Inside The January/February 2005 Issue
Here's what's inside the January/February issue of Nebraska Life! (An excerpt and selected photos from “A Freshman Senator” is available online.)
A Freshman Senator
A Senator's view of life in the Unicameral, plus stunning photography of Nebraska's beautiful and unique Capitol.
Story by State Sen. Jeanne Combs, Photography by George Burba
A Winter on the Platte
To know a river, watch it change with the turning of the seasons. Nebraska State Poet William Kloefkorn spent a winter in a cabin near the Platte River. “I saw myself as a poor man's Thoreau, the Platte River as my Walden Pond,” he writes.
Book excerpt by William Kloefkorn
Homecoming for the Ho-Chunk People
Most Nebraskans don't know it yet, but the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska has become one of America's most successful tribes in creating jobs and quality housing for its members. In recent years, representatives of 70 tribes have visited Winnebago to learn how to replicate the tribe's success. Mindful of their heritage, the Winnebago Tribe looks to the future.
By Curt Arens
A Prisoner's Tale
“You don't have to be afraid of the Americans,” wrote Franz Holzapfel, a German prisoner of war in Nebraska during World War II, “because they are much more gentle and friendly in all of their thinking and acting than so many other nations, and as soon as the battle is over, you are a human being for them and not an enemy any more.” Years later, his daughter and son-in-law traveled from Germany to discover their family's Nebraska ties.
By Peter McCabe
Cozad
Stories of a gamblin' man, a famous artist, good food — and alfalfa, of course. Cozad is the “Our Towns” community for this issue.
By David Bristow
Surviving a Blizzard in Nebraska's High Country
“You are so exhausted, but you have to go on or you die,” says Jean Norman Kolling of Crawford. When she was 13, Kolling and her father were caught in a blizzard on their ranch. Miles from shelter, unable to start their snowmobile, they had to find their way home on foot through blinding snow and bitter cold.
By Christopher Amundson
Murder in the Sandhills
Seven decades later, the murders of the Boone County sheriff and constable remain unsolved. Gunned down in a remote field, they lay for more than 24 hours before they were found. By then, Sheriff Smoyer was dead, but Constable Walthen was still alive, and he had written down the assassins' license plate number.
By Sheryl Schmeckpeper
Emery Blagdon's Healing Machines
During his lifetime, Emery Blagdon of rural Stapleton was considered an eccentric. He filled a large shed on his Sandhills property with intricate wire sculptures he called “healing machines.” Nearly 20 years after his death, Blagdon is gaining a national reputation as a visionary artist.
By Linda Read Deeds
Fine Fair Photography
Winning photographers from the Nebraska State Fair.
Norma Beans' Ornamental Grasses
A Cozad gardener shows how to use tall, exotic grass in a landscape.
By David Bristow
Plus “Flat Water News” (Wausa's Swedes, Omaha's Collegiate Wall Street, the village of Arthur, and other observations of life in Nebraska) Poetry, Bookshelf, Traveler (Winter events, bald eagle viewing, “Nebraska Now” at Omaha's Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts), and our annual College Guide.