on
courage
summer
2009
Part of a periodic series
of essays and ideas
published by the Wisconsin
Humanities Council.
“The quality on courage
of the heart Acts of courage can be startlingly dramatic, one brave person com-
promising his or her own safety to save another person’s life. But
courage also comes in quiet ways. This past spring, high school
that moves students from three very different Wisconsin communities exhibited
courage, drawing upon it to face unknowns, leaving a place deeply
familiar to go somewhere new.
one to human On March 16th, six students from Prescott High School in west-
ern Wisconsin traveled five hours to Madison to testify before the
Wisconsin Assembly Education Committee about Assembly Bill 35.
connection.” The students spoke in favor of the bill, which bans school use of
race-based names, logos, and mascots found to promote stereotyping
and discrimination. In their testimony, before a capacity crowd, the
students reiterated a core phrase: This issue is about cultural respect.
This past fall, with WHC financial support, teacher Jeff Ryan and
some of those same students traveled to north central Wisconsin
and spent four days with members of the Lac du Flambeau Band of
the Lake Superior Chippewa Indians. On the unfamiliar reservation,
photo: Nath Dresser
students learned about local traditions, contemporary reservation life,
inside the fold: and social and cultural issues encountered by the Ojibwe. Welcomed
From the Director • 2009 Wisconsin Book Festival with hospitality and generosity by Nick Hockings, Rick Roder, and
Wendell Berry • New Members • New Grant Listing continue...
courage | cont’d
other members of the tribe, the Prescott students listened, asked ques- tually led to an invitation to the Capitol to testify at the public hearing in
tions, and engaged in discussion with people different from themselves, March. There, the six students drew upon courage in yet another way, to
turning a school field trip into a journey of spirit, thought, and heart. publicly contribute to heated civic discourse. While humanities programs
don’t advocate particular sides of policy issues, the critical thinking they
Back home in Prescott, the students saw the use of Indian mascots in inspire can bring thoughtful and substantive contributions into the realm of
a new way—as an issue of cultural respect. Drawing upon their newly public debate and policy.
acquired knowledge and understanding, they led a peaceful protest at a
local basketball game where the opposing team used an Indian mascot. This May, approximately 100 juniors from Adams Friendship High School
Shared conversations and a growing number of involved students even- and Milwaukee’s Vincent High School met for the first time at UW-Stevens
“These
students
took
chances.”
Participants in the Literature Circles Diversity Collaboration
met up for discussion at UW-Stevens Point this past May.
Point. They had been working together online for seven weeks sharing Dean Myers, Caucasia by Danzy Senna, and The Color Purple by Alice
their thoughts about books they were reading through a WHC-funded Walker—raised tough questions about race, gender, and identity. The
project, “Literature Circles Diversity Collaboration.” This project involved students took the chance of sharing their thoughts in the online class
Anthony Wacker and Erica Ringelspaugh, two graduates of the UW-Stevens with people whom they had never met and with whom, in some respects,
Point English Department’s teacher education program. As each went on they held little in common. Vincent students attend an urban school that
to teach, one at Vincent, the other at Adams Friendship, the two stayed in is 89% African American; Adams Friendship students a rural school,
touch with Professor Barbara Dixson. These UWSP alums and their former 92% Caucasian. On May 1st, the students faced another challenge
teacher worked together to create a project in which urban and rural high —formally presenting a final project, in person, to their online group.
school students, separated by many miles and significant cultural differenc- They also ate together, laughed together, toured the campus together
es, met online to discuss common books. Currently enrolled UWSP student and learned about each other’s schools. Common ground was found
teachers facilitated the online discussions, guiding the high school students amid differences.
into sensitive, challenging, and meaningful online conversation.
This kind of quiet courage—the quality of the heart that moves one to
The project came full circle on May 1st, when students from both high human connection—helps foster community. In a country where the
schools met on the UW-Stevens Point campus to present their final proj- civic contract extends to all people, the willingness to connect with
ects. For many of the students, this was the first time they had been to Ste- others, alike and different, helps keep the contract operational. The
vens Point and to a college campus. In welcoming the students, admissions courage exhibited by these students, and the strength of their spirits,
counselor Scott West, himself a graduate of Milwaukee’s Rufus King High brings benefit to us all.
School, applauded the courage they demonstrated in leaving the familiarity
— Debbie Kmetz
of Milwaukee’s urban streetscapes and Adams’ small town landscape to say
yes to something so new and experimental.
