With the help of 18 domestic cats (8 females, 10 males) with a job history of at least three years in a cat café, experimenters tried four different approaches to getting a cat’s attention: using visual cues, using vocal cues, using both, or using neither (as the control).
This was far from the team’s first rodeo in exploring cat behavior around humans, which meant they approached the experiment with some idea as to what might happen.
“Knowing that cats have developed specific vocalizations for interacting with humans, we hypothesized that they would be keener to approach a human engaging in vocal communication compared to visual communication,” they explained. However, cats aren’t famous for their cooperation.
The results of the different experimental conditions revealed that actually, cats interacted significantly faster in response to visual and bimodal (both visual and vocal) communication compared to vocal cues alone. Interestingly it also showed that failing to acknowledge a cat completely may stress them out, as the most tail wagging was observed in the control condition where the experimenter ignored the cat.
It seems that if you want to catch the attention of a cat on the street, you’ve really got to go for it.
“Taken together, our results suggest that cats display a marked preference for both visual and bimodal cues addressed by non-familiar humans compared to vocal cues only,” concluded the authors. “Our findings offer further evidence for the emergence of human-compatible socio-cognitive skills in cats that favour their adaptation to a human-driven niche.”
Thursday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 79. Sunrise is 5:35 AM and sunset 8:06 PM for 14h 31m 28s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 63% of its visible disk illuminated.
The Whitewater Aquatic and Fitness Center Subcommittee meets at 6 PM.
On this day in 1997, Deep Blue, a chess-playing supercomputer, defeats Garry Kasparov in the last game of the rematch, becoming the first computer to beat a world-champion chess player in a classic match format.
And so, and so, the CNN town hall with Trump went as we of Never Trump expected it would: the spectacle of a lying autocrat and his braying supporters. It’s worth watching in full, every word, every gesture, every audience response.
Trump is predictable and so are his extreme supporters. Not a word Trump uttered, not a claim he made, was one he had not made many times before.
As it turns out, this means that a reasonable person can accurately predict Trump’s fate:
Wednesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 75. Sunrise is 5:36 AM and sunset 8:05 PM for 14h 29m 15s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 73.4% of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater will hold a Role of Government training at 4:30 PM, the Public Works Committee meets at 6 PM, and the Police & Fire Commission meets at 7 PM. The Whitewater School Board goes into closed session shortly after 6 PM, to resume open session at 7 PM.
On this day in 1869, the first transcontinental railroad, linking the eastern and western United States, is completed at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory with the golden spike.
Of Tammy Baldwin, Bruce Murphy asks Is Baldwin Vulnerable? Or Unbeatable?The question arises (only) because some national pundits have Baldwin on a list of vulnerable U.S. Senators:
According to The Hill, the Capitol insider publication, Wisconsin’s U.S. SenatorTammy Baldwin is “one of the eight most vulnerable Senate Democrats in 2024.”
Wisconsin, the publication warned, “remains a crucial battleground state with a propensity to swing wildly from one election to another.” I guess we’re a little wacky here in Wiscoland.
CNNrated the seat number six on its list of the 10 senate seats “most likely to flip,” cautioning the competitiveness of Wisconsin “shouldn’t be underestimated.”
Murphy correctly notes that, by contrast, those with a better grasp of Wisconsin politics (rather than list-makers looking to fill out a card) recognize that Baldwin is in a strong position:
Baldwin [is] currently looking a good deal less vulnerable than some of those rankings suggest. “It was telling that [Senate Minority Leader] Mitch McConnell recently mentioned four Senate races he is focused on,” [pollster Charles] Franklin noted, “and did not include Wisconsin on the list.”
Murphy’s own assessment is good — Mike Gallagher would be a stronger opponent for Baldwin but he likely won’t run; Tom Tiffany will be a much easier opponent for Baldwin and he likely will run.
