Graduation is approaching quicker than I expected. In December, I become a college graduate and once I pick up my degree I will be forced to make important decisions about my future. I have considered two options: move back to Madison for a year or leave Wisconsin for a warmer climate. I would like to leave Milwaukee for a better community. Although I have met some nice friends during my 2+ years here, I have also met a lot of forgettable faces that seem to disappear all too quickly.
As much as I look forward to leaving Milwaukee, there are a few things I will miss. I love the neighborhood I live in because it feels like a friendly community where people say hello on the streets. Although the homes are very gorgeous, and the lake view is nice, the best part of living here are the little oddities I've noticed on daily walks, such as guys pissing on the side of buildings just a few yards away from the sidewalk (in broad daylight). That strange crippled man in the wheelchair that can't even lift his head up. I haven't figured him out yet, but he intrigues me. A 60+ year old man that parks his wheelchair on the corner by the icecream shop during warm spring and summer days, sleeps and....well, I don't know what else but it is very weird. I've walked past him many times before and never heard him speak, so I doubt he's out there asking for money, but he's out there. I will miss the panhandlers asking me for change. This is remarkable! Homeless men standing just 2 blocks from a neighborhood of homes that cost $500,000 to $2,000,000 and they have the nerve to ask a college student for change. I have lots of change but I don't just hand it out. I would rather toss my $0.35 in the sewer than hand it over to another human being. I will miss the rich people in the neighborhood that take their dogs for a walk without a leash. They probably spent a lot of money just to have a professional train their dogs not to run away.
My first semester to UW-Milwaukee was an interesting experience. Transfering from Whitewater, I was just glad to be in a city again. I knew I wasn't in Whitewater when I saw a homeless man sleeping on a bench in the middle of the afternoon during my first week of classes. How bizarre but yet, it was like adding spice to a bland piece of meat. It just felt right for some reason. However, the UW-Milwaukee is looking to reshape its image and it pisses me off. The student associating on campus wants to change UWM to WSU (Wisconsin State University) just to seperate itself from Madison. BULLSHIT!!, I say. I want to graduate from UWM, not WSU. As tuition rises every semester, I see no reason to spend even more money on something so wasteful. Everything on campus with the letters UWM would have to be replaced and that costs money to reprint and replace it all with WSU. The funniest aspect of this whole name change is that students actually think that if the name was WSU, the university would distance itself from the U of W Madison. The only way Milwaukee could distinguish itself in this state is to remain UWM and realize that it will always be #2 in the state and that is ok.
