Friday 8/14/26: How schools prepare for floods, Wisconsin State Fair, MKELoveLetter

Support for WUWM podcast comes from Hop, Harvest, and Vine, and Good Harvest Market in Pewaukee, part of one destination, combining farm-to-table dining, local craft beers, and organic groceries under one roof. More at goodharvestmarket.com. From 89.7, WUWM, Milwaukee's NPR, this is Lake Effect. I'm Exquaret Nunez. Today, we look at the lessons learned from last year's historic floods and how schools are preparing for severe weather in the future. Then, we'll check out the Wisconsin State Fair archives and learn about the man who helped make it happen. He had his own collection because he had grown up three blocks up on Schlinger Avenue, only missed two fairs in his lifetime. And so he was a wealth of that history. Plus, we'll tell you about one Milwaukee woman sharing random acts of kindness through love letters. The goal is really to bring surprise delight into someone's day and, yeah, unexpected joy. All of that is coming up on Lake Effect.

This is Lake Effect from 89.7 WUUWM, Milwaukee's NPR. I'm Excurret Nunez. Thanks so much for joining us today. Some schools in Milwaukee are over 100 years old, and they weren't built to handle unexpected severe weather. So when Milwaukee faced a 1,000-year flood last August, dozens of school buildings were damaged. Riverside University High School had seven feet of water on its first floor. Six classrooms were flooded at Wilson Elementary in Wauwatosa. Now, districts are thinking about how to prepare for more frequent and intense floods. WUWM education reporter Catherine Kokel is joined by Chad Bergenis of the Association of State Floodplain Managers. He shares how schools can prepare for the next storm. We are looking back at a year ago in Milwaukee, and in many parts of southeastern Wisconsin, we had just unbelievable flooding. I mean, it happened over the course of just a day or two. And I want to know what is the best case scenario? What is the best way for a school or a school district to prepare its buildings for flooding? I would say that we're at a bit of an inflection point when it comes to flood risk and knowledge of flood risk and how our codes and standards are changing. One of the trends that we've observed over the last couple decades is that we are seeing an increase of very heavy rainfall events. And of course, very heavy rainfall events are the things that most commonly cause flooding, especially in urban areas. And we also know that most of our codes and standards out there are grossly outdated. Most of those are based on a 50-year-old approach under the National Flood Insurance Program and those minimum standards that communities have to adopt. The reason I say we're at an inflection point is because in early 2025, a new standard for safely building in flood hazard areas came out. And it's a game changer. In fact, that standard is... now going to be incorporated into the yet to be published 2027 International Building Code. So what that means, practically speaking, is that communities and states that adopt the 2027 International Building Code are going to have significantly higher flood safety standards. But those higher flood safety standards really represent the nature of the risk today. And the point is, I see headlines all the time that say we've had floods of biblical proportions. We've had extreme floods. But at what point do those extreme floods happen so frequently that they don't become extreme anymore? And that's what we've got to deal with. These buildings are going to be with us for decades or even over 100 years. And we need to make sure that we're building for not only flood safety of today, but flood safety of tomorrow.

That's an excellent point. Can you give some specific examples of how to build for the flood safety for tomorrow? Are there specific things that schools can be equipped with in order to handle this? Yes. So, you know, if you're a school district and, you know, let's say you're looking even at citing a new school building, a first place to start are FEMA flood maps, but that is not the end point. And I need to be very clear for the listeners here, is that we know there are many kinds of flood risks in this country, and FEMA flood maps only show two kinds of flood risk, really. what's called the statistical 100-year flood and the 500-year flood. But we have urban stormwater flood zones. We have flooding that could be due to failures of levees and those kinds of things. And so it's super important that any potential site be examined to make sure that all of these kinds of flood risks. are not present or at least as minimized as possible. And then secondly, is standards. Most standards, as I mentioned before, that are in current codes right now are simply inadequate. The 2027 International Building Code, for example, is going to require that school buildings be built to what are called Design Class 3. or really what's equivalent to the 750 year flood standard. That is a massive upgrade to what most codes have today. Yeah, I just think about the severity of the storm that you're preparing for when you upgrade from a 500-year flood to a 750-year flood. By the way, the flooding that we had here in Milwaukee last summer was referred to as a thousand-year flood. So that sounds really intense, and it represents kind of an upgrade of, okay, we're going to see more of this more often, despite it being called a thousand-year flood. Yes, that's correct. Are there any schools or districts or even like states, entire states, that are doing this type of work particularly well? Is there any state or district that Wisconsin can look to for guidance on how to harden these buildings? You know, unfortunately, none, none really come to mind. What we what we typically see. is that a significant flood happens and buildings get damaged and then kind of the aha moment happens where, you know, community officials, district officials, parents and otherwise say, you know what, maybe that wasn't such.

