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Outlook May 2015
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outlookoklahoma.com
5
May 2015
Hiding the Salsa
I hide the salsa way back behind the carton of eggs and sticks of butter. Yeah, I’m a grown man who hides his food. Who am I hiding food from? A ravenous granddaughter? A calorie consuming teenager? No, Sandy and I are empty nesters. Is she snack stealing? No, its our grown son. After four years in the service (US Army), heeeeeee’s back. Temporarily living at home until he finds his own place. Even more elaborate than hiding my favorite foods is buying decoy foods that throw perspective snack hunters off the trail. Specifically, decoy cookies. You know the ones, the inexpensive store brand cookies. They’re not nearly as tasty as the gourmet treats I keep hidden in the back of cupboards—out of sight, out of mouth. All this trickery is recent (and hopefully temporary) as our 23-year-old hunter, gatherer, eater is settling back into civilian life. Apparently eating all my food is standard protocol.
34 My Outlook
Shriner Richard Broom entertains children as Grumpy the Clown.
Our son eating our supplies is nothing new—it’s just been four years since this eating machine foraged our supplies. One new method of eating has its unique merit. My son will never finish anything that he sets his sights on. If a bunch of bananas are left innocently lounging in a fruit bowl, one by one they will disappear (sometimes over a period of hours) until only one is left. And that one banana will not be eaten. It will rot before it is eaten by him. I call this “The Code.” I’ve seen it with peanut butter, loaves of bread, jugs of milk, jars of salsa and boxes of crackers. Eat all but the last portion.
8 Facts & Figures 10 Louise
Musings About Mothers
13 Food
In Mother’s Kitchen
16 Business
Carey Pet & Home Care JGF Design Studio
28 Seasonal
Activities
34 My Outlook Richard Broom, Grumpy the Clown
It’s not really a big deal in the grand scheme of things. We’re happy to have him home. Hopefully he will find his own place soon. Love ya, son. Front cover design by Robbie Knight
To advertise, contact Laura at 405-301-3926 or laura@outlookoklahoma.com.
Dave Miller, Publisher/Back40 Design President
OUTLOOK
80 East 5th Street, Suite 130, Edmond, OK 73034
405-341-5599
www.outlookoklahoma.com
FEATURES
18 Space Pioneers
22 Speak Out!
27 Storm Watch
30 Farm Fresh Food
32 Have You Hurd?
From astronauts to ground control, Oklahomans excel in every phase of the space program Individuals affected with Parkinson’s disease learn to strengthen their voices Meteorologist Aaron Tuttle takes a new approach to weather forecasting
Food co-ops and farmers’ markets are on the rise, providing locally sourced food to communities
Heard on Hurd excites all five senses and brings downtown Edmond to life
info@outlookoklahoma.com
Volume 11, Number 5 Edmond & North OKC Outlook is a publication of Back40 Design, Inc. © 2015 Back40 Design, Inc. PUBLISHER Dave Miller
ADVERTISING SALES MANAGER Laura Beam
PRINT PROJECT MANAGER Bethany Marshall
Account Executive Emily Hummel
PHOTOGRAPHY Marshall Hawkins www.sundancephotographyokc.com
Graphic Designers Ryan Kirkpatrick & Robbie Knight
DISTRIBUTION The Outlook is delivered FREE by direct-mail to 50,000 Edmond & North OKC homes.
Articles and advertisements in the Outlook do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the magazine or Back40 Design. Back40 Design does not assume responsibility for statements made by advertisers or editorial contributors. The acceptance of advertising by the Outlook 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. The Outlook assumes no responsibility for unsolicited materials.
outlookoklahoma.com
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Mother’s Day is
t
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May
Approximately 122 million phone calls are made to moms on Mother’s Day in the United States.
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&
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Americans spend an average of
$162.94
on gifts for mom.
Mother’s Day became a recognized US holiday in
1914
141 mil lion Mo ther’s D exchan ay card ged an s are nually in the Unit ed Stat es .
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Outlook May 2015
Of all the flowers bought for holidays, one quarter are purchased for Mother’s Day.
25.8 the average age of a mother giving birth to her first child.
CNN 2012
g
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Around Town
Visit East Edmond’s newest state-of-the-art vet clinic at their Open House on May 30th. Drs. Rex and Shannon Johnson welcome you to tour their facility at 5825 E. Covell Rd (Intersection of Air Depot & Covell). Call Edmond East Animal Hospital at 701-9000 to learn more. St. Luke’s United Methodist Church satellite campus in Edmond has celebrated their one year anniversary and is groundbreaking their new building project near I-35 and Danforth. Visit stlukesokc.org to learn more. Edmond’s first Escape Room is finally here! Clue Quest is celebrating their Grand Opening June 5. Groups of 2-6 people will have one hour to piece together clues and escape one of three themed rooms. To book your room visit cluequestok.com or call 625-3706. Arcadia Lake is hosting their Annual Kids Fishing Derby Saturday, June 6 at Spring Creek Park. Registration for kids ages 5-15 (with guardian) will be held 7:30-9am. Call 216-7471 for details.
outlookoklahoma.com
9
Louise
Musings about Mothers
by Louise Tucker Jones
While rummaging through boxes from the attic, I ran across some old college books and papers. Among them was an assigned essay I had written about my mother who was 58 years old at the time. The story made me smile as I reminisced about long ago happenings. And being as Mother’s Day is around the corner, it seemed only fitting that I share some of my musings. Married at just 16 years of age, my mother became a mother at the tender age of seventeen, eventually giving birth to eight children, two of which were stillborn. But she and Daddy raised a feisty family of six kids. My sister, Jerlene, tells me that she, the firstborn, had a very strict mother who became more lenient with each child. (I think my oldest son says the same thing.) Next came my brothers, Ray and John. Spirited boys whose discipline was handled by my father. Back row, left to right: Ray, Jim, John, Monte Then came what Front row, left to right: Louise, Mama, Jerlene Mama refers to as her twins—my brother, Jimmy and me, just 18 months apart. And finally, my youngest brother, Monte, the baby of the family who seldom received any discipline at all to his siblings’ way of thinking. Besides parenting a passel of kids, Mama worked hard on the farm where we lived—gardening, canning, cooking and cleaning with no indoor plumbing. We did laundry on a wringer washer in town then hung everything on the clothesline and fence to dry. An excellent seamstress, Mama seldom used a pattern and often went to the feed store with Daddy so she could pick out the prettiest prints of feed sacks to make my clothes.
