Featured Events |

Each day participants and those volunteers, workshop leaders, and community partners making the MEA2 Symposium possible will be treated to an array of public events centered on veterans and creative expression. Click on any of the links below to learn more about

Thursday – May 14, 2015

Location: McCasland Ballroom

11:30-12:45 PM

Performance by Albert Gray Eagle

Viewing of Oklahoma Educational Television Authority’s (OETA/Oklahoma PBS) “Native Oklahoma: Native Vietnam Veterans”

Oklahoma Humanities Council & “Native Oklahoma” Veterans Film Panel: Dan Schiedel, the GM of Oklahoma Educational Television Authority (OETA/Oklahoma PBS), Ann Thompson, the OHC executive director; Producer, Randy Burleson; Host, Darren Brown and Vietnam Veteran, Alex Warden from the Cheyenne/Arapaho Tribes

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Location: Cameron Theater

7:30-9:00 PM

Poetry Reading by Suzanne Rancourt

Performance by Exit 12 Dance Co.

Friday- May 15, 2015

11:30-12:45 PM

Location: Business Building 111

Viewing of “Veterans On Killing” a film by Zach Skiles

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7:30-9:00 PM

Location: McCasland Ballroom

“Military Sexual Trauma: A Brief Overview,” a lecture by Dr. Miette Wells

Lecture, Film Screening, and Q & A with Ben Patton, founder of Patton productions

Saturday – May 16, 2015

11:30-12:45 PM

Location: MCC Buddy Green Room 213

Viewing of “Half-Life of War,” a film by Kyle Henry

Location: Cameron Theater

Presentation by Jerri Bell

Performance by Doug Berky

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7:30-9:00 PM

Location: Cameron Theater

Performance by Doug Berky

Sunday – May 17, 2015

11:30-12:45 PM

Location: McCasland Ballroom

Performance by Albert Gray Eagle

Albert Gray Eagle is a noted flute artist and performer who is skilled in the craft of making traditional flutes along with regional forms of creative writing. Residencies with Gray Eagle may include the art of flute making and playing of the instrument while building on an understanding of history relevant to the Native American. He may provide storytelling for both children and adults that offer a perspective and philosophy of Native American culture of the past and present. Through his artistic talents and gentle nature for teaching, participants will be guided to develop their creative and artistic selves. As a U.S. Army veteran, Gray Eagle performs frequently for veterans events.

Learn more about Albert Gray Eagle here.

Born and raised in West Central Maine, Suzanne S. Rancourt’s book, Billboard in the Clouds (Curbstone Press) was the 2001 recipient of the Native Writers First Book Award. An Abensaki Artist, Suzanne holds an MFA in Poetry from Vermont College, an MS in Educational Psychology from SUNY, and a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies from the European Graduate School in Expressive Arts: Therapy, Education, and Consulting. Suzanne is a certified facilitator and affiliate of Amherst Writers & Artists Method and has taught writing in maximum security prisons, youth organizations, rehabilitation programs for adult survivors of traumatic brain injury, and more. Her devotion to Blue Streak stems from her love of poetry and service in both the Marine Corps and the US Army.

Read Suzanne’s blog on the Poets & Writers website here.

EXIT 12 Dance Co. is a contemporary dance company committed to creating and performing works of high cultural significance that inspire conversations about worldly differences and the lasting effects of violence and conflict on communities, families, and individuals. Through movement, we educate audiences about the reality of war, advocate diversity and mutual understanding through cultural exchange, and champion the humanity and dignity of all persons. EXIT12 supports and advances the notion that art heals, and is devoted to serving those who have been touched by conflict by expressing their stories.

Visit Exit 12 Dance Company’s website here.

Zach Skiles is a United States Marine Corps veteran who invaded Iraq in 2003 in service of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Currently, Mr. Skiles is working as an art therapist, an independent artist,& a doctoral student in the field of Clinical Psychology. With a bachelors in psychology, accreditation in mindfulness interventions,& years of experience in the entertainment industry he facilitates art classes & mindfulness meditation classes for PTSD programs serving OEF/OIF/OND veterans & active duty service members managing combat stress & PTSD.

Read a Military Experience & the Arts review of Zach Skiles’s work here.

Military sexual trauma (MST) is the term that the Department of Veterans Affairs uses to refer to sexual assault or repeated, threatening sexual harassment that occurred while the Veteran was in the military. There is a uniqueness to MST which separates it from other traumas. Dr. Miette Wells, author and veterans advocate will be discussing the definition, uniqueness, responses and diagnoses associated with Military Sexual Trauma.

Learn more abou Miette’s work here.

