More than three months have passed, the seasons have changed, but the people won't back down

Formore than three months Scott Walker and his minions in the state legislature have been doing their best to turn one of the country's most progressive states into a banana republic. As Monday's March demonstrated, the people are still showing up, and they won't back down.

And that's not all. Over the weekend, "Walkerville" (more photos here) returned to the Capitol Square, a tent city of people determined to have a 24/7 presence and oversight during the legislature's budget deliberations. There have also been acts of civil disobedience and some police overreaction during the last few days. Emily Mills provided a good assessment in Isthmus of where we stand at this critical juncture, when the budget is being hammered out and the recall elections are drawing closer. The battle going on right now is for the hearts and minds of independent Wisconsin voters, people who may not be all that political, but who care about their state and what happens to it.

Direct, non-violent civil disobedience has long been used as an effective way to bring about change – but only when it was well thought-out, concerted, and patient. The success of any major movement depends largely on winning over more middle-of-the-road folks who might not normally consider themselves terribly political.

That’s what made the first few months of this so singular – the diversity, the stirring up of those who don’t normally get stirred. But get too riled up, overreact, and decide to say fuck ‘em to everyone who maybe doesn’t quite agree with or understand what you’re doing, and you’ve lost.

We can do better than that. We have to. There’s simply too much at stake.

I posted a number of video clips of yesterday's March in this Flickr set that includes all of my videos of the protests, with the most recent first. Putting the set together, I was reminded of how long this has gone on, how many dedicated people have given of their time and creativity and energy to speak up for the people of Wisconsin. Let's make sure we don't squander this energy and make sure we take back the Senate next month.

Is this more than a great tee shirt concept? Is this what a governor looks like?

Former U.S. Senator Russ Feingold, who won the straw polls for both Senator and Governor at the state Democratic convention over the weekend by a landslide, was marching in the parade Monday as a private citizen. This wasn't the only person wishing he'd run against Walker in a recall election. John Nichols of the Capital Times spoke with Feingold:, who served as a state senator for a decade before moving on to the U.S. Senate.

"I'm here to lend my voice to the cause. I know something about budgets. I know how important they are, and I wanted to be here at this critical time to do whatever I can to help the working people that are fighting the Walker budget," explained Feingold, as he marched with dozens of highway crew workers from Rock County, where he grew up in the city of Janesville. "There really has never been a fight more central, more important, to the working people of Wisconsin. I wanted to stand with the people whose rights are being threatened, to march with them, to say that fighting this governor is the right thing to do and that I am in this fight as a private citizen who is ready to do whatever I can to bring some sense back to this debate."

What do you think? Would you like to see Russ Feingold run for governor, or run to return the U.S. Senate next year when Herb Kohl retires?

Participant photography: Holding a protest sign with one hand, taking photographs with the other

Photography can be a means of distancing yourself from people or of engaging with them. The Wisconsin protests favored the latter, especially for photographers like me who were part of the demonstrations themselves, sometimes photographing with one hand while holding a sign in the other.

The distancing is partly a matter of how equipment does or doesn't intrude. In traditional 35mm SLR and DSLR photography, a big camera blocks the photographer's face, and the photographer is further distanced by looking at the subject through the finder, rather than directly. When photographing people, this really distances the photographer and the subject. There are ways of working around it, but it's a real factor.

Another question is, do you go with color, or do you photograph in black and white (or more likely with digital cameras, convert to color). Perhaps because so many of the historic photojournalistic images were in black and white, it tends to have a more documentary feel for many people. Also, because B&W is more abstract, it can serve to highlight major issues without getting bogged down in the petty details of the here and now. On the other hand,nothing captures the feeling and immediacy of an event than color. Fortunately, with a digital camera, you don't have to lock in your decision until later.

Some ways of using a camera engage more with the subject than others. With a traditional DSLR the photographer can use a wide angle lens and simply point at the subject without having to hold the camera up to the eye. Cameras with LCD displays -- whether "live view" DSLRs, point-and-shoots, or cell phones -- offer another way. Use the LCD to frame the image, but after that, look your subject in the eye and press the shutter when the moment seems right.

There's also the question of how close the photographer gets to the subject. With a telephoto lens, the photographer can isolate a subject from far away, often throwing the background into a pleasing blur ("bokeh," as some photographers like to call it) that further isolates the subject. The word "isolate" is key. The other approach is to use a wide angle lens, which forces the photographer to get up close and personal. Nothing is isolated, everything is connected.

Again, there is no "right way" or "wrong way." The photographer's role as observer is different with the two approaches. The photographer's emotional experience is different as well. It's the difference -- sometimes subtle, sometimes dramatic -- between being a participant and a spectator, between being subjective and trying to remain "objective."

Increasingly I've been finding the iPhone a powerful tool for engaging directly with my subject (all the photos in this post were taken with the iPhone). Cell phone cameras don't have nearly the range of capabilities that dedicated cameras offer, but in good light, the iPhone 4 can deliver surprisingly good high-res photos. What they lack in technical sophistication, they more than make up for in intimacy and lack of intimidation. For most people, having a cell phone pointed at them is much less intimidating than a camera, and so they often act more naturally. That's why the NYT's Pulitzer Prize-winner Damon Winter has even used the iPhone in combat in Afghanista.

One thing's for sure: There won't be any lack of opportunities to combine protesting and photography in the days and weeks to come. A new Walkerville tent city is going up at the Capitol Saturday and will continue through the budget protest. On Monday there's a march to the Capitol from the Dayton Street fire station at 11:30am. And there will be more. See you there!

Local stone fireplaces in Hoyt Park have a unique history and date back to the Great Depression

Hoyt Park on Madison's west side has an interesting history. Its origins date back to 1890, when the city bought the property rights to a stone quarry on the site. The park was developed during the Great Depression with funds from the New Deal after the quarry stopped operating in 1933. The park's 12 stone fireplaces reflect that history.

Major efforts to develop Hoyt Park began during the Great Depression with funds provided by Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. Many unemployed workers were hired by programs such as Works Progress Administration and Civil Works Administration to improve various aspects of Hoyt Park. Significant among these laborers were the Italian masons from the local Greenbush neighborhood who were responsible for constructing stone fireplaces and tables using materials from the Park's quarry. Though money for the building projects had been exhausted, the Italian masons continued to work without pay in order to complete what they had started.

However, subsequent time, vandalism, and harsh winter cycles caused the Depression-era artifacts to deteriorate. In response to citizen concern for the dire situation, the Friends of Hoyt Park was founded in 1995. This volunteer group is committed to restoring and preserving cultural features of the park's past. In the years to follow, with financial contributions of both the City and the Friends of Hoyt Park, the twelve stone fireplaces were meticulously restored to their previous condition.

Hoyt Park was designated a City of Madison Landmark in 1995. (Photo is one of my illustrations for "The Hidden Gems of Madison-area Public Parks" in last week's Isthmus.