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Outlook May 2015
Mama loved pretty things, especially flowers, palomino ponies and scenic mountain roads. And though neither she nor Daddy had been out of the state of Oklahoma since the day they were married, they packed up sleeping cots, food, skillets and their three youngest kids and headed for the Rocky Mountains when my older brothers took jobs in Montana and Idaho. Along the way we stayed in tiny motels where Mama cooked breakfast and supper then we had bologna and crackers as picnic lunches during the day. We saw lovely landscapes on the trip but for my mother, nothing compared to seeing her boys at the top of a switchback mountain that summer. That kind of scenario repeated with each child. When Jimmy was in Basic Training, Mama and Daddy drove to Fort Polk, Louisiana to visit. When I worked in San Marcos, Texas during my college summers, my parents planned their vacation in the same town. Mothers never quit being mothers, no matter their kids’ ages. In later years, after my daddy died, Mama enjoyed flying. She would grab a window seat and be perfectly content as she flew all over the country visiting her children, grandchildren and other relatives. Was she afraid of flying? Absolutely not! She figured if it was time for her eternal flight home she was in the best place to go, already surrounded by heavenly clouds. My mother is now 98 years old and is currently recovering from hip surgery. I hear she is showing a stubborn streak in rehab, but I’m expecting her to fully recover and eventually see her 100th birthday. We’re already planning a party! Looking back on that essay I wrote forty years ago, I find very little has changed. I still admire my mother tremendously…and…I still want to be like her when I grow up! Happy Mother’s Day to all the beautiful moms who read my column. May your day be blessed!
About the Author Louise Tucker Jones is an award-winning author, inspirational speaker and founder of the organization, Wives With Heavenly Husbands, a support group for widows. Email LouiseTJ@cox.net or visit LouiseTuckerJones.com.
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11
12
Outlook May 2015
FOOD
In
Mother’s Kitchen
by Laura Beam
It was the late 70s. I was just a kid and life was good— bell-bottom jeans, braces, school sports, cheerleading practice, homework and all. Friends were plentiful and days were filled with seemingly routine events, culminating with family dinner each night. What a lost joy it seems now. Just the five of us, our original family, there at that thick, lacquered oval dining table. I don’t even know where that table is today. It’s probably long since become firewood, landfill or some highly toxic, rejected material by the EPA. But it will always be a precious relic in my mind. Life was complete at that table. I grew up with an appreciation of food. Not just the food itself but everything it embodied. I loved the planning, the preparation, the elaborate presentation and the sheer delight of being in the kitchen with my mom, especially before her fabulous dinner parties. In those moments, I felt like a grown-up, a thrill perhaps only a
10-year-old girl fully understands. Dinner parties were the height of culinary fashion at the time, and Laura with Mom knew just how to finesse the her mother crowd and the cuisine. I was drawn into the domestic magic of it all. While the other kids were competing to see who could slide down the stairs in bean bags without falling off, I was setting the dining table with silver-lined china plates and being trusted to mix the perfect sour cream topping for Mom’s raspberry gelatin salad. I eventually joined the kids on the stairs in bean bags, but loved sneaking back downstairs later to serve all the adults coffee with their dessert and clean the kitchen to surprise Mom. As a grown-up now, responsible for dinners and gatherings of my own, cleaning the kitchen doesn’t hold quite the thrill it did continued on next page
outlookoklahoma.com
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In Mother’s Kitchen, cont.
then. I wonder how Mom used to do everything with such style and grace—and without a microwave to accomplish the simplest task like melting butter! I wonder how many other ‘minor’ tasks escaped my attention back then. Mom made food a special celebration for our family, even on the most mundane of days. There was fondue night around our coffee table in the living room by the fire, Sunday movie night with real-popped popcorn and Friday morning trips to the donut shop before school. Not to mention her to-die-for chicken or fruit crêpes, swanky cheese logs and country breakfasts. Lucky enough now to have a mom, step-mom and mother-in-law who are all spectacular cooks, I relish every Laura with her chance to be near them and grandmother learn. It’s a never-ending quest to glean some little nugget of family lore that you just don’t get from the cooking channel. Something you forgot as a kid, something you want to replicate as
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Outlook May 2015
an adult. Every tidbit of culinary wisdom from them is a family treasure. I love the copies of my mother-in-law’s recipes with smudges and markings and notes, like some laborious scientific formula was unearthed in those kitchen moments over biscuit ingredients. And remembering how Mom taught me to make gravy—for which there is never a scientific formula, always brings a skillet full of happiness on chilly weekend mornings. My step-mom’s savory steak teriyaki. My grandmother’s heavy cut glass bowls, pitchers, relish dishes and dainty salt and pepper shakers that now grace my china cabinet and table. Every iconic piece and recipe tell a story I love to remember again and again. I don’t have children of my own watching me in the kitchen, but if a child’s joy is anything like the look on my nephew’s face when I offer him a simple bowl of Crunch Berries or chicken strips, or the satisfied smiles when I host my dad’s birthday party dinner, maybe I’ve accidentally passed on something good, just like mom did. In those moments, I’m a little girl all over again in my mom’s kitchen, the most delicious place on earth.
