Quakeahoma--shaken and stirred--a lament

Location of today's big one, three smaller ones, and blue dot disposal wells.

Earthquake Central...It rolled the house about 5 am two days ago...a rumble coming through the trees and then a crack and more, waking the entire area, doing damage. A 4.3 earthquake. Thirty minutes later there was another one, over 3. Since then there have been about eight more throughout the day. The epicenter was about three miles from here. There have been more since, including news of a "re-activated" fault in the area.
Oklahoma is the most seismically active state in the country, other than Alaska. The year is setting records for 4+ quakes and more.

Severe damage near epicenter

Everybody knows why, but nothing is being done, because our government officials are owned the the perps--energy companies.
The once key to the oil boom was "fracking," pumping water deep into the earth to free oil. But then the water had to be disposed of, so they began injecting the water into wastewater wells back into the earth. Oklahoma has many small faults, and this water pressure has obviously spurred these quakes.
Of course the government officials and oil companies deny it, but scientists here and around the country know it is the case, having plenty of research to back it up, as do most people in the state. 
But, pardon the pun, our leaders and owners have had their heads in the sand.
Perhaps now, something will be done, as the puppet governor and corporation commission seek ways to postpone any significant action. They may no longer be able to. Nothing illustrates what I called the two Oklahomas years ago. There's the relative prosperous urban, and the slowly declining rural.
As long as the quakes were hurting poor people in relatively unpopulated, low-vote areas, the big dollar, big city boys and girls could ignore them. Now however, we'd made national news, and quakes are affecting the voting centers. Articles in the mainstream media are now reporting this.

Oklahoma's wastewater injection wells

We are a three industry state--energy,  military bases and ag. And one industry is in deep trouble. Gasoline prices tumble with the price of oil, energy companies are laying hundreds of employees off. In spite of declining revenue, our government "leaders" cut taxes this year, and now the state budget disaster will harm thousands in the next year. They euphemistically call it a "Revenue Failure."
We need a different kind of quake--it'll probably take deaths. Ironically, what could also change things is if a big quake damages the oil hub at Cushing, shutting off oil across the country. That will bring down the state economy even more. 
Government leaders and chamber of commerce PR types  brag about "The Oklahoma Standard," but the reality is a looming disaster caused by not facing facts and acting on them, because of political pressure and corporate ownership.
In the meantime, there will be more and more quakes, more and more damage to houses and businesses, more and more government "studies" and "committees" and postponements, more and more industry denials.
How long until this shaken state's population gets stirred enough to do something about it?

(Thanks to information and help from The Journal Record, photo from NewsOK)
 

Of time and the blog--2015's favorite posts

Looking back, here are my favorite posts from 2015. In many ways, Coffee with Clark is a diary, a daily or weekly journal.
Regrets include many ideas and experiences I just didn't get around to, including not enough posts on our England Scotland trip. This blog could be a full time job--there are so many stories to be told. 
But..here's a sampling. Click on the links.

January

• birthday and black and white photos
• Meeting mania and mediocrity 

February

• My newspaper died
• My newspaper died--2 
• My newspaper died, but not the smells nor memories-3

March

• San Angelo sojourn

April

• OKC bombing--journalism of 20 years ago-I
• OKC bombing--journalism of 20 years ago--II 
• OKC bombing--journalism of 20 years ago--III 

May

• Words of wisdom to stepdaughter at wedding 
• Video--@Okieprof on teaching 

June

• Gridiron goofiness 

July

• Never on the rocks--Scotch 
• Haunting windows of UK itinerary 

August

• Never on the rocks--the story 
• Room to breathe--Sayre 

September

• Portraits, from an artist-I
• Two other parts also

October

• Making Oklahoma Great Again, build that wall--I 
• Two other parts also

November

• Peace, peace where there is no peace 

December

• 125 years ago today
• All the Christmas paintings

Of time and a blog...another December

"Blogging takes time," one of my students said this year.
Yep, and as I think back on this seventh December of blogging for me, and the posts I've been postponing, or never got around to, I'm amazed Coffee with Clark has lasted this long.
This is the 134th post this year, and the 1,630th since the blog began in May 2009. The blog faltered this year, with fewer posts than usual, but that's still an average of about 20 a month over 79 months.

