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To the Readers' Forum:
I just returned home from an annoying trip down Fairmount Avenue.
Why is it that the state Highway Department can manage to work on Route 394 in West Ellicott and Lakewood, tearing up what appears to be perfectly good driveways and replacing them, yet Interstate 86 from Steamburg to the Limestone Exit goes unnoticed?
That section of the interstate is in a totally dangerous and unsafe condition for cars, buses, trucks and especially motorcycles. The section that washed out last year appears to be sinking again.
I've read about the dispute between New York State and the Seneca Nation. Since that article was in The Post-Journal we haven't heard a word. The condition of the road has a direct impact on tourism and the Casino. The state and the Seneca Nation need to sit down and get the dispute resolved now.
David Holmstrom


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AL.com Opinion
- About the writer
John Archibald is a columnist for the Alabama Media Group. His work appears in the newspaper on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and online at AL.com all the time. Reach him at email@example.com.
- Read more
The complete archive of John Archibald's previous columns
Montgomery's city council spent a grand total of $1,579 on travel and training in all of last year.
Birmingham City Councilman William Parker, in the first half of this year, spent 11 times that much.
Huntsville's city council allotted a total of $14,250 for its travel this year.
Birmingham's council and staff, in the first six months of this year, approved spending almost $101,000 so councilors and staff could criss-cross the country.
But don't worry, the city says. Don't fret about that $12 million budget deficit. It will all come clean in the wash. And in the meantime, city officials and staffers keep on flying 'round the map like Indiana Jones on a three-day bender.
Fortune and glory, kid. Fortune and glory.
If, as expected, the city council today approves advance travel spending for council and staff totaling about $8,500 – including four trips to the Clinton Global Initiative in Denver – the approved spending for the offices of the mayor and council this year will come to $139,000.
That doesn't include travel by Mayor William Bell himself, because that doesn't have to be approved by the council. The mayor's office estimates Bell has spent about $70,000 for travel this year, visiting places like Washington D.C., New York City and Denver.
It puts travel by those offices this year – it includes some travel late last year that was approved in this calendar year, and some approved travel that has yet to occur – at more than $209,000. Or just about a dollar for every man, woman and child in Birmingham.
With half a year to go.
Where do they go? Where don't they go? (See it all below)
They go to Washington, D.C., for the National League of Cities conference ($29,888). They go to Denver for the New Partners for Smart Growth conference ($8,658). They go to Point Clear, to the retreat from the city itself. They even spent $2,300 to send folks to a conference on volunteering and service.
Hope they learned a little something about volunteering and service. On your money.
City officials go to the Empowerment Congress Leadership Institute ($8,199) and the National Diversity Council ($3,254). They go to the Black Women's Roundtable at the Women of Power National Summit ($1,592), to the National Forum for Black Public Administrators Conference ($2,258), and to the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials ($1,161).
I'm all for empowerment. I'm all for diversity, but that's a lot of green.
Especially when we are – black and white and whatever – looking at a city in the red.
Besides the mayor, Councilman Parker has traveled the most. His 19 trips total more than $17,000. Most of his travel, however, involves meeting with the Environmental Protection Agency. He is deeply involved in pollution issues in North Birmingham.
Mayoral Chief of Staff Chuck Faush was approved for at least 11 trips worth $13,000. Council administrator Cheryl Kidd registers 10 trips, also totaling about $13,000. Both went coast to coast to coast.
It is, frankly, business as usual. In Birmingham.
But not elsewhere. Hoover, for instance – population 82,000 – has spent a grand total of zero dollars for mayor and council travel in the last year and a half. It budgeted $7,500 for such travel this year, but so far hasn't spent a dime.
Huntsville, with a population of 180,000, budgeted $42,250 for city council and administration travel. That's about 23 cents for every Huntsvillian. In a whole year.
Montgomery, population 206,000, spends about $16,000 on travel for the mayor and council offices in a year. That's about 8 cents per Montgomery resident.
And consider this. Mobile, population 195,000, this year budgeted $207,000 for the entire departmental operating budgets of its offices of mayor and council.
And Birmingham, in half a year, has already spent more than that -- about a dollar for every one of its 212,000 residents – on travel.
A lot of things have changed in this town. A lot of things ought to.
John Archibald is a columnist for Alabama Media Group. firstname.lastname@example.com
Search below to see approved travel for mayor and council staff:

subset: commoncrawl


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Worst place your kids have vomited?
What is it with kids and vomit?
They can't seem to aim it into the appropriate place . . . you know what I mean?
So, where's the worst place your kids have hurled?
For me? That would have to be my cupped hands!
All over my mother! It's one thing when it is your kid...another when it isn't
DS vomitted all over me (including in my hair) and my recliner chair....but (gag) I think you win this one, norahsmommy.
Quoting norahsmommy:
In my mouth :(. Dd was sleeping with me because she had a nightmare and woke me up saying, " mommy I feel sick" and before I could get us out of bed she barfed all over my neck and face.
It's been 22 years since this happened, but I remember it plain as day. My then 2 year old son started throwing up all over the floor at Taco Time, where we had stopped for lunch on a trip between Salt Lake City and Las Vegas. I was horrified! I doubt that anyone near by enjoyed their lunch!
After we had driven another hour or so and were out in the middle of no where, the vomiting started again, AND diarrhea, too. His car seat was full of it and his 5yo brother sitting next to him had vomit all over him. That was when the speed limit was still 55 on the interstates. My husband started going 70, because we were desparate to find somewhere to stop with water. A cop pulled us over and gave him a speeding ticket, even though we had explained what was going on. I told him that if it was HIS kid that did the same thing, he'd be speeding to find a place to stop, too!
As for me, I once puked behind a coke machine when I was little. The sandwich, that was a free sample, was rotten. My sister thought I just didn't want to eat it so she forced me to. So I was all upset and everything.. I was very young.. but right after I did it, it hit my funny bone.. and I started cackling and saying, "They're gonna find it! They're gonna find it!"
Lolol I have always had a fucked up sense of humor.
On my face:/ I was playing with my son and I went to give him a kiss and he spit up all over my face and in my mouth.
My 3 year old had the stomach flu and projectile vomitted on me chin to foot.....I was coated. I got a vomit shower.
Quoting Nicholy10:
My 3 year old had the stomach flu and projectile vomitted on me chin to foot.....I was coated. I got a vomit shower.
I seriously don't know how I kept myself from vomitting after that. I guess I was just so worried about him...we were in the ER because he couldn't stop vomitting, was freakishly lathargic, and had a fever of 104. The ER doctor was in talking with us about what the plan to treat was, and it was like a volcano errupting out of my son all over me. The fun part was when he was allowed to leave a few hours later, driving home in semi-crusty/moist clothing. I smelled awfully special. Oh the joys of motherhood...
Quoting sunshine86912:
Quoting Nicholy10:
My 3 year old had the stomach flu and projectile vomitted on me chin to foot.....I was coated. I got a vomit shower.


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10 hilarious tweets from 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' writer Molly McNearney
Molly McNearney is the co-head writer of "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and enough of a lover of fat babies to include that fact in her Twitter bio -- which, as a fellow fan of the chubbier members of the infant species, I appreciate. Molly's jokes are sharp and observational, and her Twitter presence (a marketing professional taught me that term) is delightful.
She tweets as her real name, because she has nothing to hide, dammit. Here are 10 of her Molly's funniest jokes.
10. 80% of birthday cards are written on steering wheels.
9. Don't complain about your job to the lady waxing your vagina.
8. To my neighbor using a chainsaw at 7:30 on a Saturday morning: Try holding the other end.
7. There are two types of people in this world: People who say "my birthday week" and people I wanna hang out with.
6. The Olympics: When we sit on the couch in our sweatpants watching TV and saying things like "ohh...that was sloppy".
5. Spent morning at the farmers market carefully selecting fruits and vegetables to throw away next Saturday.
4. There are Kenyans who could complete marathons in the length of one of my mom's voicemails.
3. Being hot on Instagram looks exhausting.
2. Hey dad berating his son at this T-ball game, you know there's a .07% chance he'll go pro right? You're yelling at a software developer.
1. Best way to punish an enemy: Sneak into their home in the morning, cook all their bacon, fill house w/ bacon smell, & leave w/ their bacon.


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The Soul & The Intellect
- Artists I.O.U., Evangelia
- Release Date 2014-01-09
- Labels Radikal Records
- Catalog RAD992990
After three school pride anthems that went viral, and three mixtape releases in the past two years garnering attention from their Rutgers University colleagues and fellow college students across the country and beyond, opening for countless acts such as Big Sean, Far East Movement, Jake Miller and more, the boys linked up with Radikal Records to release their debut album.
The Soul & The Intellect reflects the characters of both Buck and Izee, laidback Buck being the soul of the duo, and methodical Izee, producer behind the entire project, the intellect. Also featured as a vocalist on two tracks off the album is Evangelia, a Rutgers University student. When shes not studying pre-med, you can catch her performing at the local coffee shops armed with her guitar and powerful voice.


