Within the Realm

Every story has multiple ingredients to it, but this one is drawn together by a single sheet of paper, sitting forlorn in a dusty courthouse vault for years. The Document tells about a single event in the past, but once elements of the story are illuminated, in the most unlikely of places, the document reveals so much more!

A soldier’s story. The box held a medal, a government form and a letter. It was the letter, a quick note home from a GI to his family, that drove Matt Carlson to find the rightful owners of the little package he had purchased at the flea market. So many things fell into place, as if it were meant to be, for Matt’s displaced items to find their way home and provide a renewed meaning for them.

We discuss the notion of “self made men” and proper credit, something due to the people who actually made these rugged individuals and, really, all of us. For me, I appreciate all the help!

Over the course of the fall and winter of 2020-21 two statues were stolen, one from a park in Kansas City and the other from the lawn of the Tulsa Historical Society. Besides being made of bronze, the other distinguishing similarity these two statues had in common was their subject matter. Both were of Osage women.

The theft of the statues brings to mind the murders of Osage women one hundred years ago for oil rights, a chapter retold in Killers Of The Flower Moon, but there is more to that story. It is not from a long time ago, but current involving Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.

We speak with Cherokee author Faith Phillips about the issue of MMIW and a project she is undertaking to do something about it

I was in dire educational straits. It was the third week of class at Northeastern State and I was the final student left enrolled in the class Biographies in American History. By rights, the school could cancel the class and I would lose those hours for the semester. An empathetic professor came up with a brilliant plan, for me to write a Biography of one of my Grandparents in lieu of losing he credits. I picked the greatest unknown of all my grandparents, Mack Garrett. What I learned from that assignment about my Grandfather, his character and his resolve, were inspirational to me. These were stories that no one had really asked about before the assignment, stories that would have been lost to us forever.