There is a great deal of wisdom in the Wisconsinites we featured over the last nine years! This feels like a good time to share some of our favorite stories of everyday people solving complex problems together and making Wisconsin a better place for all of us.
Read any story and you’ll be reminded that positive change is possible, even in difficult circumstances. Civic engagement is the lifeblood and our public institutions the bones that support a healthy democracy.
Wisconsin is a diverse state — geographically, politically, ethnically — and Love Wisconsin shares stories to help us get to know each other across those differences. As always, we hope you enjoy ‘meeting’ some fellow Wisconsinites who care a lot for the place they call home.
Read. Share. Connect.
- I want to read stories of civic health heroes, people solving complex problems in their communities. Link to stories.
- I want to read stories of local journalists, digging into their communities to give us needed insight into urgent local issues. Link to stories.
- I want to read stories from people sharing their own experiences to teach about the Holocaust and other genocides. Link to stories.
- I want to read stories from people who are poll workers. Why they do this essential volunteer task and how does it really work? Link to their stories.
- I want to read stories about some of the 70,000 people who keep our towns running. Link to stories.
- Pass a story on to a friend or neighbor!
“I feel the responsibility to tell this story.”
Nancy Kennedy Barnett teaches her father’s experience in the Holocaust to Wisconsin youth. Nancy shares why these first person narratives are essential to counter disinformation.
“I had videoed my dad telling his story and put together a multimedia presentation. Using those videos the kids are actually hearing from the survivor! In several video clips I use, Dad is showing me something and refers to me. You can hear my voice on the tape. When I am doing a presentation in a Wisconsin school I can say, ‘This is my father’, and I’m standing right next to him. You hear his voice, and you hear mine. I think it makes it harder to deny that the Holocaust happened because I have connected the dots. This primary testimony is important because our parents, the survivors, are gone.”
Read Nancy’s story in full.
“Local news is so important. It is the glue that connects us.”
Ron Smith as story shows us that local journalism matters because it helps us better understand urgent local concerns.
“I always tell people we are the A team and the B team: we’re going to be there first, but we’re going to be there after everyone else leaves as well. We don’t parachute in. We are part of the community. It used to be the only time the media would come into our neighborhoods was when something went bad, when there was a drug deal, or someone died or there was a car crash. They didn’t come in to do the story on the lady who bakes cookies. We all know that local news is in crisis. There are many communities that don’t have a news outlet that covers what residents need to know. Without information, there is an absence of accountability. And that’s not good for democracy.”
Read Ron’s story in full.
“It’s rewarding to know I am working for the community.”
Curtis Wayka is a firefighter coordinating controlled burns. His story shows how people can come together to address our shared responsibilities.
“You take guys from the Menominee Nation, guys from the National Forest Service, and four guys from the BIA or somewhere else and you put them all together in a twenty-person crew to serve the public in a common mission. It’s amazing to see how fast the team can come together. It doesn’t matter what agency you work from or where you are from; everybody has the same goals. A fire doesn’t care about jurisdiction or boundaries when it is burning.”
Read Curtis’s story in full.
Wisconsin’s Constitutional Scholar.
More than 230 years ago the United States ratified the Constitution—and our guess is that we have been arguing about the intent of the document ever since. Here in Wisconsin, we are lucky to have John Kaminksi, a renowned constitutional scholar.
“How do you set up a system of government that works, and won’t break down and end up in separate confederacies or perhaps even a civil war? As we can see, our generation is really struggling right now. But the Constitution has always been there. When the problems have become insurmountable, we’ve been able to amend the Constitution and interpret it, so that it fits the time. Whether it’s a good thing or not, this has been a fascinating thing for me, to see up close how the structure of our government has played out over the years.”
Read John’s story in full.
“I wanted to help move Baraboo forward.”
Marcy Huffaker was part of community leaders coming together to create positive change in the aftermath of high schoolers in Baraboo photographed making a “Nazi Salute.”
