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Thursday, September 9, 2010 |  Madison, WI: 50.0° F  
The Paper
Friday, September 3, 2010 | Vol. 35, No. 36

FEATURED STORY

Madison's dirty jobs
Doing the work no one else wants to do can be fullfilling

You think cleaning your garage or policing your backyard for dog poop is a dirty job? If so, you really need to read this article. Modern life is full of truly dirty jobs, and Isthmus set out to find some of the nastiest ones and the people who tackle them. From cleaning up crime scenes to mucking out cages at the zoo, these are jobs most of us would never consider doing. But here's the kicker: Many of these workers love their dirty jobs. >More

NEWS

Dems run a close race for 77th Assembly District seat
Up for grabs

When Spencer Black first ran for the state's 77th Assembly District seat in 1984, he slugged it out in a primary with eight other candidates. Black won and went on to become a political institution, crusading for environmental and labor causes for 26 years. Five Democrats are vying to succeed Black in the Sept. 14 primary: Dianne Hesselbein and Brett Hulsey, both current members of the Dane County Board of Supervisors; John Imes, executive director of Wisconsin Environmental Initiative and owner of the Arbor House bed-and-breakfast; attorney Fred Wade; and Doug Zwank, former Middleton mayor. >More Madison Marathon bans runner
She ran without registering; now she's persona non grata

Ramona Villarreal considers herself an athlete and an honest person. The 56-year-old Madison resident has competed in Ironman competitions and run at least 15 marathons -- including, she reckons, 10 Madison Marathons. But no more. Villarreal has been "permanently banned" from future Madison Marathons. If she tries to register, she will be denied. If she shows up anyway, she's been warned, "We will have the right to remove you...and won't hesitate to do so." >More Mike May's personal emails

Madison City Attorney Mike May thinks it's no big whoop that the state Supreme Court recently ordered records custodians to prune out the personal content of emails sent and received by government employees on their work computers. While the case was pending, his office filed an amicus brief supporting this result. >More

MUSIC

Touring bands will light up Madison stages in fall 2010
Starry nights

When it comes to bringing concerts to town, Madison is happening. With our booming student population and proximity to Chicago, Minneapolis and Milwaukee, we're able to attract big-name performers and under-the-radar talents alike, a rare feat for a city of 235,000 people. >More Carnival of Sorts isn't your average summer fair
No beer tent

When Adam Gregory Pergament talks about his approach to art, he likes to use the term cross-pollination. It means the transfer of pollen from one plant to another. It's nature's way of promoting genetic diversity. In his quest to further artistic diversity, Pergamente has been spreading spoken-word poetry around Madison music venues since 2005, first as a member of Stonefloat, and now with Venice Gas House Trolley. >More Angels, wizards and flying pasta
Fall children's shows are action-packed

My son is still humming songs from last spring's production of The Lion King at Overture Hall. I am, too, along with repeating the funny lines and sniffling whenever I think about the emotional climax. an any family-friendly shows for the fall season match The Lion King for sheer entertainment value? Let's survey some of the contenders and keep our fingers crossed. >More

OPINION & COMMENTARY

Free speech on a plate
Why should the state rush in where fools seek self-expression?

MSTRB8S. QQQQ2. RU46T9. BVRETR. No, these aren't U.S. government nuclear launch codes. They're actual entries on the list of nearly 7,000 vanity license plates banned by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. (Go ahead, read them again. See? They are sneaky gross.) >More Birth control for Catholics
Is it a moral failing?

Dear Tell All: As a Catholic, I was struck by the Madison Catholic diocese's recent response to the new state law requiring that it offer its employees insurance coverage for birth control. The law says that commercial policies with a drug benefit must cover prescription contraceptives -- and that, amusingly, happens to be the kind of insurance the diocese has. >More

AT A GLANCE

ARTS

Dance based on They Marched Into Sunlight to premiere spring 2011
War movement

"I never could have foreseen that one of my books would sort of transmogrify into a modern dance," marvels author and Pulitzer laureate David Maraniss. New York choreographer Robin Becker approached Maraniss a few years ago. She had read They Marched Into Sunlight. Moved by its juxtaposition of the Vietnam conflict with the antiwar movement on the UW-Madison campus, she proposed an original dance based on his book. >More Losing weight hurts in Thintervention with Jackie Warner

Jackie Warner is a workout guru, shameless self-promoter and reality-series repeat offender. In Thintervention with Jackie Warner, she oversees a group of overweight people interested in losing weight. "Workouts are not painful," she assures them. "They are pleasure!" >More Mafia II is a hacky mobster title, with redeeming values
PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 (Rated Mature)

The reason I've never been enraptured by The Sopranos, GoodFellas or other mob fictions is the characters always seem too dumb and cruel to care about, and they say boring things that are supposed to "feel real" simply because they're insulting. The new video game Mafia II likewise features such verbal inanity. >More

MOVIES

Danny Trejo is the new Bronson in Machete
Wronged man

Machete has been a long time coming, and the so-called Mexploitation film gets an extra kick from the American political climate. This revenge film's roots go back to co-director Robert Rodriguez's first employment of Danny Trejo, the titular Machete, on the film Desperado. >More A killer searches for his soul in The American
The sensitive assassin

Usually, when people talk about a movie feeling "European," it's not exactly a compliment. It's shorthand for languid pacing, character-based drama, maybe a few casually naked boobs and a general lack of Hollywood conventionality. The American feels very much like the product of people who want to make a "European"-style movie. >More
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ARCHIVE

EATS

Francesca's al Lago brings big Italian to downtown Madison
Comfort all around

Maybe it's that Wisconsin-Illinois rivalry thing, but I was dubious about the prospect of a Chicago-based Italian "family of restaurants" plopping a cousin onto the Capitol Square. After all, most of Madison's culinary crown jewels are scattered around there -- why toss a cubic zirconium into the mix? After eating at Francesca's al Lago, though, I had to concede. >More

SPORTS & RECREATION

Twitter reveals secret lives of Badgers

Last month, Boise State football coach Chris Peterson, whose team is ranked in the top five by coaches and media, announced that he had banned his players from using Twitter during the season, calling the social media tool a distraction. No word yet on whether Peterson is also banning girlfriends, postgame keg parties and midterm exams. >More
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