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I thought that the advice that Molly Synder gave was extremely helpful. People spend a lot less time reading articles when it’s on an electronic device, so there are ways that can make an article easier to read, while still keeping the reader engaged and interested in the topic discussed in the article. The article I’m going to focus on is titled Positronic Tattoo Combines Art, Community, and Quality Work, written by Oli Dodd. The article is short and to the point, discussing Lennox Lange and Todd Gnacinski’s future plans for their tattoo shop. Dodd uses their active voice when writing, such as “Positronic has proven itself to be a friendly and clean environment to get tattoos and piercings”, and “His work is reflective of his drawing style” Dodd puts the main info of the article first, stating the Positronic Tattoo is a “retro-futuristic tattoo and piercing shop”, with a hyperlink to Positronic’s website. The word count is less than 1,000, so there’s no need to put subheadings with it. Dodd’s article is not plagiarized because there’s only one article about Positronic Tattoo on OnMilwaukee. Dodd gets both Lange’s and Gnacinski’s perspectives on their future plans for their shop, and Dodd does not inject their own opinion into it.
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These Buildings were Demolished for Soulless Square Surface Parking Spaces The article “These Buildings were Demolished for Soulless Square Surface Parking Spaces” by Jason McDowell talks about how many of Milwaukee’s historic buildings were demolished and made into parking lots. McDowell states that cities are “malleable and fallible”, which is very true. I feel like in Milwaukee there’s always a lot of construction going on, and new buildings are being built (especially apartment buildings). However, I haven’t seen a lot of buildings that are being demolished around the area. McDowell in the article interviews two professors from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Robert Greenstreet and Arijit Sen, both who are professors in the Architecture and Urban Planning department at UWM. “Most people don’t see it, but when you become aware of it, you begin to see the closed-off windows and ghost images left on the ground where a building used to be,” Sen says in his interview for the article. One Example is the YWCA building, located on 626 N. Jackson St. This building was made out of cream brick. It’s now a parking lot that’s located next to the Foxconn building.  Another example of a building that was demolished and turned into a parking lot was the Downtown Tire Center. I found this one interesting because you don’t really see many tire shops or mechanics in downtown areas, mostly out in the suburbs.  One of the most interesting examples that McDowell used was the Sydney Hih building, which has a lot of historical and nostalgic memories ingrained in Milwaukee. McDowell describes the building as a “bohemian artist community”. An interesting fact about this building is that the band Nirvana played here before they got famous. Sydney Hih wasn’t taken care of properly, and eventually ended up getting demolished. The freeway behind the building, the Park East freeway, is one of the few freeways in the nation to be exercised.  From what I can tell from this article, McDowell is using his voice to bring attention to the history of Milwaukee that many people might not know about. He describes the parking lots where the buildings used to stand as being “soulless”. From this, I believe McDowell is looking to see some revival in Milwaukee. He even goes as far to interview two professors at UWM to get more insight into this phenomenon happening in Milwaukee.
I think that OnMilwaukee is a good place to publish this article because a lot of the articles on the website do focus on local business, and this article does focus on demolished former businesses here in Milwaukee. I feel like this article was a more in-depth guide than some of the ones I looked at for blog post #1. Portrait Society Show Packs Emotional Punch
The Power of Great Paintings I personally believe that an author’s voice is their point of view. It also conveys what mood they’re in, and the tone of the piece. An author’s voice is reflected in their word choice, the structure of their piece, and the pacing of their piece. From both of Todd Mrozinkski’s Urban Milwaukee articles, it is very clear that he uses his voice to express his passion for fine art. In the first article, Portrait Society Show Packs Emotional Punch, Mrozinski describes artists Thomas Haneman, M. Winston, and Ted Brusubardis as artists “who do work that is slave for the soul.” It’s very obvious that Mrozinski seems to find some sort of comfort in these artists’ work. Mrozinski describes each of the artist's works in great detail. One example of this is the description of M. Winston’s gum wrapper. Mrozinski describes it as “abstract watercolors on paper, each piece uniformly framed in black.” He also goes on to describe the gallery space as it “emanates with piano music which infuses the entire gallery.” Mrozinski also goes into detail about the piano solo, describing it as a “determined vigor like a seed pushing through soil.” In the second article, The Power of Great Paintings, Mrozinski begins the article with his experience at the Philips Collection in Washington D.C., and was excited for some of the pieces in the collection to be coming to the Milwaukee Art Museum. The gallery is owned by Duncan Philips, a collector of fine art. Mrozinski at the end of the article explains that Philips wasn’t just a collector, he supported many artists personally, and supported their careers by featuring their artwork in galleries. Just from this opening statement, it’s obvious that Mrozinski cares a great deal about fine art, even going so far as to travel to see different art galleries across the country. He starts off talking about a painting by Henri Fantin-Latour, describing it as a “small pyramid of peaches.” Another painting Mrozinski brings up is Berthe Morisot’s painting, “Two Girls”. He describes it as “capturing the light of the interior space two women are sitting in.” Other works of art Mrozinski mentions in his second article are Paul Cezanne’s “Self Portrait”, Pierre Bonnard’s “The Open Window”, and Chaim Soutine’s “The Pheasant.” From what I can tell from these two articles is that Mrozinski is clearly passionate about fine arts. He often finds ways to describe artwork that make you feel immersed in it, even if you aren’t actually there. I feel like the work he’s a fan of is very different from the work he produces. The work Mrozinski showcases on his website is limited in colors, while the ones he showcases in the article are more colorful. I also appreciate how Mrozinski incorporates his real life experiences into his work, as well as in the articles he has written. Overall, Mrozinski is shown to use his voice to express a passion for fine art. For this posts, I analyzed several different Milwaukee-based news websites, and one national news website (The A.V. Club). Here are some of my findings down below:
