Author: Lee Matz

Remembering Abe: Once in Yamaguchi when I awkwardly shook hands with Japan’s future Prime Minister

Remembering Abe: Once in Yamaguchi when I awkwardly shook hands with Japan’s future Prime Minister

Posted by | Jul 9, 2022

Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was fatally shot on July 8 as he delivered a campaign speech just days ahead of the country’s parliamentary elections. Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, Abe was rushed to a hospital with wounds inflicted by a blast from a homemade shotgun. His death was officially announced hours later. In May of 2002, I was traveling with a two schoolmates from our university outside of Nagoya to visit my friends in Saga Prefecture. One classmate was from Wales, the other South Korea, and neither had been able to travel too extensively in Japan up to...

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Sister Norma Pimentel: An impromptu chat with the “Pope’s favorite nun” during a drive to the border

Sister Norma Pimentel: An impromptu chat with the “Pope’s favorite nun” during a drive to the border

Posted by | Jul 1, 2022

MISSION TO THE BORDER: Milwaukee-based Forward Latino led a delegation to the southernmost border section between Mexico and the United States. Leadership and board members of the nonprofit Hispanic advocacy organization planned the trip as a way to separate politics from the reality on the ground, by seeking first-hand reports for themselves. The group met with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, immigrants, refugees, relief agencies, border city officials, local faith leaders, and the government of Mexico. The spectrum of voices and views offered a closer narrative to the truth of the actual situation at the border. mkeind.com/missiontotheborder Norma Pimentel...

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Mission to the Border: Latino advocacy group leaves politics behind for immigration fact-finding tour

Mission to the Border: Latino advocacy group leaves politics behind for immigration fact-finding tour

Posted by | Jul 1, 2022

MISSION TO THE BORDER: Milwaukee-based Forward Latino led a delegation to the southernmost border section between Mexico and the United States. Leadership and board members of the nonprofit Hispanic advocacy organization planned the trip as a way to separate politics from the reality on the ground, by seeking first-hand reports for themselves. The group met with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, immigrants, refugees, relief agencies, border city officials, local faith leaders, and the government of Mexico. The spectrum of voices and views offered a closer narrative to the truth of the actual situation at the border. mkeind.com/missiontotheborder Before leaving...

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Stories from Ukraine: Anya Nakonechna shares why the Lviv Opera is a symbol of her nation’s culture

Stories from Ukraine: Anya Nakonechna shares why the Lviv Opera is a symbol of her nation’s culture

Posted by | Jun 17, 2022

Reports from Ukraine: This feature is part of an original Milwaukee Independent editorial series that recorded news from cities across Ukraine, including Milwaukee's sister city of Irpin, in May 2022. It was the first and, at that time, only news organization in Wisconsin that traveled to the country since it was invaded. The purpose of this journalism project was to document personal stories and events that detailed or showed the conditions of the war at that time, and their connections to Milwaukee. mkeind.com/reportsfromukraine America has many forms of entertainment to share our society with the world. Motion pictures and...

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