Oklahoma
Where the Wind Comes Sweeping Down the Plains
If anybody thinks that Americans are mostly mean and selfish,
they ought to come to Oklahoma.
If anybody thinks Americans have lost the capacity
for love and caring and
courage,
they ought to come to Oklahoma."
--Governor Frank Keating, following the Oklahoma City Bombing
I was driving back from Frederick, a small town about 45 miles southwest of my
home and I was struck by the absolute beauty of the countryside in Oklahoma. I've been
a lot of places that are beautiful--Colorado, Arkansas, Germany--but southwest Oklahoma in
the springtime, with the wheat crop blanketing the earth with the greenest of greens in front
of the homes of family farmers, is about is beautiful as it gets.
I was thinking about this the other day. I am a third generation Oklahoma woman. My daughter is the
fourth generation. And my granddaughter is the fifth. My grandmother was born here, shortly after
statehood. My mother was born here in the Dust Bowl years. I was born in 1959, the age of
Sputnik. My oldest daughter was born here while there were still hostages in Iran. My youngest daughter
was twenty days too late to see Clinton elected for his second term. My granddaughter was born last year,
in the heat of presidential scandal. Five generations descended from pioneer stock
that carved a state out of the great plains at the center of the United States.
My father was in the military and we moved all over the place. Wherever we went,
when people found out that I was from Oklahoma, they asked me about the "wild Indians"
and the buffalo. No one knew anything about the state and I don't know how many
times I told people that I'd never even seen a teepee. Still, the Native American
culture is strong here, blended smoothly with military, civilian and a huge cross section
of ethnicity. Oklahoma is truly multi-cultural, home to those of Native American, Hispanic,
Asian, European and Pacific Island descent as well as those of African Americans and Caucasian American descent.
One of the things I like about Oklahoma is that we honor ethnicity and blend it into our celebrations.
Some Facts About Oklahoma
- "Oklahoma" means "The Land of the Red People" in the Choctaw language
- Admitted into the United States November 16, 1907 as the 46th State
- The State Song is "Oklahoma" from the musical "Oklahoma"
- The State Flower is mistletoe
- The State Bird is the Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher
- The State Tree is the Redbud
- The 1990 Census Count was 3,145,585 people, #28 in the United States
I Didn't Know They Were From Oklahoma
- Gordon Cooper, an original Mercury astronaut
- Carrie Nation, temperance advocate
- Willie Stargell, Pittsburg Pirates Championship Team Member
- Ron Howard, actor/director
- Joe Carter, World Series MVP
- Troy Aikman, Dallas Cowboys Quarterback and Superbowl Champion
- General Thomas Stafford, Gemini and Apollo astronaut
- Jeanne Kirkpatrick, former Ambassador to the United Nationa
- Paul Harvey, radio commentator
- Langston Hughes, author
- Ralph Ellison, author
- "Pretty Boy" Floyd, gangster
- Bill Goldberg, Former WCW World Champion
Oklahoma Websites of Interest
And Remember
If you don't like the weather in Oklahoma
Five Day Forecast
wait a minute--it'll change!
Current Weather