Ada Hub May 2018

MAY 2018 Vol. 8 Issue 8

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adahub COMMUNITY MAGAZINE

s e y a M TJ EPISODE 1

April 25th

Casper McWade

EPISODE 2 May 25th

EPISODE 3 n o s p m a S r Carte June 25th

m a h r a P i v e L

EPISODE 4 July 25th

WATCH ONLINE WWW.PLAYITLOUDSHOW.COM 2 • www.adahub.com

CONTENTS

adahub COMMUNITY MAGAZINE

MAY 2018

FEATURES

Publisher Okie Icon Media Managing Editor David Dinsmore Featured Writer Sunnie Dawn Smith Ad Sales Brad Carter Art Direction Fawn Wilson-Olivarez Photography Nicholas Geisler Mckenzie Crosby Monica Beben-Carvajal

8

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5 ARe Randal Blues honors roots

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7 Cover Story: Correll's legacy to resonate with students

A rticles and advertisements in the Ada Hub do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the magazine or Okie Icon Media. Okie Icon Media does not assume responsibility for statements made by advertisers or editorial contributors. The acceptance of advertising by Ada Hub does not constitute endorsement of the products, services or information. We do not knowingly present any product or service that is fraudulent or misleading in nature. Ada Hub assumes no responsibility for unsolicited materials.

9 Ada Homeless Services Hosts Annual Crawfish Boil

Klean

8 Carvajal's years in Ada inspired first novel, writing career

A PUBLICATION OF OKIE ICON MEDIA © COPYRIGHT 2018

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ARe Randal Blues honors roots, former member with new album

By Sunnie Dawn Smith

A

da has a growing live music scene. It seems like every weekend there is live music at one of the many local venues.

While there are many bands to choose from, ARe Randal Blues is one of the most experienced, with more than 100 years of study among the three members. All of this time and practice has paid off, and ARe Randal Blues released their first album, “He Was a Blues Man,” on May 4.

The name ARe Randal Blues is not a typo but rather an homage to one of the members’ sons. When he was a small child, he had left a piece of schoolwork in the floorboard of the car and that was how he had spelled the letter R. It gave his dad Randy Elston a chuckle, and it became a bit of a family joke. When the group members were looking for a new band name, they wanted something unique and clever, so they went with the spelling that Elston’s young son had once written.

The three members of the band love working together and have become a family of their own. Elston plays guitar, B Scott is the lead singing bassist and Ron Lane plays drums and vocals as well.

“We have never gotten into an argument,” Elston said. “That doesn’t mean we don’t get on each other’s nerves sometimes, but we never get into knock-downdrag-outs like some bands do. We are a three-piece puzzle that works together and fits together, and it is unusual to to get to do that.”

This relationship is especially unique.

While Scott and Elston have been playing together since 2007, Lane did not join up until 2016 and had some big shoes to fill.

Before ARe Randal Blues existed, Elston was a member of another local band called Cross Eyed Jack. Robert Hill joined him in 2002, and then Scott joined in 2007. In the beginning they played mostly classic rock, but when Hill joined up they started playing blues. Eventually, they decided to transform completely into a blues band, and ARe Randal Blues was formed. They made a demo in 2014, and then took a week off of

Randy Elston, Ron Lane and B Scott comprise the band, ARe Randal Blues, which released its first full album on May 4.

PHOTO BY NICHOLAS GEISLER

practice. Hill was getting ready to go visit some family but unexpectedly died before he left town. Elston and Scott were left afloat after losing their drummer and close friend.

“We wouldn’t be where we are now without Hill,” Elston said.

Their new album is titled after a song on the album, “He Was a Blues Man,” which was written in memory of Hill.

After Hill’s passing, they tried to fill his spot with another drummer, but none was a perfect fit until Lane. Lane had been freelancing in the Dallas area playing everything from rock to blues to jazz to disco. He came to Ada in 2002 to help take care of his mother and continued playing music with various bands whenever he could. When he saw the advertisement at Dave’s Music in 2016 that ARe Randal Blues was looking for a drummer, he decided to audition, and they fit together immediately.

All three members have played many different types of music before settling into the blues. Elston toured with a rock band, Captain, in the 1970s but decided to quit and go back to school. He was on the road all the time but was also married with kids. He decided he needed to be home and have the stability that the road could not offer. So he went back to school, quit music and eventually became a professor and the director of the graduate program in rehabilitation counseling at East Central University for 21 years. He returned to music in 1996 and has been

playing ever since.

