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You're listening to Mornings with Pat Kratlow powered by Up North News.
Now, for my Lake WSOTA studio, here is the founding editor of Up North News, Pat Kratlow.
Hey, good morning.
It is 7 0 6 and we've made it to Thanksgiving week, a Monday morning, November 24th.
Nice to have you here up north.
Parker Olson is producing things down in Madison Studio A2.
We are joined as always on Mondays by Dr. Kristen Lierly and by Selena Heller from Up North News.
And also coming up this hour, Abigail Swetz will be joining us from Fair Wisconsin.
talk about the ongoing fight for fairness for members of the LGBTQ community here in our state.
But before we get to that, Selena has been talking to the father of a of an actress that you can see in the wicked movies and, you know, the life circumstances that seem to fit in properly with the role that she's being that she is portraying here as part of that movie.
Selena, that was a nice conversation that you had with is it Sean Bodie?
And the Bodies are from Maiselmanie in Dane County.
And that is where Marissa grew up.
Marissa Bodie plays Nessa Rose, Alphaba's sister.
So pretty great story that she has, the success that she has had.
And she started her local acting career in Meza Mani.
And then even when her accident happened when she was 11, she was on her way to play practice in Madison at the Children's Theater.
And her and her mom got in a car accident.
They were rear-ended.
And Marisa was paralyzed from the waist down.
Then she went to Los Angeles to still pursue her acting career and she is the first person ever to
play the character Nessa Rose, she's actually in a wheelchair.
Nessa Rose, the character in the story is in a wheelchair and she's the first person to actually be in a wheelchair.
And then that's a major milestone for representation in the film industry.
And this
All right, I'll lead us into our first.
What are we going to hear from
Let's
give a
This is very important, you know, to her, to us, but definitely to the people in the world of disabilities.
It's been a journey.
It's been a journey since the day of her accident.
This community has just been behind us, you know, and we're so grateful for them, you know, and we love
We love being part of this community.
We help each other out.
That's what we do.
She called and said, Mom, Dad, this is crazy.
You're not going to believe this.
They're making a Barbie doll out of me.
And it looks exactly like me.
She just was floored by that.
And then earlier this year, January is when they announced that they're even making a Lego version.
It was just, if there's one good thing about her,
moving away from Wisconsin to go to a school out in LA and spending her money when she could have had a full-ride scholarship here is the fact that it allowed her to kind of find herself who she was.
Just the joy of experiencing this whole
the whole two years just seeing this come through fruition, watching her and actually watching her on screen and just being blown away.
Glad for her, glad for our community, glad at this moment in life when we need some joy.
We have that.
And of course, you're hearing some music in the background there because this is part of a story that Selena has put together for Up North News that you can find the full story on our social media feeds here.
But yeah, Selena, you can hear that as one proud papa.
And he does like short films on the side, you know, so he's really interested.
And then when Marissa goes and auditions for shows, you know, she calls them and they chat and it's just a really great relationship that they have.
And, you know, Mesa Mani, 1700 people.
So pretty big deal
for
And then he talks about that, you know, they, when the filming was happening, it was, it happened in London.
So his wife went out first and then she watched it for a while.
She came back and then he went to London and watched it.
And so he talked a lot about kind of meeting the stars and how that was.
And, and John Chu, the director showed up.
When Meris got the, learned she got the part, he was on a zoom call and they were just chatting, but she had no idea she got the part.
And then the two actors who played Elphaba and Glinda Ariana Grande and
Cindy.
Grande.
I haven't told too many people this, but I'm a former break dancer.
I'm older now.
I break more than I dance.
But they had some two or three hip hoppers off to the side of the entourage.
And I was kind of mimicking them.
when they went for a break around one or two o'clock, I told the choreographer I used to be a break dancer.
And Ariana Grande is off to my left.
And actually what's funny about that was I came up to see Marissa, talk to Marissa at the break, and Ariana Grande is just kind of looking at me weird, and Marissa goes, oh, dad.
and she gave me a hug you know it's like oh wow and so I told the choreographer I used to be a great dancer and the choreographer goes oh really we'll show us some moves so I did a couple moves there she gasped and Ariana was like oh like so that was my introduction to Ariana
This is so different.
