Come and have FUN at the casual Swing with Shorewood party and dinner to support Shorewood Schools. Get your motors runnin' - it's at the Harley- Davidson Museum!! 400 W. Canal Street, Milwaukee, WI!

Download the RSVP below, and mail it soon. MC/VISA accepted!

Tasty Vegetarian Dinner is an Option!

Each paid guest will also receive one ticket to the Harley-Davidson Museum to use at any time.

The lucky raffle winner will receive a Schwinn motor scooter!

Feel free to come as a group, or solo, you will have fun!

Auction booklet preview will be available online at shorewoodseed.org/swing

For more information, please contact Anne Clough at 414-964-6533 or swingwithharley@gmail.com.

We are putting together a list of babysitters for this evening - please email or call if you need help finding coverage to come to the event!

Details:
Dinner and Silent Auction, 6pm-
Music, Cash Bar, Free Parking
Music by SHS musicians and 2006 SHS Graduate Kevin Paris and his band

Cost per Person: $80 ($40 is tax-deductible).
To purchase tickets print the form, below, and send it in. MC/VISA accepted!

On my soon-approaching graduation with a Masters of Science in Nonprofit Management and Consulting for Life (I jest), I have begun to be sensitive to what I will call Consultant Work Options. As more and more people are trying to  make a life out of doing things for people who will pay them, in a nonstructured setting, it becomes impossible to just work from home. Often there are kids there, or noise, or poor connections to the internet. In looking for solutions for myself, I have rated the offerings around town. Tell me if I'm wrong, these are just (unpaid) (unsolicited) observations, from two perspectives: As a potential user of the space as a consultant, and as a who needs a break and some happy chatter.

Ground Rules for Consultant types:  So what is a person to do who needs to conduct business, likes *real* coffee, and has no shame in digging for an outlet like a goose foraging for a crust of bread?

Seems the local coffeeshop offers all the solutions. Kind of.  It's been a longstanding tradition for people, especially dissertators or writers, to hole up in a coffee shop and write. I love it, myself. Favorite pastime.  But lately I'm noticing more and more people violating the unspoken sanctity of quiet - the addition of business phone calls that cut through the clinking happy jabber or quiet (depending, locally, if you're at Alterra, City Market or Stone).  Essentially, let's set some ground rules:

1. No Phone Calls, especially those HEY MARK , IT'S TOM. YES YES FINALLY GET TO REACH YOU. AHHH WELL, JUST SITTING BACK AT A COFFEE SHOP HERE IN MILWAUKEE, YEAH IT's REALLY CUTE, JUST VISITING A CUSTOMER HERE, (etc etc. you get the picture).  It's called a car. You are to go sit in it, make your calls, and come back in.

2. Realize you're going to leave your encampment. Take your phone with you to the bathroom please. We don't need to hear it at 100 decibels, escalating the macarena to disruptive proportions.

3. Stop with your disgust about outlets. Outlets are a priviledge, not a service. Until there is the iCafe with powerports and proper solar and wind provision for the power you need to recharge your devices, this is not really an obligation of a coffee shop to provide you.  The restaurant is not claiming you as exclusive use, though it probably could tape off a section that is camped in by consultants billing others for their time with you and apply to a foundation or the IRS for special compensation. Until that is possible, zip it. Dig around under the tables with the other people, college students, friends and countryment for those four outlets, be polite, be grateful, and go.

4. Don't be an outlet hog, if you do find one.  

Now - as a general guide to the area, here are some choices: IF you are reading this and have two cents to add, please please do. Don't bill me for it please. There are of course more locations, and some much more incognito than these. But these have proven my favorite places to work as a student, and favorite places to go as a person - not surprisingly they are the same in both categories, despite violations of rules 1-4 by many.

Alterra Humboldt - best for buzzing glow, for smelling like coffee, for sitting next to a knitting person or possibly someone working on high level bioengineering research.  The seasoned pros do not use outlets there, because there are only a few tables (near the door to the indoor/outdoor terrace (don't sit under the heater lights out there with a laptop, it may literally get dripped on).  If you need to make a call, take it to the vestibule.  Wifi is free and works well.

Stone Creek Shorewood - Excellent work palace if the sun doesn't kill your face or screen. The row of singletons across the front are there because there is power under there. Free wifi. There is an unspoken rule of SHUSH in there that is priceless and better than the library for work. Coffee seconds are free, the staff are hugely nice and very respectful.  I would bet that for its small size, the amount of billable work and otherwise (many papers for school) is very high.  When there is a violation of rules 1-4, the equilibrium is knocked off completely and makes a mess of things. If you are the violator and are calling folks on your cell in there, we will all know your business. I am thinking about blogging from that location just things I've overheard. Makes me feel like Miss Marple...or maybe Angela Lansbury at least.  Could be like the new food critic - though my face is on the blog...

City Market Shorewood- has free wifi, too.  Refills on coffee til you sense a mild stroke.  It's kind of chaos no matter what your goal, but it's super convenient and does have a few outlets.  It is about to enter holiday crush time, so don't expect the regular daytime lull that sometimes ensues.  Large groups, brewhaha, fun.  As a person, great. As a consultant, seek cover elsewhere unless you're there early or late. Keep in mind, despite the din,  those piercing obnoxious work calls do not go undetected.  This is the place for live meetings, and is a whose who sometimes for the development and nonprofit professions. It's handy, but hard on people trying to concentrate! Good luck!

Any similarity to real people is purely accidental. Though please, if you're conducting business, please recognize that others are being made aware of these issues as well, usually against their will.

