- Announcer: The following program
is a PBS Wisconsin original production.
- Narrator: This week on Wisconsin Life:
We go skijoring.
Meet a music producer remixing a classic game.
An awesome mailman making a difference.
An artist finding empowerment in their work.
And a coach having a ball.
It's all ahead on Wisconsin Life !
[upbeat music]
- Announcer: Wisconsin Life is funded in part by
Alliant Energy,
Lowell and Mary Peterson,
American Transmission Company,
Focus Fund for Wisconsin Programming,
and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.
- Hi, I'm Angela Fitzgerald and this is Wisconsin Life.
Today, I'm in Lake Geneva to celebrate Winterfest
and to check out the US National Snow Sculpting Championship.
Winterfest is a nine-day festival
that embraces the cold season
with art, activities, and live music,
all on the shores of this historic lake.
There's skating, hovercraft rides, and ice castles.
The highlight of the festival is
the Snow Sculpting Competition.
It sees groups from around the nation
create massive works of art out of snow.
The sculptures are judged and displayed
until they melt away.
We'll meet some of the sculptors here later on,
but first, let's dig into our first story.
[shimmery music]
That takes us up north
to meet a Gleason woman
enjoying the snowy season
with her four-legged friends.
At Willow Springs Garden,
a bitter wind whips across the hills.
The snowdrifts are measured in feet.
It's the dog days of winter.
[dogs bark]
Perfect weather for a day of racing.
- Melissa: Are you ready?
Let's go.
- Melissa Omernick suits up for her turn on the trails.
She's an experienced dog musher,
but that's not why she's here.
She's competing in a different sport.
- Man: Okay, bring 'em up.
- Angela: Skijoring.
- What made me decide to do skijoring?
I was a night shift worker, as a nurse,
and I was gaining some weight,
and I bought some skis for my brother and he didn't use 'em.
I need to get my money's worth outta these skis,
so I strapped 'em on and hooked up some of my sled dogs
and away I went.
- Go, girl!
- Angela: Skijoring is a combination of dog sledding
and cross-country skiing.
- I did not know how to ski when I started out skijoring.
[laughing]
It's not the best way to do a sport, just learn as I go.
- Angela: Step one is finding a skijoring trail.
- You need a trail that allows dogs,
and most ski trails do not want dogs on it.
I am blessed with a amazing husband who grooms trails
for myself to use with skijoring.
[birds chirping]
- Angela: That's why she practices at her home
in rural Lincoln County.
Melissa has been skijoring for 12 years now.
She says it's become her favorite sport,
and her dogs agree.
- You guys wanna go for a run today?
On my days off, I like to go out and ski
to get warmed up a little bit,
and then, I'll hook up one or two dogs
and we'll go out on the trails.
Good girl.
And they know, they see my harness I'm putting on
and my ski boots, and they get excited.
Are you ready?
Let's go.
- Angela: The dog is tied to Melissa's waist
using a bungee line.
Most of her dogs are huskies, but they don't have to be.
- Melissa: It can be a beagle, a boxer, a poodle.
I happen to use Alaskan huskies.
[paws brushing on snow]
- Angela: She works her way around the trails on skate skis
reaching speeds of 20 to 30 miles per hour.
- Melissa: Go, all right!
There's all these fine nuances
to staying balanced on skis when you're going that fast,
as anyone who does downhill skiing knows.
Gee, gee! (turn right)
- Angela: While also keeping an eye on the dog.
- On by! (straight ahead)
- You have to train your dog to wanna stay in front of you,
not to heel, not to stay next to you,
and you have to train yourself
to balance while an animal's pulling you.
Their ears and their tails talk to me.
They see a squirrel,
we're goin' 20-some miles an hour down a hill,
the first warning sign I get
is their ears go up and their tail goes up
and I get my brakes on.
[laughing]
[skis take lift, airborne]
- Angela: Melissa and her dogs compete at events
throughout Wisconsin, from the Barkie Birkie in Hayward,
to the Willow Springs race in Wausau.
- This is my sport.
I don't snowmobile.