That wasn't such a good place. I'm kind of reminded it wasn't so much a school, but a hospital during Hurricane Helene. You know, I think it made the news where there were a lot of helicopter rescues because it was a significant flood in the middle of the day. And you build a hospital. Hopefully, the thought that went into that is, geez, this is going to be a fairly safe place. After all, we have patients that you can't move or anything else. And yet. that hospital was fairly new. You know, it was only built within the last 10 years. So we have got to do a better job of siding these school buildings. But then you also have places, let's say like Louisiana, where maybe most of the community is flood prone. At that point, then, you've got to really look to retrofitting existing at-risk buildings and making sure that they're protected to the highest level possible. I think just to provide a little bit of context for listeners, there are two hospitals that come to mind in the Hurricane Helene. There was the Tampa General Hospital that was protected by that aqua fence mechanism. And then I think the hospital you're talking about was in eastern Tennessee, where they were helicopter evacuating people off the roof. And so two very different approaches to keeping that space safe and differing outcomes, certainly. You know, Katie, that's actually, I'm glad you brought up both hospitals because, yes, the one I was thinking about was that Eastern Tennessee, the Unicoy Hospital. But the Tampa Hospital also, I think, is a really good example. And that is... We have improving technologies on how to protect against flooding. And one would think, geez, flood has been around forever. You know, how could technologies possibly improve? But some of those temporary barrier systems, if you have an existing at-risk building, those may be a viable option, you know, to take a look at to prevent future flooding that way. You know, we even have innovations that we kind of call glass flood walls where it's a window glazing system but integrated into a masonry building and can basically render the building floodproofed that way. So there's a lot of good innovation out there. And so I would say that if you have one of those existing at-risk buildings, there's a lot of different options now than we had, let's say. 20 years ago, where you could have these what are called perimeter barriers like the Tampa Hospital had, or could do the heavy work of actually elevating whole buildings or parts of buildings. If you're just joining us, today we're hearing from Chad Bergenus of the Association of State Floodplain Managers. It's a national nonprofit organization, but it's actually based here in Madison. We're talking about what schools and universities can do to harden against flooding. Something that I've heard in reporting this story is that this is not a decision that an individual school principal can make or even an individual teacher can make. These are, you know,

huge infrastructure improvements and investments that need to be handled at the district level school districts across this country are struggling financially. And so how much money does it cost to invest in some of these new technologies? I mean, that aqua fence you're talking about at Tampa General had to be so expensive, right? It is, some of these technologies can be quite expensive, but then others can be less so. But that's why I keep coming back and emphasizing that as we are replacing our buildings. It is far cheaper typically in construction to build it right the first time, to build it safe. You know, we say that, you know, in building elevation, for example, where you're elevating the entire building, the most expensive cost is the first foot of elevation. The reason is because all the site prep, getting the jacking system in place, and all of the work you do, disconnecting the building from its foundation so that you can elevate the first foot. From there on, it's very cheap and incremental to go higher that way. But it's cheaper yet to simply build it elevated the first time so that we don't have future flooding. I think we would be remiss if we didn't mention that the reason that these storms are more frequent and more devastating and more expensive is human-caused climate change. I wonder what types of risks and threats you see either to the state floodplain or from the state floodplain in the next couple of years. given that it seems like we are at a point where we cannot turn the clock back on these types of climate-related issues. The very best thing I think that we can do at this point, and this is where, you know, the Association of State Flob Plain managers and through my career have been focused on is I need the very best data for today and that's forward-looking so that we can make the very best design and land use decisions. Something that is also coming that I think is going to be very helpful, you know, not only in Wisconsin but nationally, is that NOAA is working on a product called Atlas 15. And Atlas 15 is basically establishes the relationship between frequency of rainfall and the amount. And it's going to bring all of our data nationwide up to date in its first volume. And that's actually going to be released, we think, next month. And then volume two is forward-looking.

