<p>Lincoln had a suprisingly big punk scene in the 1980s. No idea what the heavy metal situation is there now.</p>
<p>Grew in Nebraska and never attended a tractor pull until I moved to Michigan. Go figure.</p>
<p>Lincoln is pretty cool. They have redevloped the old town part of downtown with some good restaurants etc. They have a Starbucks downtown. Nice older homes are cheap.</p>
<p>I've already mentioned the Ag thing - and it's not tractor pulls as an event, but your college book was probably referring to the Tractor Testing Track on East Campus - it's actually a research facility, and is a well known entity among farmers. I don't believe there is any other facility quite like it anywhere else in the country. And I know this not b/c I went to Nebraska but because my father used to work for the company that at one time published Implement & Tractor so that's outside knowledge. I did have a friend in undergrad who went to grad school in agricultural engineering, and he worked at the TTT, but that's beside the point.</p>
<p>Anyways, Lincoln is great. I had a wonderful 4 years there and love going back to see friends, go to football games and hang out at my favorite restaurants. My little brother is a frosh there now, and seems to be happy to have followed in his brother's footsteps. We're originally from suburban KC, and I think we both like the fact that Lincoln is still a pretty large city (though not as big as Metro KC). </p>
<p>To specifically answer some of your questions:</p>
<p>I've always felt (especially being from KS and a liberal) that Nebraskans, while tending to be conservative aren't simply knee-jerk in all their party views. Certainly there are some, but on the whole, they are much more grounded and less shrill. Lincoln and Omaha are certainly more liberal than other parts of the state, but Lincoln isn't as liberal as say Lawrence KS and the University of Kansas Community. But there certainly are a lot of groups that are far left leaning and a fair degree of student activism on certain issues (Students recently led a campaign over the last year or so to impeach a member of the Board of Regents who violated campaign finance laws). I've never been to A&M, but I think the lack of the military aspect that seems so ingrained in College Station makes Lincoln much, much, much, much less conservative.</p>
<p>As far as diversity/racism - Nebraska is not a particularly diverse state and thusly the University isn't as diverse as some places, but I know that the University is making an effort to increase its diversity. Probably explains all the mail your son has been getting.</p>
<p>Students tend to be much more open-minded, so I wouldn't worry about that.</p>
<p>There are plenty of vegetarian options. Just thinking about the restaurants near campus that are popular, and all have multiple vegetarian options - vegetarianism is so wide spread now. I know for certain that the dining halls have vegetarian options at all meals. Not sure that all are vegan, but they do mark them as Lacto, ovo, lacto-ovo and vegan so diners know for certain.</p>
<p>There are plenty of things to do in Lincoln other than football or partying. The Union on City Campus is literally 3 blocks from the heart of downtown Lincoln with plenty of restaurants, bars (several of which with live music), concert locations, and movie theaters. The Haymarket, is the revitalized warehouse district just to the west of downtown, and has more restaurants, unique shops and art galleries. Not personally in to Metal myself, but here are a couple links to places with frequent live music:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.knickerbockers.net%5B/url%5D">www.knickerbockers.net</a>
<a href="http://duffysrocks.com/%5B/url%5D">http://duffysrocks.com/</a>
<a href="http://www.zoobar.com%5B/url%5D">www.zoobar.com</a> (not metal - almost entirely blues, but I saw a couple amazing shows here just randomly)</p>
<p>Someone already mentioned Omaha's music scene which is very independent (Saddle Creek Records is based out of Omaha - Bright Eyes and Cursive are two on that label). There is probably a bigger metal scene in Omaha, which is only 45 minutes away.</p>
<p>Goth stylings - can't say that I saw a whole bunch of that on campus, but then again, I was your fraternity type, and not really looking for them. I always thought it was kind of something that people outgrew - the people that dressed like that in my high school eventually stopped. But again, I'm not particularly familiar with it.</p>
<p>As for going to football games. It's not that big of deal to skip out of them, but they are the social events of the fall semester. It's possible that your son might get caught up in them simply because everyone else is. But there are plenty of students who don't get season tickets but find some for one or two games (or who do get season tickets and then sell them for profit). My advice would be for your son to be open-minded about football, just as he wants people to be open-minded about his passions. The games really are a spectacle, and something that even if he's not into, that he would need to experience if he somehow ended up in Lincoln. After football is over though, sports calms down a lot - mainly because the basketball team stinks. Springtime, baseball is popular, but nowhere near the same sort of following as for football - at least not until the championship tournaments start (after school is out). Omaha is the home of the College World Series in June and basically the entire city of Omaha is a big party for a week and a half - so much fun.</p>
<p>All in all, I think it would be a good idea for you and your son to visit if there is any interest. It's a lot of money they are willing to provide for his education, and he might find it to his liking. I don't think it hurts to look.</p>
<p>Wow, thanks for all the great info! Very helpful!</p>
<p>fpfan: I repeat: we are NOT cowboys! =)</p>
<p>Hey !! I used to watch the TV show "Dallas". I know what y'all are like.</p>
<p>Ahem, then you go visit Austin, most especially 6th street, the UT campus, Whole Foods Market... =)</p>
<p>Kansas City Star has a big section on Lincoln NE today as their stories this fall have been on the Big XII cities. The link is <a href="http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/living/travel/16134269.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/living/travel/16134269.htm</a>
Hope that helps!</p>