8/27/05

The first thing I ate this morning, thanks to Emily's mom Lisa, was fried puffed wheat, the famed family specialty Em's been raving about since France. It really was as delicious as she made it out to be; I think it may be the finest use of Kashi of Kashi I've experienced. I also learned what goes into a red neck mimosa, regionally renamed "Okie Mimosie": Beer (preferably Bud or something of lesser quality) and o.j. So much better than it sounds!

The rest of the afternoon was about as somber an appressive as the weather. Andy's car was broken into and they stole his iPod and my 68-cd wallet and the nice bottle of 'J' champagne we brought for Emily's folks as a thank you. The cop took an eon getting here to fingerprint and take our report, because of the other 11 people he had to see first who reported the same thing. Andy, Em and I sat around for a long time waiting, picking grass, silently suspecting the roofers next door, or hoping they knew where our stuff was so we might have a chance at getting it back. I was inwardly so angry because I couldn't be sure if I had locked the door or not, and I just wanted to know yes or no, so I could be sure it was my fault if the car was open, if it was at all. Despite the loss of most of the cd's I had brought specifically for this trip (my Ani Difrancooooo!), I was proud of myself for relinquishing my attachment. After all, it's just a bunch of 'stuff' that can be replaced. We did make it down to Sonic. Wasn't really what I expected. Not bad, but not blow-your-mind eating, either.

Something I noticed driving the connecting freeway back and forth from Norman to downtown to anywhere, was how similar everything looked. Almost every 'downtown' area I have seen, from older and even newer parts of San Diego to Oklahoma City, look not too different from 'downtown' Carmichael. I'm sure people from all those cities and the ones in between will be outraged at the thought and shout it's not the case, but in the end, the same homogenized architecture and outdated sprawl and concrete prevail. I'm of course curious to know if this ubiquitous 60's/70's asphaltecture greets us throughout the rest of our trip.

People in the Prior home are also far more politically involved. It makes sense as her mom is chair of the democratic party for Oklahoma, and just spending a couple days there, hearing the blatant distrust and disgust with the current administration and its president was somewhat reveletory. After all, these folks are as Oklahoman as they come, but have points of view that differ significantly with the rest of their state. I learned while there that in times past Oklahoma normally had a democratic legistlature but generally secured a republican vote. Lisa actually ran for Oklahoma senetor last fall against the republican incumbant. I was so surprised when Emily told me (not having met her mom yet), because it was so hard to imagine knowing someone close to me had a parent THAT involved politically.

Tonight I finally met Em's dad. Emily, her 2nd oldest sister Chelsea, their friend Whitney, Andy and I met him at the beatnick place near Oklahoma University called The Library. As stories about tasting the world's best beer at a Comie club in Brussels (Emily's dad) and neighbor rivalry in Thonon (Em and I)came up, linguistic marvels hung around our ears and in the empty glasses of Shiner, Dunkelweizen and Sooner Stout, as I realized Emily's dad is quite possibly one of the gentlest, softest-spoken, most comic people I've had the pleasure of meeting. Em's dad, by the way, is a farmer, painter and a linguist who doesn't just speak English more beautifully than most (Can interest you in a pickle?); his French would charm the scarf off anyone at L'academie Francaise, and his German would make him welcome from Bremen to Bayern. As far as I'm concerned, you couldn't ask for a better representative of Oklahoma.