People to Know

05/06/2013

Raymond Thundersky roamed the streets of Cincinnati – a Native American in a clown costume who drew urban construction scenes, both real and imagined. Mary Annette Pember relates her own search to find the story behind this enigmatic “trickster” who connected worlds as he created his own.

Education | People to Know

Gerda Lerner: The Permission to Be Serious

01/18/2013

gerda lerner Women's lives were absent from the study of history until the 1970s. Gerda Lerner took herself and her students seriously, demanding that universities do the same.

Arts and Culture | Cool Places | People to Know

Land of the Glass-Studded Giants

10/12/2012

fred smith horse mane Madam Toussaud has her wax museum of movie stars, and Wisconsin's Fred Smith recreated his superstars, too: lumberjacks, Indian guides, and giant muskies, all made of cement.

Ag and Trade | Cool Places | Health | People to Know

Harlan Hamernik: Fighting Fires and Malaria

08/17/2012

hamernik horned toad A renowned plantsman from the Prairie -- who once declared, “If they’ll grow in Nebraska, they will grow anywhere!” -- now turns his skills to horticultural cures.

Arts and Culture | People to Know

Keep on Sledding... and Weaving and Singing

06/22/2012

paschall brothers Rural musicians and craftspeople are once more singled out by the National Endowment of the Arts for their contributions to the nation's cultural heritage.

Arts and Culture | Cool Places | People to Know

Riding Shotgun With a Super Commuter

06/19/2012

I drive 75 miles each day, one way, to work. That makes me a "super commuter." There are a lot of us out here and we have stories to tell.

Arts and Culture | People to Know

New Life for Old Cabinets

05/18/2012

In the old chairs and cabinets people no longer had a use for, David Rolo finds art. And in the process he gives trees back the life they once knew.

Arts and Culture | People to Know

Everett Lilly: 'A True Life'

05/10/2012

'Me and Bea were not from Kentucky so we called our music plain American Folk Country Music...It is about something, isn’t it? If you sing it you are singing about something that really happened.'

Arts and Culture | People to Know

'Should Never Have Taken the Very Best'

04/20/2012

Singing "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" with The Band, musician Levon Helm drove home for American audiences that rock and roll was born in the rural South.

Arts and Culture | People to Know | Politics and Government

The Mind of Labor's Champion

03/15/2012

archie thumb Archie Green, labor historian and folklorist, advocated cultural pluralism and shone a light on the culture of workers. A new biography explores the life and politics of this unorthodox scholar.