? ?
- Coming up next on Wisconsin Life :
- This is stuff I used to sit at my drawing board
and do just for fun.
- I brought them on the bus
thinking maybe they would like to have books.
You could see what it was doing for them during the ride.
- So we grew up with cows, you know,
and, you know, when you see a cow,
you see all their attitude.
- You get people waving, honking, taking pictures.
? ?
Funding for Wisconsin Life
is provided in part
by Alliant Energy,
Lowell and Mary Peterson,
and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.
- My name is Jeff Butler, and this is my Wisconsin Life .
? ?
- Jeff Butler grew up with a serious case of hero worship.
[swoosh] Well, super hero worship.
[dramatic music]
- Batman was this heroic, regular person
that made himself something else,
just through sheer force of his own will.
He willed himself to be successful
physically and mentally,
and so I was really interested in a character like that.
[laser sound]
- It wasn't just Batman that held his attention.
It was entire universes full of characters.
[fluttering, spinning]
? ?
- All the colors
and all the interesting characters and everything.
Spider-Man and The Avengers
and I'm thinking, "I could just die right now."
This is just so cool for a kid my age,
and that's what did it.
I was hooked forever.
- Jeff relentlessly searched
for ways to fuel his desire for comics.
- My dad or mom would take me to the barber shop and
they'd have these comics sitting on the little table there.
And every once in a while,
I'd ask the barber if I could take one of them home
and he'd say "Sure."
I take these things home and I just treasure them.
And I would read them over and over again.
- Because he was such an active and energetic boy,
Jeff's mom tried to find a focus for his energy.
- My mom was the artist and she was very creative,
very gifted, crafty with her hands,
but she had to deal with me and four other kids.
I had too much energy,
and so one of the ways
that she would keep me busy
was she'd sit me down and have me draw.
- This exercise in patience soon became a passion.
One that Jeff was quick to unite with his love of comics.
- It was something that would take me out of the real world
and inspire me, and entertain me,
and keep me out of my mom's hair.
[laughing]
One of the very first artistic passions I felt was,
"I have to figure out how to do this.
I have to create my own character
and put him in all these little panels."
- Jeff pursued his passion
at the University of Wisconsin-Madison,
seeking a major in fine arts.
Now, when people think about "comic books,"
they don't necessarily think about fine arts.
- Comics were pretty much looked down upon,
especially in the academic world,
and even commercial art.
Just being somebody that wanted to be an illustrator
wasn't something that they were really comfortable with.
But I did--
I had a couple of professors
that kind of warmed up to the idea,
and were very encouraging and helpful.
- While Jeff was still finishing his degree,
he was approached by a local writer named Mike Baron.
He wanted to know if Jeff
was interested in working with him on a new comic book series.
Together, they came up with a new superhero
and they looked to a familiar city for inspiration.
[fast-paced superhero music]
- Let's create a character
who's sort of Madison's protector.
And, of course,
the badger was the only way to go there.
[superhero trumpet blast]
- The thing that was interesting is that
we devised the character to be
this sort of superhero wannabe,
who existed in our version of the real world
which is Mad City, of course, which is "all bets are off."
Of course, he lives with this Druid priest
that he met in the insane asylum.
I don't even--
How do you start to explain that?
- From there, The Badger was born.
[trumpet blast, superhero theme]
- Of course, I had a fondness for Captain America's costume
so I kind of liked the sleeve being cut at mid-bicep
so I messed with that a little bit.
I kind of went with black and red.
I thought, "Red and white: we're not going to do that."
I just thought he needed a very iconic symbol.
That's how he came up with the claw on the chest
and the other thing was
I had to keep his hair flowing
because the hair was going to be an actor.
- After working on The Badger ,
Jeff's career would take him
all over the comic universe.
He spent time working in Lake Geneva at TSR, Inc.,
a popular gaming company known for creating
the role playing board game "Dungeons and Dragons."
There, Jeff would reconnect
with some old heroes from his childhood.
- The really great thing about that job offer was
not only was I going to be doing fantasy and science fiction,
but at the time I didn't realize it...
They had the license
for the "Marvel Super Heroes Role Playing Game."
So, I just fell right into another wonderful opportunity
there because I ended up
becoming the primary artist for that game.
This is stuff I used to sit at my drawing board
and do just for fun.
It was so--
It was a very exciting time.
I kept waiting for somebody to come
and put their hand on my shoulder and say "Uh, son,
we've made a mistake and we are sending you on your way now."
