Fear Itself

Compiled by UTW staff

As All Hallows' Eve creeps into T-Town, scaring up spooks and slithering into minds, UTW thought it prudent -- OK, we're just morbidly curious -- to ask fellow Tulsans what keeps them up at night. Spiders, ghouls and murder mysteries might be expected to slink on the scene but these locals are afraid of some all-too-real -- and truly frightening -- scenarios and sagas.

Pierce through the darkness to some of the innermost thoughts of Tulsans from all walks of life.

Tread lightly, now.

"I am afraid to be in front of the camera."

--Geoffrey Hicks, photographer and filmmaker

"I'm only afraid of people who are afraid. They possess an immeasurable power, for nothing does more than fear to stifle the achievement of potential...and everywhere I look, I see great potential."

--Blake Ewing, District 4 City Council candidate and owner of Joe Momma's and other local businesses

"I'm probably going to sound ordinary, but, if you are a mother, your biggest fear will always be for the safety, health and happiness of your child. That fear doubles when I start believing the pundits who predict that my child will not have a greater quality of life than I've had."

--Pat Kroblin, event organizer and owner of PK Promotions

"My greatest fear? That our species will not rise above its self-destructive tendencies, that we will not unify, that we will extinguish ourselves via neglect, ignorance, hatred and apathy and that subsequently the universe will never really experience us."

--Todd Stephens, environmental activist and CEO of Ion Solar

"When you have children and grandchildren, you no longer have any fears for yourself of any significance. On the macro level, what I fear more than anything else is the incredible, evident, and demonstrable power of human stupidity."

--Don McCorkell, filmmaker and ex-Tulsa politico

"My biggest fears? Oh, you know, the same as everyone else--sentient robotic overlords, zombie apocalypses, the eldritch Chthulu, Empress Palin, that one dream where the worm with lipstick eats your mother's hair..."

--John Cruncleton III, Nightingale Theater Artistic Director

"My biggest fear is that arts and education funding will be cut down to nothing -- that NPR, art, writing and theatre grants and all the things that make out lives beautiful and full of grace disappear and that teachers will continue to be the worst paid professionals. OK. My REALLY biggest fear is that they will stop making my favorite hair care product. Yes, it's real and it could happen. Frightening!"

--Melanie Fry, artist and performer

"Death. I've spent many hours of many years lying in bed at night trying to fathom either non-existence or an eternity of existence. Both concepts ultimately leave me with a strange kind of vertigo. Like gravity is suddenly reversing for no reason."

--Annie Ellicott, singer/composer and performance artist

"I have recurring dreams about tornadoes, the chaos lurking in that beautiful symmetry. Once, when I was driving home from Stillwater, I saw two funnels hanging from a wall cloud and was mesmerized. I know you're supposed to jump into a ditch, but you hate to do that prematurely. I'm even more afraid of embarrassment."

--Teresa Miller, author and founder of the Oklahoma Center for Poets & Writers

"I am fearful that the mean-spirited attitudes that currently exist in the main stream Republican Party now held captive by the Tea Party and big business that captured the Tea Party with big money, will continue to erode the possibility to achieve the American dream, health, education and economic opportunities while increasing racial and class warfare in America."

--Senator Judy McIntyre, elected officer and North-side leader

"I'm terrified of the people who say you have to sacrifice what you love to do for what they say you 'need' to do. I believe you can have both if you really want it. ...Oh, and possessed children."

--Fiawna Forte´, musician