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| THE READER |
APRIL 2015
3
Google Plus Pages It’s All About Results
W
hen you’re hiring, you want your company to come up first and be presented well in Internet searches so you can attract the best candidates. What many people don’t know is there’s a free, powerful page out there just waiting for you to craft your story, and you may have heard of it: Google. Or, more specifically, a Google Plus page. According to Clay Seaman, the Print/Digital Media Delivery Director for OmahaJobs. com, Google creates a Google Plus page with a map for every business. “It’s their page for their business and includes business name, ad-
dress, phone, and probably the most important thing, is their description,” Seaman said. Companies can claim their pages (which may require the help of the IT department), and then personalize them. Add the best photo of your primary location, a description about why you’re a great company to work for, and possibly even a link to your career opportunities page. Once you’ve perfected your Google Plus page, look at other search engines – Bing, Yahoo, etc. They may offer the same company page that’s just waiting for your input. When you make a great first impression with some-
W
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APRIL 2015
| THE READER |
omaha jobs
thing as simple as a web search, you will attract more of the right recruits. Attracting Vets If you’re looking for new talent, it may be a good idea to focus on military veterans. Many civilian employers seek veterans for staff. Veterans come intensely trained and ready to work, so it’s no wonder they can be highly sought-after in their post-military careers. Unfortunately, these treasures won’t just fall into your recruiting lap. Employers need to target vets specifically to attract them. The military career comes with its own
goals, challenges and language. If you angle your job opening descriptions with that in mind, vets will be more likely to respond. Additionally, if you’ve already hired one vet, he or she may know others preparing to separate from the military. Tap that well with your best networking skills. Veterans are looking to take their careers to the next level in civilian life. Make sure you convey that your company can do exactly that. The next job fair is Saturday, May 2, from Noon to 5 p.m. as part of this year’s South Omaha Cinco de Mayo celebration located in the big tent on 24th street between N and O streets. Look for the job fair signs. Sponsored by el perico and OmahaJobs.com. Visit www.omahajobs.com for more information.
NEBRASKA FAMILIES COLLABORATIVE is now hiring Family Permanency Specialists. “Build on child, family and community strengths”. Learn how you can make a difference. Apply at nebraskafc.org. SALES ASSOCIATE needed to join our outstanding team. We are searching for goal-oriented, outgoing individuals who are easily approachable and enjoy meeting new people. For more information, visit Omahajobs.com. AIRLINE CAREERS BEGIN HERE Get started by training as FAA certified Aviation Technician. Financial aid for qualified students. Job placement assistance. Call Aviation Institute of Maintenance 800725-1563 (AAN CAN) FENCE INSTALLER/ LABORER Looking for enthusiastic, selfmotivated, dependable, career-minded individuals inter-
ested in working in the great outdoors! For more information, visit Omahajobs.com. MAKE $1000 WEEKLY!! Mailing Brochures From Home. Helping home workers since 2001. Genuine Opportunity. No Experience Required. Start Immediately. www.theworkingcorner.com (AAN CAN) INSIDE SALES PROFESSIONAL Sales Support - Full time. For a tile & stone company that’s been in business over 50 years. For more information, visit Omahajobs.com. MARKETING & OFFICE ASSIST. Immediate opening for an individual in our office doing marketing and adminstrative tasks. For more information, visit Omahajobs.com. SERVICE/SALES ROUTE TECH You probably never thought about working for a pest control company, but it may just be everything you are looking
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| THE READER |
APRIL 2015
5
Saturday Concert Sponsor
Artist Sponsor
Accommodations Sponsor
S P E C I A L C ONC E RT
S Y M P H O NY P OP S
Symphony Pops Series Sponsor
The Fabulous ‘50s
Martin Short
Jack Everly, conductor Vocals by Marissa McGowan, Sharon Wheatley, and Chapter 6 a-cappella group
Thomas Wilkins conductor
Saturday & Sunday, April 11 & 12, 2015
Saturday, April 18, 2015 Comedy legend and Tony Award winner Martin Short joins the Symphony for an evening of music and hilarity! Martin Short’s career includes star turns on Broadway and Saturday Night Live, as well as the film The Three Amigos.
MAS TER WO R KS
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With your favorite songs from the malt shop, television shows, and Elvis Presley, you’ll want to rock around the clock with the Omaha Symphony.
Shostakovich’s 1st Symphony
MasterWorks Series Sponsor
Friday & Saturday, April 24 & 25, 2015
DEBUSSY / ORCH. RAVEL: Danse DUTILLEUX: Metaboles SAINT-SAËNS: Violin Concerto No. 3 SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 1
Concerts take place at the Holland Center. APRIL 2015
| THE READER |
The Music of Queen
Symphony Rocks Series Sponsor
Saturday, May 2, 2015
Gregory Vajda, conductor David Kim, violin
6
Presenting Sponsors
Brent Havens, conductor Windborne Music Artist Sponsors
Hear a lushly-orchestrated tribute to Queen, including timeless classics “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” “We Will Rock You,”“Another One Bites the Dust,” and “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
Publisher John Heaston john@thereader.com Creative Director Eric Stoakes eric@thereader.com Assistant Editor Mara Wilson mara@thereader.com CONTRIBUTING EDITORS heartland healing: Michael Braunstein info@heartlandhealing.com arts/visual: Mike Krainak mixedmedia@thereader.com dish: Sarah Locke crumbs@thereader.com film: Ryan Syrek cuttingroom@thereader.com hoodoo: B.J. Huchtemann bjhuchtemann@gmail.com music: Mara Wilson backbeat@thereader.com over the edge: Tim Mcmahan tim.mcmahan@gmail.com theater: William Grennan coldcream@thereader.com
APRIL2015VOLUME22NUMBER1 08 COVER STORY THE CLIMATE ISSUE 18 ART THE FINE ART OF SUSTAINABILITY 22 CULTURE GAY MARRIAGE IN NEBRASKA 28 PICKS COOL STUFF TO DO IN APRIL
SALES & MARKETING Dinah Gomez dinah@thereader.com Kati Falk kati@thereader.com DISTRIBUTION/DIGITAL
Clay Seaman clay@thereader.com OPERATIONS
Kerry Olson kerry@thereader.com
CLIMATE CHANGE ADVOCATE JANE KLEEB
30 HEARTLAND HEALING YELLOW PERIL 32 EAT GOING LOCO FOR LOCAL 36 MUSIC DOWN WITH DOM 40 MUSIC SXSW HIGHLIGHTS 44 FILM HOW AL RUINED EVERYTHING 46 FILM SOME LIKE IT HOT 50 HOODOO FRESH FACES ABOUND 52 OVER THE EDGE CRAY-CRAY TOWN 54 MYSTERIAN DOCTOR IS IN
MOREINFO:WWW.THEREADER.COM
contents
| THE READER |
APRIL 2015
7
STEVE RODIE
FASLA, Director of UNO’s Center for Urban Sustainability
DON WHILHITE
Professor of applied climate science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
T
he U.S. Environmental Protection Agency defines sustainability as a principle, that everything humans need for survival and wellbeing depends on our natural environment and that sustainability creates and maintains the conditions under which humans and nature can productively co-exist. It also involves taking steps today to ensure that we will continue to have the resources to meet our current collective needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. The Reader surveyed six professionals from various disciplines to engage in a conversation about sustainability—what it means for the individual, the community and the planet, and what is being done and should be done to protect and respect our environment: LARRY HOPP - director of the Creighton University Energy Technology program (creighton.edu/ccas/energytechnologyprogram); civil engineer with 40 years of industry experience JANE KLEEB - founder and executive director of Bold Nebraska (boldnebraska.org)
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APRIL 2015
| THE READER |
JANE KLEEB
Founder and executive director of Bold Nebraska
LARRY HOPP
Director of the Creighton University Energy Technology program
STEPHEN OSBERG Board member, Mode Shift Omaha
CECIL STEWARD
Founder, president, CEO of the Joslyn Institute for Sustainable Communities
STEPHEN OSBERG - board member, Mode Shift Omaha (modeshiftomaha.org) STEVE RODIE, FASLA - director of UNO’s Center for Urban Sustainability (unomaha.edu/centerfor-urban-sustainability) W. CECIL STEWARD - founder, president and CEO of the Joslyn Institute for Sustainable Communities (ecospheres.com) DR. DONALD A. WILHITE - professor of applied climate science in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Natural Resources (snr.unl.edu); coordinating author for UNL’s recent report on climate change; founding director of the National Drought Mitigation Center and the International Drought Information Center at UNL
gram, we’re here from the very inception of our program to develop sustainable energy leaders that have outstanding problem-solving skills. And that’s accomplished through a kind of non-traditional, pedagogical approach where we give our students education and they go out into communities and practice that education.
What role do you and your organization play in sustainability?
Kleeb: At Bold, we see ourselves as bringing citizen participation to sustainability; democracy and citizen participation is at the core of everything Bold does, making sure there is a more diverse and independent voice in our politics in our state. So we see our role in connecting
Hopp: I look at sustainability as basically the focus to sustain God’s creation for the ongoing betterment of all mankind… (At) Creighton, specifically our Energy Technology pro-
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continued on page 10 y
| THE READER |
APRIL 2015
9
community assistance together with the concept of daily life and plans and activities for sustainable outcomes.
y continued from page 8
the issues of climate change, sustainability, local food to politics and who you’re electing. Osberg: Mode Shift, our central goal is to promote freedom of transportation…we want to make sure people at least have a viable option to walk to get to where they need to go, ride a bike, take public transit. Right now everything in our city is built to support driving automobiles at the expense of those other modes. When people drive cars, it’s the least environmentally-friendly option people can take. We try to educate people and policymakers on the benefits and practices that could support a range of transportation options. Rodie: Our major role at UNO is interaction and collaboration and engagement with the city and with the community. A big part of this is to build partnerships in research, teaching and outreach that either enhance sustainability for the community or create greater awareness of the benefits of sustainability. Steward: I founded the nonprofit (Joslyn Institute) in 1996 when I was still dean of architecture at UNL and I founded it out of a perception that unless there was a steady group of people, organizations and resources, we were always going to be behind the curve…I wanted to bring my life devotion to architecture, planning and
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APRIL 2015
| THE READER |
Wilhite: Obviously, the School of Natural Resources plays a large role from the perspective in both research and educational programs related to sustainability. We coordinate the environmental studies major—for example—for the University of Nebraska, and that program has been growing and trains students on a lot of these issues and gets them engaged in community activities and that sort of thing...More recently, I’ve been heavily engaged in this climate change activity, trying to educate the state policymakers as well as the public about climate changes and the implications of climate change for Nebraska.
What elements of negative human impact concern you most, generally and in your area of expertise? Hopp: People just really aren’t aware and their lives are so wrapped up that they really don’t have the time or patience to engage with sustainability. The best way to overcome that, I believe, is to start out with the economics of energy use. However busy you are, every family has to be concerned about the bottom line cost and the economics, and if you can help them save money and they do that by sustainable energy conservation, it can open the dialog and then it can lead to a significant improvement and change. Kleeb: Before I got involved with the Keystone XL site, I believed in climate change, obviously, but never really thought twice about fossil fuel development. And for me, the thing that is impacting sustainability the most is fossil fuel development, especially extreme energy; from my perspective, that’s tar sands and fracking. Osberg: The main thing I worry about is that a lot of our impacts on the environment are readily observable but we choose to disregard them. The vast majority of us continue to drive alone in vehicles that emit all sorts of pollutants. It’s easy to see the plastic in the ocean,
cover story
pollution in the air, changes in the climate, but we’re not jumping into action right now. We don’t really respond until we’re struck by major disasters. Rodie: Climate change. Einstein has a famous quote that we can’t solve problems at the same level of thinking we used when we created them…At some point it seems like we’re going to create something that we can’t come back from. Specific to my area, it’s cuts to funding. We are in dire straits right now to be able to fund things like better urban design, active living, better subdivision design. Funding for trails continually gets cut out of transportation funding at the federal level. And we’re only going to get tighter, budget-wise. Steward: As time has gone on from the late ‘90s to the present and we get more and more scientific evidence of climate change and the human impact on the planet, what concerns me most is there are not yet enough of us who are active consumers with a conscience about small decisions that we make in our consuming lives. I feel strongly that every economic decision that is made either privately or publicly should have, if not a carefully thought-out assessment of impact, at least an initial tug of conscience about “Am I fostering quality of life and sustainability about this action or am I having a negative influence?” Wilhite: This trend in greenhouse gas emissions that’s driving the whole climate change issue and the debate about this is something we all need to be more aware of and understand the implications of this locally, regionally, nationally and globally...The lack of understanding of this issue and the importance of climate change by the general public is of considerable concern. And if you think of this issue particularly from a national perspective, but also from a local perspective, it’s the partisanship that has developed over this issue and the fact that that there has been such a significant political divide— unfortunately, between the two major parties—about climate change and whether we should do anything about it and whether we even believe it’s real. continued on page 12 y
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| THE READER |
11AM -10 PM STINSON PARK
APRIL 2015
11
put in a really nice rapid transit line, and that’s hopefully just a first step toward a larger system of high-quality transit…there are glimmers of hope in all of this. Rodie: I think that younger generations are “getting” it…We have younger people who are coming up through the ranks of design firms and other entities that can make a difference. The other point I like to make is that every little bit helps. (TEDxUNO presentation “What about our Great Great Great Great Grandchildren?” at https://youtu.be/hX_WWjEyVSc)...We can’t all do everything, but if we can all do a little bit it can collectively make a difference. y continued from page 10
What good news is out there regarding sustainability? Hopp: There is significant momentum in LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design), Green Globes and Energy Star; those are three international programs that push the sustainability envelope. This trend basically is focused upon improving energy but it covers all aspects of sustainability, which is really important because it’s changing the focus of how products are manufactured, how the raw materials are gathered and put into projects, how it’s transported. Because all of those are energy users. Kleeb: There is a really growing number of Nebraskans who are taking matters into their own hands and are developing clean energy on their farms, ranches and homes…it’s definitely not there yet with politicians in Nebraska but citizens clearly understand that climate change is an issue that we as a generation have to tackle. Osberg: People are starting to recognize the environmental, economic and public health benefits of active transportation. More people are out on their bikes, we have that B-cycles program that continues to grow every year here. Metro recently won that $15 million grant to
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APRIL 2015
| THE READER |
Steward: When we first started the Joslyn Institute, it was hard to engage anyone in public office for more than five minutes on the topic, and today there are people being elected for their principals…(And) it’s easier for us to conduct educational programs and get a decent conversational audience than it was five or six years ago. Wilhite: I think you have a growing momentum on the part of a lot of environmental groups and the faith community and so on that are trying to get people to understand the importance of this issue. It’s a moral issue in terms of our future and our children’s future, but also a moral issue in the sense that the people that are going to be most affected by climate are those that are the most vulnerable.
