When Brady Street resident Frank Alioto became a fireman 25 years ago, he fulfilled his boyhood dream. When he published his first book earlier this year, he realized one of his greatest adult aspirations: to chronicle the history of his neighborhood. Milwaukee’s Brady Street Neighborhood, published as part of Arcadia Publishing’s “Images of America” series, is an engaging visual survey of the area and its people from the mid-19th century through today. It also serves as an excellent primer to the changing face of Brady Street.

One by one, the three sails of the historic Denis Sullivan are released to begin a sunset cruise for Capt. Hugh Covert and his six-man crew. This Great Lakes schooner, which resides in port at Discovery World from May through October, is both home and work for Capt. Covert, who was named senior captain in 2007.

Before Jason Rae begins his senior year as a history and political science major at Marquette University in the fall, he’ll be heading to Denver for the 45th Democratic National Convention. As the youngest superdelegate in the country, he will be one of 793 individuals who could decide the Democratic Party’s nominee for president.

A write-or-die guy, Kwabena Antoine Nixon—Chicago native, Milwaukee dweller—was part of the movement that brought spoken word to the forefront of the city. He meanders through clubs and cafes with Poetry Unplugged open mic nights that audiences call “church” and he calls “the ministry.”

The Avalon Theatre remains dark, Oriental Drugs and Goldman’s are gone. The last 10 years have been bad for local landmarks. Art’s Concertina Bar was another symbol of Old Milwaukee that was about to disappear. The city’s last remaining polka bar was rescued last fall by a new owner, an energetic young St. Francis firefighter called Andy Kochanski. Now called Kochanski’s Concertina Beer Hall, the bar is getting a gradual facelift while remaining true to its purpose of preserving polka in a city where polka once was king.

Dogs can bring great joy to their owners, but can they change lives? They do in storybooks, especially the canine chronicle called Sandy & Garbo. According to Milwaukee author Chuck Hajinian, Sandy, the literate and well-spoken yellow Labrador of the title, is an imaginative re-creation of his own dog.

Trista Marie, second-place winner in the Shepherd Express Flat File Contest and a professional tattoo artist by trade, is one of only six women who practice the art of tattooing in the metro Milwaukee area. In fact, only 30% of all tattoo artists worldwide are women.

For nearly 25 years RSE Video (118 E. Dakota St.) has sold, rented and swapped videocassettes, DVDs and video games, building a devoted clientele in Bay View and beyond. RSE is one of Milwaukee’s last family-owned video stores, operated all these years by Rod Eglash, his wife, Helen, and daughter Michele. It will close in June.

Since the 1980s, local author and UW-Milwaukee instructor has been using poetry to usher in a greener, more environmentally aware city. After immersing himself in the eco-inspired poetry scene of the West Coast in the late-’70s, he came back to Milwaukee in the early ’80s to find a community of like-minded individuals.

Radio advertisements touting the flawless merit of diamonds, hallmark holidays urging couples to demonstrate their affections through expensive, timeworn tokens… These are just some of the commercial trappings of the jewelry industry that have robbed it of its greatest asset: