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https://shepherdexpress.com/food/eat-drink/kegels-inn-puts-the-steinholding-contest-in-stein-dine/
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Photo: Keen-Eye Photographs juliankegel.com
Steinholding
Steinholding
Join the fun and test your endurance when Kegel’s Inn hosts Stein & Dine’s Steinholding competition. According to the official rules: In the experience of the U.S. Steinholding Association, rules and enforcement are critically important to the legitimacy of any competition.
Not to worry. Julian Kegel will no doubt be a less stern judge. “All seriousness aside, we still want to make it fun so we’re pretty generous with the rules,” he said. “Or else most people- who don’t train, would be out before three minutes are up.”
Kegel also emcees the event. “Sometimes it’s just more fun to get the crowd involved. To bring them up close and personal to see why the sport is actually more fun as a spectator.” The race to be the last one standing is a tough challenge for anyone, but he’s found that with the crowd’s support, most contestants will grin and bear it for longer. “It all makes for a great show!”
The 3:30 p.m. competition is open to both men and women. Entry fee is $20 which includes the stein and the beer in it. There will also be prizes for the winners.
In case you are a stickler, the official rules are here. And please, no pine tar. ussteinholding.com/info/official-steinholding-rules
Photo: Keen-Eye Photographs juliankegel.com
Steinholding
Steinholding
The Beer Cooler by the Lake
Kegel’s Inn will be joining Stein and Dine with their "Beer Cooler by the Lake,” a converted 1957 Grumman-Olson step van which makes up the beer portion of their Beer Garden at the War Memorial Center downtown Milwaukee. The War Memorial Beer Garden will kick off its second season on Friday, May 27, with the Field of Flags presentation Memorial Day Weekend and run through October. The beer garden is a fundraiser for the WMC.
Kegel’s Inn, the West Allis German restaurant, is operated by fourth generation Kegel’s, Julian and Stephanie. When the pandemic struck, their 59th Street outdoor beer garden became a safe gathering place as well as a familiar spot to socialize safely. Kegel’s Friday fish fry was a finalist in the 2022 Shepherd Express Best of Milwaukee competition. We featured Kegel’s beer garden in this video:
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https://shepherdexpress.com/food/lets-eat/celebrating-damascus-gate/
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Photo: Damascus Gate - Facebook
Damascus Gate dining room
Damascus Gate
Damascus Gate is a family-owned Halal food restaurant located at 807 W. Historic Mitchell Street, in a part of town that’s sometimes feels overlooked or forgotten. However, this casual sit down has some of the best Middle Eastern food around.
Living my 20s out in New York had me eating a lot of Halal food out of carts on the streets after a night out. I learned to love it for all its flavors and textures and was happy to see the famous Halal Guys make its way to Milwaukee after being a secret New York City spot known for its “white sauce” and late-night lines.
A friend brought me to Damascus Gate right when I moved back to Milwaukee after I was complaining about not having as much access to global cuisine. We each had the mixed grill plate which serves chicken and six-meat skewers alongside grilled veggies, hummus, baba ghanouj, salad (or fattoush), and pita bread. This time, I opted to try some other items and went with the hummus appetizer which is a mix of sesame oil and garlic served with pita bread, one lentil soup and a kefta kabab.
Depending on where you are in the world, a kebab is served differently but resulting in the same myriad of mixed meats, vegetables, sauces, and spices. Here, kebabs are wrapped in large shrak bread and look close to what we would call a wrap.
Everything was homemade fresh for me and delicious. I ordered with the intent to take some home for later, and I got what I wanted. Seems like a good place to order party platters for special occasions and gatherings. Who doesn’t love hummus?!
There were not many people dining in on a Monday at noon, but I would imagine their delivery has gotten popular since COVID-19 setbacks. I could hear the men cooking and speaking Arabic alongside the clanging of kitchen ware, evidence that everything is made fresh to order.
This is one of those spots in Milwaukee we should all go out of our way to try for ourselves and try to save. Once a big dining hall fit for large parties and buffets, it needs patronage to add the allure that the food deserves. I invite you to take a trip to Damascus Gate and taste it for yourselves.
Photo: Damascus Gate - Facebook
Damascus Gate - rice with meat and kubbeh
Damascus Gate - rice with meat and kubbeh
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https://shepherdexpress.com/news/community-news/daily-wisconsin-covid-19-update-470-new-cases-no-deaths/
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Summary:
- 470 new cases
- No new deaths, 2 deaths added to system
- 12,790 total deaths;
- 180 hospitalized patients, 31 in ICU
Source: Wisconsin Department of Health Services
On Thursday, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services reported an additional 470 new COVID-19 cases. The state has averaged 360 new cases per day in the last week.
On this day last year, there were 638 new cases, and a 7-day average of 567 cases per day. In 2020, 196 cases were recorded, with a 7-day average of 137 cases per day.
Source: Wisconsin Department of Health Services
There were no new deaths, and two deaths added to the Department of Health Services system, putting the total Wisconsin death toll at 12,790. A lag in death reporting statewide has affected these numbers.
In Milwaukee County, there were 92 new confirmed cases reported and have been 268,171 total cases in the county since the pandemic began. The 7-day average in the county is 65 cases per day. One of the deaths added to the system were attributed to Milwaukee County, putting the county death toll at 2,274 since the beginning of the pandemic.
If you are looking for COVID-19 testing or vaccination, consult the Wisconsin Department of Health Services website.
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https://shepherdexpress.com/cannabis/cannabis/in-1972-nixon-appointees-already-stated-the-obvious-marijuan/
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Image: Flickr via herb.com
1960s hippies smoking pot
Fifty years ago, what should have saved tens of millions of Americans from unjust arrests occurred and was promptly dismissed by President Richard Nixon. The National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse, better known as the Shafer commission, delivered its report after two years of research, concluding that marijuana should not be illegal. That report was supposed to determine how the Nixon Administration would treat marijuana within the Controlled Substances Act, which is still today the ultimate authority in terms of drug legality.
What the Shafer Commission Found
Under the guidance of former Pennsylvania governor, the Republican Raymond Shafer, the commission analyzed why marijuana is considered to be a problem. It correctly points out the fact that alcohol is much more dangerous to one’s health and far more commonly consumed, yet it is not considered to be a societal ill like marijuana was at the time. “For many, marihuana symbolized disorder,” the report reads. “For decades, its use was mainly confined to the underprivileged socioeconomic groups in our cities and to certain insulated social groups, such as jazz musicians and artists. As long as it remained confined to these groups, [...] the vast majority of Americans remained unconcerned.”
Marijuana as a recreational drug was traditionally limited to African Americans and Mexican immigrants, which the Shafer report diplomatically refers to as “underprivileged socioeconomic groups in our cities.” But when the rebellious youth started challenging the racial imbalance inherent to American society in the 1960s, marijuana was held up by conservatives as a symbol of race mixing and the rabble contaminating the youth’s minds, alongside rock music and sexual liberation. “Marihuana symbolizes the cultural divide,” says the report. “Any statement frequently repeated in public assumes the status of fact. With so many people continually arguing about marihuana, the public has understandably become alarmed and confused.”
The link between Americans’ rejection of marijuana and race cannot be understated. Before the 1900s, it was always referred to by its proper name, cannabis. The word “marijuana” itself, and its equivalent “marihuana” with a rolled H, only exist because American conservatives wanted a word that sounded Mexican to incite Americans to hate what it describes.
When the architect of marijuana prohibition, Harry Anslinger, testified before Congress to ban cannabis, he presented as evidence a letter from the Alamosa Daily Courier in Colorado. It read, “I wish I could show you what a small marihuana cigarette can do to one of our degenerate Spanish-speaking residents. That’s why our problem is so great; the greatest percentage of our population is composed of Spanish-speaking persons, most of who are low mentally, because of social and racial conditions.”
No Physical Dependence
Once they analyzed the root of the rejection of marijuana by the conservative American society, the Shafer commission looked at the health and social consequences of marijuana use. They noted that heavy marijuana users can have a form of psychological dependence but not physical dependence, and they found no harm done by marijuana. “There is little proven danger of physical or psychological harm from the experimental or intermittent use of the natural preparations of cannabis, including [hashish].” The only potential harm done by marihuana identified by the Shafer commission was present in only 2% of marijuana users, and it was purely a potential emotional instability linked to heavy daily use of marijuana. “Unfortunately, these marihuana-related problems, which occur only in heavy, long-term users, have been overgeneralized and over-dramatized.”
The Atlantic journalist Eric Schlosser reported on the consequences of the Mexican revolution of 1910, which led to a wave of Mexican immigration in Texas: “The prejudices and fears that greeted these peasant immigrants also extended to their traditional means of intoxication: smoking marijuana. Police officers in Texas claimed that marijuana incited violent crimes, aroused a ‘lust for blood,’ and gave its users ‘superhuman strength.’” This is the sort of absurdities that were widely believed by opponents of marijuana, largely due to the general racist sentiment permeating American society, regardless of facts.
“The belief that marihuana causes or leads to the commission of violent or aggressive acts first emerged during the 1930s and became deeply embedded in the public mind,” Shafer notes, before presenting the results of months of systematic review of all available data at the time and the results of several studies sponsored by the commission itself: “No substantial evidence exists of a causal connection between the use of marihuana and the commission of violent or aggressive acts. Indeed, if any relationship was indicated, it was not a positive and direct connection, but an inverse or negative statistical correlation. Rather than inducing violent or aggressive behavior through its purported effects [...], marihuana was usually found to inhibit the expression of aggressive impulses by pacifying the user, interfering with muscular coordination, reducing psycho-motor activities and generally producing states of drowsiness, lethargy, timidity and passivity.”
Ultimately, the Shafer commission made recommendations—which were the very reason why its members were appointed in the first place—regarding marijuana. They recommended that the government should focus on studying cannabis and its potential medical uses, that heavy marijuana users should be referred to community-based treatment facilities, that the federal and state governments should separate marijuana from opiates, and that marijuana should not be criminalized.
Nixon went on to bury the report and take none of the recommendations made within.
Marijuana’s Illegal Status Was Never Meant to be Permanent
The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 separated drugs into schedules based on dangerousness. This act is culpable for placing marijuana at the very top, in Schedule I, alongside heroin, ecstasy and peyote. Every drug in Schedule I, in theory, has no medical use and a high risk of abuse. As the U.S. government itself owns a patent regarding medical use of marijuana—U.S. patent US-6630507-B1, which determined that cannabinoids have a value in treating age-related, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases—marijuana does not fall under the definition of Schedule I drugs.
In fact, this is something that the Shafer commission specifically called out in 1972: “The Commission recommends that the legislatures distinguish marihuana from opiates [...]. The consequence of inappropriate definition is that the public continues to associate marihuana with narcotics such as heroin. The confusion resulting from this improper classification helps to perpetuate prejudices and misinformation about marihuana.” Then, how did harmless marijuana even end up in Schedule I, alongside deadly opioids?
It was initially supposed to be a temporary measure while the Shafer commission worked to determine which legal status should be given to marijuana. Assistant Secretary of Health Roger Egeberg stated it explicitly in a letter to the Chairman of the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce:
“[Marijuana] is presently classed in schedule I along with its active constituents, the tetrahydrocannibinols and other psychotropic drugs. Some question has been raised whether the use of the plant itself produces ‘severe psychological or physical dependence’ as required by a schedule I or even schedule II criterion. Since there is still a considerable void in our knowledge of the plant and effects of the active drug contained in it, our recommendation is that marijuana be retained within schedule I at least until the completion of certain studies now underway to resolve the issue,” the letter reads.
But when the Shafer report, which Egeberg refers to as “certain studies now underway,” finally came out, the Nixon Administration decided to ignore their findings entirely.
“President Nixon said, ‘Even if the commission does recommend that it be legalized, I will not follow that recommendation,’” The New York Times reported in 1972. “The National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse has unanimously decided to recommend that all criminal penalties for the private use and possession of marijuana be eliminated. No state has yet gone this far, and the recommendation of the conservatively oriented 13‐member commission, which includes nine members appointed by President Nixon, could generate a dramatic shift in the public's attitudes toward the legal status of the drug.” The newspaper was far too optimistic.
The reasons why Nixon chose to ignore common sense, science and the advice of his own appointees are not particularly mysterious. Nixon top aide John Ehrlichman famously admitted what they were: “The Nixon White House had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”
In order to serve Nixon’s short-term political goals, the findings of the Shafer commission were buried, and more than 500,000 Americans have been arrested every single year for half-a-century for non-violent, harmless possession of a psychoactive plant that never had any reason to be criminalized. Even today, police arrest more people for benign possession of marijuana alone than for all violent crimes combined.
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https://shepherdexpress.com/culture/books/milwaukees-april-author-round-up/
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This month, there are several new books and author appearances in Milwaukee that feature stories of change and times of upheaval.
At 7 p.m. on April 12, the Jewish Museum Milwaukee will host author Shirley Ann Higuchi, who will share her personal journey in uncovering her family history involving the Japanese American internment camps during World War II. Higuchi’s book, Setsuko’s Secret: Heart Mountain and the Legacy of the Japanese American Incarceration, follows Higuchi’s path of discovery after her mother Setsuko passes away. When she learns the truth about how her parents met, and about their early life together in the rough internment camp on Heart Mountain in Wyoming, Higuchi realizes how these traumas affected her family and her community.
This program is available both in-person and virtually. Pre-Register to choose your option and pay $5 for museum members/$10 for non-members.
Mystery readers won’t want to miss best-selling author, Cara Black, appearing in-person to discuss her newest installation to the Aimeé Leduc mystery series. The event, co-hosted by Boswell Books and Alliance Française de Milwaukee, will be on April 7 at 6:30 p.m. Black’s boo, Murder at the Porte De Versailles, is set in Paris in November 2001, just after 9/11. World tensions are running high as heroine, Aimeé Leduc, balances solving a mystery laced with danger from spies and terrorists, taking care of her of her young daughter Chloe, and dealing with pressure from Chloe’s father who wants them to move out of Paris to live in the quiet countryside.
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Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
To attend this free event pre-register here.
Cara Black "Murder at the Porte De Versailles"
Fiction lovers will enjoy seeing best-selling author, Jennifer Close, during an in-person event at Boswell Books, 6:30 p.m. on April 29. Close will be discussing her latest novel, Marrying the Ketchups, which tells the story of a restaurant-owning family in Chicago coping with tough personal losses, huge sports victories, and the post-election shock of Trump’s win in 2016. Even good food can only help so much when facing a myriad of unknowns and the highs and lows of life. Marrying the Ketchups is Close’s fourth novel.
To attend this free event, please pre-register here. Information about attending virtually will be available on the day of the event.
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https://shepherdexpress.com/culture/happening-now/at-unsil-world-fair-kids-display-their-knowledge-of-nations-/
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Photo: United Nations Association - Greater Milwaukee - Facebook
2019 Milwaukee United Nations School of International Learning
2019 Milwaukee United Nations School of International Learning
In a democracy, the importance of a well-informed citizenry was recognized as long ago as ancient Athens. Today, with the whole world more interconnected than ever before, knowledge of other countries and cultures is essential.
Education is crucial. Since 2016, more than a dozen Milwaukee Public Schools have incorporated the United Nations Schools of International Learning (UNSIL) program into their curriculum. On April 19, at the UWM Panther Arena, some 2,000 students enrolled in the program will present displays of their class projects on the United Nations, its agencies and member countries. As the promotional flyer for the UNSIL World Fair puts it, “It’s like a science fair but with geography, economics and more.”
The age-appropriate curriculum begins in fourth grade and continues through eighth. In fourth grade, students learn to understand the definition of nations. In fifth grade they are introduced to the United Nations and its mission. The following year, students examine the workings and procedures of the UN.
Sixth grade focuses on sustainable development goals and learns how the world is linked together. Seventh grade focuses on humanitarianism and dives into UN agencies and programs. Eighth grade prepares students for taking action in their own community.
“They essentially put on their blue helmets and get to work,” says Annette Robertson, a counselor and fundraiser for the program. She also chairs the Education Committee of the United Nations Chapter of Greater Milwaukee. “As a former teacher at MPS my second graders were involved in in live conversations with Afghan students,” she recalls. “My interest in further involvement of introducing an international studies program to elementary students in MPS lead to UNSIL.”
The 16 participating MPS schools are:
95th Street, Fairview, Fernwood Montessori School, Garland, Grant, Lincoln Center for the Arts, MACL, Manitoba, Milwaukee French Immersion, Milwaukee German Immersion, Milwaukee School of Language, Parkview, Story, Stuart, Victory K8 and Milwaukee Italian Immersion School and Zablocki.
The grade and middle school students and their projects are the event’s highlights, but the UNSIL World Fair will also include drumming, dancing and a clothing display. “The students will engage with visitors to inform them of all that they have learned from their research and creation,” Robertson says.
The UNSIL World Fair takes place 9:45 a.m.-1 p.m., Tuesday April 19 at the UWM Panther Arena, 400 W. Kilbourn Ave.
United Nations Association - Greater Milwaukee
2019 Milwaukee United Nations School of International Learning
2019 Milwaukee United Nations School of International Learning
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https://shepherdexpress.com/culture/mke-speaks/milwaukee-entrepreneur-ali-acevedo-brings-fashion-and-togeth/
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Photo by Isa Kregel
All Goods shirts
All Goods
T-shirts galore are organized by color and style. You can find Milwaukee Bucks gear, college crewnecks, and even Disney tees. The graphics are eclectic, and the vibe of the store is a whole aesthetic itself.
Located on South 72nd Street, All Goods is one of two locations owned by Ali Acevedo. It is a vintage street wear shop. Acevedo has been collecting pieces for it since he started selling on eBay at the age of 15. Just over two years ago he was able to transform his online shop into a physical space where Milwaukee residents can shop for the latest fashion at good prices.
“I always wanted to be my own boss … being able to control my lifestyle, being able to have my own time back to do what I want to do. I’m doing something I love,” said Acevedo. “I enjoy when customers come in and seeing what they pick up.”
Born and raised on Milwaukee’s South Side, Acevedo started selling everything from books to video games, to posters and clothes while working a 9-to-5 job at US Bank. Acevedo knew he belonged elsewhere. Even though his full-time job was paying him well, he wasn’t happy. As he drove across the bridge on 60th and Hawley Road to get to work, he would think about what to do next with his career.
“I just remember getting to that bridge and thinking ‘Damn, I got to be here for eight hours,” Acevedo recalled. “Entrepreneurship is not for everybody, it’s very risky. I put my all into it, like every dollar I had. I risked it all. But I had the support of my wife, I had the support of my family and that really made this business successful.”
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He quit his job and opened his store with the help of his family and his wife Almi Avila. Avila and Acevedo have been together for about 15 years and tied the knot a month before opening All Goods. Simultaneously preparing for a wedding and a grand opening was stressful at times, but Avila said she knew it would all come together because of her husband’s drive to perfection.
“Anyone who knows Ali knows how he is. He’s always had that hustle mentality,” said Avila. “I always have had a lot of faith in him. I know that whatever he’s going to do and whatever he wants to do, he’s going to give it his all.”
Acevedo and Avila have two daughters together. Family has been a motivator. The importance of teaching and guiding the kids in their family has been at the forefront of All Goods. Acevedo and Avila want to provide a place where their children can enhance their skills and show them that they can do anything they put their minds to.
“In his eyes, every single thing that we’re doing is for our family. It’s for our younger community. Our 12-year-old has been helping and even our four-year-old helps by taking the lint brush to clothes. The future of All Goods is for our children to run it,” said Avila.
Acevedo’s mother, Delinda Acevedo, knew her son would be in the resale industry since he was just a kid too. He would accompany her to “thrifty stores,” as she called them, and she helped him sew things up to get items in the right condition before posting online. She said he never was a person to over-buy.
“He knows his customers. He pays attention to what they are really looking for and that’s what gets him a lot of followers,” she added.
Personalized service is another objective Acevedo carries throughout his business. He has made it an effort to get to know his customers and to build a sense of trust among them. If there’s ever a problem with a purchase, Acevedo wants his customers to go to him and find something that will make them happy.
“It’s more personable when you learn about the people. You learn about so much stuff going around in the city from having those conversations that you never knew,” he said. “Every now and then it’s nice to just know that you’re helping your community and that they’re helping somebody who took the chance.”
The Resale Industry
Acevedo’s store is part of the growing resale industry. The resale industry is expected to grow 11 times faster than the broader retail clothing sector by 2025, according to the 2021 Resale Report released by ThredUp. This is mostly driven by wide-reaching internet access and easy-to-use applications for selling secondhand items.
The executive director of the National Association of Resale Professionals (NARTS), Adele Meyer, said consumers enjoy shopping in resale because they never know what they can find, especially as new products continue to be put out on display.
“Sustainability is much more important to consumers and saving money is always a factor. During the pandemic people were home much more which gave them time to clean out closets and rearrange their living areas. Many had to change things to accommodate home offices and home-schooling areas. This resulted in the industry experiencing an increase in inventory and in sales,” said Meyer.
Acevedo said there are always obstacles when running a business, especially by yourself. When the COVID pandemic first hit the country, he made the decision to remain open for people who needed a sense of normality. His mother admired his strive to remain positive throughout that time of turmoil.
“There have been many times where he could’ve given up,” she said. “It made me very proud to know that he got through all of that.”
The future of All Goods
It’s just the beginning for Acevedo. He is planning a vintage pop-event with the Milwaukee Bucks and events throughout the Bayshore center. The second All Goods Fest is also in the works this year where other vendors come together like a block party to sell and socialize. Acevedo said it would be cool to branch out around the country, but Milwaukee will always be at the center of it all.
“I don’t want to lose touch of where some of my family is still living today and the struggles that they still live with today. It’s where I came from and it’s also what drives me every day,” said Ali. “I love the Milwaukee Bucks. I love Milwaukee… Ultimately this is the home base.”
For more information, visit his website or follow his Instagram @allgoodsmke.
Photo by Isa Kregel
All Goods posters and shoes
All Goods
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https://shepherdexpress.com/culture/visual-art/sculpture-milwaukee-elevates-the-landscape-of-our-citys-dow/
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Photo by Brian Pfister - Sculpture Milwaukee
Allison Janae Hamilton "The peo-ple cried mer-cy in the storm"
Allison Janae Hamilton "The peo-ple cried mer-cy in the storm"
Something remarkable has been happening around Milwaukee’s Downtown area the past five years. If you’ve been out and about you may have spotted outdoor art installations like Robert Indiana’s LOVE outside of the Milwaukee Art Museum or Radcliffe Bailey’s Pensive outside of City Hall depicting W.E.B. Du Bois in the same pose as Rodin’s famous The Thinker. Sculpture Milwaukee Board Member Cory Ampe believes it’s been a positive addition to Wisconsin Avenue where several pieces have been on display. Ampe says, “It makes art purely accessible. Out in the raw elements and the hustle and bustle of Downtown. It changes our environment and our whole cityscape for you whether you’re interested in art or not.”
What began as a vision of Stephan Marcus of the Marcus Corporation in the early 2000s to bring artwork, but specifically sculptures, to the streets of Downtown Milwaukee has grown into a non-profit organization called Sculpture Milwaukee. “It’s really grown into itself,” says Ampe. The group become big enough to shift to a guest curatorial model. Meaning, now they select people outside of the organization to choose the art, with only some guidance from the board of directors of Sculpture Milwaukee.
Pieces like Pensive and LOVE are part of the group’s legacy collection on permanent display. The group also hosts a new exhibition approximately every 16 months with a newly curated collection. “We used to only display from June to October, but the logistics of transporting sculpture, especially internationally, can be tricky in normal times,” says Ampe, “and because of the shipping challenges during COVID we kept some of the pieces up on Wisconsin Avenue longer than we had before.”
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Nature Doesn’t Know About Us
“There is this We,” the name of the current exhibition curated by artists Teaster Gates and Michelle Grabner, began in summer of 2021 and runs until autumn of 2022. This will overlap the new exhibit opening in June called “Nature Doesn’t Know About Us” which is curated by Swiss-born artist, Ugo Rondinone. “It’s unusual to have public art on display outdoors as long as this,” says Ampe. “But it's also great to have such easy access to works of art like these, especially during a time where some may not feel comfortable being too near to others indoors.”
Exhibiting two collections at the same time means that Sculpture Milwaukee’s footprint will continue to expand as they’ll need more spaces to display the works. Which means we’ll have more opportunities to interact with the art. Ampe sums up the goal of Sculpture Milwaukee saying, “Inadvertent or incidental interactivity with art is pretty cool—seeing these sculptures doesn’t require you to go to a gallery or buy a ticket expecting to be exposed to art. It’s just a part of our lives.”
Find a map of the current sculptures at sculpturemilwaukee.com. Printed maps with the newest exhibition locations will be available in June or July.
Photo by Kevin J. Miyazaki - Sculpture Milwaukee
Paula Crown "Jokester"
Paula Crown "Jokester"
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Photo via restaurantji.com
El Tucanazo
El Tucanazo
Among Milwaukee’s Mexican restaurants, the ambiance can range from borderline theme park to the bare bones vibes of standing outside of a truck, with tacos served on Styrofoam plates. Then there is El Tucanazo (3261 S. 13th St.), a restaurant that juts out from under a building, which looks like it was once a storefront. Indeed, the place was a pet store back in the early ‘60s and was transformed into a lunch counter by 1978. No one seems to have much information on what kind of diner it was, but from the looks of it inside—the wraparound Formica counter with the stools attached and the booths lining the wall—it was probably one where a gum smacking waitress asked you “Whatcha havin,’ hon?” It is a place that would make Tom Waits proud.
Recently however, the booths were torn out and the stools uprooted to make way for more mobile stools; the booths were replaced with tables with patterned tablecloths, the kind you might see at your tia’s house. South 13th St. in Milwaukee, just slightly west of Morgan, is a delightful block, one that boasts some of Milwaukee’s best kept secrets and hidden treasures such as Bombay Sweets, Tortilleria El Sol, La Sierrita and El Tucanazo. It is named after a dance that is popular in the coastal state of Veracruz, which basically means to “hit it with the force of a toucan,” a bird that populates the jungles of the state and is known for its colorful beak, which acts as a powerful vise.
Seafood and Steak
It is no surprise that in a place named after a tropical bird, the main dishes that it is known for are seafood, because of its connections with rainforests and proximity to oceans. Mojarra frita, an entire tilapia fish that has been cleaned, scored and deep-fried, is one of the reasons many people homesick for Veracruz come here to dine. Its citrusy seasoning calls to their taste buds. The fish has a flaky flesh and lays across a wide plate on a bed of iceberg lettuce with rice and beans on the side, a stack of tortillas in a bin to keep them from getting cold.
The other most popular dish here at El tucanazo is the bistec a la tampiquena (“Tampico style steak”), named after the city of Tampico in the northern coastal state of Tamaulipas. The state is relatively close to the Texas border and is something of a mutant in terms of its history. The dish is a cut of skirt steak, which is not run through a tenderizing machine, rather left to maintain its thick juiciness. It is typically served with fries, but also rice and beans. This makes it a Mexican dish, but also a Tejano one, which has enjoyed its own life as a hybrid between Mexican and American food, like enchiladas, nachos and burritos, known for their portability.
El Tucanazo is a place to sit down on a Saturday morning, to order camarones a la diabla, shrimp that have been fried and roasted in a guajillo-based sauce where the heat level can range from mild to tear inducing. It is a place that gets the flavors right while also being off the wall spicy. It is really hard for food to do both usually, especially when the vehicle is a main dish as opposed to a salsa. El Tucanazo is a hidden gem that makes complicated dishes the main star in its theater. However, culinary players like simple tacos still get the treatment and attention they deserve, making El Tucanazo one of Milwaukee’s most solid and well-rounded joints in the limbo between the heart of the South Side and Bay View. It is worth the journey.
Photo via restaurantji.com
El Tucanazo exterior
El Tucanazo
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Summary:
- 458 new cases
- No new deaths, 8 deaths added to system
- 12,800 total deaths;
- 164 hospitalized patients, 32 in ICU
Source: Wisconsin Department of Health Services
On Friday, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services reported an additional 458 new COVID-19 cases. The state has averaged 371 new cases per day in the last week.
On this day last year, there were 778 new cases, and a 7-day average of 578 cases per day. In 2020, 152 cases were recorded, with a 7-day average of 150 cases per day.
Source: Wisconsin Department of Health Services
There were no new deaths, and eight deaths added to the Department of Health Services system, putting the total Wisconsin death toll at 12,790. A lag in death reporting statewide has affected these numbers.
In Milwaukee County, there were 97 new confirmed cases reported and have been 268,268 total cases in the county since the pandemic began. The 7-day average in the county is 72 cases per day. One of the deaths added to the system were attributed to Milwaukee County, putting the county death toll at 2,276 since the beginning of the pandemic.
If you are looking for COVID-19 testing or vaccination, consult the Wisconsin Department of Health Services website.
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Photo by Rachel Malehorn
Milwaukee Ballet "PUSH"
Milwaukee Ballet "PUSH"
Milwaukee Ballet presented a trio of highly original contemporary one-act ballets at the Marcus Center last weekend, including two world premieres and the revival of a past favorite, all by rising international choreographers. PUSH was the program’s title. Whatever old images the word ballet conjures, forget them.
Choreographer Aleix Mañè Sáez from Spain won Milwaukee Ballet’s international choreographic competition, “Genesis,” in 2019. The prize included a commission to create a second work for these dancers in 2020. The COVID lockdown arrived during final rehearsals and Mañè Sáez and the dancers have waited over two years to bring their work to an audience.
It’s titled SixthBreatH. I’ll never forget it, just as I’ll never forget the work that won Mañè Sáez the commission. That work was inspired by his ancestors’ flight from the Spanish dictator Franco; this one by the courage of a friend diagnosed with a terminal disease. His work is dramatic and deeply felt. It asks, as I said, everything from dancers, and in this case, especially from its protagonist, created for Lizzie Tripp who did the role full justice. Even standing still, she was riveting.
The title comes from the musical composition Sixth Breath, The Last Breath by the prolific Italian composer Ezio Bosso, who died in 2020 at age 48 of a years-long degenerative disease. Among many other things, he composed music for ballets.
The dance starts with Tripp sitting on the floor in a dim spotlight, her back to us, flesh visible, touching her hair with minimal movement, listening at length to a recording of woman singing a powerful Spanish lament. Then Bosso’s music starts. A company of shadowy dancers appear in the darkness around her. They’re the life she knows she’ll lose. With intense involvement, she witnesses a couple—Annia Hidalgo and Davit Hovhannisyan on opening night—dance their love in astonishing partnering, with strings of lifts I’ve never seen. Tripp, weighted by grief, does a quiet, haunted solo. Then others come to help her to new vitality. It leads to a moment of blinding white light and a kind of ecstatic dancing I found completely convincing.
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Born in Spain, choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo became Chicago-based in 2008 as the resident choreographer for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. He created his feathery fantasy Extremely Close that year and restaged it in 2012 for Milwaukee Ballet. In 2020, he became the first ever resident choreographer at Seattle’s Pacific Northwest Ballet.
It’s another unforgettable piece. White walls reveal and conceal bits of life as dancer’s slide them left and right, on and off stage, to music by Philip Glass and Dustin O’Halloran. The stage floor is filled with white feathers that fall like snow, and then randomly fly as they meet dancers’ moves.
Make of it all what you will. It’s fast-moving, delicate, filled with surprises and mood shifts, solemn in its ending. Its lovers were beautifully performed by Hailee Rodrigues and Hovhannisyan. Eight other dancers looked happy to play in a formal world as light as air. In a standout role, Garrett Glassman was elastic and vital.
Choreographer Stephanie Martinez’s El Maestro pushed PUSH to a joyous ending. It was the evening’s second world premiere.
A much-awarded Chicago-based dance artist, Martinez identifies as a woman of color. She’s the founder and artistic director of Chicago’s PARA.MAR Dance Theatre, a repertory company championing diversity. El Maestro honors the life and work of Francisco Toledo, an internationally celebrated indigenous Mexican visual artist who died in 2019. El Maestro, Martinez writes in a program note, “explores Toldeo’s inner mind: a world filled with mythical animals, folk tales and an eternal devotion to the people and culture of Mexico.”
The curtain raised on a sweet painted canvas, Toledo-style, representing a bit of the Maestro’s house. Placed off center, it was big enough for a backdrop but nowhere near the size of the Marcus stage. It represented the Maestro’s house. A ladder and an open window provided spots for our artist hero to view the world.
In a breakout performance, Craig Freigang danced the role, drunk on joy because the world that unfolded around him in dance was the world he loved most, the world of his imagination, the world he would spend his life painting and sculpting and drawing. It was embodied with perfect abandon by thirteen dancers, all to a series of glorious Mexican songs.
True to her subject, Martinez managed to feature every dancer in the cast. Faster and faster, the women in pointe shoes danced as freely if they were barefoot. When our hero is thrilled by a kite, others bring more kites, and the artist is lifted and flown like a kite. “PUSH” couldn’t have come to a happier end.
Photo by Nathaniel Davauer
Milwaukee Ballet Company "PUSH"
Milwaukee Ballet Company "PUSH"
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Image: Cooperative Performance - cooperativeperformance.org
Sarah Moore "One Universe"
Sarah Moore "One Universe"
For most dancers, the movements of the human body are the sole canvas on which they create their art. But for dancer Sarah Moore, movement is just the beginning, a framework and energy source through which ideas and passion crowd together with social activism, creating something that stretches beyond mere dance performance.
“I always wanted to be the Laurie Anderson of dance,” the Milwaukee performance artist and self-described “wild woman” says, referencing the avant-garde musician, composer and filmmaker. “I call myself the dancer with the mouth.”
This month Moore will wrap her many talents, including dance, narrative, poetry and song into a one-woman show called One Universe, part of local theater company Cooperative Performance’s spring season. The show will run April 8-16 for five performances at Sunstone Studios MKE. Guitarist Ionlion will provide the music.
The show’s thesis compares a single human life to the universe as a whole, says Moore, who with her sister Claire Moore also owns Pink House Studio, a yoga, meditation and eclectic movement space in the city’s Riverwest neighborhood. The dancer’s commitment to social activism and passion for storytelling combine into a multi-faceted interactive narrative designed to engage the audience with the realization of how they align with the universe and, in many ways, are individual universes unto themselves.
“I used to lead songs at Midwest Women’s Herbal Conference and was asked to tell stories.,” says Moore, who holds a dance degree from UWM. “Since I’m a mover I decided to weave them together with a little movement.”
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Ecosystems through Art
Moore’s dance background includes performances with Milwaukee troupes Wild Space and Foothold. Following her degree, she also spent time dancing in San Francisco as well as exploring the Bay Area’s more radical social ideas. Since returning to Milwaukee she has become a social activist and is dedicated to local permaculture efforts to create more natural ecosystems within the city.
Moore’s new work builds on her past experiences in both art and life, involving a much higher, more expansive concept. “I decided to do a larger piece about life, interweaving it with the origin of the universe as we understand it,” she explains. “It’s a very full piece, and very eclectic. I have a broad artistic palette and anything that I can do on stage that’s socially appropriate is in my box.”
There are a lot of parallels in Moore’s show between human life and the life of the universe, comparing the relative trauma of human birth to the proposed “big bang” theory of the universe’s origin. She explores the human predicament through art, which she says is often the only way such difficult conversations can be held.
“In One Universe I am using my life as an infinitesimal sample to try and understand the bigger picture, “Moore says. “We all want to share our stories and try and return the gifts we were given to the world.
“I am just making my sound. This is what I know how to do,” she adds. “I can sing, write and be vulnerable. Every single one of us has an amazing, beautiful and important story to tell. I am just adding mine to the universal conversation.”
Sarah Moore’s One Universe runs April 8–16 at Sunstone Studios MKE, 127 E. Wells St. Content warning: The performance contains nudity and mature themes, including violence. Tickets are $25 and can be preordered at www.cooperativeperformance.org.
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Photo: Times Cinema - Facebook
Times Cinema exterior
Times Cinema
In 1978 I saw Madame Rosa at the Times Cinema—and for the first time saw wine and cheese served in a movie theater. The Times was an art house on Milwaukee’s West Side in those days. In the years since it has seen several manager-owners including Larry Widen and Eric Levin; has shown a variety of films including classics, midnight flicks and first runs of new releases; and hosted film festivals ranging from the Milwaukee International Film Festival to the horror-oriented Twisted Dreams Film Festival.
On Friday, April 8, after being shuttered for two years because of the pandemic, the Times will reopen with an Alfred Hitchcock weekend. “Our new programming plan is for the Times to become a theater that shows older films in series or theme-based runs. We hope to build our own mini film festivals and reflect elements of what is happening in our community, the nation and around the world,” says Lee Barczak, owner of the Times and Bay View’s Avalon Atmospheric Theater.
The thematic runs will be programmed around genres, directors, film stars and events on the calendar. Later this month, the Times and the Avalon will host screenings for the Milwaukee Film Festival (April 2-May 5) along with the Oriental Theater on Milwaukee’s East Side.
All these years later, the Times is serving wine again—and a full bar—in addition to nachos, waffle fries and a variety of housemade pizzas. Yes, there will be popcorn.
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Photo: Red Bull redbull.com
Red Bull Flugtag
Red Bull Flugtag
Engineering and aviation enthusiasts will get a chance to unleash their creativity, along with their inner daredevil, at the Red Bull Flugtag competition July 16 at Veterans Park.
The competition, which takes its name from the German word for “flying day,” will be the popular energy drink company’s first of its kind held in the Midwest.
Held in 50 countries including Austria, Sweden and Portugal almost every year for 25 years and attracting nine million spectators to date, the Flugtag competition stipulates that its teams build their own aircrafts—the wackier, the better.
On July 16 in front of nearly 40,000 viewers, teams of up to five pilots will launch these ingenious aircrafts off a 27-foot-tall flight deck overlooking Lake Michigan. Past winning Flugtag designs have included the Snoop Dogg House at a San Francisco competition in 2003.
Aircrafts will be judged based on design, flight distance and performance. Contest winners will be chosen by a group of Wisconsin celebrities and athletes, including former Green Bay Packers receiver Donald Driver; JMatt, a TikTok content creator and host of HashtagMKE; and Nick Lorenz, a Kenosha-based Red Bull Snocross Athlete.
“It’s great to see more attention being put on the City of Milwaukee, and RedBull bringing Flugtag to Veterans Park will continue to do just that,” JMatt said. “From the videos online of human-powered flying contraptions plummeting into the water below in epic fashion, it’s easy to see why Red Bull Flugtag has become so popular around the world in the last few decades. I’m really curious about what the teams will come up with—will they go for distance or entertainment, or manage to merge the two?”
The deadline to enter the competition is 5 p.m., April 25. For more information, rules and safety regulations, visit redbull.com/flugtagmilwaukee.
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Photo: America’s Black Holocaust Museum - abhmuseum.org
America’s Black Holocaust Museum exhibit
America’s Black Holocaust Museum
Of the many racist atrocities visited upon Black people over the years in America, perhaps none was as heinous as lynching. Most of these cowardly acts—claiming untold thousands of victims—were in the 1800s in the South. But not all.
Perhaps the most famous depiction is a black-and-white photo of two bloodied Black men hanging from limbs of a tree, surrounded by amused White onlookers. An empty third noose dangles between them.
But this all-too familiar, sickening photo was not taken in the Deep South in the 1860s, ‘70s, ‘80s or ‘90s. It was taken in Marion, Indiana on Aug. 7, 1930, and serves as the cover of a chilling book by James Cameron called A Time of Terror. And that third noose was intended for Cameron, who was 16 years of age.
Cameron, who passed way at age 92 in 2006, was founder of America’s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee, which has become world-famous. After closing 10 years ago, the museum reopened in February on the ground floor of the Griot Building, at 401 W. North Ave.
We first met in 1986, when I was a columnist-editorial writer with The Milwaukee Journal, and he presented me with a signed copy of his book. Over the next decade, I toured the museum’s original building at North Fourth and West North Avenue, and we had many private conversations.
In 1994 and 1996, Cameron, a soft-spoken, old school gentleman, appeared as a guest on two news talk shows I co-hosted“The Carter-McGee Report” on WNOV radio, and “Eye on Milwaukee” on CBS Channel 58. Our in-depth interviews about his awe-inspiring museum, which he founded in 1988, and his unique literary achievement, were among the most moving, and fulfilling, of my career.
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The genesis of Cameron’s book is testament to his indomitable spirit. After many rewrites and some 300 rejections by publishers over 45 years, he copyrighted the work in 1980 under the title From the Inside Out. Two years later, he renamed it A Time of Terror and mortgaged his home to self-publish the book in Milwaukee (T/D Publications). In February 1994, it was re-published by Black Classic Press in Baltimore.
Here is how Cameron introduces the account of his miraculous escape from slow death by lynching—a must-read for every Black man, woman and child in this country:
“Have you ever watched one man die and then another, knowing that your turn was next? Have you ever looked into ten thousand angry faces whose open mouths screamed for your blood? Have you ever felt yourself in the hands of such a mob whose sole purpose was to destroy you?
“All of these things and more happened to me several years ago. This I acknowledge not boastfully but humbly, for the fact that I am alive to tell this story is due to a power greater than myself or any man ...”
Lynching in the Heartland
It should be noted that a compelling recounting of Cameron’s near-lynching also was the subject of a book called A Lynching in the Heartland by James Madison, published in 2001 by St. Martin’s Press. But with all due respect, Cameron’s spellbinding, first-person account is, quite frankly, in a class by itself. As is the wonderful man who lived it.
Cameron’s stunning story begins the evening of Aug. 6, 1930, in Marion, a hotbed of Ku Klux Klan activity. Cameron went along with 18-year-old Abe Smith and 19-year-old Tom Shipp in a plan to rob a White couple parked in a lover’s lane. Recognizing the White man as Claude Deeter, whose shoes he had shined, Cameron ran away.
He was later arrested at his mother’s home, told Deeter had been shot and the woman—who knew the Black teenagers—said she was raped. In jail, Cameron was beaten by sheriff deputies and coerced into signing a confession. The next day, after the town’s mayor brought a masked man to jail to look at the three Black prisoners, Deeter died.
An upcoming lynching was aired on the radio and a mob shouting “nigger, nigger” stormed the jail. The sheriff—whom Cameron later learned was a Klan member—stood by as Shipp was badly beaten and hung from a tree in the courthouse square. Then Smith was dragged out, hit with rocks and bricks and a crowbar was rammed through his chest.
Cameron says: “I watched from my window upstairs knowing that Abe was dead before they hung him. After about 15 minutes of celebrating, the mobsters started back toward the jail.” Beaten again, he prayed as his neck was put in a noose. Miraculously, he heard a voice say “Take this boy back. He had nothing to do with any raping or killing.”
At that point, he relates, the mob and onlookers—comprised of men and women—parted and he was permitted to make his way back to the jail. Later, the state militia arrived and the bodies of the two teenagers were cut down. Cameron was taken to another county and spent a year in jail. In a subsequent trial, in Anderson, Ind., he was found guilty of being an accessory to manslaughter. However, it was determined that the White woman had not been raped. None of the lynch mob was arrested or charged.
Cameron was to serve another five years in prison and when released in 1936, put on parole for five more years. In February 1993, he was pardoned by Indiana Gov. Evan Bayh. But he’ll never forget the night his life was spared. It began his journey, chronicled in A Time of Terror and culminated in the treasure trove of history known as America’s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee.
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Photo: Bombshell Theatre Company - Facebook
Bombshell Theatre Company "Bubble Boy"
Joey Chelius in Bombshell Theatre Company's "Bubble Boy"
One of Milwaukee’s newest theater companies, Bombshell Theatre, made its impressive debut earlier this year with a wonderful production of the musical Funny Girl. Now the troupe is back on the boards with its second musical, Bubble Boy. This delightful show opened last weekend at Inspiration Studios, a small art gallery and theater space located near Milwaukee’s State Fair Park in West Allis.
While many theater lovers are familiar with the story of Funny Girl, the show that launched Barbra Streisand to stardom, few have ever heard of the history behind Bubble Boy. Older readers may recall the 1976 made-for-TV movie, The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, starring a young John Travolta and Diana Hyland as his mother. Hyland ended up winning an Emmy award for her performance. The film was based on the true story of a boy born without any natural immunities who was forced to live in a plastic bubble until he died at age 12.
A remake of the film was launched in 2001, with Jake Gyllenhaal playing Jimmy, the isolated youth. Swoosie Kurtz played his mom. Eventually, Jimmy falls in love with the girl-next-door, Chloe. But he cannot share his feelings with her.
In a bizarre turn of events, Jimmy is destined to stop Chloe’s wedding to a jerk (à la Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate) so that he can marry her himself. The film, with a screenplay by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio, was a box office flop. However, over the years it has developed a cult-like following.
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Soon, the team of Paul and Dario decided to remake their screenplay into a musical. The show opened in 2008, but it didn’t make its Off-Broadway debut until 2013. The show made a cast recording (with Alice Ripley), and the album attracted its own following. Meanwhile, Paul and Dario went on to write the scripts for the animated “Despicable Me” films.
More than Scratching the Surface of Bubble Boy’s Humanity
For all the wackiness that ensues in Bubble Boy, Bombshell co-creators Tim Albrechtson and Eric Welch never forget that the show has plenty of heart. The two-hour show (with intermission) takes the audience into the world of a young boy who just wants to be like anyone else. Woefully unprepared for adulthood, Jimmy (convincingly played by Joey Chelius) is coddled by his over-protective mother (Jennifer Larsen). Even as Jimmy nears his 21st birthday, he thinks that the only magazine published is Highlights, and the only TV show is ”Veggie Tales.”
Larsen, who plays her role like Barbara Billingsley on a bad acid trip, further distorts Jimmy’s world by reading him fractured fairytales. As she tells it, all the characters eventually run away and die.
No wonder Jimmy is immediately interested in a teenage girl, Chloe (Rae Elizabeth Paré), who moves in next door. Eventually, Chloe comes over to check him out. Trailing close behind her is Jimmy’s mother, who constantly sprays the air with a can of Lysol. Despite the mother’s objections, the two teens form a bond.
Although most of the musical’s songs are forgettable, Paré does an especially nice job with Act I’s “Falling for the Boy.” In the song, Chloe claims she’s just interested in Jimmy as a friend. (Music and lyrics are by Cinco Paul.)
Meanwhile, a couple of other neighborhood boys are vying for Chloe’s attention. Mark (Adrian Ford) and Shawn (Cody Lindau) are so outrageously funny as the goofy, hormone-addled teens that they practically steal every scene. Mark and Shawn are supposedly forming a rock band. But instead of playing real instruments, they seem content with “strumming” an air guitar (as if channeling actor Jack Black in School of Rock).
The attractive Chloe decides that her life isn’t going anywhere after high school graduation. So, she decides to marry Mark. In the hilarious song, “Something Called Forever,” Mark hints that his future with Chloe will also include a permanent spare room for his pal, Shawn.
Tiny Stage Can Barely Contain Production Numbers
One of the show’s highlights is its production numbers, which are crammed onto the tiny stage. (Keep in mind that the entire stage width can only contain eight people standing beside each other.) The cast of 10 appears regularly in many scenes, including the opening number, prom night, in the desert (more on this later), outside the church and the finale. Cody Lindau provides choreography that is more like stage movement, with characters being careful not to bump into each other. Some of Lindau’s best dance moves are intentionally corny, such as Jimmy’s encounter with members of a cult.
The music, under the direction of Ashley Sprangers, is pre-recorded. Set designer Katie Meylink makes room on the small stage by showing projections of different locales on a screen. As costume designer, she is tasked with providing everything from prom dresses to motorcycle gang attire, not to mention a wedding dress. Lighting designer Joshua Groth does a good job with relatively few lighting instruments. The sound is provided by Instrumental Motion.
Whereas all of Act 1 is in Jimmy’s home, where he is protected by his room-sized plastic bubble, things branch out considerably in Act II. Wearing a portable blue bubble suit, Jimmy races across the country to stop Chloe’s wedding.
Along the way, he encounters an upbeat cult-type group of bus travelers, a motorcycle gang riding in the desert, and a gay, vegan, ice cream truck driver. Jimmy uses various modes of transportation to reach his goal. Along the way, one of his songs, “I Stole a Bus,” is particularly humorous.
Too Many Fine Actors to Mention
Although limited space prohibits more than a few brief words about other actors, one standout surfaces. As a biker named Slim, Kurtis Wolf displays a fine grasp of his character (as well as a lovely voice). He and the other bikers (all women dressed as tough guys and wearing moustaches) sing the memorable “Regret.” The singing and choreography make this one of the show’s best moments.
Director Eric Welsh keeps things moving at a fast clip, which is especially important in the second act. Regardless, things seem to drag a bit about halfway through Act II, and a couple of the musical numbers could be condensed or cut. As a result, the show seems to run about 15 minutes too long.
However, there’s one scene that must be kept at all costs. The gay, vegan ice cream truck driver (Cody Lindau) is trying to escape the police when he hits – and kills – a cow crossing the road. With cornball special effects reminiscent of the old TV show, “Hee Haw,” this scene is not to be missed.
Although this show is all in fun, Jimmy’s isolation may seem more relevant today in this pandemic world. People everywhere can relate to their own sense of isolation, loneliness and, in some cases, grief. As the pandemic era seems to ebb and flow, audiences may find themselves yearning for their own “bubble.” This musical may not have all the answers, but it certainly will take one’s mind off of today’s headlines.
Bubble Boy continues through April 10 at Inspiration Studios, 1500 S. 73rd Street in West Allis. For tickets, visit bombshelltheatre.org. Vaccination cards and COVID-19 test results are not required. Masks are optional.
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Photo by Mark Frohna
Milwaukee Opera Theatre "Preludes"
Natalie Ford as Natalya and Joe Picchetti as Rachmaninoff in Milwaukee Opera Theatre's "Preludes"
Milwaukee Opera Theatre stages a strange and tumultuous interlude for an artist with Preludes. Actor Joe Picchetti is magnetic as composer Sergei Rachmaninoff desperately trying to pull himself together for long enough to manifest his next piece. Picchetti has a tremendous amount of emotional turmoil to tumble through over the course of the story.
To his credit, Picchetti gives every twitch and tumble of the inner maelstrom a sense of place and purpose. Natalie Ford gracefully moves through the periphery of the story as the composer’s fiancé. She’s a music teacher who has some difficulty keeping the composer grounded in a healthy day-to-day reality. Jenny Wanasek plays with calm and patient wisdom in the role of the composer’s hypnotherapist. Joel Kopischke summons wit, whimsy and gravitas to the stage in a variety of characters in positions of authority including playwright Anton Chekhov. Gage Patterson brings a charismatic fraternal energy to the story in the role of opera singer Feodor Chaliapin.
There is a grand sense of uneasiness the playfully plays through the narrative as music saturates the air from synthesizers offstage and the onstage piano of Ruben Piirainen, who also plays the musical persona of the legendary composer. There’s something truly hypnotic in the mix as Picchetti sits on the edge of the piano bench lost on monologue as Piirainen plays piano. The drama plays out like a disjointed dream as the composer twists and turn trying to find his voice after a failure. It’s deliciously delirious disorientation when it works and not at all unpleasant when it doesn’t. Jim Padovano lights an intimate theater environment. Stage Director Jill Anna Ponasik has done a strikingly impressive job of maintaining a coherent narrative in the midst of a very, very disjointed, emotionally driven narrative.
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Milwaukee Opera Theatre’s production of Preludes continues through April 9 at the Woman’s Club of Wisconsin, 813 E. Kilbourn Ave. For tickets, visit milwaukeeoperatheatre.org.
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Ambulance (In Theaters April 8)
Director Michael Bay remakes a Danish movie into this overstuffed actioner featuring the director’s trademark odd camera angles and frenetically revolving shots. Jake Gyllenhaal and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II portray adopted brothers Danny and Will, respectively. Danny is a career criminal, so when his straightlaced brother Will needs $230,000 for an experimental treatment, Danny concocts a bank robbery with a potential $32 million take. When the heist goes South, Jake and Will take refuge in an ambulance along with its feisty EMT (Eiza González), and her patient, a critically injured rookie cop (Jackson White).
It’s all a flimsy excuse for a two-hour patrol car/helicopter/ambulance chase through the streets and freeways of Los Angeles. Though a swirling camera is generally ill-advised during dialog, Bay shrugs off such concerns. The chase scenes occasionally benefit from a fresh take on the proceedings, but as this 2-hour-15-minute romp passes the 90-minute mark, many viewers will have motion sickness. (Lisa Miller)
Breaking Bread (Cohen Media Group DVD)
Nof Atamna-Ismaeel was the first Arab Muslim to be a winner in Israel’s popular Master Chef contest. Leveraging the positive publicity, Atamna-Ismaeel organized a food festival in Haifa that brought together chefs from diverse backgrounds, Jews and Arab, to cook and share.
The documentary of those events, Breaking Bread, features delicious looking Levantine dishes but is infused with the social mission of building bridges across barriers of politics, religion and history. Haifa was well chosen as a relatively tolerant city by some accounts and a showplace for the surprising heterogeneity of Israel. The stories told by the chefs interviewed for Breaking Bread are as varied as the dishes they prepared. (David Luhrssen)
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (In Theaters April 8)
This Sonic sequel further mines the Sega video game. Players who recall the “Green Emerald” will find it’s now a gem of contention, prized for its Universe-controlling properties. Directed by returning Sonic devotee Jeff Fowler, the film brings back Jim Carrey as villainous Dr. Robotnik. Carrey’s fixed smirk is accented by Dr. Robotic’s huge mustache as he unleashes a revenge plot to take out Sonic the Hedgehog (rendered in CGI—voice reprised by Ben Schwartz). Idris Elba and Colleen O’Shaughnessey intone animated characters, Knuckles the echidna and Tails the fox. One look at the trailer reveals the film’s breakneck pace along with rapid cuts and jarring sound effects. Grounding Sonic emotionally, James Marsden appears as the hedgehog’s surrogate dad, dispensing fatherly advice. (Lisa Miller)
Soumaya (IndiePix DVD)
A SWAT team raids Soumaya’s apartment on suspicion that her work at a mosque ties her to jihadist militants. They find nothing, but she is dismissed afterward from her airport security job on false accusations of “gross negligence.” She worked at the airport for 14 years. A lawyer convinces her to fight her dismissal.
Soumaya is about the particular situation of French Muslims, under scrutiny after the shocking attacks by Islamist militants. The film touches on French policies surrounding the wearing of religious garb in public and the conflict between French secularism and religious faith. Police violence, the abuse of profiling the role of media in shaping misperceptions about our world are examined. Soumaya tells a complicated story involving several perspectives within the Muslim community. Directors Ubaydah Abu-Usayd and Waheed Khan makes\ judicious use of editing to establish his settings within a low budget. The screenplay is compelling. (David Luhrssen)
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https://shepherdexpress.com/film/reviews/you-wont-be-alone-is-art-house-horror/
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Photo: You Won't Be Alone - Facebook
"You Won't Be Alone" movie still
You Won't Be Alone
Don’t come to You Won’t Be Alone expecting a conventional movie narrative. Instead of telling its story prosaically, You Won’t Be Alone is a visual poem set in forested, mountainous Macedonia during the 19th century around a village where the wheel was the most recent form of new technology. And even wheels are scarce in this art house horror film by Goran Stolevski, an Australian filmmaker of Macedonian heritage.
The story concerns the evil Old Maid Maria, whose dead soul is covered by a shriveled parchment skin. Although the villagers call her a witch, properly speaking, she’s a shapeshifting vampire. Entering the village undetected in the form of a cat (the camera follows low-to-the-ground), Maria materializes in the hovel of a new mother, demanding Nevena, the woman’s screaming newborn. The terrified mother negotiates a covenant in blood to give Nevena to Maria once the child turns 16. Apparently hoping to keep her hidden, the mother conceals Nevena, raising her in a cavern, but Maria claims her when the time comes.
You Won’t Be Alone is covered in blood. Maria feeds on the blood of animals and humans and after changing Nevena into something like her, the young girl learns not only to sustain herself on the blood of others but to kill and take possession of her victims’ bodies. She becomes a dog, a young man and a young girl again, growing into womanhood as the story unfolds.
The editing flips from frame to frame, incident to incident, yet the film’s rhythm remains somehow tied to rural life without even horses, only donkeys with bells jangling as they plod under their burdens. You Won’t Be Alone is a vivid montage of impoverished premodernity. The villagers live in fieldstone huts with dirt floors; they raise sheep and spin yarn to make their clothes; they feed the chickens and pigs they will kill to eat. Their lives are yoked to the ground, and they must yank their sustenance from the unpromising Earth.
The old women tell tales by the flickering hearth of Old Maid Maria, the victim of unspeakable things centuries before when the Turks were exterminating entire villages along the rough hillsides. Maria, the spawn of an unholy act, haunts Nevena throughout her life. Unlike Maria, Nevena has a conscience.
The dialogue is apparently in archaic Macedonian, translated in Yoda-like subtitles that enhance the strangeness of Nevena’s life. She is a potentially ageless outsider experiencing a terrible, wondrous series of sensations. You Won’t Be Alone’s international cast includes Sweden’s Lisbeth Salander (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) playing one of Nevena’s incarnations.
You Won’t Be Alone is playing at the Downer Theater.
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https://shepherdexpress.com/food/lets-eat/story-hill-bkc-puts-eclectic-locally-sourced-spin-on-contemp/
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Photo by Kames Photography
Story Hill BKC dinners
Story Hill BKC
Story Hill BKC has a story to tell. It involves house made and locally sourced ingredients with backup from their sister restaurant Blue’s Egg bakery a few blocks away. The Story Hill part of the name tells what Milwaukee neighborhood it’s in, and the BKC stands for bottle kitchen cocktail, in case you were wondering.
With three different sections of the restaurant, you can essentially choose your vibe for the day. There’s the bar area with views of the kitchen, the dining area for longer stays, and a bountiful retail shop equipped with all the fixings for a take-home boozy brunch. Whether you’re popping in for a quick bite, gathering with friends, or picking up curbside, Story Hill BCK has you covered.
For a Wednesday at noon, this place was hopping with a midweek brunch crowd. Known for their crêpes and “innovative sandwiches” there’s really something for everyone on this menu, including those with food allergies and dietary restrictions. Next to the Burger on the Hill is the vegan BBQ shiitake wrap. Sweet and savory are well-represented and sides are pretty healthy to accommodate your possible over-indulgence on mains.
My choices were approved by the very friendly staff, opting for the crêpe monsieur and the trending Buffalo cauliflower wrap. I figured I’d go full savory and come back someday for sweeter choices with someone who appreciates them more than me.
I started with the crêpe monsieur and wow is this a dish that gives you a reason to brunch on a Wednesday. It’s basically a Cubano sandwich as a crepe dressed with pickle bites, Dijonnaise and two poached eggs. It is dressed to impress! Although I only ate half in preparation for my second course, this dish won’t leave you hungry. A beer in between was necessary after adding a lot of their homemade South by North hot sauce (available in the retail store). Going vegan next was also necessary after all that ham.
The Buffalo cauliflower wrap proves why this dish has been a big trend recently with the vegan movement. With just enough heat and a bounty of veggies, it hits the spot as a replacement to an otherwise unhealthy classic. I chose the Brutus salad as my side.
Photo by Kames Photography
Story Hill BKC hamburger
Story Hill BKC
After venturing for brunch and peeping the dinner menu, a return to Story Hill BKC was imminent. Prepare ahead of time: reservations on a Friday night can be hard to get.
Collectively, my guests and I all had stressful weeks and were ready to indulge. On tap and handcrafted cocktails alongside a bountiful beer list started off our night. The dinner menu is divided into taste, share, pass, and bindings—which basically means you can divide and conquer every way you turn.
There wasn’t much strategy to our order but we were very pleased with it—crayfish Rangoon, mushroom lasagna, chicken paprikash and the beef short rib gnocchi. While these items might not sound like they go together, they oddly do and very much so. Each person at the table had a different favorite from the other.
Much like its brunch menu, Story Hill BKC’s dinner is an eclectic spin on American fare worth seeking out.
- Story Hill BKC
- 5100 W. Bluemound Road
- (414) 539-4424
- storyhillbkc.com
Photo by Kames Photography
Story Hill BKC interior
Story Hill BKC
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https://shepherdexpress.com/lifestyle/art-kumbalek/from-the-city-that-always-sweeps_15/
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Painting image by sedmak - Getty Images
Art Kumbalek angel
I’m Art Kumbalek and man oh manischewitz what a world, ain’a? So listen, as the too-long Lenten season culminates finally with a late Easter Sunday this month, let us pray, what the fock:
“Dear Lord, ol’ buddy, ol’ pal:
“Remember me? It’s been a while, ain’a? Yeah, me, your spittin’ image under this orange doom-skinned earflap cap, a regular Davy Fockett, razin’, blazin’ new trails through this valley of travail. Ring a bell? That’s what I figured. Hey, you’re not the only one, so no need for you to feel like a jackass, I kid you not.
“I’ve heard that a good prayer is supposed to be like a conversation with You, the Lord; so you mind if I beseech thee that for once you hold up your end of the gabfest? Thanks.
“I can’t remember the last time I made an official prayer. I almost did that time years ago when I was riding with my buddy Little Jimmy Iodine and we just barely missed nailing that stalled Pinto in the middle of I-focking-94. But it all happened so fast, and then we had to turn around and go home for clean underwear. In all the commotion, seems I forgot about making out a prayer. I do know that I call out your name several times daily, requesting that you send this or that straight to hell—‘Jesus H. Christ, these focking Republicans…’—I suppose legalistically that might not add up to regular praying but it sure feels good, so what the fock, ain’a?
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“Anyways, I can’t stay on this prayer line too much longer ’cause I got to get back to finishing off my goddamn April income tax form, yeah, April, the same month you got crucified; although, some years here in the modern times, on the calendar they say you were crucified in later March, go figure.
“But I got to tell you, my tax return every year consists of a short note I mail in, and it goes something like this:
“Dear IRS Sir or Madam,
“Hey, I already paid. The federal tax on cigarettes alone I cough up yearly to you’s ought to be enough to buck-up a bridge or fill a focking pothole somewheres, ain’a? So let’s call it even. And may I remind you that in the Book of Kumbalek, ‘income’ is a synonym for ‘imaginary.’
“But thanks for your interest.
“Sincerely,
“Art Kumbalek
“And good lord, I do believe this Internal Revenue Service tax compact really ought to be made voluntary, like they did with the military service years ago. How ’bout they turn tax-time into a pledge drive, à la National Public Radio. If the citizen chooses to flip the government some dough, he and/or she at least should receive a focking tote bag or coffee mug for making the donation, don’t you think?
“And if any high-roller millionaire chips in big time to the government, say, in appreciation for all the corporate welfare entitlements the Feds provide, the high roller receives, not some crappy-ass tote bag, but the CD boxed set of all the John Philip Sousa marches as recorded by the United States Air Force Band.
“Talk about listening pleasure, you betcha. JPS, all told, wrote 136 marches; or was it he wrote one march one hundred and thirty-focking-six times? I forget. But I do know that a CD collection of the Sousa marches would last me a musical lifetime. I could listen to one of his marches and, what with all those blaring blugelhorns blasting their butts off to kingdom come and back, I’d say it’d be at least a year ’til I was ready to listen to another. One down, only 135 to go, yes sir.
“But before I go, a little story for you’s. My buddy Little Jimmy Iodine told me he was over by his brother-in-law’s place in West Allis on Easter Sunday last year when they had the Easter egg hunt in their dinky backyard for Jimmy’s two little nephews. So these katzenjammer kids are traipsing around and they come across some rabbit turds, except the younger kid doesn’t know that, so he asks his older brother, ‘Hey, what are those?’
“The older kid says, ‘They’re smart pills. Eat them and they'll make you smarter.’ So the younger nephew chews on a couple, three and says, ‘Hey! These taste like poop smells.’ And the older boy says, ‘See? You're getting smarter already.’ Ba-ding!
“So I’m guessing that the moral of the story is that the older you get, the more you know what shit tastes like. But the trick is that you never want to develop a taste for it.
“Okey-dokey, Lord, that’s about it. And come to think of it, don’t worry about getting back to me ’cause like I’ve always said, one day you start hearing voices out of thin air, next day you’re out carving up Cub Scouts. I don’t need that kind of aggravation, what the fock.
“And please grant me the continuance to be the hot flaming palaver poker lodged up his-or-hers butt sideways but good; so that an unfettered bantering of ideas may be bandied around the town today, tomorrow and yesterday. Amen, ’cause I’m Art Kumbalek and I told you so.”
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https://shepherdexpress.com/news/community-news/daily-wisconsin-covid-19-update-208-new-cases-no-deaths/
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Summary:
- 208 new cases
- No new deaths added to system
- 12,799 total deaths;
- 147 hospitalized patients, 27 in ICU
Source: Wisconsin Department of Health Services
On Monday, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services reported an additional 208 new COVID-19 cases. The state has averaged 396 new cases per day in the last week.
On this day last year, there were 552 new cases, and a 7-day average of 615 cases per day. In 2020, 222 cases were recorded, with a 7-day average of 160 cases per day.
Source: Wisconsin Department of Health Services
There were no new deaths reported or added to the Department of Health Services system, putting the total Wisconsin death toll at 12,799. A lag in death reporting statewide has affected these numbers.
In Milwaukee County, there were 31 new confirmed cases reported and have been 268,453 total cases in the county since the pandemic began. The 7-day average in the county is 77 cases per day. The county death toll is at 2,276 since the beginning of the pandemic.
If you are looking for COVID-19 testing or vaccination, consult the Wisconsin Department of Health Services website.
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https://shepherdexpress.com/news/features/fostering-climate-resilience-economic-equity-in-milwaukee/
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Illustration by Ali Bachmann
Earth Day illustration
Climate scientists consider this decade a make-or-break time to avert full-on climate catastrophe. The National Climate Assessment—compiled by 300 experts—outlines the following climate-related threats facing Wisconsin and the Midwest: “Extreme heat, heavy downpours, and flooding will affect infrastructure, health, agriculture, forestry, transportation, air and water quality, and more. Climate change will also exacerbate a range of risks to the Great Lakes.”
Milwaukee faces major challenges from both climate change and racial disparities. It is widely documented that disinvested neighborhoods, often those with high percentages of people of color, face the worst impacts of the climate crisis, pollution and other environmental degradation. This is called environmental injustice. While people of color may experience the worst impacts, all communities have reason to be concerned about the increased risk of extreme storms, flooding, and other impacts of climate change.
Climate scientists urge taking two complementary approaches: reduce the use of fossil fuels, a leading cause of climate disturbance and harm; and proactively plan to adapt to current and looming impacts.
To address these realities, Milwaukee’s City-County Task Force on Climate and Economic Equity has developed a framework for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and addressing racial and economic inequities. City and county officials created the task force in 2019. Interested individuals within nine working groups met throughout 2021 to make recommendations. After the plan is fully developed by a consultant, and further community engagement, it will go before Milwaukee’s Common Council and Milwaukee County’s Board of Supervisors, likely this year.
A Two-Pronged Approach
Proposals focus on reducing community-wide net greenhouse-gas emissions by at least 45 percent by 2030 and achieving net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050 or sooner. Efforts to decrease racial and income inequality will strive to ensure that greenhouse-gas-reduction investments and policies “will create the maximum number of permanent living-wage green jobs for people living in Milwaukee’s most impoverished neighborhoods with limited economic opportunity.“
Erick Shambarger, sustainability director for Milwaukee’s Environmental Collaboration Office (ECO), is coordinating the planning process on behalf of the task force. Shambarger said that the City of Milwaukee already has implemented numerous energy-efficiency and clean-energy programs. Milwaukee also leads nationally in “green infrastructure” to help manage risks relating to extreme storms. Fortuitously, federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) could help launch new climate-resilience projects.
One overarching goal is to “make sustainability mainstream, to make the environmental choice the easy choice,” Shambarger said. “Climate action can help create a healthy and vibrant community. It does not need to be about scarcity, but rather about using our resources more efficiently.”
10 Ways to Promote Climate Resilience
The task force has identified 10 essential “big ideas.”
1. Increase Residential Energy Efficiency and Solar Retrofits
Residential energy-efficiency upgrades can lower electric bills and other energy costs while reducing individual carbon footprints. The plan would expand existing programs across a range of incomes and owner/rental situations. It would give more families access to affordable upgrades: high-quality insulation or high-efficiency heating-and-cooling systems, as well as lead-abatement options.
2. Build New Green Buildings
Housing is a critical aspect of Milwaukee’s infrastructure. The task force proposes a model for efficiently and affordably building new net-zero-energy homes. Efficient housing components would be fabricated in a new factory in Milwaukee’s 30th Street Corridor.
3. Reduce Energy Usage in Commercial Buildings
It’s crucial to help owners of commercial buildings reduce their environmental impacts. Requiring them to report annually on energy and water usage will collect benchmark data and support the phase-in of building-performance standards to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.
4. Shift to Electric Vehicles
Cars and other vehicles remain greater Milwaukee’s dominant form of transportation. Local governments can lead by purchasing electric vehicles (or hybrids, when applicable) for their fleets, installing infrastructure, and changing codes and ordinances to make EVs easier to buy and operate.
5. Reduce Vehicular Miles
Transportation is a major source of greenhouse-gas emissions. In addition to individuals driving less, emissions also can be decreased through transit-oriented development, new zoning standards, “Complete Streets” practices, and “last mile” solutions that address gaps in safe and accessible public transit.
6. Move to a Net-Zero Electric Grid
A transition to clean, renewable energy is essential to combatting climate-related harm. The task force is advocating for state-level changes, such as net-zero power grids and a proposed Community Energies Program to purchase renewables through the utility. This would give local governments and large nonprofits opportunities to source 25 percent or more of their electric power needs from new large-scale renewable-energy projects built in partnership with the electric utility.
7. Preserve and Restore Nature in the City
Parks, shade trees, environmental corridors, soil restoration and other greening efforts help mitigate climate-change impacts, including “urban heat islands” and extreme flooding. They are also essential to healthy and equitable communities. The “Nature in the City” work group has identified four parcels to acquire for conservation within Milwaukee, and 25 parcels throughout Milwaukee County. The plan also stresses that it is “important to manage and maintain all 110 Natural Areas and Critical Species Habitat Areas that have been identified in the County.” Other proposals include expanding Milwaukee’s Green and Healthy Schoolyards program and increasing tree canopy.
8. Reduce Food Waste and Harmful Plastics
Food waste is a major contributor to greenhouse-gas emissions and energy drains. Proposals to reduce food waste prioritize the two top strategies of the Environmental Protection Agency's Food Recovery Hierarchy. An educational campaign would offer guidance about reducing food waste at the source level. Other efforts would work to ensure that all people can affordably access safe, healthy food.
9. Accelerate Green Jobs
As the city and county work to combat current and oncoming climate change, ever-more skilled environmental professionals will be needed. A proposed “Green Jobs Accelerator” would recruit, train, and connect people, especially those in disinvested neighborhoods, to new green jobs and contracting opportunities.
10. Rely on Resilience Ambassadors
“Resilience Ambassadors” are neighborhood leaders engaged to help connect existing and new climate-oriented initiatives, such as programs serving residents such as anti-displacement services, weatherization, flood insurance, green infrastructure, and cooling centers during heat emergencies.
Offer Feedback on the Plan
Residents may engage with the Climate and Equity Plan in several ways:
- Complete the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Public Survey and urge the City of Milwaukee to prioritize climate resilience efforts for the $394 million in federal stimulus funding Milwaukee is receiving.
- Sign up for the City of Milwaukee’s ECO Newsletter or follow ECO on Facebook for updates, event information and feedback opportunities.
- Engage on Social Pinpoint, an online platform open to everyone for sharing ideas and feedback with the task force.
Pitch in to Protect the Planet
Individuals make a difference by contributing to collective positive impacts on the Earth's ecosystems. Here are some options.
- Take advantage of available climate-friendly programs, such as subsidized weatherization, renewable energy, and native plantings.
- Initiate changes you can sustain. For example, set achievable goals to reduce fuel use, food waste or single-use plastic by a doable amount. Increase targets after achieving those goals.
- Collaborate with others and advocate within your circles. Enthusiastically promote green choices and their benefits within family, school and work settings.
- Urge effective climate action at all levels of government.
- Remember that caring for the planet yields many benefits. Importantly, it can help counter widespread “eco-anxiety.” A new study from the Brennan Center reported that “civic engagement [on climate issues] is good for young people’s well-being and our democracy.”
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https://shepherdexpress.com/news/issue-of-the-month/ukrainians-are-giving-their-lives-for-democracy/
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Image: vladm - Getty Images
American flag as smoke
You have to be in awe as you watch Ukrainian people from all walks of life sign up to defend their democracy from an autocrat. A country with a small military and very few military aircraft led by a former actor/comedian are holding back a major military power. The Ukrainians know what they have and what they are fighting for, their democratic homeland, and they know the fight is worth it. If they lose, they will fall under the autocratic rule of Putin and will lose their democracy. The Ukrainians know what that means. They had a budding autocratic leader in 2014 who was undermining their democracy, and they ran him out of the country.
While we are watching the heroic Ukrainians put their lives on the line fighting for their young democracy, we are also watching one of our major political parties working to undermine America’s 235-year-old democracy. We have several egregious examples of disloyal or seditious acts by some of our elected officials in Wisconsin and throughout the country. It appears that their goal is to weaken our democratic system to see it replaced with a faux democracy as we see in countries like Hungary, Turkey, Venezuela and, of course, Russia. In these faux democracies, autocrats can be re-elected for life without real checks and balances and with puppet legislative bodies kowtowing to the autocratic leader.
Trump Lost in 2020, But We Didn’t All Live Happier Ever After
In 2020 our country had one of the most carefully monitored and clean elections America has ever seen, and we managed to democratically remove a budding autocrat by seven million votes. Our democratic institutions prevailed. Unfortunately, it doesn’t end there, and we all don’t live happily ever after. Instead, we see Mr. Trump continuing to build an army of Un-American subversives or quislings, some heavily armed and prone to violence and some unwittingly thinking that they are being good American patriots.
As we know, democracies are fragile and survive because citizens believe that their democracy is better than the alternatives. It is virtually impossible to mobilize an insurgent army to defeat the military of the United States of America. So, to destroy our country, the quislings need to cause people to lose faith in our democracy and have Americans believe that our elections are rigged and illegitimate especially when they are on the losing side of the vote.
Republican controlled legislatures in over 20 states including Wisconsin are now passing laws that are making voting more difficult for voters in high Democratic areas. Thanks to Gov. Tony Ever’s vetoes, these bills are not becoming law in Wisconsin. A few Republican states are even trying to allow the state legislature to reject the vote and nullify the election if they don’t like the outcome. That would end our democracy as we know it.
So, What’s Happening in Wisconsin?
In Wisconsin we see this attack on our election integrity and our democracy starting with the “Big Lie” that Trump won the election. After the 2020 election, Speaker Robin Vos freely admitted that Trump lost Wisconsin. Then Trump yanked the leash, and summoned Vos down to Florida. Vos came back a changed man. He immediately hired the discredited former State Supreme Court justice, Michael Gableman, to investigate the 2020 election in Wisconsin. Before even starting his “investigation,” Gableman categorically declared the 2020 election was stolen and Trump won without any evidence to support this claim.
Gableman was given a $680,000 budget for this faux investigation, which included flying around the country meeting with the “Pillow Man” and other conspiracy characters and having a rather pleasant vacation at taxpayer’s expense. After spending the $680,000, Gableman still had no evidence of corruption in our 2020 election. So, what does Vos do? He extends Gableman’s contract and continues to throw away our taxpayer dollars to keep Mr. Trump happy.
At the Congressional level, Wisconsin recently sent two new members to Congress in 2020, Republicans Tom Tiffany and Scott Fitzgerald. The first official act by these two newly elected Congressmen occurred on Jan. 6 when they voted to challenge the Electoral College results essentially saying the election count in some states was corrupt.
Their vote was intended to invalidate the votes of tens of millions of citizens in a half dozen states and change the outcome of the election. This bordered on sedition by totally undermining the will of the people. Even Vice President Mike Pence, who is a longtime partisan, refused to go along with the plot since he is also an attorney by training and understands the 12th amendment. He knew that his actions could fundamentally cripple our democracy and end America as we know it.
Why?
So, one must ask the basic question: what were Tiffany and Fitzgerald thinking when they tried to undermine the American election as their first official act as new Congressmen?
Did they understand that Trump lost the election, but they don’t particularly believe in our democracy, and would rather see America led an autocratic strongman? Did they understand that the Wisconsin 2020 election that also put them in office was accurate, but they were afraid to offend Trump and were selfishly putting keeping their own job over protecting their country?
Or did they really believe all this conspiracy stuff and if so, they are as dumb as a post and shouldn’t be in Congress?
In addition to these two Congressmen, we have U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson who admitted on video that Trump lost Wisconsin because 51,000 down-ballet Republicans didn’t vote for him, but still continues to undermine our democracy by promoting the Big Lie.
This is About American Democracy
Any reasonable person has to question what kind of people are we sending to Congress? Is this really the best Wisconsin can do for a Congressional delegation? To be clear, this is not about any issues, even the very emotional wedge issues like abortion or gun rights and how Vos, Tiffany, Fitzgerald or Johnson might vote. Those issues should be debated and voted on by our elected officials. If you are unhappy with the vote of your representative, you try to change your representative on election day and possibly run for office yourself.
This is very different. This is about our democracy, the underpinnings of what makes America the great country it is. If these people have their way and continue to undermine the democratic foundation of America, eventually we will not be able to change representatives on election day.
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Photo: Wikimedia Commons - www.kremlin.ru
Putin at Crimea rally in 2022
Vladimir Putin at Crimean reunification rally in 2022.
Seriously, is there anyone in America other than Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson who doesn’t agree with President Biden that Russian President Vladimir Putin should not remain in power?
Only in partisan politics, would the president of the United States be accused of committing “a gaffe” for saying right out loud, “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power!” as the entire world watches Putin leveling cities slaughtering men, women and children in the neighboring democracy of Ukraine.
The worst part is the days of media bed-wetting last week over whether it was polite for Biden to speak the truth on behalf of every decent human being in the U.S. and around the world overshadowed a far more important political story about Putin’s continuing efforts to destroy American democracy from within.
Russia announced on state television last week it was now openly supporting the installation of “our partner Trump” as president of the United States just as it did covertly through massive propaganda campaigns on social media in 2016 and 2020. Evgeny Popov, the host of Putin’s version of 60 Minutes, declared “It’s time for us, our people, to call on the people of the United States to change the regime in the U.S. early and to again help our partner Trump to become president.”
Abolish Democracy?
Get that? Republicans don’t have to wait around until 2024 when to the party’s shame Trump remains its leading candidate for the presidential nomination again despite being defeated after a single disastrous term by the largest vote in U.S. history. Elections are for namby-pamby world democracies. Republicans should simply abolish democracy as a violent mob of them tried to do on Jan. 6, 2021. Russia would be thrilled to welcome back its partner Trump.
How is that not the biggest story in American politics and why has there been so little media reporting about it? That might explain why widespread support for President Biden’s leadership of world democracies aiding Ukraine, equipping it militarily and devastating Russia economically hasn’t boosted Biden’s political approval ratings very much yet.
The savagery of Putin’s invasion is bringing together Americans across the political spectrum in strong bipartisan opposition to a villain threatening the world. But how many Americans realize every action Biden has taken so far against Russia on their behalf has been opposed by most elected Republicans? House and Senate Republicans have attacked all the sanctions Biden’s coalition of world democracies have taken against Russia as too weak, but very few of them have voted for any sanctions at all against Russia.
GOP Refuses to Punish Putin
Despite all the rhetoric, Republicans have blocked Congress from passing a single piece of stand-alone legislation punishing Russia or aiding Ukraine. A $13.6 billion package of military, economic and humanitarian aid for Ukraine only passed because it was included in a massive “must-pass” $1.5 trillion spending bill to keep the federal government operating for the remainder of the fiscal year.
Even then, it was opposed by a majority of 31 Republicans in the Senate including Wisconsin’s Ron Johnson, who said he didn’t have time to read such a large bill providing $180 billion to his state for job creation, safe drinking water, health care, housing, transportation and education.
Instead of widely reporting Russia’s eagerness to renew its partnership with Trump, the media claimed Biden had made another “gaffe.” He didn’t. Biden, who previously described Putin as “a butcher” and “a war criminal” has never had any difficulty justifying everything he’s said about Putin, whose army just carried out a mass execution of civilians in Bucha outside Kyiv. “I was expressing moral outrage that I feel, and I make no apologies for it,” Biden said. “He shouldn’t be in power. People like this shouldn’t be ruling countries, but they do.”
Putin’s Favorite Ex-President
Republican leaders have a lot more explaining to do to justify their failure to distance their party from Trump, Russia’s favorite American president.
Even worse, Republican governors and legislatures across the country are passing laws to make U.S. elections more like Russia’s by destroying voting rights for Americans of color and others living in urban communities who are less likely to vote Republican. No Republican state has made it illegal to vote Democratic yet, but several would leave it up to Republican legislators to decide whether to count all the votes cast if they don’t like the results.
Legal investigations continue into seven states including Wisconsin won by Biden where fake Republican electors submitted fraudulent documents to the U.S. Senate and National Archives falsely claiming to cast those states’ electoral votes for Trump. The plot to steal the election by Trump and a goofy law professor in a cowboy hat failed when Vice President Mike Pence refused to violate the Constitution by throwing out Biden’s real electoral votes on Jan. 6.
It was a heart-breaking disappointment for both Trump and Russia, but not for America.
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Poll Question: April 4, 2022
Poll Question: April 4, 2022
Apr. 04, 2022
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Photo: Christian Yelich - Twitter
Christian Yelich
Christian Yelich
With Opening Day just a few days away, it’s time to make some predictions about the 2022 Milwaukee Brewers. For the fifth consecutive year I’ll do that with help from BetOnline, who has published a list of 18 proposition bets for the season ahead.
After an extremely successful 2019 season (12-6), I’ve had a rough couple of years with these predictions: I went 7-8 with a pair of pushes in the abbreviated 2020 season, and 7-8 again in 2021. As is often the case, some of these lines were impressively close to reality: Omar Narvaez’s final home run of the 2021 season was his eleventh, for example, pushing him half a home run clear of BetOnline’s 10.5 over/under and moving my season slate from a win to a loss.
So, let’s give this another shot. This season there are 18 over/unders to consider featuring 10 Brewers, five position players and five pitchers. Last season the Brewers reached the over on just five of the 15 propositions. Let’s see what they have in store this year:
Christian Yelich: 23.5 home runs, 76.5 RBI
The hardest Brewer to predict might be the first one, as once again we’re being asked to guess if Christian Yelich is going to be the MVP contender he was in 2018 and 2019 or the significantly diminished player he’s been the last two seasons. Last season BetOnline wanted us to guess if Yelich would hit 34.5 home runs and 93.5 RBI. He finished with nine and 51, respectively.
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The projection systems don’t offer much help on the first of these two numbers: The seven models curated at FanGraphs all have Yelich between 22 and 27 home runs this season. Throughout his extended struggles Yelich has continued to hit the ball hard but has not been able to elevate it reliably: Statcast estimates that last season his slugging percentage should have been under .400. I’ll take the under on home runs.
Furthermore, if Yelich’s power continues to lag then his plate discipline may be best used nearer the top of the lineup. He batted in the second spot in 20 games in 2021, a role he could be asked to fill more often this season. Unless he regularly bats in the middle of the lineup, 76.5 RBI will also be hard to come by. I’ll take the under here, also.
Luis Urias: 19.5 home runs, 68.5 RBI
Urias cleared both of these marks despite a slow start in 2021: He had a .640 on-base plus slugging on May 12 and an .829 mark the rest of the way. He’s only 24 years old, and so there’s reason to believe the best is yet to come. This season, however, it’s going to be harder for Urias to catch anyone by surprise. He’s gone from being a potential contributor in the Brewers’ lineup to someone opposing teams have to plan for. He’s going to get fewer pitches to hit, and opposing pitchers will know his weaknesses.
There’s also the question of Urias’ lingering quad injury, which popped up nearly immediately in camp this spring and will keep him out past Opening Day. If that injury lingers or reoccurs it’ll make him a long shot at best to reach these numbers. Urias could have a very good season in 2022 but still fail to reach either of these numbers. I’ll take both unders.
Hunter Renfroe: 31.5 home runs, 87.5 RBI
These are some high bars to clear for the Brewers’ newest all-or-nothing slugger. Renfroe hit 31 home runs in Boston last season in a lot of opportunities at the plate: He played in 144 games for the Red Sox. He’s surpassed the mark here just once in his career, with the Padres in 2019. He also has a .297 career on-base percentage, so his power has come at a cost to his other attributes at the plate.
For our purposes here the biggest thing Renfroe needs to approach these numbers is playing time, and there are some questions on that front. The first is the Brewers’ depth: While Renfroe has been extremely good against left-handed pitchers in his career, he’s not as good against righties and the Brewers will have lots of candidates to play in his place on those days. There’s also the question of Renfroe’s plate discipline and the Brewers’ willingness to tolerate it if he continues to drag a sub-.300 on-base. That’s enough question marks to justify a pair of unders.
Willy Adames: 24.5 home runs, 74.5 RBI
In less than a year Adames has gone from being a player who was struggling in Tampa to being the Brewers’ most indispensable performer. These numbers are roughly in line with his 2021 contributions between his two teams, as he finished with 25 and 73.
Adames has the opposite of Renfroe’s problem: The Brewers have a distinct lack of options to take over if something happens to Adames, especially while Urias remains on the shelf. Barring an injury or a sharp decline Adames is going to play most days and bat high in the lineup. I’ll take the over on both fronts.
Andrew McCutchen: 20.5 home runs, 63.5 RBI
He’s closing in on a decade since his 2013 National League MVP season and it’s been seven years since McCutchen was an All Star, but the 35-year-old is still a notable offensive contributor. Even as his bat has slowed a bit, McCutchen has remained effective at least in part due to exceptional plate discipline: Since the start of the 2019 season his on-base percentage (.343) is more than 100 points higher than his batting average (.238). And when he strikes, McCutchen can still put a charge into the ball. He hit 27 home runs last season.
Given that combination of McCutchen’s power, plate discipline and his veteran status, he’s likely to play a lot. The fact that the National League added the designated hitter gives the Brewers another chance to get him into the lineup each day and could keep him healthy and strong for a long productive season. I’ll take both overs.
Brandon Woodruff: 12.5 wins, 205.5 strikeouts
Corbin Burnes: 12.5 wins, 220.5 strikeouts
I’ll take these two together, because the same arguments apply to both. Woodruff was a perfect example of how pitching wins can be deceptive as a statistic: He was one of the best pitchers in all of baseball in 2021 and still won just nine games. Burnes had slightly better luck but still only won 11. The Brewers’ pitching philosophy simply is not conducive to starting pitchers racking up large win totals: They’re too inclined to go to their bullpen, even if the designated hitter will mean their starters no longer need to be lifted for pinch hitters. I’ll take the under on wins for both.
There is no reason to believe, however, that baseball’s recent trend of increased strikeouts is going away anytime soon. Woodruff struck out 211 batters and Burnes struck out 234 last year and, if anything, those numbers seem more likely to increase than decrease in 2022. I’ll take the over on both.
Freddy Peralta: 10.5 wins, 200.5 strikeouts
The caveats regarding Woodruff and Burnes above also apply to Peralta. His sub-3.00 ERA only netted him 10 wins last season. For Peralta to clear his marks, however, he needs to pitch more, either working deeper into games or pitching more often: He logged just 144 innings last season and so, good as he was, his “counting stats” lagged a bit.
The Brewers know Peralta can be extremely effective with a workload that’s noticeably less than a traditional starting pitcher, and they may not have cause to press their luck by seeking more: Pitching depth is the organization’s greatest strong suit, so they have everything they need to manage Peralta’s workload without sacrificing their chances of winning. I’ll take both unders.
Adrian Houser: 8.5 wins
Houser just gets the single stat to predict and, unfortunately, it’s the luck-driven one. The Brewers provided the right combination of inputs for Houser to clear this bar a year ago, as he won 10 games despite logging just 142 ⅓ innings, even less than Peralta.
The Brewers only allowed a pitcher to throw 100 pitches in a game in 16% of their games last season, but they did let Houser reach that mark four times. When he’s on he has the ability to work deep into games with relative efficiency, getting early outs instead of working to a strikeout. His bar to clear is also lower than Peralta’s. I’ll take the over.
Josh Hader: 32.5 saves
The National League Reliever of the Year Award is named after Trevor Hoffman but in recent years they could have called it the Josh Hader Award: He’s won it three of the last four seasons, including last year when he recorded 34 saves.
There is a mild concern regarding the schedule here: Fitting 162 games into a slightly abbreviated window of time may lead to a few extra days when Hader is unavailable, and the Brewers have demonstrated a strong interest in managing his workload. With that said, Hader has proven to be a consistent performer in a field wrought with inconsistency. He needs to be treated as an elite closer until he proves otherwise, and that includes betting the over here.
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Photo via Twitter / Bucks
Jrue Holiday
It all comes down to this week for the Milwaukee Bucks in terms of playoff seeding. With an instant classic overtime win against the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday night, the Bucks punched their ticket to the playoffs, on the strength of 44 points from Giannis Antetokounmpo, making him the all-time leading scorer in Bucks history. In typical Giannis fashion, he passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with a game tying three-pointer in the final seconds of the matchup with the Nets, who went from last year’s Eastern Conference Semifinals and NBA title favorite to the league’s play-in tournament this year. Even without the milestone, Thursday night was a thrilling game that could very well be a first round matchup in this playoffs, and would instantly be the talk of the league.
The questions remaining this week for Milwaukee are now which playoff seed they will hold, and who they will play in the first round of the postseason. Three of the four games on the Bucks’ schedule this week come against potential Eastern Conference playoff opponents, so while Milwaukee will want to preserve the team’s health to end the regular season, look for them to send some messages as they wrap up this phase of the year. Here is what is in store.
Tuesday, April 5 at Chicago (7 p.m., ESPN)
The week will certainly start on a high note, with the Bucks looking to sweep the season series against the Chicago Bulls on their home floor. All three of Milwaukee’s previous wins against the Bulls happened in this calendar year, as Chicago quickly descended from the top of the Eastern Conference to one of the last guaranteed playoff spots. The Bulls have won only four of their last 10 games, after losing guard Lonzo Ball. Chicago needs every game that they can get, but if they slip into the play-in games and Milwaukee retains one of the top two spots in the conference, these teams could meet again in round one of the playoffs. Look for the first half of this game to be particularly intense, and the halftime score will likely determine whether the Bucks want to focus on postseason health or closing out a potential first-round opponent on their home court.
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Thursday, April 7 vs. Boston, (7 p.m., TNT)
The Boston Celtics come to town on Thursday, and come into the week sitting just above the Bucks in terms of the standings. While they likely won’t see Milwaukee until later in the playoffs, should both teams advance, there is still some jostling to be done at the top of the Eastern Conference. The standings at gametime will likely determine each team’s strategy on Thursday, though Boston has defeated the Bucks twice already this year, including a 122-113 overtime win back in November. In both of the Celtics’ wins this year, Milwaukee has been without one of their big three, as Giannis was scratched for that overtime loss, and Khris Middleton was injured in a December meeting. Boston recently lost center Robert Williams III to a torn meniscus, and star forward Jason Tatum is listed as day-to-day down the stretch. Thursday will be a tough game, but there likely won’t be big implications for the start of the postseason here.
Friday, April 8 at Detroit (6 p.m., Bally Sports Wisconsin)
The Bucks will head to Detroit on Friday night, who are mathematically eliminated from the 2022 playoffs. Even if Milwaukee is jostling to take the top of the conference, look for the reserves to get some substantial minutes here. The Pistons have the third-worst record in the NBA right now, and are guaranteed a draft lottery pick for next season, but have proven to be a tough young team. Detroit did take the last matchup with Milwaukee back in January, but the Bucks have won two of their three games with the Pistons this year. Injuries have ravaged Detroit’s lineup, with seven players currently dealing with issues, including future stars Hamidou Diallo and Jerami Grant, both of which are out the remainder of the season along with forward Chris Smith. The Bucks will need to utilize their bench in the playoffs, and they’ll likely get some warmup minutes on Friday night.
Sunday, April 10 at Cleveland (Time TBD, Bally Sports Wisconsin)
To close out the regular season, Milwaukee will head to Cleveland for what is likely to be a matinee matchup against the Cavaliers. The Cavs come into the week in a play-in game spot, sitting in the seventh seed in the East. Depending on what happens during the week, however, they may be in a position that these two teams could meet up in the first round of the playoffs, and Cleveland could be looking to play the spoiler if the standings come down to the final game of the year. Conversely, everything could be decided by Sunday, in which case Milwaukee’s bench would be taking over the majority of the minutes in Cleveland. The Bucks have lost two of their three games against the Cavaliers this season, though, including a December contest in which Milwaukee did not have any of their starting lineup available due to injuries and COVID-19 health and safety protocols. It could either be a very important game for Milwaukee, or an inconsequential one, all depending on what happens in the games during the week. In either case, the Bucks will likely want to head into the playoffs with a win.
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Photo: Nastco - Getty Images
Marijuana plants from above
Police have a bone to pick with drug users, and only drug users, according to a new study by the Pew Charitable Trust, which found that while arrests are down across the board and prosecution for drug use has plummeted, arrests for minor drug possession remained constant since 2009.
“Over the 10 years ending in 2019, the trends in drug arrests, prison admissions and prison population diverged,” the study found. “The U.S. continue[s] to rely heavily on the criminal legal system to address substance misuse,” while the police act as if the past decade of drug reforms and shifting mentalities did not happen.
Since the cannabis reform movement started in 2012 with the legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado and Washington, 18 states and three U.S. territories legalized cannabis entirely, 31 states have decriminalized it and 36 legalized medical marijuana. Even in states that did not pass significant cannabis reform, progress has been happening at the local level, such as the cities of Milwaukee, Madison, Eau Claire and Green Bay choosing to decriminalize marijuana possession despite lack of state-level leadership on the matter in Wisconsin.
Drug Possession Arrests Run Counter to Other Metrics
Unfortunately, it seems the police did not get the memo. In 2009, the police arrested more than 1.3 million people for minor drug possession offenses. In 2019, they again arrested more than 1.3 million people for minor drug possession offenses. There are more places in the U.S. where possession of personal-use amounts of marijuana is tolerated than places where it is criminalized, today. Yet, arrests for petty drug possession offenses only decreased by 0.4% since 2009, and marijuana remains the top drug leading to arrests. This runs counter to all other policing metrics, as all arrests are down across the board, including arrests for drug trafficking, with the exception of arrests for drug possession.
Chart courtesy of the Pew Charitable Trusts
Drug arrests and state prisons chart
Unlike the police, the justice system in those states mirrored the changes in the law through a sharp decline in incarcerations for marijuana offenses. Prison admissions for drug offenses fell 34% between 2009 and 2019, Pew found. Researchers allege that a lot of this change is driven by a 32% drop in arrests for drug sales and manufacturing. Because while the police continue to crack down on minor, non-violent drug possession, they seem to have lightened suppression of drug trafficking.
Another large part of the decline can be attributed to the legalization of hemp through the 2018 Farm Bill. Spearheaded by Sen. Mitch McConnell, that bill made it legal to grow, sell and purchase cannabis with less than 0.3% THC (which stands for tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive component of cannabis). Industrial hemp is merely another nickname for the marijuana plant—once it became federally legal, even conservative states reevaluated how they approach legal punishment for simple possession of the now-legal cannabis plant. Before, merely owning a bit of green was evidence enough to obtain a conviction; now, even the most minor cases of petty possession of marijuana require extensive laboratory analysis to determine whether it might be a piece of perfectly legal industrial hemp.
Even Texas, with the nation’s toughest marijuana penalties, saw prosecutions for marijuana possession fall by more than half between 2018 and 2020. “Since the law change, prosecutors and state crime labs have dropped hundreds of pending marijuana charges and declined to pursue new ones because they don’t have the resources to detect a substance’s precise THC content, arguably keeping them from the evidence they need to prove in court if a cannabis substance is illegal,” The Texas Tribune reports.
Yet, the police continue to arrest people for offenses that will never be pursued further because they are just too small and inconsequential to be worth a prosecutor’s time and resources.
Meth and Racial Imbalances
Race is a central factor of the War on Drugs. Despite consuming marijuana at the same rate as white people, Black Americans are arrested almost four times as often for simple possession.
In fact, John Ehrlichman, one of the architects of the War on Drugs and domestic policy chief of the Nixon Administration, famously admitted that the purpose of policing drugs was racist at its very core: “We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities,” Ehrlichman said. “We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”
The racist nature of policing drugs has not changed. “The percentage of 2019 drug-related prison admissions of Black folks (28%) was double their share of the general population,” says Tracy Velazquez, manager of criminal justice research for Pew and co-author of the study.
“Racial disparities in drug arrests dipped between 2009 and 2019. However, despite being only 13% of the U.S. population, Black people made up 37% of marijuana arrests in 2019. That's up from 32% in 2009,” the study reads. While there are fewer marijuana arrests in absolute numbers, white offenders benefited from this development more than their Black peers did, leading to Black marijuana users representing a relatively larger portion of marijuana arrests now than 10 years ago.
However, racial imbalances in all drug arrests, and not just marijuana, have been reduced. That is largely due to the rise in arrests for possession of methamphetamines, which rose by 260,000 in the time frame when arrests for possession of marijuana were reduced by 260,000. “Declines in marijuana arrests were backfilled with those for meth,” says Tracy Velazquez. Arrests for possession of meth doubled between 2009 and 2019.
Chart courtesy of the Pew Charitable Trusts
Drug arrests by race and substance
As it happens, white people use meth at a far higher rate than black people. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that nearly 1.2 million white people and only 72,000 black people use meth per year on average. On average, there are 16 white meth users for every single black meth user. Yet, even as police arrest hundreds of thousands of mostly white additional meth users, there are only five white arrestees for each black person arrested by the police.
Does Arresting Drug Users Help Anyone?
In spite of the ultimate pointlessness of arrests made for an offense so minor that the justice system will dismiss it out of hand, police arrested more than 500,000 individuals for simple marijuana possession in 2019. For what purpose?
It started roughly 50 years ago, when then-President Richard Nixon declared war on the concept of drugs. Originally, the purpose was to end the illicit manufacture of drugs, repress trafficking and help the end users, whose quality of life suffered from drug abuse. The purpose of the War on Drugs was allegedly to help the victims of drugs: the addicts. Instead, addicts were targeted, harassed, arrested and imprisoned. Instead of receiving support, counsel and appropriate follow-up by medical professionals, millions of drug users were put behind bars and promptly forgotten.
“Richard Nixon declared drug abuse public enemy number one, and Congress passed legislation that sought to expand treatment and research. However, at the same time, intensified enforcement launched what became known as the ‘War on Drugs,’” the study reads. “The harsher penalties led to a 1,216% increase in the state prison population for drug offenses, from 19,000 to 250,000 between 1980 and 2008.”
Today, law enforcement agencies dedicate more than three times as many police hours and resources to minor drug offenses than to violent crimes. Nearly 90% of drug-related arrests for drugs are for simple possession, and a massive portion of all drug cases are for the most harmless substance of all, marijuana. Yet, in 2019, U.S. police made 1.56 million arrests for all drug offenses, more than 1.3 million of which were for simple possession; but they made only 500,000 arrests for all violent crimes combined. Arresting non-violent offenders for minor drug possession is by far the biggest piece of an average police department’s time and effort; more than policing traffic, assaults, property crimes and all violent crimes.
Why such intense focus on the most harmless category of offenses? Drug possession harms no one except the addicts themselves.
One could argue that an arrest and a prison sentence could turn someone’s life around by forcing them to be sober for the length of their prison stay. However, study after study proved that having been arrested, and to a greater degree having been incarcerated, drastically reduces employment opportunities for the rest of one’s life. Individuals who were imprisoned have an unemployment rate five times higher than average despite actively looking for work at a greater rate than the rest of the population. A blemish on one’s record, even for minor non-violent drug offenses, can sabotage a person’s ability to find employment, housing or any opportunities for the rest of their lives.
Pew found that addicts very rarely receive any help at all behind bars. “About 1.1 million people with past-year illicit drug dependence or misuse reported being arrested and booked in the past year, but of those, just 1 in 13 (85,199) reported receiving drug treatment while in jail or prison,” Pew reveals. “Drug-related mortality rates increased fivefold in prisons and threefold in jails despite the decreases in the number of people in prison for drug offenses.”
Most damning of all is the drug-related mortality rate in jails, which tripled between 2009 and 2019. Drug-related deaths while in law enforcement custody rose from 9 per 100,000 to 26 per 100,000 in just one decade. Even when arresting a drug user in need of immediate help, police tend to shove them into a cell and deny them access to medical care until death follows. Not only are those arrests pointless—as they are non-violent, non-harmful, minor offenses which will be dismissed by prosecutors—but the arrests themselves can prove deadly for the victims.
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Stefan Kartman, the principal cellist of the Festival City Symphony, will be featured in the orchestra’s performance of Antonin (German publishers Germanized his Czech name to Anton) Dvorak’s Cello Concerto, op. 104 in B minor. Brahms, a master of orchestral composition, corrected the proofs of Dvorak’s score and supposedly said, “If I had known that it was possible to compose such a concerto for the cello, I would have tried it myself!” Needless to say, the concerto is a technical challenge and a listeners’ delight. The statements by the solo cello will remain with you long after you return home.
The Festival City Symphony Orchestra, formerly the Milwaukee Civic Orchestra, has been here for almost a century with a current mission of extending the reach of classical music throughout the Milwaukee area. Thanks in part to Franklyn Essenberg’s generosity, all of their concerts are free to the public. Carter Simmons, the current music director, will be on the podium. The program will also include Franz Schubert’s Overture to Rosamunde, D. 644 and Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations, op. 36.
Stefan Kartman is a professor of music at UWM and his wife Jeannie Yu is a concert pianist. Together they perform as the Florestan Duo. I know firsthand the love of music found in this family. Their son, Jonah, plays the violin and I pester them continually to invite me to their “rehearsals.”
I talked with Kartman about music, tradition, and the preparation necessary as a soloist and for this concerto in particular which is full of technical challenges.
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His own parents met while at Julliard as did he and his wife. Kartman’s father, Myron, studied with Karl Döll, a student of Joseph Joachim, Brahms’ friend and advisor for violin compositions and chamber music. And Brahms was Dvorak’s mentor. There is thus an intimate and immediate connection of Kartman back more than 100 years to the composer and performers of that time.
Kartman refers to this tradition and coaching as “Passing it on.” It’s a subtle way of helping others to find the sound closest to what the composer had in mind when the music was first performed. The premiere performance of this concerto was on March 19,1896 in Queen’s Hall, London, with Dvorak conducting and Leo Stern playing the cello.
“Passing it on”—how you hold the bow, attacking a chord at the frog (bottom) or the tip of the bow, or the angle the hair makes with the strings. All of that and more is heard and adjusted as musicians strive to find the sound the composer wanted. A musical memory heard and then shared with the next generation. Something that he and Jeannie do with their son and their students.
Kartman shared his connection back to Brahms and Dvorak. It was Brahms who encouraged Dvorak to go to “The New World” along with Franz Kneisel, a student of Joachim. Dvorak served as the head of the National Conservatory of Music—later the Julliard School (small world). Kneisel taught chamber music and violin and played in a quartet with a cellist by the name of Willem Willeke. Willeke was the teacher of Harvey Shapiro, one of Kartman’s teachers. Passing it on and passing it on.
Which brings us fast forward to this concert. Kartman first studied this piece in the ‘80s with Harvey Shapiro. As with other performances, months before the concert date, the practice begins in earnest—hours each day. And for this he rehearses with Yu (orchestral scores are transcribed for piano) plays online for his father, for Jonah (his son), and for his students—a wise man learns from all.
The Festival City Symphony is Milwaukee’s oldest professional symphony orchestra. Kartman reminded me that this ensemble is one of Milwaukee’s best kept musical secrets. He hopes that one and all from the Milwaukee area can share with him and the other musicians in the orchestra their performance and participate in the act of passing it on.
Further information, including tickets, can be found on the symphony’s web site: festivalcitysymphony.org.
There is also a preview video on Stefan’s website: cellokartman.com.
This will be an exciting concert in a wonderful new venue, a way to make a Saturday afternoon very special. Enjoy.
Festival City Symphony Orchestra performs 2 p.m. Saturday, April 9 at the Bradley Symphony Center.
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A wise mentor of mine once said, ”If you listen, the Dance will tell you what it needs.” The reason this is so personally profound to me is that within us there is an innate ability to trust our intuition as embodied sensing beings, whether it be in our own body or in a staged piece of work that we are sharing with our community.
Time and time again I meet people at Danceworks who have lost a sense of self and have returned to dance to listen to what their dance within needs. No matter the age, our community finds themselves through sensing and embodying their own urge to be kinetic.
We are thrilled each time a young student performs on stage for their family and feels the joy of communicating through movement, or one of our Intergenerational dancers returns to dance and says, “I haven’t done this in 30 years.”
We are thrilled even more about how dance sparks conversation on what being a human in this world means for all of us. There is true joy and meaning in an audience who fully witnesses the embodied research our professional performance company is presenting and leaves having a deep conversation about the meaning of life. Dance is for everyone, no matter the age or ability, and we invite you to find the dance within and discover what it is telling you.
Visit: Danceworks
Photo Credit: Erol Reyal
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Photo by Ross Zentner
David Cecsarini and Mark Ulrich in Next Act Theatre "Equivocation"
David Cecsarini (left) with Mark Ulrich in Next Act Theatre's "Equivocation"
Next Act Theatre announced that founding member David Cecsarini will step down at the end of the 2022-2023 season. Cecsarini has been with the company since it began 32 years ago and has served as Producing Artistic Director for the last 30 years
Next Act was founded in 1990 with the merger of Theater Tesseract, which brought contemporary Off-Broadway shows to Milwaukee, and Next Generation Theater, devoted to children’s productions. “I had been affiliated with both,” Cecsarini recalls. “We tried to combine our missions, keeping both kinds of theater on a parallel track. We confused everybody—as anyone who knows anything about marketing could have told us.”
The new company wasn’t selling many tickets. Working with his colleague Jonathan Smoots, Cecsarini “came up with a survival plan—lose the children’s mission and pursue contemporary theater.” The downsized agenda fit well in their provisional home, the Rep’s Stiemke Theatre. Funds were raised, debts were forgiven and tickets were sold. “Intimate and Powerful” became Next Act’s motto. As the Stiemke grew busier, Next Act became semi-itinerant until renting space at 342 N. Water Street. “We were happy there for 10 years,” Cecsarini says.
By 2010, the property was under new management and, as Cecsarini puts it, “a non-profit organization was not part of their plan. We looked for other spaces and found our final destination”—the Next Act Theatre at 255 S. Water Street where the company opened its Fall 2011 season.
“It was a scramble,” Cecsarini recalls. “Lease negotiations held us up. We started building up [the site] in April. We scrambled for our opening in October and we made it.”
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Like other performing arts groups, Next Act’s reliance on season subscriptions has been challenged by a changing world. “It’s a different game these days—with streaming and so much on demand,” he says.
As for why he is stepping down from the leading role at Next Act? “I’ve been doing this for 32 years. I’ll be 68 this fall and I’m looking for an opening to do other things—acting, directing—without the additional responsibility. For another reason, “32 years is a long time for one company’s leadership. Our culture is changing. Next Act could use a new perspective on things, including finding a younger demographic and connecting with other communities. I’d like to clear the way for another person.”
Next Act will focus its search for Cecsarini’s replacement on the Upper Midwest region. “Someone from Milwaukee would be terrific, someone with loyalty and commitment to this community,” Cecsarini says, adding, “Next Act for me is about producing stories that reflect the challenges in our lives and communities.”
Cecsarini will have the opportunity to show his successor the ropes—and he may continue being visible at Next Act as an actor or guest director in seasons to come.
Photo by Ross Zentner
Next Act Theatre "Laughter on the 23rd Floor"
Seth K. Hale, Dylan Bolin, Mohammad Elbsat and David Cecsarini in Next Act Theatre's "Laughter on the 23rd Floor".
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Photo by June Xie
Gaetano Marangelli
Gaetano Marangelli
Iron County has a slightly forbidding ring, suggesting something dark and ominous, like a January snowstorm or a story by August Derleth. It’s a real place in northern Wisconsin, the forested setting of Gaetano Marangelli’s play Iron County, debuting at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre this month.
The five-man play has been compared to David Mamet for its taut, repetitive, chiseled language. The drama unfolds in 1975 at a liminal moment in American history, in between Nixon and Carter, as the counterculture fades and the Me Decade had only just begun. Iron County concerns two brothers, Sam and Ted, onetime hippies having trouble realizing their dream of living off the land; Noah, a taciturn Native American who is living off the land; Bob, the bartender at a rural roadside tavern; and Bob, a motorist passing through.
The motorist is the catalyst after hitting a deer crossing the road and coming to the bar, asking for help. The mishaps and mayhem that ensure start to sound like the Coen brothers’ Fargo, but Iron County isn’t a dark comedy. “I’d call it a drama that asks who owns the land we call America. It explores how the land became divided,” Marangelli says.
Iron County might have more metaphors than characters, at least as Marangelli describes the contending historical forces at work—Manifest Destiny, the Frontier Theory of American History, American Exceptionalism, America as the Melting Pot ... However, the characters aren’t merely ideas embodied but are fully drawn, containing multitudes of contradictions. Their worldviews are a mosaic of attitudes formed from the elements in their environment.
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Ultimately, Iron County asks the question: Are we in this together or is it us against nature, us against them?
The granular complexity of human characters is one thing that separates art from propaganda. “It’s a problem sometimes in contemporary theater, which reads like a ‘lesser form of journalism’ expressed through didactic characters,” Marangelli says. “A play is not an op-ed piece. It should be richer than that.”
Iron County began as a short play and was given a full-length reading by the Drama League of New York in 2018. “The story at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre began four years ago,” Marangelli says. “I sent the first draft to Marcy Kerns, the associate artistic director. She responded immediately.” Iron County was scheduled for March 2020—but the pandemic intervened.
Iron County finally receives its production in a staged reading, 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 18 at the Broadway Theatre Center’s Studio Theatre. Iron County will be directed by Lisa Kornetsky and will feature Marcus Truschinski, Josh Krause, Chris Klopatik and Shayne Steliga with stage directions by Jarrod Langwinski. Admission is free.
A second staged reading, by Brigata Theater, has been scheduled at UW-Parkside’s The Rita Studio A (900 Wood Road, Kenosha) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 11. It will be directed by Lisa Kornetsky with a cast to be announced. For more information, visit Brigata Theater at facebook.com/BrigataTheater.
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Photo: That Taco Guy - Facebook
That Taco Guy nachos
We heard you!
Thanks to your feedback we have increased the food options at this year’s Stein & Dine.
Bring your appetite and sample six flavors of Vollwerth’s sausage: Original, Pizza, Honey, Cheddar Bacon, Cheddar Jalapeño and Hot & Spicy. shepherdexpress.com/food/eat-drink/vollwerth-puts-the-dine-in-stein-dine That Taco Guy is getting ready for festivals season with his taco truck. At Stein & Dine try a nacho sample with their signature Beer Cheese and a side of Texas Candy—candied jalapenos cooked with sugar, vinegar, and other spices shepherdexpress.com/food/eat-drink/that-taco-guy-puts-the-dine-in-stein-dine
Oak Creek cheese maker Alpinage Cheese will be serving up two versions of their signature Raclette, a smear ripened, semi-hard cheese traditionally melted over foods shepherdexpress.com/food/eat-drink/alpinage-cheese-puts-the-dine-in-stein-dine/ Anyone with a sweet tooth will have to save room for Whisked Away bakery’s classic sugar cookies as well as chocolate stout cake, “to be very on-brand with the theme!”
In addition to the food samples, this year Stein & Dine guests will receive a voucher for menu items. General admission gets you a $6 food voucher and VIP admission gets you a $10 food voucher. Options include the baseball-inspired Secret Stadium Dog, Ballpark Nachos, Jalapeno Cheese Dog, Mac Brat (brat, mac & cheese, bacon bits) or the football-inspired Pack N' Cheese and Gridiron Brat—and more!
See you this Saturday at State Fair!
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Photo Credit: Allen Halas
Ruthie
Dear Ruthie is proudly brought to you by C3 Designs — Award Winning Fine Jewelry. C3 Designs offers a variety of services performed in-house, including custom jewelry design, jewelry and watch repair, appraisal, pearl and bead stringing, engraving and flip guards. C3 Designs is the winner of the Jewelers of America 2019 CASE Award.
Dear Ruthie,
I had a Facebook friend who lived in another state, and we never got to meet in person. We always commented on each other's posts, however, and we shared many interests. We messaged each other often.
One night I went to his FB page to check on him after he had surgery. He had unfriended me. I was shocked because he commented on some of my posts two days before! I sent him a message, which he read but never replied to.
I am disappointed and hurt. Am I alone in thinking people have become self-centered, egotistical and lacking in regard for one another’s feelings nowadays?
Thanks,
Hurt Kurt
Dear Kurt,
Digital communications are changing quickly, but unfortunately social graces haven’t kept up with these trends.
There could be a myriad of reasons why your Facebook buddy ghosted you (that’s what the kids call it, btw). While the situation is a head scratcher, try to forget it and move on. (I know … easier said than done.) You’ve clearly looked at this situation from every angle, reviewed your communication, reconsidered your posts and reached out to the person in question. Let it go. You’ve done all you can.
Don’t let this ruin your faith in people. No matter what technology throws at us, I’m still convinced people are generally good. Focus on the friends you truly have and try not to give this person another thought!
Ruthie’s Social Calendar
April 8—Pride Night for Titanic: The Musical at The Milwaukee Rep (108 E. Wells St.): Join me, Karen Valentine and BJ Daniels for a spectacular night of theater, mixing, mingling and more! Your $25 ticket gets you into the pre-show cocktail party at the Saint Kate Arts Hotel as well The Rep’s production of Titanic: The Musical at the Quadracci Powerhouse Theater at 8 p.m. Hosted by Wisconsin’s LGBT Chamber of Commerce, this is sure to be a wonderful evening, so nab your tickets before they’re gone. Simply visit www.milwaukeerep.com/pride, using promo code “Pride” when ordering.
April 9—Stein & Dine at Wisconsin State Fair Park (640 S. 84th St.): One of the city’s favorite samplings comes back to State Fair with more food than ever before! Enjoy unlimited samples from the state’s finest breweries, distilleries and wineries along with live entertainment and more. If you’ve never been to Stein & Dine, make this the year you check it out. Order tickets at www.shepherdtickets.com.
April 9—Milwaukee Comic Con at Events Building, Wisconsin State Fair Park (640 S. 84th St.): Comic Con is back and bigger than ever with more than 300 tables of geeky goodness, anime awesomeness and sci-fi satisfaction. See www.mightyconshows.com for $8 tickets as well as lineups of speakers, artists and special guests.
April 10—The English Beat at Turner Hall Ballroom (1040 Vel R. Phillips Ave.): The happy, soulful, lively music of The English Beat hops into the city with this 8 p.m. concert. Enjoy Highball Holiday as the opening act when you buy tickets ($32.50) at www.pabsttheatergroup.com.
April 11 through April 13—"Shakespeare RAW: Anthony and Cleopatra” at Best Place at the Historic Pabst Brewery (901 W. Juneau Ave.): What happens when a group of actors get together, pull character names out of hat, toss back some booze and hit the stage? Find out during another installment of boozy-Bard insanity. Tickets are $10 at the door ($5 if you’re wearing toga).
April 11—Karaoke Night at Club Charlie’s (320 E. Menomonee St.): It’s always a good time at this Third Ward hot spot, and Monday nights are no exception. Join the sing-along fun from 8 p.m. to midnight, order up some grub, slam back a few cocktails and pat yourself on the back for making it through another Monday.
April 13—“Unexpected: AM Radio, Volume #1” at Story Hill Firehouse (407 N. Hawley Rd.): Vocalists Marcya Daneille and Donna Woodall celebrate the soft-rock and soul music of the ‘70s with this change-of-pace show. Support live music in the city and check out this exciting new venue at the 6 p.m. concert. Seating is limited so order your $5 ticket soon via www.eventbrite.com.
Have a question for Ruthie? Want to share an event with her? Contact Ruthie at DearRuthie@ShepEx.com.
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Image: nadia_bormotova - Getty Images
Women holding hands and Pride flag
April is a celebratory month for the lesbian community with International Lesbian Visibility Week, April 25 through May 2. In Milwaukee, the community has been a leading force in achieving LGBTQ equality with many early lesbian activists recognized by the Shepherd Express LGBTQ + Progress Awards.
Propelled in part by the pre-Stonewall women’s and feminist movements, local lesbian political activism exploded in the early 1970s. Several helped co-found the city’s first queer organization, the Gay People’s Union (GPU). In 1972, The Amazon: A Feminist Journal first appeared as a mimeographed flyer and evolved into a full-fledged news, health and political publication for the women’s movement addressing the salient issues of the times. It remained in print until 1984. Activist and writer Jamakaya served as Amazon’s editor from 1979-1983.
Presaging the struggle for marriage equality and garnering national attention at the time, perhaps the most daring political act of the era was undertaken by Donna Burkett and her partner Menonia Evans. On Oct. 1, 1971, the couple applied for a marriage license at the Milwaukee County Clerk’s office. Their application was refused and they sued. Meanwhile, they married in a ceremony on Christmas Day that year. However, two weeks later, their lawsuit was dismissed on a technicality.
Later that decade, in 1974, a local lesbian would enlist in the US Army and begin a military career like no other. Miriam Ben Shalom first made history as one of the first female drill sergeants. That would pale compared to the history she was about to make. Admitting she was a lesbian, the Army discharged her in 1976. She sued in 1980 and, based on questions of the constitutionality of her discharge, a judge ruled in her favor, ordering the Army to reinstate her. A legal contest ensued.
Eight years later, Ben Shalom became the first gay or lesbian to be re-instated in the U.S. military. Her service was short lived, however, as she was again discharged in 1989. An appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court failed, with the court refusing to hear her case. She would go on to help found the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Veterans of America, now known as Veterans for Equal Rights.
Ben Shalom continued her activism but not without controversy, this time within the LGBTQ community. In 2016, the Milwaukee Pride Parade board of directors selected Ben Shalom as its Grand Marshall. It then rescinded the honor when it learned of Ben Shalom’s publicly expressed views on transgenderism that it considered transphobic and incompatible with the Pride Parade’s mission. Deeming transwomen as “fetishistic” and “delusional,” her more recent activism has seen her aligning with anti-trans conservative religious factions in the name of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
Founded in 1989 by Donna Utke, Karen Gotzler and other local activists, the Lesbian Alliance of Metro Milwaukee (LAMM) soon became the city’s go-to organization for its lesbian community. Serving the social, political, artistic, and spiritual needs of Milwaukee-area lesbians, LAMM had a broad appeal that attracted hundreds of members. One described its various activities including concerts, Valentine’s Day dances and its famous house parties where “women were packed in breast-to-breast.” It also had specialized sub-organizations including the LAMM Education Fund and Silver Space, a support group for older lesbians as well as other support groups addressing the various needs of its members.
As with many LGBTQ groups, the LAMM’s heyday has waned in recent years. Brenda Hanus, a lesbian transwoman involved since 2002, and its current chairperson, pointed out the realities of contemporary lesbian life. “When I got involved there were lots of activities. Today it’s a different world since the early days. The older people aren’t participating anymore and younger lesbians aren’t interested. Attendance has been dropping off but we still had game and movie nights. Since the pandemic hit, we’ve been in a stand-by mode. When the LGBT Community Center opens up again, we hope to get people involved again,” Hanus said.
Milwaukee’s lesbian bar scene saw its peak in the later quarter of the 20th century and early 2000s. Popular spots like Fannies, Mona’s Out and About, Kathy’s Nut Hut and Station 2, among others, are long gone but remain a constant source of lesbian lore and nostalgia. Only Walker’s Pint, having just celebrated its 20th anniversary, retains the appellation “lesbian bar.” However, the “Pint” makes its reputation on its inclusiveness and all are welcome. It has also recently established its own philanthropic organization, formalizing its traditional role of supporting the Milwaukee’s greater LGBTQ community.
Lesbian artists and athletes have also made their mark on the greater community’s cultural life and recreational sports. Visual and performance artists regularly exhibited at the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center (MGAC) where solo and group shows addressed a range of issues from hetero-normative gender expectations and male patriarchy to motherhood. LAMM once sponsored an art show at MGAC exhibiting works created as art therapy by women.
Founded in 2006, Women’s Voices Milwaukee performed at venues throughout the city including MGAC and PrideFest. Other recognized artists include poetess Carmen Murguia and filmmaker-musician Ashley Altadonna. Of course, a large contingent of lesbian athletes play on any number of teams across the local LGBTQ sports spectrum.
In politics, Karen Gotzler became Milwaukee’s first out candidate for the city’s Common Council in 1996. Sura Faraj ran for the same office a dozen years later. Both campaigns were unsuccessful but they raised awareness of the community’s political engagement.
Although the age of activism has waned with the achievement of a degree of rights not enjoyed in the past, lesbian empowerment created over the decades since Stonewall has translated to high profile personalities across the business, professional educational and political realms continuing the struggle for equality.
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Illustration by Michael Burmesch
Scale with footprints illustration
Mary came to me with several health problems, the most pressing of which was her 100-plus extra pounds. She had tried various programs over the years, sometimes dropping significant weight but then putting it back on. She wanted a new approach.
Many patients come to me frustrated with their inability to lose weight. For many, weight was never an issue until they reached middle age. Others have carried substantial excess weight much of their life, posing a serious health risk. Still they can’t take it off—or if they do, even worse, they “yo-yo”.
Weight loss resistance is complicated. There is confusion brought on by the onslaught of “experts” touting “the best diet” (often with conflicting approaches): low fat, low carb, keto, paleo, vegan, vegetarian, carnivore and more. Yikes! More importantly, neglected underlying health issues can significantly impede one’s efforts. Also, and not to be minimized, our psyche, our relationship with food, our family and friends can all play a role.
It is critical to adopt a way of eating that can be part of a way of life—for life. So not a fad diet. If you regularly consume a lot of unhealthy food, it can take time to shift your palate, but with some initial consistency, it happens. It is possible to crave a salad! Slow and steady weight loss is ideal. Briefly, the guidelines I suggest are a clean (think low pesticides) plant forward whole foods diet. This means fairly strict avoidance of processed foods and added sugars. As Michael Pollan quips in his book Food Rules “Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.” For a stretch goal, aim for 6-8 cups of vegetables a day—a colorful variety of non-starchy choices.
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Overcoming Resistance
But diet is rarely enough. It is key to address underlying health issues that may be getting in your way. While this may seem daunting, these common factors that contribute to weight loss resistance can be overcome:
- insulin resistance (optimal blood sugar control)
- stress leading to excess cortisol
- disturbed gastrointestinal health (intestinal bacteria or microbiome imbalance, “leaky gut”, poor digestion, gut inflammation)
- hormone imbalances (thyroid, sex hormones)
- toxins (a common contributor to metabolic dysfunction)
- chronic inflammation
- nutritional deficiencies
- lack of sleep or circadian rhythm disruption.
I often see one or more of these problems show up in people who already follow an ideal diet and exercise regularly but can’t shed pounds.
Finally, if you have a dysfunctional relationship with food, work on cultivating an attitude that honors food as nutrition for your body and applying a mindful approach to eating with a sense of gratitude. Creating a shift from an orientation of denial to reframing food as nourishment can be a game changer. It can also help to surround yourself with others who equally engage healthful lifestyle and food choices
Mary and I worked together to form a plan prioritizing her health—-gut health, hormone balance, stress management and toxic load. She incorporated fundamental lifestyle changes—good sleep habits, increased movement and healthy food choices. Nine months after she started these interventions, she informed me that she had lost 45 pounds. She said “It’s funny that I am not focused on weight at all (for the first time ever) and because it's secondary, I am not obsessed with it at all. I only weigh myself occasionally out of curiosity.”
No longer using a “dieting” approach to weight loss, Mary was engaging a whole person approach to being healthy.
I know this isn’t easy! But—like Mary‑it can be transformative to your health, your energy and your zest for life.
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Photo: cyano66 - Getty Images
Home improvement illustration
These days, prices are rising on just about everything, and home-improvement initiatives are no exception. Inflation and the effects of the pandemic continue to increase material costs and hamper the availability of items such as lumber. Last summer’s Consumer Price Index noted that appliance prices have risen nearly 5% compared to the previous year; washing machines and dryers were up about 18%.
Recent studies indicate that prices will continue to rise on the home-improvement front, causing homeowners to find ways to reduce remodeling budgets; however, cutting costs doesn’t mean cutting corners. Take a look at these ideas to help you renovate without breaking the bank.
Set a budget. Like any remodeling project, creating a smart budget is key. Be sure to add another 10% to cover any surprises that might pop up along the way. Next, make a spreadsheet of costs you can update regularly to keep yourself on track.
Do it yourself. It sounds obvious but rolling up your sleeves and putting in a little sweat equity will pay off financially. There are plenty of publications and online tutorials to walk you through whatever project you’re considering, and even the most inexperienced renovator can paint a room or insulate an attic.
Do your own demo work. You’ll stash some cash if you do the demolition work versus leaving it to a contractor—but proceed with caution. Demolishing a carport or deck may be easy but be careful when taking down walls. You need to be sure you’re not damaging a loadbearing wall or putting yourself at risk for sawing into wiring or damaging plumbing.
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Ditch delivery fees. It pays to schlep around town and pick up materials yourself. Many home improvement stores offer rental trucks just for this purpose. Have a buddy with a truck or a trailer? Ask if you can borrow it and avoid delivery fees.
Watch the windows. See if you can improve the insulation around existing windows before replacing them. Are there other repairs that could be made without replacing a window? If so, you could be in for huge savings. If you ultimately need to purchase new windows, keep them the same size as the existing windows and you’ll pocket a bit of cash.
Visit recycling centers. Picking up slightly used fixtures, secondhand building materials, scratch-and-dent appliances, and other salvaged items can help cut costs. Milwaukee is home to several Habitat for Humanity Restores, and you can even find some materials at local auctions.
Reconsider expensive renovations. Kitchen and bathroom remodels are the most popular and expensive home improvements. You’ll save a lot of money by keeping the layouts the same, leaving the plumbing intact. Instead of gutting these rooms, consider simply painting or re-staining existing cabinets and vanities and adding new hardware. Retiling a kitchen backsplash or bathroom shower is actually easier and more economical than you might think.
Hire a contractor. While hiring a contractor will significantly increase costs, sometimes it’s simply the smartest thing to do. Get at least three quotes and avoid hiring during busy periods—the middle of summer and September through December. Stash some cash by keeping manhours low when you prep areas yourself (removing old carpeting, for instance).
Most important, pace yourself and focus on one project at a time. Review your wish list and assess which renovation project makes the most sense to tackle first. Can you afford one project more than the others? Will one project add value to a home you’re about to put on the market? Choose your project wisely, and you (and your bank account) will surely be happy with the results.
5 Ways to Renovate on the Cheap
- Update the front door.
- Reface kitchen cabinets.
- Swap out mirrors and fixtures in bathrooms.
- Add new trim and/or crown molding.
- Create space by reorganizing to increase efficiency.
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Photo courtesy Maxwell Street Klezmer Band
Maxwell Street Klezmer Band
Maxwell Street Klezmer Band
Music lovers in the Milwaukee area are fortunate that klezmer is coming to town. The Maxwell Street Klezmer Band will play at the Polish Center on April 10. Wear your dancing shoes and be prepared to laugh and cry. Or, perhaps as Lori Lippitz, one of the directors of the band explained, “Laugh through your tears.” The venue and program—“more of a straight-ahead seated concert”—will still have you tapping your toes.
Klezmer music is founded on the traditions of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. It is ever evolving, building on traditional dance tunes, ritual melodies and folk songs of the various countries where Jews were tolerated over the centuries. It includes elements from throughout the Ottoman Empire including Greek and Romanian modalities picked up from sojourns in Poland and the Balkan countries.
With the revival of klezmer music in the United States, one can now hear the influence of jazzy rhythms from the big band. However, even newer forms of the music still incorporate Eastern European melodies. Anything and everything that makes one want to dance, clap or celebrate can find its way into klezmer music.
The Maxwell Street Klezmer Band was formed in 1983 by Lippitz, who still serves as its artistic and musical directors in addition to being one of their vocalists and guitarists. The band has played at Carnegie Hall, toured Europe, and was featured at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in the world’s first klezmer opera, The Property. The band’s violinist and musical director, Alex Koffman, combines his classical training with the band’s jazz orientation to create a unique sound.
Many of the musicians who have joined the band in recent years are immigrants from Eastern European countries where they received their musical training. Minsk, Lodz, Prague and Odessa are just some of the cities in their resumes. They share the stage with others who are from Chicago, New York City, and Skokie. Their bios (www.klezmerband.com/bios) are worth reading. One of the clarinetists, Jeff Jeziorski, lives outside of Milwaukee and has performed with Milwaukee’s Skylight Music Theatre.
Their newest clarinetist, Bartosz Warkoczyński, a graduate of the Music University in Lodz, Poland, will also be featured in the concert on Sunday.
When asked if the band has changed much over the years, Lippitz smiled and answered, “Yes, we’re more polished and experienced after decades of playing together.”
Many of the musicians in the band are educators and teachers. I pleased to learn that “[their] Junior Klezmer Orchestra, which trains young people in klezmer and Yiddish songs, has been running nonstop since 1994.”
I clapped when she told me that “One of [their] graduates is the musical director of Hamilton on Broadway.”
But hearing that members of Maxwell Street collaborate with members of the Arabic and South Asian music community to learn and play each other’s music was truly the best news of all in these divisive times. It demonstrates that music can be used to preserve ones heritage and at the same time bring people together. Lippitz is the founder of the Salaam-Shalom Music Project (an interfaith orchestra combining members of Maxwell Street and members of the Chicago Muslim musical community). She invited me to visit: salaamshalommusic.org.
Photo: The Chicago Salaam-Shalom Music Project - salaamshalommusic.org
Chicago Salaam-Shalom Music Project
The Chicago Salaam-Shalom Music Project
One final note: you don’t have to be Jewish to enjoy klezmer music. Think Fiddler on the Roof meets a Dixieland jazz band and be prepared to have a wonderful experience in a delightful venue.
Further information about the concert, ticket pricing, driving directions etc. can be found on the Polish Center’s web site: polishcenterofwisconsin.org.
Maxwell Street Klezmer Band performs 6 p.m. Saturday, April 10 at the Polish Center, 6941 S. 68th St., Franklin.
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Summary:
- 431 new cases
- No new deaths, 11 total deaths added to system
- 12,815 total deaths;
- 157 hospitalized patients, 26 in ICU
Source: Wisconsin Department of Health Services
On Tuesday, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services reported an additional 431 new COVID-19 cases. The state has averaged 401 new cases per day in the last week.
On this day last year, there were 974 new cases, and a 7-day average of 655 cases per day. In 2020, 170 cases were recorded, with a 7-day average of 174 cases per day.
Source: Wisconsin Department of Health Services
There were no new deaths, but 11 added to the Department of Health Services system, putting the total Wisconsin death toll at 12,815. A lag in death reporting statewide has affected these numbers.
In Milwaukee County, there were 82 new confirmed cases reported and have been 268,488 total cases in the county since the pandemic began. The 7-day average in the county is 77 cases per day. Two of the deaths added to the state system were attributed to Milwaukee County, putting the county death toll at 2,278 since the beginning of the pandemic.
If you are looking for COVID-19 testing or vaccination, consult the Wisconsin Department of Health Services website.
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Photo by Erin Bloodgood
Dontrell Corey Fells
Dontrell Corey Fells
For Dontrell Corey Fells, co-founder of Black Space, therapy wasn’t always a pleasant experience. When he was a teenager in late high school, his mother passed away. “After that, there was just a young boy that wanted to be able to find somewhere to live and to figure out life for myself,” says Fells.
His family suggested he see a therapist to cope, but the man they found made Fells uncomfortable. As a young Black man, Fells couldn’t relate to his therapist who was an older white man. He felt the need to use coded language and give additional context to explain where he grew up and the challenges he faced. It wasn’t working.
Soon after, at 18 years old, he enlisted in the military “to find some type of solace, some type of consistency,” Fells explains. But the military left him with a lot of questions and after eight years of service, he found his way back to Milwaukee to begin his life as a civilian—unsure of what to do next.
Black and Brown
Filled with anxiety and living through a global pandemic in 2020, Fells was looking for answers. His friend suggested he see a therapist, so he decided to give it another try. This time, he found Dr. Lia A. Knox, a therapist from his neighborhood who looked like him—someone who could relate to his experiences and struggles. He felt like he could be himself and didn’t have to put up any walls.
Therapy took on a whole new meaning and he began telling friends about it, including his friend Darius Smith, who was on the front lines of the Black Lives Matter marches, leading thousands of people. It wasn’t long before Smith, Fells and Knox identified a need in Black and Brown communities and began discussing ways to offer therapy for free.
Thus, Black Space was started. “The name Black Space is a symbolic name—there’s a gap between providing Black and Brown people with the necessary tools for something like therapy because there’s this classism surrounding therapy,” says Fells. He explains that many people he knows see therapy as expensive and unattainable. Additionally, the traditional format of therapy—a short one-on-one session—doesn’t lend itself to the culture of Black and Brown people. “We’re storytellers, so that one hour isn’t enough for us.”
Fells, Smith and Knox chose to offer group sessions, led by Knox who is trained in cultural competency, where people can share their experiences with others who can relate to them. Their goal is to foster connections in each group, which are separated into Black and Brown men, Black and Brown women, and Black and Brown LGBTQIA+ identifying individuals. The group therapy experiences continue to fill up, showing the need for an inclusive, safe space addressing mental health.
Fells seems to have found his calling shepherding the organization to help more and more people of color, but he continues to work through his angst and find meaning in his own life. Now with a baby on the way, he has a new motivation to create a future his child can thrive and feel safe in. “That is my ultimate goal,” he says, “to make sure this world, or at least this place, is better off than I left it when I was a young kid.”
Learn more about Black Space at blackspacehq.com.
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Laughing Liberally Milwaukee Episode 44: Greg Bach
Laughing Liberally Milwaukee is back, and host Matthew Filipowicz is joined by comedian Greg Bach. The two break down the controversy at Disney over a same-sex kiss in the upcoming animated film 'Lightyear.' That led to Ben Shapiro's Daily Wire launching DW Kids, and the two comedians discuss the possibilities of right-wing kids programming. We also get an update on what Bach has been up to in terms of his comedy and what's around the bend. Check it out!
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https://shepherdexpress.com/culture/classical-music/an-impressive-sibelius-at-the-mso/
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Photo by Martin Cherry
Tracy Silverman violinist
Tracy Silverman
As resident conductor at Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Yaniv Dinur spends more time on the podium with the players than any other leader, including pops concerts, school concerts, and sometimes, classical subscription concerts. He has grown enormously as a conductor over his several years at MSO, evolving in maturity and musical authority and fluency.
Dinur led an impressive account of Jean Sibelius’s Symphony No. 1 in E minor last weekend. Conducting without score, he seemingly easily communicated his intentions to the musicians, creating more of a collaboration than imposing a willful, inflexible interpretation. This music has been compared to Tchaikovsky in some ways, particularly in the sections where the violins and cellos are playing the same melodies in octaves. Todd Levy kicked things off in a lengthy, expressive clarinet solo, with sound emerging from nowhere and gracefully tapering away to nothingness at the end of the phrase.
Don’t tell the ushers, but after intermission I moved from my seat in row N on the main floor to one high in the balcony. I recommend sitting upstairs. The blend and mix of the sound is better in Allen-Bradley Hall from there. On the main floor the balance between brass and strings―a tricky topic in this new hall―is rather dicey. The strings come through with more presence when listening from the balcony.
I’ve only recently become acquainted with African American composer Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1932-2004), who was named in honor of the Afro-British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (who himself was named after British poet Samuel Coleridge Taylor, no hyphen this time). None of these men were related except in kinship of the arts. Perkinson was programmed with his Sinfonietta No. 1 for Strings, a handsome three-movement piece from 1954-55.
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The music definitely has a mid-20th century American sound, which made me ponder what exactly that means. There are obvious characteristics of American classical music of the era; George Gershwin, Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, and Howard Hanson immediately come to mind. Perkinson’s sound is not as distinctive but plays with counterpoint and imitation in playful and attractive ways, and spins melody with pathos in the second movement.
Dharma (OK, I had to look this up as a refresher) is the “essential quality or character,” according to dictionary.com. John Adams’s The Dharma at Big Sur attempts to capture something, in the composer’s mind, that is quintessentially about the California coast. It was written in 2003 for electric violinist Tracy Silverman, who was soloist with MSO. His electric violin has six strings, rather than the usual four, allowing for an additional low range on the instrument. He plays with a pleasing combination of flair and restraint.
This is atmospheric, almost cinematic music. Beds of undulating sounds, often mutating into various textures, underly a freely rhapsodic violin solo. It’s a slow-moving piece, hypnotic in its spell, culminating in the insistence of a steadily repeated note in various instruments that seems like the never-ending pounding of waves. A moody film by Adam Larsen, showing dancers on the shore in slow movement, was shown as the music was played. I was so fascinated with the ever-changing details of the orchestration that I admit I didn’t always pay attention to the film.
I was pleased and impressed with the warm embrace of this music by the audience. Would that have happened twenty years ago? Some music that once seemed outside-the-box and experimental to a degree has become mainstream. It buoyed my spirits with hope.
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https://shepherdexpress.com/food/eat-drink/james-beard-awards-recognize-milwaukee-chefs-restaurateurs/
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Photo: Bavette La Boucherie - bavettelaboucherie.com
Karen Bell of Bavette La Boucherie
Karen Bell of Bavette La Boucherie
Our fantastic dining scene in Milwaukee continues to be recognized nationally. Three local chefs have advanced to the final round of the esteemed James Beard Awards, in the best chef Midwest category: Karen Bell of Bavette La Boucherie (currently at 330 E. Menomonee St. and moving to 217 N. Broadway in April), Dane Baldwin of the Diplomat (815 E. Brady St.) and Gregory León of Amilinda (315 E. Wisconsin Ave.).
The annual awards are presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize culinary professionals in the United States. Bell is a previous Beard Awards finalist. Baldwin has previously been a semifinalist. León is a first-time nominee.
Bell opened Bavette La Boucherie restaurant and butcher shop in 2013. The restaurant serves a daily changing menu of sandwiches, cheese and charcuterie and small plates.
Baldwin started his culinary career at Gil’s Cafe as a prep cook. He later worked at Bacchus, Harbor House and Mr. B’s, all owned by The Bartolotta Restaurants, and at Carnevor. He opened The Diplomat, which serves approachable American fare in a sharable plate format, in 2017.
León’s travels provided inspiration for Amilinda’s Spanish-Portuguese menu. Amilinda began in 2013 with a pop-up dinner format. He opened the brick-and-mortar location on Wisconsin Avenue in 2015.
More Favorable Nods
Several Milwaukee-area chefs and restaurants got nods in the semifinalists round in February, including Kyle Knall of Birch (Outstanding Chef), and Dan Jacobs and Dan Van Rite of EsterEv, the tasting menu restaurant inside DanDan, their Chinese American restaurant (Best Chef: Midwest).
Milwaukee’s Odd Duck (Outstanding Restaurant), Sanford (Outstanding Hospitality), Goodkind (Outstanding Bar Program) and the Black Shoe Hospitality (Outstanding Restauranteur) were also semifinalists.
Earlier this year, Solly’s Grille in Milwaukee was named one of six recipients to receive the James Beard Foundation's America's Classics Award for their butter burger.
Elsewhere is Wisconsin, Nicolas Blouin, executive pastry chef at Destination Kohler, in Kohler, Wis.; Daniel Bonanno of Pig in a Fur Coat, in Madison, Wis.; and Mary Kastman of Driftless Café, the Viroqua, Wis. restaurant owned by Wisconsin Foodie host Luke Zahm, were semifinalists. (Zahm was a James Beard semifinalist in 2017.) L’Etoile, in Madison, was a semifinalist for outstanding wine program.
Photo: driftlesscafe.com
Driftless Café - Viroqua, Wisconsin
Driftless Café - Viroqua
Minneapolis restaurateurs with Wisconsin roots are also representing the Midwest in the final rounds. Yia Vang, from Port Edwards, Wisconsin, now owns Union Kitchen in Minneapolis. Vang has held pop-ups in Milwaukee. Jorge Guzmán, chef-owner of Petite Leon, in Minneapolis, worked in La Crosse and has cooked at collaborative dinners in Milwaukee. Sean Sherman, co-owner of Owamni, an indigenous restaurant in Minneapolis, also made the finals. Sherman was born in Pine Ridge, S.D., and focuses on the revitalization and awareness of indigenous foods systems in a modern culinary context.
Winners will be announced at the awards ceremony—which was on hiatus for two years during the pandemic—June 13 in Chicago.
For more information, visit jamesbeard.org/blog/the-2022-james-beard-awards-nominees.
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Illustration by Michael Burmesch
Forgiveness heart
Forgiveness. For many of us, that proves a tough nut to crack. Often, when we harbor chronic resentment toward someone we feel has done us wrong, the emotional toxicity gradually intensifies. This mental toxin feeds on its host, not its target, which is why proponents of positive psychology encourage us to forgive ... or suffer the emotional, physical and spiritual consequences.
How do we know whether we are suffering the ill effects of being unforgiving? Along with the usual suspects—anxiety, depression and agitation—a key symptom is obsessive ruminating over the offending party and their hurtful actions. It feels like one is haunted by the painful memories. Liz was one such soul.
“I just feel sour inside, like being emotionally sick to my stomach,” she struggled to explain.
Letting Go
She felt incapable of letting go of resentment toward those who wronged her, which included some family and co-workers. Her reflexive approach was to write these persons off, or, if impossible, to minimize her interactions with them and, when those occurred, exhibit a cold-as-ice demeanor.
“I often ruminate about what these people said or did to me that was unfair or unkind,” she confessed.
Most of us have at least one person we can’t seem to forgive, which is understandable. There are offenses, particularly those driven by intentional malice, that don’t seem to deserve absolution, at least in the absence of a sincere apology from the perpetrator. Research suggests the most difficult offenses to forgive involve breaches of trust, such as embezzlement or infidelity, as well as being victimized, socially ostracized or harshly bullied. So, while Liz finally recognized her bitterness was corrosive to her well-being, she felt incapable of granting pardons to all. She embraced the common belief that we possess only two choices in such matters—forgive the person and make peace or remain bitter. Not so.
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Bury the Hatchet
The most clear-cut form of forgiveness is when we bury the hatchet with the other party, a reconciliation made far easier when that person apologizes for their misdeed. However, even when the offender is contrite, it can be challenging. It’s one thing to let go of rancor toward someone, but another altogether to interact with the offending person in a positive manner going forward. What’s more, when that individual remains unapologetic, the challenge is more about coming to terms with one’s self than them.
“When we can’t bring ourselves to forgive someone, and the bitterness is taking a toll on us, there is another way through,” I suggested to Liz.
If the offending party has no remorse, fails to apologize or is inaccessible (won’t respond, incapacitated, deceased, etc.), that doesn’t prevent us from letting go of our resentment. How? Acceptance. This does not require forgiving the other person. What it does require is letting go of the desire for fairness, a just outcome or a self-affirming resolution. It involves adopting the attitude of “It is what it is ... and will remain so.” Realizing there won’t be a satisfactory resolution and accepting that as an unchangeable reality helps the mind and heart let it go.
Releasing Ritual
If we struggle to embrace acceptance, as many do, it sometimes helps to employ a “releasing ritual” that engages the feeling brain not just the thinking one. Liz’s approach focused on an estranged relative who sent her scathing letters crammed with self-righteous criticism. They hadn’t spoken in years. In a ritual fashion, she burned the letters, collected the ashes and scattered them in a river at sunset. The outcome?
“I don’t think about it much anymore,” she reported. “And when I do, it feels more like disappointment than anger. I’m not churning inside.”
This kind of acceptance, as opposed to outright forgiveness, involves lightening up, unburdening oneself both emotionally and spiritually. Some years back, I was trudging through the Milwaukee airport in route to a wilderness trek, loaded down with baggage and gear, straining under the load. An elderly gentleman striding by, nothing in hand, stopped me in mid-stride.
“Do you know the Roman word for baggage?” he asked me, but despite my years of Latin, I had to admit I didn’t.
“Impedimenta,” he proclaimed before walking away.
Without acceptance, the emotional baggage of resentment weighs us down emotionally and spiritually, impeding our capacity to live our best life.
For more, visit philipchard.com.
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https://shepherdexpress.com/culture/comedy/charlie-berens-brings-manitowoc-minutes-to-milwaukee/
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Photo: Charlie Berens - Facebook
Charlie Berens with Old Fashioned
Charlie Berens
“When we’re all laughing together, it becomes easier to listen to each other. I’m not saying comedy is an answer to all the world’s problems, but it can be a step in the right direction,” says a hopeful, and often hilarious, Charlie Berens. His stand-up comedy and internet videos have made him an ambassador of an often distinctly Midwestern humor that gets people from all over the U.S. chuckling. Berens, a native of a Milwaukee suburb currently residing in the city proper, brings his act, including a live iteration of his Manitowoc Minute clips, to The Riverside Theater for 7 and 9:30 p.m. shows on Friday, April 8; and 3 and 7 p.m. shows on Saturday, April 9.
As with most everyone in his current profession, Berens began shilling shtick as a side hustle to a day job. Unlike most comedians, however, his main gigs as a television reporter and game show host gave him plenty of preparation for the work he's doing now.
“I think the idea of finding the quickest way to get to the point is important in both professions,” he observes. “In comedy you want to use very direct language in your set up to make the punch line punch. It’s similar in news. You never take for granted that your audience is paying attention, so you make the stories quick and informative.”
That Badger Accent
All the training Berens received at the University of Wisconsin Madison in broadcast communications, even by professors with voices smooth enough to work as NPR anchors, couldn’t relieve him of an indelible Badger State accent. “I remember one news job where I wasn’t even allowed to do voice overs because my voice was ‘too distracting,’” he recalls.
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But one person’s distraction can bring a much wider audience amusement. Of his Manitowoc Minute narrator, Berens remarks, as he reminiscences of an elder relative, “My character obviously accentuates the accent, but that was pretty easy. I just started imitating my Grandpa Bob.”
And though Berens’ comedy doesn’t entirely concern his home turf (“I also have a lot of material that has nothing to do with the Midwest. It’s just about my life and things everyone can relate to,” he says), those from his neck of the woods, proverbial and literal, share a kind of commonality that resonates with his humor.
“The thing about Midwest people is they find each other outside the Midwest. So, many of my shows are packed with Midwest people,” Berens says. People from his current hometown and cities bigger than Milwaukee can find what’s funny in goings on in Manitowoc and environs further “up nort’” as well. “The thing about big cities is they’re full of people from small towns. My goal is to highlight the quirks of Midwest people. It’s all in good fun though.”
If anyone in Berns’ audiences takes exception to his depictions of the life he rhapsodizes and lampoons in his act, however, he has first-hand experience to back him up. “I think it helps that all my jokes about those quirks are things I’ve done.” One of those things he has done frequently is visit the namesake town of the video series that brought him to many comedy lovers attention.
“I love Manitowoc and I visit often,” Berens affirms. As to how happened upon the idea for his Minute? “I named it the Manitowoc Minute after a guy from Manitowoc who came to one of my stand-up shows. At the time I thought it was going to be a one-off video. But that video was embraced, largely by people from Manitowoc, so I made another.” His ongoing bit has become something of a communal effort, too. “I also took a lot of suggestions from folks over the years. In many ways I feel like we all built this together.
“Anyone can come see it and get the jokes,” Berens affirms. “Some things need a little explaining, but that comes down to having a good set up. That’s actually where”—he harkens to his former profession—"the journalism skills can come into play. The quicker you can convey information to the widest audience, the easier it is for people to receive your information. or jokes in my case.
“I’m just trying to talk about what I know,” Berens concludes. “It’s been a pleasant surprise that a lot of other people can relate to it. My larger goal has been to create bridges with my comedy in a world dominated by social media bubbles.”
Give a listen to Berens relating to a crowd in Denver by tell of a skiing misadventure...
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Photo by Lotte Lillian
Newborn photo by Lotte Lillian
Newborn photo by Lotte Lillian
Lottie Royten is the genius behind the lens of Lottie Lillian Photography. You’ve likely seen her photos from different rites of ceremony in the greater Milwaukee area and beyond. From family and newborn photos to couples’ engagements and weddings, Lottie has an eye to capture any of life’s major moments.
Where does your passion for photography come from?
My father—he was a huge documentarian. Being a man serving in the military, he traveled all over the world and brought his photos and stories home with him. I always loved the memories he would share with us; we would sit together as a family and watch his slideshows, closely listening to every story he shared. Eventually, I got my first camera—a pink 110mm Kodak with a flash cube you screwed into the top – which sparked my interest as a child. I really wish I still had it!
Originally, I started with high school seniors and family photo shoots. Facebook was just taking off, so when I shared my work socially, my business and reach grew exponentially. My images were exposed to people of all different ages which called for capturing many of life’s different moments at different stages of people’s lives. Once I photographed my first wedding, I was hooked!
How have you made such a name for yourself around Milwaukee?
I've been so intertwined in the community for so long I feel like because I was a trainer at a local health club before becoming a professional photographer. So, I got to know and meet quite a few people in the greater Milwaukee area.
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After 18 years in the physical training industry, I wasn’t finding it to be wanted I wanted to do with my life, but I am forever grateful for that time in my life. So, I made an intentional career switch towards professional photography.
I think I love photography so much because I genuinely love humans and like to hear their stories. I’ve forever been fascinated by human movement, hence my degree in Kinesiology, but I quickly realized how fun and fulfilling it was to capture emotion, or rather, energy in motion (E-MOTION).
How did you make your way into destination weddings?
A couple found me on Instagram and hired me to do an engagement session. They were students at Marquette University and were interested in getting photos around the city of Milwaukee. They ended up really liking them, so they flew me out to be their wedding photographer in Tucson, Arizona. Other than my own wedding, this was my first destination on the job.
It was at the Ritz-Carlton in Tucson and it was epic! It was one of my most memorable weddings to date. It was an August wedding, and the seasonal ran came pouring down just after the ceremony during picture time.
The couple was so great and in good spirits the whole time, even in the rain. Then, toward the very end of their portraits, a full rainbow was behind them, and it turned out to be their (and my) most favorite photo of the day! It really was magical.
How have weddings changed over the years?
COVID-19 obviously put a lot of things on hold, but since restrictions have lifted the wedding industry is booming again. 2022 is expected to be the biggest influx of weddings in 40 years!
Of course, there are cancellations and travel restrictions which make logistics for weddings much less dependable than we were used to before the pandemic. But people have never stopped falling in love and getting married, so business has carried on despite COVID-19
What is the day of the wedding like for you?
No two weddings are alike, so it’s hard to say. One thing I try to keep consistent is my level of energy, positive outlook, and my excitement level for all couples. People ask me if I get sick of weddings, and I really don’t—truly love them and enjoy shooting them.
I have photographed 25-30 weddings per year for the past 10 years, so it’s important to me to limit the number of weddings I take on in order to keep some time for my personal life. But being at weddings on the weekend is always a good time in my book, even if I’m working.
Why the move from wedding to baby photos?
The pandemic gave me the time to assess what I really wanted out of my life and what my priorities were. And, since weddings were paused or canceled, the newborn photo shoots were on the rise. I noticed how much more time I could have to myself by doing a lot of newborn shoots (on newborn hours) rather than shooting weekend-long events like weddings. That said, I do still take on certain wedding clients, depending on the ask.
What is your photo editing process like?
I’ve been asked a lot about what I’m watching since COVID-19 started, but I don’t watch a lot of TV while I work, especially in the editing room. After 10 years of doing the same editing tricks, I can basically edit with only my eyes at this point. So, instead I listen to audio books. I have read (or rather listened to) over 60 books since the start of COVID and learned a lot during that time. I like to learn while I create, in whatever way possible.
How to connect with Lottie Lillian Photography
You can connect with me through my website www.lottielillian.com—or any inquiries about booking. All of my social media handles are there too, but I’m mainly on Instagram since it’s so image based. My Instagram is @lottie.lillian if anyone wants to follow along my journey. It’s almost wedding season, so I have a lot to look forward to in 2022.
Photo by Lotte Lillian
Rainbow wedding photo by Lotte Lillian
Wedding photo by Lotte Lillian
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Photo by Matthew Murphy
Ain't Too Proud Broadway show
Ain't Too Proud
The Temptations were one of the building blocks of Motown’s empire. Based on founder Otis Williams’ book, the stage production Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations recounts the rise (and in some cases fall) of this band of brothers as they chase success, initially as children of the South adapting to the streets of Detroit.
The fast-paced production is built on dozens of tunes, from the group’s early success (“not exactly Langston Hughes but it made the charts”) to songs like "My Girl" and "I Wish It Would Rain," that have become an enduring soundtrack for continuing generations.
Marcus Paul James as Williams, the group’s guiding light, leads the quintet as they get signed to by Berry Gordy Jr.’s record label, recording songs written by Smokey Robinson.
“Quality control is my secret weapon at Motown,” Gordy tells Williams. And like that city’s legendary automobile assembly lines Williams builds the group to its classic lineup of himself, Melvin Franklin, Paul Williams, Eddie Kendricks and David Ruffin.
Written by Dominique Morisseau, directed by Des McAnuff and choreographed by Sergio Trujillo, the two-act performance is part history lesson and part American success story, as Williams’ determination pays off in his quest to keep The Temptations revitalized. The tightly choregraphed cast matches the up-tempo energy of the classic songs, performed by a crack band.
The everchanging marquee backdrop serves as a Greek chorus, moving the group across the country and on to London. Cameos from Motown’s golden era by The Supremes and Tammi Terrell add depth but it is the self-destructive demise of both Kendricks and Ruffin that illuminate fame’s dark side. Ruffin’s story is right out of Shakespeare.
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Early on, Williams gives up on songwriting to focus on the group’s success. Sharkskin suits give way to wide collars as the ‘60s waned and producer Norman Whitfield guides the band away from ballads to proto-funk and psychedelic material like "Cloud Nine" and “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone.” In closing, as the lone surviving member from the group’s glory years, Williams reflects philosophically on the career of The Temptations and his refrain of never looking back.
Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations plays through April 10 at Uihlein Hall at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts milwaukee.broadway.com/shows/aint-too-proud.
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Image: RomoloTavani - Getty Images
Wine and grapes
Old World society says Harry Charles Albert David Duke of Sussex is nobility and Rachel Meghan Markle wasn’t. Old World society says Meghan Markle was a commoner. But Harry and Meghan got married, and they had a son, Archie, and a daughter, Lillibet.
More than 98% of the wine we drink is made from Vitis Vinifera grapes—a single species of the Vitis genus of the Ampelidaceae family of vines. There are more than 10,000 strains of the Vitis vinifera species of grapes. Just six of them comprise more than 80% of the wine Americans drink. They are so-called noble grapes—pinot noir, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, and riesling.
The roots of today’s viticulture lie in the Neolithic soils of the southern Caucasus Mountains, a region which includes parts of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, and northern Iran and Iraq. In the Neolithic era, viticulturalists around the Black and Caspian Seas cultivated Vitis vinifera vines. Viticulture and Vitis vinifera made their way to Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Mediterranean. Roman society advanced how viticulturists grew grapes and viniculturists made wine. Monks of the medieval Roman Catholic Church developed enduring ideas and techniques of grape farming and wine making. The Old World society of Europe codified wines made from Vitis vinifera strains as quality.
Do the genus of Vitis vinifera and its strains of noble grapes owe their supremacy and nobility to the history of viticulture and viniculture of the Old World? Do they owe it to Old World migrants who imported their vines to the New Worlds of the Americas, South Africa and Oceania? Do they owe it to New World climates and soils, which don’t necessarily favor Old World vines?
What about the two percent of wine which isn’t made from Vitis vinifera strains? That two percent is made from species like Vitis riparia, Vitis berlandieri, Vitis rupestris, Vitis labrusca, and Vitis aestivalis. That two percent is also made from hybrid vines and their grapes. Hybrids are the kinds of vines and grapes the state of Wisconsin cultivates and vinifies best.
Hybrids refer to crossings of two species of Vitis vines. They include crossings of vine species native to North America with Vitis vinifera species. Viticulturists create hybrids primarily to resist biotic stresses, like fungal diseases, and abiotic stresses, like frost. In a climate like ours and with soils like ours, cultivating hybrids is the best way to make wine. The University of Minnesota Horticultural Research Center has made a specialty of developing high-quality, cold-hardy, disease-resistance hybrid grapes like Frontenac Noir, Marquette, Bluebell, Swenson Red, Itasca, La Crescent, and Edelweiss. (The University of Minnesota developed Swenson Red and La Crescent with Wisconsin native Elmer Swenson.)
The Wine and Spirits Education Trust, a leading global wine educator, teaches that hybrid grapes, by nature, make lesser quality wines. It’s fair to say that hybrids, relative to wines made from Vitis vinifera grapes, can display a lack of complex aromas and flavors, along with off-aromas and off-flavors. It’s fair to say that hybrids lack the benefit of the thousands of years of viticulture and viniculture of Vitis vinifera wines. It’s also fair to say that wine is a product of agriculture, which is subject to its society, culture, and history, as well as its climate and soils. The more Wisconsin makes the culture of growing hybrid grapes and making hybrid wine its own, the more delicious hybrid wines we make.
What people call quality wine is a custom of their society and culture. Like doublets and hose for gentlemen. Like chaperones for unmarried women. Like a class of people called noble and a class of people called common. Like high-alcohol cabernet sauvignon and oaky chardonnay. An Old World society may call six strains of the Vitis vinifera species its nobility. A New World society like ours—with our climate, our soils, and our history—isn’t obliged to.
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Image: RomoloTavani - Getty Images
Art Kumbalek with Easter bunny
I’m Art Kumbalek and man oh manischewitz what a world, ain’a? So listen, I’m eyeballing the monthly calendar I’ve got nailed to the wall in the kitchen of my dinky apartment and, lo and behold, I noticed there’s but a week and a half left to this year’s furshlugginer Lenten season, and as a longtime Catholic of the Seriously Lapsed Order, I realized that I have not yet decided what to forego or give up, as the observance requires, what the fock.
Of course, I have given up the hope for a long and prosperous future but I did that years ago and it had nothing to do with this bullshit Lent. It was simply an act of taking reality to my bosom, since it was the only bosom I could find.
I know that a lot of Sunday kneelers choose to sacrifice the alcoholic cocktail for Lent, but for me that would be a weak choice, as WC Fields said, “Now don’t say you can’t swear off drinking; it’s easy. I’ve done it a thousand times.” Ba-ding!
So with about 10 days to go, what to do? Well sir, I’ve decided to put on hold the pricing of Costa Rican beachfront property ’til after Easter, how ’bout that? And since the “Rich Coast” skews Catholic, in some way I think my Lenten ass is covered, done and done.
Yes sir, I’m praying that such a piously flaccid lack of effort on my part might at least be good enough to knock off a couple, three hundred years from the holy ghastly total purgatory time I’m sure I’m sentenced to serve ’til I get sprung to heaven where I just might consider filling out an angel application, what the fock.
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I’ll tell you what sucks, though, and that would be our Catholic prisoners locked up in the hoosegow for this-and-that during their stay on our earthly Earth. Imagine you finally served your time and get released from the big house and you’re walking across the street to enjoy your first ice-cold bottled beer in twenty-focking-five years and you get hit by a bus. Next thing you know, you wake up in purgatory where you’re scheduled to spend the next 3,000 years with nothing to wear but a soiled pair of BVDs chock-full of hot coals whilst getting bare-backed whipped 24/7. Yeah, that would blow big time, ain’a?
And as a deep level of hell circles the world, lo, these days, it is difficult to entertain even a mealy modicum of joy, unless you reside around about Brewtown, “The City That Always Sweeps,” the city that includes the kingly mensch deservedly inspiring citizen, Giannis Antetokounmpo from your Milwaukee Bucks. Giannis for president? Why the fock not. Got my vote, you betcha.
You know, I’d like to imagine that Giannis is at least an occasional reader of the Shepherd, ’cause why not? After all “shepherd” could have been his gig over there in Greece if he had not possessed the supreme basketball skills that he does possess, ain’a?
But god bless him, in recent post game pressers with all the sports reporter questions, our Cream City saint has taken to opening with a light-hearted question of his own, such as:
When the cows go out, where do they go? · “To the MOOOOOOvies!” Ba-ding!
Or:
What do you call a cow on the floor?… anybody knows?… Ground beef! Ba-ding!
And, of course:
Why could the bicycle not stand on its own? It was too tired! Ba-ding!
His delivery of these bon mots is as unique as is his indefensible Euro-step on the court.
Now, I’ve read that Giannis has always been fiercely determined to work extremely hard so’s to improve every aspect of his game. And so, as an unsolicited coach, I would like to suggest that the young man step-up his post-game repertoire and go for something a little more long-form, say, something like the following:
So, teacher walks to the blackboard one day and sees someone had written the word “penis” in tiny letters. She turns to the class, looks at the faces for a guilty one, no such luck, so she quickly erases the offensive word and begins class.
Next day, teacher walks into class and notices, in larger letters this time, that word “penis” on the blackboard again. She looks around the classroom for the culprit with no luck, so she erases the word and begins another lesson. And every day for a week, teacher sees the same word on the blackboard, written larger than the day before, but she cannot find the perpetrator.
Finally comes the day the teacher enters but instead of seeing “penis” on the blackboard, reads the following, “Hey Teach’, lesson for the day: The more you rub it, the bigger it gets.” Ba-ding!
I guarantee, Giannis, you launch the above little story delivered with your signature boyish enthusiasm during a post-game presser and it will bring down the house nearly equal to if you had windmill-dunked over the Suns’ Deandre Ayton to secure a Bucks’ consecutive NBA championship, I kid you not.
All right, ladies and gents. I’m out of here and please drive safely. Say good night, Artie. “Good night, Artie,” ’cause I’m Art Kumbalek and I told you so.
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The Shepherd Setlist is a collaboration between the Shepherd Express and Milwaukee music website, Breaking And Entering.
Clayton – “Somehow Beautiful”
Clayton is fresh off of the release of his 2 pk project, with the video for lead track “Somehow Beautiful.” The song is a strong combination of his R&B tones and a little bit of hip hop swagger, with lyrics about escaping from a relationship that fell apart. There’s notions of loneliness and anxiety taking over, and the need to persevere when things get rough. Clayton is a true talent, and you can expect a lot more from him this year. (Allen Halas)
Josh Evert – “Another Deity”
Experimental pop artist Josh Evert, known for his work with Silver City Studios, is gearing up to release his debut full-length album 7 Islands and he’s out with the first single. “Another Deity” is inspired by the poetry of Danez Smith and carries a sunny, nautical feel with esoteric lyrics – we look forward to the album in full. Evert, who has worked extensively with field recordings in the past, is currently crowdfunding via IndieGoGo for his ambitious artist residency in the Arctic Circle; he plans to gather field recordings while on board a research vessel. Pretty neat, huh? You can donate here. (Ben Slowey)
Guerrilla Ghost Featuring Nile & Taiyamo Denku – “Fifth Heaven”
Guerrilla Ghost are preparing for the release of their new album, Hell Is Empty and All the Devils Are Here, and they’ve enlisted the help of Nile and Taiyamo Denku for a single from the new project, “Fifth Heaven.” Produced by Tron Jovi, the track features an overpowering synth, in the signature dystopian production style that makes Guerrilla Ghost what it is, and all three emcees bring their own contribution to the table. The verses talk about racism, being held down, and taking back the power with a trio of aggressive flows. The video from CTM Films positions the crew in the cemetery delivering the track, in theme with the title. Be sure to check out Guerrilla Ghost at the release of their new record alongside Spoy on April 14th at Best Place at the Pabst Brewery. (Allen Halas)
Bryan Cherry – Trainwreck
Funk-soul rocker Bryan Cherry’s got a new EP out. It’s three songs of love’s trial and error, punctuated by Cherry’s passionate delivery. “No Good Kind of Lover” is about being toxic in a long-term relationship, the title track details being down in the dumps, and “You and Only You” finds Cherry eager to make things work. There’s a country flare to these songs as well, exemplifying his comfortability with stylistic intersections. Bryan Cherry belts out love’s complexities with “Trainwreck.” (Ben Slowey)
Puerto Wiccan Featuring Tay Diego – “Michelle”
Puerto Wiccan and Tay Diego dropped a new video recently, and they don’t hold back on “Michelle.” Trading bars in the hook, the track hits hard, with a big trap beat that keeps the energy up. Both artists rap with no reservations, with Diego bringing some clever bars and a relentless flow. Puerto Wiccan follows up with her trademark swagger, asserting herself as one of the top emerging artists in the city’s rap scene. “Michelle” is a track that you’re gonna feel obligated to run back a few times with it’s infectious style. Check out the video from CTM Films. (Allen Halas)
Concert Announcements
April 13 – Living Hour, Large Print, Bug Moment at Cactus Club
April 22 – Vacation, Dusk, Toadskin at Cactus Club
April 23 – School of Rock Shorewood Showcase at X-Ray Arcade
April 24 – Wonderful Bluffer, Adorner, Josh Trimble at X-Ray Arcade
May 7 – Suzanne Vega at The Pabst Theater
May 12 – The High Hawks at The Back Room at Colectivo
May 14 – Green Velvet, Ryan McCrory, Captain, Carbonella at The Miramar Theatre
June 15 – Daniel Thrasher at The Back Room at Colectivo
July 27 – Bit Brigade, Super Guitar Bros. at X-Ray Arcade
August 6 – Why Don’t We, The Aces, Jvke at BMO Harris Amphitheater
August 25 – The Wallflowers at Turner Hall Ballroom
September 9 – Oteil & Friends at The Riverside Theater
September 21 – Arlo Parks at The Pabst Theater
October 3 – Father John Misty at The Riverside Theater
November 22 – Mac Demarco at The Riverside Theater
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Photo: Bliffert Lumber & Hardware
Bliffert Lumber solar panels
Bliffert Lumber solar panels
Bliffert Lumber & Hardware’s Riverwest location is committed to reducing its carbon footprint. In March, the first full month of solar energy production, they exceeded expectations with a calculated environmental benefit of 9,606.11lb CO2 emission saved or the equivalent 72.58 trees planted.
January saw the installation of the Arch Solar-designed solar solution for the Wisconsin climate for Bliffert’s Riverwest location. The solar array will offset 54.67% of Bliffert's electrical consumption with an estimated annual savings of $10,329 / 63,648 kWh produced by solar annually.
“Anyone in construction knows that reducing the environmental impact of the industry is a heavy burden to shoulder. Bliffert’s commitment to reduce their carbon footprint and set an example for the community has been a motivating journey,” said Andrew Holmstrom of Arch Solar.
Photo: Bliffert Lumber & Hardware
Bliffert Lumber solar panels
Bliffert Lumber solar panels
For over 115 years Bliffert Lumber and Hardware has been part of the local community. Bill Fogle, of the fifth-generation family-owned business said, “We are proud to invest in solar, a solution that is innovative and forward-looking in addition to saving costs and hope we can inspire others in the industry and the community to follow our lead.”
More information: bliffertlumber.com/about-us and archelec.com/about-arch.
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Summary:
- 588 new cases
- 1 new deaths, 1 total death added to system
- 12,815 total deaths;
- 157 hospitalized patients, 26 in ICU
Source: Wisconsin Department of Health Services
On Wednesday, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services reported an additional 588 new COVID-19 cases. The state has averaged 412 new cases per day in the last week.
On this day last year, there were 785 new cases, and a 7-day average of 671 cases per day. In 2020, 141 cases were recorded, with a 7-day average of 176 cases per day.
Source: Wisconsin Department of Health Services
There was one new death added to the Department of Health Services system, putting the total Wisconsin death toll at 12,815. A lag in death reporting statewide has affected these numbers.
In Milwaukee County, there were 89 new confirmed cases reported and have been 268,548 total cases in the county since the pandemic began. The 7-day average in the county is 77 cases per day. None of the deaths added to the state system were attributed to Milwaukee County, putting the county death toll at 2,278 since the beginning of the pandemic.
If you are looking for COVID-19 testing or vaccination, consult the Wisconsin Department of Health Services website.
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Image: traffic_analyzer - Getty Images
United States map with marijuana leaves
For the second time, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a marijuana reform bill that would end the federal prohibition on cannabis. It is the same bill as the first time, with two minor amendments.
The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act was the first marijuana legalization bill to be put to a floor vote in Congress in more than 50 years, and it passed both times it was submitted to a vote. Both votes were in the House, as it was never presented to the Senate. The MORE Act did not become law, despite being passed by the House in December 2020, because the Republican-majority Senate, then under the leadership of former Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, let it die without even a vote.
About the MORE Act
The MORE Act would strictly remove all criminal penalties for the possession, manufacture or distribution of cannabis and directly expunge all related convictions. It would then be the role of the state legislatures in states that have not yet legalized marijuana to update state laws to join the existing marijuana market in legal states or ban it locally. It would also remove the barrier that state borders currently represent, as it is currently illegal to cross state lines with marijuana, even to travel from one legal state to another legal state.
The bill aims to levy a 5% excise tax on all recreational marijuana products sold to fund programs and grants dedicated to social justice provisions. The MORE Act, if it were to pass, would increase federal tax revenue by more than $8 billion by 2031, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The bill would also reduce law enforcement and incarceration costs by granting release to some federal prisoners and reducing the need for further policing. The Budget Office estimates that the Act would result in net savings of about $800 million over the 2022-2031 period.
Currently, under the Controlled Substances Act, marijuana is a Schedule I drug. That is the most serious category, dedicated to “drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse,” such as heroin. It is wrong for many reasons: Marijuana does have multiple accepted medical uses, it is not physically addictive, and marijuana cannot kill, no matter the dose ingested. Yet, arrests for marijuana are astoundingly high and occupy a massively oversized share of police time and resources.
As usual, the votes for the MORE Act closely followed party lines on both sides, 220-204 in favor of Democrats, repeating the scenario seen in December 2020. The margin of victory was smaller this year, as opposed to 228-164 the first time the MORE Act passed the House. In 2020, there were five votes in favor of reform among Republicans. There were only three Republican votes in favor of it, this week: Reps. Matt Gaetz (FL), Brian Mast (FL) and Tom McClintock (CA).
Among Democrats, support for the MORE Act is as universal as could be. Only two Democrats, Reps. Henry Cuellar (TX) and Chris Pappas (NH), opposed the measure. Rep. Pappas commented on his reasons, citing an alleged loophole that might grant release from incarceration to some drug traffickers with offenses more serious than the selling of cannabis itself, such as distributing drugs to minors. “I support decriminalizing marijuana,” Rep. Pappas declared, but he decried flaws he wished to have addressed with an amendment proposal while he supports the rest of the bill.
The Future of the Bill
Support for cannabis reform from Senate leadership is clear, which is a significant change from the MORE Act’s first round in Congress. This time, the Senate is under Democratic control, with precisely 50 Democrats and affiliates among senators, and a tie-breaking vote by Vice-president Kamala Harris that should in theory secure victory for Democrats.
However, several hurdles lay in the bill’s future. First, not all Democrats are in favor of marijuana legalization; the conservative wing of the party, represented by a few senators such as Sen. Joseph Manchin (WV), stands in the way of reform. In order to pass the Senate, the bill needs to secure 60 votes to be safe from an inevitable Republican filibuster. As we can expect a few dissenting voices among Democrats, the MORE Act’s success would require more than 10 Republicans voting in favor of it. It seems essentially impossible, given the Republican Party’s track record of shooting down anything resembling progress.
On the bright side, the future of marijuana legalization does not entirely rely on the success of the MORE Act. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has been working on his own legalization bill, the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act, in collaboration with marijuana reform champions, Sens. Cory Booker (NJ) and Ron Wyden (OR). Sen. Schumer intends to introduce this Act in the immediate future to keep the ball of marijuana reform rolling. If the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act receives a vote in the Senate, it will be the first time since Nixon that the Senate voted on cannabis reform; it would also be the first legalization bill other than the MORE Act to be considered by the U.S. Congress.
“The War on Drugs has been a war on people—particularly people of color,” Schumer wrote in defense of his bill. “Today, more than 90 percent of Americans believe cannabis should be legal either for adult or medical use.” The failed prohibition on marijuana is a stain on America’s history, one that could be easily washed off if just a dozen Republicans pivoted away from mindless obstructionism and towards serving the interests of the American people. The vast majority of Americans, including a majority of Republican voters, explicitly want legal marijuana.
“As Senate Majority Leader, I can set priorities,” Sen. Schumer declared. “And comprehensive federal cannabis legalization with justice for the communities most impacted by the War on Drugs—especially communities of color—is a Senate priority. We will move forward.”
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Photo: Milwaukee Artists Resource Network
Grilled Cheese Grant sign
The Grilled Cheese Grant
The Grilled Cheese Grant is an annual emerging artist exhibition program that fundraises for thesis projects of undergraduate seniors at UW-Milwaukee and the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD). They have a kickoff event each year where attendees may donate $5 or more and receive a grilled cheese sandwich made with locally sourced cheese and bread. Finalists for the Grant are selected by a panel of jurors who— to keep things as unbiased as possible—are artists not connected to UW-Milwaukee or MIAD. Each grilled cheese recipient also receives a ballot, where they vote for one of the five finalists. The grant aims to fully fund the winning finalist’s thesis project while partially funding the remaining four.
Rachel Hausmann-Schall is one of the current organizers of The Grilled Cheese Grant, along with Alyssa Anderson and Joe Acri.
“Seven years ago,” Hausmann-Schall explained, “the project was started by an artist collective called After School Special, which I was a founding member of. At the time we had all just graduated MIAD and had finished putting together our thesis projects. There was a scholarship that the school awarded to one or two seniors to help them create their thesis, but none of the seven or eight of us that helped found this program were the recipients of that, and we thought that there should be more opportunities for funding for students.
“We created this program to support subsequent peers that would be in the same position. A lot of us put a lot of money towards what we were making; depending on what it was, it could cost up to a thousand dollars. We based the program off of a model we had heard about in Chicago called Sunday Soup, and the idea was that a group of artists came together for a meal, and their admission would be a couple bucks in a jar. The money would get pooled together, and throughout the course of the dinner these artists would throw out ideas for a proposed project, and at the end everyone would vote on and decide who gets the jar of money. We subbed out the soup for grilled cheese to have a tie to Wisconsin. We’re aware of dietary needs, so we do offer gluten-free and vegan options at the event.”
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Because of COVID, The Grilled Cheese Grant was unable to have sandwiches for the last two years; the fundraising and voting were instead done entirely virtual. They have received their bread from bakeries such as Breadsmith and Troubadour while getting the cheese from Clock Shadow Creamery. A small percentage of donations received are kept by the organizers for future programming, and another percentage is donated to a local community organization (this year it was Diverse & Resilient).
Over the past six years, The Grilled Cheese Grant has cumulatively raised over $7,000 to support 14 emerging artists and award 10 solo exhibitions. Last year they raised enough money to fully fund four of the five finalists’ thesis projects, even without an in-person event. Their seventh annual event returned to in-person this year at Milwaukee Artist Resource Network on March 26. Programming and events followed through April 3.
“The cafe in MARN is called Interval and they were very generous to cook the sandwiches for us,” Hausmann-Schall said. “In past years it was always a one-day event, so the exhibition would go up and then everybody would gather for a day like a week later. This year we weren’t sure about the COVID landscape and didn’t want too many people gathering, so we had our opening reception where people would come and go, and then voting and donations remained open for a week. We wanted to extend the time that people could interact with the work and learn about the artists, which we didn’t really do previously.”
The Grilled Cheese Grant’s sponsors this year included—but weren’t limited to—the Marcus Corporation Foundation, MARN, Portrait Society Gallery, Var Gallery, Wisconsin Visual Artists, and Artdose Magazine. The 2022 finalists were Ava Hager, Olivia Lorber, Lilly Luft, Sha’Tuon Simpson and Eduardo Zavala.
Hausmann-Schall said about the event, “We had about 100-120 people trickle in and out throughout the night. I was worried that we wouldn’t have enough supplies for grilled cheese, but we didn’t run out, which is great (laughs). Alyssa Anderson comes up with some amazing merch items every year; this year she made a bandana, a keychain, and an acrylic cheese mirror.”
She shares what some of their goals are for The Grilled Cheese Grant in the future.
“We do want to be more inclusive of other schools in the community that might also benefit from this—for example, Carthage or Mount Mary or Carroll. I think that would be a very natural next step for us. Also, this year we’ll be offering to one of the finalists a mentorship opportunity with an established artist in Milwaukee. We’ve awarded solo exhibitions to some of the finalists in the past so that they can continue making and showing their work, and we’ve been organizing a few of those this coming June at Walker’s Point Center for the Arts. There’s so many more aspects than just money that we could help the finalists with, and we’re determining the logistics with that.”
For more information about The Grilled Cheese Grant, visit their website: grilledcheesegrant.com.
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Who connects the dots better than Lenny Kaye? Equal parts writer, historian and musician, he compiled the original collection of garage bands with the double album Nuggets and has collaborated as guitarist with Patti Smith since her groundbreaking career began decades ago.
Kaye is the perfect choice for time-travelogue guide. With Lightning Striking: Ten Transformative Moments in Rock and Roll, he deftly moves between the cities where 10 big bangs occurred. The American ground zeros of Cleveland, Memphis and New Orleans in the ‘50s set the stage with “Not only epic characters, but those hovering off-frame, there for the instamatic and then gone.”
After one of the biggest strikes in Liverpool, Kaye enters the slipstream himself, as an embedded participant recalling trips to San Francisco and Woodstock before writing about the loudest strike in Detroit 1969, OK? Where there was “war across the USA.” The keen observer will note MC5 guitarist Fred “Sonic” Smith’s Mosrite guitar on the book’s dust jacket.
In hindsight, the natural progression to The Clash and Sex Pistols in London comes off as a tidal wave, but it’s the prior chapter that is the prize in the crackerjacks. In NYC 1975, Kaye is more than a fly on the wall. His recollections of an era that predate the metamorphosis of dive bar CBGB, are part of the very foundation that “alternative” music will be constructed.
Ever restless, the searcher in Kaye takes the reader to Los Angles and Norway where he proves genres hair- and black metals both meddle with a sound that traces its nom du rock to a William Burroughs novel. In Seattle he excavates the roots of grunge and puts faces on those who made the scene happen as well as those determined to burn out before they would fade away.
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https://shepherdexpress.com/culture/books/rescuing-socrates-how-the-great-books-changed-my-life-and-wh/
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Roosevelt Montás was a teenage Dominican immigrant in New York when he discovered a stack of books left by a neighbor on the curbside as garbage. One of them was Plato’s dialogues on the last days of Socrates, the record of the thoughts of a philosopher who chose death over falsehood. The dialogues changed him, although at the time he couldn’t explain how, and opened a window onto a world of contrasting ideas and well-reasoned wisdom.
Montás earned a scholarship to Columbia where that window opened wider thanks to the school’s Core Curriculum. Now Director of Columbia’s Center for the Core Curriculum, Montás
is staving off the efforts by the apparatchiks of academia to throw “great books” programs into the garbage of history.
Rescuing Socrates is a memoir, a history of American higher education and an impassioned argument for the essential value of the humanities in education. Knowledge in a data-driven society is a click away. Knowing how to use knowledge is something else altogether. Great thinkers of the past can show us how.
The portions of Rescuing Socrates devoted to Montás’ impoverished childhood in the Dominican Republic and disadvantaged high school years in Queens are especially moving, but Montás is assured throughout and on solid footing. Rescuing Socrates is a critique of the impoverishment of education by a mixed crew of culprits—the postmodern fashionistas who deny the ideals of truth and virtue alongside a managerial establishment for whom colleges exist to train worker ants for their tasks in the hive of a market society.
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As for those who say that liberal education based on classic texts is elitist, Montás responds not only by expanding the curriculum but by insisting that the goal of education in a democracy should be to lift everyone up, not dumb most of us down. Students should read books that help them to think, not texts that dull their minds.
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After writing books about Wall Street and Warren Buffet, Roger Lowenstein turns to the economics of the Civil War in Ways and Means. He reminds us that few Northerners cared much about the fate of slaves and fought instead to preserve the Union—a word that conjured a vision of free white industrial labor and small farms spread like a comfortable quilt across the continent.
To win the war, Abraham Lincoln and the Republican-controlled Congress (the GOP was the liberal party in those days) retooled the federal government as an engine of progress, financing infrastructure and contributing greatly to the general wellbeing of the nation, “They launched the country’s first truly national currency, created a national banking system and the first credible program for federal taxation. They inserted the government into railroads, education, agriculture, immigration, the sciences, financial regulation,” Lowenstein writes. Some of these measures were done to defeat the Confederacy while others had been proposed for decades but stymied by politicians from the backward South.
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https://shepherdexpress.com/culture/comedy/jimmie-jj-walker-is-still-dyn-o-mite/
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Photo: Cinnamon Studios via Jimmie JJ Walker - Facebook
Jimmie "JJ" Walker standup
Jimmie "JJ" Walker
“I’m a comic, not an actor,” Jimmie “JJ” Walker clarifies, reiterating, “I don’t know much about acting.”
Yet, it’s the acting role for which Walker acquired his quote-marked middle name. Walker portrayed JJ Evans—the lanky, artistically-minded son prone to exclaim “Dyn-o-mite!” whenever something good happened to him—in “Good Times,” the “All in the Family” spin-off sitcom that spent the latter half of the 1970s on CBS’ prime time schedule. The stand-up comedy that preceded his television stardom—which he will be plying at the Northern Lights Theater in Potawatomi Hotel & Casino on Saturday April 9 for 7 and 9 p.m. shows—has essentially maintained the same spirit with which Walker imbued it during the Nixon administration.
“I come from the Johnny Carson era. Totally clean,” Walker says of both his vintage and his humor.
Though Walker is still able to play up his unexpected fame from a few decades ago, his greatest current satisfaction comes from a far less flashy goal. “I'm just trying to be funny, topical and clean,” he says. As to whether he remains game for an acting role, Walker seems open to the possibility. “Who knows what the industry thinks? I'm just a road comic.” And the circuit Walker navigates keeps him behind the mic “doing clubs 250-300 days a year,” by his estimation.
Photo: Jimmie JJ Walker - Facebook
Jimmie "JJ" Walker 1970s TV headshot
Jimmie "JJ" Walker
Walker seems grateful to number contemporaries such as George Wallace, Gary Muledeer, fellow sitcom star Gabe “Welcome Back Kotter” Kaplan and Williams & Ree as fellows of roughly the same era who are still entertaining crowds. As for those any surprises awaiting those who come out to see him at the Northern Lights Theater, Walker stays coy.
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“Oh, there's always something. The crew and work hard on that,” he says.
Though it’s been canceled recently, Walker makes a stack of comedic hay in his animated appreciation of Maury Povich's talk show here...
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Photo: Milwaukee Film - mkefilm.org
Oriental Theatre Milwaukee
The Oriental Theatre
Never saw John Carpenter’s version of The Thing in a theater? You’ll get a chance to jump from your seat when this year’s Milwaukee Film Festival showcases the 1982 science-fiction horror classic on 35mm.
The Milwaukee Film Festival is returning to cinemas for the first time since the pandemic began. However, it will like many such events retain a hybrid status with many options for viewing movies from home. The other news is that MFF has settled on Spring for its annual run, this year from April 21-May 5.
The upcoming festival will run at three historic cinemas, the Times, the Avalon and the recently, beautifully refurbished Oriental. The 2022 MFF features 284 films, including 134 feature-length fiction and documentaries and 150 short subjects. At least 75 out-of-town movie people—including directors, actors and the subjects of documentaries‚ will be in Milwaukee for the festival, making it a node in the industry’s circulatory system. All films on the program will enjoy at least one live screening. According to MFF Artistic Director Cara Ogburn, 52 percent of the features and all of the shorts will be accessible virtually.
This year’s MFF is composed of 15 programming tracks. The eclectic Art & Artist series includes films such as Set! a documentary on “competitive table setting,” and imperfect, about a troupe of disabled actors performing Chicago. Highlighting this year’s Black Lens is Neptune Frost, an Afro-future science-fiction musical; and Let the Little Light Shine, about a Black elementary school fighting erasure by gentrification. Topping Cine Sin Fronteras, What We Leave Behind is a powerful documentary of a family separated for 50 years by the Mexico-U.S. border.
Cinema Hooligante is the midnight movie category (perfect for The Thing). Delivering on the promise of its name, Cream City Cinema embraces eight locally made features and 39 shorts. Among the Documentary Festival Favorites are the search for a snow leopard in the Himalayas, Velvet Queen; and Speaking Truth to Power, featuring Congresswoman Gwen Moore. On the Film Feast menu, The Pursuit of Perfection explores Japanese cuisine and We Feed People looks at World Kitchen’s mission of providing food as humanitarian aid. Genrequeer is MFF’s LGBTQ track while North American Independent shows work by indie filmmakers from the U.S. and Canada.
There will be something for everyone at MFF. Rated K: For Kids values the formative influence can have on children. Short is Better includes this year’s Oscar-winning short subject and the music-oriented Sound Vision has Spike Lee’s collaboration with David Byrne, American Utopia; and Vinyl Nation, documenting the resurgence of LPs in our digitized world. The features and documentaries of Teen Screen were chosen by 12 Milwaukee area high school students. Worldviews samples from recent fiction films from around the world including Javier Bardem in The Good Boss and the festival’s opening night’s feature, The Pez Outlaw.
For more information, visit mkefilm.org.
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Photo by Sandy Reitman
Riley's Sandwich Shop exterior
Riley's Sandwich Shop
I’ve been keeping a close eye on Riley’s Sandwich Shop (4473 N. Oakland Ave.) but haven’t found myself in Shorewood during the day to see what it’s all about. But I couldn’t wait any longer and I packed up my little dog and headed to Riley’s for a dog-friendly sandwich experience.
Don’t worry, the shop follows all FDA protocol, keeping the sandwich making separate from the space where you order and let your dogs play. It’s an ideal spot for someone taking a stroll on Oakland and wants to pop in somewhere with the pup. Or it’s ideal for someone like me who likes my dog to enjoy Milwaukee as much as I do. I digress, let’s get to the sandwiches.
Being that I consider myself a sandwich aficionado, I think I know how to order at these types of places. Riley’s has a ton of options for steak, chicken, veggie, and dog-friendly items so it wasn’t very easy to choose. The owners John and Jess guided me through what’s popular and, in typically Sandy form, I went for other intriguing options.
Chicken and Steak
I wanted to taste a chicken and a steak option, knowing both sandwiches come cut in half so I could take two halves home with me. If you don’t already follow @rileysandwich on Instagram, it’s a great place to start when figuring out what to order—they showcase what’s inside the sandwich by doing a sorting of “unboxing” of the sandwich to see its contents. These little videos will make your mouth water, trust me.
I went for the “Terrible City” based on the clever name and the Chicken Aji Verde knowing I liked all the ingredients. They were both incredibly good and served fresh off the grill. The “Terrible City” was once a temporary sandwich in honor of last year’s ESPN commentary but has been kept on by its loyal fans. It consists of beef tenderloin steak, cheese, onion, beer cheese, dill pickle potato chips, and slaw. It’s even better than it sounds.
Photo by Sandy Reitman
Riley's Sandwich Shop - Terrible City sandwich
Riley's Terrible City sandwich
My second option, the Chicken Aji Verde, was all over their Instagram lately so I wanted that walking in. The sandwich is made of organic chicken breast, avocado, tomato, mozzarella, and house aji verde sauce (Peruvian green sauce with flavors of cilantro, parmesan, and lime). This was almost as if an arepa met a sandwich and came together as one. This might be my regular order, but I definitely have more to explore.
Whether dining in or taking out, Riley’s Sandwich Shop should be pinned on your food map. It’s a lovely experience with excellent food to pair. And they’re soon opening a Third Ward locations for all those drooling about the Shorewood location from downtown Milwaukee.
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Photo: The Tool Shed
The Rose sex toy
The Rose
It was early 2021 when the phone calls started. At first it was a trickle of a few per week, then growing to a steady stream of several calls per day. By autumn, our staff knew that the most frequently asked questions in our little sex toy shop would be about “The Rose,” a product that had gone viral on TikTok.
The Rose is a small, unassuming device, designed to look like a rose blossom. Using pulses of air, it creates a feeling of gentle suction when placed over the clitoris, nipples, or other sensitive body parts. While air pulse technology toys have been available since 2014, The Rose’s internet buzz made it seem cutting-edge. Glowing reviews reported fast and furious orgasms. Interest snowballed, and the industry scrambled to meet demand.
A phenomenon like this happens occasionally in the world of sexuality products. The 2012 release of best-selling erotic romance novel Fifty Shades of Grey brought a huge uptick in interest about sex toys in general, and BDSM-related products in particular (as well as unprecedented sales of Kegel balls, mostly because the book paints an unrealistic picture of typical user experience). Back in 1998, a landmark episode of the HBO series “Sex and the City” (SATC) opened floodgates of demand for “The Rabbit,” a dual-stimulation vibrator that has since spawned hundreds of imitators.
Women’s Pleasure
These moments arguably helped normalize the pursuit of sexual pleasure—particularly women’s pleasure—within mainstream cultural discourse. When Charlotte, the most buttoned-down SATC character, walked into a sex toy shop over two decades ago to purchase her Rabbit, some of the taboo around that activity was lifted. Women who had been hesitant to visit adult shops felt emboldened by the show to explore. Similarly, Fifty Shades gave license to many readers (a major portion of them straight-identified women) to talk more openly about their sexual fantasies and desires, and to seek out information on sensual experiences beyond penis-in-vagina intercourse.
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But there can be downsides to virality. Hype about a specific product often tends to reduce our complex relationship with sexuality to over-simplified stories. Most of us receive scant education around sexual pleasure while simultaneously absorbing unrealistic and narrow cultural messages about how sex is supposed to look and feel. That makes us susceptible to the allure of any hot new thing that promises to bring us ecstasy and make real our fantasies.
We’re All Different
SATC portrayed The Rabbit like an addictive substance. The toy created so much pleasure that Charlotte’s friends forced an intervention. That’s quite a story! Meanwhile, in real life, some users do indeed adore their Rabbits; it remains a favorite in many toy boxes. But others find that the toy doesn’t quite work with their anatomy, is too intense/not intense enough, or just plain doesn’t feel good to them. In other words, we’re all different, and we like different things. No single toy can be mind-blowingly awesome for everyone.
The impact of Fifty Shades’ popularity was more complicated. While some readers opened their minds to new erotic possibilities via power-play and kink, the way that Fifty Shades portrayed BDSM and consent was problematic and unrealistic. As a result, curious fans who added bondage, impact, and dominance/submission elements to their play often found themselves at a loss with how best to communicate their desires, boundaries and limits with partners. The framing of kink in the book didn’t offer an empowering template for negotiating fun, satisfying play.
As for The Rose, I’ve got a little advice. This item isn’t made by one company, but rather by an opaque, poorly controlled supply chain under different, sometimes sketchy, brands. If you decide to try it, look for a reputable seller (and/or consider similar products that offer a better warranty).
But far more importantly, when considering the larger picture of sexual pleasure, think of The Rose as just one possibility in a mosaic of sexual possibilities, rather than as a miracle device. Pleasure usually doesn’t boil down to one simple thing, it is situated within a dynamic context unique to each of us. The Rose may or may not blow your socks off. Regardless, you (and your socks) are wonderful as you are.
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https://shepherdexpress.com/music/album-reviews/disparate-parts-by-roxy-coss-outside-in-music/
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Jazz saxophonist Roxy Coss already had the compartmentalization of human life on her mind in the four-part suite that provides the nucleus of her quintet’s latest album, Disparate Parts. Coss was pregnant with her first child while plying her instrument to flesh out her own and—for the first time—her bandmates’ compositions.
To hear Parts as a reflection of her stamina under a time of the physical duress that comes with nurturing the life in her womb is something of a marvel. To absorb the project as a statement of a bandleader allowing her co-creators room to showcase their strengths, it’s a gesture of generosity—perhaps most especially to keyboardist Miki Yamanaka and guitarist Alex Wintz. The latter evinces occasionally metallic riffage yet can apply the gentlest of nearly bell-like tones to Coss’ melodies.
Experiencing Parts as an extended musical rumination on Coss’ role as life-giver, though likely secondary to her original intention for the album, yields the ability to take it in as programmatic music that runs a gamut from majestic beauty to tuneful aggression.
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https://shepherdexpress.com/music/album-reviews/fear-of-the-dawn-by-jack-white-third-man-records/
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For all of Jack White’s mystery and mythology—a good deal of it generated by the man himself—he has long been nakedly devoted to rock ‘n’ roll music. His fourth solo album, Fear of the Dawn, is another expression of that devotion.
It’s also a continuation of White’s peculiarly expansive primitivism, within which he sticks to simple song forms and simultaneously complicates them via production techniques, instrumental experimentation and general fiddling-about.
The simplicity and complexity have precedents in the later White Stripes albums and White’s work within the Dead Weather and the Raconteurs, but with White definitively in solo mode and in charge—overseeing production and playing myriad instruments, including guitar, drums, and theremin—he’s freer to fiddle.
One of the most interesting diversions is “Hi-De-Ho,” with a broad honorable nod to and a direct sample of Cab Calloway, plus a playfully serious contribution from A Tribe Called Quest rapper Q-Tip that nudges White toward voodoo-shaman delirium a la Screamin’ Jay Hawkins.
“Into the Twilight” uses a different sample, from vocal quartet Manhattan Transfer’s 1979 song “Twilight Zone,” to connect stark piano, horror-movie organ, and crisp, shiny modern-rock beats into a kind of collage for a rock disco of the dreaming mind.
White can also still be as straight-ahead as the punk wildcat he was, or acted as if he was, 20 years ago in Detroit: “Taking Me Back” blows open the beginning of the album with riffs coming down like Norse god hammers, and “Morning, Noon, and Night” takes spooky, loving blues to a deserted carnival.
And Fear of the Dawn is the first of two Jack White albums this year; the other, Entering Heaven Alive, is due in July. If it’s as intense and musical as this one, the strength of his devotion, his faith, will be nearly unquestionable.
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Thriftones EP release show, Blades of Steel Metal Festival featuring Realm, conjunto music from Max Baca Y Los Texmaniacs, Shepherd Express Presents The 9th Stein & Dine and more—This Week in Milwaukee!
Thursday, April 7
Thriftones w/RESURRECTIONISTS + VSAL Moonwolf & The Federal Hippies @ Anodyne Walker’s Point, 8 p.m.
If at first you don’t succeed … Hopefully this time is the charm. After postponing in January, Thriftones play a show celebrating the release of the band’s new EP. The Milwaukee quartet of old souls played an epic set on a sweltering Friday afternoon at last year’s Summerfest with Matthew Davies riding the group’s thin wild mercury sound. shepherdexpress.com/music/concert-reviews/thriftones-kick-off-summerfest-friday
Photo credit: Kris Maz
Resurrectionists
Openers Resurrectionists are just lyrically off-kilter enough to keep you on your toes. The weeping pedal steel and country-gothic feel balance grit with brains. More info here: eventbrite.com/e/thriftones-live-ep-release-show-with-special-guests-tickets-256887626807?aff=ebdsoporgprofile.
Blades of Steel Metal Festival 2022 @ Club Garibaldi, 5 p.m.
DRI, Whiplash, Toxik, Skeletal Remains, Realm, Nunslaughter, Defiance, Mordred, Mortuary, Damien, Savage Master, Iron Flame, Wraith, Molder, Intent, Wolftooth, Bray Road, Tantivy, Inner Decay, Axxios, Black Knife, Squidhammer and DJ Alex Kayne – and more! Yes, more than 20 bands over three days including an appearance by Realm on Friday. Ear plugs are suggested. Through Saturday. More info here: myrockshows.com/event/574597-blades-of-steel-2022.
Friday April 8
NRBQ @ Colectivo Back Room, 8 p.m.
"Flat Foot Flewzy" by NRBQ
The New Rhythm & Blues Quartet moved over to Omnivore Recordings for the release of their most recent album Dragnet. Led by founding member Terry Adams (keyboards), the “new guys” Scott Ligon (guitar), Casey McDonough (bass) and John Perrin (drums) are links in a living musical legacy that began in 1965. The group’s new label is an apt home for a band that refuses to be pigeonholed to any genre. With smiles on their faces, they’ll effortlessly careen from rockabilly roots to smart power pop to R&B, natch.
A 2019 Milwaukee show dredged up this memory, “When Adams finally took his first vocal turn on, it was ‘Places Far Away,’ a fine homage to Sun Ra with a moody falling down, lurching rhythm, covered by a sound tapestry. Ligon punctuated the improvised section with a violent Wes Montgomery-having-a-nervous-breakdown solo that led to (saxophonist Jim) Hoke’s squawking and crying sax fadeout.”
David Bromberg Quintet @ Shank Hall, 8 p.m.
“Sharon” by David Bromberg
In the early ‘70s David Bromberg’s roots music was everywhere and ranged from the raucous “Sharon” to his narrative take on “Mr. Bojangles.” He recorded his own albums and worked with Bob Dylan, Jerry Jeff Walker, John Hartford, George Harrison, the Grateful Dead, Emmylou Harris and Bonnie Raitt. Then Bromberg took off over two decades to operate his violin shop in Wilmington, Delaware before returning with the album Try Me One More Time in 2007.
Max Baca y Los Texmaniacs @ Latino Arts, 7 p.m.
Image: Los Texmaniacs
Los Texmaniacs
Los Texmaniacs
Fans of Flaco Jimenez, Los Lobos and The Texas Tornados take note. Grammy Award-winning Tex-Mex folk band blend elements of polka, waltz and traditional Mexican folk music. The conjunto band was formed by Max Baca in 1997. The group’s 2018 album Cruzando Borders was crafted to send a message. Prompted by negative public rhetoric about the U.S.–Mexican border and Mexican culture, it was inspired by the transcendent brotherhood and exquisite beauty of the border life they have experienced. The album asserts pride in both their native Mexican culture and U.S. nationhood.
This concert will feature a special performance by the Latino Arts Strings program: latinoartsinc.org/performances/max-baca-los-texmaniacs.
Saturday. April 9
Shepherd Express Presents The 9th Stein & Dine @ State Fair Park, 1 p.m.
Stein & Dine 2021
Stein & Dine 2021
Join the Shepherd Express as we celebrate all things Wisconsin at the 9th Stein & Dine craft beer festival! Enjoy unlimited samples from the state’s finest breweries, local restaurants, distilleries and wineries with live entertainment.
Stein & Dine is truly a sampling affair for all beer buffs. In years past, we welcomed over 60 breweries, wineries and cideries to sample their best products. Sausage makers and local restaurants will also be on hand to serve up tasty treats. All guests receive a complimentary Stein & Dine sampling glass to use for the day and take home!
As in past years, limited VIP tickets will be made available. VIP tickets include a special tasting hour (1-2 p.m.) where you can mingle with the brewers as well as try specialty VIP hour only beers and food items without any wait! More info here: www.steinanddinemke.com.
The Brian Jonestown Massacre w/Mercury Rev @ Turner Hall Ballroom, 7 p.m.
Led by mercurial Anton Newcombe, The Brian Jonestown Massacre take a hit of the best music of the ‘60s and spin it, sometimes nearly off the track. The band’s sound can move from folk melodies to cerebral psychedelia. Their ups and downs were recounted in the 2003 documentary Dig!
Sunday, April 10
MB3 EP Release Show w/Secondhand Souls and Florida Brothers Band @ Kochanski’s, 1 p.m.
Photo: MB3 - Facebook
MB3
MB3
After 26 years as a sideman, Mark Biermann III steps out from the shadows with his new EP Glory In Exile. Best known as guitarist for the Hullmen and Aluminum Knot Eye, the MB3 material takes a melodic approach that could come from Milwaukee or Cleveland circa 1976. Close your eyes and “Decade Tunnel” might be a lost Wipers out take.
Tuesday, April 12
Bluegrass Whatevers @ Indeed Brewing, 7 pm
Cross your fingers, outdoor music season is right around the corner. In the meantime, Ernest Brusubardis IV (Chicken Wire Empire) and Joe Wais (Milbillies) are joined by Caleb Peters for the Tuesdays-in-April Bluegrass series at Indeed Brewing Company. Upcoming special guests include Soggy Paririe and Sugar Bush. facebook.com/photo?fbid=4909781709070595&set=a.699454036770071
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Summary:
- 524 new cases
- No new deaths, 2 total deaths added to system
- 12,820 total deaths;
- 152 hospitalized patients, 26 in ICU
Source: Wisconsin Department of Health Services
On Thursday, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services reported an additional 524 new COVID-19 cases. The state has averaged 420 new cases per day in the last week.
On this day last year, there were 988 new cases, and a 7-day average of 721 cases per day. In 2020, 174 cases were recorded, with a 7-day average of 173 cases per day.
Source: Wisconsin Department of Health Services
There were no new deaths, and 2 total deaths added to the Department of Health Services system, putting the total Wisconsin death toll at 12,820. A lag in death reporting statewide has affected these numbers.
In Milwaukee County, there were 144 new confirmed cases reported and have been 268,685 total cases in the county since the pandemic began. The 7-day average in the county is 84 cases per day. None of the deaths added to the state system were attributed to Milwaukee County, putting the county death toll at 2,278 since the beginning of the pandemic.
If you are looking for COVID-19 testing or vaccination, consult the Wisconsin Department of Health Services website.
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This Modern World: Week of April 7, 2022
This Modern World: Week of April 7, 2022
Apr. 07, 2022
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Click here to download a printable PDF of this week's Crossword. (0.3MB)
The online version of our weekly Puzzles page is sponsored by WaterStreet Creative. With more than 100 years of collective experience in successfully building brands through advertising, design, digital marketing and public relations, the WaterStreet Creative team loves finding creative ways to meet the challenges that are keeping our clients up at night.
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Lidiia Moor Getty Images/iStockphoto
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ARIES (March 21-April 19): To provide the right horoscope, I must introduce you to three new words. The first is "orphic," defined as "having an importance or meaning not apparent to the senses nor comprehensible to the intellect; beyond ordinary understanding." Here's the second word: "ludic," which means "playful; full of fun and high spirits." The third word is "kalon," which refers to "profound, thorough beauty." Now I will coordinate those terms to create a prophecy in accordance with your astrological aspects. Ready? I predict you will generate useful inspirations and energizing transformations for yourself by adopting a ludic attitude as you seek kalon in orphic experiments and adventures.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): I love your steadfastness, intense effort, and stubborn insistence on doing what's right. Your ability to stick to the plan even when chaos creeps in is admirable. But during the coming weeks, I suggest you add a nuance to your approach. Heed the advice of martial artist Bruce Lee: "Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves."
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Gemini-born basketball coach Pat Summitt won Olympic medals, college championships, and presidential awards. She had a simple strategy: "Here's how I'm going to beat you. I'm going to outwork you. That's it. That's all there is to it." I recommend that you apply her approach to everything you do for the rest of 2022. According to my analysis, you're on course for a series of satisfying victories. All you have to do is nurture your stamina as you work with unwavering focus and resilient intelligence.
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CANCER (June 21-July 22): In Britain, 70 percent of the land is owned by one percent of the population. Globally, one percent of the population owns 43 percent of the wealth. I hope there's a much better distribution of resources within your own life. I hope that the poorer, less robust parts of your psyche aren't being starved at the expense of the privileged and highly functioning aspects. I hope that the allies and animals you tend to take for granted are receiving as much of your love and care as the people you're trying to impress or win over. If any adjustments are necessary, now is a favorable time to make them.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): TV show creator Joey Soloway says, "The only way things will change is when we're all wilder, louder, riskier, sillier, and unexpectedly overflowing with surprise." Soloway's Emmy Award-winning work on Transparent, one of the world's first transgender-positive shows, suggests that their formula has been effective for them. I'm recommending this same approach to you in the coming weeks, Leo. It will help you summon the extra courage and imagination you will need to catalyze the necessary corrections and adjustments.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): "Find a place inside where there’s joy, and the joy will burn out the pain," wrote mythologist Joseph Campbell. I don't think his cure is foolproof. The lingering effects of some old traumas aren't so simple and easy to dissolve. But I suspect Campbell's strategy will work well for you in the coming weeks. You're in a phase of your astrological cycle when extra healing powers are available. Some are obvious, and some are still partially hidden. It will be your sacred duty to track down every possible method that could help you banish at least some of your suffering and restore at least some of your joie de vivre.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): You know who Jimi Hendrix was, right? He was a brilliant and influential rock guitarist. As for Miles Davis, he was a Hall of Fame-level trumpeter and composer. You may be less familiar with Tony Williams. A prominent rock critic once called him "the best drummer in the world." In 1968, those three superstars gathered in the hope of recording an album. But they wanted to include a fourth musician, Paul McCartney, to play bass for them. They sent a telegram to the ex-Beatle, but it never reached him. And so the supergroup never happened. I mention this in the hope that it will render you extra alert for invitations and opportunities that arrive in the coming weeks—perhaps out of nowhere. Don't miss out! Expect the unexpected. Read between the lines. Investigate the cracks.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Poet Anne Carson claims that "a page with a poem on it is less attractive than a page with a poem on it and some tea stains." I agree. If there are tea stains, it probably means that the poem has been studied and enjoyed. Someone has lingered over it, allowing it to thoroughly permeate their consciousness. I propose we make the tea-stained poem your power metaphor for the coming weeks, Scorpio. In other words, shun the pristine, the spotless, the untouched. Commune with messy, even chaotic things that have been loved and used.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Sagittarian author Martha Beck articulated the precise message you need to hear right now. She wrote, "Here is the crux of the matter, the distilled essence, the only thing you need to remember: When considering whether to say yes or no, you must choose the response that feels like freedom. Period." I hope you adopt her law in the coming weeks, Sagittarius. You should avoid responses and influences that don't feel liberating. I realize that's an extreme position to take, but I think it's the right one for now. Where does your greatest freedom lie? How can you claim it? What shifts might you need to initiate?
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): I'm glad you have been exploring your past and reconfiguring your remembrances of the old days and old ways. I'm happy you've been transforming the story of your life. I love how you've given yourself a healing gift by reimagining your history. It's fine with me if you keep doing this fun stuff for a while longer. But please also make sure you don't get so immersed in bygone events that you're weighed down by them. The whole point of the good work you've been doing is to open up your future possibilities. For inspiration, read this advice from author Milan Kundera: "We must never allow the future to collapse under the burden of memory."
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Aquarian historian Mary Frances Berry offered counsel that I think all Aquarians should keep at the heart of their philosophy during the coming weeks. She wrote, "The time when you need to do something is when no one else is willing to do it, when people are saying it can't be done." I hope you trust yourself enough to make that your battle cry. I hope you will keep summoning all the courage you will regularly need to implement its mandate.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): What's the leading cause of deforestation in Latin America? Logging for wood products? Agricultural expansion? New housing developments? Nope. It's raising cattle so people everywhere can eat beef and cheese and milk. This industry also plays a major role in the rest of the world's ongoing deforestation tragedy. Soaring greenhouse gas emissions aren't entirely caused by our craving for burgers and milk and cheese, of course, but our climate emergency would be significantly less dramatic if we cut back our consumption. That's the kind of action I invite you to take in the coming months, Pisces. My analysis of astrological omens suggests that you now have even more power than usual to serve the collective good of humanity in whatever specific ways you can. (PS: Livestock generates 14.5 percent of our greenhouse gases, equal to the emissions from all cars, trucks, airplanes, and ships combined.)
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Oops!
What do you get when you cross spring picture day, a green screen background and St. Patrick's Day? Completely memorable elementary school photos, of course! At Sugar Grove Elementary School in Center Grove, Indiana, picture day happened to fall on St. Patrick's Day, United Press International reported. And no kid wants to get pinched on the saint's special day, so many kids were dressed in green. One problem: Inter-State Photography used green screens, like those used on TV weather broadcasts, behind the kids, so many of them "disappeared" in the initial proofs. Amanda Snow said her son's green hoodie turned into a fence, and "he had a green mohawk, but that is completely gone. ... It ended up being just a hilarious fiasco," she said. The photo company said the issues will be fixed on the final photos, but Snow hopes not: "I might reach out to the company and see if I can get the unedited ones, because honestly, they've brought me so much joy and laughter over the last day," she said.
Animal Antics
Step aside, Punxsutawney Phil. Mojave Max, a 33-year-old desert tortoise, sees your predictions of spring and calls them with a dramatic yearly emergence from his burrow in Las Vegas, Nevada. According to KSNV-TV, Max lives at the Las Vegas Springs Preserve, where he is the official mascot for the Clark County Desert Conservation Program. Every year, he marks the beginning of spring by making his way out of his burrow when his internal clock and the longer daylight hours tell him to do so. This year, Max peered out on March 26 at 12:21 p.m. Of course, Max's interpretation of "spring" is hyper-local: It was 93 degrees in Las Vegas on March 26.
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Recurring Themes
At least this wannabe traveler didn't need help with his luggage. On March 29, an unidentified man scaled the barbed-wire fence at Midway Airport in Chicago and approached a private jet that had been cleared for takeoff, CBS News reported. As he tried to stall the plane, he removed his shirt, shoes, jacket and pants. Police said he appeared to be intoxicated. He jumped up on a wing of the plane; the pilot, in contact with air traffic control, said, "He's right here at the front of the jet. He's trying to get in. Our door is open here." Chicago police apprehended him and took him to a local hospital for a mental evaluation. The plane eventually took off.
Least Mature Criminal
In Warren, Ohio, police responded to robbery call with a twist straight out of elementary school. As a 22-year-old man walked along a road late on March 27, a man wearing a ski mask approached him and asked if he was a drug dealer. When the victim said he was not, the robber allegedly pulled out a knife and demanded money, WKBN-TV reported. After the thief got about $80 from him, he made the victim "pinkie promise" that he wouldn't call the cops, then rode off on a bicycle. The police have not located the pinkie promise perp.
The Continuing Crisis
Christopher Whetstone, 41, was arrested March 29 after authorities carrying out a search warrant at his home in Temecula, California, found two rocket launchers and a practice grenade in a trash can, National Public Radio reported. He was charged with grand theft, although it's unclear whether the charges are related to the discarded heavy artillery items. Riverside County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Edward Soto said narcotics and a bazooka also were found in the home, which is adjacent to a middle school.
Sweet (or Savory?) Revenge
When Alisha Moy, 20, and Jordan Cobbold, 21, broke it off after just a few weeks of dating, Moy was ready to move on. But Cobbold, apparently, was not, Metro News reported on March 31. A couple of weeks after they met, Cobbold suggested he take a key to her flat in Suffolk, England, which raised red flags for her. "I remember calling my mum because I was worried about it," she said. After she messaged him to break it off, she returned home from work to find "something wrong" in her apartment. "He'd pulled my shoes out of the little cloakroom and poured beans and spaghetti in there. There were condiments splattered all over the walls and cooking sauce poured all over my vacuum cleaner," she said. Cobbold had cut the cords to all her brand-new electrical appliances. Damage was estimated at about $2,000; police arrested him a few days later and he was fined, given community service and a restraining order.
Inappropriate Behavior
An unidentified crane driver in Dublin, Ireland, lost his job after he recorded himself dropping a bag of his own excrement from the crane cab onto a rooftop on March 30, DublinLive reported. While flinging the sick sack overboard, the man joked about "the joys of being a crane driver" and laughed, much to the horror of social media viewers who saw the video. The construction company said the driver had been removed immediately and would "not work on any of our other sites in the future." They also asked social media platforms to remove the video.
Compelling Explanation
Kitty Deering of Edmond, Oklahoma, was surprised to learn that students at her daughter's high school were selling "white privilege" cards for $10 around Valentine's Day, KFOR-TV reported on March 31. The white cards read "Trumps Everything" on the front and, on the back, "This card grants its bearers happiness because it's the color of your skin and not the choices that you make that determines your ability to be successful." But Joel Patrick, the creator of the cards (who is Black), said the cards were "created as a joke. If they're saying this in seriousness, that's a personal problem with them. You don't go around telling someone you're better than them." Deering isn't buying it. "There's been years of ongoing issues of segregation here ... between staff, between students, between the community," she said. "We have to change it. That's not how I raise my children."
Unclear on the Concept
The owner of a tree-removal service in Dearborn, Michigan, has been arrested after several warnings about dumping debris in Detroit city limits, Fox2-TV reported. Police said Mahmoud Saad already had more than $14,000 in fines before his arrest on March 25, which he had paid. "Vehicles that have been registered to this person we have caught eight different times on our dumping cameras," said Officer Jeremy Woods. "Every time we talk to him, he acts like he's remorseful and then he does it again." Cmdr. Eric Decker called it a "slap in the face." Saad was held on a misdemeanor charge, which may result in more fines and having to pay for cleanup at multiple locations.
Send your weird news items with subject line WEIRD NEWS to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.
COPYRIGHT 2022 ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION
1130 Walnut, Kansas City MO 64106; 800-255-6734
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Click here to download a printable PDF of this week's Sudoku puzzle. (0.5MB)
The online version of our weekly Puzzles page is sponsored by WaterStreet Creative. With more than 100 years of collective experience in successfully building brands through advertising, design, digital marketing and public relations, the WaterStreet Creative team loves finding creative ways to meet the challenges that are keeping our clients up at night.
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Click here to download a printable PDF of this week's Word Find. (0.2MB)
The online version of our weekly Puzzles page is sponsored by WaterStreet Creative. With more than 100 years of collective experience in successfully building brands through advertising, design, digital marketing and public relations, the WaterStreet Creative team loves finding creative ways to meet the challenges that are keeping our clients up at night.
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Photo by Tom Jenz
Joanne Johnson-Sabir outside Sherman Phoenix
Joanne Johnson-Sabir outside Sherman Phoenix
The world seems frayed these days, torn by violence, inflation, war, woke-ness, COVID, smartphone addiction and just plain anger. Milwaukee’s central city is not immune. But for these Black residents, probably the foremost issue is how to boost business development.
Working outside the fray is one of the city’s innovators, JoAnne Johnson-Sabir. Several years ago, she partnered with Milwaukee developer Juli Kaufmann to transform the BMO Harris Sherman Park bank that was burned during the 2016 unrest into a shopping and wellness hub. They called it the Sherman Phoenix. The space opened in December of 2018 and is presently home to many Black-owned businesses, including JoAnne’s second venture, the Shindig Café, in partnership with her husband Manaan Sabir.
I met Johnson-Sabir inside the Sherman Phoenix surrounded by customers socializing at communal tables bordered by store fronts. Through her gentle demeanor, she articulated sound business ideas.
Tell me about your background, your family, where you grew up, schools you attended. How you got to be you?
I grew up in New York. My parents were both social workers and community change agents. At a young age, I was indoctrinated into serving the greater good. For undergrad, I went to Clark Atlanta University [a Historically Black College] in Atlanta. For me, college was beautiful, a Black mecca for Black excellence. I liked having professors of color. The experience taught me that if you see the possibility, you can achieve it. I majored in psychology and pre-med, but I realized my work should be in community engagement.
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I went back to New York and worked as a Director for Resident Life at Hunter College. I also worked with children and young people. I think I helped them by living my story as a physical representation of Black success. On 9/11/2001, the World Trade Center disaster happened, and I was close by. I walked 127 blocks to my home in Harlem and decided I needed a change. I ended up moving to Milwaukee where my mom was a director of community development.
Her mother Sharon and husband Larry Adams developed Walnut Way, one of the most successful real estate projects in the central city. In 20 years, they have restored dilapidated homes, built a community center, transformed vacant lots into gardens and orchards and developed venues for economic development.
You were in your early 20s and starting over in a different city. What did you do in Milwaukee?
I began working in social welfare as a case manager for the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare Services. I was working for the Medical College of Wisconsin and doing research in community development. During that time, I earned my masters degree in social work at UWM. Eventually, I went to work with my mom at Walnut Way. We did our first development, Innovations in Walnut Commons, on 17th and North. I hired Juli Kaufmann as the developer.
Johnson-Sabir married, and with husband opened The Juice Kitchen, a successful venue in the Walnut Way Commons. The juices they sold were Sabir’s health and wellness drinks.
Growing up in New York, I had not experienced segregation until I came here. When the 2016 uprising happened in Sherman Park, my alderman said the Black community needed a Juice Kitchen to lift the minds and spirits of our residents. The developer Juli Kaufmann and I put together a business development in Sherman Park in the BMO bank building burned from the uprising. That was the birth of the Sherman Phoenix. Now in 2022, we have a thriving development model and a great consulting team to focus on building businesses even including patenting.
I read that you are involved in something called Freedom Endeavors, Inc.
Freedom Endeavors is another consulting firm that I own. We consult on new businesses and developments and also do physical developments. It’s a strategic leadership resource business based on my skill set.
Let me quote you: “I knew one of the pathways in community work had to be centered on the economy. I asked myself, ‘How do we create a pathway so that people can sustain themselves? Creating businesses is a good pathway for wealth to expand in the community.’” How can the central city expand Black owned businesses?
I think the expansion happens through support of the residents. I just came from Atlanta where people show up and are enthused. You can try to create anything, but the proof in the pudding is the community rising-up to support the endeavors of the Black business owners. The call-to-action rests with the people. In the Sherman Phoenix, we have all these beautiful Black businesses, these wonderful entrepreneurs. The residents need to show up and support them.
In December of 2017, you started out with about 20 Black-owned businesses. Are most of businesses in the Sherman Phoenix still Black owned?
Yes, they are. We now have 29 businesses here. We also have a new American Family Insurance Agency coming online. We have two other areas of the complex that need remodeling, but otherwise, we are near capacity.
Quoting you from your Sherman Phoenix website: “Community conversations identified a need for safe, welcoming neighborhood spaces, and certain leaders in the community decided to take matters into their own hands in order to foster change.” What are you doing currently? What are your business plans for the future?
My plans are in consulting and leadership development and developing apps. Through the Sherman Phoenix Foundation, we are looking to develop a consulting group and take some of our ideas across the nation. I’m taking my strategic business skills on the road. I’m looking at Atlanta, Dallas, and Miami.
How do you go about that?
By building relationships. A national public relations agency. Working with American Family Insurance.
We can’t wait for the federal or city government. We have to prepare ourselves to act and create opportunities.
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Photo by Virginia Small
Lake Park steps
Lake Park
Frederick Law Olmsted, who faced many losses and health challenges throughout his life, always found respite in nature. And he believed that everyone should have equal access to restorative green places. According to biographer Hugh Howard, “Olmsted demonstrated an extraordinarily rare capacity to set aside the self-interest of the present in favor of the well-being of future generations.”
April 26 is the 200th anniversary of Olmsted’s birth and the National Association for Olmsted Parks (NAOP) is spearheading a nationwide celebration in his honor. Olmsted 200’s theme is “Celebrating Parks for All People,” a once-radical concept that the visionary landscape architect, conservationist, journalist, and social reformer championed as a way to foster democracy. The COVID pandemic reconfirmed how essential parks are to people’s well-being.
Milwaukeeans are planning numerous events to celebrate Olmsted. His local contributions extended far beyond the three parks he designed: Lake, Riverside and Washington, and Newberry Boulevard connecting the first two. In keeping with his holistic and inclusive approaches to landscapes and urban planning, he envisioned the two East Side parks as an “orchestrated journey” linking Lake Michigan to the Milwaukee River and vice versa. In Washington Park, he designed winding paths throughout the rolling, pastoral topography, and a lagoon for ice skating and boating.
Pleasure Drive
Olmsted also conceived a Shore Drive from what is now Kenwood Boulevard southward along Lake Michigan. That “pleasure drive” was the first leg of what eventually became the miles-long Lincoln Memorial Drive. Olmsted also planned for a Ravine Road, now nicknamed “Snake Road,” that meandered from Shore Drive through one of the park’s deep ravines, emerging on Lake Drive. Throughout the decades, these and other Olmsted parks invariably have invited discovery and delight. Many of them, including Lake Park and Newberry Boulevard, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Olmsted promoted in many ways what is now termed “connectivity.” He and architect Calvert Vaux, his partner in designing New York City’s Central Park and other projects, designed the world’s first “parkway.” The Eastern Parkway leads into Brooklyn’s Prospect Park and was meant to extend the park experience and increase urban green space.
Olmsted described a parkway as “a shaded green ribbon” which might “be absolutely formal or strikingly picturesque, according to circumstances.” In 1868 Olmsted and Vaux began implementing another ground-breaking concept—a “system of parks and parkways” in Buffalo, New York. The interconnected parks highlighted distinctive natural features and varied recreational options.
People to the Parks
Photo by Virginia Small
Washington Park with bandstand
Washington Park
To provide equitable access to Milwaukee’s parks, Olmsted urged civic leaders to bring streetcars to parks, which happened during the mid-1890s, soon after the parks opened.
Olmsted visited Milwaukee four times with his design team, between March 1892 and March 1894, following correspondence between him and the City of Milwaukee’s nascent Board of Park Commissioners evaluating potential sites for parks.
Prior to the park board’s formation in 1890, Milwaukee had a mere 60 acres of public parkland serving its 250,000 residents. Park commissioners, especially Christian Wahl, already were familiar with Olmsted and his renowned landscapes nationwide. They sought out Olmsted while he was designing the grounds of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.
Sites for Milwaukee parks were chosen and acquired on all sides of the city, also including what became Humboldt, Kosciuszko, Mitchell and Sherman parks. Olmsted called it a “Grand Necklace of Parks,” reminiscent of the Emerald Necklace he designed in Boston. Olmsted’s team, especially landscape architect Warren H. Manning, continued supervising park construction and planning until 1905. These parks immediately became popular destinations, and demand grew for more of them. In 1923, Milwaukee County park commissioner Charles B. Whitnall developed a plan for a countywide system of parks and parkways, which was largely implemented. Today, Milwaukee County Parks manages over 15,000 acres in Milwaukee County.
A Major Exhibition about Olmsted in Milwaukee
Photo by Virginia Small
Lake Park top of bluff
Lake Park
“In the Park with Olmsted: A Vision for Milwaukee” will be on view at Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum (2220 N. Terrace Ave.) from April 14 through September 25. The multimedia exhibition, presented by The Friends of Villa Terrace, explores Olmsted’s local contributions within the context of his national legacies. Curated by Martha Chaiklin and Annemarie Sawkins, the exhibition features archival and contemporary images, including maps, plans, posters, paintings, photographs and videos. Works by local and nationally renowned artists, photographers and multimedia artists will highlight how creative individuals have been inspired by Milwaukee’s Olmsted parks.
The opening on Thursday, April 14 from 6 to 8 p.m. will include a presentation by Annemarie Sawkins and remarks by Anne “Dede” Neal Petri, president and CEO of the National Association for Olmsted Parks. The event is free to CAVT members. General admission for adults is $10 and $7 for seniors, students and active military. Admission to Villa Terrace is free to all the first Wednesday of each month. For info about the exhibition, visit OlmstedMilwaukee.org.
The Milwaukee Area Cultural Landscape Alliance (MACLA) will present two free programs relating to the exhibition.
“Olmsted and 'Parks for All': Democracy, Equity, and Environmental Justice," a panel discussion at Villa Terrace, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 26. Panelists include August Ball, founder of Cream City Conservation; Steven Hunter, program director of Nearby Nature Milwaukee; Patrick Mullins, associate professor of history at Marquette University; and Arijit Sen, associate professor of architecture and urban studies at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
"Frederick Law Olmsted: Bringing Nature into the City and Creating Breathing Space for Democracy," an illustrated talk by writer, public historian and filmmaker Laurence Cotton at 6 p.m. Saturday, May 7 at MSOE's Diercks Hall (1025 N. Milwaukee St.). Cotton was the originator and consulting producer of the acclaimed 2014 PBS documentary Frederick Law Olmsted; Designing America. He will speak about Olmsted’s legacies and his contemporary relevance.
Other Olmsted 200 Events
Other events are in the works, including:
Lake Park Friends https://lakeparkfriends.org/ will celebrate Olmsted on Saturday, July 16 with family-friendly activities, history tours and a concert at Lake Park’s Summer Stage. Other events, including in Riverside Park and Washington Park, will be announced later.
A traveling exhibit about Olmsted is available through Lake Park Friends. Designed for Olmsted 200, it includes double-sided boards for free-standing easels. Contact Lakeparkfriends@sbcglobal.net for more information and to reserve.
Photo by Virginia Small
Newberry Boulevard plaque
Newberry Boulevard
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Youth Empowered in the Struggle (YES), the youth arm of immigrant/workers’ rights organization Voces De La Frontera, launched their “School Lunch Justice” campaign for MPS at a press conference on March 31 in anticipation of upcoming budget discussions.
MPS lunches are cooked in a central location and then reheated to be distributed for students, resulting in lackluster quality and potential to be undercooked. After surveying over one thousand students, YES have six demands: that food be cooked fresh in their schools, more food options, better accommodations for religious students, larger and more nourishing food portions, higher wages for cafeteria workers, and regular meetings with the school board and administration.
“We believe that every student in Milwaukee deserves to have access to nutritious, delicious, culturally appropriate foods in school so that they are better able to learn,” said Katherine Villaneuva, YES member and senior at the Milwaukee School of Languages.
Hungry through the Day
“The few options we now have leaves kids not eating then staying hungry throughout the day—making them less attentive, tired, and irritable leading to a worse education,” said William Packard, YES member and freshman at Hamilton High School.
“As a Muslim, I have seen fellow Muslim students simply not eat school lunch because there’s no option for them to,” said Mandeeq Abdulahi, YES member and junior at Riverside High School. “They get to see their classmates enjoy their lunch while they’re still hungry.”
YES announced their campaign a month ahead of their plans to join Voces de la Frontera in a two-day “Day Without Latinxs And Immigrants” general strike in front of the Wisconsin State Capitol planned for May 1-2, on May Day. They are calling on the Biden administration and Wisconsin Republicans to protect immigrant essential workers and families, stop blocking immigration reform, allow drivers licenses for all, and provide in-state tuition equity.
Students are calling for members of the community to support their “School Lunch Justice” campaign by signing their petition.
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St. Paul’s Episcopal Church interior
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church (914 E. Knapp St.) on the Lower East Side of Milwaukee was built in 1882. It was the second church built for Milwaukee’s pioneer Episcopal congregation. The Richardsonian Romanesque-styled church is well known for its Tiffany glass windows. The Hehe type of glass was developed and produced from 1878-1933 at the Tiffany Studios in New York by Louis Comfort Tiffany and his team of designers. The church has the largest collection of Tiffany stained glass windows in Wisconsin. This includes the largest window ever made by Tiffany Studios which is 30 feet long, 24 feet high and up to 2 inches thick. It is a duplicate of Gustave Doré's masterpiece Christ Leaving the Praetorium.
St.Paul’s is the oldest Episcopal parish in Milwaukee and the third in Wisconsin. Founded in 1838, members included the esteemed families of Charles Bradley, Hamilton Townsend, plus the Ogdens, Uihleins and Vogels. Their community standing helped the church become the most influential Episcopal congregation in Wisconsin.
The building was designed by architect Edward Townsend Mix, a Milwaukee-based architect. Lake Superior Sandstone, a dark red sandstone found near the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior, was used. The church features wrought iron by Master Blacksmith Cyril Colnik, who created iron gates, fences and railings for many prominent Milwaukeeans. Over the years St. Paul’s received numerous gifts of fine furnishings and art objects. In 1957 the church acquired an early 16th century Flemish tapestry representing the betrothal of Mary of Burgundy. The tapestry currently hangs in the morning chapel.
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A committee, appointed by the church, established Forest Home Cemetery on Milwaukee’s South Side, the final resting place of many of the city’s famed beer barons and social elite. When the land was selected it was located nearly two miles outside of the city limits. At the time it was believed to be far enough from urban development to remain rural.
Change Ringing Bells
In 1994, Roland Perschon, a retired Milwaukee public school teacher living in Pewaukee, had a set of eight bells cast by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in London, England. This octave of bells is not an ordinary set of church bells that merely swing back and forth or are struck by hammers. The bells are attached to large vertical wheels allowing the bells to swing in a complete 360 degrees circle. This method of ringing bells, named “Change Ringing bells,” originated sometime in the early 1700s and is a uniquely English practice. Change Ringing is a team sport that involves a group of people ringing rhythmically, a set of tuned bells through a series of changing sequences that are determined by mathematical principles and executed according to learned patterns.
