Lincoln, Nebraska: Home on the Prairie
The college city's big sky and endless farmland gave this New Yorker some fresh perspective
- By Meghan Daum
- Smithsonian magazine, November 2011, Subscribe
The thing you have to understand about Lincoln is that it falls under the radar. Unless you’re from Nebraska—or possibly South Dakota or Iowa—it’s probably not a place you’d think of visiting, much less moving to. No matter how unaffordable life becomes in Brooklyn or Portland or Austin, Lincoln is unlikely to turn up on a list of “unexpected hipster destinations.” But, being extremely unhip, I moved there anyway. In 1999, when I was 29, I traded New York City for it and stayed nearly four years. This was a strange thing to do, and it perplexed a lot of people, particularly because I did not, contrary to some assumptions, go there for school or a guy or because I was in the witness protection program. As a result, there’s a part of me that feels like an impostor whenever I write or even talk about Lincoln. I’m not from there, I don’t live there now, and when I did live there, I occupied an often awkward middle ground between guest and resident. By this I mean that even though I lived in a house and had friends and a relationship and a book club and a dog, I was always regarded as “the person who moved here from New York for no particular reason.” In Nebraska that translates loosely into “deeply weird person.”
I could tell you the basics. That Lincoln is the state capital and the county seat and the site of the main campus of the University of Nebraska, and that the capitol building has a 15-story tower commonly referred to as “the penis of the plains.” I could tell you that recent figures put the population at nearly 260,000 and the median household income at just under $45,000. I’d be obliged to mention, of course, that the biggest deal in town is, and always has been, Cornhusker football. The stadium has a capacity of more than 80,000, and on game days the normally wide-open 60 miles of interstate between Lincoln and Omaha goes bumper to bumper.
I could tell you the stuff that’s slightly beyond the basics. That despite Husker pride—there’s a disproportionate number of red cars and trucks on Lincoln’s streets—and the beer-chugging, chest-painting, corn hat-wearing (yes, as in a corncob on your head) all-American gestalt that comes with it, Lincoln’s not as Wonder Bread as you might think. Since the 1980s, it’s been a locus for refugee resettlement, and there are thriving communities of Iraqis and Vietnamese and Sudanese, to name a few. It’s also got a visible LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) population, a lot of aging hippies and the kind of warmed-over, slightly self-congratulatory political correctness common to left-leaning university towns in red states. Unlike Omaha, which wants the rest of the country to know that it has tall buildings and Fortune 500 companies, Lincoln wants you to know that it’s culturally sophisticated, that it’s got a vegetarian sandwich shop and a public radio station and a wine bar. Like a restless kid from a small town, Lincoln wants to prove to you that it’s not a hick. All the same, the country comforts of its steakhouses and honky-tonks make you want to put your arms around it as though it were a big, shaggy sheepdog.
But all that stuff always seems slightly beside the point. The Lincoln I love—the reason I stayed as long as I did and have returned nearly every year since—actually starts where the city limits end. Drive five minutes out of town and farmland unspools before you, replacing the car dealerships and big-box stores with oceans of prairie grass and corn growing in lock step rows all the way to the horizon. This is where I spent the bulk of my Lincoln years; in a tiny farmhouse on the northwestern outskirts of town with an eccentric boyfriend and lots of animals (dogs, horses, a pig—the whole tableau). It would be a lie to say I didn’t have some dark hours. My total income in 2001 was just over $12,000. My debit card was declined at the Hy-Vee supermarket more than once. I seriously wondered about whether I had it in me to seek work at the Goodyear plant. (I didn’t.) As quiet as the days and nights were, there was chaos all around—animals that got sick, propane tanks that ran out of gas on frigid weekends. This wouldn’t surprise a Nebraskan. It is not possible, after all, to live on a farm with a boyfriend, eccentric or otherwise, and animals five times your size without wondering if your life is piling up in snowdrifts around you. You can’t live through a rural Nebraska winter without succumbing to at least a little of the “prairie madness” the early homesteaders battled when the wind blew mercilessly for weeks and months at a time.
Still, that landscape is the place my mind summons when I’m asked (usually in some yogic or meditative context, now that I live in Los Angeles) to close my eyes and “imagine a scene of total peace and serenity.” In those moments, I picture the Rothko-like blocks of earth and sky, the psychedelic sunsets, the sublime loneliness of a single cottonwood punctuating acres of flat prairie. I remember the sound of golf ball-size hail hitting the roof and denting the car. I remember sitting on the front porch and watching a lightning storm that was miles away but cracked the whole night open nonetheless. It was there, under that sky and at the mercy of all that weather, that I began to understand the concept of a wrathful God. In Nebraska, storms are a violence from which no amount of caution or privilege can protect you. Their warnings crawl across television screens in every season. They’ll blow you or freeze you or blind you into submission. They’ll force you into some kind of faith.
Lincoln gave me a faith in second chances. In third and fourth chances, too. I’d had a nervous upbringing in the tense, high-stakes suburbs of New York City, after which I lived hungrily and ecstatically, but no less nervously, in the clutches of the city itself. This was a life that appeared to have no margin for error. One mistake—the wrong college, the wrong job, embarking on marriage and family too soon or too late—seemed to bear the seeds of total ruination. Terrified of making a wrong move, of tying myself down or cutting off my options, I found myself paralyzed in the classic New York City way. I paid my rent, pursued my career, worked at temp jobs and went on second (but not third) dates. I was waiting for the big score, of course (what is New York City if not a holding pen for people awaiting recognition of their greatness?), but in the meantime I was holding still, making no commitments or sudden moves, never venturing past the point of no return, honoring the nervous energy that paid my bills (barely) and delayed most of my gratification indefinitely.
Until one day I got on a plane and moved to Lincoln. Like I said, I don’t expect people to get it. I didn’t get it myself. Instead, I can offer this controlling metaphor. It concerns the final approach into the Lincoln airfield. It’s a long runway surrounded by fields, with no built-up adjacent areas or bodies of water to negotiate. The runway is so long, in fact, that it was designated an emergency landing site for the space shuttle and, to this day, every time I fly in, even when the wind is tossing the little plane around like a rag doll, I always have the feeling that nothing can possibly go wrong. The space is so vast, the margin for error so wide, that getting thrown off course is just a minor hiccup, an eminently correctable misfire. Lincoln’s air space, like its ground space, is inherently forgiving.
After those acid trip sunsets, that’s the thing about Lincoln that rocked my world. That you can’t really mess up too badly. You can marry too young, get a terrible tattoo or earn $12,000 a year, and the sky will not necessarily fall. The housing is too cheap and the folks are too kind for it to be otherwise. Moreover, when you live underneath a sky that big, it’s hard to take yourself too seriously. Its storms have a way of sweeping into town and jolting your life into perspective. That jolt was Lincoln’s gift to me. It comes in handy every day.
Meghan Daum’s most recent book is Life Would Be Perfect If I Lived in That House.
