Arnold, Nebrask
In central Nebraska the county roads and secondary highways suddenly become the Main Street of small villages and towns along the way for a quick minute.
After getting fuel at the little corner station I stopped to get a coffee at the Punchy Poppy, the convenience store and apparent weekday afternoon hub of activity for Arnold, Nebraska. The layout has seating on the left when you walk in, including a big round community table.
After getting my coffee it seemed only right to have a seat next to the lone retiree at the big round table. I asked him about the building under renovation on their main street, Arnold Avenue.
A lone, very dusty worker was the only activity as you come into town. He suggested I go down and get the details from the source.
“Thanks, maybe I will”.
Left to my own I could likely find a reason to stop every 30 minutes, so I started back to the RV instead. ‘Good decision, you know, you really need to get going’ I thought as I found myself turning to make the long 500’ walk into town.
The Museum Project
There was no activity other than the lone worker grinding away at the bricks. It just makes sense one has to go try to chat this guy up, right?
After making the trek to get the lowdown, it turns out it is being renovated into a museum. Apparently, local buzz is he is the only guy in the area who has the skills but was not hot to get the job.
So he submitted a bid that took this into account. Seems fate had made its decision when he won the job, so he drives from North Platte daily to work on it.
While I did not verify the bid lore with him, I wish I would have kept the camera running as this guy had some salty one liners.
No wonder I was sent down to talk directly with him. He was kind of his own thing.
I plan to check back in on this project, which I suspect will take years.
Watch the short video encounter here:
The Arnold Sentinal
As I turned right on the single cross street, Walnut, a brick storefront with black painted windows and gold lettering drew me over for a look.
It was The Arnold Sentinal, the local paper that came to be in business in at least the early 1900’s and, remarkably, still is.
I went in and was able to chat up the new women owners, a boomer and a millennial (self described) and a fellow about my age who appeared to just be hanging out in there for company.
Keeping that paper going is truly a gift to that community.
So bravo and congrats to the newish owners (2022).
More about this 20 minute encounter later.
Back at The Poppy
Ok really time to go.
Heading back over to the RV in the parking lot of The Poppy I just needed to get a final refill.
On the way in I noticed the big round table on the left now had grown to 3 guys.
After the refill, $1+ tax, instead of heading out I invited myself back to the table using my old friend as an excuse to join in.
As time went on the table filled up to 6.
I had 1% of Arnolds population at that table.
Conversations Around the Table
I could go on and on about the conversations/banter but after getting into some different subjects they all assured me there were some liberals in the village.
“In fact I believe there are 18” one said.
“19” another added.
“One is right there”, said another pointing to one of the guys at the table (white short sleeve shirt in the group photo.)
Finding Common Ground
In spite of the usual answers I get to my usual questions, something came to occur to me.
The most important day to day concerns associated with farming and rural life are shared by all of them.
These are objectively big concerns.
And with that, many of the issues that others of very different places interact with or have daily encounters with are in the abstract here in Arnold. Nationally and internationally.
For the most part, it seems just by being of this place, they end up with so much more in common than they could ever have in difference.
Wouldn’t it almost be impossible for it to be any other way?
Aside from commodity prices, the lived experience is extremely local.
There was clear consensus in the group on this.
Thoughts from this encounter:
The gentleman in the tan shirt with the white beard right over my head in the group photo explained to me that this place, Arnold, is nothing less, nothing more than all of them.
“Look around, we did all of this. The new Veterans memorial across the street (turns and points)- thats us.”
“When something needs to be done, we do it together. We gather, make a decision then go forward.”
I am paraphrasing a bit but it is definitely the core takeaway.
I don’t remember if he first said it or I did but “we are of this place, and this place is of us” was agreed as a way to sum it up.
I was told also that the community has at least 4 events weekly to bring people together due to the day to day isolation built into farm living.
The token liberal laughed and said he has a better social life than his granddaughter he visits in Seattle.
A Question I Ask Everywhere
In both the Sentinal and the Poppy encounters I asked my central questions including:
Describe a moment when you had a different point of view on an important issue with someone else and, after that discussion, ended up having a change of heart on the matter.
An evolution in thinking even if later down the road.
Commonly, the older folks most often answer ‘no’.
Just as common is that almost everyone in their 30’s or younger answer ‘yes’ and can quickly give a few examples.
The ‘no’ answer by the older folks was at first bewildering.
But as this trip has gone on, I have thought more about it.
My best guess would be if you knew them and actually took the time to reminisce it’s hard to imagine it is really the case.
I believe it much more likely they actually have had this experience numerous times but being asked out of the blue by a stranger it puts some people off center, more often self described conservatives which makes sense.
As has been the case so far, I could tell the conversation was amicable all the way around and had no real tension so I will continue to consider this.
I was not recording or taking notes in the moment here.
Political Discourse
The next most common replies when asked about political discourse these days are ‘we avoid those subjects’ and/or ‘we agree to disagree’ (this one I will write on later in its own post).
We need to identify this and somehow get past it as the default position as a nation.
Imagine this as the way you handle the most central issues of a marriage or pivotal issues at work.
A shared reality of the main pillars of this republic are integral to its survival.
These are the words of the authors of our founding documents.
To this, I am beginning to consider perhaps what we should and should not allow to be defined as such and shoved into the political arena.
If we allow everything to be labeled politics, everything becomes just one more issue we will not be willing to work out.
Thank You
Thanks for the guys who let me sit with them in their meetup for a spell and the folks at the Sentinal.
I truly enjoyed it.
Should also include the lone dusty worker as well!
Final Thoughts
As always, this is meant to be in good faith, accurate and (hopefully) entertaining.
Thanks for reading.
A Final Note
Also, I did make the 10 minute drive to the bluffs you guys insisted I see and promised I would.
Indeed, what a surprise to see that elevation and cliffs in otherwise flatland Nebraska.
Correction or Feedback
As always, if anyone from this encounter reads this and wants to correct anything at all about it contact me at tansuitguy@gmail.com