Oklahoma Magazine February 2018

FEBRUARY 2018

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Cold Cases Notable unsolved crimes include the Tulsa-area killings of five young women 28-43 years ago

AGELESS LOVE

Older adults share their views on relationships

GET SMART

Pour Decisions

What to consider before, All the ups and downs of during and after college wine, beer and cocktails

IMAGE MATTERS Weigh your options for looking your best

Good friends learn the value of good heart health.

As two friends in their early 50s who work out regularly, eat well and don’t smoke, Dave Schotter and Scott Reeder said having a heart problem was the furthest thing from their minds.

But in 2015, within two months of each other, Dave had a heart attack and Scott went into cardiac arrest. “I thought I had worked out too hard,” said Dave, describing the pain, nausea and fatigue that prompted him to seek quick medical attention.

“The next thing I know, I’m at Saint Francis having a stent put in.” Weeks later, after his usual workout, Scott collapsed at the gym, and the quick action of those nearby saved his life. “I had 100 percent blockage in my left coronary artery,” said Scott.

“Until that moment, I had no symptoms whatsoever.” Both had surgery and completed cardiac rehabilitation at the Heart Hospital at Saint Francis. “We’re grateful to the physicians and nurses for their extraordinary care,” said Dave, “and to be given this second chance at life.”

Dave Schotter and Scott Reeder

Healthcare for life. saintfrancis.com/hearthospital

SAINT FRANCIS HOSPITAL | THE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL AT SAINT FRANCIS | WARREN CLINIC | HEART HOSPITAL AT SAINT FRANCIS | SAINT FRANCIS HOSPITAL SOUTH | LAUREATE PSYCHIATRIC CLINIC AND HOSPITAL SAINT FRANCIS HOSPITAL MUSKOGEE | SAINT FRANCIS HOSPITAL VINITA | SAINT FRANCIS BROKEN ARROW | SAINT FRANCIS CANCER CENTER | SAINT FRANCIS HOME CARE COMPANIES

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Features FEBRUARY

39 A Wide Range of Grays

2018 Oklahoma Magazine Vol. XXII, No. 2

Pat, binary answers rarely exist in the years leading up to, during and after college.

48 Private School Guide Choosing your child’s elementary, middle or high school is a breeze with Oklahoma Magazine’s handy and informative Private School Guide.

51 Posting with Caution On social media, a fine line exists between free speech and trouble at work.

55 Homicidal Monsters Lurk

Notable cold cases include the Tulsa-area killings of five young women 28-43 years ago.

62 The Shape of You

You have plenty of surgical and nonsurgical options to change how your body looks and how you feel about yourself.

2

OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2018

If you’re searching for recipes, hangover cures or bar etiquette tips, we have the ticket in our special section on beer, wine and cocktails. But the flip side of imbibing is the consequences – binge drinking and chronic alcohol abuse are no joke.

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Visit us online.

MORE ARTICLES

FEBRUARY 2018

As more and more research demonstrates the crucial role that mental and emotional wellbeing plays in healthy aging, seniors tell us in their own words about the connections that make their golden years priceless.

Pour Decisions

February 2018

58 Try a Li le Tenderness

68

Read expanded articles and stories that don’t appear in the print edition.

MORE PHOTOS

Cold Cases Notable unsolved crimes include the Tulsa-area killings of five young women 28-43 years ago

AGELESS LOVE

Older adults share their views on relationships

GET SMART

Pour Decisions

What to consider before, All the ups and downs of during and after college wine, beer and cocktails

IMAGE MATTERS Weigh your options for looking your best

ON THE COVER:

FIVE WOMEN IN OKLAHOMA ARE KILLED – TWO IN 1975 AND THREE IN 1989. THEIR CASES REMAIN UNSOLVED, AND JUSTICE HAS YET TO BE SERVED.

View expanded Scene, Style, Taste and Entertainment galleries.

MORE EVENTS

The online calendar includes more Oklahoma events.

When it comes to heart care, listening helps us see your whole picture.

Caring for your heart starts with understanding what you love. AscensionÂŽ care teams at St. John take the time to listen so we can understand all aspects of you and your life.

By working together, we can help make sure you’re getting the best care possible. Find a cardiologist who is right for you by calling the St. John PulseLine at 918.744.0123 or visit stjohnheartinstitute.com.

Departments

ALL THINGS OKLAHOMA

11 State 14 16 17 18 19 20 22

Cherokee mezzo-soprano Barbara McAlister passes along her love of voice to her students.

Business Makers Clubs Outside the Metro

Spelled backwards or forwards, Ada is a haven for horses, chocolate and information.

Community Culture Insider

25 Life and Style 26

Interiors Phil Long goes all

30 31 32 34

Health FYI Destinations Style Jump into the new year

36

Scene

out for a Valentine’s party in his new bi-level loft apartment in the Mayo Hotel.

with the right workout gear that will make you excited to get fit.

11

26 34

75 Taste 78 79 79

An exclusive, legendary club, 31 floors above the ground, evolves with changing tastes, but retains decades-long traditions.

Chef Chat Local Flavor Random Flavors

81 Where and When 82 86

An Irish step dance performance showcases more than just breathtaking moves.

In Tulsa/In OKC Film and Cinema

75

88 Closing Thoughts Ed Fite, vice president of water quality for the Grand River Dam Authority, shares his thoughts on Oklahoma’s rivers.

4

OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2018

81

new Tlocation ulsa I44 & Harvard Open FEB 2018 DentalDepot.net

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LET TER FROM THE EDITOR February is a time to look toward our hearts – for both their physical and emotional health – and Oklahoma Magazine has done just that. Learn more about treating your heart well, and how important it is to start young taking steps to protect the hardestworking muscle in your body (page 30). Then read Try a Little Tenderness (page 58) and meet four “couples” proving age is no barrier to love, and relationships are a healthy tonic for everyone. We also discuss all things alcohol this month, not just where to find the choicest beverages and the hippest atmosphere, but also how to know when enough is enough and where to turn for help (page 68). Our State section is chock full of good reads about wonderful Oklahomans. Read about doctors who give their time freely to the medically underserved, venues helping Oklahoma performers become rising stars, an Oklahoma native who has returned home to teach her trade, and a pair of Native American artists featured at the Jacobson House Native Art Center in Norman. Don’t miss our Taste pages – featuring a chef and his delectable cuisine at the Summit Club, The Crown Room in Oklahoma City and its singular chef, and several other hot dining spots around the state. Visit okmag.com to nominate your choices for recognition in our 40 Under 40 special edition in April, or vote for your favorite businesses, shops, medical professionals, restaurants and more in our The Best of the Best feature in July. We value all of your input, and also hope you’ll share your ideas and thoughts with us anytime by emailing editor@okmag.com.

Happy February!

Wendy King Burton Managing Editor

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OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2018

Jay D. Lankford is an Oklahoma musician with an impressive career in music, performing as a “sideman” or hired gun for touring musicians. Sidemen are an essential component to a successful music tour, supporting the front man and rest of the band by taking over various instrumental roles required to reproduce the sound of the recorded music. Lankford has had the pleasure of playing with a wide range of national and regional acts. This month, we visit Lankford at his home in Tulsa to discuss his 40-year career in music and learn about his new book Sideman. Also at okmag.com, find web-exclusive non-alchoholic drink recipes not found in the print edition of our cocktail feature.

WEB-EXCLUSIVE VIDEO STICK AROUND AND WATCH ALL OF OUR WEB-EXCLUSIVE VIDEOS AT OKMAG.COM/WEB.

FACES FACES of of SEPTEMBER 2018

FACES FACES of of

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STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD. Reserve your spot now.

Don’t miss out on your chance to be the unique face of your field.

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Mom, wife, daughter, cancer fighter.

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“When I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I wanted to fight with a team of doctors who were experts in my specific disease—just like the cancer specialists I found at Cancer Treatment Centers of America® (CTCA). They explained all my options, answered my questions and had a real sense of urgency throughout my treatment. I also liked having everyone in one place working together focused on me. This kind of team approach is what made me want to come to CTCA®. And I’m so glad I did.”

No case is typical. You should not expect to experience these results.

Call 888.568.1571 or visit cancercenter.com/tulsa Located in Tulsa © 2017 Rising Tide

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ALL THINGS OKLAHOMA

A Vast Career

Cherokee mezzo-soprano Barbara McAlister passes along her love of voice to her students.

W OPERA SINGER BARBARA MCALISTER IS A MUSKOGEE NATIVE WHO ALSO PAINTS MINIATURES.

PHOTO COURTESY BARBARA MCALISTER

hen acclaimed opera singer Barbara McAlister graduated from Oklahoma City University with a degree in vocal performance, she jumped into working summer theater. After that, she moved to Hollywood for nine years.

The Cherokee mezzo-soprano from Muskogee didn’t didn’t take a break from her art – singing – for a reason.

“Leave yourself with no way of retreating from what you want to do,” she says. “I wanted to sing, so I packed up my little Mustang, and I went.”

It’s no surprise that music was central to McAlister’s identity – she grew up in a musical home. Her mother played piano, and her father sang bass in a German church choir.

However, McAlister had to overcome a challenge

before she could get anywhere.

“I was a shy human being,” she says. “So when you go from that to being on stage – it’s pretty huge.”

The time in Hollywood gave rise to teaching, painting, writing prose, and singing across the world. In 1974, McAlister won the Loren L. Zachary national vocal contest for opera singers ages 21-35; the prizewinnings paid for a trip to Europe and launched an international string of performances.

Singing dramatic mezzo, McAlister ended up performing in Germany, France and Hong Kong. She took roles such as the stricken widow named Mrs. Nolan in Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Medium and fortune teller Ulrica in Giuseppe Verdi’s A Masked Ball.

“It was repertory opera,” McAlister says, “which means I sang every day for 10 years in Germany.”

Performances usually involved “three and a half to five FEBRUARY 2018 | WWW.OKMAG.COM

11

The State

hours of singing with no microphone,” she says.

McAlister had to learn the meaning behind each opera’s lyrics, too, which involved singing in several languages. The transition between each isn’t as difficult as one might think, she says.

“All of singing is based in Italian,” McAlister says. “Every language has these vowels that you focus on. Singing in Russian, you still sing with these vowels.”

McAlister’s work can be seen in all sorts of venues, from opera stages to miniature paintings of Cherokee girls in traditional garb.

Those miniature paintings helped support her when she came back to Muskogee to visit during her years in Hollywood, McAlister says.

“I’d be home for a month and make a couple of thousand dollars selling these,” she says. “I loved it. It’s something you could sit and rest and make money with.”

Someone might even find some of her work on stitched pillows, McAlister says.

“Reynolds Yarn bought art from me and [fellow native artist] Jerome Tiger,” she says. “He bought four of my paintings and reproduced the design for his pillows.”

People still send her eBay listings when the pillows show up on the auction site – and one person found one of the original canvases.

Regardless, vocal art takes up most of McAlister’s time these days as a voice teacher and as a fine arts instructor for the Cherokee Nation.

“Teaching and singing – those are my passions,” she says.

McAlister describes her approach to singing – acquired from the late Lee Sweetland, her vocal coach in Los Angeles – as holistic.

“It’s like you’re talking, right? It’s speechbased,” she says. “It’s not about all this head-voice and chest-voice stuff.”

Central tenets of the technique deem “breath support and diction” as two important components, McAlister says.

“The third thing is – you bite into your vowels,” she says.

On more than one occasion she’s put her singing and training to use in creating Native American-centric work, McAlister says.

She has performed 12

OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2018

LEFT: BARBARA MCALISTER HAS PERFORMED AROUND THE WORLD. PHOTO COURTESY BARBARA MCALISTER

BELOW: BARBARA MCALISTER NOW TEACHES A NEW GENERATION OF VOCALISTS. PHOTO BY DAWN OSBORNE

multiple times at the National Museum of the American Indian at the Smithsonian Institution, both with an original song called “Night Star” and two Lakota Sioux songs.

McAlister’s idea for a Native American musical also served as the genesis for a work about the Trail of Tears.

“It was my concept,” she said, “and I pitched it to the composer [Lindor Chlarsson], who found an author named Robert Conley.”

Conley’s subsequent novel, Mountain Windsong, inspired the musical by the same name, with McAlister creating the role of Qualla, mother of the story’s protagonist,

Oconeechee.

Following a 2009 move back to Muskogee, McAlister’s days are now mainly filled with her love for teaching. Before working with the Cherokee Nation, McAlister taught at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah and Bacone College in Muskogee. She also accepts private students.

McAlister says she wants her students to take her instruction and advance themselves.

“I think we have to look toward the future,” McAlister says. “I want to help young people get scholarships through their voices.

There’s so much talent out there.”

CHESLEY OXENDINE

OU - Oklahoma’s Leader in Excellence

• OU is the only public university in U.S. history to ever rank first among both public and private universities in the number of freshman National Merit Scholars enrolled.

• OU’s Bizzell Memorial Library has been chosen as one of Architectural Digest’s 18 most stunning university libraries around the world.

• OU was recently awarded the prestigious Davis Cup for the fifth consecutive year in recognition of its record-setting enrollment of United World College international freshmen. OU is the only public university to ever be awarded the Davis Cup.

• OU is the only university in the nation, public or private, whose students have won Goldwater, Mitchell, Truman, Rhodes, Marshall, Fulbright and National Security Education Program scholarships in the same year.

• OU has been awarded the largest federal research grant in its history — a five-year, $161 million grant by NASA to advance understanding of Earth’s natural exchanges of carbon between the land, atmosphere and ocean.

• OU has become one of the first public universities in the country to build residential colleges for upperclassmen and women, patterned on those at Yale, Oxford, Harvard and Cambridge in England. The living/learning communities will become the cornerstone of the undergraduate experience.

• OU is the only Big 12 university to be selected as having one of America’s 25 most beautiful campuses.

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

- The Impact of Excellence

The State BUSINESS

A State of Bitcoin Flux

and ensures its security through cryptography. Sharp says bitcoin is poised for continued growth. Bitcoin’s value was zero in 2013, but soared to nearly $20,000 in late 2017 before dropping.

“Instead of using traditional fiat currency, so many Following upheavals in other businesses, the financial people now use debit industry adjusts to digital currency in a sharing economy. more and credit cards,” Sharp says.

“Cash is already a thing of the past, and bitcoin is the new frontier.” e use Many financial analysts see money as bitcoin’s value as inflated and fear a placea bursting of the bubble. However, holder for Sharp says the currency can be a value, but tool for investors. sometimes a newcomer emerges “If you have a gold bar in your that has an impact on the market. safe, you’re not pulling that bar out The digital currency bitcoin, which became available in 2009, is a prime and buying anything with it; it’s sitting there as something of value,” example. he says. “Having bitcoin in your Bobby Sharp, co-founder of the safe is just a way to diversify. It’s bitcoin ATM company Coinsource, a commodity. And in the future, I describes bitcoin in layman’s terms. think bitcoin is paving the way for “Put simply, bitcoin is peer-tohow countries, all the way down to peer currency,” Sharp says. “It is municipalities and individual merused to store value for transactions chant services, understand currency without going through the tradiand financial systems. I think it’s a tional banking system.” wonderful thing.”

With today’s sharing economy Coinsource placed its first bitcoin of companies like Lyft and Airbnb, ATM in the state last summer in and the constant presence of social Oklahoma City. Sharp says Coinmedia, bitcoin seems at home in a source uses algorithms to predict world that uses technology to inmachine locations, but that demand novate. The idea behind the volatile sometimes speaks for itself. currency is blockchain technology, “We kept getting calls from Oklawhich backs the operating system

W

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OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2018

homa City in particular,” he says.

“So many Oklahoma residents were driving into the Dallas/Fort Worth area to use our machine located there, so we knew we needed to go into Oklahoma. The first machine in Oklahoma City has been a huge success and we think the state is ripe for more bitcoin machines.”

As bright as bitcoin’s future seems, the currency can be unpredictable. The website InvestorPlace notes that prices can rise and fall quickly because the commodity is unlike tangible currencies; bitcoin only exists mathematically. An exchange through bitcoin also requires a willing market, and, in the United States, the ready acceptance of bitcoin for exchanges fluctuates.

On its daily blog, cybersecurity company Kaspersky encourages healthy skepticism of bitcoin’s future. Kaspersky says blockchain technology has disadvantages; exchanges are conducted under the cloak of “pseudonymity.” Bitcoin is not fully anonymous because all transactions are recorded and public.

Therefore, it is possible for a family member, for example, to know how much bitcoin you hold and what exactly you spend it on.

Regardless of bitcoin’s future, technology has transformed the way we conduct everyday business, and the disruption shows no signs of slowing.

MEGAN MORGAN

SCHOLARSHIPS

The State

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: “A JOYFUL NOISE” BY MARYBETH TIMOTHY IS WATERCOLOR PENCIL, PEN AND INK. JOHN AND MARYBETH TIMOTHY TURN THEIR DESIGNS INTO JEWELRY IN THEIR HOME STUDIO. JOHN TIMOTHY’S “THE BEAT IS IN THE FEET” IS AN AWARD-WINNING PEN, INK AND ACRYLIC ON DEER RAWHIDE STRETCHED ON A MAPLE DRUM FRAME.

ART PHOTOS COURTESY MOONHAWK ART, LLC

THE TIMOTHYS ARE FEATURED ARTISTS AT THE JACOBSON HOUSE NATIVE ART CENTER IN NORMAN THIS MONTH.

PHOTO BY DAWN OSBORNE

MAKERS

Across Many Media

MaryBeth and John Timothy have various works featured this month at a native art center in Norman.

L

ife has been busy for MaryBeth and John Timothy as Native American artists and Muskogee business owners who’ve seen a lot of success.

“It amazes me how fast everything has happened. God continues to open so many doors for us,” MaryBeth says.

One of those doors is to Jacobson House Native Art Center in Norman, where the pair are featured artists this month.

Gift shops, museums and heritage centers across Oklahoma display the Timothys’ work while they also ply their trade, called MoonHawk Art. “A couple of years ago, after John and I got mar

16

OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2018

ried, we made the decision to expand and start a business offering items that we print our own art images on,” Marybeth says. “We have expanded quite a bit since we bought our printing equipment. We have been blessed to have the great opportunities that we are receiving.”

MaryBeth, who has brought her art to shows for about 15 years, works across various media in creating drawings, sculptures and paintings of all kinds. She says she favors watercolor pencil and pen and ink, and her biggest muse is nature.

“I love Oklahoma and all of the wonderful wildlife here,” MaryBeth says. “I’m especially fond of our birds, whether it be songbirds or birds of prey.”

Her Cherokee heritage shows in her artwork and raises cultural awareness.

“I like to create pieces that spark conversation, so I may add some mound designs in the background, or create contemporary style collages using different Southeastern motifs,” she says. “People usually ask questions about them.

It gives me a chance to tell them about our ancient symbols and that they were created by our ancestors.”

John Timothy, who will be the featured artist at the Chickasaw Visitor Center in Sulphur in July, only recently began to think of himself as an artist, he says.

“Other people have for years, but, comparing my work to other artists, I did not see myself worthy of the title,” says John, a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. “My work placing at art shows and in the company of many notable artists and collectors allowed me to gradually feel worthy of the title.”

Much of John’s work, ranging from sketches and paintings to creations like hand drums and flutes, serves as a means of communication.

“I was fortunate to be raised in the company of a people blessed with quick wit and charm,” he says. “I, on the other hand, do not have the gift of verbal humor; I am more an observer, so putting this experience onto paper or canvas gives me a voice.”

His art all comes back to a common muse.

“The creative direction I always return to is creating a world of humor and kindness,” he says.

CHESLEY OXENDINE

LEFT: A LOVE FOR THE HARMONICA BRINGS TOGETHER A GROUP PERFORMING AROUND THE STATE FOR THE ENJOYMENT OF CHILDREN AND ADULTS ALIKE. BELOW: THE ROUTE 66 HARMONICA CLUB MEETS MONTHLY AND PERFORMS AT NURSING HOMES, HOSPITALS AND OTHER VENUES THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. PHOTOS BY DAN MORGAN

CLUBS

Mother Road Blues

Route 66 Harmonica Club brings mouth organs to Tulsans young and old with teaching programs and concerts.

F

rom casual roots to hosting an international summit, the Route 66 Harmonica Club shows just how cool harmonicas can be.

David Berntson, a professional harmonica player and the former president of the group, and Jimmy Markham attended an out-of-state harmonica showcase in 2009 and decided to increase the numbers of those playing the mouth organ in Green Country.

“Tulsa is rich with gifted harmonica players with diverse styles,” Berntson says. “The majority are blues players. We call ourselves the Route 66 Harmonica Club because of our connection to the musical mother road. Our focus is on service to others, especially young people.

“The club provides opportunities for hundreds of kids and adults to learn about the harmonica through workshops and performances. We give

lots of [harmonicas] to folks young and old in our community.”

The classic children’s book Lentil by Robert McCloskey is about a young boy who can’t sing, can’t even pucker his lips to whistle – but who can blow into a harmonica. A line from the story is a favorite of both Berntson and Brian Walker, the current Route 66 Harmonica Club president: “[S]o you never can tell what will happen when you learn to play the harmonica.”

“Showing people, especially children, how to play a harmonica is really special to the

club,” Walker says. “David does a Blues In Schools program and passes out free harmonicas there, teaching kids to play simple songs.”

The club meets monthly and puts on a yearly spring summit, bringing in performers with seminars in the day and evening performances.

The event is usually held at the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame, but “last year we deviated because we were bringing in the Society for the Preservation and Advancement of Harmonica with an international convention and needed more space for more than 500 attendees from all over the world,” Walker says. “We worked with the Hyatt Regency in downtown Tulsa.

The headliner was Sugar Blue, [who] worked with the Rolling Stones.”

Walker isn’t a professional musician, but “I’ve always played an instrument and I always liked the sound of blues harmonica and picked it up in the early 2000s, learning mostly on my own. I just enjoy it with a passion, especially the blues. There is a lot of up-andcoming blues musicianship in Tulsa.”

Often associated with the blues, the harmonica is also a component for other genres, Walker says. The club has a group within the club, the Melody Makers, which focuses on traditional tunes rather than improvisational blues style. The group has outreach programs at senior facilities and the Children’s Hospital at Saint Francis.

As of this writing, the 2018 event for the club isn’t set, but the group will attend the annual international harmonica summit in St. Louis. Other club highlights this year include a two-hour workshop with Nashville’s Tim Gonzalez and his Latin-style harmonica.

TRACY LEGRAND

FEBRUARY 2018| WWW.OKMAG.COM

17

The State

FUN FACTS POPULATION 17,371 NORMALITY East Central University began in 1909 as one of three normal (teacher preparation) schools in eastern Oklahoma.

OUTSIDE THE METRO

A Palindromic Magnet Spelled backwards or forwards, Ada is a haven for horses, chocolate and information.

F

ive Oklahoma towns have just three letters, but only one is an equine, chocolate and media magnet.

Ada, unlike Jay, May, Jet and IXL (yes, that’s correct), boasts 10 radio stations, two newspapers, an arena for national rodeo events, and an all-you-can-eat sweets festival just before Valentine’s Day. The Pontotoc County Agri-Plex and Convention Center, built in 1985 with a short-term sales tax, features a 2,500-seat indoor arena, which locals call the Big Red Barn, and other venues garnering up to $250,000 annual revenues, facility manager Junior Grissom says.

Grissom owned a saddle shop for 25 years and has been involved with cutting horses for 32 years. He beams at the pickups and trailers that truck each week into Ada, whether it’s for this month’s Beef Expo, December’s regional cutting horse competition or July’s World Series of Team Roping.

“Ropers come from coast to coast for that one,” Grissom says. “It’s amazing to see all these top guys here.”

Grissom says three years of upgrades (air conditioning, giant fans, lighting and fencing) have made this a top-flight equine facility.

The 12,000-square-foot convention center can accommodate 1,000 people with three kitchens, meeting rooms and a main stage.

The small-animal barn bustles with kids and their critters; the large-animal barn has 184 horse stalls and 300 cattle tie-outs. The

18

OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2018

outdoor arena can also handle any type of equine event.

Another draw to Ada is the Charmed by Chocolate Festival, this year on Feb. 10.

Contestants enter two identical creations – one for public tasting and the other for judging. Chocoholics pay $5 each to sample all the pies, cakes, cookies and fudge.

“Some super-chocolatey things come through,” says Amy Kaiser, Ada Main Street’s program director. “Some entries are so elaborate that it takes two guys to carry them in.”

Many come from out of town, especially Oklahoma City.

“People will travel a long way for good chocolate,” Kaiser says.

Whether it’s a horse show or a confectionary coma, people know about it from a multitude of media, remarkable for a place of Ada’s size. The Chickasaw Nation, with headquarters here, has a newspaper, a TVvideo company, a film production company, a movie theater, a newspaper and five radio stations.

There are also the 114-year-old Ada News and five other radio stations, with programming from gospel music to NPR. The result: One would be hardpressed to be uninformed in Ada. BRIAN WILSON

ECU ALUMS George Nigh, Oklahoma governor and lieutenant governor; Bill Anoatubby, Chickasaw Nation governor; Gil Morgan, professional golfer; Mark Gastineau, NFL defensive end; Todd Graham, football coach ADA NATIVES Singer Blake Shelton, footballer Jeremy Shockey, Oklahoma Gov. and Sen. Robert S. Kerr and televangelist Oral Roberts CROSSWORD FAVORITE The city’s palindromic name frequently appears in puzzles.

DAGGS PRAIRIE The village named for the first white family settling in the area in the late 1880s. Daggs relative Jeff Reed began a general store. The post office, established in 1891, was named for Reed’s oldest daughter, Ada.

COMMUNIT Y

The Heart of a Servant

O

Oklahoma physicians volunteer in the state and across the world to help underserved people.

klahoma doctors often spend many hours a week providing free services on their personal time, serving on nonprofit boards and traveling to countries across the world to help medically underserved people.

Among those serving for more than 30 years, each in one capacity or another, are Dr. John Crouch of Tulsa and Dr. Susan Chambers of Oklahoma City – both longtime volunteers whose lives demonstrate nearly every way a medical professional can make a difference to those in need.

Crouch, president of Good Samaritan Health Services, remains an active participant in the charitable organization he began in 1998. However, he doesn’t take all the credit for an agency that provides 54 free medical clinics a month in and around Tulsa.

“This wasn’t a one-man job,” he says. “I did help to found it, but couldn’t have done it without everyone else.”

Crouch came to teach in Tulsa in 1978, when Oral Roberts University still had a medical school, which closed in 1989. By then, he was involved in the creation of In His Image Inc., a medical

nonprofit with three main goals: conduct a Christian-oriented family medicine residency program; support worldwide missions work; and offer medical care to underprivileged populations.

Today, Good Samaritan is one of the three nonprofits that evolved from In His Name.

Good Samaritan takes fully equipped, mobile medical clinics around Tulsa to serve people who might otherwise never see a doctor.

“We don’t believe that we are supposed to displace any other free clinic,” Crouch says.

“We are trying to fill a niche in the system, looking at places where people are falling through the cracks and trying to fill that need with our mobility. We ask ourselves, ‘Just what can we do with our mobility and partnership with churches? What can we do to help the people who are falling through the cracks?’”

In Oklahoma City, Chambers, an obstetrician/gynecologist, spends time outside her private practice at medically related charitable events, volunteering at local clinics and working with national and international charitable organizations.

Among the work she has done for decades is board service and volunteer work locally for the March of Dimes, Walk America and Red Cross. On a broader scale, she works with the Institute for the Economic Empowerment of Women and World Neighbors. She has traveled to Haiti, Guatemala, Ecuador, Mali, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Nepal, India and Indonesia, and took a Volunteers in

Medical Missions trip to Tanzania with her daughter a few years ago.

“I was raised in a home where helping others was valued and encouraged,” Chambers says. “My parents set marvelous examples at church and in community organizations for me and my brother.”

Chambers says volunteer work is important for every person to perform, from the smallest hand-up and serving on a nonprofit board to working in community, national and international organizations.

“I am blessed to be able to give back in ways that I love,” she says. “Whether it is truly a medical mission where we treat patients, or through more comprehensive organizations that work to improve the lives of others through all aspects of their life – health, nutrition, businesses, savings and credit – it is my duty and privilege to participate in any way I can. Not everyone can travel to Indonesia. Not everyone has the clinical skills to work in a free clinic. But everyone can do something.”

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: DR. JOHN CROUCH OF TULSA HAS BEEN A MEDICAL VOLUNTEER FOR MORE THAN 30 YEARS. PHOTO BY CHARLIE ROSENTHAL

DR. SUSAN CHAMBERS TRAVELED TO NEPAL IN FEBRUARY 2016 TO TEACH WOMEN ABOUT WATER, MATERNAL-CHILD HEALTH, REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH, SAVINGS AND CREDIT PROGRAMS.

PHOTO COURTESY DR. SUSAN CHAMBERS

DR. SUSAN CHAMBERS, LEFT, SAID WHEN SHE VISITED NEPAL, THE RED MARKS WERE PLACED ON VISITORS’ FOREHEADS AS A BLESSING IN EACH VILLAGE. PHOTO COURTESY DR. SUSAN CHAMBERS

FEBRUARY 2018 | WWW.OKMAG.COM

19

The State C U LT U R E

Keeping Dreams Alive Oklahoma venues support state artists looking for their big breaks.

CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE: THE TOWER THEATRE IN OKLAHOMA CITY IS A MUSIC VENUE FOR UP AND COMING ARTISTS. PHOTO COURTESY JASON WILSON

NIGHTINGALE THEATRE FEATURES A UNIQUE ARRAY OF SHOWS.

PHOTO COURTESY NIGHTINGALE THEATRE

OSCAR AND SHARON RAY ORGANIZE THE BARE BONES FILM AND MUSIC FESTIVAL EACH SPRING. PHOTO COURTESY BARE BONES

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O

klahoma is home to a broad range of artists creating a variety of work. Fortunately for them, the state has companies, festivals and theaters giving those artists room to work and grow, like the Bare Bones Film and Music Festival.

The annual showcase takes place April 24-29, when filmmakers from around the world descend on Muskogee to show about 200 movies of all lengths and genres.

It’s a chance for amateur directors, scriptwriters, actors and designers to get their work in front of audiences and to learn, says Oscar Ray, who co-founded the festival with his wife, Sharon.

“Another part of our focus has been to grow the industry in Oklahoma,” he says. “The [festival] board’s mandate is to bring productions to the state, but they’re tourists. They’re going to come for a little bit and then

OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2018

they’re going to go.”

The Bare Bones festival offers training and consulting for nascent filmmakers, who in turn grow the number of Oklahomans working on movies.

“We want to deepen the talent pool both in front of and behind the camera,” Ray says. “We’ve emerged as the No. 1 consulting service in the state. People come to us on every level.”

The festival’s large reach doesn’t hurt, either, he says.

“It brings people here to work with and educate local filmmakers so they can train and deepen their craft,” Ray says. “All of those people bring their experience and it allows locals to build relationships with and work with people they might not get to otherwise.”

Bare Bones isn’t the only place in Oklahoma for folks with original ideas; the Nightingale Theatre in Tulsa prides itself on its focus on new works.

“Since opening in February 2000, the Nightingale has been a safe haven for original work of all genres and media,” says Amber Whitlatch, the theater’s marketing director. “The original pieces we have produced compose a vast and erratic body of work from artists – not just from Tulsa, but from all over the world.”

The Nightingale’s dedication to original work has produced a playwright collective for the theater, Whitlatch says.

“50 Swats is a loose hive of writers, directors, performers and technicians from Green Country,” she says, “and has pieced together countless hours of thoughtful scene work, inspiring audiences and striving playwrights alike.”

The theater has also hosted a long-running original series from Midwestern Theatre Troupe, says Whitlatch, adding that the company spans “20 years of anthropological allegory, highlighting legends like Jack Frost, John the Baptist, Romulus and Remus, and even Pretty Boy Floyd.”

Whitlatch says there’s no shortage of options for artists looking for space.

“Tulsa artists over the last decade have developed their own venues for specific types of performance,” she says. “We now have comedy clubs, studios for dance productions, spoken-word nights and multi-use spaces

for variety shows. Tulsa is booming with performance art.”

Hopeful playwrights can send manuscripts to info@nightingale.com. Whitlach says there are no limitations on the content “as long as it stays within the laws of physics.”

“If you have a script and you would like to see it produced for an audience, contact us,” she says. “Our rates are more than reasonable, and we will work with you.”

While the theater’s “very favorite shows” are the ones talked about after people leave the building, Whitlatch says, Nightingale cherishes the ones that spark new pursuits, too.

“We have several of those shiny feathers in our cap, but that’s why we’re here,” she says.

Those closer to the central part of the state also have options for finding their way onstage.

“At Tower Theatre, we are committed to being a part of our community,” says Chad Whitehead, talent buyer and operating partner for the recently renovated concert hall in Oklahoma City. “This includes how we treat concert-goers and performers, local and touring. Supporting up-and-coming artists is one of the ways we can contribute to our community.”

Tower Theatre’s music productions are supported by a partnership with craft brewery

COOP Ale Works to bring local acts to the hall’s main stage, says Whitehead, adding that the theater has a second venue for nonmain stage acts.

“Tower Studio, our smaller stage, is where we book up-and-coming touring acts,” he says. “Tower Studio brings great music to Oklahoma while also supporting lesserknown touring artists.”

Supporting and cultivating local talent are the common threads at Tower, Nightingale and Bare Bones and help to keep artists’ hopes alive, Oscar Ray says.

“Actors, directors, writers – people do need to find a way to continue and keep that dream going on,” he says.

CHESLEY OXENDINE

FEBRUARY 2018 | WWW.OKMAG.COM

21

The State

INSIDER

The Sideman Jay Lankford’s biographical novel highlights the life of a backup musician who makes ‘the star shine a little brighter.’

A

JAY LANKFORD, A SELFDESCRIBED SIDEMAN, SAYS HIS JOB IS TO MAKE THE STARS SHINE. FACING PAGE: LANKFORD, WHO WAS DIAGNOSED WITH PARKINSON’S DISEASE, IS DETERMINED TO CONTINUE PLAYING AND SINGING. PHOTOS COURTESY JAY LANKFORD

22

fter more than four decades of performing before audiences in venues large and small, even as he deals with a disease that’s robbed him of his singing voice and thrown off his timing, Jay Lankford continues to work in a profession that’s almost as old as music itself.

Lankford is a sideman. Although he’s led his own bands over the years and spent plenty of time in front of a microphone, that’s how he sees himself – as one of those backup musicians who, he says, “make the star shine a little bit brighter.”

Lankford, who plays guitar, bass and keyboards, feels so strongly about sidemen that he’s written a new novel, much of it drawn from his own experiences. In the selfpublished Sideman, he tells the story of a kid from Stroud named Jason James, whose childhood dreams of playing the Grand Ole Opry and youthful days of performing Merle Haggard tunes along with rock music at high school proms and teen

OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2018

dances lead to a life as a professional traveling country musician.

Writing the book, Lankford says, was therapy for him after he left the road in the late ’90s. He also thought it was important to present a view of life from the edge of the spotlight rather than its center, as is usually the case.

“Sidemen don’t make the money the stars make, and that’s fine. The stars deserve it. But sidemen deserve a little credit, too, because they’re the ones that make it happen,” he says. “I’d talked to a lot of ’em throughout the years and I had a lot of stories. Jason James is kind of composed of a lot of the sidemen besides myself. It’s not just about my experiences; it’s everybody else’s, too.”

Still, Lankford adds that the first part of the book is “extremely close” to his life as a music-loving kid growing up in Stroud. That’s true right from the opening scene, a nice evocation of small-town Oklahoma life in the ’60s as Jason’s 9-year-old cousin, Kate, brings him to the stage

of the Opry, which is in fact the top of the storm cellar in his family’s backyard. Some 300 pages later, after lots of highs and a few harrowing lows, a highly successful Jason James reflects on his life as a top sideman and hit songwriter, thanking God for his blessings.

While the second part of Sideman has a what-might-have-been quality, it still carries the ring of authenticity.

As a sideman, Lankford lived behind the scenes and saw how the business worked and experienced the realities of life on the road with a bona fide country-music up-and-comer. Called Blake Preston in the book, this character is based on Columbia Records artist Johnny Duncan, who charted a significant number of country hits between the late ’60s and late ’80s.

The apex of his recording career came in the late ’70s, when, either dueting with labelmate Janie Fricke or singing by himself, he scored the No. 1 hits “Thinkin’ of a Rendezvous,” “It Couldn’t Have Been Any Better” and “She Can Put Her Shoes Under My Bed (Anytime).”

Lankford’s stint with Duncan took place a few years before those records, when the singer was on the road playing solo, without a band and accompanied only by his girlfriend. It was during that time that he happened into a Stroud music store where a teenage Lankford – then a member of a local rock band called Mellow Heat – was working. Duncan came in to look at guitars, and Lankford began giving him advice.

“I didn’t know who he was,” Lankford says. “I was in rock, and I didn’t know anybody in country except for the big names. He took one of the guitars and started singing and playing, and I grabbed an old bass from the wall, and a Casino amp, and sang harmony with him. So we’re sitting there playing, and these two old women – well, I thought they were old, but they were probably about 30 – came in and started oohing and aahing over Johnny.

“They said, ‘Man, you guys sound good together. You ought to take him with you.’

“He didn’t say anything. We just kept playing. Then, when he had to go, he said, ‘How about it? You want to play with me tonight?’ “‘Who are you?’ “‘I’m Johnny Duncan, with Columbia Records.’

“So I played with him at the Chandler rodeo that night.”

Lankford can’t recall the headlining act, but he remembers performing four or five songs with Duncan, who opened the show.

“We played, and I was packing my stuff up when he said, ‘You think you want to take a trip with me, do a couple more gigs?’ Well, yeah, I did. So for the next two months we toured around in a ’71 black El Dorado Cadillac with a horse trailer that carried big ol’ JBL Voice of the Theater speakers, about 135 pounds apiece. We’d play ‘Jo and the Cowboy,’ which was a hit for him back then, and songs like ‘Guantanamera.’ We’d only play about 10 songs maximum.”

As Duncan’s star continued to rise, he put together a backing band, which included Lankford as a key member. Duncan’s group was to debut in Oklahoma City, but Lankford’s part in it ended when he witnessed another band member doing cocaine

before the show and, to put it mildly, had an extreme reaction.

“It’s a weird thing, but it scared me,” he says. “I almost blacked out. It’s not something I like to talk about too much, but I took a fire extinguisher to him. I was a hot-headed kid back then; I didn’t know any better.”

After that incident, Lankford left the band and returned home, where he started working with fellow Oklahoman Eddie Burris, Merle Haggard’s former drummer

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and the co-writer of “Okie From Muskogee,” backing touring acts and playing other gigs as well.

“I played with Eddie, and I played with [Oklahoma country star] Sammi Smith on some stuff,” he says. “I don’t want to be a name dropper, but I played with a lot of ’em. I liked country back then, classic country, and that’s what I did. Then, about ’93 or ’94, I started playing with a guy named Sean Adair, and we went locally and regionally for a while, opening for a lot of main acts.”

Lankford continued playing country music into the middle of the last decade. These days, however, you’re most likely to find him plying his trade on Sunday mornings at Broken Arrow’s Freedom City Church.

He’s an ordained minister who plays bass with a band called the Last Day Voices.

“I got diagnosed with

Parkinson’s disease, so my timing’s off and I have to play with somebody who can keep good time,” he says. “I can’t sing; my voice won’t allow it. But it’s OK because I know God’s going to heal me. I really do.”

Near the end of his book, Lankford writes, “Changes occur and life takes a turn.” That’s certainly what’s happened throughout his career and life; it is, in greater or lesser measure, what happens to us all. But then, he adds, “Sometimes, in the darkest of hours, we’re not able to see down the road, but God’s love is always there. We just need to open ourselves up and reach for it.”

In reaching for that love through music, and in writing a book about the life of a countrymusic player who seeks and ultimately finds redemption, Lankford leaves a legacy that would make any sideman proud.

JOHN WOOLEY

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Life & Style

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A M A P TO L I V I N G W E L L

Return to the Classics Instead of an expensive outing this Valentine’s, try a nod to the simpler days of romance.

E

very Valentine’s Day, you may feel pressure to top last year’s surprise for your sweetheart.

These could include elaborate settings, expensive trinkets and dinners or hours of preparation. Perhaps a return to simplicity is in order – think romance, but yesteryear’s romance.

Dance the night away

Try your hand – or should we say feet – at swing dancing for a fun and romantic night out. Put on a retro shirt-dress with shoulder pads, stockings and Mary Janes, curl your hair and head out with your beau to one of the local

swing dance clubs like the Oklahoma City Swing Dance Club or the Oklahoma Swing Syndicate in Tulsa. They’ll teach you how to put some pep in your step, and there’s plenty of opportunities for hand-holding and laughter.

strawberries. Or incorporate a modern twist and bring chopped salad, mini mushroom pies, homemade mac and cheese bites, a few cold IPAs and strawberry rhubarb yogurt pops.

Go parking

Make reservations at a fancy restaurant, but choose one with a classic style like the ritzy, iconic Celebrity Restaurant in Tulsa. Put on your finest duds and enjoy a delicious meal before hitting the sidewalk, ditching your high heels and heading out for a bit of star gazing while wrapped in your darling’s arms. Bring a radio to play some sweet jazz and a cozy blanket for cuddling.

Not so much the naive fumbling in the backseat you remember as a teenager, but the classier version – snuggle in front of the fireplace with wine and fine chocolate or grab a blanket and head for the nearest “lookout point.” Go continental with Champagne, a loaf of crusty French bread and cheese, tins of smoked oysters and chocolate dipped

Star gazing

FEBRUARY 2018 | WWW.OKMAG.COM

25

Life & Style

INTERIORS

50 Shades of Pink

For a Valentine’s party, designer Phil Long goes all out in his new bi-level loft apartment in the Mayo Hotel.

By M.J. Van Deventer Photography by Scott Johnson, Hawks Photography

P

hil Long, an iconic designer, is a master at decorating homes and producing events locally and internationally. This year, for Valentine’s Day, he has a celebration planned for some of his closest friends – ages 21 to 81.

The setting is his new bi-level loft in Tulsa’s historic Mayo Hotel, where he moved recently after downsizing from a longtime residence near Philbrook Museum of Art. After waiting for a loft for several years, he is ecstatic to call the Mayo his new home.

“For this party, my personal atmosphere will be 50 shades of pink,” says Long, making a pun on the racy yet popular Fifty Shades of Grey book and movie series. “Like so many others, I have slung tones – shades – of gray and neutrals from coast to coast. Red is overdone, especially on the day we celebrate love for one another.”

Long blames “tired elves” for splashing too much red too early for Christmas decorations.

“I chose pink as my color theme for this event, just to tempt the attendees to be daring,” he says. “It’s important to stay ahead of the curve. Pink lights create a soft, inviting statement.”

Long believes “Valentine’s Day celebrations are now in vogue. The evening doesn’t have to be romantic, just have flair. I’m having a diverse group of friends drop in for the evening, and that’s an effortless way to celebrate this occasion. This only requires a modicum of style and creativity.”

The evening is destined to be memorable.

He’s calling this year’s party “Dom and Desserts,” and among the fare planned for his guests are exquisite chocolates from Glacier Confection and Dom Perignon Champagne from Ranch Acres.

At the end of the evening on Valentine’s Day, Long says his guests will carry the

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OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2018

A COYOTE FUR THROW ACCENTS THE BED IN PHIL LONG’S NEW RESIDENCE AT THE MAYO HOTEL. HE HAS CREATED A LUXURIOUS FEELING IN THIS AREA OF THE LOFT.

FEBRUARY 2018 | WWW.OKMAG.COM

27

Life & Style party to either the Mayo’s penthouse bar or the rooftop terrace, which boasts “a fantastic view of downtown Tulsa, especially at sunset.”

Guests find a sophisticated atmosphere in Long’s new home. He has decorated the apartment in traditional shades of taupe, beige and hues of white. The studio loft includes a steel staircase, a wire railing surrounding the upper level and LED lighting, all contemporary contrasts to traditional, classic design.

He prefers to accent his neutral palette with black.

His kitchen has dark wood cabinets and natural granite on the countertops. His flooring is the terrazzo from the original Mayo construction. The architectural palladium windows are custom covered in blackout shades, which are motorized and removable.

He calls the decor “a proper mix of contemporary and mid-century furnishings accented by classic Nancy Corzine 19thcentury style armchairs, upholstered in a linen damask fabric. I inherited the chairs from friends when they downsized years ago.”

Long says he chose a “mid-century modern” style of decor coordinated by many statewide designers. All interior designs need a “soul,” so some of his furnishings were designed by Charles Eames. One wall accommodates more than 100 pairs of designer

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OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2018

shoes. His desk was custom made

by Mark Hawley and it includes a piece of old, rusted iron from A COZY SEATING AREA the hotel’s boiler INCLUDES A COMFORTABLE CHAIR, AN UPRIGHT DRAWING room.

BOARD AND A HOLLYWOOD“A home STYLE KLEIG LIGHT AMONG should be current, LONG’S TRAVEL TREASURES. comfortable and LONG, KNOWN FOR BEING chic,” Long says.