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Comments (100)
I grew up in southwest Nebraska, and went to school in Lincoln. Whenever someone in Los Angeles talks about a beautiful California sunset, I just shake my head because they don't know. Ever step out on your LA patio at night, and feel like you can see EVERY star in the Universe? Nope.
Posted by Michael on February 6,2013 | 02:01 AM
Meghan Daum, thank for capturing the heart of Lincoln and Nebraska. You came as a stranger to Nebraska, but you left as a Nebraskan. Oh pioneer, your home is always here. Blessings on your journey in LA and beyond.
Posted by C. Curtis on February 6,2013 | 10:22 PM
Meghan, Thank you for this beautiful testament to my beloved little city.
Posted by Ben K. on February 6,2013 | 07:21 PM
I've been searching for words to describe Lincoln for nearly five years, since I moved away to New England. This nails it and provided me a little afternoon nostalgia and, admittedly, a misty eye.
Posted by Amanda Smidt on February 6,2013 | 12:59 PM
You are a gifted writer and have keen insight (yes I know, sounds like a fortune cookie, but it is true). I enjoyed this piece. I will look forward to reading books you write in the future.
Posted by liz whitton on January 19,2013 | 11:10 PM
Love your article! As a Lincolnite, I understand what you're describing. It's hilarious to hear out of towners talk about the madness of football saturdays! The storms can be dangerous but fascinating too. There's been many a time I had to pull over to the side of the road until a torrent of rain stopped and I can drive on. The scary times are when you don't know if you're in a typical storm or in a path of a tornado and the radio is out of range of a radio tower. Around Lincoln it's very pretty but if you want to see Nebraska, get off I-80 and drive on the highways. What you see will amaze you.
Posted by Nancy Arensdorf on December 23,2012 | 09:11 PM
You've done a great job of describing life in Lincoln....and making me just a bit homesick. You seem to have had a great lifetime worth of experiences in those 4 years. I hope that LA is as generous to you....or that you move back to Nebraska. Thanks - A Lincoln-ite who migrated to Ontario
Posted by Liwana Bringelson on October 10,2012 | 11:52 AM
Loved the photo and loved your story of your years in Lincoln. I was born and raised there, and of course have a slightly different perspective, but you have it down! The sky over Lincoln is something I miss, and has affected every home I've chosen since (need lots of windows). I've also lived in Los Angeles, love the weather and people there as well. But Lincoln is my home, always will be, and when I need that reality check, I head back home to the place where you can see for miles, where people are especially fair and kind, and a place where you are what you are and there's no need to impress. It's reality.
Posted by Susan Curelop on October 5,2012 | 04:22 PM
I submitted a comment directly to my friend who forwarded it to me.
Posted by Lois Cox on August 26,2012 | 07:46 PM
Amazing read. As a Lincolnite who moved to New York a few years ago, this article did a perfect job of iterating why I love Lincoln, why I had to leave, and why I'll never fully understand the rat race of New York.
Posted by Eli on June 26,2012 | 05:10 PM
As a Lincolnite and a Nebraskan for over two decades my memories are solid, positive and everlasting. We share many of the same feelings for a place mysteriously etched into our minds. No one can be brought to fully comprehend or understand all things Go Big Red, even after living it as a University of Nebraska student. While I have lived in California (where most people can't spell winter and San Diego bills itself as “America’s Finest City” in most part do to the near perfect weather) for the last three decades, with an in between decade in Vail, Colorado, I miss, fondly remember and long for the chance to return to what I have all my life considered my roots. Some say you can't go back or go home, but for me life has a cycle and I can't think of any other place on earth, and I have been lucky enough to have traveled the globe, that I would rather live the last years of my life and die and be buried. I can’t help but feel sorry and even have some pity for all those people who just don’t know or have not experienced what you and I have been so blessed to have as part of our short lives here on this earth to be able to fully understand and embrace the song “There Is No Place Like Nebraska”!
Posted by Dean-Ross Schessler on February 11,2012 | 12:08 PM
Meghan's writing has a way of grabbing your attention and spirit, taking both on the journey with her. I too have a "Lincoln" like place in Alabama which has a way of removing the foder of life and makes room for nourishing the soul. Meghan has a true storytelling gift! Reply to Joel above: You missed the point.
Posted by janice on February 5,2012 | 12:12 PM
Many people view everything west of Lincoln as western nebraska. Omaha is a town of people that want to be a big town and just asoon consider "nebraska" as their step sibling state and all agriculture a downfall to their image even though they were built around the stockyards. Lincoln contains a little of the big city arrogance. If you truely want sincerity and a place where it's considered discourteous if you dont wave going down the highway, then travel outside of these two places. As far as the people who have moved here or moved back and dont feel welcomed, then I appologize for the people you have dealt with. As a poster said above, in all places you will meet all types.
And if you want to see the true beauty of the state then dont sit at the edge of town and do it at sunset, do it with a hard working rancher or farmer who has been putting in long days on that land and gets the opportunity to stop and acknowledge what he sees around him then keeps on working to feed the world
Posted by "oscar" on January 10,2012 | 06:49 PM
I enjoyed the article and could identify with many of the comments. It has been over 40 years since we moved to Colorado, but I still consider Lincoln "home." I've lost track of how many trips we made on I-80 as we come back for every Husker football game. Each time I drive into Lincoln I still get excited. One of my son's fond memories from when he was young, was driving across Nebraska at night and seeing lightning dance across the sky. Even though my children were young when we moved from Lincoln, they feel a strong attachment and love coming back. Now a couple of my grand children are Big Red fans and say the atmosphere at the stadium can't be beat.
Posted by Janet Winslow on January 10,2012 | 04:34 PM
What a lovely article. You captured the essence of Nebraska and Lincoln. It makes me all the prouder to have been born and raised in Nebraska. I too left in my young 20's, then returned to finish my degree at UNL. I no longer live in Lincoln, but have family there and love seeing the expanse of space and oh my, the sky!! I live in California now - and miss the extreme weather conditions of Nebraska - apparently, it builds character and survival skills. Meghan, I'm so glad I discovered you and your article. Thank you and keep writing. You are very talented. All the best.
Posted by jean on January 5,2012 | 04:32 PM
One of my favorite lines: "When you live underneath a sky that big, it’s hard to take yourself too seriously."
For a moment I can hit the 'pause button' on life, as I drive along the countryside on a Sunday evening right outside of Lincoln. Look one way and see rolling hills, look the other way and you'll see the the sun setting on our skyline with the Capitol and Memorial Stadium--cityscape to small town and everything in between. I'm proud to call Lincoln home for the past five years.
