Human Powered

This special episode of Human Powered is the last of three recorded during Tradition Bearers, Live!, an evening featuring Wisconsin folk and traditional artists in conversation with folklorist Chrissy Widmayer. You might have missed the event, but you can still enjoy the conversations and celebrate the creativity, cultural traditions, and personal histories that help define Wisconsin’s communities.

Alejandra Jiménez has performed with professional and community dance groups in Mexico and the United States, and dedicated her career to teaching and preserving Mexican traditions through movement. In 2020, she founded Ometochtli Mexican Folk Dance in Milwaukee, creating a space where families and communities connect with their cultural heritage through Folklórico and Danza Azteca.  In this episode, Alejandra shares the meaning of the dances Ometochtli performs, what motivated her to form the company, and what it means to carry this tradition forward in Wisconsin.

This special episode of Human Powered is the second of three recorded during Tradition Bearers, Live!, an evening featuring Wisconsin folk and traditional artists in conversation with folklorist Chrissy Widmayer. You might have missed the event, but you can still enjoy the conversations and celebrate the creativity, cultural traditions, and personal histories that help define Wisconsin’s communities.

Vesile Yilmaz is a traditional Ebru artist whose work brings the centuries-old art of Turkish paper marbling into contemporary community spaces. Rooted in cultural heritage and guided by a deep love of color, movement, and craftsmanship, she creates one-of-a-kind marbled pieces. 

“I want people to understand Ebru not only with the mind, but also with the heart. In a culture that often values science, logic, and control, Ebru invites people to make space for mystery, intuition, and wonder,” Vesile tells us.  Listen to hear more about the deeper meaning of this ancient art form from a Wisconsinite who teaches it today.

This special episode of Human Powered is the first of three recorded during Tradition Bearers, Live!, an evening featuring Wisconsin folk and traditional artists in conversation with folklorist Chrissy Widmayer. In August, Jennifer Jorden, a master Haudenosaunee beadworker, took the stage to share her art and stories of what it means to her and her community. You might have missed the event, but you can still enjoy the conversation and celebrate the creativity, cultural traditions, and personal histories that help define Wisconsin’s communities.

Katie Waddell believes that the work we call the humanities is like a bunch of love letters being written to other humans. She is the director of C21, the Center for 21st Century Studies, one of the first humanities research centers in the United States and a part of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. C21 was awarded a grant from Wisconsin Humanities in support of public programs exploring the “attention economy.” Now entering the third year of challenging “fast” culture with Slow Knowing, Slow Care, and Slow Action, Waddell talks with co-hosts Jen Rubin and Jessica Becker about “Attention Fracking,” what it means to be human, and how we are all profoundly woven into “global human existence.” 

Additional Links to check out:

→ Slow movements—across food, cities, science, scholarship and beyond — call attention to embodied processes of building and maintaining collective life that resist the fast-paced efficiency models, rapid rewards, and short attention spans that increasingly seem to dominate human responses to 21st century social, political, and ecological challenges.  Check out C21’s Slow programs here. 

→ In this episode, we talk about the book Attensity: A Manifesto of the Attention Liberation Movement, and the term “Attention Fracking.”  Learn more about the authors of the book and the movement here. 

This episode of Human Powered was produced and edited by Chrissy Widmayer. All rights reserved.

Jim Winship is an oldster with a mic and a camera. His latest project combines his background as a social worker, retired professor, storyteller, and filmmaker to create his second film, Growing Older in Rural Wisconsin. In this episode, co-hosts Jessica Becker and Jen Rubin talk with Winship about what he’s learning in a state that projects that 1 in 5 people will be over age 65 within the next two decades, and many of those people are choosing to age-in-place. Winship shares stories about a 24-hour community center, what he learned from people at food pantries, and how he’s come to understand the chapter of life when ‘making meaning’ is a choice. 

Additional Links to check out:

→ Growing Older in Wisconsin is a documentary film in production, funded in part with a grant from Wisconsin Humanities, by Jim and Parker Winship. Check it out here. 

→ What We're Hungry For: How Food Pantries Fed Rural Wisconsin During the Pandemic was an official selection at film festivals around the world including the Milwaukee Film Festival, Ethnografilm Paris, Morehouse College Human Rights Film Festival, and the Ceres Food Film Festival, where it won the “Moved Us Most Award.” The film has also been shown in community screenings throughout Wisconsin, and included in the curriculum of higher education courses in schools including Medical College of Wisconsin, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Learn more here. 

This episode of Human Powered was produced and edited by Chrissy Widmayer. All rights reserved.

What is it about reading and talking about a text like Plato's Allegory of the Cave that changes a person? “There's something magical about the humanities that allows adults, especially, to stop, reflect, think, and connect,” says Kevin Mullen, Assistant Professor of Continuing Studies and the Director of Adult Education for the UW Odyssey Project. His work focuses on expanding access to higher education for low-income adult students from marginalized communities. In this episode, co-hosts Jen Rubin and Jessica Becker talk about the history, growth, and impact of Odyssey’s humanities courses, as well as the powerful role that writing plays in creating a stronger sense of self-efficacy, voice, and community. 

