Zales The Jewelry Experts, Customer Care, not so much..

Zales Customer Care,

I am assuming that by sending this e-mail to your department, perhaps
it will be forwarded to the appropriate personnel. However based on
recent experiences I shall remain doubtful.

I recently purchased item number 17906918, which was your The Shared
Heart® 1/10 CT. T.W. Diamond Pendant in 14K White Gold as an
anniversary gift for my wife. What I received in the mail was The
Shared Heart® 1/10 CT. T.W. Diamond Tilted Pendant in Sterling Silver.
Needless to say, my wife was very disappointed. When we called to ask
what could be done about this mistake, the preponderance of rectifying
this error was put upon us; we were told that we could not return the
necklace to any of the stores in the area for an appropriate credit,
that our money would not be credited to our account until the necklace
is received via mail, and that there would be no discount in the
purchase of the appropriate necklace that will arrive long after our
anniversary.

This makes me believe that your company feels that the customer is the
least important aspect of your business, that the customer that can
only afford one of your less expensive items is beneath contempt and
not worth being treated with any sort of respect. Would I have gotten
better customer care had a bought a higher-end piece? I suspect had I
spent $2000 as opposed to $200, people would have been doing their
best to make this situation right and I would have been compensated in
some small way for an error by your company.

Is this how you establish a loyal customer base? I would hope at some
point to be able to buy my wife nicer jewelry. Based on this
experience I do not think that I will buying that jewelry from your
company. Not only that, but I feel so upset by this I feel I will go
out of my way to recommend to my friends and colleagues to absolutely
avoid your company in their own purchases.

I have bought items from your company in the past, but based on how I
was treated by your customer service representative on the phone, I do
not think that I will continue to do so.

Quite frankly I am completely surprised that in the current economic
climate your company would treat the average customer so shabbily.

Sincerely,
Robert Hausknecht

"Reality"

One of the biggest problems with the way that the media portrays “reality” is that, essentially, every reporter, every journalist, is a writer at heart. As Mark Bowden discusses in his article, The Angriest Man on Television, the reporter risks having his or her story ruined by too many facts. Someone like David Simon is able to take the stories that he saw as a reporter for the Sun and tell them in a way that fits neatly into the narrative he has created. A reporter in the real world has to keep going back to the story, to keep investigating and suffer the likelihood that his story is not going to be neat and tidy. There is the very real possibility that this will lead to lazy reporting. It’s easier to report the story that reflects the “reality” created by media than to do the diligence required for a story that doesn’t fit into the narrative created by media.

As shown in the report, Prime Suspects: The Influence of Local Television News on the Viewing Public, the crime stories most often reported on are violent crimes. Of those, the ethnicity of the suspect is most likely to be mentioned when that person is African-American. Through a preponderance of these kinds of stories the media creates a “reality” where African-Americans generally commit violent crimes. The media afraid to break away from the pack reinforces this circular logic. Afraid to tell the story that doesn’t fit neatly into the narrative media has created for themselves, the same types of stories are told over and over until it becomes accepted as “reality.” Add to this the fact that minority reporters predominantly report on the majority of minority stories, in this case, crime stories, and a further level of reinforcement of the false reality is created.

Where does this leave the viewing public? Where are they to turn to in order to gain an accurate view of crime? The local media is going to go with the stories that sell, “If it bleeds, it leads.” The reporter is going to be tempted to report on the stories that fit into the easy mold, the white reporter is going to be hesitant to report on the minority issues that they are unfamiliar with. Hard work is hard. It’s easier to report on the same things that everyone else reports on, it’s easier to report on crime in the minority community than it is to report on issues that affect that community.

When we see someone like David Simon creating a fictional show that has more credibility than reality, we have to question that reality.

Head Colds and Breathing Masks

It's a strange feeling when you are told that you are sleeping wrong. I mean, it's sleeping, how can you not do it right?

When I finally got on my wife's insurance plan and had my first doctor's appointment in I don't know how long, he asked me how I was sleeping.

"The regular way," I said, "eyes closed, lying down.. you know."

He sent me to a sleep clinic where they hooked me up to a bunch of machines and told me to sleep normally. Then they proceeded to wake me up every few minutes to ask me how I was sleeping. The diagnosed me with sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is where your throat will close while you are sleeping and you will almost wake up, but not quite. You never go into the restful REM sleep so you always feel tired.

After I got my CPAP machine I started sleeping the right way. The machine consists of a mask that fits over your face. This is attached by a hose to a unit that pumps air into the mask. It creates an air pressure that keeps your throat open. It took some getting used to, but now I can't imagine life without it.

I am now suffering through my second head cold since I got the machine. It's not because of the machine, it's just your regular head cold. However nothing is quite as gross as having a runny nose while you have a mask strapped to your face that covers your nose and mouth. You wake up in the middle of the night to feel snot running across your face. Yuck. Then I as I was lying there, after going to the bathroom to blow my nose and wash my face, I realized that the machine was doing it's job. That is to create air pressure to keep my throat open. Usually, when I'm breathing through my nose, it's hardly noticeable. However, with my nose severely clogged, I was sleeping with my mouth open. With the air blasting straight down to my throat making it feel dry and making me feel a little bit crummier.

I did finally fall asleep. But I'll be glad when this cold goes away.

Honey Pie

Ahhh… food. When it’s at it’s worst it can be horrible, when it’s merely half-assed it can sometimes be pretty good, and when it’s delicious it can be a transcendental experience. Honey Pie on KK in Bayview falls into the last category.

Housed in the former home of the craptastic Annona Café, Scott Johnson and partners’ newest creation may have been their best one yet.

Thursday night found the place packed. My dinner companion, this evening played by my lovely wife, got there just as it really started to fill up. We got a table for two next to the window, but the people behind us had to wait.

The menu has a few appetizers, a few dinners and an expansive selection of sandwiches. There is also a huge selection of beers and a very tempting dessert display case; more on that later.

We started with the Pork Stacked Fries appetizer; delicious French fries, covered in a bar-b-qued pulled pork, cheese gravy, jalapeno slices, and bacon. What sounded like it would be merely a mess, turned out to work amazingly well together. The jalapenos tasted fresh and had a good bite, the cheese gravy was much more substantial than any cheese sauce could ever hope to be. Overall, the flavors balanced in an amazing dance of beautiful gastronomic excess, the sweetness of the bar-b-que sauce was countered by the pepper’s sharpness, and fries just taste better smothered in cheese.

My wife had a salad with a Citrus Basil dressing. The small taste I had reminded me of fruity vinaigrette, but significantly more substantial.

Dinner arrived. My wife got the Chicken Pot Pie. It was served in a bowl with a golden brown crust easily covering it. The insides consisted of a creamy gravy with a good amount of dark meat chicken and loads of vegetables.

I got the burger special; two pork and beef patties, with pepper jack cheese, a spicy chipolte aioli, and bacon. The special board specified that the burger had tons of bacon, upon seeing the burger, the statement was almost not hyperbole, there was a lot of bacon. This was of course accompanied by another pile of delicious french fries, plain, but I’m not complaining. I could make a meal of those deep-fried tubers.

Dessert seemed to be necessary to complete the experience. I chose the White Russian Cream Pie, my wife got a piece of Turtle cake. I’m not sure what I expected, but I got exactly what was advertised. A piece of home-made cream pie that tasted just like a White Russian. It was good, but not great. It had a bit too much of a strong alcohol flavor, but it was well made and I might be nit-picking. My wife’s cake was delicious and moist. She enjoyed it very much. By the time she offered me a bite, it was too late. I was filled to the top.

Prices were reasonable. Our dinner ran us a little more than $40. Soda refills were happily given, although the waitress seemed to be pretty busy. The place is small so extra servers might end up running each other over, but everything was well worth the wait.

The menu has a good amount of vegetarian and vegan offerings including the option of
”vegan-a-fying” many of the meat dishes.

The food is not healthy, but it is absolutely delicious. Home-cooked comfort food at it’s finest. Put it on your list of places to stop in at. You won’t be disappointed.

Faith

I have a friend who seems to have made it his goal to become the patron saint of atheism. Well, I suppose atheism doesn’t really have saints, but he is very vocal about his beliefs, or belief in non-belief.

I digress.

I don’t know that I agree with his stand, although I’m not sure I always disagree either. He’s a smart guy and generally provides food for thought.

