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Omaha's Vinton Street Creativity Festival Celebrates a Diagonal Cultural Scene
Street festivals are as emblematic of America as anything and my hometown of Omaha has it's share of them. A newer one, the Vinton Street Creativity Festival, is an urban pastiche that's part carnival, part fair, part block party that takes its name and cue from the funky diagonal street where an eclectic assemblage of venues comprise Vinton's historical business district. This story appeared in advance of the recently held 2013 fest.
Omaha's Vinton Street Creativity Festival Celebrates a Diagonal Cultural Scene
©by Leo Adam Biga
Originally appeared in El Perico
The resurgence of both the Vinton Street Commercial Historical District and the greater Deer Park Neighborhood it resides in is impetus for the second annual Vinton Street Creativity Festival.
The 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. May 18 event is a free celebration of youth and community organized by the Deer Park Neighborhood Association, Habitat for Humanity and the City of Omaha. Vinton Street merchants are helping sponsor it.
The festival, whose hub is 18th and Vinton, will include live music, a street art throwdown, extreme skateboarding, breakdance performances, children's activities, arts and crafts displays, walking tours and a Victory Boxing Club demonstration. Food can be purchased from the district's many eateries.
The Hector Anchondo Blues Band will headline the on-stage band lineup, which also includes Pancho & the Contraband and Midwest Dilemma. Mariachi Zapata and Ballet Folklorico Xiotal will perform traditional music and dance, respectively.
The Omaha Creative Institute will present Elmo Diaz in a blacksmithing demo, Tom Kerr drawing caricatures and a watercolor station for kids to paint.
Linda Garcia will teach the Mexican paper cutting craft, appeal picado banderas, in creating miniature decorative flags.
Among a few dozen commercial historical districts in the nation, the Vinton strip is singular for its diagonal layout. The narrow, meandering road, with low-slung, century-old buildings set close to the street, follows a ridge line that may have been a trail or country road before the area's late 19th century development.
Noted photographer Larry Ferguson, who's long maintained a studio and living space in the Daniel J. Jourdan Building at 1701 Vinton, says as a result of the street's serpentine shape "you have a lot of different vistas as you move along and through those curves – it's like a piece of sculpture that way."
Festivalgoers will come upon a commercially thriving district whose 14 historically significant buildings have been largely untampered with and house a diverse mix of service-based businesses. Many small business owners there are Hispanic. Their enterprises include bakeries, restaurants, a meat market and clothing stores.
The area is far livelier then when Ferguson moved there in 1987. "It was a derelict part of town. It was really bad," he recalls. "Nothing but vacant storefronts and six bars. Very little street and pedestrian traffic." He says as the South 24th business district filled "it was a natural progression for the Latino community to move up into this area to rebuild. That led to a big influx of property changes and people changes. To the point now we have constant traffic on the street during the day. A lot of new businesses have come on board that are making Vinton happen. The new businesses are just hopping."
One of the biggest changes is the influx of families with young children. Deer Park Neighborhood Association president Oscar Duran says, "There are hundreds of young kids in our neighborhood." In his work as a Neighborhood Revitalization Specialist with Habitat for Humanity Duran's enlisted youth as volunteers and as participants in urban art competitions and mural projects.
"I saw we had a local asset of urban artists within the neighborhood, That started us asking ourselves what other ways could we outreach to our youth in the South Omaha area. How can we bring together a mash of different counter cultures and communities that celebrate youth being active, involved and a part of something?
"So we invited some of the urban artists and break-dancers we're familiar with as well as the nonprofits that do outreach-mentorship to cross pollinate with each other and celebrate what each of them is good at."
Duran says the resulting youth and community-centered event is an attempt "to separate us from other neighborhood festivals because Deer Park itself is a very unique neighborhood. It's a collection of smaller neighborhoods. It's a melting pot. You go down Vinton Street and you have an internationally known photographer (Ferguson) who's been there since the '80s right next to a carniceria (meat market) who's been there for ten and right across the street you have a pasterleria (bakery). Then there's all the restaurants, the boutiques, the Capitol Bindery, Gallery 72.
"I think it's really cool. It's something that's very organic to our area."
New additions to the melting pot are The Apollon, a multi-genre arts event-dining space having its grand opening during the fest, and The Pearly Owl curio shop.
Apollon co-founder Ryan Tewell says the district is becoming known as a "friendly up-and-coming arts and dining destination without all the traffic and congestion and higher prices that come with it."
Grants are assisting some owners with sprucing up the facades of their buildings. Duran says improvements to the surrounding area include the recent razing of condemned homes, the rehab of others and the construction of new residences.
"That revitalization brings new people, higher property values," Ferguson says. "I've got 26 years here of watching this neighborhood transform, which has always been my dream. I've been trying to champion this street for a long time. It's very exciting to see it happen."
Ferguson and Duran view the festival as a showcase for what the area offers.
"There's a really good core of people here," Duran says. "A very strong sense of work ethic and community was already here and it's not going to go away. There's really an environment fostered here that people want to help each other."
"Vinton's becoming more unified," says Ferguson. "It's a real celebration of it. We're totally jazzed and excited."
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Tapestries to celebrate Omaha neighborhoods; Theater by any other name
The Great Plains Theatre Conference in Omaha is always looking for new ways to connect with audiences and in the following story for The Reader (www.thereader.com) I share the latest attempt to bring theater to where people live. The conference's PlayFest is presenting Neighborhood Tapestries in two well-defined inner city communities that don't always have the kind of access to theater that other communities do. The idea of these tapestries is for people of these communities to share various aspects of their neighborhood's art, music, culture, and history.
Tapestries to celebrate Omaha neighborhoods; Theater by any other name
©by Leo Adam Biga
Soon to appear in The Reader (www.thereader.com)
The play's still the thing with the Great Plains Theatre Conference but organizers are making a concerted effort to expand theater's definition in order to connect more people to it.
The May 26-29 PlayFest is the Metropolitan Community College conference's answer to making theater more accessible. That means staging works at nontraditional sites, including one along the riverfront, and, new this year, holding Neighborhood Tapestries in the inner city.
The inaugural tapestries, a cross-between a chautauqua, a street arts event, a storytelling festival, a salon and a variety show, will happen outdoor on separate dates in North and South Omaha. Each neighborhood's art, culture and history will be celebrated through a loose program of music, poetry, stories, dance and other creative expressions. The performers will include professionals and amateurs.
On May 27 the North Omaha tapestry, directed by Denise Chapman, will interpret the area's African American experience at the Union for Contemporary Art at 2417 Burdette Street.
Union for Contemporary Art
Chapman, an actress and stage director, is the Omaha Community Playhouse education director and a Metropolitan Community College theater instructor. She's worked with a team to produce the event.
"We're creating a thread," she says. "We are thinking of our show as a block. So who are these people on the block? Borrowing from Sesame Street. who are the people in your neighborhood? We want to have this musical and movement throughline with these transitional words and the sharing of these stories as people get up and talk about community and food, growing up on the North Side, memories of their mothers and just all these different people you might encounter on a street in North Omaha.
"That thread allows us to plug in people as we get them, as they see fit. Who knows what could happen with the evening. We've got that flexibility. It's not a rigid the-curtain-opens and this-series-of-events needs to happen for the show to make sense and come to some conclusion. Instead it's this nice woven piece that says here are some things that happened, here are some reflections, here is some music , here's a body in space moving. Hopefully at the end you're like, Oh, let's get around this circle and have a conversation."
Denise Chapman
She says GPTC producing artistic director Kevin Lawler gave her a "very open" script to take the event wherever she wanted.
"I'm excited about this project because it allows us to explore the concept that we're all performers with this urge to tell a story or to share this happening or to recount this thing that happened to us. But where's the platform for that? When do we get together and do it? What we're doing is throwing some artists and musicians and actors in the mix. It's engaging us as theater practitioners to not be so static in our art form and it engages the community to understand that theater isn't this other thing that happens on the other side of the city."
Featured storytellers include Nancy Williams, Felicia Webster, Peggy Jones and Dominque Morgan, all of whom will riff and reflect on indelible characters and places from North O's past and present.
Jazz-blues guitarist George Walker will lay down some smooth licks.
Member youth from the North Omaha Boys and Girls Club will present an art project they created. Works by Union for Contemporary Art fellows will be displayed.
Chapman sees possibilities for future North O programs like Tapestries that celebrate its essence. She says such programs are invitations for the public to experience art and own it through their own stories.
"Then you start having those conversations and then you realize the world is a lot smaller than you think it is," she says. "It just starts to close the gap. So yeah I think there's a real possibility for it to grow and create these little pockets of reminders that we're all performers and we all need our platforms for creation."
Collin Field
The May 29 South Omaha tapestry will take a similar approach in fleshing out the character and personalities of that part of town. The site is Omaha South High's Collins Stadium, 22nd Ave. and M Street. Director Scott Working, the theater program coordinator at MCC, says he's put together an event with "a little music, a little storytelling, a little poetry to let people know some of the stories and some of the history of the neighborhood."
He says he got a big assist from Marina Rosado in finding Latino participants. Rosado, a graphic designer, community television host and leader of her own theater troupe, La Puerta, will also emcee the program. She led Working to retired corporate executive David Catalan, now a published poet. Catalan's slated to read from three poems written as a homage to his parents.
Rosado also referred Working to artist and storyteller Linda Garcia.
"I will be doing a storytelling segment based on my Abuelita (Grandmother) Stories," says Garcia. "The story I am telling is an actual story of my abuelita, Refugio 'Cuca' Hembertt, and my exposure to her insatiable reading habits. That led to my discovery and connection with languages and the power of words.*
Even Louie M's Burger Lust owner Louie Marcuzzo has been marshaled to tell South O tales.
