Milwaukee Renaissance |
|
The next Buddha may take the form of a community, a community practicing understanding and loving kindness, a community practicing mindful living. And the practice can be carried out as a group, as a city, as a nation. —Thich Nhat Hanh Bike Ride with County Supervisor Pat JursikBike Ride with County Supervisor Pat Jursik  Watch Your LanguageThe good news is that the Milwaukee County Board might be able to override Scott Walker’s veto. At stake is a referendum to take parks, emergency services and transit off of the property tax. The bad news is that we may be talking ourselves into a defeat at the polls. I plead with all bus and park loving citizens: Stop and think what you are saying. Watch your language.
This referendum will inspire oceans of vigorous conversation throughout the County. It is not merely a sales tax hike; it is more. It is a chance for County residents to grab a some relief in one smart vote. The County Board’s press release stated the case accurately: “The Milwaukee County Board voted 12–6 to approve a resolution calling for an advisory referendum on whether to provide property tax relief by shifting funding for mass transit, parks, recreation, culture and paramedics from the property tax levy to a small increase in the sales tax.” [emphasis added] Notice: “sales tax” is the tail end of this smartly written press release. Sales tax is the tail, not the pony. County residents are the winners, not the losers. Language matters. Let us phrase the discussion accurately, and win. A statement of opinion by Bill Sell. The Coming New Orleans Permaculture Transformation: Evolution Beyond Survival!It’s bound to happen.
“Let’s move it on!” Viva, the embryonic New Orleans Renaissance! Possibly featuring, God willing… …a permaculture transformation urban farming center inspired by Will Allen and the Growng Power Movement …a new American revolution/beloved community outlined in the essays and projects of Grace Lee Boggs and the Beloved Community Movement …as our Detroit brothers and sisters said…Evolution Beyond Survival! The New Orleans Renaissance to many
For staters, not to mention…
…bound to converge over the next 37 years in New Orleans, on January 20th, inauguration day… to begin work on
Some of the Milwaukee green transformation story can be found in the images and information at… http://www.milwaukeerenaissance.com Some of the story of the Milwaukee contribution to the New Orleans renaissance will become available as the years go by at… http://www.milwaukeerenaissance.com/NewOrleansRenaissancePartnerships/HomePage New Orleans City Fish Farms! New Orleans City Farms, Edible Playgrounds, and Family Farms! New Orleans Urban Agriculture University! New Orleans Permaculture Celebrations! These collaborative visions were expressed at… Alice’s Garden
Where we were invited to to share with our partners from New Orleans what you do related to urban agriculture and/or to hear about what is going on in New Orleans.  To become a rooftop garden? Time will be spent sharing information related to the ReGrowing Communities Work Event that will be held in New Orleans, October 9–12, 2008. COOKOUT AND CONVERSATION WITH URBAN AGRICULTURE PARTNERS FROM NEW ORLEANS  …transorming worker homes into
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Alice’s Garden
A New City of New Orleans Good morning, America, how are you?
I was down but now I’m back
There’s a train they call
Detroit, Old Milwaukee, and Chicago,
And on that train a rainbow throng is gathering,
Good morning, America, how are you?
I was down but now I’m back
COOKOUT AND CONVERSATION WITH URBAN AGRICULTURE PARTNERS FROM NEW ORLEANSTuesday, June 24, 2008
Alice’s Garden
(rain location, Cross Lutheran Church 1821 N. 16th Street) You are invited to Alice’s Garden to share with our partners from New Orleans what you do related to urban agriculture and/or to hear about what is going on in New Orleans. Time will be spent sharing information related to the ReGrowing Communities Work Event that will be held in New Orleans, October 9–12, 2008. Please bring a chair, something to put on the grill (vegetarian and meat grills will be available), or a dessert or side dish to share. Beverages will be provided! If you plan to attend, rsvp to venicewb@msn.com or 414.687.0122. Venice R. Williams, Executive Director  phone: (414)444–5950
Kujichagulia Spirituality House
 Milwaukee, WI 53209
   Women’s Voices Bring Iraq War Home in “Small Pieces Fly to Heaven” In “Small Pieces Fly to Heaven,” running June 5–8 at Off-Broadway Theatre, 342 N. Water Street, an ensemble led by Peggy Hong and Deborah Clifton shares the anguish, beauty, humor, and common ground of women in the face of the current Iraq war. Based on Iraqi women’s blogs, memoirs by US military women, and interviews with American civilian women, “Small Pieces Fly to Heaven” uses poetry, movement, and performance to explore the Iraq war from the “back lines,” where women keep life going. What is the effect of war, on the ground, for ordinary citizens, whether Iraqi or American? How are women in America impacted, far from the battlegrounds of Iraq? Do Americans even remember that we are at war? In a drawn-out war with no end in sight, how do Americans and Iraqis move forward? “Small Pieces Fly to Heaven” makes a distant war personal and immediate.  “Small Pieces Fly to Heaven” is an ensemble project led by Deborah Clifton, formerly of Theatre X, and Peggy Hong, Milwaukee Poet Laureate 2006–2007. The ensemble developed material through an ongoing salon of local women artists meeting for over a year. Contributors and performers include Alexa Bradley, Grace DeWolff, Erin DeYoung, Libby Amato, Maggie Arndt, Megan Kaminsky, Yvette Mitchell, Mary Lou Lamonda, and Dena Aronson. Sets by visual artist by Fahimeh Vahdat draw attention to social and spiritual issues and draw on her personal experience as an Iranian American exile. Rachel Raven Lily Sophia provides original music. Clifton directs the production. “War dehumanizes us, but this play brings us into intimate contact with full human beings: women living through the war, both civilian and military,” says Hong. “Through their stories, we find beauty, humor, anguish and common ground. As we realize our interconnection, we can hopefully move forward.” “Small Pieces Fly to Heaven” plays June 5–8, Thursday and