Shepherd Express February 2023

PUBLISHER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Louis Fortis (ext. 3802)

GENERAL MANAGER: Kevin Gardner (ext. 3825)

MANAGING EDITOR: David Luhrssen (ext. 3804)

BUSINESS MANAGER: Peggy Debnam (ext. 3832)

EVENT COORDINATOR:

Jan Bruder (ext. 3810)

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES:

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Petra Seymore (ext. 3828)

Tyler R. Klein (ext. 3815)

Laurie Verrier (ext. 3831)

SALES MANAGER: Jackie Butzler (ext. 3814)

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER: Chuck Hill (ext. 3822)

IN MEMORY OF DUSTI FERGUSON (OCTOBER 18, 1971 – NOVEMBER 20, 2007)

WEBMASTER: Barry Houlehen (ext. 3807)

DIGTAL STRATEGIST: Allen Halas (ext. 3803)

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Cover: (LEFT) Janet Protasiewicz for Wisconsin Supreme Court. Photo courtesy of Janet for Justice. (RIGHT) Kegel's Inn Friday Fish Fry, Classic Fish Fry. Photo by Michael Burmesch.

Endorsements: February 21 Election

BY SHEPHERD EXPRESS EDITORIAL BOARD

FEBRUARY PRIMARY ELECTIONS

Spring elections are local elections for city, village, town, or county elections along with judicial elections, school board elections and any special elections to fill vacancies. These are non-partisan elections meaning that candidates run as individuals and not on a party ticket. The top two vote getters in the primary election in February then move on to the general election in April. If only two candidates are running, they are not on the primary ballot but automatically move to the April election.

This February primary is a very important election. The State Supreme Court election will determine the direction of Wisconsin for the next 10 years. After the retirement of one of the far-right justices this year, the court will have three conservative and three progressive justices.

The winner of the April 4 State Supreme Court race will

determine if women in Wisconsin will be able to control their reproductive decisions and whether Wisconsin will continue to have what a conservative three-judge federal judicial panel declared as unconstitutionally gerrymandered legislative districts.

Our unconstitutionally extreme gerrymandered districts enable one party to win the vast majority of the legislative races even when they received less than half of the total statewide votes for legislators. This is why Wisconsin, which had a national reputation for being a smart, forward-looking state, has fallen toward the bottom of the lists along with Alabama and Mississippi in such areas as education, fair taxation, equal opportunity to vote and protecting our children and senior citizens. These extreme gerrymandered districts enables the legislators to ignore the wishes of their constituents since it is virtually impossible for them to lose in their gerrymandered districts.

JANET PROTASIEWICZ FOR WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT

Photo courtesy of Janet for Justice.

JUDGE JANET PROTASIEWICZ FOR WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT JUSTICE

The Editorial Committee of the Shepherd Express was unanimous in its endorsement of Judge Janet Protasiewicz for Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice on the February 21, 2023 election . Her values are strong support for women’s reproductive rights and fair legislative districts, boldly stating that the current gerrymandered Wisconsin legislative districts are rigged. Spring elections are lower turnout elections, so it is important to vote. Supreme court elections are non-partisan, but the two sides certainly have their candidates.

Right now, the seven-person court is divided 4-3 with the rightwing in charge. This conservative majority has, for example, condoned our extreme gerrymandered legislative districts, supported, at every opportunity, all the anti-choice abortion legislation, and supported the voter suppression laws pushed by Republicans denying our citizens an equal opportunity to vote.

VOTERS CAN CHANGE THIS ON FEBRUARY 21

Wisconsin has a chance to change the direction of our extreme rightwing Supreme Court this Spring. One of the conservative four is retiring so the direction of the court is in the balance. This upcoming election is without question the most important election for Wisconsin to begin to return our state to the honest, decent, progressive state we grew up in.

Wisconsin was always viewed as a forward-looking state with a great education system from kindergarten through post graduate work. Wisconsin was a state that protected our natural environment, helped foster the creation of well-paying, safe, and decent jobs, and cost-effective laws that protected our most vulnerable.

SO WHAT HAPPENED TO WISCONSIN?

That all changed over the past 15 years. The extreme rightwing Bradley Foundation along with an assortment of rightwing billionaires like the Koch Brothers decided to use Wisconsin as an experiment to turn our state into an ignorant, low wage, backward-looking state putting Wisconsin shoulder to shoulder with Alabama, Mississippi and West Virginia.

One of the key parts to their strategy was to pump millions of dollars of dark money funneled through shell companies with very high-sounding patriotic names into the Wisconsin Supreme Court races. Unfortunately, it worked. Through false and negative ads and in the Gableman race, overtly racist ads, they were able to elect a majority of extreme justices who put their rightwing politics above the Wisconsin constitution.

RESTORING WISCONSIN’S VALUES

That could change this spring with the election of a smart, hardworking, honest judge to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Judge Janet Protasiewicz is Wisconsin. She worked her way through UWM and Marquette Law School. She chose public service over much higher paying private law firm positions. Judge Janet served as an assistant district attorney for 26 years and then eight years as a Milwaukee County Circuit Judge. She taught at the Marquette Law School as an adjunct law professor. We have watched her career for the past 34 years. We know her values and her respect for an honest interpretation of the state constitution, and we are totally confident that she would be a great Wisconsin Supreme Court justice.

PLEASE VOTE FOR JANET PROTASIEWICZ ON TUESDAY FEBRUARY 21.

Most of the remaining elections this spring have only two candidates running so they won’t have a primary. There three Milwaukee aldermanic special elections with multiple candidates. Many of the candidates have not yet mounted visible campaigns at this time. This publication goes to the printer on January 23. Therefore, the Editorial Committee has decided to wait until after the primary to determine which races we will do the research and endorsements for the April general elections.

The Wisconsin Roots of Republican Election Denial

BY JOEL MCNALLY

America is proudly proclaimed to be “the world’s greatest democracy” every Fourth of July by every politician in the land. So why do two-thirds of Republicans continue to deny the legitimacy of President Biden’s election two years ago?

Political parties go morally and politically bankrupt the same way a businessman in Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises described going financially bankrupt, “Two ways, gradually and then suddenly.”

Donald Trump didn’t invent the Republican tactic of using racial and religious bigotry to win elections. Nor did he invent publicly lying about nationwide Democratic election fraud that really doesn’t exist. All he did was tell bigger lies to inflame racial and religious hatred and undermine confidence in American democracy. Those political tactics have always been related.

Republicans have appealed to racism for half a century ever since Richard Nixon betrayed the party of Lincoln with his Southern strategy to win the votes of racist southern Democrats angered by their party’s support for civil rights and equal voting rights for all Americans.

It's not just a coincidence the drive by Republican state legislatures to destroy equal voting rights in America began immediately after the racist Republican tea party midterms of 2010. It was a white supremacist protest of President Barack Obama’s election as America’s first African American president two years earlier.

Obama won Wisconsin in both of his presidential elections, but the predominantly white state joined others in the 2010 political backlash by electing extreme rightwing Republicans—Gov. Scott Walker and Sen. Ron Johnson.

SUPPRESSING VOTER RIGHTS

Walker is most remembered for destroying union rights for public employees in his first year as governor. But 2011 also was the year Walker and Ohio Gov. John Kasich became the first two Republicans setting off the national frenzy in their party to require designated photo IDs many Americans didn’t possess to vote in elections.

From the start, Republicans justified the photo ID requirement with an election lie. They claimed photo IDs were necessary to prevent voter fraud. That’s always been a ridiculous lie. The only instance of vote fraud that can be prevented by photo IDs is someone attempting to impersonate another voter.

In 2014 after Republican states throughout the country had followed Wisconsin’s lead in requiring photo IDs, a nationwide study by Loyola Law School found only 31 credibly documented incidents of voter impersonation out of more than 1 billion votes cast in the United States since 2000.

Federal judges in states as diverse as Wisconsin, Texas, North Carolina, Michigan, North Dakota and Kansas struck down voter ID laws as unconstitutional restrictions on voting Wisconsin federal Judge Lynn Adelman struck down Wisconsin’s voter ID law in 2014, writing such laws endangered the voting rights of “300,000 plus citizens who lack an ID,” disproportionately impacting Black and Latino voters even though Republican lawmakers “could not point to a single instance of known voter impersonation occurring in Wisconsin at any time.”

PARTISAN POLITICS

That victory for state voting rights was short-lived. Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Diane Sykes, appointed by the second President Bush to the 7th District Court of Appeals in Chicago, headed a three-judge panel that quickly reinstated Wisconsin’s voter ID. That partisan political decision was one reason Sykes made the short lists of both Bush and Trump for the US Supreme Court.

Never mind the amount of actual vote fraud in elections today is infinitesimal. As Adelman noted in his decision, someone would have to be “insane” to cast more than one vote using a false identity. The legal consequences were severe (a $10,000 fine and three years in prison) for no actual benefit (an additional vote for a preferred candidate that really wouldn’t make any difference).

Voter ID was just the foot in the door. Republican legislatures ever since have continued to create tidal waves of voting restrictions aimed “with almost surgical precision” in the words of a North Carolina court to reduce voting by specific racial groups and geographic areas that are likely to vote against them.

The 2008 Republican campaign by Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan against Obama was the first to openly defend lying as a political tactic. “We’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers,” campaign pollster Neil Newhouse told ABC News.

