Are you about your “business”? | /CW Community Resource for you from Chayil Inc.
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Hey /CW Community Fam,
This year /CW has learned a bunch about our business [the good, the bad, the ugly!]. This learning has allowed us to reflect on what we value as a business, and COMMUNITY is at the top of our list. With that being said, as community members we think it is vital to share resources and opportunities that may be useful to you and all the great things you aspire to do.
Our people over at Chayil Inc. are offering free business support workshops for Black & Brown business owners/entrepreneurs called the, The BluePrint Business & Succession Planning.
This training program was created to cover a range of business information including understanding Banks versus Credit Unions, becoming bankable, getting access to capital, bookkeeping, accounting principles, sales, marketing, and many other “How to do's and don'ts”. Where there are business consulting entities that may host comparable business training programs, BluePrint Business & Succession Planning is unique because it was designed to provide solutions to issues that directly impact minority business owners in the BIPOC community.
This Saturday, November 9th, they are having an event to celebrate past workshop participants and give out information on the upcoming programming.
Register for BluePrint Business & Succession Planning, A Celebration of Legacy:
I urge you to tape in and use this resource while it is free.
On November 8th, 2024, a day before the event, registration for the next round of BluePrint Business and Succession Planning will go live and be accessible via https://www.chayilinc.org/ and https://finance-cafe-money-smart-small-business.teachable.com/.
Love & All Things Urban,
/CW
You're Invited to the opening Exhibition of CULTURE: BETWEEN SPACE & PLACE By Lexi S. Brunson
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You're invited to experience a spatial art installation created by CopyWrite Magazine's Editor-in-Chief, Lexi S. Brunson. Also, get your copy of Issue 21 Back to Black at the exhibit [where the installation is featured].
Through my professional practices as a writer, researcher, media maker, interior designer, and creative, I have noted that between Space & Place, we find Culture [Big C]. Since Culture is nuanced, it creates an opportunity to reimagine what space is through the multiplicity of mediums, contextualized via identity, locality, and temporality.
I have taken this concept, through a casual practice of interpersonal interviews, observation, and pursuing/inhabiting spaces where cultural dialogue [spoken & unspoken] occurs. By creating a series of “vignettes” that exist [& will exist] in multiple mediums, I share cultural narratives that reflect the internal perspective of the BIPOC community. Not as a monolithic lens but as a note of existence we often assign with diminutive importance. The nostalgia-induced conversations that transpired during installation with staff, visitors, and other people popping by, validated that these places [even when repurposed as art] are truly threads of understanding in a web of misinterpretation WE do not subscribe to.
AN ILLIAD - SnapShot Press Release
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photos by Michael Brosilow
Humanity has a way of showing us its values.
Our fate lies somewhere between the unknown and the unhinged [what a spectrum]. However, it is usually through reflection, anecdotal and historical, from a distant past to a very near present that we see the repetition of lore and find ourselves questioning the meaning of it all.
Sunday’s [September 22nd, 2024] Milwaukee Chamber Theater’s performance of AN ILIAD, was an emotional display of genius, wrapped in the tradition of Grecian tragedy, smothered in the plight of modernism oblivion to the human condition, and how “WE” got here. Lisa Peterson & Denis O’hare’s interpretation of Homer’s The Iliad translated by Robert Fagles, bares us from the smoke and mirrors of social exchange, grounding us in the power of mono-interpretation storytelling. However, it is N'Jameh Camara (The Poet) and Kellen “Klassik” Abston (The Muse/ Composer) that brought the shores of Troy and the backdrop of the Aegean Sea into reach within the circular “void” of the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center.
IT’S GIVING DRAMAAAAAAA!
As N'Jameh drowned herself in a bottle of “spirits” she walks us through the tale of Hector and Achilles, the Trojan War, and the fate of their battle. Her monologue was striking. When & where are we? In the “now” of disruptive political turmoil, or in the “then” of disruptive political turmoil? In the “now” of men policing the body of women or in the “then” of men policing the body of women? In the “now” of socially induced hysteria or. . . It did not matter, N'Jameh as the poet reminded us that these fates could be our own and that we must not shrug lightly at the flaws of man, because we are MAN.
With just a suitcase, a bench, and a few layers of clothing N'Jameh flings her head back and stairs into the eyes of the audience [the people] then rushes to gesture the interactions of warriors, lovers, enemies, friends, and family. She makes us grieve the death of Patroclus, the same way we grieve, the limp bodies of boys found slayed on street corners in rival “hoods”. She makes us speculate Helen [Helen of Troy or Helen of Sparta depending on who you ask] agency in her selection of suitors. Was Helen into Paris or nah? Does Helen even want Menelaus to defend her or does she just like to see men get all hot and bothered over her? [Is killing the highest or lowest form of flattery that can be offered].
