Five years ago today I received a call from the Houston Police Department. I couldn't tell you the officer’s name but I can tell you I collapsed to the floor after the first few words came out of his mouth. Five years ago today my wife died. This is MY story.

Dear Angel, was it worth it?

Written for Introduction to Cinema at Rose State College - Professor Mallard - Spring 2025

It's very fitting that The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (Ford et al.) would be one of John Ford's final movies as director (IMDB). This film would be released to the public just eleven years before Mr. Ford's departure from this life and his forty-five years of directing are seen all throughout (Krebs). The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is chocked full of symbolism, I believe it is a fitting film for our current times and maybe even a masterwork in filmmaking.

There's always been a limitation to how much you can experience music. The music itself reverberating through your ear canal, stimulating your brain, eliciting an emotional reaction. Sound has the power to bring you to tears, to put a smile on your face, even bring back memories. The rise of MTV and music videos truly brought music into the digital age, artists had the ability to add a visual element. The screen acting like a portal into the world where the song took place.

Written for Shoot the Breeze Magazine: Volume 00 - July 2024

The idea of mental health has changed quite a lot in the last 70 years. The idea of a psychiatric hospital, or an asylum is only seen in horror movies in our age. That word asylum really stands out to me. When I really want to understand a word, I love to look at its definition, where it came from, and words that are similar, its synonyms. Both etymology and synonyms take us a long way when looking at the word asylum.

Written for Shoot the Breeze Magazine: Volume 00 - July 2024

It’s hard for me to understand people a lot of the time. In my life, I feel just about everything is a choice. I chose to watch Netflix for an hour before starting this article. I choose to be nice to people as often as possible. Is it the same way for everyone?

Written for Shoot the Breeze Magazine: Volume 00 - July 2024

Caffeine is either a huge part of your life, or someone you know. We all know that person who really is just a jerk until they’ve had their morning cup of coffee. Thankfully for the rest of us, Oklahoma is abundant with coffee shops.

Written for Shoot the Breeze Magazine: Volume 00 - July 2024

Growing up my mom never really had a lot of money, just enough for cigarettes, alcohol and food, usually in that order. We did somehow have just enough though to rent video games from Blockbuster, that’s a throwback. These games were my unintentional lead to the library.

Written for Shoot the Breeze Magazine: Volume 00 - July 2024

If you didn’t already know, the state of Oklahoma legalized marijuana for medical use in 2018. There was a bit of back and forth, but it led to where we are today. You can find a dispensary on just about every corner, though they are slowly being culled. Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional; none of this should be taken as medical advice. I have worked at a dispensary and currently hold a medical marijuana license. So, I do have first-hand experience. I will also be using the term marijuana broadly here, either referring to the whole cannabis plant or the individual flowers or ‘buds’ themselves.

Written for Shoot the Breeze Magazine: Volume 00 - July 2024

Brandon Tellez is an Air Force Veteran originally from Denver, Colorado. After serving proudly for just over nine years, he is transitioning to civilian life and strives to take the skills he learned and apply them to building the community. Born in 1994 and turning 30 this year, he feels he is a connecting voice between the older and younger generations.

Written for Shoot the Breeze Magazine: Volume 00 - July 2024

My time in the Air Force gave me the opportunity to explore the world more than your average person. Countless trips around the continental US. Ireland, Germany, Kuwait, and Qatar, all brief stops less than a week, but enough time to see things were different. I’ve always been a sponge for culture.

Written for Shoot the Breeze Magazine: Volume 00 - July 2024

30% of young adults feel the shadowed tug of loneliness nearly every day. In a oversaturated world, finding an authentic community is critical. Our canvases are covered in remnants of our day-to-day struggles. Drained of pigment from the pressures around us, telling us what to do, what to think, and how to feel. It’s easy to lose our sense of self.

Written for Shoot the Breeze Magazine: Volume 00 - July 2024

‘Shoot the breeze’ is an idiom dating back to just over 100 years ago. Idioms are interesting, only having meaning through shared experience and understanding. ‘Shoot the breeze’ means to sit around and chat. First recorded in 1919, and apparently used by the New York times in 1957. This saying has a casual meaning to it, some have heard ‘shoot the bull’, or ‘shoot the shit’. It’s thought ‘shoot the breeze’ is a variation of ‘talk into the wind’, which has a similar casual conversation feeling.

Written for Shoot the Breeze Magazine: Volume 00 - July 2024

Sitting under this great American elm tree, you can feel the immense weight of its trunk, as it splits skyward. A much-needed shade circles the tree on a hot summer day. The sun beating overhead barely felt through the nest of leaves above.

Written for Shoot the Breeze Magazine: Volume 00 - July 2024

Someone asked me recently to describe the State of Oklahoma in one word. I chose ‘Survival’. If I had to pick a recent keyword you hear a lot, I’d choose ‘Resilient.’ Regardless of your choice, Oklahoma is built on survival and resilience.

Written for Shoot the Breeze Magazine: Volume 00 - July 2024

It’s a beautiful thing to witness: a community coming together, each person contributing a small part to create something greater than they could have alone. There’s a folk story you may have heard, with titles that vary from place to place—stone soup, axe soup, nail soup, wood soup, and so on.

Written for Shoot the Breeze Magazine: Volume 00 - July 2024

It is easy to overlook this section of the gardens. The reflecting garden is tucked away overlooking the water stage, and across from the carousel. I always find this area to have a sense of peacefulness. This morning, I stumbled across three different color ducks resting, tucked away behind the low rock wall. Calmly aware of my presence well before I noticed them. Respecting their space, I nestled down on the bench nearby for a morning of writing.

Written for Shoot the Breeze Magazine: Volume 00 - July 2024

A portion of every purchase you make in Oklahoma City goes to funding Public Safety. “Expended only for the purposes of providing... (police, fire fighting, or fire-rescue) …services, facilities, and equipment” (Fire Department Fiscal Year 22-23 Appropriations & Fire Sales Tax Expenditures & Projects). In the fiscal year of 2022-2023, $49.4 million went towards funding the Oklahoma City Fire Department from this sales tax.

Written for Rebel Music at The University of Oklahoma - Professor LoLordo - Summer 2023

Imagine a world of people you look to for guidance in everyday life. People you turn to for the hottest fashion styles, the latest gossip, the people you want to be. We live in a fast-paced world where social media stars constantly influence us. I grew up in this world!

Written for Rebel Music at The University of Oklahoma - Professor LoLordo - Summer 2023

Nothing is more beautiful than sitting on the beach on a nice summer day. A breeze blowing through the trees, waves crashing on the shore. All your senses are feeling joy. This is the opening scene of "The Harder They Come" (Henzell), a nearly fifty-year-old movie!

Written for Rebel Music at The University of Oklahoma - Professor LoLordo - Summer 2023

The first time I saw the song ‘everything I wanted’ by Billie Eilish, I thought this would be a positive song. If you’re like me, the idea of having everything you ever wanted means always having your glass not just half full but filled to the brim. The liquid in this glass varies for each of us, mine fills up quickly with necessities like food, water and shelter. The leftover space is full of luxuries and nice things.