1
2E • THURSDAY, MAY 8, 2014 OMAHA WORLD-HERALD LIVING TODAY’S SOLUTIONS Like Miles, Kevin Cruise gave up on unnatural shampoo. He stopped using it regularly about 10 years ago. Now, he washes his thick hair every two months or so using Dr. Bron- ner’s or some other organic shampoo. When he washes his curly hair, it frays out. “It just needs to be a little dirty, I think, to feel right to me,” he said. Cruise said he has always been sensitive to beauty prod- ucts. Shampoo is one of many he has cut out of his life. The 40-year-old hasn’t used deodorant since he was about 20 years old. He said he doesn’t feel the need to spend the money. For others, the chemicals be- came a problem. Omahan Erinn Tighe, 46, became aware of the kinds of chem- icals that were in her beauty products after exploring a consumer guide put together by the Envi- ronmental Working Group. She began experimenting with the Morrocco Method, a line of natural hair care products. The products are 100 percent natural, raw and vegan. They’re made of recognizable foods, herbs, marine proteins, minerals and more. “If you had to, you could eat this shampoo or conditioner,” she said. There are five shampoos and five conditioners that Tighe uses on a rotating basis. Since starting the program, she said she has noticed her hair growing in thicker. It’s also shinier and much easier to comb. Some people have made the shift to more natural products because the chemicals they were using had a negative effect on their hair and bodies. Kessa Moore is a natural hair specialist; she owns and oper- ates More Hair by Kessa, 8039 Maple St., a natural hair salon. Natural hair is hair that is not altered by chemicals. The meth- od is typically used by black women, but people of all ethnic- ities with curly hair go natural for a number of reasons. Moore has kept her hair natural for 10 years. She said she got tired of her scalp burning all the time from relaxers. Once the 37-year-old noticed her hair beginning to thin, she stopped relaxing her hair. Moore said many people who opt to wear their hair natural have actually developed aller- gies to chemicals used in relax- ers and other products used to chemically straighten hair. Once people go natural and stop using relaxers, many will shampoo their hair occasionally using a sulfate-free shampoo. They will also do co-washing, or cleansing with a conditioner, to condition the hair. Moore said people often opt to use natural products such as shea butter, coconut oil and olive oil to mois- turize their hair, too. The goal is to keep the curl as moist as possible so it can have bounce, Moore said. Breaking hair is another concern. Brigitte McQueen-Shew has fought with her “incredibly curly hair” for most of her life. The 43-year- old executive director of the Union for Contemporary Art makes her own hair care products out of things such as flax seed, shea butter and black Jamaican castor oil. Since she began using natural products, she found that her hair doesn’t break as easily, and it is not nearly as dry as it once was. “It’s just completely changed my relationship with my hair,” she said. Contact the writer: 402-444-1149, [email protected] Shampoo: Switch is on to simpler products, none at all Continued from Page 1 BAKING SODA SHAMPOO METHOD courtesy of MindBodyGreen.com Mix 1 part baking soda with 3 parts water. Massage into wet or dry hair, starting at the roots and working toward the ends. Let the mixture sit for three minutes, and rinse with warm water. Following this rinse, mix 1 part white or apple cider vinegar with 4 parts water. If you’d like it to smell less like vinegar, add small amounts of an essential oil. Tilt your head back and pour the wash through your hair, being sure to avoid your eyes. Rinse with cold water. LEMON AND CUCUMBER SHAMPOOTHIE courtesy of www.naturallycurly.com Blend one peeled lemon with olive oil or rosemary oil. Strain the mixture to remove any leftover lemon chunks. Blend the lemon mixture and a peeled cucumber. Pour the mixture into your hair and massage. Rinse. The cucumber should act as a conditioner and the lemon will help to cleanse the hair. DEEP CONDITIONER FOR NATURAL HAIR TO HELP WITH MANAGEABILITY courtesy of blackgirllonghair.com Take one large overripe banana, 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, 2 tablespoons of pure vegetable glycerin and 2 tablespoons of pure honey, and blend ingredients until there are no lumps. Apply to your hair and let it rest for 30 to 45 minutes under a shower cap. Detangle and rinse. TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT FOR YOUR HAIR are filtered through personal prejudices — and how the legal system works in deciding some- one’s guilt or innocence. “Mamet puts it on the audi- ence to decide what to think about all these issues,” said director Amy Lane. “He doesn’t supply the answers.” In fact, he blurs lines and blows up preconceived notions, said Jonnique Peters, who plays the black female lawyer, Susan. “Your idea of who is guilty and who’s innocent shifts.” Even the basic question the lawyers ask themselves