Wisconsin Life

There’s a peninsula just off Lake Michigan in Milwaukee that has lived many lives. Today, Jones Island is home to a sewage treatment plant, piles of salt and rail cars. But, it was once home to thriving communities, from the Potawatomi to European immigrants.

Jones Island is also the subject of a new Milwaukee PBS documentary co-written by author and historian John Gurda called “People of the Port: A Jones Island Documentary.” As Gurda tells us, a Polish immigrant community flocked to the area. They were drawn in for the same reason as Jones Island’s earliest settlers — fishing.

Snow snake is a traditional game played by tribes during the winter. It originated with the Haudenosaunee or Iroquois Confederacy out east. Tribal members craft javelins out of wood called snow snakes, and they compete to see who can throw them the farthest. WPR’s Danielle Kaeding made the trek to Madeline Island this winter as members of tribes from around the region attended the Mooningwanakaaning Minis Inter-Tribal Snow Snake Festival.

According to Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin, mozzarella is the most popular cheese in the U.S … and Wisconsin producers make more of it than anyone else. As Jana Rose Schleis tells us, a lot of that mozzarella ends up on pizza, making Wisconsin a leader in frozen pizza production, as well.

Off a highway in northwest Wisconsin’s Washburn County sits a long string of parked railcars of different shapes and sizes. A listener who regularly passes these railcars was curious about them. So, she reached out to WHYsconsin to figure out why they are there.

In most cities and towns, there are last names that stick out. Maybe the family has lived there for generations. Perhaps they’re notorious. Or maybe they own a well-known business. For writer Sandy Reitman of Milwaukee, her semi-famous last name sticks out mostly thanks to her beloved uncle, radio legend Bob Reitman.

Dunn County in western Wisconsin once had access to the Mississippi River. Its early boundary held for four years until its southernmost portion got swept up in politics and emerged as Pepin County. WPR’s Liz Dohms-Harter brings us the answer to a WHYsconsin question about how Pepin County got its unique shape.

As a kid, knocking around the neighborhood with your friends can be a formative time. The experiences from those years can resonate for decades. Matthew Lewis of Milwaukee shared a story about finding his identity. He told it at Ex Fabula’s Identity event held in March 2020.

In the mid-1970s, Lisa Chue Thao and her family had to leave their whole world behind. Their farm, their friends, their home. They lived in northwest Laos and the horrors of war were creeping in. So, they started walking and ended up in a refugee camp in Thailand. In the 1980s, Lisa moved to Eau Claire and raised her family there. She shares that experience in this essay, which she told to and is read by her daughter, Yia Lor.

The meat raffle. A beloved game where the prize is a frozen turkey, a box of steaks or a chain of sausage links. For writer and vegetarian Patti See, winning a package of meat can bring on peak joy at her favorite local taverns in Lake Hallie.

Joyce Salter Johnson has loved history her entire life. But as a descendant of people who were enslaved, the Madison author’s family history — like the history of many Black families across the country — was largely struck from the historical record. Johnson had to take it upon herself to uncover her family’s roots.