to the future or something where latinos are erased from the past and not around in the future!

DAMN, that is funny. I know what you mean, its like that in the South Carolina (from what i saw), but it also sounds like Holland! Although apparently there is a huge Peruvian population living here. Hmmm. and Mexican food here? Dont even get me started!!!

[greasyspoon.livejournal.com]

I am very much so looking forward to your thoughts on homely Minneapolis!

I am also disappointed that our paths didn't manage to cross...and what is to become of those fabulous Mudflaps??!!

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

don't worry I'll mail the Mudflaps. I'm just sorry you had to leave town so suddenly for such a sad reason.

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

"Undoubtedly this is now the year of the Gordonzola Midwest tour."

I want a t-shirt.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

hmmm, what's the name of that internet print on demand store?

[whipsmartgirl.livejournal.com]

Woo hoo! Sounds like you'll be coming to stay with me here in "beertown." I will begin compiling a list immediately of places to take you and people for you to meet while here. :) And if there is anything in particular you'd like to do while here, let me know because I have transportation.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

I know absolutely nothing about Milwaukee. You will have to educate me.

[tragicmulatta.livejournal.com]

Woo hoo! Chicago!

I'd love to have a beer with you while you're in town. Maybe some stinky cheese, too. When exactly will this Gordonzola Midwest Tour be?

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

late July. tickets are not booked yet so that's as specific as I can get.

[zerbie.livejournal.com]

Yay! The cheese conference in Milwaukee! I'm thinking about being one of those annoying members of the public who think they know about cheese. Except for the part where I pretend to know about cheese, because I know I couldn't pull it off. But it seems like the cheese conference might be a good place to learn. What do you think?

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

oh my god, absolutely not.

Though I will try and score extra festival of cheese tickets.

Learn by tasting, talking to your regular cheese monger or reading a book or two. Spending $500 to hang out with self-aggrandizing foodies is enough to drive you back to Kraft Singles.

[captain-grim.livejournal.com]

sweet jesus, they have a cheese conference! i want to go!

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

you should read last year's 8/3 - 8/11 entries before you commit.

[unemployia.livejournal.com]

What did you learn at the workers co-op conference?

Did you meet the folks from Hard Times Cafe?

xo

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

Patience Dear Unemployia, patience. I will soon reveal all.

and the only reason I'm not wearing a Hard Times sweatwhirt right now is that they didn't have one in my size available.