Song Of The Moment: In Your Nature (David Lynch Remix) by Zola Jesus
Zola Jesus – In Your Nature (David Lynch Remix)
Zola Jesus is ordinarly not a fan of remixes, but when you have an opportunity to let director David Lynch reinterpret your work, how could one pass up the chance?
I enjoy this song, because it’s different than anything out there currently in pop music. It’s dark, forebodding and sultry all at the same time.
Oklahoma Wildlife
While at Quartz Mountain with fellow intern, Ben Luschen, I got a little free time to shoot some southwestern Oklahoma nature photography.
I decided to sit by the lake with my 400mm 2.8 and shoot some photos of birds and other wildlife.
A family of deer came walking by shortly after. They got surprisingly close. They didn’t seem threatened by me, but I’m sure they’ve been shot at by much worse.
Oklahoma City is dancing
RJ Young
Staff Writer
ryoung@opubco.com
OKLAHOMA CITY — Here’s the thing: The NBA Finals don’t happen in places like Oklahoma City.
It happens in cities and states home to more than one major professional sports franchise. It happens in places where Bud Wilkinson is some guy from Minnesota.
It happens in sexier cities, more exotic cities — cities where public transportation is the most efficient way to travel. It happens in places where you don’t have to catch a connecting flight into the city.
It happens in cities where the ocean is within driving distance and pleasant folks will sell you directions to your favorite celebrity’s house. It happens in cities where folks brag about how hard, how hardened, the city has made them.
That’s why this series between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Miami Heat is bigger than any national championship any college in Oklahoma could win.
Swords were dropped — and have remained so — when the Thunder began its playoff run. Cowboy orange, Sooner crimson and Tulsa Hurricane royal blue have all been forsaken for Thunder light blue.
Oklahomans are a part of something they’ll be proud to talk about, to remember in the years and decades to come. But even then, folks will probably have a hard time explaining to loved ones how crazy and exciting it has been and will be. After all, empathy is learned — not conveyed.
Oklahoma has arrived at the party. Have fun dancing with her.
Jazz and Zip Lines: Covering Entertainment
I’m still waiting for this internship to feel like actual work.
Even though it’s barely been two weeks, I have already done some pretty cool things. But so far, week two is looking a lot better than week one. In the past two days I have been on Oklahoma’s only zip line tour and I’ve interveiwed jazz’ fastest growing star, Esperanza Spalding.
Esperanza Spalding came out of nowhere in 2011 and won the Grammy Award for best new artist. She beat Justin Bieber, Drake, Florence and the Machine and Mumford and Sons. She’s kind of awesome. Her music is beautiful.
Listen to my favorites. They are: Hold On Me, Black Gold and Vague Suspicions.
If Matt knew how easily I get startstruck, he might have second guessed giving me the story. One time I froze up completely when I met the host of a BYU-TV cooking show I was on in college. As if mormon cooking show hosts are famous.
Anyway, I didn’t make a complete fool of myself. I had a great conversation with her and found out some pretty cool things that I’ll probably never use for the article, but sometimes my curiousity gets the better of me.
Random kid on a zip line.
Today, I got to go out to a zip line they built just outside of Tulsa. I met some great people, had good interviews and I conquered my fear of heights. This thing was more than 50-feet off the ground, and they expect you to just step right off the platform and trust the harness won’t break and send you falling to your death*.
Originally, I was just going to get information because I didn’t have a camera with me, but they literally forced me into a harness against my will and made me walk to the top. OK, that didn’t happen. But it almost felt like it.
I don’t feel like this has been work. This internship has already given me some great memories and I can’t wait to make more this summer. I wasn’t about to pull my cell phone out and risk dropping it in the forest, so this is a random picture of a kid I found on the Internet. That might be creepy, but this is about what the forest looks like when you’re doing the tour.
*I know Joe had this fear for me, too, when Matt told me I would be doing this. I survived, though, and they put you through a quick training before you do the course.
NBA Finals: Intern picks
RJ Young
Staff Writer
ryoung@opubco.com
OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoman/NewsOK.com interns made their picks for the 2012 NBA Finals:
Bryce Arens: Thunder in seven.
Andrea Gicalone: Thunder in six.
