Lawrence Odom is in his late seventies and has spent most of his life sitting behind a musical instrument, often dressed in a three-piece suit and bow tie. Lawrence, who grew up in Heavener, Oklahoma...

Colin McLain steps out onto stage wearing tiny trunks and nothing else. It’s the 1998 National Gym Association’s Southwestern Bodybuilding Championship in Tucson, Arizona...

It is unreasonably cold on this Saturday, the wind whipping across the highway, the rain falling fast. Up ahead, just off Highway 71, is Grandma’s House, a restaurant near Artist’s Point in Winslow, Arkansas...

As a writer for @Urban, I’d like to let you in on a little secret—I almost always love my job and my editors. I generally get to pick my own stories, and even when I don’t, I’m usually excited about my assignments. Until I heard about this one...

Before the symptoms and before the visit to Dr. Bridges in Paragould, Arkansas, Bernice McCord received a warning. Her mother had died of cancer the year before, in 1946, when Bernice was still married. Now she was divorced, a twenty-two-year-old single mother...

Vonita Hoffer sits at a long table inside NeNe’s Restaurant in Fort Smith. The lunch crowd has dwindled, and she has some breathing room before the dinner crowd starts ambling in. It’s been a little over a year since the doors first opened...

There’s something inherently uplifting about running. Putting one foot in front of the other, moving forward in long strides toward an absolute goal. A group of Fort Smith students is finding this out, through a kids running club called Mercy in Motion...

How does your life change? Sometimes it’s as easy as finding a new friend. That’s what happened to Lisa Miller and Amy Scoggins. They met at Central Christian Church in Fort Smith, drawn to each other by a shared interest in art. Both were moms. Both were shimmering with talent...

Carter Sampson, also known as the Queen of Oklahoma, wears red cowboy boots, black vintage glasses, and is rarely seen without her acoustic guitar. Around her neck is a golden guitar pick that reads, “Okla.” The “O” is a heart...