From The New York Times:
When I travel to the East or West Coasts, people sometimes ask me, “Why do you live in Nebraska?” Or even, “Have you considered moving?” Outsiders often believe Nebraska is a nondescript state with little to recommend it in culture, politics or landscape. But I reply that Nebraska is my home and that I love its people and its geography. To me there is nothing more beautiful than the muddy Platte River or the vast undulating Sand Hills. Of course, our state can be blistering in the summer, arctic in the winter. It’s a windswept, spare place designed to toughen up its inhabitants.
I also explain that Nebraska needs progressives.