Blog Archives
Tea’s Weird Week: If You Don’t Support QWERTY, You Might End Up Butt-hurty (Revisited)
I wrote a similar column title last year in a plea to get people to support something I’m proud of– QWERTYFEST MKE. QF was officially started by me and my co-organizer Molly Snyder in 2023. This year will be our 3rd annual event (though I should note we do smaller events throughout the year, too). It’s been a wild ride, but I absolutely love some of the things we’ve accomplished with the resources we’ve had available.
So what is QWERTYFEST? The inspiration comes from a Milwaukeean named Christopher Latham Sholes. Sholes was an inventor, newspaper editor, and politician. He worked with collaborators at the Kleinsteuber Machine Shop, which was kind of like a Makerspace of it’s day, located on State St., right next to Turner Hall (where our QWERTYFEST opening night party will take place), it was located where State Street Pizza Pub is today. Although there had been attempts at a typing machine before, Sholes developed the first commercial typewriter. Part of that design was the QWERTY keyboard configuration (named after the first 6 letters of the first row), which we still use on our computers and phones today.
Oh, by the way, I’m giddy to say we teamed up with the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame to create a Sholes bobblehead, which you can pre-order HERE.
I won’t go on and on about typewriter philosophy, but in a world filled with parasitic AI programs, deep fakes, spam bots, disinformation, trolls, cyberbullying, privacy concerns, vapid influencers, social isolation, etc. etc. it is a relief to sit in a space with your brain and a piece of paper you can clack-clack-clack away at. QWERTYFEST gives you a chance to do that and hang out with other people who love creativity– writers, readers, artists, musicians, builders, and other creators.
But as much as we love to see (and hear) typewriters in action, QWERTYFEST is more than a “typewriter convention.” We like to celebrate the QWERTY keyboard in all iterations. This year we’re going to be working with DarkFusion Systems to feature more mechanical keyboards people can try out. Our Quick Brown Fox Typing Contest will be back with manual and electric typewriter categories, as well as a texting one. Equally important– we want to celebrate writers of all genres who use these keyboards. New opportunities for local writers to connect and showcase their work is something we love to see.
We also have an appreciation for other analog/ vintage technologies and are working some of that in– pre-digital cameras, board games, records, stamp collecting, stereoscopes– if anything like that is your passion, let us know. Last, me and Molly are both advocates of Milwaukee culture in general, so we like to share Milwaukee history and innovation and collaborate with local businesses we feel are making the city a better place.
Me and Molly are the familiar faces of QWERTYFEST, cause we’re the organizers, but I want to mention the incredible support we’ve gotten both locally in Milwaukee and in the typewriter community. It’s humbling to say that there’s too many people to thank– I would feel awful forgetting anyone. So this is just a huge blanket THANK YOU to everyone who has helped support QWERTYFEST and our related projects (like our zine, QWERTY Quarterly).
And one of those supporters could be YOU. We launched our 2025 fundraiser on Indiegogo. We are trying to raise a lot of money. Venue rental, paying entertainers, artists, and other guests, plus a ton of other costs that pop up here and there adds up to a lot really quickly, but we’re glad to say that almost all of that money goes to local businesses and creators. Our pledge levels include great perks like subscriptions to QWERTY Quarterly, our beloved “We Built Milwaukee on Beer and Typewriters” T-shirt, tickets to our QWERTYFEST events, typed letters or poems, and more. Donations help, so does sharing the fundraiser on your social media, email lists, or wherever you can.
Look, here’s the short version: we want to do big things with QWERTYFEST MKE and you can help make that happen by supporting our fundraiser here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/qwertyfest-mke-2025#/
Next week on TWW: The Nadine Zine! Want TWW delivered to your inbox? You can sign up for my Substack HERE. Follow me on: Facebook Bluesky Instagram
Tea’s Weird Week: Riverwest Ghosts, Typewriters, Political Monsters, etc.
September was a busy one! Here’s a roundup of some writings and media I did.
Chicago typewriter scene: I wrote my first piece for Chicago Reader, “Gen Z is into typewriters,” which appeared in their print edition and online. It’s a look at a fairly new typewriter service shop, Typewriter Chicago and the Chicago typing scene in general.
Riverwest Radio Ghost Walk: This is a unique, fun project created by Jill Capicchioni. Writers and artists provided fiction and nonfiction ghost stories and business and homeowners decorated their buildings to correspond to them. The stories and a map of the participants are collected in a booklet you can buy at several Riverwest businesses (see flyer below) for $10 and the proceeds benefit Riverwest Radio. You pick up a copy, then check out the spots at your own leisure, whenever you want between October 4-31. I contributed two short write ups based on people’s stories of supernatural experiences at Cafe Corazon and Nessun Dorma and a short fiction about an ill-fated punk band called The Humpbacks. I haven’t done a lot of fiction writing, so that was fun. More info on the project: https://www.riverwestradio.com/riverwest-radio-ghost-walk/
Political Monsters: My zine detailing the correlation between the political party in power and vampire, zombie, and evil clown movies debuted this month. I’m doing a little party for it Sunday Oct. 20 at Lion’s Tooth. I’ll talk briefly on how I discovered the theory and we’ll have a quick round of horror trivia. Anyone dressed as a vampire, zombie, or evil clown gets a free copy of the zine!