where it's going to look at a point in the future, I think about 30 years into the future, and try to predict based on the best modeling we can what that future rainfall condition. So think about it. If you have a school building that is designed to last at least 50 years, you'll be able to use that forward-looking rainfall data to help design the infrastructure and things like that just to make sure it doesn't get overwhelmed. So, you know, one of the best things that we can do at this point is have accurate data, and then we also need to have good code and standards to handle that future flooding condition. That product sounds really interesting and also a little scary to have that much data. Noah, by the way, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, I should point out, Noah lost between 15 and 20 percent of its staff last year in those federal workforce cuts. So this is an organization that is continuing to work on this data, but it is limited in its capacity, at least in some measures, in order to do that. Yeah, exactly. And, you know, I am just. eternally thankful right now that at least this Atlas 15 project is one of those projects that is still going to be delivered to the American people because it is so important. One of the things I think that we need to be alarmed about as well is the continuing cuts at our federal science agencies. You know, NOAA being one, the U.S. Geological Survey being the other, those are the two agencies that we work with as an organization that provide our foundational science in dealing with flood risk management. Chad Bergenus is the executive director of the Madison-based Association of State Flood Plain Managers. He spoke with WUWM education reporter, Catherine Kokel. In about 15 minutes, we'll explore the history of the Wisconsin State Fair. But first, we'll tell you about the film, Horse Girl. It's coming to Milwaukee's Oriental Theater. That's coming up on Lake Effect, on Milwaukee's NPR.

You're listening to Lake Effect on 89.7 WUUWM. I'm Exquaret Nunez. Horse Girls is a film centered around a young woman with autism. As her mother grapples with an uncertain health diagnosis, she reluctantly takes on new responsibilities. The filmmakers say accurately representing autism was a focus both on screen and throughout the filming process. To learn more, Lake Effects Audrey Nowakowski is joined by Alex Madigan, one of the film's producers. So how did you first become aware of horse girls and what motivated you to get involved? You know, it's so interesting that you asked that because scripts come to me in such a variety of ways. And basically what happened was I had a project set up at Amazon and we were looking for a new writer for the next draft of the project. And the executive gave me the script for horse girls and said, you know, I don't know if this is the right. voice for the project, but it's a script that's really making the rounds this year for, um, it was during the pandemic actually when that was happening. So we were all on Zoom and she said, this is really making the rounds right now. So you should probably just become acquainted with a writer and maybe she's right for it, maybe not, etc. So I read the script and I just, I really fell in love with it. You know, as a parent, I think no matter how our kids turn out, there's always a little bit of that tinge of fear, I think, that, you know, what's going to happen to them when we leave this earth? And sometimes regrettably, that happens way sooner than we wanted to. And sometimes the kids we leave behind are, I guess, I don't know, fragile would be the right word for it, but. need us maybe more than other kids do or other humans do. So. Long-winded reply, but that's how I came across the script. Yeah, well, and the story is definitely unique, and there's not enough movies through this perspective as well. So it does stand out. So you mentioned the script. It was written by Mackenzie Breeden, co-writer, and she's also a producer along with you. And the central character of Horse Girls, her name is Margarita, portrayed by Lillian Carrier, and it's based on McKenzie's sister, Marguerite. And I understand there's even more interconnected. in this movie. So let's start with McKenzie's sister Marguerite. Why was sharing her story through this film adaptation so important?

