When I tell other Oklahomans I’m from Tahlequah, they almost always have heard of it. Some know it as the home of the Cherokee Nation, most know it as the place they made questionable decisions floating the Illinois River, and a few others recall our more obscure claim to fame.
In 1992, David Letterman made my hometown the fictional setting for his famous “Top 10 List” at the behest of a Northeastern State University student. Tahlequah was mentioned often on the show that year. There was even a mural painted on the side of a building proclaiming our title.
I really wanted to share a picture of that mural with you — and tell you more about the small-town controversy surrounding its eventual removal — but my memory isn’t what it once was, and verifying information proved difficult when every article I tried to read sat behind a paywall. I had to rely on NSU’s Facebook page to see a picture and reminisce.
If I were one of our incredible NonDoc journalists, I probably could have found a better way to gather the facts. They work hard to make sure you have access to stories that are well-researched, contextualized, and free — so you don’t have to rely on your neighbor’s social media for news.
I think about that value a lot in my role as NonDoc’s development director, which involves leading our annual NewsMatch campaign where donations to our nonprofit newsroom are being DOUBLED through the end of the year.
So, in honor of my hometown’s claim to fame, here are my Top 10 Reasons You Should Give to NonDoc — a re-introduction to our hard-working team members presented by reverse seniority. I don’t know whose beat and bio will inspire you to make a donation today, but please consider sharing a kind word in the “Notes” box of the form when you do.
Top 10 reasons to support NonDoc
10) Derrick James: Ever tried a smoked honey bun topped with smoked bacon bits? Well, he makes them, and the people of McAlester approve. I had the chance to help with NonDoc’s debut at Ribtoberfest this past weekend, and it was a blast. Southeast Oklahoma reporter by the week and grillmaster by weekend, Derrick smoked ribs, bacon, cream cheese and pork loin all in one day. To my knowledge, he is the only member of our team who has ever traveled with the circus.
9) Kevin Eagleson: He’s my second favorite Kevin. Yes, Home Alone is my favorite Christmas movie, and I don’t care who knows it. I saw it four times in the theater. While Kevin McAllister outsmarts burglars, Kevin Eagleson makes Oklahomans smarter with his top-tier coverage as our education reporter and his penchant for taking initiative.
8) Faithanna Olsson: She’s like the Rory Gilmore of NonDoc but without the decision making skills that make me want to throw my shoe at the TV. Instead, Faithanna is smart, scrupulous and equipped with a strong sense of what matters to her community. Faithanna joined our team as the Edmond Civic Reporting Project leader and is quickly catching up on all the hyper-local hilarity of complicated municipal government in a community that lost its daily newspaper five years ago.
7) Blake Douglas: He knows a lot about sports. I actually don’t like that about him, but I tolerate it because he’s very funny and has a pleasant voice, which you’ve probably heard in our new social media reels he has been producing as our production editor. You can find him carrying a two-gallon jug of water and walking around a local lake to decompress after long days reading court documents and making graphics.
6) Andrea Hancock: She went to Northwestern University, which is the best journalism school in the world. I know this because she told me, but I Googled it to be sure. I guess the University of Amsterdam is sometimes ranked above it, but I don’t know anyone who went there to ask. As our news editor, she reads almost every article, covers various state agencies and keeps tabs on issues in Norman and Stillwater. We are a better publication because of her talent, and she is the captain of our future rowing team.
5) Tristan Loveless: Tristan’s law degree and research skills make him an invaluable asset to our team as a Tulsa-based courts-focused reporter. He loves old campaign buttons, library sales and odd Oklahoma history, of which there is plenty. You can sometimes find him judging debate tournaments and training his colleagues how to find federal court filings on RECAP instead of PACER, which I’m told is a national embarrassment.
4) Megan Prather Gibbs: She loves animals and hates AI, so please don’t tell her about all the Googling I did earlier. She also loves her hometown of Duncan so much I think she wants to adopt it. Megan is a journalism enthusiast to the core, and in her current role as our distribution and development specialist, she is able to combine her love for rural Oklahoma and local news. She runs our News Ambassadors program, plays nice on Reddit and karaokes Steely Dan songs.
3) Tara McMillen Hall: When I’m not writing grants, processing sponsorships and answering auditor questions as our development director, I try to keep this place running with your donations. They’re currently DOUBLED up to $1,000 per donor through the end of the year, so please make a gift today in honor of your favorite NonDoc teammate! (You can say something nice or rude about them in the “Notes” box, I don’t care which.)
2) Matt Patterson: He’s my fellow elder of the office. When I referenced R.E.M and two of our interns said, “Who’s that?” I knew I could spend some time with Matt and talk about growing up in the olden times as a couple of Gen X kids. As our senior reporter, Matt’s a great journalist saddled with covering the sad saga of local jail news that never ends. If you want to know what’s going on with the Oklahoma City/County government, be sure to read everything he writes.
1) Tres Savage: He’s the best journalist in Oklahoma. I know this because he would say he’s only as good as the people around him. He’s also a strategic leader who claims he’s the one who came up with our Free Soup Friday tradition, and he probably did, but don’t tell him I said so. He’s been with NonDoc from the start, and I constantly hear from Oklahomans who depend on our reporting to make important decisions in elections and to understand the complexities of our abundance of governments (city, state, county, tribal, school district — more than 1,900 of them, oh my!). I’m thankful for our editor in chief’s journalistic ethics and commitment to keeping our content free to read.
So there you have it, my top 10 reasons to give to NonDoc. I could give you a hundred more, but there’s soup to make and paperwork to process. I hope you’ll join me in giving to local nonprofit news before Dec. 31. Your donation will be doubled, and you’ll be a part of helping sustain the important work of providing local news and information.