VOTER ID WAS JUST THE FOOT IN THE DOOR. REPUBLICAN LEGISLATURES EVER SINCE HAVE CONTINUED TO CREATE TIDAL WAVES OF VOTING RESTRICTIONS AIMED “WITH ALMOST SURGICAL PRECISION” … TO REDUCE VOTING BY SPECIFIC RACIAL GROUPS AND GEOGRAPHIC AREAS

REPUBLICANS HAVE APPEALED TO RACISM FOR HALF A CENTURY EVER SINCE RICHARD NIXON BETRAYED THE PARTY OF LINCOLN WITH HIS SOUTHERN STRATEGY TO WIN THE VOTES OF RACIST SOUTHERN DEMOCRATS.

To return to the original question: How could two-thirds of Republicans support throwing out the results of a presidential election in our democracy that President Biden clearly won by more than seven million votes and 74 electoral votes?

Trump, who lies like he breathes, and those who blindly follow him have done what they’ve always done. They take all the sins of Republicans to toxic extremes

Let Republicans get away with a few election lies and the next thing you know a mob of violent insurrectionists are storming the Capitol to overthrow democracy attempting to murder members of Congress and lynch the vice president.

Joel McNally was a critic and columnist for the Milwaukee Journal for 27 years. He has written the weekly Taking Liberties column for the Shepherd Express since 1996.

SOLVING OUR CLIMATE EMERGENCY? CONTRADICTIONS OF COP27

BY STEVE WATROUS

The UN held its 27th annual climate change conference last November in Egypt, a land where the earth, water and sky were once protected by the citizens with help from ancient gods. The 195 nations involved in official negotiations, with a push from over 45,000 participants (according to the UN), took at least a baby step back toward that future.

Experts and activists called for getting back in tune with nature and shifting to clean energy, to yield healthy food and better living. “Keep 1.5 alive!” pleaded speakers at some of the many sessions during two weeks in the city of Sharm el-Sheikh. That means limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.

This is a legally binding international treaty on climate change adopted by 196 Parties, mostly governments of the world, in 2015 at the Conference of the Parties #21 in Paris. Results have been mixed. One speaker estimated that the world will surpass 1.5 in 10 years.

LACK OF ENFORCEMENT

The missing link is lack of enforcement. No mechanism can force countries to live up to their promises. That's where citizens of the world come in. In essence, only you can prevent global burning. You may have noticed the pressures that keep the Wisconsin and U.S. governments from doing enough to halt climate change. We humans have the technology and the money to do the job, but it requires serious political will and some lifestyle changes.

The most notable achievement of COP27 was the agreement to establish a new “loss and damage” fund for those countries most affected by environmental disasters. The U.S. urged a deliberative process on this new effort but the countries suffering losses every day, like ocean nations losing islands to rising tides, wanted to jump start the process at COP27. It is a step in the right direction, but will it offer enough to enable less-wealthy countries to protect themselves from climate change or even have the necessary means to remedy the damage caused?

IT’S NOT ENOUGH

The conference occupied about as much space as the Wisconsin State Fairgrounds, but without the fun food. Many governments, companies and groups had booths with displays, speaker programs and glossy brochures. I visited several, including the Ukraine booth, where they described plans to build back greener after the war.

The good thing is that Indigenous peoples, all kinds of communities, civil society organizations (CSOs) and others showcased their worthy projects addressing climate change. They networked and planned in caucus meetings. The problem is, so far it's not enough, as global emissions and temperatures rise.

Many heads of state, including President Biden, spoke at COP27. “We see our mission to avert climate catastrophe and seize a new clean energy economy,” he said, noting that “the past eight years have been the warmest on record.” Biden talked up the Inflation Reduction Act passed last summer as the “biggest, most important climate bill in the history of our country.” It includes: “$368 billion to support clean electricity, everything from offshore wind to distributed solar, zero-emission vehicles, and sustainable aviation fuels; more efficient electrified buildings; cleaner industrial processes and manufacturing; climate-smart agriculture and forestry; and more [which] puts the United States on track to achieve our Paris Agreement goal of reducing emissions 50 to 52 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.”

The U.S. sent a strong negotiating delegation, headed by former Secretary of State John Kerry. I heard him speak twice and was impressed by description of U.S. efforts protecting the oceans and financing good projects around the world. For example, he talked about zero-carbon cargo ships under construction. The Biden administration does have a good list of accomplishments and plans, many of which get little public notice.

FOSSIL FUEL LOBBY

On the other hand, a speaker at one workshop complained that Biden’s bill gave away too much to the coal and oil industries. It was reported that over 600 fossil fuel lobbyists attended COP27 and, indeed, the final declaration avoided specific criticism of these corporations. Speaking more generally, one speaker declared that “this is the 27th failed opportunity to solve the climate crisis.”

“To solve” is a high bar but I heard some encouraging words about programs that I hadn't noticed before. At the big corporation level, the 12 largest oil companies have started a venture capital fund for environmental start-up companies, including food. Oil giant Shell has helped Brazil establish a network of electric vehicle charging stations, preventing 320 tons of carbon dioxide. Amazon's Jeff Bezos has donated $10 million for environmental projects, as described by the CSO managing this largesse.

On a smaller scale, new programs are fiddling with food and plants. Food waste contributes about 8% of greenhouse gases, so a program in Brazil is working on this with school lunches. Cows are a significant contributor to global warming, but venture capitalists are putting money into better alternative protein. Plant-based materials can replace some fossil fuel-based plastics with 80% less CO2 produced.

Exhortations to do more and faster —to avoid disaster— rang out in every presentation. One speaker said that, on our present course, "We are now trying to make ourselves extinct." So many good ideas but such impending doom. Are humans up to the challenge?

Steve Watrous represented the United Nations Association of the USA at COP27; he is president of the Milwaukee chapter of this citizen organization.

Rick Banks Builds Black Power through Community Organizing

BY ERIN BLOODGOOD

As a child, Rick Banks always wondered why things were the way they were. At a young age he was pulling apart his VCR to figure out how it worked, but once he went to Riverside High School on the East Side, he wanted to understand why his neighborhood on the North Side looked very different with a lack of food options, businesses and poor housing conditions.

Having grown up in the Arlington Heights neighborhood, Banks says he saw economic disinvestment first-hand and attributes the lack of opportunities to a long history of racism. His inquiring mind led him to major in political science at UW-Milwaukee and since a young age, organize community to advocate for better policies and a better quality of life for Black people.

Where many people see barriers, Banks sees opportunity. “How do we begin to build an economic foundation for Black communities to start having economic opportunities, so we can fund the basic material necessities of our community,” he says, “so we can fix our housing, have parks, quality streets, and have businesses we can support?”

Banks has had his hands in many community projects including Black Leaders Organizing for Communities (BLOC)’s political organizing and the Harambee Green Neighborhood Initiative, but he really made his mark on Milwaukee when he co-founded MKE Black with Paul Wellington in 2019. They had a vision of creating a database of Black-owned businesses so people from their community could support each other and circulate dollars.

BUILDING BRIDGES

What they didn’t expect was the amount of support and engagement they would find from people outside the Black community. They decided to run with the energy that grew with the mobile app they created to build bridges between these groups.

“The best path to unity and understanding is when we interact in-person and in community, says Banks with excitement in his eyes. “Food brings people together, so come to our community and experience our food so we can then start breaking down the walls.”

MKE Black has since grown to support the Black ecosystem in new creative ways like black-owned vendor markets, business social hours, networking events, access to capital workshops, and more.

Banks is using that momentum as a springboard to continue to build on the investments coming into Black communities. “Now we can have economic power, then we can really start to have some political power and start to change some policies that will further increase the quality of life in communities. That’s my theory of change,” he says.

Photo by Erin Bloodgood.

In his new role as the Senior Program Manager of African American Affairs of the Milwaukee County Office of Equity, he has big plans to strengthen county policies and support governmental changes necessary to improve racial and economic equity.

The efforts to make this happen will take shape in many forms, but the most influential event happening this month is Black Lobby Day. The Office of Equity is supporting the efforts of the Wisconsin Legislative Black Caucus to host a day in Madison for Black residents to voice their concerns to their legislators. More than anyone, Banks understands the importance of bringing people face-to-face with policy makers to influence political decisions that can have serious impacts on people’s lives.

It’s clear Banks won’t stop searching for solutions that will benefit his community and finding ways to connect Black business, residents, and organizations to build Black power.

Learn more about MKE Black at mkeblack.org and the Milwaukee County Office of Equity at county.milwaukee.gov/ EN/Office-of-Equity.

Erin Bloodgood is a Milwaukee photographer and storyteller. See more of her work on her website at www.bloodgoodfoto.com.

Antonia Drew Norton, Director of The Asha Project, gave me a startling statistic: “Women of color are dying from domestic violence at higher rates than other women. We’re also up to nearly 175 non-fatal shootings of Wisconsin women (in 2022). Ninety percent are Black women. Our purpose is to find out what was happening in the time leading up to the near-fatal event.”

