Olympic withdrawal

OK, I know it's only day four of competition of the Olympics, but it's approximately 2:30 p.m. CDT, and there aren't any Olympic competitions to watch.

I'm going through withdrawals. Oh, I can tell. I reach for the remote and hit the guide button and scan the NBC stations and affiliates we get on Dish Network: NBC, CNBC, USA. And as I scan each program to see what time an Olympic event begins, my body shakes as I realize I need to wait until this evening to watch more. Don't tell me to head over to MSNBC - my favorite channel - who is offering 4 AM to 4 PM coverage because we don't get it with this Dish package. No Oxygen or Telemundo, either. :(

But wait! What's this? Streaming live video on NBCOlympics.com? It might be a temporary solution to quench my need for a fix. I don't want to miss a minute of volleyball, beach volleyball, gymnastics, swimming, trapshooting, equestrian..... Well, you get the picture. I'm hooked. Even men's synchronized diving was fun to watch! Might have to watch a little Olympic badminton later.

I'm hooked. I'm addicted to the adrenaline rush of the athletes performing to the best of their abilities. Heck, I felt the tear trickle down my cheek when the men's swim 4 x 100 relay team beat out those darn Frenchmen who had to shoot off their mouths about "smashing Team U.S.A.". That was one of the best Olympic moments I remember viewing, and truth be told, I think when I was growing up, we watched the coverage with the same intensity.

And no, it's not Olympic envy. I enjoy sports and I like to participate, but would I want to be an Olympic athlete? Sure. Really? No. I'm competitive but I don't envision myself as someone who is competitive to that extreme. Except in speech competition. Is there an Olympic event for entertainment speaking? I might be able to win a gold medal. OK, I could definitely be standing on the podium.

Maybe that's the ticket. Make speech an Olympic-style event. We do that to an extent already, but speech could gain a world-wide audience. I'm sure people would tune in to watch extempers battle it out in the prep room.

But I digress. I will patiently wait until 7:00 to watch these wonderful athletes take the stage and work toward a team gold medal in women's gymnastics. I'll DVR the USA volleyball team if I can't stay awake that late. But since Michael Phelps will be swimming sometime during the 11:35p.m. - 1 a.m. time period, I'm going to have to force myself - not a problem - to stay awake and watch history being made.

And I think that is part of the allure of the games: we can view history and feel a part of it, even if we are separated by continents and oceans. It's like a cooperative venture, and our country's team depends on us to watch and support them. Even if it's from the comfort of our living room or queen-size bed in the dark of night.

A Part of Nebraska History - Black Homesteaders and a New Monument

Over a hundred years ago, a small group of Black homesteaders journeyed to the sandhills of Nebraska and ended up homesteading land near Goose Lake. This lake is located just north of the Wheeler and Holt county line (and about six miles west of my house). The area was named "Bliss" for the family who housed the post office. (side note: There were approximately 90 post offices in Holt County around this time.)

For the next few years, blacks and whites lived side by side as peaceful neighbors. The evidence of camaraderie exists in photos of an integrated school, baseball team, church, and cemetery. Hector Dixon owned over 1,000 acres plus held a job at the Amelia Creamery. He was also a school teacher. Another black homesteader - Jerry Freeman - was one of the first mail carriers.

Eventually, most of the black settlers left the area because the land was difficult to farm. Many of them moved to Grand Island or other large cities because factory jobs were plentiful. Eventually it came down to supporting your family instead of following your dreams. By the end of World War I, all had vanished from this North Central Nebraska region.

During these years, the blacks who passed away were buried in Goose Lake cemetery. During the 1920s and 30s during the Dust Bowl, several of the graves blew open. The white neighbors removed the remains and buried them in Valley View cemetery, which is located approximately four miles north and one or two miles east of the Goose Lake area.

Things changed, people moved, others remained. The black homesteaders, who built sod houses and dreamed of a better life than what they had as slaves in the South, were a forgotten element of Nebraska history. Their dreams withered and blew away along with the dust during the 30s and the sand that blows so strongly here today.

Then, a twist of fate brought people to the remains of one of the sod houses. And there, in the dirt, they found a toy pistol. Speculation swirled about who had owned the toy gun. And then, fate took another turn as one of the people who found the gun shared the treasure with his cousin, who became obsessed with finding the story.

That story and research culminated with the publication of Hector's Bliss: Black Homesteaders at Goose Lake, Nebraska, by Dennis Vossberg of Plainview, Nebraska.

That could've been the end of the story, but Vossberg wrote in the book's epilogue, that the black settlers who were re-interred at Valley View deserved a monument.

And so, a movement took hold. People began sending money to Vossberg for the monument. One of my husband's aunts was one of the first people to send a donation. And the people who own Plainview Monument Company were good enough to donate time and materials to the cause.

So, nearly one hundred years after their passing, the black homesteaders have a monument honoring the contributions they made to Nebraska's history and to the memory of their life near Goose Lake. And on Memorial Day, the monument was dedicated with an amazing crowd of close to 150 people in attendance. That's pretty amazing when you consider how rural it really is out here!

Eileen Watson, of Selma, Alabama, was able to at attend the dedication, along with her son, Dean, who resides in Lincoln. I had the pleasure of interviewing this remarkable woman prior to her visit, and I was so impressed with her. She commented about how her older relatives could hardly believe that the people here raised money for a monument for their ancestors. But, as she pointed out, segregation did not seem to be an issue in this area for the residents of Goose Lake and the Bliss area.

