2021 July Lake Highlands Advocate

LAKE HIGHLANDS

INSIDE:

FIERCE FEMALES

JULY 2 0 2 1

PRO CYCLISTS

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A D V O C AT E M A G . C O M

MONROVIA LOUNGE

Lazy Days of Summer? Not for Us! The market is as hot as ever ... and as challenging as ever! Make sure you don’t get burned – choose to work with one of our local experts.

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4604 CHARLES PLACE | $900,000 4 Bed | 5.1 Bath | 3 Liv | 3 Car | 4,946 SF Alison O’Halloran - 214-228-9013

7647 ROLLING ACRES | SOLD

4 Bed | 3 Bath | 2 Car | 2,878 SF Carol Morales - 972-964-6444

9209 HEARTHERDALE | SOLD 5 Bed | 3 Bath | 2 Car | 3,057 SF Selzer Stell - 214-355-3113

PENDING

8615 ROYALBROOK | $620,000 3 Bed | 4 Bath | 2 Car | 3,824 SF Selzer Stell - 214-355-3113

PENDING

2650 PROVENCIAL | SOLD

3 Bed | 2.1 Bath | 2 Liv | 2,717 SF Bridget Bell - 214-663-3247

9740 ESTATE | $575,00 4 Bed | 3 Bath | 2 Car | Ofrfice | Denise Lowry - 214-228-1622

9512 WHITEHURST | SOLD

8916 GUNNISON | SOLD

NEW LISTING

5450 MONTICELLO | $575,000 2 Bed | 2 Bath | 2 Car | 1,442 SF Steve Cairns - 972-740-2517

4 Bed | 2.1 Bath | 2 Car | 2,704 SF Carolyn Black - 214-675-2089

4 Bed | 2.1 Bath | 2 Car | 2,876 SF Jay Forrester - 469-867-7302

NEW LISTING

3420 SHENANDOAH | SOLD

2 Bed | 2.1 Bath | 2 Car | 1,182 SF Dybvad Phelps Sinnott and Clayton 214-669-6255 LAKEWOOD | LAKE HIGHLANDS | 214-826-0316 Equal Housing Opportunity

2203 MOSER #105 | $430,000

2 Bed | 2.1 Bath | 2 Car | 1,515 SF Mary Rinne - 214-552-6735

PRESTON CENTER | 214-692-0000

10635 LARCHFIELD | SOLD

EBBY’S LITTLE WHITE HOUSE | 214-210-1500

3 Bed | 2 Bath | 2 Car | 1,511 Peter Loudis - 214-215-4269

ebby.com

contents JULY 2021 VOL.28 NO.7

6 CLICK-WORTHY All the web news 12 FULLY FEATHERED A female Eagle Scouts 14 TOUR DE FORCE Racing pros Lauren and Mat Stephens 18 MONROVIA LOUNGE Liberian restaurant celebrates food, culture 22 FIERCE FEMALES Seven impactful Lake Highlands women 34 SMILES FOR TILES The story behind one neighborhood mosaic

Fried plantains are served at the Monrovia Lounge. Read more about the West African restaurant on page 18. Photo by Kathy Tran. july 2021

lakehighlands.advocatemag.com 3

DISTRIBUTION PH/214.560.4203 ADVERTISING PH/214.560.4203

CELEBRATING OUR FIERCE FEMALES

Office Administrator: Judy Liles

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214.560.4212 / rwamre@advocatemag.com Advocate (c) 2021 is published monthly in print and daily online by Advocate Media - Dallas Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation based in Dallas and first published in 1991. Contents of this print magazine may not be reproduced. Advertisers and advertising agencies assume liability for the content of all advertisements and sponsorships printed, and therefore assume responsibility for any and all claims against the Advocate. The Publisher reserves the right to accept or reject ay editorial, advertising or sponsorship material in print or online. Opinions set forth in Advocate publications are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the Publisher’s viewpoint.

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ABOUT THE COVER Find this mural along the side of the new 7-Eleven Evolution at Walnut Hill and Audelia. Photo

by Marissa Alvarado.

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RESPONSE TIME Diane Cheatham was on the third floor of her Urban Reserve home when she heard a young woman screaming outside.

She dialed 911 and ran down to her driveway, where a woman lay injured from knife wounds. Officers arrived about 22 minutes after Cheatham called for help. The Dallas Police Department has targeted “priority one” calls to keep response times under eight minutes.

