Page 89 – Wisconsin Life

For the past twenty years, farmer Larry Haas has been tilling the soil in rural Dane County and harvesting one of the oldest crops around: gourds. Haas, known as ‘The Gourd Guy,’ began gourd farming after a trip to Georgia.

Winter Preparedness Goes Awry For Girl Learning To Ski
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Winter Preparedness Goes Awry For Girl Learning To Ski

Culture & History

Winter Preparedness Goes Awry For Girl Learning To Ski

When I lived in Los Angeles winter preparedness meant turning on the pool heater. Here in Wisconsin, come Halloween, my pops puts a shovel, blankets, snowmobile suit, heavy rubber boots, and a roll of duct tape into the back of his Suburban.

Spoken Word Artist Describes Brother’s Struggle
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Spoken Word Artist Describes Brother’s Struggle

The Arts

Spoken Word Artist Describes Brother’s Struggle

While enrolled in the UW Madison’s First Wave Hip Hop arts program, Steven Rodriguez created a poem inspired by his younger brother, “Little Man”. Rodriguez speaks to his brother’s struggles with discrimination, growing up as a Mexican-American young man.

Literacy In Wisconsin: Renee Learned Computer Skills That Landed Her A Job
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Literacy In Wisconsin: Renee Learned Computer Skills That Landed Her A Job

Culture & History

Literacy In Wisconsin: Renee Learned Computer Skills That Landed Her A Job

Renee had fallen on hard times when her longtime friend Rick stepped in to offer his support. Curiosity brought them into the Literacy Network in Madison. “I live right across the street so I knew the place was here but I didn’t know what they offered,” says Renee.

Literacy In Wisconsin: Liberian Refugee Miss Elizabeth Finds New Life In Milwaukee
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Literacy In Wisconsin: Liberian Refugee Miss Elizabeth Finds New Life In Milwaukee

Culture & History

Literacy In Wisconsin: Liberian Refugee Miss Elizabeth Finds New Life In Milwaukee

Miss Elizabeth came to Milwaukee from Liberia in 2007. She knew no English. She’d never really even gone to school. “Well, I didn’t go to school but I went to Arabic school.

Literacy In Wisconsin: Ruth Is Improving Her Reading To Earn A GED
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Literacy In Wisconsin: Ruth Is Improving Her Reading To Earn A GED

Culture & History

Literacy In Wisconsin: Ruth Is Improving Her Reading To Earn A GED

Bonnie began volunteering as a literacy tutor after seeing a notice in the newspaper. She was soon paired up with Ruth, who is working toward her GED. The two have been working together for nearly a year.

Literacy In Wisconsin: Welder And Artist Augie Learning To Read Blueprints With Tutor
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Literacy In Wisconsin: Welder And Artist Augie Learning To Read Blueprints With Tutor

Culture & History

Literacy In Wisconsin: Welder And Artist Augie Learning To Read Blueprints With Tutor

Augie has been a welder for forty years. A problem at work exposed his reading disability and led him to seek help from a tutor. “I did well in school in math and art,” says Augie.

Literacy In Wisconsin: Maria Is Learning English For New Life In U.S.
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Literacy In Wisconsin: Maria Is Learning English For New Life In U.S.

Culture & History

Literacy In Wisconsin: Maria Is Learning English For New Life In U.S.

Maria Huerta came to Milwaukee from Mexico with her husband. She knew no English but soon started classes at Journey House in Milwaukee. “I think learning another language is really hard,” says Huerta.

SAAF #2: The Heist
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SAAF #2: The Heist

The Arts

SAAF #2: The Heist

Rose and Tina find themselves hanging around Papa Larry for the day.

Sled Dog Racing Becomes Family Affair
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Sled Dog Racing Becomes Family Affair

Sports

Sled Dog Racing Becomes Family Affair

Twenty years ago I stood on the wintry main street of LaPointe on Madeline Island on Lake Superior in freezing, blowing, below-zero weather for the first-ever Apostle Islands Sled Dog Race.

Famed Norwegian Violinist Ole Bull’s Madison Years
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Famed Norwegian Violinist Ole Bull’s Madison Years

The Arts

Famed Norwegian Violinist Ole Bull’s Madison Years

When internationally-acclaimed Norwegian violinist Ole Bull came to Madison in January 1868, a hundred torch-bearing countrymen escorted him up West Washington Avenue to his hotel. Tickets for his Madison concert were going for ten dollars apiece, five times what most men could hope to earn in a day.

A Walk Through The Cedarburg Bog
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A Walk Through The Cedarburg Bog

Science & Nature

A Walk Through The Cedarburg Bog

European settlers to Wisconsin saw wetlands as wasted space to be drained. But that view changed over time, and in 1952, Wisconsin’s DNR made an intact wetland in Ozaukee County known as the Cedarburg Bog a Wisconsin State Natural Area, only the second piece of land to receive that designation at the time.

Family Letters Reveal Story Of Farm Life In Wisconsin Over 20th Century
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Family Letters Reveal Story Of Farm Life In Wisconsin Over 20th Century

Culture & History

Family Letters Reveal Story Of Farm Life In Wisconsin Over 20th Century

In the mid-1990s, Sara DeLuca received gift of letters from her aunt Margaret. The letters, written by the women in her mother’s family, told of their life from the 1920s through the 1990s.

Students Take Dance From The Street To Competition
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Students Take Dance From The Street To Competition

Culture & History

Students Take Dance From The Street To Competition

It takes exercise, skill and a lot of practice to move from the streets to a break dancing competition. These middle and high school students in Madison are putting it all on the line in a quest to do “battle” with the best of the best hip-hop and break dancers in the area.

Doctor Provides Care And Healing To Her Community
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Doctor Provides Care And Healing To Her Community

Culture & History

Doctor Provides Care And Healing To Her Community

Amy Delong works within and for her tribal community at the Ho-Chunk House of Wellness in Baraboo. She pursued medicine as a way to find more fulfilling work for herself and to give back to her community.