(Tiffany, slathered in insurrection, would be a worse version of Leah Vukmir. It would be as though central casting sent over the nuttiest, dog-crap-quality opponent they could find to run statewide against Baldwin. Someone should check if Baldwin has a relative in the WISGOP who’s pushing Tiffany as a choice.)
In a post from two weeks ago, this libertarian blogger assessed Baldwin as the prohibitive favorite. See Baldwin as the Prohibitive Favorite.
Tuesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 70. Sunrise is 5:37 AM and sunset 8:04 PM for 14h 27m 01s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 82.3% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1662, the figure who later became Mr. Punch makes his first recorded appearance in England. (These centuries later, he’s still irritating.)
Consider the following observation from Dr. Laura Robinson about what happens when someone’s contention — someone’s argumentation — goes bad:
If you can’t follow the logic of an argument without getting somewhere catastrophic, and need to head off the catastrophe at the pass by saying “please don’t follow the logic of this argument” – isn’t it a bad argument?
Quite right: that would be a bad argument.
(Robinson’s observation, by the way, appears in her series critiquing the view of sexuality presented in Joshua Ryan Butler’s Beautiful Union. Robinson’s six-part, fifteen-thousand-word critique is formidable, with range from exegesis to anatomy.)
In Robinson’s field, academic theology, bad arguments are, understandably, to be avoided.
There is, however, no avoiding bad arguments in the field of social media. Many arguments are offered not because they lead someplace reasonable but because they lead someplace satisfying for the offeror. That satisfaction need not be benign, but is often malevolent. Adam Serwer’s Cruelty is the Point captures the impulse of conservative populism toward inflicting injury as a primary goal (and, fundamentally, all populism demonizes this way). See Defining Populism, Populism Doesn’t Apologize, and Extreme Populism Presents as Trolling.
For so many of the local men who talk about ‘common sense,’ Hobbes was spot-on, that reason is a spy for the passions (“the Thoughts, are to the Desires, as Scouts, and Spies, to range abroad, and find the way to the things Desired”).
I’ll not say that Robinson’s environment is easier, of course. One could look at this and see that Hobbes would be nearly as correct about Robinson’s environment as any other. How much of the book that Robinson critiques is simply what the book’s author wants to believe? It is, however, a book, and an argument contained within.
For arguments offered in our local scene, there’s an impatient conflation, a mad rush, from claim to desire.
Monday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of 57. Sunrise is 5:38 AM and sunset 8:03 PM for 14h 24m 44s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 90.2% of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Planning Commission meets at 6 PM, and the city’s Alcohol Licensing Committee meets at 7:30 PM.
Sunday in Whitewater will see intermittent clouds with a high of 81. Sunrise is 5:40 AM and sunset 8:02 PM for 14h 22m 25s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 95.91% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1920, in the Treaty of Moscow, Soviet Russia recognizes the independence of the Democratic Republic of Georgia only to invade the country six months later.
“(Rail trails) make the perfect base for a walking and biking trail,” said Eric Oberg, the Midwest Regional Director of the national nonprofit Rails to Trail.
Wisconsin has more than 100 of these trails, and the very first rail trail in the United States was created in Wisconsin. The beginning of a collection of rail trails that now span almost 2,000 miles across Wisconsin began with the Elroy-Sparta State Trail, which is considered the first rail trail.
….
But it wasn’t the easiest railroad to convert. Oberg said the tunnels in the Elroy-Sparta trail were hard to work with during construction, even if they are half the fun. He said despite the challenges the trail’s bridges and tunnels created, they’re an unbelievable and beautiful part of what he says may be the best rail trail.
After the Elroy-Sparta trail was created in 1965, the idea to get people outside using such a system really stuck.
In fact, that’s what [reader Phil] Kaznowski was doing when he reached out to WHYsconsin. A few months after moving to Wisconsin, he began to really enjoy his outside adventures biking on the rail trails, and he couldn’t help but want to know more.
On the trails, he sees people of all ages walking, biking and running, and he sees people using wheelchairs. The often wider paths make it, so families can walk together alongside bicyclists.
