Madison

The Farmers’ Market is an excellent shopping place for people of all ages. It is an excellent place to go if you need fresh produce, or just if you’re going on a walk. It has dairy, bakery, flowers – you name it!

–Emily

There is one guy who we have to recognize. He is Bill Warner. He is the manager. He and his wife make sure that there is a place for everybody. He also has to make sure nobody steals.

–Emily

Mr. Wagler’s class of 2001-2002 visited the Wednesday Dane County Farmers’ Market on Martin Luther King Boulevard. The class interviewed vendors, observed, and took/drew pictures. Eight kids had 2 tape recorders. They split up and interviewed vendors. The rest of the class observed vendors, drew pictures and asked questions.

–Anna

When we were buying things or just looking, we saw other groups and they had fun like we did.

–Nick

When we went to that place where [there] was bread, I saw a lot of bees! And I thought there were no bees in fall!

–Nick

The people there were very nice because they told us about where they came from and how many miles they rode. They also told us that most of their customers come on Saturday and not very many on Wednesday.

–Rodrigo

On Wednesday, we took the Madison City bus downtown, a block away from the Capitol. When my class and I got to the Market, we split up into groups into separate ways.

–Lowell

At the Farmers’ Market your product has to be made/grown in Wisconsin.

–Lowell

A lot of the people who worked as vendors lived on a farm or owned a lot of land and they grew a lot of the produce that they sold. A lot of people there were bakers.

–MacKenzie

I think it was very fun to go there because now we know the culture of vending and the Farmers’ Market.

–Marcus

Today we saw not a lot of people. The boss said that the vendor people had to produce all their food and items from Wisconsin. A lot of people were from a lot of miles away. This one person was from ninety-five miles away.

–Marcus

We made some egg rolls… the first thing you put in is meat, eggs, noodles, cabbage, onions, carrots, basil, fish sauce, soy sauce. Then you mix them up together and take the wrapper and fold it together.

–Jenny

… And we fold it together, then we put a little egg sauce, and we gave it to Pao’s mom, and there’s the steps of making an egg roll. My favorite part of being in Pao house is eating the egg roll. It was delicious.

–Rodrigo

Rice is one of the main Hmong foods. They have it for practically every meal: lunch, dinner and even breakfast (?).

–MacKenzie

Mr. Tong Chaj is playing a qeej and singing. The song is about a boy who doesn’t’ have any parents. Mr. Tong learned to play the qeej by a qeej master player that was Hmong. Mr. Na Yee was dancing with the qeej, which sounds sounds soft and beautiful.

–Pakou

Mr. Na Yee showed us other instruments. He brought 2 flutes to show us. One was short and the other was long. The flute is to blow for someone you miss.

–Pakou

The k’eng is a long, thin-tubed instrument made out of a light wood, that resembles bamboo. The singers sang in a voice that sounded quite similar to the k’eng, a low and high pitched tone with jumps here and there. While singing, some of them danced in circles, fast, then slow; one way, and then the other.

–Zoe

My first session was on the k’eng music and its significance in Hmong culture. We learned that K’eng was mostly played at funerals. They used to play it at weddings, but now they don’t. We learned that even the most talented K’eng players have to practice almost everyday. K’eng players used to battle with one another to show that they were the best. But now they don’t.

–Martin

There is other Hmong music, too. Much of it has to do with courtship between young men and women. The young man would come down to his girlfriend’s house, and play the jaw harp – a twangy instrument that fits in your mouth.

The k’eng player helps give the spirit of the dead to the other world.

–Kyle

When that guy played K’eng(traditional Hmong instrument) I thought the sound was like a bird singing and a human voice.

–Nick

Another thing is … that usually after you play the song [on the Hmong instrument], you sing the same song you played.

–MacKenzie

It is a real honor to play one of these instruments at any ceremony, especially to play the k’eng at a funeral. To the Hmong, it is a belief that the K’eng player talks to the deceased person, and the music is taking them in harmony to the other world. They have a conversation like this: “Should I go to the other world?” “Yes, there is nothing else for you here.”

–MacKenzie

The person that passes away and blows the k’eng gives them good wishes.

