Michael Bates

Tales of a 1948 journey down Route 66

11/27/2022

Jo Ann Wilburn is writing a novel, Tumbleweed, fictionalizing her family's 1948 journey from Oklahoma to California on Route 66. Her mother recorded her memories of the trip in a diary. Jo Ann has expanded on those memories with a great deal of research. But her publisher thinks she's got...

- November 27, 2022 at 08:48PM
Tales of a 1948 journey down Route 66
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Internet Archive lending library

11/12/2022

In a column last week on the role ritual and prohibitions play in group identity for Christians, Rod Dreher recalled a passage in Natural Symbols: Explorations in Cosmology by Mary Douglas about Irish resistance to the Roman Catholic Church's decision to abolish the Friday fast and allowing meat on Fridays....

- November 12, 2022 at 10:17AM
Internet Archive lending library
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Election Eve 2022: Notes

11/8/2022

An election eve assortment of thoughts: Last week, I attended and live-tweeted the Tuesday, November 1, 2022, Red Wave rally in Oklahoma City featuring Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Gov. Kevin Stitt, and State Superintendent nominee Ryan Walters; the Wednesday Tulsa rally with Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, and a Wednesday lunch-time...

- November 07, 2022 at 11:18PM
Election Eve 2022: Notes
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Tulsa Election 2022: City Council runoff

11/7/2022

The City of Tulsa's odd and oft-changed election process comes to its 2022 conclusion Tuesday with runoffs in three of nine Tulsa City Council seats. Three incumbents, all registered to vote as Democrats, failed to reach the 50% threshold in the August general election and so face a runoff. The...

- November 06, 2022 at 11:37PM
Tulsa Election 2022: City Council runoff
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ahha closes OKPOP delayed: Is Tulsa's oligarchy competent?

11/7/2022

Looks like Tulsa's billionaire overlords aren't as competent as they pretend to be. If they're going to insist on being in charge and push us to elect their minions, couldn't they at least show some signs of competence? And maybe a little frugality along the way?

- November 06, 2022 at 06:18PM
ahha closes, OKPOP delayed: Is Tulsa's oligarchy competent?
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Oklahoma 2022: Tulsa area legislative races

11/4/2022

Two State Senate districts and six State House districts that overlap with Tulsa County have general elections on November 8, 2022. Neighboring counties add in four additional State House seats. Here's an overview with my recommendations in six of the races; details after the jump, and more to be added....

- November 04, 2022 at 12:37AM
Oklahoma 2022: Tulsa area legislative races
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Oklahoma Election 2022: Do Republican legislative leaders want Stitt to lose?

11/2/2022

Do Republican legislative leaders want so badly for Gov. Kevin Stitt to lose his bid for re-election that they're willing to accept half-measures on child mutilation in the name of "gender confirmation"? That's the question posed by a recent report by Harry Scherer in The American Conservative, "The Fight Over...

- November 02, 2022 at 10:48PM
Oklahoma Election 2022: Do Republican legislative leaders want Stitt to lose?
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Gone and forgotten (or not)

11/2/2022

If you knew how quickly people would forget you after your death, you would not seek in your life to please anyone but God. -- John Chrysostom I shared that memeified quote on FB recently, and it spawned a few other thoughts. In central Europe, at least, you only rent...

- November 02, 2022 at 09:15AM
Gone and forgotten (or not)
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