Blog Feed: Leo Adam Biga's Blog

Compassion in Action's move to the former Wesley House campus at 2001 North 35th Street is symbolic for CIA founder-executive director Teela Mickles. Her nonprofit serving men, women and children touched by the judicial and penal system will return

Tapestries to celebrate Omaha neighborhoods; Theater by any other name

Published on 2013-05-20 22:08:34

The play's still the thing with the Great Plains Theatre Conference but organizers are making a concerted effort to expand theater's definition in order to connect more people to it. The May 26-29 PlayFest is the Metropolitan Community College con

Artists running with opportunity to go to the next level; Carver Bank resident artists bring new life to area

Published on 2013-05-20 16:46:08

The inaugural resident artists at the Carver Bank cultural center couldn't be more unalike in some ways and more congruent in others. Carver is the new Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts and Rebuild Foundation endeavor at 2416 Lake Street that house

Just returned from Hollywood to visit Alexander Payne finish “Nebraska”; Watch for my coming stories about what I observed

Published on 2013-05-18 11:54:33

Just returned from three days in Hollywood with Alexander Payne to observe the final mix process on his highly anticipated new film "Nebraska." I was privileged to see the film in its entirety at a screening on the Paramount lot. It's a superb work

Come to My Next Alexander Payne Book Signing: Saturday, May 11 at The Bookworm in Omaha

Published on 2013-05-09 12:50:35

Come to my 1 pm signing this Saturday, May 11 at The Bookworm in Countryside Village. I’ll be signing my book, “Alexander Payne: His Journey in Film.” I had a great response there the first time and I’m hoping to repeat the ma

Come to My Next Alexander Payne Book Signing: Saturday, May 11 at The Bookworm in Omaha

Published on 2013-05-09 12:50:35

Bruce Crawford’s Unexpected Movie-Movie Life, Omahan Salutes Classic Hollywood Films with Panache: See Shirley Jones and ‘Carousel” May 24

Published on 2013-05-01 13:31:29

When Omaha impresario Bruce Crawford introduces legendary stage-screen star Shirley Jones at a May 24 screening of Carousel it will mark the 32nd time he's celebrated Hollywood royalty at one of his film events. The 7 p.m. event will be at Joslyn A

Bruce Crawford’s Unexpected Movie-Movie Life, Omahan Salutes Classic Hollywood Films with Panache: See Shirley Jones and ‘Carousel” May 24

Published on 2013-05-01 13:31:29

Shirley Jones Interview: Classic Hollywood Star to Appear at May 24 Omaha Screening of ‘Carousel’

Published on 2013-05-01 11:12:54

Shirley Jones Interview: Classic Hollywood Star to Appear at May 24 Omaha Screening of ‘Carousel’

Published on 2013-05-01 11:12:54

The Old Market’s Late Godfather Samuel Mercer Casts Long Shadow in Omaha

Published on 2013-04-28 07:41:47

The Old Market's undisputed godfather, Samuel Mercer, passed away Feb. 5 at his home in Honfleur, France. He was 92. Services were held at Trinity Episcopal Church in Omaha. This continental bon vivant was not a typical Nebraskan. The son of promine

The Old Market’s Late Godfather Samuel Mercer Casts Long Shadow in Omaha

Published on 2013-04-28 07:41:47

Laura Love: Omaha’s High Yaller Gal Comes Home

Published on 2013-04-27 12:45:55

Omaha native Laura Love defies labels. As a light-skinned, Seattle-based, African American singer-songwriter whose work gravitates to folk, country, bluegrass Americana, she’s heard it all. That she’s not a down sister. That acoustic roots music

Laura Love: Omaha’s High Yaller Gal Comes Home

Published on 2013-04-27 12:45:55

Kevin Lawler Guides Ever Evolving Theater Conference to Put More Focus on Fewer Plays and Playwrights and to Connect Deeper with Community

Published on 2013-04-27 12:06:24

Plays and playwrights remain "the heart" of the May 25-June 1 Great Plains Theatre Conference, which is now in its eighth year, says producing artistic director Kevin Lawler. But since assuming leadership over this Metropolitan Community College-host

Kevin Lawler Guides Ever Evolving Theater Conference to Put More Focus on Fewer Plays and Playwrights and to Connect Deeper with Community

Published on 2013-04-27 12:06:24

Bro. Mike Wilmot and Gesu Housing: Building Neighborhoods and Community, One House at a Time

Published on 2013-04-27 11:15:54

Jesuit brother Mike Wilmot prefers his actions to speak for him more than his words. Lately those actions have helped put several first-time home buyers in new houses. After years coaching-teaching at Omaha Creighton Prep, then doing humanitarian mi

Bro. Mike Wilmot and Gesu Housing: Building Neighborhoods and Community, One House at a Time

Published on 2013-04-27 11:15:54

Good Time to Get Your Copy of the Alexander Payne Book

Published on 2013-04-25 19:08:53

When Alexander Payne’s new film Nebraska was recently accepted into the main competiton at Cannes, it signaled this black and white, wide screen comedy is going to be a festival heavyweight. Payne is very likely to be lionized to a whole new

Good Time to Get Your Copy of the Alexander Payne Book

Published on 2013-04-25 19:08:53

Wounded Knee Still a Battleground for Some Per New Book by Journalist-Author Stew Magnuson

Published on 2013-04-20 10:00:17

Journalist and author Stew Magnuson's new book Wounded Knee 1973: Still Bleeding finds virtually every survivor of that 71-day occupation on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in S.D. sullied in some way. The book by this Omaha native, who did a P

Wounded Knee Still a Battleground for Some Per New Book by Journalist-Author Stew Magnuson

Published on 2013-04-20 10:00:17

Omaha Playwright Beaufield Berry Comes into Her Own: Her Original Comedy ‘Psycho Ex Girlfriend’ Now Playing

Published on 2013-04-20 09:10:36

Everything about one of Omaha's bright new playwrights bespeaks exotica, starting with her name, Beaufield Berry. This biracial, bicoastal creative with model good looks has worked as an actor, a singer, a VIP dancer, a burlesque performer, a mud wre

Omaha Playwright Beaufield Berry Comes into Her Own: Her Original Comedy ‘Psycho Ex Girlfriend’ Now Playing

Published on 2013-04-20 09:10:36

Brad Ashford Reflects on Recent Omaha Mayoral Primary Loss and the Politics He Espouses

Published on 2013-04-19 13:14:30

State Sen. Brad Ashford's poor showing in the April 2 Omaha mayoral primary isn't deterring him from future elected office bids. The one-time Democrat and long-time Republican ignored advisors and ran as an independent against major party-backed o

Brad Ashford Reflects on Recent Omaha Mayoral Primary Loss and the Politics He Espouses

Published on 2013-04-19 13:14:30

The Omaha Star Celebrates 75 Years of Black Woman Legacy

Published on 2013-04-11 09:23:06

In this fluid transmedia age an old warhorse of a newspaper, the Omaha Star, celebrates 75 years of continuous publication at an April 19 Scholarship Banquet benefiting the Mildred D. Brown Memorial Study Center. The Star may not be known for except

Louder Than a Bomb Omaha Youth Slam Poetry Festival: “the point is the poetry, the point is the people”

Published on 2013-04-11 08:11:20

As the Louder Than a Bomb Omaha Youth Poetry Festival draws to a close after weeks of preliminary bouts and last Sunday’s semi-finals, it appears slam poetry is a new outlet for that rite-of-passage known as adolescence. The 2013 team finals pitti

Ex-Reporter Eileen Wirth Pens Book on Nebraska Women in Journalism and their Leap from Society Page to Front Page

Published on 2013-03-22 12:08:22

Eileen Wirth doesn't fit the usual notion of a revolutionary but that's exactly what she's been during her three careers. Wherever she's worked, whether as a reporter or public relations practitioner or academic, she's broken gender barriers. As the

Ex-Reporter Eileen Wirth Pens Book on Nebraska Women in Journalism and their Leap from Society Page to Front Page

Published on 2013-03-22 12:08:22

Documentary Shines Light on Civil Rights Powerbroker Whitney Young, Producer Bonnie Boswell to Discuss the Film and Young

Published on 2013-03-21 18:41:42

The civil rights and black power movements seem distant from Omaha until noting that Whitney Young Jr. cut his teeth as an advocate-organizer here and Malcolm X was born here. While Malcolm X moved with his family from Omaha as a child and only retu

Documentary Shines Light on Civil Rights Powerbroker Whitney Young, Producer Bonnie Boswell to Discuss the Film and Young

Published on 2013-03-21 18:41:42

Omaha Film Festival Features Strong Lineup of Offering, including ‘The Sapphires’ and ‘Breaking Night’

Published on 2013-03-09 16:38:43

Caught the Omaha Film Festival's opening night screening of The Sapphires on Wednesday and was completely taken with it. It's a feel-good movie with some real soul and depth and bite to it. It's certainly not a great film from an aesthetic point of

Omaha Film Festival Features Strong Lineup of Offering, including ‘The Sapphires’ and ‘Breaking Night’

Published on 2013-03-09 16:38:43

My Two Moms: Zach Wahls Brings His Message of Equality to UNO Human Rights Lecture Series

Published on 2013-03-05 00:11:38

With gay marriage being assailed during an Iowa House Judiciary Committee public hearing in 2011 Zach Wahls offered counter testimony that not only charged the proceedings but the national dialogue about the issue. Raised by same sex partners, Wahl

My Two Moms: Zach Wahls Brings His Message of Equality to UNO Human Rights Lecture Series

Published on 2013-03-05 00:11:38

Live Wires: Institute for Career Advancement Needs (ICAN) Nurtures Leadership

Published on 2013-03-01 16:12:36

With the Institute for Career Advancement Needs 30-plus years old now and its annual Women's Leadership Conference celebrating 20 years April 3, the not-for-profit has entered the ranks of established Omaha institutions. ICAN's footprint ICAN's rep

Live Wires: Institute for Career Advancement Needs (ICAN) Nurtures Leadership

Published on 2013-03-01 16:12:36

Yolonda Ross Adds Writer-Director to Actress Credits; She’s in New Movies by David Mamet and John Sayles aas her Own ‘Breaking Night’ Makes the Festival Circuit

Published on 2013-02-28 17:45:41

You may not know the name but for more than a decade now Omaha native Yolonda Ross has been a stalwart actress in American independent cinema and quality television movies and episodic dramas. Before recently working with a pair of star indie writer

Omaha Film Festival Highlight: Yolonda Ross Adds Writer-Director to Actress Credits; In New Movies by Mamet and Sayles as her Own ‘Breaking Night’ Makes the Festival Circuit

Published on 2013-02-28 17:45:41

Matched Set: Susan Baer Collins and Carl Beck Share a Life and Career Based in Theater at the Omaha Community Playhouse

Published on 2013-02-27 18:28:09

A shared passion for theater has kept Susan Baer Collins and Carl Beck joined at the hip despite countless moves and significant life changes. If they were a production, Collins-Beck would be a sensation for their show-must-go-on endurance. A year-

Matched Set: Susan Baer Collins and Carl Beck Share a Life and Career Based in Theater at the Omaha Community Playhouse

Published on 2013-02-27 18:28:09

Opera Omaha Co-Production of ‘The Magic Flute’ Casts Enchanting Spell

Published on 2013-02-25 12:01:11

Opera Omaha Co-Production of ‘The Magic Flute’ Casts Enchanting Spell

Published on 2013-02-25 12:01:11

Harsh Life Revealed in Memoir Gives Way to Growth: Ruth Marimo Comes Out of Silence to Assert Her Voice

Published on 2013-02-14 09:33:21

Four years ago Ruth Marimo sat in the Cass County Jail contemplating suicide. The mother of two and then-undocumented immigrant from Zimbabwe, Africa was there because her estranged husband, whom she says verbally and physically abused her, reported

Harsh Life Revealed in Memoir Gives Way to Growth: Ruth Marimo Comes Out of Silence to Assert Her Voice

Published on 2013-02-14 09:33:21

I Will Be Selling and Signing Copies of My Alexander Payne Book at the Feb 16 Author Fair

Published on 2013-02-11 08:47:06

I Will Be Selling and Signing Copies of My Alexander Payne Book at the Feb 16 Author Fair

Published on 2013-02-11 08:47:06

Spoken Word Soul Sisters Stir the Verbal Gumbo Pot to Keep it Real and Flavorful

Published on 2013-02-09 16:21:42

Soul sister poetesses Michelle Troxclair and Felicia "WithLove" Webster stir the pot to make the spicy mix of Verbal Gumbo, the spoken word series throwing down the third Thursday of every month at House of Loom. The artists launched the series las

Spoken Word Soul Sisters Stir the Verbal Gumbo Pot to Keep it Real and Flavorful

Published on 2013-02-09 16:21:42

Beaty’s One-Man Dramatization of the Diaspora Considers What Freedom Looks Like for African Americans

Published on 2013-02-08 15:39:08

When writer-actor-composer Daniel Beaty conjures the 25-plus characters he portrays in his provocative one-man show, Emergency, it's well to remember his riffs on the African-American experience are informed by his own life. His award-winning play,

Beaty’s One-Man Dramatization of the Diaspora Considers What Freedom Looks Like for African Americans

Published on 2013-02-08 15:39:08

Coming Home: Watie White’s Public Art Installation Tells Stories of North Omaha Home and Family

Published on 2013-02-07 00:00:26

On its face Watie White's new public art project at an abandoned North Omaha house could be construed as a privileged white guy coming into the black community to impose his perceptions on that place and its people. But that’s not the case with hi

Coming Home: Watie White’s Public Art Installation Tells Stories of North Omaha Home and Family

Published on 2013-02-07 00:00:26

Alexander Payne Book News: Catch me on TV and Come to Signings

Published on 2013-02-05 16:30:13

Alexander Payne Book News: Catch me on TV and Come to Signings

Published on 2013-02-05 16:30:13

Mid-Century Modern Leaves Its Mark

Published on 2013-02-04 16:10:55

In post-World War II America a contemporary design style borne of the modernist movement and emphasizing a balance of form and function, came to the attention of visionary Omaha developers and architects. The resulting homes and buildings completed i

Mid-Century Modern Leaves Its Mark

Published on 2013-02-04 16:10:55

Opera Omaha Enlists Jun Kaneko for New Take on ‘The Magic Flute’ – Coproduction of Mozart Masterpiece Features Stunning Designs Setting the Opera World Abuzz

Published on 2013-02-01 08:34:47

A new Opera Omaha co-production of Mozart's masterwork The Magic Flute featuring costumes, sets and animations three years in the making by internationally acclaimed Omaha artist Jun Kaneko is making waves in the opera world. Following performances o

Opera Omaha Enlists Jun Kaneko for New Take on ‘The Magic Flute’ – Coproduction of Mozart Masterpiece Features Stunning Designs Setting the Opera World Abuzz

Published on 2013-02-01 08:34:47

An Anti-Drug War Manifesto Documentary Frames Discussion: Cost of Criminalizing Nonviolent Drug Offenders Comes Home

Published on 2013-01-31 21:48:09

The much-feted 2012 documentary The House I Live In provokes dialogue wherever it plays for its critique of America's domestic War on Drugs. Following a January 22 Film Streams screening before a full house a local panel discussed the film's potent t

An Anti-Drug War Manifesto Documentary Frames Discussion: Cost of Criminalizing Nonviolent Drug Offenders Comes Home

Published on 2013-01-31 21:48:09

Salvation Army Kroc Center and Omaha Conservatory of Music Partner to Give Kids New Opportunities

Published on 2013-01-28 12:45:36

Last fall a meant-to-be match became reality when the Omaha Conservatory of Music began offering music classes at the Salvation Army Kroc Center in South Omaha. OCM provides top-notch instructors and instruments and the Kroc eager students and first-

Bob Hoig’s Unintended Entree into Journalism is Six Decades Strong Now

Published on 2013-01-24 18:52:57

Midlands Business Journal publisher Bob Hoig has often wondered how his life might have turned out had his curiosity not gotten the better of him one fateful day in 1957. He was a young man recently arrived in New York City after years pining to go

Saving One Kid at a Time is Beto’s Life Work

Published on 2013-01-24 06:48:07

Alberto "Beto" Gonzales believes working one-on-one with youths is the best way to reach them. His work as a mentor and gang prevention-intervention specialist has earned him much recognition, most recently the Martin Luther King Jr. Legacy Award fro

Finding Her Voice: Tunette Powell Comes Out of the Dark and into the Spotlight

Published on 2013-01-23 21:23:58

When she dreamed of rap stardom back in her hometown of San Antonio, Texas Tunette Powell went by Short Stack. Today, Tunette will do. After years of search and struggle and a need for attention she fed with men, the 26-year-old Bellevue Neb. residen

Two Old Market Fixtures Celebrate Milestones

Published on 2013-01-18 17:53:27

Signature Old Market spot M's Pub celebrates 40 years in business this year. It's a milestone for any independently owned restaurant. But reaching four decades takes on added meaning because when M's opened in 1973 (a planned 1972 opening was delayed

Two Old Market Fixtures Celebrate Milestones

Published on 2013-01-18 17:53:27

When New Horizons Dawned for African Americans in Omaha

Published on 2013-01-16 19:21:36

It took the civil rights movement to bring segregation in the United States into sharp relief. The South was the epicenter of the racial equality battle but American-style apartheid as well as attempts to dismantle it were everywhere, including Nebra

When New Horizons Dawned for African Americans in Omaha

Published on 2013-01-16 19:21:36

Biga Talks Alexander Payne and Signs Copies of New Book at Omaha Press Club

Published on 2013-01-14 12:43:54

Biga Talks Alexander Payne and Signs Copies of New Book at Omaha Press Club As a freelance journalist most readily identified with the alternative, even fringe publications I contribute to, it’s rare to get an establishment media platform of an

Biga Talks Alexander Payne and Signs Copies of New Book at Omaha Press Club

Published on 2013-01-14 12:43:54

American adoptee’s discovery of his birth parents reveals a story of interrupted romance and regal ancestry

Published on 2013-01-08 07:31:21

The crowded, cantankerous West African nation of Nigeria, where ju ju charms still hold sway and civil unrest brews, is where former Omahan Marty Johnson travels in December for his initiation into a royal lineage he uncovered this year. The 38-year

American adoptee’s discovery of his birth parents reveals a story of interrupted romance and African regal ancestry

Published on 2013-01-08 07:31:21

Payne’s ‘Nebraska’ a Blend of Old and New as He Brings Indiewood Back to the State and Reconnects with Tried and True Crew on His First Black and White Film

Published on 2013-01-06 09:57:55

Alexander Payne's decision to make Nebraska in his home state brought into sharp relief some realities with large implications for his own work and prospects for more studio films getting made here. The state's favorite son had not shot a single fra

Payne’s ‘Nebraska’ a Blend of Old and New as He Brings Indiewood Back to the State and Reconnects with Tried and True Crew on His First Black and White Film

Published on 2013-01-06 09:57:55

Upcoming Alexander Payne Book Events

Published on 2013-01-02 21:19:20

Upcoming Alexander Payne Book Events

Published on 2013-01-02 21:19:20

The Wonderful World of Artist and Social Entrepreneur Jeffrey Owen Hanson

Published on 2013-01-01 15:41:47

The unexpected artist Self-taught artist Jeffrey Owen Hanson likes saying "I see through Swiss cheese" to explain the visual impairment an optic nerve tumor left him and the unique way it gives him of apprehending the world. Chemotherapy and radiati

The Wonderful World of Artist and Social Entrepreneur Jeffrey Owen Hanson

Published on 2013-01-01 15:41:47

The Troy Davis Story: From Beyond the Fringe to Fringes Salon

Published on 2012-12-27 12:14:22

Leading Omaha hair dresser Troy Davis long ago showed an educational and entrepreneurial knack for his craft and for building the Edgeworthy brand at Fringes Salon & Spa in the Old Market. Now that his mentor and longtime business partner, Fringes fo

The Troy Davis Story: From Beyond the Fringe to Fringes Salon

Published on 2012-12-27 12:14:22

Entrepreneur and Craftsman John Hargiss Invests in North Omaha: Stringed Instrument Maker Envisons Ambitious Plans for his New Hargissville Digs

Published on 2012-12-26 15:57:58

The subtle twang in the voice of stringed instrument-maker and roots musician John Hargiss betrays his southern Missouri Ozarks origins. As a boy he learned acoustic guitar under his musician-craftsman-woodsman father's instruction. As a young man he

Entrepreneur and Craftsman John Hargiss Invests in North Omaha: Stringed Instrument Maker Envisons Ambitious Plans for his New Hargissville Digs

Published on 2012-12-26 15:57:58

Old Market Pioneer Roger duRand

Published on 2012-12-26 15:01:20

Omaha designer Roger duRand didn't invent the Old Market, but he played a key role shaping the former wholesale produce and jobbing center into a lively arts-culture district. His imprint on this historic urban residential-commercial environment is

Old Market Pioneer Roger duRand

Published on 2012-12-26 15:01:20

Show a Little Tenderness; For Her 40th Birthday Kirsten Case Asked Friends to Perform Acts of Kindness

Published on 2012-12-14 10:33:04

As her 40th birthday approached last fall Kirsten Case decided to celebrate the milestone in a most unusual way. The Literacy Center executive director used her personal blog to encourage friends and strangers alike to perform 40 Acts of Kindness in

Show a Little Tenderness; For Her 40th Birthday Kirsten Case Asked Friends to Perform Acts of Kindness

Published on 2012-12-14 10:33:04

Shirley Knight Interview

Published on 2012-12-05 21:40:02

Shirley Knight Interview

Published on 2012-12-05 21:40:02

Carver Building Rebirthed as Arts-culture Haven; Theaster Gates, Rebuild and Bemis Reimagine North Omaha