And that’s the whole point, Oberg said: Rail trails are meant to conserve history, nature and bring people closer to the outdoors and their community.
“Every facet of your community is out using that trail,” Oberg said. “And unlike in your car when you pass people, if you pass people on a trail, it is a personal experience. At the very least you smile at each other. More often than not you say, ‘Hello,’ maybe you stopped to have a conversation. It’s the place where community happens now.”
Saturday in Whitewater will see afternoon thunderstorms with a high of 70. Sunrise is 5:41 AM and sunset 8:01 PM for 14h 20m 04s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 99.1% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this date, George Orson Welles was born in Kenosha. The name George was soon dropped. The family moved to Chicago in 1919, and two years later, Welles’ parents separated. After his mother’s death in 1924, he travelled the world with his father, only to lose him in 1928.
Welles turned down the chance at college in 1931, choosing instead to go on a sketching trip to Ireland. In 1934, Welles made his New York debut, playing Tybalt in Katherine Cornell’s staging of Romeo and Juliet. In the mid 1930s, he established himself as a radio actor on The March of Time and The Shadow, among other shows. He began working with John Houseman and together they formed the Mercury Theatre in 1937. Their program, The Mercury Theatre on Air, became famous for the notorious events surrounding their version of The War of the Worlds in 1938, in which they provoked mass panic among listeners.
A renowned actor, writer, producer, and director, Welles is known best for his roles in such films as Citizen Kane (1941), Jane Eyre (1944), MacBeth (1948), Moby Dick (1956), A Man for all Seasons (1966), and Catch 22 (1970). Welles was awarded an Honorary Oscar in 1971 and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute in 1975.
There are only a few regions in the world where the skies meet the Earth with almost no distinction between the two. La Palma in the Canary islands is one of them. ‘Entre Ciel et Terre’ literally means ‘Between the sky and Earth’ and was a perfect fit here. While most of the volcanic island is isolated under a thick layer of clouds, the tip of its crater often punches through it and allows you to be one step closer to the Heavens.
At an altitude of about 2300 meters above sea level you feel so far removed from any kind of civilization especially because of the cloud inversion. The air is thin and pristine and the living conditions are harsh but that’s the reason why the ORM (Observatory Roque de Los Muchachos) — operated by the IAC (Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias) and part of the European Northern Observatory, was built up there.
The summit of La Palma’s caldera benefits from dry and clear skies almost year round with almost no light pollution to disturb it, and only rare Calima (this dusty wind coming from the Sahara desert).
Friday in Whitewater will see intermittent clouds with a high of 74. Sunrise is 5:42 AM and sunset 8:00 PM for 14h 17m 42s of daytime. The moon is full with 99.92% of its visible disk illuminated.
Employers created 253,000 jobs in April, keeping the U.S. economy afloat amid a banking crisis, rising interest rates, the prospect of devastating U.S. government default and a spike in layoffs.
The unemployment ratedropped to 3.4 percent last month, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report released Friday, matching a low from May 1969.
The April jobs report, which beat economists’ forecast yet again, showed the 28th straight month of solid job growth. The remarkable strength of the pandemic recovery labor market, despite some softening, is buoying the U.S. economy through enormous uncertainty. Jobless benefit claims have been slowly inching up but still show no signs of an economic downturn.
“You’re really not seeing any indicators in the labor market that a recession is on the horizon,” said Kathryn Edwards, a labor economist at the Rand Corporation. “All of the forecasts of a recession are coming from outside the labor market.”
Tuesday, May 9th at 1:00 PM, there will be a showing of 80 for Brady @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building:
Comedy/Drama/Sports
Rated PG-13; 1 hour, 38 minutes (2023)
A group of friends make it their life-long mission to go to the Super Bowl and meet NFL quarterback Tom Brady. Fun and adventures ensue! Starring Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Sally Field, Rita Moreno, Guy Fieri, and Tom Brady!
