OK Gazette 9-3-14 by Oklahoma Gazette

PAUL F ELL

FREE EVERY WEDNESDAY METRO OKC’S INDEPENDENT WEEKLY VOL. XXXVI NO. 36 SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

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CONTENTS 23

ON THE COVER

NEWS

LIFE

Cab companies and ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft are in a battle to earn fares and define fair practices as an Oklahoma City Council vote looms. Learn why this debate can be contentious, what’s at stake for riders and how the issue impacts our community. Story by Ben Felder. P. 4.

Cover: cab controversy

OKG picks

Election: results

Culture: Hate Crimes in the Heartland

Food & Drink: mooncakes, food briefs, Thirst for a Cause, Musashi’s, OKG eat: Asian food

Books: Oklahoma City Zoo, 1960-2013

Sports: yoga for kids

Celebrate Independents

Sudoku / Crossword

OKG shop: pets

Culture: underground tunnels

Music: Charlie Christian, Washed Out, Delta Spirit, Low Litas, event listings

Youth: Superhero School

Film: OKCMOA curator

Community: Oklahoma City Humanitarian Awards

Astrology

Classifieds

— Jennifer Chancellor, editor-in-chief

Metro briefs

Chicken-Fried News

Commentary

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.

Visual Arts: New Perspectives in Native American Art and Art of the American West, A Pair of Shortts: An Exploration in Photography

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OKLAHOMA GAZETTE | SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 | 3

NEWS COVER

M A RK HA N COC K

The race to ride Uber and Lyft are in a heated debate with the city and local cab companies about proposed regulation that goes to a city council vote Tuesday.

Supporters of Lyft wear matching pink T-shirts in support of the company during last week’s Oklahoma City Council meeting.

BY BEN FELDER

Going mobile

Like Najam, Pam Thompson of Yellow Cab in Oklahoma City said her company uses mobile apps that are similar to Uber and Lyft.

but even in a conservative city where free market principals typically dominate, the idea of relaxing rules for taxis seemed too far-fetched for most. Trent England with conservative think tank the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs told the council during a meeting last week that it should leave things as they are and let the market decide. “The most humble thing to do is to do nothing and see how this thing plays out,” England said. Ward 1 Councilman James Greiner said he was against increased regulation but felt doing nothing was not an option

because Uber and Lyft currently operate in the city without regulations. “The assumption that we shouldn’t do anything is faulty because right now, we have an industry that is operating unregulated,” he said. “At the very least, what we should do is get rid of all the regulations on the taxicabs.”

The rideshare fight

The rideshare issue is one the city has dealt with delicately; it has essentially left Uber and Lyft alone for the past year. However, Uber has said it has been unfairly targeted in cities across the country.

SH ANNON CORNMAN

“This is a great service that these guys have,” Thompson said. “And we had it first.” Uber and Lyft have operated in Oklahoma City since last October, and city government has spent the last 10 months drafting an ordinance that would require rideshare companies to meet certain regulations, such as conducting physicals and background checks on all drivers, obtaining a basic level of insurance and following nondiscrimination guidelines. The proposed ordinance, which city officials admit neither cab or rideshare companies completely like, is currently being considered by the Oklahoma City Council, and a final vote could come as early as next week. “This is a new phenomenon,” Ward 2 Councilman Ed Shadid said of the rideshare debate that is taking place in hundreds of cities around the world. “No two cities have done this the same.”

Three options

The city council really has three options. It could require rideshare drivers to meet the same strict regulations of taxi drivers, force rideshare drivers to operate under some standards — as the ordinance before the council proposes — or do away with all regulations for taxi and rideshare drivers. “Uber doesn’t have to follow the rules, so let me not have to follow the rules,” Najam said. At least one or two members of the council seemed intrigued by the idea,

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MARK H ANCOCK

Jaffar Najam, president of Thunder Cab in Oklahoma City, has no problem with Uber. “I love it,” Najam said of the rideshare company that has forced cities to review how they regulate taxicabs and this app-based ride service. “I just wish I was allowed to do what they are doing.” Najam said the presence of companies like Uber and Lyft have little impact on his business. Instead, he has grown frustrated that while he has to follow a long list of regulations, Uber and Lyft do not. “I could operate like [Uber] tomorrow if I wanted,” Najam said. “And it would reduce my costs by 36 to 40 percent.” Companies like Uber and Lyft operate mobile applications that allow riders to call a driver with the push of a button. The app collects payment for the ride through a pre-entered credit card, and Uber or Lyft pays the driver. However, the companies say they don’t directly employ drivers or own the cars, excluding them from the normal insurance and permit requirements of taxis. Taxicabs are required to carry higher levels of insurance, operate cars that are clearly marked and must give a 30-day notice before changing fares.

Thunder Cab (Flywheel) and Uber smartphone apps

CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

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“There’s choice words I’ve had at times for the taxi industry,” Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick told Bloomberg Television in July. “In many ways, they don’t provide choice for consumers, and they’ve often lobbied city governments to restrict choice and restrict supply and restrict convenience for people who live in those cities.” Uber has been the target of lawsuits in cities including Boston and San Francisco, and some cities have enforced their transportation ordinances by ticketing Uber and Lyft drivers. But that’s not to say the rideshare companies are mom-and-pop operations getting pushed around. Uber is valued between $10 and $17 billion, according to Bloomberg, and it has hired lobbyists across the country, including local firm Fried, Kilpatrick and Guinn (FKG) Consulting. Some taxi operators say the city has created a mess by not enforcing the regulations already in place out of fear of a lawsuit or public relations battle. “Uber might be a good idea, but you have to get approval first,” Najam said. “The city won’t do anything about this.” For taxicab operators, the issue is simple: City Hall has given Uber and Lyft a competitive advantage. “The (insurance) policy limits should be the same,” Collin Walke, an attorney representing a local limousine company, told the city council last week. “You are giving them a competitive advantage for no reason. It should be a level playing field.”

Protecting riders

Taxi services say regulations are in place to protect riders, while Uber and Lyft say they are giving riders the

service they want but can’t find from traditional cab companies. Part of the city’s proposed ordinance would prevent Uber and Lyft drivers from passenger discrimination. While there have been no documented complaints by passengers, Ward 7 Councilman John Pettis Jr. worries that without regulations, an Uber driver might avoid certain Oklahoma City neighborhoods. “What if someone who lives in a low-income area ... they are signed up for Uber, have the app, but no [drivers] want to go there?” Pettis asked. “To my understanding, taxicabs have to go, but Uber and Lyft don’t have to go.” Taxi operators say there is no way to know if an Uber driver ignores a passenger request. “How would we ever know that Uber or Lyft denied rides because of a person’s location?” Walke asked. “They have a specific exemption that their documents and records only be produced due to court order.”

This is a great service that these guys have. And we had it first. — Pam Thompson

The proposed ordinance would prevent rideshare drivers from not picking up a passenger due to race or gender. Shadid pointed out that sexual orientation was not included, and city staff said they would add it to the final ordinance presented next month. At issue is also the level of insurance drivers are required to have and whether Uber or Lyft are responsible when there is an accident. In January, an Uber driver struck and killed six-year-old Sophia Liu in San Francisco when he was reported to be looking at his smartphone. The family has filed a lawsuit against Uber, but Uber says it is not responsible because the driver is not an employee and Uber does not own the car. It’s unlikely the city council can find a solution that both sides agree with, unless it chooses to allow taxicabs to operate without any regulations. Oklahoma City is far from the only city involved in this debate, as it has sparked lawsuits, elections and even riots around the world. On Tuesday, the city council will have a chance to take a final vote on the proposed ordinance, finally offering a decision on a local debate that is nearly a year old.

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OKLAHOMA GAZETTE | SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 | 7 8/22/14 1:35 PM

NEWS ELECTION

Steve Russell debates his way through a successful race for the 5th District.

Close call

S HA N N ON CORN M A N

Jason Dunnington claims victory in the close race for House District 88.

BY BEN FELDER

MARK HA N COC K

Jason Dunnington celebrates his close win over Paula Sophia after Tuesday’s election.

Paula and I showed together that there are a lot of Democrats that want a voice. — Jason Dunnington

SH ANNON CORNMAN

A Democrat was always going to win the House District 88 race. The type of Democrat and the storyline that would emerge with a first-time representative entering the statehouse was the question for last week’s primary runoff. Jason Dunnington, who had the highest vote total in June’s primary, won a runoff with Paula Sophia by 22 votes in the initial count (990 to 968). Sophia stood to become the nation’s first transgender representative and solidify the district’s claim as Oklahoma’s most progressive. Her ability to force a runoff drew national attention, and she appeared to pick up most of the votes from the two other primary candidates who failed to make the runoff. But Dunnington emerged as the winner, and while his election doesn’t pick up a seat for Democrats, he is considered by many to be a young face with a bright future in the party. “The House Democratic Caucus is excited for Jason,” said Rep. Scott Inman, D-Del City, House minority leader, who announced Dunnington as the winner at his watch party at Grandad’s. “When he brings his energy and his excitement with him, it will help move our state forward.” Dunnington said he was happy for the victory but acknowledged that a close race means he will have to work for the trust of Sophia supporters. “Both of us worked really hard,” Dunnington said. “Paula and I showed together that there are a lot of Democrats that want a voice.” Dunnington said his hard work during the campaign paid off and he was ready to work even harder. “I think voters in [House District 88] showed they want a progressive, articulate voice that will work to build the party, that focuses on education, focuses on protecting the arts and that is a strong voice for equality for all,” Dunnington said. “It may take awhile [to gain their support], but I will work as hard to earn their support as I did to earn the support from the people who voted for me.” Sophia said she would seek a recount and asked that provisional ballots be counted. County election officials said there were only four provisional ballots and a petition

Paula Sophia speaks to her supporters after learning of an undecided outcome at the polls at District House coffee shop in the Plaza District. requesting a recount would have to be submitted within three days of the election. Sophia conceded the election the next day. Despite two Democrats running for the open seat, some Sophia supporters attempted to peg Dunnington as a conservative candidate in the weeks before the runoff election. Sophia’s campaign manager accused Dunnington of anti-LGBT remarks, and his former time as a Nazarene

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pastor was highlighted as a sign that he would fall right of center on social issues. Despite those attacks, Dunnington maintained that he was a progressive candidate and remarked after his victory that he wanted to be a representative that gave a voice to all, including members of the LGBT community.

Other results

Tuesday’s primary runoff elections solidified contests for the November general election, while a few races determined the ultimate winner by default. In a primary election process that began in June and did not allow for the votes of registered independents, Steve Russell, a war veteran and business owner, beat former Edmond mayor and corporations commissioner Patrice

Douglas in the Republican primary for the 5th Congressional district. “Regular people of regular means can still be elected,” Russell told his supporters Tuesday night, pegging Douglas as the big-money and establishment candidate, a theme the Russell campaign carried for most of the campaign. Russell now moves on to face Al McAffrey, who beat Tom Guild in the Democratic primary runoff by nine points. While the 5th Congressional District has trended more Democratic in recent years, it is still considered a Republican safehold, as it has been over 40 years since the GOP candidate failed to win the seat. “Our journey isn’t over,” McAffrey said after his victory. “This is only a milestone on our path to Congress.” The 5th District includes most of the Oklahoma City metro and is currently represented by Rep. James Lankford, who won the June Republican primary for the U.S. Senate. Facing Lankford in November will be Democrat Connie Johnson, who beat Jim Rogers in a runoff Tuesday. Another statewide race that took shape is the election for State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Joy Hoffmeister beat incumbent Janet Barresi in the Republican primary in June, and John Cox beat Freda Deskin on Tuesday for the Democratic nominee. Hoffmeister and Cox will square off in November in a race that will ensure a new face in the state’s highest education position. Other area runoff results include Shane Stone over Mary Sosa for the House District 89 Democratic primary, and George Young beat Eleanor Darden Thompson for the Democratic seat in House District 99. For Republicans, Ervin Yen beat Steve Kern in the Senate District 40 runoff, and Stephanie Bice advanced past Mark Thomas in Senate District 22. “I think that people are looking for someone that can hold steadfast to principals but also be willing to compromise and negotiate,” Bice said. “I want to bring a little bit of a new fresh perspective, and I think voters were looking for that.”

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OKLAHOMA GAZETTE | SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 | 9 8/20/14 1:57 PM

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NEWS CULTURE

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Confronting the future

A church hosts a local film debut and discussion about our region’s ugly history with race relations and how it’s relevant today. BY BEN FELDER

More than 90 years after the fires from the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot were distinguished, a metaphorical cloud of smoke seems to linger still, casting a shadow on America’s heartland. The clash between whites and blacks in Tulsa’s Greenwood neighborhood resulted in the destruction of hundreds of buildings, injuries to over 800 people and the deaths of at least 39, records show. While violence of that scale is rare these days, clashes between whites and blacks continue decades later, whether its the Tulsa Good Friday murders in 2012 when two white suspects randomly shot five black individuals, or last month’s confrontation between police and black residents in Ferguson, Missouri. The racial friction that still exists across the country and the coverage of hate crimes in Middle America are the topics of a documentary that will be shown this month in Oklahoma City. Hate Crimes in the Heartland explores racially motivated crimes spanning from the riots to the murders in Tulsa. “I had heard about the Tulsa Race Riot before,” said filmmaker Rachel Lyon. “And then the 2012 Good Friday murders happened and I literally leaned forward when the news broke and said, ‘Oh my god. This is a pair of bookends; this is the story of hatred in America told over a period of 100 years.’” That moment inspired Lyon to produce Hate Crimes in the Heartland,

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above Hate Crimes in the Heartland filmmaker Rachel Lyon. which began showing earlier this year. As Lyon takes her film to the western United States, she plans to hold a local premiere Sept. 13 at the Oklahoma History Center. “I’m always looking for ways to excite people today about history, and often, if there is a relevant story that kind of harkens back to what happened in the past, it’s a good way to link people in,” Lyon said.

Local church

The film is not just a story of history; it’s a tale of Oklahoma history. Leaders at Northeast Church of Christ in OKC felt the documentary would be a good way to not only help its congregation, particularly young people, learn about the past but also reignite a modern-day conversation about the role of race in America. “People of faith can take part in bringing a national dialogue that is designed to bring racial reconciliation,” said Arnelious Crenshaw, senior pastor at Northeast Church of Christ. “I think it’s right that it take place in Oklahoma City because in 1921, right down the turnpike, you had a race riot that was really a race war.” Northeast Church has spent the past year celebrating black history, and partnering with the filmmaker to debut the documentary here seemed like a natural step to take.

Hate Crimes in the Heartland OKC premiere

P ROVI DE D

Reception 6 p.m., screening 6:45 p.m., discussion 7:45 p.m. Sept. 13 Oklahoma History Center 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive hatecrimesheartland.com Free

“Psalm 78 says to tell your children the dark stories also,” said Dwayne Case, the family life minister. Hate Crimes in the Heartland has partnered with schools and organizations like Harvard Law School and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. Northeast Church is the first faith-based organization to partner with the film for a showing, Crenshaw said. “I don’t believe that the government can change the heart,” Crenshaw said. “Laws, regardless of how well-meaning, cannot change the heart. The institution that is best designed for that is the church, and that’s why we are part of this.” The film debut is 6:45 p.m. Sept. 13 at the Oklahoma History Center, and a panel discussion will follow. Northeast Church hopes to spark a conversation on race throughout the region, and it also has plans to make the month of September a time to focus on the family. “What we are doing from the pulpit is a month-long teaching on family,” Case said. “We want to explore how this issue of race affects our families. There are other congregations ... across the city, and their pastors are doing sermons on the family.” Northeast Church is no stranger to finding ways to connect modern and historical issues with its congregation and community. A local forum was held following the shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman, which fueled a national debate on race in 2012. The church also brought survivors of the 1921 riots to OKC and honored them. “We thought it was important that our children got to see that this is real history,” Crenshaw said. “You cannot change what you won’t confront.”

Hate crimes

Lyon believes there are a lot of similarities between 1921 and presentday America. “I think that we have a simmering brew in the background as we did during the 1921 riots,” Lyon said. “The

PROVIDED

Tulsa Race Riot of 1921.

Tulsa Race Riot of 1921. race issue is still a factor today.” The film explores the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot and also examines the 250,000 hate crimes committed in the United States each year. “There has been a sharp increase in violent hate crimes, whether based on religion, sexuality or most often based on race,” Lyon said. “The film and outreach project speaks to media, race, crime and punishment in a way that encourages constructive dialogue.” Since its first showing earlier this year, Hate Crimes in the Heartland has received the Paul Robeson Film Award and has been a catalyst for dozens of forums across the eastern United States that have brought together all types of people to discuss the role race plays in America today. “We had a screening here in Cincinnati that was supported by a combination of African-American churches, Muslim organizations and [Jewish] synagogues, and we found that there was a great conversation that got going with people saying things that weren’t always comfortable,” Lyon said. “What we found was there is a tremendous resource in the people of [faith] to take on the tough issues and look at it as a community.”

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Oklahoma City will solicit bids from streetcar manufacturers as it moves forward on building a $130 million system downtown. The Oklahoma City Council voted last week to open the bidding process to purchase at least five modern streetcars that will primarily operate on an overhead wire system but will have the ability to run wirelessly at times. The downtown streetcar system is one of the signature projects of MAPS 3 and is viewed by many transit advocates as the first step in creating a regional rail-based transit system. The request for proposal (RFP) that was approved by the council gives manufacturers options when it comes to length and width, but there are strict height requirements due to the height of some bridges the cars will have to travel under. The bidding process will end Nov. 13. Engineers believe there are around 10 streetcar manufacturers around the world that could respond to the city’s RFP. Ashley DeSilva

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A modern streetcar proposal is read by John Pettis Jr. during an Aug. 26 city council meeting.

OKC classrooms see extra resources through foundation donations

A donation and challenge over the weekend by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, along with a matching donation from a local foundation, paid for nearly $30,000 in

classroom resources for teachers across the Oklahoma City Public School district. “Teachers do this incredible job with our kids in the classroom,” Melinda Gates said in an interview with Katie Couric last week. “And yet so often they spend … over $400 of their own money on classroom supplies, technology and books.” Melinda announced that her foundation would match any donations over the weekend to DonorsChoose, a website that allows groups and individuals to make direct donations to classroom projects. The McLaughlin Family Foundation answered that challenge Sunday. “We’ve been aware of a gap in needs for resources in the classroom within our schools for awhile,” Chrissy McLaughlin said. “Providing classroom resources is a logical solution to trying to help students achieve their potential … this was a good opportunity with the Gate Foundation match.” The $15,000 donation from the McLaughlin Family Foundation and a $15,000 match from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation helped pay for dozens of local projects, including physical education equipment at Northwest Classen High School, iPads at Cesar Chavez Elementary and classroom organization materials at Kaiser Elementary. “At least twice a month, I am buying things for the classroom,” said Ashley DeSilva, a second-grade teacher at Shidler Elementary. “I try to find as many resources [at the school] that I can, but sometimes you have to buy stuff yourself.” DeSilva was looking for a way to

Former VP candidate promotes book during Oklahoma visit

It was during an Oklahoma hunting trip with his daughter several months after the 2012 election that Paul Ryan was finally able to shake the despair President Barack Obama’s reelection had caused. Ryan, a Wisconsin congressman, was the vice presidential candidate for Mitt Romney in a race that saw Democrats take their fourth presidential election in six tries. “I was in a clear funk,” Ryan said in a phone interview with Oklahoma Gazette. “Just spending that week in the tree stand with her gave me a lot to think about. I basically [decided] to stop sulking and start to figure out what it’s going to take for us to turn this country around.” Ryan recounts that moment, along with his thoughts on the future of the Republican Party, in his new book, The Way Forward, which he promoted on a visit to Edmond last week. The former VP candidate, who some believe will make a run for president in 2016, wrote that conservatives must find a new way to promote their ideas and values to a changing nation, which starts by offering sound policy ideas. “This can’t be the full measure of our party and our movement,” Ryan wrote about the GOP-initiated government shutdown in 2013 and the party’s recent obstructionist stance. “If it is, we’re dead and the country is lost.” Ryan is fine with the opposition to

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most of Obama’s policies, but he wants to see Republicans offer up new ideas and plans that can appeal to a diverse country. In his book, he offers ideas to replace uniformed social welfare programs with individualized plans that are in control of states. He also argues for restructuring the tax code and developing an immigration system that allows undocumented residents to get on a path toward citizenship. Ryan acknowledges that the changing demographics of the country pose a challenge for a Republican party that can often be seen as anti-diversity and anti-poor. “This is not a movement of watering down our principals and moving closer to the Democrats,” Ryan told Oklahoma Gazette. “It’s rearticulating our principals and applying them to the problems people are facing so you have solutions that appeal to everybody.” Ryan wrote about moving the party beyond just “preaching to the choir” and finding ways to reach states that might lean Democratic. “[It’s about] opening up the electoral college so that, yes, we have the Oklahomas of the world, but we also get the Wisconsins, the Iowas, the Nevadas and the Colorados; the states that you will need to win the presidency,” he said. Ryan likes to think of himself as a man of ideas, and his book offers some he believes could move the country forward and possibly make a case for a Ryan 2016 bid.