Also on tap are performances by the South High School Louder Than a Bomb slam poetry team, Ballet Folklorico Xitol, the Dave Salmons polka duo and a youth mariachi band. Working also plans to bring alive an El Museo Latino exhibit of Latinos in Omaha. Individuals will read aloud in English the subects' bios as a video of the subjects reading their own stories in Spanish plays. He says his inspiration for the evening's revolving format is the Encyclopedia Shows that local artists and poets put on.
Scott Working
"It's a combination of like standup and poetry and music and theater," Working says. "It's relaxed, it's fun. Plus, I don't think I could get David Catalan and Louie Marcuzzo to come to six rehearsals to get it right. I trust them."
Rosado embraces the format.
"I believe in the power of art. Music, dance, literature, theater and all cultural expressions can change a person's life. That's why I am so excited about the event. Scott has a genuine interest in showcasing the best of our community. Tapices is the word in Spanish for tapestries and I can hardly wait to see the unique piece of art that will be made at the end of this month."
Catalan feels much the same, saying, "Stories told as a performing art leave lasting impressions on audiences and motivate many to learn more about heritage and ancestry." He applauds Metro for its outreach to inner city Omaha's "rich cultural history in the transitional ethnic populations."
Lawler says Tapestries enables the conference "to be more rooted in the community," particularly underserved communities. "I wanted to go further into involving the community and being something relevant for the community. That's why I want to generate these stories from the community. It's kind of a lifelong quest I have to keep looking at the art form and saying, 'What are we doing that's working but what are we doing that's not working very well' That's part of the reason the whole PlayFest is free. Theater is just priced out of society's ability to go. That doesn't work."
Just as Chapman feels Tapestries can continue to mine North O's rich subject matter, Working feels the same about South O. He adds that other neighborhoods, from Benson to Bellevue, could be mined as well.
Both the North O and South O events kick off with food, art displays and music at 6:30 p.m. Storytelling begins at 7:30.
For the complete PlayFest schedule, visit http://www.mccneb,edu/theatreconference.
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Salvation Army Kroc Center and Omaha Conservatory of Music Partner to Give Kids New Opportunities
Nonprofit organizations that share similar missions can find greater efficiencies and impact more people when they partner, sometimes even reaching new audiences and delivering new services in the process. That's what's happened with the partnership between the Omaha Conservatory of Music and the Salvation Army Kroc Center that's expanding music education and performance opportunities for youth thanks to agency one lending its expert instructors to students at agency two. My Metro Magazine story about this collaboration follows.
Salvation Army Kroc Center and Omaha Conservatory of Music Partner to Give Kids New Opportunities
©by Leo Adam Biga
Originally appeared in Metro Magazine
A perfect fit
Last fall a meant-to-be match became reality when the Omaha Conservatory of Music began offering music classes at the Salvation Army Kroc Center in South Omaha. OCM provides top-notch instructors and instruments and the Kroc eager students and first-rate facilities.
OCM's been looking to do more outreach with underserved populations and the Kroc Center's been seeking to expand its music offerings. So why not bring the Conservatory's resources to the Kroc?
"It was kind of a perfect fit because the Salvation Army needed a music piece to offer the community and the Omaha Conservatory of Music had expertise in that.
It made sense," says Mike Cassling, a Kroc advisory board member who brokered this marriage with OCM board member Betiana Simon. The pair got the two organizations talking and before long a full-fledged program was designed and launched for youth ages 3 to 18. Cassling, CEO of Cequence Health Group, helped fund the program.
"We didn't have the instructors in house for the music, and music is something the Army loves, so it seemed like it would be a good fit if they could provide instructors and we could provide students," says Major Catherine Thielke, the Kroc's officer for program development.
The classes are free to Kroc Center members and $10 for nonmembers.
"Parents are loving the fact this is available to their children and that it's not breaking their pocket," says Kroc Center arts and education manager Gina Ponce, who adds that music is a vital part of Hispanic culture and having affordable classes right in heart of the community is a welcome addition.
OCM executive director Ruth Meints says there's good congruence between the center's community focus and the conservatory's mission of building artistic community through education and performance.
Thielke agrees, saying, "The Salvation Army's mission and purpose here at the Kroc Center is to inspire people to discover their God-given talents and to develop those talents. We saw that the Conservatory was helping kids start very young in finding their giftedness in music."
Music adds enrichment
"I'm a huge proponent that the arts, which music is a part of, are a wonderful way to increase self-esteem, well-being and self-worth," says Kroc arts and education coordinator Felicia Webster. "The classes are just perfect to introduce young people to music and to help them feel good about themselves."
Where the Salvation Army has a long tradition of brass band music, it's lacked much in the way of woods and strings.
"We're about finding out what children's spark is, and that expands much broader than a brass band and into the strings and other types of instruments," says Thielke. "We're just very excited to be partnering with the Conservatory and we're really glad Mike and Betiana saw what benefit this would have to both groups."
"They're very visionary people who helped it become a reality," adds OCM's Meints.
Classes strike a chord and fill gap in music education
The classes have proven more popular than anyone imagined. Ever since the first round began in early September sessions have filled, new spots have been created and waiting lists have formed.
Meints says there's been "overwhelming response" and she adds "it's great to see so many people get involved right away." She expects enrollment for the next round of classes in January to increase.
In January a new guitar class will complement the brass, cello/bass, percussion, violin/viola, woodwinds and voice beat-boxing classes.
"In the Hispanic community the instruments that are very prominent for mariachi are violin, trumpet and guitar and so that will be a very neat addition," says Meints.
More classes may be in the offing.
At the conclusion of each six-week class a concert's held featuring student performers from both organizations. The first concert, on Oct. 27, was packed.
Meints says the individualized instruction offered youth helps them grow faster musically. Some Kroc students are already showing great potential and may be eligible for OCM scholarships, according the Meints, who's excited about nurturing this previously untapped talent.
Officials with both organizations say the classes for very young children fill a vital need because music education doesn't start until middle school. Studies show getting kids started early in music can improve cognitive development and academic performance, says Meints. She and Thielke emphasize that the Sprouts class promotes family interaction by requiring parental-guardian participation.
For details and to register, visit http://www.omahakroc.org or call 402-905-3579.
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Community-builders Jose and Linda Garcia Devote Themselves to a Life Promoting Latino Art, Culture, History
Community-builders Jose and Linda Garcia Devote Themselves to a Life Promoting Latino Art, Culture, History
©by Leo Adam Biga
Now appearing in the New Horizons
Jose Francisco Garcia and Linda Garcia are one of those meant-to-be couples you rarely meet in real life. They've very different people in some ways and clealry alike in others but what they have at their core is an abiding respect and appreciation for each other.
Call them simpatico.
These retirees are two of the busiest people you'll ever know. They immerse themselves in community activities that seek to enrich, educate and entertain.
Both bring diverse experiences and gifts to their relationship and to their community-centered work. Jose, 67, has business and organizational acumen from his years as an activist, program developer and corporate officer. He also brings a certain discipline from his stint in the U.S. Army. Linda, 66, is a artist, storyteller, teacher and former children's librarian, with a fine aesthetic sensibility and keen intuition.
He's the fly-in-the-ointment agitator. She's the smooth-everything-over nurturer.
Though he says he's a loner by nature, he doesn't mind public displays and isn't shy about promoting himself or Linda or their work. That's not the case with her. You won't find the many awards she's been honored with displayed in their home.
"I'm not a commodity. I don't want to be. I have a real hard time tooting my own horn," she says. "To get people to pull stuff from me is real hard. I don't like to be in the limelight that much. There for a while I couldn't even sign my artwork because it's not really just me, it's a gift that comes through me. I really feel that."
The multimedia artist works with lots of recycled materials, including cardboard and paper, to create sculptures, cutouts, toys and dolls.
She says she gets so lost in her work that "time is distorted," adding, "I could be working on a project thinking it's only been an hour and it's been six hours."
"The real world means nothing to her" in those creative reveries, says Jose, who credits whatever aesthetic awareness he's gained to her.
Each is knowledgable and passionate about the art, culture and history of their shared Chicano roots. They've spent countless hours studying Mexican art, traveling to exhibitions, workshops, conferences. For decades they've collected Mexican art objects and materials and shared them with the public.
"We're Chicanos. What we do is we share art history and culture – that's what Chicanos do and we've lived by that credo," says Jose.
Their largest scale event to date is Music to My Bones, an exhibition and celebration of Dia de los Muertos or The Day of the Dead that runs October 6 through November 12 at the Bancroft Street Market in South Omaha.
In addition to displaying original artwork by contemporary artists from the metro and Mexico the multimedia event features art presentations, art classes and live music and dance performances.
"We're showing all those aspects of the Day of the Dead, from the traditional to the modern, and how people in the United States and in other regions, especially artists, have embraced the Day of the Dead," says Linda. "It's crossed cultures, it's crossed religions, it's crossed ages, it's crossed regions as an expression of death, of talking about death in a positive way."
The exhibit is dedicated to the memories of Isabel "Chavela" Gonzales Hernandez and the Barrientos brothers – Vidal, Juan and Panfilo – and their musical contributions to the community. Linda's designed a large music ofrenda installation in honor of those two families and other Latino artists.
"We want it to be multidimensional for people who honestly want to know the tradition and culture of Dia de los Muertos." says Jose. "We'll have everything from ofrendas to presentations to kiosks to musical groups. We want to blanket it as best we can. And we have so much material we can put into action. It's going to be relevant and traditional and not made up. The art's going to be primo.