What needs to be done first and by whom locally? Hopp: To me, it’s critical that we keep the discussion open and non-political because if the goal is to open minds and change hearts to sustainability and the ongoing stewardship of our planet, you’ve got to have people listen. And heated debate tends to shut that off. Kleeb: First, individuals have to start making changes in our own lives, and some of that is happening at strong levels. People are buying more local food, which is criti-
cover story
cal, supporting local farmers and ranchers, going to local farmers markets and really being aware of our food choices…Second, not allowing Big Oil to get away with buying our politicians. That means when politicians are up for reelection, and us as citizens know they essentially sided with Big Oil over our families, we should not give them our vote again. Osberg: A big part of addressing the problem here locally is just making urban form and transportation a larger part of the public conversation. When we have elections we need to be talking about those issues…And another thing we need to do is stop fearing density. Rodie: What we see at the university is setting good examples, and I think that includes UNO and other institutions…(UNO) recently completed and approved a sustainability master plan that comprehensively looks at setting goals for the next 10 years or so and then on up to 2050. Some of those goals are pretty rigorous and it’s everything from water to energy to campus culture. Steward: Some people in the United Nations in the ‘80s started the conversation about the need to look forward and create interdependencies between environmental issues, social issues and economic issues. Through our work by 2005, we determined that those three domains were not enough to insure sustainable outcomes; two major domains were missing in the conversation. One was technology, because we will continue to make things as long we have any resources left, and are those technologies advancing or depleting opportunities for sustainable outcomes? And the other is public policy. If we don’t have laws and regulations that recognize the interdependencies between those five domains, then we’re also at risk. We need to be doing things comprehensively, interactively and simultaneously. Wilhite: There’s a lot you can do individually but essentially our country needs to make a decision to move forward and address this and our state needs to move continued on page 14 y
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ESSENTIAL OILS (will have some on hand!) Essential oils are known to boost stamina and energy, help you relax, help manage stress and frustration and promote overall health, vitality, and longevity. THE RAINDROP TECHNIQUE (DRAWING for 1 Free Session!) Uses a sequence of essential oils that are immune enhancing, support the body's natural defenses, as well as the circulatory, respiratory, endocrine, digestive, nervous, and other body systems. These oils, which are high in antioxidants, are also mood elevating and antiseptic, creating an unfavorable environment for harmful viruses and bacteria that can hibernate in the body. REIKI THERAPY is a healing technique based on the principle that the therapist can channel energy into another person to activate the natural healing processes of the patient’s body and restore physical and emotional well-being. In it’s long history of use, Reiki has aided in every known illness and injury.
Walkowicz
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2014-15
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April 9 7:00 PM Countryside Community Church 8787 Pacific
With humor, grace & amazing footage from the Kepler mission, TED fellow Lucianne Walkowicz will explain current discoveries in the ongoing work toward finding life on other planets. She urges and inspires her audiences to get outside and look up. Its not just scientists who can discover new stars or appreciate the breathtaking beauty of our universe. $10 tickets by calling the office or at the door.
Call 402-391-0350 or email kellyk@countrysideucc.org. Students with IDs free. | THE READER |
APRIL 2015
13
Omaha and the Midwest we have extremely economical energy and water and so that tends to lead people to sustainability apathy, quite frankly. We have a responsibility to care about all of God’s creation and understanding how our lives impact others. Kleeb: That we as citizens have way more power than these big corporations, Big Oil, Big Ag, want us to believe. That if we really do come together with not only our food choices but our voting choices, that’s when we’ll start to see big change. Osberg: I think that trying to incorporate more sustainability into your life doesn’t have to be a painful process. It’s more of switching your mindset and priorities. That works on an individual level and it also works on more of a larger, citywide level. y continued from page 12
forward and address this. We’re trying to provide leadership for that within my program and others at the University of Nebraska in terms of how we’re going to move that conversation forward.
What are the most important actions individuals here can take to make a difference? Hopp: We need to make significant improvements of the little things in how we live our lives because the little choices we make every day do impact the world. But I do believe that knowledge coupled with a responsible caring attitude will provide the consistent sustainable improvements that we need. Osberg: The easiest thing to do and probably the most fun is just to get out there and walk or ride a bike, and not just for recreation. Next time you go out to eat or go to the corner store, see if you can do it by walking or riding your bike. It ends up being pretty fun and kind of liberating, and you start to interact with your neighbors and your neighborhood in a different way. And if you have never taken the bus, give it a go, or if you haven’t taken it in a while, try it again Rodie: I think it gets back to doing what you can…do what you can and it can add up. And the other thing is to set a good example as an individual. Steward: Just daily awareness from where you live and how you spend your available resources to what actions you take to promote sustainability in your actions in any one of those five domains. Wilhite: Number one is to vote. People need to be taking this issue seriously and challenge people who are running for public office as to where they stand on this issue and how they are going to take some positive action to support communities and states and at the federal level to provide initiatives to address this issue.
What do you wish more people here knew regarding sustainability? Hopp: Sustainability is neither a passing fad nor an impractical dream. It really impacts every part of our everyday life. Here in
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APRIL 2015
| THE READER |
cover story
Rodie: That it can pay back financially. Not all of the green in sustainability is environmental green; it can be money green. Part of it potentially is an investment toward the future, might be cost savings toward your electric bill, but I also see entrepreneurship opportunities that are huge. Steward: We need to try to retrain ourselves to think comprehensively and interdependently rather than from silo perspective. We need to learn to listen better than we speak, and that would cause us to respect and engage other people from other disciplines in more frequent interaction and activities. Wilhite: I think there’s confusion about the issue of sustainability and that people sometimes take the extreme view that it means we can’t do anything… With regards to the climate change issue, one of the key things I wish people knew is the fact that there is consensus within the climate science community.
What resources can help people here learn and understand more about the issue? Kleeb: Bold Nebraska is creating a new system called Made in the Neb, and that will highlight all local food, local beer, as well as individuals who are putting clean energy on their farm, home or ranch. Osberg: There are definitely some blogs you can look at, Streets.mn is a good one. If anyone is interested in just thinking about urban design and how streets are actually designed: NACTO (nacto.org), they have all sorts of resources. And there’s a really great book out called Walkable Cities by Jeff Speck. Steward: We’re blessed to live in the era of the Internet and the web, and serious internet searches on community sustainability leads in many different directions. (Steward also co-authored Sustainometrics - Measuring Sustainability: Design, Planning, and Public Adminstration for Sustainable Living). Wilhite: I would refer people to our climate change report: go.unl.edu/climatechange. , For the full text of the interviews, please visit thereader.com.
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| THE READER |
APRIL 2015
15
fromthepublisher
The path to carbon neutral print: first, know thyself, all 212 tons BY JOHN HEASTON
W
e recently enlisted the help of Verdis Group, a sustainability consultancy located in Omaha, to inventory our greenhouse gas emissions. I’ve known the two principals at Verdis – Craig Moody and Daniel Lawse – for some time now and it’s been a real pleasure to watch their sustainability practice grow, now serving some of the largest organizations in the area. I met Craig at the Young Professionals’ Council of the Omaha Chamber of Commerce, where I helped recruit him to Earth Day Omaha, and first got to really know Daniel when he came to my house to conduct a home efficiency test. We have been working directly with their associate, Brent Ribble, who’s been thorough in his questions and analysis and wonderful in his explanations and guidance. To paraphrase a high level overview of a greenhouse gas emissions inventory, there are 3 major components, known as scopes. Scope 1 covers direct emissions, resulting from hydrocarbons burned on site that we have direct control over, i.e. our gas bill. Scope 2 covers indirect emissions resulting from hydrocarbons burned off site, but that we can control on site, i.e. electricity. Scope 3 covers emissions offsite that we have little control over, i.e. our printing and delivery. While we could provide much of the needed data here, we wouldn’t have been able to do this without the outstanding cooperation of our
16
APRIL 2015
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printer, Page 1 Printers out of Slayton, Minn. This small but mighty outfit has taken great care of us for some time and they have taken their own steps to minimizing their environmental footprint, most noticeably adding non-process plates from Kodak Sonora, eliminating one of the most toxic byproducts of the printing process. In 2014, when The Reader was weekly, we produced 212 total tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses across all of our operations, both The Reader and our group of Spanish publications led by El Perico. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, that’s equivalent to approximately 227,000 pounds of coal or 1.1 train cars of coal burned. The majority (60%) of our emissions were associated with paper (newsprint) consumed in our printing process. Twenty-nine percent of our emissions were associated with electricity consumption to operate our buildings and print our newspapers. Seven percent of our emissions were associated with shipping our newspaper to and around the Omaha Metro Area. For 2015, we anticipate fewer emissions due to less frequent printing, shipping and delivery. Fewer emissions means improved air quality and a reduced impact on the environment. More on that in a future issue as we figure out this reduction and advance our plan to find carbon offsets. We won’t be carbon neutral overnight, but with the help of Verdis and our printer, we’re heading in the right direction. ,
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levellike: “
“Dam Nebrasksa” by 3D artist Jess Benjamin is a wall of here iconic “jackstones” that serve to draw attention to the state’s issues of water levels and draught.
artfullysustained
Fine Art of Sustainability: The ‘creative class’ grows a conscience in the Metro BY MICHAEL J. KRAINAK
“S movein:
“Flock House Project: Omaha/A City Workshop” stands ready for occupation and service in the courtyard of the Okada Building on the Bemis Center’s campus.
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ustainable is the new green.” At least that is what arts writer David Grant wrote last month in the Huffington Post. So, what else is new? Doesn’t everyone know by now that agriculture, architecture and even financial investments have taken up the banner? Maybe. But Grant went on to say that sustainability is so pervasive that it now has a foothold in the world of art. It appears that the palette of this phenomenon has gone somewhere over the rainbow. So strong is its influence, he wrote that the Maryland Institute College of Art will add to its curriculum this fall something called “Sustainability and Social Practice Concentration” to prepare students “to engage their creative practice with the social and ecological issues facing the world today.” While there is little evidence of similar curriculum in local college art departments, the Metro is no stranger to sustainable art no matter how you define it. The Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts, an international for profit think tank, considers it a driver of “environmental balance, social equity, economic stability and a strengthened cultural infrastructure.” Locally, organizations on behalf of sustainable communities, such as the Joslyn Institute, do exist. But ever since the demise of the sorely missed Emerging Terrain — the progenitor of the marvelous Stored Potential that transformed grain elevators along I-80 from eyesore to eye-soaring art works — similar community endeavors with a strong sustainable arts component are hard to find.
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Nevertheless, in the last decade or so, there have been several memorable sustainable art exhibits and projects in the Metro organized by non-profit venues and created by artists with a vested interest. They include: Susan Knight’s cut paper and Mylar 3D work in the Kaneko’s Fiber exhibit currently on display that focuses on ecological water issues in the Great Lakes as well as nitrate contamination in groundwater. Also at Kaneko, its recent Open Space Soiree exhibit that featured Cedric Hartman, Olson Kundig Architects and Wallace Cunningham who successfully raised the functionality of furniture and architectural design to fine and sustainable art; The Bemis Center established a commitment to sustainable art in 2008 when former curator Hesse Mc-
Graw began organizing such conceptual shows as: Mel Ziegler’s American Conversation (Preservation of Cultural Hierarchies and Related Subjects, Jarrod Beck: Strike Slip, which repurposed mass accumulations of building materials with the architecture of the gallery space itself and Michael Jones McKean’s The Zephyr Breeze and The Deepest Ocean Valley, a site specific installation that offered the opportunity for “a formal musing on the materials of our existence, on experience and meaning, on civilization and the modern continuum.” Bemis’ grandest experiment in sustainable art was the recent Mary Mattingly-designed Flock House Project: Omaha/A Citywide Workshop organized by its then new director Adam Price and his Consultant Curator Amanda Crowley. Though a strong indicator of the venue’s progressive and controversial new direction for its vaunted residency program as well as its events and exhibition schedule, ironically, both Price and Crowley unexpectedly left two years after its launch. A third non-profit, the Union for Contemporary Arts has lived up to its mission, “the belief that the arts can be a vehicle for social justice and greater civic engagement,” with these two fine recent examples: Pleated Field by Neil Griess was a self-described mobile architecture, “a tool kit for social adventure” that continued his exploration of the impact of the built environment on society; UCA also struck gold with the understated, very creative Stochastic by Andrew Johnson, an artist and engineer, whose mixed media work integrates art,
and science, for a better balanced, more efficient environment. “Social adventure,” “civic engagement” and “environmental balance,” they among others are the catch phrases of sustainable art. They may catch in the throat of some who wonder still what they have to do with art on the walls. Yet, while we may debate the efficacy, let alone appreciation of an art form that elevates concept and motive over object and style, we can’t deny its existence or impact. To continue the conversation, The Reader asked several artists, arts educators and administrators in the Metro to comment on the relevancy of sustainable art in their careers and their venues. It should be noted that the artists below are known for their objectoriented work as well. And for some, understandably, art itself is not immune to issues of sustainability as they, their art and their institutions struggle to remain viable. Reader: Can art cause or at least encourage social, ecological and economic sustainability? Is that really part of visual arts’ mission or is it just a passing fad…again…or does it have sustainability as well? Susan Thomas, Director of the Omaha Creative Institute: I wouldn’t say sustainability is a passing fad. Our world is increasingly aware of our resource limits and sensitive to ways to sustain what we have as much as possible. Artists tend to be on the leading edge of social consciousness and that tendency is unlikely to dissipate. Page Reitz, Program Manager for the Union for Contemporary Arts: We firmly believe in the sustainability of art and artists’ power to create and encourage social change. Every artist we work with-even if their own personal practice does not specifically address or respond to social issues--becomes an agent for change by working within the North Omaha community and dedicating a set amount of service hours towards improving the neighborhood. Alex Priest, Exhibition Manager, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts: Sure it can. But is that the role of visual art? Maybe. At the Bemis Center we think more about the artist’s intention, which at times may be to raise awareness about social, ecological, or economic issues, such as in the case of Mary Mattingly’s 2014 Flock House project. Jody Boyer, new media and mixed media artist and educator: Art absolutely can encourage sustainability. Though I think this is a complex issue; first, there is artwork that is made to create a dialogue around an issue of sustainability, and we see a great deal of that kind of work being made from material re-use, to urban farming as art, to creating alternate forms of economic exchange. Susan Knight, Installation and mixed media artist: In as much as art is a mirror to community and culture, art is driven by community and culture. Certainly there is heightened interest in “sustainability” driven by the media and by groups of folks who feel the strain of digital information, or a reaction to dystopian concerns. Jamie Burmeister, New and Multimedia Artist: When I think of sustainability I think of survival. Making art always affects sustainability just as all our other activities do. Since artists often quickly react to societal changes, art often deals with new issues before these ideas find their way into the mainstream.
feelingit: Union Fellow, artist Laura Carlson, works in her studio at the Union for Contemporary Arts during her residency.
showtime:
A donated piano painted by artist Lori Elliot-Bartle is part of Omaha Creative Institute’s public art project on sustainability called “Play Me, I’m Yours.”
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y continued from page 19
girlpower: Tishawni, a regular at The Union’s Saturday Art Club, scores a Royalty Purple Pod Bush bean from the Abundance Garden.
waterlog:
“Rain Garden,” by mixed media artist Susan Knight, is an example of her creative interpretation of sustainability of water and the environment.