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help her class learn to write and heard an idea to use Magna Doodles, which can be easier to use and more fun for her young students. DeSilva put her wish on DonorsChoose for $600 to purchase 25 Magna Doodles, and her project was fully funded over the weekend. “I was very surprised today,” DeSilva said about learning her project, along with all the others, had been fully funded. “This will be a big help in the classroom.”

Say what?

“We are never going to be able to eliminate all of the risk on this project,” Mayor Mick Cornett said about the proposed whitewater facility on the Oklahoma River. “When you are building something that doesn’t have a lot of example around the world ... there is still going to be some risk on the table.” Cornett said that during a council meeting last week, when approval was given to move forward on building a whitewater facility despite bids for the project coming in over budget. The city has said it can find ways to reduce costs along the way and will take out other river improvements like a windscreen and grandstands to save money.

OKLAHOMA GAZETTE | SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 | 13

CHiCKEN CKEN

FR FRiED NEWS

We’re No. 6!

earns, even though women make up Women in Oklahoma lack voices in more than half of all “professional-level” political venues and boardrooms, shows jobs. However, they only comprise less a recent study by financial advice than 15 percent of executive officers, 8 website WalletHub. percent of top earners and less than Oklahoma ranks 5 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs. TH 6PLACE sixth worst in the The executive pay W O M E N nation for women’s gap between the sexes in rights and equality. Oklahoma is also dismal, Yes, we can with the state at No. 46. TO M E N still vote. Yay, 19th amendment. Fallin shows However, when C O N G R A T S O K L A H O M A N S willingness to it comes to leadership participate in roles and pay equity, Obamacare our state lags at the 45th Gov. Mary Fallin might not be as slot for overall equality, 32nd lowest heartless as once thought when it comes for workplace environment, No. 28 for to helping Oklahomans who can’t overall women’s health and education afford health insurance. Oklahoma and almost dead last (48th) for “political Watch reported last month that Fallin empowerment.” has applied for a grant as part of the Nationally, about two-thirds of Affordable Care Act, also known as minimum-wage workers are women. Obamacare, in order to create a health That’s $14,500 a year for a full-time insurance delivery model. federal worker at $7.25 an hour, which Earlier, Fallin declined to accept puts a three-person family at “thousands federal funds to expand Medicaid of dollars below the federal poverty line,” expansion, which did earn her political wrote the National Women’s Law Center. points among conservative Okies. Nationally, on average, women also earn “The law has cost millions of people about 77 cents for every dollar a man

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Noble Public School students say Superintendent Ronda Bass, aka “Mama Bear Ass,” humiliated them. Bass allegedly asked a group of girls to stand up and bend over while she did a “dress check” to see if their outfits complied with school dress code, reported KFOR.com. “If you’re not comfortable with bending over, we might have a problem,” the news channel quoted Bass as saying to the teens. One student, senior Stephanie Stewart, said Bass went further and

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their health insurance, is failing to bend the cost curve for medical care and is constantly in danger of being thrown out by courts for being constitutionally suspect,” Fallin said in a statement, forgetting to mention the fact that an obstructionist posture by her and the Republican party is partially to blame for some of the perceived Obamacare inefficiencies.

verbally insulted her. Stewart claimed, “The first sentence was: ‘Have y’all ever seen any “skanks” around this school?’ Around the end she said, ‘I don’t want to see anyone’s ass hanging out of their shorts…’” Discussion over? Not once the media caught the flap and the story went national on social media. Now get to class. Er, find some class.

Mo’ money, mo’ problems

While we go about our daily lives, there is a quiet, multibilliondollar war raging in a closed Oklahoma courtroom. Harold Hamm, who, according to NBCnews.com, “controls more oil than anyone who isn’t a king or dictator,” and his wife, Sue Ann, of 25 years are splitting up. We knew that. And we’ve known it’s going to be pricey. But now we have numbers. According to the report, the distribution

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of Hamm’s $17 billion fortune (That’s politician. But he is a politician 17,000,000,000) is on the line in what nonetheless, and he is no more immune is one of the most potentially expensive to partisan games than anyone else in divorces of all time. Washington. The (literally) billion-dollar question Inhofe’s latest tirade involves is whether the money is the result of — get this! — President Obama. Hamm’s hard work and Apparently, Inhofe doesn’t agree ingenuity, in which case, with the president’s strategy the soon-to-be-ex Mrs. — on anything, really — in Hamm could be combatting the Islamic State rewarded up to half. in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), In short, the which has been terrorizing question at the heart the region as of late. of Hamm v. Hamm “Until President is whether Harold Obama articulates and Hamm achieved oil implements a comprehensive 1 7 B I L L I O N magnate status as a result strategy against ISIS across Iraq of luck or as a result of hard and Syria,” Inhofe opined, “we will work and talent while married. continue to see more savage executions, In past months, he has essentially more killing of religious minorities, more said, “Aw, shucks. I just happened to dig humanitarian disasters like Mount Sinjar in the right place.” If that is the case, and more enslavement and abuse of his wife, with whom he never signed a women and girls. Obama talks a big game, prenuptial agreement and has lived apart but his actions tell a different story.” from for years, is entitled to nothing. If you think Obama talks a big game, just wait ’til you see him on the basketball court! That dude is vulgar. Thanks (again), Obama So what is this comprehensive strategy Somehow, Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Oklahoma, you speak of, Mr. Inhofe? As the top got a reputation as the “sane” Oklahoma Republican on the Senate Armed Services

Committee, you must have something in mind. “He’s going to have to come up with something that we’re going to do because they’re holding another hostage in place and the problem is the president, quite frankly, says all these things and he never does them,” Inhofe said. Oh. So basically the two options are A) saying things and not doing them or B) not saying things and never having the opportunity to do them because we don’t have any idea what it is we would do. Cool. Got it.

Coburn convention

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Muskogee, wants to have another constitutional convention — you know, like the one we held in Philadelphia in 1787 to write our country’s Constitution. At the Aug. 21 Utah Solutions Summit in Salt Lake City, he and Utah Sen. Mike Lee spoke about their displeasure with how the government is

operating. While Coburn believes states should demand another convention so we can “reaffirm what the founders intended,” Lee believes we need to take steps to rein in bureaucrats’ power, reported Utah’s KUTV.com. According to Tulsa’s KRMG.com, Coburn’s goals are “to have a balanced budget amendment, to limit the executive branch’s regulatory authority, and to put term limits on members of Congress.” In order to hold another constitutional convention, two-thirds of the states would have to be on board, and it would take approval from three-fourths of the states to ratify any amendments to our current Constitution. Hey, if the congressmen are going to wear powdered wigs, make enthusiastic speeches à la the HBO miniseries John Adams and write with quills on live television, we’re all for it. We’ll bring the popcorn.

OKLAHOMA GAZETTE | SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 | 15

COMMENTARY

Students’ tests measure wrong things BY JOHN THOMPSON

Nobel laureate James Heckman attended Harding High School. Twenty years ago, as test-driven school “reform” took off, Heckman’s research showed why it was doomed. Sure enough, contemporary reforms failed in the same ways that previous data-driven school experiments failed. Now, Heckman’s new book points the way to a humane, sciencebased reform era. Heckman argues the seemingly arcane point that GED high school equivalency tests actually increased dropout rates and life outcomes of those who passed the test did not improve as expected. GEDs often backfired because they gave students and society a fig leaf for believing that cheaper, easier paths to educational improvement are possible. I don’t have the expertise to judge that point, but Heckman clearly shows why test-driven reform didn’t improve education. It produced a lot of make-believe data that made it seem like

“outcomes” were improving. Heckman dug deeper and showed that GED shortcuts were borne of the same flaw as bubble-in testing. Student achievement tests measure the wrong things. Success in life is not primarily determined by cognitive skills but by so-called “soft skills,” abilities to get along in society. Heckman helped establish the nowobvious truth that systems should have focused on diagnostic data, not to punish but to teach reading comprehension, and high-quality early education. Now, he shows that the key to improving high schools is investing in the socio-emotional. Heckman’s findings are counterintuitive to anyone without experience with teenagers. Reformers, in their ignorance of real-life schools, demanded an unflinching focus on instruction and curriculum; they ordered schools to teach to “the head” not “the heart.” Reformers

insisted that we teach the subject, not the students. They then used test-and-punish to ensure compliance. But cognitive science shows that hormonal changes during adolescence give us a new chance to build the people skills that are essential for a healthy and happy life. Heckman explains, “Research in neuroscience, psychology, and economics shows that character skills are more malleable in adolescence than are cognitive skills.” Schools must teach to teenagers’ moral, emotional and creative consciousness. We must also take advantage of the second chance that adolescence offers and teach self-control, delayed gratification, persistence and “grit.” Heckman challenges progressives and reformers to face facts. High schools “create an adolescent society with values distinct from those of the larger society

Opinions expressed on the commentary page, in letters to the editor and elsewhere in this newspaper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of ownership or management.

and removed from the workplace.” They often are artificial, consequence-free zones where too many students cut class and disrupt instruction, knowing that they will be “passed on.” Instead, at-risk students need adult mentors who will “scaffold” a “discipline protocol” and help them learn how to flourish in the “real world.” Neither does Heckman give comfort to reformers’ faith that Common Core and teaching to “a test worth teaching to” will save us. He says we must “recognize that problems with the achievement test can’t be fixed by making it more cognitively challenging.” Instead of testdriven school improvement efforts, schools need apprentice-like programs to support families, assist in parenting and teach kids how to become students. Thompson blogs regularly on national education issues at The Huffington Post, This Week in Education, School Matters and Living in Dialogue.

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. No pipeline

The Keystone XL pipeline is to be built through central Oklahoma to transport Canadian tar sand oil to the Gulf of Mexico and ship it to China. The Canadian people have blocked a pipeline from the tar sands fields in Alberta to Canada’s west coast. Tar sands consist of a mixture of crude bitumen, a dangerous carcinogen, silica sand, clay materials and water. Tar sands oil is exempt from the oil spill liability trust fund. Local and national taxpayers, not the corporations producing and transporting tar sands oil, will bear the initial cost of any cleanup, which is extremely difficult and expensive, as Mayflower, Arkansas, and Kalamazoo, Michigan, have experienced. The pipeline is to cross the Ogallala

Aquifer, the largest freshwater supply in the American heartland, putting at stake water all along the pipeline route. Do you want your community to take this risk for your children and grandchildren so China can have the oil? I don’t! — Judy Wilder Tulsa Everyone has rights

In response to Tim O’Neill’s letter (Commentary, Letters, “Open letter to OKC government,” Aug. 26, Oklahoma Gazette): First of all, you are not even a resident of Oklahoma City or the great state of Oklahoma. You choose to live in that morally bankrupt state of California. Maybe you should put your efforts into reforming your own state before you stick your nose into our business. I belong to no religion. What religion do you belong to that spews such contempt and hatred for a group that has the same rights as you to worship any way they see fit? And yes, the KKK, the NeoNazis as well as our gay community have the right to peaceable assemble in our state. They are even given protection by our police forces so they can exercise that right without being attacked. But I must thank you for motivating me enough to

16 | SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 | OKLAHOMA GAZETTE

show up at this black mass to see what it’s all about. I know what you are all about. — Les Williams Yukon Riddle me this

I see where my old friend and admirer Michael Hopkins just can’t get over the fact that a portion of my letter published in the Gazette on Sept. 14, 2011, was in error (Commentary, Letters, “Ignorance isn’t bliss,” Aug. 20, Gazette). The intention was to say water vapor comprised 95 percent of the so-called “green house gases” rather than atmosphere. I challenge Michael and all of the other brilliant, left-wing geniuses

to explain how carbon dioxide, a gas that comprises only 0.03 percent of the earth’s atmosphere, could possibly influence so-called “man-made global warming?” If they can’t, then do they agree the unjust war on fossil fuels and proposed “carbon tax” is a political sham that is and will be detrimental to our economy and standard of living? With regard to Obama and our troops in the Middle East, as he has stated, he has a phone and a pen. Agreements, laws and even our own Constitution have not stopped him from doing what he deems he is entitled to do. — Mickey McVay Oklahoma City

OKLAHOMA GAZETTE | SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 | 17

OKG picks are events

recommended by Oklahoma Gazette editorial staff members. For full calendar listings, go to okgazette.com.

BOOKS

Artsy Fartsy

Allan Hendrickson Book Signing, author Allan Hendrickson will lead a discussion and sign his book Think It Feel It Have It!, 7-9 p.m., Sept. 3. Full Circle Bookstore, 1900 Northwest Expressway, 842-2900, fullcirclebooks.com. WED Poetry Reading, Kerri Shadid to read from her newest poetry collection An Eclection: A Handmade Book of Poems, 6:30-7:30 p.m., Sept. 4. Full Circle Bookstore, 1900 Northwest Expressway, 842-2900, fullcirclebooks. com. THU Corey Taylor Book Signing, author of Think About It, 3-4:30 p.m., Sept. 6. Full Circle Bookstore, 1900 Northwest Expressway-Oklahoma City, 842-2900, fullcirclebooks.com. SAT

Sandy Shapard Book Signing, author of Grandmotherhood Revisited, 2-3:30 p.m., Sept. 7. Full Circle Bookstore, 1900 Northwest Expressway, 8422900, fullcirclebooks.com. SUN

read

Art | Film | music | theAter in this issue

Let’s Talk About It, Oklahoma, presentation, reading and discussion about The Old Buzzard Had It Coming by Donis Casey, 7-9 p.m., Sept. 9. Oklahoma City University, 2501 N. Blackwelder Ave., 208-5000, okcu.edu. TUE

FILM Russian Film History, learn about the history of Russian film, noon, Sept. 3. University of Central Oklahoma, 100 N. University Drive, Edmond, 974-2000, uco.edu. WED Growing Cities, (U.S., 2013, dir. Dan Susman) documentary that examines the role of urban farming in America, 7-10 p.m., Sept. 4. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 445-7080, myriadgardens.org. THU

hall d o o w andy T 3-SEPT 6 SEP

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Knuckleheads Pizza Party, meet-and-greet with comic book creator Brian Winkeler, 3-5 p.m., Sept. 6. Full Circle Bookstore, 1900 Northwest Expressway, 842-2900, fullcirclebooks.com. SAT

Live Music on the Canal Bigger really is better — at least in this case. Oklahoma bands and songwriters are set to flood Bricktown during the fifth annual Live Music on the Canal Music Festival, which features about 250 musicians on five different stages in a picturesque setting. Shows begin at 5 p.m. Friday and noon Saturday in and around Bricktown. Call 2364143 or visit livemusiconthecanal.com.

Friday–Saturday

Men in Black, (U.S., 1997, dir. Barry Sonnenfeld) a detective joins a secret agency that polices extraterrestrial affairs on Earth, 8:30 p.m., Sept. 5. Chesapeake Boathouse District, 725 S. Lincoln Blvd., 722-6113. FRI Norte, the End of History, (Philippines, 2013, dir. Lav Diaz) a law-student dropout commits a double-murder putting an innocent man behind bars which condemns his wife to years of manual labor, 6:30 p.m., Sept. 6. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 2363100, okcmoa.com. SAT Best of New York International Children’s Film Festival: Kid Flix Mix, North America’s largest showcase of film catering to children, 2:30 p.m., Sept. 7. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 236-3100, okcmoa.com. SUN

ark skiTp17c-SlEPT 20

HAPPENINGS

d tim 4k-SidEPT 27

SEPT

Organic Gardening Simplified, join landscape architect Howard Garrett as he explains natural organic gardening, 7-9:30 p.m., Sept. 3. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 445-7080, myriadgardens. org. WED B IGSTOCK.COM

SEP

Confluence Conference, hear from experts in the creative industry at this blogging and creativity conference, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Sept. 6. Lyric Theatre, 1727 NW 16th St., 524-9312, lyrictheatreokc.com. SAT Exit 107 LIVE Family Music Festival, free outdoor event with live bands, food, activities, games and appearances from special guests, 1-6 p.m., Sept. 6. Newcastle Casino, 2457 Highway 62 Service Road, Newcastle, 387-6013, mynewcastlecasino.com. SAT

Taste of Moore

FOOD

Mmm. Smell that? That’s Taste of Moore cooking up a delicious smorgasbord of dining options — and for a good cause. Hosted by the Rotary Club of Moore Education Services Committee, Taste of Moore features over 30 vendors from local restaurants with proceeds benefitting Childhood Hunger Moore Public Schools. Dinner is served 5 p.m. Friday at Moore High School, 300 N. Eastern Ave., in Moore. Call 794-5977.

Paint N’ Cheers, creative social art classes, 6:30 p.m., Sept. 4-5; 2, 6:30 p.m., Sept. 6. Paint N Cheers, 1614 N. Gatewood Ave., 524-4155, paintncheers.com. THU–SAT

Friday

Coupon Class, learn the art behind couponing, 6:308:30 p.m., Sept. 9. Uptown Grocery Co., 1230 W. Covell Rd., Edmond, 509-2700, uptowngroceryco.com. TUE

18 | SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 | OKLAHOMA GAZETTE

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PERMANENT MAKEUP

Midtown Market at Saints, fresh, Oklahomagrown produce, meats, dairy, baked goods, honey and prepared foods such as salsa, jam, jelly and relish, 1 p.m., Sept. 5. Midtown Market, NW 9th St. and Walker Ave., saintsok.com FRI

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Pinot’s Palette, paint, drink, have fun, 7-9 p.m., Sept. 4-5; 7-10 p.m., Sept. 6; 2-4 p.m., Sept. 7. Pinot’s Palette, 115 E. California Ave., 602-3850, pinotspalette.com. THU–SUN

Schelly’s Aesthetics

Evening Cooking Class, learn the art of making sushi, 6:30-9:30 p.m., Sept. 9. Francis Tuttle Technology Center-Rockwell Campus, 12777 N. Rockwell Ave., 717-7799, francistuttle.edu. TUE

Shoppes at Northpark, 12028 May Ave. 405-751-8930 Open Mon-Sat • www.SchellysAesthetics.com

Schelly Hill, R.N.

