Table Of Content

T O D A Y SEPTEMBERIOCTOBER 2005 "Come on, Scully, it'll be a nice trip to the folrttst." -Fox Mulder Fun, '1 Food& 2 -- Festivals For Fall! ; 0 I8 .3 .. !+ ::' % ' rl 7 BF e o54m ,p , lete Lis - 'www.poncacitytouris : I , ; , .-.-. ; Or Call (866) :$ AM Oklahoma T O D A Y . 1 SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2005 VOLUME 55, NUMBER 5 TWO FOR THE ROAD Subscribers received the Neosho/Grand River cover, photographed by Kim Baker; newsstand readers, the Lower Mountain Fork River cover, Riverkeepers An Italian Affair who Believes in Bigfoot? No Guts, No Glory Rivers-they're the fabric of Years ago, a meandering road Something gargantuan and Around here, we care about the myth, some would even say transplanted Brian Giuseppe fragrant lurks in Oklahoma's pigskin. How will these high the stuff of life itself. These DiCintio to Oklahoma from remote hills and dales. Is it, as school recruits-athletes since eight insiders-each with his native New York. Several some locals suggest, Bigfoot, childhood-handle the pressure specialized expertise-ponder family recipes later, Giuseppe's or something a tad less simian? of being the chosen ones, the significance of Oklahoma Italian Dining is flourishing in One reporter delves into the seemingly fated for top colleges rivers against a backdrop of the charming town of Marlow. lingering-and legendary- and seven-figure pro contracts? lush images. By Kimberly Maud mystery. By Scott Wigon Photography by Kim Baker Photography by John Jernigan By Chad Love Portrait by Scott Ra$e DEPARTMENTS Contributors......... .4 Calendar .............11 The Range... ........17 Getaway Guide..5 5 Steve Stephenson, Kim Everybody polka to Old Rodney Carrington cuts up; What do Desperate Housewives Baker, and Megan Germany's Oktoberfest in cannas, cannas, everywhere and Bella I1 Fiore cosmetics Rossman Choctaw September 8-10; at Horn Canna Farm; and have in common? Oklahoma, quench sweet cravings at pumpkin patches aplenty of course. Editor's Letter... .....6 Ada's Charmed by Chocolate Okie or Oklahoman?E ditor Festival October 15 OKT Kids ............. 53 Events Guide... ....59 in chief-and Okie-Louisa "The early bird gets the 'Tis the season for an art show McCune weighs in on the Marketplace .......14 worm" applies to college at Tulsa's Utica Square. usage differences. Annabelle Van Tuyl's recon- planning, too. Here's how to W$ structed tees and too-cute get that party started. The End ...............64 g Feedback ..............8 girls' dresses will make your Toby Keith's Bricktown road- P Letters from Brian J. Ferriso inner Okie burn with state house opens to much fan fare. and Barney U. "Mac" Brown pride. 1 CONTENTS Oklahoma CONTRIBUTORS Since 1956 T O D A Y A magazine is only asgood as its reader- BRAD HENRY, Governor ship, and, in manycases, thekey to expanding that audience is a strong newsstand presence. Stew Stephenson, owner of Steve's Sundry Books and Maga- zines inTulsa, is a retailer who understands this. His business, started in November JOAN HENDERSON Publisher 1947, was the first to directly order and sell Oklahoma Todaynearlyfiftyyears ago. LOUISA McCUNE Ediwr in Chi4 "OkkdomaTodzy is by far the best magazine STEVEN WALKER for us in Oklahoma," says Stephenson. WALKER CREATIVE, INC. And he knows the business-his store sells An Director more than 3,500 publications, the largest STEFFIE CORCORAN, Senior Edim BROOKE ADCOX, Arroriate Editor selection in Tulsa. The eighty-seven-year- MEGAN ROSSMAN, Edisrialhistant old, who now co-owns the bookstore with STEPHANIE GREGORY and KATHRYN JETT, Ediwriallnternr his daughter-in-law, is a National Senior Conhibumrr Olympic tennis player. He is married to SHEILAH BRIGHT, IOHN ELK 111, GORDON GRICE, Hazel, his wife of sixty-five years. ROBERTHENRYJ, OHN JERNIGANY, OUSEF KHANFAR, R.E. LINDSEY, CHAD LOVE, TOM LUKER, MICHAEL WALLIS, andMARY LOGAN WOLF G COLLEEN MclNTYRE, RodurnurnMonanager etting published regularly in Okh- KIM RYAN, AduertisingAccount Exrcutive LAURA BEAM, Adverti.ringArcount Evnrtive horna Tobyhasbeen the realization LISA BRECKENRIDGEAccountant of a goalI set long ago for myseK KATHY HEHNLY, Oficc Manager REGINA SMITH, CircuhtionA rrirtant says landscape photographer KimBakerof Tourismand Remation Meeker, who often four-wheels to locations. KATHRYN L. TAYLOR, Cabinet Srcremry "And I appreciate the opportunity to show ROBB GRAY, Exrcutive Director my work on a subject dear to my heart, our Tourismand Recreation Commission LT. GOV. MARY FALLIN, Chair rivers." Baker spent three years docurnent- ROBYN BATSON, JENNIFER COLBERT, JERRY DOW, JOE ng every major river in the state, several of HARWOOD, MELVIN MORAN, JIM SCHLIMPERT, FRANK SIMS, andBECKY SWITZER which appear in her "Riverkeepers" pordolio (page28).An exhibit of Baker's photographs will be on display at JRBArt at the Elms in Oklahoma City from October 7 through A- 30. Baker enjoys camping and horseback 2005 Magie ~ % ~ ~ O ~ % $ U I ; 2005 Silver riding