Articles & Essays

Milwaukee Magazine • 14th March 2025

44 Years of ‘Frontier Radio’: Four Stories from WMSE’s Early Days

During 2020, I decided it was high time that I collect stories my (future, potential) grandchildren would love to hear someday. I bought an audio recorder, interviewed my mom and dad and captured their stories. In 2021, I began volunteering at the community radio station WMSE (91.7 FM), hoping to continue my story-collecting journey...

WMSE - 91.7FM • 10th March 2025

SMOKE N' MIRRORS @ UPTOWNER: A Concert Review

"Shutdown at the Uptowner" Alright, let’s get right to it: the Uptowner got shut down by two baby faced cops at 8:40 p.m. before SMOKE N’ MIRRORS could begin their second set, which would’ve been tight n’ blazing, based upon the first set we saw Thursday night. The drummer was tight as tight can be, tastily filing whenever space gasped with satisfaction from the sweet sax and organ foundation. We’ll get back to Milwaukee’s finest in a moment, but first, about the police: a noise complaint surfaced from across the street,...

WMSE - 91.7FM • 5th March 2025

CLEM SNIDE @ SHANK HALL: A Concert Review

"Clem Snide is a Generous but Sloppy Lover"
His spindly body half-anointed upon a barstool, the lefty launched into the first of his trapeze acts, singeing the lines, providing his own background vocals, armed with only an acoustic guitar and voice...

Milwaukee Record • 16th January 2025

Ocean of Tenderness: Watching the NFL on Mute: An Essay

I watch NFL on mute, with music of my choice bumping, in order to experience the twisted barbary of an NFL broadcast. I observed the Raven/Steeler game, with Derrick Henry stiff-arming to the crescendo of “Deep Distance” by Ashra off their 1977 release New Age Of Earth...

Milwaukee Record • 9th October 2024

Hey MPS: More Montessori, please: An Essay

In these critical four years of adolescence, our children are forced to sit still, raise their hand to request permission to use the restroom, be silent, and keep their eyes on the teacher. How does the leadership style of Command and Control prepare our teens for living their future lives? My hope is that MPS schools adopt Montessori as their curriculum and do it soon. Command and Control serves no child, only the adults who command.

Milwaukee Record • 31st July 2024

Dispatch from Route 66: Honest Abe & Mother Jones

Essay 2 in a 5-Part Series : "Things are getting weirder than weird in American politics so two Milwaukeeans choose to follow Route 66 to remember, to recharge, and to take pilgrimage at the Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan Centers in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Will the road lead them to something better?"

Milwaukee Record • 26th July 2024

Dispatch from Route 66: Fictional Podcasts & Civil Wars

Essay 3 in a 5-Part Series: “There are no hard distinctions between what is real and what is unreal, nor between what is true and what is false...as a writer I stand by them but as a citizen I cannot. As a citizen I must ask: What is true? What is false?”

Milwaukee Record • 18th July 2024

Dispatch from Route 66: Escape from MKE: The Road Narrows

Essay 4 in a 5-Part Series: Trying to escape Milwaukee, but the gravitational pull is too much. I wake to worse news out of Milwaukee: a man shot dead by police in King Park. Neighboring the school I hold most dear, King Park will be forever reformatted in my mind...

Milwaukee Record • 17th July 2024

Final Dispatch from Route 66: A Direction Home?

Essay 5 in a 5-Part Series: I understand I left you in your week of need. Instead we escaped via Route 66 to Tulsa, Oklahoma, the home of Woody Guthrie’s and Bob Dylan’s archives. We hoped the road would lead to something better…did it happen?

Milwaukee Record • 15th July 2024

On The Run From RNC: Dispatches from Route 66: American Giants

Essay 1 in a 5-Part Series I wrote for The Milwaukee Record. Things are getting weirder than weird as the Republican National Convention invades Milwaukee, so two forlorn Milwaukeeans are choosing to follow Route 66 to remember, to recharge...