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Posts for June, 2011
Mike Brenner shaves head for Ai Weiwei
Local artist and art agitator Mike Brenner stood in front of the Milwaukee Art Museum and shaved his head to look like that of detained Chinese artist Ai Weiwei as the signature wings of the Calatrava addition rose behind him this morning.
Brenner chose the museum as a backdrop because it is the only institution in the world about to open a major show of Chinese art organized in direct cooperation with China, a country that has detained its most famous living artist as well as other artists, bloggers and activists.
"We have a unique opportunity here in Milwaukee to create an international forum to discuss what's happening," said Brenner. »Read Full Blog Post(40)
Why boycotting the Milwaukee Art Museum is a mistake
Some arts advocates want to boycott the Milwaukee Art Museum, or so I hear via e-mails and Facebook. People are upset that the museum has not taken a stronger and more visible stand regarding the detention of artist Ai Weiwei as it prepares to launch its "Summer of China."
This is understandable. But it's a mistake.
What do we know about the Qianlong emperor? Too few of us know the back story for China, an ancient civilization and rising super power. Imagine someone elsewhere in the world scratching his head over who Thomas Jefferson was. »Read Full Blog Post(14)
Ai Weiwei's public art informs new show at Milwaukee Art Museum
There is a wonderful irony in the public sculpture by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei that debuted in New York last month, just a few days after the close of a seemingly unrelated exhibit of Chinese art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Ai's "Zodiac Heads" is a re-creation of an 18th-century fountain commissioned by the same emperor whose treasures were up at the Met and will go on view in Milwaukee this week. That critically acclaimed show, "The Emperor's Private Paradise," opens Saturday at the Milwaukee Art Museum.
To many Americans who are unfamiliar with Chinese history, Ai's giant animal heads seem whimsical, a bit of Chinese kitsch. But Ai is toying with a complex morality tale, too. »Read Full Blog Post(2)
This week in art: China
Good Monday morning, all. This week is about one thing, when it comes to art in Milwaukee: China. The Milwaukee Art Museum is one of only three museums in the world to present "The Emperor's Private Paradise: Treasurers from the Forbidden City." MAM is the last stop for the exhibit, which opens here Saturday (or Thursday for museum members).
The exhibit is one of rare treasures that have never been seen outside of China and may never leave that country again after the run of the show. The objects of ceremony and pleasure were commissioned by one of China's most adventurous emperors, a 18th century figure who is not well known in the West.
The critically acclaimed exhibit is the centerpiece for MAM's "Summer of China," which also starts this week. This series of exhibits and programs span 3,000 years of Chinese art and culture and promise to bring us up to the contemporary moment. »Read Full Blog Post
Dan Keegan responds to Ai Weiwei controversy
Dan Keegan, director of the Milwaukee Art Museum, was asked recently if the art world's protests over the detention of outspoken Chinese artist Ai Weiwei are arrogant.
"I think that's a fair question," he recounted.
"I don't think it's particularly effective, and I don't know how it will change anything," said Keegan, referring to things such as the petition calling for Ai's release, signed by more than 130,000 art world figures, including former MAM director David Gordon, and started by the Guggenheim Museum. »Read Full Blog Post(113)
Touring Milwaukee with John Norquist
Former Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist hosted a daylong tour of Milwaukee recently, taking architects and urban planners from around the country to the Third Ward, the RiverWalk and the Beerline B developments, among other places, via foot, bus and boat.
For locals, it was a review of Norquist's vision for the city and a reminder of lessons learned – and perhaps forgotten.
Norquist, now president and CEO of the Congress for New Urbanism in Chicago, had his former development team in tow, turning the event into a reunion of sorts. The tour preceded the annual conference of the CNU, which took place in Madison. »Read Full Blog Post(8)
Finalists for $700,000 downtown Milwaukee sculpture revealed
Finalists for the largest publicly funded art commission in recent memory — including a giant wildflower, a towering tuning fork, harp-like bronzes and a futuristic Lady Justice – will be unveiled Wednesday.
Competition for the $700,000 commission attracted more than 250 artists from across the country, including several luminaries. Three artists and one artist team have been named finalists for the commission.
Ultimately, the selected artwork is destined for a prominent spot near the south entrance of the Milwaukee County Courthouse.
The big budget and high-profile location are by design. The Milwaukee County Public Art Committee decided to commission a single, world-class artwork rather than several smaller projects, said committee chairwoman Lisa Berman.
The funds come from the county's Percent for Art program, which sets aside 1% of significant capital projects for art. In recent years, the committee pooled funds for a significant project and also got a nice bump from the infusion of federal stimulus funds.
Perhaps the best-known artist of the finalists is New York-based Alice Aycock, who has created installations for the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Storm King Art Center in New York's Hudson Valley, and for cities such as Nashville, Tenn., and Kansas City.
(Aycock is, coincidentally, also the former wife of the late Dennis Oppenheim, whose ill-fated "Blue Shirt" was commissioned by the same public art program for the airport in 2003 and later canceled at the behest of then-County-Executive Scott Walker. This commission comes with a price tag more than three times larger than the "Blue Shirt.)
Known for site-oriented works that reference machinery and industry, Aycock has taken a chance with something new for Milwaukee.
"I had to wait until I was 60 to do a flower," said Aycock, of her towering wildflower, implying that the subject matter could have been perceived as trite when she was a young woman.
The expressive bloom, with its prickly and pointed tendrils, would serve as a striking contrast to the cool formality of the courthouse and the surrounding plazas, she said. Painted in all white, the focus would be on the form rather than a literal representation of a flower.
Venice, Calif.-based artist Cliff Garten also created a concept that is a departure from his past work. He is the only finalist who responded directly to the courthouse architecture.
Known for his sculptural strands of light, including the five-story "Strings" at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Garten borrowed from the Corinthian columns at the courthouse. He reshaped that classical form into something more supple and light, with open areas. He is proposing a pair of these shapes be cast into monumental bronzes with a fountain element.
The formality and power of the courthouse architecture would be transformed into something more dynamic and down-to-earth, Garten said.
The concept proposed by the artist team of Louise Bertelsen and Pho Po Shu Wang may be the most impressive in scale. The pair, based in Berkeley, Calif., would like to create a slim, minimalist tuning fork that reaches 120 feet in height and is tuned to the frequency of the sun, for want of a more precise scientific description.
With a mirror-like polish, not unlike Anish Kapoor's "Cloud Gate" in Chicago's Millennium Park, the artwork will quietly hum when activated by the sounds of its urban environment, including wind and traffic. But that gentle sound will always drift back to the "tonal center pitch of our Sun," the artists say. The piece will also have an "eye," like a large contact lens embedded in the plaza that will gather solar energy during the day and emit a beam of light at night.
Like a Foucault pendulum that reminds us that we're not on flat earth but a spinning orb, the Bertelsen-Wang artwork is designed to make us mindful of that larger context, of the invisible, life-giving energy that arrives from the center of our solar system every day.
Brower Hatcher, of Providence, R. I., may be the underdog in this race, as his concept was exactly what the committee asked the finalists not to do — create a figurative or literal depiction of justice.
His piece features a geodesic-like dome with a figure of justice, with scales in hand, above it. It is made of a "structural field" or matrix that is typical of Hatcher's work. The interlacing steel bars are meant to embody the future and our networked world.
Many of the artists have included seating and ledges where people can stop and sit. Most also showed an interest in working with local contractors in an effort to support the local economy.
These proposals and others that the artists came up with will be presented at a public open house from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, in the Loos Room of the Milwaukee Public Library's Centennial Hall, 733 N. 8th St. The artists will not be present.
Public feedback is invited. The public art committee is expected to make a final selection within a matter of weeks. Vote in our unofficial Tap Milwaukee poll here. (122)
'Strange Vegetation' opens tonight
Plants inhale and exhale, just like we do, though we rarely think of it in such terms. Inspired by this idea and the strange and wonderful wallpaper in a second floor gallery at the Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum, artist Yevgeniya Kaganovich hatched the idea for a room-sized installation that will behave like human lungs but which will take on the appearance of a fantastical organism, with long stems, bulbous roots and shoots.
The computerized work, created in collaboration with multimedia artist Nathaniel Stern, will sprout from the museum's unique decorative interior and respond to environmental triggers, such as fluctuations in temperature and light. The life of the museum is implied in the artwork, which will alter over time.
"Strange Vegetation" opens today at Villa Terrace, 2220 N. Terrace Ave., with an opening from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. and an artist's talk at 6:30 p.m. "Life Cycles," a talk by assistant professor of art history at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, held in conjunction with the show, will take place June 16 from 7 to 8:30 p.m.
Does Chris Abele believe in the creative economy or not?
My colleague Steve Schultz has reported that Chris Abele, Milwaukee County's new county executive, has concerns about a $700,000 commission for public art. The concepts had been unveiled earlier the same day.
I'm busily working on a review of the big show of Chinese art at the Milwaukee Art Museum and hope to come back to this -- both with thoughts on the art concepts under consideration and Abele's reaction -- but I thought it was worth raising a few issues for consideration now.
Milwaukee already has a tarnished reputation when it comes to public art. The Public Art Network held its national conference here a few years ago, using our community, effectively, as a case study in how badly and backwards things can get. »Read Full Blog Post(46)
Artists to hold 'sing in' in solidarity with detained Ai Weiwei today
Local artist Peggy Hong has invited a few hundred local artists to join two local performing groups for a "sing in" in solidarity with detained Chinese artist Ai Weiwei today.
The event will be at the Milwaukee Art Museum where an exhibit of Chinese art, "The Emperor's Private Paradise" is open to museum members today and to the public starting Saturday.
Linking to a recent story about local art advocate and former gallery owner Mike Brenner shaving his head in solidarity with Ai, Hong's e-mail and social media invitations ask others to join the chorus outside MAM. »Read Full Blog Post(14)
Review: 'The Emperor's Private Paradise' at the Milwaukee Art Museum
The first ruler of modern China was not himself a particularly modern man — save in one respect.
The Qianlong emperor, aside from being the longest ruling Qing emperor in China's history, was also the most painted. He was famously image conscious with fleets of artists who were his era's equivalent of handlers and spin doctors.
He commissioned paintings of himself mounted on a horse as the Manchu warrior, stroking his chin as the Confucian scholar, as the devout Buddhist seeking enlightenment, as the family man. As is the case with many world leaders, past and present, these public-relations endeavors may offer insight into the emperor's ambitions but leave much of the truth untold.
However, this contemporary of George Washington and Catherine the Great left behind a private enclave of pavilions and gardens, a sumptuous man cave tucked away and untouched for generations within the Forbidden City.
Many of the objects that populated this labyrinthine oasis for one, with its walking paths, meditation niches and a theater sized for a single person, go on view Saturday at the Milwaukee Art Museum, the final of three American venues to host this unprecedented exhibit.
"The Emperor's Private Paradise" gets behind the public persona and reveals something of the emperor's own, at times grandiloquent, sense of himself. The fantastically delicate trompe-l'oeil murals, elaborate architectural elements, lacquer screens, Buddhist shrines, root-wood furniture and magnificent thrones have never been seen publicly, in or out of China, and likely won't be seen outside China again.
The Qianlong (pronounced chee'en-loohng) emperor, who ruled what was then the largest and richest empire in the world, fussed over this "garden" for years, commissioning the most beautiful, innovative and meaningful objects his mind could divine. Much like the garden itself, the exhibit is experienced in an unfolding manner, room by room.
It opens with a wonderfully imperious portrait of the emperor (see image, left), a monumental work on silk in yellow-gold hues, the color associated with the emperor and the origins of the Chinese people. His large frame towers above us. Seated on his throne, his face is full of the authority and thoughtfulness of age, his eyes the directness and exhaustion of a ruler.
The image is apt, not only because the Qianlong emperor oversaw one of the greatest geographic expansions in China and the kind of economic growth that would only be repeated in our own time, but because he was the ruler of this aesthetic domain as well. He was patron, collector, connoisseur, critic — and artist.
The emperor was known to instruct his court painters to increase the size of his head or to strengthen his posture. Sometimes he would have works returned to his chambers, where he'd dab and sketch himself. He dictated materials precisely, seeking the best and newest techniques from the West and marrying them to the finest traditions of his own realm. He placed his imperial stamp on the art he collected art and wrote critiques, often in verse, right onto them.
In one chamber, the emperor's Taoist beliefs, reverence for nature and love of the rugged beauty of Manchuria are given their due. Natural stones have been collected in China for more than 1,000 years, as important as man-made art forms in the art history there. One stands, like a mountain in miniature, in the center of this space. It is every bit as muscular and expressive as a Georges Braque or Willem de Kooning work.
Several thrones of incredible splendor are included in the show, including one encrusted in jade blooms and made from intricately carved zitan, which takes on the illusion of polished stone and is one of the heaviest and hardest woods on Earth.
The bamboo-thread marquetry inlaid in another throne has a beautiful and surprisingly modern geometric patterning that was, at the time, a cutting-edge artistic innovation. When the throne was conserved, the Palace Museum put a call out across China to find artisans who might still have that skill. They found only one man, who now works in the conservation studio and is training others.
An intimate meditation room featuring a lotus-flower door surround, fashioned from curved cedar, is re-created here, too. A handsome work of calligraphy in the emperor's own hand would have hung inside this small, simple space, and it hangs in the gallery as well. The symbol of the lotus, which ascends from the mud and erupts into a bloom, is associated with Buddhist ideas of purity. This small nook would have been a place for the emperor to consider what kind of man he was, to cultivate his inner self. What leader couldn't benefit from such a place?
A series of jade-inlaid lacquer panels depicting the rather unattractive enlightened disciples of the Buddha on one side, and gorgeous botanicals painted in gold leaf on the reverse, is perhaps the showstopper of this exhibit (see above image). The ability to create form, through line and hatching, from bits of white jade is astonishing and unlike anything I've ever seen.
These men, quite grotesque with their flabby ears and overgrown eyebrows, are meant to embody inner beauty. Their wonderfully worn out, craggy limbs are reminiscent of the rocks we saw earlier in the progression of the show, as well as the rockeries in the Qianlong Garden, which symbolize the mountains, the ancients and enlightment.
A Buddhist mandala (see detail, left), a panel including finely painted silk in pinks, blues and greens and tiny deities nestled in three-dimensional niches, is another highlight. The supernatural beings perched on plump clouds, spilling flowers from the heavens and playing musical instruments are a delight.
The opening of this exhibit, organized by the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass., in direct cooperation with China's Palace Museum and the World Monuments Fund, has in recent weeks stimulated international discussion in the art world.
The show represents a new level of cultural exchange and a sharing of knowledge related to conservation and the history of the Qing dynasty. It comes, too, at a time when China is suppressing its contemporary voices, including prominent and outspoken artist Ai Weiwei. Some, myself included, have criticized MAM for being unclear and timid in communicating how they would contextualize these things during the "Summer of China," of which this show is a centerpiece.
These contemporary events do change the context of the show in Milwaukee. »Read Full Blog Post(7)
How the Milwaukee Art Museum snagged the big China show
For the very first time, China's Palace Museum had authorized a major exhibition of art objects from the Forbidden City to travel to the United States, but officials there would be particular about who they'd trust their treasures to.
When the American team coordinating the show ticked off the cities that the exhibit would visit, only one stopped the Chinese: Milwaukee.
How do you pronounce Milwaukee, they asked. And where is that, exactly? »Read Full Blog Post(44)
Day 70: What can they do to me?
Today marks the start of the "Summer of China," so declared by our mayor, and the opening of the unprecedented exhibit "The Emperor's Private Paradise" at the Milwaukee Art Museum.
Milwaukee has also been at the center of recent international, art-world discussion, as cultural institutions grapple with how or whether to respond to the recent spike in the suppression of artists in China and the detention of prominent artist Ai Weiwei.
This summer, Art City will celebrate and explore Chinese culture as well, and we'll keep the discussions going. Through the course of this citywide event or until Ai is released, I will also post a reflection on Ai's blog and writing, scrubbed from the Internet in China, each day. Ai's blog and other writings were translated into English and published by MIT press in March. »Read Full Blog Post(4)
Day 71: The Longest Road
This weekend, we celebrated the opening of "The Emperor's Private Paradise," an unprecedented exhibit organized in cooperation with China at the Milwaukee Art Museum.
The exhibit effectively takes us inside the private garden of the Qianlong emperor, a contemporary of George Washington, who ruled what was then the largest and richest empire in the world. He was a bright man, an artist in his own right, who was serious about cultivating his inner life and who ruled at a time of great expansion and change. He was also a stubborn man, at times, who embodied the Chinese failure to anticipate the rise of the industrialized world.
In another period of expansion and rapid change, China is once again facing a philosophical crisis. It has responded by jailing bloggers, activists and artists, including the outspoken and internationally known Ai Weiwei. »Read Full Blog Post(3)
Lakefront art festival starts Friday
A nationally recognized fair of art and craft, the 49th annual Lakefront Festival of Arts, will get started Friday and run through Sunday on the grounds of the Milwaukee Art Museum.
Both inside the museum and beneath a giant tent on the grounds, this event is a chance to meet more than 170 artists and artisans who will have their paintings, ceramics, sculpture, metalwork, jewelry, wearable art and more available for sale.
It's a family-friendly time, to be sure, with a children's area, art demonstrations, food and beverages and a fiber art fashion show. Hours are Noon to 9 p.m. Friday, 10 to 7 p.m. Saturday, and 10 to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $ 8 in advance, $14 at the gate, $20 for a three-day pass and $8 for MAM members with a membership card. Children under 16 with a paid adult are free.
The festival is organized by the Friends of Art, the museum's largest support group, and will benefit MAM's art acquisition and exhibition funds. For more information: (414) 224-3253.
Haggerty Museum to show art in urban location
One of the best ways for museums to connect with their communities is to actually go into them. That's what the Haggerty Museum of Art will do starting Saturday.
The "Crossroads" exhibition won't take place inside the Haggerty's pristine gallery spaces on the campus of Marquette University but in the windows at the corner of 27th and Wells streets, a neighborhood the museum would like to bring more visibility to.
With window installations by Wisconsin artists Hans Gindlesberger, Rafael Francisco Salas, Michael Velliquette and Rina Yoon visible day and night, the project will bring attention to a neighborhood in the midst of reinvention and revitalization. »Read Full Blog Post
Protesters allowed inside the Milwaukee Art Museum
A small group of artists held a "sing in" at the Milwaukee Art Museum Friday in solidarity with detained Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. Inside, the museum prepared to open a large exhibit of Chinese art organized in cooperation with China on Saturday.
"We sang outside and inside for over an hour," said Peggy Hong, one of the event's organizers. "We got some thumbs up and fist pumps, and some museum visitors came to sing with us."
Please see coverage from WISN Channel 12. »Read Full Blog Post(4)
Day 72: Citizen Investigation
Gleaming and expressive structures trembled in Beijing and Shanghai, hundreds of miles away, on the day that a deadly earthquake struck China's Sichuan province.
The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in 2008 were just a few months away. Rising among the architectural newcomers was the show stopper. It was to be a symbol of the games and, some hoped, the new, modern China: the Bird's Nest stadium.
But the internationally known artist and architect who who helped design the stadium would boycott the games and turn his energies to a new project. Ironically, thousands of children died during the Sichuan earthquake because they studied in shoddily designed schoolhouses. Artist Ai Weiwei created an Internet-based project to name the dead. »Read Full Blog Post
Two days to register for world's most lucrative art contest
Last year, downtown sidewalks were jammed with would-be art lovers, the art museum had to close temporarily because it was overrun with visitors, and teeming crowds gave artists rock-star like receptions.
What kind of world is this, I wondered.
Well, it was an industrial city not so different from our own. Last year, Grand Rapids, Mich, was swept up in an art event called ArtPrize for 19 straight days. Art and conversations about art were evreywhere you looked.
ArtPrize is the "American Idol" of the art world, meaning the public rules. The winner is selected by popular vote. And the grand prize is the planet's most lucrative for an individual artist: $250,000. »Read Full Blog Post(2)
Day 73: N Town
Five years ago, Milwaukee became a sister city with Ningbo, one of China's most ancient cities, located on the East China Sea.
A pair of carved stone lions were given to Milwaukee as a gift from Ningbo in 2008. If you haven't seen them, they stand at the entrance to the Zeidler Municipal Building.
In my recent reading of Ai Weiwei's blog, eliminated from the Internet in China but translated into English and published in March by MIT Press, I came across references to "N Town." As it turns out, Ai was writing about Milwaukee's sister city.
During Milwaukee's "Summer of China," Art City is reflecting on an excerpt from Ai's writings each day. Today's excerpt is an exploration of "N Town." Ai writes about the meaning of shiny new museum architecture, public art and blockbuster shows like "Body Worlds." (Mr. M is the architect Ma Qingyun).
»Read Full Blog Post
Milwaukee's Soldiers Home named to national list of endangered places
A lifeline and refuge for veterans who've served in every American conflict since the Civil War, Milwaukee's National Soldiers Home represents one of the nation's first commitments to give the men and women in the U.S. armed services the benefits they deserve.
But this home to countless veterans is itself in need of rescue.
With several of the majestic, post-Civil War era buildings in imminent danger of collapse, the Soldiers Home historic district will be placed on the list of the most endangered historic places by the National Trust for Historic Preservation today. »Read Full Blog Post(71)
MAM's blinking building
I do love the Lens blog at the New York Times, osensibly a blog about photography, video and visual journalism. But, like the fabulous photographers and videographers that they are, the writers of this blog are adept at framing a subject. It's often quite artful.
This evening, a post on what it means to take photographs of architecture -- with a rather pithy Milwaukee refrence. Here goes:
Easiest thing in the world, taking a picture of a building. Right? It doesn't blink. It doesn't turn its back. It doesn't duck out of sight. It just stands there, frozen. (O.K., leave the Milwaukee Art Museum out of this.)
Then why are good architectural photographs so unusual? In part, because a building's environment — natural and human — changes constantly and unpredictably. So an architectural photographer can spend days preparing and waiting for that picture that will embody the building's nature and the designer's ambition.I will enjoy seeing MAM from my window in the morning and thinking about it as a blinking building (non-blinking but beautiful part shown, left). Thanks Lens. Read the rest of the post here. (1)
Day 74: I'm Ready
We are reflecting on an excerpt from Ai Weiwei's blog, obliterated from the Internet in China, daily during Milwaukee's "Summer of China." The blog and other writings were translated into English and published by MIT press.
My hope is that we'll consider this artist not as an "issue" or cause but as a human being with ideas and a voice worthy of consideration. Today's excerpt needs little preface. The children he refers to, of course, are those who died in shoddy schoolhouses in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Ai has been detained for 74 days. This entry was originally posted on May 28, 2009:
I'm ready. Or rather, there's nothing to get ready for. One person. That is everything that I have, it is all that someone might possibly gain and everything that I can devote. I will not hesitate in the time of need, and I won't be vague.
»Read Full Blog Post
Day 75: The smart spectators
Yesterday, internationally known sculptor Anish Kapoor cancelled plans to exhibit his sculptures at the National Museum of China in Beijing in protest against the continuing detention of Ai Weiwei, according to news reports. He was to be part the "UK Now" festival next year designed to build cultural understanding between China and England.
Kapoor previously called on the world's museums and galleries to close for a day in protest of the detention of Ai, who has been detained since April 3 and accused of economic crimes.
According to The Art Newspaper, British Council chief executive Martin Davidson believes the festival should go ahead, that cultural through exchange "we best demonstrate the benefits of free artistic expression and build supportive links between people in the UK and China." Similar sentiments have been expressed by the Milwaukee Art Museum, which has just opened an exhibit in cooperation with China's national museum.
Ai reserved harsh words for smart people who declined to take action. Art City is reflecting on Ai Weiwei's writing and ideas daily during Milwaukee's "Summer of China." Today's excerpt, originally posted on June 23, 2009, is particularly directed at those who don't care to act because of the seeming futility of it. He was, at the time, calling for a one-day boycott of the Internet because of government censorship.
Ai Weiwei's blog was translated into English and published by MIT Press in March. »Read Full Blog Post(2)
Day 76: Yesterday I Cut My Hair
A few weeks ago, local artist Mike Brenner shaved his head to look like that of detained Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. What follows is Ai's blog post about the day he got the original do, with two tufts of hair on either side of his head, back in 2006.
He washed my hair and I got in the seat.
The barber asked, What style?
When it was over he said, You're a director, right?
»Read Full Blog Post
Photo exhibit revels in the bygone hues of Kodachrome
"This was it, my very last roll of Kodachrome."
That's how photographer Erik Ljung's journey began through 1,400 miles of the slightly faded towns and landscapes of the heartland. His winter road trip was to Dwayne Photo, the last licensed Kodachrome processing lab in the county - a holdout of an analog medium that's now become part of history.
Ljung's "Pilgrimage to Parsons, Kansas" is the ideal introduction to the three exhibitions that coalesce into "More than Real: The Death of Kodachrome" at the Portrait Society Gallery. They each honor and exemplify the unique properties of Kodachrome film as a means of rendering images and capturing the passage of time. »Read Full Blog Post
Review: Monica Canilao at Sky High
Monica Canilao has a hard time remembering things, names especially. There's a gap, a distance, between the knowledge lodged in her mind and what's at the surface of her recollection, she says.
That severing, between a vague sense of preciousness and a precise context, is the distinguishing characteristic in the materials that Canilao is drawn to as an artist.
On cross-country prospecting tours to ghost towns, trash heaps, alleys, boarded-up houses, thrift stores and unexpected, everyday places, she gathers the refuse of our time, old and lasting things that have been discarded for the shiny and new. »Read Full Blog Post(3)
Day 77: I posted every day
On May 28, 2009, Ai Weiwei's blog was obliterated from the Internet in China. In March of this year, MIT Press published an English translation of the blog and other writings. A few weeks later, Ai was detained by Chinese authorities, presumably for being his ongoing, high-profile critiques of the government.
Each evening, I select a passage from my dog-eared and Post-It-noted copy of Ai Weiwei's blog. It is already quite worn. I've been making daily posts for just a week now, as many of you know, and I will continue to during Milwaukee's "Summer of China." As a blogger myself, one of the things that that impresses me most about Ai's blog is the sheer commitment he made to it. He made 2,700 posts in three years. So much energy. I envy that.
In the epilogue to the MIT book, an interviewer asked Ai what he was feeling when his blog was shut down. Today's excerpt is his response to that question. »Read Full Blog Post
Day 78: If everyone told the truth
On March 24, 2009, Ai Weiwei answered questions from the general public in an online Q&A about his citizen investigation, a gathering of information about the children who died in poorly constructed schools during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. One of the questions was this: Mr. Ai, what do you think is the root cause of Chinese people's lying and moral decay, and do you have any hope for China's future? Here is Ai's response:
When the cost of speaking the truth exceeds that of telling lies, naturally it will be an era where evil money eliminates the good. From today onward, if everyone told the truth, the times would change.
Art City is reflecting on an excerpt from Ai's writing, scrubbed from the Internet in China, each day during Milwaukee's "Summer of China." Ai was detained by Chinese authorities on April 3, presumably for his outspoken critiques of the government. His blog and other writings were translated into English and published by MIT Press in March.
In:Site to unveil ambitious public art project Saturday
How often do you hear about public art projects where thousands of informational pamphlets are distributed door to door to share information about the art? Almost never. All of this effort is leading up to a grand opening of a new public art project.
In:Site, a group that advocates for and organizes temporary public art projects, now in its fifth year of existence, will unveil its latest project Saturday. Part of its goal is to draw attention to development opportunities in various sections of the city.
The newest project, which will span 22 blocks and be up for 6 months, will feature art about environmental issues by nine artists. The artists include Ted Brusubardis, Colin Dickson, Marly Gisser, Jesse Graves, Allison Westbrook and Christopher Willey from Milwaukee, as well as Chris Silva from Chicago and Faith Purvey from Minneapolis and Los Angeles. »Read Full Blog Post(1)
Keeping art in mind, new shows about memory to open
We are collections of recollections, or so we think. Memory is such a central component of who we are and how we see ourselves. Who would you be without your memories?
The human effort to create, preserve, share and conceal memory is the vast subject that the ever-ambitious John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan has taken on in a major project, featuring several exhibits.
"Hiding Places: Memory in the Arts" promises to break new ground in intergenerational exchange, thinking about the aging process and approaches to autism, among other things. »Read Full Blog Post
Day 79: I refuse to become one of the casualties
On March 24, 2009, Ai Weiwei answered questions from the general public in an online Q&A about his citizen investigation, a gathering of information about the thousands of children who died in poorly constructed schools during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. One of the questions was this: Will you persist in completing this Citizen Investigation to the very end? What are you feeling when during your investigation you are confronted with these [parents of] children who perished for well-known reasons? As you proceed with the investigation, are there powers trying to thrwart you? If so, how will you deal with them? Will your investigation achieve the results you are looking for? What are your expected results?
Here is Ai's response:
If I'm still alive on any given day, this investigation will proceed yet another day. If one student is forgotten, humanity will be cast with shame. Clarifying facts, accepting responsibility, this is the reality that no living person can evade. I've never encountered any obvious attempts at thwarting, even though many things have proved disappointing. No one can obstruct the next innocent plan; I refuse to beocme one of the casualties. My investigation has already had some unanticipated effects: the children are remembered, there is concern for the families, society has demanded basic justice and rights, and there is refusal of the ghastly tofu-dregs engineering.
»Read Full Blog Post(3)
Ronald Bitticks taught a generation of Milwaukee artists
Ronald Bitticks taught a generation of art students at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, where he was a professor emeritus. Also a Vietnam veteran and a founder of the Riverwest Artist Association and the Riverwest Artist Walk, Bitticks passed away Monday morning.
A visitation will be held Thursday at Molthen-Bell from 4 to 7 p.m. A service will follow. In lieu of flowers donations can be made to the Ron Bitticks Memorial Scholarship Fund at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design.
As a memorial, of sorts, we are posting a review by art critic Mary Louise Schumacher of a major retrospective exhibit of Bitticks' work at MIAD. It ran in the Journal Sentinel Nov. 2, 2003:
Letting Pain Take Shape
In his poem "Ashes of Soldiers," Walt Whitman contemplates the raging psychological battles of soldiers who survive unspeakable war experiences.
Ashes of Soldiers!
As I muse, retrospective, murmuring a chant in thought,
Lo! the war resumes -- again to my sense your shapes,
And again the advance of armies . . .
While in the art world the term retrospective describes a substantial exhibit of an artist's oeuvre, Whitman's use is equally apt in the case of painter Ron Bitticks, whose retrospective exhibit is now on view at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design.
The show, spanning about 30 years of work, lays open a haunting narrative. Through intellectual explorations, Bitticks subverted his own emotional trauma from the Vietnam War before surrendering to conscious acceptance, in life and in paint.
Bitticks, a self-described recluse, has been hesitant to show his work for most of his career. Many of the works in the show have been rarely, if ever, seen.
The exhibit begins with a nearly monochromatic work in gray-blue, a simple stick against a subdued background. The exhibit culminates with a room full of Bitticks' most recent works, giant encaustic paintings filled with saturated colors, high contrasts, fantasy gardens, giant flowers, geishas and samurais, swords and sexuality.
From that dry, intellectual start to the blatantly sensual present, and everything in between, there lie certain constants. A fascination with rules. An intense, almost obsessive, interrogation of belief systems. And a struggle for self-awareness.
Bitticks' art career began simply, if ambitiously. Cezanne had his oranges. Van Gogh had his sunflowers. Bitticks wanted a signature object, too. A stick, he thought. It's simple, primal.
Moving forward from that first subdued twig, several paintings betray the artist's fascination with physics. In the simplest ones, many post-dating Vietnam, round sticks trace movement through illusionistic, geometric space.
From there the physical concepts become increasingly complex and the works transition from diagrams to grand equations with abstruse symbols. A stream of dotted lines. A triangle. Dots. Arrows. Brackets. All moving across large canvases like a giant math problem.
The works are influenced by minimalism, but negotiate the distinctions between abstraction and representation, revealing a bias toward the latter by never relinquishing it.
Eventually, Bitticks' blended his imagination with real physics, inventing logical laws for a fake physics. The fictional science he explored provided "sign posts" to certain truths, he says.
By 1983, Bitticks made a considerable conceptual leap. Instead of trying to describe, for example, the physicality of time, or other esoteric forces, Bitticks created equations to "solve" himself.
