Oklahoma City in the NY Times…
August 18th, 2008
This article ran in the New York Times a couple of weeks ago and I have been meaning to post it. It is nice to see Oklahoma City getting positive attention for the great things that have been going on.
I really like where the author Finn-Olaf Jones attempts to explain where Oklahoma City is located regionally. I always say that Oklahoma and Texas are similar with a mix of old south, midwest, and southwest – but Okies lack the Texas ego. Finn-Olaf comes to a similar conclusion, but with vivid descriptions as to why:
Newcomers to Oklahoma City might at first have a hard time guessing what part of the United States they’re in. A generally flat cityscape and the Chicago-style Art Deco architecture downtown, coupled with the friendly-but-not-too-friendly nods and hellos, hint at the Midwest. Jazz, blues bars and ubiquitous barbecue joints suggest the South. But the wide vistas, blast-furnace winds from the surrounding red-dirt prairie and preponderance of American Indian shops (Oklahoma has 38 sovereign tribes), pickups and cowboy hats indicate that you are indeed in the West.
Check out the full article here and think of all the reason you have to love Oklahoma!
August 19th, 2008 at 11:00 am
I really liked how he found sophistication and cosmopolitan cool in the mixture of western and urban culture. Over the last few years, I think it has become apparent that OKC does not have to (and maybe CANNOT) lose that cowboy charm to become a unique urban place.
August 19th, 2008 at 11:23 am
Completely agree Shane. OKC should embrace its status as a frontier city and reputation that lends itself to nicknames like “The Big Friendly.” We should probably also make room for some new traits to evolve, but we have to hold on to what makes OKC, OKC!
August 19th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
I was excited that the NYT reporter was able to avoid resorting to some of the cliche descriptions of Oklahoma City we’ve come to expect from outside observers experiencing the town on deadline. I was a little turned-off at first read, upset even, by the choice of In Cahoots (sorry, Cowboys), as an example of the OKC night life. We don’t have much in the way of cool, destination bars, but we can do better than Cow-Hoots, right? Then it occurred to me that maybe indoor bull riding might actually be goofy enough to be exciting to someone from New York. And it is right by the airport for visitors looking for a crazy time to tell their friends about when they get back home.
I listened yesterday to the editor of Oklahoma Today magazine talking about how we should avoid trying to distance ourselves from who we really are, using the annual cow chip tossing contest somewhere in Oklahoma as an example of the kind of things we should embrace, and I wholeheartedly agree. I also think we should be on the lookout for public projects with the potential to start the ball rolling on turning OKC into some weird kind of pseudo-western theme park (who’s the legislator pushing for a huge oil derrick attraction along the OK River?).
August 20th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
Yeh Robino – In Cahoots might not be what we think of when we think of Oklahoma City and what we want it to be, but it is very representative of our history as a frontier state, wild landrun beginnings, and continued tradition of horsemanship, ranching, and pure country living. To the extent that Oklahoma City can allow this tradition to inspire its own blend of urban living, we can create a unique urban experience that is truly Oklahoman – I think that is something that would appeal to a lot of people.
By the way, this reminds me, I recently went on a weekend trip with some buddies to Henryetta where we had a truly Oklahoman experience. I will try to get some video of it uploaded here soon.