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ON THE COVER

NEWS

LIFE

LIFE

Ebony Iman Dallas couldn’t watch the Holtzclaw case silently. It hit too close to home. The artist’s exhibit, Women in War Zones, recently opened at The Project Box, 3003 Paseo St. It features more than a dozen works, including “13 Queens” (pictured on the cover), inspired by the bravery of the women who came forward and testified against former Oklahoma City police officer Daniel Holtzclaw, who was recently convicted on multiple counts of rape and other sexual abuse charges. Story

by Ben Luschen. P.31 Photos by Garett Fisbeck.

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Peforming Arts: Avenue Q, Kelli O’Hara, Mann... and Wife

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Sudoku / Crossword

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Music: Gregory Jerome, HuckWheat, listings

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Film: Deadpool, How to Be Single, Eddie the Eagle

History: OKC sit-ins

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City: Embark growth

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Education: project-based learning

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Metro: Urban Land Institute Impact Awards

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Chicken-Fried News

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Letters

Mission statement Oklahoma Gazette’s mission is to stimulate, examine and inform the public on local quality of life issues and social needs, to recognize community accomplishments, and to provide a forum for inspiration, participation and interaction across all media.

OKG picks

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Food & Drink: Dong-A Korean Restaurant, Spelling Bee(r), Sunnyside Diner, briefs, OKG eat: seafood

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Community: women-only chess

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Technology: BB-8 toy designers

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Book of Love

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Astrology

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Cover: Ebony Iman Dallas

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Classifieds

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Visual Arts: Momentum OKC, Kiowa Six

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news history

Changing history Oklahoma Gazette remembers Oklahoma City’s civil rights movement.

When Ayanna Najuma was a child, she watched movies from a balcony seat of the theater. She read signs above water fountains — one marked “White” and one marked “Colored.” In downtown Oklahoma City, segregated bathrooms existed in two spots: Union Bus Station and the basement of the Oklahoma County Courthouse.

In 1957, Najuma and 25 classmates from Dunjee school traveled to New York City to present the play Brother President to national NAACP leaders. Under the leadership of their teacher Clara Luper, the trip served as a formative experience.

The 26 children ate at lunch counters, sat freely on busses and stayed in the Henry Hudson Hotel, now the Hudson Hotel.

“We got to meet interesting people,” Najuma recalled. “We got to go to hotels and restaurants. No one told us we couldn’t go there. No one said, ‘’Round back.’

“When Marilyn (Luper) had the idea, ‘Let’s do something now,’ it wasn’t difficult to process.”

Marilyn Luper, the daughter of Clara Luper, presented the idea at the Aug. 19, 1958, NAACP Youth Council meeting in the Luper home. She proposed a trip to Katz Drug Store, located at the southwest corner of Main Street and Robinson Avenue in Oklahoma City. The youth would order a round of Coke bottles, and they wouldn’t take the order to-go. The NAACP youth were planning a sit-in at a popular Oklahoma City lunch counter.

Gwendolyn Fuller, the council’s president, asked the adviser if the youth could go to Katz and seek service just like everyone else, Clara Luper wrote in her 1979 memoir, Behold the Walls.

“I could feel the eyes of the members on me,” Clara Luper wrote. “I thought for a brief moment and traced the steps that we had taken. We had been patient, and I saw in the children’s eyes reflections of my restless childhood when I wanted to do something to a system that had paralyzed my movements and made me an outsider in my own country. Yet these were children whose ages ranged from 7 to 15 years old.”

The Dunjee teacher made three phone calls for transportation. Once three cars arrived, 13 children and Clara Luper began the journey to downtown Oklahoma City.

At Katz, the students sat on the

laura eastes

by Laura Eastes

Joyce Jackson, who was involved in the civil rights sit-ins in Oklahoma City, smiles following a screening of Children of the Civil Rights. Joyce Henderson sits on her left, and Hannibal Johnson sits on her right. counter stools and waved a $5 bill.

The action was met with no service, prompting the start of the civil rights movement in Oklahoma City.

After two days of sit-ins, Katz management served the black youth. The youth, who grew in numbers, moved on to Veazey’s, Kress, John A. Brown and Anna Maude Cafeteria. From 1958 to 1964, the nonviolent sit-ins and protests occurred on Saturdays during the school year. There were never any violent confrontations, but Clara Luper was arrested 26 times during the six-year campaign to desegregate Oklahoma City lunch counters. The drive was brought to a close in 1964, when Congress passed the Civil Rights Act that outlawed discrimination in most public accommodations.

Breaking barriers

Clara Luper inspired her students and youth involved in the NAACP Youth Council, said Joyce Jackson, who was an active participant in the campaign.

“She had a way of making history come alive,” Jackson said. “We were excited to go to her class because we knew we were going to do something different and exciting.”

Fellow classmate Joyce A. Henderson said Luper didn’t just teach American History, but instructed her

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students to stand tall, speak clearly and eliminate “ums” and other filler worlds from their speech.

“It was a blessing,” said Henderson, who pursued a career in education with Oklahoma City Public Schools.

“If you had a teacher like Clara Luper, you knew to be involved and to make a change. That was part of what we did in her classroom. We took it outside of the classroom. She encouraged us to be involved in NAACP Youth Council under her leadership. It was a priceless moment for me.”

Each Saturday, the group gathered at Calvary Baptist Church in Deep Deuce to prepare for the protests. Youth were trained for the sit-ins, with specific instructions on how to act, speak and respond to pushback from lunch counter staff, customers and the police.

“Ms. Luper had a strategic plan,” Jackson said. “We were taught what to do, how to act and how to respond if something happened.”

Clara Luper, who retired from Oklahoma City Public Schools, died in 2011 at the age of 88.

As adults, the three women believe their stories and those of others who participated in the civil rights movement can inspire future generations.

“To expose young people to see history, you never know what impact

you are making on them,” Henderson said. “They don’t know what impact it’s making on them. … You’ve got to start somewhere.”

Sharing stories

After years of sharing their stories, six students — including Najuma, Jackson and Henderson — were interviewed for the 2015 documentary Children of the Civil Rights. Ardmore native Julia Clifford directed the film, which she pursued 50 years after the start of the Oklahoma City sit-in movement. It focuses on the sit-ins and the courageous young participants.

Julia Clifford first learned of Oklahoma’s role in the civil rights movement from her father, Bill Clifford, the first white man to protest with the NAACP youth in Oklahoma City.

Children of the Civil Rights premiered in OKC before being screened across the state and country. This month, students from Tulsa Public Schools and the University of Tulsa viewed it and heard from some of its participants, such as Julia Clifford, Bill Clifford, Najuma, Jackson, Henderson and Hannibal Johnson, a Tulsa author and community leader.

The film returns to OKC 2 p.m.

March 19 with a free screening at Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive.

News City

Evening lineup m a rk ha n coc k

Embark further expands evening bus routes as it continues to enhance its public transit services.

By Laura Eastes

Oklahoma City’s Embark employees often receive rider surveys requesting expansion of the public transit system’s evening and Sunday bus services.

The results are no surprise to Jason Ferbrache, Embark director. He agrees with the feedback and understands that for many, workdays don’t end at 7 p.m.

“We’ve been able to get people to work, but we haven’t been able to get them home,” Ferbrache told Oklahoma Gazette. “Now, we are making pretty good strides in solving that challenge.”

The first stride came in January 2015 when two Embark bus lines launched hourly departures between 7 p.m. and midnight from its downtown transit hub and another hub on the city’s west side. The No. 023 route travels to the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center before moving west along NW 23rd Street. The No. 011 route takes

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riders to the southside and travels through Capitol Hill.

Since public transit was nearly nonexistent for more than three decades in Oklahoma City, Embark leaders wondered about the long-term success of evening routes. June 2015 data alleviated their concern. During the night shift, Embark averaged close to 10 riders per service hour, about half the number of daytime riders.

“We had already proposed expanding the (evening) route to two other routes,” Ferbrache said. “Looking at our data through June, it was evident that people were using and embracing the evening routes rather quickly.”

Jan. 25, Embark added two more night bus lines. No. 013 travels north and south along Western Avenue between Interstate 240 and downtown. It also stops at Oklahoma City Community College.

People wait for buses at Embark’s downtown transit hub.

No. 005 covers northwest OKC and travels north and south along Classen Boulevard.

The routes connect riders to health care at Mercy Health Center and Integris Southwest Medical Center.

Now, Embark operates four lines 7 p.m.-midnight Monday through Friday.

The buses run at an hourly frequency with stops every 30 minutes. Community response to the transit system’s night service mimics its daytime response. For 18 consecutive months, Embark ridership grew year-over-year and averaged around 12,000 passenger trips per day.

During that time, Embark also launched service enhancements, including system changes, increased frequency and upgrades to technology, such as installing Wi-Fi hotspots and real-time data

tracking to give riders the most accurate information on when buses will arrive.

To launch night service in 2015, the council provided $420,000 in additional funding to Embark. Last fall, City Manager Jim Couch called for a hiring freeze as the city coped with lower tax revenue.

City staff predicts a difficult budget year for fiscal year 2016-17. Departments, including Embark, are preparing for possible cuts.

“There is a chance we may have to delay further night expansion,” Ferbrache said. “We’ve been on a pretty good role of frequency enhancements and expanding the night service. This might be the year we have to delay or not move as quickly.”

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news education

Dome learning OKCPS’ John Adams Elementary School prepares students for a project-based world.

By Laura Eastes

New direction

This school year, a handful of John Adams teachers replaced well-known learning tools, such as textbooks and worksheets, with interactive labs and research assignments under a teaching method called project-based learning.

Now, when teachers introduce units, students learn by doing and naturally question, inquire and develop deeper knowledge over time.

With project-based learning, a teacher presents a realistic project, assigns structured group work and looks for multiple learning outcomes.

There are no right or wrong answers.

At the end of a unit, students complete an individual project and present their findings to others.

The project-based learning method launched at John Adams school thanks to The Learner First. Eleven of the district’s schools are working with the Seattle-based education consulting firm to establish pilot programs that reform education and dive deeper into student learning. Each school’s pilot program differs to address the individual needs of the school.

Principal Heather Zacarias welcomed the new student-centered teaching method to her school, which serves diverse populations, including high numbers of students living in

laura eastes

On a sunny February morning, sixthgraders Perla Rosalez, Veronica Delgado and Cecelia Chaparro identified ecosystems by using colored pencils to mark the locations on a world map.

The John Adams Elementary School students started with Russia, identifying much of the Russian Arctic as tundra.

Once marked, the students moved south, pointing out deserts, forests, grasslands and rain forests.

Not far from the trio, teacher Marci Vaughan watched and listened closely as students talked among themselves about biomes around the world.

She smiled before explaining the students were owning their learning at the southwest Oklahoma City school, part of the Oklahoma City Public Schools (OKCPS) district.

“Project-based learning takes the teacher out of the factor,” Vaughan said.

“Students become responsible for their own learning. They are learning by themselves.”

Sixth-grade students work through an assignment inside a biosphere created by their teacher, Marci Vaughan. poverty and English language learners.

“The traditional format wasn’t meeting the needs of kids,” Zacarias said. “We were ready for this instructional shift. Right now, there are pockets of (project-based learning) happening all over the school. A few of our teachers have researched projectbased learning on their own and are really diving into it.”

Our school is leading the way, and the kids are absolutely loving it.

— Heather Zacarias Zacarias referred to project-based learning as “contagious in [the] building.” Students are enthralled by the curriculum and have developed an academic mindset. Recently, she heard students discussing biomes over lunch in the cafeteria.

“Our school is leading the way, and the kids are absolutely loving it,” Zacarias said.

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Zacarias and others hope the passion toward learning translates to improved academic performance. Studies suggest that project-based learning has a profound impact on students as they attain higher scores than their peers on standardized tests.

Part of making project-based learning successful is technology, which Zacarias explained is limited at John Adams. The school is actively pursuing grants for new tablets and computers, but welcomes donations.

John Adams teachers will undergo further professional development on project-based learning before the start of the 2016-17 school year.

Classroom biomes

When Vaughan arrived at the OKCPS district this fall, she was already familiar with project-based learning, a method she learned during her undergraduate days in Texas. She believes studentdirected learning is the new trend in education and will help OKCPS compete with neighboring charter schools. She lost a handful of students to charter schools this semester alone.

When Vaughan started the biomes and ecosystem unit, she planned the projects she would assign students.

She wanted to make the learning memorable. On the first day of the new unit, Vaughan instructed her students to go to the art room for science class.

There, students discovered a 25-footlong, 12-foot-wide inflatable biodome created with a box fan, tarp and tape.

“They will remember this forever,” Vaughan said. “You don’t forget learning in the bubble.”

In the biodome, students work on their projects and interactive labs. If they get stuck on aspect of an assignment, Vaughan points to signs listing the lesson’s driving questions, such as “What biome do I fit into? Where do I find myself in the ecosystem? What career could I possibly have from knowing this information?” A student who wishes to become a firefighter researched different ways to fight fires in various ecosystems.

As a final assignment, all students built their own three-dimensional biodomes, just on a smaller scale.

Additionally, the students prepared to present and explain their biodomes to their schoolmates during an information tour. During the tours, Vaughan will listen for understanding and creativity.

“I learn something interesting every day,” Vaughan said. “They teach me, and I learn right along with them.”

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Fassler Hall

Top tier ULI Oklahoma honors an array of unique building and community projects. by laura eastes

When the Oklahoma District Council of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) was formed in 2007, leaders vowed to promote best practices in land use and enhance the quality of area development.

Since its inception, council members encouraged and watched as real estate, urban planning and design groups took on unique projects that produced impressive results.

“We really felt like people were starting to have a big impact in the community. In particular, we were starting to see the growth of local efforts that seemed like a pipe dream in the early 2000s,” said AJ Kirkpatrick, ULI Oklahoma chairman. “We wanted to draw attention to the projects we thought were noteworthy, but also meet our mission of being responsible with the development of land.”

A year ago, the group introduced its ULI Oklahoma Impact Awards to recognize and highlight local real estate developments and community building efforts. ULI members nominate projects located in Oklahoma City, Norman, Edmond and Yukon.

The Impact Awards returned for its second year Feb. 5 at Oklahoma City University School of Law. “It gives us a chance to stop and appreciate the amount of hard work that goes into so many projects that we love around our city,” Kirkpatrick said.

Best Small Scale Infill Development Project went to Fassler Hall, 421 NW 10th St. The restaurant, bar and beer garden was designed by Fitzsimmons Architects, which was recognized by the group in 2015 for its work on 430 Lofts.

“Impact Award nominees and winners are selected by our peers, so it is an honor, to say the least,” said Terri Sadler, administrative director at Fitzsimmons Architects. “We were among some great entries and felt like winners just being included as a finalist. We have a great team on the Fassler Hall project that included

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Midtown Renaissance Group, Lingo Construction, Obelisk Engineering, McNellie’s Group, Coreslab Structures, Crafton & Tull, Red Rock Consulting and LanCorp Engineering.”

Heard on Hurd, a successful street festival that attracted thousands of people to downtown Edmond, was awarded Best Community Building Effort. Citizens Bank of Edmond curates the monthly festival held at the corner of Broadway and Hurd Street.

“We’re pleasantly surprised to receive this incredible honor and couldn’t have done it without the amazing volunteerism of our employees, the support of the City of Edmond and all of the community coming together to make Heard on Hurd a rocking success,” Jill Castilla, bank president and CEO, said in a media statement.

Two historic rehabilitation projects also won awards: The Marion Hotel — now home to posh urban apartments — and Century Center, the former downtown mall converted into office, restaurant and business space.

ULI honorees

Urban Land Institute Oklahoma Impact Awards winners:

Placemaking awards: Best Public Initiative Plan: PlanOKC Best Public Initiative Infrastructure: Project 180 Best Community Building Effort: Heard on Hurd

Development awards: Best Small Scale Infill Development Project: Fassler Hall Best Large Scale Infill Development Project: Mosaic Best Small Scale Redevelopment Project: Marion Hotel Best Large Scale Redevelopment Project: Century Center

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Chicken Like Trump

Real estate blog Estately recently rounded up U.S. states most and least like presidential candidate Donald Trump. Comparing seven metrics like “percentage of residents married three times or more,” “percentage of people who brag on social media,” “bankruptcies per capita for 2009-2014” and others, Oklahoma ranked No. 2 nationally for being most like Trump.

The truest test, though, wasn’t even a consideration in Estately’s data crunching. We have no idea how many of our residents own cats with Trumplike comb-overs. We demand a re-vote!

Patron saint

Teachers from Ada to Zaneis applauded Saint David of Norman, patron saint of Oklahoma educators, when they heard his response to Gov. Mary Fallin’s recent State of the State speech.