Laura Beam is a business and food writer and 20-year advertising and marketing executive in radio, newspaper and magazines. Share new business tips and trends with her on LinkedIn or email Laura@outlookoklahoma.com.
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Call 330-6157 for a free estimate! Don’t wait! Limited amount of spaces available!
outlookoklahoma.com
15
BUSINESS
Carey Pet & Home Care by Morgan Day Cris Carey, owner of Carey Pet & Home Care
Thank-yous come in many forms for Cris Carey and her staff. Some days it’s a nuzzle, a neigh, a wag of the tail. Other days, it’s a purr, a snort, and sometimes even a squawk. “This is what I tell all of our pet sitters: What job have you ever had where every single time you walk through the door, you get job appreciation?” said Carey, founder of Carey Pet & Home Care. “They’re always happy to see you, and that’s a very gratifying and satisfying feeling. You just can’t beat it.” Carey and her team of over 20 sitters take care of pets while owners are away. That might mean a potty break, a walk and feeding while the owners are at work, or overnight care while the owners are on vacation. The Oklahoma Citybased business can customize care depending on circumstances. Carey Pet & Home Care will take care of any pet, anywhere in the OKC metro area.
The business even offers housesitting without pets. Ten years ago, Carey, with over 20 years experience in various administrative roles, said goodbye to office life and started over. Using her business operations experience and love of animals, she opened Carey Pet & Home Care. She grew up on an Indiana farm and it was there that she learned to care for all types of animals. That passion for all creatures really pays off, too, as Carey Pet & Home Care sees everything from the typical dogs and cats to large livestock animals and exotic pets. Carey said she decided early on in her pet-sitting career that she would never “discriminate” against any kind of animal. “We’ve had some bearded dragons, boa constrictors, birds, small farm animals,” she said. “One client had goats. We’ve had sheep, chickens, cows and horses. It’s like whatever
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Outlook May 2015
you’ve got, we’ll take care of.” Carey said the Oklahoma City area had a great need for a reliable pet-sitting service. That need, coupled with her staff that builds relationships with each client and pet, led the company to double in size each year for its first three years. As if they weren’t trustworthy enough already, the sitters are now Pet Tech Pet CPR/ First Aid trained and able to handle minor emergencies in the absence of a veterinarian. They also offer those same training courses to the public. “They know that they can trust us,” Carey said. “They hire us because we’re ‘reliable, professional care when you can’t be there.’” Visit careypet.com or call 605-3355 to learn more.
JGF Design Studio by Austin Marshall Jeff Fry & Team at JGF Design Studio
Custom home design allows owners to use their properties truly as extensions of themselves. The process to design and build a custom home can, however, be extremely stressful and daunting. Choosing an expert company can help reduce the anxiety and tension of building your dream home from the ground up. JGF Design Studio uses an exceptionally talented staff of architects, building designers, and interior designers to design the most innovative homes in the country. Jeff Fry, the company’s president and founder, says “JGF’s core mission is to ‘Empower the Homebuyer.’” Their empowerment process is described in four steps: Inquire – Inspire – Innovate – Illustrate. Within these steps the homebuyer is equipped with the information and tools they need to stay on top of the project from design through closing. Fry believes a true custom home is one that is designed and built
according to the vision and lifestyle of the owner. Too often, Fry believes, owners settle for plans found in plan books or from the internet which don’t allow their lifestyle to be fully realized in their new home. “We strive to offer every client the opportunity to participate in the process of designing their home and equip them to visualize the design clearly which helps them to make informed decisions. One of our key assets in this endeavor is our mastery of state-of-the-art 3D design software that provides unparalleled visualization,” said Fry. Many factors should be taken into account when designing a custom home beyond square footage and the number of bedrooms and bathrooms. Considerations such as age of the occupants and their mobility concerns, entertaining preferences, meal preparation and dining preferences to name a few. “A custom home is tailored to your family and your lifestyle
and must be created by someone who can ask the right questions and translate your answers into a set of well-coordinated construction documents.” JGF Design strives to capture these unique and individual characteristics and apply them to the design of their new home. In order to avoid the fear and confusion many clients have about building their own home, Fry explains how his team works and what needs to happen at each step; “We seek to educate our clients continually and assist them with staying on track, on budget and on schedule,” Fry says. The attention to detail and consideration of each family they work with is indicative of JGF’s versatility and expertise in creating one-of-akind homes for their clients. JGF Design Studio is based in Guthrie. For more info, call 405-293-9700 or visit jgfdesign.com.
