Wisconsin Alumni Association || Onwisconsin Spring 2009
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For University of Wisconsin-Madison Alumni and Friends Interrogating the Truth Filmmaker Errol Morris ’69 traces his obsession with sifting and winnowing to Wisconsin. SPRING 2009 Fading Words Can Wisconsin’s native languages be saved? Flock of Sheepskins The contest to pile up the most UW degrees is fiercer than you’d think. Forty Winks UW researchers have an unusual theory about why we sleep. WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY Before child labor laws, children as young as 9 worked in coal mines. Many workplace protections we count on came from the University of Wisconsin. At the turn of the past century, university economists helped redefi ne government’s role in the workplace. Because of their guidance, Wisconsin had the nation’s fi rst worker’s and unemployment compensation laws and led the country in enacting child labor and minimum-wage laws. Through advocacy and education, the Center for Patient Partnerships helps people who face serious illness to make more informed choices. Students and staff at the center guide clients and their families as they explore diagnosis and treatment options, resolve insurance and billing disputes, and navigate employment and disability issues. FORWARD. THINKING. www.wisconsinidea.wisc.edu When Parker Summers was 3, the insurance company for the Appleton family refused to cover his cancer treatment. The CPP provided advocacy and support as Parker received vital medical care. Today, Parker is healthy and enjoys a romp in his yard. with his pal, Kahlúa. SPRING 2009 contents VOLUME 110, NUMBER 1 Features 20 Truth, Death, & Taxidermy By Eric Goldscheider Errol Morris’s documentaries are known for being quirky — and brilliant. In the words of film critic Roger Ebert, “After twenty years of reviewing films, I haven’t found another filmmaker who intrigues me more ... Errol Morris is like a magician, and as great a filmmaker as Hitchcock or Fellini.” 28 Weight of the Words By Jason Stein MA’03 When tribal elders die and take their languages with them, it’s akin to a culture burning its libraries. Henning Garvin ’03, other alumni, and UW researchers are hoping to put out the fire by pairing generations and creating enduring records of Wisconsin’s five native tribes. 20 34 A Matter of Degree(s) By John Allen How much is enough when it comes to education? Some UW alumni are gluttons for course work. Meet the candidates in the competition to become UW-Madison’s most-graduated graduate. 38 Bedtime Story By Jenny Price ’96 We all need sleep, and when we don’t get enough, it isn’t pretty. But scientists have yet to discover what exactly 28 happens in our bodies and brains when we sleep. It’s a puzzle well worth solving for those who have sleep disor- ders or certain mental illnesses. So what theory are UW researchers pursuing? One unlike any other, of course. Departments 4 Letters 7 Inside Story 8 Scene 10 News & Notes 38 16 Cool Tool 17 Classroom 18 Sports 46 Traditions Cover 48 Gifts in Action Filmmaker Errol Morris ’69 has Badger Connections developed unique interview techniques to 49 get at multifaceted aspects of the truth. 66 Flashback Photo by Tracy Powell SPRING 2009 3 letters forward takes all of your self-control and Give me a break — I didn’t know it was the focus as you lean forward over the edge of the role of a scientist to change the thinking of the tower wall until you are at about 90 degrees populace. The role of a scientist is to perform and then you run down the wall. This is help- research to solve the riddles of nature, and to ful when you need to see where you are going have that research vetted by peers; changing with a potential enemy below and allows a the minds of the populace regarding so-called free hand for your weapon. stereotypes is the role of politicians. About 1978, the bricks on the tower were Paul Feng ’83 becoming loose, and the use of the tower for Irvine, California rappelling was ended for safety reasons. James Kedrow ’78 Ballroom Dancing Memories Zion, Illinois Thanks for “Ballroom Basics” [Winter 2008, Classroom]. I took Dance 041 in fall 1984 and UPers Can Thank Copper remember what a wonderful time it was. My Everyone Loves a Cliffhanger As a map lover, I was intrigued by “Shaped classmates and I had so much fun learning I thought that [John Allen’s] article on Eric by History” [Winter 2008] and the explanations the dances and going to the four required ball- Gabriel [“Capitan Courageous,” Winter 2008 for how Wisconsin’s boundaries were estab- room dances in Memorial Union’s Great Hall. On Wisconsin] was superb — informative, well