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OCTOBER2016VOLUME23NUMBER19 08 COVER STORY ELECTION ISSUE 6 GREEN PRAIRIE POWER 18 SPORTS ICE DREAMS 20 HEALING SEPTEMBER SUPERFOODS 31 OVER THE EDGE LEARNING TO SWIM 32 PICKS COOL THINGS TO DO IN OCTOBER 37 EAT HUNGRY FOR CHANGE 43 FILM YOLANDA ROSS 46 FEATURE VIVI DIMARCO 50 ART MISSING LINK 56 STAGE IDENTITY 58 MUSIC BLACK HEART BOOKING TOUR 60 BACKBEAT HOPPY HOLLOW 62 HOODOO READY TO HOWL 66 FILM POLITICAL MOVIES 70 MYSTERIAN DOCTOR IS IN
Publisher John Heaston john@thereader.com Managing Editor David Williams david@thereader.com Production Manager Katiuska Nuñez katiuska@thereader.com Assistant Editor Mara Wilson mara@thereader.com Assistant Editor Tara Spencer tara@thereader.com
JASPER JOHN’S, “FLAG” (DETAIL)
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS heartland healing: Michael Braunstein info@heartlandhealing.com arts/visual: Mike Krainak mixedmedia@thereader.com eat: Sara Locke crumbs@thereader.com film: Ryan Syrek cuttingroom@thereader.com hoodoo: B.J. Huchtemann bjhuchtemann@gmail.com music: James Walmsley backbeat@thereader.com over the edge: Tim McMahan tim.mcmahan@gmail.com theater: William Grennan coldcream@thereader.com SALES & MARKETING Dinah Gomez dinah@thereader.com Kati Falk kati@thereader.com DISTRIBUTION/DIGITAL Clay Seaman clay@thereader.com OPERATIONS AND BUSINESS MANAGER Kerry Olson kerry@thereader.com PHOTOGRAPHY Debra S. Kaplan debra@thereader
MOREINFO:WWW.THEREADER.COM
contents
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OCTOBER 2016
7
Hating Hillary means you should really look closer BY JOHN HEASTON, PUBLISHER
O
ne thing that’s amazed this cycle is the passion directed at our first serious woman presidential candidate. And it’s not enthusiasm. Seems the word hate is tossed around quite a bit by normally friendly folk. It’s fairly easy to understand dislike, distrust or a whole range of emotions that are not positive, but also not so absolutely damning. Even longtime Democrats have expressed concerns about trust or truthfulness, struggling to find the enthusiasm for a record-breaking run by “the most qualified candidate ever,” according to a very popular president that broke the highest racial barrier. Why are folks hating on Hillary? One key theme seems to play out across personal anecdotes and media coverage — the steady drumbeat of scandal. Lost in that noise is an exhaustive and transparent record, built on creating opportunity for more Americans with the most public, detailed and acclaimed plan for progress. But it starts with us, and it’s compounded by our media. Feeding the narrative are the two opposing themes from this election – fear and awfulness (thus, let’s Make America Great Again) versus hope and continuity (Stronger Together). Sitting at the heart of that is a candidate with a level of discourse that has reached new levels of low not seen in the modern era (but also not exactly new if you look back far enough when racism, sexism and bullying were standard fare). As trolls poison the public discourse online, we retreat into our bubbles. We don’t often discuss the presidential election as friends and family, we talk past each other. “Public language [has become] unmoored from public process,” observed New Yorker staff writer Nathan Heller in comparing his coverage of opposing liberal camps in San Francisco and Oberlin, Ohio with Donald’s use of language. “To know what Trump means, despite the words that he is saying, you have to understand — or think you understand — the message before he opens his mouth,” writes Heller. “That way of interpreting language is unassailable because it allows
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OCTOBER 2016
no persuasion, only self-revelation: the words don’t advantage over McCain, what’s even worse is the convey information but, like candles and jasmine shallowness of the coverage. Across both races, perfume, serve as aesthetic trappings, prompts 89% of the coverage focused on the “game” of that may lead listeners to locate certain passionate politics – polling, fundraising, strategic maneuvermoods in themselves.” ing — and its mechanics — timetables, upcoming If Donald supporters believe he’s the change debates, appearances — leaving just 11% for such agent, it’s because they really want to turn things substantive issues as candidate histories, policy poback to a better time for them. So how does Hillary sitions or background on the issues. break through? In an extremely fractured media universe with Sadly, it’s not likely she can. It’s stacked against a long list of choices, it’s not surprising that overher. When Barack Obama ran on “Yes We Can,” worked journalists have to chase thinner content it was really about him and the change he repre- to get the eyeballs and clicks that drive revenues. sented. “Yes we have to” defines this cycle and it Talking about Donald’s candidacy, CBS CEO Les sits on us. We are the breakthrough and it’s going Moonvees told a tech conference in February that to take effort. “It may not be good for America, but it’s damn Searching for Scandal and the Steady Drip of good for CBS.” Real, public service journalism Public Service takes resources and courage. Four years of Benghazi headlines are followed If Donald can exceed the lowest expectations, by email server headlines. Can this woman ever Hillary is always catching up to them. If Donald’s stay out of trouble, you have to wonder? hidden tax returns, lack of policy specifics and Probably not. The narrative is set. A life of “word salad” stumpifying make reporting difficult public service means there’s never-ending fod- and the unacceptable okay, a House of Representatives controlled by Republicans can insure a der for speculation. As an exhaustive study of this cycle’s election never-ending stream of investigations with a deep coverage by Harvard University’s Shorestein Cen- trove of public records built up over Hillary’s 30 ter notes, Hillary received “negative” coverage by years of public service. Beyond that steady drumbeat of headlines are a margin of almost 3-to-1 leading up to the start of the primaries, coinciding with the rise in negative some hard facts. Benghazi: After one of the longest and most perceptions of her. Meanwhile Donald received fairly neutral coverage worth $2 billion without a expensive Congressional investigations in history, constituency or plan, but a golden escalator and there has been no evidence of a stand-down order, blatant racist appeals. With the start of the prima- an intelligence failure or any administrative wrongries, this inequality also reached Bernie (though he doing, by Congressional Republicans’ own admisreceived the highest proportion of positive cover- sions. Don’t read interpretations of the 13 Congressional reports issued on this, read the reports age overall). themselves. That story had pretty much played itself “The media’s obsession with Trump during the primaries meant that the Republican race was af- out when the next one started. Emails: Just like former Secretary of State Colin forded far more coverage than the Democratic race, even though it lasted five weeks longer,” the study Powell, Hillary used a private email account. Out report. “The Republican contest got 63 percent of of approximately 60,000 emails over four years, the total coverage between January 1 and June half were destroyed as “personal” and the other 7, compared with the Democrats’ 37 percent — a half turned over to Congressional Republicans. Any emails sent to government employees leave a margin of more than three to two.” While Politico’s Jack Shafer correctly notes that public record. Personal emails, like private letters, news is never fair, and Obama enjoyed that same have never been open to public record. Out of the
| THE READER |
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30,000 emails made public, 113 contained classified information, or roughly 0.3 percent. Much has been made of Hillary’s claim that nothing was classified, which technically covers 99.7% of her emails. How’s anyone going to remember those few slips, three years after the fact, of which only three were deemed marked classified at the time? And let’s get some context here. Compared to Colin Powell’s admission he mislead the United Nations about Iraq based on false information from the Bush administration that has cost us over $2 trillion and counting, 4,491 U.S. soldiers killed and tens of thousands injured, not to mention hundreds of thousands of Iraqis killed and a Middle East in an unprecedented mess, are we really even talking about Clinton’s emails like it’s high treason? Given 30 years of vicious, partisan attacks against her that frequently crosses on fantastical, would anyone second-guess destroying personal correspondence? So ask your friends and family if they’re ready to vote for Trump because of hate. Hate for someone who’s had one of the most transparent yet opposition-attacked careers in public service (39 years of tax returns?!) and is our first major party female candidate. You can hate where the world is heading, but you’re crazy if you think Trump’s “winning temperament” is going to be able to do anything with a board of 435 Representatives and 100 Senators, particularly with his own party divided. Hate where we’re going, just don’t hate Hillary. The real test falls to the rest of us. If we don’t find the enthusiasm to motivate everyone we know to stand up to fear and bigotry, we will deserve the dark days ahead. Fortunately, Hillary has a proven record of bipartisan and popular success once in office, both as a U.S. Senator and Secretary of State. We just have to get her there. ,
(Note to production team … insert one page of wasted ink below) B Y DAV I D W I L L I A M S , M A NAG I N G E D I TO R
N
ever in the 22-year history of The The paper with “a deep philosophical appreciaThat’s the truly maddening thing about the 2016 Reader have we officially backed a tion for conservative ideals and Republican princi- race. It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters. Common candidate for president. ples,” continued in describing Trump’s lack of control sense has been tossed out the window. If the ReYeah, I know what you could be as a real threat to national security. publican base won’t listen to their own leaders, thinking at this point. Not exactly holding your Not to be outdone, the conservative Cincinnati why would they listen to The Reader? This piece is being written immediately after the breath, are you? An endorsement of Democratic Enquirer called the Republican nominee a “clear first debate and before the release of major polls nominee Hillary Clinton coming from an alterna- and present danger to our country.” And then there’s failed 2012 Republican nomi- other than those that showed Clinton as the clear tive publication such as ours? Big surprise, huh? What else, you may ask, would one expect from nee Mitt Romney. He told Time magazine earlier winner in the historic debate witnessed by almost most any player in our world, the alt-media print this year, “This is an individual who mocked a dis- 80 million Americans. The more important polls, the abled reporter, who attributed a reporter’s ques- ones that matter (or do they?), the ones that show if realm that leans reliably left anyway? tions to her menstrual cycle, who mocked a brilliant the needle moved in voter preference in the immeNo, the oddity at work here is not who we are endorsing, but the fact that we feel compelled to do rival who happened to be a woman due to her ap- diate aftermath of Trump’s disastrous performance, so at all. The stakes are just too high in 2016 to do pearance, who bragged about his marital affairs, have yet to come out. nothing, to remain silent. and who laces his public speeches with vulgarity.” But I doubt that needle will budge very much. Such endorsements are traditionally the shtick Ouch. Trump’s singularly awful handling of that debate of daily newspapers, and this election season we Speaking of fidelity, can you imagine the reac- was one that would have slam-dunk disqualified find ourselves in strange company as conservative tion from the right if Trump and Clinton’s conven- virtually any other major party candidate in the newspapers are tripping over themselves in a rush tion roles had been reversed? Can you picture the almost 60-year history of televised debates, but I to line up behind Clinton. “family values” hue and cry if Hillary Clinton cele- won’t be surprised if that matters not when the next The Arizona Republic, founded in 1890, is back- brated her balloon drop on stage with five children round of polls are published. ing a Democrat for the first time in its history. The sired by a revolving door of three different men? Because it just plain doesn’t matter. This story Cincinnati Enquirer is bucking a nearly centuryHow else can one explain a Republican Conven- probably doesn’t matter. long run of endorsing Republican nominees. The tion devoid of its standard bearers when both living That’s not how things work in the Trumpiverse, a Dallas Morning News made Clinton the first Demo- former Republican Presidents (the Bush father-son fact-free dystopia where up is down, black is white cratic nominee in more than 75 years to win that tandem) and its two most recent nominees (Rom- and cats and dogs live together while Trump’s paper’s nod. ney and Sen. John McCain) decided to sit things base eagerly anticipates every new tin-foil-hat conAnd these are not merely tepid, lesser-of-two-evil out along with the convention’s unofficial host, spiracy, a seemingly daily happening on Trump’s pronouncements. These newspapers are thorough- Ohio Republican Governor John Kasich? campaign trail. ly trashing Trump in the process. Hold on a sec. Time for a change in direction How else can one explain the ugly rise of Trump“In the end, it was an easy decision because of here. This piece was originally conceived as having ism? How can one explain his crazy claim, for exwatching Donald Trump throughout this election,” its main body be an extensive laundry list, a chorus ample, that he saw news reports on TV showing said Nicole Carroll, the Arizona Republic’s editor of Republican voices crying out for sanity to prevail “thousands and thousands” of Muslims in New Jerand vice president for news. Hillary Clinton has the in selecting the next occupant of the Oval Office. sey celebrating the 9/11 attacks as he promoted detemperament and experience to be president,” the But it probably doesn’t matter. No, not in the cidedly unpatriotic memes of hate and intolerance? board wrote. “Donald Trump does not.” There I go again. Attempting to catalog the Republeast. I’m probably just wasting ink here.
cover story
lican candidate’s litany of lies, and they are legion, is also a non-starter with Trump’s peeps. Just what level of cognitive dissonance does it take to hear him yammer on about Muslims celebrating what is arguably the most tragic day in America’s history? This isn’t ancient history we’re talking about here. Most people of voting age have visions of 9/11 seared forever into their consciousness. “Hold it right there,” Trump fans should be musing. “I think I would have remembered something as disturbingly monumental as seeing footage of thousands and thousands of Muslims rejoicing and ululating at a nation’s deepest pain.” But no. It just doesn’t matter. None of Trump’s lies matter any more so than do his boorish, petulant, racist, nativist, incoherent, man-child ravings. It. Just. Doesn’t. Matter. His race-tinged birtherism doesn’t matter. Nor does his calling Mexicans rapists. Or insulting women and minorities at every turn. Or attacking Gold Star families. Or claiming he had a great relationship with Vladimir Putin when, in fact, he had never met or even spoken to his strongman bro-crush. For far too many of our neighbors, it doesn’t matter that Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to the safety and security of all Americans as a nation teeters on the brink of electing a man whose shadow could conceivably merge with those of some of history’s most notorious despots. It doesn’t matter. Samuel Beckett perhaps said it best in the opening line of Waiting for Godot. There is, quite simply, “Nothing to be done.” ,
| THE READER |
OCTOBER 2016
9
Activating the Latino vote
BY CHERIL LEE PHOTOGRAPHY BY DEBRA S. KAPLAN
T
he Heartland Workers Center’s theme for their get-out-the-vote campaign is “I Vote for My Family.” Sergio Sosa, Executive Director for the Heartland Workers Center, said they chose the theme because many Latinos have strong familial ties or ties to the small cities they are from. “Every vote counts and every vote will somehow affect people’s families and the issues they care the most about. People my age who are voting are teaching our kids, the next generation of voters, leaders and political officials, that we are living in this country and we need be part of the political system as well and participate in it,” said Sosa. He explained there are three reasons the Latino vote is so important. The first is that Latinos care about their families. Secondly, the Latino population has been increasing across the U.S. But Sosa said having numbers doesn’t mean anything if Latinos don’t get into public life and civic participation. He said all naturalized citizens need to vote. Finally, Sosa said when Latinos vote, it shows there is a collective power that politicians should pay attention to. “It shows that we are becoming players, that we are becoming protagonists and that we are invisible no more.” The goal of the “I Vote for My Family” campaign is to get Latinos to the polls. Sosa said HWC is engaging themselves in this process by giving out educational materials, talking to Latinos about how the political system works and training other organizations how to canvass and use phone banks. The HWC is going door-to-door canvassing neighborhoods with a focus on South Omaha’s 4 and surrounding areas. Though many of these resi-
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OCTOBER 2016
| THE READER |
cover story
dents are eligible to vote, turnout is usually low both here and nationally with the Latino vote. Sosa explained they’re registering people to vote, bringing them training materials, offering them candidate profiles to educate them, talking to them about deadlines and teaching them the election goes beyond voting for president. Important gains have been made in recent elections. Ward 4, for example, has increased its voter participation by 26% over 2008. But Sosa said there’s still a lot of work to do. “We’ve got to get people to the polls, not just teach them how the political system works, but also help them understand the culture of civic engagement goes beyond voting. Voting is the first step to keep fighting for the issues you are concerned about the most.” He said that being part of schools and attending community meetings are also important. “There are definitely local races people need to watch as well. We follow up with every registrant we have. We ask them what time they will vote on Election Day and then call to remind them in advance,” Sosa said. “Among our leaders in the community, they were able to raise $3,000 to support our campaign. We also applied for grants to assist as well. Between the funds raised and our volunteers, we have maximized our efforts. HWC extends its efforts to additional Nebraska cities, including Schuyler where more than 67% of the population is Latino. Schuyler also has two Latinos running for office: one for the school board and one for the city council. continued on page 12 y
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y continued from page 10
“Through our efforts, Latinos have been learning how important it is to be protagonists of their own lives and are taking a step up to run for positions,” he said. Heartland Workers Center is developing leaders in each precinct so that they won’t have to run campaigns alone in future elections. He said they are working with a coalition of 14 religious institutions and nonprofits. They are also training the Latino Center for the Midlands and showing them what they can do themselves during the next election. “We are teaching the 400 employees at OneWorld why civic engagement is so important. We have gone to churches and taught the pastors and leaders what they need to do as well. This work is easier if all of us engage ourselves collectively in efforts for the next election,” he said. What are the big issues on the minds of Latinos this election year? Sosa said healthcare is tops because a lot of Latinos don’t have health insurance or they have a plan from the Healthcare Marketplace and they are worried about whether they’ll be able to keep it. Immigration is the other major issue of concern because people want to keep their families united.
Sosa said Latino voters are worried there could be a separation of families. Going into the municipal elections in 2017, Sosa said voters are concerned about street conditions, potholes, garbage collection, snow removal and housing. Sosa recognizes that voter participation is lower in the Latino community. He said that one of the reasons is because they came to the United States thinking it would be like their country, where voting all too often goes hand in hand with election corruption. Another reason is because Latinos may believe their vote is not related to the issues they care about or because they believe nothing is going to change. “In our native countries, we may end up voting because a politician came to our house and gave us a basket of food or soccer balls or offered to fix our house. They buy our votes,” he said. Many Latinos are used to multiple political parties as well. In Sosa’s own Guatemala, there were 21 political parties participating in the last election, even in the presidential race. This can make any election seem daunting to new voters here. One practical reason Latinos don’t vote has to do with a lack of time to get to the polls.
“People need to work so hard that many times they have two or three jobs. Sometimes they don’t know their schedules,” said Sosa. The language barrier is also a problem. Sosa explained that before the Heartland Workers Center started their campaigns, there wasn’t much information available in Spanish. So the HWC built an alliance with the Douglas County Election Commission. They are sending bilingual people there to train them to become poll workers during the election. “A new voter will come and he or she can speak with someone in their own language. That really helps,” Sosa said. He said the HWC knows they will definitely have at least two bilingual poll workers in precincts around District 4. They have also met with the Sarpy County Election Commission and plan to have bilingual poll workers there as well. These individuals will be placed in two Sarpy County precincts with a prominent Latino population. Sosa said he believes HWC’s efforts are working, “The number of early voters we have been collecting has been increasing as well as the number of voter registration forms.” ,
Visit HeartlandWorkersCenter.org for additional information.
SERGIOSOSA when Latinos vote, Sosa said, it shows there is a collective power that politicians should pay attention to.
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OCTOBER 2016
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OCTOBER 2016
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Rare Across-the-Aisle Coalition Hopes to Retain Repeal of Death Penalty BY JIM ESCH
S
ince 1976, the year the U.S. Supreme Court effectively ended the moratorium on executions in the United States, State Senator Ernie Chambers has fought every year he has been in office to repeal the death penalty in Nebraska. It has not been an easy fight. Of his first 22 bills, 20 either died in committee or were indefinitely postponed. The other two passed but did not have enough support to override gubernatorial vetoes. But then in 2015, 39 years after Chambers’ first attempt, the Nebraska Legislature suddenly voted overwhelmingly to abolish the death penalty and replace it with a mandatory life sentence. Which begs the question, how did this happen? How during one of the most divided and partisan times in American history did 15 Republicans, 13 Democrats, one Independent, and a Libertarian override Governor Pete Ricketts’ veto and abolish the death penalty in one the reddest states in the Union? The answer is both surprising and uniquely Nebraskan. It begins with State Senator Colby Coash, who was elected in 2008 to represent Legislative District 27 in Lincoln. He was the first Republican to win the seat since 1972, ironically the same year the U.S. Supreme Court ruled existing death penalty sentencing laws in the United States were unconstitutional, ushering in a brief four-year halt to executions. He is also the first Republican to spearhead the fight to abolish the death penalty in the State of Nebraska. Not to say there weren’t Republicans opposed to the death penalty over the decades, there were. But this was the first time a Republican State Senator made the fight his own, and that made all the difference. Until college, Senator Coash was a death penalty supporter. Even traveling to the state penitentiary for an execution, thinking it “would be something to see, to be a part of justice, to be part of an execution.” However, upon witnessing the troubling contrast between the party-like atmosphere of the death penalty supporters and the silent prayer vigil of its opponents, he realized, “I was on the wrong side of that debate that night ... I always thought if I ever had the opportunity, I would not be on that side of the debate again. I would not be part of a blood lust. The death penalty is not justice, it is revenge.” This conviction, coupled with facing the end of his time in the Unicameral and inspired by a leadership course he was taking for his Master’s degree, convinced him that now was the opportunity to take his stand. But to win the debate, he would need a different approach. Simply arguing the morality of the
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OCTOBER 2016
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death penalty had not been successful in the past. Instead, he reframed the debate in terms of conservative philosophy, arguing that the death penalty was yet another example of government ineffectiveness and waste. He contended that since the last execution in Nebraska was nearly 20 years ago, it was neither an effective form of deterrence nor justice. He compared it to a tool sitting in your garage that you haven’t used in 20 years. If you’re not going to use it, what’s the point in having it? Furthermore, it is an expensive tool. A recent study commissioned by Retain a Just Nebraska, the group leading the campaign to abolish the practice, estimates the death penalty costs the state $14.6 million a year. These costs are largely associated with the lengthy appeals process and separate facilities for death row inmates. Not to mention the scarcity and increasing cost to acquire the drugs necessary to carry out executions. For many Republican Senators, this reframing allowed them to vote “yes” for the repeal in the name of smaller government. What also helped pass this historic bill is Nebraska’s unique form of government. Unlike every other state in the union, our Legislature is a single chamber or unicameral. More importantly, it is officially nonpartisan. While the parties still have great influence over the proceedings in Lincoln, there are no party caucuses or leadership hierarchies. Instead, coalitions form around issues. This encourages cooperation across party lines and allows Senators the freedom to think more independently. Lastly, due to term limits, there were 15 new Senators in 2015 bringing a fresh perspective to the debate. Before term limits, this had been become more or less a symbolic fight. Every year a bill repealing the death penalty was offered by Senator Chambers, and every year it was soundly defeated. This time nearly a third of the legislature had never taken up this issue before. This victory for bipartisanship, however, was short lived. Almost immediately an effort to place the issue on the 2016 ballot started. The group Nebraskans for the Death Penalty was formed, cochaired by State Treasurer Don Stenberg and State Senator Beau McCoy. The group raised over $900,000, $300,000 coming from the Governor and his father, Joe, the founder of T.D. Ameritrade, to mount an aggressive petition drive. By the end of the summer in 2015, they had collected over 143,000 verified signatures, easily surpassing the 56,000 needed to place it on the 2016 ballot. Those supporting the death penalty
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argue there are crimes so heinous that death is the only way to serve justice and protect society. In fact, many of the Senators supporting the death penalty went into graphic detail regarding the grisly murders committed by the ten men on death row during the floor debate. They also dispute the estimated costs of the death penalty, arguing that most of the costs are already embedded in the budget, such as the salaries for prosecutors whose jobs would not go away if the death penalty ended. And even if it is expensive, justice should not have a price tag. They contend it works as a deterrent to protect correction officers in particular. Prosecutors say the death penalty is useful to encourage plea bargains and testimony against co-defendants. Opponents to the death penalty, like Judge Ronald Reagan, a retired Sarpy County District Judge, who served on the three-judge panel that sentenced serial killer John Joubert, say the death penalty is broken and beyond repair. Judge Reagan has lent his support to Retain a Just Nebraska, saying, “It is, quite simply, a state-sanctioned revenge which has no deterrent effect and no place in a civilized society. Keeping it in Nebraska law will not lower the murder rate nor furnish any protection to our law officers. Those who commit murders give no thought to either apprehension or punishment, and removing them from free society with the least expense — life imprisonment — is the appropriate sentence.” Both sides claim public opinion is on their side. But no matter what side you are on, your voice will make a difference. There are few opportunities to express your voice on such an important issue. For more information, visit Retain a Just Nebraska at retainajustnebraska.com and Nebraskans for the Death Penalty at nebraskansforthedeathpenalty.com. Another great resource is the highly respected nonprofit, Death Penalty Information Center at deathpenaltyinfo. org. Lastly, voters should pay close attention to the wording on the ballot. A vote to “Retain” will eliminate the death penalty and change the maximum penalty for the crime of murder in the first degree to life imprisonment by retaining Legislative Bill 268, passed in 2015 by the First Session of the 104th Nebraska Legislature. A vote to “Repeal” will keep the death penalty as a possible penalty for the crime of murder in the first degree by repealing Legislative Bill 268, passed in 2015 by the First Session of the 104th Nebraska Legislature. So, if you are against the death penalty, vote “Retain.” And if you are for the death penalty, vote “Repeal.” ,
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OCTOBER 2016
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greenscene ‘greenCONVENE The Nebraska Wind and Solar Conference takes place Nov. 7 in Lincoln.
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OCTOBER 2016
PrairiePower
“T
he Nebraska Wind and Solar Conference is the place for interested parties including residents, landowners, companies, utilities and outside developers to come together to learn about and understand the opportunities when it comes to Nebraska and renewable energy,” said Adam Herink, Co-Chairman of the conference. He said there are a lot of different sessions but all cover either solar energy or wind energy. This conference usually draws about 400500 people each year and is extremely accessible. This year’s event takes place Nov. 7 and 8 at the Marriott Cornhusker Hotel in Lincoln.
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green scene
The Nebraska Wind and Solar Conference BY CHERIL LEE
According to Herink, if you want to get to one of the public power employees or leaders, it’s easy to go up to them at the conference and ask questions. There are also Q&A sessions following each panel. He said ultimately, they want to get attendees’ questions answered. With the growing popularity of renewable energy, Herink said they try to offer something for every level of interest at the conference because this particular topic does cross a large and varied group of people. “Sessions focused on wind energy range from a panel geared toward someone interested in learning about commercial-scale wind energy development on their land, to a panel
with county commissioners on wind turbine zoning regulations,” he said. Herink explained on the solar end of things there are different panels centering on residents who want to put solar panels on their homes as well as another aimed at communities that want to develop and create a solar garden for their electric ratepayers. “All of our panels have guest speakers, some are coming from across the country and some are local. Additionally, we have always had great involvement from our public utilities,” said Herink. The CEOs of Omaha Public Power District, Lincoln Electric System and Nebraska Public
Power District will all participate in a lunchtime panel during the conference. The utility leaders will discuss renewable energy from a utility’s perspective, talk about how we can continue to integrate renewables into our power mix and how to do that responsibly. “They will give their outlook for the next year about different technologies and sizes of projects they will be looking at along with their efforts over the past year,” Herink explained. For example, Lincoln Electric System has just completed the largest solar installation in the state of Nebraska in a 5-megawatt array. Those are the types of projects the CEOs will be talking about. Developers from Chicago, Colorado and California will also attend the conference and share their ideas and interest in investing in Nebraska through wind and solar energy. “We have always had strong booths at the conference. This year, you will see installers of solar panels, people interested in energy efficiency, engineering companies that can help you design a project and developers looking for interested landowners who want generators on their property,” said Herink. The booths offer a good opportunity to walk through and see the different services and businesses that are out there that can help people install or move one step closer to being a part of wind or solar energy. One tradition the conference is continuing this year is the state senator panel, which Herink said is always interesting. “As we transition into new generation technologies there are some political discussions that need to be happening to make sure we are doing this the right way. So every year we invite interested state senators to have a panel and try to get their perspective on what’s happening in the industry,” Herink said. But that’s only part of the panel, the other part is offering the senators the opportunity to hear from the general public so when they are out looking at different legislation and drafting laws, they are up to speed on this growing industry. An industry Herink said is changing overnight. A big part of what the conference offers is a chance to understand what technologies work best for different groups. For instance, from a commercial scale wind turbine standpoint, Nebraska’s rural areas are set up well for wind development, but as you go into the more urban areas, obviously there are more possibilities for renewables in the form of solar energy. “Technology is much less complicated and more affordable than it used to be. Costs are coming down dramatically and we are seeing more cost-effective equipment. We are also
starting to see different companies being created and coming to Nebraska that will help a variety of groups work on and get assorted technologies involved,” said Herink. Understanding what technologies are out there and how each one applies to different individuals or situations is a key focus of the Nebraska Wind and Solar Conference. Interest in the conference and renewable energy continues to grow and that’s a good thing since we are moving into a more carbon-constrained world. Herink explained that means, as a country, the U.S. is looking closer at the effects of carbon and how we use renewable energies to fight that. “Nebraska is the second or third best wind resource in the country. As we move into a more carbon-constrained country, Nebraska really has a competitive advantage and it’s an opportunity for us to help the country transition into a cleaner, less carbon-intensive situation,” he said. According to Herink, having a competitive advantage is something Nebraska needs to look at, identify and see how it can responsibly grow that within the state. For example, he said, the economic development opportunities for rural Nebraska in using production/agriculture land to generate electricity is unprecedented. “Rural Nebraska is having a tough time with commodity markets right now. We are going through an agricultural recession. Generating energy through wind and solar technology can help the rural areas diversify some of their agricultural income,” he said. Herink said all these assets pay property tax and provide true relief because it would mean adding something to the system that can be additionally taxed. He said from a rural standpoint there’s a lot of opportunity for Nebraska to capture some of this investment. And that’s not all, it also helps people in Omaha and Lincoln too because everyone benefits when there is more investment and growth in the state. He said economic development helps us all. “Every year, it seems like a different utility is doing something unique and cutting edge, so we hope these other utilities will come in and see that. We want the public to be informed about the opportunities we have with renewable energy and to see all the good things renewable energy can do in our state,” Herink said. ,
NOVEMBER 4 & 6, 2016
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Visit nebraskawindandsolarconference.com for more information.
green scene
| THE READER |
OCTOBER 2016
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sports
IceDreams
U pursuinghistory Austin Ortega (No. 16) is back for his senior year and is chasing school career scoring records.
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NO’s given everything for hockey. Coaching legend Dean Blais was hired to make the program a national title contender. The sport that draws 7,500 fans per home contest led the University of Nebraska at Omaha down a Division I path that ultimately meant sacrificing football and wrestling. Baxter Arena was built to provide a big home ice advantage. High expectations were finally realized when Blais led UNO to its first Frozen Four following the 20142015 regular season. Following that historic run a young Mavs team completed an unbeaten non-conference schedule in 2015-2016, even earning a No. 1 ranking, only to struggle for goals and wins the second half. Losing eight straight games killed any playoff hopes. Those losses came to elite clubs in the famously tough National Collegiate Hockey Conference, and Blais knows his returners will be one year older and stronger heading into this season. UNO plays the University of Alberta in an Oct. 8 home exhibition before trekking to Fairbanks, Alaska for the Brice Alaska Goal Rush tournament. UNO opens the regular home schedule against Vermont
OCTOBER 2016
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sports
UNO seeks Frozen Four return after last season’s letdown BY LEO ADAM BIGA
Oct. 21-22. The Mavs end the season with several series matched against NCAA tourney teams. After last year, Blais hopes his guys are “a little more committed, a little more hungry” to better weather another challenging stretch. “I think they are,” he said. “I think as a group they were very disappointed overall with their production. But that has a lot to do with the NCHC and the competition we played, too. We were the only undefeated team in the country non-conference, which should have put us in great position pairwise. Then we had the eight losses – but against maybe the three best teams in the country. St, Cloud won 30 games. North Dakota won the national title. Denver made it to the Frozen Four. “Sometimes losing is the best thing. The way it happened last year will be a motivating factor.” He hopes young players who flashed early in their careers but then slumped will click again. “I think the players know if we’re going to contend we can’t have any passengers, we can’t have any guys who had a pretty good freshman year and not so good sophomore year and then an okay junior year. We’ve
got to be more consistent. That’s what we’re trying to get across to them.” Only time will tell how new faces blend with veterans. “The guys like each each other, they get along, but we’ll see. It’s real competitive now. They’re more concerned about jockeying for position right now than they are team-building. Guys are worried about if they’re going to be on the top line or in the stands watching because we’ve got 27 hockey players and we can only dress 20 in a game. “Once we start playing games we’re going to see the togetherness and the team-building. But right now it’s training camp and the strong will survive through this thing.” Through September NCAA rules severely limit the time coaches can spend with players. In the pre-season it was too hard to tell where his team stood mentally, though he said, “Physically, the guys came back looking in real good shape. Little by little I think our guys are feeling more comfortable, getting in better shape. We had a tough skate one Saturday and they held up to it. It’s not there yet, but it’s getting there.” He’s curious how this club’s team dynamics shape up.
But do they have what it takes to hang another “They’re coming together as a group right now. I try to move guys around to find that banner in our arena? We’ve talked about that with other teams and we’re going to talk about it chemistry and we haven’t found it yet. I haven’t seen a magical line together. when we get together this year. So far we haven’t You might have nine great forwards but that because we haven’t had time to even set goals.” Blais expects losing Guentzel, whom he doesn’t mean you have three great lines out of there. You need a little bit of everything. You “considered the best player in college hockey need a guy that can bury the puck such as last year,” to be offset by quality depth. “I think we have all the pieces to the puzzle. Austin Ortega.” Ortega, a goal scoring machine, is back for We’ve got the talent at every position. Three of his senior year with school career scoring re- our seven freshmen got drafted by the NHL. I don’t think we have a weakness.” cords within reach. UNO appears especially deep at goalie. Blais added, “You also need a player that “Evan Weninger was the NCHC Rookie of can move the puck the way Jake Guentzel did. He probably had the best hockey sense of any- the Year in goal last year. Alex Blankenburg stepped into his first start and beat North Daone in college hockey last year.” The Mavs lost Guentzel to the NHL’s Pitts- kota 4-3 in Grand Forks, That was only one of two games they lost the whole year. We have burgh Penguins. “Then you need more of a grinder that can get Kris Oldham from the Omaha Lancers. He’s in on the forecheck and be responsible defen- an NHL draft pick. He’s a big goaltender who sively.” Blais said. “All those things are available covers a lot of net. So I think we’re comfortwith the players we have. But how about that able in the goal. Do we have an All-American chemistry? That’ll come together and it’s gotta goaltender? We could have.” Overall, he said, “There’s a lot of questions to come together fast. But the players have to sort that. They have to find who their leaders are, be answered that you can’t control – how are they going to behave in the locker room? Are who their go-to guys are … “ they going to come together? Do we have that Blais likes the potential. “They’re good guys off the ice – they’re great leader that can step up? You gotta have good captains that take over the team. There’s a lot in the classroom.
that goes on behind the scenes. We have great students, but do great students make great hockey players? Not necessarily.” He said he’s looking for his players to bring the same resiliency and intensity they do in the classroom “to the ice every game, every practice.” He knows his underclassmen must contribute big time. “They have to step up or we’re going to have a tough time achieving what we want and that’s a national championship. A lot of people can talk about it – few can get there.” He bristles at any notion that at 65 he’s losing his edge. “Well, if somebody says I don’t have the hunger or the will to win I’ll have a boxing match anytime they want. I’m always ready to go. I’m up at 5:30 planning my practice, putting lines together. I recruit as hard as anyone. I’ll jump in the car and drive 10 hours to see a game. I’m in the arena all day long. “Practice is the best time of day for me. There’s nothing I like more. I’m usually one of the first guys on the ice. I just can’t wait to get out there and help the players get better, which will help them to win.” Follow Blais and his team at omavs.com., Read more of Leo Adam Biga’s work at leoadambiga.com.
sports
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OCTOBER 2016
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heartlandhealing
September’Superfoods
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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OCTOBER 2016
I
t’s hard to tell exactly where or when it originated but superfood became a trendy term some years ago. There is no definition of what a superfood really is but at least the European Union knows what it isn’t. EU law prohibits the use of the term “superfood” on any label attached to a food that has not been shown by independent scientific study to have an established medical benefit. So unless a food cures a certain condition, it doesn’t qualify as “superfood” in Europe. If only the internet was ruled by such a clause. I’ll give my own definition to superfood: A superfood is one that has an extraordinarily high level of nutrients versus caloric intake. One could also argue that a subcategory of superfood would be one that provides a rare but vital nutrient or micronutrient despite any ratio of calories the food may contain. Conventionally trained “nutritionists,” usually employed by mainstream medical institutions, seem obsessed with caloric intake and ignore the value of natural nutrients. It takes a long time to re-educate those nutritionists because they’ve been brainwashed by the academic structure of universities that are mostly funded by Big Food, Big Pharma and Big Oil research grants. For example, Monsanto gives millions of bucks to University of Nebraska agriculture research. Think for a moment that anyone working there is going to come out against GMOs? By a matter of plain practicality, because most processed foods are stripped of nutrients, that leaves those kinds of packaged products out of consideration. So one of my over-broad rules of thumb would be, “Unless a food comes in its own skin, leave it on the shelf.” Most superfoods then would be found in the produce aisle. And since winter is a season of scarcity in that regard, it’s fitting that we’ll find many of our superfoods available as we enter the autumn.
