Introduction.

 Greetings and Salutations,

My name is J. Lawrence Carter. I am an alumni of Southeastern Oklahoma State University having completed my coursework for my undergraduate in 2018 earning my Bachelor’s of Arts in Studio Art. My field of study was in classical techniques producing physical and graphic materials by the way of drawing, painting, sculpture, ceramics and printmaking. I am a Xennial affectionately known as part of the Oregon Trail Generation, those of us in a sub generation that straddled both Generation X and Generation Y whom existed in both the analog and digital ages. Occupationally I have worked in many fields providing both service and training to employees. My current educational journey has brought me back to SE with the ultimate goal of obtaining my Masters of Education so that I might take on the noble path of educating the minds of the future. 

The first calling in my life that dominated every waking moment in my youth was art, and comic books were my first teacher. The art program at my school was there one minute and gone the next. When I came to Southeastern I evolved from a comic book artist to one whom was learning how to create works that weren’t flat and two dimensional. As a secondary calling I liked to teach new things to my friends having filled the position of trainer throughout my working years. I delighted in teaching my friends or anyone wanting to learn the art of cooking and the science of baking, something I had decades of experience with since I was a child. We eat to live and I realized that many of my friends had never been taught that particular life skill. Post graduation I would occasionally lend my skills to teach to the medical field while I worked for an insurance company that serviced medicare recipients. We would cover how insurance and medicare work together as well as privacy laws in regards to Personal Health Information and privacy disclosures. My desire other than creating art was to teach and so while I was looking for the right time to reenter education so that I could do that I have been working in a group home for disabled adults where I do some good in the world, and there is some teaching on a very small scale. By completing my degree I will be able to do that and help guide minds through primary, secondary, or even higher education which in my opinion is a way for me to put something good back into the world. 

After surviving the Covid-19 pandemic through remote work, zoom calls, and a career plateau, I returned to the town where my parents live to help them as their property had really gotten away from them. Sallisaw, Oklahoma, is the county seat of Sequoyah County situated where State Highways 64 and 59 cross. It is most famously the town in the novel The Grapes of Wrath that Tom Joad returns to after being paroled from McAlester prison. Even well into the 1990’s there were annual Grapes of Wrath festivals held locally. The 2020 U.S. Census reported a population of 8,515 a decrease of 4.2% from 2010. The Stanley Tubbs Memorial Library which is housed in the old railroad station provides access to books as well as computers and the internet. In contrast to Durant, there is no accessible wifi downtown, but it is available at McDonalds and Walmart. Historic sites in the town include the Judge Franklin Faulkner House, the First Presbyterian Church, Hines Round Barn, and Sallisaw High School which burned down in 2004 and only the front facade remains. Politically the area is deeply “conservative” yet hold the gangster Charles Arthur “Pretty Boy” Floyd in high regard whom is buried in Akins Cemetery North of the town, to my knowledge they quit replacing his headstone because tourists would constantly try to chip off chunks of it as souvenirs. He is not the only outlaw connection to the area. The Cherokee Nation is further north in Marble City. Sallisaw does have a higher crime rate than the state overall. Sallisaw High School is ranked 9,754 in the National Rankings, 91 in Oklahoma High Schools with a graduation rate of 73% well below average. The population is mostly white or Native American with other minorities making up less than 20%. Economically Sallisaw’s poverty rate is 31.1% with many employers offering low wages and rising rents.

Sallisaw | The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. (n.d.). Oklahoma Historical Society | OHS. https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=SA009

Steinbeck, J. (1939). The Grapes of Wrath. Pearson Education. (Original work published 1939)

Schiller, D. A. (2025, January 12). Sallisaw, OK Crime Rates. Neighborhoodscout.com; NeighborhoodScout. https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/ok/sallisaw/crime

‌Sallisaw High School. (2024). Usnews.com. https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/oklahoma/districts/sallisaw/sallisaw-high-school-156075