“Buddy and I wrote an op-ed for the Baraboo News Republic because we wanted people in our community to understand that while this photo’s national recognition was embarrassing for some, for our family it was disturbing and scary. I wanted to make sure people understood that this anti-Semitic gesture made by the boys in the photo represents a regime that not so long ago systematically murdered six million Jews, including members of my family. In that first year after this happened, there were people who wanted to address the problem and saw the connection to the rise in hate crimes nationally and there were people who wanted the incident to be forgotten about. I wanted to help Baraboo move forward, but I also believed there needed to be some acknowledgment that those making the gesture were wrong. Whether it was intended or not, the boys caused harm. I didn’t want these students to be punished, but how does sweeping it under the rug allow for learning? How can you take responsibility for your actions and move forward if you can’t apologize for them? When our rabbi spoke at the initial community event, she shared the Jewish concept of restorative justice. It requires that the teenagers acknowledge the harm they did and make amends. Our preferred path for the kids was one of healing and learning, not punitive.”
Read Marcy’s story in full.
Stories to start conversations in your community or classroom.
Marcy’s story is featured ‘Stand Up to Hate: A Mission for Wisconsin.” This story series is about the impact of hate crimes in Wisconsin and how individuals and communities around the state have found their own way to Stand Up to Hate. Click here to find supporting materials for how to have a conversation about Marcy’s story.
We believe that storytelling and history have the power to help people better understand their own communities and imagine possibilities for progress and change. Stand Up to Hate Is a program for students and other community members who want to prevent hate and hate crimes in our state. It includes real stories of hate, violence, and resilience experienced by eight different communities across Wisconsin.
Waging Peace through Brotherhood.
A story about a surprising friendship that emerged in the aftermath of the Sikh temple shooting in Oak Creek. Pardeep Singh Kaleka, the son of the slain temple president and Arno Michaelis, a former white supremacist, became friends and have been working together ever since to spread peace.
- Forgiveness is a sublime example of humanity that I explore at every opportunity. Because it was the unconditional forgiveness I was given by the people I once claimed to hate that demonstrated the way from there to here.” Arno Michaelis
- “Foregiveness is the ultimate vengeance against hatred. ‘Ed Onkar’ means ‘Our creator is one.’ It is in this Sikh foundation that we are being called upon to respond with healing the wounds of the past.” Pardeep Singh Kaleka
(Check out Pardeep and Arno’s story here.)
Stories to start conversations in your community or classroom.
Arno and Pardeep’s story is featured in ‘Stand Up to Hate: A Mission for Wisconsin.” This story series is about the impact of hate crimes in Wisconsin and how individuals and communities around the state have found their own way to Stand Up to Hate. Click here to find supporting materials for how to have a conversation about Arno and Pardeep’s story.
We believe that storytelling and history have the power to help people better understand their own communities and imagine possibilities for progress and change. Stand Up to Hate Is a program for students and other community members who want to prevent hate and hate crimes in our state. It includes real stories of hate, violence, and resilience experienced by eight different communities across Wisconsin.
“My parents gave us this chance to live.”
In 2021, members of the Wisconsin legislature voted unanimously in support of a bill mandating that all Wisconsin students study the Holocaust and other genocides. They agreed that knowing this history is crucial to helping young people learn compassion—and act on it. So how do you talk about the Holocaust with kids? We featured Werner Richheimer’s story, a Holocaust survivor who shares his story in schools because he believes people need to hear this history firsthand.
“When I think about my parents telling my sister and me to leave the concentration camp with the Quakers, I can imagine how difficult it would be to give up your children. But they gave us this chance to live. Before my aunt died she said, ‘Don’t ever forget that what happened in Germany can happen here.’ I disagreed with her at the time, but now I’m having second thoughts about that. There is so much hatred in this country.”
(Check out Werner’s story here.)
“I believe that if people can be taught to hate, they can easily be taught to love.”
Masood Akhtar shows through his actions and community building, what leaders can do to fight hate and hate crimes.
“I started United Against Hate in response to being asked by a television reporter what I thought about President Trump’s idea of starting a Muslim registry. I see this idea as distinctly un-American. I suggested that, instead, let’s create an Anti-Hate Registry, of people standing up to fight against hateful speech and actions. Because of the immediate, positive response to my suggestion, I decided to create United Against Hate, with an advisory board that brought together people representing different communities.
