Many a memorable children's tale takes place on a rainy afternoon. If it weren't for the characteristically soggy British weather, the Pevensie children in C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe may never have stumbled into Narnia. The same might be said of the perky protagonists of Snickeyfritz, a children's book by local author Andrea Skyberg.

Whether it's over canapés and cocktails, cross-legged by a campfire or at a child's bedside, storytelling is one of our surest means of reaching out to our fellow man. In a bid to strengthen a connection imperiled by today's hectic lifestyle, novelist George Dawes Green assembled a group of friends in his Manhattan apartment for a night of storytelling, dubbing the event "The Moth" in honor of the balmy Southern nights...

Two soon-to-close exhibitions at Villa Terrace and Milwaukee Art Museum enhance the obsessive quality of the meticulously crafted object. Attention to detail borders on fetish in Marina Bychkova's "Enchanted Dolls" at the Villa Terrace. This exotic harem straddles a broad spectrum of religions, myths, cultures and epochs bound by a common thread: servitude to the ideal of female perfection. A couple of years ago UW-Milwaukee's Union Art Gallery...

"She may not be everyone's cup of tea," admits one of Jen Lancaster's ardent online followers, referring to the author's unlovable persona. But you've got to hand it to the corporate-high-flier-turned-blogger-turned-author: She doesn't sugarcoat her past to lend it a more flattering hue. To the contrary, the memoirist who won...

Earlier this year Ticketmaster, the world's largest ticket broker, and Live Nation, the world's largest concert promoter, announced plans for a multimillion-dollar merger. It doesn't take a genius to imagine the offspring such a union will yield: a single entity effectively controlling most major concert venues as well as who performs at them and how much it costs the public to attend. The silver lining? It's the perfect time for Chicago Tribune...

At the risk of sounding cliche, Milwaukee's lively art scene really does have something to suit everyone's tastes. For serious connoisseurs of European painting and American folk, decorative and fine arts traditions through the 20th century. the Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM) and Marquette University's Haggerty Museum of Art boast impressive permanent holdings as well as several temporary exhibitions each year. If you'd rather see European oils, fine porcelain or the work of 19thcentury American craftsmen in a historic setting, head over to the Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum...

Milwaukee's drastic seasonal changes are both a blessing and a curse when it comes to keeping kids entertained. Summer and fall are idyllic, with inviting parks and pools spread across the city and hiking trails along the area's rivers. And although the long winter months can drive many of us indoors, they also offer great opportunities for sledding, snowshoeing and ice skating. The gentle slopes of Bay View's Humboldt Park provide perfect spots for young sledders, and Red Arrow Park's outdoor ice rink is an inexpensive, lively skating venue...

Liz Diller, co-founder of New York architecture firm Diller Scofidio Renfro, recently made a number of visits to UW-Milwaukee's School of Architecture and Urban Planning (SARUP) to address students of the Urban Edge Studio headed by new faculty member Mo Zell. The students' task this semester was to create a series of urban interventions around the city. Diller's task was to help them think beyond the studio walls...