Published on 2012-12-05 11:28:14

A once prominent but long vacant building in Omaha's African-American hub is now reborn thanks to catalysts bridging the divide between need and opportunity. The former Carver Savings and Loan Association at 2416 Lake St. was Omaha's first black-own

Carver Building Rebirthed as Arts-culture Haven; Theaster Gates, Rebuild and Bemis Reimagine North Omaha

Published on 2012-12-05 11:28:14

Free Radical Ernie Chambers the Subject of New Biography by Author Tekla Agbala Ali Johnson

Published on 2012-12-05 10:40:12

It's fitting a new book taking the measure of Nebraska politico legend Ernie Chambers is out just as this old social justice warhorse has proven he still owns the people's will. In the Nov. 6 general election the 75-year-old Chambers demonstrated th

Free Radical Ernie Chambers the Subject of New Biography by Author Tekla Agbala Ali Johnson

Published on 2012-12-05 10:40:12

New Alexander Payne book events for December and January

Published on 2012-12-02 12:43:55

New Alexander Payne book events for December and January My book “Alexander Payne: His Journey in Film” is getting crazy good endorsements (see below). Come out and support the project at any of the new talks and signings I am doing in De

New Alexander Payne book events for December and January

Published on 2012-12-02 12:43:55

Dick Cavett is the latest luminary to endorse my Alexander Payne book

Published on 2012-11-30 16:24:47

“Alexander Payne richly deserves this astute book about his work by Leo Biga. I say this as a fan of both of theirs; and would be one even if I weren’t from Nebraska.” - Dick Cavett

Dick Cavett is the latest luminary to endorse my Alexander Payne book

Published on 2012-11-30 16:24:47

“Alexander Payne richly deserves this astute book about his work by Leo Biga. I say this as a fan of both of theirs; and would be one even if I weren’t from Nebraska.” - Dick Cavett

Parenting the Second Time Around Holds Challenges and Delights for Senior Kinship Caregiver Theresa Glass Union, Who Always Puts Family First

Published on 2012-11-25 06:22:11

After raising three daughters in the 1970s-1980s and nearing retirement in the early 2000s, Theresa Glass Union thought she knew what her later years would look like. Even though still working, she envisioned socializing and traveling with friends an

Heartland Latino Leadership Conference Features Dynamic Speakers for Networking, Motivational, Recognition Events

Published on 2012-11-24 08:12:46

Joaquin Zihuatanejo went from award-winning classroom teacher to world champion poet. In finding his bliss he's living proof education can be transformational. He made it out of the east Dallas barrio with the encouragement of his grandfather, who fo

Chocolate Gone Wild

Published on 2012-11-24 07:28:45

Year two of the Great Omaha Chocolate Festival at UNO celebrates one of popular culture's great food indulgences. Organizers of the September 30 event, which benefits the Omaha Section of the National Council of Jewish Women, say chocolate's diversi

A Different Kind of Bistro

Published on 2012-11-23 09:47:12

Among the first things you notice at Sage Student Bistro is the staff's earnestness. Greeters, servers and cooks are all students in Metropolitan Community College's respected Institute for Culinary Arts, whose sleek building is the face of the Fort

Author Joy Castro Writes Close to Her Heart in Two New Books

Published on 2012-11-23 08:49:35

University of Nebraska-Lincoln associate professor of English Joy Castro made her mark as a short story writer and essayist before her acclaimed 2005 memoir The Truth Book: How I Survived a Childhood of Abuse Among the Jehovah's Witnesses. Now she'

My Next Alexander Payne Book Event Comes to Florence

Published on 2012-11-19 07:23:40

Looking for something different to do on your Tuesday night? Then come to my next Alexander Payne book event: Tuesday, Nov. 20, 6:15 pm, Florence Branch Library, 2920 Bondesson St., Omaha Your favorite Omaha writer talks about “Alexander Payne:

Laura Dern Endorses My Alexander Payne Book

Published on 2012-11-17 08:05:02

Laura Dern, ©hbowatch.com

More Alexander Payne Book News: WE MADE INDIEWIRE!!!

Published on 2012-11-13 08:54:11

WE MADE INDIEWIRE!!!

Get Your Greek On at My Next Alexander Payne Book Event

Published on 2012-11-12 14:47:42

Alexander Payne book news

Published on 2012-11-08 10:53:27

Another sweet endorsement for my Alexander Payne book…

Published on 2012-11-02 16:48:03

Another sweet endorsement for my Alexander Payne book…

Published on 2012-11-02 16:48:03

I Am Personally Inviting You to My Next Book Event…Sat. Nov. 10 at The Bookworm, 1 pm

Published on 2012-11-01 16:24:42

I am personally inviting you to attend my next Alexander Payne book event: Saturday, Nov. 10, The Bookworm, 1 p.m. That’s at 8702 Pacific St. in Countryside Village, Omaha I will be signing copies of “Alexander Payne: His Journey in F

I Am Personally Inviting You to My Next Book Event…Sat. Nov. 10 at The Bookworm, 1 pm

Published on 2012-11-01 16:24:42

Never Give Up: The Budge Porter Story Comes Home

Published on 2012-11-01 15:03:15

Budge Porter lost many physical capabilities when he broke his neck tackling a teammate in a 1976 Husker football practice. The catastrophic injury left him a quadriplegic confined to a wheelchair. What he's never lost is determination and, remarka

Never Give Up: The Budge Porter Story Comes Home

Published on 2012-11-01 15:03:15

Iraq War Veteran Jacob Hausman Battles PTSD and Finds Peace

Published on 2012-10-31 14:54:51

One Man's Journey into War Growing up in Beatrice, Neb. Jacob "Jake" Hausman harbored a childhood dream of serving in the U.S. military. Both his grandfathers and an uncle served. He volunteered for the Army in 2002 and upon completing the rite of p

Iraq War Veteran Jacob Hausman Battles PTSD and Finds Peace

Published on 2012-10-31 14:54:51

Alexander Payne’s ‘Nebraska’ Comes Home to Roost: The State’s Cinema Prodigal Son is Back Filming Again in his Home State after Long Absence

Published on 2012-10-26 16:40:17

In 1968 Francis Ford Coppola led a small cinema caravan to Ogallala, Neb. for the final weeks shooting on his independent road picture The Rain People starring Shirley Knight. Joining them were future fellow film legends George Lucas, Bill Butler, Robert Duvall and James Caan. Now a road pic of another kind, Nebraska, is underway here by native prodigal son Alexander Payne. For his first filming on his home turf since 2001 Payne's lit out into northeast Neb. to make a fourth consecutive road mo [..]

Alexander Payne’s ‘Nebraska’ Comes Home to Roost: The State’s Cinema Prodigal Son is Back Filming Again in his Home State after Long Absence

Published on 2012-10-26 16:40:17

Cindy Williams Interview: Film-television star to appear at Nov. 2 screening of ‘American Graffiti’ in Omaha

Published on 2012-10-25 13:01:38

Cindy Williams broke our hearts in American Graffiti and made us laugh in Laverne and Shirley and this ageless American Sweetheart is still plying her craft in film, television, and theater. She's coming to Omaha for a 40th anniversay screening of the classic George Lucas coming-of-age movie, American Graffiti. The Friday, Nov. 2 event at 7 p.m. in the Joslyn Art Museum's Witherspoon Concert Hall is the latest revival by film historian and impresario Bruce Crawford. Williams will speak before [..]

Cindy Williams Interview: Film-television star to appear at Nov. 2 screening of ‘American Graffiti’ in Omaha

Published on 2012-10-25 13:01:38

I am doing a book talk and signing at Indigo Bridge Books in Lincoln (Neb.) this Sunday, Oct. 28 at 3 p.m.

Published on 2012-10-25 10:09:02

I am doing a book talk and signing at Indigo Bridge Books in Lincoln (Neb.) this Sunday, Oct. 28 at 3 p.m.

Published on 2012-10-25 10:09:02

Media Updates: I talk about my Alexander Payne book on the radio tonight; My cover story about Payne’s new film ‘Nebraska’ is in this week’s issue of The Reader

Published on 2012-10-25 09:43:40

Media Updates: I talk about my Alexander Payne book on the radio tonight; My cover story about Payne’s new film ‘Nebraska’ is in this week’s issue of The Reader

Published on 2012-10-25 09:43:40

Author Leo Adam Biga to Sign His Alexander Payne Book at Various Events as Shooting Continues on the Filmmaker’s New Picture, ‘Nebraska’

Published on 2012-10-21 12:16:43

With the first week of filming on Alexander Payne's Nebraska complete, Omaha-based writer Leo Adam Biga has a new round of signings set for his book on the Oscar-winning filmmaker. Alexander Payne: His Journey in Film – A Reporter's Perspective 1998-2012 is generating strong interest from the public and the media. The book is a compilation of Biga's decade-and-a-half reporting on Payne and his work. This is the first comprehensive look anywhere at one of cinema's most important figures. Go [..]

Author Leo Adam Biga to Sign His Alexander Payne Book at Various Events as Shooting Continues on the Filmmaker’s New Picture, ‘Nebraska’

Published on 2012-10-21 12:16:43

Watch Me Talk About My Alexander Payne Book on Omaha Television This Week

Published on 2012-10-18 17:01:22

Watch Me Talk About My Alexander Payne Book on Omaha Television This Week Tonight (Oct. 18) and Sunday morning (Oct. 21) catch me on- “Consider This…”, a public TV show Now in its 16th season, “Consider This…” is a weekly half-hour prime-time issues and information program produced by UNOTelevision. The program covers current topics that face today’s society. Host Cathy [...]

Watch Me Talk About My Alexander Payne Book on Omaha Television This Week

Published on 2012-10-18 17:01:22

Watch Me Talk About My Alexander Payne Book on Omaha Television This Week This morning (Oct. 19) catch me on “The Morning Blend,” from 9 to 10, on KMTV- Author Leo Adam Biga Friday, Oct 19, 2012 We all know about director Alexander Payne- one of Omaha’s favorite sons! But we don’t know the director [...]

Omaha Lit Fest Puts Focus on Women Writers and Women in Publishing

Published on 2012-10-06 07:56:21

It should be no surprise the author of languidly paced satirical novels (The Coffins of Little Hope) that delight in peculiar, piquant details should fashion a literary happening along the same lines. Novelist Timothy Schaffert has done just that with the Omaha Lit Fest, a free celebration of prose, poetry and other word-made-art expressions. He founded Lit Fest eight years ago and continues organizing the annual literary salon today. This year's event luxuriates in its delightful otherness F [..]

Omaha Lit Fest Puts Focus on Women Writers and Women in Publishing

Published on 2012-10-06 07:56:21

Ron Hull Reviews His Remarkable Life in Public Television in New Memoir

Published on 2012-10-06 07:13:37

Public television was a dream when Ron Hull joined what became the Nebraska Educational Television network in Lincoln. It was 1955 and the broadcast school graduate arrived inflamed with the possibilities of the fledgling medium. Fifty-seven years later he's still enthralled even though he misses live television and finds himself at 84 having outlived his contemporaries from those pioneering days. It's been quite a ride for Hull as a NET host, producer, director and executive. He personally [..]

Ron Hull Reviews His Remarkable Life in Public Television in New Memoir

Published on 2012-10-06 07:13:37

Michael Beasley Follows His Pops John Beasley as a TV-Film Actor, Son’s on a Roll with a String of Small and Big Screen Projects, including ‘Steel Magnolias’

Published on 2012-10-04 12:58:48

Don't look now but Michael Beasley is carving out a film-television career rivaling that of his powerhouse father John Beasley (Rudy, The Apostle). The nearly 20 feature and made-for-TV pics he's booked the last few years have him on the verge of being one of the industry's next breakout character actors. He's doing it all too from his adopted home of Atlanta, Ga. and surrounding region, together known as Hollywood South for all the productions shooting there. "It's really happening here. A [..]

Michael Beasley Follows His Pops John Beasley as a TV-Film Actor, Son’s on a Roll with a String of Small and Big Screen Projects, including ‘Steel Magnolias’

Published on 2012-10-04 12:58:48

Community-builders Jose and Linda Garcia Devote Themselves to a Life Promoting Latino Art, Culture, History

Published on 2012-09-29 23:24:45

Jose Francisco Garcia and Linda Garcia are one of those meant-to-be couples you rarely meet in real life. They've very different people in some ways and clealry alike in others but what they have at their core is an abiding respect and appreciation for each other Call them simpatico. These retirees are two of the busiest people you'll ever know. They immerse themselves in community activities that seek to enrich, educate and entertain. Both bring diverse experiences and gifts to their relatio [..]

Community-builders Jose and Linda Garcia Devote Themselves to a Life Promoting Latino Art, Culture, History

Published on 2012-09-29 23:24:45

Gabrielle Union Takes Serious Turn in BET Drama ‘Being Mary Jane’ and PBS Documentary ‘Half the Sky’

Published on 2012-09-29 08:19:22

Gabrielle Union has reached a point in her film and television career where she's doing more meaningful projects. Not by accident either. The maturing actress known for her assertive persona and frank views has been ever more deliberate about her personal and professional choices. "Probably since 2006 I've been concentrating on making sure I'm happy and doing things for the right reason and surrounding myself with good, positive people and eliminating the rest," says the Omaha native with mega [..]

Gabrielle Union Takes Serious Turn in BET Drama ‘Being Mary Jane’ and PBS Documentary ‘Half the Sky’

Published on 2012-09-29 08:19:22

My Alexander Payne Book Now Available

Published on 2012-09-21 12:38:30

Click cover image below to pre-order.

Come to an Event Promoting My Alexander Payne Book (Note change in time for Bancroft Street Market event)

Published on 2012-09-14 07:57:48

Come to an Event Promoting My Alexander Payne Book

Published on 2012-09-13 09:18:00

For those of you in Omaha, I have some early fall events planned to help promote my new book about Alexander Payne. I hope to see you at one of these: Sept. 22 7-9 pm Bancroft Street Market 2702 So. 10th St. Sept. 27 7-9 pm PS Collective 6056 Maple St. Oct. 3 7-9 pm [...]

Robert Duvall Interview

Published on 2012-08-31 16:38:41

LAB: Thanks for agreeing to speak with me about The Rain People and We're Not the Jet Set. RD: "I'm glad you called, man. I'm driving along in my car. I've got this little mobile phone but hopefully it'll hold out OK. How ya' doin', good?" LAB: Just fine. And how about yourself? RD: "I'm all right. We've been traveling, but we like Virginia here, my wife and I. So we're trying to settle in for a little while, and see what's next. Life is full of what's next, you know." LAB: And I'm speaking [..]

Robert Duvall Interview

Published on 2012-08-31 16:38:41

Revival of Benson Business District Gives Omaha a New Destination Place

Published on 2012-08-28 17:34:07

The quaint, sleepy Benson you once breezed through to get somewhere else is suddenly the hip new place to be. This working class neighborhood's old-line business district has been made new again as a full-fledged entertainment strip. Music, drinking, dining establishments, along with art galleries, line both sides of Maple Street from 58th to 70th, many attractions housed in historic century-old buildings. The nightlife joints mix with anchors Haney Shoe Store, the Benson Community Center, a U. [..]

Revival of Benson Business District Gives Omaha a New Destination Place

Published on 2012-08-28 17:34:07

Freddie Gray Stands Fast on Her Handling of Sebring Scandal, OPS School Board President Survives Vote to Continue Her Mission

Published on 2012-08-21 13:26:23

Freddie Gray knows being second-guessed and scrutinized comes with the job of Omaha Public School Board President. But when she came under fire over her handling of the Nancy Sebring scandal she got more than she bargained for, including allegations she'd violated the public trust and calls for her resignation or removal. Sebring is the former Des Moines Public Schools superintendent OPS hired in the spring only to resign after sexually charged emails she exchanged with her lover became public [..]

Freddie Gray Stands Fast on Her Handling of Sebring Scandal, OPS School Board President Survives Vote to Continue Her Mission

Published on 2012-08-21 13:26:23

Interview with Carol Kane

Published on 2012-08-20 10:42:42

LAB: So what are your thoughts about Hester Street being included in the National Film Registry? CK: "I had no idea about it until Joan wrote me a couple days ago saying she'd talked to you. I didn't know. I'm so glad you're doing this because I didnt know about the movie getting this status and I think it'd be fun for us to have people know about it." LAB: It's selection in the registry pretty much ensures it will be part of the American film canon going forward. CK: "Isn't that wild? It's a [..]

Carol Kane Interview

Published on 2012-08-20 10:42:42

Creighton College of Business Anchored in Pioneering Entrepreneurial Spirit and Jesuit Philosophy

Published on 2012-08-19 12:48:23

Enterprising Spirit Animates the Creighton Story Creighton University was founded in 1878 thanks to a confluence of figures whose pioneering, entrepreneurial, for-the-greater-good spirit established a caring, comprehensive academic institution on the Great Plains. As Creighton has grown, so has the city it is situated in, Omaha, Nebraska. The Jesuit school and campus provide an anchor in the north downtown district. Graduates of Creighton's professional schools and colleges of law, medicine, d [..]

Creighton College of Business Anchored in Pioneering Entrepreneurial Spirit and Jesuit Philosophy

Published on 2012-08-19 12:48:23

Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting Turns Omaha into Buffettville Destination

Published on 2012-08-18 13:33:11

Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s once modest annual shareholders meeting has morphed into what one pundit called “Woodstock for Capitalists.” Thanks to chairman Warren Buffett’s “Oracle” status, the weekend event’s now a branded experience. Sure, Buffett and partner Charlie Munger’s witty Q & A is popular, but there’s also exhibits by subsidiaries, entertainment, parties, concerts, tours and immersion in-all-things-Omaha. People drop big bucks on buying-junkets at Berkshire-held Bor [..]

Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting Turns Omaha into Buffettville Destination

Published on 2012-08-18 13:33:11

Crazy Like a Fox Fimmaker Dan Mirvish Makes Going His Own Way Work

Published on 2012-08-17 23:16:59

With the DVD release this week of his 2004 low budget film Open House, an all-digitally shot feature, cinema provocateur Dan Mirvish may finally net a wide audience for the iconoclastic screwball musical comedy he directed and co-wrote. Mirvish is something of a hero in indie film circles. First, there’s the anything-goes sensibility of his previous feature, Omaha (the Movie), a 1998 pic he marketed into both a festival favorite and industry calling card. His co-founding the proletarian Slam [..]

Crazy Like a Fox Fimmaker Dan Mirvish Makes Going His Own Way Work

Published on 2012-08-17 23:16:59

Thy Kingdom Come: Richard Dooling’s TV Teaming with Stephen King

Published on 2012-08-16 08:09:10

Omaha author Richard Dooling has collaborated with the Master of Fright, Stephen King, in creating the new prime time television miniseries Kingdom Hospital, a darkly comic supernatural fable The Horrormeister himself calls a cross between ER and The Shining. Dooling, whose novel White Man’s Grave was a National Book Award finalist, said comparing the show to the venerable NBC series and King’s own classic horror novel “would be a good way to describe it because...in the same way the Overl [..]

Thy Kingdom Come: Richard Dooling’s TV Teaming with Stephen King

Published on 2012-08-16 08:09:10

When Omaha Independent Filmmaking Took a New Turn or Did It?

Published on 2012-08-15 14:25:15

Filmmaking is a lot like sex. There are the wannabes who mainly talk about doing it and those who really get it on. With the exception of Alexander Payne, whose Hollywood-financed films place him in a special category, Omaha has had its share of cinema wet-dreamers. A few, like Steve Lustgarten, Dan Mirvish, Dana Altman and Shawn Prouse, managed scraping together tens of thousands of dollars from local investors and, by hook or crook, realized their grassroots indie aspirations using almost enti [..]

When Omaha Independent Filmmaking Took a New Turn or Did It?

Published on 2012-08-15 14:25:15

Documentary Considers Omaha’s Changing Face Since World War II

Published on 2012-08-15 13:53:09

Omaha’s evolution into a homey yet cosmo metropolis that’s discarded, for better or worse, its gritty industrial-frontier heritage is the subject of a new documentary premiering on the NETV network. Omaha Since World War II -- The Changing Face of the City is a UNO Television production and a companion piece to UNO-TV’s popular 1994 If These Walls Could Speak. What the new film does particularly well is frame the growth of Omaha over the past 60 years within a social, cultural and politi [..]

Documentary Considers Omaha’s Changing Face Since World War II

Published on 2012-08-15 13:53:09

‘West Side Story,’ An American Classic

Published on 2012-08-15 12:38:21

Before becoming the home of Omaha’s performing arts in the 1970s, the Orpheum Theater reigned as the grandest movie palace in the city. It’s only fitting then the newly renovated downtown Orpheum will, for one night only showcase a national cinema treasure -- West Side Story -- in a special screening benefiting the St. Vincent DePaul Society of Omaha. The event is the latest in local impresario Bruce Crawford’s series of annual film revivals presented in the manner of Hollywood premieres. [..]

‘West Side Story,’ An American Classic

Published on 2012-08-15 12:38:21

James Caan Interview: From My Film Connections Project

Published on 2012-08-12 01:06:37

LAB: When did you and Robert Duvall first meet? Was it during Robert Altman's Countdown or before that? JC: "Bobby's older than me. We first met in '68 when we did a picture called The Rain People for Francis (Ford Coppola). That's when we met the Petersons. That was first, I believe." LB: Except that IMDB shows Countdown was released in '68, the same year The Rain People, a '69 release, was in production, and so I'm thinking you two made Countdown first. JC: "Oh yeah, you can't argue with th [..]