Scott, the youngest member of the group, has all of his childhood memories tied up in music. Music was all around him – a constant soundtrack for his life. However, he didn’t start playing music until he was 19 when he formed a punk band with his cousins. Punk gave way to rockabilly, and then he started doing research and discovered the classic blues musicians. When he found the music of Howling Wolf, he said it felt like his soul was connected to a man he had never met.

The blues speaks to each band member in different ways. Lane sees the blues as the beginning of all other music.

“All the other forms of American music owe a debt to the blues,” Lane said.

Elston describes the blues as an expression of reality and what people go through every day. For Scott, as well, the reality of the blues is also the key factor.

“People like to misinterpret the blues,” Scott said. “They don’t understand. They try to make jokes. But the blues isn’t just being miserable. It is about everyday life. Every day, somebody doesn’t have enough money for rent or food, and every day, somebody’s old lady or old man is doing something that they shouldn’t be doing. I don’t sing the blues to be miserable. For me, it is a happy place.”

Their new album, “He Was a Blues Man,” can be found on iTunes or can also be purchased from their website in either a physical or digital copy at ARerRandalBlues.com. www.adahub.com • 5

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Correll’s legacy at ECU to resonate with students now, in the future

By Sunnie Dawn Smith

W

hen Dr. Allen Correll retires in May from East Central University, he will leave a legacy that reaches well beyond his 15 years as director of bands.

Correll came to ECU in 2003 after nearly 30 years of being a high school band director at Westmoore High School.

At the time, he had no ambitions to be a college band director. He loved working with high school students and helping shape their experiences in both a musical and a personal way. However, he was starting to wonder if there was more to his profession than he had experienced.

“As a high school director, I had figured out how to make 1s at contest, and it was fun and challenging,” Correll said. “I got to a point where I wanted to do more. I remember thinking there has to be more to music than making 1s at contest.”

When he went to London in the summer of 2003 with a group of high school choir and band kids, his life changed dramatically. Bronson and Allene Warren were both on that trip, as was Dennis Boe and his wife. He knew the Warrens because Bronson had been the long time band director at Ada High School, and Boe taught piano and music theory at ECU. As soon as the plane landed in London, they started trying to convince him to apply for the newly open director of bands position at ECU. At first, he was reluctant. However, over the course of 16 days, they convinced him to give it a try.

The day after he returned from Europe, he came to ECU for meetings with some of the top administrators. It was at that moment that he realized that this was what he wanted to do with his life. He had plans to work on his doctorate at the University of Oklahoma and was willing to do all the work he needed to do at ECU in addition to returning to school as an adult.

For the next six years, Correll did all his work at ECU while also earning his doctorate. Because he had been out of school for so long, he also had to reteach himself much of the theory that he had learned during his previous educational career.

Also, his youngest son had just started high school at Westmoore, and he didn’t want to uproot his family. Correll con-

Allen Correll will retire this May as director of bands at East Central University, where he came in 2003 after 30 years as the band director at Westmoore High School.

PHOTO BY NICHOLAS GEISLER

tinued to live in Moore, commuted to Ada and stayed in a dorm room at ECU a couple nights a week.

One of the benefits that ECU gained by taking a chance on Correll was his passion for teaching others how to teach. He had extensive experience as a high school band director, so he knew how to teach other budding educators how to do the same and do it well. Also, his years in high school settings helped him understand how important a good band experience could be in personal development, college recruitment and retention. One of the things that he has implemented in the band is setting up all freshman with a “big brother” or “big sister” who is responsible for that person.

They are supposed to help watch out for them and their struggles, making sure they are doing well. He also always emphasized staying in touch with family, asking the freshmen regularly, “Have you called home lately?”

Even more than the personal impact he made on students’ lives, though, is the impact he has made in classrooms all across Oklahoma by teaching teachers how to teach. Since 2003, he has been consumed by the question of what makes a success-

ful teacher. He has realized that it doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with how good of a musician one is. While he is still searching for that answer, the closest he has gotten at this point is that the most successful teachers are the ones who are still learning.

“Continuing to be a student,” Correll said, “is important and helps create a culture of success.”

His students have taken his teachings to heart as they direct bands all over Oklahoma. One student, Jack Malm, is now the band director at Allen and said he owes much to the teachings of Correll.