Meet this mother

M

ARY FRANCES LAWRENCE moved to Dallas at age 16 immediately after graduating from Wills Point High School. In 1945, she quit her job at Alamo Loan Services to perform in the Starlight Operetta, later called the Dallas Summer Musicals. In

1961, she and her husband, Paul Luther, purchased a lot in Lake Highlands and built a new and hopefully final home. This year, Mary Frances will celebrate her 95th birthday with her seven children, 17 grandchildren and 29 great-grandchildren. She won our Mother’s Day photo contest in early May. Search “Mary Frances Luther” at lakehighlands.advocatemag.com to read more.

6 lakehighlands.advocatemag.com JULY 2021

NEW JOBS AT DPD Deputy Chief Osama “Sam”IsmailI oversees the northeast and southeast divisions. Maj. Danny Williams is commander of the northeast station, headquartered at Audelia and Northwest Highway.

Williams formerly worked in DPD’s Crimes Against Persons unit.

EDUCATION UPDATES —Neighbor Chris Poteet was elected to join the Richardson ISD school board. He’ll succeed Jean Bono and serve at large.

Poteet received 6,907 votes or 56% of the total.

—LHHS valedictorian Paxton Smith says she planned to deliver a speech about the effect of the media on young minds, but 11 days before Sunday’s graduation, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed Texas Senate Bill 8, virtually prohibiting abortion across the state.

Discussing anything but the heartbeat bill was simply wrong, she says.

Paxton received national media attention and signed a book deal.

Read more by searching “RISD” at lakehighlands. advocatemag.com.

EAST DALLAS ARTS INVITES LIVE AUDIENCE Being on stage with a live audience was a feeling actor Payton Lauerman had missed. “Hearing that laughter and their reactions, it’s just like food for the soul for all of us,” Lauerman says. Lauerman played the role of Jamilla in East Dallas Arts’ production of Firebringer. The comedy-musical production was the first of the company’s to be in person in over a year, and was the second live performance at its Lake Highlands venue.

Search “East Dallas Arts” at lakehighlands.advocatemag.com.

“I want to be the officer who treats people like I want my mom to be treated.”

BACHELOR HOST LHHS graduate Chris Harrison has hosted his final season of The Bachelor.

— ASHLEY OLFORD, A SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICER AT LAKE HIGHLANDS HIGH SCHOOL. READ MORE ABOUT OUR FIERCE FEMALES ON PAGE 22.

july 2021

lakehighlands.advocatemag.com 7

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PAV I N G T H E WAY LHHS grad among the first females to receive the Eagle Scout rank EMMA DUNCAN says she knew the minute she heard girls could become Eagle Scouts that Scouting was the right place for her. But if you count her old journal entry, she knew long before that.

“I actually found just a few weeks ago, an old journal entry of mine from when I was really young about how I wanted to be an Eagle Scout,” says Duncan. “And so that was kind of cool, because

I’d completely forgotten that.”

Duncan started her Eagle Scout journey when girls were allowed to join in 2019, a year after Boy Scouts of America allowed girls to become Cub Scouts. She had previously been part of Girl Scouts of the USA at a younger age but felt the group wasn’t quite right for her.

“My Girl Scout troop didn’t do a lot of camping,

Story by LIESBETH POWERS | Photo by AMY ORCHARD

12 lakehighlands.advocatemag.com JULY 2021

which is something I really wanted to do,” Duncan says.

Instead she and her father joined organizations like High Adventure Treks For Dads and Daughters and Sons to fulfil her outdoor adventuring side. When Duncan heard that the Eagle Scout program was available to girls, she was ready.

“It’s really neat to finally have that chance, because it wasn’t ever something that I thought of as a possibility,” she says.

Her dad worked with Duncan to create a new girl’s troop and helped lead the troop its first few years. That group is now 40 strong and made up of young girls working to become Eagle Scouts.

“Everyone gets along really, really well,” Duncan says.

“There’s just such a culture of supporting each other, which is just so special.”

Duncan was among the first class of female Eagle Scouts in history. About 10 other girls joined her in a Dallas-Fort Worth Eagle Ceremony in February. Roughly 1,000 girls nationwide joined the ranks this year, too.

To reach Eagle Scout status, Duncan worked her way to 21 merit badges, seven ranks and completed an Eagle Project. The five-month project involved constructing educational display tables at the Trinity River Audubon Center with the help of about a dozen Scouts.

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The project, along with the process of becoming an Eagle Scout, has taught Duncan a lot about leadership, she says. At Southwestern University in the fall, she’ ll combine her new leadership skills with her love for music in pursuit of a music education degree.