outlookoklahoma.com
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by Amy Dee Stephens
This summer, a space probe that launched nine years ago will finally reach its furthest destination of Pluto and the outer Kuiper Belt, sending back precious data and photographs. Space exploration is alive and well, and that’s partly due to the efforts of Oklahomans. When Thomas Stafford was a child in Weatherford, Oklahoma, the word astronaut didn’t exist—but he knew he wanted to fly, and fly fast. After a test-pilot career, he was selected to make a trial flight to the moon on the Apollo 10, the precursor to the Apollo moon landing. The year 2015 marks the 50th anniversary of his historic flight during those early stages of space exploration. Space travel began as a political race to beat Russia to the moon. Ten years later, Stafford initiated a mission in which the Soviet Union and the United States would join in friendship, in space. This July marks the 40th anniversary of Thomas Stafford that Apollo-Soyuz flight—Stafford’s last flight—which resulted in the famous space handshake between Stafford and Alexei Leonov. When Leonov was asked what language was spoken in space, he replied, “We speak three languages. We speak English. We speak Russian. We speak Oklahoman.” In a phone interview from his Florida home, 85-year-old Stafford recapped his career. “I did the first rendezvous in space. During my second mission, my co-pilot did the first spacewalk around the earth. I flew the first lunar module to the moon and picked out the landing site. I set an all-time speed record coming back, and then did the first international rendezvous with the Soviet Union. It was John Herrington an honor to represent Oklahoma during the pioneering days of space exploration. I thank God I had the opportunity to be there when we made all those giant steps forward.” From the beginning, Oklahomans have embodied a pioneering spirit. Stafford told how his mother came to Oklahoma in 1901 after the
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Outlook May 2015
Land Run to live in a sod dugout. “One generation later, she watched me go to the moon on live television,” Stafford said. Bill Moore, film producer, writer and Oklahoma space historian said, “Oklahoma is a state born of land runs and pioneers—they were all looking for a new frontier of their own. It was their children and grandchildren who pioneered space.” It was Stafford who was responsible for placing a color television camera on the Apollo 10, so that future generations could see the Earth in color. He explained that, “Earth was so beautiful from orbit that we needed to show it to the people, the American public, the world.” It was the first and only time during his space flights that he felt strangely far from Oklahoma. Two days’ travel later, Stafford had his first glimpse of the moon, just sixty miles below. He described it in his autobiography as “bright and rocky...full of unfamiliar mountains and craters.” Oklahoma’s recently retired astronaut, John Herrington, was a child when he watched live footage of the moon landing on television. He remembers playing astronaut in a cardboard box, looking to the moon and dreaming about being an astronaut. Now, after having spent 330 hours in space, he looks toward space and thinks, “There’s actually stuff up there—people up there, people who have left things up there.” Eight of those people were NASA hired a lot Oklahoma astronauts. It’s a number to be proud of—but there’s a bigger story. of Oklahomans, Untold thousands of Oklahomans and I think it was have left their imprint on the space because they had program—without ever leaving the a common-sense ground. Through technology, space mechanical aptitude probes continue to go boldly where no to solve problems. man has gone before—and Oklahomans have been there every step of the way. “Oklahoma is the only state that’s had astronauts involved in every phase of the space program. I don’t want to give the impression that Oklahomans are the reason we got into space, but there was a great deal of effort by Oklahomans in space and on the ground to help make it all happen. Our engineers continue to touch every planet in the solar system,” said Moore. Moore began interviewing Oklahomans when he realized that the original space explorers were quickly aging. He was determined to “get their stories while they were still alive.” It became apparent that in addition to astronauts, the 46th state had many engineers and technicians working for NASA. Then Moore started expanding his research to include politicians, geologists, NASA’s legal staff and administrators, mission control leaders like James Milton Heflin, a graduate of Edmond High School, and Jim Hartz, a reporter for NBC. What makes Oklahoma such a strong contender in space exploration? Astronauts and space historians speculate that having a
e
good ol’ Oklahoma farm-raisin’ provided the perfect training ground for the early space industry. “A lot of astronauts and engineers from the 1960s were farm boys,” said Moore. “They graduated from Oklahoma universities, and they were 22- or 24-year-olds working in mission control making sudden life-or-death decisions. But they also knew how to solve problems, because when you’re on the farm, you don’t bring in a mechanic every time something breaks down—you get the bailin’ wire out.” Moore shared the story of how the second moon landing was saved by an Oklahoman. At launch, lightning struck the spacecraft, and the electronics went haywire. John W. Aaron in mission control had seen the same thing happen in a previous test. From natural curiosity, he’d figured out a solution. One year later, 15 seconds into a multi-million-dollar moon launch, as the mission was about to be aborted, Aaron said, “Tell them to try the switch above the astronaut’s head.” It was an obscure switch hardly anyone knew about. The astronaut flipped the switch, everything came back on, and they went to the moon. “NASA hired a lot of Oklahomans, and I think it was because they had a common-sense mechanical aptitude to solve problems,” Herrington said. Herrington believes that he was selected for the International Space Station because of his rural raising and experience working with his hands. His credentials weren’t much different from all the other test pilots and engineers, but when NASA asked, “Why should we hire you?” he gave the winning answer. “I’m different because I’ve been a tinkerer all my life. My dad is a great mechanic. My grandpa built a pump station with a third-grade education. This may sound corny, but I think the space station is the ultimate construction site. I would love to turn a wrench in space,” Herrington said. “I walked out thinking that I’d given a dumb, corny answer—even if it was from the heart.” But he got the job, and when a flight director said that the space station needed people who knew how to work with tools, Herrington thought, “I didn’t give such a dumb answer after all!” Herrington laughed as he shared this story over the phone. He was driving home after serving as judge advisor for an Oklahoma robotics competition. “Right now, I’m driving a 1987 Volkswagen bus with a toolbox in the back, and if it breaks down, I’ll fix it. Some of these robotics students are coming from a ranch or farm, they have limited resources, but they can build a robot out of plywood and bailing wire!” Currently, the manned space program is in a lull with the ending of the shuttle program, but NASA is just weeks from a close fly-by of Pluto. Experiments continue on the space station. Preparations are being made for further travel to Mars, and all predictions indicate that commercial tourism is on the cusp of becoming reality for the wealthy. Moore expects that Oklahomans will be involved in the next stage of space exploration. “We admire explorers like Christopher Columbus,” said Moore. “A hundred years from now, we’ll look back on these astronauts as pioneers—great explorers of the world.” “Oklahomans have always been adventurous,” Stafford said. “What we did was new, unknown, never done before, but we understood the risks. It’s hard to believe it’s been 46 years since I was last at the moon.” “I vividly remember being on the very end of the Space Station and looking over the Earth’s horizon, out into the vastness of the universe, and thinking there was nothing between me and whatever else was out there,” said Herrington. “It was a goose-bump-rendering moment that has profoundly influenced my belief that we can’t possibly be alone in the universe.” The Gemini 6 spacecraft is on display at the Oklahoma History Center, or visit the Stafford Air & Space Museum in Weatherford, Ok.