–Pao

Only very good k”eng players can do this [play at a funeral] because they need to play for the right amount of time. If they don’t play long enough the spirit will never get there. If they play too long, their [k’eng player’s] spirit will go with the spirit of the dead person to the other world.

–Brett

The k’eng has this nice rhythm. Now he is singing what the k’eng sound means. His voice is not that low and not that loud. The k’eng has words to it when it is played.

–Pao

The first k’eng player learned to play the k’eng when he was 9, 10 or 11, and it took six or seven months to just learn. It took much longer to master.

–Alice

The k’eng, made of bamboo, sounds to me slightly like a bagpipe, but in a strange way.

–Lowell

Both the k’engs that we saw had decorations on it, like coins and bead, I think to show wealthiness.

–Lowell

Music has been part of the Hmong culture for ages. They have beautiful instruments that make incredible sounds when played. Take the k’eng — it can talk. What I mean by that is the tone. Very excellent players can tell a fake from a real player. And a good player can tell whether or not the person is happy or sad.

–Erika

Richard Davis is a world-famous jazz musician. He also is a professor at the University of Wisconsin. Right now Richard Davis is interested in Irish polka. Richard Davis says jazz is mostly improvising. He uses scales, rhythms and melodies to help play jazz. The bass is the root of the music. The piano and the bass is a common duet. A piano, a bass, and drums can be a jazz trio. A guitar can also be in a jazz trio. Clarinet, saxophone, and trumpet are all jazz instruments.

–Dylan

Every time Richard Davis plays jazz, he smiles. He likes it so much, he teaches it to other people.

–Mark

Richard Davis is a famous jazz musician. For him, jazz is only one type of music out of many. He said, “In jazz, you’ve got to do everything at the same time.” Which means, “Open your ears and eyes,” if you know what I mean. For Richard, the most important tool to use in jazz is melody, and scale. You can change melody by high and low voices. There are three instruments that Richard calls “rock of the harmony,” and they are bass, piano, and drums. The most important instrument in jazz is the saxophone, which Richard calls “the voice of jazz.”

–Nick

The jazz trumpet was made famous by Louis Armstrong. Louis Armstrong also started scatting. In one performance, the music fell off the stand and he couldn’t read it. So he just made up the words as he went along.

–Alice

A scale is a line of notes that goes up and down, loud or soft. Rhythm is how the music played. Some rhythms have long spaces in between the notes, and some have short ones.

–Gabby

To produce the right sound you have to pluck, shade, or ?? the sound. Some other blues musicians try a fake, like they’re playing the blues but they’re really not. You have to feel the blues to play the blues. Usually when someone is really playing the blues, they close their eyes really tight and don’t look at their fingers when they’re playing.

–Marcus

ALICE

The Geology museum is located on Dayton st. right by union south and right by the university heating plant. Well at least the building is. It’s also on the twelve hundred block .The geology museum is actually one floor of the building it’s in . I forgot the name of the building but I think it’s the Lewis G.Weeks building .

In the front of the building there is a court yard with a fountain and rocks with numbers in them. The reason they have numbers on them is because there’s a post with a board on it that has the numbers on it and explains what the rocks and minerals are next to the numbers . All around you except for the two arches there should be a large brick building with glass doors and windows . Now go through the doors and there should be a glass show case of the founder : Lewis G. Weeks and now I remember what he name was & it was the Lewis G. Weeks building. So they ‘ll have a lot of things about him .

After looking at the show case , then turn to your left and walk until you get to the next hall then turn to your right and there should be a door with the words geology museum on it and a picture of a mammoth skeleton on it . Go through this door . When you get through this door you should be in a large room with a huge gigantic globe in the middle . Just past the gigantic globe there’s a door that leads to the museum , go through that door . As soon as you get through the door…

ANNA

LuLu’s is on Old University Ave. next door to James J and a scuba diving place. On the outside it’s a white building with a yellow awning and brown/black writing that says LuLu’s restaurant on it.

There’s a bush on each side of the door. Also, there are two green benches on each side of the small lawn. The inside is beautiful Arabian lamps and Oriental rugs.

