ADA HUB NOVEMBER 2018

NOVEMBER 2018 Vol. 9 Issue 2

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adahub COMMUNITY MAGAZINE

Publisher Okie Icon Media

CONTENTS

NOVEMBER 2018

FEATURES

Managing Editor David Dinsmore Featured Writer Sunnie Dawn Smith Ad Sales Brad Carter Art Direction Fawn Wilson-Olivarez Photography Nicholas Geisler

8

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A PUBLICATION OF OKIE ICON MEDIA © COPYRIGHT 2018

5 ECU Opera Presents 'Cost Fan Tutte'

8 Artist's journey follows distinct yet winding path

6 Fire tips for a holly jolly holiday

11 Challenge, culture at the heart of stickball

7 VFW proudly serves crucial role for local veterans, their families

www.adahub.com • 3

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Lane Taylor rehearses for his role as Don Alfonso in ECU’s production of Mozart’s “Cosi Fan Tutte.” The comical opera will feature an English translation and updated setting at a 1970s disco.

PHOTO BY NICHOLAS GEISLER

ECU Opera Presents 'Cost Fan Tutte'

By Sunnie Dawn Smith

W

hile in college, students often have many opportunities they would not have otherwise.

Some of these opportunities are commonly considered, such as joining a fraternity or sorority, but others might never occur to students prior to enrollment.

One of these unique opportunities offered at East Central University, is the chance to be in an opera. Melody Baggech is in her 18th year of teaching voice and other music classes at ECU. Since arriving, she has had the chance to do nine complete operas.

While she loves opera and had the chance to study it in high school and college – as well as singing professional in Europe and the United States – what she loves most is giving these students the opportunity to discover their own love for the art form.

At ECU, a majority of music students have never had a chance to be in an opera. While their high schools might have done musical theater, Baggech said it is not the same.

“Opera is larger than life and lots of fun to sing,” she said.

Everything in an opera is sung. There are generally two elements that help performers accomplish this. The first element is comprised of the arias, which essentially are the songs associated with opera. The other element includes the recitative, which is the operatic equivalent of a monologue or dialogue sung on pitch but in a freer, speechlike manner.

Putting on an opera and learning the roles is a lot of hard work. This is one of the reasons why Baggech offers course credit for doing the opera.

This year, they will be performing “Cosi

Fan Tutte” by Mozart. There are two performances at Dorothy Summers Theater at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 29 and Wednesday, Nov. 30. Tickets for adults are $15 and $10 for senior citizens and children. Admission is free for ECU faculty, staff and students.

The reason Baggech chose this opera is because it is funny, and the plot is still relevant even though it is several hundred years old.

They will also be singing it in English, a translation written by Baggech herself because the typical English translation was “too stilted.”

“I wanted something more contemporary that the students and audience could relate to more easily – something that sounded like the way people actually talk,” Baggech said.

In order to make it more accessible, it is also set in a 1970s disco instead of 1700s Italy.

In the opera, there is an older gentleman, Don Alfonso, who owns a disco and is a mentor to two young men. Alfonso wants to prove to the young men, Ferrando and Guglielmo, that women cannot be faithful.

They devise a scheme where they will pretend to go off to war and come back disguised as foreigners to woo their girlfriends, Fiordiligi and Dorabella, and see if they will succumb to their advances. Throughout the course of this, Alfonso enlists the help of one of his waitresses, Despina.

The principal cast is comprised of five ECU students and one ECU alum. Courtney Phillips will portray Fiordiligi while Shelby Baker and Teresa White will alternate playing the role of Dorabella. Jessica Drury plays Despina. Ferrando and Guglielmo are played

by Chris Coulter and Malik Sharp. The role of Don Alfonso is performed by Lane Taylor,

who is the choir director at Byng High School.

This performance will have an orchestra playing the score as conducted by Nicholaus Meyers, current band director at ECU. Baggech’s husband, Alan Marshall, is doing the stage direction, light design and overseeing the stage manager and technical aspects.

Baggech and Marshall have different skill sets that allow them to collaborate effectively to make such a large-scale production a success.

“It takes a lot of people and work to put together an opera,” Baggech said. “It is twice the production of a straight play.”

