Pure Madnesson

Ira Sharenow gained infamy in Madison after sending hundreds upon hundreds of emails to City Council members regarding the contentious, all-inclusive, workplace smoking ban. Sharenow has been one of Madison's most outspoken advocates of smoke free public places since his days as a student helping to pass a school-wide smoking ban at the University of Wisconsin. In an interview, he reveals the truth behind his hatred of cigarette smoke.

Pure Madness: Let's start from the beginning. When did you realize that you hated cigarette smoke?

Ira Sharenow: I've hated smoke since before I was born. My mother smoked when she was pregnant. You see, no one knew the danger back then. There was no Surgeon General's warning on the side of cigarette boxes about the risk of low birth weight associated with smoking while pregnant. I have always blamed that cigarette smoke for the fact that I'm a bit on the scrawny side.

P.M.: Have you ever tried a cigarette? Even just once?

Ira: There was a lot of peer pressure when I was a kid. I grew up in an area where most kids began smoking by the time they were 13. In eighth grade, some kids were hanging out on the playground smoking. I wasn't very cool back then, so I thought that if I smoked, they would like me. I lit a cigarette and immediately began coughing and gagging. Honestly, I was horrified. The other kids all laughed at me. They started to pick on me relentlessly, pretending to cough every time I'd come around and chanting, "Ira Sharenow, I'm a Square now." I vowed revenge. Someday, those kids would be addicted smokers, and I would get them back somehow.

P.M.: When did you actually decide to begin your fight for smokefree public places?

Ira: Well, I plotted my revenge for years. My hatred of smokers deepened in high school. I didn't fit in with the cool kids, so I thought I'd try out for the school play. I really thought the drama kids would like me, but I was wrong. Even the thespians smoked. The play I tried out for was actually a musical, Grease. I desperately wanted the lead role, but the drama teacher said my voice wasn't raspy enough. Needless to say, the part went to a smoker with that scratchy voice that smoking too many cigarettes gives you. If I didn't hate cigarettes before, I sure did hate them then. I felt like there was nothing I could, so I planned and plotted until I got into college in Madison.

P.M.: What made you decide the University was the place to begin?

Ira: I had a professor in the math department who always smoked in his office. It was terrible for me. Every time I smelled his cigarettes, I was reminded of the agony of my own inability to smoke properly. I knew I could never be cool as long as everyone else could smoke and I couldn't do it. Then one day, that professor gave me a failing grade on a test. I went to speak to him in his office, and he offered me a cigarette. I felt obligated, so I lit it. As before, I broke out in a coughing fit. I was gagging so hard that I couldn't even talk to him about my grade. I felt like a fool and ran out of his office crying. That's when I knew I had to get smoking banned at the University.

P.M.: But you went on with your fight even after you'd won at the University of Wisconsin. Why did you decide to work for a citywide smoking ban?

Ira: I figured the only way I'd ever be accepted by my peers was if I could be just like them. If everyone's doing it, but I can't do it, I could never be part of the in-crowd. Instead of making myself like the in-crowd, I decided that I had to make the in-crowd more like me. I never really went to the bars before, because I felt awkward not smoking. Once the ban was passed, I could start going to the bars and not be marked as the non-smoking outcast. Of course, it was also the ultimate revenge. All of those smoking addicts who couldn't accept me because I couldn't do things on their terms now had to do things on my terms. It is really quite a power rush.

P.M.: So your entire fight has been about revenge?

Ira: Most of it. Of course, I'm happy that maybe less people will get cancer, too. But mostly, I'm just thrilled that those kids who were so mean to me will never again be allowed to smoke in the bars. I really showed them who has got the power now.