Football is a pass-time for Americans everywhere. But here in Nebraska this is especially true because of the lack of mainstream entertainment. There are no pro sports teams and very few semi pro teams. There are no Broadway shows or Hollywood parties. For the most part to keep yourself busy you either have to live in Lincoln or Omaha because elsewhere there is a total lack of things to do. So what most Nebraskans do growing up is involve themselves in something, and one of the most prominent things in Nebraska is football. From kids to teens to adults Nebraskans learn to love the game. They love the strategy, the rivalries, and the history. In a way football embodies a lot of the characteristics that Nebraskans like to think they exhibit, such as hard work, toughness, and perseverance. Nebraskans then carry this love of the game with them as they grow older. And as they grow older they will inevitably leave high school and in most cases move on to college life, bringing with them the love of football. This is apparent here at Nebraska Wesleyan as you can see through the tradition of winning football teams and the support of the always-supportive Wesleyan fans. At the game this Saturday the stadium was packed and the team was playing their biggest rival, Doane. In rivalry games there is so much at stake, like bragging rights and pride. Neither team wants to be the team that lost to their rival. Players perform to their potential and the adrenaline flows more than normal. As I watched from the crow I could see a visible difference from previous games. Every single member on the team wanted the win and was willing to do anything to get it. The crowd was more tense and intertwined with the game than normal also. After the game, when Wesleyan had dominated Doane students and players alike joined in celebration for the love of the game and a big win over their longtime rival. Nowhere else in the world can you see the affliction for a sport quite like you can here in Nebraska.

Memorial Stadium

The house that Nebraska football built: Memorial Stadium. The Sea of Red, Tom Osborne Field, and Cook Pavilion: all of these are associated with one of college footballs premier venues, Memorial Stadium. A very impressive, imposing building in person, it towers over you as you look up to its upper levels of the skyboxes. During the week it looks unused because the stands are empty, not even a shadow of what they become on the weekend. During the weekend it is transformed into a city. During a game, when all of its capacity eighty some thousand seats are all filled, Memorial Stadium could be considered the third largest city in Nebraska behind Omaha and Lincoln. All of the rowdy Nebraska fans, called the best in all of college football, have good clean fun. The deafening roar drowns out all other sounds as they cheer in unison for their team. The smell of hotdogs and Valentino's pizza as vendors make their way down the crowded aisles. The taste of the traditional foods that you can only get at a real game is just one piece of the surrounding sensations. You may try and copy the food but without the complimentary sensations nothing is quite the same. The full experience is a combination of all of the senses mingling together, each doing their own part to give the stereotypical college football game experience. And only at Nebraska's Memorial Stadium can all of these things together at the same time. Other schools have their own memorial stadiums that they try to copy the real thing but nothing beats the original. When you can call yourself lucky and be able to attend one of the games and contribute to the experience that is the tunnel walk you will truly be changed. You will take this moment with you and everything else will have to be compared to this memory. And very few things, if any, will be able to be considered better or more memorable than this one part of history.

After reading a startling article in the paper I thought to myself what could cause such brutality to happen? But first the story: This Saturday a young man from Plattsmouth decided to call his ex-girlfriend in Weeping Water, NE. Nobody knows for sure what was said except those involved, but the teen called multiple times. On one of these phone calls one of the girlfriends male friends answered the phone and no doubt words were exchanged; among which were those of a challenge to a fight. Both of the people involved called many of their friends and gathered for the fight, which was to take place at the Plattsmouth teen's house. When both groups arrived a fight broke out between the groups and eventually moved inside. Those inside woke up the Plattsmouth teen's father who went outside. While outside words were exchanged and the father gets hit twice with baseball bats and subsequently is in a coma at the Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha . Why do things like this happen today? One could argue technology, without cell phones and text messaging communication between the two groups would likely not have happened. Fights over girls are commonplace in history but today with the access to phones and cars situations can escalate quickly. One could also argue society, where teens are pressured to conflict because if he refuses to fight, he is labeled a, "wuss" or being, "weak." You could even argue that its nature and that its the hormones and testosterone in males that make them aggressive and that its no fault of the teenagers involved. Or maybe its evolution, maybe this is the next stage of human development. Looking back in recent history violent crimes along with gang related crimes have continued to rise. Could this be the direction of humanity's social evolution? In the past it had been survival of the fittest and perhaps in today's time it will be survival of the biggest gang instead. But in my opinion, I think a group of kids without self-control let things escalate before using common sense and stopping things before it was too late. And because of the kids' foolishness a man is in critical condition in the hospital due to the ignorance of a couple of kids who couldn't swallow their pride and decline to fight. If things like this continue to increase in frequency in the future, what a sad future that will be.

