Haters gotta hate . . .
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2/21/2012
Born & raised here in OKC, lived outside of Oklahoma for several years, but came back in 2009. There's no reason to gripe about the climate--it's not gonna change. The weather is highly variable here; one winter can be bitterly cold, blizzards, LOTS of snow (for a city in the south) maybe an ice storm, and the next mild with hardly any bad weather. Same thing for summers. Typically they start out hot and humid (with our famous tornadoes) but by mid-July things dry out and it's hot and dry, through September. No where near the pollen of the southeast (this was a surprise to us, the first year we were in Jacksonville FL--a layer of yellow dust on everything--cars, sidewalks, streets, lawns, etc.). Lots of folks on here are wanting to say that Oklahoma's full of crack/meth heads, drunks, etc. Well, maybe the folks they were hanging out with were, and yeah, there are some around, but it's not as bad as other places. If you're looking for a place without drunks or drug addicts, try moving to Saudi Arabia. The schools are generally OK--don't believe the ratings on some of the various websites, though. Oklahoma is definitely a 'red' (Republican) state, which gets real old real fast for a Democrat (I've found that my grandad was right. He was an honest-to-God Okie, made the long trip out Route 66 to California in the back of a Model A Ford, whose mother died out there because they couldn't afford to get her to a hospital--my grandad was a life-long Roosevelt Democrat. And I've come to agree with him; seen too much of big corporations screwin' the little guy--which makes me a minority here in OKC). I'm white--no way around that--but was raised specifically, very intentionally, by my parents to be anti-racist, and yeah, I've kept that up in my life. (This was in response to the way they were brought up--racist--and the fact that they both came of age in the 60's.) Yeah, that makes me a minority here too; there's a lot of racism here, and it's the one thing that troubles me most about my home state. But it also made me a minority in Jacksonville, and in New Mexico, and elsewhere. It's a sad commentary on our entire nation that we are still, just below the surface, still so divided on racism; probably 3/4 of the opposition to Obama here in Oklahoma is from the color of his skin (as if his politics weren't enough). There's the surface 'show' stuff, where most people proclaim they're not racist, but if you scratch the surface you'll see that they still are--just without the courage to admit it or face it--or change it. And it goes both ways--make no mistake. There's as many (percentage-wise) black, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American racists as their are white (though having been brought up in Oklahoma I'd have to say that the Native Americans have the most right to think that way--the US Army was never sent out with orders to kill all blacks that refused to submit to white authority). Which brings up another issue--casinos! The Native Americans are getting their revenge; they're all over the place. In fact, if Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Geronimo, Tecumseh, and all the rest had realized that the best way to defeat the white man was not to fight him but to play to his greed, the tribes would own this country today! Anyway, I've heard repeatedly that OKC is probably the strip-club capitol of the US; I wouldn't know. Other than when I was in the Army, I've never been to strip clubs. As for other night life, well, heh heh, there's the Thunder, the NBA team, keeping up that grand Oklahoma tradition of being the underdog that comes out of nowhere to make a very serious run for the championship. Sports are big here, though I'm sure we'll never get an NFL team (too bad!!) 'cause that would cut into the Sooners (OU) revenue. And OSU's football team is moving up too, thanks to their huge benefactor T. Boone Pickens. There's the Barons minor-league hockey team (also doing VERY well) and the Red Hawks minor-league baseball team. Hunting and (especially) fishing are also very big. Oklahoma politics are a mess. Oklahoma City would easily be the largest city in the US, in terms of land area, had our politicians been able to get along. The metro area is a hodgepodge of smaller communities that seceeded from OKC--Nichols Hills, The Village, Warr Acres, Forest Park, etc., plus others that have been absorbed--Bethany, Del City, Midwest City, Moore, etc. Corruption, behind the scenes, is rampant, and always has been. About 30 years ago, all 77 county commissioners were indicted on corruption charges--every single one was on the take. A recent FBI sting operation didn't turn up anything, but my take on that is that the politicians are getting smarter about concealing things. And at the national level, our senators are a disgrace (in my opinion). At least they're consistent--wacko, but consistent. And they've been in DC so long it would be to Oklahoma's advantage to keep them there, given their seniority. So we keep them there, where they can protect our