General: March 2005 Archives

About 8 o'clock tonight it hit me, right in the middle of a meeting. I felt totally wiped out, and I think I'm coming down with something.

I am looking at my notebook, and I have a list of 25 things I wanted to blog about. Tonight, you're just going to have to make do with the most pressing news, and maybe a couple of other links. As always, there's a wealth of news and amusement to be found via the blogroll.

Michael DelGiorno has had a setback in his recovery from hernia surgery, and he'll be recuperating again tomorrow morning, leaving sidekick Gwen Freeman to fill in once again. Gwen has asked me to ride shotgun once again, and so I shall. I expect we'll be talking about the recall, which will be on Thursday's Council agenda, as will 71st and Harvard. Councilor Bill Christiansen is bringing the denial of F&M Bank's final plat up for reconsideration at a special "pre-meeting" out of the public eye, Thursday at 5 p.m. in the Council committee room on the second floor of City Hall. Tune in to AM 1170 or listen online.

If you enjoyed hearing me on the radio all last week, there's one person in particular who deserves your thanks. My wife Mikki took on some added burdens so that I could be available all five days for the whole show. Thank you, dear -- it wouldn't have happened without your help and encouragement.

Despite spending 17.5 hours on the air last week, I never had the chance to do my usual BatesLine update. Usually, after we talk about the issues of the day, I get a couple of minutes to highlight other topics I've been writing about. During the normal slot on Monday, we were occupied with the Mayor's speech to the Republican convention, and the rest of the week, Gwen and I were talking to guests and callers. We just never got around to it.

Here then are some non-city-politics highlights from BatesLine over the last couple of weeks:

• Remembering Abigail, two years later: Remembering the life, death, and triumphant faith of Abigail Litle, who was killed two years ago in a terrorist attack in Israel. If you've never read this, and the articles it links to, please do.
• Borscht and a cake from Brooklyn: A report about the exotic food served at our church's missions conference banquet.
• MENDing broken hearts: A victim of abortion speaks at the banquet of a local crisis pregnancy center.
• Lots of coverage of Terri Schiavo's situation and the efforts to save her from starvation: here, here, and here.
• Summer at age 8 -- 1972: My memories of summer as an eight-year-old and of a particularly significant event that happened to me.
• Swinging on a scar: A TV sweeps-month report about "swingers" inspires thoughts about intimacy and vulnerability.
• Memories of a different kind of swinger -- posts in honor of Bob Wills' 100th birthday here, here, and here.
• Hunchback nation: How computers threaten to give us all permanent humps and headaches, and what you can do to stop it from happening to you.
• Go forth, Gruntfuttock, my child: A salute to the classic British radio comedy "Round the Horne" on its 40th anniversary, with a link to where you can hear the program today.

Finally, in doing some research for more recent blog entries, I read through my archive from March 2004. It was an eventful month -- the city elections that gave the Reform Alliance four seats on the Council, along with the court fight that overturned the District 3 Democrat primary. Beyond the local stuff, there was rather a lot of good writing, I thought, and if you're new to BatesLine, wander back a year and have a look.

Go get caught up.

You young whippersnappers don't know how easy you've got it. It was a hard life, blogging back in the old days. We didn't have fancy-schmancy tools like Movable Type or WordPress. We didn't even have HTML, or even computers, for pete's sake! Back when I started, we blogged with chalk. That's right, chalk! All I had to work with was a 1 KB chalkboard. Hits per day? Maybe 100. Archives? My archives long ago settled in between the blocks of the parquet floor. You had one chalkboard, and when it was full, it was full. You wanted to write something new? You erased what was there.

Sometime in 1978 or 1979, Carlos Tuttle, then head of Holland Hall's Upper School and teacher of Oklahoma History, delivered a lecture in the school's commons about Washington Irving's book A Tour of the Prairies, in which Irving describes his 1832 journey through what is now northeastern Oklahoma. Mr. Tuttle described how Irving's route took him through what is now Tulsa, and in all likelihood right across what is now Holland Hall's football field. For his talk, Mr. Tuttle made use of a large map of Oklahoma, which was supported by a freestanding chalkboard.