Friday at 7:30 pm, Saturday at 8 pm and Sunday at 2 pm, at Off-Broadway Theatre, 342 N. Water St. Tickets are $20 or $16 for students and groups of 10 or more. To purchase, call 414–278–0765. Previews are open to the public and run June 2–4 at 7:30pm. Community Growers Arrive in Milwaukee to Provide Food Garden Coaches, Food Garden Art, and Garage/Home/Building Rooftop Gardens for Healthy FoodUrban Artisans Discover Urban Agriculture Community Growers will help Milwaukee grow food in the backyards, lots, and rooftops of old Milwaukee and our historic suburban community partners. Send an e-mail to communitygrowers@milwaukeerenaissance.com if you would like a quote for roof top garden installations, garden art and structures. Community Growers will also “grow community,” aiming to combine the best theory with the best practice, eye on the prize of city habitats and neighborhoods that nourish body and soul. Community Growers hopes to connect “food garden coaches” with people ready to experiment with growing increasing proportions of their own food, and, for some, food for local farmers markets and grocery stores. If you wish to be considered as a Community Grower garden coach, or if you would like to meet Stephanie Philipps and Dr. Dave, two food garden coaches ready to help out now, send an e-mail to communitygrowers@milwaukeerenaissance.com. Two founding members of Community Growers are Erik Lindberg and Josh Fraundorf, who will be sharing the story of this new network of artists, artisans, urban farmers, and sustainable development theorists and practitioners. Here is the start of what will be a sustained interview with Erik and Josh, starting with Erik Lindberg, co-founder of Community Growers. Interview with Erik Lindberg, co-founder Community Growers  Milwaukee Renaissance. You recently won a couple of awards for excellence in historic restoration artisanship. And now the word is out that you have invested considerable time, money, and energy on a “family farm” on top of a commercial building. Why are you doing this?
Lindberg. You flatter me by mentioning the awards. They are the city of Milwaukee’s “Cream of the Cream City” awards for historic preservation. The awards actually go to the homeowners, as they are considered the stewards of their property, which (because they are, in the end, just passing through) ultimately belong to us all. The difficult part is getting homeowners to invest the time and money to restore their homes properly. After that, my part is fairly easy.  The idea for the “family farm,” which I also like to call my “Victory Garden” has all sorts of sources, the two primary ones being Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which I read about a year ago, and the work Will Allen has done at “Growing Power.” Kingsolver’s book is a gripping combination of grave warnings about the impact of our current eating and growing habits, and of joyous inspiration about what we can individually do as an alternative. Of particular impact on me was her discussion of the great amounts of fossil fuels imbedded in our food, largely from its shipping, but also from its means of production. I read Kingsolver against the background of what Will has shown possible in both an urban setting and in limited space. When I acquired the building that houses my company, the idea of putting the roof to good use had already had a full term gestation from these sources. I also have a very good friend (wink-wink) who has been a constant source of enthusiasm, inspiration, as well as countless connections with other like-minded people.  This sort of environmentalism is certainly “in the air.” The victory garden is one of countless reactions to what is becoming the obviously perilous state of our planet. We have to change how we do just about everything, and we’re collectively finally realizing this and trying to do something about it. The sad thing, though, is that both the warnings and the technologies have been available to us for at least 30 years, but only recently has the movement gained (or begun to gain) necessary momentum. We shouldn’t spend too much time bemoaning the trendy nature of this sort of thing, but it should curtail most of our self-congratulatory impulses. Although this is a time, for me, of great excitement, I really need to just put my head down and do the work. My wife, Liana, who is also my partner in this project, helps me do this, as she has a great appreciation of the particular beauty and wonder of a plant, when gazed at from a few inches away. This alone can be sufficient motivation.  I’m not sure what I can accomplish through this project, as I don’t know how well my process and procedures will fare. At the very least, we should be able to grow enough vegetables to supply us throughout the summer, and hopefully into the autumn and the winter. If we can achieve really good production, sharing and even selling our produce could be a possibility. But it is too experimental at this point to make any plans like that. More generally, though, when you stand on the roof of my building, there are within view about 30 flat roofs, all of which are just sitting there, collecting heat and allowing a highly concentrated run-off after rain and snow. My larger goal is to see more business owners or their employees throughout the city install and nurture their own roof-top victory gardens. In the history of our species, many cultures (maybe most) have made use of nearly every resource at their disposal, including all available space. The idea of massive amounts of waste is relatively new and unsustainable. By necessity, I think our culture may have to rediscover this mindset, and I’d like to show how easy it is to use a roof for more than one purpose.   Interview with Josh Fraundorf, Co-Founder Community Growers in next installment on Community Growers Josh Fraundorf is the hands-on leader of Community Roofing and Restoration, which is probably by now Milwaukee’s leading roof system and exterior restoration company for our historic housing stock. Like Erik Lindberg, Josh believes growing food in the city is to become a leading green and growth industry in Milwaukee and beyond. Josh was key to his friend and associate Steve Lindner’s gift of several thousand dollars worth of excellent top soil to Riverwest and Harambee. Here are some photos of that project.
