This episode of the pod once again finds Lindsay and Elisabeth holding down the banter fort as David is away on vacation. They begin the episode by discussing their outdoor adventures over the holiday weekend. Next, they imagine purposes for underutilized spaces in their own neighborhoods of Brewer’s Hill and Bay View. They also touch on Green Talks at the Lounge—an event series centered on environmental justice and wellness in Muskego Way, which is a collaboration with Muskego Way Forward, Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers, Safe & Sound, Data You Can Use and Imagine MKE. This lays the groundwork for the guest, Yesi Pérez, a local artist who serves as the Neighborhood Revitalization Coordinator at Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers.  

Yesi joins the crew around 9:00. In the conversation, she reflects on her own development as a multidisciplinary creative who reflects her experience and identity through her artwork. Yesi speaks on the formative, magical experience of witnessing Aztec dance at Mexican Fiesta on the Summerfest Grounds as a child. As the daughter of two immigrants from Mexico, Yesi then had the opportunity to travel back to their home and witnessed traditional dance as more of a ritual, and less of a performance. As a result, she experienced a resurgence of creative inspiration, and was inspired to study Aztec dance and “be part of that world”. In addition to dance, Yesi has also been a lifelong visual artist and was also studied the cello for over ten years. Today, she explores her creativity through facilitating programming and engagements with residents in the Muskego Way neighborhood. She also creates marketing materials for Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers, and has been a featured mural artist at various locations around Milwaukee. She talks about the intrinsic connection between creativity and wellness—and how creativity allows people to access different ways of communicating and being in community, in small ways and big ways.  

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Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers

Mexican Fiesta 

Aztec Dance 

Bruce Guadelupe Community School 

Walkers Point Center for the Arts 

Latino Art Strings Program 

Marquette/MIAD 

Muskego Way Forward 

Safe & Sound 

Data You Can Use 

Active Streets 

Pete’s Fruit Market 

UMOS