Sergio M. González is Assistant Professor of History at Marquette University. A historian of twentieth-century U.S. migration, labor, and religion, his scholarship focuses on the development of Latino communities in the U.S. Midwest. For more than a century, Mexican immigrants and migrants have turned their sights northward to Wisconsin in search of a stable and secure future for themselves and their families. Today, more than a half a million people of Mexican descent call the state home. Sergio González, author of Mexicans in Wisconsin (Wisconsin Historical Society Press), delves into the stories and challenges of these resilient communities, from the farmworkers who helped make Wisconsin America's breadbasket in the mid twentieth century, to the labor organizers who fought for better living and working conditions in the civil rights era, to the everyday families who continue to make space for themselves all across the state today.

 

Pat Pfeifer sponsored this program.

Charlie Schudson is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the University of Wisconsin Law School. For many years, he was a state and federal prosecutor, and a trial and appellate judge. Charlie also served as the “Law and Literature Scholar in Residence” at Lawrence, as an adjunct professor of law at Marquette and Wisconsin, and as a Fulbright Scholar at law schools abroad. He is the author of many published works including Independence Corrupted / How America’s Judges Make Their Decisions (University of Wisconsin Press, 2018).

Street crime, white collar crime, presidential crime … whatever the crime, prosecutors must direct investigations and build cases, then present them to judges and juries. How do they do it? Does 

the Constitution restrain them? Do their own constitutions guide them? Do corruption and politics influence them? And what about the special challenges for Robert Mueller and any others who might dare to prosecute a president? Join us for a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at a world most of us experience vicariously.

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Tom and Hope Olson sponsored this program.

Dan Cavanagh, Director of the Mead Witter School of Music and Professor of Composition and Jazz Studies at UW-Madison, will talk about his experiences as a composer and pianist paired alongside recent advances in neuroscience and aesthetics that illuminate why music is uniquely important to our varied experiences as human beings. He will discuss how composers, performers, and conductors partner with listeners in the moment to create an environment conducive to considering the human spirit, our place in this universe, and our relationships with each other and the world.

Dan Cavanagh is a composer and pianist with numerous awards in both areas. He has performed extensively in North America and Europe, and his music continues to be performed across the globe by classical and jazz artists alike. His music can be heard on a wide variety of recordings, and he has released five recordings as a leader. In addition to composing and performing, he is interested in the way music and the arts serve to shed light on what it means to be human.

Linda and Rex Pope sponsored this program.

2024 Waupaca Area Community Read

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Nick Offerman is the author of this collection of witty, heartwarming stories with a keen insight into new and exciting ways to see both the past and the future of the country. The actor, writer and woodworker takes a literary journey to America's frontier to celebrate the people and landscape that have made it great.

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Join us for a book discussion led by librarian Molly Reinke.

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