Jewop, a Jewish A capella group at UW-Madison
City Life

A unique take on a capella

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Singing group shares Jewish culture through music

Students from different backgrounds come together in harmony through Jewop, a UW–Madison campus A capella group. This story was originally produced for The Badger Report, a newscast by students in Journalism 425: Video Journalism at UW–Madison. View more from the Badger Report. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UsCP3GhIdY

TRANSCRIPT

Will Sobol: “We are a culturally Jewish A capella group, which means that we do music by Jewish artists or whenever we can we do traditional Jewish music as well.”

Lauren Langeberg: “A capella is a way of performing music without instruments, so we sing all of the parts that instruments would usually make up in a song.”

Will Sobol: “I just love that kind of music, and classical, I suppose, classical genres like that, there’s not any other a cappella group on campus that does that.”

Will Sobol: “I found what I was looking for here.”

Lauren Langeberg: “It wasn’t so much the focus on Judaism. It was just the people that were involved.

Some homeless campers protest against the new Dairy Drive campsite with a "listen to our voices sign."
Featured in Category

New homeless campsite opening soon on Dairy Drive

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New encampment hopes to house people currently living in Reindahl Park, but campers aren’t convinced

A southeast Madison site that will provide shelter to 30 homeless people currently camping in Reindahl Park is nearly complete. The City Council approved the new site on Dairy Drive in August. It will include small, modular houses with heat and electricity, as well as bathroom and shower facilities for residents. City officials expect that the first moves to the new site will take place the week of Nov. 15. 

Last week, the city confirmed that the outreach group Madison Area Care for the Homeless (MACH) OneHealth and substance abuse recovery provider Kabba Recovery Services would serve as operators of the new site.

Childhood cancer survivor, Katie Murphy, shares her personal recovery journey
cancer recovery

Childhood cancer survivor becomes a strong advocate

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UW junior shares her personal  journey to support others

Katie Murphy was a junior in high school when she woke up with an unusual lump on the side of her neck. It wasn’t painful, so Murphy thought she had slept in an odd position, got a nasty bug bite or had an allergic reaction to her clothes. 

“I thought the most obscure thing,” Murphy said. “Cancer was the last thing I thought of.”

Each year, about 1 in 285 children in the United States are diagnosed with cancer before they turn 20, according to the American Childhood Cancer Organization. Murphy had just turned 16 and passed her drivers test when she received the news of her diagnosis in 2017. She was behind the wheel, an eager and excited new driver, on the way home from her initial doctor’s appointment when her mom, Patty Murphy, received a phone call: “Katie has Hodgkin's lymphoma.” 

“I was scared of the unknown, it shook my belief and faith,” Murphy's mom said.

City Life

Madison organizations showed solidarity with Amazon workers organizing in Alabama

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Local organizations Socialist Alternative and Our Wisconsin Revolution gathered Sunday, April 12 outside the Amazon Locker location on Johnson Street in Madison to show solidarity with the Amazon warehouse workers voting to unionize in Alabama. Social activists supported the working community fighting for their employee’s rights in one of the largest companies in the country. 

City Life

The Bus Stops Here: Voter ID requirement hurts transit-dependent voters

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Next week, perhaps for the last time, the City of Madison will elect 20 City Council members for a 2- year period. Among their duties, Council members pass annual budgets that set taxes and determine how those taxes get spent. Those budgetary decisions in turn impact everything, from housing and police, to parks and yes, transportation.

Various politically-minded groups gear up for this event, help with political campaigns and/or endorse particular candidates. Their activity is based on the probably incorrect premise that potential or actual transit riders are as able to vote as others. It should be correct, and the Dane County Voter ID Coalition has assigned itself the task of identifying voters who may not have an acceptable voter photo ID, then arranging for them to receive assistance in obtaining one.

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The Bus Stops Here: Madison Needs to Improve Public Transit Without Displacement, Part I

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Transit advocates in Madison and elsewhere are quick to point out that traveling with one less car can save a household on average over $9,000 a year (based on national 2019 figures for traveling 15,000 miles), whether that household goes from having two to one car, one to no car or just not getting a car in the first place. Transit advocates also tout the socially inclusive nature of a public system that serves people of all ages, incomes, ethnicities, and physical abilities. And they argue that even riding diesel, rather than electric, buses can substantially cut down on one's carbon footprint while enabling road diets and the reclamation of public space disproportionately allocated to car parking. After all, the city's 2018 Comprehensive Plan's No. 1 transportation strategy (p.

City Life

State Street murals draw mixed reactions

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After the Madison Black Lives Matter protests, I made a point to see the murals along State Street. For me, this artwork raised new questions to consider, community issues to understand, and social concerns to contemplate.

City Life

What it’s like to be tested for coronavirus

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With the continually rising cases of coronavirus infection in the greater Madison area, testing for the pandemic responsible for nearly 140,000 deaths in the US has become a regular occurrence for many. At least for me. Nasal swabs which determine the presence of the virus are currently being done by the National Guard at the Alliant Energy Center and promised until at least August 31.

City Life

African American Council of Churches leads thousands in Black Lives Matter Solidarity march

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On day number seven of protests in Madison, thousands turned out in representation of the faith community. 

The Black Lives Matter Solidarity march organized by the African American Church Council started at the Bethel Lutheran Church Sunday evening at the intersection of University Avenue and Park Street and ended at the state Capitol. Every nine minutes the group, which stretched for blocks, stopped in recognition of the 8 minutes and 46 seconds in which a white police officer knelt on the neck of George Floyd. Mackenzie Krumme was there.

Madison Voices

The Bus Stops Here: For Essential Travel

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As of May 17, there are 12,571 positive cases and 453 deaths from COVID-19 in Wisconsin, and 537 and 25 respectively in Dane County. The numbers will be higher tomorrow. Madison Metro's administrative offices are closed to the public but its buses continue to operate.  Buses provide an essential service. Essential travel includes going to work, medical appointments and grocery stores. Passengers enter and exit the bus through the back door, if they’re able.