8 O'Clock Buzz

The Federal Reserve has reported that by the end of 2020, U.S. college students had amassed a record 1.7 trillion dollars in student debt.  The average student carries a debt load of almost forty thousand dollars.  Graduates trying to keep up with those monthly payments has ripple effects throughout the economy, with young people forestalling families, home ownership, taking unrewarding jobs or simply defaulting on their loans.  The issue has gotten the attention of elected officials, with some in Congress, such as Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren calling for elimination of up to 50,000 dollars in student debt, and President Joe Biden arguing for a more modest forgiveness of 10,000 dollars per student.  Bates College Philosophy Professor, Paul Schofield, however, argues that the government should just make taking on that much debt illegal.

On March 29, 2021, when news broke that the Chicago Police had shot and killed 13-year old Adam Toledo, CNN reported the incident as “an armed confrontation.”  The Chicago Police Department released an image of a gun on twitter, and reported Officer Eric Stillman as the victim of “aggravated assault on a police officer,” by a “John Doe” “between the ages of 18-25.”   Long after multiple media outlets repeated the official police line verbatim, another story emerged.  Bodycam footage released three weeks later shows Adam Toledo dropping his gun, and raising his hands in the air, when Stillman shot him.  Stillman is now on administrative leave.  Why, though, were the media so quick to accept the Chicago Police Department’s version of events?  Danielle Kilgo is the John and Elizabeth Bates Cowles Professor of Journalism, Diversity and Equality at the University of Minnesota.

 

Have you ever seen those folks juggling all manner of objects on Library Mall? That’s the Madison area Jugglers Club. And they’d like you to join them—no matter your skill or lack thereof.

From April to the end of October, the group meets weekly on the Library Mall, in front of the Wisconsin Historical Society. If it is raining heavily or extra windy, they can be found under the skyway of the Chazen Art Museum.

You can join them on Sundays, 2-4pm, and Thursdays, from 7-10pm… or whenever they stop juggling. For more information or to get in touch, head to their website. 

For more, Buzz host Jonathan Zarov speaks to Mark Hayward, who has been a member of the Madison Area Jugglers since 1989. He’s a full-time professional juggler and yo-yo man for 20 years, and a member of world champion juggling team The MadFive. 

You may know Dana Pellebon from her work with many Madison theater companies, such as StageQ, Madison Theater Guild, and Broom Street Theater, or her work at nonprofit organizations.

Today she joins the Buzz as executive producer and co-founder of the Loud ‘N Unchained Black Theater Festival. It’s a free, online presentation of Black theater and performance artists, presenting monologues and spoken word, one-person shows, a play reading, and drag artists. The festival takes place next weekend, Friday April 30 and Saturday May 1. You can find a schedule for the festival here.

Photo courtesy Dana Pellebon. 

The pro-Trump mob on January 6th damaged parts of the nation’s Capitol, some made of old growth mahogany wood, which is now impossible to buy.

Those responsible for repairing the damage turned to one of the people in the country most knowledgeable about wood and restoration work. They turned to Madison’s own Robert “Bob” Ross, of the U.S. Forest Service’s Forest Products Laboratory, located right here in Madison.

The Lab was holding a bunch of century-old mahogany wood, first brought to Madison to study materials for airplane propellers during World War I. Now, that wood is finding a second purpose as it’s used to repair furnishings at the US Capitol. That work is expected to begin in June.

This is just one of many projects Ross has been a part of. He also consulted on the restoration of the USS Constitution, rebuilding New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and even an ancient sarcophagus. Here in Madison, he also works with arborists at the Wisconsin Capitol to scan living trees for signs of decay.

Buzz host Jonathan Zarov to talk about the mahogany wood, and the many other projects going on at the Forest Products Laboratory.

Photo of experimental propellers produced from seven different species of wood. Courtesy of the Forest Products Lab archives.

In Ursula Pike’s new book, “An Indian among los Indígenas: A Native Travel Memoir“, she talks about her expectations, experiences, and lessons learned during her two years as a Karuk tribe member participating as the U.S. Peace Corps volunteer. She discusses what colonialism looks like first hand while trying to build connections and respectful development. She talks about her book today, April 21, 2021 at 4:00 — look on the WORT community calendar or the U.W. Peace Corps website.

Wall Street spent at least $2.9 billion on the 2020 elections, equating to $4 million a day, and a billion dollars more than the 2016 elections. Carter Dougherty, Communications Director of Americans for Financial Reform — a 200-group coalition of consumer advocates, faith groups, labor unions — talks about the money… where it came from and where it was spent.

Working Capital for Community Needs, or WCCN, this year celebrates 30 years of coordinating micro-loans in order to improve the lives of poor in Latin America. Originating to support the Wisconsin-Nicaragua Sister-State program in 1984, it was transformed in 1991 into what is now a $14 million funding program to financial co-ops in Central America, with 63% of its lending going to assisting women without access to credit. Executive Director Will Harris talks about some of their work.

The Little Book Project WI is a community arts and nonprofit printmaking series. Each limited edition book, which comes out biannually, weaves together visual arts and literary work based on a central theme. The first edition focused on advocacy, the second focused on mental health, and the third edition- to be released soon – focuses on places and spaces. The fourth edition, to be released this fall, will focus on community. The project’s founder, Rachel Werner, joins Dr. Damita Brown to talk about the project. 

Rachel Werner is a teaching artist for The Loft Literary Center and Hugo House. Her literary writing and craft essays have been published by Off Menu Press, Digging Through The Fat and Voyage YA Literary Journal. A selection of Rachel’s recipes are also included in Wisconsin Cocktails (UW-Press, 2020)—and her poetry in the anthology  Hope Is The Thing: Wisconsinites On Hope and Resilience in the Time of Covid-19 (The Wisconsin Historical Society, 2021).

Photo courtesy The Little Book Project WI

Devon LaRosa is the principal at Robert M. La Follette High School. He’s previously been a principal at two Illinois schools and a school in Beloit. He joins Dr. Damita Brown to talk about his educational philosophy and being there for students.

Image courtesy Madison Metropolitan School District.