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New STEM Options at Madison College South Campus
by Leila Fletcher, age 15
Dr. Jack Daniels recently announced in a press conference that Madison Area Technical College will open a new campus on the south side of Madison in 2019. The college also announced a new partnership with the Madison School district. The plan is to open an expanded campus able to serve as many as 5500 students.
Current Madison College campuses are located, accessible on the north side and downtown. Transportation options are limited. The new campus will be located at the crossing of Badger Road and South Park Street, facing the Metro South Transfer Point. Daniels says the new location is more accessible for South Madison residents, communities of color, and students who travel from elsewhere in the MATC district.
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Free Press Reporters Journey Through Layers of Japanese Culture at the Chazen’s “Samurai: The Way of the Warrior” Exhibit
by Hugo Gonzalez Koop, age 17 and Sharon Ruiz, age 14
Rulers of Japan for almost 700 years, the Samurai warriors established an impressive legacy, one that continues to astound many to this day. Recently, SSFP staff and students had the opportunity to delve into the fascinating history of Samurai warriors at the Chazen Museum of Art’s stunning “Samurai: The Way of the Warrior” exhibit.
Supported in part by the Wisconsin Arts Board, the State of Wisconsin, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Kikkoman Foods Foundation, Inc., the exhibit is one we anticipated for weeks. Organized by Contemporanea Progetti SRL with the Museo Stibbert, Florence, Italy, it boasts a collection of more than 90 items from important collections of Japanese arms and armor from areas surrounding Japan.
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Life in Two Countries: the Leila Fletcher Story
by Leila Fletcher
Each year of my life, I have left my home in America to fly across the Atlantic and spend my summers in Hungary.
My mother was born in Hungary, but she came to America to learn English when she was in her twenties. She left her whole extended family behind. Years later, I was born in Madison, Wisconsin, where my mom met my dad. My parents decided to settle down in Madison after I was born.
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Anonymous Donor and United Way Partner to Give Free Books to Children
by Christy Zheng, age 15 and Leila Fletcher, age 15
Dolly Parton was born and raised in Appalachia, one of the poorest regions of the United States. After a long career as a singer, songwriter, and movie actress she works hard to help others, especially children. Now, with help from an anonymous donor and the local United Way, this generosity will be felt in Dane County.
Since its foundation, the Dolly Parton Imagination Library has gained popularity across the country and around the world. The Imagination Library, gives young children exposure to books, and is a practical and fun way to support youth literacy. Dolly Parton founded the program for children in Sevier County, Tennessee, where she grew up. Her goal was to spread the love of reading to children. Parton decided to expand the program after its success in Tennessee.
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Proud to Support Academic Achievement in Wisconsin
The Dane County Land and Water Resources Department works hard to preserve and reinforce Dane County's historic, natural, and cultural resources. The Parks division manages over 12,000 acres of park lands in Dane County as well as hosts events such as yoga, Lil’ Explorers, and festivals. If you are interested in getting more involved with Dane County Parks there are volunteer opportunities that range from helping to maintain the parks to monitoring the animals that live within them.
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Most black bears in Wisconsin are found in the central or northern parts of the state. However, people on social media have been following a black bear, known as Bruno, who has made an impressive trek from Wisconsin to Missouri in a month by himself.
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Former Wisconsin Badger basketball star and WNBA player Tamara Moore is the new head coach of the men’s basketball team at Mesabi Range College in Minnesota. Mesabi Range is a small community college in Virginia, Minnesota, located about 70 miles northwest of Duluth.
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Wisconsin has joined a growing list of states pushing to bring cursive lessons back into elementary school classrooms.
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The Midwest, especially the state of Wisconsin, is covered with thousands of ancient effigy mounds. From ground level, these mounds usually just look like small hills, but they were actually created by Native Americans hundreds of years ago. Some of these mounds are over 1,500 years old and can be over 100 meters in diameter. These mounds are usually made in the shape of an animal or human. It is believed that they were often built at the base of hills in order for the entire mound to be seen during construction.
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Come one, come all to the 15th annual Harvest Moon Festival! It’s being held at the gorgeous Lussier Family Heritage Center on October 4th from 6-9pm, and features many interesting events this year. From the torch-lit prairie trail to the silent auction held inside, there is something for every member of the family to enjoy.
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Brenda Gonzalez has been handpicked as the new director of the community relations at UW-Madison.
