“MUSIC CAN CHANGE THE WORLD BECAUSE IT CAN CHANGE PEOPLE.” -BONO
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A healthy mix of classic, modern, and local independent music can be heard every day from 7:00pm-5:00am on KOSU and 24 hours a day at TheSpyFM.com.
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NEWS
Pay or stay BAIL REFORM DISCUSSION BUBBLES UP AHEAD OF NEW JAIL PUSH. By Matt Patterson, NonDoc.com
The conversation around Oklahoma County’s flawed jail and its proposed replacement has included topics ranging from how tall the new facility should be to what level of security inmates will find themselves in when, or if, it opens someday. But a main topic of debate has been the question of size. How big is too big, and how much space is really needed? The current facility has seen significant overcrowding. Does that mean decision makers should build a much larger facility? Opponents say a bigger jail will only lead to an increased inmate population and will again become an overcrowded mess. At the same time, if the facility is too small, the expanding OKC metro area could quickly outgrow it, leading to the same problem. Instead, the question some would like to focus on is how to lower the population of the jail, particularly by not jailing nonviolent low-level offenders. Diversion programs, which send offenders to rehabilitation programs instead of jail, can ease some of that problem. Bail reform could be another tool.
Cash on the barrel head Currently, the most direct way for someone to get out of the Oklahoma County Jail is to secure the services of a bail bondsman. Typically, bondsmen charge a fee of about 10 percent. So if a judge sets bail at $10,000, a prisoner can pay the bail bondsman $1,000, and the bail bondsman then pays the court the entirety of the bail amount. If and when the person returns for their court date, the bail bondsman gets the $10,000 back and keeps the $1,000 as a fee for having provided the money. Some bail companies offer payment plans, but those can come with interest rates that are sometimes determined by a client ’s credit history and the crime they are accused of committing. Some arrested individuals are released on their own recognizance, meaning they 4
Oklahoma County Detention Center. Photo: Berlin Green
avoid the need for a bail bondsman. But for those that can’t afford bondsman services, facing bail often means added time behind bars — not because of the severity of the crime or because of any danger they may pose society, but because they simply do not have enough money. “Bail reform is definitely needed,” Oklahoma County Chief Public Defender Robert Ravitz told NonDoc. “There are too many people that are in jail who don’t need to be in jail who are not threats to anybody.”
Financial means influence outcomes People in jail in the United States had a median annual income of about $15,000 prior to their incarceration, according to data from PrisonPolicy. org, an organization that works to raise awareness about over incarceration in the United States. Often, those in a county jail are poorer than those in state prison, and they are much poorer than those who are arrested and able to post bail. “Imagine two people who commit the same crime and have the same criminal history, and neither one of them is at risk of committing a violent crime — they’re otherwise upstanding citizens — but they get arrested for the same low-level crime,” said Sandra Thompson, a law professor at the University of Houston. “One has money. The other doesn’t. The poor person sits in jail waiting. The DA will be willing to let them go if they plead
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guilty, and the judge might sentence them to time served, but now they have a criminal record. The person who was able to pay (bail) comes to court, and they’re much more likely to have their case dismissed. Research has shown this. So you have two totally different outcomes based on the ability to post bail.” Thompson has served as an assistant district attorney in New York County and is currently a deputy monitor for the federal consent decree in the settlement of O’Donnell v. Harris County, a federal civil rights lawsuit that has caused Texas’ most populated county to essentially end the practice of requiring detainees accused of low-level, non-violent offenses to post bail in order to be released from jail.
“At the end of the day, the question should not be how much money should a person pay, but is this person safe to release.” -Sandra Thompson What bail reform means depends on whom you ask, Thompson said. For some, it means ending cash bail altogether. For others, it’s about creating reforms that keep bail in place for some serious offenses, such as assault, while eliminating it for low-
er-level offenses, such as overdue speeding tickets. “The phrase has come to mean different things to different people,” Thompson said. “But the conversation has been ongoing for a while. In Kentucky, they abolished for-profit bail bonding by statute in the 1970s. New Jersey did it 10 years ago. It has sort of continued. There has been growing awareness about commercial bonding and money bail. That issue comes up from criminal justice reformers when they look at the overall system and the damaging effects of money in the system, especially at the pretrial stage. It has a devastating impact on the whole system and creates a lot of unfair outcomes that all flow from the first decision of whether to release.” Thompson said bail reform could still mean financial responsibility for the accused, but without the middleman. “What it could look like is maybe the use of financial incentives to make sure they return to court, but not necessarily commercial bail bonding,” Thompson said. “There are four states that don’t allow commercial bail bondsmen, so we know there are places where the system can function without them.” Thompson said the central issue is how to detach the question of whether someone should be in jail from their ability to pay to get out. “At the end of the day, the question should not be how much money should a person pay, but is this person safe to release,” she said.
Beyond the issue of fairness, reformers also point to evidence that not being able to make bail can have reverberations that are felt for a lifetime. Those who end up in jail for long periods often find themselves in financial ruin, which can increase the risk of recidivism. “They lose their job, if they had a job,” Ravitz said. “The family goes on welfare, and they’re put in a six-by-10 cell with two other people, and they get out about an hour a day, if that. If they weren’t an animal to begin with, when they spend a year in the county jail, they become one.”
Community bail funds aid some prisoners Community bail funds have been created to help reduce the number of people who are being held pretrial because they cannot afford bail. Those funds, which are managed by organizations like the Bail Project, use money raised from the public and through grants to pay bail costs for detainees who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford it. Rep. Meloyde Blancett (D-Tulsa) supports bail reform in the Legislature. Those organizations also remind participants of court dates and in some cases provide transportation to and from court. When their cases end, the funds are returned to the organization. The Bail Project, which was started in 2018, has helped cover costs for more than 20,000 people in 22 states, including Oklahoma. Groups like the Richmond Community Bail Fund in Richmond, Virginia, can be found on the local level. Last year, former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick pledged $1 million to a community bail fund. Rep. Meloyde Blancett (D-Tulsa) said programs like the Bail Project are a valuable tool when it comes to managing jail populations and discouraging recidivism. “They’ve taken this pool of money they raise through grants and personal donations, and they interview detainees in jail,” Blancett said. “They don’t take on every client, because not every client is worthy of help, but the clients they do help, they pay their bail and they provide them with reminders for court dates, and they give them transportation if they need it. They connect them with social services. It’s a true wrap-around program.”
Jail population has declined While the long saga of problems at the Oklahoma County Jail is atypical, the makeup of its population tracks with most jails of its size across the country. About 80 percent of those held are pretrial detainees, according to the Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Advisory Council, which was founded to identify critical problems within the county’s justice system and jail. The council has created a six-part
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plan “to address overi nc a r c er at ion a nd issues plag uing the county-wide justice system.” The plan recommends that the criminal justice system should keep low-level offenders out of jail, create alternatives for people with mental illness and substance abuse problems and stop jailing people who can’t pay fines, among other goals. Combined with a voter-approved change in state law, those efforts have been effective so far. In June 2004, the jail’s average daily population was 2,617. For 2021, the daily average is 1,672, according to Bail bonds offices face the Oklahoma County Detention Center. Photo: Berlin Green CJAC. The organization, which came together in 2015, recently on his own. I see several people a day launched a dashboard that reports the that, in my opinion, could be released jail’s population and other data. that aren’t a threat to society that are But while the daily average populaput in jail. I think the O.R. bond tion of the Oklahoma County Jail has program in Oklahoma County helps. I declined, those detained within are don’t think they get out near the often inside for months. The average number of people they should.” person housed at the jail has been there Although he believes reform is for 126 days, according to CJAC’s data. needed, Ravitz said he does not see a “They don’t have $1,500 or whatway to end cash bail entirely. ever it is, so they sit in jail and basi“I don’t think you can ever eliminate cally wait for their court date,” Ravitz cash bail. I think some of the bondsmen said. “The first court date could be — just because somebody gets out on bail within three weeks. Preliminary doesn’t mean they’re not likely to do hearing could be a month to three another crime,” he said. “I think some of months, depending on judges’ schedthe bonds need to be supervised more. I ules. If they get held for trial, you’re agree with the DAs on that. I’m not in favor looking at another six months to a year. of totally eliminating cash bail. I don’t I’m talking about somebody who could think it’s worked in other jurisdictions.” be potentially innocent of the crime.” CJAC executive director Tim Bail industry leery of Tardibono said those who are released reform attempts on bail generally fare better than those who are not. The bail bond industry is estimated “A majority of people in the jail have to gross about $2 billion annually in not yet been convicted of anything,” the United States. The industry grew he said. “They are pretrial. The real 25 percent from 2009 and 2016 but has question is why are they there awaitsince seen a decline, with the number ing trial when the data shows your of bail bonds written falling by 10 chance of a successful defense is much percent in 2018, according to the Wall Street Journal. better when you’re out in the community and you can show a judge that Ken Boyer operates Ken Boyer Bail you can hold down a job and take care Bonds and serves as the president of of yourself, and that you’re not a the Oklahoma Bondsman Association. threat to the public.” He said the industry has a two-pronged Ravitz said expansion of own-recogpurpose, providing defendants with nizance bonds should be another key expert help from someone who backs tool in reducing jail population. Those them financially, while also deploying bonds, often referred to as O.R. bonds, CLEET-licensed bail enforcers to track allow for people arrested to be released down fugitives who abscond from their after signing a written promise to bail and court obligations. “Defendants have the right to reaappear in court. They don’t require the services of a bail bondsman. sonable bail,” Boyer said. “When a Ravitz said judges in Oklahoma family member hires a bail bondsman County have adequate discretion to for a loved one, they are entering into a increase the use of O.R. bonds or lower partnership of sorts with the bondsbail amounts if they wanted to. man. They know that they will only “The [District Attorney’s Office] have to pay a fraction of the amount of doesn’t even show up in arraignment sufficient surety set by the judge as most of the time in Oklahoma County,” bail. They know they are hiring an expert to help their loved one get Ravitz said. “The judge is setting bond 6
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through a difficult time in their life. They know, due to our American free market system, that the bondsman has a vested interest in making sure the defendant completes his court proceedings. Although occasionally we have to arrest a fugitive, we prefer not to unless they force us to by fleeing.” Boyer said expanding O.R. bonds is not necessarily the answer to keeping jail populations low. In his experience, those released on O.R. bonds can actually be more trouble than those who pay for his services, something he said he has pointed out to legislators.
