Milwaukee Specialty Food and Coffee

Editorial: Religion: A Word to the WELS

A church body with lots of lovable eccentricities in which many people look pretty much alike, i.e. pretty much like me--how could I resist?  For the last several Sundays, I've been hearing word of how my beloved church, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, is having financial troubles (note: I do not endorse the linked site, but recommend reading it nonetheless).  I feel that the source of the problems is more obvious than others have picked up on.  The WELS demographic is heavily exurban and small-town.  For instance, the congregation to which I belong, Grace, is made up of perhaps half members who come from far away: outer-ring suburbs and beyond.  A survey of the streets surrounding the church building on any given Sunday makes it pretty clear where those folks' money has been going (at least in part) over the last two or three years.  They drive Big Steel.  At the risk of sounding xenophobic, I wonder how those Christians square their faith with the practice of funding the Saudi government and other oil-producing nations who are not exactly promoters of Christianity.  In a bitterly ironic twist, the WELS is pulling missionaries from the field while its members bankroll the caliphate with their transportation choices.

At some point, the WELS became, in my estimation, too identified with the middle-class American lifestyle and its aspirational spending tendencies.  Must have coffeehouse!  Must have granite countertops!  Must have SUV!  This is all the more regrettable due to faith's power to convey real identity, rather than the artificial smoke and mirrors of the aspirational lifestyle.  In fact, it gives us the ability to do things such as walk or bike for transportation, while wearing modest clothing, without this throwing us into an identity crisis.  One could think of this as walking like Jesus, and perhaps even walking for Jesus...

Editorial: Hiking/Biking Trail Safety

We interrupt our irregularly scheduled programming for the following public service announcement:

In my brief time as an amateur social critic, I've formulated the theory that there's really only one big problem with our society, which is kind of like the sun from which all other problems radiate--namely, a lack of consideration of the impact our actions may have on others.  So it was just a little over an hour ago on the Ozaukee Interurban Trail.

I witnessed an accident that was more serious than any I've ever seen on a trail, and perhaps more serious than any I've seen, period.  A middle-aged woman was rollerblading while running two leashed dogs and listening to her iPod.  While passing an elderly woman who was walking her dog (both were going in the same direction, but at different speeds), the dogs apparently got into a tangle and the poor old woman fell down on her face.  I didn't see the initial impact, as they were behind my back, but I think I did see the lady go down.

I walked back to the scene and was dialing 911 on my cell phone when the victim groaned that I should not call.  Despite being at fault IMHO , the rollerblader handled the situation well and acted extremely concerned, perhaps even panic-stricken.  The older lady had a nosebleed, an apparent face bruise and was also scraped on her hands.  It looked pretty bad, but her demeanor indicated that she was trying her best to shrug it off, and she refused further attention.

To use uncharactertically blunt language, people just got waaaay too much goin' on when they use the trails.  If I were in a position of greater influence, I'd propose the following trail rules:
1) Walking dogs only, no running dogs while jogging, biking or rollerblading.
2) One-dog-per-person maximum during peak hours (noon-5 p.m. on weekends).
3) No iPods.  This is an inconvenience for me also, but I just can't see any other way.  Not safe.

Some kind of patrol and/or law enforcement presence is desperately needed on the trails (both Oak Leaf and Ozaukee).  The trails seem to be enjoing greater popularity these days, which is good, but this also coincides with something else that's taking America by storm: a lack of consideration.  Much to my dismay, the existing law that dogs must be leashed is disobeyed regularly, seemingly with impunity.

Off Topic: Editorial: Locust St.

This issue has been a thorn in my side for a long time: the unsafe connection between the East Side and I-43 via Locust St.  Read all about it in the current issue of the UWM Post--actually a reprinted article from September 25, 1975.  The more things change, the more they stay the same!

