2003-06 Vital Source Mag – June 2003
Borrower Beware
By Bethany Sanchez PART TWO OF A TWO-PART SERIES In the first of this two-part series, last month’s installment on predatory lending described how Mrs. Green, a 72-year old Milwaukee widow got trapped into a high-cost loan offered to her by real estate “professionals” who were engaging in illegal activities. This month, we’ll talk about how to avoid predatory loans and the personal and financial devastation they almost invariably leave in their wake. The Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council (MMFHC) provides an important community resource for people like Mrs. Green — homeowners or potential homeowners who suspect that they may be victims of predatory lenders. Organized and coordinated by MMFHC, Strategies to Prevent Predatory Practices (STOPP) utilizes a coalition of community-based organizations, housing industry representatives and government to identify and eliminate predatory lending practices throughout Milwaukee County. STOPP is working to identify predatory trends, educate consumers so that they can avoid predatory loans, enforce laws protecting borrowers, support new legislation that would provide additional needed protections and help victims of predatory loans with free advice and new loans that the borrower can afford. The free STOPP hotline (see below) provides coordinated help for the borrower. You can avoid the predatory lending trap. How can you avoid a predatory loan? How can you help your mother, friend or neighbor avoid a loan that charges too much and may strip him or her of their home equity and threaten them with foreclosure? Don’t trust door-to-door or telephone salesmen offering bargains on loans. Beware of promises of fast approvals. Shop around. Research companies with whom you’re considering working. A little extra time invested up front could save your home, and your credit. Watch out for high interest rates, high fees, and high closing costs. Compare fees and charges. With the help of a credit or homeowner counselor, find out your credit score, the kind of loan you should be able to qualify for and what payments you can really afford. Don’t be too quick to put your other bills and debts into a high-cost consolidation loan. It may put your house at risk. Beware of a lender that pressures you to apply for more than you actually need. Ask lots of questions if the lender’s appraiser says your house has a surprisingly high value. Find out what similar homes in your neighborhood have sold for in the last six to twelve months. If the loan amount offered exceeds the range, be wary. Be careful of large balloon payments that may not be right for you. Never gamble that you’ll be able to afford something “later” that’s not within your reach now. Ask lots of questions about terms and don’t sign any blank document the lender promises to fill out later. Read all disclosures carefully, making sure you under stand everything you are signing. Get someone to review the documents for you if you still have questions. Remember that you, the borrower, are in control. You have the power to turn down any loan […]
Jun 1st, 2003 by Vital Archives
Homeo-what?
By Jan Wolfenberg Homeo-what? Or, homeopathy demystified I am a homeopath. This means I practice the art and science of homeopathic medicine. I use these medicines first and foremost whenever faced with a health challenge. And so, in the columns I’ve been writing for Vital Source over the last few months, I naturally mention homeopathic medicines (usually called “remedies”) as options for the conditions I’ve been discussing. It has been brought to my attention that a number of you have been asking the $65 question: what the heck IS homeopathy?? Well, folks, that’s a question that rightly requires more space than this magazine is able to give me to answer really well. But, in the hope of providing some kind of explanation to you, the Vital Source readers, I’ll do my best to describe the gist of this wonderful system of medicine. There’s no oatmeal in homeopathy. First of all, let me tell you what homeopathy is NOT. It is not a blanket term for any and all forms of alternative medicine, folk remedy or old wives tale cure. A common misconception is that, because it begins with “home”, it is an umbrella term for all “home” remedies — from herbal medicine to oatmeal baths. Homeopathy is a method of self-healing practiced all over the world that is a separate and unique science of medicine. It has its own methodology and unique remedies, different from all other forms of alternative or complementary treatment. The first part of the word, “homeo” comes from the Latin for “similar;” and