Patti Nickell | Tribune News Service (TNS)

MADELINE ISLAND, Wis. — England’s ancient Arthurian legend is alive and well in northern Wisconsin, albeit with a slight twist.

Those who read Le Morte d’Arthur by 16th century author Sir Thomas Malory will remember that it was prophesied King Arthur, armed with his mighty sword Excalibur, would return from the isle of Avalon at the hour of Britain’s greatest need.

The Isle of Avalon, a mythical spot in the southwest of England, is a long way from the Apostle Islands off the shore of Lake Superior. Every year, thousands of visitors flock to the 22 islands that make up Apostle Islands National Lakeshore to admire the unusual formations of craggy rocks sculpted by nature into a labyrinth of caves, delicate arches and vaulted chambers.

But it’s a safe bet that many of them are unfamiliar with the Ojibwe legend that tribal elders buried sacred scrolls somewhere inside the network of caves that would elude discovery by all but a little boy – who would presumably return one day to guide his people.

I learned the legend from Ojibwe tribal member Mike Wiggins, site director of the Madeline Island Museum, a fascinating repository of artifacts celebrating all the cultures (Ojibwe, French, English and American) who have called this largest of the Apostle Islands home.

An ambitious two-year museum exhibition, “Passages: Ojibwe Migration to the Place Where the Food Grows on the Water,” chronicles the tribe’s journey through the eyes of their ancestors.

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After getting a thorough introduction to the region by Wiggins, I went by boat to see the chiseled formations of Devil’s Island with their honeycomb of caves but, alas, found nothing to indicate the scrolls’ whereabouts.

Madeline Island Museum is only one of the 11 sites managed by the Wisconsin Historical Society.

These sites range from the first to be established (1954), Villa Louis, a fur-trader’s mansion in Prairie du Chien, to the newest addition, Black Point Estate and Gardens in Lake Geneva, a Chicago beer baron’s mansion brought under the Historical Society umbrella in 2005.

I wasn’t able to get to Villa Louis, but I did make it to Black Point, and the adage “getting there is half the fun” was never more true.

The only way for most people to get there is by boat (they do have alternate arrangements for disabled guests; you’ll soon learn why), and the 90-minute round-trip cruise took me past the palatial summer homes of early Chicago titans of industry.

When he built Black Point in 1888, Conrad Seipp wanted a private retreat where he could relax with his family. He discouraged “drop-ins” by erecting it atop a forested hill, where a determined visitor must make his/her way from the boat dock up a winding staircase of 120 steps.

It’s worth the huffing and puffing. The 8,000-square-foot mansion is a fine example of Queen Anne/Victorian-style architecture. The interior is equally impressive with features such as stained-glass windows and an exquisite blue tiled fireplace in the sitting room.

And going down is much easier than the climb up.

Wisconsin’s Williamsburg

The third stop on my historical tour was Old World Wisconsin, a collection of structures moved from their original locations throughout the state to the 600-acre site in the community of Eagle.

Adjacent to the Kettle Moraine State Forest, Old World Wisconsin was begun as part of America’s Bicentennial Project in 1976.

You’ll need comfortable shoes as touring more than 60 structures depicting 19th century rural life in the nation’s heartland requires a lot of walking.

Costumed interpreters invite visitors to shake hands with history in buildings such as Four Mile Inn, built in 1853 as a stagecoach stop and tavern; the 1876 general store which once sold everything from bolts of cloth to gunpowder (today’s visitors will have to settle for gunpowder tea), and the one-room 1900 Raspberry Schoolhouse, which, ironically was built in 1896 and could be mistaken for a “Little House on the Prairie” set.

You can learn how to make coffeecake from a recipe dating to 1883; watch a weaver at her loom at the Pomeranian Immigrant Farm, and learn the heritage of Pomeranian, Hessian, German, Scandinavian and African-American settlers in their respective villages.

You need an entire day to thoroughly explore Wisconsin’s version of Colonial Williamsburg.

History doesn’t stop here

Wisconsin is serious about its history as witness plans for the opening of the state-of-the-art History Center in the capital city of Madison in 2027. But who says history has to be just events from the distant past?

If you book a stay at the 4-Star Grand Geneva Resort & Spa, you’ll find activities ranging from golf on two championship courses to a full-service spa and elegant dining in both the Geneva Chophouse and Ristorante Brissago.