All I know is that when N'Jameh reflects on what war this landscape of carnage reminds her of, she list every war that humanity has documented, and my eyes flooded with stinging tears as if the waves had crashed upon me and I was destined to drown.
The mantra of monikers. . .
Peloponnesian War
Crusades
Powhatan War
Mexican-American War
World War I
Arab-Israeli wars
Vietnam War
Israel–Hamas war
. . . It went on and on for what seemed like forever. How could we not see it? How could we not understand that we have failed to protect our species from butchery? How could we not plead for forgiveness when we have all let our egos slaughter our potential for collective peace? N'Jameh wailed in a dialect of pain and her voice carried through the room into some distant pit of sorrow. I have been to many performances, but I have never felt so soul-crushed in viewing the truth.
I am guilty. We all are guilty.
This ability to drag our senses into the thick of it was not an isolated win. Klassik’s arrival into the theater as The Muse allowed for an auditory awakening or a soundtrack to a collective soul cry. His layered vibrations made us hear waves on the battle beach, the clash of metal weapons against armor, and the vastness of hundreds of thousands of ships arriving. His musical composition was boisterous and delicate all at the same time. We needed his contribution, we needed the liquid “spirits” to release this auditory vision for The Poet to relive, what we all must rectify.
AN ILIAD is an experience that humanity needs. It is a scream for repentance in public intimacy. As we find ourselves pinned into battles that may be sanctioned by the Gods [Yours, mine, theirs, ours, or no one's] and ask for conviction in our uncertainty [who deems our deeds good or evil?] We must remember that we are all villains in someone's story.
[& the comedic relief was there. But only enough to make us say “Ohhhh boy we’re screwed.”
I invite you to approach your humanity and experience Milwaukee Chamber Theater’s AN ILIAD, for the sake of us all.
Lexi S. Brunson
Editor-in-Chief /CW
/CW Chat w/ The All White Xperience | June 29th, 2024 [Rooftop Ballroom Baird Center]
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Get out your white linen fits because the All White Xperience is about to go down! Your /CW fam sat with event curators Myron Smith, Johnny L. Jones and Tim Ricketts about the Saturday, June 29th, 2024 event that is bound to change the way Milwaukee see’s entertainment. From intergenerational programming with a step show & runway fashion to a highly anticipated live performance by Jagged Edge, this will be one of those events that has to make the MKE summer hit list. It’s not just a party but an “Xperience” you won't want to miss.
/CW
the Not-So-Accidental Conviction of Eleven Milwaukee "Anarchists" - SnapShot Press Release
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photos by Michael Brosilow
“LET’S JUST BLOW THE WHOLE THING UP!”
Ahht, Ahht, Ahht! Don’t you dare snark at the thought.
We all have said it. If not out loud, it has definitely crossed your mind. And if it hasn’t, are you even human?
The true question is what is the “thing” that would actually make you do it?
The Not-So-Accidental Conviction of Eleven Milwaukee "Anarchists" defines that moment by taking a comedic aside into history, local history, in a Milwaukee that seems so distant from our present society but is in fact, the foundation of what we now bear witness to. The trial of “The Milwaukee Eleven” and the police station bombing of 1917 is dismantled through planned improv [if it's not a term I'm coining it now], a black box theatre with a trunk full of doodads, and a chair [Yup, just one chair].
Why? Because many of us have forgotten that empathy is civility. . . but just hold that thought. We will get there.
Saturday's [May 4th, 2024] 4:00 pm production was quite interesting. It's not just because playwright Martín Zimmerman intended it to be [as he allowed his burning questions of the story to reveal themselves on the stage. Questions like, How do you make sense of people about whom we have such fragmented, contradictory information?] but also because the longing to wrap ideas [in the form of art] in a nice shiny bow, instead, creating a knot of complexities with tattered ends is uncomfortable. In the opening scene it seemed like we were all slated for 90 minutes of a four-person recall of historical facts [I mean cool I guess if you're into that]. But then the bomb exploded, the butter was squashed, and chaos ensued.
That chaos took the form of two-syllable curse words, catty disagreements, and a baby blow horn. What part of the story should come next and what is the best way to depict it? Actors Elyse Edelman, King Hang, Dimonte Henning, and Kelsey Elyse Rodriguez were charged with playing several roles, embodying the people and the police, the righteous and the ridiculed, the holy and the sinful [& these characters are not juxtaposing beings but multiplicities of humanity].
