An Absolutely Fantastic Riff on Oklahoma and Tulsa

Saying I share a lot of these opinions is understating the matter.

I love Oklahoma, especially rural Oklahoma. I even like Tulsa, despite it not being rural. There are parts of town--like mine--where you won't know you aren't in small-town Oklahoma 'til you turn that last corner out of the neighborhood. And if you drive twenty minutes in any given direction, you're in the countryside. Here are a couple o' snips. Read the whole thing.

Oklahoma is an ultra conservative state. Of course, we have our liberals, but they are still the minority here. Most people around here are “good old boys” who believe in the right to bear arms and fly their flags proudly. We do have abortion clinics but the majority of people are pro-life. The most popular denomination here is Baptist, mostly Southern Baptist, although we certainly have churches for every denomination you can think of. Men still open doors for women and help old ladies carry things and cross the street here (well, usually).

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We have some really cool and unique restaurants here as well. Of course we have all the normal stuff: McDonald's, Burger King, KFC, Chili's, On the Border, etc. But we have a few places you won't find anywhere else. Casa Bonita is famous not so much for it's food (which is good, but pretty much just like every other Mexican restaurant) but for the décor. The whole place looks like you're outdoors in some Spanish town. Especially fun are the cave room and the waterfall room. They also have an arcade! Arnold's Old Fashioned Hamburgers (which is literally right across the street from me) is an old-fashioned 50's themed place. It is definitely the place to go for the best malts ever. The best thing about this place is that the people who own it are Christians, in fact, the husband also helps manage some gospel singing groups! They are closed on Sundays and early on Wednesdays so their employees can attend church. Knotty Pine BBQ is one of those places that looks kind of shady from the outside (and honestly is not in the best looking part of town) but the food is supposedly to die for. I don't care for BBQ myself, but everyone else says it's the best. Recently they had a fire so are temporarily closed while they rebuild. Ollie's Station Restaurant is down-home comfort food. It is built around an old railroad/train theme. There are displays of model trains and towns, and three different trains run intermittently on tracks around the ceiling of the restaurant. The kids love it!

Now, on to the good stuff! The things that make Tulsa and Oklahoma in general a great place to homeschool!

First of all, Oklahoma is the only state to have it in our original state constitution that parents have the right to educate their kids however they want, including homeschooling. There are no rules, no requirements, no qualifications. You do not have to get anything approved or report to anyone. You do what you want, how you want, when you want. It's awesome!

Here in Tulsa, we have an amazing store called Mardel that is a Christian store carrying music, toys, apparel, books, movies, and...educational supply! They have aisles and aisles devoted to homeschooling curriculum and supplies. We also have a great used bookstore that caters specifically to homeschoolers called Bibliomania.

Our library system is wonderful as well. You can search the entire catalog online, reserve the books you want and pick them up at the branch of your choosing when they're ready. You can also see a list of all the books you have checked out (very useful when trying to round up 25 books at once) and pay overdue fines online. Your first library card is free and if you lose it, replacements are only $1.

There are multiple homeschooling groups in Tulsa.

I don't know if Knotty Pine is the best barbecue in Tulsa; lots of folks love Wilson's, and Elmer's, and Big Daddy's, and there are certainly others. Personally, I think the best barbecue in northeastern Oklahoma is to be had at Massey's Barbecue in Okmulgee. I also have to aver that I make some pretty decent barbecue with my backyard cooking equipment.

Knotty Pine is certainly very good, though.

I love that Oklahoma is, as she says, "an ultra-conservative state." The reddest of the red states, as I have often reminded people.

Bibliomania is run by a long-time friend of mine.

There are lots and lots of homeschoolers here.

Man, I love it here. There is lots more in the original post. Go take a look.

A Trip to Hominy, Oklahoma

Okay, time for a brief break from all the Liberal Fascism stuff. More of that shortly, but today...

It's been a couple of weeks, but I was in Hominy to make a delivery/installation and had a few minutes to snap some pictures. I love rural Oklahoma. Clicking on the photos should yield larger versions, if you're interested.