Fried news Boren might serve as president of the University of Oklahoma, but his passion is fighting for teachers and pushing for increased funding in common education.

After listening to the Republican governor say education “remains my biggest priority in my budget” and mention a $3,000 teacher pay raise.

Saint David shook his head no.

“It’s time for a comprehensive funding plan for education,” the former governor said in a prepared statement released to Tulsa World. “The patient is in serious condition, and a Band-Aid is not enough. The people deserve a chance to vote for a real solution.”

Fallin included $178 million in her budget proposal for teacher raises. The pay increase comes after making further cuts in other education spending areas and requiring smokers

to pay more tax on cigs.

“We can do it without raising the state sales tax rate to the highest level in the nation,” Fallin said during her State of the State speech on Feb. 1. “We can do it. I’m excited about it.”

In other words, Fallin is “excited” about further hurting public schools and pushing a “sin tax” on Oklahomans.

Boren’s not interested in a BandAid approach. Instead, he wants to stop the bleeding. This week, Oklahoma’s Children Our Future began collecting signatures to put a state question on the November ballot.

Through a proposed statewide penny sales tax increase for education, every Oklahoma teacher would see a $5,000 pay raise. Additionally, the group, which Saint David spearheaded, wants to raise student achievement and make state colleges more affordable.

Boren’s effort in education funding

and teacher pay raises is laudable.

That’s why people are ready to sign the petition and carry around a silver medal featuring Saint David of Norman.

Donation fixation

Hobby Lobby’s Green family won’t pay for contraceptives or morning-after pills for its own employees, but it will pay for the campaign of a man who supports their use.

Company owners David and Barbara Green were so steadfast in their refusal to follow the Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandate requiring them to cover all forms of contraception that they were willing to take the issue all the way to the United States Supreme Court.

With that kind of resolve, you’d think a presidential candidate like Marco Rubio, who has said he supports the sale of the morning-after pill over the counter, would be immediately weeded from consideration by the Greens.

Not so fast. The family recently

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donated $10,000 to Conservative Solutions PAC, which supports Rubio’s bid for president.

In all fairness, the Greens have lent financial support to campaigns by Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina. Way to pick the frontrunners, guys. Rubio also backed Hobby Lobby in its fight against the ACA. It’s probable that the Green family lines up closely with Rubio on many issues, and there was likely a good business reason for the family to donate to Conservative Solutions.

But for a business literally run on supposedly uncompromisable religious beliefs, you’d think morals would come before money.

Jumping on the wearable tech train might seem like an odd move, but it’s actually the sanest thing ORU has done in a long time, because students have always had an “activity obligation” at the school. Now, the Fitbits can log students’ mandatory 150 minutes per week of activity and minimum 10,000 steps per day instead of writing it down and handing it in.

Will anybody look at the data?

Who knows? We can’t believe someone has been grading papers from students saying they exercised all these years.

But now that students can’t just lie about their steps, will there be a new gray market economy for local joggers?

Just look for a guy wearing 20 Fitbits with a cool $100 in his pocket.

Running dirty

Musical stalkers

Oral Roberts University (ORU), better known in Tulsa as “that giant hands place,” has introduced another requirement for incoming students: Fitbits.

A group at the University of Oklahoma is running a campaign for Stalking Awareness Month, which is fine; stalking is bad, and you should never do it. But you should also pay attention

to literary devices like hyperbole and metaphors in song lyrics and maybe not overthink pop songs.

Posters for the campaign feature a quote from Adele’s hit song “Hello” on her new album, 25: “I must have called a thousand times.”

Conservative news and opinion website Breitbart.com posted a photo of the flier, showing a note under the quote that says, “Even great songs can normalize sexual harassment.”

News of the fliers and their message have been reported in newspapers and on websites all over the world, including those in the United Kingdom and India.

British music magazine NME reported that Maroon 5 lyrics “Baby, I’m preying on you tonight. Hunt you down, eat you alive” from “Animals” also appear on posters around the campus.

“To begin a much

needed conversation about harassment on college campuses, the University of Oklahoma Gender + Equality Center used popular songs that students listen to, to attract students’ attention and to bring awareness to subtle messages in popular song lyrics. The music examples were used to demonstrate how aspects of popular media could be interpreted to normalize unhealthy relationship behaviors,” Kathy Moxley, director of the Gender + Equality Center, told Fox News.

We would just like to point out that if you tried hard enough, you could interpret many aspects of popular media in an offensive or dangerous way — like your friend who can twist anything you say into dirty gutter talk.

So you can take 25 off repeat now — or you can return to your normal habits and decide not to be bothered by absolutely everything and skate a line between awareness and censorship; your call.

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LETTERS Oklahoma Gazette provides an open forum for the discussion of all points of view in its Letters to the Editor section. The Gazette reserves the right to edit letters for length and clarity.

Letters can be mailed, faxed, emailed to jchancellor@okgazette.com or sent online at okgazette.com. Include a city of residence and contact number for verification.

Face value

I believe the Statue of Liberty has already been nominated as the woman to replace Jackson on our $20 bills (ChickenFried News, “Native support,” Feb. 3, Oklahoma Gazette). If not, she should be.

In order to add some humor and variety, other nominations could include Gypsy Rose Lee, Marilyn Monroe and “Hanoi Jane” Fonda, as all three have had a role in our history. One entertained millions of men, another not only entertained the general public but also one of our presidents and the last one was despised by more soldiers than any U.S. citizen in history.

Of course, Hanoi Jane’s picture should be framed by a toilet seat.

— Richard McBride Oklahoma City Whose fault?

The Republicans can get by with destroying cities, states and our country with their 18th-century policies because their multibillion-dollar, right-wing propaganda machine is going 24/7, convincing the lemmings all their destruction and FUBARs are really the fault of Obama and the Democrats.

Just witness the destruction of Oklahoma due to six straight years of Republican tax cuts for the wealthy, all done with promises of economic prosperity for all.

And now with the state tanking, we are told, “Oh, that was only if we had $100-a-barrel oil. Sorry.” And remember

our greatest economy ever (due principally to his tax increases on the wealthy) was during the Clinton presidency when we had eight straight years of $17-a-barrel oil.

Really, how ignorant do the people have to be to believe this Republican BS? — Jay Hanas Edmond Vegan/vegetarian resources

In regard to your Jan. 20 cover article “Vegan in the city” (Food, “Giving up,” Greg Elwell, Gazette), I would have thought you could have mentioned Nourished Food Co., a vegan and gluten-free grab-and-go, clean-eats food bar located downtown at 131 Dean A. McGee Ave., at Robinson Avenue, in the Carnegie Building (nourishedfood.co) or said more about The Red Cup, an allvegetarian restaurant.

Also, there are grassroots organizations like Vegetarians of Oklahoma (organized in 1993), Red Earth Vegans in Norman, the OKC Vegans Meetup group and PlantBasedOKC. You could have gotten plenty of quotes from people living the vegan life every day. And really, there are so many interesting restaurants in all different price ranges offering vegan options.

— Liz MacBeen, secretary, Vegetarians of Oklahoma Oklahoma City

Politically incorrect?

Many of us find political correctness to be offensive.

In many instances, it amounts to arbitrary censorship imposed on us by those who want to take issue with history, political views or artistic or literary works.

For instance, some of the works of one of America’s most beloved and respected authors, Mark Twain, have been banned from some libraries.

When will the PC’ers storm our libraries and have book burnings like the Nazis did in the 1930s?

In other cases, no one seems to care if whites are called “honkies,” “whities,” “crackers” or “peckerwoods,” but it is a sin to say the “N-word.” Does all this really matter?

What is really troublesome is that many newspapers seemingly endorse a lot of the political correctness, especially if it falls within their particular agendas.

Don’t they believe in the freedom of the press and/or free speech?

— Mickey McVay Edmond ‘High-minded?’

I would not have known about the homelessness situation if I hadn’t read the cover story (News, “Giving change,” Laura Eastes, Jan. 13, Gazette). Maybe that’s another side effect of living in such a “privileged” community.

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I’m under the impression that children grow up in families that can provide for them abundantly as they learn to provide for themselves and to provide for the family in return (providing for new children who grow and learn to provide likewise, and so on and so on).

Under that impression, panhandlers seem like “delinquents” — or whatever they’re calling young rebels these days — people who turned down the wrong path long ago and had no one to turn them right, but who we tell youngsters to stay away from because we don’t want our youngsters pulled off the right track along with them.

And that’s why I would pass that advice down as the generations before have done. Haughty and snobbish and high-minded of me, maybe.

Maybe this is a clue as to the reason why the homelessness problem isn’t eradicated. As the article says, some 90 percent of panhandlers are from out of state ... indicating that Oklahomans are “well-trained like me,” who would probably be homeless if I weren’t humble enough to move in with mom, using my traumatic brain-injury as signflying content.

— Jay Hubbard Oklahoma City

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O K L A H O M A O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e | f e b r ua r y 1 7, 2 0 1 6 | 1 3

okg picks are events

pa ra m oun t p i c ture s / p rovi de d

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recommended by Oklahoma Gazette editorial staff members.

For full calendar listings, go to okgazette.com.

BOOKS

join the adventure! apply today! send resume to cduane@okgazette.com

Nothing Daunted Women’s Book Discussion, this month’s Nothing Daunted selection is Sacred Alarm Clock by local author John Biggs, 7 p.m., Feb. 18. Full Circle Bookstore, 1900 Northwest Expressway, 842-2900, fullcirclebooks. com. THU Whole Kids Club Story Time, a children’s librarian leads kids through a fun-filled journey of stories, crafts and snacks, 10 a.m., Feb. 20. Whole Foods Market, 6001 N. Western Ave., 879-3500, wholefoodsmarket.com. SAT Storytime, children’s story time with the book, The Classic Tale of Peter Rabbit: And Other Cherished Stories by Beatrix Potter, 11 a.m., Feb. 20. Barnes & Noble, 6100 N. May Ave., 843-9300, barnesandnoble.com. SAT Let’s Talk About It, Oklahoma book discussion series continues with the discussion over The Boys of Summer by Roger Khan, 7 p.m., Feb. 23. Oklahoma City University, 2501 N. Blackwelder Ave., 208-5000, okcu.edu. TUE

FILM

Pretty in Pink

45 Years, (US, 2015, dir. Andrew Haigh) A married couple preparing to celebrate their wedding anniversary receive shattering news that promises to forever change the course of their lives; featuring Academy Award Nominee for Best Actress, Charlotte Rampling, 5:30 & 8 p.m., Feb. 18; 5:30 p.m., Feb. 19 & 21; 2 & 8 p.m., Feb. 20. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 236-3100, okcmoa. com. THU-SUN

Celebrating 30 years, Pretty in Pink returns to the big screen. Put on your pink dress and dance your way into the theater to see the John Hughes-written romantic dramedy. Screenings are 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 17, at Cinemark Tinsletown and XD, 6001 N. Martin Luther King Ave. Tickets are $4.40-$6.40.

Learn more at fathomevents.com.

About Elly, (Iran, 2009, dir. Asghar Farhadi) a gripping mystery set among a group of old friends on a holiday retreat when one of them suddenly vanishes, 2 p.m., Feb. 21. Oklahoma City University, 2501 N. Blackwelder Ave., 208-5000, okcu.edu. SUN Rosenwald: The Remarkable Story of a Jewish Partnership with African American Communities, (US, 2015, dir. Aviva Kempner) a documentary about how Chicago philanthropist Julius Rosenwald partnered with Booker T. Washington to build schools in African-American communities in the early 1900s, 7 p.m., Feb. 23. Oklahoma History Center, 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive, 521-2491, okhistory. org/historycenter. TUE

HAPPENINGS Urban Renewal Lecture Series, meet up of locals who are able to engage and learn from the past and present city leadership that have shaped the urban renewal of OKC featuring guest speaker Mr. Roosevelt Melton, 7 p.m., Feb.

Wednesday, Feb. 17 17. Hart Building, 726 W. Sheridan Ave. WED Arcade League Night, weekly match up of 4vs4 in three randomly selected arcade games, 8 p.m., Feb. 17. Flashback Retropub, 814 W. Sheridan Ave., flashbackretropub.com.

WED Beginning Calligraphy Class, learn the basics of calligraphy including dipping your pin in ink, understanding ink flow and pressure, basic script letter forms and developing your own lettering style, 6-9 p.m., Feb. 19; 2:30-5:30 p.m., Feb. 20; 12:30-3:30 p.m., Feb. 21. Chirps & Cheers, 1112 N. Walker Ave., 509-6336, chirpsandcheers. com. FRI-SUN A Night with Ralph Ellison: 2016 Gala Celebration, celebrate the life, work, and legacy of acclaimed author and bigstock.com

Are you a well-spoken, Gazettereading, idea-driven, local Oklahoma business-lover with the desire to help metro OKC businesses grow and succeed? Then we are looking for you!

Oklahoma Gazette is actively seeking resumes for outside advertising sales position.

Sales experience in retail or service industry a plus.

Deep Deuce Jazz Night, score special deals at local restaurants and boutiques throughout the district; finish off the night with live jazz at various restaurants and bars, 7-10 p.m., Feb. 23. Deep Deuce, NE Second St. TUE

FOOD Chef’s Series, watch talented chefs as they create sophisticated yet easy-to-make dishes; this weeks class will offer hands on learning as well as seafood samples and recipes, 6 p.m., Feb. 18. Whole Foods Market, 6001

Books on Parade — Booksale 2016 Bookworms, it’s time to gather up your backpacks, tote bags and suitcases and empty your piggy banks — the event you have been looking forward to for a year is back! Friends of the Library’s annual book sale, Books on Parade — Booksale 2016, is 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday-Sunday in Oklahoma Expo Hall at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds, 3001 General Pershing Blvd. The sale includes more than 700,000 books with a wide range of subjects and genres. Hardcover books are $1, and paperbacks and magazines are 50 cents. Proceeds help support grants for items not covered in Metropolitan Library System’s budget. Book lovers keen to become members of Friends of the Library (and gain entrance to the members-only pre-sale 5:30-9 p.m. Friday) can sign up and pay their $15 annual dues in the lobby noon-4 p.m. and after 6 p.m. Friday. For more information or to volunteer, visit mlsfriends.org, email friends@metrolibrary.org or call 606-3763.

Friday-Sunday

1 4 | F e b r ua r y 1 7, 2 0 1 6 | O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e

Oklahoma City native Ralph Ellison with a full slate of music, speakers, literary readings, presentations, and dance, 6-9 p.m., Feb. 20. Oklahoma History Center, 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive, 521-2491, okhistory.org/historycenter. SAT

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Seussical Flying by Foy, the company behind the flight effects in 1954’s original Broadway production of Peter Pan, is now lending its hand to Heritage Hall’s production of Suessical. The performance also is “sensory friendly” for children with autism. Startling sounds are not as loud, and house lights are kept to a low level. Performances are 7 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and 3 and 7 p.m. Sunday at Heritage Hall’s Howard Theatre, 1800 NW 122nd St. Tickets are $10. Learn more about the performance at heritagehall.com.

Thursday-Sunday N. Western Ave., 879-3500, wholefoodsmarket. com. THU Bellini’s Wine Dinner, enjoy a three course Italian dinner and three wines, 6:30 p.m., Feb. 18. Bellini’s Ristorante and Grill, 6305 Waterford, Suite 100, 8481065, bellinisokc.com. THU Learning to Cook Together, learn to cook together with chef Cally and some amazing wines; learn two items: a savory and a sweet; eat, drink and leave with a gift, 5 p.m., Feb. 20. Park House, 125 Ron Norick Blvd., 232-7275, parkhouseokc.com. SAT The ABC’s of What You Eat: Strawberries, learn the facts about strawberries including nutritional benefits, how to select, store and ideas to serve them in this class; prepare and enjoy a healthy and delicious strawberry soup, 10 a.m., Feb. 23. Buy For Less, 2500 N. Pennsylvania Ave., 525-6600, buyforlessok.com. TUE

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Music in Familiar Spaces: Bach and Beer, cellist Steuart Pincombe brings together two of the finer things in life: Bach and Beer; sip on your favorite brew while discovering the connections between the arts of brewing and playing music, 7 p.m., Feb. 23. Anthem Brewing Company, 908 SW Fourth St., 604-0446, anthembrewing.com. TUE From Keven’s Kitchen to Yours, join Kevin Durant’s personal chef Ryan Lopez for a night of delicious food, including cauliflower soup, roasted salmon and olive oil cake, 6:30 p.m., Feb. 24 & 25. International Pantry, 1618 W. Lindsey St., Norman, 405-360-0765, locu.com. WED-THU

YOUTH Rubik’s Cube Contest, young and old can test their skills during a special Slideshow Science presentation on National Rubik’s Cube Day; hear about the science and math required to solve the puzzle, then those who dare to try and figure out the puzzle have 10 minutes to solve the puzzle during the friendly competition, noon, Feb. 17. Science Museum Oklahoma, 2100 NE 52nd St., 602-6664, sciencemuseumok.org. WED

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O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e | f e b r ua r y 1 7, 2 0 1 6 | 1 5

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Super TueSday Live coverage of okLahoma & other state primaries

March 1, beginning at 7 p.M. | FroM npr news and KgoU

Altered Barbie Art Party Remember that surprise haircut your little sister gave your Barbie back in 1992?

