WORT 89.9FM Madison
Poems in the Cement
Hello y'all, and welcome back to a query here on W-O-R-T. It's me, Avette. It's great to hear you all again, and to be able to talk to you. All right, we're back for another fundraising week, so you're going to hear me talking with my friend Aja here quite a bit. But in the meantime, we've got some music lined up for you, just one song from an interview that you heard last week. We have got Gunna Sax from Sigra of Frozen Charlotte here for you today, so I hope you all enjoy. After that, we've got a couple of treats, some things read aloud for you, some ins and outs of fall, and some fantasy Madison vignettes. In the meantime, enjoy Gunna Sax here on W-O-R-T. And that was Frozen Charlotte with the track Gunna Sax here on W-O-R-T, and if that voice sounds maybe at all familiar, it's because maybe you tuned in the last time I was on air and interviewed the lead singer and bassist for Frozen Charlotte, Sigra. Yeah, that's the first time I had heard them. Really? Yeah, I feel like you're one of my most direct connections to the music scene in Madison and helping me find local musicians. Thank you. How does music help support local musicians in the Madison area? Well, exactly like what you just heard, which is you're just playing it for you in the air. And the music shows definitely do a wonderful, wonderful job. Curating things for specific, specific atmospheric, I hate to say the word vibes, but vibes. I mean, they're very good at curating things. One of my favorites, Psychoacoustics. One of my favorite music shows is going to happen right after query and this way out, and that's guilty pleasures. And I feel like I always get to drive fast in my car while listening to guilty pleasures. And so that's exactly what music is for. Yeah, so I think Wort does a great job at curating music for you, but also highlighting local voices, whether it's through interviews, like sometimes what I'll do on query, or whether it's through a more dedicated music show, I think that our hosts do a wonderful job showcasing the talent that we have in Madison, of which we have a lot more than a normal city. Definitely, definitely. Yeah. And so if you want to be a supporter of not only local music, but our mission to get it out there to your ears, you totally can, and you can support us by calling 608-256-2001, or visiting us online and donating online at w-r-t-f-m-dot-o-r-g. It's going to take like two seconds, you know, you know, it'll just be a little bit. All right, I've got a little ad here for you, and then I've got a ... I've got ins and outs for every season, like I always do. And one thing that I think is out is just being a little too angry and caught up on the bus and just having it radiate. I think that's an out, but I do. I think an in is being on the bus and tuning into something that like maybe makes you happy. And that can be anything, but I do think that one of your best options is probably Wort. Correct. In my opinion. Correct. If you listen to it while you're on the bus, which you can do, you can stream from your phone at w-r-t-f-m-dot-o-g, you know, you'll probably either be cracking up at whatever the person is saying, or you'll be listening to a well-curated music show. And objectively, you'll be the coolest person on the bus. And perhaps, objectively, you'll be the coolest person on the bus, or you'll be radiating that towards others and becoming a hub of goodness. Of goodness. Of goodness. Yeah. Which we always need in on the bus. We always need more good vibes. Yes. I've had a lot of pretty good vibes on the bus recently, though. Really? Yeah. Just some like, you know, some queered, some, there's like some queer attention on the bus that I've been experiencing in a positive way. In like that, in that amorphous positive way. Do you have a bus crush? I have a couple. I'll be honest with you. And they will not be named, but I have a treat for you. Awesome. I'm excited. Okay. So I have a treat for you all, as well listeners at home, or in the road or on the bus. It is a short reading from a book called Fantasy Northfield by, I guess, friend of the show, Nancy Soth. I often have a co-host on me with what I'm on query, who's named Amelia. And this book is written by her grandmother about a kind of quirky small town, Northfield, Minnesota. And it's sort of half memoir, half fantasy. So these are fake stories about real people and places. And they gave me permission to read just a little bit of it here for you. And then I'll share what it inspired me to write about Madison and a fantasy Madison. Okay. Ready, Aja? I'm ready. Okay. The bells brought us together. They rang each time a child was born in Northfield. And they told each time one of us died. They rang for an hour on the Lord's Day. The sirens brought us together