Lake Effect

The Milwaukee Rep’s latest production Eclipsed is an homage to brave and resilient women living through the Liberian Civil War.  It's an intimate portrayal of women banding together to lift up their community. It’s with that in mind that Milwaukee Rep launched its “SHEroes” project, which is recognizing 12 women of color who are working to create a better Milwaukee.

Matt Wild is one of the co-founders of Milwaukee Record, which describes itself as an online source for music, culture, and gentle sarcasm. Among the many cultural things Milwaukee Record keeps track of is a nearly exhaustive list of new music from local musicians.

Here's a selection of Matt's Milwaukee Music Roundup for February 2020:

Rexxx
"Can't Help It"

Milwaukee may be known for its beer, both brewed and consumed, but few people really understand the inner workings of the local industry. As several industries are taking a more critical approach to gender equity, a group is trying to bring more women into brewing. The Pink Boots Society was started in 2007 by master brewer Terri Fahrendorft after she took a road trip to 70 breweries across the country.

The American frontier experience is quintessential in our cultural history. We all are drawn to imagining what it may have been like to experience life during that time — it's depicted in film, television and books. 

A relatively new Milwaukee college completion charity working to bolster the number of low-income students of color earning college degrees will more than double the number of young people it serves this year.

All-In Milwaukee provides for its students what many wealthy and middle-class collegegoers take for granted: financial support, help navigating unfamiliar systems, and connections to secure job placement after graduation.

A new app in Milwaukee — called MKE Black — is promoting black-owned and operated businesses.

Co-creators Paul Wellington and Rick Banks say they wanted to make it easier to find black businesses as well as make people think a little bit harder about where they spend their money.

March is dedicated to celebrating the history and impact of great women and their achievements throughout the years. This month, Adam Carr has recognized five events to help us celebrate. 

Carr is the deputy editor for community engagement at the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service. The news organization covers the central city, which includes a diverse group of neighborhoods on the near north, west, and south sides of Milwaukee.

Here are Carr's highlights of a few events taking place in the central city this March:

Last week, a shooting at the Molson Coors campus killed six people, including the gunman. It was the deadliest mass shooting in Wisconsin since the Sikh Temple shooting in Oak Creek in 2012.

The process of making new scientific discoveries can be unclear. Sometimes, it seems like these scientists are possessed by divine spirits, translating the unimaginable to the unwashed masses. Astrophysicst Jean Creighton believes that's a misperception that can alienate the scientific process from so-called "non-scientists." 

James Phelps thought about starting his own business for a long time. He turned the idea over and over in his mind while: learning about the trades at Milwaukee Tech, working in the Milwaukee Public School district's facilities department, rehabbing houses on the side, getting his undergraduate degree in finance and finishing a commercial real estate certificate program.

The Iditarod is billed as “the last great race.” And in the truest sense of the word it is absolutely “great.” The race is 1,000 miles long through the Alaskan wilderness, done entirely on a dogsled. It can take as few as eight days, or much longer depending on trail conditions. The slowest winning speed was 20 days.

Float therapy - or floating - has become more popular in the health and wellness fields within the last few years. However, the practice actually goes back decades. 

The first upright freshwater float tank was developed in the early 1950s to explore the idea of consciousness. The more common lie-down commercial salt water tanks that we know today were invented in the early 1970s. While its popularity may have waxed and waned, floating is gaining traction as a way to help treat things like athletic recovery, chronic pain, anxiety, stress and insomnia. 

Wisconsin winters are long and gray, which is why many of us choose to brighten up our homes with plants. But caring for indoor plants can be difficult — particularly in the winter when homes become drier and less hospitable to plant life.

Gardening expert Melinda Myers knows how to navigate these challenges, and also notes that caring for plants can help us cope with the day to day stressors in our lives. 

Will Fellows grew up on a dairy farm. It was a large operation that required everyone in the family to pitch in.

“Typical chores for me were feeding the cows when they were in the barn, going up in the silo and throwing silage down, carrying pails of milk from the barn where the milking was done into the milk house and pouring them through the strainer into the milk tank,” Fellows recalls.

Wednesday, a Molson Coors employee opened fired on co-workers at the Milwaukee brewery campus in the "Miller Valley."

READ: 6 Dead In Milwaukee Shooting At Molson Coors

Six people died, including the shooter. It was the deadliest mass shooting in Wisconsin since the Sikh Temple Shooting in Oak Creek in 2012.