Well, you should be over it by now, and besides, your sister’s talent might have been a sign that she would one day rise to artistic greatness. Artists spanning three generations show their Barbie-centric mixed-media art creations 7-11 p.m.

Saturday at Altered Barbie Art Party at Graphite Elements and Design, 1751 NW 16th St. The show features the iconic plastic doll as muse, messenger, model and more. Proceeds from a raffle of “NEWZGIRL” by Jody Larrison benefit Women Lead Oklahoma, a nonprofit organization benefiting Oklahoma women across the state. The party also features cupcakes, a cash bar and a BarbieBox photo booth.

The exhibit runs through March 19. Admission is free. Visit Graphic Element and Design’s Facebook page or womenleadok.org.

Saturday

www.kgou.org

106.3 NORMAN

Fairytale Takeover, go on an adventure with a story and scavenger hunt, helping fairytale characters find what they are looking for, Feb. 20. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 445-7080, oklahomacitybotanicalgardens.com/events. SAT

mark h ancock / f ile

105.7 OKC

Homeschool Art: Contemporary Artists, multiweek class for homeschooled children; artists work with each child to create personal artistic projects and become familiar with various creative processes to develop their critical thinking and artistic skills, 10 a.m.-noon, Feb. 19.

Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 2363100, okcmoa.com. FRI

Children’s Concert, Oklahoma Community Orchestra presents a children’s concert featuring guest artist Emily Sutton, who narrates Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev and Benjamin Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra; also enjoy music from Frozen and other Leroy Anderson favorites, 3 p.m., Feb. 22. Oklahoma City Community College, 7777 S. May Ave., 682-1611, occc.edu. MON Bringing Gardens to Life, make a nature-based, take-home craft that relates to the book, such as an insect hotel or a seed pot with some extra pizzazz, 11 a.m.-noon, Feb. 24. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 445-7080, oklahomacitybotanicalgardens. com/events. WED

PERFORMING ARTS Cabaret, UCO brings Kander and Ebb’s Cabaret back to the stage with memorable songs in theater history and choreography playing homage to Bob Fosse, 7:30 p.m., Feb. 18-20; 5 p.m., Feb. 21. UCO Jazz Lab, 100 E. Fifth St., Edmond, 359-7989, ucojazzlab.com. THU-SUN The Last Five Years, An emotionally powerful and intimate musical about two New Yorkers in their twenties who fall in and out of love over the course of five years, 7:30 p.m., Feb. 18; 8 p.m., Feb. 19; 2 & 8 p.m., Feb. 20; 3 p.m., Feb. 21. Poteet Theatre, 222 NW 15th St., 609-1023, poteettheatre.com. THU-SUN Little Women, timeless captivating story is brought to life in a musical filled with personal discover, heartache, hope and everlasting love; based on Louisa May Alcott’s novel, 7:30 p.m., Feb. 18-20; 2 p.m., Feb. 21. Rose State College, 6420 SE 15th St., Midwest City, 733-7673, rose.edu. THU-SUN

lunch & dinner

6014 n. May 947.7788 | zorbasokc.coM 1 6 | F e b r ua r y 1 7, 2 0 1 6 | O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e

Spencer Hicks Album Release Party Local comedian Spencer Hicks celebrates the release of his live comedy album, Love It or Give It Back, recorded in July in front of a full house at Will Rogers Theatre, with a party 8-11 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 17, at The R&J Lounge and Supper Club, 320 NW 10th St. That night, featured guests include Kinsey Charles, Ryan Drake, Brett James, Aaron Wilder and Hicks himself. Admission is free. Visit spencerhicks.com.

Wednesday, Feb. 17

The Trojan Women, the story follows the fates of Hecuba, Andromache, Cassandra and the other women of Troy after their city has been sacked, the Trojan men killed and their remaining families taken away as slaves, 8 p.m., Feb. 18-20; 3 p.m., Feb. 21. Weitzenhoffer Theatre, 563 Elm St., Norman, 325-7370, ou.edu/finearts. THU-SUN Big Funny Friday: From the Cradle to the Grave, Saffy Herndon, 10-Year-old comedy sensation, will be headlining, joined by a grizzled comedian seven times her age, Stan Silliman, for a once-in-a-lifetime comedy experience; also joining them will be Ben Flint, Andrew Shank and Spencer Hicks, 8-11 p.m., Feb. 19. Bistro 46, 2501 NE 23rd St., 595-3904, bistro46okc.com. FRI 37 Postcards, a zany family comedy centers on the wellto-do, but daffy, Sutton family; after years of traveling abroad Avery Sutton returns home with his fiancee but his home has turned into a madhouse, 8 p.m., Feb. 19-20.

Carpenter Square Theatre, 806 W. Main St., 232-6500, carpentersquare.com. FRI-SAT The Magic Flute, Oklahoma City University presents Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s final opera sung in German with English translations, 8 p.m., Feb. 19-20; 3 p.m., Feb. 21. Bass School of Music, OCU, 2501 N. Blackwelder Ave. FRI-SUN Classic Radio Theatre, enjoy beverages and hors d’oeuvres and travel back in time to the golden days of radio; live performance of scripts from various radio shows from the 1930s to 1950s, 2:30 p.m., Feb. 21. Actor’s Casting & Talent Services, 30 NE 52nd St., 702-0400, actorscasting.com. SUN

ACTIVE OKC Thunder vs. Indiana Pacers, NBA basketball game, 7 p.m., Feb. 19. Chesapeake Energy Arena, 100 W. Reno Ave., 602-8700, chesapeakearena.com. FRI OKC Thunder vs Cleveland Cavaliers, NBA basketball game, 2:30 p.m., Feb. 21. Chesapeake Energy Arena, 100 W. Reno Ave., 602-8700, chesapeakearena.com. SUN Yoga in the Gardens, all-levels Vinyasa-style class, 5:456:45 p.m., Feb. 23. Crystal Bridge Tropical Conservatory, 301 W. Reno Ave., 297-3995, myriadgardens.com. TUE

VISUAL ARTS Beth Hammack and Pat Edwards, February’s featured artists showcasing works in oil, watercolor, acrylic and mixed media The Studio Gallery, 2642 W. Britton Road, 752-2642, thestudiogallery.org.

fresh stART, art show displaying artwork by artists who are experiencing homelessness. Paseo Gallery One, 2927 Paseo St., 524-4544, facebook.com/paseogalleryone.

Introspection Manifested, Alexandra Engelman uses monsters, beasts, and other creatures to express ambiguous ideas and concepts, and finds that they best allow her to manifest these thoughts into visual space. Artspace at Untitled, 1 NE Third St., 815-9995, artspaceatuntitled.org.

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New Blooms, works by Brook Rowlands; display of aggressive expressive strokes, in often lush juxtaposition of vivid color, which creates the initial perspective plane of her compositions and transforms into floral forms.

Kasum Contemporary Fine Arts, 1706 NW 16th St., 6046602, kasumcontemporary.com.

Philip R. Goodwin: America’s Sporting & Wildlife Artist, A Private Collection, a showcase Philip R. Goodwin’s art; Goodwin illustrated Jack London’s The Call of the Wild and, later, Theodore Roosevelt’s African Game Trails as well as posters, calendars and other advertisements.

National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd St., 478-2250, nationalcowboymuseum.org.

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Discount taken off equal or lesser purchase. Limit 2 coupons per person. Not valid with any other offers.

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Public Narrative: Story of Self, Us & Now, three-part exhibit that focuses on the idea of public narrative and its movement from our internal psyche, to the collective group, to the present and future of our communities.

Mainsite Contemporary Art, 122 E. Main St., Norman, 360-1162, mainsite-art.com.

Seeing Red, a collaborative show featuring works from each individual resident artist at In Your Eye Gallery; each original piece will spotlight the romantic color red using clay, photography, acrylics and oils. In Your Eye Gallery, 3005 Paseo St. #A.

11AM-9PM | Mon-Sat • 11aM-4PM | SUN

NW 50th & MeridiAN | 947.7277

Shades of Red, works by gallery artists in different shades of red. The Purple Loft Art Gallery, 514 NW 28th St., Suite 400, 412-7066.

oNliNe orderiNg NoW AvAilAble!

oKLaHoMaStatIonBBQ.coM

The Banjo World of Steve Martin, exhibit features a look at the musical side of one of America’s favorite entertainers and features his private collection.

American Banjo Museum, 9 E. Sheridan Ave., 604-2793, americanbanjomuseum.com.

UNDERTONES, textile vignettes capturing the changing landscape of Oklahoma City, and the unexpected beauty that accompanies the destruction of buildings and places.

IAO Gallery, 706 W. Sheridan Ave., 232-6060, iaogallery. org.

Wes Anderson Themed Art Show, dozens of local artists and over 60 pieces all inspired by Wes Anderson films, 8 p.m., Feb. 19. 51st Street Speakeasy, 1114 NW 51st St., 463-0470, 51stspeakeasy.com. FRI

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Brilliant: The Light Show, art exhibit featuring multiple talented artists and different mediums of art; hinges on the realization that all of our visual arts are indebted to light, be it in a natural or man-made source, direct or indirect, sunlight or heat lamp. JRB Art at The Elms, 2810 N. Walker Ave., 528-6336, jrbartgallery.com.

Forever More, photography exhibit by Alan Ball; a blend of photojournalism, candid and traditional portraiture with a bit of fantasy and artistic creation.

Contemporary Art Gallery, 2928 Paseo St., 601-7474, contemporaryartgalleryokc.com.

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A War Director Tobias Lindholm captures the fog of war and emotional toll of combat on military families in this story of war on the Afghan battlefield and the lives of those on the Danish homefront. This Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film screens 5:30 p.m. Feb. 25, 8 p.m. Feb. 26 and 2 and 8 p.m. Feb. 27 at Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive. The film is not rated.

For okg Tickets are $7-$9. Visit okcmoa.com or call 236-3100. music picks

Feb. 25-27

see page 43

O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e | f e b r ua r y 1 7, 2 0 1 6 | 1 7

56,000 OK KIDS ARE CURRENT TOBACCO USERS.

56.6% OF OK TEEN SMOKERS HAVE TRIED TO QUIT.

ULTIMATELY, 88,000 CURRENT OK KIDS WILL DIE FROM SMOKING.

Tobacco is still a problem in Oklahoma.

1 8 | F E B R ua r y 1 7, 2 0 1 6 | O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e

Advertise your SPIRITED BUSINESS in Gazette’s

The annual focus issue celebrating PLACES TO GO, PEOPLE TO SEE and THINGS TO DRINK!

Call your account executive at 405.528.6000 or email specialsections@okgazette.com to reserve your ad space today

life food & drink

P HOTOS BY M ARK H AN COC K

Jap chae at Dong-A Korean Restaurant

Dol-sot bibimbab

Bulgohmygod good

1262 N. Eastern Ave., Moore | 237-1002 What works: Dol-sot bibimbab and bulgogie are mandatory.

Get to know Korean cuisine at Moore’s excellent Dong-A.

What needs work: Presentation is sometimes sparse.

By Greg Elwell

Nothing makes me think of Korea as much as the Incredible Hulk.

That might seem weird, but growing up in Oklahoma doesn’t necessarily bring Korea right to your doorstep. For years, all I knew about Korea was the wackadoo stuff coming out of the Kim Jong line of tyrannical dictators and that my sister-in-law was stationed there during her tenure in the Air Force.

Her assessment: Kimchi is a powerful odor. My brother, who went to visit her, gave me a more lasting impression: an enormous plush blanket with the Hulk on it.

All that is to say I still don’t know a ton about Korea, but that didn’t stop me from falling tongue-over-stomach in love with the food at Moore’s Dong-A Korean Restaurant, 1262 N. Eastern Ave. There is a better than average chance that you have not had Korean food before, except maybe some kimchi, which is a spicy pickled cabbage (or other vegetable) condiment, like sauerkraut. Or maybe you have. I don’t know your life.

Are you Korean? If so, that’s great. If not, also great. It doesn’t really matter when you’re eating food this good.

You can be the most backward, white-bread hick in Oklahoma (for example, me) and fall deeply in love with the richly flavored cuisine of Korea when you order bulgogie ($13.99).

Sweet, savory, seared beef and

Dong-A Korean Restaurant

onions is about the perfect introduction to Korean food because it’s a lot like fajitas and you like fajitas, don’t you?

Of course you do. You’re human. There are chicken and pork bulgogies available, but you might as well stick with the original. The thinly sliced sirloin requires very little chewing, preferring instead to disintegrate against your teeth and tongue in a burst of flavor. Put it over rice. Wrap it in a pancake. The only wrong way to eat bulgogie is to not eat bulgogie.

(Similar to the bulgogie is gal-bi, made with beef short ribs and also fantastic.)

The only wrong way to eat bulgogie is to not eat bulgogie.

Be sure to enjoy the banchan in little bowls that comes out with your food.

There’s kimchi and some other pickled stuff and little potato slices. Mix and match. See what tastes good together.

(Hint: Everything.) You’ll figure it out.

I really loved the jap chae ($8.99 lunch special, $11.99 dinner portion), made of stir-fried glass noodles with

Tip: It’s closed on Mondays. Because, ugh, Mondays, right?

slivered vegetables and beef. It’s a bit sweet, though not overpoweringly so, and has the pleasant heft of carbs mixed with protein. I suggest squirting on some of that sweet hot sauce at the table if you want even more flavor.

The yaki-mandu ($6.99) is a plate of fried dumplings filled with minced beef and veggies. Are you getting a theme here? The theme is beef. Korean food has lots of beef in it, and that, if nothing else, should convince all of you to give it a shot.

Do you like fish? I do! I’m a pretty big fan of mackerel, which is why the mackerel gui ($12.99) was my first choice out of the gate. It’s a whole broiled fish. There are bones. Fish have bones. Just a heads-up, in case you didn’t know that fish have skeletons and you might have to eat around them. The meat is firm and mild. The skin is oily and delicious. Go to town.

As much as I love a whole fish just showing up at the table, the scenestealing dish was the dol-sot bibimbab ($12.99). You can get it with beef or tofu, but either way, it’s a big pile of perfectly cooked rice in a so-hot-it-willburn-you stone bowl, covered in fresh and pickled vegetables and a fried egg.

As you stir it, you’ll scrape browned, crispy rice off the bottom. It’s an

amazing mix of sour and spicy, hot and cold, crunchy and tender. There’s truly something for everyone, but mostly you, because you won’t want to share with anybody else.

Be aware — the rice that just came off the sizzling-hot bowl is also sizzlinghot, thanks to the transitive properties of heat. Let it cool down after you stir it before you start shoveling it in your gaping maw.

My advice is to take a bunch of people with you and share a little bit of everything, because I haven’t even gotten started on this menu and I’m already hungry for more.

Make an adventure of it! Try the weird stuff! You are almost certainly going to become a fan of Korean food after this, and all of your friends will think you’re cultured and knowledgeable about foreign cuisine. You’ll probably get to pick where to go to eat from now on.

That’s the sweet spot, dude. Ride that train to the grave.

But no one will blame you if you just choose Dong-A again. I can’t wait to head back and try the rest of the menu, especially the different varieties of bulgogie. If it’s anything like the bibimbab and jap chae, it’ll be a meal worth Hulking out over.

O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e | F E B R ua r y 1 7, 2 0 1 6 | 1 9

life food & Drink

A-Beer-C’s

By Greg Elwell

OKC Midtown Rotary Spelling Bee(r) 6 p.m. Feb. 26 Will Rogers Theater & Event Center 4322 N. Western Ave. midtownrotaryspellingbeer6.eventbrite.com facebook.com/MidtownRotary $45-$50

Beer. B-E-E-R. As in, “If I’m going to get on that stage again, I will need a lot more beer.”

Now in its sixth year, Midtown Rotary’s annual fundraiser Spelling Bee(r) is expanding with a new venue and more room for the mildly inebriated to prove how important spellcheck has become.

“Generally, it’s just fun to watch people try to spell when they’ve been drinking,” said Rotary public relations chairman Eric Bradshaw. “Even the most educated people are surprised to find out

there are lots of words they can’t spell.”

