Divided Milwaukee, A Secret History Of The Workplace, Growing Up In Wisconsin And Not Playing Sports

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The average American adult spends over 90,000 of his or her life at work. Veronica Rueckert and Rob Ferrett talk to a journalist who’s studied the workplace about its history, culture, and the future of the cubicle. Sports are a big deal in Wisconsin, but what about people who aren’t big fans? Rob and Veronica ask you how a non-sporty person survives growing up in Wisconsin. They also discuss a new report that illustrates how metro and suburban Milwaukee arestaunchly divided geographically between Democrats and Republicans.

Featured in this Show

  • Special Report Cites Milwaukee As Most Politically Polarized City In Northern U.S.

    Milwaukee is the most politically polarized city between Republicans and Democrats in the northern U.S., according to a special report published by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel this past weekend.

    According to the report, the only U.S. city with greater polarization than Milwaukee is New Orleans.

    Since the mid-20th Century, “white flight” has created a political gap between Republican-voting suburbs and Democratic-voting urban areas. To illustrate this gap, according to the report, “nowhere else (in the country) do two counties as big and as far apart politically as Milwaukee and Waukesha share a border.”

    Journal Sentinel bureau chief Craig Gilbert, who spearheaded the four-part series, attributes the staunch polarity to three main factors:

    1. Racial segregation
    2. A strong culture of political engagement and
    3. The competitiveness of the state in national politics.

    “Metropolitan Milwaukee is one of—if not the most —racially segregated metropolitan areas in the country,” Craig said.

    Additionally, Craig said southeastern Wisconsin has “almost freakish levels of (voter) turnout.”

    A result of this staunch divide is that — according to Republican campaign manager Mark Graul, who was cited in the report — politicians don’t try to convince undecided voters that their platforms are right. They instead focus on turning out voters who agree with them, as the number of undecided voters has declined significantly in recent decades.

  • Milwaukee Sees One Of Nation's Greatest Political Divides

    A new report illustrates how Republicans and Democrats are increasingly divided geographically between metro and suburban Milwaukee. In 2012 the city had the second largest voting gap among America’s 50 largest cities.

  • A Secret History of the Workplace

    We spend huge chunks of our lives at work, in an office. Our guest fills us in on the history, culture, and future of the workplace.

Episode Credits

  • Rob Ferrett Host
  • Veronica Rueckert Host
  • Galen Druke Producer
  • Craig Gilbert Guest
  • Nikil Saval Guest
  • Veronica Rueckert Interviewer