The geometric shapes of pure science took on richer symbolisms, with triangles referring to the idea of completeness, for example. Other symbolic traditions, such as astrology and tarot, also appeared. The lightning bolt and horse were prominent in many paintings.
"With this one, it's my conversion," says Bitticks, gesturing toward a preparatory drawing complete with the same brackets and parentheses found in earlier equations. "It's me, it's more personal, but in a very hidden way still."
That preparatory drawing, for "Samurai Equation," the only drawing in the show, is covered with precise but quickly scribbled notations that betray a rapidly moving, intensely focused mind and unfathomable rationales.
At the time, he was married to Milwaukee artist Jill Sebastian and had two children. His emotional state was transforming in bewildering ways.
"I'd be watching Walt Disney with my kids, and I'd start crying, and they'd think `What is wrong?' " he says.
He rarely showed work, but at a small exhibit opening, a woman accused him of devil worship. She was probably in her 60s, petite and seemed "sweet," he says. "(But) she grew in stature and was now this large, towering figure with the right and the might of the Lord on her side," he says.
He didn't share the woman's beliefs, but the force of the experience made him question his work. It was a "final factor" in pushing him away from the symbology he was swimming in, he now says.
Then, on a particular but random morning, sitting at the breakfast table, the wake of unconscious suffering from Vietnam surfaced in a rush of tears. Suddenly and dramatically, the pain he had been feeling could be named.
When Bitticks, who teaches painting at MIAD, took a group of seniors through his current show, he had a hard time speaking about the work he produced immediately after that solemn epiphany. Talking about his infantry days, his experiences leading a unit, there were tears, again, after all the years.
It is as if, to use Whitman's words, "war resumed" when Bitticks became conscious of his emotional confusion and began making raw, mostly literal paintings about the war. Perhaps the most interesting of the group is an abstracted pile of bodies. It is, like the works of Philip Guston, a beautiful heap of gore that is hard to look away from.
"I am attracted to this one because it doesn't lose the horror but there is a subtlety to it that allows you to get closer to it," says Michael Howard, who teaches painting with Bitticks.
The symbolism so typical of Bitticks is carried over into this phase of his work with added potency, since he realized he had been using war-related symbolism all along. The lightning bolt and horse were associated with his military unit, for example.
"It was like, `Well, duh, this stuff was already coming out,' " he says.
If you ask him now, he'll say that the Vietnam-related work had little psychological benefit. Perhaps that is true, but his work of the last decade or so is evidence enough of dramatic emotional change.
The samurai, which earlier represented Bitticks in the "equations" he fussed over, is the main and recurring subject of the recent works. They represent the ideal, noble warrior, he says. Paired with the samurais are geishas that exude an obvious sexuality.
The process of making the art was emblematic of the emotional tumult he felt. He started "Sweet Pea," for example, with the outline of a female figure. It never seemed to look right, though, so he repeatedly scraped away the thick, waxy paint and started again.
It was masochistic, really, he says.
In all of the works, the figures are masked, a pictorial reference to the way a painting works -- a covered surface with substance and ideas behind it. For Bitticks, the paintings themselves are like masquerade ball masks, which don't truly hide one's appearance but make radical shifts of behavior safe.
He luxuriated in eroticism, decadent beauty and confectionary colors the way filmmaker Quentin Tarantino brazenly embraces violence. It isn't a cheeky swipe. It's a bender of pure indulgence and excess, for its own sake.
The shiny paintings fill the final room of the exhibit and shock the eye. Giant flowers in bright, contrasting, taffy-hued colors serve as fantastical garden backdrops for figures that seem to dance or float through space.
"They are just sexy paintings," he says, "as long as they are not offensive."
It'd be easy to attach parochial or sexist motives to these sweetmeat paintings, or to consider them just gaudy. What they do project is the naivete of an older, intense man reviving an emotional life placed on hold decades ago.
He's untethered the intellect that he often used as an escape and has allowed himself to drift where his still confused emotions and desires take him. For once, he's allowing himself that freedom, to see where it leads, he says.
"I see this work as accepting and joyful, maybe for the first time," Howard says. "There is a self-awareness in the mask that he's choosing. He's not hiding now, he's just trying to find the right vehicle to be himself in a more open, spirited way."
A retrospective, by definition, is a contemplation of things past. This exhibit takes a retrospective look at an artist, consciously and unconsciously, facing down memories of war. It also shows, in the end, small steps taken in a fresh and undetermined artistic direction. (1)
Censorship or honest mistake at the Intercontinental?
Fahimeh Vahdat climbed the 8-foot ladder to untack the ceiling-to-floor artwork that she had up at the Intercontinental Milwaukee's M Gallery on a recent afternoon.
Then, she flipped the long canvas around, so its main image, a woman raising her hands in supplication, would face the wall and no longer be visible to visitors to the gallery space.
"This hurts," she said, stepping off the ladder. "I'm very emotional doing this. I am doing what I shouldn't be doing -- turning my piece the other way." »Read Full Blog Post(13)
Day 80: Leeway and possibility
The detention of Ai Weiwei, China's most outspoken and famous living artist, cannot be separated from the story of his father, the renowned poet Ai Qing, who also criticized the Communist regime.
Labeled a "rightist" along with other intellectuals, Ai Qing and his family, including a one-year-old Ai Weiwei, were banished from Beijing and sent to labor camps in the bitter cold of Manchuria. For years, Ai Weiwei's father, who had inspired many writers, was nearly beaten to death and worked cleaning toilets.
As you know, Art City is reflecting on an excerpt from Ai Weiwei's blog and writings each day during Milwaukee's "Summer of China." Ai's blog was scrubbed from the Internet in China. Today's excerpt, originally posted on May 10, 2006, is a sort of biography by architecture.
It is interesting to see the place Ai's childhood detention holds in his ideas about space and architecture. There are many architects who might bristle at these ideas, that architecture is, in fact, not so difficult, and that -- and I'm extrapolating a bit here -- too many dump the whole spice rack into their work. Frank Lloyd Wright would certainly dislike Ai's ideas about flexibility. »Read Full Blog Post
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei released
News agencies all over the world are reporting that China's most famous living artist Ai Weiwei has been released after 80 days of detention.
The artist, most known around the world for his role in designing the Bird's Nest stadium for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, was released on bail late Wednesday. He is home with family and in good health, according to multiple news reports.
"I'm back with my family," Ai told The Guardian. "I am very happy. I'm fine." »Read Full Blog Post(21)
Marcus Prize winner announced
Every other year, the Marcus Corporation Foundation awards a $100,000 prize to an "emerging talent" in the field of architecture. Next to the Pritzker Prize, perhaps the field's most prestigious, it is the most lucrative architectural award there is.
Unlike the Pritzker, which tends to be given to architectural heavyweights for a lifetime's worth of work, the Marcus Prize requires just a decade of exceptional leadership in the field. That makes it less predictable.
This year, African architect Diébédo Francis Kéré, founder of Kéré Architecture in Berlin, has been awarded the prize, which is administered by the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Milwaukee wins in the deal, too. The award not only honors design excellence and innovation — it brings the architect's vision to Milwaukee. Kéré will lead a graduate studio on architectural challenges in Milwaukee next spring.
Kéré founded Bricks for the Gando Schools, in the African village where he grew up, in 1998. For that project, he adapted construction techniques that use passive ventilation and local resources. He completed his degree at the School of Architecture at the Technical University of Berlin in 2004.
"Kéré is...able to translate Western architectural traditions into indigenous processes and values," Toshiko Mori, the Robert P. Hubbard Professor in the Practice of Architecture at Harvard University Graduate School of Design, who served as one of the jurors, said in a statement. "His desire to make sophisticated and uncompromised buildings with so few resources is an empowering and optimistic lesson to share with students."
Kéré is the fourth winner of the Marcus Prize and was selected from a field of 30 nominees in 13 countries by a six-person jury that met in Milwaukee. The other jurors were Carlos Jimenez, principal of Carlos Jimenez Studio and professor at Rice University; Sarah Herda, director of The Graham Foundation for the Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts in Chicago; Robert Greenstreet, dean of UWM's school of architecture; Steve Marcus, CEO of the Marcus Corporation Foundation in Milwaukee; and Chris Cornelius, UWM assistant professor of architecture. (2)
Ai Weiwei's Home
Some days are better than others. Wednesday was one of those days.
Artist and activist Ai Weiwei was released by Chinese authorities on bail. The news circled the globe quickly, as did news that he was home, with family and seemingly well.
Ai's detention sparked condemnation from political leaders around the world, and international protests that reached all the way to the Milwaukee Art Museum, which is hosting an exhibit organized in cooperation with China, "The Emperor's Private Paradise."
Although China's state news agency reported the artist was let go "because of his good attitude in confessing his crimes," Ai was clearly imprisoned for his outspoken ways.
Even before he was picked up on April 3, Ai had already been electronically monitored, harassed while caring for his elderly mother and nearly beaten to death by authorities. He is known for his critiques of the Chinese government and his "social sculptures," art projects that involve grassroots, online organizing.
Ai's most significant act of dissent was in response to the earthquake in Sichuan Province in 2008, when thousands of children died in poorly constructed schools. After he created a project to name the dead, Ai was beaten by police, his expensive Shanghai studio was bulldozed and his voluminous and scathing blog was scrubbed from the Internet in China.
Ai spoke briefly with reporters Wednesday but declined to talk about his detention.
"I'm released, I'm home, I'm fine," Ai said in a phone interview with The New York Times. "In legal terms, I'm — how do you say — on bail. So I cannot give any interviews. But I'm fine."
Although Ai had been detained and placed under house arrest previously, his recent imprisonment attracted considerably more attention around the world, transforming Ai into an iconic figure — a folk hero of sorts. He became the most high-profile of dozens of artists, bloggers and activists who have been arrested, detained or harassed in what some observers call China's most severe crackdown on human rights in a decade. Many of these less known individuals, including journalists who supported Ai's work and members of his staff, remain unaccounted for.
Ai's release on bail came days before Chinese premier Wen Jiabao visits Europe, where it was assumed leaders would raise the case. It is impossible to know if there's a connection, but Nicholas Bequelin, of Human Rights Watch, told The Guardian he believed the release was political:
"His detention was political and his release is political. It is the result of a huge domestic and international outcry that forced the government to this resolution...I think Beijing realized how damaging it was to hold China's most famous artist in detention."
Was Ai's release related in any way to international pressure? This is a question that will be considered for some time, no doubt.
Museums around the world called for Ai's release, as did artists. Sculptor Anish Kapoor invited museums and galleries to close for a day and encouraged artists to consider not showing work in China until Ai's case was resolved. A petition started by the Guggenheim attracted signatures from more than 140,000 art world figures, prompting an attack by hackers, which hosts of the web site Change.org said they believed came from China. The San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art set an example for other museums, staging a quiet, vigil-like, 24-hour protest that involved several members of that community. »Read Full Blog Post(1)
Inside the not-so-forbidden Qianlong Garden
(Note from Mary Louise: Art City contributor Stacey Williams-Ng is traveling in China this summer, a rather wonderful coincidence, since we are engaging in the citywide "Summer of China" here in Milwaukee. When I previewed "The Emperor's Private Paradise" at the Milwaukee Art Museum with Stacey and Art City contributor Jessica Zalewski we were told that the Qianlong Garden is all but closed off to the public, so I was delighted to hear that our intrepid correspondent got a peek inside.)
Stacey Williams-Ng here, reporting to you from China as Art City's international correspondent.
I've just visited the Forbidden City in Beijing, and having toured the "Emperor's Private Paradise" exhibition at the Milwaukee Art Museum just days ago, I was eager to learn more about Emperor Qianlong, the central figure of the MAM show.
Now that I have stood in the garden myself, with the memory of the exhibit fresh in my thoughts, I can truly confirm that the curators at MAM did a marvelous job of capturing the tranquil atmosphere of the Qianlong's Garden, nestled alongside the Palace of Tranquility and Longevity in a far corner of the Forbidden City.
The rockeries were familiar after glimpsing them in the museum's imagery, as were the cozy outdoor spaces, ancient trees and delicate buildings.
The doors to the palace seemed to be closed to the public, but when I saw a member of the staff motioning to us to enter an ornate little door with peeling red paint we quickly shuffled inside and started snapping pictures. The room has been but slightly modernized inside, with new furniture and so forth, to serve as a gift shop for fake Qing antiques. But look closely at the ancient wall screens: an official confirmed that the calligraphy was done by Qianlong himself.
When we finally left the garden to venture into the central palaces, we fell upon an even more intimate glimpse of the great Qing Emperor... a temporary exhibition called "Long Live the Royal House: Treasures of the Qing Dynasty," which featured objects from the royal household, items of religious significance, imperial jewelry (including a necklace and hatpin that I swear the Emperor is wearing in the portrait we have on loan at the MAM), and other ephemera from the Emperor's lifetime, even some little bottles of medicine and tea-tins. I hope these pictures pique your interest in this very artsy emperor, and serve as just another reason to go to MAM and learn more about his fascinating legacy, as well as the grand cultural heritage of China.
Here are some additional images: »Read Full Blog Post
Beijing's grand park, designed by an emperor
In my last post, I shared my firsthand impressions of the Qianlong Garden in the Forbidden City, a place reputed to be closed to the public. I had just heard about this private garden paradise back home where it is the subject of the "The Emperor's Private Paradise" at the Milwaukee Art Museum. This exploration of Emeror Qianlong, a highly celebrated figure in China whom I knew nothing about before this year, has piqued my interest. I am now hoping to learn more about his legacy, especially now that I am starting to appreciate the impact he had on China's imperial and cultural history.
I am traveling in China now, and I wanted to visit the Beihai Park in Beijing, which was built many generations before Qianlong's birth, but extensively remodeled and built up during his reign. My hope was to get a sense of his approach to large-scale garden design and architecture, as compared to the relatively tiny garden project in the Forbidden City. What I got was more than an eyeful; as it turns out, the city government has lovingly preserved this park as a jewel of the Qing Dynasty, and not only are there structures here that Qianlong had built or otherwise remodeled, there are even specific trees that he sat beneath. One, which would have been 400 years old already when he sat under it on one particularly hot summer day, provided him with such a thoroughly refreshing cool shade that he teasingly dubbed it "the Marquis of Shade," a title which the 800-year-old tree still claims on its little metal plate. But there's so much more to tell you about this thousand-year-old park (founded in the tenth century!) than old trees.
The Pavilion of Ancient Works »Read Full Blog Post(1)
Snaps: the new Wild West
Sorry Milwaukee, I'm having a new love affair with a city named Detroit.
I went for the first time a few weeks back and I couldn't be more inspired by a place in American right now. My disclaimer: I'm by no means an expert on the city. I'm not commenting about the politics or the conditions behind what's happened there.
Still, during my four day visit, I witnessed firsthand that the flight from the urban center that has left the city decaying and desolate has also left room for unregulated, beautiful, creative growth.
The only way I can explain what I experienced there is by telling you a made-up story that I think you'll relate to. You know that "crazy neighbor," the one you either love or hate that puts a few too many pink flamingo's in his yard. Or maybe it's the guy down the street who painted his hand-built space ship hot pink to match the plastic flowers on the porch. You know, the neighbors that send up a red flag for the other perhaps uptight neighbors, those who think that anything that's different or stands out will devalue their property. You see where I'm going with this? Imagine what would happen if there were no uptight neighbors to tell that nutty neighbor to knock it off. What if he or she just kept adding more and more...and more. This is the Detroit that's captured my heart. »Read Full Blog Post
Masculine athletes, tarot exhibits fit spirit of Pittsburgh's Warhol Museum
Pittsburgh — Two special exhibits on view here into August make it clear that The Andy Warhol Museum isn't resting on its namesake's legacy.
Both "Mixed Signals: Artists Consider Masculinity in Sports" and "Contemporary Magic: A Tarot Deck Art Project" fit the spirit of the Warhol, a seven-story structure that also exhibits generous selections of Warhol's art from throughout his career. (The artist was born in a Pittsburgh row house and graduated from Carnegie Institute of Technology, now Carnegie-Mellon University, before heading to fame and fortune in New York.) »Read Full Blog Post
Soldiers Home named national landmark
Milwaukee's National Soldiers Home, once a lifeline for veterans returning from war and today a gracious park-like area with both functional and dilapidated buildings, was named a national historic landmark Thursday.
"This is basically the highest level of recognition that a site can receive," said Ali Kopyt, a board member with Milwaukee Preservation Alliance. "We've been waiting for this landmark status."
The entire 90-acre site, including a soldiers' cemetery, a chapel and a theater, was designated along with 13 other sites across the country as national landmarks by the National Park Service. »Read Full Blog Post(10)


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South Boise Little League Registration for 2013 Season
Sign up for South Boise Little League Baseball and Softball for the Spring 2013 season! Register online at www.southboisell.com from December 1, 2012 through February 1, 2013.
All existing players who refer a new participant to South Boise Little League will receive a "S.B.L.L." hoody sweatshirt.
Playing fields are located at:
Liberty Park, 520 N. Liberty St., Boise (Juniors, Majors, Minors)
West Jr. High School, 8371 W. Salt Creek Ct., Boise (Rookies)
Red Rock Christian Church, 1124 S. Roosevelt, Boise (T-ball)
Borah High School, 6001 W. Cassia St., Boise (Softball)
Opening Ceremonies kick off on Saturday, April 6, 2013 with BBQ, Pictures, Raffles, Games and more!
Fees: $75.00/1st player, $65.00/2nd player, $35.00 each additional player within the same household. Cost covers registration fees, baseball/softball shirt and cap for ages 5-16.
For more information, visit www.southboisell.com or call 208-949-4260 or e-mail us at email@example.com


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Shirley and I have just returned from the most incredible journey of our lives. With the Rev. Steve Cron and 21 others, including Roni, a gifted Israeli guide, we have returned from Israel.
For most of the group, it was their first time in Israel. We are Catholics, Protestants and Jews. Most met once before at our home for an informational evening about the trip, sponsored by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Aquinas College. It was part of Aquinas' 125th anniversary celebration.
For 10 days, we visited Christian and Jewish holy sites, explored archeological locations, Israeli and Palestinian cities, and on our final day — exhausted but still wanting to learn and understand more — we listened to a Palestinian wife whose husband had been killed and to an Israeli father whose son was killed.
These two people, Moira and Abraham, meet regularly at the Perez Peace Center to talk about ways to live beyond their pain, to recognize one another's loss ... then they go out to local schools to talk with children about conflict resolution. We sat and listened and asked questions, but for most of us, our hearts were too heavy for words. So many emotions flooded each of us, and so much mutuality was shared.
Our guide told us there is no question there will be a Palestinian state. And each of us, in our own ways, envisioned two people with shared claims to a small piece of land. Each of us prayed for the peace of Jerusalem and for all the peoples of Israel.
We had come to better understand our roots and shared history and values as Jews and Christians. On the Mount of Beatitudes, we saw the benches with the inscriptions: "Blessed are the poor in spirit ... Blessed are the meek ... Blessed are the peacemakers ..." and we learned of their Jewish roots.
We — all descendants of Abraham and Sarah — prayed again that the inner life of the peoples of Israel will be as beautiful as this powerfully symbolic mountain.
The streets were teeming with pilgrims and tourists from all corners of the Earth — people who could not help but marvel at all that Israel has become as a true melting pot; a technological center of the world; the fulfillment of so many dreams, prophesies and shared visions. And, in our group, each of us wanted more for the people who live in Israel.
At night, we sat and tried to review what we had seen, heard and learned. But, it was difficult because so much was packed into each day. We have come home with a joy and a much deeper understanding of who and what we are. And yet, there is a pain in each of us. I feel a type of gnawing and indefinable ache.
"What if the peace talked about in Torah and New Testament and in the Quran was made real?" "What if swords were beaten into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks?"
In my heart and soul, I can almost see and touch it.
In dreaming of the State of Israel, Theodore Herzl is credited with saying, "If you will it, it is no dream."
As I write, I am praying for a larger and more inclusive dream — one dreamed and willed by all of the people of Israel and the region — and of the world.
With my fellow travelers I am praying and working for an inclusive and comprehensive peace, where each man and woman will sit beneath a vine or fig tree — and none shall make them afraid.
I believe this dream is achievable even amid all the rhetoric and blaming. I pray for the peace of every person in Israel. It can be made real.
Albert Lewis is rabbi emeritus of Temple Emanuel in Grand Rapids and author of "Soul Sounds: Reflections on Life" available at soulsoundsbook.com.


