- Coming up next on Wisconsin Life ...
- When you have a musical moment, it's just awe-inspiring.
- I love waking up in the morning and coming to work.
- I'm still hoping to have many, many more years ahead of me
to, you know, change the world.
- I'm a professional Magic player
and currently the 8th ranked professional player
in the world.
? ?
- Funding for Wisconsin Life is provided in part
by Alliant Energy,
Lowell and Mary Peterson,
and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.
- I'm Kim Souther
and this is my Wisconsin Life .
[classical cello music]
- This is what the cello is supposed to sound like.
- Kim Souther is a classically-trained cellist
and has performed in many professional orchestras.
So it's a little bit of a surprise
when she plays something like this...
[cello country music]
And then turns it into this .
[uptempo cello country music]
- When you have a musical moment, it's just awe-inspiring.
- Kim is still a classically-trained cellist.
She's just trying to move the cello
beyond the limits of classical music.
- There's a whole new realm that I haven't discovered
and that's where my heartsong is.
- Kim was drawn to the cello as a child.
- You always hear it playing minor keys.
And I'm a very-- was very melancholy.
- She tried to branch out in high school and college,
but was told, "No."
- You play the cello. It's a classical instrument.
You can't do jazz. Sorry.
- So she went down the classical path,
teaching and playing in the orchestra.
- You're playing in a cello section
that is attempting to sound like one cello.
And so there's not a lot of personality
that comes out of your instrument.
It can be very subtle.
- While living in Texas, Kim reached her low point.
Frustrated with the audition process and the musical scene,
she gave up.
- I stopped playing for about two years.
- In 2008, her husband got a job in Sturgeon Bay.
- You move to a new place.
It's new, new possibilities, fresh opportunities.
- Kim rediscovered her passion
and realized it didn't always involve blending in.
- It's a bluegrass tune on cello.
[bluegrass music]
- She started to improvise.
- Then when I realized it came very naturally to me,
not having to read notes,
just being able to create.
Also, that creates a freedom
of understanding your instrument better.
So then you realize what the cello's capable of doing.
What its limitations are.
And what your limitations are.
- Soon, that improvisation
turned into a concert series at her home,
called the "Back Porch Sessions."
- Well, hi, guys.
I'm just gonna kind of sample for you
some ways that I'm trying to make cello a little different.
- Kim invites other bands to the stage,
and joins in to show how the cello
can fit into something like Gypsy swing.
[Gypsy swing music]
- I love to put a group of musicians together in a circle
and just see what happens
because that's where the magic happens, honestly.
It's just...
Here's the key. I wrote this tune.
Do your best. Here we go!
? ?
Some of the most magnificent music can happen from that.
- But her improvisation goes beyond genre.
- I was trying to get a cello bow to bounce
because that was the technique I was working on that day.
And I thought, "What does a strainer do?
I wonder how it bounces on the string?"
[resonant plucking]
- And I tried it and thought,
"That's great."
And then, from there it went to,
"And let's try it with a spatula.
And what else is in the kitchen?"
And I still do it.
[warm strumming sound]
- Kim's not sure how much of this is experimentation
and how much is finding the next great sound.
- Do I want to record it or
am I just proving a point 'cause I'm playing with a spatula?
But some of them are honestly making
some really amazing sounds.
[clarinet playing Gypsy swing]
- Kim says part of this success
is due to her location in Door County.
- Nature's incredibly inspirational.
- Hello.
- And it helps draw in a crowd.
- It's just an easy place for you to say,
"I'm going to try something new?
Would you like to come to a house concert?"
And you get an audience.
- For this classically-trained cellist, there's nothing better
than standing up and jamming out
with some friends in the backyard.
[Gypsy swing music]
- There are times when you want to blend in,
but there are other times where you're allowed to come out
and be as creative with the instrument
as you would like to be.
And I think that's what's so fulfilling.
- [singing] ? Found a new baby ?
? A new baby That's all ?
? I found a new baby ?
? A new baby That's all ?
[band plays closing notes]
[applause]
? ?
- I'm Jess Brandt
and this is my Wisconsin Life .
- In the old town section of Gays Mills,
along the Kickapoo River,
you'll find the Village Flower Shop.
Jess Brandt practically grew up in her father's business.
- Thank you. - Take care, happy planting.
- And she still helps out in the busy season.
