I live, and write, from Whitewater, Wisconsin. This small city has many charms, but it is neither an island nor a kingdom. Indeed, it is better off being – and knowing that it is – a small town in a great republic, a small part of a virtuous continental society. Far from making Whitewater smaller,…
City
City, Film
Film: Wednesday, July 17th, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park, The Long Gray Line
by JOHN ADAMS •
This Wednesday, July 17th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of The Long Gray Line @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building: “The Long Gray Line” (Biography/Drama/Sports) Wednesday, July 17, 12:30 pm Rated G; 2 hours, 18 minutes; Technicolor (1955). In 1898, a salt-of-the-earth Irish immigrant, Martin Maher (Tyrone Power), is…
City, Education, School District
Changes at Whitewater Middle School
by JOHN ADAMS •
One reads that Whitewater Middle School principal Tanya Wojciechowicz has resigned, after a few months in which her departure seemed probable. For those months, one version or another of this post awaited publishing. The best one can now confidently say is that Whitewater Middle School will for months remain a work in progress. It…
America, Asylum, City, Good Ideas, Immigration, Liberty
Lights for Liberty
by JOHN ADAMS •
LIGHTS for LIBERTY is a national movement to unite Americans from across this continent on the evening of July 12th, 2019. (In Whitewater residents will be gathering in support of migrants’ rights at the Cravath Lakefront at 8:30 PM.) We are a coalition of people, many of whom are mothers, dedicated to human rights, and…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, July 9th, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park, On the Basis of Sex
by JOHN ADAMS •
? This Tuesday, July 9th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of On the Basis of Sex @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building: “On the Basis of Sex” (Biography/Drama) Tuesday, July 9, 12:30 pm PG-13; 2 hours (2018) The true story of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, her struggles for equal rights…
Babbittry, Bad Ideas, CDA, City, Crony Capitalism, Development, Economy, Employment, Government Spending, Local Government, Poverty, Scott Walker, State Capitalism, State Government, That Which Paved the Way, WEDC
Three Fundamental Failures: Employment, Income, and Poverty
by JOHN ADAMS •
An earlier post addressed Walker’s Fundamental Failure to meet his jobs pledge even after eight years. The record is much worse: years of corporate subsidies and meddling in the marketplace for preferred businesses & political cronies have produced failures of employment, income, and poverty. (Small town officials who copied this approach on the local level, as…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, June 25th, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park, Isn’t It Romantic
by JOHN ADAMS •
? This Tuesday, June 25th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of Isn’t It Romantic @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin community building: “Isn’t It Romantic” (Comedy/Fantasy/Romance) Tuesday, June 25, 12:30 pm Rated PG-13; 1 hour, 29 minutes OK, all of you fans of Hallmark Channel romance comedies: this one’s for you! A…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, June 11th, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park, What They Had
by JOHN ADAMS •
? This Tuesday, June 11th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of What They Had @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin community building: “What They Had” (Family/Drama) Tuesday, June 11, 12:30 pm Rated R (language) (2018) Bridget (Hilary Swank) returns home to Chicago at her brother’s (Michael Shannon) urging to deal with…
City, Culture, Newspapers
Another Local Paper Changes Hands
by JOHN ADAMS •
Local newspapers are changing ownership quickly now. Knox gave up publishing the Jefferson County Daily Union in December, and now Bliss will sell the Janesville Gazette (and radio stations) this June. These changes of ownership are not coming because the papers are strong: these sales are halfway to fire sales. The new, common ownership (APG)…
City, Film
Film: Wednesday, June 5th, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park, Secondhand Lions
by JOHN ADAMS •
? This Wednesday, June 5th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of Secondhand Lions @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin community building: “Secondhand Lions” (Comedy/Drama/Family) Wednesday, June 5, 12:30 pm Rated PG; 1 hour, 51 minutes (2003) A coming-of-age story about a shy, young boy sent by his irresponsible mother to…
Bad Ideas, City, Congress
‘Our Guy’ Is Our Guy on a Sunday Evening in September
by JOHN ADAMS •
One reads that gerrymandered septuagenarian millionaire Congressman Thurston Howell III F. James Sensenbrenner has an exciting announcement for Whitewater: SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 22ND 7:00pm Whitewater Town Hall Meeting Whitewater Municipal Building, 312 W. Whitewater Street That’s right: nothing but nothing says ‘our guy’ like someone who schedules a town hall for a Sunday evening before the…
Babbittry, CDA, City, Demographics, Development, Diversity, Economy, Local Government, That Which Paved the Way
Rural Population Drain
by JOHN ADAMS •
Thirteen years ago, local notables in small-town Whitewater, Wisconsin insisted that Whitewater was the very center of the universe. When that claim didn’t entice newcomers, these same men began to claim the very opposite, that Whitewater wasn’t doing better because no one knew where the city was. (Both of these claims are silly: billions of…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, May 28th, 12:30 PM @ Seniors in the Park, Stan & Ollie
by JOHN ADAMS •
This Tuesday, May 28th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of Stan & Ollie @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin community building: “Stan & Ollie” (Biography/Comedy/Drama) Tuesday, May 28, 12:30 pm Rated PG; 1 hour, 38 minutes (2018) With their glory days as Hollywood’s famous comedy duo long behind them, Stan…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, City, University
A New Chancellor (and a Fitting Russian Proverb)
by JOHN ADAMS •
One reads this morning, as might have been expected, that the UW System regents have named Dr. Dwight C. Watson to be the new chancellor of UW-Whitewater. These recent years have seen two failed chancellors at UW-Whitewater. One hopes, genuinely and truly, that Dr. Watson, now Provost and Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs…