Tulsa Aristocrats Issue 4 2017 by Tulsa Aristocrats

issue 4 . october 2017 A DIVERSE ONLINE MAGAZINE WITH A HEARTBEAT FOR TULSA AND SURROUNDING AREAS

ON THE COVER Anniversary of Becoming A Citizen, Celebrating Being an American

INSIDE Featured Artist: Henna Chick & More

contents COVER STORY page 3 Anniversary of Becoming A Citizen, Celebrating Being an American

in this issue

Letter from the Editor

An Eclectic Old School Millennial

My Life My Responsibility

11 Lowe View of Things - We Didn’t Need

Violent Hurricanes to Be Aware of Global Warming

13 Tulsa Announces Native American Day 19 The Art of Adulting 20 A View From the Road

Tulsa Aristocrats Magazine October 2017

page 15 FEATURED ARTIST The Henna Chick”

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR October 2017 Volume 1 • Issue 4 Tulsa Aristocrats Magazine is an Online Publication Published Monthly by: Tulsa Aristocrats Publishing Website: www.tulsaaristocrats.com Inquiries: contact@tulsaaristocrats.com 918.282.5658 Publisher & Editor: N. LEWIS Creative Director: L. FLIP Contributing Writers: Joe Harwell, Deanna Braggs, Luella Merryweather, Johnnie Diacon, Morgan Tipton, Ted Lowe All Rights Reserved No part of this publication can be reproduced without written consent from the publisher. Tulsa aristocrats publishing company has set the highest standards to ensure forestry preservation and social responsibility. We live in digital times and promise that not one tree will ever be cut down to produce an issue of our magazine. We will never expend energy to use recycled paper or inks and our carbon foot print will be the smallest possible in the world of magazines. Our publication and readers make a direct choice to make the world a better place now.

Things on My Mind

I really love what we are creating here at Tulsa Aristocrats. Every month I am

excited to check my inbox for articles from my writers, never quite knowing what I’m going to get. I don’t mandate their content beyond “don’t be a jerk or cuss” and I’m even pretty flexible on those points. I love the diversity of the articles I’ve received this month from immigration and global warming to a spotlight of a local writer and how to make a last-minute dip for parties. It’s the little things that make this community what it is and who we are. I don’t know about everyone else, but the celebration/survival of the Tulsa State Fair just prepares us for the beginning of the race toward the end of the year. Coming in quick succession is Oktoberfest, Halloween, Día De Los Muertos, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, end of semester finals, winter break, and Chrismahanukwanzakah or whatever your Festivus of choice might be. Regardless, it’s a time that we celebrate with friends and family. Please, take some time this season and remember to help take care of those who may not have friends or family. That’s what makes our community stronger. Now, go ahead, give this edition a read and don’t forget to tip your servers and bartenders.

Nicole

Tulsa Aristocrats Magazine October 2017

The Anniversary of Becoming a Citizen, Celebrating Being an

american

Staff Interview with Kasia Olek

Kasia Olek began her journey as an immigrant

in Poland as Kararzyna, but now she is known as Kasia for short. Her story is a layer of two generations of immigration, beginning with her parents. Kasia’s mother, at the age of two, immigrated with her parents from Russia to Poland when the country’s boundaries were changed after World War II. Later, Kasia’s parents, both students of mechanical engineering, met in 1978 and she was born in 1979. By the time Kasia was 18 months old her father had been traveling back and forth from Poland to Holland where he made money while on student visa. As she grew she became extremely anemic. “It was the worst of communism,” in Kasia’s opinion, “they had little to no food, no medicines, no anything,” which caused her parents to want to leave Poland. Her family was a strong Polish military family and her grandmother was the manager of the only privately-operated hotel in in Warsaw which was the Grand Hotel. Because of the family’s position, they had access to resources that the general public did not, including food. “The only reason they had food was because someone delivered vegetables and fruits to them, but it still wasn’t enough to be healthy.” Her parents struggled to make money and Kasia’s health was declining, so her parents decided they needed to move to another country. The decision was difficult, her grandfather’s military career was such that they couldn’t tell anyone of their decision. “My grandfather couldn’t legally know that they were fleeing the country.” The young family told their family that both Kasia and Tulsa Aristocrats Magazine October 2017

her mother were going to go with her father while he worked in Holland, so everyone would be left behind safely. They had heard the immigration gates were open in London, so instead of going to Holland they flew to London in the summer of 1981. Unfortunately, London had closed its immigration gates and they were denied entry. Then they heard that Austria had open immigration, so her mother and Kasia stayed inside a home in London with a family member home while her father slept outside on the stairs while earning money to further their trip. In a short amount of time they bought air fare to Austria, but because they had gone to London first after leaving Poland, Austria would not grant them refugee status. While they were in Austria her father found work and a place for them to live. For the next 6 months, he would go weekly if not daily to immigration and petition for refugee status so they could get passage to Australia. “They didn’t care if it was Australia or America at that point because there were people trying to go to both locations. They just needed a place they could get to in order to start their new life.” The day that they left, they literally got into line and that line lead them to a plane that was going to Australia. Their fate was determined by the line they got into that day. “Typically, a flight from Austria to Australia takes anywhere from 17 to 20 something hours, but this was a flight with 12 different connections that took over 40 hours.” Just three days after Kasia’s second birthday they were on a plane, her parents were flying with a 2-year-

old, while pregnant with their second child, for over 40 hours. Upon arriving in Australia her family and the other refugees were then put on busses and taken to a hostile for immigrants, where they lived until they were established financially in Australia. “Immigration has never been easy”, but Kasia feels like it is easier to some countries than others. She personally feels it is very easy to immigrate if you are immigrating with money and, that ultimately, at the end of the day, determines your experience. Whether you are coming in as a refugee or with an existing family member in the country or formally educated and able to work. The process for her was more pleasant applying for immigration to Australia than America. Kasia lived with her parents in Australia for 20 years, until she meet her first husband while working and attending the same university. She was now married to an American citizen and sponsored by her husband’s father, so she left Australia in August of 2002. Kasia explains, “This was after 9/11 so the immigration process, even in America was changing and we would speak to an immigration attorney that would tell us one thing and then by the time paperwork was filed a different application was needed. It was extremely stressful and frustrating and it doesn’t feel good when you are trying to start your life over and you are willing to work and to adapt, along with all the risk and sacrifice to start over and you can’t.” Kasia wasn’t discriminated against like some immigrants because she looks like people in

Oklahoma, “I look like a typical American girl only sounding different, that’s truly the only difference by looking at my physically and yet I had to wait 8 months to get a social security number.” When Kasia moved to Tulsa she couldn’t drive, work or open a bank account, all she could do was set and wait for her paperwork to be approved. Kasia said, “I feel like there are different immigrants now. We have third world refugees that aren’t educated, their lives are threatened and then you have the refugee that is just looking for a better life, educated but they can’t seem to work or make sense of where they live, so they choose immigration and that is the type of immigrant that I was.” “Typically, the more adversity you have in life, the more you are able to overcome because adversity teaches you how to deal with life situations. You are forced to overcome objections, you are forced to overcome things that limit your ability to live, breath and earn a living. Because you are overcoming you also become an example for others that also need to continue going. Often, huge successes are born from people that have overcome massive adversity. I have not overcome massive adversity, when you look at my life it was a lot of inconvenience but it was not adversity of me being fearful of my life, nor was I coming from such a dire situation because I wasn’t starving or impoverished in anyway. My immigration was truly a choice to make a better life and knowing that we had to go somewhere else to do it. Australia is a beautiful country with a lot of opportunity and I could have stayed there and made a life and been happy. I still have Tulsa Aristocrats Magazine October 2017

family that I visits frequently so I may end up back there again. I came to America because I had an opportunity to come, I was 22, married, excited about the change and opportunity and adventure. Looking back my dad was 22 when I was born and 24 when we were immigrating to Australia and at that age you tend to deal with things that may be a little scary differently because you are oblivious of some of the consequences of your decisions. It completely did not occur to me that once I landed in America I was on the other side of the planet from my parents. I didn’t realize I was going to be that far away. I was young and I didn’t understand what I was doing, it was just a season in my life…. ‘yeah I’m moving to the other side of the world but if I want to come back I can’, ‘ I know it’s really far and I’m not going to see my parents for a while but it will be fine because what do you need your parents for?’ I was so young. As you get older, you understand the consequences of decisions you make, you probably don’t jump into situations the way you carelessly did in your youth. Now, at this age, if someone asked me to move to another country, I would have to know about the opportunity, what happens to my family, and for how long. It ultimately determines the decision you will make. Any of us can do anything for a couple of weeks but if you are committing to 5 years, that’s a completely different decision. At 22 you are like, “Hey when is the plane leaving and what do I need to pack,” it’s an adventure. You totally buy into the American dream. The best part of living in America is that you really can become whatever you want to believe. I had a limited belief system in Australia, I didn’t think I could succeed for whatever reason but that didn’t exist in America. It was a fresh start, a completely clean slate, so I had no ceiling of achievement.” “I have so much more that I want to do, the milestones that I have hit and the opportunity that I have had I am grateful for. I am glad at some Tulsa Aristocrats Magazine October 2017

point that I was emotionally mature enough to open my world to other people and create opportunities for others to succeed. I have a successful sales team, a great staff, a husband that has a creative outlet with his company. There is no ceiling on income in real-estate, it’s all dependent on how much you want to work or how big your center of influence is or how big your network is that and your actions are what determines how successful you are going to be. Because I was young and unlimited amounts of energy from 22 to 30 years old and very little limiting belief and I was in an environment that encourage growth with Keller Williams, I have been able to do a lot in a really short amount of time. Because of that and our exposure to others that are succeeding at really high levels there’s always a pull to do more. “ Naturalization process: After her first child was born, Kasi decided it was time to go through the naturalization process. She was pleasantly surprised about how easy it was and that was a result for her being here for a long time already. She had ended her first marriage and was then thrown into an insta-family, so it became very important to stay in America. She started applying to become a resident when she was pregnant. Kasia remembers, “The most shocking part was the emotional reaction I had during the naturalization ceremony. I was unprepared for the quiz about American history, but I passed the quiz. The Second piece, the ceremony I didn’t know I was going to be experiencing the ceremony so emotionally. I cried like a baby. It was at Baily Elementary School in Owasso. I thought it was a strange location but all the children were there serenading us with very American, Patriotic songs talking about the beautiful land of America and we all got American flags. I was standing in a line with all these other people waiting to become Ameri-

