{"id":5747,"date":"2014-03-12T23:37:06","date_gmt":"2014-03-13T04:37:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/willystreetblog.com\/wp\/?p=5747"},"modified":"2014-03-17T16:44:41","modified_gmt":"2014-03-17T21:44:41","slug":"willy-street-blog-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/willystreetblog.com\/wp\/2014\/03\/12\/willy-street-blog-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Willy Street Blog @ “2”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Neighborhood blog to continue hyper-focus<\/h1>\n

\"\"<\/a>What do you give the neighborhood that has everything? Well certainly not another person with an opinion. When you start a blog, its like any good essay, pick a few central themes and nurture them with attribution and reasoned analysis. But it is no small challenge to write about by far the most engaged, opinionated, funky, and cool neighborhood in the nation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Willy Street Blog was born in March 2012, in the midst of the recall drive, but soon turned away from state politics as plenty of great voices were already speaking to the issue.\u00a0In a city that features stupendous local reporting from numerous outlets, why should anyone bother to read some random blog?<\/p>\n

The key is to really not care.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Overpass Light Brigade<\/a> story was not the definitive account but was reposted by the right people and marked the highest single-day hits at 3,941. Photo by: Jenna Pope<\/p><\/div>\n

To prime the pump, a few\u00a0recall related items<\/a>\u00a0were written along with some long form pieces related to my youth such as\u00a0“Making Sex Ed Like They Used To<\/a>“, my personal connection to the\u00a0Sarah Gonstead<\/a>\u00a0murder case and a \u00a0lemonade purveying\u00a0terrorist<\/a>.<\/p>\n

From an early age the neighborhoods that currently define\u00a0District 6<\/a>\u00a0(Marquette<\/a>,\u00a0Schenk Atwood Starkweather Yahara<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Darbo-Worthington<\/a>) have all shared in the formation of my perspectives. It was important to make sure coverage was contiguous and not limited by perceptive or geographic barriers.<\/p>\n

It was inevitable that the blog would gravitate to the public affairs of the neighborhood, where I feel it is most purposeful. Water quality\u00a0has been a struggle in SASY<\/a>, as has the development of\u00a0Union Corners<\/a>. Last year’s\u00a0District 6 Alder race<\/a>\u00a0was congenial until a\u00a0dark money mailer<\/a>\u00a0in the days before the election roiled residents; as did the\u00a0potential closing<\/a>\u00a0of rail crossings.<\/p>\n

Central Park is\u00a0starting to grow<\/a>\u00a0as is the possibility of a\u00a0grocery store on East Washington Avenue<\/a>.\u00a0Also unresolved are the fit and form of the\u00a0Orton Park Festival<\/a>\u00a0and that\u00a0empty parking lot at 722 Williamson<\/a>\u00a0street.<\/p>\n

\"District<\/a>

District 6 Alder Marsha Rummel \u00a0and Challenger Scott Thornton at a candidate forum<\/a> March 25, 2013<\/p><\/div>\n

A young man struggling with a failed relationship and addiction\u00a0was shot by a neighborhood-based police officer<\/a>\u00a0struggling to find his own balance between policy and discretion.<\/p>\n

The neighborhood has been off-balance ever since and last week the area sustained it’s second gun death in 17 months.<\/p>\n

In searching for a niche, the blog covered all types of subjects including a review of an\u00a0Elton John concert<\/a>, a story about\u00a0the mural on the side<\/a>\u00a0of the \u00a0Willy Street Co-op,\u00a0live storytelling<\/a>, tree-borne\u00a0artists<\/a>\u00a0and of course the festivals.<\/p>\n

Orton<\/a>,\u00a0Waterfront<\/a>,\u00a0La Fete<\/a>, and\u00a0Willy Street Fair<\/a>\u00a0are faithfully chronicled,\u00a0through the prism of my own historical experiences. In my mind that longer-toothed perspective is a central pillar of the blog’s relevancy.<\/p>\n

As the blog evolved, my efforts turned to telling the stories of the neighborhood in a way other outlets didn’t have the space to tell. The phoenix-like success of the neighborhood over the last five decades is told in the back stories of the neighborhood kids and talented restauranteurs who have opened new eateries like\u00a0Grampa’s Pizzeria<\/a>,\u00a0One Barrel Brewing<\/a>,\u00a0Star Bar<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0\u00a0A Pig In A Fur Coat<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

Scott Walker’s 2012 May Day speech gave me an opportunity to discuss the day one of my engines<\/a> failed.<\/p><\/div>\n

Sprinkled in amongst all of this is my other passion and paymaster, aviation. This career\/hobby brings both high-level thrills like sharing the experience of flying in the\u00a0rarest of airworthy bombers with the rarest of pilots<\/a>\u00a0and lows like\u00a0losing a friend<\/a>\u00a0with whom I will miss sharing the air.<\/p>\n

One of my favorite pieces was explaining the six degrees of Madison and musicians Otis Redding, part of Lynyrd Skynyrd, John Denver and JFK Jr.; and\u00a0why airplanes weren’t to blame<\/a>\u00a0for their deaths.<\/p>\n

In a past life I was a public radio reporter and feature stories was my love. Early in 2012 I concluded a stint managing an\u00a0online news operation<\/a>\u00a0for a national non-profit which included managing a blog for a nationally-known<\/a> aviation columnist. The blog portion proved especially fun as I once used photos I took of a civil war enactment to illuminate a discussion about weather fronts<\/a>. With continued motivation to write, the “born and raised” credentials, and the all-important “lived elsewhere” perspective; Willy Street seemed like the best place to try this fancy blogging thingy for myself.<\/p>\n

I have only a few central motivations, chief among them was to find the best way to contribute to the continued vibrancy of the neighborhood in the strong tradition of my parents and their contemporaries.<\/p>\n

A few thank yous<\/h1>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Cultural reporting included Cycropia, a dance collective<\/a> that uses flying apparatuses.<\/p><\/div>\n

To the neighborhoods, people and institutions who have welcomed my reporting and trusted that the blog will present the chosen subjects fairly and with unique texture.<\/p>\n

I am also appreciative of local reporters, the true “working press”, who have referenced Willy Street Blog in their own reporting. The collaboration with Dane101.com will be missed.<\/p>\n

And thanks to my faithful volunteer copy editor as well as my web team for structural support and web design; you know who you are.<\/p>\n

The mission of Willy Street Blog is to provide illumination that may \u00a0help in driving dialog.\u00a0For those who feel this post is mostly self-congratulatory, it is slightly that.<\/p>\n

But the blog is not a daily news site, nor the definitive source for neighborhood undercurrents. Additionally, it can be difficult at times to cover this dynamic neighborhood when employment related activities take place entirely on the east coast. So…<\/p>\n

\u00a0…this post is also a call to others to join in writing about the place in which we love to live, work, and play.<\/p>\n

Contact Willy Street Blog<\/a> if you have stories, poetry, essays, haiku or an idea for a periodic column. The blog also welcomes photographic submissions. In celebration…have a drink on me<\/a>.<\/p>\n