What Stage Is The City Of Madison: Fill & Download for Free

What do you call a war that includes a botched invasion of your enemy’s territory, your capital being burned while your government flees in the middle of the night, and accomplishment of none of your official war aims?Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the War of 1812.Now, I know that (many) American schools don't teach it that way. We tell our kids that this was Revolutionary War: Part 2, where we go toe-to-toe with the mighty British Empire not as scrappy rebels, but as equals, and give them what-for. That this was the United States entering the world stage!Ridiculous. The war was at best a sideshow. For all of 1812 and 1813 and well into 1814, Britain had her hands full with this guy:That's Napoleon, of course. While we were “proving ourselves” by sending a ragtag militia unit or two north to raid Canada and steal their maple syrup (or whatever) Britain could barely be bothered to notice what was happening halfway across the world. For two years, they had bigger fish to fry on the Continent.As soon as Napoleon had been defeated for good, the British troops showed up for real. Over a period of about three weeks in the summer of 1814, they proceeded to utterly crush our economy and burn city after city, basically unopposed.In particular, they sailed into the newly-constructed capital of Washington, DC and burned it, including the Treasury, Department of State, Department of War, both houses of Congress, and most famously, the Executive Mansion. Dolley Madison had the good sense to grab the painting of George Washington on her way out of the house to save it from the British troops (our actual president, James Madison, having left town the day before).“Thanks for nothing, James.”Only a timely bit of rain saved the city itself from burning to the ground.They also basically robbed Alexandria blind in exchange for its surrender, and proceeded to shell Baltimore, our richest mid-Atlantic port, among other indignities.Fortunately we managed to withstand a few of these attacks, as well as a counter-invasion in northern New York, and the British didn't really want to fight yet another war anyway after half a century of on-and-off warfare against the French. So within a year everyone had signed a peace treaty that put everything back exactly as it was beforehand.“Mr Madison’s Little War” didn't even get the British to agree to stop pressing our sailors into their Navy, which was the whole reason we declared war in the first place. But with the defeat of Napoleon, they weren't as desperate for sailors anyway, so it all worked out, I guess.The biggest end result of the war, besides us painting the Executive Mansion white to hide the fire damage, was a nice poem about a flag. That was written by amateur poet Francis Scott Key as he watched the British shell Baltimore on their way back from looting D.C. He set his new poem to a catchy British pub song and a century later, it became our official national anthem: the Star-Spangled Banner.“But wait!” I hear you shouting. “"What about the Battle of New Orleans?!”Ah yes, we loooove to talk about the Battle of New Orleans, don't we? After all, it gave us a bona fide war hero who would later go on to be president: Andrew Jackson, who led the defense of the city against an overwhelming British force, and beat them back anyway.“Keep fighting, men! Your deaths definitely matter.”Problem is, the battle happened after the treaty ending the war had been signed — nobody involved in the battle knew; news from Europe took a few weeks to arrive by boat in those days — so it meant literally nothing and accomplished literally nothing. If Jackson had surrendered, or been defeated, or been beamed up by aliens in the middle of the fight, the British would still have been forced to walk right back onto their ships and go home as soon as the news of the treaty arrived.(Also, Jackson was a terrible president, one of our worst, but that's an article for another day).So, yes. We took advantage of a distracted Britain to poke her in the side for two years, and then as soon as they had a free moment we got our asses handed to us, our cities burnt, our economy wrecked, our government run out of town, and one “hero” whose battle didn't even matter, and then everything went back exactly how it was. Also, a poem.We lost the War of 1812.

Here are my favorite go-to date options in the city, where great food is a prerequisite and everything else depends on how many dates you've been on already and what you're looking for. Date spots need to have a safe enough menu that you'll be certain your date can find something to order, but should also have a bit of adventure so as to not be plain. I find Italian/French restaurants generally set the stage for success, and on the margin to add some flair Spanish works well. Sushi is a risk if you get a non-raw-fish-eater, Thai brings to mind undesirable associations with weekday takeout, Indian could always lead to stomach problems that end the date early...and so on.First date, trying to impress with a trendy scene:PerlaMontmartre (preceded/followed by drinks at Pounds & Ounces next door)Rosemary'sLocanda VerdeSecond date, where you want to have a real conversation without yelling:Hudson ClearwaterCasa MonoLittle OwlMaialinoCaselullaWine 30Osteria Morini - cozy/romantic but it does get very loudThird date, skip dinner altogether and find a prohibition-esque spot with standout cocktails:Bathtub GinRaines Law Room2nd Floor on ClintonPDTAngel's ShareLittle BranchPegu ClubFourth date, also good for morning-after brunch if you're a fourth date type of gal/guy:(reservation-only spots so you can impress your date by strolling in right past the walk-in crowd)Hundred AcresFive PointsKen & CookStopped counting/in a relationship, it must be a special occasion if you're actually planning the date:Eleven Madison Park - Will burn a small hole in your walletKeen's Steakhouse - Take a man here to win him overOne If By Land, Two If By Sea - Expect to witness at least one proposal before the night is done