and lives with her husband Jeff,t wo Discria and Three Addy Awards; 2005 IABC Award of Exdence, Feature Writing; 2004 Oklahoma SPJ FiP lace, Feature Writi horses, three dogs, and one cat. 2003 IRMA Gold for Bgt Nature Feature; 2003 Oklahoma S$ Fit Place, Overall Excellence; 2003 Oklahoma SPJ FiP lace, Fea~rWeriting; 2002 IRMA Gold for Best Profile; Sierra Club 2001 Conservation Journalism Award; IRMA Magazine of the Year, I 1991,1993,1994,1996; 1999 Folio Editorial Excellence Award; f I could make it my job to travel and 1998 Wilbur Award For a comptrhrnrivelist, logon to ok~omam&om. report on the various things I encoun- ter, I would be the happiest person Wzbmm T (ISSN 0030-1892) is ublished bimonT in Januar&Marc$ay, July, September, an: NWCfnberby the rate on earth," says Oklahoma Today editorial of 0 oma, Oklahoma Tourism and Recreauon D amnent, 120 North Robinson, Suite 600, Oklahoma Ci ,OX 73102. assistant Megan Rossman. "There is no POSTMASTER: PERIODICAL POSTAGE PA% IN OKLA- travel assignment I would turn down." A HOMA CIm,OK, AND ADDITIONAL ENTRY OFFICES. journalism senior at UCO-"unless Ii.c made a grave error in planning, Iwillgradu- ate this coming May," she sa~Rossman was born and raised in Seattle and came to Oklahomaviaa fifty-four-hour Greyhound bus trip. "When we departed Denver, Igot a whole row to myself for about two hours, the only time I slept," she says. The travel bug notwithstanding, "My ultimate goal is to be well-traveled enough that I can settle in one place and not feel like I've missed out on something," Rossman says. I OKLAHOMATODAY SEPTE "To the red country and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains came gently, and they did not cut the scarred earth." -the first line of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath ' - Term Heart of I i I TWAS AT MY FIRST REAL, PAID ofthe EnidNews &Eagle, "What memorialized the term in his writing job that I learned a few do we call Enid people? Enid- , classic 1939 novel, Ihe Grapes things about style. All printed ians?" He responded flatly, of Wrath. matter should have guidelines, con- "Enid residents." Kurt Hochenauer is an English pro- sistency, and, above all, standards. It was a small matter, but tessor at the University of Central Okla- Newspaper reporting should be clear, free one that has stuck with me, as it proved in homa. He's a blogger, too, and his website, of a heavy-handed flourish, and devoid of its simplicity that certain embellishments OkieFunk.com, is a political observatory opinion in its reporting. Magazine writing, in writing only serve to call attention to filled with his thoughts and comments on I later learned, should be seamless, elegant, themselves. It's the subtle difference between matters large and small. I recently asked satiating, at times ''punchy" (a word vastly watching an actor act and being immersed Hochenauer about the name ofhis website overused by more than one New York in a great theatrical production. and its contemporary connotation. magazine editor), and more lasting in its The same could be said of Oklahoma "Today, the term Okie means heroic and impression than newspaper writing. Today's use of Okie and Oklahoman. As strongand moral and tenacious," he told me. During that very first week, while writing editor, I've always shied away from the "The displaced Okies survived, persevered, one of my first newspaper features, I called frequent use of dkie (and sooner) for two and created better lives for themselves here out to Jerry Pittman, the managing editor reasons. Namely, the Pittman rule, that it and in other states." unnecessarily calls attention to itself and Like Norman artist and fashionista An- lessens the effortlessness of the writing nabelle Van Tuyl, whose new clothing line and, thus, the reading. And, two, because celebrates the Okie within, Hochenauer of all the implications the term brings to embraces these roots. native, in an the piece, good and bad, perceived and "The word has changed, in my mind, Annabelle , real, historic and contemporary. Frankly, from slander to positive self-identification," Van Tuyl T- to throw in an occasional Okie or Sooner he says. "It carries with it a certain stub- shirt unconsciously draws the reader away from born pride and a sense of self-awareness. the story at hand. It implies a deep attachment to the land That said, as I grow older and more un- and to family." derstanding of this universally recognized Many old-school Oklahomans still try to label, I have begun to claim my Okie- shake free of the Okie stereotype, pedp~e ' dom with growing enthusiasm. Over whose memories of the Dust Bowl are still the years, a group of people, entirely fresh, folks who recall the fallacies of Stein- unbanded, have usurped the word beck's book (for example, the comparatively 1fro m its Dust Bowl origins-with lush Sallisaw area in eastern Oklahoma-far its connotation of the poor, the from the affected Panhandle-was the Dust unmoored, the starving, the