“The whole point of the project isn’t necessarily to build something all by yourself,” says Duncan. “It was really good practice … I really feel like I achieved the spirit of the project, which is enabling others to succeed.”

Duncan spent a portion of this summer helping future Eagle Scouts at summer camp before heading to college.

“I find that it is pretty helpful to have someone who’s experienced that to be able to help them through it,” she says.

“And to give perspective and tips and sort of mentor them through the process, because it’s something they haven’t experienced before.”

For Duncan and her fellow first female Eagle Scouts, there was no set standard for how long it takes to become an Eagle Scout, but their process was about two years faster than most boys reach the same rank, Duncan says.

“I’m really proud,” she says. “I wrote my college essay about the experience, and it sort of helped me realize how meaningful it was. It was really nice to sort of start the process together and end it as a group, too.”

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july 2021

lakehighlands.advocatemag.com 13

p r o fi l e

A B I CYC L E M A D E FO R T WO Two driven cyclists, one happy marriage

L

auren Stephens’ bicycle tire was flat, and she didn’t know how to change it. She took the hand-me-down vehicle to a bike shop, where Mat Stephens pawned the repair off on another employee so he could chat with the cute new customer.

“I had no idea he was flirting with me, but that’s what was happening,” Lauren says.

The two started going on group rides and have been training buddies — and life partners — ever since. After 10 years of marriage, their commitment to cycling is as strong as ever.

Mat ran cross country and swam in high school. He added

›

cycling to his training schedule to compete in triathlons.

When he went to college, Texas A&M didn’t have a triathlon team, but it did have a cycling club. He started riding on an amateur team that competed in races across the country.

After college, Mat got a job fitting bikes at Bicycles Plus.

The job allowed him to stay connected to the industry while traveling on the weekends for a variety of road, gravel and mountain bike races. When he met Lauren, he introduced her to the world of bike racing and became her coach.

Lauren started racing on the weekends while teaching math full time at Bryan Adams High School. She cycled to work most days from their home in Old Lake Highlands,

Story by JAIME DUNAWAY-SEALE | Photography by JESSICA TURNER

14 lakehighlands.advocatemag.com JULY 2021

and Mat made a wooden crate that attached to the bike to hold her books.

“Students who were there at the time remember me as the bike lady,” she says. “Surprisingly, they thought it was cool.”

Lauren quickly made a name for herself in bike racing circles, and professional teams took notice. In 2013, she quit her teaching job and signed a contract to race full time for Team TIBCO Silicon Valley Bank. The competition circuit includes weeks of races in Europe, where she was riding when the pandemic hit.

Her season was canceled, and for a while, the couple didn’t even ride bikes around White Rock Lake. They pursued new hobbies, and Lauren sold sourdough bread on the corner of Lakeshore and Peavy. One weekend, the profits we n t t o Pr o j e c t E c h e l o n , a nonprofit that educates and equips veterans through physical activity.

They took up virtual racing to stay in shape when in-person e v e n t s r e s u m e d . Ev e n a s a newcomer to online cycling, Lauren won two stages of the Virtual Tour de France, and her team finished first overall.

As an elite female cyclist, Lauren can go toe-to-toe with many men. In Februar y, the couple participated in a 12-hour mountain bike relay race. Instead of entering the co-ed category, they opted for stiffer competition in the men’s division. She hustled to stay ahead of the pack, and she credits Mat for letting her skip some of the night laps. In the end, the extra effort was worth it to share a smooch at the top of the podium, she says.

“Riding together is something we’ve been doing almost since the first day we met,” Lauren says.

“When I think I’ve reached the best I can be, somehow he pushes me to be better.

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REINVENT YOUR SPACE GENERAL CONTRACTOR BUILD + DESIGN Ashley Rader knows

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food

G E T T I N G H E AT E D Liberian restaurant Monorvia Lounge is a family affair Story by LIESBETH POWERS | Photography by KATHY TRAN

18 lakehighlands.advocatemag.com JULY 2021

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lakehighlands.advocatemag.com 19

Left: Kala, a traditional African snack, made of fried dough. Right: Branzino with veggies, attieke and jollof rice.

WHILE HER FAMILY ATE RATIONS in the midst of the Liberian Civil War, Princess Wreh’s mother made sure that what little food they had tasted good.

“I saw my mom trying to make a little out of nothing,” Wreh says.