Here’s how it works: Tickets can be purchased in advance for $45 or at the door for $50. Each ticket to this 21-and-up event gives the holder one spot in the Spelling Bee(r); beer provided by 405 Brewing Co., COOP Ale Works, Anthem Brewing Company and Black Mesa Brewing Company; and food from Will Rogers Theater & Event Center.

Ticketholders don’t have to take part in the competition, but there is a pretty great prize for the winner: $500.

Misspell a word and you’re out, but not for good. Those who flub a letter or three can buy back into the next round with costs going up as the competition gets more fierce, Bradshaw said.

Even those who don’t win can take home a prize. In 2015, Bradshaw said, the first three people out received

Sunnyside rising

Guests at Midtown Rotary’s 2014 Spelling Bee(r)

trophies to celebrate their “achievement.”

Rotary sold about 150 tickets and raised $6,300 from the event. Members gave the money to the community in the form of grants. Last year, Prairie Queen Elementary School received drums worth almost $4,000, Northwest Classen High School received guitar textbooks, several projects were funded through DonorsChoose.org and a donation to the Western Avenue Association paid mural artists for their work.

Despite a massive snowstorm and a change in location, last year’s Spelling Bee(r) pulled in its biggest crowd yet, which is why this year’s contest will be at Will Rogers Theater & Event Center, 4322 N. Western Ave. “We worried no one would show up, but instead, there was barely room to move around,” he said. “We thought it was getting to the point where we needed

P ROVI DE D

Midtown Rotary’s annual Spelling Bee(r) challenges drinkers to be thinkers.

the extra space and to plan for growth.”

Even better, event co-chairman Ian Dauteuil said sponsors have covered all the initial costs of the Spelling Bee(r), which means the bigger venue could yield a much bigger payout for local charities.

Bradshaw said this event is a perfect example of why he joined Midtown Rotary.

“I’m a transplant, so when I moved here, I wanted to get more involved in the community,” he said. “I caught the bug. Rotary is very arts-focused and aware of what’s going on in the community. Oklahoma City is in this tremendous growth period, and rotary is very passionate about how the city is diversifying and growing.”

Comedian Spencer Hicks and Midtown Rotary member Jacob Rowe host the event 6 p.m. Feb. 26. Guests must be at least 21 years old to attend.

Sunnyside Diner is under construction at the corner of NW Sixth Street and Classen Boulevard.

mark hancock

Sunnyside Diner aims for a spring opening in a classic location.

By Greg Elwell

There are plenty of great breakfast places in Oklahoma City, but Shannon Roper said a diner is a whole different animal.

“True diners have real comfort food, done right, from scratch,” said the co-founder of S&B’s Burger Joint and Hillbilly’s. “That means doing a really great biscuit and gravy. Turkey dinners and hot beef sandwiches for lunch. I grew up in a small town. This was the stuff we’d eat every night for dinner.”

Roper and co-owner Aly Branstetter have a vision for Sunnyside Diner, their new restaurant set to open this spring in the renovated Mid-Town Service Center building on the southeast corner of Classen Boulevard and NW Sixth Street.

A giant, simple “DINER” sign has already gone up, stoking interest from

neighbors, but Roper said there’s still work to be done inside.

The 3,000-square-foot space will feature an open kitchen that is a staple of small-town diners. Guests will see their eggs cracked and their pancakes flipped in a dining room that seats 69.

Branstetter said Sunnyside will be, first and foremost, a friendly place for everybody. Whether in a suit or pajamas, she said, people just need to want good food and good service to enjoy the restaurant.

“I want to be able to recognize the guy coming in for coffee and know how many sugars he wants before he orders,” she said. “It’s just a place we can all come together.”

It’ll be family-friendly, but that

2 0 | F E B R ua r y 1 7, 2 0 1 6 | O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e

doesn’t mean there won’t be plenty for adults. The diner will serve mimosas and bloody marys to help start off the day.

But Sunnyside won’t be open 24 hours, or even for dinner, Roper said.

Serving food from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. seven days a week will give customers plenty of time for breakfast and lunch while giving the staff the necessary time to correctly prepare dishes from scratch.

“Cooking like this is an all-day thing,” Roper said. “Right now, it’s a three-day process to do our roasted turkey, from brining to roasting to chilling to slicing. We want it to take some time.”

Branstetter said that many restaurants are so focused on creating something unique that they might

miss what makes some simple dishes so wonderful.

“This will be classic home-cooked food,” she said. “Healthy, high-quality, but without anything pretentious about it.”

It’s something the neighborhood needs, Roper said. They want Sunnyside to become a hub that helps build the surrounding community as more and more residents return to the downtown area from the suburbs.

If nothing else, though, the pair hopes the diner lives up to its name and gives guests a bright start to the day.

“A big plate of good food for a reasonable price,” Roper said. “Who doesn’t like that?”

FOOD BRIEFS

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There’s more to Provision Kitchen than just pre-made meals.

Since opening in October 2015, the grab-and-go restaurant at 6443 Avondale Drive has been serving salads and freshly prepared reheatable meals. But demand has been growing for something a bit more immediate.

“We originally opened as a chef-prepared grab-and-go concept with an option to sit down and heat and eat those meals if you were so inclined,” said owner Whitney McClendon. “But more and more customers wanted to enjoy a hot meal while picking up their grab-and-go meals for later.”

Provision Kitchen began preparing daily hot bar meals Feb. 15.

McClendon said meals from the hot bar follow the restaurant’s PK Pillars guidelines to ensure healthy, high-quality ingredients.

Tickets went on sale last week for the fourth annual Starlight Supper, an outdoor dinner to support public art in downtown Oklahoma City. Tickets sold out in nine hours.

There were 450 tickets for the 21-and-up event, which is 7-9 p.m.

April 7 at Bicentennial Park, 500 Couch Drive. It features a multi-course meal prepared by chefs from across the metro, said Downtown Oklahoma City Inc. marketing manager Staci Sanger. Proceeds go to Downtown Oklahoma City Initiatives, a nonprofit that combats community deterioration with public art funding, landscaping and urban research.

Proceeds from past events funded projects including the Cultivation mural by Jason Pawley on the Reno underpass and bringing in national artist HOTTEA to install string art at the downtown basketball court.

Local feast

Ember lit

All year long, Urban Agrarian provides fresh, local produce to Oklahoma City. Founder Matt Burch also wants to highlight the ranchers and farmers whose efforts lead to such exceptional food.

To that end, chef Timothy Mort will use grass-fed beef from Wichita Buffalo Company and pasture-raised dairy from Swan Bros. Dairy at the February Farm to Table Dinner Feb. 25.

Unlike previous dinners, this one will be held on the original farmers market floor of OKC Farmers Public Market, 311 S. Klein Ave. Sommelier Ian Clarke of Putnam Wines will do pairings for each course. Tickets are $60 per person or $85 per person with wine.

For more information or to purchase tickets, call 231-1919.

The soft opening of Ember Modern American Tavern inside the Waterford Renaissance Hotel, 6300 Waterford Blvd., happened last fall as renovations continued, said food and beverage director Kyle Lippe.

Feb. 5, Ember held a grand opening for guests to explore the restaurant, lounge and renovated hotel rooms.

Executive chef Gayland Toriello, formerly of Vast, Bellini’s and the Museum Cafe, said he’s excited to bring local ingredients to the American cuisine menu.

Lippe said his challenge is getting people to move past the ideas of Ember as a hotel restaurant.

Though it’s located on the ground floor of the historic Waterford hotel, he said, the restaurant is truly built for locals.

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Fishy food In French, seafood is called fruits de mer, or “fruits of the sea.” But you should not eat oranges you find floating in the water. A banana bobbing in the lake? Leave it. They do not grow there.

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Frog legs taste like chicken in that every food we have trouble describing also tastes “like chicken.” It’s definitely meat, which is like chicken. And the legs are fried, which is done with chicken. But when you sit down to a plate of frog legs fried golden with speckles of black-and-red seasoning at C’est Si Bon, you won’t be thinking, “Boy, this makes me hungry for chicken.”

You’ll be wondering how quickly you can get another order of frog legs.

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These are grits, right?

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Everyone knows that an octopus has eight arms — or are those legs? It actually comes from the Greek oktopous, which means “eight-foot.” They also have beaks and no skeletons, so definitely don’t search for images on your phone right now. Oh no! What did you do?

Okay; they’re sea monsters. But don’t worry; you can eat one. Take a short trip to Mariscos Mazatlan and you can conquer an octopus in a taco with your mouth.

How do you solve a problem like Maria?

Have you considered garlic butter?

Like the WD-40 of the culinary world, garlic butter is the substance that makes everything better. Case in point: the already-delicious mussel. At Cafe do Brasil, they’re served in a leek and garlic butter sauce and christened Mexilhao A Carioca, and they taste amazing.

As for catching a cloud and pinning it down, have you considered a Béarnaise sauce?

It is absolutely unacceptable to walk up to a stranger’s table and look at the seafood with tofu hot pot at Chow’s and ask, “Are you gonna eat that?” — or so I learned recently. I guess it’s one of those unwritten rules. Anyway, I just sat down at my own table, apologized to my date and ordered my own. Take that, stranger who wouldn’t let me snack on his dinner!

This one is all mine.

It’s almost impossible to accurately place sushi on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

Obviously, it’s a physiological need, but it also makes you feel safe. And don’t forget about the friendships you develop when eating sushi. Plus, it meets certain qualities of self-esteem. The chefs at Sushi Hayashi are also probably getting self-actualized when they achieve their full sushi potential. Sushi — it’s the whole pyramid.

2016

O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e | F E B R ua r y 1 7, 2 0 1 6 | 2 3

Nominate your favorite local musicians, venues and more

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life community

Open game No longer pawns of the patriarchy, a local group launches a women- and girls-only chess club.

Ga rett fi s bec k

By Christine Eddington

Girls’ and Women’s Chess Club 10 a.m.-1 p.m. the last Saturday of each month District House 1755 NW 16th St. youthchessok.org districthouseokc.com Free Note: Guests can bring their own chess pieces or use the club’s.

It’s 10:03 on a sunny Saturday morning in January, and the meeting room at District House coffee shop, located in the Plaza District, slowly fills with guests for the first meeting of a chess club for girls and women.

Some roll in with bed head, blearyeyed but excited. Others stride in carrying chess boards in snazzy cases, wearing chess team T-shirts, hair coiffed, ready to roll. Coffee, cocoa and pastries are purchased, and players take their places across from one another.

Women in their 60s chat amicably as they sip and play. The youngest players are 6 years old.

Pretty soon, the chess girl arrives.

Veronika Zilajeva is the highest-ranked female chess student in the state. She and her sister begin a game at a corner table.

Zilajeva is tall and confident, a native of Latvia now living with her family in Moore, and she wants more girls to follow in her footsteps.

“I love chess,” she said. “You have to constantly challenge yourself while you’re playing.”

Zilajeva has been paying for 10 years, since she was in first grade.

‘Thoughtful moves’ This females-only chess club meets the last Saturday of each month and is the brainchild of mother, writer and chess devotee Rebecca Rutledge, whose son’s odyssey into the world of competitive chess spurred her rediscovery of the game.

“I played competitively in my 30s, and my son loves to play,” she said. “I taught him when he was 3. When he was in first grade, he joined the chess club at Wilson Elementary.”

Rutledge took over the management of Wilson’s WISE Wolves Chess team and club in 2014 and has since brought in a coach. She also heads Youth Chess League of Central Oklahoma, which provides chess programming for the City

Veronika Zilajeva right plays against her younger sister Victoria during a recent women- and girls-only chess club meeting at District House in Oklahoma City. of Oklahoma City’s recreational centers.

“Chess is really good for kids,” Rutledge said. “It increases cognitive ability and helps to proliferate dendrites, which means it makes the brain stronger and more efficient. It increases development of the prefrontal cortex.”

That makes it a perfect activity to get youths involved in before their teen years.

“Chess punishes impulsive moves and rewards thoughtful moves,” Rutledge said.

“It’s not an everyone-gets-a-trophy game.

It’s you against one person. One of you wins and one of you loses, and you learn to do both gracefully and to move on.”

Gender gap As Rutledge’s chess involvement grew, she noticed an imbalance in who plays chess and who doesn’t and an inherent sexism in the organized world of chess, wherein being a Women’s Grand Master requires a lower ranking than a Grand Master.

“There’s a gender gap in chess, and it has nothing to do with ability,” Rutledge said. “Of course, you could take ‘chess’ out of that sentence and substitute it with any of an endless number of human pursuits. When it comes to achievement, there’s a gender gap in everything.

“Before the ’60s, our choices were serial motherhood or celibacy. That wasn’t all that long ago. Those expectations about what women and girls can do or should do, they get passed down from generation to generation regardless of whether they’re relevant or not.

“Dolls aren’t for boys, trucks aren’t for girls and there aren’t any female grand masters. Except there are. Not many, but more than there used to be.

“With chess, there’s an opportunity to broaden those expectations —not society’s expectations of what a girl could or should aspire to achieve or become, but our girls’ own expectations, how they see themselves.”

Young minds Kathryn Aliotta is a teacher and chess coach at Del City High School. She has played the board game since she was a second-grader in Michigan, thanks to her school’s librarian, Mr. Dykstra, whom she remembers with a nostalgic smile.

This morning, Aliotta brought one of her two chess-playing daughters to the event, while she, like many teachers, went to work at a second job.

“At Del City, we’ve got about 20 students in our chess club and six to eight who compete,” Aliotta said. “It’s been five or six years since we’ve had a girl in a tournament.”

Feb. 27, Aliotta and Del City High School host the 20th annual Oklahoma State Scholastic Chess Championship, open to K-12 students from across the state. She expects more than 200 competitors to participate.

The educator in Aliotta shares Rutledge’s conviction that chess is excellent for young minds.

“Chess teaches kids to think about

consequences, make a plan and to be able to change that plan if it doesn’t work the way they thought it would,” Aliotta said.

“It is a game where there is no luck; it’s completely about skill.”

She worries about the inadequate representation of girls and the passive demeanor she sees in young women.

“I’m concerned about the attitude of our girls — they really lack selfconfidence. I’ll see a girl, a strong player, do pretty well, and she’ll say she’s no good. A male player in the very same position, who may have less natural talent, will immediately talk about what a good player he is,” Aliotta said. “I want to see it change.”

Raising expectations For her part, Zilajeva, 16, said she doesn’t really care if she’s playing boys or girls, and her quiet, polite confidence is a thing of beauty. She and her sister are accomplished players. Zilajeva also plays basketball. She’s considering pursuing an engineering degree in college and wants to keep playing chess.

“I want to make sure that the younger generation plays, as well,” she said. “I want to increase the popularity of chess in Oklahoma. I want it to be as popular as basketball.”

Rutledge is determined to see things change.

“Society doesn’t expect you to play chess if you’re a girl,” Rutledge said.

“Often, I’ll see a girl at a tournament and she’s not participating ... maybe she gave chess a try and it wasn’t her thing, or maybe she doesn’t play because nobody expected her to.”

Low expectations for girls might inhibit them from participating, but there are challenges for girls who play, too.

“As for the girl who does play, the world is going to reinforce the notion that she’s different, that she’s doing something they don’t expect. Some adult will find out she plays competitive chess and go, ‘Oh, really?’ like they’re thinking, ‘That’s so cute!’ I get it all the time,” Rutledge said. “I run chess programs, I take my team to tournaments, I organize and promote chess events, and still people are surprised when they see me playing.

Not just men; women, too. So yes, it’s sexist, but it’s everybody.”

O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e | f e b r ua r y 1 7, 2 0 1 6 | 2 5

Trinket tech Two Oklahoma Christian University graduates help build a popular Star Wars toy.

OK L AHOM A CHRISTIA N UNI V ERSITY / P ROV IDE D

life technology

Corey Earwood and Jon Carroll holding Sphero’s BB-8 droid toy they helped create.

Downtown Oklahoma City, Inc. and the Business Improvement District will host the 2016 Downtown Home Tour to provide a glimpse of what it's like to live in the heart of Oklahoma City. The tour will showcase new, popular, and high-end properties in the downtown area. Tours will be self-guided and begin at 10am.

Shuttles will be running the entire route, making stops at each property. The tour is free and open to the public.

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It was not the first time Sphero participated in Disney’s annual program for innovative tech and entertainment startups in Los Angeles.

It was, however, the most impactful.

Along with mentoring by none other than Disney’s chief executive officer Robert Iger, the robotic toymaker received a request during 2014’s Disney Accelerator program to develop a scaled-down version of the newest droid to enter the Star Wars family, BB-8.

“They were looking to really commercialize the character and bring it to life off the screen,” said Claire Tindall, Sphero’s director of marketing and communications, “something that people could own in their own homes.”