Posted by Venny Alub on December 20,2011 | 02:57 PM
I moved to Nebraska from Miami Florida for law school. It was very much a cultural change that requiered some getting used to. I found that the best medicine was to take advantage of those empty spaces and lovely skies and lonely surroundings to sooth away any stress. Its true people arent as welcoming as they are friendly and they dont particulary take to strangers as quickly as folks might in urban areas. In time found that nebraska rubbed off on me and folks I knew back home started to comment on the Nebraska side of my polite and seemingly friendly not yet welcoming personality...somethign like those open vistas and endless skys friendly yet not welcoming per say. Now back in South Florida I often reminisce about those Nebraska days and drives into Lincoln on weekends. Im glad to see Im not the ony one who found the place so memorable for its semingly serene ambiance.
Posted by Tony on December 19,2011 | 05:37 AM
The imagery is lovely. The butchering of the English language is appalling. I simply don't understand how a "professional" writer can commit to print such statements as "It's also got a visible LGBT," or "it's got a vegetarian sandwich shop," or "I'd had a nervous upbringing." The phrase "It's got" translates to "It has got." The phrase "I'd had" translates to "I had had." The most egregious error was a comma splice (I'll let you find that one yourself).
As a public high school student, my English teacher required each of us to read and memorize Kate L. Turabian's "A Manual for Writers." It's a shame this is not required reading for all "professional" writers.
Posted by Joel on December 18,2011 | 11:17 AM
Having Our Open-Space Cake and Gobbling It Down Too
“Since the 1980s, it’s been a locus for refugee resettlement, and there are thriving communities of Iraqis and Vietnamese and Sudanese, to name a few. ... But all that stuff always seems slightly beside the point.”
As the Church Lady would say, “How conveeenient.”
The Lincoln I love—the reason I stayed as long as I did and have returned nearly every year since—actually starts where the city limits end. Drive five minutes out of town and farmland unspools before you ...”
American writers, especially of European heritage, almost always proclaim refugee or immigrant communities to be either thriving or vibrant. Just as it is de rigueur for enlightened--and who among us would not want to be considered so?-- writers and reporters to enthuse over our limitless migrant-driven population growth, while at the same time happily gushing over our seemingly limitless open spaces, apparently without possessing the slightest clue that the two are in the long-term diametrically opposed.
Among the earlier comments on this article, someone referred to the declining population in his area of Nebraska. Not to worry, since the population of the United States is now growing faster than that of many Third World nations, your problem will be over, historically speaking, in a flash.
None of these transformative changes, roaring along since 1965-70, in U.S. population density and in its demographic makeup, were ever voted upon, much less approved by Nebraskans nor by voters of any other state. Hence these changes must at every opportunity be cheerfully propped up by wide-eyed praise, while long-term consequences are obscured. After all, as European Americans applaud the fact that they are becoming an ever smaller percentage of the U.S. population, they can keep their minds firmly occupied by celebrating that they are becoming ever more enriched! As for nature and open space? Not so easily self-deluded.
Posted by Thomas Michael Andres on December 13,2011 | 12:47 AM
I have lived in Minneapolis, KC, Lincoln, Philly, Indianapolis and now Charlotte. I would move back to Lincoln in a heart beat! My favorite feature of Lincoln is the network of bicycle trails. There is a north/south rail line converted to a trail, and an east/west rail line converted to a trail. In addition, every housing development is connected to the local grade school with a trail. We used to go on 50 mile rides towing the kids in a trailer on only rarely need to cross a street!
Posted by Andy on December 13,2011 | 09:42 PM
Thank you for capturing the essence of NE. You are very right, that Lincoln is unnoticed by the rest of the world. I also live in the NW part of Lincoln and I wouldn't trade it for the world. They sky scapes are absolutely amazing and the storms are are awesome and terrifying. Thank you for capturing the true essence of NE life.
Posted by Leasa on November 26,2011 | 11:26 AM
Thunder! When I was a kid growing up in Nebraska's Sandhills, the thunder would rattle the windows. Who would ever miss that? As a young adult, serving in the Peace Corps half way around the world, nearly two years away from Nebraska, I heard a faint rumble of thunder one afternoon and ran outside with my tape recorder to capture a faint imitation of home. Though I still live a long, long day's drive from the closest Nebraska border, I try to get back every year or two, and look forward introducing my grandchildren to my beloved state.
Posted by Matt Beha on November 21,2011 | 11:04 AM
I was in New York City for my brother's wedding this past weekend and trying to explain to my friends there what Nebraska is like. I will be sending them this article. Meghan, I think you will understand when I say that one of the best things in Nebraska are the cold, bleak winters. My friend laughed at my use of "bleak" but that is the best way to describe the scene as you drive on a cold winter's afternoon, with iced snow covering the corn stalk stubs and rowed under soy bean fields, and the endless, sunless, gray sky opening up overhead. I LOVE those days. They are bleak and lonely and depressing and beautiful. I live in Chicago now and I, too, find peace and serenity in remembering those freezing cold drives between Omaha or Lincoln and Norfolk. (Ya gotta love a winter where, even inside the car with the heater blasting, you are still cold in a down coat, hat, scarf and gloves!)
Posted by Linda on November 16,2011 | 06:38 PM
I was born and raised in Omaha. After high school, I left to have my adventures and never anticipated I would ever live in Nebraska again. Throughout the following 15 years, I lived all over the country in cities large and small. I always had a nostalgic feeling about Nebraska, however. Almost two years ago, I moved to Lincoln because I felt the pull of wanting to be close to family and to make Nebraska my home once again. The wide-open spaces, glorious vistas, excitement of a Huskers football game and the delights of family gatherings remain the best parts of living here. The transition has been (and continues to be) tough. It is true that people are kind but not necessarily welcoming to an outsider. Though I'm a native of Nebraska, the fact that I left has somehow reset my status to alien. Other transplants to Lincoln make up the majority of my friendships. In other places, a wealth of experience is valued; here, it makes you suspect. I struggle. I love this place and the peace it can bring but I miss the thirst for knowledge and wider world view that seems to be lacking here.
Posted by Kim on November 16,2011 | 02:55 PM
I was born and raised in western Nebraska, I moved to Minnesota about 5 years ago and people always ask me here why I left Nebraska. I always joke because "it was Nebraska" but really I couldn't be prouder to be from there. I left to figure out my life on my own but I will always love Nebraska, everything about it no matter what other people may say or think :-) Go Big Red!
Posted by Jenn on November 10,2011 | 05:54 PM
You don't have to agree with all of her reasons for loving Lincoln to agree that this is a very sweet, sincere, heart-felt article. I'm touched.
Posted by Molly on November 9,2011 | 11:22 PM
I'm from Iowa; lived in Maryland, outside Washington, DC; lived in Rhode Island. You find nice people and angry, nasty people wherever you go. We moved to Omaha in 1976; we moved again to Lincoln in 1997. I still have never lived anywhere where strangers look you in the eye and say "hello" as they pass you. You have big city amenities in Lincoln without the overpopulation and problems you find in bigger cities. We have some of those problems, as well, but in Lincoln, you will find more people willing to help if you have a problem. The lifestyle here is relaxed and laid back; the cost of living is lower. We visited beautiful Asheville, NC, a few years ago. It was very nice; people were friendly; but when we flew back into Omaha and drove down I80 to Lincoln, the first thing I said was, "Ahhhhh...we have the horizon and wide open prairie views again." North Carolina felt a little claustrophobic to this prairie-raised girl. Their vegetation grows right up to the intersections, making it difficult to see traffic. Give me Lincoln, NE, and the prairie any day. It's a wonderful place to live.
