Setting notes for "A Haven That Purifies Emotions" First Floor
These are the setting notes for "A Haven That Purifies Emotions" from the first floor.
Hanson Hall in Omaha, Nebraska is a five-storey multipurpose building with a bohemian flair. It has public space for retail, events, meetings, arts and crafts, and physical activities. The Holistic Health Center includes a small community clinic along with many rooms rented to providers such as counselors and massage therapists. Studio space includes artist studios, private offices, and open office areas. Not all the spaces are listed here, and sometimes things move around from one area to another as renters change.
1st Floor: the Main Lobby, the Elevator Lobby, the Administrative Office, the Canteen, Buddy Christ Church and Bong Shop, Fuck Yeah Loaves and Fishes, Tikkun Olam Collective (The Generous Jew, King Solomon's Library, Rebecca's Closet, Ruth and Naomi's Place, Shomrei Adamah / Guardians of the Earth), Global Hope Gift Shop, the Gallery, Ella's Arts and Crafts Emporium, the Performance Corner and Brown Lounge, Primp & Pamper Beauty Salon and Bodycare Shop, Omaha Wheels
2nd Floor: Wunderbar (above the Canteen), Blue Lounge, Satanic Church of Informed Consent, All Life Is Precious, Holistic Health Center with reception, exam rooms, procedure room, bodywork rooms (for massage, shiatsu, etc.), counseling rooms (for sand tray therapy, individual, child, couples, family, and group therapy), private offices, shared offices, open office areas, computer rooms, breakroom
3rd Floor: event space (above the Canteen and Wunderbar), Coexist Community Kitchen (above the Canteen and Wunderbar, adjacent to the event space), dining room (above the Canteen and Wunderbar, adjacent to the event space and the kitchen), Reading Room (above the Canteen and Wunderbar), Community Arts Space (above the Canteen and Wunderbar), Open Studio, Nude Studio, Anatomy Studio, Sculpture Studio, Ceramic Studio, Nebraska Spinsters with Sewing Room, Junior Room, Fabric Room, Fibercraft Room, Loom Room, Yarn Room, theatre, artist studios, the Crash Pad, Rainbow Lounge
4th Floor: Dance Studio 1 Charles Weidman, Dance Studio 2 Fred Astaire, Lotus Room, private workout rooms, Makeba Music Center, Parents Lounge with Sitting Area, Resources Wall, Music Corner, Family Lounge, Youth Area with Messy Play Room, Sensory Room, Teen Lounge, Padded Play Gym, Wild Rumpus Room, Max's Nap Room
5th Floor: conference space (above Canteen, Wunderbar, and event space), meeting room, Milderness Room (above Canteen, Wunderbar, and event space), Freedom Room, Meditation Room, Plant Room, Cloud Room, Little Villagers Meeting Room, Peace Room, Quiet Room (adjacent to Peace Room), Yellow Lounge (adjacent to Quiet Room)
Hanson Hall is a large brick building.
Look down into the courtyard and you can see the first floor windows.
A mural stands over the bike racks. It reads:
When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking.
The first floor has a sunken walkout courtyard on this side, but is ground level on the other side.
The Breakdancing Jesus mural overlooks the sliding glass doors that lead to the Buddy Christ Church and Bong Shop.
As you come in through the sliding doors, there is a small lobby between the two wings of the Buddy Christ Bong Shop, and the Buddy Christ Church is straight ahead. The left wing of the bong shop sells smoking herbs. The right wing of the bong shop sells all kinds of pipes. A poster in the lobby has a picture of Buddy Christ saying, "Smoke it dude! It's a gift from my dad!"
The worship room can hold up to 50 people. It has a vaulted ceiling, psychedelica lighting fixtures with programmable controls, sophisticated sound equipment, a dais with a backstage area, and an assortment of furnishings like lecterns and chairs.
This multipurpose room can seat up to 50 people, stocked with its own tables and chairs. It also has a movie screen and projector. It lies between the Buddy Christ Church and Bong Shop worship room and the Fuck Yeah Loaves and Fishes food pantry.
A statuette of Buddy Christ watches over the church's food donations.
See a floor plan of Fuck Yeah Loaves and Fishes. The lobby features a service window, waiting area with chairs, and a bulletin board listing other local resources. The administrative offices are in the large gray rectangle between the front desk and the back storage room. They are crammed with desks, chairs, filing cabinets, and other office furnishings.
The sorting room has tables and chairs. The front storage room includes shelves, refrigerators, and freezers. The consultation offices are in the small gray area between the front and middle storage rooms. Lacking windows, they are fitted with light panels instead. They include tables and chairs, shelves, and blackboards. The middle storage room has more tables and chairs, shelves, and whiteboard bulletin boards on the walls. Refrigerators and freezers are off to the side. The back storage room has tables and shelves.
Tikkun Olam Collective main office
* The Generous Jew (fundraising for direct charity)
* King Solomon's Library (reading library, Hebrew and Yiddish literacy classes)
* Rebecca's Closet (clothing bank)
* Ruth and Naomi's Place (queer support)
* Shomrei Adamah / Guardians of the Earth (environmental activism)
Tikkun Olam means "Repairing the World." This includes various projects such as environmental restoration.
King Solomon
Son of King David, builder of the temple, author of three biblical works and the wisest of men, Solomon looms large in Jewish tradition -- and beyond.
Rebecca, wife of Isaac and mother of Esau and Jacob.
