Ord, Nebraska = Paradise?

There's a lot more the good, wholesome, True Christian^TM citizens of places like Nebraska don't pay for. Like their own roads, bridges, street signs, medicare, schools, etc.

I love the ridiculous conservatism of these places. And the disdain they have for "the coasts" and the evil urban types. Those people people pay for you, citizens of Mayberry. And you hate them for it.

"really?" writes:

"Those people people pay for you, citizens of Mayberry. And you hate them for it."

I've lived in a "Mayberry" in North Dakota for 20 years, and I don't encounter this attitude. Since you take it upon yourself to characterize a population, perhaps you would be prepared to give your evidence for this generalization.

Really? Go look at the number of Congressional representatives that Nebraska and say Kansas have compared to the more populous urbanized states. Since spending originates in the House, those ridiculuos conservatives seem to be not only growing but eating the lunch of their betters.

Only 64 miles to the closest Orthodox parish. Looks like a nice place though: http://saintgeorgekearney.tripod.com/

As a native Nebraskan (Omaha) who, despite having parents who got to Texas as fast as they could, has spent a lot of time in Nebraska, I understand what Mr. Pollard is saying. Vacations during my younger years and young adulthood were to Peru, the home of aunt, uncle and cousins in southeastern Nebraska. As I got much older, my attention and travels focused on Alliance, in the Nebraska panhandle.

One thing I've noticed about Nebraska, no matter which part: no matter how hot the day, nights are cool; and gentle, summer night breezes through an open window bring the sweet smell of alfalfa to soften the dreams.

I've wondered how I would like to live in Nebraska. From what I've experienced in Alliance, people at the courthouses are happy to have visitors and will sit down to chat. Their families have been there for generations, and they can look at a deed or a divorce record and say, oh yes, my grandmother used to tell me about parties HER mother used to attend at their house; or my great grandmother used to play bridge at your grandmother's house. It's the same at the library and the museum.

The streets are laid out, and the old buildings stand where they were in photographs made at the turn of the century, and they're still in use. The pharmacy is in the same location and owned by the same family my aunt worked for when she worked there during college in the 1920's.

There's a church of every denomination (except Orthodox: the Greek church is in Bayard, 52 miles away). The Sisters of St. Francis have a convent in Alliance, adjacent to the Holy Rosary Catholic Church. There's also a Catholic school, in addition to the very nice public schools. St. Matthews Episcopal church, which was rebuilt several decades ago after being destroyed, I believe, by a fire, still has its old records. Its priest sent me a copy of my father's confirmation record after my last visit there to bury my father in his family's plot.

The old homes still stand, and they're still referred to by the names of the families who originally owned them, e.g., the Abbott House. The boarding house owned and operated by my Great Aunt Cora still looks like it did in turn of the century photographs and appears to be immaculately maintained and in use as a single family dwelling.

The industry that supported the town from its inception and protected the town from the Great Depression is the railroad. It's still there and going strong, and the massive railyard is unlike anything I've ever seen in a big city.

The town diner, a dive by Dallas standards, serves some of the best food I've every eaten. Alliance has an upscale eatery or two, but I love that diner. It's got a first run movie theater, high speed internet, and cable or satellite TV; but last I was there, the only radio, other than satellite, were the farm stations that broadcast where the best fishing was and how the harvests and prices were doing.

The town keeps itself up, but it doesn't strive to be what it isn't. It doesn't worry that it's not a world class city, which as a matter of irony, makes it one. It doesn't send its mayor to China and seems perfectly happy with the airport it has, which brings in a couple of Mesa Airlines flights a day. They've got a hospital (not the Mayo clinic), doctors, and a funeral home. When my Dad's funeral procession moved through town from the funeral home to the cemetery, people lined the street, men with hats in hands, kids waving, and people with the heads bowed in prayer or their hand over their heart.

They built a magnificant municipal pool a few years back - adjacent to the brand new library. The museum has undergone a complete renovation in its lovely location next to a pristeen park.

The convent has a grotto with a very old, weather worn statue of the Blessed Virgin. It's in a simple garden, nothing special, but it's a magnificent place to pray the Rosary.

The city takes care of itself and its own. Ethnic discussions drill deeper than skin color into the areas that really define who people are: the Norwegians, the Lutherans, the Indians, the Catholics, and the figurative Hatfields and McCoys.

It's a very simple life, and I think I yearn for it. Maybe I just fantasize about it. I've been a city girl all my life in a place that has never been happy with what it is and, as such, has remade itself so many times in my 50 plus years in it that it doesn't seem to be anything anymore, and it seems to serve no purpose other than launchpad for the vision of the next political muscleman who hopes to create a legacy. There are just some pigs that no amount of lipstick can help.

Yeah, I'll end up in Nebraska. I hope it's before I take my last ride through the town.

Thank you, AML.

I was born in Chicago but live in Nebraska now. It has it's finer points -- a great place to raise kids, and if you're Catholic (as I am), a most excellent diocese of Lincoln where the priests are noble, the sisters are joyful and hard-working, the seminary is full, the schools are affordable, and the laborers (laypersons), while not many, are not few, either.

However, we are taxed like crazy. Property taxes are high, auto taxes are high, gas taxes are high, utility taxes are REALLY high (highest cell phone tax in the nation...lucky I don't have one), and we don't get much bang for the buck. The local government in my city is a joke. We've got jobs, but we're mostly underpaid compared to our experience levels -- and it's worse for women, of course, but doubly worse for women who are mothers.

The arts are not easy to come by -- you really have to go out of your way to see good theatre, fine art, music, but there are some few-and-far between opportunities.

And whoever it was that said the nights are always cool wasn't here on Sunday and Monday. Summer nights are MOSTLY cool, but we have our share of oppressive, oven-hot, lung-stifling, no-relief-in-sight evenings.

All in all, though, I do prefer the general courtesy, easy pace, and work ethic of Nebraska. I find Chicago very claustrophobic now -- funny how that works.

LOL, Dennis. What you say is so true. One of my daughters knows firsthand of what you speak, since she is a Dallas Cowboys fan living in Washington, DC.