Tasty pasta with a family atmosphere

 By Brian McCurdy

front of restaurant

Dalesandro's was established in 1990 by Buzz Dalesandro. He had just lost his job, he put his savings together and borrowed $10,000 from a friend and opened a tiny Italian lunch spot downtown Tulsa at 6^th and Main. About seven years ago his son Sonny took over the majority ownership and now runs the show at the current location 18^th and Boston.

During my time spent with Sonny it was clear that the restaurant was not a business to him, it was his family. The bartender, the hostess, the chef and even the dishwasher were all in good spirits when Sonny was around. One reason for this is because Sonny does not sit in his office while everyone works for him. Sonny was on the floor greeting the regulars as they came in with his friendly smile. He was in the back helping prepare the plates and clean the dishes. He even showed off his bartending skills and made me a delicious cocktail while we chatted.

Sonny vs Saul

“Sonny is not just my boss, he truly is my friend first," said the bartender, Saul. Saul has worked with Sonny for over five years.  “Saul is one of the biggest reasons people come in for dinner,” Sonny told me.  Saul was quick to greet a couple that sat next to me at the bar and without even asking, he poured their regular drink and put in their order. The couple and Saul chatted as if they were all out to dinner together.

Angie, the head waitress, has also worked at Dalesandro's for over five years. She echoed the same thing as Saul. “Sonny is weirdly like a combination of my boss, my dad, my brother and my worst enemy,” she said. "He really does make work enjoyable for us all."

numerous awards over the years

Sonny takes pride in the family atmosphere his restaurant provides for the patrons.  “Quality and consistency are the staples my father taught me the most,” he said. Pair those two with hard work and good recipes and you have one of Tulsa’s best Italian restaurants.

Check out

https://www.dalesandros.com

Limitless Expression

By Debra Scheuerman

https://youtu.be/qNx_GslMRD0

Holiday Art Mart Gymnasium

I attended The Center for Individuals with Physical Challenges annual Holiday Art Mart and met many inspiring people. As I walked into The Center I was immediately greeted by a group of people, and as I continued down the hall not one person passed without saying hello and asking how I was. I walked into the gymnasium to see over 20 tables set up where members of The Center were selling the art work they had made. I spoke with Sally Ramirez, the abstract teaching artist.

Moving to Oklahoma from Los Angeles was a big transition for Ramirez. She worked with Teach for America before finding her position at The Center, where she has held the position for two years. In her classes Ramirez, does not censor her students. As their teacher, Ramirez lets them use art as an emotional outlet, exploring their personal lives and journey. She said her students “utilize art as a vehicle for expression”. 

Jones's display table

I walked around to talk to a few of Ramirez’s students and encountered Melita Jones. While I was looking at the ceramics she made she told me that she had been in Ramirez’s class for two years. She had no idea she was good at ceramics until she started attending class, and now she loves it. 

Snodgrass's display table

Next I spoke to Brent Snodgrass. He had an array of items for sale ranging from walking sticks to intricate ceramic dinner sets. As I was admiring his work he told me that he has been legally blind since the age of 25. He said that Ramirez and her art classes have given him a place to think outside the box. “I am catalyst for the art, I let it become what it wants,” he said. While showing me a “run” on his ceramic design he told me “in the outside world a run like this would be considered ugly. But [at The Center] I have the opportunity to make ugly things beautiful. And that is a gift.”

For more information visit their website or Facebook page.

Tulsa's Exploding Art Scene

By Debra Scheuerman

Maggie Giovannetti is a freshman majoring in political science, from Owasso, Okla.

Dylan Goforth: Writing Between the Lines

By Skylar Fuser

Investigative journalism may be the future of news writing, as Dylan Goforth from The Frontier says. Stories that continue to make waves in mass media are those that go behind the scenes and explore deeper than the surface.

            Being a young and influential writer, the way Goforth came into writing is surprising. “I just kind of fell into it,” Goforth said. While Goforth showed interest in news writing as a child, it wasn’t until a teacher encouraged him to be a writer that Goforth began to get serious about reporting.

Getting to this point in his career, Goforth said, has included many instances of “Trial by fire.” Becoming a great reporter requires courage, dedication, and curiosity. Goforth currently works for The Frontier, which has a non-profit model of business. This allows him and his fellow writers the freedom to write without hard deadlines. This also allows more time for investigation and deeper exploration into why stories happen.

When The Frontier was just beginning to take off, there were some discouraging moments. Stories would be explored, written, and revised for days, and then receive very little attention. This new form of news outlet in Tulsa, Oklahoma was just taking off, and very few people had it on their radar. At this point, Goforth had to remind himself to stay motivated. “You can’t judge what is an important story by how many people read it,” Goforth said.

