Tell me something good about Tulsa
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.
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GW will be missed.
i envy that he'll be back in my old stomping grounds. ...how i miss the pacific ocean.
but!
i have made tulsa my home.
i love the fact that i have been able to build a business here, and that tulsa has -- at least for me -- been a place that's embraced the entrepenurial spirit. in tulsa you can plant some seeds and watch them grow...whereas in places like SF, a company like mine would be lost in the cacophony.
i love the architecture. from downtown, to lortondale and swan lake, and all the different historic neighborhoods, to owen park and all the history in greenwood and spots in n. tulsa, all the way up to the pricetower building in bartelsville, tulsa's a great place to soak in decades upon decades of great design. ...a lot of is is very sadly, going away, but we're focusing on the GOOD!
i love, love, love riverside drive. i now live on 67th and riverside, which gives me the luxury of driving up and down riverside to go to meetings, hang out downtown, etc. when the river is high, and the leaves are turning, on all those west-tulsa hills...it's beautiful.
i love brady, and blue-dome, downtown. the fact that nelson and sager (just to name two of many folks) are taking these old buildings and doing something good with them is awesome. ...i hope that continues. downtown needs to encourage the blossoming of more locally owned retail.
this year is full of hope for tulsa.
i expect that it will be a good one.
Hubby retires this summer from the military. We all hope he lands a job here so we can stay. We all love it - great place to raise our family, lakes, parks, good weather, reasonable cost of living, shopping, restaurants, good schools (Owasso).