ECCENTRIC AND FLAMBOYANT, IS NOTED FOR HIS FASHION “Not everything TASTE. HERE, HE’S READY in a home has to FOR TRIPS TO BERMUDA AND COLORADO TO DESIGN be dramatic. But CLIENTS’ HOMES. a home should reflect one’s personality. In this phase of my life, decorating is all about learning how to simplify.”

The art he has collected during his design career is visually compelling. He’s especially fond of his two Picasso originals and one signed Andy Warhol silk screen. There’s an iconic photograph collection from noted CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: EVER THE HOSPITABLE HOST, LONG LOOKS TO A VALENTINE EVENT IN HIS LOFT FEATURING CLASSIC DOM PERIGNON CHAMPAGNE AND A MIX OF IMPORTED CHOCOLATES.

designer Ralph Lauren, housed in polished chrome frames. A favorite is an original 1930s steel floor lamp from the MGM film studio, which Long found at an antique shop in Aspen, Colorado. This feature once lit movies such as Gone with the Wind.

Scott Frazier, represented by the M.A. Doran Gallery, has been one of Long’s favorite artists. Among the art is a still life of an egg on a pedestal with a white hand holding a graphic postcard. Guests enjoy the comic nature of the piece, which reflects Long’s belief that “one always has to keep his sense of humor and collect something to talk about.” On his bucket list are an abstract painting by Jeanie Gooden and a portrait from Otto Decker.

Long’s design style has been greatly influenced by his opportunity to travel this country and abroad, and to attend Broadway Theater in New York and the West End in London to experience the design and lifestyles of other cultures. His latest design project has taken him back and forth to Bermuda, where he has furnished a client’s home with a view of the Atlantic Ocean.

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Life & Style

H E A LT H

Young at Heart

It’s never too early (or too late) to look after your cardiovascular health.

C

ardiovascular diseases claim more lives each year than all forms of cancer and chronic lower respiratory disease combined, according to the American Heart Association.

In addition, about 2,200 Americans die of cardiovascular disease (CVD) each day, an average of one

death every 39 seconds. Caring for your heart is critical to your health – and it’s never too early – or too late – to start.

“Preventing CVD begins in childhood,” says Pamela Craven, a cardiologist with Oklahoma Heart Hospital in Oklahoma City. “We know the process of atherosclerosis, which involves the thickening of the inner wall of blood vessels from buildup of cholesterol plaques, begins in youth.

“Many risk factors for developing atherosclerosis can be identified in childhood.

These include elevated blood cholesterol, elevated blood sugar, high blood pressure, tobacco exposure and a positive family history for early onset of heart attacks and strokes – under the age of 65 for men and 60 for women.”

Craven says a person’s lifestyle is the most important factor for the risk of devel

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OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2018

oping cardiovascular disease.

“Good habits of healthy eating and exercise, maintaining a healthy body weight and maintaining a healthy attitude – avoiding

depression – begin in childhood,” she says.

“The child who is taught these good habits has a much better long-term likelihood of avoiding CVD in youth and as they age.”

According to Craven, for some individuals, “lifestyle habits will need to be supplemented with medical treatment for risk factors such as hypertension, hyperlipidemia (an abnormally high concentration of fats or liquids in the blood) and diabetes.”

She says these medications may treat these factors, but they work more effectively with diet and exercise. In addition, guidelines recommend annual screening of body weight from age 2, blood pressure from age

3 and cholesterol screening by age 10.

“For any adults who have missed these screening measures, it is never too early or too late to start screening and taking measures to prevent CVD,” she says.

Guidelines for high blood pressure were updated late last year. High blood pressure was previously defined as 140/90 but has moved to 130/80. A blood pressure of less than 120/80 is considered normal but levels reaching up to 129/80 are now considered “elevated.”

“The most important lesson to be learned from the new guidelines is that high blood pressure remains the No. 1 risk factor for heart attacks and strokes – and physicians and patients should pay more attention to detection and prevention of high blood pressure with lifestyle change,” she says.

“Treating high blood pressure with medications can be very challenging without the effort of lifestyle change made by the individual, so prevention at an early age remains our best hope at reducing the incidence of hyper-

tension in the population and for preventing its sequelae in the individual.

“At Oklahoma Heart Hospital, we have developed a center of excellence in the prevention of heart disease. We are interested in keeping the community healthy, focusing both on the prevention of disease before it develops – primary prevention – as well as the prevention of recurring events after it has already developed and resulted in an event such as a heart attack or stroke – secondary prevention.”

REBECCA FAST

F YI

Cashing in on Bloody Beginnings Feb. 14 is full of legends, but what’s clear is Roman emperors executed two St. Valentines … and now businesses make a killing.

V

alentine’s Day as we know it can be traced to two martyrs, a famous poet and American capitalism.

The Valentines – one a Roman priest, the other the bishop of Terni, Italy – were both executed Feb. 14, circa 269 and 273, respectively, according to the Oxford Dictionary of Saints.

These religious figures, whose names evolved from valens (Latin for strength), were perceived as socio-political threats to the polytheistic Roman Empire, so their beheadings became part of the Catholic martyrology, and a run-of-the-mill feast day was declared for Feb. 14.

Neither Valentine has “any clear connection with lovers or courting couples,” the Oxford Dictionary of Saints says. Also, most historians reject that Valentine’s Day is a Christian evolution of Lupercalia, an ancient Roman fertility rite.

But legend dominates – the most wellworn being that the priest Valentine restored the sight of a cataract-inflicted daughter of a nobleman … or jailer (details vary with the story’s tellings). Before his execution, this priest supposedly wrote a missive to the girl and signed it, “From your Valentine.”

Ah, the first valentine was a death note.

How romantic … if it were true.

Move from the Via Flaminia, where both Valentines were buried, to England and Geoffrey Chaucer, known for The Canterbury Tales and also the 1380s love poem “Parlement of Foules” (“assembly of birds” for those of you scoring in Middle English).

Chaucer’s speaker, envious of birds pitching woo, says, “For this was on seynt Valentynes

day,/Whan every foul cometh there to chese his make.”

In England, Feb. 14 may seem too cold for avian coitus, but Jack B. Oruch, in “St. Valentine, Chaucer, and Spring in February” in the journal Speculum, reminds that Chaucer lived before the Gregorian calendar (the one we’ve used since 1582), so today’s relative date is about Feb. 28, a possibility for an early spring in the poet’s day.

Oruch writes that Chaucer linking Valentine’s Day to love and lovemaking became indelible … and popular to the point that playful lotteries were set up to pair English girls and boys every Feb. 14 until the late 1700s.

Meanwhile, in America, the Puritans’ heavy hand kept such fun and games in check after their arrival in the 1600s. As a result, “before the 1840s St. Valentine’s Day was largely ignored in the United States,” writes Leigh Eric Schmidt in “The Fashioning of a Modern Holiday” in the journal Winterthur Portfolio.

However, Schmidt adds, “Valentine mania” took over in that decade as “people crowded into the stores of booksellers,

printers, stationers, and fancy-good merchants or lingered outside shop windows, gazing at the variety of sentimental and comic valentines.”

Businesses cashed in and mass marketing appealed to women and children, who quickly became accustomed to getting supplies of sweets and sentiments. The holiday has not diminished; Americans now spend about $20 billion every year on Valentine’s Day. “The transformation of St. Valentine’s Day into a modern American holiday makes for a complicated bit of cultural history – one that entails a rich interplay of commerce, gender, ritual, and material culture,” Schmidt concludes.

BRIAN WILSON

FEBRUARY 2018 | WWW.OKMAG.COM

31

Life & Style

Base Camp

D E S T I N AT I O N S

St. Petersburg The ‘Venice of the North,’ Russia’s Baltic treasure, is home to hundreds of years of czarist art, history and culture.

I

TOP: THE HERMITAGE IS A POPULAR STOP FOR FANS OF ART AND CULTURE. BELOW: PALACE SQUARE IS THE HEART OF THE BUSTLING CITY.

32

OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2018

t’s the city of Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Anna Akhmatova, Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky and Aleksandr Pushkin. It’s a magnificent expanse of rivers, canals and harbors spread across 40 islands – the “Venice of the North.”

While St. Petersburg was founded by Peter the Great, it was named for St. Peter and designed in the tradition of the great cities of Western Europe with long boulevards and grand public squares. From 1924 to 1991 in the Soviet era, the city on the Baltic Sea was known as Leningrad.

One of St. Petersburg’s finest hotels is also one of its best-located. The Belmond Grand Hotel Europe on the bustling Nevsky Prospect, St. Petersburg’s main street, is within easy walks of the Summer Garden, the State Russian Museum, the Hermitage Museum and the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood.

The hotel is a bit of an artifact itself; constructed at the beginning of the 19th century, it features a neo-baroque facade and art nouveau designs. It houses Russia’s oldest continuously serving restaurant, L’Europe, and the Caviar Bar and Restaurant, offering 15 kinds of caviar and 35 varieties of vodka.

Just for Fun

A new public park was recently installed on New Holland, one of the city’s manmade islands. Visitors enjoy everything from public art and sporting events to concerts.

A gigantic flea market called Udelka sells it all: wares from the Soviet days, items from Turkey, vintage luggage, 1990s Tshirts, toys from yesteryear, authentic Soviet clothing, and parts from Russian cars built in 1960s and 1970s.

Neighborhood bookshops – St. Petersburg has dozens – offer lots of titles and magazines while also serving as meeting places for thoughtful discussion. Plus, many serve coffee.

The live music scene is big. One popular, somewhat grungy venue is Slam City on Grazhdanskaya Street; it serves up U.S.inspired garage rock. Other musical genres also flourish.

WARNINGS:

• Pickpockets and smokers are everywhere.

• Public restrooms are scarce.

• Walk across streets at your own risk.

• Book hotels early.

ABOVE LEFT: THE INTERIOR OF THE HERMITAGE MUSEUM, FOUNDED IN 1764, BOASTS INTRICATE DESIGNS. IMMEDIATE LEFT: THE POPULAR SUMMER GARDEN WELCOMES TOURISTS TO EXPLORE THE FLORA AND FAUNA. ABOVE: THE CHURCH OF THE SAVIOR ON SPILLED BLOOD IS AN ARCHITECTURAL MASTERPIECE TO BEHOLD.

Must-Sees

The 254-year-old Hermitage is one of the most interesting museums in the world.

It was founded by Catherine the Great to exhibit her massive collection of paintings and classical antiquities. The compound comprises six buildings, including the Winter Palace, home of the czars for many years and open for tours. In 2014, a contemporary wing called the General Staff Building opened to rave reviews, particularly for its grand staircase and luminous glass ceiling.

St. Isaac’s Cathedral, completed in 1858 after 40 years of construction, remains a

marvelous testament to neo-classical architecture. The building, which survived Nazi bombing during World War II, once served as a museum of atheism in Soviet days.

The State Russian Museum consists of the Mikhailovsky Palace, the Stroganov Palace, the Benois Wing, Saint Michael’s Castle and the Marble Palace. In all, it’s the largest collection of Russian fine art in St. Petersburg.

Many pieces are exquisite gifts presented to czars and represent Russia’s many ethnicities.

The lavishly decorated, onion-domed Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood was

built on the spot where Czar Alexander was assassinated in 1881. Refurbished in 1997, the building has ceilings and interior walls covered with more than 80,700 square feet of intricate mosaics.

White Nights

More than 150 top-notch cultural offerings occur from late May to late July, when the sun never fully sets. The Stars of the White Nights features ballet, opera and classical music performances and concerts, plus added special events.

CHUCK MAI

FEBRUARY 2018| WWW.OKMAG.COM

33

Life & Style

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OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2018

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FEBRUARY 2018 | WWW.OKMAG.COM

35

Life & Style

SCENE

Doug Lewis, Harvey Lewis, Jennifer Rush, Mark Lewis; Badges and Barbecues, Tulsa Crime Stoppers, Tulsa

Bill & Kathy LaFortune, Craig Sutter, Jim Goodwin; Headliners Dinner and Reception, Tulsa Press Club, Tulsa

Pat & Ray Potts; VISIONS Awards, Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits, OKC

Barry & Anne Gray, Paul Silverstein, Terri Cooper; Master Strokes Sustainers’ Preview, OKCMOA, OKC

Collin & Caroline Sniff; Faust Opening Night and Opera Ball Kickoff Party, Tulsa Opera, Tulsa

Steve Prescott, David Thompson, Jack Talley; Tocqueville Society Gathering, United Way of Central Oklahoma, OKC

Stephanie Cameron, Lynn Flinn, Clarence Oliver, James Wagner; Business Success Series Luncheon, Junior Achievement of Oklahoma, Tulsa

Kevin & Dell Coutant, Lisa Wright, Matt Morton, Darrell Weaver; 40 Year Match Anniversary Celebration, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Oklahoma, Stillwater

Jim & Denise Brinkworth; Saints Ball, St. Anthony Foundation, OKC

36

Back row left to right: John Hewitt, Will Turner, Mark Graham.

Front row left to right: Billie Bayouth, Maddy Edwards; Unite End of Campaign Celebration, Tulsa Area United Way, Tulsa

OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2018

Steve Paulsen, Melissa Minshall Paulsen, Mary & Jim Bush; Cooking Up Compassion Preparations, Catholic Charities, Tulsa

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Wide

In today’s this-or-that, all-or-nothing culture, nuances and variables show that life is rarely black or white. Getting through high school, matriculating to college and picking a degree plan are full of grays.

Paths for one student may not work for another, but many parents erect unnecessary obstacles for their young adults by wanting simple answers to complex questions.

Following are some issues facing students, be they ninth graders navigating the hallways or collegiate sophomores declaring their majors.

Decisions – rarely binary – usually reflect a student’s strengths, interests, work ethic, internal motivation and life experience.

PAT, BINARY ANSWERS RARELY EXIST IN THE YEARS LEADING UP TO, DURING AND AFTER COLLEGE.

FEBRUARY 2018 | WWW.OKMAG.COM

39

WHAT CAN I DO WITH A DEGREE IN ...

STEM and Liberal Arts

New graduates with degrees in science, technology, engineering and/or math earn more shortly after commencement, but those with liberal-arts degrees can catch up by marketing their strengths and flexibility.

Some liberal-arts graduates, cashing in on their skills in writing, synthesizing material and problem-solving, find careers in finance, law, civil service and – yes – STEM by getting past self-limiting ideas about what constitutes an ideal job. A psychology major can work as a liaison between clients and a company that files reports to the Federal Trade Commission.

A sociology major can evaluate user and/ or buyer behavior for a high-tech firm.

“Students with liberal-arts degrees have never been so needed in the world,” says Jeffrey Blahnik, executive director of admissions at the University of Oklahoma.

“These students often bring unique ways of solving problems and using their talents … in different industries, particularly health care and STEM-related fields.”

He cites Jane Hsi of Edmond, an OU senior who, as a biochemistry major, has her eyes set on medical school. Hsi will also earn degrees in studio art (Hsi says her favorite space on campus is her “studio mess”) and letters, a major combining philosophy, literature, languages and history.

“Jane sees art as a way that will help her patients someday,” Blahnik says, “and perhaps make her a better, more wellrounded doctor.”

Keith Garbutt, dean of the Honors College at Oklahoma State University and professor of plant biology, has seen English majors succeed as doctors.

“Med schools have started stressing a broader curriculum, especially in the third year, because students drop out or shift focus since they have to deal with people for the first time,” he says. “That’s where the liberal arts come in. Your hard-core biologist, without a broad liberal-arts background, won’t be as good a physician.”

40

OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2018

... philosophy?

Teaching high schoolers and young adults is a reasonable career for philosophy majors, but if you want more, take that bachelor’s degree and go back to school. Philosophy makes an excellent foundation for pursuing a degree in law, finance and business management. ... history?

Use your skills in research, project management, writing and communication to go after a career in the intelligence field, education, communications and business management. ... English?

You can be a teacher, but you can also be a valuable employee in all kinds of industries with your highly sought after writing skills.

Management, marketing, communications and sales management are all possibilities.

INTERNAL MOTIVATION Two sisters – almost exactly three years apart in age, raised in the same manner and given the same opportunities – can have polar opposite levels of internal motivation. One can have a metaphorical blaze lit under her at birth; the other could be figuratively tossed into a bonfire and the response would be, “Oh, well....”

The best parents can do is to speak early and often about longterm goals. Delayed gratification should be default programming.

Keith Garbutt, dean of Oklahoma State University’s Honors College, reminds parents that “it’s the student’s education, not theirs.

Students succeed when they are passionate about what they study. I discourage vicarious living.”

Children prone to procrastination and lack of focus figure out the errors of their ways … or not.

Students have to find motivation for themselves, and that frequently comes in college.

“You can’t make students do anything they don’t want to do,” says Ken Eastman, dean of OSU’s business school, “but you can expose them to new ideas and maybe the fire takes hold. College offers an array of options and they can see where their talents fit.

“College is a chance to remake and recast yourself. Some take advantage of that; some get stuck in previous ways of thinking.

But students have to motivate themselves.”

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Salaries

Science, technology, engineering and math majors command significantly higher salaries. The top 23 careers for new college graduates – listed by the independent publication CollegeChoice – are all in those fields, with petroleum engineering and actuarial mathematics being the top two.

However, Silicon Valley hires liberalarts majors at a pretty penny because they can communicate ideas and assess a company’s operations.

Possessing a diverse range of talents is vital as the employment landscape continually shifts. STEM wizards have more value as employees if they can communicate clearly (orally and in writing) and relate to co-workers face-to-face. Liberal-arts students can help themselves by learning to write some computer code, know their way around a lab and have a passing knowledge of collegiate math and science.

At Oklahoma State University’s Spears School of Business, faculty overhauled a 50-year-old core curriculum after hearing from companies that graduates could crunch numbers, but lacked the “soft skills” needed for success.

“We addressed four weaknesses – interpersonal skills, critical thinking, problemsolving and analytics,” dean Ken Eastman says. “Both businesses and alumni alike kept saying, ‘We can teach graduates what they need to know; we need them coming to us with the ability to talk, use logic and ask questions.’”

SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY ENGINEERING MATHEMATICS » » » » » »

STEM majors can expect to reap the rewards.

Employment in STEM occupations grew much faster than employment in non-STEM occupations over the last decade (24.4 percent versus 4 percent, respectively).

STEM occupations are projected to grow by 8.9 percent by 2024, compared to 6.4 percent growth for non-STEM occupations.

STEM workers command higher wages, earning 29 percent more than their non-STEM counterparts.

Nearly three-quarters of STEM workers have at least a college degree, compared to just over 1/3 of non-STEM workers.

STEM degree holders enjoy higher earnings, regardless of whether they work in STEM or non-STEM occupations. A STEM degree holder can expect an earnings premium of 12 percent over non-STEM degree holders, holding all other factors constant.

(Source: Economics and Statistics Administration, 2015)

42

OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2018

curious minds challenge the world

Oklahoma’s Public Liberal Arts College Nationally Recognized for Affordability and Quality Innovative and Creative Interdisciplinary Core Curriculum

usao.edu | chickasha, OK | (405) 574-1357 twitter | facebook | instagram

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The Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics (OSSM) was created through legislative action in 1983 and graduated its first class of 44 seniors from across the state in 1992. It is designed as a two-year residential public high school for academically-gifted students in mathematics and science.

THE OSSM DIFFERENCE · World-Class Faculty · College-Level Curriculum · “America’s Top Public Schools”

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43

9/20/17 3:15 PM

PETROLEUM ENGINEERING AND ACTUARIAL MATHEMATICS ARE THE HIGHEST PAYING JOBS FOR NEW COLLEGE GRADUATES.

THE RISING COST OF A DEGREE Average tuition and fees for four-year college degrees are on the rise, according to the National Center on Education Statistics.

In a report on the cost of attendance in 2016-2017 of four-year colleges in the United States, NCES found the averages increased roughly 5 percent in public institutions for all students, whether considered in-state or out-of-state, since the 2014-2015 academic year. Nonprofit institutions reported an increase of about the same, while for-profit institutions reported an increase of just over 1 percent.

AVERAGE TUITION COST

2014-2015

2016-2017

Public in-state

$7,819

$8,173

Public out-of-state

$17,638

$18,415

Private nonprofit

$25,851

$27,260

Private for-profit

$15,788

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EFFECTIVE TEST PREP The best preparation for the SAT and ACT is for students to internalize instruction and understand (not regurgitate) information in core classes while in middle school and high school. Those who routinely score high on the ACT and SAT ingest the concepts, not just learn enough to get A’s on papers, projects, tests and quizzes.

The reality is that most students do not grasp all the material all the time, so they turn to test-prep books, classes, online programs and tutors. And here’s where the big gray monster emerges … again.

Going through the motions or cramming with test prep yields results of a student going through the motions or cramming. Garbage in … garbage out.

However, systematic, progressive, focused preparation months (note the plural) before an ACT or SAT usually yields a higher score, especially when deficiencies are addressed. Online, Khan Academy has a free preparation regimen via College Board (owner of the SAT) while the ACT offers free programs and resources. They all evaluate strengths and weaknesses so

44

OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2018

students can target their studies.

A point of diminishing returns is quickly reached with test prep, not because of its value, but because the vast majority hits a plateau on either the SAT or ACT after the third attempt. Retaking either test four or more times becomes Sisyphean.

A good strategy is for a high school sophomore to take full versions of both the ACT and SAT. Plenty of online charts offer approximate correlations; for instance, a 32 on the ACT is roughly akin to a 1,240 on the SAT. If that sophomore scores significantly higher on either, then s/he should focus on that particular test and prepare for it over the next 12-18 months. There are enough differences in the wording and philosophy of each test that, for about 25 percent of high schoolers, one test “speaks” to them more clearly than the other.

Preparation is only as good as a student’s internal motivation. Tired, distracted students prepping late at night for a standardized test rarely improve their scores significantly.

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45

EXTRACURRICULARS

Private colleges and most universities with honors programs look for well-rounded students demonstrating academic achievement and sustained commitment to activities outside the classroom.

In the extracurricular arena, the biggest mistake that a second-semester junior or, worse, a first-semester senior can make is to join a boatload of organizations. College admissions officers see right through this ploy.

Instead, they want to see what applicants have done throughout their high school careers. A realistic expectation is for a student to be involved in two activities all four years.

