The State
3 QS
Virtual Monitor
Charles Hill shares his thoughts on culture, politics and sometimes fashion on his widely-read blog.
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harles Hill, author and publisher of www.dustbury. com, has a few things to say. His award-winning blog, entering its 18th year, entertains, infuriates and provides bountiful food for thought. You write about everything. “Specialized” is an inappropriate adjective for Dustbury. If you’ve seen your typical WordPress blog, it has six or maybe eight or 10 or 12 categories. I have 57. Basically, it’s whatever comes to mind. I strive to get five posts up a day. Where they fall is pretty much random. It helps that I have sort of a magpie brain. My attention is easily diverted by almost anything. There aren’t too many things I shy away from writing about. I have a great deal of fun with state legislators and their antics. How did you get started as a blogger? It started with a simple bit of foolish pride, if you will. The office sent a couple of us to an HTML class with the expectation of eventually putting up a corporate website. I didn’t learn much from the class, but I walked away thinking, “I could probably do this on my own with a little practice.” I discovered that my Internet service provider at the moment was actually giving away a tiny bit of space, so I said, “Okay,” and I wrote a few pages and put them up. Surprisingly, it’s turned out to be addictive. There were seven pages then. There are 22,000 now. What’s going to be landing in the “Sooner Land” category soon? Of late, I’ve been blessed with a lot of stuff from the (Oklahoma State) insurance commissioner, John Doak. When he landed in office, he earned my semi-eternal wrath by sending out a packet of stuff that was, one, unreadable, and, two, had a stack of attachments, which may or may not have contained something else. I’m one of
CHARLES HILL IS THE AUTHOR BEHIND THE AWARD-WINNING BLOG DUSTBURY. PHOTO BY BRENT FUCHS.
those types that likes information to be functional. He learned his lesson in a couple of months. I’ve got a running commentary on that new class of customer being created for people who have solar (power) systems, are putting power back into the grid and are being charged by the state for it. My angle on that is that it’s probably less than meets the eye, but it’s still annoying. PAUL FAIRCHILD
FOLLOWUP
CAPITOL IMPROVEMENTS
Thing are looking up – and soon will look more up-to-date – at the Oklahoma State Capitol. In May, Gov. Mary Fallin signed House Joint Resolution 1033, which will provide $120 million in bond money over 10 years to make much-needed improvements to the structure. In Oklahoma Magazine’s March 2013 issue, writer Brian Patrick reported on the poor condition of the building. “Our State Capitol is steadily deteriorating, and the damage will only accelerate if significant repairs are not made soon,” said Preston Doerflinger, the Oklahoma director and secretary of finance and revenue, at the time. John Morrison, administrator of Capitol Asset Management, said that it was the deficiencies un-
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OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | JULY 2014
detected by the naked eye, like outdated plumbing and electrical wiring, that are the greatest hazard. Yellow gates blocking off the steps leading up to the building and a sign reading, “Caution: Keep Out,” currently greet visitors to the State Capitol. According to Joe Griffin, communications director for Speaker of the House Jeff Hickman, a piece of concrete recently fell through a ceiling into the House media division’s offices in May, forcing the office to relocate. – Jami Mattox
THE STATE CAPITOL’S FRONT STEPS ARE CLOSED OFF BECAUSE OF THE DETERIORATING STATE OF THE BUILDING. PHOTO BY BRENT FUCHS.