After you sit down, you can get a good look around. If you look up you can see loops of white fabric. If you look straight ahead you can see a beautiful scene of an Arab city with bright blue skies- drapes of fabric hang here too. In the back the hall widens and there is a small place to buy Middle Eastern food. Keep going and you pass a kitchen door and the restrooms. There are two closed off places to eat in; one is small made for about five people with tapestry hanging on the wall, the second place is bigger but not as nice. It is made for about fifteen people, but it’s only white and brown and has no tapestries.

The people are mostly adults, today I’m the only child here. What most people do here is eat and talk, no matter what they came for. Still other people are bustling around cooking and serving. These are the waiters and waitresses, if you listen hard you can hear yelling from the kitchen.

I interviewed my Dad about LuLu’s. He likes that it is a family restaurant. he likes the Middle Eastern cuisine. He says, “There are a lot of food choice you can’t find any where else in town, and the Middle Eastern decor is very nice to.” He loves the creamy lentil soup, also known as the “s1”. “The spices are beautiful and bring out the flavor”. His favorite main dish is the humus balmy, which is ground beef, humus, garbanzo beans and a few other things. It comes with a delicious tabouillon and tomato salad.

BRETT

My place is on 2136 Regent St. across from Big Mikes. It is called the Regent Market Co-op. There is a big sign at the top of the store that says Regent Market Co-op. It says Pepsi on both sides of the sign. I don’t know why. Under the sign there is a red and white striped awning. Under the awning there are 3 windows with pictures in them. On the inside there 4 aisles and a place where they sell meat in the back.You buy the stuff in the front of the store. Most of the people that go there are in there forties or older.

There are almost 0 young people except kids who come with their parents. Most of the people are Caucasian. The people that go there are usual buying dinner. Sometimes they see people that they know and start talking. The store used to be owned by a guy named Joe. Some people called the store Joe’s. But 4 years ago Joe sold it. Some people still call it Joe’s.

DELIA

Franklin school,is located on two different streets. One is Potter St.. The other is Lakeside St.. Lakeside St. is the front of the building.And Potter is the back st. It is located Lakeside St. There’s a playground for kids who go to school there. On the playground there are swings, play structures, a little stage and a blacktop. there’s a parking lot for teachers and grown ups who work there park their cars. The building is made out of red brick and is three stories high, including the basement. It has a library, a music room, an art room, and a gym.

JUAN PABLO

My gathering place is on Regent Street. In winter it looks like a big castle with snow around it. In spring it looks like a beautiful house with flowers. The East side looks like a hospital or a laboratory with lots of rooms and crazy people in the rooms. Or a house of a principal ghost. All the kids at Randall say that a principal died there.

LOWELL

The Arboretum is on Arboretum drive and about a block from the Vilas Zoo.It’s sort of a nature preserve were many people gather. It’s a gathering place for bikers, runners, skiers, business people, and the animals.

From what I saw on December 3rd it was mostly women that were in their late 20s, 30s, or 40s. It’s pretty important to the people who come there and especially the animals that live there.

The Arboretum has a forest, prairie, and a small area of marsh. Every year, the Arboretum gets at least 85 different kinds of birds. My mom thinks that a group of people protected it and tried to keep it in it’s natural state, but some of the trees are in the wrong soil and there’s no under story.

If you were to look at the Arboretum from a bird’s eye view, you’d probably think it was a forest and prairie, but it’s got some marsh too.

MARCUS

My gathering place is West High School. On the outside there is a brick wall and three balconies; well not really a balcony, its more like on the belt line they over lap. There is a foot ball field and track. the street. It is on is Regent Street. It is a really busy street. Our school is on the same street as West High School. Next to the foot ball field is a tennis court. There is also a parking lot.

On the out side, there are about twenty classrooms. There are two gyms and a swimming pool. There are also a lot of drinking fountains and lockers. They have 3 stories. They have almost a thousand teenagers in that school.

MARTIN

James J’s Chocolate shop is on Old University Avenue, It sells everything from marzipan to sugar free candy. Candy making has been in James J’s family for three generations and was taught to him by his uncle. James considers their almond-butter toffee their specialty although they are advertised as a chocolate shop. The store is next to a knitting shop and a Middle-Eastern restaurant. They get most of their customers locally but there is a big hotel right next to it.

