It’s that time of year…

by Michael Mitchell

What time is that you say?

It’s that time of year where I like to remind myself every day of all the things I’m thankful for.

Today I’m thankful for this woman:

Obviously she’s lovely and talented, but there’s so much more to her than those two words that I use so often.

She’s my best friend. An awesome wife. A great mother. A natural-birthing-16-hour-laboring-with-no-drugs-birth-giving machine. She can cook like nobody’s bidness. She sings with the voice of an angel. She dominates at NERTS. She calls me funny nicknames and answers when I call her equally funny ones. She is a dedicated Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. She values family. She invests in relationships with her friends. She flirts with me. She balances our check book. She’s a Proverbs 31 wife. A hot mamasita. A couponing fiend. An organization junky. She cries when she’s happy, she cries when she’s sad, and she cries at Hallmark commercials. She’s smart. She’s a reader. She plays the piano. She lets me keep our house really cold at night. She knows the difference between an onside kick and being offsides. If I yell, “BOOMER!” she yells, “SOONER!” She loves God, she loves me, she loves our daughter, she loves our family, and she loves our friends.

And I’ve been thankful for her since the fall of 1998.

[michael]

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On the Horizon: If you build it, they will come

Many rural communities around Oklahoma are building tech parks in the hopes of attracting big business and in Pryor, that gamble is paying off. Google announced in 2007 that it would build a data center right here in Oklahoma. All because of availability of land, electrical infrastructure, a very high quality excellent workforce, and a business climate that was really conducive to making things fast and simple; which is what many rural communities have to offer.

Now because of the recession, it’s taken quite a while to get up and running but just recently, they held the grand opening of their newest Google data center. In this week’s video blog, see the connections going on in Pryor, Oklahoma.

Alisa Hines

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When I Am An Old Man (Repost: Top 25 of Year One)

Photo used by permission: from Avi Revivo {http://revivo.co.il/blog}

by Michael Mitchell

As we get started here again at the beginning of another new year, a lot of folks I know have made New Year’s resolutions. I have a few things on my list of goals for the year, but technically none of them really qualify as resolutions. In order to help me feel better about my general lack of New Year’s resolutions, I offer the following list of Old Man resolutions; things I would like to be, say, or do when I am an old man. For the purposes of this post, I am defining an old man as someone in his mid to late 80’s.

Without any further ado, when I’m an old man:

  • I will carry candy in my pockets to give to kids at the grocery store and at church. Who knows what society will be like by the time I’m an old man… maybe I’ll need to stick to doing this at church.
  • I will wear bib overalls with nothing under them a large majority of the time. Obviously when special occasions call for it, such as the ones listed above, I will change my attire. However, I’ve always thought there’d be something really freeing about spending my days wearing a pair of bib overalls with nothing under them. Unfortunately this is a luxury of the old… but I’m willing to wait.
  • I will be really nice to some people and really mean to others. I will be extremely inconsistent with this one and make a sport out of trying to be obnoxiously rude and overly kind to the same people multiple times each day. I know this will throw people off, but I will get a good kick out of watching how they react. This would never fly today, but when I’m an old man, people will probably just take it and think to themselves, “Bless his heart.” or “He comes from a different time.” This too is a luxury of the old. Continue reading When I Am An Old Man (Repost: Top 25 of Year One)

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Barbershop Theology: Ritual of Preparation

Spectacular achievements come from unspectacular preparation.”  Roger Staubach

I looked at the clock and mercifully it read, 5:35. Dad would end his day by putting away his scissors, resting his clippers, counting the cash in the drawer, and writing something in his ledger. But he would do that no earlier than 6pm.

I knew I could make closing much faster if I would begin the Barbershop Closing Ritual. That meant all the dirty towels had to be placed in a hamper, the floor had to be swept, ash trays cleaned, lather dispenser filled, and magazines organized. It meant being alert to any signals from Dad pointing me to a detail I had missed, (a nod, a glance, or a subtle point with a comb).

The final act of the day was watching Dad slightly open the door to the back of the shop, reach behind the wall and turn off the lights. Turning the Open/Closed sign was a quick trick and I hustled to jump into his pick-up truck parked just around the corner. If we hurried I could catch the last episode of the Flintstones or maybe shoot some baskets before dark. Continue reading Barbershop Theology: Ritual of Preparation

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Pen or Computer?

Irony number one: My favorite way to write is with a pen, and…I’m writing you this information with a computer.

Irony number two: The image with which I chose to illustrate this post is my romantic ideal of what writing with a pen would be…IF I happened to have a Schaeffer fountain pen handy at the appropriate times.  What I usually write with is a plastic ink pen I find strewn about on the hall floor of the university where I teach.  If I’m lucky, the casing only has a few cracks caused by the pressure of who knows how many students shoes.  We’re a land grant university…it could also have traces of cow manure.

But regardless of the two ironies accompanying this line of thought, there are distinct differences in my psyche between pen and computer that will keep my feet firmly on PEN every time.

When I write with a computer, I push all my words out of my fingers, channeled from my brain and generally sent out for the public-at-large to do with them what they will.  As the word-stream rushes from my brain, down my spine, through my arms and out my fingers, I backtrack. I re-read.  I change, rethink, change and possibly go back.

The path toward the destination of my last line, if traced, would look like a dung-beetle trail in a sandy lot.  Circle-y. Hesitant. Changing.  Smudged; sometimes happenstance.

But when I write with a pen, the words leave my brain, they pass through my heart, and they come out the tip of my pen in a focused stream of consciousness that is more sure.  Solid. Pure. Heady. Confident.

With a keyboard, I outline throughout the process pushing with my fingers.  With a pen, I think first, write second.  And, I always write TO a person.  If it is a journal, I write TO History.  If it is a letter, I write TO the full essence of that Person I hold dear enough to spend my time for them.  If it is toward a purpose, then I write TO that future Hope.

In other words, I write words for others from my computer. But in other-other words, I write my only real words with a pen.

Irony number three: I don’t like this essay because I wrote it on a computer.  I’m going out to my hall to look for a pen on the floor. And then I’m going to write something…pure.

****

Post Illustration Photo by TMAB2003

 

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Showcasing Red Dirt culture ~ authored and managed by contributors with connections to the great state of Oklahoma.