I don't go out trail riding.
I'm not a downhill skier.
I enjoy skiing, just plain skiing, and I love dogs.
[praising dog] Good girl!
It's a lifestyle for me.
- Angela: And a great way to glide past the winter blues.
- I do not get depressed in the winter time.
I don't look forward to spring
because I'm going out and playing with my dogs in the snow
and the time flies.
Before you know it, it's April.
So I feel like they're giving back to me
more than I can ever give them.
[skis go airborne] Whoo!
I think skijoring
combines the best of both worlds for a pet owner.
You are getting physically fit, and your dog is,
and you're havin' fun.
- Angela: Next, catch up
with a Milwaukee music producer
who brings an unlikely twist
to the classic game of chess.
[rascally piano music]
It's Tuesday night and it's time for chess club.
A game of strategy, intellect, and rigor.
And...
[needle scratches across record]
[hip-hop music] - Whoo, yeah!
Milwaukee's hottest hip-hop beats.
? Wave your hands if you wanna hear me go down ?
? So what gets you into your mind when you realize ?
? That you ain't never moved the checkmate to the side ?
- People always say like, "What, hip-hop, chess,
how does that go together?"
? Yo, the is the hip-hop chess club ?
- Angela: Brandon Kitts is a music producer
and co-coordinator of the Hip-Hop Chess Club of Wisconsin.
? It's a blessin' and a lesson ?
? 'Cuz you' messin' with their knight ?
- I love hip-hop; I just love it.
? This is how we do it ?
? It's all about the art, love, the movement ?
We live it, we breathe it.
The chess comes into play
and it's a great experience, I feel like.
[hip-hop music beats]
- Angela: Once a week, the club meets in the back
of a Milwaukee salon.
The goal?
Provide kids and adults a place to make beats and moves
on the chess board.
- Basically, they come here to learn how to play chess,
and then we listen to hip-hop beats
and people can cipher,
which is a freestyle session and learn how to rap
and learn how to make beats.
? You think I go to wrap around the edges of my life ?
? Because my daddy didn't ?
- Angela: This is likely Wisconsin's loudest chess club.
But for these kids, it's also the most fun.
- You have to come check it out.
Then you'll be like, oh, okay, I get it.
Once you see everyone getting along and just the vibe
and the energies there, you'll understand.
- Angela: Brandon says there's rhyme to the reason,
and not just on the mic.
- ? Insane Hip-hop chess club lane ?
- He hopes chess is teaching these kids valuable skills.
- If my piece was right here,
you could've attack from diagonally.
Yeah, I could take that rook right there,
but do I wanna lose my queen in the process?
Nah, let's take a step back
and let's figure out a different way.
Ooh, good job, man, good job.
We hope that they learn how to see the bigger picture,
think about their actions,
the consequences of their actions.
That's what chess does, I feel like.
Put hip-hop in the mix, whew.
You can definitely reach a lot more people.
- Angela: The plan is to expand the organization to offer
other hip-hop-focused programs.
- We really hope to impact the community for the better
and make a positive impact for kids
that might not otherwise have a creative outlet.
- Angela: For Brandon, it's not about chess or music,
but about giving people a space to get together
and move forward, one square at a time.
- ? C'mon c'mon ?
I love the fact that all these people are coming
from different walks of life within our community.
And we're all getting along.
I look forward to this every Tuesday.
It's like my favorite day.
- Angela: Now we join a Janesville postal worker
on his route
to learn how he became known as
the Awesome Mailman.
[classical music]
A frosty February morning doesn't phase the mailman.
- A lot of my customers will ask me this time of year,
"So, you willingly chose this job?"
- Yes, good morning.
- Truck Driver: Prepared for winter to be over yet?
[in a cheerful voice] - I am, I am.
- Winter's not my best time of year, but I'm good with it.
Sun's out, so I'm okay.
- Angela: Tom Hathaway loves delivering mail
to his Janesville neighbors.
- Here's your mail, no bills.
- And there's yours.
- Thank you. - Happy Valentine's Day.
Look: a cookie, guys!