While the daily average population of the Oklahoma County Jail has declined, those detained within are often inside for months. The average person housed at the jail has been there for 126 days. -CJAC Data “We go to arraignments every day and make note of who appears and who fails to appear,” Boyer said. “Because of this information, I was able to show legislators who may have been considering socialized pretrial release that, in 2019, 62 percent of the people released on their own recognizance failed to appear at this first court date. Seventeen percent of the bail bond clients failed to appear.” The financial tether between bondsman and defendants also promotes compliance, he said. “Because of the financial obligation of the bondsman to the court, the defendants on bond are cleared up rather quickly, averaging about two weeks,” Boyer said. “The fugitives released on
[O.R.] average about 22 months before being caught in a traffic stop or committing a new crime. The fugitive cannot work until they get their warrant cleared. Crime or sponging off someone that does work is all that is available to them. Bondsmen do walkthroughs with clients who have a warrant they want to clear without being arrested.” Boyer said he sees c l ient s f r om a l l walks of life, and that it’s often a misconception t hat those who seek out ser v ices of bail bondsmen are always poor. “We do bonds for just about anything someone can be accused of,” he said. “We even get a few clients that want us to substitute a bond for their O.R. release, wanting the help of a professional. Even very wealthy families that could post a cash bail want our help, knowing they want our expertise working for them. The antibail folks argument claiming that people sit in jail because they can’t afford bail is absolutely false. Almost always when someone stays in jail it is because they have jumped bond several times in the past, or their record would indicate that they are a significant danger to the public. I have many clients making $20 weekly payments on their bond fee.”
Legislative and avenues of reform
other
Transformative change in bail practices would almost certainly need to come from the Legislature, Blancett said. Reform of Oklahoma’s bail laws is something she sees as necessary, but a lack of specific data makes it hard to drill down into the bedrock of the problem or to convince other legislators of the need for bail reform. “We don’t have a lot of data that tells us what we’re dealing with. Whether it is pretrial or post-conviction, or whatever,” Blancett said. “We need data that tells us how they got in jail and why they’re still there. What percentage are there for fines and fees, and what percentage are there for other nonviolent offenses? How many people are in jail due to negotiations with the DA or some other law enforcement agency because they can’t pay bail? We don’t know this data, so the argument on either side becomes solely based on emotion without hard and fast data, and then you’re always going to have the voices of law enforcement who say if you let people out they’re going to go
out and commit murder.” conversation between the district atBlancett said the state would be torney and the judges, as far as what well served to invest in gathering the they will accept,” he said. “But I do necessary data, which has happened know that through our court services in other states. we are able to more broadly offer GPS “Michigan has done really well,” tracking, and it’s more cost-effective Blancett said. “They pushed through than it was before.” with a bipartisan multi-segment task District 3 Commissioner and jail force that included judges, law enforcetrust member Kevin Calvey, who is also ment and victims, and they pushed running for Oklahoma County district through strategic reforms. They did a attorney, has said in jail trust meetings one-time analysis working with [Pew that he doesn’t believe people should Research Center] be locked up for to gather data. parking tickets For example, one but that there is of those things a limit to possiwas the top 10 ble reforms. reasons people “ T here are reforms that can are incarcerated in jails in that be looked at, but we state, and they shouldn’t be reducfound that five of ing bail so much them were traffic because we end up related. My point with another Waukesha, is we don’t know until we get Wisconsin, parade smarter about massacre because data. It’s just an some dangerous emotional tug of person is let out of war if you don’t jail,” Calvey said have that. Data is during a recent jail agnostic.” trust meeting. Oklahoma “Dangerous people County District need to be in jail 2 Commissioner even in pretrial.” Brian Maughan Rep. Meloyde Blancett (D-Tulsa) supports bail reform in Rav itz said has dealt with the Legislature. Photo provided. the primary barthe county jail’s r ier s t o ba i l problems since he took office. He said reform come from the industry and technology has helped get some people fear of political embarrassment out of jail who otherwise might have among elected officials. remained there. “Probably the biggest impediment is the bail bond lobby, which is ex“They lose their job, tremely strong,” Ravitz said. “They’ve if they had a job. The stopped the reform in the past. They don’t want bail reform, and they tell family goes on stories about people who aren’t coming welfare, and they’re to court, which aren’t even true. put in a six-by-10 cell There’s some DAs who aren’t in favor with two other of people getting out on bond, because people, and they get then they can get them to plead guilty out about an hour a just to get out of jail and take probation, day, if that. If they but I don’t think that is as big of a weren’t an animal to problem as the bail lobby.” begin with, when
they spend a year in the county jail, they become one.” -Robert Ravitz
“I think that with tracking devices now, our flight risks are greatly minimized, so I don’t know if we have to get them to pay a big price on bail as we do getting them on GPS tracking,” Maughan said. “I think that opens up a number of different previous offenses that we would have asked for a higher price on bail. And having perimeters even when they’re under house arrest, it’s cheaper than incarcerating them, for sure.” But Maughan said large-scale policy reform on bail is out of the hands of county commissioners. “It’s just unfortunately mostly a
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chicken friedNEWS Stitt’s up to his shenanigans again, but we don’t mean Kevin. “Marvin Keith Stitt, 51, who goes by Keith, asked the Tulsa Municipal Court on Wednesday to dismiss a speeding ticket he received in February because he is a member of the Cherokee Nation. A copy of his Cherokee identification card is included in the court filing, showing he became an enrolled member of the tribe in 1992,” The Frontier reported. With regards to the McGirt ruling, which reasserted tribal sovereignty in much of eastern and southern Oklahoma’s state courts, Kevin Stitt has all but begged the Supreme Court to overturn it and, in the meantime, has used every passive-aggressive option available to him, even if it stands to cost the state millions in revenue. Anything to irritate the tribes because, if he has to share authority, Stitt is just going
Illustrations by Jerry Bennett
to take his ball and go home, even though it turns out that house may be under tribal jurisdiction. “[Keith Stitt’s lawyer] said in a statement to The Frontier that everyone ‘has the right to have their case heard before the correct court with proper jurisdiction.’” And they have. It just hasn’t gone the way they like, which means to expect more state power wielding in an attempt to punish indigenous tribes until they get the court and jurisdiction they want. More of that “small government” mentality that Republicans love to champion and never live up to when wielding power.
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If you thought legislation passed into law in Texas last year was absurd, Oklahoma Republican Sen. Rob Standridge invites you to hold his beer. Taking a page out of their play book , he’s a i m i ng t h is session to get books banned f rom publ ic school l ibra r y shelves w ith a $10,000 daily bounty for as long they remain accessible to impressionable minds. You heard that correctly. A cash-starved and pandemicweary public education system is now poised to be f ur ther drained of funds because some dumbass doesn’t want you to read books that he doesn’t want to read. Standridge’s district includes south Oklahoma City and parts of Norman ( but not Oklahoma University — imagine that).
In a statement, Standridge said, “Our education system is not the place to teach moral lessons that should instead be left up to parents and families. Unfortunately, however, more and more schools are trying to indoctrinate students by ex posing t hem to gender, sexual and racial identity curriculums and courses. My bills w ill ensure these ty pes of lessons stay at home and out of the classroom.” Once upon a time, parents used to send their children to libraries to learn about all the things that they themselves didn’t know. It’s part of what has allowed children to f lourish over the past centur y, learning about others, their beliefs, their practices and customs. A free f low of information has enabled our multicultural society to broaden its understanding of one another. It’s a bizarre day in America when the last place you can go to learn is in a public school library.
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GAZEDIBLES
It’s soup season WHILE THIS SEASON HASN’T BEEN ESPECIALLY COLD, NOTHING MAKES A WINTER MEAL QUITE LIKE A NICE, HOT BOWL OF SOUP. January is National Soup Month, which is a no-brainer, ‘cause it’s perfect to kick off the year with something delicious and nutritious. Lucky for us, OKC and Tulsa offer lots of options. Here are seven spots where you can find a hearty bowl of soup in either city. By Berlin Green
Photos provided.
Soup Soup
405-843-7095 • 7654 North Western www.soupsoup.org
This aptly named shop has been a staple in Nichols Hills for over 25 years. There’s literally a perfect flavor for everyone with a menu that boasts over 30 different options. Soup Soup features all the classics like chicken noodle and unique flavors like avocado cucumber — all made fresh for pick up for you to share — or not.
Cafe 7
405-748-3354 • 14101 N. May Ave, STE 117 www.cafe7okc.com
Cafe 7 is well known for their flavorful pasta, sandwiches, and pizzas, but they also have a fantastic selection of soups. Throughout the week find daily rotating flavors like French onion, loaded potato, and cream of spinach and artichoke. Enjoy their delicious tomato bisque, it’s available daily, as well as a chef’s special.
Pickerman’s Soup and Sandwich
405-685-0000 • 8916 S. Pennsylvania Ave. www.facebook.com/PickermansSoup-Sandwich
If you love soup, this is a must-go. Pickerman’s makes each of their soups from scratch each day and offers a daily rotating selection, so there’s always something fresh and hearty waiting. If you’re vying for something specific check their Facebook page for the daily menu and specials. Allow me to recommend the chicken and dumplings.
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Saturn Grill
Dilly Diner
Bill & Ruth’s Cherry Street Jane’s Delicatessen 918-742-9842 • 2647 E. 15th St, Tulsa www.billandruths.com
918-872-0501 • 2626 E 11th St, Tulsa www.janesdelicatessen.com
Saturn Grill has been known for fresh eats for over ten years. From pizzas and pastas to salads and sandwiches, they’ve got a wide array of menu options made from scratch each day. They offer a rotating selection of soups each day with flavors like tomato basil, spicy lentil, chilled avocado cucumber and more.