I don't have the answer for where to go for an enjoyable billable life, ... maybe the new book coop will open an area with outlets-for-donations or something!

Surprised to find the quote that ended up in the paper today.

Here's what happened. Yesterday a reporter called while I was at UWM carrying things from the Student Expo up to our student office with both kids somewhat in tow, and so I tried to silence the kids but every other word of mine to the reporter was me yelling, "HENRY GET OVER HERE" and "Helen, yes honey you CAN push the button on the elevator just COME HERE." etc. But the sentiment that I discussed was not really where the reporter wanted to go. He wasn't into consensus, he was into making this a conflict between the administration and the parents.

So to my surprise there's a whole story on Shorewood's TP and honking traditions at the start of school. Now - my context of Comfort, Connection and Community is really true. This village is supportive of its students. Many people who live here chose Shorewood to raise their families, and still enjoy hearing the horns and seeing the TP on kids' homes on the first day.  And heck yes, I'm the President of the SHS Alumni Association and really proud to represent Shorewood. The Alumni Association of course is dedicated to the support of the High School and the Administration, and I am sorry if my words were used to be pitted against the administration in any way. Those are a dedicated group of folks, and I volunteer countless hours to support the school and maintain the academic integrity and rigour that I expect from my alma mater. It's why I picked Shorewood to move back to to raise my own children, even though I have no family here and could be anywhere: the choice was mine and I picked to come back to where I know the schools and the village work together to make an integrated thriving community.

My sentiment about the TPing and honking is this - if there is a way we can harness the fun, thrill and energy on the first day of high school, we should do it. I would rather help focus the energy.

Why not a pep rally instead of arrests? Or allow students to really come up with some new traditions? As the letter I posted last week in this blog intimates, not just current students are part of this tradition. It's everyone - the woman who, on the first day of school, relishes in going outside and hearing the honking - isn't listening to her kid do it, she is hearing and feeling the waves of time and enjoying that zeal and excitement that is indeed infectious. As someone deeply committed to this community, I see it as a way to bring people together. Granted, some take it too far - the TPing of the high school itself I have to say I don' t understand.

The senior honking on first day of school always made me kind of thrill - like wedding honking. And TP-ing someone's house is a kind of attention that GETS attention and says HEY, parents and kid, your kid is IN, is growing up, and isn't this an amazing thing. Maybe we need banners or something - or a new tradition. But squelching the traditions and arresting students just doesn't exactly seem in the same spirit of the thing.

I know the marching band is already together before the first day of school, and I know an exciting thing was always to hear the band marching through the halls of school - I think for Homecoming? I would be happy to cull the thousands of alumni who care deeply about Shorewood High School to come up with a list of favorite traditions that have been successful- because I think the spirit of fun and school-based excitement is a good thing, and I agree we need to make it good for the grownups in the situation too. Administration and Village and Police - sorry about the spin - I'm on your side!   We all in this village get a thrill when we hear happy sounds coming from the high school!  I am very interested in keeping them coming.

I am posting this because I agree, even though yes, it's unruly, and rough, and confusing to new parents in the district. It's important for what it does to solidify the connection between the village and the school - - never more present than the first week of September!

---

September 1 – Our last “first day of school” with a child in the Shorewood Schools. As I have done every day since my husband and I bought our first home here, I got up early, got my coffee and went to the front windows to wait for the first faint honks in the distance. That first year, over 20 years ago and before kids even, I was up getting ready for work when I heard the sounds. I went out on our front porch and here they came! Kids, shouting, laughing, honking their horns in a parade of vehicles celebrating… what? I later learned this was a Shorewood tradition on the first day of school. Beautiful! I love it! Every year since then, I have sat on my porch with my coffee and waved to the parade as it came by.

Yesterday I was greeted with silence. Not even the ridiculously controlled parade of the last couple years that my older son got to participate in. My senior came downstairs with no joy in his heart about the first day of school and informed me that he’d received a text earlier telling him not to show up for a parade – anyone who did would be ticketed. If you were on Student Council and got caught participating, you’d be “kicked off”.

What has happened? No more Big Hound Little Hound, my son informs me. No more seniors running the halls. Draconian punishments for participating in Senior Skip Day (a tradition at high schools all over the country since time immemorial). Toilet papering has taken a huge hit the last couple of years also – that badge of honor that a freshman wakes up and HOPES they see in their yard on the first day of school. I’ve heard (unsubstantiated at this point) that this year, during the traditional unfurling of rolls, several students were chased and tackled by Shorewood police. Really! I’ve heard tales of parents who have TP’d their own yard when their freshman was overlooked. I took PICTURES of the proud days when our yard was festooned for my boys.

The vast majority of residents appreciate these small, relatively harmless traditions. They give us a sense of community. And the vast majority of students do not abuse the opportunity to participate in traditions like these by crossing over the line from “harmless prank” to “something dangerous”. Yet, that’s the rationale we’re fed. The only thing out of control here is this disdain by the powers that be for anything that smacks of fun. Shorewood High School is becoming more like a gulag. Is it really necessary to have a school administrator patrolling the parking lot with a walkie talkie like it’s a prison yard? What a winning way to welcome students to school.

So our kids are done in the system here this year. We feel badly for our younger son that he won’t get to participate in the traditions he’d seen older students taking part in all these years. And we really, really missed the honking horns yesterday.

Dawn and Roy Anderson

I heard it from a friend at the university. Benji's. He had just discovered Benji's. In Shorewood. Our Shorewood. And so I went there today with my little family because it's tradition. Whenever we sign a mortgage, which we just rolled over to keep our tiny little "starter" house that will keep us in "starter" mode apparently til 2034, we eat at Benji's.

