This Tuesday, June 8th at 1 PM, there will be a showing of Nomadland @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building: Drama Rated R (Nudity, profanity) 1 hour, 47 minutes (2021) A woman in her sixties, losing everything financially, embarks on a journey through the West, living as a van-dwelling, modern-day nomad. Oscar winner: Best…
City
City, Local Government
Whitewater Common Council Meeting, 6.1.21: 6 Points
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
The Whitewater Common Council met last night, Tuesday, 6.1.21. Updated 6.3.21 with meeting video. The agenda for the meeting is available electronically. The council reviewed and approved, among other items, a draft audit of the city government’s finances, a settlement with a local bar that will permit the bar to continue operating, a contract with Bird…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, May 25th, 1 PM @ Seniors in the Park, The Mauritanian
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
?? This Tuesday, May 25th at 1 PM, there will be a showing of The Mauritanian @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building: Drama/Thriller Rated R (Violence, sex, language) 2 hours, 9 minutes (2021) Based on his NY Times bestselling memoir, “Guantanamo Diary,” this is the true story of Mohamed Slahi’s fight for freedom…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, May 11th, 1 PM @ Seniors in the Park, The Land
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
?? This Tuesday, May 11th at 1 PM, there will be a showing of The Land @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building: Drama Rated PG-13 1 hour, 29 minutes (2021) An urban, middle-aged woman has fled city life to live off the grid in a tiny cabin on the side of a mountain in Wyoming, knowing nothing…
City, Local Government
Whitewater Common Council Meeting, 4.20.21: 7 Points
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
?? The Whitewater Common Council met on Tuesday, 4.20.21. The recording of the meeting is embedded above. The amended agenda for the meeting is available. A few remarks on selected items of the agenda — 1. Council Officers. Council re-elected unanimously Lynn Binnie as council president and Jim Allen as president pro tempore. (Video, 04:00.) 2.…
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, April 20th, 1 PM @ Seniors in the Park, Wonder Woman 1984
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
This Tuesday, April 20th at 1 PM, there will be a showing of Wonder Woman 1984 @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building: (Superhero action) Rated PG-13 2 hours, 31 minutes (2020) Diana Prince (Gail Gadot) lives quietly among mortals in the vibrant, sleek 1980s, but soon she will have to muster all of…
City, Culture, Education, Local Government, Politics, School District, University, Whitewater's Local Politics 2021
Whitewater’s Local Politics 2021: The Limits of Local Politics
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
This is the final post in a series on Whitewater’s local politics of 2021. Earlier posts at FREE WHITEWATER have addressed the limits of local politics in the community: local public (or powerful private) institutions have a limited power of action (with harmful actions likely to be more immediate than helpful ones). It’s certain that a…
City, Coronavirus, Culture, Education, Politics, School District, Whitewater's Local Politics 2021
Whitewater’s Local Politics 2021: Majoritarianism
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
This is the tenth in a series on Whitewater’s local politics of 2021. The contested April school board election has now come to a close. An animating concern of many parents was that the Whitewater public school should not have suspended face-to-face instruction for as long as it did, and that, in doing so, the…
Babbittry, Bad Ideas, Blogging, Boosterism, City, Confidence Schemes, Coronavirus, Culture, Local Government, Mendacity, Politics, School District, Special Interests, Whitewater's Local Politics 2021
Whitewater’s Local Politics 2021: Marketing
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
This is the ninth in a series on Whitewater’s local politics of 2021. Through all the difficult events of the last two decades (a Great Recession, an opioid epidemic, economic stagnation, creeping nativism, a pandemic, a pandemic recession), Old Whitewater has responded with the same question: how can we market the town to others? If…
Blogging, City, Coronavirus, Local Government, Politics, Whitewater's Local Politics 2021
Whitewater’s Local Politics 2021 — COVID-19: Skepticism and Rhetoric
by JOHN ADAMS • • 4 Comments
City, Local Government, Politics, Whitewater's Local Politics 2021
Whitewater’s Local Politics 2021: The Common Council
by JOHN ADAMS • • 3 Comments
This is the seventh in a series on Whitewater’s local politics of 2021. Whitewater has a seven-person person city council with an appointed city manager to run the daily affairs of the town. Two of the council seats are at-large, and the other five members are from aldermanic districts. While the city manager acts in…
City, Culture, Democrats, Local Government, Politics, School District, University, Whitewater's Local Politics 2021
Whitewater’s Local Politics 2021: The Subcultural City
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
This is the sixth in a series on Whitewater’s local politics of 2021. There’s no politically predominant group in Whitewater. Strictly speaking, a subculture implies a dominant culture, but it’s less dramatic to describe Whitewater as several subcultures than as balkanized. One might call the city multicultural, but that term often implies an acceptance of…
City, Local Government, Politics, School District, University, Whitewater's Local Politics 2021
Whitewater’s Local Politics 2021: The Campus
by JOHN ADAMS • • 3 Comments
This is the fifth in a series on Whitewater’s local politics of 2021. Whitewater, Wisconsin is a small town where about half the residents are university students. Town-Gown conflicts here aren’t the most in all North America, but they’re not the least, either. The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater is beset with challenges apart from politics: long-term structural…
City, Local Government, Politics, School District, Whitewater's Local Politics 2021
Whitewater’s Local Politics 2021: The City’s Few Progressives
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
This is the fourth in a series on Whitewater’s local politics of 2021. The largest political gathering in Whitewater in 2020 was a rally for racial justice in Whitewater following the death of George Floyd in Minnesota. Hundreds attended. It was not, however, an allowedly progressive event – the small local group Whitewater Unites Lives invited…