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Wisconsin People & Ideas – Winter 2014

In this issue: Wisconsin Poet Laureate Max Garland on the state of the arts in Wisconsin. The life and images of photojournalism pioneer Ida Wyman. The emerging science of phototherapy. Mike Rebholz's photo essay Ten Weeks: Ice Fishing in Wisconsin. Interview with poet Angela Sorby. Alta Charo on the billion dollar scam behind stem cell treatments. Poems from new(ish) Wisconsin poets, a story by Geoff Collins, book reviews of new Wisconsin titles, and more. Scroll down to read articles online or browse a digital version of the magazine in our new Issuu reading room.

Volume:

Issue Number:

From the Director

Open Minds and Deep Thinkers

By:

Jane Elder

One of the rewards of working at the Wisconsin Academy is being able to play in the same pool with some of the leading thinkers from across the spectrum of the sciences, arts, and letters as they wrap their heads around

Editors Note

Taking Back the Comments

By:

Jason Smith

While many people don’t bother with visiting or posting to the comments sections of websites, these spaces—much like a town meeting or kitchen table—can be home to the kinds of thoughtful and constructive conversations that transcend...

Happenings

IceCube Neutrino Observatory Begins New Age of Astronomy

By:

Jason Smith

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory was built specifically to chase neutrinos, ghostlike fundamental particles formed in the first second of the e

R. Alta Charo is a UW–Madison professor of law and longtime student of the regulation and ethics of biotechnology.

Essay

Stem Cells: Save the Hope and Lose the Hype

By:

R. Alta Charo

There are a number of horrible diseases that we face in our lives and in the lives of our friends.

Chukuka S. Enwemeka, dean of UWM’s College of Health Sciences, conducts an experiment with research associate Violet Bumah. Among Enwemeka’s discoveries in phototherapy research: blue light in a certain wavelength kills the antibiotic-resistant “superbug” form of Staphylococcus aureus.

Essay

Light As Medicine?

By:

Laura Otto

What if there was a way to treat debilitating diseases without drugs or surgery? What if chronic injuries could be healed with the application of something as ubiquitous as light?

Photo Essay

Ten Weeks: Ice Fishing in Wisconsin

By:

Mike Rebholz

There is an inherent distance to photographing on the ice. It is a long way from shore to where the fish and the shanties are clustered, and this distance is almost always a component of the photographs.

Interview

5Q - Angela Sorby

By:

Angela Sorby

First off, congratulations on your collection The Sleeve Waves winning the Felix Pollak poetry prize.

Ida at Burbank Airport, Los Angeles, 1950. Photograph by Simon Nathan.

@ the Watrous Gallery

Ida Wyman: Chords of Memory

By:

Melanie Herzog

Ida Wyman, now 87 and a relative newcomer to Madison, may not be familiar to younger Wisconsinites. But it’s likely her post-war photographs will strike a chord with older ones.

Book Review, Read Wisconsin

Good Stock: Life on a Low Simmer, by Sanford D'Amato

By:

Ronnie Hess

Good Stock: Life on a Low Simmer (Agate Midway, 2013) is an apt title for the new memoir—with recipes—by Milwaukee chef Sanford D’Amato.

Read Wisconsin

Wisconsin Road Trip

By:

Max Garland

A year ago I was doing what any sane adult does on a sub-zero night in Eau Claire: sharing a plate of fried cheese curds and ordering a second round at Houligan’s.

Fiction

A Day in December

By:

Geoffrey Collins

The boy is walking about forty feet behind his mother. The two of them, the mother and the boy, are walking in the snow on the shoulder of a straight highway on a gray windless day.

Book Review, Read Wisconsin

Good Stock: Life on a Low Simmer, by Sanford D'Amato

By:

Ronnie Hess

Good Stock: Life on a Low Simmer (Agate Midway, 2013) is an apt title for the new memoir—with recipes—by Milwaukee chef Sanford D’Amato.

Book Review

The Map of What Happened, by Susan Elbe

By:

John Lehman

I grew up in Chicago. And whenever I meet someone else from there, I feel like we have an immediate connection. We may never explore the reason for this connection, explore the experiences we share.