lished. As a geologist, I was surprised that I still remember the last day — when the written, and fascinating! Thanks. there was no mention of the primary reason class was over, we all just sat around Lathrop Bill Rock MS’89 that the Upper Peninsula is part of Michigan Hall, willing it not to end. I don’t remember Madison and not Wisconsin: the native copper deposits the names of my old partners, but I’ll always of the Keweenaw Peninsula. Copper had been remember the feeling of being swept across Thank you for the exceptional cover story and discovered there in the early 1830s, and when the dance floor by them. Thanks for the amazing photos in “Capitan Courageous.” I Michigan was set to become a state in 1837 memories! have always enjoyed reading On Wisconsin (more than ten years before Wisconsin would), Sandra Fischer ’87 from cover to cover; however, given that I am annexing the Upper Peninsula was a strategic Hartford, Connecticut Eric Gabriel’s sister, this is by far my favorite economic move. issue! Many readers may not know that Eric’s The copper was considered such an “Ballroom Basics” brought back fond mem- top priority off the job is his family. He is a important resource that in 1844, the U.S. gov- ories of teaching ballroom dance at the UW. devoted husband and father of three children ernment established a remote army outpost, When I entered the university in the late ’60s under the age of six. Their dad is a “super Fort Wilkins, at the very tip of the Keweenaw as a graduate student in the dance depart- hero,” but to them he is Dad who takes them hiking and climbing. All three, like their father, love to climb every boulder they pass by. Eric’s first major climbing feat was at age two. Eric’s first major climbing feat was at age Our parents found him up on the fireplace mantel. two. Our parents found him up on the fireplace mantel. They’d heard a crash and saw that the grandfather clock had fallen, but Eric was safe. Peninsula (probably the safest army posting ment, there were no ballroom classes offered. Jenifer Gabriel Novak ’88, MS’93 an enlisted man could have asked for). Even With my department chair’s blessing, I devel- Streamwood, Illinois more incredibly, the boundaries of Michigan oped the first sessions. were gerrymandered to include copper depos- That first semester, I had to put announce- In the sidebar “Climbing the Walls” [“Capitan its on Lake Superior’s Isle Royale, in spite of ments in every dorm to get enough students to Courageous”], there is a picture of a per- the fact that the island lies much closer to enroll. By the time I got my degree, they were son rappelling down the southwest tower of northern Minnesota. turning students away because the sessions the Red Gym. This appears to be an Army Marcia Bjornerud MS’85, PhD’87 filled up quickly. ROTC cadet performing an Australian rappel- Appleton, Wisconsin It is wonderful to see that ballroom dance ling technique. I practiced and performed this is still offered and that it is making another specialized technique, at this very location, Of Scientists and Stereotypes comeback in popularity. as one of the university’s Army ROTC cadets Regarding “It Doesn’t Add Up” [Winter 2008], Ellyn Sistrunk Kroupa MS’70, PhD’96 between 1974 and 1978. I wish to comment on UW psychology profes- Madison I highly doubt that the Hoofers would sor Janet Hyde’s proclamation that it is her teach this, since the usual way to rappel is mission to change stereotypes and “as a sci- Thanks for your article about the ballroom with one’s back toward the ground. Rappelling entist, [she has] to challenge them with data.” dance elective offered through the dance 4 ON WISCONSIN department. My husband [Justin Ueland ’01] and I met in that class in Lathrop Hall in the fall of 2000. After a semester of danc- ing together in class and studying together at Grainger Library, we started dating. We were married in 2002 and were able to do a mean foxtrot as the first dance at our wedding! April Klima Ueland ’02 Chanhassen, Minnesota Once a Badger, Always a Badger As my twenty years on the Wisconsin Alumni Association board of directors draw to an end, I want to express my sincere gratitude for the great opportunity to serve our alumni, fans, and friends around the world. I can report firsthand that our beloved alma mater is in excellent shape; certainly not without challenges, but with many outstand- ing faculty and staff in the right places to con- tinue the Wisconsin Idea. Passionate alumni support from Badgers just like you and me will always be the difference in our University of Wisconsin continuing to be a world leader in learning, teaching, research, and growing tomorrow’s great minds.