can citizens and I could not stop crying. It was in that moment as those kids were singing and we were receiving our paperwork that I was officially able to change my name (from my first marriage). At the naturalization ceremony I got my maiden name back, so the ceremony was layered with a lot of emotion, it was about having a baby and being a parent and mom, committing to America and making America my home and becoming a true America, and then taking back my identity, which was not who I was when I first got off the plane here as a young woman and then starting this new chapter after a lot of messiness and hard times. Almost failing at this business and not having any money because of things that happened with the economy. Also, my ex father-in-law who did so much good for me passed away since I had come to the USA. In such of short amount of time I started a new family, a new life, a new business, a new career, it was just a lot. The naturalization process on November 10th was the most incredible experience and that was the cherry on top. After that, we settled what it is like to be an American, to celebrate our first Thanksgiving as a family, our first of everything in this new life.” “I only wish I would have invited other people that had been through everything with me the entire time that I was going through this whole process. I didn’t realize how significant the experience was going to be until I looked back.” “People should always understand that really, at the end of the day, you can be anything you want. This country and this environment that people live and grow here, you have the opportunity to be whatever it is you want to be. You have to surround yourself with people that will encourage you to be successful and for you to push through which every way you define success.” “People in my industry especially are always focused on what’s next, the next transaction, the next client, the next appointment, the next closing,

the next day and we sometimes don’t take the opportunity to look back and acknowledge the progress that we’ve made. The one thing that helps us do that is to acknowledge immigration, anniversaries, whether it’s a birthday, marriage, career that day, that moment is typically the beginning or the end of a chapter in someone’s life. It gives you the opportunity to look back and pay attention to the progress from the messy middle, to the obstacles, to the successes, to the milestones, to everything that’s happened in that time and often, if you take a moment to look at that time, not in pity or to dwell, it gives you the energy to keep going. You can know that you accomplished all “this” during such a difficult time in your life because whatever you are dealing with right now isn’t going to last forever. It truly is just a season and you can still accomplish things and move through difficulties. The focus should never be on how hard something is, the focus should always be on how much better something is as a result of a situation.”

Tulsa Aristocrats Magazine October 2017

AN ECLECTIC, OLD SOUL MILLENNIAL By Joe Harwell

Some people defy being easily categorized and

Chelsea Copeland is one of them. I began attending meetings of the writers group, Tulsa Ink Slingers, seven years ago. Chelsea is the only teenager I’ve met who actively participated in any local writers group. Not only did she attend, the imaginative quality of her YA fiction writing belied her outwardly shy, teenage persona. Honestly, all of the adults in the group were blown away by her writing skills. So where does this kind of imagination and talent come from? Always an avid reader, Chelsea didn’t find a lot of things she really enjoyed reading as a young teen so she started writing her own stories. “I told my mom I didn’t think I could wait until I was an adult to write a novel or be published. She told me to go ahead and do it, so I did!” Chelsea describes her heritage as Swedish and Creek Native American. “I would say my parents (my mother and stepfather) are pretty quirky. My mom is a mix of Stevie Nicks and Grandmama from the Addams Family. She talks to plants and thanks the fairies when she gets a good parking spot. My stepdad rocks out to European indie rock bands and is constantly recognized as Sean Penn and Billy Connolly. He’s a Viking in a vintage bass boat with his drooling cat named Gomez. We’re really into Halloween, ghosts and the weird side of life. We’re also experienced ghost hunters.” Tulsa Aristocrats Magazine October 2017

Her resume also includes Vice President of the Harry Potter Alliance, NSU Chapter from August 2010 to May 2011, and member of The Dracula Society since April, 2016. She received a Bachelor of Science degree from NSU, Tahlequah this year, making the President’s Honor Roll in the fall of 2016. As we discussed reading and writing, Chelsea commented, “I once heard reading described as staring at a piece of dead tree and hallucinating. When I strip it down to that level, writing becomes even more fun! You get to think about things in a creative way rather than in the simplest ways of day to day life.” I inquired how she balances everyday life with creative activities? “I don’t. Sometimes it’s one or the other. (Please send help.) That’s kind of like asking ‘why do you like breathing?’ I don’t know, it’s just what I do. I really like creating something out of nothing. Writing is just second nature to me.” Like most good writers she reads as much as possible to learn the craft, broaden her vocabulary and find new techniques and keeps a pen and paper nearby for sudden inspiration. “I promise you, you won’t remember half the ideas you think you will. I also heed the advice from all my mentors which is to just write something. You can fix it later.”

