This Land

Autumn. 2010. 1946 South Harvard. Tulsa, Oklahoma.

I’m slouched in my car in the parking lot of QuikTrip counting customers; this wasn’t the Pakistan assignment I’d hoped for. At the northwest corner of 21st and Harvard, Store No. 27 hums round the clock, guarded by sixteen gas…

“Ruth line two.”

Ruth and her two sons are leasing my house while I’m off doing other things. That’s the good news; the bad news is Ruth never calls with good news.

“There’s a big ol’ beaver in the creek,” says Ruth. “She’s huge. The boys are excited.”

I think…

A few years ago the notion of growing tropical fruits and farm vegetables downtown in a multi-storied solar-paneled glass zig-zag building, with windmills twirling on the roof, would have seemed fanciful. Today, it may be the best idea we have to revitalize downtown Tulsa. But, to be frank, it’s not…

Pictured above: Scott Smith, Blue Jackalope Groceries & Coffee. Photo by Michael Cooper

At the corner of Third and Phoenix sits a small brick building, memorable for its bright, French-blue façade. There, you’ll find Scott Smith’s eccentric Blue Jackalope Groceries and Coffee shop. Push your way through the…

It marks the end of the Trail of Tears and the beginning of a new life far from home. It is a serene place, one where you can sit and feel the weight of the past and all it has given us. The little park at 18th and Cheyenne isn’t…