- It's the coolest flower shop on the planet,
we like to say and we think it is.
And to find that in Gays Mills, Wisconsin,
I think is pretty cool.
- Jess's father, Joe, thinks it's pretty cool
his daughter still lives in Gays Mills.
- A lot of kids end up do leaving this area.
So I'm real grateful that she's been able to hang around.
- It's just a quiet little river town.
We all are here because we love the quiet.
The non-city life.
It's wonderful to grow up and live in a community
where you do know everyone.
Yeah, it's really fun.
- Oh, you're doing them in the hoop house?
- Yeah, peppers, too.
- It's a wholesome way of life
in a town surrounded by apple orchards.
- So this area really is a hotbed for organic and natural.
So both from my parents,
I kinda had some of those values instilled in me.
- Jess now shares those values widely.
From Gay Mills, she has a large, national Internet following
of people also interested in natural and organic living.
- Okay, it's yours.
- It began when she started her own family.
- Let's just get one for now.
We can get more in a couple of days.
It feels like home. Our family's here.
And this is where we knew we wanted to raise our kids.
Should we get a couple Stringles® ?
- With her own preference for natural and organic products,
Jess wanted to do all she could
to provide the safest environment for her children.
- They're just-- They're so small.
They're so sensitive.
And they're dependent on us for everything.
So I'm just trying to do my best
to make sure they have the safest stuff available.
Such a huge weight and responsibility
to know you're responsible for everything
for that little child.
- It led Jess to carefully read labels
and research products like toys and cleansers.
- It has to be the safest, the best.
Otherwise, I'm not gonna support it with my purchase.
- Jess soon started sharing her research.
- I started a blog.
And I just loved connecting with other families
who have the same values.
They care about the safest products.
They want them to be made in the U.S.A.
It's a really great community.
- Jess's online reputation grew along with her followers.
Companies started sending her products to review.
- This is both designed and made in the U.S.A.
in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
Very heavy duty, nicely designed baby spoon.
That stainless steel spoon
could be handed down for three generations.
We're not going to hand down a plastic Gerber spoon
three generations.
- But not all the products Jess reviews have such integrity.
She's discovered along the way that greenwashing
is an all-too-common practice.
- Greenwashing refers to
making all these claims about your product
being organic, being natural,
and then, it's not.
- Jess suspected greenwashing
when a company sent her a home cleaning product to try out.
- Several years ago, I received a dish soap from a company
and it worked great.
But then I looked at the label.
And the more I thought about it,
with my background knowledge of what it takes to make a soap,
there was nothing in there
that indicated what made it a dish soap.
- Jess had sampled many natural soaps.
Since the product didn't list a foaming agent,
the suspicious sudsing had her in a lather.
- I would literally wake up in the middle of the night
and lay there thinking about that dish soap
that just did not add up.
And it just really bugged me.
- It bugged her enough to eventually pay her own money
to have the product tested.
- It had nothing in it that it said.
There was no kelp extract.
There was no organic coconut oil.
Nothing in it.
And it was your regular, average dish soap.
I published my findings on a Friday afternoon on my blog,
and Monday morning,
I found out the company was shutting down.
Yeah, it was interesting.
It just goes to show that anyone, anywhere
can really do anything.
I can sit down with a laptop when my kids are in bed
and research, research, research, ask questions.
And if it doesn't add up, I can do something about it.
- The experience made quite an impression on Jess's young son.
- I was just floored.
Walking around going, "Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh."
And he says, "Mom, what? What's going on?"
So I said, "Mama caught a company lying
about what they were selling,
and now the company can't sell their stuff anymore."
And he looks at his little sister and says,
"Sissy, don't lie to Mom!"
- An important lesson for Jess's children.
And a confirmation of the value of what she's doing.
- I still hoping to have many, many more years ahead of me
to change the world.
But my real hope is in them and in the future generations.
If I can get them to care,
and if I can instill all my passions and beliefs into them,
what they can possibly do.
- Always nice to see you guys.
Little sweeties.
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- Still to come on Wisconsin Life :
Many people like to collect special items,
but one Milwaukee man really loved collecting things.
- My dad amassed a collection of approximately 250,000 items.
We used to joke that he had collections within collections.
- Discover how Abe Chudnow's family
turned their father's eclectic collection
into a public tribute to the days of yesteryear.
Later on Wisconsin Life ...