A Tulsa favorite, Dilly Diner is as known for it’s beautiful atmosphere as it is for it’s freshmade menu which boasts a wide variety of offerings — they also serve breakfast all day. Plus, they’ve got some delicious soups to accompany any item you like including chicken, vegetable and tomato bisque.
This little spot has been serving Tulsa area guests since 1980 and they’re well known for their fresh food and stellar service. Here you’ll find a soup menu worth warming up with. They’ve got baked potato, lentil, chicken tortilla, chicken wild rice, and vegetable soup available daily. Have it on its own or pair your soup with a salad or any other one of their delicious menu offerings.
Jane’s Delicatessen’s mission is to honor the culinary traditions of classic delicatessens, so their menu offers a mix of Jewish, German, and French-Canadian inspired dishes. Their soup menu may not be what you’re traditionally used to, instead find delicious mushroom barley, matzo chicken and German stew made fresh daily.
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405-843-7114 • 6432 Avondale Drive www.saturngrill.com
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E AT & DRINK O KGA Z E T TE .CO M | JA N UA R Y 1 2 , 2 0 2 2
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EAT & DRINK
Light and dark Stonecloud — Lite and Nite
THIS MONTH, OKLAHOMA GAZETTE TAKES A LOOK AT SOME CHOICES FOR THE CALORIE-CONSCIOUS AND SOME RICHER, MALTIER BEERS.
It’s not really fair to call Lite and Nite flip sides of the same coin, but they definitely could be cousins. Stonecloud, while definitely not a brewery to shy away from experimentation, has been hitting it out of the park lately with their classic beer styles. The Lite is a lager brewed year-round from rice malts with only a tinge of hops and the Nite is a seasonal dark lager brewed with roasted malts. At 4.3 percent ABV and 4.8 percent ABV respectively, they both have sessionability. The other difference: the Lite comes in standard 12ounce cans, the Nite is packaged by the pint.
By Matt Dinger
COOP Ale Works — Ice Chest IPA While it’s warm most days, it’s not quite nice enough outside to go floating the rivers just yet, but COOP’s Ice Chest IPA is especially cruel on the days when the wind bites. An IPA with less sting than January gusts at 30 IBUs, it goes down easy at 4.3 percent ABV. If you were thinking a localized version of Founders All Day IPA, you wouldn’t be far off from this one.
Rahr & Sons — Rumpy Since we’re straddling the line between autumn and winter (the winter solstice was officially the third week of December for those who forgot due to recent weather patterns), it was fitting to try on a beer that did the same. A pumpkin ale aged in rum barrels, this beer definitely has that robust flavor on the front end with a spiced aftertaste. As sweet as it is stout, these are probably handled best one at a time at their 9 percent ABV, which works since they come packaged as a two-can pair.
Sapporo — Pure After trying the Stonecloud Lite, it gave me a taste for another light, ricebased beer. And it doesn’t get much lighter than Sapporo Pure. At only 4 percent ABV and 2.4 grams of carbs per can, these are extremely easy to drink, but the 90 calories per can will easily stack up so beware of the less filling sensation that may lead you to catch more of a buzz (as well as more than 500 unplanned calories) than you expected.
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Schneider Weisse — Aventinus Eisbock We saved the heaviest hitter for last, and this is another legendary beer among fans of European beer. A process known as freeze distillation takes this double bock wheat beer and converts it into a prizefighter with a 12 percent ABV punch. As the story goes, the brewmaster heard a story in the 1930s about a batch of the Aventinus freezing during a winter transport which led to its unusually high alcohol content. Fortunately, the complex flavors in the beer itself take the sting out of this eisbock.
ARTS & CULTURE
Frame by frame NATIVE ARTIST AND WRITER STEVEN PAUL JUDD IS KEEPING BUSY, WITH MARVEL’S VOICES: HERITAGE #1 BEING RELEASED THIS MONTH. By Frances Danger
Hot on the heels of the release of The Rez Detectives, artist/writer/ director Steven Paul Judd is poised once again to indigenize pop culture with his take on the Marvel Universe. Marvel’s Voices: Heritage #1 is available Jan. 12. It is a continuation of the Voices series that began with Marvel’s Voices: Indigenous Voices #1. The ser ies focuses on Native a nd Indigenous writers and artists telling superhero stories from an Indigenous perspective, this year showcasing the talents of Rebecca Roanhorse, Nyla Innuksuk, Bobby Wilson, and Judd. Judd, a Native Billy Jack of all trades, is a two time Emmy nominee and member of the Writer’s Guild of America, whose focus has turned to bringing new life to aged Jason St rong b ow, b et ter k now n a s American Eagle. “You hear about superheroes all the time and I know mutants get their powers when they turn into teenagers in the Marvel world. So I was thinking, you know your body changes again when you’re in your 60s. You start getting older and I wondered what happens to them if they get them when they’re 13,” Judd said of his interpretation of an aging American Eagle. “Does something happen? Does something change? My character is not a mutant per se. He’s just a regular person that got powers. I wanted to explore that world where maybe people don’t think you have value, maybe, but you still have gas left in the tank.” Judd moves the story in a direction not often seen in comics as his tale focuses on Strongbow at age 75. “It’s the idea of, do you give up on yourself. When you feel like other people have given up on you, is it just you giving up on yourself? Are you finding excuses? All those kinds of thoughts or themes I was interested in telling,” he said. Even though it focuses on a Native character told from a Native perspective Judd sees it as a universal story. “A lot of people probably have thought that about themselves, about their careers. You know, you kind of feel like you want to choose a story that can resonate and then be enter-
taining at the same time,” he said. Judd is well known for taking beloved pop culture icons and turning them on their head, Indigenizing their perspective in order to help people see the effects of colonization on Native Peoples. His take on American Eagle is no different. “If you hear you’re going to hear a superhero story, you’re probably not going to think it’s going to be a 75-year-old person, so I think from the jump it’s going to be a different viewpoint, a different take. And then if you hear a superhero story about a Native person you probably have a certain idea of what that means also and it’s definitely not that in my comic book, so whatever the first thing that comes to your mind that’s not what this comic is,” he said. Judd’s DIY ethic and artistry has also been propelled to new heights. While many know him as the artist behind the enormous portrait of Sitting Bull comprised of 20,000 dice or the slyly cultural re-appropriative pop culture shirts for NTVS and stoodis. com Judd is much more than that.
“It’s the idea of, do you give up on yourself. When you feel like other people have given up on you, is it just you giving up on yourself? Are you finding excuses? All those kinds of thoughts or themes I was interested in telling.” -Steven Paul Judd Oklahoma’s Literati Press The Rez Detectives, a graphic novel for mid grade kids (and those of us that never quite grew up), co-written by Judd and Tvli Jacob (Choctaw) with illustrations by M.K. Perker was published in December, and his directorial work for The First Americans Museum Pow Wow Bus installation, a virtual cross Oklahoma trip to various pow wows that illustrates
the unique cultures of some of the 39 Tribal Nations that make up Indian Country. In the last year he was also one of ten chosen to create works of art for display at the U.S. Open. His acrylic piece, “All My Relations,’’ is a colorful explosion of hues meant to represent the varied tribal identities and governments of the 574 federally recognized, hundreds of state, and scores of unrecognized Native Nations that are the original Peoples of the land now known as America. It was eventually auctioned off with proceeds supporting the US Tennis Association Foundation and IllumiNative, a nonprofit initiative designed to increase the visibility of Native Nations & Peoples in American society. Judd is ready for Native art to come out of the shadows and the expectations of what it is expected to be and into an era of everything it could be. “I’m super excited. Years and years ago, I wrote on a television show called Zeke and Luther so, you know, I’m writing a TV show and now to see how far things have changed just in that short time with all the TV shows and also you have social media for it, you have YouTube, you have your phone to create those things,” he said. “Not only can we make things ourselves but … I can get paid to do it. Studios are gonna buy it. So, you know, it’s one thing to think I can make this myself which is totally cool and it’s another thing to know, ‘Oh wait, you know, this is economically viable.’ Our stories can be made just like other people’s stories can be made too,” Judd said. Judd has several irons on the fire in addition to his work with Marvel. One of his forthcoming projects is directing a short for Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin. His shirts are available through NTVS and stoodis.com, while Rez Detectives can be found locally at Pa seo Plu nge a nd T he Fi rst A mericans Museum store, with Marvel’s Voices: Heritage #1 available where comics are sold.
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ARTS & CULTURE
Black and red LEWIS BLACK TOOK SOME TIME OUT OF HIS PRE-TOUR LOCKDOWN TO CHAT WITH OKLAHOMA GAZETTE ABOUT THE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS AND THE UPCOMING TOUR. BLACK PERFORMS AT THE CRITERION ON JAN. 30. By Matt Dinger
Oklahoma Gazette: Did this pandemic make it easier to write material or was being away from the stage where you can test out jokes hold you back? Black: I don’t really write, so it was the first time I kind of wrote stuff in part, because I kind of had to. I have to write it out and I basically talk it but until that time, I hadn’t really. I take notes and stuff and I write in front of the audience and that’s really what I do. … I have a mental setlist especially now that I’m starting out again and the front part of it grew so the back part kind of got cut off. As I was doing it, it kind of changes along the way. Now I’ve got it down. I finished up December 19 and I’m starting on the road again and now I’ve got to look now I got to go back and try to remember it. I basically do have a pretty good idea of what it will be. OKG: I appreciate you coming to a red state like Oklahoma to do your stuff. We kind of look at you road comedians as missionaries. Black: My father, he went to the University of Oklahoma. Way, way, way, way, way, way, way back. Way back. He left New York City to go there. Isn’t that unbelievable? The story was, he looked around at schools, and they had an engineering school. So I said to him, “What possessed you to go to Oklahoma?” And he said, “It was the mechanical engineering school that was the furthest one, as far as I could get away from my mother and still be in the United States.” Which was understandable. He was an only child and my grandmother hadn’t remarried, so he must have gone, “Okay, let’s get out of here.” It was an adventure. He lived in a boarding house. One of his close friends was a Cherokee Indian and he was Jewish, so it’s kind of an amazing story … I’ve played Norman before and I’ve certainly been in Oklahoma City a number of times.
