Steps to Nowhere
Just north of downtown Tulsa there is a vast empty area, about a half-mile long by a third of a mile wide. This
Michael D. Bates
Filter / Sort
Stephen and Esther
Esther and Stephen Hill started off as many newlyweds do, with nervousness and hope, but their plans stumbled when
Rebekah Greiman
Steak, Eggs, and a Submachine Gun
“You want me to tell you a story?” asked Marilee Macias, a native of Perry, Oklahoma, with kind eyes and perfectly
Ryan Daly
Starlight
To fans of classic films the name Jennifer Jones evokes images of a brunette beauty with distinctive high cheekbones,
Les Howell
Stalking the Smoking Gun
Every so often, perhaps once a week, the Oklahoma State Senate closes its doors, posts aging sentries outside in the
David Fritze
SPORTS ILLUSTRATION:Betting in Texas Hold ‘Em
The stakes are high, so why is nobody blinking? Texas is holding, with a fancy new TV network and deep stack of chips.
Jeremy Luther
Sports Illustration: What to Wear?
Jeremy Luther presents the fashion dilemmas of two Oklahoma state college football
Jeremy Luther
Sports Illustration: Weekend Warrior
Our first Sports Illustration by Jeremy Luther depicts the downtrodden--but not despairing--TU football
Jeremy Luther
Sports Illustration: Slain Longhorn
In this episode: the eyes of Texas are fixed and
Jeremy Luther
Sports Illustration: Sad Day for Basketball
It's the same old struggle between players and team owners in this monetary
Jeremy Luther
Sports Illustration: A New Dawn for OSU
In this episode: Out of the shadows, over the hump, at last — the monkey off the back. A steep and grueling peak has
Jeremy Luther
special you’s
you’re too much waist in time. you’ve been renting a room in the wrong house and your bill was late. you’re
Mia Wright
South by Midwest: Or, Where is Oklahoma?
I'm not much of a Facebook person. Most of the time, I passively scroll through status updates while avoiding doing
Russell Cobb
Something Good is Going to Happen to You
I was twelve years old when it happened, in the 7th grade, attending Victory Christian School on 71st Street in South
Randy R Potts
So Long, Tom Skinner
The door to room 1451 at St. John Medical Center in Tulsa was practically revolving. Tom Skinner’s hospital room was
Lindsay Kline
So Long, Joe Coleman (1922-2011)
“Oh, I met Joe probably a dozen years ago,” said Lee Anne Zeigler, executive director and CEO of Tulsa Foundation
Shawna Lewis
Snakes on a Plain
I stood shaking in the center of a wooden 9-by-12-foot pit, surrounded on all sides by about 250 western diamondback
Holly Wall
Snake Ball
Joey Rigoletto is a spazz. We know this. What a dickhead, we said as he went by, tipped over practically, calling out,
Bayard Godsave
Small Town, Big Top
It’s not every day that the average Oklahoman gets to see an elephant raise a circus tent. Even photographer Kenneth
Rosie LoVoi
Skilly Forsman(1922-2011)
In the Tulsa dance and etiquette scene, Skilly Forsman was it. For 68 years, she taught kids of all ages to move with
Shawna Lewis
Silkwood
When Richard Rashke’s The Killing of Karen Silkwood was published in 1981, it was a groundbreaking, whistle-blowing
Sarah Denton
Silence of the Goats
You have to push pretty hard to puncture animal skin. The goat was dead, but its lungs still had breath. I thought I
Spring Houghton
Signs of Forgotten Times
In a small meeting room in a Unitarian Universalist church a few miles north of downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma, people of
Adrian Margaret Brune
Shop
Rusted valves and pipes, sleeping gas lines, tables with saw blades rising to railway, vintage dust taking in streams
Bill Turley
Shoes Without Laces
Eldon Dykes’ father arrived on Sunday nonstop Greyhound bus from Oklahoma for a visit Next morning after
Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel
She Was the Punk of My Life
Kelli Mayo snarls into the microphone. The girl with fire-pink hair, turquoise leggings, a black skirt, and white tee
Joshua Kline
Shaun Perkins
Shaun Perkins forged the Rural Oklahoma Museum of Poetry out of her father’s old machine shop as a tiny monument to
Natasha Ball
Shalom, Ardmore
I went down to Ardmore looking for the last Jews in a town that could—if it were so inclined—lay claim to the title
Russell Cobb
Sh*tty Mom
The following is an excerpt from Sh*tty Mom: The Parenting Guide for the Rest of Us, by Laurie Kilmartin, Karen Moline,
This Land
Sex in the City
How well do any of us know our grandmothers? They are worthy of in-depth investigation, because behind the gentle,
Clara Nipper
Severe Storm Watch
We all thought the weather was god, didn’t we? Whether it was the golf-ball hailstorm that ruined the business plan
Rivka Galchen
Serving Kagame
On April 30, 2010, a team of lawyers and process servers arrived at the campus of Oklahoma Christian University (OCU)
Collin Hinds
September Events
RUMBLE FISH SCREENING--Public Secrets #13 Francis Ford Coppola's 1983 film Rumble Fish, based on the novel by SE
This Land
Selling ‘Tulsa’ to Tulsans
There’s Tulsa the city, and there’s Tulsa the movie. For a brief spell in the spring of 1949, when the movie
Charles Morrow
Secrets of the Dust Bowl Digs
Years ago, buried beneath the University of Oklahoma football stadium, there was once an underground concrete cave,
Holly Wall
Searching for John Joseph Mathews
He showed his anger in fantastic play of lightning, and thunder that crashed and rolled among the hills; in the wind
Richard Higgs
Scott Raffe (1964-2011)
The day Raffe died, rockets exploded in the skies over Tulsa and beyond— festive bursts of red, white, and blue,
This Land
Sci-Fi’s Tough Guy
Descending by car into the flaccid Florida peninsula on I-95 can make a bull rider reach for a Valium. Cars, trucks,
Grant McClintock
School Spirits
Thep Phongparnich slinks into the conference room on Maejo University in the northern Thailand city of Chiang Mai, and
Kristi Eaton
Scenes from Muslim Day at the Oklahoma State Capitol
Muslims in Oklahoma, like other minority communities in the state, haven’t always felt secure in their homes and
Randy R Potts
Scalpel
Almost every patient mentions how it’s cold in the operating room. We keep the room around 60 degrees, in part to
David Schneider
Saucers over Oklahoma
Saturday morning, July 31, 1965, at 1:05 a.m., Officer Lewis Sikes of the Wynnewood Police Department reported sighting
David A. Farris
Sam Gillaspy
Sam Gillaspy has lived in Arcadia, Oklahoma, for 88 years. He's devoted the last eight of those to giving tours at the
Brooks Nickell
S.E. Hinton’s Staircase Cameo
Located on the northwest southwest corner of Greenwood and (then) Brady Street, this staircase is the spot where an
Lee Roy Chapman
Ryan LaCroix
Ryan LaCroix is the operations manager at KOSU Radio and co-hosts the weekly radio program The Oklahoma Rock Show. He
Nathan Poppe
Rusty and Colleen
After a month of being turned down, Rusty got the green light on a date with Colleen. “I picked her up in my junky
Rebekah Greiman
Running Tulsa
I set out in the summer of 2009 to become a runner—motivated, and shamed, by the marathon that my mother ran in honor
Jessica Baxter
Running
Running is without a doubt a great way to achieve your fitness goals. Millions of people, both young and old, engage
Jessica Puckett
Rules? There Are No Rules.