differs. While the men are asking, “How do we win?” Susan asks, “How do we defend this man?” Fresh out of law school, Susan has an idealistic notion about being an advocate for justice. But as her fellow attorneys talk about the reality of how the justice system works, how cases are won and lost, her idealism takes a beating. To prepare for the role, Peters talked to law school faculty at Creighton University, where she earned a degree in French. They explained how students are trained to think like a lawyer — and how important it is to be neutral before you can be persuasive. “They said how rare it is that a client would match your personal beliefs and convic- tions,” Peters said. “You have to put your personal stuff aside. You don’t always get to defend innocent people.” Lane’s husband, Ted, a law- yer and former litigator, also talked to the cast about plotting strategy, not only in forming a workable defense but in antici- pating what the prosecution will bring up. “A lot of the play is case strat- egy,” Lane said, “and strategy among the lawyers’ personal relationships.” Lane said Mamet, whose plays are known for fragmented, overlapping dialogue, has been called a profane poet because of his fondness for curse words. But because the characters in “Race” are professionals, this script is less profane than some by Mamet. The nature of the story led the Playhouse to schedule two free audience discussions about race, gender and power, after the May 25 and June 8 perfor- mances. Peggy Jones, associate professor in the University of Nebraska at Omaha black stud- ies department and a member of the women’s and gender studies faculty, will lead the discussion. Another post-show talkback, with cast and crew, will follow the May 23 performance. From May 15 through 25, the Play- house’s lobby bar will be open after performances so that peo- ple who have just seen the show can discuss it over a drink. Contact the writer: 402-444-1269, bob.fi[email protected] Race: Mamet blurs lines, explodes preconceived notions Continued from Page 1 ANDREW MARINKOVICH From left, Jonnique Peters as Susan, Brennan Thomas as Charles, Andre McGraw as Henry and Doug Blackburn as Jack in the Omaha Community Playhouse production of “Race.” with tissues that weren’t fully hydrated. When a warm day comes, plants begin to photosyn- thesize, a process that requires the use of water. If they can’t re- place that water, either because the ground is frozen or because there’s little moisture in the soil, plants will let some tissues die. The lack of moisture, Cue said, also left some spaces in the soil filled with air rather than water, which normally helps buffer the root zones. More air meant cold could penetrate more deeply, causing some root dieback. Hardest hit appear to be ever- greens — arborvitae, boxwood, yews, euonymous, holly and vinca among them. Some may appear dead, others have patch- es of brown, with non-native plants likely to be the hardest hit. Wind, too, appears to have caused damage, particularly on exposed sides. But as rough as some plants may look, horticulturists are ad- vising gardeners to give plants a couple more weeks — even to June 1 — to sprout new growth before trimming or removing them. “I know that doing nothing is the hardest thing for a home- owner to do, but I think we’ll just have to wait and see what nature will do,” said Judy Ma- silko, a horticulture specialist with Lanoha Nursery in Omaha. Some perennial plants also may be slow to rally this spring, Cue said. Rains like the round received last week lower soil temperature. The CropWatch map pub- lished by UNL indicated the seven-day average soil tem- perature still is several degrees below normal across much of Nebraska and into western Iowa. With evergreens, Cue said, homeowners should wait to see what kind of growth comes back. Strong new growth may mask problem areas, and home- owners can trim out dead tissue. If growth is poor, the homeown- er can reassess. “We’re counting on that kind of rallying to occur, so perhaps not all of the plants we think need to come out will need to come out,” she said. Said Mick Mulhall of Mul- hall’s Landscaping, Nursery and Garden Center in Omaha, “Even if the top dies back, it’s still got roots. Melissa Burdick, director of horticulture at Lauritzen Gar- dens, will be faced with some of those decisions. The garden lost some small evergreens in the train garden. And each arborvi- tae in one of its hedgerows has a branch that is completely dead. “Can we prune it and have the plants still look good?” she said. The garden, however, lost no more than the usual number of roses because those plants were insulated. The garden also pays particular attention to water- ing, even into fall. “That’s one thing that could have helped the shrubs around town,” she said. Cue said vinca, a groundcover, may grow back from the roots. Homeowners can set a lawn- mower on its highest setting and clean off the tops so new growth will occur. Roses, too, need a few more weeks. Those on their own root systems are beginning to grow back from the base, even if they had