Red Dirt Chronicles

Traveler Shares His Name

Red Dirt Kelly — Fri, 29 Sep 2017 15:08:17 +0000

Sam Chesnut’s tender demeanor around his horse Traveler never hints at his former life as a police force sniper. Though bald and supported by a cane from various rounds of cancer treatments, Sam’s gentle voice shares story after story about his favorite horse…each one ending with a kiss on Traveler’s large, dark cheek. It’s as … Continue reading Traveler Shares His Name →

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The Red Dirt Chronicles is Seven Years Old. Hot Ziggety!

Red Dirt Kelly — Tue, 01 Aug 2017 03:54:59 +0000

I feel like this blog project is a big magnet, and everyone who gets close gets collected...and sticks. I don't feel dragged down by the sticking--it's as if every time we pick someone up (a reader, a contributor, a story, a supporter), the journey is just that much sweeter.

The post The Red Dirt Chronicles is Seven Years Old. Hot Ziggety! first appeared on Red Dirt Chronicles.

Our Friends Have Skills: Dru Martin Redux

Red Dirt Kelly — Sun, 18 Jun 2017 20:05:09 +0000

When reporting on themes like corporal punishment, or leaving phrases like "colored people" in an audio file, I wrestle with my own positionality...and the intersectionality of me (the listener), and they (the historians).

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A Reason for Seven

Red Dirt Kelly — Tue, 11 Oct 2016 23:19:39 +0000

He shoves his hand in his pockets and toes a patch of creeping thistle with his shoe. The Lakota family remains hopeful for the arrival of their first-born son. The mother rests her hand on her stomach. She has recently battled an illness and says she doubts her boy will wait much longer to arrive.

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Capturing Oklahoma’s Big Sky: How Audrey Dodgen Sees HOME

Red Dirt Kelly — Mon, 19 Sep 2016 11:40:17 +0000

“Clean lines, compelling color palettes, refined sense of balance, and the greatest subject matter on earth.” Thoughts like these run through my mind as I work my way through Audrey Dodgen’s portfolio. An editorial and commercial photographer who calls Oklahoma her home, Dodgen describes a gravitational pull that seems to draw her back to our … Continue reading Capturing Oklahoma’s Big Sky: How Audrey Dodgen Sees HOME →

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People are just SO. SWEET. ~ EPTOM: Camargo, OK

Red Dirt Kelly — Sat, 06 Aug 2016 02:54:35 +0000

If you're ever traveling through Camargo and need a soft peppermint, you know where to go. And, if you lost a batch a greeting cards, Mary may still be holding them for you.

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Traditional Freedoms: EPTOM ~ Seiling, OK

Red Dirt Kelly — Sat, 23 Jul 2016 01:51:29 +0000

Stories of people who disappeared and were never found. Two cowboys who fought so much that when they finally killed each other in a gun fight, the locals buried them together as punishment for the havoc they wreaked upon their community.

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Lee of All Trades ~ EPOTM: Leedey, OK

Red Dirt Kelly — Sat, 16 Jul 2016 13:56:48 +0000

He said that the Oklahomans who left that area for California during the Great Depression "left in the middle of the night because they were ashamed to show their faces."

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Teen Spirit: Summer in Vici, OK ~ EPOTM

Red Dirt Kelly — Tue, 14 Jun 2016 22:20:49 +0000

In the light of our recent event in Orlando, and the subsequent politically charged discourse, I thank God for places like Vici, Oklahoma. A place where high school students can have a high school life. Where they can find their way. Where they can realize they live in a fairly quiet town. And where they can openly appreciate all those things.

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Land Tales: Taloga, OK ~ EPOTM Dewey County Run

Red Dirt Kelly — Wed, 08 Jun 2016 15:20:34 +0000

Perhaps it's because she can comically joke about an area brothel going out of business and in the same breath pledge her allegiance to the place where she was born, raised, and will most likely die.

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