The idea for the Milwaukee Avenue Messenger started when I returned to school after a 26-year gap in my studies (I meant to just take a semester or two off, but you know how it is, best laid plans, etc.). In my senior capstone class, we examined what our professor called the “wicked problems” plaguing our country: the big, gnarly, complicated issues of the day that have no single, clear-cut solution. One of those big problems we looked at was the climate of stark polarization gripping this county and the misinformation and disinformation that, in large part, feeds it. Our professor asked each of us, with complete sincerity, “what are you going to do about it?”   

What indeed. 

This wicked problem seems so daunting to individuals that it’s easy to feel like there’s nothing we can do. Our country has become divided into two distinct mega camps and each feels their world view and identity threatened by the mere existence of the other. In the absence of obvious superordinate goals like a food or water shortage that immediately threatens survival and would force us to work together (careful what you wish for / give it a minute), it will likely take years of mindful, concerted effort by individuals on the ground who take a long look in the mirror and ask themselves, “what can I do about it?”

Some people will call me naive (and that’s okay, I’ve been called worse) but I think there’s a path forward here through the arts. The arts are a gateway to empathy. And empathy is in an increasingly short supply these days. 

I think maybe that’s part of the problem. 

Increasingly, as Americans, we vilify people who have different lifestyles, beliefs, and opinions. The algorithm has us so locked in and keeps feeding us the same self-fulfilling, self-satisfying bullshit that we get lost in the echo chamber. 

The arts offer an alternative.

When you read a poem or a story, or look at a photo or a painting, beyond being entertained and enriched, the artist is asking you to consider the world from their point of view. When you choose to engage with that piece of art and consider what the artist is trying to say, you’re building those empathy muscles in your brain. That’s what I want the Messenger to be about.

The Milwaukee Avenue Messenger is a quarterly arts and literary journal that celebrates and serves the vibrant communities and independent DIY artistic tradition of Chicago’s Milwaukee Avenue corridor. The Milwaukee Avenue Messenger publishes original prose, poetry, and artwork, with an emphasis on emerging voices in the community. The Milwaukee Avenue Messenger aims to encourage empathy, compassion, and community engagement through the arts.

I believe working with people in the community to produce art for and about our community has value. It brings people together. These stories, poems, and pieces of art will live in the community, in the physical print edition of the Milwaukee Avenue Messenger that gets distributed along Milwaukee Avenue, and they’ll live forever online as a way of documenting the artists and community and highlighting the vitality of these neighborhoods. 

The Milwaukee Avenue Messenger’s call to action for the rest of you is to please keep supporting weird local independent media. Read, write, make art for art’s sake, stay funky. And for god’s sake, have a little empathy for everyone else just muddling along down the avenue. It’ll do you good.