At 13, Wreh came to the U.S. to live with her uncle through a resettlement program. Her parents and sisters remained in a refugee camp, and cooking became a way for Wreh to remain connected with her family.

“The entire time I was here, I was missing my mom,” Wreh says. “We had bonding moments when we were cooking.”

After high school, Wreh spent years in the military and the medical field, trying her hand at different careers.

“I was like, ‘I’ll try this (and) I’ll try this,’” Wreh says. “But my passion was always cooking.”

So Wreh made the leap, earning a degree at Dallas’ Le Cordon Bleu culinary school. She learned to incorporate her

family-taught cooking skills into the structure and preparation necessary for restaurant work, and she began experimenting with presentation and menu.

“My passion was always cooking.”

“And then it was time,” Wreh says.

Monrovia Lounge, named after Liberia’s capital city, overlooks LBJ at Skillman Street, serving Wreh’s Liberian food with Cajun flair.

Monrovia Lounge is as much about understanding the food as tasting it, according to Wreh and husband Femi Williams.

20 lakehighlands.advocatemag.com JULY 2021

Most nights, Williams serves as the translator for restaurant patrons wanting to learn about Liberian food and culture. Williams also came to the U.S. through the resettlement program; they met at Wreh’s high school graduation.

“There’s a whole lot people can learn from each other,” Wreh says. “And so that’s what we try to do. When people come in there, he will talk to every customer... And if they’re curious about the food, he will go over and talk about it, walk them through.”

The easiest way to ease new palates into Liberian food is by finding similarities between dishes.

A good option for newcomers is the spinach stew, prepared with African palm oil and spices, or the jollof rice, which has similarities to Cajun jambalaya. Similarities in Louisianan and Liberian foods come from their similar histories, as freed slaves returned to Liberia to form the country in the 1800s.

Those familiar with African and

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Liberian food would likely find Monrovia Lounge’s Fufu and Palm Butter to taste just like home, the Wrehs say.

Their children can typically be found helping on the floor of the nearly 8,000-square-foot space and are well-versed in explaining the dishes. In the kitchen, daughter Rheanna Brown serves as the pastry and sous-chef.

“It gets heated in there in more ways than one,” Wreh jokes. “But there’s something to be said about working together and building a legacy.”

Monrovia Lounge’s success gives their children a better base to start from than she and her husband had, Wreh says.

“I want my kids to not struggle like I did when I came here,” she says. “When you get out there, you know that you have to do hard work.

But it doesn’t always have to be so hard.”

Monrovia Lounge, 9220 Skillman St., Ste. 227, 214.238.7985, monrovialounge.com

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july 2021

lakehighlands.advocatemag.com 21

f

ierce emales

Every so often, we walk away from a conversation thinking: Wow! She’s beating the odds.

She’s changing lives.

She’s taking risks.

How does she do it?

Stories by CAROL TOLER Photography by JESSICA TURNER, LIESBETH POWERS and JEHADU ABSHIRO Know a fierce female? Email us at editor@advocatemag.com.

22 lakehighlands.advocatemag.com JULY 2021

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hen Maria Viera-Williams was a child in Massachusetts, her mother would make little dolls from chickpeas, napkins and toothpicks. Sitting in a circle on the living room floor with her twin sister and four other siblings, she listened to stories of her family’s life in Puerto Rico before Viera-Williams turned 5.

Today, she teaches reading and writing to English-language learners at Lake Highlands High School. Many are immigrants from distant countries fighting to acquire enough English to graduate and land jobs. Others aspire to earn advanced college degrees or serve in the military. Viera-Williams encourages each of them to value their culture and cherish their childhood memories.

“My father joined the army in Puerto Rico when I was 5,” Viera-Williams says.

“I didn’t speak English, and my sister and I would listen to people talk and imitate their speech patterns and the way they moved their hands.”

She noticed that English speakers sometimes spit when they spoke, and the differences she observed between English and her native Spanish led her to acquire a master’s degree in linguistics.

“Right from the beginning, I wanted to be a teacher,” she says. “In the third grade I wanted to help other children in my class learn Spanish and English.”

Sometimes Viera-Williams’ family lived on Army bases where their dad was stationed, but often they lived in communities with immigrants from places like Greece, Italy, Russia, China, Japan and Cuba. She recalls parents coming to class to read legends from their countries, and she noticed every teacher who worked to make immigrant children feel welcome.

At LHHS, many international students credit Viera-Williams for inspiring them to maintain their native language and culture. She encourages them to wear native dress to school and to retain their early languages, which contain pathways to learning English. She also encourages students to fully integrate into campus life by participating in sports, clubs and

maria viera-williams

extracurricular activities.

