It’s About Making Babies!

OK, Oklahoma is winding through a year-long tourist season — centennial. I guess the Indian Territories — the name of the regions later to combine as the state of Oklahoma were drawn up 100 years ago.

You know, Oklahoma! — the 1943 first great Rogers and Hammerstein musical celebrates the farmers and western ranchers contending for control. Also the bitter end of the Cherokee nation’s ‘Trail of Tears’ — the shameful forced march where the native peoples of Virginia, the Carolinas, and other parts east were gathered by the US Army, marched — men, women, children — to Oklahoma. The Army. With the same procurement practices they use today. Including contractors that delivered tainted beef for the Cherokee to eat. The death toll of men, women, children, old people, culture, belongings, dignity — make for the glories of Oklahoma today. I wonder if there is a record of how many Army officers became rich, received medals, and won advancement because they herded the families of the Cherokee nation away from their homes and spiritual and cultural heritage, forcing the Cherokee to bury their dead on the march and keep marching.

Ichabod Crane. The author of ‘Legend of Sleepy Hollow’, Washington Irving took a tour with an early Army unit on patrol through eastern Oklahoma. ‘A Tour On The Prairie’ gives one view of the people here. This might be one of the earliest published accounts of Oklahoma.

Today casinos are springing up all over the state. One near me, the Kaw tribe casino, is run by the people whose name became ‘Kansas’ for the state they were evicted from.

Sure makes for a lot of history to be proud of, that the rest of the nation dumped people here. The indian tribes mostly had reservations to abuse them. The lack of infrastructure, and lack of (voting) white men meant a severe lack of law enforcement — making the Indian Territories a breeding ground for bandits and thugs hiding from other white folk.

Sure seems to be a lot to celebrate in history.

Well, I got a chain letter today.

Oklahoma a Mystery to Many Americans
By Jeff Mullin Commentary

If someone mentions California, what do you think of? Hollywood, L.A., crowded freeways, beaches and Arnold Schwarzenneger? California, of course, is so much more than that. How about Maine? I think of cold weather, people with funny accents and lobsters. What if someone brings up Idaho. Does it bring to mind potatoes? When people hear the name of our state, it seems the first thing that comes to mind is not Oklahoma, but “Oklahoma!” The 1943 musical, the first for Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein, is the first thing most people in America think of when they hear about the Sooner State. Having people associate our state with a beloved musical is certainly better than some alternatives, like rednecks and tornadoes, but it certainly isn’t representative of today’s Oklahoma.
“Oklahoma!” is a delight. The story of cowboys and farmers finding love in Oklahoma territory features classic music and ground-breaking choreography, including the dream ballet illustrating Laurey’s difficulty in choosing a suitor between cowboy Curley and farmhand Jud Fry. It also gave us our state song, which never fails to bring Oklahomans to their feet, which can prove a bit unnerving for performers in touring versions of the show who, during stops in Oklahoma, must deal with a standing ovation before the final curtain comes down. “Oklahoma!” is a classic of American musical theater and deserves its place in the pantheon of enduring entertainment treasures. It is not, however, an accurate indication of where our state has been, is today and is going.

Oklahoma is not only the home of Ado Annie and Aunt Eller but of the aerosol can. That wonder of the age was invented in Bartlesville. Oklahoma City is the home of the parking meter, while the shopping cart was born in Ardmore. The electric guitar also was invented in Oklahoma, by a Beggs musician named Bob Dunn. The first “Yield” sign was installed in Tulsa. The state has more man-made lakes than any other state, which give us more than a million surface-acres of water and 2,000 more miles of shoreline than the Atlantic and Gulf coasts combined.

The Sooner State has produced more astronauts than any other state in the union. Owen Garriott is a hometown Enid boy, of course, while Tom Stafford is from Weatherford, Shannon Lucid from Oklahoma City, William Pogue from Okemah and the late Gordon Cooper from Shawnee. Oklahoma is home to Amateur Softball Association, Sonic restaurants and more F4 and F5 tornadoes than any other state. Oklahoma is the third-largest gas-producing state in the nation and ranks fourth in the production of wheat, cattle and calves, fifth in the production of pecans, sixth in peanuts and eighth in peaches. The state’s colors are neither the crimson and cream of the University of Oklahoma nor the orange and black of Oklahoma State but green and white.