Although, recently, a Wisconsin man, a father, was convicted of killing his daughter. He killed her by denying her treatment for her undiagnosed diabetes until it killed her. He and his wife and their friends attempted to heal her by praying for her and said that by taking her to a doctor would essentially be placing the doctor before god.

But what this comes down to isn’t about belief. People quite often use belief in rational ways. My father has been having some health problems and my mom is helping him. I know it’s a lot for my mom to deal with and I’m pretty sure she uses her faith in god to help her to cope with things when they get to be a lot to deal with. That’s a good way to use faith to help you in day-to-day life.

The problem with the man that thought prayer would heal his daughter isn’t about faith.

It’s about egotism.

This man felt that his god would stop everything he’s doing to heal his daughter. This guy didn’t believe that possibly by creating a person that could go to medical school and learning how to heal people and become a doctor that god was helping to heal this man’s daughter. He felt that god needed to come down and personally heal his daughter.

I believe in god. But it’s people like this that make me believe that religion is seriously flawed. I realize that a lot of people would strongly disagree with me, and that’s okay. We all have to have our own beliefs. But when people use faith to say that this way or that way is the way that god acts, then they’re putting themselves before god.

The Summer of Books and Movies

And so, here we are, a month into the summer dubbed “The Summer of Books and Movies” and the books continue to beat the crap out of the movies.

The movies have not been bad, not by any means. Indeed, these are the films that the critics of last year heaped mighty piles of praise upon; movies like “Doubt” and “The Wrestler.” Both looked to be outstanding films and I will not sit here and cast dispersions upon them, no sir, not me. These were good films, but, sadly, not great films.

Ever since “The Dark Knight” I feel as if I hold films to a higher standard. “The Dark Knight” was just a comic book movie. That’s how it was apparently judged by those who decide which movies are deserving of praise, which movies deserve to win awards and be forever dubbed the best of the year. Here was a movie that was better than what it was. Sadly, people felt that a movie like “Slumdog Millionaire” was much better. Isn’t that what it means when a film wins best picture? That it’s the best movie made that year?

But the movies that have been heaped with praise do not necessarily deserve the praise they get. Rather, they seem to be the best out of what’s offered.

“Doubt” was good, but not great. Surprising with such a cast. The cinematography was beautiful as well. However, the story was too ambiguous and vague. What should have been a great movie was merely pretty good.

“The Wrestler” was good as well. Not great. Good performances do not make up for a meandering story that never gets resolved. Sure, it’s a character study, but a character study for a character that you can’t empathize with makes for a movie that’s disappointing to watch.

When you want a movie to be great, when it’s only good, that’s just as much of a disappointment.

Thank goodness for books. My current goal is to read all the books by Chuck Palahniuk. I may even read “Fight Club”, because, based on his other books, the book has to be better than the movie. His stories are complex even when they don’t appear to be so, his characters are diverse and layered, and his storytelling style goes down like warm honey.

And unlike Netflix, the library doesn’t charge.

But Is It Art? The Other Side of the Bronzie Debate

Seven Asian tourists stand in a tight group where Water Street meets Wells Street in downtown Milwaukee. They argue back and forth in hushed tones. One, who appears to be the leader of this group, points to the street signs and then to a map. Finally, exasperated, he walks up to a man waiting for the bus. The foreigner approaches the native, a nervous smile on his face and his brows knitted in concentration.

“Fonzie?” The man asks in thickly accented English. As an afterthought he gives a thumbs-up and says “Ayyyyyy.”

The Milwaukeean, at first surprised, grins and points to the Milwaukee River, a block west.

“Thank you.” Says the tourist as he returns to his group and relays the information. The group heads west. When they get to the river they turn, looking north and south along the river. Then they see it. Just south of Wells Street the bronze statue reflects the mid-day sun. The “Bronze Fonz” smiles and gives a perpetual “thumbs-up” to the tourists. They hurry across the street and cluster around the statue of the Milwaukee icon and begin snapping pictures. After a few minutes, a couple in black leather jackets emblazoned with Harley Davidson logos turns the corner. Patiently, they wait for their turn with the statue.

