Hallam residents rely on relationships to rebuild

We gather in Laura and Derek Dragoo’s kitchen. The table is new. As is the refrigerator, the window coverings, the stove, the table and chairs and the dishes. The walls are new-paint white. The white counter sparkles. ...more

'Please get to know us'

Mohammed and Zainab Al-Baaj live in two cultures. They use the best of both to raise their three children. Home was once Iraq. But then came the Gulf War, followed by Saddam Hussein’s bombs. Thousands died. Thousands disappeared. Mohammed and Zainab were among the tens of thousands of Iraqis who fled to refugee camps in Saudi Arabia. ...more

Woman's struggles, accomplishments contribute to history

No thanks, was Lela Knox Shanks’ first reaction when invited to be part of Stories of Home. “I just felt I really would be a token, and I didn’t want to do it,” explains Lela. But then, as she always does, Lela consulted her four children. ...more

Same-sex couple want rights for themselves, son

They met at a dance. She was standing at the end of the banquet table talking to someone else. Lin Quenzer remembers looking down that long table and seeing her. “I thought she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen,” Lin recalls. Before the night was over they would be introduced, get to know each other over a cup of coffee and begin to fall in love. ...more

Despite injury, woman full of dreams, ambitions

Billy and Beasley chirp for the visitors in Jan Peregrine’s downtown Lincoln apartment. The blue and yellow parakeets flutter and twitter with curiosity as this new guest samples Jan’s latest creation — vegan Jazzy Blackberry Cheesecake. ...more

Family flees Vietnam, looks for hope in the U.S.

It’s 12:30 p.m. Sunday. Cuong and Mary Nguyen are still walking home from late mass at North American Martyrs Church.  Children Maria, 23, Teresa, 22, William, 21, and John, 19, are working in the kitchen, studying in their rooms or taking a break in front of the television. Every few minutes someone’s cell phone rings and there is a universal look from sisters to brothers: “Is that yours or mine?” ...more

For Bosnia refugee, life in America is a 24-hour race

“I wish there were 48 hours in a day,” says Maida Kapetanovic, as she scurries about her spotless home. “Sometimes I feel like I am Charlie Chaplin running about …  my work, cooking, cleaning … being a mother to two boys,” Maida says. ...more

Stories of woman's past unfold over time

On Feb. 26, 1909, a 19-year-old Russian immigrant girl dropped off her 10-day-old baby at New York’s Foundling Hospital and never returned. At 2, that child was placed on the Orphan Train and sent west to be adopted. ...more