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OKG: Oklahoma has a good market for you, why do you think that is? Black: Any place is kind of a good market because of TV. Cable, Comedy Central, got me out there. Now people see me on a side, some of them, you know, because I’ll say something on Twitter or something like that and then they go, ‘Oh, boy. You were really funny until you got to be liberal.’ Oh, please. Literally, God knows how many years ago, I went onstage to talk about the fact that I was a socialist in front of the same people, so shut up. And I would say, ‘There are 10 of us, so what are you worried about? I’m tired of hearing this. That Obama’s a socialist. I said, ‘He’s never showed up at one of our softball games.’ So to me, it’s ludicrous. I didn’t really take sides and, in my stand-up, I certainly don’t take sides. I’ve never liked any president and I don’t really like talking about them. What I like talking about is the effect that these idiots in Washington have on you and not the shit that you make up about what they do. That’s got to stop.
“You seem to have forgotten how to be an audience. You’re not at a school board meeting. This is a theater. People have paid a lot of money. If you don’t like the joke, don’t laugh. ” -Lewis Black OKG: We’ve seen a lot of shifting as far as culture goes. Does that change how you approach jokes or punchlines? Black: No. It just exhausts me. The only time it affects me is after an interview or something and I would sit there and go, “Boy, did I say something that people will misconstrue?” I don’t
Lewis Black. Photo provided.
want to give them the opportunity to go off on some tangent that has nothing to do with what I talked about. That’s the real problem, is preventing them from doing their craziness on both ends of the spectrum. Give them a chance to go nuts and they enjoy nothing more. It’s like joy juice. OKG: Outrage has become kind of the new American recreational drug. Black: Yeah, it is. And it’s ludicrous because this is not the time. We don’t have time for it right now. I do, literally, I would say maybe three minutes about vaccinations, that I got vaccinated. And I talked about why I got vaccinated. It’s a stupid joke. Okay, here’s how stupid the joke is. I was in Florida and there’s a lot of people my age who didn’t get vaccinated. This same group of people lined up to take a jumbo hypodermic needle in their arms when they were kids so they didn’t get polio, but that scared them. And if those people didn’t get vaccinated against polio, the entire audience would have crawled there that night and we would start the show at 2:30 in the morning. I had anti-vaxxers walk out during that section.
OKG: Do you have many boos, hecklers, walk outs during your sets? Black: I start the show now with an explanation. You seem to have forgotten how to be an audience. You’re not at a school board meeting. This is a theater. People have paid a lot of money. If you don’t like the joke, don’t laugh. You don’t get to make a comment about the joke. You’ve got a lot of places to do that. You can go on Facebook and Twitter. And if you showed up and didn’t know what you were gonna see when you saw me, that’s on you. That’s not on me. I’m in a theater. I’m pretty well known. You paid a lot of money. One would think you would have wondered about your investment. Visit lewisblack.com
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CITIZEN SPOTLIGHT
Ryan Cristelli THE FOUNDER OF PROJECT WINTER WATCH, RYAN MAKES IT HIS MISSION TO MAKE SURE OUR MOST VULNERABLE CITIZENS STAY WARM. By Berlin Green
Some people pay it forward because they want to — Ryan Cristelli pays it forward because he needs to. He can’t leave people cold. The founder of Project Winter Watch, Ryan provides warmth to some of Oklahoma City’s most vulnerable people. When you visit the Project Winter Watch Facebook page, the incredible photography accompanied by powerful stories immediately grab your attention. The spontaneous sincerity of the work follows the vein of Humans of New York, a popular series of pics and anecdotes. “I think maybe, almost subconsciously, it kind of skewed that way,” Cristelli said. “I’ve been a creative director for quite some time. When I first started to get involved in creating this project and being more involved around the homeless, I knew that part of the process would be to humanize our neighbors, and to talk about them in very honest terms. Obviously, there’s an activating idea that goes with that, but it was mainly just the need to know who they are. At first, I, like many others, just thought well, everyone needs someone to wash dishes or something. But then I started understanding the folks, and that isn’t the case. I started to understand more about what addiction does to the mind, that betrayal and mental illness. Folks that are escaping physical and sexual abuse, mental abuse, and they’re out there. One thing that doesn’t care about how they got there is the cold, it just doesn’t care. So one of the bigger parts of this project is communicating with and about these people. It’s a weird balance and there are tweaks, there’s things I have to hold back because it’s just too much. But, yes, Humans of New York is definitely a big inspiration in terms of sharing their stories.” Project Winter Watch started as a calling after tragedy struck over a freezing Oklahoma City night. “Most of my ideas started out as pure ignorance,” he said, smiling. “My wife Aley started Pine Pantry, these freestanding food pantries around town. At the time I didn’t have a really good understanding of our homeless population and what got them there. I also didn’t understand, I thought maybe, for my own betterment perhaps, that they just don’t have a place to go. So when I was going and stocking a shelf at the pantry, or putting a coat of stain on it, I started talking to these people and getting a better understanding of who they are. Asking questions of who they are, where they’re from, and then eventually 16
of the ways they got to this point. This gave me a much better understanding of what’s going on and what their needs were. The real catalyst to the project came when my wife sent me an article about an abandoned house fire and four people that died in a single day off the highway near Remington Park. I just sat there with a couple bucks in my wallet and a tank of gas going, ‘This can’t be, this can’t be.’” Not knowing where to start, Ryan enlisted the power of his network who quickly jumped to help. “I texted a couple friends like, ‘Hey, I don’t know what I’m doing, but I’m going to Academy to buy some blankets or some sleeping bags. Would you guys be in for a couple bucks?’ Immediately here’s $10, $20, $50. So I went to the sale section in the back of the store and bought about $300 of sleeping bags. I bought the biggest ones I could get because the temperatures were going to be negative. I get all these sleeping bags, get out to the car and open the trunk and, I feel this overwhelming sense of accomplishment. And then pure dread. I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know where I’m going. Or what’s going to happen when I get there. I don’t know anything. Which is where a lot of folks find themselves — wanting to help but not knowing how to do it.”
“At the core of all of us, myself included, we want to feel appreciated, known and heard.” -Ryan Cristelli Ryan put it to Facebook and soon had friends and connections from as far back as elementary school donating money, sleeping bags and other warm items. It opened the gates to what would become Project Winter Watch. “That initial post raised a few bucks,” Cristelli said. “Then people that were involved in different community organizations invited me to see these encampments and what’s going on. That started the education about these people, our neighbors, what they face, why they’re out there, and as well as further education about products, what works and what doesn’t.” While the idea was great, he needed to figure out how to make it more sustainable.
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Ryan Cristelli. Photo: Berlin Green
It takes specific things to survive bitter cold temperatures with little to no shelter. “This has to go beyond a gesture. It has to have a meaningful, tangible impact on the days that take your toes, your fingers and often their lives,” Cristelli said. “It quickly became noticeable where changes needed to be made. You have to be cognizant of the idea that these folks can only carry so much, what they need in the moment. All these big bags, built for negative 30- degree weather become wet bags of concrete. They don’t travel well. They need to be smaller, more compact, their outer layers need to be summer weather resistant. If not they’re rendered useless. The gloves have to be thick and thinsulate, the socks have to be wool, tarps, 18-hour hand warmers. That education came pretty quickly.” After hours of research and partnering with his friends at Native Summit Adventure Outfitters, he found the Coleman zero-degree mummy sleeping bag: lightweight, packable, durable and able to withstand harsh temperatures. Now in its fourth year, Project Winter Watch has provided thousands of sleeping bags, blankets and other warm winter items to homeless citizens. With the help of his wife and a few volunteers, Ryan begins raising donations in the fall and distributes the items through the cold winter months, networking with other community outreach organizations like Sandwiches With Love, Feed His Sheep and Second Chances Thrift to get the items to those who need them. But the project isn’t without it’s setbacks. Coleman recently discontinued the sleeping bag Ryan had selected and now he is searching for a new option. “I’ll take my career resources and figure out how to best utilize them where I can but there has to be a component that involves even further communicating what’s going on to make tangible changes to the way we fund our mental health resources,” Cristelli said. “On the way we put a pipeline to people that could provide for additional City Care units for tiny houses, for pro-
viding resources to the Homeless Alliance, for substance abuse, to the Mental Health Association. To work on getting a conversation to get them funded that way they should be. We have to figure out how we can communicate what these folks are dealing with. I’ve worked a long time to be able to communicate things and activate people to buy products, to go visit places, those kinds of things. I should hopefully be able to activate people to provide for our most vulnerable neighbors. If not we will lose some of them. And when I go to the feed on Sundays and don’t see some faith in their faces, I get really upset and worried. My reality is in this project, I’m no longer fueled by joy, its fear. Fearful all the time, I will have a day where I find the darkest, weirdest, soloist location out there, give out 30 sleeping bags in the most horrible, hard parts in our city. It’s the 31st person that I missed. It’s always on the way back and I see them going under an overpass. See them going down into some tall brush. That’s what I think about. So fear is what activates me.” Fear may activate him, but it’s warmth and kindness that radiate from him. His raw honesty and genuine drive to create change for our neighbors is inspiring. “At the core of all of us, myself included, we want to feel appreciated, known and heard,” Ryan said “It’s a base of all of us. So some of this project is for me to be able to also take that back and talk about it. It’s a bit of my therapy, too. Because I don’t understand. I still struggle with the idea of why this is. There’s core roots and science behind it, but anyone may be a bad decision away. Could be incarceration issues, could be drug addiction, alcoholism, could be anything. The cold doesn’t care. But I do.” To learn more about Project Winter Watch or to help, visit www.facebook.com/ projectwinterwatch.