Sure. And just as a correction, though, too, a little one is that the story, it was as Lauren Myring, who wrote and directed, shared co-story credit with McKenzie. So Lauren effectively wrote the script. So when she and I were developing it further after the first draft that I read of hers, I was working solely really with Lauren on that. But McKenzie... And Lauren, our best friends. And this story, Hughes very close to life to McKenzie's actual story. Her mother, Sandy, actually passed away, was struggling with cancer for many years. And actually did pass away during the shoot of the film, which was incredibly tragic. The character of Margarita is very loosely based on Marguerite. And Marguerite's just a really... a wonderful woman. She's a bullion, has such a positive outlook, is very funny, has a great sense of humor. And, yeah, it was really wonderful getting to know her in this process. But that's sort of how the story originated and how the true life aspects were the underpinnings of the script itself. How did Marguerite feel about having a story centered on her? I think she really liked it. She visited the set and I remained in touch with her and I think she enjoyed it, actually. That's good. And I do want to talk more in depth about the film's lead, Lillian Carrier. She's such an amazing lead. She brings a great grounding authenticity to this role because she intimately knows what it means to live with autism. And actually something she pointed out that I really love is that the word autism is never said once. in this film. Right. So can you talk about that intentional decision and also making sure you made a movie where an autistic actor portrays an autistic character? Because it's been done in the past where a neurotypical actor portrays an autistic character. It's easy to fall into tropes and other negative things, whether it's intentional or not. So how is this movie done differently? Right. That's such a great question, Audrey. And it's something that we were very, very determined. My co-producer partner on this is a wonderful man named Michael Sherman, who's a terrific producer. And we were very, very determined that we do not fall into that trap. And, you know, the good news is that there has been such a striving for authenticity, you know, throughout really the past, I would say. eight or nine years and it really has extended to so much of the film world in the sense of having people who you know, really come from the background or race or not so much gender or sexuality, I think, but they really are being tapped to tell their own stories, I think. And I think it's incredibly important. And you see so many sort of cringy examples of when this was not, you know, a pattern or sort of an unwritten rule, I think, in the business. But going back to your question, we...

We dealt with a group called Disability Belongs and had the script vetted with them, and they gave us very helpful notes. We hired a man named Alex Plank, who was an associate producer and a kind of our consultant, and he himself is autistic. Chloe, who is Lillian's twin, was also on set and served in that capacity as well. And we really only auditioned women who had autism for that role. It never occurred to us to not hire in that capacity. As you mentioned, it's part of a good positive trend where there's more intentionality behind films. But, you know, I imagine it's really important and probably not quite standard yet to also have that representation behind the camera, involved in producing, involved in autism sensitivity coordinating on set as well. So what did you learn from implementing these practices? You know, I learned a lot about autism itself. And, you know, basically how crucial it is to have, for me, it was so crucial to have those people such as Alex and Chloe on set because you're going to make mistakes if you're not from that world and, you know, and assume certain things and just. make errors along the way. I think if you haven't had that personally as part of your background, which I have not really. So it was very much of a learning process for me. So it's key, I think, to be open, but also surround yourself with, it's like all good stories are researched, essentially. And this is just part of that, I think. I love that. And Horse Girls, it's a part of Milwaukee film's larger cinematic sisterhood series, which spotlights female filmmakers. As we've talked about, you're involved, the co-producer, co-writer McKenzie Breeden, and the directorial debut of Lauren Myring. Can you share the insights and takeaways you have from your experience working on a film that was largely led by a team of women? You know, I have to say, as a producer, really most of the films that I've worked on have been female-led. And I love stories about complicated women. I love stories about underdogs. Sometimes regrettably, that goes hand and end with female stories. But largely, you know, for the past five films I've worked on, they've all been first-time directors. And with the exception of one, a gentleman named Walim Mueness on a film called 1982, which was about the... Israeli invasion of Beirut during that year, all of them have been female directors too. And on this one, we also had a female DP, a production designer. So it was very, yeah, it was very female led for sure.

