Spreading Hayseed & More - Nebraska stories

(airy orchestral music) [Voiceover] Coming up on Nebraska Stories, Nebraska's growing sport, lacrosse. A farmer's daughter takes the stage. A visit with Charlie Fenster, the Farmer's Friend. The tree that makes the bow that shoots the arrow. Animation through the stroke of a brush, and stopping horse thieves on the frontier. (even-paced rock music) (distant whistle blows) (faint speaking) (cheering and clapping) COACH: Run it down the field and get into attack mode. (cheering) KURT CARLSON: A lot of people still, you ask about Lacrosse in Nebraska, and they have no clue that we have 10 high school teams going on right now. NARRATOR: In Nebraska, high school football has dominated the headlines, the attention, and the participation numbers for more than 50 years. However, in recent history, we've seen a growth in the variety of sports being offered. Soccer, for example, was recognized as a high school sport in 1988. It steadily climbed to more than 5,000 student athletes participating throughout Nebraska. However, soccer is not the fastest growing sport in America. That title goes to lacrosse, a sport that's prevalent on both coasts, and making a move to the Midwest. (upbeat rock music) (cheering) NARRATOR: With traditional sports owning the limelight in Nebraska, lacrosse is battling for recognition. CARLSON: Baseball and lacrosse kinda compete with each other, so I know there's a lot of kids going out for the sport, a lot of kids get cut. So, in baseball they cut a lot of kids. Some of those kids that can't play baseball now, looking for another avenue to play. (cheering) GRANT FABRY: Football's more of a contact and collision sport. You got your really head-to-head, you know, linemen just going right at it, and lacrosse is more of a contact finesse sport. (cheering) NARRATOR: The growth of lacrosse in Nebraska will depend largely on developing players, like Millard West's Cameron Burke. CAMERON BURKE: I wanted to be a difference maker in it, I wanted to be somebody that was like, that is really good. FABRY: He played football, and it wasn't his thing, and he played basketball for a few years, and it turns out lacrosse is his number one. CARLSON: His sophomore year he kinda switched over and really, really caught on to lacrosse, and he put his full effort into it, and you can clearly see it, he's showing up, he's putting the extra effort in, he's asking a lot of questions, so it's pretty exciting to have a kid really grasp on to the sport and really wanna excel at it. NARRATOR: Cameron's dad, Dave Burke was a scholarship player for Tom Osborne's Huskers, in 1982 through 1984. DAVE BURKE: I coached him playing football and basketball, growing up, you know, as he grew up, and so, those were things he kinda gravitated towards, one or the other. He moved around and really, it was, ya know, just something he picked up and started loving. FABRY: You'd think from someone who played, ya know, football for the Huskers and then the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, ya know, you'd think the dad would say, "Football, football, football." But, ya know, it's almost the completely opposite. CAMERON: I think he really appreciates that I'm doing something different, 'cause I'm the first one in my family to play lacrosse, and he really supports it. DAVE BURKE: I still remember the first time I tried to catch with a lacrosse stick. I threw it and missed it, missed it, missed it, I thought, gosh, ya know, I'm a decent athlete. And I finally had to scootch the basket all the way till it was almost like a baseball glove before I could catch it. So, as they run down the field and just reach their stick up there and snag it, I thought wow, he's getting really good at this game, and I was like, "Well," ya know, "if that's what ya love, "keep doing it." FABRY: Cam really loves the sport and he wants to play, and I expect big, big things out of him coming up. CAMERON: There's no limit to what you can do with the sport. You take what you wanna do with it. You can create yourself in any athlete you want. DAVE BURKE: There's plenty of room for other sports to be on the lacrosse team. I think they've got football players, track athletes, they've got wrestlers, and so, I mean, if you wanna run around with a helmet and a stick and chase the ball then I think they'll have ya. (whistle blows) (cheering) NARRATOR: While lacrosse is growing across America, Division one programs remain almost exclusively on the East coast. Big 10 schools like Ohio State and Maryland, compete with private schools, like Notre Dame, Yale, and Harvard. The efforts to develop the sport in Nebraska are ongoing. DAVE BURKE: It's starting to grow a little bit here, but again, it's all about exposure, and I think they're providing both, both young boys and girls the opportunity to get exposure to it, and the more that we can draw attention to it, the better. FABRY: We wanna see success across the board whether it's at the