- Angela: The neighbors love him too.
- Awesome guy.
- All right, thank you. - Thank you.
- Angela: Around here, he's known as
'Tom the Awesome Mailman.'
[Tom laughing] - Have a good day.
- Woman: Thanks. - Alrighty.
- Angela: While his job is fun, Tom's travels give him
a chance to view the city from another angle.
- The mail route, I've been doing since 2008,
and I see what others don't.
- Angela: Including people living in cars
or on the streets.
- Most people think that homelessness occurs
in the big cities: Chicago, New York, LA, et cetera.
But most people do not realize
that it happens in Janesville, Wisconsin.
I found that's something that I could relate to, unfortunately,
seeing it first-hand.
- Angela: In 2013, Tom decided to do something about it.
He held a backyard fundraiser to help those in need,
and the turnout was tremendous.
- Well, we ended up with 200 people, 200 customers,
besides my family and friends, in my backyard.
So, I decided at that point, "Well, why not turn this
into something that helps our community?"
I wanna thank your dedication to those who are homeless
in Rock County.
- Angela: Tom and a group of volunteers
turned it into the "Helping the Homeless Fundraiser,"
an annual event at the Rock County Fairgrounds.
- We raise funds.
We collect donated wish list items.
We raise awareness of the services that are available
to the homeless and those less fortunate in our community.
? When I was just a baby ?
? My momma told me son ?
- Angela: The event features live music
and a silent auction.
It raises money for six area charities,
including ECHO,
short for Everyone Cooperating to Help Others.
- We are well-known for being a food pantry.
We also are very well-known for doing housing services
for low-income and homeless population.
- Angela: It takes dozens of volunteers
to unload and sort all of the food ECHO receives.
ECHO's annual food budget is $70,000.
Not nearly enough to meet Rock County's needs.
- So, last year, we gave out 3.5 million meals here at ECHO,
which was probably about $1.5 to $2 million
worth of food.
- Angela: That's where donations from the community
help make sure no one goes hungry.
- So, without everyone's cooperation,
we would not be able to do what we do,
so we're very grateful to Tom
for having his annual fundraiser and having ECHO
be a part of it.
- Angela: In six years, the Helping the Homeless fundraiser
has raised more than $43,000 for Rock County charities.
- I would like to thank all of you
for your support.
We appreciate it.
Your community appreciates it.
Thank you.
[audience cheers and claps]
- Angela: Tom the Awesome Mailman, is proud that
he's now known for delivering more than just the mail.
- It's amazing what happens when people see
the average person doing something.
We're all busy people, but man alive, we love doin' this.
We love it.
You feel good about yourself, you're helping your community.
We love it.
[classical piano music]
[shimmery music]
- Winter is celebrated across Wisconsin
from as far north as Bayfield to right here in Lake Geneva.
It's time to embrace the snow and cold.
Lake Geneva Winterfest offers several ways to savor the season
with a variety of events,
including the United States National Snow Sculpting Championship.
Competitors from around the country participate.
Teams have 100 hours to construct, carve, and fine-tune
their massive snow sculptures,
no matter the elements.
Mike's team, Up to Snow Good, just finished a carving
in frigid temperatures.
I feel like it takes a lot to brave the elements.
You all were out here during sub-zero temperatures.
- It's brutal, yeah, we were out here.
A lot of the businesses, the pipes froze
and that's how cold it was, but we came out.
We have a limited amount of time, so we have to be out here,
irrespective of the weather, and we've all done this.
We dress for it.
There's an old saying, "There is no bad weather,
there's only inappropriate clothing."
[Angela laughs]
I'm exhausted. - You're exhausted?
- I am wiped out.
- So tell us about your sculpture.
- So the sculpture itself is titled
"The Bremen Town Musicians."
It's based on a Grimm's fairy tale story about four animals
who go and, they're old and abused and neglected
by their masters, so they head off together
and wanna become musicians in the town of Bremen.
If you look at the sculpture, you see them,
they're actually singing.
They're making their music.
- Announcer: It's time to be judged.