"We have a collection of metal works – candelabras – from Mexico. We have a huge collection of calaveras sugar skulls. Dioramas. So it's a chance for us to utilize our collection."
Jose will also be drawing on his huge Spanish music archive "to give body to the work."
The dozens of artists and musicians participating in the show were "hand-picked" by Linda. "I want to highlight these artists and musicians. I feel like a mom to them," she says.D
Among the featured artists she's adopted is Bart Vargas, who's come to appreciate what she and Jose contribute to artists like himself.
"Personally, I am very pleased to be working with Jose and Linda," he says. "As a mixed blood artist I have often struggled with having a metaphorical foot in two worlds, never quite feeling a sense of belonging to either. As a child I had very little exposure to half of my origins, often feeling like an immigrant to my own Mexican heritage. I am excited to work with Jose and Linda because the upcoming exhibit is the first time that I get to work within the context of my own cultural heritage. Both Jose and Linda are very generous, knowledgeable and approachable. I have already learned much from them and look forward to working with them again."
Much as the Garcias collect art, they collect artists, whom they work with over and over again. The exhibits the couple curate flow from their collection, which they began accumulating shortly after marrying in 1977.
"She didn't become a material collector until I come around," Jose says of Linda. "She was a spiritual collector. Everything was here," he says, indicating her head.
Many of their acquisitions come from trips they've made to their ancestral homeland. They've now amassed private holdings that would be the envy of any museum. Their multi-story Bemis Park neighborhood home, whose oak-finished interior is in the Craftsman style, is filled with art and artifacts from basement to attic.
"We surround ourselves with our collection," Linda says. "You'll see we don't take care of some household things because we spend all our money on art and books."
Off-site storage units contain the rest.
At one point they did operate the Las Artes Cultural Center in South Omaha as a venue for showing some of their vast Mexican wares. More recently they formed the Mexican American Historical Society of the Midlands as a kind of extension of their collection. They now serve on the board of the organization, for whom they curate exhibitions and programs.
They often dip into their collection for presentations and workshops. Linda is an artist for the Nebraska Arts Council Artist in Schools and Communities residency program. She just finished a three-month summer residency at the Omaha South Branch Library, where she taught Mexican folk arts. She covered repujado (metal embossing), pinturas de amate (bark painting), nichos (Mexican decorative boxes), papel picado (Mexican paper cutting art), pinata making, printmaking and yarn painting of the indigenous Huichols and wood carving and painting of the indigenous Oaxaca people.
Maria Teresa Gaston, emeritus director of the Center for Service and Justice at Creighton University, has had the pleasure of being taught by Linda.
"One of my favorite experiences with Linda was attending an art workshop she led when she and Jose had Las Artes. She taught us how to make Mexican-styled cut metal ornaments from soda cans. I loved being in her presence and being led to connect with ancient traditions and release my own creative spirit. I have often thought of that Saturday morning and longed for more of that mentoring.
"She has a way of teaching that calls out beauty and belief in all who are with her."
Gaston's also enjoyed Garcia's storytelling talent.
"This past summer I had the opportunity to hear Linda present stories and lead 50 young Latinas in hands-on artwork and personal exploration as a part of the Latina Summer Academy. Linda had the girls in the palm of her hand. They listened so attentively as she presented folk stories of love and beauty."
Linda also teaches at Granville Villa Retirement Center, the South Omaha Boys and Girls Club, the Joslyn Art Museum and other sites.
Whatever the program or subject or theme, the Garcias likely have a ready archive or reference or example at hand to give the project depth or perspective. If they don't have what they need themselves, they get it.
"We've used our material to design exhibits and as teaching materials. I use it a lot to teach," says Linda. "Anything we do, whether an exhibit or a talk, we do a lot of research. That's the reason we have a collection, because we use it."
Jose says the sizable library they've cultivated invariably contains books that "bubble up whenever we have a project."
Their teaching and research often lead to new collecting interests.
For example, as soon as the couple began teaching about Oaxacan wood carvings, Jose says they had to have them, and so they collected them. "Now we own about 15 Oaxacan wood carving objects. Thats' the story of our lives." Thus, the collection ever expands as they add new elements. Their hard cover book collection alone numbers in the thousands.
Linda's not alone in presenting the material. Jose, a trustee with the Nebraska State Historical Society and a former Douglas County Historical Society board member, also does his share of presenting and teaching. Gaston can attest to his ability to hold an audience.
"I fondly remember a presentation Jose gave on the life of Frida Kahlo (the Mexican painter and wife of Diego Rivera). Jose is a great teacher and his words were accompanied by the power of the images he presented and the beautiful papel picado hanging behind him – works of Linda's hands."
Jose has also taken it upon himself to document Omaha Latino life through photographs. He makes a point of showing up and snapping pics, these days mostly with a digital camera, at countless community events. He posts the images to his Picasa web albums on Google-Plus. Sometimes his photos are published in El Perico and other local publications.
Gaston says, "I love seeing Jose around the community at events of all kinds."
"You can call him a community photographer," says Linda.
He also searches out documents and photos that illustrate the long, rich history and culture of Latino Omaha. Just one of his discoveries is an original framed poster printed in Spanish promoting a 1935 Cinco de Mayo celebration in Omaha. The event was sponsored by the Sociedad Mutualista Mexicana or Mexican Mutual Aid Society, founded in 1928. He says the society operated a school called Lazaro de Cardenas, where English was taught to Mexican immigrants, and took a census.
What's important to know, he says, is that "we had neighborhoods that had experiences with our ancestral artistic and historic culture that was relevant to American history but we weren't being taught it, we never learned it in public school. We learned from our own community. There was a Mexican community."
He says most of the local Mexican population then was based in South Omaha. The railroads and packinghouses were their main employers.
"The history and contributions of Mexican-Americans to Omaha is such an important part of our story," says Gaston, "and Jose so reverently, professionally and passionately keeps this history alive for Latinos and non-Latinos. He presents the courage and beauty and also the luchas (battles) and sufferings of La Raza (Spanish-speaking peoples). His leadership and advocacy on behalf of the Latino community have inspired young and old."
She says the Garcias are nothing less than "community builders," adding, "Jose and Linda's incredible dedication to the well-being of the Latino community and the Omaha community deserves great thanks."
Both Garcias are on the Speakers Bureau for the Nebraska Humanities Council. She's a storyteller with NHC's Prime Time Family Reading program at the South Branch Library.
Because of the amount of material in the Garcias' possession, ranging from sculpture to fabric to paper objects to books, only a fraction can be displayed at any given time. So they bring out small selections to present with their talks and programs, et cetera.
"We don't have a gallery, so our gallery is the community," says Jose, and for Music to My Bones their gallery is the Bancroft Street Market.
The fall exhibition, which has been made possible by grant funding, "is a Jose and Linda Garcia production," he says. "We'll receive no compensation for our activities. It is all in benefit of the Mexican American Historical Society and to keep this historical objective going."
These life partners enjoy collaborating on projects.
"Some people say relationships are like rivers and you're within the same bank but with us it's more than that. We're a symbiotic relationship," he says. "She's kind of like my Jiminy Cricket. I'm very aggressive, I'm in your face, I'm an attack dog, that's what I do. And she reels me in."
Linda admires his tell-it-like-it-is style.
"You may not like what he says but he speaks up and says it in front of you. One thing I really learned from Jose is to speak out and not be this timid girl. I saw the respect people would give him because he would ask for what he wanted.
I've learned to ask for what I want."
She believes they make an effective team. "I think to an extent we balance with each other. I think we do blend well." And they genuinely enjoy each other's company."We like to spend time with each other. We share a lot of things. We have stacks of stuff we've written together. Some of it's real personal."
Jose, who grew up in Kansas City, Mo. and lost his mother at age 6, lived a kind of vagabond life until he wound up in Omaha and met Linda. He was going through a divorce at the time and he and Linda were just friends at first before becoming serious. He appreciates what he found in her.
"Linda is a very natural creature of her element,. She's like an angel without being blessed. Everything is full of life and energy and she just can't wait to tap into it, to share it. Linda has never brought a negative or bad influence into our relationship or into our domestic life or into the way that we raised our family."
The couple have two grown sons, Che and Carlos Garcia, and two granddaughters, London and Elliette.
One of the key things that brought them together in the first place and that keeps them together after 35 years is their shared Chicanoness. They both got caught up in the Chicano Movement of the 1960s and 1970s and for them the movement's aim of empowering and immersing U.S. citizens of Mexican descent in the richness of their shared heritage has never ended. Indeed, the Garcias have devoted their retired years – she's a former Omaha Public Library children's librarian and he's an ex-Union Pacific Railroad officer – to preserving and displaying their heritage.
"The Chicano movement was about identity," Jose explains. "Yes, we were American and yes we knew English and yes we were third generation and yes we had college degrees but there was a certain disconnect between our life experience as Mexican Americans and George Washington. And then when the Chicano movement started welling up…Rev. Robert Navarro was the seminal guy, the match that lit the Chicano movement here in Omaha. Then all of a sudden nothing made sense, especially when you started hearing about all of this art and culture that had a thousand years of equity – the Mayans, the Aztecs – that was never even approached in our educational experiences. It drove Linda to find out what was going on."
It drove Jose to find himself.
"I suppose part of the motivation to seek out an identity began way back on the 31st of January, 1966. At my Army induction-swearing in ceremony, I had a copy of my birth certificate I had never seen. On it my name was listed as Jose Francisco Garcia. This was an identity taken away from me by my kindergarten teacher Miss Margaret, when she changed my name to Joe Frank. So I enlisted in the US Army as Jose Francisco Garcia. To this day everyone in K.C. that is family knows me by Joe Frank."