Posted by Janice on November 7,2011 | 11:35 AM
A link from a friend on facebook brought me to your article, and I couldn't be happier. Your words describe my Lincoln, Nebraska experience to heart.
I'm originally from the Illinois side of the Mississippi River in the Quad Cities area. I used to visit family in Nebraska as a child and was always amazed by the miraculous skies. I proudly wore my souvenir Huskers gear to my Illinois high school and dreamed of moving west someday.
After graduation I tried to stay relatively close to home and the buzz of the QC, but always felt Nebraska tugging at my heart. After 2 years at private college on the Iowa side of the Mississippi, I decided to pack up my entire life in an Enterprise rent-a-van and make the drive down I-80 to Lincoln. This move was made in worst part of a December 1994 blizzard, my first experience with Mother Nature's wrath on this state. But Nebraska's blustery winds didn't hold me back.
I too feel that Lincoln is the home of second (and third and fourth) chances. There's something refreshing about this city that clears the air of your soul and allows you to discover your true self.
I dated, lived with, and eventually married a Nebraska native who describes himself as "corn bred & corn fed," and planted my roots firmly in the heart of downtown Lincoln. Nebraska men are mid-western knights in shining armor with their strong family ties, devout work ethics, and passion for protection of their neighbors and defense of their football team. I confess that I find this incredibly sexy.
I'm now officially a Husker as I've been both a student and employee of UNL, but I'm still frequently asked, "Why the heck did you move to Nebraska?" My reply is always, "I moved for the skies, I stayed for the guy," but the truth is, I stay here for me.
Posted by Trish on November 6,2011 | 09:19 PM
I often am asked why I live in Nebraska, and until the past few years allowed people to mock it and describe it as a "place to pass through in the middle of the night on I-80", smiliing to myself and knowing that it goes way beyond that when experienced in full in the light of day. I am lucky enough to travel the world on a regular basis but am always thankful to come back to Lincoln, NE where there is family, safety and HOME. Thanks Ms. Daum for finding a way to express such beautiful words about the city I love and cherish.
Posted by Denise on November 4,2011 | 03:31 PM
Aside from the restaurants and thunderstorms, Lincoln is special to me because of the ease on being engaged with and in this place.
I have found anonymity, isolation and loneliness in varying amounts in other places, but not here in Lincoln
Posted by John Brasch on November 2,2011 | 03:01 PM
While much of this is true, the people are only kind when you are not from certain places. I have experienced the dark side of this place - the side where people ask you to move _in church_ or at a restaurant if you are wearing something that isn't in line with the husker nation. I've been talked down to and looked down upon... even though I may cheer for those precious Huskers, even though I won the heart of an outstanding woman here in this city, I'm still not accepted and only seen as an outsider (as opposed to weird, part resident, part guest) and I have been married and lived here now for almost 7 years.
Lincoln and Nebraska has a lot to offer but it's people are much like the rest of the plains states people I know - closed to being in close relationships, letting anyone that is outside of their preferences from a place they deem to be unacceptable or about whom they have too many assumptions... instead of actually taking the time to get to know someone for who they are. Alas, the sky and the fields are vast and encompassing - the people in my experience have been much less so.
Posted by Steven Truesdale on November 1,2011 | 10:10 PM
My path to Nebraska started in the Caribbean (Jamaica) when my secondary school teacher (from Boston) told me about the University of Nebraska. When I left my place of birth I had no idea where Lincoln, Nebraska was located - I was thinking maybe near Ohio. Let me tell you, Nebraska is nothing like Jamaica! After living in Lincoln for almost 30 years it does grow on you, especially those BIG skies! Even though I now live in western North Carolina Nebraska will always occupy a special place in my heart - the place where I met my beautidul wife, where our children grew up and the place where the people are truly "real."
Posted by Bruce Helwig on November 1,2011 | 02:40 PM
We have the internet, you can live anywhere, and never be bored.
Posted by ariel on November 1,2011 | 11:51 AM
I moved to Nebraska in 1985 and can't say enough about the people here. You will never find nicer, more helpful people than here in this state. I've lived in the southeast, south, midwest (Illinois, Kansas) and California and have never been so welcome as here. I have to agree with other posters about the severe weather in this state. Love, love, love the lightning shows here.
Posted by Deb In Lincoln on October 31,2011 | 08:16 PM
This article was sent to me, in Lincoln, from my daughter off the east coast of the USA. It fills me with a feeling so strong I must write but difficult to describe. My Great grandparents, grandparents, parents and myself all came to this realization at some point in our lives. On the way "home" from a UK trip, our son remarked: "The sky is much bigger here".
Posted by Dory Marsh on October 31,2011 | 01:52 PM
My family moved to Nebraska from Virginia when I was 7. After graduating high school (Go Waverly!), I went away to college (my father's almamater Iowa State), joined and retired from the Air Force, and went back to work for the Air Force in DC. Except for my first year in Japan, I've made it back to Nebraska at least once a year for the last 25 years. Next summer I plan to quit and move back to the Lincoln area. People ask me why Nebraska. Besides the fact my family is there, I try to explain it is a wonderful way of life. I've been to alot of places and Nebraska will alway be home...but I fully expect it will be 10 to 20 years before I'm considered other than a visitor!
Posted by Jeannine on October 31,2011 | 01:03 PM
LOVED your article. I moved to Omaha from Washington DC and I LOVE Nebraska! It is beautiful here!
Posted by Amy Mather on October 31,2011 | 12:11 PM
Now maybe folks will understand why we will be leaving Maryland and moving to NE into a very fine senior community.
To all the other praises of Lincoln let me add: (1) The fine music department at UNL where our son (Dr. Mark Clinton) is Co-Chair of the Piano Program; (2) The many offerings at The Lied Theatre; (3) The Lincoln Symphony. The Musical Director/Conductor commutes from Baltimore to lead the orchestra. (4) Art museums. (5) An excellent variety of eateries -- from almost fancy to all kinds of ethnic places. (5) Baseball -- the minor league team, the UNL team, and Omaha with the College World Series nearby.
(6) And a favorable cost of living.
So this "Terripin" will become a "Cornhusker" and I'll get to see those sunsets, eerie storms, and a different side of Mother Nature.