Viera-Williams serves on Richardson ISD’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, and says that only about 30% of district students are white, while about 70% of faculty is white. At LHHS, about 500 of 3,000 students are English-language learners, hailing from 40 countries and speaking 73 languages.

Earlier this year, Viera-Williams was named International Educator of the Year by the National Junior World Affairs Council, and in April her LHHS chapter

of JWAC earned the Most Active Chapter in DFW title for the third year in a row.

As founder and senior co-sponsor, she’s brought dozens of speakers and programs to the students and helped them learn lessons about the big, wide world.

“The kids tell me coming to JWAC has made their minds become more plastic,” Viera-Williams says. “It stretches open to learn about other cultures and questions – questions they didn’t even know to ask.

They’re painting with more colors than ever before.”

july 2021

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any white Americans say they’ve watched the video of Derek Chauvin with his knee on George Floyd’s neck dozens of times. Many Black citizens say more than a year later they’ve still never seen it. Denita Jones isn’t surprised.

“We’ve seen this kind of thing so many times, and a little piece of us dies every time we watch one of these videos,” says Jones. “White people watch it, and

they can’t believe it. We know it happened. We don’t need to watch it.”

In the wake of Floyd’s death and in the midst of the social movement which followed, she was invited to help create Lake Highlands Area Moms Against Racism, an amalgam of mothers from a variety of backgrounds interested in teaching their children that all people deserve dignity and respect. Jones’ reputation as an activist in the Black community made her a perfect choice to help

denita jones

24 lakehighlands.advocatemag.com JULY 2021

lead the group, and the two white women who initially conceived LHAMAR recognized their own delicate role as “allies” for the organization.

“I believed it was time for white allies to play a bigger role in the conversation,” says Jones. “We’ve done this for so many years and gone unheard.

We’ve been shouting from the rooftops, and no one has listened to us. It’s time for privileged white people to say, ‘Even we’ve had enough.’”

Her background helps her appreciate the nuance of the problem. Her father devoted decades to law enforcement, and her godfather was a sheriff back home in Mississippi. She’s rearing three sons, and the idea of sending them out into the night to attend a party or work an evening shift scares her senseless.

“When you hear people ask for police accountability, people assume we’re police bashing.

That’s not the case. I grew up seeing good policing, so I know it exists. I’m hopeful that the problem has a solution.”

“We know that most officers are good,” she says, “but we’ve seen so much and had to have this conversation again and again each time a Black boy is killed by police. My three boys ask me, ‘Why are y’all pushing for police reform? You are just upsetting yourselves. Nothing is going to change.’ That is heartbreaking.”

The Lake Highlands Area Moms, who recently added “and more” to their moniker to include dads, grandparents and friends who support the cause, branched out from its original project, the “Say Their Names” traveling memorial to people of color who died at the hands of police officers. They now organize adult, teen and children’s book clubs, podcasts, school board advocacy and petitions for police reform, among other methods of education and activism. Every mom, they say, deserves freedom from fear that her child will be killed on his way home tonight.

“We used to have Crime Dog McGruff come into schools and communities to invite kids to tell police when they need help or see a crime,” says Jones. “Now we tell children to stay away from cops. We need to get back to community policing. We have to get back to knowing our patrol officers.

“Our ultimate goal is mutual trust – mutual respect between officers and the community.

For too long in black and brown communities, officers have seen a black or brown person and assumed they were doing something wrong, as if walking down the street is a problem. I want the police to know I am for you, and I want you to be for me. I want you to allow my son to come home at night, and I don’t think that’s too much to ask.”

taler jefferson

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ike many millennials, Taler Jefferson usually has her smartphone in one hand and her laptop in the other. She might log on during dinner or in the middle of the night, which matches the odd hours of physicians she assists as a program coordinator at UT Southwestern

Medical Center.

“Doctors are still working at two in the morning, and so is my generation,” says the 31-year-old, who gave up her job as a Dallas ISD science teacher to work from home when the pandemic hit. “I can constantly be on top of things. My generation – that’s july 2021

lakehighlands.advocatemag.com 25

just the way we move.”

If the Jefferson name sounds familiar, you may know that her family is a kind of royalty in historic Hamilton Park. Her great grandfather, Thomas Jefferson, Sr., was the original owner of the home she now lives in with her mom, Nichole. Her great uncle, Thomas Jefferson, Jr., has been a community leader for decades and was dubbed by former Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings as Mayor of Hamilton Park.

