ionOk.com DECEMBER 201 5/JANUARY 2016

From vinyl records to computers, The PinUp Dames! Ronnie Kaye still gets his groove on Supermodel for a day Philosophy the same in overseas Play to learn at Oklahoma conflict or art creation for Wondertorium in Stillwater Choctaw artist D.G. Smalling David Gregory visits the Thomas Friedman speaks at UCO Bombing Memorial

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OKLAHOMA STATE COWBOYS MEN'S BASKETBALL - 2015-16 SCHEDULE Date Time Opponent Loacation Dec 12 7:30 PM Minnesota Golden Gophers Sioux Falls, SD Dec 15 7:00 PM Longwood Lancers Stillwater, OK Florida (Orange Bowl Dec 19 5:00 PM Sunrise, FL Basketball Classic) Missouri-Kansas City Dec 29 7:00 PM Stillwater, OK Kangaroos 2016 Jan 02 3:00 PM TCU Horned Frogs Stillwater, OK Jan 05 7:00 PM Baylor Bears Waco, TX Jan 09 1:00 PM West Virginia Mountaineers Morgantown, WV Jan 13 8:00 PM Oklahoma Sooners Stillwater, OK Jan 16 5:00 PM Texas Longhorns Austin, TX Jan 19 6:00 PM Kansas Jayhawks Stillwater, OK Jan 23 6:00 PM Kansas State Wildcats Manhattan, KS Jan 27 8:00 PM Baylor Bears Stillwater, OK Jan 30 7:00 PM Auburn Tigers Auburn, AL Feb 03 8:00 PM Texas Tech Red Raiders Lubbock, TX Feb 06 1:00 PM Iowa State Cyclones Stillwater, OK Feb 08 6:00 PM TCU Horned Frogs Fort Worth, TX Feb 13 12:00 PM Kansas State Wildcats Stillwater, OK Feb 15 8:00 PM Kansas Jayhawks Lawrence, KS Feb 20 8:30 PM Texas Tech Red Raiders Stillwater, OK Feb 24 8:00 PM Oklahoma Sooners Norman, OK Feb 27 5:00 PM West Virginia Mountaineers Stillwater, OK Feb 29 6:00 PM Iowa State Cyclones Ames, IA Mar 04 8:00 PM Texas Longhorns Stillwater, OK OKLAHOMA SOONERS MEN’S BASKETBALL - 2015-16 SCHEDULE DATE OPPONENT LOCATION TIME (CT) Dec 12 Oral Roberts Norman 1:00 p.m. Dec 19 Creighton Norman 1:00 p.m. Washington State Dec 22-25 Honolulu, HA 10:00 p.m. Diamond Head Classic 2016 Jan 02 Iowa State * Norman 6:00 p.m. Jan 04 Kansas * Lawrence, KS. 8:00 p.m. Jan 09 Kansas State * Norman 3:30 p.m. Jan 13 Oklahoma State * Stillwater, OK. 8:00 p.m. Jan 16 West Virginia * Norman 3:00 p.m. Jan 18 Iowa State * Ames, IA 8:00 p.m. Jan 23 Baylor * Waco, TX 11:00 a.m. Jan 26 Texas Tech * Norman 6:00 p.m. LSU (BIG 1 2 / Jan 30 Baton Rouge, LA. TBA SEC CHALLENGE) Feb 02 TCU * Norman 7:00 p.m. Feb 06 Kansas State * Manhattan, KS. 5:00 p.m. Feb 08 Texas * Norman 8:00 p.m. Feb 13 Kansas * Norman 1:00 p.m. Feb 17 Texas Tech * Lubbock, TX 8:00 p.m. Feb 20 West Virginia * Morgantown, WV. 3:00 p.m. Feb 24 Oklahoma State * Norman 8:00 p.m. Feb 27 Texas * Austin, TX 1:00 p.m. Mar 01 Baylor * Norman 7:00 p.m. Mar 05 TCU * Fort Worth, TX 12:00 p.m. TBA * Mar 09 - 12 Kansas City, Mo. TBA BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP

* Conference Games publisher : Don Swift assistant : Joni Yeager editor : Tim Farley editiorial assistant : Darian Woolbright videographer : Jeremy Gossett director of photography : Michael Downes web site developer : Patrick Moore with Set Sail Media web site developer : Nina Jones, Data Design Inc. illustration : Rosemary Burke graphic design : Wendy Mills

Advertising Sales Dave Amis Tina Layman

Photographers Justin Avera Jeremy Gossett Donny Ho Fran Kozakowski Hugh Scott, Jr. Tracy Reece Jerry Hymer

Advertising Consultants Rick Buchanan

Contributors fashion : Linda Miller art : Joy Reed Belt people : Peggy Gandy entertainment : Heide Brandes book reviews : Lucy Smoker social issues : Robbie Robertson community : Lauren Wright bon appetite : Cheryl Payne contributing writer : Julie Bishop contributing writer : Don Brewington contributing writer : Greg Horton contributing writer : Asa Leveaux contributing writer : M.A. Smith contributing writer : Mindy Wood contributing writer : Julie York thunder fastbreak : Tim Farley FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015 ionOklahoma 9 14 Contents COVER STORY 14 From vinyl records to computers, legendary DJ Ronnie Kaye still gets his groove on by Sandi Davis

ART 23 Chickasaw artists’ work on display by M. J. Van Deventer

68 Philosophy the same in overseas conflict or art creation for Choctaw artist D.G. Smalling by Tim Farley FASHION 78 Southwest Travels Inspire Priceless Navajo 40 Perfectly dressed eyes and lips: Go sexy, sultry Rug Collec and sophisticated THEATRE by Linda Miller Broadway musical ‘Ragtime’ national tour to 20 PEOPLE perform at Oklahoma City Community College on Dec. 13-14 32 Annie Oakley Society Honors by M. J. Van Deventer Noted Philanthropist and Navy Admiral by M. J. Van Deventer

20 42 The PinUp Dames! Supermodel for a day. by Mindy Ragan Wood

82 An interview with journalist David Gregory at the OKC National Memorial by Peter Preksto

89 In My Space: First Gentlemen BY Peggy Gandy

10 ionOklahoma DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 64 TRAVEL 73 Edmond missionaries work to restore Christmas in Sierra Leone: Couple hopes to bring joy to children in two orphanages by Sandi Davis

47 Play to learn at Oklahoma Wondertorium by Linda Miller

ENTERTAINMENT / MOVIES 53 Movies: Crimson Peak, The Night Before, Spectre by Jacob Oller

60 Winning combination: Newcastle Casino adds games, restaurant, parking garage by Linda Miller REVIEWS 64 Merry & Bright:Holidays at the Myriad 29 What’s for dinner? Ree Drummond has the Gardens! perfect menus by Mindy Ragan Wood by M. J. Van Deventer

50 Book Buzz: Show Us Your Book 47 by Lucie Smoker

COMMUNITY 36 Pulitzer Prize Winner Thomas Friedman Shares View of New Electronic Global Economy 86 Opening Night: It’s a fun, family-friendly event full of action, music and fireworks by Sandi Davis

DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 ionOklahoma 11 Publisher’s Note

Welcome to ion Oklahoma Online, one of Oklahoma’s fastest growing online digital lifestyle magazines and news-entertainment websites.

For more than a decade after the start of OKC Maps Project was approved, downtown Oklahoma City is today being recognized as one of the most successful urban transformation projects in America. Mayor Ron Norick’s original plan approved in December 1993 to fund the rebuilding of downtown Oklahoma City is being studied by many cities across the nation.

Over the years Oklahoma City has seen both public and private investments totaling more than $3.14 Billion. Forbes Magazine has published several feature stories describing this tremendous transition and one of the most desirable commuter cities in America, one of the best cities for jobs and among one of America’s cleanest cities.

The big Oklahoma City downtown undertaking will be the Core-To-Shore Project. City planners are expecting it will be taking our wonderful city and lifestyle to “Like” us on facebook the next level in its journey to that of Major League City status. There’s also the facebook.com/pages/ planned convention center, a proposed convention center hotel and a streetcar IonOklahoma-Online system.

I would encourage all Oklahomans to visit Oklahoma City over the holidays. It’s exciting and uplifting for everyone at Ion Oklahoma to publish the holiday printed edition. Hope everyone will have a safe, happy holidays and Happy New year. follow us on twitter @IonOklahoma Sincerely, Don Swift Publisher ion Oklahoma

12 ionOklahoma DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016

From vinyl records to computers, legendary DJ Ronnie Kaye still gets his groove on R E V O C

Ronnie Kaye hangs out with Elvis.

14 ionOklahoma FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015 Back at KOMA, Kaye recalls meeting Elvis, Smokey Robinson and other musical greats

BY SANDI DAVIS

rom the days of radio studios equipped with turntables and vinyl records to today’s studio filled with computer F screens and keyboards, legendary disc jockey Ronnie Kaye has kept generations of listeners entertained with an enticing mix of music, special guests and his smooth voice. Kaye has been working in radio since his first job at radio station KLCN in Blytheville, Ark., doing play-by-play for a county basketball tournament while still in high school in the mid-1950s. These days he has the 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. shift on KOMA and plays a mix of music from the 1960s through the 1980s. For those counting, that’s almost 60 years. In that time he’s been a DJ and hosted a hugely popular dance show, “The Scene” from 1966 to 1974.” At one time it was syndicated and played in other markets like San Diego and San Francisco. He took a break from radio in the 1980s to work at a TV station but returned to radio in 1991 when he went to work for KOMA.

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015 ionOklahoma 15 “I know it sounds trite but I love this,” Kaye said in an interview at KOMA. “The other thing has been luck. I’ve been blessed. I always seem to step on the right stone in the water.” Kaye believes he has been on the air longer than any other DJ in Oklahoma. He started his stint in Oklahoma City with WKY radio in 1961 already well versed in rock and roll. “When I worked in Blytheville, rock and roll was just two years old. It was close to Memphis and the music scene there was really hot but, especially when Elvis started recording,” Kaye said. The national president of the Elvis Presley Fan Club listened to Kaye’s show and invited him to see Graceland. “I went. Elvis wasn’t home, but I met his dad,” Kaye recalled. Kaye would meet The King years later while he and his wife were visiting Los Angeles in 1968. They were just outside the main gate at Paramount Studios. He asked the security guard if any celebrities would be coming or going out of the gate and was told that Elvis should be coming out at any time. Elvis was filming “Spin Out” with Nancy Sinatra. He left the movie lot sitting in the back seat of a car. Kaye and his wife followed the car through Beverly Hills and Bel Aire up into the Hollywood Hills until Elvis’ car stopped at a gate in front of his house on Rocco Road. Kaye jumped out of his car and ran to Elvis’ car and knocked on the window. Elvis rolled the window down and like so many of us who freeze when we meet someone we admire, Kaye’s mind went blank. “I stood there looking at Elvis Presley,” he said. “I finally blurted out, ‘Your wife is beautiful.’” Elvis, always quick with a reply, smiled at the flustered man and said, “That’s what she tells me.” Kaye, who is easy to talk to, sat in a conference room at Tyler Media, owner of KOMA, relaxed with a slight smile as we talked. His looks haven’t changed much since his early days in the city and he looked handsome in a black sweater over a white shirt with the sleeves of both rolled to his elbows. His jeans covered the tops of black cherry Luchese cowboy boots. “I was lucky to be at WKY in the ‘60s and ‘70s,” Kaye said. “In the early days, bands would tour from city to city and stop by a radio station for interviews and maybe a performance.” He recalls meeting Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Ray Charles, The Temptations. Once, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles were at WKY to do a recording, but the single studio used for taping was being used to make a TV commercial for C.R. Anthony’s, a clothing chain. The filming went

16 ionOklahoma DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 Three scenes from the television show the Scene, that was hosted by Ronnie Kaye in the 60s and 70s.

