The Future

[Rock Brentwood]

These are bits and pieces that I've seen in a series of dreams lasting
over the past 5-10 years (and more). I've tried to put them together
as cohesively as they can be. For posterity's sake, I'm placing them
here in an out-of-the-way place that nobody ever goes, so as to have a
point of reference that won't influence the outcomes.

Some of it is "too late" in the sense that it now seems like a
response or reference to things that have already passed. But the
tornado dream(s) came from 2008-2010, not early 2011. And the one
involving the student housing complex (yet to be) near Capitol Drive
is from late 2010 and from several occasions before then, also ranging
from 2008-2010.

The ornate interior that I saw several times (with an interior garden,
trees, stream and waterfall) I didn't recognize the location of until
on one occasion early in 2011, when I got an exterior view. It was in
a location now occupied by the UWM student union. For reference, this
is called the Ring Complex below.

More is "too late" in the sense that it is already past. I saw the
interior of the remade RS&F Pavillion several times over the time
range 2000-2005, well before it was planned. I was in various parts of
the Inova complex on Kenilworth several times in the 2003-2006 time
period while the then-future locale was still being used as a storage
site for the Sailing Club. (I even got a street address, on one
occasion, but not the north-south or east-west, so could only narrow
it down to one of 8 places, the Kenilworth site being one of them).

I don't have dates for anything, but there may be enough info to
extrapolate dates from this. The discussion about classes being
discontinued looks like either 2016 or 2020.

Here goes.

(1) A swimmer named Slater will win 2 medals out of 5 swimming events.
This was being discussed 2 faculty members near an inlet, along a
walkway, inside the Ring Complex, near floor-to-ceiling windows that
looked out toward the south. While this was being discussed, a 3rd
faculty member rushed up to the other two to inform them that word
just came from on up (the Chancellor's Office) that UWM was
discontinuing classes and was going to go completely on-line.

What I infer from this is that it's going completely 100% Skype, and
that what are now classroom facilities will be remoulded into
satellite study areas and lounges similar to what you see in the Soref
learning commons.

A web search for the name reveals that there is, indeed, a young
athlete named Slater competing in swimming events. She's currently
competing at the Junior Olympic level where she just recently won
events in the spring of 2012. If it's her, then that means (because of
age limits) it can't be any earlier than 2016.

(2) Where the student union is presently located will be the Ring
Complex: a 3-story complex similar in architecture to the 3-story
multi-use facility seen at Bayshore. It apparently wraps around the
area bounded by Downer, Maryland, Kenwood and Hartford, probably
including the Golda Meir Library. Inside is a courtyard, with an
elegant design somewhat similar to the Tianammen)sp?) Square complex,
except that it contains several buildings entirely housed within the
courtyard. The exterior on the south side (the Kenwood side) has
restaurants and cafes similar to those seen on North near Cambridge,
and awnings and outdoor seating. On the west side is a large terrace
reminiscent of the one downtown near the Miller Pavillion or the
outdoor seating area near Bar Louie at Bayshore. Next to it, on the
western end of the building is some kind of rec room or entertainment
area (possibly even a workout area), and restaurant.

The interior has 3 levels of walkways that overlook a garden, stream,
several trees and even a small waterfall. About mid-way near where the
western end of the union stairwell presently is, there is a cross-over
walkway. West of that on the top two levels are satellite centers or
meeting rooms (one of which is where exams of some kind are held).

(3) The student housing complex near Capitol is in a location from
which Bolton and Dorm towers are visible and about a mile away. Since
UWM only builds in Milwaukee (as far as I'm aware), and since
Milwaukee intersects Capitol and the surrounding area at only one
location, thus narrows down the location to somewhere near where the
old warehouse is,near the bike trail and south of Capitol.

The complex has a basement level slightly under ground level, somewhat
similar in design to the lower level patio on the north end of the
union. There's a terraced exterior. Inside is an entertainment area of
some sort. On the northwest end of the basement area is some kind of
storage area (possibly even with lounges, beds or cots, and laundry
machines or lockers). There's also some kind of workout facility at
the basement level.