My dad, the break dancer.
It's like, you know, the proud papa role is usually played by somebody who's like, yep, I charged up San Juan Hill with Teddy Roosevelt or something.
And now I'm a former break dancer.
Break dancer.
I busted some moves.
He breaks more than he dances.
He
breaks more than he dances.
I like that.
He
gets off this energy like your neighbor, like you could just bump into him at the grocery store while you're looking at eggs together.
And then all of a sudden, he would bust out some crazy story about how his daughter is a famous actress in Wicked.
I
a
and Salina, you've been in roughly 2,000 plays, it feels like, around the Chippewa Valley here.
I mean, how does that feel to hear that kind of energy from somebody who chased that all the way to Hollywood?
lot.
Of course, you mentioned Maisel Mani.
So I have to the obligatory family tie that singer Skyler Gray is also from the Maisel Mani area.
And she's a Kratlo, her mom, Candace Kratlo still lives and performs in that area.
So Maisel
Hot bed of talent.
Who knew, right?
All right, so our question of the day that we talked about earlier 855-75 Civic 855-752-4842 is how far are you traveling for Thanksgiving?
And if it's not very far, then you know, what is the plan?
For example, Walt puts up, I am going 0.0 kilometers or miles or feet.
I am hosting 22 people and one rescue dog from both families.
and only one coffee pot.
Oh my gosh.
I
need more coffee.
You're definitely going to need more coffee on this.
Let's see.
Alicia says I also asked how far away your guests coming and she said the farthest is the kiddo coming from Houghton, Michigan.
and she writes the keys to make it through Thanksgiving week.
I said, hey, you made it to Thanksgiving week.
Now the key is to make it through Thanksgiving week here.
Robin Tigerton says, good morning from Tigerton.
It's partly cloudy, 32 degrees over the weekend.
I got my snow blower going and ready for the winter.
I watched the Packer victory and had a great pizza at Yeager bombs in Tigerton.
Still the ultimate name for.
And he says, Thanksgiving, I'm traveling to Caroline to have Thanksgiving with my sister Lori at her house.
So there you go.
So there's Rob 85575 civic 8557524842.
Kristen, you had the the Vikings in town to play the Packers.
I did not see any photos from you at the game this time.
Oh, I'm gee, I was there.
I was 100% there.
Yes.
At
the
beginning of the game,
I actually put it
out.
I did put a video out, but it wasn't my video.
But yeah, it was the defense over in the end zone doing the skull cheer, which I so loved.
Did you see that?
No, because I heard the whole game on the radio, so I saw some kind of reference this morning on social media, but I hadn't looked at it yet.
So they were all doing, were they mocking the skull?
They absolutely were in the most glorious way and the people in the end zone, the people wearing green and gold in the end
zone were
responding and it was just like it was perfection.
Oh, now I got to look this up.
That's wonderful.
I don't understand the origin of the skull thing because again, you know, I grew up.
It's a soccer thing.
It's a
European soccer thing.
They stole it.
We, you know, we moved out of the country for three years, 2014, 15, 16.
We came back in 17 and we watched very little, we watched the occasional Packers game, but that was it.
And I started to see this thing that they were doing at the new US Bank Stadium.
And I thought, was that like an overnight thing?
Did they like teach all the Vikings fans in one off season?
Or did this just slowly build?
I have no idea what the origin of it is.
And I say that because I don't like it.
I'd be like, this is goofy.
Oh,
I think it's awesome as a as a fan person.
No, no,
like if you take the team out of it, it's if you ever go to a game at US Bank Stadium and the fans are excited.
Usually at the beginning of the game before it starts, there's fire and the team is running out and everybody is yelling Skoll and it is it is intimidating.
And then the team starts to play and kind of winds down.
I was going to say, yeah, Skoll from the from the from the Norwegian choke.
Yeah, they didn't tell them that when it got started.
Look at this.
Rob coming off the top rope here.
Highway 29 was wet after the Packer game from the tears of the Vikings fans as they went back to Minnesota.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,
oh, oh, oh, oh,
oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,
forcing three turnovers, five sacks, the Vikings in the second half of the game totaled four yards, four net yards and three turnovers.