The controversy surrounding the statue had started to become not unlike a bad dream, fading into the collected consciousness. Then, in mid-April of this year, the Milwaukee Common Council decided by a 12-2 vote to approve the Janet Zweig art display along Wisconsin Avenue. That brought the controversy surrounding the “Bronze Fonz” back to the minds of those in the Milwaukee art scene.

The statue, known as the “Bronzie”, has become a polarizing issue amongst many in Milwaukee. While some believe it to be a light-hearted remembrance to that ambassador of coolness, others believe it represents the problems with the art scene in Milwaukee. Probably the most outspoken opponent of the “Bronzie” is Mike Brenner, owner of the former Hot Cakes art gallery.

Former art gallery as in gone. Brenner threatened to shut his gallery down if the Milwaukee Arts Board decided to go through with their plan to bring the Fonz in bronze statue form to Milwaukee. They did and he followed through with his threat. In July he closed the doors of Riverwest’s Hot Cakes gallery forever. Many accused him of being nothing more than the perpetrator of a huge publicity stunt. Others went even further.

“You ever link the Fonz and the Packers to Dahmer again and you’re going to end up like Dahmer.” Said one homophobic and misinformed caller who also called Brenner “gay-boy”. Brenner has posted some of the more “amusing” phone calls on a web site that also features artistic remixes by local artists supportive of Brenner’s cause.

But Brenner doesn’t see it that way.

“I did everything I could to make the community better.” He says as he sips a coffee outside of Riverwest’s Alterra headquarters. His gallery that was just a few blocks away was just a small part of the efforts he made on behalf of the Milwaukee underground art scene. In addition to the gallery, he served as the chair for the Milwaukee Artists Resource Network. MARN was created as a way for artists in the Milwaukee area to network and help each other out. Artists could use the group’s web site to advertise resources, both physical and intellectual, that they were willing to share and trade. Brenner worked with the group for eight years. Funding became harder and harder to come by and Brenner admits he was ill suited for the task of finding more.

“I’m an idea guy, not a do-the-books guy.”

Brenner relates how money continued to get tighter and tighter for him. Eventually he was forced to living in the back of his art gallery, sleeping on air mattresses. He went through seven, returning each one and exchanging it for a new one as they wore out. Things went from bad to worse for Brenner. A lot of the people that came to showings at his gallery would pound down free wine while complaining about its cheapness and criticize the hummus while they filled their pockets with it. Still, Brenner tried to stay open so that he could provide the public with art.

“After a while you don’t get anyone on Tuesdays so I decided to close on Tuesdays. Then people stopped showing up on Wednesdays.” Brenner says. He continued to try though. At one evening’s event when he was to show a film, only one person showed up. She and Brenner ended up having some beers and doing his dishes.

It would seem that Brenner’s decision to close his gallery was based more on financial reasons and less on artistic protest. It seems that way until the subject of Janet Zweig comes up. Zweig was a renowned artist that had created many works including a public display in Minneapolis. Brenner was serving on the Milwaukee Arts Board as the Chair of Public Art when it was decided that Zweig would be selected to create a public art display along Wisconsin Avenue. Besides Brenner, the Milwaukee Arts Board consisted of other notable figures in the Milwaukee artistic community: David Gordon, former Chief Executive Officer of Milwaukee Art Museum, Curtis Carter, founder and former Director of Marquette's Haggerty Museum of Art, Marcia Sehler, Milwaukee Riverwalk Art Curator, and Bob Greenstreet, Milwaukee’s City Architect.

The other half of the board consisted of members of Milwaukee’s Department of Public Works, aldermen, and other more practical and less artistic public figures. Brenner related the story of one alderman that balked at the idea of spending money for the Wisconsin Avenue artwork.

“I wouldn’t spend fifty cents for the Mona Lisa and I’m not going to spend $220,000 for this.” He said in reference to the proposed Zweig display. DPW officials hastily added that the art would be too heavy and would end up in the basements of the buildings along Wisconsin Avenue. Brenner and his allies on the board were disappointed.

Their disappointment quickly turned to surprise and out rage when the other members of the board decided that there would be money to fund the completion of a project started by the cable network, TV Land. The network had built statues of celebrities in other cities: Mary Tyler Moore in Minneapolis and Bob Newhart in Chicago. The network decided to abandon the project before work could start on a statue of the Fonz in Milwaukee. The council decided to build the statue and place it downtown along the Riverwalk.

