ABOUT US

Living Here Magazine celebrates the people, heritage and communities of Northeast Nebraska and Southeast South Dakota.

Founded by Mary Ann Hoebelheinrich in 2004, the magazine quickly became a favorite among area readers as it built a loyal base. The publication was sold to Pitzer Digital LLC in the summer of 2017 and moved from Yankton, South Dakota, to Neligh, Nebraska. 

We have new staff members in 2020 meet them below.

Living Here is a quarterly publication of Pitzer Digital LLC.

Staff

Wade Pitzer, Publisher
     Wade has stepped into the roll of publisher as to not let Living Here magazine die. He appreciates the goals and heritage of it.
"I want to keep the tradition of Living Here alive," he said.
Media, journalism and  printing are new to Wade. He has an associates degree in architectural drafting and 20+ years in construction.
     His wife, Carrie, has 25+ years in journalism and started Pitzer Digital LLC in the fall of 2013 as a website development and printing company. Pitzer Digital LLC grew by purchasing six newspapers, (combining them into three) Antelope County News, Knox County News and The Stanton Register, and Living Here Magazine. 
With the purchase of their first newspaper (The Orchard News), it became apparent that the company needed more help. Wade left his 15-year career at Morton Buildings, Inc to become a part of Pitzer Digital LLC, at first in sales, then printing.
     In the spring of 2020 he jumped into the roll of Living Here's publisher. "While I know very little about publishing, Carrie and our team at Pitzer Digital, Living Heres's free lance writers and our editor Mathew Baker are behind me in every way," he said.
Mathew Baker, Editor
​     Matt Baker hails from rural Neligh, NE. where he was raised on a large (by 1970’s standards) hog farm. A 1983 graduate of Neligh-Oakdale High School, he married the love of his life Rebecca and shortly thereafter enlisted in the military in 1984. He ended his career in 2013 after serving his final 11 years as a recruiter. During the course of that time, he and his wife Rebecca parented four lovely daughters, Nicholle, Shaylene, Sarah, and Julia. Matt received his BA in English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1995. Apart from editing, he spends his free time outside on a small acreage they rent near Neligh, NE. Back to his roots, he raises hogs on the dirt for fall butchering and tends to a plethora of animals including chickens, rabbits, ducks (well until the mink got in the coop), and the obligatory house pets. He also enjoys hunting, fishing, and shooting.
Rebeca Baker,
​Advertising Sales
​     Rebecca (Brandt) Baker is originally from Columbus, NE and now lives in rural Neligh, NE. She met her husband Matt while she was attending Neligh-Oakdale High School. They married in 1984 and she played the role of army spouse for many years thereafter. She and her husband are the parents of four beautiful girls, and grandparents to another dozen! After attending Southeast Community College in Lincoln, NE. she began a nearly 20 year career as a nail tech, including teaching specialty classes for a company out in New York City.  Unfortunately carpal tunnel and trigger fingers forced her to retire and sell her salon.  When she isn’t on the road talking to our advertisers (and future advertisers!) she spends her free time embroidering and spoiling her grandkids mercilessly, sometimes to the chagrin of their parents.
Alexandra McClanahan, Writer
     ​Alexandra McClanahan is a writer originally from Neligh, NE who lives in rural Orchard, NE on the certified organic farm she and her husband own. The couple have one daughter and a son-in-law. McClanahan worked for several newspapers in Nebraska after graduating from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a degree in journalism. She started at the Crete News. She was the first female farm editor of the Lincoln Journal Star. At the time she left Nebraska in 1982 to work for the Anchorage Times (Alaska) she was the water resources and a legislative reporter for the Omaha World-Herald. After a writing career of more than 25 years in Alaska, she attained her Master’s Degree in Alaska Native studies in 2005. In the 2000s, McClanahan realized she wanted to return home. She is the author of several books on Alaska Native issues, especially the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971, as well as a children’s book calling for humane treatment of farm animals, Eliza the Pig. Eliza is based on a year of interviews with Angela Marcellus from Atkinson. McClanahan is an avid knitter and canner.
