Dear Mr. Simers,

Growing up in Nebraska I used to hear all the "one big cornfield with Memorial Stadium in the middle," "still fighting Indian wars," "getting out of school to harvest the crops" stories. After reading your article I'm glad to know that civilization on the west coast now knows that we have K-marts and Winnebago's. Whew, and I thought some people were closed minded.

After spending the last 10 years living in Missouri (both small town and St. Louis), I'm pleased to state that if presented the option, I would gladly move back to my native Nebraska. And no, I'm not from the farm, I grew up in Omaha, a town of, get this, 300,000 people! No, it's not Los Angeles, or San Fran, or anything like a west coast city, and thank God it's not. People in my part of the world are hard working, honest, and know that when you open your mouth, sometimes your foot gets jammed down your throat.

We don't spend three hours in traffic trying to get to work, or pay mega dollars for housing, or breathe that stuff you call air, we just live simply in the nation's heartland. We enjoy things like the College World Series, minor league baseball-hockey-arena football, the arts, outdoor activities and yes, college football. While I'm officially a "Missourian," I still consider myself a Cornhusker fan at heart. And I'm officially an alumnus, having earned my Bachelor's in Philosophy before earning my Master's in English here in Missouri (yes, amazing that we even have education here in the heartland!).

In closing, I would like to thank you for your column. Thank you for taking jabs at Nebraska, the heartland, the Huskers and anything else I'm forgetting. Thank you for educating the fine people of Los Angeles about my home state. I sincerely hope that you and your friends do have such a limited perspective of what life's like in Nebraska. And I hope that perspective keeps you from ever visiting Nebraska, Missouri or any other state east of the Rockies and west of the Mississippi. We don't want you or your clones. I will close with my standard reply to people who bash Nebraska:

"Great, then just stay the hell out of my state...we don't want your type anyway!"

Sincerely,
Doug Daubert
Kirksville, Missouri