With Horse Girls, I think it does all the good things that independent cinema allows for. I don't think this type of film would be made with, let's say, a heavy-handed production office, shall we say. What do you think are the best parts of working in independent film? And this can be related to Horse Girls or other projects that you've worked on. You know, the thing with independent film is it's always championing unique voices and stories that are maybe not mainstream and are more fringe and are less told, I think. And so independent film, I think, will always sort of center itself around having voices and stories that are really not in the quote unquote mainstream be heard and realized. You know, I love independent film. I worked. on studio films before as well. But my heart is always in helping, you know, because as a producer, you're really the person sort of pushing the rock of a very steep hill, you know, so many times. And it's, I think you just have to have such a deep-seated belief in the story that you're trying to help realize. That's, I think, the main soul of what independent producing is.

Alex Madigan is a producer of the film Horse Girls. It's playing Monday night at the Oriental Theater as part of Milwaukee Film's Cinematic Sisterhood series. You can find tickets and more information at wuwm.com. Today, the Wisconsin State Fair is best known for its rides, animals, and its many classic and unusual foods. This year, it's also celebrating a momentous 175 years of history. To learn more, Lake Effects Joy Powers headed to the Wisconsin State Fairgrounds to chat with some of the top experts on the fair's history. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to head to West Dallas this week for the Wisconsin State Fair. But at the edge of the fairgrounds in an unassuming office building, there's a space that celebrates the fair year-round. The Wisconsin State Fair archives store a myriad of artifacts from the fair's 175 years of history. It has everything from ribbons and old ads to pieces of the first Milwaukee mile. But while the artifacts themselves are as old as the fair, the archive is relatively new, as archivist Tom Zimmerman explains. Around 1996, the Wisconsin State Fair recognized there was a need to collect catalog and archive all this information they were mapping. And there was a gentleman, Jerry Zimmerman, who was retired. He was my dad. There were no two rooms of archives back then. Some of it was underneath the grandstand. Some of it was in paper boxes. And a lot of it was memories and photographs. It was a monumental task, but one that Tom says his father relished. Jerry Zimmerman was an avid fairgoer who had started collecting items from the state fair long before the project began. He had his own collection because he had grown up. three blocks up on Schlinger Avenue, only missed two fairs in his lifetime. And so he was a wealth of that history, which is one reason the Wisconsin State Fair asked him to volunteer. But then he reached out to other people who loved the fair just as much. Do you have any postcards? Do you have any medals, ribbons? And he started bringing them in. Today, these items fill up the two rooms that comprise the Wisconsin State Fair archive. Zimmerman and fellow archivist John Van Beckham have been exploring the archive and documenting what's in it. Van Beckham describes some of what they found. Many of our ribbons are from livestock. From the very earliest part of the fairs, people would come and exhibit and show off their livestock. They'll show off their produce or the products that they baked, and we would have premium books. One of them right here is some 1888 that we sent out every year. And in there, you would have lists or classes of categories that they'd be judging. And sometimes people could win prize money for it and also a ribbon. And that is still something that we do today. While some things haven't changed over the nearly two centuries of the fair's history, there's a big difference from the earliest days of the fair, the location.