Lindsay Hindman, Writer
     Lindsay Hindman grew up in California, Missouri, and Normandy, France, but chose to make Sioux City, Iowa her home. Married and a mother of three wonderful children, Lindsay writes SiouxlandFamilies.com, and manages the Siouxland Family Friendly Events group on Facebook. She is the author of 100 Things to do In Sioux City & Siouxland Before You Die (Reedy Press, Sept 2020) and has written for many online publications including the Travel Iowa and Des Moines Parent blogs. 
​     When she's not writing, Lindsay enjoys baking blue ribbon dishes for the county fair, sewing, and exploring the Midwest with her family. 
Loretta Sorensen, Writer
     Loretta Sorensen is a longtime freelance journalist, author and book publisher living in Yankton, South Dakota. She and her husband, Alan, have two married daughters and three grandchildren. The Sorensens have raised and worked Belgian horses for the past 48 years. Over the past 30 years, Loretta’s articles have been published in numerous national magazines, including Progressive Farmer, Farm Journal, Dakota and Nebraska Farmer, Working Ranch Magazine, Farm Collector, Hay and Forage Grower, etc. Her freelance writing career began with feature articles for the Sioux City Journal and for the Yankton Press and Dakotan.
     Through her company, Prairie Hearth Publishing, LLC, she has assisted more than 20 independent authors publish their work and published her own books. Her book titles include Kernels of Corn History (co-authored by Iowa’s Steve Kenkel), Secrets to Baking Your Best Bread Ever, Prayer Journal for Intercessors and Prayer Journal for Living the Daniel Life. Loretta’s upcoming 2021 book titles include 10 Bible Verses That Changed My Life and Journal for My Healthy Life.
​     Loretta’s hobbies include painting, quilting, gardening and enjoying her family and pets.
Marci Broyhill, Writer
     Marci Broyhill, Prairie Poet & Storyteller, was raised in rural Nebraska, along the Cedar-Dixon County Line on the family farm, near HWY 12 which is Nebraska's Outlaw Trail Byway.
​     Marci began her membership in the organization, Nebraska’s Outlaw Trail Scenic Byway Highway 12, in 2010 which expanded her interest and knowledge of local and state history. 
     Marci writes and shares her narrative cowboy poetry, which is educational and light-hearted, at a variety of venues.  She is on the Humanities Nebraska Speaker's Bureau presenting programs solo or with her sister-musician, Teresa Kay Orr. As a duo, they are known as Sisters from the Outlaw Trail.
     Marci has published two books, Nebraska’s Outlaw Trails: Fact, Fiction and Lore and The White Horse Dream: A True Story. Utilizing the genre of cowboy poetry, she shares stories about Nebraska’s colorful characters and her reflections of growing up in a rural lifestyle. 
     Marci earned a Masters’ Degree in Early Childhood Education and enjoyed the adventures of the elementary classroom for 33 years. Marci and her husband, Kent, currently live in Dakota City, Nebraska.
Brad Kellogg, Writer
     Brad Kellogg is a lifelong resident of Northeast Nebraska. Now retired and living in South Sioux City, he is an historian, and author of “The Aisles of the Forgotten Graveyard.” He enjoys researching historic events and people and writing articles about them for magazines. He and Raija Weiershauser are both involved in Humanities Nebraska Speakers and performers of living history, with a variety of programs for historical societies and civic groups. Kellogg has been a featured performer during the Nebraska Statehood “150 Years of Storytelling” event. Weiershauser was featured at the Nebraska Museum of History in their program on “Sufferage,” and as a couple they were chosen to perform as Nebraska Poet Laurate John Neihardt and wife Mona at the 50th anniversary of Neihardt Day. Both are active in the community and are members of multiple Historical Societies.