What you won’t find is much evidence — except for the hidden bunny logo across from the Chophouse — that the Grand Geneva now occupies what was the first Playboy Club Resort in the United States.

If you’re looking for history with a hot meal, you’ll do no better than the Duck Inn Supper Club outside Lake Geneva in the town of Delavan.

Originally built in 1920 during Prohibition, guests had to covertly “duck in” and “speak easy” to avoid detection from government officials. A trap door (still in existence) led to a basement where gambling and drinking went on, and rumor has it that Al Capone, who owned a property on Lake Geneva, was a frequent visitor.

Go ahead and order a Brandy Old-Fashioned, Wisconsin’s official state cocktail. No one will prohibit you these days.

A view of the town of Bayfield, Wisconsin, from Bayfield Harbor. The walkable town is chock full of galleries, shops and one-of-a-kind restaurants. (Sigrid Knutson/Provided photo/TNS)

OK … enough history

Even the most interesting history requires the occasional break. You’ll find no better spot to chill than the lakeside town of Bayfield, the gateway to Madeline Island. This walkable town is chock full of galleries, shops and one-of-a-kind restaurants such as the St. James Social.

Located in a newly opened boutique hotel, it lives up to its name. The art-filled lobby/restaurant, described by the owners as a social lounge, is the place to mix and mingle.

The chef’s menu, which changes weekly, offers a selection of small plates, artisan pizzas, entrees and desserts.

Passages Exhibit at Madeline Island Museum, which is a fascinating repository of artifacts celebrating all the cultures (Ojibwe, French, English and American) who have called this largest of the Apostle Islands home. (Courtesy Wisconsin Historical Society/TNS)

If you’re looking for unique lodging, no place compares to Queen’s View Bed-and-Breakfast.

Filled to the brim with antiques and collectibles, the Queen Anne-style house was built in 1892 and has a lovely porch overlooking the gardens and plunge pool, with a bird’s eye view of Lake Superior on the horizon.

You’ll feel like you’re spending “a night at the museum,” and you’ll enjoy the antics of the “assistant manager” Coco Bean, a feisty Shih Tzu/bichon mix.

With today’s move toward more authentic travel experiences, a venture into heartland history could be just the ticket.

For more information, go to wisconsinhistory.org or travelwisconsin.com.

©2024 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

The River Falls High School football team has never spent less time on the practice field ahead of its season opener, which is Thursday at Wisconsin Rapids, than this year.

And that’s a good thing. Because less can indeed be more if you’re working with abundance. That requires some explanation.

The Wildcats had 87 players in the high school program in Ryan Scherz’s first year as head coach in 2021. That number has ballooned to 125 this year. Fewer than 20 of those are seniors, an indication of the groundswell of participation that has been building in the younger ranks.

For that, Scherz credits the work done at the youth levels. River Falls plays small-team flag football only through the sixth grade, a switch in strategy devised by the high school coaches to promote participation. The middle school program is also growing in strength. That all funnels more and more kids to the higher grade levels.

Pictured at practice at River Falls High School on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, the River Falls football program has experienced a numbers boom in recent years, peaking at 125 players in the high school program this fall. (Jace Frederick / Pioneer Press)

Scherz then noted the strong culture built in the high school program, and added the success in recent years. Excluding the 2020 COVID year, the Wildcats have reached the playoffs in five straight seasons, its own form of promotion.

That’s a big reason why that success is seemingly building off itself. The boost in numbers is paying off in a major way specifically this season.

For the first time in Scherz’s tenure, River Falls will deploy a two-platoon system with very limited crossover between offensive and defensive personnel. Offensive players play offense, and vice versa. It’s a common approach at the largest schools, but River Falls is a Division 2 program in Wisconsin. A school that size sporting this quantity of players is a hard-earned luxury.

The Wildcats are already reaping the benefits. Senior defensive back Preston Johnson noted the sophomores on the team are progressing far more rapidly than they do in most camps. Defensively, senior lineman Lincoln McCarty said the coaching staff has been able to get more complex with schemes and responsibilities, because there’s simply more time and focus committed to that side of the ball.

In the past, a two-hour practice may have featured 50 minutes of offense and 50 minutes of defense. Now, the majority of that session is dedicated to learning and working on a player’s specific side of the ball.