The telephone museum was a walk through the past literally and figuratively. When walking down the halls you can feel the history of the place. You see the progress of technology as the telephones began as primitive objects that progressively become more complex pieces of machinery. The exhibits depict the lives of families and how their daily life involved the telephone. In many ways telephones have gotten simpler and more complicated at the same time. They have gone from bulky things that require some skill to use; as you have to wear the device to use it, to easier manipulated rotary units. And to still simpler devices that are portable, wireless phones. Finally to the cellular telephones that we know today. These are easier to use, but also take more skill to work. Easier to use in that they are completely wireless phones that don't have a base unit plugged in to the wall, but more difficult in that they require programming and thorough knowledge of the phone to utilize the many unique functions of the modern cell phone (cell phone programming). In the museum you also can follow the technological progress of the maintenance of the modern telephone. From the primitive pole climbing boot hooks to the more modern lift trucks that you see in use today. At the museum you can also find a complete history of telephone wires and cables. The museum also had information on how all the wires were installed (wire installation). Along with all the other contents wiring has its own unique history told frame by frame by the different exhibits. The exhibits in general were very informative to the use and history of each unique object. It was also very impressive to learn that almost all of the exhibits and their contents were donated to the museum by different people who cared enough to preserve a small piece of history. That is what the essence of the museum was, a small part of a collective history, that by the efforts of those who contributed to the museum, can benefit anyone who cares to venture to see the historical contents of the telephone museum.

Essay quote: 300 words

The Ideal Essay: In reading an esay, I want to feel that I'm communing with a real person, and a person who cares about what he or she's writing about. The words sound sentimental and trite, but the qualities are rare. For me, the ideal essay is not an assignment, to be dispatched efficiently and intelligently, but an exploration, a questioning, an intrspection. I want to see a piece of the essayist. I want to see a mind at work, imagining spinning, struggling to understand. If the essayist has all the answers, then he isn't stuggling to grasp, and I won't either. When you care about something, you continually grapple with it, because it is alive in you. It thrashes and moves, like all living things....
-Alan Lightman

After reading through all the quotes about essays I chose to write on this one because I feel the same way the author does. To me the ideal essay needs to be a passionate one, not something that the writer doesn't care about. And in no way am I accusing any writer of being a nonchalant author either. I just feel that the best works are the ones that you can almost see and feel the emotion that the writer puts into the text. I like how Alan Lightman says, "...when you care about something you continually grapple with it..." I can identify with what, in my mind, he's trying to say. In my opinion, readers, in general, enjoy reading more when there is a tangible emotion that they can identify with rather than something they may consider a, "dry" subject. And when the reader can sense the author's passion for the subject, some of the same passion can rub off on the reader. Also when Lightman says that you continually grapple with what you care about, I find that happens to me, regardless of the topic of what you care about. When you find something that you truly care about you can't just pass it by and leave it behind, you want to explore it and examine it from all angles and understand the subject fully. And if the author can fully know his passion, maybe his writing can impart some of his thirst to the reader. Lighman also says, "...I want to feel that I'm communing with a real person..." This is also a byproduct of the passion for writing. The reader can in a sense, get to know the author and explore his feelings and views. Making the author a real person with real emotion rather than some impersonal ghost. The bottom line is that to really know the writing and understand it you should see the origins of where the author is coming from and see his motives and emotion through his writing.