Pakistani Physicians’ Gathering In OKC

The late David Lean was one of the most talented filmmakers of recent times, and his works include classics such as “Doctor Zhivago,” “The Bridge Over  The River Kwai,” Lawrence of Arabia,” and  “ A Passage To India.” The latter production  was released in 1984 by the British director and was based on the novel of that title by  E . M Forster, and features lavish scenes of the type that Lean was known for  that are set in India when it was still a colony of the United Kingdom. The characters in that film included an Indian physician of the Muslim faith, Doctor Aziz Ahmed, who was ably played by Indian  actor Victor Bannerjee, and his accented and often anguished  English  was often heard in that epic work of cinema. And  a passage to downtown Oklahoma City last weekend served as a reminder of that film as  hundreds of physicians originally from the South Asian  nation of Pakistan, which was formally part of India, gathered there to attend a national  convention that took place  in the Omni Hotel, which provided accommodations  to  many of the  visiting doctors.   Remnants of the  clipped British accent that the United Kingdom bequeathed to leaders in  both Pakistan and India, were frequently  heard, and the large containers of hot  tea that were available at the individual events regarding health issues were also part of the legacy of  England to Pakistan.
 The gathering was sponsored by the Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America. It was often observed by students of cinema that Lean had a unique gift for recreating  scenes that actually reflected the places they were supposed to be, and it was apparent that that association had a  somewhat similar ability in it’s  temporary transformation of an downtown Oklahoma City thoroughfare. Anarkali  Street is located in Lahore, Pakistan, and is known for the flavorful foods that are offered there in both food courts and food stands there of the type that the late travelling CNN chef  Anthony Bourdain celebrated in his lively and colorful  visits to India and Pakistan, and   a  model  of  Anarkali Street was put in place on Mick Cornett Drive during the gathering that allowed the visitors  and Oklahoma City residents to sample the spicy Pakistani  food that  brought people like Bourdain to that nation. The fare was served from a flotilla of food trucks, and was enjoyed  by those who made their way there, and some of the locals present told of how that they had developed a fondness for such food by dining in places such as Gopuram Indian Restaurant and Sheesh Mahal. There are now an estimated 450 physicians who are part of that association  practicing in Oklahoma, and several of them have reported that  some  of their colleagues who were in attendance from other locales may be interested in coming to the state permanently due to the warmth of the reception that they received.

Opening of Feng Cha In Yukon, OK

On  a recent  early afternoon  in Yukon Oklahoma an ancient Asian custom was put in place by the owners of a new business, the Feng Cha establishment  that is located on South Mustang Road in that Oklahoma City suburb. Annie Lam placed on a small table in front of the place several half filled plastic glasses of tea in front of a collection of fruit that included a pineapple, a pear, and several apples, and  inserted pins in  several of them  as her uncle stood by her. She told of   how her doing do so was part of Buddhist tradition that is followed in China, Vietnam, Japan, and other Asian states to provide a   blessing for a new undertaking.  Feng Cha  translates from Chinese  into English as “Serve tea with respect,” and   Aaron Huynh, who   was apparently presiding over the facility, detailed how it was enjoying  what was termed  a ‘soft opening” and that he and Ms. Lam, who is also a proprietor of a nearby nail salon and spa, had come together to open it.     Huynh further   told of how he and his wife  opened a Feng Cha in  suburban  Dallas several years ago, and the success of that undertaking  prompted him to  partner with Lam in opening one in Yukon. The patrons who entered the place were greeted with a simple décor of marble floors and walls one of which had the words “Feng Cha’ in place in bright gold wording and comfortable chairs and several tables. A crew of earnest young Asian American young women were situated behind the counter and they  patiently answered the questions put to them by curious customers. While the Fung Cha  franchises, that started  in China years ago,  are known for their  tasty Asian deserts, and the menu above the counter included images and descriptions of them, the soft opening only included the beverages that were also displayed there. While  many of the entrants expressed surprise and dismay when they were told of that omission, they availed themselves of some of those coffees and teas the preparation of which were overseen by the experienced Huynh, who spoke to  the servers in his native Vietnamese language.  The guests included many individuals of Asian heritage of various ages  who were   apparently friends and relatives of the place’s operators, who congratulated them on their new venture  and sipped their drinks  from large clear plastic containers.  There were also many young Millennials who were apparently  Yukon natives, and several of them were women with small and active young children. The degrees of sweetness that guests wanted in their coffees and teas was a decision that was left up to them, and they were directed to a sign that indicated the level that they could choose before their selection was given to them that negated the need for sugar or artificial sweeteners on the tables or counter. The Feng Cha website tells of how  they are gathering places for  diverse groups of people, and it seemed  that the  variety of patrons who made their way to the franchise’s new location in Yukon for it’s soft opening will provide it with  a similarly diverse clientele.

A Rendezvous At The Venn Pizza In The Britton District

Vehicles that   are  parked on Britton Road in the Historic Britton District are somberly  warned via signs that they are entitled to only one hour of parking, but since the Traffic Division of the Oklahoma City Police Department is said to view the Sabbath as a day of rest, most of the cars tethered there apparently ignored that commandment without having tickets  placed  on their windshields  on a recent Sunday.  Many of these cars were apparently  piloted by a group of exuberant  young men clad in athletic uniforms who were drinking glasses of beer at half price  at the Venn Pizza establishment situated there, and they  told of how they were scheduled to play a softball game in Wheeler Park in the Southside of Oklahoma City  shortly,  and that they warmed up for such contests by consuming the amber brew   served at that public house. They were seated at an ivory bar that resembled a shorter version of the elongated table that Russian President Vladimir Putin  sits at when he meets with foreign leaders and at the other end were a foursome of older men, one of whom was wearing a jaunty madras golf hat,   who had just completed a round of golf. After several glasses of beer  they collectively departed for parts unknown, but one of them left armed with a large pizza box that was handed to him by a tall chef  and said to his colleagues that the contents were in the nature of a peace offering to his wife.  Perhaps surprisingly, one of the golfers expressed dismay concerning the loss  that was being inflicted on the St. Peter’s Peacock  Basketball Team by the  North Carolina  University’s Tar Heels  that was being televised on the large television screens that are in place there, but was consoled by another patron  who told him of how the teams’ performance to date has been an enormous source of pride to the residents of Jersey City where the university is situated  and the surrounding  area. There is also an émigré community of former residents of Jersey City in Oklahoma City, and the team’s bold advance through the tournament has been a source of pride to them as well.  An accomplished family in Oklahoma’s capital city father was an alumni of that Jesuit institution,  and they shared with friends and relatives on social media details of the Peacock’s prior successes.  The adjacent Hooligan’s Barbershop  featured a pool table that was the subject of a contest between two young men who drove the billiard balls with admirable precision  as a stylist trimmed the mane of another individual with clicking scissors  in accordance with the direction he was giving to her. Outside the sun shone on several adjoining structures there that are awaiting to be reborn as public establishments as part of the ongoing  revitalization of the Britton District.

Hearing On Judge Katanji Jackson’s Nomination To The U.S. Supreme Court

“We are  going to invade Arkansas,” Senator Huey Long told members of his staff in late July of 1923. The purpose of that  expedition on the part of the Louisiana Democrat was to support the candidacy of Senator Hattie Caraway  of that state who had been appointed to that post after her husband’s unexpected death led to her being selected to serve the remainder of his term which expired in 1932. It was anticipated in her native Arkansas that she would retire from public life at that time, and several different male Arkansas politicians who were  veteran officeholders had filed to run for that seat, and they were all surprised when she filed for it as well. As documented in  T. Harry  Williams authoritative biography of Long, the widow had been befriended by her colleague from Louisiana, and her voting record indicated that she supported Long’s efforts to aid the underprivileged  and to push FDR’s New Deal further to the left. While Long’s efforts on her behalf were seen as being  quixotic at best, since most of the other candidates had been campaigning  for months and when he made his announcement of his intentions  there were only six days left for him to stump for her before the election day of August 9^th1932.
On August 1^st, 1932  Long led a convoy of eight vehicles that left Louisiana, and two of them were sound trucks with four amplifier horns with two on each side  that would broadcast to the people of Arkansas tapes of Long’s speeches on behalf of Caraway. The indefatigable Louisianan  began to travel throughout the state hosting large  rallys on her behalf, and his enthusiasm, oratorical skills, and the efficiency of his operation as well as an interest in the sound trucks that had not previously  been widely used in political campaigns  brought thousands of people to where he appeared. On seasoned  Arkansas political observer  likened  Long’s campaign to “a circus hitched to a tornado,” as his staffers distributed literature in support of Caraway and the sound trucks filled rural areas with his  speeches in support of her. And she handily won that election, and would serve in the U. S. Senate until she was defeated in a bid for reelection by a young J William Fulbright in 1944. When Long returned to Washington afterwards, a reporter asked him if he had gone to campaign for her to increase his own political power. “I went to Arkansas to get those potbellied politicians off that  poor woman’s neck” was his colorful response.
And it is unfortunate that we do not have a contemporary Senator Huey Long who could rescue  the eminently qualified  Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Jackson from the bullying and mistreatment that she has received from some  GOP members of the U. S. Senate who serve on the Senate Judiciary  Committee. Messrs. Hawley, Graham, and Cruz barraged her with questions and frequently did not give her time to reply to their mean spirited insinuations  and misstatements they made regarding her judicial record. It was said that Senator Joseph McCarthy’s wild and unfounded allegations of communist infiltration  into  American life  began to lose their credibility with the American public after a series of hearing that he presided over were televised, and the citizenry saw how he  bullied witnesses unmercifully  and made outrageous statements that were not supported by credible evidence. But in the current tribal state of American politics it does not seem that the red state voters will see fit to repudiate  Hawley , Graham, and Cruz for their boorish and unseemly  behavior towards the dignified  Judge Jackson.  But an astute observe may have gotten a glimpse  of Long’s spirit when African American  Senator Corey Booker of New Jersey, whose family has roots in Louisiana, spoke to her with emotion about the pride he took in her accomplishments and judicial record, and told of how  when he was recently jogging when an African American woman literally stopped him in his tracks   and spoke of the pride that she felt  in Judge Brown. The Garden State senator  concluded by saying to the Supreme Court nominee  “That  when I look at you I see my ancestors and yours….. Nobody’s going to steal that joy.”

The Cleansing Of A OKC Condo By A Visiting Connecticut Yankee

In Greek Mythology, the demigod  Hercules was given twelve labors to complete, and one of them was to cleanse the Augean Stables, that had previously housed the 3,000 oxen of King Augeas  and had not been subject to maintenance in more than three decades. The determined Hercules accomplished that task by diverting the Alpheus River through them. And in recent days a visitor to the Oklahoma City area, Kerry Dowd, who came to the Sooner State for a relative’s wedding, has accomplished a somewhat similar undertaking in the cleaning and reorganizing of a male cousin’s condominium. Both the Washington Post and the New York Times have documented the rise of hoarding that accompanied the arrival of the coronavirus and the isolation it imposed on people and the clutter that accumulated  in many residences as a result, and quoted experts on how to deal with those problems. And while it is not known if  Dowd, who is a graduate of the University of New Haven and was formerly a restaurateur, had perused those articles, she displayed a mastery of the art of dealing with hoarding and accumulated clutter with a determination and will  that indicated that she may have  had prior experience in the field in her native Connecticut. A covey of errant neckties were dispatched to a more appropriate locale in an upstairs closet by the visitor. Seemingly undaunted by piles of clothing and documents and letters that were adorned with layers of dust, she began to divide the attire into pale and dark colors and subsequently began to place them in the washing machine. As the sound of that machine’s spin cycle  filled the air, she began to lessen the documents present to her kinsman and asking him if they warranted being retained. “When in doubt, throw it out,” is a quote from one of the articles that appeared in the New York Times on the subject, and Dowd advocated a similar attitude. In time several plastic bags that had previously been inert on  one of the floors in the residence began to  display a significant form as they filled with discarded papers. After some of the attire was cleansed and were still warm  as a result of their collective  rumble through the dryer, she oversaw their being relocated  to dresser  drawers that had previously been unused  with confidence and decisiveness. Dowd also displayed an eye for decorating by suggesting where some of the art in the condominium could be placed to enhance  it’s appearance. That art included images of African animals constructed out of beads and wires as well as discarded   cans, and Dowd was impressed  by the creativity of the artist who made them and recommended that he seek a wider audience for his art via social media.  When she rested from her labors for a time  at midday, and was asked what she wanted  for lunch, she requested  Indian food from the Gopuram Restaurant in Oklahoma City, since she is partial to food served there after dining at it’s location on South Meridian Avenue. Dowd had acquired her fondness for that fare as a result of the fact that her significant other is a native of Nepal in South Asia. While she will be soon be returning to the Nutmeg State, her legacy of humor and enthusiasm and assistance to her relatives will long be remembered by them.

A Connecticut Yankee And Foodie At Gopuram Indian Restaurant In OKC

“A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court” was a novel written by Mark Twain in the !9^th Century, and a recent event in Oklahoma City could  be described as “A Connecticut Yankee And Foodie in Gopuram Indian Restaurant.” The individual in question, Ms. Kerry Dowd, is a vibrant woman and former restaurateur of many interests and passions  that include an interest in the foods that originated  on the Indian Subcontinent, and she explained that her love of that fare arose out of the fact that her significant other  is a native of Nepal and that he has taught her to cook many Indian foods and they frequent the numerous  Indian eateries and stores  that are found in Connecticut  and the adjacent New York City.  The foodie requested to be brought to an Indian eatery in Oklahoma City during her recent sojourn in the Sooner State for the marriage of a relative, and was directed to the Gopuram Indian Restaurant at 412 South Meridian by her sources in Oklahoma City. At the entrance to that place is found a quotation from Mark Twain that conveyed his positive  perceptions of India, and the Connecticut native  smiled as she read the words of an author who  had also been a resident  of the Nutmeg State . She reported that she found the food located on the buffet there to be of a high quality, and praised the  tastiness of   the spinach that was found in the tray labeled  Palek  Paneer  that is said to be  very popular in the East Coast, and found that Tandoori Chicken  served to be of the highest quality. The Spinach Pakora was spoken of fondly by her, and the warm naan bread that was served won her hearty approval as well. She smiled at the variety of chutneys that were available, and after sampling several of them she saw fit to take samples of some of them with her in small plastic containers that resembled shot glasses that are apparently kept their for that purpose. Presumably she will use them to enhance the foods that she devours during  the remainder of her stay.   When she was asked if she had sampled the Chicken Tikki Masala that is said to be one of the most popular items served at that establishment, the foodie smiled and said “ What is not to love?” as she bit into a piece of it.  When she was asked what could possibly be improved, she indicated that the fare she sampled was mild, and that many of her Indian friends prefer more spice  in their favorite dishes, which was a surprise to several of the other patrons who were present, who said that they thought Gopuram’s food was very spicy. The Indian food aficionado explained that she first discovered  that fare while vacationing in the British capitol of London  where her relatives resided and  Indian eateries  are  fixtures in virtually every neighborhood, but did not know if it’s  true  richness and  diversity until she became acquainted with many of  the Indian and Nepalese people who are now found on the Eastern Seaboard.

Pardoning Of A Crawfish In Louisiana

 In the U.S. there is an honorable custom of occupants of the White House pardoning a turkey on Thanksgiving Day in which the bird is spared the torments of being cooked and presumably goes on to lead a live of quiet contemplation on a farm in the Washington area. A somewhat similar tradition is now found in the state of Louisiana, where an official pardons a crawfish on the Tuesday that takes place  a week after Mardi Gras Day, which falls on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday on the Christian calendar. That event took place in Baton  Rouge, the state’s capitol, and was done in a public ceremony  by Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser, and was also televised by a local news station there and Nungesser’s office subsequently released that tape of social media. In Oklahoma, the holder of that post can only exercise such authority when the chief executive is out of state, but apparently there in no legal authority to that effect in the Bayou regarding the pardoning of a crawfish. Perhaps surprisingly, the crawfish in question had a name, Arrigeaux,  which was reported to have been given to him to honor a public official in Louisiana, Paul Arrigo, who has headed  the tourism bureau in the city of Baton Rouge. Normally captive crawfish in that  state meet a violent end immersed in a large pot where they are heated in  water with several other ingredients,  as part of what is what is known as a “crawfish boil.”  Nungesser said in  his official proclamation of pardon that “Louisiana recognizes that a turkey should not be the only animal to get a second chance. Arrigeaux shall  be free  to live the rest of his life in our marshes, enjoying fresh water without any spices, boil, seasoning, potatoes, onions, or garlic.”  After the boiling process has been completed, the crawfish are literally torn apart  and their edible aspects our eaten, and our often washed down with copious amounts of beer from a keg that is part of the crawfish boil tradition on the bayou and in New Orleans and it’s suburbs. It has been reported that Arrigeaux  will soon begin a new life  at the Tickfaw State Park in Springfield, Louisiana.  In recent years  those crustaceans   have been offered in Oklahoma City,  and several  grocery stores on May Avenue, including the Uptown Grocery establishment that offers live ones in 30 pound bags, have on occasion posted signs advising patrons of their availability, and some Oklahomans who have mastered the  crawfish boil rituals have hosted such events and several restaurants, such as the Cajun King on 63^rd Street in Warr Acres offers cooked crawfish in several items that are featured on it’s menu. And one wonders if the pardoning granted to Arrigeaux will prompt Oklahoma’s leaders to consider such clemency for some of the creatures  native to  the Sooner  State that make their way to the dining  table.