Yams or Sweet Potatoes
Look into it and you’ll find that in North America, yams and sweet potatoes are essentially the same food. By either name, they may be the most nutritious food you can eat. They are off the charts with Vitamins A and C, fulfilling 100 percent of the daily need in a good sized one. Trace minerals, antioxidants and fiber, pantothenic acid and Vitamin B6 are abundant in this tuber. The best way to cook them would be baking or steaming to preserve the nutrition. As with all the foods listed here and any others you can think of, research at nutritiondata.self.com will inform.
Kale
This stuff is so easy to grow it should be in every yard garden, patio pot or window box. And it pretty much ranks as the Number One superfood of the leafy greens. Of course you don’t have to grow it yourself.
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It’s easily found at farmers markets and stores and usually at great prices. High in vitamins A, C and K, kale carries loads of anti-cancer anti-oxidants with only 30 calories per cup. Small leaves are great raw in a salad. To prepare larger leaves, rinse and strip the fibrous stalk and cut the leaves into strips. Steam lightly then butter and season. Or sauté lightly in olive oil with crushed garlic.
Bok Choy
According to a nutrition rating scale called ANDI developed by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, bok choy ranks near the top. ANDI stands for “Aggregate Nutrient Density Index.” The ANDI score considers many nutrients, including calcium, carotenoids: beta carotene, alpha carotene, lutein, lycopene, fiber, folate, glucosinolates, iron, magnesium, niacin, selenium, vitamins B1, B2, B6, B12, C, E, Zinc, plus ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity,) a method of measuring the antioxidant or radical scavenging capacity of foods. Also known as Chinese cabbage, bok choy is a local crop at area farmers markets and can be prepared in the same manner as kale. One farmer I know suggests basting with orange juice and grilling in a foil pouch.
Beans
Good for the heart, the aphorism goes, and it’s true. Low, low in calories and high in fiber and nutrients like protein, vitamins and important minerals, beans are said to lower your risk of heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Avoid the BPA and don’t bother with canned. It’s too easy to buy bulk and do your own from scratch. Check two cups of black beans for pebbles, place in a heavy soup pot then soak overnight in plenty of water. Drain, rinse and cover with about an inch of pure water. Add a bay leaf, cover, simmer and after about 45 minutes, add a couple tablespoons of whole cumin seed. After another 30 minutes, check for tenderness and add a sliced, fresh jalapeno or two, 1.5 tbsp of ground cumin and salt to taste. If tender, they’re done. Most all the water will be cooked in. Refrigerate in a big container and you’ve got lunch for a week. Just serve over rice with chopped tomatoes and avocado and you have a balanced supermeal.
Oatmeal
There is no reason to start the day without oatmeal. On the ANDI score, oatmeal is a supergrain. Buy bulk at Whole Foods for about $1.75 per pound and save a bunch. Toss a couple handfuls into a pot, add a small handful of raisins, cover about an inch with water, bring to a boil, simmer a minute or two, bowl it and honey it and breakfast is on. Lower cholesterol and lose weight all at once. Be well. ,
heartland healing
Fall into Nutrition BY MICHAEL BRAUNSTEIN
Dine Out for the Cure
®
Bicycle Friendly Destinations Bike racks and fist bumps
The concept is simple: people who bicycle love those who support them. Whether you offer a discount to those who ride in, provide showers for your employees, or just give a smile and a fist bump when someone rides in, we want to tell everyone about you! Businesses, employers, and property managers are partnering with Omaha Bikes to get more folks out riding and we love them for it.
Does this sound like your somewhere you know?
If you want to be added to our list, email us at bfd@omahabikes.org with why you are bike friendly and we’ll get in touch with the next steps.
What do you get out of it?
Aside from bicyclists flocking to your door, you’ll get a sticker for your window/ door with your score, listed on our website, and free promotion of your destination via our email newsletter, social media, and/or space in our monthly ad in The Reader!
bfd@omahabikes.org
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Sunday
Oct. 9
EACH WEEK, 24 NEBRASKANS ARE DIAGNOSED WITH BREAST CANCER. You can give them hope. Join us at participating restaurants on Oct. 9, 2016 and a portion of your tab will be donated to support local breast health programs and research to find the cures.
FOR A LIST OF PARTICIPATING RESTAURANTS OR TO LEARN MORE, VISIT: KOMENNEBRASKA.ORG
ooa.agency | 402.861.0384 WE DRIVE RESULTS.
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OCTOBER 2016
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“When clothing matters, it’s wherever life takes you and whenever. That’s basically our concept today, because whether people are in the corporate or lifestyle component, they still have to be professional,” Bel Air Fashions owner Dick Lerner says.
OLIBA MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
Bel Air Fashions is family-owned and operated by third-generation clothiers and brothers Dick and Sheldon Lerner, who have been in the clothing business together more than four decades and have operated their Miracle Hills Square Shopping Center (114th and Dodge) location for over 30 years. Dick Lerner, a Certified Wardrobe Consultant and Certified Custom Clothier, is also the author of “Dress Like the Big Fish: How to Achieve the Image You Want and the Success You Deserve” (2008). Bel Air Fashions’ services include no-charge interview planning, wardrobe consultation and fitting. The range of apparel for both men and women includes professional, business casual, made-tomeasure and formal wear.
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OCTOBER 2016
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“We have it all under one roof, and the difference is, this is not about shopping. This is about planning out your wardrobe,” Lerner says. “We try to understand what’s important to our clients and make sure we have the best possible services and products that are quality and affordable. We always stand behind whatever we do.” Bel Air Fashions will be receiving the 2016 Integrity Award in the small business category from the Better Business Bureau of Omaha next month. The store is open six days a week and Sunday by appointment. For more information, visit belairfashions.com or the store’s Facebook page or call 402.493.5160.
toast of the old market
| THE READER |
OC TOBER 2016
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Eyman Plumbing, Heating & Air Trust the Big Red Truck!
W
hen Bob Eyman launched Eyman Plumbing in 1957 its primary business was plumbing and drain services. The company now has six divisions and uses such new technology as remote visual inspections and customized climate control systems. Tom Eyman, Bob’s grandson and a member of the family that runs the company six decades later, said he always tells his employees to treat their customers the same way they’d treat their own mothers. “When you treat a customer fairly and go that extra step,” he said, “you often win the customer for life.”
Known as the “fix-it” company, Eyman often gets calls to handle the toughest problems. “We have to be flexible. We’ll work nights, Sundays and holidays because when you need us, it can’t always be on our terms.” One of the hottest technology trends in HVAC is the introduction of ductless heating and air systems. You may have noticed these small, indoor devices installed high on walls in homes, restaurants or office buildings. These systems, Eyman said, offer powerful advantages for your home … and your energy budget: Flexible Solutions Traditional central air conditioning systems force cooled and heated air through ducts. A ductless design instead delivers air directly into various zoned areas of your home.
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The system is comprised of a small-footprint outdoor unit and one or more indoor units that require nothing more than access to electricity. Ductless cooling and heating offers home and business owners a cost-effective way to replace inefficient window units, space heaters and electric baseboard heaters. Ductless systems can even be fit for buildings that currently use ducted forced-air systems. Ductless Saves You Money As utility costs soar, one of the biggest advantages to ductless is found in your wallet. Ductless systems operate on less power and the zoned, room-by-room approach means there is no loss in efficiency. Homeowners may also be eligible for federal, state or local tax credits or utility rebates for the year they are installed. Breathe Easy! Your ducts were clean the day they were installed. And that’s about it. Dust and allergens remain even after cleaning. Ductless systems have sophisticated filtration capabilities that drastically reduce dust, bacteria, pollen, allergens and other particulates in the air. Quick. Easy. Non-invasive Traditional systems, especially in older homes, can take several weeks to install and disrupts your daily life. Duct-
| THE READER | toast of the old market
less systems are far less invasive to install.Ductless systems run on small pipes that require a mere three-inch hole. No tearing down walls. No loss of square footage. No mess. Just clean, fresh air. Shrink Your Carbon Footprint! The small size of a ductless cooling system and its zoning capabilities allows for greater energy efficiency. These systems follow ENERGY STAR guidelines, which means they are far more energy efficient than the minimum standards set forth by the federal government. Improved efficiency saves money, of course, but it also helps reduce your total carbon output. And ductless systems use a refrigerant called R410A, which is known for its zero ozone depletion potential. This means the system will have less impact on the environment throughout its life. Energy efficient. Environmentally friendly. Completely customizable to exact, zone-by-zone temperatures. Consistent, year-round comfort. How’s that for a no-fuss solution for your home? “My grandfather would probably be scratching his head if he could see how technology has changed virtually everything in our homes,” Eyman said, “But I know he’d be proud to see that we’re delivering that new technology with the same family commitment to the community. Science is great, but happy, comfortable customers are even better.”
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Kris Lager Band Headlines
recently spoke with Kris Lager of Kris Lager Band about his upcoming album, tour, and playing for Toast of the Old Market October 8. When I got in touch with the infectiously positive lead singer and guitarist of KLB, he was enjoying a beautiful fall afternoon, listening to love songs and dancing around his house with his wife on their 3rd anniversary. For having been called away from such an important task, he seemed particularly unperturbed. I quickly learned that this is really just the artist’s neutral mode, and he has been sent here from the future to give you a good day. “I think my biggest sin- you know, preachers and priests are very into confessing their ‘biggest sin’, is not celebrating life. When I catch myself, I just gotta stop and refocus, remember. That’s my motto, you know? Celebrate life. Music really helps you do that. If you’re having a great day and you hear a great song, you remember those feelings when you hear it again. When you’re having a bad day and you hear a great song, it just changes everything.
It changes the energy and the vibe of the day. Music has some amazing power.” Lager and his band enjoy harnessing that power and using it to manipulate your mood. “When you put that positive energy out there, you see it everywhere in life. Suddenly all of this good is coming at you- and you can make that happen or you can turn it away when it finds you. You can smile at a stranger or you can let it slide and miss that opportunity. But, man… smile at a stranger. That’s the good stuff. That’s what we need. That’s what we’re trying to make.” Lager and I discussed his newest album, titled “Rise and Shine”, which he describes as being about rolling with the punches, smiling and taking what life has to offer, and making the best of it. “I really hope people dig it”, is his wordy sell. The album will be out in 4 or 5 weeks, and is an easy listen. Imagine Thanksgiving road trips to the groovy, worry-free jams KLB is known for. It’s sure to take a little of the edge off of the family holiday season.
Lager himself will be hitting the road in December for an extended tour, and will be spending the bitter winter in a warmer climate, writing music to capture that sunshine and take it with him wherever he goes. “I write to lift my spirits”, he explained, “I perform to life everyone else’s.” He is hoping to pack as many of his Omaha friends into his last few performances this year as he can, looking for a big send off before the tour begins. One such opportunity will be Toast of the Old Market on October 8. “Who doesn’t like the Old Market? It’s just beautiful and vibey. Always someone down there making great music, someone serving awesome food. It’s going to be a good time!” Be sure to catch Kris Lager and his band sending you positive vibes straight from the heart at Toast of the Old Market on October 8th. Matt Wallace Fusion Force, Josh Hoyer and Soul Colossal, and Matt Cox and Luigi Inc. will all perform at the event, which takes place from 2pm to 10pm.
toast of the old market
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| THE READER | toast of the old market
Ranked as the #1 hospital in Nebraska two consecutive years by U.S. News & World Report. NebraskaMed.com/BestHospitals
The Rest of the Band Line-up Luigi Inc
is a 5 piece jazz combo located in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded by the late jazz legend, Luigi Waites, Luigi Inc (short for including, not incorporated) has the distinct honor of maintaining one of the longest running gigs in the country, performing over 1850 consecutive Sundays at Mr. Toad in Omaha’s old Market! That’s right, since 1978, the band’s weekly performances have served a mixture of jazz standards, popular music, and original tunes to the Mr. Toad faithful. Although the groups instrumentation and personnel has changed some over the years, Luigi Inc’s current lineup of saxophonist Curt McKean, guitarist Jeff Scheffler, bassist Steve Gomez, drummer Steve Knight, and trumpeter Doyle Tipler have a combination of more than 95 years with the group.
Matt Wallace Fusion Force
was formed in Omaha in 1980 and quickly became the “go to” opening act for famous Jazz Stars touring the Midwest. In May of 1987 they opened 2 shows for trumpet great Maynard Ferguson at The Howard Street Tavern in The Old Market. Six weeks later Wallace would be playing to 25,000 at the Telluride Festival as part of Maynard Ferguson and High Voltage. Matt would go on to travel 70 countries, play on 10 records and appear on the Arsenio Hall Show with Jazz Hall of Famer Ferguson, performing nearly 5000 sets between 1987 and 2002. He will be joined by Duke Riggs on drums, Kevin Lloyd on keys, Clarke Edson on bass and Michael Pujado on percussion.
Josh Hoyer and Soul Colossal
is a project formed in late 2012 in famed blues town Lincoln, Nebraska. For the last 15 years, Hoyer has been very in demand as a performer in his previous bands, as a solo artist behind the piano and as a session musician and arranger. Spending much of his time booking and promoting in Lincoln at the legendary Zoo Bar and beyond, Hoyer is an influential part of the funk, soul and blues youth movement. His current 9-piece Soul band includes some of the areas most revered and accomplished musicians, many of whom have toured nationally and internationally, teach music and are asked to back up bands live and in the studio. The band’s sound and passion come from their deep respect, knowledge of and passion for blues, Americana, soul, funk, and many other styles of music.
Matt Cox
Six-time Omaha Entertainment and Arts Award winner for Best Country/ Americana and Best Blues speaks to the caliber of artist Matt Cox has become in the studio and on stage is being recognized regionally, and across the nation. Cox continues to play shows with an ever-changing lineup of the area’s top talent and a raw energy that reveals the passion and experience that friends share with each other on stage and off.
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Sozo Coffeehouse 1314 Jones St. (downstairs) In addition to delicious coffee, Sozo hosts private live music, local art, private events, business meetings, and study groups. Sozo has pool tables and board games available as well!
Artists’ Cooperative Gallery 405 S. 11th St. Bemis a cooperative group of artists conducting education and outreach activities, and maintaining and staffing a gallery in Omaha’s Old Market. It’s a great place to enjoy sculpture, weaving, painting, pottery, photography, printmaking, drawing, friendship and fellowship. With items for sale in every price range, you may easily begin or expand an art collection. Featured works change each month. Opening receptions are usually the first weekend of the month, where you may enjoy fine food and wine while learning more about local art and artists. Visit us on Facebook Twitter Hours: Tue, Wed, Thu, Sun: 12:00 PM – 06:00 PM; Fr, Sat: 11:00 AM – 10:00 PM
Current Exhibit: Featuring architectural landscapes by photographer Aly Owen
The Tea Smith 1118 Howard St. Inspired by the opportunity to share our newfound love of tea, we forged our venture, The Tea Smith. We emulate Old World craftsmanship, using the finest teas.
Current Exhibit: Four artists will share their work in “Artober”. The artists will host a First Friday opening reception 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. October 7, 2016.
Current Exhibit: “Conjured thoughts of animals” by Dawn Smith
Ted & Wally’s 1120 Jackson St. Ted and Wally’s isn’t just an ice cream parlor, it’s an Omaha tradition. Since its inception in 1984, Ted and Wally’s has maintained its stellar reputation by producing endless barrels of high-quality homemade ice cream made from scratch with fresh ingredients.
Iowa Painter Duane Adams has had the idea of doing a series of paintings of “artists at work” on his mind for quite some time. Duane’s new work presents artists working in different media- ceramic, glassblowing, painting, sculpture, and mixed media. “The object of the painting was to show the concentration and the intensity of the artists at their trade. The paintings are not about the artist but about the art of creating.”
Current Exhibit: Featuring Omaha Peace Project’s special installation of 6,829 community-provided origami paper cranes, featuring artist Trudy Swanson
Glassblower Frank Daharsh enjoys working with glass because of its versatility as a medium to express his ideas. Glass has advantages of transparency and opacity, which allow the light to be manipulated through its use of color, texture, and layering of multiple colors and patterns. “Glass is a fascinating medium that has the most challenges but is also the most rewarding!” Painter Hope Dendinger recently visited Rome, The Vatican City, Naples, and the Island of Capri. Dendinger was fascinated and inspired by the rich history, art, architecture, and culture of Rome. This series of work is created with bright colors in an abstract contemporary style that presents the well-known monuments, such as: the Colosseum, Pantheon, Appian Way, Aqueduct Park and The Vatican City. Artist Dax Sterner uses salvaged wood and paint on canvas to create unique works of art. His pieces display a variety of influences and inspirations, from science to science fiction, from the grandeur of the natural world to the strange images in his own head. His use of re-purposed wood is done not only to celebrate the previous life of those salvaged materials, but to also draw attention to the wastefulness of our modern society.
MANGELSEN – Images of Nature Gallery 1115 Harney St. Discover the award winning images of Thomas D. Mangelsen, one of the world’s premier nature photographers. Mangelsen has traveled throughout the natural world for nearly 40 years observing and photographing a diversity of ecosystems and wildlife from all seven continents. Mangelsen’s limited edition prints have been collected by thousands around the world through his Man-
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Old Market Artists Gallery 1034 Howard St. The Old Market Artists Gallery (OMA Gallery) is a local Artist CoOp featuring 12 local artists. Current Exhibit: Featuring works by jeweler Darlynn Myers
Gallery 1516 gelsen – Images of Nature Galleries. Celebrating over 17 years in Omaha’s Old Market, they offer limited edition photographic prints, artist proof prints, posters, art cards, and calendars. Stop in today and experience the wonder of nature through the lens of Thomas D. Mangelsen.
Passageway Gallery 417 S. 11th St. This delightful Old Market Co-op Gallery offers original art in different media by local artists. At the Passageway Gallery you will find original works in: Oil, Acrylic, Watercolor, Pastel, Pencil, Photography, Sculpture, Pottery, Copper Sculpture. Wood Carving, Turning and Sculpture.Jewelry, including Silversmithed, Lampworked, and Fused. Enjoy the friendly, relaxed atmosphere at the gallery and meet the artist on duty during your visit. Current Exhibit: Farm and nature scenes by photographer Jeff Henry
| THE READER | toast of the old market
1516 Leavenworth St. Fine art is important to the cultural life of a community. In many ways, it is the soul of a place. The mission of Gallery 1516 is to provide a venue for regional artists to exhibit their work at no charge to the artist. We are not a gallery in the traditional sense, we collaborate with the Museum of Nebraska Art (MONA) and other regional museums and galleries to present traveling exhibitions and educational lectures in eastern Nebraska. We also support the arts through the organization, management and implementation of fund-raising activities. In recognition of the importance of the arts to the cultural life of the community, Gallery 1516 was created to provide a state-of-the-art venue for the exhibition of works for Nebraska and regional artists at no charge to the artist. It is a nonprofit education and exhibition facility dedicated to Nebraska-born and regional artists. We work together with museums, educational, professional, and performing arts organizations to provide a space, in Eastern Nebraska, for traveling exhibitions, educational lectures, music and more. Current Exhibit: Featuring paintings by Dan Boylan, Nebraska artist and abstract expressionist
Sunday, Oct.30 1-4 pm Dress in costume for this fun and free family experience!
C
• Interactive displays
•
HARNEY
Omaha Fire Dept. area
(Best Pet Costume Contest, details to come)
Old Market Art A = Project Banners Spooky Science S = at Urban Abbey R = Restrooms
A
HOWARD
C
LOOK FOR THE
12TH
or Treat C = Trick Candy Stops P = Parking
C
BOOK BUS JACKSON
Book giveaway courtesy of:
10TH
•
Omaha Police area
with crews from Omaha Police and Omaha Fire Department Thousands of free children’s books on the Book Bus Candy for trick-ortreaters at various stops Bring your leashed pets in costume
11TH
•
N
R
FARNAM
R S Free Parking R 10th & Jackson Garage
Courtesy of
P
Thank you to our Fall Festival sponsors:
A promotion of the Old Market Business Association OldMarket.com
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notWavingbutDrowning
dian Style at the bottom of a pool. And though I might offered one-on-one private lessons. I figured the halffloat back up, my head always inconveniently bobs just hour drive would help me get my head in the game. The first night I rolled into the parking lot a bit nerbelow the surface. As long as I stay in a boat or avoid the deep end, my lack of swimming skill has never been vous. I checked into the Y on Facebook and posted: a problem, though whenever on vacation, I dream of “First swim lesson.” There was a level of kind-yet-slightlybeing one of those guys who can body surf way out into condescending acknowledgement from my Facebook friends as if instead of swimming I was learning how the choppy stuff, out there where the big fish play. It all changed when we bought our current house, to read or how to eat using standard kitchen utensils. which had a perfect back yard for a lap pool. This sum- “You go, Tim.” I walked to the edge of the pool in my flip-flops. Ammer our pool finally opened — a 10 x 40 with a deep end of a safe five feet. I now had no excuse to not learn ber, my instructor, told me to go wait by the shallow end while she finished up her class. A small group of how to swim. Really, how hard could it be, especially now with my five-year-olds paddled in a line like baby ducks wearown pool to practice in whenever I wanted? My first ing tiny neon-colored swim goggles. They made it look step — look up swimming videos on YouTube. After all, so easy, splashing playfully in the deep end, laughing YouTube videos taught me how to fix the woofer of my while the old guy waited nervously next to the pile of broken stereo speaker and install a kick-stand on our paddle boards and the group of women preparing for 2004 Yamaha Scooter. You can learn almost anything their water Zumba class. by watching a two-minute YouTube video, right? Turns out. I can swim. Sort of. Amber said my front Sure enough, type “Adult Swim Lessons” into You- stroke looked good. So did my breast stroke, which I Tube and you’ll get back 42,500 results, including a didn’t know I was doing. One problem is that I can’t variety of step-by-step guides, most narrated by an point my feet, so I look like a guy trying to swim wearAustralian guy, with descriptions like, “Nigel helps an ing size 13 boots. Attempts at treading water were fuaquaphobic Oxfordshire lady become a relaxed and tile. Down I went. competent swimmer in two minutes.” The other problem is I can’t seem to figure out the Each video describes swimming more than it teaches whole breathing part of the exercise. I can swim five it, ending after 90 seconds with, “Okay, mate, now or six strokes until I have to stop, stand and catch my push away from the wall and keep kicking,” or “Turn breath. Meanwhile, in the lane next to us, an older your head and breathe with every third stroke,” and man probably in his late 60s swam lap after lap after concluding with “and now you’re swimming!” They al- lap, effortlessly turning his head every other stroke to ways skip the part where the student is pulled down by take a breath. his weight, about to lose consciousness, or the moment Four lessons later and I still can’t swim, not really, but when the student breaks free to the surface coughing I could paddle back to a boat if I fell out or splash to up lungs full of chlorinated water. the edge of a pool if I accidentally roll off an inflatable With summer waning, I searched for adult swim les- raft while floating over the deep end. sons. A number of swim academies around town offer Maybe I’m finally a swimmer after all. , private lessons, but the minimum class size is three. I couldn’t bear the idea of the other two swimmers im- Over The Edge is a monthly column by Reader senior contributing writer Tim McMahan focused on culture, society, patiently watching me flounder and choke while they music, the media and the arts. Email Tim at tim.mcmaperfected their butterfly kicks. Finally I discovered that han@gmail.com the YMCA in Papillion — a good nine miles away —
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obody heard him, the dead man, But still he lay moaning: I was much further out than you thought And not waving but drowning. — Steve Smith, 1957 One of the things you realize when first learning how to swim is that almost no one really knows how to swim. Sure, they could paddle back to the boat if they fell out or figure out a way to splash to the edge of the pool if they accidentally rolled off their inflatable raft, but really swim? At least I’m honest about it. I’ve never been able to float, let alone swim. This life skill most people take for granted always seemed like an impossibility … or a miracle. It wasn’t for lack of trying. My brother, Pat, once tried to teach me in the pool at the West Plains, Missouri, Holiday Inn during one of our annual family vacations to visit my grandparents. Like all family vacations, the hotel was the best part because it meant vending machines, soda pop and the huge pool that the two-tier motor lodge had been built around. While I was happily wading in the shallow end, Pat had seen enough and pulled me to deeper waters. “Kick your legs and paddle your arms, stupid,” he said, while doing his own modified dog paddle. I followed suit and managed to slowly motor to an area where I couldn’t touch bottom, and then, of course, panicked. Flailing my arms and legs, I quickly sunk to the bottom, only to have Pat grab me and pull me up, where, in my terror, I flail-chopped him in the head. Pissed and holding his ear, he said: “My advice to you: Stay on dry land.” That was the end of the swimming lessons. It’s not that I’m afraid of water. I enjoy it. I especially enjoy going underwater wearing swim goggles, as long as I can get air at some point. Even when swimming in the ocean, I will proudly dive into an oncoming wave … bravely knowing breathing merely requires standing up. The real problem — I’ve convinced myself I can’t float and am quick to prove it to anyone by sitting In-
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Friday, Oct. 28 THE BENEFIT ART AUCTION EXHIBITION Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, 724 S. 12th St. 6-9 p.m., Free Bemiscenter.org
The Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts will host the Benefit Art Auction. The venue will once again unite local and national artists with a community of art enthusiasts and patrons in an effort to raise critical resources for the Bemis Center. Tickets for the Benefit Art Auction are now $100 through October 27. They may be purchased the day of the event for $125, pending availability. Ticket price provides access to the Benefit, which includes live/silent auctions, food, drink, and entertainment. Bemis Center members also receive invitations to the Members Preview on October 14. “We are forever grateful to the artists who have elected to participate in this year’s Benefit Art Auction and are eager to share their extraordinary work,” said Chris Cook, Executive Director for the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts. “Considering the Bemis is celebrating its 35th year of supporting artists and enriching Omaha’s cultural landscape, this year’s Benefit is especially important.” Two hundred artists (local, regional, national and international) practicing in all mediums are participating, presenting more than 260 works of art. Doors open at 5:45 p.m. and the silent auction begins at 6 p.m. and closes at 8. The live auction will start at 8:15 p.m. and will end around 9 p.m. Silent auction items may be purchased at the Buy It Now price at any time before Benefit night. Bemis Center members will have the first opportunity to preview live and silent auction artwork in person, with the option to purchase prior to the event, at the Members Preview with Exhibiting Artists on October 14. The exhibition will open to the public on October 15 for the Benefit Preview + Open House / Open Studios event from 11 a.m.–5 p.m. viewers will hear current artists-in-residence talk about their artistic practices, take advantage of the chance to visit their studios, experience live performance, participate in a hands-on art activity, and preview art selected for the annual Benefit Art Auction.
— Michael J. Krainak
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picks
MOLLY ZUCKERMAN-HARTUNG’S “BRUCE CONNOR’S CAKE,” FEATURED IN THE BENEFIT ART LIVE AUCTION
by Kris Lager Band, Matt Wallace & The Hegg Bros., Josh Hoyer and Soul Colossal, Matt Cox and Luigi Inc. With the glowing streetlamps casting shadows, the Old Market truly is a magical and romantic scene. So grab your loved ones and bundle up warm to enjoy the shopping showcase, restaurant tasting tour and gallery walk this festival has to offer.
— Ronny Sheridan Saturday, Oct. 8 ZOMBIE BALL The Waiting Room Lounge, 6212 Maple St. 7 p.m., $7 waitingroomlounge.com
KEITH URBAN
Through Oct. HAUNTING EXPERIENCES Fall has arrived and screams are in the air. If you are looking for the thrill of a walking nightmare, here are our favorite blood-chilling Halloween attractions the season has to offer. Scary Acres, 17272 Giles Rd., Mystery Manor, 716 N. 18th St., Camp Fear, 23301 W. Maple Rd., Haunted Hollow, 12501 Giles Rd. Check them out, if you are brave enough.
— Ronny Sheridan Thursday, Oct. 6-Saturday, Oct. 8 LINCOLN CALLING Venues in Lincoln, NE 4 p.m., $20-$250 lincolncalling.com Hear Nebraska may have finally cracked middle-out — at least when it comes to discovering the algorithm for a destination music, art and comedy festival. After acquiring the now 13-year-old Lincoln Calling festival this past year, the local nonprofit is compressing the music
and comedy portions of the traditionally weekish-long event into just three nights, while still boasting over 100 musical acts and 22 comedians. Headlining an impressive mix of emerging national acts and local and regional favorites are Charles Bradley, a soul and funk revivalist; indie-rock bands Real Estate and Cloud Nothings; and Kali Uchis, whose sound comprises soul, electropop and even doo-wop. It’s South by Southwest, except it’s Middle by Midwest and affordable enough to prove it. Even college students will pay to get in. No Pied Piper puns needed.
— James Walmsley Friday, Oct. 7 FOOD TRUCK RODEO Reverb Lounge, 6121 Military Ave. 4–11 p.m., Free facebook.com/events/171629425275792 The Benson area is hosting its first annual Food Truck Rodeo. Some of your favorite food trucks will be there, including Peanut Butter Johnny’s, KGB gourmet food truck and Taste of New Orleans. The event is sponsored by Food & Spirits Magazine and Reverb Lounge and boasts a beer garden, outdoor seating and a DJ. With between 15 and 20 food trucks in attendance, the rodeo offers an exciting variety of meal choices. RSVP to their Facebook event and come be a part of a new tradition.
— Ronny Sheridan Friday, Oct. 7 “B IS FOR BIKES!” Benson First Friday, 60th and Maple St. 6 p.m. facebook.com/events/1096206957166330/
LINCOLN CALLING
would like to volunteer to be a bicyclist in this event, check out the Facebook page and get signed up. All participants receive a t-shirt, bike bell, dinner and drinks for the night.
— Mara Wilson Saturday, Oct. 8 SCORELESS BOOK SIGNING The Bookworm, 2501 S. 90th St. 1 p.m. bookwormomaha.com
Attention all undead corpses, the Waiting Room Lounge is hosting its Zombie Ball. This unique concert has a costume contest for the best male, best female and best group zombie costumes. The bands at this grizzly event include Sabbath Disciples, Saul, MurderHouse, Diary of Ozz and the School of Rock Omaha. Come early and get your zombie makeup done for $4 between 1-5 p.m, then help terrorize the neighborhood at 6 p.m. during the free Zombie Walk. All proceeds are donated to the Siena Francis House, so bring your creepiest friends because it’s going to be blood-dripping, brain-eating, fun.
— Ronny Sheridan
The story of perhaps Omaha’s most famous high school football game, a 1960 clash of unbeatens that resulted in a tie and later a shared state championship between power-rivals Central and Prep, is told in Scoreless. Author John Decant will hold a book signing in celebration of the story that captures the tension and spirit of the players and coaches during this incredible game.
— Ronny Sheridan Saturday, Oct. 8 TOAST OF THE OLD MARKET Old Market, 11th St. 2-10 p.m., Free Toastoldmarket.com Raise your glass in salute and help celebrate Omaha’s most historic and entertaining neighborhood with the third annual Toast of the Old Market festival. The brick streets will reverberate with live music performances
Sponsored by Omaha Creative Institute as part of Benson First Friday, the Midwest premiere of a large-scale art event, “B is for Bikes.” This art happening is a combination of contrary subjects: art and sport, sound and music, freedom and discipline. The New Philharmonic will present the iconic work by renowned composer, Mauricio Kagel, “Eine Brise (A Breeze): A Fleeting Action for 111 Bicyclists.” Participants wanted! If you
ZOMBIE VIA WAITINGROOMLOUNGE.COM
Saturday, Oct. 8 KEITH URBAN Pinnacle Bank Arena, 400 Pinnacle Arena Dr. Lincoln 7:30 p.m., $28-$65 Pinnaclebankarena.com If you’re a country fan, you know of Keith Urban. At this point in his career, even if you’re not a country fan you know of him. Urban released his newest album, ripCORD, in May. Now on tour, he is sharing this new sound with the Midwest. If you want to catch him in concert you will have to make the short drive to Lincoln, but it is worth the trip. His concerts have a reputation of
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y continued from page 33 being some kind of party. Joining Urban on this tour is Brett Eldredge and special guest Maren Morris.
— Mara Wilson
Monday, Oct. 10 JIMMY EAT WORLD Sokol Auditorium, 2234 S. 13th St. 8 p.m., $28.50 jimmyeatworld.com
costumes for some trick-or-treating, fun interactive activities, balloon figurines, and photo opportunities with their favorite characters at Storybook Lane. Guests will also get to interact with different Animal Ambassadors as they explore the zoo after-hours. Purchase your tickets online and don’t forget to bring your own trick-or-treat bags to stuff goodies to the brim.
— Ronny Sheridan
This is the first time Arizona alternative rock band, Jimmy Eat World, has come to Omaha since 2010. With eight studio albums already under their belt, Jimmy Eat World is touring for the upcoming release of their ninth studio album Integrity Blues. The band made waves in 2005 with their hit single “The Middle” and has had 12 songs make it into the Top 40 of Billboard’s alternative songs chart.
— Trent Ostrom
Oct. 15, 21, 22, 28, 29, 30 UNDER THE BIG TOP Apollon, 1801 Vinton St. $15-$20 apollonomaha.com Travel back in time with Apollon as they recreate the excitement, the horror and the thrill of the circuses of old, with Under the Big Top. Marvel at amazing acts, including fire-eaters, contortionists, a two-headed man and a real live mermaid. Enjoy circus-themed snacks as part of your admission and a cash bar that will be available during performances. This event is intended for adults but is family friendly. So come one, come all, because the circus is in town.
— Ronny Sheridan
CABARET
ways a good time. If you’re not familiar, well, there’s really no excuse for that. But we’ll forgive you this time if you make it out to this Slowdown show and shake your booty to one of the funkiest local bands around.
— Tara Spencer
Saturday, Oct. 15 INGRID MICHAELSON Sokol Auditorium, 2234 S. 13th St. 8 p.m., $30 ingridmichaelson.com Indie pop standout Ingrid Michaelson released her first album in 2005 and has peaked in Billboard’s Top 200 album chart every release since. Michaelson began finding mainstream success in 2008 with her songs “The Way I Am” and “Be OK” and recently found mainstream success again with her song “Girls Chase Boys.” Her past two albums have peaked at number one on the U.S. Indie album charts and she is one you won’t want to miss in concert.
JIMMY EAT WORLD
Tuesday, Oct. 11 TECH N9NE Slowdown, 729 N. 14th St. 8 p.m., $37 theslowdown.com
— Trent Ostrom
Tech N9ne has been around for more than a decade and he is still strong and moving forward. The Calm Before the Storm Tour brings Tech N9ne’s whirlwind of talent to Omaha for one tension-filled night. His lyrics will strike through the audience and his familiar music will roll across the stage of Slowdown. Those in the crowd will receive drops of his new material. They will not get drenched, but leave in a quiet anticipation for The Storm. Techn N9ne’s new album, fittingly titled, The Storm will be released in December. Until then, join this rapper along with Krizz Kaliko, JL, Starrz and Kontages as they gear up for the arriving storm.
