Out and about
Today I revisited a few places from my ninety-three travels along with some new ones. The day started out miserably enough in Grand Island. The sky dark gray and sad, cold rain steadily falling for hours. Around 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the sun began to make hurried appearances before the clouds finally gave way.
I keep telling myself that I'll let the project be, but I can't seem to let go and call it finished. Every time I am ready to close it out, I decide to go back and improve an image or two (or three). As much as I may want to move on to something else, this state always finds a way to reel me back in. There's a freedom to Nebraska, the vast openness and peaceful solitude of the countryside, that I can never get enough of.
The above photograph is from the village of Alda, a small bump in the road just west of Grand Island on U.S. Highway 30. The rain was practically a downpour at this point.
Also visited: Wood River, Cairo, Howard City, Rockville, Loup City, Sherman Reservoir, Ansley, Mason City, Litchfield, Hazard and Ravenna.
Play Ball
Perhaps the most well known of South Omaha's landmarks, Rosenblatt Stadium has hosted the College World Series since 1950. 2010 marks the last summer for the ol' ballpark. A new park is being built north of downtown to host the Series starting next June.
I love the place, if mostly for sentimental reasons. The stadium itself isn't all that charming. For example, the gray concrete concourses beneath the seating are about as uninviting as a person could make them. But it's a great setting for baseball and I'll miss spending lazy summer evenings in the stands watching the Omaha Royals play.
On this Monday night, all the scoring came early and the game wound up tied 2 to 2 after 9 innings. Former University of Nebraska standout Alex Gordon, recently demoted to Triple A to learn the ins and outs of left field, drove in the winning run with a single in the bottom of the 11th.
The Magic City
A few months ago, I moved to a house on 13th Street right near the South Omaha bridge. In a matter of just a few weeks, I fell in love with this part of town. There's just so much character and revitalization everywhere you look. The people of South Omaha have changed over the years, from the Czech and Irish immigrants of the early 20th century to the Hispanic immigrants of today, but the spirit of the community continues to thrive.
Today begins a new project for myself, an attempt to document the neighborhoods, details and people that make up South Omaha. It'll be a learning experience for me. I've grown used to traveling hundreds of miles to find potential photographs. Now I've confined myself to a space little more than eight miles north to south and even less from east to west. While something like ninety-three was understandably superficial in nature, this subject requires much more depth to be successful. I'm looking forward to the challenge (and the frustration).
The old South Omaha bridge was demolished in February. Last week, the new bridge opened for the first time. While the new bridge doesn't have the charm of the old one, it's bound to be a lot safer. The photograph above shows what little remains of the old bridge alongside the new construction.
Another Joseph Vavak
There haven't been very many Joseph Vavaks in the world. At the moment, there might be a handful of us here in the United States. Not many more. Interestingly, the Smithsonian American Art Museum has six paintings by another Joseph Vavak.
Joseph Vavak was, as far as I know, unrelated to myself. Born in Austria in 1899, raised in Chicago and eventually passing away in Stotebury, Missouri in 1969. Most of the work I have found is from his time as a Works Projects Administration artist in Chicago during the 30's and 40's. Along with the Smithsonian, there are also paintings in the collections of the Illinois State Museum and the University of Kentucky Art Museum.
I plan on researching this Joseph Vavak more. It's fascinating to me that someone with the same (admittedly unusual) name as myself was such a wonderful artist.
