We just got finished with a massively fun (and full) weekend, fueled partly by some gorgeous 70-degree weather that made outdoor activities all the more enjoyable.
On Thursday morning, I got up bright and early to see radio talk show host and namesake of “Prager University” Dennis Prager at the Hotel RL (right around the corner from where I work). The guys at AM 1420 The Answer were hosting him for his 100 Days of Trump speaking tour, so I and a handful of conservative friends got to have breakfast with hosts Chip Maxwell, Ian Swanson, and Clint Bellows before Prager took the stage.
Prager gave a brief talk touching on the political climate, his rationale for supporting Donald Trump, and also a bit of religion and ethics. Then he took some questions from the audience. I asked for his take on the situation at Evergreen College (where a mob of students held the president hostage and demanded all white faculty leave campus), particularly in light of his upcoming movie with Adam Carolla, “No Safe Spaces.” His take was that college presidents were as much (if not more) to blame for the situation than the students — and that it would end “in a nanosecond” is the students were expelled rather than coddled.
It was a fun event, and I got to see a few familiar faces in the crowd, including “Mason the button boy,” was apparently already well-known to the team at AM 1420.
Then on Friday, I nabbed a front-row seat to see King Lear with a bunch of our friends at Shakespeare on the Green. I grabbed an iced coffee from my friend Maxine, and then Frank gave Vivian a ride down to our spot once she arrived. Then we broke out our cheese, salmon, and other vittles as the crowd started to gather. Joining us on our blanket were Phil and Jen, Jon, Lisa, Tamra, and Nate and Lexi. Director Vincent Carlson-Brown had a Q&A with some of the crew, so I asked questions about dealing with changing outdoor light during a show and switching sets between a comedy and tragedy.
The wandering minstrels (a few of whom were dressed as Disney princesses for some reason) wandered through the crowd as usual. Then the evening’s emcee, Douglas Vincent Wesselmann (aka Otis Twelve) from KVNO, spoke a few words before the show started. It was an absolutely gorgeous night, particularly for June, and so cool in fact that we needed to put on blankets and hoodies by the second act. The show was terrific, of course, and even though I hadn’t read up at all on King Lear before the show started, I was able to follow the plot reasonably well all the way to the end.
After a late night in Elmwood Park, I got a few hours of sleep before dragging myself out of bed for an early-morning Senate campaign kick-off with Deb Fischer. There were only a handful of people at Eppley Airfield for the event at seven o’clock, but there were more than a dozen Republican VIPs on hand to endorse Sen. Fischer’s re-election campaign, including Gov. Pete Ricketts, former Governors Kay Orr and Dave Heineman, Mayors Jean Stothert and Rita Sanders (and Hal Daub), Congressmen Don Bacon and Adrian Smith, and several others whose names I couldn’t recall (but should have).
Our friend Jessica Ritchie was there to record the event for KETV, but there were only a handful of “regular” citizens in attendance (and no protesters). I was able to shake hands and chat with just about everybody. Many of the VIPs had to leave for other events (including Fischer, who had a state-wide tour the same day), but I spent a few minutes chatting with Major Stothert about our current political climate (see “Phil Montag” for more information).
The weather continued to be gorgeous throughout the day, so toward evening, I decided to take the kids and Grammy down to Plattsmouth for a “Food Truck War.” A couple thousand people seemed to have the same idea (including our old friend Luke), so all of main street was clogged with people standing in line for food from a dozen food trucks that could barely keep up with the demand. I’d hoped to get a lobster roll from one truck that ran out just as we got our chance to order, so I got a couple tacos for us instead (as the kids nibbled some donut holes of some kind).
There were plenty of other trucks we could have sampled from, but nearly every one had lined 40-people deep, and there was only so much standing in line any of us could manage. Hannah and Aaron did great, however, and had loads of fun just running around before we called it a night.
The beautiful weather continued on through Sunday, so Vivian and I took the kids down to Stinson Park for some farmers’ market fun and some Lindy in the Park. We got a couple breakfast egg rolls for lunch (and balloons for the kids), and then got some quality time dancing with our Jitterbug friends once Billy and Lindsey came by with their kids. Edith Ann (AKA “Honey”) was celebrating a birthday today as well, which included a a birthday jam and a water balloon fight afterward (which Eric seemed to enjoy more than anyone). We danced a little with our kids, but they seemed to enjoy playing with Vivian and some bubbles afterward the most. We wore ourselves out over a couple hours before heading home and getting some ice cream along the way.
Summer is good so far. Next stop: Memorial Park and the Fourth of July!