More stuff: I wrote about Dungeons & Dragons again for Milwaukee Magazine and talked about it briefly on Lake Effect. Speaking of MilMag, check out the October issue, it’s like the Krulos Olympics in that issue– I wrote about dive bars, the hodag, and puppets! Also, I was a guest on the Indecent with Kiki Anderson podcast to discuss my 2019 book Apocalypse Any Day Now: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2X5taeOs5BAxB0ri9rYM1X
Please Clap Dept.: I’m a producer of the horror host documentary I’m Your Host, directed by Alicia Krupsky, which I’m glad to say won both “Best Wisconsin Feature” at Port of Fear Film Festival in Kenosha and “Best Documentary Feature” at the New York Tri-State International Film Festival this month. Nice!
October forecast: Leading up to my party at Lion’s Tooth Oct. 20, I’ll be featuring a “Political Monsters Week” of related material here on my site every day from October 14-18.
Tea’s Weird Week: QWERTYFEST MKE 2024 is going to be epic, but we need your help to fundraise it
Hey all, last year me and Molly Snyder launched a new entry in the “City of Festivals” (Milwaukee) called QWERTYFEST MKE, which celebrates writing, innovation, history, creativity… and, of course, typewriters. This year we have ambitious plans for a bigger event. We’re doing an opening night party at Turner Hall (with the Boston Typewriter Orchestra), and presentations and activities throughout the weekend. To help finance this, we’ve set up an Indiegogo fundraiser. Lots of great perks, including QF tickets, t-shirts, and subscriptions to our in-house zine, QWERTY Quarterly. As of right now, we’re at about 30% funded– I’d love to see that bump up to 50% funded by the end of this weekend. The link to that: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/qwertyfest-mke-2024/
Below the photo, you can find a press release with more info on QF and our fundraiser screening of California Typewriter on June 6. Thanks for your support!
Clack on! QWERTYFEST MKE Returns for Expanded Event June 21-23, 2024
QWERTYFEST MKE is inspired by an invention that changed the world–the typewriter and the QWERTY keyboard that we still use today– which was created right here in Milwaukee by Christopher Latham Sholes. We not only celebrate the typewriter and all iterations of the QWERTY keyboard that followed, but Milwaukee history and innovation in general.
We are also excited to give a platform to writers of all genres who create works on those QWERTY keyboards. Milwaukee has many talented writers and artists, and we want you to know about them. QWERTYFEST is co-organized by Milwaukee writers Molly Snyder (senior writer and editor at OnMilwaukee) and Tea Krulos (a freelance journalist and author). Many other local writers, librarians, artists, organizations, and businesses participate to make the festival happen.
At QWERTYFEST, you can try out typewriters and other writing machines, hear spoken word and presentations, participate in workshops, see unique musical performances (including our Friday night headliner, Boston Typewriter Orchestra), socialize at gatherings like our Typewriter Brunch Open Jam, and much more. It is an entertaining and informative weekend.
QWERTYFEST MKE 2024
Thursday, June 6: QWERTYFEST MKE fundraiser screening of the documentary California Typewriter at Oriental Theatre. We’re thrilled for people to see this film as it shows the versatile ways people can celebrate typewriters (in addition to Tom Hanks, Milwaukee makes a guest appearance, too). Ticket holders also get a free copy of our summer QWERTYFEST preview edition of our in-house publication QWERTY Quarterly. Tickets available here: https://mkefilm.org/oriental-theatre/events/california-typewriter
Friday, June 21: National Typewriter Day Ball at Turner Hall. This will feature live music with headlining guests the Boston Typewriter Orchestra: http://www.bostontypewriterorchestra.com/
There’s also interactive writing and mailing stations, the DarkFusion Systems Gaming Lounge, vendors, a dramatic competition called the Clackathon (as well as a words-per-minute contest called the Quick Brown Fox Typing Contest), storytelling, food and drink, and more.
Saturday, June 22: QWERTYFEST at Mitchell Street Arts. Workshops and presentations on typewriters, writing and creativity, history, and art. We are having a “Whisky Type” after party at Great Lakes Distillery.
Sunday, June 23: QWERTYFEST Activities Day. Typewriter Brunch Open Jam (location TBA), “QWERTY Journey” tour at Forest Home Cemetery, and other activities around town TBA.
We Are Fundraising to Make QWERTYFEST Happen Right Now
As you can imagine, flying in a Boston Typewriter Orchestra, as well as paying for work by local writers, artists, musicians, venue fees, (and typewriter ribbons) adds up. We have these methods of raising money:
Crowdsourcing campaign on Indiegogo. Every little bit helps to make our fundraising goal. We are offering some great perks, including tickets, T-shirts, QQ subscriptions, and more. Our campaign is live here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/qwertyfest-mke-2024/x/14628551
You can also make a tax-deductible donation to us via a fiscal sponsor. Please email us for more info.
Sponsorships. We have great sponsorship opportunities, including name attachment to elements of our event, ads in our media, banner placement, free tickets, and more. Please email us for more info.
Links/ contact
Contact us at: qwertyfestmke@gmail.com
Website: www.qwertyfest.com
Facebook: facebook.com/qwertyfest
Instagram: instagram.com/qwertyfest_mke
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