“Dr. Correll is one of the top five influences in my career as an educator and musician,” Malm said. “The quote that always stuck with me the most is, ‘In order to be a great teacher, you have to love working with kids,’ which should be a given, but it isn’t. You can love teaching a subject more than anyone else in the world, but if the love for kids is absent, you are sunk right out of the gate. I fully believe that if Allen Correll were around a few hundred years ago instead of now, we’d be studying his proverbs and teaching them today.” www.adahub.com • 7

Carvajal’s years in Ada inspired first novel, writing career

By Sunnie Dawn Smith

W

hen Christian Carvajal was a child, he loved to read and make up his own stories. The turning point for him, though, came when he was seven.

His mother saw him watching and enjoying “Star Trek” and handed him a copy of Ray Bradbury’s collection, “S is for Space.”

The first story in the collection, “Chrysalis,” engaged his imagination in a way he did not know was possible. It was a science fiction story but also a superhero story.

“I didn’t know that this kind of popcorn content could be in literature at age seven,” Carvajal said. “The idea of a little movie in 10 or 20 pages really knocked my head off, and that was my introduction to grown-up literature.”

He was hooked, and his mother got him an adult pass for their local library. Reading a few made him want to read more, and this led to him making up his own stories.

As he grew up, he continued to read and write more, but what gave him the confidence to continue writing were his parents.

One night, when he was in second or third grade, he heard his mom reading one of his short stories aloud to his father as they were praising his work. They thought he was asleep, but he was really laying in bed listening and feeling a swelling pride in his hard work and creativity. This support at an early age kept pushing him to create more and more.

When it was time for Carvajal to go to college, he chose East Central University, where he received two undergraduate degrees in 1993 in math for secondary education and in communications with a concentration in theater. While in Ada, he was active in the theater community and continued to write. He moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career and then returned to Ada from 2004-2007 after he had accomplished what he wanted to do in L.A. It was while living in Ada that he started writing professionally, mainly doing online articles. In 2006, however, things changes for him. His stepfather died suddenly of a heart attack, but he died with a smile on his face, Carvajal said. He started to wonder if he would be as happy at the end of his life as his stepfather had been. He realized the answer to that heavy question would be no.

His mother had been wanting him to live closer to her, and after several visits, he decided to make the move to Tumwater, Washington – just south of Olympia.

When he first arrived, he was unemployed, but he used that time to complete his first novel, “Lightfall,” inspired by his time in Ada. When he moved to Washington, everything fell into place for him. When “Lightfall” was accepted for publication by a Campanile Books, it boosted his confidence to pursue a full-time career in writing. He became a local theater critic and started writing feature articles for a local magazine. He started producing educational content for textbook supplements and computer teaching games. Fiction was his entry point into a life of professional writing, and then it became something he did on the side because he enjoyed creating these new worlds.

While he started writing short stories as a child and young adult, novel writing occupied much of his creative time. However, after being invited to present at the Creative Colloquy in Olympia, Carvajal started writing short fiction again and remembered what he loved about it.

“I love the economy of short stories,” Carvajal said. “Every word needs to pull its full weight. If you have 15 minutes to read 8 • www.adahub.com

Former Ada native Christian Carvajal has followed his first novel, “Lightfall,” with a collection of short stories titled “C is for Collection,” as an homage to the works of Ray Bradbury.

PHOTO BY MONICA BEBEN-CARVAJAL

a story in a room full of people, that locks in you to about 1,200 words. In that small amount of space, you have to create a new playground in a short period of time. You also need to create characters and maybe tell a joke or two. Every word matters, and when you look at people like Bradbury, you see how they were able to do all of that and pack in text and subtext in a short amount of time.”

Short fiction presents a different type of challenge than a novel, and it is one that Carvajal relishes.

His newest book, a collection of short stories, “C is for Collection,” is an homage to the works of Ray Bradbury. It contains 21 original stories, spanning the first 35 years of his career and arriving one week before his 50th birthday, and it will be available June 5 from Amazon, Mudflatpress.com or his own website, christiancarvajal.com. It will be available in both trade paperback or e-reader formats.

Ada Homeless Services Hosts Third Annual Crawfish Boil

By Sunnie Dawn Smith

F

or the third year in a row, a unique fundraiser will be happening in Ada. Instead of the usual bake sales and cookouts, Ada Homeless Services will be bringing in 500 pounds of premium crawfish and 100 pounds of shrimp straight from the Gulf of Mexico to be cooked up by professionals. They cook all the seafood on site, along with corn, potatoes, mushrooms, onion, sausage and their own special seasonings. Servings of seafood and a night of fun and entertainment costs $25 and supports the efforts of the local organization.