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|Emerging issues: Condom policy and programming
AUTHOR: International HIV/AIDS Alliance
This workshop report from the International HIV/AIDS Alliance examines how to develop polices and programmes which promote condom use as an HIV prevention strategy. The report contains presentations and discussions from the workshop held in 2006, The topics explored include: the relationship between sexuality, gender and condom use; attempting to understand and work with the diverse personal and cultural reasons why people are resistant to using condoms; working with particular population groups, such as young people, sex workers, drug users and men who have sex with men; and the impact of anti-condom policies by national governments, including the United States, on condom promotion programmes.
Article can be accessed on-line here in PDF format.
To view PDF documents you will need to download and install Adobe Acrobat Reader. The program is available for free through the Adobe website, download here. More help is available on PDF documents and Adobe Acrobat Reader here.


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Dave Peters considers himself a collector.
He has an interest in Seraphim Angels and enjoys his collection of Norman Rockwell figurines, but one collection -his nativity scenes - is the largest of all.
"I have at least 200 of them," said Peters. "My grandmother had one when I was growing up, and I always thought it was a neat way to depict the birth of Christ."
Article Photos
-Messenger photo by Emilie Jenson
Dave Peters, of Fort Dodge, arranges his nativity scenes that are on display at St. Olaf Lutheran Church.
The nativity scenes are on display through Dec. 15 in the fellowship hall at St. Olaf Lutheran Church. The display features scenes of all sizes and colors from around the world.
Peters started his collection about seven years ago when he purchased a wooden nativity set while on a mission trip in Nicaragua.
"They are from all over, but I have found many of them at garage sales," he said. "I probably went to about 100 garage sales last summer."
The collection includes nativities from Mexico, a ceramic display from Alaska with seals and polar bears in place of livestock and an igloo instead of a stable, and a Hawaiian nativity made of monkey pod wood. Another set came straight from Bethlehem, the city of Christ's birth.
"It was made of olive wood on the West Bank of the Jordan," said Peters.
The nativity sets cover three large tables and the floor at the front of the fellowship hall.
Some are musical, others light up. The smallest is a tiny pewter set that is inside a bell. Another is made up of cats. Some are not individual sets but are pictured on children's puzzles and games, flags and a Rubik's Cube. Some of the smaller sets are displayed as centerpieces on the tables in the fellowship hall.
"There are four on each table, and we have 15 tables set up. said Peters. "We've invited some groups and organizations to come see them, and we feed the men from Beacon of Hope in this room almost every night."
Once the display is taken down, many of Peters' nativities will be set up in his home for the remainder of the Christmas season.
Peters said he will probably add to his collection as he finds sets throughout the year. He said the nativities are often just a secondary item he and his wife find while browsing sales for another reason.
"We always seek out the Christmas items at garage sales," he said. "We get the nativities for us, but we are really out there looking for things to give to Operation Christmas and the YWCA."


