Category Archives: Life

Creativity and good mental health go hand in hand

Posted on January 28, 2023 by Katherine Wikoff

Here’s an interview with Hilde Østby, author of a forthcoming book (April) titled The Key to Creativity. What really resonates for me and jibes with my own feelings and intuitive understanding of creativity is the reciprocal positive relationship between creativity … Continue reading →

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

Market Street, evening

Posted on November 2, 2022 by Katherine Wikoff

Taken after work tonight on Market Street, the one-block street that runs along behind the Campus Center at Milwaukee School of Engineering. The bright early evening sun was low in the sky, casting shadows down into the canyon created by … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Milwaukee | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Lake Michigan, last Saturday in October

Posted on October 29, 2022 by Katherine Wikoff

I drove up Lake Drive to meet friends for lunch at the City Market in Whitefish Bay on this beautiful, sunny day. All along the route trees were at their absolute peak of color, just an overwhelming display of gloriously … Continue reading →

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

500 tabs and counting down

Posted on October 23, 2022 by Katherine Wikoff

Does anyone else have a tab hoarding problem? I have a habit of opening tabs on both my computer and my phone and then just leaving them open for easy reference instead of bookmarking them, which requires extra work on … Continue reading →

Posted in 500 tabs and counting down, Digital society, Life, Movies and film, Popular culture | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

A haiku for October

Posted on October 19, 2022 by Katherine Wikoff

As I was researching AI and art/text generation, doing prep for tomorrow’s Digital Society class, I came across a website purporting to use AI to create poetry. Skeptical but intrigued, I followed the prompts to enter a noun, an adjective, … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, poetry, Teaching | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

“Hoosiers” – Evoking Nostalgia for America’s Midwestern Autumn

Posted on October 16, 2022 by Katherine Wikoff

Hoosiers (1986) gets Midwestern autumn exactly right, both the beauty of the landscape and the nostalgic harkening to a wholesome, mythic era that has slipped into the past. I love this film’s quiet opening, from its first image of headlights … Continue reading →

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My own little light at the end of a tunnel

Posted on October 5, 2022 by Katherine Wikoff

Stayed late at work last night, although not quite as late as this darkness would seem to indicate. Sunset is coming earlier in Wisconsin these days, and the Grohmann Museum closes at 5 PM. I took this picture on my … Continue reading →

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When life imitates art (or, the imperfection of perfection)

Posted on October 4, 2022 by Katherine Wikoff

I walked into my office in the Grohmann Museum on MSOE’s campus the other day and really liked the golden autumn glow of light reflecting from the locust tree outside my window. Especially appealing was the correspondence between the dead … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Creativity, Life, Photography | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

A post for Labor Day

Posted on September 5, 2022 by Katherine Wikoff

Here’s a Smithsonian article about the Battle of Blair Mountain, a labor uprising from a hundred years ago by coal miners in the hills of West Virginia: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/battle-blair-mountain-largest-labor-uprising-american-history-180978520/ The Battle of Blair Mountain occurred about a year after the Battle … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Life | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

A September haiku

Posted on September 3, 2022 by Katherine Wikoff

My slightly melancholy ode to the fleeting season . . . September Swallows gathering Morning fog on the water Summer has ended I was looking for a video of swallows gathering to illustrate and found this one. Yikes! Calling Alfred … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Nature | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments