Welcome aboard, Anthony!

At long last Oklahomily the Blog is experiencing the "change" for which I have promised for months. We are expanding our roster of blogmeisters by at least a couple of people, starting over the weekend with the addition of "Anthony the Apologist," or "Oklapologist," in Oklahomilese. For liberals it probably isn't the change you've been waiting for, but tough potatoes, dudes. Get your own damn blog!

For me it is welcome relief from the subconscious pressure to get back to blogging again at the rate with which I began this site in 2005. After 900 posts, with the millennial benchmark in clear view, I was just too busy and mentally exhausted to give it much more than a token effort for most of the last year. I kept doing a silent "kick the can" mantra upstairs: "Fresh young minds!"

Fortunately I've retrieved a bit more time to devote to blogging and the addition of Anthony and, soon, Bryan, will provide an incentive to get back in the game.

A little bit more about Anthony that he may or may not want known. I've watched him a few years now and I admire his background and his way of thinking. He has an amazingly dry sense of humor. He does a creditable John Belushi impression and, in fact, was half of a great Blues Brothers act for awhile. He's a Christian who takes his faith seriously - walk as well as talk. He's interested in anything and everything, and though he may never be pope, as for all other professions be warned: if he wants your job, he'll get it.

Some of you may ask, why does he refer to himself as an Apologist? An apologist, in the classic sense, is one who explains the teachings and beliefs of his faith or organization. We Catholics, who structure everything, even have an entire branch of our outreach called, appropriately enough, "apologetics." (And no, we are not apologizing for anything in particular except for any delay in talking with you!)

Anthony is one of these Apologists. He also will attempt to communicate why basic morality is a good thing even for people who have little or no faith. It makes for a more stable world. Potentially kinder, gentler.

I have not assigned him specific topics. He's free to roam. Meanwhile my posts will probably tend to be in the same areas they've always been (all over the map). I do believe that the change will be entertaining and enlightening, which is why we're here, after all.

Comments are welcome, with the warning that I review all contributions and will strike dead any comment that is profane or obscene, promotes somebody's product somewhere, or in general violates the Oklahomilist's standards of decency. (And no, I'm not going to define it. Suffice it to say, I know it when I see it. But it's not that restrictive, except for those trolls who are trying to tear down the world anyway.)