A Woman in Peril

...Just returned from a Viroqua, WI weekend... in my evolving home town in SW Wisconsin.

Leaving Chicago

Surprisingly light traffic on this stretch of the Kennedy.

Great vendors at the Public Market.  I bought Tibetan bags, African violet, wine, chocolate, cedar candles, a wooden puzzle, an Alpaca fur stuffed animal from Peru (for my cats)...

At the Public Market my family and I created

Public Market

Kickapoo Coffee Roasters is Born.

Kaleb is roasting fair-trade coffees, right in the market.  He will ship out wholesale regionally and sell by the cup in his store.  How cool is that.

Friday night my sister Rachel (rachelmacasaet) appeased me and came down early to hang out.  We explored the Viroqua city park in the dark.  The wind began to pick up as we approached the time capsule at the top of a rock formation in the park.  The capsule will be re-opened in 2046.

The wind formed a song, a lament, almost a wailing, into the heavens....we imagined it was the spirit of Viroqua, the fabled woman of indigenous birth, denied her true love...  overwhelmed, she leaped from the very point where we found ourselves standing. 

Viroqua was crying into the wind, because she was in great peril... her horrific assault and eventual murder are at hand... she can sense it coming... indeed, the barbarians have already arrived.... Viroqua fears her demise from forces who will replace her living soul with a plastic representation of one.  Market forces, homogeneity, plutocracy and greed will destroy the essence of this funky little town.

Viroqua is pleading with us to save even a small part of her.  With this, she can survive...  it is our revolutionary duty to help this woman, Viroqua, in her moment of  immanent demise. 

We cannot stop the beast that is the corporate man... attempting to do so would be a waist of limited energy.  All we can do is understand, create and preserve what we can, of the Woman we all love... Viroqua.

My sister wrote a poem about our revelation - read it here.

Moon View from the time capsule

Saturday, an old friend strolled into the market.  One of my brother's best friends from high school randomly shows up... It's Richie.  We commiserated, had a few beers, played guitar, and, as with Rachel, explored the city park at midnight.  We again, hard the wailing of a lady in peril.  It it now that we must act.

Desperate call   [photo by Richard Howell]

Richie and I love this vintage phone booth near the courthouse.

View of Courthouse & condemned county jail, from Time Capsule.

We may shoot a movie in this historic prison, before they tear her down.

Main Street, Viroqua, WI

VIVA & The Move! Art Gallery and Performance Space

part of the Public Market, Viroqua, WI

Near an Amish Farm, November 2005.

This is looking SSE... I think the planet is Venus??  The moon and his companion, Mars were over my shoulder.

Pause to Shoot. 

I took a quick right off Highway 14 near Richland County to shoot the last of the day sky.

I learned about mead from a friend, an expert winemaker.  Mead is made from honey or apples (it's like hard cider / woodchucks).  Mead is likely the oldest form of fermented beverage... potentially predating controlled fire.  It's easy to make - honey PLUS fungus PLUS time = CO² and ETOH =  M e a d.

We dreamed of an organic mead winery to the rear of the Public Market in a new, "green" building made of straw bail.  The Viroqua region is destined to become a wine-country destination.  This would be one of the first wineries, the first on Main Street, and the first in a green building.

Main Street Station - Public Market and Winery... has a nice ring to it.  Hmmmm.

Moon Guide to Chicago

 <Abandoned then saved>

Fascinating topography of Southwest Wisconsin. 

Viroqua sits in the center of an ancient prehistoric sea.  The water receded about 100 million years ago, exposing the sea floor, and this majestic underwater mountain range. 

Unlike most of North America this small 100 mile diameter area, was never tilled by advancing glaciers during the previous three ice ages.  This unglaciated or driftless region is one of the most fertile and unique places on Earth.

Unique topography of Southwest Wisconsin - an area never glaciated

let's zoom in...

can you see the mountain range?

Viroqua lies in the center of this prehistoric underwater Mountain range.

I love how this topography matches the pattern of ice freezing on car windows and the branching of a fern.  Ubiquitous signatures at any scale.

The first humans migrated across the land bridge in Alaska about 10,000 BC... they journeyed  to America during our most recent ice age!  These first Americans found a sanctuary in the unglaciated lands around Viroqua... They were surrounded by ice and frozen Earth, protected by the temperate climate in this area... spared somewhat from perpetual winter.

Today, when you visit Viroqua, you walk the lands of the first humans, traversing over millions of years of life sediment.  A truly organic experience... the soul of Viroqua, native maiden of lore, the layering of immeasurable volumes of animate beings, and the warrior spirit of early human explorers.

This is what we will battle to preserve.  It is our duty.  We must save the spirit of Viroqua.

Will you aid this woman in peril?  Perhapse, there is another who calls you?

< Lone Tree on Late Sky >

love,

tony