Controlled Crash RYAN CRISTELLI SHARES THE STORY OF JOHN, ONE OF OUR OKLAHOMA CITY NEIGHBORS. By Ryan Cristelli of Project Winter Watch
This is John (pictured earlier this winter), and he’d spend last Saturday night in the hospital. John exists on the south side of an abandoned Midtown church. His presence is symmetrical. He sits immobile and centered on a paved walkway that runs due north into a chain link fence. A smattering of blankets surrounds his lower body almost like a twisty cone melting into a puddle. I’ve checked on John four times in the past months. I’ve given him everything the project has to offer. His sleeping bags have been stolen. I change his socks when he lets me. John’s right foot is partially amputated, severed at the midway point creating a club-like nub. Last February’s cold took his toes and much of the feeling in both hands. From the trash that surrounds him, you recognize that the neighborhood provides in some fashion. Empty bottles of water and cheap whiskey, plastic cigar filters, paper bags of cold french fries and half-eaten muffins pepper the surrounding concrete. His wheelchair rarely upright. When I ask about his life, he tells me about a failed marriage and being misunderstood. “Ryan, whether it’s my life or in the damn wheelchair, I’m just trying to land as softly as possible. You know … A controlled crash.” Early Saturday morning, I’d check on him again. I didn’t want him to be here. He was. He was sitting in his spot, shivering under saturated blankets. Snot and rainwater were frozen to his beard. There was a fruity fermentation on his breath. He’d sat in that rain and sleet and cold. He is a human being, and he is dying in real time. In plain sight. Behind John was a used, boxed tent.
John’s battered tent. Photo: Ryan Cristelli
Kenny and I would unzip the box and do our best to shove the poles into the wetbut-quickly-freezing ground. The stakes did not make the journey to John’s slab of earth. He would tell us about his fear of being blown away, and I’d do little to help his anxieties. “John, your tent’s being put up by two avid INdoorsmen. I’m worried about that too.” Eventually, the tent would stand servicably, and I’d fill the rascal with 8 pairs of wool socks, hand warmers and a new (and dry) zero-degree sleeping bag. “John, I need to put you in this tent. I’m going to lift you like a forklift.” He’d grumble and eventually agree. Kenny and I would remove the layers of damp blankets to reveal two, twig-like legs in wet blue jeans. I’d lift him, and the smell and sight of urine and feces was immediate. In two bursts, I would drag him into the tent, parallel to his new sleeping bag. “John, I’m going to need to change your socks.” I could see that the damp, half-frozen socks were the very pair I’d changed a month earlier. And I knew this would be bad. I’d lift his left leg and peel back the top sock. Milky-white layers of his ankle skin would follow the sock, peeling-and-rolling into balls, falling into my hands and onto the tent’s floor. The smell of infection was immediate and piercing. Removing the layered sock beneath took with it jelly-like portions of his remaining toes and patches of his foot’s padding. “Oh John…” I’d pause, and he’d look me in the eye. “I don’t care if I die. I want to die. I want a smoke, and I want to die.” “Well, I do care, John. And I’m getting dry socks on your damn feet.”
John. Photo: Ryan Cristelli
I would and do the same for his partially-amputated foot. I’d pass his new bag through to the tent’s opening. Kenny would shake the skin from the down layers and use a dry towel to wipe up the urine. John would ask if I could help him light a cigar. I would. “If I light this cigar, you stay in this sleeping bag. My wife’s going to be furious that I lit your stogie…but that’s a fair trade.” “That’s fair enough.” We’d performed triage, and I’ve never felt more useless. I’d later wash his skin from my hands in a gas station restroom and call 911. Project Winter Watch has given out approximately 2,400 zerodegree rated sleeping bags and countless thousands of wool socks, Thinsulate gloves and hand warmers. It’s been four years, and this was the first time I’ve called for emergency services. I was certain that John would die that night. He’d be found lifeless on the pavement that next morning. And that wouldn’t work. After Sunday’s give at Feed His Sheep, I headed back to John’s slab. The tent was partially collapsed, and his sleeping bag was exposed and covered in snow. I kneeled next to the mess and peeled back the bag’s flap. He was not there. His wheelchair was gone, and I knew he’d been admitted. I felt better but not good. I don’t know if this registers as a win, but I know this: Project Winter Watch showed up. We
were there, and in these moments, this is exactly why we exist. We see them. We make the stop. As punishing as it may be, our collective must try to imagine what it’s like to be in the skin of our unhoused neighbors and we must act. What are the forms of love that best constitute our humanity? I’d suggest acts of selfless love and sacrifice. So, we’ll keep on along with the many others working in the service of our neighbors. We’ll provide for them, as well. It is the givers to Project Winter Watch that power our mission. It is you that makes this work. It is all of us that reject the notion that some are not worthy of our love, attention and tangible care. As we work towards changes and more permanent solutions, it is our collective non-negotiables that save lives. Thank you all. “Kenny, I’m sorry you had to see that.” “Ryan, I’m so sorry for all of us.” P.S. A young woman stopped by during the fray and provided John a new jacket, sweatpants and a cup of coffee. I’m certain this wasn’t an isolated circumstance for her. She was wonderful. Her name escapes me. If this was you, please respond or write. You were amazing. To donate to Project Winter Watch, Venmo @ rynosu or PayPal ryancristelli20@yahoo.com.
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ASTRONOMY
Black Sky Affair AS WE PONDER THE UPCOMING YEAR, IT’S A GOOD TIME TO STOP AND REFLECT UPON OUR PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE. By Ryan Spencer Planets appear in this rendering of outerspace. Photo: Adobe Stock
How far away is the farthest planet known? How close is the closest? Are they like ours? Simple questions with often complex answers. The questions excite a child’s wonder in us, and the answers, based on three decades of unprecedented exoplanet detection, gratify; the most satisfying fact is there will always be more to learn, enough to fuel our curiosity likely forever. Any planet detected beyond the confines of our solar system qualifies as an exoplanet. The detection process is hardly straightforward and many unconfirmed exoplanet candidates exist, though a whopping 4,878 have been positively cataloged to date, all since the early nineties with steam gathering exponentially through dedicated work with a wide array of instruments such as the Kepler space telescope and Gaia
astrometric observatory. Planets are dim objects — reflecting light as opposed to producing it — and are therefore mostly detected by several indirect means. Transit method involves photometry of the regular dimming of a parent star’s light as an exoplanet crosses its face from our earthly perspective. Doppler spectroscopy yields data regarding a host star’s wobbling due to gravitational influence from orbiting exoplanets, while astrometry measures the same by comparing a star’s movements in relation to other stars. Various other indirect methods of discovery are currently in play. A handful of exoplanets have been found using direct visible light imaging, though these are relatively few due not only to their intrinsic dimness but also the blinding glare created by their parent stars.
The discoveries warp the mind. SWEEPS-11 is an enormous gas giant nearly ten times the mass of Jupiter orbiting a star over 27,000 lightyears away, roughly one quarter the width of our galactic disc. By contrast, our nearest stellar neighbor, the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, hosts exoplanet Proxima Centauri b and is a mere 4.25 lightyears distant. This rocky planet appears to orbit its parent star in the Goldilocks zone (at a range not too far and cold, not too close and hot, but just right for the existence of liquid water, considered a requirement for life as we know it) and therefore has potential for life, though existence of an atmosphere has yet to be confirmed. Though its star is less powerful than our sun, its orbit is much closer to it, splitting the difference in radiant energy conferred
to the planet’s surface. We could discover living organisms there in our not-tooterribly far-off future. Current estimates indicate between 40 and 80 billion stars like our sun inhabit our Milky Way galaxy, and astronomers have so far found virtually all stars host companion planets as a byproduct of star formation. That billions of worlds similar to ours exist within our galaxy alone seems to be a statistical lock. Whether those planets bear the mark of true habitability, or perhaps even technological signatures of intelligent life such as carbon or radio emissions, time will tell, provided we take care of our own home and each other. Here’s to new worlds, and the search.
SATURDAY, JAN 22
WADE BOWEN with TRAVIS KIDD
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TUESDAY, FEB 15
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with CHRISTINA HOLMES, GRADY SPENCER
THURSDAY, FEB 17
RANDY HOUSER with ELLA LANGLEY
FRIDAY, FEB 18
CAAMP
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YUNGBLUD
with PALAYE ROYALE, POUTYFACE
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BOB THE DRAG QUEEN SATURDAY, MAR 12
FLOGGING MOLLY
with RUSSKAJA, VANDOLIERS
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JON LOVITZ
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LAUREN ALAINA
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JA N UA R Y 1 2 , 2 0 2 2 | O KGA Z E T TE .CO M A S TRONOM Y
OKG PICKS are events recommended by Oklahoma Gazette editorial staff members For full calendar listings, go to okgazette.com.
HAPPENINGS Devon Ice Rink The Devon Ice Rink returns for its 10th season in the Myriad Botanical Gardens in 2021! Get ready for another great winter of outdoor ice skating at Downtown in December’s premier attraction. Skate across 5,500 square feet of real ice and indulge in seasonal food and beverage offerings. Experience the magical, park-like atmosphere surrounded by the glittering lights of the Devon Ice Rink., Through Jan. 30. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 405-445-7080, downtownindecember.com/devonice-rink/?mc_cid=b8841159f5&mc_eid=a34bef7305. THROUGH JANUARY 30
EYEwitness Tours Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum Experience the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum through stories from those most impacted by the April 19, 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City. Hear personal accounts from Dennis Purifoy, a survivor who worked in the Social Security Administration on the first floor of the Federal Building. Dennis sustained lacerations but was not seriously injured. After the bombing, he was involved with the planning for the Memorial and Museum. Get a private tour of the Museum and behind-the-scenes look at the Museum Archives. Free parking in the Memorial Parking Garage with admission., Fri., Jan. 14, 8-9:30 a.m. Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum, 620 N. Harvey Ave., 405-235-3313, oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org. FRI, JAN 14 LIVE! on the Plaza Join the Plaza District every second Friday for an art walk featuring artists, live music, shopping and more, 6-10 p.m. second Friday of every month. Plaza District, 1618 N. Gatewood Ave., 405-426-7812, plazadistrict.org. FRI, JAN 14 MLK Jr. Holiday Parade An inclusive event for all races, creeds and religions., Mon., Jan. 17. Downtown
OKC, 211 N. Robinson Ave., 405-235-3500, okcmlkcoalition.org. MON, JAN 17 OKC Home + Garden Show The Oklahoma City Home + Garden Show will return January 21-23, 2022, at the Oklahoma State Fair Park. Oklahoma City’s largest home and garden show will feature more than 250 exhibitors and experts offering new inspiration, horticulture expertise and remodeling ideas that takes spring design and landscaping to the next level., Join Darren Keefe from HGTV’s Extreme Makeover as he demonstrates how to make a raised garden bed and other items. Attendees will also enjoy presentations by local home and garden professionals and small business owners., Admission for adults is $12 at the box office or $10 when purchased online $10-$12, Fri., Jan. 21, 12-8 p.m., Sat., Jan. 22, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. and Sun., Jan. 23, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. OKC Fair Grounds, 3001 General Pershing Blvd, 19196740409, oklahomacityhomeshow. com. FRI-SUN, JAN 21-23
FOOD Picasso January Veggie Dinner Join Picasso Cafe on the third Tuesday of each month for a four to fivecourse menu; featuring a fresh and creative take on vegetarian-inspired fare. Enjoy with or without wine pairings. Dinner begins at 6:30. Jan. 18, Tuesday. Seating is limited. Reservations 405.602.2002 or www. exploretock.com/picassocafe, Tue., Jan. 18. Picasso Cafe, 3009 Paseo St., 405-602-2002, picassosonpaseo.com. TUE, JAN 18
PERFORMING ARTS Roughtail Comedy Night We are bringing you a great home grown comedy show alongside some great homegrown brews!! Please Come join us for a laugh and a drink!! =) 15, third Saturday of every month, 8-10 p.m. Roughtail Brewing Company, 320 W Memorial Rd, 914-432-2662, linktree. com/1andrewrose. SAT, JAN 22
ACTIVE Yoga Tuesdays an all-levels class; bring your own water and yoga mat, 5:45 p.m.-7 p.m. Tuesdays.
