Broken down, haunted and loved [video commentary]

Last summer, I moved into an apartment that took up the entire main floor of what used to be a very large Queen Ann style Victorian house. It's the most amazing apartment I've ever had, with huge windows, stained glass, intricate details in the wood work and door knobs and extremely high ceilings. Best of all, the walls aren't painted a simple boring white like most apartments; instead, they're a bright happy yellow.

Despite being slightly more expensive and further away from campus, I chose this apartment over the others for its beauty and comfort. I had become attached the moment I stepped foot into the vacant living room, and I simply couldn't turn it down.

I have never lived in a really old house before, but I learned quite quickly old houses have a personality of their own. For example, what I didn't know before living here, is that any doors that open to the west will never stay shut because the house is crooked. It's sliding off the foundation so much that even the windows are crooked, which I only noticed after hanging up my curtains.

I didn't care, though. This apartment had charm, and I was enamored.

But the house's bad condition couldn't be ignored once the crickets started creeping in from the break with the porch, once the winter winds began to blow and we could feel the subzero breezes in all rooms of the apartment, or once the small stained glass borders around the big windows began to shatter.

It seemed odd to me that a house which must have been absolutely amazing back in its day was being left to fall apart. I mean, what happened to the family who lived here? There are so many other historic houses in the neighborhood, yet this house is in the worst shape of them all. Why is that?

Since I only plan on living in the apartment for one more year before leaving Kearney behind, I didn't give much thought to the state of the house at first, but as I grew to love it more and more, I grew concerned.

That concern lead me to begin researching the history of the house, as well as the people who lived in it. What I've been able to find so far is that Dr. Cornelius Van Dyke Basten and his wife, Adah, lived here with an adopted daughter. They were active upper class citizens in the very early days of Kearney, living in this house from 1889 to their deaths in 1935. Adah died of heart problems, and Cornelius died of cancer only one month later.

I have to wonder, did one or both of them die in this house? Did they actually take their last breath in one of these rooms? I don't know why, but thoughts like these can consume me.

Adding to that history is an alleged ghost who haunts the attic and part of the second floor. A girl who lived in the apartment grew curious about a mysterious door that would not open, and after somehow forcing it aside, she and another person discovered that the door led to an attic filled with antiques, including a sink full of dishes, late-1800s style dresses and a delicate but decaying chair. The attic was also encircled with old police tape, or so they say.

The girl swears she was haunted every day after that, and she moved out not long afterward. Another girl moved into the apartment and left shortly afterward as well. Now, the apartment remains vacant.

So after a year of living in this historic and troubled house, I've begun to reexamine the passion I have for this place. I mean, what's there to love about a broken down haunted house? What's there to love about a broken down haunted anything?

Well, it might be hard to believe, but I still wouldn't trade this apartment for the world. After learning of the history and imaging the lives of the people who lived here, I fall in love all over again. This place is older than any human on the planet. This place has a story to tell.

I was never able to find any information about what happened to the house after Cornelius and Adah died, and my searches for their adopted daughter and her family ties all came to dead ends. As for any terrible occurrences warranting ghostly activity, I have no idea if something happened here or not.

Will anyone ever step in to fix this place up like it deserves? Once again, I don't know. Just as much of this house remains a mystery, so does its future.

Research for my next column

So I've been doing a lot of research lately for my video commentary, the next and last assignment of the semester for this blogging class. Unfortunately, I didn't have a lot of time to start the research until a couple of days ago, but since I've gotten to it, I have been absolutely taken by digging this stuff up.

To explain, I have been wanting to do a blog post on the house I currently have an apartment in. It's old and fancy, and that's all I've known about it. My idea was to blog about all of the architectural details of the house ...

... Until a friend of mine told me this amazingly scary ghost story! According to him, his brother's girl friend lived in one of the smaller apartments upstairs, and that apartment has a door that leads to the attic. That door is impossible to open, but we know it goes to the attic because the closet next to the door has a slanted ceiling, like it's supporting stairs above it. Also, when you look outside, you can see a small window that is part of the area behind the mysterious attic door.

Supposedly, the girl friend of the brother of my friend would hear things at night, but since it's an old house, she didn't think much of it. For whatever reason, her and her boy friend/my friend's brother decided to investigate the attic, and they somehow beat the door open (I think, these details weren't clear at the time I was told the story). Anyway, when they got to the attic, it appeared to be a sort of house worker's quarters, like the maid or someone lived up there. They said there was a sink full of dirty dishes, a piece of furniture that was falling apart, and some dusty old clothes ... all lying amongst old school police tape!

After they did this, the girl friend started having really vicious nightmares and feeling like someone was choking her in her sleep. She moved out not long after.

The apartment I live in, which is on the main floor of the house, is not haunted to my knowledge. Nothing strange has ever happened there, and I've never gotten any weird feelings. However, if you think about it, if there was a person who kept to the house like a maid or something, they probably wouldn't haunt the main floor ... they'd haunt wherever it is they spent the most time, which is the attic.

So maybe the attic of my house is haunted, I don't know. But the girl who moved into that apartment about a month after we moved into ours ... she didn't stay long. She was there at first, then she stopped coming back home at nights. There were times when we didn't see her for weeks at a time, and then she just moved out earlier this month. Why didn't she stay there? What possessed her to break the lease (expensive to do!) and leave so quickly?

