Culture


Rights of Nature and Indigenous Activism

https://act.sierraclub.org/events/details?formcampaignid=7013q000002NUz2AAG&mapLinkHref=&mc_cid=42ff8affd4&mc_eid=da7c25b16d   Rights of Nature and Indigenous Activism Date and Time: Mon, Mar 20, 2023; 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM  (Local Time) Organized By: Great Waters Group Location: Virtual Event Organizers: Jasmine Viges jasmine.viges@refloh2o.com (414) 702-7452 Presenters will be White Earth tribal attorney Frank Bibeau and Thomas Linzey, senior legal counsel for the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights. In 2018, the ...

Read More


Ground Clutter

How we crave that clear, blue sky after what sometimes seems like an eternity of clouds here in the dead of the Wisconsin winter.  Moods brighten as, finally, the awaited sun brushes our winter pines a radiant green, sumac tops flame up and the alfalfa stubble in the field down the road turns from dull tan to flashing gold above the snow.  Most of us are creatures of the day, content and absorbed in life under our heavenly canopy.  But lately I've begun to sense a seductive, day-sky deception afoot here that obscures our fragile reality and in so doing may lead to our ...

Read More


U.S. Labor, Then and Now


TECTONIC SHIFTS

History matters. As World War II came to an end in 1944, Europe and Japan were in ruins while the U.S. had become the world’s economic powerhouse. At a historic meeting in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, forty-four countries agreed to fix their currencies to the U.S. dollar and the dollar was made convertible to gold at $35 per ounce. Thereafter countries would settle their international trade in dollars, and the dollar became the world’s reserve currency. As one might expect, having the dollar as the world’s reserve currency proved enormously beneficial to America. ...

Read More


Manliness in a techno-digital economy

There is a ubiquitous ad on television where a young man whistles for his wife’s Christmas gift, a dog comes running through the snow, and jumps into her arms. The wife then whistles and a new, big, pickup comes bounding out of the snow. The wife nods to the husband, yes, that’s your gift. He wraps himself around the truck in an emotional hug. What’s going on here? The wife is becoming attached to a sentient being. The dog responds to her affection. The husband is hugging a machine. It is a large machine that can enlarge his vision of himself as a man. Driving it ...

Read More


Crime and Too Little Punishment

“Some men rob you with a six-gun – others rob you with a fountain pen.” Woody Guthrie   “Do the math. Far from a deterrent, multi-million dollar fines are a minuscule cost of doing business...million dollar fines on billion dollar profiteering won't deter it...” Jim Hightower on    fines for illegal behavior in the meat packing industry.   Last week I wrote about corporate crime and how it is more prevalent, more costly, and more harmful to society than ordinary street crime (like murder, assault, robbery or rape). This week we look at ...

Read More


Wausau Book Discussion

Saturday, January 21 10:30 AM-11:30 AM Wausau Public Library   We wanted to be sure and invite everyone to a book discussion on Saturday, January 21 from 10:30 am - 11:30 am at the Marathon Public Library, Wausau.   The book is News of the Air by local author Jill Stuckenberg. The author will be present to talk with us too. https://blacklawrencepress.com/books/news-of-the-air/

Read More


MLK Celebration in Wausau

  NAOMI is excited to be involved with the 2023 Martin Luther King (MLK) celebration, as well as the events being planned for Black History Month in February. But first the MLK Celebration. We are partnering with LPRC Diversity Consulting Services, LLC (La’Tanya Campbell) and other community organizations to celebrate and raise awareness of historical contributions made by Americans of African descent. This year’s theme is “Why it still matters.” The event will take place at the UWSP in Wausau, starting at 5:30 pm on 1/16/23. Food will be catered by ...

Read More


Gas, Grass, and Ass: Adventures in Rural America, 1973

Seeking a self-sustaining life outside the city and a new start for her marriage, this twenty-five-year old a woman boldly embarked on proprietorship of a full-service gas station along a highway in rural Arkansas. Her hope to live and work at her own place of business soon encountered not only the end of her marriage but also the entrenched conservatism of the rural South. Joyful in recounting her experiences with an endlessly astonishing parade of human nature, Campbell portrays a unique slice of American life at a pivotal time with the fall of Richard Nixon’s presid...

Read More


Hot Evaluation

Let’s look at the results generated from the first 6 months of the latest version of Wausau’s Homeless Outreach Team (HOT), presented to the City’s Public Health and Safety Committee recently.   This is based on their assumption there are 30-50 unhoused Wausonians. 20 have been engaged with by their outreach specialist. Of those twenty, four have been “successfully housed”. That would mean 25% of the people engaged with found a place while only 13% of all unhoused did, using the number 30. There is no mention of the number of engageme...

Read More