Saturday, Oct. 15 SATCHEL GRANDE Slowdown, 729 N. 14th St. 9 p.m., $8 theslowdown.com If you know anything about the Omaha music scene, then you definitely know a Satchel Grande show is al-
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Through Oct.16 CABARET Orpheum Theater, 409 S. 16th St. Opens Tuesday, Oct. 11 Tues.-Thurs. 7:30 p.m., Fri. 8 p.m., Sat. 2 & 8 p.m., Sun. 1:30 & 7 p.m., $30-$95 omahaperformingarts.org
INGRID MICHAELSON
Sunday, Oct. 16 OF MONTREAL The Waiting Room, 6212 Maple St. 9 p.m., $20 waitingroomlounge.com I remember seeing of Montreal play Sokol Underground years ago and thinking, “They are too big for this venue.” Well, fast-forward about a decade, and the group is still playing smaller venues. And thank goodness for that, because getting to see their somewhat bizarre shows up close and personal is an experience any lover of music and theater should get the chance to experience.
Through Oct. 16 SHREK, THE MUSICAL Rose Theater, 2001 Farnam St. Fri. 7 p.m., Sat. 2 & 5 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. & 5 p.m. (Oct. 9 & 16), $20 rosetheater.org
Oct. 15, 16, 21, 22, 23, 28, 29 and 30 SPOOKTACULAR Henry Doorly Zoo, 3701 S. 10th St. 5:30 – 8:30 p.m. omahazoo.com This Halloween season when the sun goes to bed, the zoo comes alive. Bring your little ones in their favorite
— Gordon Spencer
— Tara Spencer
— Mara Wilson
LAST YEAR’S SPOOKTACULAR VIA OMAHAHENRYDOORLYZOO.COM
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help finding their way with The Three Blind Mice. Oops. Wrong turn. Sub-plot: Things heat up between Dragon and Donkey. Meanwhile Pinocchio and other fairytale characters keep on hoping to be accepted for what and who they are. Hey, this could be a show for kids. Songs by Jeanine Tesori and David Lindsay-Abaire.
How many delightful, heroic ogres do you know? C’mon now. Think about it. Uh-huh. One. The One. Shrek. He’s back. On the trail again, singing and dancing, stumbling into rescuing Princess Fiona. She’s almost led astray by The Pied Piper. Then it looks as if they might get some
What good is sitting alone in your room? But don’t go to hear the music played. Cabaret is not about music, although lively tunes surge throughout, as do a few more tender songs. No. Instead Cabaret calls on you to witness a darkly sinister, evil society on the march. The rhythms, the melodies underscore the story, pointedly. Thus did John Kander, Fred Ebb and Jo Masteroff brilliantly fashion musical theatre full of multiple resonances, collecting 10 Tonys in its 20 years of vitality. “We’re in hell almost as soon as we arrive,” wrote Ben Brantley of The New York Times of the latest personification.
— Gordon Spencer Tuesday, Oct. 18 AILEY II Orpheum Theater, 409 S. 16th St. 7:30 p.m. omahaperformingarts.org The critically acclaimed Ailey II will be coming to Omaha as part of their global tour. Known for breaking down the boundaries that separate classical and modern dance styles, these young artists perform high-energy and stunning dance routines that will capture your attention and your heart. Founded in 1974 as Alvin Ailey’s second dance company, Ailey II carries on his mission to foster training and outreach programs to people from all walks of life. With some of the nation’s most talented dancers in attendance, this is an event worth marking on your calendar.
— Ronny Sheridan
or—an inspiration evident in his paintings. Jewell-Vitale utilizes bits and pieces of inspiration to create paintings with shapes that yield and evolve within their space and into each other. He also looks to the paint itself for guiding inspirations, allowing its manipulation to determine color and composition.
— Melinda Kozel Through Oct. 29 EXPRESSIONS IN FIBER ART V Connect Gallery, 3901 Leavenworth St. Opening Reception: Friday, Oct. 7, 5:30-9 p.m. Connectgallery.net For the fifth year in a row, Connect Gallery is hosting the exhibit, Expressions in Fiber Art. Fabric art, weaving, knitting, crocheting, paper, basketry, sculptures, painted/printed art cloth, wearables and felt are just some of the possible types of fabric art you will find at this exhibit. This show features 27 talented fabric artist’s original artwork. A tentative schedule for workshops, artist’s talks and demonstrations is posted on the gallery’s website. There will be a closing reception and fashion show with the artist’s wearables on Saturday, Oct. 22 at 6:30 p.m.
CASTING CROWNS
Thursday, Oct. 20 CHICAGO BULLS VS. ATLANTA HAWKS CenturyLink Center, 455 N. 10th St. 7 p.m. centurylinkcenteromaha.com It’s a Blue Jay reunion. Atlanta Hawks guard Kyle Korver and Chicago Bulls forward Doug McDermott will meet on their old home court for the showdown of the year. Both players are former Creighton Blue Jays. With 13 years in the NBA Korver averages 10 points per game, while McDermott with only two years of experience has a 7.5 point average.
— Ronny Sheridan Friday, Oct. 21 CASTING CROWNS Ralston Arena, 7300 Q St. 8 p.m., Prices Vary castingcrowns.com Casting Crowns is a favorite of christian music listeners as six of their studio albums debuted at number one of Billboard’s Top Christian Albums. Former youth pastor Mark Hall, who is now the band’s lead vocalist,
BARBARA SIMCOE AT SUNDERLAND GALLERY
founded Casting Crowns. The band features a full-sound as their instrumentation includes vocals, guitar, bass, piano, violins and drums. An interesting dynamic to Casting Crowns is that the band is a part-time job as four of the members have full-time ministry positions in mentoring teenagers. Matt Maher will be opening.
— Trent Ostrom Saturday, Oct. 22 SWAN LAKE Orpheum Theater, 409 S. 16th St. 7:30 p.m., $25-$87 omahaperformingarts.org For one night only, Ballet Nebraska is featuring the Imperial Russian-era Swan Lake to start off their seventh season. For over a century, audiences have fallen in love with this classically elegant ballet that tells the story of a maiden who is under an evil spell, a prince who has a chance to break it and all the peril that lies between.
— Ronny Sheridan Through Oct. 23 THRESHOLD Sunderland Gallery, 701 N. 40th St. Gallery Hours: Tues.-Fri. 12-4 p.m., Sat.-Sun. 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Cathedralartsproject.org Titled Threshold, this exhibition reflects Barbara Simcoes’ ongoing interest in travel and architecture, often in exotic locations with vibrant mythical and cultural references. “I continue to be interested in gesture, dynamic positioning with undertones of tenderness and sometimes power,” she said. “A contradiction, but nonetheless the settings are mostly from travel, a lot of architectural fragmentation, sky and water, openings, liminal spaces. Hence, the title of the show, Threshold.” The figurative imagery Simcoe favors is exclusively of women, and it is these feminine archetypes that she is most interested, particularly as “vessels of creativity, as intercessor, as of the earth, as mother, as primal aspect of the feminine/masculine dichotomy, as the complement of masculine divinity. These are the subtexts of my work.” That said, her works are characterized by a sublime complexity and formality. She may use familiar iconic imagery, but nevertheless the resulting
montages are Simcoe’s daydreams and consequent creations. Which is to say, their mythos is personal rather than universal. They may remain a mystery to the viewer, and no doubt one of wonder to the artist, but their very existence encourages one to create their own cosmos out of the chaos that surrounds us, not unlike that of Simcoe herself in Threshold.
— Michael J. Krainak Through Oct. 28 BOCKELMAN & VITALE Modern Arts Midtown, 3615 Dodge St. Opening Reception: Friday, Oct. 7, 6-8 p.m. Modernartsmidtown.com Two masterful painters present side-by-side in the next exhibit at Modern Arts Midtown, Bockelman & Vitale. The artists, James Bockelman and Thomas Jewell-Vitale deliver two unique approaches to painting developed from a lifetime of visual impressions and glimpses of inspiration. Bockelman, a professor at Concordia University, sites a memory of taking off his glasses to look at Christmas lights with his near-sighted father and sharing the experience of seeing the lights as fuzzy orbs of col-
— Mara Wilson Through Oct. 30 REVELATION Shelterbelt Theatre, 3225 California St. Opens Thursday, Oct. 6 Thurs-Sat: 8 p.m. Sun: 6 p.m. except 10/30 2 p.m.: $12-$20 shelterbelt.org The end of the world is once more on hand. This time in Samuel Brett Williams’ Revelation called a “pitch black comedy” by Shelterbelt Theatre. In this four-actor, 16-character play Bible-Belt Arkansas is the destination for a New Yorker seeking safety and solace and perhaps resurrection. Williams seeks to focus on character as well as faith, love and the American way of life under maximum stress. Perhaps amid the howls of laughter and pain, observations about how we all treat each other may come to the fore in the here and now, mingled with peering into another more cloudy future afterlife. Questioning the nature of heaven and hell. BTW: Much-produced Williams also teaches screen-writing at UNO.
— Gordon Spencer Through Nov. 4 MATERIALS / CRAFTS / ARTS Gallery 72, 1806 Vinton St. Opening Reception: Friday, Oct. 7, 5-9 p.m. Gallery72.com Artwork made with studio glass, fiber, wood and ceramic materials will be on display at Gallery 72’s new exhibit, Materials / Craft / Arts which features 14 Midwest artists who mix the line between fine art and fine craftsmanship. The unique variety of each artist is what the Gallery is most excited to share. For a full list of the participating artists and more information check out their website. Two special receptions will be held in conjunction with the American Craft Council’s conference..
— Mara Wilson
JAMES BOCKELMAN AT MODERN ARTS MIDTOWN
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“ODE TO THE CORNER,” FROM TUBACH + TUBACH - PRESERVATION AT GALLERY 1516
Through Nov. 5 OPERATION CRUCIBLE Jewish Community Center, 333 S. 132nd St. Opens Friday, Oct. 21 Fri. & Sat: 7:30 p.m. Su: 6:30 p.m. $20-25 bsbtheatre.com
Through Nov. 25 HIDING IN THE DARK Petshop Gallery, 2727 N. 62nd St. Opening Reception: Friday, Oct. 7, 7-10 p.m. Facebook.com/bensonpetshop
The dynamics of forced togetherness surfaces and seethes while four Yorkshiremen hope to survive massive, unrelenting war-time bombing above their heads. This is Operation Crucible a 2013 play by Englishman Kieran Knowles produced by Brigit Saint Brigit Theatre Company. The irony just below that surface is that they are also part of the cause for the destruction. They help produce weapons of mass destruction in 1940 and feel the unleashed power of munitions in the German blitz that hits their Sheffield factory. The solidarity of what was once a team threatens to disintegrate even as the building above them falls apart.
Sarah Jones is a multipurpose artist. She uses a variety of materials to create spaces for her audience to enter. hiding in the dark, her new exhibit at Petshop Gallery, is sure to spark a new light in your mind. Jones stated she draws inspiration from music videos and blipster culture, but her work is not dependent on this. Some of the installations you will view are easily recognizable, but there may be some objects that will cause you to make your own associations. Jones wants her audience to fully immerse themselves into a place we travel less frequently once we reach past the age of adolescence. Our imaginations. Enter the space for yourself to see what you discover.
Through Nov. 10 SENSORY: PLEASE TOUCH THE ART UNO Art Gallery, 6001 Dodge St. Opens Thursday, Oct. 6 Artgallery.unomaha.edu
— Melinda Kozel
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Through Jan. 8 HAYV KAHRAMAN Joslyn Art Museum, 2200 Dodge St. Opens Saturday, Oct. 8 Joslyn.org
Through Dec. 4 ACTOR SETTING FIGURE GROUND Darger HQ, 1804 Vinton St. Opens Friday, Oct. 14, 6-9 p.m. Gallery Hours: Sat. 12-5 p.m., Sun. 12-3 p.m. Dargerhq.org
Through Nov. 27 TUBACH + TUBACH — PRESERVATION Gallery 1516, 1516 Leavenworth St. Opens Friday, Oct. 7 Gallery Hours: Fri.-Sun. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Gallery1516.org
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— Janet L. Farber
HAYV KAHRAMAN AT JOSLYN
ACTOR SETTING FIGURE GROUND AT DARGER HQ
HIDING IN THE DARK AT PETSHOP GALLERY
University of Minnesota, is known for her installations responding to encounters with natural and constructed environments. Her non-traditional uses of industrial materials, such as silicone rubber made into gossamer sheets, or addition of art media, such as gold leaf, to natural objects, reveal her interest in the dynamics of spatial context and material interactions.
— Janet L. Farber
— Mara Wilson
— Gordon Spencer
All those warning signs about not touching the artwork have no place in the next exhibit at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) Art Gallery. Sensory: Please Touch the Art is the result of a collaboration of educators, specialists, the UNO Network for Disability Awareness, and 19 artists including curator Jamie Burmeister and advising artist Ann Cunningham. The exhibit opens during Art Accessibility Month, a movement to increase accessibility for enjoying art. While most artwork is experienced through sight, the pieces in Sensory can be experienced by using other senses. Audiences will interact with a variety of tactile materials like fiber and wood, exaggerated curves and shapes and auditory material manipulation. Also featured are works created by blind teens and adults as part of sensory art-making workshops. Supporting materials include displays using braille, large print, high-contrast text and audio along with a lecture series.
Gallery 1516 follows on its recent celebrations of longtime Nebraska artists with an exhibition, Tubach + Tubach — Preservation, of distinguished veteran painter Allan Tubach, who will show in tandem with daughter Lisa Tubach, also accomplished with brush and canvas. Omaha resident Allan Tubach is known for his architecturally inspired paintings that combine details of building facades, street signs, shadows and reflections. With their measured but dynamic shifts in color and perspective, the paintings are crystalline and mosaic-like; they seem to record the fleeting yet collective mobile experience of urban spaces by pedestrian and rider alike. Where Allan Tubach’s environment is usually the city and his palette begins with that of glass, steel, brick and concrete, Lisa Tubach’s world is the organic riot of nature and the intricate beauty of its more hidden structures. The younger Tubach, who now lives in Virginia’s Blue Ridge country, is attuned to the sublimity and fragility of the ecosystems, and her bright, abstracted paintings embrace their currents and flux. Together their works delineate blends of past and present, with the hope of representing a recognizable future.
Darger HQ’s upcoming offering, actor setting figure ground, features the work of two artists preferring industrial and domestic building materials in the service of figurative abstraction and poetic expression. Michael Ian Larsen (Lincoln, NE) and Kristina Estell (Duluth, MN), sculptors with a preference for site-responsive installation, will team up for this show. Larsen, a graduate of Nebraska Wesleyan and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, works primarily in ceramics, creating irregular organic forms into which he often incorporates found and altered objects. These conjunctions extend the artist’s intended narratives regarding innocence, growth, curiosity and exploration. Estell, an MFA grad from the
Often clashing eastern and western perspectives on the roles and images of women collide in the artwork of Hayv Kahraman, whose solo show opens in Joslyn Art Museum’s Riley CAP Gallery. Born in Baghdad, Iraq, and now living in Oakland, CA, the Kahraman’s experience is one of what she calls “migrant consciousness,” as her family left its home in her formative years during the first Gulf War. Her experiences as a refugee, elsewhere in the Middle East, then in Sweden and the US, have provided a platform for her inquiries into cultural perception. Kahraman’s art is described as a blend of influences ranging from Persian miniatures, Chinese ink drawing, Japanese woodblock prints and Renaissance painting to contemporary wartime propaganda and combat manuals. The protagonists in her paintings are stylized images of herself, and reflect her study of the conflicting, politicized and often violent views that societies have of women. There is no admission fee for this show, which includes a public performance on Thursday, Nov. 3rd at 6 pm.
— Janet L. Farber
Non-Partisan
Douglas County Voters’ Guide LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF GREATER OMAHA www.omahalwv.org www.Facebook.com/LWVGO/ omahalwv@gmail.com
“Go Vote, Omaha!” Airing Tuesdays @ 7:30 PM Watch discussion of: Election Issues – Public Policy Issues – Candidate Forums. See page 16 for details. The League of Women Voters is a non-partisan organization that never endorses or opposes any political parties or candidates.
GENERAL ELECTION - NOVEMBER 8, 2016
About THE VOTERS’ GUIDE
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United States PRESIDENT
HILLARY CLINTON Party: Dem Website: http://www. hillaryclinton.com
JILL STEIN Party: Grn Website: http://jill2016.com Personal Statement: After a career in clinical medicine, I am now practicing political medicine, running for President to help heal our ailing nation. Your vote for me sends a clear signal that you want a new, principled politics that puts people, planet and peace over profit.
Personal Statement: I’m running for President to make a difference in the lives of all Americans. I’ll build an economy that works for everyone, continue my fight for children and families, and work to keep our country safe. And I’ll unite Americans to take on all the challenges we face—because we’re stronger together.
Top Three Goals: 1. Green job-creation to fight climate change. 2. A fair economy that eliminates unemployment 3. Justice, true democracy, and respect for all human beings.
Top Three Goals: 1. Grow and strengthen our economy. 2. Curb the outsized influence of big money in American politics. 3. Ensure we have the partnerships to keep our country safe.
DONALD TRUMP Party: Rep Website: http://www.donaldjtrump.com/
GARY JOHNSON Party: Lib Website: http://www.johnsonweld.com
Personal Statement: The government of the US should be focused on serving the people of this great nation, not special interests. The government now rules rather than governs. The American people want their government back and together we will make America great again.
Personal Statement: I am Governor Gary Johnson and along with my running mate Governor William Weld we are honored to accept the invitation of the League of Women Voters to participate in their efforts to inform the voting American public of all options available to them during this Presidential election year.
Top Three Goals: Secure our nation by restoring our leadership in the world; restore economic growth thru tax, trade, immigration, & energy reform; restore Constitutional limits on government.
Top Three Goals: Provide Congress a balanced budget within the first 100 days of office; Reduce (and in some cases eliminate) our military footprint abroad; Liberalize trade and economic activity.
Find the Voters Guide information online too!
access to higher education, encourage companies to follow policies that put families first, and fight so that everyone pays their fair share. Every American deserves a good job, a successful career, and a productive life. Together, these efforts will work to make that a reality. GARY JOHNSON: Submit to Congress a balanced budget to provide a template to stop unsustainable growth of the national debt, debt that weighs on employers, entrepreneurs and the economy. Support a simpler, fairer tax code that won’t penalize productivity or investment. Fight to provide certainty in spending, taxes, and regulation so employers, entrepreneurs and investors make decisions that put people to work. JILL STEIN: • Eliminate unemployment by creating a job for every American who needs work. • Repeal NAFTA and other trade agreements that export our jobs overseas and create immigration surges. • Create 20 million green jobs to stimulate the economy improving our health by cleaning up our land, air, and water. • Protect consumers and small businesses from big banks and Wall Street predators.
WHAT WILL YOU DO TO SUPPORT A VIBRANT ECONOMY ACROSS THE U.S.?
DONALD TRUMP: I have proposed tax, trade, energy and immigration reforms that will bring trillions of dollars and millions of jobs back to the United States. Through immigration reform, we will restore wage growth and reduce the related fiscal burdens on state and local governments. These reforms will help lift wages and will create opportunities for millions of Americans to get back in the workforce.
HILLARY CLINTON: My first priority will be to grow and strengthen our economy. I will invest in good-paying jobs, expand
WHAT, IF ANY, ACTIONS WILL YOU SUPPORT TO CREATE A PATHWAY TO CITIZENSHIP?
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HILLARY CLINTON: In my first 100 days, I will introduce comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship. An estimated nine million lawful permanent residents are eligible to become U.S. citizens. As President, I will work to expand fee waivers and enhance outreach, so that more of the working poor can assume the full rights and responsibilities of becoming U.S. citizens. GARY JOHNSON: Ensure a pathway to citizenship for deserving immigrants by first establishing a way for non-criminal undocumented immigrants to achieve documented status. After that crucial first step, the pathway to citizenship will be the same as it is for all immigrants. No cutting the line. No unfair advantages. Just a legal status that allows immigrants to pursue the traditional path to becoming a citizen. JILL STEIN: First, end the massive deportation schemes that have torn families apart. I would also end the so-called Secure Communities program that has led to abuse of both citizens and non-citizens. End the misguided free trade agreements and regime change wars that have forced people to emigrate for their own survival. Finally, provide a welcoming and legal path to citizenship for current immigrants. DONALD TRUMP: We must re-establish the rule of law in this country. Criminal illegal immigrants will be deported. No one should be given the gift of U.S. citizenship based on illegal behavior.
WHAT SHOULD GOVERNMENT DO TO PROVIDE AN EQUITABLE, QUALITY PUBLIC EDUCATION FOR ALL CHILDREN PRE-K THROUGH GRADE 12? HILLARY CLINTON: Every child deserves a high-quality education. I will double our investments in Early Head Start programs and ensure every 4-year old has access to high-quality preschool. I will do more to support our teachers, modernize our classrooms, and support STEM programs so that all public school students can learn computer science. We must give children the foundation to succeed, from pre-K to grade 12. GARY JOHNSON: Education works best when decentralized. Since President Carter created the Dept. of Education, test scores have stagnated despite any new initiatives or spending programs. Parents and teachers make the best decisions for students, not bureaucrats at the DoE. Education is traditionally a state and local responsibility, and should remain so for innovation, best practices and even competition. JILL STEIN: • Protect our public schools from privatization schemes that will inevitably undermine the American dream of quality public education for all. • Increase federal funding of public schools to make sure all school districts have the financial resources they need to provide quality education. • Ensure that kids come to school ready to learn: healthy, nourished, and secure. DONALD TRUMP: My administration will provide states with incentives to increase school choice options for parents and local school districts. Allowing the entrenched Washington education establishment and federal bureaucrats to leverage federal funds to dictate educational practices, curriculum and outcomes must be stopped. Control of K-12 education must be returned to parents and citizens locally.
WHAT ACTIONS WOULD YOU SUPPORT THE U.S. UNDERTAKE TO PROTECT ITS INTERESTS ABROAD?
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HILLARY CLINTON: The U.S. needs to exercise leadership and shape global events rather than be shaped by them. So many of our interests—our security, our economy, and our fight against climate change—require cooperation with our friends and allies, and with countries we may agree with on some things, and disagree with on others. As President, I’ll ensure our country remains a source of leadership around the world. GARY JOHNSON: Above all, we must maintain a national defense that is second to none. Government’s first responsibility is to protect us from threats abroad. If attacked, we respond. Our greatest assets are economy and culture. Blue jeans and computers did more to win the Cold War than stockpiled warheads. I will pursue vigorous diplomacy based on our economic might, not idle threats and military interventions. JILL STEIN: Forge a new foreign policy based solidly on diplomacy, international law, respect for human rights, and consistent nonviolent support for democratic movements around the world. End the misguided policies of militarism that have produced terrorist organizations, refugee crises, failed states, and a bloated military that we can no longer afford. DONALD TRUMP: We are the leader of the free world - whether we like it or not - and we must ensure we seek partners willing to make sure our national interests are defended. We only gain this respect from both adversaries and allies by having a strong military, being clear about defeating radical Islam, & stopping rogue nations from attacking/threatening our citizens, economic interests, resources and allies.
WHAT KINDS OF POLICIES WILL YOU PURSUE TO PROMOTE SOCIAL AND RACIAL JUSTICE FOR ALL AMERICANS? HILLARY CLINTON: Too many Americans still face discrimination and mistreatment. I will fight to break down barriers and build ladders of opportunity. We will reform our criminal justice system, protect transgender individuals, defend voting rights, fight environmental injustice, fight for comprehensive immigration reform, end the epidemic of gun violence, and ensure the citizens of Puerto Rico are treated equally. GARY JOHNSON: I would do everything in the Presidency’s power to end the militarization of the police. I would end the failed drug war, which unfairly targets communities of color. I would use the powers of the Federal Government to protect the civil liberties of all Americans, aggressively enforcing 14th Amendment protections. I would continue the work to help all Americans to achieve equality of opportunity. JILL STEIN: My plan to end unemployment will transform the economic life of low income communities that are now struggling with unemployment rates two or three times the national average. Coupled with my commitment to quality public schools and community empowerment, we can not just lessen racial disparity, but bring it to an end. DONALD TRUMP: The best way to ensure social & racial justice is to return Constitutional limits on government & appoint Supreme Court Justices who will defend the Constitution, not rewrite it. The President must provide leadership & make sure the government works for the people. We must ensure low income & minority children learn to read at grade level & not trap them in failing schools based on zip code.
VOTING GUIDE
Notes: All qualified presidential candidates were invited to provide biographical information and responses to five specific questions. Candidates qualified if they met the following criteria: 1. The candidate must have made a public announcement of her/his intention to run for her/his Party’s nomination for President; 2. The candidate must meet the Presidential Election Campaign Fund Act’s minimum contribution threshold requirements for qualifying for matching funds, based on the most recent data publicly available on the FEC website; and, 3) The candidate must qualify for the ballot in enough states to win a majority of electoral votes Responses were limited to 400 characters and were truncated thereafter. If a candidate did not respond by the date of publication, “Candidate has not responded.” is printed. © 2016 by the League of Women Voters Education Fund
United States
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DISTRICT 2
BRAD ASHFORD (D) No response received. DON BACON (R) Website: http://www.donbacon2106.com. Current public office, dates held: None. Past public office, dates held: Not a career politician. Occupation: Retired Air Force Brigadier General and Assistant Professor at University of Bellevue. Education: Masters in National Security Strategy, Masters in Management, Bachelors in Political Science, and Navigator and Intelligence Schools in Air Force. Military: Nearly 30 years in AF. Total of 16 assignments, 5 commands, and 4 deployments to Middle East. Commanded Offutt Air Force Base, which is NE’s largest employer. Also commanded Ramstein Air Base. Helped Israel standup ballistic missile defense. Volunteer experience: Salvation Army, Youth for Christ, Gideons, Air Force Association, Military Officers Association of America, Boy Scout Merit Badge University Instructor, and Lifespring Church.
DO YOU FEEL INCOME DISPARITY IS AN ISSUE IN AMERICA? IF SO, WHAT STEPS CAN CONGRESS TAKE TO ADDRESS THE ISSUE?
DISTRICT 2 BRAD ASHFORD: No response received. DON BACON: Yes, it is a major issue. Overly intrusive government regulations (3,500 per year) and a complicated tax code (78,000 pages) have made it very difficult for small businesses and innovators to open their doors and to expand, which has hurt upward mobility in our country. Small business is the engine of our economy and its been weakened by policies stemming from our Federal government. Our corporate tax rates are highest in the free world and that hurts our nation’s competitiveness and limits hiring, domestic investment and economic expansion. Our nation already has one of the most progressive tax codes in the free world and, therefore, I oppose raising taxes on targeted groups as some propose. Though we have low unemployment, wages in real terms have declined and we have a record number of people on welfare. We need to help our small business community to compete and not punish them, while building in work incentives for those on welfare.
HOW SHOULD THE GOVERNMENT BALANCE NATIONAL SECURITY WITH PERSONAL PRIVACY?
DISTRICT 2 BRAD ASHFORD: No response received. DON BACON: I’ve spent nearly 30 years defending our nation and loved doing it. All of the Bill of Rights are inviolable. I believe, however, that our Federal Government can make national security a priority while protecting our Fourth Amendment Rights. I know firsthand that our intelligence and law enforcement personnel work hard to protect our nation while at the same time ensuring that policies protecting our privacy are honored. When there are violations we must hold those individuals accountable. We need to ensure our intelligence agencies and the military are working closely together to thwart terrorism threats from abroad. There needs to be information sharing with the FBI and other domestic law enforcement agencies if international threats are trying to infiltrate the United States. We should always respect the Constitutional rights of our citizens while doing our absolute best to protect our nation from attacks.
nating Council of Douglas and Sarpy Counties, Elected: 2008, 2010 . Occupation: Catholic Charities - Director of Grants and Advocacy. Education: University of Nebraska-Omaha, B.S., 1987 Double Major: Criminal Justice & Philosophy . Volunteer experience: Deer Park Neighborhood Association, current Vice President, 12 year Board Member, Latino Center of the Midlands, Substance Abuse Advisory Council, Former Member, South Omaha Business Association, Former Board Member. TONY VARGAS (D) Website: http://www.vargasfornebraska.com. Current public office, dates held: Omaha Public Schools Board of Education, Subdistrict 9 (October 2013 - present). Occupation: Education Consultant. Education: Bachelors of Arts, University of New York - Rochester; Masters of Education, Pace University . Volunteer experience: Founding Board Member, New Leaders Council - Omaha; Douglas County Democratic Party Executive Board; Member, Dahlam Neighborhood Association; Member, GI Forum; Parishioner, St. Francis Cabrini Church.
WHAT ARE SOME STEPS CONGRESS CAN TAKE TO IMPROVE ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH?
DISTRICT 2 BRAD ASHFORD: No response received. DON BACON: I’ve commanded five organizations in the Air Force to include one with nearly 8,000 personnel and another at nearly 7,000. I know we get more done when we act with civility towards each other. James Madison designed our Federal government with three equal branches and checks and balances to prevent any one branch from dominating. This requires our elected leaders to seek common ground on important issues. I’ll work with the Executive Branch to tackle fundamental threats that are undermining the strength of our nation, and I know solving them will involve difficult choices. We must stop adding to the huge national debt or suffer one day a financial catastrophe. We need to rein in a bureaucracy that is harming small businesses and crippling our economy. We have a growing terrorist threat that we must defeat. These issues are extraordinarily difficult and require the Executive and Legislative Branches working together. I will do so in a manner that will make Nebraskans proud.
State Legislature DISTRICT 5 GILBERT AYALA (R) No response received. MIKE MCDONNELL (D) Website: http://www.VoteMcDonnell.com. Current public office, dates held: None. Past public office, dates held: None. Occupation: Labor Educator, William Brennan Institute for Labor Studies, University of Nebraska at Omaha. Education: Bachelors Degree in Criminal Justice, Associate Degree in Fire Protection Technology, Masters Degree in Public Administration. Military: None. Volunteer experience: St. Thomas More Festival, Knights of Columbus, West Omaha Serra Club, St. Thomas More Building Committee, American Red Cross, Boy Scouts of America.
DISTRICT 7 JOHN SYNOWIECKI (D) Website: http://johnfornebraska.com. Past public office, dates held: Nebraska Unicameral, Legislative District 7, Appointed December 2001, Elected: 2002, 2004, Learning Community Coordi-
DISTRICT 9 SARA HOWARD (D) Website: http://www.sarafornebraska.com. Current public office, dates held: State Senator from District 9, elected in 2012. Past public office, dates held: NA. Occupation: Grant writer and consultant. Education: Graduated from Duchesne Academy. Undergraduate degree from Smith College and law degree from Loyola University Chicago School of Law. Military: NA. Volunteer experience: Board Member, Omaha Schools Foundation; Board member, Live Well Omaha; Member, League of Women Voters; current or former volunteer for Friends of the Omaha Public Library and Film Streams Ruth Sokolof Theatre. LARRY ROLAND (R) Website: http://RolandforLegislature.com. Current public office, dates held: NA. Past public office, dates held: NA. Occupation: Attorney. Education: BA Political Science - Marquette University; MBA - University of Nebraska - Omaha; JD - Creighton University School of Law. Military: NA. Volunteer experience: Essential Pregnancy Services - President Elect; Governance Chair. YMCA U12 Flag Football Coach. St. Margaret Mary Volunteer. Cub Scout Den Leader. Omaha Bar Association – Treasurer; Public Service Chair; Lawyers in the Classroom Director.
DISTRICT 11 ERNIE CHAMBERS (NP) No response received. JOHN SCIARA (R) Website: http://SciaraForNorthOmaha.com. Current public office, dates held: None. Past public office, dates held: None. Occupation: Retired Military. Education: Expect to obtain Bachelors degree December 2016 from Creighton University major in Political Science. Military: 12 years active duty US Air Force 12 years US Army Reserves 2 deployments in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Volunteer experience: Habitat for Humanity Blitz Build 6 years.
DISTRICT 13
JILL BROWN (D) Website: http://votejillbrown.com. Occupation: Associate Professor of Psychology, Creighton University. Education: BA: University of Nebraska-Lincoln PhD: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Developmental Psychology. Volunteer experience: U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer, 1996-1998. JUSTIN WAYNE (D)
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Website: http://www.wayne4ne.com. Current public office, dates held: Omaha Public School Board District 4, 2010 - present. Past public office, dates held: Learning Community Coordinating Council 2008 - 2010. Occupation: Attorney, small business owner. Education: Justin attended Hartman Elementary, King Science Center (formerly known as Horacemann), and then graduated from Northwest High School. Justin received a B.S.B.A. from Creighton University, and went on to earn a Juris Doctor from Creighton University. Military: None. Volunteer experience: President of the Midwest Trailblazers Youth Program; member of Kiwanis Club of Florence, fundraising for St. Jude’s Hospital; member of Omaha Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. and mentor to over ten children in District 13.
DISTRICT 31 RICK KOLOWSKI (D) Website: http://votekolowski.com. Current public office, dates held: State Senator LD 31 January, 2013 to present. Past public office, dates held: Papa Missouri River NRD Board 2004-2012 Learning Community Board 2008-2012. Occupation: Retired Educator. Education: B.A.-Lake Forest College, Government, 1966 M.S. University of Nebraska Omaha, History / Secondary Education, 1970 Ph.D. University of Nebraska Lincoln, Secondary Education/Administration, 1978. Military: United States Marine Corps Reserve 1964-67. Volunteer experience: Boy Scouts of America, First Covenant Church, Relay for Life, Kiwanis Club of Southwest Omaha, All Play Miracle League. IAN M. SWANSON (R) No response received.
DISTRICT 39 BILL ARMBRUST (D) Website: http://BillArmbrust.com. Current public office, dates held: President Elkhorn Suburban Fire District. Past public office, dates held: State Committee Farm Service Agency from 2011 to 2015. Occupation: Cattleman/Farmer. Education: BS Agronomy University of Nebraska Lincoln Continuing education in small business management, finance, production, several trades, leadership, public speaking/presentation, Conservation/wildlife habitat, Nebraska ag produce systems, Water management. Military: Son- Erik is a Captain in Special Forces currently Deployed Central Command Qatar, Stationed at Fort Bragg NC. Uncle, cousins, and brother in law all veterans. Volunteer experience: Locally:Bethany Lutheran Church- Various committees and functions. Elkhorn elementary middle school and High School activities, Douglas County 4-H, Elkhorn youth sports, Kingswood youth baseball, continuously in many community functions for 50 years. LOU ANN LINEHAN (R) Website: http://www.linehanforlegislature.com. Current public office, dates held: None. Past public office, dates held: None. Occupation: Consultant. Education: Currently attending UNO. Military: No Military Experience, however I did deploy with the US Department of State to Iraq in 2008 and 2009 where I worked side by side with our US military. Volunteer experience: Loveland School PTA, St. Patrick’s in Elkhorn Voice Advocacy.
WHAT IS YOUR POSITION ON VOTER ID LAWS AS IT PERTAINS TO VOTING?
DISTRICT 5 GILBERT AYALA: No response received. MIKE MCDONNELL: I do not believe that there should be undue barriers to the democratic process and voting; voter ID laws pose
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such barriers. The senior citizen that does not have an ID card beyond their neighborhood social organization should not be turned away at the polls because of not having a driver’s license. The student at UNL from Kearney should not be turned away at the polls because their drivers license address does not match their polling location on campus. We should be encouraging people to partake in the democratic process, not discouraging them.