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Artists have always had to be very efficient with their making so they can have a sustainable art practice. Tim Guthrie, New media and Installation artist: I like to think so, though I’m sure the effect is far less than I would desire. I think the best art can do it, though, and I love to quote Howard Zinn on the subject: “What most of us must be involved in--whether we teach or write, make films, write films, direct films, play music, act, whatever we do — has to not only make people feel good and inspired and at one with other people around them, but also has to educate a new generation to do this very modest thing: change the world.” Reader: How have the issues of sustainability affected or impacted your work? Can you describe a specific art work, project or program that you or your venue have created or participated in that successfully accomplished this? Thomas: One of Omaha Creative Institute’s most successful initiatives was the public art project Play Me, I’m Yours, which was on the streets in late summer 2013. The sustainability goal was to use gifted pianos as a canvas to share visual art, music and other performing arts in broadly accessible venues. Rather than dump the pianos when the project ended, we identified non-profits whose clients could enjoy a piano as a piece of visual (or street) art if the piano was unable
APRIL 2015
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to hold a tune or as a working piece of art. Reitz: We work to impact the sustainability of Omaha’s artist class by providing local artists space to create, professional development, a community support system, and financial support through our Fellowship Program. We teach environmental sustainability to North Omaha youth who engage in our Youth Outreach program by giving them hands-on experiences in our Abundance Garden and working with them from seed to harvest, engaging them in our own organization’s practice of material re-use and composting, and providing EcoArts classes with local artists whose own work takes sustainability into consideration. Priest: We have dedicated space in our building for left-
over materials; it is like a giant thrift store where items unused by artists during their three-month residency can be left for use by the next cohort of artists. Our artists-in-residence continue to help us think of new ways that we can reduce waste and at the same time contribute to their processes of experimentation. Another example is the recent fermentation series led by two Bemis artists-in-residence, Leila Nadir and Cary Peppermint, where audiences discussed the industrial food system and learned about fermentation as a practice of food independence. Knight: Most sustainability discussions lead back to water. So it is always in my work. Presently I’m creating components for an installation at the Garrison Art Center in Garrison NY on the Hudson. The Hudson River Watershed, one of many watersheds in the state of New York is my concern and inspiration. Disparate factions, industry, agriculture, recreation and households must share the water. It requires respect for water and for one another. A map of any watershed looks like a map of our own vascular system, our veins and arteries. What impurities travel from soils into a tiny creek have potential to effect large communities downstream. We are all connected in that respect. Burmeister: I grew up in a rural environment where sustainability was always a part of your decision making process. We found ways to make a good life from what was around us. We live in a solar heated house. I now live a more suburban life but use these same principles in my art making and living. One piece in particular that deals with sustainability is “Cli-mac-teric”. Tim Guthrie and and I completed this 4 channel interactive video installation in 2011. The piece was shown at PUSH gallery on Vinton Street and at the Creighton University Art Gallery. Guthrie: “Elements - An Environmental Art Exhibit,” Fontenelle Forest, Bellevue, NE [Director: JD Hutton] This invitational exhibit was a seven-person show where environmental site-specific work was installed in the forest for a three-month public outdoor exhibition. My work was in three parts: Video, virtual, and forest installation. I wanted my piece to exist only virtually online and as geocached points placed in the forest, but at the last minute created a physical piece at the request of the organizers. I simply grabbed fallen trees and hung them in the area where they were found, but they created a “scar” in the land when viewed from a particular angle. Jess Benjamin (Sculptor and Lied Gallery Director, Creighton University): My artwork focuses on water usage in the Great Plains area, a regional concern that is related to the phenomenon of global drought. Since 2000, I have witnessed the drought-like conditions in the Midwest, and I have witnessed how people have responded to the drought. My ceramic artworks reference the increasing struggles over water rights and are battered reminders of these problems.
Reader: Aside from any art considerations, what special challenges do you or your institution face with regard to sustainability issues in general? How are you meeting those challenges? Reitz: With any art facility there is the ever-present challenge of handling and using materials that are not environmentally sustainable and many times we must concede our ethics to a medium. But, we try to combat these problems when they come up with the least-harmful solution. For example, to run our Print Shop we must have emulsion remover. Emulsion remover is terribly toxic and costs a lot of money, and so we found that if we took on a higher up-front cost of providing a dip tank for our Print Shop users that allows hundreds of screen dips into the emulsion tank rather than each screen being sprayed with emulsion remover individually, so that we would come out ahead both sustainability-wise and budget-wise. Knight: Since my work with water began I am more aware of my artist materials. The amount of toxic materials in my studio has decreased. I have respect for artists who use recycle/reclaimed products in their practice. I’m actively looking for ways that I might be more green about my artistic practice and products. Burmeister: To help make my practice more sustainable I have been shifting to make fewer objects but with higher quality. Quality over quantity, better material constructed in a thoughtful way will allow each piece to have a greater impact with less negative impact on our environment. I have also made the shift to simpler pieces that require less maintenance. Guthrie: With the new Sustainability Program at Creighton, is seems the university is interested in the subject, and they are doing things like installing solar panels, but there isn’t nearly as much happening as I would like to see. I have been 3D printing for a few years, and I was frustrated at the waste and started researching printers that could reuse support material, etc. The printer I recently proposed to Creighton should be on campus in a couple of weeks and my sabbatical proposal revolves around that technology. Reader: What will be the role of artists in the future with regard to sustainability? How will artists contribute to a greener, fairer, more equitable society? Boyer: Artists are natural innovators. As we struggle with the complex issues of climate change, world poverty, world hunger and globalization, artists can help us find ways to engage in dialogue or think differently about available resources so we can work to solve and find ways to adapt to the needs of the planet, of each other. Guthrie: I really do think the best art addresses the times in which the artist live. That doesn’t mean art has to have a social justice component, but visual styles aren’t the only things that change over time. But, to be honest, I love that art can change the world for the better. Not just in a silly feel-good sort of way, but in a substantive way. My work may never achieve that, but I will keep striving for that goal. Knight: A greener, fairer, more Tellall: “Dried suitable society will exist when we Up on the Ogallala convert our vertical patriarchal so- Aquifer,” a stoneciety into a horizontal matriarchal ware by 3D artist society. How’s that going to hap- Jess Benjamin, pen you ask? Magic perhaps. Short says it all concernof that I think elevating the concept ing her research of respect and instilling it into our and artwork on lives and work and work practices behalf of water sustainability. will be a first baby step. ,
art
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DEBRA S. KAPLAN
culture
‘Newnormal: The Walters family strikes a pose with their three rescue dogs in the living room of their home located a few blocks north of West Center Street in Omaha. From left: Susan, Ella Jaden, Sally and Kayla. The framed New Yorker magazine cover hangs above.
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n a recent Monday a federal judge blocked Nebraska’s ban on samesex marriage, calling it “repugnant,” and 14 plaintiffs celebrated the rights they’d apparently won. But that Thursday the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals placed their rights aside and won’t likely act before the U.S. Supreme Court rules in June. Meanwhile, Gov. Pete Ricketts defended manwoman marriage against his idea of an “activist judge” and Attorney General Doug Peterson warned against law based on “the emotional arguments of a certain class of people.” In other words, such people as the plaintiffs who brought the American Civil Liberties Union case to Judge Joseph Bataillon. They represented all the victims of a state constitution that doesn’t just deprive them of the rights enjoyed by other married Nebraskans. It prohibits civil unions and
| THE READER |
culture
Does this Nebraska family pose a threat to traditional marriage? Judge for yourself. BY WARREN FRANCKE
legalized domestic partnerships, and even rejects marriages made in 37 other states and dishonors the federal laws that protect those marriages. So maybe you should meet some of those 14 people so you can better judge if they pose a threat to traditional marriages. Ring the doorbell a few blocks north of West Center Street and three rescue dogs crowd to greet you. Sally Waters, 58, adds to their welcome and she’s joined by Susan Waters, 53, and their two adopted daughters, Gabriella (Ella), 14, from Vietnam, and Jaden, 10, rescued from foster care in California. Sally and Susan are also legal guardians of Kayla Johnson, 18. And that entire family, minus the dogs, is represented in a New Yorker magazine cover on the living room wall. By Sally’s cousin, artist Chris Ware, it shows the couple side-by-side in bath-
robes looking at a mother’s day card while the three girls peek out from the stairwell. We move to the dining room where I sit taking notes while Josephine sneaks into my lap and licks my chin. She’s one of two little white Shih Tzus that rushed the door along with a whiteand-black mix of Labrador and Australian Shepherd. That’s Gus, a newcomer, leaning by my thigh and pleading by proximity for a few pats on the head. “Our only big dog died,” Sally explained,”and Ella wanted another big dog for her recent birthday.” Thus Gus. It was a school night, so Ella is doing homework and when Sally asks little sister where she stands on a reading assignment Jade says she’d finished 11 of the 12 chapters so has time to check the temperature of some meat cooking in the kitchen. continued on page 24y
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culture
If this cozy family scene would seem to support the state’s argument that they faced “no immediate or irreparable harm” from Nebraska law, perhaps that’s because Sally Waters doesn’t look like she’s coping with stage IV metastatic breast cancer, now spread to her spine. As horrible a loss to this family as her death would be, it would also bring financial burdens (e.g., a large inheritance tax on jointly-owned property rather than the spousal advantage) not faced by families whose marriages are recognized in Nebraska. Yes, they’re married. Together in a committed relationship for 17 years, they were joined in a religious wedding at their Omaha church in 1998, then married in 2008 in California. They moved there in 2002 after adopting Ella because both wouldn’t be recognized as her parents in Nebraska, putting her at risk if something happened to the only legal parent. Missing families and wanting to be closer to their aging parents, Sally and Susan returned to Nebraska with their daughters in 2010.
“I came out as a lesbian at age 30 to me and my husband,” noted Sally. Susan “came out to myself at 17. It was hard for dad, an old school rancher.” Maybe the ranch roots explain why she’s active rescuing starving horses. Susan likes to say, “I graduated third in my high school class” in Burwell, “then whisper, ‘class of 17.’” Raised a Lutheran, Susan followed Sally’s path back to spiritual faith. And she drew on the example of a loving relationship set by her grandfather whom she remembers “when he was in his 80s singing, ‘Let Me Call You Sweetheart,’ to grandmother.” When they traveled across Nebraska with other gay couples to bring their stories to the state, the ACLU trip started east from Scottsbluff, where they talked with six people “very firm in their religious opposition. They were very respectful,” Sally said. “One woman made a point of: ‘I don’t want you to perish.” (This writer resisted the temptation to channel Dana Carvey’s church lady and snark, “Isn’t that special?” But Susan generously complimented the Scottsbluff crowd on “good questions,” and suggested, “Most gay families want to be surrounded by love.”)
Susan Sanders, the daughter of a Burwell rancher and a mother who died when she was 8, and Sally Ware, daughter of an Omaha doctor and grand-daughter of Fred Ware, once the managing editor of the Omaha World-Herald, are both native Nebraskans. “When we married,” Susan recalled, “one of our fights was over whose father’s name we would take, so Sally said, ‘Why not create something new?’” They wanted something easy to spell, easy to pronounce and with meaning. “I grew up agnostic,” Sally said, then at age 40 “I became a Christian and was baptized in water.” She “came up out of the water,” adding to the meaning of Waters, their new name. That religious wedding took place at North Side Christian Church where a gay pastor had adopted a Vietnamese daughter. She had to “run it past the elders,” and after weeks of meetings they said yes to the Waters wedding.
Both women agree that people are more understanding and supportive than when they left Nebraska, two years after a 70 percent majority voted for the state ban in 2000. While the governor and attorney general like to highlight that number, polls don’t suggest that such a majority exists today. And that’s only relevant if you believe a majority should be free to deny fundamental rights simply by outvoting a minority. If the numbers have changed, all the burdens remain for these families. You don’t like taxes? “Ask any gay couple married in another state,” Susan mused, “how much they enjoy paying taxes. It’s amazing how many hoops we have to jump through,” filing federal jointly and state singly. “We get nibbled to death,” Sally agreed, but the greater “fear is for our kids.” Only Susan was legally involved in Ella’s international adoption, while Sally had to sit in the back of the room, “closeted.”
y continued from page 22
Lawyers and Plaintiffs gathered at the Federal Courthouse (left to right) Omaha attornies Angela Dunne and Susan Koenig, Bil Roby, Greg Tubach, Susan Waters, Carla Morris-Van Kampen, Crystal Van Kampen, Sally Waters, Jason Cadek, Marjorie Plumb, Nick Kramer, ACLU attornies Amy Miller and Leslie Cooper, and Tracy Weitz.