And I have to tell you, I was Blown Away. The prices are lower, the food is better, the staff is the same die-hard group it's been for 29 years, largely, and everything tasted and smelled great.  I remember always getting a Dr. Brown's Black Cherry soda with crushed ice in a large plastic cup with a straw. And there it still is, for $1.75. For the same price, you can get a fountain soda with free refills.

We were so happy to discover a vibrant and tasty Benji's today, we told our waitress! She said Benji was downstairs just having celebrated his 82nd birthday and would be happy to hear our cheery report.

Tasty additions to the menu? Brunch on Sat and Sun includes a Spinach Benedict with steamed spinach for somewhere around $7.50. We had the corned beef omelette with swiss cheese (extra $.50) and it was delcious.  The nice thing there is, our waitress suggested just getting an extra plate and for us to share it - so I didn't feel obligated as Mom to order something just to kind of ... you know...justify our existence or something.  Omelettes are in the $6es, and two eggs with toast? $2.95.  Coffee tastes exactly perfect for diner coffee and comes around plentifully. The French Toast is thick and juicy and delicious and can be had for $2 a slice.  You can maybe tell I was there with kids, but there were plenty of people there not with kids and they were enjoying some of the life-on-the-edge things like lox platters and tasty soups. The matzo ball soup comes in a large, wide bowl that looked festive and healing. The cabbage soup smelled heavenly as it passed by, and is definitely on my menu for next time.

I remember going to school with Benji's daughter Debbie who was always smiles and a painting of her hung for a long time over booth #3 (or 4?) - and countless stories popping up about the restaurant every once in a while. This story, from today, is my first ever thumbs up on any restaurant, ever. I just was so surprised to go there for sentimental reasons and leave with a list in my head of new people I want to bring there.

Shorewood has good eats, Diner Deli eats, and they're at Benji's. Hurray!

What: First Ever All Class SHS Alumni Reunion Picnic!

When: Saturday, July 11, 2009, from 10-6

RSVP NOT required - this is different from a typical reunion picnic. It's Low Key and Free!

Where: Lake Park, Site #2, Entrance at Locust and Lake Drive

Why the Late Notice: this came about spontaneously, from good women planning a simple picnic for the class of '85, and grew and grew and here it is! Creating History! [shhh here's a tip: NEXT YEAR: SECOND WEEKEND IN JULY is SHS REUNION WEEKEND...put it in your planners, kids, and find your dinks (or just get a new tshirt)! It's not just Circus Parade Weekend any more!]

How Much: Suggested donation of $5 to the SHS Alumni Association, dedicated to the support of Shorewood High School. Another thought -- Join the SHS Alumni Association for $20 and save $5 off entrance AND save $5 off the Tshirt, and get a free window cling!  Membership dues are used to pay for printing and web maintenance, and the rest is contributed to savings for SHS for a planned endowment.

If you can't make the Picnic but would like a Tshirt or to Join the Alumni Association and show your support, here is a form to print out and mail with your payment.  Order Form

What else? CAKE! One chocolate and one yellow, just for you and your family and friends, just for graduating when you did. Way to go!

What should I bring? Well - you'll need to bring along what you'd like to Eat and Drink, and maybe something to share. A grill? Some chairs? Plates/napkins? We're serious about it being not expensive, so we need to work together! It will be fun!

U rah rah rah, Shorewood Red and Grey
The school that's got the pep we'll say
We always show our true loyalty
and cheer you on to victory

U rah rah rah, Shorewood down the field
We know our team will never yield
So let them hear
How Shorewood High can cheer
and send them off with U rah rah, Rah rah rah, Team!

To gear up for the Picnic, brush up on the latest Alumni News by reading the SHS Alumni Association Newsletter, Connection, a perk for members who get a hard copy, too! Summer 2009 Newsletter

 I hope everyone enjoys the picnic! I'll be there all day with the boxes of shirts and a guest book with room for each class to write notes to each other! We're planning to share then the comments grouped by alumni class and redo the Website soon. Have fun with that!

And stay in touch - join the new Listserve of the SHS Alumni Association located at www.shorewoodschools.org/alumni, or become a member of the ever-growing Facebook group at Shorewood High School Alumni Group and find out about Group-sponsored Events like this one!

I myself am looking forward to cramming for an Accounting test on Saturday, but I'll be there! Hopefully I'll be leading the Alumni Association towards providing fiscal assistance to the school while encouraging Comfort, Connection and Community for all alumni. I'm so proud to be a part of this wild ride! Best, Jenny, your faithful SHS Alumni President, local mom, artist, grad student, and yes, yes, Dave Banaszynski is the Police Chief.

June 15, 2009

Greetings all from your new SHS Alumni Association President!

In my role as president, I would like to extend a warm welcome to the community of people - alumni, parents and families, and friends - who share memories of this place. People who partook in education from the district at some point, as well as friends of the district are welcome into the fold! I myself didn't move to Shorewood til the third grade, which by Shorewood standards is a bit late. I seek to increase the opportunities to connect with that community in a heartfelt and inclusive way.  This year, we plan to increase the member functionality of the website and features you might like to see, like class news and pictures, and reunion tours and information.  We are ready to have some fun.

A nod to the newly ex-officio President, Eric Nelsen, who did a great job building a Board and keeping the ball rolling. I hope to be as adept and talented and still bring some new things to the table.