high school level, under five, U19, anything. CARLSON: At Millard West we have about 70 kids playing right now. And if we get a hundred kids next year, we'll have a varsity team and three JV teams, we'll keep growing the sport and keep growing the, the team on our side, and let kids play. (even-toned music) (upbeat rock music) ♪ God's going to work ♪ You can hear him if you're listening ♪ There's a little tune he's whistling ♪ It's time to plant the stars ♪ (easy-going acoustic music) SUSAN WERNER: Farming is hot, ag is hot, food is hot. Where does food come from? Who's growing it? What are those people like? Quonset, what does that mean, Quonset? It just seemed like very, if you'll pardon the expression, fertile territory for writing and song writing, and an expression of affection and humor. ♪ And day's begun ♪ NARRATOR: You may not think agriculture and music go together, but singer/songwriter Susan Werner has dedicated an entire album to celebrating a core of the Nebraska economy. BILL STEPHAN: Susan mentioned that she was thinking about doing the song cycle about farming. And immediately, it was a perfect match for the Lied Center, and that Nebraska is, agriculture and Nebraska are big. It's certainly meeting arts and agriculture, combining them as the perfect scenario for us to connect with the heart of Nebraska. SUSAN: I wanted to express some of that feeling in a song. (birds chirping) That we are going to live and then pass away, but the soil is here, the landscape is here. (birds chirping) Let's honor that, because we're not the last ones to live on this planet. (applause) NARRATOR: Through a unique collaboration between the Lied Center and the University of Nebraska, Lincoln's Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Susan released the album Hayseed, to celebrate farms, farmers, and the people that love them. (guitar strumming) SUSAN: So the word Hayseed is a derogatory term people used to use for rural folks, and I wanted to send up the notion that rural folks used to be the square ones. But now, things have changed, and ag is hot, and there is some prosperity and new opportunities in agriculture. ♪ But we were just 4H ♪ We were the FFA ♪ High time they learned ♪ How the table's turned ♪ Now they're gonna pay ♪ SUSAN: I grew up on a working farm in Iowa, so there's that quote from Paul Harvey, I think, the radio announcer, right? "God made a farmer, "But God must've been distracted momentarily and so, "screwed up and made another musician." (laughs) That's what happened to me. I don't have it. My sister has it, but I don't have it, that impulse to stay and to garden and to grow things. (guitar strumming) ♪ All the city kids ♪ SUSAN: But I'm a musician, and with music I can express affection and appreciation, and that's the soul of this project, I think. NARRATOR: To help spread the music of Hayseed, the Lied Center set Susan up in their performing arts program called Arts Across Nebraska. It also happened to be the second time Susan toured the state with the program. STEPHAN: Well, Arts Across Nebraska, ya know, is central to the mission of the Lied Center. Our mission is to educate, inspire and entertain the people of Nebraska through the performing arts. It's really bringing arts and music and theater and dance to people across communities that otherwise wouldn't have an opportunity to experience the arts. SUSAN: I was on a tour of Arts Across Nebraska. After I got back to Chicago, one of the staff members sent me some feedback that they'd got from students who had took part in these workshops, and one of the little sheets from McCook, Nebraska, and she wrote, "Susan Werner, thank you for coming "to this waste of corn fields." How did they form this opinion about where they live and who is forming that opinion for them? And I wanted to write a correction to that. ♪ Listen to me kid ♪ Listen to me good ♪ Let me make myself understood ♪ You say you're restless here ♪ Amidst the miles of corn ♪ In this great state where you were born ♪ But don't do like I did ♪ Get a great big head ♪ And go taking this all for granted ♪ Listen to me kid ♪ There's something to be said ♪ For blooming where you are ♪ Planted ♪ STEPHAN: We've been able to, not only celebrate the heritage of Nebraska, through Hayseed, but also connect with people that otherwise we normally don't have a connection with. SUSAN: To allow me to create new material that talks about these concerns and these characters, and bring this music to the people of Nebraska. It takes a lot of imagination to create something like this, and I've been lucky to be a part of it. (easy guitar strumming) (applause) (even-paced rock music) (bright orchestral music) NARRATOR: Drive along any country road during growing season, and you'll not only see the hard work of Nebraska farmers, but also the work of people like Charlie Fenster. Now in his mid 90's, and busy as ever, Charlie still enjoys doing what he's done all his life, watching the crops. (upbeat country