That’s good advice for anyone who wants to write. She also speaks dialogue out loud as she’s writing so it sounds right, like real people talk. “A lot of the cast of Star Wars complained that George Lucas’ dialogue was terrible to work with and sounded unnatural.” Talking about early life experiences Chelsea described herself this way. “I could find something interesting in all subjects other than math. I guess I was the filler type of student, the kind that TV shows and books aren’t written about. My classmates liked me but I wasn’t popular, maybe a bit of a teacher’s pet. I made a lot of my best friends while I was in school that I am still friends with today.” At seventeen, as a high school junior, Chelsea was diagnosed with OCD, depression and generalized anxiety disorder. Her most recent writing project started out as a final for her Creative Writing Portfolio class. It’s a fictionalized memoir of her struggles with mental illness as a teenager and will be novel length which she plans to publish. Regarding this project, Chelsea hopes it will become a staple on school reading lists to show readers there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Finally, I asked Chelsea what she’s been doing since graduating from NSU. “I did what no millennial thinks is possible: I got a job in my desired field before my student loan grace period ended as a freelancer writing articles for the Red Dirt Report.”

CHECK OUT CHELSEA’S PORTFOLIO RED DIRT REPORT PAGE

Marla Anderson-Martin, Leon Martin, Chelsea Copeland

“I told my mom I didn’t think I could wait until I was an adult to write a novel or be published. She told me to go ahead and do it, so I did!”

Tulsa Aristocrats Magazine October 2017

My Life, My Responsibility By Deanna Braggs Oklahoma Academy of Outdoor Learning – Earthschool

We are not islands. I sit back and listen to people

talk about life and happiness, and it is obvious that they rarely listen to themselves. Social media is another place that we, as humans, have a tendency to just post and repost without thinking too much about content and or the meaning or implications of that content. I am guilty of the same, and it makes me think. Why do we adopt an idea without thinking about the consequences? I guess it might sound good at the time, or maybe it just makes us feel good. Whatever the reason, I find it a little scary: no a lot scary, that we just go with the flow of things without stopping for a moment to think, “Is that true?” Does it even make sense? How does a culturally accepted idea become ingrained in a society so quickly? I have a thousand and one questions rushing around inside my brain right now, but the reality that we are all interconnected just keeps acting as a counter weight for the idiocrasy of our Me, Myself, and I philosophy . One such idea presented itself to me today, and I felt compelled to write about it: This is my life and no one can tell me how to live it. It sounds good to my independent nature and my somewhat anarchist attitude, however, does it make sense? First, we are told what to do a million times a day. For example, we have authority figures in our lives: bosses, parents, politicians, or police officers. The very reality that we live in a society, and that it is and must be governed by rules and regulations should make us throw this ridiculous notion out with the garbage, but for some reason, it does not. Necessity tells us what to do for instance, the

Tulsa Aristocrats Magazine October 2017

baby’s diaper needs changed, my car needs oil or gasoline, or I have to go to work at 7am. I am a mother, and my day consists of doing things I have no desire to do at all. I do them only because they must be done. This is far from the concept of living as I see fit – foot loose and fancy free. Second, we are not islands; our lives touch a million other lives every day. If we all have rights and the same rights, then how can we make a decision that will affect a million other people, without them having some input. If I choose to stop being a mother for a day without providing someone else to do what I do for my children, what will happen to them and their lives? Can we really just forget the effect of our actions on the people that we love, even the people we do not know, just because we want to do something and it is our right to do it? I guess we could, but then we have nothing but chaos and suffering. It is not fair that an aged person, without input, be forced to parent their grandchild or great grandchildren because their child or grandchild chose to have unprotected sex. A betrayed partner should not be condemned to die of AIDS or forced to pay child support because his or her unfaithful partner chose to indulge outside the relationship. We have no right to make those kinds of decisions for other people. Only if we lived utterly alone, with no connection to other people, far outside the confines of a society, would this concept be reasonable to consider. Ironically, this thought prevails in our society. Not only do we believe that we have the right to do what we want, when we want to do it, we also believe that others cannot. That age-old double

standard tends to rear its ugly head in the most inopportune times. We would never want others to demand the same rights of us. Oh, in theory it would be fine, but never in action. The cheating partner would never want to be cheated on, and the child does not want to be burdened with the care of their elder. The extreme contradiction in beliefs of what is done to and what one does is obvious. The cold, hard truth is that if you would deny that right to someone else, then it is not a right you should have either. We are not islands; we are a community of individuals governed by rules, which are set in place to protect the group. Everyday more rules and regulations are made to limit our freedoms because we have a culturally accepted idea that continues to create more chaos and suffering. The intelligent thing to do to solve the problem is not to make more and more rigid restrictions, but

to remove the emergent idea that is causing the problem in the first place: because this is my life, I can do whatever I want and no one can stop me. Just as the seed was sown, it can be weeded out. We are individuals, but we live in a community. Instead of thinking that this is my life and I can do what I want, we have to become aware of the community without losing our individuality. Here at Earthschool, I adopted the motto, “My future, My Responsibility!” It takes the cultural ideology and mutates it to mean something more. It is my life, but I have an obligation to make it something great…something positive….something beneficial. It is not my community’s responsibility to make my life great, positive, or beneficial, it is mine, and mine alone. This changes the focus from what I want to what I need, which opens the horizon to include the community.

