Mother Daughter Boutique Offers Perfect Mother’s Day Spot

by Paul Heft

Arelatively new boutique in West Omaha is creating jobs not only for the employees but for vendors who just need a place to sell their work. NJ & Co. is run by a duo consisting of mother and daughter. Nicole Leathers handles the business while Jane White, her mother, manages merchandise and displays. Leathers said the store’s demographic ranges from college-aged girls to women in their 70s.

NJ & Co. opened their doors in August 2012 sporting six total vendors. Three women go to market and select inventory for the store’s niche while some vendors work there.

NJ & Co. illuminates a sense of vintage home décor and repurposed furniture. The fashions are influenced by the different vendors, but there is an underlying retro meets modern look to it all. You can find old-fashioned bird cages for the café or perhaps a frock for a special occasion.

Leathers feels West Omaha is a prime location for the store. “I feel like we’re filling the home décor niche,” Leathers said. In fact, nothing at the store is mass produced.

More important is what Leathers and White are doing for the vendors. “We provide these women with an upfront entry point where they can learn to succeed without losing money,” Leathers said.

The vendors include MOD Boutique, Painted Dog, Twice Nice, Bocachi, Ali Rae’s and Beaded Creations by Marcia.

Mod lives by the motto “style is eternal,” so mothers and daughters can shop together for jewelry, tops or leggings. Painted Dog believes in recycling and giving back to the environment; they repurpose furniture using only biodegradable stripping products.

Twice Nice also refurbishes old décor and brings the metamorphosis full circle with stain and finishing. Bocachi believes in scouting for old treasures while offering tops, dresses, jackets, accessories and more.

Ali Rae offers shoppers tunics, jewelry, scarves and purses. Beaded Creations by Marcia specializes in making interchangeable beaded watch bands. Expect some funk and bling with industrial chic.

Opening your own business is always a risk. Leathers was nervous about opening because of the economy, but she finally decided, “to hell with it!” Leathers added that she hopes the boutique draws people away from malls to support local shops.

White previously owned seven Hallmarks and some accessory stores in Wisconsin, so the duo had some experience behind them. “My mother’s background made it less scary opening,” Leathers said.

NJ & Co. offers “Girl’s Night Out” the first Thursday of every month. The store stays open until 8 p.m. for shopping, snacks and spirited beverages.

Shortly before Christmas the store offers a men’s shopping night. Maybe it’s because men wait until the tail end of December to buy gifts. Maybe they have a soft spot for décor. Regardless, men’s night has been NJ & Co.’s most successful endeavor so far. Gift wrapping is always provided, regardless of the day.

NJ & Co. is the perfect place for Mother’s Day. Shopping shouldn’t be too hard, since the store merges older tastes with young flair. After all, NJ & Co. offers furnishings, frocks and finds. Stop in today at 17650 Wright St., Suite No. 4. 

Old Market Tavern hosts a night of great art and potluck

by James Derrick Schott

Katie Kros can sum up quickly why she uses art as expression. “I’ve never been good with words," Kros says, "so I let my art speak for me.”

Kros will be one of four artists, including Jenny Suing, Joe Stickman and Paul Heft, who will be showcasing their artwork at the latest installment in the art series, Art Bar, Wednesday, April 24, at the Old Market Tavern. The purpose of Art Bar is to give new and emerging artists an opportunity to exhibit and sell their work in a unconventional, yet relaxed setting.

Katie Kros uses a variety of mediums but prefers charcoal. She considers it a bold and classic way to convey emotion through shading. Acrylic is another favorite of hers; she paints to release those “inner demons” artists are always talking about. Kros utilizes dramatic color contrast and experiments with splatter designs. Kros has recently dipped into fashion with Dominikat Clothing. Painting provides Kros with a free-flowing stream of emotion. When drawing it’s more of a specific moment in time she’s focusing on.

The second artist is Jenny Suing. Suing’s parents always enjoyed art, so she grew up with that influence. After attending Boystown, Suing realized just how much her art teacher inspired her. Abstract art and Surrealism has always captivated her. Suing looks up to Frida Kahlo as a strong female artist. Her biggest piece depicts Kahlo, which took months to complete. Suing is intrigued by eyes, insects and texture. Art helps Suing turn off her mind and help with sobriety. She sent out Christmas card designs to donors across the U.S. one year at Boystown.

Joe Stickman has been an artist ever since he could pick up a pencil. He has progressed from standard drawing and colored pencil portraits to creating pieces using metal, plastic and paint.  As an artist, Stickman excelled in his classes through high school.  He knew from the beginning that he wanted to build a career utilizing his talents. In 1997 Joe Stickman enrolled at Universal Technical Institute of Commercial Art.  He graduated in 1999 with his Associates Degree. Upon graduation Joe began working at a sign company in Omaha and he continued working in the sign business until he started Stickman Graphics & Signs, Inc in 2003. Stickman often uses recycled materials in his art. His pieces have been sold and displayed at various locations. His unique use of materials and paints sets his work apart from many artists. Many people are surprised to learn that Stickman is also colorblind. He has not let that get in the way of his true passion of creating and has found a way to still create art in a form and color that only he can see.

Paul Heft has always wanted to dip into painting, so a few months ago he did. Definitely new to the field, Heft enjoys mixing dark colors like red, black, purple and navy blue to make gradual mixing and shades, hopefully evoking emotion. He also is intrigued by using bright neon colors against the stark contrast of black. Heft experiments with text. He uses lyrics from songs; some from his favorite bands and some of his own lyrics. Heft feels he can excel at art that doesn’t have much form; drawing and painting distinct shapes have always been a challenge for him, so he sticks with a loose, abstract feel. His favorite mediums are acrylic on canvas. He feels his art is best when he isn’t pressured by the outcome. It’s all about shutting off your mind.

Besides getting to take in all the original art, Art Bar'ers can compete in the Potluck Challenge by bringing a potluck dish to the event, with patrons selecting the best dish. The winner will recieve a special prize. Also, the Old Market Tavern will be kicking off its special Summer Beer Sampler Week by offering $2 bottle special on certain summer lagers, including Leinenkugel Summer Shandy.

Art Bar begins at 8 p.m. at the Old Market Tavern, located at the corner of 10th and Jackson in the Old Market next to Fringes salon. For more informationt, click here.

 

The Last St. Pat’s Day at Sullivan’s in Midtown

by Paul Heft

Sullivan’s bar, a long-time St. Patrick’s Day tradition, has served the midtown community since 1954, and the current owner is planning to continue that trend in a new location across the street. Owner Dan Houlihan has managed the establishment since 2001 when the chance presented itself. Houlihan had been working his way up in bars and restaurants for years before that. “I thrive on the high energy, fast-paced nature of the job as well as the social aspect,” he said.

After taking over, Houlihan transformed Sullivan’s into a popular Midtown hangout and it has been that way ever since. The neighborhood is now home to many young thriving businesses, such as Black Squirrel Tattoo, Icon Studio for Hair and Oxide Design. Houlihan says one business, however, never fit well into the neighborhood. A bar located directly across the street from Sullivan’s was notorious for bringing violence and other problems to the area. After a lengthy battle with that establishment, it was closed and Houlihan purchased the property. “I’m looking forward to owning the building and not just renting it. The 40th and Farnam area is about to expand so that solidified my decision,” Houlihan said.

Benefits of moving include more space, better configuration and improved layout. To restore the 100-year-old building, Houlihan “knocked it down to bare, brick walls and unearthed some unique architecture.”
How does Houlihan juggle the current bar while working on relocation? He greatly praises and respects his staff. Houlihan says there’s no way he could do this without them.

“It’s bittersweet leaving this location because it’s been here for decades. However, the area is changing, and we’re trying to embrace that change,” Houlihan said.

A group of young investors decided to redo the area. Houlihan said urban densification is a growing theme in America. People are waiting to get married and not having babies as young. It would appear Omaha’s eastern half will continue to grow and change over the years. Houlihan said both he and the investors expect the area to be radically different even a year from now.

The new Sullivan’s should open by late summer, according to Houlihan. The bar hasn’t suffered any extremes from the tough economy. Houlihan insists any good establishment can weather the storm; however, there have been challenges. They include new DUI laws and adapting to the smoking ban.

Sullivan’s is, no doubt, an Irish bar, and St. Patrick’s Day will be thoroughly celebrated there. The bar opens at 6 a.m. with drink specials all day. Expect free corn beef sandwiches by noon and a secret family recipe for Irish soda bread. Houlihan said drink prices definitely won’t be raised and festive activities like face painting will also be available. Sullivan’s is on the right track as it looks to the future. Sullivan’s is currently located at 3926 Farnam St. Stop by on St. Patrick’s Day for some true Irish fun.

CREDITS: STYLING BY JARED SPENCE, MODELS BY DEVELOP MODEL MANAGEMENT, BIKE COURTESY JIM BLUM
LEFT: On Audrey: Bella Dahl denim buttondown, Henry & Belle Kelly signature skinny jeans, Denim Saloon. All jewelry, Fringes Salon Spa and Boutique. On Nolan: Superdry Slim fit jeans, Bench buttondown, Bench track jacket, Superdry sneakers McLovin-A Store for Men. THIS RIGHT: On Audrey: Bella Dahl ombre top, Paige floral print denim, Denim Saloon. All jewelry, Fringes Salon Spa and Boutique. On Nolan: Superdry chambray buttondown, Superdry Sneakers, Bill Adler leather belt, McLovin. Citizens of Humanity  “Sid” jeans, Denim Saloon. Hair by Hillary Ann and makeup by Chevy both of Sirens at the Loft Salon & Day Spa.

Everything’s Gone Green for St. Patrick’s Day

by Jared Spence

St. Patrick’s Day is just around the river bend. Usually, I would rant about the absurdity of starting a drinking binge at 7 a.m. and wearing ridiculous leprechaun hats and plastic shamrock beads, but my health and image concerns aside, St. Patty’s Day is an occasion to be festive! But there’s no need for you to look like a walking advertisement for Oriental Trading Company (okay, maybe the image concerns are still on the table). Here are my tips for adding a little luck to your look on March 17. Thinking green has never been so sexy.

Magic at your fingertips
Even a St. Patrick’s Day look just isn’t complete without a coat of glossy lacquer on your fingertips. I am obsessed with nail technician Imagine Uhlenbrock’s work at The Nail Shop. See my favorite nail lady for a flawless St. Pat’s Day manicure complete with hand-painted nail art and designs that are to- die-for. The Nail Shop, 105 S. 9th St. Omaha 402.595.8805

Making scents of Irish luck
Bond No. 9’s “I Love NY for Earth Day” fragrance is a breath of fresh air. Inside this fresh green bottle is an ambrosial blend of tangerine, tuberose, and amber. Let the lure of Bond No. 9 sweep you away to greener pastures. Von Maur, 10010 California St. Omaha, 402.390.0381

A lucky pair
Colored denim is the perfect alternative to looking like the Jolly Green Giant. It’s also a great kick start to your spring wardrobe. A pair of Citizens of Humanity jeans in spruce green for him and Henry & Belle skinny jeans in kelly green for her fit the bill, but I can’t promise these perfect fit jeans will save you from being pinched. Denim Saloon, 4914 Underwood Ave., Omaha, 402.885.8880

A tattoo you won’t regret
Don’t let the name fool you. Hair tattoos are not real tattoos, just a shaved design into the hair. Still scared? No need to be. Michael Hartig at Fringes Salon is an expert at etching and coloring detailed designs into the heads of clients with precision and flair. Have him throw a shamrock into your hair for a fun twist or even a Cross Pattée to really show off your Irish pride. Fringes Salon Spa and Boutique, 518 S. 10th St. Omaha, 402.345.0404

Bag that fortune
You’ve got to keep your St. Patty’s Day cash somewhere. Clare Vivier’s flat clutch is the golden spot.  For the chic bar-hopper this jade green patent piece is the perfect handheld companion. This subtle bag packs a style punch with its glossy finish and is sure to become your new go-everywhere good luck charm. Clarevivier.com

Step out on the good foot
Keep your fingers crossed for sunny skies and you may be able to wear DV by Dolce Vita’s beaded sea foam sandals. DV is known for crafting magically comfortable shoes without sacrificing style, perfect for the all-day walkathon that lies ahead. Post & Nickel, 11015 Elm St. Omaha, 402.333.5206 

From left to right: Sharif Liwaru, Sarah Moore, Nikole Roach of UNO's Attendance Collaborative

Collaborative shares attendance best practices

by Kietryn Zychal

“Attendance is one area where 90 percent does not equal an A,” according to Sharif Liwaru, Elementary Schools Director at UNO’s Attendance Collaborative. That is because a 90 percent attendance rate equals 20 days of absence -- the number that triggers a referral to the County Attorney as mandated by LB 933. 

“A kid missing a couple days of school every couple of weeks may not seem like a lot of days gone, but academically, it has a greater impact than many parents are aware of. There is now increased communication between the school and parents about what it takes to be successful and what attendance expectations are.

"The preferred rate should be 95 percent of the time. Five percent absenteeism is less than 10 days per year. If they can keep it under 10 days, that’s good attendance,” Liwaru said.

UNO launched the Attendance Collaborative in 2009 with funding from Building Brighter Futures as a vehicle to study the problem of high absenteeism and to come up with a pilot program for improving attendance in Douglas and Sarpy county schools. In addition to Liwaru, the team includes Sarah Moore who focuses on middle schools and Nikole Roach at the high school level. The success of local school districts is important to UNO. “The impact of graduation rates is so direct on the university’s applicant pool that they wanted to be involved,” Liwaru said. “They were a neutral party, but still greatly affected by the issue.”

According to the collaborative, every year 1.2 million students drop out of school nationwide, which is 7,000 students every day. The Nebraska Department of Education reports that the statewide drop out rate is 10 percent, but the rate for Douglas County is closer to 25 percent. Absenteeism is the first indicator that a student will drop out of school.

Pilot Programs

Since its inception, the collaborative has been studying a sample of schools with an eye on developing pilot programs or best practices that can be implemented district wide. 

“We are currently serving 18 schools within OPS, three within Ralston and two within Millard,” Moore said. “What we do is provide support at the school level. We don’t work directly with the students. We help schools enhance and create sustainable strategies to improve attendance. We look at what already exists, including state law, district level policies and procedures, and additional strategies they have in place. We examine those with the school and through research of national practices we help enhance those efforts,” she said. 

“Through those efforts with those 23 schools we have created a ‘Guide to Achieving Excellent Attendance,’” Roach added. “It’s a culmination of the most effective strategies that are taking place at the elementary, middle and high schools.”

Each building has a School Engagement and Attendance Team (SEAT) that is encouraged to determine what works best for their institution. The Attendance Collaborative serves as a clearinghouse for idea sharing among the various schools.

“We missed you!”

One of the core values of the Attendance Collaborative is positive messaging. “We encourage staff to tell the students ‘We want you here. We missed you,” instead of “Why weren’t you here?” Roach said. 

Another value is personal engagement. Teachers and administrators greet students when they arrive at the school building. Home room has been transformed from a place to take attendance into an opportunity for one teacher to monitor and mentor the same group of students from freshman through senior year. 

Parents are kept informed about their children’s attendance through letters, phone calls and personal contact. One high school utilizes robo-calls to let parents know immediately if their child has missed a class they were expected to attend.

Additionally, there are four non-profit organizations sponsoring six Youth Attendance Navigators who work directly with students in the schools. Completely Kids is at Norris Middle School. The Urban League is at Monroe Middle School, Benson High and Northwest High. The Latino Center of the Midlands is at South High. The “Y” is at McMillan Middle School. “Hopefully, there will be additional funding to have more YAN’s in the future,” Moore said.

The community is also engaged in promoting attendance through engagement. Mentoring and after-school programs are critical to keeping students interested in school. 

The good news is that perfection is not expected. “We encourage schools not to concentrate on perfect attendance,” Liwaru said. “Statistically, there is no academic difference between 0 and 8 days missed. We don’t want people to come to school when they are sick or to miss going to their grandmother’s funeral.”

Graduation rates have improved in OPS by a few percentage points in the past year. “It’s not going to improve dramatically overnight,” Liwaru said. “But we are in this for the long haul.”

Zach Wahls and Moms

Zach Wahls brings his message of equality to UNO human rights lecture series

by Leo Adam Biga

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, Wahls made the case that sexual preference has nothing to do with effective parenting. He used himself as a case in point. The 21-year-old University of Iowa student and Eagle Scout, who happens to be straight, owns and operates his own tutoring business, Iowa City Learns, that hires local high school students to tutor peer students.

What Wahls spoke that afternoon became a YouTube sensation and ever since he's emerged as a leading LGBT advocate.

His 2012 book, My Two Moms: Lessons of Love, Strength and What Makes a Family, distills his thoughts and experiences as the son of a lesbian couple. The book's message picks up where his testimony ended, when he said "the sexual orientation of my parents has had zero impact on the content of my character," and frames his frequent public talks. He's the featured speaker for the March 12 Shirley and Leonard Goldstein Lecture on Human Rights at the Thompson Alumni Center at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. His 7 p.m. address is free and open to the public.

Wahls will emphasize what unites people, not divides them.

"I obviously grew up in a family that is in some ways very different from the median American family," he says, "but at the end of the day I think there's much more that makes us similar to most other American families than makes us different. So my remarks are really going to be focused on trying to find this common ground."

The 2011 plea he made before Iowa legislators did not stop the Republican-controlled Iowa House from passing the same sex ban, which the Democrat-majority Senate has thus far blocked. But the argument he made for gay marriage and parenting resonated far beyond the confines of that state debate.

"My family really isn’t so different from any other Iowa family," he told lawmakers. "When I’m home, we go to church together. We eat dinner, we go on vacations. But we have our hard times too. But we’re Iowans. We don’t expect anyone to solve our problems for us. We’ll fight our own battles. We just hope for equal and fair treatment…

"So what you’re voting for here is not to change us. It’s not to change our families, it’s to change how the law views us, how the law treats us. You are telling Iowans, 'Some among you are second-class citizens who do not have the right to marry the person you love.' I’m sure we’re going to hear a lot of testimony about how damaging having gay parents is on kids. But not once have I ever been confronted by an individual who realized independently that I was raised by a gay couple."

His remarks went viral online overnight. Life hasn't been the same since. He's given national media interviews and appeared on The Daily Show and the Ellen DeGeneres Show.

"It's an interesting place to find one's self, no doubt about it, especially at such a young age," he says of the notoriety. "The thing a lot of folks don't necessarily  understand is that when you are the son of a same sex couple, especially in a place like Iowa or Wisconsin, where I was born, you are already an ambassador  simply because there aren't a whole lot of us. And so growing up I was really the only kid that a lot of folks knew who had gay parents and that put a certain amount of pressure on me when I was younger."

Active in the Scouts for Equality campaign to end the ban on gays in the Boy Scouts, he's hopeful a policy change is near. He says the organization is listening to the Scout community and trying to formulate equality language to be voted on May 24 at the meeting of its national council.

He's embraced the activist role that's come his way and is encouraged by the support he's encountered in his many travels.

"Over the last two years now I've had this incredible opportunity to go all over the country and have a conversation with people who are similar to me, who are different from me about this question and this debate the nation is currently having about marriage and family and tried to make some sense of it.

"My message really resonates with people both on the left and the right politically. In my generation I've found there are increasingly very few people who view this as a partisan issue and it think that is a very good thing. As I've had the chance to speak with young conservatives and liberals and libertarians I've found there's interest in coming together to find solutions and a desire for collaboration and problem solving and less interest in fighting this culture war that's dominated American politics."

He says his advocacy role "has absolutely changed me," adding, "When my generation was growing up we were always told by our guidance counselors that we could change the world. I think a lot of us thought it was b.s.. We didn't necessarily think it was true and this showed me that well, actually, it is true. There is nothing more powerful than an idea thats time has come."

Several times now, he says, people have told him his words have helped change their minds about gay marriage and parenting and he calls this feedback "a very powerful reminder of the ability we all have to impact other people's lives and to expose them to different ideas and new points of view."

Follow Wahls on Facebook and via his website, www.zachwahls.com.

Read more of Leo Adam Biga's work at leoadambiga.wordpress.com.

It’s all about fashion this week in the Big O

by Paul Heft

Omaha Fashion Week, now in its sixth year, has new tricks up its sleeve. New designers are expected this year, including Kate Walz, who just returned from New York, and Jeff Hanson, who will be showing his line of hand-painted dresses. Sixteen designers will be present in all. About 400 models show up each year with 1,000 hands in total putting on the show. Of note is  opening night’s Cancer Survivor Show, which features 80 models.

Wednesday of Fashion Week is industry night, which features MOOD fabrics from New York. Thursday is the Children’s and Bridal Show, and Friday is Ready to Wear. Amanda Valentine from Project Runway will be there on Friday, which is a huge highlight of fashion week, and Saturday has been sold out for weeks. “Knowing Amanda is from Nebraska really helps inspire young people,” said Nick Hudson, co-producer of Fashion Week.

Talent definitely comes from the Midwest, Hudson adds, and the coasts approve. For example, Erin Thomas has showcased two outfits on the Sports Illustrated Swimwear Edition.  Hudson believes Fashion Week does have an impact on Omaha slowly becoming more trendy, and it will probably increase with every year it is held. ,

Christian Shuster

Designer Christian Shuster returns to Omaha Fashion Week and looks to bring his clothing line nationwide

by Jared Spence

Christian Shuster, the designer of the christianMICHEAL menswear label is the name on the tip of all the fashionable tongues right now. He was the talk of the runways at Omaha Fashion Week last year when he made his Omaha debut; now he is back for round two with a whole new approach. The self-taught Kansas City native is known around his hometown and the Midwest for the necktie label he launched in 2000, and since then has been building a name for his clothing line as well. Known for his precise tailoring and creative looks, Shuster is on his way to making a big splash in men’s fashion.

