On the Horizon: Cotton Dilemma

With cotton being a staple in our day-to-day lives, it is big business for farmers in Southwestern Oklahoma. I had the opportunity to travel to Altus, Okla., with the OSU Oklahoma Ag Leadership Encounter. We learned about the irrigation district and how vital it is for cotton producers in the area.

In this week’s video blog, we take a look at the devastation the drought had on this year’s cotton crop.
~Andy Barth

Comments

comments

Cracked and Yellowed vs. Freshley Pressed

Teddy Roosevelt

Please take my hand. I’d like to lead you to the literary place I’ve just now found. We will be traveling to Chapter 1, page 4 of “Theodore Roosevelt and His Time,” from the Yale Chronicles of America series, published in 1912.

Young master Roosevelt has just described being bullied by two boys his age on a stagecoach, writing that he was a “foreordained and predestined victim” for their rough teasing, and they “industriously proceeded to make his life miserable.”

After sharing that he could stand it no longer and engaged in the fight, he recounted feeling completely humiliated that either boy alone could handle him easily. He nary made a mark or any gain toward doing a lick of damage in return for what they were dishing out to him. It was after that incident he decided he must learn to defend himself.

Flash forward to his college days. The scene is now the still-primitive history of the Dakotas, but settlement is evident everywhere. Roosevelt wrote that the land of the West had “gone, gone with Atlantis to the isle of ghosts and of strange dead memories.” He further wrote, “A man needed to be able to take care of himself in that Wild West then.”

The action gets really juicy when the pages detail a story of Roosevelt entering a bar only to be called “Four Eyes” by a “grown-up bully” who taunts him. Further, the man announced to the room that “Four Eyes” was buying everyone in the place a round of drinks. Having trained in boxing ever since the incident of his youth, Roosevelt hit the man square in the jaw, and then again a cross punch to the face. His “1-2 punch” knocked the bully out cold and as the man fell to the ground, his head knocked against the bar for good measure.

Once the man came to he stood up, picked up his things, and checked on to the first train leaving town that evening. And that, my friends, is an account of only two pages of the book.

Cracked and yellowed, the pages of antique books invite me to their pages almost weekly. If you ride in my car and we stop suddenly, an antique book might slide out from under the seat and tap your shoe. If you dig around in my purse or briefcase, you’ll probably find another.

I am on a continuous journey in thrift or antique stores to find good priced books over topics that interest me and are in good enough shape to read. I hardly ever spend more than fifty cents for a book, but I can tell you that I get a priceless adventure almost every time.

While I love the feeling of opening a freshly pressed volume, I will always have a book from ages gone by to review, to help me reflect, and perhaps…to inspire me to learn boxing!

How about you? Any antique literary treasures you are reading?

Love,

[kelly]

 

Comments

comments

The Value of “X” in Xmas

The X Factor in Christmas / Xmas

Here’s a little game we can play. I’ll give the abbreviation and you name the person or character the abbreviation stands for . . . ready?

J Lo      _________

FDR     _________

Dr J      _________

Ike       _________

007       _________

CP3      _________

__________

 

Several years ago I was writing notes in a Bible class I was taking. I  copied what the professor was writing on the board. Typically he would use the Greek letter theta instead of writing the word ‘God.’  The use of an O with a line across the middle was our shorthand abbreviation for God. I learned that Theos is the Greek word for God. (Theology: the study of God)

As class went on and the lecture unfolded, he referred to Jesus Christ. The teacher used the Greek letter chi (x) as an abbreviation for Christ. None of the other students questioned it; neither did I. Through my theological educational I learned that there was a long standing history behind these abbreviations.

We Christians often lament the fact that Xmas has become associated with the commercialization of Christmas.  For some, ‘Xmas’ is an offensive four-letter-word that pops up earlier and earlier each year. One friend of mine said, “We need to stand up against the secular system that wants to X-out Christ.”

But ‘Xmas’ is a modern conspiracy to secularize this Holy season. The abbreviation actually belongs to the church.

X has a long and sacred history

There’s a long and sacred history regarding the use of X to symbolize the name of Christ. Plenty of articles and information already exist that are just a ‘click’ away. Hmmmm, should I cut & paste? If only I could create one of those cool internet blue-words that magically takes you to a relevant site. Sorry, I do not understand the strange magic of technology and therefore dare not attempt such things. My point is, you don’t have to take my word for it. Or was that my point? Continue reading The Value of “X” in Xmas

Comments

comments

He’s “A Man!,” He Can “Do The Gundy,” and He Just Earned Coach of the Year

In 2007 Mike Gundy made an ESPN “Decade In Sports” moment when he reacted in a primal and protective way about a quote in a newspaper article covering one of his players.

Holding the paper up for all to see, he started a rant that included his now famous statements such as, “Come after me! I’m a man, I’m 40!” and “This is garbage…It makes me embarrassed to be associated with athletics!…Makes me wanna puke!”

The gloves were off. The female sports writer of the article to which he was referring was in the room, and she didn’t say a word. There wasn’t really anything she COULD say.

Gundy had stated in front of a room full of national and local media that she needed to “get her sources straight.”  And perhaps she did.

After a mixed, then elated, then raucous reaction over the next few hours, “I’m a man, I’m 40!” became a pop-culture phrase known across the U.S. It was so well known that later Justin Bieber revealed he had downloaded the rant as his personal cell phone ringtone.

Adding to the smiles, it was later revealed that Mike Gundy, in response to Beiber’s ringtone, downloaded some of Bieber’s music for his own phone.

A few years later, pop culture got a big dose of “Gundy-dom” once again when a camera caught footage of “The Gundy,” a celebratory dance the coach does in the locker room after a big win.  Less than a day after the footage was released, a re-mix of “Teach Me How To Gundy” began to spread across the internets.

But Gundy got to enjoy his own “real, live and earned” moment when Continue reading He’s “A Man!,” He Can “Do The Gundy,” and He Just Earned Coach of the Year

Comments

comments

On the Horizon: Hee Haw–A New Appreciation

Maybe I was just too young to fully appreciate some of the finer aspects of the long running show Hee Haw, but in working on this week’s story I noticed something for the first time. The women on the show called the “Hee Haw Honey’s” are as we would have said in high school… Stone Cold Foxes.

I promise this week’s video blog is much more than me leering at girls in daisy duke shorts and bandana tops, but I have to admit they sure made this week’s segment a lot of fun to put together. Salute!

Rob McClendon

Comments

comments

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