Dr. Pepper also sponsored “The Scene.” They also sponsored “American Bandstand.” The first few shows, Kaye was particular about showing how the dancers looked, dressed, acted and danced. He provided costumes (which he still has). “The Scene” lasted eight years. During that time Dick Clark himself came to the show when it filmed at The State Fair of Oklahoma.

longer and longer. “I kept having to go back to our coffee shop to tell them they needed to wait a little longer,” he said. “I felt bad but they were so nice. When I finally had to tell the group that they wouldn’t be able to tape that day, they took it really well. “They were dressed like they were ready to go on stage but they needed a ride back to their hotel so I took them. They sang to me all the way to their hotel. It was wonderful.” In the mid-1960s, films of bands singing their songs started coming to WKY. They came from bands like the Beatles who didn’t tour a lot. Kaye had been watching “American Bandstand” and thought a show like that would be popular in Oklahoma Clark invited Kaye to Los Angeles to see City. “American Bandstand” and had him sit on the “I asked about bleachers. doing a dance “Now you have to remember that it was the 60s show using local and how we dressed back then. I had on a bright high school purple suit,” Kaye recalled. “I couldn’t believe it students. They when Dick Clark asked about the color of that suit. said yes and gave “I said it was exploding grape.” me a 13 week “American Bandstand” had a popular dance contract,” he contest featuring couples from coast to coast. “The said. “I didn’t Scene” sent the show’s winning couple Deitrich know that Nelson and Davida Williams. They won the 1969 Anthony’s has contest and both received cars. asked about having a show for teenagers just before I “The Scene” started by using specific high schools did.” but finally opened up the show to all schools and loosened the dress code a bit when the show went into

DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 ionOklahoma 17 In the time he’d been working at a TV station, radio had gone into the computer age. He had training, but at first he had trouble trying to find the next song using a mouse. “It was literally like starting over,” he said. “After about a week I walked in to the manager’s office and said I couldn’t do it.” The manager asked him to give it a few more days. It was good advice. Now, he sits in his studio and makes it look effortless as he plays song after song. He talks a little, then plays commercials before going right back into music.

Above, Ronnie Kaye with Dick Clark. Right, Ronnie cuts t he rug with James Brown, syndication. It also was one of the first integrated shows in the area. When the show first began, Kaye asked, and was given two cameras. A third camera was added and by the time it was syndicated into eight markets, it was a four camera show. “It was quality programming, and I made so many He enjoys talking to his listeners and communicating contacts and friends,” he said. with the public. The show had performances from James Brown, Jerry “It’s amazing how perceptive the audience is,” he Lee Lewis, Ray Charles, Jay and the Americans, said. “When I don’t feel good, they call ask what’s Brewer and Shipley and a lot of local bands. wrong.” “The Scene” filmed its last show in 1974. How does a man with 54 years in radio keep going? Kaye played tunes as vinyl, which was replaced with “Every morning I have oatmeal with a banana, an 8-track tapes and cassettes at WKY. As music changed, apple and an orange. Then I go to work,” he said. “I so did the programming at WKY. don’t eat while I’m on the air and I’m not hungry until They let Kaye go in 1980. He worked a few weeks at after I leave.” KOFM, then took a job as News and Public Service In addition to his radio career, Kaye started providing Director at KOKH-TV. music for dances, including the first prom ever held at “I gave Kelly Ogle his first job,” Kaye said, smiling. Graham High School in Okfuskee County in 2000. In 1991, KOMA called. They had changed their The first song? “Footloose, of course.” programming to attract the Baby Boomers and now He provides music for all sorts of parties and an all- played classic rock. school reunion at a metro area casino, giving his fans a “Radio is more exciting than TV. I love it,” he said. chance to thank him in person for the decades of music “It’s theater of the mind.” and memories he has provided. Kaye went to work for KOMA, which now is housed “I am happy and content.” he said, as he left for where WKY used to be, so in a sense he’s back where another meeting. n he started. It almost didn’t happen.

18 ionOklahoma DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016

THEATRE

Broadway musical ‘Ragtime’ national tour to perform at Oklahoma City Community College on Dec. 13-14 Oklahoma City native Jeff Johnson to play role of Booker T. Washington

Oklahoma City Community College will host its first ever Broadway musical production when the national tour of “Ragtime” cakewalks into town for two shows on Sunday, Dec. 13 and Monday, Dec. 14 in the new, student-funded Visual and Performing Arts Center Theater, 7777 S. May Ave.

“Ragtime” is a 13-time Tony Award-nominated musical based on E.L. Doctorow’s best- selling 1975 novel. Set in turn-of-the-century New York, “Ragtime” tells the stories of Coalhouse Walker Jr., a daring, young Harlem musician, Mother, the matriarch of a white, upper-class family in

Ragtime: Coalhouse, Sarah C.Sams, L. Jackson.

20 ion Oklahoma DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 Ragtime: Crime of the Century J. Van Niel. New Rochelle, New York, and Tateh, a determined Jewish at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Gainesville, immigrant from Latvia, all three united by their desire and Florida. The tour concludes June 12 at the Wolf Trap in Vienna, belief in a brighter tomorrow. Virginia. The musical debuted on Broadway in 1998 and ran for 834 The tour makes two stops in eastern Oklahoma before performances, winning Tony Awards for Book of a Musical (by arriving in Oklahoma City: Dec. 7 at the Bartlesville Terrence McNally), Original Musical Score (music by Stephen Community Center and Dec. 8 at the Broken Arrow Performing Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens), Orchestrations (William Arts Center. David Brohn) and Actress in a Featured Role (Audra Starring roles will include Chris Sams as Coalhouse Walker McDonald). Jr., Kate Turner as Mother and Matthew Curiano as Tateh. Director/Choreographer Marcia Milgrom Dodge was Oklahoma City native Jeff Johnson will play the role of Booker nominated for a Tony Award in 2010 for her revival version of T. Washington. Other historical figures appearing in the story the musical which is currently touring. include: Harry Houdini, J. P. Morgan and Henry Ford. “This musical is a timeless celebration of life, with story The soundtrack includes marches, cakewalks, gospel and themes of immigration and racial relations that makes it as ragtime, all of which will be enjoyed in the new theater, relevant today as it ever was,” Dodge said. considered by some to be the best acoustic hall in Oklahoma. The 2015/2016 national tour of “Ragtime” – produced by The scenic design is by Kevin Depinet, lighting design by Phoenix Entertainment – kicked-off its 91-city run on Oct. 22 Mike Baldassari and sound design by Craig Cassidy.

DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 ionOklahoma 21 a Broadway experience that feels a little more intimate, reminiscent of classic New York and London concert halls,” said Lemuel Bardeguez, Acting Vice President for Community Development for OCCC. “Our theater is modern, comfortable and conveniently located. Every seat in the house is a great seat, the sound is incredible and parking is always free and plentiful.”

Ticket Information “Ragtime” is a family-friendly show for all ages. Tickets prices range from $33.50 to $65.50, available online or at the OCCC box office on the night of the show. For more information about “Ragtime,” visit www.ragtimeontour.com . Learn more about Oklahoma City Community College Cultural Programs at www.occc.edu/pas.

Scenes from Ragtime. Above, Buffalo Nickel, M. Curiano. Right, Emma Goldman S. Zwier.

About the Venue OCCC students contributed toward the construction of the new $20 million, 1,049-seat Visual and Performing Arts Center Theater, which opened in Feb. 2014.

Designed as a multi-use theater space capable of accommodating Broadway musicals as well as choirs, orchestras, dance troupes, bands and movie screenings, the stage has already been graced by Francis Ford Coppola, Sandi Patty, Mary Chapin Carpenter and the Glenn Miller Orchestra. “The smaller size of our gorgeous new theater will offer

22 ionOklahoma DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 ART

CHICKASAW ARTISTS’

Native American artists Timothy Tate Nevaquaya, Jim Trosper and Brenda Kingery approach their art differently but achieve similar results: powerful and stare-worthy. Their paintings and photography can be seen through Feb. 29 at three separate locations across Oklahoma. Nevaquaya’s paintings are on display at the Chickasaw Visitor Center in Sulphur; Tropser’s photography is at the Chickasaw Nation Welcome Center in Davis; and Kingery’s paintings are showcased at Exhibit C in Oklahoma City. Nevaquaya, son of artist and renowned flute player “Doc” Tate Nevaquaya, credits his father for setting the example of excellence and guiding his life and art. With his father as a teacher, he learned the basic principles in Native American art forms, as well as flute making and music composition. “My father was Comanche, and my mother Chickasaw,” Nevaquaya said. “I’ve been immersed in Native American culture all of my life. My art is a reflection of my culture. I began my art by painting my father’s styles. As I’ve grown older, I’ve since transitioned my work to be more contemporary, a style all my own.” Nevaquaya’s work has been shown in the “Wisdom Speaks,” a painting by Timothy Tate Nevaquaya. Smithsonian National Museum of the

DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 ion Oklahoma 23 American Indian, Gilcrease Museum of Western Art, Philbrook emotion to make a photo great,” Trosper said. “If I stay Museum of Art and the Oklahoma State Capitol. passionate and pursue a great image, I always seem to end Trosper captures with his camera lens what many of us up in the perfect spot to get emotion from my subject.” miss. Even as a child he appreciated photography and always Whether he’s photographing live bands at the Zoo reached for the camera during family vacations. After Amphitheatre or horse racing at Remington Park, Trosper graduating from UCO with a degree in photographic arts, he challenges himself to work with new photo styles every day, to began freelancing, carefully building a foundation for his create irreplaceable images that capture great moments. career. Kingery’s life is recorded through her paintings, masterfully “While it does take understanding the fundamentals of working with textural patterns, the use of mixed media, acrylic photography to create a good photo, I feel that it takes or oil, and sometimes mica and small objects. “My goal is to create paintings that reflect life’s breath. My work depicts textural patterns that can be described as narrative symbolism reflecting my Native culture. Some of my paintings have been known to have 25 layers of paint,” she said. A Chickasaw artist, Kingery attended graduate school in Japan and at OU, writing her thesis on the origins and influences of Ryukyuan folk art. She was appointed by the President in 2007 to the Board of Trustees of the Institute of American Indians and Native Alaskans in Santa Fe., N.M. Her work has been exhibited across the U.S. and in Asia, Africa and Europe. n

Left, “Dance,” a painting by Brenda Kingery. Below, Jim Trosper’s photograph titled “Road.” ART

JB ART AT THE ELMS HOLIDAY EXHIBIT

JRB Art at The Elms presents a holiday group entire Ship Gallery and include the artist’s whimsical black exhibition with work by 25 Oklahoma artists and white drawings, several large scale paintings, and, for alongside a solo show and installation by the very first time, an in situ artwork on the gallery walls. The Denise Duong. exhibition’s title, “Flux,” highlights continuous change: artistic growth, her travels this year in Uganda and elsewhere, The exhibitions opened with a reception December 4 during the move of her practice between mediums of paint and the Paseo’s First Friday Gallery Walk and continue through drawing, ceramic and in situ. fi Sunday, December 27. Denise Duong’s exhibition will occupy the

GeorgeBogart, 1970, Pandora’s Box, Oil on linen.

DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 ion Oklahoma 25 Gorey, Denise is able to provide human comfort in charming caricature. The gallery’s January program will include 12 paintings by Oscar Brousse Jacobson, as well as a re-vamp of the gallery’s somewhat traditional “white show” – this year called “Tres Blanc.” About 20 Oklahoma artists, some entirely new to the gallery, are expected to display their work. n

Left, DeniseDuong, 2015, chicago 120. Below, Marilyn Artus, her lipstick smiles always created trouble. Opposite page, Ford Beckman, Pop Target 9.

In this last month of 2015, her exhibit is a fitting metaphor for the changes the United States and the world have faced over the past year – and a reminder that nothing but change is yet to come. As Heraclitus of Ephesos said, “change is the only constant.” Denise’s imagery shows the inevitability of change at an adaptable, inviting, and human scale, as people journey with her characters through their poignantly cartoon-like escapades. In some patrons see her dog, a charming white bull terrier, anthropomorphized as only a dog lover could do – at once comic and gentlemanly. In other works, the depiction of social relationships belies Duong’s deep grasp of the human psyche – the daily interactions of two people in love, out of love, on a bike ride, doing business or caught in a windstorm. Like Shel Silverstein and Edward

26 ionOklahoma DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016

PEOPLE

What’s for DINNER? Ree Drummond has the perfect menus BY M. J. VAN DEVENTER

hat’s for dinner? W That’s a late afternoon, early evening lament that stretches across the country, day after day. Families peer into their fridge or freezer, pondering this ever timely question. Cook in? Eat Out? Order take out? Skip supper? For some, the question is so daunting they head for the nearest fast food vendor. Ree Drummond insists dinnertime doesn’t have to be that way. She should know. As the wife of Ladd Drummond, one of Oklahoma’s best-known cattle ranchers on a large, historic spread in the Osage Hills near Pawhuska, Ree has taken this dinnertime bully by the horns and written a new cookbook, which is her fourth. Also, as the mother of four, always hungry children, she believes the new book solves the dinner problem forevermore. “The Pioneer Woman Cooks Dinnertime” is a 398-page handsome, colorful volume complete with abundant recipes and photographs of the energetic and enterprising Drummond family at work and play.

DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 ion Oklahoma 29 Spicy Whiskey BBQ Sliders.

Ree has divided the book into 11 enticing chapters, three focusing on breakfast, salad or soup for dinner. Other topics include freezer food, 16-minute meals, pasta pronto, comfort classics, veggie and starchy sides, new favorites and quick desserts. She notes, on the inside front cover flap: “Don’t get me wrong. I adore breakfast. I love lunch! But dinnertime definitely tops them all. It’s the time of day when we reunite with our sweeties, our kids, our friends, our parents … and catch up on the events of the day over something mouthwatering and delicious. Dinnertime anchors us, nourishes us, and reassures us. It’s the greatest meal of the day.” This cookbook is definitely all about easy to prepare comfort food. The recipe titles are mouth-watering: Cashew Chicken, French Dip Sandwiches, Chicken Marsala, Pan-Fried Pork Chops, Beef Stroganoff, Coconut Curry Shrimp, one of the Drummonds’ household cat’s favorites. photographic tutor like Ree, who takes most of Who could resist such tempting desserts as mini blueberry her own photos. She did let Ladd, whom she lovingly calls “the galettes, quick and easy apple tarts, raspberry fool, a Marlboro Man,” photograph dinner specialties featured on 11 traditional English dessert or your favorite ice cream topped different pages. with a homemade quick caramel or hot fudge sauce. Just so readers will have a glimpse of Ree’s action-packed Like Ree’s three other cookbooks – “Recipes from an life, she includes two pages of a typical week in the family’s Accidental Country Girl,” “Food from My Frontier” or “A Year of life, which she describes in one word - “chaotic.” Holidays” – every recipe is accompanied with step-by-step For a Wednesday night, she writes: “Hallelujah! We’re all photos of how to prepare the dish. You can’t miss with a home together again. It’s a make-it and serve-it kind of

30 ionOklahoma DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 Pioneer Woman Dinnerware comes in several mix-and-match styles and colors.

evening, so at 6:30 I whip out one of my family’s favorite dishes, Cajun Chicken Pasta, (page 188), along with a simple green salad and a batch of The Bread (page 336), which couldn’t be easier to make. We all go to bed very, very happy. And very full!” Ree offers prep tips, noting, “Anything I can think of to do ahead of time to save my sanity, you can bet I’m going to do it.” She also introduces readers to a French cooking concept – mise en place. “It’s a fancy term,” she knows, “but it’s one of the best get-ahead tricks many home cooks can have. In my cooking life, mise en place can manifest itself in two different ways. The first is simply taking a few minutes to measure and assemble ingredients before I start cooking a meal - it makes Oklahoma City fans were treated to several visits a few the cooking process more efficient. years ago, including a book signing at Full Circle Books, when “The second is what I like to call make ahead mise en place. Ree was accompanied by Ladd and their four children. Penn I prepare the entire array of ingredients for a recipe one, two, Square’s lower level was packed, with standing room only. She even three nights ahead, (if the ingredients hold well) then also was the guest speaker for a Pi Beta Phi sorority luncheon store them on a rimmed baking sheet in the fridge.” at the Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club. Ree uses a variety of kitchen aids to hold these ingredients On Nov. 28, she returned for another engagement at Full - Pyrex or ceramic bowls or ramekins, covered if necessary, Circle. plastic zipper bags, Mason jars or foil packets. If necessary, Since starting her website blog in 2006, The Pioneer she uses another tray for the countertop for dry or canned Woman, Ree has become a number one best-selling author items as rice, beans, flour, cornmeal or tomatoes. with her three other cookbooks. “These make-ahead meal ‘kits’ are exciting because they Her cooking show, The Pioneer Woman, premiered on the give me the promise of a super-quick homemade meal in the Food Network in 2011. Her latest venture, in addition to the coming days. Have your kids help you put these together at new book, is a collection of dinnerware and colorful cookware the start of the week. It really does make dinnertime fun,” she with butterfly knobs sold exclusively at Wal-Mart stores and promises. Walmart.com . Linens will eventually be added to the cookware Even though Ree admits, in print, “I really don’t like going line. to the grocery store,” she does offer stocking up tips. Her list As Ree tours across the country promoting her new book and may differ from yours but she suggests keeping items on hand cookware, she is telling fans the Dinnertime book is her that are staples in your fridge, freezer and pantry. favorite. Her latest book, like all her others, is a keeper. If you are a “I packed as much deliciousness into each chapter as newcomer to her fan club or blog, start with her first book, possible. My hope is that you will turn to this book regularly to “The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels ~ A Love solve your dinnertime dilemmas and that you will use these Story.” Ree calls it her story of “an unlikely romance” with a recipes to feed your family time and time again. The more chaps-wearing ruggedly handsome cowboy. stains, smudges and smears on the pages, the better!” n

DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 ionOklahoma 31 PEOPLE

Annie Oakley Society Honors Noted Philanthropist and Navy Admiral

BY M. J. VAN DEVENTER

nnie Oakley was a high-spirited trailblazer in the American West and the national society that A applauds her character has honored two distinguished women who have achieved historic reputations. Josephine “Jose” Freede, a well-known Oklahoma City philanthropist, and Michelle Howard, a four-star United States Navy Admiral, were honored by the Annie Oakley Society in November during a luncheon ceremony at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. Freede was honored with the Society’s Lifetime Achievement Award. The other recipients of that honor were Linda Davis, 2011, and Pat Summitt, 2014. Davis is a Cimarron, New Mexico rancher, daughter of one of the museum’s earliest board members and now, a current member of the museum’s board of directors. Summitt was an award-winning women’s basketball coach at the University of Tennessee. Howard was honored with the Annie Oakley Society Award, the organization’s highest honor. Howard was born in California, graduated from high school in Colorado and was chosen as a distinguished honoree from the American West. Howard joins the ranks of four other women who have been past recipients of this award – former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Reba McIntyre, Nadia Comaneci and Kristin Chenoweth.

Josephine ‘Jose’ Freede Freede was one of the Society’s founding members in 2010 and also a founding member of the museum’s Docent Council. An Oklahoma resident for the past 60 years, she is a native of Plymouth, United Kingdom and met her late husband, Dr. Henry Freede, in London, while she was serving as an orthopedic nurse. Her good friend for the past 30 years, Oklahoma City resident Joan

32 ion Oklahoma DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 Gilmore, said, “Jose survived the bombing of World War II in “The first recipient of her service was the Republican Party, London and spent part of her childhood in a safer area of which she served as a block volunteer. To this day, she Britain. Survivor is a descriptive word that still describes her. remains faithful and generous to Republican candidates. For “She and Henry fell in love. He returned to his career at example: Jeb Bush comes to Oklahoma City, Jose is at his Oklahoma City’s McBride Hospital. When Jose arrived in New table for lunch,” Gilmore said. York City from England, they were married in Manhattan’s Cathy Keating, a former First Lady of Oklahoma, recipient of Grace Episcopal Church. In Oklahoma, Jose turned her nursing the Society’s 2014 Trailblazer Award, and a founding member training aside and began a career in volunteering and of the Annie Oakley Society, recounted Freede’s volunteer philanthropy,” Gilmore noted. service. Keating said, “For more than 60 years, Jose has embodied the spirit of Annie Oakley in her approach to bettering her community. A 2002 inductee into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, she became known as the ‘million dollar volunteer,’ ” referring to the money she has raised for the worthy causes she and her family supported. An avid supporter of education and the arts, her longstanding civic involvement in organizations includes serving on the boards of numerous organizations and contributing to Allied Arts, the Oklahoma City Symphony Orchestra, its women’s committee, and the Oklahoma City Horse Show. Oklahoma City University inducted her into its Meinders School of Business Hall of Fame. Both Integris and Mercy

Josephine ‘Jose’ Freede (above) has received the Lifetime Achievement Award and Admiral Michelle Howard (right) the Annie Oakley Society Award, the organization’s highest honor.

DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 ionOklahoma 33 Admiral Michelle Howard

Admiral Michelle Howard Dr. Steven Karr, president of the National Cowboy Museum, said, “Admiral Howard is the definition of what we honor every day at the museum. The American West is known historically as a challenging frontier. Admiral Howard continues to exemplify a modern-day pioneer spirit by rising to life’s challenges with drive, tenacity and perseverance.” Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin presented Howard’s award, tracing her military achievements. Her notable assignments included leading relief efforts in Indonesia following a 2004 tsunami and directing maritime security operations and multi-national counter-piracy efforts off the coast of Somalia in 2009. Howard’s leadership led to the rescue of the Maersk and Alabama Captain Richard Phillips, who was made famous in a 2013 film starring Tom Hanks. Howard’s honors outside the military include receiving the NAACP Chairman’s Award in 2013, the 2011 USO Military Woman of the Year Award, and the 2009 Dominion Power Strong Men and Women Excellence in Leadership Award. Keating said of Howard: “She demonstrates the diversity of hospitals have honored her. The Freede name is on a theater experience this award represents, as women leaders come from in the Civic Center Music Hall, as well as on buildings at all backgrounds, races, religions and industries. These women Special Care, the University of Oklahoma and OCU. should be honored and positioned for a new generation of Gilmore said, “Jose’s life as a widow has not slowed her young people to look up to them and aspire to be like them.” down. Not only does she purchase tables and donate to major The Annie Oakley Society includes women leaders and good causes, she attends them and encourages friends to do philanthropists, who, like Annie Oakley, play significant roles the same. She is friendly and loved. When she attends an in shaping communities and creating new horizons. Through event at the Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club, the staff their efforts, society members work to demonstrate an undying brings her a special comfortable chair to sit in.” determination, passion for excellence and support for the As a close friend, Gilmore noted, “Jose has done so many nice American character preserved and promoted through the things for me, but a special treat was her taking me to meet National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. Laura Bush and Mitt Romney’s wife, face to face and chatting. She loves brunch on Sunday mornings at the Hefner Golf Club For further information about the Annie Oakley Society contact diner, where we eat eggs benedict, drink hot tea, dress casual the National Cowboy Museum at (405) 478-2250. n and talk about people and current events. At benefits, she likes to leave as soon as dessert is served and so do I.” Keating said, “Freede’s longstanding civic involvement is a testament to her lifetime of achievements in our community.”

34 ionOklahoma DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016

COMMUNITY

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER SHARES VIEW OF NEW ELECTRONIC GLOBAL ECONOMY…

ulitzer Prize-winning foreign affairs one of America’s leading interpreters of world affairs columnist Thomas Friedman and the new globalization. P delivered a relevant, timely and The goal of the Distinguished Speakers Series at UCO inspirational message at the is to cultivate learning and inspire meaningful dialogue University of Central Oklahoma Nov. 10. among many interested students, faculty, and local community leaders. The speech was the final session in the Distinguished Friedman was the final speaker of the Distinguished Speaker Series at UCO. Speakers Series, which has been held this year as part Friedman, of The New York Times, focused on how of the university’s 125th anniversary. the world is exploding with information like never Other speakers during 2015 included Grammy Award before and told several of his unique experiences and winning singer-songwriter John Legend, Barbara Bush perspective shared from his latest book The Lexus and and Jenna Bush Hagar, and the Brookings Institution’s the Olive Tree. Bruce Katz. Laura Butler, assistant director of student leadership “I have enjoyed reading all of Friedman’s books and programs and the Distinguished Speakers Series weekly column in the New York Times,” said UCO Committee are to be commended for their decision to President Don Betz. “I don’t think there is anyone in invite Friedman to speak at UCO, as he is considered American journalism that articulates better the forces

36 ion Oklahoma DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 shaping the world as Friedman does.” Friedman explained how he was nervous at first sitting Friedman delivered an impressive keynote in the back seat of the car with an engineer on a laptop presentation describing how the advent of new computer driving the car seated in the front seat, but electronic technology, especially the Internet, is soon felt safe as the computer driver of the car had impacting the world and all our lives. better vision outside the car than the traditional driver “Today, if you want to be a dairy farm hand, I hope sitting behind the wheel. you’ve taken computer science, because you will never Next he shared that 3G phone service is now get any closer to a cow than that,” said Friedman. available at the summit of Mount Everest. He shared what he called “the last human” and told “We are now in the age of the last human,” he said. of the IBM computer Watson answering questions on “The last human bus driver, the last human taxi driver, the game show “Jeopardy” under 2 seconds and beating the last human x-ray reader.” two human champions of the game. Freidman said he’s careful in his book to not use the He shared his experience riding as a passenger in a term the cloud, because it is too fluffy, too soft. Google X self-driving car, which has been driven more “This is a supernova. It’s an explosion of energy that than a million miles and been in 12 accidents – all keeps on exploding. And what it does and what it’s rear-end accidents caused by drivers in other cars. doing is putting into the hands of human beings the

UCO DSS Committee: (left to right) Francis Mooney; Leigha Pemberton, Manager Sport Programs, Wellness Center; Sarah Ward, Coordinator Communications and Marketing, College of Business; DSS featured speaker John Legend; Reagan Hamlin, Assistant Vice President of Development; Anne Holzberlein, UCO@125 Chair; Vice President of Development; Laura Butler, DSS Chair; Assistant Director of Student Leadership Programs in Leadership Central; Nicole Doherty, Coordinator Student Organizations

DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 ionOklahoma 37 most power and energy that’s ever been put in the hands of human beings since fire,” he said. Friedman said next, “the implication is that it’s an amazing time to be maker of things. His warning, however, is that competition is now open to everyone on the globe. Companies will offer projects to anyone in the world who can manufacture items quickly and more efficient. With this understanding of globalization, Friedman is worried that high-wage, middle-skill jobs that built America’s middle class are things of the past. The jobs today now require more skills, are outsourced to

Below, UCO President Don Betz introduces Thomas Friedman. Right, Thomas Friedman.

