- The following program is a PBS Wisconsin original production.
– Coming up on Wisconsin Life: Meet the founder of an African dance company.
A writer empowering others to care for their cars.
A Wisconsin Rapids woman known as "Alpaca Audrey."
- You Mama's good girl, huh?
- And a pilot taking a family tradition to new heights.
It's all ahead on Wisconsin Life.
- Funding for Wisconsin Life is provided by Lowell and Mary Peterson, Alliant Energy, Stanley J. Cottrill Fund, American Transmission Company, Focus Fund for Wisconsin Programs, and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.
- Hi, I'm Angela Fitzgerald.
Cranes are a common sighting in Wisconsin, but that wasn't always the case.
Today, we're visiting the International Crane Foundation, a group working to conserve this species here and throughout the world.
With just under 300 acres in Baraboo, the headquarters allows guests to travel a path showcasing all 15 living species of cranes.
From the black crowned crane to the more recognizable sandhill crane.
Each exhibit offers an up-close look at these magnificent birds.
It's hard to imagine that this was all started by two men with a passion for conservation and a love for cranes.
Now, it's flourished into a worldwide initiative with partners and specialists in 50 countries, all working to ensure these birds don't go extinct.
[rattling bugle call] It takes a village to monitor crane populations, protect watersheds, and safeguard migration.
We'll return to discover more here, but now, let's swoop into our first story.
As we meet a woman stepping up to preserve African dance in Milwaukee.
– Kumasi Allen: One, two, three, one, two, three.
[drumming] - She is known as "Mama Ferne."
For more than 50 years, she's been the mother of African dance in Wisconsin.
- Ko-Thi has done a lot of firsts in this state.
- Ko-Thi is an internationally renowned dance company, and Ferne Caulker Bronson is its driving force.
– Kumasi Allen: Every step of African dance that's done within Wisconsin has come from Mama Ferne.
And without Mama Ferne, Wisconsin wouldn't have African dancing, honestly.
Whoo!
- The name Ko-Thi is Sherbro, which means "to go Black."
It was very brave of me to call the company this in the '60s, but I did that intentionally because it-- "Ko" meaning "to go," as to seek, to discover and "Thi" meaning "black."
The color black.
We've actually seen a massive change occur in terms of how people perceive the African dance and music.
[drumming] - Whoo!
- In the early years, Wisconsin wasn't so welcoming.
- We're talking in the '60s.
We came out in African dress and attire and performed.
It was to, bluntly put, people screaming at us, "Go back to Africa where you came from."
I was young and naive.
[laughs] And I don't think I had any idea how hard it was going to be.
No idea, no idea.
- Her idea to form an African dance company started on a day of deep reflection at an infamous trading depot in Ghana built by the Portuguese to export enslaved Africans.
- Sitting there at Elmina Castle and realizing that there was a disconnect between what Africans in Africa in the '60s thought with those Black people who live in that country called America, that's when the light came on for me.
Here we are in the 51st year.
[drumming] - What Ferne brought to Wisconsin and then the world was African dance, music, and empowerment.
- When you get in a room with people and the drums are going, the music is going, and the dance is going, you can actually hold on to something, that's called spirit.
[singing] This is why the drum and African dance was banned on the plantation.
They knew that there was something powerful there.
- Ferne elevated that power, becoming a trailblazer at the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee.
- I think about her work as an academic and scholar.
She's always been a frontrunner in that sense.
She was the first person to implement African dance classes to build a degree program, a dance program that specialized in this art form.
- African dance wasn't looked at as an art form.
It was more so looked at as a tribal dance.
- Whoo!
[cheers and applause] [percussion and singing] - As the years passed, Ferne built Ko-Thi Dance Company into a beacon of African pride.
- When you step into this room, you are African.
It used to be shunned and for a long time growing up as a kid, I was almost embarrassed to be African.
- I think Ko-Thi's vision is to help people to be able to dream... themselves.
Because when you can dream yourself, then nothing can stop you.
Mandela taught us that.
Gandhi taught us that.
Martin Luther King taught us that.
It's the most beautiful thing in the world.
Alright, here we go.
From within the circle of truth, - Group: We will always find continuity, faith, and love.
- I think it's about reinstilling a connection so people can get back in touch with their soul power... [drumming] ...that Black people are beautiful, that Black people can be happy, and can be flamboyant, and can be colorful, and can be joyful.
[singing] Black people can embrace other people because we're confident in who we are.
- After more than 50 years, Ferne is in transition, mentoring the dance troop's next leaders with wisdom and grace.