That’s where it gets tough.
It was strategically unhinged and while much of the audience laughed, there were many who winced at the potty language but did not bat an eye at the reminder of people's lives, livelihoods, and freedom being taken from them. Who made the bomb? There is no one name or evidence to support one intended target. Why did they make it? If it was indeed an act of anarchy then it must be an act against the systems that were “ruling” Milwaukee at the time which allowed for bad working conditions, bigotry, discrimination [ethnic is a loaded term around these parts], and poverty to persist. If it's an act against religion then what god allows for a 4-year-old child to be taken into custody by the police? This little midwest town in the free world is starting to look tragic but it's not like 1917 was an isolated occurrence. Just last week students calling for a ceasefire in Gaza were met with police batons and monkey noises [but y'all ain't hearing me though].
And that for me was more disturbing.
That type of discomfort reverberates through every life choice and decision made [or avoided]. It sets the tone for the future and the narratives we uphold from the past. Zimmerman was smart to let us grapple with analysis as the actors analyzed. The actors were bold in allowing us to see their range as they unpacked and then reboxed how to approach historical narrative in its grandiose and in its pretentious posturing of justice.
At the end of it, I couldn't care less who Clarence Darrow or Augusto Giuliani was. All I wanted to know is why we keep letting others write and archive our history. When will we realize that the archive does not have to be documented through the lens of our oppressors? When will we realize that the most vulnerable populations have always been bastardized by the systems that self-assign themselves as protectors?
It's ugly and society is a mirror of that ugliness.
The Not-So-Accidental Conviction of Eleven Milwaukee "Anarchists" is rhetoric for self-assessment. If you are not terrified of the possibilities of what can happen when we disregard the needs of our fellow human [as terrified as I was to watch that slow-mo fight scene where unarmed cops were in a shoot-out with civilians] or if you don’t question your sanity when you become desensitized to violence [physical, mental, or emotional] then wtf are we actually doing here?
I don’t know if I liked what I saw but I do know that more people need to be confronted with narratives that make them cringe. If you know someone who needs to light a fire under their complacent a**, then send them to see this Milwaukee Chamber Theater production.
Something has got to change.
Lexi S. Brunson
Editor-in-Chief /CW
HYFIN Anti-Gala: Recap Video
/They have messed around & made our Editor-in-Chief, Lexi, the cover photo to the HYFIN Anti-Gala Recap Video! Did make the event? Catch this “Connecting The Culture” Vibes!
Experiencing a Seat At The Table | A celebration of the culture & achievement of rising talent in Milwaukee
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A “Seat at the Table” is a concept I know all too well.
It has been a theme in young, BLACK [& Brown], “professional” rhetoric over the past decade that has created a dialogue about the scarcity of rooms that allow for a new type of leadership to take the reigns. It is the same concept that inspired Issue Eighteen of CopyWrite Magazine, where I professed my distaste for gatekeeping and other “legal” methods of disenfranchisement. So when it was brought to my attention that an event where there is a goal “to unite, honor, and engage young promising leaders with a night of elegance and inspiration”, I had no choice but to accept the invitation. Not only media, but a “Young Professional” stakeholder in the grand scheme of things.
On Saturday, July 29, 2023, at Saint Kate Arts Hotel, Brandon Ramey & Braylen Stevens hosted an inaugural Seat At The Table event showcasing a room of young rising leaders in the Milwaukee community, a culturally exquisite performance from Malik Johnson [a grammy nominated cellista], and an intimate discussion with C-Suite executives Andres Gonzales [MCW and Froedtert Healthcare], Sherilyn Whitmoyer [Quad], Maudwella Kirkendoll [Community Advocates], and Lashonda Hill [ABM Industries].
Host Brandon Ramey & Braylen Stevens
This perfectly programmed experience also included a cocktail hour/reception, a full course dinner, music and entertainment by DJ Dub Deezy. Again, I state the Seat At The Table event was perfectly programmed because it kept its demographic in mind. What shows a true reflection of young professional spirit? Strategic networking in an environment with a poppin aesthetic & vibe? Check. Dinner courses that are Instagram worthy? Check. Old head executives [with all due respect] that are willing to be transparent and spit helpful game? Check. A 360 booth, drinks, and a DJ spinning all the party hits? CHECK, CHECK, and CHECK!
