A mass shooting happened here last weekend. 5 girls/women were shot and one 15 year old boy died here. A block away on Concordia St. there are two memorials as well as a home where a 2 year old was accidentally shot and killed. Milwaukee needs more people to help. Milwaukee needs all of us...Read More

How is your neighborhood’s self esteem?  Mine isn’t great.  When people talk about my neighborhood, most of the time it isn’t because something great happened there.  People think bad about my neighborhood. When you think bad about a neighborhood, do you also think bad of the people who live there? What if people thought more...Read More

We tell stories to help us make sense of the world. These hundreds and thousands of stories we tell ourselves and each other make up our world view – how we process our tiny place within the world. Some stories are meant to inspire. Some stories are meant to teach us deep lessons about humanity....Read More

Like in many inner cities, the neighborhoods in 53206 experience traumatic events at a predictably higher rate than other places outside of our cities. On this episode of the 53206 Cast, Meg and Alex sit down and talk trauma and how traumatic events can impact children’s ability to be successful in school.  Resources: Electrical fires...Read More

I told myself if I could get halfway through the bike, I would be ok. I haven’t always been the type of person that exercises. I’d never paid to participate in a race. I’ve run two marathons, but the course was either designed by my sister or just made up as we ran. One year...Read More

Last night my 10 year old went to the neighborhood park with a few other girls from the block.  As she was gone I couldn’t stop listening for anything out of the ordinary and worrying about her in general.  Last week there was a drive by shooting spraying about 100 rounds for several blocks on...Read More

“Do you have a flashlight or candle I can have?” A woman walking down the street stopped me and asked me this question.  I thought this was a weird request so asked why.  She said that the power and water was shut off in her home so a flashlight would be helpful in getting through...Read More

For the first time in a long time, I’ve got time. So I think I’ll spend an hour refining those three big goals I’ve been working through. The more refined they are, the easier it should be to figure out some actions that’ll work toward solving the problems created by those three big goals. I’ve...Read More

I’m standing in the downstairs kitchen at Charlie’s house getting ready to put up a coat of mud in the living room. When I come here, I can’t help but think about him. We were neighbors for about a dozen years. When we first moved into 53206, I had a fear that the people who...Read More

I know when most people think of retirement they assume they won’t be doing much. I wrote last week that I was so focused on achieving the goal of early retirement also known as FIRE (financial independence retire early) I rarely spent time visualizing what it might be like to not have to work anymore....Read More