As I was waiting for the first runner to arrive, I took several photos that I later stitched into this panorama.
Each year, the Monument Marathon in Gering attracts runners from around the world to the unique course in western Nebraska. All reporters are required to spend the day covering the event. Although the work is mandatory, I enjoy volunteering to take photographs in front of the Scotts Bluff National Monument.
I still remember the dust particles in the air. I remember the trees blossoming. I remember the punches to face. I remember being dragged down a flight of stairs. I remember never having no being taken as an answer.
A bullet casing flies through the air as Kris Paronto takes target pracitce at Bluffs Shooters in western Nebraska.
As I traveled through the back roads of Scotts Bluff County and into the southern edge of Sioux County, I looked all around me. A red-tailed hawk sat on the wooden cross beam of a telephone line watching me as I approached. It kept a keen eye on my car until I stopped. Before I had a chance to take my camera out of its bag, the bird flew away. Knowing I didn’t have the zoom lens to track it and take its picture, I sat for a few moments watching it sail into the distance.
I continued my journey a little farther north to the Bluffs Shooters range for an active shooter training course I had been assigned to cover day one of a two-day event. As I pulled in just after 9 a.m., two men greeted me and told me I could park my car anywhere. They were happy someone from the media had come out to see what they were doing. I was less than ecstatic to be there.
Middletown, New York is a city with plenty of parks and designated play areas among the shopping centers, supermarkets, and concrete jungle, but, if you are a kid, there are also plenty of wooded areas to explore and step away from the trappings of city life.
A butterfly soars above the ground along the path to the Belmont Tunnel.
Each year, the Sioux County Historical Society Museum in Harrison, Nebraska hosts a historical tour around a portion of the county. This year’s trip took us around the eastern part of the county with highlights about the early-day settlers of Sioux County, family plots, schools, the Agate to Andrews Mail Route, and stops in Marsland and Belmont.
“I gave you a B+ in my class instead of an A because I wanted you to participate more,” my poetry professor said. “You’re really good and have great insights, but you need to talk more.”
It made me angry. I was a junior in college and had heard similar comments from teachers and professors since the first day I stepped into kindergarten. I thought college professors were supposed to be enlightened and understanding of the different ways kids learn. I was wrong.
Longform stories are some of my favorite articles to read on the internet. It is some of the best writing you will find online. The stories typically contain illustrations, photography, interactives, and an engaging story.
I normally do this list twice a year, but as I looked at it the other day, I realized it had quickly grown in size. There are also many stories that are relevant to now and I don’t want to wait until the end of the year to share them. If this continues, I may change this list to once a month.
You can still read Part 1, which has some great stories.
My only foray into Texas was a quick three-day visit to Dallas. Paul and I visited the School Book Depository building and took a tour. As I leaned as best as I could to see out the window I said, “Nope. Not possible. I’m a good shot and I couldn’t have done that.” With those few words, I had solved the case. Lee Harvey Oswald couldn’t have done it alone.
I’ve met a few Texans since then, mostly in passing. Over the past two years, however, there have been three Texans who worked in the local media, two at the Star-Herald.
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