Page 132 – Wisconsin Life

The summer festival season is upon us including Summerfest in Milwaukee, followed by a several months of ethnic and neighborhood festivals in that city. To celebrate, poet Susan Firer shares her poem “Milwaukee Does Strange Things To People.”

Turing Test
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Turing Test

Culture & History

Turing Test

Saturday, June 23rd, marks the 100th anniversary of Alan Turing’s birth the father of modern computer science. He also created the Turing Test, which tests the ability of a machine to exhibit intelligent behavior.

Blessing of the Fleet
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Blessing of the Fleet

Culture & History

Blessing of the Fleet

We head to Bayfield, where fishing boats, sailboats, tugs and even kayaks assembled in the city harbor recently for the annual Blessing of the Fleet. For more than fifty years, clergy from the Apostle Islands have gathered in June to bless local boats for safe passage and a prosperous season on Lake Superior.

Trout Season
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Trout Season

Culture & History

Trout Season

Father’s Day is this weekend. Writer Susan Lampert Smith reminisces about her father and a 65 year tradition marking the opening of trout season. Susan Lampert Smith is a science writer with the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health.

Compassionate Manhole Covers
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Compassionate Manhole Covers

The Arts

Compassionate Manhole Covers

If you take a stroll through the streets of downtown Appleton, be sure not to miss the unusual manhole covers on College Avenue. Designed by a Lawrence University artist and his students, and cast by Neenah Foundry, the manhole covers are an example of public art with a social purpose.

Surfin’ in Sheboygan
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Surfin’ in Sheboygan

Culture & History

Surfin’ in Sheboygan

When you think of surfing, you probably don’t think Wisconsin. But believe it or not, Sheboygan is Wisconsin’s very own Malibu. Commentator Bill Povletich tells us the story behind this most unlikely of Midwestern water sports.

Big Star Lake
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Big Star Lake

Culture & History

Big Star Lake

For a lot of midwesterners, summer is the time to head “Up North” to a lakefront cabin or camp on one of Wisconsin’s pristine northwoods lakes. For five generations, commentator Marnie Mamminga and her family have returned to Big Spider Lake near Hayward “ to the cabin her grandparents built.

Transit of Venus
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Transit of Venus

Science & Nature

Transit of Venus

Next week, we’ll be able to see one of the rarest of astronomical phenomena a transit of Venus. It’s the last one any of us will likely see since it won’t happen again until the 22nd century.

FIBS
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FIBS

Food & Travel

FIBS

Memorial Day signals the start of the summer travel season. Among those taking to the Wisconsin roads will be visitors from Illinois — people Wisconsinites love to hate. Writer Patrick Somerville reflects on both Wisconsin’s and his own conflicted relationship with Illinois.

Growing Power
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Growing Power

Culture & History

Growing Power

In Milwaukee, MacArthur genius and former pro-basketball player Will Allen is getting ready for another growing season. Allen is a pioneer of the urban farming movement the founder and CEO of Growing Power, a community-run farm in the middle of inner city Milwaukee.

Coyotes
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Coyotes

Science & Nature

Coyotes

Coyotes can be found or at least heard in every county in Wisconsin. Writer Jill Sisson Quinn sometimes hears them howl as she walks her dog. It got her thinking about her place and that of her dog in the natural order of the world.

Tom’s Workshop
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Tom’s Workshop

Culture & History

Tom’s Workshop

Today, writer Michael Perry shares one of his favorite places in Wisconsin his neighbor Tom’s workshop. Here’s an excerpt from his new book, “Visiting Tom: A Man, A Highway, and the Road to Roughneck Grace.”

Big Mama
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Big Mama

Culture & History

Big Mama

Mother’s Day: Commentator Cynthia Woodland remembers the woman she calls “the last of the big mamas” — the matriarch of her family.

Mother’s Day at Horicon Marsh
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Mother’s Day at Horicon Marsh

Culture & History

Mother’s Day at Horicon Marsh

Mother’s Day is coming up this weekend. Every year, poet Kim Blaeser and her family celebrate by spending a day outdoors. Blaeser tells us how their annual trek allows her to connect with the earth and her memories.

Lost and Found Language
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Lost and Found Language

Culture & History

Lost and Found Language

Cinco de Mayo is the annual celebration of Mexican heritage, and one of the fastest growing holidays in America. Today, Wisconsin poet and school principal Oscar Mireles shares the story of his struggle to hold onto his first language Spanish.