Vote for us in Milwaukee Magazine's Best of Milwaukee Awards!
Dan Shafer is nominated for "Best Local Social Media Follow."
The Recombobulation Area is a 19-time 21-TIME! Milwaukee Press Club award-winning opinion column and online publication founded by longtime Milwaukee journalist Dan Shafer. The Recombobulation Area is now part of Civic Media.
Well, this is pretty wild. The Recombobulation Area is nominated for the Milwaukee Magazine - 2026 Best of Milwaukee Readers’ Choice for “Local Social Media Follow.”
We’re honored to be in the mix with so many talented local voices helping tell Milwaukee’s story. If you think we’ve earned your vote, we’d be grateful for it.
Voting is open now through June 5. Find us in Culture, Arts & Entertainment → Local Social Media Follow and cast your vote.
Vote here!
And yes, it is quite something to be nominated for award, 10 years after I was on staff at Milwaukee Magazine. Life is funny, isn’t it?
Before you head off to vote — vote here! — I want to give a special shoutout to Jennie Brand, who has been helping lead The Recombobulation Area’s social media in recent months. If you’ve noticed that our Facebook and Instagram, in particular, have gotten considerably better as of late, that’s all thanks to Jennie! So, she shares this award, too. Congrats, Jennie!
REMINDER: We are hosting our LIVE PODCAST event on Thursday, May 7, at 5:30 p.m. at Anodyne Coffee’s Walker’s Point Roastery. It is FREE to attend, it is family friendly, and you should be there.
Details here:
We originally set out for this event to be held on Milwaukee Day (4/14), but tornado warnings had other ideas. But, we’re still showing up for the 4-1-4 — and for our extraordinary community that we all share with The Recombobulation Area.
The event will now feature Kristin Brey, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist and 620 WTMJ radio host — who is also up for this very same Milwaukee Magazine award! — along with Angela Lang, co-executive director of BLOC and an award-winning contributor to The Recombobulation Area, and special guests.
RSVP on Facebook to let us know you’re coming.
Dan Shafer is a journalist from Milwaukee who writes and publishes The Recombobulation Area. In 2024, he and the publication joined Civic Media, where he is currently a Contributing Editor. He’s 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 24 Milwaukee Press Club Excellence in Journalism Awards. He’s on Twitter at @DanRShafer.
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Follow Dan Shafer on Twitter at @DanRShafer, at BlueSky at @danshafer.bsky.social, and on Threads at @danshafer.