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Thanks for reading for 25 yearsBy Cheryl Stubbendieck Nebraska Farm Bureau vice president/public relations This Midland View column is the last in a string that stretches back to at least 1969, when the late Maury Van Kirk joined the Nebraska Farm Bureau staff. Maury's advice to me in 1982, when I succeeded him, was simple: "Write about stuff that interests you." I've been privileged to do that for 25 years and I greatly appreciate the space Nebraska's newspapers have given me and Farm Bureau in their pages. Thank you, also, to regular readers who have been generous with praise and sparing with criticism. My first tentative column, "The Computer Comes to the Farm," predicted that that emerging technology would change agriculture, and for the better. I got that one right, but I was wrong about some other things, including a thought (or hope) that 9/11 would have little lasting impact on agriculture. I have had to eat--or rather, drink--my words. When bottled water was just emerging as a viable consumer product, I wondered who in their right mind would pay money and haul home something you could get for free at the kitchen sink. It turns out, now, that I'm among 'em, trying to drink flavored water instead of too much hot or cold caffeine. By design, The Midland View was about equal parts discussion of issues and thinly disguised feature stories, the thought being that editors might choose one or the other to balance the other content on their editorial pages. Looking back, it's hard to recall specific columns about issues, but I can point to continuing themes--personal responsibility, the sanctity of private property rights, a decided preference for carrots rather than sticks, the conservation ethic of farmers and the need for farmers and ranchers to tell the non-farm public what they do and why it matters to everyone. But, it's the features readers remember. I wrote a column a few years after my mom died when I finally got up the courage to look through her recipe box. There, I found both holiness and humor and I developed a greater appreciation for how she expressed her love for her family through the food she cooked and placed on the supper table altar every day. A number of women told me they put that column in their own recipe boxes, for their own children to find someday. That means a great deal to me. Not all of the responses to my columns have been favorable. The thoughtful ones educated me, the others helped me develop thicker skin. I got my share of anonymous, hate-filled and weird letters, but none were personally threatening. Except, maybe, for the one that came after I wrote about an innovative pest control device--the Prairie Dog Sucker Upper. I heard from an animal rightist who asked me how I'd like it if I and my family were suddenly sucked out of our home in a whirlwind. My sons thought that'd be way cool. I always considered my sons, now 22 and 19, to be useful literary devices for my columns. Regular readers noticed, when I stopped saying much about them. I raised the boys to be newspaper readers and they were not always delighted to discover themselves in my writing. So I began referring to "a teenager I know," when recounting their adventures or reactions. They were not deceived nor amused. Let me be the first to admit, not all of my columns were gems. Newspaper editors who write editorials or columns on a regular basis know the fear that comes with not having anything you want to write about, as the clock ticks on to deadline. Some days, it's hard to feel passionate about anything. The best I can say, of some of my columns, is that they met the deadline. Just in case you're wondering, I'm not retiring, pleased though I am with my senior citizen discount. I'll be devoting more time to a variety of media. I may even take up blogging, if a former teenager I know would give me some pointers. 12/31/07 Date: 12/26/07
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