IT IS NOT MY COMMUNITY’S RESPONSIBILITY TO MAKE MY LIFE GREAT, POSITIVE, OR BENEFICIAL, IT IS MINE, AND MINE ALONE. MORE ABOUT OKLAHOMA ACADEMY OF OUTDOOR LEARNING

Tulsa Aristocrats Magazine October 2017

LO W E V I E W O F T H I N G S

T E D LO W E

We Didn’t Need Violent Hurricanes to Be Aware of Global Warming

In the midst of the recent shocking devastation

wrought by hurricanes Harvey and Irma, at least some people wonder if global warming has anything to do with the increased violence coming from nature. Hurricanes form only in the warmer waters of the Atlantic (in the Pacific such disturbances are called typhoons and cyclones). To begin with, for a hurricane to form, there must be thunderstorm activity, and the ocean water must be at least 80°. I do not understand the details, but, somehow, the earth’s rotation creates the tendency to spin, once the thunderstorm begins absorbing the ocean’s warm water. Once hurricanes form they will eventually move north, either touching land or colder waters, either way eventually dissipating for lack of the 80°-water that fuels them. So it stands to reason that if the waters of the ocean are indeed getting warmer (and they are), there is a greater chance of hurricanes forming, lasting longer, and becoming bigger and more powerful. I have no interest in being political about this subject, yet….we only have two functioning political parties in the United States (and I use the term “functioning” optimistically) and one of the two parties requires, as a prerequisite for candidacy, that any idea of global warming is a hoax perpetrated on humanity. If there is such a thing as global warming, doesn’t it seem drastically irresponsible to ignore any idea of it?! Scientists who understand climate and weather have clearly stated their assessment of the issue. There is an acknowledged world panel of experts regarding climate change: the United Nations’ InTulsa Aristocrats Magazine October 2017

tergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), involving the input of thousands of scientists from almost 200 countries. It seems to me that any responsible elected official of our country should be very interested in this panel’s reports. The German socialist/psychologist Harald Welzer, in his book Climate Wars makes clear that the panel’s conclusions are very conservative. Any exaggerations are completely eliminated. For instance, in the 2007 report, the IPCC rested “on existing measurements of rising temperatures and ocean levels or shrinking glaciers.” In other words, their predictions are based on today’s measurements, even though current trends would certainly argue that measurements will be even worse in the near future. Their conclusion, by the way, is that air and ocean temperatures have risen dramatically since 1850 (when measurements were first taken), and the eleven warmest years between 1850 and 2006 were during the period of 1995 to 2006. The temperatures of the polar regions are the highest they have been in 125,000 years. Other organizations like NASA, the World Bank, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences have come up with similar findings (some are worse). According to the assessments of the world’s most knowledgeable experts on weather, if we don’t do something to drastically curtail greenhouse gas emissions we will soon have altered the planet to a hazardous level. Some people who believe that global warming is a threat to civilization suggest that it doesn’t matter if it is man-made or not, thinking this de-politicizes the issue. But the very reason why our society is so

torn over the issue is that corporations with money have altered the narrative. Much like the big tobacco companies denied there was any proof that cigarette-smoke caused lung cancer, in an effort to keep profiting, rather than take a responsible concern over a possible mortal threat to human lives (moms and dads, sons and daughters, and uncles and aunts of U.S. citizens), the oil industry, with their billions of dollars at stake, are doing everything they can to block intelligent discussion of the matter. Through many generations now, we Americans have been watching our TV shows, listening to our music, driving in our cars, and going out to eat while nature is going along as it has for millions of years. Oceans cover 70% of the planet’s surface. Water and air cannot come in contact with one another without conducting an exchange. Oceans naturally absorb CO2 from the atmosphere while the atmosphere naturally absorbs gases dissolved in the ocean (like those coming up through where techtonic plates meet). For the planet to remain okay, there needs to be an equilibrium between these exchanges. But our 300-year fossil-fuel-burning binge has created too much carbon dioxide in the air for the ocean waters to absorb. And in the process of continuing to cleanse the air of excess CO2 the oceans are becoming warmer, and more acidic. It’s a scientific fact that carbon dioxide dissolves in water to form an acid. Author Elizabeth Kolbert, in her book The Sixth Extinction writes that since the start of the industrial revolution, humans have burned through enough fossil fuels—coal, oil, and natural gas—to add some 365 billion metric tons of carbon to the atmosphere. Deforestation has contributed another 180 billion tons. Each year, we throw up another nine billion tons or so, an amount that’s been increasing by as much as six percent annually. As a result of all this, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the air today—a little over four hundred parts per million—is higher than at

