More Sprawl Please.

My friend Nina dated this guy that we nicknamed The Sprawler. One day he just showed up with her and proceeded to sprawl out on the couch as if he was in his dorm room. Shoes on? Check. Arms over the back of the couch? Check. Sprawling.

Those of us in “the city” often lament sub/ex-urban sprawl. Like an uninvited guest parking lots and strip malls stretch across the landscape putting their gym shoes all over farmlands and creekbeds. With names like “Woodglen Rivers” and “Fieldstone Vistas” pre-fab communities spread out from freeway to freeway necessitating more cars and more wal-marts and less small towns and down towns. Milwaukee’s not too bad – drive in any direction for 20 minutes and you’re out of the suburbs and into the glacier-carved rural settings that make wisconsin such a beautiful state. It’s a losing battle though. Someday i imagine a mass of suburbs sprawled out from milwaukee to chicago and maybe even from milwaukee to madison. Maybe not in my lifetime, but perhaps in the next century many of the small farms and rural villages will be abandoned and absorbed into Chicawaukee and Milwadison.

Seems too glum? Thanks to news like this: A popular suburban restaurant petitions to the city to tear down a couple surrounding houses and put in more parking lots. Supposedly this will reduce, among other things, customers “urinating on people’s lawns.” I’ve got news for Wauwatosa: now you will have triple the amount of urinating. More congestion, more drunk drivers, more noise, more heat in the summer thanks to all that blacktop. It’ll be glorious. I’m including an artist’s rendition of the “ideal” parking situation for Mo’s Pub, and I think you’ll agree it’s pretty great — a boon to the community some might say.

My dear suburbs, it’s time to rethink sprawl. Instead of more parking lots and strip malls further and further out why not start rebuilding and reusing the stuff you put up 30 years ago? I know we can’t eliminate sprawl – there will always be sprawlers – but we can minimize it and slow it down a bit. Also: get your feet off the couch.

Milwaukee Book Festival Oct. 9-19

Lots to see at the upcoming Milwaukee Book Festival. Two events I’d like to point out in particular:

1. Wendell Berry @ Woodland Patterns, Saturday, Oct. 10 2p.m.
   Poet, farmer, pacifist, moralist. Not to put too morbid a point on it, but he’s 75 years old and part of a vanishing generation. Also a christian with a lot of interesting things to say about faith and God.
2. Max Brooks @ UWM Union, Monday, Oct. 12 7p.m.
   I’m not too proud to say it: I loved World War Z. Yes, it’s a book about zombies, but it’s a very, very good book about zombies. Consider this talk “just in time for Halloween.”

Go Books!

Unruly Music Fall Festival

Do you wish Milwaukee had more of a post-classical music scene (and who doesn’t)? If “contemporary trends in chamber music, improvisation, and electronic sound” is your bag, you’re in luck. Beginning Tuesday night (Sept. 8), the Unruly Music Festival rolls into town. You can attend all three avant-cool compositions for just $36.

Upgrade! Milwaukee

Art + Technology + Culture = Upgrade! International.

Upgrade! Milwaukee is a regular gathering of digital creatives – artists, musicians, performers, writers, curators and the public – that fosters dialogue and creates opportunities for collaboration within the local new media community. It features 1-3 guest speakers at each event, held at a rotating venue: informal, free, and open to all. We welcome suggestions for speakers, panels or gatherings.

Looks very interesting. Next meeting is Sunday, July 12 @ MOCT. Anyone want to go with me?

Sulu wants you to ride the bus

Sulu. From Star Trek? Remember in Heroes? When he only spoke Japanese? Awesome.