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.