Jeff Wood and the Woodpickers, a cover band out of Edmond, will be performing a set that is guaranteed to entertain people of all ages. This year they are also providing a free photo booth so people can take pictures with their friends and family.

The event will be held 6-9 p.m.on Saturday, May 19 at the Chickasaw Nation Community Center at 700 N Mississippi.

While tickets can be purchased at the door, it is highly advised that they be purchased in advance, because organizers said they are expecting this event to sell out. Tickets can be purchased online, in person or over the phone.

People can stop by the Ada Homeless Services office at 627 N. Broadway or call (580) 272-0211.

They can also visit their website www. adahomelessservices. org to purchase tickets or for more information on their services and operations.

The first year they had the crawfish boil, tickets were $40 per person. While that was worth the food and experience, they have been able to drop the price due to corporate sponsorship. This year’s major sponsors are Holcim in Ada and Fairmount Santrol in Roff. While these are the two main sponsors of the event, many other businesses, individuals and organizations have also come together to support this fundraiser that supplies an unfortunate yet necessary service for the community.

In the past year, Ada Homeless Services

has been able to expand their operations, helping even more people in need.

They had a 15 percent increase in annual revenue along with a 47 percent increase in fundraiser revenue from their Crawfish Boil last year. They had 29 new donors and a $25,000 grant from the Valley View Foundation. Because of these generous donations, they were able to expand their rapid rehousing program and rent out an additional office space to be used as storage for furniture and other household items.

“Now we can usually get our clients set up with the basics for their new homes, but we are still looking for donations of lightly used furniture and household items,” organization director Sarah Frye said.

Those who would like to donate items can call Frye at Ada Homeless Services at (580) 272-0211.

This year they are also going to be setting up a budgeting workshop with the help of First United Bank. It will be a requirement for rapid rehousing clients but also available to other members of the community. It will be a three-step program with the first step occurring at Ada Homeless Service, the second step at the bank and the third step through pairing the client with a financial mentor for a one-on-one relationship. Budgeting is essential to avoiding homelessness, but it is a different kind of budgeting than most people can comprehend.

“These people aren’t trying to figure out how to save for retirement or vacation,” Frye said. “They are trying to figure out how to put food on the table and get their diapers to stretch.”

Officials are hoping that this financial workshop will be beneficial to all the participants and the community at large.

Donating to Ada Homeless Services is money well spent as 72 percent of every dollar is spent directly on client services with emergency services receiving 23 percent of funds, homeless prevention getting

Seafood, corn, potatoes and more are on the menu for the third annual crawfish boil fundraiser supporting Ada Homeless Services happening 6-9 p.m. Saturday, May 19 at the Chickasaw Nation Community Center at 700 W. Mississippi.

PHOTO BY MCKENZIE CROSBY

21 percent, and rapid rehousing gaining 27 percent. In 2017, 1,365 individuals used their services, of which more than half were women and almost a third were under the ages of 18. These services helped 498 individuals avoid eviction, and 80 clients were places in 28 new homes. Of those placed in new homes, the majority were single parent families, and more than 75 percent remained in the houses for at least six months with 37 percent able to achieve an increase in their household income.

Many people are closer to homelessness than they would ever think, Frye said. Of her clients, 79 percent cited an unexpected and significant loss of income. So many people live paycheck to paycheck that if they lose their job, they are in significant danger of losing their housing as well. This is why the number one goal at Ada Homeless Services is to prevent people from becoming homeless in the first place. Yet, if they do lose their shelter, Frye said she tries everything she can to help them. She cares about her clients and takes a personal interest in their well being.

For more information about Ada Homeless Services, visit their website or their Facebook page. For services or donations, call or visit their office. www.adahub.com • 9

Keeping Friends and Family Heart Healthy in Ada

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Cardiovascular Disease

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OHH interventional cardiologists serving the Ada Clinic (from left): Saeed Ahmad, MD; Aamir Hameed, MD; John Harvey, MD; Suresh Chandrasekaran, MD; Paul Garabelli, MD - electrophysiology; Ronald Magee, MD - vascular surgeon; Michael Partin, MD; Bryan Perry, MD; Michael Scherlag, MD; Michael Schoeffler, MD; Marc Weitzel, MD; John Williams, MD. Not pictured: John Randolph, MD., Cardiothoracic surgeon.