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- I'm Richard Judd
and this is my Wisconsin Life .
- I love waking up in the morning and coming to work.
- It sounds a little odd at first, but Richard Judd,
the furniture maker, is a lot like his work:
minimal, simple--
- You can use this as an arm rest like on this side, too.
This is pretty good.
- And above all else: functional.
- You kind of slide into it, too.
- I've always had the architecture mind
of "form follows function."
And I always took pride in that.
I'm making art form, but they function.
- Richard has created a series of pieces
that seem light and whimsical,
and perhaps, even random.
- So it just looked like
it was floating and blowing in the wind.
- But each piece is centered around
an ancient mathematical concept.
- It's not just random, randomly-drawn,
but very carefully drawn
so it uses the golden rectangle.
- The golden rectangle is based on the golden ratio.
A proportion often described as the hidden math behind beauty.
It shows up in art, nature, and even the human body.
Richard first used the golden ratio
when designing his signature piece.
- I don't know what precipitated the idea,
but I kept drawing a spiral table.
And I based it on the geometry of a nautilus seashell.
So it's the golden rectangle,
the Fibonacci sequence of a spiral.
- It was a hit.
The spiral table remains his best seller.
And Richard has a mathematical formula for artistic success.
- Every time I try to create a new design,
I'm hoping it's going to be that great design,
but this one was really the home run.
- Richard's other calling card is the part of his work
that is perhaps most unlike him: exotic wood veneer.
- Yeah, this is my favorite, favorite wood.
It's just got such a gorgeous depth of grain.
It's Pomelle Sapele.
It's from central West Africa.
- It's the flexibility of the veneer
that allows Richard to create the curves in his work.
- With the more burled, swirling patterns,
people will look, study it,
and think that it's solid, that it wraps around.
- The final trick is to glue it all together
and use vacuum pressure
to make it stay true to form.
- Vacuum pressure is 14 pounds per square inch
so it puts a totally even, flat pressure
over the whole surface.
- As for new designs, the golden ratio goes on to infinity,
but Richard only has 8 feet to work with.
- I'm also restricted
to the length of the veneer and ply that I'm working with,
which tends to be 8 feet.
Sometimes a drawing, something will look great in a drawing,
but it needs more than 8 feet.
But I could--
I'm still coming up with designs
within the restriction
of just the bending the wood, bending the ply.
- Richard uses the golden ratio to make beautiful furniture--
- Boy, that seems perfect.
- And a similar formula to enjoy life.
- Follow your bliss.
And just what you would really enjoy and love doing
for your day.
The majority of our waking day is working,
so to really love what you're doing is just a real gift.
? ?
- I'm Dan Chudnow
and this is my Wisconsin Life .
[uptempo accordion music]
- This may be Milwaukee's most eclectic and eccentric
collection of close to anything and everything.
- My dad amassed a collection of approximately 250,000 items.
We used to joke that he had collections within collections.
- And that's what fills the Chudnow Museum of Yesteryear.
- People would come in and say, "What's a Chudnow?"
And so we'd explain, "That's the name of the gentleman
who collected all this stuff."
- That gentleman is the subject of a movie
in the museum's theater.
- Abe Chudnow.
The son of immigrants from Russia.
Abe's father, Max, was a junk peddler.
And I think he acquired Max's fascination
in reclaiming old things.
On display currently is probably, maybe, at most,
5% of that collection.
- So it's like Christmas every day here.
As we go through the boxes,
we never know what we're going to get.
- Abe's success as an attorney and real estate developer
helped him indulge his passions for philanthropy and collecting.
- He was always out looking for
new and unique items
that he could add to his collection.
[uptempo horn music]
- He particularly liked items from his growing up
in the 20s and 30s.
- He loved history.
In particular, liked memorabilia
that belonged in shops, businesses.
- He was trying to collect just a wide range of products
that everyday people would experience.
Not like a collection of high-end glassware
or silver or china.
It's everyday stuff.
This is our material culture.
- He loved to tell stories about the different businesses
that existed in Milwaukee in the 1920s and the 30s.
- One of the businesses depicted in the museum belonged
to Abe's father-in-law.
- My grandfather, Henry Grafman, ran a grocery store.
It was a lot different shopping then
than going to Costco nowadays.
You'd actually got waited on.
And you'd tell the grocer what you needed,
how much coffee you wanted, how much flour.
