Community members discuss the importance of culturally specific addiction recovery affinity groups in Wisconsin and beyond

As children grow up, parents find new ways to stay connected with them. Or maybe it’s the same as it ever was? Writer Jill Sisson Quinn explores this while enjoying time with her son in the great outdoors.

Scandinavia author explores motherhood and connection

It’s not unusual to find fresh vegetables or handmade goods at farmers’ markets across Wisconsin. But at one small farm in Tomahawk, the sales approach is different. Tranquil Acres Farm invites visitors to pick what they need and pay what they can afford, no questions asked. Heather and Bill Smith are a retired couple who bought the property during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in search of solitude. What began as a quiet retreat quickly turned into something much bigger: a mission to make healthy food accessible to everyone. Heather Smith talked with WPR’s Shereen Siewert.

Andrew Patrie is like most parents. The Eau Claire author loves his child. He strives to support her, help her succeed and help her stay safe. But accomplishing these goals can be … awkward. Parenthood often means entering unchartered territory. Patrie explores this in his book “Clumsy Love: A Father’s Journey Parenting His Transgender Daughter.” He reads us an excerpt from that memoir.

Eau Claire author explores how to be a supportive father in new memoir

As summer comes to an end, tourists begin to leave Wisconsin’s northwoods. Every year on Labor Day, people line Highway 51 and wave to the tourists as they head home. As WPR’s Bridgit Bowden tells us, these “wave parties” are a way of saying “thanks for coming,” but also, “thanks for leaving.”

Do you have a random toilet in your basement? Perhaps it’s at the foot of the stairs or you’ve zhuzhed it up. WPR recently received a question about these porcelain wonders from an audience member through our WHYsconsin project. She asked, “Why do so many older homes in Wisconsin have an exposed toilet sitting in the unfinished basement? What’s the story behind the ‘Midwestern toilet?'”

Some homes built before World War II in Wisconsin have a built-in basement toilet in an odd spot.

It has been more than two decades since Debra Gillispie of Milwaukee lost her son, Kirk Patrick Bickham, Jr. One night in 2003, a gunman killed him and two others outside a Milwaukee bar. Gillispie has since joined and started local advocacy efforts to change gun laws and share violence survivors’ stories. WPR’s Jonah Beleckis tells us how months ago, she traveled to the Fox Lake Correctional Institution to meet Jaki Marion, the man who killed her son.