Revisiting eastern Iowa

There are days where a person sets out to photograph, only to struggle to come up with anything that really catches the eye. Today definitely was one of those days. To make matters worse, the weather made things difficult, with fairly bright gray skies and very little sunshine to balance them out. Around six o'clock, it was dark enough that nightfall seemed imminent.

I revisited many of the places that my grandparents and I traveled to last summer, spending some more time exploring, hoping to find details I might have missed. There are a few promising photographs, and I'm sure I'll find more after I spend more time going over them in the coming weeks. Sometimes I'll look through a series of photographs a hundred times and still find something new.

The photograph above is of the Ladora Savings Bank building in Ladora. The building's history can be found here. On the same website, there are photographs of my Great Grandma Calvert and the 24-hour cafe she operated during the 1950's across the street from the Savings Bank.

Also visited: Malcom, Brooklyn, Carnforth, Victor, Marengo, West Amana, South Amana, Williamsburg, Parnell, North English, South English, Keswick, Thornburg and Barnes City.

Concert For Equality

"She said that musicians sound silly when they talk about politics. I'm certain that Woody Guthrie wasn't a silly man." - David Rawlings

In a past life, I spent quite a bit of time writing about music and politics on a couple of websites that I'm sure most have forgotten. Since the demise of the last site, somedaynever, I've maybe attended one live show a year and haven't spent near as much time spouting off political opinions. It would appear that politics have become even more polarizing over the last decade, but I'm sure the more things seem like they change, the more they stay the same.

Tonight was the Concert For Equality in the downtown Benson, one of the many neighborhoods that have been absorbed into Omaha over the last century. The show was a bit of a throwback to seven or eight years ago, back when Saddle Creek was just beginning to reach a wider audience and the label's roster played shows together on a regular basis. All proceeds from the concert went to the ACLU to aid in their lawsuit to prevent the city of Fremont from enforcing controversial immigration laws similar to what the state of Arizona is attempting to do. Counter-protesters promised to gather just outside the concert gates, but none were to be found when I arrived around 7 pm.

I was most impressed by the performance of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, pictured above with Conor Oberst and members of Bright Eyes on stage for their finale. Rawlings played a song of his own which wandered into a fiery rendition of some of Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land," and was easily the highlight of the show. Bright Eyes sounded great, as did Cursive, and seeing Desaparecidos on stage for the first time in eight years felt good, if a bit like traveling back in time.

I'd like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the hard work of everyone at Nebraska Appleseed. They tirelessly work to make Nebraska a better place for all of us who don't have the patience to deal with the frustration of making change happen in a stubborn world. I am incredibly grateful that such dedicated people exist.

Wahoo!

When I was growing up, Wahoo was sort of a mythical place. It was always the last town we drove through on the way to my Grandparents' house in Prague. And that name.. It just didn't seem like anyone would actually name a town after a goofy celebratory yelp.

Wahoo lies about a half hour west of Omaha's western edge. Despite the unusual name, it's a fairly typical Nebraska small town. I've passed through Wahoo countless times, but I hadn't ever taken the time to photograph it until today. It was a great day to be out and about, with a little more mild temperatures than we've had the last couple of weeks, and just the right amount of clouds to occasionally give some cover from the sun.

I (slowly) continue to work on my family project. While I like some of the images, the whole idea just hasn't managed to quite completely click with me as of yet. Perhaps another visit to eastern Iowa will help everything take shape.

Also visited: Ashland, Memphis, Ithaca, Weston, Brainard and Malmo.

A random drive...

With nothing at all to do today, I started driving east into Iowa. Not much to report, really. Just a nice drive on a hot summer day. Iowa is far prettier than Nebraska, with rolling hills and green nearly everywhere you look.

The top photograph was taken near Cumberland. The bottom was taken a few miles north of Greenfield.