- I call myself "the whisperer" because I feel my role now is to help their path in the leadership of the company be a little easier than mine was.
Musical director of Ko-Thi Dance Company, Kumasi.
[cheers and applause] - In African culture, you have to respect your mama.
Even though she's not our direct mother, she continuously gives us knowledge of path.
When we're wrong, she corrects us.
- When we say "Mama Ferne," we take that very seriously.
It's out of respect for her.
[cheers and applause] It is the place where I became an artist.
- For Mama Ferne, the days of dancing have given way to the rhythm of writing.
- I hope my legacy will be that in the African tradition, my name will be talked about forever.
It took crazy, and it took crazy to start Ko-Thi Dance Company, and it's going to take crazy to keep it going.
I found a bunch of crazy young people who believe in a crazy dream and a crazy old woman who are crazy enough to be just this side of successful.
Crazy!
[chuckles joyfully] - Next up, we're off to Glendale, where a writer empowers others to learn their automotive ABCs.
- Growing up, Chaya Milchtein was never driven to learn about cars.
– Chaya Milchtein: I did not know anything about cars.
In fact, I was in foster care at around, like, 17 years old, and I told my foster parents that I wasn't interested in getting a driver's license.
- She turned 18 and struggled to land a job.
As fate would have it, she'd find one... at an auto repair shop.
- I just took this as this sponge experience, this learning experience, where not only can I learn everything I need to know about cars, but I can also learn to work with people from all different cultures and backgrounds.
- She spent time as a service adviser and in collision repair but eventually hit a fork in the road.
- And I decided, you know what, I need to find another way to make money.
This isn't happening fast enough [laughs] for me.
That's when the light came on.
She'd start a blog.
- And I started Mechanic Shop Femme .
There was no deep thinking or comprehensive analysis.
There was no branding.
I was just thinking, how can I put into one phrase, what I am and what I do?
Mechanic Shop Femme became a space for Chaya to write about her passions.
Cars, fashion, and empowerment.
- Taking control of what clothes I want to wear, and where I want to wear it, and how I want to be portrayed.
As a automotive consumer, taking control of what services I want to do and understanding what my next steps are, and budgeting for those things.
And as a queer woman, holding my head high and being who I am fully at every given moment.
- The blog launched her writing career.
Chaya's appeared in numerous publications.
After a while, she decided to shift gears.
I don't know what I should do next with this.
Like, I'm writing this blog; people like it.
What's the next step?
And somebody's like, you should totally teach classes.
So, I'm very excited to welcome you to "How the heck do I buy a used car?"
I'm going to tell you how this class works.
- Now, she also teaches basic automotive education.
- So, I'm not a mechanic.
At the end of the day, I'm somebody who has taken a lot of time to ask a lot of questions of the professionals in this industry.
And what I'm doing is, I'm not teaching you how to fix your car; I'm giving you the tools to be an educated consumer.
Full coverage insurance prices can vary... - She hopes to help people take the stress out of buying or repairing a car.
- They're entering a space that centers queer people and women and centers knowledge for people who don't understand.
There's no such thing as a stupid question.
Whatever you ask, I might not know, but I'm going to find the answer for you because that's important.
- Between the blog and her classes, Mechanic Shop Femme is a hit.
Chaya says there's a key fueling her success.
- People tell marginalized people to shrink themselves to make themselves more palatable for general society, thinking that that's the only way that they can succeed, but I think they're wrong.
You will find the people who will resonate with what you're doing if you remain true to yourself, and that's really the main thing.
It's not the fact that I'm doing fashion or the fact that I'm doing cars.
It's the fact that I bring my full self to my job, I'm passionate, and I'm true to what I do every single day.
- We've traveled to Baraboo to learn about the conservation work of the International Crane Foundation and the impact they have worldwide.
Sitting on hundreds of acres, the headquarters of the International Crane Foundation offers visitors a serene space to explore and learn about the conservation efforts of a beautiful and ancient bird, the crane.
To learn more, I met up with Chief Operating Officer Kim Smith.
Can you tell us the distinction between a conservatory versus other spaces in which animals are held, like zoos?
- Sure.
So, I think one of the greatest examples is where we're standing now.
So, we are in the whooping crane exhibit here at the International Crane Foundation.
Cranes of the World.
And this exhibit is a beautiful, quiet, secluded space.
When you come in here, you want to sit down and watch the birds and the birds are in a beautiful, natural space and they're doing what they would do naturally.
[birds chirping] - So, can you tell us the significance of some of the species you have here?
– Kim Smith: Well, some of the species are highly endangered.
So, we're standing again in exhibit of a highly endangered bird.
