January 1, 2013

In our first issue of the new year, Brit meets Grit as we feature several pieces on True Grit author Charles Portis and BBC 1 legend John Peel.

IT WAS MAGIC: Don Duca recalls the turbulent vibe of the Magician’s Theater.

A PORTIS READER: He’d go on to write True Grit and other novels, but Charles Portis had to quit the newspaper biz to get there. Robert Dumont writes.

THE FORGOTTEN RIVER: A portrait of the Ouachita from Portis’ new book, Escape Velocity.

A PICTURE WORTH A THOUSAND NERDS: Past the tides and the tourists, Mont Saint-Michel still paints a picture beyond words. Aric S. Queen reports. POETRY: Phil Estes reports on the disturbing dearth of birds in his poem “Oklahoma Lacks Phoenixes, Albatrosses.”

PEELING IN THE YEARS: Before he became legendary at the BBC, John Peel was laying his Liverpool accent on thick at Oklahoma City’s KOMA. Thomas Conner spins.

ORIGINAL OKIE: Sterlin Harjo photographs Lawton Native N. Scott Momaday who won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction with his 1969 novel House Made of Dawn.