Domestic violence affects millions of women of all classes. However, it’s been especially hard on Black women in Milwaukee. Physical and sexual abuse can go unreported because the people involved might prefer privacy over the bureaucracy of the criminal justice system, or the victim reunites with her perpetrator after punishment or counseling. “Black people often don’t trust the criminal justice system,” said Norton

What to do? Unlike the traditional approach of running a victim through the snarled system, the Asha Project designs culturally-specific support programs. Norton told me, “The reason domestic violence shows up more in communities of color is because there are other issues present. Poverty, health care disparities, and lack of mental health resources are all factors that contribute to violence.” At 69, she has been counseling victims for 35 years.

The Hearłbreak of Domestic Violence

THE ASHA PROJECT FOCUSES ON BLACK WOMEN VICTIMS

BY TOM JENZ

What is your background? Are you from Milwaukee?

Yes, I was raised on the East Side. My father worked at American Motors/ Chrysler, and my mother was an MPS social worker. Seven siblings in our family. I graduated from Riverside High School. From there, I went to UWM for college. I majored in African American Studies, but I took a lot of courses in social work.

Unfortunately, I had to leave college because I was stalked by someone I didn’t know. The stalker had followed me around the college, and eventually robbed me at my door, tried to break into my house. He put a gun to my stomach and took my purse. All pretty terrifying. As a young woman, I had been a victim of domestic violence by my boyfriend who was also a drug addict. I actually married him but left him a day after the wedding because it was coerced. I determined no one would ever abuse me again, and I began building the base of my future agency, Asha Family Services.

Which later became The Asha Family Project, as I understand. In 1987, I started The Asha Project, our treatment method focusing on mainly Black women. It revolved around my study of the Black family culture. Acceptance of domestic violence in Black communities is normal, but the

ripples of consequence are extensive. Accepting abuse can be normalized in the Black community because women are viewed as objects. Women are devalued. Because of that, treating Black women victims is different.

How does the Asha Project work? How do you treat Black women victims?

The African American culture in Milwaukee is different in our responses to violence. At The Asha Project, we have a team of culturally responsive personnel. For example, a Black woman victim may be perceived as not being a “deserving victim.” After a violent attack, she might behave in an agitated state, be loud, emotional, swearing, gesticulating, saying things like, “You people better stop him, lock him up before I kill him.” Providers or Police might perceive this behavior as aggressive, as a threat, even breaking the law. We view it as her being in pain, and we try to help her calm down. The police or providers might say, “What is wrong with her?” At The Asha Project, we say, “What happened to you?” She may not want law enforcement involved for fear of entanglement in punitive systems.

And there are other considerations for Black women like poverty and misfortune.

More Black women die from domestic violence than any other group except

SHAWN MUHAMMED & ANTONIA DREW NORTON

Photo by Tom Jenz.

Native American women. We are both at the bottom of the socio-economic and political rung. And there often is generational violence, which filters on down family lines and is passed on to the next generation. In terms of domestic violence in the home, for example, a boy who sees his dad abuse his mother may end up as an adult perpetrator because this abuse often becomes accepted social behavior.

Something over 80 percent of inner-city Milwaukee families have no father figure in the home. Currently a Black father’s role in the family has been terribly diminished. Boys cannot be left to raise themselves.

Why did the role of the Black father decline over the past few generations?

Loss of good jobs. The shutdown of Milwaukee factories increased unemployment and oppressed Black men, some of whom turned to criminal activity and drugs to make a living. Eventually, mass incarceration removed many Black males from the home and community. This affected the women. Despite being beaten up, Black women will often believe that the perpetrator won’t really kill them. Black women are often resistant to calling the police for a variety of historical reasons including the fear their children might be taken from them because they were exposed to violence.

If a woman has just been assaulted by her husband or boyfriend, and she comes into your office on Center Street looking for help, what is the process you go through to help her?

Understand that each case is treated differently based on the survivor’s needs. I greet her warmly, and I listen to her story. I try to build trust, establish a relationship. I may need to find her temporary housing if she needs to get away from her abuser. I might conduct a danger assessment and develop a safety plan.

I will give her available options regarding addressing the abuse. For example, we can help her access a shelter, continue to give her counseling, find medical help, or refer her to law en -

forcement. But our guidance is always based on what she wants to do. We will not report her perpetrator to law enforcement if she thinks that would put her in more danger. Ultimately, our goal is safety and security and helping her to a path of healing.

What if a victim tells you she wants to report the crime to law enforcement?

In some cases in the Black community, if a woman decides to file a restraining/protective order against a violent perpetrator and he is put in jail, there can sometimes be backlash from his or her own family, or she may feel she is betraying the community. In other words, she, the victim, is somehow to blame for her abuser being in jail. But the reality is that if he treats her with physical violence, he broke the law.

I’ve been told by street leaders that some young Black men have lost their way. It’s almost as if they have no hope for the future. Yes, many have lost hope. It’s based on complex issues they experience as a result of systemic racism and discrimination. Some may not have hope because they are dealing with too many layers of childhood and adult traumas, and many have lost their dads or parents due to the trauma. When I was growing up, most Black children lived in two parent families where the dads had good paying jobs, and they were able to buy homes and provide for their families. Currently, two parent, inner city Black families are around 10 to 15%.

What role should Black men take in curbing domestic abuse?

Men have to hold men accountable. In the Black community, Black men leaders have to stop the domestic violence, take responsibility. Little boys may not often listen to their mothers, but they will listen to and obey men.

Norton introduced me to her associate director of 20 years, Shawn Muhammad. At 51, Shawn has been counseling trauma victims and perpetrators most of his adult life. Stress drives his engine. Yet, he looks like a young man, and, like a young man, his attitude was centered on hope. I wanted to hear about his background.

Tell me about your family history. I’m an only child. My mom, Al'lean Davis, raised me alone. She is a retired MPS school teacher. I grew up on 14th and Atkinson, 17th and Capitol, and then later on 50th and Locust—heart of the inner city. I ended up graduating from Riverside High School. Out of high school, I enlisted in the Army, and ended up in Desert Storm in Iraq. Served in the Army for three years.

When I came back to Milwaukee, I worked for a little while, and ran the street for a little while, doing what young inner-city men do—dealing drugs, drinking alcohol, chasing women and doing stupid things. When I had my first child, I straightened out. I converted to Islam and went to Springfield College and then to UWM.

Around 1999, Antonia hired me at Asha Family Services. My mother just so happened to be a survivor of domestic abuse at the hands of my father. She never did directly discuss it with me, but as a child, I did see her beaten up and bruised. I grew up hating my father, but two years ago we reconciled, I forgave him, and we now stay in touch. I’ve been working in the field of domestic abuse for over 20 years now, and it feels like this work has chosen me.

Let’s talk about what you are doing now with The Asha Project. From what I understand, The Asha Project believes there are specific methods to address the elimination of gender-based violence and the sexual exploitation of women and children in Black communities. Can you elaborate on that concept?

At The Asha Project, we use culturally responsive methods to deal with African American victims. Our founder, Antonia Drew Norton, understands Black women, how they think and talk and move. She makes sure Black victims feel comfortable getting the help that they need without feeling judged. She hires advocates who have an understanding of our culture. The typical picture painted of a domestic abuse victim is that she is passive and scared. The victims that we serve do not look like that. Some may seem loud and combative when talking about their abuse, but they might not even want their abusers incarcerated. Often, they just want the violence to stop.

In your own job responsibilities, are you able to counsel the abusers, the men perpetrators who are violent to women?

We have the UJIMA program. It’s not funded, but it’s a program where I work with a group of African American men that do harm. I conduct these UJIMA groups on Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings.

UJIMA is a collaborative, multidisciplinary program geared to stop violent behavior patterns and reduce the number of domestic violence victims.

What do these men abusers say about why they resort to anger and violence with women?

Many Black men grew up in a family and community environment where they saw violence as a method to solve their problems. This translates into their relationships when they become adult men. In other words, they use violence to resolve a domestic dispute just as they do in the streets. They never learned to articulate their dissatisfaction or had the patience to resolve conflicts non-violently. Many of these men are frustrated because they can’t get a job or provide for their children, and this might be exacerbated by issues with alcohol or drugs.

In their childhood years, some of these men might not have had a male presence in their own homes. They may have seen their moms beaten up by a boyfriend or absent husband.

That is true. But in my work, I have to believe in behavior change, and that I can help them. Too often, the answer is punitive, put the perpetrators in jail. I mean, who wants to fund a program for abusers? Keep in mind, many of the women victims that we serve return to the men who abused them.

And this behavior can go back many generations. When I asked a domestic violence counselor why so many crimes go unreported, she said, “In the Black community, what happens in families behind closed doors stays in families.”

Have you seen this?

When I was growing up, that was called: “You don’t tell my business.” My

mother used to say that to me, “You don’t tell my business.” As a child, I made the mistake and told an older Black teacher of mine that my mother had been beaten up. She called my mother, and my mother was upset with me for telling. This is an unwritten rule in our community because our people are generally distrustful of systems. At the Asha Project, we understand why our sisters are distrustful of the criminal justice system. I have five fulltime dynamic advocates working here that are very capable and relate well to victims.

Domestic violence is not just punches and black eyes. It can also be yelling, humiliation, stalking, manipulation, coercion, threats and isolation. Or keeping tabs online, perpetual texting, the silent treatment, or even calling the victim “stupid” so often they believe it. Do you agree with this definition?