A defensive gem as the Packers beat the Vikings 23 to six.
You're going to say?
Yeah, they
took advantage.
Took advantage of JJ McCarthy.
Nine, nine was on the field yesterday and one happening.
No, didn't this guy like have all this great potential when he first got started?
No, no, no, no.
I don't understand why.
No, he didn't.
Out of college.
in the
that completely
good on
paper.
Parker is having none of this.
I don't like him.
I don't like him one bit.
Oh, that's great.
Well, this
is what's called a consequence.
This is what's happening right now for the Vikings.
Yes.
Again, 8-5-5-7-5-CIVIC, 8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2.
How far are you traveling for Thanksgiving?
Quick note on the text line from Roger and Steven's point.
It's a holiday week.
Don't forget to check your garbage schedule to make sure the garbage gets picked up at the right
time.
So true.
This public service announcement and more are coming to you from Mornings with Pack Right Low powered by UpNorth News here on the Civic Media Radio Network.
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It's a Monday morning, 7.22 the time right now, along with Parker Olson, Dr. Kristen Lyrely, Selena Heller, and you at 855-75 Civic.
You can call us or text us.
Use that Civic Media app, call or text, or leave us a voice note.
Roger on the text line in Stevens Point said, I noticed the game was over by 2.45.
Quick moving game.
I heard Wayne and Larry talk about that as well, that the game seemed to be flying by.
So the game I wasn't noticing the game really did end at 245.
Was it that early?
That really is something.
Yes.
Yeah, they were it went super fast
and it just didn't seem like the fans kind of yeah, I love the fans.
Yeah, but they seemed a little subdued from the very beginning and there were a couple big moments clearly, but we were winning so convincingly that there was no we've rarely chanted go pack go.
There was no wave like the things that you the shenanigans you typically see we didn't really see a lot of.
Oh,
and it wasn't because
Nope.
Yeah.
I think we were just
subdued.
Maybe they got it all.
They get it all out of their system the day before watching the Badgers beat up on Brett Bielema and Illinois.
Oh my God.
That was so amazing.
Yes.
Beating a ranked team 24 to 10.
I mean, let's not go crazy here.
The Badger football team is still four and seven and two and six in the big 10, but you never you never go wrong beating a ranked.
team you never go wrong beating up on Brett Bielow.
And you know what's coming up this weekend.
And coming up this weekend will be the Badgers taking on the Minnesota Golden Gophers Saturday coverage begins at 12.30 on several Civic Media stations and Dr. Lirely, former Gopher mascot, will be in attendance, right?
Yeah, that's my plan, but you never know what's gonna happen with this game because I think the Gophers need this game to go to a ball and the Badgers
do not
The Badgers just want to spoil it.
And what will probably happen, I'm just going to predict this, is the Gophers will be really excited and they'll go into it with all of this enthusiasm because they want to go to a bowl game and the Badgers will be like, we got nothing to lose.
And
the
Badgers will end up winning.
That is my prediction.
To get that Paul Bunyan axe, that is the motivation is to get that.
So again, Badgers Gophers Saturday, 12.30 coverage begins for a 2.30 kickoff.
The Packers, by the way, play.
On Thanksgiving Day, they will be playing the Detroit Lions in Detroit.
Coverage begins at 10 a.m.
Kickoff at noon across the Civic Media Radio Network.
And also on Thanksgiving after the Packer game, there's Badger Men's Basketball.
They will be playing Providence in a tournament in San Diego.
Coverage begins at 2.30.
Thanksgiving afternoon on several Civic Media stations as well.
So there's just a lot going on.
The Badger Men's Basketball team, by the way, lost on Friday to ninth ranked.
BYU.
Let's see the Badger men's hockey team.
That's the other thing.
When they stormed to the field after the Badgers beat Illinois, I thought it was maybe because the hockey team had beat number one Michigan State.
But then Saturday night they went and they did it again.
They beat the number one team two games in a row over the weekend.
So congratulations to the Badger Men's Hockey Team.
Amazing.
The Badger Women's Hockey Team, number one in the country, swept St.
Thomas.
They will next play Saturday in Nashville for a tournament playing Mercyhurst.
