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The Nebraska State Legislature is back in session. This is often a chaotic moment where it can be difficult have a good sense of what the agendas at play really are–what is being debated, how initial proposed legislation evolves over the course of a session, or what all of the implications are of what is passing. So Wes Dodge is back today in conversation with Tom Knoblauch to parse through the current state of the legislature, what we might expect to pass this session, and how you can get involved by contacting your representative.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/riversidechats/support

This show is ostensibly about the Midwest. The culture we create. The culture we consume. The way culture leads to art, to politics, and to history. But the Midwest can be a squishy concept without obvious shape or definition. Jon Lauck hopes to change that through his work contextualizing the overlooked cultural story and influence of the Midwest. He teaches history and political science at the University of South Dakota and is the author of The Good Country: A History of the American Midwest. In this conversation with Tom Knoblauch, Lauck outlines his mission to establish a new historical discourse grounded in fair readings of the American past by locating a middle ground in the center of the country. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/riversidechats/support

Keith Rodger is a musician, producer and audio engineer who performs as Kethro. Rodger has made a name for himself in the music industry while based in his hometown of Omaha. In 2014, he started touring as an engineer with The Faint, Tuxedo, and CeeLo Green. He honed his craft as a DJ and sound designer at local outlets including eighty-nine-seven The River, Make Believe Studios and Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts. Today, he’s in conversation with Maria Corpuz about the Omaha music scene, how it can grow, and how it’s changed since the COVID pandemic. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/riversidechats/support

Mixed media artist Jeff Sedrel has a series of floral paintings in an exhibition at the Garden of the Zodiac Gallery through January 29. He was a 2017 Fellow at the Union for Contemporary Art under a collaborative multimedia project with Noah Sterba called Slowed Soul. Sedrel was nominated for two Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards in 2020. His recent work has also been featured at Project Project, Landlock Gallery and the Michael Phipps Gallery, where he exhibited with Holly Kranker. Today he and Tom Knoblauch discuss his process, the efficacy of art in today's digital world, and why he felt compelled to focus on flowers for his latest work.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/riversidechats/support

If you’ve been listening to Riverside Chats for a while, you’ve heard conversations with a lot of people running for office. Some of them got elected. A lot didn’t. The kind of people who want this platform, to have an hour on the radio, are often ones looking to break into the political scene or to move from a lower level to something more prominent. But Nebraska, just like the country at large, often instead reelects incumbents. So though this show has highlighted many visions for a significantly changed Nebraska (and country in general), the truth is that things mostly look the same here year after year. So why is that?  Today, Ja Keen Fox returns for a conversation with Tom Knoblauch about his theory of romantic activism, the lessons he has learned from organizing and working in the community in a time of Democratic defeat, and what he sees as the way out of Nebraska's political stasis. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/riversidechats/support

Jody Keisner’s new memoir Under My Bed is an exploration of anxiety, control, fear, and ritual. Keisner teaches at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and is from rural Nebraska, which sets the stage for the central ritual of the book: checking under her bed to make sure she was safe. In this conversation with Tom Knoblauch, Keisner discusses anxiety, memoirs, self-exploration, and her writing process. Under My Bed is available now wherever you get books. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/riversidechats/support

Tim Guthrie is a visual artist, art professor at Creighton, and an award winning filmmaker. His work has been included in collections at the Boise Art Museum, the Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art, the Plemmons Collection of Contemporary Art, and the Leigh Lane Edwards Collection of Contemporary Art. His documentary, Missing Piece, which chronicles his own grieving process after the death of his wife, has garnered significant attention and awards across the globe. In conversation with Tom Knoblauch on today's show, Guthrie discusses all of this along with his installations Extraordinary Rendition and Nuclear Dichotomies in his broader project of using art to both explore his reaction to the world around him and inspire critical thought.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/riversidechats/support