As editor-in-chief of the Connection newsletter of the Alumni Association, I encourage feedback to this blog about alumni issues or people or matters from an historical perspective on the district that you're curious about, and I will try to get a reporter to write about it or will follow up myself on things.  Distribution of our newsletter has been primarily to members of the Alumni Association, which charges $20 a year which basically covers printing and mailing.  This year, we will be putting on more events and starting to discuss an endowment for the district. To join, contact shorewoodalumni@gmail.com and we'll get you set up!

We are in need of a few more people on the Board, for instance! Could that be you? We welcome your application - just send Class Year, a brief Bio, and why you'd like to join to shorewoodalumni@gmail.com.

It's going to be a great year - starting with the All-Class Reunion Picnic on Saturday, July 11, 2009, from 10-6 in Lake Park, Picnic Site #2 (Locust and Lake Drive entrance)! Come one, come all, to the first-ever SHS Reunion Picnic! We hope to have an alumni T-Shirt available there, too!

Also this year, we'll be revamping the website that is just for alumni! If you have thoughts or feelings or better yet, divine programming skills you'd like to contribute to this pursuit, please, now is the time.

Finally, check out the Butterflies in Flight this Saturday, June 20! Thirty hand-painted and mosaic-work art butterflies are going to land in Shorewood. From 11-1pm on Saturday, you can meet the artist next to his/her butterfly and get the real scoop. Free trolley rides from 11-3, butterfly face painting at Baskin Robbins from 11-1, Sendik's cookout, complimentary kids' photo shoot at Gloss Photography 11-1, music, Aveda sale and cookout at the Establishment.

I will be posted next to The Alumni Butterfly: SHS Launching Leaders in front of the Shorewood Fitness Center.  Much like the Cows and Beasties before them, they, too, will be auctioned to charity at the end of the summer. The proceeds will benefit the Shorewood Foundation.  The SHS Alumni Association is pleased to have sponsored a butterfly in the exhibition - check it out! It features the Shorewood High School campus and graduates leaping with red, sparkly capes to go off and do good things.  Thank you to the many people who provided valuable input and memories in creating it. I feel like it was a work of many hands and minds and hearts. You will be able to buy cards at the Village Hall that feature the butterflies! And here is a sneak peek at the Butterfly Poster (it really really turned out nice - thanks Gloss Photography and Barb Caprile of the BID for really doing a beautiful job)!

If you're coming home this summer or you are already here, check out this Walking Video released recently about Shorewood.  And get ready to get your Shorewood gear, coming soon!

Best wishes and see you around the Village!

Jenny Heyden

OK that was a quick process blog.

The butterfly is done!

Here is the front - the copperdome has eyes!

The campus buildings are a poetic ode to friends on facebook who weighed in with sentiments.

And My favorite part is that the funny flaw on it was turned magically into a globe, with up-and-coming leaders playing ball with it.

Wow that butterfly bush really DOES attract interesting species of butterflies!!

Come to the Unveiling on June 20, from 11-1!!  This will be in front of the Shorewood Village Fitness Center!!

Butterfly Update!

New pictures of the Butterfly for the SHS Alumni Association!! "Launching Leaders!"  This is the back - which has a few surprises! 

This will be located at the Shorewood Fitness Center!  Watch daily as progress is unveiled!

Here - the back has characters leaping and being launched by the district - some famous names appear (names are given in case you don't recognize Justice Rehnquist or the Zucker brothers, for example)..

Know some famous Shoerwoodians? NOW IS THE TIME to have them remembered!

Butterflies in Flight: A Process Blog!

Watch it unfold here!

The plan: Paint a butterfly - sponsor is the SHS Alumni Association and the design is all about Shorewood High School!

The design: The butterfly will depict Shorewood High School and from it, every day heroes and leaders flying up out of it. The idea is that the school district launches leaders and agents of change for the better!

The butterfly will be painted in bright acrylics and finished with a high gloss varnish.  Faces of famous SHS Alumni will be decoupaged to the painted, caped and zanily outfitted characters.

The Design: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?cropsuccess&id=660323324#/photo.php?pid=1738223&id=660323324

The official press release: http://www.shorewoodnow.com/userstoriessubmitted/41377187.html

I will post Other Butterflies in Progress too! Stay tuned!

As the butterflies come to fruition, they will gather and launch together on June 20!

Here is the timetable for Shorewood's happenings this summer:

• Sunday, May 23: Memorial Day Weekend Celebration, 4 p.m., Atwater Park, Lake Drive and Capitol Drive.

• Saturday and Sunday, June 6-7: St. Robert Fair, 2214 E. Capitol Dr., Saturday, 12 Noon-10 p.m., Sunday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m.

• Saturday, June 13: 38th Annual Men’s Club Chicken Barbecue, 11:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. at Atwater Park, Lake Drive and Capitol Drive.

• Shorewood Concert Performances, Saturday June 13, 4:30 p.m., Thursday, June 25, 7 p.m., Saturday, July 4, 6:30 p.m., and Thursday, July 16, 7 p.m. All concerts scheduled for Atwater Park.

• Saturday, June 20: Opening of “Butterflies in Flight” Public Art Project. View 25 custom-decorated butterfly forms on display throughout the business district along Oakland Ave. and Capitol Dr.

• Saturday, July 4: 4th of July Celebration. Parade along Oakland Ave. from Lake Bluff Blvd. to Edgewood Ave. at 3:30 p.m., followed by ice cream and children’s games at Spector Park. Evening activities including food, music, flag ceremony, and introduction of grand marshals start at 6 p.m. at Atwater Park; fireworks at 9:30 p.m.

• Thursday, July 16: Criterium International Cycling Classic, 4-8 p.m., along Oakland Ave. at northern end of business district and throughout some residential streets.