So the whooping crane is one of the most endangered birds in the world.
There's only 500 left in the wild.
Some of the other species: Siberian crane, there's only 5,000 left.
Critically endangered.
You know, these are birds that we work very hard on.
Some of our major programs that we work on here at the International Crane Foundation.
- Conservation of all 15 species of living cranes requires a global approach, and president and CEO Richard Beilfuss oversees these local and international efforts.
- Yeah, well, our main focus is here in North America, Africa, and Asia.
We work on those three continents and we're registered in quite a few places.
So, the work is all over and that's because endangered cranes are all over the world, but especially, most of the world's endangered cranes are in Africa and Asia, so that's a lot of where we focus.
- So, it sounds like the conservation efforts are more than just about the birds themselves.
Like, there are larger environmental implications.
So, can you tell us about that?
- Yeah, absolutely.
You know, cranes-- part of the reason cranes are endangered is many of them have really specific requirements for their survival.
So, in a lot of places to save cranes, we actually have to save bigger landscapes that cranes need.
That's usually wetlands, healthy wetlands, and also the surrounding areas.
What's amazing is that cranes are so revered in much of the world that they're an incredible-- we call flagships for really thinking about the bigger landscape and for conserving wetlands in those surrounding areas.
They draw us in.
They need them to survive and they also are symbols or flagships for protecting those bigger areas.
- Conservation efforts that are focused on cranes it sounds like have bigger impacts in terms of the environmental benefits.
It's work that is reflected in the newly renovated grounds.
Welcoming visitors to journey around the world.
- Well, one of the things I love about our site here and the opportunity here is, I think, especially with our new remodel, we really want to draw people into the places where we work internationally.
I think when people come and feel good about the birds on display and sort of get to know them, they sort of opens up to these bigger conservation issues that we're trying to encourage people to get more involved in.
[rattling bugle call] - It's no wonder people are flocking here where so much is being done to save these spectacular birds.
Now, let's see what others in our state [rattling bugle call] are doing to make their mark.
We catch up with the Wisconsin Rapids woman whose passion for a different animal earned her the nickname "Alpaca Audrey."
[gate chain jingles] - C'mon, let's go!
[chuckling] - Ask Audrey Hackbarth about her alpacas... - That's "Terra cotta."
And she had "Saturn-Lee," and then "Saturn-Lee" had "Jupiter," and then, she also had "Corn Dog."
- ...and you'll get quite an answer.
- This is her sister, "Cinnamon Toast-Lee."
Chiquita's first daughter is "Chi-Lee."
- If you didn't guess it already, alpacas are Audrey's thing.
- They keep calling me the "Alpaca Whisperer," and people know me as "Alpaca Audrey."
You feed one.
I'll feed the other.
- Smaller than a llama, alpacas are specifically bred for their fleece.
- There you go.
Good girl.
Check out this fiber.
[ripping Velcro] That's why you jacket them.
That's a maroon.
Un-believable!
- Audrey found her passion for these four-legged, furry friends by an unfortunate turn of events in 2010 and an unusual gift from her husband.
- I was in a car accident, so Mark went and bought me a baby alpaca to stay with me in the house while I was, you know, down and out.
And he bought me "Chiquita" as a tiny little baby.
I just fell in love with her.
She was so tiny, and so cute.
They have huge eyes; their eyes really talk to you.
Who knew this was going to happen?
I'd never even heard of an alpaca.
- This is Chiquita today.
- Chiquita.
[Audrey makes kissy noises] Come to Mom, come.
- Full-grown and still one of Audrey's favorites.
- No, no, no.
Let Chiquita have some.
You're momma's good girl, huh?
That's how I got my first one.
And I was hooked... 50 later.
[chuckles] - Hooked would be an understatement.
- I shear 'em.
I wash it.
I card it.
I spin it.
I dye it.
I weave it.
I felt it.
We make rugs.
We make the slippers.
You name it, we make it here.
[clippers whirring] Isn't that awesome?
Look at that.
And you can feel the heat coming right off of there.
Oh, you are so nice.
[clippers whirring] See the famous ring around his neck?
[clippers whirring] All right, he's ready to go out on the town.
[chuckles] That's it.
That's it!
- And when Audrey says, "Go out on the town," that's exactly what she means.
[door clunks shut] - There you go.
We're going bye-bye.
- Audrey and her alpacas are a familiar sight around Wisconsin Rapids.
- I will go down the road and stop in front of any business.
I sit on the sidewalk, and I'll stand there and shear 'em.
I'm mobbed with people, and they just watch me give 'em a haircut.