Charles Kay Jr. is a first-generation Thai-American visual artist whose work explores assimilation, identity and the American Dream. Kay’s parents immigrated from Thailand in the 1960s and anglicized their names to fit in. Much of Kay’s work explores the toll of assimilation on his own family and the immigrant experience at large. His exhibition “Unseen: Emerging from the Currents of Assimilation” is on display at Kaneko through February 5, 2023. In this conversation with Maria Corpuz, he shares his experience growing up in Omaha with immigrant parents, the racism he and his family have endured, and his changing relationship with his Asian-American identity. Learn more about "Unseen" here.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/riversidechats/support

We talk about the climate crisis a lot on this show and a common theme that comes up is not just that we need to hope for miracle cures but that we need to rethink our relationship with the natural world. But what does that look like? Some people work to reduce their emissions through who they vote for or where their electricity comes from, and others seek to reduce the amount of plastic they consume. Another option is to embrace nature–which actually starts right in your yard. Today Tom Knoblauch talks with Aaron Urbanski, whose business Earth Sculptors converts lawns into food forests and implements sustainable lawn care services and restores diminishing wildlife habitats via sustainable local food systems. Learn more at earthsculptors.com. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/riversidechats/support

A lot of waves have been made in the past decade regarding student loans and the sometimes predatory nature of higher education. It has become a common refrain among Democrats to support varying degrees of student loan relief and forgiveness, essentially framed as an economic stimulus and a salve for those stuck with crippling debt. Republicans generally find this kind of targeted debt relief to be ridiculous, such as Don Bacon in September lamenting that reducing the debt incurred by young people seeking a degree would be a real problem for military recruitment and retention.  Eyes now are on President Biden’s promise to forgive up to $20,000 in federal student loans, which has been challenged in court by several states–including Nebraska–and will be playing out over the next several months. Today Matthew Wurstner is back on the show to give an overview of the student loan program, the attempted relief, and the likely outcome in court. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/riversidechats/support

Many episodes of this show grapple with the perhaps unanswerable question: why is America the way it is? Is there something inherent in American culture that answers where we're going? Kurt Andersen has been exploring the nature of American culture throughout his varied career, from co-founding Spy Magazine, writing for Time and The New Yorker,  writing several novels, hosting the public radio show Studio 360, and most comprehensively through his recent two volume history of America: Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire and Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America. He’s here today in conversation with Tom Knoblauch about his intellectual journey and the answers he has found in both our fantasies and our histories—and what this means for America's future.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/riversidechats/support

Ballot initiatives can be a pain to read and to put in context, so today's show is an in-depth look at two of the initiatives on this year's ballot, 433 and 432: their scope, the reasons why they made the ballot, and what it means for Nebraska if they pass or fail.  In the first part of today's show, Maria Corpuz talks with Senator Terrell McKinney about Initiative 433, which would incrementally increase the state's minimum wage from $9 to $15 by 2026. Then, Tom Knoblauch talks with Heather Engdahl, director of voting rights at Civic Nebraska, about Initiative 432, which would amend Article I of the Nebraska Constitution to require voters to present valid photo identification in order to vote.   --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/riversidechats/support

Last year, a petition circulated which would replace the Nebraska State Board of Education, Education Commissioner, and Nebraska Department of Education with a new, ambiguous Office of Education, which would be accountable directly to the Governor. It didn’t pass, but it’s not the first time this idea has been floated here, and such proposals have passed in states like Oregon. But what is the Nebraska State Board of Education? Who is on it? What do they do? Today, Deborah Neary is here in conversation with Tom Knoblauch to tell her story and explain what the function of the Board is–as well as her vision for its future if she is reelected to her seat this November. Later in the show, Jared Charles reviews David Gordon Green's new 'Halloween' trilogy. Check out his writing here: theburrowreviews.com. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/riversidechats/support

