What state helps their residents the most when it comes to quality of life including health, education and hope?
Minnesota.
That’s according to a new study called the State of the Nation Project by a bipartisan group. The assessment took 31 measures that scholars and advisers of the last five presidents, along with President Trump, looked at and made a grade.
One quote from the report on Oklahoma: “Oklahoma also outperforms its South neighbors in 0 of the 14 topics and is improving over time on 6 of the 31 measures.”
A note: The United States performs better than 98% of countries in economic output. Read more on how Oklahoma ranks.
Sneak peek at the new ‘I Voted’ stickers
I attended the Oklahoma Press Association’s annual convention where journalists from across the state come together to learn and have themselves and their work celebrated. One of the speakers from the Oklahoma Election Board showed off what the new stickers will look like after you vote. The board said in honor of America’s 250th birthday, these limited-edition stickers will be available at early voting locations and polling places across the state.
Are you ready to vote a week from today?
As the president of the Tulsa Press Club, I was honored to moderate two public forums last week. One with the candidates for governor and another with those running to be the next superintendent of schools. Both events were sponsored by the Tulsa Press Club, Oklahoma Watch and the University of Tulsa’s Department of Civic Engagement. Check out the stories covering what was said by the Tulsa World and Tulsa Flyer.
Tulsa World: Gubernatorial candidates express vision for public education, health care, industry at forum
Tulsa Flyer: Education, health care and taxes: Gubernatorial candidates highlight priorities in Tulsa Press Club forum
Tulsa World: Two Republican candidates for state superintendent make their case
Tulsa Flyer: State superintendent candidates debate how to improve Oklahoma education rankings, teacher wages
Fact checks on what the candidates are saying
Thanks to The Frontier for doing some fact checks on certain statements and claims made during recent debates and forums put on by NonDoc.
Oklahoma’s Republican governor debate became a show of personal attacks, so this is how the claims came out:
“Mostly True” statements: 2
“True but misleading”: 1
“Mixed”: 3
“Mostly false”: 3
Watch it
Read about it: GOP gubernatorial candidates talk tribes, schools, health care and corruption in debate
During the Democrat debate between two candidates, including one from Tulsa, running to lead Oklahoma’s public education system, here is how they came out:
“Mostly True” statements: 2
“True”: 1
“Mixed”: 1
Watch it
Read about it: McVay, Marshall discuss literacy, local control, counselors and calendars
Here’s how the Oklahoma Republican state superintendent debate turned out:
“Mostly True” statements: 3
“True”: 1
“True but misleading”: 1
“Mixed”: 1
“False”: 1
Watch it
Read about it: In crowded field, GOP superintendent debate highlights candidates, contrasts
Quotable quotes
“Signs a middle school girl likes you.”
– A phrase searched for on a personal gaming computer seized by police from the home of a former middle school teacher at Tulsa Honor Academy Charter School. Tulsa World Staff Writer Curtis Killman reported that 32-year-old Zachary Christian Speegle faces federal charges connected to the same computer having 8,258 files containing child sex abuse material.
“You don’t need to keep asking Code Puppy the exact same question again.”
– Walmart’s Global Chief Technology Officer Suresh Kumar in an announcement about restricting how much Walmart employees can use its AI-powered tool called Code Puppy. Oklahoma’s largest private employer placed usage limits after allowing unlimited use.
“Any entity — public or private — that thinks they are beyond the reach of a fraudster, you’re delusional. This is a wakeup call for all public and private officials to be on guard.”
– Attorney General Gentner Drummond during a press conference about a former Tulsa Public Schools administrator and two contractors charged with defrauding and embezzling nearly $780,000 from voter-approved bond funds at Tulsa Public Schools.
How about some good news
There’s teaching. And then there’s lesson planning that dictates what you wear to class as the teacher. Fun video by Kelly Kerr about Crystal Emerson, an adjunct instructor teaching design and merchandising at Oklahoma State University.
Notable numbers
90%
– The increase since the mid-1990s of Americans visiting Lisbon, the Portuguese capital. Check out this unlocked New York Times story on what caused this city to be the target of so many people’s vacations.
More than 3 million in 5 years
– How much the population of Japan has gone down, the biggest decrease since the government began counting in 1920. For each new birth, there are two deaths.
13
– The number of jobs for humans created by the software company Box because of artificial intelligence. Job titles include senior director of A.I., A.I. architect, A.I. solutions manager and A.I. platform leader.
10
– The number of terms served by Gov. Bill Anoatubby, who has led the Chickasaw Nation for nearly 40 years. Five of those he went unopposed. The tribe owns more than 100 companies, including a bank, and has assets worth a reported $8 billion. Read the Tulsa World’s Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton story and NonDoc’s Derrick James’ story.
Why I write by Meredith Poling
“Are you an author?”
“No,” I said, startled by her certainty.
“Are you sure? You really look like an author.”
I had spent the past three hours politely exchanging glances with the woman across from me. We were both getting chemo treatments, and she finally broke the ice asking a question she was convinced she already knew the answer to. I had to tell her three times that I was definitely not an author.
Since then I have felt compelled, even called, to write. And that compulsion keeps pushing me toward the one topic I’ve tried to run from: faith.
A graduate of a deeply conservative Bible college, I’ve traveled the road from true believer to fervent doubter. I’ve found myself on the other side with both parts intact. An agnostic believer in a God who is both profoundly good and profoundly incomprehensible.
I don’t write for answers; I’ve given up on the quest for finding certainty about God. I write to understand the unanswerable questions. I’ll never write an essay attempting to explain exactly how consciousness began or precisely what happens to us when we die. Because I don’t know and don’t expect to ever know in this lifetime. I write to try to wrap my mind around the fact that we are here. What a perplexing mystery. We are here. Now. Whoa.
Whether I’m writing in my journal, experimenting with fiction, or sharing essays on Substack, playing with words to attempt to describe this experience of being human is, for me, a spiritual practice. I grew up in a tradition that restricted the voices of women. We didn’t have to be silent, but we were expected to be quiet. Writing allows me to not only reclaim my voice, but to also reclaim the notion that sharing words to describe an encounter with something larger than us is a form of human expression that has been both deeply personal and beautifully communal for millennia.
I write because I believe, in some mystical way, that individual people can and do connect with the spirit of God. I don’t believe language will ever fully capture these experiences, but our attempts allow us to share this beautiful part of being human.
Writing has allowed me to see that the mystery itself is beautiful. That certainty is antithetical to mystery, and that finding new ways to say “I don’t know” feels like the truest expression of my faith.
Meredith Poling is a writer and consultant based in Tulsa. She writes about faith, doubt, and the stories we carry at meredithpoling.substack.com.
If you want to give me the why behind something you do, email me at jc@jasoncollington.com.
Thank you for continuing to spread the word in this movement toward truth and understanding in Tulsa, Oklahoma. There is no cavalry. It’s up to us.
All together now. jc
P.S. “A lot of people are busy running their business, but they don’t have time to grow it. They know where they want to go, but they don’t know how to get there. Or they’re struggling to communicate clearly in a world that’s constantly changing. That’s where I come in. I help them step back, clarify their strategy and then connect that to the story they’re telling and the impact they want to create.” That’s from my conversation with Nancy Moore during her Sharing Passion and Purpose Podcast. She also edited our chat into a story in this month’s issue of TulsaKids Magazine, now edited by Natalie Mikles who I used to work with at the Tulsa World.
Watch it
Collington Index 