The students are learning as musicians and actors as they figure out how to interpret their role and perform it in the most artistic and effective manner. Many of the students will use these skills in their careers, whether they direct, sing, teach or go to graduate school.

“I love giving the students the opportunities to perform in this medium,” Baggech said. “It is so much fun for me to see students catch the fever for performing. When they first enroll, some of them have no idea what they’re in for. Once they find out, it’s wonderful. They love it.”

While an opera provides benefits for the students, Baggech said it also adds a lot of value to the community.

“Opera adds variety to the musical and artistic palate of Ada,” Baggech said. “It affords people an opportunity to see an art form that would be difficult and expensive to see outside of Ada.” www.adahub.com • 5

Fire tips for a holly jolly holiday

By Sunnie Dawn Smith

N

ow that cold weather has descended upon Oklahoma, many people are lighting their heaters and fireplaces.

While this can make cold nights a little cozier, it also makes life very busy for one group of people: firefighters.

According to Ada Fire Department Deputy Chief Joe Allen, fall is when they get more calls than any other time. Appliances fail, and people might not know the signs and warnings of defective appliances. There are things people must keep in mind and precautions they can take to stay safe in their homes.

The first thing that people can do is make sure they have their heaters serviced by someone who is licensed and professional, whether it be gas, electric or a fireplace.

Chimney sweeps aren’t just for Mary Poppins. The flue on a chimney will build up sediment over time, which can start fires in the chimney that can then spread to the attic.

Another thing that people might not think about is that they need to mow the grass very short around their house. When all the vegetation begins to dry out, and the winds get high, a beautiful lawn can turn into kindling that make it harder to put the fire out and easier for the fire to spread.

Another thing that people can do to protect themselves is make sure that their smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors are operational. Even if they do beep when tested, they should still be replaced every eight to ten years because dust built up on the sensors could make them less sensitive.

While fires are dangerous and scary, carbon monoxide may be even more worrisome because it is a silent killer. It has no smell or taste. It can build up in a home 6 • www.adahub.com

The Ada Fire Department tends to see a rise in the number of fire calls as the weather turns colder, which makes it more important for residents to establish or review safety procedures at home

PHOTO BY NICHOLAS GEISLER

without anyone being aware of it until it is too late.

“Carbon monoxide attaches itself to the hemoglobin in the blood twice as readily as oxygen does,” Allen said. “It is suffocating you from the inside out.”

While it has no odor, there are signs that people can learn to recognize. The first is cherry-red skin like a rosy-cheeked Santa Claus. This is a sign that carbon monoxide has built up in your home. If noticed – especially in a home with gas appliances – people should leave the home to get fresh air and call 911. There are also physical symptoms, such as headache and nausea.

However, many of the physical symptoms are similar to the flu, which is also rampant in the fall and winter, so it can be difficult for people to tell if they are sick or have carbon monoxide poisoning.

While the goal is to avoid a fire, sometimes they are unavoidable. While it is rare, it is also devastating for the families affected. This is why it is important to take precautions just in case there is a fire in the home.

Allen offered several recommendations for keeping people safe in the event of a fire.

First and foremost, it is

important to have a plan just in case there is a fire. Families should have regular safety drills just as they do at school. Make sure everybody knows how to get out of the house, and that everyone has two exit points available to them. If someone has a bedroom on the second story, make sure they have a rope ladder and know how to use it. Make sure that everyone, especially kids, know not to go back in for toys or pets. It is important to practice this on a regular basis. During a fire, there is limited time to get out of the house, and it is disorienting as well.

Ensuring everyone is out keeps family members safe as well as the responding firefighters, whose risk substantially increases if they have to search for people in a burning building.

Allen said the amount of time it takes for a fire to overtake a house has decreased substantially in the past 20 years because of all the synthetic materials used in furniture, clothes and household items, it now can take three minutes for a fire to really get going; it used to take 20 minutes. If all the family members know what they are supposed to do and have drilled

it multiple times, then they will all meet up at their designated spot outside of the house instead of wandering around the house searching for each other.

A couple other things to consider when exiting the house is checking doorknobs with the back of the hand. The skin is more sensitive there. If you feel heat, choose another exit. Also, people should be sure to stay low. This is also something that can be practiced during exit drills. Not only does smoke rise, but so does heat.

