page 14
daily nebraskan
Wednesday, december 3, 1980
Merchants foresee price-conscious holiday buying
By Hollie Wieland
The recession has had a marked decrease in demand for
certain goods, and according to a local economist, 1980
Christmas sales probably will be down in these same areas.
James R. Schmidt, assistant professor of economics at
LINL, said products experiencing the largest decrease in
demand include automobiles, expensive appliances, tools
and -equipment.
The 1980 October Consumer Price Index showed a
12.6 percent increase from last October, Schmidt said.
But, after peaking in April, Schmidt said there has been
some slow down.
"This round of inflation has been a reflection of high
interest rates,'" Schmidt said.
"We are in the midst of a very slow and moderate re
covery from the recession J' he said. He also said that it
would be the end of 1981 before the United States attains
the same economic position as held in the beginning of
.1980.
"I think Christmas shopping expenditures will be not
spectacular because of the recession," Schmidt said.
He added that consumers probably will be very
cautious about buying gifts.
However, according to Doc Chaves, director of promo
tions and public relations at Miller & Paine, the recession
has not caused any marked depression in Christmas sales.
Chaves said that traditionally, sales are slow before
Thanksgiving but that "signs of this recession everyone is
talking about are just not being seen."
Although shoppers are being more careful with their
money, they are continuing to buy things, Chaves said.
In his years working in marketing, Chaves said he has
noticed that Nebraska does not necessarily follow the
same buying patterns as the rest of the United States. He
said Nebraska is more isolated from the factors that in
fluence other states' buying patterns.
He said even if the United States is in a1 recession, if
farmers in Nebraska have a good year, department store
sales seem to remain up.
Bob Durrie, president of Magee's, said "we feel people
are very price conscious this Christmas. Sales are running
about even right now, but not quite as good as usual.
"We hope we can project large Christmas increases, but
quite honestly, I think it will be more modest increases in
each department," Durrie said.
Art Trehearn, manager of J.C. Penney 's, said that sales
look good this year. He said it was too early to determine
how Christmas sales were doing but that sales as a whole
do not seem affected by the recession.
Jay Gordon, of Lawlor's, said sales seem to be lagging
some but he thought it was due to the abnormally late
warm season. Although sport items and other non-necessities
are often the first to slow in sales during a recession,
he did not think the recession was the cause of this lag.
Gordon said he is still optimistic about Christmas sales
and thinks they will pick up with the onset of cold
weather.
Knowing her subjects important to photographer
By Maureen Costello
Margaret MacKichon, a photographer for the last 13
years whose work is on display in the main lounge of
the Nebraska Union, has spent time in the last two years
photographing the Sandhills.
"I think it is important to get to know a subject
to be able to photograph it," she said. "I have to get to
know the people and how they live, not just when some
one special comes to visit. I can't just photograph some
thing for a week and feel I've done a good job."
MacKichon took 10 to 12 trips to the Sandhills, two
weeks each time, between 1977 and 1979. MacKichon
had two grants, one from the Nebraska Arts Council,
and one from the Nebraska Committee on the Humani
ties. She was sponsored by the Nebraska Sandhills Cattle
man's Association. The members of the association in
vited MacKichon to stay at their ranches while she photo
graphed the area, she said.
MacKichon was first interested in photographing the
people of the Appalachians, around the area she came
from. She spent ten years photographing Kentucky.
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MacKichon said she thought Nebraska had many of the
same qualities as the Appalachians.
"The economy and lifestyles are very different but the
values are similar," MacKichon said.
MacKichon's work on the Appalachians was on dis
play at Sheldon Art Gallery about five years ago. A ranch
er called her and told her she might like to do similar
work with the Sandhills, because of the use of irrigation
and big corporations moving in, smaller ranches were dis
appearing, MacKichon said.
MacKichon found the people of the Sandhills very in
dependent. "They have a self-sufficiency that I think develops out
of their isolation. They value human relationships a- lot
and they tend to work together as a community. Even
if they were spread out over 20 miles, they still function
as a community," MacKichon said.
MacKichon photographed the Sandhills through all
the seasons.
"That winter there was ground cover from Thanks
giving to Easter. I stayed out as long as the rancher stayed
out, but l was not as used to the cold."
"Among my range of experiences was getting frost
bitten, stuck in the snow and snowed in. 1 think I have a
lot of good friends out there that I want to keep up
with," MacKichon said.
During the two years, MacKichon was an artist in resi
dence in Scottsbluff and noticed that the Western edge of
the Sandhills is different from the eastern edge.
"The eastern edge is taking more of a business ap
proach instead of a life style while the western edge takes
pride in doing things the old way," she said.
MacKichon received her Bachelor of Fine Arts de
gree from UNL and her master's of science and master's of
arts degrees from New Mexico. She worked as an intern at
the International Museum of Photography at the George
Eastman House in Rochester, New York. She currently
teaches photography at Wesleyan University.
MacKichon is putting her photographs of Kentucky
in a book. She is working on the text and is also putting
photographs together for competition for the Imogene
Cunningham Award. Only 14 people are nominated nat
ionally for this award.
The Mid-America Arts Alliance is also considering
travelling her Sandhills photographs through five states,
MacKichon said.
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Sara Watermann donates blood at the Red Cross drive in the Nebraska Union
ballroom. Donors will be accepted today as wefl.