These students took chances. The books they read—The Bluest Eye by Toni Debbie Kmetz is a program officer with the Wisconsin Humanities Council.
Morrison, A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines, Fallen Angels by Walter photo: Megan Selje
from the director...
Every community has its official leaders—city council or town
board members, the mayor, the heads of the biggest businesses, the
chancellor of the local college campus. And then there are all the
other people who, by virtue of their energy, interests, and personality,
become critical nodes in the social and cultural web. Their knowl-
edge and efforts are what keeps communities not just alive, but lively.
They may be entrepreneurs, retired professors, librarians, or feed mill
managers. If you are reading this, you may very well be one of these
folks with whom the Wisconsin Humanities Council works, using
history, culture, and discussion to strengthen Wisconsin communities.
At the Wisconsin Humanities Council, the backbone of our work is
our grant program. Grants support local communities in the devel-
opment and production of public programs that explore history and
culture in deep and meaningful (and, yes, entertaining) ways. In
addition to making grants for projects designed by local organiza-
tions, we design programs that use the resources of the humanities
to respond to statewide community needs or concerns. We created
Wisconsin: Making It Home to speak to Wisconsinites’ passion for
the places and the ways in which generations of people have made
a home here. With partners in ten communities across the state,
Making It Home will use films and a traveling museum exhibition
as catalysts for community discussion about the past, present, and
future ways in which we are a part of what Aldo Leopold famously
called “the land community.”
In the spring of 2010, we will bring Making It Home Film Festivals to
Dodgeville, Baraboo, the Chequamegon Bay, and Milwaukee. The
festivals, produced in partnership with the Gaylord Nelson Institute for
Environmental Studies at UW-Madison, will bring people together to
watch a series of provocative films on subjects ranging from our com-
plex relationships with animals, to how human labor has shaped the
landscape. Central to the festivals will be discussion that uses the films
to enrich community dialogue about local concerns. At a time when
communities are facing pressing policy issues in the field of conserva-
tion, we hope the festivals inspire these four localities to look at the
larger questions, and the common ground, that drive policy debates.
Then, in the fall of 2010 and into 2011, the WHC will welcome Key
Ingredients: America by Food to Wisconsin, a Smithsonian exhibit that
explores the connections between Americans and the foods they pro-
duce, prepare, preserve, and present at the table. Wisconsin’s rich ag-
ricultural history and our food culture, past and present, will be the
inspiration of many delectable complementary programs designed
by hosts in six small communities. Congratulations to Rhinelander,
Reedsburg, River Falls, Westfield, Brodhead, and Osseo, who will
each host the exhibit for six weeks.
Needless to say, there would be no film festivals or exhibition tour
without the energy, skill, and imagination of local leaders who under-
stand how reflection and discussion, history and culture, are part of
the lifeblood of our communities. We’re honored that they choose to
work with us, and excited to see what, together, we can create.
– Dena Wortzel
For news about Making It Home Film Festivals and the Key Ingredients tour,
check the WHC’s website and keep an eye on our new blog.
wendell, meet wendell
My son announced he was a fish-eating dinosaur during supper last
night as he demolished his grilled tilapia. “Are you Wendell Baryonyx?”
my husband asked. “Not now,” he said. “I’m Wendell Deinonychus,”
and he used his terrible swiveling toe claw to hold the corn on the cob.
Anyone who knows him knows Wendell Roan loves dinosaurs. Anyone
who knows us well knows where he got his name—Wendell Berry and
Roan Mountain.
Before Wendell was born, my husband and I meandered through the
Social Security Administration website, looking at popular names
through the decades. “Wendell” hovered around #200 until a steep
decline in the 1970s, and so far in this decade, it’s not in the top 1000.
For us it ended up being number one. Not surprisingly, since we are
both dedicated contrarians, my husband and I come at some things
very differently. There’s plenty of overlap, though, and if you made a
map of it, Wendell Berry (the headliner at the WHC’s annual book
festival) would be the capital. Wherever else we disagree, my husband
and I meet up in Port William (Berry’s fictional version of his hometown
of Port Royal, Kentucky) and we like what we see.
