nPostednon November 16, 2016
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nThencapital of Oklahoma is Oklahoma City. The largest city of Oklahoma isnOklahoma City. And people who live in Oklahoma are often calledn“Okies.” License plates from that state say (or used to say)n“Oklahoma is OK.”
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nSo…wherendid the name “Oklahoma” come from?
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nYou’venprobably guessed that it comes from words from a Native Americannlanguage. The language is Choctaw, and the words “okla” andn“humma” mean “red people.” Which is pretty appalling, isn’tnit?
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nSpeakingnof appalling, Oklahoma was originally Native Territory, set aside bynthe American government as they passed the Indian Removal Act ofn1830. This horrific law kicked Native Americans out of theirnancestral homes and relocated them to Oklahoma – and so many diednbefore reaching their destination, the removal and relocation hasnbeen dubbed “the Trail of Tears.”
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nYi-i-ikes!
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nDespitenthese terrible beginnings, there are of course beautiful and funnthings to see and do in the state of Oklahoma. And there are somennot-so-beautiful / fun things associated with the state, as well.nFirst, let’s get the negative out of the way, and then we’ll turn tonthe more positive stuff:
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nWhennI think of Oklahoma, I think of tornadoes. And I guess Google does,ntoo; when I started to type “tornadoes in…” Google suggestedn“Oklahoma” before I even had a chance to type the letter “O”!
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nOklahomanis part of “Tornado Alley,” a swath of land that gets morentornadoes than anywhere else on Earth. Whereas places like Alaska andnWashington and Maine get very, very few tornadoes, Oklahoma getsnabout 52 a year!
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| Azalea Festival, above Natural Falls State Park |
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| Talimena Scenic Highway, above Turner Falls, below |
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| Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge, above |
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nAlsonon this date:
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nNationalnButton Day
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nAnniversarynof the premiere of “The Sound of Music”
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nCorrectionnMovement Day in Syria
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nInternationalnTolerance Day
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nAnniversarynof the crowning of Jadwiga, a 10-year-old girl, as King of Poland (!)
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nPlannahead:
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nChecknout my Pinterest boards for:
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nNovembern holidays
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nNovembern birthdays
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nHistoricaln anniversaries in November
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest boards for:
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nHistoricaln anniversaries in December
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