A long journey to feeling right at home
By Virginia Scholtz
Northside News
When she was 10 months old, Jenny Ingebritsen came to the U.S. from Australia. Although she was new to this country and to the Midwest, her ancestors had lived here for generations. In fact, her great-grandparents are buried in Hollandale, Wisconsin.
Her dad was an archaeologist, which meant the family lived in many different places. She grew up in a small town on the west side of the Mississippi River and went to kindergarten in Bloomington, Minnesota.
Recalling her grandparents’ farm and the produce they ate there, she feels it was probably pretty healthy, organic nutrition. “My grandma sold eggs for 50 cents a crate. Now she could probably sell them for $5 a dozen.” Jenny likes the Northside Farmers Market because the foods available there are so much like those of her childhood.
Her older brothers and her father gave her an appreciation of music. Her dad had a huge collection of jazz albums, a genre she still loves. After high school, Jenny enrolled in St. Olaf’s College to study music. While there she played saxophone and ran cross-country. But Jenny found that college offered almost too many opportunities. She pursued Norwegian, then biology and eventually psychology, earning a master’s degree in elementary education.
Jenny and her family once attended a talk by Betty White, who played Rose on the Golden Girls. Her dad asked about Rose’s many stories of St. Olaf. Turns out it was all just silly humor, but the college did have a fondness for her and she had many good things to say about the college and its musical talent.
After college Jenny volunteered for a few months before she found a teaching position in Brooklyn, NY where she taught third grade at The Jesse Owens School in the Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood. It was her first experience of being a minority race. Most of the students and teachers were African American. Others had roots in Hispanic, Caucasian and Bangladeshi cultures. Some parents seemed to easily trust her authority and judgment as a teacher and some reacted with caution to this unknown quantity who was supposed to be able to teach their children. Over time she made many friends in the school and the community.
Living in New York City had its challenges. Prices were high and the only way to afford an apartment was to share the rent. Jenny found roommates through networking. Friends she knew (who had moved to the Big Apple before her) helped her find a place. In turn, she found roommates for others who were new to the city.
The commute to her school was a bit daunting. She rode her bike and the route took her along some “pretty rough streets.” Although she sometimes witnessed a bit of violence, Jenny herself was never assaulted. All-in-all she felt safe while living in that big and busy place. After a few years, Jenny’s position was downsized, and she took the opportunity to learn something new. This time it was Colorado and physical therapy.
Her new interests kept her almost too busy to meet people, but there was a guy she got to know online. He was a good listener; she really liked his attention and his acceptance. He liked her, too, and in the spring of 2019 Jenny married Adam Whitacre. The festivities were held outdoors and over 100 people joined the celebration. Seeing the mix of people who were part of their extended family and friends “was one of the best parts of the day. There was such a supportive community.”
Jenny and Adam now live in Madison on the Northside. Adam was born here; the city feels very comfortable for Jenny as well.
She has visited the area where her parents lived when she was a baby. Their home was near the Waranga Reservoir in New South Wales, Australia. Jenny found the residential areas there similar to the Midwest, but Australian weather is more tropical and the birds are different. She remembers magpies that liked to dive-bomb her bike helmet.
Today Jenny works as a physical therapist, helping people regain strength and movement after an injury or illness. Thinking back to what she wanted to be when she grew up, Jenny answered, “An actress, a dancer.” Now her advice to young women with a dream is to “pay attention to what interests you, even when you’re grown up.”
She and Adam like living on the Northside. The people make them feel welcome. They like the wholesome Midwest feel of the community (the Northside vibe) where neighbors watch out for one another. Jenny feels hopeful about the future in a neighborhood with quite a bit of diversity. Jenny said, “I think people have good intentions over a broad variety of views.”