In Madison, Arthur Kohl-Riggs finds consolation by way of connection

Studying Time: 2 minutes

As rays of setting solar striped the hill at Madison’s James Madison Park, Arthur Kohl-Riggs practiced handstands on his favourite tree. 

“I by no means actually deliberate on handstanding however it’s confirmed very meditative,” he mentioned. 

Kohl-Riggs, 36, a local of Madison’s west facet, mentioned he initially began exercising on the park to regain power in his shoulder following an damage. Now it’s his “third house” — a well-recognized spot to attach with others. 

“The thought of being an everyday at a park is good,” he mentioned. “There’s no price, you don’t have to purchase a drink an hour, it’s only a free house to be.” 

As fellow park-goers walked by, some stopped to observe as Kohl-Riggs wrapped his fingers across the outdated oak’s department, introduced his toes close to his fingers, hooked the department together with his toes, then dropped his arms to the bottom, dangling the wrong way up.

“I’ve been looking for methods to reintegrate deliberately into the group,” Kohl-Riggs mentioned.

Routines developed earlier within the pandemic stored him cooped inside for months at a time, he mentioned. However now, between utilizing his pal’s laundry machine in trade for handyman work and attending karaoke nights on the Gamma Ray Bar simply off the Capitol Sq., Kohl-Riggs mentioned he’s forcing himself into group — resisting the forces of complacency to keep away from reisolation.

Kohl-Riggs has lived eclectically.

As an activist and citizen journalist in 2012, he ran a protest marketing campaign in opposition to Scott Walker within the Republican main for governor, touting the values of Republicans like Robert La Follette and Abraham Lincoln and rising a Lincoln-like beard. He acquired almost 20,000 votes, 3% of the tally, regardless of spending lower than $2,000. Over the subsequent 5 years, he and a pal produced a tongue-in-cheek YouTube journey sequence about Dane County known as Dane & Sprint. He mentioned he now works as a authorized investigator for a personal legislation agency that works on public protection overflow instances, serving to to “ease the congested public defender rolls,” he mentioned.

Kohl-Riggs mentioned he feels optimistic in regards to the state’s future, regardless of a spread of challenges individuals face — from housing and monetary instability to an absence of well being care.  

“Despair solely hinders progress,” he mentioned. “We’re extra succesful now than we have been earlier than of seeing extra of the faults in loads of the programs which have at all times existed. It’s tougher to be complacent when every thing’s clearly not working the way it’s alleged to work.” 

“Individuals are motivated to make their communities higher and to guard from potential threats to the individuals of their communities and round them,” Kohl-Riggs added. “That power is contagious… we will construct robust, resilient native methods to fight nationwide threats.”

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for unique tales and our Friday information roundup.