Bringing former heads of hate groups, former KKK leaders, into classrooms makes a huge difference. Hate groups often start recruiting members from an early age — from middle schools and high schools. So having a former KKK or Neo-Nazi leader share their stories of how they got involved with hate groups is powerful, and students are really listening. I tell students that these are the basics: ‘Be proactive in your community; be strategic; be nonpartisan; act. Silence is no longer an option.”
(Check out Masood’s story here.)
“All humans should be proud of who they are and where they came from. Nobody’s better than anybody.”
Brian Jackson was part of our Civic Health Heroes story series.
“I think a lot about the whole concept of community engagement. What it means. Do we have everybody involved? Is there room for different voices to be heard? Does it resonate with our young people? I think if we are consistently intentional, we’ll have momentum. And I think like with anything that we start, things start small, but if you stay with it, stay the course, that it eventually grows.”
(Check out Brian’s story here.)
“If we all stay united we can be stronger.”
Ana Cecilia Torres Pozad was part of community leaders coming together to create positive change in the aftermath of high schoolers in Baraboo photographed making a “Nazi Salute.”
“I got involved with the Baraboo Acts Coalition. One idea was to host a cultural event called Celebrate Sauk at Las Milpas. At the beginning I thought, ‘OK, people of different cultures will come together and share and let’s see how it goes.’ It grew and grew. Events like Celebrate Sauk make me feel like I’m contributing in a bigger way. I’m helping bring not just my own culture, but a lot of traditions forward so we can share all that we have. We Latinos are here to get involved in the community and contribute to the economy. This world changes fast, and we all have to be able to adapt and learn to be tolerant.”
Read Ana’s story in full.
“I was raised like the community is family.”
CaBeatrice Hart is an urban farmer from Milwaukee, who leads exchanges with Rural Urban Flor in Sauk County. There is a growing urban-rural divide in Wisconsin and we all benefit from the people that work to bridge these differences.
“It is very important for people in my community to feel like they’re connected, so I think about how to engage members so they feel like they are a part of something. When I was a teen mom I benefited from someone who was willing to help and guide me. So now I think about what do I have to give and to help guide another. I’m used to moving into spaces where I’m the only one there who looks like me, who talks like me. It feels like a duty, a responsibility to me, to make space for members of my community in these areas. To build trust so that as a whole we can come together.
One time we went foraging for stinging nettle at one of our network partners at Rural Urban Flow, and it was just a lot of fun seeing people from my community, just running free in the fields. Running and gathering nettles, something that could sting us, but now having the knowledge on how to handle them. That’s change.”
(Check out CaBeatrice’s story here.)
“Cooking food is a sign of love.”
Ann Vang works with Hmong restaurants and area farmers to provide Hmong meals for elders.
“She made a big impact on how I saw things. It was the first time I thought about looking at things through a different lens. I realized that unless you sit down and have a heart-to-heart conversation with somebody, they won’t trust you. Once they trust you, they open up and will tell you the world. That was the foundation of my learning to care for other people on their own terms. It makes me think of that Maya Angelou quote: ‘We didn’t do better because we didn’t know better.’ That’s what I always tell folks: what you’re doing now is okay, but as soon as you know better, you start to change.”
(Check out Ann’s story here.)
This podcast episode spotlights Tracey Robertson, a nonprofit leader and community organizer who was tired of hearing her neighbors repeat stereotypes she knew were not true. She figured that to change the narrative, people needed to be able to see each other more clearly, as complex individuals each with a story to share. In this episode, we learn about a project called Color-Brave that evolved from conversations in a coffee shop to a traveling exhibit and book. You’ll meet Mushe and Shawn, featured in Color-Brave, and the photographer and museum curator who made it possible.
This podcast episode starts with a meal around a fire, in a place where people have been cooking and eating for more than 5,000 years. Our hosts are Marvin Defoe and Edwina Buffalo-Reyes, members of the Red Cliff band of Lake Superior Ojibwe in Bayfield County. For the last three years, the Red Cliff Tribal Historic Preservation Office has been collaborating with two archaeologists helping excavate sites on tribal lands. Listen to hear what they are doing to reclaim and revitalize the deep history and culture of their people—and to help train a new generation of scholars committed to centering indigenous knowledge.