The Reality of Living the Dream
Before you turn the last page on this month's topic — Work — let me tell you the story of Dereck Higgins, one of the area's most celebrated and talented musicians and how Higgins' work shifted from...
View ArticleCan't Stop the Music
As you read this, I will have crossed the line to the age of 50. And despite what I'd been told all my life, despite what I've seen in the lives of others who grew up around me, things haven't slowed...
View ArticleWho’s teaching your classes?
With her unruly dark hair and her usual uniform of a sweater and jeans or a mid-length skirt paired with her gray Chuck Taylors, Sam Chesters could easily pass for an undergrad. An animated and...
View ArticleThe Champ Goes to Africa
EDITOR'S NOTE: Senior contributing writer Leo Adam Biga, winner of the 2015 Andy Award for international journalism from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, chronicles recent travels he made in...
View ArticleDouglas County Historical Society's new lecture
As a part of their Second Sunday Lecture Series, the Douglas County Historical Society will be hosting a lecture on Omaha's immigration history July 12. The discussion will be led by retired Creighton...
View ArticleSummerBest: The Mid-Year Indie Rock Report
I used to write these CD review wrap-ups on a quarterly basis, but now that The Reader has gone monthly I've pulled back to doing them just twice a year. As a result, there's a ton more recordings to...
View ArticleChange, it's been a long time coming for northeast Omaha
Quality-of-life metrics assessing the state of African-American northeast Omaha paint a stark picture. Pockets experience some of America's worst poverty and gun violence. Disparities contradict...
View ArticleWhere Does Maha Go from Here?
Oh my, how far the Maha Music Festival has come. Few remember its inauspicious beginnings in 2009 at Lewis & Clark Landing, because few were there. The day featured has-been emo act Dashboard...
View ArticleWhat Lovers Know (and what they don't)
There's an inside story to The Mynabirds' poignant new album Lovers Know, a story that begins way back in 2010 when the band's frontwoman, Laura Burhenn, still lived in Omaha. She arrived from...
View ArticleSam Meisels leads early childhood mission through Buffett Institute
Since Sam Meisels arrived in 2013 to head the Buffett Early Childhood Institute, he's become the academic-based advocate ally to the socially conscious philanthropist who hired him, Susan A. Buffett....
View ArticleWe'll Miss Trump When He's Gone
I tried to a avoid writing about Trump and adding to the cacophony surrounding his presidential campaign, but I couldn't help myself. There is no topic more alluring or gruesome than Trump, at least to...
View ArticleDown and out but not done in Omaha
Muddying Omaha's high quality of life rankings are pockets of chronic poverty and growing new poor populations. Identifiable impoverished sections, homeless communities and shelters exist, but most...
View ArticleA WASP's racial tightrope resulted in enduring book
You've got to be taught to be afraid Of people...
View ArticleStalvey's personal chronicle of social awareness a primer for racial studies
With America in the throes of the 1960s civil rights movement, few whites publicly conceded their own prejudice, much less tried seeing things from a black point of view. Lois Mark Stalvey was that...
View ArticleThe Specht Building: History Vs. Development
The TV news reports varied on how many were actually there. One station said 300; another quoted someone saying more than 500. From my perch across the street from the Specht Building, leaning over the...
View ArticleSwimming Upstream
“Conscience laundering.” That’s how Peter Buffett, Warren Buffett’s son, described the “sprinkling” of charitable contributions by the wealthy. “As more lives and communities are destroyed by the...
View ArticleOPPD’s rate restructuring plan
Last month, the OPPD Board of Directors approved a four percent general rate increase for 2016 and the implementation of a fixed service charge that will increase over the course of four years. The...
View ArticleLooking back, looking forward…
When you think back on 2015, what are the first things that pop into your head? Quick like a bunny. What are your most important memories of the past year? The first things that pop into my head: — The...
View ArticleFire Destroys M's Pub
Firefighters have worked in shifts throughout Saturday, battling not only the 3 alarm fire that engulfed M's Pub, but also the single degree temperatures that have made working outside unsafe. It...
View ArticleM's Fire *Update*
Ice scabs over the charred remains of M's Pub Sunday morning, serving as a beautiful and terrifying tribute to the decades of tradition The Old Market lost in Saturday's fire. With the blaze finally...
View Article
More Pages to Explore .....