Dam vandalism

Apparently, someone cut the wires to the dam- coinciding with the first part of some repair work- and a portion of me is upset, but not for the reasons you might think.

I decided I don't care about dams. I care about people. Re-read some of my last posts, if you do not believe me. One of the wonderful things that has happened through being part of MRPA- and I will mention here that I resigned from my secretarial role on Tuesday- is that I have gotten to know some wonderful, dear people, whom I would never otherwise have gotten the opportunity to meet (as I posted recently, digging through garbage helps you meet your neighbors, metaphorically speaking).

What do I care about? What is important to me? What do I want to spend my time and concern on? Well, I got a new job that started on Wednesday. I didn't have to apply. I was chosen. It's a new role within my current job: a new focus, and one that I care about passionately. (No more money, but most good things start with no more money.) I started a new blog to celebrate, and maybe you will join me over there. It's a little raw. It'll get better. I've had a little practice blogging. Actually, everything I learned as part of this whole dam experience has helped me in ways that will help me help others- I hope you followed that line of reasoning.

Another point I would like to make is that my character was defamed. Mom, DO NOT click the link (my personality traits did not come out of nowhere). I will speak with people, rationalize, philosophize, discuss, what have you, but persons who choose to criticize the core of my character (and not my opinions, which are two completely separate things)- well, if you were my patient, I would still be kind to you.

ESL love and hate- amor y odio

I just read yet another vitriolic post on the always-vitriolic blog, Ichabod, the Glory has Departed. The author lives in Arizona, but he regularly bashes many of the Milwaukee churches at which I have worshipped over the years, and their pastors, and their coffee. I don't know what happened to this man to make him so hateful, but his writings always make me think of how Hitler got rejected by a Jewish art school.

Here is the particular post that has me in a rage right now, in which Ichabod bashes my beloved ESL (English as a Second Language) program for which I volunteer. I love this program; I have volunteered approximately weekly for over three years. It has changed my life in a deep and meaningful way. Milwaukee has always been a city of immigrants (just ask John Gurda.): German, Polish, Italian; now African, Hmong, East Indian, Russian, and especially Latino. This is huge. As a health care worker, I see the need to learn Spanish to better serve our clientele, and I see the equal need for Latinos in the US to speak fluent English. Milwaukee is, has always been, a melting pot: culturally, linguistically, religiously, politically. It wasn't always comfortable, but I think we have a greater appreciation of one another's cultures than ever before. And it's beautiful. (I also love ethnic food, which Milwaukee has in abundance.)

Since Ichabod likely will not approve my disapproving comment, I paraphrased it here.

Beth is a wonderful woman with a true heart for Christian service. She TEACHES ENGLISH to struggling immigrants. There are devotions offered (not compulsory) after class in English and Spanish by Pastors and seminarians, and the students are welcomed to Sunday services. The language lesson has no religious component, unless it comes up in the conversation practice between volunteer and student- any topic could come up, in fact: it is conversation (in addition to grammar, vocabulary, etc) like you would have with a friend. In fact, you [Ichabod] would do well to see such faith in action that the dedicated volunteers demonstrate- it is stressed at every class that we do this out of love for our brothers and sisters from around the world. This program has changed my life. It has changed many people's lives.

I encourage you, whoever may be reading this, to find a way to serve others that suits your own interests, that will help you grow, that will help Milwaukee be an even better place. Whether that means picking up garbage from a park, sharing helpful information, writing letters to our elected officials; whatever that means to you, do it.

Guest post from James Brozek

Here's an open letter from James Brozek, one of our MRPA members. (I edited it for punctuation, clarity, and spelling.) It was sent to many public officials and others. He sent the photos, also.

Dear friends,

Last year the Milwaukee Riverkeeper organization stated they believe that removal of the Estabrook Dam would have the greatest positive impacts on water quality, sediment management, fish and aquatic life, terrestrial wildlife, and recreation. Here are my observations this spring of the Milwaukee River in front of my house.

