Joanne_Williams' Blog

Hi there bloggers,

The temperatures are rising and the grass is turning green (in most spots), but are you watching for Leaf Day?

What's that?  It's something I made up for my kids years ago and it's fun to keep track of it year after year.  Leaf Day is the day when the leaves on all the trees are open.  Yes, I know, different species blossom at different times, but most of the mature trees around here seem to open their leaves on or around the same day.

The fun part is, you never know when that will happen.  One day you look at the trees and their branches are bare.  The next day, voila! they are filled with leaves!!

That's Leaf Day.  Let's all keep watching for Leaf Day, 2008.

February is Black History Month and one of our viewers took exception to the project that FOX6 is doing this year.

He went so far as to write an email to my boss.

He felt we were "going Hollywood" instead of highlighting the complicated and important history of African Americans in our country.

So, I wrote him back and wanted to share the response with you bloggers. 

Dear Miles,

Thanks for watching FOX6 News. It's good to know we have viewers who take the time to respond to our stories, even though they rarely respond when they like the stories, only when they are unhappy. But, it gives us an opportunity to communicate with them.

In think what you have seen are the promotional spots letting viewers know that we are doing something different this year for Black Hisotry Month. Yes, they feature "big name" stars, but their connection is that they all attended Historically Black College and Univerisities supported by the United Negro College Fund.

In the past, FOX6 has produced stories for Black History Month dealing with African American Milwaukeans for whom buildings in the city were named. The men and women who made such valuable contributions to our city that their names are immortalized on structures that we see every day.

We have done series of reports about men, women even chikldren who have made or may someday make history in Milwaukee. Introducing viewers to people they may never have a chance to meet.

This year, the United Negro College Fund was looking for a way to let families, students and donors know that its office was up and running again after a long absence in Milwaukee. This request came just before the end of January and FOX6 decided to do something different and make UNCF our focus for February.

FOX6 News saw this as an opportunity to focus on this organization and talk about the importance of education in the lives of Milwaukeans of color. A chance to briefly look back at history, but also look at people who are shaping our future because of the opportunities UNCF has afforded them.

So far, only one story has been on the air. It briefly summarized the history of UNCF nationally and in Milwaukee. Upcoming stories will introduce you to some highly successful Milwaukeans who attended Historically Black College and Universities; plans for several new high schools in Milwaukee that will be associated with the HBCUs; and profiles of high school students who are heading to college with the help of UNCF.

This different approach is giving us the chance to give a lot more airtime to people you will be interested in meeting and talking about the importance of education which was and is the cornerstone of success for African Americans.

I also believe "Black History" should be recognized and woven into more that just one month each year, this is why I have done so many stories highlighting achievements and successes of American American Wisconsinites, all year round.

We hope you keep watching FOX6 News and thank you for your comments.

Are you as tired of the snow as I am?

Yep, we are heading for record levels of snow for the winter of 2007- 2008 and this is one record that does not need to be broken!

But, I try to keep an optimistic outlook... 6 months from now I will be playing tennis outside!!

Hi there, bloggers;

Thank you for your suggestions on the new Fox 6 News at 11.

We'll see what the bosses have to say about your ideas, so keep watching!

By the way, have you been shoveling as much snow as I have?   I have a snowblower, but it broke down last year and it's too heavy to load into my car and take to a "snowblower" shop, so it sits in the garage!

However, I still have shovels and they work just fine, as long as my back holds out!

Happy Holidays

Thanks for the responses to my blog on the change in the News at Noon to the FOX6 NEWS AT 11.

One blogger asked if anything happens that is worth reporting between 9am (when the FOX6 WakeUp News ends) and 11am.

My answer is yes, stuff does happen and my goal is to report it to you between 11am and Noon.

But, here is your chance to help me out... what would YOU like to see us do during the News at 11? ( Be nice, now!)   Would you like to see interviews? Phone conversations with newsmakers? LIve web conversations? Guests in the studio? What??

I'm open to ideas, of course I will have to sell them to our bosses, but I'd like to hear what you have to say.

Hey, didja notice that the Fox6 News at Noon has moved??

Yep, it is now Fox6 News at 11... that's 11am... one hour earlier than noon.

It has also grown from 30- minutes to one hour and I've gained a co- anchor: Tami Hughes!!

I hope this is good news for all your News at Noon viewers, now you can watch one hour earlier... eat lunch... get on the treadmill... and be back at work earlier!!

Now, if only your boss would let you leave work earlier... I'll work on that

Fall is here!

That means my tennis moves indoors.

I determine when to go indoors by the well-known (well, maybe not so well- known) Williams Weather Scale, which I made up.

Here is how I judge weather.  Anything from 20-degrees (Farenheit) and below is very cold. Below zero is unncessarily cold and we should all stay inside and watch videos.

Anything from 25-degrees to about 40-degrees is cold.

40-degrees to 60-degrees is cool, but pleasant (as long as the sun is shining, clouds and rain change the rating)

60 to 80 degrees is warm.  80 to 90 is hot. Anything above 90-degrees is very hot, but not intolerable.

100- degrees or above is really hot and even I look for shade during my outdoor matches.

The Williams Weather Scale is also determined by season. If it's 20- degrees and sunny in February, that's a 10.   20-degrees and sunny in July? That's a zero!

Any questions? Go out and enjoy your day!

October 4th was the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik, the Russian satellite that scared the bejebers out of American educators.

I remember sitting in the hallway of a school, watching something on a black and white TV.  It was a report on the Russian satellite going into space BEFORE the Americans.

That led the bigwigs in Milwaukee education to decide that the kids were not learning enough science and math and that the Russian were going to beat us.

Therefore, they introduced New Math to the kids in my school, and I was "left behind". Now, I admit, math is not my strong suit, but I was just getting the hang of adding and subtracting and getting the answer correct, when I was given a New Math book and told that the process of getting the answer was more important than the answer.

I was lost.  So, ever since, I blame my weak math skills on the Russians.

It's the sixth year after September 11, 2001.

We don't even have to explain what we mean when we say "9/11".  It was one of those days you will always remember, and always remember where you were when you heard about or saw the World Trade Towers fall.

I was a Doerfler School waiting for Attorney General Ashcroft to arrive from Washington, D.C. to talk to the kids about the importance of reading.

All the local media were there, and we watched the second tower fall on the TV monitor in our live truck.  We all knew that Ashcroft was not going to show up, and sure enough his plane landed in Milwaukee, re- fueled and flew right back to D.C.

Then, we went into the school and watched the kids as they watched the coverage on their TV's in the classrooms. It was a history lesson unfolding right in front of our eyes.

But, when you think about it... for any child younger than, say 10, it is just that... history.

They were not old enough to experience it and understand it in 2001 and now, it is something they read about in school and see on TV in memorial services.  Should we continue to cover 9/11 events, or get on with our lives and make it "history"??

Where were you? What do you remember? What do you think?

OK, so I took the summer off from blogging, I'm back!

As I write, the state legislature has not passed a budget and school districts are anxious... U.W.M. neighbors have finally won the parking battle and have a new permit that let's only them park one side of 16 streets surrounding the campus (but there is a new parking garage... not free.  However, it is filling up fast and that ride on the bus may be looking more appealling to students) ... and technology is taking over!!  (more on that in the next blog)

So, it's back to school, class! Hope you have a good year.