F A C U LT Y
An Important Voice BY TE RRY PHELPS
I N H I S 2 0 1 3 B O O K “Big League City: Oklahoma City’s Rise to the NBA,” Mayor David Holt (JD ’09) chronicles the city’s recent renaissance. One of the key players in that renaissance in recent years is James Cooper, an OCU adjunct instructor and recipient of OCU’s Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (’15). Cooper is a member of the City Council and, as Holt says, “is an important voice in our city and speaks for groups that have not historically had a seat at the table. He’s the first openly LGBTQ member of the council, the first non-white member of the council outside of Ward 7. He represents some history in that regard and the transition of the city.” A big factor in the renaissance has been the MAPS (Metropolitan Area Projects) initiatives, which began in 1993, followed by MAPS 2, MAPS 3, and MAPS 4, to improve life in the city. Mayor Holt says, “Cooper’s leadership on MAPS 4 was valuable in the City Council. He really helped us get to a 9-0 unanimous vote.” MAPS 4 was then approved by city voters with 16 projects, including parks, public transportation, recreation, and centers for youth, seniors, mental health and the homeless. Holt spoke to Cooper’s Arts & Human Values class about the Oklahoma City renaissance. In that class, Cooper tries to make a connection between the arts and life. They watch various movies from different time periods, seeing how they reflect life in those times. They read “Boom Town: The Fantastical Saga of Oklahoma City, Its Chaotic Founding…Its Purloined Basketball Team, and the Dream of Becoming a World-Class Metropolis,” and then watch TV episodes of the documentary “Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance” and compare the Italian renaissance to the Oklahoma City renaissance. Cooper also teaches classes in philosophy, film and English. He says, “I hope students leave my classes understanding the stakes of acquiring knowledge and always being ready to revise knowledge – that life itself might very well be about the pursuit of knowledge, the pursuit of open-mindedness. I want students to understand how to communicate their thoughts, to be able to understand what a liberal arts education is. To read, write and think so someone can’t pull the wool over their eyes. To understand that education is lifelong.” Novelist and MFA instructor Lou Berney says, “James was a terrific student. His creative thesis for me was a literary crime novel based on the Oklahoma City steakhouse murders of the 1970s. His fiction is hugely ambitious and also – a rare combination – beautifully executed. And he’s one of those writers (also rare) with a genuinely open mind, a strong desire to learn and get better. Those valuable qualities have also served him exceptionally well in his life of public service.”
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Oklahoma City University Alumni Magazine Photos by Ian Weston
