Oh, Milwaukee, You're Going Wild

I live in Milwaukee. It's a good town, the town I grew up, the town that makes me all nostalgic still, especially in the fall which is fast approaching.

This fall seems like a hard one. I think this fall might be the hardest autumnal season Milwaukee has ever faced. If you read any news, you know that Milwaukee is in trouble. Milwaukee is now ranked as the fourth-poorest city in the nation. It's the second- (or first-) most segregated city in America. And we've seen our share, and more than our share, of violence in recent months.

But what does it all mean? Is my beloved, lovely gem of a city on the slow downward slide to oblivion? What about all the good things about Milwaukee? And there are lots of good things! Just read this awesome Guardian piece about all the great things in Milwaukee! See! We have lots of good things to go with our bad things. We're arty and cool and we don't actually care about being arty and cool, just like hipsters. Milwaukee is totally the cool hipster capitol, where all the cool hipsters are because we're not ironically not caring, we actually don't care, and also we care too much.

It's a Milwaukee thing, I don't expect you to understand.

I live in a lovely part of Milwaukee that's very near a large park (that was actually designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the man responsible for that paragon of urban green space, Central Park in New York City!) and because of our proximity to Lake Park, we have a regular rotation of urban wildlife wandering around the neighborhood. There have always been deer and coyotes in the park, along with possums, raccoons, rabits, squirrels and all those other little furry creatures that make you go "Aww!" on every street.

But this year, we've had a new addition to the neighborhood. Turkeys. Milwaukee now has urban turkeys!


I've spent some time mulling over what it means that turkeys would take residence in my fair city for the first time in the very same year that it would seem that Milwaukee is going down the drain. Turkeys, after all, are the birds that the venerable Thomas Jefferson wanted to be America's national bird. He thought that eagles were lazy poachers of other animals food, which they are, and that a more fitting symbol for the fledgingly America would be the steadfast, hardworking, loyal turkey.

He lost that battle, obviously, but I can't help thinking about him as I ponder this turkey's arrival in Milwaukee. Milwaukee is steadfast and hardworking. We are an industrial town, an old piece of the rust belt trying to make it in this modern era when there's just no industry left. And we're doing a fair job of it! Perhaps the turkey is telling us to just keep on keepin' on. I don't know. But it's something to think about.

Last night, I saw the turkey again. She's getting kind of fat on foraged fruit and garbage, but for the first time, I saw her fly. She flew up into the dying maple tree in the easement between my neighbors' yard and the street. Perhaps she was trying to fly away, to flee Milwaukee and all her problems, or maybe she was merely looking for a place to roost for the winter.


I suppose we won't know until next spring.