Absolutely. Many times after the tears and bruises go away, the mental and emotional abuse stays. It’s like an old sink that has a leak, keeps dripping and wears out the porcelain. In domestic violence, those abusive words are the dripping. There is the statement: “Hurt people, hurt people.” We need to change the messaging that goes on in our community. I’m talking about anti-violence messaging, that domestic violence is unacceptable. For instance, I’d like to see a Community Code of Conduct, and have that code posted all over the community.

Neighborhoods can enforce good conduct. Residents looking out for one another. Parents disciplining kids, not even their own kids. Adults uniting to define the social culture, and families united in similar values.

I agree. One of our principles is the preservation of the Black family. But currently, our communities are a collection of mothers that work outside of a home where many fathers are absent. Worse, children seem to be raised by tech devices and the internet—TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, texting and video games that stress violence. Children's influences are social media, music, TV shows and

streaming. These current social values are the opposite of what we believe is healthy messaging.

The concept of ‘neighborhood’ is disappearing. As a child, I’d readily accept correction from a Black man, because there was a different energy that as a Black boy I got from a Black man. Nowadays, people mind their business and isolate themselves in order to stay away from the threat of violence. People who live next door from each other often don’t even know each other.

I sense general anger among inner city Blacks. especially among young men and women. Am I reading this right?

Yes, you are reading that right. My heart aches for the younger generation. What have we built for them? What have we left them? They are frustrated. For many of them, the only route that they see is through illegal business or jail. A lot of our children don’t think they will live to be 21. They see life as a game, and it’s rigged for them to lose, so why play the game?

The violence in our community is the worst I’ve ever seen in my 22 years of working in the field. There is an African proverb that states “The ruin of a people starts in their homes.” Think back to Martin Luther King Jr. His cry was “jobs and justice.” How many more generations have to go by before the Black community unites and does something for ourselves? I would guess that everyone in our neighborhoods knows someone who was lost to violence. Sometimes, I think that our community is drowning in trauma. I notice that many children have become hardened. There is a loss of innocence.

For more information, visit Ashafamilyservices.org

Tom Jenz writes Central City Stories for shepherdexpress.com.

Pomegranate in a Winter Wonderland

BY ARI LEVAUX

With winter in full gear, fresh produce is starting to feel like a faded memory. The tomatoes are mealy, and the lettuce has jet lag, but the pomegranate harvest has just begun. Don’t take the lovely pomegranate for granted.

The bright red orbs dangle brightly from the bushy plants like Christmas tree ornaments. The fleshy seeds inside are like juicy rubies and can turn the average cook into a culi-

nary magician. Grab a handful and fling them at your food, as if you’re gesticulating the words “hocus pocus.” Cast the seeds on salad, soup, steak, breakfast, and everything in between. Today’s featured recipe, linguini with a mushroom cheese sauce, ends with a generous dusting. Their sharp sweetness adds a double-edged sword of flavor, balancing sweet and savory alike with their tartness, like sips from a glass of lusty red wine.

Native to Iran, Afghanistan and the Himalayas, pomegranates have inserted themselves inextricably into the local cuisines and cultures. In modern times they have found homes around the warm edges of temperate climates around the world. The trees are tolerant to high heat and low precipitation, are generally easy to grow, and can produce huge crops. The fruits can be stored for months and shipped slowly, helping to make pomegranates climate-friendly, and well-adapted to a planet that is already heating up. This adaptability, coupled with growing demand for the fruit, have caused a surge in pomegranate trees being planted. Pomegranate orchards are replacing apple orchards in parts of India that are now too hot for apple growing. Meanwhile, pomegranate trees thrive in many of the same areas that support opium poppies, like Afghanistan and Mexico, which means a pomegranate heavy diet could help steer rural economies away from the narcotics business.

Extracting the seeds can be messy if your technique is off. But if you score the peel around the equator, pull the fruit in half, and tap gently, the seeds rush out like Black Friday shoppers storming the gates of Walmart.

The technique comes from Turkey, where a food writer named Robyn Eckhardt once sat down with a group of women, some pieces of plastic pipe, and 100 kilos of fresh pomegranates. They spent the day liberating pomegranate seeds, with which they would make pomegranate molasses. Eckhardt emailed me the technique they used to get the seeds out.

“Gently squeeze one pomegranate half, cut side down, over a wide deep bowl to loosen the seeds. Place it cut side down in your nondominant hand. Spread your fingers to create a ‘sieve’ through which the seeds can fall. With the handle of a wooden spoon or spatula, tap the pomegranate all over; dislodged seeds will fall into the bowl (the bits of bitter white membrane will remain in your hand). Continue tapping, turning the pomegranate in your hand, until most of the seeds are dislodged. If any white membrane has fallen into the bowl, pick it out.”

The fruit’s fridge-life can be extended for months by wrapping them in paper towels and storing in a paper bag at the bottom of the fridge where there isn’t much activity, explained my other pomegranate advisor, chef Ray Risho, an expert in Old World cuisine. You want to leave the wrapped pomegranates unbothered, with as few vibrations as possible. “Like bottles of fine wine,” he explained, “the less the pomegranates are disturbed, the better they will keep.”

Risho gave me his recipe for Linguini con Funghi e Formaggio, which owes its magic in part to its garnish of pomegranate seeds. The dusting of pomegranate seeds electrifies the dish, and you should be sure to have plenty of extra seeds on-hand to apply. Otherwise, the magic will be lost.

Linguini con Funghi e Formaggio

In addition to the pomegranate seeds, this recipe depends on a mix of mushrooms, and not adding too much cheese. I like to make sure there are shiitake or oyster mushrooms because those varieties are extra chewy, which adds nice texture.

4 servings

• 1/2 lb. linguini (a thick-but-not-enormous handful)

• 3/4 cup mix of fresh basil, oregano and parsley

• 1/3 cup mix of freshly grated Parmesan and Romano cheeses

• 5 cloves garlic, mashed

• 2 cups mushrooms: Risho likes a mix of white button, crimini, Portobello, morel, oyster, and shiitake

• 1 Tbsp. butter

• 3 Tsp. olive oil

• 1/4 cup pine nuts

• 1 lemon

• 1 cup pomegranate seeds

Heat two quarts of water with 1/8 cup of salt. Add the pasta when it reaches a boil.

While cooking the pasta, chop the herbs, grate the cheese, mash the garlic, and slice the mushrooms.

When the linguini is al dente (just a receding sliver of a dry, white center), remove noodles and toss them generously in olive oil. Set aside.

In a large skillet or wok, combine butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil on medium heat. Add pine nuts and the mashed garlic. Toss the nuts just until they start to brown. Don’t overbrown.

Add the mushrooms and stir/toss them in. Season with 1/4 teaspoon of fresh ground pepper and a “kiss of salt.”

When the fungi starts to brown, toss in the herbs, pasta, and grated cheese. Add the lemon juice and toss it all together.

Transfer the fragrant mixture onto a large plate, garnish with handfuls of pomegranate seeds, and squeeze a quarter lemon over the whole thing.

Ari LeVaux has written about food for The Atlantic Online, Outside Online and Alternet.

Photo by Ari LeVaux.

Yerba Mate:

A Life Changing Cup

BY GAETANO MARANGELLI

It was closing night in Madrid. My series of plays on themes of authenticity had just completed its first production at El Pasillo Verde Teatro. Audiences danced. El Mundo raved. The theater asked us for more. The Argentine actor who performed the plays, Valentina Corbella, invited Susan and me to her apartment to celebrate our triumph with her and her family. One of Valentina’s cousins served platters of their family’s empanadas, the best I’ve ever tasted. I poured glasses of deli-cious Spanish wine. But neither the empanadas nor the wine were the highlights of the evening.

Our conversations that evening revolved around Argentina—its culture, its customs, its food and drink, its national fútbol team, the Albiceleste. All of which made me think of yerba mate, a national beverage of Argentina. Yerba mate is a plant species of the holly genus Ilex, which is native to South America. (Mate is pronounced as a two-syllable word, with its accent on the first syllable.) When the leaves of the yerba ma-te plant are steeped in hot water, they render the beverage called mate. A beverage I hadn’t tasted yet.

Valentina’s cousin graciously made me a cup, and she showed me how natives of Argentina ritually consume their mate. It’s been nine weeks since closing night in Madrid. Ever since that night, I drink mate every morning.

I love how mate smells and tastes. Its earth and moss. Its peat and petrichor. Its citrus, herb and honey. I love how mate feels relative to coffee. Less like the energy of an electrical charge. More like the energy of an ocean wave. I love the feel of its gourds, the cups made for serving mate. I love the look of its bombillas, the metal straws made for drinking mate. And I wonder why isn’t mate popular in North America?

I asked for insight from an expert in the field, Victor Jara, the head buyer for Rishi Tea.

Photo by Aleksandr_Vorobev/Getty Images.

WHY YERBA MATE?

Gaetano Marangelli: How do you describe yerba mate to somebody who doesn’t know what it is?

Victor Jara: Yerba mate is a traditional herbal tea that origi-nates in South America. Yerba mate is one of three holly spe-cies native to the Americas that contain caffeine and is widely consumed for its energizing and invigorating properties.

While some may find the flavor to be bitter, proper prepara-tion can yield a bittersweet flavor with earthy and mineral fla-vors. Yerba mate is traditionally consumed by drinking through a gourd and straw (bombilla), but can also be pre-pared in standard methods, such as steeping with a tea bag or as a loose-leaf preparation.

