Dear Oklahoma

In this episode, which was recorded remotely in November 2020, we meet playwright and Native theater scholar, Dr. Julie Pearson Little Thunder, and take a listen to selections from her latest play, “A Southern Fantasia.” The reading features Elizabeth Randall as Arifiday, Jana Rhoads (Kiowa/Caddo) as Laune, Vanessa Adams Harris (Mvskoke Creek) as Okcate, April Wind (Mvskoke Creek/Cherokee) as Auntie, and Harold Blalock (Eastern Shawnee/Peoria/Cherokee) as Fletcher. Dr. Julie Pearson Little Thunder has a theater degree from the University of Kansas and worked as a co-founder, director and playwright for a Tulsa-based Native theater company from 1993 to 2010. Of mixed Irish, Creek and African-American ancestry, Little Thunder has published over a dozen articles on Native theater and the Native arts for various journals and magazines. Her most recent works include a book, A Life Made With Artists and a screenplay. She talks to Emily and Lindsey about writing “A Southern Fantasia,” which is one of the few pieces of writing she has completed in the last thirty years that isn’t set in Oklahoma. Little Thunder shares her thoughts on writing a play set in Alabama and the complications of Southern history, discusses the challenges of directing a play during the pandemic, and offers her insight into taking on new creative projects in screenwriting. Song Credits: Sonatina in C Minor by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4393-sonatina-in-c-minor License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Thinking Music by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4522-thinking-music License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Umbrella Pants by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4559-umbrella-pants License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Midnight Tale by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4710-midnight-tale License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license I Feel You by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3894-i-feel-you License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

In this episode, Rilla Askew, author of four novels, a book of stories, and a collection of creative nonfiction, reads her essay “Dear Tulsa,” which first appeared in the literary journal AGNI. She talks to Emily and Lindsey about writing “Dear Tulsa,” an essay that brings together a traumatic moment from Rilla’s early twenties and the story of Tulsa, Oklahoma. She also shares her thoughts on writing about place and explains what has kept her going creatively throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Song Credits: Dirt Rhodes by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3650-dirt-rhodes License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Cold Funk by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3522-cold-funk License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this live episode, Tulsa Artist Fellow Karl Jones reads from his memoir-in-progress at Curiosity Fest, a daylong festival celebrating literature, history, philosophy, and ethics sponsored by Oklahoma Humanities in Oklahoma City. Karl, who grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and now lives in Brooklyn, New York, talks about his career as a writer, children’s literature editor at Penguin Random House, performer, and visual artist. While Karl has authored and edited many books for children, his venture into writing a memoir for adults is a new experience. The excerpts he shares with Emily and Lindsey from his memoir-in-progress reflect on moments from his life that explore his sexuality, the rigidity of gender roles, and the vulnerability one must have to write effectively about sensitive topics. He also speaks about the power of silence and how it affects relationships with friends or family, reminisces on his best dance moves at the Silver Star Saloon in the late 1990s, and imagines what a perfect Oklahoma might look like. Song Credits: Who Likes to Party by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4627-who-likes-to-party License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Realizer by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5047-realizer License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this live episode, we kick off the second season of Dear Oklahoma and celebrate Teresa Miller’s induction into the Oklahoma Writers Hall of Fame. This induction ceremony features a conversation with Rilla Askew and Teresa Miller. Special guest P.C. Cast, who is a number one New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, introduces Rilla and Teresa and explains why Teresa has been instrumental to her successful writing career. Teresa Miller is the author of Remnants of Glory, Family Correspondence, and Means of Transit: A Slightly Embellished Memoir. She contributed an essay honoring her friend Pat Conroy titled, “Pat Conroy and Telephone Noir,” in Our Prince of Scribes: Writers Remember Pat Conroy, and is the co-editor of the anthology, Love Can Be: A Literary Collection about Our Animals. Many people also know Teresa for her literary activism. She is the founder of the Oklahoma Center for Poets and Writers and started the Center’s Celebration of Books event. She hosted the beloved OETA television series “Writing Out Loud,” and interviewed such luminaries as Maya Angelou, Edward Albee, and Isabel Allende. Teresa shares stories about her writing life and about the many writers she has crossed paths with over the years, including Harper Lee and Billie Letts. Lindsey and Emily chat with Teresa and Rilla about the importance of friendship, the ever-changing publishing industry, and the necessity of taking part in one’s literary community.