too, because something bad was happening to someone we knew. But Northfield smelled like chocolate and cereal and popcorn. When we looked down third street towards division, the town was a little stage set. Thanks to, of course, the Heritage Preservation Commission. When we went up second street, someone had written good morning in the cement. And when we went down second street in the afternoon, the cement said, good evening. Fossilized fallen leaves were captured there forever. It was good. But what made it good? Well, there was a promise of a new and different life. It might have been our last chance to reinvent ourselves. Although by the time we came, the town saints had already been chosen. They were four of them. They had family money. And we, well, we felt like female impersonators, trained by our mothers, all of who were plump. Socially, we'd been brought up on the bunny hop. We'd gone to college, but mostly what we got from it was a very good mood. So we looked for college professors to make it last forever. And reader, we married them. We were a professor's monkey, would be professor at, but it wasn't that we didn't know our way around. We'd read no bless oblige and knew what was you and what was non you. You'd never call curtains drapes or call a house a home. We could make grasshopper pie, but then we found out that the Carlton Glitterati were doing beef Wellington when we got there. During that first year, we prepared ourselves by reading Bleak House and Giants in the Earth. But what we really longed to do was to sit on the beach, paint our toenails and read multiple copies of Harper's Bazaar. There was no way to describe our new lives to the friends we left behind. So we sent pictures of our smell, ourselves smiling in front of our first major appliances. Still, we read the Northfield news, and were excited by our new town. Dan Freeman said that the Northfield was everything, people of the Earth, scholars, family, friends. We wanted to be all of them. Tom Turnquist wrote that it was quote, "A haven for serenity and thoughtfulness, void of the neuroses that plagues the fast pace of a more crowded city, this special charm, this innocence and maturity, so finely blended together." It sounds good, but in such a small town, didn't you finally get tired of each other? Of knowing each other just a little too well? Oh, contrary, we were protected by leading lives of fantasy, preferring other centuries to ours. Our best friends preferred the Victorian look. Even in their thirties, they were mistaken for a quaint which hired couple until they switched to dress for success. Many had a guiding fantasy for their lives. They identified with Virginia Woolf, and tried to live like her, or felt like Arlene Morale. Some days we lived in Sub-Bloomsbury. Another friend envisioned herself as the Madonna Missa Ricordia. Another as Grace Slick, and another as La Chez's standing woman. Others pretended they didn't really live in Northfield. They thought they lived in Nantucket or Paris, seeing the coast from their bedroom windows, doing double kisses and speaking French to each other. Decades later, they woke up and remembered that this was their life, and they were here. So that was an excerpt from Fantasy Northfield by Nancy South. I personally love that as the first page of a book that it's sort of explaining that they live in this little sort of fantasy town in the same way that I would describe Madison. Definitely. And then go on to sort of describe these sort of fake that they lived in fantasy as well. And I think that a lot of people, a lot of queer people in Madison have that sort of same experience where we're maybe pretending it's a bigger town than it is for the sake of our personal lives. But also there's so much, I feel like there's a lot of whimsy here as well. In the way where I walk down the sidewalk, on my neighborhood, and there's poems pressed into the cement, meaning that at some point during the literal paving of this part of the city, people were trying to put a whimsical message into the ground permanently. And it's pretty beautiful. I think it's kind of, it's, I don't know, a lot of whimsy in this town. Yeah, there's something to be said for small towns. A lot of things to be grateful for. And the community. Yes, the community. The community that, wait, that perhaps you could support by contributing to your community run radio station. That would be great. Wait a second. Yeah, I mean, and it sounds kind of corny, but it's very true to me at least that like being a part of, well, having a locally run radio station that's so accessible to volunteer for and to listen to. And I think the access for quite a few miles, quite a few hundred miles, having that really does make you feel as though you are a part of a geographically