I'll never know, because I never talked to her. For all I know, it could be something personal, maybe a family emergency ... but I have to admit, ghosts and ghost stories fascinate me, so the theory she was haunted out of the apartment is the one I've focused on the most.

I will not give away my secrets, but I was able to get into the apartment after she moved out to make a video of this mysterious door and its location. It's not long, because that apartment freaks me out.

I was in that apartment before that girl moved in and before I ever heard the ghost story, just to check it out since it was vacant. Both apartments upstairs were vacant, and my boyfriend and I enjoyed looking at them and seeing the various architectural details inside that are different than downstairs. Since our property manager is kind of intimidating (she's not mean, but we know we'd never want to piss her off), and since it was night, we made absolutely sure to shut off every light before we went back downstairs. Everything was fine the next day, but as the sun started going down again, we realized that a light was still on upstairs ... and it was in the bedroom of the allegedly haunted apartment! It was weird because I know we turned it off, we double checked everything.

Another time, when my parents were visiting, we heard voices in the stair well. They only lasted for a few seconds, like a short part of a conversation. The thing is, no one else was in the entire house except for us. That was also weird, and it creeped us out for a second, but we brushed it off later.

Anyway ... so I was going to research to see what exactly might have happened in that house. Did they even have a maid/house keeper person? Was someone killed? Did someone die violently? What were the lives of these people like?

As I've gotten deeper into my research, I've come across nothing that suggests anything terrible happened in the house. It is interesting how old the house is, though, because it was built in 1889. Here's some history about the people who lived in it first:

From Buffalo County and Its People (1916):
Dr. C. Van Dyck Basten, a prominent and valued representative of the medical profession in western Nebraska, who has practiced continuously in Kearney since May, 1883, was born at Kingston, Ulster county, New York, on the 25th of May, 1859, and is one of the three surviving members in a family of five children who were born of the marriage of George W. and Esther (Bevier) Basten. He was reared upon his father's farm with the usual experiences of the farm lad and acquired his early education in Ulster Academy. For two years he read medicine under the direction of Drs. Crispell & Smith, at Kingston, and later continued his studies with Dr. W. C. Goodno, of Philadelphia, as his preceptor. Still later he entered the Hahnemann Medical College in 1879, remaining a student in that institution for two years, but owing to failing health was compelled to relinquish his studies for a time. Later he went to Iowa and completed his medical education in the medical department of the State University at Iowa City, receiving his degree in 1883. Since that time he has taken numerous post-graduate courses in New York, Chicago and elsewhere, and by continued study and investigation keeps abreast with the most scientific research and progress.

Dr. Basten began the practice of his profession at Kearney in May, 1883, and has since here remained, winning early recognition as one of the foremost physicians of this part of the state--a position which he has since retained. He is ever careful in the diagnosis of his cases and his judgment is seldom at fault in regard to the outcome of disease. His professional duties are most conscientiously performed and his sympathy and consideration are elements in his popularity as well as the skill which he displays in practice.

On the 24th of November, 1885, Dr. Basten was married to Miss Adah Seaman, of Kearney, and they have an adopted daughter, Mary Edna. The religious faith of the family is that of the Methodist church, and Dr. Basten is connected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and with the Masonicúfraternity, in which he has attained high rank, being now a Knight Templar. His political allegiance is given to the republican party, and although he keeps well informed on the questions and issues of the day he does not seek office. His membership along professional lines is with the Buffalo County and the Nebraska.

So now I'm less interested in the ghost story and more interested in the history of the house in general. For example, there are lots of very nice Victorian and Queen Anne style houses in our neighborhood, but ours is the most rundown and one of the very few that have been turned into apartments. What happened? Who owns the house now, and is it still in the family? If not, why not? I just have so many questions about why the house, which was big and beautiful, has been left to basically fall apart. I know it's falling apart because I live there and have to deal with the crooked windows and the porch boards being shoved out of place due to the house basically sliding off the foundation. There are cracks all over the walls, though they are covered in a bright shade of yellow. It's sad, but I feel a connection to this house because it's just so beautiful. If I had the money, I'd buy it and put it all back together again.

Here are some other documents I found about the house and that family from Historic Houses of Pioneer Park Neighborhood. Clicking on the images will make them bigger.

Wedding dreams; hair nightmares

One month, two weeks, three days, seven hours and 53 minutes. And the countdown continues to my little sister’s wedding. Despite having procrastinated on everything from the invitations to the decorations, the entire event is finally starting to fall into place, and our mom is breathing a huge sigh of relief.

There’s just one problem, though, and everyone wants to know: what is she going to do with her hair?

Let me explain.

My little sister, Kate, has always been the good daughter. I was the rebellious one, the one who gave our mother grey hair. Kate, on the other hand, was always very agreeable. The most she ever did was dye her blonde hair brown and grow her nails out long. She was the type of person who worried about entering through the exit door. Especially at Wal-Mart.

Later, at 20-years-old, she moved out of Mom and Dad’s house. She got a tattoo of angel wings on her back, which our parents didn’t find out about until months later. Then she met the guy of her dreams, and they moved in together. Our mom began worrying about what her mom would think about Kate “living in sin” so blatantly.

But things really took a turn to the wild side when Kate decided to shave her head. I’ll never forget the day she called me and asked me to do it for her. For whatever reason, I started crying and begging her not to do it. Her hair was so beautiful, I didn’t understand why she would want to get rid of it!