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‘FREEDOMFIGHTERS:
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At the time, the oft-patient Sally said, “I can’t take this. A lot of families hold their breath that the state will take their children away.” For two other plaintiffs, Nickolas Kramer, 42, and Jason Cadek, 37, married in Iowa, their worst fears focus on Alice, their 3-year-old daughter. Nick, a Montana native whose supportive family has a history of adoptions, is the only legal parent under Nebraska law. After eight years in a committed relationship, he and Jason began studying adoption, a process he wrote about in a Momaha blog. He described the required home study as “a deep dive into your life” that took four months but usually takes even longer. The match with a birth mother may also take months, but “We received a call within two weeks. Yikes! Our heads began to swim with all the questions of normal expecting parents.” And in September, 10 months after the process began, “My husband and I headed to Texas to be in the delivery room for our daughter’s birth.” What Nick Kramer called “a magical, wonderful, joyous experience” is shared by the other plaintiffs who’ve met Alice, their African-American daughter whose smile and white flowered dress brightened a press conference following Judge Bataillon’s decision. That was an encouraging day for Nick and Jason, who were described in the judge’s order as living with “profound stress and insecurity” for a daughter unprotected by Nebraska law. Then a few days later the 8th Circuit “kicked the can down the road,” as Nick put it. While they wait, he reminded, “Sally Waters could get sicker. I could have an accident,” and Jason would face legal barriers to caring for Alice. Nick cited a recent hospital stay for Crystal Van Kampen, a Navy veteran, and health care complications for a family that includes Carla Morris-Van Kampen, whom she married in Iowa, and Carla’s daughter from a previous marriage. Variations on the legal burdens face all seven couples who brought suit against the state. Two other pairs were married in California in 2008, including Marjorie Plumb and Tracy Weitz, who returned to Nebraska, and Randall Clark and Thomas Maddox, who remained out West. In a committed relationship for 30 years, they were born and educated here, own commercial property here, and worry about their legal status if health problems arise during their frequent visits. Tracy said she and Marjorie “hadn’t realized how hard it would be” when they moved back home without protection of the law, especially for inheritance purposes. But they were happy to find greater acceptance than when they departed. “Neighbors brought cookies and cupcakes, really welcomed us,” Tracy reported. If the higher courts rule in their favor, she most looks forward to “the dignity.” Yes, the legal problems and the paperwork are important, but more important to her “is not having to be something you’re not.” Bil Roby, 49, and Gregory Tubach, 57, have been in a committed relationship for 28 years and want to get married in Nebraska. They live in Lincoln. Nebraska is their home, and the home of their friends and extended families. continued on page 26 y
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Sure, like the other couples, they’ve taken all the legal steps available, gone to great expense, but, as Judge Bataillon stated, obtained documents that provide “only a fraction of the protections that marriage would provide.” Greg was born in Lincoln, Bil in Germany while his father was based overseas in the military, then reassigned to the Lincoln air base. Greg worked for Cliff’s Notes in Lincoln, then the company sent him to another state, but they returned when his father fought terminal cancer back home. While the law is a big problem, people treat them well. “We’ve never had any repercussions,” Roby said, “even when we lived in Texas. When I had a doctor’s appointment the other day, and was waiting, the receptionist came out and sat in the chair beside me. She told me how proud she was of what we doing in standing up for our rights.” So they wait to get married in Nebraska after 28 years together. And Roby worries about some of the others, a byproduct of the fact that the plaintiffs now know and care about each other. He had heard that Crystal was in the hospital and he wonders whether Sally will survive cancer long enough to be free of fears for her children. Susan Waters “was livid when the state argued that ‘no irreparable harm’ was involved” in delaying relief for the plaintiffs. “If on the day of Sally’s death they say she’s single on the death certificate, they can’t repair that later.” As for Sally, she looks great and says, “I’m good right now.” The doctor gives no time table, and she gets both good and bad news on visits. “I’ve got really important things to be alive for.” She’s on indefinite leave from work as a leadership develop-
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ment consultant for Mutual of Omaha. Susan has worked at Nebraska Medicine, then helped University of Nebraska at Omaha faculty use technology in the classroom. Earlier, they shared an executive coaching and training business. Given the immediacy of her condition, Sally and Susan were asked by attorney Susan Koenig if they wanted her to bring them forward as a special case, something
DEBRA S. KAPLAN
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that had been done in Texas. Sally Waters (with Su“We said no,” san, left) doesn’t look like Sally confirmed. she’s coping with stage The attorney IV metastatic breast canadded, “We know cer. As horrible a loss to who they are, their this family as her death would be, it would also complete integrity, bring financial burdens their values. The (e.g., a large inheritance privilege one feels tax on jointly-owned to be representproperty rather than the ing people of this spousal advantage) not courage and this faced by families whose caliber brings me marriages are recog- to tears.” nized in Nebraska. Koenig lost a gay brother to AIDS and joined the fight for human rights. With this case, “I’ve never felt luckier to be a lawyer in my home state.” She’s quite willing to make emotional arguments on behalf of a certain class of people. And to call them families. ,
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title suggests a Slavic word meaning laments for captive people. Reflecting that, the composition has often been described as introspectively brooding albeit offset by occasional cheerfulness. The program also features an early Rachmaninoff trio inspired by Tchaikovsky, Fritz Kreisler’s much- loved Preludium and Allegro, an often fierce but sometimes tender Chopin scherzo for piano plus the compelling Prelude from J.S. Bach’s Cello Suite No.3. The cellist is Jason Duckles, the pianist Andrew Armstrong and the violinist is Anthea Kreston. Omahabased I the Siren offers something from its own special repertoire, given the trio’s unusual components: soprano (Shelby VanNordstrand) oboe (Darci Gamerl) and piano ( Staci Haneline). This is part of Omaha Chamber Music Society’s Petite Musique Series. Considering the artists and what will be heard, there’s nothing small about it. — Gordon Spencer Friday, April 17 and Sunday, April 19 OPERA OMAHA’S PRODUCTION OF FIDELIO Orpheum Theater, 409 South 16th Street Fri. 7:30 p.m., Sun. 2:00 pm, $19-$100 www.omahaperformingarts.org Wednesday, April 8 ARTSLAM+ Bancroft Street Market, 2702 South 10th Street 5:30 p.m., $20 www.foaomaha.org Ten emerging artists will have the opportunity to help themselves while fundraising on behalf of the UNO Art and Art History Department. Friends of Art, a support group for the department, will host ARTSLAM+. Participating artists include: Adam Dienst-Scott, Cangshu Gran, Kristin Hansen Cain, Darcy Horn, Courtney Kenny Porto, Reggie LeFlore, Brian Joseph Tait, Mike Trotter, Adam Burke, Travis Apel. Each artist has four minutes to showcase their inspirations, techniques, backgrounds and future directions for a vote in their favor. You be the judge. Bart Vargas, artist and UNO art instructor, will be your host for the evening. Your vote helps the artists be contenders for generous prizes: First prize-$200; second prize-$100, plus additional prizes donated by Blick, Visions Custom Framing, and Mangelsens. With your $20 admission you receive 5 raffle/ vote tickets. After the artist presentations just drop your tickARTSLAM+ ets into your favorite artists’ bowl, then standby for a chance to win their featured work. Besides a chance to win a piece of art, you may also purchase additional artworks offered by ARTSLAM+ artists. Proceeds from admissions and raffle ticket sales support scholarships for UNO art students. Artists receive the full amount of any art purchases made at ARTSLAM+. — Michael J. Krainak
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APRIL 2015
INTERNATIONAL OMAHA EQUESTRIAN SHOW JUMPING COMPETITION
Thursday, April 9 NEBRASKA BRASS Trinity Lutheran Church, 6340 North 30th Street 7:30 p.m., Free www.artsincorporated.org/nb Nebraska Brass blows into town. Gently. Sweetly. It presents a concert called “Spring Fling,” inspired by the now blossoming season. Among the celebrated familiar melodies are parts of Aaron Copland’s “Appalachian Spring” and George Bizet’s “Carmen.” You also might recognize an instrumental version of a duet from Leo Delibes’ “Lakmè.” Among the other charmers comes the 16th Century playfulness of Claude Le Jeune’s Revecy Venir du Printans (“Here Again Comes the Spring”) and the narrated “Animal Ditties” by contemporary American Anthony Plog (http://anthonyplog.com/about-me/biography/). Quintet members have performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Nashville Symphony, Strategic Air Command Band (USAF), Mannheim Steamroller and more. Trombonist Mark Mendell is a music instructor in the Council Bluffs school system and tuba player Ken Kielniarz is on the music faculty at Creighton U. On trumpets are Dean Haist and Brad Obbink from Lincoln. So is french horn player Richard Ricker. FYI: an arrangement of Louis Silvers and B. G. De Sylva’s “April Showers” is on tap. Keep on looking for the bluebird. — Gordon Spencer Thursday, April 9-11 INTERNATIONAL OMAHA INDOOR HORSE JUMPING COMPETITION CenturyLink Center, 455 North 10th Street 5:00 p.m., $15-$150 www.theinternationalomaha.com The International Omaha is a world-class indoor horse jumping competition featuring the highest level of international riders. On April 9, 10 and 11 it will be returning
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to the CenturyLink Center. This year the event is promoting a renewed focus on attracting families. In doing so, they have included a discounted family ticket package, more activities in the Horse Expo, and Dressage. Dressage which is competitive and skilled horse dancing, will take place at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday evening and 9:00 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. The free to the public daylong horse expos start at 9:00 a.m. on April 10 and 11. The expos will feature interactive displays and activities, the chance to meet eight different breeds of horses, along with hands-on exhibits designed to educate and entertain. The jumping competition, the main event during this horse show, will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. If you have a love for the majestic creatures, no matter your age, step into their world for a weekend of fun, exciting, competitive and educational learning. — Mara Wilson Saturday, April 11 OMAHA CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY’S PETITE MUSIQUE SERIES Strauss Performing Arts Center at UNO, 6001 Dodge Street 7:30 p.m., $4-$5, Students are Free www.omahachambermusic.org The Oregon-based Amelia Piano Trio comes to Omaha for one performance only, arriving with a major reputation. (“You just don’t hear better chamber music playing than this.” San Diego Reader). Since its start in 1999, it has appeared, for example, in New York at the 92nd St Y and Carnegie Hall, at Ravinia in Chicago, the Library of Congress in Washington DC and often on NPR as its 2003 Young Ensemble in Residence. Winner of an ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming the group records for Cedille and Naxos records. One of Dvorak’s best-known known works makes up the second half of the concert, his Piano Trio No. 4 op. 90. Better remembered by being called the “Dumky” Trio, the
Jun Kaneko has an international reputation as a ceramic sculptor who is also known for his work in many other media, including acrylic paint, glass, ink, oil stick and, for the last decade, opera. Local audiences who thrilled to his set and costume designs for Puccini’s Madama Butterfly in 2006 and Mozart’s The Magic Flute in 2013 will finally get a chance to see his creative turn on Fidelio, Ludwig van Beethoven’s only opera. Opera Omaha will stage performances as its season finale at the Orpheum on Friday, April 17 and Sunday, April 19. Kaneko was commissioned to design sets and costumes by the Opera Company of Philadelphia for its 2008 production of Fidelio. It has since toured to San Francisco and Washington, D.C.; this will be the production’s premiere in Omaha. Known as a “rescue opera” for its themes of captivity, separation, liberation and reunification, Fidelio touches on some especially resonant notes encompassing political imprisonment and the bonds of marriage—the hero in this story is the wife, Leonore, who goes undercover as a man (Fidelio) to engineer the release of her unjustly imprisoned husband, Floristan. It was the metaphor of good and evil, light and dark—white and black—that Philadelphia’s producing director, Robert Driver, saw in the gridwork of Kaneko’s designs for Butterfly that brought the two together. Familiars will recognize many Kaneko
FIDELIO
stylistic motifs: a certain minimalist sparseness, range of bright, selective color, bold clear geometric patterns, etc. His sensitivity to space and interval, which serves him well as a sculptor, extends to the additional theatrical necessities of lighting, movement, timing, musical and narrative flow. Kaneko also teamed again with Clark Creative Group for place- and mood-shaping motion graphics. The result is destined to be a clever marriage of old and new, a fresh take on undying human themes and classical music. — Janet L. Farber CABARET
Friday, April 17 PANDORA’S BOX: A NIGHT OF ARTS AND MUSIC Waiting Room Lounge, 6212 Maple Street 8:00 p.m., $8 www.waitingroomlounge.com Midwest Elite Concerts has done it again. We Be Lions will be headlining Pandora’s Box 5 as they have before in this popular music event series. Spoken word performances, live art exhibits and acoustic performances on top of this energizing rock band and so much more can be expected from this event. We Be Lions released their album, Fingerprint a year ago and since then have had two OEAA nominations. If you haven’t checked out this band, you’re missing out on genuine rock talent lead by a passionate group of males who have the ability to rule the jungle, but are just having a great time doing what they do best. Accompanying We Be Lions: Rothsteen, Artillery Funk, and The Shivering Flowers. All of these bands will rock your night away. Pandora’s Box 4 occurred last August, don’t wait around for Pandora’s sixth box, support local talent and buy your tickets for this music and art event, on the waiting room website. — Mara Wilson
echoes Brecht and Weill. You know that too, ja? A new version is running on Broadway right now. The last one lasted more than five years. This 15 Tony Award masterpiece keeps on coming. Now Creighton University students take on the challenge. Bleibe. Reste. Stay. — Gordon Spencer Through April 25 JIM BOCKELMAN & COMPANY Modern Arts Midtown, 36th and Dodge Street Opens Friday, April 3 at 6:00 p.m. Hours: Tues.-Sat. 11:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. www.modernartsmidtown.com “Jim Bockelman & Company,” the April show at Modern Arts Midtown will feature this artist along with Larry Bradshaw, Bryce Speed, Brian Gennard and Rick Johns. Bockelman’s work in this show is a continuation of works done on paper. Through staining and glazing, the drawn elements are subjected to an additive and subtractive process that further integrates the media into the paper surface. Though the paper may become fragmented, a more tactile and gritty surface results in the rich and integrated finished work. Bockelman is one of 37 artists who have been selected for the upcoming Joslyn Art Museum exhibition Art Seen: A Juried Exhibition of Artists from Omaha to Lincoln, which opens June 21, 2015. An Associate Professor of Art at Concordia University in Seward, Nebraska, Bockelman has had numerous solo exhibitions in Nebraska as well as Berlin, Germany. — Eddith Buis
Through April 19 CABARET Creighton University’s Lied Education Center for the Arts, 2500 California Plaza Opens Friday, April 10 Fri.-Sat. 7:30 p.m., Sun. 2:00 p.m., Thurs., April 16 7:30 p.m., $5-$18 www.creighton.edu
Sunday, April 26 RAISE THE ROOTS Waiting Room Lounge, 6212 Maple Street 5:00 p.m., $7 www.waitingroomlounge.com
“Leave your troubles outside. Life is disappointing. Forget it.” That’s what the sleazy Emcee says. You know that he’s trying to con you. Outside, in the dark night and dark day, Berlin is turning ugly and brutal. Within the walls, Sally Bowles is becoming frantic and Cliff Bradshaw fears the black swastikas flourishing. Moreover Fräulein Schneider worries about broken windows if she encourages courtship from Jewish Herr Schultz. His pineapple looks like a bomb. Remember, schatzi, Cabaret is no light entertainment. In the 1966 musical, Joe Masteroff, John Kander and Fred Ebb epitomized what can be done brilliantly within the confines a musical. Set pieces, songs and dances at the Kit Kat Klub mirror and reflect increasing doom on squalid city streets. Razor-sharp satire
Raise the Roots is a committee designed to educate and engage Omahans through entertaining events based around local sustainability issues. Raise the Roots utilizes the local scene when creating their events. As posted on their Facebook page they combine local food, live music and multi-media experiences to create a sustainable and vibrant Omaha. The events are family-friendly and this group seeks to connect people to organizations focused on food and sustainable efforts throughout the community. And what better time to host this event, during the midst of Earth Day. Munch on some Omaha good-eats and learn about our community while listening to the music of Prairie Gators and DJ Brent Crampton. — Mara Wilson
CHANDELIER BY JAMES BOCKELMAN
Through May 10 IN THE JUNGLE YOU MUST WAIT Shelterbelt Theatre, 3225 California Street Opens Friday, April 17 Thurs.-Sat. 8:00 p.m., Sun. 2:00 p.m., $10-$15 www.shelterbelt.org “In the jungle, you must wait, until the dice read 5 or 8.” So goes a Chris Van Allsburg rule in his book Jumanji where kids play a game loaded with perils. Omaha playwright Jeremy Johnson’s world-premiering script takes many of those words and spins the wheel of fortune to look inside the boxed-in confines of an insurance company office where previously good-natured colleagues discover darker corners which they had not noticed before. Janitors become major players. Two of them have been moonlighting as poets. More dangerous, their supervisor manifests the effects of being a war veteran. As things heat up in the sweltering interior, 10 characters contend for space, attention and meaning within the narrow limits of their lives and Shelterbelt Theatre’s close walls. Johnson is no stranger to Shelterbelt having had a few of his one-acts staged there. New York and St. Louis audiences have also seen his work. That desk phone near you jangles. Could the call be for you? — Gordon Spencer Through May16 EXTRAVAGANT FICTION: NEW WORKS BY MARY K. MURPHY Gallery 72, 1806 Vinton Street Opens Friday, April 17 at 5:00 p.m. Hours: Wed.-Sat. 10:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. www.gallery72.com The paintings of Mary K. Murphy, the next solo exhibit at Gallery 72 in April, are windows into the world of her personal experience, but these windows are not transparent. Instead, they are clouded with colored shapes that frequently coalesce into odd figures, such as the haunting face that stares out of “Sensation (Apple).” In other works, the shapes float on the surface of the canvas with a poignancy that recalls Helen Frankenthaler, or cascade down it in loops and biomorphic forms that have the buoyancy of late de Kooning. The fact that Murphy tends to paint on linen rather than canvas heightens the emotional quality of the images by softening their edges. She also has a remarkably confident sense of color that
LOESS HILLS, PEIN AIR BY J.K. THORSEN
allows her to use pastels where other artists might feel compelled to go for something more bold. Murphy has spoken of her desire to “activate the rectangle” of the painting and create works that, while they emerge from her own experience, end up enabling the view to have an experience of his or her own. — David Thompson
Through May 2 ARTISTS J.K. THORSEN AND EVELYN RENDER- KATZ Connect Gallery, 39th and Leavenworth Street Opens Wednesday, April 1 Hours: Wed.-Sat. 11:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. www.connectgallery.net Artists J.K. Thorsen and Evelyn Render-Katz will be the featured artists starting April 1 at Connect Gallery. Both women tend toward a lush, intense palette with an Abstract Expressionist tendency—veering toward “happy colors”---easy on the eye. Thorsen’s on-going themes are generally landscape-oriented, and based on earth-friendly media, for less impact on the environment, including Whole Oils on re-purposed brass. Render-Katz focuses on color, line and movement in her work. Additional gallery events for this exhibit include: A gallery talk and soiree, April 17 from 5-9 p.m., artists paint on site, April 18, 2-4 p.m., a First Friday party, May 1, 4-7 p.m. and an artist’s demonstration, May 2, 2-4 p.m. The two friends will complement each other’s work—eye-candy promised.
PANDORA’S BOX 5
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heartlandhealing
‘YellowPeril
A
HEARTLAND HEALING is a metaphysically based polemic describing alternatives to conventional methods of healing the body, mind and planet by MICHAEL BRAUNSTEIN. It is provided as information and entertainment, certainly not medical advice. Important to remember and pass on to others: for a weekly dose of Heartland Healing, visit HeartlandHealing.com. .
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plague is upon us; pestilence abounds; a pox we planted ourselves. Forget locusts. Forget frogs. Forget bird flu, kudzu or African snails. The invasive species strangling, starving and drying up America came all the way from the St. Louis laboratories of Monsanto. It’s corn. The Yellow Peril. Our country is being overrun by corn. It’s the killer crop of the 21st century. How? We got sold a bill of goods — several, it turns out. It’s a shame because so many hard-working farmers are addicted to corn as a cash crop. But they are financially marginalized by a crop that keeps them on a razor-thin budget while filling the coffers of Big Agriculture. Who’s getting rich? It’s not most farmers so don’t blame them. Corn business was pushed on us by corporate greed and government decree. How many ways can one crop be bad for a people and planet? First, let’s clarify what we’re talking about. Incredible, inedible corn. If you don’t know by now, there are basically two kinds of corn: field corn and sweet corn. Sweet corn is the kind you boil, roast or grill, drench with butter and enjoy in midsummer. Sweet corn is not the problem (except the new GMO kind). You have probably never seen a field of edible corn because less than 1 percent of all corn grown in the United States is edible sweet corn. 99 percent is field corn. Field corn is about as edible as tree bark and has to be radically processed to be of any value to humans. Most field corn is used for animal feed, the other 40 percent goes to ethanol production. The rest goes to high fructose corn syrup, junk food and as a raw material for a variety of products including paints, candles, fireworks, drywall, sandpaper, dyes, crayons, shoe polish, antibiotics and adhesives. The corn con. Back in the ‘70s, then-Secretary of Agriculture, Earl “Rusty” Butz, hatched a plan to profit corporate agriculture. Butz was a Big Ag crony. He even served on the board of Purina, a huge food conglomerate. By controlling how farmers grew corn, Butz pretty much singlehandedly changed the way farming was done in America. Corporate farms got bigger and Butz’s famous words were “Plant corn from fencerow to fencerow! Get big or get out.” Government has always leveraged control over the food system but it grew more insidious with George Bush’s Energy Act of 2005. That turned ethanol production into a gold mine for Big Ag. With government subsidies, tax incentives and blending mandates, ethanol plants cropped up in 16 states, turning corn into inefficient, expensive fuel. In fact,
APRIL 2015
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Monoculture monster is environmental disaster BY MICHAEL BRAUNSTEIN
without subsidies from your tax dollars, ethanol would be too expensive to burn in your car. Government and industry propaganda labeled ethanol as a “green” replacement for gasoline. It is anything but. The ways corn kills our planet are many and varied. Monoculture is bad. Corn prices are skyhigh due to subsidized ethanol. “Farmers” plant corn wherever they can. One real farmer I know (he grows food, not corn) wrote that his neighbors are planting corn in the same fields for the fifth, sixth and seventh year in a row. It’s impossible to do that without destroying the topsoil and relying on synthetic fertilizers. Diversity is a good thing in farming just like it is in society. Corn farmers today plant corn year after year, depleting our most valuable natural resource, topsoil. Ethanol is a disaster. Most corn is used to produce ethanol. The rest is fed to cows and a very small portion is fed to humans in the form of junk food. The government forced ethanol upon us. Big corporations got rich and continue to prosper, propped up by laws that demand we pump corn fuel into our cars and trucks. Meanwhile, ethanol is less efficient than gasoline, damages engines, costs far more to produce, forces farmland prices sky-high, damages the environment, requires more chemicals in farming, depletes the soil and takes away farmland that could be used to grow real food or graze livestock. The grain required to fill one 25-gallon gas tank with ethanol can feed a person for a year. And ethanol turns out to be dirtier. A UN panel reports, “biofuels emissions — including from land
heartland healing
use change — lead to greater total emissions than when using petroleum products.” Other research is confirming that ethanol produces more smog than gasoline. There is nothing green about ethanol. Sane lawmakers (yes, there are a couple,) are beginning to realize ethanol is a huge mistake and want to end the federal ethanol mandate. The only elected officials who still support laws forcing us to use ethanol are from big corn-producing states like Iowa and Nebraska. Corn inflates land prices. One organic farmer I know lives on the farm he grew up on in Abie, Neb. He told me he once was able to sit on his porch and see huge stands of cottonwoods in every direction, some he climbed in as a kid. Last year not one tree stood as far as he could see. “They’re pulling up stands of hundred-yearold trees just to plant five, six rows of corn,” he said. Corn is thirstiest crop. Dr. Loyd Stone at Kansas State shows corn requires more water than wheat, sorghum, milo or soybeans. Nebraska uses more groundwater for ethanol production than does any other state. Univeristy of Iowa professor Jerald Schnoor insists ethanol production is unsustainable, drawing down our water table. He called for halting ethanol expansion. Corn makes dead zones. Corn is one of the hungriest crops and requires huge amounts of chemical fertilizers. These run off the soil and into rivers and lakes, down to the ocean. A report by the National Academy of Sciences specifically blames runoff from cornfields for record algal blooms in the Great Lakes and the Gulf that kill fish and create dead zones. Corn kills bees. Corn is wind pollinated so doesn’t need bees. But corn farmers use tons of neonic pesticides and they kill bees. Honeybees are disappearing at epidemic rates. Toxic corn pollen has been found to make up 50 percent of the pollen found in hives. GMO hotspot. Genetically engineered foods are bad. Close to 100 percent of all corn is GMO. G-MO spells D-O-O-M. When it comes to field corn, it’s hard to think of one good thing about it. It wastes water. It wastes soil. It is bad for cows to eat and it makes us fat. “Aw, shucks” isn’t a good answer. Be well. ,
SATURDAY, APRIL 11 @ 10 AM
Beginning Ukulele with Mark Gutierrez ($35)
JOHN WATERS
THIS FILTHY WORLD
Live at the
Rococo Theatre Lincoln, NE
SATURDAY, APRIL 25 @ 10 AM
Slab Ceramics with Iggy Sumnik ($35)
INFO & REGISTRATION
Visit OmahaCreativeInstitute.org 1516 Cuming St., Omaha, NE 68102 (651)373-6662 Questions: Rachel@OmahaCreativeInstitute.org
April 23, 2015 John Waters’ one-man show is a “vaudeville” act that celebrates the film career and obsessional tastes of the man William Burroughs once called “The Pope of Trash.”
TICKETS NOW ON SALE www.rococotheatre.com presented by
FRIENDS OF THE.MARY.RIEPMA.ROSS MEDIA.ARTS.CENTER w w w. t h e r o s s . o r g
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gives to the probing thumb of the public. Food is then genetically modified for durability and symmetry and nutrition becomes an afterthought. More is planted, robbing the soil of nutrients that are then replaced using synthetic filler. This vegetal vanity creates a staggering amount of waste and drives up food costs. As the food becomes more expensive, we clip coupons and price match at big box stores who happily ship food in from countries where the labor is practically given away.
Making The Connection
COURTESY OF OMAHA BY DESIGN
So how do we locate these local growers and navigate the sometimes overwhelming world of food labels? It is becoming more and more complicated. Organic, heirloom, pesticide free, non gmo, ethical, fair trade. What really matters when purchasing food? Does “cage free” mean the same thing as “free range”? Why does it matter if beef is grain or grass finished? Where can I find cruelty free poultry and eggs? If only we had a trusted guide on our journey to ethical, local buying…
‘foodfor‘thought: Tomãto Tomäto’s Jody Fritz says feed the economy something farm fresh and delicious. Plant your dollars and see what grows.
loca4local
BY SARA LOCKE
Omaha company brings farms to the market
eat
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very four years, dutiful Americans file into pre-determined facilities, climb into a stall, eye a ballot of choices and mark a box they deem the least offensive. Truly involved citizens find opportunities to vote more regularly. City Council, Sheriff, School Board, and so on. They take any opportunity they can find to choose our leaders and have a voice in what our community, city, state and country look like. What we don’t always account for is the fact that we cast votes literally every day.
Money Talks
Every dollar spent in locally owned facilities stays local, feeding our economy and creating jobs for our neighbors. Every local purchase is a vote for locally sourced food and for the advancement of opportunities for our farmers. Instead, we fearfully feed the competition, starving our own economy and essentially casting our vote for Monsanto, Walmart, and the destruction of the family farm. Nebraska is currently home to just north of 790,000 households. If each household spent a
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measly $10 a week on locally sourced foods, we would manage to keep more than $410 million here in our local economy. That’s without considering the environmental impact of reducing our carbon footprint by not shipping food halfway across the country. It’s also forgoing the minor detail of flavor and nutrients lost in the process of manhandling melons for a few thousand miles.
The Great Waste
In a time when 49 million Americans struggle to feed their families, the solution is not ‘grow more food’. It is estimated that up to 40% of the food produced in America goes uneaten. That’s $165 Billion worth of perfectly fine quality food rotting in landfills every year. In fact, food comprises the majority of all waste in landfills. Our desire for massive quantities of aesthetically pleasing produce and perfectly uniform chicken breasts leads grocery stores to constantly cycle out even the slightest of visual imperfections. Employees walk through the produce section several times a day, weeding out bananas as the first flecks of brown appear and tossing peaches as their flesh
Let’s Call The Whole Thing Awesome
Tomãto Tomäto, the conceptual lovechild of Jody and Jeremy Fritz, has been on the Omaha food scene for more than 8 years. The yearround indoor farmer’s market offers individuals Community Supported Agriculture shares and functions as a hub for the 35 area farmers they represent. You can pop into the market on 156th just north of Center to purchase any in-season produce or regionally raised and produces meats, cheeses, and spirits. Even better? You’ll find them at a lower price than you would find at say, a Whole Foods. If you opt to travel the CSA route, you receive a weekly basket of produce, meat, eggs, herbs, or cheeses, depending on the package you purchase. Seriously, this is just like playing “chopped” in your own kitchen. You can never be 100% sure what crop will be ripe and ready and sometimes find very exciting vegetables in your possession! I spoke with Michael Kult, Tomãto Tomäto’s head of Wholesale Distribution, who told me that finding the product is a full time job. When considering adding an area farm to their roster, he drives out and spends a whole day with the farmer learning all he can about the facility. Kult is the personification of zen, but becomes truly passionate when talking about food ethics and safety. “These plants and animals are going to become someone’s food. That means it will determine their energy and their health. It matters.” Suffice it to say, Kult takes his work seriously, so when he and Tomãto Tomäto put their seal of approval on a facility, it’s about as legit as it gets.
David Vs Goliath Was Nothing
In spite of the loud cry for organic and local fare, shoppers are still spending the majority of their dollars not at farmer’s markets, but at restaurants and grocery stores. Walmart is shipcontinued on page 34y
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Omaha Performing Arts Presents
Arlo Guthrie
Tuesday, April 28, 2015 | 7:30 PM
Farmers Come to the Table
Holland Center | Kiewit Hall Order NOW: Tickets from $20 | TicketOmaha.com | 402.345.0606 All productions, performers, prices, dates and times subject to change.
ping in a variety of organic produce and using that to crush the local competition. Convenience wins out over conscience, and the cycle continues. This is where Fritz and Kult’s elaborate networking becomes interesting to the average consumer. Fritz humbly muses “I’m not a revolutionary trying to change shopping. People are busy and buying is hard enough with kids and work schedules. Locating local sources takes an incredible time commitment. Then getting to the several farms to purchase, it just becomes very time prohibitive.The eye was on using the food systems already in place. That’s how Hy-Vee got involved.” In recent months, Tomãto has invaded 13 local HyVee grocery stores throughout the city. New items are popping up regularly as stock is cycled out, so look closely! You will soon notice meats, grains, and produce with the names of regional farms like Plum Creek, Bird Song, Erstwhile, and Straight Arrow. (All Organic!) And that’s not all-
Hospitality Sponsor
Omaha Performing Arts Presents
KURTELLING ELLING SwINGS SINaTRa
“We’re not redesigning the wheel, we’re just building it by hand.” Colin Duggan casually remarks. The chef and owner of Kitchen Table in the Old Market may not be redesigning the wheel, but Kitchen Table is redefining the meal with their motto, “Slow food, fast”. Since opening their establishment 2 years ago they have used their time wisely, cultivating relationships with several Nebraska farmers in an effort to keep their kitchen clean and local. The menu remains fluid to account for the relatively uncooperative nature of Nebraska’s weather. Kitchen Table is one of about a half dozen restaurants who seek out TT’s network of vetted food growers to maintain their local status. Last summer, Colin and Jessica invited several of their suppliers to come speak at a regular “Sunday Supper” to inform and involve their diners in the journey their dinner took to reach their plate.
World’s Worst Boss
Sponsor:
Thursday, April 23, 2015 | 7:30 & 9:30 PM Holland Center | Scott Recital Hall Tickets: $35 Advance / $40 Day of Show | TicketOmaha.com | 402.345.0606 All productions, performers, prices, dates and times subject to change.