DISTRICT 7 JOHN SYNOWIECKI: As a former State Senator I have not, and if re-elected, I will not support voter ID initiatives. Nothing is more fundamental to our democracy than the right to vote and I am not aware of any credible evidence that in-person voting fraud is problematic in Nebraska. These laws tend to disproportionately impact low-income and minority voters. I will not support creating any barriers to full participation in our democracy. TONY VARGAS: I do not support Voter ID legislation or any measures that would make it more difficult for Nebraskans to vote.
DISTRICT 9 SARA HOWARD: I oppose any efforts that would make it more difficult for Nebraskans to exercise their fundamental right to vote. There is no credible evidence of voter fraud, particularly in Nebraska. Requiring voters to obtain an ID to vote leads to increased government costs and undue expenses for those voters without a driver’s license. This is particularly unfair to low-income and elderly voters. LARRY ROLAND: An individual should be registered to vote and provided the necessary documentation to show that registration is valid. If there is no registration card, being required to show a valid photo ID is an acceptable means of protecting both the right and responsibility of voting. You must have a photo ID if you are 25 or under and wish to purchase alcohol or cigarettes. A photo ID is also required to open a bank account, to apply for Medicaid, Social Security, and unemployment benefits, to rent or buy a house, to apply for a mortgage, to drive, rent, or buy a car, to get to a terminal to board an airplane, to get married, to buy a gun, to adopt a pet, to apply for a hunting or fishing license, to visit a casino, to pick up a prescription, or to donate blood. IDs are required to access portions of hospitals, office parks, and military bases. I have no issue with a state requiring an ID to vote.
DISTRICT 11 ERNIE CHAMBERS: No response received. JOHN SCIARA: I support voter ID but I would also support using Voter ID to allow for same day registration on election day.
DISTRICT 13 JILL BROWN: Broadly, I support efforts to minimize the impact of our elections being fraudulent. However, I remain unconvinced that this is a widespread phenomenon. Most voter ID laws will be disproportionately restrictive to the people who do not readily have access to documentation (people living in poverty, immigrants, elderly, young voters, recent name changes).Strict voter laws can reduce voter turn out among these groups that most need representation in government. I believe that encouraging as much participation in the democratic process as possible is crucial. Providing some form of documentation at the time of registration should be adequate. I am aware that Nebraska is one of the remaining states without a voter id law. I would oppose the use of photo id’s but would give consideration to arguments to enact non strict measures such as post election verification by the election commis-
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crease access to quality, affordable health care. As the school board member representing the neighborhoods of downtown and South JUSTIN WAYNE: I am against restricting voting rights. There Omaha, and the son of Peruvian immigrants that worked multiis no evidence of widespread abuse or voter fraud in Nebraska or ple jobs to take care of our family, this is an issue that hits close to across the country. These kinds of procedures are being put in place home. More than 4,500 Omahans in my district alone (downtown to slow the process down and make it likely that fewer poor people, and South Omaha) -- the highest number of any district in the state Hispanics, and/or African Americans might vote. That is flat out -- do not have health insurance because they can not afford private wrong, and I oppose it. We should be focusing on increasing voter insurance and do not currently qualify for Medicaid. People who turnout; not decreasing it. work hard every day should never have to choose between putting healthy food on the table for their kids and making sure they DISTRICT 31 have access to quality, affordable health care. I strongly support exRICK KOLOWSKI: We should do all we can to encourage our panding Medicaid to cover the working Nebraskans that still fall citizens to vote, but it must be done legally. Minimal ID could be in a health insurance coverage gap. It’s a common sense solution that will keep our workers healthy, our communities and families required in order to prove one’s place of residence. strong, and will keep our economy growing. IAN M. SWANSON: No response received. sion in issues where fraud is suspected.
DISTRICT 39 BILL ARMBRUST: I believe we should eliminate all barriers for citizens to participation in democracy. Until it has proven to be a problem, I oppose photo ID and documentary proof of citizen’s registration. When there is proof of voter fraud, we all will want to find ways to be sure we have security in our election process without creating barriers for some to access voting. Our election officials and poll workers do great work. LOU ANN LINEHAN: The League of Women Voters has historically played an important role in voting rights, starting with the effort to secure the right of women to vote. More recently, voting rights have been featured prominently since the 2013 US Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder, on the Voting Rights Act. States such as North Carolina and Wisconsin have been in the news, as federal courts have struck down state laws passed in the wake of Shelby. While I cannot speak for other states and their interpretations of the Voting Rights Act, as an elected official in Nebraska, I will always look to a find a balance between the dangers of voter fraud and abuse, versus efforts to mobilize and register voters.
HOW WOULD YOU ASSURE ALL NEBRASKANS HAVE ACCESS TO HIGH QUALITY, AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE?
DISTRICT 5 GILBERT AYALA: No response received. MIKE MCDONNELL: I believe that community-based health care should continue to receive more funding. It is important that people are able to access high quality, affordable health care in their own communities. Lack of transportation or accessibility to clinics should not prevent citizens from receiving quality health care.
DISTRICT 7 JOHN SYNOWIECKI: As a past member of the Appropriations Committee, to help insure access to care, I consistently advocated for competitive rate increases within the Medicaid and Regional Behavioral Health systems. I also introduced legislation (LB 517) amending the Employment Investment Growth Act (LB775) to require, as a condition to receiving tax credits, health care benefits for new employees. In the current session, I support the Transitional Health Insurance Program Act. This important initiative seeks to establish eligibility for individuals that fall in a coverage gap in which they are ineligible for traditional Medicaid coverage but have incomes below 100% FPL, making them ineligible for Health Insurance Marketplace subsidies to make insurance affordable. TONY VARGAS: Nebraska can and should be doing more to in-
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DISTRICT 9
SARA HOWARD: We need to pass a bi-partisan initiative represented in LB 1032 to expand Medicaid coverage. This will access funds available to all states and inject $1 billion into Nebraska’s economy. This ripple effect on the economy has been the universal experience of 31 states which have already expanded Medicaid. This action will begin solving the challenges of more than 97,000 uninsured Nebraskans. LARRY ROLAND: The first step in attempting to provide all Nebraskans with access to high quality, affordable health care is implementing a primary care health system that promotes long-term good health by supporting effective comprehensive primary care (building a team-based care delivery model led by a primary care provider whose mandate is to manage each patient’s health needs emphasizing health care value and quality) and reducing or eliminating incentives to overuse services that are unnecessary, reducing the overall cost of care by improving both cost efficiency and the quality of care received by each patient. The next step would be to incentivize market competition and cooperation between doctors and specialists, hospitals, and drug and device manufacturers. Combined with the decentralized decision-making granted to the comprehensive primary care system described above, each Nebraskan should receive a higher quality of health care with lower costs.
DISTRICT 11 ERNIE CHAMBERS: No response received. JOHN SCIARA: The best method of providing Nebraskans access to health care is to improve job opportunities for those who do not currently have jobs that provide for healthcare.
DISTRICT 13 JILL BROWN: First and foremost, I support the current bill in the Legislature (LB1032) as a step towards increasing the number of Nebraskans who have access to high quality affordable health care. I believe access to health care is a right and should not be left to a roll of the economic dice. Further, I would work collaboratively with other Legislators and interest groups to find ways to assure care. I would look at requirements for wellness programs that would reduce costs by providing primary care and preventative care that will reduce utilization of emergency rooms. On a personal note, this issue is close to my heart. Last year through the ACA my brother, who has worked for 27 years at minimum wage jobs has been able to access health care for the first time. In his case it has reduced his reliance on more expensive urgent care and given him an opportunity to pro-actively treat chronic medical conditions and avoiding disability and live with some security and dignity. JUSTIN WAYNE: I will push for legislation that will ensure that all
Nebraskans have access to low-cost high-quality health care. During my time on the OPS board, I helped launch healthcare clinics inside of our schools. We partnered with Charles Drew and One World to make sure more students and their families had access to high quality healthcare. As a State Senator, I will increase the number of insured Nebraskans, fully fund mental health services, and integrate mental health care with physical health care. It’s time to put action behind the great sense of hope the people of District 13 have. I will build a bipartisan coalition of elected officials to forge solutions that will grow the economy and eliminate waste. I will fight to provide resources in a responsible way to those who need it the most. We can implement Medicaid expansion, while increasing funding for education.
DISTRICT 31 RICK KOLOWSKI: First, I believe we should secure the funds that we have rejected from the Affordable Care Act. Secondly, we need to set high standards for all health care providers. Third, we need to encourage our citizens to take more responsibility for their personal health and conditioning. Lastly, we need to improve our eating behaviors as a society. IAN M. SWANSON: No response received.
DISTRICT 39 BILL ARMBRUST: First, let’s expand Medicaid across Nebraska. To not accept federal money to expand Medicaid is reckless. It is time that we stop paying taxes so that other state’s can expand Medicaid. Let’s take care of those in need in Nebraska with those dollars instead of through are insurance premiums, understaffed health care centers, and personal bankruptcies. Second, while protecting the need for personal relationship between doctor and patient for diagnosis, we should use modern technologies to bring health care services to the homes of people who have barriers to accessing these services. Tele medicine and remote medical service can help bring improved medical care to many. Other healthcare priorities would be improving rural, disability and mental healthcare. LOU ANN LINEHAN: The Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, has driven up health care costs for countless Americans. Providing access to high quality, affordable health care is important but job-killing ObamaCare and costly Medicaid Expansion that jeopardizes Medicaid for the least fortunate are not the answer. The next generation of health care reform has to be driven by innovative, outside the box solutions that take advantage of competition to drive down costs and incentivizes healthy choices that reduce costly emergency room visits and hospital stays. State and federal governments have roles to play in health care reform and my door will be open to listen to ideas that can help address this very serious issue.
WHAT IS YOUR POSITION ON FUNDING THE MAINTENANCE AND UPGRADE OF NEBRASKA ROADS BY EARMARKING CASH RESERVE FUNDS TO BUILD AND REPAIR ROADS?
DISTRICT 5 GILBERT AYALA: No response received. MIKE MCDONNELL: While campaigning and talking to the people in my district, the number one issue that is brought up is the condition of our roads. I have roads in my district that have never been paved. Currently, there is a $.25 gas tax that is to be allocated for maintaining and upgrading our roads but that money isn’t being tracked in a way that citizens can find out how much of their tax is being spent in their own neighbor-
hoods. I would like to see a percentage of that tax stay within the neighborhood in which it was collected.
DISTRICT 7 JOHN SYNOWIECKI: As a past member of the Appropriations Committee, I consistently voted to support increased funding for roads and infrastructure. However, I do not support the earmarking of the cash reserve to any particular purpose. Wisely, the Appropriations Committee did not earmark the cash reserve this year for any long-term funding request. TONY VARGAS: We have seen a downturn in federal aid for roads and bridges -- over 5% in the last few years -- while seeing an increase of requests from cities and counties for funds for financing new projects. The Department of Roads estimates that $10.2 billion in projects will be needed for projects over the next 20 years. Aside from federal funding, traditional financing from the state has come from motor vehicle fees and fuel tax revenue, which has stopped growing due to the increasing fuel efficiency of cars and trucks. I recognize that well maintained roads and bridges are critical for both public safety and economic reasons, but would be cautious about our usage of cash reserve funds to finance these projects.
DISTRICT 9 SARA HOWARD: I support maintaining the integrity of existing road maintenance funds that are accrued for that purpose. Maintaining our transportation infrastructure is an important function at all levels of government, and contributes to the health of our economy. We must address the backlog of closed, obsolete and structurally deficient bridges in Nebraska. We must also maintain financially sound cash reserve practices. LARRY ROLAND: The Cash Reserve Fund was created in 1983 to provide a source of funds for temporary transfers to the State General Fund when balances are not sufficient to process expenditure transactions. If there are specific transportation focused expenditures that MUST be completed, including the building and repairing of roads, the Cash Reserve Fund was created and my position is that these funds should be accessible for these transportation expenditures. However, if this funding occurs year-in and year-out, then it is no longer a temporary transfer and relying on the Cash Reserve Fund is the wrong answer. Like many things, earmarking cash reserve funds for transportation objectives does not occur in a vacuum - there are other expenditures that are also competing for more funding. At some point, the State has to prioritize where its General Funds are going to be utilized.
DISTRICT 11 ERNIE CHAMBERS: No response received. JOHN SCIARA: Would have to review what funds are being used for Nebraska roads and bridges.
DISTRICT 13 JILL BROWN: Roads and good infrastructure are critical to the economy for growth and future prosperity. I support the use of it with the caveat that it doesn’t reduce our cash reserve below recommended levels. JUSTIN WAYNE: We have to improve our roads and bridges; however, I am not sure if earmarking cash reserves is the best option. Cash reserves are there to protect tax payers against tax increases. That is why I will work to make the tax climate in Nebraska more competitive on a regional and national basis. By reducing our tax
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burden we will attract more businesses, create more jobs, and grow our population base, and in turn, add revenue. I will work to eliminate taxes on military and social security retirement benefits, reduce income taxes, and reduce the extreme burden on Nebraska families caused by our high property taxes. I will work with cities, counties, and school districts to find meaningful and sustainable ways to reduce the reliance on property tax revenues. We must invest in education because education saves tax money by reducing crime, incarceration, and dependence on government programs and can aid in solving many of the complex problems we face right now in this state.
DISTRICT 31 RICK KOLOWSKI: Earmarking cash reserve funds to build and repair roads would be one partial way to maintain or upgrade our roads, but not the only way. A small upgrade on our gas taxes (as recently done) could be looked at as a user tax. IAN M. SWANSON: No response received.
DISTRICT 39 BILL ARMBRUST: I am in favor of the State of Nebraska setting money aside for infrastructure work particularly completing the expressway system, and primary and secondary road bridges and we must continue to maintain and modernize our infrastructure. Like any well run business, we should not delay upgrading and maintaining as delay will only create a heavier burden later, and a less effective infrastructure for our states business’s and citizens to use. If we invest taxpayer money, it had better be money well spent. In Nebraska improvement on roads infrastructure would create jobs, help get product to market and help get citizens safely to work. Improving road infrastructure is needed and is also a good investment. LOU ANN LINEHAN: I support the Infrastructure Bank program championed by Governor Pete Ricketts and State Senator Jim Smith in this year’s legislative session. The new law takes $50 million from the state’s cash reserve and dedicates future gas tax revenue to finish the state’s expressway system, address county bridge replacement and repair, and transportation-related economic development projects. A one-time transfer from the cash reserve to help fund this new program is a sensible investment in Nebraska’s infrastructure needs.
Douglas County CLERK
DAN ESCH (D) Website: www.facebook.com/DanEschForCountyClerk. Current public office, dates held: Douglas County Clerk, November 2015 - present. Occupation: Douglas County Clerk. Education: Certified Public Manager (2010), University of Nebraska-Omaha. Bachelor of Fine Arts (2007), University of Nebraska-Omaha. Military: None. Volunteer experience: I do my best to contribute either my time or money to many different community organizations.
WHAT WILL BE YOUR TOP TWO PRIORITIES WHILE IN OFFICE? DAN ESCH: 1) Open Government - Continue to improve the accessibility of the public records maintained by the Douglas County Clerk’s office. 2) Efficiency - Continue to review the processes of the Douglas County Clerk’s office to see where improvements can
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be made, as well as where time and resources can be saved.
WHAT ARE YOUR QUALIFICATIONS FOR THIS OFFICE? DAN ESCH: I’ve been the Douglas County Clerk for 10 months now, and prior to holding the position, I worked in the Douglas County Clerk’s office for seven and a half years. I believe this experience has given me the needed knowledge to effectively lead this office. In addition, I work very well with my counterparts throughout Douglas County government, and I will continue to promote a culture of open government and responsive service to the citizens.
Douglas County COMMISSIONER
MIKE BOYLE (D) No response received.
DISTRICT 3 CHRIS RODGERS (D) Current public office, dates held: Douglas County Board of Commissioners 2005 to present. Past public office, dates held: Metropolitan Community College Board 1999 to 2004. Occupation: Director of Community and Government Relations for Creighton University. Education: Creighton University-BA 1992, MBA 1999, University of Neb. at Omaha-MPA 2002. Military: None. Volunteer experience: Salem Baptist Church, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Charles Drew Health Center, Omaha Small Business Network, ENCAP, Child Savings Institute, Midlands Mentoring Partnership, Omaha Sports Commission, Heartland Workforce Solutions, Live Well Omaha.
DISTRICT 5 MARC KRAFT (D) Website: http://MarcKraft.com. Current public office, dates held: Douglas County Board of Commissioners January 2009 to present. Past public office, dates held: Omaha City Council District 7 1997 till 2001; re-distracted, Omaha City Council District 1 2001 to 2005. Occupation: Douglas County Commissioner District 5. Education: BS in Marhematics, minor in Physics and Education, Creighton University, 1971; Central High School class of 66 ; Lewis & Clark Jr. High; Dundee Elementary; some Graduate Studies. . Military: N/A. Volunteer experience: Boy Scouts, Cosmopolitan Club of Omaha, Downtown Kiwanis. Involved in: Dundee Memorial Park, Benson, Leavenworth, Dalhamn Ares, and Downtown Omaha Neighborhood Associations. Adopt-A-School, PTA’s etc. Partnerships with 4 different schools. MARY JANE TRUEMPER (R) Website: http://www.votetruemper.com. Current public office, dates held: None. Past public office, dates held: None. Occupation: Real Estate Agent. Education: Bachelor of Science (BS) in Medical Technology and Master of Business Administration (MBA). Military: None. Volunteer experience: Cub scouts and various school functions, Former Assistant Teaching Director for Community Bible Study in Omaha, President of Omaha Liberty Ladies, City of Omaha Charter Review Committee member.
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sentative for the Nebraska Coalition for Juvenile Justice, Nebraska Association of County Officials Board of Directors, served as an assistant to former Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey, and 20 plus years of private, public and not for profit experience.
WHAT WILL YOU DO TO REDUCE THE NUMBER OF NON-CRIMINAL JUVENILES WHO ARE HELD AT THE COUNTY YOUTH DETENTION CENTER?
MARC KRAFT: I have been called “A Voice of Reason” by the Omaha World Herald. Served on the Omaha City Council for 8 years; I operated a successful business for 5 Decades. Served as President DOI for 5 years; President Omaha City Council; Chair of Douglas County Board and many leadership positions in many civic organizations. When operating my store I always serving my customers. I managed many employees, 2 stores and an Internet business. I enjoy helping people reach their goals and solve their problems.
DISTRICT 1 MIKE BOYLE: No response received.
DISTRICT 3 CHRIS RODGERS: I was a leader in Douglas County’s effort to become a JDAI (Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative) and introduce the effort in the State of Nebraska. I am a leader in the county’s latest comprehensive Operation Youth Success Initiative. The County’s current population at the Douglas County Detention Center is its lowest in years. As a result of a law passed in 2015, juveniles are no longer allowed to enter court shackled.
DISTRICT 1
CLARE DUDA (R)
Current public office, dates held: Douglas County Commissioner since 1993. Occupation: Farmer. Education: BA Math and Physics from Augustana College, Paramedic Program at Creighton University. Volunteer experience: 40 years of active service on the Ponca Hills Volunteer Fire Department, Douglas County Health Center Foundation, Florence Futures, Trinity Lutheran Church.
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DISTRICT 5
MARY JANE TRUEMPER: I have many talents and abilities that will bring a fresh perspective and new ideas to the County Board and will benefit the people of Douglas County. I work extremely well with others and seek to understand all viewpoints. I’m experienced in healthcare, real estate, research & statistics, finance, budgeting and management. I have a passion and energy for helping others. I ask a lot of questions and seek innovative solutions. I value integrity and truthfulness in myself and others.
DISTRICT 5 MARC KRAFT: We have been working with JDAI, Juvenile Detention Alternatives, along on working to keep youths from reentering the system by increasing reading skills, education and getting their parents involved with PTA type actives. I subscribe to multiple magazines that I donate to the Youth Detention Center including: INC., Forbes, National Geographic, Better Homes and Gardens, Good Housekeeping. Our students seem to enjoy reading about famous artist, people and things that interest them. MARY JANE TRUEMPER: Legislation would be needed at the state level. Our goal should be to keep the juvenile status offender out of the juvenile court system for the sake of the juvenile and for the benefit of society. The first recourse should be to work with the family to address any problems. If the family is unable, unwilling or unfit to address the juvenile’s issues, then the next step should be a community-based diversion program. The courts should be the last recourse once all other options are exhausted.
DISTRICT 7 CLARE DUDA: We (the Douglas County Board) have already reduced it greatly. The JAC (Juvenile Assessment Center) better classifies the incoming offenders. We now offer non secure detention for many status offenders. Eventually, a juvenile courtroom at or near the Youth Center would also help.
WHAT ARE YOUR QUALIFICATIONS FOR THIS OFFICE?
DISTRICT 1 MIKE BOYLE: No response received.
DISTRICT 3 CHRIS RODGERS: Eleven year incumbent on the board of commissioners, four years as an officer for the National Association of Counties (NACo) (President July 2012 - July 2013), County repre-
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DISTRICT 7 CLARE DUDA: An in depth knowledge of Douglas County Government and the role of county government. A long record of community involvement. My 40 year service on the Ponca Hills Volunteer Fire Department gives me a unique insight into the emergency needs of Douglas County.
Bennington CITY COUNCIL WARD 1 CHRIS FOLTZ (R) Website: http://M.facebook.com/ElectChrisFoltz. Current public office, dates held: None. Past public office, dates held: None. Occupation: Senior Manager, Information Technology. Education: Omaha Roncalli High School, University of Nebraska at Omaha. Military: None. BRIAN E. JENSEN (R) No response received.
WARD 2 ZACHARY JOHNS (R) Occupation: General Manager and Franchisee of Runza in Bennington. Education: Archbishop Bergan Highschool in Fremont, class of 2005. Attended Metropolitan Community College. JEFF RYCHLY (R) Occupation: City of Omaha. Education: High School Graduate, Bennington Public Schools. Volunteer experience: 2016 Bennington Athletic League softball and ball coach.
WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE FACING YOUR CITY AND HOW DO YOU PLAN TO ADDRESS IT?
WARD 1 CHRIS FOLTZ: The biggest issue faced by the future mayor and council will be the need to balance future debt obligations against opportunities to improve the city. Past decisions, while great for
the city, will have to be paid for over the coming years. That cannot and should not mean, however, that future improvements should grind to a halt while that happens. For a city of our size to thrive, we need to continue to find a way to improve our infrastructure and provide opportunities for our residents. BRIAN E. JENSEN: No response received.
Occupation: General Manager. Education: BS in Political Science from University of Nebraska at Omaha . Military: None. Volunteer experience: 10 year Ralston Parade Volunteer Christ Community Church Jail Ministry. MAUREEN KONWINSKI (D) No response received.
WARD 2 ZACHARY JOHNS: Property Taxes are an issue that quickly comes to mind. Bennington is an area with high property taxes that keep going up. I believe we can offset the need for increasing property tax by stimulating and expanding our local economy, which in turn will increase the sales tax dollars collected by the city. I would like to work along side organizations like the Community Business Foundation and Bennington Chamber of Commerce to help accomplish this stimulation. JEFF RYCHLY: I believe the biggest challenge will be ensuring Bennington has the resources to support the growth it has experienced over the last number of years. I will take a close look at the budget and work to prioritize the needs of the city.
WHAT ARE YOUR QUALIFICATIONS FOR THIS OFFICE?
WARD 1 CHRIS FOLTZ: I have lived in Bennington for 7 years and both of my kids attend Bennington Elementary. For the past 19 years I have worked for a local bank in the fields of Finance and Information Technology. The skills I learned in those positions would be easily applied to city council work. Most of all, though, I see Bennington at a crossroads. How do we deal with the development occurring around us while retaining the great small town feel that we have? I’d love the opportunity to help decide that. BRIAN E. JENSEN: No response received.
WARD 2 ZACHARY JOHNS: I am a concerned citizen of Bennington who wants to serve my community. I have 10 years of business management experience which has taught me resourcefulness, and a lot about working cooperatively with others to achieve success. I also have personal and professional experience with balancing budgets. JEFF RYCHLY: I was raised in Bennington and graduated from Bennington High school in 1989. I have a long history with the community and the citizens of Bennington. I have worked for the City of Omaha for over 20 years and bring a wide variety of experience in street maintenance and parks & recreation. I understand the sense of community from living in Bennington and want to make sure the small town feeling is maintained.
Bennington MAYOR MATT JOHN (R) No response received.
Ralston CITY COUNCIL WARD 1
JOE PILUS (R) Website: http://Joe for city council Facebook.com. Current public office, dates held: None. Past public office, dates held: None.
WARD 2
KARINE MENTZER (R) Current public office, dates held: N/A. Past public office, dates held: N/A. Occupation: Administrator and Stay at Home Mom. Education: BS in Architecture. Military: N/A. Volunteer experience: Stephen Center, Angels Among Us, The Salvation Army, The Rose Theater Breakfast with Santa, Paws For Friendship, Black Tie and Tails, Ted E. Bear Hollow, MDA Lock Up, Sigma Kappa Sorority, Ballet of Omaha, OPERA NOW, Nebraska Humane Society, . BRYON UECKERT (R) No response received.
LEE FIDELINE (R) No response received.
WARD 6
WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE FACING YOUR CITY AND HOW DO YOU PLAN TO ADDRESS IT?
BEN PREIS (D) No response received. WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE FACING YOUR CITY AND HOW DO YOU PLAN TO ADDRESS IT? JOE PILUS: The biggest challenge for Ralston is dealing with the debt of the Arena. We need to find other ways than continually raising taxes. Too many yes people on the council no one asks any questions. MAUREEN KONWINSKI: No response received.
WARD 2 LEE FIDELINE: No response received.
WARD 6
BONNIE C. BEVINGTON: No response received. CINDY GROVE: No response received. KARINE MENTZER: The biggest challenge that I see is lack of communication and division between government and the communities. We consist of farmers, lake communities and people who live in town which seems to divide us on some issues. My goal is to find someone who can represent each area and communicate with them so they can share the proper information back to their neighborhoods. I’d like to establish a pattern where we can meet to discuss issues, upcoming events and information relating to Valley. BRYON UECKERT: No response received.
BEN PREIS: No response received.
WHAT ARE YOUR QUALIFICATIONS FOR THIS OFFICE?
WHAT ARE YOUR QUALIFICATIONS FOR THIS OFFICE?
BONNIE C. BEVINGTON: No response received.
JOE PILUS: I have worked with the Mayor for over a year while the arena was being constructed. There were several things which didn’t happen that were suppose to. I have lived in Ralston for aboutn14 years and understand the city and its needs.
CINDY GROVE: No response received.
MAUREEN KONWINSKI: No response received.
WARD 2
KARINE MENTZER: I believe that besides my education, lots of experience on different guilds and boards I am a hard worker. I am honest, committed, positive, organized and approachable. BRYON UECKERT: No response received.
Valley MAYOR
LEE FIDELINE: No response received.
WARD 6
CARROLL L. SMITH (D) Website: http://C. Current public office, dates held: Mayor City of Valley, Ne. Dec. 2013 - pres.. Past public office, dates held: City of Valley, City Councilman ,several times. Occupation: Douglas County, van driver. Education: High School and 1 year college. Military: USN 3 years active duty 1955-1958. Volunteer experience: Knights of Columbus, current trustree.
BEN PREIS: No response received.
Ralston MAYOR DONALD A. GROESSER (R) No response received.
DALE E. TENEYCK (R) Past public office, dates held: City Council 1998-2002. Occupation: Salvage And rework Specialist Valmont Industries and owner of Dales coatings. Education: Valley High Graduate and a year at Metropolitan Community College. Volunteer experience: Valley Lions President, Vice president, Valley JayCees Charter President, Nebraska Jaycees District director, blue Chip PM, Governmental involvement PM Nebraska JCI Senate President and Vice president Valley Community Center Foundation President.
Valley CITY COUNCIL BONNIE C. BEVINGTON (R) No response received. CINDY GROVE (R) No response received.
WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE FACING
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YOUR CITY AND HOW DO YOU PLAN TO ADDRESS IT? CARROLL L. SMITH: Streets that need repair or replacement. we are currently addressing these problems. The relining of our sewer to strengthen and to prevent infiltration,presently being planned.
Air Command Airborne Command Post (Looking Glass). Various overseas deployments. Volunteer experience: YMCA (President, Board of Directors, Sarpy YMCA), Open Door Mission (Volunteer), Latino Center of the Midlands (Volunteer), Offutt AFB Advisory Council (Volunteer).
DALE E. TENEYCK: Keep it growing economically and better the cities street and infrastructure. While lowering taxes to help everyone.
WHAT DO YOU FEEL SHOULD BE THE PROCESS FOR ESTABLISHING CURRICULUM IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN THE STATE?
DISTRICT 2
WHAT ARE YOUR QUALIFICATIONS FOR THIS OFFICE? CARROLL L. SMITH: I think that I understand the nuts and bolts of our entire city better than most. DALE E. TENEYCK: I have many years of having leadership rolls in different organizations, also have a coating, sandblasting business. With the years of leadership knowledge through the non profit organizations and business owner I feel I can step into the Mayor position without having any problems.
State Board OF EDUCATION DISTRICT 2 GLEN A. FLINT (R) Website: http://www.VoteGlenFlint.com. Current public office, dates held: Nebraska State Board of Education March 2014 to present. Occupation: Software Engineer. Education: BS Math and Computer Science UNL 1978, MBA UNO 1989. Volunteer experience: Board of Directors Heartland REACT, Committee Chairman Venturing Crew 26, Merit Badge adviser Boy Scout Troop 26, Omaha South High School Pushing Boundaries in Technology, Tutor Dyslexic Students at Voice Advocacy Center, Team Mates Mentor. LISA FRICKE (D) Website: http://lisafricke.com. Current public office, dates held: This is my first endeavor seeking an elected office, and I believe my 36 years of teaching in NE Public Schools gives me the experience needed to be an effective State Board Member. Past public office, dates held: NA. Occupation: Retired Teacher. Education: I graduated from Bellevue High School. I earned my Degree in Communications from WSC and have also earned five additional endorsements. I have taught English 6-12, Geography 7- 9, Speech 9-12, Drama 9-12, Reading 8, and Language Arts 8. Military: My father served in the Air Force for nearly 30 years. As part of a military family, I appreciate the dedication and sacrifice of our brave American soldiers. Volunteer experience: I’ve been a volunteer for the Red Cross, Salvation Army, a mentor for Coach Tom & Nancy Osborne’s Teammate Program, & I have done service projects through my membership in DKG Teacher Education Society and the ADK Altruistic Society.
DISTRICT 4 JOHN WITZEL (R) Website: http://www.johnwitzeleducation.com. Current public office, dates held: Nebraska State Board of Education, District 4, 2014 to current date. Past public office, dates held: Educational Service Unit #3, School Board Member, 2000 to 2014. Occupation: Publisher and Author, Wildcatter Publishing LLC. Education: B.S. Louisiana Tech U., M.A. Ball State U., B.S. Bellevue U.(Accounting), BTS Bellevue U.(Computer Information Systems), Spanish Language Institute, Cuernavaca, Mexico.(Certificate of Completion). Military: U.S. Air Force (retired) 1974 to 1996.,Rank Achieved: Lt. Colonel. Served at Offutt AFB as the Director of the Strategic
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GLEN A. FLINT: Local school boards and parents select appropriate curriculum, guided by state standards. The State Board and Department of Education should build a repository of best practices, on-line lectures, and digital resources. High quality courses whether developed commercially, by Nebraska educators, or the University of Nebraska High School should be made available to all of Nebraska’s teachers and students. http://highschool.nebraska. edu/-/media/UNHS/Files/PDF/Course-List.ashx?la=en LISA FRICKE: School districts should have a comprehensible and balanced curriculum that aligns with state standards. The curriculum plan needs to include “team time” to plan and develop a rigorous curriculum (what students need to know) that includes best practice instruction (how students learn) that engage students through developing critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, active learning, and communication skills. Curriculum is a “work in progress” that needs to be reviewed periodically.
DISTRICT 4 JOHN WITZEL: I firmly believe local school boards are accountable and responsible for determining courses and curriculum taught within their schools. The State Board provides the standards, the minimum requirements for K-12 educational instructional programs, with the local boards determining the detail of the instructional courses offered. In addition, the local boards decide educational resources utilized to include books, computer software, and lesson plans. State statute empowers local boards.
WHAT POLICY DO YOU FEEL THE STATE SHOULD ADOPT REGARDING TRANSGENDER STUDENTS? DISTRICT 2 GLEN A. FLINT: Gender is determined at birth. Let’s get these students the help they need, rather than a lifetime of regret. http:// www.sexchangeregret.com/ http://www.acpeds.org/the-collegespeaks/position-statements/gender-ideology-harms-children. The American College of Pediatricians urges educators and legislators to reject all policies that condition children to accept as normal a life of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex. Facts – not ideology – determine reality. LISA FRICKE: According to the Nebraska Constitution, Article VII-1 “The Legislature shall provide for free instruction in common schools of this state of all persons ages 5-21 years.” All students who enroll in our public schools should be taught in a safe, enriching, and welcoming environment.
DISTRICT 4 JOHN WITZEL: Currently, the State Board of Education does not have a policy regarding transgender students and I do not believe there is a current need for such a policy at the State level. However, locally elected school boards do have the authority to create and implement their own policies regarding transgender issues depending on the districts own particular needs and circumstances.
VOTING GUIDE
WHAT CHANGES, IF ANY, WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE IN STANDARDIZED TESTING IN SCHOOLS?
DISTRICT 2 GLEN A. FLINT: LB 930 allows students to take the SAT or ACT test instead of the 11th grade NeSA. These tests prepare students to take the next steps after high school into a 2 or 4 year college as well as an individualized study plan to fill gaps and avoid time consuming remediation in college. Elementary school students are already required to take a nationally normed test in addition to NeSA. Let’s eliminate the need for NeSA by mapping scores on those nationally normed tests to Nebraska State Standards. LISA FRICKE: Reasonable accountability must be a part of any public school. With the reauthorization of NCLB on December 10, 2015, now called ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) the state and local districts will be developing the assessments for our public schools using the guidelines outlined in ESSA. We need someone on the NE State School Board who sees the importance of reasonable accountability, not excessive testing that takes away from authentic teaching and learning.
DISTRICT 4 JOHN WITZEL: To improve education, our teachers, parents and administrators, it is imperative they know how well our students are doing in the classroom by use of standardized tests. 1. I will support current legislative and board efforts to change the 11th grade standardized test to a college entrance exam such as the ACT or SAT. 2. Ensure reliable and uninterrupted testing is afforded to ALL students taking standardized tests. The commercial data companies providing test services are held accountable.
Educational SERVICE UNIT EDUCATIONAL SERVICE UNIT #2 – DISTRICT 6 VERN GIBSON (R) No response received.
EDUCATIONAL SERVICE UNIT #3 - DISTRICT 2 BARB GRABOWSKI COLEMAN (R) No response received.
EDUCATIONAL SERVICE UNIT #3 – DISTRICT 4 MARY SCARBOROUGH (I) No response received.
EDUCATIONAL SERVICE UNIT #3 – DISTRICT 6 ALAN MOORE (R) No response received.
Metropolitan Community College BOARD OF GOVERNORS
DISTRICT 1 LINDA MCDERMITT (D) No response received.
DISTRICT 2 MICHAEL YOUNG (D) No response received.
DISTRICT 3 TIM DEMPSEY (D) Current public office, dates held: Board of Governors Metropolitan Community College 2012 - Current. Past public office, dates held: No Elective Offices. Occupation: Retired. Education: Omaha Central High-B. S. Criminal Justice UNO 1973-Master Public Administration UNO 1986. Military: None. Volunteer experience: Currently Member Nebraska Crime Commission, Recently Nebraska Juvenile Justice Coalition and Douglas County Sheriff’s Merit Commission.
