December 2003

Dear Readers,

This is such an emotionally charged time of year. Colder weather, increased contact with family, insane schedules, and the pressures of our consumer economy settle themselves like a weight onto the shoulders of many. Depending on who you are, and/or where you are in your life, you might be heading towards a rush of anticipation, reflection, hope, stress, financial worry, love, antipathy or dread as the holidays approach. Or maybe all of them together.

This is the season when I most wish I was a kid again. I grew up three decades ago in a small town in Iowa. Most of the year, we were the least conventional family in town. My mom was a divorced woman who owned her home, which she bought herself, even though it meant she made most of our clothes and doomed us to subsidized hot lunch at school. True to our activist roots, we were part of the “underground railroad” for objectors fleeing to Canada to avoid going to Viet Nam. Behind the water heater in the basement was a cot with a trunk next to it, on which sat a small lamp and an alarm clock. It wasn’t unusual for me as a five year old to enter the kitchen in the morning to find a tired-looking young man I’d never seen gulping coffee and eggs, on his way to the next place. The neighbors thought horrible things about my mom and her cavalcade of “male friends.” But what could she say in her own defense? It was from her example that I learned to keep secrets.

At Christmas time, however, you’d have thought we sprang straight from a Rockwell postcard. Some of my dearest childhood memories are of painting wooden ornaments for our tree, making paper chains and listening to holiday music before bed, curled up on the couch with a cup of eggnog, the room illuminated only by the lights on the tree. I remember the thrill of opening the door to carolers, neighbors come to call. Despite their year-long suspicion of us, they didn’t skip our house, and we invited them in for chocolate and cookies, with something stronger for the grownups.

Even as a kid, I could sense something about people getting along because of the holiday. I hope I can pass that on to my son, not just at the holidays, but all the time. In truth, people have more in common than in difference. And while I try to live and work according to my beliefs, I am not a friend of meaningless divisiveness. It’s such a waste of energy, and you miss out on the caroling.

Speaking of memories, we all got to yakking at a recent staff meeting, and ended up spinning our own holiday/family yarns for each other. We ended up deciding to share them with everyone in this issue, and we hope you like them. On the other hand, you can skip over that piece if it’s not your cup of tea, and head straight for our guide to the cornucopia (couldn’t resist) of holiday happenings around downtown Milwaukee. Plus, we put it in the center spread so you can pull it out and tape it to the fridge long after the rest of the issue lines your birdcage.

If you’re free Friday, December 19th, please join us at Bremen Café for an evening with Lil’ Rev and Friends. It’s a benefit for Repairers of the Breach, Milwaukee’s only daytime homeless shelter. There, men and women can shower, eat a hot meal, and have access to email and voice mail as they look for jobs and work towards reconnecting with the “mainstream” world. If you donate a new toothbrush, a clean towel, or one of the other much-needed items we’ll list on our website (www.vitalsourcemag.com), it’s only $4. And 100�f the proceeds go directly to Repairers.

I want to take a minute to wish all the best to outgoing Mayor John O. Norquist. Whatever one thinks of his political career on the whole, he’s done incredible work for the development of the city, and for that he deserves our appreciation. Raymond Johnson does a nice Norquist retrospective from an architectural point of view in this month’s Developing City.

In other Vital news, we’re launching our first-ever Readership Survey, which you can take online at:

www.standardpolicy.com/vitalsurvey

We’re hoping to learn more about what you want from Vital Source, and where we should go in the future. We don’t ask for your name or address, and we will not use your information for anything but our research. And, in a shameless bid for your participation, we’ll draw three people from respondents to win a pair of tickets to catch one of the groovy shows now playing at the Miramar Theater — either Late Night Catechism or Flanagan’s Wake. As a rep from the firm conducting the survey told me, “it’s a win-win for everybody.” Go team.

Peace,

Jon Anne