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Society in the latter half of the 19th century held the rigid expectation that women limit their activities and aspirations to housework and raising a family. These expectations were present for, yet irrelevant to, Wisconsin’s most famous poet, Ella Wheeler Wilcox.
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Have you ever been hiking in the Madison area and seen mounds in the ground? Do you know the significance of a mound to Wisconsin’s history?
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Do you know the significance of both the city of Aztalan and the Mississippians in Wisconsin’s history?
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Have you ever asked yourself: why are barns in Wisconsin painted red? Contrary to the myth that farms were painted red so that cows could find their way home, it turns out that this strategy is non-factual because cattle are colorblind to the colors red and green. It'll surprise many to hear that barns weren't even originally red.
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Imagine having to campaign to keep commercial businesses from building over the cemetery your grandmother is buried in. This is a struggle that many Native Americans face today. Every day, they see their culture and what their ancestors built being taken away and destroyed.
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The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism was chosen by Report for America (RFA) to host one of 50 journalists. Criminal justice issues in Wisconsin will be investigated by the Center's corps member.
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The UW Extension FoodWIse nutrition and education program focuses on helping the community, specifically limited-income families, choose healthier food options. It is federally funded by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education (SNAP-Ed) and the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP).
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In 1942, a rumor spread around England that Hitler was planning to initiate an airdrop of weapons into the prison camps to bring back Nazi prisoners of war (POWs). Hearing the rumors, England became worried and asked America to house their prisoners. America reluctantly agreed and the Germans, Japanese and Koreans POWs were sent to work in America on empty supply ships known as Liberty Ships.
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The Mellowhood Foundation’s Summer Initiative is a paid summer program in the southwest Madison Meadowood neighborhood that teaches a large age-range of children about independence and real-world responsibilities. The initiative draws on the knowledge students already have from school, while also teaching them skills such as independence and self-determination. Mellowhood student Amaria has learned valuable lessons through the program, such as “working hard, getting good grades, and failing from time to time.”
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The Ringling Brothers Circus was one of the best circuses ever, and it all began right in Baraboo, Wisconsin!
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Simpson Street Free Press editors applaud the Wisconsin State Journal editorial published on April 5. We challenge and question the subsequent guest column written by Allen Ebert and the Madison Central Consortium Project also published in the State Journal. Both op-ed pieces address the future of the Madison College downtown site.
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Kwame Salter is an educator, mentor, and civil rights leader. He will be speaking this year at the 6
th
Annual Charles Hamilton Houston Institute Awards Luncheon.
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As many Madisonians know, the Madison Children’s Museum hosts the American Girl Benefit Sale every year. This year’s sale will take place on July 21-22. All proceeds are awarded to nonprofits throughout Dane County through grants from American Girl’s Fund for Children, a long-time supporter of Simpson Street Free Press.
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A recent emerald ash borer outbreak has affected thousands of trees across Wisconsin. Many of the infected Ash trees need to be cut down. Madison Community Foundation recently helped launch a project to bring life back into the dead trees.
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The Midwest harbors many fascinating many mounds, burial sites, and historical landmarks - some are even located in Wisconsin.
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Black comedy, TV shows, and music are shaping and influencing the way people talk, dress, carry themselves and form attitudes and lifestyles in the United States.
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The Wisconsin Conservation Corps was a work program aimed at helping public or tribal lands in the state. The program employed more than 11,000 young people during a 20-year run, until it ended. It was eliminated in 2003 by Democratic Governor Jim Doyle and GOP lawmakers due to a 3.2 million dollar budget deficit faced by the state.
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Dolly Parton was born and raised in Appalachia, one of the poorest regions of the United States. After a long career as a singer, songwriter, and movie actress she works hard to help others, especially children. Now, with help from an anonymous donor and the local United Way, this generosity will be felt in Dane County.
[read more...]
During the fall semester of 2017, the students of Badger Rock Middle School made books for students in Guinea. The teacher who began this project, Maya Kadakia, is the English-Language Arts teacher at Badger Rock.
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Simpson Street, the road on which Simpson Street Free Press was established, was once a corn field and the Royal Airport. The area around Antler’s Tavern—a beloved institution—has been through many challenges, but it’s always had a strong sense of community.
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The way people have learned to read and interpret written language is something that scientists have studied for a long time. How is it that simple marks on a mere piece of paper can convey mind-changing ideas?
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La danza folklórica méxicana representa la cultura de varios siglos. Cuando llegaron los españoles en el siglo 16 trajieron muchos bailes al estilo europeo como el vals, la polka y el chotis cuales infuyeron las danza indígena.