This is a distant shot of what is actually a series of murals. There are murals of this sort of Indian art all over Hominy. I couldn't possible take pictures of all of it, unfortunately. Just not enough time in the ol' lunch break.

Here are the murals in the series, a little closer up and one-by-one.








This, obviously, is the police station. It is actually part of the same building that houses the fire department.

A fairly distant shot of the old building that houses the fire department and police department.

This is near the top front of that building. I couldn't help but think that this emblem made it clear that the facility must have once served a military purpose. The overall look of the place certainly had "military reserve" written all over it, at least to my eyes...

Remembering a suggestion that had been made about elements of a previous photo-post on rural Oklahoma, I looked 'round the building for something to tell me when the place was built. As I expected, it formerly had some military function; it didn't just have the look of it, it practically reeked of it. There are such buildings all over the state.

I wonder, those of you who haven't served in the Reserves or the National Guard, if you can quite picture the scene. This building went up in 1936 for the military. It is in the countryside now; back then, it might as well have been on the moon. These days, it is not uncommon for a reservist to drive three or more hours to get to his unit. When I was in the Marine Corps Reserve, we had people that drove two or three hours to get to our unit. Back then, I'm sure there weren't as many people driving long distances. The people supplied by this armory were probably all pretty local, and I'm fairly sure that they didn't think of themselves as being in training for foreign wars. They were there to protect their homeland, their families, their farms, their way of life. At least, I see that as being the likely state of affairs. That's the proper function of a military, anyway.

Personally, I like a military that is composed, in large part, of reservists. They're ready for action quicker than you might think and are very cost-effective. And it's better than belonging to the Moose Lodge any day.

This is one side of a Presbyterian church, the appearance of which I really liked. Presbyterians are cool. It's long been said that the best Baptist preachers read Presbyterian commentaries. If it weren't for that paedobaptism thing...

Another shot of the same church. I wonder if there are a lot of Indians/Native Americans in this church. You'd be surprised how many Native Americans in Oklahoma are Presbyterians...

The same church from another angle. You can see the architectural elements that caught my eye better in this one. I just loved those steps leading up to the door.

The same church, from the front. Imagine going up those steps on Sunday mornings...

And here're the doors. Nice doors. I loved this building...

This house is apparently some sort of historical site; it's called "The Drummond House," but they weren't open for tours at the time and I haven't looked it up. The place looks to be over a hundred years old, at least just by looking. Rather a cool-looking house. I love old stuff.

A church celebrating its hundredth year? Now, that is something.

This is just an old house. Only God knows how long it's been there. It just struck me as having been well-treated and well-preserved, old but still good-looking and homey.

I didn't have time to stop and ask what these evil-looking machines were. I suspect they have something to do with road construction.

A Brief Stop in Barnsdall

A couple of weeks ago, I happened to be in Barnsdall, Oklahoma. I had a little time to snap a few pictures. I love rural Oklahoma. One of the reasons I can tolerate Tulsa is that you only have to drive about fifteen, twenty miles in any given direction, and you're in rural Oklahoma. Shoot, there are neighborhoods in Tulsa where you wouldn't know that you weren't in rural Oklahoma if it weren't for the fact that you drive out of that neighborhood to go to work every day.

If the post seems a little unrelated to the blog's overall purpose--well, I don't know. It seems to me that it does, though perhaps not so much in a didactic sort of way.

You can get bigger images if you click on the pictures.

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This is just a thoroughly bucolic scene on the way into Barnsdall. Gotta love the scenery.

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Here's the Barnsdall police station. That's the ideal: things are supposed to be under sufficient control, due to a thoroughly Christianized population, that your lone police officer is bored to tears.

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I like this. Every town ought to have some old artillery pieces, or an old tank, or something of the like. It's a good way to remember and honor those who've given their lives for their country.

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I love this building. Only God knows how old it is. I just love the appearance, the stonework. There are old buildings like this all over the state, and I love them all.

