Author Archives: Katherine Wikoff

About Katherine Wikoff

I am a college professor at Milwaukee School of Engineering, where I teach literature, film studies, political science, and communication. I also volunteer with a Milwaukee homeless sanctuary, Repairers of the Breach, as chair of the Communications and Fund Development Committee.

The Charles Manson – Dennis (“Beach Boys”) Wilson Connection

Posted on January 7, 2022 by Katherine Wikoff

Well. Here is something I’d never heard about before, never once in all the years since I first read the grisly details of Sharon Tate’s murder in the Sunday newspaper’s Parade magazine when I was just a kid under ten … Continue reading →

Posted in Books and reading, History | Tagged , | 7 Comments

Self-portrait in red bathrobe among dirty dishes

Posted on January 2, 2022 by Katherine Wikoff

I’ve been sick the past week and a half with what I assume is Omicron, despite being double-vaxxed, boosted, and perpetually masked. Drugstores have been sold out of Covid tests, and lines at drive-up test sites are several blocks long. … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Photography | Tagged , | 13 Comments

Remembering “The Day of Ahmed’s Secret”

Posted on December 22, 2021 by Katherine Wikoff

I’m watching documentaries on PBS tonight about the Great Pyramid of Giza (aka the Pyramid of Khufu, Wikipedia article HERE), and seeing bird’s-eye views of the pyramids situated right next to Cairo reminded me of this heartbreakingly sweet children’s picture … Continue reading →

Posted in Books and reading, Life | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Cley Advent Windows 2021

Posted on December 17, 2021 by Katherine Wikoff

These are some of the Advent windows in our village. A total of 45 windows are decorated to make our village look like an oversized Advent calendar. … Cley Advent Windows 2021 What a lovely idea talked about in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Life | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Go!

Posted on December 14, 2021 by Katherine Wikoff

Just a couple of photos from a gray day in Milwaukee. I actually took these pictures over a month ago (October 22), but as today is another gray day, I decided to share them. Sometimes, like today, I’m feeling “gray,” … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Milwaukee, Photography | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

4 chords to rule them all

Posted on December 6, 2021 by Katherine Wikoff

I remember thinking when I was about 11 or 12 years old that pretty soon there would be no new music. Because how could people possibly continue creating new songs? There was only an octave’s worth of notes, iterated multiple … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Music, Popular culture | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Remembering the “typewriter era”

Posted on December 2, 2021 by Katherine Wikoff

Students in my freshman-level technical communication course were intrigued by our discussion today of document design during the “typewriter era.” We were examining some memos from the early Microsoft Windows period, right about the time that people were beginning to … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Digital society, History, Life, Milwaukee, Popular culture, Teaching | Tagged , , | 12 Comments

Happy Fibonacci Day!

Posted on November 23, 2021 by Katherine Wikoff

  Round . . . Like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel . . . So begins one of my favorite songs, and it popped into my head this morning as soon as I realized … Continue reading →

Posted in architecture, Art, Creativity, Life, Movies and film, Nature, Science | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Remembering the “Star Hustler”

Posted on November 19, 2021 by Katherine Wikoff

There was a partial lunar eclipse visible from Milwaukee last night, which I really wanted to go outside and see but which I didn’t because I also needed to be asleep at 3:00 a.m. so I could do my job … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Milwaukee, Nature, Popular culture, Science, Television | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

The toilets under Milwaukee’s boulevards

Posted on November 12, 2021 by Katherine Wikoff

Well, I can’t resist sharing this ARTICLE about the discovery of secret underground bathrooms beneath the flowery landscaping of Milwaukee’s boulevards. The median strips are pretty ho-hum today, but when I first moved to Milwaukee in the early 1980s, our … Continue reading →

Posted in Digital society, Life, Milwaukee | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments