The Gourds

by Troy Butero

Considering that Haymaker! is the Gourds’ 11th release in just 11 years, I’d say that these fine Texans know a thing or two about making hay while the sun is shining. That’s not saying that this recording is merely more product, though … oh no. This outing is much more streamlined stylistically than last year’s explorative, contemplative Noble Creatures, and as such, the live quality of their production is much better suited to these songs.

Haymaker! pendulums between straight-up country and The Gourds’ unique brand of alt-country. Of course, their lyrical witticism is prominently on display throughout these 14 songs. “Fossil Contender” is a perfect second track with jangly rhythm guitar, tasteful slide and emotive vocals. “The Way You Can Get” keeps the pace rollicking and offers the disc’s most wistful lyrics, while “Shreveport,” a welcome addition to the truckin’ pantheon, even name checks Geddy Lee. Yessir. 

Overall, the contrast of Kevin Russell’s twang-dipped vocal delivery and songwriting to Jimmy Smith’s plaintive approach keeps the entire disc entertaining. Their styles have never sounded as cohesive as they do here. The Gourds have certainly created a catalog of worthy music thus far; Haymaker! is perhaps their most refined and therefore their most rewarding too.

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Crooked X

by DJ Hostettler

With the demise of Atomic Records looming, now’s as good a time as any to re-examine the myriad problems that have beset the music industry as a whole: downloading, the collapsed economy, and most relevant to this review, the lack of quality in most major label product. With things so tough all over, I can’t help but listen to the self-titled debut from Oklahoma high schoolers Crooked X and wonder: the industry’s in the shitter, and this is the best they can come up with? 

The ten songs that comprise Crooked X’s debut sound about 14 years too late; ironic, since that’s the age of each band member. But who the hell is trying to ape Alice in Chains in 2009? Are their parents frustrated ex-grunge rockers? Songs like “Fade,” with its opening “Rooster”-style flange, and the horrifically clichéd “Rock and Roll Dream” (“I had a rock and roll dream/and I was a star/I went around the world/playin’ my guitar”— Jesus, really?) are lifted almost by the numbers from the Alice in Chains playbook, but with just enough Pantera-flavored cock-rock licks to imply that they might be closer to Alice ‘N’ Chainz (Layne Staley’s hair band before Jerry Cantrell joined him — look it up!). 

How bereft of new ideas are the major labels if signing a band of teenaged Creed wannabes sounded like a good idea (what’s next, is GM going to try to avoid bankruptcy by selling more Hummers)? Maybe it sounds unduly harsh to slam a band this young, but as they say on their MySpace, “We want people to hear our music, decide what they think, and THEN find out, ‘wow, they’re 14.’” Sounds fair – Crooked X would represent what’s wrong with the music biz no matter how old they were.

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Ben Nichols

by Erin Wolf

Ben Nichols, frontman for gritty rebel rockers Lucero, presents his first solo release, Last Pale Light In the West, a self-dubbed “mini-LP.” The mini LP is seven story-songs, pulling their tales from Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian (1985), a bleak, violence-ridden novel, packed full of historical and religious references.

Each song Nichols pens in Last Pale Light in the West is built around the novel and its characters; the title track sets the scene as Nichols leads, “Dark clouds gather round me / to the West my soul is bound.” The next introduces the novel’s protagonist, The Kid. In “The Kid,” Nichols sings, “Your mother died night you were born / her name you never knew / look away, look away / nothing to lose / left East Tennessee at fourteen / wandered to the West / look away, look away / born into death.” 

With Lucero, Nichols has proved himself a natural-born storyteller, tales of bars and brawls narrated by his raspy drawl. This time around, his stories are not just of bars and brawls; those bars and brawls are scenes for something far deeper and more sinister, echoing McCarthy’s unblinking, soulless style. The music itself bucks up and simply tells the tales, not overdrawing a dark mood but lending a stripped down and plainly pretty backdrop, letting the lyrics do all of the novel’s dirty work.

Nichols, on acoustic guitar, paired with Rick Steff (Cat Power) on accordion and piano and Todd Beene (Glossary) on pedal steel and electric guitar, rolls ballads out slow and sure, like the rising and setting of the sun in a dusty Western sky, while the musicality of the songs shine up the rough pages within. Although more of a novella in terms of length, Last Pale Light in the West is all-encompassing of its original source, embodying a sense of history and depth and issuing an effect that’s fresh and endlessly intriguing, as the best stories often are.

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Boards, committees and Bohl - oh my!

by Dan Corcoran

In this edition: BOZA gets a new chair, Alderman Bohl blows up and the mainstream media once again misses the mark.

Big news! New BOZA head: Outside of city government, not many people know or care about the Board of Zoning Appeals, affectionately known by insiders as BOZA. (Pronounced with a long “o” and a short “a,” so it rhymes with “Rosa.”) But if you live in the City of Milwaukee, run a business here or watch the city government station on TV (Channel 25), you know how vitally important BOZA is to maintaining a good quality of life in Milwaukee.

Whenever a daycare wants to open in a residential neighborhood, or someone wants to put up an extra-large billboard, or a corner store is up for renewal, the Board, made up of private citizens, votes on whether or not exceptions (i.e. “variances”) to land use restrictions should be granted. Typically, an alderman or his/her aide will go before BOZA and tell why he/she is for/against the variance. There is often a lot of good neighborhood testimony, too, and the hearings can go well into the night. This is local government at its finest, and the chairman – for more than a decade – has been well-respected tax attorney Craig Zetley.

In November, Zetley announced his resignation. This announcement sent shockwaves throughout City Hall and beyond, but it was barely mentioned by most Milwaukee media outlets. The replacement is long-time BOZA member Catey Doyle, who also happens to be sister to Governor Jim Doyle. Catey, the staff attorney for the Legal Aid Society, is passionate about Milwaukee and a great person for a job that would be demanding for anyone. Tune in to Channel 25 on any Thursday night when BOZA is in session and see how she runs her meetings.  The general expectation seems to be that Ms. Doyle will be extremely fair with aldermen and citizens alike, but maybe not has hard line as Mr. Zetley when it comes to the interpretation of city code. Doyle is known for being empathetic and understanding of special circumstances.

Like church, but for liquor licenses: Speaking of running city meetings, there was quite a bit of commotion at the Licenses Committee hearing in early December. Alderman Jim Bohl, known for his integrity, sincerity and long-winded analogies, is chair of the committee that grants a variety of alcohol and other licenses. He took over that role for Ald. James Witkowiak in April, but it’s Bohl’s second turn at being the chair of Licenses. (He’s one of the most veteran aldermen, having represented the west side of Milwaukee for more than a decade.) During this particular hearing, Bohl blasted citizens in attendance for not turning off their cell phones. “This should be like church,” he said at one point, exhorting people to be respectful of the proceedings. He even kicked out one person whose cell phone continued to ring. Many observers thought Bohl crossed the line.

The castigation of Milwaukee residents – many of whom take off work to come and testify about a nuisance bar or other establishment – is not typical. Common Council President Hines has a reputation for making sure that all his chairs show respect for residents. Maybe that’s why Bohl’s bad behavior has been the topic of conversation from the halls of the Mayor’s Office to the Department of City Development. The word is that Pres. Hines is putting Bohl on a shorter leash and will scrutinize future Licenses hearings.

Nobody’s plum: And speaking of Licenses, December marked the first meeting of the Alcohol Beverage Licensing Task Force, which the Common Council set up to evaluate how the Licenses process was abused by former Ald. Michael McGee. Former State Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler is chairing the task force, which will give its recommendations to Pres. Hines. Some of the recommendations will undoubtedly center around the so-called “aldermanic privilege” debate. There are a variety of definitions of aldermanic privilege out there, but the main one seems to be a myth that a local alderman can push his agenda through committees without any checks and balances. If you’ve watched a Licenses hearing (or any other committee hearing), you know that local alderman are often frustrated by the committee process.

One thing that the mass media never managed to mention when the McGee saga was going down was the fact that Licenses is a committee that no aldermen want to be on. The committee hearings typically start at 8 am and go well past 8 pm. Freshman alders always have to pay their dues and sit on this committee, which is why McGee was on it – and why Coggs and Kovac now serve there. Even in McGee’s taped conversations, released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, he complained about having to serve on Licenses. (In one tape, he profusely complained about having to sit on the same committee as Ald. Willie Wade – no love there, apparently – maybe because they once ran against each other.) But obviously McGee tried to use the committee for his own purposes. He probably would have done the same thing if he was on a powerful committee – like Zoning & Neighborhood Development or Finance. Scary.

Sometimes it’s amazing how little interest many journalists have in understanding and reporting the facts. To many local reporters, Licenses is perceived as the plum assignment for a council member. During the McGee flap, the vast majority of media outlets perpetuated the fiction that Licenses was the most powerful committee in city government. But who can blame them? Unless you pay attention to what’s going on in City Hall, you might not know the difference between Public Safety and Public Works. Even Mayor Barrett seems to join whichever media chorus is currently singing in the news echo chamber. Here’s the real deal: if you live close to a bar that should be closed, Licenses is an important committee. But if you think that the city’s power brokers are doing business in that committee, think again. All you have to do is watch a few hearings with Ald. Bohl to know that it’s not where most aldermen want to be. VS

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Dumb Milwaukee

by Matt Wild

For all its charming neighborhoods, diverse ethnic fests and numerous places to get shitfaced, Milwaukee remains a uniquely dumb city. Just look back at 2008: between fighting off “hordes” of tourists pouring in by the hour to catch a glimpse of the Bronze Fonz (thanks, Visit Milwaukee!), and playing host to the “countless” not-shot-on-crappy-digital-video films starring non-local, non-crappy actors (thanks, Film Wisconsin!), Milwaukee still found time to let its residential streets go to hell, mull a city-wide smoking ban and continue to employ both Scott Walker and Gus Gnorski. Truly a banner year.
So, as we roll up our collective sleeves and prepare for yet another year in our dear city, I thought it might be useful to provide a preview of a few dumb things Milwaukee will almost surely have in store for us in 2009. Please note that the following are more of the “roll your eyes and gently shake your head” variety of dumb, as opposed to downright evil (New Land Enterprises building more condos) or aggressively stupid (oh, I don’t know, Riverwest printing its own money).

More dumb events

A surefire way for Milwaukee to remain dumb in 2009 is to continue appropriating dumb events that other cities started doing five or ten years ago. This isn’t to say Milwaukee is “behind the times” in any way; I’m just suggesting that stupid shit like bondage shows and the thing where people read from their junior high school diaries should stay in the stupid cities from whence they came. Like Chicago.
So for coming year, get ready for a whole lotta dumb: drunken spelling bees, warmed-over trivia nights, headache-inducing burlesque shows, and – God help me – Pecha Kucha. What’s Pecha Kucha, you ask? (Believe me, in about two minutes, you’ll wish you hadn’t.) Basically, it’s your once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to pay $15 to watch a bunch of slide shows. Yup. Slide shows. There are a bunch of dumb rules involved, though the only one you’ll be interested in is the one that limits each presentation to six minutes. What’s more, Pecha Kucha is a trademarked, nationally-branded event, making it something of a T.G.I. Friday’s in the realm of homebrewed hipster slide shows.

(Unlike similar columns of the past, I’m not including roller derby in this list, a phenomenon I once wrote off as “ridiculous” and “not a real sport.” After some first-hand research throughout 2008, I can now attest that roller derby is indeed a real sport, partly because of the tremendous amount of athletic talent on display, and partly because attending a single bout costs about as much as a real sport.)

More cool places closing, more dumb ones opening

By now, we’ve all heard that after nearly three decades of service, Atomic Records will close up shop this February. While this is undoubtedly a tragedy (albeit one in which we have no one to blame but ourselves), it still pales in comparison to the knowledge that a criminally stupid place like Farwell Avenue’s Shag can manage to re-open. Yes, Milwaukee, we can all bask in the knowledge that while we’re down to just a handful of independent records shops, we have a “new” overpriced boutique that specializes in “funny” and “ironic” t-shirts. Aficionados of “Erin Go Braless!” apparel and/or genital herpes rejoice!

More dumb local celebrities

While nearly every city worth its salt has a few homegrown celebs, Milwaukee seems to have some of the dumbest. And after you consider that “Crazy Ray” and that one eXpressions Journal dude are amongst our colorful local personalities, you’ll realize just how right I am.

In 2009, expect John McGivern to periodically drop in on local newscasts shilling his latest cornball comedies, the guy from Animal House and that Twisted Sister video popping up on the radio (and always refusing to talk about the two things that made him semi-famous approximately 200 years ago), and Mark Borchardt being inexplicably interviewed for some local publication’s “What have you been up to, dude?” pieces. Of course, all the Mark Metcalfs and (shudder) Frank Caliendos in the world can’t possibly tarnish the luster of our best and brightest local star, Mr. Baseball himself, Bob Fucking Uecker.

Disclaimer: Let me just say that I truly do love our city – it’s just that mentioning how everything is wonderful and interesting isn’t very funny, and better left to other writers and publications. Also, I’ve been listening to the excellent new Quinn Scharber and the… album, Being Nice Won’t Save Milwaukee – and have perhaps been taking the title a little too much to heart. It’s a really good album, and one you should definitely check out. See? There’s something good about this town. Oh, and that other band, Canyons of Static. Have you heard these guys? Have you seen these guys? Incredible. Absolutely incredible. VS

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Matt Wild will be presenting at the next Pecha Kucha. Be there.

Last call

by

January is usually a month for fresh starts: resolutions, new opportunities, brightened-up attitudes. It’s like a cosmic reboot button. Except this month on the arts page, VITAL is giving you one final chance to not screw it up again and miss all of the terrific exhibitions that are closing this month. Forever.

Act/React, the dazzling and much-talked about new media installation at the Milwaukee Art Museum, closes on January 11. This is your last chance to dance in light and shadow, touch an old talking table, whisper through a neon forest or throw a quick dance party on Brian Knep’s Healing Pool. If your tastes are more austere, you can join Pulitzer-winner Richard Rhodes, author of John James Audobon: The Making of an American for a lecture on January 22 in conjunction with the Catesby print show. Or, stop by for MAM After Dark on January 16 for a beer tasting, a break dancing battle (!), food, photos and music from Tarik Moody of 88.9 Radio Milwaukee. The collection galleries are open until midnight!

Also closing on January 11 is kathryn e. martin’s installation Flotant at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan – delicate, ethereal structures made entirely from discarded Styrofoam. You can also see martin’s work – but only through January 3 –at the Armoury Gallery’s show Milwaukee’s Own, also featuring the work of Harvey Opgenorth, Colin T. Dickson and Mary DiBiasio.

On January 16, stop by the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center for the closing celebration of Hu(man), featuring the self-portraiture of Max Estes and tasteful nudes and semi-nudes by Mike Kasun. And January 18 is your last chance to see the Nohl Fellowship exhibition at Inova/Kenilworth, featuring a dark and politically charged carnival by Colin Mathes, creepy automotive structures by Mark Klassen, a haunting photography series by Kevin Miyazaki, films by Dan Ollman and Annie Killelea and the created worlds of Gary John Gresl. Or should you venture to Brookfield this month you can see his work at the Ploch Art Gallery through January 31, with a lecture by the artist on January 17.

Both the Charles Allis Art Museum and its far-from-evil not-quite-twin the Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum close great shows this month. At the Allis, catch Wisconsin Masters Series: Richard Earl Thompson, an impressionist-influenced nature painter, before January 25. At Villa Terrace, last call for Richard Hass, a muralist, painter and architect best known for his trompe l’oeil style. 

Okay, okay. We’ll give you a couple of fresh listing heads ups for reboot month. But don’t flake out! For the Germanophile in you, or the industriophile, or the workaholic, stop by the Grohmann Museum on the MSOE campus as they open their new show, Cradle of Industry, featuring 40 works from the Rhineland Industrial Museum in Oberhausen, Germany and focusing on the coal, steel, rail and construction of the Ruhr Valley Coal Basin from 1874 to 1989 – and the social implications and effects that industry had. Think about it: this is a great way to encourage your own personal industrial behavior in the new year. Har har. The show opens on January 16. On the same night at MIAD, check out Personal Culture: New Art from Latin Americans, in which Santiago Cucullu, Mirta Kupferminc, Victor Cartagena, Tatiana Parcero and Rafael Francisco Salas tease out what exactly “Latin America” is, means and suggests.

So drink up and close your tab. You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here. Luckily there are plenty of great art spaces that will take you in this month and offer you something stiff. VS

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This is Fearless

by Amy Elliott, Brian Jacobson, Erin Petersen, Erin Wolf

Introduction by Jon Anne Willow, photograph by Erin Landry

 

The idea of leadership has been receiving a lot of play lately, not only in the media but also in the conversations of everyday people. Too often, in the last several years in particular, the term “leadership” is modified by adjectives like “vacuum,” “lack of” and “inadequate.” When we at VITAL began planning these awards in early 2008, it was in response to a general feeling that our community and our nation were in the grips of a collective malaise brought on in part by the sinking sensation that things were spinning out of control and nobody was stepping up to do anything meaningful about the country’s direction.

We could relate, and there wasn’t much good news coming from the top. Nevertheless, we could all think of individual citizens who apparently missed the memo to abandon all hope and continued to work within their communities for positive change, keeping their chins up, chests out and heads down but not bowed. In fact, we thought of so many that we realized there must be hundreds more right here in Milwaukee. So instead of picking people we knew in a closed-door staff meeting, we put the vote to the people of our city. And over 3,000 of you weighed in. That’s democracy in action, and we thank each of you sincerely for taking the time to recognize the efforts of all our nominees and award winners.

Most of you who read this will be familiar with the larger concept of leadership, though you may not have thought about it much until the recent presidential election brought the idea back into vogue. The term has since gained momentum, first as a campaign slogan and now as a very real expectation of our next president, who takes the helm in such troubling times.

Leadership is not about being in charge – some of the best leaders are peers, not bosses – nor is it about being the face connected with a name or cause. Leadership comes from within, and very often lies dormant until required. After all, what sane person grows up wanting to go down with the ship, lead the charge to battle or otherwise commit to exposing themselves to all sorts of hopelessness and unpleasantness on a daily basis?

The answer is that nobody sane would think this is a good idea. But as William Shakespeare famously wrote: “Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.” The latter circumstance, I believe, is how most greatness is uncovered. It is human nature to follow, to fit in and to believe that doing no harm is doing enough. It’s how most of us are wired, so if this is you, you’re in good company with most of the human race.
But in your heart, don’t you ever yearn to hear a call that you can’t resist, a resonance that pulls you inexorably to a higher cause? Don’t most people desire on some level to live a life filled with that ever-elusive “meaning” we hear so much about?

In truth, the scratch for that itch can’t be found in a self-help book, through meditation, self-medication or idle talk. And rarely does the seeker find. Leadership, meaning, greatness – these are all elegant terms, but the reality of living them is mostly very pedestrian. The winners of VITAL Source’s 2009 Fearless Leader Awards do not seek recognition, but simply wish to continue the work to which they’re dedicated, and which they each believe is their higher calling. Most of them stumbled into their situations through a life-changing experience that created the path to purpose and the opportunity to be part of a solution. None of the Leaders we interviewed consider themselves fearless, per se, just busy, focused and sometimes afraid. And that is exactly what makes them so amazing.
We hope you’ll join us on January 22nd at the Eisner Museum as we present the 2008 Fearless Leader Awards. Ceremony information is on page 11. And in the coming year, think about someone you know who’s fearless. We’ll open nominations for the 2010 awards in the fall.

Congratulations to all our nominees:
Sharon Adams
Biko Baker
Victor & Dawn Barnet
Joe Bartolotta
Renee Simone Bebeau
Shari Comstock
Tom Crawford
Genyne Edwards
Jennifer ‘Kya’
Espenschied
James Godsil
Anita Gulotta-Connelly
Lloyd Levin
Jeanette Mitchell
Michelle Sieg
Br. Bob Smith
Dale R. Smith
Julia Taylor

Kari Behling

by Brian Jacobson

While Kari Behling is excited to have been chosen for VITAL’s Fearless Leader Awards, she isn’t sure she fits the profile.

“It’s something I struggle with. I’m often afraid,” she says. “But I guess I don’t let it stop me. I have a bigger fear of giving up.”

In October 2007, she became the National Director of the Milwaukee-headquartered American Association of Children’s Residential Centers. This came at age 39 after a lifetime of advocacy, volunteering and being a foster parent to dozens of infants, adolescents and teens.

What’s extraordinary about her new organization is its focus on dealing with foster children who have challenging behavioral health issues. This means advising foster agencies and parents on how to cope with children who have experienced trauma and now might act out by setting fires, being sexually active or abusive or becoming physically violent. The AACRC also researches and sets policies on handling genetic-based behavioral issues such as Asperger Syndrome, ADD/ADHD, autism, dyslexia or bipolar disorder, to help provide the most innovative care possible.

Behling’s work would make most people crumble under the often-intense pressure. But whether she’s traveling to different cities for conferences or taking phone calls from troubled caregivers at her Lake Drive office, she never loses the individual and tactile need to care. As an adopted child herself, she feels strongly about giving children safe shelter and “a really good support system.” Kari is currently a single mom living in Riverwest with two biological children (Brady, 13, and Ariel, 11), one adopted child (Jaida, 7) and now another foster child (who is 8).
It was her oldest kids who persuaded her to take in one more.

“You know, I’m 40 now – I’m tired. But it’s kind of like you practice what you preach. [Brady would say] ‘It’s what we do, and we do it well.’ He even offered up the extra space in his room for a bed.”

Behling believes that her experiences in Milwaukee, specifically, gave her a real, usable perspective when looking at other places and how they deal with behavioral issues. She says that although she went to college, it was on the streets and in communities that she gained a real knowledge of racial disparity issues as well as positive aspects.

Along with championing foster parenting issues, Behling works as a tutor for new refugee families from countries like Myanmar and is involved with the ‘soccer-for-all-kids’ club called Milwaukee Kickers.

Listening to her, you can feel the enthusiasm and kindness in her voice. She peppers the conversation with truisms like, “You know it’s the right thing to do, but you want to do it right.”

Behling strongly believes that honesty and kindness lay the foundation for all of her relationships. She doesn’t expect the parents or children she meets to be perfect, but she does desire that they strive for sincerity, generosity of spirit and personality. And while she herself may not claim to be fearless, others see a brave face and follow her lead.

MacCanon Brown

By Amy Elliott

In 1990, MacCanon Brown was floundering – she had no job, little money and a room in an attic that she thought she was going to lose.

“My world had just completely shattered,” she says.

But while she was waiting in a meal program line at St. Ben’s, she met a priest who changed the direction of her life – and subsequently, the lives of countless others.
The priest introduced MacCanon to the landscape of Milwaukee’s homeless-serving organizations and the people who led and administered them.

“I could just tell,” she says, “that was what I was going to do. I became emotionally healed.” In 1992, MacCanon joined Repairers of the Breach and within months was elected president of the board.

Repairers of the Breach began in 1989 as a community movement that would give a voice and public presence to homeless and formerly homeless people. Repairers created the first newspaper produced by and for the homeless, founded a speaker’s bureau and produced and distributed videos. But the group lacked a headquarters – a place for board members to meet and plan, and a center for homeless people to come together to help each other.

One of the group’s founders, Tony Lee, had advocated a center for the group from the start.

“Tony was a homeless Vietnam veteran who came back from the war addicted to heroin and in a rage,” MacCanon says. “Another homeless person showed compassion on him – [and] it changed him so much that he got into recovery, got back with his family and organized his life.

“He carried that message about the power of what happens when a person in a plight reaches out to another person in that plight.”

Due in part to MacCanon’s efforts, Tony’s vision was realized in 1994 when Milwaukee’s first daytime homeless shelter – which took the name Repairers of the Breach from the publication the group had founded – opened its doors. Tony died in 1996, but Repairers still builds on the two main tenets of his mission: that homeless people have a place to govern, and that homeless people are enabled and encouraged to reach out and help each other.

Repairers offers a constellation of over 50 programs and services, and the shelter helps over 150 people a day. They provide a mailing address and a phone and message system for homeless job seekers, as well as showers and toiletries, clothing, food, computer and email access – even haircuts. And most notably, everyone who uses the shelter participates in the governing, maintenance and operations of the shelter and abides by the rules they create.

“Everyone is moving forward,” she says. “We don’t allow people to stay stuck.”

MacCanon works about 70 hours a week – “I don’t even think of it as work,” she says – and finds her greatest rewards in the moments where she can “bear witness to a homeless individual who owns our unique vision, to the extent that he or she leads and mentors out of a commitment that is pure and genuine.” Among her most gratifying encounters was with a woman who had been on the streets for almost 20 years. She came to Repairers because she heard there were free donuts and coffee.

“She was an addict – she had been rejected by her family and came to our center as someone without any resources,” says MacCanon. “At the bottom of the barrel.”

But as Pamela returned to Repairers, her life turned around. She received health care, restored her self-esteem and began to look for transitional living. “She bloomed,” says MacCanon.
In 2004, Pamela was honored as Volunteer of the Year by the Nonprofit Center of Milwaukee. Today she works for several volunteer organizations throughout the city.

MacCanon can’t say what path her life will take in the future, but for now, she feels like she’s living the dream, unglamorous though it is sometimes.

“I think we’re dreaming for the wrong thing. What I’m doing is the American Dream – to be in the service of people who are the most rejected, [and] probably offer the most to unify our very broken and divided society. The love in that little place on 14th and Vliet – it’s an ingredient. If you really mix it in, it could unify Milwaukee. To me, that’s the dream.”

Sarah Exley

 

By Erin Lee Petersen

A little over two years ago, Sarah Exley, a communications specialist at Northwestern Mutual, and her husband, Ryan, were living a peaceful life in Germantown as they looked forward to the arrival of their first child. In April of 2006, Sarah gave birth to a lovely little girl named Avery. At first everything seemed fine, but within about three months Sarah and Ryan noticed that Avery’s right hand was always in an increasingly tight fist. Several doctors over repeated visits assured the couple that their little girl was fine, but the parents persisted in looking for answers. After almost a year, Sarah and her husband received the startling news that Avery had suffered a stroke in utero.

“I was shocked,” Sarah says. “That was the last thing that had crossed my mind.”

Immediately after her daughter’s diagnosis, Sarah started researching pediatric stroke, hoping to find support and helpful information. She was dismayed to learn that very few resources were readily available, even though, while rare, pediatric stroke is as common in children as leukemia or brain tumors, affecting about 2.3 per 100,000 children. So Sarah took it upon herself to raise awareness of the condition, networking with other affected families, joining support groups and telling Avery’s story to anyone who would listen. She even lobbied Capitol Hill for research funding. In 2007, Sarah started working with the American Heart Association’s annual Start! Heart Walk, and along with friends and family has helped raise over $14,000 to fund research for pediatric stroke in the past two years.

“It’s my passion to get the word out,” she says.

Because the Exleys recognized Avery’s condition relatively early, they’ve been able to make a significant difference in Avery’s development with the assistance of occupational, speech and physical therapy. Now Avery’s right hand is functional and she’s able to do most of the things other children her age can. “She’s a normal kid,” Sarah says, “and she’s incredibly bright.”

Though they have had success with Avery’s therapy, when she starts preschool next fall she’ll no longer be covered by Wisconsin’s Birth to 3 program and will have to rely on the school system for her therapy needs. Sarah says this is one of the biggest obstacles facing her family in the upcoming year, but she remains optimistic and is already in discussion with Pupil Services in the Germantown school district about the possibility of broadening the Early Education program to make services more accessible for children with different needs. She hopes that one day more government funding will be available to ensure that survivors of pediatric stroke don’t slip through the cracks and are able to get the services they need.

In the meantime, she’ll continue to fight.

“You have to keep pushing,” she says. “You are your child’s best advocate.”

Mary Lou LaMonda

By Erin Wolf

“Did you know that there is more ant mass on the planet than human mass? That’s an astounding fact,” says Mary Lou LaMonda. “Ants are not causing global climate change and the devastation of species.”

Arguably one of Milwaukee’s foremost experts on green living, Mary Lou LaMonda is teaching folks in our city to live more environmentally sustainable lives. LaMonda has worked as a leader of the Milwaukee Urban Agriculture Network (MUAN) and has contributed to many projects and causes, including the first Green Roof Symposium in Milwaukee (focusing on green jobs and growing edible market crops), the Michael Fields Agriculture Institute, Slow Food WiSE, the Kane Commons project (organizing the first straw bale building workshops in Milwaukee), the Oz Biodiesel Cooperative, Riverwest’s Yogashala, Conocer (a fair trade cultural exchange program to Michoacan, Mexico) and Elaine’s Project (for healthy inner city kids).

LaMonda says the key to community organizing is a positive mindset. “In the words of Howard Zinn,” she says, “‘Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world’ … If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times, places – and there are so many – where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction … to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is wrong around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”

LaMonda says that her work with the Milwaukee community is symbiotic – building sustainability on a community level, and building personal relationships brick by brick. “Everyone is a unique expression of the life force and has something to offer to the world that no one else does, and it’s important that I listen and learn from anyone that shows up in my life.”

LaMonda’s goals are widespread, and considering her track record, the results of her actions could ultimately be wide-reaching. She envisions a world of true sustainability and thoughtful lifestyle design, creating and celebrating stronger communities, developing renewable energy and engineered renewability and decreasing the amount of waste that we produce, reintroducing art and music into school systems, promoting equal rights and a viable health care system … just to name a few.

“We have always been ‘the change we are waiting for,’” she affirms. “We are standing on the shoulders of the many that came before us, so we have a broader view. [We] see how much more needs to be done in our communities, in our country and around the planet. We never really know the full impact of what we do, and whatever acknowledgment or success we receive is only because of those shoulders and the folks we are now walking with arm in arm, who are doing the same as we are. We are preparing the earth and planting the seeds for whatever will grow in the future.”

Matt Nelson

By Erin Wolf

“I believe that the People have the responsibility, ability and right to organize themselves, and I will fight for the right to self-determination and the right to organize, and defend human rights for all.”
So says Matt Nelson, who has been called a “watchdog for social injustice” for very good reasons – he has tirelessly promoted change through innovation and awareness. As owner of Brewing Grounds for Change (est. 2004), Milwaukee’s first 100% fair trade coffee shop; he has organized campaigns with the Mitchell Street Farmers Market Coalition; worked with the Milwaukee Police Accountability Coalition and the Milwaukee Transit Riders Union; is co-founder of the Freedom Now! Collaborative in Milwaukee, and writes and teaches.
Nelson realizes the importance to act upon words as a public ambassador. While he supports many movements in which he sees value, his core causes revolve around access to the basic necessities for all people in Milwaukee: transportation, safety, food and free trade.

“High quality, accessible public transportation will positively impact the economic development in our city and has the power to bridge gaps in social and economic mobility, improve our environment, reduce traffic congestion and lower the costs of many public services,” he says of Milwaukee’s public transit needs.

Nelson also advocates for higher standards in police accountability in Milwaukee, through his work with The Milwaukee Police Accountability Coalition (MPAC).

“MPAC unites the many voices of families and individuals who have been victimized by police violence into effectively addressing Milwaukee’s police brutality crisis. We expect Chief Edward Flynn to show leadership and publicly acknowledge systemic issues within the MPD and officially commit to profoundly changing the culture of the department that allows for police misconduct and brutality to continue. We want a professional police force in Milwaukee that protects civil rights and protects neighborhoods. No one is above the law.”

Nelson’s work for “food justice” has focused around the Mitchell Street Farmer’s Coalition and its efforts to find a permanent home. In 2006, the Mitchell Street Market was the only local market serving Milwaukee’s Latino community. Commercial development plans for a city-owned property threatened its existence. He led an organizing effort that brought together local residents, patrons and city officials and resulted in an annual sublease agreement with the city for the market.

“Our community must have the right to define our own food future and to be able to feed our community healthy, locally grown food that benefits local farmers and builds economic growth in our community,” affirms Nelson. “A way to reduce poverty and improve neighborhood stability is through local economic development, preserving green space, and economic security.”

Nelson believes it all starts from the ground up, fighting for the basic human rights to food, clothing, shelter, health and safety. Unfortunately, these basic rights don’t come for free. Nelson realizes the tireless effort that the Milwaukee community must collectively make for positive change.

“We as community organizers and civic participants must offer more than dry meetings with patronizing leadership, pandering liberals and arrogant conservatives who attempt to contain real transformation,” he says. “I believe it is important for the City of Milwaukee to improve and sustain high-quality health and safety-net programs. Accordingly, we should resist budget cuts that come at the expense of such programs, and seek reforms promoting greater community participation in their design, effectiveness and administration. We need to invest in public works projects that hire community residents at family-supporting wages; improve and expand job training; offer child care assistance for families, assistance to neighborhood organizations and services and accommodations for people with disabilities; provide domestic violence prevention, public health and legal services and education for everyone; maintain our libraries, parks and public areas for meetings, assembly and art. Our Milwaukee must stand up for the health, safety and comfort of workers and the general public and support local laws that restore the public involvement and trust back into local government.”

“I value efforts based in integrity, a commitment to justice for all … I feel great respect and solidarity with all of the fearless leaders that have come before me who have taught me to listen and to give back.”

Deon Young

By Erin Lee Petersen

 

Deon Young has some interesting ideas regarding what it means to be fearless in today’s society. To him, fearless means having the courage to tell your story and fight against stereotypes, dedicating yourself to your passions even when you’re met with opposition, and working to bridge the gap between where you are and where you want to be.

Deon works as a Community Organizer with the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center, a non-profit organization whose mission is to improve the quality of life for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Milwaukee. Deon started volunteering at the center in 2001 and has been a full time staff member since 2005. Working for a non-profit often requires a lot of volunteer hours and doesn’t come with a particularly glamorous salary, but that’s of little concern to Deon.

“There’s a reason why you do this job ... even when it could be easier to do less work for more pay,” he says.

For Deon, that reason is simple: to educate people in the LGBT community about legal, social and personal issues, and to give them a voice so they can educate others. He most recently worked with the OutVote program, designed to engage LGBT voters in a nonpartisan manner and increase LGBT turnout at the polls, a program Deon says also helped build bridges to other minority communities and mobilize voters in those areas. Deon also works with LGBT youth outreach programs and was active with Fair Wisconsin, organizing and participating in door-to-door campaigns prior to the gay marriage referendum vote in 2006.

Now that the presidential election is over, Deon says that he’s “ecstatic” about the outcome but that there is still much more work to be done. While the LGBT Center has what Deon calls “natural allies” in Milwaukee like Planned Parenthood and ACORN, he would like to see the LGBT community branch out into other areas and perhaps partner with organizations like the NAACP or the Milwaukee Urban League. The LGBT Center is already making progress toward this goal by participating in the Wisconsin Civic Engagement Program, a coalition of progressive non-profits who represent vastly different interests, yet still work together to address public concerns and social issues.

Inspired by the election, Deon hopes that confidence in the grassroots movement will be restored in 2009 and that under-represented groups will be more willing to collaborate with one another to achieve common goals.

“It’s a new day,” he says. “I look forward to what these new leaders will bring.” VS

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TALK DERBY TO ME: The HOLLASKATE bout

by Tea Krulos

 

The derby was fast and furious on this frigid December night. I was joined by the Vital Source magazine crew as we filmed our first Talk Derby vodcast. We had a blast talking to some skaters and got some great footage. What a night!

NINJAS STRIKE IN SUDDEN DEATH OVERTIME DEFEAT!

CRAZY 8’S, 75 win over RUSHIN ROLLETTES, 72

It was an incredible match! Everyone was on the edge of their seats as this tie game went into a sudden death overtime jam, with the 8’s winning by a mere three points. What made this win even more compelling was that the 8’s were down to just 11 skaters, while the Rollettes were rolling with 18.

And talk about high rollers- howsabouts Crazy 8’s Captain Cookie Ciano, who was high scorer for the second bout in a row with 47 big points! The game was neck and neck throughout, ending with a 69-69 tie when the clock ran out. I asked Rollettes jammer High D. Voltage to talk about her personal highlights of the game.

“That would have to be the tough defensive walls that the Rollettes put up in order for me to get through. A jammer is only as good as her defense, which makes it much easier to skate through the pack. That's what made it possible for me to get those two grand slams in the second period, thus taking the lead for a short time. The tempo of the game was also very exciting, and being able to be a part of the first overtime in Bruiser history. Of course, I wish that I came up on the winning end but being able to hold my own against Cookie, who is a machine or at a minimum ... not human, makes me feel pretty good. Her focus and tenacity is the core of their team.” Voltage said.

Voltage led the Rollettes with 28 points, followed by Smirk Savage with 17 and Jackie O’Nihilate with 15. Reina Pain also scored 4 points, though she appeared to suffer from an injury early in the second half. I asked her what the deal was.

“Yeah, I hurt my tailbone from a nasty digger I took. I’m not sure how I even did it or if someone put a block on me. I almost want to say that me being the klutz I am did it to myself! I can’t even sit down on it yet, talk about needing a chiro appointment!”

I also asked what she felt the toughest part of the bout was. “I think the whole thing was intense. I think when we had to go into overtime, [that] was probably the toughest. There is always so much pressure on each team by that point because you know that’s the jam that makes it or breaks it. I thought we all played really well out there and one thing that Hacksaw said was, ‘It’s not just one girl who loses or wins a game, it’s the entire team.’ That is so true, we're a family, and whatever the outcome, we got there together.” Pain stated.

I also had a chance to speak with Crazy 8’s jammer Termiskater. I asked her what the most exciting and challenging moments of the night were, and she confirmed the idea that the 8’s might be more machine than human.

“The most exciting moment of Saturday night was when I gave Abba Zabba such a major whip that she ripped the living tissue off of a few of my fingers and exposed my cybernetic metal endoskeleton. The most challenging part was attempting to identify the T1000. It has taken the form of a Rushin' Rollette. Identification remains unknown.” Termiskater said.

HALF TIME REPORT

Our gals the Beerleaders did a routine to Run DMC’s “Christmas in Hollis” complete with a rapping Santa Claus. For this column’s Half Time Report, I thought I’d get a few words from referee Sloppy Joe about game highlights.

“The tiebreaker is obviously a big one for me since they are so rare. I'm glad I got to be a part of that experience. Also, the sheer number of penalties in the first period of the 8s vs. Rollettes bout stands out. The pack was so aggressive I was having a hard time finding a moment to call in my penalties to the stats trackers. Overall I felt that the 8s vs. Rollettes bout was a really a great sign for the progress that our league has made. The technical proficiency and at times incredible pack speed on display is a great sign of things to come. It's a good time to be a Roller Derby fan,” Joe told me.

WORKING CLASS HEROES WIN BIG!

MAIDEN MILWAUKEE, 78 win over SHEVIL KNEVILS, 64

Overshadowed by the overtime nail biter, but still playing a good match, the Maidens see-sawed with the Knevils. At the half, the Maidens were up by just one point, but they quickly sped ahead in the second half.

The Knevils couldn’t keep up despite consistent effort from The Eviscerator and Trash Talkin Tina, both with 16 points and Moby Nipps and Femaldehyde, both with 15 points.

The question for the Maidens is can they now use the momentum to overthrow the undefeated 8’s? Captain Beelzebelle has some confident words.

“We're going to bring our unparalleled working class drive AND super secret strategery on January 17. The 8’s have not yet encountered this type of force in their whole existence. They may be ninjas, but we're a bunch of tough Milwaukee-bred broads. Bring it!” Beezlebelle threatened. Scoring high for the Maidens were Romaniac with 36 points and Rejected Seoul with 22. I also asked Seoul about the next bout. Seoul has given Talk Derby some poetic quotes in the past, and this time was no exception.

“Those crazy 8s will be hard to beat look'n all fine and dressed to the 9, but I feel strong that our ladies in pink will skate with heart and Seoul on the rink,” she recited.

AMBULANCE CHASER

Rushin Rollette co-Captain Fidela Castrate fell and the arena grew silent. The skaters waited on their knees as a show of respect as the EMTs checked her out. I later asked her about the injury.

“All I remember is hearing my right knee pop, and then I fell down with pain. After that I was able to walk so I put back on my skates, then my knee gave out. In the ER they really didn’t have any concrete to say without an MRI, so the doc said it could be a strain or a partial tear of a ligament. I am determined to play the January bout against the Shevils and kick ass! At least I was able to get a good hit on their jammer before I went down!” Castrate told me. Now that’s some team spirit!

The next bout is January 17, where the Rushin Rollettes (1-1) will take on the Shevil Knevils (0-2) and Maiden Milwaukee (1-1) will battle the Crazy 8’s (2-0).

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HOLIDAY SPECIAL: New Year’s Day Hangover Remedies

by Bridget Brave, Tom Ganos, Ryan Findley, Noah Therrien and Amy Elliott

This month in Eat This we featured a fresh, frilly New Year's Eve menu from Dan Smith at McCormick's and Schmick, perfect for entertaining and celebrating in style. But what do you eat on the morning (or more likely, afternoon) after? I asked VITAL Source Staffers, all of whom have plenty of experience, believe you me, with the dread Next Day. From easy microwave bacon to Nyquil and macaroni to what we have found to be the best Bloody in town (there is really nowhere I'd rather be on my worst mornings than Tom's bar ... or couch), we've got you covered. Be careful, have fun and feel better. - Amy Elliott

Simple breakfast
from Ryan Findley

You'll need ...
Frozen hashbrowns
Cooking oil of your choice
Bacon from the microwave
Grapefruit juice from concentrate
Bad movies, cartoons or TV shows on DVD

1. Start the hashbrowns. I like Ore-Ida, they've already got some seasoning on them, but not too much. Potatoes are starchy and filling and will soak up any leftover alcohol in your stomach while making you feel better. Heat oil in a skillet (you'll need about a tablespoon - enough to fully coat the bottom of the pan). Dump the frozen potato pieces of goodness in and spread them out to a single layer. Leave them alone for at least 5 minutes, or until you start to see crunchy brown bits on the edges.
 
2. While the hashbrowns cook on the first side, make the grapefruit juice. I prefer grapefruit to orange because of the tartness - too much sugar will excerbate a hangover. Real grapefruit juice (and by that I mean the yellowy stuff, none of that Ruby Red) settles the stomach. I recommend Minute Maid frozen. Follow the directions on the can to prepare; all you'll need is a pitcher and water, and a spoon to mix with.
 
3. Sprinkle the hashbrowns with salt and pepper and then flip them over. Again, leave them alone for at least 5 minutes, or until the crunchy brown bits are easily apparent at the edges.
 
4. While the hashbrowns cook on the other side, microwave some bacon.  Mostly because bacon is delicious, not for any medicinal purposes. If you have a microwave bacon cooker (a plastic tray with ridges to catch the grease and trap it away from the bacon while it cooks), use it. If not, a microwave-safe plate lined with paper towels will do. Start with two minutes on full power, and check the doneness.  Continue cooking in 30-second increments until the desired degree of crunchiness is achieved.
 
5. Transfer bacon to a plate, add the hashbrowns alongside when they've finished cooking, and pour yourself a nice tall glass of grapefruit juice. Sit in front of the television and watch bad movies at low volume while you eat.
 
Bridget's Easy as Shit Slow-Cooked Italian Beef
From Bridget Brave

The beauty of this is that you can set it BEFORE you head out on NYE, and it won't be done until you've already dragged your ass home and slept it off some. 

You'll need ...
3 1/2 to 4 pounds beef roast, sirloin tip or rump roast
12 ounces (jar) Italian Giardiniera, drained, less if you want it less spicy
12 ounces (jar) pepperoncini peppers
1 envelope Zesty Italian dry salad dressing mix
10 ounce can condensed beef broth
French bread rolls

Place beef roast in a 3 1/2 to 5-quart slow cooker. Combine Giardiniera, pepperoncini peppers, dry salad dressing mix, and condensed beef broth. Add mixture to crockpot. Cover and cook on LOW for 12 to 14 hours, until meat is very tender. Serve on rolls.

Noah Therrien's Hangover Surprise

You'll need ...
Two boxes of generic macaroni and cheese
Half pound brick of cheese, or however much cheese your body can take
A bottle of Nyquil
The biggest bottle of Vitamin Water you can find (I like XXX Berry, It's tasty and makes me feel edgy at the same time!)

Warning: Must committ at least 6 hours to treatment

Fill Nyquil cup with recommended dosage and ingest. Though the bottle does not recommend it, and legally I do not either, take another swig (again, this is at your own discretion).

Ed. Note: it has been suggested that you could add the Nyquil to the macaroni, but we leave that iffy choice up to you.

Follow the instructions for making the Mac and Cheese. Mix desired amount of real cheese with Mac and Cheese (OOOOOHHH Baby, it's gonna be thick!).

You may start to feel woozy at this point, so this is when speed counts. Eat as much Mac and Cheese as you can as fast as you can before getting completely full (obviously don't push yourself till you puke or the entire treatment will be compromised). Wash down with Vitamin Water as you see fit (I usually use an entire bottle, but I'm 6' 5", so go at your own pace)

Lay down on your couch, or bed and watch television or read a book. You should be passed out within 20 minutes (this will happen suddenly, so prepare accordingly). You will wake up 4-6 hours later feeling like a ball of pure joy and sunshine. It never fails!

The Best Bloody Mary in the Midwest
from Tom Ganos, bartender, Roots Restaurant

3/4 oz.(about 7 shakes) Worcestershire Sauce (or soy sauce if vegan)
3/4 oz. beer (I like stouts if available, but anything will do)
1 1/2 oz. vodka
4 shakes Tobasco
4 to 5 shakes celery salt
3 shakes black pepper (or full twist if you have a pepper grinder)
1 shake of red pepper flakes
1 shake of salt
2 light squirts Sriracha
1 squirt or teaspoonful horseradish sauce
Splash pickle juice
Splash jalapeno juice
Splash lemon juice
Splash lime juice
Splash pineapple or orange juice

Fill the glass with tomato juice or V8 and shake with ice. Serve with whatever you like as garnish; I like bacon strips and bleu cheese olives!

When its finished it should look like THIS!

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Imagine if you will…

by Jon Anne Willow

It’s been a long and grinding year, from the shotgun start of the presidential primaries to the historic election of Barack Obama and the concurrent (though unrelated) collapse of financial markets worldwide. You were there – you know – and you don’t need me to offer up yet another post-mortem on a year that can only be categorized as monumentally historic. Besides, the story of these times is so far from written that summarizing right now seems pointless.

Instead, I humbly request that I be among the first to wish you peace, hope and better sleep in the new year. Don’t snort: the chance of my wish coming true is at least as strong as that of me getting a pony for Christmas.

Please don’t feel responsible for making my equine holiday wish a reality; at this point in my life, if I ever decide that I must have my own pony I’ll find a way to make it happen. And you can find a way to grant yourself peace and restful nights: it’s actually within your reach, and I’m going to share the secret with you now.

Remember when you were little and it was time to get ready for bed? Your parents would have you put away your stuff, take a bath and put on your jammies. Sometimes you’d have a snack and then crawl into your warm bed with a book or the radio playing quietly. Eventually you’d turn off the light and drift down into unconsciousness, thoughts of the day just past or the day ahead curling like mist around your dream factory, priming the pump for the night to come. Your details might be different from these, but the outcome is the same: a graceful transition from the chaos of the day into the solace of sleep, a chance to regenerate and face the new morning head-on.

I neglected this ritual for nearly three decades. As a typical young adult I flew from bed to school or work, from obligated time into a frenzied social life, slamming back into bed late and crashing hard (or staring at the ceiling for hours) until my alarm clock pulled me with a squawk from my mattress once again. I didn’t prioritize it as a single mom and new business owner, either. How could I? Time becomes so compressed for grownups, until you look in the mirror one morning and realize that you’ve aged, the lines and gray hair informing you in no uncertain terms that there’s no traveling backwards.

You can’t stop time and the inexorable hunger of its advances. Time is like fire: always consuming you, even as it paves the way for new beginnings. But you can steal from time – a moment here and there – and reclaim yourself. I can attest that the moments you take back from the voracity of the daily grind are well-invested, replenishing your under-valued emotional and spiritual reservoir and providing a source of strength from which to draw in times of need.

This is how I do it: before I fall asleep, I think about things I’ve learned recently. I try not to masticate on problem-solving or worry, but rather just roam the wide world of knowing. For instance, this year I learned that there is no focused scholarly effort to study, understand or preserve the Great Wall of China. How can that be? I also learned that no matter how hard you try to make everyone happy and healthy, the people in your life have to process situations in their own way, and sometimes things just are what they are until they evolve into something else. I learned a few things about baking – always my culinary weakness – that have opened new doors of kitchen creativity. And every once in awhile I buy a lottery ticket, then lay in bed imagining what I would do with millions of dollars.

Everyone has something that fascinates them, whether it’s personal reflection or a random magazine article that unexpectedly resonates beyond the reading. The secret, I believe, to reclaiming yourself (after all, in the end, it is your life), is to re-acquaint yourself with your childhood friend, imagination, who waits forever patiently like Pooh for a grown-up Christopher Robin. Imagination doesn’t need your adult self to create fantasy worlds that absorb your waking thoughts for endless summers on end; it’s content to play whatever role you have available. And in these times of great uncertainty, imagination is one of the keys to hope. The daily churn of consuming routine is not serving the world – or the people in it – well, and far-out possibilities must now be imagined. It starts with each of us.

At VITAL, we reconnected this month with our collective imaginations in making predictions for 2009. Some may seem absurd, but Amy Elliott’s prediction for 2008 that the 1890s would make a roaring comeback has borne out in the profusion of string bands and crinoline overtaking the local music scene, which proves just about anything can happen. Read these and then take your own guesses: but don’t spend too much time worrying about what’s possible – you just never know. VS

Click here to read VITAL's predictions for 2009. Prepare to laugh, to cry and to think some of them are kind of dumb. But fun.  

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A freshman’s time to shine; ERC ghost haunts Barrett

by Dan Corcoran

Pat on the back: After weeks and weeks of hearing that this was Mayor Barrett’s most difficult budget ever – and that fees and taxes had to be raised by a certain amount or fire fighters, police and libraries would be cut – the Common Council found a third and better option.

Thanks to frosh alderman Nik Kovac (who happens to have a math degree from Harvard), the Council came up with the idea of moving the bulk of the fee increases from the solid waste fee (homeowners only) to the wastewater/tree pruning fee (homeowners, non-profits and businesses). The City of Milwaukee will get more money by capturing businesses and non-profits (hey, they have trees too) with the fee increases, but homeowners will actually pay less than they would have under the Mayor’s proposed budget. Not only that, but aldermen managed to restore libraries, fire fighters and police – and expand the summer jobs program to boot.

The word around City Hall is that the Mayor’s Budget office is frustrated that they didn’t see the solution that Ald. Kovac and other Council members put forth. But no matter who came up with the idea, it puts Milwaukee in a much better position.

Sick Day Fiasco: Speaking of putting the city in a better position, a group called 9to5 collected thousands and thousands of signatures earlier this year to enable something called “direct legislation” for more paid sick days for workers in the city of Milwaukee. (Full time workers would be eligible for nine days per year, if it is ever implemented.) Insiders say business organizations (e.g. the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce) lobbied Mayor Barrett and Common Council President Hines pretty hard to come out against the ordinance, which went directly to a voter referendum without a chance for the Council to vote it down.

Only Barrett took the bait, issuing a strong statement against more paid sick days for workers. What’s really interesting is that the Mayor now has no plan for enforcing the ordinance. He pushed for it to be defeated – hoping and praying, it seems, that he wouldn’t have to deal with it – and the voters ignored him. Now, Mayor Barrett appears to be pinning his hopes to an MMAC lawsuit against the ordinance. Why won’t he just deal with the fact that the ordinance passed and must be enforced? It all goes back to the Equal Rights Commission (ERC), or lack thereof.

The ERC was established during the Norquist Administration to deal with discrimination complaints related to housing and employment. It was the City agency set up to hear those complaints and enforce legal action against discriminatory businesses, landlords, etc. But there was a big blow-up when Norquist took away the ERC’s legal powers, and members of the commission resigned or retired one by one. Pratt avoided the issue during his short tenure, but when Barrett was sworn in, everyone watched anxiously to see what he’d do with the ERC. Would he abolish it? Would he reconstitute it? Over his nearly five years in office Barrett has done exactly one thing with the ERC: nothing. And it has come back to bite him with the 9to5 ordinance.

According to the ordinance, the ERC is the body charged with enforcing the code. Over the years, aldermen like Mike D’Amato and President Hines have foreseen that this day might come. They both wrote letters to Barrett, urging him to do something – anything! – with the ERC. Instead, Barrett has been content to let the Commission exist with no members, essentially doing nothing, even though it is still on the books. In a letter this summer to the City Attorney, Hines asked if having an Equal Rights Commission with no members is legally problematic “or merely an embarrassment.” Ouch.

With no ERC to enforce paid sick leave, the duties will fall to the Department of Employee Relations, which does not have enough staff to deal with potential complaints against companies that are not properly administering sick time. Is it enough to have an ordinance pass if it can’t be enforced? 9to5 (and others) would surely give a resounding No.

Doyle v. Barrett: The early talk on a potential Obama win was that Barrett would be in line for a cushy cabinet position. Then reality set in and it became apparent that a) Obama did not know Barrett that well and b) Governor Doyle was much higher on Obama’s wish list – but still not a sure thing. Being a governor rather than a mayor gives Doyle a big edge. In addition, even though Barrett was one of the earliest Obama backers, Doyle was still one of the first Democratic governors to go for Obama. So the talk around Dems in Wisconsin switched from a possible Barrett appointment to a possible Doyle appointment. Makes sense, right? Wrong again. It seems to be widely known that Doyle does not want to leave Wisconsin. First, he appears to genuinely like being governor. Second, the word is that Lt. Gov. Lawton has not earned Doyle’s respect and he does not want to leave her in charge of the state. What a tangled web the Obama election has woven in Wisconsin. (A web of pure speculation, of course.)  VS

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A fresh catch for New Year’s Eve

by Catherine McGarry Miller

Chef Dan Smith
McCormick & Schmick’s
Seafood Restaurant
414-475-0700
mccormickandschmicks.com

“Fresh” comes to mind when I think of the seafood at McCormick & Schmick’s. The slightly briny oysters taste like they were just harvested and served at a seaside bistro instead of a restaurant landlocked in a shopping center parking lot. Chef Dan Smith uses a light hand in seasoning and saucing the daily menu’s 30-some varieties of fresh catch.
 “I love New Year’s Eve,” says Smith, “because people are ready to go out and have an awesome time and it’s almost a given that you’ll have no complaints, you’ll have happy people [who] want to be wined and dined and eat fussy food. So I usually pull out lobster, filet and truffles and truffle oil and morels because people are willing to pay for it.”
 Smith, who opened Envoy at the Ambassador Hotel in 2005 and spent 20 years cooking in San Francisco, including a stint with the renowned Jeremiah Tower’s Stars Restaurant, has fun cooking for his appreciative holiday customers. You will too when you try his special New Year’s Eve menu.

Ginger Vodka Cooler

Ginger-infused vodka gives this cocktail a refreshing flavor.

1.5 oz ginger-infused vodka
3 oz ginger ale
1 oz cranberry juice
Dried cranberries
Candied ginger
 Fill your favorite holiday glass with ice. Add home-infused ginger vodka (recipe at vitalsourcemag.com!). Add in the ginger ale. Top with the cranberry juice and garnish with dried cranberries and candied ginger. Enjoy!

Ginger-infused vodka

Perfect for your holiday entertaining or give as a gift! Find a good-looking glass jar large enough to hold a little more than 750 milliliters of liquid. Fill with your favorite vodka (the higher grade the better). Grate or peel about 1.5 teaspoons fresh ginger and add to the vodka. (Peel the ginger in long curly pieces for a festive look.) Tightly seal your jar and store for a few days, then open and stir your vodka. Seal it up again and store for a few more days. Your vodka should be ready to spice up your holiday cocktails in about a week.

Chef Dan Smith’s Crab Cakes
Yields about 20 4-oz cakes
 
1 cup mayonnaise
4 large eggs, beaten
1 T old bay seasoning
1 t ground black pepper
1 t dry mustard
1 t kosher salt
1 t Worcestershire sauce
1 lb-loaf white bread, crust removed, diced
2.5 lbs lump crabmeat, pasteurized
1/3 cup chopped parsley
 
Combine mayonnaise, eggs and seasonings in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix bread, crabmeat and parsley. Gently fold sauce into crabmeat mix, taking care not to break up or mash crabmeat. Chill at least two hours. Form four- or eight-ounce cakes.

Pan fry or deep fry the crab cakes until golden brown. Serve with lemons, tartar sauce or your favorite condiment.
 
Phyllo Wrapped Smoked Salmon with Crème Fraiche Mousse
 
3 phyllo sheets
9 oz smoked salmon
2 oz crème fraiche
1 oz capers
1 oz egg white
 
Lay phyllo on a flat surface and lightly brush with butter. Shingle 5 ounces of smoked salmon on bottom half of phyllo dough. Place salmon mousse (below) along bottom of phyllo. Roll up and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Bake in 300 degree oven until brown.
 
Salmon mousse

In a food processor, add 4 oz smoked salmon, 2 oz crème fraiche, 1 oz capers, 1 oz egg whites and blend until thick. Add more crème fraiche if too thick.

Crème fraiche is a naturally matured, slightly sour-flavored raw cream. To make your own, add one tsp buttermilk to one cup cream and heat to 85 degrees, then let stand at a temperature of 60 to 85 degrees until it is thickened. Stir, then refrigerate until ready to use.
 
Seafood Mac & Cheese
Yields 4 servings
 
8 oz quartered mushrooms
4 T butter
8 oz small shrimp
8 oz bay scallops
4 cups cooked elbow macaroni
1.5 cups cheese sauce (recipe below)
3 T chopped chives
4 T grated Parmesan cheese
4 T bread crumbs
Pinch of salt and pepper to taste
 
Sautee mushrooms in butter until lightly browned. Add seafood and sauté for 1 to 2 minutes. Add cooked macaroni and stir. Add cheese sauce and blend thoroughly. Season with salt, pepper and chives. Place mixture in a casserole dish. Sprinkle with bread crumbs and the Parmesan cheese. Brown the scallops, add them to the top of the mixture and serve. Makes a great side dish for the holidays!

Cheese sauce
3 T butter
3 T flour
1 ½ cups milk
1 cup sharp Wisconsin cheddar, grated
1/2 t salt
1/2 t dry mustard
1/8 t paprika

Melt butter in saucepan, then stir in flour until blended. Add milk slowly, constantly stirring until sauce is smooth and thickened. Add in cheese, stirring until completely melted. Season with salt, dry mustard and paprika.

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VITAL’s predictions for 2009

by VITAL Source Staffers

JON ANNE WILLOW – CO-PUBLISHER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
No matter how hard Wall Street works to lure private investors back into the market, ordinary citizens will go back to saving the old fashioned way: stuffing cash in their mattresses. By June, Verlo will offer an all-new custom model, The Saver 3000, which will include a hidden chamber accessible only with a card and PIN number. Sure, they’ll be uncomfortable as hell to sleep on, but Verlo will sell scads of them to freaked-out Baby Boomers, not only securing their own financial future but providing hundreds of jobs right here in Wisconsin.

The Obama Administration’s new motto will be “A windmill in every yard.”

AMY ELLIOTT – MANAGING EDITOR
In 2009, the stupid but prevalently held idea that “deaths happen in threes” will take on a whole new level of mystical garbage meaning when a trio of prominent world leaders – Kim Jong-Il, Fidel Castro and, in a “freak accident,” Vladimir Putin – kick the bucket.

Somali pirates will take over Cuba, Moscow will be annexed by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and North Korea will allow Kim Jong-Il to rule from the grave. Also meeting their demise in 2009: million-year-old and long-presumed-to-be-already-dead Structuralist philosopher Claude-Levi Strauss; actors Sidney Poitier and Peter O’Toole; former Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca and the already mostly decayed Amy Winehouse.

James Brown, on the other hand, will be crowned the Funk Messiah when he unceremoniously rises from the dead on Christmas day.

BRIDGET BRAVE – PRODUCTION MANAGER
After its victorious parlay into the national consciousness via the New York Times, the Journal-Sentinel’s “Wasted in Wisconsin” series will continue to spread, resulting in a five-part BBC series, MTV True Life Special (“I Drink in Wisconsin”), and several obscure Family Guy references.  Milwaukee will celebrate by doing a shot every time the city is mentioned by name.

RYAN FINDLEY – ADMINISTRATOR/FINE ARTS EDITOR
Gas will make a head-spinning ricochet back to astronomical prices. This ricochet will bring the boomerang back into style with a vengeance. And speaking of vengeance, God will hold off on striking us dead because, in electing Barack Obama, Americans have bought ourselves a few years with which to prove we’re not the awful human beings and wretched global citizens we appear to be. So, no plagues of locusts or rivers of blood or any of that stuff. Which is kind of a nice thought.

ERIN LEE PETERSEN – CALENDAR EDITOR
Unsatisfied with the Bronze Fonz’s lukewarm reception but still high on patina chemicals, VISIT Milwaukee will collect funds to bronze other pop culture icons loosely associated with Wisconsin. By year’s end, visitors to Milwaukee will be able to take souvenir pictures with Laverne & Shirley, the gang from That ‘70s Show and the entire cast of former TGIF fave Step by Step. The city’s main attraction, however, will be a life-sized depiction of that scene in Wayne’s World where Alice Cooper explains the Algonquin origins of Milwaukee to Wayne and Garth.

Erin Lee Petersen will continue to exchange the word “shit” for any word beginning with the digraph Sh. For no apparent reason.

