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Advocacy Groups Host Free Screenings of Nuclear Waste Documentary ‘To Use a Mountain’ in Parsons and Kansas City
Community advocacy organizations in Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma are teaming up to host free public screenings of the award-winning documentary, “To Use a Mountain,” in order to highlight the growing push for nuclear energy throughout the Tri-State region.
The documentary will be screened at 7:30pm on Saturday, July 11 at the Municipal Theater, 112 S. 17th St. in Parsons, Kan. and at 7pm on Sunday, July 12 at the Stray Cat Film Center, 1662 Broadway Blvd. in Kansas City,
Kim Barker
Jul 74 min read
Made the List
These are our people now; their relatives may live next door to you. The woodland tribes who reside in Ottawa County: the Eastern Shawnee, the Shawnee, the Ottawa, the Peoria, the Miami, the Seneca, the Wyandotte.
Rebecca Jim
May 123 min read
BEAVERS to the Rescue
A beaver is yes, a rodent but they are also ecosystem engineers who can shape wetlands and create biodiversity.
Rebecca Jim
Apr 73 min read
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The Project: What’s in the Air in Your House
The investigation of what’s in the air inside homes in Miami, OK in the far NE corner of Oklahoma is based on a discovery made 28 years ago.
A family moved into a home in a nice neighborhood, moving from a state that required childhood blood lead testing, both testing negative. After living in their home only 6 months 2 of the children tested positive. Upon investigating the playroom, the air vent cover was lifted and the HVAC duct had deteriorated and what seemed like gr
Rebecca Jim
Oct 13, 20253 min read
Live painting, open mic night and artist reception slated Tuesday during Tar Creek Conference
A live-painting session with Oklahoma painters, as well as an open mic night and artist reception featuring works from poets, musicians, artists and photographers, will be available to the public on Tuesday, October 8, during the 27th National Environmental Tar Creek Conference.
A live-painting session with artists Ashley Jayne and Chris Mantle will take place during the day on Tuesday. The dynamic duo painted a colorful bison during last year’s conference, and their work
Kim Barker
Oct 4, 20253 min read
Native American Designs
A gift from a friend is always special. But when I peered into the little flowered bag, and pulled the single item up to the light and held it in my hand, I was transformed. Going back decades to the event held each May, the Gilcrease Rendezvous. Each year for maybe twenty years, I would load many of Miami’s Indian Club dancers and all of our regalia into a school bus and head out of Tulsa straight to The Gilcrease Museum. With our dresses, shawls, bustles and suitcases, we w
Rebecca Jim
Sep 13, 20253 min read
Over
Over has been one of my “go to” words through the decades.
The only real loan I took out with my home as collateral, when the last payment was made and I burned the papers, that over was sweet.
Driving home down the long dirt road with my signed divorce papers after an eleven-year long marriage, wrong from the start, gave me a great feeling of over. So much so, I began to laugh.
Over was more than a word, it became a feeling. The word could explain feelings that ranged
Rebecca Jim
Sep 7, 20253 min read
Heavy Metal Heron
I work surrounded by art, encouraged by artists who see this damaged place, mourn with us and lift up the hope for a better tomorrow through the art that challenges reality with their mockingly clever creations.
While at the LEAD Agency office just this week, a gentleman who I had never met walked in with a sack and was about to leave when I stopped him to introduce myself, while another man hollered out his name in great familiarity. The gentleman stopped and handed me the s
Rebecca Jim
Aug 13, 20253 min read
Murderland
When you live in the country not all your mail is in the mailbox. Laying flung into the tall grass was a book I had ordered just a few days ago. The timing couldn’t have been better. I was experiencing a great deal of shoulder pain and the PA instructed me to rest to not further complicate the injury. So, with those instructions, I dove into Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers by Caroline Fraser. It’s been a long time since I picked up a book and too
Rebecca Jim
Aug 5, 20254 min read
Just Down Past the Rock Pond
Just down past the Rock Pond, and across the field, the lake appears to the south. It had been a lake once before.
My dad inherited the land where I live when his father died in 1929. He was just eighteen years old. His older brother received the land across the fence, but chose to sell it to go into business. But my dad held on to his, paid the taxes for decades before he returned to the land to retire. When he and my mother arrived for keeps, the first thing he told her
Rebecca Jim
Jul 22, 20253 min read
Last Chances
Meredith Garvin called me and I missed talking to her. I had tried calling her number for the last year and leaving messages, and she had called the office and I had not been there to take the call.
I was left remembering the last time she came to our office. Don, her husband was with her in the car. I missed saying thank you to her for all the kindness and good work she had done and letting Don know that working with him at Will Rogers was a highlight in my school career. B
Rebecca Jim
Jun 30, 20252 min read
Those Electrolytes
A while back there was a man standing in the middle of the narrow part of Highway 10 between Welch and Miami was the first sign it wasn’t going to be a normal morning. An old navy-blue pickup truck had taken out a utility pole and with the pole gone, the live wires were pulled across the road in a dangerous way. Both the car behind me and mine turned around to find an alternate route, when a man approached my passenger side window. He said his phone was dead and wondered if I
Rebecca Jim
May 30, 20253 min read
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