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South Korean visitor enjoying local hospitality 
The Prairie du Chien community is enjoying a special visitor this week. Hyun Kyung Kwan, a 29-year-old teacher from Seoul, South Korea, is staying in Prairie du Chien. While visiting Wisconsin, she is helping her hosts out by calling herself 'June'. June is participating in a special training program for English as a second language offered by the UW-Madison. She has spent the last two weeks in Madison studying American education, Midwestern culture and new teaching techniques for English to her students back in Seoul. This week is the highlight of her trip. As part of the program, she is a guest of River Ridge School, and she is staying with River Ridge teacher Barb Neises and her husband Chris. On Wednesday, Chris was playing tour guide to give June a feel for the area. They had breakfast at the Hungry House, where the regulars were excited to meet June. She commented on how friendly people were, and how she could feel a sense of community, that people really knew each other. Next, they made a stop at Effigy Mounds National Monument, and were planning to head for Lock and Dam 10 at Guttenberg, as well as a visit to a farm where June was excited to get an opportunity to shoot a gun. Guns are illegal in South Korea. At home, June teaches English ‹ a mandatory class - to eighth grade students. Korean students are also required to take a third language in addition to Korean and English. She was really enjoying the students at River Ridge." It's not how I expected," she said. The kids are really friendly and they want to say 'hello' in Korean," she said. After seeing American movies, she expected the students to be more jaded and urban. Instead, she says they are "cute," and eager to learn, just like her students in Korea. June has brought along the e-mail addresses of her students at home to exchange with River Ridge students, so that each class can have pen pals. On Thursday, June will be teaching classes at River Ridge about Korean culture and language, and she will also teach them a Korean game in gym class. As June noted, there are some differences between life in Seoul and Wisconsin. June commented that when you walk down the street you can actually see people. Seoul is densely populated, and the sidewalks are crowded. She was also amazed at the spacious lawns around the houses, and how everyone has a car. "At home," she said, "you don't need a car. I can walk or take the bus where I am going." "Driving is very stressful," she added, because of the crowded traffic on the streets. "Here, you need a car," she said. Other aspects of June's life are familiar to ordinary Americans. On weekends, June likes to go out with her fiancee and visit a park or go to the movies. Her fiancee is a physician; they plan to marry next year. June is from a family of three - she has a brother and a sister as well as her parents. Luckily, none of her family lives in North Korea, but she expressed strong feelings about the division of her country. "We Koreans hope to unify. We are one people, but separated," she said. June's visit to the area will end on Friday, when she returns to Madison. When she goes she will leave some new friends behind.

Keep on quilting: Bloomington woman's colorful creativity becomes helping hobby
The engaging art of quilting is not only a colorful, creative craft, it is also a way to help those less fortunate. For whatever reason, the Bloomington and Bagley area is the home of many quilters and at 93, Elizabeth Johnson may well have the most seniority among the stitching sorority. "I'm just an old quilter," said the modest Johnson, who recently donated 16 baby quilts to the Crawford County Homemakers for distribution. Johnson, along with many other quilters in the Grant and Crawford County area, gives of her time and talent so that others may keep warm over the winter. "That's what we're here for," said Johnson, who noted that many quilters, through donations to area church organizations, are able to distribute their creations locally, nationally and to all corners of the globe. "They (the quilts) go to wherever they're needed," said Johnson. Handsome, home, handmade quilts from Southwestern Wisconsin have been sent to Africa, Asia, India, South America and throughout the United States, to name a few. Johnson, who has recently completed six 60x80-inch quilt covers for Cassville Lutheran Church, donates her quilts to various organizations, including Lutheran World Action and Crawford County Homemakers. She has been quilting for more than 70 years, having started in earnest in the 1930s while working as a teacher in an old country school on the windswept plains of North Dakota. What began as a warm necessity to pass the time while snowed in on the prairie, grew over the years into the helping hobby that it is today. Johnson estimates that she has made more than 100 quilts and more than 40 wall hangings over the years. Her quilts come in a variety of sizes and styles, including "blazing star" patterns, flower gardens, wedding quilts, summertime quilts, Easter quilts, Christmas quilts, patriotic quilts, maple leaf quilts and numerous others. Johnson has put her tender, loving care into handmade quilts for sleeping, decorative quilts, wall hangers and clothing such as quilted vests, jackets and blouses. "You have to use your imagination," said Johnson. For example, she went outside and found a good maple leaf for the pattern of the maple leaf quilt. Some of Johnson's quilts were fully conjured up in her creative mind and others, such as the blazing star, use standard patterns in conjunction with Johnson's creative influence. Her wedding quilts show a young lad handing a heart (his heart) to his lady love. The quilts are often personalized with dates, signatures of family members and other memorable sayings. "My quilting is not as good today as it once was," says Johnson, modestly. She makes some quilts by hand and others with the use of a sewing machine. She doesn't like quilts made by big, commercial machines as much as handmade quilts because, she says, those that are handmade capture much more personality. Handmade quilts also have much smaller stitching and the relief of the pattern comes through on the back of the quilt, unlike the machine made variety. Johnson learned to make quilts under the tutelage of her grandmother Mary Porter and her mother Annie Porter while growing up in North Dakota. She remembers her mother and grandmother quilting all day long. Back then, quilts were mostly made of cotton and often were made of scraps left over from the making of pants, shirts, dresses or other garments. "Have scraps, make quilts," Johnson said with a wry smile. "I just make anything that hits me." The history of quilting is also enjoyed by Johnson, who says that quilting began in the Middle Ages, but that "piecing" quilts is an American tradition. She said that knights wore quilted vests under their armor. Also, Marco Polo had precious gems quilted into his coat, so he could smuggle them undetected. Quilts also played an important role in American history, says Johnson. For instance, women moving west with their families, quilted along the way with anything they had. This gave rise to the first "crazy quilts." It also gave rise to patterns such as "Kansas Trouble," "Rocky Road to Kansas," "Bear's Paw," "Clay's Choice," "Old Tippecanoe," and "Jacob's Ladder," to name a few. Large "sign" of "signature" quilts were often made before a family left the east and headed west. These quilts bore the stitched signatures of family members and other noteworthy scenes and sayings as a record of family memories. Johnson owns a "Pine Tree" quilt that was created by her grandmother in the 1920s. She is pleased to say that the family tradition continues on in her 6-year-old great grandson, Nick Bartels of Milwaukee. "He has been helping his mother with quilts ever since he could hand her a piece," Johnson said. Johnson, who moved to Southwestern Wisconsin in 1936 and taught at various rural schools in Bagley, Seneca, Patch Grove, Bloomington and Lynxville, said that her hobby gives her something to do. "I'll keep on as long as I can," she said. "There's a satisfaction when you see something done."