Here is Josh Fraundorf in front of the Pabst Theatre the day Nik Kovac was sworn in. Josh had too many Community clients needing his attention to make it for the entire event. He showed up to shake Nik’s hand and let him know one increasingly important small local business appreciated Nik’s commitment to the greening of Milwaukee.  Worthy Citizens’ Act of the DaySend an e-mail to Bill Moyers exhorting him to devote a program to the idiocy of industrial agriculture and the promise of local, urban, and schoolyard farms and gardens.   Featuring: Grace Lee Boggs, Will Allen, Amy Goodman, Michael Pollan, Barbara Kinsolver “Bill Moyers” <moyersonpbs@thirteen.org> and cc Moyersalert@milwaukeerenaissance.com, por favor
The KK River Bank. What we defended and why - in photos.http://www.spondee.net/GardenOfEden/Rosedale.htm http://share.ovi.com/search/Rosedale Open letter to Milwaukee Alderpersons, members of the Zoning Neighborhood and Development Committee of the Common CouncilAld. James N. Witkowiak, Chair
Relative to your meeting of May 13, 9 a.m, Room 301B, City Hall May 11, 2008 Zoning Neighborhood and Development Committee
Dear Alderperson: I object to the Empowerment Village proposal. Without taking green space, there is a way to resolve the Empowerment Village need for housing.  Both – the saving of the green space as well as a suggestion to the City how to bring these residents into our neighborhoods. I have been part of the South East District Planning process sponsored by the Department of City Development. I write you from this position and what I have learned through the process. I have also met with the Empowerment principals (at their invitation). Together we have searched for a resolution of the needs of their constituents. I have presented at the City Plan Commission on both February 11 and March 3. The developers have asked for compromise and I put forward at the March hearing my own opinion of a compromise (that I will repeat below). I have not heard from the developers that they are interested in writing these gestures of compromise into their proposal which apparently they will present to you on May 13. I have received countless of personal assurances, but once the permits are pulled, construction will proceed regardless of assurances. Perhaps the Common Council could make some demands on the proposed construction. The seriousness of selling green space is underscored in the daily press.