Sphero began in 2010 with an app-controlled, robotic ball toy of the same name. With that background, the company was a logical choice to develop the spherical, rolling companion droid that made its premiere in Episode VII – The Force Awakens.

The company’s BB-8 project received key contributions from two Oklahoma Christian University graduates: Jon Carroll, director of product, a 2008 graduate, and Corey Earwood, director of core technology, who graduated in 2007.

“Anything with spaceships in it I’m a huge fan of,” Carroll said.

“I was always a little more of a Trekkie, but I always loved Star Wars, too. I think it’s impossible not to be a Star Wars fan.”

Personal development Sphero’s BB-8, roughly baseball-sized, is more than a typical remote-controlled toy. Carroll refers to its technology as “connective play.”

Yes, BB-8 can be guided through the

house or elsewhere via an app, but it can also be set loose to patrol on its own. It reacts to its owner’s voice, records and displays holographic images through “augmented reality” and freely responds to the environment surrounding it.

The project was packed into a condensed timeline. BB-8 had to be completed in about 10 months. Carroll said the company usually takes 12 to 18 months to take a product to market.

BB-8 became available for purchase in September 2015 after work began on the project in the last quarter of 2014.

Another tricky part in the development was creating the droid’s personality. Tindall said the crew was provided with film stills and little else.

“It was kind of like a game of 20 Questions that we played with the Lucasfilm team,” she said. “Is he curious? Is he mischievous? Is he bad? Is he evil? And their answers were usually a simple yes or no response, and we had to go from that.”

Despite some limitations in development of the product, Earwood said he is pleased with the outcome and what’s still to come for BB-8. Also pleased are the many people who were gifted the droid during the most recent holiday season.

“I gave a couple of BB-8s out for Christmas, and in terms of people’s reaction to it, it’s just really awesome to see people just light up and smile,” Earwood said. “I gave some to some of my friends who are 30-something who were just giggling, smiling and laughing like little kids.”

Sphero’s BB-8 may be purchased for $149.99 on its website, store.sphero. com. Earwood said it should also be available at Brookstone, Best Buy and the Apple Store.

Sphero’s BB-8 toy in action

SPH ER O / P ROV IDE D

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life cover

Drawing connections Artist Ebony Iman Dallas discovered her roots in a way too strange not to be true.

Ebony Iman Dallas with works from her exhibit Women in War Zones, on display through Feb. 27 at The Project Box

By Ben Luschen

Women in War Zones 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday through Feb. 27 The Project Box 3003 Paseo St. theprojectboxokc.com 609-3969 Free

Ebony Iman Dallas couldn’t watch the Holtzclaw case silently. It hit too close to home.

The Oklahoma City artist’s new exhibit, Women in War Zones, runs through Feb. 27 at The Project Box, 3003 Paseo St. The collection, featuring 15 or so works

by Dallas, highlights women who have courageously taken on daunting challenges — be it the Taliban or breast cancer.

Dallas said the centerpiece of the exhibit, “13 Queens,” was inspired by the bravery of the women who came forward and testified against former

Oklahoma City police officer Daniel Holtzclaw, who was given a virtual life sentence in January for multiple counts of rape and other sexual abuse charges.

Dallas feels personally connected to that case and other cases of police misconduct. Police killed her birth father, Said Osman, in his Oklahoma State University dorm room. He was a native of Somalia in East Africa.

He never met his daughter, who was born months later. Growing up, Dallas spent years trying to connect with the part of her she never knew.

“When I hear about others who have experienced police brutality, it makes me want to do something that I couldn’t have done for my father,” she said.

The woman depicted in “13 Queens,” like most other women portrayed in the collection, is almost cloaked in a pair of bright, vibrant wings. “[The wings] represent your uniqueness, the things that make you special,” Dallas explained. “In real life, you don’t see wings around you, but it’s

3 0 | f e b r ua r y 1 7, 2 0 1 6 | O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e

just about remembering the things that make you beautiful inside and out.”

The collection is a very personal one for Dallas. She said each work has bits and pieces of herself somewhere within — either through a personal connection or an emotional one.

The artist has spent her life trying to spread her wings and become whole in a world where part of her remained a mystery. She never imagined where those wings would take her.

Mother’s touch

Strong women run in the family. Viola, Dallas’ mother, lost her father in a car accident when she was 4 years old.

Born and raised with six siblings in a small home, she watched her mother do her best with limited resources to look after the large brood.

“She worked as a maid, and she took pride in what she did,” Viola said.

“At that time, there were not many opportunities, but she made sure that we were secure and well taken care of

and provided for.”

Viola’s mother also instilled in her a faith in God that would help her navigate one of the darkest times in her life.

Within just a few months, Viola was forced to face the tragic loss of Said as well as the deaths of a brother and close cousin in separate incidents.

Dallas’ birth father died when Viola was just a few months pregnant.

Dealing with such tremendous and significant loss was not easy, but the opportunity to carry and give a good life to her son and new daughter gave her hope for the future. There was too much at stake to feel powerless.

After Said’s death, Viola was given all of his photos and some other belongings. She never met his family in Somalia, but she did receive a few letters from them. Viola kept the letters and pictures as a link to a past she knew Dallas would be curious about. When Dallas was of age, her mother handed all those mementos to her daughter for

PR OV I D ED

her to do with them as she wished.

“It was enough information for her to know his side and her heritage,” Viola said.

Against all odds

When Dallas was 2, Viola married Wayne Dallas. Both mother and daughter said they were thankful to have him in their lives, not only as a provider but as a loving husband and role model.

Despite the love from her family and the heirlooms she kept from her birth father, Dallas always felt a part of her was missing. The parents she knew had long, well-established roots in Oklahoma, but a piece of her came from somewhere far and foreign.

Dallas always hoped to reconnect with her birth father’s family someday. With odds so long and a desire so strong, she sent letters to Oprah Winfrey in hopes the queen of television could somehow work a miracle. She never received a response.

“Every time a graduation would come up, I’d get this urge to meet my family so they could come to my graduation,” Dallas said. “I want to meet my family before this time.”

Graduations from Edmond Santa Fe High School and the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) came and went without any indication Dallas or her lost family would unite. After college, she came to accept the idea that she would never meet her father’s family.

Right after graduating from UCO, Dallas took a job as an art director for an Oakland-based advertising firm she interned at the summer before. She moved to California with her younger sister, Krystal.

When I hear about others who have experienced police brutality, it makes me want to do something that I couldn’t have done for my father.

— Ebony Iman Dallas

conversation, but his interest was piqued when she mentioned her father was from Somalia, his own home country.

The man, Hakim Gulaid, asked Dallas where her father was now, and she told him. When he learned she’d just moved to California from Oklahoma, Gulaid lit up.

“I know your family,” he said.

The chances of meeting any one person in a random club who knew one particular family in a faraway country left Dallas skeptical. Gulaid said he knew her dad came to America for school and he was killed in his dorm room.

“I just started crying,” she said.

“And then I said, ‘What is his name?’”

He gave the right answer, but Dallas already knew it was true. She hugged Gulaid and at last wrapped her arms around an elusive part of her identity.

Mutual search

As Dallas searched for her heritage from home in Oklahoma, her father’s family tried as hard or harder to locate the living link to their lost son.

They knew Said had a daughter named Ebony who they believed was born in May, but the Somalian family never had an opportunity to meet Viola.

After that night in the club, Gulaid told Dallas that her birth father’s mother, Amina Jama, was in Oakland in 1998, before Dallas even considered moving to California. While there, Jama told Gulaid — whose father was best friends with Said back in Somalia — to help her find Dallas.

Dallas’ grandmother hired a private investigator in Oklahoma, but much of the vital information she provided him with was inaccurate. Since her mother’s marriage to her adoptive father, Ebony’s last name was legally changed to Dallas. Jama didn’t know.

“They also had my birthday wrong, because everywhere else in the world, 10-5-80 means May 10 and not Oct. 5,” Dallas said.

Coincidentally, one of Dallas’ aunts also contacted The Oprah Winfrey Show about the search for her brother’s lost daughter. She also never heard back from them.

“If only they had been able to connect the dots,” Ebony said. “It was all right there.”

Reunited Without many other friends of their own in their new state, one January night, the pair visited a San Francisco dance club.

Upon entering, a man struck up a conversation with Krystal. Dallas noticed his friend looked East African.

She asked him where he was from. At first, he seemed uninterested in the

Just a week after meeting Gulaid, Dallas was on the phone with aunts and uncles calling from around the world.

“I would be at work and get a call and just have to leave the room,” she said.

Four months later, Dallas boarded a plane to New York to meet her aunt Muna Basbaas, who lived there with her family. The following Christmas, she flew to London and Kenya to meet the rest of her family.

“I Define Me”

Later, she traveled to Somalia.

Before Dallas met her father’s family in the traditionally conservative Republic of Somaliland, she was nervous about what they might think of their nose-pierced, tattooed American relative. She also had personal regrets about missing out on so much with them already.

“When we met, it was like all of that just melted away,” she said. “The transition was very easy; it was very smooth. It was almost like we knew each other all along.”

She has returned to Somalia at least half a dozen times.

Basbaas, Said’s sister, said reuniting with Dallas finally gave the family closure in her brother’s death. The news of his death crushed Said’s mother’s spirit, especially considering it happened so far away from her.

“My mother died, basically, you know what I mean?” Basbaas said over the phone from Claremont, California, where she now lives. “Now I know, because I’m a mom and I know the feeling, but we couldn’t understand why no one was allowed to talk about it or we don’t have any pictures of him at home.”

When Basbaas first met Dallas, she was everything she always thought she’d be. They noticed an immediate bond.

People outside the family, she said, are surprised to learn they’ve only known each other for about 10 years.

It’s like Dallas was born in Somalia.

“Honestly, when you look at her, when you’re with her, you never think she is not from there,” Basbaas said.

“My kids are more foreign than she is when we’re in Somaliland. She’s the one where you think she’d been living there her whole life and my kids are hiding behind her.”

Finding fulfillment

In 2009, Dallas’ dream finally came true.

She earned a master of fine arts degree from California College of the Arts, and the Basbaas and Dallas families were there to see her cross the stage.

Though Basbaas had only known Dallas for about five years at that point, seeing her graduate was an unforgettable moment.

“To be honest with you, it’s like we’ve known her — honest to God — for all our lives,” she said.

Dallas’ mother said she was at first emotionally shaken to learn her daughter reconnected with her birth father’s family, but after visiting with Basbaas, she realized contact with her African family does not diminish the love Dallas has for her American one.

“There was still something missing [for Ebony growing up], and I think this filled the void for her,” she said.

In 2010, Dallas founded Afrikanation Artists Organization, a nonprofit based in Somalia. It helps African artists overcome challenges by providing them with supplies and venues in which to display their works.

Dallas said since meeting her father’s family, she finally feels complete.

“I’m just grateful to have a very large, very supportive, very loving family on all three sides,” she said. “I don’t take any of them for granted.”

O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e | f e b r ua r y 1 7, 2 0 1 6 | 3 1

Building Momentum

Gloria Shows works on art for Momentum OKC

An annual arts show showcases the work of young artists in Oklahoma.

By Jack Fowler

Momentum OKC 8-11 p.m. March 4-5 The Plow 29 E. Reno Ave. ovac-ok.org 879-2400 $10-$15

The arts scene in Oklahoma City shines its light on young artists from every corner of the state as Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition (OVAC) presents its annual Momentum show March 4-5 at The Plow, 29 E. Reno Ave. The yearly art show focuses on Oklahoma artists 30 and younger and is split into two evenings that cater to two kinds of partiers: Downtempo is 8-11 p.m. Friday, and Full Speed is 8-11 p.m. Saturday.

It’s all part of the evolution of one of Oklahoma’s most important art shows, according to lead curator Trent Lawson.

“Momentum has really carved out a reputation in the arts community in this state, and this year’s show is definitely going to live up to that reputation,” Lawson said. “This is one of the few truly statewide shows that I know of. There are artists submitting from Tulsa, Stillwater, Ada, Lawton.

It’s bringing them all together, and they’re able to see what’s going on with other artists across the state.”

Lawson said it’s not all networking and honing a craft.

“It’s also just turned into a really good party,” he said. “OVAC usually gets around 2,000 people in two nights, which is the biggest art show I know of, shy of a festival.”

Those patrons will be treated to

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food, drinks and music by some of OKC’s best names, including 2nd Street Wine Co., Anthem Brewing Company and Empire Slice House.

Local bands HARPA, Limber Limbs and Sativa Prophets play the Downtempo night, and Costello and Pearl Earl perform at the Full Speed party.

Spotlight work

Lawson said that perhaps the most important aspect of Momentum is the opportunity it gives young artists to show their work, some for the first time. Sixty-two of the 162 applicants — including three spotlight artists: Klair Larason, Haley Prestifilippo and Gloria Shows — were selected for this year’s show.

Spotlight artists are chosen annually and are awarded a cash prize to help them create their work for Momentum; they also have access to the curators for guidance during the creation process. Spotlight artists’ work can be seen through Feb. 26 at Graphite Elements & Design, 1751 NW 16th St. “The cash awards can obviously be beneficial to the artists in the show, but as far as the arts community in general, it’s giving an opportunity for these young artists fresh out of college, some still in high school even, to show their work,” Lawson said.

“Fifteen years ago, there really wasn’t a lot of opportunities to do that. I was in the first Momentum, and it was this crazy art show that I had never seen anything like. And now, there’s way more energy and way more young artists making it.”

OKL AHOM A VI S UAL ARTS COAL I T I ON / PROVI D ED

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ma r k h ancock

Artful evolution

Tracey Satepauhoodle-Mikkanen in Jacobson House Native Art Center’s office in Norman. A historic portrait of the Kiowa Five and Oscar Brousse Jacobson sits on the shelf behind her.

A group of art students in Oklahoma changed the course of Native American art.

By Wilhelm Murg

Completed in 1917, Jacobson House, located on the University of Oklahoma (OU) campus in Norman, was an epicenter of Native American art in the early 20th century.

The Kiowa Six (formerly known as the Kiowa Five), were key figures in developing flat-style, the dominate painting style of Native art in the mid-20th century. The group used the structure as a residence and studio.

The Jacobson Foundation formed in 1986 when the university was planning to level the house for a parking lot. The foundation succeeded in placing it on the National Register of Historic Places, and it is now on the Oklahoma Historical Society’s Landmarks list.

Now called Jacobson House Native Art Center, its goal is to promote Native art and culture, and it celebrates its centennial next year.

The house was built and designed by artist and educator Oscar Brousse Jacobson, who was director of OU’s School of Art from 1915 to 1954. In the spring of 1927, he created a “special,” unaccredited program at the school for four Kiowa artists: Spencer Asah, Jack Hokeah, Monroe Tsatoke and Stephen Mopope. When they returned in 1928, Lois Smoky joined them, but stayed for

only one semester and was replaced by James Auchiah.

Though it included six artists, the group has traditionally been known as the Kiowa Five because when Smoky left and Tsatoke joined, they remained five in number.

Smoky has one painting in the historic 1929 portfolio Kiowa Indian Art, the first printed collection of the group’s work, but her contribution was relegated to the footnotes of history for decades, like the work of many women of all races.

In retrospect, Smoky was perhaps the most revolutionary artist of the quintet for three reasons: She was Native American, an artist and female. It becomes even more astonishing upon realizing Smoky painted figuratively when, within the Plains Indian tradition, men generally painted figuratively and women painted abstract designs.

“Lois Smoky was a trailblazer. She picked up that brush; she was educated in a formal institution,” said Tracey Satepahoodle-Mikkanen, Jacobson House executive director. “I don’t think it is correct for the Jacobson Foundation to use the term Kiowa Five.”

Satepahoodle-Mikkanen, who is Kiowa and Caddo, approached Kiowa tribal elders, leaders, the museum and

members of her own family to get their opinions on changing the term to Kiowa Six so Smoky’s work is included in the public consciousness.

“I was only granted that permission by my elders if I added the caveat ‘… formerly known as the Kiowa Five,’” Satepahoodle-Mikkanen said.

In an ironic twist, Smoky’s work is the most valuable out of the six artists’ paintings because she painted for only one semester. She exited the art world to start a family and later devoted herself to beadwork.

‘Contaminated’ art

The Kiowa Five are important for more than the acclaim they received; their place in history connects their elders, the warriors who fought on horseback, to today’s contemporary Indian artists.

The tradition of figurative art painted on hides goes back to pre-contact days, but the major evolution occurred at Fort Marion in St. Augustine, Florida, at the end of the Red River War in 1875. Seventy-one Cheyenne, Kiowa, Comanche, Arapaho and Caddo warriors and one woman, the supposed leaders of the resistance, were imprisoned there.

The fort was run by Richard Henry Pratt, who endorsed reeducating Native

Americans so they could assimilate into white culture in a practice some now call cultural genocide.

