The new Netflix series Making a Murderer has captured the attention of viewers all over the country. When I first heard about this show, I heard about how captivating and intriguing the show was. People were binge watching like no other. And when I found out that it takes place in Wisconsin, I had to watch the series. This is my home, and I felt connected to the case. Following the footsteps of everyone in the country, I began to watch the show. Immediately after the first episode, I felt anger. I was angry at the way that the Manitowoc County police officers had treated Steven Avery and his family. The way that the documentary showed the story made it seem that there was all of this blatant evidence that shows that Avery was innocent, but he was framed due to family and community politics.
Not so fast. You can’t believe everything you see on television. This is a documentary, and the documentary had a point. It wanted to show how Steven Avery was made into a murderer by the justice and police departments. I have to give credit where credit is due: The series did a good job at that. I was convinced, but then I decided to read up on the case. I found a lot of evidence eliminated from the show. The line of ethical conduct gets blurry. I felt clear on what was true, yet it wasn’t. There is a lot of evidence confirming that he did commit this horrible crime, and there’s a significant amount that says that he didn’t. I hope that the truth becomes clear for the sake of the Avery and the Halbach family. They both deserve peace.
After the documentary was aired, the Sheriff of the Manitowoc Police Department shared his views on the show. In all of the interviews, he was angry about how the show brought such a poor and negative light on his county, his department and the entire state of Wisconsin. I completely agree. I’m from California. After watching this series, people said to me, “I will never visit Wisconsin,” or “how could you ever go to school there.” People are even asking my Mom, “how could you ever let your daughter go to school in a place like that?” This is insane to me. Wisconsin is more than what the documentary is showing on Netflix.
Anyone that lives in Wisconsin will tell you that it’s their favorite place to be. This is especially true of the students that go to UW-Madison. I have never heard anyone, student or alumni, ever say anything bad about this school. Everyone that I have ever met has said that it was the best years of their life. There aren’t enough words to say how much I love this place and this school. The people that I’ve met here have been the nicest and greatest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. For anyone who is not convinced, here are some of people’s favorite parts about being a student in Madison, WI.
We were voted the Happiest Students in America by the Huffington Post. Midwest hospitality is not a myth. Everyone is genuinely nice and happy. That is one of the first things that I noticed moving here from California. People actually care about your day. They hold doors open, they smile at you even if they don’t know you and they give up their seats on the bus. People that live in Wisconsin are down to earth and real. The friends that I have made here are the absolute best in my life.
We are a city of firsts. The famous satirical magazine ,The Onion, and the Innocence Project was started on the UW campus. The Onion was founded in 1988 by students at UW-Madison. This publication grew and spread around the nation. The Innocence project was started in 1998 by professors, and it is still a leader to this day in exonerations. The Wisconsin Innocence project has freed 20 individuals, and the entire organization as had 263 exonerations.
Our campus is incredible. The University of Wisconsin campus has everything. Located on an isthmus, we are a city in between two lakes. As said by current sophomore Emily Handley, “My favorite part about Wisconsin is that we have both the city life, with bars, restaurants and urban areas, but then we also have the more scenic areas such as the lakes and the upper areas of Wisconsin where people fish and camp!” You can find students running around our lakes, swimming in the summer and ice skating in the winter. Especially in the summer, you can find students on the Terrace. The campus truly has it all.
We have a crazy law here in Wisconsin. I think this might be everyone’s favorite part of this state. There is a law that states that it is legal to drink if you are under 21 if have your parents with you. Essentially, if your parents give the OK, you can pretty much drink whatever you want underage. Nowadays, it is up to the discretion of the institution whether or not they want to abide by this law but many places still do it. This is why parent’s weekend is one of the craziest weekends of the year.
Wisconsin is America’s DairyLand. The University of Wisconsin system produces the best dairy scientists, experts and researchers. Wisconsin has more dairy farms than any other place in the nation. According to foodreference.com, there are 14,000 dairy operations which accounts for 20% of the nation’s total, and there are over 1.25 million dairy cows in the state. People that live in Wisconsin love their cheese. Wisconsin leads the country in cheese production, and it makes 2.6 billion pounds of cheese per year. You can find students at the farmer’s market eating squeaky cheese curds every Saturday.
The University of Wisconsin was voted #1 College football town in America by the NCAA in 2015 and #11 for Best Public University in the U.S. by U.S. News and World Report in 2015. Sports and academics are exceptional here. In the 2014-2015 season, our football team went to the Big 10 Championship, and our basketball team went to the National Championship. Even though both teams lost in these two final games, the atmosphere is unbeatable, and the Badger pride is something that you can’t get anywhere else. Our community service volunteers have logged over 37,000 hours. 19 faculty members have been awarded Nobel prizes. We are one of the leading universities with Peace Corps volunteers. We definitely exhibit a work hard, play hard attitude.
So Netflix, next time you make a documentary about a state, try not to show it in such a bad light. We love it here in Wisconsin, and we don’t need anyone making it any less than it is.