The first Wisconsin State Fair in 1851 was held in Janesville. and would shift locations. That quickly changed, as Zimmerman explains. A lot of people came from Milwaukee. They didn't want to have to keep moving the fair around, and at that time, the Wisconsin legislature said, we'll donate $150,000, came with strings attached, 10 miles within Milwaukee radius for the people to get there, and at least 100 acres. And so it's still where it was in 1891 line by Greenfield Avenue in 84th Street. Since then, there's just been that progression of construction and love that went into the state fair. The footprint of the state fair grounds has remained relatively the same over the last century. Most of the early structures have been lost, but there remain a few examples of those early buildings, as Van Beckham points out. There are still three buildings that were here from the early 1900s. You have the Dairy Building, you have the Grand Champion Hall, and the Red Brook Cattle Barn. Those are the three surviving buildings from that time. But the fair is constantly changed over time. What you're seeing on this map right here, the only thing that is still here would be the racetrack. The rest of these buildings have changed over time. Those changes include the grounds themselves. The state fair grounds used to include a grove of trees. And did you know there used to be a creek that flowed through the Wisconsin State Fair? And it's still there, just under the surface. Back in the 60s, when there was a grove of trees there near Greenfield Avenue, my grandfather. would bring me over there. We'd walk the grove, throw sticks off one end of the bridge, see him go under the bridge and come out the other side. So it was a park-like atmosphere throughout and a very beautiful space. And Hyatt Creek now goes under the Expo Center. The creek was one factor in last year's flooding of the fairgrounds. for today's fairgoers who are interested in learning more about its history. This year's fair is featuring pieces of the archives on display in Grand Champion Hall. Artifacts from years past sit alongside winning entries from this year's fair, which could end up in the archives themselves. You're seeing some of the hanging quotes. You're seeing a large framed days of swines and roses and other homage to the 1980s puns. and also we have another display to the fair with cream puffs and it's made out of the cream puff boxes to the left of it we're also seeing more of the quilt work and embroidery work so there are many exhibit cases here highlighting the

items that people have won here from, you know, dairy products to food, to culinary, to embroidery in the cases right here. So it's kind of melding of that tradition with the hundred and five years of the fair. And if you happen by the history display in Exploratory Park, you might see Zimmerman and Van Beckham. They're always looking for new additions to the archives to ensure that every Wisconsin State Fair is celebrated and remembered. If people come here and they say, hey, I have Wisconsin State Fair artifacts. Someone want to donate, please. We are more unhappy to take new things. I just had an individual email me a... advertising from a 1929 Milwaukee Sentinel, and he wanted to us to have it. So I very grateful we took that. I said a nice thank you note back and we're always looking to add to our 175 years so we keep on growing and be for another 175 years. The fair runs through August 16th. Dangling my feet over the sky glider chair.

That piece was produced by Lake Effects Joy Powers. Still to come, we'll meet a local woman leaving love letters for strangers around Milwaukee. But first, we'll explore a new exhibit from artist Jan Saer, featuring her enduring muse Lake Michigan. That's next on Lake Effect, on Milwaukee's NPR. I'm on the fairest wheel up in the air. This is like ice that slices apples and there. This is Lake Effect on 89.7 WUWM. I'm Exquiret Nunez. Jan Ser has been creating art in Milwaukee for nearly 60 years. In that time, she's built a monumental career as both an artist and supporter of the arts. Alongside her husband, Sarah co-founded the Warehouse Art Museum and Guardian Fine Art Services, an organization that helps protect art collections. Now, she's looking back at the decades of her work in a new art exhibit at Milwaukee's Villa Terrace. The exhibit Summer Paintings opened last week. It features people alongside one of her enduring inspirations, Lake Michigan. Sarah joined Lake Effects Joy Powers at the villa as the exhibit was being installed. The history of my beginning to paint. begins with music. I was already at the age of 22. I was a music major at Carroll College and had begun composing original things on the piano. And so when I decided to transfer to UWM, I was forced to take a drawing and painting course as part of my getting a degree. That class was held by Chuck Schumer Lickner, who was a well-known artist in Wisconsin, and the only reason he was teaching was someone had gone on sabbatical. So everything was serendipity, but the fact is Shomar opened a door, a window for me, into a world that I really hadn't explored at that point. And I painted my first painting, and it was a self-portrait. It was figurative. even though in New York abstract expressionism was what was being done that I had really very little knowledge of the world of the visual arts. What I did have knowledge of though was composition, line, color, shading, everything in music.