music) NARRATOR: Raised on a farm outside of Chapel, Charlie was 10 years old when the severe dust storms wreaked havoc on the American plains. His dad was a dry land farmer, and wheat, the family cash crop. It was the combination of these three things that set Charlie on a path he'd follow throughout his life. Charlie graduated from the University of Nebraska with a four year degree in Vocational Agriculture in 1942. He was teaching and pursuing his Master's when he was offered a new job, in a ground-breaking field of work. And so, Charlie left his desk job for a position with the Soil Conservation Service, where he began his research on dry land farming. With cooperation from area farmers, research was done on privately held land. Then in 1955, as the USDA was reorganizing, Charlie had to make a choice between being either a full time conservationist, or a researcher. (upbeat country music) Charlie went to work for the University of Nebraska where he could continue his efforts in both research and conservation. Living back in the pan handle, he studied winter erosion, how to make crops grow, and wheat. The results of this research is the steady rise in wheat yield per acre, from 11 bushels in 1956, to over 40 today. Charlie's also been at the forefront of developing no-till farming, even assisting in the design of new equipment. And Charlie's work hasn't just benefited Nebraska farmers, but farmers across the world. So, when the University of Nebraska told Charlie they wanted to name a new research facility after him, he had only one thing to say. How could anyone argue with Charlie? Not that anyone wanted to. Charlie Fenster, the farmer's son who grew up to make the world a little bit better, for all of us. (upbeat guitar music) (even-paced rock music) (upbeat guitar strumming) RACHEAL WHITE HAWK STRONG: They're throwing a tomahawk, learning archery. ARCHER 1: It was their main long range weapon for most Native Americans, Plains anyway. ARCHER 2: It was faster than the rifle, so-- ARCHER 3: 'Cause they had to reload the rifles when they could just pull out another arrow. ARCHERY COACH: You wanna be a warrior, huh? JUDI gaiashkibos: What better than to get out here in this beautiful place, which is part of our homeland. We're standing on where our ancestors lived. JOSEPH MARSHALL III: This is part of their heritage, they don't know it, but it's new to them. TOMAHAWK COACH: Put everything else outta your mind. All you're gonna focus on is that little orange dot down there. TRAINEE: Hopefully at the end of the day, me and Max hit the red dot. (upbeat country music) MARSHALL: As long as a point is sharp, it will go through the chest cavity of a deer, an elk, or a buffalo. JUDI: The kids here are learning where we came from. MARSHALL: Here's how I shoot. Here's how Lakota's shot their bow. I use two fingers, and you don't shoot it straight up and down. You hold the bow at an angle, pull, and shoot. See? That quick. JUDI: This is different than what some of the kids knew, with the compound bows and all, and some of the boys thought they were gonna just get out there and hit it, and they didn't do so well, so it teaches you to be humble. RACHEAL: I just think it's so cool because I didn't have this when I was growing up, and (emotional) sorry. TRAINEE: They train you from when you're a child, to do this, but seeing as how we've lost some of our culture, it's not that way anymore. MARSHALL: This, at one time, was a living thing. So when we go out and we cut that tree, the first thing we do, before we cut it, is we leave an offering, and we ask its forgiveness. (speaks in Native language), forgive me. And then I cut it. And then after that, I'm honor bound to make the best bow I can. It's a cultural perspective that I think is important for everybody to know about. Certainly young people. JUDI: We all have something in common, and that's our past. (laughing) (upbeat country music) INSTRUCTOR: As you come through the target. TRAINEE: All right. INSTRUCTOR: And hopefully it sticks. TRAINEE: Oh! I can't even throw it! JUDI: So how do we restore our hearts and bring back all that? MARSHALL: There will come a moment when somebody will need to be a leader. RACHEAL: Be proud of who you are, be proud of where you came from. You know your family, know your history. What Joseph said about being proud to be Native. I hope that they'll take that back with them. (upbeat country music) (even-paced rock music) (dog barking) MICHAEL BURTON: I'm a painter and an animator. (upbeat violin music) I have a painting. I have an image that I've painted. (camera snaps) I take a picture of it. (camera snaps) I change it a little bit. (camera snaps) I take another picture. (camera snaps) I do that several thousand times over, (camera snapping) over the course of a few months, and I have an animation in the end. Immediately questions always follow. What do they look like, what are the stories about, are they stories? The Ancient Mariners, a paintimation