Gift Certificates Available

YOUTH Fall Children’s Carnival, food, games and prizes for kids of all ages to enjoy, 6-8 p.m., Sept. 3. Country Estates Baptist Church, 1000 S. Midwest Blvd., Midwest City. WED Baby & Me, for ages 2-5, explore art and increase creativity while enhancing fine motor skills, 10-11 a.m., Sept. 4 & 9. Abrakadoodle, 113 W. Main St., Moore, 818-5417, abrakadoodle.com. THU Free Crafts for Kids, every Saturday holds a new craft for the kids. 11 a.m.-3 p.m., Sept. 6. Lakeshore Learning Store, 6300 N. May Ave., 8588778, lakeshorelearning.com. SAT

SHANNON CORNMAN

Drop-in Art: Chihuly Style Painting, join guest artists as they interact with families to create extraordinary works of art inspired by the museum’s collection, exhibitions and special occasions, 1-4 p.m., Sept. 6. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 236-3100, okcmoa.com. SAT

Back-2School Bash And by “bash” we mean actually bashing things. Some of the area’s most talented percussionists will compete in the Back-2-School Bash drum competition to raise funds for the Oklahoma City Arts Council and The Boys and Girls Clubs of Oklahoma County. The contest — which will be judged by Ferris O’Brien, Tyson Meade and Jacob Buchanan — begins 3 p.m. Saturday at, fittingly, The Drum Room, 4309 N. Western Ave. Admission is free. Call 604-0990 or visit thedrumroomokc.com.

Saturday

OKLAHOMA GAZETTE | SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 | 19

Ali-

y r e h c Bau

continued

MONDAYS BEER OLYMPICS

50¢ domestics | 10-Cl

TIPSY TUESDAY

Roll the dice for your price of domestic beer | 4p-7p Train Wreck Trivia | 9p

A Coffee in Berlin

WILD CARD WEDNESDAY

Thursday, 7:30 p.m. Friday, 5:30 & 8 p.m.

Always a party with SIN night | 10p-1a

THIRSTY THURSDAY $1 Draws | 4-8p

FREEDOM FRIDAY

Bartender’s choice Special of the day | 3p-8p

SINFUL SATURDAY

P ROVI DED

2 for 1 domestics | 12p-4p

SUNDAY FUNDAY

Frozen Fresh Fruit Smoothies Friday & Saturday, 8:00 p.m. & Bloody Mary Bar | 12p-2a

Norte, the End of History

1200 N. Penn 405.605.3795

Saturday, 6:30 p.m.

M - F, 3p - 2a Sat & Sun, 12p - 2a

For movie descriptions and ticket sales visit okcmoa.com

Free Family Day Art isn’t always free, but it is at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art’s Free Family Day, a biannual event featuring activities and performances for the whole house to enjoy. Live music, a film screening, story time, hands-on demos — you name it. It all goes down noon-5 p.m. Sunday at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive. Admission is, of course, free. Call 236-3100 or visit okcmoa.com.

Sunday

PERFORMING ARTS The Phantom of the Opera, the classic production comes to Oklahoma City, 7:30 p.m., Sept. 3-4; 8 p.m., Sept. 5; 2, 8 p.m., Sept. 6; 2, 7:30 p.m., Sept. 7. Civic Center Music Hall, 201 N. Walker Ave., 297-2264, okcciviccenter.com. WED–SUN Andy Woodhull, stand-up comedy, 8 p.m., Sept. 3-4; 8, 10:30 p.m., Sept. 5-6. Loony Bin Comedy Club, 8503 N. Rockwell Ave., 239-4242, loonybincomedy.com. WED–SAT The Dixie Swim Club, five college friends continue the tradition 33 years later of setting aside a long weekend in August to reconnect, 8 p.m., Sept. 4-6; 2:30 p.m., Sept. 7. Jewel Box Theatre, 3700 N. Walker Ave., 5211786, jewelboxtheatre.org. THU–SUN The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, musical comedy of six young people competing in the

championship of a lifetime, 8 p.m., Sept. 4-6; 2 p.m., Sept. 7. The Pollard Theatre, 120 W. Harrison Ave., Guthrie, 282-2800, thepollard.org. THU–SUN Witness for the Prosecution, based on the novel by Agatha Christie, an innocent man is tried for murder and his wife denies his alibi, 7:30 p.m., Sept. 5-6, 2:30 p.m., Sept. 7. Stage Door Theater, 601 Oak Ave., Yukon, 265-1590, stagedooryukon.com. FRI–SUN

ACTIVE Free Meditation Class, join the Buddha Mind Free meditation class to help you relieve your discontented mind and find the peace within, 7-9 p.m., Sept. 4.; 10 a.m.-noon, Sept. 5. Buddha Mind Monastery, 5916 S. Anderson, 869-0501, ctbuddhamind.org. THU–FRI Live Horse Racing, 28 days of AQHA, Appaloosa & Paint horse races, noon, Sept. 6-7. Cherokee Nation Casino & Resort, 777 W. Cherokee St., Catoosa, 800760-6700. SAT–SUN

Aziz Ansari Live Aziz Ansari needs no introduction, but we’ll introduce him anyway. With his flamboyant antics and sharp, pop culture-influenced wit, the immensely beloved stand-up comic and star of TV’s Parks and Recreation is dominating the comedy game. See Ansari perform 7 p.m. Tuesday at Rose State College Performing Arts Theatre, 6000 Trosper Road, in Midwest City. Tickets are $39. Call 800-364-7111 or visit myticketoffice.com.

Tuesday

20 | SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 | OKLAHOMA GAZETTE

OSU Cowboys vs. Missouri State Bears, college football, 2:30 p.m., Sept. 6. Boone Pickens Stadium, 700 W. Hall of Fame Ave., Stillwater, okstate.com. SAT Yoga with Alex Persico, all-level Vinyasa class, $5 for members, $10 for non-members, 5:45-6:45 p.m., Sept. 9. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 445-7080, myriadgardens.org. TUE Full Moon Bike Ride, meet-and-ride from the Gardens Bandshell on a full-moon route through downtown Oklahoma City, 8:30-9:30 p.m., Sept. 9. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 445-7080, myriadgardens.org. MON

VISUAL ARTS A Pair of Shortts, an exploration in photography with work by father and-son duo Carl Shortt Jr. and Carl Shortt III. In Your Eye Studio & Gallery, 3005-A Paseo, 525-2161, inyoureyegallery.com.

Contemporary Tinytypes, photography exhibit featuring work from Mark Zimmerman. North Gallery, state Capitol, 2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.. 521-2931, arts. ok.gov. First Friday Gallery Walk, over 60 artists in more than 17 galleries, 6-10 p.m., Sept. 5. Paseo Arts District, 3022 Paseo St., 525-2688, thepaseo.com. FRI Gallery 66 Opening, opening exhibit will showcase 21 different artists’ work. Gallery 66, 6728 Northwest 39th Expressway, Bethany, 314,2430, gallery66ok. com. Level Up, exhibit showcasing graphic and interior design students at the University of Central Oklahoma. University of Central Oklahoma, 100 N. University Drive, Edmond, 974-2000, uco.edu. Mike Larsen, a Chickasaw painter and sculptor whose work reflects historic events. Exhibit C, 1 East Sheridan Ave., Ste. 100, 767-8900, chickasawcountry.com.

Aquaticus: An Ocean on the Prairie, exhibit includes information on the building of the Midwest’s only major aquarium in the 1980s. Oklahoma City Zoo, 2000 Remington Place, 424-3344, okczoo.com.

Oil and Wood: Oklahoma Moderns George Bogart and James Henkle, oil paintings with a sculptural counterpoint. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, 555 Elm Ave., Norman, 325-3272, ou.edu/fjjma.

Art Moves, this week’s guest is pet portraitist Emily Williams, noon-1 p.m., Sept. 3. Leadership Square, 211 N. Robinson Ave., 235-0877. WED

Places...Spaces Between, exhibit featuring the work of Almira Hill Grammer. The Depot, 200 S. Jones Ave., Norman, pasnorman.org.

Backwards Forwards, featuring artist and co-owner of FRINGE Christie Owen, whose artwork reflects the past and how we must move forward including paintings, jewelry and sculpture. The Project Box, 3003 Paseo, fringeokc.com.

Pleasant Pastures, new works from featured artist Candice Anderson. Contemporary Art Gallery, 2928 Paseo St., 601-7474, contemporaryartgalleryokc.com. Septemberfest, live performances, hands-on demonstrations and exhibits featuring historians representing World War II, the Land Run, the Civil War and more, Sept. 6. Oklahoma History Center, 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive, 521-2491, okhistory.org. SAT Something Blue, mixed-media paintings and collector’s items representing something old, something blue and something new. Jann Jeffrey Gallery, 3018 Paseo St., jannjeffrey.com.

PROVIDED

Brandice Guerra’s Wunderkammer/Totemic Taxonomy, a wondrous display of art and natural history curiosities and a collaboration between Pete Frosile and Cathleen Faubert, where totems are explored in the current context of the 21st century. Science Museum Oklahoma, 2100 NE 52nd St., 6026664, sciencemuseumok.org.

“She Wears Many Masks” by Lisa Jean Allswede

Devoir Art Show Closing & Pop-Up Vintage Boutique Art, vintage clothes and mimosas. What’s not to love? Devoir, an exhibit on the exploration of gender roles curated by local art group Fringe, is winding down but going out with a bang. The closing reception features a pop-up boutique with vintage styles, a poetry reading by Kerri Shadid, mimosas and munchies. The event — which benefits Planned Parenthood of Central Oklahoma — is 1-5 p.m. Saturday at Istvan Gallery, 1218 N. Western Ave. Admission is free. Call 831-2874 or visit fringeokc.com. For OKG

Saturday

music picks see page 51

PREPARATION • PROTECTION PEACE OF MIND SE HABL A ESPAÑOL 3445 W. MEMORIAL ROAD, SUITE H, OKLAHOMA CITY

WWW.MAZAHERILAW.COM • 405.414.2222 OKLAHOMA GAZETTE | SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 | 21

COMING THIS FALL TO MIDTOWN OKC

HOUSEMADE SAUSAGE GERMAN BEERS BAVARIAN PRETZELS BEER GARDEN HAND CUT FRIES LIVE MUSIC

Jay Leland Krottinger Producer, Square 1 Theatrics BM ‘06, MM ‘12 Greg White, Ph.D. Director of Musical Theatre

Mentors Matter Before he won a Tony Award for producing the

421 NW 10TH STREET

2014 Broadway revival of “Pippin,” Jay Krottinger took the stage at the University of Central Oklahoma. Dr. Greg White filled the role of mentor for Jay, serving as a teacher, advisor and sounding board as he prepared to enter the challenging field of show business. “Greg has a special gift for identifying the strengths and talents of each student. He helps us capitalize on what sets us apart. His classes are about learning to be true, honest and drop the ‘wall’ or ‘façade’ we use in everyday life. Show business is a tough, cutthroat career full of ‘no’s.’ Greg continues to offer professional industry advice based on his own prestigious experience. I am always thinking, ‘How would Greg approach this?’ when I am in performance mode. He instilled in each and every one of us the ability to access our true self as performers.” Tell us how a Central faculty or staff member inspired you at univrel@uco.edu.

Live Central

UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA Edmond, OK • (405) 974-2000 • www.uco.edu TM

22 | SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 | OKLAHOMA GAZETTE

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LIFE FOOD & DRINK Yin Niang Niang, or Moon Goddess. Just before the moon landing by Apollo 11 in 1969, someone at mission control told the crew to be on the lookout for Chang’e and her jade rabbit. They included a description of the duo, to which Buzz Aldrin responded, “Okay, We’ll keep a close lookout for the bunny girl.” The majority of mooncakes in Oklahoma City are those of south and west Asian influence, ones made with cookie dough and scented with caramel. They are beautiful confections, golden brown with elaborate markings. Although there are many varieties of fillings, Theresa, owner of Lang’s Bakery, 2524 N. Military Ave., said that you could compare the most popular ones with fruitcake. Lang’s has a wide selection of moon

cakes available through September. There are plenty of varieties available at Super Cao Nguyen, 2668 N. Military Ave., and manager Hai Luong is happy to help adventurous shoppers find what they seek. They are rich pastries with dense, velvety dough wrapped around a mildly sweet and slightly crunchy filling. If you’re up for a challenge, you can even make them yourself. We’ve provided a slight adaptation of several recipes, borrowed heavily from Carolyn Phillip’s article in Zester Daily. The adaptations are primarily for easier-to-find ingredients. Mooncake molds are available almost exclusively online, as making the cakes is a time-consuming process and most busy families simply purchase them. Good luck!

China moon Mooncakes play an important role in the Moon Festival, celebrated this month.

BY DEVON GREEN

University of Central Oklahoma Asian American Student Association Moon Festival 6-8 P.M. SEPT. 18 UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA PLUNKETT PARK 100 N. UNIVERSITY DRIVE, EDMOND 974-3588

The time of harvest leading up to the autumnal equinox is an important one in many cultures. In Western cultures, the harvest moon is the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox, the delineation marking the transition between the longer days of summer and the shorter days of winter.

In honor of the Chinese Moon Festival, Super Cao Nguyen Market is stocking specialized mooncake products. In Eastern cultures, especially Chinese and Vietnamese, it is a time of celebrating the fullness of the harvest. This year, the Moon Festival takes place MondayTuesday. Two of the most important components of celebration are taro root, similar to potatoes and considered to be the first food discovered by moonlight, and Chinese lanterns that glow with the benevolent light of the moon. In Chinese culture, taro root is also symbolic of unity and fortune within the family. A traditional food in abundance this time of year is the mooncake, a symbol of luck and good fortune that honors the moon and lady Chang’e with her jade rabbit. She was worshipped in China as Tai

Moon cakes Equipment needed: 2 medium working bowls 2-cup or larger heat-resistant measuring cup Cookie sheet(s) lined with two layers of parchment paper each Heat-resistant spatulas Pastry brush Mooncake molds

For the pastry: 2 2/3 cups regular white Asian flour (which has a lower gluten content) 3/4 cup plus 1 tbsp. caramel (recipe above) 1/2 cup peanut or vegetable oil Extra flour as needed

For the fruit and nut filling (for best results make this one day in advance): 1 heaping cup (about 25 large) dried red Chinese dates 1 cup filtered water 1/2 cup hulled pumpkin seeds 1/4 cup dried cranberries or golden raisins 3/4 cup chopped toasted walnuts 1/2 cup toasted sesame seeds 1/2 cup sliced almonds 1/4 cup Chinese rose-scented white liquor (Meiguilu) or vodka 2 tbsp. caramel (recipe below) 1 1/2 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened 1/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed 1/4 tsp. sea salt 1 tbsp. flour 1 tbsp. rice flour

For the glaze: 1 egg yolk 2 tsp. Chinese rose-scented white liquor (Meiguilu), or vodka 1 tbsp. caramel (recipe above)

For the caramel: 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar 1 cup filtered water (divide in half) 3 tbsp. white rice vinegar or cider vinegar

2. To make the caramel, place the powdered sugar and 1/2 cup water in a steel pan (so you can easily see

Directions: 1. To make the filling, cook the dates in the water until they are soft and all the the water has been absorbed. Remove them from the heat. When cool enough to handle, pit them if they are not already pitted. Carefully chop them into a fine paste, using a knife so that you can remove any pits or shards that you come across. Stir the paste and remaining ingredients in a medium bowl until evenly mixed. Cover and refrigerate until the next day.

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

OKLAHOMA GAZETTE | SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 | 23

PH OTOS BY MARK HANCOC K

MARK HANCOCK

Mooncake

M A RK HA N COC K

LIFE FOOD & DRINK

the sugar change color). Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat, cover for a few minutes and then uncover. Without stirring, add vinegar and bring your pan back to a boil. Quickly boil the sugar syrup for about 10 minutes — it will start to turn amber. When it is an even golden brown, lower the heat to medium-high and then add the rest of the water, careful to avoid splashes. As the boiling starts to simmer down, stir the caramel with a heat-tolerant spatula until smooth. Pour the caramel into a heatresistant measuring cup or bowl and let it cool to room temperature. You should have about 1 and 1/4 cups.

Gods and Heroes Masterpieces from the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris

3. For the dough, pour flour in a medium bowl and make a well in the center. Pour in the oil and caramel. Mix these together gently with a spoon, making a very soft dough. Roll the dough out on a floured surface into an even 20-inch cylinder. Cut the cylinder into 10 pieces, about 2 inches wide. Roll each piece into a soft ball, and keep the dough completely covered when you’re not handling it. 4. Heat the oven to 325 F. Place a rack in the upper third of the oven to keep the bottoms of your pastries from burning; you will cook one sheet of pastries at a time. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Mix together the glaze; have two pastry brushes, a thin spatula, your mooncake mold and a pastry scraper ready. Dust the inside of your mooncake mold heavily with flour and knock out the excess.

24 | SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 | OKLAHOMA GAZETTE

A premium mooncake assortment box from Super Cao Nguyen Market. 5. Working on one pastry at a time, pat out one piece of dough into a 5- to 6-inch circle, making the center slightly mounded. Place a portion of the filling in the center and wrap the dough around the filling. Lightly roll the now-large ball between your palms so the filling is evenly covered. If you have a mooncake mold, roll one side of the ball in some flour and then place the ball flour side down inside the mooncake mold. Press lightly but firmly on the ball so it fills the mold. Then, turn the mold upside-down and whack it on your counter to release the pastry. If you do not, do your best to shape them as moonlike as possible. You can press patterns into the dough or use a butter knife to “carve” them. Place the pastry on a cookie sheet and dust off excess flour. Use a pastry brush to coat the pastry with the glaze. 6. Bake the mooncakes until they are a golden brown, around 25 minutes for the small cakes and 35-40 minutes for the large ones. Cool the pastries completely. 7. Invite your friends over for a Moon Festival party, and serve mooncakes with hot tea while enjoying each other’s company while gazing at the full harvest moon. Source: Zester Daily, staff

FOOD BRIEFS

Hungry people take heed The Bleu Garten will hold a soft opening Sept. 18-19, and its grand opening is Sept. 20.

BY DEVON GREEN

left Hunter Wheat stands in front of Bar Pods Draft Bars, a permanent food vendor at The Bleu Garten. below Kerry Myers at Midtown Marktet. The Bleu Garten is almost here

Head to Urban Agrarian Midtown Market on Fridays

Friday evenings are always a treat in Midtown with Urban Agrarian and its mobile market, 1235 SW Second St. Friday nights bring it to a happening location with live local music. Hang out and see what’s fresh and local starting at 1 p.m. each Friday. There will be live music by acts including Andy Brewer and Taddy Porter 4-6 p.m. What better excuse to step away from the office for a minute than to take in what’s in season? Due to the growing pains going on in Midtown, the easiest way to get there is to take Hudson south and look for the pretty green truck. It will either be parked on Walker or Hudson avenues at NW Ninth Street. The truck offers the complete selection that is available in the store,

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including frozen and refrigerated items like dairy and meat as well as fresh local produce. Recent construction has posed its challenges, but the turnout has been good nonetheless. Pro tip: Get there early, as food never lasts until the sundown closing time. The market tends to run out of items during the after-work rush. (A perfect excuse to ditch out a little early on Fridays. We won’t tell.)

PH OTOS BY SHANNON CORNM A N

Hunter Wheat is putting the finishing touches on his food truck park, The Bleu Garten. The welcome addition to Midtown has been abuzz in OKC since we first talked with Wheat in April. The once-vacant lot at 301 NW 10th St. can only be described as “transformed,” as little remains to be done to make OKC’s year-round food truck haven ready. The site will feature space for up to 12 trucks with permanent bathrooms, a bar, a beer pull, a fire pit and covered seating. The official word at press time is that there will be a soft opening Sept. 18-19 and a grand opening Sept. 20. Stay tuned to www.bleugarten. com and on Twitter at @BleuGarten for more updates. The Bleu Garten also has teamed up with local food truck app Truck It OKC to offer special sections devoted to what is sure to be a favorite outdoor dining space in Midtown.

