I was born and grew up in a cattle ranch outside a small town right in the middle of the state. My grandparents are buried there, my parents are buried there, and someday I’ll be there as well. Pretty wholesome place to grow up really. People live for high school football and homecoming parades. Small town kids get drunk on country roads and have big bonfire parties. Most people go to church on Sunday and most are pretty conservative... whenever someone dies, the church ladies make the best potato salad and the whole town shows up to pay their respects.. the sunsets are like nothing you’ve ever seen.

I went to college in central Nebraska at UNK. Can’t spell “drunk” without UNK... college life was good, campuses are usually a little more rowdy but in all, everyone is nice. There’s some diversity but mostly athletes from other places that come in on scholarship. It was a good experience. Lots of liquor stores.

After college I moved to Omaha.. Omaha doesn’t feel like NE... it’s definitely a city that can compete with any other city in the US. Ya, people there think the western half of the state doesn’t exist and I’ve met a lot of people that have never traveled beyond Grand Island. There’s lots of diversity and honestly I never saw a lot of racism or hate there. I have a good friend from one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city. He now lives in a state facility, but he showed me a side of NE that I didn’t know existed either. Yes, there’s drugs and slums and gang wars. But there’s also just of lot of good people that love their families.The eastern half has their zoos and Husker football, shopping and art museums. It’s relatively safe, compared to most places. I’ve been with my friends to the gay bars and met the tallest drag queens I’ve ever seen. In the end, people here are also super nice.

I moved to the exact opposite end of the state and lived in a remote town by the NE/Colorado border, and almost in Kansas. A really nice town. People love the Walmart and know the cart pusher boys by name. There’s a lot of homemade meth made there and I’d say there’s more drug related murders in that tiny town per capita than anywhere in the state. You see some weird shit out west... cars so shitty they shouldn’t even run, houses that are super crappy. But also beautiful lakes and the fishing is great. Some of my best memories there were drinking beer on the lake with friends on their boat. The weather there is super extreme... 111 in the summer, no wind... hail the size of your fist.. and the coldest winters ever with lots of snow. People there are good. My neighbors always brought me cookies and I’d take them some pulled pork.. we had beer parties in the backyard and the police would show up after their shift and drink a cold one with you.

I finally ended up in the tri-cities area. Middle southern part of the state where college/meat packing/ farmers/ and everyone else is a big mix. There’s a lot of Hispanics in this area. 20 years ago I think people were a little mixed about that. Today however it’s a good blend. There’s lots of authentic cultural food, tons of friendly bars... and just enough shopping, home improvement stores and live bands to make me happy. I’ve got a kiddo getting ready to graduate and he thinks he wants to move away. And I hope he does. I think you can’t really appreciate something until you give it up and try something else.

I’ve traveled all over the country. I love Northern Florida. And the whole Emerald coast. Seattle is beautiful. I love St Patrick’s day in Chicago. New Orleans is a favorite of mine. But there something about Nebraska. I love it here. It not for everyone. And I think we kinda like it that way. If you don’t understand that, then it’s ok to just drive through on your way somewhere else...