any other point in the last eight hundred thousand years. Quite probably it is higher than at any point in the last several million years. If current trends continue, CO2 concentrations will top five hundred parts per million, roughly double the levels they were in preindustrial days, by 2050. It is expected that such an increase will produce an eventual average global temperature rise of between three and a half and seven degrees Fahrenheit, and this will, in turn, trigger a variety of world-altering events, including the disappearance of most remaining glaciers, the inundation of low-lying islands and coastal cities, and the melting of the Arctic ice cap. If America was still a democracy, and elected officials represented the interests and needs of a majority of citizens, there would not only NOT be a presidential administration that completely denies the existence of warming, rising, and highly acidic ocean waters, but there would also NOT be a national media that barely mentions the subject, and even then, only to quote yet another corporate representative who denies it. Physicist and author James Martin (1933-2013) reminded us that, “Politicians are anxious to find votes—the next election dominates their thinking. Powerful business executives are eager to achieve profits—it is their job to increase shareholder value, and shareholders will judge them by this quarter’s results. So, for the powerful people who control events, the desire for short-term benefits overwhelms the desire to solve long-term problems. However, just as not thinking about death doesn’t it make it less inevitable, pretending there is no such thing as global warming doesn’t make it not so, either.

Tulsa Aristocrats Magazine October 2017

Tulsa Announces Native American Day

A Response from Native American Artist, Johnnie Diacon

Columbus is a big part of Euro-American mythology and even though he was lost when he first landed in the West Indies, he is looked upon as a great explorer. Columbus, first setting foot on the island of the Arawak people, is often likened to Neil Armstrong first setting foot on the moon. In reality, Columbus had not discovered a â&#x20AC;&#x153;New Worldâ&#x20AC;?, but had discovered an ancient people living in the way of their ancestors. These people were part of the

Tulsa Aristocrats Magazine October 2017

original inhabitants of the Western Hemisphere. There is a popular Currier & Ives print from 1892, which depicts a fictional account of Columbus coming ashore, and it is what most Americans think of when they think of the founding of America and Columbus. This idealized image is what has been taught in American schools for many generations. I did a response piece to the Currier & Ives print

and Columbus’ legacy, in general. It is titled, Western Myths of Discovery. It is a work of acrylic glaze and paper executed on a gessoed 18” x 24”Masonite board. The image of Columbus is represented by the astronaut wading ashore as his three iconic ships await in the background. The images of the Native people are painted in the traditional flat style to represent the original traditional people whose land this was, since the beginning. The image of Jesus with his outstretched hand represents the Catholic Church’s Doctrine of Discovery. This Papal Bull stated that lands discovered by Christian people and inhabited by non-Christian people were free to be claimed in the name of the Catholic Church which allowed missionaries to flock here in an effort to convert

and extinguish traditional belief systems of the indigenous people. I was so glad to hear the news that the Greater Tulsa Indian Affairs Commission was finally able to work with the Mayor and the city council to have Columbus Day now recognized as Native American Day. This is an important and progressive step for Tulsa to take. In my opinion, this step is far greater than the one taken by Columbus and it is a wonderful thing to see our city advance in this direction along with many other major cities, especially in light of current race relations in some of the cities across this country. I know a lot of non-Native people are asking what the big deal is and of course it may not be to them, but it is to the nearly 30,000 other people who call Tulsa home.

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Tulsa Aristocrats Magazine October 2017

FEATURED ARTIST

The Henna Chick

Raven started her henna journey in 2001 when

she saw woman from India at Best Buy. The woman was coming from her wedding and likely shopping with gift cards they received. Raven followed her around the store looking at the art work on the woman’s hands and feet, she was completely in love with this form of art but had no idea what it was called and for some reason, did not ask the woman. Raven went home and Googled every way she could think of to find out what this woman had on her body and finally came across Henna Art. She promptly got on eBay and ordered her first henna cone. She laughs, because now she knows that was a big no-no. She received her cone in the mail and within 3 minutes she declared,“There is no way that art came out of this stuff!” Her research, which began before you could go on Facebook and ask questions, then expanded to finding the Henna Tribe where she discovered that if you buy proper henna it works great. Henna Chick opened for business in 2006 and focuses on local festivals to provide legitimate henna art to people seeking the form of body art. Henna Chick is also available for small parties like girl’s nights, slumber parties, Halloween, fundraisers, children & teen events and bridal parties. Henna Chick is located in Tulsa, but they also travel to other states for festivals, like the Frisco Festival in Arkansas, The Prairie Grove Clothes Line Fair , Scot Fest in Tulsa, Apple Festival in Lincoln Arkansas, Mount Vernon’s Apple Butter Making Days, Sun Fest in Bartlesville, Blue Dome & Arts for All in Lawton, just to name a few. Most people think that Henna Art came from India but it has been used in Africa, Asia, Germany, and middle eastern cultures and by native Tulsa Aristocrats Magazine October 2017