- And the reaction from other drivers is like, "Whoa!"
- Oh, my gosh, they get whiplash.
[laughs] They get whiplash.
- The hobby that quite literally got started by accident is now a full-time endeavor.
And Audrey is completely self-taught.
- I'm not really into the reading part of it and learning.
It looked like there were so many steps.
It can't be much different than an Easter egg.
So, that's how I ended up doing it: like an Easter egg.
People always ask me, "What day will you be doing things?"
I say, "Every single day."
"What time does it start?"
I said, "I start at 4:00 a.m. Are you coming?"
Gee, I don't know what we're going to get here.
So, I call this poofing.
[chuckles] I made it up.
Isn't that wild?
[spritz, spritz] This looks kind of cool to me.
Oh, I like that.
Hot, hot, hot.
You know how much energy it would take, if I had to plan out what I was going to do?
That takes too much work.
I like easy peasy.
C'mon.
You want to go?
C'mon.
Let's go in the house.
- These days, Audrey makes it look easy with her new sidekick.
- It tickles.
"Coconut-Lee," she's my little sweetheart.
Is that your bottle?
[Coconut-Lee quietly hums "hmm"] There you go.
All done.
Wipe your mouth.
There you go.
- The shearing, dying, spinning... - No, you cannot have that.
- ...and "Coconut-Lee" keep Audrey really busy.
- Stop eating fiber.
- Despite all the work, Alpaca Audrey says it's all worth it.
- They say, "Why do you do this?"
You can go out on your worst day, and they can make you feel really good.
Yes, you're such a good boy.
There.
You can't just have one potato chip.
You have to have more.
That's kind of what happened here.
You don't want to get wet.
Come here.
[making kissy noises] Come on.
[alpaca honking softly] - For our last story, we fly to Waupun, where a pilot is taking to the skies to continue a family tradition.
[birds chirping] - Damon Reabe: Look at all those buddies right there.
They're all over.
The leafhoppers carry a virus called aster yellows.
And when their mouthparts penetrate the leaves, they infect the plant with that virus and begin to kill the plant.
When a pest gets to a certain level, it's going to cause crop loss.
And that's why we have to be here all the time.
[click, whirr] We are known as crop dusters.
But we are aerial applicators.
We haven't been putting out any dust for many, many decades.
This type of flying is really unique.
There is very little time spent in straight and level flight.
There's no autopilot.
And the aircraft is constantly being maneuvered by the pilot.
It's a skill set that takes time to develop, and to me, it's the type of flying that I want to do.
[nneeaooww] [birds chirping] We're at the world headquarters of Dairyland Aviation here in Waupun, Wisconsin.
Flying is a family tradition.
I was about four or five years old and was walking on the property alongside my dad, and I just told him that, "When I grow up, I want to be a pilot like you, Dad."
My grandfather's Roy Reabe.
He was a transport pilot during World War II.
When the war ended, Grandpa started the crop dusting company in the late 1940s here in Waupun.
The amount of work that I can cover in an hour compared to what Grandpa could do with his first airplane is a factor of about 15.
It's changed so much and I think he'd just really love to be here to see it.
So the airplane is quite sophisticated, as you can see.
I go to my GPS tablet and I select how I'm going to spray the field.
The field's shape and what's around the field will determine which one of these patterns I select.
[nneeaooww] The optimum height is a boom height of approximately eight foot, which puts the wheels at approximately five feet.
[nneeaooww] I don't view it as dangerous.
Every pilot that flies an aircraft has to be able to land it.
And when you land, you have to know where your wheels are visually , right?
So while it seems like a really difficult thing to do, knowing how high your wheels are above the ground is actually just part of flying.
It's all about safety.
We take a lot of precautions.
We are looking for obstructions and people near the field.
The idea of being a daredevil simply doesn't fit.
It requires all of your attention and all of your mental processes to fly, and particularly be an aerial applicator.
It's fun.
I'm in a place where all of my thoughts are focused on doing the job.
And when that happens, everything else goes away.
It's just a wonderful feeling.
[nneeaooww] - From the people we've met today to the conservation efforts of the International Crane Foundation, our state has passionate people sharing their talents.
Visit WisconsinLife.org to find out about anything we featured today.
To share more with us, email [email protected].
I'm Angela Fitzgerald, and this is our Wisconsin Life.
Bye.
[cranes squawking] Alright, get it out, get it out.
- Funding for Wisconsin Life is provided by Lowell and Mary Peterson, Alliant Energy, Stanley J. Cottrill Fund, American Transmission Company, Focus Fund for Wisconsin Programs, and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.
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