The state of the world being what it is, if our City government plunges ahead with its old policies I would ask if you are tone deaf to what is going on in the world. It is becoming clear we must protect Green space; we must stop paving our soil with asphalt. And look to grow food locally as much as we possibly can. Yes, there is a need for housing our less fortunate citizens. That, too, must be resolved. But it cannot be resolved in a meaningful way by pitting good citizens against one another as if we are in a zero sum game. I have three points to make. First, the residents and their needs. Second, my suggestions about any building on that river bank. Third, about the failure of the City planning process – the failure which brings us together today. I I grew up in a household where I’m proud to say my father was the only citizen of Hales Corners to welcome next door a group home for citizens struggling with the problems of mental health. I am proud to continue that tradition in my family by making the same offer. Cardinal Developers is national and perhaps they did not understand that Milwaukee is full of citizens of good will who are not interested in the old fears of mental illness. Most of us have seen mental illness up close; it is not something that we need to pretend does not exist. To get appropriate housing for these residents, you need to do what every community group does. Go first to the community; to the City as a LAST resort. Find in each community a core group of neighbors that understands the need of this population and make a plan with those citizens. Then take the plan to the churches, schools, associations of the neighborhood. If you want something from a community, just ask us, not the alderman, not the city. Touch the people who can bring their neighbors to the table. First. I also wish to mention the comments at the Dec. 11 hearing on this matter from a MPD lieutenant who spoke eloquently of the needs of these potential residents. She said that these folks are more likely to be victims of crime than its perpetrators; so, then, why are we setting them up for victim-hood in a building nearly a half mile from its nearest neighbors? Victims of a crime - more likely even in a isolated industrial backwater far from neighbors of any kind. II Secondly, about that building on a river bank. If you feel you must do that, the building itself should answer This Question. The same question I, as a kid, raised when I first understood that Jones Island development was a crass lurch toward the almighty buck. This question will be asked by a child who visits this site long after you and I are gone. The question is Why? Why did you let them do that? There? Or they might not ask IF they see the building as a gift to the environment.  At bare minimum the Empowerment Village building itself should answer this question. Require the developers to retain architects worthy of an environmental sacred place. I attach an article from the current issue of the Milwaukee Business Journal, business writers praising the work of an architect who has beautified our City and State with sustainable, working buildings, who has garnered an award or two for a zero carbon emissions building, and designed the incredibly beautiful and functional Urban Ecology Center. Wisconsin landscape inspires architect of Legacy Center —The Business Journal, May 9, 2008. That same firm laid the ground work for sustainable development on the County Grounds. The City needs to do more here than change a zoning code; it must make requirements of the building that are worthy of the CMAQ money that purchased that land. And, I say this as a bicyclist, CMAQ was not funded to increase bicycling; it was funded to keep our air clean, to discourage private gasoline-driven automobiles. 24 asphalted parking places is not an appropriate CMAQ expense. Nor is a bike path a sufficient reason to spend Air Quality funds while undercutting the very spirit of CMAQ. III About City Development’s gross failure here. I call to mind a statement made to the Bay View Community on January 26, 2006. In front of us citizens, a 100 or so, Rocky Marcoux and Robert Greenstreet emphasized more than once to a skeptical audience, that the SE District Plan would be the work of the citizens; that the City had no hidden agenda and that our needs will be given the highest priority. The Planning process was to run 18 months, concluding the summer of 2007. In fact, the citizens took a serious interest in these meetings and became avid supporters of the process. The plan should already have been completed on November 15, 2007, when I was sitting at a table with a Department of City Development map, magic markers, and neighbors, while consultants and city planners encouraged us to make notes on the map – what we thought was appropriate development in Our Community. Specifically I recall marking places for alternative housing; we understood the need to house people of all incomes in a city. We were not trying to make the world into Bay View, but to welcome the world into our neighborhood. One such place we marked was an undeveloped piece of land near the Target shopping center on Chase, not far from this proposed site on Rosedale, near a bus route, but not on the river. The consensus among us was then that the river is ideally left green for walking and bicycling; while we worked this map we were familiar with the river charette that was conducted about one year previously, with wide citizen participation, offering simple green spaces that support bicycling and walking, and a green space that will encourage enlightened development nearby the revitalized river, but not on the river. This river’s reputation today is one of the nation’s ten worst. It has been sorely depleted of its beauty by the crass decisions of our great grand parents who allowed factories, dumps and parking lots to ring this stream and pollute its waters. The SE District citizen planners understand the river as an asset. Listen to them. Nudge Cardinal Developers to retain an architect with the