Wisconsin Life

A mother’s voice can wrap us in warm blankets. It can guide gently or yank us back from the cliff. And sometimes it can take us to places we only dreamed were possible. Jan Larson and her three grown children — Dana, Grey and Ellie — remember a mother’s voice.

For Yauo Yang, inclusion is a guiding principle. He moved to Wisconsin as a child and went on to join the Army National Guard, where he taught fellow U.S. soldiers about Hmong history. After his service, he became a pastor and founded a church in central Wisconsin. Yang shares his experience as part of StoryCorps’ Military Voices Initiative, which is made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Editor’s note: Parts of this story describe battleground violence.

Takeyla Benton has always tried to be strong for her kids.  But, the Madison storyteller wonders if that has come at a price. She shared her story live at the “Listen To Your Mother” event in Madison and on the “Inside Stories” podcast, which features Madison storytellers and digs deeper into their lives.

Is there really anything better than a buttery, flaky pastry filled with meat and vegetables…or perhaps just vegetables for our vegetarian friends. The pasty has long been a staple in certain Wisconsin communities and has a rich history with a particular group of workers. Jane Genske went to learn more about the role of pasties in Wisconsin history. It’s part of the Wisconsin 101 project, which tells the history of the state through objects.

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.

Menominee tribal member Rae Elaine Tourtillott was 18 when she went missing on the tribe’s reservation during the fall of 1986. Tribal police and the FBI found her remains the following spring. The case remains unsolved and no arrests have been made in connection with her death. Tourtillott’s daughter, Alysse Arce, and cousin, Andrea Lemke-Rochon, sat down to talk about her with WPR’s Danielle Kaeding. They also shared their hopes for a new Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Task Force.

Fifty-one years ago this month, long-haired hippies and flower children from across the Midwest converged on a small Wisconsin farm in Poynette for a weekend of peace, love and music. The Sound Storm music festival’s lineup was stacked with mostly regional artists, but also included The Grateful Dead, who played a five hour set. Historian Michael Edmonds tells the story.

A lot of us have felt isolated this past year. And on top of the coronavirus pandemic — a national reckoning on race has forced many of us to consider our own identities, the ways they overlap and the privileges they afford. WPR’s Megan Hart visited an art show in Manitowoc that brings those concepts together and comes at the perfect time. “Portrait of Manitowoc,” featuring artist Sonia Vasquez and community self-portraits, is at the Rahr-West Art Museum through June 2021.

Decades before Covid-19, there was an epidemic story with a happy ending. During the 20th century, Americans pulled together to defeat the polio virus, putting their faith in scientists and public-health guidelines. Wisconsin played a part in this heroic effort. Writer Dean Robbins brings us the story.

James Blankenheim of Madison, Wisconsin and Everett Wood of Vincennes, Indiana are friends who served together during the Vietnam War. They have many shared experiences, including the realities of combat, the struggles of integration after returning home, and the excitement of forging one’s path in life.

Blankenheim and Wood shared their memories as part of StoryCorps’ Military Voices Initiative, which is made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. As a warning, parts of this story describe battleground violence.