Winter 2016
The cover features original mixed-media art by Gaylord Oscar Herron. On the inside, Russell Cobb asks the tough questions about philanthrocapitalism to find out what A Gathering Place really means for Tulsa and beyond. Also, Kyle Walker investigates the pernicious encroachment of eastern redcedar on the prairies, Mitch Gilliam tests out float tank therapy, and James McGirk hunts for Bigfoot. Plus, fiction by Keija Parssinen, new poetry, rare photographs. Here's what else you'll find inside:
I’M DOING A THING Michael Mason sits down with Eric Fransen to talk about number theories, fractals, and the beauty of mathematics.
HAIR SQUARED Marcia Beauchamp gives a lesson on the geometry of a good haircut.
TRANSCENDING THE CURRICULUM Ken Hada reflects on a poetry workshop at a junior high school.
LAND OF GRAND LIBRARIANS Larry Guthrie maps out the great librarians of the 46th state.
IT’S TOO LATE A chilly meditation on seasons and change by Britton Gildersleeve.
WHAT A PARK SAYS ABOUT US A letter from our publisher.
BRAVE NEW PARK Russell Cobb on the rise of philanthrocapitalism and the park in the heart of America.
THE HORROR OF THE OUACHITA MOUNTAINS James McGirk learns some methods for hunting Bigfoot, including playing porno at full blast and projecting chimpanzee antics on a giant screen.
MY UNCLE WAS AN ASTRO ZOMBIE Dale Ingram takes a stab at making sense of his uncle’s film career.
ESCHATOLOGY A poetic study of the end of the world by Markham Johnson.
TWO WAYS OF LOOKING AT A TURKEY VULTURE Gordon Grice contemplates the morbid beauty of circling scavengers.
A CHILDHOOD NOIR Jim Thompson recalls a failed experiment from his adolescence in Oklahoma City.
THE GREEN GLACIER Kyle Walker investigates the effects of Juniperus virginiana on the southern prairie.
BLACK WEDNESDAY A look back at April 8, 1970, when western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma were engulfed in flames. By Rollo T. Davis and Richard M. Ogden.
WHAT THE THUNDER SAID Bayard Godsave sends a letter from Comanche County in the wake of last year’s flood season.
ISOLATION IS THE GIFT Mitch Gilliam takes a trip to the Laureate Institute for Brain Research’s Float Clinic and Research Center in Tulsa to experience the effects of float tank therapy.
RIDESHARE VS CAR OWNERSHIP Michael Bates offers a cost-benefit analysis.
OIL CHANGE A poem by Randall Weiss on the stains and strains of vehicular maintenance.
OUR PUBLIC LAND POLICY From the archives, a passionate essay on the management public land during the era of western expansion by Veeder B. Paine. Originally published in Harper’s Magazine in 1885.
THE GATES OF TUNIS Keija Parssinen explores love’s many facets in this ethnic mosaic of friendship, pain, and sacrifice.
NO ONE FROM HERE GETS OUT ALIVE Chris Sandel pens a letter to our late friend and colleague Lee Roy Chapman.
