Author: stuart

Chris Hernstrom

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Chris Hernstrom moved to Valentine, sight unseen, because he believed in the vision of a new brewery in a beautiful location in the middle of the country supported by its community. I tried some of Chris’s test brews… delicious. Payback was helping Chris and Kyle collect wild plums from around the area so Chris could experiment with a new beer. While we did so, Chris talked about how he came to Valentine, beer and the nature of brewing. Listen below

Wayne Mills, “War is hell”

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There were many wonderful and warm aspects to Wayne Mills, though this vignette focuses on his experiences as a veteran. Wayne told me, “… They called for us to go down into central France, down south of Strasbourg, it would be in eastern France. And we got into combat down there. And I got wounded the first day. Well, I got shot with a machine gun, which several of us did at the time. And I spent about a month in the hospital, then went back up into Germany after that. I was up in Germany when the war ended.” Listen below

Edison Red Nest III

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This project is about our stories, histories, sense of place and the nature of our conversational reflections. Over the coming weeks I shall be sharing some of the Nebraskan voices I encountered. I hope that we may hear and recognize Nebraska, discerning familiar themes and making surprising discoveries. Please listen out for those coming out on this site, social media and in collaboration with KIOS. Among many intimate and moving narratives was that of Edison Red Nest III in Alliance. In this tiny snippet, a teaser really, from our 90 minute conversation, Edison calls upon his Native American heritage to inspire Native Futures. Listen below

Highway 27

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Making my way from Chadron to Alliance and Scottsbluff on the western fringes of the state, I visited Tom and Aleisha at a large ranch in the middle of the Sandhills. Their ranch is along Highway 27 amid the landscape and its people famously and notoriously rendered in the writings of Mari Sandoz. Despite comprising over a quarter of Nebraska and being designated a National Natural Landmark in 1984, Tom said that many Nebraskans know little about the Sandhills. Out east, we are unaware of this vast expanse and its place in our social, economic and historic narrative. The ranch house was several miles west of the highway along a track acceptable for trucks though somewhat less comfortable in an RV. With people and animals so dispersed, I asked Tom what community means to him. He observed, “You can live in Omaha and hardly know your neighbors at all, and when you live out here there is a whole lot more opportunity to get to know and work with your neighbors. Your neighbors are miles …

The Bean Broker

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Andrea “Andie” Rising, the proprietor of the Bean Broker Coffee Shop and Pub in Chadron, is a lovely contradiction. A ranching child, she relishes the rural life, riding horses and wrangling cattle. “I love to hear the curlews and to smell the meadow. I could be alone for months,” she said. And yet Andie is one of the most gregarious people I have met. “I think it’s so important to be able to talk to people that have had other experiences.” She relishes not just the activities within the building, but the Mildred Block Building itself, which Andie acquired over 15 years ago. Built in 1912, it started life as the New Citizen State Bank and has been many things since, such as a Non-Commissioned Officer Club and an armory. Now, the ground floor contains the coffee shop and pub, as well as Andie’s flat. Upstairs are more than a dozen rooms that are being restored for use by local entrepreneurial tenants. Some of the design features include the original tin ceiling, mosaic tiled floor …

Beautiful Nebraska Sandhills

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The natural beauty of the Sandhills area was one of the highlights I was told to expect. Indeed, as I spoke with people in the Valentine area, one of the factors in its success as a small rural town is the natural environment and outdoor opportunities that Mother Nature has bestowed uniquely in this region. Anyone that enjoys the outdoor life, from hunters to hikers, and those that appreciate its visual wonder, from authors to artists, find inspiration and excitement here. Traveling between Valentine and Chadron, I decided to make an overnight RV stop at Merritt Reservoir SRA. I hadn’t expected it to be as delightful. Just three miles north of the recreation area is Snake River Falls. While Smith Falls are the highest waterfall in Nebraska, Snake River Falls are the largest by water volume. Invisible from the road, the pounding noise of water tumbling onto rock greets you first as you walk towards them, before you clamber down into the river’s ravine and see them head on. They are quite a surprise in …

KIOS Dispatches

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I am collaborating with Michael Lyon the Local Anchor, Morning Edition at KIOS, Omaha’s NPR affiliate. I shall be submitting dispatches from the road which KIOS shall play on the air. The first one was broadcast this week and you can listen again on the project web page at KIOS here. Click on the Neligh post to listen.

Everyone has a voice

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I had felt the responsibility before I departed upon this project to give it my all and that anticipation has only magnified. It isn’t just my duty to be fully committed and to honor the personal and fiscal support the project has received. Rather, it is that I am inviting people to talk with me in a mutually open, vulnerable and candid manner. Listening attentively is only one feature of this arrangement. More noticeably we are actively committing to each other emotionally and psychologically. On occasion this has been viscerally moving. In discussing her work in community, Lisa in Hastings asserted that “Everyone has a voice.” That reminded me of John in Dannebrog who did not have a physical voice because of an ailment, yet he was expressive in so many ways. It also painfully reminded me of Owen in St. Paul who recounted that, “I kinda felt like I might have had some brain damage when I almost drowned. That that’s part of the reason why I’m an introvert. That there are just certain …