James Caan Interview

Published on 2012-08-12 01:06:37

From My Series Out to Win Series: The Roots of Greatness, The Boxers – Sweet Scientists from The Hood

Published on 2012-08-11 16:14:35

If any Omaha inner city boxing legend had most of the prized fighting attributes, it was Harley Cooper, a two-time national Golden Gloves champion and 1964 Olympic qualifier. A tough Savannah, Ga. native, Cooper grew up fighting in 'the hood,' but learned to box in the military. After he won the second of his Gloves titles while based at Offutt Air Force Base, he then became the U.S. Olympic light heavyweight entry. In peak form and riding an unbeaten streak, he was primed to bust heads in Tokyo [..]

From My Series Out to Win Series: The Roots of Greatness, The Grapplers – Masters in the Way of the Mat

Published on 2012-08-11 14:53:16

In Nebraska, one family stands apart in wrestling: the Olivers of Omaha. Masters of the grappling art, they form a two-generation mat dynasty whose story is still being written. First there are the accomplishments of brothers Roye, Marshall and Ray, each a prep stud and college All-American in his day. Then the ongoing achievements of Ray’s son, Chris. Victorious in 568 straight matches in Nebraska dating back to the fourth grade, Chris capped his amazing run at Omaha Creighton Prep, where he [..]

Nebraska Medal of Honor Winners: Above and Beyond the Call of Duty

Published on 2012-08-11 14:14:13

A new historical exhibition at El Museo Latino pays tribute to Nebraska's Medal of Honor recipients. Among the honorees are Edward "Babe" Gomez and Miguel Keith and former Nebraska governor and U.S. senator Bob Kerrey. The Congressional Medal of Honor is the highest U.S. military decoration. It is bestowed by Congress to armed forces members who distinguish themselves "conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity," risking life "above and beyond the call of duty” in action. Nebraska’s accred [..]

Norman Krivosha’s Life in Law

Published on 2012-08-10 11:40:46

Norman Krivosha’s life is a classic case of the adage that behind every great man is a woman. The noted attorney and one time Nebraska Supreme Court Chief Justice and corporate counsel may not have been any of those things if the Detroit, Mich. native had not met a certain woman at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln when he arrived as a brash but undisciplined undergrad in the early 1950s. Krivosha came to UNL at the urging of a cousin who taught microbiology there. The professor saw his cou [..]

Hoops Legend Abdul-Jabbar Talks History

Published on 2012-08-09 08:06:21

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the man who made the sky hook and goggles signature parts of hoopsiconography, headlines the May 12 B'nai B'rith Charity Sports Banquet at the Qwest Center Omaha. Now an author, he is the rare ex-sports superstar who’s applied a social conscience after balling. The Naismith and NBA Hall of Famer was a legend before playing his first collegiate basketball game in 1967. His schoolboy dominance at Powers Memorial in New York City made him the most prized recruit since Wilt [..]

Jill Scott Interview

Published on 2012-08-08 08:46:15

LAB: In preparation for your role as Nona in the Lifetime movie Sins of the Mother did you do much research? JS: "Well, honestly I put the energy out there that I wanted to talk to people who are recovering and oddly enough I just kept meeting people. I met a lady on a plane, I worked with an artist on a project and I found out they were in recovery and had been for 10 years, and I just kept meeting people – at the grocery store, Target and Walmart. This is the reason why I love these places. [..]

The Garcia Girls

Published on 2012-08-06 13:39:38

When Jesus and Beatriz Garcia left Mexico for America decades ago their fervent wish was to give their family a better life. In that, there's no doubt they succeeded. The couple captured the American Dream by working hard, owning their own home, becoming fixtures at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church and raising six girls. The Garcias have seen their daughters, all born in Mexico, grow into accomplished women with families and careers of their own. The Garcia Girls carry on their parents' tradition [..]

When a Building isn’t Just a Building

Published on 2012-08-03 10:38:24

South Omaha’s renaissance unfolds on many fronts. From scores of new businesses to construction of a new community center, library and athletic stadium to the expansion of Metropolitan Community College’s south campus, the area’s booming again after a three-decade lull. Facelifts also contribute to this turnaround. The most obvious makeover is to the 24th Street business district, whose once thriving streetscapes-storefronts dimmed but now overbrim with color and activity in a plaza-like [..]

Book Explores University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Rich History

Published on 2012-08-02 06:20:14

With the UNO centennial nearing, a new book by two longtime historians at the university gives readers a primer on the events and persons that have shaped the school over its nearly 100-year existence. The book, simply titled “University of Nebraska at Omaha,” is part of Arcadia Publishing’s “Campus History Series.” The text for the photo-rich work is mostly by Oliver Pollak, holder of the Martin Chair in History at UNO. He’s taught at the school since 1974. Pollak is the author of [..]

Kurt Andersen’s New Novel ‘True Believers’ Revisits 1960s through Reformed Radical Breaking Her Silence

Published on 2012-07-28 12:15:06

With his new novel True Believers (Random House) Kurt Andersen takes stock of the roiling 1960s through the eyes of a fictional woman whose coming of age then unfolded in predictable and inexplicable ways. Through his narrator, attorney and law dean Karen Hollander, he explores the psyche and culture of holding secrets and coming clean in the modern era of relativism. This accomplished older woman is writing a tell-all memoir reviewing her own revolutionary life forged from social awakening an [..]

Ron Hansen’s Masterful Outlaw Blues Novel About Jesse James and Robert Ford Faithfully Interpreted On Screen

Published on 2012-07-27 07:06:02

Consider complete the much ballyhooed return of the Western with the new Warner Brothers film, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, starring Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck and a deep supporting cast. Opening everywhere October 5, it comes fast on the heels of 3:10 to Yuma and Shoot ‘Em Up and the multi-Emmy Award-winning TNT mini-series Broken Trail. Like these other oaters, Assassination is a big-budget, star-laden picture. Unlike them, which slavishly conform to or outlan [..]

‘Last Comic Standing’ King Felipe Esparza Headlines Omaha Show

Published on 2012-07-27 06:29:30

The Last Comic Standing live tour coming to the Omaha Music Hall on Nov. 20 features the finalists from the seventh season of the NBC comedy competition show, including winner Felipe Esparza. Even before capturing the televised contest this past summer, Esparza lived the dream of standup stardom he first harbored growing up in the rough Boyle Heights section of East Los Angeles. Now he's a headliner just like the comedy kings he idolized -- Rodney Dangerfield, Eddie Murphy, George Carlin, Paul [..]

Proteges of Model School Diva Nancy Bounds Pay it Forward Building the Omaha Fashion Ecosystem

Published on 2012-07-26 14:20:28

There was a time when aspiring Omaha models took their cues from a pair of divas with their fingers on the pulse of the high fashion world. J.L. Brandeis & Sons fashion merchandizer Elaine Jabenis drew on her experience as a stage actress and regular attendee at New York and Paris fashion weeks to produce runway extravaganzas. But for training there was no one like the late modeling-acting-finishing school director Nancy Bounds, a charismatic figure whose theatrical graduation shows were leg [..]

Playwright Carlos Murillo’s Work Explores Personal Mythmaking

Published on 2012-07-26 08:32:54

Playwright and DePaul University theater professor Carlos Murillo has established a national reputation with such works as Dark Play or Stories for Boys, which UNO Theatre is staging Feb. 23-26 and March 2-5. The theater world is small. For example, a University of Nebraska at Omaha grad student met Murillo at a Kennedy Center theater festival in Washington, D.C. Aware Murillo's Dark Play was slated for production by UNO, the student set the wheels in motion for the playwright’s campus visit [..]

Project Improve Aims to Make the Best of a Bad Situation with Illegal Immigrant Detainees

Published on 2012-07-24 09:16:30

With immigration enforcement a national priority, jails are filled with individuals whose only crime is being in the U.S. illegally. Out of sight, out of mind behind bars these civil offenders risk being lumped in with the habitually criminalized. Advocates say it's all too easy to forget many detainees have been law-abiding, gainfully-employed residents. Many are parents. Once arrested and jailed they face separation from loved ones and home. Being severed from family while the legal proces [..]

Omaha South High Buffett Outstanding Teacher Award Winner Maria Walinski-Peterson Follows Her Heart

Published on 2012-07-24 08:41:18

When Omaha South High Magnet School social studies teacher Maria Walinski-Peterson thinks about her 2011 Alice Buffett Outstanding Teacher Award, she's reminded of master teachers she had as a student there. Teachers like Sally Fellows and Jim Eisenhardt. "They were models of teachers who knew what they were talking about, who had some energy, some enthusiasm, and who made me want to pay attention. They had a kind of charisma. I wanted to do a good job for them," says Maria. "That's a pretty [..]

Jane Fonda Comes Home

Published on 2012-07-23 09:32:39

As expected, Jane Fonda came and captured the hearts of those attending the Film Streams Feature Event IV last night at the Holland Performing Arts Center in Omaha. Understandably, it was not only an emotional evening for her but an emotion-packed weekend, much of which she spent touring old family haunts, including the Omaha Communithy Playhouse that her late father, she, and her brother Peter all acted in. Spoken and unspoken, her father's legacy looms large over her and she must particularly [..]

Rising Young Conductor Tito Munoz Leads Omaha Symphony Chamber Concert

Published on 2012-07-22 15:17:22

At 27 Tito Munoz is riding a fast track in the classical music world's conducting ranks. This guest conductor for a Jan. 8 Omaha Symphony Chamber strings showcase recently completed a three-year gig as Cleveland Orchestra assistant conductor. He’s just been named music director of the Orchestre symphonique et lyrique de Nancy in Lorraine, France. In addition to performing its own season, the symphony accompanies the Opera national de Lorraine. Speaking by phone, Munoz, a New York City nativ [..]

Justice for Our Neighbors: Treating the Immigrant as Neighbor

Published on 2012-07-22 08:54:49

Welcoming the stranger in our midst is the mandate of Justice for Our Neighbors-Nebraska, a small nonprofit that holds monthly clinics for low income immigrants in need of legal counsel. The organization's largely new staff held a March 25 open house. The clinics, offered in both Omaha and Columbus Neb., provide a friendly, safe haven for individuals, couples and families stressed by uncertain legal status. For some, it may be their only recourse to try and avoid deportation. Potential complic [..]

El Puente: Attempting to Bridge the Divide Between Grassroots Community and The System

Published on 2012-07-22 08:23:16

Experience has taught two longtime South Omaha community activists that a gulf exists between some residents and those assigned to protect and serve them. Nuestro Mundo publisher Ben Salazar and Grace United Methodist Church pastor Alberto Silva recognize the need for a confidential, community-based advisory service that operates independently of police or government. "It doesn't take a genius to figure out there is this fear on the part of many immigrants and Spanish speakers to come forward [..]

Peter Buffett Completes the Circle of Life Furthering the Legacy of Kent Bellows

Published on 2012-07-21 17:07:03

The sudden death in 2005 of American Realism master Kent Bellows reverberated throughout the art world. Among those affected by his passing was musician Peter Buffett, an Omaha native and youngest son of billionaire investor Warren Buffett. Decades earlier Peter was befriended by Bellows, eight years his senior, when his parents became the artist's patrons. Bellows, who had an affinity for young people, mentored Peter. Over time, the two remained close, a relationship that lasted until the art [..]

Jazz-Plena Fusion Artist Miguel Zenon Bridges Worlds of Music

Published on 2012-07-21 16:35:36

When the Miguel Zenon Quartet plays the Holland Performing Arts Center May 21 at 8 p.m., one of the world's most acclaimed and decorated young artists will take center stage. Leader-composer-saxophonist Miguel Zenon, a native of Puerto Rico now based in New York City, is a Grammy nominated musician, but the recognition goes well beyond that music award. He’s been heralded by the Downbeat Critic's Poll, Billboard magazine, the New York Times, Latin Beat, El Nueva Dia, the Chicago Tribune, Ja [..]

Community Trumps Gang in Fr. Greg Boyle’s Homeboy Model

Published on 2012-07-21 16:03:49

The gang intervention efforts of a Jesuit priest in East Los Angeles have grown into Homeboy Industries, which provides mostly Latino participants work and life skills training, counseling and, most importantly, opportunity for hope. The much profiled program has many communities, including Omaha, looking to its founder, Rev. Greg Boyle, for guidance in dealing with their own gang issues. Boyle, an acknowledged expert in the field, will be in Omaha Feb. 24 to discuss the successful therapeuti [..]

Home is Where the Heart Is for Activist Attorney Rita Melgares

Published on 2012-07-20 09:40:14

Activist attorney Rita Melgares was a divorced single mother of four from the Southwest when moved here to attend Creighton University Law School. She didn't intend staying. But 35 years later she's still here, still helping her people, doing legal work for newcomer families, handling juvenile justice cases and some criminal law. This mother and grandmother is still raising kids. She shares a home in Benson with a son who is a single father. She helps rear his three youngest, whom she refers to [..]

Old Market-Based Artist Sora Kimberlain: A Life in Art

Published on 2012-07-20 06:38:04

Painter, drawer, sculptor, installation artist Sora Kimberlain visited Omaha in the early 1980s. The kindred spirits she met here convinced her to stay. The Cincinnati native lived in Calif. then. The fresh-from-art-school bohemian came to see an Omaha friend and soon got swept up by Megan Terry and Jo Ann Schmidman and their experimental Omaha Magic Theatre. For years Kimberlain helped create touring, multi-media, performance art-theater pieces that broke the Fourth Wall. The OMT has since cl [..]

UNO/OLLAS Resident Expert on Cuban and Latino Matters Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado

Published on 2012-07-18 07:26:39

For author, researcher, activist and University of Nebraska at Omaha associate professor of political science Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado, political engagement is a birthright. His mother Romelia marched with Cesar Chavez in the California migrant labor movement. Both his parents know first hand the migrant worker struggle. They also know the empowering change hard work and opportunity can bring. Benjamin-Alvarado still marvels how his folks made “a hyper speed transition” from their vagabo [..]

Episcopal Priest Rev. Ernesto Medina Never Forgets His Latino Hertitage

Published on 2012-07-18 06:45:53

As a person of color and priest in the Episcopal Church, Rev. Ernesto Medina is a minority in a moderately diverse denomination. The California native practices inclusion as a matter of conscience and as a consequence of being Latino in a white world. This self-described “edgy liturgist” is also a confirmed social justice activist. The new rector at St. Martha Episcopal Church in Papillion, Medina came to Omaha with his wife Susan in 2007 to serve as Dean for Urban Mission at Trinity Cathe [..]

Hundreds Attend OLLAS Conference Cumbre to Give and Get Diverse Perspectives on Migration Issues

Published on 2012-07-17 15:16:18

A wide spectrum of Latino concerns, including the need for federal immigration reform, swirled around the May 14-15 Cumbre conference held at Omaha's Embassy Suites in the Old Market. The theme was Human Mobility, the Promise of Development and Political Engagement. The every-few-years summit hosted by UNO's Office of Latino and Latin American Studies is part I'll-show-you-mine, if-you-show-me-yours research exchange, part old-fashioned networking event and part open mic forum. More than 400 r [..]

Turning Kids Away from Gangs and Toward Teams in South Omaha

Published on 2012-07-17 12:50:47

For Omaha Police Department Gang Unit detective Tony Espejo, being honored as National Latino Peace Officers Association Officer of the Year in Austin, Texas earlier this month brought full circle the community service his parents modeled for him. As long as he can remember, he said his folks, Juana and Ezequiel Espejo, "have been advocates in the community...Growing up, we always opened our house up to people. My mom is a big advocate in the YWCA. A lot of people know her. She's had a huge han [..]

Institute for Latin American Concern at Creighton has Dominican Focus

Published on 2012-07-17 07:09:57

In the mid-1970s a pair of Cuban exiles who became Jesuit priests assigned to Creighton University saw a need to increase North American awareness of developing nations in the region. Revs. Ernesto Fernandez-Travieso and Narciso Sanchez-Medio formed the Institute for Latin American Concern. The program originally focused on raising consciousness through immersion experiences in the Dominican Republic, a nation of physical beauty and abject poverty. As ILAC’s evolved, its mission has, too. Cre [..]

Everything Old is Newly Restored Again at Historic Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Omaha

Published on 2012-07-15 17:04:05

In today's parlance, everything "pops" now at historic Sacred Heart Catholic Church as the result of a 2009 restoration that Rev. Tom Fangman, pastor of the northeast Omaha parish, likes to call "an extreme church makeover." The $3.3 million project made long overdue improvements to the 108-year-old church at 22nd and Binney. Designated an Omaha landmark, the church is on the National Register of Historic Places. The parish was founded in 1890 at a nearby location. The land for the present chu [..]

Where Community, Neighborhood and Representative Democracy Meet

Published on 2012-07-15 16:15:06

South Omaha Neighborhood Alliance (SONA) meetings at the Omaha Police Department’s Southeast Precinct bring together neighborhood association leaders with public servants for a Frank Capraesque community forum. It’s classic American democracy in action. Dozens of participants at an August 5 meeting listened to reports from Southeast Precinct captain Kathy Gonzalez, mayoral liaison Roger Garcia, Omaha City Councilman Garry Gernandt and various SONA members. Anyone who wanted an opportunity t [..]

Mario Frangoulis, When Dreams Come True

Published on 2012-07-13 19:39:56

Wherever Greek tenor Mario Frangoulis performs he sings of love, home, family, themes that reappear in his repertoire because they have such deep meaning for someone who “had a very troublesome childhood.” Born to Greek parents in Rhodesia, he lived in that African nation until age 4. When anti-aparthaid uprisals erupted there, he was left in the care of an aunt in Greece. It meant separation from his parents and siblings. “It was meant to be for a little while until things calmed down a [..]

Sylvia Rodriguez Vargas Leads Brownell-Talbot into a New Era, New Headmaster Brings Rich Background to the Private School

Published on 2012-07-13 18:48:46

Brownell Talbot School, which began as the Episcopal Church-sponsored girls boarding school Brownell Hall, has seen changes aplenty in 149 years. Change Agent The school moved several times before fixing on its present site, 400 Happy Hollow Blvd., in 1923. It went coeducational in 1952. Integration came to Brownell in 1964 when Joslen Johnson became the first African-American student at the college preparatory school, whose alumni include Edith Abbott, Peter Fonda, Alexander Payne, Jaime Kin [..]

Gray Matters: Ben and Freddie Gray Fight the Good Fight Helping Young Men and Women Find Pathways to Success

Published on 2012-07-13 17:23:01

If you follow local news then you can't help know the names Ben Gray and Freddie Gray. What you may not know is that they are married. He's instantly recognizable as a vocal Omaha City Councilman (District 2). He's also a prominent player in the Empowerment Network, One Hundred Black Men and other community initiatives. He was a public figure long before that as a KETV photojournalist and the activist-advocate host of the public affairs program Kaleidoscope, which weekly found him reeling agai [..]

Film Streams at Five: Art Cinema Contributes to a Transformed Omaha Through Community Focus on Film and Discussion

Published on 2012-07-13 16:45:31

Just as Omaha's come of age with performing arts venues, nightlife attractions, community events and public spaces, so it's matured in cinema. This maturation first bloomed when Alexander Payne made features here. Then the local indie filmmaking scene organized. Subsequently the Omaha Film Festival's provided an annual juried focus on movies. But the real growth came when Film Streams launched in 2008, thus giving north downtown a vital new anchor and the metro its first year-round dedicated [..]

A Theater Twinning

Published on 2012-07-10 09:48:13

The venues comprising Omaha’s theater scene have their own identities, each as recognizable as any character or setting in a play The grand dame of them all is the Omaha Community Playhouse. She’s the well-heeled matriarch and life-of-the-party who throws sumptuous bashes in her plush digs. Her costumes and decorations are to-die-for but that glitter is sometimes more show than substance. Love her or loathe her, you must give the old gal her due. Secretly every ham desires to shine on her s [..]

A Homage to the Bootstrapper by the Grande Olde Players

Published on 2012-07-09 14:43:32

The Grande Olde Players Theatre pays homage to Omaha’s deep military ties with the new play Bootstrappers Christmas, now through December 17. Written by the theater’s Mark Manhart and Bonnie Gill, the nostalgic 1954-set piece tells a fictional story amid the trappings of history. The relationship between then-Omaha University and the former Strategic Air Command in Bellevue, Neb. is at the center of this holiday-themed dramadie. Early in his stint as commander of the newly formed SAC, Gen. [..]

Actor Kelcey Watson Fills Role of a Lifetime on Short Notice in Blue Barn Production of ‘Six Degrees of Separation’

Published on 2012-07-09 07:34:28

On April 11 Omaha actor Kelcey Watson got wind a lead part was coming available with only eight days before the Blue Barn Theatre opened John Guare’s Six Degrees of Separation. Director Susan Clement-Toberer replaced the actor originally cast as Paul -- the axis around which the farce revolves. She was about to bring in someone from out-of-town when Watson called. She took it as fate. The two met the 11th. She knew Watson, a veteran actor who won strong notices for his role in Minstrel Show [..]

From the Archives: Veterans Cast Watchful Eye on the VA Medical Center

Published on 2012-07-08 16:40:24

A Call for Action Last September saw the release of a long-awaited federal report stemming from an investigation by the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Office of Inspector General into complaints about the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) program at the Omaha VA Medical Center. The investigation followed requests by Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., and Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, to examine complaints made to them, many in impassioned letters and phone calls, by veterans. After the October 1999 i [..]

Lara Marsh’s Breath of Life

Published on 2012-07-08 14:00:32

Veteran Omaha stage manager Lara Marsh is in a fight for her life with Cystic Fibrosis. The inherited, chronic disease produces a thick, sticky mucus that impairs the respiratory and digestive systems. She needs $55,000 to get the double lung transplant required for her only chance at anything like a normal life span. She’s already exceeded CF life expectancies. “When I was 4 the doctors told my parents I would never see 5. When I was 5, I wasn’t supposed to make it past 8. At 8, the ave [..]