Some Oklahoma high schools and colleges Cue the gray ghost – because everyone’s have partnered to bring concurrent enrollment circumstances vary. programs to juniors and seniors. A great way A varsity athlete in three sports might to earn college credit before actually attending participate regularly in debate club or full time – and with most offering tuition waivers – some service organization. A literal concurrent enrollment can be an excellent choice for drama queen (or king) might get many students looking to get ahead. High school students offstage once a week and work at are allowed to take up to six college credits per semester, an animal shelter. which equals up to 24 college credits already knocked out by “When a student is really high school graduation for motivated students. There are eligibility invested in a few things requirements that must be met, however, including having already that they are truly pastaken the preACT, ACT or SAT and making a minimum score, which sionate about, that varies by institution. In addition, there is typically a required GPA of at shows on their least 3.0 and/or class ranking of at least the top 50 percent. application,”

CONCURRENT ENROLLMENT

says Jesse Chambliss, a University of Tulsa admissions counselor. “There’s a wonderful sincerity that comes through. When you really enjoy something, you have a larger capacity to pull transferable skills from that experience.”

Jeffrey Blahnik of the University of Oklahoma’s admissions office, says students with extracurricular interests add to campus life while they are in school and contribute much to society after graduation.

“Substantial research shows that deep involvement in activities, where a young person grows in leadership and involvement over time, makes that person develop more grit, the trait of perseverance. Grit is something we want to see in applicants [because] they will tend to be more successful.”

Don’t underestimate family obligations.

Admissions officers understand (and want to know) if a high schooler has to pick up younger siblings from school, oversee their homework and cook supper for them. Those same officials also see a long-term, part-time job as a positive, not a negative.

The goal for any high schooler is to find some non-academic niches that have an impact on the school or another being’s life.

AFFORDABILITY

“Oklahoma continues to be one of the most affordable states when it comes to public higher education. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation ranks Oklahoma higher education as the fifth-most affordable system in the nation.

“According to the State Regents’ 2015-16 Tuition Impact Analysis Report, Oklahoma residents pay an average of $1,690 less in tuition and mandatory fees for an undergraduate education than their peers in other states. The report revealed that students who enrolled in 30 credit hours at the state’s research institutions — Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma — continue to pay less for tuition and mandatory fees than the majority of their counterparts at other public Big 12 universities.”

COMPARING UNDERGRADUATE TUITION AND MANDATORY FEES WITH PEER INSTITUTIONS:

FY16

TIER Oklahoma Average Research Universities Regional Universities Community Colleges

$7,921 $5,826 $3,620

(Source: OSRHE, FY 2015-16 Tuition Impact Analysis Report)

46

OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2018

FY16

Peer Average

$9,804 $6,930 $5,658

% less

than Peer Average

19% 16% 36%

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Private School Guide

Uniforms

Annual tuition

MultiDenominational

9-12

ACT

French, Latin, Spanish, /Yes/Yes

42

Yes

Yes

$9,125 (Catholic) $11,425 (Non-Catholic)

Lasallian Catholic

12:1

9-12

ACT, SAT

French, Latin, Spanish/ Yes/Yes

31

Yes

Yes

$9,270 (Catholic) $13,165 (Non-Catholic)

Roman Catholic

900

13:1

PreK-12

ACT, SAT

Chinese, French, Latin, Spanish/Yes/Yes

50

Yes

Yes

$6,900 - $19,560

Episcopal

2520 S. Yorktown Ave., Tulsa/918.746.2600/www.casciahall.com

548

9:1

6-12

ACT

Chinese, French, German, Latin, Spanish/Yes/Yes

35

Yes

Yes

$14,575

Augustinian Catholic

Crossings Christian School

14400 N. Portland Ave., OKC/405.842.8495/ www.crossingsschool.org

1,095

PreK-12

ACT, Explore Test

Spanish/Yes/Yes

42

Yes

Yes

$8,600 - $9,250

Christian

Heritage Hall

1800 N.W. 122nd St., OKC/405.749.3001/ www.heritagehall.com

900

18:1

PreK-12

ACT, SAT

Chinese, French, Spanish/ Yes/Yes

70

No

No

$9,055-$19,380

None

Holland Hall

5666 E. 81st St., Tulsa/ 918.481.1111/ www.hollandhall.org

942

9:1

PreK-12

ACT, SAT

Chinese, French, Spanish/ Yes/Yes

86

Yes

Yes

$7,000-$19,900

Episcopal

Lincoln Christian School

1003 N. 129th East Ave., Tulsa/918.234.8863/ www.lincolnchristianschool.com

950

18:1

PreK-12

ACT, EXPLORE Test, SAT, Terra Nova

Spanish/Yes/Yes

15

Yes

Yes

$6,750

Non-Denominational

Marquette Catholic School

1519 S. Quincy Ave., Tulsa/918.584.4631/www.marquetteschool.org

500

22:1

PreK-8

Iowa Test of Basic Skills

Spanish/Yes/Yes

12

Yes

Yes

$5,340

Catholic

Metro Christian Academy

6363 S. Trenton Ave., Tulsa/ 918.745.9868/www.metroca.com

900

12:1

PreK3-12

ACT, EXPLORE Test, Stanford Achievement Test

American Sign Language, Chinese, French, Spanish/Yes/Yes

45

Yes

Yes

$6,600-$11,775

Non-Denominational Christian

Miss Helen’s Private School

4849 S. Mingo Road, Tulsa/ 918.622.2327/www.misshelens.com

150

10:1

PreK3-5

Iowa Test of Basic Skills

French, Spanish/Yes/Yes

3

No

Yes

$8,550

None

Mizel Jewish Community Day School

2021 E. 71st St., Tulsa/918.494.0953/ www.mizelschool.org

41

8:1

PreK-5

Stanford Achievement Test

Hebrew/No/Yes

3

No

Yes

$8,066

Jewish

Monte Cassino School

2206 S. Lewis Ave., Tulsa/ 918.742.3364/www.montecassino.org

750

10:1

PreK3-8

Iowa Test of Basic Skills

French, Latin, Spanish/ Yes/Yes

30

No

Yes

$6,000-$10,600

Benedictine Catholic

Mount St. Mary Catholic High School

2801 S. Shartel Ave., OKC/ 405.631.8865/www.mountstmary.org

390

12:1

9-12

ACT

French, Latin, Spanish/ Yes/Yes

13

No

Yes

$8,600 (Catholic) $10,400 (Non-Catholic)

Catholic Archdiocese of OKC, Sisters of Mercy

Oklahoma Christian Academy

1101 E. Ninth St., Edmond/ 405.844.6478/www.ocacademy.org

457

15:1

PreK3-12

ACT

Spanish/Yes/Yes

18

Yes

Yes

$8,500

Church of Christ

Regent Preparatory School of Oklahoma

8621 S. Memorial Drive, Tulsa/ 918.663.1002/www.rpsok.org

510

13:1

PreK-12

ACT SAT

Latin, Spanish/Yes/Yes

18

Yes

Yes

$3,940 (Kindergarten) $8,190 (1st-6th grade) $8,780 (7th-8th grade) $9,980 (9th-12th grade)

Inter-Denominational

Rejoice Christian School

13407 E. 106th St. North., Owasso/918.516.0050/ www.rejoiceschool.com

1,024

12:1

PreK3-12

Terra Nova

French, Spanish/Yes/Yes

21

Yes

No

$2,430-$6,980

Free Will Baptist

Riverfield Country Day School

2433 W. 61st St., Tulsa/918.466.3553/ www.riverfield.org

640

4:1-16:1

Infants-12

ACT, EXPLORE Test, SAT

German, Spanish/Yes/Yes

19

Yes

No

$10,015-$13,000

Non-Denominational

6310 E. 30th St., Tulsa/918.832.4600/ www.acatulsa.org

186

12:1

PreK4-12

Bishop Kelley High School

3905 S. Hudson Ave., Tulsa/918.627.3390/ www.bishopkelley.org

925

12:1

Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School

801 N.W. 50th St., OKC/405.842.6638/ www.bmchs.org

703

Casady School

9500 N. Pennsylvania Ave., OKC/405.749.3100/www.casady.org

Cascia Hall Preparatory School

48

OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2018

8:1-20:1 (depending on grade level)

Religious affiliation

Scholarships/aid

$6,500

Augustine Christian Academy

Standardized testing offered

Yes

Grades

Yes

Student/teacher ratio

13

Total enrollment

French, German, Greek, Latin, Hebrew/No/Yes

Address/phone/website

ACT, PSAT, SAT

School

Number of teachers with advanced degrees

it cost per year, and are there ways to obtain financial aid? With Oklahoma Magazine’s handy and informative Private School Guide, your decision just became easier. Compare and learn the stats of private schools around the state with this comprehensive guide.

Foreign languages/sports programs/arts and music programs

When it’s time to send your child along to a private elementary, middle or high school, choosing the correct institution can be tough.

Questions abound as your search begins: What languages do they offer? Are sports and music programs available? How much will

School

Address/phone/website

Total enrollment

Student/teacher ratio

Grades

Standardized testing offered

Foreign languages/sports programs/arts and music programs

Number of teachers with advanced degrees

Scholarships/aid

Uniforms

Annual tuition

Religious affiliation

Saint Catherine School

2515 W. 46th St., Tulsa/918.446.9756/ www.saintcatherineschool.org

123

8:1

PreK3-8

Iowa Test of Basic Skills

Spanish/Yes/Yes

5

Yes

Yes

$4,270 (Catholic) $5,282 (Non-Catholic)

Roman Catholic

School of Saint Mary

1365 E. 49th Place, Tulsa/918.749.9361/ www.schoolofsaintmary.com

310

15:1

PreK-8

Iowa Test of Basic Skills

Spanish/Yes/Yes

5

Yes

Yes

$5,410 (Parishioner) $6,668 (Non-parishioner)

Roman Catholic

St. Pius X School

1717 S. 75th E. Ave., Tulsa/918.627.5367/ www.spxtulsa.org

370

19:1

PreK3-8

Iowa Test of Basic Skills

Spanish, Yes/Yes

2

Yes

Yes

$4,872

Catholic

Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic School

1428 N. 67th East Ave., Tulsa/ 918.836.2165/ www.peterandpaultulsa.org

200

18:1

PreK-8

Iowa Test of Basic Skills, EXPLORE Test

Spanish/Yes/Yes

5

Yes

Yes

$4,000

Catholic

St. Mary’s Episcopal School

505 E. Covell Road, Edmond/ 405.341.9541/ www.smesedmond.org

140

6:1

PreK3-5

Iowa Test of Basic Skills

Spanish/Yes/Yes

3

No

Yes

$3,100-$9,000

Episcopal

Undercroft Montessori School

3745 S. Hudson Ave., Tulsa/918.622.2890/www.undercroft.org

206

7:1

PreK3-8

Stanford Achievement Test

Spanish/No/Yes

19

No

No

$6,465-$10,480

None

University School at The University of Tulsa

800 S. Tucker Drive, Tulsa/918.631.5060/www.utulsa.edu/ uschool

235

3:1

PreK3-8

Stanford Achievement Test

Chinese, Spanish/No/Yes

20

Yes

No

$10,435

None

Westminster School

600 N.W. 44 St., Oklahoma City/ 405.524.0631/ www.westminsterschool.org

575

15:1

PreK3-8

Iowa Test of Basic Skills

French, Spanish/Yes/Yes

26

No

No

$8,500-$14,000

None

Wright Christian Academy

11391 E. Admiral Place, Tulsa/ 918.438.0922/ www.wrightchristianacademy.com

250

13:1

PreK3-12

Stanford Achievement Test, ACT, Terra Nova

Spanish/Yes/Yes

8

Yes

Yes

$5,000-$6,000

NonDenominational

University School University School

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918-272-7235 (Preschool / Elementary)

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Rejoice Christian Schools admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.

TU Student Union

Tours Available

ALSO: Private School Showcase including University School at TU, Bishop Kelley, ALSO: Private School Showcase

Feb. 7

March 7 April 11

Cascia Hall,School Holland Hall, Mizel, MonteHall, Cassino, including UniversityUniversity at TU,School Bishop at Kelley, Holland Hall, including TU,Cascia Bishop Kelley, • • Town & Country and Undercroft Montessori Mizel,Riverfield, Monte Cassino, Country and Undercroft Montessori Cascia Hall,Riverfield, HollandTown Hall,& Mizel, Monte Cassino, Riverfield,918-631-5060 Town & Country and Undercroft Montessori • utulsa.edu/uschool

918-631-5060 utulsa.edu/uschool Educating •Gifted Students Since 1982 918-631-5060 • utulsa.edu/uschool The University of Tulsa is an EEO/AA institution.

The University of Tulsa is an EEO/AA institution.

The University of Tulsa is an EEO/AA institution.

22993 Rejoice Christian.indd 1

11/30/17 23011 4:04 PM University School.indd 1

FEBRUARY 2018 | WWW.OKMAG.COM

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12/15/17 1:27 PM

riverfield growing . together .

“It is clear that Riverfield truly values family involvement.

I feel that the door

The

is always open for

SQUAD

us to participate in any way we can. My daughter’s teachers honor and respect what each child brings

From the smallest to the tallest.

to the table, and they

Come see all Metro Christian Academy has to offer students in preschool through high school. Our upcoming open house is a great time to take a tour, ask questions and visit with faculty, staff, parents and students. We would love to share more about our vibrant, life-giving educational community.

Please join us for an OPEN HOUSE on Tuesday, February 27th at 9am or sign up for a private tour.

Register today at visitmetro.com

23031 Metro Christian.indd 1

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are dedicated to providing meaningful experiences for all families.”

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50

OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2018

1/8/18 1:36 PM

Posting With Caution

By Megan Morgan

On social media, a fine line exists between free speech and trouble at work.

FEBRUARY 2018| WWW.OKMAG.COM

51

is pervasive, and these platforms play an ever-present role in our lives – and not just our personal, social lives. Workplaces are increasingly affected by issues originating from social media posts.

In October, a woman on her bicycle gave a colorful gesture to the passing presidential convoy. But when she set the photo of this moment as her social media profile picture, she lost her job. More recently, an ESPN host was reprimanded for political posts on her personal social media accounts. Subtle differences exist between what is acceptable to post and what could cause workplace trouble.

For employees, it is important to remember that Americans’ right to free speech does not necessarily extend to all speech. A Workforce Magazine survey in 2016 reported that many Americans believe that social media posts are protected by the First Amendment; however, while free speech is protected, this right does not include what private employers can do with personnel.

Social media posts are not protected by the right to privacy, the magazine states.

Even with password-protected accounts and specific security settings, once an employee posts or comments through a social media

Social media

52

OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2018

platform, the information becomes public.

If you’re an employee, Forbes magazine recommends performing an online audit of yourself to discover what your employer could find from your accounts; when in doubt about a post’s content, delete it. Check your company’s employee handbook for a social media policy. However, even with these precautions, Oklahoma is an employment-atwill (or right-to-work) state – as is Virginia, where the gesturing, bike-riding woman lived and worked. Employment-at-will means your employer may fire you at any time for any reason (except in cases of discrimination).

Attorney Charlie Plumb of the McAfee and Taft firm has represented many employers and companies regarding these problems.

“We’re living in a global world, so Oklahoma employers and employees aren’t really any different than those anywhere else in the country,” he says. “These situations take place every day.”

On the employer side, Plumb recommends establishing an enforceable policy but also keeping in mind that even with a clear mandate, these issues aren’t black and white.

“It’s not one-size-fits-all or one-policy-fitsall solution,” Plumb says. “You’re balancing a company’s right to address conduct in the

form of social media that injures an employer with an individual’s right to speak out and address issues that might arise in the workplace.

You have to look at each situation carefully for particular facts and circumstances and balance those to competing rights.”

A policy also shouldn’t sit dusty on a shelf, only to be mentioned when violated, Plumb says. Education is the best route for employees and employers alike.

“Without intruding into people’s lives, it’s important to make sure employees appreciate that, if they post things, it has a spectacular broadcast and it never goes away,” he says.

“If they say something harmful involving their co-workers or the company, it can have serious ramifications. Having a good policy helps, but companies also have to educate your workforce about the existence of that policy and then explain that you’re not trying to be their parent. Companies have to make the policy come alive and explain why it’s in place in the first place.”

Speech that is protected involves harassment or discrimination.

“If, for example, a female employee posted complaints about her male supervisor harassing her, or a minority employee were to complain on a Facebook page that he

didn’t receive a promotion based on his race and they were fired for this communication, there is a very good argument that these types of comments are protected speech,” Plumb says. “Employers have to realize that if their visceral reaction is to take disciplinary action for these kinds of comments, then what they are doing is retaliating against someone for actions they’ve taken that are protected by law.”

The National Labor Relations Act also protects employees who work together to use social media in addressing problems in their workplace; it is referred to as “protected concerted activity.” This law, passed in 1935, has ramifications extending to social media 83 years later, even though those who passed the law probably did not anticipate Facebook and Instagram. As technology continues to change rapidly, the world of social media law is in flux.

“Like everything else electronic and technological, it’s moving so fast,” Plumb says.

“And with social media you are dealing with its variety, its breadth and its persistence.

Also, the change in presidential administrations means that some of the trends on what may have been prohibited under the prior administration concerning actions made on

social media could be different in six to 12 months. It’s something that both employees and employers should keep in mind.”

Plumb says that as the use of social media continues to increase, both employees and their employers will become more sophisticated in how they manage these situations.

But problems will never vanish entirely.

“Years ago, people weren’t that careful about limiting access to some of their postings in terms of blocking or making accounts password-protected,” he says. “I think people are more aware now and it’s helping because it’s making people remember that these things are public. But just like any other inappropriate behavior in the workplace, electronic versions of that will continue as long as the workplace is populated by people.”

Oklahoma Magazine wants you to share your thoughts on this issue. Should workers feel the need to censor themselves online? Do companies need to step in when an employee crosses a line? What is that line? Tweet to us @OklahomaMag, or DM us on Instagram at @oklahoma_mag … but be careful in referencing your own workplace.

FEBRUARY 2018| WWW.OKMAG.COM

53

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

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54

OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2018

HOSPICE CARE My mother is battling cancer and her doctors tell us her days are numbered. He has recommended hospice care but my mother does not want to leave her home. Is that possible?

Yes, it is absolutely possible for your mother to receive hospice care in her home. Hospice care is about making KEN BACHELOR the patient as comfortable as possible while also being a supportive presence for their family and caregivers. That means we want to provide hospice care in a place that is best for your mother and your family. In fact, about 80 percent of all hospice patients do receive care in their home or a senior living facility. Our team of experts can work with you and your family to create a specialized plan of care. We can help ensure your mother is comfortable at home surrounded by the people who love her. Please call Grace Hospice at 918.744.7223 or visit gracehospice.com and we will be happy to provide you with more information.

Ken Bachelor Grace Hospice of Oklahoma 6400 South Lewis, Suite 1000 Tulsa, OK 74136 918.744.7223 www.gracehospice.com

FINANCIAL ADVISOR Are You Talking Yourself Out of Saving for Retirement?

Saving for – and even thinking about – retirement can be overwhelming.

While it’s natural to worry about your financial future, be careful not to let preconceived notions prevent you from actively saving for tomorrow. If you find yourself having one of the followDAVID KARIMIAN CFP®, CRPC® ing doubts, consider re-framing your thinking. A shift in perspective may be what you need to get on the right track.

“Retirement is a long way off.”

“I’ll prioritize retirement after paying for my child’s education.”

“My retirement dreams are too expensive.”

“I won’t be able to retire when I want.”

“I can’t afford to save.”

“My family will help me.”

It’s not too late to correct misconceptions about the importance of saving for retirement. Consider working with a financial advisor to create a plan for your future. Together you can determine your savings targets and explore a wide range of strategies to meet your financial goals. It’s time to talk yourself back in to retirement.

David Karimian, CFP®, CRPC® Prime Wealth Management A private wealth advisory practice of Ameriprise 7712 S. Yale Ave. Suite 240 Tulsa, OK 74136 918.388.2003 • David.x.Karimian@ampf.com www.primewealthmgmt.com

INSURANCE PROFESSIONAL What are some unusual things insurance might cover?

Here’s five unusual things that your insurance policies might cover: Lightning strikes – your homeowners’ policy may provide coverage for fire caused by a lightning strike.

Electronic equipment such as computers, televisions and refrigerators RUSS IDEN may also be covered.

Identity theft – expenses related to the theft of your identity may be covered by an endorsement to your homeowners’ policy.

Spoiled food – in a power outage, the spoiled contents of your freezer and refrigerator may be covered.

Student possessions – if your children are students living in a college dorm, their possessions may be covered.

Legal representation for car crashes – if you are involved in a crash and are determined to be at fault and risk being sued, legal help may be covered by your auto policy.

If you have questions about things that may or may not be covered by insurance, call a AAA agent near you.

Russ Iden AAA Oklahoma 918.748.1034 800.222.2582, x1034 russ.iden@aaaok.org

PERSONAL TRAINER Is there a nutritional way to fight skin cancer?

Sunscreen is the most marketed way to fight skin cancer, but actually for every case of skin cancer, an estimated 20 to 30 individuals will develop breast and prostate cancer. This is because sunscreens block vitamin D initiating rays JOHN JACKSON of the sun. You will reduce your risk of skin cancer by eating foods containing lycopene (tomatoes, papaya, watermelon), lutein (spinach, Brussels sprouts, zucchini, kale), ECGC (oregano, garlic, green and black tea), polyphenols, flavanoids (citrus), proanthocyanadins (red wine, cocoa, grape seeds), cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, kale), fish and olive oil. For more info on nutrients that combat skin cancer, contact a certified nutritionist.

John Jackson, Personal Trainer St. John Siegfried Health Club 1819 E. 19th St., Tulsa, OK 74104 918.902.4028 jljackson70@hotmail.com Views expressed in the Professionals do not necessarily represent the views of Oklahoma Magazine, Schuman Publishing Co. or its affiliates.

Homicidal Lurk s r e t s Mon

By Charles W. Sasser

Notable COLD CASES include the Tulsa-area killings of five young women 28-43 years ago.

Killings most foul are committed on average every four to five days in Oklahoma City and Tulsa. About 90 percent of all homicides are resolved, but the cases that plague police investigators are those left unsolved, the “whodunits” crying for justice year after year. In 1975, three Tulsa-area women – Geraldine Martin, 28; Marian Hope Rosenbaum, 16; Suzanne Oakley, 24 – were savagely raped and killed in separate incidents. One of these crimes was not solved for nearly three decades, while the other two remain open cases. When pursuing a killer in situations like these, a detective might think: “It haunts me that this psychopathic monster still lurks out there because I’m not smart or lucky enough to catch him. Somewhere he walks, he talks, he laughs, he watches TV, he lives while his victims are dead.”

FEBRUARY 2018| WWW.OKMAG.COM

55

Forensic advancem ents proved the un doing of Martin’s killer 27 years after her mutilated body was stuffed into th e closet of an abandoned No rth Tulsa apar tment complex . DNA match-typing was unavailable in 1975, but crime evidence was preserved. W hen police in El Cajon, Californ ia, arrested 64-year-old Clyde Carl Wilkerson in 2002 as a suspect in a years-long rape-a nd-murder rampage across th e nation, DNA nailed him to the Martin homicide. He plead ed guilty in 2004 and was sent enced to life in priso n.

