My Wisconsin Odyssey (I of IV or so): 2 Wisconsin Women.

I decided to go up to Wisconsin to protest this past weekend, and so I took the train to Milwaukee and then a bus to Madison, since taking the direct bus to Madison usually means getting stuck in stop-and-go traffic for hours.

Boarding the train, I had this big bag of posterboard and markers (for protest signs!), and the 30-something (chunky) (white) girl ahead of me started talking with me if I was going up to the protests... I said yes, and she started chit-chatting about how it doesn't affect us, and she's originally from Milwaukee and her parents still live there, etc.

"What do your parents think?", I was like. "I can't believe how that governor lied and said he campaigned on union-busting!".

"Well," she was like - and she got all nervous! - "They think differently."

"So they think he's been honest with everyone?", I was like.

"I'd rather not talk about this," she was like, and when I started to reply, she repeated again "I'd rather not talk about us", and since we were going up the platform to board the train, she picked up her pace to avoid talking with me and didn't look back.

On the train, I was in the Quiet Car (no loud talking or cell phones allowed), but I was kind of space-y and didn't realize that this bald-headed old (white) guy 2 seats in front of me had his cell phone out and was talking on it, until this older short-haired blonde woman with a *heavy* Wisconsin accent walked up to him and was like, "Excuse me sir, do you know that this is the Quiet Car? If you want to talk on your cell phone, you can move to the next car, or you can go to the next car temporarily and I can make sure no one takes your seat."

"Excuse me for a sec," the guy was like, talking into his cell phone, and then he turned to the woman and was like, "I'm not bothering anyone, so I don't know what -"

"Excuse me sir," she was like, very evenly, "But this is the Quiet Car..."

"Hey," he was like, and started to talk over her and raise his voice, but then she butted back in, evenly, and was like, "Would you like me to get a conductor? I'm sure they can explain the policy," and when he was like, "Yes" and started to try to yell at her again, she left before he could say anything, and came back with a conductor.

At that point, the guy wasn't on his cell, and he told the conductor, "I don't know what she's talking about, I'm not on a cell phone, I don't know why she brought a conductor here..."

"Because you asked me to get one," she was like, and then, in an overly-nice voice, she was like, "I'll leave you two to figure this out," and she went back to her seat.

The conductor just glared at the old (white) guy, and then made a loud public announcement about the requirements of the Quiet Car.

After she was done and left, I wanted to shout out, "Hey Cellphone Man, I bet you support Walker, too!", but I didn't.