Sara + Steve

Sara + Steve, originally uploaded by echobase_2000.

Here's another entry for the Nebraska State Fair. It's a self-portrait of us.

Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity, originally uploaded by echobase_2000.

For the last few years, we've organized media build days for our local Habitat for Humanity group.

Here's a shot I snapped during last year's build. I like to think I'm more valuable to Habitat with a camera or a microphone than I am with a hammer, but I'm sure every little bit helps this worthy ministry.

The photo is one of my entries for the Nebraska State Fair photo show.

Green Beetle, Colorful Leaf

Green Beetle, Colorful Leaf, originally uploaded by echobase_2000.

Here's a photo of a beetle on a leaf at Stuhr Museum that I took this summer. I'm entering it in open class competition at the Nebraska State Fair.

Dragonfly in Flight

Dragonfly, originally uploaded by echobase_2000.

Here's another entry for the Nebraska State Fair, of a dragonfly about to land. It took timing and patience to get the shot, and I'm sure I fired the shutter a bunch of times to get this exposure.

Corn Auger

Corn Auger, originally uploaded by echobase_2000.

Here's another entry for the Nebraska State Fair. I took this one at Husker Harvest Days, the world's largest working irrigated farm show.

Courthouse at Night

Courthouse at Night, originally uploaded by echobase_2000.

Here's another one of my entries for the Nebraska State Fair

State Fair Love

Punk Love, originally uploaded by echobase_2000.

This year the Nebraska State Fair moves to Grand Island.

In honor of that (and because the fair's just a few minutes from home), I'm entering photos for the first time in open class competition at the fair.

I'm going to post my entries here.

This one I call "Punk Love." It's one of my favorites that I've taken at Cornerstone Festival. Hope you enjoy it, and if you're at the fair, come look for my stuff! It'll be on display in the Fonner Park concourse.

No Impact Man

He didn't just amp up his recycling and go with reusable grocery bags instead of the plastic ones. No, Colin Beavan went as far as cutting the power in his house in an attempt to be the "no impact man" in the documentary of the same name.

I was a bit surprised at what he found, and I don't just mean what happened when he, his wife, and their two-year-old girl gave up toilet paper.

They learned something about consumerism and the values of a consumer culture. When you cut out TV (and the power) you spend more time outdoors. When you need help, it's nice to have a supportive community of friends. You can even tell when the seasons change by what's growing in the ground (you don't need a calendar to know what time of year it is!)

I've been to New York, but guess I didn't fully understand the self-absorbed culture. Ultimately, I think Beavan learned what he does has an impact on people around him. He learned we're interconnected, and it's not all about me. Shocker!

Take or leave the environmental message (strange thing for me to be saying about an environmental documentary) but I think you'll find the things he learned contain lessons for people of faith.

Here are a couple of the key things I took from the film that don't require you to wash clothes in the bathtub.

Community. Colin's wife worried what would happen when she couldn't watch reality TV. By the end, she said she couldn't believe how long days are when spent with others or spent outside doing things. 


Be more connected to the land. Living in the midwest, this isn't as much of a problem. I know where food comes from, but apparently many people don't. Thank a farmer.

Stop consuming so much. This is something we could all benefit from.

All Tied Up: Week 2

Date: 1/11/10
Style: Striped
Colors: Blue, Red
Width: Standard
Shirt: Blue, Red on White
Jacket: Blue
Story: City budget shortfall, sales tax revenue down

Date: 1/12/10
Style: Striped
Colors: Light green and blue
Width: Standard
Shirt: Light Blue
Jacket: Whatever that kind of tan one is called
Story: The stimulus project the White House announced is not a done deal, also had to cover a double fatality on a slick street. I was the first reporter on the scene. Police Sgt. Bud Edwards came up to me, visibly shaken, but an arm around me and remarked how it reminded him how much he hated winter. Police are people too. They'd rather not have to deal with death.

Date: 1/13/10
Style: Striped
Colors: Brown with orange stripes
Width: Standard
Shirt: Orange
Jacket: Brown
Story: Covered release of a report highlighting challenges of immigrant children in Nebraska. Then I found out a prominent local doctor had been arrested for pandering. That kept me a little busy, running to the courthouse, digging for info online, calls to the cops, the clinic. In the end, we ran a 30-second story on it.

Date: 1/14/10
Style: Polka dots! Our first non-striped tie of the year
Colors: Black with pink dots
Width: Standard
Shirt: Black, gray stripes
Jacket: Black
Story: Governor Dave Heineman's State of the State address.
Other: I live-tweeted the State of the State speech, and until someone tells me otherwise, I will take credit for the first person to do that, at least to do it from the event itself. I was tweeting on my iPod from the senate chamber on the public WiFi (Follow me on Twitter @stevewhitenews)

Date: 1/15/10
Style: Striped
Colors: Purple, Silver, Black
Width: Standard
Shirt: Light purple
Jacket: Gray pinstripes
Story: A follow-up to the State of the State, focused on education reform.
Other: News anchor Colleen Williams and her husband Chris welcomed their second child at 12:31pm this day.
And another note: Notice the purple? Once again supporting the Vikings. And I've got plenty of purple to make it to the Super Bowl!

All Tied Up: Week 1

Date: 1/1/10
Style: Striped
Colors: Pink, Black
Width: Skinny
Shirt: Black
Jacket: Gray
Story: Author who'd written book on fitness medicine, a New Year's resolution piece
Other: I bought this tie at the VOTA concert we hosted at church in December (see pics of the show here including the tie)

Date: 1/5/10
Style: Striped
Colors: Green, Blue
Width: Standard
Shirt: Blue
Jacket: Tan?
Story: Sports reporter who wrote a book on sports journalism. That's two stories to start the year about authors.
Other: That's a very pregnant news anchor, Colleen Williams in the "double boxes" with me.

Date: 1/6/10
Style: Striped
Colors: Tan, Brown, Black
Width: Standard
Shirt: Brown
Jacket: Brown
Story: State budget
Other: Notice my pink forehead? Yeah, that was the last night for that camera. In went in to the shop after that.

Date: 1/7/10
Style: Striped
Colors: Pink, Blue
Width: Standard
Shirt: Blue
Jacket: Black
Story: "No Snow Day for Farmers", talking to farmers to see how they were coping with the blizzard
Other: What you don't see is that I was wearing jeans, long johns, two pairs of socks, and boots. And that it was -15 outside, before the windchill

Date: 1/8/10
Style: Striped
Colors: Purple, Black
Width: Standard
Shirt: Light gray
Jacket: Gray pinstriped
Story: Three stories: Visit to the homeless shelter on a -15 day, a house fire, and a stimulus-related job announcement.
Other:Wore a purple tie because the NFL playoffs were starting, to support my Minnesota Vikings!


And to recap, you'll notice that's five striped ties to start the year. What does that say about me?