Opening Windows to the Present. Joining Together thru Mystery of the Past
By Ellen 'Asia ' Scudder, MLS.
By Ellen 'Asia ' Scudder, MLS.
This story begins with an article I resisted reading for over 5 years It is an article my brother handed
out copies of, to myself and our 4 other siblings, after our father’s death. That is, as we sorted through
family memorabilia and other items in his soon-to-be empty Omaha apartment/ The article my brother
Steven handed out is titled, “The White-Collar Hippie” and it appeared in a rag The Man’s Sun
in August 1970 with a quote from my Dad as a tagline,
out copies of, to myself and our 4 other siblings, after our father’s death. That is, as we sorted through
family memorabilia and other items in his soon-to-be empty Omaha apartment/ The article my brother
Steven handed out is titled, “The White-Collar Hippie” and it appeared in a rag The Man’s Sun
in August 1970 with a quote from my Dad as a tagline,
“I decided that making money was not all there was to practicing law ..
The best reformer is one who reforms himself.”
It is a story about my father who apparently was standing before a court arguing for a buffer zone,
a parkway, between a new development that abutted a low-income housing district. He planned to
argue for a park to host a myriad of activities and included a clean-up effort providing for
environmental benefits as well as areas for park-like atmosphere for a variety of uses with a wide mix
of people. As of this writing I have no idea whether he was successful in that endeavor or not.
I silently cuss to myself as I start my journey and research it in spite of my internal resistance:
environmental benefits as well as areas for park-like atmosphere for a variety of uses with a wide mix
of people. As of this writing I have no idea whether he was successful in that endeavor or not.
I silently cuss to myself as I start my journey and research it in spite of my internal resistance:
I’m not happy to say that there is an old abandoned warehouse across from where my studio is.
I”m not happy to say that many people are considering how to develop this area into a multi-use area
or that I want to have/do not want to have a voice or weigh in from my perspective. From a perceived
privileged background I wonder am I destined to be seen even more of a meddling outsider?
What do I know of the heritage, the history of this place. And what is driving me to see things so
darn futuristically - to have a vision or any sort of clarity for this area -why do I care?
But on the other hand, how is it that I also long to pursue my art. I hear it from a selfish standpoint
in between my ears that to be in this life for me and to develop creatively is ‘irresponsible’. But to
take a goddamn rest “from saving the world”? The curious paradox, the nature of how does one rest
from carrying the world on their shoulders, when in every step we interact with this world. Do I trust
others, you who are reading this perhaps, to make sure I am in a healthy environment? I do use stuff
that adds complexity to decisions on how to eat ( I used to scoff at gluten-free) but now I am
flummoxed re: what to buy, what not to eat or buy?
that adds complexity to decisions on how to eat ( I used to scoff at gluten-free) but now I am
flummoxed re: what to buy, what not to eat or buy?
And in every direction there is some need. When I see waste discarded, weeds growing up in
abandoned areas -- I believe waste areas could host community gardens, and I begin to envision
educational opportunities, communities that could be built around fun kids play areas, gardens, dog
parks, events, art or creativity, business functionality and technological advances that integrate
multiple interests (such as solar-powered charging stations)? My mind whirls daily with new concepts,
visionary daydreams, ideas for how our choices on our planet could make an impact, today.
I hear my conversations from my Dad, mini-lectures really, on our way to school, working in the
garden together, as he coached our softball team...here is the article:
I hear my conversations from my Dad, mini-lectures really, on our way to school, working in the
garden together, as he coached our softball team...here is the article:
Like many of us, I have resistance, to truly end my need to be my father’s daughter. I despise what
he represented for me personally. In the over-sized image my dad is seen donning a plaid suit jacket
with what we came to know as his common appearance of a trimmed dark beard and wavy dark hair .
Standing in profile in this image - with dilapidated buildings on the horizon behind him - is a second
quote: I am his daughter, I think, as my stomach twists a bit with agitation - what does it mean that
was both hit and sexually abused by this same man? What about my own internal rubble that was left
behind when he destroyed, or attempted destruction of my fortitude? Or what is it, how has it possibly
happened that I have picked up the same causes in my life? The same causes that have caused so
much confusion, rattled my nervous system to the point of near total exhaustion, plus weighted me
with a huge amount of confusion when I consider myself-my responsibility to my family.
