General

By Katherine Walter

In an age when news is increasingly being sought online, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Library of Congress have stepped up to the plate to fund and develop a major online resource of historical newspapers. Eventually, the National Digital Newspaper Program will include papers from each state in the U.S., and the state projects are beginning to round the bases. Through the program, the Nebraska Digital Newspaper Project hit its first home run last summer.

Poem by Norma Wilson
Illustration by Paul A. Johnsgard

Sandhill cranes fly up
as the coral sun rises.
At Platte River
a roar of voices
surrounds us.

By Carol McShane, R.N., M.S., CMC

A low rumble of interest is rising in what could become a paradigm shift in health care for late-life elders. Dennis McCullough, M.D., a graduate of Harvard Medical School with 30 years experience as a geriatrician, is advocating for “Slow Medicine.”

By Bruce Garver

Most Americans of Czech and Slovak ancestry are descendants of immigrants who came to the United States from Bohemia, Moravia and northern Hungary between 1865 and 1914. At least half of all such immigrants settled in the states bordering the Great Lakes, while nearly a quarter of all Czech immigrants settled in the Great Plains states to which they were attracted by affordable agricultural land, greater political and religious freedom and lucrative commercial opportunities. Just as the history of these states cannot be comprehended without reference to the rest of the nation, neither can their economy be understood apart from that of the upper Middle West and especially Chicago, as William Cronon has so clearly demonstrated in his imaginative and solidly documented monograph, “Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West” (New York, N.Y.: W. W. Norton Co., 1991).

Poet Norma Wilson lives in rural Vermillion, S.D. She taught English at the University of South Dakota for 27 years and currently serves on the board of the South Dakota Peace and Justice Center and as president of the Vermillion Area Arts Council. Her poems have been published in several publications, including South Dakota Magazine and Paddlefish.

By Alan J. Bartels

Audubon’s Rowe Sanctuary near Gibbon hosts thousands of human visitors each spring, as well as hundreds of thousands of sandhill cranes. The efforts of volunteers are crucial in Rowe’s continued ability to protect crane habitat and educate people about these magnificent birds. Though many of these volunteers initially came to Rowe to work on behalf of the birds, reuniting with the members of their tight-knit but far-flung crane family has become just as important to them.

By Charles Yost

Seeing molten gold is a very special experience. It shimmers and dances much as you might expect the surface of the sun would. Gold is truly an amazing material. Humankind has used gold as the definition of wealth and status for thousands of years.

By Joan M. Daughton and David Daughton

Smoking cessation is a popular topic this time of year. It is incredibly important to have all of the facts, as well as significant support, when you decide to quit. You must know that you are not alone.

Tobacco has long been attacked by reformers and medical authorities for the damage it does to human health. The contemporary push for a smoke-free environment in Nebraska has roots in the state’s past. The Nebraska State Journal of Lincoln on Sept. 20, 1907, noted that the University of Nebraska prohibited smoking on campus and was reemphasizing that policy during student registration:

Richard Behar will present “China in Africa: The New Scramble?” as the fourth lecture in this year’s E. N. Thompson Forum on World Issues. An award-winning investigative journalist, Behar writes about the career of his mentor Robert W. Greene and the future of investigative journalism with passion and insight.

By Richard Behar

When I heard the news in 2008 that Bob (“Big Daddy”) Greene had died at age 78, I walked around with this real feeling in my gut like he’d been murdered and I’d been mugged. After a few hours of this bizzarity, it finally dawned on me why this seemed like such an injustice: His legacy was, and still is, being hacked to death—day after depressing day.

By Tom Lynch

Snow day! Two of the loveliest words in the English language.

By Dee Aguilar

The 553 members of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln are finding new ways to enjoy their lives and time. They are being challenged to stretch their minds in new ways that are stimulating and satisfying. Classes, special events and travel are successful as long as these provide a variety of subject matter that is rich in content.

By Joan Thomson

Just as there has been an influx of greenwashing in all products and services, the real estate field is no exception. A well-trained “Green” real estate agent can serve as another resource to raise the bottom line for commercial buildings. And these agents are there to assist buyers, sellers and builders.

By Matt Gersib

No matter how you look at it, childhood obesity in Nebraska is at a critical level. Our children are big, they’re getting bigger and we’re not doing enough to turn the corner on the problem.

“It’s especially alarming,” said Dr. Rob Rauner, M.D., “since the consequences of childhood obesity aren’t felt today. They’re felt 10, 20 years down the road.”

By Nora Tallmon

It doesn’t take much in the place I live to discover history. Turn over a few inches of dirt to plant melons and discover a pre-Civil War honey pot; move some floorboards to drop electrical wires and there is a tiny, faceted carnelian ring resting on an 1880 receipt for a bushel of grapes. It’s been like that since we moved to Brownville, Neb., going on three years ago.

By Bev Carlson, APR, PAHM

Ever feel “stressed out”? We all do occasionally. But when the stress never goes away—-when you feel stressed day in, day out—with no relief and no intervention, you may be setting yourself up for illness.

By Bev Carlson, APR, PAHM

The annual enrollment period for the U.S. government’s over-65 health plan is Nov. 15 to Dec. 31. During this annual enrollment season, people with Medicare can join, switch or drop Medicare prescription drug and Medicare Advantage plans. Changes take effect Jan. 1, 2010, and there will not be another opportunity to change drug plans until November 2010.

By Bruce Jones

On the top of a little hill rising from the floor of the Que Son Valley, in the northern part of what was once South Vietnam, stands a large, jarring stone statue commemorating the North Vietnamese defeat of the United States. Like most of the memorials in what is now the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the artistic style of this one is pure Late Soviet.

By Clifford Miles, M.D., M.S.

Kidney failure is a growing problem worldwide, in the United States and indeed right here in Nebraska. Prior to the invention of dialysis, kidney failure was uniformly lethal. But as dialysis techniques have evolved since the 1960s, many people now survive for years after their kidneys fail. In fact, according to the United States Renal Data System, there were more than 350,000 Americans receiving dialysis at the end of 2006.

By Eli S. Chesen

I have waxed frustrated with the news of the passing of Walter Cronkite. Actually, I was never a major Cronkite fan, but he was a master of his craft and, most of all, losing “Uncle Walter” marks the passing of an era when TV journalist’s desks were populated by aging war correspondents.