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Hospitality Sponsor:
Fritz, Kult, and The Duggans know that as much as they trust their growers, their biggest hurdle is their head boss. Mother Nature is a cruel employer and a single night of heavy, unexpected rain can devastate an entire crop. Fritz feels the pain of each hot day as the farmers she has created these relationships with suffer, but she remains loyal to them and to the cause. They aren’t coworkers, they are a team. They are a community, and they are working together for a healthier Nebraska. , Tomãto Tomäto is located at 2634 S. 156th Circle. If you would like to learn more or become part of a CSA, check out http://tomatotomato.org/
ALL ITEMS ONLY 99 CENTS! FIND LOTS. SPEND A LITTLE
Preserving historical traditions of Latino music in Omaha, Nebraska
SouthOmahaArts.com 402.734.3240
$0.99
GOOD FOR YOU. GREAT FOR THE COMMUNITY!
501 S. 13TH STREET • OMAHA, NE 68102 MONDAY-SATURDAY 11AM-9PM, SUNDAY 11AM-7PM
Iowa Western Community College
2014-2015 National Performance Season finÁle!
Enjoy an intimate evening of folk-roots harmonies and hilarious tales with this talented Toronto-based vocal trio.
APRIL 30 @ 8:00 pm TICKETS ON SALE NOW! Box office 712.388.7140
Brought to you in part by these major sponsors:
PURCHASE ONLINE: artscenter.iwcc.edu | THE READER |
APRIL 2015
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music
‘thedom:
Omaha’s music scene can seem a white bread affair unless you know where to look for some color. An R&B and soul artist making a name for himself, Dominique Morgan has traveled a hard road to get to the success he’s enjoying now. His songs of love and loss are informed by his own experience.
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passionpower R
&B and soul singer-songwriter Dominique Morgan, 33, has emerged as an urban music force with multiple Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards nominations for his Love Chronicles album. His tunes of love and loss come from personal experience: an abusive relationship, homophobia, both parents passing, incarceration. Alfonzo Lee Jones, founder-president of Icon One Music, the local label Morgan records on, says the artist has “absolute determination.” Music is Morgan’s passion and sustenance. When he bravely came out at 14, he leaned on music for solace. “It was an important part of my secret life. I spent a lot of time in my room listening to music. No one knew this was my salvation, this was my safe space,” Morgan says. “I was very closeted about music. I didn’t sing in front of people. But I had this
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Dominique Morgan’s voice will not be stilled, Singer-songwriter doesn’t let travails slow his roll BY LEO ADAM BIGA
desire to perform. I wrote songs in a notebook I hid under my bed. I was just very insecure and being a performer is the ultimate exposure.” He got up enough nerve to sing in Benson High’s mixed chorus and to audition for its Studio Singers show choir. “I was frightened to death to audition. I didn’t know how to dance in time, I didn’t know how to read music, I felt so behind.” He made the cut anyway. “It was the first time I had been chosen for something and somebody saw something special in me. That experience was amazing. It opened me up to discipline, group dynamics, being a leader.” Though his parents accepted his sexual identity they didn’t want him dating. At 16 he got involved with a 21 year-old man. Full of rebellion, Morgan left home to live with his partner. He says he silently suffered abuse in that co-dependency before finally
music
leaving at 19. “I really had no self-esteem. The relationship tore that completely apart.” Broke and feeling he had nowhere to go, he lived a gypsy existence between Omaha and Lincoln “I did not want my family to see me.” He committed nonviolent crimes – stealing cars in a valet dodge and writing bad checks. He slept in the cars and attended to his personal needs in public and dormitory restrooms. “It was how I was surviving.” His desperation led to many poor choices. “I have this need for people to like me and to want to be around me. I was constantly putting myself in precarious situations because of that.” He let friends think he was going to school. “I had to keep up a facade with them.” He did the same with a local boy band, On Point, he joined. continued on page 38y
America's Greatest Big Band Show “A meticulously researched recreation of the Swing Era” —The Mercury Review: Hobart, Australia
ORPHEUM THEATER Monday, April 20 3 pm Matinee & 7:30 pm
1200 Douglas Street, Omaha 402-345-0606 www.TicketOmaha.com
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“It was my first experience recording in a studio and performing outside of high school. It was bittersweet. I was enjoying it but I knew it wouldn’t last. I knew eventually it would blow up in my face.” The pressure of maintaining the illusion grew. “Those internal thoughts are hell. All these balls i was juggling. I found myself in a cycle. I didn’t want to face how bad of a situation I was in.” Once again, his only comfort was music. “It was how I got through each day. It was just peace for me.” Wracked by fear and blinded by denial, he says, “I reached a point where I knew I couldn’t go on much longer like that. I just didn’t know what the stopping point was for me.” Getting arrested in Lincoln in 2000 was that point. Assigned a public defender, he pleaded no contest to several counts of forgery and theft. Unable to make bail, he sat in Lancaster County Jail for months awaiting sentencing. The judge gave him eight to 12 years. Morgan’s reaction: “My life is over.” His next four months were spent at the state correctional system’s Diagnostic and Evaluation Center. Life in stir came as “a complete culture shock,” he says. “I couldn’t let anybody know I was frightened because you can’t show any weakness. Besides, I was out. I was young, gay and black – three strikes against me. So I came in fighting. I wanted them to respect me. I was watching boys get raped, people be sold, stabbed, beaten with padlocks. I was like, I just want to make it home.” He didn’t pursue an appeal – “I thought if I fought it I was going to go crazy” – and instead accepted his lot. He served in Omaha, Tecumseh and Lincoln facilities, sometimes segregated from the general prison population, for his own safety he was told. Other times, he mixed with convicted murderers and rapists. While incarcerated his father died suddenly. He’d been Morgan’s only regular visitor. Morgan stopped calling home. Hearing freedom on the other end only made his confinement worse. “It was too much for me.” He turned to music to cope. “It was like this wall burst in my head and these words, these songs, these melodies just flooded out of me. I thought, One day I want to sing my songs. Music kept me going. It was my saving grace.” He wrote the songs in long-hand, with a pen, in notebooks and on kites (internal request forms). He utilized mics and mixing boards in prison music rooms, buying access to the gear via handmade checks he covered with the $1.21 a day he made working in the kitchen. He earned a culinary degree he uses today as a caterer.
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In a prison talent contest he revealed music chops he’d kept on the down low. The prospect of using those chops on the outside kept him sane. After serving eight-plus years, he got out February 2009 and cared for his ill mother until she died that December. “It was devastating.” His youngest sibling, Andrea, came to live with him. He tracked down Icon One’s Alfonzo Lee Jones and began writing songs for the label. Jones admires “the soul and feeling” Morgan puts into his writing,” adding, “Dom paints a vivid picture with every song he composes. You can feel the emotion. That’s powerful.” Morgan says in Jones he’s found “more than a producer – he’s like a brother to me.” Meanwhile, Web and radio hosting gigs brought Morgan to the attention of East Coast artists he’s now working with. His music took off as a recording artist and live performer, he says, once he stopped trying to position himself as a gay singersongwriter. That transition came with his outreach work for the nonprofit LGBT advocacy group, Heartland Pride. “I am a singer who happens to be gay. I can still be myself through that but I let the music speak for itself.” His life and career were rudely interrupted last fall when informed he’d not served the mandatory minimum for one of his charges. He found himself detained four months at the Diagnostic and Evaluation Center. “It was like watching my life die. It almost killed me wondering how much of my life is slipping away while I’m gone.” A parole board review set him free in February. During that limbo he was removed from the Pride board for not disclosing his criminal past. That prompted a Facebook post by Morgan laying out his troubled journey and hard-fought redemption. “I can’t be OK and love who I am now and be ashamed of such a large portion of what made me who I am,” he says. “I felt I needed to own my story. I wanted people to really know where I came from.” He’s since co-founded Queer People of Color Nebraska. It seeks to start conversations in the African-American community and larger community about the challenges of being black and gay in America. His advocacy for equal rights led him to co-direct a recently released “Black Lives Matter” video. “I want to do it loud and proud,” he says. , The release party for his new album, Loveaholics Anonymous – Welcome to Rehab, is April 25 at The 402 in Benson. Follow Dom at www.facebook.com/dniquemorgan. Read more of Leo Adam Biga’s work at leoadambiga.com.
Friday, April 24, 7:00 p.m. Joslyn Art Museum Witherspoon Hall On the stage-wide screen! 2200 Dodge St., Omaha, NE 68102
Special Guest Kelly Curtis
daughter of Tony Curtis.
Tickets $23.00 on sale NOW at Omaha Hy-Vee grocery stores Doors Open at 6 p.m
Limited tickets also available at the door A Benefit for the Omaha Parks Foundation For more information call
402-926-8299.
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music ‘familyaffair:
TIM MCMAHAN
White Mystery, the brother and sister duo of Alex and Francis White, roared through a set of monolithic garagerockers on the Beerland Patio during South By Southwest 2015.
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he first thing one does at SXSW after getting his credentials in order is hit the streets. I arrived late Wednesday afternoon and was on Red River (which abuts 6th Street on the east side) by 5 p.m., which meant an entire evening of music lie ahead. There’s a sense of disorientation when you first arrive — the air is different, it’s humid, it’s warm. That hoodie you brought is no longer needed. Hipsters zing by on bicycles, hucksters are on every corner selling their wares, and everywhere you go there is the deep, pungent stench of weed in the air. Despite the presence of cops, people light up blunts and pass them around in public as if we were in Colorado with no fear of Johnny Law. Too bad I don’t partake in the demon weed as it no doubt changes the complexion of SXSW for those who do. Anyway, by the time we got to 6th Street we could already hear White Mystery playing on the Beerland patio to a small crowd that tumbled off the sidewalk and into the street. Beerland is an unofficial SXSW venue that hosts its own free day-shows. It is ground zero for garage and punk bands no
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Go online to www.lazy-i.com to read more highlights from SXSW.
One day in the life of the year’s biggest music fest BY TIM MCMAHAN
matter the time of year, and a good place to hang when you’ve grown tired of SXSW’s unending commercialism. Despite the small PA on the patio, White Mystery sounded as good as when I saw them a few weeks ago at Reverb. The band is a brother-andsister guitar-and-drum duo that plays gritty, bluesy garage rock reminiscent of another famous guitarand-drum duo that had “white” in its name. Next it was off to a warehouse that had been converted into a venue called Iron Castle. There are lots of these conversions along 6th Street during SXSW. Anyplace can become a music venue if you add lights and sound. Only one performer was being featured that night — Twin Shadow. Their staging involved large see-through nylon curtains draped around the triangular stage platform that had images projected onto them. You could sort of see the band’s equipment behind the scrims. I figured someone would pull back the curtain once Twin Shadow took the stage. Nope. The band played behind the opaque mosquito netting — an effect that was more frustrating than innovative.
music
TIM MCMAHAN
‘SWSWBLOG
Twin Shadow plays a bouncy ’80s style of synthpop rife with infectious hooks. This set was no different, though the new music from upcoming release Eclipse wasn’t much of a departure from 2012’s Confess. Let me note here that SXSW’s history of rigidly following set schedules was nowhere to be seen at this year’s event. Twin Shadow came on 40 minutes late — that meant having to endure 40 minutes of grating house music while I waited. Onward. Cedar Street Courtyard is located a few blocks off 6th Street in a space between two grand buildings, sort of like the Passageway Gallery in the Old Market. I went to see Speedy Ortiz but (surprise) everything was running off schedule. Instead, I saw a set by Dutch singer-songwriter Dotan and his band. Their sound is mainstream ethnic, the kind of music that would be right at home as the soundtrack for an insurance commercial. Very pretty, very well done. Very safe. Dotan was a strange opener for Speedy Ortiz (who, in turn, was a strange opener for Spoon, who was scheduled to follow them). The Massachusetts band has played a couple times in Omaha, including at West Wing (and I think Sweatshop Gallery), and I’ve managed to miss them every time. Fronted by Sadie Dupuis, the band plays down-key indie rock reminiscent of Eleanor Freidberger. Great stuff and the best set of the night for me. Spoon was originally scheduled to go on at around 1 but it would be well past that before they got the bands switched out and the sound check out of the way. The courtyard already was well past capacity. There’s nothing quite like standing sandwiched between an enormous crowd and a brick wall unable to move. Spoon would have to wait. ,
‘girlpower:
Laura Burhenn of The Mynabirds played a sweet solo set during the Saddle Creek / Nicodemus SXSW day showcase at Stay Gold.
JUNE 23 • PINEWOOD BOWL THEATER
Pioneers park in lincoln • 3201 s. coddington ave 6:30PM GATES • 7:30PM show • a food drive event • all ages
widespreadpanic.com • pinewoodbowltheater.com
TICKETS available at Pinnacle Bank Arena Firestone Farm Tires Ticket Office, all ticketmaster locations, and ticketmaster.com For special accommodations, please call 402.904.5600 no less than two weeks prior to event.
