Point Made

My studio apartment is in the back of the building that faces on Marshall St. I usually exit out the back door and walk the ally to Juneau. This exit puts me across the street from the Astor Hotel on Juneau. This is the view out of my kitchen window. What we see is the fenced passageway between the buildings. The corner of the building you see upper left is my building and below that is a small courtyard. To the upper right, you see the neighbors building and their trash wheelies. Lower left, you see part of my window frame. If you blow this up, you'll see the screen in my window.  Dreary to say the least However, on certain weekends, someone living in the building next door gets out a grill and cooks. While he grills, he listens to some of the best blues music I've ever heard. One of these days, I'm going to open the window and sit in with my harps. The downside of the window view. I get very little sunlight, wind, or driving rain. The view is ...

No matter how many of my friends and family call to check in on me and I do appreciate their efforts, and despite the length of those calls, I do have considerable time alone in the quiet of my apartment. It's surprising to me how quiet it is in my building Considering, and this is based on the unreliable polling information of noticing doors opening and closing in the hallway, it seems like a lot of my neighbors are staying home also. So, I think to myself, this is solitary confinement? Not really. I have my internet service, books and I've graduated from doing pencil sketches to watercolors. Not what you'd call the mental duress of four walls and no sunlight. I try to walk every day. I get some fresh air and a couple of "Hi "how are you doing" encounters. My uniform de jour is not sweatpants and ragged t-shirts. I have my regular hygiene habits requiring regular shampoo, showers, and fresh clothing. I'm using hand soap and hand sanitizer. I wipe dow...

Keeping a Proper Social Distance by Turning on the Radio By Jeff Jordan for Urban Milwaukee.com What the What? We have two and a half months of theater left, and they stop performing. It was Friday, March 13th. I was preparing to interview Sherry Lutken, the director of the upcoming Milwaukee Repertory Theater's (MRT) production of Hootenanny The Musicale when I got the memo. MRT was halting presentation of everything they had on four stages until April 6. That opened the flood gates, as everybody in the theater community came through with similar plans. So here we are sheltering in place. And why not? It's not only the theaters that are abbreviating or canceling events. Everything from restaurants to churches are shutting their doors to group activity. If we turn on our television sets, we get twenty-four hours of reminders to wash our hands and pictures of disappointed people trying to buy an SUV load of toilet paper. Some of us are alone....

Our Thanks Belong To Mother Nature I know I write a lot about the weather, but really? If this is global warming...maybe, just maybe...I mean for some of us, it's not that bad a deal. 60 degree's in early March? I'll take that. Poppa Jeff is up to his back pocket in writing. Thank you, Urban Milwaukee.com and Rider Insider (MCTS Newsletter). This week, the bus company merged a couple of routes. The changes are small, but the confusion this kind of thing can create is enormous. Numbers on the bus change, Stops on the route change. It's like, I don't know when I missed the memo, but apparently, Apple has discontinued I Tunes. Where's my music? Anyway, unlike f***ing Apple, some of us volunteered to ride the busses and help people navigate the change. I'm planning on doing an article for Rider Insider about riding the bus on some routes, so this was a good warmup What a great experience it was. Even the people that knew about the change thanked me for...

Referee A Conversation? By Jeff Jordan I might get the more experienced Facilitators at the Zeidler Group upset by labeling them referees, but as a facilitator in training or FIT2, that is what it feels like. Zeidler Group is a group of trained people who teach and practice the continuation of a method of guided conversation, pioneered by a former Mayor of Milwaukee, Frank Zeidler. Zeidler was mayor of the city from 1948-1960. He was the last of the Socialist Mayors for which Milwaukee is well known. Zeidler was notable for his style of leadership. In his administration, transparency and honest communication were his standards. A devout Christian, he was a member of Redemer Luthern Church. That church is the location of the recently renamed Zeidler Group. This organization promulgates Zeilder's method of facilitating a conversation. I could take you through my training and learning experience. I could relate the entire creation tale behind the Zeidler Group. It's a gr...