Thuan Nguyen’s Candidacy For City Council In OKC

“All the lonely people, where do they all come from, all the lonely people where do they all belong,” John Lennon asked in the classic Beatles’ song “Eleanor Rigby.” And  many residents of Oklahoma City have asked the same question regarding the homeless people that are now found on various thoroughfares   here, very often carrying bags of possessions or pushing shopping carts filled with various items. One individual who is concerned about the plight of those individuals is now a candidate for the Oklahoma City Council’s Ward Five, Thuan Nguyen, and his inspiring story has recently been detailed in the Oklahoma City media. As a four year old child Nguyen fled Communist Vietnam  in a vessel with his mother, and after they made it to the U S, they were assisted by a relative who had formerly served in the South Vietnamese Military who brought them to Midwest City, Oklahoma in 1980. They were sponsored by a local Baptist church, and Nguyen tells of how his mother worked three jobs to support them. Approximately a decade later they were reunited with other members of the family who  had stayed in Vietnam. Like many other refugees who fled oppression in a foreign land, Nguyen, who was also  inspired by his mother’s work ethic, excelled in school and in time was awarded an undergraduate degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1999.  Also during that year he endured the tornado that devastated parts of Moore, Oklahoma, and helped other who had sought refuge in a Baptist church there, where he saw firsthand how people of different ethnicities and races can work together to assist one another. He subsequently studied at the graduate level at the OU Health Science Center in Oklahoma City in the field of Biostatistics and Epidemiology. The immigrant’s interest in healthcare resulted in his founding of an entity dedicated  to expanding healthcare to all of the citizenry, the THN Insurance Company, and it has provided healthcare services to many of Oklahoma City’s Asian community. And Nguyen’s interest in the preservation of the various Asian cultures that are now part of Oklahoma City’s social fabric prompted to assist in the founding  the Asian District  Cultural Association and the Asian Chamber of Commerce. More recently, the candidate has served as a distributor of COVID-19  as a volunteer with Oklahoma Medical Reserve Corps  and has said that he did so after seeing how the pandemic had ravaged the Oklahoma City area. Nguyen is also in possession of a third degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and has participated in competitions in that field.
If elected to the Council, Nguyen will be the first Asian American to hold that position, and looks forward to being a role model for other members of Oklahoma City’s Asian community  who will serve as political leaders in Oklahoma’s capital city.