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Oklahoma Chapter Holds Community Walk The walk will be held at Lake Hefner’s Stars and Stripes Park on September 13, 2014 from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. To register, please go to our Facebook page or meet us at the flagpole at 8:00 a.m.

What’s better than coffee? Chocolate coffee.

If you’ve tasted the chocolate made by Bedré Fine Chocolate, an Oklahoma company owned and operated by the Chickasaw Nation in Davis, then we don’t have to tell you much about it. The premium confections are available both online and at local retailers around the state, including the newly opened Exhibit C in Bricktown, 1 E. Sheridan Ave., Suite 100. The company has combined the charms of its chocolate with a 100 percent Arabica coffee in two flavors: dark and milk chocolate. “There is a unique kinship between the aroma and flavor of chocolate and coffee, and Bedré has achieved what I believe is the perfect blend of the two,” said Bedré General Manager Philip McWherter in a media statement. Visit bedrechocolates.com.

The Out of the Darkness Community Walks are the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s (AFSP) signature fundraising campaign, bringing together family, friends, colleagues, and supporters at 3-5 mile walks in hundreds of communities across the country. When you walk in the Out of the Darkness Community Walks, you join the effort with thousands of people to raise funds and awareness for AFSP’s vision to create a world without suicide. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) is the nation’s leading organization bringing together people across communities and backgrounds to understand and prevent suicide, and to help heal the pain it causes. Individuals, families, and communities who have been personally touched by suicide are the moving force behind everything we do. Please join us to raise awareness and healing for this important cause. CONTACT DAVID THREATT 405-921-8559 | AFSPOKC@YAHOO.COM FACEBOOK.COM/AFSPOKLAHOMA OKLAHOMA GAZETTE | SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 | 25

LIFE FOOD & DRINK

Thirst day Thirst for a Cause whets wine fans’ thirst for community service. BY GREG HORTON

Thirst for a Cause 6:30-9 P.M. WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 10 JIM THORPE ASSOCIATION AND OKLAHOMA SPORTS HALL OF FAME 4040 N. LINCOLN BLVD. OKRESTAURANTS.COM $75 ADVANCE, $89 AT THE DOOR

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8/25/14

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26 | SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 | OKLAHOMA GAZETTE

Approximately three dozen wineries will be featured at the sixth annual Thirst for a Cause Wednesday, Sept. 10. Two hundred wines will be available, and you will be able to meet representatives from wineries in California, Oregon, Washington, South America, France, Spain, Italy and Australia. Many of OKC’s best local restaurants also will serve food. The event began in 2009 as a way to help a server at a local restaurant pay for a kidney transplant. In recent years, it has grown and the means of delivering funds have changed, but the beneficiaries of the proceeds have always been employees of the hospitality industry with urgent medical expenses. David Egan is the director of operations for Cattlemen’s Steakhouse and a board member of the Oklahoma Hospitality Foundation (OHF), the group that administers the funds that are made available to recipients. Egan said applicants should fill out a request form on the Oklahoma Restaurant Association’s website, okrestaurants.com, to be considered. “We can’t cut a check to an individual, but we can and do write checks to hospitals or other health organizations to cover the cost of medical expenses,” Egan said. Alex Kroblin, owner and founder of Thirst Wine Merchants, said the idea emerged among hospitality industry professionals to help a friend in need. “We didn’t know what else to do, so we decided we could use food and wine to raise money to help people with emergencies,” he said. Not only have they accomplished that goal, but the annual event has become the largest wine tasting in

Oklahoma City and one of the three largest in the state. Unlike many wine tastings, though, Thirst for a Cause brings in winery owners and winemakers — including some of the best-known names in the business — to enable people to meet and talk with the professionals who produce and sell the wines we love. This year, Thirst for a Cause will once again have winery representatives, including Gramercy Cellars, Mount Eden Vineyards, Mouton Noir Wines and Qupé, making their first appearances in Oklahoma. The wines come from Washington and California and represent a wide range of styles. Oklahomans might know André Mack as a Texas native and sommelier who graduated from Oklahoma City University. A selection of Mack’s wines will be featured at Thirst for a Cause. Now, Mack’s Mouton Noir (Black Sheep) wines have been featured in Food & Wine Magazine and the The New York Times. Greg and Pam Harrington weren’t the only people to recognize how outstanding the wines coming from Walla Walla, Washington, are, but they certainly help people learn about them, especially this year at Thirst for a Cause. Greg became a master sommelier at age 26, and Pam’s work as a successful investment banker made it possible for the team to purchase vineyards in Walla Walla and create Gramercy Cellars, which Food & Wine Magazine named the Best New Winery in America in 2010. Finally, if you saw the comedy film Bottle Shock, you know that the Judgment of Paris in 1976 was when California wines finally achieved worldclass status. In fact, the winery was invited back in 1986 and again for the final tasting in 2006. Mayacamas was founded in 1889 and has been producing wines off and on since then. Its newest wines will be featured this year as well.

OKLAHOMA GAZETTE | SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 | 27

LIFE FOOD & DRINK

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Here’s the dirty secret about foodcooked-at-your-table teppanyaki places, from Benihana down the line: They’re all pretty much the same. The chefs do the same tricks and tell the same jokes. Butter? Fly. Steaming onion volcano. Maybe flip a shrimp here or there. Big burst of flames. Then you eat. If you want steak and chicken cooked on a griddle in front of you with some mixed veggies and fried rice, just about any of them will do. And then there’s Musashi’s, 4315 N. Western Ave. Look, few people engender quite so much food goodwill in OKC as Chef Kurt Fleischfresser, so when he’s attached to a restaurant of any kind, you know it’s something special. So, yes, there are lots of teppanyaki restaurants around, but

few that I would trust to do anything else. And at Musashi’s, I trust they can do everything else. Before we get to the food, let me say that it’s also a feast for the eyes. This place is clean, well-lit and beautiful. I wish I could say that was par for the course in teppanyaki restaurants, but this is one of the first ways Musashi’s stands out. Another is with the menu. The robata appetizer menu is full of grilled treats you won’t find anywhere else. I tried the duck and scallion robata ($9) and was delighted. The duck was tender with a nice little char around the edges, and the scallion was cooked and crunchy. There was a slightly sweet, slightly spicy sauce brushed over the skewer that really elevated the flavor. Of course you like sushi. You’re a human being living in 2014. Everybody likes sushi. And, again, this is where Musashi’s goes above and beyond most teppanyaki joints. There, sushi is so good, you might not even get anything off the grill. I tried the Smoked 3 Way roll ($8) and was quite taken with its unique flavor. In the center: tempura bacon, jalapeño and red pepper. Outside, smoked salmon and eel laid next to each other like a delicious fishy candy

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Filet and savory shrimp with vegetables

Smoked 3 Way roll

That said, we came for a show, and they do the old routine well at Musashi’s. Even for a table of four, our chef didn’t skimp on the acrobatics. cane. This had texture, flavor and heat — truly a formidable roll. The Philadelphia roll ($5), too, was simple but perfect. The salmon was fresh, the asparagus was crisp and the cream cheese was ... creamy. (Deal hunters take note: Musashi’s has a Wednesday special from 2 p.m. to close. Buy a sushi roll, get a free robata of equal or lesser value. That’s a nice little meal for cheap.) That said, we came for a show, and they do the old routine well at

Musashi’s. Even for a table of four, our chef didn’t skimp on the acrobatics. If you get a teppanyaki meal, it comes with a choice of soup or salad. The clear soup was my favorite, with a flavorful broth that is light on the palate. The salad was notable for what it wasn’t. Teppanyaki places serve iceberg lettuce salads covered in a cloying, noxious orange ginger dressing. It is terrible. Musashi’s serves a greener salad with a ginger dressing that is both edible and pleasant. This, truly, is high praise. We got the filet ($26) and the savory shrimp ($21.50), and I’m happy to say our chef knew what he was doing. A filet is a tricky steak, but seasoned right and cooked carefully, it is meltingly tender and achingly delicious. With everything else going on in front of him, it would have been easy to overcook, but each bite was a perfect medium rare. A word about sauces: They put them in front of you. Try one if you like, but your filet will not need the help. Shrimp is another easy-to-love and hard-to-master protein on the grill. But, again, amid the chopped vegetables and fried rice ($1 extra) with a pleasing hint of curry, our chef cooked each shrimp to a perfect sear without stumbling into the no man’s land where chewy shrimp go to die. Service was excellent throughout, as a man I believe to be a literal ninja kept refilling my water glass without me ever knowing he was there. For dinner and a show, it’s hard to beat Musashi’s. But — and this is important — the same is true without the show.

P HOTOS BY S HA N N ON CORN M A N

2 ROLLS- $10 | 3 ROLLS-$13

9321 N. PENNSYLVANIA AVE. CASADY SQUARE, OKC 242-2224 OPEN 7 DAYS 11AM - 9 :30PM FRI- SAT UNTIL - 10:30PM

OKLAHOMA GAZETTE | SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 | 29

Tour of China With an important festival coming up this week, why not use it as an excuse to visit the Orient? The Moon Festival, a celebration of harvest and togetherness, is Monday. It is widely observed in China and Vietnam, with traditions grounded in family, togetherness and food. A wide variety of Chinese restaurants across OKC offer a taste of China’s culinary tradition. — by Devon Green, photos by Mark Hancock, Shannon Cornman

Chow’s Chinese Restaurant 3033 N. May Ave. 949-1663

When foodies get together and talk about Chinese eats, this restaurant consistently comes up. The eatery caters to a late-night crowd and always offers a wide selection of traditional Chinese in all its spicy, umami glory. Need a good starting point? The spare ribs are tender and flavorful with a black bean sauce that offers a hint of what’s to come on your culinary adventure.

Fung’s Kitchen 3321 N. Classen Blvd. fungskitchenoklahoma.com 524-4133

With a broad menu of both traditional and Westernized delicacies, Fung’s is a great place to tiptoe into the exotic. Start with a brimming bowl of roast duck and wonton noodle soup for lunch. Take a tour of Cantonese cooking with a variety of savory dim sum dumplings — small bites that tour the restaurant, letting you sample a wealth of flavors and styles. Dim sum is available on weekends.

Hy Palace Asian Restaurant 1133 NW 23rd St. hypalace.com 528-2988

You can experience a lot of what Asia has to offer under one roof. Hy Palace includes two eateries, The Asian Restaurant with a (primarily Chinese) buffet and Pho Kim Long, which offers Vietnamese food in a traditional, sit-down cafe. It’s not just traditional Vietnamese pho soup that’s being served either. Pho Kim Long’s menu features many traditional Vietnamese items like hot pots and rice dishes. You can also order à la carte from the menu at The Asian Restaurant.

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Wahaha Express

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Lido Restaurant

Szechuan Bistro

801 S. Broadway, Edmond wahahaexpress.com 258-8888

3221 N. Classen Blvd. 525-7373

2518 N. Military Ave. lidorestaurantokc.com 521-1902

1010 W. Memorial Road 752-8889

Admit it; you’re intrigued by the name. So were we. Hidden in what was likely a fast-food restaurant in a previous incarnation is Edmond’s hidden gem of authentic Chinese cuisine. It offers two menus, and you should branch out and order off the traditional one. One taste of the you po mian (spicy noodle) and dandan noodles with chili sauce and scallions and you might find what your palette has been missing.

You might peruse the entire menu at this gem on Classen, with its sweeping variety of dishes from Western China to Southeast Asia. But you might just stop on the first page with the pho, as it’s some of the best in the city. The warm welcome when you walk in the door keeps you coming back. Don’t wait too long between visits or be prepared to explain yourself to the staff. And by all means, try the fried spring rolls.

This OKC restaurant is an Oklahoma institution known for its consistent, delicious food and great service. This little gem tucked away in the Asian District offers a wide menu of traditional Chinese and Vietnamese and western Chinese dishes. When in doubt, go for the stir-fried shrimp in a vermicelli bowl.

The owners of Szechuan Bistro have been doing a lot of things very, very right since 2012, and diners in Oklahoma City have noticed. The consistently good, busy Chinese bistro has a bit of celebrity about town as the foodies’ choice, and with good reason. It offers a delicious culinary journey, starting with the red snapper in a curry bean paste.

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DINE IN, CARRY OUT, AND DELIVERY 700 W. Sheridan • 405-525-8503 @JoeysPizzeria • Facebook.com/JoeysPizzeriaOKC OKLAHOMA GAZETTE | SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 | 31

Pets are people, too What would we do without our animal friends? They are family members that we choose and sources of joy in our lives. Why not do something special for them? We’ve compiled a list of some places to treat your four-legged friends as well as a few places to look into if you are thinking of expanding your family. — Devon Green

bal Treasures o l G

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Made-from-scratch local fare, full-service bar and server-attended lanes! On the Canal in Lower Bricktown. 405.702.8880

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32 | SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 | OKLAHOMA GAZETTE

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This specialty treat shop is a cut above the rest. The bakery makes all dog treats from natural ingredients and takes custom orders for special dietary needs. There are a wide variety of ready-made treats available to choose from. Why not drop in and pick up something for your favorite kid on the way home? The bakery also offers peanut butter, carrot and pumpkin cakes made to order and available for pick-up the next day. Why not make Fido’s birthday extra special this year? Cakes are available in three sizes and with a custom message.

Dog Gone Poop Waste Removal Service DOGGONEPOOP.COM 399-7297

Ever wish you could enjoy the perks of dog ownership without the hassle? As much as you love that your duties usually include minimal cleanup and feeding, what if you didn’t have to deal with the dirty work? For a fee, Dog Gone Poop will come to your house and clean up so you can get on with the fun part of pet ownership without the messy business. Weekly or monthly service is available. Alligator Alley 4636 NW 10TH ST. ALLIGATORALLEY.COM 949-2553

Maybe you’re not in the market for a friend of the furry variety. Perhaps you seek something a bit more … exotic. How about a new pet of the cold-blooded

variety? What started as a hobby industry for owners Bryan and Tammie Swinney has now reached full-scale operation level. Alligator Alley is the largest supplier of reptiles to the state of Oklahoma. And there’s much more going on under the roof, busiincluding a thriving palm and plant busi ness and an iguana rescue. Oklahoma City Animal Shelter 2811 SE 29TH ST. OKC.GOV/ANIMALWELFARE 297-3100

Oklahoma City Animal Shelter helps the citizens of OKC whether they are twolegged or four. It performs important services such as helping lost pets reconnect providwith their owners, provid ing temporary shelter to lost or unwanted pets and helping forunwanted or homeless pets find for ever homes. If the time has come to open your home to a new anifamily member, the ani mal shelter can help you

e ette zett Gaz tte te a Ga azet e te oma hom Gazet klah ma Gaz tte ma G azette la O o k a h 4 1 ze tte m ho 4O kla aG © 20 4 Okla oma Ga ette 201 Oklaho a Gaze te 14 O lahom Gazette © 0 1 z 2 m h 0 a et k o 14 a © z 2 e la G h O t 0 a k t m a © 2 e la 4 G e O t o k 1 z a © h 14 zet hom 14 O © 20 4 Okla oma Ga ette zet hom © 20 4 Okla oma Ga ette 1 z © 20 4 Okla oma Ga h 1 z h © 20 4 Okla oma Ga ette © 20 4 Okla oma Ga ette 201 Oklah 1 z © h 0 a 1 z 2 la G h k 14 a © e © 20 4 Okla oma Ga ette 14 O zett © 20 hom 1 z h © 20 4 Okla oma Ga ette © 20 4 Okla oma Ga ette 1 z h 1 z h 0 a © 20 4 Okla oma Ga ette 2 la G k a © e 1 z h 14 O zett e hom © 20 4 Okla oma Ga ette zett © 20 4 Okla oma Ga ette 1 z h a Ga te 01 Fittstown, © 20 4 Okla oma Ga P.O. klah ma Gaz OK tte Box © 285 e hom Gazet e O 1 z la h 4 0 a e k o 1 a z tt e h © 2 4 Okla oma G ette 14 O zett © 20 4 Okla oma Ga ette hom 1 h az e © 20 4 Okla oma Ga ette © 20 4 Okla oma Gwww.dunnsfishfarm.com 201 Oklah Gaz tte t 1 z t a © h 0 a e 1 z 2 la m h a k 14 a G ette © ze ho (800) © 20 4 Okla oma G e 433-2950 14 O z © 20 4 Okla oma Ga ette hom 1 zett h 1 © 20 4 Okla oma Ga ette h az © 20 4 Okla oma Ga ette 1 z © 20 4 Okla 9th h 1 willlabe z ma G azette h Tuesday, 0 a September o 1 © 20 4 Okla oma Ga ette Delivery 2 G h 0 k a © O te 1 z © 2 4 Okla oma G ette h 014 klahom a Gazet e © 20 4 Okla oma Ga ette z 01 © 2Bethany klahBethany 1 z 7-8am: a Ga © 2Rockwell, h 14 O Country zett 3401 N. hom Store, 14 O lahom Gazette © 20 4 Okla oma Ga ette © 20 4 Okla oma Ga ette 1 z © 2in0Tuttle, e h 0 a Ok OK oma 1 Grain z 1 SW 5th la G h & Supply, 4 9-10am: Tuttle 0 a k 1 a © 2 for zett connect. And if you are a looking a 2 e la G h O t 0 k t m © 14 ze tte ma © 2 4 Okla oma Ga ette ho 4O 1 © 20 4 Okla oma Ga ette z 201 Oklaho a Gaze te h 0 a © 2 la G k 1 z a worthy cause to devote some time to, it h © e hom Gazet September 014 beklaSaturday, 14 O 13th © 20 4 Okla oma Ga eDelivery zett e hom a © 2will 1 z tt © 20 4 Okla oma Ga ette h 14 O lahom Gazette © 20 4 Okla oma Ga ette welcomes volunteers. a 115etStePorter,© Norman © 20 Feed 201 Oklah Gaz tte Ok & Seed, 1 z m a h 7-8am: Ellison 4 0 a o 1 z 2 la m G h 4 0 a e k o 1 a © e © 2 4 Okla oma G ette klah ma Gaz tte 14 O zett © 20 Edmond hom 1DC Feeds, z N Macarthur, h 17625 14 O © 20 4 Okla oma Ga10:30-11:30am: ze e ho © 20 4 Okla oma Ga ette 1 zett © 20 4 Okla oma Ga ette h h 01 az e 1 © 20 4 Okla oma Ga ette 2 la G 0 k a © 2 la O k h ma Gaz tte 1 z• Channel Catfish tt m ©Bluegill h 4 0 a e O o • Bass • Hybrid 1 z 2 la G h 4 0 a k o 1 a © ze e h © 2 4 Okla oma G ette 14 O zett © 20 4 Okla oma Ga ette hom z © 20 4 Okla oma Ga •etRedear 201 Okla•hCoppernose te az e a Ga ette Bluegill © Bream 201 Oklah G 1 z m a © h 4 0 a t o 1 z 2 kla ma G 14 © e lah Ga tte hom Gazet © 20 4 O 14 O zett Minnows maCrappie a © 20 Carp • kBlack • Grass ho• Fathead Okla te © 20 4 Okla oma Ga ette 201 Oklaho a Gaze te 014 klahom a Gazet e © 2 1 z t m © h 4 e 1 tt m Ga tte ho 4O © 20 4 Okla All Gaz tte available! klalake asupplies © 20 and 201 Oklaho a Gaze te e of pond O oma types 1 z m © h 4 0 a e o 1 z 2 la m h k 14 aG © zet ho te © 20 4 Okla oma Ga ette 14 O © 20 4 Okla oma Ga ette hom Gazet 1 z h 0 a 1 a © 20 4 Okla om z 2 e la more h or kfor a G info, call one © 1 zett an order © 20 4 Okla oma Ga ette h To place 14 O lahom Gazette 1 © 20 4 Okla oma Ga ette z h © 20 Mon-Sat Ok te 1 z © 20 4 Okla oma Ga ette h ourGaconsultants ataa800-433-2950 014 klahom azet e 1 a © 20 4 Okla ofom 2 e G h t 0 az t © 2 e O t k 1 z © h 4 O la oma G om Gazet 1 h 4 0 1 © 20 4 Okla omaorGaemail 2 e sales@dunnsfishfarm.com la h k a © e 1 zett © 20 4 Okla h 14 O zett hom 1 © 20 4 Okla oma Ga ette © 20 4 Okla oma Ga ette 1 z © 20 h az © 20 4 Okla oma Ga 201 Oklah G a © 1 h 14 hom © 20 4 Okla © 20 4 Okla 1 1 © 20 © 20

Paws Around Town NORTHPARK MALL 12100 N. MAY AVE. SUITE H PAWSAROUNDTOWN.COM 748-3647

This is the boutique for posh pets or those who wish to live a cut above. VIP clients are not limited to the dog and cat varieties, either. Its roster of regular shoppers includes a pot-bellied pig, several ferrets and even a pet skunk. Owner Susan Suggs carries Susan Lanci Designs, luxurious bath and spa products and jewelry for your pampered pooch. Stop in for a taste of what all the high-class pets are wearing, sleeping in and dining from this season. A-1 Pet Emporium 2911 W. BRITTON ROAD A1PETEMPORIUM.COM 749-1738

A-1 is an alternative to bigbox retailers in more ways than one. It is full of options that you won’t find at the bigname competitors, and while the prices might be a bit higher, you also have to remember that you get what you pay for. A-1’s knowledgeable staff is more than willing to help you find what works for your pet, from the best cat litter to natural, holistic foods for your four-legged family members. A second location just opened in Edmond at 432 S. Santa Fe Ave. The Bella Foundation THEBELLAFOUNDATION.ORG 866-318-7387

The Bella Foundation, dedicated to helping homeless pets find forever homes, is a worthy addition to our community. The foundation also plays a role in finding and connecting foster parents and homeless pets and in helping existing pet parents with medical bills. If you are not looking for a new animal to share your home, consider donating. For more information on events, fostering and all the foundation does, please visit their website.