sensitivity of the SE District planners. Less than a month after marking the map, on Dec. 11, I learned that the same DCD that handed me magic markers had been offering that same KK River bank for sale to Cardinal Developers. I hope you can imagine my chagrin at delays in the planning process that might have been concocted to give Cardinal an opening (we are a suspicious lot, we citizens), and my astonishment that DCD which could say one thing to us and while it was making an offer to a developer – the very thing that citizens originally suspected would happen when Mr. Marcoux cajoled us to believe it would not happen. I hope that the Zoning Committee rejects this proposal as unsuitable to the long term interests of our city, and invites Cardinal to sit down with neighborhood groups. They will be meeting with friends of their constituents. We will find them a place in a neighborhood, preferably near my own home. They Are Welcome. Bill Sell
William Butler Yeats described our rush to destruction as our passion for death:
 If we do not hold the center, if we surrender our moral highground as a civic body, we will destroy ourselves as we have given up the will to defend what is good and holy in our land. Enc: Photos of the green space, 5th and Rosedale
Audacious Vision of the Day: OK Players Wins Nobel Prize 2010This list serve is comprised of some of the best and the brightest of the new generations, the planetary citizens bringing us the best of the Obama movement. Is it not possible to imagine some of the participants of the OK Players national, even international, on-line conversation, inspiring Bill Moyers, Tavis Smiley, and Amy Goodman to devote a show each to Will Allen, Grace Lee Boggs, and Michael Pollan talking about the connections between good food, beauty, and justice. Let’s start with Tavis Smiley: DPines@tavistalks.com and Bill Moyers: moyersonpbs@thirteen.org Ask them! If you have not been turned down 3 times each day, you have not asked enough of a loving universe with a benign presence. We are in the lap of an immense intelligence. It’s us when we’re inspired! Having won a national show on the real food movement, OK Players can then inspire the Obama campaign to construct an urban farming and edible playground plank at the national convention. What say! Why not? A Perfect Mother’s Day
Current TopicsIntroducing Urban Anthropology’s Old South Side Farmers MarketUrban Anthropology is developing a new public market—one that works to define the specific culture and history of the neighborhood.  Market Features 2008 THEME Presentation of Lincoln Village (the Old South Side) as “Milwaukee’s Premiere Immigrant Village” representing 25 nations—and most represented here among the vendors and products
Presentation of a great history of this cultural hub, through interactive features
WEEKLY ENTERTAINMENT ASSOCIATED WITH THE THEME   A Latino duet featuring traditional Mexican and Puerto Rican music, with a clown for the children (Lupida Behar & partner)
A Polish combo with antique Polish instruments that also plays traditional American songs (sing-a-long group) (Ray Krawzyk and group)
Horse and carriage rides going around the Village
Tours of the Old South Side Settlement Museum (just across the street) that represent the immigrant families
Tours of the Basilica of St. Josaphat just across the street (at 11)
Ongoing puppet shows for children depicting the history of the Village and all of Milwaukee’s cultural groups (free)
Craft booth for children (not every week)
“The Old South Side” song written by UrbAn staff that will be playing over the PA system
EDUCATIONAL FEATURES on the themes (all free and ongoing)    100+ editions of a single page “newspaper” called the Old South Side News (giving the history and culture of the Village)
Over 1,000 photographs of the village that will be available for viewing on the porch of the Settlement Museum
Ongoing viewing of updated documentary (done by Urban Anthropology Inc.) on the Old South Side on the porch of the Settlement Museum
Photo display of then/now buildings of Village buildings
Photo display of “cultural back street” spots of Milwaukee, enhanced in a digital watercolor format
Etchings of that “other” Polish group on Jones Island—the Kashubes
VENDORS There are currently 40 vendors, with approximately 25 appearing each week
The vendors represent Latino and Eastern European cultures, as well as the traditional farmers market variety
READY-MADE FOOD    Hot Latino food of every possible variety (2 vendors)
Cold drinks, including pina coladas and snow cones
Polish food from Old World Deli
Popcorn and nachos
Hot corn (not sure of this yet)
Bakery (2 vendors)
PRODUCTS Milwaukee Neighborhoods Calendar produced by Urban Anthropology Inc.
Art from the South Side Artist and Writers Guild (and other artists)
Vegetable and fruit vendors (4)
Healing arts people from a cross cultural perspective
A cheese manufacturer
Jewelry and other accessories
Flowers and plants
Documentaries on Milwaukee’s ethnic groups and neighborhoods
Crafts and needlework
Pottery and ethnic crafts from the 25 nations
Clothing
Cheese maker
Honey manufacturer
Syrup and pancake products
Knife sharpener
Information booths on local businesses and programs
THERE WILL BE TWO GRAND OPENINGS The first will be June 15 and will focus on the Village residents themselves (and will include free plants given away to neighborhood people of the Village from the University Extension) The second will be an official grand opening for city-wide exposure. We hope that the Mayor will join us there, and expect our local elected officials—Peggy West and James Witkowiak—for certain   Jill Florence Lackey, PhD Jill Florence Lackey & Associates Urban Anthropology Inc.
Phone or fax: (414) 271–9417 “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead www.urban-anthropology.org
Milwaukee Public Allies Class of 2008 Challenged to Win McArthur Genius Awards by 2045With the power of the internet
The Public Allies, Milwaukee 2008
They may have committed today
Here they are!
They may share their stories with us!