tribes since henna was discovered. Even Cleopatra used henna to color her hair. Henna is used for body decoration for ceremony, daily beautification, for dying leather and cloth, fingernails and has been used as hair dye for centuries. Raven Michelle, Henna Chick, has a successful and growing business that she credits too her legitimate products and great staff members Luna, Henna Chick, and Nicole, the gate keeper, for organizing customers when they are working during events. Together the women have applied beautiful henna and face paint to thousands of people over the years. Most people don’t realize that they should ask questions when they are at fairs and festivals or having any sort of body art applied. Henna Chick carries insurance and pays taxes on the income from her company because they are true artists. Other non-legitimate adulterated henna appliers that are seen at fairs and festivals will not have insurance and most of the time cannot be covered by insurance because their products have risk, which leads to “good luck finding them if something goes wrong.” What is legitimate henna and how do you know? Raven, Henna Chick, warns that you should never use commercially pre-made henna for any reason or let it be used on your body. The International Henna Artists Association has done independent testing on many over the counter “henna “products only to find toxic ingredients. Some Henna cones are not regulated in the countries where they are produced, so the labels can say anything. Toxic, over the counter, henna cones can have ammonia, kerosene, lead and even camel urine in them. Real henna is a plant and the leaves are made into a fine powder and then the artist will use water, sugar, lemon juice, apple juice and/or Lavender oil to create the mixture for

application. True henna must be refrigerated because it will spoil. For a year, Raven used her kitchen chemistry skills to create a henna product that doesn’t melt in Oklahoma humidity. Granulated Sugar pulls moisture from the air so it doesn’t work in Oklahoma humidity. Her Henna paste is made with apple juice and molasses as part of her quest to find the perfect remedy for humid weather. She sent the recipe out to other henna artists and after three months of testing the mixture was deemed a success. The art of face painting and henna art is something Henna Chick is passionate about and it has led her and others in her profession to inform festival coordinators and attendees of the difference between the products they use and the types of products “Henna Tattoo Artists and Free Face Painters” use on a regular basis. Although the warnings are made, she is sometimes looked at as trying to corner the market or get rid of competition. In her opinion, it is simply not right to allow consumers, some small children, to be scared for weeks and months of their lives or even permanently. Although she has tried to get people educated on the risks of using bad products there is still not a festival that goes by that she doesn’t have consumers walking up to her booth complaining of itching, pain or burning from Tulsa Aristocrats Magazine October 2017

work they received at another booth. When people know Henna Chick is coming to an event, the lines start some times an hour before the event opens, so she is not worried about competition, she really is trying to save consumers a lot of time and money by getting “Free or Cheap” work done that will cost them later. How do you know legitimate henna as a consumer? No reputable Henna Artist has the words “Henna Tattoo” in their signage. Those handmade face paint and henna tattoo signs are usually one of many red flags. Cones should be hand made by the artists. Blue or Black “Henna” can create a permanent keloid scar (raised scars). Other red flags are those store-bought or “Henna” cones purchased online; Labeling will be printed on the cone directly, usually with a woman on them with foreign writing. India is the worst perpetrators of adulterated henna, some 70 percent is black hair dye, which can shut down your organs if you are allergic. Dyes slips through customs or they can have adulterated fake henna products. Again, real henna should always be used cold. “Free” in the body art industry is really bad. What sets Henna Chick apart for face paints? How does a consumer know what they are looking for in legitimate artists? “FREE Face Painting Tents” are not FREE because more times than not they are using really cheap $7 face paint kits they picked up at a craft store. Dermatitis, rashes, welts, sun sensitivity and chemical burns can happen with these cheap adulterated products. If a color of face paint costs the artist $15 per color, that’s a good way to know it’s a reputable face paint artist. If your Henna Artist and Face Painting artist carry insurance, you know the insurance company has taken notice of the type of products they use or the artists wouldn’t be able to purchase insurance. Tulsa Aristocrats Magazine October 2017

Ask to see the insurance coverage of the artist instead of ending up in an ER with burns. In closing, true Henna is also an anti-microbial & anti-fungal, hooves of animals can be coated with henna to help the hooves heal. Ringworm and athletes foot are also resolved when coated with henna paste for a couple of days. Henna is also used for hair, but again if you are using a storebought product with a lot of ingredients they are not true henna and you will not achieve the same hair repair and color with those products. Henna Chick will sell you henna to create a product for coloring and rejuvenating your hair. A packet will typically cost about $3-6 dollars depending on the length of hair and the henna is applied as a paste and wrapped for hours to achieve the true henna experience.

