Free Write: The Good Life Concert

The Good Life Concert

Saturday night was a homecoming for local band. The Good Life, led by Tim Kasher (Cursive), finished up their six week tour by playing a home show in Omaha at Saddle Creek Records new venue, The Slowdown.
The Good Life fresh off a new record release (Help Wanted Nights) tore through the entire album in front of a packed house. After this was over the band took a quick break and came out to a welcoming crowd. They played some of their classics from the albums Blackout, and Album of the Year. The concert was ended by Tim belting a heart wrenching version of the classic song Album of the Year. The crowd was ecstatic as the band hit their last drum and strummed their last chord, they all wanted more.
Among the crowd was Saddle Creek veteran Conor Oberst of the band Bright Eyes. Oberst and Kasher have been close since their earliest days in school and have been playing music together since their early teens. Each man is in two bands on the Saddle Creek label however they do not share projects. They are often seen at each others local shows and are seen holding hands on the cover of the single “Lovers Need Lawyers” by the Good Life. Oberst has come across a recent wave of success with his latest cd Cassadaga. A wave that I’m sure his good pal Tim wouldn’t mind riding. Some would say that it is only a matter of time before Tim becomes as big as Oberst if not bigger. His other band Cursive has enjoyed local success all over the Mid-West and have traveled to both coasts playing their Nebraskan style experimental rock. However I’m sure that Kasher is just fine drinking all day and playing to local Nebraskans every night.

State Issue: Affirmative action critic trying to end policies in state

Nebraska is being targeted to end the use of affirmative action by public colleges and state and local agencies. Nebraska is one of five states being targeted and there are many other states in the country that have ended this policy already. With times changing racial, ethnic, and gender discrimination isn’t beginning to be such a large widespread problem as it previously has been. Nebraskans tend to want to help females and minorities and not help gain opportunities of white men. White men are always favored in situations and women still only receive 70 cents to a man’s dollar so it seems that white men do not need any more help. In Nebraska the problems of affirmative action are not as big of a deal compared to other places in the United States like the south because we do not have that many people of different racial or ethnic background. Although we are gaining a more diverse population it is still mostly dominated by Caucasians. Nebraska was a good state to target because of its lack of different ethnic background and its tendencies to be fair.
Voters of Nebraska seem to mostly be in favor of abolishing affirmative action but were not in favor of a program that offered in-state tuition to children of illegal immigrants. To me that seems to be an obvious reaction of Nebraskans because of the number of meat packing plants in our cities. The workers are already thought of as taking money from Nebraskan workers so most Nebraskans have a negative attitude towards illegal immigrants. Nebraskans are usually conservative and place high values on honesty and fairness. Affirmative action doesn’t need such great emphasis if they are already practicing fair job hiring and college applications. It is said that they want the best qualified people for the job. I personally wouldn’t think of people in terms of race if I was to hire someone for a job I would think of what that person could contribute to the company.

Cheerleading

The one thing that I miss most about high school is cheerleading. I could have tried out for cheerleading here at Wesleyan, but I decided to focus on academics my first year which was probably a good idea. I didn’t think that I would miss it very much because of the distractions that college would bring. With new friends, new environment, and loads of homework I thought that the last thing that would be on my mind would be cheerleading. Every time we watch football on TV or I go to a football game I pay some attention to the players and most of my attention to the cheerleaders and dance teams. I didn’t realize how important cheerleading was in my life during my high school career.
When I was a freshman I tried out for cheerleading, and I knew I was terrible but I guess it was wishful thinking that kept me going. Of course because of my lack of ability I didn’t make the squad. I was very sad about it and in my angst I joined a competitive cheerleading team. I went to practice every day in the summer for two hours, with the exception of Saturday and Sunday. It was a very hard core conditioning and cheerleading squad, so hard core that we had to get a new coach because she gave someone a hernia. The next year I didn’t want to try out because I was afraid of not making the squad again, but I tried out anyway. I made the squad! I made it my junior and senior year too, each time it was equally as exciting. I loved the feeling of the football team rushing past you when you were yelling with flashy poms poms. I loved it when the fans actually yelled a chant with you. I especially loved basketball season when the players came running past you and the excitement from the crowd and our squad when they made a basket.
Now these times seem uneventful. The football team at Wesleyan is good, but the spirit at the game isn’t the same. Most of the fans are parents, who are not as involved in school spirit with the cheerleaders and the students. The changes from high school to college aren’t always what I was expecting. The things I thought I would miss like my casual friends from high school and my house aren’t always the things you think you would miss.