GM: Why do you think drinking yerba mate isn’t more popular in the United States?

VG: I believe that yerba mate is an acquired taste. Its bitter taste is not as common as the sweet and fruity flavors that are popular in the American market.

GM: What distinguishes Rishi Yerba Mate from other yerba mate?

VJ: Our organic yerba mate is selected for its smooth and mel-low flavor. Mate’s flavor is determined by its age and pro-cessing that can range from fresh “green” mate to aged and roasted or smoked yerba mate. We search for mate that is never smoked, with some light to moderate aging to provide the best experience to both the new and veteran mate drinker.

GM: How and where do you source Rishi Yerba Mate?

VG: Rishi sources its yerba mate directly from trusted sources in South America. At the moment we are sourcing from Northern Argentina and Southern Brazil.

GM: Why does the Rishi web site distinguish the preparation of its yerba mate from a traditional preparation?

VG: Rishi provides preparations for both traditional mate and those that are in line with standard preparation of herbal teas. While the standard preparation is often the most convenient for consumers, we always honor tradition and provide guid-ance for the stronger traditional preparation.

GM: How important is the Argentine custom of consuming yerba mate to the flavor of the tea?

VG: Preparing and drinking yerba mate with a gourd and a straw provides a different experience. The preparation is much stronger and lends itself to a communal experience as this method is ideal to be shared with a close group of friends. When drinking from a gourd, the brew starts strong and with intense flavor but eventually mellows out to an enjoyable brew with subsequent refills of the gourd with fresh hot wa-ter. I myself have spent many mornings and afternoons sip-ping from a bombilla while traveling through Argentina and wouldn’t have it any other way.

Gaetano Marangelli is a sommelier and playwright. He was the managing director of a wine import and distribution company in New York and beverage director for restaurants and retailers in New York and Chicago before moving to Wauwatosa.

Photo by LarisaBlinova/Getty Images.

Yerba mate served in a gourd with bomilla straw.

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Community Veterinary Clinic

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The Ivy House

SPORTS & RECREATION

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ROCK CLIMBING VENUE

WHY ARE FISH FRIES

BY SUSAN HARPT GRIMES

Photo by Michael Burmesch.

You’ve done it hundreds or maybe even thousands of times. It’s Friday night in Milwaukee and you’ve known all week what you’re having for dinner—a fish fry! In Milwaukee, the traditional fish fry is served year-round in just about every restaurant, bar, grocery store, VFW post and even some churches. The tradition, dating back to the 1800s, has been attributed to the city’s European heritage brought over with immigrant Catholic faithful who were restricted to eating fish on Fridays. With the abundance of freshwater fish available from Wisconsin lakes, it was also an inexpensive meal to serve.

Local breweries further enshrined the meal into the very fabric of our city at the community level by bolstering sales during Prohibition with fish fry dinners. We reached out to five local establishments that our readers nominated for the Shepherd Express’ Best of Milwaukee award to see what sets their fish fry apart and glean some insight into why they think fish frys have become such a Friday night institution in Milwaukee.

Lake Michigan photo by rhillphoto/Getty Images.

KEGEL’S INN

5901 W. National Ave.

The 2022 Best of Milwaukee Fish Fry winner has been serving up their fish fry for generations. Stephanie Kegel, fourth generation proprietor and chef, thinks, “The fish fry has remained popular in Milwaukee because it's a simple and timeless tradition that connects people to place. Whether your family is of European descent, immigrated in the 1800s or newly established in the area, the fish fry tradition of Milwaukee is an easy way to feel connected to our community and local culture.” A great deal of care goes into the Kegel's Inn fish fry dinners, including hand breading their fish, making homemade tartar sauce and using a special recipe for potato pancakes. Kegel says, “My mom always said you can taste food that’s made with love, and in our case it’s true.”

THE CATFISH LOUNGE

3646 N. Teutonia Ave.

The Catfish Lounge has been run by the Gladney family for generations. Ebony Lewis, granddaughter of the original owners James and Jamie Gladney says, “Grandmother is the true reason why the food at Catfish is as amazing as it is. We don’t rush the process and we focus on what our strong qualities are. The secrets have been passed down and now my younger cousins cook and manage the kitchen.” Their lightly breaded and perfectly seasoned fried catfish will keep new generations coming back for more.

Photo by Michael Burmesch.

THE PACKING HOUSE

900 E. Layton Ave.

The perennial favorite draws big crowds on Fridays for their hand breaded, delicately fried cod loin filets. All of the accompaniments that go with the fish, including tartar sauce, coleslaw, potato pancakes,and clam chowder are all made in-house, from scratch. One inventive feature the Packing House offers is a drive-thru fish fry every Friday in addition to their dine-in service. Chris Wiken of the Packing House suggests, “the fish fry is simply a part of the culture in Milwaukee. It’s a staple of Friday night.”

STENY'S TAVERN & GRILL

800 S. Second St.

Steny’s has been making their popular Friday fish fry for over 20 years. Ryan Steny says that they take pride in ensuring, “quality and consistency every time no matter if it’s a dinein or take out order.” Steny’s fried cod is lightly battered and crispy, but not greasy. All of the coleslaw, tartar sauce, applesauce, and Grandma Steny’s secret recipe potato pancakes are made from scratch every Friday.

THE STILLERY

1304 12th Ave, Grafton

As one of the newest places to be nominated, The Stillery has tapped into the exact type of fish fry that so many folks love. Hofbrau beer battered cod, crispy house-made potato pancakes or French fries, and all of the appropriate accoutrements like a fresh salted rye bread roll and coleslaw, plus some unexpected maple syrup (who knew it was so good with potato pancakes?) check all of the boxes for an excellent fish fry. The Stillery gets a bonus point for offering their fish fry on Wednesdays as well as Fridays. Ultimately, Milwaukee’s Friday fish fry tradition has stood the test of time because it is part of who we are. It brings people together, every week, to enjoy some food, have some fellowship, and strengthen the connections that make us a community.

Susan Harpt Grimes is a longtime contributor to the Shepherd Express.

Photo courtesy of The Packing House.

THE PACKING HOUSE

The Art and Politics of ‘Evita’

BY DAVID LUHRSSEN

“You’d be bombed. The house would be bombed,” says Gustavo Zajac when asked if the Tony-winning Evita could be staged in Argentina.

Fortunately, the Buenos Aires-born directorchoreographer will produce Evita this month in the safer environs of Skylight Music Theatre’s Cabot Theatre. The Perónista movement remains strong in the musical’s Argentine setting, and although the show’s doubtful protagonist, Eva Perón, died 70 years ago, her followers—most of them unborn when she lived—still paint haloes around her image. “There are scenes that would not be acceptable to them,” Zajac explains.

Evita began as a 1976 rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, the authors of Jesus Christ Superstar ; it was staged as a musical on London’s West End in 1978 before

moving to Broadway a year later where it entered the pantheon of contemporary musical theater. Evita became familiar beyond theatergoers from the 1996 film with Madonna in the title role.

“I didn’t like it when I first saw it, but for the sake of research I watched the movie again and I fell in love with it—the pace of the cinematography, Zajac says. “I will do my best to achieve that rhythm.”

DANGEROUS LEGACY

The internationally regarded director and choreographer grew up in the turmoil of Argentine politics, much of it concerning the legacy of Eva Perón and her husband, the nation’s dictator during the 1940s and ‘50s, Juan Perón. He explains that his focus for Evita is the musical’s opening line, “Oh, what a circus / Oh, what a show,” emphasizing that Eva was “living her life as a show, a performance.” Argentina’s first lady was born into poverty and drawn to the bright lights of Buenos Aires where she pursued a career acting on radio, stage and screen. Zajac thinks her pursuit of power “was in response to the fact that she was a bad artist, a frustrated artist. This made her vengeful and power thirsty because she didn’t succeed as an artist. We’ll show her as an artist in construction and an artist in ruins. Her life was an artistic journey.”

Rána Roman (Lilli Vanessi/Katharine) and Andrew Varela (Fred Graham/Petruchio) in Skylight Music Theatre’s Kiss Me, Kate (2019). Photo by Ross Zentner.

Gustavo Zajac headshot.

She was most successful in performing the politics of resentment—a champion of the poor who draped herself in jewels, a populist crusader against the educated elites who looked down on her, a charismatic disruptor whose reputation was preserved by dying young. “Had Eva continued, we would have experienced her decline,” Zajac says. “If the country had gone bankrupt, people wouldn’t have loved her—she gave out money but didn’t create real wealth. Her death”—at age 33—“created a myth.”

She is credited with the positive accomplishment of giving Argentine women the right to vote, but as Zajac says, history was moving in that direction without her. “Nowadays,” he continues, “we’re learning what happens when a bad politician provides something good for some people—it’s not a justification for fascism in the end.” He adds that the author of Evita’s book, Tim Rice, was unequivocal. Rice called her “a monster.”

Earlier productions sometimes identified Evita’s narrator, Che, with the Argentine Communist who helped win the Cuban Revolution, Che Guevara. Zajac rejects the connection, saying that in Argentina, “che” is a slang word corresponding to “hey” in English. In his production, Che is “Hey You” i.e. Everyman.

TANGO DANCING

Webber may have been a sterling tunesmith when he wrote Evita’s music, but he was culturally tone deaf,

Christina Hall (Mrs. Lovett) and Andrew Varela (Sweeney Todd) in Skylight Music Theatre’s Sweeney Todd (2016). Photo by Mark Frohna.