Although I did my best to talk her out of it, Kate’s mind was made up. I secretly hoped she’d get scared and back out at the last second, but the next time I saw my sister, she took her hat off, pointed at her bald head and asked, “Want to touch it?”

It was weird, but I got used to it. After awhile, I even thought she looked good. When Kate finally told our parents what she had done, my mom called me regularly to check on her mental health. My dad, from what I’ve heard, gave the same face as he did when he found out I pierced my tongue six years ago. It wasn’t a good expression.

As Kate went through all the awkward growing-out stages with her hair, she shared with me the lessons she had learned from the experience. She told me about all the ways people treated her differently when she had no hair, most of it extremely negative. She had lost a job offer, high school boys called her a lesbian and threw things at her, and a woman who had cancer lectured her about the importance of being beautiful while she was still young. Worst of all, people who Kate thought were her friends began to say mean things about her behind her back. All of it was really tough for her, but somehow, her self-confidence grew immensely.

By the time she accepted her boyfriend’s proposal, she knew he was “the one” after he stayed with her through it all.

Now that the wedding is coming up, people who stuck with Kate through her “one and only rebellious stage” will be coming together to celebrate one of the most important days of her life. Those who didn’t support her are obviously not invited.

They’ll miss out on seeing her gorgeous dress, the homemade wedding cake and the massive diamond ring.

They’ll also miss out on the drama surrounding Kate’s wedding hair.

It’s shoulder length and looks good as is, but everyone keeps pointing out that she had beautiful waist-length hair before. They also point out the tattoo on her back, left exposed by her shorter hair style.

“I just might shave it again so they shut up,” Kate told me the other night over cosmopolitans. We laughed about it for a while before she told me she had ordered hair extensions online.

“I didn’t want to be fake for my wedding, and I don’t want to be bald,” she said. “But seriously – I don’t want anyone asking me about my hair anymore. I just want to get married.”

[Review] The King of Kong: A fistfull of quarters

Following the journey of Steve Wiebe, this documentary captures the inner workings of what it takes to be a video game record holder. In the beginning, Wiebe is described by friends and family as “a tragic figure” who has never won anything in his life and who always seems to get the short stick, which becomes apparent with Wiebe’s recent layoff as a Boeing engineer.

Although he holds down a job as a science teacher, Wiebe begins going to night school for a masters degree while playing an old arcade game, Donkey Kong, in his garage during his free time. After doing some research about the game on the internet, he is dead set on beating the record high score: 874,300. Fortunately, his wife is supportive of this goal, so Wiebe begins throwing his hours and days into the game.

Because he is highly skilled in engineering and math, he eventually works out the many patterns in the game and is able to reach a score of 1,006,600. At this point, the movie shows how happy Wiebe is to have finally won something as he celebrates with his wife and young son. But when news of this gets to Billy Mitchell, the former world record holder, the story really begins to get interesting.


In a world where Billy Mitchell is God with his own arch nemesis, and the group responsible for deciding who the world record holder is, Twin Galaxies, is a clique of its own, Wiebe becomes somewhat like a wrench thrown into the gears. How this changes everything the classic gaming community and Donkey Kong lovers have known becomes the plot of the documentary.

Like any good film, this one makes you root with all of your heart for Wiebe to get the title of world record holder, as well as make you hate with a passion all those who tear him down. Mitchell, in particular, becomes the classic villain, fighting viciously against Wiebe’s heroic journey to the top.

In all fairness, the film was edited to bring out these character traits, as it fails to show the many times Mitchell greeted and talked with Wiebe. Instead, Mitchell appears in the film to be much like a mobster who sends his minions out to do his dirty work, all the while avoiding Wiebe like a disease.

However, the idea that Mitchell might be so cruel is not entirely unbelievable. He had set the high score for Donkey Kong in 1982 when he was only 17 years old, and no one had challenged it since then. After having been named one of the top 10 most influential video gamers of all time and the top gamer of the twentieth century, as well as having top scores in Donkey Kong and Centipede and a perfect score in Pac Man, Mitchell claims his scores are the greatest achievement of his life besides his own family.

With stakes this high (or low, depending on how you might feel about video games), it’s no wonder the conflict between Mitchell and Wiebe gets dirty, and this film does a great job of capturing and magnifying that drama. It's a world you may not have been familiar with before, but you'll be pulled into it almost as chaotically as Wiebe himself.


Overall, I give King of Kong: A fistful of quarters five stars for its originality and moving story. I would take off one star for its inaccurate portrayal of Mitchell, but I chose not to because I thoroughly enjoyed his character as the ultimate bad guy of gaming. Anyone who enjoys the classic good guy vs. bad guy story line will certainly enjoy this documentary.

One-hour spring break photo horrors

or: Spring break photos haunt the innocent

EDIT: This post was originally the first draft of my column, but it is now the final draft. If you want to read the first draft, you can find it on my zine, The F.Y.I.

Working in a one hour photo lab, I see a lot of things. Spring break pictures are the most developed item at this time of year, and after seeing some truly terrible things, I ask of you this: be careful!

Last year was probably the worst as far as disgusting pictures went. As always, I didn’t have enough money to go on a typical spring break trip, so I worked at the photo lab and developed spring break pictures instead.

The first pictures to come in were from some sort of massive house party in an obviously warm area, as there were palm trees in the yard. The pictures were taken from the ground, looking up at a huge second story balcony overlooking the big back yard full of extremely drunk college-aged kids.