OKLAHOMA GAZETTE | SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 | 33

LIFE CULTURE

Mysterious underground Legend has it that a series of underground tunnels linked the Oklahoma City Chinese immigrant community during the 1900s.

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left Former OKC Mayor George Shirk inspects a room in the Chinese underground system in Oklahoma City. right Writing on the wall of a Chinese underground room. Some of the rooms might have been used as opium dens or Buddhist temples. network of tunnels, connecting all the state buildings. A rabbit warren of tunnels called the Shanghai Tunnels was discovered beneath Tacoma, Washington. Allegedly, city-dwellers were kidnapped, taken down to the tunnels and subsequently taken to the waterfront and shipped off to Shanghai to be sold into slavery. The derogatory term “being shanghaied” refers to being forced to join a ship’s crew by drugging and coercion. Shanghai Tunnels also lay beneath the city of Portland, Oregon, under the sections of Old Town, Skidmore Fountain and Chinatown. These tunnels were said to connect saloons, gambling establishments, brothels and opium dens. San Francisco is reported to have one of the largest network of tunnels, in part reality and in part bolstered by urban

legend. Often, the “tunnels” were just interlinked cellars between houses. Guthrie, Oklahoma, also boasts Chinese tunnels. Local legend states that an underground tunnel ran diagonally from the state’s first Capitol located on W. Harrison Avenue to the Blue Belle Saloon (a popular bordello at the time). The actor Tom Mix was a bartender at the Blue Belle before his Western movie stardom. Rumor has it that Chinese immigrants ran opium dens and even entire textile mills underground in Guthrie. Later, during Prohibition, liquor smugglers used the convenient underground tunnels to transport whiskey barrels into the town’s hidden speakeasies. In Oklahoma City, the mysterious Chinese underground was located

SHANNON CORNMAN

Since the 1900s, there have been rumors of an underground tunnel system below Oklahoma City, conjuring up superstition, mystery and intrigue. Beginning with the California Gold Rush in 1848, Chinese immigration steadily increased to the American West and, subsequently, Oklahoma City. Escaping the collapsed Manchu dynasty (also known as the Qing dynasty), the last ruling dynasty of China, many Chinese immigrants came to America seeking fortune and a better life. In the 1850s and 1860s, they worked on the Transcontinental Railroad, creating a huge workforce as they streamed in through San Francisco and on to the West. After the railroad boom, they gravitated toward agriculture and manufacturing, while immigration continued. It is estimated that over two million Chinese immigrants arrived in America by 1880. At that time, US citizens became wary of the immigrants taking their jobs. This suspicion led to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, signed by President Chester A. Arthur, which essentially prohibited further Chinese immigration. Further, if Chinese immigrants did not produce satisfactory paperwork — the majority of the Chinese population couldn’t — they could be deported immediately. Congress finally repealed this law in 1943. Societal pressures were major factors in anti-Chinese sentiment and drove many Chinese communities underground. Underground tunnels are not unique to Oklahoma City. In the city of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada, tunnels in which Chinese immigrants worked and lived during the late 1800s through the 1900s were discovered. Some of these tunnel structures were in place as basements and corridors and often served as places for undocumented immigrants to hide. Today, the Moose Jaw tunnels are a tourist attraction. Chinese tunnels under Boise, Idaho’s Capitol Mall Complex might have been used to move materials to other buildings, smuggle opium, allow people to engage in gambling and enable travel after the imposed curfew. Local Boise lore hints that the original Chinese tunnels connect to the modern-day

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BY ANGELA BOTZER

Legend has it that there was a tunnel leading from a saloon to the former State Capitol Building in Guthrie.

34 | SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 | OKLAHOMA GAZETTE

downtown, along S. Robinson and W. California avenues and along Main Street and Sheridan Avenue. Chinese immigrants lived in the basements and interconnected tunnels, with outside access by alley doorways. During the day, they worked in laundries, restaurants and stores, but at night, they were said to gamble, conduct religious practices and engage in other activities such as smoking opium. Shortly after the repeal of the Exclusion Act of 1943, the Chinese underground became abandoned, as its inhabitants were able to take a greater role in society and live in more freedom above ground. In April 1969, right before construction began on the Cox Convention Center, Director of the Oklahoma Historical Society and former Mayor George Shirk inspected a condemned building leading to the Chinese tunnels on S. Robinson Avenue (the present location of the Cox Center). Oklahoman photographer Jim Argo was on hand to take photos during the inspection. “It was very dark. There was a stove and some Mandarin writing on paper attached to the wall,” said Argo recently, recalling the scene. Indeed, what Shirk and his group discovered was eye-opening: a two-level system of vacant tunnels and rooms and sleeping areas long since abandoned. One sign translated to “Come gamble,” in Mandarin, most likely referencing Fan-Tan, a 2,000-year-old popular Chinese gambling game. As the 1969 discovery was made public in The Oklahoman, the story triggered memories and anecdotes from local residents. They recalled seeing Chinese immigrants living in basement apartments, growing mushrooms and beansprouts and making tofu and included memories of seeing a small Buddhist temple. Shortly thereafter, the Oklahoma City Council voted against saving the site and wanted to move forward with urban renewal and the building of the Cox Convention Center, hence little record exists today of these tunnels, save a few legends and photographs.

Comic crusader

S HA N N ON CORN M A N

LIFE YOUTH

A local comic book shop offers lessons in superheroes and more. BY TREVOR HULTNER

Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy grossed nearly $430 million worldwide, shooting James Gunn’s postmodern space comedy to the front of this year’s highestearning films. All the same, moviegoers could be excused if they had no idea who the Guardians of the Galaxy actually were before seeing the movie. Unless, that is, they went to New World Comics’ two Superhero School lessons covering the team and had a chance to meet Groot, Rocket Raccoon, Peter Quill, Gamora and Drax the Destroyer in person — once in 2013 and then again during the week leading up to the film’s release. “The kids freaking loved them before they knew there was a movie or anything else,” storeowner Brian “Buck” Berlin said. “We had kids running around, screaming, ‘I am Groot.’ I made the costumes comic book-accurate; I made sure to get everything so that the kids could go pick up a comic and understand it.” Cultivating a love of comics — and reading in general — is part of the reason Superhero School organizers Laurie Blankenship and Stephanie Cerny, as well as their team of volunteer cosplayers, assume various alter egos at 10:30 a.m. every other Saturday at New World Comics, 6219 N. Meridian Ave. The next event is Sept. 6. Call 721-7634 for more information. “Well, it was originally to increase sales at the store, basically, and get new readers, get the kids involved,” Blankenship said. “It’s turned into something more than that.” Superhero School also has appeared

David Schmitz, as Spiderman, hangs out as Aiden Medlam looks over comics with Sam Perry as Nightwing at New World Comics. at charity events, elementary schools and public libraries to help promote causes. The Superhero School has an official partner in the Bella Foundation, which provides service dogs that children read to in order to strengthen their reading and interpersonal skills, cosplayer Kit Compton said. Ultimately, the charity work, special appearances by the Superhero School at libraries and community outreach are logical extensions of Berlin’s desire to carve a positive environment out of the space he owns. “I took over the store at 22 (in 2006),” Berlin said. “I look back and I see other 22-year-olds and I think, ‘Oh Jesus. How did I do that?’” But he did well — and still does. “If you can be entertaining or have something going on that looks cool, people want to come in and see it,” he said. “I noticed that Free Comic Book Day is when we get the most people in here, and that’s the one time that people are going to come by no matter what and see what the shop’s about.” It was during Free Comic Book Day 2012 that Superhero School was convened at New World for the first time. It’s all part of a job — and business — that he loves. “The benefit is I come to work every day and I see friends. It’s awesome.”

Locally Owned

OKLAHOMA GAZETTE | SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 | 35

UNIVERSITY THEATRE

Join us for an exciting theatre season!

SEASON TICKETS offer the BEST SEATS, at the BEST PRICE, for ENTERTAINING theatre. Adult - $175 Discount* -$135 Student - $75 Discount - senior adult 60+, military, OU Faculty & staff

THEATRE.OU.EDU (405) 325-4101 Fine Arts Box Office Catlett Music Center 500 W. Boyd St. Norman

The University of Oklahoma is an equal opportunity institution. www.ou.edu/eoo

LIFE COMMUNITY

Advocates of diversity The Oklahoma Center for Community and Justice will honor local humanitarians. BY JOSH HUTTON

Oklahoma City Humanitarian Awards 11:30 a.m. Tuesday Bass Music Center Oklahoma City University 2501 N. Blackwelder Ave. edukes@occjok.org

Five people will be honored at the Oklahoma Center for Community and Justice’s (OCCJ) second annual Oklahoma City Humanitarian Awards on Tuesday at Oklahoma City University (OCU). Jan Peery, Dr. Imam Imad Enchassi, Joan and Michael Korenblit and Carla Hinton will be recognized for their commitment to open dialogue and equal representation of the state’s diverse population. OCCJ was started in 1934 as a Tulsa chapter of the National Conference of Christians and Jews. Since that time, the nonprofit has expanded its message to respecting people of all ethic and religious backgrounds. “Just because someone looks different or speaks different doesn’t matter. They want to be treated the same,” Emily Dukes, OCCJ fund development director, said. The organization’s Humanitarian Awards are specific to the metro area. “We’ve chosen individuals who’ve really led the way, have a strong network, are passionate about social justice,” Dukes said. Jan Peery, CEO of Young Women’s Christian Association Oklahoma City (YWCA), has spent 18 years working to improve the quality of life for women. She’s especially troubled by violence against women and its permissibility across the state. “We need to pay attention to this issue. We need to address the culture that allows violence against women,” Peery said. “We want to make this so much more visible. It’s okay to talk about it.” Dukes said Peery’s impact was immeasurable. “The relationships and stories with her clients are more valuable than any numbers on a page,” Dukes said. Fellow honoree Dr. Imam Imad Enchassi was chosen based on his

36 | SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 | OKLAHOMA GAZETTE

Joan and Michael Korenblit

dedication to interfaith dialog. Dr. Enchassi presently serves as chairman of Islamic Studies and Chaplin at OCU and as an adjunct professor of Islamic studies at Phillips Theological Seminary and St. Paul School of Theology. Husband-and-wife team Michael and Joan Korenblit co-founded the Respect Diversity Foundation (RDF) in 2000. RDF has developed an extensive speaker bureau. Presenters include educators and advocates. They travel and speak to schools and community organizations, teaching inclusion and tolerance. The fifth recipient is Carla Hinton, the religion editor at The Oklahoman. Hinton spends her weekends at various churches. Each year, she tries to change her overall focus to include religious groups or movements she might have missed previously. “The more people see you, the more people trust you,” Hinton said. “I don’t have to believe what they believe to respect them.” Hinton has spent 28 years at The Oklahoman, 10 as the religion editor. She said more openness would benefit the state. “People should be more open to learning about other faiths,” she said. OCCJ has spent more than 50 years strengthening that connection. The nonprofit, still based in Tulsa, has expanded its programming to the Oklahoma City area. Its programs include diversity and inclusion training, leadership coaching and interfaith discussions. The programs, however, are not limited to adults.

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THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA

LIFE VISUAL ARTS

Super symposed A series of symposiums on the OU campus dissect the history of art in the American West.

New Perspectives in Native American Art and Art of the American West 9 a.m. Friday Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art 555 Elm Ave. Norman art.ou.edu 325-2691 Free

Years ago in Austin, Texas, Jackson Rushing went looking for a friend of his in a well-known hangout for artists. While scanning the place for his pal, he saw an intriguing flyer for an art history symposium in New York City tacked to a bulletin board. Rushing, a graduate student in art history at the University of Texas at the time, answered the call for papers. He found his friend and then, soon after, found himself speaking in front of an elite crowd of scholars, museum professionals and art historians at The Whitney Museum of American Art. His paper on the influence of American Indian art on Jackson Pollock later became material for a chapter in his first book as a professional art historian. “It’s pure serendipity,” Rushing said. “Had I not gone looking for this friend, I never would have known about this.” Eight graduate students from institutes and universities around the U.S. and Canada will take a similar rite of passage as Rushing and others present papers on new research and development in Native American art history and the art of the American West. The presentations are a part of the first international symposium from the University of Oklahoma’s art

history doctoral program. Rushing, OU art history professor and Mary Lou Milner Carver Chair in Native American Art, and other faculty members juried the submissions on the criteria that students were doing innovative research either “rethinking” studied art and artists, “reimagining” solutions to art historical problems or delving into uncharted discussion. “We wanted to see proposals that had a strong sense of methodology, that were making original claims, that seemed to have evidence to support that,” Rushing said. “We were looking for diversity in terms of subject matter, gender diversity, and we’ve been really pleased with the way it’s come together.” With titles like “Columbia River Style Mountain Sheep Horn Bowls and Ladles,” “Crafting Modern Indian Art” and “OMG!! Did she just say NDN penis?” the symposium has a diverse lineup of lectures. In simpler terms, four talks will focus on exploration and exploitation of land and the other four will center on culture and identity. “It’s a nice salt and pepper,” Rushing said. Despite the lectures covering specific Native artists or issues and incorporating art-world jargon like “geographic essentialism,” “sovereign erotics” and “primitivism,” Rushing said the symposium should not deter everyday museum-goers or non-art students from attending. “One of the things one has to learn to do, especially as a junior or emerging scholar, is to hit multiple audiences —

PROVI DED

BY MOLLY EVANS

“Mandan Buffalo Dancer” by Karl Bodmer

to be able to speak to your peers and demonstrate that you’re doing something new and interesting but to reach out to a more general audience.” Reaching out to unfamiliar or general audiences is also the reason no OU graduate students are presenting papers in this symposium. Like Rushing, who traveled to New York City from Austin to give his lecture, the eight students presenting are from outside institutions, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the University of Michigan and Carleton University in Ottawa, among others. “We wanted to expose our students,

who are generating new research and new content, to the work of their peers at other institutions,” Rushing said. “We think it’s, careerwise, better for them to go give conference papers somewhere else.” OU students and the general public are encouraged to initiate discussion and network with the panelists following lectures. The free, daylong symposium kicks off at 9 a.m. Friday at Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art. A reception for the event will be held on Thursday with a keynote address given by Emily Neff, museum director and chief curator.

OKLAHOMA GAZETTE | SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 | 37

P R OVI DE D

LIFE VISUAL ARTS

Shortt terms

The Grand Canyon by Carl Shortt III

A father-son duo captures the brilliance of American landscapes in a new series of photographs. BY DAVID DEAN

A Pair of Shortts: An Exploration in Photography 6-10 p.m. Friday Through Sept. 27 In Your Eye Gallery 3005-A Paseo St. inyoureyegallery.com 525-2161 Free

The Paseo Arts District’s In Your Eye Studio & Gallery has a new exhibit starting Friday in A Pair of Shortts: An Exploration in Photography. The exhibit features father-and-son photographers Carl Shortt Jr. and Carl Shortt III. Both photographers explore varied aspects of the great outdoors, capturing bewitching landscapes and cityscapes in dazzling light and color. Opening night is 6-10 p.m. Friday, and the exhibit will continue through Sept. 27. “Carl Shortt Jr. is a member of our gallery and a well-known, highly regarded Oklahoma City photographer,” In Your Eye Studio & Gallery owner Janice Mathews-Gordon said. “He decided pairing his work with that of his son, Carl Shortt III, also an accomplished photographer, would make a dynamite show, and members of the gallery all agreed.” The Shortts were born and raised in Oklahoma. Shorrt III retired from banking after 35 years and learned to love photography from his father, Shortt Jr. “When I was very young, Dad loved to shoot black-and-white print film,” Shortt III said. “He developed the film and made prints in our bathroom. I can remember standing in the dim red light of the makeshift dark room and watching Dad’s prints come to life in the developing tank.” A Pair of Shortts is two explorations.

38 | SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 | OKLAHOMA GAZETTE

Both photographers are experts in outdoor photography, most notably in expansive views of landforms, iconic landmarks and places. Their photos are dramatic in scope, detail and light. “When people view these awesome landscapes and cityscapes, I think they will gain a sense of something much bigger than themselves,” MathewsGordon said. Shortt Jr. focuses on scenes close to home, with dramatically detailed Oklahoma City skylines bathed in bright sunlight or rich moonlight. He also presents fresh views on the city’s landmarks. His goal is to capture the very essence of OKC, a city built on the prairie with a temperamental nature characterized at times by stark brightness, moody or menacing clouds and vivid sunsets after another angry storm. “It’s all about the right combination of the beautiful subject and gorgeous light,” Shortt Jr. said. His father’s focus has been the landscapes of the Southwest. An expert at his craft, Shortt III portrays the sheer magnitude of many of our country’s most unique geography. “We live in an amazing world,” Shortt III said, “and every day, we are surrounded by amazing works of nature.” It’s through this passion and labor of photography and deep love of nature, our surroundings and our city that makes getting lost in either of the Shortts’ photographs easy, capturing shots like this and turning them into more than a photograph — a piece of art with a unique perspective. “I want [people] to feel joy and happiness from viewing beautiful photographs,” Shortt Jr. said. “I also hope that the photos to evoke a fond memory or story for the viewers.”

LIFE BOOKS

Zoo-ology Local author Amy Dee Stephens concludes her project on the history of the OKC Zoo with her second book, in stores now. BY DEVON GREEN

Septemberfest

Amy Dee Stephens knew that when she finished writing her first book on the Oklahoma City Zoological Park’s first hundred years, a follow-up was inevitable. Stephens’ book, Oklahoma City Zoo, 1960-2013, hit stores Aug. 19 and provides the rest of an epic story of a zoo and the community around it. “The history of the zoo is so integral to the history of our city. For instance, how do you sustain a zoo during the Great Depression?” she said. Unwilling to let the animals of the zoo go hungry, the citizens of Oklahoma City banded together and fed the zoo animals leftovers from their own tables. This is just one of the incredible stories that Stephens uncovered in the course of writing her first book. It took her about 500 hours of research and writing over the course of about two years. And even though she works for the zoo, none of that was on work time; it was all done in her free time. “By that time, I just had 100 years of history rattling around in my head and I needed for it to have someplace to go,” she said. The result was not only the book but also the ZooZeum, a small addition to the zoo’s landscape that features rotating exhibits about the history of the OKC Zoo. Stephens is the zoo’s naturalist instructor supervisor and oversees all educational components in the zoo. And since one of the major purposes of the zoo is to inform and educate the public about the natural world, she has a hand in just about everything. She has worked there for 16 years and loves every minute of it. It has also given her a leg-up on the second part of her zoo history, as some of it has unfolded right before her eyes. While the first book closed a chapter on the zoo’s history at a good stopping point,

MARK HANCOCK

10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday Oklahoma History Center 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive okhistory.org 521-2491 Free

Amy Dee Stephens at a book signing at Full Circle Bookstore. “1960 was a jumping-off point for a different direction for the zoo,” she said. Dr. Warren Thomas, director of the zoo, began taking the zoo in a direction geared more toward conservation and education. He became zoo director in 1959. “There are over 200 people mentioned in this book for whatever reason — they may be in a photograph, and that’s the fun thing about this book, because people who are living are in it,” she said. Stephens enjoyed being able to mention things that are fun and current and that people were there to experience along with her. What stood out to Stephens while writing the book is that the zoo belongs to the city and all citizens of OKC are a part of it. “I had to cut a lot of my favorites, but my intent was to represent the community at large,” she said. The Oklahoma Historical Society played an integral part in both books, allowing Stephens to peruse countless photographs illustrating the history of the zoo. All of them were gems, and she’s hoping to collect the best of them

for an exhibit at the ZooZeum. “There’s a photograph from 1930 with Luna the elephant and flapper girls,” she said. When she was going through the old photographs, she said she “had [her] white gloves on and [her] heart was racing.” To be given the keys to that kind of history was thrilling. To turn around and, in her second book, get to tell the story of the zoo as she knows it was a satisfying conclusion. Stephens has several book signing events scheduled through September, but none is perhaps more exciting than being a part of the annual Septemberfest Saturday at Oklahoma History Center, 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive. The annual party on the lawn is a highlight of the year for young and old alike as they converge on the grounds of the Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS). “We have people in from all over the city, and our goal this year is to shut down 23rd Street up to Interstate 35,” said Steve Hawkins, director of marketing at OHS. Hawkins expects a crowd of 10,000-15,000 starting at 10 a.m.

The festival features interaction — including hands-on activities and demonstrations — with living participants of every part of our state’s history. “There’s face-painting, storytelling, and the chuck wagons typically do Dutch oven stew, cobblers, anything the cowboys ate,” Hawkins said. There are ongoing activities on the lawn and inside the History Center from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Stephens will be there to sign and answer questions about her book as an expert on an important part of our city and state history. She has participated as a guest of Septemberfest, but this will be the first time she is part of the presentations. “I’ve always had a passion for the zoo, and I’ve worked there for 16 years. Once we got all that together again, it seemed a shame for it to just disappear again,” she said. Her book is available at local retailers, including Full Circle Books, 1900 Northwest Expressway, and at arcadiapublishing.com. For more information about Septemberfest, visit okhistory.org or call 521-2491.

OKLAHOMA GAZETTE | SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 | 39

Stretched thin The health benefits of yoga reach all age groups.

BY CARISSA STEVENS

From aligning your chakras with the masses at Myriad Botanical Gardens to sweating it out over a hot lunchtime session, yoga classes for all ages seem to be on the rise around the metro. The American Osteopathic Association paints the benefits of yoga as a remedy for a multitude of health problems like stress and an impetus to increased flexibility, weight reduction and increased muscle tone. It also develops confidence and boosts selfesteem, among other benefits. Because of this, more parents around the metro have been signing their children up for yoga classes. “Most are required to be still a lot during a school day. They need to move and release pent-up energy. Yoga helps do that in a productive way,” Denise Springer said. Springer is the owner of You Power Yoga, 1904 E Second St., in Edmond and also works with Pose Yoga, an enrichment program she is hoping will soon be offered in metro schools as a paid option.

How does it work?

Springer notes that yoga works in a somewhat mysterious way; poses build strength and flexibility while massaging and detoxifying internal organs. A single yoga session can take your body through a full range of motion.

40 | SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 | OKLAHOMA GAZETTE

Denise Springer teaches a children’s yoga class at You Power Yoga in Edmond. This means that joints are stretched, bent and squeezed. For example, the “chair pose” circulates oxygen-rich blood through the poser’s joints, which can decrease the risk of arthritis. According to Yoga Journal, Yoga is also thought to increase the drainage of lymph, the fluid circulated in the lymphatic system, which helps our bodies fight infection, destroy cancerous cells and dispose of toxins. Springer explained that over time, yoga practice also can help little ones learn to maintain their composure and stress levels. “In yoga, kids learn to use their breath and their physical posture to help themselves focus in school, reduce their stress levels and slow down when they need to or want to,” she said. Cindy McCook’s daughter, Lily, was recently diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. With multiple daily finger pricks and episodes of hyper and hypoglycemia, Lily undergoes more physiological stress than the typical 4-year-old. Aside from making new friends, when asked about her experience with yoga, Lily said yoga is “a fun exercise” and she feels “calm and relaxed” after class.

S HA N N ON CORN M A N

LIFE SPORTS

OKL AHOMA GAZ ETTE | SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 | 41

SUDOKU/CROSSWORD SUDOKU PUZZLE HARD

WWW.S UDOKU-P UZZLES .N ET

Fill in the grid so that every row, column and 3-by-3 box contains the numbers 1 through 9.

NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD PUZZLE ANSWERS Puzzle No. 824, which appeared in the August 27 issue.

W D E J A S K S N A G E L M S T

P E R E

V E R T I C M A A L P S

Friday, Sep 5, 9pm

Saturday, Sep 6, 9pm

Thursday, Sep 11, 10pm

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Bread & Butter Band

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for Honky Tonk Tuesday

2nd Sunday Blues Jam, 4pm Eric Gales, 9pm

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ACROSS 1 In most cases 8 Stomach settler 14 Fasten, as a rope 19 “But wait … there’s more!” items 20 Truck-driving competitions 22 The Roman poet Ovid, once 23 Paintball gun? 25 “Keep climbing” sloganeer 26 Hankerings 27 Maintains the border, say 28 Device that can tell if someone’s recently vacationed in Hawaii? 30 U.K. news source, with “the” 31 Trifling amount 32 Dated 33 Narrow shaft in a mountain? 38 The Cardinals, on scoreboards 39 Eschew modesty 43 Big name in trucking 44 Item from the Victoria’s Sweetness catalog? 49 Nautical command 50 Collective effort 51 Boccaccio wrote a biography of him 52 Union general Wallace 53 Shingle sealant 55 Poker set? 56 Like many hospital patients getting visitors 57 Anne Frank, e.g.? 61 Ones manifesting Manifest Destiny 63 Wash. Square campus 64 Some credit-card rewards 66 Aerodynamic 67 Site of many IVs 70 One in a tight space, perhaps 73 Hee Haw heyday, say? 76 Rock growth 79 Director of the Dark Knight trilogy 81 Salt source 82 Make do with, say 83 Figure skater Mao 84 Microscope part 87 Absorb 89 Novelist Danielle without her glossy dress? 92 A Streetcar Named Desire role 93 ___-Ball

94 95 97 98 100 101 107 108 112 113 116 117 118 119 120 121 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 21 24 29 30 31 33 34 35 36

Channel-surfing catalysts Honey Bunches of Oafs, e.g.? Set a price of Beaver Cleaver exclamation Yom Kippur War figure Soup after it’s been taken off the burner? Semidome site Care providers, for short Given What might determine if the moon hitting your eye like a big pizza pie is truly amore? A Journal of the Plague Year novelist, 1722 ___ Lane, acting first lady during Buchanan’s tenure Send to the ocean bottom Goes downhill? Cells displaced them British eatery DOWN Pen name of columnist Pauline Phillips Where the rubber meets the road? In a moment Reasons to resurface Miss ___ Lolita subject Honor Family business abbr. Particle in a salt solution Connie’s husband in The Godfather Last thing bid? Mortgage adjustment, briefly Willing to take risks Dampen, perhaps Higher-up “Rock-a-bye Baby,” e.g. ___ clef It starts with a celebration Handles Take a shot? Masseur’s supply Bugsy star Fashion lines Burn Peaceful protest of the 1960s Kind of Bugs that weigh tons

19 23

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37 Brady Campaign opposer, for short 38 Cheat 39 Kind of rock 40 Sound off 41 Palindromic name 42 Grieve openly 45 Work with a number 46 Garbage collection? 47 Driven group 48 Sign of rot 50 Be behind 54 Modern-day capital that King David ordered besieged 56 Sri Lanka export 58 Joseph Anton: A Memoir autobiographer 59 Absence justification 60 Game drawers 62 Letter arrangement?

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Stumped? Call 1-900-285-5656 to get the answers to any three clues by phone ($1.20 a minute). The answers to the New York Times Magazine Crossword Puzzle that appeared in the August 27 issue of Oklahoma Gazette are shown at left.

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Black Friday events Candlelight diners, perhaps Phoebe’s twin on Friends Have in mind Spellbound When repeated, cry before “They’re catching up!” High country Miss Author Dinesen Blanchett of Blue Jasmine One who may be grand? Slithery swimmer Walks noisily Poetic contraction Whip tip Ex-mayor seen in The Muppets Take Manhattan “It’s true whether or not you believe in it,” per Neil deGrasse Tyson

0831

NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE CROSSWORD PUZZLE SECOND SHIFT By Patrick Berry / Edited by Will Shortz

96 Stop it 97 Summits 98 ___ Cantor, German mathematician who invented set theory 99 Kovacs of comedy 101 Heels 102 Rink maneuver 103 Long sentence 104 Grammatical concept 105 Close the set? 106 TV “explorer” 107 Kennedy Center focus 108 Humble dwellings 109 Breaking Bad commodity 110 Home of the first U.N. secretary general 111 Walking distance 114 Poetic contraction 115 Who: Lat.

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44 • SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 • OKL AHOMA GAZETTE

Play it again, Charlie Charlie Christian’s legacy extends far beyond Oklahoma City, shaping the face of jazz — and, thus, all music — for many decades to come. BY ANGELA CHAMBERS

Charlie Christian and Benny Goodman

Read more about Charlie Christian, including an exclusive Q&A with his second cousin Freddy Jenkins and more at okgazette.com.

Great jazz musicians possess the nerve and skill to improvise beyond written notes on a page, becoming bare for criticism or praise with each newly formed measure. As testaments to this strength, these artists are often recognized as individuals rather than part of a band. Oklahoma City’s Charlie Christian was one such talent who stood out without accompaniment. Christian is known as the first major solo guitarist who brought the instrument out of the rhythm section. Despite a short career before tuberculosis led to his untimely death at age 25, Christian is cited by many renowned artists — such as Wes Montgomery, Carlos Santana, B.B. King and T-Bone Walker — as a key influence in their musical development. At the American Jazz Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, Christian is one of 11 musicians highlighted in a guitarfocused exhibit. “The world doesn’t know how fantastic he was,” notes a quote by jazz pianist Mary Lou Williams at the museum.

One important influence in Christian’s life was Deep Deuce, the African-American business and entertainment district in Oklahoma City where he performed during adolescence and young adulthood. Like segregated areas across the nation at the time, Deep Deuce — centered around 300 NE Second St. — faced its share of discrimination and poverty. But these circumstances didn’t deter Christian and his counterparts (including author Ralph Ellison and jazz singer Jimmy Rushing) from achieving international notoriety. This summer marks 75 years since Christian launched his music career from Deep Deuce, a neighborhood that inspired multiple generations of innovative artists.

Renaissance man

Best known for writing the awardwinning Invisible Man, Ellison compiled essays about the era Christian and he lived in for 1964’s Shadow and Act. “With Christian, the guitar found its jazz voice,” Ellison wrote. “With his entry into the jazz circles, his musical intelligence was able to exert its influence upon his peers and to affect the course of the future development of jazz.” Born in Bonham, Texas, in 1916, Christian moved to Oklahoma City as a toddler and considered it his home. The jazz guitarist’s early inspirations came from his creative family. His blind

With Christian, the guitar found its jazz voice. — Ralph Ellison

father was a singer, trumpet player and guitarist, and his mother played piano. Christian’s two brothers, Clarence and Edward, also were musicians. Edward was once a member of the Blue Devils, a prominent Oklahoma City jazz group

that included notable musicians like William “Count” Basie. The Blue Devils and Western swing kings Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, which Christian CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

OKL AHOMA GAZETTE • SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 • 45

P HOTOS P ROVI DE D / BL AC K L I BE R AT E D A RTS C E N T E R , I N C .

LIFE MUSIC

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listened to on the radio, were especially influential in shaping Christian’s music. Jazz artists from around the country came to Oklahoma City. Among them was saxophonist Lester Young in 1929, who Ellison recalled as “perhaps the most stimulating influence upon Christian.” “Deep Deuce is a working laboratory where [Christian] can hear the musicians coming through and play with them,” said Hugh Foley, professor of fine arts at Rogers State University and author of Oklahoma Music Guide. “Since he was a kid, he’s had constant on-the-job training.” Growing up in a poor neighborhood near Deep Deuce, Christian, his father and two brothers played music in Oklahoma City’s white neighborhoods to make money or receive clothing and food. Christian constructed his first guitar from a cigar box. While struggling to survive, his family found comfort and freedom in music. The all-black Frederick A. Douglass High School, from which both Christian and Ellison graduated, also strongly encouraged music as a discipline, in large part thanks to educator Zelia Page Breaux, who taught Christian how to play the trumpet. Christian’s trumpet lessons likely contributed to his notable “hornlike” sound on the guitar. Breaux was a significant influence on multiple jazz musicians graduating from Douglass. In Shadow and Act, Ellison recalled how he and at least a dozen other African-Americans, who were all living in Oklahoma City, considered themselves Renaissance men. The author wasn’t sure how they acquired this title but wondered whether Oklahoma City — still heavily segregated at the time — contributed to this label, as the city was “not so tightly structured as it would have been in the traditional South, or even in deceptively ‘free’ Harlem.” But the most likely reason, Ellison believed, they held this esteem was from a teacher’s encouragement to strive beyond the social environment. Anita Arnold, a 1957 Douglass graduate and executive director of Oklahoma City-based Black Liberated Arts Center Inc., said the school’s excellence continued into her era. “Our principal had such high standards for us,” Arnold said. “Whatever our teachers said, we took it to heart.” Another way this time period in Oklahoma contributed to the jazz movement, Ellison believed, was the frontier mindset of a state just a few decades old; an American frontiersman is in “all ignorance of the accepted limitations of the possible,” the author wrote.

Deep world

When producer John Hammond heard Christian perform in Oklahoma City (thanks to Mary Lou Williams’ recommendation), he immediately wanted him to join the Benny Goodman Sextet. Being associated with Goodman — one of the most popular big band acts of the era — helped Christian receive international recognition. After performing with Goodman’s group, Christian would join other pioneers in the bebop or modern jazz movement for all-night jam sessions, most notably at Minton’s Playhouse in Harlem. While traveling around the country, Christian still came back to Oklahoma City when possible and performed with local friends. Thanks to the train system, jazz traveled throughout black towns from Oklahoma City to Kansas City and beyond. Through his research, Foley found the region’s jazz era could have easily been called Oklahoma jazz or Southwestern jazz, but the name Kansas City jazz stuck because the city became a hub for a large party scene where liquor sales were prevalent. “Kansas City’s legacy manifests itself in bebop,” Foley said, “and within that range comes other guitarists whose essential foundation is the Christian sound.” In 1942, Christian died of tuberculosis at a New York hospital. His funeral was at Oklahoma City’s Calvary Baptist Church in the Deep Deuce neighborhood. Memorials also were held for Christian in Chicago, New York and at the cemetery in Bonham where he’s buried next to family.

46 • SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 • OKL AHOMA GAZETTE

Lasting legacy

From her office on Lincoln Boulevard, just a few miles north of the capitol, Anita Arnold sits among countless artifacts and walls covered in AfricanAmerican-inspired art and photographs. Much of this collection revolves around Christian, including a frame made from the wood of his now-demolished boyhood home in Bonham. As the executive director of Black Liberated Arts Center (BLAC) Inc., Arnold has arguably become the most prolific expert on Christian’s history. While she’s a fellow Douglass graduate and spent time in Deep Deuce when it was still an all-black community, Arnold didn’t know much about Christian before joining the nonprofit in the mid-1980s. BLAC Inc. organizes the annual Charlie Christian International Music Festival, which celebrated its 29th year in May. “For the first festival on Deep Deuce, the area was in ruins,” Arnold said. “There was a lot of garbage, broken bottles and overgrown grass. We had volunteers that cut down the weeds and picked up trash. We were cleaning up Second Street.” By the early 1990s, the festival grew to 40,000 in attendance. Arnold and others from the time agreed the Christian festival motivated the city to redevelop the Deep Deuce district. But with that came what Arnold said was “distrust” from some who aren’t happy the neighborhood is no longer a center for the black community. “For these people, it’s the nostalgia that’s missing,” Arnold said. “They can’t recreate it easily, and it’s not the same with what they grew up with.” Chaya Fletcher, the 34-year-old

chef and owner of the Deep Deuce’s Urban Roots, has found a way to keep the spirit of the neighborhood’s history in her restaurant and entertainment venue. Housed in the former Ruby’s Grill building, where Christian and other contemporaries performed, Urban Roots offers a variety of music, all of which Fletcher believes is honoring the district’s history. The owner, who comes from multiple generations that grew up around Deep Deuce, said her grandmother was pregnant with her mother while waitressing at the old Ruby’s Grill. One music group performing every third Friday at Urban Roots is husbandand-wife duo Adam & Kizzie. Adam Ledbetter, an Oklahoma City native who attended Calvary Baptist, is using early jazz influences like Christian to inspire his modern sound. “Whether we’re performing hip-hop, pop or another form, jazz is a strong underlying thread and informs all that we do,” Ledbetter said. Starting last year, in celebration of Ellison’s 100th birthday, the production Ralph Ellison Understood Through Charlie Christian began traveling the state with Oklahoma City musician Walter Taylor’s TaylorMadeJazz group featuring Jake Miller playing Christian guitar pieces. The story of how the two men’s stories interact is performed with a narrative and music. The last show in the current tour was on Aug. 2 in Clearview. Christian is a member of multiple state and national halls of fame. A street not far from downtown Oklahoma City, Charlie Christian Avenue, is named in his honor.