An Evening with an Immigrant Littered with poems, stories, and anecdotes, Inua Ellams tells his ridiculous, fantastic, poignant immigrant story of escaping fundamentalist Islam, experiencing prejudice and friendship in Dublin, performing solo at the National Theatre, and drinking wine with the Queen of England, all the while without a country to belong to or place to call home. This presentation is part of a new initiative with The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival called Under the Radar: On the Road. $30-$40, limited $15 student tickets., Sat., Jan. 22 and Sun., Jan. 23. Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, 11 NW 11th St., 405-951-0000, oklahomacontemporary.org. SAT & SUN, JANUARY 22 & 23 Photo provided/Oliver Holms Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 405-4457080, myriadgardens.com. TUESDAYS
VISUAL ARTS Abstract Remix Oklahoma Contemporary is bringing murals indoors with Abstract Remix, an exhibition of the work of homegrown Abstract Expressionists who use the large-scale format of muralism as a medium for their giant concepts., Mondays, WednesdaysSundays. through Jan. 24. Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, 11 NW 11th St., 405-951-0000, oklahomacontemporary.org. THROUGH JANUARY 24 Art Moves Art Moves is an Arts Council OKC initiative that provides free arts events each workday from Noon-1:00. Art Moves artists perform and demonstrate their artistry daily from popular downtown locations or live streaming from their studio or homes! Help us support our local artist by joining us weekdays at Arts Council Oklahoma City’s facebook page for livestreaming performances and check out the weekly line up below., Art Moves is an Arts Council OKC initiative that provides free arts events each workday from Noon-1:00. Events took place in various downtown locations and may include artist demonstrations or musical performances. The daily line-up features a wide range of artistic mediums including musical and theater performances, live art demonstrations, short film selections, and more, Mondays-Fridays, noon. artscouncilokc.com/art-moves. WEEKDAYS Chakaia Booker: Shaved Portions Commissioned specifically for Campbell Art Park, Shaved Portions is among the most recent additions to Booker’s body of work marked by her distinct ability to radically transform her signature material — salvaged rubber tires — into an incredible array of biomorphic sculptures. Free, Through Aug. 31. Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, 11 NW 11th St., 405-951-0000, oklahomacontemporary.org/exhibitions/upcoming/chakaia-bookershaved-portions. THROUGH AUGUST 31
Dear Evan Hansen A letter that was never meant to be seen, a lie that was never
meant to be told, a life he never dreamed he could have. Evan Hansen is about to get the one thing he’s always wanted: a chance to finally fit in. DEAR EVAN HANSEN is the deeply personal and profoundly contemporary musical about life and the way we live it. TuesdaySunday, Jan 11 - 16. Civic Center Music Hall, 201 N. Walker Ave., okcbroadway.com TUESSUN, JANUARY 11 - 16 Photo provided/ Matthew Murphy
EVoLViNG, a collaborative exhibition by Elizabeth Brown and Gayle Singer Join us on Friday 14th, 2022, for the opening reception of EVoLViNG, a collaborative exhibition by Elizabeth Brown and Gayle Singer. We will be displaying ceramic pieces and three-dimensional works of art inspired by biological abstraction and nature. free, Fri., Jan. 14, 5-8 p.m. Artspace at Untitled, 1 NE Third St., 4058159995, 1ne3. org/calendar/2022/1/14/evolving-exhibition-by-elizabeth-brown-and-gayle-singer. FRI, JAN 14 Maren Hassinger: Nature, Sweet Nature Traveling from Aspen Art Museum, the exhibition Nature, Sweet Nature, by renowned artist Maren Hassinger, has been reconfigured to respond to the grounds of
Oklahoma Contemporary., Nature, Sweet Nature is comprised of two installations constructed with galvanized wire rope. Garden and Paradise Regained will each stand in rows at relative human scale; one near the entrance to the art center and the other within the Sculpture Garden. Free, Through Aug. 31. Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, 11 NW 11th St., 405-9510000, oklahomacontemporary.org/exhibitions/ upcoming/maren-hassinger-nature-sweet-nature. THROUGH AUGUST 31
PACC’s January Exhibitions During the month of January, the Paseo Arts and Creativity Center (PACC) is pleased to feature two exhibitions. Gallery I showcases Paseo Arts Association and Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition member Ame Hernandez. Her exhibit, Textile Reverie, is a walk-through experience where textiles and design come to life through the medium of paint. Gallery II displays Girl Talk by the ever-popular Oklahoma City fiber artist Kendall Ross. Combining traditional feminine crafts, women’s history and her personal experience as a young woman inspires her work that is unapologetically feminine., Mondays-Saturdays. through Jan. 31. Paseo Arts and Creativity Center, 3024 Paseo St., 405-525-2688, thepaseo.org. THROUGH JANUARY 31 Second Friday Art Walk 2nd Friday Norman Art Walk is a free celebration of arts & creativity held monthly starting at 6 p.m. in the Walker Arts District of Downtown Norman. Downtown Norman, 122 E. Main St., 405-637-6225, downtownnorman.com. FRI, JAN 14 Women of the Banjo A special exhibit at the American Banjo Museum Women of the Banjo chronicles the contributions of women to the colorful past, vibrant present, and unlimited future of the banjo. From prominent contemporary performers such as Alison Brown and Rhiannon Giddens to pop icons Taylor Swift, Dolly Parton and many others, historic insights, instruments, stage attire, and a glimpse of ever-changing fashion trends all help in the telling of this important aspect of banjo history., Through May 31. American Banjo Museum, 9 E. Sheridan Ave., 405-604-2793, americanbanjomuseum.com/currentexhibits/special-exhibits. THROUGH MAY 31 Visit okgazette.com/Events/AddEvent to submit your event. Submissions must be received by Oklahoma Gazette no later than noon on Wednesday seven days before the desired publication date. Submissions run as space allows, although we strive to make the listings as inclusive as possible.
For OKG
live music
see page 21
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MUSIC
The shape of OKC music to come WITH A LITTLE LUCK, OKLAHOMA CITY’S MUSIC SCENE IS POISED TO EXPLODE IN 2022 THE WAY IT WAS ON TRACK TO DO BEFORE COVID-19 ARRIVED. By Chad Whitehead
Looking ahead is terrible business these days. Pretending to know what’s coming in 2022 for the music world after the last 18 months is generally hilarious. As we head into another year marred by you-know-what hanging in the literal air, there’s a lot to be excited about in the OKC music scene. Bear in mind, I’m totally biased as a promoter for Patchwork Presents and part-owner of Ponyboy, Beer City Music Hall and Tower Theatre. If you can get past that though, here’s what I’m looking forward to:
New music The OKC scene is loaded with talent and the larger music industry has taken notice. Agents are sniffing around town, looking for artists and asking questions that they weren’t two or three years ago. That timing is great as many artists are ready with new music and itching to play live shows, hopefully without the caveats of the last two years. I won’t be surprised to see several artists from OKC pop on the national scene. Lo-fi power-pop duo Husbands sit in the pole position. Their new album, Full-On Monet, releases Jan. 18 and then they’re off to tour through Texas, the upper Midwest and some very serious East Coast dates (in rooms you’ve actually heard of ). They ’ve already been added to Treefort Music Fest in Boise again for 2022 and more festival invites seem likely based on their Spotify successes of the last two years. In February, civil rights activist, community leader and the people’s mayor, Jabee, releases the first of four EPs, which bundled together are called Am I Good Enough? Each EP will be produced by a different producer and the list is serious: Derek Minor, Blu, Conductor Williams, Havoc (Mobb Deep). Jason Scott & the High Heat release their debut album, Castle Rock, on Feb. 11. Jason has focused his music around his band, The High Heat, and 20
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the result is a one plus one equals three. If we’re lucky, OKC will get a hometown show in 2022, but I suspect Jason Scott & the High Heat will be on the road a lot if possible. Later on in the year, watch for new albums from Twiggs and Swim Fan as well as new singles from Chloe-Beth, Stepmom, Mik a h Young , The Flycatchers and Ken Pomeroy.