Omaha Fashion Week 2012 was Omaha’s first introduction to christianMICHEAL. The collection was very period and literal with the inspiration. What else can people expect to see from the label?
“The label has always been about the style-conscious man. Last year was very period inspired, but at the same time I wanted to do something a little avant garde. I wanted, for my first runway production, to do something a little over the top as well. This year, I want to show some depth and range as a designer.  I want my looks to be seen from the runway and envisioned to go straight to retail, so they are 100 percent ready to wear.

The Reader: What was your inspiration for this collection?
A lot of my inspiration came from by the fabric selection I was finding. I was able to come across some beautiful wools and plaids. My mind started wrapping around that outdoor man — almost an American lumberjack meets English fox hunter type of thing. I looked a little bit to the turn-of-the-century English time period, but with some of the colors and prints it’s almost got an American ‘70s feel.

What can we expect to see this season?
I’m doing what I call an American sporting meets English fox hunting collection. It’s almost a sort of English country cottage look. There are quilted hunting jackets with corduroy patch shoulders and things like that. There are a lot of double breasted wool pea coats with herringbone weaves, plaid pants paired with solid colored jackets, and traditional three piece suits with a houndstooth print. We’re going to push the envelope a bit in the way of color and print, but we’re really falling on some classic styling lines with tailored jackets, pants, and vests.

Who is the christianMICHEAL man?
The christianMICHEAL man is 25-45 years old, active, hardworking and style-conscious but with just a little need of direction. Also someone who enjoys something very clean and tailored, appreciates a good fit, and who is not scared of making a statement in the right way. 

What is your style advice to all of the men out there?
Know your body type and know the fit of your body. Fit is such a big part of menswear in looking clean and tailored. And don’t be scared to try new things. Don’t believe the rules that your dad and grandfather told you. Push the envelope and try to mix and match. Menswear is about being a headstrong and confident man.

Being a menswear designer, do you ever struggle with generating fresh ideas?
Not really. I draw inspiration from a lot of areas. I think that’s one of the biggest voids in menswear that you don’t see a lot of new things. I am a believer in never staying stagnant and always looking for what is new and what is next, especially with something that can be as stale as menswear. There are enough style conscious, fashion forward men today and there’s just not a voice for them. I’m trying to be the next great American designer for men.

In addition to Omaha Fashion Week, what is the christianMICHEAL brand up to?
My main focus after fashion week is going to be taking the label to market and taking the label to retail in stores not only across the Midwest but across the nation.

What are your goals with the brand? Where would you like to see it go?
Ultimately, christianMICHEAL wants to be a wholesale American men’s label sold nationwide in retailers across the states. We’ll definitely get there. ,

Chevy and her Sirens Team

Teams of stylists, makeup artists and models help make Omaha Fashion Week happen

by Paul Heft

Chevy, or Siobhan Naughton Kozisek, owns Sirens salon and is ready to take on Fashion Week for the sixth year. She graduated from Capitol in 1997, where she took a liking to doing makeup over anything else. She’s been at it for over 14 years, often with makeup and waxing being her calling. She started working with media and film, too, so maybe she found just the right combination.

“I’m glad I never knew it would take so much to get here. I might have given up,” says Chevy, but she certainly persevered.

Chevy prefers Fashion Week when it falls in the warmer months because the weather allows for more options. “We’re always doing media and filming our work, so it’s better when we can be outside.”

Although Chevy never really gets to see the runway show, she always feels the energy of the back room while the models are getting airbrushed and adorned.

Chevy feels like the Old Market is a great setting for Siren’s salon, which specializes in everything but emphasizes artistic influence. She feels that the salon can reach its full potential in that location, free to go in whatever direction the stylists please. “I feel like people recognize us as Siren’s now. We try to have our own signature to everything.”

Siren’s and Chevy have taken a liking to Glo Minerals, a makeup product with natural ingredients that is tender on the skin. Glo is said to have some vibrant pigments not accessible through other brands.

The salon frequently uses this medium, but Chevy says the styles of makeup always vary from person to person. “I don’t let my clients see my work until I’m completely done,” Chevy said. She doesn’t specialize in just smoky eyes or heavy eyeliner; she’s covering the whole board.

Chevy says many stylists have been with her since Siren’s opened. This year Chevy is excited to work with designer Kate Walz, who is visiting from New York. “We’re also very excited to see the bridal line this year.”

Inspiration can be influenced based on the upcoming event, but often times it just comes from inside, Chevy says. Sometimes the salon gets a request; other times they are given more artistic freedom.

Fashion Week will be another one of those times where Siren’s and Chevy are bound to succeed — not only from talent but from earned experience.

Neal Duffy on tour with the Neon Trees and Maroon 5. Check out his DJ alter ego W.E.R.D. hitting the decks at House of Loom this Saturday, March 2.

Our very own Neal Duffy enjoys traveling the globe making big bands sound better

by Paul Heft

Neal Duffy is the guy making your concerts sound crisp and pristine. He’s making every instrument and vocalization reverberate across the auditorium. Currently, he’s on tour with Neon Trees, who will open for Maroon 5 in Omaha March 3. He’s been with Neon Trees for two years since he caught his big break.

Duffy received his education in sound at the School and Audio Workshop in Ohio, then transferred to Iowa Western, where he got on-air experience. “Working with audio and sound is a science,” Duffy says. “Some people don’t realize that.” While the science behind sound will stay the same, the tools vary.

His first work with a live band was with the Jazzwholes. Duffy also toured with Tilly and the Wall, an act Omaha knows well, while earning his certification to be a yoga teacher. Then, Marciano, the manager of the Tilly and CSS tour, offered him a break with Neon Trees.

Duffy had first encountered Neon Trees back in May 2010 when they opened for 30 Seconds to Mars. That was the first time Neon Trees had experienced Omaha.

“I was ready to take a break from the music industry before this,” Duffy explained. He had become disheartened with the materialism and creative compromise that has become rampant in the music business. So Duffy took the offer he wasn’t necessarily expecting, but he still does yoga to this day.

“Before Neon Trees, I was used to mixing for clubs of maybe 5,000,” Duffy said. “Now it’s arenas of 20,000.” Sound systems are different everywhere, but Duffy wouldn’t want it any other way because he firmly believes you should always be learning. “I want a job that lets me learn every day. Otherwise, I wonder why I’m doing it.”

Duffy needs to have heard the album he’s mixing live inside and out. In order to recreate it live, he examines all the layers of production to see how a live crowd could best hear it.

Duffy said the largest hurdle in his work is being completely satisfied with your mix that night. “Audio boards have endless options. I feel like I could always tweak something and make its sound different or change the levels.”

One of Duffy’s first tours outside the Midwest was with the Clumsy Lovers, a Canadian Band. This took him to the West Coast and Canada. Duffy has also been to Asia, Australia, the whole U.S., and Europe. His favorite destination was Bali, where he surfed the royal blue waters. Other favorites include Japan, Spain, London, Paris and the Great Wall.

Duffy is a hobbyist photographer on the side when he’s not doing sound, being DJ W.E.R.D or at Lotus House of Yoga.

Duffy’s dream was to run sound at Madison Square Garden, one of the most massive arenas in the world. That just happened on Feb. 16 on the current tour with Neon Trees and Maroon 5.

Duffy has been all over the world, but he hasn‘t run sound for a big show in Omaha yet. “Even though I’ve been all over the world, I’m really excited to be running sound for the Omaha show in March.” There is a first for everything, even if it leads you back home. ,

Spruce is cozily stuffed with lots of luxurious items.

Spruce is a welcome addition to Midtown

by Jared Spence

Tucked away in a little brick building in a most unassuming spot, Spruce, an interior and gift boutique, is almost discreet enough to pass by without knowing. But the little shop on 50th and Leavenworth manages to burst enough personality from the front windows to pique the curiosity of passersby.

Spruce is a treat for the senses. Entering the store, I was greeted with an abundance of colors, patterns, and the scents of Nest candles wafting in the air. The mirrors hanging on the walls and metallic furniture pieces reflect the sunlight pouring in from the windows, setting the stage for the wondrous journey that lies within the quaint space.

The store has a little bit of everything, which instantly reminded me of a little lifestyle boutique, Trocadero, that once lived in the Old Market.

The store is cozily stuffed with chic vignettes of tables and ottomans with gorgeous table lamps and luxurious throw pillows. It has a charming balance of sleek and gilded décor mixed with nature inspired items. Ceramic turtle shell figures and snake print photo frames sit on mirrored dressers behind decoupage plates with quotes, while whimsical sundries and copper Moscow Mule mugs line the shelves on the opposite side of the room.

Fashion, interior, and architecture coffee table books are scattered about, where I was pleased to find titles like Rizzoli’s Weekend Retreats. You’ll also discover scarves, handbags and jewelry pieced in amongst all of the home items, which once again took me back to my former Old Market haunt.

Spruce has a refreshing approach to affordable luxury and owner Amy Sporrer has a keen eye for detail. Don’t pass this delight by next time you are in the area. You are sure to find a thing or two that you can’t live without.

Cochance and Black Jonny Quest (right)

by Jessica Hill

If I had a nickel for every time I overheard someone mutter the phrase “there’s nothing to do in Omaha”, I’d have enough nickels right now to buy an Hermes Birkin bag.  And yet, on any given weekend, I’ll wind up with a Facebook event invite list so long that I could probably read ‘Crime and Punishment’ from start to finish in less time than it takes me to actually sort through all of them. (Granted I only own the Sparknotes version, but still…) For quite some time the question continued to plague me: with so much going on in Omaha, how could anyone still be under the impression that this city is uneventful? I think I’ve finally solved the mystery. 

One of modern society’s most brilliant psychologists Barry Schwartz developed a theory called “the paradox of choice”. The theory states that: when presented with too many options (no matter how great each individual option is) the outcome will almost always result in a feeling of discontentment regardless of which option the individual chooses. Schwartz also theorized that people will often become so overwhelmed when faced with multiple options that they’ll end up choosing nothing at all. This theory can probably be applied to Omaha’s night life, specifically  the local art scene.  With so many concerts and art shows to choose from, you’re bound to miss out on something. Schwartz says the only way to avoid this “paradox of choice” is to combine all of your options so that, in the end, you’re left with just one. Recently, that’s exactly what Miguel Cedillo did for Omaha when he created The Omaha People’s Party (OPP).

Hard to define but probably best described as a multimedia pop up show, OPP isn’t a single event but rather an ongoing project that aims to provide a platform for local artists. Cedillo’s brainchild was successfully brought to life and materialized for the first time a few weeks ago at the New BLK gallery with some help from Gerard Pefung and a variety of different artists. Local painters, musicians, fashion professionals and filmmakers united together under one roof to support and promote local art.

“I think this event is a combination of everything our local artistic community already loves and does well”, said Cedillo. “Now, we’re simply reaching out to different corners of that community. Music, art, film and fashion are the four main pillars of OPP. Those four pillars will be featured in some way, shape or form during every single pop up show. Ideally, we would like to have a new show every 6-8 weeks. The main featured artists will be kept a secret. We’ll eventually reveal the featured artists, location and time of The OPP in an announcement shortly before the event is set to start. The mystery will, hopefully, help to create some anticipation.”

The first OPP's main featured artist was Black Jonny Quest. The pop up show coincided with the release of his first solo album "Smells Like Good News", which is available for download now.

