Barber Shop Theology: Integration of the Mind

http___www.bigleaguekickball.com_category_press_ cheap soma cod As I have reflected on those days growing up in the barber shop, it has been fun to romanticize the experience; the wide-eyed wonder of being a boy privileged to hang out in the town “man-cave” has taken me to very vivid recollections. Heck, I’ve managed to charm myself. However, I’m not particularly comfortable or proud of some parts.

This day I reflect on barbershop conversations exactly 45 years ago this month.

History note – June 11, 1966 – Police arrest 22 of about 200 protesters picketing Doe Doe Recreation Park, a private, segregated amusement park with a swimming pool in Lawton.

One of the most wonderful places I went to as a boy was Doe Doe Park.  The swimming pool was huge, and over the years, it has undergone several renovations with the help of experts like pool remodeling Orlando. It had swings, and a tower and multiple diving boards. In 1966 this place was pristine, especially in comparison to all the dirty cow ponds, shallow creeks and muddy lakes most of us were accustomed to. There were no swimming pools in Apache.

I remember Doe Doe Park fondly. I remember that it was for white only. Sadly, that didn’t bother me; it was the world as I knew it.

Doe Doe Park Pool, Lawton

In the barber shop men talked about the “Negroes trying to swim with the whites.” I remember one person referring to some “uppity coloreds causing trouble down at Doe Doe Park.” Apparently some “Northerners” were involved, whatever that meant; I pictured arrogant and rude people. It seemed to me that these were not good people. Now where did I get that idea as a ten year old? Continue reading Barber Shop Theology: Integration of the Mind

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Homegrown Talent Heading To The Big Leagues

Most batters don’t even see the fastballs that leave the hands of Owasso’s Dylan Bundy and Broken Arrow’s Archie Bradley.  Most pro scouts were left drooling as they watched Bundy and Bradley mow down the opposition and looked in astonishment at radar guns with readings in the high 90’s.  Most baseball fans will never see talented arms like these come through Oklahoma ever again.

Bundy is the three-time Oklahoma State Baseball Player of the Year. (courtesy bleacherreport.com)

June 6th, 2011 was a historic night in this state as Bundy and Bradley were both selected in the first round of the Major League Baseball Draft.  Bundy, who just days before was named Gatorade National Player of the Year, was taken fourth overall by the Baltimore Orioles.  Bradley, fresh off a win in the state championship game, was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks with the seventh pick.

“Watching the NFL and NBA draft, you see all these guys and the excitement but you don’t fully understand it until you go through it,” said Bradley moments after hearing his name called and donning an Arizona hat. “Going through it right now it’s simply amazing and to be here in this moment with my family, friends and coaches that have helped me to this point, it’s unreal.”

Bundy’s older brother Bobby was drafted by the Orioles in 2008.  Dylan said he can’t wait to play alongside his brother and can’t think of a better place to start his professional career.  “I really can’t because I already know a lot of things the Orioles have to offer and with him right there by my side the whole time will be great.  Secretly, in the back of my head I was like I really want to go to Baltimore to be with my brother, that was my dream and it’s been a dream come true so far.”

Continue reading Homegrown Talent Heading To The Big Leagues

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On the Horizon: Plight of the Wheat Farmer

Do you know where your food comes from? With so many people moving off the farm and into urban areas it’s not surprising we’ve lost touch with our agriculture roots.

When farmers became capable of producing food beyond the needs of their own families, others in their society were freed to devote themselves to projects other than food acquisition. Historians and anthropologists have long argued that the development of agriculture made civilization possible. The total world population probably never exceeded 15 million inhabitants before the invention of agriculture. Now only about two percent of the population (farmers) are feeding the rest of the world. And many of those farmers are over the age of 50. What will happen when they die off? Who will step up and feed the world?

There IS a new generation of farmer. But where grandpa was solely a farmer and could make ends meet with what he earned, the new farmer has to be smarter and work harder usually at two different jobs. In our video blog this week, I travel to Fairview, OK to visit with a farming family to find out just what goes into a wheat harvest and how they are combining life on the farm with life in the office.

~Alisa Hines

On the Horizon: Plight of the Wheat Farmer from Alisa Hines on Vimeo.

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Sometimes I Share Secrets: Steak & Ale Hawaiian Chicken Marinade…Yup!

Image from http://taracooks.com/?p=2390 Thanks, Tara!

I’ve done a search on recipe sites and there are several “Steak & Ale Hawaiian Chicken” (and Kensington Club – same thing…) marinade recipes.  I’m aware they exist.  However, there are a few that sound downright weird, and a few that sound just about right.  In 1984 I got this from a cook at Steak & Ale who swore me to secrecy.  So I swore.  Then, even after they went out of business in Oklahoma I didn’t share the recipe.  I kept thinking…”I swore.  I swore I wouldn’t share it.”

However, it is now 2011. I think that after 28 or 29 years, it’s time to share the secret recipe.  And, it’s time to be grilling outdoors.  After all, all the BTUs you fire up in outdoor grilling will be that many you won’t have to cool down with your air conditioner inside, right?

So here it is.  It’s simple, it works, it’s delicious, and we use it on both chicken AND pineapple.  Any cut of chicken will work.  Just please remember to avoid mixing the bag of chicken marinade with your pineapple marinade unless you can swear you brought the pineapple temperature up high enough to kill any bacteria.  Swear?  Okay. Then here it is.  Enjoy.

1 1/6 c. unsweetened pineapple juice; 1/4 c. granulated sugar; just under 1/2 c. cooking sherry or wine; 1/3 c. soy sauce; 1/6 c. red wine vinegar; 1/3 t. granulated garlic. (1/6 c. = 2 2/3 T.) That’s it.  Allow fresh meat to marinate at least 3-6 hours. We put ours in a Ziploc bag.  Please enjoy – I know we do.

[kelly]

 

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Rylee’s Last Batch of School Cookies: The Art of Embedding an Essential Memory

“We’re like bookends,” I thought. “Michael’s musings over how sweetly tender a small moment like blow-drying a baby’s hair can be; my musings over my bowl of peanut butter cookie dough at 7:30 a.m.”

The bowl of peanut butter cookie dough was the “last batch of school cookies” I would be making my youngest. I was baking them yesterday, as she got dressed for her last official day of instruction at the Academy of Hair Design. And, I was working very hard on trying to force-feed my memory embedding system with some sort of signal that would capture this moment and freeze it, or perhaps bronze it, for posterity.

I reached down to grab my heavy duty, several-ply stainless steel half baking sheet that I love so much. I hesitated, and instead opted for a small, flimsy baking sheet I knew had come with a toaster oven from a marriage gift twenty-five years ago. I wanted to make sure that the equipment I was using honored the entire nineteen and one-half years of my daughter’s existence. Continue reading Rylee’s Last Batch of School Cookies: The Art of Embedding an Essential Memory

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Showcasing Red Dirt culture ~ authored and managed by contributors with connections to the great state of Oklahoma.