But with Brandon & Braylen being rising leaders in their own right, their intentionality is a note to the capacity and care young professionals have when granted agency in any space. Both MKE Fellows, which is a co-sponsor of ALIVE Inc. [a partner of the event], they have both been successful in navigating the corporate climate and securing positions of influence in their fields. It is tempting to run down their credentials with both being young Black men with college degrees, working at high profiled institutions *Cough, Cough, QUAD and Cough, Cough Google* but it is more important to note that they both are passionate about community and the nuances of belonging, inclusivity, and equity.
It is with this same intentionality that they had the ability to create an experience that was carrier oriented without being stuffy. No one seemed to feel out of place. People looked amazing in their interpretation of formal wear [you know suited & booted], attendees greeted each other with warm smiles and even warmer compliments, the buzz of conversation spread throughout dinner that ranged in subject and even seasoned guest who came to show support offered perspectives of comfort with little judgment [and that is refreshing]. The attention to detail like the C shaped table layout, the custom menu table placements with each guest name on it [you know I had to take that jawn home], the branded step & repeat for pictures, the #satt2023 hashtag, the branded boxed cookie gift at the end. . .
Stop playing with these young folks! They got now, next, and later!
Even though I am innately critical of executive roles in large institutions [& yall already know why], I even found myself resonating with advice from the panel presented through their anecdotal accounts of finding their voice in a world full of “haters”.
Brandon, Maudwella, Sherilyn, Lashonda, Andres, Braylen
Here are a few gems they shared paraphrased through shorthand [which I despise so much lol].
Andres said:
Seek a mentor and as a mentor open doors.
Conflict Management, Problem Solving, and Communication are great skills to have in any field.
Build your board of directors [for your professional development]. Have mentors, have coaches, & have sponsors.
[Side bar: I am looking for a sponsor right now. Please bet on me!]
Sherilyn said:
Be engaged, have a good work ethic, and be flexible.
There is pressure to have a direct linear career /life path. Quit it! You don't have to have it all figured out. When you need to Pivot!
She also noted how some people treat motherhood as a barrier in the workforce. Be an advocate for women in that space because humanity matters.
Maudwella said:
Soft skills are something that he see’s declining in younger job candidates. So really think about it, can you communicate in whatever setting you are in?
Invest in yourself.
Treat yourself well [because if you don’t nobody else will].
Treat the community well.
Don’t assume. Build relationships.
Lashonda said:
Curiosity, Agility, and Self Reflection are good tools to have in your repertoire.
Be louder. Say the thing you need to say when you have the platform to say it.
In that same breath. Challenge what is put before you.
Millennials and Gen Z have lived through so much. They have experience and perspectives that the generation before did not.
[And my favorite] Take up Space!
Of course, these are just tidbits of the wisdom shared and stories told. What narrative you find here should make you curious of what the bigger picture might bring into focus.
If you know. . .you know | Braylen, Nyesha of Carvd N stone, Lexi of copywrite mag, vedale of vedale’s art studio
I believe that Brandon, Braylen, and anybody else in invested equitable seat placement at the ever morphing table should be supported in whatever comes next. As a community we must be mindful of the leaders we await, when in reality they walk amongst us, they need us, and they are us. This year's Seat At The Table event again reassured me that the talent I see in Milwaukee is not a figment of my imagination, that the will of the young is still burning strong, and that the future is absolutely in good hands.
So let's not wait for the torch to be passed. Let’s pull up, get more chairs, and break bread.
We are ready.
Lexi S. Brunson | Editor-in-Chief /CW
Proof of a /CW Approved good time!
Mikal Floyd-Pruitt [An article by Evelyn Patricia Terry]
/Mikal Floyd-Pruitt, chosen as one of five recipients of the prestigious Mary Nohl Fellowship in January 2023, receives additional funding toward production and career development. Administered by the Lynden Sculpture Garden, The Greater Milwaukee Foundation’s Mary L. Nohl Fund and Joy Engine provided funding for the Nohl Fellowship Awards.
Mikal Floyd-Pruitt, chosen as one of five recipients of the prestigious Mary Noh Fellowship in January 2023, models a cape he designed. Photo credit: Charlotte Floyd-Pruitt
Winning in the top category of “established artist,” Floyd-Pruitt’s multi - faceted practice includes interactive events and installations, painting, sculpture, clothing design, assemblages, rapping, music, and filmmaking. Floyd-Pruitt co-directs HomeWorks: Bronzeville, a development initiative, based in Milwaukee, focusing on local creative entrepreneurial talent by way of property ownership. He also created I Am Milwaukee, a lifestyle brand promoting unity and creativity.
