Green Journalism

By Gordon Hopkins It looks like the frog was right. It really ain’t easy being green.Earlier this week, the news media in a certain part of this great nation was focused on a bizarre atmospheric phenomenon. It was so strange and surreal that it had folks freaking out.The sky turned green.Okay. Chances are, if you are reading this missive, then you are a Nebraskan. As such, you probably read the above sentence and said, “Uh, yeah…and?”Nebraskans see green skies all the time, usually looking out of a basement window. We see those skies before a storm or, even worse, a tornado. Most of us know, when the sky starts to look like lime sherbet, it’s time to head down into the storm cellar.How does that old poem about Nebraska skies go, anyway?“Green Sky at Night, Cornhusker take flight. Green sky in morning, Cornhusker’s warning.”Or something like that.Anyway, I can understand why some people might freak out if they saw something like that for the first time. It’s like suddenly looking at the sky on an alien planet.What is truly strange to me about this story is where it took place: Sioux Falls, South Dakota.Yes, South Dakota. Nebraska’s standoffish upstairs neighbor.I have seen several news stories, both online and on television, about this. Of course, social media is aghast. How is it possible that South Dakota can be so shocked at a green sky? Am I supposed to believe they have never seen this phenomenon before?New York? Yes. California? Absolutely. Florida? Well, does anything shock Floridians, anymore?But South Dakota? Perhaps I have become cynical in my old age but I suspect, just a hint of a suspicion, mind you, that this may all be hype. To give you an idea how widespread the story of green skies over our neighbor to the north is, one news site I found repeating the story is The Indian Express. Indian as in India. The dateline on that particular piece is New Dehli.Yes, call me jaded, but my feeling is this is being played up for views or clicks or whatever the heck it is people on the internet are after.Yes, call me a Doubting Thomas for suspecting that so many people shouldn’t be so agog at something I’ve been seeing since I was a kid, which was kind of a long time ago.If that green sky has got those South Dakotans amazed, just wait till little, white, cold things start falling from the sky. What do you suppose they will make of that?

Verneeda Bohlmeyer

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