RODRIGO

Vilas Park is in the south side of Randall and Franklin community.It is a big park. It also has 2 playgrounds and a basketball court . It has a soccer field. How gathering happens there is every summer time my family and I [go]. My sister, she always follows my mom and dad.

Why is it in important ? It is because you can go there with your family and you can gather there. Also what I can enjoy at the park is the playgrounds.

ZOE

My gathering place is the Monroe Street Library. It’s on the corner of Monroe and Garfield, right next to an Affordable Futons store. All kinds of people gather here, like book clubs, college students, elementary students, why, even toddlers and infants come here.

The Monroe street library is a small brick building, it’s long and narrow, and it has a glass front. The inside has a grey rug, and white walls. The computers are across from the main desk, and they are at the front of the room. The tables are in the middle of the room, next to the adult fiction. There is a children’s table at the back of the room in between the children’s non-fiction and a section called Readers. The tables are green topped and have about four chairs at each table. There is a toddlers table, it has a stack of books on it, it is also green, but it has green chairs and only two.

Usually there are only three to seven people here at once, not including the librarians. most people are middle aged and white, but not always. Most days when I come I’m the only kid, but some times there are babies here. Most people here talk and read, and people usually read the newspaper. My gathering place is not a very active place.

The Beth Israel Center is about five blocks away from our school. When we got there we looked up and saw the words Beth Israel Jewish Center. Pretty normal. But right above them there was a Star of David. A Star of David is a six pointed star DRAWING OF STAR IN TEXT, a sign of Judaism. Above the doorway was a stone plaque with big Hebrew letters. After stopping for a moment to look, we went to the side door where Amy greeted us and led us down a hall to a small bathroom. This was no ordinary bathroom. In it there was a ritual bath, called a Mikvah. A Mikvah is to clean yourself in a spiritual way on special occasions, such as marriage or converting to Judaism. The water is “living water”, part rain collected from the roof. You dunk yourself in three times, getting all your hair wet. You say a blessing. A bride might have a mom or sister say the blessing for her.

This temple is not only for services and prayers, it also has school for children and adults. The children have an after school program, because they just couldn’t get enough kids to participate in a regular hours school. We went through a classroom much like a classroom at Randall. There were white boards, charts, and a clock. But the charts weren’t in English, they were in Hebrew. In Hebrew, you read from right to left. Aleph is the first letter of the alphabet. The clock had numbers in Hebrew as well.

After seeing the classrooms, we met Rabbi Kenneth Katz. He lead us upstairs to a HUGE kitchen, with two sides: dairy and meat. A lot of Jews will not eat any dairy product with meat. It’s not just no cheese on a hamburger, it’s no steak with ice cream for desert! This is called Kosher, which means fit and proper. Most foods now have a mark on food packaging showing that the product is okay for Jews and others who keep a Kosher diet. The mark is called a Hecsher. Jews do not eat pork or shellfish. They kill their meat in a fast, low tech way. They kill the animal with a knife in one stroke, killing it immediately so it doesn’t have to suffer quite as long.

The rabbi told us that about one out of every 4000 persons is Jewish. Something surprising was that the largest group of Jews in the world deny that they are even Jewish. There are three parts to being Jewish.

After exploring the kitchen we went into the temple. It was beautiful, with red seats and carpet and a velvet drape. Services are public, so anyone can attend. We took out the prayer book to page 340. Some of us were confused, because the pages number from right to left, too! We saw Hebrew on one side and English on the other.
In the Jewish religion, anyone can speak to God anytime about anything and in any language, although Hebrew is highly preferred.

Rabbi Katz showed us 12 or so beautiful Torahs, different colors decorated with bells and silver breastplates. These were in memory of the temple that once stood in Jerusalem. The Torah is made of five books, and the pages are parchment, or animal skin. On our way out we met Annabelle Argan TI, and she gave us tootsie rolls. What a treat!

–Sarah

In Beth Israel, not only do people attend synagogue, but they take Hebrew classes and have fun. Both kids and adults are welcome. Kids come after school to learn about their Jewish heritage. An old Jewish tradition is a Mikva (SP?a ritual bath) to spiritually cleanse yourself. You must completely submerge your body and dunk yourself three times.