He served one tour in Vietnam with an engineer battalion operating in and around a support base, Dong Tam, near the city of My Tho. He was apolitical entering the service but he came out highly politicized.
"Emotionally, I changed and became obsessed with ending the war when I returned stateside. To this day I see every environment I am in as a possible threat and am under constant alert for intruders, danger, checking for escape routes, just in case. The Vietnam experience literally buried the joy of being alive and changed it into the anxiety of living."
Back home he not only joined the antiwar effort he intersected with the burgeoning Chicano Movement. Much of his activism centered around the two colleges he attended in his native Kansas City.
At Penn Valley Metropolitan Community College, he says, "I connected with every radical group on the face of the planet, including the Weathermen, SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), the Brown Berets, the Black Panthers. Always a loner, I gathered my causes in a singular manner and marched as they say to my own drums. After a stint on the student council, I organized Libra, an alternate bookstore.
"My first action as a student activist was taking over our chancellors' office because he refused to install a ramp for a veteran that had been wounded in action and for other handicapped people."
He says at the University of Missouri Kansas City he organized a group called United Mexican American Students and "became involved in West Side actions, blow-outs, marches, demonstrations."
After getting his bachelor's degree from UMKC he worked as a program developer with the Kansas Council of Low Income Peoples and Migrant Workers in Garden City, Kansas. He made several trips to D.C. to negotiate proposals for housing and health services.
Before coming to Omaha in 1976 he married and worked a series of jobs. He was employed at Xerox, twice, he became a hypnotist helping people lose weight and reduce stress,, he sold cemetery lots, he sold Kirby vacuum cleaners door to door, he even picked apples one harvest season in Kansas.
"I couldn't keep a job. Then I came to Omaha and I started the whole thing all over again. I did various things here."
He eventually got on with the Chicago Northwestern Railroad as a clerk and worked his way up to training personnel. The railroad was purchased by Union Pacific and years later he took his buy out from them.
Among his early Omaha gigs was serving as director of the Chicano Awareness Center. It's where he met Linda, who was already active in the organization.
Omaha Latino activist Abelardo Hernandez says then as now Jose and Linda were a force to be reckoned with.
"She helped us with our art classes and later joined us in our folkloric dance troupe. She sacrificed a lot of her time to help the young kids understand the arts and traditions of our people. Linda has never let up in our struggle for knowledge.
Jose was able to identify with what we as Chicanos were trying to attain. He has managed to find some great archives that people have entrusted unto him.He has also given a lot of his time towards communicating with city and state officials. He seems to know what buttons to push when working in our behalf."
When it came to relationships, Linda says she was dead set against marriage and had a whole rationale worked out to justify her attitude.
"I knew clear back as a girl that nobody was going to make me happy. I wasn't going to give that responsibility to a person, no matter who it was,. Happiness does not come from outside, and I knew that when I was in the third grade. I don't know what it was. I tell people I was born with old lady eyes. I was an old soul."
Jose was immediately taken by her beauty and spirit. Linda, on the other hand, says, "I didn't want a thing to do with him. I was involved with somebody else at the time anyway. Besides, I just didn't think it was in the cards for me. I was older, kind of set in my ways being single. I wanted to do my own thing."
She began warming however to this newcomer. He intrigued her.
"It was more curiosity about each other. We found out we could talk. Love and all that didn't come until much much, much later, and I don't even think we spoke it then. We just both knew we'd be together. He was one of the few people I could talk to and he really listened and he really looked at you and he had opinions." We were compatible."
Poster for the Garcias' Music to My Bones exhibition and celebration
Just as Jose did, underwent her own identity catharsis.
"When I went to Mexico my senior year at College of St. Mary I came back very disappointed knowing I had taken four years of art history and the only time anything Mexican was mentioned was one period, and it was just four muralists, and they were all male," she recalls.
Mexico opened a whole new world to her she was eager to explore.
"In the marketplace I'd watch the women grab a piece of material and roll it and before your eyes came out a doll. It was amazing."
She was enthralled by the handmade art, some of the techniques going back centuries, she came upon. Then there was all the history she discovered.
"It hit me really hard when I came back. First, it was a cultural shock. It was like, 'Why didn't anybody ever tell me this?' And the answer was because it wasn't up to them to tell you in any way, it's up to you. But how do you know to look?
"I just became really hungry for getting my hands on this and the Chicano movement. It was like an awakening. That happened to a lot of people. What was awakened was the art, literature, of becoming who you are as a Chicano. I'm not really Mexican, I'm an American, but the combination made me a Chicana, which means I seek knowledge, but it's not enough to stop there, you must transmit it to other people and share it. In other words, be a teacher.
"It's not enough to collect and learn and keep it all to ourselves. Thats' the reason for this place," she says, referreing the Mexican American Historical Society.
It's the reason for Music to My Bones.
"It is stuff to people, it's more than that to us. It's more than leaving things to people, it's leaving the story. Without the story it's absolutely meaningless.
"I made the commitment to show the kids I was teaching that there's so much more. I just started digging. In the process of learning you have to do the research, you have to go out there and dig."
There's also the matter of leaving and passing on a legacy.
"I think everybody wants to do that in a way – to say, 'I was here, I want to leave a mark.' Like with the Day of the Dead they say there's three deaths: the first death is the physical and then when you're buried and nobody can see you, but the worst death is to be forgotten.
"We want to leave a legacy, OK, but it's more than that, it's trying to teach the community. They also have a legacy and they also have a responsibility to carry their family traditions and to know how to take care of photographs and keepsakes."
About their role as historians, curators and culturalists, they say, "Somebody's gotta do it."
Their work is far from done in their estimation. They'd like to form a free research and public library containing their catalogued and digitized collection. They'd like to have a permanent exhibition space.
"We don't have a million dollars but were Chicanos, we're going to do what we have to do to get it done.," says Jose.
And these two will do it together as long as they can.
"We've become two old souls together," he says.
For Music to My Bones details call 402-651-9918 or visit http://www.bancroftstreetmarket.com.
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Documentary Considers Omaha's Changing Face Since World War II
Omaha, my Omaha. I have something of a love-hate relationship with my city, which is to say I have strong feelings about it and I always want it to be better than it thinks it can, though the attitude problem or more specifically inferiority complex it suffered from for so long has been largely replaced by a bold new, I-can-do confidence. That metamorphosis is part of what drew me to a documentary some years back that took the measure of Omaha by charting the changing face ofrcityscape since World War II, and what a marked difference a half-century has made. In truth, and as the doc makes clear, the most dramatic changes have only occurred in the last decade or two, when the city poured immense dollars into transforming parts of downtown, the riverfront, midtown, and South Omaha. Left mostly untouched has been North Omaha, where the city's major revitalization focus is now aimed. The film also deals with one of the city's biggest missteps – the razing of the Jobbers Canyon warehouse district to appease a corporate fat cat who wanted to put his headquarters there in place of what he called the area's "big ugly red brick buildings." Those buildings were historic treasures dating back a century and today they would be home to well-established retail, residential, commercial developments that would be employing people and generating commerce, thus pouring money back into the city's coffers.
Documentary Considers Omaha's Changing Face Since World War II
©by Leo Adam Biga
Originally appeared in The Reader (www.thereader.com)
Omaha's evolution into a homey yet cosmo metropolis that's discarded, for better or worse, its gritty industrial-frontier heritage is the subject of a new documentary premiering statewide on the NETV network. Omaha Since World War II — The Changing Face of the City is a UNO Television production and a companion piece to UNO-TV's popular 1994 If These Walls Could Speak.
What the new film does particularly well is frame the growth of Omaha over the past 60 years within a social, cultural and political context. Instead of settling for a Chamber of Commerce paean to development, the film makes a balanced effort at showing not only the dynamic explosion in Omaha's ever-expanding boundaries and emerging 21st century cityscape but also some of the real tensions and costs that have come with that change. Using soaring, sweeping aerial footage shot from a helicopter video mount, the film provides insightful glimpses of Omaha's famous sprawl and, even more tellingly, of the riverfront renaissance that's remaking the city's traditional gateway into a stunning new vista. Like the fits-and-starts pace of most Omaha development, major pieces in the Return to the River movement have taken decades to coalesce, but now that the new riverfront is emerging, it's shaping up as a dramatic statement about the sleek, modern Omaha of the future.
While most of this period has seen real progress, valid concerns are raised about one neglected area and a pattern of disregarding history. For example, the film focuses on the decline of north Omaha in the wake of the devastating 1960s riots there and the equally hurtful severing of that community by the North Freeway several years later. News footage of burning stores and marching civil rights demonstrators, along with residents' personal anecdotes of urban ruin, reveal a community in upheaval.
The late Preston Love Sr., ex-Omaha educator Wilda Stephenson and Omaha World-Herald photographer Rudy Smith paint vivid pictures of the jumping place that once was North 24th Street and of the despairing symbol it came to represent. As the $1.8 billion in downtown-riverfront revival continues (development dollars spent in the last six years, according to Omaha Chamber of Commerce figures), it's apparent north Omaha's been left behind. Unlike South Omaha, which remakes itself every few decades as an immigrant haven and finds new uses for old landmarks like the former stockyards site, North Omaha still searches for a new identity.
