Mikala’s Story Do not for the sake of doing, but for the sake of feeling. That’s my mantra. In the realm of inspiration and art and beauty, there are few words more overused than “creativity.” And yet here I am—a supposed writer for hire—telling you that I feel alive through creative expression. It’s what I […]
Read ArticleLouder Than a Bomb is Nebraska’s largest youth poetry festival. As a Nebraska Writers Collective initiative, this festival encourages a friendly competition that emphasizes self-expression and community via poetry, storytelling, and hip-hop spoken word. In the spirit of the Louder Than a Bomb finals this weekend, we’re GIVING AWAY a signed, limited edition of Ted Kooser’s Lights […]
Read ArticleMaking Meaning: Heather’s Story These things inspire me: Thomas Jefferson’s design for the Rotunda at the University of Virginia, Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen’s sculpture “Torn Notebook” on the campus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Willa Cather’s brilliant novel of loss and survival on the Great Plains, My Antonia. Architecture, art, history, and literature all make […]
Read ArticleWhat would you do to ensure a livelihood for the arts and humanities? We know someone who loves them so much, she is embarking on a dangerous quest to make sure they flourish. Meet Livi: [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCNP-DwCUPE]
Read ArticleNic’s Story I was seven years old when I took my father’s drill apart to see how it worked, only to find that I couldn’t put it back together well enough to see it ever work again. He was upset of course, but his frustration was quickly turned when he found out I had used, or misused […]
Read ArticleGabrielle’s Story “I am because you are, and because we are, I am.” -Ubuntu/Zulu Philosophy I came from parents who discovered in the mid-1960s that love transcends skin color. My mother and father, one from a small farming town in Iowa and the other from Cabrini-Green projects in Chicago, endured trials and tribulations together because of […]
Read ArticleKelli’s Story Painting is my livelihood…and at one point I fought it tooth and nail. Now don’t get me wrong, art has resonated in me always. I remember spending hours as a little kid taking chunks of tree bark and whittling them into shapes on the rough surface of the sidewalk, my days punctuated by more cat […]
Read ArticleJeff’s Story I first learned how to draw cartoons by studying the comics section of the Sunday World-Herald. I would spend hours on the living room floor, or in my bedroom, sheets of paper and pens and crayons spread around me, trying my best to recreate Snoopy, Charlie Brown, and the many other characters that populated the Sunday Funnies. […]
Read ArticleBrad’s Story When I was a kid my parents always said, “If you love what you do for a living you’ll never work a day in your life.” To me, a child only concerned with Spider-Man, G.I. Joe and who would win if they ever had to battle, that sounded wonderful. I was 12 when […]
Read ArticleSuzanne’s Story The Decisive Moment (with apologies to Henri Cartier-Bresson.) As the daughter of an art teacher, I grew up surrounded by art books. My childhood summers were spent pouring through them, marveling at the velvet cushioned swing featured in Fragonard’s The Swing (which differed substantially from the splinter-inducing apparatus in Lincoln’s Pioneer Park) and staring in guilty fascination at […]
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