“When a grown adult stands up, they are putting their head in the worst smoke in the house,” Ada Fire Department Chief Rob Johnson said. “You have to stay low when the alarms go off.”

The difference in temperature can be astounding as well. If it is 120 degrees near the floor, it can be 800 degrees near the ceiling.

If people have any nonemergency questions about fire safety, they can call the Ada Fire Department’s non-emergency phone number at (580) 4368076.

If it is an emergency, especially related to fire, smoke, gas or carbon monoxide, evacuate your home and call 911 immediately.

VFW proudly serves crucial role for local veterans, their families

By Sunnie Dawn Smith

O

ne of the most under-recognized resources in Ada is the VFW Desert Storm Post 11194 located in Suite B at the Agriplex.

This group of faithful volunteers sees it as its mission to help veterans get the benefits and help they deserve. They are open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. While their hours might be short, they are highly experienced, and if they don’t know the answer to a question they will not rest until they find it. Tenacity is their top quality.

Chuck Foster is the post commander and served in Korea. Glen Gouge is the service officer and quartermaster and served in Vietnam. Volunteer Jim Christian also served in Vietnam. The other volunteers, Karen Jones and Peggy Haley, are not members of the VFW because they did not serve in foreign conflict, but they still work tirelessly to help others get the help they need.

Post 11194 was founded in the early 1990s by Johnny Stansbury. Stansbury was a veteran who was having trouble accessing his benefits. There was no one to help him, so he helped himself. He figured out how to navigate the red tape of the Veterans Affairs services and was able to access his benefits.

After he learned how to help himself, he helped someone else and then someone else and then someone else. He didn’t think there would be that many veterans in this area who would need help accessing their benefits. He was wrong. As he would help someone, they would want to volunteer to help as well. This is how their volunteer base grew, and so Post 11194 was founded.

In the beginning, their office was located in Stansbury’s mom’s spare bedroom, but after he passed away, they moved locations and eventually established at the Agriplex five years ago.

In order to be a member of the VFW, one has to have served in a foreign conflict.

However, the volunteers at Post 11194 help any veterans, not just those who are VFW members. They also help the spouses of veterans as well.

While they don’t deal with education or housing for veterans, they do know the resources and can direct them to the right places and people. The majority of their work is helping people access medical benefits through the VA and disability compen-

The volunteers of VFW Desert Storm Post 11194 located in Ada’s Agriplex help veterans and their families access health and other benefits through the Veterans Affairs in addition to assisting other veterans organizations by collecting clothing and other donations.

PHOTO BY NICHOLAS GEISLER

sation claims. While some might think that veterans are handed information about their benefits as soon as they leave the service, this notion often is incorrect.

Accessing their benefits can be a long and arduous process. Many don’t know who to call or what paperwork to file. Even the letters they receive from the VA are complex and written in hard-to-understand language. Some just end up giving up because the process is so difficult, but they don’t need to get discouraged.

The volunteers at Post 11194 work to help with exactly these problems. They know the language and the forms and are used to navigating the process and keeping up with the new rules and regulations that change often.

“Their knowledge and understanding of the paperwork and forms is invaluable,” said Angela Martin, the spouse of a veteran.

“They help you wade through the confusing jargon and understand what is required to complete your claim.”

In addition to helping veterans and their spouses, they also do many other things for the veteran community. They have an ongoing clothing and book drive in order to take the donations to the Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Center in Sulphur. This is an assisted living facility specifically for veterans, and many come to this center with only the clothes on their back.

Post 11194 collects clothes to donate to their free clothing closet, books and magazines for the library and is currently seeking donations of all toiletries, new socks and underwear, coats, lap blankets, canes, walkers and wheelchairs. They also keep donated canes, walkers and wheelchairs at the post just in case a veteran comes in and

needs to borrow one until they can get one from the VA. Through a grant via the national VFW organization, they have also adopted the National Guard 1245th Truck Company in Ada. Last December, the 1245th was deploying to Afghanistan, and through the grant Post 11194 was able to put on an early Christmas dinner for the families as the soldiers would be gone at Christmas. They also bought toys for all the children so the families could celebrate together, even though they would be apart at the holidays.

