The Milwaukee Public Library fundraiser raised nearly $1,000 thanks to you!

 
Happiness is not a condition. It’s just a feeling. It comes, it goes. Like anger, like grief. Emotions are rivers and fighting any one of them is futile. At least that’s what mindfulness experts preach.
 
Then why do we so naturally anchor ourselves in the weeds of sadness or leash our ankles to the thundering Skidoos of happiness? Why does being stuck or making waves feel so good?
 
So that makes me wonder if mindfulness is an unnatural state, a tributary laced with PCBs and all of us mutant fish.

COMPLIMENTARY REFRESHMENTS:
Appetizers and drinks will be curated by culinary queen and my friend, Pat Gruenwald.
 
CASH OR CREDIT:
The MPL is lending us their mobile credit card reader so we’ll be able to accept payments which will be directly deposited to the library’s account. Convenient!
 
FREE PARKING
Though Historic Mitchell Street is a busy neighborhood, parking is incredibly convenient. Just scoot your car into the huge city lot behind the building between 10th and 11th. The back entrance will be open.

SEE THE NEW REAL TINSEL GALLERY:
May 11 will be the REAL TINSEL Gallery’s grand opening and the opening reception for its first exhibition titled, “Hinternational Paper: The Wisconsin Flat File Project.” The exhibition will feature 50-plus artists’ works-on-paper. Those works will seed the gallery’s Wisconsin Flat File Project which will open in early 2019. Milwaukee artists, Shane McAdams and Keith Nelson, own the building which features five artist studios as well as the gallery space.
 
SEE STUDIO C
Studio C is my new studio within REAL TINSEL and the location of the MPL Fundraiser. I am so grateful to Keith and Shane for creating this space!

REAL TINSEL Gallery Opening
1013 W. Historic Mitchell St., Studio C
6:00 to 9:00 p.m., Friday, May 11, 2018
Free parking in rear. Artist: Lora Keller

If I had my way, reading would have occupied every summer of my youth. But my mom kicked me out of the house. “Fresh air and exercise,” she muttered as she closed the door behind me.
 
So I rode my single-speed, hand-me-down bike to city hall and signed up for a softball league. I couldn’t hit. I couldn’t run. And I prayed (as did my teammates) that no balls would rocket into my corner of the outfield. Because I couldn’t catch or throw.
 
The daily humiliation did not deck me though because, after our games, I stole into the library which fronted the baseball field and imagined a life outside the confines of our small town. Ever since, libraries have been my home base.
 
For 40 years, the Milwaukee Public Library has been my sanctuary. It has been a research center that helped advance my career; a support center where its story time gave me a brief respite from my toddler; a social center that provided activities when I was alone and beyond lonely. And I am beyond grateful. So to celebrate the opening of my new studio on Historic Mitchell Street, I’m donating all the proceeds from the sale of my artwork on May 11 to the MPL