The film also examines how city/state leaders sacrificed the nationally historic Jobber's Canyon district to the whims of corporate giant ConAgra in the 1980s. A man-made canyon of 22 massive, architecturally unique warehouse buildings closely tied to early Omaha's booming river-rail economy, all but one Jobbers structure — the former McKesson-Robbins Building, now the Greenhouse Apartments — was razed when ConAgra decided the "eye-sore" must go if it was to keep its headquarters downtown. After seeing homegrown Enron uproot to Houston, Omaha caved to ConAgra's demands rather than lose another Fortune 1000 company. The canyon was an incalculable loss but, as the film makes clear, the resulting corporate campus served as a catalyst for development.
The filmmakers rightly reference Omaha's penchant for tearing down its history, as in the old post office, the original Woodmen of the World building, the Fontenelle Hotel and the Indian Hills Theater. Spinning the story in all its permutations are, notably, former Omaha city planning directors Alden Aust and Marty Shukert, architect and preservationist George Haecker, historians Harl Dalstrom, Thomas Kuhlman, Bill Pratt and Garneth Peterson, developers Sam and Mark Mercer and entrepreneur Frankie Pane.
The Jobbers Canyon debacle came at a time when downtown was reeling and in danger of being an empty shell. If not for major investments by a few key players. it may never have come back from the mass retail exodus to the suburbs it witnessed in the 1960s and '70s. In a real coup, the film features Old Market pioneers Sam and Mark Mercer, who describe the organic growth of this historic district into a cultural oasis — one that's served as an anchor of stability.
The longest ongoing story of Omaha's growth is its westward push. The film explains how this has been achieved by a liberal annexation policy that's added subdivisions and even entire small communities to the tax rolls. The film touches on the fact that, outside a few developments, this sprawl has created a formless, characterless prairie of concrete and glass. The film also alludes to Omaha's old neighborhoods, but only highlights one, Dundee, as an example of design and lifestyle merging.
Where the film doesn't fare so well is in offering any real sense for the personality of the city. To be fair, filmmakers B.J. Huchtemann and Carl Milone didn't intend to do that. Still, it would have been useful to try and take the measure of Omaha beyond its physical landscape. The only hint we get of this is via the many on-camera commentators who weigh in with their perspectives on Omaha's changing face. And, to producer-director Huchtemann's and co-producer-editor Milone's credit, they've chosen these interpretive figures well. They're an eclectic, eloquent, opinionated bunch and, as such, they reflect Omahans' fierce independence and intelligence, which is at odds with the boring, white bread image the city often engenders. They are the film's engaging storytellers.
Still, a film about the city's changing face begs for an analysis of Omaha's identity crisis. Mention the name, and outsiders draw a blank or recall a creaky remnant from its past or ascribe a boring blandness to it all. That's before it had any "Wow" features. Now, with its gleaming new facade, Omaha's poised to spark postcard worthy images in people's minds. What is Omaha? What do we project to the world? The answers all converge on the riverfront. That's where Omaha began and that's where its makeover is unfolding. The monumental, sculptural pedestrian bridge may be the coup de grace. Interestingly, the film explains how much of what's taking place was envisioned by planners 30 years ago. It's all come together, in piecemeal fashion, to make the water's edge development Omaha's new signature and face.
So, what does it say about us? It speaks to Omahans' desire to forge ahead and be counted as a premier Midwest city. No mention's made of Hal Daub, the former mayor whose assertive energy drove Omaha, kicking and screaming, into the big time. He gave Omaha attitude. The film suggests this bold new city is here to stay.
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The Garcia Girls
Success runs in certain families and most of America loves nothing better than classic immigrant success stories. That's what the Jesus and Beatriz Garcia family of Omaha represents. Their success starts with the now elderly but still active parents who came from Mexico to make a better life for themselves and their six girls, who were all born in Mexico but primarily raised in America. My story for El Perico focuses on how the sisters have achieved much educationally and professionally, always guided by the hard-working, aspiring example of their parents. Just as the parents are inspirations to the Garcia girls so are the sisters inspirations to each other.
The Garcia Girls
©by Leo Adam Biga
Originally appeared in El Perico
When Jesus and Beatriz Garcia left Mexico for America decades ago their fervent wish was to give their family a better life. In that, there's no doubt they succeeded. The couple captured the American Dream by working hard, owning their own home, becoming fixtures at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church and raising six girls.
The Garcias have seen their daughters, all born in Mexico, grow into accomplished women with families and careers of their own. The Garcia Girls carry on their parents' tradition of serving others. At the 2011 Latino Heritage Awards the eldest, Magdalena "Maggie" Garcia, was honored for her work as El Museo Latino founder and executive director. Baby sister Maria Vazquez, associate vice president of student affairs at Metropolitan Community College, was named Latina of the Year.
"I'm amazed at Maggie's and Maria's accomplishments, and at all my other sisters.
They're all working hard and continuing their education, and I'm doing the same thing," says Silvia Wells, El Museo Latino managing director.
The sisters have all attended college as nontraditional students. The only one without a degree, Lori Ramirez, is working on it. Some have multiple degrees. Each has a chosen profession. It all stems from strong parental guidance. Maggie recalls, "My father sat me down and said, 'My responsibility is to provide for you what you need. Your responsibility is to do the best you can.' He never said you have to do this or that, he just said, you have to do the best you can. The demands were what each one of us placed on ourselves."
Jesus and Beatriz Garcia
Education was always stressed. "They put all six of us through Catholic school. They both worked. My dad sometimes had two and three jobs," says Maggie.
Jesus trained in fine woodworking and construction in Mexico and his expert craftsman's skills made him employable here. He repaired furniture for Nebraska Furniture Mart. Later, he opened his own shop, Jesse Garcia's Repair, at 13th and Vinton Streets in South Omaha, where the Garcias are an old-line Latino family.
He also built custom display cabinets for daughter Maggie's museum. He closed his shop last year but still keeps his hands busy for select customers.
Beatriz, who learned seamstress skills in Mexico, labored 30 years at Pendleton Woolen Mills. She started as a sewer and retired as a supervisor. A talented cook, she makes her famous enchiladas and burritos for museum and church fundraisers. She marvels at what her daughters have made of themselves.
"I'm so proud of all my girls."
In turn, the Garcia Girls admire their parents. Beatriz "Betty" Garcia Gonzalez, a licensed clinical social worker and mental health professional with two degrees, is struck by their "humility and determination." She and her sisters appreciate the effort their folks made taking them to Mexico every summer for two-week immersions in family, heritage and culture. They value their devotion to church and their legendary work ethic. Wells says these values are "deeply rooted" in them all.
"Those pillars of lessons" says Vazquez, shaped the Garcia Girls. That example now shapes four generations of Garcias, "Mom and Dad are still healthy and they're still very much a part of our lives. They still encourage us," says Patty Tello, an Educare Center of Omaha family enrichment specialist.. "They worked so hard so that we could have an education. Always in the back of my head was that I had to make them proud of me because of their sacrifice."
"I'm very happy my parents had the desire for us to complete our education and go further than just high school," says Wells.
Maria says, "They're the smartest people I know. They valued education. They always certainly encouraged us to do our best and to work hard and give back, and with that foundation we were able to do anything."
Indeed, Silvia says her folks made her feel "I'm capable of reaching any goal I wish to attain." She can count on "always having their support." And the support of her sisters. "It is nice to always have someone encouraging you and I think we all encourage each other." "We're there for sounding boards," says Maggie.
Tello says the family always pitches in to babysit as needed.
There's some sisterly prodding, too. "If I'm thinking, This is difficult, there's always someone there to say, 'I know you can do it,' or, 'I did it, you can do it, too," says Silvia. Patty was inspired to go back to school after seeing Silvia do it.
"I think we've challenged each other," says Betty.
The striving continues. Silvia is midday through graduate studies at Bellevue University. Patty is studying for her master's in childhood education at Concordia (Seward, Neb.) University. Vazquez is going after her Ph.D. in educational administration at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Betty says the family's left "a legacy." "And there's still more to come," says Patty, adding, "We're still pushing the envelope and seeing what more can we do."
"We all try to be a part of the community we live in and make it a better place to live," says Silvia.
As the oldest, Maggie led the way by embarking on a corporate career, then becoming the first in her family to attend college.
"Maggie was working full time and married when she started at UNO. I remember her taking me when she registered for classes. She wanted to expose me to that environment, to that other world," says Maria, who went on to earn degrees from Metro and the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Magdalena "Maggie" Garcia, right, with her Latino Heritage Award
Maria Vazquez making her Latina of the Year acceptance speech at Latino Heritage Awards
photos ©2007 – 2010 Barrientos Scholarship Foundation, http://www.barrientosscholarship.org
After Maggie completed her master's at Syracuse University she was unsure what to do next. "My father told me, 'Whatever you decide to do you have our support in whatever way we can, but find something that makes you happy and you're passionate about.'" She fulfilled her dream opening the museum. The whole family's volunteered there.
As each Garcia Girl's found success, the whole family's shared in it. The legacy lives on.
When a Building isn't Just a Building
All kinds of human services are delivered in buildings, including some nondescript, institutional edifices that can appear cold on the outside. But of course it is what goes on on the inside that matters. Take the South Omaha YMCA, for instance. I cannot even find an image of it on the Web, which is just as well since it's a dull, quasi-governmental-looking structure that hardly hints at the warm embrace that staff extend to visitors or at the fun activities and programs offered to members. When a building truly engages a neighborhood and community the way this one does, it isn't just a building anymore, it's something much more personal.
When a Building isn't Just a Building
©by Leo Adam Biga
Originally published in The Reader (www.thereader.com)
South Omaha's renaissance unfolds on many fronts. From scores of new businesses to construction of a new community center, library and athletic stadium to the expansion of Metropolitan Community College's south campus, the area's booming again after a three-decade lull.
