Sports

Tell us all about those sporting memories.. don't forget about your classic Muldrow/Roland games!

Churches

Post your stories from church here.

School Memories

Post here about your favorite memories from school.

Favorite Teachers

Comment on this post about your favorite teachers.

Free Time Hobbies

Tell us all about what you did/do in your free time in the town.

School Pictures

Here's my album of school pictures taken in January of 2011.  Click the link below to see them!

Flyer

Call For Anecdotes!

Okay, guys and gals, here's what we all need to do.

I need you to submit your favorite stories about Muldrow, past or present.  Specifically, I am looking for:

• Where did you hang out when you were in high school and what did you do there?
• Describe your high school experience, or tell a story about your favorite teacher and why you loved them.
• What are/were your favorite places to eat and why?  Do you love the staff? The food?  The atmosphere?
• Where do you go to get away in nature?  Is it down at Wilson Rock, your own backyard, a creek or pond, the park?  Describe it, either as you remembered it from childhood or how it is now.  Specifically, tell me if it has changed since you first started going there.
• What church do you attend?  Do you have any stories from it, past or present?  What outreach programs do you do?  Give examples of the types of music you sing in worship.  Do groups put on plays or dramas there?  What competitions does the youth group participate in?

This is just an example list to get you going.  If you only have a story for one of these, or even for all of these, submit them to me! Be sure to include your name and the general range in time the story is from (the 1960s, 1991, current, etc.).

If you own a business in Muldrow, send me a little company profile.  Tell me the size of your business, where you're located, how many people you employ, your services, etc.  Include some stories from it!

Please help me out, as I'd like to have 20 anecdotes by Sunday (my senior project class is giving a status update of the project.)

Thanks so much, and get excited for April!

2/7 - More planning

My goals this week included making a somewhat-useable website, making a plan to market my website/book, loading pictures onto my website, and making a list of anecdotes.  These have been somewhat questionably accomplished.

Website
My goal was to make a useable website this week.  However, this is turning out to be a more timely task than previously thought.  Instead, I have created the general layout that I want my website to take.  Colors, design, etc., are all taken care of and sketched out.  Translating this to Photoshop and eventually into Dreamweaver and finding the right Flash add ons will probably take 2-3 more weeks, depending on how busy my life is.  Still, I consider this a solid victory for the week.

Marketing Plan
As an advertising fanatic, as soon as I see a product I need to plan how to publicize it before I can move forward more.  As soon as I have my working website (2-3 weeks), I'll send out a Facebook message to all of my friends from Muldrow.  I know quite a few older people as well, so hopefully by sending the message to them I can reach others.  The message will contain a concise summary statement and the link to my  website.  I'll also make flyers that will be distributed to businesses and schools around town, tentatively by spring break.  After the flyers have been up for one week, I will gauge to see if they are working and then determine further action from there, whether it be a different strategy or just to continue by word of mouth.

In the meantime, I'll forward the link of this blog to everyone from Muldrow that I know.  This should keep people posted and build up some anticipation.

Pictures
Now, pictures.  This has been somewhat of an issue.  Until I get a website put up, I am dependent on Flickr.  I can only upload so many photos, and as of right now I have taken more photos than are allowed.  I only have 13 uploaded to my photostream, and tried to attach them as a slideshow gadget to this blog.  Epic fail.  I can't really figure it out on my own, so I will be asking our tech guy on Student Association to help me out this week.  If you really want to look what I have so far, you can see them at http://www.flickr.com/photos/59472540@N03/?saved=1

List of Anecdotes
This is where I need my classmates' help.  I sat down to write a) an anecdote to determine my tone and b) a list of anecdotes to include.  I'm struggling with this decision: do I write about things I grew to love in Muldrow that disappeared due to progress or about things that I like that are still around that might be threatened in the future?  Or both?

*This week's goals*
Once the type of anecdotes are decided, I'll make a list that I want to include.
I'll have the website homepage and supporting page designed and sliced (hopefully sliced).
I'll have scheduled, if not conducted interviews with three people (HS speech coach, past Muldrow mayor, pastor at First Assembly).
I'll reserve my book release date at the Muldrow Public Library.


At this point, please please comment if you have any ideas about what to include.  Hope you all are getting excited!

Jan.23 - The Plan

Well, it's senior project time, and I've been waiting for 3 1/2 years to get started on this.  I've made may way to over 30 documented ideas since freshman year, and I'm really excited to have settled on one.  I spent a long time yesterday drafting a proposal and time line that our class will review tomorrow, and I hope that it ends up satisfactory because I've already slightly set my heart on doing it, well, exactly my way! 

Bill Hinkle, the man to whom I owe my job at Channel 8, agreed to be my project adviser.  We'll be getting together Wednesday to talk about directions my project could go.

I've made this blog so that people who are invested in this project or are included in pictures or stories I have collected can see how the work progresses as my graduation approaches.  I've included my project proposal so everyone can see what I'll be working toward this semester, and my tentative time line.  Follow along as I document the place I love most, and I hope you enjoy!

A Snapshot In History

            My goal is to document the physical characteristics, the people, and the mood of my hometown, Muldrow, Oklahoma.  This will be a resource both to promote my town presently and to create a legacy for those living in the town in the future.  I will do this through photography, anecdotes, interviews, and profiles of current townspeople.  The resulting information will be compiled in a photo essay book and released at an event at the public library in Muldrow.  Select contents will be uploaded to a website where users can submit their own photography and anecdotes of the town.

            The photography of the project will be compiled over at least three weekend trips to Muldrow.  It will focus on the main streets, popular buildings as well as historical ones, hangouts for different demographics, the schools, farms, and the rural surrounding areas of the town.  I will especially capture scenes that I predict will be threatened by progress within the next 50 years.

            Profiles of prominent townspeople may include the most recent school valedictorian, church pastors, the mayor, teachers, gas station owners, etc.  I will take environmental portraits of them and casually interview them for stories and how they feel about living in the town.  I will ask each of them what progress they predict will come to the town in the next 50 years.

            The website will be in a simple portfolio and blog format.  Each week I will not only blog on WebCT for class but post the entries to my website’s blog as well.  My completed work will be displayed, there will be an option to buy my book, and users can post their own pictures and stories.  User-submitted contact must be approved by me before it is displayed on the website.

            The book release will be held in the Muldrow Public Library.  There will be light snacks and drinks, and the event will be publicized by a press release within the community targeted at newspaper and television.  A copy of my book will be presented to the library and to Muldrow High School.

Timeline

Week of:

1/31                 Finalize adviser; draft a list of businesses, people, and locations to highlight; visit Muldrow to take initial photography and interview 3 people

2/7                   Show work to adviser to confirm the direction of the project; write out at least 1 anecdote that defines the writing tone; begin organizing photography into sections for the book

2/14                 Contact library to reserve release date for the weekend of April 16^th; purchase website domain name and server space, build website template; continue writing

2/28                 Project presentation week: second trip to Muldrow for photography and interviews

3/7                   Begin loading pictures onto website; assemble all pictures and copy so far and determine what is still needed

3/14                 SPRING BREAK: Gather any remaining pictures or interviews needed while in Muldrow; finish book copy

3/21                 Edit and assemble book; final revisions; all content uploaded to website; confirm library date

3/28                 Submit book to printer

4/4                   Distribute press release; create and distribute flyers around Muldrow; Facebook event; update website to contain book purchasing information

4/11                 BOOK RELEASE: purchase snacks and decorations for release, hold release party the 16^th (tentative)

4/18                 Hand in final projects

4/27                 SENIOR PROJECT FAIR