Monthly Archives: July 2016

“Sleep Walk” and a Fender Guitar

Posted on July 28, 2016 by

So I was at my office on campus today and walked into our main department office to get something from the printer. Our administrative assistant always has the radio tuned to our school’s radio station, WMSE (91.7 on your FM dial, … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Learning, Life, Music | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Big Yellow Taxi

Posted on July 25, 2016 by

I happened across this AP story by Frank Eltman in yesterday’s newspaper: “Solar projects can’t save the forests for the trees?” According to the article, several projects are currently in the works to cut down hundreds of acres of forest in New … Continue reading →

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A Tale of Two Tennis Courts

Posted on July 20, 2016 by

This is a tale of two tennis courts in Milwaukee’s Washington Park. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted of Central Park fame (see a nice NY Times article about his Midwestern parks here), Washington Park was once home to the Milwaukee … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Life, Milwaukee, Photography | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Some background on Turkey within the Middle East conflicts

Posted on July 16, 2016 by

Today seems like a good day to link to two of my older (March 2014 and October 2015) posts about Turkey. Mostly I talk about Turkey within the context of wider regional conflicts and history, but these posts may get you … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Life, Political Analysis | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Little Free Library (#9) – Makenna’s Tribute

Posted on July 14, 2016 by

The Little Free Library movement is huge in Milwaukee. In some neighborhoods you can’t drive more than a few blocks without seeing one of the little book boxes in a front yard. These boxes can be wildly individualistic, which is … Continue reading →

Posted in architecture, Art, Books and reading, Life, Little Free Library, Milwaukee | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Random Reflections on Malls and Department Stores

Posted on July 13, 2016 by

Monday’s Wall Street Journal ran an article (read it here) noting the waning days of the department store as anchor in the American shopping mall: “Mall Owners Push Out Department Stores: Fast-fashion chains, restaurants, specialty stores do a better job of driving mall … Continue reading →

Posted in architecture, Creativity, History, Life, Milwaukee, Popular culture, WPLongform (posts of 1000 words or longer) | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Little Free Library (#8) – Matching!

Posted on July 12, 2016 by

Often Little Free Library boxes match the house they sit in front of. I’ve done a post on one of these before (Little Free Library #2, here) but I didn’t think to include a photo of the house. For today’s … Continue reading →

Posted in architecture, Books and reading, Life, Little Free Library, Milwaukee | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Signs of an epic life-and-death struggle

Posted on July 8, 2016 by

No doubt because I watched that BBC show on “The Hunt,” predators and prey seem to be weighing on me. In terms of “life and death,” the topic for today’s post feels mighty insignificant compared with the scope of human tragedy in … Continue reading →

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A Thousand Cuts

Posted on July 7, 2016 by

I worked from Starbucks at Red Arrow Park for part of the morning and made a quick visit to their restroom before walking back to campus. Maybe because it was a quiet time of day, I noticed something about the floor … Continue reading →

Posted in Milwaukee, Photography | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Neighborhood Watch (Stump Sculpture, Carved Tree Art)

Posted on July 6, 2016 by

Apparently this is a thing, to have your dead tree turned into a work of art. I’ve been driving past this guy for several years now. Might he be described as a “wood wizard”? Today I finally made time to pull over and … Continue reading →

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