But it never happened.
- After that Jeff would go on to work on other comics,
such as the Green Hornet ,
[gun shots]
Jurassic Park ,
[ferocious roaring]
and Hercules ,
[punching sounds]
and in 2010, Jeff took a position
at the Madison Area Technical College as an art instructor.
- I teach an art and color theory class,
and I talk about fine art, and fine artists,
and I talk about illustrators, and I talk about comic books.
I talk about all of it, just because it's all--
I think it's all part of the greater creative expression.
- Jeff says it's his job
to help students find their artistic voice,
and give them the means to express it.
- They want to tell stories.
But yet, there's a piece of the puzzle that's missing.
It's the craft.
It's the little things that are harder to learn on your own.
You need a mentor almost, looking over your shoulder.
- Someone to look up to.
Someone to challenge you
and guide you on the path to success.
A hero.
Maybe even a super one.
[superhero theme music with trumpets]
- Something that we can all aspire to,
maybe not putting on a goofy costume
and running up, beating up bad guys,
but this whole notion that,
"Man, if you really put your mind to it,
if you really will yourself to do something, it's possible."
[triumphant superhero music]
? ?
- I am Mamadou Diallo and this is my Wisconsin Life .
? ?
- It's after midnight and this Afro-pop party
at Madison bar Alchemy shows no sign of slowing down.
? ?
[Cock-a-doodle-doo] [Mooooooo]
- Mamadou Diallo knows from experience.
He is often up early and working long hours on the farm
after drumming late into the night.
- My day starts with cows.
- Starting the day with cows
is a familiar feeling for Mamadou.
Even while he's thousands of miles
from his homeland in West Africa.
- Mamadou learned to read cows through
farming experience in Mali and formal training in Germany.
Today he is staff veterinarian
at a large Dane County dairy.
- I just give some calcium
to keep their calcium level high in the blood,
then she can have the strength to get up.
- Mamadou's office is a bovine maternity ward,
with mothers giving birth nearly every day--
news that comes as a surprise to fans of his music.
- They might see that, like drumming...
[Moooooooo]
...helping a cow deliver her first calf
is all in the timing.
[Mooooo]
- This cycle of life
is an innate, natural rhythm
for Mamadou.
Raising cattle is in his blood.
- Working with livestock is well-respected among the Fulani,
because cattle represent wealth.
Cows are owned by individual families,
but are part of a community herd.
Like a living, breathing, and mooing bank.
- Before finding work here, Mamadou came as a trainee
to Wisconsin to learn the best practices.
But as a Fulani in Dairyland, he expected Wisconsinites
to hold the same bond with cows he'd grown up with.
- Mamadou is rooted here,
and in Mali.
In both places, the culture sustains him.
? ?
- Whether the poetry of the farm, or the rhythm of the drum,
that's the joy and happiness
Mamadou Diallo wants to share with the world.
? ?
- Still to come on Wisconsin Life ,
Pegi Snoeyenbos describes how she first found love
on and with the Flambeau River.
- My introduction to the Flambeau had to wait some years
until I met and later married
a man who had canoed the Flambeau since boyhood.
He took me for my first-ever canoe trip
on a beautiful, quiet stretch of the Flambeau.
I was enchanted.
- We'll meet Pegi and her husband Milt
later on Wisconsin Life .
? ?
- Hi, my name is Rebecca Ream,
and I'm a Hotdogger who drives the Wienermobile
and this is my Wisconsin Life .
? ?
[long honk from car horn]
- Driving the streets of Madison, Becca Ream
relishes the fact that her hot wheels turn heads.
- We get people waving, honking,
taking pictures.
People who see it for the first time, are just--
they don't even know what it is.
- So, what's twenty-seven feet long?
- We always say it's comparable to, like, a large SUV.
- Eleven feet high?
- It's a huge icon.
Everyone knows it .
- I saw it from Grainger and I had to come down.
- Yeah.
"It" is the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile,
and it's been around since 1936.
One, two, three: say "Cheesy wienie!"
"Cheesy wienie."
With a job like this,
"having a great day" is easy for Team Becca and Ashley.
- Have a great day!
- I'm Turkey Bacon Becca.
My partner is always Spicy Ashley.
We're officially known as "Hotdoggers."
? ?
- As a Badger grad,
Becca knows all about these buns of steel.
- I'd seen the Wienermobile growing up,
since I'm from Wisconsin.