The second Monday of every month, they have their meetings at 7 p.m. Everyone is welcome to come, not just members of the VFW. Also at 9 a.m. on that day, a psychologist comes to do a group therapy session for veterans. Veterans struggling with unique trauma from being in a warzone can see things and do things that can haunt them. The group sessions can allow them to begin to get the emotional help they need in a safe environment while also being around others who have had similar life experiences and understand what they have endured.

While they do occasionally get grants for specific events like the early Christmas party, they do not get any additional funding. They are a volunteer organization that exists solely on donations and dues from their VFW members. They need donations in order to pay the rent and keep the lights on, and they also need younger veterans to join and learn how to do what they do so they can replace them one day.

For more information, visit their Facebook page at Desert Storm Post 11194, VFW of the United States of America, call them at (580) 436-6252 or just stop by for a fresh cup of coffee. www.adahub.com • 7

Artist's journey follows distinct yet winding path

By Sunnie Dawn Smith

T

he artistic process can take many twists and turns. It is not necessarily a straight path, but one filled with many different explorations and interests, which sometimes leads the artist to unexpected, yet familiar territory.

Dustin Mater, a Chickasaw Nation artist, took many of these different roads, yet came back to the themes that were most familiar to him as he grew as an artist.

Mater began creating when he was two years old. He drew a train and engineer, and his mother praised him highly because it actually looked like what it was supposed to be. She saw a talent in him that she wanted to nurture. He wanted to please his mother more than anything, so he started drawing even more.

As he grew older, his mother wanted him to read more, so she started buying him comic books. These comics engaged his imagination and his creativity. He wanted to do that – make his own comic books or draw for a comic book publisher. When he was in third grade, he wrote to DC Comics to apply for an illustrator job. They wrote back, encouraging him to continue creating and apply again in the future, but they weren’t currently hiring preteens.

When he was a child he had to go to counseling for a couple years because his father had left and his grandfather had passed away. He was full of turmoil, sadness and anger. His counselor, Dr. Henry Bloom, encouraged him to draw his feel8 • www.adahub.com

ings, and this added yet another dimension to the way he thought about art. It was cathartic and helped him cope with his struggles, yet at the same time made him think about art as more than just a physical representation.

The first 18 years of his life, Mater was very quiet and absorbed the world around him. He soaked it all up like a sponge – Star Wars, Cocoon, Batman – but also artbook his mother would give him, such as a book of Georgia O'Keeffe paintings. He would go to art classes with his mom and soak up the lessons in still life paintings.

He knew that when he grew up he was going to draw superheroes.

Mater moved to L.A. and was determined to break into the comic book world in some way – whether it be comic books, storyboards, or animation. He did storyboards for a couple of pilots and commercials that never came to fruition. He did an animation for the Paiute tribe that he thoroughly enjoyed, and he also started visiting museums looking at native art from the American Southeast. This was his culture, and he felt the need to reconnect with it in an artistic way.

People kept telling him he should study something practical in college, so he received his degree in graphic design. In 2007 – right before the Great Recession – Mater and his wife Titi moved back to Ada. They wanted to start a family and did not think L.A. was the place to do

that. Mater was able to get work with the Chickasaw Nation in graphic design but also started to devote more of his life to creating art.

He went through an artistic phase where he did a lot of shell carvings, exploring native symbolism present in Southeastern tribal designs. He would also branch out and work in many different media, but he faced a choice when it came to his artwork.

“I had a couple of wonderful mentors who had been on me for a couple of years,” Mater said. “I wanted everyone to like me, so I would do a little bit of everything. People would like it, but they would be overwhelmed. I was trying to refine my work and had to make some hard decisions.”

Those hard decisions led him to focus almost solely on painting, specifically watercolor, which he hadn’t done since college.

One of the things that Mater likes about his paintings is that they are all portraits of women, and they are more accessible than his previous work. He still uses native symbolism, but he works it into tattoos, the hair, the clothing and the background.

His work has elements of Western art that are recognizable to viewers not familiar with native art, but those with knowledge of antiquities would notice and appreciate some of the visual cues he incorporates.