38 ionOklahoma DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 UCO President Don Betz with Thomas Friedman. workers in other countries, or to machines, or are now asked what was the most important thing to be just obsolete, he said. The core challenge facing happening then…I think what they will say is that was America is how to regain those mid-level jobs which the greatest technological inflection since the will not only require more education to understand Gutenberg press,” said Friedman. technology, but also include certain human social Unlike Gutenbergs’s invention, which touched only skills, he said. those people who could read or had access to printing, The faster the world gets, the more everything that is Friedman said, the current inflection is happening at old and slower really matters like community, good high speed and touching huge areas of the planet and parenting, solid education, good religious leaders and people around the world all at once. n good government. “When historians or archaeologists some 50 or 60 years from now look back at the early 2000’s and are

DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 ionOklahoma 39 FASHION PERFECTLY DRESSED eyes and lips Go sexy, sultry and sophisticated

BY LINDA MILLER

dark and sultry pout or one that’s innocently A nude can be beautiful.

So can eyes smoldering in smoky black or charcoal or subdued shades of gold and copper. Both are perfect for the holidays. Since they’re not everyday beauty looks, at least for most women, emphasizing the lips and eyes is one way to achieve a look that’s pretty and sexy. Red lipstick is timeless but a bit predictable, especially during the holidays and moving forward toValentine’s Day. Going dark red adds an element of sophistication and suggestion. Alex Mendez-Kelley, owner of The MakeUp Bar, likes illumination on the cheeks and under the

Dark lips and soft smoky eyes, a sultry look for the holidays.

Scarlet Empress lipstick by NARS

40 ion Oklahoma DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 Left, Actress Jennifer Lopez with smoky eyes and nude lips.

Below, Kevyn Aucoin’s “Bloody Gorgeous” look. Vesuvian lip gloss by Kevyn Aucoin.

brows, smoky eyes and dramatic red lips. “Red, dark lips. The deeper, darker, purplier, berrier, the better.” A few of her favorite lipstick shades include Blackberry Jam by Serenity + Scott and Scarlet Empress and Fire Down Below from NARS. Not every woman – or man – is enamored with dark lips, though. “Of course, my husband Joe finds it very sexy when I do my eyes ‘dark,’ which is smoky when translated from ‘man-ese,’ and glossy nude lips,” she said. One of her go-to products for a smoky eye is The She regularly reaches for Lipstick MakeUp Bar’s “sha-liner” in Mindless. It’s a true, dark Queen’s Sinner Nude and tops it with black gel liner that gives a precise line and smudge, Kevyn Aucoin’s Vesuvian gloss. Mendez-Kelley said. Bottom line: Embrace perfectly dressed “I feel for holiday parties and such, I can go crazy, lips and eyes. If it’s easier, play up just and black can’t be black enough and lips can’t be nude one. Smoky eyes with nude lips. Dramatic, wet enough,” she said. “I live for nude lips.” dark lips with more subtle eyes. Either look is the perfect complement for a holiday party, romantic dinner on Valentine’s Day or any date night that includes sparkling wine and candlelight. n

DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 ionOklahoma 41 PEOPLE THE PINUP DAMES!

42 ion Oklahoma DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 Supermodel for a day BY MINDY RAGAN WOOD

omen come in all shapes and “We don’t let clients see themselves during the hair sizes, but sadly the fashion and makeup so they get that reveal affect. I remember W industry holds up only one as the first time a woman cried. This woman walked in and the ideal female. As the media you could tell she had no self-esteem. A friend of hers reverences the thin super model, American had talked her into it. She looked at herself in the women with “real” bodies feel less attractive with every billboard and cover girl they see.

Photographer Tammie Godfrey is changing that one dame at a time. She created “The Pin-Up Dames” to restore pride and confidence for full figured and curvy women. Boudoir or retro pin-up, she poses women in their most flattering positions and uses lighting techniques to reveal the unapologetic woman of today. Godfrey is adamant about not “photoshopping” women into thinner versions of themselves. “A photo session at Pin-Up Dames is all about embracing the beautiful woman you are, just the way you are. I am asked daily if I can ‘take away’ this or that, ‘can you make me skinny, remove 20 lbs?’ or, ‘remove the hail dents and stretch marks?’ and on and on it goes. My typical response is, ‘Yes, I can, but I won’t. I will polish you, but not change you.’” When she opened the studio in 2007 she was not prepared for how rewarding her work would be. Godfrey remembered the first woman who cried after the makeover.

Photographer Tammie Godfrey created “The Pin-Up Dames” to restore pride and confidence for full figured and curvy women.

DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 ionOklahoma 43 mirror and screamed. She was crying to my stylist, ‘I’ve never felt pretty before. I’ve never felt pretty and you just made me feel pretty.” Men have also contacted Godfrey and thanked her for “showing real women.” Their website and Facebook page shares stories from women who say it’s changed their lives. “You gave me inspiration to feel better about myself and my body,” wrote Denise B. “I’m 58 years old, I have gained massive amounts of a weight since the car wreck that changed my life, and as I’ve aged, I have very poor self-esteem. I was just devastated from my situation that I was in romantically and physically. Most people would say I am intimidating and very self-assured, but it is a huge facade. When Tammie showed me the slideshow from my photoshoot, I was floored! I literally did not know that I could look that beautiful. They were very tasteful, incorporating all of my best qualities,” wrote Leah. Godfrey said she is continually amazed at the difference she sees in women after their shoot. They’re wearing makeup, fixing their hair, and taking pride in their appearance. “My favorite clients are the housewives and working mothers because we don’t do anything for ourselves. We give our last breath to our kids, our husbands and our work,” she said. “We let ourselves go.”

44 ionOklahoma DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 Many of these women come back for more after the first shoot, every couple of months with new clothes or shoes. “It’s the experience. They feel sexy; it makes them feel good about themselves,” said Godfrey. It’s common for women to feel uncomfortable or even scared at first. “Especially at the beginning of the shoot, you can tell they’re shy and insecure, but by the end of it they’re rocking the shoot like they’re America’s next top model,” said Godfrey. Clients meet with Godfrey before the sessions for a consultation regarding the style and package they want. Some clients want modern boudoir, others strictly pin-up or a combination of both looks. Some women go The studio has a wardrobe but clients are for the sultry bombshell and others for the ballroom encouraged to bring their own clothing items as well. goddess. The sitting fee of $75 includes 1-2 outfits, professional hair and makeup. Photography packages start at $199. Unless the studio is shooting a party of women, no one is allowed to accompany the client inside the shoot. “It’s harder for them to relax if they’re got someone standing over their shoulder. Or the friend that comes in with them gets jealous because they’re not in it. They’ll say things like, ‘really, you’re going to wear that?’ or ‘you’re really going to get that picture?’ It’s very positive here, so if someone is a Debbie-downer, they’re asked to stay out front until their session,” she said. Not all women have to sign a model release form, but those who are showing themselves to the world enjoy the comments on the Pin-Up Dames Facebook page. Their images have drawn clients from out of state, and as far away as Canada and Australia. What’ the secret to Godfey’s success? “Other boudoir photographers are just selling the sexy, but we’re giving them a whole experience. We work with clients based on that connection so they’re seeing themselves in the photos and not someone they think they should pretend to be, like Marilyn Monroe.” For more information, visit www.pinupdames.com or call 405-331-9996. n

DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 ionOklahoma 45 The Bestselling Book by Kent Frates Oklahoma’s Most Notorious Cases Six cases that remain the talk of the courtroom

Oklahoma has had more than its share of sensational legal battles with national ramifications, but for the first time in one volume, attorney/historian Kent Frates reveals the facts behind six cases that helped shape the history of the state—and the nation.

From bloody murders, to political scandal, to the horrific act of domestic terrorism known as the Oklahoma City Bombing, OKLAHOMA’S MOST NOTORIOUS CASES captures the stories, the times, and the import of these landmark trials. Only $24 Read the book that inspired the serial Includes 16 page s podcast We Will Always Remember of historic photos! available at (RealMysteries.us | weekly Feb. 12 to April 23) Full Circle Bookstore, OKC Best of Books, Edmond Order now by visiting The Bookseller, Ardmore The Book Place, Broken Arrow www. OkMostNotoriousCases .com or calling toll free 877.536.7634 and Barnes & Noble TRAVEL

BY LINDA MILLER klahoma Wondertorium in Stillwater is Photos by Oklahoma Wondertorium O serious about play. This is where young minds can examine a surgery center, build castles or towering skyscrapers with foam blocks or wooden links – and then knock them down; perform on stage, navigate giant magnets on a wall and have fun with a maze of air tubes. The Wondertorium’s mission is to offer a safe, engaging space for unstructured play. Everything in the museum is intended to inspire. It’s about the experience and during that experience parent and child engage, often playing together.

DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 ion Oklahoma 47 Children who don’t know each other become partners in play. THE MUSEUM’S PLAY-TO-LEARN METHOD allows children to Ideas and solutions start to form. The brain kicks into gear. imagine, problem solve, test and lead. Children learn about math, physics, air flow, different “The best thing we can do is offer a safe, clean engaging cultures, engineering and problem-solving. All through play. space for kids to do their best work,” Moore said. “There’s Clayton Moore, executive director of Wondertorium, said an value in giving a child the space and opportunity to play and added benefit is that adults, either through engaging with play well.” children or watching them on the floor, begin to realize the Wondertorium features more than a dozen exhibits, many of importance of play, that it can be an important and fun way to which are open-ended so children may see it differently each learn. visit. For babies and toddlers to 24 months, there’s an “Unstructured play is the core of our mission,” he said, and enclosed Little Wonders room for tot time and interactive play. it leaves children with a really good feeling. The rest of the museum is more open so children can move At Wondertorium, children don’t make something to take easily from exhibit to exhibit without being far from an adult. home. “This process is to create, not to walk away with There’s the Forest Playground with rock climbing, tunnels and anything,” Moore said. slides; a barnyard so children can learn that food doesn’t With OSU and its diversity, children at the museum are exposed magically appear; and a Japanese house to honor Stillwater’s to different cultures and languages, sounds and learning. sister city in Kameoka, Japan. The Discovery Diner, Artist’s Pad “That makes it a gem,” he said. “The science that happens and Water Works inspire creative play and problem solving skills. on that floor is just as significant as any research anywhere.” As children play and are exposed to everything from math WONDERTORIUM HAS BEEN OPEN FOUR YEARS but started as and physics to medicine and performing, it gives them a an outreach program. It came about when two mothers belief they can do it for real, he said. realized Stillwater had much to offer but not as much for Moore said the museum’s goal is for children to feel better families. They did their research, surveyed children and about themselves when they leave. When they discern parents about what type of exhibits interested them, started something they didn’t know or make a friend, that’s a good bringing Museum without Walls programs into schools and thing, he said. then complemented those educational activities with Wondertorium.

