Articles by Amanda Becker

Wisconsin is a red state for the first time since 1984 and this year’s election saw its lowest number of ballots cast in 16 years. Low-income neighborhoods like those in the center of Milwaukee were major contributors. Tucked behind a gas station, on the corner of Capitol and 20th, is Mr. Perkins. It’s a neighborhood […]

Lack of excitement for Hillary Clinton, and hopelessness, led to low voter turnout in the struggling Sherman Park neighborhood. Amanda Becker spent a day with neighborhood residents.

The Book of Mormon cast captivated the audience Sunday night throughout a two-and-a-half hour performance, delivering every witty line with spontaneity during their last show here in Milwaukee, with laughter erupting after each one. During their five day stay from October 25, 2016 through October 30, 2016 (the fifth stop of the show’s second national […]

As I walked through Boerner Botanical Gardens I was transported back to my childhood in a suburb of Chicago. Every December, each resident on Forest Avenue would impressively adorn their home with Christmas lights, nativity sets and inflatable Santas in sleighs pulled by reindeer. People would park their cars nearby, get out and walk the […]

On a scarce warm Thursday in October the sun made 54 degrees feel like 70. Lamar, a campus police officer stood out to me. His shoulders were broad and his eyes were on alert.

“I’ve worked here for 16 years,” he told me. After sharing a little about his day and some of his struggles he turns it right back around, saying that being a police officer isn’t for everyone, “But I look at them like I’m their big brother.”

He recalls graduation and taking pictures with student’s families. The pay-off to the job, he boasts, is seeing those same students walk across the stage who struggled every day between classes.

Lamar is one of those guys some only notice when they need him but in others he has a lasting impact.

Week one of my junior year at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee was moving at a record slow pace. I constantly checked my phone, making sure I wasn’t late, as I hurried to the basement of Merrill for my first class of the day. The majority of my long days this semester would be spent […]