Editorial: Summer Self and Winter Self

Does anyone else feel like they have a "summer self" and a "winter self"?  For whatever reason, I've noticed my own transformation more vividly this week than ever, as we passed into what is arguably Wisconsin's warm half of the year.  I feel a tremendous difference in energy level, mood, productivity and even appetite and *ahem* libido.  On a coffee-related note, I find myself gravitating more towards dark roasts in summer.  Maybe that's because dark roasts lend themselves more to smaller volumes of brew, rather than the pot after pot I often down during long wintertime stays indoors.  These days, when awake, I try not to be indoors for more than two or three hours at a time.  It's thrilling to breathe the fresh, clean outside air, and to notice the subtle differences in the smell of nature from day to day.  Get out there!  (Er, once it stops raining, that is.)

Off Topic: Editoral: Quiverfull

I've posted too many off-topic articles lately, but simply have to chime in on this one.  I happened to see that in the current Shepherd Express' "News of the Weird", a blurb appears about the Quiverfull movement.  The following quote is included: "The more children I have, the more ability I have to impact the world for God."

Commentary: That this quote would be held up for scorn and ridicule shows me that in so many ways, the problem with our society is not that values have been twisted, warped or distorted.  We're way beyond that.  The problem is that we're living in a moral Bizarro World in which white is black and black is white.    
I don't have kids myself, so there is no judgment here on any individual, nor would I ever second-guess anyone's personal decision to responsibly remain childless.  Still, in the grand scheme of things, I know that this little blog is not very important.  Having kids: Very Important.  Therefore, I want to offer this humble forum as a response, and uphold the above quote as something true and beautiful. 

And while I'm grateful to the Shepherd Express for the flattering article and picture of last year, I think I'll leave that paper on the stack from now on.

Alterra: Article on Alterra's Environmental Efforts

For the sake of fairness, I felt compelled to do a little Google searching in order to find out about some of the charitable efforts in which Alterra engages.  I found this article.  The introductory paragraph, in particular, provides an excellent summary of the situation.  My commentary would be that in response to the statement that they have to serve hot drinks in paper cups, obviously that applies only to to-go beverages (and even then, only with qualifications).  I'm guessing that by asking each and every customer whether a paper cup or ceramic mug is desired, they could decrease paper cup consumption by 10% or more.  To my mind, this is simply a matter of motivation and resolve.

Generally, I am looking for a little more documentation from Alterra and perhaps less imagery.  At Beans & Barley this morning, I noticed that the Alterra bulk coffee containers are decorated with colorful art for each variety (good) but the motifs often seem to feature angry-looking people raising their fist (not so good?).  It's a free country, but that being said, spare me the heavy-handed serving of ideology.  Your job, coffee companies, is to sell me a cup of coffee--or bag of beans, as the case may be--and a smile.  If that's too mundane for your taste, maybe you should have become UWM professors or administrators.

I also wonder if the reason for the imagery is not so much concern with the plight of poor Central and South Americans and East Asians as the expectation that it will resonate with Beans & Barley customers.

Editorial: Web/Tech: Twightsizing

Earlier today, I coined a sniglet: Twightsizing = to "unfollow" people on Twitter in an effort to make one's use of the service manageable, while agonizing over the possible offense caused thereby.  A week ago, I'd decided to kill my Twitter account, but now want to keep it for possible future use.  Which puts me in an awkward position.  Some follows gotta go.  (If you're reading this, you're not likely to be affected--not that I presume you care!)

Further adding to my frustration with the service is that I just discovered that I'd been failing to check my @mkecoffee replies.  The home page doesn't indicate when new messages arrive, nor does it forward them to my e-mail as it does with direct messages.  Shee-yit!  Now I have to face the prospect of writing a bunch of messages saying, "Sorry I didn't reply to your message...because I didn't see it...because I'm a moron.  Yeah."

