Wisconsin Life

For lots of folks in Madison, going to Concerts on the Square is a summer tradition. For some people, the classical music by the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra is the highlight. But for WPR’s Bridgit Bowden, the best part is a song called “Home to Madison.”

For many survivors of domestic abuse, finding affordable housing can be a challenge. And then finding furniture to fill that new space…that can be less of a priority. But as WPR’s Gaby Vinick reports, the nonprofit Felicia’s Donation Closet is providing Dane County families with sofas, beds and decor to help turn their apartments into homes.

The connection between a grandmother and her granddaughter — and mother and daughter — is special, especially when it’s bound by braids. Writer Araceli Esparza tells us more about it in the story, “Braided Life.”

The U.S. Navy Blue Angels may be the most recognizable group of performing aviators in the world. Flying at up to 60 air shows in North America each year, the F-18 pilots who constitute this unit are among the best of the US Navy and Marine Corps. One of the pilots on the current squadron is a Wisconsin native Lieutenant Commander Griffin Stangel, who grew up in Madison. Milwaukee-based podcaster Dusty Weis got to know Stangel while flying with the Blue Angels.

Listener Chris Murphy of Madison asked our WHYsconsin project, “Why are there a higher concentration of outsider artist environments in Wisconsin than anywhere else in the U.S.?” WPR’s Tim Peterson turned to the experts to learn more about the monuments and sculpture parks that embrace celebrate concrete, gems, and trinkets.

The 1970s were the height of the second wave of feminism, where women were advocating for equal rights and opportunities to men in the US. In 1971, one woman expressed her feminist views through art made out of a unique medium: bras. Molly Hunken brings us the story of “The Land of the Freed-up Woman,” which is part of the Wisconsin 101 project. It tells the history of Wisconsin through objects.

In the late 2000s, Apple popularized the phrase “There’s an app for that,” highlighting the abundance of apps available for the iPhone. But when Annie Vang of Madison got into app development around the same time, she didn’t see programs made in the Hmong language. Producer Hope Kirwan has more on the app she built and the way it’s keeping native speakers and beginners connected to the language.

We all learn lessons from our parents…how to cook a traditional family people, how to have compassion or how to play an instrument. For Dr. Arif Ahmad of Madison, his parents taught him about optimism. The writer and cardiologist shares this poem about that lesson.

For a brief time, Palestinian exchange student Anastasia had a window of what life as a Wisconsin teenager could be. The 15-year-old made friends playing soccer at Monroe High School. She fell in love with local coffee shops. But as WPR’s Corrinne Hess tells us, her world was shattered with a phone call.

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night can stop postal carriers from delivering the mail – so the unofficial motto goes. But for some teenage mail carriers in southern Wisconsin, there are even more hurdles to surmount. As WPR’s Sarah Lehr tells us, the Lake Geneva mail jumpers hop from ship to shore as they deliver letters to lakefront homes.