dieback at the top. But with grafted roses, the question is whether the union between the root and the graft survived. Growth above the union means the graft did. Homeowners also are report- ing problems with fescue lawns, she said. Fescue has the lowest winter hardiness of the turf- grass species. If patches aren’t greening, homeowners can rake up the dead, dry grass and overseed, as long as they haven’t already applied a pre-emergent herbicide. Contact the writer: 402-444-1223, [email protected] Winter kill: Don’t dig yet — brown plants may rebound Continued from Page 1 OUT THERE Really getting into brewing coffee? When you ditch the automatic coffeemaker for something a little more work-intensive, it can be difficult to get everything just right. A new smartphone app, Brewseful, makes it simple by laying out grinds, times and other methods to get your coffee just right. It’s a slick app that’s easy to use, too. And did we mention it’s free? It’s free. Check it out: bit.ly/1kHUqJN Hey you! Look up. Look up from your phone and experience the world. That’s the gist of a megapopular YouTube video that tells a love story to illustrate that personal interaction is much better than social networks or burying your face in an iPad. The video already has more than 27 million views. Watch it: bit.ly/1nlCIjg Erinn Tighe Kessa Moore Leah Miles Kevin Cruise THURSDAY Cooking: Visiting Nurse Association hosts sixth annual Cooking for VNA with food from area chefs, drinks and music; all proceeds go to VNA’s Cooking Matters program, 6 to 8:30 p.m., $55 at the door. Mid-America Center, 1 Arena Way, Council Bluffs, 402-342-5566. FRIDAY Free garden entry: Free National Public Gardens Day, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., free, Lauritzen Gardens, 100 Bancroft St. 402-346-4002 or www. lauritzengardens.org. Commemorative event: Ponca Chief Standing Bear Commemoration with food, Native American dance and music as well as a play and discussion, 5:30 p.m., free, RSVP by calling 402-455-9990. General Crook House Museum, 5730 N. 30th St. 402-455-9990 or DouglasCoHistory.org. Stuntwoman class: Professional stuntwoman Jessie Graff teaches a masterclass, 1 to 4 p.m., free, Studio Theatre, first floor of the Temple Building at 12th and R Streets, Lincoln. Art celebration: Friday 2 on Vinton Street featuring activities and discounts at several area retailers and galleries, 5 to 9 p.m. Various vendors on the 1700 and 1800 blocks of Vinton Street. Family event: City hosts Spring Into Summer family event with a concert, food, face painting, kite- building, climbing wall and more, 6 to 9 p.m., free, Elmwood Park, 802 S. 60th St. BOTH DAYS Blood drive: Protect, Serve and Save Blood Drive, noon to 6:30 p.m. Friday at Omaha Police Union Hall, 13445 Cryer Ave. 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Sarpy County Courthouse, 1261 Golden Gate Drive, Papillion. Theater performance: Nebraska Wesleyan performs “Les Misérables,” 7:30 p.m., $15 for adults, $10 for seniors, $7.50 for students. McDonald Theatre, 51st Street and Huntington Avenue, Lincoln, 402- 465-2384. Food drive: Garage sale and food drive for animals, hosted by Homeward Bound in the Heartland, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., 533 N. 72nd St., www. homewardboundintheheartland. org. COMMUNITY CONNECTION ANSWER AHEAD YUCKY IRONIC BICKER The wild ox did so well in school because he was a “BRAINY-YAK” LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nin- tendo isn’t allowing gamers to play as gay in an upcoming life simulator game. The publisher of such gam- ing franchises as “The Legend of Zelda” and “Mario Bros.” said Tuesday it wouldn’t bow to pressure to allow players to engage in romantic activities with characters of the same sex in English editions of “Tomodachi Life.” This follows a social media campaign launched by fans last month seeking virtual equality for the game’s characters, which are modeled after real people. “Nintendo never intended to make any form of social commentary with the launch of ‘Tomodachi Life,’” Nintendo of America Inc. said in a state- ment. “The relationship options in the game represent a playful alternate world rather than a real-life simulation. We hope that all of our fans will see that ‘Tomodachi Life’ was intended to be a whimsical and quirky game, and that we were ab- solutely not trying to provide social commentary.” Tye Marini, a gay 23-year-old Nintendo fan from Mesa, Ar- izona, launched the campaign last month, urging Nintendo to add same-sex relationship options to English versions of the Nintendo 3DS game. “It’s more of an issue for this game because the characters are supposed to be a represen- tation of your real life,” Marini said Nintendo won’t let gamers play as gay Brigitte McQueen-Shew What is a photocopying machine? There was a real legal argument about that very question in an Ohio case, and the New York Times’ Op-Docs re-created a portion of the deposition verbatim. It is a hilarious scene wherein two lawyers and a witness shout at each other about photocopying. Watch it: bit.ly/QaNkFc