A-mazing Airways is a maze of tubes. “It’s a great story of people not just satisfied with the status quo and who didn’t just complain,” said Debbie Williams, the museum’s programs coordinator. “They said, ‘What can we do?’ ” The community got behind the idea from the beginning and still pitches in to help. People regularly clean out their closets and drawers and bring in craft supplies, buttons and medicine bottles, anything that can be used or recycled for exhibits. Volunteers have built furniture and props. In three to five years, the plan is to build a new museum closer to downtown Stillwater. “Hopefully it will be our dream home,” Williams said. “This is our first home and we’ve learned so much.” Williams said the museum anticipated 13,000 visitors the first year. More than 47,000 came, and those numbers have stayed constant each year. “This was sorely needed in the community,” Williams said. Oklahoma Wondertorium is at 308 W Franklin Lane in Stillwater. Call (405) 533-5333 or go to okwondertorium.org for hours and more information. n

Medical needs are examined in the surgery center. BOOK BUZZ: Show Us Your Book by Lucie Smoker

When you want to know what people will be talking about in the next few months, find out what books they are reading now. This month, influential Oklahomans showed us their favorite books of the year. Next, it's your turn. Take a selfie with your fav and send it to [email protected]. I'll publish some of your choices in the February column.

FROM UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA PRESIDENT DAVID BOREN Our Kids by Robert Putnam

“I am reading it along with our students at the University of Oklahoma as a part of the One Campus One Book program through our Student Government Association,” said President Boren.

“It is especially fascinating to me, because it shows how a failure to have access to good schools handicaps an individual from achieving the American dream. Upward social mobility, which includes moving from the bottom quartile economically at birth to the top quartile economically through life is at an all-time low in America. Only 4% are able to experience that level of progress. The book clearly is a wakeup call. The American dream of equal opportunity is in danger.”

FROM THE WONDERTORIUM PROGRAMS COORDINATOR DEBBIE WILLIAMS The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt

“It is one of those rare books that is equally enjoyed by children and adults,” said Williams. In this silly story, Duncan just wants to color, he opens his box of crayons to find only letters, all saying the same thing: His crayons have had enough! They quit! Beige Crayon is tired of playing second fiddle to Brown. Black wants to be used for more than just outlining. Blue needs a break from coloring water. And Orange and Yellow are no longer speaking— each believes he is the true color of the sun. What can Duncan possibly do? “I could philosophize about the deeper meaning of the book but suffice it to say all of us should have the right to think outside of the box.”

50 ionOklahoma DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 Mrs. Claus’ Night Before Christmas by Oklahoma author, Carrie McKenzie

“One of our holiday traditions at the WONDERtorium is Cupcakes With Mrs. Claus. Carrie and I were both frustrated with the lack of quality holiday books available for children. In keeping with our theme, I suggested we create our own story based on what Mrs. Claus does when Santa leaves to make his deliveries. The next day Carrie had penned this wonderful rhyming story. Then we found Gabi Martin who made the words jump to life with her illustrations. The two of them have collaborated to create a fun and whimsical holiday story. It’s been great fun to watch the evolution of this story from the germ of an idea to a full-fledged book.”

FROM OKLAHOMA CITY BALLET ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, ROBERT MILLS One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

The mental ward, Nurse Ratched, Chief Bromden, McMurphy and the shocking climax still resonate today. “As a young boy interested in the arts and studying ballet, I was naturally drawn to things counter-culture because at times when I was not interested in the Friday night football games, seasonal school dances, or many of the things other young people around me were interested in,” Mills said, “I felt counter culture myself. In Kesey's novel, the idea of questioning conformity and societal norms set in the backdrop of a mental institution was a powerful and uplifting book that helped me understand how and why we have a need to define ourselves.”

DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 ionOklahoma 51 FROM ANNIE BEWLEY, STORYTIME SCIENCE COORDINATOR, SCIENCE MUSEUM OKLAHOMA Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty

“This book, starring the great-great-grandniece of Rosie the Riveter, teaches children that it’s okay to fail because mistakes are nothing but a great first try. Only true failure can come if you quit.” What an inspiration to find history, encouragement and humor all in one book!

FROM IONOKLAHOMA BOOK BUZZ COLUMNIST, LUCIE SMOKER Second to Nun by Alice Loweecey

This is a charming, old-school mystery with snarky, new-school laughs. Giulia Falcone-Driscoll is a former nun turned private investigator with a knack for finding trouble. When her new client drags her to a tarot reader who advises that Fate wants Giulia to evict a ghost from her lighthouse B&B, things get interesting. When she finds out about the missing family gold coins and cut gas lines, Giulia takes her husband Frank on an unplanned vacation to the lighthouse. I enjoyed her attitude and relationship with Frank. How many books even depict happy couples anymore?

A suspense author and freelance writer, Lucie is featured with Goldie Hawn, Piper Kerman, Elizabeth Gilbert, Weird Al, and others in The Best Advice in Six Words available as an e-book and hardcover gift book.

52 ionOklahoma DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 ENTERTAINMENT

BY JACOB OLLER

The Night Before Rated: R / Runtime: 1h 41m

THE NIGHT BEFORE , A HOLIDAY HANGOVER, a spectacle comedy of man-children and pop culture riffs, rises above its raunchy reference humor thanks to its consequence-driven character exploration.

Not to mention this is one of the only R-rated comedies I’ve pregnant wife, explores maturity and maternity with heart, seen where the supporting female cast gets arcs of their own. even as she’s providing Rogen’s character with a boxful of Lizzy Caplan (as Diana, the girl Joseph Gordon-Levitt couldn’t “every drug”. commit to) is coy, sexual, and adamantly set in her values – Thankfully, the character-centric surprises don’t stop there. all while fan-girling over Miley Cyrus. It’s just a nice bonus Gordon-Levitt plays Ethan, an orphaned thirty-something that her chemistry with Gordon-Levitt is off the charts. Thanks clinging to the gimcrack traditions built with his friends in to the honesty of the characters, their responses, and their their early twenties. His friends are his family and they’re teasing, sharp dialogue, their collective ten or so minutes of growing up, leaving his arrested development behind. Rogen’s conversation resonate like every wannabe star vehicle rom- Isaac is on the brink of fatherhood, and much like his com in the last ten years has not. Jillian Bell, as Seth Rogen’s character in the excellent Neighbors, he struggles with accepting domestic responsibility at the expense of unlimited, reckless freedom. Anthony Mackie completes the trio as newly minted football star Chris, social media whore and steroid abuser. Each expresses symptoms of the Peter Pan syndrome sweeping through R-rated comedies, though more thoughtfully than The Night Before’s contemporaries. Even if this film doesn’t ask you to think hard, it’s progressivism still finds root in its open-mindedness. Religiously, familially, and sexually, The Night Before posits that everything is in shades of grey. Chris’s mom, played by the excellent Lorraine Toussaint, is shown as a good mother and Christian that gives dinner leftovers to the homeless while

DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 ion Oklahoma 53 swearing at Ethan for stoner humor have never found a more perfect conduit. losing the girl of his dreams. This isn’t a ALTHOUGH THE FILM COULD’VE BEEN much improved, not to sassy grandma or a mention about 20 minutes shorter, if it cut the five or six saintly mother; she’s just nuanced musical numbers, The Night Before rises above its raunchy enough to stay with you and seem real. A shrooming Isaac competitors thanks to its understanding of consequential receives dick pics thanks to an accidental phone-swap, and his storytelling. increasingly open replies to them are the opposite of the I’m not talking point A to point B plot road-mapping, but a standard bro-comedy’s gay panic. The movie isn’t making fun of story in which the actions and responses of its characters him, or the fact that he may not be 100 percent heterosexual, create noticeable changes. I don’t want to end up with the but rather the absurdity of the situation. Surprisingly enough, same happy-go-lucky bar-hopping losers that we started off those penises are the only nudity in the film, which is absurdly with. They’re presented as a problem. refreshing in its own right. No topless Christmas elves just Other comedies with similar veins would keep the ending because, only the equity of male nudity. open for the possibilities for a sequel, but here it’s impossible. But that’s not the only way The Night Before subverts The very notion of a sequel, of seeing these same characters expectations. From the grand musical number ending in a do more of the same, undermines the very premise. dramatic gesture that is soundly rejected to the corporate The emotional closure, the growth – too honest to be hokey, sponsorship whose product is the butt of jokes, The Night Before even if the writing often has a laser target on the proverbial knows how dumb you think it is and surprises at every turn. nose – pushes its characters into adulthood through their Bolstered by amusing cameos by Miley Cyrus and Nathan close friendship. The closer you are with someone, the harder Fielder, spectacle comedy and ubiquitous product placement it is to tell them they need to change. Inside this, The Night roast on their skewers alongside emotional immaturity. Michael Before nests the notion that these are often the only people Shannon, as a drug-dealing riff on about ten holiday classics, that CAN say these things. And of course, the outermost has the most Oscar-worthy supporting performance in a comedy nesting doll is the one caked in weed, tacky sweaters, and since Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder. Gruff gravitas and hilarious jokes.

54 ionOklahoma DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 Crimson Peak Rated: R / Runtime: 1h 59m

ONE OF THE FIRST THINGS CRIMSON PEAK DOE s, other than establish that ghosts are real and very present in this story, is namecheck Mary Shelley. Leave your preconceptions at the door, it says, and prepare to embrace the heightened Gothic ghost story in this film’s delightfully romantic bloody waltz.

Director/Writer Guillermo del Toro has always had Something, you may ascertain at a penchant for macabre visual flair, but his films this point, is not right about this have never felt like traditional horror. And, to be whole situation. fair, this movie may not be the horror many The escalating anxiety and contemporary viewers expect. This is no found- tension dovetails with Edith’s footage, shaky webcam, haunted doll shlock. This burgeoning curiosity and Sir is the hyper-crafted, meticulous, grand creepiness Thomas’ growing uncertainty. of films like The Shining or The Exorcist . Wasikowska coats Edith’s tough core Drawing from Juan López Moctezuma’s 1970s with a dainty, prim padding, much Mexican horror – the bloody bathtubs of Alucarda like the fluffy shoulders on her and the flowing petticoats of The Mansion of gowns. That the character is never Madness – del Toro weaves his influences written as a pushover, but as a gaslit together with the visual flair we’ve grown to mark slowly uncovering the depth of expect. His smoky, gory wraiths have a creepy, her own deceit, does wonders for our messy gravitas lost with the invisible jump-scare affections for her. She’s as tough as machines found in other films. These aren’t special effects, any horror protagonist – an Ellen Ripley in lace. they’re characters that melt before your eyes. They drip and Hiddleston secretes so much oily charm that it feels like you scream, writhing with an anguishing psychic pain that should wipe him off with a cloth. His darkness, somehow immediately tempers our fear with sympathy. linked to his past, glints sharply below the surface of his These horrors come filtered through the eyes of Mia expertly crafted, Victorian pickup artist veneer. Chastain’s Wasikowska’s aspiring writer, Edith Cushing. Edith quickly wild-eyed desperation makes me want her to stick with horror sets herself apart from her catty socialite contemporaries with films: she’s just so riveting. She captures you with the her drive to publish her horror manuscript, masking her smallest movements, holding you hostage to squirm in her handwriting to disguise her gender. This leads to her chance unbearable yet inescapable presence. Later in the film she encounter with dark, mysterious baronet Sir Thomas Sharpe becomes a beautiful whirling nightmare, as terrifying as any (Tom Hiddleston in one of his finest performances). He and his creature concocted in del Toro’s imagination. sister (the brilliantly unhinged Jessica Chastain) eventually Unfortunately, the miscast Charlie Hunnam seems out of his lure Edith back to their mountaintop manor where the blood- depth surrounded by such wonderful performances, his accent red clay seeps and stains the landscape like Lady MacBeth’s and charm wavering on the side of high school Shakespeare. unwashable hands. That aside, the film’s atmosphere makes up for any weak

DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 ionOklahoma 55 spots. More romance thematic horrors, than horror, no jump embracing the Gothic scares or tongue-in- adoration of sexual cheek sex romps, cynicism with clever Crimson Peak builds commentary. Love, on the feeling that while not abandoned something is wrong. or scorned, floats out It eats at you, an of reach, dangerous atrophying cholera but worth reaching slowly burning away for. The inevitability at any feelings of of most fairy tales, in comfort or safety. which being warned Aside from the of danger often lead excellently perverse to being embroiled in and intelligent it, culminates in the script, the visual full-circle finale. After storytelling demands a cathartic chase and your attention. showdown that will Edith’s investigations into the mysteries of the Peak contain go down as one of the most heart-pounding, gorgeously-shot, several visual setpieces – a trunk and keyring, tea trays and and passion-fueled horror endings in modern memory, the wax phonograph cylinders – that resonate with meaning even audience releases their collectively held breath not with a as they serve as key plot devices. The production design of sigh, but a cheer. these items, the mansion, and the rest of the film perfectly Beautiful and horrible, Crimson Peak has the discordant captures the heightened decorative masquerade disguising panache and meaty substance to be an instant horror classic the brutal truths beneath the surface. and perennial Halloween favorite. Cyclical violence and manipulative relationships lurk as

Spectre Rated: PG-13 / Runtime: 2h 30m

DESPITE COLLAPSING INTO CLUMSINESS near the finale, Spectre’s James Bond dovetails in a perfect combination of Craig-era romantic irony and classic 007 cool.