In the process, Pratt introduced new art materials — pencils, ink and paper in the form of used ledgers — to a group of captured warriors who would go on to become noted artists. The belief that they would be reeducated ultimately backfired as the Indians preserved their traditions and designs and built on them with the simple materials they were given.

However, the bigger change at that stage of Native art had even more ramifications.

Oklahoma Gazette spoke with Cherokee artist, writer and educator Kevin Warren Smith, who has worked as a consultant on exhibitions for Jacobson House. He also worked with the collections of Philbrook Museum of Art and Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa. Though Smith is not a member of the tribe, he has Kiowa heritage.

“These are warriors who came from the old days [and] all of a sudden make the big jump to being Europeanstyle artists because they are signing their names and selling their pieces,” Smith said. “That’s a huge jump in continued on next page

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life visual arts

Native American art. … Before, they were making these simple drawings on hides and hide shirts and they were telling stories or making emblems, but [due to outside involvement] they got more ornate in their drawings and they competed with each other. They could see who was selling the most and figure out why … and they would change their art.

They became ‘artists,’ in the European sense, when they did that.”

Two of those Kiowa artists who were held captive at Fort Marion, Silver Horn and Ohettoint, were great uncles of future Kiowa Six members.

Lois Smoky was a trailblazer. She picked up that brush; she was educated in a formal institution.

— Tracey SatepahoodleMikkanen

After their release, they came back to Oklahoma with the new art form they developed and taught it to younger artists, who then started doing it on their own.

The young Kiowa artists went to Catholic school, they had contact with agency people and their talents were encouraged.

“They make it to Jacobson, and he takes them to the next big jump,” Smith said. “They call it ‘easel painting,’ even though a lot of it is done flat, on a desktop, because it is done with watercolor and tempera, but they become painters; they are no longer just drawing.”

Ironically, white artists and educators were attempting to keep the Indian art “pure,” free from outside influences, such as contemporary European art. In the process, however, these educators with the best of intentions inadvertently “contaminated” the Kiowa Six by keeping them from experimenting with outside influences and critiquing and instructing them with an eye toward the commercial market.

Smith noted that it was not just Jacobson, but also Dorothy Dunn, an educator who established The Studio School for art instruction at the Santa Fe Indian School, teaching students — including future acclaimed artists Allan Houser, Harrison Begay and Oscar Howe — to paint in flat-style with no deviation. Later in life, Houser, one of the more experimental artists to come out of the school, famously criticized Dunn as lacking originality and creativity.

Trips were arranged for the Kiowas to go to Santa Fe to see what was happening at Dunn’s school, so the style became homogenized, to some degree, due to their teachers’ influence.

“It is still a way to tell stories, but it’s changed a lot,” Smith said. “You might still have a war scene where one warrior was attacking another warrior, so in a way, it is still related to the old-time paintings, but something has been changed.

Being European artists, they want their educators to be pleased with what they do.

“Jacobson keeps them focused on a certain way of painting. He wants to see certain things and doesn’t want to see other things. A couple of these guys were interested in trying other European styles, but they were told to kept with the flat, representational style that is not illusionistic, so there is no 3-D shading or anything like that.

“That’s when people got comfortable saying that flat-style art is Indian art,

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jacobson hou se / p rovided

they want to put tribal references in, they can, but they don’t have to.”

However, Smith said, those changes didn’t extend to the Kiowa Six. “Their job was still to paint their tribe’s ceremonies and activities,” he said. “When the ledger art happened, it was a huge mental jump because now, you are not a tribal member; you are an individual, because America is about the individual. Tribally, it wasn’t like that. Once you sell pieces in a gallery exhibition, you are an individual artist.”

The process shows how even if gallery art is an outcome of cultural assimilation, the imagery, stories, beliefs and spirit of the Native people are so strong that they have not only adapted and survived in that system, but prospered, grew and live on for future generations.

Jacobson House today

Satepahoodle-Mikkanen said that though they came from vastly different backgrounds, the Kiowa Six and Jacobson built a bridge of mutual respect for each other that allowed them to work together.

Her job is to extend that bridge to both Natives and non-Natives who want to learn more about past and present Native American cultures.

“I use the word ‘multifaceted’ because when you say ‘Native Art Center,’ that includes an array of different programs and cultures,” Satepahoodle-Mikkanen said. “We hold cultural classes, we have shawl-making classes, beadwork classes, how-to classes. The other side of that is we hold cultural events and classes, and one of those is the drumming that we pull together that allows students, both female and male, to come together and sing and learn about the protocol and the songs of our people.”

As a tribute to the legacy of the house, the venue also promotes classic Native American art and serves as a showcase for contemporary Oklahoma Indian artists. It also serves as a meeting space for the Native American organizations on the campus.

“We hold loose ties to those students to help them educate themselves and to be a resource center for them,” she said.

“A lot of our students come from a small rural setting, and to be dropped into a large university setting — going back to Lois Smoky — it can be very confusing and disorienting. So if you just want a place where you can grab a sandwich or print a paper or you might need to do some research, we provide that place.”

For more information, visit jacobsonhouse.org.

The original Kiowa Five included Lois Smoky, who stepped out and was replaced by James Auchiah.

Many now refer to the group as the Kiowa Six.

ma r k h a ncock

Jacobson House

and Indian art is flat-style. I don’t believe … that these institutions were guiding them so much that they were creating an artificial Indian art, that it was coming from non-Indian educators. I don’t think it is quite that simple anymore.”

Smith shared several examples.

“I’ve studied the pieces for so long now, I can tell Tsatoke, and Mopope especially, these guys found a way to work within the parameters yet go beyond to make epic pieces,” he said.

As commercial Native American art developed over the century, there was a movement against the flat-style in the 1960s and 1970s by heirs and students of these artists who were attempting to move beyond it.

The rebellion took hold when a painting by Oscar Howe, who won the grand prize in an earlier Philbrook Indian Annual, was rejected by the 1958 annual committee for not adhering to the stylistic parameters the Philbrook imposed on Native American art.

“When the ’60s came along and there was the movement against flatstyle and other artists were trying to go beyond it, each Indian artist was saying, ‘I’m an individual,’” Smith said. “In certain situations, if I go to a gourd dance, nobody’s an individual; everybody has a place, and we’re all just pieces of the same thing.

“It always seemed ironic to me that they went from calendar counts and designs on their shirts to suddenly signing their names and selling to tourists and hanging and having exhibitions. … If

Avenue Q

Hot blooded

Adult puppet show Avenue Q quickly became the third fastest-selling show in CityRep history.

By Wilhelm Murg

Avenue Q 7:30 p.m. Friday, 1:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sunday Freede Little Theatre Civic Center Music Hall 201 N. Walker Ave. cityrep.com 297-2584 $14-$41

Oklahoma City Repertory Theatre (CityRep) presents hit Broadway musical comedy Avenue Q, which runs through Sunday.

The show deals with the anxiety and problems facing young adults as they make their way in a world of humans and puppets — like Sesame Street, only with adult language and subject matter.

Ticket demand is so high that the company added two performances to meet the demand, organizers said.

Avenue Q opened off-Broadway in 2003 and moved to Broadway later that year, where it won a Tony Award for Best Musical.

It is the 23rd longest-running show in Broadway history.

The juxtaposition of comforting childhood puppet imagery subverted with the real issues those children face when they grow up is a subgenre of comedy dating back to Deep Throat director Gerard Damiano’s 1976 pornographic epic Let My Puppets Come; Peter Jackson’s 1989 cocaine-, sex- and violence-filled musical black comedy Meet the Feebles, about the seamy backstage world of a show that resembles the Muppets; and Jim

Henson’s own The Land of Gorch sketches on the first season of Saturday Night Live, 1975-1976, which featured Muppets who drank and smoked drugs while lusting after the local “serving wench.”

Adults only

“This is a show that plays very well to a demographic that is 40 and under,” said Donald Jordan, CityRep’s founding artistic director. “The concept underneath is what happens in the world of Sesame Street, where the world of humans and puppets come together and they grow up and face the problems of young adulthood.”

The play follows Princeton, a young college graduate with no work experience, who lives on Avenue Q because it is the only place he can afford.

His neighbors are out of work, repressed, broke and generally miserable, and his building superintendent is Gary Coleman, the poster boy for people who were special when they were children and went on to lead disappointing lives.

Songs from the musical include “It Sucks to Be Me,” “The Internet Is for Porn,” “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist,” and “You Can Be as Loud as the Hell You Want (When You’re Makin’ Love).”

Jordan said the company is excited, as this is the first professional production of the play in Oklahoma.

“This is our own production, but it will mirror the Broadway productions in a lot of ways,” Jordan said. “We’re using puppets made by the original

Broadway puppeteer.”

Avenue Q is directed by Shawn Churchman, a CityRep-affiliated artist who directed the University of Oklahoma (OU) production in 2012.

It stars OU alumni Aaron Boudreaux as Princeton and actress and cabaret singer Denise Lee as Gary Coleman.

“The whole cast is really stellar,” Jordan said. “It’s a young cast show.

We have students from OU, OCU and UCO; all three of our great training programs in Oklahoma City are well represented in this production.”

There are video sequences that are similar to the transition sequences in Sesame Street.

— Donald Jordan

Complex puppetry

What makes Avenue Q stand out is that puppeteers are visible onstage, though they are “invisible” in the play, and are of no consequence to the actors and the audience. It gets even more complicated: More than one puppeteer can animate a character, and some voice two characters at the same time.

The more complex puppets with “live

hands” take two people to operate, one for the mouth and a hand and another for the second hand. Famous “live hands” Muppets include Ernie, Cookie Monster and Fozzie Bear.

Jordan noted that puppeteering experience is valuable when putting together a show like this.

“If you are casting a show that’s a big tap-dancing show, you make sure they can tap dance,” Jordan said. “We have a young woman who came in from Dallas, Steph Garrett, who has done extensive puppetry, so she was a great addition.”

Garret performs the roles of Kate Monster and Lucy the Slut.

“Boudreaux had played Princeton before, so he is not only familiar with puppetry, he is very familiar with the puppetry that goes with that track and that character,” Jordan said.

“It is remarkably complex as a show; there’s a lot of puppetry and multitracking. It’s complicated in the staging and … there are video sequences that are similar to the transition sequences in Sesame Street.

I mean, it’s not Death of a Salesman if you are talking about the intensity of the dramatic conflict, but it does have a lot of moving parts. It’s like having two actors being Willy Loman and then running off and being Linda in the next scene.”

Jordan said this is the third fastestselling show in the company’s history, behind A Tuna Christmas and Greater Tuna. For more information and tickets, visit City Rep at cityrep.com.

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P R OVI D ED

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PAUL KOL N I K / PROVI DED

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Broadway benefit Kelli O’Hara headlines a fundraiser for the endowment of the Meyers Theatre for Young Audiences.

Kelli O’Hara and Ken Watanabe in The King and I

By Ben Luschen

An Evening with Kelli O’Hara 5:30 p.m. Feb. 29 National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum 1700 NE 63rd St. okcu.edu/meyers $200

Broadway star Kelli O’Hara returns to her home state for An Evening with Kelli O’Hara, a performance supporting youth arts access and education.

O’Hara, an Elk City native and winner of the 2015 Tony Award for best performance by a leading actress in a musical, performs Feb. 29 at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd St., in a fundraising effort to benefit Meyers Theatre for Young Audiences.

Sandy Meyers and her husband Stewart have made the theater and its programming their life’s work.

She said O’Hara is a true lady of Broadway.

“She is beautiful, but it’s not necessarily the looks that are the acclaiming prize,” she said. “It’s what’s inside and what she conveys on stage.

To emulate the characteristics of Kelli O’Hara, for a young person, would be wonderful.”

Sandy was appointed by President George W. Bush to his advisory committee on the arts.

The couple spent years working with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and organizing the

Kennedy Center’s Touring Theater for Young Audiences in Oklahoma City.

That program no longer exists, which is why the pair, along with Oklahoma City University (OCU), is establishing an endowment for Meyers Theatre.

Sandy said the night with O’Hara has been two years in the making.

“She’s in support of our program, and we’re in support of her,” she said.

Future planning

During her time on the presidential advisory committee and as a member of the Kennedy Center board of directors, Sandy was put under the tutelage of First Lady Laura Bush, who Stewart said was enamored with the education of young children.

During that time, the Kennedy Center set up a touring program that put on plays especially designed for children — shortened versions of wellknown performances often featuring elements of American history.

South Pacific, for example, is supposed to be a three-hour musical, but it was cut down to 50 minutes for the program.

On their own dime, the Meyers family made sure there were several tour stops throughout Oklahoma City during the program’s run.

However, the touring Kennedy Center series eventually lost its funding.

The couple now works with OCU to continue the work started by the Kennedy Center.

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Kelli O’Hara didn’t grow up in a theater.

She grew up in Oklahoma, on a farm. ... She wouldn’t be where she is today if it hadn’t been for [the arts].

— Sandy Meyers

“Sandy and I know we can’t go on forever, [but] we want this to go on as long as possible,” Stewart said. “We want to establish this endowment so that script writing and script direction will be done here at OCU.”

Building America

In the 10 years since the Kennedy Center program began, Stewart said, more than 45,000 children have seen one of its plays.

He also said he wants Meyers Theatre’s plays to teach children about the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, past presidents and notable Americans.

Sandy and Stewart hope to use their plays as a sort of living textbook to teach U.S. history and patriotism, which they said is sometimes lacking in the education of children today.

Textbooks are important, Sandy said, but they do not get students excited like a play written especially for them would. A character like George Washington might seem old and stale on the pages of a book but can be seen on stage as the man and leader he was.

“It’s live theater,” Sandy said.

“It’s the living story of possibilities, of futures, impressions, imagination, creativity. That’s what builds America, and it can build every country in the world if given the freedom and the opportunity.”

The arts also can bring different people closer together.

Sandy said a play gives people common ground and a shared experience, even across cultures.

“It never dies,” she said. “You know that arts is the international language.

You don’t have to really speak Chinese to understand when you go to China to see a play. It tells you what it’s about.”

Sometimes a performance can be the inspiration that pushes someone to achieve greater things.

“Kelli O’Hara didn’t grow up in a theater,” Stewart said. “She grew up in Oklahoma, on a farm. It was her exposure to what we’re talking about.

She wouldn’t be where she is today if it hadn’t been for [the arts].”

Dinner will be served at 5:30 p.m., and O’Hara will perform afterward. A VIP reception with O’Hara follows the event.

Tickets and event sponsorship opportunities are still available.

KO RI N EAR S ON / P ROVI D E D

Stage Door theatre preSentS:

& Dime 5 e h t o t ck Come Ba Dean y m im J , n a by ed graczyk Jimmy De Fri. February 19 & 26 - Sat. February 20 & 27 7:30 PM | DoorS at 7 PM

Mateja Govich as Glenn, Zachary Prince as Henry Mann, and Liz Shivener as Tamar in Mann... and Wife.

Sun. February 21 & 28 - 2:30 PM | DoorS at 2 PM 601 oak, yukon, ok 73099 | 405.265.1590

Dating dilemma

For ticketS viSit www.StageDooryukon.coM

A world premiere show with a small cast hits some high notes and causes a bit of confusion.

BY JACK FOWLER

Mann... and Wife 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 17-Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday; 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday Lyric at the Plaza 1727 NW 16th St. lyrictheatreokc.com 524-9312 $30-$50

Anyone who has ever tested the dating scene’s treacherous waters knows all too well the dangers that lurk beneath the waves: false starts, blinding infatuation, dashed expectations and inevitable heartbreak. The world premiere of Mann… and Wife at Lyric at the Plaza attempts to offer a glimpse into the mind of the single-and-searching American male in an entertaining but inconsistent musical comedy.

Written by Dan Elish and Douglas J. Cohen, Mann… and Wife centers on Henry Mann (played well by Zachary Prince), a 30-ish bachelor living with a ladies’ man roommate Glenn (Mateja Govich). While searching for a date to his ex-fiancée’s wedding, he also searches for the love of his life.

The women who float in and out of his life (Shelia, Tamar, Christine, Mann’s mother, et al) are all played splendidly by Liz Shivener, the hardestworking and most charismatic of the musical’s three-actor cast.

Whether fidgeting as the mousy Christine or donning a fur coat and Mets hat to scold Prince as Henry’s mother, Shivener balances the bro energy from character to character and glosses over some of the chunkier, less-believable interactions between her male counterparts.

All three actors are strong, wonderful singers, and Prince and Govich’s duets are performed with precision and confidence. Mann…

Mateja Govich, Zachary Prince and Liz Shivener in Mann... and Wife. and Wife might lean heavier on the music than some plays Oklahoma City audiences are used to — almost the entire script is sung, with dialogue serving as brief segues into the next number.