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2E • THURSDAY, MAY 8, 2014 OMAHA WORLD-HERALDLIVING

TODAY’S SOLUTIONS

Like Miles, Kevin Cruise gaveup on unnatural shampoo. Hestopped using it regularly about10 years ago. Now, he washeshis thick hairevery twomonths or sousing Dr. Bron-ner’s or someother organicshampoo. Whenhe washes hiscurly hair, itfrays out.

“It just needsto be a littledirty, I think,to feel right tome,” he said.

Cruise saidhe has alwaysbeen sensitiveto beauty prod-ucts. Shampoois one of many he has cut out ofhis life. The 40-year-old hasn’tused deodorant since he wasabout 20 years old. He said hedoesn’t feel the need to spendthe money.

For others, the chemicals be-came a problem. Omahan ErinnTighe, 46, became aware of the

kinds of chem-icals that werein her beautyproducts afterexploring aconsumer guideput togetherby the Envi-ronmentalWorking Group.She began experimenting withthe Morrocco Method, a lineof natural hair care products.The products are 100 percentnatural, raw and vegan. They’remade of recognizable foods,herbs, marine proteins, mineralsand more.

“If you had to, you could eatthis shampoo or conditioner,”she said.

There are five shampoos andfive conditioners that Tigheuses on a rotating basis. Sincestarting the program, she saidshe has noticed her hair growingin thicker. It’s also shinier andmuch easier to comb.

Some people have made theshift to more natural productsbecause the chemicals theywere using had a negative effecton their hair and bodies.

Kessa Moore is a natural hair

specialist; she owns and oper-ates More Hair by Kessa, 8039Maple St., a natural hair salon.

Natural hair is hair that is notaltered by chemicals. The meth-od is typically used by blackwomen, but people of all ethnic-ities with curly hair go naturalfor a number ofreasons.

Moore haskept her hairnatural for 10years. She saidshe got tiredof her scalpburning allthe time fromrelaxers. Oncethe 37-year-old noticed her hairbeginning to thin, she stoppedrelaxing her hair.

Moore said many people whoopt to wear their hair naturalhave actually developed aller-gies to chemicals used in relax-ers and other products used tochemically straighten hair.

Once people go natural andstop using relaxers, many willshampoo their hair occasionallyusing a sulfate-free shampoo.They will also do co-washing, orcleansing with a conditioner, to

condition the hair. Moore saidpeople often opt to use naturalproducts such as shea butter,coconut oil and olive oil to mois-turize their hair, too. The goalis to keep the curl as moist aspossible so it can have bounce,Moore said.

