If he don’t love me, how could he love you?
“My name is Charles Bentley. I’m Native American, sick Cherokee. My grandmother was Cherokee. I worked for American Motors at the corner of Capitol and Richards, where Wal-Mart is now from 1958-1966. I was a spray painter, I was “The Door Jam Man.” The Rambler was the first car I worked on at the plant. […]
About Life, About Mystery
The shop window on Wisconsin Avenue is empty. Inside the glass room is a door that leads to the darkness. The combination of this darkness door, the street lights reflected in the glass and the promise that the blank space will be filled up one day again, instills in me a wild excitement. Truly! […]
A Psychometric Questionairre
Yeah, humans are social creatures you know, we see faces inside clouds, fungus and tea stains. Children conduct full-length conversations with “pet” rocks and plush dinosaurs, then as adults, they still try to assign meaning to their frighteningly mysterious days through science, philosophy, religion, art, astrology or psychology. Pfister barista Desiree longs to crack the […]
When you look at some modern art it can stump you.
Barbara has been giving tours for the Milwaukee Art Museum over a half century. “When I first came to the museum, there were eight employees.” This January I started my fifty-second year. I retired when I was 50, but I’m still going in, teaching and working ‘cause I don’t want to sit at home. I […]
A Mom Letter and a Dad Letter
I was taking a picture of the roses in the lobby when Val, the bartender summoned me over to see something. I took a stool at the bar and waited for a moment as Val rustled around in her bag, elbow deep. At last she exclaimed “Ah!” and pulled out an envelope to show me. It was sent […]
This is Howard. I just met him in the kitchen.
Anja: How long have you worked in room service? Howard: Nine months. Anja: What does that all entail? Howard: Well… amenities, hospital doing orders, and uh, being very uh… kind and gentle with guests hospitality wise. You make them feel wanted, and if they want anything, you do it with care and […]