The gold of Mann… and Wife is in the lyrics. Catchy numbers full to bursting with waspy, hipster humor serve as interactions between the characters and constant glimpses into Henry’s psyche.

Despite the largely terrific performances of all three actors, some inconsistencies in the script, set design and a few of the scenes between Prince and Govich proved to be a bit problematic as the evening progressed.

It’s clear that Henry is supposed to endear himself to the audience with his dogged desire to meet the love of his life; however, after so much yearning, so much wallowing in romantic idealization of every female he meets, it becomes harder to root for him.

Govich doesn’t capture the swagger that Glenn’s character calls for, and his interactions with Prince sometimes lack the confident jocularity that one assumes the script intended.

The sets, designed by Adam Koch, are beautiful, bold and confusing. A black-and-white collage of big city stoops and street corners complete with a basketball hoop set every inch of 15 feet high, the sets would be great if more of the scenes were set outdoors.

They weren’t, though, so a good deal of the production was spent wondering why Henry and Glenn were eating dinner underneath a bridge.

By and large, Mann… and Wife offers a pleasant enough glimpse into the turmoil and triumph of a single guy’s love life.

presents the OKC premiere of

Feb. 12th through Feb. 21st The Civic Center Music Hall (405)848-3761 cityrep.com

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O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e | f e b r ua r y 1 7, 2 0 1 6 | 3 7

sudoku/crossword Sudoku Puzzle Easy

Gridinn°2052916336 easyrow, column and 3-by-3 box contains the numbers 1 through 9.

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Oklahoma City Community College 2015-2016 Performing Arts Series Presents

JIM BRICKMAN

The Platinum Tour

“A crowd pleaser... His rhapsodic melodies coupled with considerable stage charm has made him a phenomenon!” ~ Boston Herald

Tuesday, March 8, 7:30 P.M. • Tickets: $26–$45 OCCC Visual and Performing Arts Center Theater Purchase online at tickets.occc.edu or call the box office at 405-682-7579 • www.occc.edu/pas Oklahoma City Community College 7777 South May Avenue 3 8 | f e b r ua r y 1 7, 2 0 1 6 | O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e

S A L E S R E P S L A U D E D E L S E

E X A M I N E R

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T E A S E R S

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21 Stick 112 New Jersey’s state tree 22 Damage a St. Louis team’s 113 Question harshly after not reputation? allowing to practice?

24 Southern constellation that 118 Nevada tribe holds the second-brightest star 119 Past the cutoff age in the night sky

120 Neighborhood guide 25 “Comin’ ____!”

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27 “God forbid!”

29 Ones giving the waiter a hard DOWN 1 “There!” time?

2 Settled (on) 34 Smartphone feature 3 Teeny 37 Most NPR stations 4 Track down 38 Nitty-gritty 5 Pro 39 Sugar suffix 6 Suffix with elephant 40 Were now?

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the English Channel) 53 1998 Sarah McLachlan hit 11 Bottom of the ninth, say 54 Assess 55 Take some time to think about 12 The Bicycle Thief director Vittorio 56 Sushi order 13 Burger topper 58 Serengeti grazer 14 International traveler’s 60 Orthodox Jewish honorific convenience 61 “What a tragedy!”

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34 Tight group 89 Childish 35 Popular typeface 91 Subj. of David Foster 36 Legendary Washington Wallace’s The Pale King hostess 92 Small talk 42 Olive ____ 93 1945 battle site, for short 43 Schnozzola 94 Jardin ____ Plantes (Paris 45 Kind of nerve

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readers’ letters 52 Quick “however” 57 Together, musically 59 DirecTV requirement 61 Rubberneck 64 Delphine author Madame de ____

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performance 1,000+ times 88 Ending with idiom or axiom 90 Cut off

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116 Dr. featured in 2015’s

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UPCOMING EVENTS AT FIRELAKE ARENA

405-273-1637 • FIRELAKEARENA.COM 18145 OLD RANGELINE RD • SHAWNEE, OK @FIRELAKEARENA /FIRELAKE.ARENA 4 0 | f e b r ua r y 1 7, 2 0 1 6 | O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e

Rap classical In its Discovery Family show Celebrate Black History, Oklahoma City Philharmonic performs with local rapper Gregory Jerome.

Gregory Jerome

By Ben Luschen

Celebrate Black History 2 p.m. Sunday Thelma E. Gaylord Performing Arts Theatre Civic Center Music Hall 201 N. Walker Ave. okcphilharmonic.org 842-5387 $9

Oklahoma City Philharmonic’s celebration of Black History Month will be making history in its own right.

During the orchestra’s Celebrate Black History event beginning 1 p.m.

Sunday at Civic Center Music Hall, 201 N. Walker Ave., local emcee Gregory Jerome will become the first rapper in recent memory to perform alongside the philharmonic. This will be the second installment this season in Oklahoma City Philharmonic’s (OKC Phil) annual Discovery Family concert series.

“We strive to bring quality live musical performances to families at an affordable price,” Susan Webb, OKC Phil’s marketing and public relations director, said of the series.

After doors open, guests can enjoy a graffiti wall in the lobby, and instruments will be on hand for children to play with, in addition to other educational activities.

The show is 2 p.m. in Thelma E. Gaylord Performing Arts Theatre.

Maestro Mathew Troy leads the philharmonic in selections highlighting

the history and progression of AfricanAmerican influence in America’s musical history.

Included among the selections are music from Duke Ellington, arrangements of music by Stevie Wonder and a variety of pieces inspired by black sounds and minds.

In addition to Jerome, who will close the concert performing two songs — one original piece and an adaptation of his song “I Am” — actor Michael Andreaus will lend his talents to the show, performing the spiritual hymn “I’m Going Home” in baritone and offering a rendition of a speech by Martin Luther King Jr. with musical accompaniment.

The men of RACE Dance Company will also be involved, enacting Jerome’s closing number.

Webb said OKC Phil has done its Discovery Family series at least 10 years and hosts three events each season.

Making history

Jerome was contacted by OKC Phil about a month ago regarding his availability for the show.

He said he has long dreamed of playing alongside a full orchestra and has tried to put together an arrangement several times. He never imagined the philharmonic would reach out to him.

“The production manager felt that

Gregory could help bring something unique to the table that could help carry the larger concept that the Phil is trying to portray,” Webb said.

After accepting the invitation, Jerome had to write an original rhyme to a piece already within OKC Phil’s repertoire. Writing over classical music presents a unique challenge compared to the sound of a traditional boom-bap beat found in hip-hop. Jerome listened to the selection carefully and repeatedly, feeling the texture of the music.

“What I had to do is almost think of it as a theatrical performance,” he said. “How do I express myself over this music? How do I create these moments of expression?”

Jerome played with the delivery of his voice over the music and worked with the tempo and speed, allowing his voice to become an instrument.

The chance to break musical ground as the first rapper to appear alongside OKC Phil is not lost on the emcee. Jerome called the opportunity a “monumental moment” for him personally and for the current age of hip-hop in the city.

Looking down the list of those who have performed with the philharmonic, you’ll find names like Wayne Coyne and Ben Folds. Jerome said it will be an honor to join that list.

“I don’t believe I’m anybody spectacular,” Jerome said. “I don’t

To be able to get on that stage, I believe it will change a lot of things.

— Gregory Jerome

believe I’m all over Oklahoma City like that. To be able to get on that stage, I believe it will change a lot of things.”

Jerome said it’s great to reflect on black history in this country, but added that Black History Month should also be about learning from that past. Now that they have fought for and won things like voting and property rights, he said, will they continue to make history or just look back on the work of others?

The emcee said he wants to brand himself in the world as someone who is doing something new, making firsts in certain regions and social climates where there is still progress that has yet to happen.

“Why not be black history, man?

Instead of reminiscing about it, make your own,” he said. “It’s great to reminisce, but make your own.”

O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e | f e b r ua r y 1 7, 2 0 1 6 | 4 1

m a r k ha n coc k

life music

$2 BUD & BUD LIGHT MONDAY - FRIDAY 5PM - 8PM

$2 COORS & COORS LIGHT SATURDAY & SUNDAY NOON - 8PM

$2 BUD & BUD LIGHT SUNDAY 10PM - 12AM

Best Buddha HuckWheat and Sativa Prophets hope a new album helps the collective turn a new leaf.

By Ben Luschen

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ga r e t t fi s b e c k / fi l e

HAPPY HOUR

life music

Buddha Leaf release party 10 p.m. Feb. 26 51st Street Speakeasy 1114 NW 51st St. facebook.com/huckwheat 463-0470 Free

In some ways, the Buddha Leaf album and release show marks a new phase in the growth of steady-flowing local emcee HuckWheat and the Sativa Prophets collective.

The Feb. 26 album release show at 51st Street Speakeasy features a cavalcade of performers, including Teflo Dollar, Fresh, J French, Mars Deli, Rodrick Malone, Chief Peace and Original Flow, in addition to HuckWheat.

HuckWheat has played at Speakeasy alongside members of Sativa Prophets music and art collective before, but the Buddha Leaf release show marks the first time they organized a show there themselves. The fact that it’s a free gig should draw in even more people.

“It should be flooded, man, just with all the people who are already going to be out there,” said HuckWheat, whose birth name is Mike Huckeby.

Buddha Leaf, HuckWheat’s followup to 2014’s Milk n Honey, is produced by one of Oklahoma City’s most prolific hip-hop producers, Igloo Panda, who also belongs to the collective. The album was developed on an on-again off-again basis over 18 months.

The Prophets appear newly focused and primed to take their brand to another level.

“There’s a difference between doing music and trying to do business, honestly,” HuckWheat told Oklahoma Gazette. “There’s taking music seriously, and then there’s another level where we decided we were going to start taking the business part seriously.”

HuckWheat

Panda said he’s trying to expand his work beyond just making beats.

He is working to further improve the Prophets’ video production and described plans to pursue fashion and art.

He hopes the Prophets and others in the local hip-hop community can wedge themselves up through cooperation.

“It’s cool to be known in Oklahoma City, and I love it, but at the same time, I feel like there’s enough artists here that we could start a real scene,” he said. “There’s a lot of talent here, and people have never heard it.”

Musically, Buddha Leaf has many different elements to offer. From some of the hardest oneliners and flows you’ll hear from any local emcee to slowed down, floating vocals and even straight-up singing, there’s a lot for a listener to digest in one sitting.

However, with each additional spin, HuckWheat’s talent becomes more apparent to the listener. It won’t be hard to rack up the play numbers. After the track list was set, Panda said he went back and adjusted the beats to ensure butter-smooth transitions.

“Nothing ever breaks up,” HuckWheat said. “Nothing ever skips.

There’s not interludes, skits.”

After working on and toying with the songs for more than a year before its release and hundreds of listens afterward, HuckWheat said he was surprised by how much he still likes Buddha Leaf. He’s proud of how much work went into the album and how distinct it sounds on a local and national level.

“You just want people to hear you and to feel you,” he said. “From the instrumentation and on, I want them to open up because it does sound different than a lot of what’s out right now.”

PROVIDED

ha rum p hm us i c .com / p rovi de d

CobraJab/Splifflifter/TurboWizard, Blue Note Lounge.

ROCK

Yo La Tengo

Cover Me Badd, Mickey Mantle’s Steakhouse. COVER DJ SIX, Russell’s, Tower Hotel. VARIOUS Helen Kelter Skelter, The Deli, Norman. ROCK Jason Young Band, Remington Park. COUNTRY Karen Khoury, Legend’s Restaurant, Norman. PIANO Local Showcase/Sovereign Dame/The Capital Why’s, The Vanguard, Tulsa. ROCK Locust Avenue/Costello, Opolis, Norman. ROCK MC Chris/Nathan Anderson, 89th Street Collective.

HIP-HOP

Live Music WEDNESDAY, FEB. 17 Grant Wells, Skirvin Hilton Hotel. JAZZ Harumph/Travis Linville, The Deli, Norman. JAZZ Maurice Johnson, R&J Lounge and Supper Club. JAZZ

Phil Smith, Noir Bistro & Bar. ROCK Ross Clayton Band, Sliders. COUNTRY The Remedy OKC Band, Oklahoma City Limits. ROCK The Stringents, Full Circle Bookstore. VARIOUS Uncle Lucius/The Dirtboxwailers, Cain’s Ballroom, Tulsa.

ROCK William Clark Green/Red Shahan, Wormy Dog Saloon.

COUNTRY

SATURDAY, FEB. 20

THURSDAY, FEB. 18 Bob Schneider, The Blue Door. SINGER/SONGWRITER

Cover Me Badd, Mickey Mantle’s Steakhouse. COVER

Brent Saulsbury/Will Galbraith/Wayne Duncan, Friends Restaurant & Club. ROCK

Darla Z, ACM@UCO Performance Lab. SINGER/ SONGWRITER

Bungalouski, The Deli, Norman. VARIOUS

DEERPEOPLE/Fun Button/BRENDA, Blue Note Lounge.

VARIOUS

Mickey Factz/Candis/Knoble Savage, 89th Street Collective. HIP-HOP SquadLive, Baker Street Pub & Grill. POP

FRIDAY, FEB. 19

Here Come the Mummies

music

Saturday

pick

Being As An Ocean, 89th Street Collective. ROCK Carly Gwin and The Sin, The Deli, Norman. ROCK

Dave Thomason Band, Grady’s 66 Pub, Yukon. COVER

okg

Time to enjoy the sweet, sweet sounds of the sarcophagus.

No need to call Brendan Frazier; Here Come the Mummies only wants to unleash its “terrifying funk from beyond the grave” onto eager listeners. The band performs in full wrap 7 p.m.

Saturday at Diamond Ballroom, 8001 S. Eastern Ave. Tickets are $19 in advance. Visit herecomethemummies.com.

Copperheads/Sensitiv Southside Boy, Opolis, Norman.

POP

DJ Josh Tullis, Russell’s, Tower Hotel. VARIOUS

Mike Hosty, Belle Isle Restaurant & Brewery. ROCK

Drive, Remington Park. ROCK

Rick Jawnsun, Noir Bistro & Bar. ACOUSTIC

Howard Brady, Full Circle Bookstore. ACOUSTIC

The Oh Hellos/Lomelda/Scales of Motion, The Vanguard, Tulsa. FOLK

Kyle Park/Parker McCollum, Wormy Dog Saloon.

COUNTRY

The Suspects, Tapwerks Ale House & Cafe. REGGAE

Los Caminos/The Feel Spectres, 51st Street Speakeasy.

VARIOUS

Deerpeople, Blue Note Lounge, Saturday

Chris Young/Cassadee Pope, Brady Theater, Tulsa.

SINGER/SONGWRITER

Maiden Texxas/Stealing Saturn, Oklahoma City Limits.

ROCK

SUNDAY, FEB. 21

Christian Pearson/Gary Johnson, Skirvin Hilton Hotel.

PIANO

Michael Kleid, Fuze Buffet & Bar. VARIOUS

2x4, 89th Street Collective. ROCK

Megan Jean & The KFB/Pirates Canoe/Savannah Valentino, The Blue Door. FOLK

Edgar Cruz, Skirvin Hilton Hotel. ACOUSTIC

TobyMac, Chesapeake Energy Arena. HIP-HOP

provid ed

Eric Herndon, Full Circle Bookstore. ROCK Karen Khoury, Legend’s Restaurant, Norman. PIANO Mike Hosty One Man Band, The Deli, Norman. ROCK

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 24

Scott Lowber/Will Galbraith/Rick Toops, Friends Restaurant & Club. COVER

Grant Wells, Skirvin Hilton Hotel. JAZZ

MONDAY, FEB. 22

Laura Hope/The Ark-Tones, Red Brick Bar. ROCK

Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys, The Blue Door. ROCK Rick Toops, Friends Restaurant & Club. ROCK

provid ed

Harumph, The Deli, Norman, Wednesday, Feb. 17

Harumph, The Deli, Norman. JAZZ

Maurice Johnson, R&J Lounge and Supper Club. JAZZ Turncoat, 89th Street Collective. ROCK Scott Lowber/Will Galbraith/Ed VanBuskirk, Friends Restaurant & Club. COVER

The Patron Aints, The Deli, Norman. ROCK

Bob Schneider, The Blue Door, Thursday

TUESDAY, FEB. 23 Caleb McGee, The Deli, Norman. BLUES LUCKY/Shaun Suttle, Skirvin Hilton Hotel. COVER

Submissions must be received by Oklahoma Gazette no later than noon on Wednesday seven days before the desired publication date. Late submissions will not be included in the listings.

Submissions run as space allows, although we strive to make the listings as inclusive as possible.

Fax your listings to 528-4600 or e-mail them to listings@okgazette.com. Sorry, but phone submissions cannot be accepted.

