Confusion Say

If he who had had had, had had that instead, then I think that that that, that that man had had might be a little confusing.  ~Tom Dye

Oklahoma Redbud

The freezing temperature and a lawn sprinkler left running overnight combined to create a spectacular sculpture on the edge of my side yard this morning.  The thermometer reading dipped down to 27 degrees early today in Guymon, Oklahoma, just as the morning sun crept over the tree line, illuminating icicles and flowers on my Oklahoma Redbud.

The Redbud is the State Tree of Oklahoma: Redbud Cercis canadensis. The Redbud grows in the valleys and ravines of Oklahoma. In early spring, its reddish-pink blossoms brighten the landscape throughout the State.

Evan Dye to host Senior Recital

By Brittany Shears
OPSU Collegian

Goodwell, Oklahoma – Starting college, every student has one common goal: to finish and receive a degree—and after four years, students in every field are asked to show what they have learned while attending college at Oklahoma Panhandle State Univer­sity. This is done in different ways in different fields, but in the music department of OPSU, they put your talents and abilities in the spotlight. All music majors are required to per­form a senior recital their last year of school—and that is what brings music major Evan Dye to the stage on which he will perform several pieces including J.S. Bach’s Cantata No, 82, La Bonne Cuisin (common­ly called Four Recipes) by Leon­ard Bernstein, Votre toast, je peux vous le render (commonly called The Toreador Song) from Carmen by Georges Bizet, and the open­ing scene from Le nozze di Figaro (commonly called The Marriage of Figaro) by W.A. Mozart.

Being someone who suffers from a case of severe stage fright, I de­cided to talk to Dye about his se­nior recital and what it was about performing that he loved so much. However, I couldn’t help but start the questions with whether or not he ever got nervous, and to my sur­prise, he does. He said that taking a few deep breaths helps, but the best way for him to calm his nerves down is to get into character. In the end, it is all worth it; his favorite part about performing is connecting with the audience members and inspiring or moving them. When asked who he most aspired to be like while per­forming, multiple names came to mind and giving me the run down he answered, “That’s a tough one, but I would say my short list is Jussi Bjorling, Enrico Caruso, Beniamino Gigli, Ray and Marcus Arbizu, Hein­rich Schlusnus, and Robert Merill in no particular order.” Dye also said that when it comes to small crowds versus large crowds, he prefers large ones—reason being is that the larger the crowd, the more energy in the room. While he says he has always enjoyed singing—however, maybe not always so publically—he fell in love with performing after being in a musical at the Guymon Community Theatre. While finishing my ques­tions, there was one more I had to ask pertaining to his music career and that was what his most embarrass­ing moment on stage is, which turns out to have occurred during one of his performances right here on cam­pus. “During a performance of Urinetown at OPSU, I somehow man­aged to skip a few bars of music and became out of sync with the band.” Dye is a music major studying vocal performance and mathematics with a minor in computer information sys­tems. After graduating from OPSU this spring, he plans to attend graduate school in applied mathematics or computer science with a prefer­ence to programs that merge the two fields. As for what Dye has to offer in terms of wise senior advice, he says, “For music majors I would say, `Practice, practice, practice, and then practice some more.’ More generally speaking, I would say, ‘Take all your classes seriously, even those you don’t think you’ll ever use.'”

All are encouraged to come. Let’s give Evan Dye a large crowd for the performance that comes down to what he has been working on his en­tire college career.

Dye will be performing February 13 at 7:00 PM in Centennial Theatre at OPSU

Evan Dye is the son of Tom & Rachel Dye of Guymon, Oklahoma.

Guns at School

Back in the day, when I was a kid, you could take a machine gun to school. Really. It’s true. The only rule was that we could only shoot them at each other during recess. I remember there was this one kid who had such a loud machine gun that he’d slobber all over everything whenever he’d shoot off a burst of rounds. As a result, no machine guns were ever allowed inside the school hallways and of course, we were always strictly forbidden from discharging our weapons during class or at student assembly. I do not think any of this gun etiquette was actually an official school policy, but rather just an unwritten rule that every kid understood. It was just common courtesy. Plus, unless you were a secret agent and had a silencer on your sidearm, you had no business discharging a weapon inside the classroom anyway.

Fast forward about 50 years.

1st grader, Patrick Riley, was suspended last month from Parkview Elementary School in Oklahoma City for pointing a “hand” gun at the wall during a student assembly. “Him (Riley) and a little girl were just getting bored at an assembly and doing some target practice at the wall,” his mother told KOCO–TV News in Oklahoma City. Searching the web for more information on this story, I was unable to find any reports on the little girl’s punishment. I am thinking that maybe the little girl must of had the end of her fingernail polished in blaze-orange so this genius principal at Parkview knew that the GIRL was only pointing a TOY “hand” gun at the wall.

If you could see me now, you would see me holding the index finger of my own “hand” gun against my temple, snapping back the gun’s hammer with my thumb while simultaneously making a “ka-pow” sound effect, followed up by a quick snap of the head, and then slowly rolling my eyes back before suddenly nodding off… in total wonderment.