The Environmental Protection Agency recognizes Oklahoma as having the most diverse terrain of any state in the nation. The state, according to the EPA, boasts 11 distinct ecoregions, one of only four states to have more than 10. Oklahomans practice 73 major religions. The largest is the Southern Baptist Convention, with nearly 1,600 church and more than 960,000 members. Oklahoma gave birth to Dick Tracy (cartoonist Chester Gould is a native of Pawnee) and Donald Duck (Clarence “Ducky” Nash, the original voice of Walt Disney’s Donald, grew up in Watonga). Oklahomans have survived the Dust Bowl, any number of killer tornadoes, the 1995 bombing of Oklahoma City’s Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building and various oil booms and busts. Oklahoma is populated by people who are caring, giving, hard-working, patriotic and fiercely independent. Oklahoma is a good place to live, work and play.

The challenge in this, our centennial year, is to make the rest of America aware of what Oklahoma has to offer, besides beautiful mornings, fringe-laden surreys and a girl who “can’t say no.”

Ah. I don’t dispute any of what Mr. Mullin has to say. For the most part Oklahoma is a bit more rural, tending toward cowboy pursuits (the rodeo is very strong here as a form of entertainment). Wideband and cable connectivity are in general use, even in the hinterlands.

I would note that at least the Conoco refinery here in Ponca City still utilizes migrant workers, rather than loyal employees. They have annual, bi-annual, and semi-annual ‘turn arounds’ where they shut down various units of the refinery and rebuild and refurbish them.

To do this they hire people willing to call themselves pipefitters and welders, some of which are highly trained. Only Conoco doesn’t ‘hire’ these people. They contract with contractor companies. If Conoco or the contractor choose, they fire any or all people at will.

The people that have worked in the refineries have adapted. They tend to float from job to job. Employers in Ponca City tend to fire people rather than retrain or help people overcome difficulties. People tend to quit jobs relatively easily, often changing jobs for $0.10 or $0.25 and hour pay change.

This is a damaging cycle. The surface benefit to the companies is the ability to trim expenses (people) to meet income. The reality is a shoddy, untrustworthy workplace. Employers regularly raid workers at competitors, and encourage job hopping to meet their own deadlines. The lack of continuity shows up in attitudes in schools, churches, and the family table.

I would say that Oklahoma needs to change the way they recognize companies, to encourage employers that maintain level employment, that reduce turnover of employees below national averages, and encourage employee loyalty. Employers need to improve their business ethics with regard to hiring, firing, and raiding other employers.

This doesn’t appear to be either a new situation, nor is this a critical disaster. But this particular practice definitely stands in the way of me giving Oklahoma a recommendation. This apparently job-related slight to the employment relationship is in my mind a serious spiritual flaw, damaging Oklahoma and Oklahomans, and on to the next generations.

The dust bowl was largely an Oklahoman event. Which disbursed the affected people across the nation. Does anyone remember the terms ‘hobo’ (drifter looking for work), ‘bum’ (drifter not looking for work), ‘tramp’ (drifter that primarily steals and doesn’t work), and bindlestiff (bindle was the cloth-wrapped bundle of all a hobo’s possesions; the bindlestiff stole mostly from hobos, a particularly loathesome bottom feeder)? Men that once raised families, farms, and ranches, then provided low cost work across the nation — until everything crumbled in the 1930′s and national depression.

Please, come to Oklahoma — this is a really nice place. The tourist industry thrives with a lot of memorials, markers, and remembrances of the past. Entertaining, educational, and fun. Prices aren’t terribly high here, crime is moderately low, and no more than the usual urban dicey areas. Just, keep in mind that Oklahoma history, as trotted out for the centennial riturals, may not be complete. And her glory has a bit of tarnish for her role in the United States; The state of Oklahoma has been a pretty proud and honorable state since her founding.