"Wherever You Go, I Go": Queerness in the Book of Ruth
3. The final critical value is shomrei adamah, which means “guardians of the earth.”
The Tikkun Olam Collective houses several nonprofit organizations based in the Jewish community. Its main office includes bookcases, computer desks, and a couch.
The Generous Jew does fundraising, direct donations, microgrants, and community outreach. It has a meeting room with couches and floor cushions, a bookcase, and bulletin boards for current projects. The computer desks are not visible from this angle.
Ruth and Naomi's Place offers resources for Jews in the QUILTBAG. Its small office has a computer desk and filing cabinets.
King Solomon's Library includes a reading room and a meeting room that doubles as an office. There are tables and chairs, couches, bookcases, and bulletin boards.
Rebecca's Closet is a clothing bank. It holds racks of clothes, mostly with Jewish and bohemian motifs.
Omaha Hanson Hall Tikkun Olam Collective Shomrei Adamah Guardians of the Earth
Shomrei Adamah / Guardians of the Earth does environmental activism. Its small office has computer desks with chairs and houseplants.
The prayer room features a lectern, Jewish decorations, chairs, and assorted prayer books.
The dottie includes a sink, a toilet, and a bathtub with shower.
The Canteen serves food and beverages. This section has baked goods. Tables and chairs fill much of the area.
The main lobby has big doors and a grand staircase, although there are several other entrances too. This one is spacious enough for tables and chairs where people can socialize or sell things.
Each elevator lobby includes several elevators near the stairs, chairs or other seating, and a distinctive piece of artwork to help with wayfinding in a large building with several floors. While some elements repeat for unity, like the square white support columns, others like flooring and bannister style change to make each area recognizable. The elevators have wood paneling and metal grab bars.
The gendered bathrooms in the main lobby are tiled in brown, with a row of sinks and a row of toilet stalls. There are two dotties, each with a roll-under sink and a toilet with grab bars.
The Administrative Office is a suite with partitions creating different offices. The reception area includes a half-round desk.
The first hallway has panels of mahogany and gray. Most of the private offices for supervisors are in this part of the suite. The manager's office includes mahogany desks and filing cabinets along with leather chairs. The conference room has a long table and eight leather chairs.
The administrative breakroom includes a refrigerator-freezer, a counter with sink and cabinets, a coffeemaker, a toaster oven, a microwave oven, chairs, and end tables. It is stocked with healthy foods such as salad packs, fruit or vegetable cups, yogurt, whole grains, nuts and seeds, fruit juices, bottled water, coffee, tea, and mix-ins like protein powder and nutrient packets.
Here the end of a cubicle row overlooks a sitting area with distinctive art to aid wayfinding and a hall with more offices. This part has pale yellow walls and holds mostly shared offices for secretarial and phone staff. Hanson Hall includes serviced office areas, so extra staff here provide or organize services such as scheduling appointments or sending janitors.
The dottie just off the sitting area has a roll-under sink, a roll-in shower, and a toilet with grab bars.
See a floor plan of the Global Hope Gift Shop and its Gallery.
The Global Hope Gift Shop features many arts and crafts, most made by Hanson Hall members since they get the first chance at space.
The Gallery has plain white walls to hang artwork. Gallery Room 1 sometimes serves snacks. Gallery Room 1 looks into Gallery Room 2.
Ella's Arts and Crafts Emporium offers an extensive selection of inks, pencils, markers, papers, paints, brushes, palettes, canvases, art mannequins, easels, sculpting tools, books, and other supplies.
The Performance Corner may be booked in advance, and has live entertainment scheduled throughout much of the day. Slots are reserved for open mike times. There are also hours with first-come, first-served signups for 5 or 10 minute routines. The Performance corner faces the Brown Lounge.
The Brown Lounge has an assortment of couches, tables and chairs. It faces the Performance Corner.
The Primp & Pamper Beauty Salon offers a variety of services. Some of the hairstyles get pretty wild. Its lobby sells a variety of self-care books, notecards, jewelry, and bodycare supplies. The hair salon includes a chair and mirror along with dressers to hold tools and supplies. Bodycare rooms feature spa-style beauty treatments.
Omaha Wheels is a nonprofit that accepts donated bicycles and also buys used ones at garage sales and such. Volunteers then refurbish the bikes and put them up for sale. They also teach classes on bike maintenance and repair. People can earn points by learning skills or working on bikes. With enough points, they can choose a bike of their own -- or to fix up and resell. The shop also handles other human-powered equipment like rollerblades and skateboards.
* * *
The Happy Hippie Jew Bus belongs to the Generous Jew, one of several nonprofit organizations in the Tikkun Olam Collective at Hanson Hall in Omaha, Nebraska. Sometimes they share it with other charities. Davette Ezer, the manager of the Generous Jew, usually does the driving. The black base has been overpainted with rainbow decorations and says Happy Hippie Jew Bus along the sides in black letters. Inside, the seats have cloth covers of blue sprinkled with other colors.
The bus has two fully articulated chairs in the front. Behind those, the floor has a set of docking rungs that can hold cargo, containers, nets, seats, wheelchairs, or other things. The bus has a set of removable seats including one 4-seat unit, two 3-seat units, three 2-seat units, and three 1-seat units. It can hold a maximum of 15 people in seats, or 2 in seats and 6 in wheelchairs. It does not have an electric lift, but does have a ramp that can be added at need for wheelchairs or cargo. The bus also has a set of removable cargo cabinets, cargo containers, cargo nets, and a pair of storage benches (one for each side) with padded tops over lockers. These features make it easy to customize the bus for different projects.