Coffee with Clark milestones this December:

• More than 200,000 page views since I began.
• 139 countries with readers --Kyrgyzstan, and Botswana clicked in this month.

I think it proves I'm still a journalist, because it doesn't make money...it's something I do because I want to--having an itch to write, and  because professionally I'm teaching blogging. 
The vast majority of it has been original content, essentially an old-fashioned newspaper column, but with color, photos, videos and more--without guest bloggers.
Certainly over time, it has changed, along with me. There are more visuals now, less lengthy writing, and more art work. I told Susan yesterday that  it's easier to paint something and post it with a few words, than to do all the research necessary to produce an intelligent written blog post. An example--this post took almost an hour.
Cases in point are two more I want to do today, if I have time--and I've been putting them off. One is an article about our earthquake crisis. Part of that is because I avoid politics, and the issue involves politics. Another post is our visit to see the First Folio of Shakespeare in Norman yesterday.
You just can't post photos and spout off...as a journalist, accuracy of facts is essential to me.
Anyway, this December's page views were the most since August. Told you it fluctuated. Here are the stats.

  (The chart shows the blog started in May, 2010, but that's an inaccuracy caused by the blog host, blogspot. Can't figure it out.)

                                  Year-by-year post totals   
2015 to date--135: December--24
2014--276: December--33
2013--252: December--39
2012--203: December--2
2011--134: December--15
2010--292: December--9
2009--339: December--47
(Note--most blogs start off strong, and then sort of fizzle out. While mine has fluctuated, I'm proud it is still going, and being read. Thank you.)

Year's end, or...

End of day, of year, or...5.5 by 8.5 watercolor

Last painting of the year, as the light fades.

Silhouettes of the past, and future 
form a landscape
where there are no roads,
only choices made and choices to make.
We like to think of destinations
but the journey ahead
is indistinct as the gloaming.
Tis a time of melancholy and malaise
Of hopes and uncertainty,
And as the sun goes down
or comes up,
we take another step...

Why America needs characters, not cookie cutters

"We have become a tamed people."

                                                --Sean Prentiss

I read to explore, to learn, to get new ideas, to marvel at the power of words, to be inspired, to be prodded, to be angered, to think, to imagine, to discover, to travel,...the verbs go on...
My books are marked up--underlined, starred, words circled, phrases boxed, marginal notes made. My books are as varied in subjects and genres as my interests. 

When I read....

I keep discovering books and authors and worlds I didn't know about, and at my age, and as a repentant English major, I know I should have been more aware. Every visit to a bookstore opens my eyes. Every book read opens doors to more books and authors.
So much to read, so much to write, so much to find.
So it is today as I'm reading "Finding Abbey, The search for Edward Abbey and His Hidden Grave" by Sean Prentiss. I'm about a third of the way through and am reminded why Abbey, an iconoclast, a Western Thoreau, and people like him are so important.
We live in a politically correct world that is trying to standardize everything, from school tests, to college syllabi, to housing and clothing styles, to restaurants and politics and unbridled corporate materialism--cookie cutters.
Abbey fought against that. He was a character, and as I get older and more comfortable with myself, I too don't want to be a shallow copycat. Being a character is fun...
Even teaching has changed to where I try to provoke my students' thinking, to teach them to adapt, to follow their passions, to stand out as individuals. 
Wish I had earlier.
Here are a few of my marked words from Prentiss's book:

• "America needs Abby's ideas now because we're stuck in a slow slide to the suburbanization of our lives. We've tamed everything from our land, to create those hollow suburbs, to our voices, where we talk and write in whispers so as not to offend our neighbors, to our actions, where we sit behind desks hour after hour, day after day, waiting for someone, anyone, to do something to shatter the routine. But nobody does. We have become a tamed people... ." 

•  "I don't want answers.  Answers don't solve questions. Only searching does. The wandering, the wondering, the exploring." 

• "We focus on how much our economy has grown rather than focusing on how we have grown as a people. Our focus is on consumption, not lifestyle or overpopulation." 
• "Recently, everything has become normal, routine, repetitive, monotonous. As if I have morphed into middle age simply by accepting a job. I've got a house, a garage, a mortgage, a lawn to mow, a slew of house repair projects. This is not who I am."

• "Wilderness? Wildness? Gone. Replaced by an urban cage." 

 America needs characters, not cookie cutters.