The Badger Women's Volleyball Team swept Iowa yesterday, and they will next play Wednesday night at Northwestern.
And then just to bring everybody back to life, or back to reality, the Bucks are now in a four game losing streak.
They lost to Detroit on Saturday.
First time this season, they've been below 500.
They host the Portland Trail Blazers tonight.
Don't know if Giannis is going to miss a third game in a row or if he's going to be back.
So there's a little bit of sports with a lot more sports coming up this weekend.
You can't win all the time.
No,
no, there's gotta be those little syntax.
You could.
I would mind that a bit.
So as mentioned before, I am Dr. Kristen Lyrely's guest on the Dr. Kristen Lyrely show this upcoming weekend, Saturday at noon.
And it was, it was, I'm not used to being the guest.
I mean, I'm on, you know, I've been on other people's shows occasionally, but this was like a, this was for the full hour.
You know, back and forth on media and things.
And it got me doing something because I'm so rarely the guest.
I actually sent her a text after the show.
I'm like, I want to change my answer.
Wow.
Well, it's
weird when you flip the script because when you are used to being in the role that you do so well and all the time, you think about things from a certain perspective.
But when you are being approached and you're being asked the questions, you
don't know the question.
Right.
You don't know the question that's coming.
And so you you ask something along the lines of what is the.
the big story or the big issue that you feel like voters are missing, that voters need to know more about.
And my original answer was something along the lines of, I think they under-appreciate what a big difference they can make in 2026.
Which was
a great
answer.
Well, thank you.
You can switch.
You can swing the legislature, the assembly, and or the Senate, and keep the governor's seat and the House of Representatives, potentially the Senate.
You can make this big difference.
if you haven't liked how things have gone this year, and why would you, you can make all that big difference, you know, next year.
And afterwards, I'm like, Well, no, the, just about the big problem or the big issues, like to me, it's really is about people not understanding that the, the, you know, the wealth inequity in this country, the
the vision, the gap.
There is so much now in our politics that is essentially the billionaires and their buddies against the rest of us.
I mean, we talked about Doge, you know, disappearing quietly over the weekend or so, you know, eight months early.
And all they did was get rid of a few regulations that apply to billionaires and other corporations.
They didn't, you know, they didn't do any of their real stuff.
They just helped their
you know, the upper crust, which is running government.
And I feel like more people need to appreciate that and people go, that's class warfare.
No, that's, that's reality.
In my mind, Kristen, I don't know if you would have challenged me on that.
No, I think it's really true.
And I think people do need to know that that is like.
That is politics right there getting you to pay attention to something while you're doing something else nefarious in the background But I like your original answer because it is the I can do something about this answer and people need to know people are There's so much happening and it's so hard to keep up And you know sometimes you have these conversations with people where they don't feel like they're well informed enough Well, this is a way that you can be well informed and you can do something about it
So, the Dr. Kristen Leighly show with yours truly coming up Saturday at noon.
Thank you very much, Kristen.
Thanks, Selena Heller.
We'll look for your stuff on Up North News.
And coming up next, Abigail Swetz is here from Fair Wisconsin.
I'm Pat Crite Low.
This is the Civic Media Radio Network.
Welcome back.
It is 735 on a Monday morning.
It's November 24.
I'm Pac Rightlow here in Chippewa Falls.
You can sign up for our newsletters at upnorthnewswi.com.
We have a weekday edition that Elie Bordeaux puts together, chock full of Wisconsin features.
Today, for example, one of the stories is about a dozen different holiday parades around Wisconsin with a Christmas and holiday theme that you might like to attend.
There's also our Sunday morning newsletter that I put together with a focus on politics, especially Wisconsin politics.
It also includes our question of the week and this week's question that we'll get into more tomorrow deals with artificial intelligence.
Where are you on AI in terms of optimism or pessimism?
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And a lot of great responses are already coming in.
So we'll talk a bit about the future of AI tomorrow.
But that's our question of the week.
Sign up for the newsletter Sunday mornings with Pat Crichtlow over at UpNorthNewsWI.com slash mornings.
Again, UpNorthNewsWI.com slash mornings.