The first picture is of some guys standing on the edge of that balcony, his arms in the air with a beer in his hand, and everyone is cheering. The second picture: a broken arm.

And it wasn’t just any broken arm picture. There was blood all over the guy’s face, and his mangled arm was flopping around by his side. He appeared to be limping through the group, but he still had his beer in his hand, and everyone was still cheering.

The rest of the roll had the typical party pictures of people drinking, laughing and dancing like nothing had happened.


Another guy brought in pictures from a similar setting, except these had guys “relieving” themselves off the balcony. There were multiple shots from on the balcony, above the balcony, and even worse, below the balcony.

Probably the one picture that will stick out the most in my head, though, is less disgusting and more disturbing.

It’s a photo of at least 20 guys on a beach surrounding one girl. Everyone in the picture is obviously sloshed, and the girl is topless with only her bikini bottom. She appears to be in the process of tripping or falling, and there are three guys pulling on one of her arms while three other guys pull her bikini bottoms in the other direction. The guys are smiling. She is not.

Now, I don’t know exactly what was going on when this picture was taken, and I’m sure there could be some weird explanation for what I saw. But I have to admit, the first thing that came to my mind is the worst possible explanation you could think of. Unfortunately, it’s the most likely explanation.

I still remember the day I developed that picture, because right when it showed up on the screen, I immediately felt like I was going to puke. I had to hold my breath and inspect it more closely, trying to look for some sort of clue as to why that girl was being pulled around and stripped down by a huge group of guys.

When no clues presented themselves, I went from feeling horrified to feeling extremely angry. I wanted to simply not develop that picture and just cut the negative from the strip and throw it away. But I couldn’t. It’s not against the rules where I work to develop nudity, and we’re not allowed to “interpret” what we see. Unless it’s pornography or child abuse, it’s private and allowable.

The rest of the pictures from the roll were of people partying on the beach, and there were many where the camera was shoved inches from girls’ cleavage.

I hate to say it, but that guy’s name is burned into my mind, still to this day. Out of curiosity, I once looked him up on Myspace, and sure enough, he was there. I wanted to remember his face so I would be able to avoid him if I ever saw him in public, especially if I saw him at a party.

Girls, guys, please be careful on spring break. Have all the fun you want, but remember, there are people like me who are going to witness everything you wish you never did, thanks to people taking your pictures. Maybe when you’re sober, you’ll be just as horrified.

Milk vending is good for everyone involved

For my local editorial, I decided to focus on the issue of adding milk vending machines to the campus. I know, it's not the most exciting subject in the world, but I still think it's important and something UNK should definitely consider.

Campus food services already offer an array of choices to students, but unfortunately, the vending machines on campus have a much more limited selection. To attract dollars and satisfy the needs of all students, it would be in the best interest of the university to expand the selection and include milk vending machines.

Studies began early in the decade with select high schools across the country to assess the market for milk vending machines. At the time, schools and communities were understandably worried about the rising obesity rate of children and teens, and because milk can be a healthy alternative to sugary soft drinks, it became the focus of many parents and principals who wanted a change.

After the school board in Madison, WI dropped its exclusive vending contract with Coca Cola in August 2000 and introduced milk vending machines alongside the pop machines, criticism about loss of funds soon turned to praise at the profits the milk machine was bringing to the schools.

Mona Arneson, the kitchen coordinator at West High School, told the Associated Press that she didn’t believe the milk program would work at first, but she was proven wrong when she began having difficulty keeping the machine stocked. In the first four weeks, students at the school of 2,100 pupils had bought 200 bottles of milk every day.

The Fluid Milk Strategic Thinking Initiative (FMSTI) ran its own studies, which indicated vending milk can be as successful as soda sales. In high schools, an average of 68 percent of students bought milk, and of those, 30 percent purchased milk at least once a week.

No studies have yet been released about the success of milk vending machines on college campuses, but if the success of milk vending machines at the University of Washington is taken into account, it’s not difficult to see that milk is just as popular among college students as high school students. Micheal Meyering, vending manager of the university, told University Week, the student newspaper, the machines sold out during the first couple of days after they were installed, leading him to ask the vendors for more frequent delivery.

The University of Nebraska would make a smart choice by installing milk vending machines on campus. Milk is already available at the Starbucks locations and campus convenience stores, but the hours at every milk-selling location vary from closing as early as 3 p.m. to only being open for lunch and dinner. None of these locations are open past 9 p.m. or during the weekends.

Just as students have the convenience of 24-hour soda, coffee, water and snack machines on campus, milk should have around-the-clock availability as well. Not only is milk a healthy alternative to soda, but many students simply prefer milk over other beverages. If previous studies can be believed, milk machines would also become a source of profit for the university, making them a worthy investment in this time of budget cuts.

Sources:
Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board
"Schools vending machines got milk - and students are getting it, too" - AP
University Week News

The double dog dare post about campus parking

Quick note: Double dog dare, you say? Well, to quickly explain, Dr. Hanson, the professor of this blogging class, hates anything and everything to do with articles complaining about student parking. He says that no matter how good or bad parking really is, students at every campus across the university will complain unless they all have the ability to park within 5 feet of the door to their building 100% of the time. And, since it's been talked about so much, he says there is nothing more that could possibly be written about it that's new or interesting.

But apparently, people still want to write about it anyway, so he's giving us one chance to write a blog about it, and whoever writes the best or most interesting post will win something on Tuesday. I wasn't going to write about it, but why not try? So this is my daily experience with parking on campus.