However, such a co nviction may not co mpletely satisfy a detective, who might think: “Af ter all these years, I finally got to see the face of the ‘apparition’ I had sought for so long. I was disappo inted in a way.

Here was an old ma n in a wheelchair, turning feeble, not at all in appear ance the monster I expected.”

The Rosenbaum an d Oakley investigati ons continue with Wilkerso n a prime suspect, but a detective’s anxiety rarely ebbs. Sometimes, it multiplies, as it did 14 years lat er, when three mo re Oklahoma women died violen tly in ways eerily sim ilar to the 1975 cases.

On May 26, 1989, Ka thryn Cochran, 36 , known as Cuddly Bear on cit izens band radio, dis appeared while on a busines s trip to Tulsa repr esenting Oklahoma City’s Redboo k Floral Service. He r partially clad body, recovere d the next day, wa s discarded off a rural road ne ar Stroud. Evidenc e revealed she had been raped an d strangled. Her ve hicle had been abandoned in Tulsa in the Skaggs park ing lot at East 51st Street and Ha rvard Avenue.

On Aug. 6, 1989, An gela Jean Monholl en, 23, mother of four child ren, did not show up for work at Tulsa’s Park Terrace Convalescent Cent er. City workers found her deco mposing body Aug. 14 in a weedy North Tulsa drainag e ditch. She had be en raped and strangled. Police fou nd her pickup on th e Gilcrease

“I lied,” he said, according to witness testimony. “I am going to kill you.”

56

OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2018

Isaacs speculated Expressway. Police Detective Jerry r after she ran kille her red unte she may have enco out of gas and became stranded. emeister, 24, On Nov. 6, 1989, student Michelle Hag ege of OsColl lsa’s ty-Tu ersi Univ left Oklahoma State her Creek to e driv to p.m.

11:30 at icine teopathic Med rted repo ts oris County home. Around midnight, mot Farm ke Sna on ing burn her vehicle abandoned and ks later, police Road near Kiefer. Exactly three wee oma Lake. Police recovered her body floating in Sah ed, raped and app kidn concluded she had also been d. ngle – unsurprisingly – stra stigation The Oklahoma State Bureau of Inve police to ty coun and l icipa mun with ted coordina r. Their kille us terio mys identify and track down the

first possible break derived from a near tragedy just before Christmas.

According to police reports, 20-year-old Traci, seven months pregnant, was driving Kathy, 19, home at 1 a.m. Dec. 20, 1989, when they noticed a vehicle trailing theirs. (Their last names are not used because of the nature of the crime.) The car suddenly swerved ahead on a lonely stretch of Elwood Avenue near West 61st Street and blocked the road. A man brandishing a pistol leaped out and charged.

“Get out! It has a hair trigger and it’s loaded,” he refuge in nearby houses and called police. yelled, according to the women.

The auto Traci purloined from the assailant conThe victims soon found themselves bound hand tained the wallet and identification of Johnny David and foot, blindfolded, stripped of their clothing and Washington, 29, 5-feet-9, 150 pounds. Department of transferred to the floorboard of their assailant’s sehe said. “The purpose was the pleasure this man Corrections records revealed a 1985 conviction for dan. He drove them to a wooded area near Sapulpa appare ntly receives from exercising the last act of raping a woman after tying a rope around her neck. and parked on an isolated road illuminated by a low dominance of killing. He wanted to feel their terror Police thought it no coincidence that Cochran – CB’s moon. He nonchalantly told Kathy that he was going before he actually performed the final act of murder.

Cuddly Bear – was abducted two months after Washto have sex with her, but that he wouldn’t hurt her, Isn’t [it] that he’s simply evil?” ington was released from prison in March 1989. according to witness testimony.

Law officials have not obtained evidence to Police scouri ng Oklaho His weapon accidentally discharged while he ma in a massive manhunt associate Washington with the killings of Cochran, said Washington was sought for questioning in the extracted Kathy from the floorboard; the bullet Monhollen and Hagemeister. “weekend abduction of two women and three slaygrazed her arm. Nonplussed, he dragged her into “[He] hasn’t been eliminated,” Renfrow says, “but ings” becau se, according to OSBI spokesman Paul the underbrush, threw her to the ground and began nothing links him firmly so far.”

Renfrow, the cases bore common threads. strangling her with a belt.

The three unsolved homicides of 1989, along Five days passed before detectives received a tip “I lied,” he said, according to witness testimony. “I with two of the similar 1975 killings, remain active that Washington was holed up at a Motel 6 in Moore. am going to kill you.” investi gations.

OSBI agents arreste d him at 2 p.m. Jan. 4 without In the meantime, Traci, who had been left tied “We don’t want the public to ever forget about incident. in the assailant’s vehicle with the engine running, these victims,” OSBI spokeswoman Jessica Brown During his September 1990 trial for the abductions freed herself. Clambering behind the wheel, she says.

“Advancements in forensic techniques provide of Kathy and Traci, a jury in Creek County District inadvertently honked the horn, which probably new leads to investigators, and the passage of Court deliber ated 15 minute saved Kathy’s life. s before convicting him time can prove useful to investigators as personal of assault and battery with intent to kill, attempted Alarmed, the assailant left Kathy and, on foot, relationships of suspects change, giving those once rape, feloniously carrying a firearm and two counts chased his disappearing car down the road. Kathy close to a killer the courage to come forward.” of kidnap ping.

Defense attorney Barbara Ward porfled through the winter woods. Both women found Detectives remain hopeful that they will uncover trayed her client as a disadvantaged victim of abuse, evidence to bring justice to five young women cut but Creek County District Attorney Lantz McClain had down by, as one officer described it, “a monster that a different take. prowls the night.”

“Washington stalked his victims with the inten“Homicide cases are never closed until they’re retion of kidnapping, raping and murdering them, and solved ,” Tulsa cold case Detective Eddie Majors says. along the way degrading and humiliating them,” “There is no statute of limitations on murder.”

“He wanted to feel their terror before he actually performed the final act of murder.”

FEBRUARY 2018 | WWW.OKMAG.COM

57

Try a Little

Ś Tenderne Ş

By Tara Malone Photos by Dan Morgan

We

all know that growing older comes with a host of challenges. However, as many of us dwell on the physical effects of aging, we often overlook one of the most insidious dangers to our older loved ones: isolation.

As more and more research demonstrates the crucial role that mental and emotional wellbeing plays in healthy aging, seniors tell us in their own words about the connections that make their golden years priceless.

Partners for Life

CLARE AND BILL CALDWELL HAVE BEEN MARRIED FOR 70 YEARS AND COUNTING. THE COUPLE SAYS PLENTY OF PATIENCE ON BOTH SIDES HELPS A MARRIAGE LAST.

58

One day in 1945, not long after he’d returned from a German prisoner of war camp, Bill Caldwell was smitten with a total stranger. Driving to Dallas with a friend, he spotted a stunning brunette in Durant. As he continued his journey, he wished he’d been able to meet her, but figured he’d probably never see her again.

Months later, a customer in his grocery store offered to set him up on a blind date with her daughter. When Bill

OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2018

Older adults share their perspectives on the benefits of close relationships as they age.

arrived in his grocery truck to pick up his date, there stood his mystery girl from Durant: Clare, who would become his wife for 70 years (and counting).

“I couldn’t believe it,” he says. “I nearly blew my pantyhose off. I nearly vapor locked. But it was her.”

Bill, 95, remembers their first date like it was yesterday.

As the sponsor of a boys’ basketball team, he and Clare picked up the players in the truck and went to a game together.

JOHN AND MARGE MEYER MARRIED LATE IN LIFE – IN 2010.

THE COUPLE SAYS YOU SHOULD SEIZE THE MOMENT, NO MATTER WHAT AGE YOU ARE WHEN YOU FALL IN LOVE.

FEBRUARY 2018 | WWW.OKMAG.COM

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TOM NAUGLE AND HIS FURRY COMPANION, GOLDIE, PROVIDE VALUABLE COMPANIONSHIP FOR EACH OTHER, NAUGLE SAYS.

and enjoyable,” Bill says. “I’ve been proud to have her as my wife. We’ve had a lot of good times. [A relationship] can’t help but make you feel better and healthier – to have somebody that cares, somebody you can be proud of. It’s got to be a give-andtake relationship. You have to understand they have a problem sometimes, or don’t feel well. You have to be as understanding and loving as possible.”

Clare says of their long partnership: “I don’t think you could do it if you didn’t truly love each other, or got married on the spur of the moment. We knew each other pretty well. We knew we each weren’t perfect before we got married.”

As for the secret recipe to a long, loving relationship, Clare recommends patience … lots of it … on both sides.

“But it’s been mostly fun,” says Clare, laughing.

A Second Chance

“I liked him from the beginning.

He was funny.

Everyone liked Bill.”

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“Clare just loved it because all the damn fools were flirting with her and she was having a whale of a time,” Bill says with a laugh. “I was trying to keep my eye on the country road and on her, too. But she sat on the bench with us and we had a great time.”

Clare, 90, says: “I liked him from the beginning. He was funny. Everyone liked Bill.”

After decades of marriage and careers — Bill as an insurance salesman, Clare as a high school English teacher — the two have had their rough patches, but wouldn’t give them up for anything.

They’re now enjoying their retirement together at Burgundy Place Retirement Center in Tulsa, where they’re known to be a fun couple, with fun stories to tell.

“We’ve had our spats, but it’s been fun

John and Marge Meyer both led full lives well before they met. John, 91, worked as a general manager for an energy company, while Marge, 85, owned a shop in Utica Square for 25 years. The two had been acquaintances for many years, but both lost their spouses. Their paths continued to cross in exercise classes and at singing events, and eventually they were married in March 2010.

The couple, who live at Montereau retirement community in Tulsa, say they’ve been pals ever since.

“It’s been an interesting and rewarding eight years,” John says.

He emphasizes, with no doubt, that finding love again as an older adult has increased his happiness.

“Being alone isn’t good for me,” he says.

“I discovered that shortly after my wife died.

We’ve [he and Marge] been very happy.

It’s fulfilling to have someone to share your problems, your good times and bad times.”

He advises that if you find love, regardless of your age, seize the moment.

“If you find someone you care for and who cares for you, don’t wait,” he says. “It’s been good for us. We’re very happy. We’ve done a lot of fulfilling things together.”

Puppy Love

While there’s often a good deal of attention paid to romantic relationships at any age, other types of connections can be equally rewarding for older adults. Tom Naugle and

his furry companion, Goldie, provide daily support, joy and companionship for each other.

The 78-year-old retired chemical engineer/businessman and the 7-year-old golden retriever are inseparable, and have been with each other through some tough times. He says it would have been easy to slip into a sad state of mind – if not for Goldie.

“Well, you know if you have a dog, you have to set your schedule according to their needs,” Naugle says. “I try to walk her first thing in the morning and at sundown. Having a dog is time consuming; you have to be present to do that. If I get depressed at times, it’s good to have Goldie around.

Having her gives me responsibilities. I can’t be too depressed – I have stuff I need to do.”

Goldie isn’t just there for Naugle – she’s also a bright spot for other residents at the Montereau retirement community in south Tulsa. Goldie is a star attraction among Naugle’s friends and neighbors, with people often stopping by his cottage just to make sure the pooch has enough treats. During a recent event for Montereau staff, Naugle and Goldie together presented each employee with a gift card to the hamburger restaurant Goldie’s, bringing a smile to hundreds of faces.

“Now people know my name,” Naugle says as a joke. “I used to be ‘Goldie’s dad.’ Everybody knows her. I can’t walk into the main building without people asking, ‘Where’s Goldie? How’s Goldie?’

Don’t you want to know how Tom is?”

He laughs.

“She’s probably more human than dog,” he says fondly.

“I think that in a place like Montereau, you have to be active and have someone to call on, tell secrets to and just have fun,” says Field, adding that she and Meyer are part of a large group of close, fun-loving older adults in the retirement community who stick together like glue.

“For me, the benefit is if I need to talk to someone, I can call Billie or she can call me,” Meyer says. “She’s my best and closest friend – even closer than my sisters.”

Field says maintaining friendships and an active life — both physically and socially —

are crucial for older adults when they retire.

“I think it’s important because when you move here, you can’t just stay in your room,” she says. “You’ve got to get out and be among friends. You have to do something.

You have to always be busy.”

BEST FRIENDS BILLIE FIELD AND BARBARA MEYER SAY STRONG FRIENDSHIPS LIKE THEIRS AND AN ACTIVE LIFE ARE CRUCIAL FOR OLDER ADULTS.

Best Friends

For Barbara Meyer, 80, and Billie Field, 86, becoming instant best friends was the most natural moment in the world. The two met when Meyer was too ill to coordinate the regular Bunco game for other Montereau residents, and Field stepped up to help out.

“We really just hit it off perfectly,” Meyer says. “She’s my bestie.”

Field says: “She was kind of like me … very active, volunteering a lot. I walk fast and so does she.”

In addition to physical activities, Field and Meyer like to see films, eat Mexican food, go shopping and volunteer together.

They often team up to coordinate activities like games and talent shows for others at Montereau. Both friends extol the benefits of having close buddies as they age.

FEBRUARY 2018 | WWW.OKMAG.COM

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THE

SHAPE

By Rebecca Fast

OF YOU You have plenty of surgical and nonsurgical options to change the way your body looks.

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Many people are not satisfied with the reflection seen in the mirror and turn to outside help to alter areas of concern.

We look at some of the most common cosmetic procedures, surgical and nonsurgical, for you to consider.

FEBRUARY 2018 | WWW.OKMAG.COM

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Facelift

Aesthetic experts claim a facelift can make you look 12 to 15 years younger, according to Juan Brou, plastic surgeon with Premier Plastic Surgery and Aesthetics in Oklahoma City. This is achieved by reducing the looseness or heaviness of lower facial skin.

Many products and procedures can create a youthful appearance, but Brou says there’s nothing on the market offering the same results as a facelift. However, he says that doesn’t mean nonsurgical procedures are ineffective. Instead, they offer options for patients not ready or willing to have surgery, or have had surgery and want to maintain the results.

Jeff Alexander, dermatologist and owner/medical director of the Skin Care Institute in Tulsa, says Ultherapy is the only noninvasive, Food and Drug Administration-cleared procedure that lifts and tightens the face, neck and decollete.

“The treatment increases the person’s own collagen production, resulting in a more natural looking result,” he says. “There is no downtime and results build over a period of six months. While facelift results require plastic surgery; Ultherapy may be a good option for those wanting to avoid surgery. It is also a good option for those wanting collagen stimulation after a surgical lift.”

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Rhinoplasty (Nose Job)

“The most popular facial surgical procedure [in 2017] was rhinoplasty,” says Tim R. Love, plastic surgeon and owner of Tim R. Love Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in Oklahoma City. “Most of my patients desire rhinoplasty to improve their appearance. Occasionally, the procedure is performed in conjunction with an ear, nose and throat surgeon focusing on improvement of breathing issues.”

Love says an ideal patient has a fully developed nose as well as a mature self-image with realistic expectations.

“The decision to have cosmetic surgery must always be made by the patient and for the patient – not to meet someone else’s expectations,” he says.

While recovery time varies, rhinoplasty patients can expect some bruising and swelling for a couple of weeks with results visible in several months.

Since

2000, the number of overall plastic surgery procedures performed in the United States has risen

115% *ACCORDING TO THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF PLASTIC SURGEONS

*

BUTT LIFTS

but specific procedures vary with individual needs.

“People often who have not had children and have good skin tone and good muscle tone can qualify for liposuction only,” Cuzalina says. “But those with loose skin or bulging rectus abdominal muscles after children or following weight loss likely need a tummy tuck.”

The two most common tummy tucks are the full and mini. A full tummy tuck tightens loose skin above and below the navel; a mini tuck tightens only the lower abdomen below the navel.

For a nonsurgical alternative to liposuction, Malissa Spacek, managing partner and founder of BA Med Spa and Weight Loss Center in Broken Arrow, offers Coolsculpting, “an ideal procedure for anyone who has stubborn bulges of fat that they cannot get rid of,” she says.

“Results can be seen in as little as three weeks and will continue to improve for three months, at which point a patient will see the full results.”

She notes its popularity is due to its consistency because “each patient can expect to see a 20- to 25-percent fat reduction in one treatment” and it’s the “only noninvasive procedure that permanently kills fat cells.”

s k c u T y m Tum

People unhappy with their midsections

seek abdominoplasty (tummy tuck)

In 2015, buttock enhancement was so popular, there was a buttock procedure every 30 minutes, of every day, on average*

Botox is the most common minimally invasive procedure requested in the U.S.*

For those wanting to boost their derrieres, Cuzalina says the Brazilian butt lift remains extremely popular – a procedure performed by liposuctioning areas of the back and hips and injecting the fat into the buttocks to provide more fullness and shape.

Brou notes that Hollywood celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and Nicki Minaj have helped popularize buttock augmentation with fat grafting.

“Progress has been made, technically improving the way we harvest, process and re-inject the fat, therefore increasing success,” he says. “Improved concepts in the aesthetics of the thighs and buttock permit more attractive and natural results. Patients benefit from a thigh or buttock lift after significant weight loss – either after pregnancies, change in lifestyle or post-bariatric surgery. Because of the volume loss, the skin loses support, sags, and wrinkles.

These issues can be improved surgically.”

Minimally Invasive Procedures

For those seeking minimally invasive methods on their faces and bodies, Love offers BodyTite and FaceTite, which are advanced contouring procedures with radio frequencyassisted liposuction.

“The treatment melts fat while tightening the skin and soft tissue overlying areas traditionally treated with liposuction alone,” he says.

BodyTite and FaceTite allow patients to avoid long incisions and painful recovery periods.

“Results have been shown to ‘shrink’ skin and soft tissue up to 40 percent,” Love says. “The remarkable results allow ‘lift like’ results without the incisions and downtime of recovery from traditional face lift, neck lift, breast lift, abdominoplasty, arm lift and thigh/knee lift procedures.

Patients will wear post-procedure compression garments for a short time to ensure proper healing and optimum results. BodyTite and FaceTite do not require hospitalization or general anesthesia.

Patients are safely managed under local anesthesia and gentle oral sedation.”

FEBRUARY 2018 | WWW.OKMAG.COM

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Hair RESTORATION

Having undergone two hair transplants, Love speaks from personal experience when he sings the procedure’s praises.

“I have been thrilled with my results,” he says. “My hair transplant patients are some of the happiest. I am able to help them restore their self-image and self-confidence.”

He says most of his patients are men, but many women also seek hair transplants.

“While we can make use of multiple techniques, we have found the strip-harvesting method to be the most effective,” Love says. “This involves surgically excising two narrow strips of good hair from the donor site on the back of the patient’s scalp. Once these strips are dissected into the desired number of multi-hair follicle grafts, they are planted in areas of need. Patients will experience varying growth patterns; but within nine to 12 months, they should have ‘new’ hair in areas previously thin or bare.”

For a nonsurgical approach, Angelo Cuzalina, cosmetic surgeon and owner of Tulsa Surgical Arts, offers Sunetics Laser Hair Restoration, a low-level laser therapy stimulating blood flow to follicles to increase hair growth and density. The treatment is painless, requires multiple sessions and is best for early hair loss, not for full malepattern baldness.

of the tissues, and most importantly the patient’s preferences,” Brou says. “Often times, patients fall right on the fence, where they could get a reasonable result either way. The realization that the lift requires additional scars may sway the patient’s choice.”

As a nonsurgical alternative, Cuzalina offers the ThermiBreast system, which uses controlled, applied heat to contract tissue. However, Cuzalina points out that “a standard surgical breast lift remains the gold standard and most common method to lift the breast.”

BREAST AUGMENTATION Breast augmentation continues to be a sought after procedure as women choose either saline or silicone breast implants to increase their breast sizes. A breast lift or mastopexy removes excess skin and tightens surrounding tissue to reshape and raise the breasts.

“The criteria I use to determine who needs an augmentation alone or a lift with augmentation [are] the breast measurements, evaluation of the quality

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Men account for

40% of breast reduction surgeries*

Thursday, Feb. 15

Thursday, March 15

POUR

DECISIONS IF YOU’RE SEARCHING FOR RECIPES, THE NEWEST DRINK TRENDS, HANGOVER CURES OR BAR ETIQUETTE TIPS, WHAT FOLLOWS IS JUST THE TICKET. BUT THE FLIP SIDE OF IMBIBING IS THE CONSEQUENCES – BINGE DRINKING AND CHRONIC ALCOHOL ABUSE ARE NO JOKE. READ ON TO FIND OUT IF YOUR CONSTANT SIPPING IS BECOMING A GENUINE HINDRANCE.

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OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2018

TRY A VIOLET FEMME OR A BLACK WIDOW WHEN VISITING OKC’S NOIR. BELOW: RACHEL SUITT MAKES AN ART FORM OF MIXING COCKTAILS AT NOIR. PHOTOS BY BRENT FUCHS

Queen of Cocktails

Rachel Suitt at NOIR in OKC concocts mixtures that match the drinker’s preference of spirit.

If you slide up to the bar at NOIR Bistro and Bar in Oklahoma City without a drink order already in mind, cocktail craftswoman and chef Rachel Suitt will likely ask you, “What’s your spirit?”

The edgy young woman – a master of combining flavors to titillate the senses in both cocktails and the seasonal cuisine NOIR is also known for – knows exactly where to go with drink suggestions once she knows your liquor of choice, whether it’s vodka, rum, bourbon or tequila. She and proprietor George Adams have carefully crafted signature cocktails that strive to evoke NOIR’s atmosphere – inspired by cinema of the ’40s and ’50s with hard-boiled crime dramas, cynical attitudes and a touch of sexual impulse.

Try the Black Widow, made with Kraken black-spiced rum, blackberry brandy, lemon juice, angostura bitters and NOIR’s own cherry-ginger bitters. Or sip a Violet Femme for a “glass of violet goodness.”

BOOZING TRENDS Mead

Fermented honey has seen a resurgence thanks to the hit TV series Game of Thrones. Besides, it’s cool to knock back a cold draught of sweet mead (while wearing breeches and a surcoat, of course).

Simplicity

Three-ingredient cocktails offer a refreshingly simple sip, and a return to such ineffable concoctions seems to be taking hold again.

Lagers over IPAs

India pale ales are delicious with hints of different flavors,

depending on the aromatic hops used to brew them. They are certainly popular, but perhaps a bit pigeonholed into being the drink du jour of the hipster crowd.

Lagers, made with fewer hops, less alcohol content and more clarity, have made a comeback.

