- Okahoma women to compete in 2009 Air Race Classic

Cross your fingers for Barbara McClurkin and the other four University of Oklahoma women pilots who will be competing June 230June 26 in the 2009 Air Race Classic. Read about it here.

-- the book "Florence of Arabia" inspired by Oklahoma's Fern Holland

I had the pleasure of working with four college interns this past year. One of them, Erin Campbell, graduated from Southern Nazarene University last month and is now back home in Kansas City. She sent me a newsy email today and I wanted to share with you one paragraph from that email. Enjoy.

I've had some time to do some reading, and my mom suggested a novel called "Florence of Arabia" by Christopher Buckley. It's political satire meets spy novel meets feminism meets the Middle East. It's hilarious and entertaining. I got to the end and read the acknowledgments and discovered the story was inspired by a real woman named Fern Holland from Oklahoma! I'm betting you've heard of her, but I googled her and was amazed by what I found! Here's an article from the NY Times Magazine a few years ago about her: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/19/magazine/19WOMENL.html . It only made the book better to discover it was based on a true story about an Oklahoman Woman. I'd highly recommend it!

-- OU's Taylor Treat of Ada is Miss Oklahoma

Taylor Treat, recently crowned Miss Oklahoma, selected as her "platform" service learning. You go, girl. I wrote my doctoral dissertation on community service - including service learning. Good topic. Go forth and spread the word. Read more about Taylor by clicking here.

-- Margo MacRobert awarded RWJ Foundation grant

Congratulations to Margo MacRobert with OU's College of Nursing. She has been awarded a 3-year grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to study ways to reduce injuries sustained by seniors when they fall. Click for more.

-- Becky Felts & Linda Hampton to lead OEA

Members of the Okahoma Education Association recently elected a new president (Tahlequah teacher Becky Felts) and Vice president (Pleasant Grove teacher Linda Hampton). Click for more.

OKC's World Neighbors To Be Honored June 13

World Neighbors will receive the Basic Human Needs award during the deadCENTER Film Festival this Saturday night.

Wavy Gravy, the founder of the SEVA Foundation, will present the award, which is named after a song he wrote proclaiming that all humans should have their basic needs met.

The Basic Human Needs award is presented to an organization or person that has gone above and beyond to raise awareness about an issue they are passionate about.

You can join World Neighbors on Saturday for Peace, Love and Wavy Gravy starting at 6:30 p.m. The evening will begin with Yoga with Laura Lester, followed by six different live musical acts from 7 p.m. – 9 p.m. The award ceremony will begin at 9 p.m., then Wavy Gravy will show the movie of his life, Saint Misbehavin' - The Wavy Gravy movie."All the evening events will take place on the lawn located at the corner of N.E. 3rd & E.K. Gaylord in downtown Oklahoma City.

For more information about the five-day festival, please visit www.deadcenterfilms.org.

Another 1st for Oklahoma Women's Coalition

Tomorrow is a big day. The Oklahoma Women's Coalition hosts its first Annual Business Meeting and Issues Forum at the Oklahoma History Center. We have 26 organizational members and 175 individual members and over 100 of them are coming for the full afternoon. We'll do a full business meeting followed by an expert panel on aging, violence and incarceration as those issues impact women in Oklahoma. Then Senator Debbe Leftwich and Representative Lee Denney will review the 2009 Oklahoma Legislative session as it impacted Oklahoma women and girls. We wrap up at 5 pm with a networking reception so everyone heads home on a full stomach. I'll report on the day here afterwards. Now I have to go collate and stuff 120 Participant Packets!

:-)

Polly Nichols To Be Inducted Into Oklahoma Hall of fame

The Oklahoma Heritage Association yesterday announced the 2009 inductees into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. They are Ken Ferguson, Burns Hargis, Lee Roy Selmon, Wayman Tisdale, Ike Glass, Polly Nichols and Justice Steven Taylor. What a great group! The induction takes place at the 82nd Oklahoma Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Banquet on November 12 at the Renaissance Tulsa Hotel and Convention Center. Tickets go on sale in September and this will definitely be a sell out event. Go to this link to read about all 7 inductees and also watch a video including Nichols' remarks.

Polly Nichols is an extraordinary community volunteer and philanthropist. She has been involved with more nonprofits that you can name. Among them are the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum, Oklahoma City Junior League, Science Museum Oklahoma, Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits, Girl Scouts-Western Oklahoma, Allied Arts, United Way, Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence and many more! Yeah, Polly!

Norman HS Grad Melissa Jones Gets Gates Millenium Scholarship

Congratulations to Norman High School graduate Melissa Jones who is one of the 1,000 students to receive the prestigious Gates Millennium Scholarship! It means she will attend the University of Tulsa tuition free. She'll also get to meet bill Gates at the Gates Millennium Scholars National Conference this summer. That is very cool.

OK First Lady Kim Henry to Lead Sarkeys

Congratulations to Oklahoma's First Lady Kim Henry who will be the new executive director of the Sarkeys Foundation in Norman. Sarkeys was ably led by Cheri Cartwright until she lost her battle with cancer recently. Henry has served on the Sarkeys board since 2003 and will do a fabulous job. This is great news for Oklahoma.