- Angela: With the sculptures complete, participating teams
also have a hand in judging the competition.
Win or lose, it's a pretty cool experience
to witness and be a part of.
- Just to be here, it was like my Super Bowl.
It was so cool being here.
I met people from Alaska to Maine and all points in between,
and these are some of the finest people.
Not one sour, salty disposition in the bunch.
That alone is worth the price of admission.
My experience here is once in a lifetime.
We get to do something.
How many people in America
get to do what we're doing?
- Not many. - Yeah, so cool.
- It's clear as ice, Lake Geneva knows
how to celebrate the season.
There's a lot to do here,
including trying to take a spin around the rink.
Let's head out and meet others from around our state.
No matter the time of year,
art is thriving in Wisconsin,
where an artist
finds empowerment
through their work.
[gentle acoustic music]
- Ryan: Ryan grew up in the Ojibwe community
on the Lac Du Flambeau Reservation in northern Wisconsin.
- Angela: Despite this tranquil Northwoods setting,
Ryan Young had a complicated childhood.
- I felt isolated in a sense that there weren't other folks
that identified the way that I did that I could
really talk to.
- Angela: Ryan never really felt connected here
or understood why.
As a teenager, Ryan was told to make a choice.
- I was basically told you're gonna have to choose
whether you wanna be Native or you wanna be queer.
At that moment, I was like, probably just devastating.
The one time I meet someone who's out and queer
and to kind of be handed that question.
- Angela: A few years later, a random computer search
erased that burden, connected the dots,
and recast the doubts Ryan had been feeling.
- It wasn't until I went to college that I was
kind of researching queerness in Native history.
That's where I stumbled upon the Two Spirit term,
which is translated from the Ojibwe term, Niizh Manidoowag.
- Angela: Two Spirit embodies
both the masculine and the feminine.
It's a centuries-old Ojibwe phrase for queer Native people,
adopted as a pan-indigenous term
at a gay and lesbian conference in the 1990s.
- As soon as I saw that it was an Ojibwe word, like,
that just like kinda clicked.
Not only can I do this, this is my history.
This is my culture.
That was my aha moment right there, just kinda figuring out
I can exist as both these identities.
- Angela: Ryan now uses art to provide a voice and example
for those still searching for answers.
- I still see my role as kind of helping and healing.
All of our journeys are different.
The reason why my art focuses so much
on identity, empowerment, and representation
is because that wasn't there growing up.
- Angela: Drawing came first,
then photography.
- I started a Two Spirit project, so I was focusing
on photographing people that identified as Two Spirit.
The piece. "my queerness is traditional",
was to remind people that's a part of our culture.
I wanted to use text, give them mantras and quotes
that build up our identity.
- Angela: In middle school,
and again, at the University of Wisconsin, Ryan was told
to abandon any aspirations of being an artist.
- The advisor was like, "Well, I saw their work
and they should pick a different major."
- Angela: Ryan transferred to the
Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe.
- Ryan: So, I didn't listen, and, like, two years after that,
I got flown back to Madison to talk about my art.
- Angela: Today, Ryan's artwork hangs in institutes
of higher education, like the University of Illinois,
Brown, and Princeton.
- This piece is called, "My Gender is Indigenous."
A lot of people that have seen this piece
are just drawn in by him staring right at you.
- Angela: Now, a lot more people are seeing Ryan's work.
- Eighth Generation put a call out for concept ideas
of the Two Spirit blanket.
- Angela: Once again, an opportunity to mix art, culture,
and identity when Ryan's design was selected.
- It was unreal.
I was just super excited 'cause this was a really important
project just to know that this is gonna be a gift
to the Two Spirit community and that I had this opportunity
to have my art out on a larger scale
was just unbelievable experience.
- Angela: The inspiration for the blanket is steeped
in Native lore.
- This story was told to me by Ojibwe language teacher
when I was younger.
I had talked about how at one time
crows had rainbow-y feathers and bright, vivid colors
and had a really beautiful singing voice.
And one day there was this forest fire.