DISTRICT 4 ROGER GARCIA (D) Website: http://www.garciamcc4.com. Current public office, dates held: Metro Community College, Board of Governors, August, 2013 to Present. Occupation: Executive Director. Education: Bachelor’s of Arts in Psychology & Latino/Latin American Studies University of Nebraska at Omaha Master’s in Public Administration Bellevue University Master’s in Theological Studies (predoctoral) Iliff University. Volunteer experience: Women’s Center for Advancement (WCA), Board Member Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Mentor inCOMMON, Board Member Omaha Jaycees, Member Family Violence Council, Previous President & Board Member Justice for Our Neighbors, Past Secretary & Board Member. CARL D. JENNINGS (D) Current public office, dates held: None. Past public office, dates held: Private Industry Council, 1995 - 1999. Occupation: President - CEO Peony Park, Inc.. Education: B.S. - University of the State of New York, Regents at Albany; B.S. - University of Nebraska at Omaha; Leadership and Management Education and Training - U. S. Navy; Emergency Medical Care - State of Nebraska license no. 9966.. Military: U. S. Navy 1974 - 1991. Volunteer experience: EMT-Pre-hospital Trauma Life Support; Knights of Columbus Grand Knight; Westside Alumni Board President; Sigma Nu Scholarship Foundation; Holy Name Fish Frys; Red Cross Blood Drives; Omaha Police Recruit Training CPR Instructor, Zoo Volunteer.
HOW SHOULD THE ROLE OF A COMMUNITY COLLEGE DIFFER FROM THAT OF A FOUR-YEAR COLLEGE?
DISTRICT 1
DISTRICT 4
LINDA MCDERMITT: No response received.
DISTRICT 2 MICHAEL YOUNG: No response received.
DISTRICT 3
ROGER GARCIA: I feel that in order to make our mission most effective, we do indeed need to ensure that as many credits as possible will transfer to as many partner universities as can be obtained in our regional area. I have worked with our administration to encourage and ensure that we have strong credit transfer partnerships with the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Bellevue University, and the College of Saint Mary, as some examples, in order to make sure that our students’ credits transfer.
TIM DEMPSEY: The Community College is multifaceted. Most four year institutions have traditional students in the 18-24 year old cohort group seeking four year degrees in liberal arts and so forth. The community college also helps that cohort group by providing a two year base which allows the student to transfer to the four years school, but in addition, offers many two year skilled programs that translate to saleable skills. Students range from high school age to senior citizens.
Learning Community
DISTRICT 4
DISTRICT 2
ROGER GARCIA: 1. We are an easy access educational institution with intentional lower costs and campuses spread across our four county area. 2. Our role is also to partner with local companies to address industry needs in an innovative & flexible manner. 3. To serve traditional post-high school students, but also heavily focus on being a great option for non-traditional students who are seeking a degree later in life or simply desire to pick up some skill sets to enhance their profession or talents.
KEITH BIGSBY (D) Current public office, dates held: None. Past public office, dates held: None. Occupation: Retired Principal of Omaha Central High School and McMillan Magnet Center. Education: Ed.D. Educational Administration, UNO; M.S. Educational Administration, UNO; M.S. Vocational Education, UNL; Teaching Certificate, UNL; B.S. Business Administration, UNL. Military: None. Volunteer experience: Omaha Public Schools Citizens Bond Oversight Committee member; Omaha Central High School Foundation Board member; Nebraska Loves Public Schools Board member; Hohensee Foundation Board member.
CARL D. JENNINGS: It shouldn’t differ. A community college provides a well-rounded education and encourages many students to continue their education after high school. It also fulfills a need for educational programs in the trades. The nation needs training in nearly all the trades in order to develop future talent. A good example is Metropolitan’s renowned Culinary School.
DO YOU FEEL PART OF METRO’S MISSION SHOULD BE TO ASSURE CREDITS EARNED AT METRO ARE TRANSFERABLE TO THE NEBRASKA UNIVERSITY SYSTEM AND TO OTHER FOUR YEAR COLLEGES? IF SO, HOW DO YOU INTEND TO MAKE SURE THIS IS THE CASE?
DISTRICT 1 LINDA MCDERMITT: No response received.
DISTRICT 2 MICHAEL YOUNG: No response received.
DISTRICT 3
TIM DEMPSEY: Yes, MCC classes and subsequent credits are transferable to not only the Nebraska system, but most other institutions. I do not think the process will change.
VOTING GUIDE
CARL D. JENNINGS: Yes, I do. I intend to work closely with university officials to resolve any differences and define what needs to be done to satisfy their criteria for transferable credits.
COORDINATING COUNCIL
R. JUSTICE BRAIMAH (D) Current public office, dates held: None. Past public office, dates held: none. Occupation: Mental health. Education: Masters of Science in Human Services. PhD in Psychology. Military: None. Volunteer experience: Clothing Drive for sthe homeless. 1 year of transitional living volunteer experience with individuals suffering from substance abuse. CAROL L. HAHN (D) Occupation: Executive Director, UCP of Nebraska. Education: BS in Early Childhood and Special Education, Southern Connecticut State College MS in Guidance and Counseling. Volunteer experience: Foster Care Review Board Planned Parenthood of the Heartland Board. Committee member charged with creating the new Early Childhood Center Honorary Chair of the Latino Center of the Midlands Dinner. CORNELIUS F. WILLIAMS (D) Current public office, dates held: none. Past public office, dates held: none. Occupation: College instructor. Education: Michigan State University, PhD in Physics, Texas A&M University, MS in Physics, Stanford University, BS in Physics, Omaha Central High School. Military: None. Volunteer experience: Nebraska Democratic Black Causus.
DISTRICT 4 ALLEN HAGER (R) Current public office, dates held: Learning Community, District 4 (2012-current). Occupation: Senior Administrator. Education: MBA, Tiffin University - Tiffin, OH BA, Louisiana State University - Baton Rouge, LA. Military: USAF Veteran. Volunteer experience:
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Fresh Hope Watch D.O.G.S.
DISTRICT 6 MIKE AVERY (R) No response received. SHERRI SHACKELFORD (D)
SHERRI SHACKELFORD: The Learning Community has evolved over the years since the original inception. The Learning Community has focused on early childhood education and parent participation as well as training educators with proven results. Controversial legislature, such as the common levy and open enrollment, have been discontinued and modified based on community feedback. Pilot programming throughout 9 of the 11 school districts have been supported as well as the Superintendents’ Early Childhood Plan.
JILL WOODWARD (R) Current public office, dates held: N/A. Past public office, dates held: N/A. Occupation: Entrepreneur. Education: Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Nebraska Wesleyan University. Military: N/A. Volunteer experience: Waters Edge United Methodist Church, Rotary International, Relay for Life, American Cancer Society, Red Cross Bloodmobile, Delta Theta Chi (promotes literacy), Destination Imagination Assistant Coach for Elkhorn Schools, Elkhorn High Band Booster.
JILL WOODWARD: The Learning Community was founded with the objective of raising student achievement throughout all of the two county area. While it has met that goal in some areas, I feel that there is still room for improvement. In addition, I believe that we owe our fellow citizens an obligation to treat every dollar as a sacred trust. We must work to ensure that each dollar is best spent in the pursuit of a quality education to prepare children for success in life.
DO YOU THINK THE LEARNING COMMUNITY IS WORKING AS INTENDED? WHY OR WHY NOT?
IF ELECTED, WHAT TWO THINGS DO YOU HOPE TO HAVE ACCOMPLISHED BY THE END OF YOUR TERM?
DISTRICT 2
DISTRICT 2
KEITH BIGSBY: The Learning Community’s two-cent levy authority supports early childhood program, learning community centers, family and parent education and support programs, teacher preparation and instructional coaching programs. These initiatives all represent important pieces of a potential solution to close the academic gap and the opportunity gap for children in poverty and/or from non-English speaking backgrounds in the Douglas and Sarpy counties. I am disappointed the LC’s outreach is not greater.
KEITH BIGSBY: I would like to see the following accomplished by the end of my term: 1. Transform the Learning Community statute and its features into a fully community-embraced educational entity that works to help young people achieve their future goals and ambitions. 2. Close both the achievement gap and opportunity gap and their subsequent impacts on young people who come from low socio-economic households and/or are English language learners and/or are minority.
R. JUSTICE BRAIMAH: The intent of the Learning Community has evolved. Today the learning community should continue to work closely with the 11 school districts and community partners to demonstrate, share and implement effective models to improve early children education and educational outcomes for families in poverty. Early childhood programs provide a strong foundation for children and has been proven to close the achievement gap. We must continue to create new avenues that will ensure a robust programming. CAROL L. HAHN: I believe that the Learning Community is beginning to work as it was intended. Although it has been in existence for only 6 years, it has a clear mission of improving the educational opportunities of children in poverty and is striving through its pilot programs to achieve that goal. I feel that stronger community education and information about what the Learning Community is doing will enhance enthusiasm and further community engagement.
R. JUSTICE BRAIMAH: I will focus my energy on the following:(1) Student Achievement/Closing the Achievement Gap. We can accomplish this by focusing on low-cost, high quality early childhood programming. (2) Fiscally Responsible.Fiscal Responsibility is not about lowering taxes or spending less; it is maximizing the output from our existing resources. We have to create a stronger culture of leadership, integrity, results, accountability, transparency, and professional development throughout local education system. CAROL L. HAHN: I would like to see an increase in pilot programs geared to early childhood education, and I would like to see an increase in the scope of the pilot programs implementation with greater community education as to the breath of the Learning Community’s projects. CORNELIUS F. WILLIAMS: First I would like to make sure the program reaches everyone in the community whom they should reach. Secondly I would like to make our Learning Community an example for the Nation of a program that works.
CORNELIUS F. WILLIAMS: No response received.
DISTRICT 4 ALLEN HAGER: Has the original intent of the Learning Community worked? I would say that it did not and that is why the Nebraska Legislature changed the intent of the Learning Community in 2013 with Legislative Bill 585 that has changed the focus of the body to Early Childhood Education for children in poverty. This is showing signs of promise and with the support of the superintendents and school boards. The legislature will hopefully narrow the focus with reform that will give the board true purpose.
DISTRICT 6
OCTOBER 2016
ALLEN HAGER: I hope to continue the culture of collaboration between the school districts and the Learning Community. I hope to improve the communication between those organizations. To see that the Learning Community will assist in continuing the conversation for Early Childhood Education for children in poverty across the entire state. Poverty comes in all kinds of different styles, shapes, sizes and types across the state. It is not something only related to Douglas and Sarpy County.
DISTRICT 6 MIKE AVERY: No response received.
MIKE AVERY: No response received.
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DISTRICT 4
SHERRI SHACKELFORD: The continued success of pilot programs (including the Superintendents’ Early Child Plan)
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VOTING GUIDE
through The Learning Community Centers of North and South Omaha. Both are poised to become regional and national models from which educators can learn and adapt. Changing the negative perception of the learning community with the continued support of programs being developed at the North and South Omaha Early Childhood Education Centers. JILL WOODWARD: One of my primary goals will be to help streamline the budget and eliminate waste. We have a number of challenges ahead and we owe it to our children to always keep their best interests in the forefront. Part of that means that we must work to make sure that dollars allocated are spent on the actual students. Furthermore, we must work to ensure that every child in the community feels empowered by their education so that they might enjoy a brighter future in tomorrow’s world.
Arlington
BOARD OF EDUCATION
NATHAN KINNAMAN (NP) Current public office, dates held: NA. Past public office, dates held: NA. Occupation: Vice President - Insurance. Volunteer experience: Rotary Club - Fremont; Salvation Army Rookie Basketball Coach; Arlington Athletic Booster Club; IIAN Legislative Ambassador. MATT O’DANIEL (R) No response received. J. P. RHEA (R) Website: http://www.dehyalfalfamills.com. Current public office, dates held: none. Past public office, dates held: none. Occupation: CFO - Rhea Cattle Co. Education: BS Agribusiness UNL 2000 MBA Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management 2006. Military: none. Volunteer experience: St. Paul’s Lutheran Church Chair Gala committee, Finance team Youth basketball coach for YMCA teams AEF board member. JESSICA SCHEER (R) No response received. SHANON WILLMOTT (D) No response received. WHO DO YOU FEEL SHOULD SET THE CURRICULUM IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS? NATHAN KINNAMAN: I feel that the overall standards for the curriculum should be set by the State Dept of Education so that all schools have the same baseline. From there, the local School Board can set their curriculum with the input and guidance of the school’s teachers and staff. MATT O’DANIEL: No response received. J. P. RHEA: I personally am not a fan of the federal government’s growing influence in our schools. I am an advocate for states rights and feel that Nebraska can best set standards for the children of our state. At a local level, teachers should lead the discussion. Administrators should aggregate this information and make recommendations to the School Board. Ultimately, locally elected officials should have final say, but strongly consider recommendations of the teachers and administration. JESSICA SCHEER: No response received.
SHANON WILLMOTT: No response received.
have over our schools, the better!
HOW CAN A SCHOOL BOARD ASSURE EVERY STUDENT HAS EQUAL ACCESS TO ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY?
HOW CAN A SCHOOL BOARD ASSURE EVERY STUDENT HAS EQUAL ACCESS TO ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY?
NATHAN KINNAMAN: I feel that student technology should be at the forefront of the Board’s discussions within the budget. Technology is prevalent in today’s society and having our students equiped properly will help them transition into life after high school and college. The School Board should have a committee that reviews the options available and to see how well those options could be implemented.
BOB BRUHN: No response received.
MATT O’DANIEL: No response received. J. P. RHEA: On one hand it is difficult to ensure equal access to technology. On the other, technology has never been more affordable to all. The school certainly has a responsibility to provide as much technology as possible. That said, funding technology can be a bottomless pit that taxpayer dollars can never fulfill. The school should provide as much technology as possible and work with the community to raise funds to supplement resources, as well as pursuing local, state and federal funding to assist. JESSICA SCHEER: No response received. SHANON WILLMOTT: No response received.
Bennington BOARD OF EDUCATION
BOB BRUHN (R) Current public office, dates held: Douglas County Planning Commission, appointed in 2003. Occupation: Farmer. Education: Graduate of Elkhorn High School Attended Creighton University for one year and the University of Nebraska for one year. Volunteer experience: Sunshine Kids, Habitat for Humanity, Special Olympics, Open Door Mission. KARA NEUVERTH (R) No response received. BRAD RENTER (D) No response received. DARREN SIEKMAN (R) Current public office, dates held: Bennington Board of Education, 2002-Present. Occupation: Business Development Director, Valmont Irrigation. Education: B.S. University of Nebraska- Lincoln. Volunteer experience: Ak-Sar-Ben River City Round Up Stock Show and Rodeo Board of Directors, YMCA Basketball and Flag Football Coach, Maplewood Preschool Board.
WHO DO YOU FEEL SHOULD SET THE CURRICULUM IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS? BOB BRUHN: Principals, teachers and the school board. KARA NEUVERTH: No response received. BRAD RENTER: No response received. DARREN SIEKMAN: Our local teachers, parents, administrators and board members have the most interaction with our kids. We should guide what is best for Bennington. While I understand the need for framework and consistency, the more local control we can
KARA NEUVERTH: No response received. BRAD RENTER: No response received. DARREN SIEKMAN: An integrated program of school issued one-to-one devices, the ability to bring your own device to school and a fast, reliable network backbone is a good start. There is no one single solution which works for everyone, everywhere. In Bennington we have all three of these initiatives in progress, as well as others. Technology is not slowing down, and we are constantly striving to bring more technology to every student.
Elkhorn
BOARD OF EDUCATION
AARON A. CLARK (R) Website: http://facebook.com/aaronclark4eps. Current public office, dates held: Elkhorn Board of Education No. 10 (2008 - Present). Occupation: Attorney, McGrath North PC LLO. Education: Creighton University School of Law (J.D. 1993); University of Nebraska at Omaha (B.S. Political Science 1990). Volunteer experience: Elkhorn Public Schools Foundation, Board Member (2010 - Present); Elkhorn Kids Campus (2010 - Present); Christ Community and Bridge Churches - Community Outreach Projects; Omaha Food Bank; Habitat for Humanity . JOHN T. MARASCO (R) No response received. RON RIGGLE (R) No response received. RENEE VOKT (R) Occupation: Marketing Professional/ Stay-at-home Mom. Education: BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION - IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY. Volunteer experience: Manchester PTO Vice-President, Manchester PTO, President Angels Among Us Guild, MECC Patient Family Advisory Council, St. Patrick’s Catholic Church religious formation teacher.
WHO DO YOU FEEL SHOULD SET THE CURRICULUM IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS? AARON A. CLARK: The school curriculum should be established by District administrators and teachers and reviewed and approved by the Board of Education. In our District, we have a highly qualified administrative team assigned with the task of reviewing and updating our curriculum. Significant changes to the curriculum are presented to the Curriculum Committee (consisting of three Board members) and then presented to the full Board for approval. This process has worked well in our District. JOHN T. MARASCO: No response received. RON RIGGLE: No response received. RENEE VOKT: Each school district should take the lead in developing the curriculum that works for their students and staff. State and national guidelines should be taken into consideration during
VOTING GUIDE
the process but ultimately the districts know what works best for their students.
HOW CAN A SCHOOL BOARD ASSURE EVERY STUDENT HAS EQUAL ACCESS TO ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY? AARON A. CLARK: All students in our District have full access to technology within our schools including computers, smart boards, laptops, portable devices and tablets as well as the latest educational software. Because technology is always changing, we thoroughly research new hardware and software options before making a significant financial commitment. We are currently looking at Chromebooks and tablets as a “take home” option for students. JOHN T. MARASCO: No response received. RON RIGGLE: No response received. RENEE VOKT: First off, the school board needs to assess which technology is available for students and what level of access is both needed and available on a grade by grade level. What works for the high school level doesn’t necessarily pertain to the elementary students. Secondly, is this technology safe? Can we monitor each and every student’s access to ensure their safety? Third, are we using technology for technology’s sake or does it truly improve each student’s education? Lastly, how can we fund?
Fremont
BOARD OF EDUCATION
TODD HANSEN (R) No response received. JON C. LUDVIGSEN (R) Website: http://Ludvigsenmortuary.com. Current public office, dates held: Fremont Public Schools Board of Education. Past public office, dates held: None. Occupation: Funeral Director. Education: Midland Lutheran College Worsham College of Mortuary Science Fremont High School. Military: United States Marine Corps 1988-1992. TERRY SORENSEN (R) No response received.
WHAT DO YOU FEEL SHOULD BE THE PROCESS FOR ESTABLISHING CURRICULUM IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN THE STATE? TODD HANSEN: No response received. JON C. LUDVIGSEN: There is much to be made about the Federal Government and the ‘No Child Left Behind’ over reaching into the local schools. I believe that the Nebraska Department of Education with input from local schools are in the best position do decide what is right, while still being held accountable to a national standard. TERRY SORENSEN: No response received.
IF ELECTED, WHAT WILL BE YOUR TOP TWO PRIORITIES WHILE IN OFFICE? TODD HANSEN: No response received. JON C. LUDVIGSEN: One - continue with adapting our board
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goals, specifically trying to find ways to increase our graduation rate. Two - Work with the administration making sure the budget is in a good place with as much of the money going to the students as possible. TERRY SORENSEN: No response received.
Gretna
Website: http://AmandaforMillard.com. Past public office, dates held: Nebraska State Senator, January 2007-January 2015.. Occupation: Community Impact & Strategic Initiatives Director at the Nebraska Children’s Home Society. Education: Bachelor’s degrees in Political Science and Broadcasting from the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Volunteer experience: Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA). AMBER DEE PARKER (R) Volunteer experience: Volunteered being a DARE ( Drug Abuse Resistance Education)Speaker and helping a Parental Rights group in advocating for Parental Rights.
BOARD OF EDUCATION
RICK HOLLENDIECK (R) No response received. KYLE JANSSEN (NP) No response received. DAWN M. STOCK (D) No response received. BRINTON J. STROHMYER (NP) Occupation: Instructor, Iowa Western Community College. Education: Political Science & Economics, University of Nebraska - Kearney Master of Business of Administration, Capella University Doctorate in Education, Capella University (anticipated 2017). Volunteer experience: Phi Theta Kappa Advisor OSAA Baseball Coach YMCA Basketball Coach TeamMates Volunteer Winners Circle Volunteer Junior Achievement Volunteer R.I.S.E. Mentor.
WHO DO YOU FEEL SHOULD SET THE CURRICULUM IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS? RICK HOLLENDIECK: No response received. KYLE JANSSEN: No response received. DAWN M. STOCK: No response received. BRINTON J. STROHMYER: Administration and faculty should be able to assess the needs of the students they serve and work together to improve the necessary skills needed for academic success.
HOW CAN A SCHOOL BOARD ASSURE EVERY STUDENT HAS EQUAL ACCESS TO ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY? RICK HOLLENDIECK: No response received. KYLE JANSSEN: No response received. DAWN M. STOCK: No response received. BRINTON J. STROHMYER: The school board should promote equal access to advanced technology for all students by ensuring the district has placed value and importance in technology for education. Each student deserves the right to access and learn from the technology provided by the district.
Millard
BOARD OF EDUCATION
MIKE PATE (R) Current public office, dates held: Millard Board of Education 1997-Current, Learning Community Coordinating Council 2012-Current. Occupation: Bank President & CEO. Education: Attended University of Nebraska, Graduate of Burke High School, Graduate School of Banking - University of Colorado, Commercial Lending School - University of Oklahoma. Military: NA. Volunteer experience: St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church, Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce, Millard Public Schools Foundation Board, Chairman - Nebraska Bankers Association Board of Directors. LINDA POOLE (R) Current public office, dates held: Millard Board of Education January 1997-present, Director on the Nebraska School Boards Assocation for 17 years, Executive committee member of the National Federation of Urban and Suburban School. Past public office, dates held: Director on the National School Boards Association. Occupation: Third grade teacher at Prairie Queen Elementary in the Papillion LaVista Community schools. Education: Elementary Education degree from UNO, Masters in Curriculum and Instruction from Doane College, K-3 Math specialist degree from UNL, currenlty working on an Educational Leadership degree from Doane.
WHO DO YOU FEEL SHOULD SET THE CURRICULUM IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS? TERRY DALE: No response received. AMANDA MCGILL JOHNSON: Curriculum should be set at the local level and be a collaborative process. Input should be collected from administrators, teachers, parents and others community members with relevant expertise in order to craft the best curriculum possible.
LINDA POOLE: I believe in local control. Decisions regarding curriculum should be left to local school board members who are elected by their community to represent them.
HOW CAN A SCHOOL BOARD ASSURE EVERY STUDENT HAS EQUAL ACCESS TO ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY? TERRY DALE: No response received.
AMANDA MCGILL JOHNSON (D)
AMANDA MCGILL JOHNSON: Millard is pursuing a one-to-one technology program that will help ensure every student has access
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AMBER DEE PARKER: Each school district has a different budget. I believe the school board should help in their districts needs with a focus on what will further each students education. MIKE PATE: Technology is a moving target. Millard has recently introduced iPad’s into the elementary schools and we are making every attempt to migrate to a one on one initiative whereby EVERY student would have their own digital device. We are living in a digital world, and kids today are growing up with, and embraced these digital tools. We will continue to pursue this initiative, and make sure that whatever technology we use, will be used to drive student learning and improve academic achievement. LINDA POOLE: A good public education is the best opportunity a child from a struggling family has for equality, and Millard provides not only a good education, but a world-class education. The Board’s support of iPads in all elementary classrooms was our first step. The next step is one-to-one laptops for all high school students. Our goal is to give students 24/7 access to their work where ever they may be. This initiative is cost neutral as we replace older technology and textbooks with laptops.
Omaha Public Schools BOARD OF EDUCATION
SUBDISTRICT 1 RICKY SMITH (D) Website: http://www.facebook.com/rickysmithleadership. Occupation: UNO Admissions Counselor Diversity & Community Outreach. Education: Midland Univ BS Sociology Concentration Counseling Creighton Univ Community Counseling In- Progress Bellevue Univ. MS Leadership & Coaching In-Progress UNO Certification Youth Service Worker College of Public Affairs UNO Certification Career Advis. Volunteer experience: Mentor, Boys & Girls Club, Heartland Hope Ministries,Mason Omaha Lodge #9 Theta Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. 360 Empowerment Network, TRIO Program, Nebraska Warrior Youth Assoc. Inclusive Communities, Center for Holistic Development, Urban League of Neb.
YOLANDA R. WILLIAMS (D) Website:www.facebook.com/YWilliamsOPS/?ref=bookmarks. AMBER DEE PARKER: I believe it should be a decision for Current public office, dates held: OPS Board of Education Sub 1 each school. (6/2013-current);Nebraska Association of School Boards Region 3 (6/2013- current); Learning Community Council Sub 2 (1/2015 MIKE PATE: The educational professionals who are trained and -current). Past public office, dates held: Douglas County Board have the professional experience should develop the curriculum. of Health (6/2013 - 12/2014). Occupation: Non Profit. EducaBoard members should ensure that the curriculum is aligned with tion: Interior Design, AAS; Arts Management, BA; MInors: Art assessments. I also think that it is important for school districts to history, studio arts. Military: N/A. Volunteer experience: Curperform independent curriculum audits and use of the results from rent: Mentor for Partnership 4 Kids Past: Education Chair for district-designed or adopted assessments to adjust, improve, or terOmaha NAACP, Kellom Elementary PTO President, Superinminate ineffective practices of programs. tendent Advisory Committee.
TERRY DALE (R) No response received.
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to the technology they need to be successful. I wholeheartedly support this effort.
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SUBDISTRICT 3 ALEX P. GATES (D) Website:http://GatesForOPS.com. Occupation: Technology consultant / web developer. Education: Le Mars Community High School (Le Mars, IA) University of Northern Iowa - B.A. General Studies / Liberal Arts (Cedar Falls, IA). Volunteer experience: -Edison Elementary PTA V.P. & President 2012-2016 -Wilson Focus PTO V.P. 2014-present -Enrichment teacher (Intro to Com-
puter Programming) Wilson Focus 2015-present -OPS Citizen Advisory Committee 2014-2016 -Iowa Business Horizons Board 2014-present. BEN G. PERLMAN (D) Website: http://www.facebook.com/BenPerlmanforOPS. Current public office, dates held: none. Past public office, dates held: none. Occupation: Senior Deputy Sarpy County Attorney. Education: Bachelor’s degree, Creighton University; law degree, Creighton University. Military: none. Volunteer experience: Memorial Little League coach; Bellevue West mock trial team coach; Dundee PTO & Central High School PTSA-PEP volunteer.
SUBDISTRICT 5
LOU ANN GODING (R) No response received.
SUBDISTRICT 7 CAROL KREJCI (D) Website: http://www.facebook.com/krejciOPSschoolboard/. Current public office, dates held: None. Past public office, dates held: None. Occupation: retired teacher. Education: B. A. in Educ. Kearney State College 1971 M.A. in political science Univ of Wisconsin 1983. Military: NA. Volunteer experience: St. Thomas More Church lector & EMHE Leader in Omaha Education Association and Nebraska State Education Association Officer in Polish Women’s Alliance of America, St. Theresa’s Lodge Board of OEA Foundation Volunteer on assorted political campaigns.
SUBDISTRICT 3
SUBDISTRICT 3
ALEX P. GATES: I believe in a truly equal partnership between teachers and administrators for curriculum development that meets the standards set by state and local school boards. Teachers have the experience and practical skills, while administrators have the understanding of state regulations and federal guidelines. Both perspectives are necessary. Feedback from parents should also be regularly solicited. A committee selection process based on respect, fairness, and transparency is also very important.
ALEX P. GATES: We need to begin by electing school board members who understand technology. As a technology consultant, I am uniquely qualified and will advocate for equal access in all OPS schools. Schools need reliable internet connections with enough bandwidth to support every device simultaneously. With proper training and teacher support, 1:1 and bring-your-own-device policies can also be effective. Free and open-source alternatives have widespread adoption and can be an effective way to increase access.
BEN G. PERLMAN: Local school boards should adopt the curriculum for their public schools. A strong curriculum development team, led by teachers and principals, should be responsible for the creation and revision of curriculum. It’s also important to allow parents to give feedback on curriculum. Having a publicly elected school board ensures that public tax dollars are used only for curriculum that’s appropriate for public schools, and I therefore oppose the Common Core standards, charter schools, and vouchers.
BEN G. PERLMAN: It is critically important for every student have access to advanced technology. Our school board should work to ensure that funding within Omaha Public Schools is fair and equitable, so that all students have access to technology that is up to date and relevant to classroom learning. Technology, however, is no panacea. It cannot replace well-trained, experienced, hard working teachers. I would also encourage the expansion and availability of computer science classes within Omaha Public Schools.
SUBDISTRICT 5
SUBDISTRICT 5
LOU ANN GODING: No response received.
SUBDISTRICT 7
SUBDISTRICT 7
CAROL KREJCI: The teachers and administrators who are the real experts, should set the curriculum with meaningful participation and input from parents and students. Naturally, the school board should oversee this process, but the bulk of the work should be done by the people with the real expertise. Just because someone has gone to school, does not make them an expert in education.
CAROL KREJCI: This is largely a budgetary issue. The school board cannot control a student’s opportunities with technology in the home, but they can promote equal access in all schools. Also, teachers can be trained to promote technology skills within their individual classrooms. Students must also be taught where and how to access technology with minimal or no cost in their community, and with friends and family.
AMANDA RYAN (D) Website: http://ryanforops.com. Current public office, dates held: NA. Past public office, dates held: NA. Occupation: Administrative Assistant - Institute for Holocaust Education. Education: Minden High School, University of Nebraska at Omaha - BA, University of Nebraska at Omaha - MA (In progress). Military: NA. Volunteer experience: Project Interfaith, University of Nebraska at Omaha (Religious Studies Department, Public Administration Department), UNO College Democrats, Religious Studies Student Association.
AMANDA RYAN: The OPS school board, administration, and teachers should have a central role in setting curriculum. We must listen to all of the voices of the individuals that have a stake in what our students are learning. As a school board member, it is essential that we listen to the parents, students and teachers that we are representing. Ensuring that we have up-to-date, culturally responsive curricula that sets our students up for success is fundamental for our students and community.
SUBDISTRICT 9
SUBDISTRICT 9 VINNY PALERMO: No response received.
VINNY PALERMO (D) No response received.
HOW CAN A SCHOOL BOARD ASSURE EVERY STUDENT WHO DO YOU FEEL SHOULD SET THE CURRICU- HAS EQUAL ACCESS TO ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY? LUM IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS?
SUBDISTRICT 1 RICKY SMITH: Curriculum Specialist together with Department heads who strategically provide curriculum that is comprehensive, challenging, & evidence based in order to insure our students are getting a quality education. Specialist should work in collaboration with educators and pilot the curriculum & reevaluate with Assistant Superintendent to provide self assurances during the process so appropriate data & assessments can be collected or queried as necessary to gage strengths & improvement opportunities YOLANDA R. WILLIAMS: I believe that setting curriculum should be set by a collaboration of input from all stakeholders CIA (curriculum, instruction and assessment) department, teachers, parents, students and administration with a final recommendation to the board of education for approval by the CIA department. Making this a standard best practice is the most effective way to make sure that there is transparency and accountability to all stakeholders for the betterment of our student’s achievement.
LOU ANN GODING: No response received.
SUBDISTRICT 1
RICKY SMITH: By continuing to support efforts in place to improve student to computer ratios(3:1) throughout the district. Upgrades have been implemented to improve the access to technology this includes the purchase of necessary hardware & upgrades to software. As a board we must stay aligned with our strategic plan & continue to move toward technological upgrades that will have a positive impact on not just student achievement but help educators provide top learning environments for our students. YOLANDA R. WILLIAMS: Technology is an area that I advocate and look for areas of growth and advancement to support student learning and staff development/support. As buildings are updated with proper technological infrastructure and access, building budgets are reflective of devices that are getting into student’s hands during the school day. The school board can assure equal access by setting policy supporting technology, staying informed on trends and strategy through committee work to ensure cutting edge access.
VOTING GUIDE
AMANDA RYAN: Technology plays a vital role in most people’s everyday lives; however, there are still students and families that do not have access to advanced technology. I would want to discuss how we can ensure equal access for all of our students with the current Information Management Services employees to discuss the best ways to ensure we get technology to all of our students within our budget. For example, discussing grant funding for our free and reduced lunch students for internet access at home.
SUBDISTRICT 9 VINNY PALERMO: No response received.
Ralston
BOARD OF EDUCATION
HEATHER JOHNSON (NP) No response received. MIKE OVERKAMP (R) Current public office, dates held: Ralston Board of Education, Appointee to fill vacancy until 2016 general election, July 2016 to present. Past public office, dates held: None. Occupation: Senior Test Engineer/Product Owner. Education: BSBA, University of Nebraska at Omaha, 1990; Certificate of Mainframe Programming, Creighton Institute of Technology, 1998.. Military: Active duty United States Air Force 1991-1995 as Budget Officer. Volunteer experience: Ralston Area Baseball Association, coach, 1995 - 2014. Ralston Ironman Wrestling, assistant coach, 2002 - 2009. Community Bible Church, Awana leader, 1995 to present. RHS parent activities volunteer, 2004 to present.
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LINDA J. RICHARDS (R) No response received. JEFF ZDAN (R) Website: http://www.jeffzdan.com. Current public office, dates held: Ralston Public Schools Board of Education, February 2015 to Present. Occupation: Vice President - Network Systems Engineer. Education: BS and MS of Management of Information Systems from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Volunteer experience: Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Midlands, Omaha Metro YMCA, Ralston Public Schools BOKS Program, Goodwill Industries Technology Mentor, UNO MISSO Vice President, Carter Lake Public Library.
WHO DO YOU FEEL SHOULD SET THE CURRICULUM IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS? HEATHER JOHNSON: No response received. MIKE OVERKAMP: Curriculum in public schools should ultimately be determined locally, but influenced by standards determined regionally or nationally with the end goal to ensure that all children can learn in a culturally relevant environment. The educators in the district understand the needs of the students within the district due to proximity and engagement, but need to understand assessments and techniques drawn from outside the district to ensure that the education we are providing serves our students. LINDA J. RICHARDS: No response received. JEFF ZDAN: The Superintendent of Schools, hired by the Board of Education, works with educated professionals in director positions to establish the curriculum and educational standards based on current state and federal laws. Input from parents, the community, and board members should always be considered when drafting the curriculum and we should all be mindful of social and educational movements and how they might affect our children and families.
HOW CAN A SCHOOL BOARD ASSURE EVERY STUDENT HAS EQUAL ACCESS TO ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY? HEATHER JOHNSON: No response received. MIKE OVERKAMP: Investment in relevant technology is a cornerstone of developing whole students. Along with focus on Achievement and Character components, Technology is a major focus of the Ralston School District at all levels. The school board provides budgetary guidance to ensure that this focus on technology is achieved. In addition, active involvement in technology steering committees by board members with technology background are a way to provide oversight to long range technology plans.
Metropolitan Utilities DISTRICT BOARD
JACK FROST (R) Current public office, dates held: Metropolitan Utilities District 1986 to 2016. Past public office, dates held: none. Occupation: RETIRED. Education: BA in Economics {1954) Omaha University. Military: Air Force Pilot. Volunteer experience: ambulance driver Tangier Shrine. KRYSTAL GABEL (NP) Website: http://www.facebook.com/VoteKrystal. Occupation: Technical writer. Education: BA in Writing from Briar Cliff University, Sioux City IA, 2005. Volunteer experience: Co-chair, volunteer coordinator, and petitioner for Legal Marijuana Now (a regional political party) and the newest Marijuana Legalization Initiative for the Nebraska 2018 ballot. MIKE MCGOWAN (R) Past public office, dates held: MUD Board Member - 2010-2012 MUD Board Chair - 2012. Occupation: Retired. Education: BS in Mathematics 1970 from Creighton University, Master in Business (MBA) 1980 from Creighton University. Military: 8 years Army Reserves - 1st Lt. Volunteer experience: Red Cross Board College World Series Board. TOM WURTZ (D) Website: http://Tom Wurtz for MUD. Current public office, dates held: None. Past public office, dates held: None. Occupation: Retired President MUD. Education: B.A. UNL 1971 Juris Doctorate UNL 1974. Volunteer experience: Knights of Columbus St. Wenceslaus Church, Challenger Alumni Softball (coach), President’s Advisory Council, UNL, Catholic Charities Board of Directors, Urban League Board of Directors, Governor’s Water Policy Council, State Energy Policy Board.