• Saturday, July 25: Ten Gardens Tour, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. to benefit the Shorewood DPW. Visit villageofshorewood.org for more information.

• Wednesday, July 22 The 11th annual Shorewood Library Summer Celebration, 6-8 p.m. at the library, 3920 N. Murray Ave. Everyone is invited to enjoy free ice cream sundaes, trolley rides, music, games and more.

• Saturday, August 1: Woof ‘n Hoof Dog & People Walk, to benefit Gilda’s Club of Southeastern Wisconsin. Visit www.gildasclubsewi.org for detailed information.

• Tuesday, August 4: National Night Out, a community crime and drug-prevention event on the Atwater School grounds, 2100 E. Capitol Dr. 4:30-7:30 p.m.

• Saturday, August 8: Second Annual Atwater Beach Party sponsored by the Friends of Atwater Beach. Visit www.friendsatwaterbeach.org for further information.

• Tuesday, August 18: Free Outdoor Community Concert, 5:30 p.m at Hubbard Park along the Milwaukee River featuring Streetlife with Warren Wiegratz, the house band for the Milwaukee Bucks. Food and beverages for sale. Sponsored by the Village of Shorewood and the Shorewood Marketing Initiative.

I'm looking for advice on how to reframe this discussion.  What do you think?

The Post-WWII Public School Funding Mix
Since WWII, public, corporate and private funding patterns have shaped public school funding patterns.  How can we reinterpret and refocus historically established successes for strategizing funding today in schools in Shorewood?  Beyond Shorewood? Do we as residents of a "wealthy district" that spends more per student than the state mandate bear responsibility in fundraising to help a "sister school" in MPS that we determine?  In starting the dialogue, should public schools now turn to private school standards such as structured alumni association fundraising activity and development? 

 When faced with specific issues that get our blood pressures up, such as a figure like 29 kids in K5 classes for next Fall, what can be done? If the district has done what they can, is it time for parent groups to enlist the help of the PTO, SEED, Shorewood Foundation, and Alumni Association to raise money for the Class of 2022 to have another teacher? Is that something that is even possible, even if the money can be raised?

This is being posted as a community service to YOU, on behalf of Shorewood's own Conservation Commitee, because you could be later eating a fish that ate the runoff that passed by your feet today.

Did you know that stormwater runoff from Capitol Drive (west of Oakland
Ave) goes directly into the Milwaukee River?  This is the single busiest
stretch of road in all of Shorewood and also has the dirtiest
stormwater.  The water that runs off this section of road during rain
storms and snow melts flows into the storm sewer system that flows
straight into the Milwaukee River, currently unfiltered in any way. This
stormwater carries with it pollutants that have accumulated on the paved
surface such as oils, heavy metals and even bacteria directly into our
river and then into Lake Michigan where we get our drinking water.
People travel from all over the nation to fish the Milwaukee River and
you can often see them from the Capitol Drive bridge right by the
stormwater outfall from this road.

In the summer of 2010, Capitol Drive will be ripped up and repaved from
Lake Drive to the bridge over the Milwaukee River.  The Village of
Shorewood, along with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation,
currently have no plans to protect the Milwaukee River from pollution in
any way.  Our fresh water is one of the most valuable resources we have.
There are many techniques and methods to divert, absorb and filter the
stormwater before it reaches the Milwaukee River.  There are techniques
such as bioswale/ green boxes that are lowered planting areas to take up
excess water, porous concrete to absorb the water on site instead of
letting it run off carrying pollutants, and storm sewer inlet filters
that are actually in the roadway curb 'drains' or "catch basins" to
filter out the contaminants before the water reaches the river.  There
are many things we can do, but we have to act quickly before our road
infrastructure is poorly planned and built for the next 50 years!

Please, write a letter or email your Village Manager, Chris Swartz
<cswartz@villageofshorewood.org>, and the Village Trustees to let them
know that our water quality, Milwaukee River and Lake Michigan matter to
you!  A short note that says we need stormwater pollution protection
from this roadway project for the Milwaukee River and Lake Michigan is
all this takes.

This is a public project with public money and we all need to have
input.  The final designs are being completed as we speak, so an
immediate response is urgent.
Thanks!

I like Superbowl Sunday. My husband and I established a tradition when we started dating of having no expectations of our selves to be or think or do anything but figure out the oven pre-heat times and how many pizza rolls we could eat without being totally sick.

Personally, I can't wait for that superbowl happy hour to start!

The kids, I hope, get with the program and simmer down!

 I feel like I am irrevocably an adult now. As I hunt for that referral card to schedule my own newly annual tests for bad things, I'm given pause to reflect on a mighty week.

This week, give or take a few days, a dear friend had a baby. My relief and happiness for the little family is overwhelming. Plus, that makes 3 babies in 2008 of young women who were at my baby shower in 2003, who surrounded me when I was first preggers in Chicago and made me feel like I could somehow figure all this baby stuff out.  It is now a weird feeling to be a mother of two and be offering breastfeeding advice and have a kind of concern that is best described as "conflicted matronly" to this group of..yes..all librarians...who have support networks wider than mine, and are each more competent than I have ever felt, even now.  The green monster in me is jealous that I'm no spring chicken, and sending my own baby's clothes to another fresh little thing is a sad and happy moment. Rites of passage pop up like this - the sending of the baby clothes into the pipeline, for instance, that are startlingly emotional.   Managing the swirl of emotions in heavy moments is not for the young, but staying young-at-heart and supportive to all despite what one wishes for onesself...that makes the temples grey and the soul wiser.  Or demands more coffee. Something.