Let's welcome in Abigail sweats from fair Wisconsin as we do
are on our movement Mondays talking to groups that look to preserve freedom, dignity, democracy, all the things that we used to take for granted in this country, but realize have to be fought for.
Abigail knows this.
These are fights that go on every single day, especially for our friends, neighbors and loved ones in the LGBTQ community.
Abigail, good morning.
How are you?
Good morning.
Thanks for having me on today.
And I know that my mother is about to forward me the newsletter you were just talking about.
She forwards it to me pretty much every day.
I should really start subscribing.
He should.
Although I love the forwards and we encourage everybody to do that by all means forward away.
That's wonderful.
Abigail, we're mostly just learning more about fair Wisconsin today.
So let's just start for I mean, some of us have known about or been allies of the group for many, many years, but for folks that this is a whole new introduction.
Tell us about fair Wisconsin.
Of course.
So Fair Wisconsin, the organization I lead is Wisconsin's only statewide LGBTQ plus civil rights and political advocacy organization.
So that means we do a lot.
A lot of it is in the realm of educating the public about what it means to be a member of the LGBTQ plus community when it comes to the issues who truly care about as opposed to other people deciding we are issues really lifting the humanity of our own community.
We also do a lot of work in the electoral space, getting out the vote.
And when it gets closer to election time, we do have political action committees and we will be endorsing.
So we do a wide range of work right now.
We are, of course, are in our legislative session.
And so we've been doing a lot of work at the Capitol as
well.
I love the notion of getting people to focus on the issues instead of being the issue, because that really gets to the heart of...
part of the more divisive sector of our politics is to, you know, make scapegoats out of people or turn attention to them in negative ways.
And we have a right wing in this country that clearly instead of tackling the issues wants to create an issue.
And you're kind of responsible for pushing back on that.
Absolutely.
And I think it's important for people to realize that what we saw during the campaigns in November and then again in the spring in 2025 and our own state Supreme Court election was a lot of people running for office trying to make our community an issue.
And specifically with the really vicious anti-trans campaign attacks ads we saw.
And now that some of the people who ran those are now in power, not all of them won.
Those who did one, the research shows that is not why they won.
People did not vote for those.
ugly campaign attack ads.
People actually said, including Republicans, the majority of them, that they found them mean spirited.
And yet the people who are in power, who ran them, seem to be running with this idea that they want to turn that hateful rhetoric into hateful policy.
I mean, we've been seeing these attacks at the federal and even state level against our trans community.
This federal administration put out an anti-trans executive order on day one and has taken many, many more anti-transactions in the weeks and months since.
And then, of course, also more than a few politicians in our own state are trying to say and do things that direct policies that are just outright attacks on trans peoples and specifically trans youths ability to live authentically and publicly.
And it's something that we have got to stop.
It just felt like we're talking to Abigail sweats, by the way, from Fair Wisconsin.
It just feels like, you know, the political far right is floundering at whatever they can grab next because it was being against civil rights.
It was against equal rights for women.
It was just, you know, gay rights overall back in the day.
And now, you know, it's that subset of, you know, our trans community.
And again, trying to raise, you know, fear.
And it really seems to be
stoking fear more than anything else?
Is that a lack of familiarity with with, you know, who their friends, neighbors, loved ones might be in the trans community?
Or does that not matter?
They were going to be against whatever helped them gain political traction anyway?
I think you might want to ask them that question, because I'm not sure I have a great answer, since I would love it if they would just stop.
But I do think it's, it's
It's important for us to remember that the trans community is very small.
We're talking probably 1% of the population and so it is an
is easy and I would say cowardly choice for people to use a very small community as a scapegoat, as a wedge, as an issue when we are in fact, of course, talking about people whose humanity we should be respecting.
And so whatever their reason, it's wrong and it needs to stop.
And I think the rest of us as a community, both the LGBTQ plus community writ large and end our allies and those who just want to learn more, I'm really seeing people stand up
and really show up for our trans community in a way that is really inspiring and shouldn't have to happen but since it does have to happen we are meeting the moment and and I think that's something that we should realize.
Right and that's exactly why we have groups like Fair Wisconsin which you can find at fairwisconsin.com or on Facebook search for Fair Wisconsin and Abigail Swetz the executive director is with us right now and
That's what I wanted to get into next is this whole notion of standing up and pushing back rather than trying to retreat, trying to be invisible so that they don't attack us again.