dirty, Bowl epicenter of his classic novel). and the desperate-and have made It's doubthl that Oklahoma Todaywill ever it mean something more beautiful. include the term Okie in its style guide, but Okies today are committed, tough, we will continue to use the term on those honorable, and hard-working, the occasions when a punchy story could benefit backbone of the country. Okies are from the spritely word. Still, omission is , strong and full of character and hope. only in the interest of good writing, never The actual term, of course, came into because we lack a pride and fondness for the national vernacular during the 1930s all that Okie stands for. and 1940s when hundreds of thousands of Southwesterners-a great many from Oklahoma-flooded into California on the heels of the Dust Bowl. John Steinbeck I OKLAHOMATODAY SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2005 "What a great thirty years it's been."-Eskimo Joe's owner Stan Clark in the Stillwater Newspress, July 17, 2005 SMILESABOUNDAT MIS ~LLWATERmmnoNO F HOTFOOD COOL MUSIC. AND GOOD&. Early to Joe's, Late to Class Xanks for the great artic: le and the blast What a blast from the past! I really en- from the past joyed your story about Eskimo Joe's and Stan Clark ("The Eskimo & the Entrepreneur," SPRING, TEXAS JulyIAugust 2005). As one of Joe's earliest customers, I can verify that Stan and the According to Stan Clark, the photograph gang had the same attitude back in 1975. wm taken during the fall of 1775. We regret I missed more than one 7:30 a.m. class the error. due to Stillwater's Jumpin' Little Juke Joint. In that first summer, we went to Joe's not Busy Corner only for the cold beverages but because it Many of your readers will attest that " """"""""'"",."v"s~ "" had the best air conditioning and stereo Eskimo Joe's didn't have a "corner" on system in town. the hospitality and good food market. In the picture on page 48, that's me on Before Joe's, that very corner of the alley Oklahoma Today is one ofthe best-written, the bottom right-hand side kneeling be- was occupied by Williams Dining Room. intensely informative, and intellectually hind the motorcycle, next to my friend and Family. sty. le on the ve-g etables, a mark on stimulating- -pieces I have ever read on this Joe's bartender Nancy Fashik. the bottom of some of the plates for a free subject--or any other subject, for that mat- Ronnie Hughes meal, some of the best dinner rolls passed ter. Thank you. HOUSTON. TEXAS fresh from the oven, and a little downtown Lee Gosset interest in the customers were what the OKLAHOMA ClTY Stan on Stan Williams were all about. May that corner's My friend and coworker Ronnie Hughes wonders continue. Ain't No Sunshine passed the July/August 2005 edition of your Phil Boyd Jr. Let me begin by thanking you for making magazine to me this morning. It filled me CHANDLER Oklahoma Today something worth reading 4 with fond memories of Eskimo Joe's when every other month. I grew in ~klahoma it first opened and what we call the original City, and after graduating from Oklahoma crew (Ronnie, Nancy, Shannon, Sally, Patti, , State University, I moved to New England in Harry, Dottie, Darci, Sleuth, and many oth- the early 1990s.A mong my Christmas gifts ers). I remember that back then, Stan usually from my parents in 1991 was a subscription served me beer himself, always wearing that T O D A to Oklahoma Todzy. floppy hat. We had kind of a joke that went Over the past few years, the Editor's Let- like this: "Hey, Stan." "Hey, Stan." "Beer, ter has been the first thing I turn to. I find it Stan?""Yeah,beer, Stan." # insightful, sophisticated, and personal. Stan's persona is definitely what made it In this last column ("One Cool Cat," all happen. He was always nice and posi- JulyIAugust 2005), I was surprised to find tive. Some of us were even welcome in his the reference to Richard Florida's book home now and then. The coldest beer and Ihe Rise of the Creative Chsa s an "urban the best sound system in town didn't hurt planner's bible." Despite his popularity anything, either. among city officials-particularly among When Eskimo Joe's expanded from the mayors, it seems; the mayor of Worcester, : original downstairs area to the upstairs, I where I live, publicly referenced Florida's knew the place was on its way. Almost all book when it came out-he has been bars eventually fade away. It is really special widely debated among academics. that this one went the other way. Politicians and bureaucrats like him I am the long-haired kid in the center of because he provides easy answers. Un- the door with a beer in one hand and my Glory Be to theWriter fortunately, not everywhere can become arm on the blond's shoulder. This photo The article "Winged Glory" by Chad a Silicon Valley; Austin, Texas; or Cam- was actually taken in May 1975 or 1976. Love in the JulyIAugust 2005 edition of bridge, Massachusetts. * 1 OKLAHOMATODAY SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2005