restricted area, a part of a community, a part of people that took in the same perceptual input. Like, yeah, there's something to be said as having heard the same thing as people around you, because you tuned into the same community run radio station. Yeah, I think that that's very, it feels very intimate. It feels like a, it's a shared experience that's like temporal. But if we can keep it on the air, we can access it all the time. And so, you know, you can contribute to the sense that I have about being connected with others, if you wanted to, by donating to us, you can donate to work by calling 608-256-2001 or by donating online at w-o-r-t-f-m-dot-o-r-g. It's kind of hard to find community, but when you do, let's keep it around. Exactly, you know. And what, you know, 80% of our funding comes from doll's donations. It's you all, us, who are making it actually happen, who are keeping us on the air and paying for the equipment that it takes to keep us modern. I mean, I guess since I'm here, I'm looking at our board that we got with our donations from 2023. And it's extremely beautiful. It's lit in such a way. I mean, I was really sentimental about the analog board. Don't get me wrong. But the new one is it's, it makes me feel professional. It makes it, and nothing's confused. You're not hearing these weird dead air things. It's gorgeous. It's just gorgeous. It looks so fancy. It was my first time in a radio station being on the air like this, and it looks crazy professional. I'm so impressed. And it's due to our listeners. Our listeners contributed during our 2023 fundraiser for this. And I got to say, it really makes a difference for me. I'm glad that it's impressing our guests. And I hope that, you know, you all realize that it's allowing us to keep doing this for longer and to keep doing it with more professionality and with care. Because it's something that's an important part of my life. And I hope for y'all listeners is maybe an everyday thing for you too. An important part of theirs. Yeah, an important part of theirs. So, okay, going back to that reading. I just wanted to, again, talk about like, how funny it is to have fake but true stories. And so I came up with a list of my own fake but true stories that, you know, we'll see which one sounds most appealing to you, but I'm happy to explain kind of any of them. Sure. Okay, so these are my sort of fantasy Madison scenarios that I, you know, intend to write into longer vignettes. But here's the list of them. So you can kind of get the get the cogs turning if you're at home thinking of a fantasy Madison. Okay, imagine that you're a member of a maker space. One of the many, you're trying to find your niche, your craft, the thing you like to spend your time on. And you're at your maker space, you're crafting away. And then suddenly there's a streaker. And it, the streaker impacts you one way. It impacts the person in the craft area another way and the person in the woodshop a different way. And the screen printing person an entirely fresh and unique way. So I call that vignette, the maker space streaker, fantasy Madison. All right, that's that's one option. I love that. Thank you very much. You know, the, the seamstress wants to dress them. The seamstress wants to dress them the welder wishes they could be so free because they have so much gear all the time. And you know, the screen printer probably didn't even see them at all. They were so engrossed. The sculptor has a new muse. The sculptor has a new muse. Nice. Thank you. All right, here's another vignette for my fantasy Madison. This is based on a real fake story of my own life, which is, and I think perhaps this is universal lie that many queer people tell their parents or family or anyone who asks, how did you meet the person who in reality you met on Tinder? How did you meet that person? And let me tell you listeners, you know what I've said? I said, we touched the same tomato at the farmer's market. I think it speaks to the universality of queer experiences that I've made up that same lie with people I've met on Hinge. Yeah. Because you have to say something, you might as well make it cute. There's something about the tomato too, where it's like they're all plump and they're all like juicy. You know, pick a seasonly appropriate. It's a seasonly appropriate fruit. Yeah. It's a seasonly appropriate fruit. And there's something about like, there's so many people at the farmer's market, you think, I'm flooded, I'm never going to make a real connection. But you touch hands. Serendipitous. You have such a good taste, you know? So that's one. That's another vignette we could flush out. Tomato flush out. Okay. Then this one's inspired by an episode or like a skit in Portlandia, so I'm sorry I'm hacked, but look, it's kind of funny to me, which