For Love of Art and Cinema, Danny Lee Ladely Follows His Muse

Published on 2012-07-08 08:37:19

With his braided pony tail, arrowhead-pattern shirt, blue jeans, boots and Stetson hat, Nebraska film guru Dan Lee Ladely looks like a holdover from the 1960s, when the Gordon, Neb. native was in fact an anti-war demonstrator in college. During his undergrad days at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he earned a degree in English lit between showing films for the student council, he once led a takeover of the campus ROTC building. These days the 50-something Ladely is an activist for the [..]

Brown v. Board of Education: Educate with an Even Hand and Carry a Big Stick

Published on 2012-07-07 15:30:06

The U.S. Supreme Court’s historic 1954 Brown v. Board ruling and its aftermath reveal how far America's come on the issue of race and how far it still must go. Lauded as a landmark decision against segregated public schools and as a precursor to opening all public institutions, the decree bolstered the nascent civil rights struggle. Brown was the end game in the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund's challenge to the Plessy v. Ferguson separate-but-equal doctrine that sanctioned segregat [..]

Remembering the Virginia Cafe and the Restauranter Family Legacy of Filmmaker Alexander Payne

Published on 2012-07-06 15:07:22

It's nearly 40 years since Alexander Payne's family owned and operated the Virginia Cafe, a restaurant that for generations held a niche in the city’s downtown dining market. Recently, the filmmaker's father, George Payne, shared some history and memories of the place and the family with The Reader. George's immigrant father, Nicholas (Papadopoulos) Payne, was founder and proprietor of the Virginia. Nick, as the patriarch was called, came to America in 1910, learning the confectionery trade [..]

Age is Just a Number and Retirement a Foreign Concept to Six Working Seniors in Omaha

Published on 2012-07-06 10:40:38

During their lifetimes Americans devote far more hours to their work then to any other of their pursuits, including family life. More than the livelihood it provides, work helps shape individual identity, sets an agenda for daily commerce and affords personal growth opportunities. Given the vital role gainful employment plays, it’s not surprising then that as more Americans live longer, healthier lives, the prospect of outright retirement holds less interest for seniors who feel lost without t [..]

Masterful: Omaha Liberty Elementary School’s Luisa Palomo Displays a Talent for Teaching and Connecting

Published on 2012-07-06 10:21:35

In only two years Liberty Elementary School kindergarten instructor Luisa Palomo, 30, has won Nebraska's top teacher recognition honors. In 2010 she was named an Alice Buffett Outstanding Teacher, an award given top Omaha Public Schools educators, and last November she was selected Nebraska Teacher of the Year. The Gering, Neb. native applied for the state honor at the prodding of OPS colleagues. She completed the required essays and interviews but held out little hope of winning. “I felt t [..]

Fast Times at Omaha’s Liberty Elementary: The Evolution of a School

Published on 2012-07-05 07:15:25

For the first time, the largely Hispanic-served Liberty Elementary School has a home to call its own. Located a half-block from the temporary warehouse Liberty occupied since being formed in 2002, the new-look Liberty opens the 2004-2005 school year August 25 in a newly constructed three-level building at 2021 St. Mary’s Avenue. Designed by the Omaha architectural firm Zenon Beringer Mabrey Partners Inc., the $7.4 million site is as traditional as the previous one was unconventional. With a [..]

Dick Cavett’s Desk Jockey Déjà Vu

Published on 2012-07-04 17:05:26

“The Dick Cavett Show. Ladies and gentlemen, Dick Cavett …… ” That intro, silent for a generation, is back, thanks to Turner Classic Movies. The cable channel (Cox 55) is presenting interviews the Nebraska native comic, author, actor and talk-show host did with screen giants on his ABC late-night “Dick Cavett Show” of the late 1960s, early 1970s. On Thursday nights this month and next, TCM resurrects these originals just as a new DVD is out with him and Hollywood legends. In this [..]

Dick Cavett Gets Personal, Still Gets Laughs

Published on 2012-07-04 15:06:29

On his recent Omaha visit, Dick Cavett revealed glimpses of himself as entertainer, raconteur, pundit and recovering clinical depression patient. At the October 19 Omaha Press Club “Face on the Bar Room Floor” event, Cavett adroitly made with the quips and rejoinders that made him a talk show-meister from the late 1960s into the ‘90s. He only alluded to his depression. However, in a talk for the Community Alliance’s “Breaking the Silence” dinner the next night at the Holiday Inn Cen [..]

Psychiatrist-Public Health Educator Mindy Thompson Fullilove Maps the Root Causes of America’s Inner City Decline and Paths to Restoration

Published on 2012-07-04 10:22:57

The low standard of living found in segments of Omaha’s inner city mirrors adverse urban conditions across America. Poverty, low test scores, unemployment, gang violence, teen pregnancy, HIV/AIDS and STDs, distressed/devalued properties all occur at disproportionately high rates in these sectors. Psychiatrist Dr. Mindy Thompson Fullilove, a public health educator at Columbia ((N.Y.) University, studies the causes and consequences of marginalized communities. A pair of talks she’s giving in [..]

Kenton Keith’s Long and Winding Journey to Football Redemption

Published on 2012-07-04 08:35:32

Omaha native Kenton Keith’s circuitous path to football nirvana took him to the gridiron wilderness of New Mexico and Canada before he made it to the NFL. When he landed a roster spot last off-season with the defending Super Bowl champion Indianapolis Colts it marked the end of a nine-year odyssey for the fleet tailback. “You can look at my football life and almost understand how my whole life has been. Nothing was given me. Everything was hard-earned. I always had to play against the odds [..]

Jana Murrell: Working Towards a New Standard of Beauty

Published on 2012-07-04 07:15:27

After years of neglect, women of color are fast emerging as new cultural icons of beauty in America. Reigning Miss Nebraska USA Jana Murrell, a 23-year-old African-American from Omaha competing in the Miss USA 2005 pageant being broadcast April 11 by NBC, is part of this barrier-breaking trend. “I think it’s about time,” said Murrell, gesturing in her best spokesmodel way at her North Omaha home. “You know, it’s really hard to change the public’s opinion of beauty from the blond-hair [..]

Nurturing One Lost Soul at a Time, Teela Mickles Returns Citizens Back to Society

Published on 2012-06-29 10:08:39

Teela Mickles is a self-described "goodie two-shoes" who's never so much as gotten a jaywalking ticket, yet much of her life is devoted to assisting current and former prison inmates. Her work with our throwaway society's discarded is done as a certified Assemblies of God minister and as founder/director of her own community nonprofit, Compassion in Action, which offers pre-release and reentry services/programs. This one-woman band prepares individuals transitioning from prison back into socie [..]

Nurturing One Lost Soul at a Time, Teela Mickles Returns Citizens Back to Society

Published on 2012-06-29 10:08:39

Rescuer Curriculum Gives Students New Perspective on the Holocaust

Published on 2012-06-29 07:24:59

This past spring, about 45 Westside High School seniors in two Advanced Placement European History classes participated in a new Holocaust studies unit. The program got its first trial run anywhere at the District 66 school. The curriculum program was developed by the local Hidden Heroes of the Holocaust Foundation. Using the materials, Westside instructors Bill Hayes and Gina Gangel first had students immerse themselves in the events that gave rise to Hitler, Nazism and the persecution of Jew [..]

Rescuer Curriculum Gives Students New Perspective on the Holocaust

Published on 2012-06-29 07:24:59

Finding the Essence of Omaha in All the Right Places Leads You to Obvious and Obscure Sites

Published on 2012-06-28 12:25:44

Whether you’re a Omaha resident who lives here year-round or part of the year, a native returning home, or a visitor here for the first or tenth time, it doesn’t hurt to be reminded of some places to see and things to do in the metro. I prepared the following list for the Omaha World-Herald [...]

Finding the Essence of Omaha in All the Right Places Leads You to Obvious and Obscure Sites

Published on 2012-06-28 12:25:44

Omaha’s Northwest Radial Highway’s Small Box Businesses Fight the Good Fight By Being Themselves

Published on 2012-06-27 15:46:40

Traverse the winding arterial Northwest Radial Highway too fast and you may miss the small businesses dotting the landscape. Their tan or red brick facades bespeak nostalgia. Their intimate spaces reminders of an era before our supersized, homogenized franchise culture. Their personal, friendly, relaxed, pull-up-a-chair-and-let’s-talk customer service far removed from the get-em-in-and-get-em-out mode prevailing in many larger operations today. A strip of the Radial extending from the eastern [..]

Omaha’s Northwest Radial Highway’s Small Box Businesses Fight the Good Fight By Being Themselves

Published on 2012-06-27 15:46:40

A Synergy in North Omaha Harkens a New Arts-Culture District for the City

Published on 2012-06-26 17:23:55

The days when North 24th St. jumped with folks out on the town, strolling the main drag, hitting one live music spot after another, are decades past. Aside from biennial homecoming activities, North 24th is a drive-through artery on the way to somewhere else. Few souls trod its walkways. If people do stop it's for Sunday sanctification, a haircut, a fill-up or some social service business. There's little else to see or do. Food options are mostly confined to the fast variety and dingy bars p [..]

From My Series Out to Win: The Roots of Greatness, A Brief History of Omaha’s Black, Urban, Inner-City Hoops Scene

Published on 2012-06-25 17:30:52

In what is a rite of passage in the inner city, driveways, playgrounds and gyms serve as avenues and repositories for hoop dreams that get realized just often enough to energize each new generation’s hard court aspirations. The hold basketball’s taken over urban America in recent decades is a function both of the sport’s simplicity and expressiveness. Only a ball and a bucket are needed, after all, for players to create signature moves on the floor and in the air that separate them, thei [..]

From My Series Out to Win: The Roots of Greatness, A Brief History of Omaha’s Black, Urban, Inner-City Hoops Scene

Published on 2012-06-25 17:30:52

Alexander Payne to Talk Cinema with Kindred Spirit Jane Fonda at Film Streams Feature Event in Omaha

Published on 2012-06-23 23:10:34

When Omaha's own Alexander Payne talks cinema with Jane Fonda at the July Film Streams Feature Event he won't be at a loss for material. He'll converse with an intelligent artist he admires and whose best work came in his favorite decade of American movies, the '70s. Then there's all the noted directors and actors she's worked with and the legacy of her famous father and brother to discuss. It's apropos that a renowned filmmaker from Omaha will review Fonda's own legendary career before an au [..]

Alexander Payne to Talk Cinema with Kindred Spirit Jane Fonda at Film Streams Feature Event in Omaha

Published on 2012-06-23 23:10:34

From Omaha to Paris to Omaha, with Love, Anne-Marie Kenny’s Journey in Song and Spirit

Published on 2012-06-21 09:36:08

Before becoming a world citizen, Anne Marie Kenny made a coming of age trip to Paris, alone, at 21. "I just knew I needed to spread my wings," said Kenny, a native Omahan who eventually made her second homes in Paris and Prague. where she forged careers as a cabaret singer and entrepreneur. After years away this once expatriate returned to Omaha in 2001. Her hometown's now the base of her performing, vocal instruction and corporate consulting work. She became a Francophile studying French at [..]

From Omaha to Paris to Omaha, with Love, Anne-Marie Kenny’s Journey in Song and Spirit

Published on 2012-06-21 09:36:08

Vic’s Corn Popper Owners Do More Than Make Snacks, They Mentor Young People

Published on 2012-06-21 07:48:07

Once a teacher always a teacher. The axiom applies to Vic Larson and wife Ruth, retired educators whose Mom and Pop retail food company, Vic’s Corn Popper, integrates lessons from their lives and teaching careers. Since Vic’s 1980 start the nurturing couple, who raised three children of their own, has employed scores of youths. For many, it’s their first job. The Larsons expect much from their teen brigade, whom they regard as ”our kids,” and get loyal high achievers in return. “T [..]

Vic’s Corn Popper Owners Do More Than Make Snacks, They Mentor Young People

Published on 2012-06-21 07:48:07

Cousins Bruce and Todd Simon Continue the Omaha Steaks Tradition

Published on 2012-06-21 07:24:24

First cousins Bruce and Todd Simon are the fifth generation in family-owned Omaha Steaks. Their knack for brokering deals, managing people and anticipating the next big thing has the company’s annual sales nearing a half-billion dollars. Each apprenticed under his dad and after working together 20 years each holds fast to cherished lessons passed down from above. For 91 years the company’s found innovative ways to market fine meat and other foods to residential and commercial customers ar [..]

Cousins Bruce and Todd Simon Continue the Omaha Steaks Tradition

Published on 2012-06-21 07:24:24

Kat Moser of Nouvelle Eve, A Life by Her Own Design

Published on 2012-06-20 14:49:37

A visit to the Old Market condo of Nouvelle Eve and Jackson Artworks owner Kat Moser and her husband Jim Moser reveals the couple’s sophisticated aesthetic. The street level entry opens onto a grand space with a soaring second-story loft. The 3,400 square-foot dwelling is rich in contemporary art and sleek furnishings. Some of the art is by the Mosers themselves. She makes infrared photographs of female nudes in ethereal nature settings. He makes abstract metal sculptures. Also displayed are [..]

Kat Moser of Nouvelle Eve, A Life by Her Own Design

Published on 2012-06-20 14:49:37

The Man Behind the Voice of Husker Football at Memorial Stadium

Published on 2012-06-20 14:20:18

Patrick Combs, 41, lives a dream each Husker game day as the in-stadium announcer for Nebraska football. He grew up cheering Big Red at Memorial Stadium, where he and his late father, Lincoln, Neb. car dealer Woody Combs, bonded on Saturdays. From age 13 on, he said, “it’s safe to say my dream was to be the Voice of the Huskers. I always thought how cool it would be someday to be that booming voice...” When not living his dream he's director of business development for NRG Media, a Ceda [..]

Dream Police

Published on 2012-06-20 13:48:33

Devotion. Desire. Duty. The men and women in uniform with the Omaha Police Department share these qualities in performing their public service mission. Each has his or her own story of what led them into law enforcement and what keeps them there. Some followed family legacies, others became the first in their family to carry the shield. Some worked different careers before coming to OPD, others joined right out of high school or college. However they arrived at taking the oath to protect and to [..]

George Eisenberg’s Love for Omaha’s Old Market Never Grows Old

Published on 2012-06-19 17:21:13

Old Market icon George Eisenberg has more than the usual attachment to the historic warehouse district that once was the area’s nexus for produce dealers, buyers and transporters. His late father Benjamin was a peddler in what used to be called the City Market. As boys Eisenberg and his brother Hymie worked alongside their dad in the leased open air sidewalk stalls whose overhead metal canopies still adorn many of the 19th century-era buildings preserved there. Once home to wholesellers and ou [..]

Litniks Unite! The Downtown Omaha Lit Fest Brings Writers, Artists and Readers Together in Celebration of the Written Word

Published on 2012-06-19 00:01:59

When the inaugural Downtown Omaha Lit Fest “turns the pages” for the first time September 16 and 17 in the Old Market, it will unloose a roster of star scribes discoursing their work and offer a whimsical schedule of events, some predictable, some not, in celebration of the written word. Recognizing the breadth of written expression, the festival does not play favorites, except for a preponderance of Nebraska writers, by embracing a sampler format exploring literature in all its variegated [..]

Omaha Lit Fest, In Praise of Writers and Their Words: Jami Attenberg and Will Clarke Among Featured Authors

Published on 2012-06-18 23:14:44

The Sepember 15-16 (downtown) Omaha Lit Fest will offer the literati such bookish delights as readings, panel discussions, an altered book exhibition and the performance of a play. Guest writers from near and far will talk craft. Artists will pay homage to the written word. This second annual fest is the brainchild of Omaha author Timothy Schaffert. He promises a “whoopdeedoo” both more streamlined and expanded than 2005’s version. Held at venues in and around the Old Market, the festival [..]

In Memory of a Omaha Old Market Original, Fruit and Vegetable Peddler Joe Vitale

Published on 2012-06-18 22:16:35

The late Joe Vitale was the last of the old-time produce vendors plying his trade in the Old Market. Long after the Omaha City Market closed, Joe stayed on. The World War II combat veteran made a good living back in the day, first working for his parents Angelo and Lucia, and then with his business partner, Sam Monaco. By the time the Old Market took off, Vitale was set for life and well past retirement age, but he hung on there, wintering in Las Vegas. Why keep at it, even into his 80s? "He [..]

Customer-First Philosophy Makes the Family-Owned Kohll’s Pharmacy and Homecare Stand Out from the Crowd

Published on 2012-06-17 20:03:14

A peek inside a family-owned Kohll’s Pharmacy and Homecare in Omaha soon reveals this is not the drug store of your mother’s or father’s nostalgia. Sure, pharmacists in white coats still dispense prescription medicines from behind a counter, but mostly gone are the sundry retail items associated with a traditional drug store -- greeting cards, stationary, magazines, household goods, candy, alcohol and soft drinks. In their place is an array of home medical equipment and service stations de [..]

Bedrock Values at the Core of Four-Generation All Makes Office Furniture Company

Published on 2012-06-17 11:03:18

As Omaha family businesses go, All Makes Office Furniture Company is one of the oldest and largest still operating. The fourth generation family members running things today stick to the same core principals, values and philosophies that have guided the business since dapper Russian immigrant Harry Ferer founded it in 1918. A go-getter, Ferer became a star agent for the Royal Typewriter Co. and the Ediphone, an early dictation machine patented by inventor Thomas Alva Edison, whom Ferer knew. F [..]

I Know It When I See It, Journalist-Social Critic Robert Jensen Finds Patriarchy and White Supremacy in Porn

Published on 2012-06-16 21:30:53

Journalist-political activist-social critic Robert Jensen is the prickly conscience for a narcissistic Addict Nation that lusts after ever more. More resources. More power. More money. More toys. More sex. The tenured University of Texas at Austin associate professor organizes, agitates, reports, gives talks, writes. Oh, does he write. He’s the prolific author of books-articles challenging the status quo of privileged white males, of which he’s one. He believes white patriarchal systems of [..]

Color Me Black, Artist Francoise Duresse Explores the Implications of Race

Published on 2012-06-16 21:08:30

As any person of color will tell you, the politics of race brands racial minorities with stereotypes that serve to isolate, diminish and exclude them. In America perceptions of what it means to be black or to be a particular shade of black, for instance, carry the baggage of history and popular culture. Distortions abound. Media portrayals reinforce certain stereotypes. Artist and University of Colorado art instructor Francoise Duresse, a native Haitian who’s lived and worked all over the w [..]

From My Series Out to Win: The Roots of Greatness – Neal Mosser, A Straight-Shooting Son-of-a-Gun

Published on 2012-06-16 16:59:27

In the days of segregation, the racial divide extended to school sports competition. At Omaha melting pots Technical, North and Central High schools, diversity was a given, even if some students and teachers were slow to accept it. While blacks played alongside whites, an unwritten practice saw to it few athletes of color suited up, regardless of ability. An informal quota system operated then at all levels of sports. From 1948 to 1967 Omaha Tech’s uncompromising head basketball coach Neal Mo [..]

From the Archives: An Ode to the Omaha Stockyards

Published on 2012-06-14 09:23:49

By the turn of the century the historic Omaha stockyards will be gone from the site it’s operated at for 114 years, leaving an uncertain future for one of Omaha’s oldest active businesses. The move, prompted by a city-sponsored redevelopment project, will mark the end of a once mighty enterprise built on brains, brawn, guts and ambition. After surviving ownership changes, world wars and wild economic swings, the stockyards will finally succumb to changing times and attitudes. A throwbac [..]

Gender Equity in Sports Has Come a Long Way, Baby; Activists-Advocates Who Fought for Change See Progress and the Need for More

Published on 2012-06-11 12:13:16

Participants in girls and women's sports today should be forgiven if they take for granted the bounty of athletic scholarships, competitive opportunities, training facilities and playing venues afforded them. After all, they've never known anything else. Their counterparts from two generations or more ago, however, faced a much leaner landscape. One where athletic scholarships were unheard of or totaled hundreds, not thousands of dollars. A handful of games once comprised a season. Facilities [..]

From the Archives: Warren Francke, A Passion for Journalism, Teaching and Life

Published on 2012-06-10 23:44:59

When University of Nebraska at Omaha communications professor Warren Francke gets a certain misty, far-off gaze in his eyes, chances are he’s lost in another Rocky Mountain reverie. As a veteran Colorado summer dweller, he can’t help but daydream about hiking where the wild flowers bloom or waking to the warm golden glow of the morning sun glinting off snowy peaks or filling his lungs with the cool crisp ether of pure mountain air or sitting under a canopy of stars from atop a tall ridge at [..]

Eddith Buis, A Life Immersed in Art

Published on 2012-06-10 20:04:42

Eddith Buis is immersed in art. Nearly every facet of life and work for this 64-year-old Omahan, who resembles Andy Warhol, gives expression to her creative impulses. She’s perhas best known for leading the popular J. Doe public project that placed symbolic figurative sculptures all around Omaha in 2001. An inveterate reader from early childhood, Buis is a self-described seeker in search of personal growth. Her desire to reach her potential is expressed in her humanistic art, in her Unitaria [..]

One Helluva Broad: Mary Galligan Cornett

Published on 2012-06-09 08:22:23

For more than half-a-century, Mary Galligan Cornett gave as good as she got with the boys at City Hall. In her colorful 53-year civil service career she saw hundreds of elected officials come and go. In a 1961 to 1997 reign as Omaha City Clerk she served 13 mayors (counting acting and interim chiefs) and dozens of council members. She saw Omaha transition from the commission form of government to the city charter home rule system to the present structure featuring district council elections. Sh [..]