With free entry, a complimentary open bar and a room full of local artists all eager to donate their time and talent toward the cause, it wasn’t hard to see why the first ever OPP garnered such an impressive crowd. Local painters like Erick UnCool participated in a live art show downstairs while Dirty Diamonds and Op2mus provided live music. Conchance, Black Jonny Quest, Kethro and Dojorok (who, all together, form the Midtown Marauders) took over as the main attractions towards the end of the night.

“The incentive for coming out and performing at an event like this is pretty much just the event itself. Just liking the concept behind the event and wanting to be a part of it,” said local hip hop artist and multiple OEA winner Conchance. “Anything like this that encourages local artists and musicians, I’ll support. Also, I’m pretty close with a lot of the people who helped organize this. They’re all good friends of mine. So, if they ask me to do something for OPP again in the future, I’ll do it. I want to help or be involved in any way that I can.” Fans of local art, music, fashion and film should see this as a way to discover new artists, musicians, fashion designers and filmmakers that they may not have otherwise been exposed to. Venue and bar owners in Omaha can use an event like this to their advantage by offering to provide the location (which will almost undeniably be good for business). And most importantly, new artists can utilize The OPP events to showcase their work and broaden their fan base.

“When it comes to finding new artists to feature in our future pop up shows, I encourage feedback from the community. If there’s an artist that people would like to see featured, even if it’s an artist I’ve never heard of before, I want to know about it,” says Cedillo. “We have a Facebook page that people can go to. They can post pictures and videos from the first pop up show and they can make suggestions for who they’d like to see featured in the future on our official Omaha People’s Party page.”

  **Make sure to visit the event’s facebook page for exclusive pictures and video, and check the page periodically for announcements regarding the next OPP’s secret featured artist and location!

Global warming breaks new records, patterns of extreme weather increase

by Kietryn Zychal

After the hottest start to a year ever recorded in the United States, local activists gathered to point out the obvious from a symbolic spot.

Career National Weather Service meteorologist John Pollack is devoting his retirement to educating the public about climate change, suggesting ways to lower carbon emissions. Standing in front of the “high and dry” Salute to Labor statue on the riverfront that was underwater last summer during the flood of 2011, Pollack warned that “the Earth is catching a fever.” 

“The average temperature during the past 12 months in the lower 48 states has been 2.9 degrees Fahrenheit above normal” Pollack told reporters, “While that may not seem all that significant, think of how your body feels with a 101.5 temperature, 3-degrees above our normal 98.6.” 

Pollack was joined by Tim Rinne of Nebraskans for Peace and David Corbin of Physicians for Social Responsibility. They held up a banner from the organization 350.org, which takes its name from the fact that 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is what scientists consider safe for humanity. The currently level is 392 ppm. 

In June, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) confirmed in its State of the Climate report that the first six months of 2012 were the hottest on record in the United States since record keeping began in 1895, producing drought conditions over much of the country. A sample of record breaking temperatures in Nebraska includes McCook’s all-time high of 115 on June 26th and Omaha’s July 6th high of 104.

Pollack cited the figure that 98 percent of climate scientists agree recent weather-related disasters -- heat waves, droughts, wildfires, and a derecho (straight-line windstorm), are part of a pattern made more frequent by global warming. The 98 percent figure came from a 2010 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of 1,372 climate researchers who conduct research and publish in peer-reviewed journals.

Hotter weather has an effect on Nebraska’s signature industry, agriculture. Higher temperatures reduce yields per acre, especially when corn is pollinating. Livestock suffer and die in extreme heat. Violent weather patterns cause damage to crops, structures, and the economy at large. 

Extreme weather is hard on the taxpayer. The U.S. Forest Service is projected to have a record year of spending on burned-area recovery efforts largely due to wildfires in New Mexico and Colorado. The Department of Agriculture also will assume additional financial obligations in Colorado.

In addition to being a weather scientist, Pollack and his colleagues are working to advocate for change, focusing on solutions to reduce carbon emissions now. “As a nation, we need to very quickly implement energy-efficiency measures by insulating homes and businesses and shift to utilizing Nebraska’s vast renewable wind and solar energy resources rather than rely on out-of-state coal and oil for our energy supply,” he said.

David Corbin, who ran for OPPD board but lost, cited some specifics of Nebraska’s energy potential. Nebraska still has the 4th best wind resources in the U.S. and the 13th best solar resources. Iowa supplies 25 percent of its energy needs from wind power, but Nebraska generates only 4 percent. Iowa firms invested in wind because of tax subsidies, explained Corbin, but Nebraska is the one state that only has public electrical power so there is no tax incentive to invest in wind farms. According to Corbin, OPPD CEO Gary Gates said recently that private firms could build wind farms and sell the electricity to OPPD, “That’s progress,” Corbin said.

Pollack, Corbin and Rinne have a vision that western Nebraska, which has the strongest wind in the state, could supply energy to eastern Nebraska where the population needs it. “What benefits Nebraska most?” asked Rinne. “Shipping coal from Wyoming or paying farmers out west for wind power?” They also envision building transmission lines to move wind energy from west to east. 

 

“We can do everything we need to do to get off carbon,” Pollack said, “If we exercise the political will to do it.”

Douglas County Election Commissioner Runs With Labor And Paper

by Kietryn Zychal

It takes months of planning, last minute details and tight organization to make an election go smoothly. “Election Day is the part that everybody sees,” said Election Commissioner Dave Phipps in his office at the Douglas County Election Commission on 115th and Davenport Streets. “Nobody wants to really know what happens and how you get to that point.”

“They just want to know that they can go to their polling place, get their ballot, vote it and be done for the day.”

Phipps and his staff take hundreds of steps to get to the big event. “For us, election season starts five or six months before and goes for five or six weeks afterward to make sure everything is cleaned up and accounted for. We have a relatively small staff to take care of all that.”

Elections in Douglas County are run with labor and a mountain of paper. Voting is done by paper ballot and registration requires filling out a form in advance of Election Day, signing it and mailing it back. Registration forms can also be completed at a library, Department of Motor Vehicles office or by a volunteer Deputy Registrar, all to later be entered into the computer at the Election Commission (EC). As a presidential election approaches, voter registration and re-registration requests increase exponentially. “There are so many people who vote only in that one election,” Phipps said. “We get tens of thousands of requests.” People move, get married or divorced, change their political party. There are usually 60 or 70 temps hired in the months leading up to a presidential election.

There are only 13 permanent employees at the Election Commission. The organizational chart is thin, with two rows under Phipps. The Deputy Democratic Commissioner, Lisa Wise, The Elections Manager Justine Kessler and the Public Relations Coordinator, Maria Anderson report directly to him. There are six departments to handle technology (GIS mapping), polling places, poll workers, voter registration, office administration and accounting. Most of the salaries are in the $30,000 - $40,000 range with one 20-year employee making $9,000 less than the Election Commissioner himself at $78,000.

In addition to voter registration, they handle requests for early voting ballots, interact with candidates who want to run for office, determine the locations of polling places, update the website, generate precinct maps based on voting statistics with GIS software, handle hundreds of vote-by-mail elections, print ballots, prepare boxes of supplies for all the polling places and make sure the disability equipment for blind voters is programmed to work properly. The budget for personnel, including the temporaries and poll workers hired on Election Day was $1 million for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012. The rest of the budget -- $250,000 -- includes printing, mailing, and all other contract services from computer software to the moving trucks that delivered supplies to the precincts.

On Election Day itself, Phipps gets up at 4 a.m. and is in the office by 5:30. At 6 a.m. the telephone operators start to arrive. Poll workers are either long-time volunteers who enjoy the public service or they are drafted to work, similar to being selected for jury duty. A drafted poll worker is required to serve for four elections. Poll workers make minimum wage, $7.25 per hour, typically working a 13.5 hour day with no overtime. They receive about an hour and a half of training a few weeks before the election, so there are often call-in questions about set-up and procedure. Five poll workers, no more than two from any one political party, are assigned to each polling place, including an Inspector who has worked an election in the past,

At 7 a.m. the first set of replacement poll workers arrives at the Election Commission to be sent out in the field if necessary. At 8 a.m. the polls open, and operators take calls from voters with questions such as “Where is my polling place? How do I get there?” Or, “What’s my party?” When voters are not listed in the registration book at the polling place in their precinct, a worker will call the Election Commission to find out where to send that person. If they are in the right spot but not listed, they are allowed to vote a provisional ballot, placed in a envelope so the EC can verify the registration before counting the ballot.

At 2 p.m., everything stops at the polling places for the mid-day ballot transfer. The ballot box is opened and the number of ballots counted in front of everybody. The metal ballot box is then sealed for the rest of the day. Ballots are put in a cardboard transfer case and sealed with a paper seal, signed by two poll workers from opposite parties who both drive to one of 16 collection centers where two poll workers from opposite parties are collecting boxes from a dozen or more polling places, before delivering them to the Election Commission.

“It cuts down how much we have to count in the evening,” explains Phipps. In 2006, the Secretary of State encouraged the counties not to do a midday transfer, resulting in a 24-hour work day with staff counting ballots until 5:30 a.m.

Eight counting machines costing $65,000 each -- the model 650 from Omaha’s own Election Systems & Software -- were purchased by the Nebraska Secretary of State through federal funds provided by the Help America Vote Act.

At 8 p.m., the polls close and the slot in each ballot box is locked and sealed to be driven to the Election Commission in a single car by two poll workers of opposite parties. The five drop boxes for early voting ballots -- three in libraries, the Charles B. Washington in North Omaha, the South Omaha branch and the Bess Johnson in Elkhorn, and drop boxes at the Millard Public Schools Foundation and outside the Election Commission, are also closed.

As cars pull up, ballot boxes are loaded into carts and delivered by a local Boy Scout troop to the counting room. The supply box and the large auto-mark disability voting machine must also be returned to the Commission.

Also at 8 p.m. the Commission announced the results from the midday transfer. At 8:45, a second announcement is made which includes the results of the early voting ballots. The vote tally is updated every 45 minutes thereafter until all the ballots are counted.

Traditionally, most of the ballots are back to the EC by 9:30 p.m. During a primary election, the counting usually stops before midnight. For a presidential election, it typically goes until 2 a.m. Any provisional ballots from voters whose address or information changed will be verified in the seven day period following the election.

by John Heaston

Read the full story here.

2012 Voter File:

The initial voter data for 2012 obtained by The Reader was not useable for this initial analysis because it did not have polling location for each voter listed. It did have a large amount of voting data that would prove useful later.

The Reader obtained a new file with voters and polling places linked below. This file contained 314,969 voters and the date suggests it is from a polling place mailing list as of 2012-03-05. This data has all voters and their polling place.  Shape files are also available upon request.

2008 Voter File:

In order to do a comparison of the voter’s distance from their polling places, The Reader obtained a 2008 voter file from just prior to the 2008 general election with linked polling places. This file contained 315,257 voters and is linked below.

 

Both files are large and the Election Commissioner requests that voter files not be used for commercial purposes. If it’s your intention to contribute to this analysis in the public interest, please email us the details of your interest to share access to these files.