I’d put my money on that proposition. Milwaukee Elder
      One Public Allies Vision: Inspire Bill Moyers to Interview Will Allen With Grace Lee Boggs For “Victory Gardens—Now! Campaign”Send an e-mail to Bill Moyers, at moyersalert@thirteen.org, asking that he have Grace Lee Boggs and Will Allen on his show to talk about the urban, local, and edible schoolyard agriculture movement percolating in the fields, backyards, and schools of our cities! Victory Gardens—a ManifestoVictory Gardens—a Manifesto Near the beginning of the 21st century we humans find ourselves is an urgent struggle against tremendous destructive forces of our own making. We will, in the coming years, need to fight for our health, for our community, for our habitat, for our very survival. We have poisoned ourselves and our land and must now begin the process of cleaning and renewing our polluted planet. This struggle will take great effort from our government, our industry, our schools, and our communities at every level. Brave and creative leadership will be necessary, as this struggle must be confronted on a scale larger than the individual: we need to join together and demand this sort of leadership and action. But we must also undergo profound individual reorientations and must take action consistently and daily. We must revise and refine our values, goals, expectations, entitlements, tastes, even our recreation. We must reorient the way we house ourselves, clothe ourselves, transport ourselves and, most fundamentally, the way we feed ourselves. We propose to aid this struggle on an individual level by each planting a garden, large or small. Planting a garden can help restore our health with the sorts of fresh and wholesome foods humans evolved to need. Planting a garden can help cure our alienation from our bodies and from the physical work they were made to perform. Planting a garden can help restore our environment, because our food is currently embedded with fossil fuels from the food’s production, transportation, and storage. By growing our own food, locally, in our yards and on our roofs, we can eliminate much of our food’s carbon footprint. Planting a garden can help maintain the bio-diversity that has been destroyed by the monocultures of corn and soy, with which our snacks and fast-foods are packed. It can help us rediscover the fine and subtle tastes that have been drowned by sugars, oils, and processed grains. Planting a garden can turn idle or wasted space into productive and cleansing bio-cultures. Let every spare space become a green space! The grass lawn that is soaked with pesticides or the roof that soaks up heat can become spaces of environmental renewal. Let every flat roof become a garden or farm, a prairie or thicket. Planting a garden can help us achieve peace, because so many of our wars are fought over the fuel needed to produce and process our food. Our demands upon the world start, daily, with the way we eat. Our wars are fought so that we can maintain the domination and affluence that allows us to ship exotic foods from all over the planet—anything we want, any time we want it, fresh, frozen, or preserved. Our caloric abundance and disproportion is safeguarded by our policies, our violence, our disregard. Planting a garden can help us restore our communities. “Culture” and “cultivate” share the same roots, and our human roots lie in the communal production of food and shelter. A garden can become a meeting place of work and joy and health and celebration. This struggle of our generation is, most of all, not only a struggle to save a way of life (though many parts deserve to be saved); it is equally a struggle to change the way we live our lives. We have come to see ourselves primarily as consumers and this orientation has put our health and survival at risk. Planting a garden is a step, symbolic and actual, in changing this orientation—in seeing ourselves and acting instead as producers, as preservationists, conservationists and stewards, as cultivators, as growers. Without this orientation, our prospects are bleak. With this orientation, our prospects are rich indeed. Let us call these gardens “Victory Gardens” and let our generation also be one that creates new freedoms and prosperity. Let it too be a “great” generation rather than a passive spectators of our ruin. Photo Appendix    Reclamation Society’s Harambee Garden  Erik Lindberg and Jan Christensen at Start
 Erik Lindberg’s Family Farm Atop His Old Industrial Building in Milwaukee Lindberg Proposal for Garden on Your Garage Roof Attached is a proposal for roof top planter boxes. I envision two boxes of about 12′ long placed along the east edge of the garage roof. If kept at the edge, combined with the lightweight soil mix I’m recommending, there shouldn’t be any structural issues. You might also be able to place them along one of the other sides, but the east edge would be the most reliable. The boxes as proposed are constructed of regular construction grade lumber and plywood. Like mine, I would line them with plastic so that the lumber isn’t soaked from the inside, but they still will get a little wet and will deteriorate over time. I expect that mine will last at least 5 years before they need significant maintenance, but that is just a projection without much solid evidence. For an increased cost they could be made from cedar. I could also make them out of pressure treated lumber. With the plastic lining, I wouldn’t expect any leaching of the chemicals, but I didn’t personally want to take that chance with my own. The other significant design detail is a drainage layer along the bottom. While it is customary to use gravel, to save weight I would use packing peanuts, which are then covered with landscape soil to keep them separate and to keep the soil from clogging the drains. As for soil, I would make a mix of Growing Power compost, peat moss, and vermiculite, with a thin layer of topsoil on top (the compost tends to be clumpy, so a layer of topsoil helps make sowing easier. After the drainage layer and the bottom, there would be a minimum of 8″ of soil. This is enough for most vegetables and flowers, except, perhaps, beets and carrots—but they might also do just fine. I didn’t include any stairs because an attached set of stairs would not meet code. I would either use a small ladder or I could devise some sort of temporary, removable stairs, but they aren’t included at this time. Finally, this can be done without addressing the existing roof. The only drawback would be that when you do get the roof replaced some day, you’d have to empty the boxes to move them so that the roof work could be performed. I’m too new at this to guarantee any specific results, but so far I’ve seen that the boxes designed like this, with this sort of soil, drain really well. My initial plantings seem to be doing very well so far. It is also easy to build a hoop-shaped covering to extend the growing season into the spring and fall. Please let me know if you have any questions, Erik
1st ANNUAL RALLY FOR COMPASSION Read www.milwaukeerenaissance.com/KtRusch/TibetanUprising2008 for local article on Tibet uprising. Lena Taylor takes County Executive campaign to the bus. March 22. More…Saving Milwaukee County Transit from the Walker cuts.