That efficiency has also allowed for less time on the practice field, as things are getting picked up in short order. So players are fresher and likely more enthusiastic.

Last season, the Wildcats struggled at times to get stops. Preston Johnson noted that was often due to lapses in discipline, the volume of which everyone expects to decrease this fall. Part of that is a product of experience gained. River Falls was a young team a year ago, featuring many inexperienced sophomore and junior contributors who now sport a firm grasp of the game.

“A lot of these kids have already played a lot of football. So the Day 1 installs for them are like old hat,” Scherz said. “Now you can get to some more advanced stuff and get better at the stuff you really want to do, and that’s what I think we’ve seen for the most part over the past two and a half, three weeks.”

But the overall substitution and practice approach is also a key contributor to the team’s expected advancement.

“They can seep into the itty patches of things and get it fixed up,” McCarty said. “We’re farther ahead right now than we were last year. Study-wise, when we go through the things and study over it, they know exactly what their keys are to do. … I feel like a lot fewer small mess-ups are going to happen on defense.”

The first-team defense is also getting invaluable reps against the first-team offense on a near daily basis, which cannot happen if there’s overwhelming crossover of players between the two units.

McCarty said the Wildcats’ offense is “full of killers.” Senior tight end Eli Johnson, an Iowa commit, noted that side of the ball is indeed “looking good.” Working against that offense has forced the defense to make strides to keep pace.

“I can see the defense a little bit, and I feel like the defense is coming together nicely, too,” Eli Johnson said. “I feel like we have all the pieces.”

Pictured at practice at River Falls High School on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, Wildcats senior tight end Eli Johnson is an Iowa commit. (Jace Frederick / Pioneer Press)

Indeed, River Falls appears to have that golden combination of depth and talent. Along with Eli Johnson, there are a number of other college-level players. Junior offensive lineman Samuel Simpson, who was all-conference as a sophomore, has offers from Kansas and Wisconsin.

“We have more speed than we’ve had in awhile,” Scherz said. “And we’re pretty big. Like (the offensive line) is big and physical and athletic.”

Preston Johnson said Scherz has told the group this is “the most talented team we’ve had since he can remember.” That has the Wildcats thinking big. The one thing missing from the program’s recently growing resume is a deep playoff run.

McCarty said many players have mentioned a “14-game season.” Game No. 14 would be the state championship.

“I think that’s obviously our goal if everybody stays locked in,” Preston Johnson said. “I think we can beat anybody in the state.”

They certainly have the numbers to do so, fulfilling the long-term vision Scherz and Co. have had for the program.

“We just want to get as many of our athletes on the field as possible, because we feel like we have a lot of good ones,” Scherz said. “Building a program with this many kids, it’s certainly a huge shift. It’s awesome. But it’s like, ‘Oh, we have way more kids.’ That means everything is a bit more. But yeah, to compete at the level we want to compete at, I think these are the kinds of numbers that we need.”

“Blink Twice” is many things: a bracing debut feature, already a source of debate fodder —and, undebatably, the career assignment that Channing Tatum really, really needed.

He’s a funny kind of kind-of star. Tatum has learned to command the screen in the right role, working around his technical limitations, mostly to do with his voice. But coming off the strained, overblown romantic comedy “Fly Me to the Moon,” where he could barely get through his rapid-fire banter without gasping for air before the punchline, his performance in “Blink Twice” is pretty astonishing.

Is it because he’s playing a bad guy? No spoiler there; it’s in the movie’s trailers. Antagonists can free an actor, or at least vary an actor’s diet of solemn or sardonic good guys. Often, though, actors see villainy, even complicated villainy, as a license to overkill.

Not here. Tatum’s turn in “Blink Twice” is like the movie itself: crafty, rich, strange and, even when it wobbles a bit, destabilizing in ways guaranteed to lead to a less-than-stellar audience exit poll CinemaScore on opening weekend. More interestingly, it’s a bracing directorial debut for co-writer Zoë Kravitz. It’s also one of the few recent American thrillers with something on its mind, and the wiles to tap into something inside an organically realized nightmare scenario.