Breaking hair is anotherconcern.

Brigitte McQueen-Shew hasfought withher “incrediblycurly hair” formost of her life.The 43-year-old executivedirector ofthe Union forContemporaryArt makesher own haircare productsout of things such as flax seed,shea butter and black Jamaicancastor oil. Since she began usingnatural products, she found thather hair doesn’t break as easily,and it is not nearly as dry as itonce was.

“It’s just completely changedmy relationship with my hair,”she said.

Contact the writer:402-444-1149, [email protected]

Shampoo: Switch is on to simpler products, none at allContinued from Page 1

BAKING SODA SHAMPOOMETHODcourtesy ofMindBodyGreen.com

Mix 1 part baking soda with 3 parts water.Massage into wet or dry hair, starting at theroots and working toward the ends. Let themixture sit for three minutes, and rinse withwarm water.Following this rinse, mix 1 part white or applecider vinegar with 4 parts water. If you’d like itto smell less like vinegar, add small amountsof an essential oil. Tilt your head back and pourthe wash through your hair, being sure to avoidyour eyes. Rinse with cold water.

LEMON AND CUCUMBER SHAMPOOTHIEcourtesy of www.naturallycurly.com

Blend one peeled lemon with olive oil orrosemary oil. Strain the mixture to removeany leftover lemon chunks. Blend the lemonmixture and a peeled cucumber. Pour themixture into your hair and massage. Rinse. Thecucumber should act as a conditioner and thelemon will help to cleanse the hair.

DEEP CONDITIONER FORNATURAL HAIRTO HELPWITHMANAGEABILITYcourtesy of blackgirllonghair.com

Take one large overripe banana, 4tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, 2tablespoons of pure vegetable glycerin and2 tablespoons of pure honey, and blendingredients until there are no lumps. Apply toyour hair and let it rest for 30 to 45 minutesunder a shower cap. Detangle and rinse.

TRY SOMETHINGDIFFERENT FOR YOURHAIR

are filtered through personalprejudices — and how the legalsystem works in deciding some-one’s guilt or innocence.

“Mamet puts it on the audi-ence to decide what to thinkabout all these issues,” saiddirector Amy Lane. “He doesn’tsupply the answers.”

In fact, he blurs lines andblows up preconceived notions,said Jonnique Peters, who playsthe black female lawyer, Susan.“Your idea of who is guilty andwho’s innocent shifts.”

Even the basic question thelawyers ask themselves differs.While the men are asking, “Howdo we win?” Susan asks, “Howdo we defend this man?”

Fresh out of law school, Susanhas an idealistic notion aboutbeing an advocate for justice.But as her fellow attorneys talkabout the reality of how thejustice system works, how casesare won and lost, her idealismtakes a beating.

To prepare for the role, Peterstalked to law school faculty atCreighton University, whereshe earned a degree in French.They explained how studentsare trained to think like a lawyer— and how important it is tobe neutral before you can bepersuasive.

“They said how rare it isthat a client would match yourpersonal beliefs and convic-tions,” Peters said. “You have toput your personal stuff aside.

You don’t always get to defendinnocent people.”

Lane’s husband, Ted, a law-yer and former litigator, alsotalked to the cast about plottingstrategy, not only in forming aworkable defense but in antici-pating what the prosecution willbring up.

“A lot of the play is case strat-egy,” Lane said, “and strategyamong the lawyers’ personalrelationships.”

Lane said Mamet, whose playsare known for fragmented,overlapping dialogue, has beencalled a profane poet becauseof his fondness for curse words.But because the characters in“Race” are professionals, thisscript is less profane than someby Mamet.

The nature of the story ledthe Playhouse to schedule twofree audience discussions aboutrace, gender and power, afterthe May 25 and June 8 perfor-mances. Peggy Jones, associateprofessor in the University ofNebraska at Omaha black stud-ies department and a member ofthe women’s and gender studiesfaculty, will lead the discussion.

Another post-show talkback,with cast and crew, will followthe May 23 performance. FromMay 15 through 25, the Play-house’s lobby bar will be openafter performances so that peo-ple who have just seen the showcan discuss it over a drink.