is in the visual arts. So all that music training prepared me for immediately being able to do drawings and paintings that were quite strong. And so I went on and I painted my father. I made all these family members sit for me, painting from life. And when I ran out of my father, my mother, my sister. At some point I realized painting from life could be limiting in a sense. So I started asking people for snapshots of family or themselves or people on the beach. The lake was always there being so close. You know, you described your entry into the visual arts specifically as this kind of serendipity. But it also seems like this exhibit itself is... kind of the result of serendipity. As you mentioned, your first painting was made not too far from here, right on the lake, so much of your work, has involved Lake Michigan, the lake in general, either directly or indirectly. What does it mean to you to have this exhibition here at Villataris in this historic space that holds a lot of meaning for so many Milwaukeeans? Really, I've spent many, many hours on Wall Street, which is just a little north of Terrace. on the bluff, looking down. And many times I've been here at Villa Terrace, looking down through the gardens, through the trees, at the wall of the water and the beach and the very tiny people down below on the beach. And quite frankly, that has been my most recent fascination with. the lake and with the view that Villa Terrace provides, people are reduced to a very small element, almost like punctuation marks between trees and in front of the glue of the water and the sand. I spent many, many hours photographing up on the bluff. exactly where Villa Terrace is. It's really the most recent interest and fascination, the view of the beach and the lake and the people and everything that happens down there is the view of Villa Terrace.

This is an exhibit that, as you say, goes through a lot of decades of work. We're looking back at things that are from the 1960s, I believe you said, was the earliest. Yes. What has it been like going through these pieces and figuring out what you're going to put out, what you're going to have people view in this really large collection that spans a lifetime? It's been a lot of fun and I do get a lot of help, intelligent, knowledgeable help from John Shannon, my husband, who has an excellent eye and is wonderful to work with. But I think the amazing thing was to get... work from each decade together. So there's work, significant work related to Bradford Beach or the Lakefront or the view from Villa Terrace. There is significant work in the show. from each decade. The 60s would have been the large figures going off the edges larger than life. And then the 70s would be an old man with a beach bag, Lake Ontario, when we were in Canada. And young man on a lifeguard tower is also 70s and Prince Edward Island. But then the 80s, we returned to southeastern Wisconsin. Actually, Racine, Wisconsin, where, again, we were right on the lake. The 80s became a period where I worked with a master lithographer, a master printer, Cream City graphics. John Grunwald was the master printer. I did mostly figurative work at a time when I had been doing almost only landscapes. I did large-scale landscapes, or I should say waterscapes, because everything involved water, whether it was Lake Ontario or the Mississippi River or Lake Michigan. But the figure persisted. The 90s, I actually worked from the live figure. But in 2008, we moved back to Milwaukee, just a couple of blocks from Lake Michigan. So here I am again. really all of 2000 developing a feel for different ways to see what is happening down below. There's no end of possibilities and I'm just so thrilled to see all these pieces come together from so many decades.

living in different places, but the common thread of the Great Lake Michigan persists throughout. When you think about people coming to see this exhibition, what do you hope they see in your work, and what do you hope they take away from it? That's a very good question. I think for me it will be a great deal of fun to talk with them about how my vision changed and developed. I mean, I was 22 or early to mid-20s when I did huge figures larger than life. Hanging right next to a painting of four bathers is one of the most recent paintings where the figures are less than an inch tall. So you can see how the vision developed and changed. And I started working in a very removed place, really. Villa Terrace is very removed. There's a full scene to be seen down there, but it's very removed from the noise and the sweat and the volleyball players and you know it's very cool and beautiful and thank goodness we're restoring it and keeping it as it was meant to be to sit on the terrace and be cool but be able to observe from above