Japanese gin

Only making its way to American shores in mid-2017, Japanese gin has bowled over fanciers across the country. Try Nikka Coffey Gin, which uses a variety of botanicals (including yuzu, sansho pepper, amanatsu and shequasar) for a tart nose and sweet after taste. But there are only 12,000 bottles available globally, so good hunting to you.

FEBRUARY 2018 | WWW.OKMAG.COM

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Vintage IQ

Ordering wine like an expert is easier than you might think.

Master sommelier Randa Warren says selecting wine at a fine-dining establishment needn’t make a novice get sweaty palms.

“It doesn’t matter if you look like a novice. No one cares,” she says. “But to make the wine ordering go smoothly, enlist the sommelier to make the wine decisions under your supervision.”

Someone should be the “director” of the table to order the wines for your dinner or gathering at a restaurant, and guide everyone in choosing the wines that best fit your group, Warren says.

To get started, consider your dinner companions and the type of wines they normally drink.

“If they only drink Barefoot moscato, you will need to find sweeter than normal wines to accommodate their ‘sweet’ palate,” she says. “If they love cabernet sauvignon, don’t get pinot noir for the table.”

Also establish price points for the wines you are going to order. If your guests normally drink wines under $10, then don’t break the bank by ordering expensive wines they probably won’t enjoy. If you have sophisticated wine drinkers in your party, order the pricier beverages.

“If you have any questions on the wine list, ask the sommelier for advice,” Warren says. “He knows the wine list better than anyone in the restaurant and is your ticket to a good selection. If you don’t want your guests to know what price point you are dealing

with, simply point to a price on the wine list and tell the sommelier, ‘I’m looking for something in this range.’”

The safest bets for ordering wines to please an entire group of people who drink medium quality white wines (or better) are Kendall Jackson chardonnay or Honig sauvignon blanc.

“For reds, [go with] the Joel Gott cabernet sauvignon blanc, Meiomi pinot noir or The Prisoner red blend for a high end choice,” Warren says.

Finally, be sure to have the host or hostess who is ordering try a small taste of the wine when it arrives to ensure its condition and proper taste.

“Give your approval and have fun,” Warren says. “The bottom line is to have enough wine for everyone to be happy.

Four ounces of wine per guest is generally enough for a main course, but make sure you have a little extra for those who want a little more.”

BAR

ETIQUETTE We know you’re ready for that sweet, intoxicating shock of confidence to hit you at the end of a busy week, but, for the good of all, be classy, be patient and behave.

1

2

3 PHOTO BY NATALIE GREEN

UP YOUR

4 WINE EXTRAS

Proper etiquette says the waiter should pour refills at your table.

If the waiter disappears for long periods of time, go to the hostess of the restaurant and ask for a waiter to pour your wine, or take matters into your own hands and pour it yourself.

Always discuss wine options, prices and preferences once everyone has decided on food courses. Obviously, everyone will want an aperitif or starter wine with appetizers and the salad course, so order everyone something to drink right away before you decide on your entree wines. Then no one gets cranky wait

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ing for that first glass of wine or cocktail. Ask for a wine list immediately upon sitting down.

You never want to send a bottle of wine back simply because you don’t like it. If you only drink light pinot noir and order a heavy cabernet sauvignon with lots of tannin (which dries your mouth out), then you may not like the style of the cabernet.

That’s not a reason to return the bottle. Be sure and engage the sommelier as to what style of wine fits the needs of your group. Many times, just taking a bite of food, then taking a taste of the wine will change the way the wine tastes. If you have a heavy cabernet sauvignon, be sure to take a bite of steak or protein, then sample the wine. The steak will coat your tongue and actually soften the cabernet, making it enjoyable.

5

Don’t snap your fingers or wave your arms at the bartender or cocktail waitress. Servers get it. You want a drink.

Now. But don’t forget, they aren’t cocker spaniels, so just try to make polite eye contact and they’ll get to you as soon as they can … unless you want them to act like dogs and chase their tails for a while first.

Know what drink you want before it’s your turn to order. That blank stare you give when the bartender finally speaks to you isn’t going to help anyone get served any sooner. Don’t even get in line until you know what everyone in your group wants.

Don’t ask for free drinks. Unless there’s a big sign hanging over the bar that says, “Free drinks on your birthday,” servers don’t care if it’s your birthday or your anniversary or you had a rough day at work. Servers have to answer to the boss when it comes to inventory – just like you have to answer to your spouse about the inventory in your wallet the next morning.

Take your drink with you when you stand up to visit with someone at a neighboring table or across the room. Leaving your drink unsupervised can have consequences, such as someone dropping something unsavory in your glass or the bartender dumping it out by mistake.

Don’t overdo it. Bartenders don’t enjoy having to cut someone off; plus, an experience is no fun if you can’t remember it tomorrow. Relax, have a few drinks and enjoy spending time with your friends.

When you’ve had enough, be gracious enough to say goodnight and head home without a dramatic exit – in a cab or with a designated driver.

OKLAHOMA WAS

OFFICIALLY A “DRY”

STATE FROM 1907 TO 1959,

WHEN CITIZENS VOTED OVERWHELMINGLY TO REPEAL PROHIBITION.

Marvelous Martini

Hangover Cures

Fill shaker halfway with ice.

Add 2 1/2 oz. gin (or vodka).

Add a splash of dry vermouth. The less you add, the drier your martini.

Stir or shake to blend the flavors (and the ice dilutes the alcohol a bit).

Pour into a martini glass and add a garnish, such as an olive, lemon twist or cocktail onion.

Tequila Sunrise

Add 3 oz. orange juice and 1 1/2 oz. tequila to a highball glass filled halfway with ice.

Add 1/2-oz. grenadine syrup, which will sink to the bottom.

Stir or don’t stir, depending on your preference.

Garnish with an orange slice or a cherry.

Classic Manhattan Long Island Iced Tea

Add 1/2-oz. vodka, 1/2-oz. white rum, 1 oz. gomme syrup, 1/2-oz. gin, 1/2-oz. triple sec, 1/2-oz. tequila, 1 oz. lemon juice and a splash of cola into a tall glass filled with ice.

Stir gently.

Garnish with a lemon spiral and serve with a straw.

Add 2 oz. rye whiskey or Canadian whisky, 3/4-oz. sweet red vermouth and a dash of angostura bitters to a cocktail shaker filled with ice.

Stir and pour through a strainer into a chilled cocktail glass.

Garnish with a cherry.

Serve straight up without ice.

TIME TO STOP

If you’re a little unsteady on your feet, you’ve had enough to drink. If you’re lying under the table next to your friend’s dirty sneakers, you’ve gone way past having enough.

If surroundings begin to look a wee bit fuzzy, you’ve had enough.

If you walk into walls and drop pickup

lines on inanimate objects, promptly sit down and let your friends call a ride for you. You’ve way overdone it.

If you think the fella with greasy hair, gold chains and muttonchops at the next table looks pretty attractive, you’ve had more than enough. If you have a single thought about going home with someone you just met, find your friends quickly. You are clearly too drunk to continue.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so start your recovery by limiting your alcohol intake and drinking plenty of water throughout the evening.

Studies have found that drinks with a high amount of congeners (byproducts of fermentation) could make your hangover worse. Avoid tequila, whiskey, wine and cognac if you’re hangover-prone and stick to vodka, gin and rum.

The next morning, drink plenty of fluids and try eating a hearty breakfast, as research shows many hangover symptoms are likely caused by low blood sugar and dehydration.

What not to do: “The hair of the dog that bit ya.” Drinking more the next morning to alleviate hangover symptoms can easily turn into a drinking problem. Leave the booze alone the next day for your physical – and mental – health.

If your stomach has become a bit queasy, put the drink down and get some water. If you just left a puddle of an unctuous substance in the handbag of an attractive woman at the next table, you have gone so far overboard that you’re dangling off a cliff. Leave now.

If you’re a tad giggly and feeling pretty relaxed, you’re just about right. If you’re crying over the time your pet turtle died when you were 6, you are fully sauced. Go home.

FEBRUARY 2018 | WWW.OKMAG.COM

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AT HOME

in Edna’s

EDNA’S SIGNATURE DRINK IS THE LUNCHBOX – MEANT TO BE SLAMMED, NOT SIPPED.

The namesake’s daughter strives to keep her mother’s warm and unique personality alive in this popular dive.

Known for its Lunchboxes, which have nothing to do with food but everything to do with beer, liquor and juice, Edna’s has been going strong since 1980 in Oklahoma City.

A dive bar, from its dollar bill-covered walls to its signature drink (Lunchboxes are made to be slammed, not sipped, the tavern’s website says), Edna’s has achieved icon status.

“One of the many wonderful things about Edna’s is that our patrons have always been very diverse,” says Tammy Lucas, who has run the bar since her mother, Edna Scott, died in 2014. “Every walk of life comes in, 21 to 81, which is the way my mom envisioned it from the beginning.

“It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do, we want you to feel welcome at Edna’s. You can come in with a group or by yourself and be perfectly at home. We are committed to keeping her legacy and unique spirit, which touched so many people in Oklahoma City and far beyond, alive.”

You’re welcome to experience the fun atmosphere there yourself. You can also see it in the popular country music video “We Were Love.”

“There are simply no words to express how amazing it was to have Keith Urban and Miranda Lambert at Edna’s shooting the music video,” Lucas says.

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BELOW: EDNA’S STRIVES TO MAKE EVERYONE FEEL WELCOME, ITS OWNER SAYS. PHOTOS BY BRENT FUCHS

Home Bar Basics

You’ll never be woefully unprepared for an impromptu gathering if you have these on hand.

Stocking a home bar should be approached at a sober pace. No need to go out and plunk a small fortune down on high-end liquors from the getgo. Spend the most on liquors you enjoy imbibing the most.

But always keep a decent quality whiskey, rum, vodka, gin and vermouth in stock.

Make sure you have a wide variety of glassware on hand, lest a friend show up with a savory bottle of Bombay Sapphire gin, and you end up making martinis in mason jars. Must-haves include heavy glass tumblers, wine glasses, cocktail glasses, shot glasses and highball glasses.

Keep fresh garnishes on hand, such as lemon twists, pickled cocktail olives, pearl onions and marischino cherries. Don’t forget some basic mix-ins, too, such as a cointreau, red vermouth, bitters, club soda, tonic water and a variety of juices. And so you have all you need to use both – don’t forget a shaker and cocktail toothpicks!

MOCKTAILS For those who enjoy a cool sip and delectable flavors of unique or traditional cocktails, but don’t enjoy the alcohol content, there are a bevy of mocktails to savor.

AAA’s signature event, the Great Pretenders Mocktail MixOff, gives drink crafters a chance to showcase their skills with non-alcoholic, festive, original drink recipes.

Held recently at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino convention center in Catoosa, this event pits “bartenders” against one another to win cash prizes … and spark open conversations about the dangers of drinking and driving.

In Oklahoma, about 35 percent

DECANTERS

actually have a historical use – that’s how people got whiskey from the barrel in the good old days. But these days, decanters for liquors and wine are all about aesthetics.

From vintage to modern, frilly to simple, crystal or glass (just make sure it’s not lead crystal), you can give your home bar a timeless appearance with a colorful, sparkling decanter display.

of motor vehicle crashes are alcohol-related, AAA says. That number jumps to 40 percent during holidays.

This year’s winning zero-proof beverages included the third-place winner, Ho Ho Hold the Booze Cider, from Boots and Diamonds Saloon in Tulsa; the second-place winner, The Tree Topper, was from the Tulsa Elks Lodge. The first-place winner, Panche Rusa, came from Iguana Mexican Grill in Oklahoma City.

Visit okmag.com for mocktail recipes and ok.aaa.com for tips and tricks for party hosts to manage alcohol consumption and keep party guests safe.

PHOTO COURTESY AAA

Alcohol ABUSE

MOCKTAIL WINNERS’ RECIPE

Panche Rusa

Colby Poulin and Shane Melton, representing Iguana Mexican Grill, Oklahoma City 1/3 cup fresh chilled grapefruit juice 1/3 cup fresh chilled orange juice 3/4 cup fresh chilled lime juice 1 pineapple Several jicama and one or two cucumbers Tajin Clasico Seasoning Grapefruit soda Chamoy sauce Prepare five or six hours before serving; skewer chopped or sliced fruits and place in freezer to use as ice cubes.

Mix grapefruit juice, orange juice and lime juice in a large punch bowl.

Pour Chamoy sauce on one plate and Tajin on another to put around the rim of a glass.

Top off drink with a splash of grapefruit soda and garnish with sliced grapefruit or lime, or a tamarind straw.

Experiment with different fruits and juices for a fresh take.

BONUS RECIPES ONLINE

Partaking of wine, beer and cocktails can be convivial entertainment, but problems arise when it becomes less of an amusing, occasional friend and turns into a tyrannical oppressor that you can’t shake. For some, imbibing becomes an addiction that must be addressed before lives are altered irreparably and loved ones are left missing you.

Iona Cunningham, assistant clinical director of A Chance to Change – a nonprofit that offers education classes, workshops and prevention programs to those suffering from addictions and behavioral disorders – says the first step is recognizing a problem exists, whether it’s within yourself or in a family member or friend.

“If you start to notice problems at work, school, home or relationships, or the person is engaging in risky behavior and experiencing run-ins with the law,” Cunningham says, “or if they are drinking three beers a day once a month, and they then start increasing the amount or the number of times they are drinking –

those are signs help is needed.”

The second step is to seek help, but it doesn’t have to be drastic. It could be as simple as contacting an outpatient counseling center for substance abuse and seeking an assessment, Cunningham says.

“The biggest thing once you’ve reached out is to be completely honest with the therapist, so they can fully assess what level of care you are in need of,” she says. “I think the biggest thing is having that awareness, that, ‘Hey I need help,’ and just to reach out.”

Most often people say, “I just can’t stop” or “I’m having all these problems at school or work.”

“Many are trying to numb out – whether they suffered trauma or mental health problems, and they are just trying to avoid those,” Cunningham says.

“What we can do is explore healthy coping skills, rather than using. Address the substance abuse, but also the trauma. Most often when we get to that part, clients can reduce the amount they are using. It’s about addressing what’s happened to them and what they are trying to avoid.”

FEBRUARY 2018 | WWW.OKMAG.COM

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Taste

F O O D, D R I N K A N D O T H E R P L E A S U R E S

Reaching the Summit

An exclusive, legendary club – 31 floors above the ground – evolves with changing tastes but retains decades-long traditions.

E

EXECUTIVE CHEF WILLIAM LYLE PUTS HIS OWN TWIST ON BELOVED SUMMIT CLUB FAVORITES. PHOTOS BY CHRIS HUMPHREY PHOTOGRAPHER

veryone talks about the view, and there it is, the million lights of Tulsa spread beneath you like a softly twinkling carpet of stars.

You stroll toward the floor-to-ceiling windows, past a fireplace where a welcoming blaze burns, and lots of cozy armchairs where groups of old friends sit and chat.

Everyone is dapper and elegant (there is a dress code; standards must be maintained), and all exude the quiet confidence that membership in the legendary, exclusive Summit Club can provide.

The bartender has already (and without being asked) begun to prepare your favorite drink and, in the dining room, the waiters, who know you and every other member well (most have worked here for over a decade, and several for over 40 years), think which of the daily specials will appeal to you, and which wine you would prefer.

Sometimes the club, in the top floors of the Bank of America Center, seems to you like a vast ship, gliding above the city and through the years effortlessly and without change. Nothing can be further from the truth.

FEBRUARY 2018 | WWW.OKMAG.COM

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Taste

MARKET OYSTERS ON SHAVED COCKTAIL ICE WITH PICKLED SHALLOTS PROVIDE A DELECTABLE APPETIZER AT SUMMIT CLUB.

FOR YOUR MAIN COURSE, TRY THE DOUBLE-CUT BERKSHIRE PORK CHOP, SWEET POTATOES, CIDER-MUSTARD EMULSION AND CARAMELIZED BRUSSELS SPROUTS.

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OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2018

Here comes Jared Jordan, general manager, rushing to greet you as the onyx links of his well-starched French cuffs peek out beneath his tailored suit. You’ve probably known him a long time; he’s been a member for 10 years.

He makes you feel welcome, but he’s a bit tired.

He’s worked since 5 a.m. and part of his mind is planning his next stop (he has to greet a vast private party assembling in one of the banquet rooms a floor below).

He’s also just noticed a bit of worn flooring and is already planning to replace it. The club appears unchanged and spotless, but every bit of it is renovated once or twice a decade.

“We’re lifers here,” Jordan says, “and we’re passionate about what we do.”

Talk to Jordan about the club and the word you’ll hear most often is passionate. He seems to thrive on the long hours; the challenges the club faces (how to respect tradition yet institute changes to appeal to a younger generation) thrill him.

“Jared works longer hours than anyone else on staff,” says William Lyle, the executive chef who puts in quite long hours himself and, like Jared, projects an air of youth, eagerness and quiet competence.

“I’ve just put seared skate wing on the menu,” Lyle says enthusiastically. “It’s a treat working for a clientele that can appreciate a rarity like that.”

It’s a challenge too.

“People’s expectations are high in Tulsa,” Lyle says, “and we must compete against all of Tulsa’s top fine dining destinations. We can’t just raise the bar. We have to set the bar.”

Lyle has never been afraid to take on a challenge. He worked 12 years in the restaurant industry, put himself through business school, and ended up in Arkansas as a chef at Ella’s, a fine dining destination on the University of Arkansas campus.

While there, he was offered the job of executive chef at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville. That was a challenge – to cook quality food in a very high volume setting, but he took the job and triumphed.

For decades, the Summit Club has achieved a quiet fame for its classic French cuisine, for dishes so rich and luxurious that, tasting them, you feel both cosseted and decadent at once.

Lyle has changed a lot of the dishes – he’s trying to buy as much as possible from small, local farms – but most of the new items are wholly in keeping with club tradition. Your eyes will grow wide when you see the new filet.

Lyle (or one of the 25 other cooks on staff) simmers lobster shells in butter for four hours, then uses that rich meaty butter

to make a classic Hollandaise sauce that he pours on top of a big USDA prime filet.

On top of that sits an enormous pan-seared diver scallop. It is heavenly. It is perfect. You can’t stop eating.

You’ve already had the pate, made from chicken livers from the local 413 Farms. It was richer than rich, but you ate it all. Next are oysters, as fresh as can be, and burrata with roasted beets and lemon aioli.

And then there is that lasagna. You take some because it’s vegetarian. Low-carb, you think, but it has a layer of rich classic bechamel sauce, and shiitake mushrooms (Gouda cheese, too), and it melts in your mouth.

And now here comes a cart laden with pies and cakes, and also a wheeled tableside stove where a man in a business suit stirs the butter, sugar and liquor for your bananas Foster. He looks like a banker from one of the floors below.

He’s Walter Munaretto.

“He used to be manager,” Jordan says, “and sometimes he works here now because … well because he loves it.”

Munaretto touches a light to the heated syrup and flames shoot up.

“But I have to cut down on my sugar,” you claim.

“Oh,” he says, “you can do that tomorrow.”

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77

Taste

ERIK K. SMITH PLANS PRIVATE DINNERS FOR GUESTS OF 10 OR MORE AT THE EXCLUSIVE CROWN ROOM. PHOTOS BY BRENT FUCHS

C H E F C H AT

From A to VZD Eric Smith’s Crown Room brings first-class, one-table dining to a beloved OKC venue known for live music.

E

ric K. Smith, executive chef and managing partner at VZD’s, the Crown Room and Sara Sara Cupcakes, pretty much always knew his life would take the foodie footpath.

“I knew since I was 10 or 12 that I wanted to cook professionally in some capacity,” he says. “It took a while to figure out how to go about it, coming from a tiny town in rural Oklahoma. It was a little tough to navigate.”

Smith’s latest venture, the Crown Room, is inside VZD’s Restaurant and Bar, a historic and much beloved former drug store on North Western Avenue in Oklahoma City.

“VZD’s is incredible to be a part of,” he says. “It has been reinvented three times over its 43 years. It is such a cool opportunity, and with that comes the obligation to carry out the tradition of live music. We have figured out what a 2018 VZD’s music program should look like: a diverse mix of open mic, old and new local acts, and touring national acts. We have live music about four nights a week.”

Situated within is the Crown Room, a collaborative culinary operation in which the chef and the diner(s) work painstakingly

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OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2018

on a unique menu and dining experience to suit any need. With multiple sommeliers, audio-visual amenities and endless possibilities, guests can create a one-of-a-kind meal, Smith says.

“The Crown Room came about as a vision of myself and Nelson Bolen, my business partner,” Smith says. “An all-custom, onetable, tasting-menu restaurant allows us to have no limits. We incorporate all senses; music and aromatics are a big part of the meal. Every meal is a different venture and adventure in the Crown Room.”

While Smith’s specialty may be planning a meal according to your tastes, he has his own personal favorites. He loves to cook osso bucco: veal shanks braised in aromatic vegetables and red wine. As for what someone else can cook for him, Smith prefers a soft-shell po’boy from Mother’s Restaurant in New Orleans.

TARA MALONE

ONE-TABLE EATERY TO PLAN YOUR OWN CURATED MEAL AT THE CROWN ROOM, THE ONE TABLE RESTAURANT WITHIN A RESTAURANT AT VZD’S, CALL OR TEXT 405.535.6416 OR EMAIL CROWNROOM@VZDS.COM. THERE’S A 10-GUEST MINIMUM; PRICES START AT $50 PER GUEST.

ISRAELI COUSCOUS

WITH SPICY COCONUT AND PINEAPPLE REDUCTION (SERVES 6) 2 tablespoons 1 clove 2 tablespoons 1/2 cup 2 12-ounce cans 4 tablespoons 1 1/2 teaspoons 3 grinds 1 teaspoon Zest 4 cups

chopped red onion garlic olive oil white wine coconut milk chopped pineapple salt fresh pepper sriracha sauce lime cooked Israeli couscous

Sautee red onion and garlic in the olive oil.

Deglaze with the white wine.

Add the coconut milk, pineapple, salt, pepper, sriracha and lime zest.

Reduce by 1/3.

Serve with couscous and choice of protein.

LO C A L F L AV O R

Max’s Garage, Muskogee’s hometown joint with a little bit of everything, isn’t just a popular bar, dance hall, sports lounge and live music venue – it’s also a unique eatery.

Try the Big Max Burger if you have a hearty appetite; it’s smothered in melted cheese, bacon, spicy hot links and Max’s signature homemade Jack Daniel’s whiskey barbecue sauce. But if you’re hungry enough to eat a bear – or you just have friends who are hungry, too – try the Royale, featuring four black angus beef patties, cheese and all the fixin’s, surrounded by a mountain of fries. “Feeds one huge dude, two large dudes or four chicks,” “Max” says on the menu.

