http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=1055&mname=ArticleGroup Campus Beat en-us 60 Deaf Awareness By Jessica Pedersen December 2009 Of the Frontpage Milwaukee reporting staff Tuesday in the Union Concourse, the Signing Student Association sold baked goods and chair massages to raise funds for the Deaf Exposure Awareness Forum. Three students from the Lakeside School of Massage Therapy helped the SSA by giving a five, ten, or up to twenty minute massage to those who bought five dollars worth of bake sale goods or paid three dollars per ten minutes. All proceeds go to D.E.A.F day, which will take place in April of 2010. Cailin Promo is one of the D.E.A.F day coordinators and has high hopes for the event. “Basically it’s a whole day of deaf performers, workshops, anything you’d imagine. We want to get Matt Hamill who is a UFC fighter who’s deaf to come in, we want to have comedians flown in from different parts of the U.S., basically an array of things to promote deaf awareness on campus.” The massage therapy students who volunteered to help with the SSA fund raiser were all there as part of the 801 hours they have to complete in order to earn their certification but most of those hours are spent in the school learning and about 40 hour of field work. The SSA which was formed at UWM six years ago says their mission is to promote and support American Sign Language and deaf culture awareness in the UWM community. Promo believes that there is a greater need for deaf awareness at UWM. “There needs to be more of awareness because of the fact many people don’t know how to communicate with deaf individuals they don’t know how to associate themselves with their culture verses hearing culture of an average hearing person.” Student Signing Association Stephanie Zeto, another D.E.A.F day coordinator and former president says that the SSA started in about 2003 when members of UWM’s interpreter training program and deaf individuals on campus wanted to join the signing community together. “We have an interpreting program here at UWM which is one of five in the state and we’re the only four year program.” Every year the SSA has grown in numbers and this year has around 93 members who are all a mix of sign language students, deaf and hard of hearing students, and interpreters. Anthony Bryant, a deaf board member of SSA, communicates that they are no different than other students at UWM. “It’s pretty much all about respect. It’s not an imbalance one way or another that your deaf or hearing, it’s just equal. As long as you’re human we can all work together.” Fund Raising Promo says that the bake brings the community together because they donate a lot of food for the cause and the donated massages are just the same. John Thomm, an interpreter in training and another D.E.A.F day coordinator said that the homemade s’more cupcakes and cherry filled brownies went the fastest. But that wasn’t what got Alberto Degiovanni a free massage. “Actually we were just walking through and we got offered a massage if we bought a whole pie.” Degiovanni says he and a friend both bought an apple pie and ate it in about ten minutes, and each received a complimentary five minute massage for free. “It was really good, I really liked it.” Len Poutz, massage therapy instructor, was observing his student do their field work. He thinks that a massage is one of the top things a person can do to relieve the stress of finals. “Just the release that you get from getting massages does take the stress levels way down for you so you can concentrate more on what you’re doing, taking care of your studies.” Awareness for the Future To get deaf awareness out into the UWM community, Promo would like people to consider those who are hearing impaired. “I would love to give the message that they need to not be so worried about approaching a deaf person, approach them as you would anyone else. They are just human beings and they have personalities and minds of their own. And just because they won’t be able to hear you per say, don’t be afraid to approach them and just say hi and ask them to do things like a regular person.” The SSA hopes to make about 300 dollars from this fund raiser and about 10,000 dollars from D.E.A.F day. Wed, 03 Feb 2010 09:38:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=26053&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=26053&mname=Article Healthy Eating For College Students By Jessica Pedersen Of the Frontpage Milwaukee reporting staff December 2009 Tables were set up Monday, Nov. 16 in the Union Concourse at UWM containing a variety of information for students along with free snacks and a free cookbook to try at home to teach students how to eat healthier on a budget. UWM’s Neighborhood Housing Office is an organization that provides advising for students and tries to promote healthy living and social responsibility for those living in the UWM neighborhood sponsored the event. Jessica Wierman is one of the NHO’s community outreach and assistance to student tenants (or COAST) leaders who helped host this event and thinks the information offered will be especially helpful to freshmen. “When they first get to college and the experience is new, in our case we focus more on students who live off campus, and when they start grocery shopping for themselves for the first time they’re not really sure what to buy or what to make so I definitely think it would (help).” Tip sheets offered suggestions about: avoiding college weight gain, portion distortions over the past 20 years, eating well on a budget, making better choices at fast food restaurants, what’s in the vending machines, eating healthy snacks, and what’s really in your favorite drinks. Junior Laura DeBruin says she was surprised at some of the facts she read. “I learned that sleeping can affect your weight and I had no idea about that and that kind of shocked me.” In addition to getting enough sleep, other things that can affect a person’s weight are controlling portion size, drinking water, being prepared with healthy snacks, eating leaner proteins and eating something green (or fresh like a salad or piece of fruit) with every meal according to UWM’s Recreational Sports and Facilities handout. Being On a Budget Wierman knows that healthy eating can be difficult. “Even though a lot of college students don’t have the money to buy fresh fruits and vegetables every time they go grocery shopping they can still eat healthy on a budget.” Some ways that this can be done are: Stocking up on sale items and shop at discount stores Eat out less often Learn how to cook from scratch and freeze meals for the weeks ahead Make better use of leftovers to cut down on waste Foods like eggs, pasta, rice, oatmeal, homemade soups, dried beans and fruits and vegetables in season are all lower costing and part of a well rounded diet. For those on a budget interested in finding out what might specifically help them, UWM offers nutritional consultations and follow-up sessions tailored to an individual diet plan and is free of charge for students. How to Eat Healthy Another UWM Recreational Sports and Facilities handout says that college is a stressful time especially with late hours and limited kitchens. According to one handout entitled, “Portion Distortion: A 20 Year Shift!” one way is to control portion size which has increased over the last 20 years. For example, a bagel 20 years ago was only 3 inches in diameter and 140 calories and today a bagel is 6 inches in diameter and 350 calories. Freshman Kylie Fish says she learned a lot of valuable information. “The most important would be just trading the little things like instead of getting original yogurt trade it for low fat yogurt. It’s just as good and healthier for you.” Rec and Sports also says Americans get more than 20 percent of their calories from beverages such as juice and alcohol. One Smirnoff Ice 12oz. drink contains 228 calories. Distilled spirits 80 proof is 97 calories per every 1.5 oz. At the top of the list is a 7oz. Pina Colada containing 526 calories. Drinking more water instead of other high calorie drinks can boost metabolism and prevent fatigue. Eating on Campus The two fast food franchise restaurants in the UWM Union are Burger King and Taco Bell, and these places can offer healthier choices and not so healthy choices. At Taco Bell a healthier choice would be a chicken soft taco with 190 calories or a regular taco with 170 instead of a taco salad with salsa containing 790 calories. At Burger King a regular hamburger is only 310 calories and is the healthier choice compared to a whopper containing 710 calories. The COAST cookbook offers quick and easy recipes for students to try at home instead of eating out every day. Fish says she really wants to try the blueberry passion fruit smoothie and the colorful creamed tuna. “It’s always fun to learn new exciting ways to stay healthy and quick, easy recipes for a college student that doesn’t make you gain weight is always a plus.” DeBruin though, says she would want to try the fajitas instead. Wed, 03 Feb 2010 09:36:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=26052&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=26052&mname=Article By Kathleen Smaney Of the Frontpage Milwaukee reporting staff Dec. 20, 2009 Just a Few Blocks South of Campus… It’s known as one of the most original movie theaters. House of three different theaters, and a unique Indian, Islamic, and Hindi décor, the Oriental Theater is more than just a theater, “It’s a different kind of theater, it’s a movie palace,” says Assistant Manager Liz Ahlstrom. The Oriental, located on Farwell Ave just a little more than 8 blocks south of the Milwaukee Campus, may have the most original theater in Milwaukee, but it also offers a discount ticket price for students. “The student price is $7.50 when you show your I.D., and general admission is $9.00, so that’s a good dollar and a half that the students get a discount on,” says Ahlstrom. A Nice Bit of “Change”…. It’s that discount price that helps students afford ticket prices at theaters, and gives them the opportunity to see many of the independent films that the Oriental shows each month. “It’s very nice. It exposes me to independent films that I normally wouldn’t see otherwise,” says Chris, Zylka, a senior at UW-Milwaukee. “I see at least two films a month, so that’s $3.00 a month, and $36.00 a year, so that’s still $36.00 I could spend somewhere else then.” The oriental has been offering the student discount for years now, but Ahlstrom says, “Students are still surprised, because they didn’t know there was a discount, so they’re always happy to save some money.” Even though college students are the main individuals that take advantage of the discount, it is offered to anyone who calls themselves a student. “Most people think college student for student tickets, but student means student. That means adult students, whether that means at MATC or whatever. It also includes children that are 13 and above, so when they show up with their parents they still get a discount because they are obviously still a student,” says Ahlstrom. “So college high school, adults returning to school, that’s what it means when we say discount.” Can I get that Student Discount Thing? But even with signs posted outside the door, many students will still try to get the discount without showing an I.D, and the staff here at The Oriental won’t take, “Well don’t I look like a student” as an excuse. “I’m pretty hard when it comes to students showing me their I.D.,” says Cristina Miller, a member of the floor staff. “The big thing is just remembering to bring their I.D., if they don’t have it with them, they’re not going to get the discount.” The Oriental is always changing the films that come in and out of the theater. “Through a month, it varies, this month we’ve had these three the entire time,” says Ahlstrom. The three movies playing right now, tend to “have a bigger student draw,” says Miller. v Precious v An Education v New York: I Love You The discount price gives students the chance to see the independent films at a nicer price and for some who didn’t even know about the discount it may just change how often they start coming to the Oriental. “I wasn’t aware of the discount, until just now,” says Lindsey LeFebre, a UW-Milwaukee senior. “I’ll definitely start going more frequently.” The Oriental is one of the only theaters located almost exactly on campus, besides its sister theater The Downer Theater. They both offer the student discount price. However other theaters outside the campus lines, (and a little bit further of a drive for students) like Mayfair in Wauwatosa also offer student discounts. They offer a student discount price of $7.50 on Thursdays only, while The Oriental and Downer theaters offer their discount price everyday of the week. It’s the Content not the Discount… Even though Mayfair has the discount price, part-time graduate student at Marquette University, Sue Suleski says, “The Oriental is a very unique theater, and it shows movies that you can’t see other places, so even without the discount price, I’d rather come here.” Suleski doesn’t take advantage of the savings at The Oriental Theater even though technically she is a student. “ I don’t use the discount, because you know when you go to movies, and they price film so high anyways…I mean maybe if I were a full time student like an undergrad that would make a huge difference in my pocketbook,” says Suleski. Chelsea Gilbertson came for a movie night with her mom, and got the discount, but only after taking out her UWM student I.D., and showing it to the guy behind the ticket booth. “I have a bad picture in that one,” says Gilbertson. But she still passes it under the glass, and gets the $1.50 discount. “I don’t take advantage of the discount very often,” says Gilbertson, a junior at UW-Milwaukee. “I probably come here once every couple months to see a movie, but it’s helpful, and it’s nice knowing that I’ll have that discount and then it’s not as expensive.” It’s that exact response that makes Ahlstrom happy to offer student’s a discount price. “It helps them, and helps them want to come here and see films here.” Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:58:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=25435&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=25435&mname=Article Taking a Winter Break By Jessica Gaskey Of the Frontpage Milwaukee staff Dec. 20, 2009 During winter break, UW Milwaukee students are working hard to come up with the money to travel and plan their trip in a cost effective way despite being a time of recession. During the holidays students want to see their families and to get away from school. With this need students are pushing themselves through a time of recession. With unsteady airfare and gas prices students are coming up with ways to still travel. College students may be traveling less during the economic downturn but they are ready to plan their next vacation to have something to look forward to. After working hard all semester students have vacations on the mind even if they can’t go over break. Students plan to work more during break to save up some money to go visit family or go on a vacation with friends. Some students stay around campus to pick up extra work hours during the winter break with hopes to save up and take a vacation in the spring. Other students fulfill their vacations and travel through using school loans to study abroad during the semester or break. UWM student Ben Wick sees the importance for students to travel and go on vacations. “I realize that there is more to life than grades,” says Wick. “It’s good to put things in perspective and take a step back and reflect once in a while. I personally love to travel and agree with the often clichéd saying that it’s the journey that makes it fun. I believe you can learn a lot about yourself and your travel partners on a long car ride.” Traveling Less in an Economic Downturn Students admit to traveling less whether it is taking smaller road trips or only taking a vacation during one of their breaks. With the upcoming winter break, students still have vacations on the mind despite the recession but some are planning their vacations for the future “I didn’t work much this semester so I have some catching up to do, but I want to get out to NYC to visit some friends maybe during spring break time,” says Wick. “My schedule doesn’t let me right now but now that I’m nearly done with school I can travel more.” Student Matt Knight sits with his girlfriend at a table and talks to her about what to pack for their trip. He smiles as he looks down at the ground to recall something from his memory. He bursts out with a long list while she interrupts him and reminds him that they should be studying for finals. “I haven’t taken a trip in a while. I used to visit my dad in California during breaks but now not so much,” says Knight. “I’m really excited to go on this trip to the Caribbean over break because I’ve been saving up for it for a while. We got a really good deal on a cruise package. If you are open to different travel spots, you can find some good deals.” Student Val Stange takes up an entire table full of colors prints, drawing and rules. Her table stands out as people stare down at it as they pass through the union. Stange leans down closely with her head in her hands while she points at two bright red colors. She anxiously moves them around the table matching them to drawings. “I don’t have any traveling plans for break yet,” says Stange. “All of my friends are going on vacations so I’m going back home to be closer to work. I haven’t had a lot of time to spend with my family because school has been so busy but I’m hoping to stay with them and save up some money to go snowboarding on a weekend trip.” Taking a Break Student Juliana Horning takes a break from studying and staring at review on her lap top. She looks distracted as she stares at the review. She relaxes for a moment while she thinks of something she can do to take a break. Excitedly she opens a new tab and types the words “New York” in the Google box. Horning says that saving money for vacations is very important and needs to be planned in advance to do it in find a cost effective way. “I believe that students deserve to go on vacations after working so hard during the semester,” says Horning. “If you look hard enough you can find places that have good deals and cheap tickets during the recession.” Horning takes a break from school before finals to relax and get away. “I am going to New York for the weekend with some friends,” says Horning. “We found good airfare and hotel prices and decided that it would help take our minds off of school by getting away. When I come back I hope to feel a little less stressed and ready to study”. Wick believes that college students should travel but try to plan their trips out in a cost effective way. “If they feel they need to get out for a minute and can do so in a reasonably responsible way and that is by not maxing out a credit card then they should go for it,” says Wick. Traveling Abroad Wick says that traveling abroad is a good way to get away from school if you can get the loan money, and students can learn a lot from their traveling experiences. “My last endeavor to visit a friend in China was well worth it,” says Wick. “I had some extra school loan money and had been saving for a different trip that didn’t work out so I made a last minute decision to go. I learned more in a month there than I have in whole semesters at school.” The next deadlines for traveling abroad March 1 for 2010 fall semester programs and March 15 for 2010 summer programs. UW Milwaukee students can learn more about the financial aid for traveling abroad, important dates and trips at the website http://www4.uwm.edu/cie/. Benefits for college students to travel abroad: Earn credits toward your degree Meet people from around the world Gain perspective Explore the world Experience different cultures Learn another language Find out who you are and what you believe in Enhance your social skills With the ambition to plan a cheap trip or to travel abroad, UWM students continue to find ways to get away during their time off of school whether it is visiting their family and friends, working to save up for a vacation, or planning a trip to travel abroad. Mon, 21 Dec 2009 18:48:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=25429&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=25429&mname=Article No place for Myspace? By D'Andre Dawsey of the Frontpage Milwaukee staff Dec. 6, 2009 Take a quick glance around the student union at UWM and you will very likely see students checking up on their Facebook and Twitter pages via laptop or cell phones. What is missing from this picture is the social networking site that started the craze, Myspace. What started off as the go-to destination for entertainers and the general populace has lost its luster in the public eye. But what went wrong? As the popularity of Myspace grew, more and more bands flocked to the site to promote their music because of how valid the platform was, and to an extent still is for discovering new music. This has ultimately led to a bit of a problem for regular users on the site. Things such as “band spam” when artists and promoters constantly flood the posts section on pages has become a common and unwelcome occurrence for the last few years. What this has done is create a very unorganized and confusing climate for regular users as they struggle to simply find their friends posts amidst the plethora of flashing banners and other distracting band spam in their wall post sections. Along with this issue has been the rather time-consuming practice of creating an aesthetically pleasing personal page on the site, something that both Facebook and Twitter excel at. Why no place for Myspace at UWM? After conducting a brief online survey via Facebook (ironically enough), there were a number of more specific reasons from each student regarding why they do or don’t make use of MySpace. Sophomore Kayla Hardville mentioned reasons that led to her abandoning Myspace in favor of Facebook. She said, “Facebook is much more mature and the reason I stopped using Myspace was because it was very immaturely used and too many children are on it”. Junior Brent Green gave his reasons for not using the platform. He says, “I don't use it. I think it’s more feasible for people who are trying to promote something. It's boring compared to Facebook. Plus people are always on Facebook because it’s a lot easier to manage. Facebook always has something to keep people's attention span stuck on it”. Sophomore Blen Bayu mentioned how she gained no real benefit from using the social networking site. She states, “I had one but it was just so boring I never went on it and it eventually canceled itself...I feel Myspace is only beneficial/fun for people who do music”. Monica Cherry echoed this sentiment. She states, “I only use it to see what’s going on with my friends who do music, but other than that I check it like once a week if that”. So who can benefit? The big beneficiaries of Myspace in its current state are those in the entertainment business as stated earlier. UWM Junior Mario McCoy, a local rapper who goes by the name of ‘Pacino’, stated the way that he makes use of Myspace and also mentions how he sees a shift over to Facebook for entertainers as well. He says, “I use it for music and show postings. Myspace is still very popular in different regions and overseas and most promoters use it to further promote music. Facebook is more for personal use while the music population is slowly gravitating over.” Yet another problem? Along with the music population, numerous other entertainers and athletes are beginning to shift over to Facebook and Twitter as well. What this does is it creates another issue for the site as it will continue to lose interest and users over time as more and more people from the entertainment world switch over to “Tweeting” and creating Facebook pages were users can become “fans” and receive timely updates and more personal interaction. Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:52:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=25214&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=25214&mname=Article Working Hard to Not Let Work Interfere with School By Jessica Gaskey Of the Frontpage Milwaukee reporting staff Dec. 1, 2009 UW- Milwaukee Students are working hard this semester to make enough money to pay their bills during a recession without sacrificing their academics. While some students wish they could pick up more hours to pay their bills, other students are trying to reduce their hours to spend more time on school. Many students try to balance work and school but spend more hours a day working and less on academics. Students who take on extra work hours or have more than one job find difficulty in balancing school work. Some students who work on campus find that on campus jobs help balance school and work. Some on campus jobs permit students to study during their shifts. Others, who work off campus, see their jobs as a way to take their minds off of school for a while. UWM college students Krista King does it all. She says that her life is as balanced as it could be but says it makes her very tired. “I have a hard time making it to class when I work three jobs, play intramural sports, go to school, do my homework, and try to maintain a relationship and a social life with my friends,” says King. Balancing Work and School Working students’ academics can suffer by missing class, deadlines, and not spending enough hours studying due to working or being too tired from working. Some students find jobs that are flexible with school. Krista King looks focused and intense sitting at one of the many empty computer chairs in the JMC lab with headphones on. It’s dark outside and she looks like she’s in no hurry to be rushing this assignment. She has many papers crowding the computer, and a snack and caffeine are set off to the side for later. Krista King works 12-30 hours per week depending on school and what her job needs. She spends about 3-4 hours on studying per day. “I wish I was done with school and could work 40 plus hours per week,” says King. “I can't because of school, though I need to work more because of money. I'm paying 25% of all of my school and living as I go without a student loan. My dad's picking up the rest.” Taking On extra hours Students wish they could work more to be more economically stable but can’t because of school. Ashley Perez just started her second job and is almost up to 40 hours a week and says it’s hard balancing school. She wishes she worked less but cannot because she has to pay for school. “I don’t have much of a social life,” says Perez. “My husband complains that I don’t spend enough time with him, and it’s hard getting all of my school work in on time or else I have to stay up really late to finish because I’m at work.” On Campus Jobs Students see benefits in jobs on campus through being able to study during their shifts and having much flexibility with hours. JMC Lab Monitor Jason Kopplin sits at his desk looking very relaxed and comfortable. On this cold day he has on jeans, a sweater and a hat. His reading book waits on the desk and his laptop is open and humming. While Kopplin is at work, he can read and use his laptop. Jason Kopplin is not only a lab monitor on campus but also is the editor of The Post on campus. Kopplin gets a lot of homework done in the lab and has access to anything he needs. “I get paid for doing homework,” says Kopplin. “Working for the University, they are more understanding with your priorities.” Kopplin says that being a JMC Major is almost in itself like having a second job in needing to arrange interviews and use the lab for its media resources. “I have enough hours to still get work done in lab,” says Kopplin. “If I was just reading history books, I could take on more hours.” Perez works two off campus jobs where studying is not permitted but working on campus helps balance school and work. “I think it would be more beneficial because they are probably more understanding if you have to study, and if you have to go to work and go to school the same day,” says Perez. “You save time because you are already there.” Some students may be unaware of different campus jobs and never considered it. UW-Milwaukee Panther Jobs offers information about different jobs and work studies on campus. http://www4.uwm.edu/cdc/oncampus_jobsearch_guide.html Off Campus Jobs Some students prefer to work off campus to balance their school and work. They use work to take their minds off of school. In Starbucks, there is not one empty table while students are glued to their seats for hours with their papers, coffee and laptops covering the tables. A group of students are talking through problem with their eyes on each other’s work and coffee drinks untouched. Others type vigorously on their lap top. Stephanie Williams is working as a barista at Starbucks and not studying like the other students. She wishes she could work more but cannot because of school. “With having the campus be the center of most aspects of your life, I think off campus jobs are better,” says Williams. Erica Janczak just scaled down her hours because she says that sometimes she does not put as much time as she’d like into some of her bigger projects. Janczak cooks at a restaurant and says that she would never study at work. “It’s just a lot of juggling but they almost seem like a break from the other,” says Janczak. “At work, I’m not worrying about getting homework and studying done at that moment.” Through Erica Janczak’s lifestyle choices, she balances school and work through: · Taking at least one online class per semester · Sacrificing much sleep · Having less of a social life · Scheduling · Making a lot of lists on things she has to get done that day · Getting ahead by deciding what she can start to work on but doesn’t need to be finished that day Whether students must work extra hours, multiple jobs, on campus or off campus jobs to pay their bills, they are trying to not let it interfere with their academics. Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:24:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=25189&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=25189&mname=Article Maintaining a Social Life By Jessica Gaskey Of the Frontpage Milwaukee reporting staff Nov. 29, 2009   UWM Students are using studying and work as an excuse not to go out with their friends when really it is because they cannot support their social habits during the recession.   During the economic downturn students rethink their social lives in sacrificing old habits and creating new ones.  College students realize the need to go out, but not the need to spend their money on their social lifestyle.   Although students find the need to go out to balance school and work, they cannot always afford to and decide to stay in for a night.   While some use excuses not to go out to save money, other college students continue to spend money on their social habits even though they should not.   