For some reason, I am only now getting around to linking to this week's column in Urban Tulsa Weekly, which is a collection of a dozen-plus reasons I'm optimistic about Tulsa's future. (The column sparked this thread at the TulsaNow forum.)

There's one more reason that I would have included, but can't now because this reason is leaving Tulsa: UTW reporter G. W. Schulz is moving back to San Francisco as a reporter for the Bay Guardian. It's a great opportunity for him.

I have enjoyed getting to know G. W. over the last year or so. Although he grew up here, he spent several years in Austin, Lawrence, and San Francisco, and he brought a fresh perspective to the coverage of Tulsa politics and people. I was really looking forward to his coverage of this spring's city election.

You can read G. W. Schulz's final pieces for UTW in the current issue. The cover story this week is about the sad realities of child custody battles. He shows us a day in Family Court, and interviews a judge, a custody evaluator, a divorce and custody expert at Family and Children's Services, and a couple of attorneys who handle divorce and custody cases, including John Eagleton. G. W. writes of his day at the courthouse:

It’s difficult to imagine anyone ever experiencing intimacy in here, save for a couple of divorce attorneys who might find their own brand of love amidst the sadism and animosity. But a room like this, with its sterile walls, steel furniture and mustard yellow paneling, could certainly accommodate a splintered relationship with kids tumbling in the wake.

Divorce court could be the greatest untapped reservoir of birth control Planned Parenthood never considered. It made me want to experience head trauma so severe that I would lose any sense of carnal knowledge.

G. W. also takes a humorous rearview mirror look at his hometown as he heads off to the Left Coast, in which he dares to suggest that my Oxford shirts are neatly pressed. Nope -- this household is strictly 60-40 blend, machine wash warm, tumble dry low, remove promptly when dryer stops.

One of the delights of walking into Shades of Brown Coffee these last few months was seeing G. W. sitting at the counter, typing away on his laptop, and interrupting him for a wide-ranging chat. I'll miss that. All the best, G. W.