Faith, food and fun: Meet The Oklahoman's Features team reporting on it all
Growing up, I could always find a newspaper at the breakfast table. It was, and still is, an important part of my family's day. The news in those pages informed my parents' outlook on the world around them, stock numbers told them how to invest, obituaries let them know whom to mourn, and comics gave them a smile as they left for work.
For my part, after a quick glance at the front page, I was always drawn to the Features section. To me, these were the subjects that made life interesting! What movies were coming out, what activities were available to a bored teen in the summer, what everyone was wearing that year, which author had a new book, what bands were playing where ... and puzzles! Intriguing crosswords and word searches delivered daily!
That curiosity about interesting things and current events led me to stints writing and editing at the Jenks Trojan Torch in high school and The O'Colly at Oklahoma State University, where I got a journalism degree that launched me into an almost 22-year-long career at The Oklahoman, where I'm now the Features editor. I've carried on the family tradition of sharing the news with my two kids, but at 11 and 14, they do most of their news consumption on screens instead of holding physical newspapers.
The medium might have changed, but curiosity is strong in their generation. It's also still strong in today's journalists. As much as they've adapted to new delivery systems and technologies, their core values remain, and they continue to be dedicated to telling fair, balanced, impactful and meaningful stories people want to read.
While much of what the Features section covers is considered "light" fare, our team works hard to show how the arts, food and spirituality affect all of us.
When the award-winning film "Killers of the Flower Moon" started lensing in Oklahoma, Arts & Entertainment reporter Brandy McDonnell looked beyond the casting calls and delved into the complicated history behind the story. She talked to the families still being affected by the Reign of Terror and looked at how attention for the movie not only put Oklahoma's film industry and economy in the spotlight, but it also brought an often overlooked part of state history to the forefront.
Also taking a broader view, Food & Dining reporter JaNae Williams goes beyond menu reviews and looks at how several Oklahoma chefs are winning national acclaim and changing the landscape of the state's food scene. She looks at the cost of doing business and how that affects Oklahomans going out to eat and at the grocery store. Her story on Oklahoma's pig industry showcased the ethics, cost and care that goes into the business before it ever reaches Oklahoma consumers.
Faith Editor Carla Hinton spent years following the disaffiliation movement inside the United Methodist denomination both in Oklahoma and globally. She talked to experts on the denomination, kept up with all of the court cases involved and, most importantly, talked to the people affected by the 127 churches leaving one of the state's largest faith groups. Parishioners told her time and again how important her coverage was and how they relied on her and her expansive coverage.
As the Features editor, I couldn't be more proud of my award-winning staff, who work hard every day to give you the most interesting, fair, fun and human stories possible. Here is a closer look at The Oklahoman's Features team:
Brandy McDonnell (A&E)
An award-winning writer and lifelong Oklahoman, McDonnell is celebrating her 23rd anniversary this year as a features writer for The Oklahoman. She started as a journalist in seventh grade, submitting stories to her local weekly newspaper. She received her journalism degree with honors from OSU in 1999, worked at two small Oklahoma daily newspapers and joined the newsroom at The Oklahoman in 2002.
Known by her initials "BAM," McDonnell shifted in 2007 to The Oklahoman's arts and entertainment beat. She received the Oklahoma Governor's Art Award for Media in the Arts in 2015, an Oklahoma Film & TV Icon Award from the deadCenter Film Festival in 2020 and the regional Society of Professional Journalists' First Amendment Awards prize for "Defending the Disadvantaged" in 2021.
A Tomatometer-approved critic for RottenTomatoes.com, she is a founding member of the Oklahoma Film Critics Circle and a longtime member of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, for which she writes The Week in Women news blog.
McDonnell and her husband, Patrick, have been married for 26 years and share four children: Chris, 30; Gabe, 18; Brenna, 14; and Kyla, 8. Their household includes a dog named Willow, a cat named Witch Hazel and a red-eared slider turtle named Fudge, which McDonnell has owned since she was 9 years old.
JaNae Williams (food & dining)
After coming to The Oklahoman fresh from the University of Central Oklahoma in 2021, Williams spent her first 19 months tackling county government, homelessness and general assignment reporting.
Having grown up a fan of cooking competitions and watching the likes of Andrew Zimmern and Anthony Bourdain, she seized the opportunity to take on the role of Food & Dining Reporter in 2022. Since then she has worked to build a rapport with Oklahoma City area chefs, restaurant owners, farmers, producers, industry leaders and others to transform the role into one that reaches beyond simply reviewing and suggesting restaurants.
Williams aims to tell the story of food — from production to plate — in a way that connects readers to something deeper. Williams is also an adjunct professor, hoping to use the real-world skills she learns through her role at The Oklahoman to impact future mass communications professionals.
When she is not working, she enjoys spending as much time as possible with her dog Emerie, but can also be found taking sporadic road trips, trying out new baking recipes, singing karaoke and having game nights with friends.
Carla Hinton (Faith)
Having grown up in the 1970s, Carla Hinton wasn't sure if she liked being known as the "Church Lady," because the title made her think of the character made famous by comedian Dana Carvey on NBC's "Saturday Night Live." Having said that, her role as The Oklahoman's faith editor is one that she accepted with enthusiasm, and she realized over the years that it has been her favorite reporting assignment and the one for which she's best known.
Her broad coverage of religion and spirituality has taken her to many parts of Oklahoma and beyond. In her award-winning series “Peace, Love and Falafel,” she wrote about her experiences visiting the Holy Land in 2017 with a group of Oklahomans from the Jewish, Muslim and Christian faith traditions.
Prior to writing about faith, Hinton held a wide range of reporting beats for The Oklahoman, including transportation, Oklahoma City Hall and minority affairs. She has received numerous awards during her more than 30 years reporting for The Oklahoman, and she's been inducted into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame and Oklahoma African American Hall of Fame.
Hinton figures she may be kin to "Chatty Cathy," but as a reporter in newsgathering mode, she loves to listen as Oklahomans tell her their stories.
Contributing: Brandy McDonnell, JaNae Williams and Carla Hinton, The Oklahoman