[_redbird_]

(An email sent to me.)
This will remind those of us who are proud Oklahomans, and help all those who aren't, understand why we like this place so much.

Oklahoma a Mystery to Many Americans
By Jeff Mullin

If someone mentions California, what do you think of? Hollywood, L.A., crowded freeways, beaches and Arnold Schwarzenegger? California, of course, is so much more than that. How about Maine? I think of cold weather, people with funny accents and lobsters. What if someone brings up Idaho. Does it bring to mind potatoes?

When people hear the name of our state, it seems the first thing that comes to mind is not Oklahoma, but "Oklahoma!" The 1943 musical, the first for Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein, is the first thing most people in America think of when they hear about the
Sooner State.

Having people associate our state with a beloved musical is certainly better than some alternatives, like rednecks and tornadoes, but it certainly isn't representative of today's Oklahoma.

"Oklahoma!" is a delight. The story of cowboys and farmers finding love in Oklahoma territory features classic music and ground-breaking choreography, including the dream ballet illustrating Laurey's difficulty in choosing a suitor between cowboy Curley and farmhand Jud Fry.

It also gave us our state song, which never fails to bring Oklahomans to their feet, which can prove a bit unnerving for performers in touring versions of the show who, during stops in Oklahoma, must deal with a standing ovation before the final curtain comes down.

"Oklahoma!" is a classic of American musical theater and deserves its place in the pantheon of enduring entertainment treasures.

It is not, however, an accurate indication of where our state has been, is today and is going. Oklahoma is not only the home of Ado Annie and Aunt Eller but of the aerosol can. That wonder of the age was invented in Bartlesville. Oklahoma City is the home of the parking meter, while the shopping cart was born in Ardmore.

The electric guitar also was invented in Oklahoma, by a Beggs musician named Bob Dunn. The first "Yield" sign was installed in Tulsa.

The state has more man-made lakes than any other state, which give us more than a million surface-acres of water and 2,000 more miles of shoreline than the Atlantic and Gulf coasts combined.

The Sooner State has produced more astronauts than any other state in the union. Owen Garriott is a hometown Enid boy, of course, while Tom Stafford is from Weatherford, Shannon Lucid from Oklahoma City, William Pogue from Okemah and the late Gordon Cooper from Shawnee.

Oklahoma is home to Amateur Softball Association, Sonic restaurants and more F4 and F5 tornadoes than any other state.

Oklahoma is the third-largest gas-producing state in the nation and ranks fourth in the production of wheat, cattle and calves, fifth in the production of pecans, sixth in peanuts and eighth in peaches.

The state's colors are neither the crimson and cream of the University of Oklahoma nor the orange and black of Oklahoma State but green and white.

Environmental Protection Agency recognizes Oklahoma as having the most diverse terrain of any state in the nation. The state, according to EPA, boasts 11 distinct ecoregions, one of only four states to have more than 10.

Oklahomans practice 73 major religions. The largest is the Southern Baptist Convention, with nearly 1,600 church and more than 960,000 members.

Oklahoma gave birth to Dick Tracy (cartoonist Chester Gould is a native of Pawnee) and Donald Duck (Clarence "Ducky" Nash, the original voice of Walt Disney's Donald, grew up in Watonga).

Oklahomans have survived the Dust Bowl, any number of killer tornadoes, the 1995 bombing of Oklahoma City's Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building and various oil booms and busts. Oklahoma is populated by people who are caring, giving, hard-working, patriotic and fiercely independent. Oklahoma is a good place to live, work and play.

The challenge in this, our centennial year, is to make the rest of America aware of what Oklahoma has to offer, besides beautiful mornings, fringe-laden surreys and a girl who "cain't say no."

[Synopsis]

Great post Redbird!

[Jammie]

Redbird, that's beautiful!! It also has info that I didn't know before.

[Kurt]

You really gave a person lots to think about. I think the first thing I noticed about Oklahoma was the no nonsense, down-to-earth quality that I knew as a boy growing up in a small town in the Midwest. People are for the most part genuine and will look you in the eye. I hope that does not change.

I might add that Oklahoma has more horses per capita than any other state and the only skyscraper ever built by Frank Lloyd Wright in Bartlesville--which is a great town.

Since I am a "lake person" I soon caught on to the fact that Eastern Oklahoma has lots of them! And having lived 3 years in North Dakota, I see a beauty in the prairie and Great Plains that not every one might appreciate--"don't fence me in!"

All that said, I plan to cozy up to the Northeastern corner as that reminds me of my former home in Northern Minnesota--I can take a few inches of snow--rather than the below zero ice box winters up North.

[_redbird_]

Just finished mowin the lawn and looked up and saw this thunder boomer springing up out of nowhere. Shor is purty.

Attachment 3472

[Jammie]

OMG, I haven't heard the phrase "thunder boomer" since my parents used to say that.

The sky actually looks pretty though. I love thunderstorms, just don't like the tornadoes that sometimes accompany them.

[_redbird_]

You don't hear too much about some of the traditional elders of Oklahoma tribes. When I first graduated from college, I came back to Oklahoma and took a tape recorder to the oldest member of our tribe, Parker McKenzie.

Attachment 3474

Parker made an alphabet for our Kiowa language. Talking to Parker was FUN, he was a hoot. He was perhaps 98 or 99 years old when I talked to him, very short and spry and reminded me of Yoda.

He was used to people coming to talk to him because of his years working for the BIA and his memories of going to Indian boarding schools in the 1890's. He had an honorary PhD from Colorado University for his work in Linguistics.

Anyone else care to add something about a Proud Oklahoman that isn't well known to anyone outside Oklahoma?

[Synopsis]

Some notable Oklahomans (some of these may already be on your list Redbird)

Daniel Hale (Dan) Rowan of Rowan and Martin's Laugh in (on the left)



Gene Autry
Gary Busey
Lon Chaney Jr.
Joan Crawford
Blake Edwards
James Garner (loved the Rockford Files!)
Ron Howard
Chuck Norris
Tony Randall
Dale Robertson
Hoyt Axton
Roy Clark
Garth Brooks
Vince Gill
Woodie Guthrie
Reba McEntire
Roger Miller
Leon Russell
Bob Wills
Walter Cronkite
Mary Hart
Bill Moyers
Paul Harvey
Sam Walton
Jim Thorpe
Troy Aikman
Mickey Mantle
Steve Largent
Johnny Bench
Spencer Tillman
Shannon Miller

[nmnita]

thanks, it is something to think about; everyone should be proud of their state. NMNta

[mkfarnam]

( soon to be living in Oklahoma)

One of my favorite songs:
"Your the reason God made Oklahoma"