Cats do smile, but not in the way that humans do – while we bare a grin to show our happiness, cats smile with their teeth, says Marci Koski, a feline behavior and training consultant. Cats smile by narrowing their eyes, shutting them partly or completely. Their pupils may also be dilated while doing this.
Humans by nature are more expressive, using the muscles in our faces to express happiness, disgust, anger, excitement and other emotions.
“Cats don’t have that range of facial expressions,” Koski says. “They evolved in an area or areas that were relatively resource-limited, so their territories were very large and close-up interactions between cats were fairly limited.”
Instead, cats use exaggerated body movements or expressions to show similar emotions. This could be hissing, growling, putting their ears back or to the side, puffing up their bodies or twitching their tails.
Smiling with their eyes is a more subtle expression, but it’s one they do with their humans and other cats alike. Two of Koski’s cats, who are mother and son, show this behavior – the son, Oliver, will only approach his mom to snuggle when she appears relaxed, with her eyes nearly closed.
May the 4th be with you in Whitewater on a mostly sunny day with a high of 71. Sunrise is 5:43 AM and sunset 7:59 PM for 14h 15m 18s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 98.2% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1626, Dutch explorer Peter Minuit arrives in New Netherland (present day Manhattan Island) aboard the See Meeuw.
Small-town Whitewater has an indoor lap pool, leisure pool, and fitness center. The Whitewater Aquatic Center, attached to Whitewater High School, is more spacious with more elaborate facilities than nearby towns’ pools. In the past, both the City of Whitewater and the Whitewater Unified School District contributed to the costs of maintaining the pools, but their last agreement lapsed in ’21.
First, it’s a good-looking facility, and a source of community pride for members.
Second, the pool is in no danger of closing today, tomorrow, or the next day. There’s time for the public bodies arguing over funding to come to terms.
Third, while long-term costs between the parties are in dispute, there’s no claim that the Whitewater Aquatic Center needs $5,000,000 now or perhaps ever for repairs & maintenance.
Fourth, consider how odd this dispute is: Whitewater is a small town, and the City of Whitewater and the Whitewater Unified School District are the same communities. A dispute between these parties is not an arm’s length controversy between a buyer in Oregon and a seller in Arizona. On the contrary, the city is the heart and largest part of the district. A controversy like this is something like a dispute among siblings. Conflict here is internecine conflict. Different institutions may have different goals, but the officials of these institutions are, in fact, all neighbors in the same small area. (The idea of litigation between these parties over the pool is, needless to say, a bridge too far.)
Fifth, while the pool matters greatly to some, neither of these public institutions exists to be providing — or arguing over — a pool. The district and the city have more fundamental tasks before them (respectively, education and public safety). This suggests that ending this dispute with the least ongoing time, effort, and cost is the best course. (Closing the pool is what no one wants, and would only increase community time lost to an aggravated controversy.)
The rational course is a settlement that assures ongoing operation at minimal cost while further discussions on medium and long-term solutions are crafted. A reduction in political temperature — down to, let’s say, negative 30 Fahrenheit — would serve this community well.
Let’s assume, however regrettably, that Whitewater’s city and district officials do not lower the temperature of this dispute. Well, if they can’t solve this matter, there’s reason to doubt their ability to solve any matter. Honest to goodness.
The best use of a pool is, of course, as a pool. If that cannot be worked out, however, then time and tide will wait for no public official. At that unfortunate moment, someone will have to come along with another use for the facility.
While the best use of the pool is as a pool, it should be obvious that the best alternative use of the space would be — without any doubt — as a Kitten Aquatic Sanctuary.
So, someone should send a message to the Whitewater city manager, Whitewater Common Council, Whitewater superintendent, and the Whitewater School Board: if funding for the pool cannot be sorted out dispassionately, then someone (perhaps a libertarian blogger, let’s say) is gonna start a kitten-water-therapy campaign for the space now used as a pool for people.
