LIFE IN A FLYOVER STATE: KOSU

Showing posts with label KOSU. Show all posts

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Help Save Public Radio!

Anyone who knows me knows I am a supporter of public radio. I like it so much I'm a member of three: Cameron University's KCCU, Oklahoma University's KGOU, and Oklahoma State University's KSOU. It's a breath of fresh air, an oasis for intelligent conversation about current events, politics, science, music, the arts. The United States needs public radio. It is important that we support this national treasure. When we look at ways to cut spending, too often we begin hitting education, the arts and public broadcasting. We already support public broadcasting with barely a miniscule fraction of our tax dollars now. KOSU recently sent me an email with the following link to a movement that wants to save public radio. I hope you visit the site, check it out, and come to the conclusion that public radio is worth saving.

Save Public Radio

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We can see the beautiful Wichita Mountains from our front yard. People make fun of the fact that we call them mountains, but they are one of the oldest ranges in the United States. The Wichitas are just lying on their collective side. Frankly, I would be lying down also if I were over 500 million years old. Time wears us all down eventually. Even granite!

There’s a lake one mile to the west of us, but it is best viewed from a distance. It is still the ugliest lake I’ve ever seen and though I am fond of this area, my opinion about that lake has not changed over the years.

When we moved here 30 years ago, there were not the neighborhoods just to the south of us that there are now. Our neighbor to the north -- and that neighbor is one-half mile away -- runs cattle on her pasture. The pasture across the road from us is owned by the school district. That land is rented out for farming and grazing. Deer still surprise us and an occasional bobcat or coyote grabs a chicken from our coop. Our Suffolk sheep walk up to our dining room windows and peer in every once in awhile, baaing.

There is a military post on the other side of the Wichitas. If we go out at certain times of the day, we can see rockets streaking across the sky. Also, we will hear booming cannons firing on the practice ranges. It’s especially loud in the winter time when the humidity is low and troops are training on the east range. Once five Chinook helicopters hauling Army tanks flew low over our pasture. The post is the only fort built during the Indian Wars that is still active today. It was staked out on January 8, 1869. Its history is a rich one.

We can walk the same stretch of road everyday of every year and always see something different. We have to pay attention some days to see the changes, but we have the time.