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SO THIS IS YOUR CALLING?

This is my life. I don’t know where the coffee industry is going exactly, but my next step is going to be to possibly reach out to coffee farmers, travel and fill in some of the gaps to what I have learned. There is sort of a subculture of baristas out there who are pursuing this as a career, rather than just a job that gets them through college (for some it is [just a job] and that’s OK, too) but there’s a culinary and artistic level and philosophical — in a way, we represent all who have gone before us, everyone who has touched the coffee throughout the process.

YOU RECENTLY RECEIVED SOME ACCOLADES FOR YOUR GOOD WORK.TELL US ABOUT THAT.

The regional barista competition is the first time I’ve been in the public eye, competed, and done well. I always felt I was good and knowledgeable about my job, but I’d never really had an outside stamp of approval. I really just went out there and tried my best. It feels good to be noticed.

HOW DOES THE COMPETITION WORK?

There are 10 regional competitions, and the top six in each advance to the U.S. Barista Championship, and one barista from there will represent the U.S. in the World Barista Championship — last year there were 52 countries represented at the world competition, which goes to show that it is quite a growing subculture. Anyway, you have 15 minutes to prepare three separate drinks for each of four judges — one is your own specialty drink. My drink is a little out there. It’s made with espresso, ruby red grapefruit and raw honey. Most people wouldn’t expect this mix, but it actually pairs well — the grapefruit’s acidity complements the coffee. I had sort of a team of people that helped me come up with it before the competition.

Ifi Wanted To

TRY THE GRAPEFRUIT ESPRESSO DRINK, CAN I DROP BY WHITE ROCKCOFFEE AND ORDER ONE?

Yes and no. Well, mostly, no. There’s a was a promotional event I did [last month] in which I made the drink, and showcased the coffees I most like to use, but under regular circumstances, it is too time consuming, messy, and we’d have to keep fresh grapefruit on hand all the time. —CHRISTINA

What gives?

Small ways that you can make a big difference for neighborhood nonprofits

THIS MONTH POUND THE PAVEMENT at the 3.1-mile NAMI Walk on Saturday, May 1 at 10 a.m. at Fair Park. Lake Highlands-based Dallas National Alliance on Mental Illness hosts the annual walkathon to raise funds and awareness and fight the stigma of mental illness. “[NAMI’s] goal is to help people with serious mental illness, such as major depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder, and their loved ones, improve their lives,” executive director Matt Roberts says. Learn more at NAMIDallas.org.

AND RUN OR WALK the Hope for Battan Cure 5k, 2-Mile or 1k on Saturday, May 15 at 9 a.m. at Bachman Lake, 3500 W. Northwest Highway. Lake Highlands residents

Nancy and Scott Lowden began organizing this annual running event after two of their grandchildren Eric and McKenna Lowden were diagnosed with Batten disease, a degenerative brain disease that affects children, and eventually can cause blindness, seizures, cognitive decline, psychosis, loss of speech and mobility, and eventually death. Proceeds from the race, for which you can register at bdsra.leapserve.com, benefit the Batten Disease Support and Research Association. By early February of this year, event organizers had generated about $273,000 for the cause.

KnoW of Ways that neighbors can spend time, attend an event, or purchase or donate something to benefit a neighborhood nonprofit? Email your suggestion to launch@advocatemag.com.

Find out — send your best pet photo to launch@advocatemag.com to enter the Advocate pet photo contest and for a chance to see your pet on the magazine cover.

Please include your name, phone number and zip code with the subject line: “pet photo contest”.

When Willie Nelson warned against letting your doggies (it was doggies, wasn’t it?) grow up to be Cowboys, Lake Highlands resident JASON BESTERFELDT didn’t heed. Now he’s got himself a fanatical Wheaton Scottish Terrier who wears nothing but official team gear and answers only to DALLAS, which, fortunately, happens to be his name.

A guide through the mAze of city-rel Ated questions it is nearly impossible to turn left at the stoplight on my street. how can i get a left-hand turn signal instA lled ? the best thing about this process is that it is relatively simple and pain free: no outof-pocket money needs to be spent, and no forms need to be filled out. however, from start to finish, the process of adding a left-hand turn signal if approved — can take a long time. if you’re willing to wait, here is how it works:

1. A citizen can phone either 311 or directly call the city of dallas transportation p lanning and engineering office at 214.670.3260. from there, a city employee takes down basic information, such as the intersection in question and the directions in which a turn signal is desired.

2. A city engineer has up to 90 days to take action on the request and will call the citizen to get more information about the intersection in question, including what days and times the intersection’s traffic light seems to cause the most problems.

3. t he engineer then conducts a study of the intersection, taking into account traffic and accident reports from the previous three years, as well as studying the sight lines and available traffic lanes at the intersection.

4. the engineer will compile the findings, and get in touch with the citizen within a month of the study’s completion. if the engineer decides that a turn signal is either not feasible, or not needed, the engineer will explain why. if the engineer instead agrees with the citizen that a traffic signal is needed, then the engineer will file a request. (in the past year, 80 requests for new traffic signals were filed, and five of those approved and installed.) the timetable on when action is taken, however, depends whether the engineer believes a left-hand turn signal is urgent, and on other factors such as available funds that the city has for projects such as these.

5. for more information, call the transportation p lanning and engineering office at 214.670.3260.

—SAM BOHMFALK