Seanithan

The Tulsa Rock, Gem, Mineral and Jewelry Show wrapped up Sunday out at the Exchange Center at Expo Square, three days run by the Tulsa Rock and Mineral Society with something like thirty plus dealers set up. Seven bucks to get in, kids free with an adult, a fluorescent room where everybody stands around going ooh at rocks that look boring under normal light, and a Pebble Pups table getting actual kids interested in earth science instead of just handing them a free polished stone and calling it a day. Small stuff, but it matters. I keep coming back to this idea that shows like Tulsa do more for this hobby than Tucson or Denver ever will, even though nobody flies in from overseas for it. Tucson is a trade show. Dealers are slammed, you get ninety seconds of their attention, prices are set for a global buyer pool. A regional show is where a fifteen year old with allowance money can actually talk to a dealer for ten minutes about why sphalerite forms those weird resinous crystals, and where a local club can recruit its next thirty years of members. That's the whole pipeline for the hobby right there, and it doesn't exist without shows like this. The material tells you exactly where you are too. Northeast Oklahoma sits right on the edge of the old Tri State lead zinc district, so I'd bet money there were Picher area sphalerite and galena pieces on some of those Midwest dealer tables, plus barite roses out of the Garber Sandstone down around Noble, maybe some hourglass selenite from the Salt Plains if a dealer wanted to represent the whole state. Such a different table than a Southwest show loaded with Bisbee copper minerals and turquoise, or a West Coast show where half the floor is Brazilian quartz and Madagascar imports because that's what the container ships bring in first. Midwest tables are still weirdly local even now, and I think that's underrated. Did anybody make it out to Tulsa, or do you have a regional show you keep going back to every year even though nobody outside your state has heard of it? I want to hear what's showing up on the tables where you are. Link in 🧵

I honestly don't care about people's spoken grammar, and I speak grammatically incorrect on purpose a lot. But for some reason, my brain has fixated on the difference between less and fewer, and I correct myself every time now even though I could swear I don't actually care

Young boy joins neighborhood association, but over time, he regrets his choice and eventually leaves their employ.

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