Lena Taylor took the County Executive election campaign to the bus to protest County Executive Scott Walker’s bus cutting. We rode with Lena from 12th & Wisconsin, Route #20, in front of Gesu Church, through downtown and back. Photos of the Ride, the Riders, and Lena Taylor talking to bus riders. Route #20 is now gone. In 1999, the Milwaukee County Transit System was honored as America’s best mid-sized transit system. Lena said she would work bring it back Milwaukee Transit to what it used to be. It once connected the North and South sides of Milwaukee, running on what is now Caesar Chavez drive, north on 8th Street to the Brewers’ ball park (Borchert Field). Her message: Elect Lena Taylor and we will rescue Transit in Milwaukee County.
Save Our bus.
| ||||||||||
|
It’s impossible to calculate how many people are victimized by shame, fear, denial, greed, and widespread ignorance, self-inflicted or imposed. After Virginia Tech, Robert Bernstein, psychologist and executive director of the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, said that the Center has won lawsuits for students against college administrations that have barred them from campus for receiving mental health services because the students were perceived to be “engaging in ‘endangering’ behavior.” The Center plans to release soon a model policy that would encourage students to seek treatment before their problems reach crisis proportions, as well as ensure that “any disciplinary action is based on dangerousness and not discrimination.” Dr. Bernstein also said that schools need to take actions to de-stigmatize mental illnesses, remove barriers to seeking treatment, and ensure that students will not be penalized when they do ask for help. |
Please contact your congressional leaders and urge them to sponsor the Kennedy-Ramstad parity bill, in the Senate, S.558; in the House, HR 1367. It took me less than 60 seconds to do so at www.equitycampaign.net As their home page says, “Make history: Become a Citizen Co-Sponsor.” We the people have to make sure that affordable mental health check-ups and necessary treatment prevail from elementary school on up. We need to know what mental illness is and learn how to identify it and treat it, and learn how to maintain recovery (see list of disorders and symptoms here). Don’t let ignorance, shame or fear make you make the same mistake I did. I knew nothing about mental health before I lost mine and entered the most terrifying time of my life. Please help yourself by visiting http://www.samhsa.gov |
|
| |
=> =>Read More …
Bucketworks is moving!
Many Milwaukee Renaissance contributors and visitors have been or are involved in Bucketworks, Milwaukee’s unique health and fitness club for the brain. Bucketworks will be moving by September 1st and is looking for assistance in many facets of this transition.
Visit the Bucketworks site for more information about how you can contribute or participate.
Dismantling Racism in Milwaukee
George Martin and Omar Gagale
For some inspiring evidence of this, check out the pictures just uploaded
that capture the spirit of St. Pat’s at Timbuktu on Center Street in Riverwest.
Pictures from St Pats at Timbuktu 2007
Milwaukee’s part in the Global Day of Protest on the 4th Anniversary of the War
The word went out:
Peace Rally & March, Sat., March 17, 2007 noon
O’Donnell Park Plaza East End of Wisconsin Ave. (orange sunburst)
Short Rally followed by March to Senator Kohl’s Office- 3rd St. and Wisconsin Ave.
- Bring the Troops Home Now!
- Defund the War!
- No US Attack on Iran!
- Restore Veterans Benefits!
- Stop the War on all Immigrants!
Peace Action/Milwaukee Coalition for a Just Peace needs volunteers to help at the rally. Please call them at 414–964–5158 to see how you can help.
Bob Graf was among those who attended. In the day’s post to his “Diary of a Worm” (which is primarily about his Growing Power Home Garden), he wrote
I felt very sad on this fourth anniversary of the beginning of this tragic war. This war has brought more death, torture and violence to Iraq than did the dictator Saddam. One of the Iraq war veterans who spoke said how we lost the war before it started by devaluing the lives of Iraqi people. We do not even do a body county of Iraqi persons, but estimates are that over 600 thousand Iraq civilians have been killed. When he refused to drive his truck over children that were in the road he was disciplined. For him and many more persons all over, every human life is valuable, especially the lives of the innocent. These events today saddened me and I have no more words to express my deep sorrow but I must go and march with the people that are saying no the war.
I covered up the horror I felt inside by keeping myself busy taking pictures and meeting so many old friends along the way of the march. I met one man I knew from the 60’s. He was dressed in his World War II military uniform. He was active in the peace movement in 1968 and raised the money to bail us out of jail after the Milwaukee 14 action. I took his picture in his uniform and will feature it on the Milwaukee 14 Today site tomorrow. The rally and march was a turning point in my day. The sun was out and although we were protesting death and destruction, there was an air of hope.