Any reasonable person — anyone sober and of sound mind — should grasp immediately that this alternative would be destined for success.
The community, however, surely prefers the first use of a pool to an (admittedly) enticing alternative. And so, and so: public officials should come to an economical, short-term deal so that they may concentrate on their fundamental tasks.
Wednesday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 56. Sunrise is 5:45 AM and sunset 7:58 PM for 14h 12m 53s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 94.8% of its visible disk illuminated.
So here we are, at a topic that was hardly discussed during the spring election campaign: was the election a response to the management of the district? Candidly, this shouldn’t be a question: every school board election should be an effectual referendum on the management of the district.
The board should and must oversee the administrators of this district. To oversee requires a distance, detachment, and diligence in one’s observations and judgments. (Only one candidate, to my knowledge, spoke about the current superintendent by name at a March candidate forum. The others, including the three who were elected, never uttered her name. Would it have been so hard to speak the name Caroline Pate-Hefty?)
It is, by the way, the board’s obligation to oversee (literally, to supervise). Candidates who will not speak openly and plainly of officials before an election, but instead only sotto voce among themselves and their allies in the community, have not presented serious matters seriously. Incumbents who have said too little in the public meetings they have for years attended have similarly failed in their obligation to transparent, responsible government.
Talking to your friends and cronies is not good government. Scheming with a few trolls is not good government. Crafting tactics to see what sticks is not good government. There are no monarchs or aristocrats here, and no secret rituals. We have a Whitewater Unified School District and not a Whitewater United Magic Kingdom.
Residents, of whom this libertarian blogger is one of 20,444 within the district, owe it to themselves to speak more directly than this board and administration has done. Perhaps, only perhaps, someone in office will catch on and do the same.
A few points —
Community Challenges. We’ve a district with many challenges, and changes made should have been made plain and changes contemplated must be made plainly. Why is it not clear that
a town that has experienced multiple injuries over more than a decade has a fragility that must be considered and respected. One responds differently to those who are robust (as the boosters once were) from those who are ill or recovering (as the town now is). One responds differently to those who are seeking improvement from those whose actions and proposals are a detriment to the city.
That’s why I’ve correctly compared the district to a pyramid of eggs. Changes in a struggling district bring both greater relative gains but pose greater relative risks than in a prosperous community. We’ve less margin for failure here.
Leaders. In the years since FREE WHITEWATER began publication in 2007, Whitewater has had six district administrators, eight university chancellors, three city managers, and four chiefs of police (including interim leaders). Dozens of other officials have come and gone. That’s a high turnover for a small town. Some were obviously unsuited to their roles (especially those from 2007-09), but they were not all inadequate.
This community is a sometimes a contentious place; it’s beautiful — wonderful, truly — but not easy. Deserving of one’s love, of course, yet genuine love requires seeing with clear, dry eyes.
If we are to have more departures, then government owes a thorough public explanation beforehand, during, and after any changes.
Months ago, at this website, I published a post describing Two Postures, Two Results. It was by design about this superintendent and her administration:
How odd, that some who hold diversity as a value do not recognize diversity and individuality in community roles.
And so, and so, while a libertarian may choose to write, and a choose to maintain a certain personal distance from events (all the better to see clearly), it does not mean that he or she cannot grasp how speaking, on camera particularly, is more or less effective depending on the atmosphere of the moment. Indeed, it may turn out that some of those libertarians are quite comfortable speaking, but choose against that role. It’s easier to assess an environment when one does not become the center of attention.
A simple truth, however cynical it sounds: the camera or an audience makes a huge difference. A confrontation off-camera is nowhere as meaningful to the public as a confrontation on-camera. It’s not simply that more people might see an on-camera confrontation; it’s that people perceive on-camera confrontations differently.
This brings me to a discussion of speaking in contentious political environments. When the atmosphere is hostile (but obviously not violent), for example, it’s better to lean toward others, to engage. That’s often uncomfortable, but it reaps rewards for presenter.
