Entries from October 2009 ↓

From the Kenosha Area Convention & Visitors Bureau

More than a decade ago, five artists sat around a table thinking it would be “cool” if they exhibited together, so Lemon Street Gallery & ArtSpace opened in Kenosha in November 1999. Located in southeast Wisconsin, just blocks from Lake Michigan, the gallery celebrates its ten-year anniversary on November 14th.

The gallery gets its name from the street it sits on. Located at the corner of Sheridan Road and 46th Street, the latter was named Lemon Street when the brick building went up in 1919. Melanie Hovey, the gallery’s director and one of its founders, calls the gallery “a refreshingly different art gallery experience!” It is a nonprofit artist’s collective featuring original artwork in all media by over 60 local and regional artists. Continue reading →

For TWO months, Jerry’s art will be exhibited at the Mosquitoe Gallery starting with a launch party on Wednesday, October 28 from 6:30-10:30pm!
Come meet Jerry, view his work, and purchase his prints!

We’ve also got two musical acts lined up for the evening: acoustic folk music by Matthew Davies and jazz music by the Kenan Serenbetz Trio.

FREE ADMISSION! BRING YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY!
There will also be free hors d’oeuvres, soft drinks and wine served by the Sommelier (of Kenosha).

5511 95th Ave.
Kenosha, WI 531440

Fill that special place in your home with a one-of-a-kind student designed chair!

The Gateway Technical College Interior Design student organization is hosting its annual Chair-ity Auction benefiting Women and Children’s Horizons of Kenosha and Gateway Interior Design (ASID) student organization. Gateway Interior Design students rescue chairs, give them a fresh design and sell them to the highest bidder at this unique benefit event.

Event Details:

Friday November 20, 2009 at the Rhode Center for the Arts - 514 56th Street, Kenosha

6:00 p.m. - Hors d’oeuvres and Silent Auction 7:00p.m. - Live Auction

Tickets are available for purchase for $10 or $5 for students available online or at the door. See us at www.gtc.edu/chairityauction .

By Robin Rhodes

Kenosha actor Brent Allen Caputo has been acting on a regular basis since last year. He has performed in numerous theatrical productions such as “Fiddler on the Roof” and “It Was at Midnight”. Supporting roles in an independent film entitled “Red” and a local production of “Haunted” are also part of his resume. He also has done roles as extras, stand ins and body doubles for television and movies.

He is now expanding his repertoire to include the internet. He will be taking on the role of Mr. Adonis Collins, a high school photography teacher in the new Christian web series “The In Crowd” produced by 4given Films.

The series, directed by Tracee Lewis, deals with the problems and challenges that high school students face in an urban setting. It follows the lives of six senior students who attempt to face the challenges spiritually as opposed to following the popular crowd. 4given Films has not announced a premiere date as of yet. Continue reading →

From the Kenosha Area Convention & Visitors Bureau Calendar of Events

Events subject to change. Please call published telephone numbers to confirm details.

Continue reading →

Photography by Joe Barr

This Orphan Train Keeps Rollin’ - Part 1
by Susan Marie Larkin

Smile. Sing a song. Maybe they’ll like you. Do you know how to dance?

Back in the day children boarded the Orphan Trains out East while their parents stayed behind in factory jobs. There were no labor laws, so they worked long hours. Little ones were left at home, left alone, left to the streets. So eventually they were gathered up and fed some soup and taught a little Bible. Then it seemed charitable to bring them to the country. They could work on the farms, and have a better life.

So the trains traveled west, and children got out at every stop and lined up. They would work for food and shelter and be grateful. “Show how strong you are. Smile.”

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I’m a singer song-writer and an artist with a smile on my face. I took violin, ballet and horse-back riding lessons before I was 10.
Do you like me? Do you want me? Am I good enough to keep? My mother used to tell me “we can bring you back to the orphanage anytime we want. ” Keep me, please!”

I swear that when I heard about the orphan trains my heart stopped dead in its tracks. Is THAT why I always try so hard and hope so desperately to be liked and not to lose favor? Am I cute enough? Funny enough? Wittiest? Fastest? Could my streak of luck go on . . . Please?

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I was 52 when I found out I started out as an orphan. Who knew? I mean I always knew I was adopted, but I figured I was a cute little baby that my parents chose out of a sweet and happy place; maybe Heidi lived there. Now after 5 decades on the planet I was discovering I was orphaned on the streets before I was a day old. When I heard about the Orphan Trains it was like I’d finally found my people. “Keep smiling.”

My story ran in the Chicago papers in 1950. They’d found me at 2 a.m., outside the entrance to South Town Hospital on a wintry New Year’s morning. I was a brown haired baby girl, 12-hours old dressed in a diaper, a blue slip, a white dress and wrapped in a little pink blanket. (I liked the description of the outfit. Somehow that made it better.) There I was, placed with seeming care near where the Science and Industry Museum is today. Back then it was an Irish immigrant neighborhood. It was on January 2 that my picture was in the paper as the first abandonment of the decade, a “foundling child”. The other paper called me a “waif.”

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I was sitting in the drive in my 2002 Saturn trying to focus on the words and images in the letter from Catholic Charities: “foundling child, waif, baby on the doorstep.” Was this a TV movie? It was me though — in black and white, a little face peeking out from a blanket, “held in the arms of Nurse Irene Mackey” the caption read. There were other stories that day about the “first born of the decade.” There were identical twin girls and a little boy. They were the first children. I was the first waif.

I read the letter one more time before I stepped out of the car onto our concrete drive. There was an article paper-clipped to the bottom. It read that shortly after the baby was found, “Nurse Irene Mackey received a call from a woman. ‘Did you find the baby?’ the woman asked. “Yes,” confirmed the nurse on duty. They never heard from the woman again.”

I think my mom knew the nurse. I think they had a plan.
And from that day forward, this orphan train keeps rollin’.

Susan Marie Larkin has been a university instructor in writing, lifespan psychology and communications; directed educational foundations; and served as an artist-in-residence for creative journaling in elementary schools. She has also published a training manual on advertising for the Associated Collegiate Press. Now she is enjoying her life as an artist, singer, song-writer, guitarist and “Grandma Sue” to her grandchildren. She currently lives in Kenosha.