Olivia Ingle: Thunder in five.
Arielle Retting: Thunder in seven.
Nasreen Iqbal: Thunder in six.
Celia Ampel: Thunder in six.
Li Lin: Thunder in five.
Joey Stipek: Heat in seven.
Carmen Forman: Thunder in five.
Kyle Fredrickson: Heat in six.
Taylor Eldridge: Heat in seven.
RJ Young: Heat in six.
Anthony Slater: Heat in six.
Connor Rohwer: Thunder in seven.
(This post will be updated as more interns weigh in.)
What say you?
– That Intern, RJ Young
Have you had a brush with a Thunder Player?
Hey Thunder fans intern Bryce here. The staff at The Oklahoman wants to know if you have interacted with any Thunder players away from the court and have a story to share. Thunder coverage is making its way into all parts of the paper and with your help we can tell personal stories of how Thunder players are involved in OKC and the state of Oklahoma. You can send your stories or photos to myself at barens@opubco.com. Check out http://newsok.com/ for continued Thunder coverage throughout the finals.
Why Oklahoma?
When The Oklahoman’s internship coordinator, Joe Hight, called me for an interview in December, I was incredibly nervous. I don’t remember most of the things we talked about, but he asked me one question that I’ll never forget.
“So, why are you interested in coming to Oklahoma?”
Just to give you an idea of how far away I am from home.
I do remember having a moment of panic because it was the first question I didn’t know how to answer. I knew why I liked The Oklahoman and NewsOK, but not necessarily why I liked the area. Somehow I fumbled through it and he liked me enough anyway to give me the spot, and I gladly accepted within the hour.
After I accepted the internship, many of my friends and relatives asked me similar questions. ”So, you’re leaving the East Coast, huh? Why? What’s so great about Oklahoma?”
Ever since I got here I can’t stop hearing it, either. ”Why Oklahoma?” “What made you come here?”
Many people are just curious, but some of them say it like I’m crazy. What made me come here, like it was some terrible thing for me to leave Virginia and move out west.
So, why Oklahoma?
Why not?
I was initially drawn to The Oklahoman and NewsOK because of Adam Kemp, a two-time intern who now works on the Metro desk. We attended the Poynter College Fellowship together last summer and spent many, many hours together working on a big project. We kept in touch and he had such a good experience that I figured I might as well apply.
But I’m glad to say that Adam isn’t the only cool part about Oklahoma City. I’ve watched every Thunder game with my roommates/fellow interns, gone to the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, explored the Oklahoma City Zoo, walked around Bricktown, saw the Paul Simon documentary “Under African Skies” at the deadCENTER Film Festival, and even met James Marsden. There is always something fun to do, and there is much more to explore.
From left: Andrea, Celia, Sarah, Bryce, me and Olivia at the deadCENTER Film Festival.
But more than that, this city is so welcoming and everyone feels so unified. Part of that might be because the Thunder is doing so well, but this feels like a place where you will always be accepted and welcomed with open arms. And since I came from almost 1,500 miles away, I really needed that.
As I’ve researched the city and gotten to know it a little bit better, I am so glad I came. I’ve only been here for a little over two weeks and I’m strangely attached to this city already. I can’t quite put it into words, but from day one it felt like home. I will always love Virginia, but I’m not homesick because there’s no need to be; I already feel at home.
Some of that might just be my optimism, because I came fully prepared to fall in love with this city. Before me and my roommate/fellow intern Olivia Ingle try anything new here, one of us always says, “No matter what happens, it’ll be an adventure.” But I think that most of it is just because Oklahoma City is a great place to live and explore, especially if you’re willing to try new things.
The thought of having to leave this place in August breaks my heart, but I’m not going to think about that for the time being. For now I’m just going to have fun, work hard and keep exploring this great city I now call home.
Lessons on the job
I know there’s always something to be gained with every story. You learn a little something about yourself or about humanity, or just about how to be a better reporter.
On Friday, I experienced a lot of these things. My assignment was to write about an annual event called Endeavor Games. It’s an opportunity for people with physical disabilities to enjoy athletic activities, with a little bit of competition mixed in.
