Hats off to jsonline's Lori Price for finding a little blurb on Milwaukee in the fashion and lifestyle magazine "Marie Claire."
The August issue of "Marie Claire," according Price has a story called "Sexy 101." The issue is off the newsstands and not fully online, so I'm going to have to trust her.
Price, who writes good stuff regularly about fasion and other lifestyle issues, and who Journal Sentinel officials wouldn't let talk to me for this blog ("Journal Sentinel policy prohibits us from contributing to the work of our competition," she wrote me), writes this about the "Marie Claire" story:
"The lead-in to each item on the list, described by one of the magazine's editors as an "It" list of the here and now, was "sexiest." The list included such items as the Democratic National Convention, France's top newlyweds Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni, AMC's "Mad Men" and the trend of women out-earning men."
The blurb on Milwaukee, again according to Price since I can't find the actual item online, says this about Milwaukee, "the nation's summer-festival epicenter" where "NASCAR tailgaters, Lebanese dabka dance fans and Foo Fighters freaks (are) all welcome."
The rest of Price's story goes on to talk to people about their thoughts on sexy, it also includes a good video with local reaction. Many are surprised that Milwaukee made the list and others say that sexy is really a state of mind and about friendliness, so yes Milwaukee is sexy.
Which made me think. How do you define Milwaukee?
Many people use the terms "real," "authentic," "easy," "beer," and increasingly I'm hearing "cool," "surprising," "great blend of old and new," and one of my favorites, "a city without pretense."
I wouldn't necessarily call Milwaukee "sexy," but the word is getting used a lot these day and since it essentially means (according to Merriam-webster.com) "generally attractive or interesting" -- I guess we are sexy. I'm not, though, surprised that people see our city and Downtown neighborhoods as -- to use another overused term -- cool.
I love Milwaukee, lived here my whole life and do what I can to help move it forward. It's not a city without challenges, no city is. But it is one with amazing tradition, funky new icons and areas and real people that know how to work hard and play hard. It's the new of the Milwaukee Art Museum and Downtown homes and the old of polka, Pabst and parks.
As I did this week for "The Color Purple" review, I turned to my wife, co-owner of Lela, for her thoughts. She, of course, at least in my eyes is sexy, confident and fun.
"I do see exactly what the editors (of "Marie Claire") are saying. I've lived in Minneapolis and Chicago and worked in fashion for years. There's a sense of real and confidence here in Milwaukee. The people are friendly, architecture beautiful and community strong," said my wife, Stephanie Sherman.
"It gets down to what is sexy? Sexy is not putting on airs, not trying to be someone else -- being yourself. The point here is that this is attractive. If a girl wants to drink a beer in Milwaukee, she doesn't have to hide it. She just drinks it. That's what other people are discovering, Milwaukee is so real, so authentic and a real breath of fresh air. What's beautiful about it is that the people here just live. We're gritty, not chained-out and not so big that you can't connect," Sherman added.
"That's sexy. It really doesn't matter what anyone says, we have fun in Milwaukee," she concluded.
That's it, Milwaukee = fun. And, if fun is sexy, have at it, I say.
A life-long and passionate community leader and Milwaukeean, Jeff Sherman is a co-founder of OnMilwaukee.
He grew up in Wauwatosa and graduated from Marquette University, as a Warrior. He holds an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University, and is the founding president of Young Professionals of Milwaukee (YPM)/Fuel Milwaukee.
Early in his career, Sherman was one of youngest members of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and currently is involved in numerous civic and community groups - including board positions at The Wisconsin Center District, Wisconsin Club and Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. He's honored to have been named to The Business Journal's "30 under 30" and Milwaukee Magazine's "35 under 35" lists.
He owns a condo in Downtown and lives in greater Milwaukee with his wife Stephanie, his son, Jake, and daughter Pierce. He's a political, music, sports and news junkie and thinks, for what it's worth, that all new movies should be released in theaters, on demand, online and on DVD simultaneously.
He also thinks you should read OnMilwaukee each and every day.
