Point Made

 As I mentioned in my last blog post, theater season is here and that means I will be writing previews for Urban Milwaukee.com. I will be sending out the links to my articles for the few of you who don't read the most informative online news about Milwaukee written and edited by people who live in Milwaukee. I have turned the pilot for my series Two Many Wives to a distribution service in LA, Talefilck. This screenplay is a story about people adjusting to being married, having children, and living under a microscope because they are in a polygamous marriage. Or as I explain it, it's Three is Company, with benefits. My characters learn that marriage isn't all moonlight and roses but it beats being single. Their challenges are, among many, defending their lifestyle choice. Parents that don't understand. Past romances that bubble up out of the blue. And for good measure, whose going to get up and tend to the babies. The three of them want the babies but post-partum depre...

 I am one of those people with their noses against the glass separating us from the partitioners when it comes to art. My association with artists leaves me in that realm of knowing enough to be dangerous. On the other hand, I've been close enough to many of them so that I've learned something, but not everything, about their process. I have concluded that there is much similarity between how a painter and an actor go about producing what they do.  What is your Process? That is an embarrassing cliche question I've heard at so many author appearances when I worked at a bookstore? I sometimes thought the question was a reader's attempt to say, "Look, I know something about how you guys work, so fill me in." Or maybe it's showing off for the uninitiated part of the audience. "Oh my God, if you don't know about the process, what are you doing here?" I learned about The Process by trying to be a creative person. The Process is simply the steps one...

 As we reviewed the 120 days of possible good weather in Wisconsin, one thing stands out. The season was sweltering.  As I post this, we've had over twenty days where the temperature exceeded 90 degrees. The average is seven. While this is a startling number, let's take some solace in the fact that it's one thing for which we can't blame COVID. Another fact, Milwaukee had over thirty inches of perception in 2020. We are now at a little over ten inches. It will take a lot of rain or snow between now and New Year to match last year's production. I'm already pulling back on my modular air cooling system. Adding the various parts to it begins in the spring. The first thing I do is open my bathroom window. The window faces north. It's on the second floor of my building and is mere feet from the building next door. Because of this, I get a breeze through the window almost every day regardless of the wind direction. The wind wraps around the buildings and flows int...

The Dancing Girl Although often just in passing. I have written more than once about  The Dancing Girl.  I never have nicknamed her “The Girl” or refer to her by the acronym TDG. It’s always  The Dancing Girl . I’m not positive, but I believe I gave her that name, her creator might disagree. She was painted by Lenny Nagler, a popular and talented artist who lives in Appleton, Wisconsin. His work resides in the collections of many private buyers, businesses, and institutions. While most of Lenny’s work is landscape art, I happen to own four pieces of his depictions of human activity. Nagler is a retired Middle School teacher. He has told most anybody that asks that he enjoyed teaching middle school. It always reminds me of a Johnny Carson joke. Who would answer a question like that by saying it was his second favorite thing. His first favorite thing was lighting his hair on fire and putting it out with a small hammer.  It’s no wonder when people talk about all of the ...

 My days are full lately. I have three writing projects going. As you are witness, I still write my weekly blog. My three characters Jeremy, Nicole, and Leslie, along with their lovely daughters, assorted friends, and enemies, are livng in my mind as their story grows in my screenplay Two Many Wives.   I'm also working on a drama that came to me during a restless night of sleeplessness. In this screenplay, we find a female defense attorney is hired to convince a witness to turn over documents that will expose a major criminal operation. Unfortunately, the witness, who is in a state of questionable protective custody, is resisting cooperation because he feels that all the prosecutors want is the money. In addition, he wants revenge for the murder of his wife and daughter. Upon meeting the attorney, he decides to convince her to negotiate a compromise solution that will satisfy all parties. As this onion is peeled, we discover that the entities are not the usual subjects. The at...