Tatum’s character is clouded by a recent, vaguely specified scandal, and “Blink Twice” begins with this man in apology and image-repair mode, having redirected some of his wealth to philanthropic galas and good causes. He has also bought a small private island somewhere, apparently in the Caribbean. There he spends time with close friends, eating stunningly photogenic meals, drinking wines costly enough to tilt the stock market this way or that. Also, he still does some drugs, as he did more carelessly, we hear, in the old days. Now, as Slater King tells one of his guests, it’s “with intention.”

The guest is a newbie, a knockout and agog at her good fortune. She’s the real star of “Blink Twice”: Naomi Ackie, the excellent English actress, playing Frida, a somewhat directionless Los Angeles cocktail waitress who works for a catering firm with her roommate, played by the invaluable supporting ringer Alia Shawkat. At a gala honoring King, the ladies decide the crash the party they’re supposed to be working and it works. King invites them to join his posse for a jaunt down to the island.

The screenplay by Kravitz and E.T. Feigenbaum pretends to be a straight-line narrative, but there’s something afoot, and it’s messing with Frida’s senses and sense of time. Something in the food? In the flowers picked from the nearby jungle, by the perpetually nearby local “help”? The louche male guests, played by Christian Slater and Haley Joel Osment, to name two, dart between conviviality and connivance, while the women — led by Adria Arjona, terrific as the longtime veteran of a babes-in-“Survivor”-land reality series — get high, get drunk, and run around as if being pursued by wolves.

Where this scenario goes next has its payoffs, and a drawback or two. “Blink Twice” lands on a gratifyingly bloody note, and with near-miraculous skill, director Kravitz manages some tonal change-ups beautifully, thanks to the razor-sharp editing of Kathryn J. Schubert and an ever-surprising sound design from Jon Flores, folding nicely in with Chanda Dancy’s score. The visual design of the picture, very big on blood reds and geometric carve-ups of this corner of paradise, feels like a single idea, fully expressed. If the resolution to “Blink Twice” won’t satisfy everyone, well, there it is.

Naomi Ackie stars as Frida and Adria Arjona as Sarah in director Zoë Kravitz’s “Blink Twice,” an Amazon MGM Studios film. (Carlos Somonte/Amazon Content Services LLC/TNS)

Watching the film, certain probable influences come to mind, including Jordan Peele’s work, especially the great scene in “Get Out” with Betty Gabriel as the smiling, freaked-out housekeeper. The private-island premise recalls the late Jeffrey Epstein’s real estate holdings along with his crimes. The mind games and aggressively art-directed evocations of untrustworthy paradise, meanwhile, may link back for some viewers to lesser works such as “Don’t Worry Darling.”

Even if you get ahead of the story here, or resist the daring lurches in tone, “Blink Twice” marks a formidable directorial debut. As an actor (not onscreen here), Kravitz is so effortless, you rarely detect any overt planning or determination in her performances. Her movie’s a different case: a precise visual telling of a tale heading somewhere awful, but also cathartic. There is wit here, and expert supporting turns (Geena Davis is on the money as the billionaire’s assistant who has seen too much). Ackie is exceptional. And as dead-eyed schemer hiding behind a veneer of gentle contrition, Tatum has rarely seemed more alive and engaged on screen.

“Blink Twice” — 3.5 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: R (for strong violent content, sexual assault, drug use and language throughout, and some sexual references)

Running time: 1:42

How to watch: Premieres in theaters Aug. 22

Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.

 

 

By Eliza Haverstock | NerdWallet

Students and families finally have an idea of what to expect from the 2025-26 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), the form that unlocks federal students loans, grants, work-study and scholarships for millions of Americans each year.

The Education Department committed to fully launching the FAFSA by Dec. 1 — but select groups of students will be able to access and submit the form as early as Oct. 1. The early access is part of a beta testing process designed by the Education Department to identify and fix FAFSA issues before the form’s public debut. (In a typical FAFSA year, the form opens to all students on Oct. 1.)

Financial aid experts are optimistic that the phased rollout will prevent the technical glitches and delays that plagued the form’s 2024-25 rendition.

“Hopefully, a lot of the FAFSA completion bugs that applicants found when the 2024-25 FAFSA rolled out late in December last year will already have been caught and resolved before December 1,” says Karen McCarthy, vice president of public policy and federal relations at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.

If you’re thinking about going to college in 2025-26, here’s what you need to know about the upcoming FAFSA release.