You do take a risk when you give your child the name of someone who’s
2009 wisconsin book festival still alive—take for example a full generation of Wisconsin boys named
Brett. But I think we’re safe. It is hard to imagine Wendell Berry being
The theme of the WHC’s 2009 Wisconsin Book Festival (October 7-11 in anyone other than his authentic and intense self, writing any way other
Madison) is COURAGE. Presenters will explore the many facets of courage, than beautifully and clearly, saying anything other than what he always
from the kind of quiet courage required to engage in basic human relation- says—that community and nature matter more than anything.
ships to the bold actions necessary to address issues of environmental,
Our Wendell may not always love dinosaurs, but I suspect he will
economic, and global consequence. One of America’s most courageous
continue to be passionate about details, curious about mysteries, as well
writers—acclaimed poet, novelist, farmer, and essayist Wendell Berry—will
as a dedicated contrarian (his genes and his name pretty much guar-
deliver the Festival’s keynote lecture on Sunday, October 11th (presented
antee it). Roan Mountain will continue to straddle the border between
in conjunction with the Aldo Leopold Foundation). Additional highlights
Tennessee and North Carolina, marking its changes in geological time.
include a joint presentation by Wisconsin favorites Lorrie Moore and
Wendell Berry will always be Wendell Berry.
Michael Perry, appearances by graphic novelists Harvey Pekar and Lynda
Barry, and an event featuring Milwaukee’s Will Allen, the recent recipient of – Marnie Dresser
a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant”. For the full Festival schedule and
Marnie Dresser is Professor of English at UW-Richland Center. She lives in Spring
other updates, visit www.wisconsinbookfestival.org
Green. Her son Wendell appears on the cover of this issue.
new members
New WHC members joined us at Dodgeville’s Folklore Village for our
June 2009 meeting. Pictured (L to R), are Jarret Fields, a Milwaukee
native who is now a PhD student in History at UW-Madison and
instructor of World History and Black Film History at Marian Univer-
sity; Jasmine Alinder, Associate Professor of History, co-coordinator
of public history at UW-Milwaukee, and author of Moving Images:
Photography and the Japanese American Incarceration; and David Han-
kins, a Vietnam Veteran and retired Pentagon official, now a Kenosha
business owner and a board member of Kenosha Downtown Business
District and Lemon Street Gallery.
photo: Debbie Kmetz
mini-grants awarded
in may 2009
$2,000 to Burnett Area Arts Group (BAAG) of Siren
for On Their Way Into History: the Landscapes of Jens Rasmussen
$2,000 to Dunn County Historical Society of Menomonie
for Rural School House Oral History and Special Exhibit Project
$2,000 to Edgewood College, Human Issues Studies
Program of Madison
for Mexico-Madison Immigration Community Dialogue
$2,000 to One Book One Community of Green Bay
for One Book One Community: Three Cups of Tea
$2,000 to Quann Community Gardens of Madison
for Using Art to Sow Intercultural Dialogue in Quann Gardens
$1,997 to Telemark Educational Foundation, Inc. of Cable
for Making Connections - Building Aldo Leopold’s “Land Ethic”
$1,992 to Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.,
Epsilon Kappa Omega Chapter of Milwaukee
for Precious Pearls: A Legacy of Service
major grants awarded
in june 2009
$10,000 to Milwaukee Public Theatre
for The Civilian Conservation Corps Legacy-Making Wisconsin Home
$10,000 to Wisconsin Institute for Public Policy & Service
for Building Community in America: Economies of Neighborliness
$6,525 to Points of View Productions
for After the Wars: Images of America’s Veterans
$9,998 to Friends of the Lower Wisconsin Riverway
for Rhythm of the River
$7,825 to Kenosha Literacy Council, Inc.
for Project Journey
$10,000 to Chippewa Valley Museum
for History Quest
$10,000 to UW-Madison Center for the Humanities
for Things Fall Apart in Wisconsin
$10,000 to Aldo Leopold Foundation
for Green Fire: The Life and Legacy of Aldo Leopold, a film
whc staff contact
Dena Wortzel, Executive Director Wisconsin Humanities Council
Michael Kean, Associate Director 222 South Bedford Street, Suite F
Jessica Becker, Director of Public Programs Madison, Wisconsin 53703-3688
Alison Jones Chaim, Director, phone: 608.262.0706
Wisconsin Book Festival
fax: 608.263.7970
Deborah Kmetz, Program Officer
email: contact@wisconsinhumanities.org
Shawn Schey, Administrative Specialist
Dean Bakopoulos, Fellow
www.wisconsinhumanities.org
Non-Profit Org.
Wisconsin Humanities Council U.S. POSTAGE
222 South Bedford Street, Suite F
Madison, Wisconsin 53703-3688
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MADISON, WI
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