Tommy Rivera-Vega (Usnavi) & Rána Roman (Nina) in Skylight Music Theatre’s In The Heights (2013). Photo by Mark Frohna.

Paintings by A_Pobedimskiy/Getty Images. Canvas texture by takasuu/Getty Images.

Rána Roman (Yum-Yum) in Skylight Music Theatre’s Hot Mikado (2017). Photo by Mark Frohna. Andrew Varela (Fred Graham/Petruchio) and Rána Roman (Lilli Vanessi/Katharine) in rehearsal for Skylight Music Theatre’s production of Kiss Me, Kate (2019). Photo by Ross Zentner.

Andrew Varela (Fred Graham/Petruchio) in rehearsal for Skylight Music Theatre’s production of Kiss Me, Kate (2019). Photo by Ross Zentner.

confusing Argentina with its musically distinct neighbor. The only Latin tempo is a samba, a rhythm originating in Brazil, not Argentina. Zajac was involved in Evita’s 2006 London production where efforts were made “to make it more authentic.” There will be a showstopping tango by dancers he describes as among the world’s finest, and yet, “the music isn’t really tango,” Zajac admits. “The new arrangements help,” but “Webber didn’t have the intention to write Argentinian music.”

Well, most theatergoers have overlooked the musical false notes. “It’s an amazing book,” Zajac says of Rice’s work. “It tells the story of a woman and a nation. I like the epic side to it. It’s the history of a people in their poverty, their hopes and their hopes being crushed. It’s bigger than her.”

Skylight Music Theatre presents Evita, Feb. 3-19, at the Broadway Theatre Center’s Cabot Theatre, 158 N. Broadway. The cast includes Rána Roman as Eva Perón and Andrew Varela as Juan Perón. For more information, visit skylightmusictheatre.org.

David Luhrssen is Managing Editor of the Shepherd Express and author of several books on cultural history, including Mamoulian: Life on Stage and Screen and Elvis Presley: Reluctant Rebel.

Florentine Opera Reimagines the Arias with ‘Covers’

BY BRENDAN FOX

The Florentine Opera has an artist in residence this year, and it’s the Milwaukee-based alternative electronic duo Immortal Girlfriend. On February 9-10 at The Cooperage, the Florentine will present a production called Covers, featuring opera arias reimagined with Immortal Girlfriend’s soundscapes woven into modified piano reductions.

Immortal Girlfriend’s music is a “cinematic landscape of sound,” says Florentine’s General Director Maggey Oplinger. “There’s so much color and emotional, evocative movement in what they create that I feel you could marry it with almost any sound, in the same way that you could marry it to dialogue.”

This process of musical cross-pollinating began with Florentine reaching out to Immortal Girlfriend’s members, brothers Kevin and William Bush, giving them tickets to performances to get immersed in opera. Later, the core group of Baumgartner Studio Artists sang for them in a private session.

All involved parties collaborated on the final repertoire choices, resulting in an eclectic program that mixes familiar arias with some of the singers’ favorites and some that Immortal Girlfriend tracked down on their own. Director Dimonte Henning then set to work shaping this operatic mixtape into a coherent whole for the purpose of theatrical storytelling.

VERY FAST, VERY BEAUTIFUL

Maggey Oplinger explains, “Everyone’s going to be on stage all the time. The whole thing is high energy, very fast, very beautiful. And [Henning] is creating this overarching story trajectory…within the context of the story Dimonte is building, we might use the text of the piece and the intention of the piece, but we might not use the character from the opera in telling our story.”

In an additional spark of creativity, Covers will be staged at The Cooperage, with unreserved seating and cocktails and food available. With the freedom of leaving a traditional opera space, Florentine and Immortal Girlfriend have a new canvas to let their dreams run wild.

If you’re curious about how the final product turned out, know that Maggey Oplinger is excited: “The first time I got to really hear a couple of the arias in one sitting, I thought ‘Oh my God, this is everything I wanted it to be!’ You just don’t know that until you hear it come together. It’s everything and more. I have a feeling this will be one of those events where if you’re in the room, it’s something we’ll all be talking about for a long time. It’s pretty cool.”

Covers will be performed 7:30 p.m., February 9-10 at The Cooperage, 822 S. Water St.. Runtime 90 minutes. For tickets and more information, visit florentineopera.org.

Brendan Fox is a pianist and composer currently working as a classical editor at Hal Leonard. He has written arts coverage for Shepherd Express.

This Month in Milwaukee

13 THINGS TO DO IN FEBRUARY

BY RUSS BICKERSTAFF, ALLEN HALAS,

ELIZABETH LINTONEN, DAVID

LUHRSSEN AND JOHN SCHNEIDER

THROUGH FEBRUARY 12

Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Much Ado About Nothing 

Quadracci Powerhouse

Shakespeare’s best plays have often been transposed to settings unimaginable in his lifetime. The Rep’s Associate Artistic Director Laura Braza sets Shakespeare’s romantic comedy Much Ado About Nothing in the 1990s—an era many of us have begun to look back on with wistful nostalgia. Beatrice and Benedick, Hero and Claudio are bound to entertain in whatever period costumes they may wear.

FEBRUARY 4

Lynden by Night: A Walk with Claudia Orjuela

Lynden Sculpture Gardens

Walk Lynden's grounds, 7-8:30 p.m., with educator Claudia Orjuela, who will introduce the mysteries and unique features of outdoor life after dark. Discover the sights and sounds of the night in Lynden’s back acres and observe its monumental sculptures beneath the light of the full snow moon. A bonfire and treats await at the end. Register at lyndensculpturegarden.org.

FEBRUARY 4-5

Early Music Now presents Sequentia

St. Joseph Chapel

The Paris based Sequentia, one of the world’s most respected and innovative ensembles for medieval music, offers songs from Anglo-Saxon and Germanic tribes of the European Northlands from the 8th to 11th centuries featuring themes of magic, healing, exile, death and celebration. Instruments include sixstring Germanic harps, triangular harps, wooden flutes and a swan-bone flute. EMN executive and Artistic Director Charles Grosz described the concert saying, “Sequentia will perform one of most engaging and extraordinary programs ever offered by EMN in its 36-year history. Though composed over 1,000 years ago, some works sound improvisational, almost 21stcentury, while others are as serene as lullabies. The audience is a participant in this program, as they are asked to solve riddles during this multi-media event.”

FEBRUARY 5

Buffalo Nichols, Stephen Hull Cactus Club

THROUGH MARCH 5

First Stage, The Hobbit 

Milwaukee Youth Arts Center

The engaging drama of Tolkien’s classic fantasy comes to life in a brisk 90-minute program as director Jeff Frank presents First Stage’s production of The Hobbit. The magic of Middle Earth fuses with the wonder of live theater. Frank has a talent for conjuring big adventure in small stage environments in one of the best children’s theatre programs in the country.

FEBRUARY 3-4

Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, “Water Festival”

Bradley Symphony Center

Milwaukee is a city built on water, so why not a Water Festival from the city’s symphony orchestra? The three-week program concludes with the time-traveling, globe-spinning “Toward the Sea” featuring Mendelssohn, Takemitsu, David Ludwig, Helene Grime and—of course—Debussy’s Le mer

Since departing from acclaimed duo Nickel&Rose, Milwaukeeraised Buffalo Nichols has taken his songwriting out of the city to the rest of the world. With a mixture of blues and Americana, Nichols returns to the city where he cut his teeth for an all-ages early show at Cactus Club, alongside singer/songwriter Stephen Hull. Nichols is currently playing out material from his 2021 selftitled debut, released on Fat Possum Records.

FEBRUARY 9-12

Milwaukee Opera Theatre, Rusalka  Danceworks Studio Theatre

The hour-long adaptation of the Dvorak opera features English dialogue and narration by Jason Powell with sung passages in Czech. “This is our seventh collaboration with Danceworks in which dance and opera will be woven together throughout,” says MOT’s artistic director Jill Anna Ponasik. “Our ‘orchestra’ will be piano and harp, and the piece will be performed in the intimate Danceworks studio, with the audience inches from the performers.”

Illustrations bt Aleksandr Durnov/Getty Images. Background by Chainarong PrasertthaiGetty Images.

Credit: Christal Wagner.

MILWAUKEE REPERTORY THEATER

Pictured: The cast of Much Ado About Nothing. Photo by Michael Brosilow. Image courtesy of First Stage.

MILWAUKEE BALLET, "ORIGINALS"

FEBRUARY 9-12

Milwaukee Ballet, “Originals,” 

Pabst Theatre

Each choreographer for this season’s contemporary ballet showcase won first place in “Genesis,” the international choreographic competition created in 2005 by Artistic Director Michael Pink. First place includes the opportunity to create a second world premiere with dancers the winner now knows; thus, the young socially conscious 2022 winner Price Suddarth can delve even deeper. Timothy O’Donnell, the 2009 winner and now decade-long, ever-surprising resident artist will stage his sixth company premiere; and 2007 winner Nelly van Bommel will restage her 2008 hit Gelem, Gelem, an emotional journey named for the Romani people’s “national anthem.”