Consider the following two photographs, and imagine each person as an official speaking to the community before an agitated audience.
He is serious, entrenched behind his desk, waiting to deal with complaints. He’s already accepted he’ll receive a critical reception in which he needs a barrier between himself and others.
In response, one should start in a neutral tone and demeanor, assessing the strength of his responses. If he responds convincingly, then one engages in a dialogue, but there’s no more to be had. If, however, his responses are unconvincing, one can escalate argumentatively (always while controlled and avoiding overreach) knowing that this man offers only unpersuasive replies while locked into a defense physical position that makes him look either aloof or anxious. If he fails in his responses, he’s opened himself up by words and posture to others’ escalation.
The caption says she’s confident, and that’s an apt description. She’s subtly inviting in expression and boldly confident in posture. Her audience might be critical, but if it is, then she’s meeting them with sangfroid. Perhaps she was behind a desk, but then came forward when she thought that the discussion might become heated.
In response to her posture, one should reasonably begin and stay conversational in speech and relaxed in manner. A combination of neutral, straightforward, or even occasionally teasing and playful remarks might be in order, but no more. Deep sarcasm would be unsuited to the exchange. Her confidence in posture, if matched with confidence in replies (even replies that are unsatisfying to others), assures her something like a draw, at a minimum, in any confrontation. There is no chance, none whatever, that anger or hostility would carry the day with someone as confident as this woman appears.
I’ve no personal like or dislike in any of this. It is with disappointment but candor that one writes that Whitewater, especially the district, has become a place of chronic contention between factions. Of personal contention, there need to be repeated, official attempts at reconciliation in public settings.
An Invitation. The school board should request changes in presentations so that Dr. Pate-Hefty speaks to academic progress in each board meeting, and also has her own time to answer residents’ questions, apart from the ordinary public comment period. Why this has not been done is a puzzle. If there has been a request for a format like this that our superintendent has declined, then the public should be told of it.
There have been unplugged sessions, but this proposal would be in a bigger setting, as part of a school board meeting.
It does no good for residents to yell at the superintendent in a meeting. It’s lawful to be upset, but that kind of dominance and submission ritual gains nothing.
What’s wrong with some of these gentlemen that they are so cranked up over this woman?
Invite Dr. Pate-Hefty to a conversation. She alone, so to speak, without administrators or board members answering. It wouldn’t be my inclination to call the superintendent by her first name, but many do.
So, invite Caroline to a conversation. Is that so hard? Set a welcoming table, so to speak, and ask her for a bit of time.
This is, of course, a metaphorical and rhetorical invitation. It’s not as though anyone expects the school board to set up a dining table in the high school library. The offer of dialogue, however, should be public and genuine.
What could happen? She might accept that invitation, and all the community would be better for it. Alternatively, she might decline, and then this community will have regrettably lost the opportunity for dialogue. Whitewater residents will, however, know where they stand.
About a week ago, I attended a public meeting where Dr. Pate-Hefty was also in attendance. I remember her arrival: she entered the room from the left, in a tan blouse and dark slacks, wearing an agreeable fragrance that I could not quite place. She sat directly behind me.
We did not speak to each other, as one can assume we were both there for the speakers and not to make introductions with other members of the audience. And yet, and yet, for the full meeting, she did not once disturb, annoy, or confront me. She didn’t threaten to cast a spell or send out flying monkeys from the district office. There was no reason to be worried by her proximity.
(In the unlikely event that Dr. Pate-Hefty did try to cast a spell, then in reply I would have asked a girl from Kansas to bring me her broom.)
But she did nothing of the sort, and there was no reason for concern. I am a resident, having arrived by invitation to Whitewater a generation ago, and blessedly here forever. Not for a while, not now and again, but forever. There is no more secure position.
This board should set a table, extend a sincere invitation to public conversation, and await her reply. All Whitewater would benefit from those public conversations. That’s the ongoing public mandate of any board and of any superintendent.
Tuesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 50. Sunrise is 5:46 AM and sunset 7:56 PM for 14h 10m 26s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 88.8% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1986, the City of Chernobyl is evacuated six days after the Chernobyl disaster.
Following the April elections, what’s the electoral mandate for the Whitewater Unified School District’s board majority?
First, and obviously, there’s no electoral mandate in following the laws of the United States, statutes of the State of Wisconsin, or policies of the Whitewater Unified School District. A board is so required to do so at any and all times. Obligations to existing law and policy do not change merely because Whitewater has new board members.
What electoral mandate, however, does this new board majority (Larry Kachel, Stephanie Hicks, Maryann Zimmerman, and Christy Linse) have? A candidate’s mandate from voters requires a political issue, expressly presented to the electorate during the campaign, on which the successful candidate campaigned. While not all of the new board majority ran for election in April, this four-person majority depends on the support of two candidates (Hicks, Linse) who were successful in April.
The best and most complete place to look for candidates’ positions presented to the electorate would be their remarks at the 3.11.23 candidate forum and in response to the questionnaire from Fort Atkinson Online that they (and others) completed before the primary.
The Candidate Forum.
There were six questions from the candidate forum, along with opening and closing statements.
Question 1, 19:31: Are you committed to a yearly survey of families, students, graduates, community residents, faculty and staff about what they see as major strengths or shortcomings of the district and its schools. And are you committed to publicly sharing the results?
Question 2, 30:17: How do you plan to address low ACT scores, and below proficient scores in math and reading?
Question 3, 42:17: Would you support a dual language program in schools? And does our district and community have the resources to put in dual language learning?
Question 4, 54:46: Minority and LGBT students exist in this community and deserve respect and to not feel ostracized. Can you commit to supporting all Whitewater students and making sure they have a voice? And then how would you work to make sure all students are accepted and supported?
Question 5, 1:05:45: What is CRT to you? How does it differ from teaching the real and sometimes harsh truth of American history? And what is your opinion of having CRT, woke, and D E I in the Whitewater United Unified School District schools (DEI standing for diversity, equity and inclusion)?
Question 6, 1:16:22: As a member of the school board, will you support a future referendum to exceed revenue limits? If so, where would you direct this additional funding? And what will you do to address the rural community’s discontent with board spending habits and stop the 30 plus years of continuous referendums?
The Voters’ Guide. Each of the successful candidates (and the rest of the primary field) provided biographical information and answered four principal questions from Fort Atkinson Online.
It is from these plain answers online and in a public forum that one can see what mattered most to the candidates when they were before the voters. They were free to say whatever they wanted, and their answers to what they felt mattered most to them.
Topics well-known in the community before the election but unaddressed by the candidates before the election would not, and should not, be counted as a mandate for the winning candidates (or the board majority of which two of these candidates are a part).
Now, as it turns out, there’s a community faction that wants to blame immigrants, diversity programming, books & subjects, etc., for problems in the district. Fair enough: factions of residents can pick their issues as they wish.
The winning candidates, however, including two on whom the board majority depends, did not run plainly on those issues. Not at all.
If the board majority now decides to embark on policies that might have been raised during the election but were not, then that majority owes the community a thorough explanation why those policies are being advanced only after the election.
A mandate comes from positions on which a candidate runs, not those he or she ignores.
Tomorrow: What about Management of the Whitewater Unified School District? Wasn’t That an Issue?
That’s why I’ve correctly compared the district to a pyramid of eggs. Changes in a struggling district bring both greater relative gains but pose greater relative risks than in a prosperous community. We’ve less margin for failure here. 
We did not speak to each other, as one can assume we were both there for the speakers and not to make introductions with other members of the audience. And yet, and yet, for the full meeting, she did not once disturb, annoy, or confront me. She didn’t threaten to cast a spell or send out flying monkeys from the district office. There was no reason to be worried by her proximity.