O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e | f e b r ua r y 1 7, 2 0 1 6 | 4 3

MARVEL / TW EN TIETH C EN T URY FOX / P ROVI DED

life film

Merc mouth

Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) reacts to Colossus’ (voiced

by Stefan Kapicic) threats.

Sharp, uncompromising dialogue gives Deadpool an edge and Ryan Reynolds his best role.

BY GEORGE LANG

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405.528.6000

From the exhilarating explosion of nitro-fueled snark that serves as its opening credits, first-time feature director Tim Miller’s Deadpool subverts most viewers’ expectations of a modern comic book adaptation.

The film finally unites Ryan Reynolds with his dream job, resulting in an uncompromised, super-nasty blast that is perfect for adolescents of all ages.

Fair warning to purists with more Deadpool background knowledge than the average viewer: This is an origin story. It’s the studios’ fault that “origin story” now ranks as a major eye-roll inducer among comic book enthusiasts.

By the time Jon Watts’ Spider-Man reboot hits theaters next year, Sony will have released three different retellings of Peter Parker’s fateful atomic spider bite.

So, superfans of the Deadpool comic books can be forgiven for grousing about a foundation installment on how Wade Wilson became Deadpool.

But the Deadpool character only dates back 25 years; he’s something of a cult antihero, and in his earliest incarnation, Fabian Nicieza wrote him as a supervillain. If there was ever an instance in which an origin story was essential in setting the record straight and not just a lazy franchise-launching strategy, Deadpool is it.

Deadpool begins with an extended sequence of mass carnage as our antihero uses his superhuman strength, accelerated healing and hyper-charged motor mouth to track down his immortal enemy Ajax (Ed Skrein). From there, the film dives deep into Wade’s past as a former soldier turned urban mercenary, his love affair with prostitute Vanessa (Morena Baccarin, Homeland),

specialsections@okgazette.com 4 4 | f e b r ua r y 1 7, 2 0 1 6 | O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e

his stage-four cancer diagnosis and his recruitment into the Weapon X program in exchange for a painful cure executed by Ajax that leaves him horribly disfigured but impossible to kill.

What sets Deadpool apart is its refreshing lack of filter and utter disregard for anyone’s feelings. The superbly acerbic script by Rhett Reece and Paul Wernick channels the same scabrous energy the team brought to 2009’s Zombieland, complete with fourth-wall breakage and haphazard timelines. Most of all, Wernick and Reece excel at impishness, which makes them ideal for feeding lines to Reynolds.

This isn’t Reynolds’ first stab at Deadpool; he appeared briefly as Wade Wilson in the largely regrettable X-Men Origins: Wolverine in 2009, and since then, he has had a rough go at being the thinking person’s action star. With his natural facility for sarcasm and wry delivery, Reynolds is like prime Chevy Chase with an 8-pack, but subpar material like odious Green Lantern did little to showcase Reynolds’ comic potential. Deadpool serves as the ideal course correction, giving him about 90 percent screen time and almost the same percentage of gold-plated verbal jabs.

In terms of tone, this Marvel production has more in common with the studio’s dark and caustic series for Netflix, Daredevil and Jessica Jones, than it does with most of its theatrical releases. Sure, Deadpool shares some mutated comic book DNA with the X-Men, but he cannot live within the strictures of a PG-13 world. When they do cross paths in Deadpool with appearances by Colossus (Stefan Kapicic) and fiery emo girl

Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand), the denizens of the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning seem permanently bewildered by Wade. They might share the Marvel Universe, but they’re many worlds apart.

Hard-R chicanery in a superhero/ vigilante film isn’t new: Kick-Ass and Kick-Ass 2 executed a full deployment of profanity, but it felt more like a stunt when Hit-Girl let loose with the trash talk. Reese and Wernick’s neat trick is bringing the big laugh when it’s least appropriate, and that’s really Deadpool’s chief personality trait — he is a massive id with a microscopic superego. Wade says and does everything he wants, sometimes to the detriment of himself or those who care about him. A major story segment of Deadpool would not even happen if Wade could keep his mouth shut.

Apart from Reynolds, Baccarin (whose genre credentials in Firefly, The Flash and Gotham make her an ideal choice here) and comedian T.J. Miller’s Weasel, Deadpool is refreshingly lightweight on star power. This means the supporting cast gets salted with capable character actors like 73-yearold Leslie Uggams, who plays Wade’s foul, geriatric roommate Big Al and wraps up her most memorable role since 1977’s Roots.

Deadpool earns its laughs, puts Reynolds where he needs to be and builds what could possibly be Marvel’s most interesting film franchise. With the basic story of “merc with a mouth” now told, Deadpool films can go on as long as Wade Wilson’s hyperactive cells keep regenerating.

WARNER BROS . EN TERTAI N MEN T I N C . / PROVI DED

Single lighting A new rom-com struggles in the bonds of its genre while still showing the skills of its creators.

Rebel Wilson and Dakota Johnson in How to Be Single

You know those empowering movies based on empowering books sold to women at the front of bookstores, so caught up in their source material that they open and close with voice-over lifted straight from the page?

How to Be Single (based on the book of the same name by Sex and the City show writer and He’s Just Not That into You book writer Liz Tuccillo) retreads so much familiar material, the romantic comedy feels like week-old road kill — more road than meat.

Yes, the Sex and the City-referencing movie (Are they allowed to do that if they’re written by the same person?) follows the predictably lonely life of Alice (Dakota Johnson) as she eats, prays and loves her way through New York City.

The narrative hops around with a cute excuse (this isn’t a story about being in a relationship, no sir), but still jars without proper pacing from

director Christian Ditter. I’m not sure there’s a story besides “girl develops a personality,” but even that loose theme seems tenuous at best. Randomly switching between the love stories of Alice, her sister, a random bartender and Alice’s various ex-boyfriends doesn’t exactly develop a strong plot. It feels like a season of a generic soap was shoved together and edited for time. Yet, while the dialogue sounds like someone crowdsourced a rom-com from a game of Telephone, some of the cast still manages to pull it off.

Johnson isn’t given much, but her sister Meg (Leslie Mann) and Meg’s boyfriend (Jake Lacy) make lemonade out of lemon-scented Pine-Sol. Mann’s in her comfort zone playing a sexually active yet unconfident older woman, and Lacy seems game for anything with his softer, sweeter Ryan Reynolds cheekiness. Unfortunately, Rebel Wilson

is as exciting as Larry the Cable Guy in a tight dress celebrating his sexuality.

Vulgarity for the sake of vulgarity always wears thin, ironically more so when it’s delivered by someone increasingly typecast as a fat joke.

The men (Damon Wayans Jr., Anders Holm, Nicholas Braun and Colin Jost) belong to the sort of interchangeable, almost-nice guy group that you lump your friends’ exes into when they haven’t done anything especially heinous. Things didn’t work out. You’re not sure why, but you don’t especially care.

Yet some charming moments slip through. The physical comedy is shot perfectly, as timely cuts reveal the peppy waiter just off-screen or a lifted drink turns out to be a glass-sized candle.

The movie’s primary value lies in it being the American debut of German cinematographer Christian Rein, who

plays with light and space so delicately that one can’t help but be drawn from the colorless dialogue to explore the excitingly balanced hues surrounding it. Frankly, he’s too good for this movie.

Teaming with Ditter, Rein creates the best sequence of the film, in which Dakota’s character realizes that she and one of the many guys are getting dangerously close to their “drink number” (the number of collective drinks a male/female friendship can endure in one sitting without devolving into sex).

Dakota stumbles around the apartment gathering empty beer bottles, their sequential numbers lighting up on their labels as they’re collected — one, two, three. Her growing desperation and eventual acquiescence are wonderful silent comedy, which makes you wonder what this cast and crew could’ve done if they were freed from the bonds of their pop-lit scripture.

High-flying charisma Eddie the Eagle tells the charming tale of an unexpected Olympian.

Eddie (Taron Egerton) and coach Bronson Peary (Hugh Jackman) in Eddie the Eagle

By Jacob Oller

The Jamaican bobsledders of Cool Runnings weren’t the only absurd dreamers led to the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary by a disgraced American pro; there also was a stubborn, tubby skier named Eddie Edwards.

Eddie the Eagle brings us his journey, with all its narrative and thematic similarities to his underdog peers, from amateur to Olympian. Edwards (Taron Egerton), a downhill speed skier by training, lost an Olympic qualification bid in his chosen event due to skill level and classism by the snobbish British selection committee. Nobody wanted to sponsor a sloppy, unmannered weirdo to the represent their country.

Thus began Edwards’ pioneering escapade into the world of ski jumping.

Through loopholes in bylaws and a complete void of competitors, his event switch would all but guarantee a dream trip to the Olympics. The only problems were that he had no coach, had never jumped before and was broke as a bad joke. Then the fun started.

Yes, the plot sounds beat-for-beat like Cool Runnings, but the film’s jolly acknowledgment of its own stubborn sunniness reflects the never-say-die attitude of its charming subject.

Egerton, with his bug-eyed glasses, extra pounds and prognathistic emulation of the British Habsburg jaw, is almost unrecognizable.

His eccentricity accentuates his determination to a point no longer on the standard line of the typical movie athlete. He’s too dorky. We love Rocky’s

grit and endurance. We love Eddie’s perseverance to fail a little less.

Supplemented by an excellent ’80s score and an elevated performance by Hugh Jackman as the reluctant, overly American coach, the film’s standard montages and plot clichés — the coach refuses to coach, eventually acquiesces; the climatic cut back to the coach, where he says “Yes!” and tries to nail that perfect tone of pride and excitement — are more than tolerable.

Each jump feels as high and as fast as necessary, though I often wished they cut them up less. We travel down the 70-meter length of the ramp along with Eddie until the moment of launch, but the immediate cutaway to an angle almost opposite of where we were interrupts our momentum like

switching from a GoPro strapped to a bird to a camera on the ground below.

The dialogue, no matter how likable the leads are, frequently bumbles into the territory of children’s books and bad soap operas. With direction this solidly invested in goofy levity, the film’s plotted nuts and bolts somewhat dampen the experience. And despite being mostly set in mountain vistas and elaborate ski lodges, other than the skiing itself and a few clever press conferences, the film is pretty plain and was likely restricted by its smaller budget.

Nevertheless, it’s the quintessentially British equivalent of a Disney sports movie — not groundbreaking, but effortlessly self-depreciating, rife with irony and ready to woo children to sports through countless TV reruns.

O k l a h o m a G a z e t t e | f e b r ua r y 1 7, 2 0 1 6 | 4 5

Larry Horricks / Twentieth Century Fox / Provided

By Jacob Oller

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

by ROB BREZNY

Homework: What good thing would you have to give up in order to get a great thing? Testify at Freewillastrology. com. Click on “Email Rob.”

expend as little energy as possible working within frameworks that others have made. You need to focus on designing and constructing your own frameworks.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) “Old paint on a canvas, as it ages, sometimes becomes transparent,” said playwright Lillian Hellman. “When that happens, it is possible to see the original lines: a tree will show through a woman’s dress, a child makes way for a dog, a large boat is no longer on an open sea.” Why does this happen?

Because the painter changed his or her mind. Early images were replaced, painted over. I suspect that a metaphorical version of this is underway in your life.

Certain choices you made in the past got supplanted by choices you made later. They disappeared from view. But now those older possibilities are re-emerging for your consideration. I’m not saying what you should do about them. I simply want to alert you to their ghostly presence so they don’t cause confusion.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) The Old Testament book of Leviticus presents a long list of forbidden activities, and declares that anyone who commits them should be punished. You’re not supposed to get tattoos, have messy hair, consult oracles, work on Sunday, wear clothes that blend wool and linen, plant different seeds in the same field, or eat snails, prawns, pigs, and crabs. (It’s OK to buy slaves, though.) We laugh at how absurd it would be for us to obey these outdated rules and prohibitions, and yet many of us retain a superstitious loyalty toward guidelines and beliefs that are almost equally obsolete. Here’s the good news, Cancerian: Now is an excellent time to dismantle or purge your own fossilized formulas.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Let’s talk about your mouth. Since your words flow out of it, you use it to create and shape a lot of your experiences. Your mouth is also the place where food and drink enter your body, as well as some of the air you breathe. So it’s crucial to fueling every move you make. You experience the beloved sense of taste in your mouth. You use your mouth for kissing and other amorous activities. With its help, you sing, moan, shout, and laugh. It’s quite expressive, too. As you move its many muscles, you send out an array of emotional signals. I’ve provided this summary in the hope of inspiring you to celebrate your mouth, Taurus. It’s prime time to enhance your appreciation of its blessings!

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) Coloring books for adults are best-sellers. Tightlywound folks relieve their stress by using crayons and markers to brighten up black-and-white drawings of butterflies, flowers, mandalas, and pretty fishes.

I highly recommend that you avoid this type of recreation in the next three weeks, as it would send the wrong message to your subconscious mind. You should

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) “I would not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well,” said the philosopher and naturalist Henry David Thoreau. In accordance with your astrological constitution, Leo, I authorize you to use this declaration as your own almost any time you feel like it. But I do suggest that you make an exception to the rule during the next four weeks. In my opinion, it will be time to focus on increasing your understanding of the people you care about — even if that effort takes time and energy away from your quest for ultimate self-knowledge.

Don’t worry: You can return to emphasizing Thoreau’s perspective by the equinox.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) You are entering the inquisitive phase of your astrological cycle. One of the best ways to thrive during the coming weeks will be to ask more questions than you have asked since you were five years old. Curiosity and good listening skills will be superpowers that you should you strive to activate. For now, what matters most is not what you already know but rather what you need to find out. It’s a favorable time to gather information about riddles and mysteries that have perplexed you for a long time. Be super-receptive and extra wide-eyed!

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) Poet Barbara Hamby says the Russian word ostyt can be used to describe “a cup of tea that is too hot, but after you walk to the next room, and return, it is too cool.” A little birdie told me that this may be an apt metaphor for a current situation in your life. I completely understand if you wish the tea had lost less of its original warmth, and was exactly the temperature you like, neither burning nor tepid. But that won’t happen unless you try to reheat it, which would change the taste. So what should you do? One way or the other, a compromise will be necessary.

Do you want the lukewarm tea or the hot tea with a different flavor?

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) Russian writer Ivan Turgenev was a Scorpio. Midway through his first novel Rudin, his main character Dmitrii Nikolaevich Rudin alludes to a problem that affects many Scorpios. “Do you see that apple tree?”

Rudin asks a woman companion. “It is broken by the weight and abundance of its own fruit.” Ouch! I want very much for you Scorpios to be spared a fate like that in the coming weeks. That’s why I propose that you scheme about how you will express the immense creativity that will be welling up in you. Don’t let your lush and succulent output go to waste.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) Asking you Sagittarians to be patient may be akin to ordering a bonfire to burn more politely. But it’s my duty to inform you of the cosmic tendencies, so I will request your forbearance for now. How about some nuances to make it more palatable? Here’s a quote from author David G. Allen: “Patience is the calm acceptance that things can happen in a different order than the one you have in mind.” Novelist Gustave Flaubert: “Talent is a long patience.” French playwright Moliere: “Trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit.” Writer Ann Lamott: “Hope is a revolutionary patience.” I’ve saved the best for last, from Russian novelist Irène Némirovsky: “Waiting is erotic.”

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) “If you ask for help it comes, but not in any way you’d ever know.”

Poet Gary Snyder said that, and now I’m passing it on to you, Capricorn. The coming weeks will be an excellent time for you to think deeply about the precise kinds of help you would most benefit from — even as you loosen up your expectations about how your requests for aid might be fulfilled. Be aggressive in seeking assistance, but ready and willing to be surprised as it arrives.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) For a limited time only, 153 is your lucky number.

Mauve and olive are your colors of destiny, the platypus is your power animal, and torn burlap mended with silk thread is your magic texture. I realize that all of this may sound odd, but it’s the straight-up truth. The nature of the cosmic rhythms are rather erratic right now. To be in maximum alignment with the irregular opportunities that are headed your way, you should probably make yourself magnificently mysterious, even to yourself. To quote an old teacher, this might be a good time to be “so unpredictable that not even you yourself knows what’s going to happen.”

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) In the long-running TV show M*A*S*H*, the character known as Sidney Freedman was a psychiatrist who did his best to nurture the mental health of the soldiers in his care. He sometimes departed from conventional therapeutic approaches.

In the series finale, he delivered the following speech, which I believe is highly pertinent to your current quest for good mental hygiene: “I told you people something a long time ago, and it’s just as pertinent today as it was then. Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice: Pull down your pants and slide on the ice.”

Go to RealAstrology.com to check out Rob Brezsny’s expanded weekly audio horoscopes /daily text message horoscopes.

The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at 1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700.

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