“They decided to build it right where Solomon Juneau built his trading post.” Brenner says, still appalled by the decision. Many of the bloggers that had been for the statue felt that it did not belong in downtown Milwaukee, somewhere never depicted in “Happy Days,” the sitcom that featured the Fonz.

“Leon’s has a wonderful classic 1950’s neon look, a visually appropriate backdrop for the bronze Fonz. Locate the sculpture there.” Said David Lenz on Mary Louise Schumacher’s JS-Online Art City blog. However this was before the “Bronzie’s” final destination was determined.

Brenner has since decided to turn his attention to brewing beer. He realizes that it may be another ten years before he sees any sort of profit. But he’s quick to add that a brewery is essentially a large warehouse space, the kind that has space for artist studios. As for the Milwaukee art scene, Brenner seems pragmatic but hopeful.

“It won’t be what I want it to be, but it’ll be what it needs to be.”

My Sedaris Review

The assignment seemed like it was going to be easy enough. It had two options. One was to write a review of a live event.

“I could do that.” I thought to myself.

I had been writing restaurant reviews for one of the school papers for nearly two years. It was an assignment that had been foisted on me by the arts and entertainment editor. I was nervous at first, but as it had turned out, it combined two of my passions: writing and eating.

I had gotten a lot of practice writing restaurant reviews and I felt I had gotten pretty good at them. But then, I had the necessary skill set to accurately critique a restaurant: years of cooking experience had made me able to spot the difference between an over-whelmed waitstaff and simply a bad one, and that same work experience had given me the knowledge to identify the difference between bad food and food that might not be good, but had potential.

However, the class assignment required that we went to a live performance. I hadn’t worked as a live performer, musical or otherwise. And unless it was some sort of cooking demonstration, my previous work experience was not going to help me.

Undaunted, I began to keep an eye out for an event to critique.

The combination of being tight-fisted and jaded by the current musical scene made it difficult to find something to see. On top of that, my wife and I had just bought our first house and it was a considerable amount of work. I was hesitant to spend a whole evening out having fun when there was work to be done.

Then it was announced.

My favorite living author, David Sedaris, was coming to town. The satirical humorist had been one of my favorites since a friend had told me some of my writing reminded him of Sedaris. I read one of Sedaris’ books and was hooked. His writing is hilarious and friends that were familiar with his work said it was even better when he read it aloud.

And he was coming to Riverside Theatre.

I asked a friend of mine who was as big of a fan as I was to go. She said she had to do some budget juggling, but she would be able to join me.
A few days later my wife asked me why I hadn’t bought tickets yet.
I told her that I was apprehensive that with all the other expenses, we couldn’t afford it.

“Well, you need to see something for your class, don’t you?” She said.

“Yeah.” I replied. “But the tickets are expensive.”

“We’ll be okay. Just go.”

So I bought the tickets and anxiously waited.

On the night of the show I went to catch the bus and arrived at the theatre an hour early. Eventually my friend Gretchen showed up and we went inside. Our seats were in the balcony so we went upstairs.

When we arrived at the first landing the usher looked at our tickets.

“These are upstairs.” He said, pointing at another set of stairs.
We climbed the stairs to the next landing where another usher was waiting.

“Yeah, you want to go up those stairs.” The second usher said, pointing at another set of stairs.

Finally, when we could go no further, we found our seats in the very last row of the balcony. When Sedaris came out he was a tiny speck, far below on the stage.
He read some of his works, told some stories and took questions from the audience.

I laughed so hard that I cried.


After the show, my friend waited in line with me for an hour so that I could get one of my books signed. I gave her implicit instructions to make sure I didn’t freeze up when it was our turn.

Then we were up.

I don’t remember exactly what I said but I know it came rushing out in a torrential gush of fawning adoration.

Mr. Sedaris took it all in stride. He asked me what I did and I told him that I was going to school to be a writer. I added that his writing was very inspirational to me. He was gracious and recommended some books for me to read. He signed my book, stating that he was looking forward to reading my book.

I floated out to the street on a cloud. My favorite author, besides being talented, was also a really nice guy.

As I thought about writing a review of the show, journalistic ethics reared its ugly head.

There was no way I could write a review of the show that was in any way unbiased.
Sedaris had could have come out onto the stage, belched loudly, and walked back off and I still would have thought it was great. Well, maybe not great, but certainly pretty good.

It just didn’t feel right to write a critique that was little more than fan-worship.



Fortunately, the assignment’s second option was to write a column.

The 15

The group of people standing just south of the corner of Lincoln and Kinnickinnic collectively shiver as the icy wind cuts through them. All four are bundled against the cold, three have backpacks, two have cups of hot coffee from a nearby coffee shop, and one takes quick puffs off of a cigarette. Occasionally one of the backpack-carrying, coffee drinkers leans out into traffic and looks south, down Kinnickinnic. A man in a blue parka looks both ways and dashes across the busy Bayview street.

“Is it coming?” He asks, as he hurries to the bus stop.

Just then, off in the distance, the route 15 bus comes into view as it crests a hill next to the Bayview library. The man in the blue parka smoothes out a rumpled pass and scowls as he looks at the bottom-most time on the torn scrap of paper.

“Do you have twenty cents?” He asks. The man switches his coffee to the other hand, reaches in his pocket, and fishes out a quarter from the change in his pocket.

The 15 bus glides to a stop and the doors open to reveal a white haired bus driver, his face framed by a short beard. He smiles and nods as each person boards. His name is Steve Walker and he is nearly halfway through his second trip.

Studies have shown that during trying economic times, the use of public transportation increases. During the recent gas crisis, bus rider-ship was the highest in 50 years according to a report in USA Today. Now, experts are seeing an increase in the number of people taking the bus once again. The bus is becoming the main means of transportation for many of Milwaukee’s residents.

The 15 bus route starts at the Milwaukee County Transit garage at the intersection of Kinnickinnic Avenue and Mitchell Street and goes south to Drexel Boulevard and Chicago Avenue in South Milwaukee. It is at the southern-most location that Walker turns off the bus and relaxes during a fifteen-minute layover. His first 15 run starts at 4:30 a.m. and he completes 3 runs over the course of his shift. Making the round trip between South Milwaukee on the southern end and Bayshore Mall at the northern end takes him 3 hours. He had previously spent 8 years driving the 18 run along National Avenue.

“That was ninety percent bar traffic.” He says with a grimace. He likes the 15 route where his only “hard” part is from North Avenue up to UWM when the bus gets packed full of college kids. But even then, most people are happy.

“I waited the other day for a guy to run a block to catch the bus. When he got on he told me that I rocked. I asked him if that was a good thing.” Walker says with a smile on his face.

Walker’s face takes on a dour countenance when he’s asked about proposed budget cuts in light of the present economy.

“How much more can we cut? My brother just got his hours cut from 40 hours a week to 32 at Ladish.” He says, exasperated.

As the 15 bus makes its way through Milwaukee there are signs all along its route of people being affected by economic hard times. In Cudahy, just south of Layton Avenue on South Packard Avenue a man angrily paces in front of a Labor Ready employment office, smoking a cigarette. In South Milwaukee various businesses are closed and have signs advertising leasing opportunities. The only businesses that seem to be truly thriving are liquor stores and taverns. Even in the more affluent Whitefish Bay, as the 15 wends its way through residential neighborhoods, many of the houses have signs proclaiming foreclosure sales.

But even as the bus makes its way through what should be gloomy streets, the people getting on board seem to be unaffected by the fiscal dire straits. A man in jeans and a windbreaker is stopped by a woman he had been sitting next to as he gets off at a stop next to Bucyrus International in Cudahy. He’s forgotten his lunch box.

“Would have been a long day without that.” He says as he takes the lunch box and thanks the woman. She smiles and laughs in agreement.

A group of older ladies in professional clothing board in South Milwaukee and fill the bus with a cloud of sweet perfumes. They chat happily all the way to Wisconsin Avenue in the heart of the downtown. They get up and leave as a group, the same way that they got on. The perfumed cloud they brought onto the bus lingers just a bit after they leave.

A young chef from Bayview catches a ride to the posh eatery, Nanakusa, in the 3rd Ward. The 15 is more dependable than his car, he says. If he could afford to fix it, he would. However, until then the $4 round trip gets him to work and back home.