OHH interventional cardiologists serving the Ada Clinic (from left): Saeed Ahmad, MD; Aamir Hameed, MD; John Harvey, MD; Suresh Chandrasekaran, MD; Paul Garabelli, MD - electrophysiology; Ronald Magee, MD - vascular surgeon; Michael Partin, MD; Bryan Perry, MD; Michael Scherlag, MD; Michael Schoeffler, MD; Marc Weitzel, MD; John Williams, MD. Not pictured: John Randolph, MD., Cardiothoracic surgeon.

10 • www.adahub.com

Hard work, compassion the backbone of Padilla’s patient care

By Sunnie Dawn Smith

W

hen Dr. Michael Padilla was young, he was blessed to come from a family of hard workers.

He did not come from a life of wealth and privilege, but he was raised in a culture of determination and fortitude. Padilla’s grandfather had an eighth-grade education and then left school to pick lettuce in the fields; he had to help support his family.

Padilla’s grandparents came to America, and his grandfather fought in World War II, earning his American citizenship.

As is the dream, the next generation did a little bit better. Both of Padilla’s parents graduated high school. His grandfather’s military service paved the way for future generations to have a chance to succeed in the United States. Whenever Padilla was young, he wanted to be a lawyer, but he showed a love and aptitude for science. He was also very active and had broken several bones before he went to college. When it was time to go to college, he earned a place at Stanford University where he graduated pre-med in 2001. He then attended the prestigious Tufts University in Boston for medical school, graduated in 2007 and finished his residency in orthopaedics from University of California at San Diego in 2014. After finishing his residency, Padilla continued to study, completing his Kaiser Permanente Fellowship in Sports Medicine in 2015. Before his grandfather passed away, he was able to see his grandson graduate from medical school, becoming the first physician in their family, and he was able to feel pride at the accomplishments that his own sacrifices had sown.

Padilla originally wanted to be a pediatrician because he loved working with kids. However, in his third year of medical school, he tore his ACL playing basketball.

He had a chance to see the patient side of orthopaedic surgery and was impressed by what was possible. He subsequently did a rotation in orthopaedics and realized that this was what he needed to be doing. He decided to do the extra year of training to be specialized in sports medicine so he could help athletes continue doing what they love despite the injuries they might sustain.

After finishing his training, Padilla had to decide where he wanted to go.

“I wanted to be able to apply my sports training, and with Oklahoma being such a hub for football and other sports, it was an excellent option,” Padilla said.

He started working with Mercy in 2015 and came to Ada. He liked Ada because he came from a small town, and he liked the way of life. Also, East Central University provided many opportunities for him to apply his sports medicine training. When he left Mercy to work with the Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Center out of Norman, he decided to stay in Ada and open a practice. He travels around southwest Oklahoma, serving many communities so they can all benefit from his extensive training without having to travel to Oklahoma City or Tulsa.

Though Padilla is a surgeon, surgery is always seen as a last resort. He prefers to try to treat injuries with splints, casts, injections and physical therapy. He tries all nonoperative options first, though if surgery is needed, it is minimally invasive. He treats all forms of injuries and illness, including fractures, torn ligaments, arthritis and dislocations, just to name a few. There are a few things that he can do that few, if any, other surgeons in Oklahoma can, including knee preservation surgery with meniscal transplants and cartilage repair and rotator cuff reconstruction.

Padilla’s hard work has paid off for him and his community.

“I came from a hard-working background,” Padilla said. “I have always worked hard and was never given anything. This helps me relate to my patients, because when you work for people who are working hard to provide for their families then it is easier to relate to them.”

Dr. Michael Padilla applies the lessons of hard work and dedication learned from his family to every aspect of his patient care as an orthopaedics and sports medicine specialist. He sees patients on Fridays at Primary Care of Ada at 1023 Arlington. Information and appointments at (405) 364-7900.

PHOTO SUBMITTED

Padilla loves being able to help people get back to work – whether it is their job or on the football field. He is very patientdriven and cares deeply for them. He even gives them his cell phone number and calls to check on them. He is honest with them about their condition and treatment but is able to do so in a kind and compassionate manner.

For more information or to schedule an appointment, call (405) 364-7900.

Padilla is in Ada every Friday to see his patients, and his office is located at Primary Care of Ada at 1023 Arlington.

www.adahub.com • 11

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