465. Wewoka, Seminole County (OK59)

I would probably have some very nice things to say about this courthouse if I wasn’t completely and utterly tired of seeing red brick.  That said, this is also a nice courthouse for such a small town.  As I look on the War Memorial, I can’t help but feel a smattering of irony.  A great many Seminole served with great honor and distinction in a number of American wars in a great many roles, but one must also recollect that there was a times when the relationship between the two was…contentious at best.  So yes, strange the irony that would put such a memorial in the middle of the Seminole Nation.  Then again, everywhere and every time is complicated and, dare I say again, ironic in one way or another.  I believe it was Aristotle who said that wisdom is knowing there are contradictions in the world and feeling no need to resolve them. 

Speaking of complication, down the street from the courthouse is the Seminole Nation Museum.  It’s sadly interesting how Black people and Native people share a certain similarity of heritage: both were enslaved in the New World, both had everything taken from them, both endured violence, both de jure and de facto, from various American governments, both were engaged in war against the other, and yet both have somehow endured.  The level of existence both enjoy is something to be questioned perhaps, but We are both here, even when we have not been wanted. 

In a big old tree behind the museum, I found this little bugger hidden in the branches.  It was signed and returned quickly enough.  Unfortunately, I started experiencing phone issues again, but this time they were different and completely solvable issues!  This time, my phone was running hot and at high temperatures, wonky things start happening.  Sure, the cold was trying to punch me in the face constantly outside, but inside the car, with heat and the sun shining in, my phone was starting to overheat!  So I took off the case and let it sit on the hood for a minute and all was well again.  Maybe I should drop a couple of bucks on a phone mount for the car so I can keep it cool, which probably wouldn’t help me in this case since I was running the heater, but might since blowing heat would probably still be cooler than ambient heat combined with direct sunlight.  My point here (and I do have one) is that it was time to go so I continued on past the museum until I made it to…