As of June 6, 2009, the water level is four feet lower than its natural and historical level. I've seen a marked absence of Bluegills, Sunfish, Catfish, Bullheads, Northern, Bass, Western and Midland Painted Turtles, Common Snapping Turtle, Green Heron, Night Heron, Egrets, and Coots. But what I have seen is an abundance of hundreds of yards of mosquito-breeding puddles in front of my property. During the spring runoff, the river's currents scoured into the river gravel these wonderful, made-to-order incubators for the cute mosquito larvae wigglers. The abundance of algae covering this gravel is an exceptional food source for this Wisconsin State Insect. Can you say "West Nile Virus?" Ahhhh, did I mention the lovely aroma given off by the thin layers of ooze on the river gravel? No? Well, depending on the warmth of the day and the directness of the sun, this football field-sized area of river bottom rivals our hatched mosquitoes as the gift that keeps on giving. I've not seen anyone fishing. Where are the fishermen, now that the river is running free? Paddlers also have become an extremely rare site. I've seen a pair more drifting then paddling in the narrowed river channel. The Boys and Girls Clubs paddlers are nowhere to be found. Hikers? Nope, the river bottom is just too soggy and smelly. Long live the Lincoln Park Lagoon & Urban Wildlife Place.

Sincerely,

River Bro

Now- River Otter here again- I missed Thursday night's MRPA meeting. It sounded like it was a good one.
I'm wondering, does anyone from the MRPA ever read my blog anymore? I no longer post much about the dam or the group. It just didn't seem like a useful tool for getting out any information, as was my initial hope and inspiration for starting it. I just got lots of nasty comments from anti-dam folks, and verbal comments like "Only our enemies read it, anyway." A few nice emails came in here and there though, and informational ones like this. So, I just post (almost) whatever I feel like now. The Internet is very accommodating that way.

If any MRPA members or sympathizers still read this (or enemies, or frenemies), leave a comment. At this point, I doubt that anything could hurt my feelings any worse than they were already today, so feel free to go at it.

Happy birthday to me!!

My mom made me a chocolate bundt cake with real cream cheese frosting. I can scarcely wait!!!!1!!1!!!

I love my birthday! I love everything about it. It is "my day." (Of course I know that statistically many many people share my birthday. Two of my Facebook friends alone share the exact same day-out of only 161 people. Lots of sex happens in September, leading to June babies. This is just a fact of life.) My love for my birthday has absolutely nothing to do with receiving gifts, having people buy me drinks, or anything like that. It is just the day that I feel special, that is just...mine. I don't care if I'm a year older. Age means nothing to me. I don't usually ask off work for it, or anything; I see more people there than most anywhere else, and so more people can say to me, "Happy birthday!" If they don't, I remind them. Because hey. It just is: All day, all twenty-four hours of it. You can see I am up at 0056 thinking about it, still just as excited as when I was a little kid, when I would try to wait up until 0403 to watch myself in the mirror as I turned one year older (a failure, every year).

It's similar to, yet somehow different than, the way I feel about New Year's Eve, my other favorite holiday. Most people use that night as an excuse to revel themselves into oblivion (starting a beautiful brand new year off with a whopping hangover- which baffles me); I have my own ritual of re-reading my diaries and just being retrospective. It really takes the first week of the new year, the peaceful long-awaited post-holiday rest, to do this (how much I loathe Christmas is a whole other topic, and one that really doesn't interest you, I'm sure.)

I do love the de-stressifying post-holiday time, either snug on a futon in a warm blanket, or sitting in a quiet coffee shop, warm beverage in hand, reflecting on past fond memories and could-have-beens.

But birthdays are different for me, in the sense that the day itself is just the magic. It has no purpose except to be mine, all mine. No past, no future, no sadness about getting old, (who cares, my body is already falling apart); no Norman Rockwell expectations like Christmas has, no hookup expectations like New Year's Eve, - just sweet, honest, pure pleasure. Happy birthday to me!

