8 O'Clock Buzz

“Material Intelligence” is a new exhibit at the Ruth Davis Design Gallery on the University of Wisconsin Madison campus, which explores humanity’s interaction with physical space. Artists and craftspeople at the UW Center for Design and Material Culture have produced this new collection which focuses on natural fibers and glass, two materials with a long history in both industry and art.
The glass exhibit, Spheres of Influence: Glass Across UW “celebrates the embodied skills of glassmakers who make possible the imaginations of researchers across the arts and sciences.” The natural fibers exhibit, Threads: Natural Fiber and Living Lines, explores broader creative possibilities of these materials “not bound by a loom or a specific interpretative category.”
A third section of Material Intelligence is the Work in Progress (WIP) Lab, where visitors can play, experiment and have a personal experience with materials. Featured makers will also lead events on select Thursday afternoons, which include crocheting, knitting and basketry, among others.
Helen Lee and Sarah Anne Carter described to Monday Buzz host Brian Standing the pivotal role the UW has played in the history of glassmaking. They explained how the exhibit is intended to allow viewers to slow down and pay attention to the material world and to think about who creates and makes material objects we use every day.
Helen Lee is an Associate Professor of Glassworking and the Studio Faculty Director. Sarah Anne Carter is an Associate Professor of Design Studies and Executive Director of the Center for Design and Material Culture, in the UW School of Human Ecology.
The Material Intelligence exhibit runs through March 9th at the Ruth Davis Design Gallery, 1300 Linden Drive on the UW-Madison campus.  This Thursday, November 21, at noon, you can join curator Sarah Anne Carter for an in-person guided tour of the exhibit.  You can register for the tour at the CDMC website.
All photos courtesy Laura Sims Peck, University of Wisconsin.
Web posting by WORT producer Nicholas Wootton.
Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here

On November 14, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources approved permits to allow Canadian energy company Enbridge to reroute the 70-year old Line 5 oil pipeline.  The line transports Alberta tar sands oil and natural gas from Superior, Wisconsin to refineries in Ontario.
After winning a 2023 trespass lawsuit in federal court, the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa succeeded in forcing the line off reservation lands. The new Line 5 route avoids tribal lands, but crosses the headwaters of the Bad River and other streams that feed Lake Superior.
The environmental group Clean Wisconsin, which filed an amicus brief arguing for decommissioning of Line 5, is now contemplating additional legal action in response to the DNR’s decision.  Clean Wisconsin attorney Evan Feinauer spoke to Monday Buzz host Brian Standing to about what comes next in the decades long battle over Line 5.
Last month Monday Buzz producer Nicholas Wootton interviewed documentary film director Mary Mazzio about her film Bad River, which chronicles the history of the Bad River band of the Ojibwe tribe’s years long efforts to resist Line 5’s encroachment on their reservation.
Web posting by WORT producer Nicholas Wootton.
Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here

The recent November general election brought a lot of bad news for Democrats at the national level, however there were some signs of hope in Wisconsin. The state legislature, with a notorious reputation as the worst-gerrymandered electoral body in the nation, looks quite different than it did earlier this year.
Democrats in the state Senate picked up four seats, and in the state assembly they added another ten. Republicans maintained a majority in both the state senate and the assembly, but their margins are slimmer than at any time in over a decade.
New legislative district maps agreed to by Democratic Governor Tony Evers and Republican Legislative leaders after the Wisconsin Supreme Court tossed out the previous maps appears to have made the difference in an election year when Democrats were fighting strong Republican headwinds.
Three reporters who cover the statehouse for the online publication Wisconsin Watch teamed up on a news story about the demise of the state’s gerrymandered political maps and the recent legislative elections. Those reporters, Jack Kelly, Hallie Claflin, and Matt DeFour, came in to WORT studios to tell Monday Buzz host Brian Standing more about their analysis.
Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here

Swing states near the Great Lakes, such as Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin helped ensure an electoral college victory for Republican President-elect Donald Trump in last Tuesday’s elections.  In exit polls, Rust Belt voters frequently cited “the economy” and “immigration” as the two most important issues motivating them to cast ballots.
Those issues are inextricably linked, but perhaps not in the way Trump and his followers have claimed.  As it turns out, immigrants don’t steal American jobs, they create them.
A new report from the American Immigration Council and immigrant and refugee professional services organization Upwardly Global spotlights the impact immigrants have had in the urban and regional revival of the Great Lakes states. The new report is called Building Community and Fueling Growth: The Role of Immigrants in Reviving the Great Lakes Region.
Jina Krause-Vilmar is the CEO of Upwardly Global, and has decades of experience with refugee resettlement with the United Nations Development Program and the Near East Foundation.  Jina Krause-Vilmar joined the Eight o’Clock Buzz by phone.
Featured image courtesy of the Upwardly Global website.
Web posting by WORT producer Nicholas Wootton.
 
Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here

As the 2024 fall elections in the United States enters its final phase, precious few undecided voters remain, and the window for submitting absentee ballots closes tomorrow.  Now, the name of the campaign game is making sure voters who have not already cast their ballots absentee show up on election day.
In this campaign season, Democrats and Republicans are taking very different approaches to making sure their voters go to the polls.  Republicans largely rely on paid Political Action Committees to handle door-to-door canvassing, while volunteers are the ones knocking on doors for Democrats.
So, what makes up a good “ground game” when it comes to turning out voters?  Kai Brito, Treasurer of the College Democrats of Madison College and Derek Wallace, President of AFSCME Local 720, spoke with Monday Eight o’Clock Buzz host Brian Standing to talk about strategies for getting out the vote.
Featured photo courtesy of the Greater Cleveland Congregations website.
Web posting by WORT producer Nicholas Wootton.
Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here

Today on the Too Turnt Up Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Tara Wilhelmi and Lolo Lature, it’s a mother-daughter show, as Lolo’s mom, Sharon Irwin, and Tara’s Daughter, Tara, join us to talk about the state of the city budget, the Police Civilian Oversight Board, Imagination Center, and what’s going on down at city hall, and how to get involved and shape what’s going on.
More about the PCOB and how to apply to be a board member: https://www.cityofmadison.com/independent-police-monitor/police-civilian-oversight-board
Listen in Madison at 89.9FM or online anywhere at wortfm.org.  Support your community radio with a donation online at wortfm.org!
Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here

On November 5th, 2024 Republican Donald Trump won re-election, becoming the first U.S. President elected to two nonconsecutive terms since Grover Cleveland in 1893.
Trump, the first convicted felon elected to the Presidency, has promised drastic changes to U.S. domestic and foreign policy, including mass deportation of immigrants, using the U.S. Army to “hunt down” his political opponents, pulling the US out of the Paris climate change accords, withdrawing U.S. military support to Ukraine and telling Israel to “finish the job” against Hamas. He also pledges, with no details, to bring peace to the Middle East.
How is Trump’s reelection and his rhetoric resonating in the rest of the world?
Monday Eight o’Clock Buzz host Brian Standing spoke with three people bringing an international perspective on what a second Trump presidency might mean.
John Otis has reported on South America from his home in Bogota, Colombia, chiefly as a Latin American correspondent for NPR.  He has covered South American affairs for the Wall Street Journal, BBC, Time, GlobalPost and the Houston Chronicle and has reported extensively on political developments in Nicaragua. He is also the author of the book Law of the Jungle, The Hunt for Colombian Guerrillas, American Hostages, and Buried Treasure. He is also a consultant for the Committee to Protect Journalists.
 
Tracy Gudwin has lived in Berlin, Germany for nearly seventeen years and plans to get her German citizenship in 2025. She is the Director and Executive Producer of The Gudwin Agency. She has worked as a producer and cinematographer at ABC, Discovery Channel, and the Travel Channel; and is currently directing for the VOX show Kitchen Impossible.
 
Duha Jamal is a Palestinian national, who grew up in Baghdad, Iraq and lived in a refugee camp in Indonesia, and has worked in refugee resettlement for Jewish Social Services.  She now is a graduate student in the Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Featured photo courtesy of John Otis.
Web publishing by WORT producer Nicholas Wootton.
Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here

Throughout this year, the Monday Buzz has brought you regular election news updates with Votebeat Wisconsin reporter Alexander Shur. In his reporter, Alex has covered ways Wisconsin can avoid election problems, and GOP activists going after DMV records to find non-citizen voting.
Now, with Election Day 2024 just hours away, Alex distills his knowledge into a handy guide to avoiding pitfalls, hurdles and bear traps that might trip you up on Election Day.  Once again, Alex Shur drops by WORT studios to talk to Brian Standing on what he has uncovered in Wisconsin election news.
Photo courtesy of WORT News Staff
Web publishing by WORT producer Nicholas Wootton
Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here

Today on the Too Turnt Up Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Tara Wilhelmi, featuring RR Moore and Lolo Lature, getting out to vote, Quincy Jones, what’s going on around today, what happens when Rausea travels, and some laughs on what may be a stressful day!.
More information on voting in Wisconsin from League of Women Voters: https://my.lwv.org/wisconsin/voter-information
Today’s Playlist: https://spinitron.com/WORT/pl/19754506/Tuesday-8-O-Clock-Buzz
Listen in Madison at 89.9FM or online anywhere at wortfm.org.  Support your community radio with a donation online at wortfm.org!
Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here