Partnering with many community sectors, Floyd-Pruitt contributes uniquely to the Milwaukee art scene. Alexander Mitchell Integrated Arts School teacher, Nora Justin, engaged him to work with her class of thirty Latinx 7th-grade students. After asking them to write essays on the meaning of freedom, she wanted her students to share their thoughts with the world. Interested in the power of word play, Floyd-Pruitt recorded the students reading sentences from their essays, reinforcing that their words are powerful and meaningful. The project expanded to include Floyd–Pruitt’s thoughts on freedom as a rap collaboration with the students’ words. He then invited further collaborations with musicians Klassik and Sista Strings to transform the recordings into a fully produced song. Together student and professional artists produced a vibrant video, El Color de la Libertad, co–directed by Floyd–Pruitt and filmed by Wes Tank. It premiered at the Milwaukee Film Festival.
Then there is Splash! Free and open to the public, this energetic community engagement project invites neighbors and other participants to work side-by-side with Floyd-Pruitt and invited artists to create public art. In 2022, driving south on Vel R. Phillips Avenue (former 4th Street), I happened to witness the award-winning artist and diverse participants enthusiastically hurling paint-filled balloons at a two-story boarded-up HomeWorks: Bronzeville property scheduled for demolition. Located on the corner, the unchoreographed performance irreverently covered two sides with erratically splattered colors, soon transforming it into a Floyd–Pruitt “Splash!” public art production. Although exterior house paint, injected into balloons, appears totally random and spontaneous, methodical research enhances the process.
Diverse participants enthusiastically hurl paint-filled balloons at a boarded-up property scheduled for demolition for Floyd–Pruitt “Splash!” Photo Credit: Wes Tank
Incredibly creative, Mikal Floyd-Pruitt’s amiable humor and intelligence coupled with a pleasant demeanor reminds me of his family members that I have interacted with. My association with the Floyd-Pruitt family resulted from an art presentation I made to a MacDowell Montessori class. Mikal’s older brother, now professional artist Anwar Floyd–Pruitt, and my daughter, now documentary filmmaker Talleah Bridges McMahon, shared a kindergarten class. Following my art presentation, I learned that Anwar convinced his parents, Dr. Eugene Pruitt and Charlotte Floyd-Pruitt, to purchase one of my watermelon pastels—specifying that they choose a large size.
Fast forward, years later, both Floyd-Pruitt brothers graduated from Harvard University, following in the footsteps of their father. Mikal, in 2006, graduated cum laude, earning a B.A. in Visual Art and Environmental Studies with a filmmaking focus. Both eventually returned to Milwaukee. The Terry McCormick Contemporary Fine and Folk Art Gallery, my home gallery space, hosted an exhibition of their artwork with artist Kevin Boatright. Despite our generation gap, I was privileged to watch Mikal perform before the pandemic at Center Street Days and in Jazale’s Art Studio owned by brothers Vedale and Darren Hill. I even experienced my first Splash! painting on the Artery, now renamed the Beerline Trail.
Diverse participants enthusiastically hurl paint-filled balloons at a boarded-up property scheduled for demolition for Floyd–Pruitt “Splash!” Photo Credit: Wes Tank
Mikal, most significantly during the pandemic’s height, chose mostly to stay inside. Ideas germinated in his mind. Just as before the pandemic, he now ceaselessly produces distinctly dissimilar bodies of artwork throughout the city while also exhibiting and performing nationally. This $35,000 Mary Nohl Award, plus a $5,000 career development award, continues his bold and captivating movement forward after a brief hiatus. Fueled to flourish, look for the opening of his exhibition along with the other 2023 Mary Nohl Awardees in June 2024 at Marquette University’s Haggerty Museum of Art.
Evelyn Patricia Terry | Guest Writer for /CW
Contact: terryevelyn@hotmail.com
Check out this upcoming SPLASH! event by Mikal
/CW Presents: Bequest | Youth Led Fashion Event
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Come join us for our FIRST EVER youth led fashion experience!
Bequest: (noun) a legacy.
CopyWrite Magazine presents this culminating experience at /CW HQ [ 2209 N MLK Dr. Milwaukee, WI 53212] on August 4th of 2023, from 4pm-7pm. You can expect a wonderful display of fashion from Cameron (Cam) Barker of, YEUX DU CIEL, Event Curation by Nahsialis Vang, Marketing & Space design by Frederick (Freddy) Calhoun and Event & Music Management by Jazale Hill, and Vato Vergara [/CW Creative Director] will Host.
You won't want to miss an exclusive surprise by the curators of this unique show!
[Food options & beverages will be available. Registration encouraged. Seats will be limited.]