A documentary filmmaker and author with over 15 years of experience in media, Ben Patton established Patton Productions in 2005, bringing together a talented group of editors, cinematographers and composers to produce high quality biographical, promotional and commercial videos. As the grandson of World War II General George S. Patton, Ben admits that history and narrative is central to his work as a filmmaker. His famous forebears aside, it is the exercise of taking the time to listen to an individual or family’s story that reveals the magnificence of any life. Everyone has a story worth preserving — the trick is to figure out how to peel away the layers and capture that story in a way that can be cherished by future generations. In addition to leading workshops throughout the entirety of the MEA Symposium, workshops similar to the now famous I WAS THERE Media Workshop program, he will give a talk about his career, work with veterans, and growing up a Patton.

Visit Ben’s website here.

Over 30 wars and 1.5 million dead soldiers are memorialized at sites across the United States. How many of us see the radioactive trace of these past conflicts? What is the best way to remember the trauma of war?

Kyle is the son of a former Marine Corp drill instructor and an elementary school arts educator. He thought he was going to be an astronaut or a biologist and was admitted to Rice University as a biology major. Instead he graduated with a degree in history and art history and attended the University of Texas – Austin, where he received an MFA in film production in 1999. His feature narrative film debut ROOM premiered at both the 2005 Sundance and Directors’ Fortnight film festivals. His follow-up film FOURPLAY is an anthology-of-shorts feature again executive produced by Michael Stipe and Jim McKay. He is a working film editor/educator/director hybrid and teaches film production at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

Visit Kyle’s IMDB profile here.

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Jerri Bell is the Managing Editor for O-Dark-Thirty, the literary journal of the Veterans Writing Project. Her Navy assignments included sea duty on USS Mount Whitney and HMS Sheffield and attaché duty at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, Russia. She also served in collateral assignments as a Navy Family Advocacy Program Officer, Sexual Assault Prevention and Response (SAPR) Program Officer, and sexual assault victim advocate. She has published both fiction and nonfiction, and her work has won prizes in the West Virginia Writers annual competition and from Words After War. She lives in Southern Maryland with her husband and two teenage sons.

Learn more about Jerri here.

Doug Berky has been creating and evolving his own brand of physical theater for over thirty years. His original performances are an intricately woven fabric of Commedia Del Arte, physical comedy, mime, mask theatre, clowning, circus arts, and storytelling. Doug is known internationally for his mask construction. He designs and constructs the masks for his own performances as well as creating all of the sets, choreography, scripts and many of the costumes.Doug began his professional training at the Dell’Arte School of Mime and Comedy in Blue Lake, California. He toured for eight years with established companies such as The Montanaro Mime Theatre, (South Paris, ME) The Two Penny Circus, (Barre, VT) and Sunshine Too, the touring theatre of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (Rochester, NY).

Doug has performed nationally and internationally in places as varied as Fletcher, NC and Matanzas, Cuba. He appeared in the award-winning NBC children’s television series, “See-Saw,” in Portland, ME, and in four television specials for Swedish National Television in Stockholm, Sweden. He has been the featured performer at events as diverse as The Eugene O’Neill Theater Cabaret Symposium and a national gathering of the National Council of Churches. Doug has performed and taught as Artist-In-Residence at numerous schools and colleges including schools for the deaf, The Commedia School (Copenhagen, Denmark), Roanoke College (Salem, VA), Furman University (Greenville, SC), and the University of Wisconsin, Racine.

Visit Doug’s website here.

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This special episode of “Native Oklahoma: Native Vietnam Veterans,” funded in part by a grant from the Oklahoma Humanities Council (OHC), focuses on the experiences of Native American Vietnam Veterans and ways different tribes prepare servicemen and women for war, welcome them home, help them readjust to civilian life, and honor them.

After the film, a panel, including Dan Schiedel, the GM of Oklahoma Educational Television Authority (OETA/Oklahoma PBS), Ann Thompson, the OHC executive director, along with Producer, Randy Burleson, Host, Darren Brown, and Vietnam Veteran, Alex Warden from the Cheyenne/Arapaho Tribes will answer questions of viewers and talk about the film experience.

Native Oklahoma is a joint project of OETA and the Oklahoma Humanities Council.

View portions of “Native Oklahoma: Native Vietnam Veterans” here.

OETA/Oklahoma PBS is America’s most watched PBS station, offering all Oklahomans engaging educational opportunities.OETA/Oklahoma PBS enables all Oklahomans to experience the worlds of science, history, nature and public affairs; to hear diverse viewpoints; and to take front row seats to world-class drama and performances. OETA/Oklahoma PBS’s broad array of programs has been consistently honored by the industry’s most coveted award competitions. Teachers of children from pre-K through 12th grade turn to OETA/Oklahoma PBS for digital content and services that help bring classroom lessons to life. OETA/Oklahoma PBS’s premier children’s TV programming and its website, are parents’ and teachers’ most trusted partners in inspiring and nurturing curiosity and love of learning in children. More information about OETA/Oklahoma PBS is available at oeta.tv, or by following OETA/Oklahoma PBS on Twitter (@OETAOK), Facebook or through multiple social media networks, digital platforms and mobile devices. Specific program information and updates for press are available at oeta.tv/pressroom.

Learn more about OETA/Oklahoma PBS here. And learn more about the OHC here.