Posted by John Clinton on October 30,2011 | 10:47 PM
I live south of Valentine, and must say I like to go to Lincoln to visit what few family members and friends that have moved there, and of course go to a football game, but out here you can see so many stars that are drown out by lights in so many other places!! We've got the big animals that require taking care of whether it's cold and snowing or hot and out of water in the stock tanks!! I thank God for placing out here and glad you had the opportunity to experience it for a period of time in your life!!
Posted by Marj on October 30,2011 | 12:59 PM
I love Nebraska too. I love the sunrises and sunsets, its fields and farms, lakes and ponds, but the picture atop the story is not so good. Not a drop of habitat in the picture. Mowed ditches, fenceline to fenceline farming. It's a picture that begs change (look to South Dakota for no-till farming). Heavy reliance on chemicals. But a lot of good, also. Many farms cropping up that produce for local markets. A lot of great farmers who feed the world. We're in a battle to stave off a foreign corporation from running a pipeline THROUGH the the Ogalalla Aquifer, which irrigates 30% of U.S. crops. This tarsands oil from Canada is a product of raping boreal forests. It's the dirtiest oil on the planet and they add more dangerous chemicals to it to make it thin enough to go through the pipeline.
Nebraska is a frontline in the battle against bad energy policy and protecting one of the country's immeasurable natural resources few know about. Please help us.
Posted by Phip Ross on October 28,2011 | 12:56 AM
I spent a week University of Nebraska, Lincoln, in June 2007, reading and scoring essays for the AP World History tests. Nebraska became a dart that lodged in my heart from then on. About the third evening I went up to my dorm room and opened the window because I had watched a storm gathering in the southeast and I wanted to breathe the air. I stood at the window for a couple of minutes, listening to the thunder. I could see lightning off to the northeast, could see silos and pointy rooftops in the glow when the lightning spiked. Cars below in the parking lot were stacking up and people were sauntering up to the building and disappearing beneath me. The thunder got louder and more frequent as I stood and breathed, and I was all smiles when a gigantic, humongous, outrageous BOOM!, came through the window and pushed me physically backward until I had to take a step to stop from toppling over. I felt the pressure on my chest and felt my face flatten out like something had smacked me. Then a voice came from next door - I heard it out the window - my neighbor, Chris, said "Hey George! Did you feel that??" We both then began babbling about it until we went to our beds, still talking, leaving the windows open, listening to the concert outside. It was like Boy Scout Camp, two boys chatting until they drifted off.
The next day I visited the race horses in the barns across the way from our warehouse where we read essays. But that's another story....Nebraska is just wonderful and it calls me back. Coincidentally, I am wearing my NEBRASKA tee shirt as I write this. I'll be seeing you, Nebraska. Some day soon. Thanks for being there. And thanks, Ms Daum, for this article.
Posted by George Milne on October 28,2011 | 07:57 PM
Your article was great and as a Nebraska native who now lives in Colorado the things that really excite me about coming back to Lincoln are: Valentino's Pizza, Runza, Tastee Inn, Misty's Steakhouse, Lee's Chicken.
Posted by Gene Tice on October 28,2011 | 05:49 PM
I feel like she's exploiting Nebraska. My hometown isn't an Eat, Pray, Love stop.
Posted by Justin Prochazka on October 28,2011 | 03:39 PM
"(T)he Rothko-like blocks of earth and sky, ... the sublime loneliness of a single cottonwood punctuating acres of flat prairie." Nice. Really nice.
We've been in the maritime NW since the Reagan administration, our children were born here and our pensions will come from here. But even now it feels like I've been on a very long vacation. The prairie is, and always will be, home.
Posted by Ben Shomshor on October 28,2011 | 12:33 PM
Lived all my life in and near Lincoln. I feel bad for Moria, who, for whatever reason, never "bought-in." Nebraska, like Scotch-whiskey is an aquired taste. It would have helped her to see the non-drunkard husker fans. I wonder if she likes NASCAR.
Posted by Will on October 28,2011 | 09:49 AM
I was born and raised in Lincoln and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area after receiving an MBA from UNL. I believe that I was truly blessed to have grown up in Lincoln. It was more of a small town then in the 40s & 50s. I like to get back to Linclon to visit family and attend high school reunions. The thunderstorms are one weather experience that I do miss living in California. I also miss the hunting that I enjoyed with my father, uncles and grandfather as a child and teenager. I do not miss the midwest winters. Riding my motorcycles and mountain bikes year around is a pleasure that would keep me from moving back to Lincoln, but "there is no place like Nebraska."
Posted by Dave Neal on October 27,2011 | 01:56 AM
This perfectly captures my Nebraska. The idea that so many people view this place in the same capacity is heart warming. I currently live in Oregon where I go to college, but I was born and raised in the Star City (Lincoln) and I miss it everyday. I wish I could somehow convey to my friends here just how magnificent the Nebraska sunsets and thunderstorms can be. All we here get is mist and soft rain; people don't even own shovels. Lincoln is my home; I bleed red and crave Runzas and Amigos on the daily. Hopefully someday, I'll be back.
Posted by Elena Hoff on October 27,2011 | 09:28 PM
Wonderful article. My wife and I lived in Lincoln for 24 years, moving there for a new job in 1979. Our son and daughter grew up there and for that I feel fortunate because they'll have Lincoln as their hometown forever even though they live elsewhere now. As do we, returning to our own hometown and our families in Indiana after our retirements. But, disliking cold winters, we soon moved to Florida for the warm winters. But we miss Lincoln and Nebraska very much for many of the reasons cited by your writer, but mostly because we miss the many friends we have in Lincoln and in rural Nebraska. (I was general manager of a statewide association and traveled extensively in rural Nebraska.) Nebraskans are very open and accepting of "outsiders." We never were treated differently because we were not native Nebraskans.
Posted by Rex Carpenter on October 27,2011 | 07:10 PM
I moved to Lincoln (from Omaha) to go to college. I liked it so I stayed. That was 40 years ago. I used to sat "Its a nice place to live but I wouldn't want to visit there." But having vacationed to most of the states and about three dozen countries I now think that it is a GREAT place to live. And to my fellow travelers I can say that it is also a good place to visit.
Tim In Lincoln
Posted by Tim KirkpatricK on October 27,2011 | 02:14 PM
My dear girl, your article is a triumph! Never did I expect to contemplate a visit to Lincoln, Nebraska, but this delightful portrait did exactly that. Brilliant conceit about margain of error. It captures your thoughts with such vividness and economy. You have a duty to continue your writing and to develop your gift wherever your nomad instincts lead you. However, you probably cannot get more bizarre or other-worldly than Los Angeles.
Posted by barbara stoffa on October 27,2011 | 12:30 PM
What a wonderful read! I live in the Near South neighborhood, and have for about 20 years. So close to UNL on game day that you can see the balloons float over on the first touchdown. We have always known it, us Nebraska natives, and welcome the insight of a wonderful writer, as she relishes in the gift that keeps on giving. I would pay a kings ransom for the first clap of thunder in the spring, and pray for the last cricket of summer as he wanes away in my window well. You made a wonderful decision in making this one of the pit stops of your life, you wont regret it. There is no place like Nebraska...