Leo Greenbaum is Collector of Collectors of Jewish Artifacts at YIVO Institute

Published on 2012-06-09 07:44:18

In early November the Jewish Press caught up with former Omaha resident Leo Greenbaum, accessioning archivist at the famed Yivo Institute for Jewish Research in New York. Greenbaum was in town to visit friends and family. While here he stayed at the home of author Oliver Pollock, with whom he’s collaborated on articles about the Yiddish Theater and Workmen’s Circle in Omaha. Greenbaum’s mother, Mina, resides at the Blumkin Home. His father Joshua died last year. Begun in 1925 in Vilna, Po [..]

Entrepreneur and Dealmaker Greg Cutchall

Published on 2012-06-08 13:44:00

As a boy working in his father's South Omaha A&W drive-in Greg Cutchall couldn't imagine anything else besides being a restauranteur. His dad, Ray Cutchall, and uncle, Bob Cutchall, owned several A&Ws and Kentucky Fried Chickens. Helping out at his father's A&W in the summers became a rite of summer for young Greg, who lived the rest of the year in Tucson, Arizona with his mother and siblings. His folks divorced when he was small. He recalls working trash cleanup and dish washing details at th [..]

A South Omaha Renaissance

Published on 2012-06-08 08:19:32

The festive streets, high traffic flow, brisk business and diverse people of South 24th Street are a microcosm of the economic engine and cultural melting pot that South Omaha's always been. Today, mariachi music plays instead of polka, tamales rule over dumplings and mixed use developments stand where the stockyards and packing plants once stood, but that rich past survives, mixing with a robust present, to keep South O growing. Now, a Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce initiative called the So [..]

The Panoramic World of Pat Drickey

Published on 2012-06-08 07:12:26

Omaha commercial photographer Pat Drickey knew he was onto something big when panoramic images he was commissioned to shoot of Pebble Beach Golf Course struck a chord in people. What began as an irrigation company ad campaign gig, flying him to elite courses around the world, became his own niche enterprise when the prints sold out and the Professional Golfers Association took note. “That’s when I knew this could be a business,” said Drickey, an Omaha native whose Stonehouse Publishing co [..]

Film Connections, An In-Progress Story of How a 1968 Convergence of Future Cinema Greats in Ogallala, Neb. Resulted in Multiple Films and Enduring Relationships; From the Melting Pot of Coppola, Lucas, Knight, Duvall, Caan and two Ranch-Rodeo Familie

Published on 2012-06-03 17:13:27

An unlikely confluence of remarkable cinema talents descended on the dusty backroads of Ogallala, Neb. in the far southwest reaches of the state in the summer of 1968. None other than future film legend Francis Ford Coppola led this Hollywood caravan. He came as the producer-writer-director of The Rain People, a small, low-budget drama about a disenchanted East Coast housewife who, upon discovering she's pregnant, flees the conventional trappings of suburban homemaking by taking a solo car tri [..]

John Beasley Has it All Going On with a New TV Series, a Feature in Development, Plans for a New Theater and a Possible New York Stage Debut in the Works; He Co-stars with Cedric the Entertainer and Niecy Nash in TVLand’s ‘The Soul Man’

Published on 2012-06-03 14:30:22

In his notable screen acting career John Beasley has done his share of television both as a one-off guest star (Detroit 1-8-7, Boston Legal, CSI: Miami, NCIS) and recurring player (Everwood, Treme). But in the new TVLand series The Soul Man (formerly Have Faith) he has his biggest featured role to date, and in a comedy no less starring Cedric the Entertainer. The original show from the producers of Hot in Cleveland and Grimm premieres June 20 at 9 p.m. "I'm third on the cast list and I'm g [..]

Omaha Tri-Faith Pioneers Seeing the Fruits of Their Interfaith Collaborative Take Shape

Published on 2012-05-25 22:04:00

Omaha's not always embraced diversity but the local Tri-Faith Initiative may be a model of interfaith cooperation as it proceeds with an audacious plan to locate a church, a synagogue and a mosque on one campus. Organizers say they have not found an equivalent gathering of the three Abrahamic faith groups of Christianity, Judaism and Islam in a single dedicated setting. Not surprisingly, the project is drawing much attention from media types and religious scholars. Observers are struck by how [..]

Great American Comedy Festival Presents Lineup of Up-and-Comers with Legends Paula Poundstone, Dick Cavett, Jimmie “JJ” Walker

Published on 2012-05-23 08:15:01

One-liners and nonsequiturs will fly at the June 13-17 Viareo Great American Comedy Festival in Norfolk, Neb., where the late comic great Johnny Carson grew up. This annual celebration of the funny side is equal parts competition, workshop and roast. Its home base is the Johnny Carson Theatre at Norfolk Senior High, where the legendary Tonight Show host graduated. The event welcomes professional stand-ups from around the nation vying for cash prizes. Paula Poundstone is the headliner. Jimmie " [..]

Great American Comedy Festival Presents Lineup of Up-and-Comers with Legends Paula Poundstone, Dick Cavett, Jimmie “JJ” Walker

Published on 2012-05-23 08:15:01

Bill Cosby Speaks His Mind on Education

Published on 2012-05-17 13:59:43

By now America's accustomed to King of Comedy Bill Cosby turning serious about topics he usually mines humor from. Expressing his celebrity opinions he sometimes touches a nerve, as when he asserted "parenting is not going on" in poor inner city black homes during a 2004 NAACP speech. The Reader got three doses of Cosby opining before his May 6 Omaha concert. In each he revealed different facets of himself. In a phone interview he recalled in his avuncular storyteller way his slacker youth in P [..]

Bill Cosby Speaks His Mind on Education

Published on 2012-05-17 13:59:43

Negro Leagues Baseball Museum Exhibits on Display for the College World Series; In Bringing the Shows to Omaha the Great Plains Black History Museum Announces it’s Back

Published on 2012-05-16 23:19:34

Three traveling baseball exhibitions on view in the metro this spring chart a history with local overtones and signals a comeback for a local organization. The exhibits are courtesy of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. Omaha's own Great Plains Black History Museum is presenting the photo shows at family-friendly venues. The exhibits are happening in the heat of the baseball season, too. The last few weeks of their run coincide with the College World Series. The history of black baseball is [..]

Negro Leagues Baseball Museum Exhibits on Display for the College World Series; In Bringing the Shows to Omaha the Great Plains Black History Museum Announces it’s Back

Published on 2012-05-16 23:19:34

Movie Maven Crawford Celebrates 20 Years of Classic Film Revivals that Bring Hollywood to Omaha, Special Guest Pat Boone to Appear at Screening of 'Journey to the Center of the Earth'

Published on 2012-05-12 07:12:04

Reblogged from Leo Adam Biga's Blog: One of my favorite movies as a kid was the 1959 version of Journey to the Center of the Earth. I’ve seen it all the way through perhaps a handful of times but always on television, which is why I’m looking forward to an upcoming big screen revival of [...]

Movie Maven Crawford Celebrates 20 Years of Classic Film Revivals that Bring Hollywood to Omaha, Special Guest Pat Boone to Appear at Screening of 'Journey to the Center of the Earth'

Published on 2012-05-12 07:12:04

Omaha's Pitch Man: Entrepreneur Extraordinaire Willy Theisen is Back with His Next Big Business Venture

Published on 2012-05-12 07:11:26

Reblogged from Leo Adam Biga's Blog: Willy Theisen’s self-made success story is an American classic. I have known of him since the breakout success of his Godfather’s Pizza chain in the 1970s but it wasn’t until I was assigned the following profile that I finally met him. I interviewed him for the piece in early [...]

Omaha's Pitch Man: Entrepreneur Extraordinaire Willy Theisen is Back with His Next Big Business Venture

Published on 2012-05-12 07:11:26

Outward Bound Omaha Uses Experiential Education to Challenge and Inspire Youth

Published on 2012-05-12 07:11:15

Reblogged from Leo Adam Biga's Blog: After seeing some high school students navigate the high ropes challenge course at the Outward Bound Omaha center site I understand why youths and adults, really anyone physically able to access and maneuver on the apparatus, could benefit from testing onself on it. I woulnd’t mind trying it myself. [...]

Outward Bound Omaha Uses Experiential Education to Challenge and Inspire Youth

Published on 2012-05-12 07:11:15

Steve Rosenblatt, A Legacy of Community Service, Political Ambition and Baseball Adoration

Published on 2012-05-12 07:09:50

Reblogged from Leo Adam Biga's Blog: Rosenblatt is a magical name in Omaha because of the popular mayor who belonged to it, the late Johnny Rosenblatt, who in his day was quite a ballplayer, and because of the municipal stadium whose construction he speerheaded. That stadium was named after him and became home to the [...]

Abe Sass, A Mensch for All Seasons

Published on 2012-05-12 07:08:31

Reblogged from Leo Adam Biga's Blog: The following profile I did on Abe Sass reminds me that extraordinary individuals are all around us. He’s married to a dynamo named Rivkah Sass, one of the most honored public librarians in the nation and because of her much feted work in that field she is obstensibly the [...]

A Brief History of Omaha’s Civil Rights Struggle Distilled in Black and White By Photographer Rudy Smith

Published on 2012-05-12 06:58:48

Reblogged from Leo Adam Biga's Blog: Rudy Smith was a lot of places where breaking news happened. That was his job as an Omaha World-Herald photojournalist. Early in his career he was there when riots broke out on the Near Northside, the largely African-American community he came from and lived in. He was there too [...]

A Brief History of Omaha’s Civil Rights Struggle Distilled in Black and White By Photographer Rudy Smith

Published on 2012-05-12 06:58:48

Omaha's Malcolm X Memorial Foundation Comes into its Own, As the Nonprofit Eyes Grand Plans it Weighs How Much Support Exists to Realize Them

Published on 2012-05-12 06:58:22

Reblogged from Leo Adam Biga's Blog: African-Americans from the town where I live, Omaha, Neb., are often amused when they travel outside the state, especially to the coasts, and people they first meet discover where they are from and invariably express surprise that black people live in this Great Plains state. Yes, black people do [...]

Omaha's Malcolm X Memorial Foundation Comes into its Own, As the Nonprofit Eyes Grand Plans it Weighs How Much Support Exists to Realize Them

Published on 2012-05-12 06:58:22

Bill Cosby, On His Own Terms

Published on 2012-05-12 06:57:32

Reblogged from Leo Adam Biga's Blog: Bill Cosby with Bob Boozer, ©photo by Marlon Wright, mawphotography.net My Bill Cosby odyssey continued in unexpected ways the first weekend in May. After interviewing him by phone for two-plus hours in advance of his Sunday, May 6 show, I secured a face to face interview with him in [...]

Bill Cosby, On His Own Terms

Published on 2012-05-12 06:57:32

Bill Cosby, On His Own Terms

Published on 2012-05-11 09:14:27

Holding court in his Orpheum Theater dressing room before his May 6 Omaha show, comedy legend Bill Cosby was thoroughly, authentically, well, Bill Cosby. The living legend exuded the easy banter, sharp observations and occasional bluster that defines his comedic brand. He was variously lovable curmudgeon, cantankerous sage and mischievous child. He appeared tired, having played Peoria just the night before, but his energy soared the more the room filled up. With his concert start nearing and [..]

Bill Cosby, On His Own Terms

Published on 2012-05-11 09:14:27

Omaha’s Malcolm X Memorial Foundation Comes into its Own, As the Nonprofit Eyes Grand Plans it Weighs How Much Support Exists to Realize Them

Published on 2012-05-03 21:27:10

Self-determination by any means necessary. The notorious sentiment is by Malcolm X, whose incongruous beginnings were in this conservative, white-bread city. Not where you'd expect a revolutionary to originate. Then again, his narrative would be incomplete if he didn't come from oppression. Born Malcolm Little, his family escaped persecution here when he was a child. His incendiary intellect and enlightenment were forged on a path from hustler to Muslim to militant to husband, father and human [..]

Omaha’s Malcolm X Memorial Foundation Comes into its Own, As the Nonprofit Eyes Grand Plans it Weighs How Much Support Exists to Realize Them

Published on 2012-05-03 21:27:10

Carolina Quezada Leading Rebound of Latino Center of the Midlands

Published on 2012-05-02 19:06:30

Carolina Quezada took the reins of the Latino Center of the Midlands last August in the wake of its substance abuse program losing funding, executive director Rebecca Valdez resigning and the annual fund raiser being canceled. Despite the travails, Quezada found a resilient organization. Overcoming obstacles has been par for the course since community organizers started the former Chicano Awareness Center in 1971 to address the needs of underserved peoples. Its story reminds her of the commun [..]

A Brief History of Omaha’s Civil Rights Struggle Distilled in Black and White By Photographer Rudy Smith

Published on 2012-05-02 18:22:35

Coursing down North 24th Street in his car one recent afternoon, Rudy Smith retraced the path of the 1969 summer riots that erupted on Omaha’s near northside. Smith was a young Omaha World-Herald photographer then. The disturbance he was sent to cover was a reaction to pent up discontent among black residents. Earlier riots, in 1966 and 1968, set the stage. The flash point for the 1969 unrest was the fatal shooting of teenager Vivian Strong by Omaha police officer James Loder in the Logan Fo [..]

Abe Sass, A Mensch for All Seasons

Published on 2012-05-01 21:24:38

When your wife is a force of nature named Rivkah Sass, a recent national librarian of the year honoree and a much-in-demand public speaker, it could be easy to get overshadowed. The Omaha Public Library director’s dynamic personality can take over a room. Abe Sass doesn’t mind. In fact, he loves the attention Rivkah gets. You see, he’s not only her husband, but her biggest fan. “Rivkah has an incredibly difficult job and I really believe she’s already changed the world in Omaha. She [..]

Dena Krupinski Makes Her Hollywood Dreams a Reality as a Turner Classic Movies Producer

Published on 2012-04-30 11:10:19

For most of us, childhood dreams remain just that -- the unfulfilled musings of our starry-eyed youth. But for Omaha native Dena Krupinsky, an associate director with Turner Classic Movies (TCM) in Atlanta, her long-harbored fantasy of working with Hollywood greats has become reality. Since joining TCM in 1994, the year the national cable network launched, Krupinsky has produced dozens of special programs featuring stars and other notables from Hollywood’s Golden Age. Even a cursory glance at [..]

The Wonderful World of Entertainment Talent Broker Manya Nogg

Published on 2012-04-30 08:57:46

Who am I this time? It’s a question brassy, breezy Manya Nogg might well ask given the chameleon-like life she leads and endless ways she reinvents herself. There’s Manya the wife and mother, the entrepreneur, the writer, the teacher, the motivational speaker, roles that overlapped her work as a makeup artist, television crew member, ad agency hack, city film commissioner and race horse owner. In her current guise as founder-manager of the talent brokerage house Actors Etc. and of the dra [..]

Entertainment Attorney Ira Epstein, Counsel to the Stars

Published on 2012-04-30 06:29:53

Veteran west coast entertainment attorney Ira Epstein, a counsel to high-profile clients in film and television, traces his show biz roots to growing-up in Omaha, where he and his brother, Arnold “Tuffy” Epstein, a well-known Omaha woodwind player, performed in area fairs and amateur shows during the Great Depression. Born and raised here, the brothers, studied music at the prodding of their grocer parents, Harry and Jenny, the proprietors of their own mom-and-pop store, Epstein’s Groce [..]

Allan Noddle’s Adventures in the Food Industry Show Him the World

Published on 2012-04-28 08:05:58

Three Omaha brothers. Three company presidents. What are the odds a trio of sons from a Jewish family of humble beginnings would realize the American Dream, and then some? But brothers Harlan, Allan and Jeff Noddle did just that, as one by one they rose to the pinnacle of their respective profession while giving back to their community. It’s an American success story times three, only the real foundation for this accomplishment is rooted in the example set by the brothers’ late parents, Robe [..]

Steve Rosenblatt, A Legacy of Community Service, Political Ambition and Baseball Adoration

Published on 2012-04-27 17:55:41

Legacy plays a big part in Steve Rosenblatt’s life. The Omaha native and his wife, the former Ann Hermen, live in Scottsdale, Ariz. His late father, Johnny Rosenblatt, became an Omaha icon: first as a top amateur baseball player; than as a sponsor of youth athletic teams through the Roberts Dairy company he managed; and finally as a popular Omaha city councilman and mayor. The elder Rosenblatt, who served as mayor from 1954 to 1961, led efforts to build the south Omaha stadium that became th [..]

Outward Bound Omaha Uses Experiential Education to Challenge and Inspire Youth

Published on 2012-04-26 17:46:33

The North Star Foundation formed in 2007 to address Omaha's disenfranchised African-American youth. The organization sought a way of engaging and inspiring young people to keep them on track academically so they finish school and become productive citizens. With board members such as Dick Holland and Susie Buffett, North Star arrived on the scene with heavy hitters deeply committed to improving outcomes of underserved youth. Too many kids underachieve in North Omaha, where there's a dearth of [..]

Omaha’s Pitch Man: Entrepreneur Extraordinaire Willy Theisen is Back with His Next Big Business Venture

Published on 2012-04-25 12:11:41

Willy Theisen has done it all in the restaurant business. He founded a national name brand in Godfather's Pizza that became the fastest growing pizza chain in America. He's been a successful innovator, franchisor and franchisee. He's opened thousands of restaurants across the country. He's a millionaire many times over. He's far from done, too, as he's about to replicate his latest concept, the popular Pitch Coal-Fire Pizzeria in Dundee. Always hungry for "the next thing," you can bet Pitch won [..]

Bill Cosby Coming to Omaha to Perform Comedy Concert May 6

Published on 2012-04-21 08:22:22

Slow ticket sales are prompting legendary comedian Bill Cosby to do a media blitz promoting his 2 p.m. May 6 Orpheum Theater concert. It just wouldn't do for the 74-year-old icon to play to empty seats. Cosby's handler has me call the artist's home directly. The unmistakable voice answering on the other end hastily greets me before excusing himself with, "Hang on a minute." It seems his wife Camille is heading out with the grandkids and he wants to confirm dinner plans before she goes. "Hey, [..]

Bill Cosby Coming to Omaha to Perform May 6 Comedy Concert: In an Interview the Enduring Comic Talks About the Turning Point that Set Him on His Way

Published on 2012-04-21 08:22:22

Generosity at Core of Anne Thorne Weaver’s Life, Giving Back to the Community Comes Second Nature to Omaha Woman Whose Live-out-loud Personality is Tempered by Compassion and Service

Published on 2012-04-20 20:06:13

Anne Thorne Weaver has known privilege and pain but like a real-life Auntie Mame she views the world as a banquet to be sampled. A giving heart The adventurous traveler and enthusiastic hostess says, "I've had a really a good life. I'm one of these few people that would go back to the beginning and live it all over again." The generous Weaver has spent her adult life volunteering with local service clubs and nonprofits in order to better her adopted hometown. When most persons her age defer [..]

Generosity at Core of Anne Thorne Weaver’s Life, Giving Back to the Community Comes Second Nature to Omaha Woman Whose Live-out-loud Personality is Tempered by Compassion and Service

Published on 2012-04-20 20:06:13

Movie Maven Crawford Celebrates 20 Years of Classic Film Revivals that Bring Hollywood to Omaha, Special Guest Pat Boone to Appear at Screening of ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth’

Published on 2012-04-19 09:23:38

When film impresario Bruce Crawford presents the 1959 big screen version of Journey to the Center of the Earth May 19 with star and special guest Pat Boone he'll celebrate three milestones. Legends The 7 p.m. event at Joslyn Art Museum's Witherspoon Concert Hall benefiting the Nebraska Kidney Association marks Crawford's 20th year of classic film revivals and 30th screening. The program also pays homage to the centenary of the movie's late great composer, Bernard Herrmann. Growing up in Nebra [..]

Movie Maven Crawford Celebrates 20 Years of Classic Film Revivals that Bring Hollywood to Omaha, Special Guest Pat Boone to Appear at Screening of ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth’

Published on 2012-04-19 09:23:38

Artist-Author-Educator Faith Ringgold, A Faithful Conjurer of Stories, Dreams, Memories and History

Published on 2012-04-18 09:16:05

Artist-author-educator Faith Ringgold spoke about the power of dreams during an October 8 lecture at Joslyn Art Museum’s Witherspoon Concert Hall, whose nearly filled to capacity auditorium testified to the popularity of her work. The official role of her Omaha appearance was to give the keynote address at the Nebraska Art Teachers Association’s fall conference. But her real mission was to deliver a message of hope and possibility, as expressed in the affirming, empowering tales of her paint [..]

Artist-Author-Educator Faith Ringgold, A Faithful Conjurer of Stories, Dreams, Memories and History

Published on 2012-04-18 09:16:05

Filmmaker Steve Lustgarten Proves He Can Come Home Again

Published on 2012-04-17 14:09:54

Wanderer. It's an apt description of Steve Lustgarten, an itinerant artist whose wanderlust has uprooted his native Omaha ties the past 20 years. While always returning here, Lustgarten invariably gravitates to the West Coast, where he makes films. His most recent homecoming is causing quite a stir because this prodigal son has brought back a slice of Hollywood with him. The 38-year-old is the producer-writer-director of Homefires Burning, a feature-length dramatic film shot entirely in Nebras [..]