In a way, this more subtle approach could

serve to teach people more about native culture and history than working with pure abstract symbolism.

Another aspect of his new work, however, is that all of the women are strong, looking directly at the viewer with an uncompromising expression on their face.

“I was raised by a native single mother,” Mater said. “She raised my sister and I while she worked her way through college.

My grandmother was also a strong woman in my life, and now I have a daughter. She Creative from a young age, Dustin Mater – a graphic artist with the Chickasaw Nation – worked is 11 years old, and if across an array of media before focusing on she doesn’t see the painting. heroes that are like PHOTO BY NICHOLAS GEISLER her or that make her feel empowered, I need to make them.”

So maybe Mater did ended up creating superheroes after all.

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10 • www.adahub.com

Challenge, culture at the heart of stickball

By Sunnie Dawn Smith

F

ew sports are as grueling or physically demanding as the Native American game of stickball.

Players run nonstop throughout the entire game while battling for dominance over the ball.

It is a full-contact sport with few rules, and players will get knocked down, run into and accidentally hit with sticks or even the ball. All of this is done with no padding or protective equipment. Also, few sports have such a rich and consequential history as stickball.

Boomer Factor has played stickball for the past seven years, and the version of he plays – known as the Choctaw way – was originally called the “Little Brother War.” While it was a game that people would play for fun, it also had deeper significance. It was used to settle disputes within the community or even between two communities to stop them from going to war. If there was an argument, they would play a game of stickball in order to determine an outcome with which all would have to agree. While there aren’t many rules today, there are more than when it originated, and the intense nature of the game could even lead to deaths.

Now, however, some rules have been established, and the game is constantly changing and evolving to protect the lives and health of the players.

The game of stickball is played on a 100 yard field with a pole at either end. The poles are 12 feet tall and four feet in diameter.

There are 60 people on the field at a time with 30 on each team.

At the beginning, the ball is tossed to the middle of the field, and the players form a “scrum” piling onto each other to try to recover the ball for their team.

Each team is divided into three types of players: shooters, centers and defense.

Shooters typically get in

Boomer Factor has played stickball for seven years and has participated in several World Series tournaments in Mississippi.

PHOTO BY NICHOLAS GEISLER

position about 10 feet or so away from their pole. Their job is to throw the ball and hit the pole. The ball is made of woven leather and is about the size of a golf ball. They use sticks with a small cup-like depression on the end to catch the ball and throw it. Centers usually set up around the middle of the field, and their job is to get the ball to the shooters and away from the other team. Defense typically sets up around the other team’s pole, trying to get in the way of the ball and stop them from scoring. They will get in the way of the ball as best as they can, even if it means blocking it with their own body.

Each game is made up of four 15-minute quarters. There are two minutes in between each quarter, and five minutes for halftime. There are no timeouts, and the clock does not stop unless someone is injured and has to be removed from the field.

During halftime, they have time to get a drink and get back out there. The game is very fastpaced, and many times the ball rarely ever hits the ground. They are constantly moving and running, keeping the ball in the air and away from the other team.

Along with the rules developed to protect players come penal-

ties. Most things incur minor penalties in which the player is removed from the quarter but allowed back in next quarter.

However, there are occasionally major penalties when a player is removed from the entire game.

This primarily occurs when someone has let their anger get the best of them and intentionally tries to hurt another player.

Some of the things that can incur penalties are early hits, when someone is tackled before they have the ball and late hits when someone is tackled after they have thrown the ball. There are also penalties for swinging your sticks into other people and pushing people from behind into the scrum.

Factor, a Seminole Nation member who plays as a shooter, was introduced to the game by a friend, Stevie Bacon, who moved

here from Mississippi. Since he started playing, it has become a large part of his life. He even weaves his own stickballs. He and his team go to the stickball World Series in Mississippi every July. It lasts two weeks and has separate divisions for men, women and children. It is a single elimination tournament, and Factor’s team has made it to the second round a few times.

“Out there when a kid is born, they are given their own stickball sticks,” Factor said. “They grow up with it in a way that we don’t around here.”

Factor loves the sense of community the game creates and also the pride in doing something that is culturally significant and difficult. They play year-round, and all the games are co-ed except for the World Series.

www.adahub.com • 11

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