Author: Dominic Inouye

On August 5, 2012, a gunman entered the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek and killed six.

His resume is eclectic: B.A. Architecture from Howard University, U.S. Army Reserves Captain, architect in Minneapolis and, of course, host of the popular Rhythm Lab and This Bites segments on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee, as well as its current Director of Digital of Digital Strategy and Innovation. Beyond job titles, professional accomplishments, and personal achievements, however, I wanted to know what else makes Tarik Moody tick, and explore his epic love for Milwaukee. So I asked him what three words he would include on his business card other than his official positions. Without blinking, he responded: Creator, Connector, Innovator. Then he...

It’s so easy to visit another city and simultaneously fall in love with it while bemoaning the apparent shortcomings of one’s home city. I went to Paris, fell in love, and suddenly, in my mind, Milwaukee seemed to lack vibrant public places where the multitudes, both residents and tourists, would gather morning, noon and night. Where was the Jardin de Luxembourg where Milwaukeeans could picnic and nap, drink wine and canoodle, smoke and strum guitars? I visited NYC, came home, and Milwaukee didn’t have enough public benches or places to play chess in the parks. I traveled to Denver...

This past April I saw three children huddled at the street corner in front of Camp Bar Tosa, eyeing the other side as if North Avenue was a raging and dangerous river. They hugged each other as they teetered at the curb. I had witnessed many pedestrians standing hesitantly on the curb, allowing car after car to whiz by, but this sight disturbed me. I should have intervened right away, but was distracted with finishing my errands. When I returned a short time later, I saw that two of the youth had made it across the road, leaving the...

Wearing a white fur stole and belting out respect, Aretha Franklin holds court on the deep pink wall of The Pfister Hotel artist studio. Her face is a pastiche of blue and white patterned fabrics sewn together, pinching her cloth muscles into passionate vocals. Postcards with stitched icons of people I don’t recognize at first are neatly stacked under Aretha, as are dozens of folded fabrics and neckties in a white antique hutch. Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong stand guard over a pink-upholstered sofa, and an unassuming sewing table grounds the left wall, as of yet unadorned with any...

As this year’s city organizer for Jane’s Walk MKE, I can easily get caught up in a frenzy of numbers: How many walk leaders do we have so far? How many neighborhoods are we exploring? How much money are we spending? How many Facebook followers do we have? How many people are signing up? How many community partners… how many promotional posters… how much food to order? The minutiae can sometimes overshadow the big picture. Therefore, I’ve been focusing on three other numbers as we prepare for our fourth year of hosting the free, resident-led neighborhood explorations throughout the...