Tim Trudell, Writer
     Tim Trudell is a freelance writer and online content creator based in Omaha, Nebraska. Besides contributing to Living Here, he has also written for other outlets, including for the Omaha World-Herald, Omaha Magazine, Nebraska Magazine, Travel Awaits, and Rent Path. Tim and his wife Lisa have written the travel blog thewalkingtourists.com since 2011, primarily focusing on Midwest attractions. An author, Tim and Lisa have written 100 Things to Do in Omaha Before You Die, Unique Eats and Eateries of Omaha, and 100 Things to Do in Nebraska Before You Die. Working as a team, Tim writes the books and Lisa manages social media, sales, and promotion. They also contributed a chapter on Nebraska scenic highways for Midwest Road Trip Adventures. Tim enjoys traveling the Midwest and the Pacific Northwest (where his two daughters live), as well as the rest of the United States. As a sports fan, Tim cheers on teams for the University of Nebraska, Nebraska-Omaha, Creighton, and the University of North Dakota. He’s lived with the ups and downs of being a Minnesota Vikings and Twins fan. As hockey fanatic, Tim roots for the St. Louis Blues and Seattle Kraken. You can follow his work at timtrudell.com.
Marita Placek, Writer
     Marita Placek is a farm wife who lives on a farm northwest of Lynch, NE and worked beside her husband. They have two sons, both married, a grandson and granddaughter, and two great-grandchildren. She has done lot of volunteering over the years and held many offices including The Veterans of Foreign Wars organization, 4-H, Boyd County Extension Board, Helping Hands Club, Boyd County Election Board, Fair Board, Veterans Day Programs, and Memorial Day Programs. While a member of the Outlaw Trail Scenic Byway, she wrote the book, 'Legends and Lore of the Outlaw Trail' and learned to do book signings and presentations.      Between her many years of volunteering, working at a grocery store, and farming, she was totally unprepared and surprised to find herself working as a journalist, a job she never wanted or went to school for-- as a news reporter for the Spencer Advocate, Holt County Independent, the Verdigre Eagle, the Niobrara Tribune, the Norfolk Daily News, doing Lynch news on KBRX Radio Station, and a member of the writing staff for the Living Here magazine. In her spare time she enjoys sewing, crocheting, playing cards, and reading.
Whitney Rittscher, Writer
     ​Whitney Rittscher is a writer and history lover from Elgin, NE, currently residing in Neligh, NE. From a young age, she was interested in history, constantly asking questions about the past. Whitney graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2020 with a degree in History and Classical Studies, with a minor in archaeology. During her time working for her undergraduate degree, she worked at the Center for Digital Research in the Humanities assisting on the Nebraska Newspapers and Nebraska Forestry projects. Along with Nebraska history, Whitney also has an interest in Classical History, as in 2019 she travelled to Gazipaşa, Turkey to volunteer on an archaeological dig at Antiochia Ad Cragum. In her free time, Whitney enjoys traveling, reading, spending time with her family, and being a dog mom to her Australian Shepherd, Kelso.
Shelby Pitzer, Recipes
& Accounting
     Shelby Pitzer grew up in rural Oakdale, NE and now calls the town home. At the age of 17 (while still in high school) Shelby took over bookkeeping for Pitzer Digital LLC, finished high school a semester early with a year of college classes done through dual credits before her 18th birthday. She then finished her Associates Degree in Business at Northeast Community College before her 19th birthday. While all of this was going on, she managed to buy a house with her boyfriend, Kaden Cameron, remodel it (they did the work) and move in between semesters of college.
     Shelby loves to create new recipes, as well as give her own twist to family favorites. She is as comfortable in a kitchen as she is behind her computer. She's an avid outdoors woman, who loves hunting, fishing and photography. If she's not cooking, Shelby is probably taking photos, upcycling a piece of furniture or spending time with Kaden and their dog Mocha.