Tulsa Topics

If this is your first visit to Tulsa Topics and you learned of this website via the Urban Tulsa Weekly, I would like to welcome you to my humble abode online! If you haven't read the article, you can check it out by clicking here or clicking on the picture of UTW's front page.

I believe the story, "Profile of a Tulsa News Blogger," painted an accurate picture of the Tulsa News Bloggers. I only have one correction which would be who formed the Tulsa Bloggers group. Paul Romine (Living on Tulsa Time) set up the Tulsa Bloggers mailing list. I think it resulted from some members of "Tulsa Bloggers" group doing some on air stuff at KFAQ. I jumped on board after the fact and although I'm a big proponent of the "Tulsa Bloggers" group, I can't claim credit for its formation.

The interviewer was Michael Bates, Tulsa's Blogfather, and the interview was truly an interesting experience. The man can definitely ask some hard questions. The first set of questions was somewhat easy, but the follow-up questions made me actually comment... "Dang, you ask some hard questions." I did not give a lot of thought about my answers and answered them with the first thought that popped into my mind. I hope that it made for an informative interview for the UTW readers. It was fun and thought-provoking because it made me actually think about what I am trying to accomplish here at Tulsa Topics.

When I read the article in the UTW, one of the first things I noticed was the length of the article. It is quite long! Although the article is long, many of the questions that Michael asked in the interview did not find their way into print. I looked back through the questions and my answers, and decided to post a few of them in hopes you might get a better flavor of Tulsa Topics and me.

Omitted Questions

Q. What were your first thoughts about Quantum Physics when you learned that the traditional model of the atom you were taught in high school was wrong?

A. Huh?

Q. Can you describe how you felt when you realized Quantum Physics gives us the statistical probability of the electron's location at any one moment?

A. Huh?

(At this point in the interview, I'm beginning to think Michael has mistaken me for a MIT graduate or something.)

I'm joking, Mr. Bates really didn't ask me those questions. Thank God! I would have freaked!

Q. If you use a pseudonym, why?

A. I don't use a pseudonym, but I don't necessarily put my name up on a marquee either. I can understand why some bloggers would want to remain anonymous since some of the information that gets put out on the net can be pretty damning to the "business as usual" crowd, or they have some type of business association that could be harmed. I try and substantiate anything I post and unless I can confirm a tip from someone else, it doesn't get posted. The rest of what I post is my personal Op/Ed. If what I post would offend someone to the point it would hamper a business association, job, or friendship, then I'm probably going to be better off by having the relationship severed.

Q. What's your opinion of T-GOV?

A. Better than nothing. T-GOV is a vast improvement to having to attend every single meeting in person to find out what's going on in Tulsa. The drawback to T-GOV is the ability to use it as a campaign tool, i.e.... "This Week At City Hall" program that is aired. These are more like propaganda, rather than informative shows. In lieu of that, I'd like to see a point - counterpoint show aired on T-GOV dealing with local issues where both sides of the issue can be presented and debated.

Personally I'd like to see all ABC meetings, City Council meetings, City Council Committee meetings and others, recorded, achieved and available on the Internet. I think something like putting them on Google Video and having the ability to search for content would be useful. You have to have cable in order in get T-GOV so some citizens have never seen it. Some of the Tulsa Bloggers, me included, have posted video or audio of important meetings to substantiate posts or to try and inform readers of issues. Doing this on your website is basically a resource hog.

Side Note: I'd also like to go on record as saying everybody in Tulsa should attend a City Council meeting in person at least once. T-GOV is a good resource for Tulsans. Even though it's a good resource, I have always wondered how true to life we are seeing local government portrayed on T-GOV. In other words, how much of what transpires at a meeting that is aired on TGOV is for the benefit of the camera?

Q. Are you optimistic or pessimistic about Tulsa's future?

Note: I emphasized the part of my answer that didn't make print.

A. Mostly optimistic but there's been a few days my optimism has been rocked. Probably the biggest disappointment to me is to see a city with so much potential continually make all the wrong decisions for its future. After awhile the process can become kind of disheartening but then I remember there's always Spring and Woodward Park, Starlight Concerts at the river and Tulsa Oilers Hockey. Tulsa needs to exploit what it already has and build on our strengths instead of trying to reinvent the wheel and become something it's not.

I'm also encouraged about Tulsa's future when I see citizens becoming more involved with their local government by attending City Council meetings or ABC meetings. It's a start, but somehow someway the apathetic routine which is prevalent needs to be rocked and citizens need to become more involved in local government. If you believe local government will look out for your best interests or the interests of Tulsa without citizen input, you have a rude awakening ahead of you.

If we had a fraction of interest in local elections that the Iraqi people had in their recent elections, it would be 100 times better than what we have today. There's a lesson to be learned there.

Q. Any dreams of going further with writing/reporting or political involvement beyond as an avocation or hobby?

A. Well after reading your post regarding UTW looking for a reporter, I thought about applying. Of course I don't think a PLC programmer and rank amateur blogger would qualify as reporting experience. I do have some neat toys I could bring to the sandbox though.

Political involvement.......? I'm not a very political person so I doubt I could pull that one off. If Alan Jackere came back at me with the "Where did you get your law degree from?" snide remark, I would've probably told him Hard Knock University and proceeded to show him the curriculum I excelled at.

I personally think more "ordinary citizens" involvement in the political arena is a key to good government. I'm more involved in politics today than I have ever been. Other than Tulsa Topics, I prefer to remain in the background by supporting candidates that meet my expectations with my time and skills.

It seems like most elected officials in Tulsa fall into one of these three categories - Lawyers, Successful Businessmen, Retired; and I don't fall into any of those categories. The whole system isn't geared to the average "Joe Schmo" if you have a regular day job. That being said, I'd take Sam Roop's job in a second if it was offered. I might be easy, but I'm not cheap! (I'm joking....... maybe)

Take a look around Tulsa Topics and feel free to comment on any post with your thoughts or email me via the contact information on the right hand side of this page. Hopefully you'll find something here that will make you want to visit again!

Thanks to Michael Bates and UTW for the story!