that I've made, starts off with a sea turtle going by in the frame. (digitized noises) Then that gets sort of taken out of frame by a, by a hand and brought on Hall's ship. I picked up the camera mainly because my brother was playing with a camera. He was making home movies, so I joined in and started helping him make these little mini productions and then, I started making my own. Really I was making art to a certain extent, then. And making art for me is really about creating worlds and stories and, it's a way of playing. (dinging) (water running) (whirring) (whooshing) (accordion music) (camera snaps) BURTON: I didn't actually start animating again until after graduate school. (camera snaps) So stop motion came into play as a way to document steps, and it was by accident. This is a way for me to tell a story, but also to examine the process of painting. My wife Anne, we work together to create the animations. (camera snaps) She's using a lot of small toys, (camera snaps) and antique toys. She places these in relationship to one another and creates content that way. (even-toned music) We both want there to be a high standard and we really want the work to be good. It frees me, in a way, from having to generate the immediate first frame, and then I can work off of that first frame that she's created. (even-toned music) It's hard to paint over the paintings sometimes. And I have to make sure that that frame isn't too precious. But if I'm keeping in mind what my goal is, and how the story is going to evolve, or how this sequence is going to evolve. It makes it just a little bit easier. That challenge keeps me going. Makes me wanna make more animations. Especially if I hit play, the painting becomes alive and it's moving, and it's really about that, making paint move. (even-toned music) (fast-paced violins join the music) (funky guitar joins the music) (heavy fast-paced violins join music) (even-paced rock music) (twangy western music) (galloping) NARRATOR: Kearney was a wild town in the late 1870's. Cattle drive cowboys hitting the bars first thing in the morning, and riding up and down the streets, shooting their guns into the air at night. (gun fires) Townsfolk had reason to be concerned. (horse whinnies) Especially when it came to protecting their horses. In a time before everyone had cars and tractors, horses served both roles. So folks from Kearney's center township on the east side of town, got together and formed-- MARDI ANDERSON: It was officially called the Anti Horse Thief's Society. NARRATOR: Mardi Anderson volunteers at the Buffalo County Historical Society. That's where she came across this story and the well-worn official journal of the Anti Horse Thief's Society. A rather lengthy constitution sets dues at a dollar a year for what was part posse, part insurance consortium. It also required members to chase down stolen horses. MARDI: If it took more than a day to search for this horse, then they were paid two dollars a day for being away from home and doing this. If the horse could not be found, then the owner was paid. Someone, some three neutral members of the society, who were acquainted with the horse, now I don't know how often we get acquainted with horses, but they had to be acquainted with the horse or the mule, then could establish a value, up to $150, and they would pay the owner then, for the loss of his horse. I did notice in their bylaws that if a horse thief were captured, he was to be brought back and turned over to the authorities. So they were clarifying that officially, they weren't lynching any horse thieves. NARRATOR: Officially. Actually, it appears there wasn't much action at all. Although society members were paid expenses for pursuing a horse thief in 1882. Most of their time was spent holding meetings, setting dates for more meetings, making rules about meetings and dues, and debating things farmers still debate today, like which crops are more profitable. (easy piano music) By 1885, they appeared to be all meeting-ed out, and the Anti Horse Thief's Society died a quiet death. MARDI: I think the danger of thievery was pretty much passed and so they stopped paying dues, just didn't, ya know they just kinda dried up. NARRATOR: Now, the Anti Horse Thief's Society is a small footnote of Nebraska history that's interesting to Anderson because of what it predated. MARDI: We thought we had a new idea with insurance companies? I don't think so! (laughs) (galloping) (horse neighing) (even-toned rock music) [Voiceover] Watch our stories online at netNebraska.org/NebraskaStories. And go to Facebook to like us and leave a comment. Join the Nebraska Stories conversation. Nebraska Stories is funded by The Margaret and Martha Thomas Foundation, the Nebraska Office of Highway Safety, and Humanities Nebraska. Sustained funding for arts coverage on Nebraska Stories is provided by the H. Lee and Carol Gendler Charitable Fund and the Nebraska Arts Council, and Nebraska Cultural Endowment. (even-paced music)