VIDEO: Blake Cawood, run 1:41

The 99% of the 918: Daniel Lee takes the lead in the Occupy Tulsa movement.

In September of 2011, Tulsan Daniel Lee began to follow the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York City.

“I couldn’t stop reading about the protests, and eventually I just told myself, ‘I want in’” said Lee.

On September 23, Lee created an Occupy Tulsa Facebook page. A week later, the page had over one thousand “likes”. Lee was able to congregate enough Occupy-ers to hold their first general assembly on October 1. Ever since, Occupy Tulsa has had weekly meetings at Rudisill Regional Library in North Tulsa.

“Usualy about thirty or fourty people show up for the meetings, but they are slowly but surely getting more people” said Occupy Tulsa member Steven Lanik, 29.

In addition to weekly meetings, the members demonstrate at H.A. Chapman Centennial Green Park in the banking district of downtown Tulsa. Lee says that he has renamed the park to “Solidarity Square”. Despite the park’s 11:00 P.M. curfew, the occupy-ers demonstrate there 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“We are exercising our First Amendment rights to peacefully protest. There is no curfew on the First Amendment” said Lee.

Although Occupy Tulsa is affiliated with Occupy Wall Street, they have their own additional goals. According to the offical Occupy Tulsa website, their goals include solving Tulsa’s unemployment problem, improving Tulsa’s public transit, and stressing the importance of clean energy sources.

“I adore Tulsa, but I think there is a lot that needs to be done. We’re out here every day hoping to see change” said Occupy Tulsa member Robert Seagle, 34.

Lee says that Occupy Tulsa has no plans of slowing down, he plans to continute to expand it. “We’re not going anywhere. This is only the beginning.”

To get involved with the Occupy Tulsa movement, visit their official website at occupytulsa.com

Midterm Blog

Logan Liles, Senior at the University of Oklahoma, is a quadriplegic after a snowboarding accident. VIDEO: Blake Cawood and Staci Sumurdy, run 4:23

Student overcomes paralyzing accident and carries on with a successful college

lifestyle.

Logan Liles went on a snowboarding trip his Sophomore year that changed his life forever. As Liles was boarding down Purgatory Mountain in Durango, CO., he impacted the ground and broke his C4 vertebrae in his back and injured his C5 vertebrae in his neck.

“The scariest part was not being able to scream for help,” said Liles.

Liles was life flighted to the Intensive Care Unit, and three hours later received the news

of his quadriplegic paralysis, which is of the arms ad legs. He spent the rest of his

spring semester off of school, but made a miraculous return the following fall.

During Lilesʼ recovery period, his fraternity, Phi Delta Theta, made renovations to the

fraternity house. Two ramps were installed; one outside of the house and one indoors.

Lilesʼ bedroom door was reconstructed to open outward, and his bathroom and

bedroom were made wheelchair accessible. Surrounded by the family-like setting and

support of his brothers, Liles spent his Junior year living at Phi Delta Theta.

Driving is one of the many things that Liles continues to do despite the accident. His

truck has equipment that helps him get from the ground to the drivers seat, and a lever

that picks up and stows his wheelchair to and from the trunk bed. Liles controls the

equipment from a pad located beside the steering wheel.

For his Senior year, Liles currently lives at The Edge apartments. He commutes to

campus from his apartment to Phi Delta Theta, where his electric wheelchair is. Liles

rides it to all of his classes from the fraternity.

Blog #2 - September 25th, 2011

A tattoo artist and mourning mother: two people’s dreams come together and create an opportunity for community involvement.

Artists, skateboarders, and volunteers spent the whole day painting every inch of a skate park with graffiti.

Blake Baldwin Skate Park, located inside Andrews Park, was the site of a public art project called “CRE8 ‘n’ SK8”. The project was directed by Andy Jacobs, local tattoo artist; and Sara Kaplan, owner of Native Roots Market.

“I came up with the idea in collaboration with Sara. The original concept was just to have somewhere to paint” said Jacobs. “I don’t skate and I don’t bike, I paint. The reason I’m here is because I wanted to paint a venue.”

Local artists accompanying Andy Jacobs were Derek Vosten, Erik McCullough, Mark Vass, Dylan Bradway, Jesse Williams, John Babbitt, Dusty Gilpin, Todd Renshaw, and Eric Baker.

What started out as an artist searching for a canvas blossomed into a public art project. Community volunteers were encouraged to come help paint the park, no matter their age or skill level.

This was a rare and special opportunity for graffiti artists to express themselves guilt-free. Nick Morales, 22, was one of the amateur artists who came to paint. “If it’s legal, why not come out and have fun with it?” said Morales.

Blake Baldwin Skate Park was named in honor of a teen boy who was killed in a car accident in March 2000. Blake’s passion was skateboarding, and until the time of his death, he had diligently worked towards the opening of a skate park in the community.

In December 2000, Blake’s mother, Rhonda Baldwin, heard that a skate park was finally approved to be opened in Norman. “I told myself that I would get that named after him if its the last thing I do” she said.

After raising $20,000 through letter writing campaigns, that is exactly what Rhonda did. Ever since the official naming of Blake Baldwin Skate Park in 2002, Rhonda has been devoted to embellishing this skate park for the Norman community.

Rhonda’s cause has been drawn to the attention of local celebrities. Edmond native and world-renown BMX rider Matt Hoffman has big plans for the skate park.

“He is in love with this location. He and a skate park designer from Colorado planned a 25,000 square foot competition park to be added” said Rhonda.

Rhonda said that her future plans for the park do not stop there. “I want to have outdoor misters, iron gates, and music piped in. I also want to work on the memorial part of the park for Blake, that is my next project.”

To contribute to the Blake Baldwin Skate Park cause, email Rhonda at rhondab@ou.edu