Editor’s Note: This story is excerpted from Dan’s War on Poverty: A Grassroots Crusade for Social Justice, by Ann
Ann Patton
routine
every evening after the six o’clock i ate dinner, something fast, sitting at the desk. eight tv screens, three
Quraysh Ali Lansana
Rooftop Raccoons
A triumvirate of sad-eyed raccoons lounging on the roof of an apartment building in Stillwater benignly
T. Allen Culpepper
Rogers & Hammerstein and the Two Sids
The following is written by Barry Friedman and Ken Rogerson. On October 14, 1941, Richard
This Land
Rodeo Daze
It's the manure that gets to you. Saturday, August 7. It's the final night of the 25th Annual Pawnee Bill Memorial
Barry Friedman
Rocking China
In retrospect, I do wonder how I made a rock and roll record in China in such adverse conditions. I had lived in
Tyson Meade
Rocket to the Moon
Jim Bridenstine leaned back in a swivel desk chair, a green flight jacket zipped over his dress shirt and tie, the wall
Holly Wall
Robert Littlejohn(1936-2011)
“He was our most excellent historian,” North Tulsa Historical Society President Charlotte Bates said at
Shawna Lewis
Robert Hedgecoke
R.L. Hedgecoke, a Cherokee/Scots-Irish/Metis-Canadian/English World War II veteran, lives in Guthrie, Oklahoma. He grew
Shane Brown
Robbers Cave Revisited
My first sight on entering Camp Tom Hale—three hours southeast of Tulsa, off County Road 249—was a white pickup
Gene Perry
Ripples in a Lake
Tales of the Dust Bowl years recall an era punctuated by the absence of water. In reality, it was a combination of
Amy Hardberger
Ripping Up Phonebooks for Jesus
TO THE FIRST ‘POWER’ I remember the tension, the edge-of-the-seat nervousness. I remember wondering which
Jeff Martin
Rilla Askew
Rilla Askew was born in the San Bois Mountains of southeastern Oklahoma, a place she's noted for its harshness and
Shane Brown
Rideshare vs. Car Ownership
Rideshare services like Uber or Lyft are most often seen as a substitute for a taxicab—a safe ride home after a night
Michael D. Bates
Rich Hewitt (1948-2011)
Most know Rich Hewitt as “The Mushroom Man”—the guy who started a Tulsa-based mushroom business in his garage,
Shawna Lewis
Rhyme & Punishment
I come to David L. Moss every week to teach poetry to incarcerated women. It’s become so routine that all of the
Beth Niestemski
Rev. Robert Pickett (1924-2011)
“There was an issue in Alabama where dogs were released on non-violent protesters,” nephew John Dowdell explained.
Shawna Lewis
Rev. G. Calvin McCutchen Sr.
Reverend G. Calvin McCutchen Sr. is pastor emeritus of Mount Zion Baptist Church in Tulsa. After the church was
Jeremy Charles
Return to Kornfield Kounty: Why Hee Haw Still Matters
THE COUNTER-COUNTERCULTURE It’s been nearly two decades since the world said goodbye to Hee Haw. The show ran
Jeff Martin
Resolution on the Irish Situation
In 1919, at the end of the First World War and two years before the devastation of the race riot at home, Tulsa city
This Land
Renegade Golf
Cheyenne Golf Course, in Cheyenne, Oklahoma, is more reminiscent of Tom Joad than Tom Watson. It consists of nine
Tyler Palmateer
Reminiscences of an Early Dental Practitioner in Western Oklahoma
It was a wide open range country, featured by boundless rolling hills carpeted by green grass and acres of many hued
Dr. F. C. Holmes
Religion of Silence
A curving road led me from the expressway into a neighborhood where American flags adorned brown, brick houses and
Molly Evans
Redemption Denied
Jorge “George” Aguilar doesn’t seem different than I remembered from a year ago. His tan face is fuzzy on my
Jimmy Carter
Redefining the Liberal Arts
On that fateful night in 1935 when God first promised to heal Dad of tuberculosis, God also spoke to him, albeit
Roberta Roberts Potts
Redbirds on Greenwood
As many seek knowledge of what happened in Tulsa during its formative years, I am in search of the history of my
J. Kavin Ross
Red Sauce and Pulitzers: The Career of Joe Marquette
“Once I was on Air Force One,” says Joe Marquette. It’s a typical beginning to one of his many anecdotes. The
Joshua Kline
Reader, Meet Author
Not that it happens very often, but when asked who my favorite contemporary writer is, I always split it down the
Robert Dumont
Ray and Jaruwan
Jaruwan Slovacek had to cross an ocean to find love, but Ray Slovacek took on the tougher journey of crossing over to
Rebekah Greiman
Rare Earth
Woody Guthrie’s first book, the autobiographical Bound for Glory, was originally published in 1943. Like any
Thomas Conner
Randall Gabrel
Randall Gabrel moved his oil and gas firm to Woodward, Oklahoma, four years ago to be closer to his mother after his
Shane Brown
Ramblin’ Jack
Ramblin’ Jack Elliott strutted on stage. Not like a pimp, or someone with a chip on his shoulder, but as a man
Sarah Graalman
Ralph Bendel Jr.