Contact the writer:402-444-1269, [email protected]

Race:Mamet blurs lines, explodes preconceived notionsContinued from Page 1

ANDREW MAR INKOV I CH

From left, Jonnique Peters as Susan, Brennan Thomas as Charles, Andre McGraw as Henry and Doug Blackburn as Jack in the Omaha CommunityPlayhouse production of “Race.”

with tissues that weren’t fullyhydrated. When a warm daycomes, plants begin to photosyn-thesize, a process that requiresthe use of water. If they can’t re-place that water, either becausethe ground is frozen or becausethere’s little moisture in the soil,plants will let some tissues die.

The lack of moisture, Cuesaid, also left some spaces in thesoil filled with air rather thanwater, which normally helpsbuffer the root zones. Moreair meant cold could penetratemore deeply, causing some rootdieback.

Hardest hit appear to be ever-greens — arborvitae, boxwood,yews, euonymous, holly andvinca among them. Some mayappear dead, others have patch-es of brown, with non-nativeplants likely to be the hardesthit. Wind, too, appears to havecaused damage, particularly onexposed sides.

But as rough as some plants

may look, horticulturists are ad-vising gardeners to give plantsa couple more weeks — even toJune 1 — to sprout new growthbefore trimming or removingthem.

“I know that doing nothing isthe hardest thing for a home-owner to do, but I think we’lljust have to wait and see whatnature will do,” said Judy Ma-silko, a horticulture specialistwith Lanoha Nursery in Omaha.

Some perennial plants alsomay be slow to rally this spring,Cue said. Rains like the roundreceived last week lower soiltemperature.

The CropWatch map pub-lished by UNL indicated theseven-day average soil tem-perature still is several degreesbelow normal across much ofNebraska and into western Iowa.

With evergreens, Cue said,homeowners should wait tosee what kind of growth comesback. Strong new growth maymask problem areas, and home-owners can trim out dead tissue.

If growth is poor, the homeown-er can reassess.

“We’re counting on that kindof rallying to occur, so perhapsnot all of the plants we thinkneed to come out will need tocome out,” she said.

Said Mick Mulhall of Mul-hall’s Landscaping, Nursery andGarden Center in Omaha, “Evenif the top dies back, it’s still gotroots.

Melissa Burdick, director ofhorticulture at Lauritzen Gar-dens, will be faced with some ofthose decisions. The garden lostsome small evergreens in thetrain garden. And each arborvi-tae in one of its hedgerows has abranch that is completely dead.

“Can we prune it and have theplants still look good?” she said.

The garden, however, lost nomore than the usual number ofroses because those plants wereinsulated. The garden also paysparticular attention to water-ing, even into fall. “That’s onething that could have helped theshrubs around town,” she said.

Cue said vinca, a groundcover,

may grow back from the roots.

Homeowners can set a lawn-

mower on its highest setting and

clean off the tops so new growth

will occur.

Roses, too, need a few more

weeks. Those on their own root

systems are beginning to grow

back from the base, even if they

had dieback at the top. But with

grafted roses, the question is

whether the union between the

root and the graft survived.

Growth above the union means

the graft did.

Homeowners also are report-

ing problems with fescue lawns,

she said. Fescue has the lowest

winter hardiness of the turf-

grass species. If patches aren’t

greening, homeowners can

rake up the dead, dry grass and

overseed, as long as they haven’t

already applied a pre-emergent

herbicide.

Contact the writer:402-444-1223, [email protected]

Winter kill:Don’t dig yet — brown plants may reboundContinued from Page 1

OUT THERE

Really getting into brewing coffee?When you ditch the automaticcoffeemaker for something a littlemore work-intensive, it can be difficultto get everything just right. A newsmartphone app, Brewseful, makesit simple by laying out grinds, timesand other methods to get your coffeejust right. It’s a slick app that’s easyto use, too. And did we mention it’sfree? It’s free.

Check it out: bit.ly/1kHUqJN

Hey you! Look up. Look up from your phone and experience the world.That’s the gist of a megapopular YouTube video that tells a love storyto illustrate that personal interaction is much better than socialnetworks or burying your face in an iPad. The video already has morethan 27 million views.

