Special Projects

Meet Mel and Tom, partners in life and co-owners of Handsome Hound Vintage. The pair opened their brick-and-mortar shop, located at the corner of Oakland and Hampshire avenues, in 2022. Because Handsome Hound is a small business that evolved from a traveling flea market booth, Mel and Tom’s greatest challenge has been getting their name […]

Every year in Greendale, Wisconsin people celebrate winter holidays with a public outing called A Dickens of a Village, where all the village shops open their doors and vendors host tables and tents with games, crafts and food. During the celebration, community members play a live enactment of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Story, and part […]

As pickleball continues to grow in popularity, this short documentary follows Gina Cilento’s experience as an Association of Professional Pickleball (APP) award-winner, instructor, and it gives us an inside view of her business: a pickleball athleisure brand that has Katy Perry as a customer.

25 year old Ashton Wilke has always been passionate about music. From a young age, he started a band with his friends in high school, but growing older comes with responsibilities and challenges. As an adult it can become difficult to follow your passions as you find yourself caught up with work, relationships, and the […]

About the Project This project was created through a journalism class at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Journalism, Advertising and Media Studies Department. This work was made possible through the support of MPC Endowment Ltd., the philanthropic affiliate of the Milwaukee Press Club. Student Journalists Lauren Breunig Beckett Callan Anna Gipple Dominique Hamilton Brian Kohr Mackenzie Krueger Maria Peralta-Arellano Isabella Van […]

Andrew Bois, manager of Knuckleheads bar restaurant, credits much of New Bedford’s thriving economy to the success of the commercial fishing industry. “It’s helped this city, because we have restaurants like ours, gear places, netting places and clothing stores that all the fishermen go to,” Bois said. “It all helps support the economy.” New Bedford […]

Growing up in Gloucester, one of Massachusetts’ biggest fishing towns, Kellen O’Maley was surrounded by fishing.  His father, a school guidance counselor, and part-time fisherman, took Kellen fishing in the summers.  In early adulthood, O’Maley went on to college for a business marketing degree in Utah. After college, he came back to Boston to work. […]

While very few fishermen will admit to being superstitious, fishing culture in New Bedford is rife with superstitions and rituals.  Women are not allowed on a boat before it leaves on a trip, according to Chris Wright. If women do come aboard, they are supposed to pee on the deck to get rid of the […]

GLOUCESTER, Massachusetts — “Some of my parents’ friends ask me when I’m gonna get a real job, but fishing makes me happy and I’m making more money than all of the people asking me when I’m getting a “real” job. “I love being free on the water and the ability to be my own boss.” […]

Lars-Erik Miller sits at the corner of the Crow’s Nest Bar in Gloucester, Massachusetts, made famous by the Hollywood film The Perfect Storm. Based on a true story, the movie depicts the fishing crew of the Andrea Gail meeting a ferocious and fatal storm in October of 1991. A memorial banner hangs on the wall for all […]