Jan Sayre is a Milwaukee-based artist. She spoke with Lake Effects Joy Powers. Sarah's exhibit, Summer Paintings, is on display now at the Villa Terrace. The Villa Terrace Museum is the financial supporter of WUWM. So, picture this. You're at a local coffee shop, you sit down at a table, and you see an envelope that says, open me. Inside is a letter with an inspirational quote or some words of encouragement. You just found a Milwaukee love letter. Here's the story of one local woman sharing random acts of kindness. Katrina Lord is the heart behind Milwaukee love letter. She's at her Bayview home working on one of her handwritten notes. So this is one that has a quote by Walt Whitman, which is happiness, not in another place, not for another hour, but this hour. And on the back, Lord writes her own personal message. Hello, stranger, may you have happiness here and now? M.K. You love letter with two small hearts on the back. Lord then places her colorful notes throughout Milwaukee for anyone to find, like in a little free library or a neighborhood coffee shop. The goal is really to bring surprise delight into someone's day and, yeah, unexpected joy. Lord has been putting pen to paper as Milwaukee love letter since 2016. She was inspired by a New York City Instagram account to start the project. As an avid reader, she gets quotes to put on her love letters from different books and magazines she's read over the years. I'm in tech for my job, and that has its own form of creativity, but this is more artistic creativity. At the time, I didn't really... realize it, but it was also something that I needed, where I needed that outlet, but also reading these positive quotes and searching for them brought me that positivity too. Lord has written more than a thousand love letters. She posts photos of her favorite ones on her Instagram, MKE Love Letter, and we'll sometimes hear back from people who find them. It's varied from just a nice short message to some people will share really touching stories. I've had it a couple of times where they're going through a hard time and they just needed that little brightness. And the letters have...

filled that for them or they've seen it as like a message from like a loved one. You know, you get something like this and you can interpret it to whatever you need it to be at that time. She says handwritten letters are a novelty in this digital world. They can be comforting and create a sense of connection, even with a stranger. If you receive a letter from someone, you know that they took the time and they're really opening up. Like, even if it can be lighthearted writing, they're putting pen to paper and it's out there. Lord says she started this project with zero expectations. She had no idea how her letters would resonate with people. She was even more surprised to learn how it would make her feel seen. I am on the Shire introverted side and I even was doing this anonymously for a good start of it. It was kind of like my own secret and it didn't need to be a secret. It's a wonderful project and so as I've opened up and shared my my passions, it's also been able to share other aspects of myself with people and with even strangers. So I think it's kind of a medium of that for being able to share who I am and what I love. Personally, as someone who loves stationary and writing postcards to my friends, Lord's story inspired me to write my very own love letter to a stranger. So I'm at a coffee shop in East Tosa. I sat down and went ahead and made my little love letter. I put it in this little tiny gift bag that's green with white polka dots and I slipped a little piece of paper in there. It says, Hi Stranger, here's a reminder. Of all the things you can believe in, why not choose yourself? love another stranger. I thought that was just like a cute little note to write. But yeah, I'm gonna go put it at this table in the corner of the coffee shop that's been pretty popular. And I thought this was really fun and I hope someone enjoys reading my little love letter.

Back at Lord's House, she says Milwaukee Love Letter will continue to evolve with her life as it has for the past 10 years. We are expecting our first kid and I'm already like, oh, that'll be fun to incorporate him into it somehow and way down the line, obviously. But one thing that'll never change is the project's main purpose to spread joy throughout the city she loves. It's kind of fun to share the story and hopefully also to... inspire others to do something similar, whether it's write letters or make magnets or put crochet hearts out there, just join that random acts of kindness, community. And so that's one of the reasons why I've, like, keep doing this and keep sharing the stories. Maybe someone else will find as much joy in a new hobby that they hear on this segment. So grab a pen, a piece of paper, and share a little kindness. We can all use more of it in our lives. Katrina Lord is the creator of the Milwaukee Love Letter Project. You can see pictures of Milwaukee Love Letters at wuwm.com. That's Lake Effect for today. I'm Excurret Nunez. Audrey Nowakowski, Joy Powers, and Sam Woods join me in producing Lake Effect each week, with help from Graham Thomas and Sharita Cory Booker. Becky Mortensen is our executive producer, and Emily Files helps edit the show. We also heard from Akira Quinn, Mayon Silver, Catherine Kokel, Susan Bentz, Eddie Morales, and Annalise Hensel from the WUWM News team this week. Jason Revy is our studio engineer. Valeria Navarro Villas is our digital operations manager. And Trapper Shep wrote our theme music. If you missed any of Lake Effect this week, you can find all of our conversations at WUWM.com. And if you want to take the show on the go, you can download the Lake Effect podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks so much for joining us today. On Listener Supported, 89.7, WUWM, Milwaukee's NPR.