FEBRUARY 10

The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Lilly J Goren

Boswell Book Company

A fascinating trip through the Marvel fandom, The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is an inside look at the messages Marvel fans are taught from the world’s largest entertainment franchise. Between all the superheroes and action-packed crime fighting, Marvel has much commentary on power dynamics, gender, and society as a whole. Co-editor Lilly J. Goren gives her talk on this new anthology at 6:30 p.m.

FEBRUARY 11

Daisychain, Wristwatch, Credentials, Stephanie Joanna

The Cooperage

There are few supporters of Milwaukee’s music scene as adamant as Christopher Novak, who annually puts together a show for the ages in celebration of his birthday. These shows, though, often serve as a showcase of great up and coming talent in the city, and February 11 will be the latest installment. Chicago’s Daisychain will take the stage, with support from Wristwatch, a new project from Bobby Hussy, indie rock band Credentials, and Stephanie Joanna, previously of Milwaukee’s LO/ST.

FEBRUARY 17-18

Present Music “Future Folk Machine”

Jan Serr Studio

“This is a direct reference to the inscription on Pete Seeger’s banjo,” says Present Music’s Co-Artistic Director Eric Segnitz. The concert program features diverse composers including Gyorgy Ligeti, Morris Kliphuis & Lucky Fonz III. Segnitz describes Unsuk Chin’s “Gougalon” as “a childhood recollection of scenes from a street theatre in her native South Korea. An ‘imaginary folk music’ of grinning fortune-tellers, fake magicians and snake-oil salesmen, it blends the grotesque with an Asiatic sound world.”

FEBRUARY 23

Rust Ring, Rat Bath, Brave You, Okay Omen X-Ray Arcade

A quartet of punk and emo-adjacent bands will make for a unique bill as Rust Ring celebrates the release of their new album, North to the Future. Elements of shoegaze and country will also be in the mix, with support from county-punks Rat Bath, synth punks Brave You, and post-punk act Okay Omen. The allages show is certain to blast music from the walls of Cudahy’s live music haven.

FEBRUARY 25

SunSquabi

Miramar Theatre

Jam band and EDM fans unite at the Miramar when electronic hybrid SunSquabi headlines a night of funky dance music. The group recently released a collaboration with The String Cheese Incident and promises a unique live experience every time they hit the stage. Turning heads wherever they go, the group is on a month-long tour from their home base in Denver through the Midwest.

Illustrations by Aleksandr Durnov/Getty Images.

by Chainarong PrasertthaiGetty

Photo by Mark Frohna.

Money’s Impact on Mental Health Money’s Impact on Mental Health

BY PHILIP CHARD

What does financial health have to do with mental health? Plenty. Even in so-called stable economic times, the impact of standards of living on the well-being of individuals, families and society in aggregate is profound and far-reaching. Given our current financial stressors, such as inflation, income/wealth disparities, housing market woes, a whiplashing stock market and the rest, these impacts are on full display. Here are some ways financial and mental health interconnect:

• Money is the number one flash point in marital conflict. It’s unusual for couples to remain on good terms while their finances are in bad shape. In working with couples, I frequently witness this verbal tug of war over family monetary policy.

• Well-being is most closely correlated with middle to upper middle-class status, rather than being poor, economically stressed or, somewhat surprisingly, affluent. Financial security without excess appears most supportive of sound mental health.

• Money and life satisfaction are correlated, but not how we might expect. If one is poor, having more money does increase contentment and peace of mind. However, if one is rich, additional funds have little impact on satisfaction with one’s life. Once our fundamental economic needs are met, there’s little happiness to gain from more largesse.

• For many, having a job that pays a living wage contributes substantially to self-esteem. Inversely, job loss or under-employment deflates self-worth and is associated with emotional distress; in some cases, even self-destructive behavior.

• Financial worry causes stress, unhealthy self-medicating, sleep disturbances and declining life satisfaction. Particularly when someone is working as hard as they can but still unable to make ends meet, this stress becomes chronic and corrosive.

$ $ $

During our most recent financial hiccups, mental health providers report dramatic upticks in financially induced anger, anxiety, marital discord and substance abuse. In part, these factors may be fueling the soaring rates of anxiety and depression since the onset of the pandemic. The toxic formula here involves combining a high sense of responsibility (“I have to provide for myself and my family”) with a low degree of control (“Hard as I try, I can’t get my head above water”)—a classic prescription for chronic stress.

Why is wealth, or its absence, so intertwined with mental wellness? Well, as behavioral economists remind us, money is laden with emotional meaning. Which leads us to Maslow’s Hierarchy, a longstanding model of fundamental life needs, generally depicted in the following pyramid:

The bottom two rungs—physiological and safety—are heavily influenced by one’s socio-economic status. The next two—love/belonging and esteem—can also be affected by money. If our basic needs are undermined by financial uncertainty, we enter survival mode, an inherently stressful juxtaposition to occupy for any length of time. Add to this the mental discomfort many experience when faced with uncertainty (“What happens if I can’t make ends meet?” or “I’m living hand to mouth with no emergency fund”), and the emotional impact becomes clear.

This latter mindset, which we call “intolerance of uncertainty,” is particularly wearing on those who have little or no savings to back them up when an unanticipated expense arrives. Given that 26% of us have no emergency fund at all and that only 23% possess sufficient funds to cover their living expenses for half a year, large swaths of the populace experience income insecurity.

Still, the impacts extend beyond security alone. Choices about relationships and life partners can be influenced by socio-economic status. And, as previously noted, even selfworth is affected. Some of us label ourselves a success or failure based in no small part on our financial circumstances. Sadly, certain folks even choose suicide in response to money problems. In short, the influences of money on mental well-being prove pervasive and powerful.

This is born out in the World Happiness Report. Those nations with the strongest financial safety nets and the least wealth inequality also demonstrate the highest levels of life satisfaction. Meaning there’s no individual “therapy” for the angst created by money woes. Rather, this is a societal issue, one that can only be addressed by making sure those with less have more. Not capitalism’s strong suit. Want to improve our nation’s collective mental health? Heed these words from Franklin D. Roosevelt:

“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much. It is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”

Philip Chard is a psychotherapist and author with a focus on lasting behavior change, emotional healing and adaptation to health challenges. For more, visit philipchard.com.

SHAKEY START TO 2023

DEAR RUTHIE,

The year just started, and it already sucks! Shortly after ringing in the New Year, my cat died, my dad landed in the hospital, my girlfriend dumped me, I totaled my car, my rent increased and I lost my job.

I feel like a black cloud is hanging over me. I thought about going to a few psychics for help, but I don’t have the money. Any other ideas to help me get through this shit storm?

GONNA GET WORSE, Helpless Helena

DEAR HELL,

That’s a shit storm for sure! I’m sorry about the loss of your cat, and I truly hope your dad is all right. As for the rest, all you can do is take a deep breath and stop these problems from getting the best of you.

Start by focusing on your greater power, whether that be God, the universe or whatnot. Concentrate on your higher power, meditate/pray and know things will change, ultimately leading to happiness.

Tackle your problems with gusto. Proactively look for a new job, go on a date, seek out a smarter living arrangement. Aggressively addressing your problems offers a feeling of control.

If things still feel overwhelming, consider seeing a therapist. A professional can teach you new coping tools. Save the psychic money and don’t let 2023’s early issues get you down. There’s plenty of joy and success to be had this year. XXOO

Ruthie's Social Calendar

FEBRUARY 4

GREAT LAKES PET EXPO AT STATE FAIR PARK (640 S. 84TH ST.): The celebration of furry friends is back with this expo! Whether you’re looking to adopt a fur baby or want to learn more about your reptile, this is the fest for you. Proceeds from the 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. event benefit local animal-related charities. See www.petexpomilwaukee.com for tickets, schedules and more.

“THE QUEENS OF COMEDY: DEAR RUTHIE AND FRIENDS” AT RACINE THEATRE GUILD (2519 NORTHWESTERN AVE., RACINE): Comedy is never a drag when my gal pals and I hit the stage. Kooky queens and I tickle your funny bone with a 7:30 p.m. show. Come for the hilarious numbers, stay for the stand up and celebrity impersonations. Order $18 tickets at www.racinetheatre.org.

FEBRUARY 7

OPENING NIGHT OF HAIRSPRAY AT MARCUS PERFORMING ARTS CENTER (929 N. WATER ST.): The Tony-award winning musical rolls into Cream City with “Ru Paul’s Drag Race” diva Nina West in the cast. You can’t stop the beat of this toe-tapping show. Nab tickets at www.marcuscenter.org before the show closes February 12.

FEBRUARY 12

CHILI COOKOFF/FLANNEL PARTY AT LACAGE NITECLUB (801 S. SECOND ST.): The Castaways MC Leather/Levi social club hosts this monthly beer bust. Enjoy raffles, drink specials and all the chili you can stomach during the 3-7 p.m. party. Want to enter the cookoff? Register via www.castawaysmc.org, and show up in your best flannel for free raffle tickets.

FEBRUARY 14

GREG MARCUS DUO AT SAINT KATE-THE ARTS HOTEL (139 E. KILBOURN AVE.): Hit up the posh lobby bar at one of the city’s most opulent hotels, and you’ll experience a Valentine’s Day to remember. When the jazz duo takes a break, stroll through the art gallery or visit the secondfloor bar for an extra beverage.

