O! Tulsa! O! The majestic brownish-green waters of the Arkansas, Meandering through the jewel of Oklahoma, Fostering a smorgasbord of two-headed bass and other delectable creatures, Swifter and stronger than any fixie-mounted hipster.
O! Tulsa! O! The unforgiving Turkey Mountain, An unsurmountable peak and the bane of alpine climbers everywhere, Destroying hopes and runners’ ankles since the dawn of time, Jutting forth above the otherwise pancaked horizon: the metropolis’s personal watchtower.
O! Tulsa! O! The pristine roads of a city taken care of, Delivering their passengers with an unheard of peace of mind, Truly the cutting edge of civil engineering in action, And only the best for the tires of a Tulsan.
O! Tulsa! O! The bustling downtown of a growing urban sprawl, So much more than “Comfortably Cosmopolitan” as unassumingly advertised, Importing the masses after rush hour like a teacher calling in the kids from recess, With people dashing this way and that: the exemplar pre-White Flight urbania.
O! Tulsa! O! The city that sometimes sleeps, Usually in bed by 10:30, On weeknights nonetheless.
There comes a time in every history enthusiast’s lifetime when they must define history by another, more comical standard. Not really; this is just what I do out of boredom. Without further ado, the Top 5 Frattiest US Presidents.
5. Andrew “Let me at ‘em” Jackson,
Andy didn’t come from the most prestigious background, but being on his good side meant a life full of victories and spoils.
4. Ulysses “Pretty Boy” Grant,
Although not the most tactile general in the Union’s history, Ulysses was known as a friend of Jack Daniel’s, the whiskey and the Tennessean.
3. Theodore “Larger than life” Roosevelt,
Teddy was the life of the party, impressing everyone with his booming stories of the world’s wildest adventures.
2. Dwight “Hole-in-one” Eisenhower,
Ike celebrated his D-Day successes by spending two terms golfing more than all your uncles and their bosses combined.
1. John “F is for fratstrap” Kennedy,
When he wasn’t charming the American public in the White House, Jack made use of his Sperry’s on Cape Cod.
"A human community, then, if it is to last long, must exert a sort of centripetal force, holding local soil and local memory in place. Practically speaking, human society has no work more important than this. Once we have acknowledged this principle, we can only be alarmed at the extent to which it has been ignored. For though our present society does generate a centripetal force of great power, this is not a local force, but one centered almost exclusively in our great commercial and industrial cities, which have drawn irresistibly into themselves both the products of the countryside and the people and talents of the country communities."
Some people reading this blog may recall conversations with me during which I would criticize blogging, often only to promote controversy or demean the activity as useless or wasteful. Well, one could say my mind on the matter has changed.
Don’t we all “waste” our time with one activity or another? I’ve come to realize that the very manner by which we use our excess time is a way of defining our lives. If our lives looked like efficient industrial factories, spitting out the highest production from the least amount of energy, this world would look radically different. Radically boring, that is. Books, movies, music, and sports would all take a back seat. Blogging can be bad and can be good. I use these two ambiguous words purposely. This activity, hobby per se, will become what I make of it.
Throughout a typical day, I share all the (nearly) worthless trivial facts and musings that bounce around in my mind with some people who do care and more people who don’t. Regardless of this blog, that habit will most definitely continue. This blog is for those that find things I say mildly interesting. Enjoy; I dare you.