Filmmaker Steve Lustgarten Proves He Can Come Home Again

Published on 2012-04-17 14:09:54

From My Series Out to Win: The Roots of Greatness – Alexander the Great’s Wrestling Dynasty, Champion Wrestler and Coach Curlee Alexander on Winning

Published on 2012-04-17 09:11:19

Short in stature and sleek of build, Curlee Alexander still manages casting a huge shadow in Nebraska wrestling circles even though the largely retired educator is now a co-head coach. Seven times as head coach he led his prep teams to state championships, six at Omaha North and one at Omaha Tech. Twice, his North squads were state runners-up. Four more times his Vikings finished third. Dozens of his athletes won individual state titles, including three by his son Curlee Alexander Jr., and many [..]

From My Series Out to Win: The Roots of Greatness – Alexander the Great’s Wrestling Dynasty, Champion Wrestler and Coach Curlee Alexander on Winning

Published on 2012-04-17 09:11:19

Carole Woods Harris Makes a Habit of Breaking Barriers for Black Women in Business and Politics

Published on 2012-04-17 08:17:19

When former US West executive and current Douglas County Commissioner Carole Woods Harris first applied at the phone company in the late 1950s, the then-Technical High School honors student eagerly sought one of Ma Bell’s long distance operator openings. It was an era when women, regardless of ability, were limited to narrow roles in the workplace. Any job at the fat phone company was prized. A job there meant a steady paycheck and, if one stayed put, the promise of a pension at the end of a l [..]

Carole Woods Harris Makes a Habit of Breaking Barriers for Black Women in Business and Politics

Published on 2012-04-17 08:17:19

The Last Hurrah for Hoops Wizard Darcy Stracke

Published on 2012-04-16 19:43:06

Wherever she is with the ball, her first instinct is to take it to the house. Using a crossover dribble, she first measures her opponent. Then, feinting with the ball, her head or both, she jump-stops inside, double-pumps and either banks a shot in off the glass, draws a foul or else dishes off to an open teammate for an assist. What sticks with you is her fearlessness inside and her uncanny knack for weaving through a tangle of bodies to make something happen. Before some recent struggles, it [..]

The Last Hurrah for Hoops Wizard Darcy Stracke

Published on 2012-04-16 19:43:06

Photojournalist Nobuko Oyabu’s Own Journey of Recovery Sheds Light on Survivors of Rape and Sexual Abuse

Published on 2012-04-16 11:11:40

Omaha photojournalist Nobuko Oyabu’s work on rape and sexual abuse first made waves in the States. Now it’s stirring things up in her native Japan. On visits there in the last year she’s exhibited her intimate portraits of survivors and given talks about her own story and her subjects’ stories of survival. She was raped in 1999. She’s also returned to her homeland to promote her new book, Stand (Forest Press). Published in October, its made best seller lists there. The book reveals t [..]

Photojournalist Nobuko Oyabu’s Own Journey of Recovery Sheds Light on Survivors of Rape and Sexual Abuse Through Her Project STAND

Published on 2012-04-16 11:11:40

Closing Installment from My Series Out to Win: The Roots of Greatness, An Exploration of Omaha’s Black Sports Legends

Published on 2012-04-10 15:17:33

Closing Installment from My Series Out to Win: The Roots of Greatness, An Exploration of Omaha’s Black Sports Legends

Published on 2012-04-10 15:17:33

Opening Installment from My Series Out to Win: The Roots of Greatness, An Exploration of Omaha’s Black Sports Legends

Published on 2012-04-10 10:48:24

Omaha’s African American community has produced a heritage rich in achievement across many fields, but none more dramatic than in sports, Despite a comparatively small populace, black Omaha rightly claims a legacy of athletic excellence in the form of legends who’ve achieved greatness at many levels, in a variety of sports, over many eras. These athletes aren't simply neighborhood or college legends – their legacies loom large. Each is a compelling story in the grand tale of Omaha's inne [..]

Opening Installment from My Series Out to Win: The Roots of Greatness, An Exploration of Omaha’s Black Sports Legends

Published on 2012-04-10 10:48:24

One Peach of a Pitcher: Peaches James Leaves Enduring Legacy in the Circle as a Nebraska Softball Legend

Published on 2012-04-10 09:45:38

Nebraska softball pitching whiz Peaches James is the epitome of cool on the diamond between her tight braids, sleek shades, silver bling-bling adorned ears and silky smooth delivery of blazing rise balls. She strides the circle with the calm confidence you expect from the ace of the staff. Intense, yet loose, and in complete command out there. The record-setting James is among the latest African-American athletes from Omaha who’ve made an enduring contribution to the area’s fat sports herit [..]

One Peach of a Pitcher: Peaches James Leaves Enduring Legacy in the Circle as a Nebraska Softball Legend

Published on 2012-04-10 09:45:38

From the series Out to Win: The Roots of Greatness – Black Women Make Their Mark in Athletics

Published on 2012-04-10 08:03:13

Gender equity got a major boost in 1972 when Congress passed Title IX legislation. Enacted in 1976, the law made it a crime for any educational institution receiving federal money to deny females the same rights as males, including in the field of athletic competition. The effects of Title IX have been far-reaching. Since Title IX’s passage, female participation in interscholastic-intercollegiate sports has grown from a few hundred thousand annually to millions, U.S. Department of Education [..]

From the series Out to Win: The Roots of Greatness – Black Women Make Their Mark in Athletics

Published on 2012-04-10 08:03:13

Fabulist Adventures in the Deep Blue Sea: Disney’s 1954 Version ofJules Verne’s ’20,000 Leagues Under the Sea’ Gets the Full Technicolor-Cinemascope Treatment

Published on 2012-04-09 15:55:54

Sure, one can quibble with some of Bruce Crawford’s selections for his now semi-annual film revival events. But, like all show people, Crawford has a nearly unerring sense for putting on the dog. His newest foray into extravaganza is a...unreeling of the wide screen spectacle 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Disney’s 1954 film version of the speculative Jules Verne adventure yarn. Working his Hollywood contacts as usual, Crawford’s secured a restored print of the Cinemascope and Technicolor [..]

Fabulist Adventures in the Deep Blue Sea: Disney’s 1954 Version ofJules Verne’s ’20,000 Leagues Under the Sea’ Gets the Full Technicolor-Cinemascope Treatment

Published on 2012-04-09 15:55:54

Tempting Fate: Patrick Coyle Film ‘Into Temptation’ Delivers Gritty Tale of a Working Girl and an Idealistic Priest in Search of Redemption

Published on 2012-04-09 15:16:32

Native Omahan Patrick Coyle’s small indie feature Into Temptation has taken the Dundee Theatre by storm. Packed houses led to an extended run. That followed boffo business in his adopted hometown Minneapolis, where he’s a fixture on the theater/commercial film scene. Coyle didn’t set out to make a religious film. But his steeped-in Catholicism story of redemption for a world-weary prostitute intent on killing herself and an idealistic priest obsessed with saving her is an old-school messa [..]

Tempting Fate: Patrick Coyle Film ‘Into Temptation’ Delivers Gritty Tale of a Working Girl and an Idealistic Priest in Search of Redemption

Published on 2012-04-09 15:16:32

Evangelina “Gigi” Brignoni Immerses Herself in Community Affairs

Published on 2012-04-09 14:53:07

Growing up in the Bronx, New York as the eldest of seven children, Omaha educator Evangelina "Gigi" Brignoni wanted "to speak the secret code" of her Puerto Rican parents' native tongue. Only her folks decided they would only converse in English at home to give Gigi and her siblings "all the advantages in the United States." Being denied this expressive part of her familia made her “a wannabe Spanish speaker.” When the school she attended offered Latin, not Spanish, she was frustrated. It [..]

Evangelina “Gigi” Brignoni Immerses Herself in Community Affairs

Published on 2012-04-09 14:53:07

“Paco” Proves You Can Come Home Again

Published on 2012-04-09 14:21:48

South Omaha Boys & Girls Club unit director Francisco "Paco" Fuentes has won numerous awards for his youth development work, but he never gave a thought to serving kids until he returned home from the U.S. Air Force in 1998. During a 20-year military career the South High grad moved often. He rose to the rank of master sergeant. His first civilian job after getting out was at the Omaha World-Herald, where he was a quality control technician. He had no complaints about how he was treated or pa [..]

“Paco” Proves You Can Come Home Again

Published on 2012-04-09 14:21:48

OneWorld Community Health: Caring, Affordable Services for a Multicultural World in Need

Published on 2012-04-09 13:42:21

Even as OneWorld Community Health Centers has become South Omaha's largest health care provider and is now poised for expansion, CEO Andrea Skolkin says the not-for-profit tries keeping the spirit of its grassroots start alive. In every measurable, from staff to providers to patients to services to facilities, OneWorld’s grown since a humble beginning in 1970 as the Indian-Chicano Health Center. This once small, all-volunteer endeavor has evolved into a large enterprise of salaried profess [..]

OneWorld Community Health: Caring, Affordable Services for a Multicultural World in Need

Published on 2012-04-09 13:42:21

From the Archives: Peony Park Not Just an Amusement Playground, But a Multi-Use Events Facility

Published on 2012-04-08 15:42:07

What is 40 candy-coated acres of rides, games and variety-filled nights that are bright and shiny all over? Why, it's one of Omaha's landmark entertainment attractions – Peony Park, whose amusement center opened last week. Despite two rainouts, the May 10-13 opening drew 3,000 patrons. Since the late Joseph Malec Sr. opened a dance spot and filling station in 1919 across the road from a huge peony garden (hence the name) the complex has grown into a multi-use events center serving hundreds of [..]

From the Archives: Peony Park Not Just an Amusement Playground, But a Multi-Use Events Facility

Published on 2012-04-08 15:42:07

Omaha South High Student Marissa Gomez Will Stand, Deliver and Be Heard at Louder Than a Bomb Omaha Youth Poetry Festival and Competition

Published on 2012-04-07 21:24:47

When South High Magnet School represents at Omaha's first citywide youth poetry slam, Louder Than a Bomb, starting April 15, junior Marissa Gomez will be a performer to watch. Resident poet Katie F-S, who coaches South's poetry slam team, has high praise for Gomez:LTaB takes its name and model from a teen poetry festival and competition in Chicago, where slamming was born. A popular documentary about the event has sparked a nationwide youth slam phenomenon. "Marissa is a fantastic artist. Her [..]

Louder Than a Bomb Omaha: Stand, Deliver and Be Heard

Published on 2012-04-07 20:24:54

Poetry slams pit teams in bouts of spoken word street soliloquies that bring performers and spectators to tears and cheers the way art and sport events do. Omaha's long been home to a thriving adult slam scene, thanks to poet Matt Mason and the Nebraska Writers Collective (NWC), who've lately cultivated youths by sending established resident and visiting poets into schools. All that nurturing comes to a head at the April 15-22 Louder Than a Bomb youth poetry festival and competition, when s [..]

From the Archives: Nancy Duncan’s Journey to Storytelling Took a Circutious Route

Published on 2012-04-01 18:58:05

Omaha actress-storyteller Nancy Duncan has always been an independent sort. Growing up a tomboy in Illinois suburbs and Georgia backwoods she chafed at her mother's attempts to make her a debutante. Even after she became a successful performer years later Duncan couldn't win her approval. "My mother was a real Anglophile. She was never pleased with my theater work because she wanted me to do glamorous characters, and Baba Yaga was the antithesis of glamour," Duncan said with her diaphram-rattln [..]

From the Archives: Minister Makes No Concessions to Retirement, Plans Busy Travel, Filmmaking Schedule

Published on 2012-04-01 14:36:05

Retirement is a state of mind. Take the Rev. Richard Linde for example. Although the 60-something Protestant minister is fast approaching his August 1 retirement date the veteran globe-trotter isn't planning to slow down much. Sitting idle just isn't his style. Besides, Linde has better things to do, like chasing rainbows and memories half-way around the world. Soon after stepping down from his 17-year post as senior minister at Countryside Community Church in west Omaha Linde will slip into [..]

Blacks of Distinction II

Published on 2012-04-01 09:30:36

The Great Migration Comes Home: Deep South Exiles Living in Omaha Participated in the Movement Author Isabel Wilkerson Writes About in Her Book, ‘The Warmth of Other Suns’

Published on 2012-03-30 21:48:29

The 20th century migration African-Americans made from the South to the North and West expanded black enclaves across the nation. While Omaha didn't experience a huge influx like Chicago or Los Angeles, it was enough to alter the cultural and socio-economic landscape. This epoch movement went little examined outside scholarly circles and literary works until Isabel Wilkerson's 2010 nonfiction book The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration. The Pulitzer Prize-winn [..]

Omaha Legends: Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce Business Hall of Fame Inductees Cut Across a Wide Swath of Endeavors

Published on 2012-03-28 09:00:50

The latest Omaha Chamber of Commerce Business Hall of Fame inductees include a publisher, a PR maven, a businessman-turned-politician, two couples following their passion and "a cotton-picker from Texas" who turned sundries into gold. An April 24 Holland Performing Arts Center gala honors these legends. Every city of any size has its movers and shakers and star performers in the world of commerce. One function of a chamber of commerce is to recognize its local impact players. It's no different [..]

Omaha Hoops Legend John C. Johnson: Fierce Determination Tested by Repeated Run-Ins with the Law

Published on 2012-03-27 22:41:23

“I got tired of being tired.” Omaha hoops legend and former Creighton University star John C. Johnson explained why he ended the pattern of drug abuse, theft and fraud that saw him serve jail and prison time before his release last May. From a sofa in the living room of the north Omaha home he shares with his wife, Angela Vega-Johnson, who clung to him during a recent interview, he made no excuses for his actions. He tried, however, to explain his fall from grace and the struggle to reclai [..]

Making the Case for a Nebraska Black Sports Hall of Fame

Published on 2012-03-27 11:04:51

Robert Faulkner feels it’s a shameful thing African American visitors to Omaha, much less area residents, can barely point to a single venue where local black achievements hold a place of honor. As the native Omahan is quick to note, the black community here can claim many accomplished individuals as its own. These figures encompass the breadth of human endeavor. But perhaps none are more impressive than the athletic greats who excelled in and out of Omaha’s inner city. “What do you hav [..]

Garry Gernandt’s Unexpected Swing Vote Wins Approval of Equal Employment Protection for LGBTs in Omaha; A Lifetime Serving Diverse Constituents Led Him to ‘We’re All in the Human Race’ Decision

Published on 2012-03-27 07:51:05

After weeks of public testimony and closed door meetings on the hotly contested equal employment ordinance giving legal protection to gay and transgender residents, the Omaha City Council decided the issue March 13. Three-term District 4 (South Omaha) representative Garry Gernandt surprised many when he reversed his position and cast the swing vote in favor. The Democrat had resisted the proposal, even broaching an amendment limiting protections to city employees, Then he withdrew the amendmen [..]

Linda Lovgren’s Sterling Career Earns Her Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce Business Hall of Fame Induction

Published on 2012-03-26 15:05:17

"I've kind of always been a carpe diem or seize the day sort of person," says new Omaha Chamber of Commerce Business Hall of Fame inductee Linda Lovgren. The highly respected public relations maven began her Lovgren Marketing Group in 1978 at the age of 30. It was an era when relatively few women, especially women that young, went in business for themselves. Growing up and working on her family's far northwest Iowa farm taught the former Linda Hoeppner the independence and conviction necessar [..]

Entrepreneur Extraordinaire Willy Theisen is Back, Not that He Was Ever Really Gone

Published on 2012-03-25 10:23:42

Willy Theisen has done it all in the restaurant business. He founded a national name brand in Godfather's Pizza that became the fastest growing pizza chain in America. He's been a successful innovator, franchisor and franchisee. He's opened thousands of restaurants across the country. He's a millionaire many times over. He's far from done, too, as he's about to replicate his latest concept, the popular Pitch Coal-Fired Pizzeria in Dundee. Always hungry for "the next thing," you can bet Pitch w [..]

From Reporter to Teacher, Carol Kloss McClellan Enjoys Her New Challenge as an Inner City Public High School Instructor

Published on 2012-03-25 09:30:12

Leaving the life of a television news reporter for a public high school teaching job is not something second-year South High Magnet English and creative writing instructor Carol Kloss McClellan entered lightly in 2010. After all, she distinguished herself as an investigative news reporter at KETV, winning Nebraska Broadcasters, Associated Press and Edward R. Murrow awards. But as she reached middle-age and TV news gathering became less satisfying she felt called to leave one challenging field f [..]

Indigenous Music Celebrated in Omaha Conservatory of Music Nebraska Roots Concert

Published on 2012-03-25 09:12:11

Indigenous themes take center stage for a March 24 Omaha Conservatory of Music concert that culminates the school's Nebraska Roots: Native American Music of the Omaha Indian Tribe curriculum. The program is also the conservatory's annual Winter Festival Orchestra showcase. Various ensembles featuring conservatory students and youth players from schools near and far will perform along with Omaha Indian tribal elders and students from St. Augustine Mission School on the Winnebago (Neb.) Reservat [..]

Jose and Linda Garcia Find a New Outlet for their Magnificent Obsession in the Mexican American Historical Society of the Midlands

Published on 2012-03-25 08:50:04

Jose and Linda Garcia spend every day immersed in Mexican-American heritage. After devoting years to their Las Artes Cultural Center, the couple recently closed it. Their magnificent obsession with Latino art and history is now expressed through the Mexican American Historical Society of the Midlands. He's executive director and she's secretary of the new nonprofit in the Mercado building, 4913 South 25th Street. The Garcias bring passion and expertise, along with a collection of photographs, a [..]

African Presence in Spanish America Explored in Three Presentations

Published on 2012-03-25 08:17:07

A collaborative public education series by the Mexican American Historical Society of the Midlands and the Malcolm X Memorial Foundation will examine the African Presence in Spanish America. Historical Society curator Jose Francisco Garcia, the series co-organizer and facilitator with Malcolm X administrative director Walter Brooks, says the power-point programs "will emphasize the growing understanding of history between Spanish, African and indigenous peoples over the past five centuries," ad [..]

Grassroots Leadership Development Program Provides Opportunities for Students

Published on 2012-03-25 07:15:39

Students completing the Grassroots Leadership Development Program through the Omaha Public Schools were rewarded with an all expense paid trip to Chicago to attend the Feb. 16-19 United States Hispanic Leadership Institute Conference. Seventy seven senior graduates from all seven OPS high schools attended the conference at the downtown Sheraton. Adult chaperones accompanied the students, who represented South (31), Bryan (21) Burke (15), Central (7). Benson (1), North (1) and Northwest (1). [..]

Entrepreneur, Strategist and Nation Builder Taylor Keen

Published on 2012-03-13 10:59:18

As the son of prominent, college-educated Native American parents who found success in and out of traditional circles, Creighton University's Taylor Keen says he grew up with the expectation "you had to walk in both worlds." He hails from northeast Oklahoma, where his late attorney father, Ralph F. Keen, was a conservative big wheel in Cherokee nation politics. His liberal Omaha Indian mother, Octa Keen, is a veteran nursing professional. He credits her for his being well-versed in traditiona [..]

Steve Gordon, the Man Behind RDQLUS Creative, Lives and Breathes the Life and Career of an Independent Creative

Published on 2012-03-13 09:37:28

Designer Steve Gordon's urbanized sense for what's in-vogue permeates his lifestyle and RDQLUS Creative signature work. He indulges a love for hip hop, sneakers and bikes. He provides brand development, identity design and creative direction services for corporate clients, big and small, near and far. Growing up in the North Omaha projects, Gordon displayed an inquisitive mind and aptitude for art. Attending Omaha Creighton Prep exposed him to a larger world. "I was encouraged to explore and [..]

Part IV of a Four-Part Q & A with Pulitzer-Winner Isabel Wilkerson on Her Book, ‘The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration’

Published on 2012-03-11 15:08:50

� This is the final installment of my four-part Q&A with author Isabel Wilkerson about her book The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration. Here, she explains in more detail some of the things that distinguished the migration of African-Americans from the South to all points North and West and [...]

Talking Screenwriting with Hollywood Heavyweight Hawk Ostby, The Omaha Film Festival Panelist Counts ‘Children of Men’ and ‘Iron Man’ Among His Credits

Published on 2012-03-02 08:36:54

Hawk Ostby, one half of the scriptwriting team of Children of Men and Iron Man, will provide an insider's take on the screenwriting trade at the Omaha Film Festival's Filmmaking Conference. Speaking by phone from his Vermont home, Ostby says a big part of making it in the industry is "perseverance and discipline." "You really get tested when you start off," says Ostby, whose writing partner is Mark Fergus. "I was fortunate in that I knew somebody who had a foot in the door, and he said, 'Look [..]

Model-Turned-Actress Jaime King Comes Home for Screening of Film She Wrote and Directed, ‘Latch Key,’ at the Omaha Film Festival

Published on 2012-03-01 12:38:56

In the 1990s Omaha native Jaime King's fresh face and lithe body graced the runway fantastic for the likes of Gucci and Alexander McQueen in New York and around the globe. She did provocative shoots for Vogue, Mademoiselle, Glamour, Cosmopolitan and other trendy mags. She appeared in music videos. She was a Revlon girl in the same media campaign as Halle Berry and Eva Mendes. Heady stuff for a girl in her mid-teens who left Westside High School to pursue The Dream. She actually began modeling a [..]

Having Survived War in Sudan, Refugee Akoy Agau Discovered Hoops in America and the Major College Recruit is Now Poised to Lead Omaha Central to a Third Straight State Title

Published on 2012-03-01 09:45:22

In this sparsely populated state where basketball's never fully taken root, the annual hoops crop is slim pickings, especially when it comes to big men. Only rarely does a promising post player emerge on the high school scene here and it's even rarer for one to do much at the next level. All of which explains some of the intrigue attending Omaha Central junior Akoy Agau, the intimidating 6'9, 230-pound inside presence for the two-time defending state champion and season-long No. 1 ranked Eagles [..]

