Angela Fitzgerald heads to Riverview Gardens in Appleton, an organization empowering people through job training and employment all while also growing 30,000 pounds of food every year. The organization is located in what was once a bustling country club and golf course. To learn more about the organization, Fitzgerald chats with Angie Bleck, vice president of developmental strategies.
Next, we head to Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum in Two Rivers, a museum preserving the craft of letterpress printing. Learn about historic art with Georgianne Liesch, a woodcutter who learned from her father. Liesch uses antique pantographs, a simple tracing machine where she traces patterns on one platform, and simultaneously cuts that same shape on another platform.
Visit Milwaukee to meet Gaulien Smith or “Gee,” the owner of Gee’s Clippers a barber shop located in an old bank building. Smith’s Barber also offers a health clinic in the old bank vault where guests can get anything from a COVID-19 vaccination to a blood test. Smith has also become known as the barber to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Meet Cameron Gillie, a photographer and camera collector, who has an extensive collection of working film cameras that go back decades. His favorite camera is a Holga, which may surprise some people. it’s a cheap plastic film camera known for taking low-quality ethereal photos resembling a filter. He teaches workshops to help photographers harness those imperfections.
Head up to one of Manitowoc County’s largest dairy farms and meet Rosario Ibarra, the general manager of Grotegut Dairy Farms. She received a degree in soil management and crop production which opened a door for an internship in the dairy state. She left her home country of Mexico for New Holstein, Wisconsin. When she arrived it was the first time she had seen a Holstein cow. Now, Wisconsin has been home to Ibarra for more than a decade.
Finally, take to the skies with David Tan, a pilot for Pilots N Paws, an organization that matches aviators with animals in need of rescue from natural disasters or overcrowded shelters. Originally from Singapore, Tan learned to fly while attending boarding school in England. He went on to join the Singapore Air Force and flew rescue helicopters. Now he spends his days flying with dogs, cats, goats, pigs and even a bat.
