?? This Tuesday, August 24th at 1 PM, there will be a showing of Emma @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building: Comedy/Drama/Romance 2 hours, 4 minutes Rated PG (2021) A requested film: Jane Austen’s beloved costume comedy. In 1800s England, a well-meaning but selfish young woman meddles in the love lives of her friends.…
City
City, Daily Bread, Economy, Poverty, School District, Technology
Daily Bread for 8.16.21: Broadband Gaps, Right Here in Whippet City
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Good morning. Monday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 84. Sunrise is 6:03 AM and sunset 7:54 PM, for 13h 50m 37s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 59.7% of its visible disk illuminated. Whitewater’s Equal Opportunities Commission meets at 5 PM, the Community Development Authority at 5:30 PM,…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, August 10th, 1 PM @ Seniors in the Park, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
?? This Tuesday, August 10th at 1 PM, there will be a showing of Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building: Comedy Rated PG-13 1 hour, 47 minutes (2021) Two best friends, Barb and Star, leave their small Nebraska hometown for the first time ever, to go…
City, Coronavirus, Culture, Education, Public Health, School District, Science/Nature
Wise Words for Whitewater from Steak-umm
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
There’s a thread on Twitter from Steak-umm (an American brand of thin-sliced frozen steaks) that does a better job (truly) discussing the role of science and skepticism about the pandemic than much of what’s published online. The full thread is available at Twitter, and excerpts are imediately below. It’s spot-on for Whitewater. (Note: the thread…
City, Culture, Education, Liberty, Populists, Right-wing Populism, School District
Jane Jacobs with Useful Advice on Responsibility (for Whitewater, Richmond Township, Delavan, Etc.)
by JOHN ADAMS • • 3 Comments
In Jane Jacobs’s Death and Life of Great American Cities (describing large cities, not small towns), she writes of business owners’ sense of responsibility for the sidewalks near their shops: First, there must be a clear demarcation between what is public space and what is private space. Public and private spaces cannot ooze into each other…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, July 27th, 1 PM @ Seniors in the Park, The Little Things
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
?? This Tuesday, July 27th at 1 PM, there will be a showing of The Little Things @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building: (Crime/Drama/Thriller) Rated R (Violence, profanity, intense scenes) 2 hours, 8 minutes (2021) A burnt-out California deputy sheriff (Denzel Washington) teams up with a crack LAPD detective (Rami Malek) in the search…
City, Housing, Local Government, Police, Press
Broken Policymaking Over a Voucher Program
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Whitewater has a local government that taxes and legislates, and that hires officials who exercise authority over the city’s residents, in a nine-square-mile area. Our local government has its own municipal building, in which it holds regular public meetings, and in which officials can talk to each other and residents in person, by email, text,…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, July 13th, 1 PM @ Seniors in the Park, Judas and the Black Messiah
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
This Tuesday, July 13th at 1 PM, there will be a showing of Judas and the Black Messiah @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building: Biography/Drama/History Rated R (Violence, profanity) 2 hours, 6 minutes (2021) In 1966, William O’Neal (the Judas) is offered a plea deal by J. Edgar Hoover to infiltrate the Illinois chapter of…
City, Local Government, Never Trump, Politics, School District, Trumpism, Whitewater's Local Politics 2021
Whither the Conservative Populists?
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
In places big and small, including Whitewater, there are three main types of conservatives: traditional, transactional, and populist. (Right-wing populist in our time is mostly a euphemism for Trumpist.) Of these types, only the right-wing populists are a dynamic movement. Traditional conservatives each day look more like large reptiles after a cataclysmic meteor strike, and…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, June 29th, 1 PM @ Seniors in the Park, Minari
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
This Tuesday, June 29th at 1 PM, there will be a showing of Minari @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building: Drama/Family Rated PG-13 1 hour, 55 minutes (2020) A Korean American family attempts to start a farm in 1980’s Arkansas, in search of its own American Dream. Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actress (Yuh-Jung…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, June 22nd, 1 PM @ Seniors in the Park, The Father
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
This Tuesday, June 22nd at 1 PM, there will be a showing of The Father @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building: Drama Rated PG-13 1 hour, 37 minutes (2020) A man (Anthony Hopkins) refuses all assistance from his daughter as he ages and succumbs to dementia. Also stars Olivia Colman. Sir Anthony Hopkins won…
City, University, UW System
UW-Whitewater Chancellor Watson Resigns Following Cancer Diagnosis
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that UW-Whitewater Chancellor Dr. Dwight Watson has resigned following a cancer diagnosis: UW-Whitewater Chancellor Dwight Watson has resigned following a diagnosis of stomach and intestinal cancer, officials announced Thursday. “After much deliberation, I must resign from my position as Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater,” Watson wrote in his resignation letter. “I…
City, Courts, Crime, Law, Walworth County, Wisconsin
Wisconsin Supreme Court Grants New Trial in State of Wisconsin v. Alan M. Johnson
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Alan M. Johnson was convicted in Walworth County of first-degree reckless homicide in the death of his brother-in-law. (Johnson’s late brother-in-law is identified in today’s high court opinion as ‘K.M.’ The events of the case took place in Whitewater, and the Walworth County trial was before Circuit Judge Kristine Drettwan.) Johnson appealed his conviction, and…
Charity, City, Culture, Local Government, Newspapers, Police, Politics, Poverty
‘Communicate, Communicate, Communicate’ Isn’t So Easy in a Fractured Town
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Some years ago, an administrator (no longer with the school district) told others that a good practice for leaders was to ‘communicate, communicate, communicate’ with the community. The concept makes sense: craft a message and then make sure it’s heard by repeating it. In a small town, how hard could that be? As it turns…