Facelifts also contribute to this turnaround. The most obvious makeover is to the 24th Street business district, whose once thriving streetscapes-storefronts dimmed but now overbrim with color and activity in a plaza-like marketplace.
More recently, a $1.25 million renovation to the LaFern Williams South YMCA at 30th and Q has infused new life into a community anchor that had seen better days.
The Y's flip is not easily observed until you go inside, but it's accounting for a surge of activity not seen there since the building's heyday.
YMCA of Greater Omaha COO Linda Butkus said compared to a year ago the South branch has seen a 30 percent increase in member scans, a 25 percent increase in member revenue and 209 more individuals join as Y members.
"We're seeing more use, we're getting more memberships, were expanding beyond just kids to serving more families and adults as well," she said, "and I think the renovations are the reasons for the increases."
Three phases of capital improvements are complete. Interior upgrades encompass a redesigned lobby, a new gymnasium floor, enhanced lighting, fresh carpeting and paint, a refurbished fitness room, a large computer room, a new security system and a new chiller. Outside, a new parking overlay is done and a new roof in-progress. In line with the physical changes new programs have been implemented.
Butkus said, "We have more for individuals to do in the way of programming, we have more fitness equipment and the overall feel of the facility is much better. It was a dark and old interior. Now it's very nice, it's very bright. The amenities have been upgraded. It feels good to be there. It's been a complete facelift. When you walk in you go, 'Wow.' That's the feedback we're getting."
Photos by Joe Shearer/The Gateway (UNO)
Miles Busby distributing sacked lunches to children
Volunteer and member working on a mural
Volunteer Farren Ronning at clothing exchange
South branch executive director Brian Owens said the Y's commitment has resulted in "a buy-in" from area residents. "It's given people a sense of pride to say, 'You're investing in our community.'" He said members lost to other branches are returning now. To accommodate higher volume he's expanded the hours of operation.
He said to stay in touch with the expectations of a diverse clientele "we're being very intentional and diligent about launching our programs. We're going out and asking our member base, 'What do you want in this building?', instead of us telling them what they're getting. That's been pretty successful so far."
Responding to the ever growing Latino population fitness classes infused with merengue and salsa are offered. ESL and Spanish language classes are possibilities.
"Our Latino base has grown tremendously," he said. "That's our demographic and we're ecstatic that we do have that buzz in the Latino community."
Smaller than some Ys and lacking a pool, the branch accentuates what it has that others Y don't. Owens said, "We have a smorgasbord of cultures who frequent this branch" — Latinos, Sudanese, Native Americans, whites. "We have that unique opportunity to be able to cross cultures and to share with one another, and that's a great scene."
Brenda Kremlacek's three boys attend the South Y, where, "they've met a variety of ages and nationalities, and that's good," she said. "I've seen a lot of progress with the boys' attitudes. They look forward going. They have a lot of good friends."
The absence of a swimming hurts but Owen said the branch compensates with "the largest gym in the (Omaha) association." That gym sees heavy use for hoops, via basketball programs/leagues, and fitness/martial arts classes. He's hoping when the nearby Kroc Center opens in 2009 his members will be able to access its pool.
He feels his Y's proximity to the neighboring South Side Terrace Homes and "its 800-plus young people" is an advantage for attracting and retaining youth and family members. He's keenly aware the facility's long drawn many users from the Omaha Housing Authority's South Terrace complex. The low-income housing project includes many at-risk youths who access the Y's after-school and summer club programs and Kids Cafe, which provides free nutritious meals and snacks. An OHA liasion offices at the Y.
One of South Side's own played a key role in pushing for the building, which was owned and operated by OHA from 1977 until 2007. The facility's provided recreational, educational, community and social agency services and programs its entire life. It fulfilled the vision of LaFern Williams, a South Side tenant and community activist who "was very instrumental in convincing the powers-that-be" to construct a recreational/childcare facility for residents, said OHA executive director Stan Timm. Her dream of a safe haven for children was realized and the building became the LaFern Williams Center after her death.
The center also housed the award-winning Center Stage Theatre, whose alums include actor-director John Beasley. Owens said, "This facility was one of the most happening scenes in the '80s." By the start of this decade the Center Stage was no more and the building showing its age and a decline in usage. A half-dozen years ago Beasley resurrected live theater there by forming the John Beasley Theater & Workshop. Even with the JBT's success the center was not the beehive activity it was before. In 1999 the Y leased the ground floor to present an array of programs and activities. The name changed to South Omaha Community YMCA. Other tenants have included Educare, Head Start and South Omaha Weed & Seed.
When OHA could no longer afford the cost of maintaining the building, plans called for the center to be sold. An outcry led by South Side residents made the structure's fate a public issue. That's when the Y stepped in to buy and renovate it with the help of a $1 million challenge grant from the Peter Kiewit Foundation.
As an enticement for Beasley's company to remain, the Y showed some love by installing new seats and carpeting in the auditorium housing his theater. Owens said having the theater there "is a unique opportunity and presence. Mr. Beasley's a renowned artist and his productions are tremendous. We wanted to make the upgrades to let him know we respect him and appreciate what he provides."
Additional plans for the auditorium call for the addition of a drop-down projector to accommodate Power Point II presentations, which Owens hopes will attract organizations to use the facility during the day for meetings and trainings.
As a nod to the legacy of the woman who made the center a reality, Y officials renamed it the LaFern Williams South YMCA. While Owens never met Williams he said, "we're honored to carry Miss LaFern's name and her mission to be a beacon or a cornerstone for this community. I'm proud to be that steward that fights for those whose arms get tired. I don't take that lightly."
He said the deep meaning the place has in the community is reflected by the fact it's only been tagged once in the seven years he's been there. "I think that has a lot to do with respect. That this is kind of off-limits. This is the hub. This facility has such a lineage and a history. A lot of young people's parents, brothers, aunts, uncles participated here. It's like we take care of our own."
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Omaha South High Buffett Outstanding Teacher Award Winner Maria Walinski-Peterson Follows Her Heart
A lot of negative things are said about the state of American public education but most schools and teachers do a fine job within the parameters they're given. If you ever find yourself despairing about the situation give this profile of a master teacher a read and you'll likely feel a bit better about the caliber of people teaching our kids. Maria Walinski-Peterson may not be average or typical but she's certainly not an aberration. The Omaha South High School social studies teacher is a product of the very system (Omaha Public Schools district) and school she teaches in. Yes, she's won some major awards and been recognized as a stellar classroom instructor, but she's one of many thousands of outstanding teachers fighting the good fight who've learned under great teachers before them and are influencing great teachers ahead of them.
Omaha South High Buffett Outstanding Teacher Award Winner Maria Walinski-Peterson Follows Her Heart
©by Leo Adam Biga
Originally published in El Perico
When Omaha South High Magnet School social studies teacher Maria Walinski-Peterson thinks about her 2011 Alice Buffett Outstanding Teacher Award, she's reminded of master teachers she had as a student there. Teachers like Sally Fellows and Jim Eisenhardt.
"They were models of teachers who knew what they were talking about, who had some energy, some enthusiasm, and who made me want to pay attention. They had a kind of charisma. I wanted to do a good job for them," says Maria.
"That's a pretty tall order to get that breadth and depth. The fact that anybody thinks I have even a small piece of that…" she says, her voice trailing off. "When that call came about the Alice Buffett, I thought, Really? I'm not Sally Fellows yet, I'm not Jim Eisenhardt yet, I've only been doing this nine years, this is too soon.
"But I learned from the best, and I knew if I'm going to truly follow this vocation I have to give these kids something they're not going to necessarily get from somebody else."
The recognition and the $10,000 that come with the award means raised expectations.
"There are people looking at me like, 'Really, you got a Buffet? What's so great about you?" The pressure is enormous. Other people are like, 'Oh, just relax and enjoy it.'" To which her response is, "Are you freaking kidding me?' If students and colleagues have said you're one of the best in your profession — guess what? — I have to be one of the best. I don't get to slack off. People are watching."
She may feel added pressure, she says, "because I'm relatively young. You don't usually get a lifetime achievement award until you've put in a lifetime."
There's pressure, too, teaching where she once attended school, but she couldn't see herself working anywhere else.
"I lobbied diligently to be here. After I got my teaching certificate and master's degree at Drake University, I was sending emails and calling people back here saying, 'Make sure there's a spot for me — I need to student teach in this building, so that I can teach in this building.' This place gave me so much. It's simply payback. It's a calling and I just knew this is where I had to be."
If anything, her loyalty has only deepened. She says she recently declined "a cushy gig" at a suburban school to stay at South. In light of what happened last fall, she can't imagine ever leaving. Days from being married, her best friend and intended maid of honor, fellow South social studies teacher Stacey Klinger, died when a truck struck her as she crossed the street in front of school.
Maria will never forget how students consoled her. "These kids literally and figuratively put their arms around me and said, 'We're here for you. What do you need?' We bonded in a way you can't bond in any other way. We have that history together. They have seen me at a level of humanity they don't see too many teachers in."
As an Academic Decathlon and African-American History Challenge coach she's bonded with yet more kids. "I just know we're always going to be like this," she says, clasping her hands together. "I love those people and they love me back."
The daughter of a retired Lutheran-Episcopal-Orthodox Christian priest, Maria was born in upper New York state. She likes saying she was at Woodstock, where her mother Joan was pregnant with her in 1969. At age 11 Maria moved with her family here when her father was assigned the pastorship at St. Martin of Tours Episcopal Church across from South.