the ending, “pathos,” is the Latin for “suffering.” So the word “homeopathy” means “similar suffering.” So, what in the world could THAT mean? “Cure by similars”…and that would be…? At the heart of homeopathy is the phenomenon of cure by similars. What is a “similar?” A similar is a substance that could produce pathological symptoms in a healthy person when given in excess; this substance, in a specially prepared form, is used to invite a healing response in an unwell person presenting with similar symptoms. For example, one of the most common homeopathic remedies for nausea is Ipecac, a substance known for its ability to induce vomiting. Knowledge of this principle of cure by similars actually predates the development of homeopathy into a medical science by several centuries. Hippocrates records the use of this approach to healing (c. 400BC in Greece). We find references to it from the Oracle of Delphi, from Indian medical texts as old as 4,000 years, and from ancient Chinese medical texts. Samuel Hahnemann, a German physician of the late 1700s, rediscovered this principle of cure and, through experimentation, formulated the science that became known as homeopathy. What’s the difference between homeopathy and Western medicine? In practical application, how is homeopathy different from conventional western medicine? First of all, in homeopathy, as in many other forms of natural medicine, the wisdom of the body is respected. Symptoms are therefore understood as the efforts of the body to heal itself, […]
Jun 1st, 2003 by Vital Archives
Rishi Tea’s founders subscribe to the leaf itself
By John Hughes It is not widely known that Rishi Tea, perhaps the finest tea company in the world, winner of an unprecedented three consecutive Best Tea awards from the Specialty Coffee Association of America, is a six-year old Milwaukee-based venture, founded by three graduates of Rufus King High School. Joshua Kaiser, whose brainchild this was, and his colleagues Aaron Kapp and Benjamin Harrison, still in their early thirties, have founded an elegant, growing, socially conscious, organic tea company. They purvey a product which might very well redefine your understanding of tea with one sip, and which supports traditional tea artisans. They work out of a warehouse within these city limits, but all their tea is derived directly from specific, known gardens in rural Asia. To sit and speak with these three is to encounter three distinctly different personalities which mesh well together, and which are united in their passion for truly great tea. In an interview in mid-May, Joshua, Aaron and Benjamin spoke for two hours with Vital Source, and spoke with a depth of commitment and seriousness uncommon for persons of any age. They have been studying tea in depth for many years — it’s variety and history through the millennia; it’s being touched by culture and vice versa; it’s commerce and “mind-boggling evolution;” and the art of it’s cultivation. These are men who will continue to learn about all the aspects of tea for a long time, and who only want to continue to improve their company. Their quest for Quality is exhilarating. Three students of the leaf make good. Joshua Kaiser, who graduated from Edgewood College in Madison, has had a fascination with tea for years. He wanted a career which allowed independence, creativity and travel. He wanted to form a loose leaf tea company, rather than one with broken bits of leaf in tea bags. He wanted to “track the production of quality tea” down through the centuries into the present, to find it now, and to offer the market tea from a single origin, a single garden in a special village for each variety, grown with traditional techniques. He wanted to offer an alternative to multi-origin tea, sold as a commodity by brokers all over the world, where the packaging was most of the cost of the product. He wanted to give business to Asian practitioners of the ancient art of tea cultivation, so they and their craft could survive. A serious young visionary with a swarthy demeanor, which occasionally melts into a smile, he recruited Aaron Kapp, and then Benjamin Harrison. Aaron was a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison with an interest in gardening, and a personal friend. A talkative and cheerful man, Aaron attracted Kaiser with a whimsical wit and the ability to work long and intense hours. Benjamin had graduated from Bowdoin College in Maine, and was succeeding in the corporate world of New York City. He has a steady, even-keel temperament and was the last of the three to […]
Jun 1st, 2003 by Vital Archives
Will the Arts Building in Walker’s Point remain true to its name?
