DOWNTOWN TULSA'S "CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE"

I was raised in a small town in eastern Oklahoma. Because there is nothing much to do in Spiro, I like to visit interesting places in T-Town.

My favorite place in Tulsa is the "Center of the Universe," especially late at night. The Center is a large, circular brick area in downtown Tulsa. If you stand in the middle and shout, your voice echoes around you.

I find the spot extremely spiritual and mystical. My sorority sisters and I always feel compelled to sing our sorority songs there: the echoes really make the songs come to life. The Center has a certain power over those who speak there.

One colorful aspect of the Center are the people who always seem to be there. On my first trip to the Center I encountered a Goth couple who told me a myth about ringing the sculptural "shackles" at midnight on Halloween. They couldn't agree about what happened when you rang the shackles, but it was supposed to be magical.

On my last visit I met a drunk, homeless guy. He told my sisters and me that we should be careful about the weirdos in Tulsa. He only told us that after he forgot that he had talked to us moments before asking how our day was. The Center seems to draw all the colorful characters that Tulsa has to offer.

Another interesting aspect of the Center is the statue that Native American artist Robert Haozous created for the 1991 Mayfest named “Artificial Cloud." It always seems to depress me a little.

Haozous had a lot to say about technology and how it affects society. The lower base of the statue has shackles that are meant to symbolize the shackles that were placed on the Indians of early America. The long, center section illustrates humans without hands among a mass of airplanes and the center section comes to a point where a large cloud rests on top.

Haozous made this statue out of soft steel. It was made to corrode as technology is making our society corrode. While I marvel at the genius of the artist, I still find the statue too deep for my taste.

The Center of the Universe brings color to downtown Tulsa. It is a spot that is both magical and thought-provoking.

--Brandi Andrews

Brandi Andrews is a junior English education major from Spiro, Oklahoma. She is a member of Kappa Delta Sorority and the TU All-Girl Spirit Squad.