Madison Originals Magazine Madison Originals Magazine February 2012 | Page 40
40 | madison originals magazineoriginal citizen
ost of us know the type�a per-
son who is very good at one thing. There
are cities like this, too: Las Vegas, Hous-
ton. But the description of one-dimen-
sional does not t Madison, Wisconsin
nor does it t Stephanie Rearick, who is
not a one-dimensional anything. Stepha-
nie is denitely a Madison original�the
real deal who sings; plays keyboards,
trumpet, and drums; manages a coffee
shop; founded a community-based in-
novation that serves as a model for the
world; and has a fascinating sense of the
meaning of money.
Born in Akron, Ohio, but well
traveled in the United States and
abroad, Stephanie was an advocate for
Greenpeace and Amnesty International
before going into the coffee shop
business. And more recently, she was a
member of the Alcohol License Review Committee in one of the most liquor-saturated municipalities on the planet, a supporter of street art, an international speaker on complementary currencies and alternative economics, a negotiator and organizer for restorative justice for young people, and a masterful connector of individuals and organizations with heretofore unrecognized resources. Stephanie is a mentor, trainer, facilitator, performer, songwriter, and storyteller of the highest order.You will often nd this multifaceted phenomenon somewhere between the Social Justice Center and Mother Fool�s on Willy Street�between her roles as independent business owner and no-nonsense �put your quasi-money where your mouth and heart are� kind of artiste of optimism and practical action.What does Stephanie do for a living? All of the above. Up the Wall , her
recent nationwide tour, featured her
performing songs for which she wrote
most of the lyrics, all the melodies, and
accompaniment. But also in the mix were
tunes inuenced by Linda Barry, Samuel
Barber, and Franz Kafka. Cartoonist P.S.
Mueller�s poetry sometimes appeared
as well. Performing at edgy little
venues was interspersed with speaking
engagements on the relationships
between politics, macroeconomics, and
the very microeconomics embodied by
thousands of people in Madison and
elsewhere, all while exchanging almost
everything except money.
Stephanie is simply not that �one-thing�
kind of woman. When she sees a need
and a complicated diversity of causes,
she is not afraid to take a whack at it. As
an example, she and her husband and business partner, Jon Hain, have hosted a space for taggers and grafti artists on their outer coffee house wall for years. They recognize the art and need of the artists to express themselves in ways that could be enriched by acceptance.Stephanie and Jon have created things that are arguably more valuable than the almighty dollar, such as Madison Hours ,
which they started in 1995. When they
needed a new commercial refrigerator,
which Mother Fool�s modest income
could not afford, they invented their
own currency with a twist, and called
it Fool�s Gold . Buy a gift certicate for
$10 worth of coffee and food and it�s
immediately worth $10 in goods; but if
you hold onto the Fool�s Gold bill it goes
up in value, topping out at $15 in goods
six months later.
At the same time, they helped their
customers make money. Score one for
abundance in an economy based mostly
on scarcity. Similar innovativeness
has seen Stephanie and Jon nurturing Madison Hours into valuable currency
for hundreds of East Side residents.
In 2005, Stephanie brought the idea of
TimeBanking to Dane County, and six
years later our community has one of
the largest and most diverse TimeBanks
in the world. Nearly 2,000 peopl R6�&R