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Holy Innocents Catholic Church (affectionately known as HI), dedicated in 1950 by Bishop Bona, features a giant light-up rosary (far right). Hovering over statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary, praying children, and lambs made of concrete, the grouping commemorates the secret message of Fatima. The blue electric rosary remains one of our favorite after-dark Manitowoc sites and is easily viewed from the car while cruising down Waldo Boulevard. The church was named for the martyred Holy Innocents more specifically for the male infants that were "slaughtered within two years following the apparition of the star to the Wise Men." HI and five other churches were "consolidated" into one named St. Francis of Assisi Parish to serve all of the city of Manitowoc in 2005.  Names like Holy Innocents or  St. Boniface were jettisoned and the facilities are now referred to as the Waldo site or the Marshall site, etc. relating to their street address. We knew these churches best through their basement rummage and bake sales held in the fall and spring and orchestrated by community-members to raise funds for church operations. In the 1990s, these sales were ripe with mid-century consumer goods like dishware, rhinestones, wool suits, statuary, hankies, and LPs for sale for nickels and dimes. In contrast the St. Francis website features an apparel store along with the church bulletin, a media center, and updates on the school. The mission statement remains as mysterious as the Virgin Mary's message at Fatima: The Manitowoc Catholic Community exists as a sacramental body of Christ, to love as Christ loved, by boldly proclaiming our faith, teaching our youth, spreading the Good News of Jesus, and serving one another and others in an ever-changing community.

 Banal brutalist architecture with massive slabs of concrete and nothingness. Today there is another form of banal architecture for such institutions that involves the inverese: lots of glass and windows, textural imported stone, and cherry custom wood accents.

In Wisconsin, streets are named for their association with native tribes that once inhabited the land. Street names like Calumet (a north American peace pipe) are abundant while town names like Manitowoc (dwelling of the great spirit or evil spirit) or Lake Tomahawk (named for the shape of a nearby lake) in Oneida County) are unique to the history of specific locations. Written as they are on state and federal signs appearing along the highways and byways, these words becomes further abstracted and distanced from their meaning. Back in the 1960s, farmers found arrow heads as they plowed their fields and would display the. Earlier generation remember "Indians" coming into town, attending school, or existing on the periphery. Institutions like reservations and casinos have reshaped the 21st century landscape in Wisconsin while a young generation seeks to reclaim native identity and traditions as they raise consciousness about a history so important to America.

It's not often that the Great Lakes and Midwest become haunting, poetic subject matter in a pop song. Though the Edmund Fitzgerald sunk in Lake Superior, we always sang the line "Old (Lake) Michigan steams like a young man's dreams" from Gordon Lightfoot's "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" as we biked along the shore on foggy days. There was another pop song on 45 RPM about the fog and waves of Lake Michigan and the "lonesome moaning" of the light houses in Manitowoc, two Rivers, Kewaunee, and the Two Creeks Nuclear plant called "T.R. Special" by The Nite-Cappers (performed in a Johnny Cash style). It was a favorite on the local AM radio studio in the 1970s and can now be heard on YouTube.

The now historic LMC S. S. Badger runs part of the year across Lake Michigan from Manitowoc, Wisconsin to Ludington, Michigan. The ferry carries passengers and their autos and offering Sea Breeze cocktails to calm the stomach when the waves get choppy. Embroiled in an EPA controversy over disposing of its coal ash in the lake, the ferry is investigating switching to natural gas for fuel. Says the website: "The amount of mercury, arsenic and lead in the coal ash is not only below standards that would make it harmful, but also hundreds of times lower than what others are allowed to discharge into Lake Michigan." Nothing is as simple as it used to be.

Rich Bouril with Toni Gosz's, Kellnersville, WI, 1972 Photo courtesy of Rich Bouril

 Wisconsin Polka King Romy Gosz (1910-1966) made rich complex Bohemian style polka music that formed the sound track of our lives. His records, TV appearances, and live performances created the atmosphere of all social events from weddings to firefighters picnics. We collect his Polkaland LPs, 45s and 78s for the drunken joie de vivre they encapsulate. His family has worked to keep his memory alive even hosting a Facebook page. Grandson Rich Bouril offers Roman's Espresso Roast coffee at his Culture Cafe on Calumet Avenue in Manitowoc, Wisconsin and remembers skate boarding in the dance hall of Romy's former home/tavern at Polifka's Corners. Daughter Ramona "Tootsie" Bouril has a boutique, Ramona's Courtyard Shoppe, next door to Rich's cafe. Despite the long trek from Manitowoc, her high school dates were willing to make the "mighty long" trek to Polifka's Corners near Kellnersville to pick her up.