Daniel Craig may not ever have a lot of plot to work with, melding of damaged lover and aloof assassin. From the but he’s crafted a nuanced James Bond who’s evolved from opening moments, we realize Bond has regressed even further the violent meat-weapon of Casino Royale to the smug, into himself since Skyfall: suave as ever, but with his panache distant, romantic Bond in Spectre. That he does so in a directed towards the efficient completion of his mission, not a standoffish, almost thuggish way speaks volumes to his one-night stand.

56 ionOklahoma DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 The opening sequence is a doozy. Director Sam Mendes and director of photography Hoyte Van Hoytema (Her, Interstellar) follow an extended tracking shot (that ends with Bond strutting atop a parapet like a runway) with a combination of ’70s noir, throwback Bond set pieces, and modern Wes Anderson-style centered symmetry. This is a very pretty 007, with the opening titles possessing a Girl with the Dragon Tattoo-level of black, dripping, dangerous sexuality. Colors flip between the cold blues of London and the rustic browns and oranges of Rome and Africa, while each frame is composed compensate for its partial delves into intangibility. This may with such care that even the uninitiated or unobservant can be Craig’s lightest Bond yet, in terms of cheeky winks and identify the intended focal point and manage to ascertain visual gags. Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy) helps some deeper meaning. those along as a perfectly overwhelming henchman, As Bond attempts to investigate and thwart a scheme bulldozing his way through obstacles, scenery, and Bond somehow involving the surveillance state and his own tragic himself with the showmanship garnered through a career of backstory (the plot is drivel), he stumbles into enough car pro wrestling. chases, train fights, and building demolitions to excite the And where would 007 be without a new Bond girl? This most jaded action fan. Car chases look like violent iteration’s offering, Léa Seydoux (The Grand Budapest Hotel, commercials, all impossible gliding turns and glossy exteriors. Inglorious Basterds) as Madeleine, slays as a counter to Bond. Luckily, humor is routinely injected into the action to Equally funny, sultry, and poignant, Seydoux counters Craig’s

DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 ionOklahoma 57 hardened casing with the lamest, easiest, a delicate veneer of least dramatic way her own. She and Eva possible. Bond runs Green will go down as through an on-the-nose two of the best. metaphor for aging while M and the rest of FOR ALL THE CHEEK the crew hack a SPECTRE GIVES YOU , computer. Yes, this is as soon as it turns to basically the same final the plot, it act as Furious 7. And immediately becomes yes, Furious 7 does it broadly no-nonsense much, much better. and jumbled. If you Which is saying meshed all the something. Mission: Impossible plots into the newer Fast & Furious storylines, you’d have an I WALKED OUT OF SPECTRE THINKING ONE THING : I should buy approximation of why following along with Spectre’s plot is a black turtleneck. When you walk out of a James Bond movie pointless. Andrew Scott rehashes his Moriarty performance thinking that, you know it’s done something right. For as much from BBC’s Sherlock into the head of the merger between as this movie tries to make being a professional killer seem Britain’s intelligence forces. Pompousness is a good look for like a painful, distancing, lonesome profession, Spectre and Scott, but his monologuing gets old quickly, especially when Daniel Craig succeed in bringing Bond back to basics. And that we know we’re not watching the secret agent do something means it nurses your inclination to covet. Not necessarily the much, much cooler. gadgets or the cars or the ability to take a life, but the confi- The final third of the film, as soon as they disembark from dence that goes along with them – or walking away from them. the aforementioned train, becomes a fan-made Austin Powers Martinis shaken, widows of your enemies seduced, parody. For all the self-seriousness of the surveillance supervisors cheekily chastised, and girls gotten, Craig’s Bond politicking, its culmination feebly echoes the dangerous reaches peak 007 in his own unique way. From brutal, utilitarianism of Watchmen and our own NSA. The superficial brooding warrior to a man hiding passion behind a blank commentary can be boiled down to the opposing sides of the facade. Bond movies are never about the plot, they’re about argument: invasion of privacy vs. preemptive prevention. the Bond. Spectre finally sees its star join the ranks of classic That’s as far as we get. But juxtaposed with Christoph Waltz’s 007s by spitting in the face of the series’s misanthropy and maniacal performance as the main villain, the limply relevant misogyny with the emotional indemnity of a romantic hero. plot surrounding and supposedly supporting his character Spectre sets you up with the conventional coolness of James feels completely insufficient. Not to mention his beef towards Bond, complete with a fanatic’s plethora of homages, only so Bond seems totally foreign to the generically convoluted logic you have a reference for exactly how much Bond is willing to of the rest of the plot. We go from point A to point B and sacrifice for love. For all the chases and fights, Bond really suddenly Waltz has tied us to some railroad tracks, twirling just has some romantic and psycho-sexual issues to work his mustache and cackling. through, and the best thing about Spectre is that it allows The romantic developments inside Waltz’s evil lair come fast this Bond to unfold before us in the context of a conventional and unmotivated, finishing with a literally handheld escape action movie. that looks as goofy as Mike Myers in a frilly shirt stopping to Even if it’s not perfect, the fact that the ride we go on with pick off a few henchmen with a pistol as the building explodes this Bond is almost as cheeky and self-assured as its star is around him. consolation enough. n After those zany theatrics, the main plot must be resolved in

58 ionOklahoma DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 Our host, Br enda Bennett

We lcome T o Our Premier Mystery Podcast Eleven W eekly Episode s

It’s FREE • Sign Up T oday at realmysteries.us ENTERTAINMENT WINNING COMBINATION Newcastle Casino adds games, restaurant, parking garage

BY LINDA MILLER

ewcastle Casino has had another and Moore makes it a popular destination for those who want growth spurt. to try their luck. The expansion brings the total number of electronic games to 3,000, including go-to classics and new N games that may soon become favorites. Since opening 16 years ago, the casino has been expanded seven times, the most recent including 30,000 “The focus of Newcastle Casino has always been about square feet of gaming, a restaurant and parking garage. building relationships with our patrons and improving their Some 500 new electronic games beckon with flashing lights, experience at the casino,” Sykes said. “We have seen spinning wheels and sound effects. Smack in the middle of consistent growth in the facility and look forward to offering the new gaming area and just as tempting is Kitchen 44 with more to our patrons and the surrounding communities.” a menu of Southern-style dishes, including pot roast, country The expansion project also included renovation of the former fried steak, fried catfish, chicken fried chicken, Stonehouse Pizzeria into the Front Row Sports Bar sandwiches and burgers. The restaurant where guests can take a time-out and watch serves breakfast, lunch and dinner and their favorite sporting event while is open 24 hours a day. munching on a Frito chili pie or Ryan Sykes, the casino’s general Nathan’s Famous hot dog and sipping a manager, said the expansion was cool drink. necessary due to increased patronage. Casino officials knew additional games Close proximity to Oklahoma City, Norman and amenities would draw even more guests,

60 ion Oklahoma DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 Newcastle Casino’s expanded gaming area includes 500 new electronic games.

A new entrance leads visitors into the expanded gaming area and restaurant at Newcastle Casino. necessitating increased parking. A six-level parking garage on the north side of the casino keeps cars and patrons protected from the heat and the cold with an enclosed walk from the ground floor into the casino. “The excitement surrounding the casino expansion has grown since the project started,” Sykes said. “The restaurant, parking garage and gaming floor have been well received by patrons, and employees are proud to show off the new facilities to visitors.” Newcastle Casino, owned and operated by the Chickasaw Nation, is at 2457 Highway 62 Service Road in Newcastle. For more information, go to www.newcastlecasino.com. n Kitchen 44, a new restaurant in Newcastle Casino, is open 24 hours daily.

62 ionOklahoma DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016

ENTERTAINMENT

MHOELIDRAYSR ATY THE MBYRIRAD GIAGRDEHNS!T

BY MINDY RAGAN WOOD

t’s time for the magic of Christmas and hope for a New Year at the Myriad I Gardens. The international award winning complex will be brimming with holiday cheer and twinkling with romance. December and January events are sure to make this year merry and bright for the whole family, from decoration crafts and pop-up shops to ice skating and caroling.

The Rink If you didn’t dare attempt ice skating last year, get your skates out for lessons. Learn to skate with instructors on December 7, 10, 21 at 7 p.m. and glide with the graceful. The ice rink, sponsored by Devon and Downtown Oklahoma Inc. will have recurring events. Every Friday in December is Rock ‘N Skate. A DJ will spin the best of all genres in music from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Country, new pop, jazz, disco, and more will keep skaters rocking into the night. Every Saturday at 11 a.m. kids can skate with their favorite cartoon characters. The rink is open Monday through Thursday from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday until 11 p.m., Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Sundays 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. During the holiday break, the rink will be open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., until 6 p.m. Christmas Eve, noon to 6 p.m. Christmas and for even more fun from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. New Year’s Eve. This is the fifth annual skating season and its popularity has grown each year for families and love birds. “It’s almost everyone’s favorite attraction,” said Leslie Spears, marketing director for the Myriad Gardens. “We’ve had quite a few proposals out there too. Every hour the rink is shut down to resurface it and that’s usually when a couple skates onto the ice and he proposes.”

The Gardens There’s plenty of romance on the grounds as well. Thousands of shimmering lights are strung around the grounds. The Crystal Bridge is cheery with evergreens and an extravagant red poinsettias display. Families love the craft projects, visits with Santa and posing for their annual holiday photos. Carolers will sing the songs of the season to warm hearts. Wednesdays kids will enjoy a story time from 10 a.m. to 10:30 followed with December Drop-Ins for nature themed ornament crafts and hot chocolate. Twigs, fruit, acorns, pinecones and evergreens pair with craft materials for ornaments to hang on your tree or use as gifts from little hands to big hearts. Some crafts are better to eat. Saturdays with Santa from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. kids will learn the art of edible crafts like Hershey bar reindeers, ice cookies, and gingerbread houses.

Fun for Grownups Kids won’t have all the fun this year. Adults will enjoy succulent wreath making classes, gift craft projects, and handcrafted therapeutic gift baskets. “These are very classy gift baskets,” said Spears, “they’re perfect for door prizes and holiday party gifts.” It’s wise to pre-register as some of these class times are already booked. fi fi

Shopping and dining is also a favorite experience. Courtesy of Prodigal, Winter Shoppes is back this year, from known vendors who just want a downtown presence to privately owned businesses. Clothing, accessories, holiday gifts, sweets and more will be available near the Crystal Bridge. This year the roster includes Anabelle’s, Calamity Jane, Learning Tree, Sweets & Spurs, Live Boho, and several others. Shops will be open only on weekends from Friday to Sunday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Food and drink will be served near the rink or dine inside at the Park House daily for lunch or dinner. The fun continues in January as the rink will remain open through the 31st. January 18 the annual Martin Luther King celebration will again include gospel choirs from area universities. For Oklahomans who love the gardens, it’s always a treat, but during the holidays it is a must for the whole family. For a complete list of events, visit oklahomacitybotanicalgardens.com n

66 ionOklahoma DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016

ART

Philosophy the same in overseas conflict or art creation for Choctaw artist D.G. Smalling

BY TIM FARLEY Event Center creations largest ‘art investment’ hether working as a globally-known artist or a crisis management specialist in the Balkan in 300 years for WIslands, D.G. Smalling has a similar philos- Choctaw Nation ophy that he’s used in both paths of his life.

68 ion Oklahoma DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 Above, D.G. Smalling at the Choctaw Event Center.

