Charlotte Gutzmer

The animal world is full of magic and beauty: from the majestic beasts of the jungle to the pets who sleep beside us at night, they have always coexisted with us, providing inspiration for all kinds of music, art, and stories. On March 4 at 6:30pm, join Pablo Streams’s Sound & Stories event, “All Creatures Great and Small” for an unforgettable evening of music and tales (or maybe tails?) centered on the animal world.

Writers and musicians from across western Wisconsin are coming together for the next installment of the CVWG’s Sound & Stories. The virtual event will be available for free to stream at 6:30pm, and will include American Sign Language interpretation as well as subtitle services. Click here to register for your free ticket today.

The line-up includes award-winning nonfiction writer John Hildebrand, animal welfare expert Bekah Weitz, environmentalist and ornithologist Steve Betchkal, and author Katherine Schneider, all accompanied and with original music from Humbird and The Nunnery.

I had the pleasure of chatting with each artist and hearing about their inspiration and their relationships with animals. They were also kind enough to share a few sneak preview lines from their stories, excerpted in italics below. Read on to learn more about this exciting event, as well as the writers and musicians working together to bring the magic to you.

Katherine Schneider

“Since I’ve had Seeing Eye dogs for forty-eight years, you might think it would be an old hat to train with a new one, but it isn’t. The journey is an intense one, full of heartache and miracles…”

Katherine Schneider, a retired clinical psychologist, prolific writer, and speaker on disability issues, joins the Guild for this event with her tenth Seeing Eye dog Calvin. Her relationship with her Seeing Eye dogs offer an exceptional perspective on animals. “Each one is a unique being, but each has been my best friend, my eyes, and my transportation. The way the partnership works is a daily miracle.” Schneider’s writing revolves around her identity as someone living with disabilities, and she has published four compelling books that explore how her life experiences and her wisdom affects her world. “Both the accommodations necessitated by the disabilities and people’s reactions to me as a disabled elder creates opportunities for fresh stories about life’s frustrations and joys.”

Steve Betchkal

“The outdoors is a wild and dangerous place, populated with shameless, grease-seeking, ring-tailed miscreants. It’s not for the meek or credulous or unsuspecting. Be well advised, my domesticated friends, of the inherent hazards of Nature. Frolic at your own risk.”

Steve Betchkal, a life-long environmentalist and professional ornithologist, fell in love with animals at an early age: “In fact, my Mom deflected me from a life of crime at age six. I wanted a bird book so badly I tried to shoplift it before she caught me at the register!” Betchkal has travelled the Western Hemisphere and encountered nearly 1100 birds, as well as an extensive list of mammals, dragonflies, butterflies, grasses, wildflowers, and even Wisconsin’s own Tiger Beetles. He believes that “humans are intimately responsible for the significant decline in natural habitats, systems, and species, and that they need to be actively educated that plants and animals add to the quality of our lives.” His award-winning writing, which focuses on the complicated and beautiful natural world, is a delight for all of those fascinated with the environment. “This is at the very root of all my writing: I love life because it’s essential and sacred. Don’t you?”

John Hildebrand

“I’ve been reading up on gophers since their lives remain such a mystery. Like us, they don’t hibernate but put up their own hay in underground storage chambers to last the winter. They live an almost entirely subterranean existence… If they view the surface the way we do the dirt, as a nasty place and potential burial plot, it’s because every predator has gopher on the menu.”

John Hildebrand is the author of five non-fiction books and a professor at UW-Eau Claire. This March he’ll be sharing a piece from his second book, Mapping the Farm: The Chronicle of a Family. Hildebrand, who is fascinated with “the complexities and unpredictabilities of everyday life”, goes looking for captivating and sensational stories. These stories, which view animals as an essential fabric of the world, incorporate his experiences with meeting with those who have complicated, unique relationships with creatures, including “wildlife biologists, subsistence hunters in Alaskan Native villages, Midwestern farmers… Each has informed (and enlarged) my view of the natural world.”

Bekah Weitz

“My coworker was right that he was beautiful. Pale grey and white feathery hair, big soft feet, eyes such a pale blue they looked cold, like ice. A picture-perfect Husky puppy. But he was also angry. Not just aggressive like other dogs I’d seen. This puppy was backed all the way into the furthest corner of his kennel, eyes darting back and forth at all of us, staring with the most irate resolve I’d ever seen from a dog. He wanted no part of any of this. He was angry.”

Bekah Weitz is an animal health inspector and an expert in the complicated relationship that is the human-animal bond. She’s worked in animal shelters with homeless pets, investigated crimes against animals, and now works to keep animal industries healthy and strong. She explains that “my work reinforces that humans simply wouldn’t be who we are without the wild and domesticated animals in our lives supporting us. They have changed and now sustain who we are as a species by providing us with companionship, food, transportation, entertainment, or a combination of those things. Animals and humans are inextricably connected and extraordinarily important to our humanity.” Weitz has encountered a plethora of animals in her work, from house cats to tigers, and is now excited to share her experiences with the beautiful creatures. She’s been around animals since birth, and has “learned to listen to them and hear what they feel deeper than one learns a language. Because my person is so tied to the animals that surround me, I’ve been dedicated to doing my best to serve animals and the people who depend on them. I didn’t choose this work – it was simply the only work I ever could have done.”

Humbird

“My relationship with nature and animals is one of total enchantment and wonder. I wish I was better at slowing down to simply witness the world. When I am able to do so, I feel most complete, and inevitably, I think that’s when the best work comes out, too.”

Humbird is a Minneapolis-based musical artist who explores the relationship between nature, folktales, and longing through experimental folk and environmental Americana. Siri Undlin, the creator and face of Humbird, is inspired by the complexities and intricacies of everyday life and the world around her: “Inspiration can come from anywhere if you’re paying close attention. All of my music starts with a seed of inspiration, then grows from there.” With over 400,000 monthly listeners, Humbird’s music is a refreshing blend of indie-folk and the poetic magic of Midwestern winters. In preparation for this event, Undlin is “excited to see how the collaborative elements of this event resonate between the different performers – it’s always really magical to witness and participate in that.”

The Nunnery

The Nunnery is a solo act featuring Sarah Elstran, a Minneapolis-based musician who uses the art of the loop pedal to explore a world of peaceful and ambient sound. By layering voices and instrumentals upon themselves, Elstran creates a lush atmosphere inspired by the spaces and stories around her. Listening to The Nunnery is an experience that inspires healing, emotional understanding, and meditative contemplation. Elstran’s most recent album “We are the Stars” focuses on themes of nature and space and embodies the importance of understanding and growth.

So what are you waiting for? Plant your gardens, fill your feeders, and invite your pets up on the couch. Then join us on March 4 at 6:30pm for a journey into the wild – from the comforts of your home.