These bells will be the last set of Whitechapel bells to be installed in the world, a significant distinction for St. Paul’s Church and tower. The Whitechapel Foundry, casting bells since the mid-1500s, closed in 2017. There are 47 Change Ringing towers in the United States, most located in Episcopal venues throughout the eastern and southern regions. St. Paul’s Tower will be the forty-eighth installation in the United States.
The parish has raised approximately half of the $120,000.00 cost to install eight bells in the West Tower. The project is projected to be completed within the next year. Anyone interested in learning more about this acclaimed endeavor and would like to donate to the project should contact the parish office at 414-276-6277.
Photo by Adam Levin
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church interior
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
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https://shepherdexpress.com/culture/mke-speaks/joanne-johnson-sabir-on-economic-development-in-the-central/
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Photo by Tom Jenz
Joanne Johnson-Sabir outside Sherman Phoenix
Joanne Johnson-Sabir outside Sherman Phoenix
The world seems frayed these days, torn by violence, inflation, war, woke-ness, COVID, smartphone addiction and just plain anger. Milwaukee’s central city is not immune. But for these Black residents, probably the foremost issue is how to boost business development.
Working outside the fray is one of the city’s innovators, JoAnne Johnson-Sabir. Several years ago, she partnered with Milwaukee developer Juli Kaufmann to transform the BMO Harris Sherman Park bank that was burned during the 2016 unrest into a shopping and wellness hub. They called it the Sherman Phoenix. The space opened in December of 2018 and is presently home to many Black-owned businesses, including JoAnne’s second venture, the Shindig Café, in partnership with her husband Manaan Sabir.
I met Johnson-Sabir inside the Sherman Phoenix surrounded by customers socializing at communal tables bordered by store fronts. Through her gentle demeanor, she articulated sound business ideas.
Tell me about your background, your family, where you grew up, schools you attended. How you got to be you?
I grew up in New York. My parents were both social workers and community change agents. At a young age, I was indoctrinated into serving the greater good. For undergrad, I went to Clark Atlanta University [a Historically Black College] in Atlanta. For me, college was beautiful, a Black mecca for Black excellence. I liked having professors of color. The experience taught me that if you see the possibility, you can achieve it. I majored in psychology and pre-med, but I realized my work should be in community engagement.
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I went back to New York and worked as a Director for Resident Life at Hunter College. I also worked with children and young people. I think I helped them by living my story as a physical representation of Black success. On 9/11/2001, the World Trade Center disaster happened, and I was close by. I walked 127 blocks to my home in Harlem and decided I needed a change. I ended up moving to Milwaukee where my mom was a director of community development.
Her mother Sharon and husband Larry Adams developed Walnut Way, one of the most successful real estate projects in the central city. In 20 years, they have restored dilapidated homes, built a community center, transformed vacant lots into gardens and orchards and developed venues for economic development.
You were in your early 20s and starting over in a different city. What did you do in Milwaukee?
I began working in social welfare as a case manager for the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare Services. I was working for the Medical College of Wisconsin and doing research in community development. During that time, I earned my masters degree in social work at UWM. Eventually, I went to work with my mom at Walnut Way. We did our first development, Innovations in Walnut Commons, on 17th and North. I hired Juli Kaufmann as the developer.
Johnson-Sabir married, and with husband opened The Juice Kitchen, a successful venue in the Walnut Way Commons. The juices they sold were Sabir’s health and wellness drinks.
Growing up in New York, I had not experienced segregation until I came here. When the 2016 uprising happened in Sherman Park, my alderman said the Black community needed a Juice Kitchen to lift the minds and spirits of our residents. The developer Juli Kaufmann and I put together a business development in Sherman Park in the BMO bank building burned from the uprising. That was the birth of the Sherman Phoenix. Now in 2022, we have a thriving development model and a great consulting team to focus on building businesses even including patenting.
I read that you are involved in something called Freedom Endeavors, Inc.
Freedom Endeavors is another consulting firm that I own. We consult on new businesses and developments and also do physical developments. It’s a strategic leadership resource business based on my skill set.
Let me quote you: “I knew one of the pathways in community work had to be centered on the economy. I asked myself, ‘How do we create a pathway so that people can sustain themselves? Creating businesses is a good pathway for wealth to expand in the community.’” How can the central city expand Black owned businesses?
I think the expansion happens through support of the residents. I just came from Atlanta where people show up and are enthused. You can try to create anything, but the proof in the pudding is the community rising-up to support the endeavors of the Black business owners. The call-to-action rests with the people. In the Sherman Phoenix, we have all these beautiful Black businesses, these wonderful entrepreneurs. The residents need to show up and support them.
In December of 2017, you started out with about 20 Black-owned businesses. Are most of businesses in the Sherman Phoenix still Black owned?
Yes, they are. We now have 29 businesses here. We also have a new American Family Insurance Agency coming online. We have two other areas of the complex that need remodeling, but otherwise, we are near capacity.
Quoting you from your Sherman Phoenix website: “Community conversations identified a need for safe, welcoming neighborhood spaces, and certain leaders in the community decided to take matters into their own hands in order to foster change.” What are you doing currently? What are your business plans for the future?
My plans are in consulting and leadership development and developing apps. Through the Sherman Phoenix Foundation, we are looking to develop a consulting group and take some of our ideas across the nation. I’m taking my strategic business skills on the road. I’m looking at Atlanta, Dallas, and Miami.
How do you go about that?
By building relationships. A national public relations agency. Working with American Family Insurance.
We can’t wait for the federal or city government. We have to prepare ourselves to act and create opportunities.
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https://shepherdexpress.com/lgbtq/dear-ruthie/bombshells-bubbles-and-boys-oh-my/
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Dear Ruthie is proudly brought to you by C3 Designs — Award Winning Fine Jewelry. C3 Designs offers a variety of services performed in-house, including custom jewelry design, jewelry and watch repair, appraisal, pearl and bead stringing, engraving and flip guards. C3 Designs is the winner of the Jewelers of America 2019 CASE Award.
One of the wonderful things about Cream City is its lively theater scene. Earlier this year, Bombshell Theatre Company joined that exciting landscape with its debut production of Funny Girl. I decided to reach out to the troupe’s founders to learn more about the company, its mission and its upcoming shows.
Partners in both life and business, Eric Welch (Artistic Director) and Tim Albrechtson (Producing Director) created Bombshell Theatre Company to introduce Milwaukee to shows that aren’t performed particularly often. “When we created this company one of our goals was to revive rarely told stories,” says Albrechtson. “For instance, our production of Funny Girl was the first time it had been professionally done in the area for almost 40 years.”
The team’s upcoming show is no exception. Bubble Boy: The Musical is the duo’s latest offering, and it promises all the fun audiences are already expecting from Bombshell.
“Bubble Boy attracted us for a number of reasons,” Albrechtson explains. “We have not seen any versions of it produced in Wisconsin before, the music is catchy and fun, and it’s hilarious. It’s absolutely ridiculous in the best way possible.”
A distant parody of a 1976 John Travolta melodrama, Bubble Boy serves up a kooky adventure about love, life and friendship. “It’s exactly as crazy, silly and funny as it sounds,” says Albrechtson.
The production runs through April 10. (See my social calendar for details.) Can’t make it to the show? Don’t miss Bombshell’s production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, opening June 24. “Eric and I are big fans of the film, and we think the stage production is just as magical,” Albrechtson adds.
Keep up with this exciting new company at www.bombshelltheatre.org, or join them on Facebook and Instagram (@bombshelltheatre), and I’ll see you at the show!
Ruthie’s Social Calendar
April 2 through April 10—Bubble Boy: The Musical at Inspiration Studios (1500 S. 73rd St.): Follow Jimmy Livingston on his hilarious cross-country journey to reunite with the love of his life … all while wearing his trusted bubble suit. Produced by Bombshell Theatre, the delightfully whacky musical is sure to make your April a bit brighter. Get your $22 tickets at www.bombshelltheatre.org.
April 8—Pride Night for Titanic: The Musical at The Milwaukee Rep (108 E. Wells St.): Join me, Karen Valentine and BJ Daniels for a spectacular night of theater, music, mixing, mingling and more. Your $25 ticket gets you into the pre-show cocktail party at the Saint Kate Arts Hotel as well as The Rep’s incredible production of Titanic at the Quadracci Powerhouse Theater at 8 p.m. Simply visit www.milwaukeerep.com/pride for tickets, being sure to use the promo code “Pride” when ordering.
April 13—“Unexpected: AM Radio, Volume #1” at Story Hill Firehouse (407 N. Hawley Road): Vocalists Marcya Daneille and Donna Woodall celebrate the soft-rock and soul music of the ‘70s with this change-of-pace show. Support live music in the city and check out this new venue during the 6 p.m. concert. Seating is limited so order your $5 ticket soon via www.eventbrite.com.
April 16—Fabulosity Drag Show at Lazy Oaf Lounge (1617 N. Stoughton Road, Madison): Head to Mad City for a wild night of queens and cocktails. The show starts at 10 p.m. but arrive early to enjoy a bite to eat and take advantage of the bar’s drink specials. Expect a $5 cover charge at the door.
April 21—Lesbian and Queer Womxn (Virtual) Support Group via Milwaukee LGBT Community Center: Meet new people, make friends and share experiences when you take part in this peer group for lesbian, bisexual and queer women and GNC folks. See the calendar area of www.mkelgbt.org for login information regarding the 6-7:30 p.m. virtual meeting.
April 29—Dining with the Divas at Hamburger Mary’s (730 S. Fifth St.): Eat, drink and be “Mary” when I host two fantastic drag shows at the city’s pink-and-purple burger palace. Take in my 7 p.m. performance or attend the 9 p.m. show. See why Mary’s shows are considered tops in Milwaukee when you make a reservation at www.hamburgermarys.com/mke.
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https://shepherdexpress.com/lifestyle/consumer-finance/theres-still-time-to-refinance-but-make-the-right-decision/
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Photo: SIphotography - Getty Images
Home refinancing illustration
One advantage to staying home during the pandemic is the amount of money you saved that otherwise would have been spent enjoying life. The fortunate among you have also spent some time appreciating the fact that you have a home and the safety and financial security it provides. For most Americans, home ownership constitutes their most significant financial investment.
A significant number of you are also saving money on yourr home by refinancing your mortgages at lower interest rates. This can be an excellent way to increase your personal income by reducing the cost of monthly payments which, in turn, can add up to significant savings over the life of the mortgage. (I can feel you logging on to your favorite lender websites even as we speak.)
How Does This Work?
All lending starts with the prime rate, defined as the rate commercial banks charge their best corporate customers and based on the Federal Reserve Bank’s overnight rate. The banks also factor in the 10-year Treasury yield, and a few other variables. All mortgages and other loan rates are determined by the prime rate, as well as by the size, purpose and terms of the loan, and the borrower’s creditworthiness. The higher your credit score, the more favorable your loan rates and terms because you’re considered a lower credit risk to the lender.
Since the start of the pandemic, the Fed has worked diligently to keep the prime rate low in hopes of stimulating the financial markets and promoting borrowing, which helps keep money in circulation and the economy flowing. The lower the prime rate, the lower other corresponding loan interest rates. Think of prime as the cost of money if that concept doesn’t seem too obtuse to you.
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In late January the Federal Reserve, pleased with the economy’s general strength but concerned with rising inflation, promised there would be hikes in the prime rate, the first of which occurred in March with an increase of .25%. The Fed said there could be as many as 6 rate hikes during 2022 as an effort to stem inflation, which also translates into higher mortgage rates for borrowers. Current rates are historically low, but the cost of money is going to start increasing, albeit slowly. That means 2022 will be a good time to refinance your mortgage, although some economists suggest acting sooner rather than later.
The Whens and Whys of Refi
Remember when you first bought your home? In and among all the excitement there were credit checks, home inspections, loan origination costs, closing costs, and a wide array of other expenses and activities that added to the task of taking legal possession of a property. When you choose to refinance that home’s mortgage, the process is similar, minus the new-home excitement. In essence, you are paying off your original debt on the property and turning right around and rebuying it under new financial terms. Like the Boy Scouts, be prepared.
Processes may differ slightly from lender to lender, but the experts note that closing costs on a mortgage refi can run 3 percent to 6 percent of the loan cost, so you will have to add that to your economic equation to determine if it’s time to refinance. If you’re not planning on living in the house much longer, it’s probably not worth the cost and effort since you may not recoup the money you invested during the refi process. Crunch the numbers—generally done by dividing the closing costs by the amount of money saved each month at the new rate—to determine your breakeven point and how many months you’ll have to live in the house under the new mortgage to make it worthwhile.
Speaking of numbers, while there is some comfort and security refinancing with the same lender who holds your current mortgage, studies have shown that borrowers who get pre-qualified by at least three different lenders—or maybe five if you’re a glutton for punishment—tend to find better rates and have realized greater savings on their monthly mortgage payments. In fact, some research shows the multiple pre-qualifications have saved borrowers between $1,500 -$3,000 over the life of the loan. And isn’t that what this process is all about?
The Cost of Borrowing
Innovative rates and terms from nontraditional lenders have emerged in recent years, but the benchmark for most borrowers and lenders is still the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, terms that favor most families who plan to live in their homes for a longer duration. According to experts, if you’re a well-qualified owner currently holding a mortgage in the 3% to 3.55% range you’re right about where you should be given the tumultuous financial climate. If you do plan to refi, make sure you can reduce your interest rate by .5% to 1% so you’re sure that all we have discussed thus far is worth the cost and effort.
But there’s another reason to refinance. If you’re doing better financially these days, you may want to consider switching to a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage. The monthly payments will be higher, of course, but you can reduce your interest rate as well as pay off your mortgage sooner, saving considerable funds while securing a lower interest rate in the process. Reducing the overall financial burden is critical and retiring loans of any type—and ending the corresponding interest paid—should be among your primary financial goals.
Act Wisely
We already discussed the need for a good credit rating. But most lenders also require you to have at least a 20% equity ownership in the house and a debt-to-income ratio of between 40% and 50% to make sure you can afford to make the monthly payments while at the same time meeting other existing financial needs in your life. Like, say, food.
Above all, remember that this is purely a financial initiative, and if a refi doesn’t represent a lower monthly mortgage payment and/or a long-term savings in interest payments, then it’s best to walk away from the concept. After all, it’s only money.
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https://shepherdexpress.com/lifestyle/home-garden/organic-gardening-in-3-easy-steps/
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Photo: Tatomm - Getty Images
Vegetables on wooden board
In a (biodegradable, all-natural) nutshell, organic gardening relies on tools and techniques that do not involve synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Instead, organic gardeners turn to natural and plant-derived options to improve the quality of the planting soil, fight insects and disease, and strengthen the quality of the plant. An organic garden is a tiny part of nature’s overall system. And today’s gardeners are flocking to the concept.
Because they lack the use of pesticides and synthetic additives, organic gardens are kind to the water table and the planet overall. In many cases foods grown organically taste better, and while some scientists disagree, there is mounting evidence that organically grown foods are more nutritious. Regardless of personal taste or scientific fact, many people simply feel better about consuming produce from organic gardens.
Interested in giving organic gardening a shot? You’d be surprised how easy it is, and it all starts with getting your hands dirty.
Prepare the Soil
Because you won’t be gardening with synthetic fertilizers, you’ll want to give your veggies a great start, and that begins with the soil. Work plenty of compost into the soil to add nutrients and keep it moist. In general, treat the soil well, and it will reward you all season long.
Some choose to avoid planting in the ground altogether, using raised beds instead. Not only do these beds allow you to best control the nutrients in the soil, but the soil warms up faster in spring, extends the growing season, and it saves some wear and tear on your knees. Just be sure the wood hasn’t been chemically treated if you’re going for a pure organic garden.
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Get Planting
Select plants suited to your garden’s conditions. In other words, don’t plant sun-lovers in the shade or water-cravers in sandy soil. When buying seeds and starter plants, you may need to do a bit of research. For instance, many plants are nurtured with chemicals and pesticides before being shipped to garden centers. Consider purchasing plants from a farmers market, where you can ask the seller directly about organic farming practices.
Try to plant a few flowers nearby that attract bees. Pollination is key to healthy plants, so encouraging bees to stop by your garden is a popular hack for today’s organic gardeners. Another trick? Leave enough space between the plants to allow air to circulate. Plants that are too close together can lead to fungus issues, which can be difficult to control without chemicals.
Once your plants are set, toss on a layer of mulch. Adding an inch or two over the topsoil helps retain moisture, suppresses weeds and keeps the soil healthy. Make your own organic mulch with grass clippings, dried leaves, pine needles or portions of your very own compost heap. Depending on the mulch you use, you may have to replenish it throughout the season.
Photo: Paul Bradbury - Getty Images
Watering flowers with watering can
Reap what you sow
Now’s the fun part! Simply maintain your organic garden and enjoy the fruits of your labor. If you do need to buy a fertilizer, plant booster or mulch, be sure to buy organic.
Be wary of labels boasting claims such as “natural” or “nature’s favorite.” While these descriptors sound lovely, they could be marketing ploys. When in doubt, ask a garden center employee or do a bit of online research to find the organic products that are right for you.
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https://shepherdexpress.com/news/community-news/daily-wisconsin-covid-19-update-1-551-new-cases-no-deaths/
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Summary:
- 1,551 new cases
- No new deaths, 1 total death added to system
- 12,823 total deaths;
- 157 hospitalized patients, 26 in ICU
Source: Wisconsin Department of Health Services
On Friday, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services reported an additional 1,551 new COVID-19 cases. The state has averaged 568 new cases per day in the last week.
On this day last year, there were 1,049 new cases, and a 7-day average of 760 cases per day. In 2020, 132 cases were recorded, with a 7-day average of 165 cases per day.
Source: Wisconsin Department of Health Services
There were no new deaths, and one death added to the Department of Health Services system, putting the total Wisconsin death toll at 12,823. A lag in death reporting statewide has affected these numbers.
In Milwaukee County, there were 399 new confirmed cases reported and have been 269,028 total cases in the county since the pandemic began. The 7-day average in the county is 127 cases per day. None of the deaths added to the state system were attributed to Milwaukee County, putting the county death toll at 2,278 since the beginning of the pandemic.
If you are looking for COVID-19 testing or vaccination, consult the Wisconsin Department of Health Services website.
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https://shepherdexpress.com/sports/brewers-on-deck/brewers-poised-to-continue-their-run-of-success/
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Photo: razihusin - Getty Images
Baseball bat hitting ball
Somewhere beyond all of this winter’s distractions, the Milwaukee Brewers are experiencing something of a golden era. They’ve made as many postseason appearances (four) and won as many division championships (two) in the past four seasons as they did in the nearly five decades that came before. Their recent successes include two of the five winningest seasons in franchise history. Their roster boasts both a former National League Most Valuable Player and the reigning Cy Young Award winner.
Instead of celebrating this team, however, fans have largely been left to wonder when they might see them again. After a brief flurry of transaction activity in November, MLB owners locked out the players when their collective bargaining agreement expired in December and the work stoppage wiped out all of the game’s normal winter and spring milestones: The Winter Meetings, Brewers on Deck, pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training, the first Cactus League games and, eventually, Opening Day. The work stoppage cast a cold shadow over the sport’s proverbial “hot stove” season.
There are two small elements of good news: The first is that history suggests that early season work stoppages, while frustrating, aren’t particularly damaging to the health of the sport in the long run. Many fans may not recall, for example, that a brief player strike delayed Opening Day in 1972 and abbreviated the Brewers’ season from 162 to 156 games. It’s even harder to find any lasting legacy of the 1990 lockout, which also delayed Opening Day and led to the season being extended by a week to make up the missed contests.
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The other bit of good news is that when this Brewers team returns, assuming they do eventually return, they have another opportunity to continue their recent run of success. The 2021 Brewers had 10 position players and pitchers that Baseball Reference estimated were worth two or more wins above replacement, and nine of them remained under team control for 2022 (with Avisail Garcia as the only exception).
There’s also reason to hope that some of the players who aren’t in that group can regain past form in 2022. It’s possible that turnover in the Brewers’ coaching ranks will help Christian Yelich, for example, rebound toward the level of production that nearly allowed him to win back-to-back MVP awards in 2018 and 2019. Adding the designated hitter rule to the National League might allow the Brewers to temporarily or permanently stop worrying about Keston Hiura’s defensive position and focus on getting him back to posting numbers like the .303 batting average, .368 on-base and .570 slugging he had in his 2019 debut.
Similarly, it’s hard not to wonder what some of the Brewers’ recent acquisitions might be able to do given a full (or only slightly abbreviated) season in Milwaukee. Rowdy Tellez was a frequent spark in the Brewers’ lineup in 56 games after coming over from Toronto, and the designated hitter rule might directly or indirectly allow him to get into games more often. Hunter Renfroe, who the Brewers acquired via trade in November, has hit more than 30 home runs in each of the last two full MLB seasons. He’s one of just 17 hitters who can make that claim.
With all of that potential combined with the rest of the division’s relative inactivity before the transaction freeze, it’s not hard to be optimistic about this team’s potential. In mid-February Baseball Prospectus’ PECOTA system projected the Brewers to win 97 games, which would be both a franchise record and the most wins of any National League team.
Instead of having all winter to get excited about the upcoming season, though, fans have been subjected to an offseason focused on economic issues, increasing hostility and the unanswerable question of how much is enough for billionaires. Baseball has come back from similar challenges before and it probably can again, but it’s going to take some work from all involved to remind the fans why they watch and get them past the anger over what they’ve lost this spring.
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https://shepherdexpress.com/culture/classical-music/cosmo-reed-quintet-debuts-new-work-from-milwaukee-composers/
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Photo: UWM Peck School of the Arts
Cosmo Reed Quintet
The Cosmo Reed Quintet
UW-Milwaukee’s Cosmo Reed Quintet will premiere work by UWM composers Barbara Howe, Gavin Roberts, Adam Taylor, Ben Piette, Eli Drews, and Clark Hudec in concert this week at UWM’s Fine Arts Recital Hall.
The Cosmo Quintet is comprised of Samantha Carr (oboe), Catherine Dyer (saxophone), Rosalie Avery (bassoon), Jena Nahnsen (bass clarinet) and Lauren LaFond (clarinet).. This quintet was formed by UWM Peck School of the Arts saxophone professor Nicki Roman in 2021.
Reed quintets started to gain traction after a group of Dutch musicians formed the Calefax Reed Quintet 25 years ago. A saxophone and bass clarinet are usually substituted for the flute and horn of the traditional woodwind quintet. The dynamics are extended and, enhanced techniques can be used such as circular breathing and tongue slapping. New compositions often free the quintet from classical constraints. The result is a unique and exciting new sound.
Woodwinds have a wide range of tones and timbres across their respective ranges. Since there is a limited repertoire of music already written for these small chamber groups, I asked Avery if the pieces being premiered were written especially for them or if other woodwind pieces are easily transcribable.
I was surprised to learn that all the pieces on Wednesday’s program are new, written for them by composition students at UWM. The compositions were then given a reading by the quintet with an exchange of ideas and suggestions. And then revision, more rehearsals and another “huddle” of musicians and composers.
We discussed transcriptions of other chamber music for a reed quintet. There are some but often the result may not play to the unique strengths and sounds of the reeds while losing what may have been unique with the original score. Within the last decade more music has been written for the reed quintet, much of it modern, making use of the timbres and tonalities unique to this group of instruments.
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The quintet consists of musicians from Michigan, Iowa, West Virginia, and Wisconsin attracted to UWM by the excellence of its studio professors. The Cosmo Reed Quintet will continue to offer concerts and play gigs in Milwaukee and further afield with a replacement for Nahnsen who is graduating and committed to a new job. The Quintet will play at a conference in Colorado in July.
Earning a living as a (new) musician is difficult. There are few seats available in orchestras, many sections remain predominantly male. While this is discouraging, Avery feels progress is being made and conditions are much better now than they were 10 years ago. But for those in her group, it will mean teaching and hopefully supplementary income from concerts and gigs. They will continue to perform and enter competitions.
I’ve heard the quintet several times. They have a wonderful tone and the concert promises to be exciting and rewarding. If you’ve never heard this combination of instruments before, this is a unique opportunity to hear the wonderful tones and timbres in an acoustically ideal space—the Fine Arts Recital Hall at UWM.
Further information can be found on UWM’s concert website:
https://uwm.edu/arts/events/category/music/
The Concert is 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 13 in the UWM Fine Arts Recital Hall.
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https://shepherdexpress.com/culture/theater/the-musical-heart-of-a-raisin-in-the-sun/
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Photo by Ross Zentner
Skylight Music Theatre "A Raisin in the Sun"
Melanie Loren and J. Daughtry in Skylight Music Theatre’s production of A Raisin in the Sun
Lorraine Hansberry’s 1959 drama A Raisin in the Sun is filtered through the lens of the American musical in the Skylight’s production of Raisin. The 1970s musical is given vivid life courtesy of director/choreographer Kenneth L. Roberson. The musical glosses over Hansberry’s delicately rendered treatment of the intricate socio-economic complexities of African American life in Chicago in the mid-20th century. The visual reality of the production follows the emotional center of the musical. Steve Tonar’s lighting design gracefully glides around a stylishly minimalist set by scenic designer Christopher Rhoton.
What Raisin lacks in detail it more than makes up for in passion, motion and emotion. Two and a half hours flit by quickly as so many dreams that crash against each other on the south side of Chicago. J. Daughtry summons an energetically frazzled energy as Walter Lee Younger, a man looking to find himself and his own business. Camara Stampley is gracefully passionate as his younger sister Beneatha, who is studying to become a doctor. The overwhelmingly warm and assertive matriarchal presence of Wydetta Carter anchors the ensemble in the role of Lena Younger. True to the drama on which it is based, the musical features a large ensemble the stretches the narrative out in a number of different directions. Roberson maintains a deeply reflective intellectual energy throughout the production with the aid of music director Christie Chiles Twillie. The ending might feel a bit more upbeat and optimistic than the original story might have suggested. Twillie and Roberson have, however, found a sophisticated heart for the show that remains true to the struggle at the center of the story.
Stay on top of the news of the day
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Skylight Music Theatre’s production of Raisin runs through April 24 at the Broadway Theatre Center’s Cabot Theatre, 158 N. Broadway. For more information, visit skylightmusictheatre.org or call the box office at (414) 291-7800.
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Photo by Ross Zentner
Skylight Music Theatre "A Raisin in the Sun"
Denzel Taylor, Ella Lakey, Camara Stampley and Shawn Holmes in Skylight Music Theatre’s A Raisin in the Sun
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Skylight Music Theatre "A Raisin in the Sun"
Raven Dockery (Mrs. Johnson/Althea) with cast of Skylight Music Theatre’s A Raisin in the Sun
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Photo by Ross Zentner
Skylight Music Theatre "A Raisin in the Sun"
J. Daughtry , Camara Stampley, Melanie Loren and Wydetta Carter in Skylight Music Theatre’s A Raisin in the Sun
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Christopher T Wood
Christopher T Wood
In late March, the Pfister Hotel chose “pataphysical illustrator”Christopher T. Wood as its 13th Artist-in-Residence. Succeeding conceptual abstract artist Nykoli Koslow, Wood began his one-year residency at the Artist Studio, located in the historic hotel’s lobby, on April 1.
The Shepherd Express recently interviewed Wood about his work and his plans for his residency.
Can you tell me more about your artistic background, and connection to Milwaukee?
I’ve been working as an independent practicing artist since 2005, when I completed my MFA in Painting from Northern Illinois University. Prior to that, I earned a BFA in Visual Communication Design and Illustration from the University of Dayton. I had a studio in Chicago for six years, as well as a studio in Philadelphia for six years. In 2019, I landed in Milwaukee and plan to stay for quite a while longer than six years. It is a great city, and I feel very much at home here.
My practice is focused on long-term series-based drawing projects. My drawings respond to wicked problems—the hyper-objects we now face as a civilization—or sometimes to things like the shape of a pinecone wing or the paths mice use when traveling through an old home. I work with fundamental and elemental materials to examine the ineffable. For instance, graphite powder (carbon), paper, wind, rain, gravity, time, synchronicities—these have been frequent collaborators.
My work also involves community and human interaction as it relates to design and teaching. I currently volunteer on the Board of AIGA Wisconsin, the professional association for design, and I teach part time at UW-Milwaukee and Ripon College.
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I am currently working on a drawing that is endless in size, by way of daily additions. Each piece of this Daydrawing marks a day in time, illustrating an exceptional aspect of that day. The drawings, using powdered graphite, provide a sort of keyhole glimpse into an alternate universe—one that is overlaid, and supplementary to our own.
What are some goals you hope to achieve during your Artist-in-Residency at the Pfister Hotel?
I want the Pfister Hotel studio to act as a nexus connecting people who pass through the building at different points. Visitors to the studio space will be offered an opportunity to contribute source material for my work. Every day, I will make a new work on paper, pulling inspiration from the content I received. The drawings will be created through unique processes I've developed using powdered graphite and will be observable at the studio.
Each completed piece will be displayed on the wall and available for visitors to collect as they depart the hotel and return to their points of origin on the planet. In this way, the set of drawings creates a web linking hotel guests across time and space. A drawing you take home with you will link you to a previous hotel visitor and their personal story. Content of the works on paper will build, overlap, circle back and be recycled to interact with content ideas left by guests at different points in time.
To encourage input from studio visitors, I will establish an artist input station, essentially a drop box, for people to contribute. This will occasionally include specific prompts or requests. People can speak with me directly, of course, but the physical box will provide an opportunity to write an anonymous story, contribute an object or image, and allow guests to be part of my practice even while I am away.
Is there anything else you'd like Shepherd Express readers to know about you, your work, or your Pfister residency?
I would like readers to know many things. I am so grateful for this incredible opportunity to embed my studio within the magnificent Pfister Hotel, and to collaborate with those who pass through its doors. It is a great honor to be the 13th in this roster of awesome Pfister AIR artists.
The curious are welcome to visit the studio to view or purchase drawings. Or follow me on Instagram to watch from a distance (@christophertwood). There will be special events during Milwaukee Gallery Nights throughout the year with the next one scheduled for April 22. These are great days for all to stop in and learn more about my process.
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Photo via Twitter / Bucks
It came down to the final day of the regular season, but the Eastern Conference playoff picture has finally settled, and the Milwaukee Bucks have drawn the Chicago Bulls for the first round of the 2022 NBA Playoffs. The defending champions finished the regular season with a 51-31 record, securing the third seed after resting the entire starting lineup on Sunday in a loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The benefits to having the third seed are twofold, as Milwaukee not only gets a full week of rest before game one of the series tips off on Easter Sunday, but also have a week to prepare for a known opponent. Rather than watching the Eastern Conference play-in games as they develop, the Bucks can set a gameplan for a team that they’ve beaten four times this year. In fact, the Bucks have won against their I-94 rivals 16 of their last 17 meetings, dating back to 2018. The last time the two met in the playoffs, the Bucks lost in six games to Chicago in 2015.
This year’s Chicago Bulls team was a bit of a surprise at first, and at one point led the Eastern Conference with just over six weeks remaining in the season. However, Chicago dropped 15 of 22 games since taking the conference lead, skidding all the way down to the sixth playoff seed. The Bulls only won four of their last ten games to close out the year, including a narrow win over the Minnesota Timberwolves to secure their playoff fate.
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In four wins against the Bulls this season, the Bucks had two close calls, but handled Chicago accordingly. The closest contest was in their first meeting of the year back in January, when Milwaukee edged out a 94-90 victory on the strength of 30 points from Giannis Antetokounmpo. Giannis also recorded 34 points against Chicago in a 118-112 win in early March, and the season series closed on a pair of 20-plus point victories in the last 11 games of Milwaukee’s season. The Bucks’ defense proved effective in both of those big wins, with the Bulls only shooting around 42% on each occasion.
Chicago will also be without point guard Lonzo Ball, who was a big factor in their early winning ways. Ball suffered a torn meniscus back in January. Setbacks have kept him off the floor, and he was officially shut down for the season and playoffs by the Bulls on April 6. Guard Zach Lavine has also dealt with a knee injury for much of the second half of the season, leaving forward DeMar DeRozan and center Nikola Vucevic to handle much of the scoring for Chicago. Meanwhile, Milwaukee is looking fairly healthy, although knee issues for Giannis Antetokounmpo are certainly enough to leave any Bucks fan just a little concerned. After sitting on Sunday and conceding the league’s scoring title in the process, Giannis should be well-rested headed into game one.
Things look promising for the Bucks as they set out to defend their NBA Championship, but as we’ve learned, no team should be taken for granted. Game one of the Bucks vs. Bulls series will tip off on Sunday, April 17, with a time not yet set. The series schedule will be finalized in the coming days.
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Milwaukee Chamber Theatre "The Island"
Dimonte Henning and Sherrick Robinson in Milwaukee Chamber Theatre's The Island
In The Island, John and Winston are cell mates, victims of racial and political oppression in apartheid South Africa of the early ‘70s. And in this powerful, highly charged production staged by Milwaukee Chamber Theater, the two men are reminders that not much has changed since the highly acclaimed work debuted nearly 50 years ago.
Apartheid, in one sense may by “over with,” but man’s inhumanity to man rages on today, given current atrocities worldwide. The play, written by Athol Fugard, John Kanu and Winston Ntshona, is based a true story about South Africa’s infamous Robben Island prison, where Nelson Mandela was held captive for 27 years,
Fugard wrote extensively on the issues of political and racial injustice in South Africa in many of his works. He and his fellow authors adapted The Island from the classic Greek tragedy Antigone by Sophocles to illustrate that the freedom of the spirit and the will to survive can free oneself of the entrapment of physical incarceration. And in The Island, John and Winston choose to do just that by staging their own two-person production of Antigone for their fellow prisoners.
Director Michael Burke captures our attention immediately at the start of this 70-minute production (no intermission) with a riveting four-minute display of the brutal and futile physical labor (read: torture) Winston and John must endure. There is no talking; just grunts and groans as the two are forced to dig and run to each other’s spot to drop sand and rocks, back and forth, endlessly. Their captors are determined to break their spirit if not their bodies. But the two men unite to remain strong. That all changes, however, when John’s appeal is successful for an early release. Winston will remain behind—on the island.
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Photo by Paul Ruffolo
Milwaukee Chamber Theatre "The Island
Dimonte Henning and Sherrick Robinson in Milwaukee Chamber Theatre's The Island
Actors Dimonte Henning (Winston) and Sherrick Robinson are so compelling to watch, their interactions so realistic and natural that we are transported not only to this “island” physically, but emotionally. We experience all that they must endure, their intimacies and vulnerabilities laid bare. And their spirit to survive each moment and keep the other one strong is a testament to these finely layered performances under the masterful direction of Burke.
“Time passes slowly when you’ve got something to wait for,” says John when he learns of his release date. But even if physical freedom is imminent, The Island is rife with racial and political strife—with no end in sight.
The Island runs through May 1 in the Studio Theatre at the Broadway Theatre Center, 158 N. Broadway, Milwaukee. For more information, call the Box Office at: 414-291-7800, or visit: milwaukeechambertheatre.org.
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Next Act Theatre - The Last White Man
Next Act Theatre will present the world premiere of Bill Cain’s newest play The Last White Man. It’s the fourth of Cain’s plays to be staged by the company in as many years, but the first it’s helped to develop. Eighteen hours of rehearsal with the playwright last December, and a public reading with audience feedback, produced substantial script revisions. Cain then returned for the entire rehearsal process, editing and sharpening in response to questions by director David Cecsarini and the actors, leading to an April 14 opening.
It’s a play about three white male actors and their Black female director struggling, on many levels, to mount a production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, one that the director dreams will so definitive that Western theatre can finally leave it behind. I had the pleasure of reading two drafts. It’s a big, crazy, important philosophical undertaking that Cain has made emotionally and theatrically gripping. And that’s just on the page.
This is Cecsarini’s next-to-last year as artistic director of the company he founded. He’s been devoted to Cain’s work since 2018 when he staged Cain’s play Equivocation. Shakespeare was a character in that play. Set in 1605, at the time of the Guy Fawkes Gunpowder Plot to assassinate the new Scottish King James and install a Catholic monarch on Britain’s throne, Cain has the late Queen Elizabeth’s top lord persuade “Shag” to write a hit play to serve as propaganda for the status quo. The result is Macbeth.
The following season, Cecsarini produced Cain’s autobiographical drama How to Write a New Book for the Bible which includes the deaths of both his parents. Next was 9 Circles, modeled on Dante’s Inferno, about the real-life murder trial of an U.S. soldier. Cecsarini will stage a fifth Cain play next season, his last.
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A much-awarded playwright, Cain is also a prolific television writer, a Jesuit priest and the founder of the now-deceased Boston Shakespeare Company. “I don’t know anyone who loves Shakespeare and knows Shakespeare better than Bill Cain,” Cecsarini tells me. “And yet he’s struggling with this sense that the time has come to ask why Hamlet is continually lionized. Surely there are other stories worthy to tell, and we need to invest more of our energies in doing so.”
Fathers and Sons, Death and Madness
That’s the position of Xandri, the play’s director character. “The world according to Shakespeare,” she argues, “is fathers and sons. It always ends in death. And madness. And we play this tired old story over and over, venerating it, learning nothing from it, never questioning this premise and teaching children, Children, this is greatness. We can do better. We have to. … I want this to be the last Hamlet. So perfect and so beautiful, so heart-breaking that it will be the very last time we will have to say goodbye to this very sad, very beautiful, very white young man.”
The three actors, on the other hand, grapple with serious personal issues. Add to that the anguish any dedicated actor faces as that Danish prince facing the task of avenging his father’s murder and having to convincingly deliver the most famous lines in Western drama, lines audiences’ already know by heart.
Cain took the bare bones of his plot from a late 1980s production of Hamlet at London’s National Theatre. The actor Daniel Day Lewis, fresh from his Oscar win for My Left Foot, was Hamlet. Having trouble in the role, he quit the show mid-performance. His understudy stepped in and continued until producers cast the Scottish actor Ian Charleson from the Oscar-winning Chariots of Fire. Charleson died of AIDS eight weeks after ending his acclaimed run.
In Cain’s fictional version, set in 1989 and played with American accents, the Oscar-winning actor’s troubles with the role are crippling memories of his own dead father. The consequences are drastic. “I think Bill’s sense of it,” Cecsarini says, “is expressed by director Xandri ‘s description of the Ghost: it’s the dirty laundry; the things left undone.”
