Riverwest Roads and Ways

So who says Holy Cities are only far away
And in the mists of time?

Why cannot we here today aspire to create
Holy Cities, if not in one lifetime,
How about in seven?

If we are to create of Milwaukee a Holy City
Unifying visions are called for, and
A myriad of conversations and experiments
Involving baby steps toward that glorious day.

There are at least 10,000 roads and ways to take
On the way to our Holy City of the Sweet Water Seas.

Let’s call some of those the “Riverwest Roads and Ways.”

Let us hope other neighborhoods share with us
Their own unique roads and ways.

We’ll get there faster that way for sure!

Since discovering the promise of Riverwest
Back around 1974, 7 years after I arrived from St. Louis
(And initially settled east of the River),
Many roads and ways have been built.

Over the course of the next 10 years, in the way that I pray,
I pray to assemble the stories of these roads and ways,
That will not only win Riverwest a nobel prize for peace,
The first neighborhood ever to win this august honor,
But will also substantially accelerate that fine day
When the people awaken and realize that Milwaukee had made of itself,
A Holy City of the Sweet Water Seas.

Here is my choice of lead stories(you are welcome to offer your selection):

• Riverwest transcending race, class, gender, and identity group oppression
• Creating a central park through a cleansing river
• Creating and diffusing food and artisanal cooperatives in and beyond Riverwest
• Developing green building re-cycling projects and co-ops in and beyond Riverwest
• Accelerating fruit and veggie local self-sufficiency through city farms and gardens
• Fostering small business and social enterprise incubators
• Creating public spaces and events that restore community
• Develop edge of history open source community projects that harness the power of the internet for biodiversity and bridging civilizations

Some of the project will be developed on Sunday mornings at the Riverwest Co-op from around 8:30 to around 10:30, where guests with great stories will gather, and free wiki lessons will be offered.

Sharecroppers and Tenant Farmers in Riverwest

I can’t wait to become a sharecropper and/or tenant farmer
In Riverwest!

Riverwest sharecroppers and tenant farmers are very good things!

They gather coffee grounds from the Fuel Cafe,
Veggie wastes from Sendeks on Downer and the Riverwest Co-op Cafe.

They get brewers’ yeast from Lakefront Brewery,
Wood chips, first from the city yard on 37th & Lincoln,
Later from trees chopped up in more proximate locations.

They make a deal with those owning property
That’s now just sitting there growing lackluster grass.

Saying, “I will bring you radiant wastes and
Set up a healthy composting pile on your fallow land.
I will tend to this until composted soil arrives,
And then introduce
Red wriggler Will Allen’s Growing Power worms.

I will set up worm nurseries to grow worms and black gold.
Then I will create a few raised bed gardens with heirloom seeds
That will bear fruits and veggies of heavenly quality.”

Then you and I will decide how much of this feast to share together, and how much to take to your house and my house,
And how much to give to anyone else who added to value
To this sacred value chain
Of human labor mixed with nature’s powers
Yielding delights for body and soul!

Olde Tenant Farmer
Riverwest, 2007

Riverwest Is Our Nation’s Department

Riverwest is not the State Department.
The sheriiffs of Notingham have won that prize.

Riverwest is becoming the Nation’s Department.

This nation brewing across the land,
Across the planet(!)
Is the one we love.

The nation called Human
Is brewing in Riverwest
And other neighborhoods
Learning new ways and
The Way.

Riverwest Tenant Farmer
2007

Voices of the Riverwest Diaspora

Riverwest, the New Jerusalem

Riverwest Project…create 21st centry vision of the Holy City on the Hill

ESHAC of Riverwest

ESHAC of Riverwest made some great marks
In the inspiring history of Riverwest Milwaukee, from the early 1970s through the Late 1980s. A story worth telling!

Did ESHAC contradict itself?
Did ESHAC activists do dumb things?
Yes! Yes! Of course.
ESHAC contained multitudes. It was vast.
There were at least 100 heavy lifters
For the ESHAC cause. If you include
Each of this 100′s seven(7) devils
(some had more but none had less)…nearly
1,000 spirits created the ESHAC drama,
Still rippling through our civic culture,
In good and bad ways, but mostly for the good.

ESHAC was originally the
East Side Housing Action Committee(ESHAC),
Comprised of sons and daughters of the
Civil Rights, Anti-War, and Women’s Movements(with some budding eco-activists
sprouting). ESHAC was a “front group” of
East Side Focus, about 15 or 20 who had
Weekly potluck dinners at the
Episcopal Campus Rectory.

Riverwest: The New Jerusalem (After William Blake)

And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon Riverwest’s hills so green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On Riverwest’s pleasant pastures seen?

And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark Satanic Mills?

Bring me my bow of burning gold!
Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold!
Bring me my charriot of fire!

I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand
Till we have built Jerusalem
In Riverwest’s green and pleasant land.