Oklahoma, et al...

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Wow! There's a newly discovered version of that beloved classic that manages to capture the magic of the original while re-imagining it for today's generation. Here's a few excerpted lyrics to peruse...


for Leelah


OHHHHHHH
Oh what frightnin' locations
and what an unwelcoming place
Where ev'ry description of us
Feels like a slap in the face

There's an air of painful rejection
We're expected to bow to inspection
Our nads aren't our own
Time and time it's been shown
That whatever they say about us is what is

Oh what a play-ace to dwell in
Please consider this advice
Texas is not transgender friendly
Living there is not very nice



Nothin’ is any better in Kansas City
Nor Bismarck nor even Boise, Idaho
The hatred grows and grows
with ne'er an end in sight
It's enough to make you cry
Dontcha know?



Legislators seem to be in a hurry
Leavin' trans kids to more than just worry
Tears are makin' my vision blurry
Gee I wish it would stop
Since your neighbor just might call a cop!



Don't tell me it's okay
Don't say that it's alright
We're seen in a horrid light
People expect us to die...



Poor trans kids are hurt
If they "step outta line"
Living in Pierre or Ames I-OH -WAY
(I-OH-WAY)
Bein' trans or gay
Ain't received all that well
And it sucks at the end of the day



With me it's all er nuthin'.
Just toleratin' won't do?
It cain't be "in between"
Where I still might hafta hide
No half-and-half existin' will do!



Tallahassee
Where they reside in 1962
Still stuck in the past
Where you just might not last
Oh what's a trans child 'sposed to dooo-ooo?

It’s not much better somewhere else
Every day more states deny our true selves

It sure is better in Cal-ih-for-nya
Still, I feel compelled to warn ya
Things will get worse across the country
It really, really isn’t OK!



Adapted from Oklahoma!
Music and words by
Richard Rogers and
Oscar Hammerstein II
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HYP8T7ONpY&list=PLdeD9pYJJT...



Photo from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival production of Oklahoma!

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Comments

Nobody Does It Better

The past two days I was thinking about doing a parody of Can You Feel the Love Tonight. . .as Can You Feel the Hate Tonight.

I printed the lyrics and that's as fair as I got.

I thought of you and decided I couldn't come up to your standards.

Here's some worse versus!

How about the Surrey song?

Fags and Dykes and Chinks better worry.
They'll be comin' for you in a hurry.
They'll be comin' for you in a hurry, and the hate won't stop.

Beautiful Morning

There's a dude in a dress in the bathroom!
There's a dude in a dress in the bathroom!
His feet are too big and he's wearing a wig,
And, if I have my druthers . . . a new grave we'll dig!

Jill

Angela Rasch (Jill M I)

Cute

BarbieLee's picture

The bullies and haters are bad only if one lets them dig into our emotions and feelings. All the red neck states passing their anti trans laws are fooling only themselves. Those who they hurt are the ones who can't find a work around like I did. Stitt passed an exec order as any dictator, no one may change their birth certificate. The fall out was it locked down changing any other government Ids. Everything is tied into that BC. Passport is Federal unlocked all my Ids. My doctors are VA, again, Federal. Wonder if a doctor can register with the Federal Gov? Federal Gov Doctors? Doctors Across Borders?

For the parents and trans children it will have to be a cross border thing. It's going to take money to set up a residence in a welcome state and receive gender affirming care. Parents in Texas are doing it. Haven't read of any in Oklahoma yet. Several lawsuits filed in Oklahoma courts. Maybe they will come through?
Hugs Andrea
Barb
There are only two ways to lose. We quit, or they bury us..

Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl

The VA is about to get decimated

well at least have all their services cut by 22% if the GOP in DC have their way.
cuts of 22% across the board will do wonders for the US economy and in turn the world economy.
Samantha

And then there's...

laika's picture

Oh the trans folk and the gay folk should be friends
Oh the trans folk and the gay folk should be friends
LGB ain't got much to do with T
but when they're done with me they'll come for thee
There's strength in unity you know, my friends
Disenfranchised folks should stand together
Disenfranchised folks should all be pals
This red storm's bringin in some brutal weather
Stand tall nonbinaries, guys n' gals!

===> OK not my greatest, a bit too strident
and humorless, but the best I could knock together
in five minutes. I think I was trying to channel
Woody Guthrie (a GREAT Oklahoman!)
but got Woody Woodpecker instead..
~hugs, Veronica

I could not

Andrea Lena's picture

have put it better! XOXOXOXO

PS As I might already have told you, Mrs. D worked at the end of her RN career at the same State Hospital where Woody Guthrie spent time.

  

To be alive is to be vulnerable. Madeleine L'Engle
Love, Andrea Lena

I Can't Get Oklahoma

joannebarbarella's picture

Wasn't it the place at the end of The Trail Of Tears, where the US government exiled the Cherokee? And then it was Indian Territory for about 70 years until the US government decided that it needed more land? So it was a residence for outcasts, and now its become the residence of a Fascist government! How come?

Reservations were Internment Camps

BarbieLee's picture

There are voices still complaining about the Japanese being forced out of their businesses and into interment camps. Not even close to what they did to the Indians and yet reservations were for the benefit of the Indians. Hitler was a saint compared to what some of those Indian Agents did to the Indians under their care.
Joan, I think you named every single Governor in the U.S.A. We lost our Republic.
What does fascism mean? Many experts agree that fascism is a mass political movement that emphasizes extreme nationalism, militarism, and the supremacy of both the nation and the single, powerful leader over the individual citizen.
Hugs Joan
Barb
Life is meant to be lived, not worn until it's worn out.

Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl

Sorry

Andrea Lena's picture

There is no need to quantify evil.

According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), the Holocaust was "the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jewish men, women, and children by the Nazi regime and its collaborators". In addition, 11 million members of other groups were murdered during the "era of the Holocaust".

Between 1941 and 1945 - FOUR years with 17 million dead. I have friends and extended family members who lost loved ones to Shoah. The very real horror that the Indigenous populace of the USA endured does not in any way mitigate the absolute embodiment of evil that was the Third Reich and Adolph Hitler.

Nor does it diminish the harm inflicted upon the Japanese-AMERICAN citizens- Internment that was authorized by Roosevelt and approved by both the Senate and the House.

  

To be alive is to be vulnerable. Madeleine L'Engle
Love, Andrea Lena