People often say to progressives to Democratic politicians, you know, why are you guys always talking about, you know, the LGBTQ, you know, agenda, et cetera, et cetera.
And my answer has been, has always been, we're not leading with it, but we're not going to stay quiet in the face of bigotry.
We're not going to stay quiet in the face of attacks.
So they know.
they, the political right, that if they just attack and bully, you know, the trans community, everybody in LGBTQ and their supporters, they know that people are going to want to stand up and respond and can then be accused of, well, there you go, leading with that agenda again.
It's a weird little quandary we find ourselves in but I don't think the right answer is to simply let all those attacks go unanswered.
I agree.
It's a time for solidarity, right?
It is a very scary time.
And I think when we talk about being visible and standing up, first of all, we have to recognize that transgendered Wisconsinites, even trans kids have been perpetually put in the position of having to defend their own lives and their own humanity.
And it is time for all of the rest of us to really show up for their rights, especially in this scary time right now where it really might not be as safe for people to be defending their own rights and their own humanity.
which of course we have to honor and respect and lift the voices and also not make them do it alone.
So I think part of that is realizing that this administration is going after some of our most vulnerable neighbors because they think they can get away with it and because it lays groundwork.
So we have to stop it now.
We have to stop it.
because our trans loved ones deserve our support and the right to thrive.
And we also have to stop it because no one is safe for future attacks if we don't stop this now.
And it's all about looking for connections within and across communities, realizing we're all in this together.
We as the LGBTQ plus sort of broad umbrella community, there is no queer liberation for LGBT people without also liberation for trans people, but also
within and across communities.
Of course, we are seeing such vicious attacks against our immigrant communities, against our BIPOC communities.
We are all all together here.
There are queer and trans people who are immigrants, and there are queer and trans people of color who also all need this solidarity and this support.
Abigail Swetz is with us, the executive director of Fair Wisconsin in talking about minors, especially, and when we're talking about transgender issues, we often
here, of course, about the bullying and the political bullying that comes up.
So let's turn that around.
Let's be proactive.
And let's say, because I think a lot of voters want to know rather than hearing the attacks and everything, what is in the mindset of you, a fair Wisconsin, the LGBTQ community, what is the best case scenario?
What is the best way forward for especially, let's say parents with a child who is struggling with gender issues?
You know, where is it that
you feel like we all should be because one person's gender-affirming care is another person's, well, stuff I don't even want to say because it's just so far ridiculous, but they think it's what's happening.
Where is the right ground if you could make that happen?
Sure.
So it's sort of, I would end the sentence with one person's gender affirming care is another person's lies they've been told.
And so it's important that we really lift the truth when we're talking about things like the health medically necessary, age-appropriate, highly individualized, life-affirming health care that our trans youth and trans adults need.
And so that's one of the things that we need to make sure we're doing is staying well informed and staying informed in a way that we can meet others where they're at, which is often a place of either mis-dis or just no information so that we can move them along.
I'm a former middle school teacher who
knows very well that you cannot teach a kid if you don't meet them where they're at in order to grow them beyond where they're at.
And so that can be really hard, of course.
But I think there are a few things we can use in our toolbox, and I know many of us are about to be around Thanksgiving tables with people who might not always see eye to eye with us.
And I think a few things to keep in mind with those conversations are leading with love.
both for the person that you are speaking to, but especially for the people we are talking about.
Our trans kids, our trans Wisconsinites deserve so much love and support right now.
Just a wraparound hug as we support their rights.
Another thing to keep in mind is when we're talking about gender affirming care, we're talking about the ability for a trans youth or trans adult to live in a body that feels like home.
I feel like that's a universal desire that a lot of us can understand and if we can approach that with some love and that with some generosity of our own understanding of whether or not we've had that kind of struggle with a body image issue before.
I feel like that's something a lot of people can sort of have an avenue into understanding and that's something that I know.
has been helpful for me when I'm having conversations who just don't have, with people who don't have an understanding.
And the last thing I just say is making sure we're using loving language when we're talking about people.
