Posted inNeighbor Spotlight

Charles Perkins

by Jennifer Wilson

If you ask Charles Perkins what he does for fun, you’ll hear answers you might expect from a young person: listen to music, play video games, and talk with friends. Talk to him a little more, though, and you’ll discover that this energetic teen has a higher calling.

Posted inNeighbor Spotlight

Mike Froemming

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.

Posted inNeighbor Spotlight

Brigitte Hardick

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.

Posted inNeighbor Spotlight

Juanita Ellias

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.

Posted inNeighbor Spotlight

Dr. Dave

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.