She was expected to attend private school, but she preferred the more diverse public school experience afforded by South.
"I wanted to be in the real world," she says.
This teacher of human geography loves the cultural melting pot there.
"South Omaha's always had working class diversity and it's always been an immigrant landing strip," she says, "but now those immigrants are coming from other places than just western and eastern Europe. They're coming from the Sudan. We've got a lot of Karen kids from Burma. We've obviously got a lot of Central and South American kids.
"South High is the most ethnically diverse high school in Nebraska. In any given class period I've got that rainbow looking right back at me. We have a microcosm of the planet right here."
For her, geography is more than a subject. "It's the world," she says."Geography is life."
As teachers, she says she and her colleagues are "in the business of building people." The art and science of reaching today's kids with their shorter attention spans and passive learning habits can be frustrating.
"There are many days when I'm like, 'I'm not doing this, this is hard, I'm going to quit,' and my kids all just laugh and go, 'You're a lifer.' Even my husband Glenn says, 'If you told even one of those kids you're going to give up teaching, the look on their face would change your mind like that," she says, snapping her fingers.
She knows he's right. Besides, she loves "the creativity" of lesson planning. Then too, she says, "I'm really not good for anything else. This is all I know.. so I guess I better stick it out."
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Gregory A. Eiesland concentrates his practice in the areas of catastrophic personal injuries, nursing home abuse and neglect, defective products, trucking cases and estate disputes. He is a fellow of AAJ's NCA, a past President of the South Dakota Trial Lawyers Association and of the South Dakota Bar Association, and was a recipient of the South Dakota Trial Lawyer of the Year Award. He served on AAJ's Board of Governors from 1989 – 2009 and received AAJ's Steven J. Sharp Award in 2003. He is a founding partner of the Johnson Eiesland Law Offices, P.C. in Rapid City, South Dakota.
Paul J. Komyatte is the founder of The Komyatte Law Firm, located in Golden, Colorado, where he concentrates his practice in automotive products liability litigation. He has successfully represented consumers in products liability lawsuits against most of the major automobile manufacturers. Mr. Komyatte has lectured nationwide, including at NCA programs. He is a frequent contributor to TRIAL magazine and has authored numerous magazine articles and seminar papers on crashworthiness litigation, discovery abuse, and trial preparation and strategy. Mr. Komyatte is a state certified firefighter with the Genesee Fire & Rescue volunteer fire department. He has also served as a pro bono volunteer lawyer for the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, the Land and Water Fund of the Rockies, the Chicago Bar Association Pro Bono law project, and the Denver Metro Volunteer Lawyers, and as chair of the Amnesty International Chicago Lawyers Committee.
Phillip H. Miller has an exclusively personal injury practice. Mr. Miller has handled a wide range of cases including trucking litigation, nursing home claims, pharmaceutical torts, and day care center child abuse. Mr. Miller has been recognized as one of the "Best of the Bar" by the Nashville Business Journal and as a Super Lawyer. In addition to his law practice, Mr. Miller has extensive experience working as a trial consultant on a wide variety of cases. He is a former member of AAJ's NCA Board of Trustees, a Diplomate of AAJ's NCA, and past president of the Tennessee Association for Justice. He is with the firm of Phillip Miller & Associates in Nashville, Tennessee.
Jerome F. O'Neill concentrates his practice in litigation on behalf of injured persons and their survivors, commercial litigation, and white collar criminal defense. He is cochair of AAJ's NCA Board of Trustees, a member of AAJ's Exchange Advisory Committee, and cochair of AAJ's Jury Bias Litigation Group. He is a past president of the Vermont Trial Lawyers Association, is certified as a Civil Trial Specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, and is the chair of the Vermont Supreme Court Evidence Rules Committee. He is a member of AAJ's Leaders Forum and AAJ's Products Liability Section. Mr. O'Neill is a partner in the firm of O'Neill Kellner & Green in Burlington, Vermont.
Terence R. Quinn is a frequent national CLE lecturer and a past member of AAJ's NCA Board of Trustees. Mr. Quinn is a member of AAJ's Board of Governors, Public Affairs Committee, and Stalwarts Committee, and a past president of both the State Bar of South Dakota and the South Dakota Trial Lawyers Association. He has coauthored two books, Anatomy for Attorneys and Medical Evidence. He is a partner in the Rapid City, South Dakota firm of Goodsell Quinn, LLP.
Karen R. Roberts worked as a broadcast journalist for news networks in Colorado and Nevada before becoming a lawyer. She served as vice president of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association (TTLA) and chair of the TTLA Board of Advocates. She has also served on AAJ's NCA Board of Trustees and was elected as a fellow of the American Bar Foundation. She is also a member of AAJ's Press Advisory Committee. Roberts & Roberts is located in Tyler, Texas where Ms. Roberts concentrates her practice in personal injury litigation.
Paul J. Scoptur is a founding partner in the plaintiff's personal injury litigation firm of Aiken & Scoptur, S.C. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is a current member and cochair of AAJ's NCA Board of Trustees, as well as a past member of the AAJ Board of Governors and a member of AAJ's Leaders Forum. Mr. Scoptur lectures on the state and national level in the area of trial skills. He is a member of the American Society of Trial Consultants, has extensive experience working as a trial consultant, and is a founding member of Miller, Scoptur, Vesper & Shar, a case consulting and litigation support firm. He has been named one of the Best Lawyers in America continuously since 2002 and is one of Wisconsin's top 50 Super Lawyers in the area of personal injury. Mr. Scoptur is a Diplomate of AAJ's NCA and has completed the Advanced Studies in Trial Advocacy curriculum offered by the NCA.

subset: commoncrawl


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Macclesfield is a market town in Cheshire.
Get in[edit]
Macclesfield is on the main train line between London and Manchester and is easily accessed from both by high speed trains (Manchester 20 minutes, London 1 hour 45 minutes). Some Cross Country services between Manchester and Birmingham also call at Macclesfield. Local stopping services are available to Manchester and Stoke-on-Trent. The train station is located in the town centre, just to the east of the main shopping area.
By road, the nearest motorway is the M6. From the north, take Junction 19, and travel through Knutsford. From the south, use Junction 17 and follow the signs for Congleton until Macclesfield is signposted. In either direction, the distance from the motorway is about 15 miles. From the east, the main road into the town is the A537 from Buxton, known as the Cat and Fiddle road after the pub at its summit. It is a scenic route, but in winter it is occasionally impassable.
Manchester Airport is 12 miles away. By taxi the fare is typically about £25 if pre-booked.
Get around[edit]
The town centre is easily traversable by foot. Buses to suburbs and nearby towns depart from the bus station on Queen Victoria Street. From the train station go up the hill and follow the road to the left.
- The 108 Steps, stairs running from east of St. Michael's down to Waters Green.
- The Swan with Two Necks, 65 Chestergate. 12:00 - 01:00. A warm and welcoming pub with drinks at decent prices (cheaper than the other pubs in Macclesfield but have a much wider range of drinks). Live bands play nearly every weekend and the music ranges from Indie to Metal to Tribute bands.
- Chadwick House Hotel, Beech Lane. Check-in: 14:00, check-out: 11:00. B&B style guesthouse close to the town centre. £38-59.
- Mottram Hall, Blackhurst Brow, Mottram St Andrew. Decadent 18th Century country house, 6 miles north-west of the town. £80-195.
- Premier Inn Macclesfield South West, Congleton Rd. Budget chain hotel on the outskirts of town. £34-76.
- Travelodge Macclesfield Central, Gas Rd. Macclesfield branch of the budget hotel chain. Opposite the train station. £15-55.


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Rec Sports Office, Half Acre Gym, Rm. 100
Dept. 3604
1000 E. University Ave.
Laramie, WY 82071
Phone: (307) 766-4175
Fax: (307) 766-6720
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Skip to Main Navigation. Each navigation link will open a list of sub navigation links.
Jarred CurryIntramural Sports Coordinator
Greg Durham - Intramural Graduate Assistant
Nick Barker - Intramural Supervisor
Zoe Christopulos - Intramural Supervisor
Drew Evans - Intramural Supervisor
Stetson Fancher - Senior Intramural Supervisor
Kaylee Findley - Senior Intramural Supervisor
Charli Fisher - Intramural Supervisor
Alex Landt - Intramural Supervisor
Fred Landt IV - Intramural Supervisor
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Jason Roascio - Intramural Supervisor
Nicole Strom - Senior Intramural Supervisor
The UW Intramural Sports Program offers paid work opportunities for officials, supervisors, and office assistants while still being able to participate in intramurals. Officials are needed for basketball, volleyball, flag football, soccer, tuber water polo, and softball. Previous experience as an official is desired but not required. Application forms are available in the Intramural Sports Office , Half Acre 206.
All intramural officials, new and old, are trained before the start of any intramural competition. Training clinics are mandatory and are held the week prior to the start of any intramural activity. If you are interested in intramural officiating, contact the Intramural Sports Office or come to our informational meeting on Tuesday September 4th at 9:00pm in the the Half Acre I&T room.
The University of Wyoming is an equal opportunity employer.
Intramural Employee Starting Pay Rates
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Employees receive a $.15 raise after every two semesters
o Officials' Fall Semester Training Sessions (pdf)
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All University of Wyoming students, faculty, staff, and spouses are eligible to compete in intramural activities provided they have access to all facilities and can present a valid UW identification card upon request. Intramurals are free of charge to all full-time students, faculty, and staff.


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A disturbing discovery in West Haven is still being investigated by police.