In the final episode of Dear Oklahoma, Season 1, poet John Andrews, author of Colin Is Changing His Name (Sibling Rivalry Press) and a 2018 Oklahoma Book Award finalist, reads a poem he created for our podcast and tells us the reason he stays in Oklahoma. John, who grew up in Sheridan, Arkansas, chats with Lindsey and Emily about his experiences coming of age as a gay man in the south, explains why a text message breakup makes excellent material for poems, and shares how he reconnected with the man who would become his husband after moving to Stillwater, Oklahoma.

In this episode, Chris Murphy, whose fiction has appeared in Gulf Coast, This Land Press, The Jellyfish Review, decomP, The Tulsa Voice, among other publications, shares a piece called, “An Annual Report of the Seasons,” that is both moving and timely. Chris, a native of the Boston area, gives Lindsey and Emily his impressions of the Oklahoma weather, explains why he loves firefly season in Tahlequah, and mentions that he likes writing late at night with the window open (weather permitting, of course).

In this episode, we’ll hear Dinah Cox, author of the award-winning short fiction collection Remarkable (BOA editions), read a story about Ross and Harriet, who find love, sort of, in “The Old-Fashioned Way.” Dinah gives Lindsey and Emily her take on writing Oklahoma stories, creating characters with an ‘Oklahoma neighbor voice,’ and putting small town strife to good use in her fiction.

In this episode, author Hannibal Johnson shares a poem and an essay that addresses what’s necessary to improve Oklahoma’s relationship with diversity and inclusion. Hannibal talks to Lindsey and Emily about our shared humanity, the power of asking “what if,” and he emphasizes the importance of making people feel valued and respected.

In this episode, poet Clem Heard, a 2018 Tulsa Artist Fellow for the Literary Arts, reads a piece he created especially for our podcast. Clem, a New Orleans native, talks to Lindsey and Emily about food and poetry, finding balance in one’s writing life, and the advice he has for those who are getting to know Oklahoma.

In this episode, Kate Strum reads her Pushcart Prize-nominated essay, “Spiritual Affliction: A Thank You Note to Oklahoma.” Lindsey and Emily talk to Kate about the meaning of home, why the poetry of Simon Ortiz matters, and the occasional hazards of telling neighbors that you’re a writer.

In this episode, National Book Award finalist Brandon Hobson reads from his new novel-in-progress, Terlingua, live at Soul City Gastropub in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Brandon chats with Lindsey and Emily about creating fictional characters who crave connection by any means necessary, his reasons for setting stories in small-town Oklahoma, his explorations of Native identity and gender in his works, and why he eschews labels such as “writer.”

In this episode, poet and actor Deborah J. Hunter reads two poems based on the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre that she wrote and performed in Tara Brooke Watkins’ play, “Tulsa 21: Black Wall Street.” Lindsey and Emily talk to Deborah about the use of the word “massacre” versus “riot” and discuss what it means to confront this violent, painful, and hidden moment of Oklahoma’s history through poetry.

In this episode, Emily and Lindsey chat with Kelly Burley from KOSU radio about the premise for Dear Oklahoma, its mission, and the upcoming season. Emily and Lindsey explain how they ended up covering the Oklahoma Teacher’s Walkout earlier this spring and reflect on what it means to inspire the next generation of Oklahoma writers. Listeners will hear poets Clem Heard and Deborah J. Hunter discuss their favorite teachers, as well as teacher-politician John Waldron read his powerful Dear Oklahoma letter.