Barber helps others while helping himself

Nov. 25—Travis Barber seeks to broaden horizons, whether for the people of Muskogee or for himself.

He recalled how reading helped him growing up, and attending Boulevard Christian School.

"As a kid I was voracious reader," Barber said. "Boulevard encouraged that a lot. For 15 minutes after recess, we had to read. For me , they didn't have to make me. Despite the fact it's a private Christian school, they didn't police what you were reading. As long as you were reading. Boulevard also had a lot of art programs, visual art and music."

Barber said he originally wanted to be a high school English teacher, but he ended up majoring in business.

Over the years, he worked at Sears, Mail Boxes Etc. and at the former Muskogee Regional Medical Center and EASTAR hospital.

"I started in admissions, patient access getting their insurance taken care of, then a unit clerk for Labor and Delivery," he said. "I worked with a lot of people."

Barber became active in a union of hospital workers. He said the union met in a building on South 40th Street. He recalled setting up a blessing box type public pantry outside the building.

He now operates State of Sequoyah bookstore in that building.

"We're named after the State of Sequoyah for the state that never was, the Native American state that was to have comprised eastern Oklahoma," he said. "Right around the time we were deciding what to do with this space, we were experiencing a lot of challenges to literature. Our tagline here is that we specialize in banned and other fine books."

Name change erases stigma

Travis Barber calls the pantry outside the bookstore a "savepoint."

"In some video games, you can save the game by certain special points," he said. "So, I'm trying to take the stigma out of using a pantry for the needy by calling it that because everyone needs to use a savepoint once in a while."

Barber said they keep some items — like ramen noodles, Vienna sausage, tuna, canned vegetables, applesauce — in the savepoint all the time.

"Before we had the pantry, I'd play games with myself where I would take a $20 bill and go to Homeland and see how much food I could get to put into the pantry," he said. "So, over the years, I learned what the cheapest way to keep body and soul together."

He said anyone is encouraged to bring shelf-stable foods or hygiene items to the savepoint.

"We also try to keep tampons or pads in the top drawer at all times," he said, listing shampoo, soap, toothpaste or toothbrushes as other items."

With winter coming up, Barber seeks to stock gloves, blankets and socks in the savepoint. Another drawer is for books.

"I'm planning on adding lights, plexiglass doors, signage," he said.

Challenges are money, word of mouth

Barber said the biggest challenge of getting State of Sequoyah going has been getting the word out.

"So often, customers come in and say 'oh, I never knew you were here,'" Barber said. "Once customers know we're here, they're enthusiastic about the place and the selection."

Money is another challenge, especially without a strong financial backer.

"We've had to do everything ourselves on what money we have" he said. "Mostly our savings, mine and my partner's."

The selection is curated, Barber said.

"With the money we have, we have to fill our shelves with the most bang for our buck," he said. "That means staying true to what our vision for a bookstore should look like as well as getting things that will sell."

Learning keyboard more challenging

Barber is taking on the double task of learning guitar and keyboard, despite admitting he's not very good at reading music.

One thing that helps with keyboard is that you can easily find the C note, he said.

Keyboard can be easier than guitar "if you're just playing a melody."

"I find it's harder than guitar if you're reading two musical staffs (treble and bass clefs) at once," Barber said. "You're making your hands do two different things. With guitar, you're doing two things with your hand, but one is strumming and the other is making the notes."

Barber said he began playing keyboard when he was a child.

"But I never advanced beyond picking out, say, the melody of 'When the Saints go Marching In,'" he said. "I'm not going to say I'm that much farther advanced than that now, but it's an ongoing interest, but I'm not giving up."

He said he learned keyboard by practicing with music and with a musician app. He's continuing to learn guitar especially blues chords.

"My guitar teacher, one thing he told me is to work on your scales," he said. "If you're good at your scales you're good at everything else."

HOW DID YOU COME TO BE AN OKIE FROM MUSKOGEE?

"Originally, it was my family moving here. My mother married into the Blakeslee family. At that time there were a lot of Blakeslees in town. What keeps me here is that I love that we are a small town with a big name."

WHAT DO YOU LIKE BEST ABOUT MUSKOGEE?

"It has a little bit of everything. We're like Springfield from 'The Simpsons.' If you need it, it's here. You may need to search it out. My favorite part of it is the small town vibe with large town amenities."

WHAT WOULD MAKE MUSKOGEE A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE?

"Focusing a lot more on tourism would make it a better place. We miss a lot of opportunities. Like the Garden of Lights. Not every town has a Garden of Lights, but we miss out on a lot of opportunities by making it a quick drive-thru."

WHAT PERSON IN MUSKOGEE DO YOU ADMIRE MOST?

"David Gerard. Not only did I go to church with him long, long ago at Grandview Baptist, he also worked at Boulevard as a teacher, off and on, doing college themed classes. He ran an English composition class once. His writing, and the fact he was one of my earliest writing teachers. I also admire his cartoons and his pencil drawings. He's probably my biggest influence in town."

WHAT IS THE MOST MEMORABLE THING TO HAPPEN TO YOU IN MUSKOGEE?

"This experience of opening this book store. We actually started by keeping this space when the union moved out of it because the homeless pantry out front active. In this part of town there is a great need. There is a lot of food insecurity. I also had a dream of opening a book store. I've lived here a long time, but the cross section of people I've become acquainted with as the first full-service book store to open here since Hastings closed. A lot of people have come in to say they're excited to have a book store again."

WHAT DO YOU DO IN YOUR SPARE TIME?

"I try to see a lot of live music. I work on my art. That could mean painting. That could mean writing. Probably my spare time mostly means working on my music, learning piano and guitar more faithfully. I try to be consistent on working on my Spanish."

HOW WOULD YOU SUM UP MUSKOGEE IN 25 WORDS OR LESS?

"Very diverse, a friendly town and it has a lot of potential moving forward for growth. We have a very strong arts community."