The Formation Of Oklahoma Lawyers For Children

 “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful , committed people can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has,” American anthropologist  Margaret Mead once observed, and the truth of her characteristically astute  statement is confirmed by the  circumstances that underlie the formation of the nonprofit  organization  “Oklahoma Lawyers For Children.” In 1997 a group of prominent Oklahoma City attorneys took  what would prove to be a fateful tour  of the Oklahoma Juvenile Justice Center and an adjacent structure were other juveniles were being held. The sadness that they observed prompted one of them, D. Kent Myers, said to his colleague and friend  Don R. Nicholson II. “We can do what we do best; we can be their lawyers” It has been reported that before the two of them had returned to their perspective offices they had already begun to recruit other attorneys to serve as  advocates for those unfortunate children. At that time the attorneys who served as those children’s lawyers from the Oklahoma County Public Defender’s Office were burdened with a case load that was more than ten times larger than the recommended number of cases suggested by the  American Bar Association’s proposed guidelines for such positions. But Nicholson and Meyers were apparently overwhelmed by the task before them as they set out to address the problem, and the duo pledged to  recruit twenty trial attorneys  in two weeks time  to represent the interests of the young people in question. They did so by calling on their colleagues  in other Oklahoma City law firms. Their enthusiasm for the task at hand apparently proved contagious as such  good works often are, and prominent attorneys such as Burns Hargis, Mike Turpen, Terry Tippens, Martin Stringer, Burch Bailey, Jim Larimore and others  quickly offered their legal services for those children, and within several weeks time they had amassed more than 100 attorneys  who had volunteered. The pair subsequently met with officials from the Public Defender’s Office and later with the presiding Judge of the District Court of Oklahoma County, Ray Elliot, and with the Chief Judge of the Oklahoma Supreme Court who agreed to issue an administrative  order that allowed  attorneys  who volunteered with the recently formed “Oklahoma Lawyers For Children” to represent children in proceeding who had previously been determined to be deprived. The volunteers received guidance in juvenile law from the staff at the Public Defenders Office who were grateful  for their burden being lessened by those newcomers to the field. In the quarter century that has elapsed since Meyers   and Nicholson  had their initial conversation on the subject the Oklahoma Lawyers For Children organization has provided representation to thousands of children, and is now lead by attorney Tsinena Bruno-Thompson, who took her first  volunteer case with OLFC in 1998 while she was in private practice.. And the legacy of Meyers and Nicholson’s vision are the numerous children in the Oklahoma City area who are now leading productive lives as a result of the entity that their spirit of compassion compelled them to create.

Village Bazaar Of March 12th On W. Britton Road

 There where times in the Seventeenth Century when the Thames River in  London, England, would freeze and  the city would suffer since vessels could not enter or leave  the harbor. But the enterprising citizenry of London would respond to  those occurrences  by frequently holding what were  described as  “Frost Fairs” on that frozen waterway, and what are now known as popup shops, and pubs,   and  eateries would be put in place there, as young people skated around them on wooden skates. As chronicled in Peter Ackroyd’s thorough history of London, the one  held in the winter of  1683 brought King Charles to it.  and he devoured a piece of an ox that was cooked there, and  was described by  one diarist as being “ a bacchanalian triumph or carnival on the water.”
And a somewhat similar event was  held  at 2663 Britton Road in the Village in Oklahoma City   on Saturday March 12^th of this year when the monthly Village Bazaar was held indoors at  Room Three and an adjacent large empty store. Those monthly events had previously been held outdoors at that location, and when the weather was too cold to bring patrons there, the enterprising individuals of Room Three chose to move it indoors. The bare walls of that store were lined with a variety of merchants and artists who proudly offered their respective wares and creations, and in the back end of that place was found artist Lisa Lampton Allen, who is normally located at her memorable  Hideout Art Gallery at 911 West Britton Road in the Britton District. Ms. Allen was offering her popular abstract work at reduced prices and purchasers could be seen studying her canvasses with interest . Adjacent to her was African immigrant Wengai Kahuni, whose memorable  metal creations of animals that are native to Africa stood on a large table that he presided over with a smiling face. The artist told of how he has expanded his work to include other  items, such as cars and biplanes made of discarded cans of soft drinks and a fleet of them were in place on an adjacent table. A disk jockey presided over sound machine that filled the air with popular music from the eighth decade of the recently concluded century. Outside a food truck was in place whose loud generator called out for a muffler, and it’s side panel indicated that  the vehicle offered an impressive array of different foods. The Room Three included a labyrinth of connected rooms where a diverse collection of antiques and other collectibles were offered with signs that indicated that they could be purchased at reduced prices. In the small restaurant that is adjacent to that establishment  an elderly and physically challenged   woman sat at a table, and she said that her name was Dolores, and spoke to those who  walked by her in a very soft voice. She is apparently a regular there, since many people greeted her by name and wished her well.