For years, my husband and I have toyed with the idea of opening a retail store in McCook with the business divided into two distinct sides.
One half would feature all our favorite junk foods, using machines we have accumulated over the years. Reminiscent of the county fair or childhood summers, the store would feature cotton candy in every flavor and color imaginable, funnel cakes piled high with fruit toppings, and popcorn covered in so many different seasonings, your head would spin. And of course, there would be chocolate because how can you have a store of favorites without chocolates in every form and style possible.
If you notice, there is little redeeming nutritional value in any of these items, with the exception of the fruit toppings but even that would be mostly sugar.
Hence, the reason for the other half of the store. To balance out the lack of nutrition on one side and to assuage our guilt over such indulgent offerings, the other side would essentially be a health food store featuring foods we all know we should eat, but struggle to get enough of in our diets.
Whole grain foods, fruits and vegetables, vitamins, smoothies, even kombucha which people may claim to like but no one does really. But let’s be honest....we know which side is going to be busier and more profitable: the junk food side.
While junk food is okay in moderation, it cannot be the sole basis of a diet. As we told our kids when they were little, there are “sometimes” food and “often” food. We learned early on that anytime you labeled something a “never” food, it became irresistible with wrappers hidden under the mattress.
There needs to be a variety of foods from both sides of the aisle, or in this case, both sides of the store.
The same concept holds true for our news and entertainment consumption. We cannot subsist on just junk news or junk entertainment. We need to make the conscious step of adding a variety of healthy, informative news to our “information diet.”
Yes, there are times when I want to watch a mindless TV show or binge watch an entire series with no redeeming quality, just so I can have a giant bowl of popcorn.
But on the flip side, I regularly listen to news programs, subscribe to several newspapers, download innumerable podcasts and am mid-way through multiple books on my nightstand.
Think of learning and reading and researching as healthy food. You need it to keep your mind functioning, to have intelligent conversations, to open yourself up to the possibility that not only do you not know something, but also that you might be wrong.
And perhaps even more importantly, it is not just one news program or news outlet; it is not just one podcast, one author or one journalist. Just like our diets, our minds need variety.
If we want to have intelligent and meaningful conversations, we need to have a variety of healthy information. If we are going to move our community forward and to be able to work together, we need to have a variety of sources to make fact-based decisions.
While it may be easier to rely on junk food or junk information, we need to make the effort to make ourselves healthier - both physically and mentally - if we want our community to come together and make it an even better place to call home.
McCook's last hometown bakery closed this past week, leaving a void not just for donuts but for connections.
Many organizations and businesses in McCook offer the opportunity to recycle, reuse and repair items that may just end up in the trash.
Organizer for Buffalo Commons Storytelling Festival and former librarian named Oct 2025 volunteer of the month.
McCook's Third Thursdays were created to get businesses and organizations involved and designed to create life-long memories for the community.
Long-time community advocate Barb Ostrum received the Sept 2025 McCook Volunteer of the Month award.
We need to celebrate our young people while they are here and encourage them to return.
While some like myself appreciate a rainy day, others dread them for a variety of reasons. We need to be empathetic as interact with others.
MCFF Fall Grant Deadline is Oct. 1. Complete list of former recipients on MCFF website
With so much going, it is time for a “This, That and the Other Thing” column, where we will cover several topics, not very deeply but hopefully with a sense of humor as we clean up and prepare for a busy week in McCook. *** McCook again made state and national news this week for ice. This time, it was in the form of hail that pounded the community for hours upon hours. Conversations this week begin with “where were you….?” or “how many windows did you lose?” And while they may be legitimate and are offering their services, it is like vultures with all the roofing repair and dent removal businesses which have descended upon McCook following the storm. As city officials noted, do your due diligence with any company doing repairs for you and follow the old adage, which is old and still around because it’s true: If something seems to be too good to be true, it probably is. And one last note on the storm, we need to be careful what we ask for. As storm after storm approaches McCook and then splits in two to go around the town, we finally got one to roll right over us. The storm liked McCook so much it slowed down and just there. I was in Lincoln during the storm and trying to determine when I would drive home. I thought the weather app had frozen or the radar was broken because every time I looked, the storm was still sitting over McCook, doing its damage. I guess we can be thankful the next time a storm seemingly just goes around us. *** We are in the thick of McCook’s Heritage Days celebration. Congratulations to all the Heritage Days Royalty, which was announced at the MNB Bank Mixer this week. A special shout-out to Bill Donze, better known as Mr. Bill and his wife, Kathy, who were honored as royalty for their impact in McCook. As many know, Mr. Bill is fighting cancer and the prognosis isn’t good. The chances of him selling snow-cones and candy out of his van next summer near the McCook Aquatic Center are not good. One judge of his impact was the response to my column about Mr. Bill a few months ago. The post was shared thousands of times, viewed nearly 70,000 times with just as many comments by people sharing their fond memories of Mr. Bill. So when you see Mr. Bill riding down Norris in the convertible this weekend in the Heritage Days parade, send extra prayers and well-wishes to the man who has brought so much joy to so many kids - and adults too - over the years. *** Continuing on the Heritage Days theme, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the McCook Rotary Club is tossing all egos and formality out the window this weekend. As the president of the McCook Rotary Club, I invite everyone to at least watch, if not participate, in the Rotary’s first inflatable costume relay race on Saturday as part of the festivities in Norris Park. These are those giant, blow-up costumes you usually see around Halloween. The first costumes were usually T-Rexes but now there is everything imaginable available as a design. With the idea for the race originally conceived by Melanie Goodenberger, she has purchased everything from corn on the cob to a cowboy riding a chicken. This is a fund-raiser for the Rotary Club with a cost of just $20 for a team of four to participate in the relay race. But it is also a chance to giggle, perhaps make a fool of yourself and just have fun. Come to the park Saturday afternoon for the Wiener Dog races and stay for the Rotary Relay races. While the dogs will already be close to the ground, the relay race participants will likely just end up on the ground. *** With so much going on in McCook this week, I debated whether there should be another activity the next week but the response has already been great for the Lied’s Arts Across Nebraska’s next production in McCook. Hosted by the McCook Creative District, the Omaha Street Percussion ensemble will perform at the Fox Theater on Wednesday, Sept. 24. There is a matinee showing at 10:30 a.m. but I will be up-front…we are testing the capacity of the Fox with every seat already claimed with students. If that is the only show you can make, please come and we’ll find you a seat but it may be those up in the rafters. Otherwise, please plan to attend the 7 p.m. show on Sept. 24. And even better, there is no cost thanks to the Kimmel Foundation and the Friends of the Lied. This is a busy week and a busy weekend but this is a great opportunity to sit back and enjoy a fun, entertaining evening of live music.
Most likely, we aren't going to be good at something at the start. But that shouldn't stop us from trying.
