Robin for Oklahoma

05/24/2026

Read this and then read it again, please.

“Parents, read to your children daily. Let them see you reading. Choose books together. Revisit your childhood favorites and allow your children to share theirs with you. Discuss stories. Ask questions. Laugh together over funny books and linger over difficult or beautiful ones. Reading is not just an academic skill; it is a relationship-building act.

“Parents should connect with librarians and teachers, both in schools and public libraries. These professionals know books, know readers, and know how life-changing the right story can be. Strong reading communities are built through collaboration, trust, and shared enthusiasm.

“And authors must continue doing what they have always done: writing for the most important members of the reading community, the children. Not for trends, prestige, or adult approval, but for the child turning pages under a blanket with a flashlight way past bedtime, the child searching for themselves in a story, the child trying to understand the world.

“Children who read become children who imagine. They become children who question, empathize, create, and dream. They become adults capable of curiosity and compassion. In defending children’s literature, we are not just defending books. We are defending the intellectual and emotional lives of future readers, future citizens, and future leaders.”

When the Ambassador Hands Critics a Weapon: Mac Barnett, Make Believe, and the Stakes of Children’s Literature Posted by Arlene Laverde & Jennifer Sturge | 05/21/2026 | Authors, Collection Development, Literacy, News | 0 In May 2026, Mac Barnett, celebrated children’s book author and the current...

05/21/2026

"Increased well-being and spending power for our neighbors benefits us all."

Full statement from the League of Women Voters - Oklahoma below. Please vote yes on SQ 832.

05/12/2026

Oklahoma is about $1 billion short of the regional average in per-pupil spending. Record budgets haven't closed that distance.

https://ow.ly/VfrZ50YXTxr

05/12/2026

"It hits farms double." Oklahoma grain farmers face fuel costs up 52%, rising fertilizer prices and negative returns for the third straight year.

https://ow.ly/R8cQ50YXi8j

05/12/2026

05/06/2026

"In fact, Reagan’s tax cuts required deficit spending that tripled the national debt from $995 billion to $2.9 trillion—more federal debt than in the entire previous history of the country—prompting calls for cuts to social programs in order to address the ballooning debt. Rather than creating a rising tide that lifted all boats, as the saying went, the new system moved more than $50 trillion from the bottom 90% of Americans to the top 1%."

There is a lot going on, for sure, that needs our attention, but I am compelled to highlight this quote from yesterday's letter. Tax cuts for the wealthy do not "trickle down" but rather eliminate services that make us a civil society and reduce or end the investments that save us LOTS of $ in the long run (education, health, and nutrition investments). As the wealthiest nation on earth, we can make sure children and yes adults who have fallen on hard times have food. Put simply, slashing wealthy folks' taxes (or letting massive corporations avoid paying their share) places the burden on the middle class and those in poverty. It is both immoral and a bad fiscal decision.

05/05/2026

Check this great program out; 5th grade teachers can sign up for next year.

Registration is now open for Oklahoma’s fifth grade teachers to sign up for their class to participate in the award-winning Kid Governor® program during the next school year. Teachers can register at the following website: https://tinyurl.com/KG2627Register

05/05/2026

Some good news in -- thanks Representative Trish Ranson - OK House District 34!

Three years of work forming a coalition, an interim study on the benefits of consolidating early childhood services, and now accepting senate amendments on the House floor. Next stop: Governor’s desk. HUGE thank you to for working tirelessly on this bill—and to all who advocated for its passage. This was definitely a group effort!💙🧡🎉🎉

05/04/2026

"The answer to frustration with government is not to tear down the systems our communities depend on. It’s to make them better.

"We can do more together than we ever could alone. That has always been the promise of self-government. And like any promise worth keeping, it requires investment, accountability, and participation from all of us." - Shiloh Kantz, OK Policy Director

Shiloh Kantz of Oklahoma Policy Institute emphasizes the importance of active community engagement to improve government services in Oklahoma.

04/30/2026

I don't have many words about this yet except to say I wish I were suprised. Elections have real and lasting consequences. Appointments to the Supreme Court to name one really massive one. Disgusting.

The court, in a 6-3 decision along partisan lines, ruled that Louisiana's 2024 election map, which created a second majority-Black congressional district, was "an unconstitutional racial gerrymander."