Here are some of the pictures Bob took. Click through to view more. Add more if you have some.
Signs of Hope
 John Gillman Veteran Peacemaker  Congresswoman Moore addresses rally |
 Veteran Marchers  The Rally  George Martin addresses rally |
Raising awareness of the violent crime rate
And pressing for a Responsible Gun Ownership Bill
The group Mothers Against Gun Violence was founded by three Milwaukee women whose sons were shot in 2003 by a felon with a handgun obtained on the gray market. While it was illegal for the felon to own the gun, the gun sale itself was not illegal - the seller committed no crime in selling the gun to a felon.
Determined to close this loophole in the law, which “like a sewer pipe, pours firearms into our community,” on Tuesday March 6, 2007, State Senator Spencer Coggs (D-Milwaukee) introduced The Responsible Gun Ownership Bill (read more here), under which all handguns sold in Milwaukee County – including those on the secondary or gray market – would require purchasers to submit to a criminal background check before the sale could be completed. The schedule for the bill is as follows:
- Release for co-sponsors… Feb. 22nd-March 12th
- To Clerk’s Office… assign Bill number… March 12th-14th
- To Senate President… referral to committee… March 15th-19th
- Bill given public hearing… April 10th
As of this writing - 19 March - the following state legislatures in the Milwaukee Caucus are not co-sponsors of the Responsible Gun Ownership Bill. Please call them and ask them to support it. They are Rep.Colon, Rep.Cullen, Rep.Kessler, Rep.Kreuser, Rep.Krusick, Rep.Richards, Rep.Toles, Rep.Wasserman, Rep.Williams A, Rep.Young, Sen.Carpenter, Sen.Plale, Sen.Sullivan, Sen.Taylor and Milwaukee Republicans Sen.Darling, Sen.Lazich, Rep.Stone.
Ask your state legislators to co-sponsor and support it. Call Toll-free: 1–800–362–9472, in Madison: 608–266–9960, or fax: 608–282–3546. Find out who your state legislators are
Ask the Mayor and City Council to continue their support of The Responsible Gun Ownership Bill.
Here on the Milwaukee Renaissance site, the Mothers are posting information about the bill and its progress through the legislature, as they honor their sons and the hundreds of others who have been killed in the city of Milwaukee in recent years.
Mental Health Awareness Campaign Launched in Milwaukee
We are privileged to announce another recent addition to the list of authors and artists among us on the Milwaukee Renaissance wiki — Patricia Obletz. Those of you who keep an eye on changes to the Current Contributors page, or who read Bob Graf’s “Diary of a Worm” may already be aware of Patricia’s contributions to Milwaukee and our Milwaukee Renaissance.
Patricia, a native of Buffalo, New York, has in recent years achieved wide media recognition for both her art and her mental health advocacy. She was awarded a state grant to found a quarterly newsletter and was editor-in-chief of Mental Health World, editions Winter 1992 through Spring 1999. She created and facilitates “Colorplay” (inspirational fun for all ages) and “Wordshops” (also intriguing and inspiring imagination, for everyone who can put words on paper, tape, cd). On her pages of the Milwaukee Renaissance wiki, she’s given us a startlingly frank depiction of her struggles with her own mental illness and the terminal cancers that took her parents and her sister. Patricia says:
I’ve been campaigning to raise mental health awareness since 1991; I’ve been promoting art as an artist since 1948, and as a facilitator since ‘91 as well.
I mounted this mental health awareness campaign because I never questioned my mental health until I lost it and was catapulted into the worst years of my life.
But, once I learned how to navigate my case of bipolar disorder, I reached moderation, and entered my years of solid, pure gold, even in times of catastrophe.
On the Home Page of her mini-website here, she has spelled out for us the goals of her current project, the “Mental Health Awareness Campaign,” about which she says:
My spiritual nature is strongest when my heart and spirit conceive in the freedom of streams in my consciousness. This same golden warm stability also is mine when I help people help themselves. At the end of 2006, using spiritual and financial resources, I commissioned an mental health awareness campaign to run for a month beginning January 15, 2007. On the back of public buses, a six-foot sign alerts viewers to the need to “Put your money where your mind is. Mental illnesses run in every family. Ask your doctor for a mental health check-up.” Accompanying this message is my painting, “Out of Nowhere.” I selected it because you can avoid the horror I and my family and friends experienced when we discovered that I was in a full-blown manic episode. I know I need not preach to the choir — we already know that mental illnesses are not issues of morality, but of ignorance, mistreatment, fear and unnecessary shame. Mental illnesses are treatable. Everyone, from the White House on down, needs to treat them that way.
UPDATE: Clear Channel Outdoor partnered with me with an