Those interested in volunteering at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History are invited to attend one of two volunteer orientation sessions: one from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Feb. 20; and the other from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 23. The sessions will take place in the Kerr Auditorium at the museum, located at 2401 Chautauqua Ave. on the University of Oklahoma Norman campus…

by Kara Joy McKee

As the new general operations manager of the Oklahoma Food Cooperative (OKF), I had the privilege to travel to our nation’s capital last month to get a front and center view of the creativity and politics of the international local food movement. The OKF had been chosen to participate in the Wallace Foundation’s 2009 Community Food Enterprise study, which sought to identify the most promising and innovative local food projects going on today…

by Gene Perry

Tate James found inspiration for the Norman bike co-op from near and far. He’d seen the bike library and community garage at the OKC Infoshop in downtown Oklahoma City, a similar program in Atlanta where his cousin worked, and, on a recent trip to Israel, a communal bike shop at a Kibbutz…

by Nina Flannery

In a recent conversation with my old friend Tod Langford, I learned that the Cleveland County Teachers Association the Daughters of the American Revolution had erected a monument in 1932 commemorating the hundredth anniversary of Washington Irving’s trip through Little Axe. The famous author of “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” passed through the spot on October 31, 1832, during his tour of the prairies…

On October 24, Normanites joined the International Day of Climate Action, taking part in one of more than 5200 events in 181 countries. The Day was organized by 350.org, an international campaign to reduce the carbon in earth’s atmosphere to less than 350 parts per million, which many scientists have identified as a safe upper limit to avoid disastrous climate change…

by Gene Perry

Across the street from Native Roots Market, a crowd gathered between a pile of shoes on one side, bicycles on the other. Event organizers Ken Teague and Isaiah McCaslin welcomed the racers, thanked the sponsors, and then they were off, scrambling to find their shoes, grab their ride, and head out to checkpoints across Norman…