I can’t father children. While that means there are no unplanned pregnancies in my past, it also means there are no planned pregnancies in my future. With so many of my peers starting families...
“Jūnin toiro.” – Japanese proverb When my ladyfriend asked where I would like to go for my long-awaited birthday dinner, this year I had only one place in mind: Mr. Tacos in Tulsa. However...
I recently saw a poll that said 71% of Americans are afraid to go back to the movies. As I was about to turn 42 last weekend, my mortality always in question, I could really see that cinematic fear...
It wasn’t a dark and stormy night, but instead a gray and drizzly afternoon when we pulled into the deceptively large town of Bartlesville, Oklahoma. With very few people on the streets this...
In this turbulent era where the cries of rightfully defunding the police are rarely heard, Oklahoma County Commissioners have told area social justice types to go to hell—or, most likely, go to...
Wanting to get out of the city if only for a few scant hours last weekend, my ladyfriend and I took a random road trip to medium-sized berg of Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Thankfully taking over, she had...
Once upon a time… The other day, the closest Starbucks to me—which still quite a distance, mind you—decided that they were going to start closing shop at 2:30 p.m., well before the internal...
I grew up a thankfully nourished child due to Oklahoma’s once-stellar free lunch program. To typically hungry kids like me that counted on a warm tray of eats every school-day for breakfast and...
I was sitting at home last Tuesday night, quietly minding my own business with a pot of tea and a mediocre book when my gal-pal Jodie sent me an alarming text informing me the Belle Isle Library has...
I recently co-adopted a lovable mutt that every few weeks needs to make a trip to Spencer to receive various puppy-based vaccinations that, I’m told, are quite important. And while waiting in the...
Let’s be overindulgently honest for a moment: no one really goes to the Great State Fair of Oklahoma for the dumb games or the lame rides or even the z-list concerts. The hefty truth is most people...
Over the course of this dastardly pandemic, Oklahoma became irritatingly famous for such notorious news items as Governor Stitt getting Coronavirus from that large super-spreader convention headlined...
“You always take me to the nicest places…” By the dim light of the Miller Lite lamp hanging over the pool table, my ladyfriend mocked this latest dinner outing and, you know, she’s kind of...
I’ve had a weight problem all of my life, made even worse by the fact that everyone in my family is mostly thin. I’ve been called every heavy name in the book and, even though I’ve lost massive...
Many Oklahomans were bummed by the announced cancelation of this year’s Great State Fair of Oklahoma, including Sam Stucky. As a native Oklahoman, the self-appointed Corny Carnie of the Inflatable...
As water from the hole in the ceiling near the back of the dining room slowly drips into buckets on the floor, it’s obvious that Ranch House Café, 5000 NW 10th, is on its last legs. It was...
A fortnight ago, as my ladyfriend and I were traveling to Spencer to give the puppy I had recently adopted some vital vaccinations, driving down a barren NE 63rd, off to the side of the road we...
In my mostly questionable life, one of the few things that I have an absolute passion for, something that borders on a sad sexual frenzy, are gas station-based restaurants. TLO editor Patrick knows...
To me, the Pig and the Butcher sounds like it should be the title of a very old German folktale about a pubescent porker on the verge of a gruesome fate that possibly includes grinding porcine flesh...
“We did everything we could…and we still got it.” Those words from Oklahoma City resident Sara C. Jacoby struck a particular nerve with me. A self-avowed “over-masker,” around twenty-five...
Even though Governor Kevin Stitt claims to have some Native blood in him, he seemingly has it out for the Indigenous people of Oklahoma, with his attack on Oklahoma’s Native-owned casinos his most...
Growing up in a one-horse Texas town, when I was a niño pequeño, my blessed grandparents would usually send me care packages filled with all kinds of Mexican goodies that we could never find on our...
One of my ladyfriend’s favorite hobbies is antiquing on the weekends. While she typically enjoys finding things like rustic furniture, unique jewelry and other semi-conversational items on the...
Many times—more than I’d actually like to count—people have asked me if I was ever going to review the legendary Eskimo Joe’s in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Usually, I’ll try to change the...
“Eat Local.” It’s a sturdy phrase that’s been passed around like a plate of Okie hors d’oeuvres, especially over these past few months, usually recited after hearing horror stories of...