It's such an iconic vehicle,
so I was always super-excited as a kid.
And I was like, "Yeah, that's what I want to do."
I am living the dream.
It's so awesome that I get to see the United States
and I get to do it for work.
- The job of meet and greet is a year-long position,
traversing the country with a fleet of six giant hot dogs.
- We're the Southeast region.
We made our way down from Wisconsin,
where we had training,
so we went to Michigan, Indiana, Ohio.
We've been to Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina,
Florida, Georgia.
It's our own PR firm on wheels.
We are on Twitter and Instagram.
Sometimes it will be in front of, like, landmarks
or, like, a beautiful view in front of the Grand Canyon
or something like that, and it's pretty cool
to see the iconic vehicle in such cool views.
- But they don't get the keys to this Wiener-on-wheels without
being grilled about it first.
- We get trained extensively at Hot Dog High.
We get trained from everything as far as how to drive it,
and we start in the classroom
and build our way to parking lots.
Looks good over here:
tires look good, no scratches.
And then, finally, the road.
- Let's be frank.
Sometimes these Hotdoggers feel the heat,
driving in a big city with six lanes of traffic.
- This is going to be interesting,
trying to get into the far lane.
"Let me in, please."
? ?
The hardest part is people will come in the left lane
and slow down 'cause they're taking pictures next to us,
and if we want to, like, go faster,
we kind of are boxed in
because they're just,like, so excited taking pictures.
? ?
We like to say, "We can really haul buns,"
but we always follow the speed limit.
- Cruising around with a window on the world,
there's no whining about driving this wiener.
- We have our hot dog buns
for glove compartments
and pretty cool seats that have hot dogs all over them.
And, on the floor, it has ketchup and mustard,
and condiment-splattered carpet.
Oh, we have lots of puns.
We always say, like,
"Oh, come ketchup with us, or meat us, m-e-a-t!"
[laughing]
We like to slip it into conversation
and just see if anyone will notice.
- And there's one catchy tune that's always a fan favorite.
[women singing in unison]
? Oh, I wish I were ? ? an Oscar Mayer wiener. ?
- But that jingle doesn't cut the mustard
without the Wienie Whistle.
[? sharp, high-pitched sound ?]
? That is what ? ? I'd truly like to be. ?
? Because if I were ? ? an Oscar Meyer wiener ?
? everyone would ? ? be in love with me ?
Whooo!
[? sharp, high-pitched sound ?]
? ?
- I'm Ted Chaudoir and this is my Wisconsin Life .
? ?
- For Ted Chaudoir this is familiar territory.
? ?
- I graduated from this high school here, and whereas
I couldn't get out of the area fast enough when I was 17,
10 years of living in the Cities
I was mighty glad to be able to come back home
to the family farm, take it over.
[engine beeps and comes to life]
- But after decades in the dairy business,
Ted and his wife took up another line of work,
driving buses for the Southern Door County School district.
- I guess I never would have thought
that this was a job that I could really love.
But working with kids is pretty special.
'Cause they treat you like
a grandparent.
- But, even for the best grandparents,
long drives with children can be... "challenging."
- It takes about an hour
from the time my first students are on
until I'm able to let them off for school in the morning.
- About three years ago,
Ted noticed something that made those rides feel even longer.
The youngest kids didn't have anything to do.
- They had folders with papers,
and if I saw a child getting restless
and I asked him to bring out a book,
they were telling me they didn't have books.
- As it turned out, Ted had the opposite problem.
- When our daughter moved out on her own,
my wife wanted to make her bedroom into a quilting shop.
And what to do with all the books that
we'd accumulated over the years for our daughter?
I brought 'em on the bus, thinking,
maybe they would like to have books.
And that worked so well.
You could see what it was doing for them during the ride.
It was giving them something to do,
occupying their time in something productive,
for upwards of an hour.
A few days after that,
they started asking for more books,
and we thought, "There's something here!"
That's when I turned to our reading specialist,
Mrs. Moseley, seeking more books.
- I say, "Absolutely."
And I absolutely make it happen.
And what I did was
I went around to thrift stores at first,
and then just purchased books at half price, and
I asked the people if they would be willing to donate books.
Started him with about $30 worth of books from a thrift store.
And then we put it out into the community
to say we were doing this program
and if people had books to donate,
if they would be willing to donate their books.
And people just came forward in droves.
- Soon, there were books on other district buses, too.
It was the beginning of a program that's now called,
"Books on the Bus."