state's interests. But I for one would prefer it if they just shut up and never made another public announcement--better to remain silent and thought a fool that to speak up and remove all doubt. Paving roads is a lost art here in Oklahoma. The state provides a free service to truck drivers--we rearrange their loads for them (that is, thanks to the vast collection of potholes). For all of my life there's been a construction zone on I-40 west of OKC, between OKC and Clinton; it moves from time to time, but they'll never finish it. There's another one south on I-35, too, that'll never be finished. Ditto on the I-40/I-35 interchange just east of downtown; they recently finished the latest revision, so it's about time to do it again. If you're used to driving back east, our interstates are woefully undersized for the amount of traffic; where you'd have 5 lanes, we have 3 at best. This makes rush hour traffic a huge mess, which in turn ratchets up the stress level, so lots of people drive like @-holes. But if you've ever driven in Miami, Atlanta, Dallas, or any other truly big city, you've got a definite advantage over the locals here. The only problem is that the locals sometimes are unpredictable, so you've got to be aware of what's going on, 'cause they'll get stupid on you. A lot of the city proper is run down; there are some big initiatives to improve this, however. The biggest one was Bricktown, just east of downtown. 20 years ago this was just a collection of mostly vacant brick warehouses (hence the name) and now it's a big retail and almost touristy area. We created the Oklahoma River (which is a local joke) by damming 7 miles of the North Canadian River and sticking 'Oklahoma River' signs everywhere. It's not bad; they've got an Olympic team training center here now (for rowing). The Midtown area, north and a little west of downtown, is currently undergoing a major renovation. The people on the northwest side tend to be more flashy, sarcastic, and agressive (especially when driving), while the southwest side folks are more laid back. A big section of the city, from about NW 39th to SW 74th, is predominantly Hispanic. I-35 also forms a big dividing line. The northeast quadrant is predominantly black (and I've already discussed racism issues), and the southeast side, which includes Del City and Midwest City, is more of a mixed bag of lower- and middle-income families. Also on the southeast side is Tinker AFB, which is the state's single largest employer and a major player in the city's economy. Churches--yes, there's a bunch. However, the only ones that are really growing are the non-denominational megachurches. The small neighborhood churches typically have an older, almost elderly congregation, with 50 or less in attendance (which is sad to see--just a handfull of people in a great big church that used to minister to 250+). They're just not attracting the younger people; instead most of them (that is, of the small percentage of young people who go to church) are going to the megachurches. Incomes are, from what I've seen, a little below the national average, but cost-of-living, especially housing, is much cheaper, so it's kind of a wash. The one thing that you can't see--or at least you hope you don't see--is the Oklahoma response to a disaster. April 19, 1995 and May 3, 1999 are two dates that are critical to understanding OKC and it's people. The Murrah bombing and the May 3rd tornado, and the community's responses to these were amazing, astounding. The support we gave the rescuers was incredible. Word would get out that they could use some more googles--and a couple of thousand pair would be bought by individuals, donated, and brought down to the bombing site in a matter of hours. Same thing when the 5 or 6 rescue dogs on scene needed new 'booties' to protect their feet from the broken glass--150 pair appeared at the site before the sun set that evening. The same sort of thing repeated over and over, countless times; blood donation lines were nearly a quarter-mile long. Everyone, EVERYONE, did something to help out. The May 3rd tornado was the stongest ever recorded--OU's Severe Storms Laboratory doppler radar measured a wind speed of 316 mph, just northwest of Tinker AFB (that's another thing--our tornado warning systems are the best in the world--all that technology was developed HERE. Florida is the best at dealing with hurricanes; Japan's the best at dealing with earthquakes; we're the best at tornadoes). The response to this killer tornado was similar to after the bombing. (Thanks to those warning systems and training, our death toll was only 42--anywhere else and it would have been in the hundreds, perhaps as much as a thousand; I was there--I saw it first-hand.) Everything that was needed, everyone that needed help, got it in spades. The haters who wrote all that other crap about OKC evidently weren't here then. For it is this response to disaster and misfortune that is the true spirit of Oklahoma. True, New Yorkers came together in a very similar way after 9/11--but it was Oklahomans that showed the world how to do it.
Sean | Oklahoma City, OK