P R OVI DE D

Oklahoma City-based musician Walter Taylor

How did Charlie Christian impact local musicians? WALTER TAYLOR For several decades, Walter Taylor has been an active member of the Oklahoma City music scene. He directed music for the performance Ralph Ellison Understood Through Charlie Christian, which toured the state during the last year. In 2010, Taylor received the Charlie Christian Jazz Music Award, which is given to notable Oklahoma jazz artists. INSTRUMENTS: drums, bass guitar, vocals BANDS: TaylorMadeJazz and other various Oklahoma City-based and national groups (including R&B, funk and soul performer Rufus Thomas) TIME AS A MUSICIAN: 50 years “Charlie Christian was so creative and provided a strong foundation that set the stage for the steps I’ve taken as an Oklahoma City musician,” Taylor said. “I try to tell younger artists about the importance of listening to Christian and others that are at the source of today’s music.” ADAM LEDBETTER Adam Ledbetter feels a connection to Deep Deuce, as he grew up attending Calvary Baptist Church before it was turned into a law office. Christian’s funeral was held at Calvary Baptist in 1942, which was more than four decades before Ledbetter was born. Ledbetter and his wife Kizzie’s music combines hiphop, jazz, soul and R&B genres. The duo recently signed with Ropeadope Records. They perform every third Friday at Deep Deuce’s Urban Roots, the same location where Christian played music when the building housed Ruby’s Grill. TIME AS A MUSICIAN: 20 years BAND: Adam & Kizzie INSTRUMENTS: piano, vocals “Charlie used ingenuity despite poverty by making his own guitar out of cigar boxes, which had a huge influence on me,” Ledbetter said. “Growing up and not being able to afford high-end gear, I would spend as little as possible and still produce and create music.” CHESTER THOMPSON Oklahoma City native Chester Thompson’s career included touring with Carlos Santana, who has said Christian is a key influence. Thompson is a 1963 Frederick A.

Douglass High School graduate, the same school Christian attended in the 1930s. In May, Thompson performed at the annual Charlie Christian International Music Festival. He received the Charlie Christian Jazz Music Award in 2004. INSTRUMENTS: keyboard, piano, organ BANDS: Tower of Power, Santana TIME AS A MUSICIAN: 65 years “You can’t help but take influences from Oklahoma City, just like Charlie did,” Thompson said. “The first note I heard was in church, and I go back today and see my nephew, who is playing from the same organ I played when I started at [Oklahoma City’s] New Hope Baptist Church. I had great teachers at Douglass who helped me find myself during a difficult time of segregation.” JAKE MILLER While living in Los Angeles, Jake Miller took lessons from Oklahoman Barney Kessel, a jazz guitarist who met and was significantly influenced by Christian. Miller performs Christian’s music in Ralph Ellison Understood Through Charlie Christian, which ended its tour in August. While originally from Illinois, Miller moved to Oklahoma as a young man and made the state his home. INSTRUMENT: guitar BAND: various Oklahoma City-based groups, TaylorMadeJazz TIME AS A MUSICIAN: Almost 50 years “Just like Christian didn’t rely on his idols to create his sound, Barney pushed me out of the net and encourage me to not copy anyone and to start to develop my own ideas,” Miller said. JEFF MOORE Jeff Moore is Oklahoma Historical Society’s project director for the developing OKPOP Museum and an author of the 2009 book Another Hot Oklahoma Night: A Rock & Roll Story. From his research on Christian, Moore understands how the jazz guitarist influenced Oklahoma City and the world. “Charlie forever changed music and really set the stage for rock ’n’ roll,” Moore said. “Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and all these amazing rock artists see Charlie as an influence.”

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Greener pastures The smooth soundscapes made by Washed Out’s Ernest Greene are in a constant state of evolution. BY JOSHUA BOYDSTON

Washed Out with Small Black 7 p.m. Sunday Cain’s Ballroom 423 N. Main St., Tulsa cainsballroom.com 918-584-2306 $19-$34

It’s easy to get lost in your dreams. Ernest Greene certainly has spent a fair amount of his life wandering around in his, a willing prisoner to a wild imagination. As an artist, he’s not alone in this, but few have so tangibly translated that personal sense of escape into a similarly powerful and transportive experience for the listener. As Washed Out, Greene is as much a tour guide as songwriter, and while most fantasies stay personal, he has spent the last half-decade making a career out of inviting everyone into his. “For me, the beautiful thing about music is how you can close your eyes and it can take you places,” Greene said. “I’ve been asked a lot about if where I’m living or where I’m at while making an album is important, but in some ways, it really doesn’t matter. It’s very much an imaginative thing.” Music always has represented a chance for Greene to travel the world from the comfort of his Athens, Georgia, bedroom. His 2009 breakthrough EP, Life of Leisure, and single “Feel It All Around” (as heard over the opening credits of TV’s Portlandia) was owed to creating the soundtrack to lands unexplored by him or anyone else before. But the success Greene enjoyed with Life of Leisure and Within and Without, his 2011 full-length debut, has quite literally taken him to all the places he had only been able to dream of prior, touring and playing festivals across the planet. Washed Out’s latest album, Paracosm — which hit shelves last year — finds Greene taking the sights he has seen, sounds he has heard and terrains

48 • SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 • OKL AHOMA GAZETTE

he has felt and layering those real memories with the false ones together all at once, a shift that manifested itself in a very physical fashion. “It’s funny that the Life of Leisure material was made entirely of samples from old records and then Paracosm was made playing a lot of different instruments and doing those things live,” Green said. “They are similar, but it’s quite a bit more complex, putting together these sounds instead of just grabbing something that’s already out there.” In a lot of ways, Paracosm is a nod back to his beginnings (lead single “It All Feels Right” is a cousin to “Feel It All Around” in both name and spirit), both ethereal trips sandwiched around the more sleek, ’80s-inspired electro pop of Within and Without. But it’s different in vital manners, too, written with his live band in mind and in keeping with Greene’s philosophy of not doing the same thing twice. “I never really plan on making the same record over again,” he said. “I don’t really need to. The melodies I tend to come up with are just that Washed Out sound, so even as I’ve experimented with different instruments and approaches to genre, the heart of it is always going to be intact.” That will be tested with what Greene has up his sleeve next. Leading into this fall tour that carries Washed Out through Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa on Sunday, the Georgia native has been working on rough drafts of new material. And his earliest inclinations are to dive into a weirder, more far-out place — one this lifelong dreamer hasn’t attempted to ever reach before. “For me, Paracosm is probably the most traditional-sounding album I’ve done, and my reflexes are to do something quite different from that, maybe having it be a little stranger and out of control,” Greene said. “That’s kind of the big catch words I’ve been using to guide my work — a little chaos.”

M AT T HE W PA N DOL FE

Spiritual healing California indie-rockers Delta Spirit are inspired by their quieter, more secluded moments. BY SHANNON HELTON

Delta Spirit 9 p.m. Tuesday The Conservatory 8911 N. Western Ave. conservatoryokc.com 607-4805 $15

Delta Spirit is back with a new album, hungrier and ready for more of life. The band’s fourth studio album, Into the Wide, comes out Tuesday on Dualtone Records, and they will share the celebration with Oklahoma City at The Conservatory that same day. When the indie-rock quintet decided to make the jump from the West Coast after the release of its 2012 self-titled album, its members probably didn’t realize it would bring them closer to their roots. They left San Diego for Brooklyn and set up shop. “We found this huge, 1,200-squarefoot room,” lead singer Matt Vasquez said of their shared New York studio. The studio backed about six feet of what Vasquez described as “EPA water,” housed a family of rats and offered not one shimmer of sunlight, as there were no windows to speak of. Not long after they established themselves in their new base, though, Hurricane Sandy destroyed everything they had set up. The group picked up, counted its losses, mourned ruined stacks of equipment nostalgia and rebuilt the windowless space. Vasquez took 30-minute walks to the rebuilt studio each day, which gave him a lot of time to think. “Most of the songs are about nature,” he said, “in this locked-up concrete room.” The feeling of urgency and need for escape is present on the album’s first single, “From Now On.” There’s a calmness to its verse, drenched in anticipation, but the song bursts through to freedom in the chorus — in a daze of simple, unbridled rhythm and overarching guitar. “Not being able to escape and

wanting the trees and the mountains — real mountains,” Vasquez said of his time in New York. He missed national parks like Yosemite and being isolated in nature, where one can become overwhelmed with the world. “God moments,” Vasquez called them. “You can write a whole record with one of those moments.”

I write a song for a song. I lean on imagination. — Matt Vasquez Though it might seem like a lot of the inspiration is about nature and escape, that’s not the sole intention of the album. “I write a song for a song,” Vasquez said, “I lean on imagination.” Using those long walks to meditate, Vasquez also drew inspiration from the international section of The New York Times and revisited prior convictions of his youth — or, as Vasquez put it, “the tried and true epiphany.” The band finished up its album with producer Ben Allen (Animal Collective, Deerhunter, Bombay Bicycle Club) in Atlanta. The change of scenery was refreshing and made a difference for the whole band. Finally getting out of the city, they borrowed a cabin and worked in a halved freight car that had been converted into a control room. “It had windows,” Vasquez said with a laugh. The mix of loss, imprisonment, escape and eventual freedom throughout the course of making Into the Wide will showcase Delta Spirit’s range as never before. Highlighting the group’s grounded base, there has always been a lighter flow hovering just above the surface, forever reaching for something: those god moments.

OKL AHOMA GAZETTE • SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 • 49

LIFE MUSIC REVIEWS

Two Litas BY JOSHUA BOYDSTON

It had been a pretty rough two years for Low Litas. A finished record sat in flux, drummer Liz Wattoff departed for graduate school, a year of almost no shows — it could have left the Tulsa outfit on life support before it ever got a chance to really live. Thankfully, the band endured and is now in the midst of its first national tour (in support of Oklahoma’s own Broncho) with its full-length, eponymous debut finally out for the world to hear, a testament to the strength of lead singer/guitarist Mandii Larsen and bassist Penny Pitchlynn’s creative and romantic relationship. The creative partnership is heard in how these songs have grown up over the past six years. When Larsen first started the band as a recording project, she was joined onstage with little more than a laptop. Solo shoegaze is a tough draw, though; it would take a superhero to whip up the sheer amount of volume necessary to emulate the heavyweights, as Low Litas so often strive to do with their first full-length outing. “OBE,” “Closer” and “Never” all reappear after debuting on an EP recorded all on Larsen’s lonesome, and though their fundamental, haunting strains remain untouched, they are infinitely more polished and finished with Pitchlynn and Wattoff (who tracked drums for the album before amicably stepping aside and subsequently being replaced by Broncho’s Nathan Price) at her side. But maybe the romance is even more vital to Low Litas’ charms. It’s an album predicated on love

and vulnerability; lust, hostility and melancholy are all swirled into one maelstrom of guitar fuzz and piercing lyrics. Larsen and Pitchlynn stand virtually invincible together, ready to quell, conquer and overcome each and every trouble the two should face, hand in hand and note for note. It’s possible to write such songs with strangers or friends, but it’s much easier when the bonds run deeper, as heard in standouts like “So Sure,” “Leave the Rest” and “Knocked Up Cheerleader.” They — and the bulk of the self-titled record’s offerings — aim for the likes of My Bloody Valentine, Pixies and Slowdive and succeed because of the fervent passion and desire at the core of it all. It’s the opposite of hollow gestures; these are densely real and emotional cuts that play like deep, late-night conversations about the possibilities of life and love. Opener “Busted” is a little lankier and tonally stale, at least in comparison to the strong string of nine songs to follow. “Closer” is a little awkward at first, too, before quickly finding its footing and eventually contributing some of the biggest moments of the record as a whole. “Go On,” however, is Low Litas at their very best: ’90s collegerock guitar twitches collide with a towering shoegaze composition in a way that suggests the band will thrive well beyond state borders. “Go On” is followed by the quiet, acoustic-based refrain (and album closer) “Delores,” a pairing that becomes a literal demonstration of what and who Low Litas are, unmasking a tough, confident strata of noise to reveal the sweetly sensitive soul at its center.

Low Litas Album: Low Litas | Available now | lowlitas.bandcamp.com

50 • SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 • OKL AHOMA GAZETTE

LIFE MUSIC WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 3 Ariana Gillis, The Blue Door. SINGER/SONGWRITER Grant Wells, Skirvin Hilton Hotel. PIANO

Beetyman/LTZ/Grand National, The Blue Note Lounge. HIP-HOP Brian Pounds, VZD’s Restaurant & Club. ROCK Christian Pearson/Gary Johnson, Skirvin Hilton Hotel. PIANO Flat Land Band, Nonna’s Purple Bar. ACOUSTIC Jared Sutton/Jarrod Baker, Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill. ACOUSTIC

Islands/TEEN, Opolis, Norman. POP

Jason Young, Remington Park. COUNTRY

Moongiant/Chambers/Elms, The Blue Note Lounge. ROCK

Justin Young, First National Center. JAZZ Karen Khoury, Legend’s Restaurant, Norman. PIANO

Steve Crossley, Red Rock Canyon Grill. SINGER/ SONGWRITER

Lucky, Tapwerks Ale House & Cafe. COVER

The Friends No BS Jam, Friends Restaurant & Club. VARIOUS

Matt Blagg, Red Rock Canyon Grill. SINGER/ SONGWRITER

Urban Addiction, Baker St. Pub & Grill. VARIOUS

Mike Black & the Stingrays, Sliders. COVER

THURSDAY, SEPT. 4

Mystik Sanctuary featuring Bassnectar, Rusko, Infected Mushroom and more, OKC Downtown Airpark. DANCE

Aaron Turner, Wormy Dog Saloon. COUNTRY Brent Saulsbury/Will Galbraith/Wayne Duncan, Friends Restaurant & Club. ROCK

Red Dirt Rangers, Myriad Botanical Gardens. COUNTRY

The Clique, Friends Restaurant & Club. VARIOUS The Lacs, Diamond Ballroom. COUNTRY

David Morris, Skirvin Hilton Hotel. PIANO

The Oak Ridge Boys, Riverwind Casino, Norman. COUNTRY

SquadLive, Red Rock Canyon Grill. COVER The Dave Thomason Band, Grady’s 66 Pub, Yukon. COVER

Wendy Colonna, The Blue Door. SINGER/SONGWRITER

2AM, Russell’s, Tower Hotel. ROCK

FRIDAY, SEPT. 5

Alice Awaits/Life Lessons/Thin Skin, The Conservatory. ROCK

Aaron Newman Band, Moonshiners Music House. FOLK Adam Carroll, The Blue Door. SINGER/SONGWRITER Avenue, Louie’s Grill & Bar, Lake Hefner. COVER Bart Crow Band, Wormy Dog Saloon. COUNTRY

Electronic dance music festivals are a staple of large cities across the globe, and it’s not often we get one as big and loaded with talent as Mystik Sanctuary. The two-day event features over 60 of electronic music’s most esteemed acts and DJs, including Bassnectar, Krewella, Zeds Dead, Rusko and Big Gigantic, among others. Gates open 1:30 p.m. Friday and 12:30 p.m. Saturday at OKC Downtown Airpark, 1701 S. Western Ave. Tickets are $65-$207.50. Call 364-3700 or visit mystiksanctuaryfestival.com.

OKG

music

pick

What She Said, Belle Isle Restaurant & Brewery. ROCK

SATURDAY, SEPT. 6

2AM, Russell’s, Tower Hotel. ROCK

Friday–Saturday

The Simoleons, The Paramount OKC. ACOUSTIC

Vacant Mind/Planets Align/Curse the Fall, The Blue Note Lounge. ROCK

The Recliners, Baker St. Pub & Grill. VARIOUS

Mystik Sanctuary featuring Bassnectar, Krewella, Zeds Dead and more

Stout, Oklahoma City Limits. ROCK

Central Jazz Jam, UCO Jazz Lab, Edmond. JAZZ

Gregory Jerome, Myriad Botanical Gardens. HIP-HOP

Bassnectar

Shortt Dogg, UCO Jazz Lab, Edmond. R&B

C A ESA R S EBASTI A N

LIVE MUSIC

Amarillo Junction, Riverwind Casino, Norman. COUNTRY

Grant Stevens, Skirvin Hilton Hotel. PIANO

Karen Khoury, Legend’s Restaurant. PIANO

Big G, Remington Park. BLUES

Jamie Bamble, Nonna’s Purple Bar. ACOUSTIC

Kim Lenz and the Jaguars, Lions Park, Norman. ROCK

Bite Me/Psychotic Reaction, HiLo Club. ROCK

Karen Khoury, Legend’s Restaurant, Norman. PIANO

DJ RnR, Colcord Hotel. DANCE

Lucky, Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill. COVER

Washed Out/Small Black, Cain’s Ballroom, Tulsa. ELECTRONIC

DJ Ovy, Aloft Downtown Oklahoma City. DANCE

Mary Catherine Reynolds & Louise Goldberg, Full Circle Bookstore. JAZZ

Don and Melodee Johnson, Twelve Oaks, Edmond. JAZZ

Maurice Johnson, Avanti Bar & Grill. JAZZ

Drifters Calling, Sliders. COUNTRY

Mitch Casen, Friends Restaurant & Club. COUNTRY Mystik Sanctuary featuring Krewella, Zeds Dead Big Gigantic and more, OKC Downtown Airpark. DANCE

LTZ, The Blue Note Lounge, Friday, Sept. 5

Parker Millsap, The Blue Door. SINGER/SONGWRITER

TUESDAY, SEPT. 9 Allen Whear & Pamela Richman, UCO Jazz Lab, Edmond. JAZZ Christian Pearson, Skirvin Hilton Hotel. PIANO Delta Spirit, The Conservatory. ROCK

Replay/Mitch & Allen, Red Rock Canyon Grill. COVER

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 10

Sam Riggs, Wormy Dog Saloon. COUNTRY Slow Vein, Oklahoma City Limits. ROCK SmiliN’ Vic, UCO Jazz Lab, Edmond. JAZZ

100 Bones Band, Baker St. Pub & Grill. ROCK

Stranger Danger, The Blue Note Lounge. ROCK

AJ Gaither, Grandad’s Bar. VARIOUS

Suede Panther, Belle Isle Restaurant & Brewery. BLUES Tear Stained Eye, Grandad’s Bar. COUNTRY

Mark Vollertsen, Red Rock Canyon Grill. ACOUSTIC

The Kingston Trio, Rose State College, Midwest City. FOLK The Suspects, Tapwerks Ale House & Cafe. REGGAE

Sioux City Pete & The Beggars/Glow God/Loom, Opolis, Norman. ROCK Susan Herndon, Oklahoma City Museum of Art. FOLK

Depth and Current/Tumbling Nebulae/Team Nightstand, Opolis, Norman. ROCK

The Friends No BS Jam, Friends Restaurant & Club. VARIOUS

SUNDAY, SEPT. 7 WOOD LVND LABS

Grant Wells, Skirvin Hilton Hotel. PIANO

Dirty Red and the Soul Shakers, JJ’s Blues Saloon. BLUES Edgar Cruz, Skirvin Hilton Hotel. ACOUSTIC Godsmack/Seether/Skillet, Zoo Amphitheatre. ROCK Justin Young Band, Myriad Botanical Gardens. JAZZ

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.

OKL AHOMA GAZETTE • SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 • 51

M A R K HA N COC K

LIFE FILM

Michael Anderson takes in a film at the museum’s Noble Theater.