Watch it: bit.ly/1nlCIjg

Erinn Tighe

Kessa Moore

Leah Miles

Kevin Cruise

THURSDAY

Cooking: Visiting NurseAssociation hosts sixth annualCooking for VNA with food fromarea chefs, drinks and music; allproceeds go to VNA’s CookingMatters program, 6 to 8:30 p.m.,$55 at the door. Mid-AmericaCenter, 1 Arena Way, CouncilBluffs, 402-342-5566.

FRIDAY

Free garden entry: FreeNational Public Gardens Day, 9a.m. to 5 p.m., free, LauritzenGardens, 100 Bancroft St.402-346-4002 or www.lauritzengardens.org.Commemorative event:Ponca Chief Standing BearCommemoration with food,Native American dance andmusic as well as a play anddiscussion, 5:30 p.m., free,RSVP by calling 402-455-9990.General Crook House Museum,5730 N. 30th St. 402-455-9990or DouglasCoHistory.org.Stuntwoman class:Professional stuntwoman JessieGraff teaches a masterclass, 1to 4 p.m., free, Studio Theatre,first floor of the Temple Buildingat 12th and R Streets, Lincoln.Art celebration: Friday 2 on

Vinton Street featuring activitiesand discounts at several arearetailers and galleries, 5 to 9p.m. Various vendors on the1700 and 1800 blocks of VintonStreet.Family event: City hosts SpringInto Summer family event with aconcert, food, face painting, kite-building, climbing wall and more,6 to 9 p.m., free, Elmwood Park,802 S. 60th St.

BOTH DAYS

Blood drive: Protect, Serve andSave Blood Drive, noon to 6:30p.m. Friday at Omaha PoliceUnion Hall, 13445 Cryer Ave.8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday atSarpy County Courthouse, 1261Golden Gate Drive, Papillion.Theater performance:Nebraska Wesleyan performs“Les Misérables,” 7:30 p.m.,$15 for adults, $10 for seniors,$7.50 for students. McDonaldTheatre, 51st Street andHuntington Avenue, Lincoln, 402-465-2384.Food drive: Garage saleand food drive for animals,hosted by Homeward Boundin the Heartland, 9 a.m. to 5p.m., 533 N. 72nd St., www.homewardboundintheheartland.org.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

ANSWER

AHEAD YUCKY

IRONIC BICKER

The wild ox did so well inschool because he was

a —

“BRAINY-YAK”

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nin-tendo isn’t allowing gamers toplay as gay in an upcoming lifesimulator game.

The publisher of such gam-ing franchises as “The Legendof Zelda” and “Mario Bros.”said Tuesday it wouldn’t bowto pressure to allow players toengage in romantic activitieswith characters of the samesex in English editions of“Tomodachi Life.” This followsa social media campaignlaunched by fans last monthseeking virtual equality for thegame’s characters, which aremodeled after real people.

“Nintendo never intendedto make any form of socialcommentary with the launch of‘Tomodachi Life,’ ” Nintendo ofAmerica Inc. said in a state-

ment.“The relationship options in

the game represent a playfulalternate world rather than areal-life simulation. We hopethat all of our fans will see that‘Tomodachi Life’ was intendedto be a whimsical and quirkygame, and that we were ab-solutely not trying to providesocial commentary.”

Tye Marini, a gay 23-year-oldNintendo fan from Mesa, Ar-izona, launched the campaignlast month, urging Nintendoto add same-sex relationshipoptions to English versions ofthe Nintendo 3DS game.

“It’s more of an issue for thisgame because the charactersare supposed to be a represen-tation of your real life,” Marinisaid

Nintendo won’t let gamers play as gay

BrigitteMcQueen-ShewWhat is a photocopying

machine? There was a reallegal argument about thatvery question in an Ohiocase, and the New YorkTimes’ Op-Docs re-createda portion of the depositionverbatim. It is a hilariousscene wherein two lawyersand a witness shout at eachother about photocopying.

Watch it: bit.ly/QaNkFc