
Filmmaker Sam Mayfield is working on ''Wisconsin Rising,'' a feature-length documentary about the people's revolt against Gov. Scott Walker's anti-union initiative. Mayfield, a video journalist, also made ''Silenced Voices,'' a 2010 documentary about the death of a migrant farmworker. – Photo: Sam Mayfield
Through her lens, documentary filmmaker Sam Mayfield is going up close and personal to capture the impact that Gov. Scott Walker's union-busting budget bill has had on the lives of ordinary Wisconsinites.
"Wisconsin Rising" follows the historic events in Wisconsin that led up to the recent filing of more than one million signatures seeking to recall the governor. Mayfield says her film is about "the reanimation of the American labor movement" and the fight for justice.
A freelance video journalist from Burlington, Vt., Mayfield has reported for Democracy Now!, TheUptake, Free Speech TV and Toward Freedom.com. She's worked in places as distant as Palestine and as near as Madison, where last year she covered the battle over Walker's assault on organized labor for a Web publication.
In his State of the State address on Feb. 1, 2011, Walker announced that in the coming weeks he would offer a "budget repair bill."
"This is the right moment in time, our moment in time, to refocus government to better serve the taxpayers of this state," Walker said. "To do this, we must provide flexibility to our leaders at all levels. One area we will have to look at is public employee benefits."
Soon afterward, Walker sent the Legislature a measure largely stripping public employees of their collective bargaining rights. Democrats were first stunned and then outraged, particularly after GOP leadership rammed the bill through the Assembly without notice.
As Senate Democrats fled to Illinois to stall the bill in the Senate, protesters flooded into Madison. The largest demonstrations since the Vietnam War era surrounded the Capitol for weeks.
"The people of Wisconsin rose up, occupied their state Capitol and took to the streets," Mayfield said.
Shawano middle-schooler Tanner Uttecht went home one January day carrying a newspaper column to discuss.
The Shawano High School Hawk Post contained a page with point-counterpoint commentary on gays adopting and parenting children. Tanner and his three siblings live in a duplex in Shawano. His two dads – Nick Uttecht and Michael McNelly – live in one apartment. His mom, Uttecht's ex-wife and his best friend, lives in the other apartment.
When 13-year-old Tanner arrived home that January day, he told Nick Uttecht, "Dad, I need to talk to you."
Then he showed his dad the newspaper.
In one column, high-schooler Maddie Marquardt argued that children need homes, and gay couples can provide those homes.
In the other column, high-schooler Brandon Wegner argued that gays are sinful and gay parents are an abomination.
"Jesus states in the Bible that homosexuality is a detestable act and sin which makes adopting wrong for homosexuals because you would be raising the child in a sin-filled environment. Leviticus 20:13 states, 'If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltness is upon them,'" he wrote.
Representatives from the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center and the organization Diverse and Resilient are negotiating a possible merger, according to a statement released on Jan. 20.
“While it is too early to speculate on the outcome, a positive working relationship has been established and a single committee representing both organizations is working diligently on the many issues involved,” the statement said.
It's not surprising that Kathleen Falk attended Fair Wisconsin's leadership awards gala in Milwaukee just days before announcing her gubernatorial bid, in effect giving the LGBT community a personal heads-up about her intentions. The former Dane County executive is a staunch equality supporter who takes pride in her record of achievement for LGBT civil rights.
A bipartisan group of 80 mayors launched a drive to promote marriage equality on Jan. 20 in Washington, D.C.
As lawmakers held their first public hearing on gay marriage, a Democratic senator on Jan. 23 announced her support for the measure, all but ensuring that Washington will become the seventh state to legalize same-sex marriage.
The announcement by Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, that she would cast the 25th and deciding vote in favor of the issue came has hundreds of people filled the Capitol to advocate for and against gay marriage.
Apologists for Gov. Scott Walker are struggling to downplay the historic filing of more than one million signatures seeking his recall.
Walker's supporters contend the number is inconsequential. They say Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett received more than a million votes in 2010 but still lost the gubernatorial race to Walker. They maintain that the recall election will be an ordinary race and that Walker will win again.
Having set the standard for many of the juiciest roles the musical stage has to offer, Patti LuPone is frequently asked to name her favorite. She bristles at the question.
We love our divas. Especially when they perform for us.
The holidays are supposed to be a joyous time, but they can be exceptionally depressing for people estranged from their families. The pervasive images of families gathered around festive dinner tables are a poignant reminder of what's missing in their lives.
A patron at Morrison's Hotel refers to Albert Nobbs (Glenn Close) as "such a kind little man." If only he knew. Albert, a self-described "bastard" with a convent education, was born female. Underneath the spit-spot suit, tight-fitting corset and layers of bandaging, Albert is still a woman. But he's lived so long as a man and is so desperate to hold onto his job in 19th century Dublin that Nobbs can't even recall his birth name.
"In a dark time, the eye begins to see," wrote American poet Theodore Roethke. That same conceit may have contributed to the construction of "Galileo Galilei," minimalist composer Phillip Glass' biographical opera of the 17th century scientist and astronomer. History remembers Galileo as the man persecuted by the Catholic Church for his support of the theory that the earth revolved around the sun.