Point Made

This week marked my nineteenth week in quarantine. Human contact consists of the following things.  I shop for groceries in a store.  Once a week, I meet with one friend, outdoors and we chat. I met Larry Krowlakoski in a park. Bill Sell and I purchased lunch at the public market. Pamela Frautchi and I had lunch on the patio at the Knick. Michelle Money met me for coffee at Stone Creek on Downer.  Everyone wore masks and we were careful with everything with which we made contact. I suspect this limited social life will continue through fall and possibly into 2021. As many of us are, I am active on Zoom. My association with the Zeidler Group, interviews conducted by Urban Milwaukee's Jeremay Jannene, film studies conducted by John Hickey from St Marks film club, and theater readings by American Players to name a few, occupy a couple of hours a week. I'm in email, phone conversation, and Instant messaging contact with friends, relatives, and societal dropouts in all shades ...

The air is thick. The light breeze is juicy with the sweat of summer. How quickly the clouds form and the thunder rumbles warn us. The birds cry. They are telling the rest of their flock to be aware that soon the damp earth will yield the crawling worms they like to feast on. It is a quick attack. It sweeps over us with menace and leaves us in peace. Soon the clouds linger and the thick air wraps us in its arms. We can hear few rumbles off in the distance as the danger retreats. We are left with the air cleansed. The tires of the few cars, that are in the streets these days, hiss through the wet pavement. The rain will cause the lawnmower engine sounds in the coming days, flowers in the fields to grow, and salad greens in the garden to prosper. Still, we must fear the sickness.

Breaking News! I received my absentee/vote by mail ballot for the August 2020 Primary. Delivered July 2, 2020 Theater News. With the COVID 19 pandemic still closing theaters from Broadway NYC to Broadway MKE, we theater lovers do have a huge hole in our hearts and minds to fill. Let's start in agreement on one thing. No experience is close to seeing theater performance in a theater with an audience. We have acclimated ourselves to watching sports on TV, We have learned to accept TV drama in the darkness of our living room or on our phones while riding a bus rumbling down our poorly paved streets.  However, the magic of theater is sitting in a dark room with others while we witness the talents of men and women who bring the magic with them when they arrive for work. Given that we have now shed our tears and gnashed our teeth over the necessity of giving this experience up, because of the Virus, we can view theatrical performances that are recorded and then streamed. Why would we wan...

Scorched Earth Retreat Reading the National Media and peeking at Tweeter (don't dwell too long, it's a Rabbit hole gateway) you could get the idea that our president has lost what little mind he had left. The national problems with the virus, the economy, the social justice movement, and anything else you might want to throw into the soup, he appears to be troubled.  Polls showing him behind Joe Biden in many of the swing states that he carried in 2016. Some reports have him roaming the White House in the middle of the night screaming at the portraits of past presidents, asking, "Why oh why don't people like anymore?" The paintings don't answer, of course, and it isn't because he doesn't remember any of their names. I've said in many past postings on Facebook, and in this blog, that he is showing signs of dementia. I'm serious about that observation. It is not an attempt to insult him but point out a condition that I think is getting worse from...

Everything In It's Place And a place for everything Some of you might remember my attempt at creating hilarity when I stored my pots and pans in the refrigerator because it was the only place where I had the room. I had just moved into a Studio Apartment in The Lakeside Building on Milwaukee's lower east side.  A studio apartment, or my snuggery according to my word-of-the-day email , is a fairly large bedroom with an attached galley kitchen and full bath. I eventually rectified the pot and pans problem with a cart that handles most of my cooking utensils. The rest, like the cast iron and my baking utensils, are in the oven. This necessitates taking them out when I want to bake, but that is another story to be told at another time. I often remark to friends, living in a studio apartment is like living on a boat. Every space has to designed to serve more than one function. I have kneaded bread dough on a wood cutting board in my double-wide stainless steel sink. I have stored b...

Poppa Jeff On Zoom I was made aware of a feature of my Blog, Point Made. Published by Halvin and Cobbs. My blog has a comment feature. Yes, I knew that but, I didn't realize I was getting comments, aside from verbal observations and the occasional email. I really didn't know how to find them. I guess I thought they would find me. No such luck. I found out, quite by accident, how to view your comments. I am so sorry. Some of them were encouraging. Others, I saw as constructive criticism. Some of you just weren't buying what I was selling, and that's okay. A couple of comments asked questions. Because I was not aware of these posts, they bothered me the most. Jill Frisbie, the talented and wonderful wife of my sister's brother-in-law, Terry, way back in December, asked about the Aussie TV I was watching on the streaming services. Jill, I watched Tangle, City Detectives, Silk, Bloom, and Nothing Trivial. On  New Zeland TV Programing, I'm watching Step Dave. Don...

Spring In The City by Jeff Jordan Any year as the seasons roll by, some benchmarks indicate the changes. The leaves are budding, or they are falling. The grass is growing, or the frost is taking over. The days are getting longer or shorter. The flowers are pushing their way up or submit to the colder temperatures.  In the city, there is the blossoming of another sort. It's the opening of the umbrellas over the street tables next to the restaurants. Outside dining, while more traditional in many other countries and warmer parts of the US, is relatively new in the upper midwest. This last weekend in Milwaukee signaled another benchmark in the city. The city of Milwaukee's public health department rolled back restrictions, put in place due to the Pandemic, and allowed restaurants and bars to reopen with some restrictions. Make no mistake about the significance of this ruling to the citizens of Milwaukee. The allegations of the drinking habits of Wisconsin residents are probably co...