Wisconsin Life

We recently received a WHYsconsin question from Elizabeth Renner of Madison. She asked us, “Why are tubas such a prominent part of the UW-Madison band? And why are they so popular in the state of Wisconsin?” WPR’s Tim Peterson marched right down to the Madison campus to get some answers.

Deer hunters across the state are gearing up for another gun season opener, with hopes of getting that big buck. For writer Ron Weber, it’s not about the catch, but the opportunity the day provides.

Beth Lo grew up spending most of her free time immersed in books. Now living with her sister Mai J.Lo Lee in Appleton, Wisconsin, she has come to find that her love for reading has had a positive influence on her family, despite how her parents felt about it. The sisters talked with one another about that experience as part of a StoryCorps mobile tour stop in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

There’s the old saying “Not all who wander are lost.” This is certainly a motto that writer Ron Davis of Eau Claire lives by, especially if he’s out on the road on his motorcycle.

Bats are an important part of Wisconsin’s wildlife. But over the last decade, a fungal disease called white-nose syndrome has devastated bat populations in the state and across the country. In rural Crawford County, a cave that once was a tourist attraction is now protected by the Mississippi Valley Conservancy. It’s a safe haven for the bats to hibernate and help scientists develop ways to stop the disease. Most of these bats have settled in for the winter. But before they returned, WPR’s Hope Kirwan traveled underground to learn more about Kickapoo Caverns.

Ernesto Rodriguez of La Crosse, Wisconsin came to the state in the summer of 1980. That’s after making a treacherous journey on a fishing boat from Cuba to the United States during the mass exodus known as the Mariel boatlift. Forty years later, he’s finally achieving a goal he’s had since arriving: becoming a U.S. citizen. Erne’s story was originally featured on the podcast, “WPR Reports: Uprooted.”

Wisconsin has one of the highest concentrations of bartenders in the country, employing more than 24,000 bartenders. A good percentage of them are women. But as writer Patti See tells us, that hasn’t always been the case. She introduces us to some of her favorite female bartenders throughout her life.

Spooky tales around Halloween have made their way into listeners’ ears across the country since, almost, the birth of radio. In the spirit of this long tradition, we bring you, “Emily and the Haunting of the Orpheum Theater,”  created by WPR’s senior spooky correspondent  A. Emily Ralph.

Kenosha native and monster movie director Bert I. Gordon brought the world the legendary likes of the “Amazing Colossal Man,” “Village of the Giants” and “Attack of the Puppet People.” He worked with Orson Welles, Ron Howard and dozens of other stars in a sci-fi and horror film career that stretched seven decades. Andy Turner looks back at the life and career of the man they called Mr. B.I.G., who passed away at 100 this spring.

Estimates show that it takes roughly 450 years for a plastic water bottle to decompose. While this number is staggering, the question is: How does our behavior change once we have this information?

Producer Alexandra Salmon and her six-year-old son, Leon Thomas, decide to go on a  tour of the Dane County Landfill, not only to learn about trash but also the people on the tour and how they grapple with the tension between buying new things and reducing their waste.