THE WATER QUALITY ISSUES IN FLINT, MICHIGAN AND OTHER LOCATIONS HAVE BEEN IN THE NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT RECENTLY. HOW WILL YOU ASSURE THE RATEPAYERS THAT MUD MAINTAINS THE HIGH STANDARDS IN WATER QUALITY? JACK FROST: The water is treated to be stable and non corrosive. To see the annual water quality report, visit the website at mudomha.com.
LINDA J. RICHARDS: No response received.
KRYSTAL GABEL: Homeowners are liable for their private service lines. To ensure quality water, residential water pipes and fixtures made of lead must be replaced (partial replacement can increase lead exposure). I propose MUD & the state assist in fully replacing these private lines. Other states are already in action: In 2015 MA gave 0% interest loans to 45 communities solely for full private water line replacements, while WA implemented neighborhood replacement plans to reduce individual homeowner costs.
JEFF ZDAN: A Board of Education is tasked with approving the budget and expenditures related to technology acquisition within a School District. From here, School District administrators are responsible for executing a well-defined technology adoption, deployment, replacement life-cycle, and management plan to not only make sure “advanced technology” is provided, but it is used properly to maximize the educational benefit to all students.
MIKE MCGOWAN: MUD currently provides excellent water quality and meets or exceeds all regulated standards. When elected, I would actively coordinate regularly with management to ensure MUD continues its water tests and maintains its quality water service. I consider water a very precious resource and would take active steps to ensure MUD develops and executes a comprehensive strategy to assure water availability and supplies well into the future. TOM WURTZ: The MUD Board needs to retain competent managers, who have an understanding of the complex regulatory issues involved in the delivery of water to the public, in compliance with EPA standards. The Board also needs to remain engaged in under-
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VOTING GUIDE
standing the complexity of these issues. As a pratical matter, the district’s present water treatment process is sufficient in preventing a disaster similar to Flint, MI. The Board also must remain vigilant if water treatment methods change.
HOW WILL YOU ASSURE THE PUBLIC IS INVOLVED IN THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS AT MUD? JACK FROST: Our customer owners may attend monthly board meetings and documents are posted on our website for review. KRYSTAL GABEL: MUD’s monthly bill is merely a push of info that does little to capture serious public input about the board’s decisions. It’s even unclear what MUD issues are in the public’s domain. Research says that public involvement is about two-way communication. While labor intensive, MUD must implement discussion forums at public events to give ratepayers the chance to ask questions and build a knowledge base. Public outreach raises awareness as well as encourages public opinion and solutions! MIKE MCGOWAN: I believe in total transparency. I would have open Board discussions and encourage public comments. I would also make myself available to meet with the public (public forums etc) and fully dicuss the issues and my position on these issues. Also, when I was on the Board (2010-2012), I was an active advocate of holding some of the MUD meetings in the evening and at off-site locations to make it easier for public attendance and participation. I will ensure such offsite meetings are scheduled. TOM WURTZ: I would advocate broadcasting all MUD Board meetings on the local public access channel. We also need to make monthly MUD Board meetings more user friendly to the public by allowing the general public to sit in the first two rows of the Board room. Presently, this space is occupied by management staff and the public feels excluded. I would require that all MUD committee meetings be noticed to the public and that all meetings be held at the downtown headquarters.
Omaha Public Power DISTRICT BOARD
CRAIG MOODY (D) Website: http://craigmoody.org. Current public office, dates held: None. Past public office, dates held: None. Occupation: Small Business Owner (Consulting). Education: Masters in Business Administration, August 2000 University of South Dakota, Bachelor of Science, Business Administration - Finance, May 1999 University of South Dakota . Military: None. Volunteer experience: Metro’s BRT Stakeholder Committee Chair, Gretchen Swanson Center for Nutrition Board, Leadership Omaha, Univ. of Nebraska President’s Advisory Council, Omaha Business Ethics Alliance Board of Trustees, Green Omaha Coalition Board, Omaha Chamber Board. TOM MULLIGAN (R) Website: http://mulligan4oppd.com. Past public office, dates held: President/member - Omaha City Council 2010-2013, Member - Nebr Transit and Rail Advisory Council - 2004 – 2006, Trustee - Douglas County SID #236 - 1994-1999 . Occupation: Transportation consultant . Education: Attended North Platte Jr College and Creighton University. Military: none. Volunteer experience: Omaha Refugee Community, Butler Gast YMCA Board member, OTOC.
WHAT MEASURES WILL YOU TAKE TO ENCOURAGE A REDUCTION IN ENERGY CONSUMPTION WHILE MAINTAINING OPPD’S SOLVENCY?
CRAIG MOODY: OPPD should enhance its programs that help customers reduce energy, especially those focused on times when electricity is most expensive for OPPD to deliver (peak energy demand). Doing so reduces the need for OPPD to build additional generation capacity, which is extremely costly. Renewable energy, battery technology, and distributed generation will decrease demand on OPPD to centrally generate power, which offers an opportunity to reduce costs as well. Also seek administrative cost reductions. TOM MULLIGAN: Making smart business decisions is based on managing with data. We, as a community as well as a country, must do and encourage decreasing the carbon footprint that goes along with some major processes in the production of electricity. To reduce the amount of energy we consume while maintaining OPPD’s solvency is a balancing challenge that must include renewable energy sources, some already identified and others that may present themselves in the future. Our thought process must remain open.
HOW WILL YOU ASSURE THE PUBLIC IS INVOLVED IN THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS AT OPPD? CRAIG MOODY: Board meetings should occur in the evenings and rotate throughout the OPPD territory. Board materials should include more and clearer information and be shared in multiple mediums, including social media. OPPD should re-evaluate and modernize its public input processes and also create and consistently share a “dashboard” that publicly articulates its progress on key performance indicators. Improved corporate governance should be a priority, as should improved proceedings on rate increases. TOM MULLIGAN: Accountability, transparency and fulfillment are key components of being a board member. I am (and have been in the past) readily available and accessible via personal meetings, telephone or email. As the board member for district 5, I will be an active and engaged participant and will seek out and encourage feedback and participation from the general public in our decision process.
Papio-Missouri RIVER NRD
SUBDISTRICT 1 BILL RHEA JR. (R) No response received.
SUBDISTRICT 3 LARRY BRADLEY (D) Website: http://bradleynrd2016@yahoo.com. Past public office, dates held: Papio-Missouri Natural Resources District, SubDistrict 3. 2008-2012. Occupation: Adjunct Professor. Education: B.S. Biology UNO “97”, M.A. Biology UNO “01”, Ph. D. Geography UNL, “10.” Minor, Geology. Minor, Native American Studies. Military: U.S. Army 1982-1986. Honorable Discharge. Volunteer experience: Current: President of the Ancient Order of Hibernians-Father Flanagan Division, 2014-2016. Former Commander of local veterans post. 2008-2014. YMCA Youth Coach, early 2000s.
BILL POSPICHAL (D) Website: http://www.outdoorrecreationproducts.com. Current public office, dates held: None. Past public office, dates held: None. Occupation: Co-owner of sales company. Education: BS in Construction Engineering Technology from UNO in 1974. Military: None. Volunteer experience: Past President of the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum, Chairman of Zorinsky Lake Watershed Council, Watershed by Design Board Member, Papio Creek Watershed Steering Committee, CRP Participant. RICH TESAR (R) Website: http://RichTesar.com; FB Rich Tesar NRD Director. Current public office, dates held: Director, Papio-Missouri River NRD, 2000 – Present. Past public office, dates held: Director, Papio-Missouri River NRD, 1984 – 1992. Occupation: Retired Fishing and Hunting Outfitter. Education: Attended the University of Nebraska at Omaha and Bellevue College. Military: United States Army Reserves. Volunteer experience: Elder and Board Vice-Chairperson at Community of Grace Church, Elkhorn. Founder and past Chairman Western Douglas County Chapter Ducks Unlimited, Valley; President of the Sokol Camp Assn., Waterloo; Seminar speaker, “Get Hooked On Fishing.”.
SUBDISTRICT 7 PATRICK LEAHY (NP) Website: http://www.patrickleahyomaha.com. Current public office, dates held: Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District Board, subdistrict #7 (2012 - present). Occupation: Consultant. Education: University of Nebraska at Omaha – B.S. in Political Science, Economics (2005). Creighton University – M.A. Program in International Relations (present). Military: U.S. Army Reserve (2005 – present), Captain. Assigned to U.S. Strategic Command. Volunteer experience: St. James Church; Ancient Order of Hibernians; Omaha New Leaders Council; Nebraska Humane Society – Past foster dog parent. PATRICIA HANNAN (R) No response received.
SUBDISTRICT 9 PATRICK BONNETT (R) Website: http://www.facebook.com/PatrickBonnettForNaturalResourcesDistrict9/. Current public office, dates held: PapioMissouri Natural Resources District, Sub-District 9; Nov. 2012 to Present. Past public office, dates held: None. Occupation: Mortgage & Financial Consultant. Education: Bachelor Degree concentrating in Real Estate Finance & Land Use Economics, Minors in Sociology and Military Science; Applied Science Degree in Paralegal Studies; Post Graduate Professional Designations: CCCC, CSA, CMFC, PFA. Military: 12 Years; US Army & Army Reserve; Multiple Launch Rocket & Deep Attack Missile Systems Specialist, Legal NCO. Volunteer experience: S.C.O.R.E. Mentor, Red Cross Volunteer, AF&AM#325, Former VP of Future Omaha, Founded the Millard Alumni Association, Representative for BOSS (Better Opportunities for Single Soldiers), Volunteer for Youth Emergency Shelters. MARK GRUENEWALD (R) No response received.
SUBDISTRICT 3 LARRY BRADLEY: I am Pro-Recreation. As a former member of the NRD Board, I am proud to have been a proponent for the increase of recreation trails along lake shores and creek systems throughout the NRD District. In fact, Omaha is now one of highest rated cities in the country for quality of life due to recreation provided by the NRD. It is very important that there is a 50 yard buffer zone from private residence to the shoreline. All citizens of Nebraska should have equal access to the lakes. CURT FROST: No response received.
SUBDISTRICT 5 BILL POSPICHAL: This was one focus of the Watershed by Design Board. Greater access is required by the P-MRNRD to service existing waterways and impoundments than what is typically granted by developers and planning boards. This access must be adequate for trucks and heavy equipment beyond simply foot and vehicle traffic. The Board pressed to expand existing and future right-of-ways and easements. RICH TESAR: I believe there should be full public access around all NRD developed multi-use flood control reservoir projects. We also try to incorporate public trails around our projects whenever economically feasible as they have become so very popular with the public. I also support the construction of these trails on publicly owned levees if a trail would be sufficiently utilized, is safe, and is economically feasible. Public access should only be limited if there are safety concerns in a given area.
SUBDISTRICT 7 PATRICK LEAHY: When taxpayer dollars are used to fund flood protection structures, like Prairie Queen Reservoir near Werner Park, then there should be a buffer area around these structures with 100% public access for recreational use. All NRD recreational facilities and amenities should remain free to the public. The NRD should work with developers to mitigate floodplain increases that unfettered suburban growth sometimes causes before it happens. Better strategies and project timing can help reduce costs. PATRICIA HANNAN: No response received.
SUBDISTRICT 9 PATRICK BONNETT: Generally speaking, the public should be granted the greatest amount of access to any or all public facilities paid for with taxpayer dollars with a few exceptions depending upon the purpose of the structure. The public access might be limited at structures or areas where that access poses a dangerous or otherwise hazardous risk to our staff, the public or the conservation environment the structure is designed to promote such as the American Bald Eagle nesting sites. MARK GRUENEWALD: No response received.
IN ADDITION TO FLOOD CONTROL, WHAT IS YOUR TOP PRIORITY FOR THE NRD?
SUBDISTRICT 1
WHAT DO YOU FEEL IS AN APPROPRIATE DIVISION OF PUBLIC/PRIVATE ACCESS IN AND AROUND WA- BILL RHEA JR.: No response received. TERWAYS DEVELOPED AS NRD PROJECTS?
SUBDISTRICT 3
CURT FROST (R) No response received.
SUBDISTRICT 5
SUBDISTRICT 1 BILL RHEA JR.: No response received.
VOTING GUIDE
LARRY BRADLEY: I am Pro-Environment. The quality of water, fertility of soils, and level of environmental education is of the utmost importance to me. I feel it is my civic duty to ensure the
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quality of water within my jurisdiction meets and/or exceeds federal water quality standards. Conservation efforts directed to the retention of topsoil is crucial. Finally, funding for environmental education is always a top priority. water quality standards. Conservation efforts directed to the retention of topsoil is crucial. Finally, funding for environmental education is always a top priority.
gotiable bonds of the County in the stated principal amount of not to exceed Forty-five Million Dollars ($45,000,000) for the purpose of paying the costs of: Upgrades and improvements to 911 emergency communications facilities, Renovations to the County’s correctional facilities, and
CURT FROST: No response received.
SUBDISTRICT 5 BILL POSPICHAL: We must take appropriate measures to preserve what has already been constructed. This means maintaining dams, reservoirs, waterways and levees by regular inspections and periodic upgrades. Water quality basins were not incorporated into early dam designs as they are now. We must retrofit the ones that lack this protection to extend their usable life span. With forward thinking planning and maintenance, the recreational value of these assets can be extended for many more years. RICH TESAR: Living on the bank of the Platte River, I am very concerned that the water quality of our area rivers is being compromised by point and nonpoint source pollutants caused in many instances by agricultural and industrial pollutants. Water is Nebraska’s greatest natural resource and we must work to keep our waters clean and safe. In addition to water quantity issues, I will continue to be assertive in challenging the NRD to be proactive in meeting federally mandated water quality standards.
SUBDISTRICT 7 Patrick Leahy: The NRD plays an important role in our metro’s trail system. The past four years, we have focused on trails connectors like South Omaha and MOPAC. During the next four years, I hope we can build more trail-heads into neighborhoods so families can connect to the network and more easily access the trails and use them more frequently. In addition to big flood control structures the NRD needs to do better at reducing storm water costs through low impact development practices and projects. PATRICIA HANNAN: No response received.
SUBDISTRICT 9 PATRICK BONNETT: Pollution and Sedimentation are dangerous and expensive problems within our community. So aside from Flood Control, my next top priority for the Papio NRD will be Water Quality. To that end, there are a number of critical water infrastructure projects that I will be focused on that include Lake Zorinsky Water Quality Basins, West Papio Creek Culvert Repair and Replacement and four Regional Retention Basins in Sarpy County for the cities of Gretna and Papillion. MARK GRUENEWALD: No response received.
Bond Issue and Referendum The following bond issue and referendum will appear on Douglas County ballots.
Douglas County PUBLIC SAFETY BOND ELECTION
Other public safety and public service improvements and equipment, including improvements to buildings, consolidation of facilities, and additions, renovations and other fixed and mobile equipment, with such costs to be paid directly or by funding of lease or other indebtedness to be incurred by the County; such bonds to be issued and sold from time to time and on such terms, to bear interest at rate or rates and to become due at such time or times, all as may be authorized by the Board of Commissioners, and “Shall The County of Douglas, in the State of Nebraska, levy annually, as long as any of said bonds are outstanding, a tax upon all of the taxable property in such county sufficient in rate and amount to pay the interest on and principal of such bonds as the same become due and payable, which tax may be in addition to the annual levy permitted for county building purposes by Section 23-120(2), R.R.S. Nebraska, 2012, and may cause the aggregate taxes of the County to exceed the limitation provided by Article VIII, Section 5 of the Nebraska Constitution. FOR said proposition AGAINST said proposition
Referendum ordered by Petition of the People REFERENDUM NO. 426
A vote to “Retain” will eliminate the death penalty and change the maximum penalty for the crime of murder in the first degree to life imprisonment by retaining Legislative Bill 268, passed in 2015 by the First Session of the 104th Nebraska Legislature. A vote to “Repeal” will keep the death penalty as a possible penalty for the crime of murder in the first degree by repealing Legislative Bill 268, passed in 2015 by the First Session of the 104th Nebraska Legislature. The purpose of Legislative Bill 268, passed by the First Session of the 104th Nebraska Legislature in 2015, is to eliminate the death penalty and change the maximum penalty for the crime of murder in the first degree to life imprisonment. Shall Legislative Bill 268 be repealed? RETAIN to eliminate the death penalty REPEAL to keep the death penalty
Retention of Judges The following is a link to the Judicial Performance Evaluation information provided by the Nebraska State Bar Association (NSBA): http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.nebar.com/resource/resmgr/For_ the_Public/2016_JudicalPoll_COMPLETE.pdf
“Shall The County of Douglas, in the State of Nebraska, issue the ne-
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VOTING GUIDE
“Go Vote, Omaha!” Produced by the League of Women Voters of Greater Omaha “Go Vote, Omaha!” airs Tuesdays at 7:30 pm on KPAO (Cox Channel 22, CenturyLink Channel 89). We discuss election and public policy issues with guests, helping voters be ready and willing to go vote at election time. Featured candidate and policy forums for the general election are: Nebraska LD Districts: 7, 13, 31, 39, 45 MUD OPPD Douglas County Board District 5 Millard Board of Education Omaha Public Schools Board State Board of Education 2nd Congressional District Death Penalty Ballot Proposal Douglas County bond issue ballot proposal The forums are available on the League’s YouTube channel. Go to YouTube and search for: League of Women Voters Greater Omaha GOVoteOmaha OR Link there from our website: http://omahalwv.org/GoVoteOmaha.html
eat
hungryforchange A
merica is known as the land of excess, and the title rings especially true when it comes to our bountiful supply of nutrient-dense, freshly grown and pasture-raised foods. Such care is taken with each tender sprout, every calf born, knowing it will one day feed a hungry child and nurture a growing family. Why, then, are one in five children in the greater Omaha area going to bed hungry at night? The answer isn’t that there’s not enough food to go around, it’s that there is so much of it that it ends up in landfills instead of the hungry bellies it was intended for. A bruise or a blemish renders fruit unsellable, a few hours too long on the shelf and it’s plucked and tossed, while mislabeling or unattractive marbling sends a side of beef to the trash. This tragic waste leads to a rise in the genetic modification of food. Scientists work hard to
In Omaha’s rich landscape, many families are still unable to put food on the table BY SARA LOCKE PHOTOGRAPHY BY DEBRA S. KAPLAN
spawn new breeds of produce, not for superior flavor or nutrient density, but for portability and a longer shelf life. Meats and cheeses are processed beyond molecular recognition to ensure uniformity and longevity. This work comes at a steep price — not only are these foods robbed of both their health benefits and naturally delicious taste, but the cost of these frankenfoods is constantly climbing. Several area perishable food rescues are on a mission to end waste, skyrocketing food prices, and hunger. The driving forces behind these nonprofits and organizations are not bored millionaires trying to soothe a guilty conscience, but people who are truly passionate about the plight of the poor. The leaders of this movement have full time jobs and families, and a keen understanding of what hunger does to a person’s sense of des-
MikeShambaugh-Miller The Executive Director of Produce From the Heart delivers rescued food from farmer’s markets and Nebraska fields to a local food pantry.
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y continued from page 37 peration. When you don’t know where your next meal is coming from or whether you’re going to be able to feed your children tomorrow, it’s difficult to see far enough into the future to find a way out.
A Saving Grace Approximately half of Nebraska’s hungry are, ironically, clinically overweight or obese. This is owing in great part to the fact that what is donated in reliable amounts to food pantries and soup kitchens is comprised mostly of highly processed canned and boxed foods, sugary cereals, and nutrient-void meal-helpers like macaroni and cheese. Saving Grace perishable food rescue and delivery brings donated perishable foods to local nonprofits, providing hungry families with a dependable source of fresh fruits, vegetables, and grains. In July of this year after only 34 months of food rescue efforts, Saving Grace delivered its one millionth pound of rescued food. That is one million meals inside the bellies of hungry families, offering the leg up they need to create a sustainably better future for themselves. One million pounds of perfectly delicious and healthy food heading for the landfill, rerouted to those who needed it most. What You Can Do While this effort has fed thousands and thousands of hungry people, it doesn’t solve the problem of food waste driving up food costs. And delivering this food is a huge financial burden on non-profits. To solve the problem where is starts, Saving Grace wants you to take the pledge to end food waste. Go to savinggracefoodrescue. org and select the “Sign the Pledge” button to get started in helping to end food waste in your home.
What You Can Do The organization employs volunteers for as much or as little time as they like, and in as little as two hours, you can impact more than 750 people. PFTH sends its volunteers to farmer’s markets, local farms, and community gardens to collect excess and unwanted produce, then delivers it to food banks and soup kitchens. Organize your church members, school groups, sports teams or scouting group. Or try a philanthropic date night to head out and help the hungry Have a van or truck? Transportation costs are the biggest threat to these nonprofits efforts, so volunteer to deliver the rescued food. Learn more at producefromtheheart.org. Hunger Free Heartland Hunger Free Heartland knows that there is a huge disconnect between the rich, the comfortable, and the foodinsecure. It’s easy to let our problems overwhelm us, and realizing after months of saving that you still can’t afford the family vacation you’ve been planning, a newer car, or upgrading the big-screen can leave you feeling like success has eluded you. HFH offers a new perspective with directives like “Try it Tuesdays,” where they ask us to put ourselves in the shoes of a SNAP recipient by spending only $4 on an entire day’s food. To celebrate Hunger Ac-
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Produce From the Heart Any afternoon drive just outside of the city limits in any direction will have you traveling beside lush farms, expanses of grains and vegetables, orchards and patches
of fruit trees. Farmers plant and harvest these fields with a great deal of care, and knowing their customers, they harvest almost exclusively the most attractive of their bounty. That leaves thousands of pounds of healthy, edible food left behind. Eventually this food is picked over by wildlife, and what’s left rots where it lies in lending nutrients to the soil for next year’s crop. But the amounts of food wasted are far beyond what even the rich soil is capable of consuming. Produce From the Heart’s goal is to bring you one step closer to your food, help the farmers clean up their hard-labored land, and end hunger in a single afternoon of volunteering in the beautiful Nebraska sun.
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eat
tion Month in September, Hunger Free Heartland offered a daily challenge to bring us closer to understanding the impact of hunger in our neighborhood. Try putting water on your cereal to understand that milk is a luxury item in many Nebraska homes. Set an empty plate at the table to remember those in our community who will be going without. Raid your pantries for spare items for those who are unable to make ends meet this month. Hunger Free Heartland also understands that feeding the hungry is actually a minor step in ending food insecurity. Instead, their mission is to advocate, lead change and end the cycle of poverty and hunger. Their povertyending initiatives aim to change the environment of those most affected by food insecurity through education, collaboration and partnership with policy changers and members of the community. What You Can Do Get involved! Sign up for Hunger Free Heartland’s newsletters to stay up to date on events and opportunities to help out. Write letters to policy makers demanding better resources for our working poor. Offer to volunteer at a local school in helping to provide nutritious meals for kids who may not have access to them at home. Keep your eyes and ears open during weekends, holidays, and school breaks. Children who rely on these programs for two meals a day are often going hungry when class is dismissed and on weekends. A snow day of sledding for one child is a day without food for another. Head to hungerfreeheartland.org/get-involved to learn more about opportunities to lend a hand. Hunger is everyone’s problem. Let’s work together to find sustainable solutions. ,
If you or someone you know is suffering from food insecurity, call the National Hunger Hotline at 1-866-3-HUNGRY or 1-866-8-HAMBRE para Español Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
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Saturday, October 8th 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM Old Market Farmers Market 8th SATURDAY, OCTOBER (10th/11th and Howard St.) Old Market Farmers Market Every October, Food Dayfooddayomaha.com brings us together to celebrate and enjoy real food and to push for improved food policies. Enjoy interactive booths, kids’ activities, live music, the first-ever awards and more!Champion! Nominateceremony A Food Day
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Food Day inspires Americans to change their diets and our food policies as we are united by a vision of food that is healthy, affordable, and produced with care for the Healthy food and healthy food policy is a growing movement in our community and to environment, farm animals, and the people who grow, harvest, and serve it. Food Day recognize the hard and vision of those and thefoodcharge is a day to resolvework to make changes in ourorganizations own diets and toindividuals take actionleading to solve locally, we’veproblems created the Foodcommunities Day Omaha Awards to celebrate our advocates in 5 areas: related in our at the local, state, and national level. w Producer of the Year w Restaurant of the Year w Retailer of the Year Awards fromDay 10:00 -10:30of AM w Nonprofit ofCeremony the Year w Food Champion the Year Healthy food and healthy food policy is a growing movement in our community
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◆ Producer the Year ◆ Restaurant the Year ◆ Retailer of theCommittee, Year Working with theofpublic nominations, theofFood Day Omaha Awards a group of Year 9, will the final awardees. ◆ Nonprofit of the ◆ select Food Day Champion of the Year * For more information about sponsorship opportunities or reserving a booth, email fooddayomaha@gmail.com
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Benson Brewery Healthy food and healthy in our community and to FOOD DAY Block food 16 policy is a growing movement recognize the hard work and vision of those organizations and individuals CHAMPION leading the charge Kitchen Table locally, we’ve created the Food Day Omaha Awards to celebrate our advocates in 5 areas: Lot 2 Cait Caughey Railcar Ellen and Daniel Rosmann w Producer of Over the Year w Retailer of the Year Easy w Restaurant of the Year Edward Berna w Nonprofit of the Table Grace CafeYear w Food Day Champion Matt Croninof the Year Mike Hornacek Please nominate the individual or organization that best exemplifies Mike Shambaugh Miller and represents the RETAILER mission of Food Day. The top 5 nominees will be celebrated and one from each category Nancy Williams F TH E Y A R Day Omaha on October will beOrecognized atEFood 8 in the Old Market. Nick Bartholomew Daddy’s Fresh Market Rachel Olive Awards Committee, Provisions Working withGrey thePlume public nominations, the Food Day Omaha Tammy Yarmon aHy-Vee group of 9, will select the final awardees. Jane’s Paradigm Gardens Tomato Tomato
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YolandaRoss
From cinema cannibals to dog-eat-dog politics BY LEO ADAM BIGA PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRISTOPHER LOGAN
O
film
FILM
maha native actress Yolonda Ross often turns up listened to us and our points of view and nurtured our growth in in edgy, must-see indie films and television proj- writing and expressing ourselves. She was a dear friend of mine ects. After a regular stint on the acclaimed HBO and someone that made a difference in my life.” Luhrmann, whose film credits include Strictly Ballroom, Roseries Treme and playing secret lover Robyn Crawford in the Lifetime biopic Whitney, she has a recurring role in meo + Juliet and The Great Gatsby, is known for Pop Art-style this season’s most talked about new series, The Get Down. The production values, elaborate camera work and flamboyant cutNetflix original from visionary filmmaker Baz Luhrmann (Moulin ting. His production designer-wife, Catherine Martin, is a key Rouge!) depicts the birth of hip-hop in the cultural maelstrom of collaborator. On Get Down he also worked with Pulitzer Prize1970s the Bronx. winning playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis (Between Riverside “The show is about music – it’s about the beginning of hip- and Crazy), whose LABrynith Theater Company Ross worked hop, rap, disco, everything that was happening during that in. Ross is impressed by what the creative team has wrought in time,” Ross said. recreating the period and place. The Omaha Burke High grad left here for New York to pursue “This show is the ‘70’s. From what I’ve seen, it looks and feels a fashion career in the 1990s. Acting eventually became her like ‘70s TV – not a current show pretending to be. Baz’s crew main form of expression, though she also sings, paints and slays has worked with him for a long time, so these guys know what the red carpet. Early on she nabbed network TV gigs, but her he likes and how to attain that. That’s a luxury to have in a series breakout came as the lead in the HBO women’s prison drama production. Baz is great to work with. You know every aspect Stranger Inside directed by Cheryl Dunye. It’s the first of many of the production is gonna be great when dealing with he and radical feminist projects to cast Ross in provocative roles. his wife, Catherine. They are known for paying attention to all “I actually do have a great record of working with women. I details. The Get Down is no different. What I really appreciated feel there may be something to that when looking at the kind about working with Baz is he gives you everything you need of material I’m drawn to. I haven’t sought them out – it’s hap- to ‘act.’ He allows you to do your work without being rushed or pened organically.” feeling like you’re just going through a routine.” She’s also appeared in John Cameron Mitchell’s controversial The series is among projects with name talent bypassing thefeature Short Bus and in David Mamet’s HBO drama Phil Spec- aters and broadcast-cable networks for direct consumer digital tor. Perhaps her biggest feature role came in the John Sayles platforms. Ross likes this on-demand new world. “This is the first project I’ve done in the realm of streaming,” film Go for Sisters playing the ex-con friend of parole officer LisaGay Hamilton. she said. “As we have become stay-at-home viewers of all In Get Down she plays Ms. Green, an influential teacher of content, I feel these new platforms to distribute content are just young people at the forefront of a cultural revolution. what’s needed. It works for both sides. As a creator of content, “I was in L.A. when the audition came through,” Ross said. “I you will have the ability to get your story across in its full 10 to put myself on tape first for the role of Mrs. Kipling, the mother 13 episodes, without the possible network interruption of cancelof a couple main characters. Then I got asked to come in and ing you or having to go through the timely and expensive proceread for Ms. Green. I went in with a song prepared because dure of shooting a pilot, waiting and then shooting your series we all had to sing, then met with Baz when I got back to New – if picked up. It’s a quicker process to get down to creating. York. That was it.” “On the other side of things, as the viewer, you have the choice She finds many things appealing about what Ms. Green of watching however many you want, whenever you want, whersymbolizes as a young black female professional committed ever you want. That’s a win-win to me.” to her community. As a filmmaker herself, Ross has a vested interest in how “She’s the one character that represents the ‘single’ woman of works get shown. She wrote-directed-starred in the short Breakthis time, which was a very important time for women and wom- ing Night that played festivals. Alexander Payne provided supen having rights. Being a feminist really came to light back then. port. The short became the music video for Manfred Mann’s I feel Ms. Green represents a woman from the Bronx who got cover of “Blinded by the Night.” She’s developing a feature she out, learned and came back to help others. She’s smart, strong wrote and plans to direct and star in next spring. Her co-star will and caring. She reminds me of characters I grew up watching be Clarke Peters from The Wire. She said, “The film deals with on TV when I was a kid. So, it’s really cool to be able to play the fragility of love, art and race and takes place in New York.” Like her fellow women filmmakers, she aspires to opening someone like that now, as an adult.” Ross knows what it’s like to have a teacher who cares. She more doors for women behind the camera. fondly recalls her English teacher at Burke High – the late Karen Owens. “She treated us students as equals, not as kids. She continued on page 44 y
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“There is definitely progress in seeing more women directors, but there is definitely a lot more work to be done. As women in the industry we’re all pushing to make more progress and generate more work and opportunities for ourselves because it’s still a boys club.” Female cinematographer Reed Morano, an Omaha native, directed Ross in her directorial debut, Meadowland. After meeting at a women of color bash honoring Ross, Angela Basset directed her in Whitney. “Angela is a great person and wonderful to work with.” Ross’s portrayal of Robyn Crawford followed the script and what her instincts told her. “As someone that studies relationships and human behavior for a living, knowing these two women knew each other since their teenage years through Whitney’s success and fall, it only made sense to play her as someone that loved and cared for her on the deepest level. I saw Robyn as the solid rock in that relationship, even after Whitney got with Bobby Brown.” Ross also shines in male-driven material, including Antwone Fisher under Denzel Washington’s direction. Twice David Mamet has written parts for her – in The Unit and in Phil Spector, which saw her work with an idol, Helen Mirren. In Lila & Eve she worked with friend and Oscar-winner Viola Davis. This fall Ross is once again in an edgy film helmed by a woman, Ana Lily Amirpour’s The Bad Batch. The black comedy about a community of cannibals in a Texas wasteland stars Jim Carrey, Keanu Reaves, Jason Momoa, Diego Luna and Giovanni Ribisi. “Ana Lily Amirpour knows what she wants. Just as she did with her first feature, A Girl Walks Home Alone, Lily creates a world.” From cinema cannibals to dog-eat-dog American politics, Ross keeps close tabs on Black Lives Matter and the presidential campaign. She hopes the awareness BLM brings to injustice translates into changed perceptions and policies. Meanwhile, she’s “sad to see” Donald Trump reducing his bid for the Oval Office to bad “reality TV.” Fortunately. she has a deep reservoir of creativity to escape the noise, including painting. At her recent first solo exhibition in New Orleans she showed work inspired by Aboriginal dot art. “I like the method of storytelling through symbols,” she said. Ross, who’s appeared at screenings of her films in Omaha and Fremont, hopes to exhibit here one day. Follow her at yolondaross.com. , Read more of Leo Adam Biga’s work at leoadambiga.com.
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FromTeethingtoTutus
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ivi DiMarco exudes a positive energy. She’s a happy young mom with a husband she “adores” and a cheerful, chubby-cheeked baby girl named Miriam who will celebrate her first birthday in January. “Miriam has brought so much joy into my life,” she said. But DiMarco will embody a role that’s typically described as evil, wicked or treacherous when she appears as Odile, the Black Swan, in Ballet Nebraska’s October 22 performance of Swan Lake opening the company’s seventh season. “Traditionally the role [both Odette, the Swan Princess and Odile, her evil opposite] is played by one ballerina and so she has to tap into both that regal and noble character as well as the darker, more evil character. But in our version, it’s split, so I get to focus on just being Odile,” DiMarco said. “Our promo calls her ‘malevolently seductive,’ but I like to think of her as more ambitious. This quote from Macbeth has been rattling around in my head where he talks about his ‘vaulting ambition’ and that sort of being the only reason why he’s killing Duncan. But that vaulting ambition is kind of what I see in Odile; she’s just willing to put everything at stake for her own advancement. “In some versions she’s more of the instrument of Von Rothbart, who’s the evil sorcerer. But this version by [Ballet Nebraska’s ballet master] Matthew Carter has some touches that put her more in control — or at least I like to see it that way — where the plot is a little more her doing. It’s a testament to her power and cunning. I don’t want to give away the ending, but other people have to answer for her actions; she doesn’t have to pay the price.” It’s hard to imagine that DiMarco has a dark side, and she agrees that, to dance the part of Odile, she’s not personally tapping into something sinister boiling beneath the surface. The choreography alone conveys much of the emotion, she explained, and her mission as a dancer to depict a character — especially a one so far removed from her own personality — is “fun but challenging.” “I enjoy finding moments when Odile’s true evil nature can be glimpsed behind the charming facade. For me, it is not difficult to play someone like that because she is necessary to the story, and for the story to have power, the evil has to be just as believable as the good,” she said. “The most challenging thing about it is more the technical aspect of it. It’s a very demanding role, a very demanding pas de deux. So that’s been my challenge. And also how to shape the steps into the character arc that I want to convey.” DiMarco says she especially likes dancing roles of complex characters.