Most of the people there were teenagers and veterans with amputations. They each had a great story to share, I’m sure. But that day, I happened to speak with two men who wanted to spread the word that it’s OK to live with disabilities. And I talked to a 13-year-old whose legs were paralyzed when he was born. On that particular day, his basketball shorts hid what was missing underneath.
I should also say that during the event, I mistook a little girl as a paraplegic (a person who is paralyzed from the waist down). She was rolling around in a wheelchair made for the basketball court, and she seemed to look longingly at the basket as she took shallow shots toward the basket. When I went to talk with the girl, her mom told me, “You know, she’s not disabled?” Nope – I didn’t know that. I had come across other people that day who seemed to have such mild symptoms of disability that you almost couldn’t tell.
So instead, I talked to the woman’s friend, a man who uses a wheelchair and advocates for people to get up and keep going. He was great to talk with, and he said he was thankful for the games. That’s where he met a recruiter who convinced him to enroll in a local college and to take up adaptive sports.
I left the event with a notebook full of stories about overcoming obstacles. Then I got to the office, and I didn’t know where to start. I didn’t want to misrepresent these people by writing a cheesy story. Heck, I already thought an able-bodied kid was disabled.
Thinking back, she was just doing it because her mom was such a supporter for people with disabilities, and the little girl had grown up with people around her in that condition. It just wasn’t a big deal to her.
That was the message that needed to be conveyed in the story: People overcome these obstacles by helping each other cope.
Eventually, I came to that conclusion. It just took longer than I expected to put it into words. My lesson, just like theirs, is to get back up and keep going.
Red Earth
Renny Reeves, of Oklahoma City, walks down an aisle of the Cox Convention Center during the Red Earth Celebration at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City, Friday, June 8, 2012. Photo by Garett Fisbeck, The Oklahoman
The Red Earth Festival is one of largest annual Native American events in the country.
This was my second year shooting it. It’s a great opportunity to get photos with a lot of color and faces with a lot of character.
Antone Nenaikita, 11, of McCloud walks under an American Flag with the Kickapoo Youth Council during the Red Earth Celebration in Oklahoma City, Friday, June 8, 2012. Photo by Garett Fisbeck, The Oklahoman
Zach Morris, of McCloud, prepares for the Grand Entry during the Red Earth Celebration at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City, Friday, June 8, 2012. Photo by Garett Fisbeck, The Oklahoman
D.J. Whitebuffalo, 6, of South Dakota, prepares for the Grand Entry during the Red Earth Celebration at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City, Friday, June 8, 2012. Photo by Garett Fisbeck, The Oklahoman
John Keel, of Durant, prepares for the Grand Entry during the Red Earth Celebration at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City, Friday, June 8, 2012. Photo by Garett Fisbeck, The Oklahoman
Breaking news: the good, the bad and the ugly
With a full business week under my belt I have some experiences to share. Breaking news can be really fun or basically nonexistent.
One of the things I learned this week was how to go t0 the Oklahoma City police stations and pick out police reports to cover. When I was told I would be going to the police station I assumed it would be a lot like the DMV except with weapons and handcuffs. I assumed every question would be met with eye rolls and loud exasperated sighs. I was wrong. The public information officers were usually happy to help and it gave me a chance to fraternize with people from other media outlets and remind myself why I’m not going into broadcast.
Looking through a stack of reports may sound mind-numbingly boring, but it is the gems in there that make it all worth it. In that stack I found a story about a man who shot himself while driving high with a child in the car. There was also a report of a woman who stole not one, but two vibrators from Spencer’s. The stupidity of some people never ceases to amaze me.
**Sidenote: later that week I had to take a call from the grandma of the man who shot himself. She wanted to know where I got some of my information because she was convinced she would know if her grandson was in a gang. After all, who doesn’t tell their granny if they made it into the bloods or the crips?
Some times things take a turn for the worse…
I had to talk to the mother of a dead 16-year-old girl mere hours after she found out her daughter was murdered for apparently no reason. This woman was so distraught and sad she could barely hold herself together and her words were frequently broken up by sobs. I can’t put into words how awful that felt and I think that’s the one thing that won’t get easier with practice.
To end on a lightearted note, it’s been a good first week. All of the death and destruction hopefully won’t stop me from walking into work like Joseph Gordon-Levitt from “500 Days of Summer.”
