10 Nebraskaland • July 2026
Your Nebraska
It is dark, all-encompassing, and foreboding.
An invisible black murky wall obstructs all that
wishes to move forward. Light is absent. Yet the air
is already full. The local fowl sense something is
happening, is about to commence, and is making
morning noise. Chirping conversations unfold.
Good mornings in bird language.
Songbird ambassadors spread the news:
the end of the ominous black night is near,
signaling the launch of a new bustling day.
From Bryan Mellage's unpublished essay, "The Battle."
JUSTIN HAAG, NEBRASKALAND