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Vivi DiMarco returns to the stage in Swan Lake BY KARA SCHWEISS PHOTOGRAPHY BY DEBRA S. KAPLAN
“I really enjoyed dancing in the corps de ballet in Giselle (2014),” she said. “In Act 2 there’s a big scene with all of these female vengeful spirits called the ‘Willis’; they all dance together and it’s just very, very powerful. Giselle is one of the great ballets because the music is so evocative and there’s just this very powerful energy among the corps de ballet. Being part of that was something really special. That was a great step for us as a company, to be able to do a full-length classical ballet like that, and I think the audience really responded to it, too.” DiMarco herself has a bit of complexity to her. The suburban Chicago native graduated with honors from the University of Chicago, earning a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, but chose ballet for her first profession. “It’s not an easy career and it wasn’t a natural one for me, necessarily. I’ve always loved academics and I was on a very scholarly, academic track,” she said. “But ballet always gave me that expressive outlet that I really couldn’t get anywhere else. So I really felt like it was something I was blessed with in my life and I knew I wouldn’t forgive myself if I didn’t at least try to dance professionally and try to take that expression to the next level.” In the off-season, DiMarco says she finds outlets for her intellectual side, and graduate school or medical school may also be in her distant future. “I also do some academic tutoring and I teach some test prep classes. That’s my way to use the other side of my brain now that my focus is on ballet,” she said. “And when I was pregnant, I got into the more administrative side of Ballet Nebraska as a marketing coordinator and I’ve continued that this year. It was great to see that other side of the company and be contributing in a different way.” DiMarco’s husband, Daniel Parecki, is from Portland, Oregon, and landed in Omaha for medical school at Nebraska Medicine. As young parents, the couple is finding Omaha to be welcoming and supportive, DiMarco said. “It really has that small-town feel with friendly people … with all of the offerings of a big city,” DiMarco said. “Being a mom, I’m appreciating community that much more. I see why they call Nebraska the home of ‘the good life.’ It’s a great place to start and raise a family, and I’m really happy to be here. It’s become home in more ways than I would have thought.” Daughter Miriam Valentine is the couple’s first baby. “You can see personality coming out, you can see what she’s trying to tell you or things she likes or dislikes. There’s really a little person in there. It’s cool to see and it’s very humbling,”
DiMarco said. “And it’s been great to see Daniel as a dad; he’s been really wonderful this whole time.” Keeping in shape during pregnancy was relatively easy, DiMarco said, although she took a break from performing last fall. “For me it was never a matter of ‘now I can let myself go.’ I just kept doing what I was doing, and I kept taking classes with the company. My job is to stay in shape, so fortunately for me I just kept showing up to class and still saw myself as a member of the company even though I didn’t perform that season,” she explained. “And as the baby became incrementally bigger, I became incrementally stronger. It was a cool feeling to know that my body could do that.” Less than a year after Miriam’s birth, DiMarco has returned to top form. “After she was born, I got back into it and did what I could. I tried to give myself grace and not stress out too much,” she said. “It wasn’t
really until about six months after she was born that I felt like my core muscles were back in the right place and could function like they used to.” She may have returned to pre-baby condition, but DiMarco says motherhood has changed her. “For me it’s been great having the time to spend with her. I’m fortunate to have a break in the summer where nobody expects me to show up to an office and get things done. As the marketing coordinator [for Ballet Nebraska], I can kind of work on my own time. I was able to put Miriam as my first priority,” she said. “But there’s all the balance, too. You can’t expect to do everything without some support. I read a book called The Buddha in the Attic, and the author, Julie Otsuka, says ‘women are weak, mothers are strong.’ Being a mother brings out something new in you. I feel more confident. And I feel so much more joyful. I think that’s really empowering.” ,
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OMAHA ENTERTAINMENT & ARTS AWARDS PERFORMING ARTS NOMINEES BEST MUSICAL Caroline, or Change, Omaha Community Playhouse Disenchanted!, The Candy Project Heathers, Blue Barn Theatre Honk!, Rose Theater The Producers, Omaha Community Playhouse BEST DRAMA Animal Farm, UNO Theatre The Christians, Blue Barn Theatre The Feast, Shelterbelt Theatre Frost/Nixon, Blue Barn Theatre Macbeth, Nebraska Shakespeare The Quality of Life, SNAP! Productions BEST COMEDY Beertown, Omaha Community Playhouse and Dog & Pony DC Calendar Girls, Omaha Community Playhouse Red, White and Tuna, Bellevue Little Theatre The Singularity, Shelterbelt Theatre Untitled Series #7, Shelterbelt Theatre BEST PREMIER OF A NEW, ORIGINAL, LOCAL SCRIPT The Curious Disappearance of Mulder, the Cat by Madeline Radcliff-Reilly, FireBelly Rep The Singularity by Crystal Jackson, Shelterbelt Theatre The Feast by Celine Song, Shelterbelt Theatre Animal Farm by Jack Zerbe, UNO Theatre Untitled Series #7 by Ellen Struve, Shelterbelt Theatre
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OCTOBER 2016
Noah Diaz, Red, White and Tuna, Bellevue Little Theatre Michal Simpson, The Quality of Life, SNAP! Productions Aaron Zavitz, Frost/Nixon, Blue Barn Theatre BEST LEADING ACTOR (MUSICAL) Dan Chevalier, Honk!, Rose Theater Steve Krambeck, The Producers, Omaha Community Playhouse Jim McKain, The Producers, Omaha Community Playhouse Cork Ramer, Man of La Mancha, Omaha Community Playhouse Dan Tracy, Sunday in the Park with George, Creighton University BEST LEADING ACTRESS (PLAY) MaryBeth Adams, The Singularity, Shelterbelt Theatre Sarah Carlson-Brown, Macbeth, Nebraska Shakespeare Kim Jubenville, The Quality of Life, SNAP! Productions Mary Kelly, The Feast, Shelterbelt Theatre Laura Leininger-Campbell, Untitled Series #7, Shelterbelt Theatre BEST LEADING ACTRESS (MUSICAL) Echelle Childers, Caroline, or Change, Omaha Community Playhouse Jennifer Gilg, Man of La Mancha, Omaha Community Playhouse Roni Shelley Perez, Heathers, Blue Barn Theatre Alissa Walker, Disenchanted!, The Candy Project Melanie Walters, Disenchanted!, The Candy Project
BEST DIRECTOR (PLAY) Vincent Carlson-Brown, Macbeth, Nebraska Shakespeare Susan Clement-Toberer, The Grown-Up, Blue Barn Theatre Noah Diaz, The Feast, Shelterbelt Theatre Lara Marsh, Lost Boy Found at Whole Foods, Omaha Community Playhouse Beth Thompson, The Singularity, Shelterbelt Theatre
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (PLAY) Ben Beck, Frost/Nixon, Blue Barn Theatre Raydell Cordell III, The Christians, Blue Barn Theatre Noah Diaz, The Feast, Shelterbelt Theatre Beau Fisher, The Feast, Shelterbelt Theatre Nils Haaland, The Grown-Up, Blue Barn Theatre Andrew Prescott, Cloud 9, UNO Theatre
BEST DIRECTOR (MUSICAL) Susan Clement-Toberer and Randall T. Stevens, Heathers, Blue Barn Theatre Susie Baer Collins, Caroline, or Change, Omaha Community Playhouse Cynthia Gendrich, Honk!, Rose Theater Matthew Gutschick, Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Rose Theater Amy Lane, Sunday in the Park with George, Creighton University Kaitlyn McClincy and Noah Diaz, Disenchanted!, The Candy Project
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (MUSICAL) Thomas Gjere, Heathers, Blue Barn Theatre Noel Larrieu, Man of La Mancha, Omaha Community Playhouse Ryan Pivonka, The Producers, Omaha Community Playhouse Robby Stone, Heathers, Blue Barn Theatre Nik Whitcomb, Caroline, or Change, Omaha Community Playhouse
BEST LEADING ACTOR (PLAY) Paul Boesing, Frost/Nixon, Blue Barn Theatre Anthony Clark-Kaczmarek, The Christians, Blue Barn Theatre Anthony Clark-Kaczmarek, Red, White and Tuna, Bellevue Little Theatre
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS (PLAY) Jill Anderson, The Christians, Blue Barn Theatre Leanne Hill Carlson, The Feast, Shelterbelt Theatre Kaitlyn McClincy, The Christians, Blue Barn Theatre
| THE READER |
Colleen O’Doherty, Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England, SNAP! Productions Kathy Wheeldon, Calendar Girls, Omaha Community Playhouse BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS (MUSICAL) Katy Boone, Heathers, Blue Barn Theatre Aguel Lual, Caroline, or Change, Omaha Community Playhouse Regina Palmer, Caroline, or Change, Omaha Community Playhouse Samantha Quintana, Disenchanted!, The Candy Project MacKenzie Zielke, Heathers, Blue Barn Theatre BEST YOUTH PERFORMER Danny Denenberg, Caroline, or Change, Omaha Community Playhouse Danny Denenberg, To Kill a Mockingbird, Omaha Community Playhouse Chloe Irwin, Mama’s Girls, SNAP! Productions Chloe Irwin, To Kill a Mockingbird, Omaha Community Playhouse Justice Jamal Jones, Lost Boy Found at Whole Foods, Omaha Community Playhouse BEST DANCE PRODUCTION A Celebration of Storytelling: Voice of African Instruments, African Culture Connection Cleopatra, Ballet Nebraska Momentum: Go West!, Ballet Nebraska BEST PERFORMANCE POET Devel Crisp Greg Harries Olivia Johnson Brok Kerbrat Lite Pole BEST COMEDIAN Mollie Bartlett David Burdge Jordan Kliene Cameron Logsdon Dylan Rhode BEST COMEDY ENSEMBLE The Backline Badland Girls Big Canvas OK Party Comedy The Weisenheimers
PERFORMING ARTS TECHNICAL NOMINEES OUTSTANDING LIGHTING DESIGN Joshua Mullady, The Feast, Shelterbelt Theatre Jim Othuse, Man of La Mancha, Omaha Community Playhouse Steven L. Williams, Kwaidan, UNO Theatre Steven L. Williams, Lost Boy Found in Whole Foods, Omaha Community Playhouse Carol Wisner, Heathers, Blue Barn Theatre
For more information go to oea-awards.org
OUTSTANDING PROP DESIGN Sharon Diaz, The Feast, Shelterbelt Theatre Darin Kuehler, The Producers, Omaha Community Playhouse Darin Kuehler, Caroline, or Change, Omaha Community Playhouse Ivania Stack, Colin K. Bills, and Darin Kuehler, Beertown, Omaha Community Playhouse and dog & pony dc Amy Reiner, Heathers, Blue Barn Theatre OUTSTANDING SCENIC DESIGN Holly M. Breuer, Macbeth, Nebraska Shakespeare Sharon Diaz, The Feast, Shelterbelt Theatre Martin Scott Marchitto, Heathers, Blue Barn Theatre Jim Othuse, Man of La Mancha, Omaha Community Playhouse Jeff Stander, Honk!, Rose Theater OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN Amanda Fehlner, To Kill a Mockingbird, Omaha Community Playhouse Amanda Fehlner, The Producers, Omaha Community Playhouse Zachary Kloppenborg, The Feast, Shelterbelt Theatre Georgiann Regan, Man of La Mancha, Omaha Community Playhouse Valerie St. Pierre Smith, Cloud 9, UNO Theatre OUTSTANDING SOUND DESIGN Martin Magnuson, The Grown-Up, Blue Barn Theatre Craig Marsh, Frost/Nixon, Blue Barn Theatre Hannah Mayer and Shannon Smay, The Feast, Shelterbelt Theatre Shannon Smay, The Singularity, Shelterbelt Theatre Aaron David Wrigley, Kwaidan, UNO Theatre OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHER Julian Adair, Man of La Mancha, Omaha Community Playhouse Sue Gillespie Booton, Honk!, Rose Theater Nichol Mason Lazenby, Heathers, Blue Barn Theatre Melanie Walters, The Producers, Omaha Community Playhouse Wai Yim, Macbeth, Nebraska Shakespeare OUTSTANDING MUSIC DIRECTION Jim Boggess, Man of La Mancha, Omaha Community Playhouse Doran Schmidt, Caroline, or Change, Omaha Community Playhouse Doran Schmidt, Heathers, Blue Barn Theatre Stephen Sheftz, Sunday in the Park with George, Creighton University Jennifer Tritz, Disenchanted!, The Candy Project
FALL SHOWCASE OCTOBER 21, 2016 6 VENUES • BENSON
VISUAL ARTS NOMINEES BEST VISUAL ARTIST Phil Hawkins Susan Knight Stephen Cornelius Roberts Sarah Rowe Jar Schepers BEST EMERGING ARTIST Shawn Teseo Ballarin Anthony Deon Brown Hugo Zamarano Geoff Johnson Federico Perez Katie B Temple BEST NEW MEDIA ARTIST Sue Knight Sarah Rowe Jamie Danielle Hardy Sarah Kolar Bzzy Lps (Dustin Bythrow & Mike Bauer) BEST 2D ARTIST Stephen Cornelius Roberts Shawn Teseo Ballarin Joseph Broghammer Steve Joy Dan Boylan Shea Wilkinson BEST 3D ARTIST Sora Kimberlain Jar Schepers Phil Hawkins Michael Villareal Christopher Prinz Luke Severson BEST GROUP SHOW FRIENDS OF KENT - GALLERY 1516 Marc Chickinelli, Edgar Jerins, Paul Otero, Stephen Cornelius Roberts, Greg Scott FLATLANDERS - DARGER HQ Kenny Adkins, Jennifer Bockelman, Kim Darling, Charley Friedman, Nancy Friedmann-Sanchez, Camille Hawbaker, Anthony Hawley, Qwist Joseph, Michael Ian Larsen, Craig Roper, Sarah Rowe, Luke Severson, Matthew Sontheimer, Steve Snell, Sheila Talbitzer, Ying Zhu NEBRASKA RISING – BEMIS CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ART Heron Bassett, Mary Elizabeth/ Mesonjixx, Phil Hawkins, Roberta Leaverton, Joey Lynch, Liana Owad, Kristae Peterson, Christopher Prinz, Craig Roper, Barbara Simcoe, Michael Villareal ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM MODERN ARTS MIDTOWN Brian Gennardo, Rick Johns, Cathy Palmer, Larry Roots, Teresa Schmidt, Robert Spellman ONCE UPON A TIME - RNG GALLERY Lauren Baird, Jamie Heit Craig, Shelby Geitsfeld, Norm4eva, Xuan
VISUAL ARTS
AWARDS SHOW
SHOWCASE
FEBRUARY 19, 2017 OMAHA DESIGN CENTER
JANUARY 2017
Pham, Courtney Kenny Porto, Nicole Roberts, Alma Becerril Salas, Marie Elena Schembri, Nadia Shinkunas, Torrey Smith, Sam Danger White BEST SOLO SHOW Stephen Cornelius Roberts “The Figure: Paintings, Drawings and Studies” - Garden of the Zodiac “Jar Schepers: Repetition” - Garden of the Zodiac Phil Hawkins: “Paradox” - Sunderland Gallery Charley Friedman “Wet & Shiny” - Project Project Troy Muller “Honey Mushroom Wonderfuls” - Modern Arts Midtown BEST 2-PERSON SHOW Justin Beller & Mads Anderson “Full Yet Hungry” - Project Project Jacqueline Kluver & Larry Roots “Common Origins/Separate Destinations”- Modern Arts Midtown Steve Tamayo & Paul High Horse “Revitalize” - Hot Shops Art Center Kristine Allphin & Lori Elliott-Bartle “ Waxing Poetic” - Fred Simon Gallery RT Murphy & Bzzy Lps (Dustin Bithrow & Mike Bauer) “The Swamp” - Project Project BEST PUBLIC ART Tiny Mural Project with Autumn Armstrong, Ransom Bennett, Christopher Vaughn Couse, Sarah Craw, Maggie Heusinkvelt, Joe Nicholson, Jonathan Riggle, Barrett Ryker, Maggie Weber Polish Mural - Mike Giron, Rhianna Giron, Quin Slovek, Richard Harrison Plaza de la Raza mural - Hugo Zamorano, Mike Giron, Gerardo Vazquez, Jair Rodriguez, Ian Rodriguez, Sedra Caseneda, Rhianna Giron, Quin Slovek, and Richard Harrison Indian Hills Elementary Murals - Watie White in collaboration with Justice for Our Neighbors Old Market Art Project with 37 artists
MUSIC NOMINEES BEST ROCK Carson City Heat FREAKABOUT Jump the Tiger Matt Whipkey Naked Sunday Time Giants BEST HARD ROCK Arson City Before I Burn Bloodcow Save the Hero Screaming For Silence Through the Stone BEST ALTERNATIVE/INDIE High Up Kait Berreckman Mitch Gettman Oketo See Through Dresses
The Hottman Sisters
State Disco
BEST SINGERSONGWRITER Aly Peeler CJ Mills Emily Ward Jocelyn Tara Vaughan The Shineys
BEST ETHNIC Djem Esencia Latina Band Mariachi Zapata Rhythm Collective The Bishops The Prairie Gators
BEST DJ DJ Madix DJ Mellie Mel DJ Mista Soull DJ Shor-T Houston Alexander Spence Love BEST AMERICANA /FOLK Clarence Tilton Jack Hotel Pleiades & the Bear Ragged Company The Electroliners The Wildwoods BEST COUNTRY Belles & Whistles Dylan Bloom Band Jason Earl Band Jimmy Weber Ryan Osbahr Sack of Lions BEST R&B/SOUL Dominique Morgan Edem E Rawq Jus.B Mesonjixx Rothsteen BEST HIP HOP/RAP Conchance Greco J. Crum Mark Patrick Mola-B TKO BEST BLUES Brad Cordle Band Dilemma Levi William Band The Rex Granite Band featuring Sarah Benck Steve Lovett Blues Band Tim Budig Band BEST JAZZ Clark & Company Curly Martin Kellison Quartet Mitch Towne Omaha Guitar Trio Steve Raybine BEST PROGRESSIVE/ EXPERIMENTAL/EDM Citizen’s Band Chemicals Human Teeth Parade Kethro SharkWeek
BEST COVER BAND 3D In Your Face Hi-Fi Hangover Lemon Fresh Day Polka Police Sailing in Soup Secret Weapon ALBUM OF THE YEAR Jack Hotel – Voices from the Moon J. Crum – Black Sheep Josh Hoyer & Soul Colossal – Running From Love Jus.B - PartySoul Kait Berreckman – Battle Scenes McCarthy Trenching – More Like It Ryan Osbahr – Easy Way Out Tara Vaughan – Dandelion Wine The Electroliners – The Common Clay of the New West Through the Stone – Through the Stone ARTIST OF THE YEAR All Young Girls Are Machine Guns Arson City Belles & Whistles CJ Mills Dominique Morgan Hector Anchondo Band Josh Hoyer & Soul Colossal Kris Lager Band Satchel Grande Tara Vaughan BEST NEW ARTIST A Ferocious Jungle Cat Born on Leap Year Chemicals Mark Patrick Tiny Monsters Skyloft
MUSIC TECHNICAL NOMINEES BEST RECORDING STUDIO ARC Studios Hidden Tracks Recording Studio Icon 1NE Recording Studio Make Believe Studios SadSon Music Group Screen Door Studios Ware House Productions BEST LIVE MUSIC SOUND ENGINEER Dan Brennan - Slowdown Keith Fertwagner - Lookout Lounge Jeremy Garrett - Freelance Brenton Neville - Vessel Live Jon Pitts - Reverb Lounge Ben Stratton - Waiting Room Lounge Mark Wolberg - The Zoo Bar/Vessel Live
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MissingLink Part of an ongoing series
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exploring the framework within which Omaha’s visual artists labor
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OCTOBER 2016
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Revisiting gains and loss of Omaha’s Metro Arts BY ADAM PRICE
n the 1960s, the Midwest saw a proliferation of arts councils throughout the region. In Omaha, a group of arts supporters created the Metropolitan Arts Council (later known as Metro Arts). Another group created an arts council for statewide activities, the Nebraska Arts Council. Today, the NAC has become an official agency of state government, but Omaha’s municipal arts council, Metro Arts, has ceased to exist. The absence of a city arts council puts Omaha in an unusual position. Many cities of comparable size, from relatively liberal communities to reliably conservative ones, have arts councils that provide support to individual artists. The NAC, the only remaining arts council that covers the Omaha area, allots a mere one percent of its grant budget for direct support of artists. By contrast the Cuyahoga Arts & Culture regional arts council serving the Cleveland, OH, metro area gives three times as much to individual artists as a percentage of its total grant budget. Both the Metropolitan Arts Council of Greenville, SC, and the Iowa Arts Council give seven times as much. In Minneapolis/St. Paul, the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council gives eight times as much, and ArtsKC in Kansas City gives ten times as much. Portland, Oregon’s Regional Arts & Culture Council gives twenty-two times as much directly to artists. More importantly, Omaha’s lonely path has real consequences for artists working in the city today. To understand why, and to understand the alternatives that might be possible in 2016, we have to dig into the history of Omaha’s Metro Arts, and the ways in which our history has led us — both intentionally and unintentionally — to this point. Participants in Omaha’s arts community who are now in their 70s and 80s still remember the early days of our arts councils, and none seem to recall important philosophical differences between Metro Arts and the Nebraska Arts Council at the outset. What they do recall was that the 1960s and 1970s were a period of significant support for the arts nationally. The budget of the National Endowment for the Arts then, in constant dollars, was about three times as large as it is today. And both national and local agencies were interested in finding ways to support individual artists. At the national level, the strongest support for individual artists probably came through the Department of Labor, of all places, as part of its Comprehensive Education and Training Act Arts (CETA Arts) program. Rooted in the federal government’s ongoing support for artistic activity since the Depression-era Works Progress Administration, CETA Arts provided grants to local governments and nonprofits for the specific
purpose of employing artists of every sort in a wide range of artistic vocations. Although the exact size of the CETA Arts program is disputed, most estimates put its high-water mark in 1979, at $651 million dollars annually (in 2016 dollars), larger, even, than the already-large budget of the NEA at that time. For those who did not live through the CETA Arts era, it is hard to imagine how expansive the program was. In its time, CETA Arts provided employment for tens of thousands of artists nationwide. A back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that more than 100 Nebraska artists would be provided with full-time jobs in the arts at a true living wage if CETA still existed today. In the early 1970s, the Nebraska Arts Council used CETA Arts funding to implement an expansive artist-in-residence program that provided teaching artists on a full-time, temporary basis to communities throughout the state. To artists familiar with the artist teaching programs available in the state today, it may come as a shock to learn that the 1970s program run by NAC required the participating artists to spend half their time in their studio focusing only on their own practice. Nancy Kirk, who was responsible for NAC’s artist-in-residence program in the mid-1970s, underscores the deep philosophical commitment at that time to supporting artists as artists. As she explains, the structure of the program often met with resistance from the sponsoring schools, and she viewed her role as helping to educate sponsors about the importance of maintaining an artistic practice. “The artists were paid at a full-time rate,” Kirk said, “[but] half of the artists’ time was to be spent working in their art form and half of the time sharing the art form in some way with students and teachers in school. There was always pressure from the schools to focus on the teaching component, so I had to explain to first-time sponsors how important it was for those artists to continue doing their art, because otherwise they just became teachers.” Beginning in the mid-1970s, the Nebraska Arts Council and Metro Arts began to diverge in terms of their philosophical commitments as NAC started to focus more heavily on stabilizing the finances of the state’s biggest arts institutions. Gloria Bartek, then NAC’s deputy director, moved over to Metro Arts and took Kirk and fellow NAC employee Eleanor Jones with her. The intention of Bartek, who is described by many as “intensely egalitarian,” was to keep the focus of Metro Arts on underserved communities—including the individual artists themselves. continued on page 52 y
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ART FUNDING BY THE NUMBERS Percentage of Grant Funding Paid Directly to Individual Artists by State and Local Sources:
Douglas County Tourism
0%
Nebraska Arts Council
1%
Cuyhahoga Arts and Culture (Cleveland, OH Metro)
3%
Greenville (SC) Metro Arts Council
7%
Iowa Arts Council
7%
Metropolitan Regional Arts Council (Minneapolis/St. Paul)
8%
ArtsKC (Kansas City Metro)
10%
Regional Arts and Culture Council (Portland, OR Metro)
22%
FEDERAL FUNDING FOR THE ARTS
$591 million 1979 National Endowment for the Arts funding (in 2016 dollars) $146 million 2016 National Endowment for the Arts funding $2.6 million 1994 NEA Funds for Individual Artists through local re-granting (in 2016 dollars) $0 2016 NEA Funds for individual artists through local re-granting
WHAT IF CETA STILL EXISTED TODAY? FEDERAL FUNDING FOR ARTIST EMPLOYMENT THROUGH THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR (CETA) $657 million Funding in 1979 adjusted to 2016 dollars $3.25 million Nebraska’s pro rata share in 2016 if CETA still existed 100 The number of Nebraska artists that could have been
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employed full-time through CETA
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STREETART Public Art St. Paul teamed with local artists to create a series of eye-catchingly whimsical signs that act as traffic-calming tools. Photos: Public Art St. Paul
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OCTOBER 2016
| THE READER |
At Metro Arts, Bartek, Kirk, and Jones replicated the NAC not at all opposed to having Omaha, as a locality, revisit that artist-in-residence program on a city-wide basis, paying artists political decision. “I would suggest that if Omaha as a community sees public for full-time work and requiring them to spend half their time value in providing financial support to artists for doing their own focused on their own practice. According to Kirk, “Gloria’s feeling was that the larger arts thing, then a new version of Metro Arts is in order. It is somegroups were able to generate support from businesses and thing NAC would be happy to fund,” she said. In the meantime, the absence of an organization like Metro foundations, and that what Metro Arts needed to focus on was serving populations not generally served by the arts. That was Arts continues to reverberate. As one senior arts administrator primarily individual artists and community groups in North and notes, in the current environment, “Omaha is not particularly artSouth Omaha, where a lot of other institutions didn’t go much ist-focused at all. It is institutionally-focused. So the museums and art centers, that scene is doing quite well compared to a decade at the time.” CETA Arts ended abruptly with the election of the Reagan ago. But in terms of recognizing the value of an individual artist and what an individual artist can do for the community, I’m not administration in 1980. The termination of CETA Arts was a significant blow to the fi- sure that is even being talked about in any significant way.” The moment may be approaching, however, when the exisnances of Metro Arts. So, too, was Bartek’s insistence on a comtence of a city arts council may be ripe for reconsideration. munity-based focus, which did not always fit comfortably with the “Sometimes you don’t know what’s good until you lose it,” goals of Omaha’s philanthropic community at the time. As the 1980s passed, Metro Arts came to depend increasingly on fund- Levin said. “That’s what happened with the Metropolitan Arts Council, it had to go away. And now maybe is the time ing from Douglas County and the Nebraska Arts Council itself. Karen Levin, the founder of Omaha’s Children’s Museum, re- for it to be reborn — if the philanthropists in the community placed Bartek as executive director of Metro Arts in 1990. She are interested.” Former Omaha Mayor Hal Daub is inclined to agree. was the last executive director of the organization. By that time, “Conceptually, the idea of an arts council has a lot of merit. It Metro Arts had already declined from approximately seven fulltime positions down to just two. Those last few years, Levin kept might be that now is a good time to explore it again,” Daub said. the organization focused on its artist roots, making a robust “As Omaha moves from a metropolitan center to a cosmopolitan range of services available to the artist community. But the hand- center, we need to always be thinking about how do we make Omaha a better city for artists and for everyone else.” writing was already on the wall. Daub sees two potential obstacles to success. First is that the Metro Arts closed in 1992, leaving Omaha without an institucreation of any new organization has the potential to provoke tion focused primarily on supporting the work of artists as artists. a “turf battle with existing cultural institutions wary about what “When Metro Arts closed, Omaha lost an advocacy group authority they would need to cede to such a new entity.” that took the whole community into account,” Kirk said, but she The second potential obstacle is the differing conceptions is quick to acknowledge progress since the mid-80s as well as about the proper role of government in our community. the work that remains to be done. “I suspect, given our generally conservative philosophy of gov“We have to give the larger Omaha cultural institutions a big thumbs up for the work they are doing to be more inclusive, ernment,” Daub said, “that the private and philanthropic sector especially reaching out into the schools, but we haven’t found would not be happy with the idea of an arts council. They would many ways to support the individual artists, especially visual art- wonder what business does government have getting involved ists, either with money to live on or additional opportunities of in this stuff? Of course, I’d point out in response that the board of the Holother kinds.” Today, the two governmental entities that do fund arts and land Center is appointed by the Mayor [and that] the Holland culture in Omaha give little to individual artists. Douglas County Center got built with $50 million of taxpayer money. There’s a gives nothing directly to artists through its tourism fund, and the connection to government.” Another potential issue is what form a new city arts council NAC gives just one percent of its granting budget directly to artists. should take and what programs it should pursue. NAC’s current executive director, Suzanne Wise, offers a spir“If you’ve seen one arts council, you’ve seen one arts council,” ited and entirely reasonable defense of its funding priorities. She notes the importance of maintaining the state’s largest cultural said Bruce Davis, executive director of ArtsKC. Beyond the poorganizations, and also points out that NAC does, in fact, sup- litical question of how much to invest in individual artists, every organization develops new programmatic ideas to meet the speport artists. More than a quarter of all NAC grant funds go through non- cific needs of their community. ArtsKC, for instance, created Artist, Inc., a program that profits and localities to support the work of artists as educators, performers, and exhibitors — and an even larger portion of teaches business skills to artists, and that was recently imported funds likely winds up in the pockets of artists in ways that the here by the Omaha Creative Institute. The organization also offers Now Showing for Business, an exhibition program through organization does not currently track. Wise herself acknowledges, however, that NAC could have which ArtsKC places curated exhibitions in local businesses for chosen to use its federal funds to give more directly to artists, but periods of approximately six months. that the agency has other priorities. She explains that NAC is continued on page 54 y
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FRIDAY
OCT 7th 6-9 PM
First Friday is a free event celebrating local creativity in Omaha's most historic neighborhood.
Ride Ollie The Trolley No Charge!
Visit galleries to explore fresh perspectives and meet the artists. For event information, go to FirstFridayOldMarket.com or email: mmgmetalsmith@cox.net
Lounge
Cigarette smokers – we want you!
OCT8TH Fall Fest
If you’re a cigarette smoker, Celerion needs your help with a research study.
The Down Under 3530 LEAVENWORTH STREET OMAHA, NE
at the Down Under Lounge party in the parking Music, Art and Jewerly Vendora and Food Vendor Smok”N”Butts BBQ.
OCT21ST Jerry Pranksters
To qualify, you must: Be between 21 and 65 years old Have smoked 10 to 20 cigarettes per day over the past year ■ ■
at the Down Under Lounge 9pm $5 advance $7 at door
You may be compensated up to $1,760 for time and travel.
OCT29TH Halloween Party Part 1
Study length: One screening visit, one 1-hour visit and one 4-night stay.
featuring Djem no cover prizes for top 3 costumes
OCT31 Halloween Party 2 ST
HelpResearch.com • 866-213-2965
Featuring Metal Monday Prizes for top 3 costumes 402.933.3927 • thedownunderomaha.com
Lincoln, NE
•
621 Rose Street
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The Greenville Metro Arts Council organizes an annual poured by the department of public works anyway, and city weekend tour of more than 100 artist studios. In Knoxville, the trucks that bring surveys (and custom popsicles as rewards) arts council offers subsidized working space for artists. directly to community members rather than expecting resiIn St. Paul, MN, the city government, in partnership with dents to come to more traditional meeting venues. Public Art St. Paul, a private organization, places two artists “How can an artist work within a city system and make ininside the mayor’s office for a period of years. The mandate terventions and raise awareness in a way that would never of these City Artists, as they are known, is not to create public happen just with city workers?” Sheehy said. “We do some art, per se, but to work “upstream” with city agencies to ad- things that are more like conventional public art — sculptures dress the problems of city life. and plazas — but we also like to think about the city as this Colleen Sheehy, executive director of Public Art St. Paul, gigantic, complex distribution network for art.” If the issues about the form and shape of a new arts council describes just a few of the projects that have come out of this intensive partnership between the city and its artists, can be resolved, the sky might be the limit. “Regardless of who is the mayor and who is on the city counincluding whimsical street signs that cause drivers to slow down in residential neighborhoods, nearly 1,000 poems cil,” said the local senior arts administrator mentioned above, that have been printed in concrete sidewalks that are being “if you had a paid staff member who sat in on all the city meet-
ings, just being at the table, giving the arts a voice, that could be really important. The one thing that would really make a lot of things happen would be some sort of city office of cultural affairs. That could be a real game-changer for this community.” For her part, Kirk, a strong proponent for individual artist support, lends a cautionary note. “For individual artists or small groups, it isn’t enough to say give me money because we are good,” she said. “For those artists who want to be recognized as part of the essential arts community, they have to behave like essential parts of the art community. They have to be advocating for the Omaha Community Playhouse as well as for their dance ensemble, the Joslyn as well as their studio practice.” ,
COOLINTERACTIONS The St. Paul Pop-Up Meeting popsicle cart was launched by the city as an innovative way to survey and interact with the public. Photo: Public Art St. Paul
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art
OCTOBER SHOWS OCT 6-9
ARI SHAFFIR
Stand-up comedian and actor Ari Shaffir describes his comedy as a puppet show, but way filthier and without the puppets. He grew up orthodox Jewish, spent 2 years in a yeshiva in Israel, and came back to America to lose his religion and become a comic. Now with two hour standup specials and his own late-night TV series coming up, Ari is a “gifted comic unyielding in his art,” becoming “a real force to be reckoned with” (LA Weekly).
OCT 13-16 IAN BAGG
Ian was born in a little town of Terrace B.C. Canada. In the year that the Vancouver Canucks lost to the New York Rangers in the Stanly Cup Playoffs, a year better known as 1994, he began doing stand up comedy. After moving to New York City, he quickly became a regular at all the major comedy clubs. After a short three years in New York. As predicted, Los Angeles came calling. Soon after moving, he had made appearances in independent movies and sitcoms.
OCT 20-23 BEN ROY
“Ben Roy is one of the fastest up-and-coming comics that the Denver scene has to offer. A native of Maine and now living in Colorado, he is poised to take the entertainment industry by storm with his unique blend of rant, sarcastic, observational, and high-energy humor.”
OCT 27-30 CASH LEVY
Cash is known as one of the finest improvisers around, and now his unique, interactive show has been captured on film in the one hour special, “Crowd Control” currently showing on AXStv. “Cash is the ultimate live comic…. He is hilarious and it’s a great fit.” Mark Cuban has said. “Perfect comic delivery with lightening quick wit” The Charlotte Observer
NOV 3-6
SATURDAY, OCT 1 Avaricious
WEDNESDAY, OCT 12 The Grease Band
SATURDAY, OCT 22 Red Delicious
MONDAY, OCT 3 Gooch and his Las Vegas Big Band
THURSDAY, OCT 13 UNO Jazz Ensembles & MayJo
MONDAY, OCT 24 Gooch and his Las Vegas Big Band
TUESDAY, OCT 4 Steve Dunning
FRIDAY, OCT 14 The Six
TUESDAY, OCT 25 Scott Evans
WEDNESDAY, OCT 5 Badd Combination
SATURDAY, OCT 15 Hi Fi Hangover
THURSDAY, OCT 6 Gooch and The Guys
MONDAY, OCT 17 Gooch and his Las Vegas Big Band
FRIDAY, OCT 7 D*Funk
TUESDAY, OCT 18 Billy Troy
SATURDAY, OCT 8 The Confidentials
WEDNESDAY, OCT 19 The Brits
MONDAY, OCT 10 Gooch and His Las Vegas Big Band
THURSDAY, OCT 20 Brian England Groove Prescription
TUESDAY, OCT 11 Grace & Logan
FRIDAY, OCT 21 Soul Dawg
WEDNESDAY, OCT 26 The 70’s Band THURSDAY, OCT 27 Bob Fields and Swing Time FRIDAY, OCT 28 Rough Cut SATURDAY, OCT 29 Eckophonic MONDAY, OCT 31 Gooch and his Las Vegas Big Band
DR. GONZO
Dr. Gonzo’s performances combine stand-up comedy & classic rock parodies. When he’s not touring with top musical acts, he is headlining major comedy clubs across America.