Posted by Maddy Madsen on October 26,2011 | 08:43 PM
It's all true. I grew up in town on 20th and B, but my parents moved to a small farm 7 miles southeast of Lincoln later. Sitting on their front porch watching the storms and those incredible sunsets is something that will always be in my heart. When people complain about driving across Nebraska, I just smile. I love my mountains in Colorado, but Lincoln will always be home. Go Big Red!
Posted by Susan Kuklin on October 26,2011 | 06:39 PM
As a Northern Irishman whose bounds are the North Atlantic on one side and an endless daisy chain of Irish hills on the other, I have been fortunate enough to visit my Nebraksan friends on two occasions - and very much hope to do so again. Your prairie ocean resembles our maritime one; your non-judgmental joie de vivre echoes our inuitive understanding that, however inelegant the phrase, stuff does just frequently happen. Our consolation is the thought that "it's not what happens to a man that matters but how he handles it." I am in sympathy with your resident who doesn't really want to advertise Nebraska's charms. Only those who work to appreciate them should be allowed to draw on that particular pipe.
Posted by Lowell Courtney on October 26,2011 | 03:00 PM
I live in Seattle now and go home to Nebraska twice a year for lengthy visits. I'm feeling a little homesick reading this article. When I feel tempted to pack up and move my family back to the Midwest I have to remind myself of the winters. Brrr.
Posted by Brenda on October 26,2011 | 02:06 PM
It is called God's country for that reason!
Posted by Marilynn Haines on October 26,2011 | 10:03 AM
Loved the article. My son lives in Western New York. Married a New Yorker. Met her in Manhattan, Kansas, she wanted to go home to New York. Now they are trying to come home to Nebraska. I have never left Nebraska and watch the Great Plains everyday outside my window.
Posted by Patsy Schmidt on October 26,2011 | 09:50 AM
My husband, from South Dakota, left this on the screen for me this morning as he left for work. Our children were born in Valentine. We moved back East to be near my parents when our two year old became diabetic. That was twenty years ago. Valentine still feels like home. I remember the actual physical response after we'd been to Ohio to visit. As we would drive West and cross the Mississippi, the stress would start to leave my mind and body. Living on the prairie heightens your senses and like the author said, forces you into some kind of faith, even if it's in yourself.
Posted by connie pirner on October 26,2011 | 07:08 AM
I left Lincoln after I graduated high school and just turning 18. My mother, her partner and I moved to Tempe, Arizona and I lived there for 22 years. No matter where I was, in Arizona, or in my travels to the UK, Ireland, etc. I would would always end up telling the people I would meet about the town and state I was raised in. When I was asked where my home was, I would always say my home is Lincoln, NE, but I live in Arizona. I grew up in Lincoln during the 70's/80's. I'm a 6th generation Nebraskan. One of my uncles was the first UNL baseball player to be drafted to the MBL and my mother's brother was a walk-on Husker in 1977 from a town of 700 who became an All American Defensive End/captain of the team/drafted to the NFL. My mother had came out when I was 6 and when I was in high school playing varsity basketball at Lincoln High she was co-owner of the first lesbian bookstore in Lincoln. We were taught about slavery, the civil rights movement, we read 1984/Animal Farm/The Grapes of Wrath, Slaughter House 5, etc in Jr. High. I went to school with children from Vietnam, the Omaha Indian Nation, African-Americans, Hispanics, etc., the rich and poor. That's what we knew, that was our lives and we treated each other as family, as we still do today. One year ago I made the decision to move back to Nebraska. I had choices, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Milwaukee. I realized after visiting 3 times prior to my final decision, that what I had longed for I could only find back home - a soulful grounding serenity. The sky, the sunrises and sunsets, the storms rolling in, the lightening shows that I've never seen anywhere else in the world, the sound of a train passing by at night, and yes, we are a very forgiving people and regardless of our differences we take care of our own - and those "outsiders" that we know/feel understand and feel as deeply as we do about our homeland. Thanks for writing this. I have found that you can go back home again.
Posted by Kris Radke on October 25,2011 | 12:09 AM
I was born and raised in Nebraska under that huge sky and through those terrible storms. After far-away college and a career abroad, I moved back with my husband for grad school from 2005-2009. We bought our first house and had our first baby in Lincoln. We saw family almost every weekend. Work forced us to move away. I miss the serene simplicity of that place every day. Thank you for capturing it here.
Posted by Alison Wimmer on October 25,2011 | 11:17 PM
That's the same way I feel about Lincoln. Its a beautiful city!
Posted by Laura wells on October 25,2011 | 11:09 PM
Very nice article, Meghan! I'm just the opposite - born out here on the prairies, lived in NYC and LA and Europe for years and have been back in Nebraska for a couple of decades. I live directly south of where you lived, a few miles SW of Lincoln, on a farm with a 360 degree view of the horizon. I loved NYC, hated LA and had both loves and hates overseas, but I think I like Nebraska more every day. I laughed when I read your descriptions of the wind and the weather; on several occasions we have had hysterical New York and European friends cowering in the basement during our wonderful thunder-and-hail storms.
Well done! I wish I had known you.
Posted by Gene on October 25,2011 | 08:47 PM
I love Lincoln, and never want to leave. Sure, I visit other places, but where else in this country can one (barely) afford to live on 12k a year? Been there, done that.
I also live on the outskirts of town to the northwest, in a lovely farmhouse with my menagerie (husband, kids, big dogs, cats and birds, not to mention the random mouse in my garage).
I can sit outside and feel peace. I can see farmland, cities, and small towns in less than a 20 minute drive. I can eat a Runza or a 5-course gourmet dinner. I drive over rolling hills and see every season.
This article perfectly describes Lincoln's flavor. Loved it. Made me smile and feel grateful that I live here. Someone up above said it best, Nebraska is the nation's best kept secret.
Posted by Amy A on October 25,2011 | 08:18 PM
I lived in Lincoln off and on during my childhood between my father's military assignments overseas and stateside. I then lived there from 1970 through 1994 during my college years, marriage, child-rearing, divorce and coming-out before moving away for job reasons. Back then the in-joke was that Lincoln was known for the 3Fs: Football, Farmers, and Feminists. But the love of the land has stayed with me. I still have family there and get back every year to visit.
Posted by on October 25,2011 | 07:50 PM
I was born and raised in Nebraska, too. I went to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (I wasn't a fan of Big Red: As a waitrees, I saw the bad side of this crowd, who were mostly drunk.) I go back every few years to visit graves, as I have no living relatives living there except my 95-year old aunt. This is a beautiful article, but does not match my experience while living most of my life in Nebraska. This is someone else's Nebraska, not mine. How I wish it were so!