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Many disciplines "…indicate it is our modern diet, full of refined foods, trans fats and sugar, that is at the root of degenerative diseases such as obesity, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, depression and infertility." —Robb Wolf
Our goal therefore should be to maximize the quality of what we eat to help prevent these chronic and deadly diseases. One of the ways to do so, according to its advocates, is the Paleo diet.
While there are many pros and cons of the Paleo diet, there's no ignoring that it's a big trend right now. The Paleo diet bases its foundation on the way cavemen ate way back when- lots of vegetables, high quality meat, eggs, fruit, and nuts. You may be surprised at some of the foods banned on the Paleo Diet, as they're often at the top of the "to-eat" list on many other diets.
Paleo NOs 1 of 7
Here are 6 of the most surprising foods forbidden on the Paleo diet.
Cheese 2 of 7
Dairy isn't as good for you as you may think. Although some Paleo-ites do consume the occasional serving of dairy, technically milk and cheese are discouraged on the Paleo diet. Dairy causes an inflammatory reaction in the body, which is exactly what this caveman-based diet is trying to avoid. In addition, milk can be laden with things that really shouldn't be there, including hormones and antibiotics. Luckily there are plenty of other ways to get calcium.
Peanuts 3 of 7
And yes, that means peanut butter too. Although they have "nut" in the name, peanuts are actually part of the legume family. Supporters of the Paleo diet believe that a component in legumes called phytate is actually an "antinutrient," meaning not only can we not digest it properly, but it interferes with digestion of other vitamins and minerals.
Beans 4 of 7
Like peanuts, beans are legumes. Although packed with fiber and protein, beans are forbidden on the Paleo diet because of their phytate content. While banned on the Paleo diet, others believe beans are still a good source of nutrition.
Potatoes 5 of 7
Potatoes are banned on the Paleo diet due to their high starch content and over abundance in the typical American diet. They're not entirely banned though, as they're encouraged for athletes and other individuals with high energy needs. Sweet potatoes are usually given the green light. Other white veggies are ok too.
Quinoa 6 of 7
Grains are kicked to the curb on the Paleo diet, even the ancient grain and superfood quinoa. Like milk, grains are thought to be inflammatory to the body and a proposed cause of leaky gut syndrome. So even though whole wheat is a better choice than the refined processed stuff, it's still a no-no on the Paleo diet.
Corn 7 of 7
Commonly thought to be a vegetable, corn is actually a grain, and is therefore forbidden on the Paleo diet just like quinoa, wheat, and other grains. Besides, most corn products in the US are highly processed and contain GMOs.
The 5 WORST foods for weight loss
20 delicious salads hearty enough for dinner
20 gross, disturbing food facts you'll wish you didn't know
7 food additives you should think twice before eating
10 tasty treats you'd never guess were gluten-free


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Almost a tonne of batteries to be recycled
Brisbane hardware stores lead battery recycling.
Australia's retailers honoured at the ARA eftops Australian Retail Awards
Beauty retailer takes out the top award.
Round Up: Dick Smith's strong start and Australian merchandising winners
Going public has been good for Dick Smith, according to its first sales results; There were six Australian winners at a major merchandising awards show in Germany overnight; Changes at the top for Super Retail and there's a new Bronto in the house.
Super Retail Group to grow store footprint following solid results
Super Retail Group has announced it will be expanding its footprint across a number of its retail brands as it continues to strengthen its store portfolio.
Super Retail Group off to a good start
Super Retail Group is off to a strong start for the first year reporting a 74 per cent increase in net profit after tax to $60.6 million.
Retailers commended at 2012 ARA Australian Retail Awards
Jewellery chain Pandora outshined its fellow competitors after being awarded the 2012 Visa Australian Retailer of the Year award at the ARA Australian Retail Awards breakfast.
Super Retail gets new CFO
Super Retail Group has appointed David Burns as its new chief financial officer.
Super Retail's positive start
Super Retail Group has shown while times are difficult achieving sales growth is still possible after the company provided an update on its first quarter trading.
Supre Retail buys into sports licensing company
Super Retail Group has bought a 50 per cent stake into sports licensing agency Velocity Brand Management's retail business VBM Retail.
Rebel Sport goes mobile with audit system
Super Retail Group's Rebel Sports has unveiled a mobile OHS audit software solution which will be used to protect 5,000 staff across its network of 140 stores.
Super Retail Group reports solid earnings
In the 17 weeks to 18 April 2012, its sales growth of its Auto & Cycle and Sports division were both up 3 per cent whiles its leisure division experienced a 2.3 per cent rise.
Super Retail prepares for 35% sales growth
It announced group sales for the 26 weeks to 31 December 2011 is expected to be $758.6 million, mainly contributed to the success of the Rebel Sports and Amart All Sports businesse.
Super Retail steals SFG manager
As part of completing its acquisition of Rebel Group from Archer Capital, Super Retail Group has appointed Erica Berchtold as managing director of sports retailing.
Super Retail off to a good start
The group reported sales for auto and cycle division is up 6 per cent and its leisure division is up 50 per cent.
Rebel Sports sold to Super Retail
Super Retail Group has expanded its existing retail portfolio with the acquisition of Rebel from Archer Capital for $610 million.
Super Retail sees 46.1% increase in NPAT
The company's managing director Peter Birtles says the positive results reflect the strength of the company's business model in a time where there is a widespread slowdown in retail spending.
Getting super exposure with Google
Taking advantage of the recently launched Google Shopping in Australia is Super Retail Group that will be signing itself up as a foundation retailer on the platform.
Super Retail to grow store network
The times were tough but Super Retail Group was able to maintain its sales and succeeded with a 60 per cent increase in net profit after tax to $24.9 million for its half year results of 2011.
Super Retail sees profits lifting
The group said it expects its net profit after tax for the 26 weeks to 1 January 2011 will be between $24.5 and $25 million.
1-10 11-19


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Scouts Inc.'s list of the top 32 NFL Draft prospects, including draft-eligible non-seniors who haven't yet declared, features LSU defensive ends Barkevious Mingo and Sam Montgomery among the top half. If those two decide to enter the draft, they could be the 13th and 14th LSU players taken in the first round in the last 10 years.
LSU has had at least one first-rounder in every NFL Draft since 2004, except in 2010. And there were four players taken No. 1 in the 2007 draft: No. 1 overall selection JaMarcus Russell, LaRon Landry, Dwayne Bowe, and Craig Davis.
So, which of the LSU picks worked out best--or will end up with the best NFL career? Tell us in the comments section below. Here are the 12 from 2004 to 2012:
2012: CB Morris Claiborne, DT Michael Brockers
2011: CB Patrick Peterson
2009: DE Tyson Jackson
2008: DT Glenn Dorsey
2007: QB JaMarcus Russell, DB LaRon Landry, WR Dwayne Bowe, WR Craig Davis
2006: RB Joseph Addai
2005: DE Marcus Spears
2004: WR Michael Clayton