outlookoklahoma.com
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speakOut! The Parkinson Foundation of Oklahoma works with affected individuals to strengthen their voices by Mari Farthing
They sit around a u-shaped conference table, this group of individuals from all walks of life. Before them sits a spiral-bound workbook, bottles of water and what looks like a sort of microphone on a tripod. There are big red buttons on each table that read “speak louder.” The group is cheerful and engaged—men and women, joking good-naturedly with one another as they all settle in. Standing in the middle of the room is Christina Santos, who subtly goes around the table, checking in with all the participants. “Set your decibel meters at 90 and remember to put them an arm’s length away from you,” she reminds them as she readies a display at the front of the room. When everyone is ready, they start on the first exercise. “May! Me! My! Moe! Moo!” And that’s when you realize that “Loud Crowd” is the right name for this bunch. Parkinson’s disease is a neuromuscular disorder that is brought on by a loss of dopamine production in the brain. This loss causes movements to become small, which may lead to muscular atrophy that can impact walking, facial expressions, small motor skills, swallowing and speech. Parkinson’s disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer’s, affecting more than one million people in the United States. The goal
of the Parkinson Foundation of Oklahoma is to “improve the quality of life for Parkinson’s patients and families, create awareness in each community, educate healthcare providers about PD, and support research efforts.” “Most people don’t realize that their voice is changing,” says Santos, a speech pathologist who leads the program. “Their breathing becomes shallower and their voices become softer.” When Santos works with people with Parkinson’s, she records them talking before and after therapy. This helps illustrate how the disease has impacted their voices and how speech therapy can improve their communication. Most are surprised to find their voices aren’t as loud as they thought. Jim Keating founded the Parkinson Foundation of Oklahoma eleven years ago when he realized there was no such group existing. He first heard about the Speak Out! program a few years ago, through a colleague who saw a news story about Speak Out! in Dallas. Keating contacted the group about bringing the program to Oklahoma after seeing the positive impact it had on people with Parkinson’s. “There are many things that get worse with Parkinson’s,” says Keating. “When we can strengthen people, it’s powerful.” The Loud Crowd works through a series of vocal exercises, including vocal glides (holding a note at a low tone and gliding up the scale while maintaining vocal strength) and reading passages aloud. The book, HOPE: Four Keys to a Better Quality of Life for Parkinson’s People by Hal Newsom is the reading this day. A passage about initial diagnosis sparks a discussion on how each group participant felt when they found out their own diagnosis. They were relieved. They were scared. They were in denial or joyful acceptance continued on page 24
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Outlook May 2015
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Speak Out!, cont.
because there was finally an answer to what was wrong. They discuss issues impacting daily life—how medication affects their moods, issues with eating when their hands are experiencing tremors. All the while, Santos gently guides them to “speak with intent” and “speak louder” when voices became soft. More than individual speech therapy, the Loud Crowd group offers people diagnosed with Parkinson’s a safe place to share their triumphs and challenges. The best measure of a therapeutic program is its success rate— and the Speak Out! program enjoys a wonderful record of not just delaying Parkinson’s-related speech issues but reversing them. Santos says that the Speak Out! Program is “more than just slowing down the progression of the disease, it’s about turning it around and becoming stronger.” One of the initial local group members was a choir director in his 50s with Parkinson’s disease. His voice had become so quiet that
he needed a microphone to be heard speaking, and even then, listeners struggled to hear him. After just four weeks of vocal work, he was able to speak at a clear volume again. Another gentleman was unable to continue a job that included providing expert opinion on television because his speech had degraded, but after therapy he was able to regain his voice—and his career. The conference table is crowded when it’s time for the Loud Crowd choir practice. Accompanied by a piano and acoustic guitar—played by foundation executive director Jim Keating—Santos leads the men and women around the table in warming up their voices and singing songs that include traditional classics (“Let Me Call You Sweetheart”), Elvis Presley songs (“All Shook Up”) and modern pop songs (like Pharrell Williams’ “Happy”). The music is healing and connecting for the group. When they struggle with a particular melody or phrasing, Santos has them practice that part independently. This choir sounds amazing, and has a string of public appearances to their credit with more in the works. The only giveaway that this isn’t any other typical choir practice is the reminder from Santos to “sing with intent” when voices get soft. As with the Loud Crowd group, this is a group of people who are cheerful and engaged, working together to overcome. Learn more at www.parkinsonsoklahoma.com or 405-810-0695.
