Renown Cartoonist Konopacki Leaves WI; leaves cold confederate state for a warm confederate state...

[riversedge]

I have an activist friend who left this summer --for Minnesota---a blue state. She said she just had had enough and did not see things changing in WI for a long time. I miss her.


Sep 2, 2017
Renown Wisconsin Cartoonist Konopacki Leaves Wisconsin for Florida



http://malcontends.blogspot.com/2017/09/renown-wisconsin-cartoonist-konopacki.html
Artist leaves cold confederate state for a warm confederate state on the Atlantic

Madison, Wisconsin — As the openly racist Gov. Scott Walker and Wisconsin Republicans target everything from clean water, voting rights for black and brown people to an entire working class, there is a growing sense that people who spent their lives creating and living here are beginning to pack up and leave the state.

No empirical case for this exodus, just anecdotal.

Alarming is the case of Mike Konopacki, political and labor cartoonist.

Maybe, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin will wake up.

From the South-Central Federation of Labor in Facebook:

Good Bye, Wisconsin

By Mike Konopacki for Union Labor News

Time travels at the speed of life. After 66 years I’ve left the state that I grew up in. After 46 years I’ve left the city and the people that have shaped me. This July Linda and I sold our house near Vilas Park to begin retirement. We both grew up in Manitowoc, on the shores of Lake Michigan. The beach that Linda and I loved in our childhood has beckoned again, now it is the Atlantic Ocean at St. Augustine, Florida.

........................................
These past few weeks away from my friends have filled me with a sense of loss, but I intend to continue cartooning for the labor movement....................................
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[LakeArenal]

1. I really have little faith in Wisconsin politics.

Yes Dems have been cheated, gerrymandered, hacked.. All of it.

But Dems run weak candidates and never speak up very loudly against it.

Wisconsin used to be fiery in their determination. Not so much.. No money being spent on 2018 that I feel. No overt support of people like Randy Bryce. Randy Bryce Randy Bryce. (my friend and I are determined to say Randy Bryce's name three time a day.)

Spouse was born here, I have been here for 60 years. We are getting out of Wisconsin just as soon as we can plan it.. We are leaving the country even. Going to a country that's 90% off the grid. A country that welcomes US older citizens. A place with universal health, but if you want private insurance it's $120 a month.. Never gets cold Why on earth would I want to stay in cold Wisconsin? and I'm not necessarily talking about weather

[dembotoz]

2. must admit those facebook click bait...countries where you can live well on a budget

are now being opened and read by me

if i felt i could actually learn a foreign language.....

[MrPurple]

3. When Trump lost the Wisconsin primary, Roger Stone claimed that Walker had thrown 5 elections there

https://www.wpr.org/former-trump-advisor-scott-walker-has-rigged-5-elections

As an outsider, it baffled me that Russ Feingold lost and by a bigger margin than Hillary. I was looking forward to having him back.

[Heartstrings]

4. RANDY BRYCE, Randy Bryce, Randy Bryce!

Say that name 3 times a day...get his name out there people!

And donate to your local reps!

[mnhtnbb]

5. I have a nephew who just took a job as an assistant prof in Madison

I warned him to think carefully about going to work for a public university in what has become a red state. The Republicans LOVE to kill
public education--particularly well known public universities--when they take over state governments.

We'll see how it goes for him.

[murielm99]

6. I have family in Wisconsin.

They are all Democrats.

My daughter went to Lawrence as an undergrad, and received a master's degree at Madison. She lived and worked in Madison as a musician and librarian. She left, and at the time she left, many academics were leaving the state. Some of them had been there for years, but found the atmosphere under Walker was unfriendly to academics.

I wish your nephew luck. He may not want to stay, even if he likes the city.

[mnhtnbb]

7. I'm not surprised to hear this.

The nephew is taking his first "real" job as a Chemistry professor having done his PhD at Johns Hopkins and a fellowship at Cal Tech where his wife
is finishing her PhD. He interviewed at quite a few universities during this last year and really liked the people at Madison. It will be interesting to see
what kind of job his wife can get there when she finishes her PhD, or, whether they both start looking elsewhere. It's going to be a long distance marriage
for this next year.