We’ll get to the news in a sec. First I gotta tell you about this dream I had.
Last night I stepped on stage inside this gorgeous barn in Bennington. To my left were three fellow UNL grads who work for CNN, the Online News Association and the New York Times.
I grabbed the mic, ready to start an hour of conversation about the present and future of American and Nebraska news. But first I looked out at the crowd, and I, a 43-year-old farmboy, nearly burst into tears.
Because you were there, 350 of you, looking up expectantly at the stage, absolutely psyched to listen, to discuss, to fight for this strange and powerful thing we call journalism.
And in my dream I knew that the sellout crowd at last night’s FlatFest represented only one small slice of the 9,972 of you who will receive this newsletter today, and the tens of thousands who read every story on our site, and the hundreds of thousands who every week read FFP stories in dozens of different Nebraska media outlets.
This dream is working. It’s working because you recognize the value of the Flatwater Free Press, of nonprofit journalism, of good ol’ fashioned good journalism itself. Because together we’re making it real.
Promise to never wake me up.
Boot life: I’m forever and always a sucker for a story that takes us to a place most of us have never been. Also a sucker for a story that shows us people battling against forces that seem so infinitely powerful … and winning.
Both are true with Natalia Alamdari’s story this week on the McBride family of Ainsworth. For 64 years now they have been shaping hats and selling boots to the cowboys of the Sandhills and wannabe tourist cowboys from places like Omaha. And Ranch-Land, which has survived all manners of disaster, is now surviving in the Age of Amazon — because they do some things Amazon never could.
Return to rightful owner: In 1862, 38 Santee warriors were hanged in what remains the largest mass execution in American history. Some 161 years later, only one set of remains has been returned to the Nebraska tribe.
Tim Trudell with the story of the ongoing effort to return Native remains and artifacts to their rightful owners. In one way, it’s a horrific history story. In another way, it’s a modern success story. And in yet another way — there’s still much work left to do.
Matthew remembers gratitude: In the place where I have advertised Flatwater Free Press Festival for months, I want to take just a sec and express my gratitude. Thank you for coming.
A special thank you to FFP reporters Yanqi Xu, Natalia Alamdari, Sara Gentzler and Jeremy Turley, FFP fellows Destiny Herbers and Evelyn Mejia, FFP managing editor Ryan Hoffman, Silicon Prairie News editor Stefanie Monge, Nebraska Journalism Trust employees Christine Baude and Barbara Soderlin, consultant extraordinaire Shane Pekny, photographer Abiola Kosoko, exec director Matt Wynn and freelancers headed by monthly contributor Cindy Lange-Kubick.
And a thank you to you, dear reader. See you next week.
—Matthew Hansen, Executive Editor
Here’s what we’re into this week: News from around Nebraska
Every week we like to share great Nebraska journalism, no matter who made it. Here’s what caught our eye this week:
- Santee hasn’t had safe drinking water in four years. Four years! And there’s no immediate solution in site. An incredibly important story from Brian Beach at Nebraska Public Media.
- There’s a new podcast in Omaha and you should check it out. Omapod, by Tony Bock, is doing interesting daily interviews with newsmakers of various types. I was on there talking about our Pillen series. Listen to Part 1 and Part 2.
- Zach Wendling at the Nebraska Examiner with a serious story, told from a variety of perspectives, about a controversial teacher resignation in Crete.
- We don’t run sports stories, but we do run stories about how awesome and weird Memorial Stadium is. Story by Evan Bland from the Omaha World-Herald.
- The best book I have read all year is by one of our panelists last night, Dionne Searcey, the girl from Wymore who became the New York Times’ West Africa bureau chief. It’s a book about being a reporter. It’s a book about the wonder and horror of her reporting journeys. It’s a book about being a parent and spouse. It’s incredible. Buy it.