“I think things through thoroughly and I execute the enough. That’s when he landed a position with the plan once,” he said during a recent interview. “It’s the University of Oklahoma’s Center for Peace Studies. At way I grew up and I think it has to do with my time in the same time, he began his professional art career, the Balkans.” which has blossomed in the last decade. In that time, Before becoming a professional artist 10 years ago, he’s completed portraitures of U.S. Supreme Court Smalling worked with private defense contractors in Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, former British Prime Bosnia and Kosovo during political and military Minister Tony Blair and his wife Cherie Booth-Blair, upheavals in both countries. His mission, which he Baroness Emma Nicholson of Winterbourne, England, gladly accepted, was to defend the lives of people who energy tycoon T. Boone Pickens, Oklahoma Supreme had been threatened and to prevent potential coups. Court Justice Yvonne Kauger, Oklahoma City University Having grown up with missionary parents living in President Robert Henry, U.S. Rep. Tom Cole and Africa, that type of life wasn’t unfamiliar. Mrs. Allen Houser. “In the middle of chaos, someone has to think clearly In 2008, Smalling was commissioned to paint a gourd and make decisions,” he said. “What I learned else- dancer for Prince Albert of Monaco’s 50th birthday. His where isn’t irrelevant here with my work as an artist.” artwork also has appeared in notable exhibitions Fully aware his life would be in constant danger if he including Epcot Disney World where he was the returned to the Balkans, Smalling decided enough was featured artist for Oklahoma’s Centennial Show. His

DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 ionOklahoma 69 work appeared at an and doesn’t remove it until exhibition in Paris, France he has completed the and at the National entire outline for a Museum of the American particular piece of Indian in Washington, D.C. artwork. where the exhibition “Line is the foundation celebrated the Choctaw of all design. It defines Codetalkers in 2012. and creates context. It His work for the code provides subjects that talkers was natural since emerge with clarity and Smalling is a member of the stand without other Choctaw Nation and is obstructing elements or responsible for much of the techniques,” he wrote on artwork that hangs in the his website. Choctaw Event Center, Smalling also discussed adjacent to the Choctaw how his work has evolved Casino in Durant, OK. into an exercise of Smalling calls the artwork contemporary in the event center the Southeastern Neo- “largest art investment in Hieroglyphics. 300 years for the Choctaw “By this, I mean to re- Nation.” approach the hieroglyphic He was allowed to select art of my Choctaw heritage the artists who assisted him in a modern way both in in the project with no terms of materials, editorial committee techniques and subjects,” oversight. he said. “The continuous “What you’re creating is line defines the contours not for you, but rather a of the subject, at which significant piece of national point I develop the art for 250,000-plus people,” contoured areas with paint he said. “This work will live “ or ink. In this way, the neo- long past by lifetime so when I think things through hieroglyph conforms to the we were finished with that thoroughly and I execute old, but is dynamically series, I had some loneliness. .” fluid with motion and not I was sad that that phase was the plan once rigid. The subjects I depict done.” are rarely historical The Choctaw Event series — D.G. Smalling because I want to describe is entitled “Reclamation,” life today.” which attests to where the Smalling uses acid-free Choctaw Nation stands today, Smalling said. cotton fabric and birch wood as his most dominant surfaces. Smalling’s style Smalling said he enjoys the commissioned work he When it comes to his artistic style, Smalling explains receives because of the trust people place in him. it starts with thorough research followed by one “The subjects I do on a regular basis are based on continuous line that forms the basis of the entire piece. what people have seen other places,” he said. In other words, Smalling places his pen on the surface “Sometimes, they request subjects I’ve never done but

70 ionOklahoma DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016

they like my technique. Any commission is an honor because you’re being hired to put your perspective on their mantel piece. I’ve been very fortunate in terms of the reception people have with style and eye.” In the past, Smalling has been commissioned to draw Oklahoman and New York Yankee baseball legend Mickey Mantle swinging a bat, horse reining and wrestling. “I love horse reining and depicting that, watching the horse and rider work together,” he said. Unbeknownst to most people, Smalling has created artwork that’s never been seen by the public, including a series on the Oklahoma City Ballet. At times, he’ll sit in on rehearsals and sketch dancers who are not on stage. “There’s always a juxtaposition of what’s expected and what’s real,” he said. In the case of the ballet dancer, he’s sketched a dancer standing outside in the cold wearing tights and a winter coat while smoking a cigarette. Smalling creates his brilliant work in the upstairs studio of a building in the Paseo District. Eventually, he plans to put an art studio in his clan town of Hochatown, which is near Beavers Bend in southeastern Oklahoma. For more information on Smalley and his artwork, visit www.dgsmalling.com n

72 ionOklahoma DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 TRAVEL

Edmond missionaries work to restore Christmas in Sierra Leone Couple hopes to bring joy to children in two orphanages

BY SANDI DAVIS

t’s Christmastime and everywhere you look you see colorful lights, decorated trees and I people bustling around buying gifts and planning which parties to attend. On the other side of the world is Sierra Leone, perhaps the poorest, most corrupt country in Africa. Eighty percent of the more than six million people are Muslim and it was home to an Ebola outbreak that was so bad last year the government canceled any celebration around Christmas to keep people from getting together in large groups. An Oklahoma-based ministry runs two orphanages there, one full of the orphans left from the Blood Diamond wars, the other, newer one, for children made orphans by Ebola. Still, Christmas was canceled. Children, especially the ones in orphanages, didn’t sing carols or open gaily wrapped gifts. They were kept inside the walls of their orphanages or inside their homes. This year, an Edmond couple is determined to change all that and bring Christmas – and Jesus Christ – back to their mission and the two orphanages they run. Jerome and Shanna Crawford are preparing to make a three week visit back to Sierra Leone during the holidays, bringing with them “Restoring Christmas,” a project made possible by Komeo International Ministries. The Crawfords have traveled between Edmond and Sierra

DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 ion Oklahoma 73 JeromeCrawford oversees unloading supplies. Shanna Crawford gets a hug from an orphan girl.

Leone for the past eight years. When Ebola broke out in that poor country, Sometimes their six children come it left enough orphans that a second with them, sometimes they stay in orphanage was opened, called “Ebola Oklahoma with friends and family. Refuge.” Jerome Crawford started out “God provided,” Jerome said. “When the playing in bands and doing stand-up sickness first started, we were able to move comedy in Bricktown while working the children into an ex-United Nations with a charity called Oasis. facility and we tried to keep the kids inside When he found out about the first the gates the entire time.” orphanage in Sierra Leone, one While some of the children lost both founded for the orphans left during parents, some children would come and go, the Blood Diamond wars, he felt he and those were the children who got sick. was called by God to take care of Even with that, only one died. those children there and founded the At one point, the Crawfords lived in Sierra non-profit Komeo. Leone for a year and a half. Since their It was his wife, Shanna, who first return, they have made at least four trips a visited Sierra Leone. year to their compound, a three story building complete with a Before she left, the couple were talking about adopting a guard shack. child through Oklahoma’s Department of Human Services. “We live on the top floor,” Jerome said. “The staff live on the “I called Jerome and told him we were not adopting children second floor.” now, we were adopting an orphanage” Shanna said, seated in They visited in late 2014 when Ebola was everywhere, but the living room of their Edmond home. they went despite criticism about their timing.

74 ionOklahoma DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 “We brought 30 tons of food and medicine,” Jerome said. On top of that, there will be two Christmas gifts for each “We traveled to villages handing it out and we went to places orphan. that had never received aid.” “We’ll have a Christmas tree at each orphanage. We want to Sierra Leone is about 80 percent Muslim, but they like show them an American-style Christmas so they will have a Christmas. They shoot off fireworks and have parties. gift from Jesus and one from a sponsor, hopefully with a letter It was the Christian president of the country who ordered from a sponsor,” Shanna Crawford explained. Christmas canceled to try to stop Ebola’s spread. The orphanages are operated by Christians and the children The Crawfords returned to their Edmond home from their are educated there and taught to be Christians. latest trip in April, and the U.N. has declared the country Many of them go on to college, a rare feat in Sierra Leone. Ebola free. “We have 45 of the orphans in college now, from the That’s when the idea for “Restoring Christmas” started. orphanage started during the Blood Diamond wars,” Jerome There are 87 children in the Ebola Refuge now. The youngest said. “Ten will graduate this year and about 30 next year.” child there is two. A few who have their degrees now work in the mission and There aren’t enough beds to go around so about half sleep with fellow orphans. on mattresses on the floor. The Crawfords are trading Christmas with their six children The Crawfords hope to raise $50,000 before Dec. 20. They’ll – three adopted, three biological – for the orphans. be taking food and medicine to share with the villages, but “The kids don’t mind,” Shanna said. “They are home also hope to hire a full-time nurse for the orphanages, buy 45 schooled and Jerome works at home so we are together all the beds and food for a year. time. I imagine they all will be spoiled during Christmas while counter medicines, hygiene products like toothpaste and deodorant. “A tube of toothpaste can cost $9 over there,” Shanna said. “A good deal of those items get shipped to Sierra Leone in big barrels to our mission,” Jerome said. “They don’t care about the weight of barrels. We will pay $200 a suitcase for the gifts we’ll be bringing. We can’t mail anything because the country doesn’t have a reliable mail system.” Any type of clothing will be welcome. “Over there, any kind of clothing is we are gone.” better than being naked,” Jerome is a programmer, so he Shanna said. can work anywhere. To find out more about One of their daughters gave Komeo, visit its Facebook them $35 she had to help the page or its website at cause. www.komeo.org . To follow During this interview, Jerome “Restoring Christmas” follow was checking with their travel Shanna Crawford’s Facebook agent to see if flights had page. She will update become available in the dates everyone with her posts they had specified. during their trip. n Donations are welcome. They need clothing, over-the-

76 ionOklahoma DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 Don’t let another baby go hungry. Visit www.infantcrisis.org.



t


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Blvd, Oklahoma CJty, OK 73105 ART

Southwest Travels Inspire Priceless Navajo Rug Collection

BY M. J. VAN DEVENTER Photography courtesy the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum

n the path of life, Grace “Pam” Parrish loved to O travel, especially on backwoods country roads. Route 66 was her favorite. It was on that fabled road, en route to New Mexico, that she fell in love with Navajo weavings. New Mexico was a favorite stopping point for Parrish and her husband during the 1970s. He was of Delaware Indian heritage and involved with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. They lived in West Texas and California and often traveled back to Oklahoma, where Pam spent her childhood. Along the way, the couple would peruse the wares of Native American vendors. It was one of those roadside trading posts where she bought her first Navajo rug - the seed for a priceless collection that is now on display at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum through May 8. It didn’t take Parrish long to learn the unique qualities of Navajo weaving. She began to collect high quality rugs from some of the Southwest’s most well-known master weavers - Daisy Tauglechee, Clara Sherman, Rose Gould, Linette Nez, Katherine TWO GREY HILLS RUG, ca. 1970 Stella Curley, and Larry Nathaniel. Tauglechee was Parrish’s Navajo (Diné), Arizona Natural wool and aniline favorite. (synthetic) dyes. (Gift of Pam Parrish) Parrish was fortunate to encounter Bob Payne, an

78 ion Oklahoma DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 auctioneer in Bloomfield, New Mexico, who became her guide and guru to acquiring her collection of more than 60 weavings, including rugs, saddle blankets and tapestries. She learned the distinctions of the various geographic styles, including Two Gray Hills, Teec Nos Pos, Wide Ruin, Ganado, Sampler, Storm Pattern and Yei. At the time Parrish was collecting, many of the weavers kept their own sheep; shearing, cleaning, carding and spinning the wool for weaving. Each region developed its own style so no two weavings were ever alike. What also makes her collection distinctive is the creativity of the weavers she collected. They drew inspiration from their imagination or experiences, shunning patterns or styles used by other tribal weavers.

SAMPLER RUG, ca. 2010 Daisey Kee, Navajo (Diné) Natural wool with vegetal and aniline dyes. (Gift of Pam Parrish) Eric Singleton, Curator of Ethnology at the National Cowboy Museum, says, “Each artist’s skill and knowledge is seen in a piece of fine art that is unique, yet displays a family legacy and tradition going back hundreds of years. Of all the regional styles, the Two Grey Hills and Wide Ruins stand out because they used undyed wool or natural dyes to create the designs of each weaving. They harvested flowers, leaves, roots, bark and stems from a variety of plants to create the colors in Wide Ruins weavings. The Two Grey Hills artists used the natural color of sheep and goats’ wool.

DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 ionOklahoma 79 TWO GREY HILLS RUG, ca. 1996 Rena Begay, Navajo (Diné) Natural wool and aniline (synthetic) dyes. (Gift of Pam Parrish)

“Two Grey Hills and Yei are important due to their differences among the weavers, dyes and designs. history and the distinctive designs they incorporate. I It may have been a bold move on Parrish’s part, but also would include the Ganado style. Ganado was one she made a cold call to the National Cowboy Museum of the first trading posts and the bright red incorporated four years ago to see if they might have an interest in in their designs is distinctive,” Singleton notes. acquiring her precious collection of weavings. “All the regional styles are unique and beautiful in It seems prophetic that Mike Leslie, the museum’s their own way. They all developed about the same time. former curator of ethnology and now the assistant They all have, for the most part, remained true to their director, answered her call and listened. regional style and have specific qualities that make “She had no connection to the Museum until then. We each worthy of displaying and keeping for their beauty, struck up a friendship and she began gifting part of the skill and the benefit of future generations,” Singleton collection during the next three years,” Leslie said. said. He noted, in a Spring 2014 issue of the museum’s Well into her buying mission, Parrish knew she had magazine, Persimmon Hill , “I’ve had similar created a collection of value. She had acquired, in a 40- experiences where pieces are not quite what the year period, a diverse group of weavings, which collector thinks and it doesn’t work out. Other times, represented many regions of the Navajo reservation. it’s truly amazing what the collector has and this is one Some of the large pieces in her collection took more of those cases. It has turned out to be a phenomenal than a year to weave, giving them even more value - collection.” more cache - for her collection. “So much of the collection is of tapestry quality, with As an Oklahoma City resident, Parrish was familiar very, extraordinarily fine weaves. The artisans who with the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum produced these works are incredibly gifted,” Leslie and believed the weavings could be used there as said. “But just as important is the documentation that teaching tools. She also recognized there was still a Mrs. Parrish kept along with these pieces. Having the strong Navajo weaving movement and thought her artwork and the information behind each piece is really collection would be beneficial in researching the a museum’s dream come true.”

80 ionOklahoma DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 The current exhibit of 22 weavings from Parrish’s 60- Arthur and Shifra Silberman Collection of Native plus piece collection, reflects the work of several late American fine art. It is Harrison Begay’s The Weavers, 20th century weavers - Edith John, Nora Shorty, Rena depicting two weavers producing a Yei pictorial Begay, Larry Nathaniel. weaving. There are sheep below them and they are It provides what Leslie calls “an enlightening sitting on two rugs of an older design. “It is reflective of opportunity for museum visitors who may not have an all that goes into a weaving,” Singleton said. awareness of Navajo weavings. The collection will serve The Silbermans were Oklahoma City residents who a purpose beyond the exhibit space as well. Because of loved collecting and documenting the work of its diversity, the pieces and documentation can be used contemporary Native American artists, particularly as a cultural insight into the Navajo people. They also Oklahoma artists. may serve as an educational tool for current and future “A collection of this nature and quality illustrates the artists.” passing down of a tradition. It is not a dead or dying For the viewer of this exhibit, Singleton suggests, “If culture, especially with most of these pieces being there is one aspect of the show that should not be woven in the 1960s, 70s and 80s,” Leslie said. missed, it would be for the viewer to contemplate the Now with the entire collection in the museum’s hands, size of some of the pieces. Often, we look at the overall Leslie considers it a “historical, priceless stand-out beauty of a piece, but several of the weavings are collection - a great asset for the museum.” between eight and 12 feet. To accomplish something Unfortunately, Mrs. Parrish passed away in March like this, the weaver would need to work on it for nearly 2015 before seeing part of her collection staged in the a year or a year and a half. That is a remarkable display current exhibition. Remembering her fondly, Leslie of not only skill, but patience and fortitude.” said, “She was an extraordinary lady.” n Also included in the exhibition in the Museum’s Silberman Gallery, is one distinctive painting from the

SAMPLER RUG, ca. 1997 Millicent Platero, Navajo (Diné) Natural wool with vegetal and aniline dyes. (Gift of Pam Parrish)

DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 ionOklahoma 81 PEOPLE

An interview with journalist David Gregory at the OKC National Memorial

BY PETER PREKSTO

he Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum and the Greater Oklahoma City Jewish Federation T hosted a conversation between Kari Watkins, Executive Director, and journalist David Gregory during his appearance here on Dec. 2. In September, Gregory published How’s Your Faith: An Unlikely Spiritual Journey. The title question was one asked of him several times by President George W. Bush, who knew that Gregory had been studying Jewish theology for several years with Erica Brown, author of Happier Endings. Gregory is married to Beth Wilkinson, who prosecuted Timothy McVeigh. The daughter of a pacifist mother and a father who commanded a nuclear submarine, Wilkinson is herself a Methodist, and she struggled with the decision to argue for the death penalty in McVeigh’s federal murder trial. Her forceful concluding remarks swayed the jury to act on behalf of the community, viewing McVeigh not as a man of courage, as his defense argued, but as a coward who killed and injured innocents. Gregory covered the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building and the McVeigh trial, and he and Wilkinson eventually married and had three children. Gregory, raised in Hollywood, is a member of a well-known Jewish entertainment family. His father, Don, for whom he is in mourning, was a movie producer. The family’s synagogue was located in the Director’s

Left, David Gregory. Above, Gregory listens to question. Left, Watkins and Gregory interact with the crowd.

agreed to raise their children as Jews, a decision that he deeply respects and a sacrifice of hers that he sometimes feels as a burden. Shabbat is a core of their family life, and family and friends gather each Friday, creating new rituals to augment the old. Guild building on Sunset Boulevard. Surrounded by Oscars on It’s a complex family life, with Wilkinson’s stellar and full display at the Guild, Gregory had believed that they were career as a litigator and partner at Paul|Weiss, his career, mystical Jewish symbols. Although the family was fairly their three kids, travel and writing. Gregory said that he likes secular, he has always felt that culturally he is a Jew. a bumper sticker he saw recently, “I don’t know, and you don’t His clumsy termination from “Meet the Press” was a either,” and he appeals for less certainty in our beliefs—not humbling blow to this successful member of the journalism substituting a wobbly faith, just an avoidance of an attitude elite, and his exit was handled badly by NBC. Since then, of “I’m right and you’re wrong.” Focus on your personal humility Gregory has worked and prayed to comprehend what it means and spiritual journey, he said, and that of your family, then you to him to be a Jew, and how, as he put it last night, he could may find you don’t have time to try to run the lives of others. “quiet the noise of religion with spirituality.” The couple Gregory starts each day with the Prayers Upon Awakening

DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 ionOklahoma 83 and in the afternoon, Minchah, a pause in the day to talk to God. He prays especially for humility, the antidote for arrogance. And he strives to balance spirituality and religion in his life and in his family. Video excerpts from the conversation can be found on the Memorial web site at https://oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org/a-conversation- with-david-gregory/ n

Gregory signs a book.

84 ionOklahoma DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 EXPERIENCE THE RENOVATED MUSEUM

In honor of the 20th Anniversary, the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum completed a $10 million renovation that unveils hundreds of artifacts, 35 new interactive stations, and never-before-seen key pieces of evidence. The newly-enhanced Museum is a life-changing pilgrimage through loss, resilience, and the ultimate renewal of a city and its people, following the April 19, 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

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OklahomaCityNationalMemorial.org TRAVEL

OPENING NIGHT It’s a fun, family-friendly event full of action, music and fireworks

BY SANDI DAVIS

s the numbers go down and the ball goes up, fireworks will light the downtown Oklahoma City A night sky as the Opening Night 2015 winds up another successful year. Before that however, the Arts Council of Oklahoma City and hundreds of volunteers will work to provide its audience a fun, family friendly, alcohol free mix of art, performances and hands on projects for the 28th year. The event will begin with The “Finale 5K” run at 4 p.m. Dec. 31 starting from the finale site near Bicentennial Park. The USA Track and Field organization sanctioned run will travel through downtown over the Skydance Bridge and end where it started. “We’ll have performers along the route to keep the runners entertained and we’re having a costume contest among the runners,” said Kaitlyn Carter, director of Opening Night 2015. “The winners, and the winner of the costume contest will get original works of art. Every participant gets a medal specially created for the run.” In the past Opening Night has sprawled throughout the entire downtown area and sometimes into Bricktown. This year’s event will be consolidated but still starts at 7 p.m. and ends with the midnight finale. “We’ve condensed our footprint,” Carter explained. “People don’t like walking so far between venues.” This year, the expanded children’s area takes up the Hall of Mirrors in the Civic Center Music Hall. Entertainment will be scattered in the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, the Civic Center and City Hall and in Bicentennial Park. Performers include five live bands, Oklahoma City Improv, a magic show, Bricktown Clowns and strolling entertainers. Folks wanting a snack or a non-alcoholic drink will find food trucks in Finale Alley. “The nucleus of Opening Night is the children’s area,” Carter said. “This is a great family event and there are not a lot of New Year’s Eve events that are for the whole family and this is a big party. Children can have their faces painted, work on an interactive art project or get the whole family involved in a giant game area. “With all the development in the city and the growth of Oklahoma City, there is a lot here that people don’t know about and this is a great way to see it first hand,” Carter said. The biggest event happens at midnight as 2015 is ushered out and 2016 is welcomed in. Shortt Dogg will be playing on the Bicentennial stage starting at 9 p.m. The eight musicians in the band play funky, upbeat dance music and will entertain until midnight, when the finale begins. Fireworks are keyed to music in the spectacular show, the perfect way to start a new year. Wristbands for Opening Night 2015 are $8 in advance and $10 the night of the event. Pick them up at 7-Eleven stores, metro area Homeland Stores, MidFirst Bank locations and Science Museum Oklahoma beginning Dec. 1. At the event, ticket kiosks will be scattered around the party area. For more information, call (405) 270-4848 or visit the website www.artscouncilokc.com/openingnight . n

DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 ionOklahoma 87

IN MY SPACE

FIRST GENTLEMAN BY PEGGY GANDY

ATTENTION *(The tongue-in-cheek Breton hat of the same color.’’ observations in this column do not refer to While we’re on the subject of clothes, Bill Clinton or anyone else you may know he needs to be reminded to stay off the or have heard of. They’re just random fun helicopter pad when he is wearing his ‘what ifs’ about what might happen if a “Doug’s Barbeque’’ bowling shirt or woman, married to an average guy, should biking shorts. be elected president. Planning State dinners is taboo too as well as grilling outside on his Egg. By the time he gets the coals to burn, ventually some smart diplomatic relations could be broken woman, whose husband off forever and half the cabinet E thought she was running members stoned on bug spray. for City Council so she Press interviews would also present could head a campaign to install a problem. The first time the park swings with heated seats, is President’s husband goes into a press going to find herself elected conference and mentions his wife’s President of the United States. age, how often she misplaces her cell And boy is she in for a surprise when she meets her buff Secret Service agents. phone, her inability to balance a You know, the ones that party a lot. checkbook, or her lack of computer savvy, he’s going to find his clothes moved permanently into the Lincoln bedroom…( Getting through the inauguration won’t be easy. Her husband’s and how, I wonder, would the tour guide explain THAT to the attention span between football games only runs to 15 minutes little old ladies from Peoria!) and that won’t even cover the swearing- in ceremony. Naturally you’d see a few changes made on the grounds. Dressing him for the occasion could create a problem. I’d Hammocks in the rose garden, a trout pond on the east like to see a Press Secretary try to describe the spousal lawn…. inauguration outfit. Something more than his tie and socks No do-it-yourself projects would be allowed: repainting the would have to be mentioned, maybe a cropped-comb over or a trim around the Red Room, adding book shelves to the Treaty red, white and blue lapel handkerchief. One of the newsprint Room, new pulls on the kitchen drawers… descriptions of the outfit President Reagan’s wife Nancy wore Accommodating a First Gentlemen would have its moments. to his inauguration read like royalty…“For the public But on the plus side, where else would a wife ever be in a swearing-in ceremony on the steps of the Capitol Monday, better position to shame her husband into sleeping in his Mrs. Reagan will wear an electric blue Adolfo melton coat over pajamas. (No, no, not the footed ones, think of the little old a blue wool crepe dress. Both are trimmed with gold buttons ladies from Peoria!) n and chain belts. She will also wear a small, off-the face

DECEMBER 2015/JANUARY 2016 ion Oklahoma 89

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