 

GIS Data:

Note: All GIS processes were conducted in ArcMap 10.

All GIS data from the Election Commissioner included 2012 polling places and precincts along with 2010 polling places and precincts. Deciding to use the 2008 voter file for comparison to 2012, a new 2008 polling place file was created based on the 2008 voter file. A point file was created by using the 2008 voter data and running a pivot table on polling places and address. With a list of all polling locations in 2008, we were able to geocode (place on the map based on address). A new polling places file was created because the polling places file for 2010 didn’t match the voter file for 2008. Some polling places changed between 2008 and 2010.

 

Data Creation Process:

Geocode

The first step was to geocode all of the voters in the two file (2008 and 2012) to generate a distance to polling place value and determine what Census Tract each voter was in to give them demographic data from the census. We used an address locator created from a 2011 street file and parcel file for Douglas County. Douglas County GIS has wonderful data available here.

 

http://www.dcgis.org/ArcGIS/rest/services

 

After running the geocoding process in ArcMap 10 we were able to match the voters to the rates below:

 

2008

Total in Voter File             315,257

Total Matched                    312,169                                 

Percent In This Analysis                 99.02%                                      

 

2012

Total in Voter File             314,969               

Total Matched                    312,497 (312,499 were actually matched and two were later remove)

Percent In This Analysis                 99.22%                  

 

Some voters we not matched because their address could not be found. While there are likely some remaining voters who have been incorrectly matched in both years, the majority of the address were matched with a 100% match rate. The mismatched voters will not have a dramatic impact on the results.

 

Straight Line Distance

The next step in the process was to give each voter a distance to their polling place. With no quick and easy way to give each voter a distance based on their travel by road, a straight line distance method was used. In this method, each polling place and the voters connected to that polling place were placed on the map by themselves. This consisted of one point for the polling place and a point for each voter connected to it. These two data sets were then spatially joined so that “Each point will be given all of the attributes of the point in the layer being joined that is closest to it, and a distance field showing how close that point is (in the units of the target layer).” In order to speed this process up, multiple polling places were done at once as long as they were far enough apart as to not allow a voter to be joined to the wrong polling place. These exported files contained only a few polling places and their voters with a distance. Once each polling place was done for the given year, they were joined back together to form a new voter file with all matched voters and a distance to their polling place.

 

This process was done using the matched voters in 2012 and the 2012 polling place shapefile provided for the 2012 data. The 2008 data was done using the matched voters in 2008 and the 2008 polling place shapefile that we created. The resulting data, if viewed for all voters at one polling place in ArcMap 10 would look like the screen shot below if shown with the shortest distance in green and the longest distance in red.

 

 

 

 

Census Data

The final step in the setup of these data sets was a process of joining census data to each voter. Because we did not have individual demographic data for each voter, we used Census data from the 2006-2010 American Community Survey (ACS). We downloaded a number of tables from the American FactFinder website http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml that pertained to the demographics that we wanted to use to analyze change in distance. These tables include data on poverty, race/ethnicity, employment, education and median household income. These data tables were condensed and combined into one file that was then joined to the census tract GIS layer in ArcMap 10. Once joined to the census tract GIS layer, voters could be joined to census tracts and, in turn, joined to the data pulled from the ACS. This process, similar to joining the voter points to polling points, uses voter points and census tract boundaries to join voters to the census tract that “it falls inside”. In other words, the voter was given all attributes of the ACS based on what census tract that they fell inside of. Below are the fields of census data added:

 

PovPop	Population for whom poverty status is determined
PopBP	Population Below Poverty
PerPopBP	Percent Below Poverty for the Population for whom poverty status is determined
PovPop18O	Population 18 and Over for whom poverty status is determined
PopBP18O	Population 18 and Over Below Poverty
PerPopBP18O	Percent Below Poverty for the Population 18 and Over for whom poverty status is determined
TotalPop	Total Population
MinorityPop	Minority Population (All people who are Not Hispanic or Latino and White Alone)
PerMinority	Percent Minority
PerBlack	Percent Black Alone Population (Not Hispanic or Latino)
PerHispanic	Percent Hispanic or Latino or any race or combination of races
Per25O_HSGr	Percent of the population 25 and over that is a high school graduate or higher
Per25OBacGr	Percent of the population 25 and over that has a bachelor's degree or higher
Pop16O	Population 16 and over
PerEmp_160	Population 16 years and over who is Employed
PerUEmp_160	Population 16 years and over who is Unemployed
Households	Total Households
HHMedianInc	Median Household Income

 

 

Below is an example of what that might look like for one polling place.  All of the voters from the Beadle Middle School are in census tract 74.60 and thus were give the poverty percentage, minority percentage and median household income of that census tract according to the 2006-2010 ACS.

 

  

This process was done for the 2008 and 2012 voter files using the 2006-2010 ACS data. Because we wanted to maintain the same areas in the distance comparison between years, it was important that we used the same ACS data for both voter files. It was initially suggested that we should be comparing the voter data by precinct between 2008 and 2012, however, because these boundaries changed between the years, a comparison would between them would not work. Using the census method, voters counted in >50% minority census tracts in 2008 and 2012 should be people in the same geographic area.

 

Analysis:

Export

Once these modified voter files were finished, the data was exported into excel for analysis. These two files are available under the same guidelines as above in regards to voter files.

 

Pivot Table Comparison

The primary method of analysis is the pivot table feature in excel. The pivot table tool allows you to summarize data by defined columns and rows. In all cases my column was the average distance of voters to polling place as defined by my row, or, the defined area based on census tracts of specific median income, minority percentage, poverty percentage, education percentage, employment percentage or county quadrant. Using the table below as an example, the pivot table allowed us to calculate the average distance of every voter from their polling place (as defined by the straight line distance calculation defined above) in all census tracts where less than <10% of people age 25 and over (according to the 2006-2010 ACS) had a bachelors degree. We also did this for the remaining data breaks  as they were initially defined by for minority percentages ( < 10%, >= 10% and < 20%, >= 20% and < 50% & >= 50%).

 

2012
Percent of the population 25 and over that has a bachelor's degree or higher: 2006-2010	Average Distance	Total Voters
< 10%	0.645057199	21,171
>= 10% and < 20%	0.534769123	32,928
>= 20% and < 50%	0.70689284	167,631
>= 50%	0.725866065	90,767
Grand Total	0.690077736	312,497

 

These analyses were conducted for both the 2008 and 2012 voter files and then compared between years. Because the same ACS data was joined to voters in each year, the same areas are being compared between years just with slightly different voters and changes in polling place distance. This analysis can be seen in the file named Comp_2008vs2012. Any additional census data (or commute time data) could be joined to the voter files by census tracts and then analyzed. Additionally, the data could be broken down in any number of ways that has not been previously done by us.

The Analysis can be summed in this document: VoterComp_2008vs2012

And is narrated below:

Voters in the northeast and southeast quadrant of the county as divided roughly by 72nd and Dodge streets experienced a 43% and 45% increase respectively in the straight line distance to their polling place from 2008 to 2012. Voters in the northwest and southwest quadrants experienced a 19% and 21% increase in the straight line distance to their polling place respectively from 2008 to 2012. The northeast and southeast quadrants made up about 35% of the total voters in 2012.

Voters in Census tracts with median household income between $0 and $24,999 experienced a 30% increase in the straight line distance to their polling place from 2008 to 2012. Voters in Census tracts with median household income between $25,000 and $49,999 experienced a 53% increase in the straight line distance to their polling place from 2008 to 2012. Voters in Census tracts with median household income between $50.000 and $74,999 and those over $75,000 experienced a 14% and 17% increase in the straight line distance to their polling place from 2008 to 2012 respectively. Voters in census tracts with incomes below $50,000 made up about 43% of the total voters in 2012.

Voters in Census tracts with less than 10% of the population over the age of 24 with a bachelors degree or greater experienced a 68% increase in the straight line distance to their polling place from 2008 to 2012. Voters living in Census tracts where the population over the age of 25 with a bachelors degree or greater was between 10% and 20%, 20% and 50% and over 50% experienced a 35%, 32% and 12% increase in the straight line distance to their polling place from 2008 to 2012 respectively.

Voters in Census tracts with 20% to 50% and over 50% minority populations experienced a 47% and 53% increase in the straight line distance to their polling place from 2008 to 2012 respectively. Voters in Census tracts with less than 10% and between 10% and 20% minority populations only experienced a 27% and 9% increase in the straight line distance to their polling place from 2008 to 2012 respectively. Voters in census tracts with over 20% minority populations made up about 40% of the total voters in 2012.

Voters who were Republican experienced a 24% increase in the straight line distance to their polling place from 2008 to 2012 while Voters who were Democrat and Libertarian experienced a 32% and 41% increase in the straight line distance to their polling place from 2008 to 2012 respectively.

Voters in Census tracts with less than 10% of the population over the age of 17 in poverty experienced a 17% increase in the straight line distance to their polling place from 2008 to 2012. Voters in Census tracts with 10% to 20% and greater than 20% of the population over the age of 18 in poverty experienced a 45% and 62% increase in the straight line distance to their polling place from 2008 to 2012 respectively.

Voters in Census tracts with less than 10% of the population over the age of 15 unemployed experienced a 23% increase in the straight line distance to their polling place from 2008 to 2012. Voters in Census tracts with 10% to 20% and greater than 20% of the population over the age of 15 unemployed experienced a 61% and 39% increase in the straight line distance to their polling place from 2008 to 2012 respectively.

Medical Futurist Alan Russell Speaks April 11 as part of Holland Lecture Series

by Steve Brewer

Regenerative medicine is a new way of treating injuries and diseases, using specially-grown tissues and cells, along with artificial organs. The goal is helping the body to regenerate itself.

It’s an emerging field with great potential, according to the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh.

“These approaches can amplify our natural healing process in the places it's needed most, or take over the function of a permanently damaged organ,” according to the Institute’s web site.

Alan Russell is the founder of the McGowan Institute, and a leader in regenerative medicine.
He will speak in Omaha at 7:30 p.m. on April 11 as part of the free Holland Lecture Series at the Holland Center.

Research is also being done locally in regenerative medicine, including work at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Creighton University.

Alan Russell
Russell’s biography calls him a medical futurist and a pioneer in regenerative medicine. Crossing the fields of chemistry, biology, and materials science, Russell’s research lab studies how to help damaged tissues and organs to rebuild themselves.

For example, he is currently developing an artificial ovary so that women with cancer may undergo radiation treatment and still be able to have children.
Russell has also attracted attention beyond the scientific community. Rolling Stone magazine named him one of the “100 People Who are Changing America,” and he spoke at the TED Conference in 2006 on regenerating our bodies.

In that TED talk, Russell said, “Regenerative medicine is an extraordinarily simple concept. It’s simply accelerating the pace at which the body heals itself in a clinically-relevant time scale.”

This work makes Russell a logical choice as speaker for the Holland Lecture Series, according to Steve Hutchinson, chairperson of the Holland Lecture Committee.

“Part of what we want to accomplish is to inform people about where the science is going, and to raise questions about the implications of that science,” he said. “We think he’ll be interesting, and it will increasingly impact people’s lives. It’s time to start getting informed and think about the implications.”