Ripples of confusion work their way to the surface like the metaphoric whale coming to the surface
gasping for air. This same person, this man who also regarded women in our household as objects.
He was also a practitioner of healing arts, therapy, AA, a volunteer, a hearing examiner for worker’s
rights for the State of Nebraska.
I have been a warrior in many respects and for the benefit of others or not, I stood up. As a child
and/or as an adult, I was not going to be told what to do. Standing fiercely in my need for
independence meant standing with some dignity or pride. It also meant that I would have many
arguments with many people going forward about what I felt were my rights as a mother, a spouse,
citizen, a sister and so forth. I was not always in the right in these territorial arguments. What I wanted, what I felt I deserved
was the right to voice my initial perspective, to discuss, to work out mediation towards a commonly
held solution albeit without a strategy there was a lot at stake emotionally, physically, financially -
stress would come to be characterized as PTSD moments that were shamed by my father as well.
and/or as an adult, I was not going to be told what to do. Standing fiercely in my need for
independence meant standing with some dignity or pride. It also meant that I would have many
arguments with many people going forward about what I felt were my rights as a mother, a spouse,
citizen, a sister and so forth. I was not always in the right in these territorial arguments. What I wanted, what I felt I deserved
was the right to voice my initial perspective, to discuss, to work out mediation towards a commonly
held solution albeit without a strategy there was a lot at stake emotionally, physically, financially -
stress would come to be characterized as PTSD moments that were shamed by my father as well.
“Environmentalist, herbalist, organic gardens, seeking solutions that benefitted many....”
I read on and I feel an inescapable drawing in of breath, I am holding my breath “What is, is” I hear in
my thoughts. But I have not yet released or drawn in a second breath. I put the article aside and
return to research, ‘24th and Q-streeet, Omaha, Nebraska”. This is what I found:
I read on and I feel an inescapable drawing in of breath, I am holding my breath “What is, is” I hear in
my thoughts. But I have not yet released or drawn in a second breath. I put the article aside and
return to research, ‘24th and Q-streeet, Omaha, Nebraska”. This is what I found:
South 24th Street business district named one of 15 Great Places in America
● By Christopher Burbach / / World-Herald staff writer
● Oct 4, 2016
An international organization of professional planners has named Omaha’s reborn South 24th Street
business district to its 2016 list of 15 Great Places in America. American Planning Association President
Carol Rhea presented the award to Omaha City Councilman Garry Gernandt and Mayor Jean Stothert
at 24th and N Streets on Monday. Speeches were made at the Plaza de La Raza, between the Kubat
Pharmacy — in a building that city planners helped renovate with federal dollars in the 1980s —
and the Happy Faces Child Development Center and doctor’s office complex that immigrant doctors
invested more than $1 million in about a decade ago.
https://www.omaha.com/news/metro/south-th-street-business-district-named-one-of-great-
place s/article_01585cad-b429-5db3-8e01-03244e15f3e3.html
business district to its 2016 list of 15 Great Places in America. American Planning Association President
Carol Rhea presented the award to Omaha City Councilman Garry Gernandt and Mayor Jean Stothert
at 24th and N Streets on Monday. Speeches were made at the Plaza de La Raza, between the Kubat
Pharmacy — in a building that city planners helped renovate with federal dollars in the 1980s —
and the Happy Faces Child Development Center and doctor’s office complex that immigrant doctors
invested more than $1 million in about a decade ago.
https://www.omaha.com/news/metro/south-th-street-business-district-named-one-of-great-
place s/article_01585cad-b429-5db3-8e01-03244e15f3e3.html
Next installment. From article in Omaha World Herald. Published May 8, 2005:
“South 24th Street was dying. Where elbow-to-elbow throngs once bustled
through department stores, furniture showrooms, shoe shops, bakeries and bars, more than half the storefronts along 24th Street from L to Q Streets were vacant by the mid-1980s.” https://www.omaha.com/townnews/commerce/th-street-gets-back-up-on-its-fee t/article_1aadefd2-8a85-11e6-81ac-fff9046507f6.html
“South 24th Street was dying. Where elbow-to-elbow throngs once bustled
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