New shows Usually a concert season loaded with BROCKHAMPTON, Elton John, Lucy Dacus, Waxahatchee, Gary Clark Jr. and Omar Apollo on the early calendar would make any capital city proud. Sadly, the overwhelming story of live music will continue to be the limitations to gathering in large, indoor groups. While we’re all tired of playing will they/won’t they with ticketed events, that seems likely to continue. Just between the first draft of this article and the finished version, I’ve had to cancel two shows and reschedule several more. It’s brutal for the fan, the artist and the venue and no one’s happy about it. As for vaccines? Tours as far out as King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard on Halloween night are requiring proof of vaccine or a negative test within 72 hours. Go ahead and buy that pleather vaccine card holder, many tours will continue to require proof of vaccine this year. To zoom out though, the depth and range of live music in OKC has grown so much in the last decade. Whenever all the dates can play off, the city’s concert calendar is loaded. Every room in this city has incredible live music coming to town and the city wins when that happens. Notable shows coming to OKC include: Camila, Yola, Punch Brothers, Sierra Farrell, José González, Manchester Orchestra, Hovvdy and Joshua Ray Walker.
New rooms The new ownership of The Blue Note Lounge in Uptown is putting a
These are events recommended by Oklahoma Gazette editorial staff members. For full calendar listings, go to okgazette.com.
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 12 Buckcherry, Diamond Ballroom. ROCK
FRIDAY, JAN. 14 Heartspace w/ Day Tvvo, Ponyboy.
SATURDAY, JAN. 15 Keathley w/ Ramsey Thornton, Ponyboy. The Odyssey, 51st Speakeasy.
SUNDAY, JAN. 16 CAMILA, The Criterion. Hosty, The Deli. ELECTRIC Riverfield Rocks, Cain’s Ballroom. Trampled By Turtles, Tower Theatre.
Chad Whitehead. Photo: Chelsea Banks
lot of work into the old space and it’s slated to re-open in March. A fuller live music and entertainment calendar is what I’m hearing and I’m excited for it. With three live music venues on the same stretch: Blue Note, Ponyboy and Tower Theatre, Uptown has quietly become the entertainment district of Oklahoma City. Just up the road from Uptown, the Blue Door continues to remain closed. A recent Go Fund Me was announced with a goal of raising $25,000 for repairs and upgrades with the hope of a “grand re-opening” in 2022. Once reopened, it will be the Blue Door’s 29th year in operation. Obviously, I’m excited to tell you about Beer City Music Hall. Beer City is a 500-capacity venue located just at NW 5th St. and Klein Avenue, just west of Classen Boulevard and downtown. It will be neighbors with FairWeather Friend brewery (already open) and the Flycatcher Club (opening in later 2022). Staffing and leadership at Beer City will be sourced from within our team at Ponyboy and Tower Theatre. My business partner Stephen Tyler and I have been working to bring Beer City to market since 2018 and we are ready to go for 2022, as we can be in this current season. Artists like Destroyer, The Antlers and Knocked Loose are already on sale with more shows announcing soon.
TUESDAY, JAN. 18 A 500-capacity room has been missing in OKC since the Wormy Dog Saloon closed down in 2017 and is a crucial size in helping OKC develop as a market for live music. Beer City will be a lily pad between small stages like Ponyboy, The Speakeasy and Blue Note and midsize rooms like Tower Theatre and Jones Assembly. Bands need smaller rooms to tour through so that when they’re rolling in on a tour bus, their fan base is already established and waiting for them. Beer City will feature an extensive craft beer menu, a strong whiskey program and will operate five to seven nights a week with anything from indie to hip hop, EDM, Red Dirt, rock and more. Simply put, Beer City is going to break a lot of artists and I hope you’ll check out some bands before they hit the arenas. Keep watching this space in 2022; I’m excited to share more artists and concerts with you. Let’s hope bumping into each other at a concert in 2022 is more carefree than it was in 2021 and 2020. In the meantime, find me on Twitter and Instagram at @405chad.
PB & Jazz, Ponyboy.
THURSDAY, JAN. 20 White Rose Karaoke Club, Ponyboy.
FRIDAY, JAN. 21 Midas 13, Friends of Friends. COVER Ruthless Tour, First Council Casino.
SATURDAY, JAN. 22 The Blues Brothers OKC w/ F5 Band, 40 West Bar & Grill. Gary Allan w/ Wade Hayes, Firelake Arena. Midas 13, Thunderbird Casino. COVER Wade Bowen w/ Travis Kidd, Cain’s Ballroom. COUNTRY
SUNDAY, JAN. 23 Hosty, The Deli. ELECTRIC Punch Brothers, Tower Theatre.
MONDAY, JAN. 24 Dillon Francis X Yung Gravy, The Criterion.
TUESDAY, JAN. 25 Robert Francis and the End Times, Ponyboy.
Lucinda Williams KOSU, Woody Guthrie Center, and The Jones Assembly welcome Lucinda Williams at the historic Auditorium at The Douglass! The Auditorium at The Douglass, 600 N High, 405-212-2378, thejonesassembly.com. SAT, JAN. 22 Photo Provided / Danny Clinch Live music submissions must be received by Oklahoma Gazette no later than noon on Wednesday seven days before the desired publication date. Late submissions will not be included in the listings. Submissions run as space allows, although we strive to make the listings as inclusive as possible. Visit okgazette.com to submit your lisitngs or email listings@okgazette.com. Sorry, but phone submissions cannot be accepted.
GO TO OKGAZETTE.COM FOR FULL LISTINGS! MUSIC O KGA Z E T TE .CO M | JA N UA R Y 1 2 , 2 0 2 2
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THE HIGH CULTURE STRAIN REVIEWS
Strain name: White Truffle Grown by: Zenoa Cannabis Acquired from: Electraleaf Date acquired: Dec.17 Physical traits: light green and deep purple frosted white Bouquet: gassy and earthy
traleaf has long been a favorite, but let’s be honest — driving to that Bricktown shoebox was a chore. With the new spot next to GoGo Sushi along NW 10th St., it’ll be a lot easier to grab something good and be gone. But back to that White Truffle, be careful. It comes on strong and can take you for a bit of a ride if you’re not ready for it.
Review: “Zenoa” had hit my ears more than a few times over the past couple of months and the soft opening of Electraleaf’s new location in midtown provided. Incidentally, it turns out that the affinity between ALTVM and Zenoa runs deep, with the pair reportedly working together back in the day. Checks out, as the quality from their flower is on par with ALTVM (the leader grower behind Electraleaf and the Oklahoma engine for Cookies genetics in the state). The White Truffle is the one focused on here but the four strains (Cream & Sugar, Sundae Streusel, Arrosé #18) are all excellent strains. Elec-
Strain name: Project 4516 Grown by: 5th Leaf Acquired from: Gaia’s Favor Date acquired: Jan. 3 Physical traits: purple and light green Bouquet: floral and sweet Review: Hard to believe it, but we’re well into the third year of a legal cannabis market in Oklahoma. Sometimes, the best places to be are back where you started. I talked to Shawn Carson over at Gaia’s Favor before flower hit shelves, a few months later and then about a year after that, but once the pandemic hit, I hadn’t made it back around. Some things are the same: a streamlined storefront, some very straightforward opinions and a heavily curated flower selection. For his very top shelf, Carson has lined it completely with 5th Leaf, who expends a considerable amount of effort sourcing genetics, with cuts from
Compound, Clearwater, Tiki Madman and Cannarado. But it’s the cut of Grandiflora’s Project 4516 that he was heavily showcasing that captured my nose. We agree that the line between good cannabis and very good cannabis is certainly a thin one, and we both agree that this is about the most pleasant sensation you can get by smoking flower. It’s hard to put into words, but sometimes you just know when something’s better than good.
FIND MORE STRAIN REVIEWS AT OKGAZETTE.COM/THEHIGHCULTURE
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY The coming months will be an excellent time for you to explore the art of Soulful Bragging. Do you deserve any of the titles below? If so, feel free to use them liberally throughout 2022. 1. Practical Idealist with Flexible Strategies. 2. Genius of Interesting Intimacy. 3. Jaunty Healer with Boisterous Knowledge of the Soul’s Ways. 4. Free-Wheeling Joker Who Makes People Laugh for Righteous and Healing Reasons. 5. Skillful Struggler. 6. Empathy Master with a Specialty in Creative Compassion. 7. Playful Reservoir of Smart Eros. 8. Purveyor of Feisty Wisdom and Cute Boldness. 9. Crafty Joy-Summoner.
CANCER (June 21-July 22) Philosopher Emil Cioran said he despised wise philosophers. Why? Because they practice prudent equanimity, which he regarded as empty and sterile. In Cioran’s view, these deep thinkers avoid strong feelings so they can live in cool safety, free from life’s nervewracking paradoxes. I agree with him that such a state is undesirable. However, Cioran contrasted it with the lives of the normal people he admired, who are “full of irreconcilable contradictions” and who “suffer from limitless anxiety.” My question for Cioran: Are there no other options between those two extremes? And my answer: Of course there are! And you can be proof of that in 2022, Cancerian. I expect you’ll be full of deep feelings, eager for new experiences, and infused with a lust for life—with less anxiety and fewer irreconcilable contradictions than ever before.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20)
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)
WEEK OF JANUARY 13
Homework: What’s the most important thing for you to get rid of in 2022? Newsletter. FreeWillAstrology.com ARIES (March 21-April 19)
Most people who use tobacco products are at risk of having shorter life spans than they might have otherwise had. Smoking is detrimental to health. Those who smoke in their twenties and thirties may cut ten years off their longevity. But here’s some good news: If you kick your tobacco habit before age 40, you will regain most of those ten years. I bring this to your attention because I’d like it to serve as a motivational tale for you in 2022. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, you will have more power than ever before to escape any harmful addictions and compulsions you have—and begin reclaiming your full vitality.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20)
In May 1974, the Grateful Dead introduced a new wrinkle to their live musical performances. Playing at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, they amplified their music through a “Wall of Sound”: 604 speakers piled high, together channeling 26,000 watts of energy. Had any band ever treated their fans to a louder volume and crisper tones? I’d like to make this breakthrough event one of your top metaphors for 2022. According to my analysis, it will be a great year for you to boost your signal. I invite you to distribute your message with maximum confidence and clarity. Show the world who you are with all the buoyant flair you can rouse. 22
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In 1838, 29-year-old naturalist Charles Darwin was early in his career. He had not developed his theory of evolution, and was not yet a superstar of science. He began ruminating about the possibility of proposing marriage to his cousin Emma Wedgwood. If married, he wrote: “constant companion and a friend in old age; the charms of music and female chit-chat—good things for one’s health.” If not married: “no children; no one to care for one in old age; less money for books, loss of time, and a duty to work for money.” I bring this to your attention, Leo, because I suspect that in 2022, you may be tempted and inspired to deeply interweave your fate with the fates of interesting characters. A spouse or partner or collaborator? Could be. Maybe a beloved animal or spirit guide? Have fun making your list of pros and cons!
