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a milwaukee monument Around three this morning at work, I finished reading the last of Annie Proulx's Heart Songs and Other Short Stories. Now I know from past experience that she writes about some downtrodden characters, but most of the people in this collection were completely depressing. It was one story after another of people living pathetic lives and then dying miserably. Thankfully the final story was the most disturbing of the group. Had it been the first, I am not sure if I would have bothered to read the rest of them. I am not saying that they weren't well written, but the subject matter was less than uplifting. The people in the stories were the kind that one would hope to avoid in life. I've been thinking some more about the New York documentary and cities in general and I have to wonder what Milwaukee would look like with skyscrapers. For the most part we have a rather humble skyline, but I think that we could work a few impressive structures somewhere in there. True, one has only to travel an hour and half south to see the Sears Tower, which I think is taller than the Empire State building, but it isn't located here. For me it really isn't the overall height of the buildings that I find impressive, but the feel of the them. A skyscraper in and of itself is not that special to me, it also has to have a sense of style and grace to impress me. As much as I make fun of Milwaukee, I do love the city and try to support it the best that I can. I think the image that it has been given by the media is rather unfair and needs to be changed. It needs to escape from its beer and cheese cliches to something a little more refined. Milwaukee needs someone or something to make it more memorable. Since I doubt that I am going to leave the state any time soon other than through a few vacations, I am pretty sure that I am going to buy a house next year. I am tired of being a renter and I want something that I can call my own. My parents have even suggested that I have a place built which may or may not be within my budget, but it would certainly be the ultimate option for me. My parents did it and I know they loved being able to see the house start from ground up. They have photo albums devoted to the construction of the house where they currently live. Now if I could do it, I would make sure that the house had my personality built into it.
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