The Holland Lecture Series is free to the public. It is sponsored by the First Unitarian Church of Omaha, and is funded by local philanthropist Dick Holland.

The series has its roots in the Frank R. Hoagland Lectures, which were held at the Unitarian Church between 1954 and 1964.

“When Dick Holland was a young guy, he attended the Hoagland Lectures. They were trying to bring provocative ideas into the community, and he wants to bring that back,” Hutchinson said. “That’s why he decided to sponsor this series.”

The Holland Lecture Series began in 2005, and has since brought to Omaha two well-known speakers annually. According to Hutchinson, these lectures provide open discussion of provocative ideas that are not usually heard in Nebraska.

Tickets are free, but must be reserved through the Holland Center box office.  Reservations will become available on March 26. You may reserve up to six tickets, and can make reservations by calling (402)345-0606 or online at omahaperformingarts.org/tickets.

Stem Cells
Hutchinson believes the combination of scientific, economic, and ethical issues presented by regenerative medicine make it worthy of public discussion.

“We had someone speak on stem cells in 2005, but we wanted to go back and touch upon that, because a great deal has happened,” Hutchinson said. “Regenerative medicine does include stem cells, but is much broader than that. The whole field has really come into existence over the last couple of years.”

The McGowan Institute divides regenerative medicine into three areas: medical devices and artificial organs, tissue engineering, and cellular therapies.

Stem cells are the best known aspect of regenerative medicine. According to the National Institutes of Health, stem cells are unspecialized cells capable of developing into many different cell types in the body, such as muscle, red blood, or brain cells.

“In addition, in many tissues they serve as a sort of internal repair system, dividing essentially without limit to replenish other cells as long as the person or animal is still alive,” according to the NIH’s stem cell information web site.

The use of stem cells in research has attracted controversy in the past, because some are taken from human embryos. Other stem cells are taken from adults.

In 2006, researchers identified a way to genetically reprogram some cells to assume a stem cell-like state. These new types are called pluripotent stem cells, and may be used in future research.

University of Nebraska Medical Center
The phrase “wouldn’t it be great if…” comes up frequently in conversation with David Crouse.

Crouse is a professor of genetics, cell biology and anatomy at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC).

“Many health problems are related to the loss of function of tissues and organs. These problems persist because something is wrong or missing,” Crouse said. “Wouldn’t it be great if we could solve these problems by replacing those tissues or repairing them?”

About 20 researchers at UNMC dedicate at least part of their work to regenerative medicine, particularly to stem cells.

This work is interdisciplinary.  In addition to medicine, researchers come from backgrounds including biomaterials, engineering, and cellular biology.

“This is a regenerative medicine initiative, not a program,” said Crouse. “There are quite a few graduate students working on these projects, including PhD students and postdoctorates.”

Related research has been conducted for years at UNMC, but its formal initiative began in 2008 when Nora Sarvetnick was hired to lead its efforts.

“She has a group of researchers with one floor in Durham Research Tower II,” Crouse said. “Even though they are in different academic departments, they are located together. This kind of science is more driven by concepts than departments.”

The basic ideas of regenerative medicine go back decades. One of its first common applications was the repair of severe burns. Crouse said physicians originally took unburned skin from a healthy part of the body to replace burned skin.

Over time, organ transplantation developed from this basic idea of trading good tissue for bad tissue.

UNMC is now a major force in organ transplantation, but Crouse and his colleagues focus on newer and less developed aspects of RM research.

For example, Crouse said that cell transplantation may one day replace organ transplantation.

“We can transplant livers. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could transplant just liver cells?” Crouse said. “You could just inject them into the blood and they would find their way to the liver and fix the problem. It’s been done in animals, but not yet in humans.”

The liver is a large organ, and obtaining enough liver cells would be a challenge, but Crouse believes the benefits of avoiding surgical trauma will eventually make cell transplantation therapy successful.

In the same way, cells from other major organs and tissues could be transplanted and allowed to heal the unhealthy part of the body.

One group at UNMC is currently researching the regeneration of retina tissue related to sight damage, and another is studying the possibilities of using cells on Parkinson’s and other neurological diseases.

The U.S. military is now funding RM research, and UNMC is in early stages of getting involved.

“There is horrible damage caused in military actions,” Crouse said. “The military can now get people to survive this damage, but they have missing or nonfunctional limbs or organs. The military is investing money and effort into recruiting scientists who can find solutions to these kinds of problems.”

The hope is that regenerative medicine might be able to help those suffering from crushing or other trauma, including military actions, auto accidents, and sports injuries.

“Wouldn't it be great to treat that? We are just beginning in this area,” Crouse said.

Creighton University
A number of researchers at Creighton University are also studying regenerative medicine, across several departments.

One of these is researchers is David He, a professor of biomedical science, who is studying the possibilities of regenerating hearing.

According to the National Institutes of Health, our ability to hear depends on bundles of hair cells in the inner ear. These hair bundles convert sound vibrations into electrical signals, which travel to the brain by way of the auditory nerve. When hair cells are damaged by disease or injury, people experience hearing loss.

Although fish and birds are able to grow new hair cells, mammals typically cannot.

“Our hair cells are vulnerable to noise. Teenagers use iPods. Military people are exposed to noise. Chemotherapy kills these cells,” He said. “Before this happens, we can prevent the cells from becoming damaged.”

He’s work focuses on regenerating hair cells, helping the body to repair them and possibly restore hearing loss.

While stem cells are instrumental in many types of RM research, He does not believe they are the best choice for the auditory system.

“The inner ear is a unique structure. Stem cells are unable to regenerate themselves. You have to introduce new cells,” He said. “I am focusing on repairing your existing cells through gene therapy.”

Damaged auditory cells will eventually lose their function and die, but it might be possible to spur a regenerative process and reverse the damage. He said that cells need a genetic signal to regenerate themselves, and his goal is to introduce that signal where needed.

“We can put the gene into a virus,” He said. “When the virus is introduced into living tissue, it will integrate its genetic materials with host genetic materials. These code genes will eventually trigger cell repair or stabilize cells when they are injured. You are putting a new gene into tissue, and those new genes help the injured cells.”

One obvious side effect of this method is that it requires the use of a virus. People normally think of a virus in negative terms, because of the direct and indirect effects it introduces into the body.

“A virus is scary,” He said. “We would have to modify the virus to reduce any toxic effect. The major problem is that the virus will continue to reproduce itself, and that would cause damage. If you can prevent that problem, this can work. We still have to modify the virus to make it safe.”

It might eventually be possible to use nanotechnology devices to carry the genetic signal into the damaged cells, without using a virus.

This kind of RM research on auditory cells has been done in animals, but not yet in humans.

When the auditory cells of guinea pigs were damaged, they lost their hearing, according to He. When gene therapy was introduced, partial hearing was regained by most of the guinea pigs within about one month.

“Maybe in five years this can be used in humans,” He said. 

A Hot Topic

David Crouse at UNMC calls regenerative medicine a hot topic in health care. New journals and books are being published regularly, and new research departments are starting up nationwide because of available funding.

“If you do a web search with the words ‘regenerative medicine,’ you will get a lot of hits,” Crouse said.  “People are living longer and therefore having more degenerative issues consistent with older age. People are getting into accidents more than in the past.

“As long as you have young people doing things that hurt them and old people aging, regenerative medicine will be needed.”