COMING UP: NOV 10-13 VIC HENLEY NOV 17-20 JOHN MORGAN NOV 25-27 MICHAEL BLACKSON
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Identity
The Blue Barn plays to its roots BY BILL GRENNAN
stage
W
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hen the Blue Barn Theatre announced their plans to build a new performance space in 2012, the main objective was to expand their theatrical capabilities and create a better audience experience while maintaining their artistic identity. That identity never wavered last season, even as the artistic and managing staff worked through all of the kinks and nuances of their new building. “The day-to-day was the biggest challenge,” said Artistic Director Susan Clement-Toberer. “It was the little things; the facilities management. Remembering how to turn lights on and off, how to use a new sound system and how to operate in a space that has more room for artistic vision. It was a massive learning curve and we’re still learning.” Perhaps the most important thing the Blue Barn learned, Toberer said, was that they can always rely on the grounding power of their artistic process to keep themselves centered and focused on their audience’s experience. “Our patrons love it,” she said. “They love it, first and foremost, because it’s still feels like us.” That idea of knowing who you are in face of change was partly the thematic influence of Blue Barn’s 28th season: Identity. “I very rarely choose a season from a word,” she said. “I didn’t run across the word ‘identity’ and think ‘I’m going to do a season around this.’ It came to me from different sources. The building, news stories, personal relationships. They all seemed like it was the perfect way to speak from the building for our second season.” The second season kicked off with The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui by Bertolt Brecht, currently running through October 16th. The show features a unique stage design, forgoing the typical proscenium layout and opting for an alley theatre-style composition; one that places audience members on the stage and flanking actors on both sides. The play is an allegory to the rise of Adolf Hitler, chronicling the rise of fictional Chicago mobster as he tries to corner the cauliflower market (that’s right, cauliflower) by any means necessary.
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stage
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DEBRA S. KAPLAN
“It’s one of the most visceral wrestling matches I’ve had within myself in trying to grab onto a role,” said lead actor and Blue Barn founder Nils Haaland. “It’s fascinating because Brecht really examines what the dynamics of power are.” “Think about the time period he was writing this play in as he was fleeing Germany. I can only imagine the upheaval that was going on. You can almost feel it in the writing itself, that anxiety and heightened state. There must have been this huge tumult just in questioning your culture. ‘How could my culture, my existence, my life, all these surroundings create the capacity for this one man to attain power in such a brutal way?’” Haaland and Toberer have long paired together on theatrical endeavors, dating back to their days as students and company members at SUNY Purchase College in New York. “I couldn’t have done this show without Nils,” Toberer said. “If I couldn’t have gotten Nils to play Arturo Ui then we wouldn’t be doing it.” Even with Haaland taking up the role of Arturo Ui, Brecht’s work proved to be a monumental challenge. “We were innocent in it,” she laughed. “I spoke to everyone and made sure I had a good team around me to do it. We then found out we really didn’t know what we were getting into! It has been epic. I keep using the word ‘epic’. It refers to Brecht but it also refers to the layers and layers of style and approach and language that we are learning and dealing with.” “It’s difficult to describe,” Haaland said. “On the surface it’s very simple. You think, ‘Oh, there’s words, you memorize, you put them up and you’ve got a show. With this show, there’s so many different meanings and so many different ways to convey that meaning. It’s a seemingly simple but incredibly complex play.” The Blue Barn’s mission is ‘to provoke thought, emotion, action, and change’. It’s a mission very much in line with what many considered Brecht’s own theatrical goals to be. He was someone who sought to create
work that people could actively observe and personally interpret. “He wants you aware that you are watching a play,” Haaland said. “By doing that, you are questioning the previous convention of theatre, which was to just get immersed in it. As an artist, you have the ability to express some type of feeling during your time on earth. That feeling can be a vehicle to something larger than yourself. That’s what this play does. There’s a reason it’s being done now, during a political season, that makes perfect sense. Most importantly, you have to let your audience draw their own conclusions from it.” “I think first and foremost it’s about telling a story that makes the audience want to go out and change something in the way they live,” Toberer said. “A perspective or a viewpoint; more than normal theatre, more than going in and watching a story and getting lost and involved in the experience. Brecht wants you to do more than that. He wants you to do that in waves. He wants you to be brought out of it and know that somebody is not speaking realistically at times. You’re aware that you are being shown something that hopefully will be a catalyst for you to go out and change the world.” Such grand ambitions also provide for equally grand pressure. That pressure makes Ui a frightening show to produce, but that fright reminds Toberer why the Blue Barn is necessary in Omaha and why it exists in the first place. “It reminds me, whether I want to be reminded or not, that taking major risks in this artform is where I always want to be and where the Blue Barn always wants to be. It’s ambitious, frightening, exhilarating and we are in a space that gives us an environment to take the risks that we can only do here. I can’t imagine doing it anywhere else.” Toberer continues her conversation as we sit in the Blue Barn’s porch yard, a playing space in the rear of the building that has sizable back panels that open into the main performance space. They are lovingly called ‘The Big Damn Doors.’ So far, the doors have only been used in one show, the opening production of
cold’cream n The Omaha theatre community continues to mourn the loss of performer Joseph Miloni. A veteran of many local stages for four decades, the 61-year-old died of natural causes on August 18th. He performed most recently in the Brigit Saint Brigit Theatre’s 2013 production of The Heiress. n “He was a treasure,” said actress MaryBeth Adams. “I met him during The Heiress and we became fast friends. He knew my voice teacher from his days at Carnegie Mellon … We used to message each other late at night. He was always great fun and quick with a joke, a prayer and advice. He always knew which saint to pray too. Joe was a gem.” n “He was an amazingly-gifted artist,” said Brigit Saint Brigit Artistic Director Cathy Kurz, “and an intelligent man with an old-school respect, even reverence, for every aspect of the profession and its disciplines: vocal training, physical presentation and grace, character and script study and a generous and respectful etiquette toward his fellow players. Onstage he was magical. His peerless wit was water in the desert, and his just-get-on-with-it approach was too. So very grateful to have worked with him. A real gent.” n “Joe did many shows for me at the Norton Theatre, always operettas,” added noted costumer/director Dwayne Ibsen. He had an uncanny ability to hold a stage and then ‘eat’ the scenery. In The Red Mill, originally written for a comedy team in the early part of the century, Joe and John LaPuzza would get so carried away with unbridled silliness that they would add twenty minutes to the show every night. Audiences quickly grew to sell-outs when people heard about him. He loved Rudyard Norton and even affected his speech patterns and dapper dress. It quickly grew into the Joe Miloni everyone loved. Once, when I was having auditions at the Upstairs Dinner Theatre for children, a young man of 10 sang his song and read his lines with that same affectation. When I said ‘Could you just read those lines as yourself?’ he replied, ‘Oh, I thought I would audition like Joe Miloni!’ A memorial service for Miloni was held in August at Holy Cross Catholic Church. Send your story ideas to coldcream@thereader.com.
The Grown Up by Jordan Harrison. Since then, patrons keep asking Toberer about when the doors will be opened again. “We have a lot of years to open these doors up,” she said. “We have a lot of years to create our identity. We want to be a safe haven that gives birth to work both new and old. We want to create waves that bring in new artists from all over and bring back artists locally so
we can continue to risk and create. I can’t even think about all the different ways in the years to come when I’m long gone that these doors will open.” “The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui” by Bertolt Brecht runs through October 16th at The Blue Barn Theatre at 1106 S. 10th St. Visit bluebarn.org for more information. ,
Irresistible Nils Haaland and Susan Clement-Toberer on the set of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, which runs through Oct. 16.
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music BlackHeartBooking I
Lucas Wright still loves his hobby B Y A N N A LY N C H PHOTOGRAPHY BY DEBRA S. KAPLAN
t was backstage at the Slowdown during the first annual Stoned Meadow of Doom Fest where I first noticed it in his eyes. The founder of Black Heart Booking, who had a hand in promoting the festival, was gearing up to field my question against a muffled backdrop of dark, sludgy riffs, but I already had his answer. It was those eyes: Lucas Wright loves what he does. “This, right here, is like the fruits of the labor tonight,” Wright, 35, said while pointing toward the wall where the loud droning must’ve been blistering on the other side. “But what you don’t see happening
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during shows is the months of emails, contract negotiations, printing up of flyers and marketing. All of that stuff is necessary to make something like this happen.” For the past eight years, Wright’s one-man, DIY production company has been known for bringing punk, hardcore, metal, psychedelic, stoner and indie rock shows to the metro area. Black Heart Booking has also lined up underground hip-hop acts and an occasional stand-up comedian, including Doug Benson. It’s all a hobby if you ask Wright — a hobby that has made Omaha a destination for
obscure tours that once upon a time skipped over Nebraska altogether. “A lot of the bands I book are of a certain niche, a certain genre that some of the other places aren’t doing,” he said. “If I wanted to go see these bands at some of these shows, I’d have to drive to Kansas City or Minneapolis.” Wright, a North Platte native with 20 years of concert promotion experience, is a veteran when it comes to booking local, regional and national touring acts. The promoter said he started booking his first bands while still in high school. “I was in an Alkaline Trio cover band at one time and realized, wisely, I believe, that my talents lie off stage behind the scenes,” he said. After graduating, Wright said he snagged a job at the Ranch Bowl — a popular Omaha concert venue that closed in 2005 — and began forming relationships with local and touring bands. It was something that would pay off a year or so later when he transferred from UNO to the University of Nebraska at Kearney. In Kearney, Wright said he instantly saw a need to liven things up in what seemed to be a barren wasteland for original, live music. So he did what every other bored college student in town didn’t think to do: He started a production company. “Through some people I had met from North Platte, who had either moved to Omaha or Lincoln, or bands I met while working
at the Ranch Bowl, I started booking shows in Kearney,” he said. “That’s kind of when Black Heart really started.” Wright eventually brought his then thriving company to Omaha in 2008. But after he arrived, the promoter soon discovered he’d have to start over in his new home and build his reputation from the bottom up. “When I first got to town, bigger venues were like, ‘Who are you?’” he said. “So I had to start doing shows at underground bars and venues like the 49er and Barley Street Tavern.” The promoter’s hard work paid off, as places like Slowdown and The Waiting Room Lounge started to notice the bands he was booking. “Larger venues were like, ‘This guy knows what he’s doing, he’s bringing in some pretty talented bands,’” he said. Although Wright admits he’s tried to quit booking shows for periods of time since then, he said he’s since realized that Black Heart Booking has become too ingrained in his identity to stop. Besides, he still hasn’t lost the glow in his eyes, the love for what he does. You can see it when he’s catching up with bands he’s booked in the past or listening to local music. When I was finally able to ask Wright what his favorite part of his hobby was, he was quick to answer: “The relationships you make with people,” he said. “It’s really about the people that you know.” ,
Thursday 7 PM October 6 15 Years After 9/11 Orlando Rodriguez
After losing a son in the World Trade attacks, the grief journey led him to forgiveness, even befriending the mother of one of the hijackers. Featured in the PBS film In Our Son’s Name. See CFS website for screening dates.
Thursday 7 PM November 10 Gary Ferguson, author The Carry Home offers a powerful glimpse into how the natural world can be a critical prompt for moving through cycles of immeasurable grief, how bereavement can turn to wonder, and how one man rediscovered himself in the process of saying goodbye.
Countryside Community Church –8787 Pacific Street (The Christian Partner of the TriFaith Initiative) $10/$5 students. Group discounts available 402-391-0350 kellyk@countrysideucc.org www.centerforfaithstudies.org Click on CFS events for links to register
music
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backbeat HoppyHollow B
‘Cursive Tim Kasher (middle) and Cursive bandmates Matt Maginn (right) and Ted Stevens (left) headlined Beer Nebraska in September while Lincoln-based Zipline Brewing Co. unveiled their Cursive-themed beer, Hoppy Hollow.
JAMES WALMSLEY is The Reader’s contributing music editor and a longtime touring musician. The Michigander-turnedNebraskan came to Omaha by accident on an aimless road trip. He lives in Benson with his wife and daughter and runs a vegan restaurant (another accident) in his spare time.
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Local music meets local beer BY JAMES WALMSLEY
y remixing Cursive’s 2006 Happy Hollow LP into an IPA, the brewers at Zipline Brewing Co. have validated a sentiment that singer-songwriter Tim Kasher first voiced some 13 years ago. Art, as it turns out, is hard. The Lincoln-based brewery is calling its masterpiece Hoppy Hollow — because a craft beer is only as crafty as its punny name — which was released as a small-batch session IPA last month. It was all part of a greater pun called Beer Nebraska, a festival organized by both Hear Nebraska and Zipline that fostered a collaborative relationship between local breweries and local bands. “Happy Hollow is such a big, bombastic record in a lot of ways, but it also has its quieter points and more subtle moments and I think that’s a good parallel to a beer like ours,” said Craig Reier, Zipline’s director of marketing and events. “There’s lots and lots right up front when you’re smelling it — there’s horns, there’s hops. But there’s some really nice, subtle flavors, especially for the style.” Reier, 32, is a certified cicerone, which is, as he likes to put it, “a beer dork who took a test to prove it.” His nose bleeds an expansive beertasting vocabulary and his Coke-bottle-lens beer goggles see beauty in hops, grains and strains of yeast. When I caught up with him earlier last month on the outskirts of Lincoln at the Zipline taproom, Reier was amazed how nearly kicked
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backbeat
the Hoppy Hollow test keg was in the facility’s Omaha neighborhood. In an email, Kasher inyeast lab. It seemed no one at the brewery could timated that Hoppy Hollow isn’t necessarily the get enough of the stuff. bottled version of his conceptual apostasy. “This is probably the most excited we’ve been “We [Cursive and Zipline] had discussed what over a test batch of beer that we’ve ever done,” he we were mutually interested in, beer-wise, and said before pouring me a glass. “It’s exactly what they mentioned this session IPA they had been we talked about when we were trying to formu- tinkering with — sounded great,” he wrote. late this idea.” “’Hoppy’ Hollow seemed like the appropriate play A domestic-a in the truest sense, Hoppy Hol- on words to pair the band and brew together. We low bursts and blooms with flavor, starting with are honored to be a Neb. band paired up with a jammy punch of orange, peach and melon and what I consider to be the best brewery in Neb.” finishing with a hint of bitterness that lingers as Reier told the same tale. But as a person who begrudgingly as one of Kasher’s scathing lines. pairs beers with albums for fun, he didn’t shy It’s an IPA for people who normally don’t drink away from coming up with reasons why drinking IPAs, mirroring the accessibility of Cursive’s rela- Hoppy Hollow while listening to its companion tively lighter, less challenging album. The decep- album “makes a whole hell of a lot of sense.” The tion is in the beer’s mouth feel. It tastes bigger inaugural Beer Nebraska festival last month gave than its 4.3% ABV might dictate. So it’s easy on beer and music enthusiasts the first opportunity the tongue and less taxing on the liver (an already to make their own judgments when Cursive, Criugly organ before any additives). teria, Universe Contest, Columbia vs Challenger “I remember Tim’s one objection — well, not and Better Friend took over Zipline’s parking lot. necessarily an objection, but it was kind of funny,” For the rest who have yet to try it, a limited supply Reier recalled. “He said, ‘That all sounds awe- will be made available this month at O’Leaver’s some, but I don’t know what people are going to Pub and the Zipline taproom. think about Cursive having a low-alcohol beer.’” “The most obvious parallel to me is the creative Indeed, between Cursive and The Good Life, passion behind beer and music — you wouldn’t Kasher has made a career out of getting drunk have a good beer like Hoppy Hollow without and lamenting about being drunk. With The someone wanting to be creative, just like you Good Life, his boozing is explicit. With Cursive, wouldn’t have a good album without a creative it’s more implied, like with the unhappy deni- person behind that,” he said. “That was the overzens of his metaphorical town of Happy Hollow, arching theme of our collaboration. We’re trying which borrows its name from the well-to-do to bring those two things together.” ,
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ROUNDER RECORDS
hoodoo
ReadytoHowl RaucousRoots
CHIP DUDEN
J.D. McPherson, center, and producer-bassist Jimmy Sutton, far right, are the driving heart of J.D. McPherson’s high-octane, low-fi roots sound. McPherson and his band hit the Waiting Room Tuesday, Oct. 11, 8 p.m. with Barkum Boys opening.
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.com and on www.thereader.com.
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The 21st Saloon hosts some great music this month including award-winning soul-blues man John Németh Thursday, Oct. 6, and Texas blues-rocker Hamilton Loomis Thursday, Oct. 13. Kansas City’s Old No. 5’s perform Saturday, Oct. 15. Glorious songwriter Romi Mayes plays Wednesday, Oct. 19. Incredibly talented keyboard player and singer-songwriter Scottie Miller and his great band make a rare appearance Thursday, Oct. 20. K.C.’s guitar-driven Brandon Miller Band is up Oct. 27. The Cedric Burnside Project performs Thursday, Nov. 3. Burnside is the grandson of the late, acclaimed bluesman R.L. Burnside and is also a four-time winner of the Blues Music Award for Best Drummer. Thursday shows are 6-9 p.m. Saturday shows are 8-10 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Follow The 21st Saloon Facebook page for event listings. Fall Music of Note The annual Lincoln Calling event brings artists from many genres to multiple venues in downtown Lincoln Oct. 6-8. Of special note for roots fans is the headlining appearance by soul legend Charles Bradley and his band The Extraordinaires Saturday, Oct. 8, 10 p.m. at The Bourbon. The event also includes comedy and visual art. See lincolncalling.com for artists, venues and ticket prices. The third annual Toast of the Old Market happens Saturday, Oct. 8, with free live music at 11th & Howard St. from Kris Lager Band, Josh Hoyer & Soul Colossal, Matt Wallace & Fusion Force, Matt Cox and Luigi Inc. The hard-driving blues of Alligator Records’ Moreland & Arbuckle is spotlight-
ed Saturday, Oct. 8, at Kaneko as part of a benefit event for Taysia Blue Huskey & Malamute Rescue. See huskiesrockmalliesroll.com for details.
OCTOBER 2016
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Local & national artists from Josh Hoyer & Kris Lager to Charles Bradley, Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne, Scottie Miller & more deliver musical treats BY B.J. HUCHTEMANN
The second annual Blues & Barbecue Harvest Party Blue Heaven in Kansas and fundraiser for the Florence Mill and No More One of the biggest Midwest events celebrating traEmpty Pots happens Oct. 9, at the Florence Mill, 9102 ditional blues happens down the road from us in SaN. 30th Street. Blues and boogie-woogie master lina, KS, at Blue Heaven Studios Oct. 21 and 22. The Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne performs. The smooth 19th Annual Blues Masters at The Crossroads features and sharp-dressing Wayne is a multiple-award win- two nights of renowned blues artists on two stages inner who Living Blues magazine calls “an artist bring- cluding Sunpie Barnes, Elvin Bishop, Charlie Musing the piano back to the front ranks of contempo- selwhite, Diunna Greenleaf and more. Get all the rary blues.” See kennybluesboss.com. The $40 ticket details at blueheavenstudios.com. includes world-class blues plus barbecue from Fat BBQ Shack and TLC Downhome Foods. Proceeds go Nebraska Blues Challenge to benefit the Florence Mill and No More Empty Pots. The Blues Society of Omaha hosts their annual NeSee annualbluesbbqharvestparty.splashthat.com. braska Blues Challenge to select one local band to represent the BSO at the 2017 International Blues ChalZoo Bar Blues lenge (IBC) in Memphis, organized by the Blues FoundaHighlights on the calendar for Lincoln’s Zoo Bar tion. Watch Facebook.com/BluesSocietyOfOmaha for include The Bel Airs Wednesday, Oct. 12. Jessica updates on the events, which will be held at The 21st Hernandez & The Deltas rock the house Thursday, Saloon. Last year’s winning group, Hector Anchondo Oct. 13, 9:30 p.m. The 24th Street Wailers gig Band, went all the way to the IBC finals. They created Wednesday, Oct. 26. Southern Califorinia’s kings of quite a buzz among fans and earned a slot as one of western swing and roots-rock, Big Sandy & His Fly- the eight finalists vying for the winner’s title in the 2016 Rite Boys, play Thursday, Oct. 27. These shows are IBC out of over 250 acts. See blues.org/international6-9 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Watch zoobar.com for blues-challenge for more information. late-breaking shows. Hot Notes J.D. McPherson Rocks Mark your calendar now for the one and only PalRoots music rising star J.D. McPherson hits the adins, playing two shows at Lincoln’s Zoo Bar, MonWaiting Room Tuesday, Oct. 11, with openers the Bar- day and Wednesday, Nov. 15 and 17. kum Boys. McPherson’s rave-up recordings soaked St. Paul & The Broken Bones hit Sokol Hall Tuesin classic roots sounds are produced by Chicago roots day, Oct. 25, 8 p.m. The Omaha Jitterbugs celebrate scene mainstay Jimmy Sutton who also plays bass in Halloween with a costume dance featuring live music the band. See what kind of raw and righteous sounds from rave-up rockabilly band the 24th Street WailMcPherson throws down at jdmcpherson.com. ers, Friday, Oct. 28, 9 p.m., in the ballroom at the Eagle’s Hall, 24th & Douglas. ,
hoodoo
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A WEYERMAN FAMILY FUNDRAISER
JASON WEYERMAN
CELEBRATION
10-19-16 Omar Arts & Events
4383 Nicholas St, Omaha, Nebraska 68131 BANDS, FRIENDS, FOOD, DRINKS
6PM-11PM FIND JASON WEYERMAN MEMORIAL ON FACEBOOK AND GO FUND ME
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FILM moviepoliticshurtless Y
ears from now, we will tell our children about surviving the 2016 presidential election in much the same way our older relatives described enduring the Great Depression, Vietnam or dial-up Internet speeds. This cultural car crash, this fecesflinging sideshow, has exposed the very worst parts of America, from our media’s inability to actually do their job to the fact that we’ve got way, way more racists in the good ole USA than is acceptable … considering the acceptable number of racists is zero. I can’t wish away this carnival of chaos, this foul fanfare of falsehoods and filth. But I can give you some things to watch to take your mind off of a political process that makes desirable the inevitable apocalypse towards which we are currently slouching. Here are my Top 10 (somewhat) underrated political movies.
10.) Bullworth (1998)
In the halcyon days of 1998, Bullworth was a political farce. Given the rise of Donald Trump, it now seems like Nostradamus was in the writer’s room. Written by, directed by and starring Warren Beatty, the film follows a U.S. Senator who is losing badly in a primary race. So,
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Surviving 2016 B Y R YA N S Y R E K
obviously, he hires a hitman to kill him so his daughter can receive a life insurance payout. His death inevitable, the Senator goes loco for Coco Puffs and begins saying whatever comes to his mind, including a suggestion for racial equality wherein everybody should have sex with everybody until everybody is “the same color.” I’ll let you guess the results of the primary election. Complete with references to a single-payer health system and arguably providing the “say whatever crazy shit comes to your mind” playbook for Trump’s 2016 campaign, Bullworth is sometimes cringe-worthy but bitingly hilarious and oddly prescient. It also has a great, totally underrated score by the great Ennio Morricone that nobody remembers. 9.) The Contender (2000)
Another “ahead of its time” gem, The Contender dares to dream of a world where there’s a woman in the White House. Well, where there could be a woman in the White House … as only the Vice President … if she can get through confirmation hearings that discuss her sexual past. The breathtakingly talented Joan Allen stars as Democratic
Senator Laine Hanson, who is chosen by the President (Jeff Bridges) to be his new VP, after the sitting veep suddenly dies. The Contender is a whip-smart deconstruction of the double standard that Hillary Clinton is currently living through. Questions about Hanson’s qualifications are reduced to her alleged involvement in a lurid collegiate sex party. It’s not quite the simple sexism of the “talk less, smile more” critique Clinton is besieged by, but it serves to expose the same mentality. It’s also sadly worth noting that this movie came out 16 years ago, and a woman in the Oval Office remains a work of fiction. 8.) The Ides of March (2011)
Written by, directed by and starring George Clooney, this dark tale could possibly make you feel better about the real world by comparison, provided you don’t think about how many reallife events likely inspired it. Young campaign hotshot Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling) discovers some super gross and bad things about Mike Morris (Clooney), the presidential candidate whose campaign he helps run. It’s one of those films where it turns out everybody is actually terrible and awful and nobody deserves to have anything good happen to them. Fun! Oftentimes political movies, even ones that intend to serve as a critique, gloss over blemishes and flaws with a “feel good” ending or positive spin. The Ides of March does not. It is an unflinchingly grim condemnation of the type of people who largely populate our political system. Honestly, thinking about it now, it feels like the 2016 presidential election took this movie as a dare… 7.) Wag the Dog (1997)
Spin doctor Conrad Brean (Robert De Niro) is tasked with distracting the public from advances made by the President of the United States towards an underaged girl. Literally, the only thing that could do that would be a war. So he invents one. He hires Hollywood producer Stanley Motss (Dustin Hoffman) to fake a conflict with Albania. Believe it or not, it gets weirder from there… Yet another example of being “ahead of its time,” Wag the Dog can now be viewed in context of the alt-right conspiracy theorists who believe shit like this actually happens. The drooling mouthbreathers who think that Sandy Hook was staged and that Hillary Clinton is employing a doppelganger are the logical extension of the gullible public sent up in this satire. Guys, this list is making me more and more depressed. 6.) Good Night, and Good Luck (2005)
The second Clooney-directed film on this list, the film tells the story of Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) and his fight against Joseph McCarthy. The film is intended to be a testimonial for the power of television journalism to fight against political fearmongering. This is depressing because fearmongering is now exactly what it is television journalists seem to do. Despite fear of reprisal, Murrow’s assault on McCarthyism is hella inspiring. Compare this real story of a newsman risking everything to tell the truth with Matt Lauer’s inability to provide a single fact-check in the dog-and-pony political farce that occurred this year with Trump and Clinton. Actually, don’t. Don’t do that. You’ll just get sadder. I’m really making things worse, aren’t I?
Black Orpheus 1959
Omaha Steaks Classics
Dundee Revival
A series celebrating the Dundee Theater’s art-house history while looking forward to its future. King Kong* 1933
The Magnificent Ambersons 1942
Oct 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 13 Oliver Twist* 1948 Oct 15, 16, 20, 22, 23, 27 Black Orpheus 1959 Oct 22 & 24 La ronde 1950 Oct 23 & 27
Nov 7 & 9
Jules and Jim 1962 313 N. 13TH STREET / LINCOLN, NE Nov 13 & 17 The Blue Angel 1930 Nov 12 & 16 SHOWING IN OCTOBER Wild Strawberries 1957
Nov 19 & 21 Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages 1922 The Seventh Seal 1957 Oct 29 & 31
8 ½ 1963
Nov 5 & 10
* Cross-over with Forever Young Family & Children’s Series
Nov 20 & 22 Marx Brothers Double Feature*: Duck Soup 1933 Room Service 1938 Nov 26, 27, Dec 1, 3, 4 & 8
All showings at Film Streams’ Ruth Sokolof Theater. Info & tickets at filmstreams.org.
5.) V for Vendetta (2005)
It is now apparent that this has become a list of movies that express my deep discontent for our current political process. I’m just going with it now … V for Vendetta is set in a dystopian England under totalitarian rule. Basically, it’s utopia if you’re Vladimir Putin (or apparently Trump). A scar-faced, weapon-wielding anarchist (Hugo Weaving) and a young proto-revolutionary, Evey (Natalie Portman), must stand against oppression using every tool available, from knives to consonance. The worst thing about V for Vendetta is mostly the people who are way too into V for Vendetta. I’m not talking about the hacktivists in Anonymous. They may be vigilantes with some suspect behaviors, but they do cool stuff like take down kiddie porn purveyors and help foster anti-dictatorial revolutions. This movie is basically a reminder to vote this November. Or else.
313 N. 13TH STREET / LINCOLN, NE
SHOWING IN OCTOBER
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y continued from page 67 4.) Where to Invade Next (2015)
I get that Michael Moore is a divisive figure and that even those with a liberal bias are wont to find him a wee bit irritating. This is probably his least controversial film, which is why nobody saw it. The conceit is pretty dumb: He “invades” countries to take their ideas. Essentially, it’s a whistle-stop tour of countries whose governments do some things better and smarter than ours. That’s really not hard to do, as we can’t even seem to pass a bill that funds protection against a disease (Zika) that’s mutilating our babies. Fitting with my larger theme of being very depressed about the state of things, this documentary shows how easy it would be to put in place minor changes that could have massive consequences. These include stronger worker protections, education reform and remembering that women are profoundly brilliant and unfairly shunned from leadership positions where they could probably save all our stupid asses if we’d let them. Does that sound bitter? This list is making me bitter. I need something to drink. 3.) W. (2008)
I’m one of the few people who champion the shit out of this movie. Not only is Josh Brolin’s non-impression a glorious example of the way actors should tackle biographic roles, the film is a decidedly sophisticated take on a spectacularly unsophisticated public figure. In general, I’m fascinated by any document, fictional or otherwise, that attempts to keep alive the questions and issues surrounding that one time we went to war on a “whoops.” I almost included The Green Zone on this list for that same reason, because it hammers home the point that questions about reasons why we went to war and killed thousands are the most important questions of all. And yet, the current election cycle has spun so far away from those issues that we have a candidate suggesting President Obama “created ISIS,” something that was a direct result of the actions depicted in W. Ugh, are you drinking yet? If you’ve made it this far on the list, you should really be drinking. 2.) Idiocracy (2006)
You’ve probably heard people discussing this overlooked comedy gem in the context of Trump. The fictional president in this movie, Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho (Terry Crews), may actually be more qualified than Trump. Camacho was a former porn star and professional wrestler, whereas Trump once fired Gary Busey. The whole movie is a satire that involves
a man who is considered dumb in our time waking up in the future to find himself the smartest man in America.We are fast approaching science-reality with this science-fiction. This may be a comedy, but don’t be fooled, it will still do the work that the rest of this list does and make you sad about the state of things. Jokes about corporations’ involvement in government and a hatred of science facts won’t make you laugh so much as cringe with how they’ve become so powerfully true. Go ahead and finish the rest of that drink, I’ll wait. I promise you, the number one movie on this list is not a downer. I at least saved one good thing for you. 1.) Starship Troopers (1997)
Hell yeah, Starship Troopers! This gloriously violent, spectacularly weird sci-fi madness is an all-time favorite of mine and a hell of a political indictment. Right now, there’s a national discussion taking place that’s mostly focusing on the wrong things (go figure). Hopefully, you’ve been drinking, but stay with me. San Francisco 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick has been staging a protest in defense of the Black Lives Matter movement and against police brutality in general. This has evolved to him taking a knee during a national anthem. Athletes in other sports, like Megan Rapinoe in soccer, and other football players have joined in. So we are all talking about the horrible injustices that are routinely perpetrated on people of color by the authorities, right? Nope! Tons of people are mad because this protest “disrespects the troops,” as though taking a knee during a song that includes a shoutout to slave murder is somehow anti-military. The point is, Starship Troopers is a glorious ode to false patriotism, specifically to the abuses and propaganda that our brave men and women in uniform are subjected to on a routine basis. The film suggests that maybe the most patriotic thing to do is to not send military volunteers to die. Oh, and maybe we shouldn’t use their bravery to manipulate the public. In fact, if you listen to a large number of well-spoken, awesome vets, they describe Kaepernick’s protest as the very sort of thing they are proud to defend. This movie is at once a compelling indictment of rah-rah moronic faux patriotism and a hell of a fun time. In fact, I’m going to escape into a world where we’re fighting giant alien bugs and not the involvement of white supremacist groups into our national election, because giant alien bugs are way more pleasant. ,
‘cutting’room n Omaha filmmakers have long kicked ass, but now they also kick “gates.” That is to say, Kicking the Gates, a new docu-series about girls’ and women’s soccer, has cleared its funding goal, appropriately via Kickstarter. The pilot episode, which is in preproduction, will follow three different players at three key stages: youth, college and pro. It helps to have a gold medalist on the team, and Kicking the Gates has Heather Mitts, who (no big whoop) who owns a trio of Olympic gold medals and is executive producing. Alongside her is Nik Fackler, an Omaha-based director best known for his 2008 flick Lovely, Still. Honestly, even if there wasn’t an Omaha connection, I’d be hella into this. As a new convert to futbol, I’ve taken much stronger to the women’s game than the men’s, what with less of the whining and the flopping. Hit up kickingthegates.com for more info on the series. n One of the coolest things they do over at Film Streams, long the purveyors of cool things, is to have a live band perform over silent films. Once again, Alloy Orchestra will head down to the Ruth Sokolof Theater to provide live music to Variete, which has murder and acrobats, inarguably the world’s greatest combination. The show is set for Sunday, Oct. 9, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $16 general admission, $14 for students, teachers, seniors and military and a mere $10 for members! Again, to recap: Live music, acrobats and murder. What more do you want? n I absolutely adored the Adam West version of Batman because I have two eyes, a brain and a heart filled with wonder. Thus, I’m elated that the upcoming animated DC movie, Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders will be shown in theaters on Monday, Oct. 10. Featuring the voices of West and Burt Ward, as Robin, this colorful and goofy romp will show at 2 p.m., 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. at participating theaters. Given the bleak, joyless misery that comprises the current DC movie landscape, the potential of seeing something fun set in this world is almost indescribable. Okay, I can think of a few descriptors: BAM! SOCKO! KERPLOW! — Ryan Syrek Cutting Room provides breaking local and national movie news … complete with added sarcasm. Send any relevant information to film@thereader.com. Check out Ryan on Movieha!, a weekly halfhour movie podcast (movieha.libsyn.com/rss), catch him on the radio on CD 105.9 (cd1059.com) on Fridays at around 7:30 a.m. and on KVNO 90.7 (kvno.org) at 8:30 a.m. on Fridays and follow him on Twitter (twitter.com/thereaderfilm).
IDIOCRACY
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omaha’billboard RUMMAGE SALE
Come & Support, All Saints Episcopal Church, 9302 Blondo Street. One day Only Friday Oct 14th, 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.
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A New Moon Dr. Mysterian has seen a future where the night sky has two moons, one cold and gray and familiar, one red and hot and new. This new moon will have been an asteroid that passed close enough to earth to become caught in its gravitation, and began to spin closer and closer, a decaying orbit that would eventually end with it entering the earth’s atmosphere, which would have been fatal to all life on earth. Instead, the asteroid will be detonated. The force of the detonation will put the asteroid on a stable orbit, but will also smash it, and the fragments will be pushed together again by the force of gravity, which will release enough energy to make the new moon a ball of flame. This will be an earth that will not know night anymore, not as we once did, but instead will be bathed in an eerie red glow, the light of our near extinction.
Tomorrow’s Garments The next big trend in fashion will bring about the end of clothing as we know it. Instead, the future will bring around a sophisticated sort of plastic surgery that will allow people to modify their bodies, quickly and reversibly, based on their needs. When shoes are needed, a spray will harden the bottoms of feet so that people can walk over any surface without injury. When coats are needed, a different spray will provide a growth of fur. And on like this: heads sculpted into hats, legs covered with feathers, torsos covered with scales. All dependent on our needs, all instantly available and instantly reversible.which will be its purpose.
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The fastest growing religion in the next decade will be Satanism, to the shock and horror of many mainstream
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Americans. By 2025, more Americans will tell surveys that they are Satanists than Jews or Muslims combined. There will be several branches of the movement. The first will take it seriously as a religion, while the second will treat Satanism as satire, an opportunity to make fun of established religion and challenge laws that seem to favor religions. The latter group will be the most visible, insisting on their right to place Satanic ornaments next to Christmas trees in public places, standing alongside evangelists at college campus and passing out one copy of Satanic literature for every Bible passed out. Ultimately, these pranksters will be doing us a favor, as their behavior will cause members of other religions to panic and support laws that make clear the distinction between church and state. For more on these predictions and others by Dr. Mysterian visit thereader.com.
Bruce Crawford & The Nebraska Kidney Association presents‌ Friday, Nov . 4th 7:00 p.m. Joslyn Art Museum Witherspoon Hall On the stage-wide screen! Doors open at 6 p.m. 2200 Dodge St. Omaha, NE 68102 Tickets $23.00
On sale NOW at Omaha Hy-Vee grocery stores Limited tickets also available at the door A Benefit for the Nebraska Kidney Association
For more information call 402-932-7200