I never expected to love Oklahoma.

When I was eleven, my parents moved us cross-country for the fourth and final time. We moved from western New York to Tahlequah, Oklahoma. On my twelfth birthday-- just a few short weeks after we arrived-- it was 112 degrees. I went to junior high in Tahlequah, then high school. I made some of my best friends that I've kept to this day. I always expected that I would graduate and go to college back east, and yet I somehow ended up going to school just fifty miles away from where my parents live. Not only do I not regret it, but I love this place and these people so fiercely it takes me by surprise sometimes. I imagine I will live here-- in Arkansas, not Oklahoma, but close enough-- for the rest of my life.

Yesterday afternoon into evening, we watched the unfolding events here in the center of the country with our hearts in our mouths. The news said over and over that this two-mile-wide tornado that hit Oklahoma was the worst on record. It flattened two elementary schools and countless houses. The death toll continues to rise.

Moore, Oklahoma, post-May 20th tornado. Photo by Steve Gooch, via here.

We hid in our tiny downstairs bathroom with our cats last night, our first aid kit and bottled water and emergency weather radio all around us. It was scary. It always is. And although, thank god, we were safe and nothing touched down in our part of the city, I am heartbroken for those who lost their homes and loved ones in the tornadoes yesterday.

Last night felt like deja vu, from two years ago. This is just like Joplin, I said to Lindi last night, while we listened to the radio, huddled in our bathroom. We were just hearing about a different place, this time.

We went to volunteer in Joplin after the tornado hit in 2011, and there was so much need. This time, the people in Moore and several other cities in Oklahoma need help. Here is a list of places to donate nationally. If you live in Fayetteville, Z's Pizza and RiffRaff are donating portions of sales today to relief efforts, and Ozark Natural Foods is accepting donations. So many things are needed-- help if you can. Oklahoma, I love you.

1. What a cool exhibition: a room full of rain that you can walk through without getting wet. (Via here.)

2. I love lists of books to read.

3. A GIF guide on how to moonwalk. (My mother-in-law can do this and it looks awesome.)

Photo by Kirsty Mitchell, from here.

4. A photographer creates a fantasy land of portraits in honor of her mother.

5. These photos look like they are taken inside huge, light filled rooms... but aren't. How neat.

6. How to turn your backyard into a four-season farm.

7. The scientific seven-minute workout. (Via here.)

8. An awesome guessing game based around google maps. (Via here.)

9. Ginger coconut milk soup. Enough said.

Happy Friday, everyone! What neat things did you stumble across this week?

My little sister Emily graduated last Friday. From college. When I call her my "little sister" some people expect me to whip out a photo of a elementary-aged kid, but no. She's 22, but she'll be my baby sister for the rest of her life.


When she was born, I couldn't pronounce the 'l' in her name. I called her Emimee for the first year or so of her life, and then on and off for the next 21 years as a nickname.

A sister photoshoot just after she got to college.

We didn't always get along perfectly. There is a family video of which I'm rather embarrased as an adult because it features me as a five-year-old stealing toddler Emily's barbies, apparently just to be mean. How terrible! But we were still each other's only friend time and time again when we moved across the country with our parents three times before either of us were teenagers. We homeschooled together when we were younger, then went to public school only a few grades apart. We played dress up. We built forts. We rode the bus together and did craft projects after school. She loved art as a tiny child (mostly through drawings of horses), then developed that love by taking art classes all through middle and high school.

Emily on Inishbofin Island, Ireland.

She was, in a way, one of my first photography 'clients.' Besides taking photos for fun when we were kids, I took her senior portraits and prom photos. I went off to college at the University of Arkansas, and she joined me in Fayetteville after she graduated from high school. She was a fellow, and the recipient of many in-University art scholarships through her five years pursuing a BFA in painting.

One of the birds inside her thesis dress Hollow Bones.

She created huge ink drawings, tiny characters to sell on cards, abstract paintings, a bust of herself as Batman, and hundreds of other pieces of art, big and small. She studied abroad in Ireland, then Italy, then Prague. She decided to create life-size paper dresses for her senior honors thesis, and she did it. And they were spectacular. She got a stellar thesis score.

The Audrey Hepburn-style shoot we did.

Her graduation was on Friday. She graduated summa cum laude, the highest possible honor, and when she walked across the stage to accept her cords and stole and shake the Chancellor's hand, I got teary eyed. How is it possible she is old enough to graduate from college? (I know, probably everyone thinks something like this about their siblings or kids at one time or another.)

Emily in her awesome vitnage dress from the 40s at her thesis show.

She was one of only ten people in the nation to be awarded the post-grad Windgate Fellowship, which is the most prestigious fellowship in the arts. When she found out, it was the same day as her thesis show opening, and we were all just sparkling with joy. I am so proud of her. She's about to leave for Japan in a few weeks to learn about ancient papermaking, as part of her fellowship. Later in the summer she's going to Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina to take classes. How neat is that?

Emily as Captain America for Halloween. Photo by the lovely Jillian Hanon.

You win at life, Emily. We can't wait to see what you do next.