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This is about how I eventually want my own Bronco II to look. Gotta love the somewhat simple and easy-to-maintain coloring, and the cow-catcher up front. I would probably add a winch up front; not that I've ever actually needed a winch,mind you, but it's one of those things that seems to find a need once you get one.

I'm not really a vehicle snob. I will, if driven by economic necessity, drive almost anything. But given my druthers, I'd much rather drive an old four-wheel-drive or pickup truck than anything else. And truth to tell, I'm not sure I really understand how anyone in Oklahoma gets along with anything else. It almost seems unnatural to me to see Oklahomans in things like a Prius. And God forbid you should see one in a "smart car." It's weird, know what I mean?

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I have only passed this place--it's Victory Baptist

--two or three times, but everytime I do, it provokes the wildest ideas in my head. I don't know what it is about the place. I wrote about it once before. As best I can recall, it was that a whole flood of images came into my mind. I pictured it as a church where, on Sunday mornings, the Gospel was preached, the text of Scripture was expounded, and Christ exalted. Then there'd be a potluck lunch, and maybe a softball game, or maybe some indoor games (chess or go, anyone?). Then everyone'd go home for a nap, and come back at night for more preaching, teaching, and prayer, maybe followed by some sandwiches.

Monday night'd be visitation. Not like most churches, where "visitation" means visiting people who should've been removed from the rolls years before, or visiting people that brought their kids to the "Fall Festival" five years in a row, but visiting, first, the members who couldn't be at church due to illness or frailty, those who are having a hard time in one way or another, and then just going door-to-door, asking people how we could pray for them, and sharing the Gospel where the Lord opens the door.

Tuesday nights, the karate club'd meet. I picture an energetic, sweaty class, where the emphasis is on health and self-defense, not fighting, not aggression, with maybe just enough free-sparring thrown in to satisfy those that want to compete in an occasional tournament.

Maybe some other clubs'd meet, too--whatever people were interested in. Maybe Praisemoves for some.

Wednesday nights'd be for discipleship training. Classes on all sorts of stuff, from in-depth study of various books of the Bible, to home economics (we all need to know how to stretch a dollar, folks), to New Testament Greek. Maybe a homeschooling support group (Everyone'd be homeschooling, of course). Classes'd be preceded by a potluck meal and followed by a prayer session.

Thursdays, the karate club and Praisemoves'd meet again.

Fridays and Saturdays, you'd have "off," so to speak. You gotta cut the grass sometime, y'know?

If that sounds like I'd like pretty much my entire social life to revolve around the church, like I'd like to spend my time around God's people, especially when they share some of my other interests, like I'd prefer them to all others in the world, well--

Yeah. You just about got it. I think that's the way church oughta be. That's what, in part, I'm working on for the future. I may die before I see it fully realized. But that's the direction I'm headed.

I don't know why Victory--I'm not really sure whether it's considered to be in Prue or Barnsdall, or somewhere in between--puts these images in my head. But man, the place is gorgeous, and gorgeously countrified. I think it used to be a school once, a long time ago. I just have these mental images of classroom after classroom, all just begging to be used by someone in the church.

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In Barnsdall, proper, we have First Christian. Gorgeous little building. Many times I think the ideal is to have a little church like this in every neighborhood, with the social life of the whole neighborhood revolving around it. I'm about half-convinced that when we got to the point where you had to drive to church instead of walk (or ride your horse), it allowed us to be too darn selective about who we'd associate with.

You see, it doesn't take long to figure out that I'm never, ever going to find the ideal church, the way I've described my "visions of Victory" above. No one ever will find the "ideal" church. The church, the ekklesia, has people of all stripes in it, people with widely disparate interests, whose only common interest, quite often, is the work and person of Jesus Christ. And we're supposed to love one another in spite of those differences. The one huge thing we have in common is supposed to be of such moment that all our differences don't prevent us from loving to spend time around one another. Being able to drive--I've run across people that drive thirty or more miles to church, folks--well, it seems to me that it makes it easier to ignore the people who are right around us, in favor of people that we find it easier to love. Is that really the way Christian brotherhood is supposed to work?