To begin with, UNK sells more parking spots than it actually has available. I'm not sure what that ratio is, but I've been told that it's not as bad as some other universities. I think it's crap that universities sell more spots than they have, and I remember having a problem with it when I lived in the dorms. Get back late? Oh, sorry, that $50 parking fee you paid isn't going to help you out this time. I would have to park five blocks or more away and walk to my dorm. It sucked. The university sure makes some good money from it, though.

I moved out of the dorms as soon as possible and lived in the apartments surrounding campus. Because I'm a journalism major, the majority of all my classes are in the library, and I lived in an apartment that was nearly across the street from the building. It was closer than the dorms!

However, as pretty much everyone in Kearney knows, the neighborhoods surrounding campus are party havens, which results in 2 problems: it's too loud to sleep, and parking is even worse than campus if your building doesn't have assigned parking spaces. I couldn't take it anymore, so I moved out. Now I live about 8 blocks from campus in a great apartment (that I should probably blog about later, now that I think about it).

Anyway, now that I'm far enough away to be required to drive to school on days that are cold or when I'm running late (which is pretty much every day, really), I'm a commuter. Mmmm commuter ... I hate that word.

Now, I could once again battle with parking and pay $50 for the opportunity to possibly have a spot after driving around through all the commuter lots ... OR I could be a cheapo and park in the neighborhoods. I chose cheapo. And to prove why I believe being a cheapo works best, let me illustrate my usual morning of parking.

In the picture below, the red tinted area represents campus, the red outlined buildings represent where I go to class this semester, and the red lines at the bottom show the places where I usually have to park.

For this example, let's assume I get stuck with the furthest parking spot I've ever had, and I have to walk to the furthest class, which so happens to be this blogging class. The map below shows the route I would take.

Depending on your lifestyle, that might look like a long walk, and it might not. But here's the truth ... it's a little more than 1/3 of a mile and takes about 4 minutes (5 minutes if traffic is heavy on the highway I have to cross). Don't believe me? Check it out for yourself on google maps:



View Larger Map


I have never thought about this being a problem, mostly because it's free. There are plenty of streets with free parking surrounding campus, and plenty of students take advantage of it. And there are still open spots, always! If I had paid money and was given only a few areas to park that might already be full, I wouldn't be too happy about it. So I don't. There are no expectations for the perfect spot, and therefore no chance for me to feel ripped off.

The trick is to take the first spot you see. Don't drive around the blocks looking for the best spot, it's just as bad as driving around a parking lot. It's a waste of time. In my experience, simply parking as quickly as possible and then getting out to walk saves a lot of time and is much less stressful. If you refer again to the maps above, that furthest parking spot I ever had - that area is always open, even during morning class times. Go there. Then take the alley, which connects to another alley, which comes out by Come n' Get It. You'll be right across the street from the library area. It's magic.

Of course, there are some downsides. I'm now one of those same people who used to piss me off by parking in the neighborhoods, and maybe I'm keeping someone from being able to park close to their own home ... but at least I'm not one of those jerks who parks in the 30-minute parking for 36248632548 hours!

So what's the point I'm making here? Is campus parking a problem or not? Well, the point is that it doesn't bother me because I don't deal with it.

Before I end this post, though, I'd like to share a secret with those who may be upset with the parking, saying it's too far away or what have you. I learned about it from some Japanese students who lived in the same party apartment building as me ... FOLDING BIKES!

They're so weird, huh!? I was fascinated when I first saw one. I bought one for my tiny apartment and I actually went all summer with only using my car maybe twice a week. It was amazing.

Even more amazing is the bike parking on campus. It's as close as ten feet to the door! It's everywhere! There's always an open spot!

If you have a problem with parking, ride a bike. Put this thing in your trunk, pull it out, unfold it in less than a minute, and you're on your way. It even has a flat area to strap on a backpack or books.

Hurray!

3 ideas for local issues

Making Kearney more pedestrian friendly
I like to walk instead of drive, but there are countless blocks in Kearney that don't even have sidewalks. In the winter, the snow from the streets is even plowed onto the sidewalks! Also, it might just be that I live in a rental neighborhood with possibly sketchy landlords, but the sidewalks are never scooped. Isn't there a law against that? I'll have to look it up. I could also write about making Kearney more friendly to bicyclists - compared to almost every other town or city I've lived in or visited, Kearney is the worst.

Milk vending machines!
I know this is probably the most boring topic anyone has come up with, but it's something I think is important. I drink milk every day, but I have to either go wait in line at the Starbucks in the art building, or I'd have to walk all the way to the union convenience store. There are lots of drink machines on campus, but I'd estimate that 95% of them are pop machines. I've seen a couple of water and juice machines, plus the coffee machine in the library. Give me a milk machine! I can't say for a fact if other students would use it, so I'll have to research if other campuses have done it and how it's worked out. I do know that it proved successful to have one in high school when they introduced the milk machine my senior year.

Textbook prices
This is one topic that most students seem to have thought of, and I can agree that it's a problem. However, there are so many aspects to book prices, I'm not really sure where to begin here. I'll keep it as an idea, but I probably won't venture to write an editorial about it.

Smoking is a personal decision and needs to remain just that: personal

This is the final draft of my second editorial for class, which was supposed to focus on a state or regional issue. The smoking ban is something I feel strongly about, and for some reason, I found it hard to write this editorial because I had to narrow down my reasons. If you want to read the long rant I posted earlier, complete with full arguments and a list of links, go here: Nebraska's smoking ban.

