I’m a fourth-generation circus performer. My mother is originally from Hungary and my father is originally from Bulgaria. My great-grandfather and great-grandmother started circus arts in Budapest. He did slack wire, balancing on a thin wire suspended in air and juggled side-by-side with my great-grandmother. Photos by Hedi Lamarr Rudd In 1963, both my grandmas …
I’m from Fall Creek, Wisconsin, which is a very small town. Growing up, I was surrounded by a family of storytellers. Photos by Andi Stempniak My dad’s a public speaker, and my grandparents love to tell stories. My paternal grandmother has been writing poetry for longer than I’ve been alive, and my mom’s mother used …
“I love creating characters with important life lessons to learn.” Read More »
My life is never dull. I’m the co-director of the Wild Rumpus Circus in Mazomanie, Wisconsin. The name ‘wild rumpus’ was inspired by Maurice Sendak’s great book, Where The Wild Things Are. Photos by Hedi Lamarr Rudd In the book, Max says, ‘Let the wild rumpus start,’ and we thought rumpus was such a fun …
A long time ago, I dated a pilot who took me flying—multiple times, actually. And I fell in love with it. Photos by Hedi Lamarr Rudd It was one of those moments where a light bulb went off and I thought, ‘Hey, I could do this.’ And I thought more about it and decided if …
I was an extremely lucky kid to grow up on a small farm. I’m the seventh of eight kids in a farm family from down in far southwest Richland County. Our home farm is right above the Wisconsin River. Photos by Andi Stempniak I grew up exploring the Driftless ridges where I could hunt and …
“I want my grandchildren to have the same clear-water experiences I had growing up.” Read More »
I am a water girl, and absolutely love being on, in, or near the water. Just yesterday my husband, 16-year-old son and I spent a few hours in our boat fishing for smallmouth bass near Ashland on Lake Superior. This is one of my favorite places because the Big lake has a special beauty that …
My ancestors came from Ireland and Ohio to a parcel of land in the Driftless region and homesteaded in 1854. Photo by Hedi Lamarr Rudd I am the sixth generation to be raised on the family property formerly used as a 40-head milking dairy farm, but the government pretty much forced out family farms. It’s …
UW-Whitewater started its adaptive sports program in 1973, invested in building a wheelchair basketball program, and has been dominant in the sport ever since. At the 2021 Tokyo Paralympics, five of the athletes on the U.S. gold medal-winning men’s wheelchair basketball team were UW-Whitewater alumni. The assistant coach for the Paralympic team is the coach …
“I’ve always wanted to give back to this sport.” Read More »
The Wisconsin Historical Society Press published ‘Hope Is the Thing: Wisconsinites on Perseverance in a Pandemic’. In this series, we feature five writers who share their experiences as they explore hope in the era of Covid. Louie V. Clark III contributed an essay to the book. My wife and I got married in 1975 and …
UW-Whitewater started its adaptive sports program in 1973, invested in building a wheelchair basketball program, and has been dominant in the sport ever since. At the 2021 Tokyo Paralympics, five of the athletes on the U.S. gold medal-winning men’s wheelchair basketball team were UW-Whitewater alumni. The assistant coach for the Paralympic team is the coach …
“Playing basketball was a really good thing for me.” Read More »
UW-Whitewater started its adaptive sports program in 1973, invested in building a wheelchair basketball program, and has been dominant in the sport ever since. At the 2021 Tokyo Paralympics, five of the athletes on the U.S. gold medal-winning men’s wheelchair basketball team were UW-Whitewater alumni. The assistant coach for the Paralympic team is the coach …
“I’m a three-time Paralympian and three-time medalist.” Read More »
UW-Whitewater started its adaptive sports program in 1973, invested in building a wheelchair basketball program, and has been dominant in the sport ever since. At the 2021 Tokyo Paralympics, five of the athletes on the U.S. gold medal-winning men’s wheelchair basketball team were UW-Whitewater alumni. The assistant coach for the Paralympic team was the coach …
“To know I could compete in a wheelchair was huge.” Read More »
