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People On Sundays-campaigning

There’s more than 50 of them. They are mostly on the north side of the building where  the wind isn’t as bad, packed into bright sleeping bags and blankets. Nobody’s moving at 7:30 a.m.  Clasps on flags ping against poles at Park and Broadway. Thirty minutes later, cell phone alarms start chirping from underneath sleeping bags, and across the street valets at the Skirvin Hotel help guests with their bags.

Several young women from Antioch, Calif., pack their equipment into a red pickup with shoe polish on the windows. They drove for 34 hours to spend a couple of nights outside the Chase Tower in downtown Oklahoma City, but they’ve got to get back home by Monday night.  People have come from as far away as Virgina, Tennessee, Washington, D.C. and Washington state. They are a part of the Coburn Say Yes campaign. Most were inspired by a documentary called Invisible Children about a war that’s older than they are. Sen. Tom Coburn has put a hold on Senate Bill 1067. Members of this peaceful campaign say they’re not leaving Chase Tower until he lifts the hold.

Tomorrow morning they’ll be up early, holding signs and greeting employees at the tower, but today is Sunday. They meet in a circle on the sidewalk; one group leaves to walk to church. Abby Freeman, a student from Washington, D.C., high-fives other students and asks if they are happy. “We’re doing it, we’re doing it. It’s going to happen,” she says of the group’s efforts to raise awareness. “These are lives that we’re changing.”

-John Clanton

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People On Sundays-Mike

As church services begin, Mike Lee sits alone near the top of section 117. Below him, on the arena floor, employees tape up advertisements in anticipation of the PBR event in a few hours. Gates squeak gently before slamming shut, bulls fidget in their pins, and lights flicker on around the arena. As spiritual music continues, Mike, a professional bull rider from Decatur, Tx.,  leans back in his chair, his eyes closed. “I’m not thinking about bull riding,” he says after the service ends, “Thinking is too slow for bull riding.” Mike attends the PBR’s christian outreach, called Riding High, every week in a different arena around the country. Mike says he’s looking for something to give him peace. “You got to have your heart right when you’re on a bull.”

To see more pictures of the PBR event in Oklahoma City, click here.

-John Clanton

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Another Sneak Peek

Here’s another set of pictures that will be in The Oklahoman photo staff’s Best of 2009.

We’ve been working to compile or favorite videos, slideshows and photographs for the year. Look for the webpage soon on NewsOK.com.

-John Clanton

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People On Sundays-Michael

I met Michael Avila toward the end of April, 2009, and I started photographing him in June for a project that will publish soon. Michael has cerebral Palsy. He lives with his mother and sister, who is also disabled, in Midwest City, Ok., but he spends his days at the Metropolitan Better Living Center in northeast Oklahoma City.

At his home in Midwest City, Michael plays with his toys in front of the television and looks up occasionally to watch a scene from Kindergarten Cop. When a neighbor comes by the house to visit, Michael backs toward him laughing, and hoping for a pat on the back or a hug.

-John Clanton

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People on Sundays-Terror

Michael Watkins stood at the corner of 10th and Virginia and waited for traffic. For now, he’s wearing a deranged clown costume and holding a plastic meat cleaver. This is his first year working the Terror on Tenth Street Haunted house. After a haunted tour, I stand outside talking to the cast that inhabits the small house on weekends. They talk about scaring people so badly they’ve had punches thrown, broken windows and people running out the front door. Malinda Frisch, who volunteers with her grandson, dresses up as Nurse Ratchett and Dr. Hatchet. “This is our favorite time of the year,” she says. This is beter than staying at home. This is our family time.”

-John Clanton

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People on Sundays

Antonio Aguirre promised he would do this. He stands in line after Mass with his daughter, Galilea, strapped into her car seat, waiting for his turn to approach the National Shrine Infant Jesus of Prague. Like other visitors to Mass at St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church on Sunday, Antonio, who lives in Oklahoma City, wants a chance to touch the robes of the small Shrine. He stands at the front of the sanctuary for several minutes, bending his head close to his daughter. He gets Galilea out of her car seat and holds her up to the Shrine. A family member gently touches Galilea’s forehead and cheek with the tiny robes.

St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church, located in Prague, Oklahoma, about an hour east of Oklahoma City, celebrated the 60th Anniversary of becoming a National Shrine on Sunday, August 2, 2009. There was Mass, a barbeque lunch, Novena Prayers, and outside, a small carnival with horseshoes, inflatable toys and volleyball games.

Inside the church, Antonio’s family moves aside, letting others take their turn.  We quickly find a bilingual teenager to translate for us. “He says he promised he would bring the baby when she was two weeks old.” says the teenager as Antonio speaks in Spanish. “Promised who?” I ask. Nodding toward the shrine he says, “Him.”

-John Clanton

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People On Sundays

Jay Miles relaxes on the trunk of his car under a shade tree. Behind him, sailboats take to the water at Lake Hefner. “We like the breeze. Don’t have to worry about the heat,” said Jay, who explains that the family visits shady spots at the lake almost every day. Jay and his wife Melydia talk about their car, a 1973 Impala that Jay is remodeling, about the boats, car shows in the summer, and about their young son, Jay Jr.,  who manages to crawl into the front seat as we talk.

-John Clanton

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People on Sundays

Chad Johnson got a late start as a fighter. He trains at Eastside Boxing, a gym where trainers hope to change young people’s lives through boxing. Johnson, who works as a banker, is an amateur, but hopes someday to get 20 fights as a professional boxer. Sunday evening finds Chad alone at the gym near 36th and Lottie, working on a punching bag behind a window full of boxing trophies.

-John Clanton

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People on Sundays

Michael Childs is proud that three of his children have graduated from Midwest City High School. Proud that his youngest two are still there and on the honor roll for their grades.  And, as he knocks on a wooden end table next to his chair, proud that he has no grandchildren. Natasha, Chris, Michael Jr., Casey and Ebony live with their father in a three bedroom house in Midwest City. He’s had full custody of them for the last six years. On Father’s Day, Childs took his children to church and they shared lunch. In the evening he straightened the house and prepared for another week at work while the kids did the dishes. “It’s tough sometimes. But I make the most of it.”

To see a Father’s Day slideshow click here.

-John Clanton

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People on Sundays

“The Prince is having a ball!” Minutes before showtime, Mark Morris gathered his actors together for their traditional pep talk and prayer. The chant following the prayer changes before every show, but the words before Sunday’s matinee were picked by Dustin Boatright, who played the Prince. The young actors at Family Theatre Warehouse, in Oklahoma City, performed Cinderella for the last time this year. For Lindsay Yeager, who played Cinderella, this weekend’s shows were her first chance to play the lead character in a play. “It’s fun.” she says of the role, “I get picked on by them (the step-sisters) but then we have fun afterward.” As they prepared for the show to start in a room filled with costumes and hairspray, the actors told me that most of them would be back first thing in the morning to start working on Annie Get Your Gun during Music Theatre Camp.

-John Clanton

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