- I would say we have probably 1500, 1600 books
currently available to us.
But with 15 buses on regular routes and a couple sub buses
with upwards of 80 to 100 books on each bus,
we are carrying quite an inventory of books.
Do you need a different book?
- As the program grew, Ted learned two lessons:
kids liked to read and they like reading to one another.
- The kids really like having older kids read to them
and being able to show younger kids than them
how well they can read.
And, occasionally, you'll have
children who will ask me if they can take a book home,
I love to see the fact that they can take a book home
and enjoy it and bring it back when they want.
- More than three years into the project,
Ted's work is still growing.
Ted says all the buses in his district
now carry books, and the local upholsterer
is making special pouches to hold them.
The project has been honored
by two state-wide education organizations
and featured in their newsletters.
- That's the pretty exciting part of it is that
those same publications
that we first advertised the story in
were responsible for other school districts in our county
to pick up on that
and realize that, again, it sounded like a great idea.
And some of those school districts mandated right away
that all the buses have "Books on the Bus" on them.
If you've finished your book, grab a different one.
- Ted says the project has a bright future.
But whatever the road ahead,
it's the kids behind him that matter most.
- I'll tell 'ya,
it's like...
It's like a gift we've been given.
? ?
[children chatter]
All right, guys, have a nice weekend.
- Bye.
- See 'ya Monday.
? ?
- Hi, I'm Peg Snoeyenbos and this is my Wisconsin Life .
[keyboard clicking]
? ?
- The words "Nature" and "Flambeau River"
are interchangeable in my mind.
This magnificent river
has been a tutor and guide to the natural world
both for me and for important people in my life.
? ?
I first heard of the river from my grandfather,
who was a Flambeau lumberjack
when Wisconsin logging was at its height.
His tales of the logging camps held me spellbound.
His love and respect for the river
came through with each anecdote.
I couldn't wait to see and experience the Flambeau
for myself.
My introduction to the Flambeau had to wait some years...
[man speaking softly about friends]
...until I met, and later married,
a man who had canoed the Flambeau since boyhood
and has an intense love for the river.
[handling canoe sound]
He took me for my first ever canoe trip
on a beautiful, quiet stretch of the Flambeau.
I was enchanted.
? ?
Later, we took many canoe trips on the upper Flambeau,
and I became acquainted with the feistier aspects of the river...
[rushing water]
? ?
...with its fast current and often challenging rapids.
Scary stuff for somebody who could barely swim!
But the combined beauty of the white pines and white water,
plus frequent sightings
of eagles, muskrat, heron, deer,
beaver, otter and black bear
kept me wanting more.
[water gurgling]
[birds chirping]
Today, we have the good fortune to live along the Flambeau.
The river continues to impart
daily lessons in nature appreciation,
from the rose gold mist of a Flambeau dawn
to the glistening white ripples of a reflected full moon
upon its waters.
If I had to distill the main lessons
the Flambeau has taught me,
they would be...
Be quiet.
[birds chirping]
Learn to sit in silence on or by the water,
and you will learn that
something is always going on in nature,
even when it appears dormant.
Watch.
The longer you are quiet,
the more you will train yourself to see.
That patch of white in the pine across the river
is the head of a bald eagle.
The seemingly empty log along the bank
actually hosts five small turtles
catching the sun's rays.
And that beautiful flower by the water
is a rare blue gentian.
[birds chirping]
Listen.
As you train your eyes, so you train your ears.
The hum of a hummingbird becomes very distinct
from the whirr of a dragonfly,
[frogs croaking]
and you discover tiny tree frogs have gigantic, cackling voices
that would do justice to creatures ten times their size.
[keyboard clicking]
Teacher, guide and friend,
the Flambeau River continues to be
a vital and sustaining influence in my life.
May it long be so.
- Curious to know more
about the people featured in this week's stories?
Go to [WisconsinLife.org] to learn more about Jeff Butler,
Mamadou Diallo,
Becca Ream,
Ted Chaudoir,
and Pegi Snoeyenbos.
We want to know: what's your Wisconsin Life ?
? ?
This week, Tyler Ensrude from Platteville
sent us a collection of his bird photos.
Go to [WisconsinLife.org]
to find out how you can have a chance
to see your Wisconsin Life moments
featured in an upcoming program.
? ?
Funding for Wisconsin Life
is provided in part
by Alliant Energy,
Lowell and Mary Peterson,
and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.