Posted by Moira on October 25,2011 | 03:43 PM
Tears are streaming down my face as I read both the article and the comments. Growing up a farmer's daughter just east of Lincoln and attending the University of Nebraska, it was a great life. I left 30 years ago, having the opportunity to live in California, Kentucky and the past 20 years in Texas. I do get home, and it will always be home, at least once a year to spend time with family and friends. How I miss Nebraska and Lincoln, it is a great place to be from, there truly is "no place like Nebraska"!
Posted by Kathy Reedy on October 25,2011 | 12:51 PM
This is a great story and well-written. While I was born and raised in Lincoln for 18.5 years, I left for college then moved again even further away after completing college, but my family still lives there so I visit 1-2 times a year.
There is nothing like driving across the plains of Iowa and Nebraska, especially within southeastern Nebraska. It can be calming and relaxing to just know there is the vast open land of "nothingness". But that "nothingness" isn't nothing; it's a "WELCOME" to get away from the hustle, bustle, traffic and God awful "rat race" of big city and even big city suburban life.
I will likely always look forward to driving through those areas as long as I live and it's part of the reason why my dream is to return to the plains; even if it's not until I retire.
Posted by Born & Raised in Lincoln on October 25,2011 | 11:15 AM
This is so true from a Texan now a Nebraskan. Everything in it so true. I have the same feeling when landing at the airport in Lincoln, glad for "wide open spaces" again. Thank you for a great article.
Posted by Kathryn Peterson on October 25,2011 | 10:00 AM
A Minnesotan of the world (my dad was in the military and we lived everywhere), I met my Nebraskan husband in the Peace Corps in Central Africa. "A long cool drink of water," as my mother calls him, he was my "jolt" and Lincoln became our home base (in between travels to Brazil and back to Africa) where two of our three children were born. 31 years later we're back in Africa, this time in Namibia. A dear friend shared your article on FB. Reading it, I laughed and laughed and wept with joy at the vivid pictures you conjure with your words and which I know by heart! Your farm life experience evokes paintings of beloved Nebraska landscape artists Anne Burkholder and Hal Haloun. Now I know why I am so eager to return home, as home Lincoln now is. And, we'll be hosting many international visitors who had never heard of Lincoln, Nebraska before we met them. Now, we'll entice them even more with your perfect portrait!
Posted by Carol L. Ott Schacht on October 25,2011 | 09:06 AM
Shhh! Please don't write things like this. It'll only encourage people to visit. We designed I-80 for maximum boredom to shuttle as many people as quickly as possible out of the state. I'd hate to think our hard work would be for naught. We like our little secret. ;)
Posted by Suki on October 25,2011 | 08:46 AM
I appreciated Meghan's perspective as a big-city girl having experienced life in Lincoln, Nebraska. She would be a novelty here in Lincoln... Most of our residents are a lot more like me, growing up in rural Nebraska on a farm outside of a village of 160 souls (Ohiowa, NE), attending the University of NE or one of our other excellent public & private universities, colleges or trade schools here, then deciding to stay in this "big city" of 260,000 in a state of just 1.5 million.
That's why I always have thought of Lincoln ad "a big-little-town". People are conservative, warm, private, hard working & industrious. While our city thrives economically on agricultue, state government, the University & Big Red sports there is a large number employed by insurance companies based here, manufacturing enterprises, pharmactical companies (both human and animal), banking, health care (two of the top heart hospitals in the nation), truck and rail transportation, information technology and call centers (they say we don't have an accent).
Lincoln is also well known for a large number of churches and private Catholic and Christian Schools that attract many families to our city.
After living in Lincoln for 41 years, I can say it's a great place to raise a family, the cost of living is very reasonable, unemployment is nearly non-existent, it is safe and the perfect place to live if you like to experience all four seasons.
Posted by Dennis Nun on October 25,2011 | 08:11 AM
Pretty accurate description of Lincoln...for an "outsider". ;) We were fortunate to have her in our fair city for a few years.
Posted by Tom Marley on October 25,2011 | 07:34 AM
Thank you Meghan for a wonderful portrait of Nebraska! I'm studying in London for the semester and this got me tearing up. To me, Nebraska cannot be compared to anywhere else. Maybe it is because that is where I'll find my family, my friends, my familiarity...
Allea
P.S. I'm from Jansen, Nebraska, which is near Fairbury (1.5 hours southwest of Lincoln)
Posted by Allea Grummert on October 25,2011 | 06:05 AM
Thank you for that wonderful story. I moved to Lincoln when I was 19 and almost 30 years later, Im still here. I moved here from a town of 600 people in Illinois. Lincoln is kind of a hidden place of beauty and thats why I have stayed.
Posted by Darren McCarty on October 25,2011 | 03:39 AM
Great article and writer. Nebraska welcomes any more classy city girls.
Posted by Marshal G. on October 24,2011 | 11:38 PM
I read your article and had tears running down my face. It is so beautiful and so describes the way that i feel about my home town. While I was not fortunate enough to have grown up there, I was born there, my grandparents and extended family lived there (seemingly one family in every town across the state, but Lincoln was still home so there were many visits each summer and other times of the year. I love my Huskers and have been known to take trips home just to get another dose of "the good life" it is something that I need a "shot" of every now and then. I miss not living there and having the ability to get there as often as I wish. My daughter lives there now, and is living the life that I wish I could. I love Lincoln and always will. You are so right about the weather: beautiful lightning and then thunderstorms (and yes the huge hail), the wind blowing across the plains, the snowstorms that keep you inside both due to depth and ice. "There is no place like Nebraska", and I pray that no one ever changes my beloved home: the people, the slow life, the love of their team, and above all everyone they encounter...you are always at home in Lincoln, Nebraska
Posted by Cindy Sivula on October 24,2011 | 05:42 PM
As a Florida native, I raised my children in Omaha, NE and I would have to say that this writer hit a home run on describing the beauty of the land, the life and the locale. Nicely done!! Nebraska is one of America's best kept secrets!
Posted by Kimberly Doey on October 24,2011 | 03:51 PM
I finally read something that helps me understand my life long love for NE. I'm fortunate enough to be able to look at that big sky almost everyday, and walk in the slow braided chains of the Platte River that runs right through the state. The author hit the nail on the head with this wonderful description.
Posted by linda on October 24,2011 | 02:09 PM
Excellent article, Ms. Daum. As someone who grew up in Lincoln and now lives on the East Coast, I appreciate how you noted the strengths and the idiosyncracies of our town, the flaws and the beautiful parts, in a dignified way. I moved away from those big open spaces for a reason, but there is also much to celebrate when I return to visit family and friends.
Posted by Former Lincolnite on October 24,2011 | 12:12 PM
Wonderful, well-written article!
Posted by Dianne on October 24,2011 | 11:55 AM
I live in Nebraska, and find this article to be both amusing and accurate. Ms Daum's insights are right on. The Prairie has a way of taking hold of your heart even when your mind tells you to run. I simply don't understand how anyone can replace Lincoln with Los Angeles! I left LA to move to the prairie 52 years ago.
