Greater Milwaukee Men

Great coffee starts with clean water. Luckily in Milwaukee we have some of the best water in the world (there's a reason we have had so many breweries in town). But that water quality from safety to taste is always under attack by environmental issues. Brewers - of beer and coffee and even tea - are part of the ongoing activism in making sure we always have good water. Local coffee roasters Colectivo Coffee are one of those. Colectivo has created a special edition Three Rivers with clean water in mind. For every bag purchased, Colectivo will donate $1 to Milwaukee Riverkeeper®. The combination of Fair Trade, organic selections from Nicaragua and Sumatra offers flavors of dark chocolate, orange, and dried fig with a hint of spice. The mission of Milwaukee Riverkeeper ® is to protect, improve, and advocate for water quality, riparian wildlife habitat, and sound land management in the Milwaukee, Menomonee, and Kinnickinnic River Watersheds. They envision a future in which peop...

Today we celebrate the American-ized cultural references of people who left their country because of religious persecution and rampant poverty and hunger. When they came to our shores we hated and feared them for their differences. They had a different religion (that wasn't all that different), a different appearance that we ridiculed (but secretly admired), different food. They may have come from a nation we were at war with, but they disagreed with their rulers and sought out a place where they could be free of the persecution. We may have brought them here without a choice. We were suspicious of them, afraid we were harboring dangerous people who could tear apart our society. We were afraid they were organizing attacks, if they were it was on someone else, not us. We complained they took our jobs (that none of us wanted to do anymore anyway), that we had to support them (though our society wouldn't have run without them doing the work they did). So, we segregated them, may...

Australia is definitely not lacking for culture that inspires me from music (a large number of '80's alternative bands) to film & TV (Mad Max, countless TV shows) to philanthropic endeavors (Movember, Distinguished Gentleman's Ride), and I just found out about another great thing to come from Down Under. The Polished Man  program seeks to raise awareness and funds to fight physical and sexual violence against children by having men paint one fingernail. Much as other awareness campaigns like Movember, or carious colored ribbons or bracelets, the goal is that the notice will be taken of sight and when asked about it the wearer can strike up conversation about the issue.