Today I had the pleasure of attending the Nebraska Historic Preservation Conference, hosted in part by Restoration Exchange Omaha.
Until last week, I didn't even know this event existed. Through an odd turn of events catalyzed by work, I discovered the conference and made the last minute decision to attend. Throughout the day, I gained some serious knowledge, networked with a lot of like-minded people, and had quite a blast in the process.
The morning started out with Matthew and Sarah Baker Hansen who just wrote this book about...(drum roll, please)...food and culture! ...And history and buildings and grassroots businesses, but they talked a lot about their different culinary discoveries. The authors spent a year traveling through Nebraska tracking down hidden gems, including tucked-away restaurants that you would only find by getting off the interstate and exploring the small towns. This was right up my alley! I know that I haven't used this platform to talk about my love for food culture, but during my Geography program, I spent a lot of time studying, reading about, and talking about the cultural geography of food. During the authors' presentation, my mind couldn't help but connect the dots between all of these seemingly-random subjects about which I am so passionate. Food, travel, art, architecture, history...it all comes down to geography. ...But I digress...
The rest of the morning, like many conferences, was broken out into multiple breakout sessions, with lunch and a keynote speaker in between. I had a hard time choosing which breakout sessions to go to; all of the topics were good and each time period had 2-3 presentations that I wanted to see.
The keynote speaker was Amy Nicole Swift from Building Hugger in Detroit. This was my introduction to her and what she does, but learning about her mission and how she got started was definitely inspiring. Her talk focused on the stigma that developed towards trade-based jobs over the last few decades and what is happening to revitalize the trades as a viable career path. She also had some really good things to say about women in the trades. AND her closing slide showed a picture of her next to a desk name plaque that read, "I'm CEO, bitch". Admittedly, I want one of those for myself. :)
The day ended with what they referred to as the Restoration Jam, which was a series of attendees showing pictures and talking about their own restoration experiences. I was originally planning to cut out early but became intrigued by the first person enough that I stayed to see the rest. It was pretty awesome to see the work that others are doing, a lot of it on their own. At the very end, the organizers raffled off some prizes. Right out of the gate, another MCC student in the construction program won a prize. Towards the very end, I had one foot out the door ready to leave when I heard my name being called for the last prize. Now, I NEVER win anything, but I won the most awesome basket of Iowa-inspired goodies.
The large book, The History We Live In, has some really great information about and pictures of historic homes over in Council Bluffs, Iowa. I absolutely love seeing the details of original wood siding with the fish scales and different cuts used on one house to enhance the proportions and highlight the structural character. The smaller books are walking tour booklets of the historic homes in Council Bluffs, and the wine is from Breezy Hills Vineyard in Minden, Iowa.
I think the plan tonight is going to be to curl up, have some wine, and plan my next hands-on project...IF I can pull the wine away from my curious cat.
The morning started out with Matthew and Sarah Baker Hansen who just wrote this book about...(drum roll, please)...food and culture! ...And history and buildings and grassroots businesses, but they talked a lot about their different culinary discoveries. The authors spent a year traveling through Nebraska tracking down hidden gems, including tucked-away restaurants that you would only find by getting off the interstate and exploring the small towns. This was right up my alley! I know that I haven't used this platform to talk about my love for food culture, but during my Geography program, I spent a lot of time studying, reading about, and talking about the cultural geography of food. During the authors' presentation, my mind couldn't help but connect the dots between all of these seemingly-random subjects about which I am so passionate. Food, travel, art, architecture, history...it all comes down to geography. ...But I digress...
The rest of the morning, like many conferences, was broken out into multiple breakout sessions, with lunch and a keynote speaker in between. I had a hard time choosing which breakout sessions to go to; all of the topics were good and each time period had 2-3 presentations that I wanted to see.
The keynote speaker was Amy Nicole Swift from Building Hugger in Detroit. This was my introduction to her and what she does, but learning about her mission and how she got started was definitely inspiring. Her talk focused on the stigma that developed towards trade-based jobs over the last few decades and what is happening to revitalize the trades as a viable career path. She also had some really good things to say about women in the trades. AND her closing slide showed a picture of her next to a desk name plaque that read, "I'm CEO, bitch". Admittedly, I want one of those for myself. :)
The day ended with what they referred to as the Restoration Jam, which was a series of attendees showing pictures and talking about their own restoration experiences. I was originally planning to cut out early but became intrigued by the first person enough that I stayed to see the rest. It was pretty awesome to see the work that others are doing, a lot of it on their own. At the very end, the organizers raffled off some prizes. Right out of the gate, another MCC student in the construction program won a prize. Towards the very end, I had one foot out the door ready to leave when I heard my name being called for the last prize. Now, I NEVER win anything, but I won the most awesome basket of Iowa-inspired goodies.
Comments
Post a Comment