Riverside Chats

Nebraska State Senator Patty Pansing Brooks talks with Tom Knoblauch about her upbringing, the formation of her worldview, what working in the Nebraska Legislature has taught her about the process of governing, and how she'd take those lessons to the House of Representatives to represent Nebraska's 1st Congressional District--a seat held by Jeff Fortenberry for nearly twenty years until his resign...

Earlier this year, Mayor Jean Stothert announced intentions to give the land where Omaha's downtown library sits to Mutual of Omaha so they can build a new headquarters roughly 20 streets away from their current building in Midtown Crossing. This meant finding new land to develop as a downtown library further from public transportation routes and which looks likely to cost the city considerably mo...

Vice Chair of the OPPD Board of Directors Eric Williams is in conversation with Tom Knoblauch about Nebraska's coordinated plan to address the climate crisis by transitioning to primary reliance on renewable energy and becoming carbon neutral by 2050.  Learn more here. Join the conversation on social media or call in with what issue is  on your mind in a brief voicemail to 402-881-0089 f...

Jo Giles is the executive director of the Women’s Fund of Omaha, which addresses gender-based inequities in our community through collaboration that identifies, researches and creates solutions to advance, educate and fund lasting impact. Giles is in conversation with Tom Knoblauch on today's show about her early days as a journalist before transitioning to her current position as well as the visi...

Joel Damon and Josh Powell founded and curate Project Project: an independent contemporary arts space in South Omaha. Project Project hosts new visual art exhibitions on the second Friday of every month as well as public lectures and performances. Today Damon and Powell are in conversation with Tom Knoblauch about their journeys and vision for Project Project's future.  Check them out at...

Dave Pantos served as Executive Director of the Legal Aid program in Nebraska, ran several congressional campaigns, and teaches law and policy at the University of Nebraska. He’s currently running for Douglas County attorney against incumbent Don Kleine. Today he is in conversation with Tom Knoblauch to tell his story and vision for Omaha. 

Adam Nayman is a critic at The Ringer and Cinema Scope and he is also the author of The Coen Brothers: This Book Really Ties the Room Together and Paul Thomas Anderson: Masterworks , which he discussed in an earlier episode of this show. His latest book, David Fincher: Mind Games is a critical and visual survey of the filmmaker behind incredibly influential works include Seven, Fight Club, The Cur...

Lydia Kang practices internal medicine at Nebraska Medicine and has written several novels including Opium and Absynthe, The Impossible Girl, The Beautiful Poison, and Toxic. Her latest book, co-written with Nate Pedersen, is nonfiction and incredibly timely. It’s called Patient Zero: A Curious History of the World’s Worst Diseases, which chronicles how diseases spread, the scientific race to unde...

Paul B. Allen IV runs the Allen Showcase Media Group building teams for media operations like Mind and Soul 101.3 or 1st Sky Omaha. Allen comes from a long legacy of entrepreneurship in music, art, and media with a fascinating family history right here in the metro. He also is involved in the recently relaunched Benson Theater, a multi-million dollar community theater project. In this conversation...

Ethan Warren, film critic and editor for the online film journal Bright Wall/Dark Room discusses his 2018 article “I Can Whistle With That: What the Stories of 2018 Show Us About Responding to Despair,” which tries to grapple with our current moment of anxiety, apocalypse, and despair and the ways that seeps into our cultural entertainment. In this conversation with Tom Knoblauch, Warren explains...

Nebraska State Senator Tony Vargas, who is currently running to represent Nebraska’s Second Congressional District in the House of Representatives, talks with Tom Knoblauch about his upbringing, how teaching influenced his worldview, and his vision for the country. 

Matthew Wurstner, our resident historian, returns to the show to talk with Tom Knoblauch about the history of legal challenges to school curriculum and its implications for the future of education in America. 

Matthew Hansen chats with Tom Knoblauch about his journey in journalism, from interviewing Dick Cavett to his column at the Omaha World Herald to now founding and executive editing the Flatwater Free Press as an independent, local press in Nebraska. 

Laurel Heer Dale and Michael Milone chat with Tom Knoblauch about the current eviction crisis and how they're addressing it through the Tenant Assistance Project--also known as TAP. The program offers free legal assistance to tenants facing eviction and is currently seeking volunteers. 

Author James Han Mattson talks with Tom Knoblauch about his new novel Reprieve: a literary novel of social horror centered around a brutal killing that takes place in a full-contact haunted escape room—a provocative exploration of capitalism, hate politics, racial fetishism, and our cultural obsession with fear as entertainment. Check out Reprieve wherever you get books. 

Gus von Roenn, founder of Omaha Permaculture, talks with Tom Knoblauch about his journey and vision of cities teeming with permaculture gardens where neighbors gather to harvest organic food, build relationships, and learn about the natural world. Omaha Permaculture manages 17 properties, plans a robust portfolio of programs, and maintains partnerships with the City Planning Department, Omaha Muni...

Aarron Schurevich tells his story about how he got wrapped into the world of competitive debate, coached debate for nearly a decade, and why he can't let it go. He and Tom Knoblauch reflect on how debate permeates our culture today in a world full of echo chambers.

Ben Nelson, former Nebraska governor and United States Senator, is in conversation with Tom Knoblauch about his new book is Death of the Senate: My Front Row Seat to the Demise of the World’s Greatest Deliberative Body . In the book, Nelson chronicles his two terms in the Senate and what he sees as a demise of the concept of collaboration and bipartisanship, leaving gridlock and a war for power in...

Jeffrey Koterba, political cartoonist and author, is in conversation with Tom Knoblauch about the current state of journalism and the importance of satire in today’s climate. Check out his book here and contribute to his Patreon here . 

Matthew Wurstner talks with Tom Knoblauch about the history of the presidential pardon and how its evolution leaves big questions for our country going forward.

Both Omaha natives, you probably know Amber Ruffin as the host of The Amber Ruffin Show. Her sister Lacey Lamar still lives in Omaha where she has worked in the healthcare and human services field for more than twenty-five years. The two co-wrote the book You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories About Racism , which is a recounting of the multitude of racist encounters Lacey has...

Adam Fletcher-Sasse talks with Tom Knoblauch about compiling North Omaha History through articles, a podcast, and several books which are available now and aim to tell Omaha's lesser known stories to provide a fuller understanding of its culture. Check out his work at NorthOmahaHistory.com.

Film Streams Executive Director Deirdre Haj talks with Tom Knoblauch about her relationship to the film industry and her vision for Film Streams as a hub of Omaha’s culture going forward. 

Timothy Schaffert is in conversation with Tom Knoblauch about his journey as an author and his new novel The Perfume Thief. A Gentleman in Moscow meets Moulin Rouge in this stylish, sexy page-turner about Clementine, a queer American expat and notorious thief of rare scents, who has retired to Paris, only to return to her old tricks in hopes of protecting the city she loves when the Nazis invade i...

Dakota Smith AKA Bobo Jiggs talks with Tom Knoblauch about his new photography installation "Still-Lives," a study of relationships between pairs of seemingly unrelated photographs, which can be seen at the next Benson First Friday in Studio 62.  Find some of his other work at bobo-krejci.com