HennaChick.com A calendar of events can be found on HennaChick.com websites or you can contact her directly by text or calling.

henna gone wrong

if you experience symptoms like this seek immediate medical attention

henna done right

Tulsa Aristocrats Magazine October 2017

STUDENT LOAN SCAMS F A O D ULTING T R A E H By: Morgan E. Tipton

LESSON 1: A FOOLPROOF, EASY TREAT TO BRING TO A PARTY Whenever someone says “feel free to bring some sort of treat”, do you draw a blank on what to bring? Well not anymore! Below is my go to recipe for any party, whether in an office setting or at someone’s home. I have never brought this to a party where this hasn’t been a hit! It is extremely easy, assembles in less than 10 minutes, and should not cost you more than $20. You will need: • 2 Bags of Precut Apples (found near the bags of precut lettuce) • 1 - 24 oz. Tub of “Ready to Eat” Cheesecake Filling (found in the refrigerated section by the cream cheese) • 1 Tub of Old Fashioned Caramel Dip (found in the produce section, near the apples) • 1 - 8 oz. Bag of Heath Toffee Bits (found in the baking isle, by the chocolate chips) • Container with lid • Spatula

Tulsa Aristocrats Magazine October 2017

How to Assemble: • Use the spatula to scrape out the cheese cake filling into the empty container. Make sure all the filling is spread even to help the next layer have an even distribution of caramel. • Use the same spatula to then scrape out the caramel over the first layer of cheese cake filling. • Pour the Heath toffee bits evenly over the caramel. I like to pat the toffee bits down so they stick to the caramel. • Serve cold and enjoy!

20 20

V IEW F ROM T HE ROAD by Luella Merryweather

I have been home from

work for two hours now and I am still shaking. I think it is because I spent 6 hours driving with a stream of cold water running down my leg and into my shoe. If anybody is jealous of my job as a rural mail carrier on a day like today they might need to think again. It’s not as glamorous as I like to make it sound. I have carried mail now for almost 30 years. When I first began we didn’t have cell phones and I often worried about tornadoes in the Spring. I remember watching the clouds even though I didn’t know quite what I was watching for. That’s when I decided to take Storm Chaser classes. It was not because I wanted to chase storms so much as it was that I wanted to know which direction to go should I need to run away from one. I would also survey my surroundings to determine who had a storm shelter and if they were someone I would want to be locked up with. I looked for all the best ditches to hide in. I don’t know if my smart phone has made me complacent or if I am just tired and don’t care anymore. I now check the radar from time to time, sure, but mostly just when it is raining and I am anxious for the water to stop running down my leg. In my opinion, August in Osage County is overrated. The coneflowers on the prairie are very beautiful but my hair is all a-frizz even up in a ponytail. The dust blows in thru the windows and plasters itself all over my sweaty face. It’s ghastly.

Through the years I have tried everything imaginable to make it bearable. I think my most ridiculous idea was the time I found a fishing vest and filled all the pockets with giant blocks of blue ice. There were pockets in the front, the back and the sides of that vest. I thought I was so smart. I looked like a giant Lego man. It worked pretty good but it was heavy and not attractive at all. I only used it one Summer. I spent many years carrying cooling towels to dip in icy water and wrap around my neck. When they first came out those towels were really drippy but they aren’t so bad now. Technology really is a wonderful thing. Now I have something called a CoolDatAzz. It’s a real thing. I won’t go into the mechanics of the contraption but it makes me feel like I am sitting on a block of ice. It’s wonderful. Too bad about my hair. I try not to ever complain about Summer because Winter is the bane of my existence. I don’t mind the cold so much but I do mind the ice. First off, I try not to be jealous of those women who have men who will clean off their windshields. Some men do that, right? I get to clean my windshield when I go to work and then I get to clean off the windshield again before I go out on the route! In the past, most of the Winters I have worked at the Post Office I delivered out of my own vehicle so I got to put my own chains on, too! I am apparently not good at putting on chains because they would usually fall off somewhere. I have 2 worn Tulsa Aristocrats Magazine October 2017

out rubber mallets that I carry with me to hit the mail boxes when they are frozen shut. It only takes one tap on the front of the box, but I did have a customer call the police once to see why the crazy lady was hitting her box with a hammer. Open your boxes, people. If you do I won’t have to hit them. I would also make a plea that you clean the ice and snow from around your box. Most of my customers have their mail boxes on posts clinging to the side of a ditch. I can’t get too close. Did you know that cars can slide sideways? They can. It is possible to slide sideways up against a mailbox, pinning the door shut and making it impossible for the driver to escape from the car. I don’t want to talk about that. I have many icy horror stories, but there was this one day that stands out in my memory. I was training a new sub that would carry my route whenever I had a day off. She didn’t want to ride in my car. She wanted to follow me to learn the route. She was pretty insistent. I figured it was because she really, really wanted to smoke cigarettes so I said okay.

Tulsa Aristocrats Magazine October 2017

At one of my first stops I had to go up a steep driveway to deliver an Express package. I assumed she would stay on the road and wait for me to come back down but I was wrong. She followed me. I was on the porch talking to the homeowner dude and I could tell that he was watching something over my shoulder. I turned around only to see her coming up the hill, except she wasn’t in the driveway but in the yard, and she was sliding sideways, you know, like I was telling you earlier. The man just stood there and went “Yup, she’s going in the pond.” That’s just what she did, too. We had to leave her truck and she had to ride with me after all. As I write this I wonder how I have been able to hold on so long, but then I remember that soon the rain will stop and the weather will cool off. The leaves will turn glorious colors of gold and red and the valley will be filled with the scent of burning pinon and the smoke from fireplaces all around me. After all, all I do is drive around in the country all day.

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