Second year of the simplified FAFSA

The 2025-26 FAFSA will be the second year of the “simplified FAFSA.” The redesigned form debuted for the 2024-25 school year.

The simplified form has fewer questions: roughly 36, down from as many as 108 in 2023-24 and prior years. It may also calculate financial aid packages slightly differently. For example, the FAFSA redesign removed the “sibling discount” for families with multiple kids in college at the same time.

“If you’re an incoming student who’s never filed a FAFSA at all, hopefully it doesn’t mean much at all. It’s not much of a change to you, because you’re not used to any prior process,” says MorraLee Keller, senior director of strategic planning at the National College Attainment Network.

Phased rollout for some students

A beta testing process will occur between Oct. 1 and Dec. 1. The Education Department will invite groups of student volunteers to participate in phases, closely monitoring their FAFSA experience and gathering real-time feedback. The department will make corrections to the form throughout the testing period, and starting Dec. 1, any member of the public will be able to access the FAFSA.

The Education Department will work with high schools, colleges, state agencies and college access groups to find and invite a diverse group of student volunteers for early FAFSA access. Beta testing will begin with hundreds of participants and ramp up to “tens of thousands” ahead of Dec. 1, a department spokesperson said.

“In a sense, the system will be open, just not to the public,” McCarthy says. “It’s going to be a live system that works. Those will be real FAFSAs. They will be forwarded to the colleges and to the state agencies for the students.”

This phased rollout will be different from the 2024-25 FAFSA’s glitchy “soft launch” in late December 2023. During last year’s soft launch, applicants could try to get into the FAFSA during specific open times, leaving many students and parents frustrated.

Early access won’t get you more aid

Early FAFSA access during beta testing doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get more financial aid, including first-come, first-serve aid, McCarthy says.

“While these early FAFSAs will be real FAFSAs … the [department] will be encouraging schools and states not to make any financial aid offers based on any early [processed FAFSAs] that they see,” McCarthy says. “There’s a fairness aspect to that, and there’s also a little bit of an accuracy aspect to it, because this is live testing.”

There are, however, two key reasons to submit the FAFSA during the test period, if given the opportunity. First, test group members may get access to personalized help from the Education Department, McCarthy says.

“It is intended to be a very high-touch and hands-on process,” McCarthy says. “Depending on what the questions are, it could be helpful to the applicant to have that one-on-one support with Federal Student Aid.”

Second, submitting the FAFSA before Dec. 1 can also help guarantee that you don’t miss any priority financial aid deadlines, Keller says. And once your FAFSA is taken care of, you can move to other items on your list, like scholarship applications.

Don’t worry if you’re not selected for early FAFSA access — you’ll still have time to fill out the form and meet priority financial aid deadlines for your state and college. Submit the form as soon as possible after it opens to the public in December to qualify for the largest award. Some types of aid come from a limited pool, and can run out.

Request your FSA ID in advance

Regardless of when you’re granted FAFSA access, your family can get a head start on the process today by requesting your Federal Student Aid (FSA) IDs on studentaid.gov.

Your FSA ID is the unique username and password combination that you use to sign into the FAFSA form. The student and all other contributors — which may include the student’s parents or spouse — need to request an FSA ID.

Once you submit your identifying information, like your address and Social Security number, expect a three-day turnaround before you get an email with your FSA ID.

“Be prepared this fall,” Keller advises. “Get your FSA ID set up, get your college list ready, work on admissions applications, get all that good stuff out of the way so that come December 1, you’re ready to concentrate on completing the FAFSA.”

Know who to ask for FAFSA help

High school seniors should go to their guidance counselor with any questions about the 2025-26 FAFSA. Prospective college students can also reach out to the financial aid offices at the institutions to which they are applying.

Returning students should reach out to their college’s financial aid office.

Though the phased rollout is unusual, submitting the FAFSA remains essential to getting the money you need to afford college — including federal student loans, need-based Pell Grants and scholarships. There’s no income cutoff to qualify for aid, and you might get more than you think.

“There are a lot of people who are eligible for aid but think that they are not, and they just don’t bother to file the FAFSA, and therefore they’re leaving aid on the table,” Keller says.

Eliza Haverstock writes for NerdWallet. Email: ehaverstock@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @elizahaverstock.

The article Full FAFSA Launch by Dec. 1: What Students and Families Need To Know originally appeared on NerdWallet.