I can’t give you specifics or a definite reason why this might be the case but I can tell you what I have observed from over 20 years of growing up in Madison, WI.For one. its on an Isthmus:“Madison's origins begin in 1829, when former federal judge James Duane Doty purchased over a thousand acres (4 km²) of swamp and forest land on the isthmus between Lakes Mendota and Monona, with the intention of building a city in the Four Lakes region. He purchased 1,261 acres for $1,500.”A road diagram nearly 100 years after it was founded. Not a lot of land for them to work with from this road diagram in 1920. In fact, there used to be a lot of swamp land just south of the Capitol that was turned into roads and houses.I am going to act like you may not be from Madison and therefore have never traveled to or visited this beautiful area..I hate that this city is on an Isthmus but I grew up here and my family and friends all live in Madison, so I have never had a reason to leave. It is miserable living in a city that really cannot have new roads built or new space and just keeps adding more and more street lights where they are not needed. (Whoever is in charge of the road system and it’s street lights are many bad words that I won’t utter here)Because the city is essentially stuck between two lakes there is limited land for people to build and live on. Some of the folks I have run into over the years who lived downtown have said that the underground parking spots in their apartments or condos can go for exorbitant amounts of money. Some folks won’t even move into a place if they aren’t also sold all the underground parking spots some of these wealthy people own.This is a picture of Madison’s unique Isthmus. There are only 5 in the United States. The Isthmus of Catalina Island, Isthmus near Fidalgo Island, The Madison Isthmus, Seattle, Washington and Point Peninsula, New York.When I grew up here as a kid starting in 1990 Madison was kind of it’s own little city. I grew up on all different sides of town, Monona, East, West, Middleton.. My dad used to drive me out past the edge of East Town mall where there were just country roads to reach my friends house to have sleep overs. My dad used to tell me that one day when you are older there won’t be country roads out here anymore. It will all be connected to the next town over (Sun Prairie. It is literally almost connected to Madison at this point). He was right. The old country roads we used to travel have now been widened for greater traffic, and the farm land has been converted into housing for large suburbs as far as the eye can see.For the longest time it seemed like most folks were living out in the suburbs like Fitchburg or Richmond Hills, even if they were working somewhere downtown these folks would make the commute. But with the 8-year reign of Governor Scott Walker a lot of things changed, we got this removal of all the industrial buildings lining up East Washington leading up to the Capitol Square and their replacement of middle to upper class apartment buildings. People want to live downtown so they aren’t making long commutes from the suburbs just to go to work, or because they want to be a part of the downtown culture where there is a lot of fun to be had. Most of these new buildings that have been built have shown up in the past 5 or 10 years and with new populations and tourism comes new hotels.Back when my dad managed the place if you wanted a fancy hotel you would go to the Concourse, but now you have resorts like the Hilton, Hyatt, AC Hotel, or the beautiful Edgewater. The Concourse Hotel has a lot of history and stories my dad used to tell me from the 90’s when he ran the Governors Club where people like Chris Farley or Brett Favre used to visit frequently. Recently my dad gave me a receipt he had swiped from the hotel in the 90’s that had Chris Farleys signature on it. From some other folks I’ve spoken to who worked there they’ve said Farley used to visit the Concourse all the time and that he was an incredibly nice person that was always fun to go out with, but he always had a hint of sadness about him like he was haunted by demons. We all know how this turned out for him of course. He was from Madison and was also buried here.A photo in case you are too young to remember who Chris Farley was. A comedic genius.When I was a kid in high school going to The Edgewater for prom it was just a run down little building with a tiny stage, but a few years later it was completely torn down and remodeled into a beautiful building on the lake with it’s own ice skating rink. It seems like the goal for this city was to try and reverse this rural small town look that most folks had an image of and turn it into a real tourist attraction for people moving here that want to work for Epic. Don’t even get me started on Epic.. (They are a giant campus of buildings in Verona for a business that writes and implants software and ecosystems for Hospital computers). I would imagine they are a good reason why more and more people want to live downtown and move to Madison in the first place since they pay well and hire young people out of College. This could be a good reason why things have been changing drastically in this City in the past decade, but that is just a theory.So to give you an overall outline of why Madison is the way it is I thought I would share with you some history and backstory about a few things I’ve experienced as a resident of Mad-Town. It is a beautiful city but you can’t really build anything new in the downtown area unless you first tear something down. This is what they’ve been trying to do since the sprawl of the city keeps getting further and further out, and people don’t want to commute half an hour to an hour just to get to work. The only way to build is up and since they have not been doing this for people who can normally afford it (living downtown even in a small studio apartment is exceptionally expensive) people have to live on the outskirts. Since there are also smaller towns on the edges of the City and Town of Madison they are being connected and turned into a part of the overall picture.P.S. Another answer I can give is that there actually is a differentiation between the City and Town of Madison. Everyone tends to call Madison one City but there are actually two separate parts of it; the City proper and the Town. Then of course you throw into the mix Fitchburg, Shorewood, Monona, Middleton, etc etc and it just becomes more and more complicated. So it is hard to know if when you are looking at numbers if they include both the City and Town of Madison, or if they are given separately. That is just another theory though.