Cindy Lange-Kubick: Brodey Weber, Beyoncé's husband-to-be and tireless benefactor (2023)

When Brodey Weber was little, his grandparents visited Mount Rushmore and brought home a set of presidential index cards for his brother.

But the older brother wasn't interested, so he gave her away.

And Brodey was intrigued.

“I went through them and by the time I was in second grade I could say them in order. That's how it all started.

He memorized the names - from Washington to George W. Bush - and he also noticed the faces, all these white people.

He asked his parents:Haven't we had a female president yet?(When the answer was no, he took Hillary Clinton from his set of First Lady cards and altered them.)

In the front row he wrote his preferred candidate in the district-wide student survey. (He recalls misspelling Hillary - just L - and that too: "All these people got together to make a decision, it was like the beauty of democracy.")

A few years later, his parents let him stay up late on election night.

He was addicted.

"I would look at the election results and the state of the nation as most kids would view the Super Bowl." (Not that he doesn't like watching the Super Bowl.)

Brodey is now 22. He doesn't come from a family of political junkies. His parents voted on who had the most yard signs, he says.

But they raised Brodey and his siblings right, says Nicole Bogus, a friend from kindergarten.

"I would say since I've known Brodey he's been very passionate about his community and how it's made him better and how it's made him who he is."

And he wants revenge.

"I firmly believe that if you don't make the change, there will be no change."

Brodey has just started his final semester at UNL, where he is studying Politics and Communications.

He applied to law school.

His partly ironic Twitter profile:Beyonce's husband-to-be and Red Sox fan since day one.

He helps moderate debate at Lincoln Southwest High School, serves dinner at Gathering Place, works at his family business, helped thwart a proposed chicken farm near a high school, went door-to-door for applicants before they got old enough to choose, cooks for his friends, is curious, nice, funny, hardworking.

As of Monday night, he was in the City Council Chambers and was confirmed as a member of the Keno Advisory Committee. (His parents were there.)

Tuesday he drove to Omaha to pick up his brother. He met Nicole for a drink at the Marz Bar on Wednesday night, a date.

Tonight he is speaking to a neighborhood group in Northeast Lincoln on behalf of the Great Schools for Great Kids campaign and its bond issue.

He is an active board member of the Highlands Neighborhood Association. (He loves the Highlands where he grew up and still lives.)

He's on the Community Action Board. (He loves community action. "I think it's the best organization out there.")

And he will leave the next gathering with his hair dyed pink - a promise he made if a fundraising goal for the gathering venue has been met.

I'm tired of just typing his schedule.

Brodey is a gregarious person and a moderate Democrat.

"Some of my conservative friends think I'm genuinely liberal, and my liberal friends think I'm basically conservative, so I think that's a sign that I'm able to see both sides."

He was a high school freshman when he was knocking on doors for Ken Haar and his bid for a second term in the Legislature. He and a friend started a Young Democrat Chapter at North Star High School.

"National politics was getting so divisive and I thought I could do my part at the local level. I figured if I can't vote, I'll work for the people I would vote for."

He campaigned for Dave Domina for the Senate and was a field organizer for Meg Mikolajczyk when she ran against Cyndi Lamm for city council. ("Those 212 votes still piss me off.")

The following year, he was field director for Patsy Koch Johns' State Board of Education campaign, showing up at the Village Inn at 5 a.m. to strategize and walk around the neighborhood until 8 p.m. ("There is no one on this planet cuter than Patsy Koch Johns.")

He was Rick Vest's campaign manager when he ran for Lancaster County Council in 2018. ("He is a mediator who brings people together.")

When he first started volunteering for political campaigns, he got this look when he knocked on doors: What does this boy know?

And then the high school state champion's debater opened his mouth.

"I wanted to create a dialogue and show them that a 15, 16, 17 year old can be knowledgeable enough to have an intelligent conversation."

Lori Heiss knows Brodey's debating skills. She and her husband Jori are part of a group fighting against a proposed commercial chicken farm near Raymond.

The group was discouraged last fall after the Lancaster County Planning Commission approved the site for the large poultry farm.

Then someone suggested that a young man named Brodey Weber could help, and they invited him to a meeting.

"We went from ear to ear with smiles," she said. "He's just a game changer."

He helped them with branding, organization, and witnessing.

“He has contacts everywhere. He even testified before the Chamber without a paper in his hand. (The county council voted against the plan; farm developers appealed.)

Brodey is committed to enforcing this.

"What I know about Brodey is that he doesn't step in without enthusiasm, and it never ceases to amaze me what he can do," said Mikolajczyk, the former city council candidate. "He put his heart and soul into my race." ("Meg is like family to me," Brodey says. Meg replies, "My kids can have someone like Brodey as a role model for what they can be.")

He brings new ideas to the Highlands Neighborhood Association, says its 80-year-old president, Myrna Coleman.

"He's very professional and respectful of everyone," she said. "I hope he stays here."

The chances are good.

He's working to help Patty Pansing Brooks and her Yes Means Yes bill (LB173).

He wants to make sure Lincoln's neighborhoods and schools stay strong.

Brodey Weber does what he loves.

And he is an antidote to the cynics of the world.

"No one who knew Brodey said anything bad about him," says her friend Nicole. "If you sat down with Brodey for two minutes, you would understand that he just wants to make the world a better place."