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The Tulsa Beacon

 

Columns

‘Shotgun Sam, the pizza man and my horse’s name is Alice’

Tulsa Beacon

They tore down the old Shotgun Sam’s Pizza Parlor on Sheridan Road just north of 21st Street. That building hasn’t been Shotgun Sam’s for decades but it is etched in my childhood memories. You didn’t go to Shotgun Sam’s for the food – you went for the experience. I really did not eat there much…

Does this match what you have learned?

Tulsa Beacon

[Looking at history and our area’s unique political and religious attitudes.] What happened? For the first 200-years from the Europeans in America, education was provided primarily by ministers. In 1635, Joseph Cotton, a Puritan minister influenced the establishment of Boston Latin School to teach basic academic skills and religious principles. In an interesting re-definition, this…

Good Leaders learn to unlock the potential in others

Tulsa Beacon

Leaders are often portrayed as born with the gift of leadership and some have it and others do not. But the truth is, that successful leaders do not have the gift from birth but had to learn how to develop the gift. Becoming a good leader requires self-awareness and continually learn and commit to personal…

Halloween used to be fun before everything got so weird

Tulsa Beacon

Back when I was growing up in the 1960s, Halloween was a fun time for kids. Now it’s bizarre and dangerous. When we dressed up like a ghost, we just cut a few eye holes in an old sheet and draped it over our heads. Occasionally, someone would have their mom use makeup so they…

OSSAA rules harm student-athletes

Tulsa Beacon

Each year, parents across Oklahoma pay for their children to attend sports camps. Those parents may be surprised to learn that the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association (OSSAA) now treats attendance at those camps as an excuse to ban some students from playing any sport for a year. It’s an idiotic rule adopted for no…

Opera singer Macchio wonderful, but not a household name

Tulsa Beacon

[Looking at history and our area’s unique political and religious attitudes.] As I was saying. These words were the intro to an unexpected opera experience. Christopher Macchio is not exactly a household name, unless you are an opera fan in New York. We were watching a memorial honoring 50-year-old fireman Corey Comperatore, who was murdered…

Pay it forward: Invest in your personal development story

Tulsa Beacon

Dr. Marc D. Gilbert my business professor at John Brown University used to tell me, “What you do today, is important, because it will impact tomorrow.”   Personal and professional development pays dividends down the road of life not only for you but even greater in what you can bring to others. Investment takes time, energy,…

Democrats haven’t gotten over losing the presidential race

Tulsa Beacon

The following is a previously published column. I was in Denver, Colorado, in 2000 when it was announced that George W. Bush was elected president over former Vice President Al Gore. I figured that Gore would raise a big stink and inspire bitterness in his followers but at least at that time, he was gracious….