I already have to check my spam boxes for my various e-mail accounts for the inevitable misdirected e-mails.  One of my reasons for liking Facebook it that is doesn't have any nooks or crannies where messages can be lost.  And isn't it ironic to be setting up all of these avenues for people to communicate with me, only to thereby create more such traps in which communication can fall into oblivion?

Editorials: Environment: Earth Day

I didn't realize that today is the actual observance of Earth Day.  The marketing phenomenon it's become makes it seem more like a season than a holiday.  I write this without derision: I'm a pretty green guy myself, but I think environmentalism is one area where we need, in the immortal words of Lynette Scavo, "less yakkin', more jackin'!" (hey, no comments from the peanut gallery!)

Unfortunately, I neglected to post this until now, but Stone Creek Coffee is offering free drinks (including specialty drinks) to those who bring in a travel mug or purchase one onsite.  Yay Stone Creek!

In response to my post of yesterday regarding Alterra's environmental performance, reader dwillis posted the following insightful comment, which I find too informative and pertinent to languish in comment oblivion:

How about the lack of recycling of #1 plastic cups? Last summer they went through a phase with signage saying, to paraphrase, "hey, it's cool that we don't recycle plastic because we're spending extra for corn-based biodegradable plasticware".....which is a highly suspect position since the corn-based stuff is created mainly with oil products (gas, fertilizer) and irrigation, and doesn't get a chance to degrade when it's sealed up tight in a landfill. But now they're back to an even worse situation, using good quality #1 plastic and not a sign of recycling anywhere. How much wind power do they have to buy to offset that?

Editorial: Wanted: Wallet Viagra

I must be about to die or something, as I have a backlog of about a week's worth of positive experiences that I haven't gotten around to writing about.  Actually, one part of me already has died: the free-spending part.  I actually flinched just now at the counter at Sears.  That's pretty sad.  I haven't been that much of a Sears shopper in my lifetime (Tarzhay all the way here), but more so over the last couple years. This is mostly to spite Bayshore's disrespect of the store--today, I noticed that the East parking lot turns into a lunar crater-scape when you approach the low-end retailer.  In addition, I've heard rumors that Sears is likely to be the next headline-grabbing closure (though this was on the plane down to Arizona--who knows what difference the intervening months of prolonged recession may have made), so bargains seem especially likely.  Today, though, my purchases didn't scan in at 30% or less than the tag price as they usually do, and I just couldn't do that $26 wallet--which, ironically, I could fill at the moment...

However, feeling flush isn't translating into spending.  And I'm the biggest spendthrift I know!  For whatever reason--as a (still) overemployed person, the reasons are less quantifiable for me than for many others--the buzz was killed in a big way earlier this year and hasn't returned.  I also note that the note struck by the media has changed from trying to tell us it's our patriotic duty to spend to making frugality look like the latest and greatest bandwagon.

Editorial: Artisan

OK, so the horsesh*t in the specialty coffee and related industries is getting so thick you could cut it with a knife (sorry for the mixed and, frankly, disgusting metaphor).  Apparently, the buzzword of the day is "artisan".  Yesterday, I received an e-mail from Starbucks heralding their "Artisan Pairings", which largely refer to their greasy breakfast sandwiches.  As a linguist--and a cunning one, I might add--I am disgusted by the use of language as smoke and mirrors.  The word "artisan" is being used here to draw your attention to an imaginary point that does not actually exist.  While you're looking away, reality is snuck past you.  It's kind of like the old Three Stooges sketches when Moe would point up at the sky, then punch Curly after his eyes were averted. 

I'd be suprised if there were a single artisan working in Starbucks' employ anywhere in the world.  I'm also guessing that the terms Starbucks demands from its suppliers would prohibit any artisans from working for them, either.  I don't think I know any artisans personally, but I know of a few.  The guy who owns the Northern Chocolate Co.--the "Chocolate Nazi"--is an artisan.  Artisans are an idiosyncratic bunch.  Companies who can pay marketing wizards to throw around words like "artisan" don't take kindly to that.