Green solutions may lie buried in the sludge of a century-old sewer system

by Brandon Vogel

When it rains in Omaha, it pours raw sewage, industrial waste and toxic chemicals into nearby waterways. The city’s century-old sewer system is designed to either put it there or into your basement. Neither is an inviting option. But that design is changing thanks to a federal mandate from the Environmental Protection Agency. The oldest part of the city — nearly everything east of 72nd St. — currently works on a combined sewer system (CSS) where one pipe handles both storm water and sewage. During dry conditions it works great. Sewage is carried away from homes and businesses to one of two treatment plants where it is treated and then safely released into the Missouri River and Papillion Creek. If it rains heavily enough, however, the storm water rushing down drains in the street mixes with the raw sewage in the same pipe and frequently overwhelms the system in what the EPA calls a Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO)event. The combined runoff – typically 85 percent storm water, 15 percent sewage, according to the city – then flows directly to the Missouri River and its tributaries throughout the area. Omaha isn’t alone. Nearly 800 other communities are undergoing similarly massive sewer separation projects as part of the EPA's CSO Control Policy. Since 2002, Omaha has averaged 86 overflows a year, pumping 3.5 billion gallons of sewage and storm water annually into receiving streams. The goal is to reduce that number to about four a year by 2024. No matter where you look, it’s a big and expensive project. Atlanta is spending $3 billion to control its CSOs. Cleveland is protecting the Cuyahoga River with a $1.6 billion project. Omaha officials estimate the city will spend nearly $1.7 billion over the next 15 years to address 51 square miles of aging sewer lines in East Omaha. The Sewer Maintenance Division of the Public Works Department, with a staff of 64 employees and a $2.9 million budget in 2011, is in charge of making the change happen. “I believe it’s probably the biggest public works project we’ve ever undertaken,” says Marty Grate, the city’s environmental services manager. “This is like building the West Dodge Expressway, a $100 million project, every year for 15 years.” Just like that expressway, the sewer project will disrupt daily life. Streets will be torn up. Traffic will be diverted. But Grate says the project will ultimately improve more than just the city’s water quality. Omaha’s CSO Control Project is an opportunity for the city to get a little bit greener as well. Old Omaha There was a time in Omaha's history when raw sewage flowed through the streets — not by accident, but by design. Or, rather, lack thereof. For the first few decades of the city’s existence, Omahans simply emptied their outhouses and privies through trenches that poured directly into the street. Human waste pooled in wagon ruts during rainy weather and baked in alleyway cesspools during the hot summer months. Faced with a calamity of unsanitary conditions and citizen complaints, the City Council proposed Omaha’s first sewer system in 1878, according to city records. The city tried to do it right. The original plan called for separate sewer systems for storm water and sewage at a cost of nearly $1 million dollars, a $20 million project today. But with Omaha’s explosive growth in the early 20th Century, the plan was abandoned in favor of a much quicker and more common solution – the combined sewer system. Until the mid-1960s, all of Omaha’s wastewater emptied directly into the Missouri River without treatment. The city began to build separate sewer systems in developing West Omaha and constructed two treatment plants that sterilized all of the city’s wastewater prior to release into the waterways to service East Omaha under normal conditions. Combined sewers were the exception, and the City of Omaha, along with the other cities, operated under special permits from the EPA and state regulators due to the limitations of their antiquated system. But as concrete replaces grass and cities continue to grow, so does the amount of storm water runoff. By 1994, the EPA had developed its first control plan to address the growing dangers of combined-sewer overflow and had set a series of minimum controls for cities to meet by 1997. Omaha met that deadline, but a new one emerged in 2005. Because of increased federal requirements in the Clean Water Act, the EPA gave Omaha two years to have a draft of its longterm plan to address overflow issues in place. In 2009, the city submitted its completed plan to the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality, the state organization charged with monitoring the project. The Health Factor Pat Nelson doesn’t look at a rainstorm the way most people do. She’s been working with storm water for more than 20 years, and as the compliance team lead with Clean Solutions Omaha, it’s her job to ensure the city meets all of its state and federal water-quality requirements. “The perfect place for storm water to go is into the surrounding natural bodies of water,” she says. “That’s just part of the natural hydrological cycle.” But when storm water and sewage mix you introduce a potentially potent cocktail of pollutants into the water system. Rain water can pick up pollutants from a variety of sources as it washes over yards and streets, gathering industrial waste particles from the air, car fluids, fertilizers, pesticides, and pet and animal waste. Raw sewage is a breeding ground for the E. coli virus, the most common pollutant found in overflow material. Combined is a filthy mix of heavy metals, chemicals and bacteria in our lakes and rivers. The National Resources Defense Council reports that combined-sewer overflows contain more than 100 times the concentration of fecal coliform colonies than treated waste water. At its worst, high fecal coliform concentrations can lead to a variety of human health risks from ear infections to food poisoning, and can endanger fish and other aquatic life. The Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality maintains a biennial list of impaired waterways that do not meet state water quality standards when tested for pollutants. In 2006 and 2008, Omaha’s segment of the Missouri River and Papillion Creek — the two major waterways receiving CSO runoff — were listed as Category 5 waterways, the EPA’s most severe pollution ranking, due to elevated levels of E. Coli. In 2010, both waterways were upgraded to Category 4 for E. Coli levels, but remained on the Impaired Waterways list because they contained other chemical pollutants. Based on those risks, the backbone of Omaha’s CSO control plan is to keep storm water and sewage separate through a variety of control mechanisms. In addition to sewer separation — approximately $700 million of the total $1.7 billion cost according to Grate — the city will also install a 5-mile long underground concrete tunnel along the Missouri River to accept CSO runoff. That’s the gray part of the equation, but Nelson says a large part of cleaning up Omaha’s waterways happens before storm water even reaches the sewer system. And that’s where Omaha becomes more environmentally sustainable. More Grass, More Green A number of institutional and individual solutions can help reduce a city’s storm water runoff, but they all primarily focus on soaking up as much water as possible before it reaches the storm drains. Few things do this better than vegetation. But that presents a challenge for city engineers facing firm regulatory requirements and deadlines. Everyone wants green solutions where possible, Grates says, but those efforts must be supported by structural controls that can deliver precise results. Like most cities, Grate says Omaha is working to the balance the gray solutions already in place with constantly evolving, and perhaps cost-cutting green solutions. Emily Holtzclaw is one of the engineers making that happen. As a water resources engineer and project manager with environmental engineering firm CH2M HILL, Holtzclaw does everything from work with computer models of the Omaha sewer system to conduct field visits as workers are lowered 50-feet underground to check the condition of century-old pipes. The solutions she comes up with might be multi-million-dollar projects or they may be as simple as making sure the city doesn’t have any manhole covers with holes in them. But the connecting thread, she says, is a devotion to become more environmentally sustainable. “We’re working to find other ways to deal with storm water. And one of our first tasks is always to identify and, if possible, use the green solution,” Holtzclaw says. “We’re always looking to save space and save cost and do something that’s more environmentally supportive.” In the first phase of the longterm control plan, the city is undertaking three major projects based on environmental sustainability. Last summer, Omaha received a $200,000 grant from the Nebraska Environmental Trust to restore ponds that were drained in 1931 at Spring Lake Park in South Omaha and to add a planned wetlands area to the site. Native plants with deep root systems are better equipped to soak up water, and Grate says the plan “lets nature reduce the runoff we have to deal with.” The city estimates the four-year, $1.5 million project could eventually save $2 million in overall CSO project costs. Nature is doing part of the work in sewer separations near Aksarben Village and Saddle Creek Road, as well. Rather than build an entirely new, separate sewer system, engineers are using the natural landscape to direct storm water to the waterways. Three dry detention areas in Elmwood Park will collect storm water, reducing peak-time runoff and safely depositing solids in the water before it reaches the Elmwood Park Creek. The city estimates the project will save $1 million. An above-ground, open channel will work similarly west of Saddle Creek Road, allowing soil and vegetation to clean the storm water naturally prior to its entry into Little Papillion Creek. The Saddle Creek extension is estimated to save $2 million in infrastructure costs. But the bill for Omaha’s CSO project is still potentially enormous and how the city will pay for it is debatable. The federal mandate to fix the system was unfunded, leaving the city and its citizens to pick up all of the cost. For now, the plan is to gradually increase the city’s sewage fees for residents. The average residential rate in Omaha in 2010 was approximately $15 per month. By 2017, the city estimates sewer fees could reach $50 per month — more than a 200 percent increase over the next seven years. Some local politicians are fighting to reduce that cost. In late March, Mayor Jim Suttle traveled to Washington D.C. to lobby for federal funding for the project. On March 22, the City Council approved a resolution asking Nebraska’s Congressional delegation to lobby for a 50-50 federal cost share for the project. Omaha State Sen. Heath Mello has a proposal before the Nebraska Legislature that would return state sales taxes associated with the increase — a windfall of about $48 million over the next 15 years — to the city of Omaha to help defray costs. But for now, the only certain cost-cutting measure is to go green whenever and wherever the city can. The key to cleaner, safer, more modern Omaha may lie in the mud and sludge of a century-old sewer system. “We’re not putting in green solutions because they’re cool but because they improve the project, they benefit the city and they’re cost effective,” Nelson says. “We’re going to see more and more of these solutions as time goes on.”

Episode 101-Salty Galactus

by Ryan Syrek

On Your Radar: The Congress

Netflix Roulette: Unicorn City

Please sign up for our RSS feed HERE, download our podcasts and rave about us in the comments section of iTunes HERE, follow us on Twitter HERE, and become a fan of us on Facebook HERE! You can also listen to our bit we do for KVNO radio HERE. And as always, email any comments and concerns to movieha@gmail.com.

by Ryan Syrek

• Even the movie news this time of year is all block-blustery: Avengers 2 in peril? With reports of Robert Downey Jr. making a play for more pay (not just for him, but for his co-stars too), people are freaking out! They are failing to realize that, come hell or high water, a film that makes $1.5 billion gets a sequel. No matter what, it looks like Jeremy Renner is out as Hawkeye, as he’s been badmouthing his role, which is a Marvel Comics no-no. Finally, South Africa is going to be a shooting location, which has sparked rumors of the Black Panther showing up; meanwhile, the Pink Panther stares at a phone that never rings.
• Not content with basically turning Batman into James Bond, director Christopher Nolan has entered into informal negotiations to direct the next 007 outing. This news is good, but it makes me wonder what “informal negotiations” take place around a Bond film. I’m going to assume the involvement of martinis and a production assistant named “Hope Youmakethefilm.”
• After many, many years, we’re finally getting Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon II: The Green Destiny. The original choreographer Yuen Wo Ping is directing, and Michelle Yeoh is returning. It’s based on the fifth book in the series “Iron Knight, Silver Vase,” which makes sense since the original film was based on the fourth book. Personally, I would have called the sequel Tiger with Back Pain Finally Finds Dragon.
• For a movie I have no desire to see, Into the Woods is putting together a hell of a cast. This week, Jake Gyllenhaal and Chris Pine joined Meryl Streep and Johnny Depp aboard the musical directed by Rob Marshall. Why am I not excited? Well, in addition to my problem with Broadway adaptations, Marshall’s last film was the most recent Pirates of the Caribbean movie. So…   

Cutting Room provides breaking local and national movie news … complete with added sarcasm. Send any relevant information to film@thereader.com. Check out Ryan on Movieha!, a weekly half-hour movie podcast (movieha.libsyn.com/rss), catch him on the radio on CD 105.9 (cd1059.com) on Fridays at around 7:30 a.m. and on KVNO 90.7 (KVNO.org) at 8:30 a.m. on Fridays and follow him on Twitter (twitter.com/thereaderfilm).

Star Trek Into Darkness turns a blind eye to continuity

by Ryan Syrek

If modern nerd culture has a “patient zero,” it was Mr. Trekkie (or Miss Trekker, if you’re nasty). Their legendary attention to detail is exceeded only by their willingness to speak Klingon in the most intimate of settings. And they’re really, really going to hate Star Trek Into Darkness.

Director JJ Abram’s 2009 reboot got a surprising free pass from the community despite a twisted-pretzel-logic attempt to simultaneously keep Billy Shatner’s Captain Kirk “in continuity” and completely start over. But the latest installment blatantly turns a blind eye to huge moments in the “Trekkie canon,” which is likely to get the filmmakers loaded into a Trekkie’s cannon. To the loyalists, the fact that the blockbuster is remarkably entertaining, exceedingly well-produced and magnificently cast is but a band aid on a photon torpedo wound.  

Abrams is addicted to secrecy; he gets high on the frustrated whines of geeks who “wanna know right now!” At least officially, he managed to keep the villain’s name out of the trailers, so it’s off-limits here. Just know that Benedict Cumberbatch plays a bad dude intent on blowin’ up Starfleet officials, specifically Admiral Marcus (Peter Weller). Having been separated for “violating the prime directive” (which sounds like a sex thing but isn’t), Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto) reunite to take down their super-strong, super-smart, super-British foe.

If Star Trek Into Darkness makes a mistake beyond urinating on their small-but-devoted fan base, it’s not allowing enough time for the delightful ensemble players to interact. Scotty (Simon Pegg), Bones (Karl Urban), Sulu (John Cho), Checkov (Anton Yelchin) and Uhura (Zoe Saldana) are barely ever even in the same place, let alone the same plotline. And while they’re fun individually, they are far more pleasing in bunches. Actually, fun is pretty hard to come by in this installment, but putting “into darkness” in the title should have been a head’s up.

The Internet and critics have thrown ample shade upon Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof for their script for mostly no good reason. No rational human can argue that what happens at the end of this film is any less kooky or “magic” than Spock’s rebirth in Star Trek III or the globe-saving, time-traveling whale retrieval in Star Trek IV.

Would it have been nice to see Cumberbatch’s character developed better? Yep. Just like it would have been nice for us to see a myriad of tinier adventures to ground the Spock/Kirk relationship, which only works in this film because of our collective memory of their relationship elsewhere. But it looks good, with Abrams making a foot-chase seem as intense as a spaceship-to-spaceship battle. And it sets the stage for at least one more go with this cast; Abrams, on the other hand, is journeying to a place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

From the original series through modern incarnations, Star Trek has always been smart. But that intelligence has, in some cases, bred nerd hubris among some Trekkies. Star Trek Into Darkness is blockbuster-y goodness sure to be derided by purists but beloved by the masses.

Grade = B

by Eric Stoakes

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by Eric Stoakes

Blancanieves is a silent, bullfighting gem

by Ryan Syrek

A silent film reimagining Snow White shot in black and white and set in Spain, in which the heroine is a bullfighter, is not an easy sell. Who knows what lengths writer/director Pablo Berger had to go through to secure financing for this gothic reworking of a famous fairy tale, set in 1920s Seville. But whatever he did was worth it. Blancanieves is what The Artist wants to be when The Artist grows up. It’s proof that a powerful score, expressive physical acting and imaginative directing can still deliver a silent film as resonant today as it would have been all those decades ago.