The plans announced yesterday in the paper said the warehouse is the
place where a housing unit is going to be set up and apparently it is
going to also include a swimming pool (which I did NOT see).

(4) A violent storm will be visible from the housing complex near
Capitol. It's sufficiently powerful to prompt evacuation procedures in
the Golda Meir Library. What makes it unusual is that (a) it's coming
FROM the East, going northwest, (b) there are no sirens in advance,
(c) the twister initially looks like a waterspout (which is not strong
enough to do the damage I saw), (d) the sky was clearing up and the
sun was visible. The twister touched down near Downer, went west near
or through the Union, destroyed the upper levels of Bolton, passed
through the Library, into the dorn area, and compromised the towers. I
don't know which towers remained intact. It then headed northwest
straight toward the housing complex, prompting evacuation procedures.
It was clearly visible a mile away (which is what makes it possible to
locate the housing complex) and a point was made to head to the
*northwest* side of the basement area, near the storage or lounge
area.

(5) The Milwaukee downtown area is extended in an unbroken stretch all
the way down to Mitchell field. The area is filled with 3-4 story
condos, research facilities or mixed use buildings, with an
architecture also similar to Bayshore. There is an unbroken walking
district (reminiscent of downtown Munich) that spans the entire
distance. A bike path may also be present there. This is apparently
near the parks that bound the southern portion of the Kinnickinnic
River.

Somewhere near Wisconsin Avenue is a large stairwell that looks like
the one in Philadelphia made famous by the Rocky movie (a "Spanish
Stairwell" inspired design). It's similar to what is presently located
near Northwestern Mutual but faces south, instead of north. The
terrace at the top of the stairwell is considered as a kind of
"gateway" to the southern extension of the downtown area. There may be
a pedestrian or bike bridge south of it that goes over the KK river
near the place currently located by the Harley Museum.

Along the routes contained in the walking district, you can literally
walk all the way down to the airport from downtown. I don't recognize
what the 3-4 story buildings are. They look like the newly built ones
south of North avenue, west of the Milwaukee area.

(6) There is some kind of elevated railline. I see a picture or photo
of it with the red sunset in part of the background, and the lake in
another part of the background. The lake portion of the background
looks like the harbor area and is apparently facing south (since it's
to the left of the sunset). The elevated rail line curves toward the
direction of the sunset.

(7) A mention of a new research complex "6 miles west of downtown" was
made. This was a couple years before the decision was made on the
westward expansion of UWM. I don't know if it's the same place,
though. What I inferred is that it was going to be located near 124th
street, near the county line.

There is presently new construction going on at Blue Mound, near
124th, near the abandoned rail line. That rail line (BTW) directly
feeds into the Hank Aaron trail starting about 2 miles to the east.
There was minor construction some sort going on along the rail
corridor about 1 mile west of where the trail starts, which I had a
chance to look at recently while walking by there.

[Rock Brentwood]

On Dec 2, 11:49 am, Rock Brentwood <federation2...@netzero.com> wrote:
> She's currently
> competing at the Junior Olympic level where she just recently won
> events in the spring of 2012. If it's her, then that means (because of
> age limits) it can't be any earlier than 2016.

"...won events in the spring of 2012..." Should read: "...won events
in the spring of 2011. I believe she's 12..."

> Along the routes contained in the walking district, you can literally
> walk all the way down to the airport from downtown. I don't recognize
> what the 3-4 story buildings are. They look like the newly built ones
> south of North avenue, west of the Milwaukee area.

"west of the Milwaukee area" should be "west of the Milwaukee River".

> (6) There is some kind of elevated railline. I see a picture or photo
> of it with the red sunset in part of the background, and the lake in

> another part of the background...

I assumed, back in 2011, that this was probably going to be some kind
of westbound spur of Amtrak. The reason is item (8) below.

