2013

Creativity Is My Livelihood

Education

Ann’s Story Creativity is my livelihood. I have several jobs. I am a professional musician (a classical pianist), a teacher, and an artistic director of a major performing arts center. I am lucky each of these jobs is centered on music and the arts and I am given a tremendous amount of freedom to be […]

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Opening the Past Is My Livelihood

Humanities

Jeff’s Story I’ve loved history and traveling the Great Plains for as long as I can remember. My mom and dad loaded my brothers and me into the camper every summer to take off for points in Nebraska, Minnesota, Wyoming, Montana, and the Dakotas, so I grew up knowing what a broad, diverse, and beautiful […]

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Vintage Fashion Is My Livelihood

Susan’s Story I have a passion for Vintage Fashion! Ever since I was a little girl I have loved to play dress up. My mother influenced me with her love of old things. As a result, vintage clothing has developed into much more than a hobby for me. Vintage clothing helps me connect to the […]

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Collage Art Is My Livelihood

Arts

Bradley’s Story Livelihood can be defined as the means of securing the necessities of life. I earn my living arranging waves of boxes into very thin long lines, which flow from city to city, state to state across the nation; coordinating intermodal containers for the Union Pacific Railroad. And while I have a career in logistics that provides […]

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Author Visits Are My Livelihood

Humanities

Erika’s Story I was in 6th grade at Morley Elementary in Lincoln when my teacher announced that Ivy Ruckman would visit our school. She had just published Night of the Twisters, a book that amazed me because it wasn’t remote and it wasn’t entirely imaginary. It was about an event that I remembered in a […]

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Choreography Is My Livelihood

Marian’s Story I see choreography in everyday life. Whether it’s cars moving to the side of the road to make way for an ambulance or someone holding open the door for the next customer at the convenience store, people know the steps and understand their role in the dance. I continue to be moved by the commitment we […]

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Drawing Is My Livelihood

Arts

Bruce’s Story Each of us has an itch that needs to be scratched. I may be presuming a lot here, but good hygiene aside, I believe we all have a need—an “itch”—of one sort or another that’s woven into the fabric of who we are. My “itch” happens to be drawing. For as long as I can remember, […]

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Seven Doctors Project Is My Livelihood

Steve’s Story Seven Doctors Project, which I formed in spring 2008 at the Nebraska Medical Center, was an experiment—of the non-scientific variety. I wanted to see what would happen if mid-career physicians who were encountering job dissatisfaction or burnout joined a writing workshop led by area writers. I also wanted to see what would happen if the physicians […]

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Creating a Course of Life Is My Livelihood

Arts

Russ’s Story “Livelihood” is a word I’ve heard all my life. I looked at the origin of the word and found livelihood is an alteration of Middle English – livelode, or “course of life.” How did my course of life end up in the arts? When thinking about this my mind goes to memory fragments from my very […]

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Music Is My Livelihood

Hector’s Story When I was sixteen I lived on a farm in Missouri in a densely-forested area. We grew up mostly without cable TV because the lines didn’t reach out as far as we lived. There were a few times when my mother got satellite (you know, the old school kind that looked like you were trying to […]

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