Marion Elbow

Dec 23, 2024 | isthmus.com | Marion Elbow

With the holidays comes gifts, decorations, general clutter and, unfortunately, a fair amount of waste. Between gift packaging, wrapping paper, broken ornaments, greeting cards and unwanted gifts, it’s a high point of the year for waste, says Bryan Johnson, the recycling coordinator for the city of Madison streets and urban forestry division. Johnson suggests that people try to give unwanted gifts a second life before throwing them in the trash. “Donate it, don’t throw it away,” he says.

Nov 20, 2024 | isthmus.com | Marion Elbow

Gay and transgender people are anxiously bracing for a second Donald Trump presidency. The Trevor Project, an advocacy organization that provides crisis services and peer support for LGBTQ+ youth, reported a 700% increase in calls to their crisis hotline on Nov. 6, the day after the 2024 presidential election. The Trevor Project says 90% of LGBTQ+ young people reported their well-being was negatively impacted by recent politics.

Nov 14, 2024 | isthmus.com | Marion Elbow

Madison west-siders will have a chance to try some Breton-based sweet treats closer to home this winter. Far Breton Bakery, which has a brick-and-mortar location on Fordem Avenue, has started a regular pop-up shop out of a small trailer at 6150 Mineral Point Road near the Homestead Shoppes. For Marie-Arzel Young, owner and founder of Far Breton, this is an opportunity to bring her baked goods to a wider audience. “That was our idea behind a west side pop-up, to expand our reach,” she says.

Nov 8, 2024 | isthmus.com | Marion Elbow

Studying classical music is linked to positive outcomes, including higher grades and higher levels of civic engagement. But those benefits historically have been out of reach for children of color as well as children with disabilities and those from lower-income families. The Madison Conservatory aims to democratize access to musical education by providing free classical training in piano and stringed instruments to students in the Madison area.

Nov 8, 2024 | isthmus.com | Jonathan Shipley |Marion Elbow |Judith Davidoff |Linda Falkenstein

Did you attend one of Madison’s many neighborhood festivals this summer? They are all run by nonprofits. Go to therapy? You might be getting services through Journey Mental Health Center, a nonprofit since 1948. Take in a play at Overture Center? Forward Theater is a professional nonprofit theater group. There are nonprofits all around us, often stepping in when the public and private sectors fall short.