And what was most touching and impressionable to me was how people treated her like she was a long lost family member who had returned home. I was able to speak with her prior to the dedication at the cemetery, and when I introduced myself, she hugged me like we had been friends for a long time.

In an era that will probably see its first Black candidate nominated on the general election ballot in November, yet an era that still suffers from racial tension, I can proudly attest that there was none of that here on Memorial Day.

Vietnam Wall...Fading to Black

In September, the Vietnam Wall Memorial travelling exhibit arrived in Verdigre, Nebraska, a Northeast Nebraska Czech community known as the Kolach Kapital of the World. I'd seen the exhibit about 15 years ago when it was in Norfolk, but I ventured to Verdigre with my parents to see the exhibit again (and for a kolach at the wonderful Verdigre Bakery).

We turned into the park and found American flags proudly lining the drive to the exhibit. There were white crosses, representing each soldier from Nebraska who was killed in the conflict.

Arriving at the entry tent, volunteers were available to help visitors find a specific name and guide them to the wall panel where the name is listed. We looked up a former student my mom had taught in Clay Center and a young man from my dad's hometown of Wausa, Nebraska.

The wall itself is an impressive sight: black panels, spanning what seems like the length of a football field, with what also seems like thousands of names etched into eternity, angled into a slight 'V' shape. Reflections of the past staring back at you. It is a spectacular sight.

But there is also something peaceful about it. I've seen pictures of the actual monument in Washington D.C., and people come and leave mementos for the fallen soldiers: flowers, stuffed animals, cards and letters. A few such exhibits of affection and remembrance were at the base of the travelling exhibit, and I wonder if more were there by the time the exhibit left four days later.

Schools from the region visited the wall, and that also made me wonder: Do these students realize the sacrifices these men and women made? Do they even study the Vietnam conflict in history classes? Occasionally, there would be several students standing in front of a panel, an uplifted hand tracing the etching of a name. But most students hung back. Is it out of fear of the unknown? A lack of knowledge about this dark time in our nation's history? Or is it because it hits too close to home? How many of these students are six degrees of separation from someone fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan?

Discover America

Want to see the simple beauty of America? Check out the video at http://www.discoveramerica.com. Click the "Portraits of America" link below the main photograph. It's simply beautiful!

I've been lucky enough to travel across most of the U.S. Some places have left lasting impressions; other memories have sifted to the outermost regions of my mind. Why? There are just places where the scenery - and the people - form the perception of the area.

One of my favorite places to visit is San Diego. My sister lives there, but I like the feel of the city. It's historic yet hip. It's a mesh of cultures. Some parts are haunted (take the tour!). Maybe I enjoy it because of the weather, and it would be nice of Nebraska could have temps like that year round.

Is there a "worst" place I've visited? We've been to some places that weren't friendly. The summer between 1st and 2nd grade, we lived in North Carolina while my dad attended UNC-Greensboro. People there were welcoming; the southern hospitality belief prevailed. It wasn't until I was older that I realized the segregation of that time period and that location. But when we were returning home, we made a stop in Pittsburgh to watch a Pirates - St. Louis Cardinals baseball game. We were trying to find a parking place near the stadium, but it was difficult because our car was pulling a U-Haul trailer. People in the parking lot we ended up at were just rude. It didn't feel like a very welcoming environment. I'm not sure if Pittsburg has changed. Sometimes you hear people talking about the "east coast rudeness" that exists. I've been in New York though, and for the most part, people weren't rude.

Yes, there can be unpleasant people anywhere. But for the most part, America is simply a beautiful place.

Literally, a piece of history!

The Great Platte River Road Arch by Kearney is getting a piece of U.S. history. Literally.

This summer, a construction crew in Canton, Ohio, dug up original Lincoln Highway bricks during a street construction project. These bricks will become a "recreated" section of Highway 30 at the Archway. Originally, the Arch had planned to secure a brick from each state the highway passed through, but when the Canton bricks surfaced, the Archway decided the free bricks were an offer that couldn't be refused.

For history buffs, the Archway gives a modern view of Americana.

The Lincoln Highway, which follows the route of U.S. Highway 30 and passes through Kearney, will be celebrating its 100-year celebration in 2013. A few highlights about the Lincoln Highway include:

• The Lincoln Highway spans the U.S. from Times Square in NYC to Lincoln Park in San Francisco. It generally follows the route of today's U.S. Highway 30.
• Construction was completed in 1913.
• The original guidebook mentioned that a coast-to-coast trip could be completed in 20 to 30 days. Of course that meant driving seven hours each day at a rate of 18 mph.
• The highway spans 3,400 miles.
• In Nebraska, there are sections of the old Highway in Shelton and Omaha.
• The centennial celebration will be held in Kearney in 2013 at the Archway.

Vanishing History

Where are we headed if we don't grasp our history?

I've been researching local history for an article I'm working on. The other night, we ventured to town and met up with a local - someone who I'd been told knows everything about the subject I'm investigating. Our chat was brief, but he told me more in 10 minutes than I'd learned in my other research, and he agreed to talk to me again - told me to block about three hours of time.

After he left, I began thinking about history and how every person has a story to tell. Unfortunately, we aren't recording most of these stories and the vivid memories of the past are vanishing.

My family has been pretty aggressive about preserving memories. We gave my grandparents a book filled with questions about their lives, and after they'd filled them in, we videotaped them and had them discuss stories that stood out in their minds. What a great treasure!

If our history evaporates before us, how will other generations know the true story?