For unique drinks, try any of Max’s Alchemy signature cocktails. From Kenny’s bloody mary, made with pickle vodka and garnished with fried pickles, pearl onions and olives, to Max’s bloody mary, made with habanero bacon vodka and garnished with mini-Maxx burgers and chicken wings, these specialties are a can’t-miss experience. 116 N. Main St., Muskogee; maxsgarage.com.

PHOTO COURTESY MAX’S GARAGE

BRING A BIG APPETITE TO MAX’S GARAGE

A Taste of the Big Easy

R A N D O M F L AV O R S

Tucked into a quiet corner of downtown Tulsa is Lassalle’s, serving up Big Easy classics from true Louisiana locals. Owned by couple Chris and Amanda West, who were displaced from Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the deli offers authentic po’boys with a variety of meat options: crawfish, catfish, shrimp and roast beef. Other favorites include the gumbo, bisque and jambalaya. 15 W. Fifth St., Tulsa; lassallesneworleansdeli.com.

Southern and Scrumptious

PHOTO COURTESY SHORTY SMALL’S

Say Hello to Poblano

Fans of authentic Mexican cuisine, don’t bypass Poblano Grill in OKC. With tostadas, street tacos, enchiladas, fajitas, chimichangas and an array of other tasty fare, this joint is a must-visit. With lunch specials, $3.50 margaritas and a separate brunch menu on weekends, Poblano could easily become your new favorite restaurant. 13593 N. May Ave., Oklahoma City; poblanogrill.net.

PHOTO BY TULSAFOOD.COM COURTESY LASALLE’S NEW ORLEANS DELI

PHOTO COURTESY POBLANO GRILL

Looking for salad? A burger? Onion loaf?

Fried chicken livers? Never fear – Shorty Small’s in OKC has it all. The restaurant offers up a Southern-style menu with diner-favorites like catfish, ribs, pulled pork and smoked sausage. End the meal right with blackberry cobbler, sizzlin’ apple pie or deep-fried Twinkies. 2037 S. Meridian Ave., Oklahoma City; shortysmalls.com.

FEBRUARY 2018 | WWW.OKMAG.COM

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SCOTT THOMPSON METEOROLOGIST KIRSTEN HORNE METEOROLOGIST

LISA JONES

WORKING FOR BRETT ANTHONY OUR COMMUNITY EVERY WEEKDAY BRANDON WHOLEY

CHIEF METEOROLOGIST

METEOROLOGIST

TODAY 4:30a - 7:00a

Where & When

G R E AT T H I N G S TO D O I N O K L A H O M A

Stepping Out

An Irish step dance performance showcases more than just breathtaking moves.

PHOTO COURTESY ARMSTRONG AUDITORIUM

L

ooking to celebrate Irish culture and heritage far before the whimsy of St. Patrick’s Day? Swing by Armstrong Auditorium this month to check out Dublin Irish Dance: Stepping Out. Apart from a compelling evening with catchy tunes and impressive dance, viewers can also learn a thing or two about Celtic history.

“Stepping Out tells a story of the Irish immigration to America after the Great Famine of the mid-1800s,” says Shane Granger, director of marketing and public relations at Armstrong Auditorium. “Greeted by diverse cultures and rich traditions from around the globe, the new Irish immigrants congregate in dance gatherings where ancient Irish melodies fuse with African rhythms, creating American tap dance and

early roots music.”

The show, which at its core centers around the rich evolution of Irish dance and music through collaboration with a wide array of other cultures, caught the eye of the auditorium scouts for a number of reasons.

“A booking agent in New York, who brings some of our blockbuster events through Oklahoma, told us about this tour, and we loved the idea,” Granger says. “Not only is it choreographed by one of the principal dancers from the famous Riverdance; our campus is also home to a nationally acclaimed Irish Dance school. So it seemed like the perfect fit for our series.”

The performance begins at 7 p.m. Feb. 20. Visit armstrongauditorium.org for tickets.

MARY WILLA ALLEN

FEBRUARY 2018 | WWW.OKMAG.COM

81

Shelton Shines

The BOK Center in Tulsa celebrates its 10year anniversary in 2018, and plans to commemorate the milestone with a “10 for 10” concert series, ushering in 10 blockbuster concerts throughout the year. Among the acts announced so far are P!nk on March 5, U2 on May 2 and the Eagles on June 17. The fourth concert brings Blake Shelton back to his home state on his Country Music Freaks Tour.

Shelton, an Ada native, recently released his 11th studio album, Texoma Shore, to critical acclaim, and was dubbed People’s Sexiest Man Alive for 2017. Slated to perform alongside Shelton are country bigwigs Brett Eldredge, Carly Pearce and the illustrious Trace Adkins. The concert begins at 7 p.m.

Feb. 15. Visit bokcenter.com for tickets.

ART

ENGAGE THE IMAGINATION

The National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum welcomes two exhibitions to Oklahoma City this month: Unlocking the Vault: Mysteries and Marvels of the Museum, and Do You See What I See? Painted Conversations by Theodore Waddell.

The former exhibition presents an eclectic and fascinating collection of objects not usually on display at the museum.

“The curatorial staff have selected items from all across the collection: from Thai religious figures once belonging to John Wayne, to the last work that famed sculptor James Earle Fraser (creator of the End of the Trail) ever worked on, to a basket no larger than a

PERFORMANCES

THE ILLUSIONISTS Feb. 1 BOK CENTER On the heels of a highly successful multi-city tour and run on Broadway, the world’s best-selling touring magic show, The Illusionists, makes a stop. bokcenter.com

THE PAC TRUST PRESENTS: FREEDOM TRAIN Feb. 2 TULSA PAC Freedom Train

tells the thrilling story of Harriet Tubman in a fascinating series of highly theatrical scenes that use dance, dialogue and music of the period. tulsapac.com

THEATRE NORTH PRESENTS: SEVEN GUITARS Feb. 3, 10-11 TULSA PAC The sixth in

PHOTO COURTESY BOK CENTER

Where & When

IN TULSA

CONCERT

fingernail, and a drawing of a dinosaur,” says Tara Carr, communications coordinator at the museum.

The latter exhibition puts a unique twist on traditional art of the American West and, at the same time, challenges viewers to interpret and analyze the images laid before them.

“Much of what the museum’s visitors have come to see and expect in experiencing art has been largely influenced by the contemporary artists who paint and sculpt the American West in what is considered an expression of realism,” says Carr. “Waddell’s work, although it still focuses on livestock and Western landscape, takes these familiar subjects and presents them through an abstract style that engages the viewers’ imagination in the interpretation of what they are seeing.”

Both exhibitions run from Feb. 9 to May 13. Visit nationalcowboymuseum.org for more information.

August Wilson’s decade-bydecade exploration of the black experience in America – two of which have won Pulitzer Prizes – Seven Guitars is part bawdy comedy, part dark elegy and part mystery. tulsapac.com

TULSA SYMPHONY PRESENTS: CLASSICS IV – MENDELSSOHN’S SYMPHONY NO. 3 Feb. 4 TULSA PAC Concertmaster

Rossitza Jekova-Goza is the featured soloist and performs Korngold’s dramatic Violin Concerto alongside the Tulsa Symphony. tulsasymphony.org

TULSA SYMPHONY PRESENTS: LINK UP – THE ORCHESTRA SINGS STUDENT CONCERT Feb. 7, 12, 21, 22, 28

VARIOUS AREA SCHOOLS

Enjoy student-led concerts at public schools around the county, including Owasso, Jenks and Broken Arrow high schools. tulsasymphony.org

TULSA BALLET WITH TULSA SYMPHONY PRESENTS: STRICTLY GERSHWIN Feb. 9-11 TULSA PAC Strictly Gershwin

features the incomparable music of George and Ira

PHOTO COURTESY NATIONAL COWBOY AND WESTERN HERITAGE MUSEUM

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OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2018

tulsaballet.org

JIM GAFFIGAN Feb. 10 RIVER SPIRIT CASINO RESORT Jim Gaffigan

is a Grammy-nominated comedian, actor, New York Times best-selling author, top touring performer and multi-platinum-selling father of five. riverspirittulsa.com

SIGNATURE SYMPHONY PRESENTS: POPS SINATRA’S AMERICA Feb. 16 TCC VAN TREASE PACE

Music from the Big Band era and the legendary Frank Sinatra should keep your dancing feet on the move. signaturesymphony.org

TULSA PROJECT THEATRE PRESENTS: FOUR CHORDS AND A GUN Feb. 16-18, 22-25 TULSA PAC This brand new,

non-musical play centers on the iconic punk band The Ramones as they record their fifth album with eccentric music producer Phil Spector.

tulsapac.com

TULSA OPERA PRESENTS: THE STARS ALIGN – ANNIVERSARY GALA CELEBRATION Feb. 17 TULSA PAC Tulsa Opera

celebrates 70 years with The Stars Align, a gala anniversary concert featuring world-famous opera star Susan Graham. tulsaopera.com

CHOREGUS PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS: PASADENA ROOF ORCHESTRA Feb. 23 TULSA PAC The dance

orchestra, with its authentic 1920s and 1930s feeling, technically brilliant delivery, rousing atmosphere and utterly unique, light-hearted musical style, makes it the ideal band to dance the night away. choregus.org

CONCERTS TRAVIS TRITT Feb. 1 COX BUSINESS CENTER

Enjoy a special evening with CMA and Grammy Award-winning country artist Travis Tritt. bokcenter.com

KID ROCK Feb. 2 BOK CENTER Kid Rock hits

Gershwin. Add to that a huge cast of performers (including guest tap dancers and vocalists), and the result is a dazzling blockbuster show.

the road on his Greatest Show On Earth Tour 2018, produced

by Live Nation. bokcenter.com

THE PAC TRUST PRESENTS: BROWN BAG IT – BARRON RYAN Feb. 7 KATHLEEN WESTBY PAVILION Jam out to tunes

from renowned pianist Barron Ryan. Bring your lunch and enjoy the show. tulsapac.com

BLACKBERRY SMOKE Feb. 9 CAIN’S BALLROOM See this

rock ‘n’ roll quintet live on its Winter Tour. cainsballroom.com

KEYS N KRATES’ CURA TOUR Feb. 14 CAIN’S BALLROOM

Celebrate Valentine’s Day with Keys N Krates and special guests Promnite and Jubilee. cainsballroom.com

BLAKE SHELTON Feb. 15 BOK CENTER Country

superstar Blake Shelton jumps into 2018 with his just-announced headlining tour. bokcenter.com

NOTHING MORE Feb. 20 CAIN’S BALLROOM

Nothing More takes the stage on the band’s The Stories We Tell Ourselves Tour. cainsballroom.com

SOMO Feb. 21 CAIN’S BALLROOM See

SoMo and opener Caye on the Reservations Tour. cainsballroom.com

CAIN’S BALLROOM Rock out with Ganja and Dirt Monkey. cainsballroom.com

Erin “Annie” Clark, better known by her stage name St. Vincent, is an American musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.

STEVE AOKI Feb. 27 BRADY THEATER Celebrated

bradytheater.com

GANJA WHITE NIGHT Feb. 27

DJ and electronic dance music star Steve Aoki brings along Desiigner during his Kolony Tour. bradytheater.com

ART FIRST FRIDAY ART CRAWL

Feb. 2

BRADY ARTS DISTRICT

This year-round, monthly event features all of the galleries, studios, museums and part-time galleries of various shops opening their doors.

thebradyartsdistrict.com

FAT BOY AT THE FUN HOUSE Feb. 2-22

LIVING ARTS Enjoy

paintings exploring visual myths that exist to extract the color from the every day.

Find magic within common experience at this exhibition.

livingarts.org

NATURE, FASHION AND WAR Feb. 2-22

LIVING ARTS This artwork is a combination of psychedelic collages, quilts, botanical illustrations and Americana that blurs the traditional boundaries between high and low art. livingarts.org TULSA PAC STAFF ART SHOW: REFLECTIONS AND REMEMBRANCE Feb. 2-27 PAC GALLERY The staff of

the Tulsa PAC presents a show that features original works from either staff members or from close friends or family. tulsapac.com

SHELTER: PATRICK DOUGHERTY AND RACHEL HAYES Feb. 2-March 25 108 CONTEMPORARY

Shelter brings together two nationally recognized artists, sculptor Patrick Dougherty and fiber artist Rachel Hayes, in a thought-provoking exploration of space, architecture and structures.

108contemporary.org

GAME ON! Through Feb. 4

PHILBROOK DOWNTOWN In the fast-paced, video-centric world of professional sports, curators Catherine Whitney and Sienna Brown invite visitors to take a seat on the sidelines.

philbrook.org

SECOND SATURDAYS

Feb. 10

PHILBROOK The second

Saturday of each month has free art activities, tours and scavenger hunts. philbrook.org

NORMAN ROCKWELL: BEHIND THE CAMERA Feb. 17-June 10

GILCREASE Norman

Rockwell: Behind the Camera is the first exhibition to explore in depth Rockwell’s richly detailed study photographs, created by the artist as references for his iconic paintings. gilcrease.org

NATUREWORKS ART SHOW AND SALE Feb. 24-25 TULSA RENAISSANCE HOTEL AND CONVENTION CENTER NatureWorks is a

nonprofit organization that aids in the development and conservation of wildlife preserves, and this art show highlights beautiful depictions of nature. natureworks.org

night of hoops as TU continues its season. tulsahurricane.com

HERITAGE RODEO Feb. 3 EXPO SQUARE See guys and gals compete in several rodeo activities to be crowned the winner. exposquare.com

TULSA OILERS GAMES Feb. 3, 16-18, 23-24

BOK CENTER Watch the Oilers take on East Coast Hockey League teams. bokcenter.com

SOONER NATIONALS FEB. 9-11 EXPO SQUARE Enjoy a

weekend of BMX excitement as men and women of all ages

NITRO ARENACROSS AND FREESTYLE NATIONALS

Feb. 16-17

EXPO SQUARE Experience high-flying, motorized, adrenaline-pumping Arenacross action.

nitroaxtour.com

COMMUNITY TULSA TOWN HALL PRESENTS: LAURA LINNEY

ARCHITECTURE TOUR

TULSA PAC A renowned Broadway, television and movie actress, Linney has also been honored for her cancer advocacy work, inspired by her father’s death from the disease.

local architects for their monthly architectural walking tour. tulsaarchitecture.org

Feb. 2

tulsatownhall.com

TULSA BOAT, SPORT AND TRAVEL SHOW Through Feb. 4

EXPO SQUARE Get a

jump-start on the boating and recreational seasons with this show. tulsaboatshow.com

Feb. 10

633 S. BOSTON AVE. Join

TULSA WOMEN’S LIVING EXPO Feb. 10-11 EXPO SQUARE Visit an expo that enriches the changing lives of today’s women.

womenslivingexpo.com

GREATER TULSA SURVIVAL AND GREEN LIVING EXPO

Feb. 10-11

EXPO SQUARE If you have

Feb. 7, 14, 21, 28

thought about what it means to prepare for the worst, this expo is for you. rkpeppershows.com

some tasty eats by the lawn.

THE GREAT TRAIN EXPO

FOOD TRUCK WEDNESDAYS GUTHRIE GREEN Grab guthriegreen.com

GREATER TULSA INDIAN ART FESTIVAL Feb. 9-11 GLENPOOL CONFERENCE CENTER This event, the

largest inter-tribal fine art show in the area, is ranked as one of the best nationally for authentic Native American art. tulsaindianartfestival.com

SECOND SATURDAY

Feb. 10-11

EXPO SQUARE The nation’s

only coast-to-coast model train show, the expo is designed for the general public, modelers, hobbyists, families and the curious. greattrainshow.com

VINTAGE TULSA SHOW Feb. 16-18

EXPO SQUARE Also held in September, the event has grown to become

the largest antique and vintage event in the state.

Hall. tulsatownhall.com

heritageeventcompany.com

AKDAR SHRINE CIRCUS

DARRYL STARBIRD’S NATIONAL ROD AND CUSTOM CAR SHOW

EXPO SQUARE See

Feb. 22-25

the beloved circus for its weekend-long performances.

Feb. 16-18

exposquare.com

60 years, these car shows have been produced across the country by legendary car customizer Darryl Starbird.

SWEEPIN’ SWING Feb. 23-25 SOUTHMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN COMMUNITY CENTER Get

ORANGE SHOULD NOT BE THE NEW BLACK: WOMEN AT RISK IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM Feb. 22 CENTRAL LIBRARY A book

theoklahomaswingsyndicate.org

EXPO SQUARE For almost

starbirdcarshows.com

review of Orange Is the New Black and a panel discussion on issues, initiatives and needed reform comprise an exciting evening for Tulsa Town

off the couch and onto the dance floor, where you can learn classic swing dancing moves in a weekend of fun.

TURKEY MOUNTAIN FESTIVAL Feb. 24 TURKEY MOUNTAIN

Celebrate the stunning urban forest with an outdoor festival. riverparks.org

CHARITABLE EVENTS PEACE, LOVE AND TAKE A SEAT Feb. 1 TOWN AND COUNTRY SCHOOL Take part in the

fun or observe artists as they decorate chairs to benefit the school. tandcschool.org

JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT BEACH BOWL: TULSA Feb. 2 AMF SHERIDAN LANES This team-building event includes two hours of bowling, pizza, drinks and a T-shirt, with all proceeds used for Junior Achievement programs for K-12

students. jaok.org

ICONS AND IDOLS Feb. 3 COX BUSINESS CENTER

The event celebrates the glamorous, charismatic, exciting Tulsa Ballet North American premiere of Strictly Gershwin. iconsandidols.org

HEARTS REBUILDING HOMES Feb. 8 STOKELY EVENT CENTER

This is Rebuilding Together Tulsa’s annual dinner, fundraiser and auction.

rebuildingtogethertulsa.org

MUSEUM CONFIDENTIAL

Through May 6

PHILBROOK This groundbreaking exhibition turns the museum inside out by revealing practices, archives, stories and an unprecedented number of never-before-seen works of art. philbrook.org TO ENDURE IN BRONZE Through Dec. 31

GILCREASE The permanence

of bronze, from antiquity to the present, has artistic immortality. gilcrease.org

SPORTS UNIVERSITY OF TULSA MEN’S BASKETBALL GAMES Feb. 1, 8, 18, 21 REYNOLDS CENTER Enjoy a

Globetrotters – are on their 2018 World Tour. bokcenter.com

and skills levels compete.

usabmx.com

HIGH SCHOOL HOOPS PRESENTED BY TULSA TECH Feb. 10 BOK CENTER This event

features 16 of the best high school teams from the metro area playing four boys games and four girls games – all in one day. bokcenter.com

UNIVERSITY OF TULSA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL GAMES Feb. 10, 20, 26 REYNOLDS CENTER See the

Golden Hurricane host three opponents. tulsahurricane.com

HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS Feb. 11

BOK CENTER The

worldwide icons synonymous with one-of-a-kind family entertainment – the Harlem

PHOTO BY SEAN CAPSHAW

ST. VINCENT Feb. 26 BRADY THEATER Anne

Sinatra on Stage

PERFORMANCE

Go back in time at Signature Symphony’s next Pops performance, Sinatra’s America.

With Big Band era tunes and classic hits from the timeless Frank Sinatra, this evening is a perfect Valentine’s date or night out for the whole family.

“Frank Sinatra represents the people’s music,” says Jeff Shadley, a local trumpeter and singer featured in the show. “His music is well-known and familiar regardless of your age. Sinatra was a man who held sway over

popular music and pop culture for forty years.

You will leave the theatre feeling good after hearing this music.”

Toe-tapping tunes include some of Sinatra’s favorites, including “New York, New York” and “Fly Me to the Moon.” Shadley leads the charge during the lively affair alongside Annie Ellicott, a jazz vocalist with Tulsa Roots.

The concert runs at the Tulsa Community College Van Trease PACE, Feb. 16-17 at 7:30 p.m. For tickets, visit signaturesymphony.org.

FEBRUARY 2018 | WWW.OKMAG.COM

83

Where & When

MARDI GRAS! CELEBRATING HOPE Feb. 9 BOND EVENT CENTER This street-party style fundraiser/ auction benefits New Hope Oklahoma’s mission of ending generational incarceration, one child at a time. newhopeoklahoma.org/

TULSA AREA UNITED WAY LIVE UNITED LUNCHEON AND AWARDS Feb. 13 COX BUSINESS CENTER

The celebration of the 2017 Tulsa Area United Way campaign honors the many individuals and organizations making it a success.

mardi-gras-2018

tauw.org/awards

LOVE AND LUST Feb. 10 LIVING ARTS OF TULSA

PUTTIN’ ON THE DOG Feb. 15

Tulsa’s most anticipated annual Valentine’s event is a variety show featuring many of Oklahoma’s most talented singers, dancers, rappers and poets. livingarts.org

COX BUSINESS CENTER

COOKING UP COMPASSION

A romantic evening for two includes aquarium entry, drinks, dinner and entertainment.

Feb. 10

COX BUSINESS CENTER

An event benefiting those served by Catholic Charities is highlighted by appetizers from Tulsa chefs, a seated dinner and entertainment.

cctulsa.org/cuc2018

HEART OF HENRY Feb. 10 SOUTHERN HILLS COUNTRY CLUB Henry

Zarrow dedicated his life to helping those in need, and this event recognizes someone who shares the philanthropic vision that he embraced. tulsadaycenter.org/funding/ heart-of-henry

MY FURRY VALENTINE Feb. 11

TULSA HISTORICAL

SOCIETY Experience a silent auction with wine tastings, dessert and appetizers with a pop-up shop and piano player. streetcatstulsa.org

The 22nd annual fundraiser benefits LIFE Senior Services. lifeseniorservices.org

HUGS AND FISHES Feb. 14 OKLAHOMA AQUARIUM

Feb. 23

THE MAYO HOTEL Join us

for dinner, dancing, a casino and auctions. The password is fun. tulsacasa.org

STREET PARTY 2018

Feb. 23

COX BUSINESS CENTER

This annual FUNdraiser supports the mission and program operations for Tulsa’s award-winning alternative high school, Street School.

streetpartytulsa.com

general operations, education programming and lifetime support services for children and adults who have been touched by adoption. dillonadopt.com

WINTERSET Feb. 24 HYATT REGENCY TULSA

This annual event of the Osteopathic Founders Foundation brings together osteopathic professionals and their community partners to benefit projects that improve the health of Tulsans.

