Route 66’s Ribbon Road
M.J. Alexander explores the thin line connecting the present to the last surviving stretch of Route 66’s historic ribbon road.
Author: M.J. Alexander
The Case of the World’s Largest Peanut
M.J. Alexander disrupts a myth while investigating competing claims for the surprisingly contentious title of World’s Largest Peanut.
Oklahoma’s Endless Skyway
Placid to threatening but never-ending and nearly always beautiful – M.J. Alexander offers a photographic tribute to the ever-changing Oklahoma sky.
Oklahoma Turnpike Truths
M.J. Alexander disrupts a myth about how Oklahoma measures up to other states in a tale of turnpikes.
Price Tower: Wright and Wrong
Examining why the Price Tower in Bartlesville has the (Frank Lloyd) Wright stuff, but still sometimes gets the wrong label.
The Big Apple’s Sooner Celebrations
Oklahomans have a proud presence in the section of New York City labeled the Canyon of Heroes, which commemorates those who have been honored in ticker-tape parades.
Vintage Tractor Time Machines
A colorful photoessay focusing on old tractors that, though weathered by the slow flow of time, are making a comeback.
Sooner Size Me
M.J. Alexander disrupts a common myth about Oklahoma’s size supremacy over states east of the Mississippi.
Electric Guitar Heroes
M.J. Alexander explains why, though it was close, Oklahoma doesn’t get to claim credit for the invention of the electric guitar.
Tommy Allsup: Fate and a Flipped Coin
The true story of Oklahoma guitarist Tommy Allsup, who lived on the day the music died.
A Lady Among Leaders
Pioneering OKC mayor Patience Latting was beaten to the history books by 45 years – by Seattle’s Bertha Knight Landes.
Lessons From Long Lives
Looking back at the lives of Oklahoma’s supercentenarians, and some of the wisdom they accumulated across the span more than a century.
Corn’s Crusade for Knowledge
With over a century in the books, the small-town Corn Bible Academy has amassed a long legacy … but not long enough to set a record.
The American West in London
130 years after Buffalo Bill performed for Queen Victoria, M.J. Alexander discovers some traces of the American prairie that still linger in the heart of London.
Quapaw’s Dueling Monuments
An investigation of why Oklahoma’s northeasternmost point is home to not one but two border monuments.
Tower Power in Oklahoma
A massive totem pole in Rogers County is an enduring landmark and undeniably impressive, but doesn’t measure up to hype of its worldwide supremacy.
Oklahoma’s Native Numbers
In a series devoted to fact-checking Sooner State folklore, M.J. Alexander checks the numbers behind the primacy of Oklahoma’s Native population.
A Big Idea: Little Sahara
M.J. Alexander unfurls the story of how one woman’s dedication made an overlooked mass of sand into Little Sahara State Park.
Arcadia’s Round Barn
In a series devoted to fact-checking Sooner State folklore, M.J. Alexander investigates the purported uniqueness of the Round Barn of Arcadia.
Comanche: a Survivor’s Tale
In a story of survival, M.J. Alexander recounts the illustrious history of the battle-scarred U.S. Cavalry horse named Comanche.
Guthrie’s Masonic Fable
In a series devoted to fact-checking Sooner State folklore, M.J. Alexander investigates the persistent myth that Guthrie has the world’s biggest Masonic temple.
Oklahoma’s Amish Festivals
M.J. Alexander ponders how our Amish communities have changed, and how many of their traditions remain the same.
Oklahomyths: Gumming up the Truth
In a series devoted to fact-checking Sooner State folklore, M.J. Alexander digests the persistent myth that Wrigley’s gum had its inspiration in Oklahoma.
Oklahomyths: The World’s “Highest” Hill
In a series devoted to fact-checking Sooner State folklore, M.J. Alexander uncovers why claims of Cavanal Hill’s global notoriety don’t quite measure up.