Then this week I had a conversation with another mom here in Shorewood who is very sick. And I was surprised that we could just as easily talk about grave illness and medications, as we could about childcare choices and keeping things clean.  Managing the highs and lows, in one look, in one conversation, that is hard. Again with the adult thing. It's like with kids - appreciating how time flies and how precious they are, while trying to keep the one from sticking the pen into the other one's ear.

So with exuberant new life and little toes in mind, as well as my sick friend, I now am thinking about death. A dear cousin of my husband's has passed away...yesterday... at 49. So while I'm feeling old compared to my friends with new babies, I am thinking there for the grace of God go I.  Thinking of the cousin, I can only picture her smiling, an insider's wink to me always. I have dedicated today to feeling her spirit and remembering her as best I can. We were not close, but were tallish women and made eye contact at every family function. She knew how not to take up any room but still be a calming, understanding force.  I could watch her head above most of the crowd and know what was up by what her movements were, like at her brother's wedding, which she and her other brother basically put on (from my perspective).  Seeing their two tall grey heads bob and weave, working quickly, efficiently, smiling, was like watching skilled craftspeople quickl loom a large rug. It's no surprise they grew up in a print shop and could collate at the drop of a hat. I often wanted to have a tri-fold play-off (my dad has a print shop too but my skills are more in the labelling dept.) but that isn't something I'd really suggest for them. She had a way of grinning when I said something ridiculous, a nod, and a tuck of the head when she'd say, quietly, something very true and very sweet.   I would always sidle up to her in big family gatherings and tell her some kind of joke, usually kind of .. well...typical me...something wacky, probably about her brother's tendency to have his hands just rifling through my mail, and she'd say "He thinks he's helping. He doesn't know he's doing it. You just have to let him do it." And then she would just give that look. Like, "Get it? I'm right, and he's a sweet brother, and I love him." She knew about everyone, and she didn't judge. Her  twinkly grin would light up the room quietly, like the smell of baking cookies.  She never blurted anything, never said anything untoward at least in my presence, but she was imminently mirthful. Like you could just poke her on the arm and she would giggle and *** her head look inquiringly as if to say  "Yesss? What would you like, and how can I help you?"

Since hearing about her death, I feel like there were many conversations I should have had with her. I know I have a tendency to take things on that aren't mine, but I feel strongly that she would like me to help be like her at her funeral, to make things ok in just being there, like a cheery safety net to catch her mother, her brother up and make them forget their sorrow for a moment, and remember that sparkle she had for all of us.

Now we decide about attending her funeral, and it's a tough call. I feel like just getting in the car and driving the family right back to Omaha tomorrow, but we just did that for the holiday and were happy to have made it all safe and sound. A relative of mine says I need to protect myself, set boundaries; another says it's not in my "job description, that it's not my place to go."  I don't get that really.  I don't think we're going because we need to be seen there. She herself would be the first to shake her head and say, "Ohh no, you don't need to come! Please - I don't want any hardship on you to come!"  But I need to go to connect, to be an active part in a symbiotic family environment that is only as strong as its members.  In other words, I love these people, and they are my family. I don't have the sense that I'm going to see her, exactly, but it does feel that way. I need to say goodbye, and be there for whatever anyone needs.  I will try not to laugh too loud at the funeral if someone tells me a joke (yes, I admit to having done that before - I wasn't prepared for the Irish Wake), but I know that she wouldn't mind, would kind of appreciate someone mixing it up a little. And I feel like she wants me there to be supportive for her brother and her mother.  What do I know, I just became an adult this week.

Here's to all of us, muddling through, trying to make the best choices and show up when we're needed, and hold ambiguity, sadness, and extreme joy in a single moment.  Here's to your health!

Time for a little more cofffee.

In these bone-chilling, rattly times of retraining the body not to slip, stopping for milk and fifty other things on the way home in the freezing darkness, fixing the eye for the morning on the doorbuster gifts for others, and mentally calculating the debt and loss of savings, it's nice to know there are some corners of Shorewood that dutifully perform their jobs or stick to the program so that we all can hustle home, hang our hats, check the thermostat and warm up some coffee in the pot. 

I'm thinking of those Pick'n'Save ladies, actually. I purposely go there in the morning, because there is a team of about four wonderful, caring African American women who tend this flock of frazzled white mothers and people who shop there. I know, it's probably radical to put it in those terms, or horribly racist. But it is indeed true, and I am one of those frazzled white women who is truly thankful for those stable, supportive and friendly faces in the morning.  In my experience, they remember who I am, are always understanding, and full of a kind of warmth that is hard to find.  I marveled once to a friend that it is they who care for this motley crew of thankless folks that is us,.. who sigh, tap, and roll our eyes when we're in a hurry but who look painfully at them and receive a nurturing we don't even realize we're getting on those days we really need it.  And somehow, in line at Pick'n'Save, is when I personally feel challenged by life.  I've usually taken one kid to the bathroom, have the other one not sitting in the cart or walking or allowing herself to be carried.  She's probably run away at least once in the store, and is most likely spitting out a piece of salami or dropping cookie everywhere.  And they only have smiles for us.

So recently I asked Mary, of whom I'm a fan, how long she'd been there, and if she knows how many lives she touches every day, and she responded with a typical "Ohhh, now what is that.." and deflected to the bananas or whatnot.  She is one of those hard-core employees who were there when it was Kohl's and are there now that it's changed hands (many left when the Change Occurred) to instill humanity and a smile in an otherwise thankless errand that includes occasional despair and very often a refresher into the lifestyles of the People in People.  She has some kind of wild eyeshadow, and a grin permanently sort of penciled on her face, and she is the nicest person to greet an addled mom in the morning. It beats getting yelled at by the terse white voice of the auto checkout lanes that I have Placed an Item Improperly in the Bagging Area. 