If you want to read the bill itself, go here: LB395.

On February 26, 2008, Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman signed into law a statewide smoking ban that will go into effect starting June this year, outlawing smoking in bars, restaurants and most other workplaces. The signing came as a victory to advocates of the bill, which had been turned down time and time again in the past.

However, since the bill has passed, there has been both an outcry and a sigh of relief from various individuals and businesses around the state, and the idea of a strict statewide smoking ban has been controversial, to say the least. There have been exceptions, then rewrites, then more exceptions, then law suits – and the ban hasn’t even gone into effect yet!

Despite the arguments from both sides, no argument is more valid than this: there needs to be a limit as to how far one person can invade another person’s space. We have harassment laws, stalking laws, traffic laws, pollution laws, disruption laws and privacy laws, to name a few, and we will now have smoking laws.

Smoking is indeed an invasion of personal space. In establishments that still allow smoking indoors, the smoke from a single cigarette will find its way into the area of other patrons, whether they like it or not. Smoking and non-smoking sections make no difference, especially in the eyes of a restaurant worker or bar tender who doesn’t have the convenient choice to distance him or herself from the intrusion.

There is absolutely no reason why the public should accommodate a habit that not only harms the person involved, but also has the potential to harm innocent people unfortunate enough to breathe the same smoky air. The side effects of first and second-hand smoking, which include cancer and emphysema, are extremely dangerous, and it is in the public’s best interest that these diseases and their sources are kept under control.

Statistically, smokers make up a minority in this country. According to the American Heart Association, only 23 per cent of men and 19 per cent of women smoke, and the numbers are continuing to fall. We would never argue that the rights of a minority group don’t matter, but we would not step down on the fact that the rights of the majority are especially important. Even more important than group rights is public health.

Smoking is a personal decision, and any adult is free to acknowledge and accept the addiction and dangers of the habit. However, no one is free to push those same dangers onto unwilling citizens. We should be able to believe we are safe when in public, and although it’s a difficult standard to reach, small steps like the smoking ban will bring us closer to attaining that goal.

Nebraska's smoking ban

I've decided to focus on Nebraska's state-wide smoking ban for my next editorial. It's something that has come up quite often in my group of friends, since everyone smokes except me, my sister and my boyfriend. It's the equivalent of about three versus twenty, and I'm not exaggerating.

Neither my boyfriend nor my sister care about the ban, which ultimately leaves me as the only person to advocate for it. Because of this, I have my argument pretty well thought out (and well practiced!).

So I'll start by giving the basic argument points of those against the ban, then countering each of them with my own. Here we go!

1. It's not fair, the government is discriminating against smokers.
This is interesting, and honestly, the only point I can slightly agree with. The thing is, the government is NOT discriminating against them as people - they can still go and do anything a non-smoker can - it's simply that the government is discriminating about where they can smoke. Now, I doubt anyone actually identifies themselves as a "smoker" and not a "person." Just as identification is not black and white, neither is this issue.

2. They are infringing on my constitutional rights. I should be able to smoke wherever I want to.
Oh, so do you smoke in hospitals? Schools? Libraries? Grocery stores? Retail stores? Court houses? Government buildings? Banks? At the gas pump? Of course, when people say this, I realize they basically mean restaurants and bars, but they just don't understand how ridiculous it is that they should say "wherever I want" as if they've ever been able to smoke anywhere and everywhere.

Also, where in the constitution is a person guaranteed the right to smoke in a restaurant or bar? Oh right, NOWHERE. But just for argument's sake, what about my constitutional right to breathe clean air? Every time a person smokes around me and I am forced to breathe their smoke, they just took away my right and my choice to be smoke-free. If I'm just standing around breathing, I'm not affecting them in any way. Isn't there something wrong about that?

Altogether, this constitutional rights argument is overly dramatic at best and downright ignorant at worst. The state isn't taking away your cigarettes. They aren't even telling you to quit smoking. They're simply saying, "Step outside to enjoy your cigarette." That way, both smokers and non-smokers can retain their choices.

3. Why can't non-smokers go somewhere else?
I hate this argument because it is extremely divisive. It just reminds me of going back to a time of segregation, and that's dangerous. Should smokers and non-smokers have separate bars and restaurants? Once again, this is a way of defining people by their habits, not as individuals (which I mentioned in #1).

What's funny (and sad at the same time) is that it's typically the same person who says, "It's not fair, this is discrimination!" followed by, "Can't non-smokers go somewhere else?"

I hate it when people apply standards to others and don't apply those same standards to themselves. Apparently, according to this person, it's not okay to discriminate against smokers, yet discrimination against non-smokers is no problem!

Now believe me, I follow my own advice. I imagine, "What if I was a smoker? Would I step outside?" And the answer is a strong YES. Yes, I would. It's not hard to simply step outside to smoke, I would do it as a common courtesy toward others regardless of the smoking ban. I don't see why it's so hard for anyone else.

Also, the majority of people in the United States are non-smokers. Only 23% of adult men and 19% of adult women smoke. It's really not fair to argue that this minority of people should be allowed to go everywhere and that the majority of Americans should go somewhere else.

