One funeral, a wedding, and noodling
Yesterday ended one of the more personally memorable weekends for me in recent years. I celebrated the life of a colleague at his funeral; witnessed the marriage of another friend; missed my parents wedding anniversary by one day (not proud of that); and was on-set for the production finale of “Noodling”. Saturday, August 7, began [...]
Local coach leads team to state championship
Brandon Henry, of Pauls Valley, Okla., recently did the unthinkable with a cast of unlikely characters. The Garvin County-native led a team of supplanted adolescent girls from his community to the Oklahoma 10U Class C State Softball Championship on Sunday, June 20. Henry took over the 10-and-under “Valley Girls” as the volunteer head coach at [...]
What “Twilight” Taught a Small Town
While the story of Bella Swan, Edward Cullen, and Jacob Black has made author Stephenie Meyer internationally known, it has also made a small town in upstate Washington, USA, famous. The series, “Twilight”, based upon the interwoven lives of teenagers, vampires, and wolves, has spawned a franchise of themed-movies and merchandise. It has also launched [...]
Using social media is like living in a small town
If you use social media then you know what it’s like to live in a small town. Granted, you may not have a physical street address, or that one blinking traffic light to slow you down. The population may be in the millions, the thousands, or—if you live in a small, small town—one hundred or [...]
A Week of Giving: Wynnewood Book Drive
Day One _ Day Two _ Day Three _ Day Four _ Day Five “Life-transforming ideas have always come to me through books,” American author Bell Hooks once said. Perhaps that is the idea that best explains a book drive being led by one Wynnewood, Okla., resident. Mike Dyson, a children’s author and therapist, resides [...]
A Week of Giving: Coats For Kids
Day One _ Day Two _ Day Three _ Day Four _ Day Five “I don’t want kids to be cold in the winter.” That’s it. That’s why she does it. In LaWanda Vaughn’s own words, that’s the reason she started giving coats to school children. “I just don’t want a kid to be cold,” [...]
A Week of Giving: Introduction
Day One _ Day Two _ Day Three _ Day Four _ Day Five ‘Business’ as usual The holidays come once a year in the States; yet the the needs of our society seem constant against the backdrop of our seasonal wants. We begin the end of our calendar year’s by giving thanks on a [...]
'All The Bad Stuff' Parents Never Want
“I feel like the best way to know about something is from the inside, and I’ve been on the inside.” Words spoken by a mother who has seen—firsthand—the affects that drugs can have on a child. Her child. Her only son. My son did all the bad stuff that every parent would not want their [...]
If you had a city…
If you had a city, what would be its name? What would be its purpose? How would you describe it? What would define its boundaries? Who would you welcome to live there? Visit the “City of Hope“
Technology in a Small Town
Dictionary.com defines a “small town” as a “community of people smaller than a (village)”, or a “a small community or group of houses in a rural area.” Further, Wikipedia.org reports that the population of a “town” measures “less than 10,000 people”. Take for example: Pauls Valley, Okla. With a base population of 6,000-plus residents, the [...]
