Wisconsin Life

Arijit Sen is an architecture professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He’s lived all over the world, from Mumbai, India to Muncie, Indiana. Since 2012, he’s been directing the field school in UW-Milwaukee’s Buildings, Landscape and Cultures program, where he’s creating a new model for how universities can work closely with community partners, especially those in historically underserved neighborhoods. This story comes to us from Human Powered, a new podcast from Love Wisconsin and Wisconsin Humanities.

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.

Primate research has led to countless scientific breakthroughs. But when a monkey is no longer needed for research, what happens next can be an ethical quandary. In south central Wisconsin, a team runs a sanctuary for monkeys, as a way to say thank you for their contributions to science. Jana Rose Schleis brings us the story.

The Playboy Club Hotel opened in Lake Geneva in 1968. It became a hub for Midwestern travelers, businessmen and, of course, Playboy Bunnies. Author Christina Clancy of Madison has released a novel called, “Shoulder Season” that takes place at the historic resort. She tells the story of fictional 19-year-old Sherri Taylor who enters a period of self-discovery while working as a Bunny and looks back on the experience decades later. Here’s Clancy reading an excerpt from the book. In this scene, Sherri has just begun her job as a Bunny, and she learns that the job is a lot different than she’d imagined.

Where we live and the relationships we nurture have a big impact on our lives. Writer Araceli Esparza shares a poem, “Las Chicas y Chicos de Blossom Street,” about the adventures and connections made in your neighborhood.

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.

A Chicken Q is a name for a charcoal chicken dinner sold as part of a fundraiser. But the name is really only known regionally in the La Crosse area — places like Tomah, Black River Falls and Prairie du Chien. They are also popular among nonprofit groups like fire departments in Trempealeau County, north of La Crosse.

WPR producer John Davis reported this story and digital news editor Andrea Anderson voiced it.

This story came from an audience question as part of the WHYsconsin project. Submit your question at wpr.org/WHYsconsin and we might answer it.

For the members of Tomahawk Circle, playing in a rural family band is a labor of love. This Lac Du Flambeau Ojibwe drum group criss-crosses the country most summers to share their music with an extended community of Indigenous people. At Pow Wows from Washington state to North Carolina, members of Tomahawk Circle surround a single animal hide drum, and belt out songs in the Northern Original style. Joe O’Connell with Chippewa Valley Museum’s “Sounds Like Home” podcast brings us their story.

(Story originally aired 12/29/2020)

In 2018, a photo exhibit opened at the Paine Art Center in Oshkosh. “The Color Brave Photo Project: Black and Brown Faces — A New Narrative,” was the culmination of years of work by community leaders to show the complexity and beauty of people of color in the Fox Valley.

At the center of the project was Tracey Robertson, a community leader who moved to Oshkosh from Chicago and started working for change. She spoke with Jimmy Gutierrez about her experiences in Oshkosh and how this project came together in a recent episode of Human Powered, a podcast from our partners at Wisconsin Humanities.

WHYsconsin received a question from listener Rachel Potter of Fitchburg wondering, “Why don’t more Wisconsinites know about the majestic regal fritillary butterfly?”

To find out more about this rare insect, WPR’s Mary Kate McCoy traveled to a restored prairie outside of Barneveld in southwestern Wisconsin with guide Rich Henderson, a board member of the Prairie Enthusiasts and a former state Department of Natural Resources ecologist.

(Originally aired on 9/18/2019)