LUNAR NEW YEAR GALA

wintersettulsa.com

SOUTHERN HILLS COUNTRY CLUB Dillon

10TH ANNUAL BUTTERCUP BASH Feb. 24 AGORA EVENT CENTER

Feb. 24

International’s 23rd annual gala helps to provide essential funding for the organization’s

This annual charity event raises funds for the Tulsa Boys’ Home. tbhjuniorwomen.com

okaquarium.org

One of the largest fundraising events for the American Heart Association supports research, education and advocacy to combat cardiovascular diseases and stroke.

tulsaheartball.heart.org

2018 PINK STILETTO – REBA ON THE RIVER Feb. 22 RIVER SPIRIT CASINO RESORT This fundraising

gala, featuring Reba McEntire as hostess, benefits breast cancer health initiatives and research for Susan G. Komen Tulsa. The live auction includes special items from McEntire herself. komentulsa.org

CASA CASINO 2018: PEARLS AND PROHIBITION

nominee, Billboard award winner and one of the top comedians in the country.

He performs at 7 and 10 p.m.

riverwind.com

flawless technique, dazzling tone and compelling artistry have enraptured audiences on five continents. okcphil.org

OKC BROADWAY PRESENTS: SCHOOL OF ROCK THE MUSICAL

LARRY THE CABLE GUY

OKC CIVIC CENTER MUSIC HALL Based on

Feb. 3

RIVERWIND CASINO, NORMAN Larry the Cable

Guy is a multi-platinum recording artist, Grammy

CROWNS: A GOSPEL MUSICAL Feb. 7-25 LYRIC AT THE PLAZA This

celebration of life connects the love affair that African-American women have with their hats to tales that recount memorable occasions in the lives of six women.

lyrictheatreokc.com

OKC BALLET PRESENTS: THE LITTLE MERMAID Feb. 16-18

OKC CIVIC CENTER MUSIC HALL In this world premiere

ballet, choreographed by artistic director Robert Mills, follow a young mermaid willing to give up her identity and her life in the sea to gain a

R.LUM.R Feb. 4 TOWER THEATRE R.

PERFORMANCES

OKC PHIL PRESENTS: CLASSICS 5 – CHEE-YUN, VIOLIN Feb. 3 OKC CIVIC CENTER MUSIC HALL Violinist Chee-Yun’s

okcbroadway.com

LUM.R – The Framily Matters Tour – comes to the theater’s studio with support from GIBBZ, who brings his own brand of electro-pop. towertheatreokc.com

the hit film, this hilarious new musical follows Dewey Finn, a wannabe rock star turned substitute teacher who transforms a class of straight-A

chesapeakearena.com

RICK SPRINGFIELD Feb. 9 RIVERWIND CASINO, NORMAN Over the past

three decades, Rick Springfield has worn many hats as an entertainer and performer.

OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2018

nominated artist Michael Cavanaugh is known for his ability to electrify audiences with his powerful renditions of singer/songwriter pop and rock favorites. okcphil.org

ARMSTRONG AUDITORIUM PRESENTS: DUBLIN IRISH DANCE Feb. 20 ARMSTRONG AUDITORIUM

Members of this exhilarating company have performed throughout the world. armstrongauditorium.org

Combs on his Don’t Tempt Me with a Good Time Tour.

criterionokc.com

of the first women to break into rock ‘n’ roll’s boys club,

LALAH HATHAWAY Feb. 18 TOWER THEATRE Grammy

winner Lalah Hathaway possesses an irrepressible, boundary-defying voice.

the Storm, Katie Crutchfield’s fourth album as Waxahatchee and her second release with Merge, is the blazing result of a woman reawakened. towertheatreokc.com

NF Feb. 21 DIAMOND BALLROOM Enjoy one-man band NF on his Perception Tour.

KC AND THE SUNSHINE BAND Feb. 23 RIVERWIND CASINO, NORMAN KC and the

riverwind.com

ART opening receptions showcase the new work of the gallery/ studio owners or the work of guest artists. thepaseo.org

RESOLUTIONS GROUP SHOW Through Feb. 4 DNA GALLERIES Enjoy

this group show that revolves around New Year’s Resolutions.

dnagalleries.com

TAWNYA CORRENTE + SARAH DAY-SHORT Feb. 8-March 4

DNA GALLERIES See the

work of two talented artists in this exhibition.

PHOTO COURTESY FELD ENTERTAINMENT

towertheatreokc.com

Sunshine Band is still as widely popular today as when the group first danced onto the music scene 40 years ago.

WANDA JACKSON Feb. 17 TOWER THEATRE As one

FIRST FRIDAY GALLERY WALK Feb. 2 PASEO DISTRICT Art

Wanda Jackson is the Queen of Rockabilly.

diamondballroom.net

LUKE COMBS Feb. 16 THE CRITERION See Luke

MONSTER MAYHEM

84

OKC CIVIC CENTER MUSIC HALL Grammy and Tony

WAXAHATCHEE Feb. 21 TOWER THEATRE Out in

performs on The Breakers Tour with guests Kacey Musgraves and Midland.

Feb. 6-11

SPORTS

Feb. 23-24

towertheatreokc.com

LITTLE BIG TOWN Feb. 8 CHESAPEAKE ENERGY ARENA Little Big Town

riverwind.com

On the (w)heels of its 25th anniversary, Monster Jam returns to Oklahoma City’s Chesapeake Energy Arena to provide attendees with adrenaline-inducing entertainment. The show, described as “the most action-packed live event on four wheels,” by Erin Burgy, regional communications director at Feld Entertainment, brings together world-class monster truck drivers to compete in both high-speed races and freestyle events.

Full to the brim with heart-pumping action, you won’t want to miss gravity-defying tricks, off-road driving, spontaneous action and the world’s most recognizable monster trucks. Burgy finds the sport particularly unique due to the absence of gender divides – both males and females compete in the same races and events.

“We are a sport built on those who dream the biggest, drive the fastest and soar the highest, no matter if they are male or female,” she says.

The show also boasts a local to root for: Rookie Hayley Gauley, driving the well-recognizable Scooby Doo truck, is a Ringwood, Oklahoma, native who currently resides in Edmond. At the Pit Party on Feb. 18, prior to the show’s last run in OKC, fans can meet Gauley and other talented drivers and get an up-close look at the mammoth monster trucks.

The event runs at 1 and 7 p.m. Feb. 17 and 1 p.m. Feb. 18.

Visit chesapeakearena.com for tickets.

human soul. okcballet.org

OKC PHIL PRESENTS: POPS 4 - MICHAEL CAVANAUGH, SONGS OF ELTON JOHN

CONCERTS

IN OKC

TULSA HEART BALL Feb. 17 COX BUSINESS CENTER

students into grade-A rockers.

that have seldom been “out of the vault,” and gives the visitor a unique look at why, what and how museums collect.

nationalcowboymuseum.org

DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE? PAINTED CONVERSATIONS

BY THEODORE WADDELL Feb. 9-May 13

NATIONAL COWBOY AND WESTERN HERITAGE MUSEUM This exhibition

redirects the visitor’s attention to the importance of what you do not see rather than what you do see on the canvas, and the opportunity to see something different in the same painting each time it is viewed.

dnagalleries.com

nationalcowboymuseum.org

UNLOCKING THE VAULT: MYSTERIES AND MARVELS OF THE MUSEUM

THE QUESTION OF BEAUTY Through Feb. 11 OKCMOA The Question of

Feb. 9-May 13

NATIONAL COWBOY AND WESTERN HERITAGE MUSEUM This exhibition presents a variety of items

Beauty presents modern and contemporary art from the permanent collection that employs beauty as a mode of expression, together with work

THE NEW ART: A MILESTONE COLLECTION FIFTY YEARS LATER Feb. 17-May 13 OKCMOA View an array of styles, including abstract expressionism, post painterly abstraction, color field painting, minimalism and pop art, at this anniversary celebration.

NATIONAL COWBOY AND WESTERN HERITAGE MUSEUM Dating from

nationalcowboymuseum.org

THE ART OF OKLAHOMA Through Sept. 2

OKC MOA The Art of

FACTORY OBSCURA PRESENTS: SHIFT CURRENT STUDIO SHIFT

AS LONG AS GRASS GROWS

Through Feb. 25

takes participants on a journey through human consciousness – from dreamy introspection to high-energy creativity and all points in between.

currentstudio.org

CARTOONS AND COMICS: THE EARLY ART OF TOM RYAN Through April 1

Ongoing

EDMOND HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND MUSEUM

Indian removal from the eastern United States began in earnest in the 1830s and continued until the 1870s.

The exhibit depicts both the struggles and triumphs. edmondhistory.org

SPORTS

OKC THUNDER HOME GAMES Feb. 2, 4, 11, 13, 26 CHESAPEAKE ENERGY ARENA Enjoy the state’s only

FRIGID FIVE RACE Feb. 10 MITCH PARK, EDMOND

chespeakearena.com

travelok.com

major professional sports team.

UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL GAMES Feb. 3, 21, 24 LLOYD NOBLE CENTER, NORMAN See the Sooners

host three opponents from the Big 12 Conference

soonersports.com

OKLAHOMA PAINT HORSE SHOW Feb. 4-5 STATE FAIR PARK Watch as riders around the nation compete. okstatefair.com

UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA MEN’S BASKETBALL GAMES Feb. 5, 17, 24 LLOYD NOBLE CENTER, NORMAN The Sooners men’s

basketball team continues its season with three home games. soonersports.com

PRAIRIE CLASSIC QUARTER HORSE SHOW Feb. 8-12 STATE FAIR PARK Come out and enjoy beautiful quarter horses and their riders as they compete all weekend long.

mane-events.com

HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS Feb. 10

CHESAPEAKE ENERGY ARENA The original Harlem

Globetrotters prepare for their action-packed 2018 World Tour against the Washington Generals.

chesapeakearena.com

Chocolate Cheer

1936 to 1945, these small drawings provide a snapshot of Tom Ryan’s high school and Coast Guard years.

Oklahoma celebrates the museum’s diverse collection of art created by or about Oklahomans. okcmoa.com

okcmoa.com

COMMUNIT Y

The 23rd running of this 5-mile race is sure to get your blood pumping on a cold day.

OKC BLUE HOME GAMES

Feb. 10, 23-24

COX CONVENTION

CENTER The Blue is the state’s only NBA G League team and an extension of the Thunder. oklahomacity. gleague.nba.com

RUNDERGROUND Feb. 17 COX CONVENTION CENTER

February: the month of romance, flowers, champagne, and – of course – chocolate. If you’re looking to satiate a sweet tooth, the state welcomes a bevy of chocolate-centric celebrations.

Chocolate Decadence, hosted by the Automobile Alley Association in Oklahoma City, features jazz, champagne and a Valentine’sthemed auction Feb. 1 in the Hudson-Essex building downtown (chocolatedecadenceokc. com). Restaurateurs get in on the action by creating sweet and savory chocolate delights to enjoy.

“Chocolate Decadence is extra special to us because of its legacy,” says Steve Schlegel, owner of Schlegel Bicycles and a board chair of Automobile Alley. “Even after 21 years, the event still sells out, and it’s exciting to

This 5K run is part of the annual Bart Conner and Nadia Comaneci Sports Experience and takes participants through the downtown area’s tunnel system. bartandnadiasportsexperience. com

MONSTER JAM Feb. 17-18 CHESAPEAKE ENERGY ARENA This actionpacked event features world-class drivers in both monster truck racing and freestyle competitions.

CONCERT

RAD ROD

The Choctaw Casino and Resort in Durant welcomes British rocker Rod Stewart Feb. 9.

chesapeakearena.com

OKLAHOMA STATE DRILL TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS Feb. 18

STATE FAIR PARK Watch as

teams compete to be crowned the best in Oklahoma. okstatefair.com

GREATER OKLAHOMA HUNTER JUMPER CLINIC

Feb. 25-26

STATE FAIR PARK Learn the

ropes at this informative, fun clinic for hunter jumper horses. okstatefair.com

community and those outside the community together at this upbeat show appealing to the masses.

pancakesandbooze.com

EAGLE WATCH Feb. 3 LAKE THUNDERBIRD STATE PARK, NORMAN Spot some

beautiful eagles in their natural habitat. travelok.com

POOL AND SPA SHOW Feb. 3-5

STATE FAIR PARK Don’t miss your chance to save big on a hot tub or swim spa at this expo. hottubeexpo.com

PHOTO COURTESY CHOCTAW CASINO AND RESORT

COMMUNITY PANCAKES AND BOOZE ART SHOW Feb. 2 OKC FARMERS PUBLIC MARKET Bring the art

see new people every time.”

Muskogee’s Habitat for Humanity offers a delectable evening at the Home Sweet Home Chocolate Festival on Feb. 10 at the Muskogee Civic Center. Enjoy cake, candies and other unique creations to nosh, plus wine and an auction – all for a great cause. Visit muskogeehfh.org for info.

The Norman Chocolate Festival, also Feb. 10, is coordinated by the Norman PTA Council and has an impressive list of awards to its name, including the Frontier Country Grand Award for Outstanding Food Festival in central Oklahoma. Samples abound – from classic fondue to chocolate chili – so stroll around Norman High School and get your fill. Visit normanptacouncil.org for details.

PHOTO COURTESY EPIC EVENTS

that either rejects or ignores beauty. okcmoa.com

Stewart, widely considered one of the best-selling music artists of all time, boasts a career that spans six decades. With 30 studio albums under his belt, Stewart includes both new hits and classics from his wide repertoire during his spell-binding concerts.

Inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (2012) and the UK Music Hall of Fame (2006), a recipient of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (2005), and a 15-time Grammy nominee, Stewart has many accolades that speak to a successful and accomplished career – and he’s not done yet.

The doors to the concert open at 6:30 p.m. and the concert begins at 8. Visit choctawcasinos.com for tickets.

FEBRUARY 2018 | WWW.OKMAG.COM

85

Where & When

OKLAHOMA TACKLE AND HUNTING SHOW Feb. 3-5 STATE FAIR PARK Stock

up and get all the gear you need for fishing and hunting.

montgomeryproductions.com

READING WEDNESDAYS Feb. 7, 14, 21, 28

MYRIAD BOTANICAL GARDENS Bring your

youngster for story time each Wednesday at 10 a.m.

Books have nature themes and match the season.

oklahomacitybotanicalgardens. com

TUNNEL OF LOVE HAUNTED ATTRACTION Feb. 9-10 THE SANCTUARY OKC

This Valentine’s Day, treat your special someone to something a little different. thesanctuaryokc.com

NORMAN MARDI GRAS PARADE Feb. 10 DOWNTOWN This event

is all about friends, families and community that rally the creative spirit to shake off winter and welcome spring.

normanmardigrasparade.com

KREWE DE BANJO MARDI GRAS CELEBRATION Feb. 10 AMERICAN BANJO MUSEUM Enjoy a jazz performance and score some American Banjo Museum Mardi Gras beads.

americanbanjomuseum.com

KIDS FEST Feb. 10 COX CONVENTION CENTER Get ready for a

fun-filled day for children of all ages at this educational expo. travelok.com

RV SUPER SHOW Feb. 15-18

STATE FAIR PARK Take a look at OKC’s only exclusive multiple RV dealer show. okcrvshows.com

20TH ANNUAL MOTORCYCLE SHOW Feb. 18-19

STATE FAIR PARK

Motorheads, this event is for you. Explore beautiful and refurbished motorcycles.

jwswapmeet.com

GARDENS WALKING TOUR Feb. 24

MYRIAD BOTANICAL GARDENS Expand

your Oklahoma plant knowledge and get great ideas for your yard.

oklahomacitybotanicalgardens. com

OKLAHOMA MOTORCYCLE AND CAR SHOW Feb. 24-25 STATE FAIR PARK The event is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Saturday and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. There is no charge for parking at State Fair Park. jwswapmeet.com

FRIENDS OF THE METROPOLITAN LIBRARY SYSTEM ANNUAL BOOK SALE Feb. 24-25 STATE FAIR PARK The

library system is funded by annual membership dues and proceeds from the annual book sale, which can also be accessed through the system’s Amazon store. supportmls.org

LEAKE CLASSIC CAR SHOW AND AUCTION Feb. 24-26 STATE FAIR PARK This annual collector car auction, based in Tulsa, welcomes thousands of visitors each year. leakecar.com

CHARITABLE EVENTS CHOCOLATE DECADENCE Feb. 1

HUDSON-ESSEX LOFT OFFICES This is an

evening of decadent chocolate, gourmet coffee, wine, champagne, live jazz and a Valentine auction.

chocolatedecadenceokc.com

BOOTS AND BALL GOWNS GALA Feb. 3 THE CRITERION This Western-themed gala celebrates the work of Infant Crisis Services with a fundraising night.

infantcrisis.org

BISHOP MCGUINNESS CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL AUCTION Feb. 2 THE CRITERION This annual event benefits the Work Grant Scholarship program and capital needs. bmchs.org

HERITAGE HALL GALA 2018 Feb. 3 FARMERS PUBLIC

MARKET Hosted by the

board of trustees, the gala is the school’s largest fundraising event, consisting of grand-scale auctions, live music, dinner and dancing. heritagehall.com/

support/gala-2018

2018 OKLAHOMA CITY HEART BALL Feb. 10 NATIONAL COWBOY AND WESTERN HERITAGE MUSEUM This annual

black-tie gala celebrates the work and mission of the American Heart Association, its donors and volunteers, and the lives saved and improved through volunteers’ efforts. okcheartball.heart.org

JUNIOR LEAGUE OF OKC 2018 SPEAKER: GIULIANA AND BILL RANCIC Feb. 10 THE CRITERION See and

hear inspirational couple Giuliana and Bill Rancic speak at this event. criterionokc.com

FOR MORE EVENTS IN TULSA, OKC AND AROUND THE STATE, HEAD TO OKMAG.COM.

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OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2018

FILM AND CINEMA

Films to Catch Your Fancy

Oscar-nominated shorts, a collector’s edition of a psycho-thriller and another Marvel superhero arrive this month.

Around Town

It’s almost Academy Awards season, which means plenty of chances to catch up on films you may have missed in the past year.

One of my favorite treats comes in the form of screenings of all the nominated short films, unavailable in theaters for most of us, but playing at Circle Cinema, Feb. 9-15, and likely elsewhere. From dramas and comedies to animated films, catch a wide variety of moods in a short space.

There’s sure to be a film to catch your fancy – if you don’t like one, just wait five minutes and you’ll see something completely different.

At Home

The film world lost a major talent in 2017 when director Jonathan Demme died.

Demme never had the name recognition of Steven Spielberg or Martin Scorcese, perhaps in part because he favored shifting genres and styles rather than building a trademark niche.

Demme was at the helm of music documentaries, wild comedies and serious dramas, but he’s perhaps best known for 1991’s game-changing thriller, The Silence of the Lambs, out in a new edition this month from the Criterion Collection. The tale of an FBI agent who taps the “wisdom” of one serial killer to catch another, Silence is most famous for Anthony Hopkins’s riveting performance as Hannibal Lecter.

There’s much more to love about the film than the way Hopkins discusses fava beans.

It’s a showcase for Demme’s ability to generate suspense while maintaining a human touch. This special release, aside from

receiving the standard Criterion restoration, features many extras, such as deleted scenes, four separate production documentaries, and essays by critics.

In Theaters

As the Marvel Cinematic Universe gradually takes over as much of filmdom as possible, superhero fatigue can set in. The studio seems intent on combating that by sending its smaller franchises out in odd directions and handing the reins to directors who might push the boundaries a little (while not going too far out).

Horror director Scott Derrickson turned 2016’s Doctor Strange into a world-bending headtrip, while lowkey New Zealander Taika Waititi revived the stodgy Thor franchise by spinning the third film in the series into a buddy comedy. Now comes one of the most exciting installments: Black Panther, directed by exciting young filmmaker Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station, Creed). Not only is it nice to see Marvel hiring more diverse directors, but Coogler should bring style and grace to the story of T’Challa, who moonlights as the title hero and prince of the fictional African kingdom Wakanda.

Chadwick Boseman showed nice screen presence in his debut as T’Challa in Captain America: Civil War, and the new film also pairs Coogler with frequent collaborator Michael B. Jordan, tantalizingly playing a villain this time around.

While the Marvel sandbox has some clearly defined limits, it’s exciting to see what talented young filmmakers come up with when let loose to play inside of it.

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E

Ed Fite

d Fite, vice president of water quality for the Grand River Dam Authority, was administrator for the Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission from 1983 until 2016, when the GRDA absorbed the defunded commission. The Scenic Rivers Operation protects the Illinois River and its tributaries. We caught up with Fite and got his thoughts on …

… adjusting to the GRDA.

As administrator of the OSRC, my job was to find balance with limited resources to accomplish our mission. It was always a struggle. Now that the OSRC is part of GRDA, the executive director, the board and nearly 600 team members have lessened my load to allow me to focus solely on issues related to scenic rivers and water quality for the Neosho River, the Spring River and other streams that impact Grand Lake.

… consolidation benefits.

I no longer have to worry about a budget and negotiations with the state legislature related to funding. GRDA has improved each of the services provided by the OSRC. Now, water quality, grounds maintenance, law enforcement and administration are all adequately staffed and funded.

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OKLAHOMA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2018

… consolidation difficulties.

My biggest challenge has been letting go of control. It took a year to get used to the idea that I did not have to be responsive 24/7/365, and that I no longer had to worry about everything.

It wasn’t easy to break a 33-year-old habit.

… his role with the GRDA.

Previously, I was limited to the 1,650 square miles comprising the Illinois River basin.

Now, my focus has expanded to include all scenic rivers, along with the more than 10,000 square miles that comprise the drainage basin of Grand Lake.

… guiding principles.

First, I want to know whether water quality is getting better, staying the same, or getting worse. Second, if change occurs, is it in Oklahoma or Arkansas or both states? That

… his passion for rivers.

Rivers and water are the lifeblood of the human soul. By the time we’re 4 or 5, most of us have been introduced to water through a recreational or some other learning experience. At that point, we are tied to water for the rest of our lives. Throughout my life, I’ve been drawn to rivers, being as captivated as when gazing into a fire. There is a reason why more than 70 percent of the world’s population lives next to water. Water is necessary for life.

… goals for the Illinois River.

First, it is paramount that Oklahoma and Arkansas continue to nurture a partnership that treats the Illinois River as a whole basin, valued by both states. Second, Oklahoma must adopt a revised phosphorus water quality standard for our scenic rivers based on a 2016 work by a joint Arkansas-Oklahoma committee with Baylor University. Third, the Environmental Protection Agency must complete and release the Illinois River basin total maximum daily load model. The synergy of these efforts will provide a non-ambiguous template that everyone in both states may use to ensure a robust economy, while at the same time continuing to protect and preserve water quality within the Illinois River basin.

PHOTO COURTESY ED FITE

C LO S I N G T H O U G H T S

was the question in 1983, and it is still applicable today. Finally, is the water safe for primary contact for recreational activities?

These have been my guiding principles since the 1980s and I have not wavered.

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