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)
What were your favorite toys when you were a child? Now would be a good time to retrieve fond memories of them, and even acquire modern versions so you can revive the joy they gave you. In my astrological analysis, you’ll be wise to invite your inner child to play a bigger role in your life as you engage in a wide range of playtime activities. So yes, consider the possibility of buying yourself crayons, Legos, dolls and puppets, video games,
squirt guns, roller skates, yo-yos, jump ropes, and board games. And don’t neglect the pleasures of blanket forts, cardboard boxes, mud pies, and plain old sticks.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)
In his novel *The Story of a Marriage*, Andrew Sean Greer asks, “Does love always form, like a pearl, around the hardened bits of life?” My answer would be, “No, not always, but when it does, it’s often extra sweet and enduring.” One of my wishes and predictions for you in 2022, Libra, is that love will form around your hardened bits. For best results, be open to the possibility that difficulty can blossom into grace. Look for opportunities that are seeded by strenuous work.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)
“It is worth living long enough to outlast whatever sense of grievance you may acquire.” Author Marilynne Robinson wrote that, and I recommend her thought as one of your uplifting meditations in 2022. According to my reading of the astrological omens, the coming months will be a favorable time to dismantle and dissolve as many old grievances as you can. This could and should be the year you liberate yourself from psychic grunge— for the sake of your own mental, physical, and spiritual health as much as for the sake of others’.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)
Some critics view author Diana Wynne Jones as a genius in her chosen field: fantasy novels for children and young adults. She had a generous spirit, asserting, “I have this very strong feeling that everybody is probably a genius at something; it’s just a question of finding this.” If you are still unsure what your unique genius consists of, Sagittarius, I believe 2022 will show you in detailed glory. And if you do already know, the coming months will be a time when you dramatically deepen your ability to access and express your genius.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)
Capricorn biologist Robin Wall Kimmerer wrote a meditative book about moss. It was her response to questions she had been wondering about: Why has this inconspicuous plant persevered for 350 million years?
While so many other species have gone extinct, why has moss had staying power through all the Earth’s climate changes and upheavals? And what lessons does its success have for us? Here are Kimmerer’s conclusions: Moss teaches us the value “of being small, of giving more than you take, of working with natural law, sticking together.” In accordance with astrological omens in 2022, Capricorn, I believe moss should be your role model. (Kimmerer’s book is *Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses*.)
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)
Author Joyce Carol Oates has been very successful and has won several major awards. But she describes her job as arduous and time-consuming. “I work very slowly,” she testifies. “It’s like building a ladder, where you’re building your own ladder rung by rung, and you’re climbing the ladder. It’s not the best way to build a ladder, but I don’t know any other way.” I wouldn’t always recommend her approach for you, Aquarius, but I will in 2022. As long as you’re willing to accept gradual, incremental progress, you’ll get a lot of fine work done.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20)
I’ve selected a quote for you to use as one of your guiding principles in 2022. I urge you to undertake a specific action in the next 24 hours that will prove you mean to take it seriously. Here’s the wisdom articulated by Piscean rabbi and philosopher Marc-Alain Ouaknin: “People must break with the illusion that their lives have already been written and their paths already determined.” It’s reinvention time, dear Pisces.
Go to RealAstrology.com to check out Rob Brezsny’s expanded weekly audio horoscopes /daily text message horoscopes. The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at 1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700.
PUZZLES
NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE | PEST CONTROL
By Christina Iverson | Puzzles Edited by Will Shortz | 0109
author, 1943 18 Pecan or peach 20 Sch. where a live bear 19 20 21 used to take the field during football games 22 23 24 23 Echo, perhaps 28 Pimple look-alikes 25 26 27 28 29 31 It usually works in corners 33 ‘‘Catch!’’ 30 31 32 33 34 34 Baker’s Joy alternative 35 Record speeds, for short 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 36 Adams of New York City 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 politics 37 Antelope, say 50 51 52 53 54 38 Parable or allegory 39 Devices with Nunchuks 55 56 57 58 40 Business newsmagazine 44 ‘‘For shame!’’ 59 60 61 62 45 Slugging stat 46 Member of the inn crowd? 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 47 Approach for directions 48 Onetime collaborator with 71 72 73 74 75 Ice Cube and Dr. Dre 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 49 Some sports tournaments 52 Big name in women’s 83 84 85 86 87 hair and skin care 53 Boo-boo 88 89 90 91 54 Word with story or sister 56 Economist/author Emily 92 93 94 95 58 Screw up 60 Relative of a club, for 96 97 98 99 100 101 short 61 Place for boarding 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 63 You can count on them 110 111 112 113 114 115 64 Member of the modern DOWN work force 116 117 118 1 Number of sides on a 66 Great Lakes natives sign reading ‘‘ALTO’’ 67 Kind of bean 119 120 121 2 Space 68 Taiwanese electronics 3 ____ mater (brain giant cover) 69 ‘‘I’m about to tell you ACROSS 32 Antarctic coordinate 57 Herd member 4 Politico-turned-TV-host something shocking’’ 35 ‘‘A man has cause for 58 Sauce 1 Appoint 5 Form thoughts 72 Haddock relative ____ only when he sows 59 Place, as ceramic tiles 7 People of the Southwest 6 Catch 75 Doesn’t put it all on one and no one reaps’’: 60 Like autumn air 13 Wishy-washy response 7 Seeks a favor, say pony Charles Goodyear 62 Person helping with a 19 Had the opportunity to, 8 ____ favor 78 Suvari of ‘‘American 38 Bit of tinder delivery casually 9 Working hard Beauty’’ 41 First side to vote 63 Word before film and 20 Entertainment with a 10 Java activity 79 Sounds heard in 42 ____ course after clip private audience? 11 Product from un ave 93-Across 43 New York City transport 65 It has many beet and 21 Malice, more formally 12 Boo-boo 80 Destructive 2021 stopping at Kennedy beef options 22 One wearing chap stick, 13 Texter’s qualifier hurricane Airport 70 ‘‘____ Trois Petits perhaps 14 One might be put 81 Nouveau-Mexique, e.g. 46 Beginning stage Cochons’’ (French fable) 24 Be up against through the wringer 82 Lip or cheek 47 Prefix with thermal 71 Sport at the Special 25 Poker variety similar to 15 Geek Squad members, e.g. 84 Put over the moon 50 There might be a catch Olympics Texas Hold ’em 16 ‘‘I can thrill you more 85 One hanging around with this 73 G.I. ____ 26 Counterpart of ‘‘Thx’’ than any ____ could Queen Elizabeth? 27 Saves for later, in a way 51 Blouse and broach, perhaps 74 Calling ever dare try’’ (‘‘Thriller’’ 86 With it, in old slang 54 Wet bar? 76 Not be able to stand 29 Ploy lyric) 89 ‘‘Snowpiercer’’ airer 55 Form of nepotism, symbolically 77 Ending with invent 30 Lost 17 ‘‘The Glass Bead Game’’ 92 Sporting a certain 1
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78 War and peace, in ‘‘War and Peace’’ 83 Like most dorms nowadays 84 Tickled 87 Focus of modern mining 88 ‘‘____ be an honor!’’ 89 They can be graphic 90 Surround, as with light 91 Considerations for N.C.A.A. eligibility 92 ____ Wintour, longtime Vogue editor in chief 93 Spring locales 94 Takes by force 96 Pop fly 100 Some family babysitters 102 Match 103 Sarge’s boss 105 A-number-one 106 The Venetian way? 110 Alternative to Dropbox 113 Gradually fix something. ... or what to do to understand this puzzle’s italicized clues? 116 Briefly, e.g. 117 What’s used to catch some waves 118 Supreme Egyptian god 119 Bum out 120 Famous cryptid, familiarly 121 Intimates
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natural style 93 Avoids 95 Tortoise’s challenge to the hare 96 Nickname for the French Alexandre 97 No longer squeaky (one hopes!) 98 John Wayne, by birth 99 Who ran against George Washington for president 100 ‘‘____ chance!’’ 101 Letters that complete this word: __P__ ROPRIA__E 102 Snaps 104 Squeezes (out) 105 Good thing to be in 107 Letters on dreidels 108 Taj Mahal’s home 109 Exam that once required fingerprint identification, for short 111 Exercise 112 Animal house 114 Demon of Japanese folklore 115 Folklore villain
Stumped? Call 1-900-285-5656 to get the answers to any three clues by phone ($1.20 a minute).
SUDOKU EASY | N° 960 Fill in the grid so that every row, column and 3-by-3 box contains the numbers 1 through 9. www.printmysudoku.com
NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD PUZZLE ANSWERS Puzzle No. 1219, which appeared in the December 22 issue.
Grid n°960 easy
9 2 5 6
8 9
9 6 8 5 7 7
8 3
8
3 1
1 2 5 7
1
5
6
C L A U S E
B A L S A M
F E T I D
K A T A N A
S I L E N T P A R T N E R
D A D S E N M A S S E
N B C O R A L N O N S C I A C O N T O D E Y E S
A N N C A A M A R P Y E S N A G I S H R E R T O O I N L E S T
S L E E P E U R A L E V E R E R U B E A R R I M B A E T U A L W E S T E O A N A P D I N F I O L D E N W E A R P E C U R R I A F E N P F L I G A C R U I T Y O T M E U E P S P
N A S
U N D E R D O G
M A S O P N I G D I M N G A M H T F C R C O S
P S E T O O N E I N G S L E P E A R A G T I O N E N T S A A R T T U M E E Z T P O S E D R E A A S T E S G A L G A R E H I N I E S
T O T S S I K H I S M U R S A
G O O N I E S
M A R E N G O
C R Y
P S E U D O S C I E N C E
C A R M E N
A Y R E S
I D E A L S
T O N G U E
G A Y
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