In 2022, Madison’s Poet Laureate Angela Trudell Vasquez created the Madison Youth Poet Laureate Program. It made Madison the first city in Wisconsin to become a part of the National Youth Poet Laureate program. The national organization honors teenage poets and provides them competitive opportunities to showcase their work and talent. 

Earlier this summer, Maliha Nu’Man became the second Madison Youth Poet Laureate. Maliha is an upcoming sophomore, and when she was just 14, she self-published her first book titled, “Photograph.”

Maliha and Angie join host Ali Muldrow to talk about the role of the youth poet laureate, the power of mentorship, and the joy of performance.

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When Karen Hinton Robinson learned that her daughter was not being taught Black History in elementary school, she decided to put her life-long quilting skills to use. Ever since, she has been blending the art form with her ability to tell stories and share history. Her exhibit “Quilted Education presents A Celebration of Black History” will be featured in the 19th annual Great Wisconsin Quilt Show.

Ms. Karen Robinson joins Douglas Haynes on A Public Affair to talk about her early years of quilting, the impact Nancy Zieman had on her craft, and the artistic representations she has created to honor many figures from African American history.

Toward the end of the show, vice president of marketing at Nancy Zieman Productions, Deanna Springer joins us to give a run down of what to expect at this years show. Great Wisconsin Quilt Show, presented by PBS Wisconsin and Nancy Zieman Productions, will run from September 7th to September 9th. More information can be found here. 

Featured image credit: Kayla Robinson

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The Hanford Nuclear sight was built in Washington State on land that was confiscated from the Yakama tribe. Once home to the US largest plutonium production site, it is now laced with 56 million gallons of radioactive waste. The EPA has designated Hanford the most toxic place in America. It is also the most expensive environmental clean-up job the world has ever seen, with a $677 billion price tag that keeps growing.

Today’s guest, Joshua Frank,  joins us to talk about the threat to Hanford, the groundwater, and the Columbia River. Josh the managing editor of CounterPunch, and the author of the new book, Atomic Days: The Untold Story of the Most Toxic Place in America.

Photo by Theo Bickel on Unsplash

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For the 16th year in a row, the Wisconsin State budget failed to fund public education at the rate of inflation, leaving nearly 40% of public schools getting less funding than they did last year. For this, and several other reasons, a public education nonpartisan advocacy organization, Wisconsin Public Education Network, gave the budget an F rating.

Joining to talk about the state of funding is Wisconsin Public Education Network director of digital communications and organizing Christian Phelps. Also joining the show for a local perspective on how state funding is impacting Madison are MTI president Michael Jones and Executive Director Jeff Knight.

Photo by CDC on Unsplash

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When Justice Janet Protasiewicz was sworn in early this month, her presence flipped the court from conservative to liberal for the first time in 15 years. Now, state Republicans are threating Protasiewicz with impeachment. Joining us to talk about the issues facing the state’s highest court are Ruth Conniff and Barry Burden.

Ruth Conniff is Editor-in-chief of the Wisconsin Examiner. Conniff is a frequent guest on MSNBC and has appeared on Good Morning America, Democracy Now!, Wisconsin Public Radio, CNN, Fox News and many other radio and television outlets. She has also written for The Nation, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Times, among other publications. Her book “Milked: How an American Crisis Brought Together Midwestern Dairy Farmers and Mexican Workers” won the 2022 Studs and Ida Terkel Award from The New Press.

Barry C. Burden is Professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is also Director of the Elections Research Center and is the Lyons Family Chair in Electoral Politics.  He is co-editor of The Measure of American Elections, author of Personal Roots of Representation, and co-author of Why Americans Split Their Tickets: Campaigns, Competition, and Divided Government. Burden has also published articles in the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, British Journal of Political Science, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Political Science Quarterly, and Electoral Studies.

Burden is affiliated with the La Follette School of Public Affairs, the Center for Demography of Health and Aging, the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership, and the Election Administration Project.

Photo by Connor Betts on Unsplash

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Last Wednesday marked the hundredth day of striking for the Writers Guild of America union. Among their demands are an increase to minimum compensation, a limit on the use of mini-rooms, and regulation to the use of material produced by artificial intelligence.  The latest update from the union’s negotiators, is that they received counterproposal on Friday from AMPTP–the trade association that represents over 350 American television and film production companies. WGA says they will respond this week.

