Meet the fall 2009 opinion staff

Jake Meador is a senior English and history major who, due to the creative silliness of his friends, now responds to "Jakeford" (pronounced jay-ka-furd). His favorite things include good folk music, a South African creme liqueur called Amarula, his marvelously eccentric friends and books by C.S. Lewis. The accompanying photo was taken while he was in Zambia for two months a couple summers ago. While there, he was blessed to learn about the world from a wonderful group of people who managed to make their small southern African nation feel like a second home to him. Over the summer, his greatest joys were rereading the Harry Potter books, spending three days at a cabin in Kansas City singing Josh Ritter songs and drinking Schlafly Pale Ale with nine of his closest friends and seeing one of his other closest friends get married. He recently finished a biography on Martin Luther and now plans to name his first child after the German reformer. For the child's sake, he hopes it's a boy.

Monica Sanford has been in college far too long. She actually remembers the ‘80s, and the fashion was bad the first time around. She sold her soul to the College of Architecture (they keep it locked in the basement) and is currently pursuing double master's degrees in architecture and community and regional planning. She writes and blogs compulsively, still climbs trees, likes most animals more than most people, enjoys the New York Times on Sundays and can quote the original Star Wars movies in their entirety. She owns more hats than shoes and can travel for a week anywhere in North America for less than $500, including airfare. She's a couch-surfing, meditation-sitting, sandal-wearing, tree-hugging, cranky-pacifist, struggling-vegetarian, fifth-generation Nebraskan. Monica never weighs the likelihood of success against the worthiness of the goal. Which might explain why this is her twelfth year in college.

Rhiannon Root is a smart ass sophomore news-editorial major. She enjoys rocking out at concerts, watching Judd Apatow movies, having intellectual conversations over pancakes at three in the morning and reading just about anything she can get her hands on. She is a proud independent voter, feminist, free thinker, organ donor and nerd enthusiast. As a native Nebraskan, she loves a medium-rare steak. She has also been known to do impulsive things, such as the following: purchase scalped concert tickets, buy a date, go on that date and then go to another concert, all inside of a week. When she graduates, she wishes to have a job that allows her to travel the world. Specific travel destinations include Istanbul, Egypt, Belize, Australia, Greece, Italy, England and Japan.

Lacey Mason is a junior news-ed major who should be starting her second year of grad school (or finishing her final year with the Peace Corps in South Africa) but instead took some serious time off to dwell on her bad luck (fires, robberies, death and general mayhem) and make up for it (the bad luck) by having a lot of fun with her credit card (and parentheses) across the country. Her favorite part of Canada is having to look at the kilometers on the speedometer instead of the miles per hour when driving. Lacey hasn't eaten meat in 10 years and has an irrational fear that she will be trapped on a desert island with nothing but a baby cow. Being slightly (OK, very) bipolar, her emotions often get ahead of her, but she'd rather be passionate about the mundane than numb about life. Aside from being obnoxious and overly thoughtful, Lacey is self aware to a fault and determined to defy stereotypes and keep her integrity. Lastly, to get on Lacey's good side takes nothing more than that YouTube video of otters holding hands, some ketchup and a dill pickle.  

Sarah Melecki is a senior, leo, philosophy and political science major who enjoys candle-lit dinners, horseback riding and long walks on the beach. She is stimulated by deep conversations and needs someone who can speak intelligently about women's, LGBTQ and international advocacy issues. She is an avid baseball fan, listens to most music but is partial to indie rock, enjoys traveling both domestically and abroad and is perfectly content to stay at home and watch a movie on a Friday night. Sarah can't help but love animals, including her own dog Baxter, and would never even consider a man who didn't believe in animal rights. Chefs are especially appealing as Sarah does not have any culinary skills to speak of. She is looking for tall, dark, muscular readers who can't help but drool over her every word, but she's willing to give anyone a try regardless of looks. Also, Sarah would never, ever place a personal ad, so disregard the majority of what you just read.

Bethany Trueblood is a junior news-ed major who exchanged her former English major for a narrower career path. She is a wannabe photographer and enjoys snapping pictures of all life's moments, from delicious foods she's eaten (like Granite City's Idaho nachos!) to hanging with friends at Husker football games. Bethany also loves music and likes to play the piano as a catharsis when she is feeling anxious or overwhelmed. She is no Beethoven, but she prefers to play more for herself than for an audience. This summer Bethany spent seven weeks wrangling horses at Pine Cove Towers camp in the beautiful tree-laden and pleasantly warm Tyler, Texas. Prior to her experience she knew nothing of horses, but now she can hoof pick, groom, saddle and ride like a cowgirl. While down south, she learned the joy of loving kids and loving God and saw what amazing things can happen when you decide to try something you've never done. Thanks to her time in Texas, Bethany now habitually says "y'all" and tells her friends they'd better get used to it.   

Josh Loomis is a… wait for it… fisheries and wildlife senior undergraduate. Why in hell is he here? Well, in addition to having hobbies not surprisingly related to fishing and wildlife, writing opinion-based pieces is another. How about some fun facts about Josh? Well, he has type I childhood-onset diabetes but dislikes flu shots. He also can identify almost any bird in Nebraska just by hearing their chirps. If a rare bird is within hearing distance, he will interrupt you and tell you what it is, even when you could care less. This redneck-city kid hybrid is either singing along with country songs or jamming to dirty rap. In between his full-time schooling and never-ending list of jobs, he likes to relax with a can of crisp, cool Coors Light. None of his friends ever steal his beer because none his friends can stand the taste of Coors Light. It should also be noted that Josh fears nothing… except bees. Honey is overrated.