is, and I feel like I'm personally, personally impacted by a poster stump rivalry, which is those big stumps, those big poll, they're giant polls where you put your posters for if you have a show or a comedy thing or something, those, but it's like you're taping over the, like I see the same names basically every time I look at one of those. And I can just imagine there's limited space and you're just taping over each other's posters with your own poster. Yeah. And just how that could really act out in specific Madison scenes. I mean, what's the better lie that we touched the same tomato at the farmer's market? Or you're the guy who's, you know, the person who's been taping over my poster and you're my poster stump rival? Yeah. I don't know. Which one's more believable? You tell us listeners, you can call us and let us know which of these stories you think is more believable at 608-256-2001. Or if you want to leave us a little message, when you did a pledge online, you totally can, and you can do that at w-r-t-f-m-dot-o-r-g. We have volunteers waiting to take your call, it will take a couple seconds, and you can totally show your support of what we're trying to do here of the vignettes and fantasy and whimsy that we're trying to cultivate here in Madison, Wisconsin. One of the most whimsical places I've ever personally lived. Okay. So those are some of my ideas, Aja. What do you think? I think I'm obsessed with the tomato. Thank you. I'm obsessed with that. I've also had an idea. One last one. I thought of one last one. Okay. Okay. Um, essentially, it's like, you're fall in love. What's it called when something's by letter? Epistolary? An epistolary romance, but it's conducted through messages left at little free libraries. And it's like you leave the, you know, you're taping messages into the little free, and you know that that person's going to see it because they walk past that same little free library. That's adorable. And you have a talk show, but clearly you should be a screenwriter. I would eat up every single one of these romances. We're a fantasy writer. I don't know. I've got a PhD to finish. I don't think I can be. I can't take on new projects. I've got goals of being a professor at a professor at a professor at a would-be professor at a would-be professor at. Well, y'all, I hope you've enjoyed our musings on fantasy Northfield. Again, by Nancy Soth. Um, you can check it out online. It's a wonderful book. Um, and I loved reading it. And you can also, you know, let us know what you think about fantasy Madison. Do you have your own, do you have your own little vignette that you would like to contribute? I would love to hear your audio messages, maybe compile a few. I'm very inspired by this concept. I can generate these fantasies forever. So, uh, let us know. And if you want to, uh, to talk to us or the people waiting at the phone, you can do so again at 608-256-2001, um, or by visiting us online at w-o-r-t-f-m.org. Yeah. I love the active imagination, you know. Thank you. Thank you very much. You know, I was looking at, um, the design for the new shirts that we have at work. And I feel like if you are a person with an active imagination, you should take a peep at the shirt design that we have for this year. I have no idea what it is. You look at it right now. It's, it could be, what I was just saying is that it's a, there's a figure on it that could be a cat or a dog or a liger or a, it's kind of also giving badger a little bit. It's got to, it could be, you know, a queer badger. Uh, and if you, you know, you can check it out. Um, there's pictures of it on our website, w-r-t-f-m.org. Um, but if you want to cop one of those, you can totally do that. Um, that little liger cat badger thing, um, is being tormented, not tormented, overjoyed by the voices, um, coming from a little radio. It's a very cute design. And you can get it at the $100 pledge level if you wanted to contribute to the station here. So it's fantastic artwork, um, of Loudounoot, AKA American trash corp. And it's super cute to me. There's long sleeves. There's a few different colorways. Um, just something new this year that I haven't seen. I love the design. And I just thought I would shout that out as, as a gift that you could receive. Um, if you wanted to consider making a pledge here for us and contributing to our community run radio station. Yeah. Why Madison fantasy is I saw this little, you know, there are rabbits all over Madison. I saw this little guy. You saw that. Well, we actually do have, oh, I've heard a lot of, um, tales of little Madison cryptids. Like the beast of Bray road, I think is the most famous. Who is the, to me, the beast of Bray road. There's just a beast on Bray road. Oh, it freaks people out in cars and things. What does the beast look like? I've