As they were flying past the smoke to warn the animals,
the smoke turned their feathers black
and it made their voices hoarse.
So, they ended up having to sacrifice
these really beautiful elements
of their appearance and their existence
in order to save their community
and help make sure all the animals got out safely.
For me, it just kinda symbolizes a similar experience
of giving sacrifice and having to give up parts of myself,
really put myself out there in order to help my community
and to know that I still carry the effects
of those sacrifices even today.
It's kind of like the symbolism of my feathers turning black
and my voice going hoarse.
- Angela: A writer for The New York Times
got wind of Ryan's Two Sprit story.
- It is an identity that fits Young uncomfortably,
one that took time to find even though the term itself
comes from a translation
of an Ojibwe phrase, Niizh Manidoowag.
It was probably one of the coolest.
My mom and my dad were super excited.
We literally were hunting The New York Times .
As soon as they got published.
We bought four or five newspapers.
- Angela: Again, Ryan's truth connected
with the Two Spirit community.
- We are important and we are valid and we exist
and that's empowerment to me.
- Angela: Discovering that Two Spirit term awakened Ryan
to new possibilities:
a reconnection to Ojibwe culture,
and provided a sense of home in northern Wisconsin.
[shimmery music]
Our last story, we journey to Milwaukee
to meet a soccer fan
who juggles being the owner
of a professional indoor team.
[kicking balls]
- Yes, good work, fellas! Yes!
My name is Denzel Pettigrew.
I'm the coach and owner of Brew City Legends FC,
the newest pro indoor team in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Yep, let's talk, okay? [blows whistle]
Indoor soccer is very different than outdoor.
It's a different style.
You have to be in tip-top shape.
More of play like a hockey-style, up and down,
up and down, getting your shifts in, quick play,
quick combinations, and just gettin' a lot of shots off.
We play in the Premier Arena Soccer League against
Cincinnati Swerve, Chicago Mustangs, Detroit Waza.
I feel like we have the hardest division, the best division,
to be honest with you.
Last year, the division champs,
and now we're trying to repeat.
- Agustin Rey: So, there's a big statement to make this year, you know.
This is a great program.
The team, the atmosphere is awesome.
The coach: man, couldn't ask for more genuine guy.
- That's what I wanna see, got some big team.
[shouting] Who's on the keeper?
- It's impressive for one guy to kinda take it all on his shoulders
and start something pretty much from nothing
and grow it already after a couple years
into what it is now.
- Denzel: Been playin' soccer since I was seven.
- Seņora Pettigrew: Soccer took him all over the world and it still does.
[Seņora Pettigrew cheers]
He came home one day and said, "Mom, I wanna own my own."
And I'm like, "What do you mean?"
He was like, "Mom, I think I can do this."
He said, "I've been all over the world
"studying from everyone.
I wanna try it."
- If it was somethin' I loved,
my mom always told me to go after it.
She keeps me motivated, she keeps me going every day.
She pushes me.
It's an awesome lady right there.
There's not a lot of African Americans
I feel like, growin' up,
was in that sport.
I am the first African American soccer owner in the PASL.
Let's go! [blows whistle]
It's a blessing that I am the first one,
but color factor doesn't matter.
It's just me just doin' what I love at the end of the day.
We have all different type of nationalities on this team,
and I like it that way.
To team: Every time you talkin'...
We all get along.
It's a family, it's a brotherhood here,
and they all play for each other.
Great practice, lookin' good.
One, two, three. - All in unison: Legends!
[shimmery music]
- There's one last thing I have to do before we head out
and that's tour this amazing ice castle.
If you'd like to learn more about Lake Geneva Winterfest,
or any of the people featured, visit WisconsinLife.org .
Do you know someone doing something extraordinary?
Email us at Stories@WisconsinLife.org .
I'm Angela Fitzgerald, and this is our Wisconsin Life .
Stay warm.
[gentle music]
- Announcer: Wisconsin Life is funded in part by
Alliant Energy,
Lowell and Mary Peterson,
American Transmission Company,
Focus Fund for Wisconsin Programming,
and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.