You catch more bees with honey than with vinegar. At my son's first swimming class -- a great value compared to the pricey class we took last winter -- at a local Milwaukee Public Schools pool, the water was brrrrrrrr cold. There weren't any ice floes, but the kids shivvered and were reluctant to get in.
If it were me alone, I probably would have bucked up and taken it. But seeing my boy's blue lips sent me to the MPS recreation site, where I sent a friendly suggestion that perhaps the water was too cold. Within a few hours, I had a reply promising action and saw a number of others CC'd on the e-mail.
The following week the water seemed maybe a little warmer, maybe not. I followed up to report that and when we showed up for class this week, the instructor was ecstatic. "Thanks," she exclaimed. "It's almost like bath water now!"
It turned out that the temperature gauge (aka thermometer?) was misreading the water temperature in the pool and my second e-mail appears to have led to that discovery and the rectification of the problem. I didn't really do anything other than let the people in charge know and give them the info in a nice way.
Let that be a lesson to me when I'm feeling frustrated and snarky and ready to crack open the vinegar. It's best to reach for the honey instead.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