VISIT GOCREIGHTON.COM FOR UP-TO-DATE SCHEDULES AND TIMES
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‘greatdivide
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he year was 2006. It was a simpler time, no one knew what a Kardashian was and a glorified TED talk could win an Oscar. Director Davis Guggenheim and Al Gore, fresh off having cried himself to sleep while mumbling “effing Florida” for five straight years, released An Inconvenient Truth. It went on to win two Oscars, Best Documentary and Best Song (no, Al didn’t sing it). It seemed like a cultural turning point, the first time what was then “global warming” and is now “climate change” was carefully put in front of the masses. The message was a warning, yes, but also an impassioned call to action. “We can do it!” screamed big Al! “We can save the planet!” Instead, he may well have helped kill it. Let me explain. Because he was the unelected (sorry again, Al) spokesperson who first introduced the issue to many Americans, Gore became the brand image for climate change. He was
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film
How Al Gore Killed Planet Earth: The aftermath of An Inconvenient Truth B Y R YA N S Y R E K
its ambassador, taking bows on Oscar night and showing up in clever cameos on TV’s “30 Rock.” When you thought “global warming,” you thought Al Gore. Turns out, that had a consequence. Researchers at Yale University found that the film helped fan the partisan flames around what was always going to be a contentious issue. Nobody thinks that if Gore hadn’t been Captain Climate Change that conservatives would be out there building wind farms by hand right now. That said, Gore was a democratic Vice President for eight years to Bill Clinton; he was actively campaigning against George W. Bush and his “whoopsie” war in Iraq at the exact same time he was fighting for environmental actions. Conservative politicians and voters naturally associated him with everything they opposed. Ergo, if Gore asked “Please save the planet,” conservatives were inclined to say “Nah, bro, screw you.” A Gallup Poll taken two years after the release of An Inconvenient Truth shows that the
divide between Democrats and Republicans widened in the wake of the film. In terms of those who worried “a great deal or a fair amount” about global warming, the split grew from 24% to 35%. The divide about whether human activities were responsible for the change increased from 36% to 41%. Causation and correlation are sons-of-bitches to separate, especially on an issue this big. But it makes sense, doesn’t it? Having one of if not the highest profile liberal talking about an issue crystalized it as a “liberal issue.” This only sucks because the entire plane is totally screwed. There is a heated debate between scientists. Oh, not about whether humans are causing the global warming that is catastrophically injuring our planet; something like 99% of them agree on that. They just disagree on how screwed we are. It’s a question of if we can save the planet for our children or if Californians should quickly invest in houseboats. As implausible as it
may seem to those of us who like “facts” and don’t consider science “an opinion,” a large swath of the country is still in disbelief about climate change, and much of that stems from the way the issue initially was introduced. Did you know that An Inconvenient Truth prompted not one but three rebuttal documentaries? An Inconsistent Truth, Not Evil Just Wrong and An Inconvenient Truth…Or Convenient Fiction? all took aim at Gore’s film and, more specifically, Gore himself. That is, unless you consider this cover a fairand-balanced approach. Before you ask, yes, many people credit Gore for raising awareness. People who saw it overwhelmingly said that it opened their eyes to the scope of the problem. That statement again: People who voluntarily paid to see an Al Gore slideshow for 2 hours agreed with Al Gore. The problem is, those who were independent or conservative came to see it as a purely liberal ideology. For example, when 50,000 copies were offered to the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), the group declined them. Why? They didn’t want to seem political. Science teachers were afraid to take a science movie about science because of politics. It was the “Al Gore effect.” None of this is Gore’s fault. He was using a platform he earned through hard work and experience to argue for an issue that mattered to him and should damn well matter to all of us. But his time spent as the global warming mascot at the precise moment the issue became mainstream undoubtedly made it more partisan. These days, despite the mountain of indisputable evidence, skeptics still stumble in the dark, trying to convince themselves that all of the scientists got dumb. That hasn’t stopped new films from tackling the issue. Documentarians have been hard at work documenting our freefall into planet murder. “Years of Living Dangerously” on Showtime was an enthralling work that humanized tales. “Humanizing” not being one of the selling points for Gore. Heck, even the villain in Kingsman: The Secret Service was motivated by climate change, seeking to wipe out the bulk of Earth’s population to save the planet from peril. Would things be different if An Inconvenient Truth had a different spokesperson, say Oprah? Would there be more wiggle room for bipartisanship had Gore never claimed Oscar glory, or would awareness simply have remained low until we reached the same point we’re at now? Who can say for sure? What I can say for sure, is that Al Gore still hates Florida. ,
M*A*S*H 1970 Omaha Steaks Classics
Great Directors: Robert Altman April 28 - June 8
A retrospective celebrating one of the most influential directors of the New Hollywood era. Generously sponsored by Sam Walker.
April 24, 25 & 27 The Long Goodbye 1973
May 17 & 19 3 Women 1977
April 26 & 28 California Split 1974
May 22, 23 & 25 M*A*S*H 1970
May 1, 3 & 5 Nashville 1975
May 24 & 26 Short Cuts 1993
May 2, 4 & 6 The Player 1992
May 29 & June 1 Brewster McCloud 1970
May 8, 11 & 13 Thieves Like Us 1974
May 30, 31 & June 4 Popeye 1980
May 9, 10 & 12 McCabe & Mrs. Miller 1971
June 5 & 7 A Prairie Home Companion 2006
May 15, 18 & 20 Vincent & Theo 1990
June 6 & 8 Gosford Park 2001
All showings at Film Streams’ Ruth Sokolof Theater. Info & tickets at filmstreams.org.
film
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fihot’stuff
‘tonytales: Any list of the alltimebest screen comedies must include Billy Wilder’s 1959 gender-bender farce, Some Like It Hot, whose sexual suggestiveness pushed boundaries. Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe grab the laughs and pathos, but the real star is Tony Curtis, who plays it straight in a tour de force as Joe, Josephine and a Cary Grant wannabe. Curtis’ daughter Kelly intros the film April 24 at Joslyn Art Museum.
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he 1959 gender-bending film farce Some Like It Hot came at an interesting juncture in the careers of writer-director Billy Wilder and stars Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe. For each legend it marked a career boost. It reaffirmed Wilder as a comedy genius after a succession of mediocre mid-’50s. dramas and comedies. It further stretched Curtis. It began Lemmon’s long, fruitful collaboration with Wilder. It represented Monroe’s last great comic role. Paying tribute to a classic named the funniest American movie of all-time by the American Film Institute is a no-brainer for Omaha impresario Bruce Crawford. He’s presenting a one-night revival April 24 at Joslyn Art Museum as an Omaha Parks Foundation benefit. “Some Like It Hot is to film comedy what Casablanca is to film romance,” says Crawford.
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American comedy classic pushed boundaries, Tony Curtis’ daughter, Kelly, to introduce film BY LEO ADAM BIGA
Casablanca found a magical mix of perfect casting, memorable lines and universal themes to make its wartime romance work for any generation, Hot miraculously made a one-joke men-in-drag-meet-sex goddess premise into a timeless romp of provocative puns, innuendos, sight gags and set pieces. The 7 p.m. event will have special guest Kelly Curtis, the oldest daughter of Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, introduce the picture. Her sister is actress Jamie Lee Curtis. Kelly accompanied her late mother to Omaha for a 1994 Crawford event feting Alfred Hitchcock and Psycho. This time she’ll share reminiscences and insights about her father, who died at age 85 in 2010. In a recent Reader interview she spoke about how Hot came at a crucial time in his Hollywood ascent. Starting with Trapeze, Sweet Smell of Success, The Vikings, The Defiant Ones and on through Hot and Spartacus, Curtis showed a heretofore unseen range in rich, demanding parts of enduring quality.
“I think he wanted to prove to himself and to the world he was more than than just a pretty face and those films gave him a great opportunity to do that,” Kelly says. “He loved that he was given a real gift in Some Like It Hot to be able to show his comedic talents as fully as he did. Doing comedy like that is very difficult.” The plot finds two down-on-their-luck Depression-era Chicago musicians, Joe (Curtis) and Jerry (Lemmon), needing to skip town after witnessing a St. Valentine’s Day Massacre-style slaying. The only open gig is with a touring female band and so they pose as women musicians. Aboard the Florida-bound train they fall for the band’s woman-child singer, Sugar Kane (Monroe), only Joe’s more determined to bed her once they hit the beach. Kelly says her father’s idea to impersonate Cary Grant within the context of his character posing as a millionaire in order to continued on page 48y
! w o h s e h t y o j n E
When we tell you,
...we mean it!
“Unlike some other theaters, we don’t believe in gimmicks to get you here. Instead, we focus on the motion picture experience. My family and I love movies, and we hope your event here is enjoyable.”
Bill Barstow, Owner 2110 S. 67th Street 402-502-1914
www.AksarbenCinema.com
To the attendees of the 2014 OEA Awards in particular all technical participants, nominees, and winners; This is Beaufield Berry and I pissed a lot of you off a few weeks ago, and I want to talk to you about it. First and foremost, I wholly and sincerely accept responsibility and apologize for my comments, both scripted and unscripted, during this years OEA Awards. I’m writing this to you at home on a Sunday, from my own computer, in my own words and from the heart. Unfortunately, a lot of you I upset, I don’t have the luxury of knowing personally to sit down and have this conversation face to face. Also unfortunately, the most experience I’ve had with the technical community in Omaha has been during my two years on the OEAA board, starting with the removal of the technical awards, safe to say it’s already been a bumpy ride. I believe that I approached you as a nameless, faceless group of strangers, instead of the tremendously hard working, passionate and talented cogs in the Performing Arts machine, that you without a doubt are. I joined this board to bring awareness, passion and support for the Performing Arts and the hard work of all artists in our marginalized creative world, and how dare I be the one to disrespect you or try to take that away from you. I misrepresented myself, my OEAA board (particularly my co-chair Noah Diaz) and the very reason for why I do what I do. I know just what it feels like to feel like your work isn’t recognized, or appreciated. I never, ever want to make another human feel that way, and I am ashamed to have realized that error on such a large scale. As for that night in itself, I truly from the bottom of my heart didn’t realize that I was being an asshole. I thought I was killing it, for whatever reason. I was nervous that things weren’t running as planned, I was very rusty being onstage, I was cocky about my outfit, I was drinking, I was a lot of things when put all together can either go really great or really wrong and it took time for all of this to sink in. The social media and the phone calls from friends and I finally look at my husband and it’s like this reveal curtain came down, that I hadn’t been the “hit” I thought I had. I know now that in lieu of feeling honored you felt insulted and singled out. And everyone of you should be so amazingly proud and shining about the way you bring the worlds of the stage to life. You deserve the recognition of the public and especially of your fellow theater family, even me, the weird cousin that no one wants to babysit. I’d also like to take this time to apologize to Susie Baer Collins and Carl Beck, the recipients of the OEAA Lifetime Achievement Award. You built and handed over a wonderful legacy here in Omaha and for theaters everywhere and the send off you were given didn’t reflect that legacy. I’m sorry for my part in that as you absolutely deserved more grace and respect in your celebration. I care about this arts community and theater as a whole, with my entire being. I made a mistake in thinking any of you care any less than I do. How ridiculous. I lost sight of my purpose and my goals for Omaha arts and that will never happen again. I ask for your forgiveness, I promise to do better, and invite conversation if you’d like to speak to me one on one. Beaufield Berry Writer, Performer, Drinking buddy.
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Spend an evening with some of the area’s top student musicians
Westside’s Big Band Dance A benefit for the Westside Band Program
Saturday, April 18 • 5:30 to 8:30 pm
Doors open at 4:45 • Westside High School Gym • Tickets available at the door • $5 adults • $3 students Featuring the award-winning sounds of Westside High School’s jazz bands and the rising stars in the Westside Middle School and Elementary School jazz bands. • Fantastic Raffle Items • Dinner, Drinks and Desserts for purchase
For more information contact Melanie Clark at 402-345-5800 or mel@clarkcreativegroup.com
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seduce Sugar Kane, reveals much about the man who became Tony Curtis. Born Bernard Schwartz in the Bronx to Hungarian parents, he grew up running the streets with a gang. Talent agent-casting director Joyce Selznick discovered the aspiring actor at the New School in 1948. His quick rise to movie stardom as a Universal contract player was the American Dream made good. Kelly says it only made sense he would pay homage to Grant because the actor was his model for learning how to court women and to project a sophisticated facade. “Once he had money my father really took to the trappings of being a suave, debonair, European-style playboy. He loved fine houses, fine wines, fine cars. He loved living the life of an Italian count. That was one of his personas and stages he went through. So I think jumping into a role like that to woo a woman is what he’d been playing at his whole life. Even back when he was in a Hungarian Jewish gang, he used his black hair, blue eyes and olive skin to pass as Italian so he could spy on the rival Italian gang I think he always pretended to be something he wasn’t just to survive.” Much as Grant transformed himself from his poor Bristol origins as Archie Leach into the screen’s most desirable gent, Kelly says, “Tony Curtis was an avatar – it’s the man he invented for himself, which was an amalgamation of all his parts, yes, but it definitely was not Bernard Schwartz.” She adds, “Tony of the Movies is what he liked to call himself and that’s what he aspired his legacy to be.” She says the multifaceted man she knew took his off-screen work as a painter, photographer, assemblage artist and sculptor seriously. “It was much more than a hobby. He was constantly creating and he exhibited and sold his art late in his life.” His heritage was important to him, too. “My father was a lot more a Jewish man than he presented himself to the world. I think he had a deep sense of Jewish values and a deep love for Judaism. I think he wanted to be more religious but with his lifestyle and interests it just wasn’t to be.” Kelly worked with her father on the Emanuel Foundation in raising money for the restoration of cemeteries and synagogues in Hungary damaged during World War II.
“It’s something he was very committed to and proud of and during that time we got very close. It was a very good time for us.” Despite a “libertine” way of life as a notorious Hollywood wild man, she says her father was a staunch American patriot and conservative Republican. Yes, she says, he fell prey to the excesses of fame with his multiple marriages (six), infidelity and substance abuse problems, but he appreciated how far America allowed him to rise. “Here’s this immigrants’ child who made it, who became rich and famous, which is why he considered himself an American prince. It’s why he loved America as a land of opportunity. The possibilities are endless. He said you just have to want it bad enough, have the talent to back it up and really go for it.” She says her father’s career descent afte The Great Race and The Boston Strangler was largely self-made. “He didn’t transition very well into New Hollywood. He wanted to but he wasn’t really interested in letting down the facade of the young virile guy by playing older roles. It bothered him until his death he wasn’t asked to do more but he burned a lot ‘kelly curtis of bridges. He went through a lot of dark years in the late ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s. That could have been a lot riper time for him had he not fallen prey to his demons. “Here was this gorgeous man getting older, going through a mid-life crisis and perhaps an existential crisis of trying to figure out who he was and what he was. It was a very troubling time for him.” There were a couple bright spots (The Last Tycoon, Insignificance) but mostly Tony Curtis was an artifact from a long gone Hollywood. He did live the last several years of his life sober. As his old studio peers died away and his own health failed, he could take solace in having made several standthe-test-of-time films. He thought enough of Hot to write a book about its making. Kelly says the movie allowed him to show “his chops” as an actor. He wrote that during the shoot he had an affair with Monroe, whom he claimed was his lover years before. Kelly says, “I don’t know if it’s just one of my father’s stories, but I would love to know.” , Tickets are $23 and available at all Omaha Hy-Vee stores. For more info, call 402-926-8299 or visit www. omahafilmevent.com. Read more of Leo Adam Biga’s work at leoadambiga.com.
APRILSHOWS APRIL 9-12 BOBBY SLAYTON
Slayton, often referred to as The Pitbull of Comedy, has been performing his own intense style of stand-up comedy for over 30 years, becoming one of the best known, respected, and energetic comics working today. Bobby may be recognized from his scene-stealing roles in movies such as Get Shorty, Ed Wood, Bandits and, most recently, Dreamgirls. His many appearances on HBO have included Comic Relief and his own stand-up special. The Las Vegas Review Journal pointed out that Slayton’s refusal to compromise his art has always made him worth a special trip.
APRIL 15 MICHAEL BLACKSON SPECIAL ENGAGEMENT
He has been called one of the most original stand-up comics in the country, and his performances leave audiences laughing in tears. Michael Blackson, aka, ‘The African King of Comedy’, has been entertaining audiences all across the country and around the globe for more than a decade. Inspired by the stand up comedy of Eddie Murphy, Blackson began to develop his comedic talent in 1992 in the unkind comedy clubs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
APRIL 16-19 CARLY AQUILINO SPECIAL ENGAGEMENT
Since breaking out on MTV’s hit show Girl Code, comedian Carly Aquilino has become the brutally and hilariously honest best friend everyone wishes they had. She’s just as fiery during her unmissable stand-up shows as she is on TV. While she pokes fun at everything from fashion flubs and dating disasters to musings about growing up in an Italian household with two older brothers.