If you’ve ever voted before, you probably were really excited or scared about a couple of candidates at the top of the ballot. We talk all the time on this show about how a healthy democracy requires some investment in the less splashy stuff lower on the ballot too–like the county attorney or municipal board director–but another element of the ballot that can cause headaches for the average, not particularly nerdy voter is the section with initiatives. Ballot initiatives are often written in dense, complex syntax that make it difficult to decipher what exactly you’re voting for.  Even if you understand the basic argument, it’s not always clear what their implications are or how voting either way will affect you. So we thought it’d be worth taking a show to dissect to talk about that annoying, boring section of the ballot that you’ll see this November. Matthew Wurstner is back on the show, talking with Tom Knoblauch about the concept of ballot initiatives, Nebraska’s history with them, and what made the cut this year. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/riversidechats/support

Chip Davis has been making music for over five decades, scoring his first chart-topper in 1976 with "Convoy," the song he co-wrote with Bill Fries. He was named Country Music Writer of the Year in 1976 and of course you’ve probably heard of the group he founded, Mannheim Steamroller, and the label he created to release its music, American Gramaphone, both of which have captivated listeners and audiences since 1974. Today he tells his story to Tom Knoblauch of succeeding against the odds, making Omaha his, and the importance of creating space for art.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/riversidechats/support

The culture war these days is heavily focused on schools, with many prominent elected officials in Nebraska calling for defunding public education in favor of vouchers for charter schools. Today Rachel Gibson and Sarah Smolen talk to Tom Knoblauch about the education climate, how to navigate a culture war that often is intentionally vague and operating in bad faith and possible solutions they are offering through their work on the Education Policy Action Team for the League of Women Voters of Nebraska, which has just launched Schools 101: an awareness initiative for parents, neighbors, community groups, advocacy groups, and anyone impacted by public education here in Nebraska.  Learn more about Schools 101 here. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/riversidechats/support

Wes Dodge is on the boards for Rank the Vote Nebraska, Common Cause Nebraska, Represent Us Omaha, and Non-Partisan Nebraska. He sees the possibility of meaningful reforms to our political chaos through adopting ranked choice elections and moving toward a nonpartisan vision of governance instead of our highly polarized current climate. Today he and Tom Knoblauch talk about what ranked choice voting would look like compared to what we are used to as well as how polarization is largely rooted in monied interests obscuring what voters want and keeping the focus on culture war noise. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/riversidechats/support

Dr. Lisa Knopp teaches creative nonfiction at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and has written several books, including Bread, What the River Carries, and Field of Vision. Her latest book is From Your Friend, Carey Dean: Letters from Nebraska’s Death Row, which chronicles her friendship with Carey Dean Moore, who spent 38 years on death row before his execution in 2018.  On today's show, Knopp talks to Tom Knoblauch about how her earlier writing, which was largely focused on place, has come to encompass the broader political questions of why and how a place becomes what it is, as well as how she came to be a death penalty abolitionist in a state where many in the largely Christian culture support capital punishment instead of the possibility of redemption. Check out her book here.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/riversidechats/support

Cindy Maxwell-Ostdiek is an independent candidate running to represent District 4 on Nebraska's State Legislature. She is the president of Rank the Vote Nebraska and serves on the advisory board for Nonpartisan Nebraska. Today she talks to Tom Knoblauch about her vision for a nonpartisan approach to governing as both a way to address hyperpolarization and to better ensure that constituent concerns get represented without the middle man of national party operations.  You can learn more about her campaign here.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/riversidechats/support

A common concern expressed on this show is about not just the climate crisis but the seeming inability that we have to talk about existential risks like global warming because so much of our bandwidth is taken up by the noise of culture wars. In previous conversations regarding updating our grids to accommodate renewable energy, a concept has come up that didn’t get much time but is gaining traction as a model for what can help undo the damage of the past: regeneration. Commonly this is employed through farming and grazing practices that restore degraded soil biodiversity – sequestering carbon and improving the water cycle.  Today Graham Christensen, founder and president of GC Resolve, GC Revolt, and member of Regenerate Nebraska, talks with Tom Knoblauch about his work to increase mobilization of the general public in order to build regenerative, resilient communities and equip them with the tools they need to effectively make a difference within the climate crisis, ensuring a stabler, healthier future for not just humans but our ecosystems in general. Reach out to Congressman Bacon with your thoughts on what was discussed in today's episode here.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/riversidechats/support