BUY FRESH. BUY LOCAL. . . . Farmer’s Markets have returned to Lincoln. Click here for a complete list of Lincoln’s eight regular Farmer’s Markets. Eating locally grows family farming, grows the local economy, and is thousands of miles fresher. Join the local food revolution by shopping farmer’s markets and eating fresh foods grown in or very near your own community.

VOTE . . . Tuesday, May 5, 2009, 8:00am to 8:00pm, is Election Day. In Lincoln, there is walk-in voting Monday and Tuesday at the Lancaster County Election Commissioner’s office, 601 North 46th Street, and at your precinct on Tuesday. If you voted absentee, your ballot needs returned by Tuesday. For a sample ballot, click here.

LINCOLN BIONEERS . . . Lincoln Bioneers will meet on Tuesday, May 5, 2009, 6:00 to 8:30pm for finger foods potluck and to work on a Permaculture Project at 1611 Van Dorn Street. New bioneers are welcome! To sign up for the Lincoln e-mail list, click here.

DARFUR FILMMAKER IN LINCOLN . . . Jen Marlowe, author of “Darfur Diaries, Stories of Survival,”  will speak Wednesday, May 6, 2009, 7:30pm, at the First-Plymouth Congregational Church Chapel, 2000 D Street, Lincoln. Marlowe is an activist working to end the violence and to bring education and clean water to the Darfur region of Sudan. Her newest documentary, “Rebuilding Hope,”  will be released later this year. The presentation is free, but an offering will be taken at the door.

LINCOLN PEACE VIGILS . . . Join weekly peace vigils at the Federal Building, 15th and O streets in Lincoln, every Wednesday from 5:00 to 6:00pm. Contact Mark at 402-499-6672 or e-mail mark [at] weddleton [dot] com for more information.

OMAHA PEACE VIGILS . . . Omaha peacemakers vigil every Wednesday, 4:30-5:30pm, at StratCom/UN-O, 6801 Pine Street, east of the Scott Technology Center on the Un-O campus. For more information, phone Jerry Ebner, 402.502.5887. Every Saturday, 1:00-2:00pm, Anti-War and Peace Activists Vigil at 72nd and Dodge Streets. Contact Steve Horn at 426.9068 for more information.

OMAHA PEOPLE’S FILM FESTIVAL . . . There is a People’s Film Festival every Wednesday evening, 7:00pm, at McFoster’s Natural Kind Cafe, 38th and Harney in Omaha. The event is always free and open to the public. This week’s film will be The Trials of Henry Kissinger.  Food and drink is available. A lively discussion follows each showing. For more information, click here.  The Peoples Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.

OMAHA COMMUNITY CONVERSATION . . . “How to Win a Cosmic War: God, Globalization & the End of the War on Terror:” A Community Conversation with internationally acclaimed writer and scholar Reza Aslan will be Thursday, May 7, 2009, 7:00pm, Countryside Community Church, 8787 Pacific Street, OMAHA. Part of the Project Interfaith 2008-2009 Community Conversations Annual Speakers Series, and Countryside Community Church’s 2009 Annual Speaker Series, the program is free, but pre-registration is suggested. Register online here. For more information, phone Project Interfaith at 402.933.4647 or e-mail info [at] projectinterfaithusa [dot] org.

PRO-CHOICE COALITION MEETING IN OMAHA . . . The May Pro-Choice Coalition meeting will be Thursday, May 7, 2009, 6:30pm, at the Omaha ACLU Nebraska office, 1105 Howard, Suite 2, in the Old Market above Spaghetti Works. The door faces Howard Street. Special guest will be Kyle Carlson, Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa attorney and lobbyist. A Lincoln car pool will leave from the office at 23rd & O Street, 5:10pm. E-mail Bobbie Kierstead in advance at bobbie [dot] kierstead [at] ppncb [dot] org or phone 402.441.3328 to reserve a ride. For more information, contact Tyler Richard, tyler [at] tylerrichard [dot] com or phone 402.202.6211.

PAUL KRUGMAN IN LINCOLN . . . Friday, May 8, 2009, New York Times columnist and Economics Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman will speak on the “Return of Depression Econimics,” 7:00pm, at Lincoln North Star High School, 5801 North 33 Street. The public is invited to this free presentation. To reserve tickets, phone Heather at Lincoln Public Schools, 436.1827, or e-mail haberne [at] lps [dot] org. Anyone with a ticket is guaranteed a seat until 6:45pm, when those without tickets will be seated.

SUPPORT ADVOCACY FOR CONSERVATION . . . The Second Annual Nebraska League of Conservation Voters Joe’s Club Dinner Dance and Fundraiser is Friday, May 8, 2009, 5:30 to 10:00pm, at Country Pines, 6305 West Adams Street, Lincoln. A no-host cocktail reception and silent auction begins at 5:30pm. Dinner is at 7:00. Dedication of the P. Joseph Gabig Wetland at Kirkpatrick Basin South Wildlife Management Area in YORK is at 3:30pm. Click here for more information and to reserve tickets, or e-mail Mary Harding, info [at] nlcv [dot] org.

BIRDATHON WEEKEND FIELD TRIPS . . . Saturday, May 9, and Sunday, May 10, 2009, there will be three birding field trips in the area. Friends of Wilderness Park and Wachiska Audubon birders will lead a Saturday morning hike. Meet at the South 14th Street entrance of Wilderness Park, 8:00am.
Phone Mary Roseberry-Brown at 477.8282 in advance if you plan to attend so another leader can be added if necessary. A second Wilderness Park hike will be Sunday morning, meeting at 8:00am in the Saltillo Road parking area, just west of 27th and Saltillo. Phone leader Linda Brown at 489.2381 with any questions. The third hike led by John Carlini and Shari Schwartz will meet at 8:00am next to the observation tower at Platte River State Park, northwest of Lincoln on Highway 66 between South Bend and Louisville. From Lincoln, turn off I-80 at the Ashland/Mahoney Park exit and go east. To carpool from Lincoln, meet at the 745 South 11th Street DaVinci’s, 7:00am. Phone John at 475.7275 or Tim at 483.5656 to reserve a ride in advance.

PROGRESSIVE OMAHA . . . The next Progressive Omaha meeting will be Saturday, May 9, 2009, 6:00 to 9:00pm, at 4924 Chicago, on the corner of 50th and Chicago in Dundee. All are welcome. There will be a potluck from 6:00 to 7:00, business meeting from 7:00 to 8:00, and John Kretzschmar, Director of the William Brennan Institute for Labor Studies at UN-O, will speak about labor issues on the national, state and local level, including the Employee Fair Choice Act and national health care, from 8:00 to 9:00pm. For more information e-mail Karen Abrams, kabrams123 [at] cox [dot] net.

We are no longer the alternative; we are the imperative. –Rosa Clemente