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When I was younger, I loved reading
Magic Treehouse
,
The Baby-Sitters Club
, and
The Boxcar Children
books. I loved how these stories were full of talking animals and inanimate objects coming to life. But I noticed that all of these series’
protagonists
, another word for main characters, were white. When I realized this, I also noticed that in the rare times I did read about a young person of color, it made me feel important and almost special in a way. It took me quite a while to pinpoint why.
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Simpson Street editor Taylor Kilgore was driving home from our South Towne office the other day when she noticed something beautiful. Before her eyes, a group of artists, including teenagers, were working on a colorful mural on the side of the Well No. 3 Building on 6500 Raywood Road in Monona.
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We met at our South Towne newsroom early one Wednesday morning—most of us with droopy eyes and tired faces. It was early, but we were excited for the day’s adventure: we were headed westward toward Mount Horeb to visit the village’s new Driftless Historium & Mount Horeb Area Historical Society.
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Following a contentious 5-2 vote by the Madison School Board, James C. Wright Middle School will be the first school in the Madison Metropolitan School District to require students to wear uniforms.
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Dr. Jack Daniels recently announced in a press conference that Madison Area Technical College will open a new campus on the south side of Madison in 2019. The college also announced a new partnership with the Madison School district. The plan is to open an expanded campus able to serve as many as 5500 students.
[read more...]
Summer time is great for a lot of reasons. It’s warmer, there’s no school, there’s no rules, and there’s so much free time. With almost three months of summer vacation, it is important to add in some reading to your free time.
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Simpson Street Free Press student reporters recently had the opportunity to meet and interview potters from the rural Mexican village of Mata Ortiz at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMoCA). Each artist has a unique story—some began the trade at age 17, while others started at only four years old. All of the artists, young and old, share a deep passion for the ceramic arts and their village.
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Recently, friend of the Free Press and valued volunteer, Jane Coleman, surprised a group of Free Press reporters with a field trip to the Japanese wood block exhibit at the Chazen Museum of Art. The group of us—including Diamond, Dija, James, Christy, Felicia, Ruthanne, and our editors Taylor and Aarushi—met at the South Towne newsroom where Jane gave us a briefing. Jane explained that Dr. Gene Phillips, professor of Japanese Art, had generously agreed to take us into the “floating world.” He would be acting as a docent, or a volunteer guide, for us. Excited, we grabbed our freshly sharpened pencils, notepads, and camera. We piled into two cars and crossed the isthmus.
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If you've ever been to a powwow, you might have heard the tinkling sound of the Jingle Dress Dane. Historically used for healing, the Jingle Dress is now part of a dance that honors and celebrates Ojibwe culture and tradition.
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Katrin Brendemuehl, age 13 and Callan Bird Bear, age 12
The gorgeous artwork crafted by Native American tribes known as beadwork can be as intricate as the wings of a dragonfly. The allure of colorful glass beads against a dark, rich fabric is enough to catch nearly anyone’s eye. This fall, the James Watrous Gallery, a gallery at the Overture Center with a focus on contemporary Wisconsin artists, features these culturally significant, powerful works.
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Recently, some of SSFP's teen editors including Enjoyiana, Diamond, Dija, Sylvan, Jackie, and Leila gathered at the Chazen Museum of Art to view an exhibit on 20th Century sculpture. Our wonderful volunteer editor Jane Coleman planned the outing. Mary Brennan, a friend of the Free Press, greeted us as we entered; an experienced docent, Mary acted as our guide. As we walked up the stairs to the exhibit, Mary provided us with a little background.
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All my life, I have left my home in America every year to fly across the Atlantic and spend my summers in Hungary.
[read more...]
After originating the role in Philadelphia and then New York, world-famous opera singer Angela Brown graces the Capitol Theater stage as Addie Parker in the Madison debut of Charlie Parker’s Yardbird. The production is a jazz-infused opera with music written by Swiss composer Daniel Schnyder, with libretto or text, written by Bridgette A. Wimberly. An actress myself, I had the unique opportunity to sit down with Brown and hear first-hand about the ins and outs of her rise to operatic fame.
[read more...]
Rulers of Japan for almost 700 years, the Samurai warriors established an impressive legacy, one that continues to astound many to this day. Recently, SSFP staff and students had the opportunity to delve into the fascinating history of Samurai warriors at the Chazen Museum of Art’s stunning “Samurai: The Way of the Warrior” exhibit.
[read more...]
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