Light and Variable

In Light and Variable, the reader is invited to join celebrated Oklahoma essayist and commentator Connie Cronley on a delightful romp through the calendar year. Honest, unpretentious, and laced with self-deprecating humor, the essays in this book revolve around special holidays or events, some of which you may never have heard of—Festival of Sleep Day, National Failures Day, and Blame Someone Else Day.

Against a backdrop of celebrations and seasons, Cronley marvels at subjects close to her heart: siblings from outer space, small towns, champion whopper-telling ex-husbands, rascally cats, rescued dogs, deviled eggs, know-it-all hair dressers, church squabbles, books and authors, gardening efforts run aground, flocks of starlings, women’s history, cowgirls, and her own Cherokee heritage. Woven throughout are fragments of Emily Dickinson’s poetry; a few essays about food (not surprising from a former restaurant critic), including a history of celery in North America; a salute to rhubarb; and recipes from Frank Sinatra and Oprah Winfrey.

Who knew that Oklahoma was such a magical place? Cronley introduces us to Oklahoma celebrities: movie stars Jennifer Jones and Tony Randall, glamorous café society singer Lee Wiley, champion poker player Bobby Baldwin, and one of the state’s legendary American Indian ballerinas (and the author’s personal friend) Moscelyne Larkin. Grab your hat and step into Connie Cronley’s special world, where the mood, like Oklahoma weather, is always light and variable.

Connie Cronley is the author of three books of essays—Sometimes a Wheel Falls Off, Light and Variable, and Poke a Stick at It—and coauthor with the late Edward Perkins of Mr. Ambassador: Warrior for Peace. She is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and lives in Tulsa.