The monthly neighbor spotlight.
by Peter Schmidtke / photo by Peter DiAntoni
An individual as independent as Mike Froemming knows he’s not going to please everyone. From the bottom flat of a sun-bleached, yellow two-story house on Center Street just east of the Fuel Cafe, where he has lived since 1983, Froemming talks about his affection for dogs, his recent layoff, and his affinity for being a nudist.
by Peter Schmidtke / photograph by Peter DiAntoni
On a sunny Sunday morning over coffee on Downer Avenue, 23-year-old Hardrick laid out her plans for the future. Even though it’s sweltering outside on this day, and it’s her day off from work, she wears long pants and a pin-striped shirt.
by Sonya Jongsma Knauss / photograph by Peter DiAntoni
At an age when many women are settling into mid-life activities and looking forward a decade or two to retirement, Ellias decided to apprentice herself to a wood-worker in Milwaukee. She took a few classes, and when he went out of business, she decided to open her own shop. She has not regretted that decision.
by Sonya Jongsma Knauss, photo by Peter DiAntoni
Dr. Dave was David Schemberger, MD, in a previous life, but he stopped practicing more than a decade ago. He became convinced modern medicine was causing more problems than it was solving. “I saw myself giving pills to people who continued to abuse themselves in habitual ways — it kept them from ever getting healthy,” he said, referring to patients with cardiovascular and other problems.
by Eryn Moris / photograph by Peter DiAntoni
“I have this stereotypical Catholic guilt like ‘You should be in school, you should be working a straight job, you should get married and have a family,’” he says. “I always have that on one shoulder and then on this other one, ‘You know you should get in a band and book some more shows, call in sick, have a hangover and play that show.’ It’s always this push-pull thing.”
