Wisconsin Life

Arnold Chevalier grew up mainly on the Menominee Reservation in Neopit, WI, about 50 miles northwest of Green Bay. His entrepreneurial spirit was evident at a young age. “My family spent some time in Milwaukee and I shined some shoes on the streets, so I guess technically that’s the first time I earned some money,”

Imagine. It’s the holidays and to quiet your pre-dinner hunger, someone hands you a slice of rye bread topped with a thick spread of fresh raw beef, chopped onion and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. A cannibal sandwich sounds great, right?

If you’re near a computer keyboard, take a look at the first six letters on the upper row and you’ll find: Q-W-E-R-T-Y…or…qwerty. So who decided how the letters on our keyboards are arranged, and why that particular configuration? Writer Meg Jones tells the story of Christopher Latham Sholes, a Wisconsin politician and inventor who is

There aren’t many Midwestern musicians who share a songwriting credit with Bob Dylan. But Milwaukee artist Trapper Schoepp is now one of them. Schoepp recently helped finish the song, "On, Wisconsin," a tune partially penned by Dylan back in 1961. As he made his way from his childhood home in Minnesota to New York City, a

Trout fishing conjures an image of sparkling sunlight reflecting on a rushing stream and a fisherman in hip boots confidently whipping his pole and casting a line into the moving water. Early trout season, which is catch and release only, runs from January to early May. That image is a little different. Ron Davis paints

WPR recently received a question from a listener, Marc Reisner from Madison, about the digital highway signs.

He asked: "What's the story behind the electronic signs you see on Wisconsin highways? Who writes the witty sayings about how to stay safe on the road?"

The Ojibwe language was nearly lost due to forced assimilation through federally-run boarding schools and policies. Today, communities around the central Great Lakes are working to revitalize language and culture. To keep Ojibwemowin flourishing, Keller Paap of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and Brooke Ammann of the St. Croix Chippewa teach children at

Dogsledding has been a family affair for writer Julie Buckles. She and her husband, Charly Ray, caught the bug when they first moved to northern Wisconsin. She has raced with her daughter, Caroline, in the annual Apostle Islands Sled Dog race. But, 2018 was the first year the mother of two will be racing on

Winter can take its toll on your mind. The walls close in. The sky is grey and the snow piles up. Every morning you bundle up, scrape the windshield, crank the heat, and trudge to work. Then the call comes, “Hey Steve, wanna play poker Saturday night? Give me a call if you can make

When Geraldine Hines arrived on the UW-Madison campus as a law student 50 years ago, she had to adapt to the Wisconsin climate, the food, and its people. She had recently graduated from Tougaloo College in Mississippi and this was her first time living in the north. “I was the oldest child in my family