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Outlook May 2015
Storm Watch
by Heide Brandes
Oklahoma residents came to appreciate Aaron Tuttle’s spot-on weather forecasts through the local news. Today, many still follow him off-air, continuing to rely on his weather expertise. These days, the Texas native isn’t standing in front of a fancy studio green screen or working with the buzzing staff of a television weather hub, but is forecasting through his own Facebook page and website. His self-funded smartphone app beeps to life when angry clouds drop hail and twisters, and also lets folks know their kids’, spouse’s and parents’ locations are under warnings too. His Facebook page, Aaron Tuttle Meteorologist, has more than 72,000 followers. His app, ATsWeatherToGo, is a popular download, and his website, aarontuttleweather.com, is still churning out weather news even though Tuttle isn’t on the air. From television to entrepreneur, Tuttle is the weather guy many residents choose to trust. “You learn all these things along the way, and you take that knowledge and apply it,” Tuttle said. “Where I go from here is the interesting part.” Aaron was that kid who liked to watch the weather. He compared which meteorologists got the forecast right, and he would sit on the roof of his Dallas home to watch storms when most people did the more sensible thing and hid indoors. “Snow was always a huge deal in Dallas. I remember there were two weather guys—Harold Taft and Troy Duncan—who I used to watch, and Harold was my go-to guy,” Tuttle said. “I repeated everything he said to my parents. I really liked weather, but I also really liked art, tinkering with stuff and engineering and science.” A meteorologist doesn’t just learn weather, but also mathematics, physics, chemistry and computer science and programming. Tuttle had to learn engineering as well. But, with passion comes determination, and Tuttle graduated from Texas A&M in 1996, starting his career at a station in Bryan College Station, Texas. “I spent 12 years in the television business in three different markets,” Tuttle said. “I did quite a bit of storm chasing in college and in Texas.” Tuttle moved to Oklahoma City in 2001 and became one of the most recognizable faces on local television. “At Channel 5, Rick Mitchell and I worked really, really well together,” said Tuttle. “He was out in front of the camera on the green screen, but he’s blind until the map behind him tells him what’s going on. The team makes that happen. With that in mind, Rick trusted me with running the radar. That was my thing, and I was good at it.” Television weather forecasting and storm chasing during a major storm event is “a multi-tasking nightmare,” Tuttle said. Storm chasers
are all around, video is going dark sometimes, everyone is on high alert, and Tuttle said he was “always amazed how the finished product looked: fluid and dynamic despite the sheer chaos behind the scenes.” By 2007, Tuttle was burning out. He wondered if he saw himself doing the weather 20 years later. He realized it was time to start something new. “Television is tough,” Tuttle said. “When the viewers love you, they really love you, but if your popularity starts to drop, everyone panics. You’re the ‘it’ person until the next guy comes around.” These days, Tuttle works second level support for the terminal Doppler Radar at the FAA center at the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center in Oklahoma City. As a meteorologist, he helps monitor the conditions around 45 of the nation’s airports to ensure that planes are not affected by adverse weather or unexpected wind gusts. In his spare time, he’s still letting Oklahomans and others know what to expect from the weather. “In 2010, I decided to start up a Facebook page so I could keep forecasting,” Tuttle said. “I posted stuff, and it grew and grew. What was the secret? Well, when you watch others on television, there’s no interaction. I answered people’s questions as often as I could, but now, it’s about managing and interacting with my fans.” Because of the popularity, Tuttle created his own weather app, which is free to the public. “I’ve learned you can be an entrepreneur, and in doing that, I took weather forecasting and broadened it,” Tuttle said. “Now, it’s about making it sustainable.” Although Tuttle won’t share specifics, he has big plans for the future. “I want to expand the weather website and bring on more team players,” he said. “It’s about maintaining balance and sanity.” Follow Aaron Tuttle on Facebook at “Aaron Tuttle Meteorologist.”
Aaron Tuttle has 72,000 followers & growing
outlookoklahoma.com
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Seasonal Activities ARCADIA LAKE’S
KIDS FISHING DERBY SAT. JUNE 6, 2015 7:30 A.M.– NOON SPRING CREEK PARK KIDS AGES 5–15 FREE EVENT
Registration from 7:30–9 a.m., fishing at 8 a.m. and final weigh-in at 11 a.m. Concessions and worms will be for sale at the event site. Parents must accompany children.
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Car trouble is never good news, but visiting a mechanic doesn’t have to be an overpriced experience. The technicians at Certified Auto Specialists are successfully beating the stereotype that having your car repaired includes false or needless charges.
Want proof? “Our ticket has no hidden costs,” said owner Tim Hayali. “You shouldn’t be charged for shop supplies—that’s part of doing business. And have you ever been charged an oil disposal fee? There are several companies that perform this service at no charge.” The greater proof, however, comes in the form of reputation. Hayali has been pleased by the number of customers who’ve followed him to his new shop, which has now been open for one year. “My name is important to me,” said Hayali. “I’ve been working on cars in Edmond for 25 years. When I work on your vehicle, my name is on that vehicle. And I want a good name.” Hayali knows customers can be taken advantage of because they don’t understand the technology of their vehicle. He speaks in layman terms and will email pictures to his clients so
that they have an understanding of each repair. Unlike many auto technicians, Tim Hayali didn’t grow up watching his dad tinker with cars. He stumbled into his career when he turned 16, and his car broke down on the highway. He decided to never pay another tow truck again, so he took a vocational course on basic car repair— and found his talent. Certified Auto Specialists is proud to offer a clean shop, but above all—they are proud of their reputation and their good name. Hayali and his team offer free Spring vehicle inspections and encourage drivers to prepare their vehicles for the summer heat. A/C repairs and tune-ups should be done early in the season before temperatures begin to soar. Call 753-4113 to schedule your appointment today.