But getting back on topic, sometimes when people say non-smokers should go somewhere else, they point out the existence of smoking and non-smoking sections at restaurants. Although I think it's a well-intended step toward trying to keep everyone happy, the different sections still don't take into consideration many other things. What about a group of people who are a mix of smokers and non-smokers? What about the very obvious smoke that drifts into the non-smoking section (because let's face it, half a wall or no wall at all, the smoke isn't just going to stay out of the non-smoking section because the signs say so)? What about the non-smoking employees who work in the smoking section?

When a habit invades other people's space, there should be a limit. If a woman has a boss who sexually harasses her at work, are we going to say, "Why can't the woman go somewhere else or get a different job?" No, we are going to address the harassment. Or at least, I hope we are.

So main point here: If smokers simply step outside to smoke, both smokers and non-smokers can still go anywhere and everywhere. No one has to "go somewhere else."

4. If people go to bars to drink, why can't they smoke? Both actions are harmful and legal.
Once again, this is a matter of invading other people's space. To get right down to it, both drinkers and non-drinkers can go to a bar, but if a drinker drinks around a non-drinker, does that directly affect the non-drinker? Is the non-drinker suddenly going to be swimming in alcohol? Will the alcohol somehow get into the non-drinker's system, causing them to be drunk? If they go to a bar a lot but never drink, will they still be at risk for alcohol-related cirrhosis?

Now let's change this around. If a smoker smokes around a non-smoker, does it directly affect the non-smoker? Will the non-smoker be surrounded by smoke? Will the smoke get into the non-smoker's system? If a non-smoker is around cigarette smoke a lot, will they be at risk for smoking-related health problems, like cancer and emphysema?

Changes things, doesn't it?

5. The ban hurts businesses.
People who say this fail to realize that the Nebraska Restaurant Association backs the ban, and not one of the 700 businesses in the association have complained about the ban. Not a single one!

At first, the ban was somewhat more favorable toward certain businesses. For example, it originally was going to only ban smoking in bars that serve food, while bars that don't would still be allowed to have smoking inside. This was later ruled unconstitutional, which is why the ban now applies to all bars.

As to business in general, I just can't imagine a smoker refusing to go anywhere after the ban simply because they won't be allowed to smoke inside. If they choose to stay home and never go out to eat or hit up the bars - well, that's pretty extreme, and those few extremists probably don't make up even half a percent of a business's customers.

In fact, I think the smoking ban will help businesses, because it will encourage more people (like myself, for instance) to go out to places because they won't run the risk of coming home reeking of smoke, coughing for a week straight or simply getting sick to their stomachs after breathing so much smoke. Those are the exact reasons why I rarely go out to the bars (and all of my friends who live at the bars wonder why they never see me!).

Also, theoretically, a business can save money by not having to pay so much towards employees' health. If even one employee is healthier because of the ban and, as a result, is not required to go to the doctor as often, voila! The business just saved money on insurance.

6. Second-hand smoke doesn't actually hurt anyone.
I'm always baffled by the people who say this. They believe reports of second-hand smoke dangers and health risks are some government conspiracy. That, or they're scrambling for an argument - anything - because they have nothing else.

7. I think they're just trying to make me quit. And you know what? I'm just gonna smoke more!
Ok, Jeremy, you do that.


For the most part, I think people who get defensive about the ban may be confused. Some of them claim the ban will mean they can't smoke in their own homes or their cars (strangely, my friends who smoke always step outside their non-smoking rented apartments or ask before lighting up in my car, all without complaint). Others think it's the government's first steps to outlawing smoking altogether.

Here's what the ban will do: Make smoking in public indoor places illegal. That's it.
It's not extreme.
It's not a conspiracy.
It's going to be okay.

**What are your for/against arguments on the smoking ban? Let me know in the comments! I don't want to leave any good points out of my editorial!


See also:
WOWT-DT Omaha: "Smoking ban passes in Nebraska legislature."
Lincoln Journal Star: "Heineman signs smoking ban."
Join Together: "Nebraska court voids exceptions to smoking ban."
American Heart Association: Smoking cessation
Debate: Should smoking be allowed in public places?

Stanislav Markelov: Russia's Martin Luther King Jr.?

Martin Luther King Jr. Day has always been a special day in the United States. That feeling was amplified this year stronger than ever, as it fell on the inaugural eve of our nation's first black president.

However, as we in the United States celebrated and remembered our struggle with equality and civil rights for every American, a man in Russia who held those same beliefs in his own country was murdered in cold blood.

His name was Stanislav Markelov, and he was a prominent civil rights lawyer in Russia. He became well-known when he decided to represent Anna Politkovskaya, a journalist who was shot to death in 2006 for being critical of the government. Later, he would also represent another journalist who was severely beaten for doing the same. Several tortured civilians in Chechnya counted on him as well to bring justice.

He truly became a hero when he took the case of Elza Kungayeva, an 18-year-old girl who was abducted, beaten, raped and killed by Russian Army Colonel Yuri Budanov. Remarkably, Markelov successfully fought within a crooked system to imprison Budanov.

That joy would not last long. Budanov was later released much earlier than his sentence allowed, and moments after Markelov promised at a press conference to put Budanov back in prison, he was shot in the back of the head by a masked man. Another critical journalist, Anastasia Baburova, was also killed.

It is a sad and strange irony that Russia took such a blow against civil rights as the United States and much of the western world rejoiced in taking a step forward. It's hard for us to imagine a world today where people risk being killed simply for standing up for themselves. However, as Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination reminds us, it's only been 50 years since we've started to take steps forward. Even now, with a newly elected African-American president, we still have many more steps before true equality is reached.

