Braised Lambchop
a nurse trying to work while suffering with chronic pain - she rambles a bit

Currently playing in iTunes: Too Little Too Late (Jones Beach 7/16/2004) by Barenaked Ladies

So I got around tonight -- now that the fever's finally gone, I hope to God -- to checking out the rest of the El Reno blog, to which I referred in the last post.

I really wasn't feeling well when I wrote that post, but I thought it was pretty plain upon review that 1) I grew up in El Reno, 2) I no longer live in El Reno but try to visit often, and 3) I can tell the difference between what's in El Reno and what isn't based on highway signage.

Unfortunately, the El Reno Blogger still doesn't get it:

Can I just say, as an open disclaimer, what would seem to be apparent: that this is a new project, done as a lark; isn't meant to be representative of any El Reno resident or institution, past or present; and certainly isn't worth getting upset about.

Oh, well, I'm glad they visited, and found something that entertained them. I would take the offending photo down, but now it's my first blog controversy, and I'm pretty jazzed about THAT, so I'll leave it up for the time being, until it gets upstaged.

Dear, I'm not upset or offended. (There are many people who have been in El Reno as long as my family has who have tried and failed to offend us. We try and fail to offend them. It's the way a small town lives and breathes, and we're still there. We'll be there long after you've moved on, too. Land and mineral ownership does that for a family. El Reno is much funnier to observe if you have a sense of the people and history of the place.)

But I'm also not the one who started an 'El Reno blog.' It seems to me that if you're going to start such a blog, and maintain it, that you should post items and photos about El Reno. I didn't lay your ground rules -- you did. For you to establish this blog and then disingenuously say that 'it's a new project' and 'it's just a lark' when a major error is exposed tells me that you don't want to be taken seriously about anything, so you can have the 'I'm new' excuse on which to fall back.

Of course I know it's not representative of anything in El Reno -- that's what I'm trying to tell you! And there's no controversy, either, although you seem to think there still is by your final statement:

Let's say that the photo is a visual essay about the lack of good signage in El Reno. Surely that interpretation cannot be taken as "enthusiastic," even by those with PR-dyslexia.

Honey, this photo isn't a visual essay about anything in El Reno because it's not a picture of El Reno!! Do you not understand that??

If you want to make a 'visual essay about the lack of good signage in YUKON', go ahead, because the photo in question is of the intersection of Main Street and Garth Brooks Boulevard in YUKON. Calling me 'PR-dyslexic' (whatever that means, if it was even directed at me, and I'm not sure it was) won't solve your credibility problem, and stubbornly whining that 'I'm new, and this is a lark' won't fix it either.

Do you want to be a blogger or don't you? If you do, 'fess up when you make mistakes, correct them, and move on. Don't hide behind false naiveté and don't brush off people who call you on your mistakes by manufacturing odd sounding adjectives. A much better response to me would have been, 'Wow, did I mess up here! Braised Lambchop is absolutely right -- that is a picture of Yukon, and I should have caught it, but I didn't. Here's a picture of the Love's store in El Reno. I'll check my pics better from now on." Instead, you called it a 'controversy' and tried to make me look foolish, and it didn't work. Maybe, though, I should have been more clear about the error, and for that I'll take responsibility -- I was sick at the time, and perhaps you misunderstood my point. My point is, for the only person who hasn't figured it out by now (which seems to be the El Reno Blogger), that this is NOT a picture of El Reno. There's no 'controversy' and no dispute.

If you really want to tell stories and show photos of El Reno, I have some suggestions:

Go to the Canadian County Historical Society and learn about the town's railroad history; for example, there's a five-story (I think it's five) building on the east side of the railroad tracks, across the street from the bus barn. Tell the newer residents of the city who weren't there when the Rock Island Railroad used it as an office building.

Go out to Darlington and learn about the major 'Indian' battle fought there, just south of where your mom won all those nickels, and tell us how the federal government is still trying to screw the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribe out of its land.

Tell us about the cemeteries at Fort Reno.

What's the deal with that mural on the side of the building just north of the high school?

Who was Jenks Simmons, and why is there a fieldhouse named after him?

Take up the cause of the Big 8 Motel, arguably El Reno's most famous landmark (if you go by the city's appearances in Oscar-winning motion pictures).

Tell us about Virginia Thompson, my dear, dear neighbor who went with us on high school band trips and died on April 19, 1995, when she sat down at her desk on top of a bomb.

That postcard you showed a few days ago? We have a big album full of them, each card more than 100 years old, and if you'd like to see them it can be arranged. (Just ask nicely.)

There are real stories to tell that the Tribune and Oklahoman can't or won't tell. Use the microphone, now that you have it. And when people ask questions or point out errors, correct them and go on instead of inventing new ones. You've got the pulpit. Use it.

This shall be my last tirade about the El Reno Blog. (Hey -- Steven Page loves me anyway, so I've got all I need.) Take the advice, don't take it, whatever.... it's entirely up to you.

Maybe I'll be watching.... but probably not.