While the Bay View neighborhood has had a strong community for many decades, the monthly newspaper The Bay View Compass has helped make that community even stronger. Locally owned and operated papers like The Compass provide an additional foundation for the community that cannot be found through most any other online or offline media source in this day and age when murder and weather is our only news. Instead, we have articles written by our friends, our neighbors, and even our children, stories that make it Milwaukee’s “best little newspaper.” These include Mike Timm’s excellent two-part story on doing business in Bay View, which examined both successful and unsuccessful business ventures and spoke with their owners about their shops.
Other articles that come to mind are about Bay View’s former pigeon racing club—some hints of which still are visible (not pigeons); Jay Bullock’s column about being a teacher at an MPS school (welcome to BVHS!); and the column Historic Bay View, which I find especially valuable as an amateur historian and proud citizen of Bay View. And people seem to dig the column that I write, “On The Street,” for which “I wander around Bay View, accost strangers, take their question and have them answer a picture.” [sic.]
Writing for the Compass has made me a part of our community, for which I am grateful. I often get friendly waves from people who recognize me as “that guy who writes for the Compass.” Perhaps the only person around here who doesn’t read it is the stranger who was standing at the counter of my Favorite Local Coffee Shop™ in Bay View. When he overheard me say something about the paper, he quipped “The Compass? No one reads that.” Squelching my righteous indignity, I calmly replied, “A lot of people do. And I write for it.”
He didn’t have much to say to that. He paid for his stuff and shuffled on his way out. Of course it was some two minutes after that encounter when I realized I shoulda told him if he did read the Compass, he would have learned how much cheaper it is to shop at the new Woodmans in Oak Creek than, say, at a Pick ‘n Save. I’m sure that had nothing to do with the fact that Roundys mysteriously exorcised all publication save for the Shepherd Express from their stores a few months ago. But we’re back now, so all’s well.
Like any good Milwaukeean who knows that there’s no true ending to a story, have you seen the paper I write for, The Bay View Compass? It’s a great paper that I’m proud to be a part of. If you come down Bay View way (or better still, live here), you can find a free copy of the Compass on the first of each month at over 200 locations from North Avenue in Milwaukee south to College Avenue in Cudahy.” And it’s now online at bayviewcompass.com.
Extra Bonus Fun Trick: Do a Google search for the phrase murder and weather is our only news. Examine the results. Then do another search, adding the word Pailhead to the beginning of the search phrase. Consult the song lyrics that come up. I think this serves as an oblique way of proving my point about most TV and radio news.
Also: Mad props to Illusory Tenant for seeing what’s most certainly not related, despite whatever WordPress says is true.
Haas414: Milwaukee Writ 