On Milwaukee The first website I looked at was On Milwaukee. The article I looked at was about Colectivo workers unionizing. On Milwaukee has a mix of articles about local politics and local businesses. Some of the articles about local businesses showcase different food, restaurants, bars, breweries, etc… One thing that makes On Milwaukee unique is that it has an infinite scroll, unlike the other websites I looked at. The website also provides unique guides as well. There are also advertisements on On Milwaukee via Lift Digital Solutions. Shepherd Express Shepherd Express seems to be a lot more categorically organized than the other websites I view. The article I looked at was about the Gas Light building located on Wisconsin Avenue. They also feature a “best of” section. The food and drink section features a take-out guide, new restaurants, and even a video series called “Carrie-Out”. The music section features listings, featured music, and local music. Even though weed isn’t legal yet in Wisconsin, there’s a cannabis section, featuring information on the Wisconsin Cannabis Expo, cannabis connection, and where to find CBD products in Milwaukee. The culture section has a holiday gift guide, fall arts guide, and an arts and entertainment guide. The film section has film reviews, an “I Hate Hollywood” section, and different clips from movies. The lifestyle section has advice on home and consumer finance, home and garden, as well as showcasing local artists. There’s also a sports section, featuring information about Wisconsin-based sports teams such as the Packers, Bucks, and Brewers. Shepherd Express also offers information on local events such as the Old Fashioned Fest, the LGBTQ Progess awards, and other events hosted by Shepherd Express. What makes this website different from other Milwaukee-based news websites is the fact there’s a puzzle section. The puzzles include crossword, word find, and sudoku. Shepherd Express also hosts podcasts such as Laughing Liberally Milwaukee, Streaming Sheep, and Cream City Stories. There’s also a merchandise store, which features gift cards to restaurants, bars, stores, and various other entertainment. Shepherd Express has a membership level in which patrons can pay to support the publication, as well as people being able to submit an event to the website. Urban Milwaukee Urban Milwaukee tends to have more of a focus on local politics. An example of this was the article I read about the Milwaukee County Supervisor Ryan Clancy pushing the Vaccine Mandate for all Milwaukee County employees. There’s a membership program for this website, which you can do either monthly or annually. There’s also the option to do a gift membership. Alongside local politics, Urban Milwaukee also covers statewide and national politics. Two of the most popular topics on this website are Coronavirus and Foxconn. Urban Milwaukee has a real-estate collection, with listings for apartments, houses, and condos. They also cover topics such as local food, drinks, arts, and entertainment. Under the Arts and Entertainment sections, there’s subcategories featuring visual artists, theatre, and local events that are going on. Urban Milwaukee also hosts giveaways and events. Milwaukee Magazine Milwaukee Magazine has more of a focus on local businesses. One of the articles I read was about a new restaurant opening up in Shorewood based around the theme of the 1960s. Just like Urban Milwaukee, Milwaukee Magazine also has a real-estate service. Their real-estate service is operated via Compass. Milwaukee Magazine currently has a guide for summer events on their website. Similar to Shepherd Express, there are categories to the website, however there aren't as many. The food and drink section features a dine-out guide, local beer and booze, and reviews of local restaurants. The culture section has information on local performing arts, music, and other entertainment. The style section features local shopping options, local fashion trends, as well as advice for planning weddings. The city life section features local news and politics, things to do around Milwaukee, and local sports. Milwaukee Magazine also features a “Best of Milwaukee” section, featuring local guides, a “best of” issue, and a top docs section. There’s a calendar on the website for local events going on, and people have the ability to advertise on the website. Milwaukee Magazine also has a print version that you can buy. Milwaukee Record Milwaukee Record is very unique from the other websites, in that it covers news stories in a more sarcastic tone. The news article I read was about X-Ray Arcade requiring proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test, which began on September 2nd. This article was a lot more tame in comparison to the more opinionated articles. Milwaukee Record does have different categories of news such as music, city life, and food and drink, but there aren’t any subcategories like some of the other websites mentioned above. Like Shepard Express, there is a podcast section. One of the most popular podcasts is My First Band, a podcast about music. Milwaukee Record also has a merchandise section, but instead of gift cards for local restaurants and stores like Shepherd Express, Milwaukee Record sells their own t-shirts on their website. The A.V. Club The A.V. Club is a national news website featuring news articles about pop culture subjects. One of the articles I looked at was about why movie trailers use slowed-down versions of pop songs in their trailers. The A.V. Club also has different categories, with subcategories listed below them. The film category has movie reviews, a section about how romance met comedy, and a film knowledge section called Popcorn Champs. The TV section has a TV club, a section about what’s on TV tonight, and Club 10, which is a club about TV features. The music section has music reviews, reactions to different types of music, a music knowledge section called Permanent Records. The games section has a subcategory called “What are you Playing this Weekend?”, game reviews, and To the Bitter End, a section about game knowledge. The aux section features articles on different books, comics, and podcasts. The A.V. Club also has miscellaneous news articles. This website also has a shop with merchandise. The A.V. Club is also part of a conglomerate of other websites, including Deadspin, Gizmodo, and Jalopnik. |