Nicholas K. Mitchell
§ 03 / Writing

Words. Unedited, on the record.

Essays, op-eds, and gems. Unedited by any outlet. Organized by date; every entry free to read.

On the Censorship of the Gretna East Student Press

Gretna admin censored a student cartoon, then imposed prior review on the article about the censorship. Our student press deserves better.

The cartoon was pulled on a Tuesday. The article about the cartoon being pulled was pulled on a Thursday. By Friday, a teacher I trust told me—quietly, and in the parking lot—that “from now on, everything goes through the principal.” That is the shape of prior review. It does not announce itself. It moves from a document to a practice to a habit before anyone has time to name what happened.

What follows is an account of what was taken, what was said in place of what was taken, and what it is worth doing when an institution you belong to decides that what you can see is not what you can print.

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All Essay Op-ed Gem Guest
2025 – 2026
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last filed May 04 · 2026

The Freedom to Speak Where You Are

Why this matters—a short note on what's actually being defended at Gretna East, and why it's the right of every student, not just the ones with bylines.
May 04 · 2026 · 2 min

Student press censorship in Nebraska persists despite First Amendment protections

A guest editorial by Aidan McClaren—on Gretna East, the Hazelwood standard, and why Nebraska still has no New Voices law.
Apr 24 · 2026 · A. McClaren

The Crime of Witnessing

The footage exists. The gap between what it shows and what the government says happened is where this story lives—and why the people holding the cameras became the next targets.
Apr 02 · 2026 · 12 min

A Red Letter Day

An update on the formal appeal filed with the Gretna Public Schools Board of Education over the removal of an editorial cartoon and the prior review imposed on follow-up reporting.
Mar 31 · 2026 · 2 min

ICE's militaristic operations are history repeating

A student journalist's editorial cartoon was forced off the page by school administrators. Now it's here. See it for yourself and decide why they didn't want you to.
Feb 10 · 2026 · A. McClaren
2025

This Shutdown Is the GOP's Self-Inflicted Wound

The U.S. isn't risking default. This is Congress failing to fund government—a shutdown born of political choice, not fiscal necessity.
Oct 01 · 2025 · 3 min

From Disagreement to Dehumanization: Violence Went Mainstream in Politics

America's civic reflex to political violence has withered. Kennedy united the country in mourning; Kirk united it only in partisan crossfire.
Sep 28 · 2025 · 11 min

Why Germany Moved Beyond Nationalism—and America Hasn't

Germany built institutional guardrails against authoritarianism after Nazism—eternity clauses, militant democracy, constitutional patriotism. America, built on a triumphant founding myth, never did.
Sep 14 · 2025 · 12 min

I Despised Charlie Kirk. But His Assassination Is No Victory.

A warning about where we're headed. I had no respect for the man—but his assassination isn't a win. It's a collapse of politics itself, and the logic that justifies it doesn't stay contained.
Sep 11 · 2025 · 2 min

Is America Still a Majority-Rule Democracy?

America calls itself a democracy, but unelected courts, agencies, and structural biases—Senate math, the Electoral College, gerrymandering— routinely override the majority will.
Sep 08 · 2025 · 10 min

Greenland Seizure Would Destroy Alliance That Built US Power

A column on why floating Greenland annexation as serious policy alienates the NATO partners that underwrite American power—and what the alliance costs to rebuild once you've torn it.
Gretna East Media · Column

AI's Hidden Reasoning Poses New Risks

A column on what happens when frontier models start reasoning in shorthand their operators can't inspect—and why that opacity is its own safety problem.
Gretna East Media · Column