Boys at war

The son of a very wonderful lady with whom I used to work was quite recently deployed to Afghanistan. I had hoped that whomever our new president was to be would have had all our troops home by now, but that was not to be, and he is there. She put out a request that anyone could write to him, and any of the other Marines there, if we wanted. The postage is 44 cents- same as a US stamp, which seems less steep somehow when the letter travels overseas like that. I sent him a letter. I had only met him perhaps three times, but she talks about him so much, you know, like any good mother. She said write about anything back here at home, the Brewers, weather, whatever.

I encourage anyone who likes at all to write to put a pen to paper and write to someone in the military serving overseas. Support our troops, even if you don't support the war.

Conservative

Charlotte at Cheeky Pink Girl suggested that I post a bit about my own Christian faith, and what better day to do it than Good Friday, the day for reflection, pensiveness, and contemplation?


I believe that an all-wise Creator brought the Earth into existence. Since I wasn't there, I can't say for sure whether this occurred in six days, or a few million years, but it is unequivocally clear to me that intelligent design and not random chance was at work. This is the basis for everything else that I believe and do (of course, being an imperfect individual, I still manage to really screw up sometimes). The Earth is ours to guard and protect, as well as the animals, plants, and people who call it home. A lot of Christians take the opposite belief- that the Earth is ours to do whatever the heck we want with it. Likewise, I see a lot of people in the environmental movement who are not Christians, so sometimes I feel a bit trapped in that in-between space. The word "conservative" has come to be a polarizing word, an emotionally laden word; however, it also means "conserving," as in not wasting, as in judiciously using our non-renewable resources, as in protecting our rainforests and other precious places.


What do you think? How have your religious beliefs (or worldview, or whatever you choose to call it) affected your beliefs about conservation?

Public art, part III

This particular graffito always makes me smile. It's on the south side of the river on a defunct train trestle, just below the Estabrook Dam. Got the pic in January of 2008.

Public Art, part II

On the Urban Milwaukee blog, Dave Reid discussed a new art object proposed for downtown Milwaukee.
Public art, to me, is something that "makes" a city. Cosmopolitan cities like NYC and Chicago are full of street musicians, performance artists, and permanent icons like the Cloud Gate (below) in Chicago's Millennium Park.


The Milwaukee art in question is a proposal for a series of "flip signs" by a Brooklyn artist, Janet Zweig, that would animate depictions of encounters between Milwaukeeans.
I was embarrassed, as a Milwaukeean, reading Alderman Willie Wade’s comment, “I am just not feeling it. But then I wouldn’t pay 50 cents for the Mona Lisa” (which has been part of the art canon for hundreds of years). Why is public art such a bone of contention in Milwaukee? The Blue Shirt fiasco, the Bronze Fonz controversy…to me, art is something that pulls you out of yourself, into a different mental place, or something that you can get lost in- and find yourself thinking about long after you are done actually looking at the piece. Something that changes your viewpoint, even a little bit, whether it fits your definition of “beautiful” or whether you actually think you like the thing.
Update- the project was approved at the 4/14/09 Common Council meeting. *cool!*

Lincoln Park Public Art

I wondered what had happened to the public art aspect of the Aquatic Center design. DH and I had attended an input session some time ago, held in the Blatz Pavilion- I remember it seemed to be hosted by a ten-year-old boy and that chips and salsa were served; more importantly, I wasn't all that impressed with the designs or the fact that local artists were not more prominently showcased. There were no other citizens in attendance while we perused the proposed designs and commented appropriately. Then I never heard anything more about it- until I found this March 26, 2009 article in the Third Coast Digest. Takashi Soga, a Japanese artist who will work on the piece in New York, has been selected to bring us this, (below) or a very similar, piece of art.

Now, I know that everyone has his or her own opinion about what is beautiful and what constitutes art (and what constitutes giant basketball hoops). But, I think that public art should take into better consideration the situation into which it will be placed, and would have liked to attend the more recent meeting regarding this, but missed the notice. (For the record, I do like a variety of art, including the iconic Milwaukee sunburst; the larger-than-life bronze statue of Baron Frederick von Steuben by Washington Park is another favorite.)