By Matt Czarnik Standing quietly, nestled among the rusted and busted, soot-stained leftovers from Milwaukee’s industrious history, and on the outer edge of the city’s lower Southside redevelopment projects just off 2nd St. in Historic Walker’s Point, is 133 W. Pittsburgh. In its early years it was a candy factory, then Bostrom, a seat cover manufacturer whose mosaic-formed name the front of the building still bears. But it wasn’t until 24 years ago, when this urban landmark was rented by artists devoted to their calling and living on their creativity did #10 Walker’s Point acquire its awakening. Embedded amidst the clamorous clang and eerily audible traffic hum emanating from Interstate 94 just blocks away, and the remaining machine shops and manufacturing plants still in the area, the building was, until recently, owned by Joan Julien. Her deep ties to Milwaukee and embracing attitude toward the local artists who rented the studios have, for over two decades, helped nurture the space from its industrial beginnings into what is likely to be a central attraction for the incoming group of people hungry for the city. Welcome to Milwaukee’s Chelsea Hotel. The success of 133 W. Pittsburgh is one of the great stories of an enlightened approach towards rebuilding a forgotten neighborhood from the soulless skeletons left beaten and unattended on the landscape. For leatherworker Ilze Heider, whose studio houses both her workshop and showcase of original designs, the interior was just open space without walls when she arrived 18 years ago. With its industrial-sized stairways and squeaky wooden antique freight elevator, large washrooms and utility sinks, the historical significance and link to the past makes the building almost legendary; an idea of Bohemia not unlike the famous Chelsea Hotel in New York. Housing artists, who live for their work and are usually struggling to live off their work while craving the sounds, sights and smells of city life, has defined the soul of 133 W. Pittsburgh. For many of those present, however, the future is increasingly unclear. For most of the occupants, this is where they spend time creating and conducting business, giving private lessons or showing work to clients. In all, 25 professional artists have studio space in the five-floor building, creating everything from paintings to ceramics to blown glass. The artistic diversity of it makes it a popular attraction for people embarking on the city-wide gallery walks held frequently throughout the year around downtown, the Third Ward and Walker’s Point. One of the building’s most unique, regular occurrences is the seasonal Studio Art Crawl. It’s a three-day, one building extravaganza where tenants, friends and customers get together to visit, see new work and buy original artwork. An uncertain future? But as fashion photographer Tom MacDonald, who has a studio in the building, describes it, the rent is the hot issue most artists here would rather not discuss too much. The hush-hush is that the recent sale of the site to Olson Development, and the building’s long waiting list of prospective […]
Jun 1st, 2003 by Vital Archives
A Recipe for Disaster
By Mary McIntyre The Iraqis have been given time to contemplate the high price they’ve paid for their “liberation” since the toppling of the Saddam statue in Baghdad. One month later, electricity is still not reliably available. Outbreaks of cholera caused by contaminated drinking water have been reported. Hospitals are unable to administer effective medical care. Lootings, shootings, and acts of vandalism continue. Schools are not operating. People are unable to report to their jobs. (There’s little incentive anyway, since most of the workforce dependent on the now fallen government for distribution of pay hasn’t received any since March 16). Violent confrontations between our forces and Iraqi demonstrators are on the rise and resentment of the US occupation is steadily mounting. Outside of assigning contracts to American companies for rehabilitating the oil industry, plans for reconstruction seem to have ground to a screeching halt. What accounts for this state of paralysis? Though unlikely to heed the lesson offered by the current state of affairs, the neocons have been shown that there’s more to regime change than manufacturing lies and dropping a few bombs. There is no order because — there is no money. Just prior to the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq, former chairman of the Pentagon Defense Policy Board, Richard Perle, exclaimed through his article that appeared in the March 21 edition of The Guardian, “Thank God for the death of the UN.” However, as the following Catch-22 exemplifies, saying it does not necessarily make it so. Catch-22:No aid without (still missing)WMD, no trade without aid. The rest of the world still takes international law seriously. France and Russia are holding fast to their stance that sanctions should not be lifted until there is confirmed evidence that Iraq is free of the WMD that the US insisted were present. So far, the special group assembled by the US to find such evidence at the sites cited by Colin Powell last February has come up empty-handed. The US has asserted that funding the reconstruction cannot get underway until full trade is resumed. Adding to this, the UN resolutions requiring Security Council approval for Iraqi oil sales and the disbursement of revenue have not been willed away. As a result, countries are reluctant to buy Iraqi oil. Lastly, the Bush Administration’s request to 60 countries to forward the millions of dollars worth of Iraq’s frozen assets in their possession to a US controlled fund apparently hasn’t happened. At the time this suggestion was first made last April, even Britain had refused to do so, instead wanting the assets in its possession to instead go to the UN. Currently overwhelmed by a state of chaos and violence, the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA) established by the US and Great Britain is in the process of regrouping. Retired Lt. Gen. Jay Garner is being rotated out earlier than originally planned, replaced by State Department official Paul Bremer. Barbara Bodine, the current “mayor of Baghdad,” is being recalled after only three weeks for […]
Jun 1st, 2003 by Vital Archives
