“I like to say I am Mississippi-made, California-cultivated, and Midwest-matured. Photos by Lovell Richardson I’ve always had a big personality and been outspoken. Growing up my friends looked to me to be a leader. When I was in grade school, I knew I would be the voice for people who couldn’t speak for themselves. I …
“My faith in God is what really strengthens me.” Read More »
If it wasn’t for the railroad I would never have been born. Trains brought my parents together. Photos by Laura Merchant On my dad’s side, my grandfather was the last family member born in Germany. He was born in 1885, two years after the establishment of the city of Spooner. As a young man, he …
I grew up in a real small town. My class had 72 students. Living in a small town, where there wasn’t open dialogue and strong support for the LGBTQIA+ community, I didn’t always feel accepted for who I was. Photos courtesy of Brandon Rounds Growing up, I was very close with my stepsister. She had …
My mom and dad met in Washington, DC when they were both working for the FBI. My mother quit when she had my oldest brother and then my dad went to work for the CIA. His job took us to South Miami, but I didn’t like it there. The heat and climate were a bit …
I’ve lived in Baraboo for almost 30 years. I’m originally from lower Michigan, but I came to Wisconsin in 1991 for a job at the International Crane Foundation. I had originally applied to work restoring prairie in the Field Ecology Department, which I was not very qualified for. I got rejected from that. Photo by …
“I think a bookstore is by default a community space.” Read More »
When I was four years old, my mom and I were listening to the radio and they were broadcasting this fundraiser for the local food pantry. I didn’t know what a food pantry was, and at that point I didn’t quite understand that not everybody had enough food. My mom explained it to me, and …
“We get to hand out food right to the people who need it.” Read More »
I moved to Wisconsin from Minnesota to go to school at Northland College in Ashland. I knew I was interested in environmental studies, which is kind of what Northland focuses on. Then, I got a chance to study abroad in Central America my sophomore year. Photos by Megan Monday “We traveled around to different small …
Bringing a Community Together, Piece by Colorful Piece Read More »
John: I grew up on the St. Croix River and spent my youth navigating it, learning all the channels, exploring solo or sometimes with a couple friends. I was a water person from the very start, catching snapping turtles, playing with snakes. Photos by Megan Monday My parents weren’t outdoorsy at all. I convinced my dad …
I grew up in Hixton, Wisconsin, on my parents’ farm. My sister and brother are 20 and 21 years older than me. Photos by Megan Monday “Because my parents were older by the time they had me, my mom and dad always felt that I didn’t get the best of everything. But I never, ever …
“Our town needed better access to medical care.” Read More »
Alyssa: I grew up in Waukesha, Wisconsin. I remember being a little girl and walking from our home, past my friend’s home, to where we could feed carrots to the horses at the farms that bordered right up to our neighborhood. But then the suburban sprawl increased, and the farms were pushed further and further away. …
Steve: I’d come home and there would be a U-Haul waiting there, and I knew we were moving. There wasn’t any family discussion; we just moved. I think it was mostly around finances—better home, cheaper rent. So we lived in a lot of places around Wisconsin growing up. Photos by Megan Monday I was born in Madison, …
We caught up with some very colorful (and cold) participants at the Polar Plunge in Madison. Photos by Megan Monday “In retrospect, maybe these little outfits were a bad choice?” “I dunno man, my teeth are chattering too hard to think.” “I participated once in the past, so this year I convinced my crew of friends to …
