Bethany Mann, a senior at University of Oklahoma, feels stuck in the middle of two well-known groups: heterosexual and LGBT+. “For me, personally since I kind of pass as a straight person, it feels like I have one foot there and one foot out with everybody else,” Mann said.
The OU Food Pantry is serving students during summer session for the first time this year. Open 6-7 p.m. Tuesdays, the pantry provides food for students in need. It helped more than 30 students on a recent Tuesday, according to its Facebook page.
Summer is always slower on campus, but this summer students can get around a little faster thanks to OU’s new bike share program. Nearing its third month of operation, the Crimson Cruisers program is a resounding success. In its first month alone, it provided more than 10,000 rides, according to The OU Daily.
Taking the last of his environmental science books off his shelf, Adam Lifsics works to fit an 11-year career into a series of boxes. Lifsics, Norman High School’s 2016 teacher of the year, is leaving Oklahoma in July for Terra Nova High School, a project-based learning school in Beaverton, Oregon. Though he says he and his wife are staying afloat despite cuts to education in Oklahoma, Lifsics worries that Oklahoma’s financial struggles could impact his family in the future.
Kasey Catlett always knew he wasn’t like other boys. He grew up knowing something was different about him, and it made his childhood difficult. He later realized the reason he felt different was he is a cisgender gay man.
In 2013, The Cube, a drive-thru convenience store in Norman, displayed a sign on one of its bathroom doors that read, “NO TRANS-GENDER ZONE.” The Cube faced immediate backlash from the LGBTQ community in Norman. In more than half of U.S. states, no protection exists to keep businesses from discriminating against individuals based on sexuality, race and gender. With members of the LGBTQ community being refused service and fired from their jobs because of their sexuality, Meredith G.F. Worthen thought something needed to be done.
Eighteen schools, 12 foster homes and one young girl who was afraid to trust others: That appears to be the story of Katelynn Mansfield, who has been in the custody of the Department of Human Services on three occasions since the age of 5. But it’s only one part of the story of the Oklahoma City teenager, who wants to use creative writing as a way to rise above her troubles.
Two-plus years after a racist SAE fraternity chant rocked OU, two Sooner football players are doing their part to make sure the lessons their team learned aren’t forgotten as they enter their senior years. “The fight is never over with,” said safety Steven Parker, who had just finished his freshman year when the incident occurred in March 2015.
One day Koal Kinder will leave Indiahoma, Okla., a town of about 335, to pursue a career as a pharmacist. Helping people is what he aspires to do, much like his grandparents helped him. “The feeling knowing I helped someone through something makes me feel good,” said Koal, who is 17 and will be a senior next year.
When feeling a lack of control and need for escape, Gigi Robertson turns to what makes all her stress from the day fall right off her shoulders – her camera. “There’s nothing at all I don’t admire about it. I enjoy it all down to packing my camera bag,” the 15-year-old incoming sophomore said. “There’s a comfort in hearing the shutter close, feeling the button click; there are so many things you can do with what you’re gripping in your fingers.”