Lisa Binkley’s route to her current art practice has taken a circuitous path not unlike that of the intricate stitching that so characterizes her imaginative and painstakingly detailed efforts in quilting and needled beadwork. While studying fiber arts at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, she entertained the idea of making large-scale weavings and rugs. This intention was deflected by marriage and subsequent sojourn to Milwaukee, where a series of less than satisfactory jobs led her to graduate school in urban planning and land use policy at UW–Milwaukee. Lisa worked for over a decade for the Department of Transportation (DOT) helping craft public policy for the creation of regional transportation authorities as well as involvement with efforts at historical preservation policy.

Rooted’s Badger Rock Neighborhood Center (BRNC) is all about learning, growing, eating, and gathering with people of all ages. The projects range from monthly dinners and a market featuring local vendors to collaborations with Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness, Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, and Briarpatch Youth Services. “Our primary job is building relationships,” says Sarah Karlson, Rooted’s education director and farm and education manager at BRNC.

The Ice Age National Scenic Trail courses 1,200 miles throughout Wisconsin, roughly following the path where the last glacier ended. Along the way, it takes hikers, backpackers, trail runners, and walkers through some of the most scenic areas in the state, including spots right here in Dane County.

We all use extrapolation in our lives. It’s a large part of our decision-making process—taking past information and projecting it to make predictions. Ruthless extrapolation, however, describes information extrapolated beyond its context. One example Professor Tom Murphy of University of California, San Diego provides is people in the ’60s believing we’d be on Mars by 2020 simply because of the rate technology was growing at the time. He also notes that the way many people use of the phrase “common sense” is synonymous with ruthless extrapolation.

In August 2020, only seven months after the first laboratory-confirmed case of COVID-19 was recorded in the United States, opening a new restaurant probably wouldnt have been advisable. But Jamie Hoang and Chuckie Brown didnt see it that way when they opened Ahan in The Bur Oak. Though there would be difficulties, where some other restaurants were having to figure out how they would transition away from dine in, Chuckie says, It was nice, in a way, because we didnt have to flip our whole concept. We started out just doing takeout. Then, shortly after that, delivery. And then later, dine in.

The world of cheese geeks is more than niche in Wisconsin…barely. For most of us, after cheddar, parmesan, mozzarella, and maybe feta, we can’t see beyond the rind. You could fit everything I know about cheese into a colander, but what I do know is that cheese is usually delicious, which is a good place to start when visiting Landmark Creamery in Belleville.

Did you know that blue jays can mimic the sounds of other birds, including red-tailed hawks? Or that queens are the only bumblebees that live through the winter? Or that the roots of a prairie plant can be 40 feet deep?

As I write this, the amount of pain in our country, our state, and our own backyard seems to have been magnified with every additional act of hate. But listing them doesn’t provide solutions, and it won’t provide healing. Bottom line, each is a lot to deal with, and having them overlap can be overwhelming, making it difficult to address each appropriately and as significantly as needed.

No matter your reason for travel—adventure, relaxation, culture, or entertainment—the good news is that you always have to eat! Personally, culinary travel is a top motivator for booking a trip.