During the recession, students revaluate their social lives and look to find other ways to save money and have a social life to balance college life.  Other students use it as a way to stay ahead and focused in school.   UWM Student Matt Baudo tries to balance his social life with work and school, but one gets in the way of the other.   “I usually don’t go out because I have to work just to pay the bills,” says Baudo.  “Being a full-time student takes a huge chunk out of your work and you don’t get paid for going to school.”   Actually doing homework and working…   Student Elisabeth Johnson types away at school late at night.  She is joined by few students who do not say a word and are completely focused on the computer screen in front of them.  Comfortably in her chair, she has no plans of leaving soon.   Elisabeth Johnson goes out every other week because of her work schedule.  When she decides to stay in to save money she uses school or work as an excuse instead of telling her friends she does not have the money to go out.   “I feel bad,” says Johnson. “I usually make up some excuse that I’m working.  I’ll study but then I’ll start watching TV and before I know it, I have to go to work.”   Johnson wishes she could go out more but says that the cost of going out every week is not worth it compared to other necessitates she needs.  She said that she would enjoy it more if she had more money.   Necessity for college students   Young adults at a crowded round high table look around the room for someone in uniform.  As the clock ticks to the end of happy hour, they are silent. They pull out their money thinking of their next move.  The table is filled with empty glasses and a college football game blares in the background on several TV’s.    Having a social life as a college student can help balance out school and work, but can add up to money that college students need for other necessities.    Student Matt Baudo goes out about three times a week but stays home sometimes to save money and study.  He usually spends between $30 and $60 when he goes out and would go out more if he could afford to.   “I believe socializing is necessary to a college experience and going out in a city like Milwaukee is an experience in its own,” says Baudo. “We go out to dinner, concerts, films and bars.  We try to go to new places often instead of the same old place every week.”   In changing his social lifestyle, Baudo works more to afford his lifestyle to go to concerts and hang out with other friends who have the money to go out.   Sacrificing social habits   While some students may change to work hard to increase their income to maintain their social lives, others have to sacrifice their favorite social activities to save money.   Elisabeth Johnson changed her social lifestyle to save more money.   “I used to buy clothes, go to the movies every week and tip a lot at restaurants,” says Johnson. “I can’t even do the 15% tip anymore.”   Johnson says that it is not worth going out in compared to other necessities like food and toiletries.   College Student Kaleb Schwecke goes out about four or five times a week but sometimes tells his friends he’d rather stay in because he does not have a lot of money.   “I go out to bars, for coffee and out to dinner, says Schwecke. “I usually spend between $20 to $30 and I don’t think it’s worthwhile. I use to eat sushi all the time but not anymore.  I think students could save money by making dinner instead.”   Saving money with friends   Inside a bar near campus on a Saturday night, the bar is almost empty.  The cocktail waitress leans over a booth and socializes with her friends who came to visit her on this lonely night.  Outside the door the specials board is empty and upon entering is a new menu to college students filled with full-priced drinks.   In making sacrifices with some social habits, other students find new activities that help them save money but still have a social life.   Senior Grant Tillman has friends over a couple times a week to socialize with and says that he tries to go out only once a week.   “It‘s cheaper to stay in and drink with friends if you have the enough room to have them all over,” says Tillman. “If I do go out, it’s usually on Thursdays.  Its college night at a lot of bars and drinks are cheaper.”   College Students can take advantage of food and drink specials during the recession at different places in Milwaukee to socialize with friends.  The Milwaukee Bar Specials site shares a variety of different restaurants in Milwaukee with different specials throughout the week.    http://milwaukeedrinks.com/BarSpecials.aspx   Socializing with friends on a budget: ·         Making dinner instead of going out to eat ·         Movie nights at someone’s house instead of going to a theatre ·         Look to find free concerts by local bands ·         Walking down a popular strip with friends ·         Bowling ·         Look for specials on drinks and food   During the recession, college students continue to have a social life to balance out school and work.  With a necessity to go out, some students have to sacrifice activities of their social life to work and study hard in hopes of saving money to go out occasionally and in an inexpensive way. Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:13:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=25158&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=25158&mname=Article By Staci Staffaroni Of the Frontpage Milwaukee reporting staff Nov. 11, 2009 It is a brisk, blustery day in early fall, the holiday shopping season is over a month away but you would not know by the weather. It feels like late November, a time when the holiday shopping season is in full swing. However, inside the UWM Arts and Crafts Centre (ACC) things are warm, bright, and colorful. Brightly colored student artwork and craft projects fill the space. On canvas-covered worktables sit an array of materials…Epoxy Resin and hardener, casting molds, and Resin spray on the instructor’s table. Adjacent to the instructors table sit large bins filled with domestic and import beer bottle caps, vintage buttons, translucent beads, stones, paper with various prints, glitter and dyes of in a wide spectrum of colors, various tiny, found objects, and a large, dead bug. It is a Saturday in early October and the Resin Jewelry Workshop at the UWM ACC is about to begin. The students vary in age and consist of UWM students, Alumni, and community members. “I really enjoy teaching Resin because the workshop brings people into the Craft Centre that may not come here otherwise. Unlike a ceramic or metals class, casting resin for jewelry is not a complex process and does not require sensational creativity. Therefore, I see it as a very friendly workshop that anyone can do with no pressure,” said Ben Tyjeski, ACC instructor and Supervisor. Supplies and Instructions The workshop begins a short instruction session. Tyjeski provides a handout that list the materials: õ Silicone Molds (retail $4.79) õ Mold Release, also listed as Resin Spray (retail $6.57) õ Pigments (if you want to dye the Resin colors) (vary in cost) õ Easy Cast Epoxy Resin (retail $5.00 - $2100) õ Mixing cups, plastic stirring tools, toothpicks (can use household supplies, or plasticware) õ Measuring cups (retail $.065 - $9.00) õ Materials and objects to put into the Resin (household items, old jewelry) You may also purchase silicone-molding putty if you prefer to make your own molds. The instructor notes the materials may be purchased online at: http://www.creative-wholesale.com/. Locally, supplies can be purchased at Artist and Display. The handout also summarizes several steps to make Resin Jewelry. õ Choose a mold that would like to cast and spray with resin releaser. Wipe away any excess. õ Resin can be messy, be sure to place down newspaper first. Try to avoid spills and drips, and if they do happen, wipe away the excess. õ Place items you will be setting into the molds, or you may place them after you pour in the resin. õ Mix equal parts epoxy resin and hardener into mixing cup, stir thoroughly and in a controlled, relaxed manner to avoid bubbles. If you do create bubbles, you can apply a heat gun after the resin is in the molds. õ Carefully pour resin into molds; if you are adding pigments, you may do so at this point. õ Add materials to resin now if you have not already done so. õ After the resin pieces are cured (set), they can be drilled, bezelled, or set to create pins, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, etc. Once cured, resin pieces can be painted with acrylics. The instruction session lasts about 10 minutes and then the remainder of the workshop is for students to create and work on their pieces. The molds need to set for one day as the resin hardens. The Art of Resin Jewelry Tyjeski recommends “The Art of Resin Jewelry”, by Sherri Haab, to the class as a reference or for future resin projects. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lybSRHJUNU0) Many resin jewelry makers note her text as an excellent resource. Tyjeski notes that resin jewelry is far less expensive than other types of jewelry making. For example, in beadwork, some glass beads or crystals can cost upwards of $5 - $10 per bead. “I really feel it is a happy medium between beading and metals,” said Tyjeski. Creative, but not costly Moreover, nearly any small object can be set in resin. “My favorite "material" to put into resin are insects - it brings me back to when I would capture insects as a kid and with resin I can keep them preserved in a pendant forever! “, said Tyjeski. Common items set in resin pieces include bugs, coins, and hard candy. (http://www.craftbits.com/project/resin-cake-sprinkle-ring) Tyjeski notes you should try to keep the size small, about the size of a quarter or smaller, as many of the molds will not fit bigger items. Clarity Wyland, a recent Coe College graduate and Milwaukee resident, was eager to get started on her pieces during the work time. In addition to setting some of the items provided by the ACC, she brought some items from home. “I’m really excited to set these fortunes [from fortune cookies],” she noted. The total cost of materials to make resin jewelry is less than $50.00. Additionally, you will likely not need to spend additional money on items to set since you can find many items around your home. Handmade for the Holidays One need not be an art student to take on resin jewelry and with low costs, it seems resin pieces may be an inexpensive gift option. Some analysts are predicting the 2009 holiday shopping season will be worse than 2008. UW-Madison Professor and expert in consumer behavior and retailing Cynthia Jasper agrees. “I believe that retailers in particular are very concerned and there are estimates that shopping and spending for this holiday season will be lower than it was for 2008. It is estimated that shoppers, on average, will spend $740 on gifts, last year that figure was around $800…and the Gallup Poll is also indicating this season will be worse than 2008 and I would agree with that given how severe the recession is at this point,” said Jasper. Jasper is not the only one worried about the economy. In addition to the retail sector, many industries are still cutting jobs every month as the national unemployment rate nears double digits. Therefore, in hard times some turn to handmade. “I usually do handmade gifts… Every year I make my own holiday cards - drawing, stamping, and hand coloring. I used to make calendars, especially when I was younger,” said Wyland. In addition to Artist and Display, crafters can find supplies at local stores such as Hancock Fabric, Michael’s, and Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft. Resin jewelry aside, crafters have many options for both gifts and décor around the holidays. “Popular hand-made gifts for the holidays include scrapbooks, no-sew fleece blankets and food-crafted items. Our customers also knit stockings, scarves, socks and throws, and make ornaments and home décor items to give as gifts,” said Lorraine Schuchart, Manager of Public Relations for Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores. “Making your own holiday gifts is a good way to stretch your money and it’s often more meaningful to the receiver,” said Jasper. In addition to gift giving, some crafters try to sell their pieces to make extra money around the holidays. “I'll try to sell most of my pieces, although there are about four that I want to keep for myself or give as gifts to family,” said Wyland. The UWM Arts and Crafts Centre offers both 5-week long classes and single session two-hour workshops, such as the Resin Jewelry class. Both types of classes are open to UWM students and community members. They will be hosting a holiday craft fair, where ACC members and students can sell their work from Dec. 2 through Dec. 6. Sun, 15 Nov 2009 12:27:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=25003&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=25003&mname=Article By D’Andre Dawsey Of the Frontpage Milwaukee staff Nov. 2, 2009 How UWM Students are using social networking sites to get ahead on campus MILWAUKEE- On a campus where most students keep to themselves, a number of UWM students are making use of their favorite social networking sites to make beneficial connections at the school. Representatives for UWM’s Black Student Union are using Facebook and the blogger platform as ways to make connections on campus as and beyond. BSU Public Relations Officer Naomi Jackson has found Facebook to be a very welcome tool for connecting with the variety of student organizations here on campus. “I’ve been using Facebook for a while now and its helped us as an organization to make use of it as a whole as it makes it so much easier for us to link up with reps from other orgs for event invitations plus it’s an efficient way to share info when planning joint events since many people check their Facebook messages before they check their emails” she said. BSU Student Relations Officer Brent Green not only sees the benefit in using the site for interacting with other orgs but also for more basic needs such as marketing and interacting with members and potential members. “We use Facebook regularly when promoting parties and things of that nature by doing something as simple as putting up our fliers as profile pictures and to keep a strong level of communication between us board members and our general members by having discussions via our Facebook page and group page” he said. Students are also using the Facebook application to unite students on campus for causes. BSU and S.E.R.F. (Students Equalizing Rights Forever) President Clint Myrick has seen an immediate benefit in putting out the message of equality via the service. Speaking about how Facebook has helped in the formation of the S.E.R.F. organization (formerly known as the UWM Students and Faculty for Respect and Equality), Myrick said, “Just off interest in helping the cause we’ve been able to get nearly 500 members to join our group on Facebook which is a tremendous aid in helping us spread our message. Students such as Kwashon Carter, who not only is a student but also a musical artist, has used both Facebook and Myspace to reach out to others on campus to spread his talents. “Myspace was a decent as far as getting my music heard but as a college student I found it much easier to just hop on Facebook and talk to the people that I know on there and have met at UWM to promote because it’s easier to sell my talents to people that know me personally” he said. These are just a variety of the ways in which UWM students have made fruitful usage of the social networking sites they frequent Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:00:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=24780&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=24780&mname=Article By Tim MacKenzie of the Frontpage Milwaukee reporting staff 4/28/09 20 Years of Maps for Milwaukee International Fame UWM history professor and former chancellor John Schroeder gave a historic lecture on Tuesday, April 28th, and exhibited 150 year old maps exclusive to Milwaukee that put the university on the map for international research. This marked the 20th anniversary for the “Maps and America: The Arthur Holzheimer Lecture Series” at the American Geographical Society Library at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with the lecture event “Yankee Surveyors in Imperial Waters: The Perry Expedition to Japan.” The event took place on the third floor of the Golda Meir Library at 6:00 PM. Roughly 80 people were in attendance, although it was mostly an older crowd. Some students were given incentive to go with extra credit opportunities for classes such as Linguistics 200: Japanese Culture and Its Effect on Language. The presentations, sponsored by Arthur and Janet Holzheimer and the “Friends of the Golda Meir Library” board, are geared to bring international speakers to Milwaukee. The collection of maps is readily available for professors and instructors for setting up classes and seminars, making it a valuable academic resource. “It’s probably one of the world’s one or two great map collections,” said Schroeder. “In the 1970s it was moved to Milwaukee and it was housed in our museum. And we have researchers who come from all over the world to use the maps and the geographic resources in it, so it is an extraordinary gem for the university in Milwaukee.” The American Geographical Society originally started in New York in 1851 and was moved to Milwaukee in 1978, thus marking last year as the 30th anniversary. “It was interesting for me to look at the different perspective,” said Japanese Department Head Atsuko Suga-Borgmann. “I have always known about Perry visiting Japan from a Japanese point of view so it was interesting to see the other way around.” Maps and Ameri-what? Unfortunately, despite the international recognition and importance that this series gives to University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, not many students are even aware of its existence. Some say to not really care much either. “I think students wouldn’t really be aware of this,” said Kayla Wieseckel, a UWM freshman. “I wasn’t aware until sensei [my Japanese teacher] mentioned it. Most students probably wouldn’t care either. It seems like the sort of thing that’s obscure and tedious for a lot of students probably.” The point observed right away by faculty and students alike was the lack of publicity on the part of the library. Still, the lecture series is considered the largest annual event for the AGSL and the library staff is already composing ideas to improve student recognition. Mapping the Future “You know, we try our hardest,” said AGS Catalog Librarian Angie Cope. “We’ve been making a better effort to get news announced at the UWM webpage, we send e-mail announcements to the relevant departments, like geography, history, political science, even geosciences, and we really do try to inform the students…[at this event] it tends to be an older crowd, but that doesn’t mean students can’t attend.” The library also revealed other incentives. They offer day time events such as the Academic Adventures lecture series which is held four to six times each year. Also, a lot of the content from the library including maps and photographs is being uploaded and digitally shared with people across the globe. The AGS Library is located on the third floor of the Golda Meir Library and is open Monday through Fridays from 8:00 to 4:30. Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:07:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=23559&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=23559&mname=Article The World of Zines By: Ethan G. Krasnow April 30, 2009 Milo Miller, an information technology specialist, works at the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication (put URL on Journalism and Mass Communication: http://www4.uwm.edu/letsci/jmc/) out of his office in the basement of UWM’s Johnston Hall, but this high-tech employee actually creates something very low-tech: a self- published, inexpensively made document called a zine. These hand-crafted booklets by one or a few authors come in all different shapes, sizes, and colors, which and are motivated by self-expression. Miller began making zines in the Milwaukee area in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, and he suspects that only a few other people in the area created zines around the same time period. “The advent of the World Wide Web, looking at 1995, changed zines,” Miller said. “It has made distributing zines a lot easier.” In November of 2003, Miller and Christopher Wilde decided to create the Queer Zine Archive Project, or QZAP (put URL on: http://www.qzap.org/v5/index.php), a free online database of roughly 1,200 to 1,300 zines accessible to anyone with Internet access, interested in reading, downloading, or simply learning about zines. Max Yela, the special collections librarian at the Golda Meir Library, and member of QZAP, said zines’, “initial importances are about the idea of community, and about how zines are personal reflections and a particular idea on life.” UWM Associate History Professor Joe Austin said that even in the growing age of online media, these hard to make, do-it-yourself stories, remain something material that you can physically pick up and read. The Minority Media Association, or MMA, held a panel discussion with Miller, Austin, and Yela called “You haven’t ZINE anything yet!” on April 15 at UWM’s Merrill Hall to further explain zines. Miller explained his definition of a zine with an audience of about 10 members in a large lecture hall filled with flower-upholstered chairs that could seat nearly 100 students, “Zine is a small, self-published document,” Miller said. “What makes a zine a zine is that it’s created by one or a few individuals who are not beholden to anybody accept for themselves. They’re really vehicles for self-expression in a way that publications are not.” Yela, a short man with a tan face and sporting a blue sweater, added on to Miller’s definition by making one point clear. “Zines are not blogs,” he said. “They are two different media. There is a very personal space which is not necessarily found in the blogosphere. We demand better quality in commercial books than in zines.” Zines lack any constraints, allowing the author more creativity than a blog. An Elaboration of a Zine Please Miller said zines’ criteria, sets them apart from blogs, magazines, and newspapers. These include: • Existing outside the mainstream, often showing up in sub-cultures • Not costing a great deal of money to make • Portability • Not tied to a piece of machinery • Guides to making or doing something UWM Senior Benjamin Wick said he feels that the zine’s cultural importance comes from a lack of higher authority because the author’s, “do not have any restrictions. That means they don’t have to answer to anybody.” Zines tend to survive quietly, and only circulate around a small number of people, though sometimes, but not often, certain ones like World War III that started in 1979, do become mainstream magazines. “It is not common for people to start a zine thinking they would become a magazine,” Austin said. A zine consists of any topic the author wants to write about, or express in their work with complete independence. UWM Junior and President of MMA, Brandy Riley, said the importance of zines comes from, “the freedom of being able to express yourself for minimal costs, doing it, expressing yourself through an art form that is very unique.” That art form comes from the power of language. Expression, Communication, and Personalization of Ideas around the Globe Yela, Austin, and Miller all tried to impress upon audience members that zines express ideas through words. Many of them, according to Miller, even deal with issues people do not want to talk about, like some DIY (do-it-yourself) zines prior to 1995 that dealt with anal sex. “They put out ideas many folks are afraid of,” Miller said. Alluding to the same idea, Yela said zines “are another kind of materiality, another kind of way of presenting very personal and even sometimes ephemeral kinds of views and information.” Miller added later that many zines come from countries all over the world including, the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Australia, and France. He’s even seen zines come from small populated towns in the United States. “I have zines come from places you wouldn’t think a zine would come from,” he said. It’s the smaller towns in the U.S. They find importance in communicating since they are in a rural area rather than if they were in an urban area.” With the help of the Internet, these “zinesters” can now read and share their ideas with the creation of QZAP, whether they reside in Milwaukee, North Carolina, or in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Where Can One Try Finding Zines and Are They a Popular Movement in Milwaukee, Wisconsin? Miller does not think so. “I don’t think zines are ever a part of a popular movement,” he said. “I think that they exist out of necessity, and certainly, I think there’s a need in Milwaukee for zines, which is why we see people constantly producing them, and creating new published works.” That necessity is to continually enhance and enrich self-expression in a diverse city like Milwaukee, through people’s ideas about themselves, the cities they live in, and life. Many retail stores do not sell zines, though some libraries and independent bookstores may sell them. Usually through social networking, people find out about the location of zines, and where they can purchase them. For more information, visit Zine World at: http://www.undergroundpress.org/zine-resources/. Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:55:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=23551&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=23551&mname=Article By Chris Kreager Of the Frontpage Milwaukee reporting staff 2009 Blood Donors- A Youth Movement? KENOSHA- Carthage College Red Cross Blood Drive supervisor Sue Dull has a philosophy on how to encourage a younger demographic to contribute- get them to donate blood more frequently. “We’re seeing more younger donors because we’re targeting the high schools and the colleges now, but our more secure donors are ones that have been donating for years and years and years,” she said. “They seem to be more faithful and trying to get in every eight weeks. We’re trying to get the younger population to get in that routine as well.” Some of these eager young donors showed up at Carthage’s annual blood drive on a warm Wednesday afternoon. They had differing reasons for why they wanted to donate their blood to others. Some college students feel that they need to donate because there is a demand for blood and they want to help others. Carthage sophomore Madeline Moreau felt, “I just know that blood is always needed for people- there’s always people that need a transfusion, so it’s just to help people out if they need it.” Other students felt that they could contribute if their friends were also donating. “My friend was doing it and she wanted me to go with her,” said Tasha Bruner, also a Carthage student. One factor that can affect the number of donors is the recent economic troubles, at least according to these donors. “I don’t think it really has an effect on blood donations, especially not free blood donations, but maybe if the center offered money there might be more people that donated,” said Moreau. In contrast, Bruner feels that the slump might make people less likely to contribute. She said, “It might, like if people are grumpy and stuff and they don’t want to go out and help people.” While Goss feels that “people would donate more with the lower economy, because they want to try and control their lives as much as possible by helping others. They could better themselves.” Habitual donors feel the need to continue contributing their blood to the annual drive. “I have donated before, so I just wanted to,” replied fellow sophomore Jamie Goss. (For more reasons as to why people donate, visit the Red Cross at http://www.redcross.org.) These donors are familiar with blood drives, so they had their own opinions as to how age affects blood donation. Moreau states, “I think it does, just because the younger you are, I think it’s easier to recuperate from losing the blood when donating.” Likewise, Goss claims, “I think it is easier to take blood from younger people, but I don’t think it makes a difference.” On the other hand, some students feel that people may be too young to help out. “If you’re too young, you can’t give it cause you probably don’t have enough to share,” Bruner replied. Another possible effect on the number of donors is the differing seasons, for blood drives can take place during different times of the year. Moreau said, “I donate less in the summer just because I’m not at school and it’s really hot and uncomfortable to donate blood in the summer.” When asked if seasons affect her willingness to donate, Bruner replied, “When it’s cold, people probably don’t want to come out and get wet.” Similarly, Dull responded, “Most of our donations are higher in the fall and winter, and summer tends to be lower just because people are vacationing. Unfortunately, that’s when our need rises, because we have more accidents.” One thing that all of these people can agree on is how donors are checked to see whether their blood is good enough to be donated or whether it’s too anemic: finger-pricking. “We check their iron level, and it has to be at a certain level. Finger-pricking- that’s the iron test,” said Dull. (To learn more about iron level and anemia, visit http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/common/blood/009.html.) When asked how she was tested, Bruner simply replied, “They pricked my finger.” Despite the pain associated with the finger prick, people continue to donate their blood to a worthy cause. These people may have differing thoughts, but in the end, the way to donate is the same for everyone, regardless of age, season, or reason. Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:51:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=23548&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=23548&mname=Article The UWM Post to keep delivering news hot off the press By Caitlin Smith Of the Frontpage Milwaukee reporting staff 2009 UW-MILWAUKEE—Despite the economic recession and current state of the newspaper industry, Editor in Chief at The UWM Post, Jon Anderson, says he does not foresee the Post going entirely online any time soon. The cost of printing is more expensive than it was two years ago, and the Post is adjusting by adopting a more financially conservative outlook and by changing the way the paper is printed, says Anderson. “We’re not immune to what’s happening with newspapers in the U.S. Um, you know—we’re just as affected by the recession and the decline in advertising revenue,” says Anderson. Anderson says that along with adjusting to high printing costs, the Post has revamped its online site in the past two or three years. While walking through the Union, it’s not uncommon to see copies of the Post around. People reading articles or working on crossword puzzles while eating lunch or copies left open on empty tables are average sights of the Union landscape. “For the Post to go entirely online would be the death of the paper,” says UWM sophomore, John McCarthy. The UWM Post is dealing with a trend that is happening across the entire nation. Many local newspapers are going out of business or opting to go entirely online with their publications since the rise of Internet media. Since 2006, daily circulation of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has decreased by about 14 percent and Sunday papers have decreased in circulation by about 11 percent says assistant managing editor at the Journal Sentinel, Marilyn Krause. Printing Costs The Post prints with the company CSI Media LLC, says the Post’s business manager, Simon Bouwman. He says the Post prints 10,000 copies on an average week. It costs between $2,100 and $2,600 per week to print the Post, says Anderson. The Post has had a contract with CSI Media for the past two years and in that time, Bouwman says he has not seen any rate increases. Anderson, however, says the price of printing is more expensive with CSI Media than with the former printer they worked with two years ago. He says the Post has taken measures such as limiting page count and the number of pages printed in color to deal with the increased costs. The cost of newsprint has gone up about 40 percent in the past 15 months or so, says Krause of the Journal Sentinel. Online News It costs $60 a month for domain and hosting fees for the Post’s online news site, says Bouwman. He says it costs $400 per month to pay website technicians who update the website daily and make sure everything is running smoothly. “I’ve never—I didn’t know they had one,” says UWM Junior, Andy Schaefer when asked whether or not he visits the Post’s online publication. According to The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s website, a Monday through Sunday subscription to its print newspaper costs $17.98 per month versus $8.99 per month for a subscription to JSOnline. Chris Oeulahan, a middle-aged Milwaukee resident who works at Hartford Avenue Elementary School, says she has a subscription to the Journal Sentinel and picks up a copy of The UWM Post about twice a month. She says she prefers printed newspapers because they can be carried around. She also says that she feels online news is often truncated and that print news goes more in depth. While it is thousands of dollars less expensive for the Post to publish news online, Anderson says that from a business standpoint, the value of print ads are much more significant than online advertising. The Future of Newspapers The economic recession has hastened the crisis newspapers are facing, but other problems that pre-exist the recession have also contributed, says Michael Newman, a professor in the department of journalism and mass communication. He cites the concentration and consolidation of media ownership as one reason for the decline of the print newspaper industry. Newspapers as we currently know them may not exist 10 or 20 years from now, says Anderson, but he hopes that if the Post goes entirely online, it’s not out of necessity. “If you look at the changes of media formats and technologies in the past, it’s very rare that one thing replaces another. So, for instance, we might think that there’s no need for radio anymore because we have television, but we still have radio,” says Newman. “So you might think there’ll be no need for newspapers when we have online news, but, uh, I bet that we’ll still have them but they won’t look like they do now and there’ll be fewer.” Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:50:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=23547&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=23547&mname=Article By Tyler Greenblatt April 30, 2009 Of the Frontpage Milwaukee staff 36th Annual UWM Juried Art Show Art Show Commemorates the Work of Milwaukee Students MILWAUKEE – At the 36th annual Juried Art Show in the UWM Union Art Gallery, junior art student Sean Bodly had three pieces chosen for the highly selective show. The three jurors on the panel judged the show based on originality, creativity, and varied use of media. All judges agreed that they were impressed with the overall quality of the student work. “Overall, the level of art being produced by Milwaukee’s student artists impressed me,” juror Darryl Jensen of Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design said. “It is a testament to their dedication and the strength of Art programming at area institutions.” One-hundred-forty individuals were in attendance at the grand opening on April 23 to witness the judging of the over 100 pieces of student artwork. Among the artwork was the photography of deaf UWM student Catie Eller. The art on display ranged from paintings to sculptures and films to cultural mixed media pieces. Several pieces of student art were valued at over $1,000. UWM Students Proudly Display Their Work UWM faculty member Chris Skoczynski is a sign language interpreter with the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program in the Student Accessibility Center. She came to the gallery, tucked in the back corner of the Union, to view Eller’s work. Skoczynski said that she believes Eller can create a better and more unique image because she is hard of hearing. Eller’s work, including the photograph on display entitled Telephone booth, can be seen at the upcoming Expose(d) show throughout the entire month of may. Skoczynski strolls the main corridor of the gallery, stopping occasionally to reflect on a piece. One such piece is Insincere Apologies, an embroidery. “It’s called Insincere Apologies and it’s hand embroidered work with wood pieces hanging from it, I’m really very taken by that,” Skoczynski said. Judge Melissa Musante, executive Director of Milwaukee Artists Resource Network, praised all of the artists, saying that they were all doing great work and that it was important to keep growing and learning as artists. “It’s hard to pass judgment on which pieces should be in or out, especially when confronted with so many works by so many talented individuals,” Musante said. “I found myself appreciating styles I’d normally pass over because the work was so well executed and presented.” The Meaning of the Art When the gallery clears of spectators, Bodly has a chance to look at and reflect upon his own artwork. He stands next to his painting, The Council, his eyes darting from corner to corner, top to bottom. While looking at his work compared to the work of his peers, he said that it felt incredibly inspiring. “I am proud to have these works here and to have been chosen and selected by a jury,” Bodly said. “It’s a sign that I’m on the right track.” Executive Director of the Walkers Point Center for the Arts and art show judge Gary Tuma said he was impressed with the array of media presented to him for judgment. “I was very impressed with the overall body of the work submitted and encouraged by the creative forces at work within the university and among its students and would encourage artists to seek out exhibition opportunities in the future,” Tuma said. Ben Sonenblum is the assistant manager of the gallery as well as a UWM student in the art program. “We put advertising all over campus for art students to bring their stuff here and some of this is UWM students’ work that’s up in the gallery,” Sonenblum said. “Intro students and foundation students, every one of them, gets one piece in the show which is a nice honor for someone coming into the art world, or possibly going to be an artist, to have a little gallery experience.” For more information on events and displays, the Union Art Gallery website is unionartgallery.uwm.edu. Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:45:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=23543&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=23543&mname=Article By Rose Davis Of the Frontpage Milwaukee reporting staff May 12, 2009 Recycled Fashion to Honor the Earth Madam Chino struts down the runway wearing a strappy blue dress made of an old t-shirt that balloons out below her hips. As she spins away after pausing to pose (hand on her hip, knees bent in toward each other, looking very couture-esque) the audience glimpses the red, white, yellow and black MC Hammer patterned shorts sewn into the underside of the dress. The 28-year-old designer and former UW-Milwaukee art student, whose real name is Vanessa Andrews, showed her support for recycling and do-it-yourself fashion, two things that go hand-n-hand with the recent concerns of many people today: The environment and the economy. Andrews showed off her new designs at the Recycadelic Pspring Fashion Pshow in the UWM union concourse on the April 21 as part of Share the Earth, a weeklong series of events sponsored in celebration of Earth Day. Andrews has been in the business of do-it-yourself fashion for the past eight years, creating clothing out of low cost, recycled materials that she finds at thrift stores. She sells her clothes at Fashion Collective, a co-op that sells clothing and art. Her main claim to fame is the ‘t-shirt reclamation,’ she said, which benefits the environment by reusing clothing that that may have otherwise been sitting in a landfill. “I think that what she’s doing with fashion is really interesting in terms of looking at how to take old clothes or cloth that no one would be using and turning it into something new,” said Lynda Corbin-Pardee, manager for UW-Milwaukee union programming, who brought Andrews’ show to campus. And it seems that students like Andrews’ methods as well. “I think it’s really cool,” said UWM student, Maiyer Yang. “Recycling is good.” Do-It-Yourself Wearing a red flannel shirt with half of the sleeves replaced by socks, a male model dances down the runway to the beat of the drums of De La Buena musicians. His collar is popped, filled with extra stuffing to provide warmth while bike riding, said Andrews. The pockets in his shirt are made of socks. “Sockets,” said Andrews, adding that she trademarked the term. Andrews began designing clothing eight years ago, while she was a student at UWM. “It was sort one of those things where I just wanted to make my clothes fit me better,” Andrews said. “I found that to be really empowering because I felt really good in the stuff I was wearing ‘cause I looked good in it. You can dress really fancy, but if you don’t feel comfortable, you’re not going to shine like you want to.” She said she saves money by making clothes herself and others could easily do the same. Many students and others may find this appealing during these hard economic times when they may not have extra money to buy new clothes, Andrews said. “’Necessity is the mother of invention’ and my mom always taught me that,” Andrews said. “I think that when you get in the situation where you need to do stuff like that you get really creative.” Andrews is working to share her knowledge of DIY with students on campus by teaching art classes in the Studio Arts and Craft Center. “I think there’s a lot of interest in it,” Corbin-Pardee said. “I think Vanessa was really on the forefront of the whole do-it-yourself movement, and so we brought her in. She teaches a DIY fashion series.” The series teaches students a variety of skills including: • Basic sewing • T-shirt reconstruction • Jean re-fitting “I think it’s great for students to learn that you can go to Value Village and get a 50 cent t-shirt and kind of snip it here and sew it there and all the sudden you’ve got something that looks pretty cool,” Corbin-Pardee said. Helping the Earth In addition to her money-saving ideas involving DIY, Andrews also saves money, and helps the environment, by recycling old clothing. “Recycling is great because not only is it saving stuff from getting buried in the trash but also creating new pieces to sort of circumvent extracting new materials from the Earth,” Andrews said. She said that most of her clothes come from thrift stores or as hand-me-downs. This reuse could be seen in many of the fashions on display during the show. A model in a white dress and red braided headpiece sashayed down the runway and, as she returned to her male partner at the opposite end, the upside-down words “I ? Tater Tots” could be seen just above her hem. Though Andrews enjoys making clothing, in the beginning, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to get involved with the fashion industry. “I really wanted to steer away from fashion at first because it was sort of this field where there’s a lot of vanity and social irresponsibility with money, production, sweatshop labor and stuff like that,” she said. “I wanted to kind of take that into my own hands and do it in a different way.” Andrews got together with other designers who were just starting out on their fashion journeys and opened Fasten Collective, a co-op of clothing artists, and other artists as well, in Bayview. She said they wanted to offer affordable, accessible art for the people. This is where some of the clothes from the fashion show will go. What doesn’t end up in the store will be sold on Andrews’ Etsy, “basically an e-bay for handmade items,” she said. “It’s an accessible way for independent designers to get their stuff out there.” Bringing Them Together Many of the 60 chairs set up for the event remained empty during the fashion show, but a crowd of students encircled the stage and watched from the stairways overlooking the concourse. They may have been drawn by the sound of the rhythms of the drummers from De La Buena, who accompanied the models as they danced, glided and sauntered down the runway in a parade in the order of the colors of the rainbow. Some students who attended the event found Andrews’ designs and fashion values appealing. “I love it,” said Marta Weber, a UWM student. “I think it’s important to consume as little as possible, there’s so many clothes already out there and I think reconstructing them is the best way to go.” Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:41:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=23540&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=23540&mname=Article By Page Fortier Of the Frontpage Milwaukee reporting staff 2009 Invasive species choke out native plants and decrease biodiversity. That’s usually the case most, if not all, of the time. But there’s another side. They can be taken advantage of to make money, medicine, and food. Various organizations all across Wisconsin, like the Invasive Plants Association of Wisconsin (IPAW), organize community events to pull invading plants. Instead of throwing them away, these plants can be utilized as an alternative way to strengthen the economy and native habitats. Some invasive plants in Wisconsin possess qualities that can be made into natural medicines and tinctures. If you’re hungry instead, they can be made into a variety of dishes from appetizers to desserts. Uwe Reinhard, a economics professor and health policy expert at Princeton University thinks the new surge in vitamin and herbal supplement sales is part of a "consumer-directed health care" system, where people are taking more preventive health measures because of higher health insurance deductibles. So money is made and saved. According to the EPA, invasive species cause harm to the economy, environment, and human health. The United Nations says invasive species are second only to direct habitat destruction as the greatest threat to decreasing global biodiversity. Lindsay Frost is a junior majoring in Conservation and Environmental Science at UWM. She is also pursuing Environmental Education. She knows the importance of not letting resources go to waste. “Well my main feeling is that with invasive species, were already going to be moving them and taking them out them we might as well, find a good use for something that’s already there,” she said. Buckthorn Buckthorn is a tall shrub or small tree that can reach up to 25 feet and grows aggressively Wisconsin. The Invasive Plants Association of Wisconsin (http://www.ipaw.org/ ), says Buckthorn • Destroys wildlife habitat • Replaces native vegetation • Forms an impenetrable understory layer • Causes long-term decline of a forest by preventing the growth of native tree seedlings According to IPAW Buckthorn can be used as a gentle astringent for skin problems and is used to treat constipation or as a cathartic. Kate Nelson, UWM’s first Environmental Sustainability Coordinator has “a lot of experience pulling buckthorn or cutting buckthorn and pulling garlic mustard, taking care of reed canary grass, and all kinds of things.” She highlighted another use for Buckthorn. “We’ve got tons of buckthorn in Downer Woods and one of the things I’d love to see happen with Buckthorn is become a waste to energy product. I think turning it into waste product into energy would be a great thing.” In December last year, the Minnesota DNR put on a program to combine habitat restoration with biomass energy products. They started by burning 40 acres of Buckthorn which creates heat and electricity. Purple Loosestrife Purple Loosestrife is a perennial herb with purple flowers. It is extremely invasive and hurts Wisconsin in three main ways, • Outcompetes and replaces natives grasses, and other flowering plants that provide a higher quality food for wildlife • Lowers recreational and aesthetic by clogging water ways and decreasing biodiversity • Restricts growth of endangered plants in wetlands This herb offers a lot. It can lower blood-glucose levels, and be used in addition to diabetes treatment. The Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants says that modern research has shown that the plant is antibiotic and effective against the micro-organism that causes typhus. The DNR says Purple Loosestrife is also a cleaning and healing wash for wounds, ulcers, and sores (think camping/backpacking). It also can treat diarrhea and dysentery. Garlic Mustard Garlic Mustard is an exotic herb and is a major threat to Wisconsin’s woodlands. It shades out other plants and also produces chemicals that can keep other plants from growing around it. One of the benefits of Garlic Mustard is that it can be used as a garlic flavored herb and is high in vitamin A and C. There are many Garlic Mustard recipes (http://www.ma-eppc.org/weedrecipes.html) like salsa, pasta sauces, soups, and salads. Maybe the dish Kate Nelson made will become a hit. “When I worked for a private firm we pulled garlic mustard, chopped it up, and we turned it into pesto for our staff meeting potluck,” she said. Autumn Olive This shrub or small tree grows fragrant, ivory-yellow flowers produces sweet/tart berries. This plant fixes nitrogen in the soil whose canopy shades the ground making it very hard for other species to grow. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the berries have 17 times the lycopene of tomatoes, vitamins A, C, E, and can be made into jams. From Prescription to Natural With the economic downturn and rising prescription drug costs, many Americans have been following the trend of buying more natural to save money. Professor Reinhard thinks the increase in vitamin and herbal supplement sales is to avoid buying expensive drugs. Peggy Stewart, owner of “Sense of Balance,” an herb, spice, and tea store in Superior, MI says using fresh ingredients helps her capture “all the medicinal constituents at the peak of their potency.” She helps her local economy by producing jobs for people growing the herbs, and picking, packaging and selling them. As a state, Wisconsin could explore harvesting natural alternatives from invasive plants as a new avenue to make money and preserve native habitat. Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:37:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=23538&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=23538&mname=Article Robert McChesney Gives Press a Failing Grade By Joe Ford Of the Frontpage Milwaukee reporting staff 2009 Milwaukee- Robert McChesney called for a ‘stimulus plan for the press’ in a speech he gave at Marquette University Tuesday. “Credible press and legitimate journalism are absent from the American scene,” he said. McChesney is Professor of Journalism at the University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign, and author of 16 books and numerous articles on journalism and the business of the press. He hosts a weekly talk radio show and is co-founder of Free Press. McChesney spoke to about 50 area students, faculty and working journalists and outlined his critical juncture theory. “When more people know how many toilet paper squares Octomom uses every morning than the $2 trillion bailout … our news media have flunked the test,” he said. Education received some of the blame. “The training model is going over the cliff,” McChesney observed and claimed academia has its “head in the sand hoping the crisis passes.” McChesney would like to see more money go to high school and college media production programs to promote a better understanding of the field. He called attention to a Nation magazine article by John Nichols about stimulus package pandemic funding. “Great journalism,” he said noting how the piece was, “instantly amplified on line,” and is an example of, “the beauty of journalism working with the Internet.” Stephen Byers teaches journalism at Marquette and advises student print and online media. “He has a very firm opinion that may be right and may not be right,” Byers said. “I’m in agreement that the current system does not work. Subsidies might work.” David Brinker is a 21 year-old senior in Marquette’s Public Relations department and he’s a fan. “I was excited to see the foremost scholar in media policy and structural issues come to Marquette.” Brinker shared his opinion on education, “I think we need a more academic emphasis…to encourage people to study the profession from a critical perspective and from a regulatory perspective.” McChesney’s lecture centered on the critical juncture theory as it applies to media and society in general. Critical Juncture McChesney explained the critical juncture theory as a period when “old institutions and mores collapse.” The theory is accepted in history and the social sciences and explains how social change works. He concludes that critical junctures in media and communication happens when 2 or 3 of the following occur: • New communication technology replaces existing systems. • Journalism content is discredited. • There is political crisis with extreme social inequality. Digital technology is fast replacing analog broadcast and print systems. Journalism has been called into question on issues ranging from the war in Iraq to Octomom’s toilet paper. The political crisis began with the questionable election results in 2000 and continued through most of the Bush era. Social inequality is taking on sharper focus with the taxpayer backed trillion dollar bailout and million dollar bonuses alongside cutbacks in social programs, job losses and pension and retirement fund depletion. When asked what the country’s economic problem does to his theory he said, “It sort of puts it on steroids. The missing ingredient is whether you have a social collapse and we’re in it.” McChesney spoke of the “severe crisis in journalism” pointing to the loss of 15 thousand journalists per year. He called current times “the darkest moment in newspaper publishing history.” He gave a brief account of the demise starting in the 1960’s as corporations recognized huge profit potential in the newspaper industry and began to take control of the press. In the 1980’s newspapers experienced a 50 percent reduction in pressroom staff with corporations “milking profits from papers.” The cutbacks led to a decline in quality. The ‘90’s saw ad revenue start to fall and “corporate and commercial pressures brought down the industry.” The ‘60’s and 70’s were “the high water mark of journalism,” McChesney proclaimed. Soon MBA’s moved into the newsroom and now, “More people know about Susan Boyle than the $2 trillion of your money we just gave shareholders at 10 banks.” Television news was dismissed. “The less said the better,” was his only comment. McChesney argued, “If we’re going to change journalism in this country it’s going to require a degree of politicization that more, not everyone but a lot more people suddenly realize they need information to live in a world that’s livable. The process goes hand in hand, the audience changes with the media. You don’t take one independent of the other.” He quoted concerns of the founding fathers Madison and Jefferson who agreed, “You can’t have a healthy democracy without a healthy press.” To hear McChesney tell it, nowadays, we got the flu. Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:35:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=23537&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=23537&mname=Article Herbal Remedies for Some and Modern Medication for Others By Jessica Gaskey Of the Frontpage Milwaukee reporting staff 2009 Local artist and Anthropology Major Anna Connors introduced herbal remedies where as an alternative to modern medication that cures common illnesses and improves overall health in the body besides the illness. Connors showed her collection of homemade herbal remedies which consisted of spices, plants and herbs. She uses the remedies for common illnesses and overall health in the form of lotions, oils, teas, juices or sometimes a single drop of the mixture is effective. Herbal remedies are a natural form of traditional medicine without certain side effects that come from chemicals in modern medicine. Modern medication treats specific illnesses. Herbal remedies promote health and well being, and they can cure multiple problems. About 17 people made up of students and the public, gathered in the UWM Union Wisconsin Room Lounge last Tuesday to hear Anna Connors speak on her experiences with using and making herbal remedies. With the growing concern of prescription drug use on campus, the speech promoted alternative natural ways to help overall well being. The Union Sociocultural Programming sponsored the event. Herbal remedies precede modern medicine, therefore; they do not cure life-threatening illnesses. The Remedies In the front of the room, different colored bottles, plants, herbs and jars covered a long table. The public eyed up the mixtures and waited for Connors to identify them. During the event she passed out remedies such as oils and lotions for the audience to test on their skin. Connors showed the audience how to make remedies with simple ingredients and passed out typed herbal remedies recipes which called for ingredients found at grocery stores. Carla Cadet is the Sociocultural Program Director at UWM and experiments with herbal remedies. “One of the things our presenter talked about was drinking chamomile tea and that’s something that I often do if I feel like I want to sleep,” Cadet said. Something like that you can find at Pick N’ Save. Milk thistle, I’ve been able to get it in just the tea form at outpost and there is not much preparation except boiling the water.” Some other ingredients and remedies that the Connors presented are • Dandelion-good for digestive track, liver and is an appetite stimulant • Comfrey-reduces swelling, pain of external injuries and stops bleeding • Peppermint-used to stay awake and help stomach pains • Ginger-remedy for nausea, motion sickness and digestive problems • Chamomile-treats stomach, intestinal cramps and sleeplessness • Passion flower-used for anxiety, stress and insomnia • Pennyroyal-helps digestive system • Honey-used for back aches and relieves throat • Ginkgo-relief for Tinnitus and treats conditions of memory loss • Olive oil and canola oil- to make oils and lotions • Garlic-cures colds, soothes coughs, lowers cholesterol and reduces blood pressure • Milk Thistle-used as an antioxidant, for acne and helps with liver problems The Effects For common illnesses such as the cold, flu, cough, or pains, modern medications have labels with side effects such as Drowsiness, nausea or sleeplessness. Recipes for herbal remedies call for natural ingredients and do not contain chemicals that produce side effects. “Comfrey is really good one,” Connors said. “Comfrey is a heal all. It’s really good topically ingesting. It goes to all your systems and sorts them out in a way that they need to be sorted out without hurting your body, without putting chemicals in your body and it tastes good.” UWM student Dan Porth, who attended the lecture, confirmed that some modern medications produce side effects. “The only negative effect I’ve ever got from over the counter medication is probably keeping me up at night is from Advil,” said Porth. The Overall Health Benefits Connors explained while doctors prescribe medicine that is specific to your illness, herbal healing treats a lot of things. “One of the really wonderful things about herbal medicine is that opposed to over the counter medication or prescription medication, it treats multiple problems,” said Connors. “A lot of the things doctors will prescribe are very specific.” Herbal remedies works for some, while modern medications works for others. Porth does not use herbal remedies but believes in the positive impact it has on the body and has used different teas as a remedy. Since he is unaware of the effects of herbal remedies and how to prepare recipes, He continues to use modern medication. “I’m pretty satisfied with my health using over the counter medications and such that I don’t think I need them,” said Porth. “I think I’d stick with the over the counter medication because it’s been tested so much by the government.” The Individual Herbal remedies are an alternative to modern medication for common illnesses and overall health but do not cure all illnesses that modern medicine can cure. “I think one of the great things our presenter talked about was if it’s an ailment or something that’s really serious definitely talking the advice of medical experts and doctors, if that would require western medicine or stuff over the counter or anything through a hospital,” Cadet said. “At times herbal remedies can help supplement some of those treatments.” Cadet’s father has type 2 diabetes and has been able to stay healthy without the use of insulin medication with the use of natural remedies. He teaches her about herbal remedies. “I think it’s something that’s based on every individual,” says Cadet. “There are individuals that pills and capsules work, and there are individuals who would go the route of herbal remedies and it works or it may not work.” Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:33:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=23535&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=23535&mname=Article Nonprofit Research UWM professors and a UWM graduate find that previous thought may be incorrect By Jacob Kluth Of the Frontpage Milwaukee reporting staff, 2009 Professors Andrew Holman and Douglas Ihrke held an event recently about the preliminary findings of research they have conducted on nonprofit organizations. Their data, which was broken down and quantified at the event, showed that the risk should be reduced with a decreased amount of revenue diversity. The event was entitled “The Influence of Revenue Stability and Diversity on Financial Health of Nonprofit Organizations”. The professors hosted a variety of different audience members, from different scholars from UWM to students that have helped with their research. There was also a UWM graduate who helped with the research. Nathan Grasse, who is now a professor at Georgia Southern University, was not at the event. Though the research that he, and the UWM professors found they hope will help nonprofit organizations during this recession. Many, if not all, nonprofit organizations believe that only through revenue diversity will they reduce the risk of going under. They believe it helps increase the flexibility if external forces, such as our declining economic times, influences one of their revenue streams. These organizations believe that the only way to survive is to have as many different revenue sources as possible. Andrew Holman is an Adjunct professor with expertise in nonprofit accounting and financial management. He shared how he came to their findings. “There is no correlation;, there is no relationship between revenue diversity for the sector as a whole for nonprofits and revenue diversity.” said Holman, “There is a significant correlation for those that able to master certain income streams and over time, the six year time period be successful with certain ones. There is a definite correlation between that ability and their bottom line.” Importance of Nonprofits The research was supported by the Helen Bader Foundation. For more information about the Helen Bader Foundation, visit www.hbf.org. Shelly Shnub is the associate director for program management and development with the Helen Bader Institute for nonprofit at UWM. She has worked with nonprofit organizations for years and was really excited to be working with these professors and to hear what they have found. She cited various reasons of why nonprofit organizations are important. “I think they are one of the most important contributors to the health of any community.” stated Shnub, “They do so much to improve our lives, they support our government and they support the private sector.” The focus of the research is to keep nonprofit organizations up and running. In their presentation, they shared the importance of nonprofit finance. They believe as economic conditions place additional pressure on nonprofit organizations, their finances are of increased importance. This also increases the importance of pursuing revenues. The point that they emphasized the most was that nonprofits need the best possible information to make choices, which is what they wanted to accomplish. Data The data used in this research was from the National Center for Charitable Statistics from 1998 – 2003. Douglas Ihrke is a political science professor with expertise in nonprofit administration, governance and human resource management. He was very enthusiastic, for both his interview and while he was lecturing on his research. He commented on the question of if he believes if things may have changed since 2003. “Most definitely. I think the economic downturn that we have been experiencing, or recession, would definitely be something we want to look at.” stated Ihrke, “We are somewhat controlled by what data is available. This is where we’re at for now.” Both professor Holman and professor Ihrke added that they are also limited to the information they have because many of the years after 2003 have not been digitized. Also, they may find varying results because this event was only a preliminary report on the information that they have been researching. They are still in the process of researching how special events impact nonprofit organizations. One of the audience members in attendance added during the presentation that this research will be the stake that is the Dracula that is revenue diversity. Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:31:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=23533&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=23533&mname=Article Postcard Campaign By: Erika Guenther Of the Frontpahe Milwaukee staff, 2009 Milwaukee – Despite the exclusion of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on the U.S. News and World Report’s list of the Midwest’s best colleges based on freshman retention rate, the school’s Department of Recruitment and Outreach’s postcard campaign held on Tuesday, April 28 gave those involved a sense of hope. Held amid the traffic of the union concourse, the campaign’s focus was to allow current students to reach out to perspective students in their same fields of study. Aside from the unique ability for students to connect with their high-school counterparts, admissions advisor Selene Jaouadi-Escalera says that the campaign was a good way to make the department’s presence on campus known. As freshman Nellie Worden fills out her postcard containing words of wisdom to the recipient, she explains why she personally chose UWM. “I knew that they have a really good art department,” Worden said. “They’re always pushing for new things, and it’s really about getting to know the community. They have so many different artists and poets, and they want us to get involved with the city rather than just the school.” “As the face of the university, we do general recruitment through high schools as well as some organizations in the city,” Jaouadi-Escalera said. “My general job description is more along the lines of going to high schools to do presentations, going to college fairs working with local organizations to do different types of financial aid events, admissions events and working one-on-one as an advisor with high school students.” The Department of Recruitment and Outreach has primary responsibility for coordinating and carrying out UWM recruitment efforts targeting prospective undergraduate traditional aged students. As a state institution, the vast majority of students that come to UWM are in-state students, so the department has several recruiters that work all over the state, as well as in Minnesota and Illinois. Jaouadi-Escalera says that people tend to compare UWM to UW-Madison, so they focus on what Milwaukee has to offer in order to make that separation. “We like to focus more on our urban location as well as the research opportunities that are available, and other professional opportunities that are only going to be available in an urban setting,” Jaouadi-Escalera said. Katie Miota works closely with the Department of Recruitment and Outreach in the admissions office as the high-school student services coordinator. She agrees with Jaouadi-Escalera, adding, “UWM is a really interesting place, it’s really large, not as big as Madison, but still a lot of students from the Milwaukee area don’t realize how cool it is to be here and it still is that college experience. We have a lot of support systems, a lot of diversity and a lot of diverse clubs and things you can do.” UWM will welcome roughly 4,300 new students for the 2009-2010 school year, which is up a few hundred from last year. Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:30:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=23532&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=23532&mname=Article By Cayla Ganter, of the Frontpage Milwaukee reporting staff Recycled Fashion The sleeves were cut off and replaced with tube socks. The remaining material was put around the collar, and visors were used for the hood. A fashion designer showed off her innovative work in honor of Earth Day, during a show on Tuesday at UWM. Vanessa Andrews and her models strutted down the runway in completely recycled fashion. Drums played in the background as a community of artists joined together. Andrews displays her designs through teaching classes at the craft center and creating clothes at a store called Fasten. She also has an Etsy, which is similar to e-bay, but for hand-made items. Fasten was opened because of a couple of emerging artists. They wanted to make their designs affordable and accessible, says Andrews. She also says people have been more interested since the economic crisis. “I think its just cause I save money, people would save money and they still can keep their high, fancy, good taste,” says Andrews. The, “Recycadelic Pspring Fashion Pshow” was held in the UWM union on Tuesday, April 21. It featured men and women’s clothing made entirely out of recycled materials. Andrews is the designer and her line is called Madam Chino. She is now 28-years-old and has been designing for the past eight years. “I just started really small time, we opened Fasten and I only had eight pieces,” said Andrews. Andrews says she gets very busy around earth week because of the nature of her work. She likes to use the do-it-yourself (DIY) ethic when it comes to recycling. She says, “Recycling is great because not only is it saving stuff from getting buried in the trash, but also creating new pieces. Sort of extracting new materials from the earth.” Allison Hochmuth, a student at UWM says, “I think it’s just another way that people are trying to make earth consciousness hip.” The clothes shown were made out of other clothes from thrift stores and hand-me-downs. Andrews says she wanted to make clothes that fit better and that were comfortable. She also wanted to break the stereotype of fashion being an expensive and snooty thing. Clothes That Feel Good The driving force behind Andrews line was that she wanted to make clothes that felt good to wear. “It was one of those things where I just wanted to make my clothes fit me better, and then I felt that to be really empowering,” she says. Andrews did not always want to get into fashion; she had always seen it as a field that included vanity and social irresponsibility with money and production. “I wanted to take that into my own hands and do it in a different way, and more help people feel happy about what they’re wearing and feel good about themselves in it,” she said. Andrews goes by the motto necessity is the mother of invention. She says when you are in a situation where you don’t have the means to go buy something you can get very creative. “It’s amazing to me, it’s like origami,” Andrew says. One of the pieces that Vanessa says is her claim to fame is the t-shirt reclamation. She would set up her sewing machine and do it right in the union sometimes. “There are so many million ways to recreate the shirt and fit it to different proportions,” she says. Andrews says it is an awesome thing because of how inexpensive and accessible t-shirts are. Jessica Helgesen is a student at UWM. She says, “I think it’s a really good idea to take clothes apart and put them together cause you get more creative designs and the cloths are more unique. So, I think it gives the clothing more flare and more flavor.” A Community of Artists Milwaukee has a community of artists that ban together at all times. This is how a group of drummers got involved with the fashion show. Dena Aronson, David Wake and Cecilio Negron Jr are a group of percussionists that have been playing together for 10 years. Negron says they belong to a really tight nit community of artists where everyone knows each other. These artists include, • Musicians • Visual artists • Poets • MCs • Designers They played an upbeat rhythm in the background. It added a sense of theater to the show as the models pranced around on stage. They also feel the show was important because of its connection to Earth Day. Negron says, “It’s definitely a new found awareness for me within the last five or six years. The importance of understanding our connections to the earth.” Andrews says they do many fashion shows over the year and will continue to try and get recycled fashion out there. Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:25:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=23531&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=23531&mname=Article Only Student Copy Center Closes By Andy Ambrosius 2009 of the Frontpage Milwaukee reporting staff IKON Express, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s only on-campus student copy center, has quietly asked to terminate its contract midway through a five -year deal because of less student use and significantly less income. “I’d prefer if it’d rather stay. I mean it’s right there, it’s on campus, and I think it’s easy for a lot of students to use. And, it’s accessible and everything,” says UWM sophomore Jenna Sebald, who admits she never used the copy center, nor needs one. The student copy center is located on the first floor of the UWM Union, near the Panthercard office and the Grind. It provides copies, bindings, laminations, and other services to students for a fee. IKON will close at the end of the 2009 spring semester. It is unclear what will take the printing center’s place, but the women working there were shocked to learn the store was closing, later finding out they will not be given a new job at UWM or IKON Office Solutions, Inc. The terminated contract comes at little surprise to students who knew it existed but never took advantage of the resource. Some students are sad to see it go, although over the past four years there’s been an overwhelming decrease in its popularity and use. Some officials think the dwindling use is due to the prevalence of electronic files at UWM, including the university’s incorporation of drop-boxes on class websites. This form of submitting assignments has lowered use of coin-operated copiers around campus as well. With how much students use these two resources, paper copies might soon be history. Fiscal Decision Sue Petersen, the contract manager for Auxiliary Services, says the IKON has seen a noticeably large decrease in sales over the past few semesters, justifying a withdrawal midway though a contract meaning to last until 2011. Petersen also says IKON didn’t have to pay a termination fee when representatives for the store confronted her. “The reason is lack of business, basically. They’re not making money. They’re basically losing money,” says Petersen. The school gets income for renting the space by charging the IKON Copy Center one of two different ways. As stated in the contract, the corporation must pay whichever sum is larger: Pay $12,000 annually ($1,000 a month), or Pay a percentage of its net sales based on how much is sold. Seven percent if sales are between $0 and $175,000 Nine percent if sales are between $175,001 and $200,000 Eleven percent if sales are $200,001 or greater Petersen says lately the store makes the minimum payments of $1,000 a month. And IKON isn’t the first victim of decreased copy use. Petersen mentioned that nearly seven years ago the campus moved from 23 on-campus coin operated copiers to 10 because of lack of student use. However, with fewer accessible copiers and the copy center shutting down, students who frequently utilize this resource might be temporarily out of luck. A new coping service for students might not appear on campus at all next semester. “I think they’ll probably have to go off campus, unfortunately,” says Linda Hausladen, the Union Licensing Manager. “Unless there’s a big enough need that someone else will come in, but I don’t think that right now there is that interest.” Interest may be low because more classes are moving toward homework submissions online. Large classroom readings and assignments have also transferred to the campus website. “I think it’s been slowly declining particularly because of the increase in electronic media,” says Hausladen. “As far as the course materials, I think more and more has gone electronically.” There might not be an interest to bring another service like IKON in the future which is why Petersen is improvising. The UITS Print & Copy Services in the basement of Mitchell hall is little known to students working outside departments and organizations. It provides the same services as IKON does, only much cheaper and only for people with a university account. “We’re working with the copy services to see how students can use Mitchell because that would be the next logical place, and it’s the closest to the union,” says Petersen. Simply Fired While a decision has yet to be made concerning student access to printing, one has been made about the women currently working at IKON. They will not be relocated, leaving two employees jobless. “We were never given a complete reason on why (it was closing),” says Kelli Aber, an employee at UWM’s IKON. “It all has to do with how we don’t make a ton of money at this site. They’re not relocating me. I’ll get a new job, but not with IKON.” Hausladen and Petersen both say UWM has no control over the employees at IKON. They say the women work for the office corporation, not the university, so relocating them is not UWM’s problem. “They will probably transfer to a different store,” says Hausladen. “IKON is a corporate and they have different operations. But I’m sure they will get the opportunity to move to a different store if they so choose.” However, contrary to Hausladen’s belief, the two women will be let go when the store closes. Student Opinion IKON may be closing, but some students are oblivious. Compared to the 2006 UWM Annual Union Survey, the amount of students that even know the copy center exists dropped more than 34 percent. Some students know it’s there but rarely use it. “I just print my stuff off at the library now,” says sophomore Jake Warren. “We could put something that we actually want to use in there, like a 24-hour computer lab.” Jake is one of the only students interviewed who doesn’t want IKON to say. Although some students say they never use it, others are concerned about it leaving. “It was nice to have one just in case you needed something done,” says fifth-year senior Jessica Stein. Regardless of student opinion, IKON will soon take its leave. Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:22:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=23529&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=23529&mname=Article By Adam Barndt 2009 of the Frontpage Milwaukee reporting staff A panel featuring environmentalist Julia “Butterfly” Hill met in the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee’s Wisconsin room last Monday to create awareness about the ecological impacts of consumerism, by encouraging the elimination of disposables in Americans daily routines. Hill is most famous for participating in a 738-day “tree-sit” in the late 1990s to prevent the destruction of an old growth red wood forest. The panel consisted of environmental thinkers from area universities and programs. The panelists focused their discussion on the need for community development, inspiration into action and a shift in consciousness. In addition to Hill, the panel included Jayme Montgomery from the Campaign Against Violence and the Making Milwaukee Green Coalition, Dr. Susanne Foster, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Marquette University, and Ken Leinbach, Executive Director of the Urban Ecology Center. “The biggest issue we face is our consciousness...when we shift our awareness we shift our choices, and when we shift our choices we change our world,” said Hill. Hill places consumerist society at the base of contemporary environmental problems, and says community development is the most important way changes can occur. The panel also suggested several other simple methods for helping to achieve sustainability: • Do not have kids • Do not use disposables • Turn off lights when not in use • Turn off water when not in use • Drive cars less The discussion, hosted by the Milwaukee chapter of Students for a Democratic Society lasted just under two hours. Wrinkled and weathered elders sat side-by-side with younger student activists adorning SDS pins, beards and out-doors wear as the panel introduced them selves, and the main issues they say need to over come. Community Development A common belief expressed by the members of the panel is one of focusing efforts on small-scale community development in our neighborhoods. Community development is the core to activism according to Hill. She believes bringing people together in discussions, like the panel, is important to inspiring change. “We need something more to take (this) thought deeper, and for me events like this are an opportunity for us all to engage in a deeper dialogue...in so doing we all get a richer understanding of our world,” said Hill. Dr. Foster shares this opinion and says that the fast paced globalization of consumerism is spreading the problem. “We need to focus locality rather than globalization,” Foster said. The Urban Ecology Center on Milwaukee’s East Side is helping to promote ecological community development among Milwaukee’s youth by introducing them to life long connections with nature. “We’re kind of a cross between an urban nature center and a boys and girls club…we cleaned up the park and bring kinds in,” said Leinbach. Our mission is environmental education and environmental awareness of kids all the way from preschool to adulthood.” All four members of the panel agree that developing a personal connection to nature is key in developing an environmental consciousness. Shift In Consciousness Another opinion expressed by the panel is the need for a “shift in consciousness” among Americans. “The biggest challenge we face is in our consciousness,” said Hill. The panel agreed that starting small and making minute changes in your day-to-day life is the best way to instigate change. “What I tell people is to just start,” said Leinbach. “I tell people just to focus on one thing a year, one thing a season…if you can focus on that one thing and make that action you find your self thinking differently, suddenly you doing more things and your not even conscious of it.” Hill says the best first step to take is dispensing of disposable usage. “The first thing as I call (for people to do) is drop the disposables, everything you’re throwing away means you’re throwing away the planet, and you’re throwing away people,” Hill said. “I bring my own napkin, knife, fork, spoon container with me everywhere I go.” Inspiration Into Action The main goal expressed by the panel was to create inspiration that will propel people into action. “I want people to take inspiration into motivation, and what that looks like for each person is going to be different,” said Hill. “If we can take what our unique calling is and take that inspiration into action and contribute, then our community and would could be a better place. Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:20:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=23528&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=23528&mname=Article By Jacob Schneider Frontpage Milwaukee reporting staff April 22, 2009 MILWAUKEE - A lecture hosted by the campus/community group Trafficking Ends With Action (TEA), featured Cory Michael Davis discussing the local and international fundamentals of the human trafficking business, as well as the need to educate the public on the subject, and how internet sites like Craigslist are facilitating the sale of young girl's bodies. Standing before a sparsely crowded audience in UWM Ballroom, Hollywood actor and human rights activist Cory Michael Davis discussed the global and domestic evils of the sex trafficking industry after screening his documentary film Cargo: Innocence Lost. “Did you know that truck stops and Craigslist is the number one way to get young girls?” Davis asks the crowd, “If I wanted a 12-year-old girl here in Milwaukee, I could get her faster than I could get some food tonight.” Milwaukee experts say that the problem may be larger than previously expected. Back in February of this year, local law enforcement, with the help of the FBI, was able to uncover an underground sex trafficking ring here in Milwaukee. The TEA hopes to eradicate the trafficking industry from the area by taking a grass roots approach, through education and treatment for survivors. According to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center, sex trafficking is a $9.6 billion per year industry that traffics between 14,500 and 17,500 victims into the U.S. each year. More than half of those trafficked are children. THE ACCIDENTAL ACTIVIST Davis explained that he decided to give up his acting career to educate the public on sex trafficking, after filming on location in Bulgaria, where he discovered the high number of young girls that were forcefully being taken from their homes to work in other Balkan countries as prostitutes. Davis was compelled to write and direct Svetlana’s Journey, a story inspired by an encounter with a 13-year-old girl after she had attempted suicide because of the psychological pain endured while working as a sex slave. Using his own funding, including the proceeds earned by selling his BMW, Davis made his second film, Cargo: Innocence Lost. The documentary investigates the criminal underworld of human sex trafficking in the United States. It shows the viewer how the girls are recruited, deceived, and physically forced into sex slavery. The film also has testimony from law enforcement, social workers, and survivors of the sex trade. WHAT IS SEX TRAFFICKING? Sex trafficking is defined by the NHTRC as “modern-day form of slavery in which commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion , or in which the person induced to perform such an act is under the age of 18.” Through his lecture and the screening of Cargo: Innocence Lost, Davis explained how the trafficking process works in detail. Davis clarified that the victims of this industry can be male or female, but are usually young girls. Traffickers have a number of ways to get the girls into their custody, including: • Kidnapping • Being sold into slavery by parents or husband • False employment offers in another country • False marriage proposals When foreign girls are trafficked to the U.S., they are almost always unaware of their fate upon arrival. The pimps will “condition” the girls through a variety of methods, including: gang rape, forced drug abuse, and starvation. Once the girls have been “conditioned” and stripped of their passports, the pimps will continue the psychological abuse by threatening to kill their family members if they try to escape. The girls are then forced to perform sex acts on the street and in underground brothels operating out residential homes with as many as 15 to 20 men each day. The girls risk exposure to HIV/AIDS, vaginal tearing, broken bones, pregnancy, and psychological damage as a result of the torture. "Since 2003, the U.S. has appropriated over $563 Million to fight human trafficking," says Davis. "A lot of it has gone to foreign nations. That’s not really helping the victims of domestic trafficking, the American kids who are forced into prostitution.” SEX TRAFFICKING IN MILWAUKEE A Milwaukee investigation led to the indictment of two Milwaukee men by the U.S. Department of Justice. Todd Carter, 39, and his son Nicholas Harrison, 19, have been charged with multiple counts of sex trafficking of children, and transporting children across state lines for the purpose of engaging in prostitution. If convicted, the two men face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years, with the possibility of life in prison. While these arrests may have liberated a number of young girls, it may only be the tip of the iceberg for this area. “It’s more widespread than people think,” says Ellie Kirkwood, a member of TEA., “Part of what we do with TEA is we actually go into the inner cities of Milwaukee and figure out where hotspots for trafficking are.” The TEA's main focus is to educate the community as well as taking an active stance against the trafficking industry and those who use its services. "The same technologies that allow for someone to find that girl on Craigslist are also being used to find the trafficking zones and hotspots by mapping them out with GPS and figuring out the numbers game," says Darius Alemzadeh, TEA organizer. Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:16:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=22628&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=22628&mname=Article Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} By Tim MacKenzie of the Frontpage Milwaukee reporting staff May 2, 2009 Fifty students have gathered to the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Student Union Building in the Ballroom East. Inside, a diverse group of students and non-students chat about their day at school. Some pull out their lap top computers and do homework. Energy drinks and soda bottles are strewn about. Just what is going on here? Upon further inspection, the purpose of the meeting soon became clear: these students were gathering to package condoms for the No Condom No Way volunteer event. This particular meeting was significant because it was the first meeting held this semester. Due to an influx of work from school and difficulty getting students together, not as many meetings were held…thus making this sort of a comeback. Despite the lower numbers, new students have heard of the new events scheduled in the UWM student union and came ready to work. According to information calculated by the City of Milwaukee Health Department, Milwaukee’s teen pregnancy rate has steadily ranked among the top five worst in the nation. In 2003 alone, Milwaukee’s birth rate for girls aged less than 18 years was the fourth worst of the top 25 United States cities. The purpose of No Condom No Way is to provide free information and contraceptives to Milwaukee area teenagers in order to turn this situation around. This particular event, sponsored by the Milwaukee Health Department and held at University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, is a volunteer event aimed at providing condoms for a variety of locations that are geared towards teenagers, including community centers, retail sites, local clinics, entertainment centers and so on. The event did not gain its initial start at UWM, but it has been a popular gathering site for volunteers. Students were attracted to the idea through the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender center on campus as well as the activism of people like UWM alumni Tracey Hagedorn and UWM student Lauren Otte. Getting It On Otte is a UWM senior and head volunteer for the NCNW events held at UWM. She joined the campaign five years after its original inception, once it was thought up by the Health Department. “In the fall of 2005, I started my own events at UWM when I was a freshman,” said Otte. “Those would draw in like 15, 20, 30 of my friends and we started getting 20,000 [condoms] done. That’s when the campaign began to expand. Then more and more people just got on board, people really liked this campaign, and it’s gotten huge now. We’re having events with 100-200 people showing up and packaging as many as 50-60,000 condoms a night.” The NCNW events are held roughly four to five times per semester, with Otte as head volunteer. Otte is involved with the LGBT center on campus and became aware of the No Condom No Way program through their ties to Milwaukee Health Department. She has a double major in Social Work and Women’s Studies and a double minor with the Cultures and Communities certificate and the LGBT Studies Certificate. She was motivated to enter the program because of her beliefs on making protection available to teenagers, and it was reinforced by the support of her friends. Still, despite her passion for the project, there has been worry that the event was not getting enough support. In Need Of New Recruits Rumors have circulated that attendance has gone down for NCNW events. Typical events for the past year have been to around 50 people in a given night, unlike the 100 or so that arrived a couple years back. “We really need more people,” said Otte. “The people are the most important part of this volunteer aspect of the campaign.” One such student is UWM freshman art major Lucie Rider. After hearing of the event due to word of mouth and the participation of student organizations such as the Japanese Animation Association, Rider came with her friends. They arrived to help package condoms, lubricant, and information packets, as well as make friends and get some free pizza. “I really like the idea of helping out to a cause like this,” said Lucie. “It’s really fun, you can come here with friends and hang out and just package condoms. It’s just…I don’t know, it’s fun. And you’re doing it for a cause so I think it’s worth it.” When asked why other students haven’t been coming, Lucie was quick to provide her answer. “I think a lot of people just don’t know about it,” said Lucie. “The only reason I heard about it was through my friends. But if you don’t have friends who know of the event, I don’t know how you would find out about it, and I haven’t seen any fliers around campus.” Aside from the information on the website (available at www.nocondomnoway.com) and the posted meeting times in the UWM student union. Head volunteer Otte admitted that the group is lacking in funds and ability to market and advertise more effectively. NCNW orders supplies through grant money through the Milwaukee Health Department, however, the organization also gets resources from donations. Health Project Coordinator Tracey Hagedorn, a UWM Alumnus, is the main supervisor for the NCNW events and the only paid staff member for the NCNW events—which keeps things at a relative low cost. She has been involved in the event since its inception in 2002. “The folks at the health department who tried to put it together had no idea how to get there to teens,” said Hagedorn. “So I just happened to be there and knew where to go, and I have a lot of friends in entertainment. It kind of went from there and I never left.” Tracey has been present at all of the NCNW events, not only held at UWM, but also at the Milwaukee Area Technical College, local community centers and churches, youth-based centers like Urban Underground, and so on. No Such Thing as a Free Lunch? Some rumors had circulated that some volunteers were looking to snag free pizza meant for workers. However, Tracey confronted this notion head on. “I don’t really see that [people taking advantage of the pizza] as an issue at all,” said Tracey. “You know, like I said, all other things aside what matters to me is what I brings here gets finished so it can go out into the community.” According to Tracey, thanks to the efforts of volunteers at NCNW events, over half a million condoms have been put into the Milwaukee community. Paper trailer sources: -Addendium to “Condom Availability” Paper: NCNW Campaign: http://www.mashp.net/PDFsPPT/NCNW-MASH%20Addendum%20Issue%20Paper.pdf -Milwaukee Health Department Website (featured information on NCNW): http://www.milwaukee.gov/NoCondomNoWay23793.htm -No Condom No Way! Main Website: http://www.nocondomnoway.com/WhoWeAre.htm Sun, 03 May 2009 23:54:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=22174&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=22174&mname=Article Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";} Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";} Sex and Politics By Crystal Lewis of the Frontpage Milwaukee reporting staff May 2, 2009 In a room of about 50 individuals, most of whom are Caucasian, stills from African American Pornography films flash across the screen of an HDTV located in front of the room. The images provide the basis for the night’s discussion. The audience is quiet as the speaker, Mireille Miller-Young, assistant professor of Feminist Studies at the University of California-Santa Barbara begins. This feminist didn’t take on the stance one would assume. She’s not opposed to Pornography. She didn’t focus on the decision of women to participate in the porn industry but sought to understand the reason why. Black women and their bodies are devalued in the porn industry, said Miller at an event at UWM March 26. The event, Desire and Disgust: Black Women in Pornography, examined inequalities black sex workers face, and their sexual representation in comparison to white women pornography. Miller told those in attendance that black women often face discrimination in the porn industry. The crowd listened silently. The Business Black performers didn’t appear in pornography until the late 1980s, and Miller links Hip Hop as an influence on the appearance of blacks in pornography in Hip-Hop Honeys and Da Hustlaz: Black Sexualities in the New Hip-Hop Pornography. Although, the porn industry allows black females to exhibit self- representation through nonconventional methods, disparity is seen on the sets of these adult films. Miller, who is black, told the audience that while on the sets of mainstream, predominately white films, there are buffets and a variety of drinks. While on the set of a “ghetto” adult film there were cookies and liquor, she asked the director about the food choice. “He’s like, liquor to keep them smoothed out and cookies to keep them going.” Food is not the only polarizing factor separating black females from white females in this pornography. According to Miller, black females earn less per scene than white females. Black females earn between $400 and $900 per scene and a white female earn about $1,000 per scene-and that’s starting out in the business. On average, black females earn one-fourth to one-half of what white females earn. Miller spoke of the inequality in the industry but made her stance known. “Well, we want to recognize the exploitations of the industry and exactly how they work and exactly how they kind of structure black women’s experiences within this kind of confined space that they’re laboring in, I also want to recognize their capacity to kind of choose.” While these women sell their sexual labor, they’re not the only ones profiting. AT&T, Cinemax, and Pay Per View profit by streaming pornography into the homes of millions of Americans a year. Many estimate the net earnings of the porn industry to be between $10-$14 billion dollars a year. At the Adult Entertainment Expo every year, Adult Video News hands out awards to adults in the industry. This event yields little recognition for Blacks. Alexander Devoe, a black adult film producer is nominated for ten awards this year, black females actors are not. Of the 15 nominees for best actress, not one is black. Hypersexual: Bad? The exoticism of the black female body has formed another subset in the porn industry; however, the response is not always positive. Black female actors are lumped into the “ghetto” genre. Working often times for productions with low budgeting, these women are called hoes and skanks by other adults in the industry. The popular “ghetto” porn is set in an alley, with graffiti sprayed on the wall and trash cans as the backdrop, says Miller. She said black women are known for their hypersexual behavior and are seen as deviant. Hypersexuality, one would think, is a good to have, according to Miller, but the opposite is true and is reflected in the earnings gap. Psychology Miller sought to expose the exploitations of the black female body and the politics involved that sets a price on the black female body-one of much lesser value compared to white women. In an industry where inequality is prevalent, black women continue to work in the industry. Miller rejected the idea that the porn industry is an exploitative entity that consumes. Miller says reasons why they labor include: authoring one’s self, supporting a family and survival. Miller said black women in the industry use their bodies strategically and are not powerless. Alternative Black females as actors are not the only presence held in pornography. Some of these women are stepping behind the camera. Actress and AVN award winning director Vanessa Blue runs her own web site. Blue also hosts Playboy’s Radio’s Private Call. She is not the only black female who has taken to technology as a means of earning an income in pornography. Diana Devoe, wife to Alexander Devoe is currently running two websites. She makes her own films and has even filmed music videos. Reaction At end of the presentation, the floor was open for questions and comments. While the reception of the audience was well, black business owner Steven Hunter saw room for improvement. “I’d like to see this offered in a less academic orientation and more social, because I think that kind of stifled some of the questions that people really wanted to ask.” Laura Stewart, health educator at Norris Health Center and advisor for the Peer Health Advocate Student group said she was happy to hear Miller was coming. “We were really excited to when we heard about a scholar whose research forced on this and focused on it in a way that wasn’t just like, I’m a woman, I can do whatever I want.” Miller doesn’t always receive the same reaction, however. “When I present at porn conferences they think I’m really tame and when I do it anywhere else they’re just shocked. In fact I constantly have to go over…I’m worried about things that are too explicit.” Miller’s book in progress, A Taste of Brown Sugar: Black Women in American Pornography, further examines this topic. The event was hosted by Sexpo, a year-long series about sex and sexuality, and sponsored by UWM’s Norris Health Center and a number of other UWM organizations. Sun, 03 May 2009 23:48:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=22172&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=22172&mname=Article Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";} Kansas City Artist Displays New Work at UWM By: Ethan G. Krasnow of the Frontpage Milwaukee reporting staff April 23, 2009 A display on a glass shelf with two layers of old film reels, dollar bills sticking out of the reels, and old, corner-bent, black and white photographs on either side, with the caption reading: “Silver Dollar Saloon, Hurley, Wisconsin.” Another, called “Case 1,” included chipped at, flat, oddly shaped pieces of tanned leather with etched in pictures and phrases, like a picture frame and a boat sailing out to sea with the caption: “HOMEWARD, OUT TO SEA.” The cross-country known artist who produced these pieces, Johnny Naugahyde, works and lives with his family in the Kansas City area, but this Wisconsin native chose to bring his newest art attraction to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus this past month. The display featured two rooms with eight different, brightly lit cabinets filled with Naugahyde’s work. During the month of March, Inova, or the Institute of Visual Arts at UWM hosted, and displayed these most recent works by Naugahyde entitled “Johnny Naugahyde: Just in Case,” in the Mary L. Nohl Galleries, located on the Zelazo Center’s third floor on Kenwood Boulevard. “The show is a combination of eight different concepts, and over 100 individual works of art,” Naugahyde said. “It includes tooled leather, faux religion artifacts, a tribute to Hurley, Wisconsin, and more.” The motivation for his work comes from something that many artists use when creating, he said, but it works. “It sounds like a cliché, but my motivation comes from life. My friends, family, work, all provide inspiration and motivation,” he said. About Mr. Naugahyde Much of Naugahyde’s life came from the Badger state. He lived in Wisconsin his entire childhood, growing up only a short distance from the Milwaukee area, in Madison and the Wisconsin Rapids. In 1979, Naugahyde graduated with a bachelor’s degree in history and philosophy after attending the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. After he decided to further his education, he attended graduate school at the University of Wisconsin- Madison, and in 1983, received his master’s degree in art history. Today, he lives in Missouri with his wife, and his two twin nine-year-old sons, Jack and Samuel, where he works with all different materials to create his art. A Close Friend A friend of Naugahyde’s, Bruce J. Knackert, convinced him to bring and erect the display on the UWM campus. Knackert, also director of the Inova galleries, said he and Naugahyde knew each other before the exhibit came to UWM, and is glad he convinced him to bring his work to the campus. Addressing him with titles like “Mr. Naugahyde,” and “a passionate artist,” Knackert said Naugahyde does not fear using different mediums in his work. A tall man with a long gray beard and glasses, Knackert said the display, “represents someone who is really passionate about his art, somebody who obviously needs to just keep working all the time, and keep inventing himself, and it’s just a strong body of work.” Though he said he does not keep track of numbers, he guessed that a couple hundred guests viewed the show. Themes of His Works One work of Naugahyde’s, “The Little White Lies of Johnny Naugahyde,” displayed at the Albrect-Kemper Museum in St. Joseph, Missouri in 2008. “That show was a full retrospective of my career to date,” Naugahyde said. The exhibit included 400 pieces of work by Naugahyde that, according to him, portrayed many of the central themes also found in the “Just in Case” exhibit. Many of these include: “interpersonal relationships, sex, religion, and politics. All the subjects that we tend to avoid talking about in polite company,” he said. He added, “My work is more about ideas than technique.” “It’s a personal story that’s being worked out. I mean, some of the pieces we’re talking about, in a very kind of, oblique way, like, intimacy issues, relationship,” said Charles Lloyd, Assistant Manager at the Zelazo box office, of the “Just in Case” exhibit. “A young person it seems, working out some emotional issues that a lot of young people have, and I think people could relate to it on that level.” UWM graduate student Nathan Langfitt said he found the exhibit interesting. “I think it’s just, it kind of like, a lot of different slices of his life and things he really had to talk about,” he said. Favorite Pieces Some observers at the gallery said the best part of the show comes from the leather pieces in “Case 1.” The caption read: “I began tooling leather in 2006 after a good friend gave me a ton of leather tools. It was like being given a thousand colored pencils, but no paper. I immediately became a regular customer of the local Tandy Leather store in Kansas City. I am self-taught in this medium (unless you count all the questions I asked in the leather store).” “It’s really interesting,” said Langfitt. “I had never seen this kind of stuff done with leather before.” Lloyd said he felt like the artist needed to continue to work toward finding a personal expression, but that “Case 1” made the event a worthwhile experience. “Certainly, I thought that the leather etching was the highlight of the exhibit,” he said. Knackert said his favorite piece is “Case 2,” a cabinet filled with collages painted on eight by eight pieces of canvas. “I’ve always liked Johnny’s collage work, so the one case with the grid of collages is my favorite,” Knackert said. Knackert said he could not predict the legacy of the exhibit, but Naugahyde said he hopes to leave a legacy in his bodies of work. A few possibilities: “Sense of humor, conceptual,” Naugahyde said. More Information 2005- “The Hypothetical Work of Johnny Naugahyde”. Central Missouri State University. Warrensburg, Missouri.2004- “Onan, Texas: Window Installation.” Dolphin Gallery Window. Kansas City, Missouri. To find out more about Johnny Naugahyde, visit: http://johnnynaugahyde.blogspot.com. Sun, 03 May 2009 23:44:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=22170&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=22170&mname=Article Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";} By Lyndsay Thomas of the Frontpage Milwaukee reporting staff May 2, 2009 “Shake shake shake, shake shake shake…shake your booty, shake your booty,” roars in the background. UWM students crowd the dance floor shaking their booties and singing these lyrics. Gamma Phi Beta, a sorority at UWM, hosted many students and families to a dance marathon in the Channel of the Sandburg Residence halls at UWM on Saturday. Gamma Phi Beta decided to do this after hearing the success one of the Gamma chapters in Illinois had while doing a dance marathon. The dance marathon raised over $1,500 for Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. The women of Gamma Phi Beta hope to make this an annual event, maybe even making it a 12- hour marathon next time. The Dance Marathon Included: · UWM Students · Families and Friends · Speakers · Contemporary Music · Food Kalie Herron, president of Gamma Phi Beta at UWM, helped create this event. Herron says, It’s a great thing to see everyone come together to raise money for such a great cause. I mean what better way to help than children.” Children, men, and women continued dancing to popular songs such as, “Poker Face” by Lady GaGa and “The Way I Are” by Timbaland. With a smile on her face, Sarah Gomez, mother of four and a half year old, Anthony Gomez contently watches the dancers from the sidelines. Since the day Anthony was born, the Gomez family has been in and out of Children’s Hospital due to Anthony’s congenital heart defects. Sarah was grateful to be at the dance marathon to support Children’s Hospital for what has become, in a way her second home. Gomez said, “We love to support events like this and support the whole hospital as well because the hospital is important to so many people, and there are so many other kids with things other than congenital hear defects, that need treatment.” Anthony,, with his brown hair and big brown eyes, was nothing but smiles. It would have been hard to even imagine that that little boy had congenital heart defects. Anthony faces challenges physically every day. Yet he has the courage and strength of a lion. To help raise awareness, Gomez has started her own fundraising group called, “The Little A Team.” All the proceeds go to the Herma Heart Center, where Anthony receives his treatments at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. Read More “What about now” by Chris Daughtry finishes up. Sally Schaffer and her two children walk in. Her son Devin is lured into the crowd of dancers. He then finds himself getting low for the limbo. Just as energetic he runs to his baby sister, Lydia who will be 2 in a few weeks, to give her a smile. Lydia’s face lights up. She seems so content and happy. Schaffer, who is a graduate of UWM, spoke about the treatment her daughter Lydia receives at Children’s Hospital. Lydia has a rare case of 9Q34.3 Down syndrome. Schaffer said, “I’m so glad that the college I graduated from is supporting Children’s Hospital.” She also said, “Children’s has been absolutely amazing, I would be lost without them.” Lydia, with her brown hair and shining eyes, is only one of sixty people in the world that suffer from this syndrome. Children’s has affected the Schaffer family in many ways. They continue to look for guidance through specialists at Children’s. Many people with 9Q34.3 Down syndrome normally can’t talk nor walk. Lydia, who also has a whole in her heart, will require surgery in the future. The Schaffer family is taking things one day at a time with the help of Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. Many speakers followed Sarah and Sally and continued to share how Children’s Hospital has impacted their lives. If you are interested in volunteering at an event like this one you can contact Emily Frank, Panhellenic Affairs Vice President of Gamma Phi Beta, at eefrank@uwm.edu. For more information on Gamma Phi Beta and Children’s Hospital you can visit their websites. http://www4.uwm.edu/studentorg/gammaphi/ http://www.chw.org/display/PPF/DocID/12082/router.asp Sun, 03 May 2009 23:37:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=22169&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=22169&mname=Article Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";} Women and Poverty By Marc Stefaniac Of the Frontpage Milwaukee reporting staff May 2, 2009 Five women from different backgrounds discussed problems and solutions for mothers including advocating for the old welfare system, the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), at the “What About the Women? The Impact of the Financial Crisis on Milwaukee Mothers in Poverty” event. However, bringing back the AFDC is not the only solution to the problem. Manager of the Consumer Credit Counseling Service Kathryn Crumpton said it is tough for women too because most of them never had a class in financing as the state does not mandate financial literacy in schools. Senior Scientist at the UWM Employment and Training Institute Lois Quinn is concerned about the lack of welfare being given to women and families. Like Lois Quinn, director of “Welfare Warriors” Pat Gowens wants a welfare system, but a system America has never seen. Women are struggling today because many are in poverty. According to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2007, the number of women in poverty was 152,044 or 13.8 percent. In Milwaukee County alone, there were 18.1 percent of people in poverty in 2007, and those numbers are on the rise in this economic crisis. According to Internal Medicine Physician at the Sixteenth Street Community Health Center Dr. Mariana Rincon, women who move to the United States to improve their lives are also struggling financially, especially with health care. Inspiring Story CEO of the Social Development Commission Deborah Blanks told a life story to inspire poverty stricken women. · At 24, Blanks married the wrong man and had a child with him · Single, with one child, Deborah’s parents made her focus on education · Now, she is a graduate of the University of Illinois · She has two Master’s degrees Consumer Credit Counseling Service Kathryn Crumpton hears some of the saddest stories in life as well as some of the best stories in life as a manager. Her clients range from the ages of 18 to 85 years old, in which 65 percent of them are women. According to Crumpton, women spend more time than men taking care of children and therefore bear the cost of raising children. The problem with bearing the costs of raising children for women is that they are paid less even if they are in the same occupation as men such as being a waitress or a teacher, Crumpton said. Even if a woman has a husband with or without children, she is terrified to leave him no matter what he may be doing to her. “The fear of poverty will keep women in a domestic or violent relationship,” Crumpton said. A mother of three came to see Crumpton with bruises all over her arm, and although Crumpton explained Child Services to her, Crumpton felt the mother would not leave because she could not afford to get out of her relationship. Crumpton witnessed good stories as well from people paying off their credit card debt before they died to college students paying off their credit card debt. Although Crumpton does not know the exact resolution to the poverty problem, she believes that women and children will continue to struggle as long as there is no equal pay, accessibility for good jobs, and access to health care. The Concern Over Aid In 1997, the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) was eliminated taking 37,000 off of the plan including 2000 families, according to Quinn. One plan to help struggling families is unemployment compensation. According to Quinn, 40,000 people (40 percent are women) in Milwaukee County receive unemployment compensation, but it is growing by 2000 every week. The other 60 percent of women do not work in jobs in which they can get benefits or unemployment compensation. Wisconsin Works (W-2) replaced the AFDC and is meant to help low-income parents with minor children to find a job. However, Quinn says only 200 more people received W-2 in the last two years. According to Quinn, part of the solution is to have a healthy debate of W-2 and the AFDC, but also to “understand how big the problem is and how to make them (mothers) visible again.” “Welfare Warriors” “Welfare Warriors” is a group of women who work to fight for women and children in poverty lead by Pat Gowens. According to Gowens, the W-2 program has the highest infant mortality rate in the United States because mothers have to leave their children after three months and work. In order to solve the problem of poverty for women and children in Wisconsin as well as across the United States, Gowens said America needs to be like another continent. “We want a system like in Europe which is guaranteed a child support program,” Gowens said. “Every minor child gets a check. That gives you a base even if it’s only $400 a child.” Although the United States is over $11 trillion in debt, Gowens said the U.S. still has the money to have a program like Europe. “We used to spend $15 billion a year on AFDC and that was for five million moms and our kids,” she said. “Now we’re spending $17 billion for only $2 million. So right there, there’s money right there.” Problem with Health Not only women who live in the United States are stricken with poverty, but also women who move to the United States legally or illegally are in financial trouble. “If you are poor, it’s possible to get poorer,” Dr. Mariana Rincon said. Many undocumented women come to the health center only to be turned away because they have very little access to services. If the women are unemployed, they have no financial aid or welfare according to Rincon. Also, Rincon said that because of the small access to medicine and consultation, women may have to go back to their original country, thus making them poorer due to worse conditions. Notes · The event occurred at the UWM Union · 30-35 people attended · Mostly female students · Two males attended Sun, 03 May 2009 23:36:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=22168&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=22168&mname=Article Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} By Andy Ambrosius of the Frontpage Milwaukee reporting staff May 2, 2009 Pornographic studies specialist Dr. Mireille Miller-Young said black women should be empowered by working in the sex industry and thinks it should be a legal and acceptable profession. Miller-Young, an expert on black women in pornography and a women’s studies professor at UC-Santa Barbara, also spoke about racial inequality in the adult industry during Thursday’s UW-Milwaukee Sexpo Lecture Series. (The event as photographed by Andy Ambrosius) She advocates a world where women can proudly put “adult entertainer” on their résumés. However, other feminists and women’s rights advocates find it hard to understand why some would choose to demoralize themselves as a career choice, the speaker acknowledged. “Black American feminists, particularly the generation that paved the way for me to be here whose shoulders I’m standing on, have a much more difficult time with this material,” says Miller-Young. “They feel that my arguments are particularly problematic because I’m trying to carve out a space for agency where they don’t feel like that can possibly exist.” Nevertheless, with the taboo still in full effect, many women still move into the adult industry to find work, and black women are finding it harder than they imagined. The speaker illustrated the observable difference between white and black female adult performers, where black women are systematically given roles of lesser value, work in a lesser environment, and are paid significantly less. She spoke of her experiences on white porn sets with buffets of gourmet food, while black sets had “liquor to keep the smoothed out and cookies to keep them going.” To familiarize herself with and become an expert on pornography, Miller-Young spent six years doing field research. This consisted of interviewing performers, directors, producers, agents and photographers, as well as attending sets, parties and lavish events. Her presentation included an array of graphic slides that covered the screen in a sexual hodgepodge. The room was small but still without people to fill the seats. The silent audience sat until the end of her speech, and until the end of a short tickle-fetish video. Porn Profession Throughout her speech, Miller-Young explained inequalities faced by black female sex workers. She told the audience that the women know they’re devalued and disposable, but it’s difficult to leave even if they want to. Many women have little money and start working in the industry at a very young age. When a sex worker decides to move on with her life, there is an obstacle to cross. “What do you put on your resume for that five year gap?” Miller-Young asked the captivated audience. “You can’t really put, ‘I worked in the adult industry.’ It is something that is so taboo that we really can’t deal with it.” When it’s too tough to leave the business, the women stay in the seemingly endless circle. White women are described by Miller-Young as the prime sirloin of pornography, while black women are chuck. “In an industry that values and trades in the sexuality of women, one would think black women’s presumed hyper-sexuality would give them an advantage,” explained Miller-Young. “Paradoxically, it’s just the opposite. Rather than being valued for their erotic skills, black women are devalued as skanks.” Carla Cadet, the Sociocultural Program Manager for UW-Milwaukee who booked Dr. Miller-Young as the speaker, is neutral about the empowerment of black women in pornography. “I think it was an interesting perspective,” says Cadet. “There are individuals who choose to go into that profession and make that their livelihood, and I think that’s not for me or anybody to judge.” Cathy Seasholes, director of the UWM Women’s Resource Center, somewhat disagrees. “I think that we live in a pretty complicated world,” laughs Seasholes. “It is a work environment that many women work in, and particularly women of color are involved in the sex industry in ways that are sometimes empowering, and other times very much part of a larger social structure that is disempowering.” But like any job, Miller-Young says the women in the sex industry are trying hard to feel good about themselves at work. “We might look and say, ‘Oh, that’s really sleazy,’” says Miller-Young. “But they took a lot of time to do hair, makeup, work out, get the weave right, get the nails – do everything to make their bodies look beautiful and perform in a way that was satisfactory to them.” Discrimination Dr. Miller-Young explains discrimination is a large part of how the public views black women in pornography. She says this is rooted from a stereotype the general population has about black women, automatically predestined to roles in films with names like Pimpin Black Ho’s. In the sex industry, a contract with a major production team is one of the biggest money making achievements a worker can land. Yet racism extends to this aspect of porn as well. A top pornographic model can make around $100,000 on a single contract. In comparison, black women’s contracts are $50,000 on average. “In my study, black professional actresses have been vocal about the differences in wage inequality, employment marginalization, an interpersonal bias,” says Dr. Miller-Young. “In an industry that treats most sex workers as disposable, black women are the most devalued and they’re hyper-disposable.” Racism in the adult industry is far more severe than usual discrimination in the workplace. Like models, the women are chosen by their looks. Katie Jesse, the co-chair for the student group Advocates for Choice says she attended the event because she’s interested in the racial dilemma. “As an avid porn watcher, I understand that these stereotypes exist,” says Jesse. “I work a lot with learning about sexual health habits, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen a presentation that had to deal with the racial aspects of sexual health.” Sun, 03 May 2009 23:06:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=22164&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=22164&mname=Article Women and Poverty By Marc Stefanic of the Frontpage Milwaukee reporting staff April 28, 2009 Five women from different backgrounds discussed problems and solutions for mothers including advocating for the old welfare system, the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), at the “What About the Women? The Impact of the Financial Crisis on Milwaukee Mothers in Poverty” event. However, bringing back the AFDC is not the only solution to the problem. Manager of the Consumer Credit Counseling Service Kathryn Crumpton said it is tough for women too because most of them never had a class in financing as the state does not mandate financial literacy in schools. Senior Scientist at the UWM Employment and Training Institute Lois Quinn is concerned about the lack of welfare being given to women and families. Like Lois Quinn, dDirector of “Welfare Warriors” Pat Gowens wants a welfare system, but a system America has never seen. Women are struggling today because many are in poverty. According to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2007, the number of women in poverty was 152,044 or 13.8 percent. In Milwaukee County alone, there were 18.1 percent of people in poverty in 2007, and those numbers are on the rise in this economic crisis. According to Internal Medicine Physician at the Sixteenth Street Community Health Center Dr. Mariana Rincon, women who move to the United States to improve their lives are also struggling financially, especially with health care. Inspiring Story CEO of the Social Development Commission Deborah Blanks told a life story to inspire poverty stricken women. • At 24, Blanks married the wrong man and had a child with him • Single, with one child, Deborah’s parents made her focus on education • Now, she is a graduate of the University of Illinois • She has two Master’s degrees Consumer Credit Counseling Service Kathryn Crumpton hears some of the saddest stories in life as well as some of the best stories in life as a manager. Her clients range from the ages of 18 to 85 years old, in which 65 percent of them are women. According to Crumpton, women spend more time than men in taking care of children and therefore bear the cost of raising children. The problem with bearing the costs of raising children for women is that they are paid less even if they are in the same occupation as men such as being a waitress or a teacher, Crumpton said. Even if a woman has a husband with or without children, she is terrified to leave him no matter what he may be doing to her. “The fear of poverty will keep women in a domestic or violent relationship,” Crumpton said. A mother of three came to see Crumpton with bruises all over her arm, and although Crumpton explained Child Services to her, Crumpton felt the mother would not leave because she could not afford to get out of her relationship. Crumpton witnessed good stories as well from people paying off their credit card debt before they died to college students paying off their credit card debt. Although Crumpton does not know the exact resolution to the poverty problem, she believes that women and children will continue to struggle as long as there is no equal pay, accessibility for good jobs, and access to health care. The Concern Over Aid In 1997, the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) was eliminated taking 37,000 off of the plan including 2000 families, according to Louis Quinn. One plan to help struggling families is unemployment compensation. According to Quinn, 40,000 people (40 percent are women) in Milwaukee County receive unemployment compensation, but it is growing by 2000 every week. The other 60 percent of women do not work in jobs in which they can get benefits or unemployment compensation. Wisconsin Works (W-2) replaced the AFDC, and is meant to help low-income parents with minor children to find a job. However, Quinn says only 200 more people received W-2 in the last two years. According to Quinn, part of the solution is to have a healthy debate of W-2 and the AFDC, but also to “understand how big the problem is and how to make them (mothers) visible again.” “Welfare Warriors” “Welfare Warriors” is a group of women who work to fight for women and children in poverty lead by Pat Gowens. According to Gowens, the W-2 program has the highest infant mortality rate in the United States because mothers have to leave their children after three months and work. In order to solve the problem of poverty for women and children in Wisconsin as well as across the United States, Gowens said America needs to be like another continent. “We want a system like in Europe which is guaranteed a child support program,” Gowens said. “Every minor child gets a check. That gives you a base even if it’s only $400 a child.” Although the United States is over $11 trillion in debt, Gowens said the U.S. still has the money to have a program like Europe. “We used to spend $15 billion a year on AFDC and that was for five million moms and our kids,” she said. “Now we’re spending $17 billion for only $2 million. So right there, there’s money right there.” Problem with Health Not only women who live in the United States are stricken with poverty, but also women who move to the United States legally or illegally are in financial trouble. “If you are poor, it’s possible to get poorer,” Dr. Mariana Rincon said. Many undocumented women come to the health center only to be turned away because they have very little access to services. If the women are unemployed, they have no financial aid or welfare according to Rincon. Also, Rincon said that because of the small access to medicine and consultation, women may have to go back to their original country, thus making them poorer due to worse conditions. Notes • The event occurred at the UWM Union • 30-35 people attended • Mostly female students • Two males attended Tue, 28 Apr 2009 23:52:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=22101&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=22101&mname=Article 72 1024x768 Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Cambria","serif";} Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} By Cayla Ganter of the Frontpage Milwaukee reporting staff April 26, 2009 Due to the current economic crisis, a panel of women pleaded their case to bring back welfare at the Milwaukee mothers in poverty event on a recent Tuesday at UWM. One of the panelists, Lois Quinn, works for UWM’s Employment and Training Institute. She says that it is not realistic for low-income, under-skilled mothers to get jobs in this economy. There are 40,000 men and women who are qualified and would like to be working, she says. Woman’s right activists, CEOs, and doctors were just a few of the panelists who sat in the front of the room. Women in the audience nodded their heads in agreement and clapped their hands together after each panelist spoke. The economic crisis is having an effect on the Welfare to Work (W2) program. According to Quinn, in the past two years, the people who are receiving W2 has increased by 200 people. This is why the women of the panel are pushing for the return of welfare. After welfare was ended in 1996, the government started welfare reform or the W2 program. The W2 program gives women a check and childcare if they are working at least 30 hours a week. Welfare would not require the women to work but instead send a check directly to them. What About Women? The Impact of the Financial Crisis on Milwaukee Mothers in Poverty was held in the UWM union on Tuesday, March 31. Panelists said that the W2 program benefits bureaucracy over people. Quinn said, “I really continue to be very concerned that were spending a lot more time worried about the big companies and the big executives and were just not spending enough time worrying about the mothers and children in the community.” Pat Gowens, a member of the Welfare Warriors, and a panelist, said, “We came together to give some visibility to mothers and children in poverty to try and basically have a single mothers is beautiful campaign.” Welfare Warriors is a 23-year-old advocacy group in Wisconsin that is made up of mothers in poverty. According to the Welfare Warriors, women on welfare have been stereotyped as being lazy, liars. They are the ones who stick with the children after the fathers leave. The women want two incomes to support themselves and their families. When Welfare Ended Nationwide According to Gowens, many people suffered when welfare was ended and the W2 program started: 16,000 moms were cut out of college. 60 percent of women went into temporary work.1.7 million are living with no income nationwide. Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the workforce investment system will use $3.5 billion to help Americans get back to work. The U.S. Department of Labor said, “The workforce investment system will use Recovery Act funds to increase service levels and address immediate employment needs by targeting significant funding toward low-income, low-skilled Americans.” However, Quinn still doubts that women can find enough jobs due to the recession. Quinn said that after welfare changed to W2 it was a very good economy. People feared there would be homelessness, but there wasn’t; families took in family. “Now my fear is there isn’t money left anywhere to provide the cushion that families can’t turn to other families because they are also out of work,” said Quinn. The woman who set up the event at UWM, Victoria Prior, agreed that the economic crisis’ impact on women in poverty needs to be addressed more. “The economic crisis that we have been experiencing has been one component that hasn’t really been looked at on how it’s affecting women in Milwaukee,” Prior said. Bureaucracy Quinn wants the money that is going to the agencies before being transferred to the families to instead go straight to the families in the beginning. “Right now, as we have done for 10 years a fixed sum of money goes to agencies and they can either give people aid or give them advice, or tell them go get a job and they get basically the same pot of money no matter what they do with their clients,” said Quinn. Gowens also does not think the money should be going to bureaucracy.“It’s become an ugly breeding ground for professional poverty pimps who prey on the poor,” she said. Statistics shows 80 percent of men do not support their children within three years of leaving them, said Gowens. “I was surprised, once my husband left to see how everyone hated me,” she said. “It wasn’t just the professionals who were punishing us for sticking it out and staying with the kids but I found all levels of the community were prejudice against me.” With March being Women’s History month, The Women’s Resource Center holds this event once a year to talk about women’s issues. Sun, 26 Apr 2009 02:27:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=22031&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=22031&mname=Article Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} By: Andy Fabitz of the Frontpage Milwaukee reporting staff April 26, 2009 MILWAUKEE- Standing before an audience of about 50, speaker Elizabeth Gutierrez Reyes held a pair of Dickies’ pants. The pair costs $20 at an average store, but the workers who made them got 10 cents for their efforts. Before any discussions began, the panel of speakers encouraged audience members to check their neighbors’ clothing tag to see where it was made. “Hong Kong! China! Singapore! Egypt!” audience members shouted. Members of the audience shouted countries from all over the globe, all except for the United States. Students and people of all ages gathered in the Fireside Lounge of the UWM Union March 24 for a lecture about fighting sweatshops and building an economy based on good jobs. The organization Sweat-Free Milwaukee brought the lecture together, with the overall mission to end sweatshop exploitation through responsible purchasing. In recent days, the organization’s efforts got UWM to sign on to an anti-sweatshop policy called the Designated Suppliers Program. This program requires the university to verify the source of its apparel from factories that pay a living wage and allow workers to unionize. “The university has been committed to buying from groups who run and pay fair wages, and we ensure that the goods we buy are produced in an anti-sweatshop environment,” Vice-Chancellor Tom Luljak said. Audience members scurried in slightly before 5 p.m. and began to take their seats neat the front of the room. Working Conditions The lecture featured Reyes, who worked for 15 years in a Honduran garment sweatshop and Maritza Vazquez from Puerto Rico, who worked for Propper International, a major producer of military and law enforcement apparel that supplies to various cities around the United States. Reyes and Vazquez stressed that one of the biggest problems workers in Honduras and Puerto Rico face involves union organizing. “In Honduras exploitation and low salaries are very common,” Reyes started, speaking through an interpreter. “The conditions are very difficult for the workers, especially because of the wages they get paid for their labor.” Conditions in Puerto Rico are basically the same Reyes said. “In the Dickies’ factory we’re trying to get union recognition and we’re organizing workers, but already 58 workers who have showed support have been fired.” If a person is caught organizing, their name goes on a “blacklist.” This list is then circulated among different companies to show who the organizers are to make sure they do not get hired. “Despite all this, I continue to be an organizer because I have a daughter and I don’t want her to experience the life that I’ve experienced,” she said in a somber tone. Vazquez said that in Puerto Rico, she and her fellow employees are organizing to improve conditions in their factories. The law in Puerto Rico gives workers 15 paid sick days; however, workers are not being granted this right. Vazquez and her fellow employees are demanding to have these paid sick days and also be allowed to organize a union. “We want people who are older and have worked a long time to retire comfortably,” she said, also speaking through an interpreter. There are people currently working in her factory who are 68, 69 and even 70 –years- old who cannot leave because the pension that is paid is not enough to live. Vazquez is fighting for weekly wages, paid sick days, less heat, affordable medical plans, less pressure to meet quotas, better salaries, and yes, toilet paper in the bathrooms. “After one year the only thing we have achieved is we now actually have toilet paper in the bathrooms,” she said in disbelief. Right here in Wisconsin President Bob Cheseboro of Wigwam Mills has kept Wigwam, a family-owned union sock manufacturer in Sheboygan since 1905, in Wisconsin even as competitors have outsourced jobs in search of cheaper labor. Wigwam faces a lot of competition from other countries with lower labor costs and environmental regulations that are not as stringent and don’t have quality health care like Wigwam has. It costs Wigwam $8,000 per year per employee to fund the cost of healthcare it provides to their 240 employees. “It’s very expensive, and over the years we have invested all the money we’ve earned and plowed it back into the company in order to get new equipment and be as modern and as efficient as possible,” he said. “Wigwam is probably the best place I have ever worked as far as conditions,” Wigwam Union President Mike Burnhardt explained. “As I’m learning, they don’t have that,” he said in regards to Reyes and Vazquez. University of Wisconsin Washington County student, Abby Jensen, came from West Bend to see the lecture. “It really makes me sad, and I don’t think it is acceptable for anyone to get paid unfair wages,” she said after the event. Jensen feels that, to change this situation, it starts with the consumer. “We have to be aware of what we buy and where it comes from, but also I think it’s partly the government’s responsibility,” she explained. Sweat-Free Milwaukee member and event organizer Darius Alemzadeh also feels strongly about this topic. “We are working towards getting the campus, the city, the state, and hopefully the country sweat-free.” For more information on SweatFree Communities click here. Sun, 26 Apr 2009 01:22:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=22029&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=22029&mname=Article Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} UWM Moves Closer to Being Sweatshop Labor Free By: Uko Etim of the Frontpage Milwaukee reporting staff April 25, 2009 At a rally being held in front of his office, Vice-Chancellor Tom Luljak told students that Chancellor Carlos Santiago plans to sign the Designated Suppliers Program (DSP) to ensure that all UWM clothes sold on campus are free of sweatshop labor. The April 4 rally was organized by The Sweat Free UWM Coalition, which is headed by the Milwaukee Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). Members of the coalition were greeted by the vice-chancellor before the rally officially started. He shook hands with the demonstrators standing in front of his office and handed everyone in attendance a written statement. Within the document that was drafted by Luljak, he writes that: “When UWM is confident that the DSP can legally be implemented and enforced in a manner that is also responsible to its constituents. UWM is willing to join the Designated Suppliers Program…upon receipt of a positive review letter. In the meantime, UWM will participate in the DSP working group.” The DSP working group consists of institutions that have publicly expressed support for the DSP. Since it is not feasible for a university to immediately meet all of the program’s standards, the working group is used to phase-in universities that recently signed on. “We want to make sure that what we do works and has staying power,” said Luljak. “Finally after considerable review, our attorneys advised that it is something we can support. It has never been a question of whether or not we support the principles, it’s just been whether it’s legal. But now that we have gotten clearance from our lawyers, we couldn’t be more thrilled to have the signing ceremony today.” Under the Designated Suppliers Program, university licensees are required to source most university logo apparel from supplier factories that pay living wages. The program is phased in over a three-year program; in the third and subsequent years 75 percent of the university’s apparel must derive from DSP factories. Working group members generally bring up concerns about the DSP and develop ways to address these concerns. The Members of the Sweat Free Milwaukee Coalition cheered and gave each other high-fives as they read the vice-chancellor’s memo. Coalition Member Trevor Smith waited nearly two and half years for this day. “The bookstore at UWM had a sign in the window that they are sweatshop free,” said Smith. “So we’ve spent a lot of time trying to get to the root of what it means to be sweatshop free. It is not merely a plaque you can put in a window. The DSP is a way of verifying we are sweatshop free.” Dana Shultz, one of the leaders of the SDS, and current Master’s student, has also been around for the 2-year ride. “In the beginning we kept getting passed around to different bureaucratic committees, said Shultz. “We ended up in the Brand and Merchandise Committee several months later. When we meant with them they said they would talk about it and get back to us. Meetings were cancelled, we never got responses and there was no sense of urgency.” It is hard to believe that with her demanding presence, former UW-Milwaukee basketball player, Dana Shultz could be ignored. However, Luljak admits that the process did last a long time. “In a large bureaucracy, it takes a while to work through this.” said Luljack. “We represent a lot of different constituencies and we want to make sure what we do works and is legal.” Darius Almenzadeh, the director of Trafficking Ends with Action, says that the SDS and other affiliates of Sweatfree Milwaukee cannot let up after this victory. “The same tenacity that has defined the Sweatfree Milwaukee Movement will be necessary to keep them in check and make sure they are doing what they are saying,” said Almenzadeh. “By not just simply stopping at this signing, but they are going to move forward. They need realize that this is just one small step and there are many steps that still need to be made.” Dana Shultz’s vision of the next step directly parallels Almenzadeh’s outlook. “Accountability,” said Shultz. “We are going to get a permanent student representative on the Branded Merchandise Committee to make sure that decisions around licensed apparel have a student representative. This may help in the bureaucratic easement of the situation. We also need to encourage other universities to sign on, because it is strength in numbers.” The rally was attended by nearly 40 people on the chilly April morning. However, this did not deter Sweatfree Coalition members from proudly displaying their group t-shirts. Attendees enjoyed music outside, victory chants, and even some dancing. Vice-Chancellor Luljak stayed for the entire rally, which consisted of several guest speakers and a presentation to him. Luljak was given a Sweatfree Milwaukee t-shirt. Both parties walked away from the rally satisfied with the final outcome, however, both admit that this is just one small victory in a process that will undoubtedly continue on. Sun, 26 Apr 2009 01:12:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=22028&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=22028&mname=Article Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} Akbar Invokes the Power of Self Knowledge By Dan Curtin Of the Frontpage Milwaukee reporting staff April 26, 2009 The American educational system is hindering African Americans by not encouraging their inner genius, noted psychologist and author Dr. Na’im Akbar said in a recent lecture at the UW-Milwaukee Union. Akbar likened the American educational system to a form of training and, in a brief aside, he gave President Barack Obama a warning. “Your ability to imitate the ‘boss’ will not set us free,” he said, indicating that the election of the country’s first African-American president does not mean that all issues of concern have been resolved for African-Americans. Akbar added that Obama has gained so much popularity in America because he has measured up to the standards of white people. But most of Akbar’s speech focused on how the educational system can better serve African-Americans. Throughout the lecture, Akbar argued that all humans, no matter what genetic makeup they have, are capable of genius. Akbar explained that the American educational system is inherently beneficial to white Americans but does not encourage the same spark of genius in African Americans. The lecture was a part of Woodson Week 2009, which is a weeklong celebration of African American heritage named in honor of Dr. Carter G. Woodson, founder of Negro History Week.Dr. Akbar used Dr. Woodson’s 1933 book, “The Miseducation of the Negro” as a guiding point for his lecture. Along with W.E.B. Dubois, Dr. Woodson was one of the first two African Americans to receive a PhD following the end of the Civil War. The event, entitled “Keynote with Dr. Na’im Akbar,” was attended by more than 200 people, many of which were in attendance due to an assignment for an Africology class. Dr. Akbar is a clinical psychologist at Florida State University, and previously the president of the Association of Black Psychologists. Many Different Views from the Audience Student David Coulombe was initially unfamiliar with the work of Dr. Akbar or Dr. Woodson, but he found the experience to be worthwhile. “I enjoyed it quite a bit. It’s quite of a very different perspective; I definitely wasn’t expecting to learn as much as I did.” Others came because they wanted to hear Dr. Akbar speak, but were unfamiliar with Dr. Woodson at the same time. Milwaukee resident Kindell Hamilton was encouraged by Dr. Akbar’s lecture to find our more about the teachings of Dr. Woodson. “I thought it was very informative-it makes me want to go back and read the book, ‘The Miseducation of the Negro,’ to enlighten myself and learn more about where [Dr. Woodson] was coming from,” Hamilton said. One of the recurring themes of the night was that an American education doesn’t mean much for an African American if they can’t think for themselves. “The Three R’s Mean Nothing if You Don’t Know What to Do With Them” Dr. Akbar’s lecture constantly brought up the fact that self-knowledge transforms skills to make them useful as opposed to another tool of the dominating class in power. Instead of the three “R’s,” Akbar said that true skills need to be: -Constructive so the ability to build, enhance, and extract from the environment is such a way that is neither to the detriment of yourself or others. -Relevant so your skills are pertinent and applicable to your advancement, progress, liberation and improvement. -Self-Affirmation, which determines that the skills or information you obtain, are in your self-interest, which should not be confused with selfishness. An Eager Crowd Dr. Akbar’s (drop titles after first reference) lecture was repeatedly interrupted due to applause and praise from various members of the audience. Despite the fact that many of those in attendance were there because of a school assignment, there were still many members of the audience that appeared to be true believers of Dr. Akbar’s work judging by the long line at the beginning and for the book signing. These audience members tended to be on the older side, and many of them looked as if they had lived through the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s and 70’s. One of those in attendance, 56-year-old Brother Oshi, has seen Dr. Akbar speak many times. “Well Dr. Na’im Akbar is, I feel, an authority on the African mind, what plagues African people psychologically. Wherever Dr. Na’im has been within distance, I have always gone to hear his lectures.” A Universal Message Before ending his lecture, Dr. Akbar gave a message, which he hoped would transcend race, religion, or nationality. Akbar stated that, “We are all human beings operating in the same universe that is watched over by the divine hand.” After quickly joking that he can’t wait to get out of cold Milwaukee and back to his current state of Florida, Akbar ended his lecture to a loud applause and did a book signing and a Q & A session. Sun, 26 Apr 2009 00:43:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=22026&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=22026&mname=Article Normal 0 false false false EN-US ZH-TW HI MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} “Hidden Landmark Offers Opportunity for UWM Students” By Matthew Sliker Overlooking the lake and hidden behind trees, the North Point Lighthouse is easy to overlook. But the hidden landmark will soon offer opportunities for UW-Milwaukee students with an upcoming partnership between the lighthouse and the UWM Alumni Association. Nonprofit group Friends of the North Point Lighthouse and the UWM Alumni Association are organizing an “Eco-Walk” to take place on Sept. 13. Student volunteers and members of the Friends group will lead the walk, which will begin on the UWM campus and end in Lake Park, where the lighthouse is located. Stops along the way will include Downer Woods and Sabin Hall. “We’re looking forward to this partnership,” said Peppy O’ Neill, UWM Alumni Association’s program manager. “It’s a first for us.” Representatives from both the Alumni Association and the lighthouse are excited for the Eco-Walk, as it is the first of what they hope will be many future partnerships. Other UWM Ties While the Eco-Walk may be the first time that the UWM Alumni Association will be working directly with the lighthouse, it’s not the first time that the lighthouse has crossed paths with the university. Joanne Barndt is a retired associate professor in UWM’s School of Social Welfare. She has lived in the Lake Park neighborhood for much of her adult life and has served on the Lighthouse Board of Directors for over 12 years. “I am not someone who gets really excited about lighthouses,” Barndt said. “But I was involved with Lake Park Friends here in Lake Park... and the lighthouse is part of the park,” she added. Additionally, Barndt says the UWM School of Architecture was involved in the early stages of the lighthouse’s renovation back in the late 90’s. The school offered estimates as to how much the restoration would cost. “We had to do that before we could figure out how much money we had to raise,” Barndt said. “And of course that dollar amount kept going up.” Lighthouse Operations Manager May Klisch is the only paid staff member at the lighthouse. She depends on board members like Barndt, volunteers and neighbors to help maintain the property, give tours and work the gift shop. In addition to the Eco-Walk, Klisch is interested in forging more partnerships with UWM in the future. One of her proposals would create an internship program where students from various UWM departments could participate at the lighthouse in their particular field of interest. Klisch says that a future partnership would benefit both parties. The lighthouse would benefit by an increase in student volunteers. UWM students, says Klisch, would gain unique opportunities to be a part of Milwaukee’s history. “We’d love to hear from students,” said Klisch. But in order for that to happen, Klisch will first have to spread the word about the lighthouse, as some UWM students are quick to admit that they don’t even know it is there. “I’ve never seen it,” said sophomore Brandon Rugzie. But he says he’d consider volunteering at the lighthouse, given its proximity to UWM. “It would be really interesting,” he added. A Rich History Conquering 84 spiraling stairs and braving the climb up a 13 step ladder reveals a view of Milwaukee like no other in the area. To the northwest, the UWM campus can be seen… most recognizable are the Sandburg dormitory towers. To the south, on a clear day, Racine can be seen, according to Klisch. The climb also offers a glimpse back to the late 1800’s, when lighthouse keeper Georgia Stebbins, wearing a puffy blouse, would faithfully climb the tower holding a lantern in one hand and a bucket of mineral oil in the other. Stebbins did this every two hours, from dusk until dawn, for over 30 years. The lighthouse, which is now owned by Milwaukee County, has faced some rather unexpected problems over the course of its 125 year history. 