Saints and Sinners in Oklahoma City

By Charles St. Anthony

"In this latest fast food exposé, the author lifts the lid on the traits, trends, and tastes of Okies. Delicious, shrewd, funny, and surprising, Charles the Bold is not one to let the grass grow." -Jack Scott (author)

 

Joining the California exodus, Charles leaves the Golden State for high adventures in the Great Plains. Landing in Oklahoma City, he decides to check out the food in The Big Friendly by using food delivery apps to see what the city's residents are eating. In this work of gonzo journalism, Charles finds some of the tastiest and most unique dishes he has ever tasted while doing food delivery. Also, Charles uncovers how Oklahomans like their steaks prepared and how many orders of ranch dressing there were in the 500 plus orders he did in Oklahoma. Also, he compares the eating habits of Oklahoma City to the ones in Los Angeles with some shocking results. Which city has the better tippers? LA or OKC? The differences and similarities will astound you. It's a quirky, witty, feel-food short read that will leave your mouth watering! Start laughing now. Content warning: contains adult humor and language.

 

"Saints & Sinners in Oklahoma City is filled with quirky and irreverent humor and even includes a tongue-in-cheek look at the history of the Oklahoma Land Rush." -The Gayly

 

"A short, quick + fun read with an amiable narrator that provides an insight into food delivery apps, made me wanna try some OKC food, and I finally know what 'Sooner' means." -Chris Page (writer)

• Language: English
• Publisher: I.G. Studios LLC
• Release date: Apr 22, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201320607

Charles St. Anthony

Charles St. Anthony hosts the hilarious podcast "T with Charles" where he discuss the scalding hot topics in current events and entertainment. He has published several humorous memoirs and short reads. He graduated from Columbia University with a degree in East Asian Studies. After spending 12 years in Japan where he acquired his master's degree, he returned to the US where he released "Impossibly Glamorous" - his book about gay life in Japan and the American celebrities he met overseas. He followed this up with "San Francisco Daddy," which took a close up look at LGBTQ dating life in the Bay Area. "Uber Diva" and "DTLA Hustler" are humorous short reads on the gig economy where Charles shows the realities of working as a rideshare driver and Postmates courier, respectively. He continues his work as a wit and humorist maintains the handle @kingcharles0921 on Instagram and Twitter.

Book preview

Failed State

or Golden State?

Sometimes the best thing about California is leaving it.

I had come to LA with visions of somehow networking my way into the writers’ room of a Hollywood production. Unfortunately, I found that world impenetrable, and the reality was that I was barely scraping by through a series of odd jobs, such as working as a TV extra and doing food delivery.

Having lived through the pandemic in LA, I needed a change of scenery. LA can be stimulating, exciting, and offer jobs for creatives that only exist in Southern California. At the same time, if you let the negatives overwhelm you, it can become suffocating. Even the air was choking me. You’ve seen pictures of toxic brownish-yellow smog that contaminates the air of the city. Some days I would have to shower multiple times, because whatever pollutant was in the air caused my eyes to itch and water as if I had chopped a large number of onions. In addition to exhaust from vehicles and industry, months-long wildfires add to the poisonous air. Sometimes after the wildfires, I would come out to find my Chevy Bolt covered in ash.

The grind and the stress hardened me. Gruesome crimes perpetrated in cold blood would be broadcast all day every day on the television, and at some point, you get desensitized. One becomes blind to the blight of the city and the hardship of others. I blocked out the horrors of crime and the plight of the homeless while pursuing my agendas, but in doing this, I felt more and more self-absorbed. A healthy self-regard is good―especially in entertainment―but at what point does that cross over into abject narcissism? Was I an artist expressing himself or a dilettante obsessed with shallow ego fulfillment? I had reached a point where I had difficulty seeing the parts of Los Angeles that I loved, and I needed a break from it. I felt hemmed in by the vanity, callousness, and self-absorption of the people that surrounded me. And at the same time, I felt myself becoming just as vain, callous, and self-absorbed. I had to get out of Los Angeles not just for my sanity, but also for my soul.

I had been toying with the idea of becoming location independent—a term I prefer to the buzzword digital nomad. I dreamed of jetting off anywhere in the world with just my laptop and microphone. My current income streams included voice-over work, so I had built a makeshift sound studio in my room off Washington Boulevard southeast of downtown LA. I had begun to build a small client base, but my surroundings worked against me. Even though I loved the boisterous environment I lived in, it was at odds with developing my voice talent work since my recording space was not completely soundproof. Teens would set off fireworks at any hour and at any time of the year. I would be trying to get a recording right, and a bottle rocket would shriek into the night. Or I might be trying to catch a moment of silence when Bidi Bidi Bom Bom by Selena might start blasting at some party down the street. As charming as my neighborhood was, it was not conducive to voice-over work. So I had to get out of Los Angeles and join the California Exodus. Deciding where to move next proved difficult.

Many of the most popular destinations for Californians to migrate to were already at capacity. Portland ain’t cheap anymore. Ditto for Seattle or