UPGRADE TO PAID: Subscriptions are 41.4% off as we celebrate the 4-1-4 on Milwaukee Day!
Also: We went to visit The Boat. Because it's Milwaukee Day.
The Recombobulation Area is a thirteen-time NINETEEN-TIME Milwaukee Press Club award-winning weekly opinion column and online publication founded by longtime Milwaukee journalist Dan Shafer. The Recombobulation Area is now part of Civic Media.
Because it’s Milwaukee Day, I felt the need to visit a Milwaukee icon. And you know what I had not yet seen in person? The Milwaukee Boat.
For those unfamiliar, The Milwaukee Boat is a vessel that’s been stranded on the lakefront in Milwaukee for six whole months now. The owners who bought the boat last October beached it during a storm, and decided to just leave it there, and there it has sat for month after month.
Our friends at Milwaukee Record have extensively chronicled the saga of The Boat throughout cold and wind and ice and snow and now, as spring is arriving, it’s still there just…being there.
There’s a certain kind of zen greatness to the saga of The Boat. It’s a reminder that we cannot control anything, really. There’s comfort in that. There’s peace in that, too, in a weird way. Think of all that’s happened over the last six months as The Boat has been stuck there between McKinley Beach and Bradford Beach. Several lifetimes have unfolded and yet, The Boat has remained.
But for whatever reason, I hadn’t ventured down to the lakefront to see the boat up close and in person. So I decided today is the day. I’m glad I went. It’s a tremendously silly thing and it’s now a genuine Milwaukee landmark.
Being that a silly thing that’s also a Milwaukee landmark is what I chose as the name of this publication, I obviously love it. I hope it stays there forever (I’m choosing to ignore the efforts to remove it). I hope it outlives us all.
Here are a few more photos of The Boat.
Oh right, the sale!
Today is the day of our BIGGEST SALE OF THE YEAR and we are offering 41.4% off subscriptions to support The Recombobulation Area.
SUBSCRIBE HERE
We love this glorious, weird city and we are going to celebrate it any chance we get.
Reminder: If you subscribe today, you’re eligible to win two passes to see a film at the upcoming Milwaukee Film Festival (April 24-May 8!) AND you’ll also have a chance to win a four-pack of tickets to an upcoming Milwaukee Brewers game.
You’ll also get a round on us at our upcoming happy hour event at Third Space Brewing.
Don’t delay, SUBSCRIBE TODAY!
Dan Shafer is a journalist from Milwaukee who writes and publishes The Recombobulation Area. In 2024, he became the Political Editor of Civic Media. He’s also written for The New York Times, The Daily Beast, Heartland Signal, Belt Magazine, WisPolitics, and Milwaukee Record. He previously worked at Seattle Magazine, Seattle Business Magazine, the Milwaukee Business Journal, Milwaukee Magazine, and BizTimes Milwaukee. He’s won 23 Milwaukee Press Club Excellence in Journalism Awards. He’s on Twitter at @DanRShafer.
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Follow Dan Shafer on Twitter at @DanRShafer and at BlueSky at @danshafer.bsky.social.