heard different descriptions, but it's, it's basically like a, and you can call it and correct me if you want. I think it's just like a glorified mothman. It's in that direction. You know what I mean? But he's local. He's a member of our community. He's a member. He might be listening right now. He's going to call and correct our question. He's going to say, actually, maybe I should engender the beast of Bray road. They're going to call in and they're going to say, actually, actually, despite your errors, I will be contributing $5. To support my community. To support my community. To get a t-shirt of myself. The beast of Bray road. No, but there are, there's legends about, there's, there's mystical figures about Madison. I was talking to someone about my favorite character is about town. Like people you just see a lot who are like personally famous to you. Who's your favorite local character? I like guy who's always running. And it's this guy that I see all the time who every ice, every single time I see him, whether I'm on the bus, driving, walking, he's always like running like ambiently past wherever I am. And I don't know if I like it's a specter, but he's there. And I like think about him. You know, he's a member of my community, which I love. Yeah. Yeah. Always fun. Do you have a favorite local character? I guess the guy who I often see in the yogurt aisle, who I interacted with for the first time recently, community engagement, community engagement. Who asked me if I was the person who was taking all of his favorite yogurts because we see each other in the yogurt aisle. One's a week for those same yogurts. Wow. So I don't know if this is my enemy or my friend. This is a lot, this is, this is a bit like poster rivalry. Yes. Except it's yogurt. What is Greek yogurt? Greek yogurt rivalry. Yeah. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I might fan fiction that next time you are in festival foods. Keep an eye out. Keep an eye out. It's good to know. Thank you, Ajha. You're welcome. Yeah. Please let us know if you have any, who is your local favorite character? If you'd like to, you can let us know. We've got people waiting to chit chat with you and maybe take some pledges, hear what you got to say. You can let us know what your favorite shows are, what you like listening to, what's your favorite thing about local radio? I get sentimental thinking about these things. My favorite thing about local radio is a vet. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. It's refreshing to like get into it, you know, when you like move to a newer city and then you suddenly are like, what's, what's going on? I think especially as a grad student, it can feel so disorienting and so restricted to like, oh, I just have to, I'm, you know, part of the university, but you know, we're part of the wider community as a whole. Yeah, expand. You're not just part of the university or expect you're part of the whole city or part of Madison. I might be someone's reoccurring character. Who knows? You might be someone's favorite person about town. Yeah. Whoa. Whoa. That's kind of cute. You can spot each other. Wait, I just thought of such a good fantasy. Here it is. I'll leave you with this listener. It's you on the bus. It's another person on the bus. What are you both wearing at the exact same time? Something wore. You see it. You're looking and you see it. That's another person who loves their community. That's another person who donated whatever pledge level and has that sticker on their laptop or has that hat from a couple of years ago or that really cool airline bag. I don't know if you guys remember that, but there was a beautiful airline bag. It doesn't matter. They saw the signs repping the wort and they fell in love. I love that all of our fantasies are just meatcutes. They're all meatcutes and they're all people who love the community. They're meatcutes between people who love the community, which is what they should be, which is what they should be. And if you're one of those people, you can go ahead and contribute. We'll manifest your meatcute. If you call us at 608-256-2001 or visit us online at W-O-R-T-F-M dot O-R-G. Thank you so much. It's been wonderful talking to you all. It's been really great to, you know, say in my little piece on why I love community, run radio, why I love wort. Thank you so much Aja for joining me. Thank you to our volunteers who are mailing the phones for y'all. If you so decide to call in, we've got some this way out followed by guilty pleasures here on W-R-T. This is a vet signing off and Aja. Bye. Bye. We play like the Gibson girl, which
Ivette and Azha wander through Fantasy Northfield, musings on life, some pledge information and more fun and fanciful conversation.
image courtesy: Karstan Winegeart/unsplash