After the talk, the chalkboard remained in the commons through some oversight, finding its way to the corner near the southeast staircase. An upperclassman calling himself the Friendly Philosopher began to write a thought for the day on the board. Before long a senior named Sean Haugh began posting biting and cynical satire on the chalkboard, calling himself the Unfriendly Philosopher. At some point, I became the Unfriendly Philosopher's Apprentice, graduating from my apprenticeship as I became a senior. The board was used for lampooning every aspect of school life, and although I cannot remember the specifics of any articles I wrote, there's at least one reader of this blog who probably can. I wasn't the sole user of the chalkboard -- a number of my friends wrote for the chalkboard as well, so it was a kind of primitive group blog.

The only writings that survive from the period are the class prophecy, which I co-wrote with Alex Eaton and Rick Koontz; Gallway, the April Fools' Day parody newspaper, which Tim Nelson, Rick Koontz, and I wrote and edited; and the speech that got me elected as an at-large representative to the Student Council.

Finally, a morning I can sleep in -- maybe as late as 7!

I had a great time this week filling in as sidekick on KFAQ's Michael DelGiorno show, as Gwen Freeman did a marvelous job hosting the show during Michael's recuperation. Adjectives fail me -- not enough sleep -- but Gwen is a great interviewer, and I never get tired of listening to that voice. I hope she gets her own talk show some day. (She's already got her own music show on KXBL Classic Country 99.5, every day from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.) It was a privilege to sit in with her, especially during such an eventful week in local politics.

Rush Limbaugh has often said that being a radio talk show host was like having an adult Christmas every day -- that sense of excitement and anticipation. Despite the early hours, I really looked forward each morning to coming in and commenting on the news.

I may regret this, but if you heard the show this week, I invite your critique -- how'd I do? How could I have done better?

I will be back in studio Monday for my usual 20 minutes, hopefully with a recovered Michael DelGiorno on the other side of the desk. In the meantime, you can listen online for a repeat of this morning's broadcast, which featured Scott Pruitt's lecture on George Washington's Farewell Address, and included interviews with Sen. Tom Coburn and State Rep. Pam Peterson, and a look at Tulsa's Altarnet Film Society, which does a monthly screening of independent films with a spiritual theme.

Blogging will be light this weekend as I get caught up with the rest of my life. In the meantime, be sure to sample the blogroll on the right side of the home page.

Tomorrow morning I'll be back on 1170 KFAQ again with Gwen Freeman.

Between 6 and 7, State Senator Scott Pruitt will continue with KFAQ University -- the sixth in his series of lectures on American history and civics. If you want to catch up, the KFAQ website has MP3 audio and class notes for the first five lectures.

Later, we'll be talking about the pro-life legislation that passed the State House of Representatives last week, and Terri's Law, the Incapacitated Person's Legal Protection Act, now working its way through the U. S. Congress.

Be sure to tune in from 5:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., or listen anytime online as the show repeats throughout the weekend.

Here are a couple of photos from this morning, during a break. Gwen and I:

Blogging in a spare moment:

(Thanks to Chip for taking the photos.)

I'll be on KFAQ once again tomorrow morning, 5:30 to 9:00, joining Gwen Freeman in studio as Michael DelGiorno recuperates at home. (This morning he just couldn't stand not being in studio for the analysis of Mayor LaFortune's Tulsa County Republican Convention speech.) The special Council meeting on the recall election will be the main topic of the day, along with some of the other highlights of Saturday's Tulsa County Republican Convention. Tune in on 1170 AM, or listen online here.

Tomorrow morning on Talk Radio 1170 KFAQ, Gwen Freeman will be filling in for Michael DelGiorno, and I'll be sitting in as sidekick for the whole morning. The show goes from 5:30 am to 9:00 am. You can listen online and hear the show live, or as it repeats over the next 24 hours.

(The first time you click on the "Listen Online" button, you'll be directed to download SurferNetwork player which you'll need to listen online.)

Well, late last night I wrote you a quick summary of yesterday's Tulsa County Republican convention, but either Movable Type or I had a malfunction, and it's gone, gone, lost and gone. I'll be occupied until this evening with church and family matters. Tune in this evening for my notes from speeches by Congressman John Sullivan, Lt. Gov. Mary Fallin, and Mayor Bill LaFortune. I'll tell you about the newly elected party officials and about the platform we approved, which includes some strong statements on local issues. I'll also catch you up on the recall and other Tulsa news.