Yet Another Nice Story in the New York Times…
First noticed by Doug Loudenback, this item comes with plenty of art as well. And this time, no mention of the Dust Bowl!
Excerpt:
Newcomers to Oklahoma City might at first have a hard time guessing what part of the United States they’re in. A generally flat cityscape and the Chicago-style Art Deco architecture downtown, coupled with the friendly-but-not-too-friendly nods and hellos, hint at the Midwest. Jazz, blues bars and ubiquitous barbecue joints suggest the South. But the wide vistas, blast-furnace winds from the surrounding red-dirt prairie and preponderance of American Indian shops (Oklahoma has 38 sovereign tribes), pickups and cowboy hats indicate that you are indeed in the West.
And a Western kind of audacity pervades, from the 55-foot-tall glass Dale Chihuly sculpture in the Oklahoma City Museum of Art — which boasts the world’s most comprehensive collection of Chihuly’s works — to the exuberant parades and festivals that seem to be a constant. While I was in town, a nationally known local psychedelic band, the Flaming Lips, screened a homemade movie and music extravaganza, “Christmas on Mars,” to a raucous crowd at the deadCENTER Film Festival. At the same time, the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum was hosting a gathering of contemporary Western artists — imagine a group of people resembling the cast of a Sam Peckinpah movie with paintbrushes. There is also a frisson in the air over the news that the city has managed to snag a National Basketball Association franchise, with the SuperSonics moving here from Seattle next season.
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Comments
Yea, it’s interesting to see the needle move on the image of OKC from a national standpoint. People still attempt to portray us as a hick, dusty cow town. But more and more the reality is pushing it’s way thru the BS. I hope to see more growth and modern development, keep the younger crowd here instead of moving to a “hipper” Dallas or Kansas City. Nice thing is I don’t think any other city has compared to the level of “redefining” it’s image as OKC has.
Shoot., I’m tickled, too, that OKC is expanding its view of itself, and others’ views of it as well, without runnin’ off all us dusty hicks!
Don’t look now, but OKC is becoming the place to be…