1855 – Original structure was built1893 – Lake Park was formed around the lighthouse1912 – Lighthouse tower raised to make it easier for ships to see light1994 – Lighthouse taken out of service2003 – Coast Guard transfers ownership over to Milwaukee County2008 – Complete restoration completed “The wonderful thing about trees is that they keep growing,” Klisch joked. “And growing and growing.” The three-story lighthouse’s light became obscured by the oak trees that had grown around it. Around the same time, many houses in the Lake Park neighborhood began using electricity. The lights coming from the houses soon began confusing ship captains that were looking for the lighthouse, according to Klisch. By 1912, an additional three stories had to be added to the lighthouse to help distinguish it from the nearby homes. In 1994, the lighthouse was taken out of service by the U.S. Coast Guard and declared as surplus. Almost 10 years later, the Coast Guard officially transferred ownership of the property to Milwaukee County, making it a permanent part of Lake Park, according to Jeff Grzeca, another board member with North Point Lighthouse Friends. Grzeca said that the Friends group worked with the county to try to get them to accept the property. “But with the county finances being somewhat stretched, [the county] didn’t want to accept something that was going to be another burden on taxpayers,” Grzeca said. The lighthouse restoration was completed in 2008, at a cost of over $1.6 million, according to Grzeca. “The entire project was done without any cost at all to the county taxpayers. Our group had to raise all the funds to cover the cost of the restoration.” Eco-Walk to help UWM’s Sustainability program September’s Eco-Walk will include a breakfast and lunch provided by UWM’s catering services and a raffle which will include prizes from the UWM Bookstore. “We’re trying to draw the attention of neighbors, students, alumni, people who are on campus, and people who love the campus and love lake park,” O’Neill said. The event will help raise money for UWM’s “Environmental Sustainability Campus Fund.” UWM’s newly formed sustainability program “looks to maximize new uses for campus waste and educate all members of the campus on energy conservation,” according to the program’s mission statement. O’ Neill says she’d be interested in forging more partnerships with the lighthouse in the future, including making the eco-walk an annual event. “There’s just this strong interest in anything that involves saving our planet and we want to be part of it,” O’Neill said. O’Neill and Barndt agree that the Eco-Walk and proposed future partnerships would greatly benefit both the lighthouse and UWM. “This is all very helpful as we continue to tell the story of the lighthouse and that’s really our ultimate goal… that people really understand what lighthouses are used for and why it was here,” Barndt said. “And we welcome UWM to be a part of that.” For information on how to get involved with the North Point Lighthouse, visit their website. Wed, 22 Apr 2009 11:32:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=21975&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=21975&mname=Article Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";} By Emily Neibauer of the Frontpage Milwaukee multi-media reporting staff April 6, 2009 24 Hour Lab Closed Nicole Thelien is a UWM junior who can’t always get her homework done at home because of distractions, so instead she does homework on campus and even stays out until one or two in the morning to write papers for class, but now she’ll have to adjust her routine. “I’ll just have to wake up super early to get stuff done, but I’m not a morning person, so I’d prefer to go to a lab that’s opened later,” she said. Thelien used the only 24-hour general access computer lab on campus that was in the Engineering and Mathematical Sciences (EMS) building, but it was closed in late December by University Information Technology Systems (UITS). The State budget is forcing UWM to make budget cuts across the University even though it may affect student life, and UITS thought cutting the EMS lab would be the most efficient way to contribute to its share of budget cuts. It’s an example of how the budget problems are already trickling down to affect students. As you walk down the hall towards the lab, big yellow signs read “EMS Lab Closing December 21st, 2008.” But, take a closer look inside the old room, and it looks like a barred prison with only one window. Ripped up flooring and dusty air fills the room where 47 computers used to sit. Lab officials say analysis showed there were enough open computers around campus to maintain the EMS closure. Also, very few students used the lab in the early morning hours, so UITS will be saving a big chunk of money from the lab cut. However, not all students are upset. Taryn Sauer is a UWM graduate student and doesn’t have the Internet at home, but the EMS closing wasn’t a big deal at all for her. “I didn’t even know it existed when it was around unfortunately,” said Sauer. Instead, Sauer says she uses the other five general access labs around campus as late as midnight or goes to coffee shops around her house. One UWM senior, Justin Webb, is a lab monitor in the Lubar lab and says he noticed that traffic has increased in other labs since the closing of the EMS lab. “I’ve had a couple of students come up to me and say they didn’t like it cause when exams come or late night papers…where are they supposed to go,” he said. However, he also says that the EMS lab wasn’t used the whole 24 hours. “Generally, most of the time, nobody comes from midnight until 8 a.m. Usually, it’s pretty dead except for bums or something like that,” Webb said. Bruce Maas, the Chief Information Officer of UITS, said that the lab was closed because UITS analyzed the lab’s usage in the fall 2008 semester. The attendance figures were not sufficient to keep the lab open in the current budget, he said. Associate Chief Officer of UITS, John McCarragher, said that UITS will actually save $150,000 per year from the lab closure. Facts & Figures Last semester, there were a total of 47 computers in the EMS lab and between the labs in Library, Bolton, Lubar, Mitchell, and the Union, there were another 345 computers. McCarragher said that UITS calculated the usage of each lab on campus between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. and compared the figures to the attendance at the EMS lab. For example, the Campus Computer Lab (CCL) Computer Usage Statistics say that on Tuesday Nov. 4, 2008 at 1 p.m., the EMS computer usage was at 58 percent which means 27 computers were being used. Across campus, between all of the general access labs combined at the same time that day, there were 170 computers not used. So, even with the EMS lab closed that would leave 143 computers around campus not in use. The figures stayed fairly consistent throughout the semester and enabled UITS to justify the closing because it could still provide computers for students. “Every hour of every day, there were at least 47 seats open around campus,” said Maas. Maas also said the lab was not taken advantage of enough during the early morning hours. “During the hours of midnight and 7am, the average usage was around 7 percent…in the current budget climate we could not justify have the facility open,” he said. That means on average only three computers were used between those hours. Dave Murthy is a UWM senior and also a lab monitor who says UITS justified shutting down the correct lab. “I guess if you’re trying to work with a budget and try to cut down things, the EMS lab at night doesn’t get used as much as it should,” he said. But Where Can Students Go Now? Maas says that general access labs are intended for all UWM students so that they can have consistent access to software and printing capabilities. During midterms, walking into the Library can be a nightmare. Not one empty chair is available and all the computers are taken. Loud printers are buzzing and the sound of typing and clicking fills the room. People’s faces are filled with mean grins and sagging tired eyes. But, there are more computers for midterm time because there are five general access computer labs around campus. Labs are located in various places around campus and each has different hours including: Bolton: Mon-Thu 8 a.m.-10 p.m. and Fri 8 a.m.-5 p.m.Curtin: Mon-Thu 9 a.m.-10 p.m., Fri 9 a.m.-5 p.m., and Sat 9 a.m.-noonLibrary: Mon-Thu 7:30 a.m.-11 p.m., Fri 7:30 a.m.-7 p.m., Sat 9 a.m.-8 p.m., and Sun noon-11 p.m. Lubar: 8 a.m.-midnight everydayUnion: 7 a.m.-Midnight everyday Maas said that the Library and the Union extended their hours to Midnight to accommodate for the loss of EMS. Students can check current computer lab availability at kiosks outside the labs or at the UITS website before going to a lab. Safety is another issue UITS thought about when deciding to close the lab. “It was nice for proximity…but it was the worst lab for security purposes,” said McCarragher. McCarragher says that campus police received complaints from student workers at early hours in the morning about disruptive students acting inappropriately. Now, UITS is trying to create a central hub of labs in the middle of campus. He also says that when the library renovation is complete there will be approximately 200 various computers available in the library. So, it’s Just Empty Space Now? Even though there is no longer a general access lab in the EMS building, the Engineering Department found a new use for the space. Dean of Engineering and Applied Science, Michael Lovell Ph.D., says that the old computer lab will be turned into an Engineering Innovation Center. “It will provide a facility for building design and prototyping for any project that is brought forward from the campus from different organizations,” Lovell said. The new center will be a place for students to build and showcase their projects and it will also give students an opportunity to work with outside companies and industries. Lovell says that adding the Engineering Innovation Center is going to make some changes in the EMS building. Currently, the Grind’s seating extends back to the staircase which goes down all the way to the back of the old EMS lab. When the new center comes in, the seating will be pushed out into the open commons of the building to accommodate the structure. Assistant Dean of Engineering and Applied Science, Tom Congdon, says that the Engineering Innovation Center is set to cost about $110,000 and funding is coming from industry and internal funds within the college of engineering. The project is scheduled to be completed by July. Tue, 07 Apr 2009 01:59:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=21788&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=21788&mname=Article Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} UWM’s Library Moving into Current TimesBy Emily Neibauer of the Frontpage Milwaukee reporting staff December 2008 UWM’s Golda Meir Library has not been renovated in nearly 20 years, but starting Dec. 21 the West wing was closed for a big renovation project. Ewa Barczyk, UWM Director of Libraries, said that the last time the library renovated was in 1987. Smaller changes have been implemented since then, but nothing extreme. Jim Lowry is the Assistant Director of Systems and Digital Initiatives for the library and also a core member of the renovation team. He said that the State and UWM had a plan in the making for about seven years, and originally the plan was to relieve space restraints with books. Over the past couple of years, the plan changed to incorporate better space for student work. The UWM library is working with The Kubala Washatko Architects, Inc. on renovating the West wing to make the library more useful for the UWM community. It is following the trend of many university libraries that have switched over to the integrated study technique that is needed for the way students study today. The New Space Currently, when people walk into the West wing, immediately to the far back right stand administration offices and the business branches of the library. When the renovation is complete, that large, hidden space will be public space, and students will be able to look outside and see Hartford Avenue. The emphasis of the project is to use the space that the library already has to transition the West wing into a new open space known as a “learning commons.” Incorporated in the new commons will be: · Group study rooms and a couple of classrooms. · More open space with over 400 available seats. · New furniture that is more comfortable and movable. · Over 200 computers. · The café will be moved into the West wing from the East wing. On an average day in mid-semester there are many students trying to use the West wing of the library. However, unless students get there early, there are usually lines for the computers, and many seats are already taken. Jenny Arth is a UWM junior who said that one of her biggest frustrations is the limited amount of seating in the library. “I think that a lot of students avoid the library because they know that it is overcrowded, there aren’t many available spots in the research center,” she said. Arth uses the library regularly and thinks that this transition will help her and others. “I think having more available computers and better furniture would create more comforting environment and is going to bring more students to the library, which in turn is going to benefit their success in researching for school,” Arth said. Barczyk said the renovation team looked at several libraries that have transitioned their libraries into the learning commons design. Some of the libraries sporting this trend are University of Missouri, Loyola of Chicago, University of Rochester, Georgia Tech, and Northwestern. “So taking all of these concepts, you know learning from others and incorporating them then we kind of go back and kind of test with students and say we found that our students are no different then, you know, the same kind of needs are here,” she said. Lowry worked on a similar project at Marquette University a few years ago that made the library popular. He said that the gate count at Marquette went from about 1,800-1,900 students in the library daily to about 6,000 students immediately. “The hope is that we at least give students the opportunity to learn in a way that we’ve seen and around the country has seen is much more aggressive than just giving them quiet floors and individual study floors,” he said. Where’s the Money? The project is estimated to cost about $4.9 million. Barczyk said that three fourths of the funding is coming from the State, but there is also private funding involved. The Daniel M. Soref Charitable Trust donated $1.75 million to library. Mr. Soref left his estate to promote educational purposes in Milwaukee. When the library proposed its idea, the Trust came through with the money. “They not only gave us the funding that we requested but gave us additional to be able to buy better furniture because we were going to reuse things. They said no we want this to be a really wonderful place for students,” Barczyk said. The new commons will be called the “Daniel M. Soref Learning Commons” in honor of the Trust’s donation. Timeline Lowry said that the renovation is on track for the opening in the fall 2009 semester. The West wing will be closed at the end of this semester and the construction will be taking place between January 2009 and August 2009. For the next nine months, people will have to use the East wing of the library to get the resources they need from the West wing. It will be awkward at first, but Barczyk said there will be many people helping students and faculty navigate and many signs posted. “We’re just asking for a little bit of patience that at the end of this we’re going to end up with a far superior building and facilities and we think the campus community is going to be pretty excited about it when they see what it’s going to look like,” Lowry said. This renovation is just the first step of transitioning the library into current times. Barczyk said that this is a wonderful start, but that the library will continually be moving forward. To look at the official timeline and model pictures of the library renovation go to the Golda Meir Renovation website. Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:00:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=21195&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=21195&mname=Article Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:PMingLiU; mso-bidi-font-family:Mangal;} Flu season domination What a Milwaukee campus is doing to ensure this year’s flu season beats out last year By Michelle Sauer Of the Frontpage Milwaukee staff By March 5, 2009 Influenza is a silent killer. UW-Milwaukee health officials agree and take their team to the campus in order to stop the killer dead in its tracks. The flu is an easily spread virus, and is highly contagious, especially among students who are surrounded by groups of people almost daily. As of late, about half of the states have experienced some type of influenza activity. Among those states is Wisconsin. Deaths were reported in 33 different states last year, which included Wisconsin and surrounding areas. The Central for Disease Control's (CDC) officials reports that last year's vaccination was mis-matched nationwide due to the wrong selection of virus strains for the vaccination. The scientists who create these vaccinations put in many hours of work and research to develop the more than 100 million doses that are needed for the upcoming season. The scientists behind the flu vaccine must develop the vaccine by February of each year to give the manufacturers plenty of time to make this abundance of doses. New strains have a possibility of resurfacing after the vaccine is made because of this seven month gap between February and September. These specialists are, as the CDC informs, working on better ways to create the vaccine so it could come out as late as May, giving them an added three months for development. “I actually just read some research about how they were going to go about picking the vaccines to try to prevent last season where they picked the wrong strain and a lot of people got sick,” says Meghan Klein, a nursing student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her research on the topic included much of what the CDC states on the topic. Last year’s miss-match was still 44 percent effective in influenza prevention. A well-matched year can provide results between 70 and 90 percent effective, states the CDC. The scientists who determine the strains of influenza have had 16 of the last 19 seasons complete as well-matched years. UW-Milwaukee is wasting little time in preventing this type of outbreak from reaching the campus this year, as students get ready to head into finals week and return home for a long winter break. February through March marks the average peak dates of influenza activity. Clinical supervisors nationwide are encouraging the public to take precaution well in advance. Julie Bonner is the executive director at the Norris Health Center at UW-Milwakee, and is working with students to ensure that their health is number one priority, and that their academics are not in danger if they do become ill. “The flu is very different from a simple cold and can put you in bed for a few days,” Bonner state. “This can result in some issues with school, but working with the Dean of Students and faculty when a serious case develops, is the way to go in terms in order to avoid having it more significantly impact your academics.” Norris employees are hosting flu clinics throughout the season to nip the problem before it becomes prevalent. “It’s flu season, and the best way to prevent this flu for you is to get the flu shot,” says Colleen Bernstein, an RN at Norris. “You can do this at any of the clinics or you can call Norris to make an appointment.” Bernstein is working closely with the clinics to ensure their success. She is hoping most students will be vaccinated before returning home on break. “We are trying to get the flu vaccine to as many students as we can to keep them healthy so they can go about their student life and can go back to their communities over Christmas break and be healthy,” Bernstein says. “Keeping their communities healthy affects the public health in general.” Children and elders are most in danger when it comes to the effects of the disease, and experience higher rates of mortality than any other age groups. A sick student, upon returning home, could infect these susceptible groups to the virus. “In most students who are otherwise healthy the hospitalization rate is low,” Bonner says. “However, if you go visit your sibling who is under nine and especially under 24 months or your grandparents over 65, if you have it and you give it to them, they could have real trouble.” Amber Kleczka, now a sophomore, was not vaccinated last year and developed one of influenza’s associated illnesses. “The flu is a serious virus that a lot of people get… and I just knew I had it and didn’t take care of it and developed pneumonia,” Kleczka states with a sigh of disappointment. Klein is working closely with the Norris clinics. She is worried people will overlook the clinics and the vaccination, even though it is accessible and affordable. The cost of the shot is ten dollars for students, and the clinics are held in the UWM Union Ballroom on specified dates, which can be found by visiting http://www4.uwm.edu/news/stories/details.cfm?customel_datapageid_11602=455772. “It’s a very severe sickness, it spreads easily and is easily contactable,” Klein says with her eyes wide and mouth stern. “I think it’s something that people underestimate.” The Center for Disease Control reports that the majority of people aren’t getting vaccinated annually, and up to 20 percent of college students who come down with a serious case of the flu each year are those who aren't getting vaccinated. “I actually got the flu shot this year and plan on getting it every year from now on,” Kleczka adds smiling. “I would really, really recommend people getting the vaccination.” Bernstein and the rest of Norris concur with Kleczka and see no reason why individuals should avoid getting the shot. “You cannot contract the illness from the virus,” Bernstein states. This is one of many positives Bernstein states as she encourages UWM's mission to flu prevention. The final hope of all the individuals working with the clinics and the UWM community was repeated several times by each person interviewed: Get the flu shot. Sun, 08 Mar 2009 23:43:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=21192&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=21192&mname=Article Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} King Solomon Grooves The Gasthaus By: Adam Barndt ajbarndt@uwm.edu Feb. 22, 2009 A review: King Solomon brought its rhythmic reggae to the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee’s Ghasthaus, transforming the bar into a dancehall for the first installment of the bar's 2009 entertainment series earlier this month. The typical array of tables and chairs populating the front of the stage had been pushed away, creating a dance floor that few of the shows 200 attendees were shy to grace. A younger crowed of pint-sized hippies, fashionable females, and dread locked veterans gathered near the stage. The of age fans filled the closed off bar to near capacity as the band took the stage near 9 p.m. Early in the set, King Solomon blazed through a cover of Toots and the Maytals reggae classic, “54-46 Was My Number.” The song brilliantly incorporated a searing rock and roll guitar riff over the mellow up clicks and down chicks. Classics were in no short supply as the band played through mellow mood classics such as Bob Marley’s “Trench Town Rock,” and “No Woman No Cry.” Aside from the classics, King Solomon played original material like the heart felt “Been a Long Time,” from their album Revelations. Combining classic reggae with modern elements like dueling reggeton vocals and forceful rock and roll guitar riffs. The high point of the show came early on with a cover of Shaggy’s “Angel” spun into a reggae rendition of Steve Miller’s classic “The Joker.” A moment lost on the crowed concerned mostly their drinks and dancing. The dance floor had swelled and spilled out into the common area by 10:30 with hippies, moon stompers, college kids, and fans ages three to forty skanking and swaying. The show ended to uproarious applause sharply at 11 p.m. as the band set down their instruments and briefly mingled with fans before departing. King Solomon is fast becoming synonymous with reggae in Milwaukee, and shows like this prove why. They simultaneously bring a unique energy and presence to their live shows with their modern take on a classic sound. Sun, 22 Feb 2009 13:27:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=20988&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=20988&mname=Article Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"MS Mincho";} By Ellie Reischl Frontpage Milwaukee staff Jan. 8, 2009 Route 30 begins in front of Sandburg Hall on the UWM campus for both of its routes. Riding the bus is a montage of people from all walks of life. The studious pupil is at the front of the bus, with his head so deep in a textbook that he misses his stop. Two philosophers, at their high perch in the back, look over everyone and discuss the difference between Socrates and Aristotle. The homeless man with his long beard, grey from the tests of time, and dirty from living on the cold streets of Milwaukee, waits by the back exit and gets off at the next major stop. The most popular bus route around UWM, the Milwaukee County Transit System’s Route 30, is also one of the most confusing. With two different 30 routes intertwining like a double helix throughout the city, it makes catching the right bus a little harrowing for new and old riders alike. There are two different 30 routes, the Florist and the 67th and Keefe. Carmita Lampkins, an information agent and bus driver for Milwaukee County Transit System says that upon leaving UWM, the 67th and Keefe heads south on Maryland Ave. The Florist heads south on Downer. “Both will meet on the corner of North and Farwell and continue on the same route until close to the end where they split to get to their destinations,” says Lampkins. At the end of the line, the marquees for the routes change to say via Maryland or via Downer. This is because they are headed towards UWM and will once again make the split at the corner of North and Farwell to go north on Maryland Ave or north on Downer Avenue. They will meet at UWM. For some students it can be a bit tricky to catch the right 30. Allie Reeck, 22 and a senior at UWM says she has gotten on the wrong bus before. “I was waiting outside the dorms by the corner of Maryland and Hartford. The bus I caught said Maryland, so I thought I had the right one. It ended up going up Downer and I had to get off the bus and wait for the right one, the 67th and Keefe, which takes Maryland Ave,” says Reeck. In Reeck’s case the driver didn’t change the marquee sign to signal to riders that although the bus had taken the route via Maryland to get to the UWM campus, it was going to be taking Downer to leave. Mark Thorstenson, 21, has been riding the 30 for about two years. He uses it to get to and from class as well as running small errands and so far has not had an issue. “I have never had a problem with figuring out the 30. Either bus will take me to where I need to be,” says Thorstenson. A student like Thorstenson might know where the 30 will take him, but who is riding with him is left to chance. “This one guy was discussing Jesus and the end of the world,” says 22-year-old UWM senior, Michelle Schaefer. “It was quite interesting.” START OF THE LINE: MARYLAND AND HARTFORD The 30 will start its route on the corner where the Sandburg Hall meets Columbia Hospital, the Hartford School, and the rest of the UWM campus. It is an appropriate array of buildings that will foreshadow the array of different people riding the bus. FARWELL AND NORTH: The two philosophers exit at this stop and jet in the direction of Hooligans the Super Bar, where up the stairs is a montage of board games that lend a hand in getting any party started. To the right is Paddy’s Pub, an honest Irish bar just off of North Ave. It’s authentic interior begs to be a conversation starter and as quiet as she is throughout the year, St. Patrick’s Day definitely awakens the Irish in her. FARWELL AND BRADY: A woman hauling a stroller enters. She lets out a sigh of relief as if the cold chasing her was stopped at the close of the bus door leaving her and the baby safe and warm. She carries a hot dog with all the fixings from the Dogg Haus on the corner. Turn left and Brady Street leads to a beautiful entrance to the lakefront, while a right turn leads to unique clothing stores such as Dragonfly Vintage Clothes and Gifts. Further down the street is Cempazuchi, a quiet Mexican restaurant that boasts a few loud margaritas and to-die-for salsas. FARWELL AND OGDEN: Music aficionados, meet 30 Route. It is the safe and cheap way to get to one of the best concert halls in Milwaukee, Shank Hall. With its intimate setting and capacity of only 300, Shank Hall is a gem in the musical makings of Milwaukee. A fire in 1992, and a remodeling job in 1999 have allowed for history to be continued well into the future. Exiting here, after drumming his fingers along with an unheard beat, is an emo rocker who no doubt, longs to be playing Shank’s stage someday. OGDEN AND JACKSON: At this intersection, a rider will find that the characters on the bus have changed dramatically. From the casually dressed student barely out of their pajamas, to the business-suited men and women trying to make it to work on time, the 30 becomes a business bus. The intersection of Ogden and Jackson boasts a few on-the-way-to-work necessities as well. A Starbucks and Einstein’s Bagels call out to the morning crowd. Panera Bread and Chipotle entice the lunch patrons, while Karma Bar and Grill lures in the night owl. JACKSON AND KILBOURN: Cathedral Square is the Central Park of Milwaukee. Concerts such as Jazz in the Park, events, block parties, and a night life make this little piece of green amidst the valleys between buildings a Milwaukee hot spot. The 30 makes multiple stops in this area and then makes a right turn on to Wisconsin Avenue. Another homeless man enters the bus and shivers. He is not dressed for the Wisconsin winter that the holiday lights of the Square make apparent. WISCONSIN AND PLANKINTON: ‘Tis the season to head to the Grand Avenue Mall. If not for the shopping, then for the holiday decorations that hug the walls and hang from the ceilings. Down the block to the East is Mo’s Irish Pub, where music and ale dance a sweet jig together. WISCONSIN AND 16th: Here is where the t-shirts turn a different shade of yellow, Marquette University. Once again the patterned jewel-toned seats on the bus fill with students, some studying, some gossiping, sleeping, or just staring blankly ahead, taking a break from thinking. From this stop, the Marquette Student Union and the dorms are a quick walk, as well as the many restaurants and bars surrounding the campus. MILLER VALLEY: An unexpected detour will take you into Miller Valley until December of 2009. Home of the Miller Brewing Company and their free brewery tour, taking the 30 here is a safe way to enjoy the free beer that ends the tour. END OF THE LINE: 67th AND KEEFE OR SHERMAN AND FLORIST The 30 is a diverse route in both places and people. As the buses continue on with their respective routes, so do the riders with their lives. But for a moment, they are intertwined in the double helix that is the 30 route. Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:44:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=20397&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=20397&mname=Article By Marly Fink Campus Activities Reporter Unusual mid-70 degree temperatures and 1,104 runners and walkers filled the streets surrounding UWM’s campus, all while getting a good workout and helping the fourth annual Panther Prowl reach record-breaking participation on Sunday Oct. 12. Photo of Panther Prowl participants by Marly Fink Each year, the UWM Alumni Association organizes the certified 5k run/walk event and 100 percent of the proceeds go toward scholarships for UWM students and alumni programming. The running trail winds in and out of campus and through upper Lake Park. “We had beautiful weather for the run and my sorority sisters and I thought it was a worth-while experience,” UWM junior Deanne Crivolio said. Crivolio and 17 of her Gamma Phi Beta sorority sisters participated in the event knowing that it benefits their fellow UWM peers each year. With record-breaking participation in both the total number of participants and the number of teams, Program Manager Peppy O’Neill is happy to have had another successful year. “The Panther Prowl has been growing steadily,” O’Neill said. “We're very lucky to have such a strong base of campus-based participants and sponsors.” This year’s co-chairs of the event included Channel 12 news anchor Shelby Croft and former UWM women’s star basketball player, Jan Krystkowiak. After the run/walk, participants were rewarded with an after-party in Spaight’s Plaza. Runners and walkers alike enjoyed fresh bagels, chips and salsa, cookies and coffee while The Beatles’ “Saw Her Standing There” echoed in the background. Croft and Krystkowiak also emceed the party and presented awards. Participants had the opportunity to raise pledges as an individual or as a team and rewards were given to the top donations and of course the fastest finishers. Coming in first place, time wise, for the men, was UWM’s own Assistant Track and Field Coach and Milwaukeean Nate Weiland, finishing the race in just over 15 minutes. Former UWM track star and record holder, Holly Nearman took first place for the women and also set a new event record for the women runners, finishing in about 17 and half minutes. The top fundraiser for 2008 was Joely Urdan, raising $930 in pledges. To date, the event has raised over $35,000 in proceeds combining fees, pledges and sponsorships. Sponsors for this year’s event included the Milwaukee Bucks, Alterra Coffee, Whole Foods and Milwaukee County Parks, among many others. “We have some very loyal sponsors and vendors that have supported the Panther Prowl over the years,” O’Neill said. “We're looking forward to continuing our strong partnerships with them.” While the UWM Alumni Association is in charge of the event each year, O’Neill says that it really is a team effort made up of the Panther Prowl Leadership Team (made up of community members who volunteer), the runners and walkers, students, five varsity athletic teams and coaches, media representatives, vendors, neighbors and city and county employees. “Everyone helps to shape the event in a positive way, from the first planning meeting of the year to the final moments of the giant After-Party in Spaight’s Plaza,” O’Neill said. According to O’Neill, the idea behind Panther Prowl was first thought of by a small group of avid runners in the community. After a couple unsuccessful attempts at a similar event, the persistent group began planning again in 2004, and the following October, the first official Panther Prowl made its debut. Since then, the event has become more successful each year and now planning will develop for the fifth annual Panther Prowl event scheduled for Sunday Oct. 11, 2009, coinciding with UWM’s Family Weekend. “Panther Prowl has proved to be a highly valuable event for the UWM campus and the surrounding community,” O’Neill says. “It has played a significant role in bringing together a broad range of campus and community individuals for healthy exercise and great camaraderie.” Fri, 31 Oct 2008 22:05:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=19645&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=19645&mname=Article By Krysta Legeros klegeros@uwm.edu May 4, 2008 Spring is finally here! The birds are singing their sweet melodies as the sun shines its rays on the beautiful flowers blooming all over the city. Ok, so that might sound like a scene out of a Disney movie, but the warm weather is a nice change after getting over 100 inches of snow this winter in Milwaukee. It is time to enjoy it by hitting the Milwaukee River Trail. While the sun may seem a little too bright at first, it is time to crawl out from hibernation and enjoy the fresh air. There is no better way to enjoy the outdoors than to get a little exercise. However, if you are sick of passersby whistling at you or giant SUVs almost taking you out in the crosswalk, then the Milwaukee River Trail can give you a place away from the busy streets. The paved trail stretches over two miles along the Milwaukee River with many points of entry along the way, such as North Ave. and Capitol Dr. Whether you bike, walk, jog, Rollerblade or skateboard, this trail is the perfect way to enjoy exercise without worrying about anyone else running you over. Starting north of Capitol Dr. and going south toward downtown, the path winds along the river, providing great views the entire way. Parts of the path are down the hill from the main road, which creates a true feeling of seclusion. The path is also plenty wide for people going in both directions; so many people create their own loop for their perfect worko ut. For a quick pit stop on your way down the path stop at the Urban Ecology Center. The center was built in 2004 and is a green facility that promotes the use of recyclable and renewable resources. It houses a library and resource center, live animals, such as turtles and snakes, and in case you are lost, a large aerial view of Milwaukee puzzle that sits on the floor. Benches and picnic tables surround barbecues outside, as well as a large climbing wall and observation deck. And of course, they have clean and environmentally friendly bathrooms. Once you pass the Urban Ecology Center you will eventually make it all the way to the lakefront. One access point to the trail is up the hill from Alterra Coffee on Lakefront Drive. Continue on, or stop for something refreshing to drink. If you really want to get away from the city however, there is another hidden path that you can take. A hiking and mountain biking trail runs along side the Milwaukee River Trail for a few miles before winding off in many different directions. The dirt path is deeper into the woods and you can access the lake from many points along the path. While a few car horns may reach you, the dirt path is very secluded and makes for an even better escape. It also stretches a little over two miles from Hampton Avenue to a few blocks south of North Avenue. There are many different paths that wind off and go through a few small parks. So, whether you like to walk at a slow pace and take in the scenery, mountain bike through the mud and dirt, or jog for great exercise, the Milwaukee River Trail will give you a chance to experience a little nature. It’s no longer cold outside so get off the couch and get on the trails. Sun, 04 May 2008 23:13:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=17875&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=17875&mname=Article By Krysta Legeros klegeros@uwm.edu April 20, 2008 Choosing something to do on a Friday night can be difficult. You think, should I go to a movie? Bowling? Out to eat? A drink at the bar? Why not do them all in one place. The new IPic Entertainment at Bayshore Mall takes away the hassle of making that hard decision. IPic is a brand new venue that combines the best of indoor entertainment. Across the hall from Bar Louie, the luxurious yet affordable IPic is just the place to do it all. It combines the Ovation Restaurant, Pinstrike Bowling Alley, IPic Theater and Sequel Bar. With great deals in each place, you feel like you are got the star treatment you didn’t have to pay for. While it is on the second floor of the mall, inside is a completely different world. Brightly colored glass globes hang from the ceiling and begin the modern and crisp design inside. There is an information desk and even a coat check off to the right, before you are find a full bar in the entrance to the theater. IPic Theater is no ordinary cinema. While they do play blockbusters on their six screens, they offer V.I.P. seating, which includes valet parking and popcorn for $15. They also have general admission for $9 or $6 for a matinee. An usher brings you to your reserved seat, which is a plush, modern red loveseat. The walls are adorned with art, making it feel like you are watching a movie in a wealthy person’s living room. They also have a “no one under 21” policy after 6 p.m., unless accompanied by another 21 year old. After a movie, a bite to eat and another drink may be in order. The Ovation Restaurant and Sequel bar are a great place for catching up with friends or a significant other. The bar has a variety of seating areas, including modern silver and white couches arranged around low glass tables. White leather bar stools along the winding bar also provide a comfortable place to enjoy their signature drinks. Half price Martini Mondays allow you to try their most popular martinis, including “The Passion” for only $4, but ask which ones are on special because it gets a bit confusing. For a bite to eat, the intimate Ovation Restaurant boasts a great selection of everything from a fish and chips sandwich to fried calamari. The prices range from the grilled chicken sandwich at $11 to a New York sirloin for $24. Sweet Treat Tuesdays lets you try one of the many desserts, like the banana cream pie with a graham cracker crust, for free with your meal, and Wine Wednesdays have half price bottles of wine. A different entrée is also on sale each day of the week. Right outside the door to the restaurant is the 11 lane modern bowling alley. This is no ordinary, neighborhood bowling alley. The modern design continues with an artistic wave ceiling and flat screen score keepers. High energy music is played while a 65 foot video wall above the pins plays music videos as you bowl. Plush couches matching those in the bar are in place of hard plastic benches. High tables and chairs and a few more flat screen televisions are arranged behind the bowling area when you need to take a break and have a bite to eat. Bowling is $4.95-$5.95 a person, or else you can rent a lane per hour. Deal days are Tuesdays, which are 95 cent days, and Thursdays, which are college bowling nights. Students showing a valid college ID play for only $2.50 a game and get half-off of draft beers. Friday and Saturday nights are midnight bowling, where everyone gets half-off bowling from midnight to 2 a.m. and drink specials. From bowling to martinis, IPic really does have something for everyone. Whether you want a new place for a night out with friends or a perfect place for a date, IPic provides a classy yet casual place to have fun. Combine the best deals and you can enjoy each area without spending that week’s paycheck. Sun, 20 Apr 2008 13:00:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=17841&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=17841&mname=Article By Krysta Legeros klegeros@uwm.edu April 6, 2008 Sitting on a comfortable couch with a fresh pepperoni pizza, a cold beer and a warm brownie for dessert is the perfect way to enjoy a movie. People may believe that the only way for that scene to take place is in their own living room, but that isn’t true if they travel to Wauwatosa to the Rosebud Cinema Drafthouse. The Rosebud has been showing movies since 1931 when it opened as the Tosa Theater. In 1940 it became the first Marcus Theater in Milwaukee when Ben Marcus bought it. It changed hands a few more times before it was remodeled to have the living room feeling it has today. The small front lobby instantly transports you back to a time where theaters themselves were an experience. The intimate room with traditional warm reds is complete with a concession stand on one side that not-so-traditional, yet delicious, smells drift from. There is everything a movie-goer would expect to find on the menu, but with plenty of surprises. From onion rings to chicken tenders to toasted cheese ravioli, the Rosebud has anything you crave. One of the best options is their pizza, which they will deliver to you in your seat. To go along with your pizza a cold beer hits the spot. The Rosebud offers a variety of draft and bottled beers, including a few local brews like Spotted Cow. Their pint glass special is your best bet for only $8. Refills are only $2 and you get to keep the glass. Not a beer drinker? Then a variety of wines, mixers, and Pepsi products are also on the menu. Once you have your snacks picked out, then it is time to find a seat in the single screen theater. There are no uncomfortable stadium seats here. Instead comfortable black loveseats and coffee tables sit on carpeted floors. Perfect for couples to relax together, the loveseats complete the intimate living room atmosphere. It is the perfect combination of going out and staying in for a movie. With only one screen, the owners are very picky about what movies they show. While they are known for their off beat, independent films, they also play mainstream movies that they deem worthy of seeing. With a mainly adult audience, more mature movies are usually the goal. Playing right now is “The Bank Job.” Coming in the near future are movies such as “The Incredible Hulk,” “The Real Dirt on Farmer John,” and “Sex and the City: The Movie.” If one movie isn’t for you, a different type will be playing next month. The Rosebud Cinema Drafthouse is the perfect place for a date or a night out with a few friends (however even-numbered groups are preferable). With great food and drinks, a night out to see a movie becomes an entirely different experience. You can go out, but yet still feel like you are in your own living room. The old theater has truly perfected the movie going experience and anyone that is sick of sticky floors and screaming kids ruining the movie should try the Rosebud instead. Sun, 06 Apr 2008 13:25:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=17817&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=17817&mname=Article By William Lutz April 1, 2008 Body Worlds, an anatomical exhibition of real human bodies, is now on display on a “limited engagement” at the Milwaukee Public Museum. Mostly science and partly art, the display is a beautiful, powerful reminder of how complex and delicate our bodies are. More than 200 bodies, or parts of bodies, have been preserved through a process of plastination, a process developed in 1977 by Dr. Gunther von Hagens. Simply put, a human body or part of interest is placed in a vacuum where the water and fat are replaced with reactive plastics. The plastic is initially pliable, but hardens after it infused into the body. All of the tissue structures of the body are retained. On display are cross-sections of parts from the body's digestive, reproductive, and skeletal systems. Most striking, however, are the full-size plastinated models, shown in various states of activity. One model stands tall with his skin draped over his arm. The placard next to him explains that the skin is the body's largest organ and the only one which provides a means of visual identity and beauty. Other models were skeletal, similar to the Mr. Bones you'd find in a biology or anthropology lab. Many focused on the muscular system, offering an explanation as to how locomotion is achieved and how tendons and ligaments are attached to the body's frame. Most amazing to me, however, were the models and displays showcasing the vascular system. Arms and hands were clearly identified based solely on the red network of blood vessels. In that same display case, the body of a human infant is visible. The three-dimensional model of the vascular network was jaw-dropping. I counted ten little red toes. There were also a fair amount of "subliminal warnings". A display case held an example of a healthy lung juxtaposed with a smokers lung and a healthy liver with the liver of an alcoholic. Two models explained how obesity affects the human body. One of them, it was explained, died because his heart could no longer pump blood through his enormous body. The exhibit has received some criticism for being too graphic, with fingers pointing to the "exploding" models, where portions of the body most external are separated to reveal what is inside. In one, the muscular system is brought outward to reveal the esophagus, stomach, and digestive system. In another, an eight-month pregnant woman lays on her side, her uterus opened so we can see the developing baby. The Catholic Church and some Jewish Rabbis have expressed objection to the exhibit, arguing that the people are being exploited and that the display doesn’t provide reverence for the human body. I never thought the models were being degraded, however, or that they existed solely so someone could get their voyeuristic jollies. In fact, I found myself stopping and staring the models in the eyes, wondering who they were and what their stories were, and respecting them for donating themselves so I could have a better understanding and appreciation for what makes me tick. It’s important to note that all of the bodies were voluntarily donated to science. I've always been fairly healthy, but really began paying close attention to my health about three years ago. At points, I’ve packed on a good deal of muscle and changed my diet in healthy ways. Body Worlds reminded me of why I've begun to do those things. It reminded me that life is delicate and that I only get one shot at it. This is the only body I'll ever have, so I better take care of it as best as possible. Body Worlds is not gross or creepy. It is beautiful art and amazing science. Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:42:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=17806&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=17806&mname=Article Krysta Legeros klegeros@uwm.edu March 9, 2008 Seated in a red wicker chair at a small wooden table, sipping a glass of wine, eating a stuffed crepe dripping with brie, and relaxing among the chatter that fills the room. This may seem like an afternoon in Paris, but it is the experience of the restaurant called Trocadero right here in Milwaukee. Inspired by the streets of Paris, with its warm colors, historic architecture and inspiring food, the Trocadero captures it all. On the outskirts of downtown Milwaukee, this Persian treasure might be easily passed by on the way to a more flashy part of Water Street, but it is well worth the stop. The brutal winter may be pounding outside, but while seated in the warm, heated floor patio filled with luscious plants, the snow and ice disappear. The patio even has a tin roof, brick walls and small lights strung across the ceiling bringing the perfect amount of outside in. Each table is adorned with a small candle and a flower putting everyone at ease instantly. When the weather does finally start to ease-up, hopefully in the near future, Trocadero boasts an outdoor patio, which has helped them win the Best Outdoor Seating Award multiple times. The inside of the restaurant is just as inviting, with a large bar in the middle of the room and small booths and tables scattered throughout creates true intimacy. Each table seems hidden and tucked away in its own cozy space. Pictures of Parisian advertisements and cityscapes bring the overall effect to its peak. While some may come for the European atmosphere, most will come back for the food. With a new bistro style menu, the variety and quality of the food does Paris justice. You will not find an average, small crepe here, instead a huge one filled with a variety of vegetables and cheeses, such as red bell peppers, French brie and portabella mushrooms, hangs over each side of the plate. Even a chicken sandwich becomes a delicacy when it includes belletoile brie, olive oil, fresh tomatoes and basil. Trocadero is also famous for their Cheeseboard, which has a choice of 11 different cheeses served with baguette, crackers, apples and grapes. The wide variety of wines and beers also may make your head spin. All the major Milwaukee and Wisconsin beers are present, along with ones from Germany, France and Belgium. The wine list extends just as far. Voted serving the “Best Bloody Marys” in Milwaukee, Trocadero has four different ways of making them from around the world. And don’t forget the dessert. From chocolate mousse, to crème burlee, to the nono crepe, which is filled with Nutella and chocolate mousse and topped with white chocolate and hazelnuts, finding room for a little bit more is easy. If you have always wanted to travel to Paris, but just can’t seem to get there anytime soon, Trocadero will give you a great taste of the magical city. The intimate atmosphere instantly whisks you away from the cold winter and places you on the back streets of an enchanting city known for its great food. A steaming crepe, some tasty cheese you can’t pronounce, and a glass of wine is all you need for a relaxing night with friends or a significant other. Is it Paris or Trocadero? Who can tell? Sun, 09 Mar 2008 12:39:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=17761&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=17761&mname=Article By Krysta Legeros Dec. 10, 2007 The snow is finally here, and the bustle of the holidays has begun. The best time to live in the city is now, and it’s time to take advantage of all it has to offer. While parking may become a nightmare with piles of snow blocking in your car and icy sidewalks making you fear for your life, the city during the holidays is truly something to experience. One of these winter advantages is the Slice of Ice ice-skating rink in Red Arrow Park that opened Dec.7. Right in the middle of the city, this ice rink is a tradition in Milwaukee. It was renovated in 1999 and is now the perfect place to get into the holiday spirit. The trees are draped in white and colored lights. Even the towering building near by glows in a purple light and is projected with a season’s greeting. The energy and beauty of the city can be seen from every direction. It gives you a chance to finally admire the beauty of the city as it passes by again and again. The cold does not seem quite as vicious as you skate with friends surrounded by colored lights and towering buildings. Whether you come for exercise, a social outing with friends or a romantic date, the rink is a great way to actually enjoy the cold Wisconsin is so famous for. The rink also has a warming house attached with a full Starbucks to help warm up those frozen fingers. The towering glass windows allow everyone inside to enjoy the view of the city, as well as the people wiping out on the ice. A fireplace burns in the middle of the room completing the ski lodge feeling. A steaming cup of hot cocoa is the perfect complement to the icy fun outside. Ice skating at Slice of Ice is completely free if you bring your own skates. Don’t own any? Well, then it’s only $5.50 to rent them. Ice skate sharpening is a new service they provide this year and is only $5 plus tax. Benches to tighten up those laces are provided, along with lockers for anything you don’t want to skate with. The rink, while not quite as big as a regular hockey rink, provides plenty of room for the skaters of all skill levels. The rink is open through February and even into March if the weather permits. It is open Mon. to Thurs. 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Fri. and Sat. 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Sun. 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Starting in January hours are cut back slightly. For a unique New Year's activity, perhaps before going down a few blocks to the restaurants and bars that line Water St., the rink will be open until 1 a.m. with a great view of the fireworks show being set off over the city. I suggest going before hitting the bars too hard, however. After skating, if you just aren’t ready to leave the city just yet, Cathedral Square Park is only blocks down the street. The park is covered in lights that everyone can’t help but admire. Stroll along the paths to get the full experience of the colored lights that cover the trees from top to bottom. Slice of Ice in Red Arrow Park is as much a part of the winter in Milwaukee as the dirty, slushy snow the buses spray you with. If you are bitter toward winter or need to get into the holiday spirit, a little ice skating will do the trick. Mon, 10 Dec 2007 21:19:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=17701&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=17701&mname=Article By Krysta Legeros You may drive past it every day admiring the cascading waterfall and lush greenery. You may wonder who lives in that huge, white mansion overlooking Lakefront Drive as you drive past. Your curiosity can actually be satisfied when you discover this mansion is the Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum. The Villa Terrace was built in 1924 for the Lloyd R. Smith family after returning from a trip to Italy. Architect David Adler created the home after Villa Cicogna in Lombardy, Italy. A little culture is sometimes needed in life, and Villa Terrace is an interesting way to get just that. On Villa Terrace Avenue, the mansion sits nestled in an architecturally beautiful neighborhood. It is only a step away from North Avenue, but is a completely different world. The outside courtyard filled with trim bushes and a large statue begins the peaceful atmosphere that continues throughout. After ringing the doorbell that allows the thick wooden door to swing open, I was swept into the ornate detail and history. For only $5 for adults and $3 for students, the museum is a reasonable price for the experience. The rich wooden ceilings are adorned with painted moldings. Large windows line the entire front of the house leading out to the terrace and framing one of the best views in the city. A feeling of history mixes with a touch of romance from the large main room to the bedrooms. In each room a different art exhibit is on display. This month students from area elementary schools visited the museum and created paintings of what they experienced. While not the traditional art exhibit you would find in a museum, the children’s renditions were very sweet as well as entertaining. An ongoing exhibit is that of Cyril Colnik. His collection of wrought iron pieces are on display throughout many of the rooms on the second floor. He created detailed, intricate hardware and decorative pieces. My favorite was a candlestick in the shape of a twisted rose that almost looked alive. Many of the rooms themselves become the art pieces. One room’s walls are decorated with handmade wallpaper. The outdoors scene was made with 192 different colors. Around the corner, a stained glass window hangs catching the light in a narrow hall. Every room brings something new. With each room, you soon remember that a family in fact once lived there. The closed doors to rooms not allowed to the public create an air of mystery. The house seems to hold secrets and stories that we will never know. After touring the house, the garden finishes off the experience. The brick terrace staircases slowly bring you down levels, each with a new view. A more recently constructed staircase on the side of the hill allows visitors to venture all the way to the main garden on street level. In the fall, the reds and oranges of the trees are brilliant. The meticulously sculpted garden engulfs you in its magic as you finally become part of the beauty everyone admires from afar. Inside the gates is an entirely different experience, one of serenity and escape. The Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum is a hidden treasure in Milwaukee. For something completely different than the bigger museums, the Villa Terrace boasts changing displays, as well as a chance to see a lakefront mansion first hand. Stop by for a chance to get away from the city and to get a taste of Milwaukee history. Sun, 25 Nov 2007 20:15:00 CST http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=17673&mname=Article http://www.frontpagemilwaukee.com/site/Viewer.aspx?iid=17673&mname=Article