Many news writers get caught up with pleasing readers. They write stories based on what they think people will want to read, and forget about what is important: the story. “If you write something that’s good, that’s important, people will read it,” Goforth said.

Goforth gave important advice to those wanting to go into journalism. “Never assume that someone won’t tell you what you want to know,” Goforth said. Being a reporter can be terrifying. Incriminating questions must be asked to find important answers. While this can stop some reporters in their tracks, Goforth has learned that before giving up, be brave.

            When writing hard-hitting stories, Goforth asks himself, “What’s the story behind the story?” This question has opened doors for investigative writers including Goforth, who has been featured on multiple news segments for stories exposing corruption.

            Investigative journalism is becoming more important to people as internal corruption within government systems is being exposed more frequently. To writers like Goforth who believe in giving people the truth, this is very exciting. “If they don’t write about it, then nobody knows about the corruption,” Goforth said.

            Goforth’s drive for writing is inspirational, as he continues to push the limits of investigation to bring people the truth. “Nobody is going to find out unless I do it,” Goforth said. This mind set is what makes news real and meaningful. Writers that have found their passion in reporting on topics that bring clarity to society and bring healing to communities are what will strengthen the field of journalism and its future.

             

Helping Hands in the CICU

By Debra Scheuerman     

Nicole Adcock grew up on a cattle ranch in Dustin, OK. A town with no traffic light or 4-way-stop, it covers a total area of .6 square miles. Working as a nurse in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) at Saint Francis Hospital can be a difficult job, but Adcock tries to find the good in all situations.

Growing up on her family’s ranch she always wanted to become a veterinarian. Her grandmother and cousins are all nurses and when looking at the long road of veterinarian school ahead of her, she decided against the extra years of school and became a nurse instead. She often visits home to help with the animals on the ranch to fulfill her love of the outdoors.  

Her favorite part of working in the CICU is being able to help others and see the impact. She loves to “pray and speak life over her patients” and talk with them about "the one thing that can truly help" them, which is Christ. Having patients who are “open and receptive to Christ” is something she looks forward to.

She explained to me that sometimes she is “the only one who is honest with patients about their condition” and their possible life after being in the CICU. “Being honest with them helps them build their trust in me and they feel like they have a friend on their side”, Adcock said.

While Adcock, and everyone working in the CICU, does everything they can to help patients on their road to recovery sometimes they lose their battles. “The hardest part about this job is the calls to family after a patient has passed, having to tell them we did everything we could and it wasn’t enough will never get any easier”.

After talking to Adcock, even for a brief time, you can feel her warmth and desire to help others. She is someone I would want on my side if I were battling for my life in the CICU.

Malinda Morsman in the Magic City

 

By Kyle Crutchfield

Malinda Morsman is a 26-year-old Tulsa native who loves her home city and hates everything else in her state.

“I always tell people Tulsa is like an oasis in Oklahoma, because the rest of the state is...Can I say clusterf*ck in this interview?”

Morsman was born at Hillcrest and grew up in Jenks, where she attended high school. She shows me one of the many tattoos on her arm. It says “Be sweet.”

“This is my first one,” she says, pointing at the simple inked command. “My high school mentor would tell me that all the time, because I was not very sweet back then.”

After graduating from Jenks, Morsman went on to get her esthetics license from Clary Sage, where she now works as a beautician.

Morsman’s favorite spot in Tulsa is the arts district downtown, now known as the Tulsa Arts District. But, she says the other suggested names for the district needed a bit of a makeover.

“The suggestions they had at first, like NoDo, they were terrible,” she says, and offers what her ideal name would have been for the district.

“There’s a big bookstore that’s being built, called Magic City books, because Tulsa was called the Magic City,” she tells me, referring to the name given to Tulsa during the city’s 1920s oil boom.

“They suggested calling it Magic City Arts District, which I thought sounded really cool,” she says.

Although her roots are in Oklahoma, Morsman’s wish is to live far, far away from here.

“I’ve always fantasized about living in Norway,” she says. “Somewhere that’s just a bit more progressive and not so Trump-y.”

But for now, Morsman will continue to embrace her hometown, albeit at a tattooed arms distance.

“No place is perfect,” she says.

Fair Fellow Coffee: Tulsa's Trendsetting Coffee Hotspot

By Molly Monroe

Nestled amongst Tulsa’s historic Kendall Whittier district, Fair Fellow Coffee is one of the city's trendiest local gems. 