APRIL 23-26 RALPH HARRIS
WEDNESDAY APR 1 Badd Combination
SATURDAY APR 11 The Labels
TUESDAY APR 21 The Study of Four
THURSDAY APR 2 Cuban Missile Crisis
MONDAY APR 13 Mike Gurciullo and his Las Vegas Big Band
WEDNESDAY APR 22 The Persuaders
FRIDAY APR 3 On the Fritz SATURDAY APR 4 Taxi Driver MONDAY APR 6 Mike Gurciullo and his Las Vegas Big Band TUESDAY APR 7 The Kerwins WEDNESDAY APR 8 Bill Chrastil THURSDAY APR 9 The Knuckleheards FRIDAY APR 10 The 402
TUESDAY APR 14 Scott Evans & Friends WEDNESDAY APR 15 The Brits THURSDAY APR 16 Old Money FRIDAY APR 17 Rough Cut SATURDAY APR 18 Avaricious MONDAY APR 20 Mike Gurciullo and his Las Vegas Big Band
THURSDAY APR 23 Jules & Joe FRIDAY APR 24 Lemon Fresh Day SATURDAY APR 25 Blue House MONDAY APR 27 Mike Gurciullo and his Las Vegas Big Band TUESDAY APR 28 Billy Troy WEDNESDAY APR 29 Bozak & Morrissey
Currently the Host of the brand new Culinary Competition My Momma Throws Down on the TVOne network. He made his feature film debut in Dreamgirls, a film that has struck gold (of the Golden Globe variety). Not one to slow down, Ralph has continued his film career momentum, immediately landing his second feature role in the film Evan Almighty. Ralph’s jump to the big screen comes after years of successful television work. Ralph’s comedy is character driven, and is influenced by many of the greats, including his idols Bill Cosby and Jonathan Winters.
APRIL 29
LAUGHS FOR LIFE
5th Annual Laughs for Life! Starring Nick Allen, Heather Jones, Richard Reese, Kristopher Covi, Ty Ingram, Austin Anderson and headlining Ron Morey! All staff, including the comedians, donate their time for this FUNdraiser. Net proceeds from ticket sales will go to benefit the American Cancer Society through Relay for Life of Sarpy County. Silent auction, raffle prizes, and comedy OH MY! Sponsored by The League of Extraordinary Fundraisers.
APRIL 30-MAY 3 CASH LEVY
Cash Levy has appeared numerous times on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Comedy Central, Comics Unleashed, FOX Sports, @Midnight and a regular guest on The Bob and Tom Show. Cash has a weekly show on The Nerdist Network, “Cashing in with TJ Miller”. He just finished a world tour for US Armed Forces, entertaining the troops. Cash is known as one of the finest improvisers around.
THURSDAY APR 30 Hegg Brothers
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hoodoo
Zoo Bar Blues
Notable regional and national shows on the April schedule include the hometown return of the Kris Lager Band Friday, April 10, 9 p.m. You can also catch Jellybread at Lincoln’s Zoo Bar Wednesday, April 8, 6-9 p.m. Many blues guitar players cite Jimmy Thackery as a huge favorite and big influence. Thackery plays Wednesday, April 15, 6-9 p.m. Brandon Santini brings his sizzling Memphis-meets-Chicago style blues back Wednesday, April 22, 6-9 p.m. Hector Anchondo Band plugs in at The Zoo Saturday, April 25, 9 p.m. See zoobar.com for the complete schedule and updates.
FACEBOOK.COM/DANIELLENICOLEBAND
Hot Notes
Freshfaces
K.C.’s Danielle Schnebelen from Trampled Under Foot is stepping out to front The Danielle Nicole Band, at The 21st Saloon Saturday, April 25, 6 p.m.
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CHIP DUDEN
eteran Dallas bluesmen Smokin’ Joe Kubek & Bnois King play a special CD release party at The 21st Saloon Saturday, April 4, 5:30 p.m. Visiting Italian artist Gaetano Pellino, who has been seen previously in Omaha at Playing With Fire, opens the show. Kubek and King are touring in support of their new disc Fat Man’s Shine Parlor (Blind Pig Records). The disc hit No.1 on the Living Blues Radio Chart after its February debut. For more than 25 years, these two have paired Kubek’s signature blues-rock guitar attack with King’s jazz-inflected guitar riffs. Kubek, King and their band always put on a rave-up show. See smokinjoekubek.com.
HOODOO focuses on blues, roots, Americana and occasional other music styles with an emphasis on live music performances. Hoodoo columnist B.J. Huchtemann is a senior contributing writer and veteran music journalist who received the Blues Foundation’s 2015 Keeping the Blues Alive Award for Journalism. Follow her blog at hoodoorootsblues.blogspot.
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Fresh Blues Sound
Alligator Records Jarekus Singleton plays Lincoln’s Zoo Bar Wednesday, April 1, and at The 21st Saloon Thursday, April 2. Both shows 6-9 p.m. Alligator Records says Singleton’s music springs “from the same Mississippi soil as Charley Patton, Muddy Waters and B.B. King, 30-year-old Jarekus Singleton’s cuttingedge sound — equally rooted in rap, rock and blues traditions — is all his own.” Singleton says in press materials “I want to create blues for the 21st century.” Singleton is nominated in the Blues Music Awards (BMAs) for Best Album, Best Contemporary Album
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Smokin’ Joe Kubek & Bnois King, Erick Steckel & More BY B.J. HUCHTEMANN
and Contemporary Blues Male Artist. The BMAs will be announced Thursday, May 7, in Memphis. If you miss these local shows, look up Jarekus Singleton at alligator.com.
21st Saloon Bookings
The rest of The 21st Saloon schedule includes Wayne Sharp & The Sharpshooter Band with guest artists Jellybread Thursday, April 9, 5:30 p.m. Sharp was the longtime keyboard man for the late Michael Burks. See waynesharpblues.com. The Idaho-based, genre-spanning Jellybread opens with their funk, rock and blues spotlighting great harmonies and sharp musicianship. See jellybread.net. Blues-rocker Eric Steckel performs Thursday, April 16, 6-9 p.m. The live-wire electric harmonica and guitar driven blues of Brandon Santini is up Thursday, April 23. Special guest is the Gracie Curran Band, that showcased both star power and heart on their last visit. Saturday, April 25, 6 p.m., Danielle Schnebelen from Trampled Under Foot debuts her critically acclaimed new solo project, The Danielle Nicole Band in a special weekend show. See daniellenicolekc.com. A UK British Blues Award winner, guitarist-singer-songwriter Bex Marshall is back Thursday, April 30, 6-9 p.m. See bexmarshall.co.uk.
hoodoo
COURTESY OF BRANDONSANTINI.COM
‘f r o n t r u n n e r :
Local roots fans were excited about the Chrome Lounge appearance of Kim Lenz scheduled at the end of April. However, just as we were going to press, rockabilly night organizer Merinda Collins learned that the Lenz show and spring tour had to be cancelled by the artist due to a band member’s family emergency. The show will be rescheduled for the fall. Meanwhile, Lincoln’s acclaimed Mezcal Brothers, who are nationally recognized rockabilly artists in their own right, will play a full show at Rockabilly Night at Chrome Lounge Wednesday, April 29, 7:30 p.m. Watch facebook. com/groups/omaharockabilly for updates. Remember to hit thereader.com for weekly Hoodoo updates.,
‘livewire: The electrifying blues of Memphis’ Brandon Santini hits The Zoo Bar and The 21st Saloon this month!
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3/20/15 2:29 PM
overtheedge
SXSW2015 T
‘crowduncontrol: The chaos of Austin’s 6th Street during this year’s South By Southwest Music Festival March 19.
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‘The problem with South By Southwest,’ said Mr. Uber, ‘is that it’s turned into a Spring Break destination.’ BY TIM MCMAHAN
his was the least impressive, least satisfying year I’ve attended the South By Southwest (SXSW) Music Festival, held last month in Austin, Texas. The event, which began as a sleepy gathering of unsigned bands in 1987 and has since ballooned to become the largest music industry confab in the United States is beginning to lose significance for bands, labels and music-goers. This is the first year I can remember where at least one mega-star did not make a stage appearance at SXSW. No Kanye. No Springsteen. No Metallica. No Prince. Even the larger indie stars stayed home this year. When upand-comers like Courtney Barnett and Alvvays are among the biggest attractions, you know the festival has lost some of its luster. I saw fewer bands perform this year at SXSW than any previous year since I began attending in 2009 — this year a total of 19 acts. I typically see twice that many bands in the two-and-a-half days I’m in Austin. It wasn’t from a lack of trying. And each year at SXSW I enjoy at least one “perfect moment” concert experience. Last year it was Mark Kozelek playing in a church. The year before it was Jesus and Mary Chain. A few years back it was Bob Mould and Sugar playing Copper Blue. Another year it was the Big Star tribute in memory of Alex Chilton. I didn’t have a moment that came close to those this year. The best thing to a perfect moment was seeing singer/songwriter Natalie Prass in a halfempty club, an incendiary reunion of legendary post-punk band The Pop Group, a brutal set by up-and-coming punk band Krill at a dingy garage venue and a concert by ordained “next big thing” Courtney Barnett in the SXSW Convention Center. Those, along with the Saddle Creek Records showcase, were the highlights. Despite the crowds — which are seemingly endless — there’s no question SXSW is beginning to implode. Maybe it’s just one more reflection of the changing music industry. More fans than ever now stream their music via Spotify or another online service, while CD and download sales continue to decline. One has to wonder what would motivate a big-name band to play at SXSW if the tech-savvy fans in the crowd are just going to stream their music anyway. If their appearance doesn’t help drive sales, what’s the point? The answer may be the performances themselves. With live shows now providing a larger share of a band’s income, it makes sense to get the word out that your stage show rocks. And what better way to do that than at a SXSW showcase, knowing impressed fans will
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spread the word when your band inevitably comes through their town? “I saw them at South By Southwest, and they were awesome.” But there’s another element that changed my perception of SXSW this year. I was headed back in an Uber car from a meeting on the east side of Austin when the subject of South By Southwest came up with my driver. It was a Friday, the second to last day of the festival, and the weather had finally taken a turn for the worse — warm spring rain fell in massive black sheets. I mentioned to Mr. Uber Driver, a stocky guy in his late 20s with glasses and a no-nonsense way of telling it like it is, that the latenight crowds along the bacchanal known as 6th Street were more hostile than I’d remembered. The night before on my way back to my hotel at around 1 a.m., I shouldered through the mass of humanity, past large groups of very angry men standing in circles in the middle of the street, looking ready to throw down. I decided to detour to 5th Street and avoid the chaos when I ran straight into a phalanx of Austin police, fully armored, weapons holstered, slowly making their way toward 6th Street. Behind them, a mounted police force of no less than a dozen stood at the ready, poised for action atop their regal steeds. Shades of Ferguson crossed my mind. “The problem with South By Southwest,” said Mr. Uber, “is that it’s turned into a Spring Break destination. Kids are now coming here exclusively to party. It has nothing to do with the music.” Very few people on 6th Street those nights had a SXSW lanyard hanging ‘round their neck or a neon day-pass wristband. It was a sharp contrast to past SXSW festivals. Sure, there were plenty of revelers back then, but there was no doubt most folks you met along 6th Street were attending a music festival, at least early in the evening. By 2 a.m., 6th Street always has belonged to the drunks, the doped, the challenged. Mr. Uber told the story of a fare he’d picked up earlier that week from the hospital — a guy with a broken nose and two swollen bags of black flesh that hid his eyes. The festival-goer had decided to hang out on Red River, a popular street on the east end of 6th, and wait for the Uber rates to drop when a man walked up and asked him a question. As he tried to answer, a second man sucker punched him, and he was immediately converged upon by a small mob who proceeded to kick and punch him while they took his stuff. It was the guy’s first SXSW, and no doubt his last. This was the first year I felt creeped out on 6th Street at night; the first year I felt uncomfortable, anxious and slightly worried someone might sucker punch me only a few blocks from my hotel. Maybe it’s a symptom of my age; or maybe SXSW is beginning to take an unfortunate turn. Don’t get me wrong, I still had a good time. In fact, it’s hard not to have a good time at SXSW. Maybe the festival has reached a zenith; maybe a little bit of implosion is in order. Maybe there needs to be a refocus on the music. To do so, SXSW organizers will have to reconsider what 6th Street means to the festival, but in a city where the credo is Keep Austin Weird, that will never happen. , Over The Edge is a monthly column by Reader senior contributing writer Tim McMahan focused on culture, society, music, the media and the arts. Email Tim at tim.mcmahan@gmail.com
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APRIL 2015
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Time, Antiques, Superfans and Pot The Future of Time
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Almost all manufacturing jobs will be done by computer. Television will be mostly on-demand and movies will play every hour or two in constant rotation. Most of the things we base our schedule around will be uncoupled from the clock. As a result, most peopleʼs days will become somewhat free form, with them deciding what to do in a loose, improvisational manner. People will meet each other on the fly and decided to do whatever seems interesting at the moment. They will eat when hungry, sleep when tired, work when work needs to be done. This will make the few things that remain time-bound difficult, people will show up for special events, such as weddings and funerals, whenever they feel like it. Events will be loosely organized, sometimes spread out over the course of an entire day or weekend. There will still be some who prefer clear schedules, deadlines, and punctuality. This future, for them, will be utterly maddening.
Itʼs a Lonely Old Town
The next few years will bring a change in the way people think about antiques. A preservationist instinct will take over, with people being less concerned with collecting items for age, beauty, or value, and instead collect items for historical significance. There will especially be an explosion of collectors with a great interest in regional history, collecting items from local department stores, restaurants, closed movie theaters, and the like. Clubs will form where collectors bring items, along with stories they have researched, resulting in groups of people who are intimately familiar with the history of their town, neighborhood -- even the house they live in.
Superfans of the Future
An increasingly large number of Americans will start playacting as characters from their favorite television shows and other
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mass media in their day-to-day life. It will start simply, with online name generators providing people with names appropriate to characters from science fiction programming, super-hero comics, rap music, etc. These superfans will then insist on being called these names at all times, even going so far as to get their names legally changed. Many will start to dress in costumes. In order to dress in character at work, superfans will develop religions around their shows. Employers will be forced to allow these unusual costume choices, fearing lawsuits for religious discrimination. It will be possible to spend most of your life immersed in a collaboratively created fiction, as though every moment in life were a scene from a sci-fi movie, a story in a book, or an illustration from a comic.
Pot Unluck
Marihuana will be legal for recreational use throughout the United States in seven years. This is going to lead to a few very tricky situations. Firstly, the people who currently have the most sophisticated growing operations and distribution networks are criminals, many of them cartels from south of the border. As American corporations quickly move to selling and producing, they will find themselves either in partnership or in competition with thugs and murderers. Secondly, American prisons are currently filled with prisoners whose only crimes were possession of or distribution of marihuana, and the legalization of pot will necessarily cause these cases to be reexamined. Unfortunately, the country will be ill-equipped to revisit tens of thousands of cases. Some will languish for years, waiting for their sentence to be commuted, but with no real process. These people will become known as “the forgotten ones.” Some states will have governors who free all these prisoners with the stroke of a pen, but others will stall, not wanting to be seen as being soft on crime or releasing mass amounts of drug offenders at once. , For more on these predictions and others by Dr. Mysterian visit www.thereader.com.
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