by Lisa Vihos | Oct 15, 2015 | Magazine Article
When I got to her earthen room,I thought, Oh God, no. Not this one. Too young, too fragile, for this word-made-flesh deal you’ve got brewing. I was still a vapor having my doubts,when I saw her look up from her book and stare at a tree outside her window.Something...
by Kathleen Dale | Oct 15, 2015 | Magazine Article
The new bed rests where the oldone was, but he will notset paw on its new-smellingsoftness; instead, sticks his nose underthe old rug wadded for trash, sighsfor what still smells like home. Moved to the bleached Alzheimer’s unit, your mother,bereft of smell and...
by Jeri McCormick | Oct 15, 2015 | Magazine Article
I felt as if I knew him. I felt as if he knew me. —Young soldier, upon hearing about FDR’s death We all listen to Franklin’s fireside chats,straight from the White House to Our House,though we have no fireplace to sit beside.My mother, wrapped in a chenille...
by Elizabeth Wyckoff | Oct 15, 2015 | Magazine Article
Few contemporary writers are able to capture the essence of small-town Wisconsin as meticulously or as relentlessly as Michael Perry. His bestselling memoirs—Population 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time; Truck: A Love Story; and Visiting Tom: A Man, A...
by Shelby Anderson | Oct 15, 2015 | Magazine Article
One of the charms of visiting the North Woods of Wisconsin is stumbling upon the occasional quirky attraction. Turn down a side road, and you might discover a park full of concrete-based sculpture or a wooden Muskie the size of a semi. The Kovac Planetarium in tiny...
by Erica Kanesaka Kalnay | Oct 15, 2015 | Magazine Article
When the children drew pictures of our school, it always looked as if they were drawing a jail. They would start with a big rectangle, and then fill it with countless little squares until the windows started to overlap. Then they would draw a bigger rectangle around...