Part III of a Four-Part Q & A with Pulitzer-Winner Isabel Wilkerson on Her Book, ‘The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration’

Published on 2012-02-29 07:38:46

� The most significant book I have read in the past few years is Isabel Wilkerson’s The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration. I recently interviewed the author in advance of a talk she’s giving in Omaha, where I live. The Omaha Star newspaper is running the Q&A I did [...]

Alexander Payne Delivers Graceful Oscar Tributes – The Winner for Best Adapted Screenplay Recognizes Clooney, Hemmings and His Mom

Published on 2012-02-29 07:07:21

The obvious and not so obvious came into focus when native son Alexander Payne accepted his second Oscar in front of a live audience of his peers and a television viewing audience estimated at 1.2 billion during Sunday's Academy Awards. He shared Best Adapted Screenplay for The Descendants with Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, whose mimicking of presenter Angelina Jolie's power pose seemingly distracted and peeved Payne as he tried beating the clock with his thank-yous. Always the pro though, he quickly [..]

My Forthcoming Book, ‘Alexander Payne: His Journey in Film,’ Due for a Fall 2012 Release

Published on 2012-02-23 22:35:50

My Forthcoming Book, ‘Alexander Payne: His Journey in Film,’ Due for a Fall 2012 Release As of February 23, 2012, I have entered into a contract with Concierge Marketing of Omaha to help me realize my book, Alexander Payne: His Journey in Film. The book is a compilation of stories I have written about the celebrated writer-director of Citizen Ruth, Election, About Schmidt, Sideways, [...]

Part II of a Four-Part Series with Pulitzer-Winner Isabel Wilkerson, Author of ‘The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration’

Published on 2012-02-19 10:55:07

Part II of my interview with Isabel Wilkerson, author of The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration, follows. Wilkerson, who makes many appearances to speak about her book and its subject of the 20th century’s Great Migration of African-Americans from the South to the North and West, will present a free talk and signing [...]

Walter Reed: From Out of the Past – Former Hidden Child Survives Holocaust to Fight Nazis as an American GI in World War II

Published on 2012-02-19 10:07:13

Imagine this: The time is May 1945. The place, Germany. The crushing Allied offensive has broken the Nazi war machine. You’re 21, a naturalized American GI from Bavaria. You’re a Jew fighting “the goddamned Krauts” that drove you from your own homeland. Five years before, amid anti-Jewish fervor erupting into ethnic cleansing, you were sent away by your parents to a boys’ refugee home in Brussels, Belgium. Eventually, you were harbored with 100 other Jewish boys and girls in a series o [..]

Heart Strings, World-Renowned Cellist Alisa Weilerstein Refuses to Let a Chronic Illness Slow Her Down and She Encourages Others to Pursue Their Dreams, Too

Published on 2012-02-19 08:19:43

Dynamic cellist Alisa Weilerstein’s breakthrough moment as a child both had nothing at all to do with her already planned music career and yet everything to do with it. At age 9 she was diagnosed with Type I diabetes, the kind of news no one wants to hear, least of all someone with a fragile dream of performing on stage with the world’s finest symphony orchestras. But a setback doesn’t stop the doers in life from fulfilling their wishes. That’s why the 20-something Weilerstein com [..]

Nebraska Legislature Once Again Wrestles with the Film Tax Incentives Question; Alexander Payne and John Beasley Press the Case Home

Published on 2012-02-18 14:24:02

Over the years Nebraska lawmakers have steadfastly refused to entertain adopting incentives for the film industry, leaving the state among only a handful not offering them. Nebraska film incentives proponents are mounting their argument in what may be the worst possible climate for garnering political traction on the issue. That’s because many look at incentives as giveaways, not exactly what a group of mostly conservative legislators want to enact amidst a lingering recession, a mammoth de [..]

Artist Vera Mercer’s Coming Out Party

Published on 2012-02-18 07:47:56

Vera Mertz Mercer occupies a paradoxical place in Omaha. She’s a world-renowned photojournalist and art photographer, yet her work is little known here. She’s a vital part of the Mercer family’s Old Market dynasty, yet few recognize her influence. Forty years after coming here, this German native is finally getting the attention that’s eluded her thanks to several projects featuring her work, which ranges from evocative street-market-figurative portraits to richly textured still lifes o [..]

Mary Prefontaine and the Institute for Career Advancement Needs: A Leader and an Organization in Alignment

Published on 2012-02-14 22:52:10

Institute for Career Advancement Needs president-CEO Mary Prefontaine hails from the Great Northern reaches of the Canadian Rockies. There, the roots of her ever-searching, forward-thinking personal brand were nurtured. She hails from a British Columbia family line that includes big game hunters and outfitters on her mother's side and railroad men on her father's side. Opening up the vast Canadian wilderness to the world is a family tradition. Growing up amid diversity in Vancouver, she embra [..]

Mary Prefontaine and the Institute for Career Advancement Needs: A Leader and an Organization in Alignment

Published on 2012-02-14 22:52:10

Part I of a Four-Part Q & A with Pulitzer-Winner Isabel Wilkerson On Her Book, ‘The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration’

Published on 2012-02-14 21:46:24

One of the best nonfiction reads of my life is The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson. A journalist by trade, Wilkerson proves herself a historian of the first order with her exhaustive, compelling, always insightful, and often moving work about the sprawling, decades-long migration of African-Americans [...]

Part I of a Four-Part Q & A with Pulitzer-Winner Isabel Wilkerson On Her Book, ‘The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration’

Published on 2012-02-14 21:46:24

Omaha’s KVNO 90.7 FM Turns 40: Commercial-Free Public Radio Station Serves the Community, All Classical Music and Local News Content Set it Apart

Published on 2012-02-11 14:43:36

While the commercial radio menu leans to blow-hard hosts and pop heavy rotations, public radio's soothing sounds and erudite musings cut through the clutter. KVNO 90.7 FM further stands out for its all-classical play lists and original local newscasts. The UNO-based independent celebrates 40 years on-air in 2012, an impressive feat considering its niche appeal as a commercial-free operation dependent on donor support for survival. The professionally-staffed station maintains high quality. The n [..]

Omaha’s KVNO 90.7 FM Turns 40: Commercial-Free Public Radio Station Serves the Community, All Classical Music and Local News Content Set it Apart

Published on 2012-02-11 14:43:36

A South Omaha Best-Kept Secret: American GI Forum Mexican Restaurant

Published on 2012-02-10 07:06:26

The unpretentious, homey American GI Forum restaurant at 2002 N Street is a Tex-Mex bargain whose popular specials make this a busy joint. But unless you're a South Omahan or get tipped off to the place by someone, this best-kept-secret is likely to remain unknown outside its loyal following. After all, it has no website or Facebook page. You won't find ads for it anywhere. It's low profile is a shame, not because it starves for business – quite the opposite is true. But proceeds from this no [..]

A South Omaha Best-Kept Secret: American GI Forum Mexican Restaurant

Published on 2012-02-10 07:06:26

Payne Delivers Another Screen Gem with ‘The Descendants’ and Further Enhances His Cinema Standing

Published on 2012-02-09 23:10:24

Until The Descendants opened to golden reviews last fall, seven years elapsed between feature films for its celebrated writer-director Alexander Payne. The Omaha native and Creighton Prep grad came of age as a film buff here. He made his first three features (Citizen Ruth, Election, About Schmidt) in his hometown, each moving him up the ranks of elite moviemakers. His surprise 2004 hit, Sideways, took him to Southern California's wine country. The combination road-buddy picture and unconventio [..]

Payne Delivers Another Screen Gem with ‘The Descendants’ and Further Enhances His Cinema Standing

Published on 2012-02-09 23:10:24

SkyVu Entertainment Pushes ‘Battle Bears’ Brand to Sky’s-the-Limit Vision of Mobile Games, TV, Film, Toys, Etc.

Published on 2012-02-09 15:20:31

With Battle Bears reaching 14 million downloads and counting, maker SkyVu Entertainment is a Player in the mobile games world. "We created an entertainment distribution platform through not something like Facebook or Twitter but something like a brand. We like to see ourselves as the Pixar of mobile games. A mini-Disney," says Ben Vu, co-founder of SkyVu with his brother Hoa. The transmedia company, which launched here rather than Asia thanks to Nebraska Angels support, has designs on making [..]

SkyVu Entertainment Pushes ‘Battle Bears’ Brand to Sky’s-the-Limit Vision of Mobile Games, TV, Film, Toys, Etc.

Published on 2012-02-09 15:20:31

Joan Micklin Silver’s Classic ‘Hester Street’ Included in National Film Registry

Published on 2012-02-08 19:36:47

Long before Kathryn Bigelow struck a blow for women filmmakers by capturing the Best Director Oscar, Omaha native Joan Micklin Silver made her own Hollywood inroads as a feminist cinema pioneer. With her 1975 directorial debut Hester Street she joined a mere handful of women directors then. Just completing the film and getting it released was a major feat. The low budget, black-and-white independent told a period Jewish immigrant story partly in Yiddish with English subtitles. "With great e [..]

Joan Micklin Silver’s Classic ‘Hester Street’ Included in National Film Registry

Published on 2012-02-08 19:36:47

Nick and Brook Hudson, Their YP Match Made in Heaven Yields a Bevy of Creative-Cultural-Style Results – from Omaha Fashion Week to La Fleur Academy to Masstige Beauty and Beyond

Published on 2012-02-04 12:32:10

As fabulous Omaha young professional couples go, Brook and Nick Hudson are stars. The former Brook Matthews won the 2004 Miss Nebraska crown. The Blair native and University of Arkansas graduate completed her MBA in 2010 at Creighton University, where she's marketing director in the College of Business. She was honored as the school’s graduate woman of the year and the Omaha Jaycees have named her an Outstanding Young Omahan. She volunteers with the American Heart Association, the Omaha YMCA [..]

Nick and Brook Hudson, Their YP Match Made in Heaven Yields a Bevy of Creative-Cultural-Style Results – from Omaha Fashion Week to La Fleur Academy to Masstige Beauty and Beyond

Published on 2012-02-04 12:32:10

Nancy Bounds, A Timeless Arbiter of Fashion Beauty, Glamour, Poise

Published on 2012-02-04 10:24:27

For 40 years, Nancy Bounds was Omaha’s saucy arbiter and symbol for good looks and social graces. The owner of a string of modeling/finishing schools bearing her name, she applied her tastemaker’s role as television host, magazine columnist, pageant director and self-improvement guru. This former model, singer, dancer and actress best embodied her own beauty ethos. Whatever the gala, she was always the stylish, well-turned-out fashion plate looking like she was poured into her haute-couture [..]

Omaha Fashion Past

Published on 2012-02-04 08:49:10

Just as fashion is of the times, so is the infrastructure supporting it, which is why the Omaha fashion scene once looked quite different. It used to be fashionistas frequented multi-story fine department or apparel stores. Attentive customer service ruled the day. The same way boutiques do, box stores employed a fashion arbiter to select the latest seasonal looks in men's and women's clothing and accessories from the major American and European fashion centers. The area's penultimate arbiter [..]

The Shepherds of North Omaha, Ministers and Churches Making a Difference in Area of Great Need

Published on 2011-07-04 14:10:57

Church is universally the tie that binds and the salve that heals. Its significance in the black community is even more profound given African Americans’ historical disenfranchisement. “Faith has always been the element that motivated us and all

Tiempo Libre Kicks Off Jazz on the Green at Midtown Crossing in Omaha

Published on 2011-07-04 13:07:04

Growing up in Cuba members of the hot Miami-based Latin band, Tiempo Libre, studied classical music at Havana conservatories. Popular music, especially American, but even their native timba, was deemed subversive and thus forbidden. Hungry for what t

Native Omahans Take Stock of the African-American Experience in Their Hometown

Published on 2011-07-04 10:11:32

The biennial African-American heritage celebration Native Omaha Days concluded Monday. Natives came from across America to indulge memories of this touchstone place. The week-long Days lends itself to gauging the African-American experience here -- p

Native Omaha Days: A Black is Beautiful Celebration, Now, and All the Days Gone By

Published on 2011-07-04 09:05:02

Organizers of the 16th biennial Native Omaha Days call it the largest gathering of African-Americans in Nebraska. That in itself makes it a significant event. Thousands fill Salem Baptist Church for the gospel fest, spill into North 24th Street for t

Omaha Address by Cuban Archbishop Jaime Ortega Sounds Hopeful Message that Repression in Cuba is Lifting

Published on 2011-07-04 08:31:44

During a May 12 commencement address at Creighton University, Havana, Cuba archbishop Rev. Jaime Ortega described the uneasy journey the Catholic Church has navigated in the Communist island nation. At a separate weekend event, Cardinal Ortega rece

Long Live Roberto Clemente, A New Exhibit Looks at this Late King of the Latin Ball Players and Human Rights Hero

Published on 2011-07-04 07:50:35

With baseball season in full swing, El Museo Latino hosts a touring exhibition from Puerto Rico celebrating National Baseball Hall of Fame legend Roberto Clemente. Beyond Baseball: The Life of Roberto Clemente continues through July 17 as part of a

Returning To Society: New community collaboration, research and federal funding fight to hold the costs of criminal recidivism down

Published on 2011-07-02 15:47:02

As the doors of America's overcrowded prisons swing ever wider, sending more ex-offenders back into society, reentry's become a major focus nationwide, including Nebraska. America has 2.2 million individuals incarcerated in prison. That number's exp

A Rich Music History Long Untold is Revealed and Celebrated at the Omaha Black Music Hall of Fame

Published on 2011-07-02 12:20:21

The fact that jazz and blues greats often played north Omaha’s live music haunts is well known. What’s not is this inner city’s huge roster of high-caliber musical talents. Enough Omaha artists have impacted the industry to rival the legacy of

Lit Fest Brings Author Carleen Brice Back Home Flush with the Success of Her First Novel, ‘Orange Mint and Honey’

Published on 2011-07-02 08:08:57

Denver author Carleen Brice, an Omaha native who left here after graduating Central High School in the 1980s, is getting raves for her first novel, Orange Mint and Honey (One World Ballantine Books, 2008). It follows three nonfiction books and numero

The Worth of Things Explored by Sean Doolittle in his New Crime Novel ‘The Cleanup’

Published on 2011-07-02 07:15:56

Sean Doolittle has you join him in the very booth at the very Omaha watering hole, the Homy Inn, where the violent denouement of his new novel The Cleanup (Dell) unfolds. Just as you slide in, he mentions you’re about to sit where Gwen, the wan vic

Jesuit Photojournalist Don Doll of Creighton University Documents the Global Human Condition – One Person, One Image at a Time

Published on 2011-06-23 09:34:33

When noted photojournalist Don Doll leaves Omaha on assignment, he generally goes to document the travails of poor indigenous peoples in some Third World nation and what his fellow Jesuits do to help alleviate their misery. The all-digital artist sho

Home Girl Karrin Allyson Gets Her Jazz Thing On

Published on 2011-06-22 15:31:34

Even after three Grammy nominations, top festival and club gigs and comparisons to iconic divas, jazz vocalist Karrin Allyson is not resting on her laurels. Staying hungry’s a survival instinct. Your passion and talent either grow or stagnate.

Camille Metoyer Moten, A Singer for All Seasons

Published on 2011-06-22 13:59:05

Excuse the shameless alliteration, but singer Camille Metoyer Moten often gets props for her versatile chops, a quality she amply displayed in concert at the Multi-Faith Music Festival last month. In short order the Omaha native effortlessly went fro

Chef Mike Does a Rebirth at the Community Cafe

Published on 2011-06-22 12:46:52

“I’m doing a rebirth,” said Mike Whitner, a.k.a. Chef Mike, as he pointed to the colorful sidewalk/window signs outside his Community Cafe in the Family Housing Advisory Services building at 24th and Lake in north Omaha. “I’m taking what I

Frederick Brown’s Journey Through Art is a Passage Across Form and a Passing On of Legacy

Published on 2011-06-22 09:02:28

Leading contemporary American artist Frederick Brown offered a glimpse inside the ultra-cool, super-sophisticated New York salon and studio scene during a June visit to Omaha in conjunction with his current exhibition at Joslyn Art Museum. Showing th

The Many Worlds of Science Fiction Author Robert Reed

Published on 2011-06-22 08:03:17

Omaha native Robert Reed’s 2007 Hugo Award-winning novella A Billion Eves imagines devices called “rippers” that punch holes in the fabric of the space-time continuum. People and places get propelled from one world to some infinity of alternate

A. Marino Grocery Closes: An Omaha Italian Landmark Calls It Quits

Published on 2011-06-22 07:26:20

The final days of A. Marino Grocery at 1716 South 13th Street were akin to a wake. The first week of October saw old friends, neighbors and customers file in to say goodbye to proprietor Frank Marino, 80, whose late Sicilian immigrant father, Andrea,

Actress Yolonda Ross is a Talent to Watch

Published on 2011-06-22 06:57:36

With her sweet-sassy voice, orange-tinged Afro, almond-shaped eyes, real-women-have-curves bod and cool hip-hop vibe, Yolonda Ross gets her groove-on exploring a seemingly boundless creativity. The Omaha native left town soon after graduating Burke

A Stitch in Time Builds A World Class Quilt Collection and Center-Museum

Published on 2011-06-21 15:29:08

The next time you look at that quilt hanging on your wall or covering your bed, try reading it. Every quilt, you see, tells a story. Nebraska’s newest world class arts venue, the International Quilt Study Center & Museum, opened six weekends a

Nomad Lounge, An Oasis for Creative Class Nomads

Published on 2011-06-21 15:06:28

Another side of Omaha’s new cosmopolitan face can be found at Nomad Lounge, 1013 Jones St. in the historic Ford Warehouse Building. The sheik, high-concept, community-oriented salon captures the creative class trade. Tucked under the Old Market’s

Shakespeare on the Green, A Summertime Staple in Omaha

Published on 2011-06-21 14:39:10

When the annual Shakespeare on the Green festival returns this June and July, alternating two professional productions of the Bard's work, it will mark the 25th season for one of Omaha's summer entertainment staples. Over that time the free outdoor

Yolonda Ross Takes It to the Limit

Published on 2011-06-21 14:04:07

Gabrielle Union gets all the pub, but another film/television actress from Omaha, the righteous Yolonda Ross, consistently does edgy material far afield from Bad Boys II and The Honeymooners. Ross has played everything from a wannabe gangsta desperat

Get Crackin’

Published on 2011-06-21 13:20:39

The Hood is replete with stories of musicians who should have made it, if only... Crackin’, a smoking 1970s multi-racial rock-blues band from Omaha, did get its shot at fame. After a promising start and recordings on major labels, things fizzled a

Arno Lucas, Serious Sidekick

Published on 2011-06-21 12:30:38

Arno Lucas is among many artists from Omaha to forge a serious music career. The percussionist-vocalist-composer returns home this weekend from a gig at the Apollo to do what he does best, serve as a consummate sideman, this time backing Gladys Knigh

Big Bad Buddy Miles

Published on 2011-06-21 12:09:54

Famed blues-rock drummer and singer Buddy Miles is coming home to accept the Omaha Star Award at the August 3 Omaha Black Music Hall of Fame ceremony, where he’ll also perform. The 2005 inductee is using the occasion to deliver a message about the

Enchantress “LadyMac” Gets Down

Published on 2011-06-21 10:10:34

Casual music fans may not know Lois “LadyMac” McMorris, but this blues-jazz-rock guitarist from Omaha is paid homages by legends like B.B. King -- “The girl is super bad.” After a hot solo Prince saw her play in Kansas City, where she lives,

Walking Behind to Freedom, A Musical Theater Examination of Race

Published on 2011-06-21 09:46:13

The subject of race is like the elephant in the room. Everybody notices it, yet nobody breathes a word. The longer the silence, the more damage is done. Seen in another light, race is the label comprising the assumptions and perceptions others projec

El Museo Latino in Omaha Opened as the First Latino Art and History Museum and Cultural Center in the Midwest

Published on 2011-06-14 14:29:00

As preparations for Cinco De Mayo festivities continued earlier this month at El Museo Latino, founder and executive director Magdalena Garcia seemed to be everywhere at once in the sprawling brick building housing the museum at 4701 1/2 South 25th S

Adventurer/Collector Kam-Ching Leung’s Indonesian Art Reveals Spirits of the Islands

Published on 2011-06-14 13:22:21

Astronomer Kam-Ching Leung’s interest in the stars has an earthly counterpart in his fascination with indigenous peoples and tribal cultures. Just as this University of Nebraska-Lincoln professor and Hong Kong native’s observations of celestial b

Kevyn Morrow’s Homecoming

Published on 2011-06-13 21:50:23

Passion got actor Kevyn Morrow out of Omaha, onto Broadway and to London’s West End, and now it’s taken him home. His triumphant return this spring, by special engagement only, as Coalhouse Walker, Jr. in the smash Omaha Community Playhouse produ

A Change is Gonna Come, the GBT Academy in Omaha Undergoes Revival in the Wake of Fire

Published on 2011-06-13 21:22:40

Mary J. Goodwin-Clinkscale considers herself “a survivor.” That’s why when a June 29, 2008 arson fire destroyed the auditorium of the Greater Beth-El Temple, the black Apostolic church that sponsors her nonprofit GBT (Growing and Building Toget

What Happens to a Dream Deferred? Beasley Theater Revisits Lorraine Hansberry’s ‘A Raisin in the Sun’

Published on 2011-06-13 20:29:10

After its 1959 opening at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New York, A Raisin in the Sun was the talk of Broadway and the play’s 28-year-old author, the late Lorraine Hansberry, was the toast of the theater world. Hansberry became the first black who