There's a lot of mis and disinformation and lies that are being spread on the other side where people are using words that are hateful or words that are just inaccurate.
Trans people are not issues, trans people are people.
So we should always make sure we're leading with the human language when we're having these conversations.
Yeah, you've you've got fans out there like on Facebook.
Walt here says great to see Abby on your program as a former president of fair Wisconsin back in the day fighting for the bee community in the acronym.
I am glad of their fight for those in the minority of the larger community and Thank you.
Yeah, I mean look a whole lot of people
want these words of affirmation.
They want to lead with love.
Some feel like, well, there's more for me to learn first.
And I feel like if we've been helpful in any way in this country, there's still a lot of ugliness out there.
But I would like to think that there are more people than ever saying, you know what, before I pop off, I'm going to read about this a little bit more.
Right.
You know, and not just take things at face values, especially some of the ridiculousness that we see in our politics these days.
Abigail, I could go on and on.
Let's continue this conversation again sometime.
Abigail
Swetz
is the executive director of Fair Wisconsin.
This was such a pleasure, Abigail.
Thank you.
Have a good Thanksgiving and we'll talk to you again soon.
Thank you.
Yes.
And I'll look forward to that email I'm about to get from my mom.
There you go.
Mom, she done good.
So
Thank you.
All right, take care now.
748 right now and coming up in our next hour, we're going to talk to our friends, John and Gordy from our Civic Media Station, WMDX in Madison about our question of the day.
How far do you go for your Thanksgiving travels?
How far are your guests coming?
855-75 Civic is the number for calling or texting.
And then at 835, we'll talk to author Laura Bird her monthly visit with some book recommendations.
This time with, of course, the access
We sent on gratitude.
I'm Pat Krightlow.
This is the Civic Media Radio
Network.
Hey, add this to your newsletter reading list if you haven't already, Civic Media Today.
It is Civic Media's new daily newsletter filled with links to show highlights and much more.
Head to civicmediatoday.substack.com, civicmediatoday.substack.com.
Let's visit with Civic Media Sports Director Jimmy Kuska now to talk about the weekend.
Jimmy, good morning.
How are you?
Morning.
It is a busy week in sports, believe it or not, with Thanksgiving comes a whole bunch of tournaments and other fun things.
Which got an early start.
You and Parker apparently had to spend Saturday together doing some football.
Well, there was a glass case separating us, so he sat amongst the people, and I was high up in the ivory tower of the broadcast booth, but we
did take
in the Culver's Isthmus Bowl on Saturday, which is one of two Division III college football bowl games held in Wisconsin.
It was in its fifth year, and this year it was UW-Stout getting the win over Wash U of St.
Louis, so it was a very fun time.
Great.
Okay.
Parker, you can attest.
Good time.
I
Speaking of which, I was with the grandkids this weekend out in Kalamazoo, again, home of Western Michigan University.
And we were talking about the, you know, the season there for that football team, which got us talking about bowl games.
Try to explain bowl games to a six year old boy.
You know, I mean, it's just, what bowl, the bowl of what?
What's with the, what's with the bowls?
It's like, we just want like playoffs.
It's playoffs, but we're talking playoffs, man, but they just wanted to focus on the bowls.
Anyway, let's get to high school football just for a sec because on Friday was the division one, two and three championship football games.
So let's be sure we give proper due to the champions there, Jimmy.
Yeah.
As we talked about last week, there were seven 11 player football championships in Wisconsin, division seven through four on Thursday, three through one on Friday.
So we talked about the smaller school games with the seven, Kenosha, St.
Joseph, D six in Darlington, D five, Mayville, and then D four and win economy.
But the second day of the state football championships, all three of the games were wildly entertaining.
There were state records set, I think in all three of the games.
So division three was a very entertaining.
game between Grafton and Reedsburg.
Grafton kicked a field goal with six seconds remaining to beat Reedsburg 17 to 15.
Division two was West Appear over Notre Dame.
Notre Dame running back Kingston Allen set the state record for single season rushing yards in that game.
But it was West Appear in the high power passing attack with Pat Griesen getting it done, 28-14.
And then D1, I think, had a lot of people commenting just on the late game situation that happened in that one with deciding whether to go for a field
to tie or touch down the win.