Russia has much longer strides ahead of itself, though. We suppose it may be a natural response in the United States to want to push our beliefs of Democracy and equality on a nation that seems so lacking, but those are not the steps Russia needs. The people themselves are hungry for something more from their government; the people will fight, and we certainly hope they will get the civil rights they deserve.

And just as Russia has at least 50 years of struggle ahead, we in the United States must not forget that our own struggle is not finished. Yes, Obama is proof of our improvement, but as long as ghettos and inadequate schools are pushed to minorities, as long as women work at a lesser pay than men, as long as gays are banned from marriage and as long as Muslims are treated as terrorists in our country, there are steps we need to take to continue our path to equality and freedom.

If Martin Luther King Jr. and Stanislav Markelov can be remembered for anything, let it be that they chose to stand up not only for themselves, but for their neighbors. We encourage you to do the same.

Editorial #1 rough draft

This is the rough draft to my national/international editorial, so any and all comments or criticism are welcomed!

Martin Luther King Jr. Day has always been a special day in the United States. However, that feeling was amplified this year stronger than it ever has been, as it fell on the inaugural eve of our nation's first black president.

However, as we in the United States celebrated and remembered our struggle with equality and civil rights for every American, a man in Russia who held those same beliefs in his own country was murdered in cold blood.

His name was Stanislav Markelov, and he was a prominent civil rights lawyer in Russia. He became well-known when he decided to represent Anna Politkovskaya, a journalist who was shot to death in 2006 for being critical of the government. Later, he would also represent another journalist who was severely beaten for doing the same. Several tortured civilians in Chechnya counted on him as well to bring justice.

He truly became a hero when he took the case of Elza Kungayeva, an 18-year-old girl who was abducted, beaten, raped and killed by Russian Army Colonel Yuri Budanov. Remarkably, Markelov successfully fought within a crooked system to imprison Budanov.

That joy would not last long. Budanov was later released much earlier than his sentence allowed, and moments after Markelov promised at a press conference to put Budanov back in prison, he was shot in the back of the head by a masked man. Another critical journalist, Anastasia Baburova, was also killed.

It is a sad and strange irony that Russia took such a blow against civil rights as the United States and much of the western world rejoiced in taking a step forward. It's hard for us to imagine a world today where people risk being killed simply for standing up for themselves. However, as Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination reminds us, it's only been 50 years since we've started to take steps forward. Even now, with a newly elected African-American president, we still have many more steps before true equality is reached.

Russia has much longer strides ahead of itself, though. We suppose it may be a natural response in the United States to want to push our beliefs of Democracy and equality on a nation that seems so lacking, but those are not the steps Russia needs. The people themselves are hungry for something more from their government; the people will fight, and we certainly hope they will get the civil rights the deserve.

And just as Russia has at least 50 years of struggle ahead, we in the United States must not forget that our own struggle is not finished. Yes, Obama is proof of our improvement, but as long as ghettos and inadequate schools are pushed to minorities, as long as women work at a lesser pay than men, and as long as Muslims are treated as terrorists in our country, there are steps we can take to make our own country better.

If Martin Luther King Jr. and Stanislav Markelov can be remembered for anything, let it be that they chose to stand up not only for themselves, but for their neighbors. We encourage you to do the same.

[word count: 521]

**To read my original blog post that inspired this editorial, click here.**

P.S. - Wow, I just read this out loud to myself, and I can already see lots of places for improvement. Thanks for that proof-reading tip, Dr. Hanson!

Murder of Russian human rights lawyer on Marting Luther King Jr. Day

As I was going through the news this morning, between stories about Martin Luther King Jr., the going-ons of the Obama family and the preparations being made for the inauguration, I found this interesting story about the murder of Stanislav Markelov, a lawyer who had been prosecuting human rights abuses in Russia.

This story is interesting in the sense that it's both horrifying and timely. Right now, the United States is not only celebrating the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but also welcoming our first African American president. Both of these men represent equal opportunity and human rights in the country, and we've certainly come a long way in the last 50 years to realizing these ideals.

However, Russia, with its heavy history of unequal rights and corrupt and failing governments, obviously still has a long trek ahead of itself. It saddens me to read about the murder of a man who worked within the law to punish human rights abuses, despite the law itself being part of a larger, crooked system. Just as MLK's death inspired people in the United States to work toward something better, perhaps Markelov's death can have the same effect on the Russian and Chechen people. But if history can be trusted as a telling factor, it could be 50 or more years before the people see results.

Markelov represented the parents of Elza Kungayeva, who had been "raped and murdered in a drunken rampage by Russian troops." The killing became a symbol of human rights abuses in Chechnya. Here, the mother and father share pictures of their daughter.


People hold portraits of missing relatives during a protest against the early release of former Russian Colonel Yuri Budanov in Grozny December 29, 2008. About 200 people protested in Chechnya on Monday over the early release of the Russian officer jailed for murder, in a rare public show of dissent by the region's pro-Kremlin leadership. The protesters in Grozny were voicing anger at a decision to grant an early release to Colonel Budanov, convicted in 2000 of murdering 17-year-old Chechen girl Elza Kungayeva during a tour of duty in Chechnya.

[Photos from Reuters]
See also: Telegraph.co.uk article on the murder of Markelov
Human Rights Watch on Chechnya
Amnesty International 2008 Report on the Russian Federation
"Chechnya - human rights under attack"