At North Avenue the bus begins to fill with college students. After only a few stops the bus is very nearly full, with the aisle full of students; all the seats have been taken. Still the bus needs to stop a few more times before it arrives at the students’ destination. When the bus stops at Kenwood Boulevard nearly half the people get off, their backpacks indicative of their eventual collegiate destination.

After the students get off, a woman gets on at the next stop and recognizes a friend that was already on board. The two young women take time to catch up, chatting happily about what festivities they partook in during the recent St. Patrick’s Day celebration. One wears a work uniform, the other, regular clothes. They both get off at Bayshore Mall.

Despite the diverse groups of people coming and going, it seems that everyone riding the 15 has a smile or a friendly nod of the head for their fellow passengers. An elderly woman gets on the bus at Kinnickinnic and Oklahoma, struggling under the encumbrance of some bags. She collapses, exhausted, into one of the seats reserved for the elderly and people with special needs at the front of the bus. One of her bags falls to the floor. Three people immediately reach for it. The college kid with the black dyed hair gets to it first and hands it back to the tired woman. She smiles and thanks him for his sweetness.

“You’re welcome,” he says sheepishly, blushing and smiling.

Even with troubles facing people everywhere they turn, on the 15 it seems that everyone looks out for each other. When someone needs help, three people go out of their way to do what they can. When someone forgets their lunch, someone makes sure they don’t leave without it. Perhaps the way that everyone is going to make it through these arduous times is if everyone looks out for each other. At the very least, sharing a smile with a stranger.

The way they do it on the 15.

Where Are the Athiests in All This?

It's early and I'm barely awake but I was reading about Sandra Cantu, the little girl that was kidnapped and murdered. (And now, apparently raped as well.) She was found in a suitcase in an irrigation pond.

The main suspect, according to police, is a woman named Melissa Huckaby. She is only a suspect at this time.

What I actually find interesting about this is that she seems very involved in her father's church. He's a minister and she was a Sunday School teacher. It's just that in the past if the accused was some one who played video games or role playing games (Dungeons and Dragons) then we couldn't blame those things quickly enough.

But when the drug of choice for the accused is religion, then we wonder what went wrong.

Milwaukee Small Businesses

Another post from elsewhere that I decided beared re-printing.

I think one of the defining characteristics of Milwaukee is that it has such a small town feel. People tend to be more loyal to small companies. When places like Starbucks came in, a lot of people were worried that they would drive other places out of business, but so many people were fiercely anti-big business that Starbucks was able to co-exist next to places like Fuel and Stonecreek. (My two favorite places for coffee although Anodyne has some good brews) And even though I like the small businesses, I have no moral qualms about stopping in at Starbucks for a fancy coffee every once in a while (or as I like to call them, a meal in a cup)

For myself, this kind of fiercely loyal attitude to the small business has had repercussions. I can't enjoy myself in any gaming shop because I compare every single one to Napoleon's. I am forever wrecked for game stores because of them. I like the Barrister, it's a good store and he seems to care about games and I like Cudahy News and Hobby, although that moved and now it's Somewhere Else News and Hobby. But I find myself going to Half-Price Books just to see Franz and Jason working in a store. Some of my favorite times were just going into Napoleon's and sitting there for hours listening to nerds argue about the things that nerds argue about. Every year my birthday present to myself usually came from there. Napoleon's is an excellent example (at least for myself) of how a local business can inspire loyalty that is ultimately detrimental.

I shop at Target. Where else am I going to buy the things I get at Target like jeans or t-shirts? Target serves a purpose. It fills a role. I wouldn't go there to buy books or coffee. But that's not the role it fills for me. I do think it's important to choose a place like Target as opposed to Walmart. Sure, both are chains and both employ people that need jobs. (I think that's an important thing to think about, they might be national faceless chains, but they employ people from our neighborhoods that are just trying to make a living) But people need to send a message to places like Walmart that their employee practices are wrong and the only effective way to do that is with money. And as far as Best Buy, after what happened to my friend recently, I don't want to shop there, but they kind of monopolize the home electronics market. There aren't a lot of options. I'll go to Target instead if I can though.