The movie man

As the new film curator at Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Michael Anderson brings an abundance of knowledge and experience to the prestigious position. BY MOLLY EVANS

Growing up in Minnesota, Michael Anderson always enjoyed watching movies — mostly the anticipated Oscar winners throughout the ’80s and ’90s. With a sampling of Hollywood’s best and latest releases in his hometown’s theaters, Anderson had acquired a taste for film by the time he was 18. But it wasn’t until he attended Hillsdale College in Michigan that he became a passionate connoisseur. Small-town life and sheer boredom had Anderson going through the lists of the great L.A. blockbusters, foreign works, art films and repertory masterpieces. Anderson traveled nearly four hours just to see new limited releases, ordered obscure movies for the college’s library and even begged one of his professors to let him skip three days of classes to see three movies in Minneapolis by Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-Hsien: The Puppetmaster (1993), Goodbye South, Goodbye (1996) and Flowers of Shanghai (1998). “They’re very, very arty movies,” Anderson said. “And at that point, he was considered one of the two best directors in the world, so I didn’t want to let that opportunity go. Little did I know that DVD changed everything and I could easily see them a year or two after that. But still, it was great.” Although Anderson’s undergraduate

experience was in a sleepy college town, he said movies weren’t ever an escape for him but simply something interesting to do that built on the art history knowledge he was establishing at school. Almost 15 years later, after attending New York University for his master’s degree and Yale University for his Ph.D., programming for Starz Denver Film Festival and critiquing films, 35-year-old Anderson brings his blended prowess for art history and film studies as Oklahoma City Museum of Art’s new film curator. He is replacing the museum’s former film curator of 19 years, Brian Hearn. Anderson first heard about the job opening on Twitter and Facebook after a couple connections shared the news. When Anderson interviewed, he had never been to Oklahoma. But after starting the job Aug. 13, he learned OKC had an advantageous position in the film programming and curating market. “It’s almost kind of the perfect size because Oklahoma City is a large enough city [that] we can do art house programming, but there’s really no competition here,” Anderson said. “We’re the only art house in Oklahoma City, so it really kind of gives us enormous latitude as to what we can program.” Like Hearn, Anderson agrees that

52 | SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 | OKLAHOMA GAZETTE

new indie releases, such as Richard Linklater’s summer hit Boyhood, are the “bread and butter” of the program, bringing the most successful runs and audience turnouts. Hearn “very wisely” booked Boyhood for a week in mid-August, and it was one of the biggest successes the museum has ever had, said Anderson, who introduced the film to museum audiences for the first time. “It just shows that there’s a real interest and thirst for different and exciting art film in Oklahoma City,” he said. Anderson plans to build on the foundation Hearn has laid, but he also will incorporate his taste for the obscure that he developed in college to the calendar. With a background in academia, Anderson approaches film curating for the museum much like creating the syllabus for a class, an experience he had most recently teaching at Yale this summer. “We’re different than some of these AMC theaters around in that we’re really trying to curate a program and kind of teach and enrich through what we’re showing,” he said. “A lot of what we’re doing has to do with bringing films together within a context.” In September, the museum will show Mood Indigo, Michel Gondry’s

latest film; The Trip to Italy, the comedic sequel to The Trip; and Listen Up Phillip, starring Jason Schwartzman, two weeks after it opens in New York. On Saturday, the museum will screen Norte, the End of History, a four-hour Filipino film and adaptation of Crime and Punishment. Norte was a hit at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival in France. “We’re taking some chances and some risks with the films that we’re showing, but it’s interesting,” Anderson said. “It’s just the only place that you’re going to be able to see something like that. That’s what’s really changing.” When calculating those risks, Anderson references his art history background, his diverse palate in movies and his fundamental beliefs about what film can show a community. “It provides a broader understanding of the world that you live in; it’s an art form that has its own rules,” he said. “And by spending time with the medium, it teaches you how to think in new and different ways.” With foreign, art and repertory films, Anderson hopes to coordinate movies with art exhibitions as well as organize discussions that delve into the theme, director or era of the film currently running. For example, Anderson plans to screen three corresponding films that play off of My Generation: Young Chinese Artists, an exhibition which runs from October through January. With the digital renovations that took place during Hearn’s last few years and the accessibility of film itself, Anderson believes the best quality of material will be available to audiences. This technology will allow him to focus more on different ways of presenting films, showing them in series or minifestivals that will channel his skills from his time in Denver. “Different venues are starting to move towards a festival approach, where they show a number of films and people can get all access to the events,” Anderson said. “We will be experimenting with that in the coming months as well.” As for now, the September calendar is booked with screenings, and October and November are not far behind. Also, in the coming months, Anderson has personal aspirations to see more of Oklahoma — besides the 10-minute walk downtown from his house to the museum. “I’m getting my bearings,” Anderson said. “Everybody I’ve talked to that’s ever spent any time in Oklahoma has said it’s a very diverse state. I want to explore the state more in the coming months when I have a moment to breathe.” In the meantime, he’ll be doing a job he’s really excited about: watching movies.

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY Homework: Make a playful effort to change something you’ve always assumed you could never change. Testify at Truthrooster@gmail.com.

ARIES March 21-April 19 I don’t usually do this kind of thing, but I’m going to suggest that you monitor the number six. My hypothesis is that six has been trying to grab your attention, perhaps even in askew or inconvenient ways. Its purpose? To nudge you to tune in to beneficial influences that you have been ignoring. I furthermore suspect that six is angling to show you clues about what is both the cause of your unscratchable itch and the cure for that itch. So lighten up and have fun with this absurd mystery, Aries. Without taking it too seriously, allow six to be your weird little teacher. Let it prick your intuition with quirky notions and outlandish speculations. If nothing comes of it, there will be no harm done. If it leads you to helpful discoveries, hallelujah. TAURUS April 20-May 20 In English, the rare word “trouvaille” means a lucky find or an unexpected windfall. In French, “trouvaille” can refer to the same thing and even more: something interesting or exceptional that is discovered fortuitously; a fun or enlightening blessing that’s generated through the efforts of a vigorous imagination. Of course I can’t guarantee that you will experience a trouvaille or two (or even three) in the coming days, Taurus. But the conditions are as ripe as they can be for such a possibility. GEMINI May 21-June 20 he Dutch word *epibreren* means that even though you are goofing off, you are trying to create the impression that you are hard at work. I wouldn’t be totally opposed to you indulging in some major *epibreren* in the coming days. More importantly, the cosmos won’t exact any karmic repercussions for it. I suspect, in fact, that the cosmos is secretly conspiring for you to enjoy more slack and spaciousness that usual. You’re overdue to recharge your spiritual and emotional batteries, and that will require extra repose and quietude. If you have to engage in a bit of masquerade to get the ease you need, so be it.

CANCER June 21-July 22 When James Franco began to learn his craft as an actor, he was young and poor. A gig at McDonald’s paid for his acting lessons and allowed him to earn a living. He also used his time on the job as an opportunity to build his skills as a performer. While serving customers burgers and fries, he practiced speaking to them in a variety of different accents. Now would be an excellent time for you to adopt a similar strategy, Cancerian. Even if you are not doing what you love to do full-time, you can and should take stronger measures to prepare yourself for that day when you will be doing more of what you love to do. LEO July 23-Aug. 22 Here are a few of the major companies that got their starts in home garages: Apple, Google, Microsoft, Mattel, Amazon, and Disney. Even if you’re not in full support of their business practices, you’ve got to admit that their humble origins didn’t limit their ability to become rich and powerful. As I meditate on the longterm astrological omens, I surmise you are now in a position to launch a project that could follow a similar arc. It would be more modest, of course. I don’t foresee you ultimately becoming an international corporation worth billions of dollars. But the success would be bigger than I think you can imagine. VIRGO Aug. 23-Sept. 22 “I have a hypothesis that everyone is born with the same amount of luck,” says cartoonist Scott Adams. “But luck doesn’t appear to be spread evenly across a person’s life. Some people use up all of their luck early in life. Others start out in bad circumstances and finish strong.” How would you assess your own distribution of luck, Virgo? According to my projections, you are in a phase when luck is flowing stronger and deeper than usual. And I bet it will intensify in the coming weeks. I suggest you use it wisely -- which is to say, with flair and aplomb and generosity. LIBRA Sept. 23-Oct. 22 When my daughter Zoe was seven years old, she took horse-back riding lessons with a group of other young aspirants. On the third lesson, their

instructor assigned them the task of carrying an egg in a spoon that they clasped in their mouths as they sat facing backwards on a trotting horse. That seemingly improbable task reminds me of what you’re working on right now, Libra. Your balancing act isn’t quite as demanding, but it is testing you in ways you’re not accustomed to. My prognosis: You will master what’s required of you faster than the kids at Zoe’s horse camp. Every one of them broke at least eight eggs before succeeding. I suspect that three or four attempts will be enough for you. SCORPIO Oct. 23-Nov. 21 Peter the Great was the Tsar of Russia from 1682 until 1725. Under his rule, his nation became a major empire. He also led a cultural revolution that brought modern European-style ideas and influences to Russia. But for our purposes right now, I want to call attention to one of his other accomplishments: The All-Joking, All-Drunken Council of Fools and Jesters. It was a club he organized with his allies to ensure there would always be an abundance of parties for him to enjoy. I don’t think you need alcohol as an essential part of your own efforts to sustain maximum revelry in the coming weeks, Scorpio. But I do suggest you convene a similar brain trust. SAGITTARIUS Nov. 22-Dec. 21 In Roald Dahl’s kids’ story James and the Giant Peach, 501 seagulls are needed to carry the giant peach from a spot near the Azores all the way across the Atlantic Ocean to New York City. But physics students at the U.K.’s University of Leicester have determined that such a modest contingent wouldn’t be nearly enough to achieve a successful airlift. By their calculations, there’d have to be a minimum of 2,425,907 seagulls involved. I urge you to consider the possibility that you, too, will require more power than you have estimated to accomplish your own magic feat. Certainly not almost 5,000 times more, as in the case of the seagulls. Fifteen percent more should be enough. (P.S. I’m almost positive you can rustle up that extra 15 percent.)

CAPRICORN Dec. 22-Jan. 19 So far, 53 toys have been inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame. They include crayons, the jump rope, Mr. Potato Head, the yo-yo, the rubber duckie, and dominoes. My favorite inductee -- and the toy that is most symbolically useful to you right now -- is the plain old cardboard box. Of all the world’s playthings, it is perhaps the one that requires and activates the most imagination. It can become a fort, a spaceship, a washing machine, a cave, a submarine, and many other exotic things. I think you need to be around influences akin to the cardboard box because they are likely to unleash your dormant creativity. AQUARIUS Jan. 20-Feb. 18 I’m not opposed to you fighting a good fight. It’s quite possible you would become smarter and stronger by wrangling with a worthy adversary or struggling against a bad influence. The passion you summon to outwit an obstacle could bestow blessings not only on you but on other people, as well. But here’s a big caveat: I hope you will not get embroiled in a showdown with an imaginary foe. I pray that you will refrain from a futile combat with a slippery delusion. Choose your battles carefully, Aquarius. PISCES Feb. 19-March 20 During the next six weeks, I suggest you regard symbiosis as one of your key themes. Be alert for ways you can cultivate more interesting and intense forms of intimacy. Magnetize yourself to the joys of teamwork and collaboration. Which of your skills and talents are most useful to other people? Which are most likely to inspire your allies to offer you their best skills and talents? I suggest you highlight everything about yourself that is most likely to win you love, appreciation, and help. 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.

800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive, OKC (405) 522-0765 okhistory.org OKLAHOMA GAZETTE | SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 | 53

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MidFirst Bank currently has over 50 banking center locations in Oklahoma with plans for continued growth. We are seeking high-energy, dynamic customer oriented people for the following opportunity. EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY All real estate advertising in this newspaper is subject to the Federal Fair Housing

Act of 1968, which makes it illegal to advertise any preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, national origin or an intention to make any such preference, limitation, preference or discrimination. This newspaper will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of this law. Our readers are hereby informed that all dwellings in our newspaper are available on an equal housing opportunity basis.

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EVENT SPECIALIST

Open 7 Days 10-10

Renewal by Andersen OKC & Tulsa Area

If you are friendly, outgoing & enjoy talking to people, Renewal by Andersen has the PERFECT opportunity for you!

2206 A N.W. 164TH • 405.509.6021

Couples ♥ Welcome 7 days • Gift Certificates

Call Penny 631-6200

Now Accepting New Patients!

WE OFFER: • BASE PAY $11/hour + attainable BONUS structure • Part-Time positions(mostly weekends) • Flexible Hours • Paid Training • Fun Environment • Integrity Based Company • Advancement Opportunity

7864 S. WESTERN @ I-240 (ACROSS FROM HAMPTON INN)

405.632.8989

Lic. BUS-13440

Lic. OCC 04591 • THIS IS A MODEL

REQUIREMENTS: • Aggresive, enthusiastic, & Self-motivated • Must have reliable transportation • Able to work evening, weekend, and occasional weekday events • Able to pass a criminal background check

405.603.7795

• Suboxone/Subutex Detox & Maintenance Treatment • Methadone to Suboxone Switch • Counseling for all Drug Addictions HELP IS A PHONE CALL AWAY

405-525-2222

6909 W Hefner, Ste. B14

Lic. OCC-09421

This is a Model

HANDS OF A TITAN

405.748.6888

4500 N. Classen

Private Studio Spa Massage • Waxing • Body Scrubs

546 E. Memorial, Okla. City (at Broadway Ext.)

Eric @ (405) 481-6163

www.HandsofaTitan.com

Lic. OCC-04587

This is a model

Professional Deep Tissue Massage, Oil Massage, Swedish Massage

Free table shower w/one hour hot stone massage 6165 N. May Suite C

Certified Therapeutic

1 Hour $49.99 40 Min. $39.99 Foot Massage $29.99

THIS IS A MODEL

BUY 10 GET 1 FREE (405) 455-6300

1800 S. AIR DEPOT BLVD. #D | MIDWEST CITY 73110 Lic. OCC-11417

842-8889 M-Sat 10-10 ❖ Sun 11-9 Walk-ins welcome Lic. #13248

OPEN 7 DAYS 9:30 A.M. - 10 P.M.

This is a model

Please send resumes to OKC or TULSA Events to: eventjobs@rbaoftx.com

405.470.1177 • 5821 W. Wilshire, OKC

Daisy Spa

THIS IS A MODEL

5304 S. Shields • By appt. only www.pennysmassage.com

OPIATE ADDICTION TREATMENT

CHINESE SPIRIT SPA

THIS IS A MODEL

Enjoy your job AND make great money!

405.237.3989 1620 SW 89th•OKC

Lic. BUS-16395

Are you looking for additional income or seasonal work?

I-40 & Meridian Open 7 days

Shields Salon

Head to toe Reflexology • Body Massage 405.286.6885 6900 N. May•OKC

1019 S Meridian Ave Oklahoma City

Lic. 03439

Room provided in exchange Call Richard for help 4-5 hrs/day. 16 MI. EAST OF EDMOND.

60 Min • $39 Waxing Offered

License 08521

R E S C U E S A N CTU A RY

We Relax Massage

THIS IS A MODEL

HELP WANTED

1565 SW 44th 405.681.2626

Lic#BUS-16053

Peony

Royal Treatment Massage

Day Spa

Check for daily specials

DEEP TISSUE MASSAGE

Walk-ins welcome.

Full Body Massage

$5 OFF WITH THIS AD

909 NW 23rd • (405) 601-2299 • Open 9am-10pm • 7 days

Mon-Sat 10a-9p • Sun Closed

Call us today! www.edmondokmassage.com

428 W. 15th St., Edmond 340-0400

Lic. 110-000-142500

Body & Sole

This is a model

Lic. OCC16363

Lic. 100895

LIC. 05460

5005 N. Rockwell • 405.603.5300

OKLAHOMA GAZETTE | SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 | 55

BMW USA

bmwusa.com

BMW xDRIVE. MORE THAN A LUXURY.

BMW xDrive is much more than a luxury. Its peace of mind when weather and road conditions change. And as part of BMW Ultimate ServiceÂŽ, when you purchase a new BMW, it covers maintenance costs for 4 years or 50,000 miles*. This can save you up to $2,000 in maintenance costs compared to other luxury vehicles. NO-COST MAINTENANCE

Jackie Cooper Imports, LLC.

Up to 4 YRS / 50K MILES1

Jackie Cooper Imports, LLC . 14145 North Broadway Ext . Edmond, OK 73103-4120 . 866-597-5676

www.cooperbmw.com

*For model year 2015 or later vehicles sold or leased by an authorized BMW center on or after July 1, 2014, BMW Maintenance Program coverage is not transferable to subsequent purchasers, owners, or leasees. Please see bmwusa.com/UltimateService or ask your authorized BMW center for details. ÂŠ2014 BMW of North America, LLC. The BMW name, model names and logo are registered trademarks.

2014 320i Sedan

2014 328i xDrive Gran Turismo

309

Lease for 36 months.

379

2015 Z4 sDrive28i

Lease for 36 months.

519

Lease for 36 months.

829

Lease for 36 months.

*Lease financing available on 2014 BMW 320i Sedan vehicles, only at participating BMW centers on leases assigned to BMW Financial Services NA, LLC/Financial Services Vehicle Trust through August 01, 2014. Monthly Lease payments of $309.00 for 36 months based on MSRP of $36,875.00.

*Lease financing available on 2014 BMW 328i xDrive Gran Turismo vehicles, only at participating BMW centers on leases assigned to BMW Financial Services NA, LLC/Financial Services Vehicle Trust through September 01, 2014. Monthly Lease payments of $379.00 for 36 months based on MSRP of $44,575.00.

* Lease financing available on 2015 BMW Z4 sDrive28i vehicles, only at participating BMW centers on leases assigned to BMW Financial Services NA, LLC/Financial Services Vehicle Trust through August 01, 2014. Monthly Lease payments of $519.00 for 36 months based on MSRP of $55,350.00.

2014 528i

2015 640i Coupe

2014 740Li

439

Lease for 36 months.

979

Lease for 36 months.

*Lease financing available on 2014 BMW 528i vehicles, only at participating BMW centers on leases assigned to BMW Financial Services NA, LLC/Financial Services Vehicle Trust through August 01, 2014. Monthly Lease payments of $439.00 for 36 months based on MSRP of $53,025.00.

*Lease financing available on 2015 BMW 640i Coupe vehicles, only at participating BMW centers on leases assigned to BMW Financial Services NA, LLC/Financial Services Vehicle Trust through August 01, 2014. Monthly Lease payments of $979.00 for 36 months based on MSRP of $81,850.00.

*Lease financing available on 2014 BMW 740Li vehicles, only at participating BMW centers on leases assigned to BMW Financial Services NA, LLC/Financial Services Vehicle Trust through August 01, 2014. Monthly Lease payments of $829.00 for 36 months based on MSRP of $82,925.00.

2015 X1 sDrive28i

2015 X3 xDrive28i

2014 X6 xDrive35i

359

Lease for 36 months.

*Lease financing available on 2015 BMW X1 sDrive28i vehicles, only at participating BMW centers on leases assigned to BMW Financial Services NA, LLC/Financial Services Vehicle Trust through August 01, 2014. Monthly Lease payments of $359.00 for 36 months based on MSRP of $36,550.00.

529

Lease for 36 months.

*Lease financing available on 2015 BMW X3 xDrive28i vehicles, only at participating BMW centers on leases assigned to BMW Financial Services NA, LLC/Financial Services Vehicle Trust through August 01, 2014. Monthly Lease payments of $529.00 for 36 months based on MSRP of $46,000.00.

729

Lease for 36 months.

*Lease financing available on 2014 BMW X6 xDrive35i vehicles, only at participating BMW centers on leases assigned to BMW Financial Services NA, LLC/Financial Services Vehicle Trust through August 01, 2014. Monthly Lease payments of $729.00 for 36 months based on MSRP of $65,025.00.