The kitchen is separated into two parts: a dairy and a meat side. That is because it is a Kosher kitchen. Kosher (which means fit or proper) has three basic rules:
1. There are animals you don’t eat, pork and shellfish.
2. You have to kill the animals you can eat a certain way, with a sharp blade and in one stroke, to cause the least pain. You must hit a major artery and the windpipe. If that takes more than one stroke, it’s not kosher meat.
3. You can’t eat milk and meat together. That is because in order to get meat, you have to kill, and to get milk, you cooperate (WITH THE COW, RIGHT?). THE RABBI SAID, RIGHT? That if you realize this, you are less likely to be cruel.

Being Jewish is an ethnicity—you learn your ways from your parents. It is a religion. And it is a nationality, since 1948 Israel has been a Jewish country. –Zoe

Beth Israel is a Jewish temple. It is not only a place of worship, but a place of learning and community. They teach Hebrew to the young and old and hold community dinners for anyone who wants to come.

In the Jewish culture, on special occasions such as getting married or converting to Judaism, you must take a holy bath. This is not a bath because you’re dirty. It is called a Mitsvah(CHECK SP.) In the Mitsvah you dip your whole body in three times, then say a blessing. The water for the bath is part rain water, because historically the Jewish people would take a Mitsvah in a stream or river, wherever water is moving.

Another Jewish tradition is about being Kosher. When we walked into the kitchen one side was for dairy and the other for meat. To eat kosher you can never mix meat and dairy together. You can’t eat certain animals, such as pork and shellfish. Animals that you are allowed to eat have to be killed in one blow so they don’t suffer.

–MacKenzie

Ever check your box of Cheerios carefully? Well, if you did you would see this sign: (HANDRAWN SYMBOL). This means the cereal is Kosher. Kosher can be a big part of Jewish tradition. It consists of three basic ideas. 1 is they don’t eat certain animals, like pork AND? The second main idea is that animals have to be killed a certain way. The knife must have no chips or scratches because that would cause the animal to have more pain than
needed. And they must kill the animal in one single stroke of the blade. The third idea is you can’t eat milk and meat together. For example, you couldn’t have steak with butter.

–Erika

Keeping Kosher is a good habit, but inconvenient. There are three rules: one, there are certain animals you don’t eat. The two biggest non-Kosher animals America eats are pigs and shellfish. Two: You can only eat things that have fins and scales from the ocean. The only land animals you can eat must have cloven hooves and chew their cud. These animals also have to be Kosherly(sic!) butchered. This means in a non-cruel low-tech way. The butcher has to have a very special knife. First he examines it to make sure there are no nicks, because that would make the animal suffer even more. Then a blessing is said. The butcher then kills the animal. He must sever the main artery and the windpipe in one blow or the animal is not Kosher. Three: Meat and Dairy must be completely separated. The have different sinks, ovens, dishes, etc. The idea is dairy or milk is gotten cooperatively from the animal, and meat is killing. So these should not be put together. It would be like saying killing is good.

–Anna

They have classes. They don’t teach Math or normal things like that, they teach Hebrew. Hebrew is the language that Jewish people speak. When they read Hebrew, they read left to right. In the classroom, everything is in Hebrew, like the alphabet and the numbers on the clocks.

–Juan Pablo

We were first shown the Mikvah or cleansing bath that consists partly of rain water collected from the roof. People dip three times into a tub of water saying prayers and blessings completely naked.

Next, we were shown the rooms downstairs in the synagogue for teaching children the ways of Judaism and the Hebrew alphabet. We learned that in traditional Hebrew there are no vowels. Next, Rabbi Kenneth Katz showed us the kitchen. It was basically two kitchens. The reason? Jews believe that milk and meat should never be put together, because if you are milking a cow and killing a cow those two things just don’t go together, so consequently they have separate stoves, separate refrigerators, and separate counters and sinks.