As Ralph Bendel gave me a tour of the gardens at the Philbrook Museum of Art, I came to see the space with a new set of
Michael Cooper
Radio Revival
Somewhere in between the mindless banter of sports talk radio, the bubblegum lyrics of top 40 hits, and the NPR
Gail Banzet-Ellis
Rabbi Marc Boone Fitzerman
In this installment of True Tulsa, Michael Cooper presents a black and white portrait of the beloved Rabbi Marc
Michael Cooper
Queer as Folk
& then gay marriage was legal in Oklahoma & it was renamed “Oklahomo” & cowboys went broke
Nick Weaver
Queen’s Gambit Declined
May 21, 2008. Radisson Hotel, Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Frank K. Berry U.S. Chess Championship. Two International
Matthew Crouch
Q & A with Bryant Oden
Oklahoma native and Rocky Mountain transplant Bryant Oden has made a career of writing goofy songs for
This Land
Pwned! HBGary vs. Anonymous
For those of you who don't subscribe to This Land, you're missing out on one of the most intriguing stories buzzing
This Land
Pushing the Sky
James “Robbie” Risner started life in rural Mammoth Springs, Arkansas, in the 1920s. His destitute family left the
Steve Gerkin
Puckish Panic
The first time I watched the stop-motion comedy A Town Called Panic, I was alone in my bedroom. I did not laugh. It
Joshua Kline
Prophecies: Right Here, Right Now
Today it’s a guy hawking prophecies on the 4 train. Strides into the car at the Brooklyn Bridge stop, white
John Brehm
Private Manning and the Making of WikiLeaks
The Inside Story of the Oklahoman Behind the Biggest Military Intelligence Leak Ever Editor's note: Since it was
Denver Nicks
Pretty Boy Floyd’s Tulsa Home
On February 11, 1932, a Tulsa Police Department armored truck pulled up to the house at 513 East Young Street in Tulsa.
Lee Roy Chapman
Pretty Boy Floyd in Tulsa
The following is an excerpt from Michael Wallis' Pretty Boy: The Life and Times of Charles Arthur Floyd which comes out
Michael Wallis
Postcards From the Edge
The artifacts arrived in a truck at the back door of Gilcrease Museum, shipped there in cardboard boxes. They’d been
Natasha Ball
Pork Bellies and the Future of This Land
Michael Mason has started something big. And it all began with two pork bellies. Several months ago, when This Land
Vincent LoVoi
Pop Life
Harold Stevenson is a tiny 84-year-old man wearing a knit shirt with a frayed collar. He lives in a log cabin nestled
Steve Sherman
Poetry as Machine
You can love a machine and think poetry is not for you. But if you love a machine, you already love poetry. A few
Shaun Perkins
Poetry and the News
POETRY AND THE NEWS by Scott Gregory 1. There’s a long poem by William Carlos Williams (from late in his
Scott Gregory
Poetic Tulsa
When I first came to Tulsa 53 years ago, I had little thought about poetry. In my arms was a ten-day old baby, on my
Francine Ringold
Poet Issues
I have an almost pathological fear of poets. Well, not all poets. I developed my phobia in a graduate poetry
Carol Johnson