LUCKY TOMASZEK - Columnist, SLIGHTLY CRUNCHY PARENT
Waves of cold and heat will plague the interior of our homes as no one can afford to use their furnace, central air units or even ceiling fans. As a result, most members of our community will resemble the Sta-Puff Marshmallow Man until spring, and “naturalists” throughout the summer. What fall will bring remains to be seen.

HOWIE GOLDKLANG – Columnist, REEL MILWAUKEE
Luke Eshleman, ( or 262-408-0134), will lose his virginity.

Obama will change the national anthem to Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.”

Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio will do a Scooby Doo mask rip-off to reveal he is really Jerry Garcia, who faked his own death.

CATHERINE McGARRY MILLER – Columnist, EAT THIS
The election of Barack Obama confirmed his campaign promise – “Yes We Can.” But the campaign win was really a beginning, not an end.  We will all have to step up to the plate to help President Obama realize his immense potential. I believe we will. The question is how to make that happen. But I believe that somehow, yes, we can.

STELLA CRETEK – Visual arts writer/blogger, DEM BONES
The art funding well will run dry. Only those with long arms will be able to fill the money bucket.

President Obama will swing neither left nor right.

Sarah Palin will write a book and hopefully fade into the Alaskan landscape.

Stella hopes to be around to predict 2010.

DJ HOSTETTLER – Music writer/blogger, CULTURAL ZERO
Matt Wild will start a new “freak jug” band that rapidly ascends to local stardom due to its 15 band members and prominent use of “quirky” instruments like washboard and wood-pole-in-metal-tub bass. Wild Frontier’s accordionist, Amy Elliott, will grace the cover of Shepherd Express five times.

The Republican Party, wrestling with its identity in the wake of the 2008 elections, will fall into civil war and literally devour itself. The Wisconsin National Guard will be forced to quarantine the entire city of Waukesha after it collapses into a conservative zombie apocalypse (that is, an apocalypse of conservative zombies. The apocalypse itself will be far too gruesome to be considered “conservative”).

The Milwaukee Brewers will re-sign CC Sabathia, who will proceed to dislodge his arm from his body during his 206th pitch in a 14-inning complete game. Section 112 will storm the field in an attempt to devour the severed arm, as that section will be filled with Republican Waukesha zombies who came in on a party bus. A zombie party bus.

ERIN WOLF – SENIOR MUSIC WRITER
In 2007, my car was the almost-victim of an attempted mass car hijacking. Luckily, that V6 totally saved its can (and mine)! In 2008, it was punched by a random angry person who was waiting for a bus while I was halted at a stoplight. I’m not sure why. Is this what one could call a ‘drive-by punching’? In 2009, I predict that my car will suffer something even more spectacular. Possibly a swarm of locusts will descend from a blizzard-torn sky and invade it while I’m driving over the Hoan Bridge. Perhaps a wayward car, filled with evil clowns armed with flaming, poisonous arrows will shoot my tires out, or maybe a giant Tyrannosaurus Rex will fall out of the sky to chomp my car into digested nonexistence with one mighty gulp. It can only get crazier from here. Maybe it’s the right time to become a part of this ‘biketopia’ I keep hearing about and only partially participate in, although a ‘ride-by punching’ sounds a lot more sinister. In 2009, I’m gonna keep my hands on the steering wheel and see what new adventure comes my way. Send in the clowns!

NOAH THERRIEN – VITAL VIDEOS
2009 will be horribly depressing. Not only will most of us continue to feel helplessly alone, but those who are fortunate enough to be in committed and loving relationships will discover that their love for their significant other has vanished, only to be replaced by bitter animosity. Our co-workers will become increasingly passive-aggressive, the once-pleasant commuters on buses and trains across America will shoot each other vicious and hostile looks on a daily basis. Our food will taste terrible after an increasingly health-conscious President Obama outlaws salt; the sun will cease to shine for a record 187 consecutive days and the world as a whole will never tire of reminding us how little our lives matter. On a personal note, I hope to gain more love and understanding for my fellow man.

R. MICHAEL GULL – Blogger, MESSIAH SIMPLEX
Being French, as well as prescient as hell, I have been writing disturbingly accurate predictions in the form of quatrains for years.

POLITICS
 In the year 2009 there will arise a new messiah
 The likes of which has not been seen since America’s bicentennial.
 His effectiveness will rival that of the farmer of the Arachis hypogaea.
 Terror will be commonplace as a nation is duped, while her enemies dance with glee

ECONOMY
 In the three years before the end of the Mayan calendar.
 The value of currency and goods will erode.
 The economic structure will be reconfigured over and over.
 The only thing of value will be entertainment, as the World mourns her own death.

GAS PRICES
 As fuel becomes out of reach for common people
 Evolution will intervene, as she does in such circumstances.
 Providing all mankind with wings for flight.
 With the exception of the Dutch, who deserve nothing

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2008 Holiday Fun Guide

by Erin Lee Petersen

What can we say about the holidays? For most of us, this time of year can cause serious anxiety as we ultimately find ourselves shuffling from store to store, desperately trying to hold our own among ravenous holiday shoppers. And every year, we end up stuck at yet another awkward family dinner where we try our best not to get too drunk in front of relatives. Or maybe that’s just me. Luckily for us cynics, VITAL’s Holiday Guide has the antidote to all this winter drudgery with helpful hints on where to go to get into the holiday spirit and ensure that the season is entertaining and filled with all of the cheer we hear about in those Christmas songs. After a landmark year in so many emotionally huge ways, we need it more than ever. VS

Milwaukee Coach & Carriage Holiday Rides
Milwaukee Coach & Carriage
414-272-6873 or milwaukeecarriage.com
There’s no better way to enjoy a brisk winter evening and take in all the glittery holiday festivities than with a horse-drawn carriage ride.

The Friday Night Snow Show: Fall Constellations
UW-Milwaukee Manfred Olson Planetarium
Through Dec. 12
414-229-4961 or planetarium.uwm.edu
For an alternative method of getting into the spirit of the season, come to the planetarium for a weekly viewing of the night sky at 7:00 pm. Find out how to spot some special fall constellations and learn about their significance.

Holiday Lights Festival
Pere Marquette Park, Cathedral Square Park, Ziedler Union Square
Through Jan. 4
milwaukeedowntown.org
Millions of twinkling lights brighten up downtown Milwaukee during this festive annual tradition. Come for dazzling lights, stay for family-friendly entertainment.

Downtown Jingle Bus
The Shops of Grand Avenue
Thursdays – Sundays through Jan. 4
Board the Jingle Bus for a 40-minute narrated tour of Milwaukee’s merriest holiday hot spots while enjoying hot cocoa and cookies.

Holiday Floral Show
Mitchell Park Conservatory
Through Jan.4
414-649-9800 or countyparks.com
Visit The Domes for a breathtaking Christmas show that features thousands of crimson and hybrid poinsettias, plus holiday concerts and performances.

Westown Indoor Market
The Shops of Grand Avenue
Through Feb. 11
414-276-6696 or westown.org
The Westown Farmer’s Market has moved indoors for the winter. Come check out your favorite vendors while listening to live musical performances.

Leonard Bearstein Symphony Orchestra
The Shops of Grand Avenue
Through Jan. 3
414-224-0655 or grandavenueshops.com
Join Leonard Bearstein and his 18-piece orchestra of bears as they perform our favorite holiday songs live in the Grande Avenue Mall. Whoa!

East Town Trees
East Town Neighborhood
Through Jan. 5
414-271-1416 or easttown.com
See more than 30 wooden trees decorated by local businesses and retailers and scattered around in East Town.

Saturdays with Santa
The Shops of Grand Avenue
Through Dec.20
414-224-0655 or grandavenueshops.com
Spend the afternoon making holiday crafts and listening to Radio Disney, but don’t forget to tell Santa what you want for Christmas!

Santa vs. The Snowman
Humphrey IMAX Dome Theater, Milwaukee Public Museum
Through Jan.4
414-319-4629 or mpm.edu
See what happens when you combine Santa, a jealous snowman bent on stealing St. Nick’s fire and squirt guns filled with hot chocolate.

Mystery of the Christmas Star
Humphrey IMAX Dome Theater, Milwaukee Public Museum
Through Jan.4
414-319-4629 or mpm.edu
Travel back in time to the birth of Jesus to investigate the origins of the Star of Bethlehem in this modern adaptation of the Christmas story.

M&I Bank Holiday Display
M&I Bank, 770 N. Water Street
Dec. 1 – Jan. 5
414-765-7700 or mibank.com/holiday
Come and check out M&I’s famous holiday display, featuring more than 50 life-sized costumed Steiff animals.

Winter Constellations
UW-Milwaukee Manfred Olson Planetarium
Dec. 3 – 14
414-229-4961 or planetarium.uwm.edu
The UWM Theatre Department brings the winter skies to life with some stellar storytelling. Come and learn about the myths behind the constellations and get excited about scientific discovery!

Slice of Ice
Red Arrow Park
Opens Dec. 4 (weather permitting)
414-257-PARK or countyparks.com
Bring friends and family down for a skate in the park this winter season. Opening day features free skate rentals!

East Town Holiday Market
Dec. 4
Chase