Supporting local businesses is important. But it needs to be done rationally. I remember when htey wanted to build a Jewel-Osco in Riverwest and a massive protest movement was started to stop it from being built. It was being built on land that was not being used for anything except a place for dog-owners to take their animals somewhere where they didn't have to clean up after them. (No offense to the dog owners here, unless you don't think you need to clean up after your dogs, then you need to step in dog poo every day for the rest of your life but I know the dog owners here are responsible and good pet owners) But the people making the biggest stink were the rich owners of Beans and Barley. (I know because I was working there then) Here was a place that was going to provide jobs for a community that needed jobs that they could get to and provide food at affordable prices and the place with the food at prices that no one could afford were fighting them. These rich people were trying to eliminate competition by saying it was the socially concious thing to do when the reality was that it was rich people looking out for themselves rather than the community.

I hate to see Schwarz's go, but Atomic is representative of another problem with a lot of local businesses. In order to be the definitive experts on music they had to hire the local experts on music and experts of any kind, but particularly music tend to be pompous nobs that make looking for your favorite music feel like you're really bothering them. Then their friends come in and you really feel like you're the turd in the punchbowl. I shopped at Atomic a few times over the years, but I was very happy when Exclusive opened a store in Milwaukee because I was able to shop there instead and they would order anything I wanted. I think places like Atomic go out of business because they're jerks so waa-fuckin-waa. East side institution maybe, I'll just go drown my sorrows in a gyro.

Local businesses that deserve support will always get it. That's how Milwaukee rolls.

Technology or Man's Desire to Kick Himself in the Ass

Technology is an amazing thing. Scientists and inventors are constantly coming up with new ideas and new things to make our lives better. Some of the time these things are luxury items that just make existence a little nicer, sometimes they're things that make life easier to live, and sometimes they are amazing breakthroughs that we don't know how we ever lived without.

The problem arises when society changes in such a way that there is no way for us to go back to the way we lived before. When our amazing new technology fails us and we find ourselves scrambling to make do. Some times this isn't that drastic. If our fancy new television breaks we usually still have the old one to fall back on, unless of course we have already given it to a friend who doesn't even have a crappy one. But, as far as it goes, we can live without a television.

Last year when I was in Jamaica for my wedding, I remember sitting out on the balcony where we were staying with a laptop every morning trying to pick up the wireless internet connection that would fade in and out. After two weeks in one of the most beautiful places on earth, I was ready to come back to Wisconsin's frozen tundra where I had a decent internet connection. (And a television for that matter)

But all that's really small beans when compared to the pox that cell phones have become. When was the last time you tried to use a pay phone? When was the last time you even saw a pay phone? May the heavens have mercy on those that can't afford a cell phone and need to make a call. Even worse, you have a cell phone and something happens to it. If you happen to break the video screen, like I did to mine, suddenly you have all kinds of problems. Relatively minor is not knowing who's calling you. Which can be handy if your playing sick from work or accidentally gave your number to someone you don't really want to talk to. Far worse, however, is losing all your phone numbers. The convenience of a cell phone has been replaced with the archaic practice of numbers on little scraps of paper. Little scraps of paper that are easily lost. And if you want to get the damn thing fixed, you have to mail it in and wait for it to be sent back.

Hopefully you won't need it in those couple of weeks because I heard pay phones are pretty hard to find.

Revolver (My First Film Review)

I posted this on the forum board Instantcool.com and I liked it so I decided to repost it here.

This film by Guy Ritchie is utterly amazing. One of the other people in my Film Theory class was using this as part of his final project and showed a small part of it during his Final Presentation.

This movie is a total mindfuck. But even me telling you that isn't going to prepare you for it. I watched it knowing the same thing and I still wasn't prepared.

Jason Statham plays a small time hustler that's getting out of prison. The first person he goes after is the casino owner that sent him to prison. The casino owner doesn't take kindly to this and Mr. Greene (Statham) ends up getting help from a strange duo.

In terms of straight-up cinematography, the visuals are beautiful. The dialogue is tight and crisp and the story is multi-layered and well put together. This film fits nicely in the sub-genre of Guy Ritchie gangster/heist films and if you like his other work, you'll like this one.

Also worthy of note, the most bad-ass assassin you have ever seen. Well, top 5 at least.

Worth watching if you're into these kinds of films, especially if you want a film that makes you think and begs a second viewing.