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Farm Fresh Food by Austin Marshall
Modern society too often favors convenience over quality, which is manifested in the foods comprising the modern American diet. Browse the ingredients of any packaged food product from your local grocery store and you will encounter unpronounceable items like acesulfame potassium, glyphosphate or butylated hydroxyanisole that more closely resemble a chemistry experiment than a nutritious meal. Food cooperatives and farmers’ markets allow farmers to offer a variety of locally-grown products,
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often free of the additives, preservatives and other modifications that permeate the American diet. The Edmond Farmer’s Market has been popular for several years, as have several throughout Oklahoma City. The Oklahoma Food Cooperative, a statewide organization of producers, allows metro consumers to purchase fruits, vegetables, meats and dozens of other products with no mystery ingredients or genetic modifications. Every item offered for sale is from Oklahoma. Consumers can choose from a variety of pastured chickens and their eggs, grass-fed beef and other minimally processed foods like jellies and jams. The use of routine antibiotics or growth hormones in meats is prohibited and all flocks and herds are required to be free-range in order for their products to be sold. In addition, the cooperative complies with national certification standards for organic, certified naturally grown and animal welfare approved products. The cooperative opens on the first day of each month and accepts orders until the second Thursday. Producers receiving orders are given a week to deliver their products, where consumers can pick up their orders from the cooperative’s Oklahoma City office.
Deb Willis, who manages Windeater Acres in Jones, joined the Oklahoma Food Cooperative in 2006 in an effort to eat healthier and support local farmers. Willis now raises ducks and sells their eggs. “The co-op provides consumers with access to local products produced around the state, not just those available at their local farmers’ market. As a consumer, this has made me a more discerning eater.” It’s not just the consumers who can benefit from the locally sourced food, but also the producers. “The Oklahoma Food Cooperative provides an outlet for statewide distribution. I’ve developed a lot of personal relationships not only with the people who buy my products but also fellow farmers,” Willis adds. Willis has seen firsthand the increasing preference for local products. When she joined the cooperative there were 723 members. Today, there are more than 5,000 statewide. Increased public awareness about industrial agriculture practices has changed the way families interact with food. “I think consumers are a lot more savvy about factory farming than they were a few years ago, thanks to the many great documentaries and print reporting exposing these practices.” While the public now knows more about food production than in the past, Willis adds that many people are still not aware of how their supermarket beef and produce items are prepared. “I suspect that if consumers had real-life experiences with factory farming, they would be much more disturbed than they are now. I think most consumers don’t understand how their tax dollars are being used to support industrial agriculture, how that impacts the costs at the grocery store and why small farmers can’t compete with big chain prices.” Willis believes that state and local governments can do more to
Deb Willis with a fellow member of the cooperative
promote local producers, saying that local ordinances often treat farmers more like peddlers than producers of nutritious food. She supports revising the state’s food licensing laws to be more accommodating to small-scale producers, arguing that state law is currently favorable to large-scale, industrial producers at the expense of local farmers. The success of the Oklahoma Food Cooperative and local farmers’ markets indicates that consumers are willing and eager to pay for locally-grown products and support Oklahoma jobs. Local foods promote a sense of community and allow Oklahomans to taste food as it is meant to be consumed: free of chemicals, vibrant in color and rich in taste and nutrition. More information can be found at www.oklahomafood.coop. Deb Willis’ duck eggs can be purchased through the Cooperative and at farmers’ markets throughout the metro area.
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Have You Hurd?
Heard on Hurd excites all five senses and brings downtown Edmond to life
by Lance Evans
What exactly are people hearing at Heard on Hurd? If they’re lucky, they’re learning all about local talent and entrepreneurs who are sharing in the gift of community. Happening e third Saturday in downtown Edmond from 6 to 10pm through October, Heard on Hurd has something for all five of your senses.
The Smell & Taste on Hurd
You smell Heard on Hurd well before you see it. The aroma of sweet barbecue, melted butter and fried goodness fills the air as you walk towards the rows of options. That has to be the best thing about the street fair—the options. Heard on Hurd will challenge everything that you thought you knew about your sense of taste. There’s just too much to pick from. Who knows what your taste buds are actually craving? It’s not long before you’re eating and talking good food. The chefs at Taste of Soul Egg Roll look forward to chatting with customers about their famous egg rolls. “Heard on Hurd gives you a chance to hang out with friends, listen to music and eat good food,” owner Rick Bly says. Bly says that street festivals provide a unique opportunity for chefs to get up close and personal with their patrons. “The people are everything in our business,” he says. “This gives them a chance to meet you, taste your food and ask questions.” Taste of Soul uses their unique spin on the egg roll to help connect people. It was that sense of community that drew them towards the Edmond street fair. Rick and his family became part of the Hurd movement after they developed a friendship with Jill Castilla, President and CEO of Citizens Bank—the bank curates the festival.
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“Jill wants to see the city of Edmond grow,” he says. “She wants to see Edmond be the best that it can be.” Jill Castilla and Citizens Bank of Edmond are advocates of the people of Edmond. When conceiving Heard on Hurd, Jill desired to incorporate the energy of urban life with the community spirit of Edmond. “Citizens Bank of Edmond made a commitment in 2013 to return our resources to where we started 114 years ago in downtown Edmond, making it a mecca for small business and community engagement,” Castilla says. “It quickly became evident that our community wanted a place to celebrate, to come together. Heard on Hurd celebrates the unique local food, local music and local shopping available in our metro and builds a greater sense of community in Edmond.”