It ended up being Arrowhead winning on a kick return from 76 yards away, a squib kick that Arrowhead housed from 76 yards away, winning over Bayport 18 to 15.
So that is it for high school football
this week.
76 yard return to cap off the high school football season.
Yes.
That's pretty cool.
And then, of course, Bayport driving down to the 11, and then instead of kicking a field goal with a kicker who was 4 for 4 on the year, 65 or 67 on PATs, deciding, you know what, we're going to try to win this thing right here at the end.
Incomplete pass, ended the season.
So that is how.
We end high school football in Wisconsin this year with seven, I think really, really good games and really representing the best that Wisconsin has to offer.
And then to add to the football entertainment, of course, you had the Badgers beating Brett Bielama and the rest of Illinois, but that felt good.
Yeah, another another chance for the fans to huddle for warmth as they rushed the field afterwards.
So that was I I know people are gonna complain about Running running on to the field after Washington and Illinois like they're you know top 25 teams But you gotta understand like people people in Wisconsin were but we're just ready to like you know get rid of all the coaches again Yeah reset the Badgers all you know all this stuff and it just feels good to win, you know, so
without a doubt and then and then you
you know, the cherry on top, of course, is the Packers not just beating the Vikings, but I mean, dominating them, especially on defense.
That's just never, we've never talked about as Jimmy does the Skoll chant again.
We've just never had that.
Look, Pittsburgh had, you know, the steel curtain, the Vikings had the purple people eaters, you know.
Green Bay.
I mean, we've had good defensive players.
Don't get me wrong, but I mean, this might be the, this is in the making the best known defensive unit throughout an entire season that we've seen.
This is, this is a heck of a unit.
It's just amazing that Micah Parsons ended up in Green Bay.
The Packers allowed the fewest points of any team yesterday.
Six points.
Uh, I just.
I think, honestly, having that identity, that you're going to be a defense first team, and you've got just enough pop on offense to get through.
You have Watson coming back, healthy over the top.
You're going to get healthier running back when Jacobs returns.
I don't love as a separated shoulder, but you feel a little better about it knowing that you can at least play defense and keep yourself in games, even if the offense is struggling.
So going into the stretch now, where five of their seven
And now four of their six remaining games are against NFC North opponents.
You feel a little better about it, especially because there's nobody in the division that is some unbeatable juggernaut.
Packers control their own destiny the rest of the way.
I know the Bears are leading the division, but they still get the Bears twice in December.
So there's a lot of positive, a lot of good to look forward to with Green Bay, the final six games, which starts on Thursday.
every, um, every Micah Parsons sack, you know, everybody just does the same thing.
Thank you, Jerry Jones.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you for
right out of the Packers fence.
So
yeah, whatever that, whatever the heck you were thinking.
And, you know, the guys on the radio were saying during the game, uh, when he, he matched a sack stat from, uh, uh, from Reggie White is like these, these are two very different defensive players, but who rack up the same kind of numbers have, you know, very similar talents.
You know, it's too early to say that with certainty about Micah Parsons, but again, to get somebody.
That domineering on our defense has been just a wonderful surprise compared to what we were thinking in training camp.
Yeah, two parts of it, too, is, one, he draws a lot of attention, which frees everybody else up.
But the other part, going into the game yesterday, he led the NFL this season in pressures on the quarterback with 60.
So he's making an impact not only on his own stat line, but the people around him play better as a result than I think.
Anytime you can, you know, I know it was a steep price to pay, but anytime you can get an all-world guy like this in your defense.
You do it.
Packers are proving that this has so far been an incredible investment.
So really has.
So as Jimmy said, Packers Lions Thanksgiving Day, noon kickoff coverage begins at 10 a.m.
But that's not all.
There's Badger Men's basketball as well versus Providence.
A pregame starts at 2 30.
Different civic media stations depending on your hometown.
Look it up civicmedia.us to learn more.
Jimmy Cuska, thank you.
Talk to you later.
What's it?
You got it.
All right.
When we come back, we'll be talking to John and Gordy and author Laura Bird all after the eight o'clock news.
I'm Pat Krightlow from Up North News.
This is the Civic Media Radio Network.
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