If you eat meat you have to eat Kosher. There are some basic ground rules to Kosher eating: never eat pigs or shellfish, never eat milk and meat together, and all animals have to be killed without technology. They have to be cloven hoofed and they have to chew their cud and they have to be slaughtered as painlessly as possible with one stroke of a knife.

–Martin

When I first went into the room where they have services, I didn’t see anything special. It looked just like the church that I go to. But there was a red curtain. Someone asked what was behind the curtain. So the rabbi pulled the curtain up. It amazed everyone! There were about 20 scrolls, all with a metal cover over them.

–Marcus

Amy led us down a long, long hallway to a small bathroom. It looked exactly like a regular bathroom, except that there was a hot tub like thing she told us is called a Mikvah in Hebrew. It is a special bath that originally was moving water, like a river or a stream. You dip yourself three times completely under water. The water they use is a combination of rain water and sink water. Amy took us into a classroom, where they taught Hebrew. In Hebrew, you read from right to left. Here are all the Hebrew letters: HAS DRAWING OF ALPHABET CHARACTERS When we walked into the temple, it looked like a church, with red carpet and wooden benches. But when you walked in farther you could see memorials on the wall written in Hebrew, menorahs with light bulbs, books of prayers written in Hebrew, and a skylight with the Star of David upon it. We sat down and looked around this magnificent room. Then Rabbi Katz chanted a prayer for us. If it is a weekday, the prayer will be chanted fast, but if it is a weekend it will be slower. Rabbi Katz showed us his yarmulke or kiepa. It is a small round hat that the Romans made the Jews wear when they took over. They gave each type of people a certain type of clothing to tell them apart. The yarmulke was a disability, but has now become a custom.

–Lowell

Kosher is a Hebrew word that was adopted into the English language. It means fit or proper. In order for meat to be Kosher, it has to be killed a certain way. It can’t be pork or shellfish. When they kill the animal they inspect a special knife to be sure there are no nicks of breaks in the blade. When they kill the animal they have to cut the main artery and the wind pipe at the same time. They do this so that the animal dies as quickly as possible with as little suffering as possible. To keep Kosher, you can’t have meat and milk together. For example, you can’t have roast beef with butter. Not many people do this anymore, mostly because there aren’t many Jews. There is about one Jew for every 400 people. (4000?)

–Alice

I learned that you can deduct a Jewish year by adding 3.760 years to the common year if it’s before Rosh Hashonna or 3761 if it’s after. It is currently the Jewish year 5762 (OR COMMON ERA?)

–Tim

Hebrew has three roots: ch, sh,r.

–Kyle

Anyone can lead a prayer. It used to be only rabbis could do it, and then only men, but now men and women can do it as long as they know how.

–Kyle

The Forest Hill Cemetery is divided into sections by roads and paths. We started by the Union Soldiers’ Rest, where a lot of the Union soldiers are buried. All the tombstones look alike. A larger headstone is standing in the middle. We all thought it was a general, or someone important, but it was for all those kids whose dads went off to war. We walked down to the Confederate Soldiers’ Rest, and it looked about the same.

In the Jewish part of the cemetery, the headstones had Hebrew inscribed on them. Some had little stones or pebbles on top. Anna’s mom said it is a sign of respect.

–Lowell

Families were buried either under the same stone or really close. I think that is very good and I hope to do that, too. One student commented that it was kind of weird that we were walking over bodies. I found it peaceful. There also were Hmong headstones with beautiful color laser etchings of mountains, lakes, and other scenes from nature on the backs of the stones. There were beautiful flowers around these recent graves. Some had been knocked over by the wind, so we fixed them.

–Sarah

When Forest Hill Cemetery was built it was thought that cemeteries should perform double duty as parks. So Forest Hill is a park, too.

–Pao

Cemeteries are naturally what we think of as spooky or haunted, scary places where we bury our dead. But almost none of that is true. The part that about a place to bury our dead is right, but a lot of people don’t think of it as burying someone who is dead. Some think the person has moved on, or some people think in terms of reincarnation.

The headstones are very important. Symbols on headstones can mean things. For instance, a hand pointing up means immortality, and there are a lot more symbols where that came from.

–Erika

I learned that lots of people even use culture when they died. I did not know that people use candles and stars in their culture.

–Juan Pablo