Anthony Chisholm is in the House at the John Beasley Theater in Omaha

Published on 2011-06-13 18:37:03

Actor Anthony Chisholm, a great interpreter of the late August Wilson’s work, is in Omaha for the second time in three years at the invitation of the John Beasley Theater. Chisholm’s originated roles in several Wilson plays about the African-Amer

Back in the Day, Native Omaha Days is Reunion, Homecoming, Heritage Celebration and Party All in One

Published on 2011-06-11 15:00:40

A homecoming. That’s what Native Omaha Days, a warm, rousing, week-long black heritage reunion, means to the thousands of native sons and daughters coming back in town for this biennial summer celebration. Although the spree, which unfolded July 30

The Ties that Bind, One Family’s Celebration of Native Omaha Days

Published on 2011-06-11 13:29:21

The warm, communal homecoming known as Native Omaha Days expresses the deep ties that bind the city’s African-American community. It’s a time when natives long moved away return to roll with family and friends. Beyond the cultural activities mar

Big Mama’s Keeps It Real, A Soul Food Sanctuary in Omaha: As Seen on ‘Diners, Drive-ins and Dives’

Published on 2011-06-11 07:53:43

In some African American families tradition demands the matriarch be called Big Mama. That’s true with Patricia Barron’s family. The 60-something Omahan never cared for the “countrified” term, which her late maternal grandmother Lillie Johnso

Where Hope Lives, Hope Center for Kids in North Omaha

Published on 2011-06-04 08:47:11

Northeast Omaha’s largely poor, African-American community is a mosaic where despair coexists with hope. A stretch of North 20th Street is an example. Rows of nice, newly built homes line both sides of the one-way road -- from Binney to Grace Stree

Dick Holland Responds to Far Reaching Needs in Omaha

Published on 2011-06-04 08:19:52

When it comes to big time philanthropy in Omaha, a few individuals and organizations stand out. Richard Holland has become synonymous with king-sized generosity through the Holland Foundation he and his late wife Mary started. If the 88 year-old re

The Joy of Giving Sets Omaha’s Child Saving Institute on Solid Ground for the Future

Published on 2011-06-04 07:48:45

The Child Saving Institute has a brand spanking new home for its mission of “responding to the cry of a child.” CSI dedicated the new digs at 4545 Dodge St. in March, turning the next chapter in the organization’s 106-year history. The social s

Community and Coffee at Omaha’s Perk Avenue Cafe

Published on 2011-06-04 07:13:30

Perk Avenue Cafe fits the road-less-traveled crowd coursing Park Avenue, an off-the-beaten-track artery linking immigrant south Omaha with transitional midtown with mainstream downtown. From its modest 1107 Park Avenue digs in a mixed use district ra

Omaha Theater as Insurrection, Social Commentary and Corporate Training Tool

Published on 2011-06-02 23:23:44

Something subversive happened in the Old Market one recent Saturday evening. From out of the blue, pedestrians converged on sidewalk corners and molded their bodies into dramatic sculpted “images.” One image included a man on his back cringing i

Hey, You, Get Off of My Cloud! Doug Paterson – Acolyte of Theatre of the Oppressed Founder Augusto Boal and Advocate of Art as Social Action

Published on 2011-06-02 22:43:12

Doug Paterson’s always used theater as an instrument of his insurrectionist principles. As a student in the 1960s he actively protested against the Vietnam War and other burning social issues and gravitated to progressive theater that challenged th

Playwright/Director Glyn O’Malley, Measuring the Heartbeat of the American Theater

Published on 2011-06-02 09:35:41

Playwright/director Glyn O’Malley of New York epitomized the distinguished guest artists here for the Great Plains Theatre Conference that closed last Saturday. Over the course of the eight-day gathering O’Malley, a Fellow at the Cherry Lane Thea

A Q & A with Theater Director Marshall Mason, Who Discusses the Process of Creating Life on Stage

Published on 2011-06-02 09:07:59

Though not a household name outside theater circles, director Marshall Mason owns the kind of credits that befit a luminary. He’s a five-time Tony nominee, a five-time Obie winner and a co-founder of the famed Circle Repertory Company in New York.

Playwright John Guare Talks Shop on Omaha Visit Celebrating His Acclaimed ‘Six Degrees of Separation’

Published on 2011-06-01 21:16:03

Six Degrees is inspired by a real-life incident in which a young black man posing as actor Sidney Poitier’s son insinuated himself into the lives of rich, white Fifth Avenuers. The piece unfolds as a breathless tell-all that’s meant to, as Guare

A Q & A with Playwright Caridad Svich, a Featured Artist at the Great Plains Theatre Conference

Published on 2011-06-01 20:48:19

LAB: You're a playwright, a songwriter a, translator, and an editor. So, is one or more of these skill sets or roles more paramount for you than the others? CS: "Well, for me eventually it all comes out of the primary impulse to write, but I lead wi

Polishing Gem: Behind the Scenes of the Beasley Theater & Workshop’s Staging of August Wilson’s ‘Gem of the Ocean ‘

Published on 2011-05-29 11:15:18

The play’s the thing, they say. Bringing to life a playwright’s words on stage before a live audience is an organic, enervating experience. A never to be repeated human exchange with the power to transform its participants. Mounting a productio

Featured Great Plains Theatre Conference Playwright Caridad Svich Explore Bicultural Themes

Published on 2011-05-29 09:34:38

Caridad Svich, a leading figure of the American stage, is a featured playwright at the May 28-June 4 Great Plains Theatre Conference hosted by Metropolitan Community College. As a playwright, songwriter, editor and translator, Svich explores themes

Attention Must Be Paid: Arthur Kopit Invokes Arthur Miller to Describe Great Plains Theater Conference Focus on Playwrights and Their Work

Published on 2011-05-29 08:24:27

New York playwright Arthur Kopit (Indians, Wings, the books for the musicals Nine and Phantom of the Opera) sees "many values" in the Great Plains Theatre Conference going on now through June 3 at various sites in Omaha. But none more than the vital

A Q & A with Edward Albee: His Thoughts on the Great Plains Theatre Conference, Jo Ann McDowell, Omaha and Preparing a New Generation of Playwrights

Published on 2011-05-29 08:07:42

That old lion of American theater, Edward Albee, wears well the mantle of expectation that comes with being his country’s “foremost” or “preeminent” living playwright. The descriptions of him, used as if official titles conferred by some mi

Life is a Cabaret, the Anne Marie Kenny Story: From Omaha to Paris to Prague and Back to Omaha, with Love

Published on 2011-05-28 12:24:55

Singer Anne Marie Kenny's life is a cabaret alright. The story of how she left Omaha to follow her dream in Paris is storybook stuff. It only gets better when you learn she came back home to find true love in dashing advertising executive, John Bull.

Great Plains Theatre Conference Grows in New Directions

Published on 2011-05-28 07:42:53

Year four of the Great Plains Theatre Conference, May 23-30, is less about the past and more about the present and future. This tweaked emphasis comes from two leading Omaha theater figures, Kevin Lawler and Scott Working, new to the GPTC staff sinc

Great Plains Theatre Conference Ushers in New Era of Omaha Theater

Published on 2011-05-28 06:46:05

It may not be a stretch to say Omaha theater will not be the same after the first Great Plains Theatre Conference, May 27 through June 3, as organizers and presenters expect the occasion to invigorate the theater culture here. The basis for such opti

Jo Ann McDowell’s Theater Passion Leads Her on the Adventure of Her Life: Friend, Confidante, Champion of Leading Playwrights, Directors, Actors and Organizer of Major Theater Festivals and Conferences

Published on 2011-05-23 19:07:56

If the mood strikes her, Metropolitan Community College president Jo Ann McDowell need only glance out the north windows of her expansive office to look upon earth laden with history. McDowell, who became the school’s first female president when ap

By Land, By Sea, By Air, Omaha Jewish Veterans Performed Far-flung Wartime Duties

Published on 2011-05-22 07:22:25

As a group, Omaha's Jewish World War II veterans performed duties spanning the spectrum of that immense struggle. They served in virtually every military branch and theater of war. They fought in historic battles. They supplied troops with vital war

An Omaha Legacy Ends, Wesley House Shutters after 139 Years — New Use for Site Unknown

Published on 2011-05-20 22:09:52

Omaha's oldest social service agency closed earlier this year with a whimper, not a bang. The Wesley House Community Center, a United Methodist Church mission since 1872, has ended 139 years of service, confirmed Rev. Stephanie Ahlschwede, interim ex

Omaha’s St. Peter Catholic Church Revival Based on Restoring the Sacred

Published on 2011-05-12 07:59:25

Just east above a stretch of I-480 stands St. Peter Catholic Church at 27th and Leavenworth. Its classical Greco-Roman facade is unlike anything in that sketchy near downtown Omaha district. Amid ramshackle urban surroundings the stone edifice is a s

Writers Joy Castro and Amelia Maria de la Luz Montes Explore Being Women of Color Who Go from Poverty to Privilege

Published on 2011-05-12 07:30:26

Two University of Nebraska-Lincoln scholars and authors, one Mexican-American, the other Cuban-American, contributed pieces to a new anthology of essays by women, An Angle of Vision (University of Michigan Press). The book derives its title from the

OLLAS, the Office of Latino and Latin American Studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, A Melting Pot of Latino/Latin American Concerns

Published on 2011-05-12 07:06:41

Despite an ivory tower setting, the Office of Latino/Latin American Studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha is engaged in community from-the-grassroots-to-the-grasstops through teaching, research and service. The far reach of OLLAS, establish

Actor Peter Riegert Makes Fine Feature Directorial Debut with ‘King of the Corner’

Published on 2011-05-11 23:04:55

For months now, noted stage and screen actor Peter Riegert has been taking his new film comedy about “crummy Jews,” King of the Corner, on the road. Best known for his work in front of the camera, he’s the director, co-writer and star of this e

All Trussed Up with Somewhere to Go, Metropolitan Community College’s Institute for Culinary Arts Takes Another Leap Forward with its New Building on the Fort Omaha Campus

Published on 2011-05-11 22:40:34

The opening of Metropolitan Community College's new $16 million Institute for Culinary Arts building last November gave the culinary program a spacious, state-of-the-art home and the school a new gateway to the Fort Omaha campus. On March 22 the gla

Two Graduating Seniors Fired by Dreams and Memories, also Saddened by the Closing of Their School, St. Peter Claver Cristo Rey High in Omaha, Neb.

Published on 2011-05-11 18:54:41

Four years ago Daniel Mayorga-Alvarez and Treasure Anderson took the challenge of enrolling in a new high school with strict disciplinary codes, high academic standards and the requirement of working a paid internship. The teens signed on to the ina

Once More With Feeling, Loves Jazz & Arts Center Back from Hiatus

Published on 2011-05-05 00:12:09

Rumors about the impending demise of a north Omaha cultural institution began flying last fall when Loves Jazz & Arts Center, 2510 N. 24th St., took an extended break from normal operations. Even the hint of trouble alarmed the African American

Alice’s Wonderland, Former InStyle Accessories Editor Alice Kim Brings NYC Style Sense to Omaha’s Trocadero

Published on 2011-05-04 23:39:17

Alice Kim's story of leaving New York City for Omaha has gotten much play. In 2007, the then-InStyle magazine accessories editor acted on her admittedly "weird," long-held preoccupation with Omaha by moving here and opening the Old Market lifestyles

Favorite Sons, Weekly Omaha Pasta Feeds at Sons of Italy Hall in, Where Else?, Little Italy

Published on 2011-04-27 23:18:59

If you go to Sons of Italy expecting a “Jersey Shore” or Goodfellas scene, you’ll leave disappointed. If you anticipate a square meal and a fair deal, minus any drama, you’ll leave satisfied, and probably stuffed. The Nebraska chapter of thi

Sun Reflection, Revisiting the Omaha Sun’s Pulitzer-Prize Winning Expose on Boys Town

Published on 2011-04-27 19:55:51

When readers picked up their March 30, 1972 issue of the weekly Sun Newspaper, they could hardly believe their eyes. The small but enterprising paper with multiple neighborhood editions had called out a venerable Omaha institution, Boys Town, in cru

Sisters of the Shoah: Three Survivor Tales, Three Golden Fates, Three Iron Wills

Published on 2011-04-18 10:26:36

It has been a humbling experience for me to meet and profile a number of Holocaust survivors. The following story I did for the Jewish Press tells the remarkable tale of three sisters who all managed, after much misery and loss, to get out of the hel

Open Minds, Portals Explores Human Longing in the Digital Age

Published on 2011-04-15 15:33:40

Conceptually, Portals blends private moments with public gestures, improvisation with formality, virtual with reality. At various points Fain plays live on stage and in video vignettes recorded in New York City. Music by Glass accompanies dances chor

With His New Novel, ‘The Coffins of Little Hope,’ Timothy Schaffert’s Back Delighting in the Curiosities of American Gothic

Published on 2011-04-13 00:41:49

With his new novel The Coffins of Little Hope (Unbridled) Timothy Schaffert gives us Essie, an elderly obit writer whose arch observations and detached sense of irony set the book's elegiac tone. The widowed matriarch of a broken family in a small a

Leo Adam Biga’s Survivor-Rescuer Stories Featured on Institute for Holocaust Education Website

Published on 2011-04-12 11:18:55

Several years ago, freelance journalist Leo Biga conducted extensive interviews with several of Nebraska’s Holocaust Survivors. Biga went on to write detailed articles that chronicle the Holocaust testimonies of the Survivors and the lives they ma

Chancellor Harvey Perlman Passionate About the University of Nebraska, its Future and NU Joining ‘Common Friends’ in the Big Ten

Published on 2011-04-02 15:21:58

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Chancellor Harvey Perlman kept a low profile until the school's merry-go-round of athletic directors and football coaches the past 10 years. That’s when he became a focal point of attention. Perhaps for the first time

Canceled FX Boxing Show, ‘Lights Out,’ May Still Springboard Omahan Holt McCallany’s Career

Published on 2011-04-02 14:40:19

Storytellers drawn to boxing’s inherent drama invariably find redemption at its soul and conflict as its heart. Ring tales are on a roll thanks to Mark Wahlberg’s Oscar-winning film The Fighter and FX’s series, “Lights Out,” (the series fi

Omaha Native Steve Marantz Looks Back at the City’s ’68 Racial Divide Through the Prism of Hoops in His New Book, ‘The Rhythm Boys of Omaha Central’

Published on 2011-04-01 07:01:25

America's social fabric came asunder in 1968. Vietnam. Civil rights. Rock 'n' roll. Free love. Illegal drugs. Black power. Campus protests. Urban riots. Omaha was a pressure cooker of racial tension. African-Americans demanded redress from poverty,

A Shameless Plug: Lit Coach Erin Reel Highlights this Site, leoadambiga.wordpress.com, aka Leo Adam Biga’s Blog, Among Her Picks for Blogs That Work

Published on 2011-03-31 17:39:39

The best blogs serve a purpose greater than sharing miscellaneous tid bits about the blogger's day - they educate, inform, inspire, humor, enlighten - they share a unique perspective. Today's Blog That Works spotlight shines on Leo Adam Biga, Omaha

Tyler Owen – Man of MAHA

Published on 2011-03-20 13:50:48

Tyler Owen hails from an Omaha legacy family who has made a fortune in the steel industry and who spreads their wealth around. The Owen Foundation funds higher education, cultural programs, social agencies and the Henry Doorly Zoo. While he may not h

UNO Wrestling Dynasty Built on a Tide of Social Change

Published on 2011-03-17 17:54:37

Every dynasty has a beginning and a narrative. UNO's is rooted in historic firsts that intersect racial-social-political happenings. The events helped give a school with little going for it much-needed cachet and established a tradition of excellence

Letting 1,000 Flowers Bloom, The Black Scholar’s Robert Chrisman Looks Back at a Life in the Maelstrom

Published on 2011-03-08 08:03:43

America was at a crossroads in the late 1960s. Using nonviolent resistance actions, the civil rights movement spurred legal changes that finally made African Americans equal citizens under the law. If not in practice. Meanwhile the rising black power

CSI: UNO/Forensic Services Unit

Published on 2011-03-06 11:49:04

By day, Richter-Egger is more about busting complex math and chemical equations than he is about busting bad guys. He’s an assistant professor of chemistry at UNO and director of its Math-Science Learning Center. Four years ago, though, Christine

Omaha Arts-Culture Scene All Grown Up and Looking Fabulous

Published on 2011-03-06 09:37:40

Twenty years ago Omahans grumbled about there not being enough to do here. For a city searching for an image in a flyover state straining to retain its best and brightest and attract new talent, it sounded an alarm. Seemingly, Omaha arts-culture pla

A Magazine and a Mission Founded on a Spirit of Giving: Metro Magazine Publisher Andy Hoig Celebrates Philanthropy

Published on 2011-03-06 08:10:56

2011 finds the intrepid creatives behind metroMagazine releasing a collective sigh of relief after the tumultuous events of last year. What was to have been a celebratory milestone marking the magazine's 20th anniversary became a time to regroup and

More Than Buddy: Billy McGuigan Expands on his Buddy Holly Shtick to Collaborate with his Brothers and Band in a Beatles Tribute Show

Published on 2011-03-05 20:34:58

After years of performing as Buddy Hollly, Billy McGuigan proves he’s no one-show wonder with his act paying tribute to the Beatles. Undertaking a Beatles tribute show is no small order. Besides the task of replicating the sound of the most popula

American Charles Fairbanks, aka the One-Eyed Cat, Makes Lucha Libre a Way of Life and a Film Subject

Published on 2011-03-05 19:03:36

In the space of a few years Charles Fairbanks has gone from conventional prep and collegiate wrestler to one of the few gringo performers of Lucha Libre, Mexico’s equivalent of WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment). Amid a world of masked figures wi

Filmmaker Steven Soderbergh to Talk Shop at Film Streams Feature Event

Published on 2011-02-09 22:58:09

Steven Soderbergh may not generate the snobby, effete buzz of some name directors, yet he’s arguably the most prolific and accomplished American filmmaker over the past 20 years. As special guest for the Feb. 20 Film Streams Feature Event III, An E

Great Plains Black History Museum Asks for Public Input on its Latest Evolution

Published on 2011-02-04 20:56:47

The new Great Plains Black History Museum board is putting its stamp on the long troubled organization by holding the first in a planned series of community forums about its future direction. On February 11, GPBHM chairman Jim Beatty will lead a 2-4

Dean Blais Has UNO Hockey Dreaming Big

Published on 2011-01-29 08:17:42

When UNO Athletic Director Trev Alberts named Dean Blais the school's new hockey coach in 2009, it marked a rededicated commitment to a still young program with big dreams. It was the kind of marquee hire one doesn't expect from the University of Ne

Bob Kerrey Weighs in on PTSD, Old Wars, New Wars, Endings and New Beginnings

Published on 2011-01-27 07:32:52

Vietnam war veteran and former Nebraska governor and U.S. Senator Bob Kerrey will be in Omaha Jan. 31 to salute At Ease, an Omaha program providing confidential behavioral health services to active duty military personnel and family members. Founded

An Old Partnership Takes a New Turn: UNO-Kabul University Renew Ties with Journalism Program

Published on 2011-01-23 23:02:15

UNO communication professor Chris Allen recently returned from a two-week needs assessment trip to Afghanistan. His journey was part of a federally-funded journalism faculty-student development program between the University of Nebraska at Omaha and

Quiana Smith’s Dream Time

Published on 2011-01-23 13:45:37

Once the dream took hold, Quiana Smith never let go. Coming up on Omaha's north side she discovered a flair for dramatics and a talent for singing she hoped would lead to a musical theater career. On Broadway. After a steady climb up the ladder her d

Omaha Symphony Maestro Thomas Wilkins and His Ever-Seeking Musical Journey

Published on 2011-01-12 16:31:00

Omaha Symphony Orchestra music director Thomas Wilkins was first inspired to be a conductor at age 8 during a Virginia Symphony Orchestra pops performance in his hometown of Norfolk (Va.). Right from the opening rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner

An Open Invitation: Rev. Tom Fangman Engages All Who Seek or Need at Sacred Heart Catholic Church

Published on 2011-01-09 15:34:01

When Rev. Tom Fangman arrived as pastor at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in 1998, the northeast Omaha parish was already known for its humanitarian embrace. If anything, though, this hometown cleric with a gentle, jovial demeanor has broadened and de

Long Live the Dude: Gail Levin Chronicles Jeff Bridges for “American Masters”

Published on 2011-01-05 17:39:24

Omaha native and Emmy Award-winning documentarian Gail Levin profiles actor Jeff Bridges in a new film kicking off the 25th season of American Masters, a series produced for PBS by New York Public Media THIRTEEN in association with WNET. Jeff Bridge

The Two Wars of Ben Kuroki, New Book Out About Nebraskan Who Defied Prejudice to Become a War Hero

Published on 2010-12-30 09:08:05

I had to fight like hell just for the right to fight for my own country,” said Hershey, Neb., native Ben Kuroki. During World War II, he became one of only a handful of Japanese-Americans to see air combat, and was America’s only Nisei (child of

‘A Time for Burning,’ Academy Award-Nominated Documentary Made in Omaha Captured a Church and Community’s Struggle with Racism

Published on 2010-12-15 10:57:23

On the eve of the 1968 Oscars, a nominee for best documentary feature, filmed in Omaha, foretold the violence that was ripping America apart. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination six days earlier in Memphis was the match that lit the fire. The r

Burden of Dreams: The Trials of Omaha’s Black Museum

Published on 2010-12-14 13:50:59

This is the story about the rise and fall of a once proud institution. It began in 1975 with great promise. The Great Plains Black History Museum in Omaha set itself apart as an African-American cultural institution devoted to revealing the rich pas

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