FEBRUARY 18

BROADWAY SKATES: FROZEN AT RED ARROW PARK (920 N. WATER ST.): Hit the ice for a skate party featuring the music of Frozen (the Broadway musical and the movie). Costumes are encouraged during the family-friendly event that runs 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

FEBRUARY 22

DISABILITY SUPPORT GROUP AT MILWAUKEE LGBT COMMUNITY

CENTER (315 W. COURT ST.): Whether you’re looking to make new connections, need guidance on the city’s assistance programs or want to expand your support circle, this 2:30 p.m. group could help. Stop by www.mkelgbt.org to learn more.

FEBRUARY 26

DRAG BRUNCH AT TURNER HALL BALLROOM

(1034 N. VEL R PHILLIPS AVE.): Shake up the weekend with an offthe-charts day at Turner Hall. Emcee BJ Daniels brings a bevy of babes to the brunch, including me, Melee and Shannon Dupree. See www. turnerhallballroom.org for more on this swanky Sunday soiree.

Finding the Elusive Milwaukee LGBTQ Chapters During Black History Month

BY PAUL MASTERSON

Black History Month is, by extension, Black LGBTQ History Month. Yet finding the narrative of Milwaukee’s Black LGBTQ history to celebrate can be a daunting and frustrating task. There is simply little to find in the archived resources we have available. The primary sources of local LGBTQ history, R. Richard Wagner’s work on the subject, the University of Wisconsin LGBT Collections and the Wisconsin LGBTQ History Project website, provide only sparse and incomplete snippets of that neglected narrative.

In We’ve Been Here All Along, the first of Wagner’s two volume history of LGBTQ Wisconsin, only a dozen or so of the 414-pages are dedicated to gay African Americans. What does appear is the unfortunate story of author and lecturer Joseph Howard Lee who professed to be an educated Malian, Ibn LoBagola. While on tour in 1933 lecturing about Africa, he was arrested in Kenosha on a charge of homosexuality, resulting in a trial, conviction and a sentence served in the Waupun Correctional Institution.

Wagner also includes an account of the colorful life of Ted Pierce, an out (relatively for the period) gay man who, beginning in 1925, served as executive messenger under three Wisconsin governors. The toast of intellectual circles in the Madison-Milwaukee-Chicago triangle, Pierce networked a coterie of like-minded Black and white artists, writers and politicians. However, the story of early 20th century Milwaukee transman, Ralph Kerwineo, the subject of a play recently premièred at Inspiration Studios, receives no mention at all. In Wagner’s second volume, Coming Out, Moving Forward, there is considerable coverage of Milwaukee state representative and civil rights activist Lloyd Barbee. His pre-Stonewall era efforts in decriminalizing homosexuality and achieving LGBTQ rights in Wisconsin have been otherwise largely overshadowed by his successors who take credit for the nation’s first LGBT antidiscrimination law passed in 1982.

OUT OF THE ARCHIVES

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee LGBT Collections in the Golda Meier Library holds a limited range of archived material relevant to Black LGBTQ History. There are, for example, documents from the Black & White Men Together archive. Most compelling are the interviews with activist couple Brenda Coley and Sandra Jones and Lula Riems. Recorded in 2007 as part of the Oral History Interviews of the Milwaukee LGBT History Project series, they are perhaps the only such records of Milwaukee’s Black LGBTQ life in the era of the city’s post-Stonewall activism.

The conversation with Coley and Jones focuses on marriage equality (Wisconsin’s 2006 Marriage Amendment referendum had just banned same-sex marriage) and the Black LGBTQ experience. A second interview is with Lula Riems. Her story mentions the racism and discrimination she experienced and describes her coming out in a white world. Interestingly, Riems’ interview ends with a passing mention of her co-founding of the women’s group Lesbians of Color (LOC). Among other activities Riems notes, LOC members played sports, held dances and celebrated Martin Luther

King Jr Day. Yet beyond Riems’ brief mention, I could find no other reference that cited the group in the UWM collection. A passing mention of LOC on a Wisconsin LGBT History Project website’s description of a Black owned bar only confirmed the organization’s existence in 1993.

Created in 2005, the Wisconsin LGBTQ History Project website remains the most comprehensive resource in its coverage of local bar lore (including the drag and leather scenes as well as pageant history), organizations, and community personalities. However, it does not specifically address Black history. Its list of over 200 important individuals contains few people of color. Drawn in part from my 2016 interview with its then executive director Gerry Coon, a description of Diverse and Resilient—the city’s health and capacity building organization founded in 1995 to serve people of color—was only added in 2021.

These collective sins of omission are easy enough to explain. It’s Milwaukee, after all, and our implicit racist history, as subliminally as it may manifest itself, permeates all aspects city life, including its LGBTQ community. The reality is the curators of our history are almost exclusively white, cismales. While their work may not be tainted by any specific motivations of exclusion, they are also not particularly conscious of inclusion.

There is also the matter of LGBTQ acceptance in the Black community itself. That has impeded activism (but also highlights the historically courageous role played by Lloyd Barbee). And, while there were many newsletters, magazines and newspapers chronicling LGBTQ life dating back to 1971, none specifically served a Black audience. More recent decades have produced high profile expressions of Milwaukee’s Black LGBTQ culture and activism. Yet many, if not most, remain nearly anonymous in the grander scheme of our historical record.

Admittedly, the subject of any history is far too broad to expect comprehensive coverage of every aspect of it by a limited contingent of formal and informal historians. Still, the narrative of Milwaukee’s Black LGBTQ experience warrants comprehensive study and an archive of its own. The rich dynamics of that history span the early political and social awakenings of the civil rights era, the impact of HIV/AIDS, the House culture, drag, transgender issues, the arts, and all the rest. There is also much to learn from it not only for the Black members of our LGBTQ community but, as importantly, if not more so, for all of us.

Paul Masterson is an LGBTQ activist and writer and has served on the boards of the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center, Milwaukee Pride, GAMMA and other organizations.

From The City That Always Sweeps

From The City That Always Sweeps

From The City That Always Sweeps

BY ART KUMBALEK

I’m Art Kumbalek and man oh manischewitz what a world, ain’a? Cripes, February? Jeez louise, I’m thinking perhaps the best thing I can say about it is that the second month of the year signals we’ve only got a couple, maybe three, more months of winter. And this year it only lasts 28 days instead of the interminable 29 we get with the occasionable so-called Leap Year, what the fock.

But within those frigid crappy days, it’s a cram-packed month, you betcha: What with your Valentine’s Day, your Super Bowl football Super multi-million dollar advertising Sunday (so that you learn which kind of bag of snack chips you ought to buy), your Presidents’ Day (a big favorite of mine on account that there’s no mail delivery, thus pushing forward by a day the inevitable query from some kind of health “provider” as to where is their dough from out of my pocketbook for “services”), and for certain religious-cult members, there’s the Ash Wednesday—the kick-start to the Lenten Season when it is so prescribed that one foregoes this-or-that so as to mimic Jesus alone in some kind of desert for 40 days and 40 nights with nothing for sustenance than to suck on his loincloth, or something like that.

So listen, I was out and about just the other day and some knob says to me, “Hey Artie, writing those essays must be good therapy, ain’a?” And I was reminded of a little story:

This gal goes to her psychiatrist ’cause she’s having big problems with her sex life, wouldn’t you know. The psychiatrist asks her lots of questions but wasn’t getting a clear picture of her problems. So finally he asks, “Do you ever watch your husband’s face while you are having sex?” And she says, “Well, yes, I did once.” The psychiatrist asked her how he looked and she said, “Very angry.”

The psychiatrist felt he was finally getting somewhere: “That's very interesting but we must look into this further. Now tell me, you say that you have only seen your husband's face once during sex, which seems somewhat unusual. How did it occur that you saw his face that time?” And she says, “He was looking through the window.” Ba-ding!

Yeah yeah you betcha, Artie’s his own therapist, how ’bout that. By cutting out the middle man, I figure I’m saving myself maybe about a $150 bucks an hour; so the drinks are on me. And as a therapist, one thing I know is that we can all use an extra pat on the back. Actually, I got a better idea. More than an extra pat on the back, we could all use an extra 20 or two in the wallet, what the fock. Hold on, I got an even better idea. How ’bout, say, you go see one of these psychiatric guys for a little shrink rap, and at the end of the session he gives you a crisp $100 bill and change instead of the other way

self already.” And isn’t that the point?

Fock if I know, but I sometimes do wonder what things would be like these days if there had been an outbreak of the psychology racket in the olden days. Say back in the year 0027 or something, they pull Jesus in for a psych session: “Well, Mr. Christ, to me it looks like we’re dealing with a pattern of self-destructive behavior here. I’d say you were clinically depressed but that hasn’t been invented yet. This savior thing. It’s a grand idea, but practically speaking, what about the future? Do you actually see yourself doing this at 40, 50? And you say one thing, but then do another. ‘Love thy neighbor,’ fine. But then you go bust up their money-changing temple. What I’d like to do is see you weekly for the longterm. Who is your health care provider, Mr. Christ?”

Anyways, what with the Valentine’s Day folie à deux right ’round the corner, I wish you’s good luck and god speed with your love and romance. And as tradition here at “Art’s Sake” dictates, let me remind you what the famous Greek philosopher Anonymous said about that: “The ideal relationship can only be achieved when one partner is blind, and the other is deaf,” ’cause I’m Art Kumbalek and I told you so.