A burned body was found along the banks of the West River just off Boston Post Road on Wednesday.
Crews worked into the night investigating the scene, but at this point police have not released any additional details except for saying it was a white male.
Police said there hasn't been anyone reported missing in the area recently, and people that live near the scene said it's a place where a lot of homeless people set up shelter.
Copyright 2013 WFSB (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved.


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This picture is almost laughable. The dress is obviously too big (it's probably two sizes too big and it hasn't been pinned/clamped in this picture) but it looks like the dress is eating me alive. I showed J this picture and he was like "Is that even you?" He didn't even recognize me. Not only does it look like I've gained 20 lbs but it just looks so yucky on me.
I tried on a few strapless gown that same day, but for some reason, my computer decided to eat those pictures, so for reference, here I am in a strapless dress.


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Hurry over to the CVS FACEBOOK PAGE, click on the "Unreal Free Gift" tab, and fill out the form to get a coupon for FREE Unreal Candy!
Heads up: This is while supplies last on the coupons, so don't wait!
You will need your CVS Card Number to claim this freebie!


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This guidance has been replaced by CG127 Hypertension
This guidance has been replaced by CG127 Hypertension
The remit for this guideline was received from the Department of Health and the National Assembly for Wales.
The scope below defines what aspects of care are covered by the guideline and to whom it applies.
Development of the clinical guideline is under way and is being led by the Support and Research Unit. The Guideline Development Group meets regularly to oversee and assist the identification, review and synthesis of the evidence, the incorporation of expert consensus opinion and the translation of the evidence into recommendations for practice and audit criteria. Three versions of the guideline are under preparation: a full guideline, a NICE short-form guideline and information for the public.
See below for more information on the Institute's guideline development process.


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(AP) - Records show that the state of Tennessee sold a Memphis home to a company linked to Apple Inc. founder Steve Jobs in 2009 for $475,000 less than the state paid for it four years earlier.
State records obtained by The Commercial Appeal show that the state sold the former University of Tennessee Health Science Center chancellor's home to a limited liability corporation Jobs set up for $850,000 in March 2009. Jobs used the two-story home located in an exclusive neighborhood while recovering from a liver transplant in Memphis.
The state had purchased the home for $1,325,000 in 2005 for then-chancellor Bill Owen. After Jobs died last October, Dr. James Eason, Jobs' surgeon, bought the home.
Shelby County commissioners have questioned whether the transplant was connected to the house deal.
Information from: The Commercial Appeal.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
1960 Union Ave.
Memphis, TN 38104
(901) 726-0555
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Aprilaire 1200 Humidifier Filter, Genuine Media for Models 1120, 1130, & 1140
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About this Product
About the Aprilaire 1200 Replacement Humidifier Panel for Models 1130 and 1140
Irritants in the air of your living spaces can cause discomfort and even sickness if not filtered properly. That's why Aprilaire recommends replacing your air cleaner filter at least once, if not twice per year. The Aprilaire 1200 Replacement Humidifier Panel for Models 1120, 1130 and 1140 is a perfect replacement for your air cleaner, as it's an exact replacement to the standard filter.
Health & Home Benefits
Highly effective against pollen, dust, mold spores, pet dander and airborne bacteria, the Aprilaire 1200 Replacement Humidifier Panel for Models1120, 1130 and 1140 helps to eliminate irritants and harmful air particles that other filters can miss.
This highly effective filter comes ready to install right out of the box. If you are looking for the cleanest, freshest air, simply take a moment to install this new filter and feel the difference of clean air immediately. It's the best solution for your home!
Proper Maintenance
The Aprilaire 1200 Water Panel Evaporator should be swapped out at least one time a year to keep your home well hydrated. If you reside in an especially dry climate or if you use your humidifier quite a bit, you will need to change humidifier filters more often. Another thing to think about is if you live in an area with hard water, you will need to replace the filter twice a year to prevent significant build up from mineral deposits in the water. The Aprilaire 1200 Water Panel is very easy to replace. Remove the front cover of your humidifier, take out the old water panel evaporator, and slide in your new Aprilaire water panel. Bingo—you're ready to go. By using a humidifier regularly, you can encourage respiratory health at home, which will improve your quality of life. But you can also help maintain your house by using a humidifier. With consistent use, you can avoid damage to the interior molding, weatherstripping, and paint caused by living in a dry environmkent. When your humidifier is performing at peak efficiency, you'll make your house a better place to live in, inside and out.
Aprialire water panels are also referred to as humidifier pads, replacement humidifier filters, and water pads.
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This product comes in different variations.
Please view the product options below.
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(Makes 5 gallons) English Pales are not that bitter. Their is more emphasis on the malt which tends to have caramel and roasted notes. Traditionally these beers are poured from a cask, usually flat without any CO2. If you're serving this beer at home we encourage you to only carbonate around 6-8psi to have a true english pale ale experience.
Estimated Original Gravity:1.038-41
SRM (Color Range: 13
IBU's: 24-27 Estimated Alcohol Percentage: 4%
Our recipe kits DO NOT include grain bags or yeast. The recommended yeast(s) can be found below. All grains will come milled.
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State of alert declared in Buzau, Vrancea and Braila
The National Meteorology Administration (ANM) extended a Code Orange alert for blizzard for south-eastcounties.
Prime Minister Victor Ponta announced, yesterday, at the Winter Task Force meeting at Victoria Palace, that a state of alert has been declared in the eastern counties of Buzau, Braila and Vrancea starting 12 p.m. The request came from the National Committee for Emergencies.
The snow-clearing and rescue operations for the communities cut off by the snow in the three counties will be made under a single command from the Government level, Ponta explained. According to the Government's urgent act, a state of alert enables the authorities to take any measures required to prevent and remove the dangers entailed by an urgent situation.
According to Ponta, money for the intervention equipment and Diesel fuel necessary to clear snow from roads in the counties where an alert state has been issued will be ensured by the state reserve and army. At the same time, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Monday morning ordered the Air and Naval Forces to prepare aircraft and crews to intervene in the affected areas, to take off to the places affected by snow, to grant support to the persons encountering difficulties. A Code Red alert of bad weather was issued for Buzau, Braila, and Vrancea counties on Sunday, from 3.00 p.m. to 9.00 p.m., which subsequently changed to Code Orange until yesterday morning.
Also yesterday, the National Meteorology Administration (ANM) extended a Code Orange alert for blizzard for the counties in south-eastern Romania: Vrancea, Galati, Buzau, Braila, Tulcea, Constanta, Calarasi and Ialomita. According to the advisory, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., in these areas the wind speed will temporarily exceed 60 – 70 kmph, drifting the snow and keeping visibility low. At the same time, eastern Muntenia, Dobrogea and the biggest part of Moldova remain under a Code Yellow alert of blizzard till 11 p.m.. Here the wind will be gusting to 50 kmph, temporarily swirling up the snow. The counties under Code Yellow warning are Iasi, Bacau and Vaslui.
ANM representatives have more bad news in store. Although wind intensity started decreasing yesterday, the weather is bound to become worse again in south Romania as of tomorrow morning. Meteorologists are considering issuing a new strong wind alert for this area, which will take effect tomorrow morning and end Thursday at noon. Romania will experience a "break" from bad weather from Thursday until February 3 or 4, Ion Sandu, Director of ANM, stated, as cited by Mediafax.
Road and railway traffic still difficult
Around 60 motortrucks and 80 cars have been stuck for almost 48 hours on DN 2, at the entry point into Buzau County from Bucharest on the Buzau beltway, as well as in Ramnicu Sarat. Roads have been closed due to blizzard and snow since Saturday. Sunday night, authorities in Buzau offered drivers food necessities and 10 liters of fuel each.
Nonetheless, Infotrafic Center has announced that traffic on three national roads – DN31 Manastirea to Calarasi (Calarasi County), DN22A, and DN21 Calarasi to Braila – has been resumed. Likewise, as of 12.20 p.m., traffic on DN22A, Urziceni – Slobozia stretch, has been resumed. Traffic on these roads is encumbered and vehicles weighing over 7.5 tons have restricted access.
Railway traffic is also encumbered, as two railways are closed, 13 have restricted traffic, and 81 trains were cancelled due to bad weather, according to CFR Calatori. Furthermore, a train travelling from Bucharest North to Vatra Dornei was 100 minutes late, while another train travelling from Unghieni to Bucharest North arrived 90 minutes late. One train that was travelling from Bucharest to Targoviste with 80 passengers on board was stuck near Nucet locality (Dambovita County) early yesterday, after the plough in charge of clearing snow for the train locomotive malfunctioned. Passengers were eventually transported to their destination by two buses.
Around 700 emergency calls and 387 confirmed emergencies
The Bucharest-Ilfov Emergency Service received around 700 calls in the last 16 hours, 387 of which were confirmed emergencies, including 25 cases of fractures and sprains. Dr. Alis Grasu, Manager of the Bucharest-Ilfov Emergency Service, stated nine faintness cases were reported in public spaces and seven calls were made regarding persons who had collapsed in the street. 22 persons were taken to shelters by ambulance.
MEN: Schools in Bucharest and 14 other counties still closed
Schools in Bucharest and Ilfov, Arges, Calarasi, Constanta, Galati, Ialomita, Iasi, Mehedinti, Prahova, Tulcea, Valcea, Vrancea, Buzau, and Giurgiu counties will remain closed today, according to a report issued by the Ministry of Education for school inspectorates. However, kindergartens will be opened in some counties – Buzau and Giurgiu – to help parents, although schools are still closed. In Braila, schools located in the county capital will be open.