There is a moment right at the beginning of our latest Flatwater Free Press story that’s sticking with me today. It’s a man, Mujtaba Karimi, standing and yelling in the middle of a roiling and near-rioting crowd in the chaos and gunfire of the Kabul International Airport last August. Remember that chaos? He’s reaching out for a nameless American soldier on the other side of the fence. In that split second, based on that one decision from that one soldier, Karimi’s life will go one way or another. Maybe safety in a strange land. Maybe death at the hands of the Taliban.
No matter what happens, there will be struggle and difficulty. And no matter what happens, there will be harsh truths: Several American presidential administrations made decisions that made life more dangerous for Karimi, and also made it harder for him to get out.
But what led up to that moment, and what will come after, probably don’t matter much at all to Karimi as he holds up his passport and screams the only English word he can think of — “Diplomat!” — and reaches for his only way out.
Andrew Nelson’s lovely story describes what happened next. It also does not sugarcoat the institutional chaos and the oft-harsh realities that have greeted the 1,214 Afghan refugees who have landed en masse in Nebraska since August.
Understandably, our attention is now focused on Ukraine. But my gosh, the stories of these Afghans, our newest neighbors, are oh-so important, too.
I’m so glad we published this story, with equally lovely photos from our newest freelance photographer, Rebecca Gratz, today.
Barrelin’ to 200: Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, from the 193 of you who have made a new recurring donation to the Flatwater Free Press during April. Our original goal was 100 new recurring donors. You helped us crush that goal.
Now we’re going for 200. Get us one donor closer right here. And sign up for your free FFP t-shirt, coffee mug, or tote bag when you do!
This fundraising drive ends tomorrow. (So… no more fundraising emails for many months! Hooray!) I’m so excited to celebrate the 200th Nebraskan who decides to support FFP and nonprofit journalism in Nebraska by giving us $10 or $20 each month. I will scream your name from the rooftops and probably from Twitter, too.
It’s really hard to describe how wonderful it feels to watch our small donor army grow. Hundreds and hundreds of you have donated since we started. You think what we are doing is valuable. You are cheering us on. You are allowing us to dream of a much bigger future for FFP. And my god it makes me want to run through a brick wall for the future of Nebraska journalism.
While I’m feeling thankful: We started this free weekly email newsletter from scratch in August. Now, on April 29, for the first time I’m about to deliver this to 5,000 subscribers. 5,000 of you!
If you like this sucker and want to recommend it to your friends, forward ‘em this newsletter or send them this signup link.
Hello from Kearney: I’m writing this newsletter from the front room of the Kearney Chamber of Commerce, taking a break from the dozens of meetings executive director Matt Wynn and I are having with residents here. We’re quizzing the mayor and university officials and social service agencies and farmers and bankers and leaders of community groups — what are the successes here? The struggles? What are the important stories that need to be told?
This is the fourth listening tour Matt and I have embarked upon: Norfolk, Nebraska City, McCook and now here. Soon we’re headed to Hastings and Scottsbluff, too. (If you live near those cities, you will be getting an email a week or two before we arrive to tell you about public events we’re holding in those cities.)
It’s so great to get out of Omaha and talk to people and emphasize that what we’re building is a statewide journalism nonprofit.
Sincerely,
—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:
- When Nebraska writer extraordinaire Carson Vaughan tanks hungover down a Sandhills river in the middle of winter with a group of high school friends trying to win this aforementioned mid-winter river tanking competition and have named their team the Muddy Creek Boyz and then he writes about it for Outside Magazine… you darn well better read it.
- “Over the past four years, the price of beef is up $1.34 per pound. But farmers have received less than 2 cents of that increase…” That seems like a pretty important fact doesn’t it? The OWH’s Henry Cordes follows up on an important story, the eye-opening state of the beef industry.
- Nearly 50,000 acres have now burned in a series of wildfires in two counties in southwest Nebraska. Nebraska Public Media’s Will Bauer with the important stories from the Nebraskans who have felt that wrath of that fire. Read or listen here.