We're trying to preserve Milwaukee history
and we want people to come in
and experience the history themselves.
- I collect images of old Milwaukee.
- Senior citizens come through and some have memory issues.
Some individuals have been quiet for years.
Suddenly when they come to the museum, they start to speak.
It's really heartwarming to find out that a memory,
a experience coming through our museum
might open up someone like that.
It's exciting. So, it's an honor.
- The Chudnow Museum of Yesteryear honors the past
by telling Milwaukee's story.
The story of a city that wouldn't be told today
if it weren't for the story of the Chudnows.
- Here's a real American success story
where somebody comes as an immigrant
and they make it a success out of not only themselves,
but their family continues on with that story.
- We're not too unusual from a lot of families in Milwaukee.
Luckily, we're able to exhibit our story.
But other people that come here have similar stories.
- They not only honored their father by creating this museum.
They did something that he always talked about,
but never lived to see it happen.
I mean, I think that's a great testament to the family.
And it's a commitment
to make this available for everybody.
- To be able to host an institution which, hopefully,
people will learn from, will enjoy.
The fact that our family is associated with it,
is quite an honor.
? ?
- I'm Sam Black
and this is my Wisconsin Life .
- I've always liked games.
Many of my first memories are playing games
with my grandmother or my father or friends,
trying to think of new rules for games with playing cards.
It wasn't until I was fairly old
that I learned that there were people who didn't like games.
For someone who was really weird as a kid,
it made it a lot easier to meet and connect with people.
When I was 11, my friends taught me how to play Magic ,
and since then,
it's just been the best game I've been able to find.
I'm a professional Magic player and writer.
- If you are a Magic player, you know who Sam Black is.
- My income for the last nine or so years
has come entirely from Magic .
"Magic" is short for Magic: The Gathering .
It is a collectible trading card game
in which players take on the role
of powerful wizards called "Planeswalkers"
and use cards that represent spells or the lands
that these "Planeswalkers" draw their power from
in an attempt to defeat their opponent or opponents.
I'm currently the 8th ranked professional player
in the world.
[mystical music]
A "Grand Prix" consists of nine matches on day one
and six matches on day two.
Competitors put a lot of time and effort
into preparing for these tournaments.
It helps to be really analytical.
It helps to be really obsessive.
Creativity helps.
The most important thing is just being able to be passionate.
Seeing people is nice.
Winning games is fun. Getting prizes is fun.
While a lot of people play Magic to compete,
which is to say to beat other people, I play to learn.
Mostly, I look forward to testing a hypothesis.
For any given tournament, I reach conclusions
about what deck I should play and why.
And then, when the tournament happens,
I get to find out if I was right.
No, I'm going to be attacking with all of my creatures.
Magic and everything I've learned from it
really is the lens through which I see and interpret the world.
I've learned a lot from the game.
It's not a well you get to the bottom of.
Magic teaches critical and strategic thinking,
in particular, really exceptionally well.
Magic players really need to learn to deal with failure.
I am very used to losing.
That's not a problem.
Historically, the best players on the Pro Tour
have won something like 65% of their matches.
No matter how good you are, you're going to lose
some very real portion of the games that you play.
Sometimes it can really shake
the foundations of your confidence.
Create a lot of "imposter syndrome"
for people who are playing professionally.
It means a lot to me to hear from people
who have appreciated my work.
And that's really rewarding.
The biggest thing that Magic has done
to influence my values in a positive way,
is to highlight the value of generosity.
The world can be a tight-knit community.
Any amount of making the world a better place that you can do
really comes back.
That's why I'm playing it.
I think that I'll always be involved really deeply
in the Magic community.
I'm very happy and so I plan to keep doing it.
As long as there's Magic to be played,
I'm sure I'll be playing.
- Curious to know more about
Kim Souther, Jess Brandt,
Richard Judd, Dan Chudnow,
and Sam Black?
Go to WisconsinLife .org
to learn more about the people featured in this week's stories.
And remember, we want to know:
What's your Wisconsin Life ?
So, send your ideas to us at
WisconsinLife @wpt.org.
Finally, we leave you this week in Kenosha County
with some scenes from the Bristol Renaissance Faire.
A part of our Wisconsin Life .
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- Funding for Wisconsin Life is provided in part
by Alliant Energy,
Lowell and Mary Peterson,
and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.