Posted by Virginia Werkmeister on October 24,2011 | 11:42 AM
Beautiful article to wake up to. Thanks for sharing.
Posted by marijane on October 24,2011 | 10:11 AM
LOVE ~ LOVE what you have wrote about my dear home state of NE...as I get ready to move back to Lincoln; where I raised my daughters (I grew up in a small town outside Lincoln); and have been asked "why go back there?" ...along w/wanting to be close to family and friends, I can now share this lovely article...thank you for expressing my thoughts so well :-)
Whenever you are back for your annual trek to the Cornhusker state, drop me a line on at my email address listed and we can share tales of travels and the love of Lincoln NE
Posted by bj on October 23,2011 | 01:48 AM
Well written and oh so true. I'll read her book soon. Always good to find great authors
Posted by Linda on October 23,2011 | 12:30 AM
Very well stated. Thank you.
Posted by Steve on October 23,2011 | 10:38 PM
You're onto something here, but the piece is so underdeveloped it barely tells us anything other than that which is purported to be "slightly beside the point." This could be moving and grand. Keep going!
Posted by David on October 23,2011 | 08:32 PM
Wildebeests, lions, Kenya's Savannah, and the Serengete are the plains topics related to living in rural Nebraska. I live on a farm in the panhandle of the state. The population in this region has been declining for a long time. Am I a member of an endangered species?
Posted by Bev Adam on October 23,2011 | 03:11 PM
This is an amazing article. I am a native New Yorker (Strong Island!) and I moved to Lincoln almost 6 years ago and never looked back. Your article expressed many of my own reasons for loving and living in Lincoln. Thanks!
Posted by Zachary Abresch on October 23,2011 | 02:27 PM
Thank you so much for this piece! It echoes my sentiments exactly. I grew up in a NJ suburb and found myself in Nebraska in late 1998 in the middle of a snow storm. I have been in love with it ever since the very first day; embraced, nurtured, stimulated and forgiven. I have had several "do overs" in Nebraska as well, and look forward to several more. Most of all, after traveling the world, I have found the most amazingly kind people here, and the greatest, deepest friendships of my life. Thank you again for this beautiful reminder!
Posted by Jennifer Rodin on October 23,2011 | 12:55 PM
This is one of the most thoughtful and beautiful articles I have ever read. Thank you!
Posted by Jenna Moghadam on October 23,2011 | 12:14 PM
Finally someone who understands the beauty of Nebraska!! I moved to rural Nebraska from The south a year ago & no one understands why I love it here & don't want to come back. Thank You so much for writing exactly how I feel!!
Posted by Melissa on October 22,2011 | 10:43 PM
Fantastic article. I live in Kansas and moved there from Ohio, I can relate to what you found. There is a reason the plains are called the "Great" plains.
Posted by Pat on October 22,2011 | 08:54 PM
Fantastic article on my current home town! I'm originally from England and moved here when I was 20 in 1998. I also often get asked when I travel, why Lincoln? My response is always the same, it's cheap, laid back and friendly.
I was an 'outsider' also when I first arrived by now feel that I have been more than accepted. I'm happy to have my first son born here and married a small town Nebraska girl. I guess I'm nearly a Corn Husker, minus the awful corn hats he-he.
Posted by Adrian D Basford on October 22,2011 | 06:27 PM
I'm from South Dakota. And I lived in Nebraska for 4 years. (Now, I'm in Texas.) And I love this article. It seems like, especially in DC where I spent last summer, that people looked at me a little funny when I tell them how much I love Nebraska. I think all they'd have to do is read this article, and they'd understand.
Posted by Kelli on October 22,2011 | 03:17 PM
Beautiful article.
Posted by Jeff keller on October 22,2011 | 12:49 PM
Omg. This is so awesome! Now I'm good and homesick. I lived in Lincoln for 3 years. Beauty School and my first job as a hairstylist. I met my best friend, Lisa Hahn, there an roomed with Heidi, Tina, Lisa B, and Terry Finegan. The best times were living in a One Bedroom with my sis Riley! I still have dreams of our knock down drag outs in that Georgetown apt. I could go on and on...thanks for the article! It is fabulous and TRUE!
Posted by cammy on October 22,2011 | 09:01 AM
Frankly, typing each one of these keystrokes bothers me virtually as much as this terribly poor attempt at an article. There is no "jolt" to experience in Lincoln, Nebraska unless of course you're a writer from NYC (I've spent plenty of time in both places).
Aside from cliches and inaccurate analogies, what does this article attempt to do?
meh.
Posted by seriously? on October 21,2011 | 02:36 AM
I live in Seattle now and love my life here. But boy am I homesick for Lincoln now. Great article.
Posted by Wendy Costello on October 21,2011 | 11:47 PM
A link from a friend on facebook brought me to your article, and I couldn't be happier. Your words describe my Lincoln, Nebraska experience to heart.
I'm originally from the Illinois side of the Mississippi River in the Quad Cities area. I used to visit family in Nebraska as a child and was always amazed by the miraculous skies. I proudly wore my souvenir Huskers gear to my Illinois high school and dreamed of moving west someday.
After graduation I tried to stay relatively close to home and the buzz of the QC, but always felt Nebraska tugging at my heart. After 2 years at private college on the Iowa side of the Mississippi, I decided to pack up my entire life in an Enterprise rent-a-van and make the drive down I-80 to Lincoln. This move was made in worst part of a December 1994 blizzard, my first experience with Mother Nature's wrath on this state. But Nebraska's blustery winds didn't hold me back.
I too feel that Lincoln is the home of second (and third and fourth) chances. There's something refreshing about this city that clears the air of your soul and allows you to discover your true self.
I dated, lived with, and eventually married a Nebraska native who describes himself as "corn bred & corn fed," and planted my roots firmly in the heart of downtown Lincoln. Nebraska men are mid-western knights in shining armor with their strong family ties, devout work ethics, and passion for protection of their neighbors and defense of their football team. I confess that I find this incredibly sexy.
I'm now officially a Husker as I've been both a student and employee of UNL, but I'm still frequently asked, "Why the heck did you move to Nebraska?" My reply is always, "I moved for the skies, I stayed for the guy," but the truth is, I stay here for me.
Posted by Trish on October 21,2011 | 05:45 PM
Meghan nailed the psychedelic sunsets! No matter where I've traveled, I've never witnessed a sunset as extravagant as those in Nebraska. Not every day, mind you, but often enough that it awes you. I've always told my family I want to be buried in a dress the colors of a Nebraska sunset. But that would be nearly impossible.
Posted by irene severin on October 21,2011 | 02:44 PM
Yep. Mmmm-hmmm. Yes. Amen.
I'm a transplant to Lincoln myself, and you've succinctly and accurately described this town as few have. Well put, ma'am.
Posted by Chris on October 21,2011 | 02:19 PM