Renowned matador, Antonio Villalta (Daniel Giménez Cacho) is gored thanks to an ill-timed camera flash just as his wife dies in childbirth. The evil Encarna (Maribel Verdú) hatches a plan; she makes the now crippled Antonio dependent upon her and, once married, treats his daughter as a slave. Unbeknownst to Encarna, Antonio teaches his daughter to bullfight. And by the time Carmen (Macarena García) is full-grown, she is quite skilled.

Of course she gets run off and winds up with amnesia in the care of a troupe of traveling, bullfighting dwarves. And one day, as luck would have it, she is forced to jump in the ring, where her dazzling display of beauty and grace combines with her deceased mother’s dancing and her father’s matador skill. She becomes a phenomenon known as Blancanieves and, thus, a threat to Encarna’s self-aggrandizing attempts at dominating the public view. Enter poisoned fruit and kissing.

To take nothing away from Berger’s script or direction, there is no more important component in a silent film than the score. Alfonso de Vilallonga’s work here is absolutely transcendent; it is a lethal combination of flamenco, dark fantasy and passionate rhythm. What need is there for dialogue when music like this can express the emotion so delicately? Add to this the exceptional work of Verdú, whose villainous performance is better than Jean Dujardin’s as a tragic hero in The Artist. She even gets a chance to engage in some decidedly non-period-appropriate S&M behavior, which simultaneously frightens and lightens the mood.

If there’s a flaw here, it is in the pacing. Berger frontloads too much time with Antonio. As a rule, more time spent with matador dwarves (matadwarves?) and less time spent with wheelchair-bound papas is always best. Still, the film manages to take a particularly dark but insightful turn in the final act. It calls into question the complacency with which modern audiences accept Snow White’s rebirth as a byproduct of male physical affection. Basically, it makes kissing a corpse as necrophilia-creepy as it should be. So prepare to leave unsettled.

But you’ll also leave quite pleased. The Artist was overpraised because it used its silent approach as a sellable gimmick. Blancanieves is like the anti-Artist, concerned less about making a point about form and more about using form to make a point. 

Upstream Color stuns

by Ryan Syrek

Writer/director Shane Carruth’s 2004 film, Primer, isn’t just a great time-travel movie; it’s one of the best science fiction films in the history of ever. But, hey, no pressure on the follow-up or anything, Shane. For nearly a decade, cinemaphiles waited for omni-hyphenated actor-editor-musician-producer to create something else, anything else. And just when all hope seemed lost, here comes Upstream Color to act as movie messiah, delivering salvation unto the theater-going masses.

Dense without pretense, abstract but understandable, Upstream Color is a lethal combination of genre ingredients, mixing thriller with arthouse, romance and science fiction. The simple narrative follows Kris (Amy Seimetz), a woman randomly abducted by a man (Thiago Martins) using a mind-controlling drug. He destroys her life in a span of a few days, mushing her psyche into a fine paste. Years later, Kris meets Jeff (Carruth), who seems to be the only man willing to cope with her vast slate of inexplicable symptoms. On their first date, she pulls two huge pill bottles from her purse, sets them on the table and proclaims that she “saved them both some time.”

Jeff doesn’t budge. Why? There’s a connection between them that is bigger than either can understand. It involves a sinister figure known only in the credits as “The Sampler” (Andrew Sensenig). Also, it involves pigs and piglets. Out of context, this all sounds quite silly; but in practice, the fable that Carruth weaves allows for philosophical and emotional questions big and small. In grand ways, this is about the nature of love, the role of fate and manipulation by omniscient forces and the struggle to overcome imposed identity, all held together by a gleefully strange narrative thread.

Oh, and it’s beautiful. Carruth’s eye as a cinematographer (yes, he did that too) is just impossibly good. From the way ice spins slowly inside a pitcher of water to close-ups of actors that actually help to further the plot of the film, his camerawork is mesmerizing. So too is Seimetz, whose open-sore-of-a-woman is demonstrably powerful. Although sexual assault never comes into play, the attack on her that starts the film is one of the strongest demonstrations of the true nature of rape ever filmed, and it is harrowing. Thus, her reactions after that inciting incident speak to the recovery of a rape victim, brilliantly forgoing the simplistic revenge fantasy films often dip into for a more genuine and holistic change in personal identity.

Upstream Color has so many brilliant moments they can’t all be catalogued on one viewing. What can be concluded is that Carruth’s sophomore effort reiterates not only his vast array of gifts but his underlying philosophy: you can entertain while challenging, you can produce art that is abstract but not unapproachable, you can infuse big, heady thoughts into emotionally centered content and you can do it all for next to nothing financially. Nobody hopes another 9 years pass before Carruth produces again; but if they do, it will be worth the wait.

Grade = A+

by B.J. Huchtemann

The national Blues Music Awards were announced Thursday, May 9, in Memphis, Tenn. Awarded annually based on votes by Blues Foundation members, the event honors excellence in blues music. Oregon’s Curtis Salgado, a local favorite with many ties to Omaha, took home the prestigious B.B. King Entertainer of the Year Award. Salgado also received the Soul Blues Male Artist of the Year award and the Soul Blues Album of the Year for Soul Shot (Alligator).
Other notable honors included the late Magic Slim’s recognition with the Traditional Blues Male Artist award. Tedeschi Trucks Band was honored with the Rock Blues Album of the Year, Band of the Year and Gibson Guitar Award to Derek Trucks.
Janiva Magness was named Contemporary Blues Female Artist and took the Song of the Year award for “I Won’t Cry,” co-written with Dave Darling. Ruthie Foster, who will appear at the Zoo Bar’s 40th Anniversary launch Monday, July 1, was given the Koko Taylor Award (Traditional Blues Female). Tab Benoit was awarded Contemporary Blues Male Artist honors and the late Michael Burks was recognized for Album of the Year for Show of Strength (Alligator). See blues.org for a full listing of the 34th Annual Blues Music Award Winners.

Nebraska Blues Challenge Finals
The Blues Society of Omaha’s Nebraska Blues Challenge Finals are this Sunday, May 19, at The 21st Saloon, 5 p.m. The three bands receiving the most votes from judges in the three preliminary rounds play for the opportunity to represent the Blues Society of Omaha in Memphis for the Blues Foundation’s 2014 International Blues Challenge. The finalists performing at The 21st Saloon are Hector Anchondo Band (5 p.m.), Josh Hoyer & The Shadowboxers (6:10 p.m.) and Back Alley Blues Band (7:20 p.m.). (Full disclosure: I am an advisor to the BSO board and the event.)

Hot Notes
The Waiting Room hosts a benefit for the survivors of the West, Texas, plant explosions Thursday, May 16, 8 p.m. See waitingroomlounge.com.
The city of Omaha kicks off a seven-week Friday night concert series at the Omaha base of the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge. Sioux City’s Mike Langley performs Friday, May 17, 7 p.m. See bridgebeats.com.
Josh Hoyer & the Shadowboxers and The 9’s play Lincoln’s Zoo Bar Friday, May 17, 9 p.m.
Cassie Taylor returns to The 21st Saloon Thursday, May 16, 5:30-8:30 p.m. Coco Montoya plays The 21st Saloon Tuesday, May 21, 6 p.m. and Lincoln’s Zoo Bar Wednesday, May 22, 6-9 p.m.

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Clothes make the person In Vogel’s new exhibit at Fred Simon Gallery

by Laura Vranes

It may be a surrogate for the absent human figure, but clothing is something that Christina Renfer Vogel has been mastering for years. Yet never better than in her current exhibit at Fred Simon Gallery, Family Portraits, which continues until June 7.  This show seems personal where not only her skills with painting textiles are highlighted, but also we are able to get a glimpse into her mind and thoughts of the way she views everyday objects and memories.

“The figure has been a major part of my work but I’ve been playing with removing the figure from the paintings,” Vogel said.

Most of the works are simple and symmetrical.  The images are highly generalized of a western shirt or a textured bag.  The colors the artist uses can be muted and take on a quiet and restrained feel, but there always seems to be gentleness to her painting.  They seem lonely almost wanting more. 

“Jacket” is a non-descript garment that looks as if it was thrown on a peg.  Its interwoven color blocks of fabric are crumpled and worn.  The dejected object looks distressed, but the brilliant bits of texture pop off the canvas with its own intense sensation.

“This work is based on objects of personal significance collected from my home,” Vogel said.  “Functioning as a kind of familial iconography, these isolated objects and still lifes simultaneously represent childhood nostalgia, significant recent memories and existing family roles. I think of the paintings as portraits that examine domesticity and gender, while suggesting archetypes that I've observed within my family.”

“Handbag” is another piece that is visually striking.  Just her purse is featured in this painting with such rich details of bright colored flowers and a patent leather strap, and the gold hardware worn with age.  There are other personal objects in this show of houseplants, a Christmas cactus, toys and antlers, but always with a sense of seclusion and solitude. 

“October 18, 2008” is a personal piece of Polaroid photos deftly painted on a canvas.  One of the smallest pieces in her show it is also the most detailed.  The viewer can make out the joyous scene, but cannot really understand what it is.  However, with Vogel’s description the viewer finds out they are photographs from her wedding documenting her guests.

Vogel focus on form that helps define the austere contemplativeness of her work.  Her paintings admit a greater compositional complexity with highlighting and use of shadows.  The relationship between the paintings in the first room shifts visually between a mellow balance of single painted objects to a more discordant struggle with composition and color.  With her Still Life paintings located in the second room the viewer can see conflict between chaos and order. There is a tension within each of those pieces. 

“I try to stay highly engaged with art-making,” she added. “Working at the Bemis Center and getting to know the work of our artists-in-residence has been so valuable and has kept me motivated. I read a lot, look at work in person in our community and online, and try to travel as much as I can to see what’s going on outside of Omaha. Working is the best way for me to get ideas. A group of paintings may lead to a new direction as I work through thoughts in the studio.”

Vogel’s style and composition make the show cohesive where some of the objects represented seem unrelated and contradictory.  While her work shares certain attributes with Abstract Expressionism, it is always bold and through her process, it can tell a story.  It is so personal to both her and the viewer. Addressing issues of abstract painting and dealing with this idea of how clothing and various objects make us who we are. 

“My work is coming from a place of personal narrative but I hope to communicate, through color or mark-making or the placement of the subject, universal feelings such as longing, tension or comfort.”

Vogel is speaking directly to her viewers. In doing so, she established an intimate relationship between her art and its audience.  Her personal narrative resonates with those viewing her work.  Vogel is engaging the audience with an autobiographical recollection that opens her up to allow us to experience the human part of inanimate objects.

Family Portraits continues through June 7^th, 2013 at Fred Simon Gallery located in the Nebraska Arts Council at 1004 Farnam Street, Plaza Level, Omaha, NE  68102.  For more information call (402) 595-2122.

by Paul Clark

by Paul Clark

by Paul Clark

by Paul Clark

by Paul Clark

by Paul Clark

by Paul Clark

by Paul Clark

by Paul Clark

by Paul Clark

by Paul Clark

by Paul Clark

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