> (7) A mention of a new research complex "6 miles west of downtown" was
> made.

(8) All along the central part of the county and possibly beyond are
some kind highrises, similar to those I described going south, and
similar to those seen in the research parks north of Chicago. Like the
southern spur, they're also reminiscent of Munich's downtown area and
(to a lesser degree) similar to the film and arts production areas
seen along the 5th ward.

Some of this goes much further to the south.

(9) An unbroken stretch of trails straddling the Illinois-Indiana
border apparently to the Cumberland lakes. There is a spur that goes
southwest through Decatur. And it appears all of this is a venue for a
major extreme distance competition that may even proceed southward
from Milwaukee.

I don't recognize what it is and am not sure if it's the Lincoln
Trail. All I recognize is that a portion of it is on a raised ridge,
overlooking long stretches of flat landscape on either side of it. The
appearance is somewhat similar to the first few miles north into
Ozaukee county of the new bike trail.

(10) There was an spurious reference that made no sense at all in a
recent dream to "Walker street going hundreds of miles to the south".
The problem is that (a) there is no such street in Milwaukee going
north and south (it goes east and west) and (b) during the dream I was
a map being pulled out on which the street was being tracing in an
*east-west* direction along a line that roughly runs through Lincoln
avenue, towards Madison.

The discussion was being carried out in an outdoor shelter that is
similar in appearance to the one located west of Oakland, just south
of Edgewood. There was a protest a few days ago near 68th and
Greenfield on a place called "Walker's Street", if I recall.

(11) On about 5-10 occasions I was either in an outdoor area or inside
a building with an ornately-designed interior where the whole place
was filled with beds and cots and it was nearly impossible to weave
one's way around. Those dreams ranged from late 2008 to around
November of 2010. One of the places looked like the interior Capitol
building in Madison. I don't know what the other places were, but (a)
it was warm outside, (b) one of the places was on a crowded hillside
overlooking a track and field area, and looked similar to the kind of
festivities you see at a track and field competition. But the field
was open to anyone and everyone to just walk up to the starting line
and race. It was somewhat reminiscent of Ripon's field during Badger
Boys' State gatherings (but they don't do open-invitation like that).
It was more like an outdoor workout area.

[Christopher Gautam Hota]

Thanks to Rock Brentwood for posting a fascinating view of one eminently probable future for the campus. I've not seen the inside of Tiananmen Square, and oughtn't comment on such until I've done such.

As I was reading this, the concept of two-decades-plus (20th or 25th) "Anniversary Special" (such as the recent television shows Roseanne, et al. have been doing, as well as my (from childhood) 25th anniversary edition of the Rocky Horror Picture Show) came to mind, and I heard myself mutter "25 years from now..." This could mean either from the post date or from now, 2021050208[00], and could indicate either backward or forward in time ("from now" rather than "in the future" is an uncommon, yet valid, wording).

And now, as I write the above, the phrase from my own tour of the UWM campus (Spring 2001, for my 2001 autumnal beginning of matriculation) rings out and echoes, now twenty years later: "the UWM Union is the largest student union building, other than Ivy League campuses..."

That which you've memorialized here is similar to the envisioning which I feel an architect must be capable, and which I've seen only once. Walking a county road in Neenah, WI, near the home of another UWM contemporary of mine; I walked past a parcel of land with only a grassy embankment visible to me at the edges. I saw a grayscale—and as tho looking thru a rippling water layer—vision of the land being used as a Christmas Tree farm, similar to yet seemingly much larger than the one from which I had visited as an adolescent (middle- and high-school [?] student), also in Wisconsin.

Thanks for the great vision; thinking about UWM and the East side in the 2030s is a trip. Perhaps those street-legal standing motor-scooters will be available to tour the place next time I'm in the area.

~Topher😇

PS: Sandburg Towers N2120B (the "double" room in that suite) has the better view (awesome, magnificent, and, when it's one's first view, utterly awesome-as-plain-and-expected) of the city, especially at sunrise. -cgh