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Police say a man was seriously injured Wednesday morning when his pickup truck was struck by a freight train near Westfir in Lane County.
Lt. Gregg Hastings, a spokesman for the Oregon State Police, said the man's pickup truck was stopped on the tracks on U.S. Forest Service Road 5821 when it was struck by a westbound Union Pacific train at 10:45 a.m.
The man, whose name was not released pending notification of relatives, was trapped inside.
After he was extricated by first responders with Oakridge Fire & EMS, he was taken by ambulance to the Oakridge Airport. A Life Flight helicopter than transferred him to Sacred Heart Medical Center in Springfield.
The incident remains under investigation, Hastings said.
-- Stuart Tomlinson


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All Art News
High Quality Desktop Wallpapaers
(1800 - 1850) The Romantic Movement spread from art into literature and philosophy. It emphasized emotional, spontaneous and imaginative approaches. In the visual arts, Romanticism came to signify the departure from classical forms and an emphasis on emotional and spiritual themes. Caused by the sudden social changes that occurred during the French Revolution and the Napoleonic era, Romanticism was formed as a revolt against Neoclassicism and its emphasis on order, harmony, balance, idealization, and rationality. Romanticism began in Germany and England in the 1770's, and had spread throughout Europe by the 1820's. Not long after, its influence had spread overseas to the United States. The movement focused on imagination, emotion, and freedom by way of subjectivity and individualism. Artists believed in spontaneity, freedom from boundaries and rules, and living a solitary life free from societal boundaries. Romantic artists believed that imagination was superior to reason and beauty. They loved and worshipped nature and were dedicated to examining human personality and moods. Romantics were inherently curious, investigating folk cultures, ethnic origins, the medieval era. They admired the genius and the hero, focusing on one's passion and inner struggle. Romantics also were interested in anything exotic, mysterious, remote, occult, and satanic. As a movement that began as an artistic and intellectual movement that rejected the traditional values of social structure and religion, it encouraged individualism, emotions, and nature. Artists held personal spirit and creativity above formal training and saw the artistic process as a transcendental journey and spiritual awakening. Romantic techniques were developed to produce associations in the mind of the viewer. These foundations of the Romantic Movement were influential in the development of Symbolism and later Expressionism and Surrealism.
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The Mequon-Thiensville School District is crowdsourcing the creation of its new logo with a community-wide contest.
According to a district release, all community members, including past and current students, can enter designs. Contestants must live in or have attended the Mequon-Thiensville district, and are allowed to submit multiple entries.
The winning look will go on the district website, letterhead, and be used in future branding.
"The logo currently being used the by Mequon-Thiensville School District has become outdated and we seek an updated logo that builds on the fine tradition of the school district," Superintendent Demond Means said in the release. "We are very excited to see the submitted designs."
The district is accepting entries through Feb. 8 at www.mtlogocontest.com and will announce a winner in early March.
More from News and Features
- Republican primary for Ozaukee County Treasurer sees two political newcomers facing off
- 2016-17 Mequon-Thiensville School District budget passes unanimously
- Mequon-Thiensville Police Reports, July 28, 2016
- Pitbull attack in Mequon leaves rare breed dog near death
- Mequon-Thiensville Police Reports, July 21, 2016
- Mequon-Thiensville Police Reports, July 14, 2016
- Mequon girl going to Japan with Trinity Irish Dancers to give free show in earthquake-affected area
- Mequon residents will be Gathering at the Green July 15 and 16
- Cheel-a-bration bringing cheer to Thiensville July 16
- Mequon-Thiensville Police Reports, July 7, 2016


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My name is Don Grein, and my business is family owned and operated by myself and my wife. We work in the evenings after 4pm and have all day availability for Saturdays and Sundays.
Currently, we only do residential yards with a size up to or around 1/2 acre. We aim to offer the fairest quote possible and give free estimates.
|Severn, MD 21144
|Contact Don Grein
|Don Grein accepts cash, checks and Paypal
|Hourly rate: From $30 to $55
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AUBURN -- There were so many big first-half leads that slipped away for the Auburn basketball team. Fourteen points vanished at Tennessee. Sixteen went poof at Vanderbilt. Fourteen more disappeared at Mississippi State. Nine went away at Arkansas.
But the model of Auburn's season of basketball frustration could best be found in Oxford, Miss., in front of one of the smallest SEC crowds of the year.
The Tigers blew a 14-point lead in the second half, allowed Ole Miss to score a dizzying 63 second half points and turned a sure win into an 85-75 defeat. Welcome to Auburn's season, which continues at 6:30 tonight against Florida in a first-round Southeastern Conference Tournament game.
The Tigers have lost five SEC games in which they led at the half, and two more when they were down by one. The combined second-half letdowns in those games? Auburn was outscored 301-231.
Auburn players shake their heads at the collapses. The casual observer might wonder how the trend could be so pronounced on a team that is balanced enough to have four players averaging in double figures, and, over the past five games, a player who has hit 31 3-pointers.
Auburn's SEC-high 794 3-point attempts make Auburn dangerous -- when the Tigers are hitting start to finish.
But Auburn coach Jeff Lebo says the defense has been a problem, suffering from the lack of an interior presence. Too many opponents have their way inside with the game on the line.
Inconsistency with the outside shot and on defense partially explains Auburn's 15-16 overall record and 6-10 finish in the Southeastern Conference. One of those games that looked good on paper came against Florida. Auburn led in the first half of that one, too, before losing 78-70 in Gaines ville, a win that helped the Gators to a 20-11 overall record and a 9-7 mark in the SEC.
Auburn allowed just one Florida field goal in the final 11 1⁄ 2 minutes in that one, but banged around the Gators enough to allow 40 free throws. That's how Auburn managed to lose that one.
Lebo pointed out this week that the SEC West went 0-for-24 against the top four teams in the SEC East this year. Auburn, more than most, tried to change that. It had a big lead on No. 20 Vanderbilt. It had a big lead on No. 15 Tennessee. It was within four points in the final 30 seconds against 20-win Florida. It lost to No. 2 Kentucky by five, and only three SEC teams played the Wildcats closer.
"We know there were a lot of close games with the top four teams in the East, and we know we could have won all of them, but right now we've just got to stick it out and play hard right now," Tay Waller said.
Waller's hot streak helped Auburn win games from start to finish, and, at one point, enjoy its best SEC run of the season with three wins in four games before wrapping up with Alabama last Saturday.
Waller kept hitting 3s in that one -- and Auburn kept allowing the other team to have a big second half.
Date Halftime score Final score
1/14 Tennessee 38, Auburn 37* Tennessee 81, Auburn 55
1/23 Auburn 43, Vanderbilt 32* Vanderbilt 82, Auburn 74
1/28 Auburn 41, Ole Miss 38 Ole Miss 84, Auburn 74
2/6 Auburn 38, Arkansas 36 Arkansas 82, Auburn 79, OT
2/13 Auburn 38, Miss. State 35* Miss. State 85, Auburn 75, OT
2/24 Auburn 34, Ole Miss 22** Ole Miss 85, Auburn 75
3/6 Alabama 31, Auburn 30 Alabama 73, Auburn 61
*-Auburn held double-digit lead in first half
**-Auburn held double-digit lead in second half


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Nb: infants must be under the age of 2 and
children must be under the age of 12 at the time of
Quiet, sunny duplex apartment. Beautiful panoramic view, parking lot, garage. Apartment (approx. 50 m2) has separate entrance, leisure and play ground, garden furniture. Phone, tv, completely equipped kitchen with dining room, entrance with wardrobe. Living room with sleeping facilities, 1 bedroom. In wintertime snow chains essential. Pets allowed. Non-smoking apartment.
Included: Bath- and kitchen towels, local tax. Excluded: Telephone calls, garage on request (CHF 7.00 per day), key deposit CHF 300.00 (EUR 200.00).
The price shown includes 7 nights accommodation,
on an accommodation only basis.


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DAPHNE, Alabama – Cincinnati, Ohio-based Total Quality Logistics Inc. is entering the Alabama market via Daphne and plans to hire between 40 and 80 people over the next three years.
"We are pleased that a fast-growing company like Total Quality Logistics has chosen Baldwin County to expand their U.S. footprint", said Lee Lawson, president and chief executive officer of the Baldwin County Economic Development Alliance.
"TQL's selection of Daphne shows not only the growing interest but also the continued need for more white-collar office development in the region," he said.
TQL, a transportation logistics services company formed in 1997, has leased a 4,900-square-foot space at 27900 N. Main St. for its newest sales office.
"This is our first office in the state of Alabama. Our national sales offices are extremely important in our ability to grow market share and are critically important to supporting our effort to continue to be the leading service provider in the third-party logistics industry," Kerry Byrne, TQL's executive vice president, said.
The company was featured in the November 2013 issue of Inc. magazine as one of the top job creators in the nation and was recognized recently in SupplyChainBrain Magazine as a 2014 Great Supply Chain Partner.
Interested job candidates can click here for more information, while shippers in the region interested in learning more about the company's services can click here.


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Oussama samouna
...Missing You - Poem by Oussama samouna
We were so close
as close as could be
You were my faith in life
My reason to believe
Believe in happiness
the happiness you brought me each day
But, now is lost
All the words that i didn't say it yet
Say that you were my eyes
You were my heart
You were my soul
You were my life
You were everything i have in my life
my life is nothing with you here by
my side, taking back all we lost,
sharing what we had the best
and letting what is dust.
but this will never happen,
so, what do I have to do now?
Now, I am looking for happiness again
A happiness of peace again
I miss being happy
I miss you so much, Angel! ! !
http: //super23man.skyrock.com/
Comments about ...Missing You by Oussama samouna
Christina Smith (4/6/2009 4:19:00 PM)
I have felt like that before I understand how much this person meant to you! ! ! ! ! (Report) Reply
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