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Further fulfillment:

Hyden-speak

How a sassy columnist went from the Fox River to the
big time

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By Anna Becklund

"I always felt that Steve's column and articles (I could usually tell which ones he penned) pushed the envelope too much for a family newspaper such as The Post-Crescent. Ironically, I often thought to myself, "Who does he think he's writing for, The Onion?" And now he got a job doing just that. I wish him well in his new venture, even if I didn't agree with him. Regarding last week's article on teen drinking, no, tens of thousands of people will not be drinking themselves silly at Octoberfest. Only a very small percent of the thousands there will no doubt get drunk. Steve tends to exaggerate. Now will you get rid of that stupid last page of mindless tidbits. What a waste of newsprint. I hope Steve's replacement is a little more mature.” – A little love from a fan named Patty.

 When The Post-Crescent announced that Steven Hyden was packing up his office and taking his sardonic wit and wry social commentary to the pages of The Onion A.V. Club in Milwaukee, the local Appleton newspaper asked its readers to write in with their thoughts and comments regarding the six-year career of the “Under 30” columnist and features writer. Sure he received a lot of nice words, including some “awww”-inducing comments from his brother Paul, but you won’t hear about those from Hyden. “The nice stuff is personal and nowhere near as funny,” says the irreverent Hyden. “It's just more funny when people hate you, and people got a kick out of that.”

He’s right of course. And it’s that straightforward, self-deprecating honesty that made Hyden the success that he is. His appeal may also lie in his subject matter, including “the wonderful world of swearing,” and his likening of romance to hot dogs, “tastes great but the way it is made will turn your stomach.”

It was his impish mocking of popular culture and insightful reviews of everything from local bands to smoking bans that enabled Hyden to land his new gig at The Onion. He wants to make clear that he won’t be writing their signature fake news. “It’s sometimes a disappointment to people,” he says, in his offhandedly earnest voice that successfully blurs the line between comedy and reality. “They walk away or their eyes blur over when they realize you don’t write the funny stuff.”

Don’t be disappointed. The man is a city editor at The Onion and he can finally swear on his blog, no more “darns” and “fudges,” thank-you-very-much. He’s doing what he does best, writing about entertainment and pop culture, and now he’s doing it in Milwaukee, interviewing the likes of the legendary Kris Kristofferson and getting his socks rocked by bands that never made the Appleton marquee.

Now don’t get him wrong--Appleton wasn’t all bad. He grew up there - physically, mentally and professionally. It’s his home. Sure he jokes about his heritage: “I lived in northeast Wisconsin, which is just below the armpit created by the bulk of the state and the peninsula. I don't live in the actual armpit, which is Green Bay, which is a place where fat people sit on their porches and watch traffic go by when the Packers aren't in season. I live in Appleton, a place where slightly less fat people do slightly more interesting things, like watch NASCAR, which is traffic with better camera work.” His pert attitude and guarded insistence that he did indeed enjoy his life in Appleton expose Hyden's seesawing emotions of nostalgia and oppression for a home he never quite fit into.

Writing articles for mainstream Appletonians was a job that served him well and vice versa. But every time he reviewed the “crappy country concerts” his fellow citizens revered, he was reminded that he just didn’t belong. Not many people understand an outsider, and even fewer appreciate one who states his eccentric opinions with unabashed gusto. “Not everyone agreed with what he had to say,” admits Ed Berthiaume, features editor for the Post-Crescent. “But they were most certainly entertained along the way.”

Hyden is well aware of his critics, but he doesn’t think his thoughts and words were controversial: they just stretched beyond the tepid waters of mainstream America. “There is always that one crazy lady, the one with 25 cats who watches the 700 Club, that starts yelling the minute you do something interesting,” Steve says, his relaxed cadence quickening. “We shouldn’t give her the power because when we cater to that one lady, we lose other people because we have to water down what we do.”

Hyden is willing to do a lot of things. But diluting his opinions for the loud self-righteous conservatives is not one of them. He realizes that just because a voice is loud, it doesn’t mean it is representative of the crowd, and it certainly doesn’t mean that it’s right. He’s a minority with major opinions, and not everybody is going to get that. But that’s OK.

“My goal was to reach people alienated from the mainstream Fox Valley culture: NASCAR, country music, boring College Avenue bars with nothing to offer except girls with fake bakes and guys with backward baseball caps,” Hyden says. “Not that there's anything wrong with that stuff, but if you don't connect with it, life can feel pretty lonely up there. My hope was that those people read my stories and felt a little less lonely.”

He is quirky, opinionated and thrives outside of the norm. He’s devoured the words and images of pop culture since he was 13. When most little boys coveted the superpowers of Clark Kent, Hyden worshiped the words of film critic Roger Ebert. And his passion for language and expression has yet to subside. Nearing the end of his “Under 30” days and with over 250 columns under his belt, Hyden is satisfied with the imprint he’s left on Appleton. “At the end of the day I was ready to move on to the next challenge,” Hyden says. “I did that, it’s done. I’m glad to be in the present, grateful for my experience and excited to continue on.”

Whether he’s covering a Brooks and Dunn concert in Appleton, or interviewing an indie band at Milwaukee’s Pabst Theater, he feels at home when he’s writing what he thinks and unapologetically standing by his convictions. He’s a bona fide professional, a contributor to society with fans of his own, and hecklers for that matter.

He hears you Patty. He appreciates your readership even if you didn’t always appreciate him. He wants to thank you, Patty, because you amuse him, and life without your indignant responses wouldn’t be half as entertaining. As for the assertion that he exaggerates…well that is just the silliest thing he ever heard in his entire life.

What does Steve Hyden think is cool and uncool? Click here to find out.