Good morning, dear friends and readers of the Red Dirt Chronicles. Occasionally we publish a highly intriguing informational piece about RDC stuff in general. If you feel you may fall out of your chair because newsletter-type posts are simply too much to handle, please put precautionary pillows on your floor. We would like for you to have a soft landing.
Okay, now that we have the safety-first message out of the way, here is a short list of what we have going on, coming up, and thinking about…
1) The most recent addition to our contributor group is Nancy Osborn. She’s now written two “Red Dirt Dives” posts and has another one in the works. She and her friends have a penchant for checking out Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives-style restaurants across the state and sharing what they found with you along the way. You can find her first two posts by simply selecting “Red Dirt Dives” in the category box on the right hand side of our site.
2) We have several series going on right now, and they all are unique and speak nicely to their particular topic: First, on Wednesday morning one of our Man Cave authors, Michael Mitchell, is writing a series about his “Non-Negotiable, Unalterable Terms” or N.U.T.s. These can all be found in the “Man Cave” category. Following that up on Wednesdays at noon is The Imaginary Family Project – 2011, managed by Quentin Bomgardner. With a photo to stimulate their thinking, authors across the state and nation write what they dream up about the image they see. This project is approximately one-third complete, and with each week comes a new take on a vintage photograph. Simply click “The Imaginary Family Project” to pull up the complete series. Dallas Caldwell is working his way through essays he’s entitled “Barbershop Theology.” The life lessons he picked up around Apache, Oklahoma while working in his father’s barbershop are being turned into moments for spiritual thinking. You’ll find these under our “Faith” section. Julie continues her work out on the Ranch and shares it with us every week in her “Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch” series and I’m growing a garden, as well as checking in with local producers in “My Little Victory Garden,” both released on Mondays. Finally, Mark has begun a series entitled “Music for the Man Cave.” He’s having all kinds of fun with that one!
3) And speaking of “series” work – We recently began rolling out a new category of podcasts called “The Sports Void.” These are released late every Monday night and recap the previous week’s sports news, and include questions, harassment and banter with our two sports guys, Rob and Troy. Simply click “The Sports Void” at the top of our site and you’ll be taken to the page where you can listen, and download, every podcast.
3) We’ll be having our one-year meeting in June which is right around the corner. We’ll be discussing the mission of the RDC, probably taking some photographs and creating better contributor pages for you, and talking about what year two will look like. Have something you would like to see? Please let us know.
4) Want to know what will be coming up – – maybe? It’s always a maybe because sometimes things just don’t work out. We’re considering a series called Red Dirt Road Trips, we’re working with a prison in Oklahoma to do a series of interviews with an offender who has a long and rocky story to tell, we’re setting up a storm-tracker interview series, we have an interview coming up with a local artist who’s gaining notoriety, and we have a special interview series to publish about a leader in Oklahoma. We also have thoughts from Josh, considerations from Kendy, education from Jen, food from Jani and Whitni…and much more.
Until then, I hope you have a really special week and weekend. And, I hope you didn’t fall out of your chair too many times.
[kelly]