AIDS remains the plague of the visionary actor hired to replace him. But in the end, it’s the understudy’s transformative journey with all three characters that becomes the play’s heart.
“The human aspects that take over in the playing of the character of Hamlet are primarily what attracted me,’ Cecsarini says. “The philosophy of the director is interesting. I’ve been working through it myself, thinking what do I believe? And I don’t know. Why not a Black Hamlet? Why not open things up? But that’s on a different level than: here’s the same story generated by a white Western culture in a world of privilege and inheritance. I think I can say that, yes, it’s also time to be seeking out other stories.
“I’m very interested to see what our audiences’ reactions will be, particularly in the talkbacks,” he adds. “I’m sure it’ll hit some nerves and it’s kind of fun to air this out. I hope they find some funny places, too, because there are good funny spots. Singing disco in Hamlet is kind of an interesting juxtaposition.”
Performances are April 14-May 8 at Next Act Theatre, 255 S. Water St. Visit nextact.org or call (414) 278-0765 for times, tickets and current safety policies.
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Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (In Theaters April 15)
David Yates directs this third “Fantastic Beast” entry that regains a sure creature-footing. Humans fare less well with the scattershot plot and too many unfocused characters. Creature-wrangler Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), along with a few others wizards, joins Dumbledore’s group tasked with preventing dark conjurer Gellert Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen, taking over from Johnny Depp), from killing all muggles. Since Grindelwald foresees the future, Dumbledore and associates create alternate futures to confuse the enemy.
Set in the 1930s, the film’s backdrop includes gangs of Hitler’s thugs and graphic bloodshed prompting some critics to declare this fantasy too disturbing for young viewers. The story also debuts a tiny dragon/deer cross that proves central to the action. This Harry Potter universe film benefits from fantastic special effects and top-drawer performances from the film’s cast. (Lisa Miller)
Father Stu (In Theaters April 15)
Following a short prison stint during his teens, Mark Wahlberg became Roman Catholic. Years later, having heard Father Stu Long’s story from two priests, Wahlberg was determined to make a film based on Long’s story. Wahlberg appears as Stu Long, documenting the man’s journey from boxer to wanna-be actor to priest. Long struggles to overcome his self-destructive instincts, and when on the cusp of becoming a priest, learns he is suffering from a debilitating disease. His story resonates with Wahlberg who financed the film after several studios turned it down. Wahlberg enlisted Rosalind Ross (wife of fellow Catholic Mel Gibson), to write the screenplay and direct, along with securing Gibson to portray an important supporting role in this R-Rated docu-drama. (Lisa Miller)
“The Honeymooners Specials: The Complete Collection” (MPI Media DVD)
Among all the situation comedies of the 1950s, “The Honeymooners” presented the most unconventional depiction of American family life. Living far from the comfortable upper middle-class suburbia of the Cleavers or the urban comfort of the Ricardos, the Cramdens and Nortons were close to squalor. Ralph Cramden (Jackie Gleason) drove a bus and Ed Norton (Art Carney) worked in the sewers. Both families were childless. And the wives, Alice (Audrie Meadows) and Trixie (Joyce Randolph), were considerably smarter than their husbands. Maritial arguments were sharp and loud.
In the 1970s, Gleason returned to “The Honeymooners” for the last time, producing several one-hour specials for television collected here on DVD.
It’s clear from the setting that the upward mobility of the American middle class had left the couples behind. Ralph and Alice still lived in the same Early Depression two-room apartment with an Edward Hopper view through the kitchen window. Ralph and Ed are older but no wiser in the specials. Carney is spot on as the amiable fool and Gleason is brilliant as the bully with a soft underbelly, the swaggering braggart with clay feet. The scripts for the latter-day shows were consistently funny, but much of the humor shines from Gleason and Carney’s expressively comical body language. (David Luhrssen)
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English Beat at Turner Hall April 10, 2022
The English Beat at Turner Hall
Near the end of Sunday’s English Beat show at Turner Hall, singer Dave Wakeling pointed the fans that had been cooling the band onstage, toward the audience. It was a fitting gesture from a guy who spent the evening testifying on the virtues of peace, love and unity. It was also a welcome breeze for fans who had been moving non-stop since the opening number.
Currently known as The Beat Starring Dave Wakeling, the latest incarnation of the second-generation Ska group came to town for more dancing than should be legal on a Sunday night. With a multi-generational audience made of old-school 2 Tone fans, Celtic musicians and anyone looking to get an aerobic workout, the group kept momentum going with blasts “Twist and Crawl,” “Can't Get Used to Losing You” and the one-two punch of “Ranking Full Stop” and “Mirror in the Bathroom.”
Formed in the late ‘70s in Birmingham, England, as the Beat (they became The English Beat to avoid confusion with Paul Collins’ California power pop combo), Wakeling shared the spotlight with toaster Antonee First Class and directed the group with James Brown-like precision, giving hand signals behind his back to the musicians.
The singer apologized for British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s “12 damn years in office” when the band raged through “Stand Down Margaret,” while “Save It for Later” had the crowd pogo-ing like it was 1982 again. Playing his familiar left-handed teardrop-shaped guitar Wakeling also touched on the band’s evolution as General Public with the hit “Tenderness.”
Highball Holiday made a welcome return home as openers. Shahanna McKinney Baldon fronted the group for an all-to brief set that nonetheless set the evening course perfectly.
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New Brewers third baseman Mike Brosseau picked a good time to make a good first impression, as his first hit of the season will likely be replayed many times in the months ahead.
Brosseau entered Sunday’s game as a pinch hitter in the top of the seventh inning, just moments after the Cubs had tied the game on a wild pitch in the bottom of the sixth. With the score now 4-4 the Brewers faced a potential Opening Weekend disaster: Already having lost the first two games in the series to the Cubs (including an ugly defeat on Saturday that included a bench-clearing incident), they now risked getting swept at Wrigley Field to open the season 0-3.
Instead, Brosseau seized the moment. He took the third pitch he faced from Cubs reliever and former Brewer Daniel Norris and homered to left, giving the Crew a 5-4 lead. They went on to win by that same score, salvaging a game in the series in dramatic fashion.
Sunday was only Brosseau’s 146th MLB game across his four seasons, as he’s played partial years at the big-league level with the Rays across the last three years. He’s already racked up a few moments on big stages, however: His stint with the Rays included 15 postseason games, where he homered in the decisive Game 5 of their 2020 ALDS win over the Yankees and picked up a couple of hits in the World Series.
With the Brewers, Brosseau is getting an extended look at third base at least in part due to Luis Urías’ ongoing quad injury. Urías seemed likely to play most days at third heading into the season, but his absence opened the door for Brosseau and holdover Jace Peterson to get into more early games.
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It’s still unknown at this point how long Urías will be out, but the players getting extra work in his absence may have a short window to audition for a continued role: Urías’ return and the paring down of MLB rosters from 28 to 26 on May 1 mean the Brewers will have to make decisions on a few players in the coming weeks. They clearly like Brosseau, who they traded for last November, but they only have so many spots and so much playing time available.
Of course, history suggests that a previously unheralded player can significantly alter their career trajectory by getting hot at the right time. Here are some recent Brewers who rode a big first impression into an expanded role:
Erik Kratz
A longtime backup catcher, Kratz was a few days shy of his 38th birthday when the Brewers acquired him to add some depth behind the plate in May of 2018. At that point Kratz had played in parts of eight MLB seasons and the Brewers were about to become his sixth franchise. Expectations were not high for an aging backup with a .250 career on-base percentage.
In his first three appearances as a Brewer, however, Kratz connected for six hits and a pair of home runs and the Brewers won all three contests. The longtime backup ended up playing regularly for the Crew down the stretch as they chased and eventually won an NL Central crown, and at 38 years old he set career highs in plate appearances (219) and hits (48). He appeared in nine of the Brewers’ ten postseason games that season, the only playoff appearances of his career. He eventually stayed in the majors through 2020, his age 40 season.
Eric Sogard
After spending parts of six seasons as a middle infielder for the Athletics, Sogard missed the entire 2016 season and it looked like his career might be headed on a downward trajectory: He was about to turn 31 and had never hit much at the MLB level, carrying a .295 on-base percentage and .313 slugging through 435 games.
The Brewers signed Sogard to a minor league deal for the 2017 season, however, and by May he had hit his way onto the roster. His hot bat followed him to Milwaukee, where in his first week on the roster he logged a pair of home runs and two other four-hit games.
Since resurfacing in the majors with the Brewers Sogard has appeared in 380 games across the last five seasons, including a few stints in Milwaukee. He had the best season of his career with the Blue Jays and Rays in 2019 and homered for Tampa in the ALDS that season.
Jesus Aguilar
Sogard wasn’t the Brewers’ only 2017 breakout, however, or even their first. Jesus Aguilar had been in the minors with Cleveland for nearly a decade when the Brewers claimed him off waivers in February of 2017. He hit his way onto the Opening Day roster despite the fact that the Brewers didn’t really have a clear path to playing time for him, as they had also brought Eric Thames back from Korea that winter.
Aguilar’s bat continued to force the issue, however, as he collected nine hits in his first eleven regular season at bats as a Brewer. That season-opening hot streak gained him enough goodwill to allow him to outlast the extended slump that followed (a 1-for-29 skid), and Aguilar has been a full-time big leaguer ever since. He was an All Star for the Brewers in 2018, when he finished fifth in the National League in home runs (35) and has experienced sustained success in the majors with the Rays and Marlins.
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Image ©Warner Bros.
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (In Theaters April 15)
David Yates directs this third “Fantastic Beast” entry that regains a sure creature-footing. Humans fare less well with the scattershot plot and too many unfocused characters. Creature-wrangler Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), along with a few others wizards, joins Dumbledore’s group tasked with preventing dark conjurer Gellert Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen, taking over from Johnny Depp), from killing all muggles. Since Grindelwald foresees the future, Dumbledore and associates create alternate futures to confuse the enemy.
Set in the 1930s, the film’s backdrop includes gangs of Hitler’s thugs and graphic bloodshed prompting some critics to declare this fantasy too disturbing for young viewers. The story also debuts a tiny dragon/deer cross that proves central to the action. This Harry Potter universe film benefits from fantastic special effects and top-drawer performances from the film’s cast. (Lisa Miller)
Father Stu (In Theaters April 15)
Following a short prison stint during his teens, Mark Wahlberg became Roman Catholic. Years later, having heard Father Stu Long’s story from two priests, Wahlberg was determined to make a film based on Long’s story. Wahlberg appears as Stu Long, documenting the man’s journey from boxer to wanna-be actor to priest. Long struggles to overcome his self-destructive instincts, and when on the cusp of becoming a priest, learns he is suffering from a debilitating disease. His story resonates with Wahlberg who financed the film after several studios turned it down. Wahlberg enlisted Rosalind Ross (wife of fellow Catholic Mel Gibson), to write the screenplay and direct, along with securing Gibson to portray an important supporting role in this R-Rated docu-drama. (Lisa Miller)
“The Honeymooners Specials: The Complete Collection” (MPI Media DVD)
Among all the situation comedies of the 1950s, “The Honeymooners” presented the most unconventional depiction of American family life. Living far from the comfortable upper middle-class suburbia of the Cleavers or the urban comfort of the Ricardos, the Cramdens and Nortons were close to squalor. Ralph Cramden (Jackie Gleason) drove a bus and Ed Norton (Art Carney) worked in the sewers. Both families were childless. And the wives, Alice (Audrie Meadows) and Trixie (Joyce Randolph), were considerably smarter than their husbands. Maritial arguments were sharp and loud.
In the 1970s, Gleason returned to “The Honeymooners” for the last time, producing several one-hour specials for television collected here on DVD.
It’s clear from the setting that the upward mobility of the American middle class had left the couples behind. Ralph and Alice still lived in the same Early Depression two-room apartment with an Edward Hopper view through the kitchen window. Ralph and Ed are older but no wiser in the specials. Carney is spot on as the amiable fool and Gleason is brilliant as the bully with a soft underbelly, the swaggering braggart with clay feet. The scripts for the latter-day shows were consistently funny, but much of the humor shines from Gleason and Carney’s expressively comical body language. (David Luhrssen)
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Summary:
- 314 new cases
- No new deaths added to system
- 12,828 total deaths;
- 147 hospitalized patients, 27 in ICU
Source: Wisconsin Department of Health Services
On Monday, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services reported an additional 314 new COVID-19 cases. The state has averaged 621 new cases per day in the last week.
On this day last year, there were 390 new cases, and a 7-day average of 796 cases per day. In 2020, 126 cases were recorded, with a 7-day average of 154 cases per day.
Source: Wisconsin Department of Health Services
There were no new deaths added to the Department of Health Services system, putting the total Wisconsin death toll at 12,828. A lag in death reporting statewide has affected these numbers.
In Milwaukee County, there were 48 new confirmed cases reported and have been 269,275 total cases in the county since the pandemic began. The 7-day average in the county is 139 cases per day. None of the deaths added to the state system were attributed to Milwaukee County, putting the county death toll at 2,279 since the beginning of the pandemic.
If you are looking for COVID-19 testing or vaccination, consult the Wisconsin Department of Health Services website.
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Illustration by Michael Burmesch
Attack on Education illustration
Many school teachers are frightened for their futures these days and they have a right to be. Republican politicians in Wisconsin and more than half our states are threatening teachers with serious consequences if they don’t stop educating students about everything going on in the world.
The latest rightwing attack on public schools has been raging for more than a year with angry, screaming parent groups disrupting school board meetings threatening the jobs and lives of educators. Those weren’t actually spontaneous grassroots protests, but in Wisconsin they were locally funded.
That’s because Milwaukee’s rightwing Bradley Foundation financed hundreds of such groups nationally with names like Moms for Liberty and Fight for Schools. They threatened public schools for requiring masks to protect students and staff and for teaching about racism in America.
In an election year, Republicans are eager to continue pushing their rightwing agenda. Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a professional educator, vetoed their bill to ban teachers from discussing racism and the civil rights movement. The problem with all the Republican laws and executive orders outlawing teaching about racism is they’re so vaguely written nobody has any idea what’s against the law.
Fear and Confusion
In New Hampshire, where Republicans have total control, state law explicitly bars teaching that any age, sex, gender, sexual orientation, race, creed, color, marital status, family status, mental or physical disability, religion or national origin are inherently superior or inferior to any other, but teachers need to know the legal definitions of words like “inherently,” “superior” and “inferior.”
“We asked for clarification from the state, from the union, from school lawyers,” said a high school teacher. “The universal response is no one’s really sure. It’s led us to be exceptionally cautious because we don’t want to risk our livelihoods when we’re not really sure what the rules are.” Which is exactly the intention—to scare teachers into never uttering a word about America’s continuing history of racism.
That’s frightening enough, but Republicans now have a radical new way to destroy the lives of teachers who teach things they don’t want children to know about including racism, U.S. history, science and sexuality. Republicans are introducing copycat laws around the country modeled after the successful gimmick Texas Republicans used to shut down legal abortions. Their unconstitutional law allowed citizen vigilantes to sue anyone aiding an abortion and collect a bounty of $10,000.
A Republican legislator in neighboring Oklahoma has now introduced a bill allowing parents to personally sue teachers for $10,000 each time they say something in class contradicting a student’s religious beliefs. That could include any reference to sexual orientation, evolution or the world being created by a big bang in our universe instead of a nice old man living somewhere in the sky.
Book Banning is Back
The same legislator introduced a companion bill allowing parents to sue a school district if it declines to ban a book they want removed from the school library to prevent students from reading it. If a court sides with the parents, they could collect $10,000 a day for each day the book remains on the shelf.
Book burning is back. The driving force lighting the bonfires for books this time among Republicans was the election of Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin in Virginia, a Democratic state in recent years, attributed to his advocacy for parents controlling schools. One of his constant TV commercials called for banning Nobel-prize-winning African American writer Toni Morrison’s Beloved from schools after a Republican mother claimed it gave her high school son nightmares with its description of the horrors of slavery.
Rightwing parent groups have now compiled lists of hundreds of books they want removed from school libraries. They include books about racial and social issues as well as sexuality. There is not a single school district in America that includes any pornography in its school libraries. But many parents have opposed sex education in schools for decades in hopes of preventing their children from ever learning about sex. No one ever succeeded, even before the internet. But the job of responsible teachers has always been to provide students with accurate information.
There’s also nothing unusual about young people having more politically progressive ideas than their parents. It’s a natural, healthy process for teenagers to pull away from their parents and begin forming their own opinions. That’s happening in spades these days when they’re living through some of the most hostile political divisions in America since the 1960s.
Many young people today are appalled by the political inaction to protect their planet from global warming, keep deadly weapons out of their schools and end hatred based on race, gender and sexual orientation.
That’s not because teachers are doing anything wrong. It’s because they’re educating our children about their world. The rest of us have to do everything we can to prevent partisan politicians from destroying their education.
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Poll Question: April 11, 2022
Poll Question: April 11, 2022
Apr. 11, 2022
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Photo via Milwaukee Brewers
Peppered Brandy Burger powered by Story Hill BKC
Eating at the ballgame isn’t just about mustard on hotdogs anymore. The Milwaukee Brewers and Black Shoe Hospitality have announced a partnership that revamps food service during ballgames at American Family Field.
Milwaukeeans have become familiar with Black Shoe during the past 15 years through several notable local restaurants. Maxie’s (6732 W. Fairview Ave.), serving Louisiana style cuisine; Blue’s Egg (317 N. 76th St.), offering tasty breakfast and lunch fare; Story Hill BKG (5100 W. Bluemound Road) putting an eclectic spin on American fare; and a new venue whose name tells the story, Buttermint Finer Dining & Cocktails (4195 N. Oakland Ave.).
“This was an opportunity to work collaboratively with one of the most accomplished restaurateurs in Milwaukee to create a menu that will elevate the American Family Field fan experience,” said Brewers President–Business Operations, Rick Schlesinger. “This partnership allowed us to match the flavor of the Milwaukee culinary scene with the unforgettable experience of American Family Field, to create a reimagined menu of concession offerings.”
Recent James Beard nominee Joe Muench. Muench and Dan Sidner, co-owners of Black Shoe Hospitality, worked with Loren Rue, Delaware North’s onsite executive chef, to make a menu that marries Milwaukee’s food heritage with the convenience of ballpark fare. Fans will find rebranded concession stands and new menu offerings throughout American Family Field.
- Blue’s Egg Specialty Sausages including Johnsonville Ultimate Bratwurst, Johnsonville Tipsy Polish Sausage and the Johnsonville Chorizo Breakfast Sandwich with chorizo sausage strips, egg, American cheese, cilantro and Come Back! sauce on brioche. The Italian Beef Stands will feature the Johnsonville Italian Sausage smothered with sweet peppers, giardiniera and mozzarella cheese. With the addition of the Johnsonville Chorizo Breakfast Sandwich, all five of the Famous Racing Sausages are now represented on the menu.
- Story Hill BKC Burgers are double patty beef burgers cooked fresh from Wisconsin born and raised cattle. Fans can choose between the Double Story Burger, the Bacon Story Burger and the Peppered Brandy Burger, the latter offering a delicious combination of Swiss cheese, caramelized brandy onions and peppercorn mayo on a brioche bun.
- Maxie’s Chicken offers two tasty options with a Fried Buttermilk Chicken Sandwich with crisp sliced pickles, American cheese and Come Back! sauce on a brioche bun; and Hand Dropped Chicken Tenders served with Come Back! sauce.
- Story Hill BKC’s four new Topped Hot Dogs are not only creatively named but also pack a delicious punch of flavors. Wisconsin on My Mind embraces Wisconsin favorites and includes sharp cheddar, fried cheese curds, mild cheddar and ranch dressing. The Chili Cheese Dog serves up a zesty chili with cheddar, sour cream and scallions. The Badger State Dog showcases sharp cheddar, tater tots, cranberry jalapeño ketchup and chopped bacon. The heavy-hitter Dog n’ Brat Show features Johnsonville Brat Strips, apple-onion braised sauerkraut, spicy Dusseldorf mustard and Sargento® cheese sauce.
- Blue’s Egg Nachos can be topped with beef, locally sourced from Wisconsin born and raised cattle, or chicken, fire-braised and drizzled with salsa verde. Select stands on the Field and Loge Levels will also feature ImpossibleTM beef, made in- house by the culinary team. The ever-popular Bratcho, a combination of beef and bratwurst on nachos, will remain on the menu.
“At Black Shoe we have spent the last 15 years working to elevate the dining scene in Milwaukee. To be part of elevating the food and fan experience at American Family Field is a huge thrill,” said Black Shoe’s Dan Sidner. “We are pleased and proud to be working with the Brewers and Delaware North.”
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This year is a special one for me, as 2022 marks my 10th year as an independent curator, a career made possible in large part thanks to the art institutions across the country and here in Milwaukee that present exhibitions and to the donors, large and small, who fund them. While I have spent most of the last decade creating and traveling unique exhibitions, I have also had the opportunity to research and write a significant part of a new historical survey on the visual arts in Wisconsin. The book, A Creative Place: The History of Wisconsin Art (2021), chronicles, celebrates and connects our state’s rich artistic talent to what was happening elsewhere in the country. Covering the post-war period meant meeting a multitude of artists and collectors whose creativity and support for the arts has helped to make this a truly “creative place.”
Another significant date in 2022 is the 200th anniversary of landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted’s birth on April 26, 1822. As part of a nationwide celebration, the Friends of Villa Terrace are presenting “In the Park with Olmsted: A Vision for Milwaukee,” opening April 14. This exhibition—my sixth at Villa Terrace—features Olmsted’s life and legacy, his designs for Lake, Riverside and Washington Parks and artwork inspired by his many achievements. The accompanying catalogue, made possible by generous donors, will help keep Olmsted’s contributions to the Milwaukee Park System front and center for decades.
Visit: Olmstedmilwaukee.org
Photo Credit: Erol Reyal
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Photo by Michael Brosilow
Milwaukee Rep - Titanic: The Musical
Milwaukee Rep - Titanic: The Musical
In 1912, the fabled ocean liner Titanic never made it to its destination in New York City. In 2021, it seemed as though the Milwaukee Repertory Theater would never launch its version of Titanic: The Musical. With the pandemic taking hold in America, the prospects of mounting a show as complex and formidable as Titanic seemed bleak, indeed. For a time, it seemed as though the whole country was coming to a standstill.
Happily, life is beginning to return to normal. And Milwaukee Rep’s production of Titanic finally set sail last weekend at the largest of the complex’s three theaters, the Quadracci Powerhouse. And the 700-seat theater is an ideal fit for this miraculous undertaking, which has stretched the Milwaukee Rep’s considerable resources to their limits. This is the largest musical in the Rep’s 67-year history.
The result is a not-to-be-missed theatrical experience, which blends spectacular storytelling, music and dance to create a stirring and memorable production.
Titanic: The Musical is the winner of five Tony Awards. The book was written by Peter Stone, with music and lyrics by Maury Yeston and orchestrations by Joshua Clayton. The musical takes the theatergoer on a journey through the lives of real-life passengers and crew. It details the aspirations of third-class passengers seeking to build better lives for themselves, to the first-class quarters far above them. On the top deck, the super-rich and celebrated passengers stroll about in small groups, displaying their finery for all to admire.
The show’s first act is mainly a celebratory ode to the grandeur of the ship itself, an engineering marvel of its time. During the musical’s overture, the audience watches a series grainy, black-and-white projections that depict the ship’s actual blueprints being drawn, and then phases of construction. As the sweeping, majestic overture continues, dozens of workers are seen working in the Titanic’s shipyard. They look like ants creeping below the huge frame of this massive ship, which grows to become 11 stories tall.
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Passenger Boarding Passes – Who Will Survive?
The audience’s immersion into the Titanic’s world begins even earlier than this. In the theater lobby, each patron is handed an authentic-looking boarding pass for the Titanic’s maiden voyage. On one side is imprinted the name, age and eventual destination for a single passenger.
The fate of this person can only be seen when waving the card underneath a special reader device, located elsewhere in the lobby. (Here’s a tip: If you’re given a pass belonging to a male passenger, chances are he didn’t survive the voyage).
If this hasn’t piqued the audience’s interest sufficiently enough, the large cast does a fantastic job in drawing attention to the comings and goings on this historic voyage. After many vocal tributes to the ship, including accolades to “the Largest Floating Object in the World,” all the upper-class guests are greeted aboard with great fanfare. There’s an undisputable aura of celebration, as the ladies’ feather-covered hats and swirling skirts (costumes by longtime designer Alexander B. Tecoma) set the scene alight with color and movement.
Photo by Michael Brosilow
Milwaukee Rep's Titanic: The Musical
Steve Watts, Lillian Castillo, Max Pink, Kelley Faulkner and Tim Quartier in the Milwaukee Rep's Titanic: The Musical
An Ironic Envy of Wealth and Position
One of the show’s focal points is a gossipy, second-class passenger (Lillian Castillo). She provides (sometimes scandalous) details of famous and wealthy guests as they stride towards the dock. One of the most prominent men, she reveals, is traveling with a woman who is not his wife. Then she spots John Jacob Astor (Jamey Feshold), stepping onboard with his new bride, a woman who is 29 years younger than himself.
Once onboard, the sneaky Castillo tries every trick to enter the first-class areas, much to the consternation of her hardware store-owning husband, Edgar (Steve Watts). But Castillo is so bubbly and lovable that one cannot fault her for wanting to rub shoulders with the upper crust. She flatly tells her husband that life does not meet her expectations. Edgar, a steady, unflappable man with infinite patience, reminds her to be grateful for what she has. His words become eerily prophetic when disaster strikes.
The ship’s crew gives far less attention to the third-class characters, who nonetheless sing of their adventures ahead in the New World. Stuffed into a cramped hold far below the first-class cabins, the passengers tell of their individual dreams. One woman sees herself as a lady’s maid, while another wants to be a seamstress. A third woman wants to be a governess. Several of the men speak up, too. One longs to be a constable, while another wishes to be an engineer. One just wants to become a millionaire.
Their upbeat song is also tinged with sadness, as the audience knows what lies ahead. When the ship inevitably hits an iceberg, most of the first-class passengers are directed to the lifeboats. Many of the lower-level passengers are left to fend for themselves.
A standout among the third-class passengers is Kate McGowan, one of several Irish Kates who’ve booked passage on the Titanic. With her fiery red hair, the feisty and plain-speaking Kate seeks not only a new life, but also a husband and father for her unborn child. To that end, she strikes up a shipboard romance with Jim Farrell (Brian Krinsky).
Very Different Perspective than in ‘Titanic’ Film
Many of those who attend the Milwaukee Rep show will be familiar with James Cameron’s award-winning film of the same title. Well, don’t look for steamy romantic scenes, or dramatic rescues between lovers at the Rep. However, audiences may come away with a more informed and well-rounded perspective of this historic event.
However, one thing Milwaukee Rep audiences will not see is the prow or side of a large ship. Set designer Tim Macabee takes a unique approach in creating this Titanic world. Ably illuminating the design is Jason Fassl’s lighting, with video and projection designs by Mike Tutaj. Sound designer Cricket S. Myers creates a realistic atmosphere throughout.
Some characters will be familiar to both film and musical fans. Actor Andrew Varela is a dominating presence as Ismay, chairman of the White Star. In the increasingly competitive world of ocean liners, he claims that speed has become a priority. He wants Titanic to arrive in port a full day ahead of schedule. Ismay pushes Captain Smith (David Hess, in a beautifully restrained performance) to constantly increase the ship’s speed, further hurtling it towards disaster. (Also in an attempt to mollify Ismay, the captain switches to a more northern route that has a greater chance of encountering icebergs. In addition to the cast members mentioned above, impressive performances are turned in by Jeremy Landon Hays as Thomas Andrews, Titanic’s designer, and Steve Pacek as Harold Bride, the telegraph operator.
Nathaniel Hackmann demonstrates a strong onstage presence and a beautiful voice as Barrett, a veteran crewman who works in the boiler room. Early on, he questions the captain’s orders to increase the ship’s speed, as he warns of the consequences that may follow. Nonetheless, someone who works in the boiler room is in no position to speak up; he must only follow orders.
An Increasing Sense of Dread Settles Onboard
Photo by Michael Brosilow
Milwaukee Rep Titanic: The Musical
Nathaniel Hackmann and Steve Pacek in the Milwaukee Rep's Titanic: The Musical
The fateful iceberg collision occurs at the end of Act I. The second act mostly focuses on revealing bits of information to crew members and passengers as the ship continues to sink.
The women (and a couple of children) are forcibly pulled away from the men and herded onto lifeboats. But one of the first-class couples decides to stay together onboard. Philip Hoffman and Carrie Hitchcock portray the elderly couple with a great deal of sensitivity and warmth.
Much of the show’s authenticity is conveyed by the period costumes, from the wool caps and cotton duffel bags for the sailors, to the dark blue suits festooned with rows of gold buttons and gold-striped sleeves for the ship’s officers. (The first-class passengers’ attire is completely gorgeous, especially the ladies’ dinner gowns.)
In fact, all the first-class sequences convey a sense of opulence and luxury, from the number of massive wood-trimmed trunks and leather traveling valises, to the number of crew members assigned to accommodate their passengers’ every desire.
The actor Matt Daniels draws on his experience in portraying the character Jeeves in another show to give us Mr. Etches, the Titanic’s first-class steward. Whether he is whisking away stray second-class passengers from the upper decks or expressing his personal thoughts on serving some of these folks for so many years, Daniels is letter-perfect in his delivery. He also has a fine singing voice, although it is not often heard on local stages.
In fact, Daniels is one of a handful of Milwaukee actors who appear in this production alongside nationally-known actors from elsewhere. Some other Milwaukee actors include: Kelley Faulkner, Carrie Hitchcock, Rana Roman, Andrew Varela and Steve Watts. A number of the Rep’s emerging artists who appear in this show also hail from Milwaukee, as do the young children. It is nice to see the Milwaukee Rep’s efforts in tapping local talent as well as importing actors for key roles.
Staging all of the 30 actors, plus incorporating dance sequences (by Jenn Rose) and musical interludes (by Music Director Dan Kazemi) is, in itself, a gargantuan task. Yet Milwaukee Rep Artistic Director Mark Clements makes it all seem to flow so effortlessly. Clements also captures the century-old fascination with this ill-fated cruise. And audiences can’t help but feel a stronger attachment to those who survived—and those who didn’t—after being “introduced” to them through this epic musical.
Titanic: The Musical continues through May 14 at the Quadracci Powerhouse Theater at Milwaukee Repertory Theater. For tickets, click on MilwaukeeRep.com, call 414-224-9490, or visit the box office at 108 E. Wells St.
Photo by Michael Brosilow
Milwaukee Rep - Titanic: The Musical
Milwaukee Rep - Titanic: The Musical
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Dear Ruthie is proudly brought to you by C3 Designs — Award Winning Fine Jewelry. C3 Designs offers a variety of services performed in-house, including custom jewelry design, jewelry and watch repair, appraisal, pearl and bead stringing, engraving and flip guards. C3 Designs is the winner of the Jewelers of America 2019 CASE Award.
Dear Ruthie,
A few days after celebrating our 1-year anniversary, I found out my husband cheated on me the day before our wedding. It was a bachelor-party situation. I’m devastated and can’t even think straight. I’m not sure what to do next. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Feeling Lost
Dear Lost,
Oh, sugar! If I could give you a hug right now, I surely would. Sorry that you’re going through this and that you’re feeling lost and (presumably) lonely…and likely pretty damn pissed off!
While I don’t fully understand what a “bachelor-party situation” is, it clearly isn’t a good. Start to find your feelings by writing in a journal. Just get it all out. Write whatever comes to mind. If nothing else this will relieve a bit of stress.
You don’t mention your living situation. If you’re still sharing an abode, suggest temporarily putting some space between the two of you. Calmly explain all the things you’re feeling right now.
Next, see a therapist to help you deal with your emotions in an effective manner. This therapist might also be able to suggest next steps for you and your spouse such as couples counseling. Good luck, sweetie. We’re all rooting for you!
Ruthie’s Social Calendar
April 14—Milwaukee Brewers Opening Day at American Family Field (1 Brewers Way): Few things signal the (real) start of spring like opening day with the Brew Crew. Whether you kick off the season with a crazy tailgate or simply cheer on the team from the stands, a good time is sure to be had. Game time is 4:14 p.m.
April 14—414 Day Celebration at Harley-Davidson Museum (400 W. Canal St.): Celebrate Milwaukee like never before with a trip to this iconic Cream City hot spot. The museum will stay open to 8 p.m., giving you plenty time to enjoy it, visit the restaurant, have a cocktail, shop and more. Happy 414 Day, everyone!
April 14—"Life’s a Beach” Party at This Is It (418 E. Wells St.): Hostess and DJ Beth Anne Bodyworks brings the beach to you with this insane 10 p.m. bash featuring 3-for-1 drink specials, dancing and an 11 p.m. swimwear contest. This over-the-top party is for those over 21 only.
April 15—Titanic Dinner Theater Event at Saint Kate Arts Hotel (139 E. Kilbourn Ave.): Savor a first-class, three-course dinner at the posh Dark Room at Saint Kate’s before taking in Titanic: The Musical at The Milwaukee Rep—your $150 ticket includes both! See www.exploretock.com for reservations for the fantastic 5:30 p.m. evening.
April 16—Spring Makers Market at Story Hill Firehouse (407 N. Hawley Road.): Need a few more surprises for an Easter basket? Looking for some sunny accessories to dress up your spring wardrobe? Don’t miss this second annual makers mart that’s sure to put a spring in your step. Shop local with hometown artists, crafters and makers while enjoying food, beverages and more during the 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. marketplace.
April 16—"Fabulosity Drag Show” at Lazy Oaf Lounge (1617 N. Stoughton Rd., Madison): Head to Mad City for a night of queens, cocktails, dancing and more. The show starts at 10 p.m. but arrive early to enjoy a bite to eat and take advantage of drink specials. Expect a $5 cover charge at the door.
April 18—TGNC (Virtual) Support Group via Milwaukee LGBT Community Center: If you are an adult (18+) identifying under the trans umbrella, including gender non-conforming, genderqueer, non-binary and trans folx, this might be the peer group you’ve been looking for. To learn more, including logon information, email acorona@mkelgbt.org.
April 20—“The Golden Girls” Bingo at Hamburger Mary’s (730 S. Fifth St.): Thank you for being a friend, Milwaukee! Purse String Productions, the team behind the annual “Golden Girls Christmas Special,” hosts this kooky night of fun. Dorothy, Rose, Blanche and Sophia (and me … Dear Ruthie) call numerous rounds of bingo and as well as other laugh-out-loud games for great prizes. The girls start yanking balls at 7:30 p.m. but arrive early for burgers and beverages. See hamburgermarys.com/mke for reservations.
Have a question for Ruthie? Want to share an event with her? Contact Ruthie at DearRuthie@ShepEx.com.
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Photo: SSBL Milwaukee - Facebook
Saturday Softball Beer League
Saturday Softball Beer League
Nothing says spring hath sprung in Milwaukee like the ping of an aluminum bat smacking a chartreuse colored softball. So begins the Saturday Softball Beer League’s (SSBL) 45th season. Coming out of two seasons of coping with on-again off again scheduling, travel restrictions, self-isolating and vaccination hesitancy as the tide of the pandemic ebbed and flowed (at one point SSBL tried issuing colored wristbands, the color indicating the wearer’s social distancing comfort level), the league announced a return to normalcy with games starting on Saturday, April 30 and played at its traditional venue, Wilson Park, on the city’s south side.
According to SSBL Commissioner Kurt Baldwin, 10 teams have registered with another two new team sponsors awaiting confirmation. Deadline for team sign up is April 15.
Dairyland Classic
Later in the season, SSBL’s annual tournament, the Dairyland Classic is scheduled for Aug. 6–7 at Wirth Park. With the waning of the pandemic, the event is expected to be bigger and better than last year. “In 2021 we hosted 21 teams. That number was much lower than in the past due to pandemic and conflicts to other regional softball events. This year’s Dairyland Classic should be back to normal as the international tournament like it always was,” Baldwin said.
SSBL volunteers will again staff an American Family Field concession stand. The SSBL concession volunteer program began as a fundraising effort to help finance NAGAAA-Fest, the 2009 Gay Softball World Series held in Milwaukee in 2009. After a hiatus of several years, the program was revived and now constitutes the league’s major funding resource. Baldwin noted the effectiveness of the effort, citing in 2021 SSBL volunteers worked 49 games and raised a grand total of $80,394.02 in sales commissions and tips.
This season, the SSBL contingent will be present at 42 games (out of 81). Thus far, 34 volunteers have signed up and additional ones are still being recruited. Each volunteer has their own account to be used to offset costs for participation in tournaments, the gay softball world series (held this year in Dallas, TX, Aug. 27–Sept. 2) as well as for gym memberships and health behavior programs like smoking cessation. Non-softball players who volunteer may direct their earnings to other LGBTQ leagues or community groups. SSBL’s charitable giving group, SSBL 4 MKE, donates a portion of the funds raised to a local beneficiary. Last year it gave $3,000 to Milwaukee’s youth support organization, Pathfinders. SSBL 4 MKE also brings in local LGBTQ group to run a field concession during its games at Wilson Park to raise funds. SSBL supplies the food and refreshments, and the group keeps the money from their sales.
Community Engagement
SSBL’s glory lies not only in its near half century of making Milwaukee LGBTQ history, but also in its broader community engagement. Teams epitomize diversity and inclusion with most rosters made up of a mix of genders, ages, sexual identities and ages. Beyond its local sponsors, players and fans, SSBL has always been a stalwart ambassador of Cream City to the greater international softball community. Having hosted the Gay Softball World Series three times, SSBL has also raised the city’s profile as a welcoming destination.
In my heyday as a player on the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center Scream, the only team not sponsored by a bar, I tried reaching out to various organizations that, to my thinking at the time, would logically want to become involved and field a team. To my great disappointment, each had an excuse not to. One showed some tepid interest albeit one based in the pragmatics of fund raising for itself, asking if SSBL had a “big mailing list”. Admittedly, even a Gay Arts Center board of directors’ member once asked (with an obligatory eye roll), why we had a softball team. My response was “because we’re part of the community … and it’s fun.”
Again, deadline for team sign up is April 15. Registration details for teams and players as well as volunteer opportunities may be found on SSBL’s social media page.
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