|hntertainment
Sidney Lumet, director of “The Verdict,”
nursed the successful “Critical Care” into a 1997
feature film of the same name. Lawrence Bender,
the producer of “Pulp Fiction” and “Good Will
Hunting,” has optioned “White Man’s Grave” for a
film, while last year’s “Brain Storm” has been ear
marked by Alan J. Pakula, the director of “All The
President’s Men,” “Sophie’s Choice,” and
“Presumed Innocent” Dooling is currently writing
screenplays for both projects.
Dooling said compressing a 400-page novel to
Resident
Writers
A semestcrlong look at
Nebraska literary culture and
the people who create it.
However, despite Hollywood’s draw, the multi
Omaha author
grabs readers 3
with danger, S
wicked humor ml
By Liza Holtmeier
Senior staff writer tSB
Richard Dooling makes John
Grisham look as if he s in kinder
garten. says Brent Spencer. lliiaM
With his expansive knowledge of
the law' and his penchant for hot topics,
Dooling creates books w icked in their .^f-Jg
sense of humor and thrilling in their ||I|H
mtrigue. Spencer said.
Spencer, the director of creative sj
writing at Creighton University, has only g
good things to say about Dooling. an 1
Omaha native and resident who has been 1
writing sharp, provocative books for the
last 10 years.
“His books are about people in dan
gerous places doing dangerous things. He
has a richer and nastier sense of human
nature than John Grisham.
“He also has this wild imagination. I
wonder. ‘Where does he come up with this
stuff7'“ Spencer said.
A fitting question given the range of top
ics in Dooling’s 1 irst four books: neurobiolo
gy, witchcraft, profanity and hate crimes, to
name a few.
Surprisingly, Dooling gets most of his
ideas from personal experience. I
He based his first book, “Critical Care,’’ I
on his experiences working as a respiratory \
therapist in St. Louis. :
His second novel, “White Man's Grave,’’
was influenced by his travels in Africa.
And his latest novel, “Brain Storm,’’ draws
from his years working at the largest law firm
in St. Louis.
Critics and readers alike have greeted
Dooling’s satirical books of intrigue with hefty
praise. In 1994, Dooling was a finalist for a
National Book Award, and all three of his novels
have been noticed by the movie industry.
“You have
to find a visual
image that can
HftTIOHAltf KH0"" Nebraska’s new generation reasons,
a leading example ____ Doo ling’s
rather than geograpni* ______———— next project begins with the
—— screen. After finishing a novella for Esquire,
Dooling plans to write a screenplay, the specifics
of which he cannot disclose.
ranous writer is just as comfortable between the
pages of the Wall Street Journal or the New York
Times. Dooling frequently writes essays for the
two papers and several magazines, expounding on
topics such as hate crime legislation and the prolif
eration of laws.
For these articles, which Dooling generally
writes in two to four hours, he relies on a biting
form of satire to illustrate his points.
“You get in and you get out ready fast. It’s more
fun than something like a screenplay or a novel that
takes a lot of planning,” Dooling said.
Dooling is also the author of one nonfiction
book, “Blue Streak: Swearing, Free Speech and
Sexual Harassment.” The book, which prov ides
satirical commentary' on political cor
rectness and the role of swearing in
society, takes some of its influences
from Dooling s work as an employ
ment-discrimination lawyer.
Dooling s career as a w riter has its
roots in his education at Creighton
Prep High School.
There, Dooling’s L atin teacher.
Father Hmdelang, encouraged his stu
dents to keep vocabulary notebooks. If
his students saw a word they didn’t know,
they were to look it up and write it in their
notebook.
HE “It tends to inspire a love for words, if
hym you don't already have one.’’ Dooling said.
~1 Dooling soon amassed a collection of
J vocabulary notebooks and continues the
%] practice of writing unfamiliar words down to
this day. Now, though, he keeps his records on
f computer to save space.
I After his graduation from St. Louis
r University, Dooling siad, “I was basically trying
to support myself as a writer.
“That was back w'hen you could still be
trained on the job.”
Dooling then took two years to travel Europe
and Africa. The experience provided him with a
new perspective of America and its culture.
“You don’t travel abroad to see foreign coun
tries. You travel abroad so you see vour own coun
try as a foreign country,” he explained.
When Dooling came back to the states, he
decided to attend law school at St. Louts
University.
“I really wanted to have a family. 1 said to
myself, ‘At this point, how can I make a living
reading and writing?’” he said. “The legal writing
I did was every bit as good as the writing 1 did for
my novels.”
Please see DOOLING on 10
™ _I_ ■ 4—
Gallery Preview
The Facts
What: February gallery opening
Where: Noyes Gallery, 119 S. Ninth St.
When: Friday 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. and
Feb. 14,1 to 5 p.m.
Cost: No charge
The Skinny: Noyes Gallery presents
special Valentine’s Day art plus four
new guest artists
Love inspires gallery’s February exhibits
I Jewelry, pottery, sculpture
and graphic art make the Noyes
a place for lovers.
By Liza Holtmeier
Senior staff writer
Love is in the air.
And at the Noyes Gallery, it’s also in the
sculptures, the paintings, the pottery and the
jewelry.
In celebration of the month of love, the
Noyes Gallery, 119 S. ninth St., will exhibit
various Valentine’s Day-inspired art works in
this month's showing. The gallery will also
sponsor a special Valentine’s Day opening from
1 to 5 p.m. on Feb. 14.
“We wanted to let people combine their
love with their love of the arts,” explained Lois
Meysenburg, a watercolorist with Noyes.
The exhibited love-filled works include
stained glass hearts, heart-shaped metal boxes
and pottery angels holding hearts.
But not all the works are tokens to love.
Noyes continues its tradition of eclectic
exhibits this month by showcasing woodcuts,
sculptures and pastels side by side. The gallery
will also have its regular monthly opening this
Friday from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.
In its Focus Gallery, Noyes will exhibit the
works of four guest artists, all of whom are new
to the gallery.
Amy Sadie will showcase pieces from her
printmaking collection as well as some stained
glass.
Sadie agreed to exhibit at the Noyes after
seeing the camaraderie between the artists.
“A lot of people are intimated by art gal
leries, but the Noyes Gallery is very open and
cheerful,” she said.
The Noyes achieves this openness by
allowing the artists to meet with potential buy
ers during the openings, Sadie said. This gives
the artists a chance to establish an important
bond with those interested in their work.
“Art isn’t a commodity that you buy out of
necessity. You buy it out of an emotional need,”
Sadie said. When an artist sells a piece, “it’s like
someone adopting one of your children. It’s a
much easier process if you know the personali
ties of the buyers.”
After Sadie agreed to exhibit, co-owner
Julia Noyes asked if the new talent could rec
ommend any other artists to share the display
Please see NOYES on 10
Art Courtesy of Noyes Gallery
ABOVE- “PLAYIN’ THE BAYOU BLUES,” a mixed-media canvas
painting by Lois Meyesenberg, appears in the Noyes focus
gallery for the February exhibition.
Art Courtesy of Noyes G allery
ABOVE LEFT-SCOTTSBLUFF NATIVE Carol Sexton offers a
variety of Nebraska landscape scenes this month at the
Noyes Gallery.