By MIKE JONES Associate Editor on Mar 29, 2010, at 3:40 PM Updated on 3/29 at 3:50 PM
JONEZIN
Well, if at first you don’t succeed …
Last week, Rep. Dennis Johnson, R-Duncan, uttered an ethnic slur on the floor ...
When NBC airs its exclusive interview with convicted child molester Jerry Sandusky next week I hope time is taken to also ...
All together now, awwwwwww.
Poor (not financially poor) Mark Zuckerberg is $7.2 billion less wealthy.
That’s billion ...
CONTACT THE BLOGGER
918-581-8332
Email
For a few weeks now, an Oklahoma organization has been telling us to get "Red Dirt Ready." Ready for what, I'm not exactly sure. But they sure seem confident that we'd better get ready for something and I assume it's gonna be bad.
I'm not against being prepared for anything (I was a Boy Scout back in the day). I know that terror lurks around every corner. I know everyone in the world is out to get me because I'm an American and, even worse, a Democrat. The TV commercials show a lot of serious working folks with determined looks on their faces but the commercials just aren't specific enough. Of what am I supposed to be afraid? And who am I supposed to tell if I am? Should I buy duct tape and horde water?
Here's what really gets me about the commercials or public service announcements or whatever they are. First, the narrator doesn't sound anything like an Oklahoman. He sounds like the actor Sam Elliot. It isn't Elliot, I'm told. But it sounds as if they are trying to make us believe that it is Elliot.
Where is Clem McSpadden when we need him? Well, he passed on a few years ago. But, for goodness sake, George Nigh is still around. He has a recognizable voice and he's from Oklahoma. And I trust him. He would tell me the truth about what I'm supposed to be afraid of.
They might as well have hired James Earl Jones for the voiceover. He always sounds ominous.
And then there is this: I, as a longtime Tulsan, find the tag, "Red Dirt Ready" offensive. I have lived in Tulsa for more than 40 years. I consider myself a Tulsan. The folks down in the capital city might not know this, but there is very little red dirt in eastern Oklahoma. If you're driving west on the Turner Turnpike, you can see the red dirt begin around Stroud.
I grew up in red dirt country, Seminole. I learned to drive on country roads in pickup trucks. I drove on country roads in my younger days. Here's what I remember about red dirt. It sticks to everything and colors everything it touches.
Remember white wall tires? They were big in the 1950s and 1960s. Well, in Seminole those white walls quickly turned to red walls. How about a nice new pair of white sneakers? They were white for about 30 minutes, until you went outside. Then they developed a permanent red border along the sole and eventually turned a reddish-brown all over.
Now, some folks in Oklahoma City are telling us over here in the green part of the state that we should buy into their red dirt idea.
No thanks, for me. I might be putting myself at risk, but I have lived in Tulsa long enough to know that all our good neighbors in the western part of the state don't know a dang thing about us.
So, keep your ominous warnings and your red dirt. I'll remain green grass cautious. And I'll be a lot happier for it.
Only active print or digital subscribers of the Tulsa World are allowed to post comments on stories posted to Tulsaworld.com. After you fill out the form below and click submit, your comment will be published instantly online along with your screen name.
By clicking "Submit" you are agreeing to our terms and conditions.