Three cheers for the women who bolster our strength, help us get the discount when we forget our cards, and warm us up in anticipation of the cold blast outside those automatic doors. I appreciate you more than I am able to address in person, for fear of violating the unspoken-yet-smiling balance of nods and "how are you todays" that smooth the fettered and put a twinkle back in the eye.

I was stopped in the hall on Tuesday afternoon by Dirk, the German exchange student in my graduate program.

We were standing after a colloquium on board diversity, which revealed data that nonprofit boards in Milwaukee are not so, and need to be more so, and have need age and ethnic diversity.  So, I was about to race home to pick the kids up from generous neighbor's house and was fishing for two dollars to pay the parking which I'd decided was the faster choice to get to the meeting on time (a fallacy)  when he said this. I knew there would be a penalty for having filibustered about my paper on Bob Jones University with him in English - usually I adopt a jocular German persona when hanging with Dirk - use of the ole German undergrad is always fulfilling and painful at the same time.  Anyway, Dirk says:

"SO, Jenny, You are a STAY AT HOME MOM, yes?"

And I felt my heart clench and my lips got more chapped in that moment. I have so little respect for that moniker I don't even always hyphenate it. I felt a little colony of grey hair come directly out of the top of my head like my son's playdough barber shop guy (which as I look is encrusted in the floor from playdate fun yesterday). I felt like they had been making fun of me, the group I'd helped to create, the group that identifies themselves as "young professionals" who "don't want to get burned out because, well, 'We work, you know, so that makes it much harder for us' [to do things]."  Then I thought of my own self in my twenties, thinking the same thing about my step-mother being a total slacker because all she had was five kids, a dog, an exchange student, graduate school, and my dad as a new husband.  I have said before and I'll say it again, I have eaten my own foot many times over this attitude!

So in the moment on Tuesday, to my surprise, I looked at him squarely (one squarish German face to another) and said "YES. AND I drive a minivan. DO you know what that is?" and I toyed with the idea of coercing Dirk to come home with me in that minivan, pick up my kids, show them a "typical American housewife" and kind of persecute Dirk in a weird way. But the deterrent: something rotting in said van that I cannot find....I'm sure it's an apple (damn the picking, damn the fun).  Someone's gettin a kitchen witch this year.

I've been thinking about this definition of SAHM or Housewife, or Homemaker, ever since Tuesday, and I've decided the next time that happens, I will say "YES, AND I like to say I'm a SuperMom, not a hockey mom, not a soccer mom, unless I start playing either of those games myself."  I am a supermom because I am a mom. In addition, I accomplish other things.

I'm particularly proud of the fact that this week I had a rousing law class, finished a small collection of paintings for Gallery Night (Picture Perfect represents me, 320 E Buffalo in the PHDye House building), wrote a paper, and I am looking at two hours to myself today to study for a midterm tonight and hang those paintings and write a paper for stats class. In the meantime, I planned a party with my son and gave him ownership of all the ideas, the location, the style and look of the invitations, and then created them while he slept so that upon coming downstairs today he is really excited mainly that I followed through for him.  Indeed, I should have been reviewing Measures of Dispersion instead of making them come to life on a 4-5 year old level.

For today, I have a warm hug for all the moms who are up with the chickens thinking not of themselves and would like to say thanks. The "little" things we do for our kids that are shiny sparkly unexpected delights make the world a better place. And ok maybe that is political, but I'm all about enjoying the moon and feeling our place amongst the planets, and feeling connected to each other and trying to do good and taking pause to see the grin.

Now to deliver these wacky paintings and crack the books. Oh. After I get the kids to school! And those party thingies in those Thursday bags. Maybe I'll write about about the myth of Sisyphus's MOM.

So there are many "side-effects" of being in graduate school with yes, younger students than I, though I have to say this nonprofit master's program at uwm is gracefully well-distributed I'd say across ages. I also know quite a a few artists, entrepreneurs with small businesses, and adjunct teachers of the arts.

They all have a disturbing thing in common, ...they have no health insurance.

There is a heavily populated club with zero health insurance, mostly boys and men. Women tend to take terrible jobs that have some health insurance, with the specific knowledge they would quit if they could find healthcare elsewhere. Then there are the women who work for Catholic-owned or operated subsidies who don't get birth control covered under their plans, so they seek public health clinics for samples and free prescriptions.

I haven't done my own study within Milwaukee, because I kind of thought the numbers of people without health insurance was a "believable" statistic we get from folks who make the big bucks figuring that out. But I'm thinking...this is a lot of people just in my little circle.  

 As a parent, it lets me know, too, that if I want to know my child is safe, at any age, I need to be prepared to pay (or have them pay, or at least facilitate the arrangement of and deduction for) health insurance for my child until I am no longer capable of talking on the phone or emailing said child to find out if she/he is covered.

The repurcussions of not having health insurance, as I understand them, are huge. We always hear the wrong figure from the government. They talk about the "cost of the uninsured" in the same way the signs proclaiming "Shoplifting steals everybody's money!" do.  What they should mention and don't is, "If you get sick and can't pay for it, it is bigger than just you. We will hunt you and your family down like a dog (or Dogg, the Bounty Hunter) and repossess your assets. Then we will cover your expense and it will cost the taxpayers money."  Less of course than the bailout. 

I hear lots of people say that if healthcare were national, after a few years we would save, as a nation and as citizens, lots of money.

