Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
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One photo of my parents captures them in their zone. It’s their wedding anniversary and they’re waltzing. Both are looking directly at the camera, still smiling after 40 years of wedded bliss. They’re definitely in their element. They enjoyed dancing. When King’s Ballroom was still operating in Norfolk, the ‘rents were waltzing around the dance floor. Other couples stopped as Dad and Mom sashayed to the strains of big band tunes, offering an ovation to the young couple when the melody slowed to...
History buff LuAnn is geeking out this week, racing to beat the clock to New Year’s Eve, when AMC-produced “Hell on Wheels” will be withdrawn from the Netflix repertoire. I’d seen advertisements for the western history series but hadn’t committed to view it, until my father-in-law made the suggestion. Scott and I have binge-watched four seasons and have 12 episodes to complete by Thursday. Hopefully, we’re on track. Even though my kids tell me I am older than dirt, I do not remember studying, i...
“I need a sign to let me know you’re here. All of these lines are being crossed over the atmosphere...” That song lyric, from “Calling All Angels,” by Train, kept replaying in my mind Monday evening, when we gathered with approximately 30 individuals to view the great conjunction, at Honey Creek Observatory, north of O’Neill. Low, rolling clouds blanketed the southwestern sky. Occasionally, a sliver of the waxing gibbous moon would surface, offering a quick glimpse at its corona. The Christm...
I am a woman on a mission. Or, at least I have an idea I hope Ewing community members will believe is viable and consider pursuing. During Monday’s Village Board of Trustees meeting, discussion turned to the old water tower and the possibility of it coming down once the new tower is functioning. It got me thinking about my friend, and SAM freelancer, Terri Hahn. Terri grew up in Lewellen. About two years ago, she wrote about her hometown’s efforts to save the town’s water tower. The struc...
If you know me well, you know that fall - primarily football season - is one of my favorite times of the year. My family has a long-standing relationship with Husker football. Before the ‘rents married, Dad purchased box seats, near the field of Memorial Stadium. He didn’t miss a game. Once they were hitched, they became season ticket holders and since 1955, someone from our family could be found sitting in our west stadium seats. Dad always said he should have requested four tickets ins...
During my 25-year stint as a play production director, I faced several challenges: kids late to practice, costume malfunctions, broken props, ill students requiring a substitution from an understudy. None of those tests equal what one-act directors are facing during the pandemic. Kudos to Summerland one-act coaches Julie Harley, Mackenzie McClellan and Sarah Kesting, who have learned to adapt and roll with the flow, so to speak, while keeping student safety at the forefront. The Nebraska School...
While I count my blessings each and every day, I have never cared for Thanksgiving. Bad memories tend to resurface. Like how the smell of turkey roasting in the oven reminds me of three-year-old LuAnn, who was ill with influenza, tried a bite of turkey and couldn’t keep it down. Grandma Fields understood my pain, and every year, she also baked a ham so people, -er, I could have another choice. Simpler times then. In 2003, my husband died from a pulmonary embolism, two days before T...
I’ve read quite a few gratitude posts on social media lately, the ones where people share what they’re grateful for. Always reminds me of the scene from the movie “Arthur 2, “where Dudley Moore’s character is asked what he’s thankful for. His response, as he stares at full dinner plate made by his middle-class wife, played by Liza Minelli: I’m thankful I’ve got the smallest piece of meatloaf. Daughter Amanda likes to pull that line during our holiday gatherings. Never gets old. I count my bles...
Greetings, SAM readers. For the past two weeks, I have shared a breakdown of the differences between news articles and editorial items, after SAM began a partnership with Trusting News, a project of the Reynolds Journalism Institute and American Press Institute. We worked to devise strategies that promote responsible and ethical journalism. One goal I established, through the project, is to provide a breakdown of what makes a news article, an editorial and a column. This week, I will address...
What is the difference between news and opinion? This, friends, is the question of the week. In last week's issue, I explained how SAM began a partnership with Trusting News, a project of the Reynolds Journalism Institute and American Press Institute. We worked to devise strategies that promote responsible and ethical journalism. One goal I established, through the project, is to provide a breakdown of what makes a news article, an editorial and a column. In the Advocate-Messenger, opinion and...
A common conversation at our house focuses on the difference between fact and opinion. I’m positive Scott knows the first words I’ll say when we discuss news or politics: Have you fact-checked it? Recently, during discussions with friends and other families, I’ve noticed similar trends. I know, I say fact check a lot. At a time when so many options exist for your news listening or reading habit, and considering how the fast-paced nature of news bombards consumers, fact versus opinion findi...
She was a spitfire. From the first moment she walked into my classroom at Lutheran High Northeast, I knew Janelle would be one of those students: the ones you forge a bond with and see the potential for infinite growth. It didn’t hurt that she was a younger sister to one of Courtney’s best friends and I knew the type of person she was and wanted to be. With Janelle, there was no illusion or pretense. She was simply Janelle, a confident young woman, comfortable in her own skin. She loved Jes...
