Creeping across the country a survey that instantly becomes the most discussed. Grapes of wrath. A lot of stereotypes of oklahoma that come from some very powerful images. First of all the grapes of wrath. That was the one my father would not allow me to read. I could read anything no matter how salacious as long as it wasnt the grapes of wrath. And so many stereotypes about oklahoma emanate from the book. That is not to say there was in the dust bowl but we are not a dust bowl now and are not a dust bowl forever. So that was the prevailing image. On the heels of the book we have this powerful film with all the images mesmerizing black and white images of the dust blowing. Of course they have lingered with people. Of course people see oklahoma in that light. And this the totally opposite end of that we have the movie musical this is oklahoma is a place where corn grows as high as an elephant. That is not true either. Oklahoma writers have had the extra challenge have reclaiming the oklahoma landscape and oklahoma people from stereotypes. Not all not all people that use bad grammar, not all people that live in little shacks and struggle against the dust. Essentially that is the case for all oklahoma writers. We are reclaiming our landscape and showing what is here. The oklahoma writers exhibit is a vision of mine to help make oklahomans more aware of their literary heritage. So many people see all these lists were oklahoma is way down at the bottom of the run when it comes to literacy competency and certain other academic skills. And yet we had this rich literary history. And so and so the exhibit is a way to make us more aware of that. It is just the beginning. We have 60 we have 60 office beaches. We can go ahead and feature 600. That is my goal. We had the exhibit in conjunction with the Oklahoma History center. Different venues. They are part of our lives in several different locations, activities. This is part of our multi venue exhibit. This particular station is at the Tulsa Historical Society museum. This is my favorite quote from the entire exhibit. I violated history and telling the truth. What a story hers is. The fact that this woman had the courage to tell the truth about the indian land this that were disgraced oklahoma but needed to be told. And and her later years she said, i have said some of the most awful things about oklahoma politicians but no one seems to hold it against me. And then John Hope Franklin time the story of the greenwood race riots in the prejudices that had occurred we look at history we see that it is a matter of going back and collecting history revisionist history. Toni morrison came to oklahoma to do research for her novel one of the things she said that struck her about the state was the fact that it was much more rushed that she had expected. A lot of times it is interesting to people caused us to change course of history. Jim lehrer wrote a really funny satire about oklahoma politics. The marring the fact that there was not a a crown on the oklahoma capitol. If you look at the picture here you can see that sure enough we have a dome now command many people credit jim. We divided by genre because oklahoma has extraordinary genres. Literary novelists playwrights. But beyond that we also have some personal artifacts just so people can understand that these writers are not from faraway literary figures but real people with real needs. For example, needs. For example, we have some of se hintons artifacts on display. She created she created the genre of young adult literature when she was 16 years old. The amazing irony is she get a dnr creative writing class but we have her riding helmet. She helmet. She loves to ride horses. She collects bronze frogs. And she names or frog. It gives you an inside look at her. Another artifact we have asked if he was disappointed that he did not get an oscar nomination for his screen adaptation and he said, no, the only what i ever wanted to when was the pinewood derby trophy. So we had his pinewood derby trophy. And this is just a a way to no these authors on a personal level, to get familiar with them and understand that there work was very personal for them that it was their heart that they were writing, it was the commitment oklahoma in order to fulfill their artistic dreams. We are in the heart of the arts and communities arts and tulsa looking at some of the writers featured. Featured. First of all, western writers. I love this quote. Adventure is just a romantic name for trouble. I think that was true for many of these writers. These writers are great examples of defying stereotype. The great mystery writer came from oklahoma. He oklahoma. He was so proud of his Oklahoma Roots live in Oklahoma City briefly. Set partially in the luxurious mayo hotel and tulsa. Well, the 1st illustrations came out they said that the motel was not depicted. He held firm and said this is a luxurious hotel. You need to show it for what it is. Haddad struggles with womens rights. Women cannot serve on juries when women helen churchill. Trying to get divorced. How those powerful. She came to oklahoma territory to establish residence and actually get a divorce. She wrote the 1st novel that was written about oklahoma territory called oklahoma romance. They describe the book as a love story complicated with the land claim. And then we have a rich history. We claim an author who went to school at the university of oklahoma. Many people have carried it with them. Very own feelings. Of course the wonderful satirist. One of my favorites what i what i see when i look at the face of a 20 bill. Recalling a road trip commemorating the trail of tears. Her own journey of selfdiscovery. Probably talking probably talking about womens rights and him and ago. Principal chief of the Cherokee Nation who wrote her memoir fought so hard for his rights. She made she made a statement once that when she just assumed the role a principal chief because the chief had to resign to accept another position. People were fine with that. She she was challenged to a degree. We have talked a lot about oklahoma writers. We are they are so grateful to those who have embraced our state. It helped us with the stereotypes. The unable seventh katechi senator rand paul announced his 2016 campaign for president. Here are some of the books that the senator has recommended on his Senate Web Site according to bloomberg news. Next on encore booknotes Susan Eisenhower discusses her book, breaking free and memoir of love and revolution. She tells the story of her love affair and eventual marriage to a member of president mikail gorbachevs inner circle and head of the soviets civilian space program. This program originally aired on september 13, 1995 and its about an hour. Cspan Susan Eisenhower, why did you call your book breaking free . Guest well, i think it was designed to accomplish a lot of things. It certainly tells a bit of the story of what my own personal struggle was that all took place