Off the the intersection of Lewis and Admiral, its white brick exterior stands out from its surroundings. Its outdoor logo text spells out in bold, black, capitalized font over the entrance door. Posters and fliers of upcoming local events and concerts decorate the entrance windows. 

Photos of Tulsa's most beloved
locations decorate the store's wooden wall

The Space
The white brick continues inside the space, which is decoded minimally in a mix of industrial and vintage furniture. Initially, it feels like entering a recently gutted apartment in Dumbo, minus the skyline views but including the hipsters. 

Upon closer inspection, however, Fair Fellow is unequivocally a Tulsa joint: the store’s logo is a white, chunky doodle of a cowboy’s profile; Polaroid photos of Tulsa’s most beloved locations decorate an unpainted wooden wall; locally published magazines are scattered along the store’s coffee tables along with pleasant succulent plants and drawing supplies if you’re feeling creative; even the the wifi password is “ilovetulsa”. 

An Eclectic Clientele 
The menu, listed on a small booklet of recycled paper, contains items hard to find anywhere else in town. One man with flowing, gray hair, walks into the store with confidence. He looks suspiciously like Flaming Lips lead singer, Wayne Coyne. The staff already knows his order. He looks around to survey the cafe and spots a suitable chair for enjoying his nitro coffee with soy.

The space resembles a gutted NYC apartment
with the charm of a local coffee shop

Most of the clientele at Fair Fellow are regulars and are all equally interesting in appearance. Two 20-somethings sit together in a corner table—one dressed in vintage denim and the other in yoga pants, chatting politely about an upcoming project. 

The other customers sit alone—one man, who is a clean-cut, casually-dressed, and probably nearing 30, stares intently into his laptop. Another customer, a bearded, mid-30s guy in a tweed sports coat (despite the warm September Oklahoma weather), scrolls casually through his Instagram news feed and chews occasional bites of his vegan cinnamon roll.

Meanwhile, the barista’s perfectly lined cat eyes stare lifelessly into space as she waits for the next customer to enter the quiet space. She occasionally looks down through her wide-rimmed black and gold glasses to change the low-playing acoustic-alternative melody that plays throughout the shop. 

A Local Experience Worth the Extra Bucks

The coffee is pricey, but at Fair Fellow, you are not just buying a normal cup of Joe, but the experience. Visitors come for the unique drinks and the laid-back, yet trendy atmosphere. It is a versatile space for work, socializing, or simply enjoying the space. To visit Fair Fellow is to embrace Tulsa’s charming heritage while exploring new ideas. A Yerba Mate Latte for here, please.  

Brookside : The Ida Red Shop offers surprising products

 By Laurine Chapuis

Freshly arrived in Tulsa, I travelled for the first time to Brookside. As an exchange student from France, I wanted to discover my new hometown for the semester. As I wandered with my friends on the streets of Tulsa, and after having visited several museums and shops,  I stopped for a while in this extraordinary and unique place : The Ida Red Shop.

Ida Red Shop waiters preparing milkshakes

I was greeted as soon as I walked through the door.  I could have stayed for hours looking at all those funny and original items they sold. The most surprising and eccentric thing I saw was the soap named « No Ragrets. Smells like a bad tattoo ».

After looking at all the amazing tee-shirts, cards, funny socks and candies, I moved forward into the store. I had discovered a bar,  in which the kind waiters would serve you a milkshake or a coffee. Be careful, they don’t have a lot of seats !  But don’t worry, you can also buy take-away drinks.

Located on South Peoria Avenue, The Ida Red Shop is the place to be if you’re looking for an original gift or hoping to just have a good time in Brookside !

Find the soap which describes you the most

Eating at Tulsa' hidden taco spot

By Brian McCurdy

This hidden gem is located on the corner of 5th and Utica near the Pearl District. In what looks to be nothing more than a run down gas station, Tienda Mexicana y Taqueria, is dishing out some of the tastiest tacos in town.

Street Tacos

Better known as, Mexican Corner, this place is a typical convenient store that also serves up made to order tacos. Five dollars gets you four tacos and a 32-ounce beverage. I could not believe it.

Place your order at the front counter. Grab a seat at one of the six plastic tables and enjoy the static filled Hispanic radio station while you wait to be served your tasty treats. It has a very authentic feel. 

While enjoying my lunch I was amazed to see the clientele that was aware of this secret spot. The construction workers, the painters, the business woman and even the gentleman wearing a full suit. Mexican Corner is a must-try lunch spot for all taco lovers. 

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