“Do one thing every day that scares you.” When our 10-year-old grandson was relaying a story about reading aloud in class, Eleanor Roosevelt’s quote came to mind. It’s not that he dislikes reading outloud. He told us he wants to feel confident about speaking in front of a group of people, and to do that, he will need to step outside his comfort zone. It’s okay, Jorden. It doesn’t matter if you’re 10 or 60. We all have a comfort zone. How we approach that area filled with fear is what sets indivi...
Last week, I spent part of Thursday, Friday and Saturday meeting colleagues via Zoom, taking part in sessions of the National Newspaper Conference. The socially-distanced version offered multiple chances for sharpening skills and networking with newspaper publishers and reporters from across the United States. The event renewed nearly all of the ethics I believe are key to providing community journalism. And, several sessions left me re-evaluating some ideas newspapers use because “it’s the way...
We, at the Advocate-Messenger, are gearing up for National Newspaper Week, which is celebrated Oct. 4 through 10. This year’s theme - America Needs Journalists - has never been more timely. In a time when we hear “fake news” uttered on a daily basis, it’s time to clear the air and face the truth. Ethical journalists do not file fake news stories. We fact check (a term Scott has learned a lot about in the last year because I use it all the time), fact check again and fact check one final time be...
I’ve said it before. I’ll say it again. I have a love-hate relationship with social media. While I appreciate being able stay informed about family members, I don’t like the divisiveness I see brewing. Whatever happened to the “we can agree to disagree” mantra? That is the beauty of free speech. If you don’t agree, scroll by. If you are inclined to comment, great, but civility goes a long way. But the reality of social media, especially when it comes to social media seen as a means of “free ad...
Walt Disney once said, “There’s no magic in magic. It’s all in the details.” I have a feeling Walt’s magical wisdom applied to people, too. If you’re lucky enough to have an edge when it comes to reading people, you’ve more than likely mastered the art of the details - paying attention to tiny clues that provide huge amounts of data about others. Take a moment and think about your best friend. What about them stands out? What do they do that continues to build on your friendship? Now, think ab...
Since Breonna Taylor’s death in March and George Floyd’s death in May, I have heard people from all walks proclaim racism does not exist in our country, let alone in the great state in which we live. Yet, an incident Saturday, in Lincoln, shows that belief is alive in Nebraska. It’s unfortunate because I want to believe the underlying message displayed on the back window of a pickup does not represent the majority of residents of the state I love. I realize we don’t reside in a Pollyan...
Random thoughts ... a.k.a. I am multi-tasking and a million ideas are racing through my mind. I’ll number them to give this column some semblance of order. 1. Best quote I have read in a long time. “Left, right or center - facts have no party line.” Spot. On. Many times at our house, Scott and I get into heated political discussions. He tells me I am not paying attention to what is happening (uh no, I pay attention all day long). Then I explain he fails to fact check before sharing some talki...
Sometimes, intuition and curiosity take you down a rabbit hole. Last week, in this column, I wrote about my maternal great-great-grandmother and mentioned I didn’t know much about my paternal great-grandparents. First, though, a little backstory. I know my grandmother’s parents - Henry and Mary - owned the movie theater in Wausa. Great-grandpa was quite an entrepreneur. He built a miniature golf course there in the early 1900s, farmed and raised hogs at the family farm about two miles out of...
On the 100th anniversary of women earning the right to vote, I’ve been thinking about the long line of strong women in my family. I never had the opportunity to meet my paternal great-grandmothers. Great-grandma Larson died giving birth and Great-grandma Gropper died six years before I entered the world. I am a strong woman because a strong woman - Barbara Fields Larson - raised me. I imagine her strength came from role models - strong Oakdale women - she grew up watching: her mother, Neola; g...
When Scott and I were newlyweds, I spent a lot of time in the kitchen, concocting recipes, using him as a guinea pig for my culinary creations. Most mornings, he’d swing the tractor into the driveway and stop for breakfast around 8:30. Usually, I’d dish up eggs over easy on perfectly toasted wheat bread, or if I felt ambitious, pancakes from scratch, topped with sweet butter and homemade strawberry syrup. Stuffed, he’d head out to feed cattle and I’d clean up and start lunch prep. Some days, t...
Who is your favorite sitcom dad? Think about it before committing to a final answer. Several come to mind - strong role models who believe in family, the hate-to-love protagonist who struggles with inner demons but has a heart of gold, the love-to-hate man who protects family at all costs. What I discovered, after reading the article titled, “Why are sitcom dads still so inept?” is this: I must watch a lot of older TV shows. Or, at least, I gravitate toward characters who exhibit the afo...
It’s either black or white. No gray area exists. A former student - we’ll call him B - once told me the above-mentioned statement. From his perspective, things either happened a particular way or they didn’t. No mishmash of emotion was involved. Things simply were or weren’t. B spent a lot of time in my classroom. He was enrolled in two courses I taught, and for one period a day, he worked as a student aide. And then there were the other hours of the day, the times when fellow educators sent him...
How many lifequakes have you experienced? After listening to Bruce Feiler on a podcast, and watching a segment with him on the Today show, I have to answer, “Quite a few.” A lifequake is exactly what it sounds like: a crisis situation that shakes and rattles your life, causing a disruption. Many times, the lifequake leads to a transition point in one’s life. Feiler experienced three crises in his 40s. He was diagnosed with a rare bone cancer, experienced financial trouble during the reces...