Additional Links to check out:
 

→ “A Mic and Five Minutes” episode of Human Powered’s previous series, Humanity Unlocked, features stories told by students in the English 100 course at Oakhill Correctional Facility, where the University of Wisconsin Odyssey Beyond Bars Project offers humanities courses for incarcerated students. Check it out here. 

→ As part of the Odyssey Beyond Bars program, Human Powered co-host Jen Rubin led a team of storytellers who facilitated a three-part storytelling workshop as part of UW-Madison Odyssey Project English classes in Taycheedah, Columbia, Oak Hill, and Racine correctional facilities, with support from Wisconsin Humanities.  Learn more here.

This episode of Human Powered was produced and edited by Chrissy Widmayer. All rights reserved.

“History is an argument we have about the past and what it means for us in the present,” says Sergio González. He is an assistant professor of Latinx Studies at Marquette University and was the founding editor of Wisconsin101, a collaborative history project using objects as the centerpiece of understanding. Currently one of the hosts of “The Look Back” for Wisconsin Public Television, he collaborates with the Wisconsin Historical Society to engage middle school students in big questions, like why do we commemorate some things and not others, and what that means for us as Wisconsinites and as Americans. In this delightful conversation, co-hosts Jen Rubin and Jessica Becker talk with González about how a familiar bunk bed can open a conversation with kids about migrant farmworkers, why he is passionate about representation of the LatinX community in our historical record, and what it means to be a public historian. 

Additional Links to check out:
 

→ “The Look Back” educational resources and episodes from Wisconsin Public Television  are designed for educators and students  in collaboration with Wisconsin Historical Society, UW-Madison Libraries, and the Center for Campus History. Check it out here. 

→ Supported by a major grant from Wisconsin Humanities, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s HOLA Archives podcast brought little-known Wisconsin Latino/a history to light for a new generation of K-12 and undergraduate learners, voiced by people who contributed to that history. Learn more here.

This episode of Human Powered was produced and edited by Chrissy Widmayer. All rights reserved.

Garrett Bucks is a writer and community organizer based in Milwaukee. In 2016, he launched the Barnraisers Project, which he calls a movement of neighbors, everywhere. It includes trainings described as "an outstretched hand and a rolled-up sleeve." Co-hosts Jen Rubin and Jessica Becker learned about Bucks’ newsletter, The White Pages, and invited him into a conversation about why we should all be hosting more potlucks. Listen to learn more about how gathering imperfectly with neighbors can change the world, how to participate in a cross-country potluck relay, and why Bucks believes letting others take care of us, and returning the favor, builds healthy communities.

Additional Links to check out:

→ Learn more about Garrett Bucks, a writer and organizer based in Milwaukee, here. 

→ The Declaration of Interdependence Relay is a year-long continent-spanning experiment in Community based on the simple idea of potlucks. Learn more here.

This episode of Human Powered was produced and edited by Chrissy Widmayer. All rights reserved.

Dylan Bizhikiins Jennings has dedicated his life to educating others about Native people. Through his work in language preservation, in making and performing music, and in natural resource management, Jennings connects cultural history and traditions with relevance for this moment. In this episode of Human Powered podcast, co-hosts Jessica Becker and Jen Rubin talk with Jennings about growing up with his grandmother's teachings, his role on the board of Midwest Indigenous Immersion Network, and daily life as a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Anishinaabeg.

Additional Links to check out:

→ “A lot of people think that archaeology has to do with digging things up and taking them away from where they are found, but there are many other ways to preserve history. I got into archaeology because I wanted to help preserve our way of life.” - Dylan Bizhikiins Jennings.  Check out his Love Wisconsin story here.

→ Learn more about the work of Midwest Indigenous Immersion Network here.

→ Check out Ogichidaa (“warrior”) Storytellers, a video series produced by the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, funded in part with a grant from Wisconsin Humanities. 

This episode of Human Powered was produced and edited by Chrissy Widmayer. All rights reserved.

Yia Lor is a storyteller, social worker, educator, Reiki master, and yoga teacher who believes that “we are all nature.” Nature is not someplace we go to but instead nature is what we are made of and how we heal. In this episode of Human Powered, co-hosts Jen Rubin and Jessica Becker learn what drew Lor to train as a forest therapy guide and what happens when her clients take time to explore their own responses to the universal questions that arise from nature. Lor shares stories from her childhood and how her work has been inspired by her family and her Hmong community. 

Additional Links to check out:

→ Yia Lor grew up alongside her mother in the garden. She shared stories about how those early experiences shaped her life path with Love Wisconsin, a multi-media story platform from Wisconsin Humanities. Check out the story here. 

→ Check out some of Yia Lor’s stories, told in her own words on Wisconsin Life, short audio segments celebrating the diverse voices and stories of our state from Wisconsin Public Radio. Listen here. 

This episode of Human Powered was produced and edited by Chrissy Widmayer. All rights reserved.