My voice seems to be changing. If you heard me, you might wonder if I’m recovering from laryngitis, if it hurts to talk.

It might be weak from disuse. I’ve always been more of a listener than a talker, all eyes and ears. But now that I live and work alone, some days I barely utter a paragraph.
 
I've always envied singers and actors who master their voices no matter how much they speak in a day. Words gush and seep from their whole bodies like molten lava. My words get tangled in my teeth.
 
I tried music in grade school, practicing hymns while strumming my guitar in my bedroom. At dinner one noon, with my four siblings snickering, my dad asked me to sing more quietly. I’m guessing he also was weary of Kumbaya. I rarely sang again.
 
I tried acting. When a group of parents congratulated me on my impassioned performance, my dad laughed, “That’s not acting. She yells at her brother like that every night.” I never acted again.
 
But I tried other roles. Forensics champion, epistle reader, college teacher, for crying out loud, I was a public relations executive and a CEO for years. Still my voice…    
 
As I write this, my throat is tighter than ever. I’m not sure if I need to cry or scream. With my whole body. 
 

There’s another reason I wear skirts. As a six-foot tall teen, no slacks were long enough and I developed a deep insecurity about pant length. My mom came to the rescue once and stitched me a pair of brushed-denim, baby-blue, hip-huggers. Before I die, I’d love to hold them just once more. And mom.     
 
Today, girls are taller, slacks are longer and I’m shrinking so I could wear slacks that graze my metatarsals. But I’m in the midst of a fashion tsunami which beckons me to choose high water slacks. Not cropped. Not capris. True high water. My current favorites are sweetly belled, black and white ginghams that I wear with patent leather brogues.
 
Mom would say, “Whose daughter are you?” and smile.
 

I bought my first recliner. You might not recognize it as a recliner unless you spied its electrical cord tethered to an outlet. It’s certainly not your typical squat, marshmallow Laz-Z-Boy. 
 
But for a lean, handsome thing, he was a little disruptive. It took time to absorb him into the clique of my other belongings. So one day, I shifted a rug, then a desk, then a fern. The next day, I discarded all things red. The next, I re-covered some pillows.
 
And voila, he’s not the center of attention anymore. Even though he’s the only chair that hums when I adjust him.

 
I like heart conversations – conversations that ultimately lead to connection – even if they’re only 10-minute sojourns, even if we’ll never meet again.
 
But that’s a tall order for an introvert. So I’m always on the lookout for new ways to dive deep and quick into conversation. A fellow attendee at a Milwaukee Art Museum lecture suggested that we find a way to ask, “What do you collect?”
 
Here’s how it could go with you, the introvert, using fewer than 10 words as you study a painting at a gallery opening or admire a gold-rimmed tea cup set at a party:
 
"What do you collect?"  Hmmm. What do I collect? Birds. Yes, birds.
"Birds?" Painted images of birds. Images in thread. Tin sculptures. Porcelain. Iron.
"What got you started?" My mom liked birds. She died a few months ago and it helps me stay connected with her.
 
BAM! A heart conversation begun. Ultimately, the person probably will ask you what you collect and a connection takes root.
 

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

Artwork Sale to Benefit The Milwaukee Public Library
REAL TINSEL Gallery
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

ALL PROCEEDS DONATED TO THE MPL