Holmes Lake

Kate Nootz
English Writing Assignment

Holmes Lake

I forced the door of my car open against the strong wind gusts and stepped out onto Holmes Lake Park. I found one of the may unoccupied benches and sat down hoping not to get my pants dirty. The lake was made choppy by the strong gusts of wind that were blowing through the park. The leaves on the trees were also blowing violently with the wind. The water was choppy and on one side of the lake the waves even had white caps. The only place that wasn’t affected by the wind was a small cove that was protected by a rocky path leading out onto the lake. The water appeared to be green from far away but some of the waves extending out from the lake were more green than blue. Once I got closer I realized that the water was definitely not blue but a murky green brown. It made me wonder if the lake only appeared to be blue because of a reflection on the sky. In the middle of the lake the sun made a glare which forced your eyes to squint when you looked at it. Watching the water with the waves crashing against each other creates a wave of calmness over you. The water is mesmerizing to watch and hard to take your eyes off, but it is possible to be distracted by the flicker of a tree leaf or a person walking on the path around the lake. After the commotion is over my eyes always reverted back to the lake. On certain parts of the lake there is a narrow beach with thick tan sand. The rest of the lake is protected with tall weeds; many of them are serving as a barrier for the trash which collects in them.
At first Holmes Lake smelled like the great outdoors, trees and grass and some weeds, but every now and then you would get a gust of the potent smell of the lake. The lake doesn’t have such a great and refreshing smell, instead it smells more like algae or fish. You can hear the pats of people’s feet on the gravel path and kids screaming excitedly pleased with the activity they are doing. You can hear the dogs barking as they met each other on the path, or met other people that were unfamiliar to them. In my ears there was always a constant whistle of the wind.
It is strange that a recreation center that is bustling with people doing physical outdoor activities can be so unhealthy. There are people running around the lake or taking their dogs for walks, showing their kids how to fish and make sand castles, or observing the lake hoping the waters will make them calm and enjoying the outdoors. Yet the water is murky and was said to be condemned and you were not supposed to eat any fish that came from it or go swimming in it. It is next to the dog park and they share a stream. After they found many accounts of dead or mutated fish they had to dredge the lake, I remember it to be a very unpleasant smell. Vegetation grew wildly in the lake when it was empty and it looked like a lagre meadow or grassland. The vegetation still grows if the water gets low and many plants grow under water. The vegetation was never affected by the contaminated water but there has seemed to be a decrease of wildlife in the area. I saw only a few squirrels but mostly I saw people’s dogs that were brought there either by car or walked there on a leash.

The tall grass around the lake acts as a barrier for the outside world. People's trast gets collected in the weeds which prevents some of it from going into the lake like things from people picnicking or things that fly into the lake that people were using. The grasses can only block so much. There are parts of the lake that are more vulnerable like the beaches which have no protection from the outside world. It seems that there are things we cannot be protected from, the barriers that we create are not strong enough from the influences of the city. The influences of the city have a negative effect on the park and what it represents.
The park was full of people, some exercising, some fishing or making playing in the sand, some just observing the lake. There were two families fishing. One of the families was a father trying to teach his young sons how to fish, it was apparent that it had only been one of their first times going out because they were not very successful. Their casts were never very far and sometimes just plopped into the lake, but they were praised when one managed to go far. Their lines often got stuck in the lake on the plants growing on the bottom of the lake. There was a mother and her two young children fishing also. They went through the tall weeds to stand on the big white rocks and fish from a different side of the lake as the other family. Each family encountered the same problem with their poles getting snagged on a weed. They would pull their line out of the water only to find a large tangled mass of green weeds instead of the fish they had been hoping for. Each family was unsuccessful in catching a fish.

It is interesting that we refer to Holmes Lake as being a lake. The only thing that you can do on the lake is fish, and when you do fish you are discouraged to eat the fish. There are signs up around the lake that tells you what fish to keep and which to release. There are also signs that prohibit you from the use of sailboats, paddle boats, wind surfing, row boating, canoeing, and using an aquatic cycle. You are also discouraged to swim in the lake. My dad tells me that the lake used to serve a purpose before it became filthy. He said that he used to go swimming in it and you used to be able to use any of the types of boating that are now prohibited. The only thing that you can do on the lake now is go fishing or in the winter you can go ice skating on it if the lake is frozen solid enough. Now Holmes Lake is more of a recreation center with all the volleyball courts, baseball fields, jungle gyms, and picnic tables.
Holmes Lake has a lot of history in Lincoln. It shows you how things have evolved. You used to be able to go fishing and actually eat the fish that you caught. It used to have wildlife, but now because of its location by a busy street that has decreased. The lake has also become unhealthy for people because of car fumes and other pollutants. It used to be just a lake and was surrounded by grasslands, but now we are making better use of it by adding baseball fields, volleyball courts, and a fancy playground. Just like we are expanding Lincoln and extending the city limits Holmes Lake is also adding new things. It is also holding the values of “The Good Life,” that we have in Nebraska by being a recreation center but also trying to keep up with the rest of the nation. Of course expanding comes with a price, and that is very evident with the new limitation because of the polluted lake. Like the waves on the lake mimicked the leaves on the trees Holmes Lake mimics the growth of Lincoln.

Post 6: The Museum of the Odd

Post 6: The Museum of the Odd

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipCRFWshMHY

This supposed Museum of the Odd looked more like a burial ground to me. It is where all the toys and figurines sit on shelf after shelf and are hung up on walls being displayed with no purpose. There were gatherings of circus monkeys in a box and skunks in a corner. There wasn’t an inch of this house that wasn’t covered with odd things. The sink housed figurines as well as the stove. Every space was taken by a different collection of motionless creatures. The house was absolutely useless with the exception of housing these collectables.
There were pumpkin faces, each staring at you with a different expression on their orange round faces. Then furry gremlins with their creepy looking eyes and mouth atop a high shelf. There were pictures of poorly drawn kitty’s playing in fields with flowers and flowing grasses. Even the bed was turned into a place to put figures. There were shiny dinosaurs in assortments of green and grey, some with long necks and smooth bodies and others with squatty bodies and spikes on their backs. There were tall horses with long tails and manes in acrylic hair. Their bodies were made from plastic and were mostly painted a brown color with the exception of those that were white and black. The horses were sorted in rows from tallest to shorter. Next to the horses were slender shiny rabbits with tall ears. Some of the rabbits were standing and had clothes on like a pair of overalls.
I find it odd that one chooses to have a museum in a house. They put things of no practicality on top of something like a sink or bed that have practical uses. It seems that these figures are so important to him that nothing else matters. However, it is inevitable to run into something in this museum because the house isn’t big enough to house all of the collectables. Not only are the things being shown in the museum odd but so is the location of the collectables.