I have a friend from Cartagena, Colombia. This past week she was telling me about her city, and its artist Fernando Botero- that he created public sculpture, and that he is a "beloved Colombian artist." His pieces seem to me reminiscent of the art of the indigenous peoples of that part of the world. I wish this future Lincoln Park art (by the way, the total public art budget for Lincoln Park is about $250,000, but Soga’s proposed art will require an additional $100,000 from the city) was just more rooted in place. Or had something to it at all.

Poli Sci 102

It was an honor to be able to speak at the Parks, Energy, and Environment Committee's public hearing re: the dam last night. As I like to remind people, "It's not enough just to vote- be a part of the political process." Elected officials represent their constituents- let them know how you feel about issues that are important to you.


I had the opportunity to talk to Supervisor Broderick on a more casual level after the hearing and was impressed with his intelligence and his willingness to listen to and consider all sides of an issue before coming to a conclusion, and his respect for people's differing opinions.


I thought there would be more media and fewer cops last night, though. Also, I worried that it would be more out of hand. So despite a few outbursts from the "pro-dam crowd," it still went more smoothly than I had dared to hope. The whole thing was even kind of fun!

Science for sale

Please enjoy the above webcomic (from xkcd).

The essential problem that I have with science is bias. Every study, every statistic, has been bought and paid for by someone. Data can be manipulated in all manner of ways. A classic example is the "link" between the MMR vaccine and autism- initially put forth in a 1998 study, whose lead has now been found to have manipulated data. "Despite involving just a dozen children, the 1998 paper’s impact was extraordinary. After its publication, rates of inoculation fell from 92% to below 80%. Populations acquire “herd immunity” from measles when more than 95% of people have been vaccinated.
"Last week official figures showed that 1,348 confirmed cases of measles in England and Wales were reported last year, compared with 56 in 1998. Two children have died of the disease." This is just one example- this 1998 study, though flawed, has influenced many people.

In 2002 I had the opportunity to go to a conference that I thought would be about my field (health care), but it really was about sales: selling medications. Chocolate and champagne flowed freely. (I swear I had no idea of the hedonism that awaited me. I went in good faith.) One of the many powerpoint luncheons really struck me: it was sponsored by a company that I knew made a drug that did not work. Time and again I would offer it to patients, and after trying it once, they all said the same things: It doesn't work; the side effects are intolerable. Then, at this powerpoint, the data-- with graphs conveniently skewed for emphasis-- showed that it worked...just a little bit, in conjunction with another medication that we all knew does work, does its job, does it reliably well. We were encouraged strongly to use the med that sucked. It was a weird experience for me, and rather surreal.

My point is that everyone (full disclosure: this includes me) has his or her own agenda. Data can be spun in different ways. I really want to trust science-- really I do--but I am not sure that human beings, with all our flaws, are capable of objectivity.

"De gustibus non est disputandem."

"There is no accounting for taste."

There was a gentleman who spoke at the PEE Committee meeting who stated that the part of the Milwaukee River where the North Avenue Dam was removed (shown above) is the most beautiful part and the best for recreation, feeling that the section up by Lincoln Park- the section where the river is impounded by the Estabrook Dam- is extremely unattractive. (I took this shot from the pedestrian bridge to Caesar's Park. I know it's brown. It is not officially spring yet, and things are still kind of brown.) That is one opinion, welcome in a world where differing opinions are respected.

Here is another shot I took the previous day, though, off Commerce Street not far downstream from the area of which he spoke. Not quite so attractive. Maybe the condo owners think so. But it is hardly a natural-appearing area. I call these "side dams"- they hem the water in from the sides, elevating the water level, and curbing the natural ebb and flow that a stream or river would have.

Awhile ago I used to work in for Special Recreation programs. There was a group of autistic adults who used to come to class and they taught me a lot. One of the women used to ask me the same question every night. "Why are people different?" she would ask me, and then give me the answer: "Because people like different things!" Then she would hand-flap and run away, a laughing Buddha. I think of this often. Why don't other people understand this? Is it a truly difficult concept? Is this city too small to have different sections of the river, for people with different taste? for people who "like different things?"