I hear the exchange student from Germany talk about the healthcare plan that covers him while he's a graduate student - it was hard even to get the idea across that he would need to pay for his own healthcare if he wanted to be able to go to the hospital or see a doctor for a cold.
.
For now, I make this point. There is a sea of uninsured people living among us, my little family would be in the same situation if we didn't take out a loan to cover the cobra (extended coverage after a job loss) payments.  It is a huge liability for families to have a member of the family out there in the world "roughing it" for a while, because if he/she God forbid gets hurt, it could be a devastating occurrence.

What has caused me to check in at this juncture is that someone who has my same make and model of minivan is now sporting a rather startling MCCAIN sticker in their rear back window. I'm pretty sure the owner of that minivan will not be reading my post (for various reasons, the reading requirement being up there), but now I feel compelled to sport an OBAMA bumper sticker only I don't know what happened to the one we had. If anyone has one, you should put it on your car, but if you're not going to, please send it to me. I will put it on my car, EVEN THOUGH I don't really know how to get them off successfully without residue, which is why I'm pretty sure you're not putting it on your car. I do know said minivan owner put it on the back glass, which I figure is a tactic to enable removal, so that's what I will do too. The Michigan sticker on the opposite side already tells me there's trouble, but this sends me over the top.

In other news, around town, on the St. Robert's Church sign, in large letters, it says "OCTOBER IS Respect for Life Month!"   Umm. I have questions. Is this not a way to remind Catholics that this issue defines how they should be voting, as in GOOD CATHOLICS Don't Vote to Support CHOICE, therefore Catholics, know your PLACE and vote for McCain?  Seems pret-ty clear to me.  If a Catholic votes for choice, by not voting for NOT choice, he/she is not a Catholic in good standing.  I feel this issue, and I squint when I walk past the buildings and I think ... are there any democrats who are Catholic in this town, and if so, how do they reconcile this issue?  Maybe they choose not to think about it. They like the community of the church, and the warmth, and the belonging, and the singing, but not the principles? I don't want to deny anyone their right to have a nice church experience and believe faith runs deeper than church politics by far.   But by pronouncing it on the sign and making it "Catholics = Right to Life" month, St. Robert's church is sporting a Big Giant MCCAIN sign itself, and that's the tip of the iceberg. 

Just imagine if there were a Unitarian church with a big "REMEMBER October is RIGHT TO CHOOSE Month"  ... some whisteblower would call the attorney general and they'd be on the news for violating political/church boundaries.

Was last October "Celebrate LIFE!" month? I doubt it - it wasn't election season last year...
Somebody please tell me I'm wrong on this.  If Catholics are by definition Republicans because Republicans represent the End of Women's Right to Choose, then a Catholic must accept the other components of the Republican party, regardless of how they may feel about them, in order to be a good Catholic.  I have in-laws who would never admit this, but I know this to be how they feel. The Pope, in pushing the anti abortion issue, is forcing Catholics to vote for McCain or be bad Catholics, which when taken to the letter means no communion, no church, and basically excommunication from the church.

Meanwhile, the Episcopalians in Pittsburgh are seceding from the church because they have made a gay man a priest and women aren't far behind. I love that they're fighting over the money and assets now.  Seems if you want to leave the church, you have to leave the stuff too.

OK, so I'm in a little bit of shock. I feel like possibly my little family here has lost its 401K, I'm not sure, I have no idea what's going on, and I feel like I should really know these things. At the same time, all this Sarah Palin stuff makes me nervous. It puts me at odds with myself. Busy mom, trying to take on bigger things than just PTO gigs...on the other hand, I feel like maybe Dick Cheney had himself robo-ized and that's really him in there - maybe that's why the eyes look so weird? And she's a monster. She's like the 5th Element for the GoP, and it's so freaky and weird I feel like I ate one of those cold-eeze tablets in my brain.

But the thing that really irks me now is the democratic party, from candidate to small organizations that have my email address and phone number.

If I get one more email from them or someone relating to them I will just feel even worse. I won't do anything, what is there to do? I won't say anything to anyone who has any control over that stuff, because they don't really care about what I have to say or there'd be some way to Reply To the message. All they want is my money. It's like my stats professor who doesn't learn anyone's name in the class, doesn't make eye contact, barks the whole time through all the materially equally loud, and then ends class. 

I feel like these nickel and dimey emails wanting more and more nondeductible small contributions from me are both exhausting supporters and is causing a Kerry- Effect.  Dissappointment in our party, our candidate, and a general sadness that usually presents itself on dem's faces when contemplating which, if any, apples to buy that day at the grocery store. It's a pervasive bummer, and I wish it would stop,  We need a candidate to say something, not this ridiculous urgent nonstop panic attack, made worse by the other people emailing me in the name of Obama.  McCain is positioning himself as the candidate of less stress, which is a powerful vacuum. Thinking hurts, granted, I'll not vote for McCain as I would rather stop the insanity in America of devaluing education and interpersonal skills in the White House, but I'm just saying, people are really wanting a good night's sleep, a nice comfort of some kind.  Being reminded throughout my day in email the end is nigh unless I send $10 is not the way.

P.S. The fact that the McCain people are secretly causing an absentee ballot campaign strategically emailed to democrats is disgusting. Apparently, if you have moved, they have you on a list, and are soliciting you to actually vote in the WRONG PLACE, hence your vote is not legal and will be discounted. It's like the police brigade in Florida from last time. I'm so tired of this, it makes me want to cry.

Luckily for me there is coffee, and urgent needs of my children, and bills to pay.