Joining us to talk about the strike and the changes to the film and television industry lead to the strike is writer and director Kristin Holodak. Kris is not a WGA member, but has been following the strike and the industry changes. She joins host Ali Muldrow to talk about the disruption to the industry caused by streaming and how she thinks about the industry she’s sending her students into.

A short portion of WGA’s 100 Days Stronger video was used in this broadcast.

Writer/Director Kristin Holodak is currently an associate professor of digital media at Marquette. Prior to that, she spent fifteen years creating productions for clients such as the Smithsonian Institution and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. She has written and directed a dozen short films, and written two feature scripts, one of which was produced last summer and is currently finishing post-production.

Image used under creative commons license. WGA Strike 6.21.2023 024 by author  ufcw770

 

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“Until 2006 undocumented people in Wisconsin could get driver’s licenses,” says ProPublica reporter Melissa Sanchez. That changed when a federal anti-terrorism law called the REAL ID Act was enacted.  Under that law, people had to show proof of citizenship or other legal status to get driver’s licenses. Melissa explains that before it went into effect there was “a rush of undocumented people going to renew their licenses or get licenses. But once those licenses expired, and people were in a situation they’re in today, you have tens of hundreds of people living in the state who are likely driving around without a license.” When Melissa visits a breakroom at a dairy and asks how many people have gotten a ticket for driving without a license, everyone says they have.

In the ProPublica series America’s Dairyland, Risking Workers’ Lives for the Milk We Drink, Melissa and her colleague Maryam Jameel uncover the some of the most dangerous job sites in America–dairy farms. Melissa joins host Douglas Haynes to talk about reality of undocumented immigrants in Wisconsin who can not obtain drivers licenses and the changing opinions of some Wisconsin politicians.

Photo by Dave on Unsplash

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Snapshot Wisconsin is a volunteer-based project wildlife year-round using a statewide network of trail cameras that provide data for wildlife management decision support. Volunteers can help identify animals on Zooniverse. Data about the animals seen by trail camera can be found here.

Sub host Catherine Garvens speaks with DNR’s Christine Anhalt-Depies and Jennifer Stenglein about the initiative.

Christine Anhalt-Depies is a Research Scientist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources where her work focuses on public engagement in science and decision making including leading the operations of the Snapshot Wisconsin project. She has a PhD in the Human Dimensions of Natural Resources from UW-Madison.

Jennifer Stenglein works on the Snapshot Wisconsin project at Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Her work focuses on the statistics and modeling of wildlife populations. She earned her PhD from UW-Madison in Wildlife Ecology.

Image by Istvan Pocsai from Pixabay

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‘Barbie’ surpassed $1 billion dollars at the box office this week, making Greta Gerwig the first woman director to be the sole directing credit on a billion dollar movie. The internet meme would say “This Barbie is the director of a billion dollar movie.” What’s with the hype? How do long-time Barbie fans and Barbie skeptics both walk out of the theatre pro-Barbie? A Public Affair host Carousel Bayrd doesn’t own anything pink, but even she saw the movie, twice.

Kicking us off is Milwaukee Film Programming Director Kerstin Larson to break down some of the most notable moments for the movie and explain why she thinks the movie has been such a big hit. Heads up! This part has a lot of spoilers!!

Then, we talk about the 100+ marketing partnerships the ‘Barbie’ movie has with Dr. Patricia Huddleston. (Did you know that Progressive insured the ‘Barbie Dream House’?) Dr. Huddleston is Professor of Retailing in the Department of Advertising + Public Relations and Michigan State University.

Then, we round out the show with a conversation about body diversity in the movie with Renfrew Center Regional Assistant Vice President Kristin Szostak. What does it mean that everyone (except Midge of course) is Barbie? Szostak says this is a step in the right direction, even if there was still a lot of body representation that is still missing.

Photo by Girl with red hat on Unsplash

 

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The Milwaukee Black Theatre Festival kicks off tomorrow, August 9th and runs through the 27th. The three-week-long event is a celebration of Black arts and culture, and features both free and ticketed events at venues across Milwaukee.

Today, Sheri Williams Pannell, co-founder of the festival joins host Ali Muldrow to talk about the events she’s involved in this year and the importance of lifting up younger creatives in the Milwaukee theatre scene. Then, Festival Co-directors Vato Vergara and Kyndal Johnson join us to talk about what what to expect from this year’s line up.

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