Touch on Hurd
“Can I help you with anything?” It’s not a hard question, but one that you wouldn’t expect to be hearing from 10-year-old Bella, or as her numerous online followers call her, The Little Bubble. Bella isn’t your ordinary 10-year-old girl. In fact, the sign in front of her stand at Heard on Hurd, neatly decorated with a matte-white-art-deco frame, advertises Bella as a “10-year-old entrepreneur, artist, mustache
collector and soap maker.” Here is where the hometown touch of Heard on Hurd truly thrives. In the midst of a sea of people, a 10-year-old girl with a dream can go beyond the boundaries of her online store and connect with friendly faces from her hometown to sell her homemade hygiene products. “Ever since I’ve been three, I’ve wanted to have my own Bath and Body Works,” Bella says. “I started very small about a year ago. It was actually for a home-schooling project.” It’s love at first sight. Bella’s endearing persona makes you proud to be an Oklahoman and happy to reach down on her table and purchase her items. Thanks to Heard on Hurd, Bella is able to get her products in front of thousands. Not far from Bella is another Oklahoma girl hoping to get her creative business model noticed by the locals. Heather Parsons is busy inviting festival attendees into Cargo Room, a mobile boutique crafted out of a 12ft concession cargo trailer. The boutique offers bold clothing options for the fun and confident woman. “Shopping at Cargo Room is not your typical shopping experience, instead I like to think of it as somewhat more whimsical. Accordingly, the Cargo Room customer is a woman who is a little adventurous, likes to have fun and shows confidence in being her unique self,” Parsons says. Heard on Hurd created a new marketplace for Heather to live out her dreams. She’s more than happy for the opportunity. “It’s a great example of locals supporting locals,” she says. “They’ve crafted an unconventional outlet for small business owners to connect with customers. Not only that, but it has also been a great means to build relationships with other small business owners within my community.”
See on Hurd
There are people everywhere. The people are the heart of Heard on Hurd. Each month, the festival brings out thousands in hopes of creating a lasting synergy between community members. “Heard on Hurd is a homecoming for our community once a month,” Castilla
says. “Connection with one another is craved for and makes Heard on Hurd so special. This event brings all ages and backgrounds together for one night to celebrate all the great things in our city and metro.” The energy of these connections is felt throughout the night as children play, couples find curbs to sit and cuddle and college friends revel in the joy of the weekend.
Heard on Hurd
Finally, it’s not a party without the music. Heard on Hurd features an impressive lineup of local bands who all play to capture the spirit, heart and soul of downtown Edmond. Like many of their neighbors, the music and the promise of a good time brought the Kegebeins, a local Edmond family, out to the street festival. Jeff and Meagan Kegebein live a few blocks away from all the action on Broadway and Hurd, but they’re not afraid of the noise and excitement caused by the event. “It’s great to have that in the background. This was something new for us to try.” It’s not hard to see that they’re having a good time away from the house. It’s also obvious that they’ll be returning next month when Mr. Kegebein turns to the crowd, food vendors, pop-up shops and mass of people surrounding his family and says: “This is it!” Learn more about the event by finding Heard on Hurd on Facebook.
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MY outlook
How long have you been a clown? I have been a Shriner for 26 years and have been a member of the Clown Unit eight years.
How did you get involved? I was a member of the Motor Corp part of the Shriners for many years. I was one of the crazy Shriners driving the little speedy go-karts in the parades. I decided I wanted to do something that would interact with the children more, and I had some friends who were in the clown unit of India Shrine. They talked me into giving it a try, and I soon fell in love with clowning. We get to have as much fun as the kids! What is your clown name? My name is Grumpy. I am a hobo clown, down on my luck, but always happy. How did you choose that name? My wife named me, and for some reason my entire family thought it was the perfect name. Now, even my grandkids call me Grumpy. I just don’t get it. What’s your favorite part about being a clown? Having fun with the kids! I get to act silly, tell corny jokes, make balloon animals and toys, and entertain the children with my puppet, Rocky the Raccoon. I make hundreds of pictures each year at the Shrine Circus, the Oklahoma State Fair, and all the area parades. Sometimes Rocky and I even sign autographs. How long does it take you to get into full clown gear? It takes about an hour to get in gear and makeup. My wife, Kim, is my personal makeup artist and dresser. She scours
Dust . . .
Richard Broom, Grumpy the Clown by Bethany Marshall
the local thrift stores for the oldest, most worn out clothes in the stores, and then makes them look even worse. When she gets done Richard Broom is gone, and Grumpy comes alive. What do you do as a clown? I make balloon animals and toys, juggle, do a few magic tricks and play with Rocky. I get lots of people, including adults, who ask if Rocky is real. I tell them he’s all real except his felt ears. What’s your favorite event to attend in clown-mode? Why? I enjoy all our activities, but my favorite is our annual circus. Our whole unit of clowns had a blast! We do a skit each year as part of the circus and we work the crowds before and after the circus. We play with the kids, tease the parents, have our pictures made, and sign autographs and the circus programs. Tell us more about the Shrine Circus. The circus is held in March of each year at the State Fairgrounds and is our main fundraiser each year for the India Shrine Center, but mostly it is a good time for all. All the Shriners work in different areas, parking, seating, selling novelties, etc. Seeing all the area kids having a good time makes it worthwhile. Have you always been interested in entertaining children? Besides many years as a Shriner to benefit children, I have coached with the Optimist Club in football and basketball. I think our children need all the attention they can get, and a healthy environment in which to flourish. What’s your favorite clown memory? A couple years ago I found out my granddaughter, Jessie, was going to bring a picture of me as Grumpy to her kindergarten class for show and tell. Jessie and her classmates were sure surprised when the real Grumpy walked in! I got to tell them about what Shriners do for crippled and burned children simply through entertaining her class. Jessie and I both made a lasting memory that day. Is there anything else you would like us to know about you? I am a very proud husband, father, grandfather and Sooner. Tell us about the Shriners. The Shriners support children’s hospitals and burn centers across North America and offer medical care for a variety of medical conditions regardless of ability to pay. The India Shrine Center in Oklahoma City provides transportation free of charge to the patients and one parent, including room and board during the hospital visit. The clowns also donate money to the Red Sneaker Fund, which goes to medical research for the Shrine Hospitals. I am very proud to be a small part of this great endeavor. So if you see old Grumpy with a donation jar, please know that it goes to a good cause.
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