Jefferson went to college in North Carolina, got a master’s degree in Georgia and worked in Virginia before returning to give back to the neighborhood – and the people – who reared her. She formed the Salome Foundation in 2018, and since then the nonprofit has been investing in the community. The name came to her during a sermon at her uncle’s church about the biblical Salome, who brought spices to anoint the body of Jesus.

“I had never heard God speak to me, but in that moment his voice was clear,” recalls Jefferson. She told her uncle – and everyone at the picnic after church – about her plan to aid the people of Hamilton Park and North Dallas. “I was on fire. I recruited board members and applied for nonprofit status, and it grew from there.”

The foundation partnered with Hamilton Park Pacesetter Magnet to serve elementary students, then worked with the Public Improvement District to host Sundays in the Park, an outdoor community concert series. They hosted neighborhood cleanup days and gave a college scholarship to high school seniors.

“We were really building momentum,” she says. “Then COVID hit.”

Salome provided hundreds of meals per week to families hit hard.

“It made a difference. People came up crying, saying they didn’t know how they were going to feed their families. One lady came with

26 lakehighlands.advocatemag.com JULY 2021

11 kids, but all we had left was milk.

She was so grateful.”

When she began getting calls from people in cities an hour away, Jefferson realized the enormity of the need.

“It was rewarding to know people had heard of what we were doing, but it felt like I had the world on my shoulder. One week, our delivery driver got lost, and that upset me.

These people are depending on me. I want to deliver.”

Jefferson has learned plenty of lessons along the way, but one has become her mantra.

“I can’t do it myself,” she says. “I have to be strategic. I have to ask for help.”

One of her biggest challenges, and the challenge of other “next generation leaders” bringing fresh ideas to the community where they grew up, is the reluctance of the “old guard” to relinquish the reins.

Basketball star Terrell Harris, artist Gerald Leavell, youth football coach Tevar Watson, Thomas Jefferson IV, and others are awash in ideas.

“A lot of things are in the planning stages right now, but the older generation still thinks we’re still 12 years old. We have ideas and resources, and once the new Willie B. Johnson Recreation Center opens, we’ ll be killing it.”

The new recreation center is expected to open in September, with a multi-use center, technology lab, indoor basketball court, classrooms and kitchen. The next generation leaders envision basketball camps, football camps, cheerleading camps, STEM lessons, music lessons and other educational and fun opportunities for children and families.

“Hamilton Park made me who I am,” says Jefferson. “I could do my job from anywhere, but I want to give back. My family raised me, but Hamilton Park also raised me. We call it ‘ The Island,’ because it really is like an island oasis.”

ashley olford

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shley Olford never thought much about becoming a police officer. Then a friend in the Dallas Police Department said officials were offering a $10,000 bonus for new hires. She quickly signed on the dotted line.

At the end of a long patrol shift, Olford answered a call to handle a problem teen who’d run away from her mom’s house twice before.

She brought the girl home and prepared to return to the station, but the fed-up mom refused to let the girl back in. Olford, a person of profound faith, heard herself offer to take in the 15-year-old herself.

“I knew then that this was my calling, that God placed me in this job for a reason,” says Olford, who moved into a bigger apartment and included the girl in vacations and family gatherings. After a year, she was ready to change her life and reunite with her grateful mother. The three remain close today.

Olford brought lessons from that experience to her 12 years as a school resource officer (SRO) at Thurgood Marshall Elementary and her current gig as SRO at Lake Highlands High School. The first lesson, she laughs, is not to bring every needy kid home with you.

“I can’t rescue them all, so I have to step back and find other ways to help.”

There are plenty of troubled teens at LHHS – kids fighting drug and alcohol addiction, kids who want to commit suicide, kids dealing with unwanted pregnancy and kids being abused at home. The SROs keep jars of candy in their second-floor office to woo students in to open up.

“You have no idea what these kids are going through at home. It’s heartbreaking,” says Olford. “Some kids go to an empty home after school. They feed and dress themselves because their parents are working two or three jobs. Their only meal may be the one they get at school. Their only hug, their only interaction is from one of us.”

Olford remembers the mom who came in because her daughter was repeatedly truant. The girl was surly when SROs questioned her and refused to speak at all. Olford assured her she’d never give up on her and checked on her repeatedly. A day later, the girl came bounding into the SRO office to shoot the breeze with her new friend.

“These kids want attention – even if it’s negative,” says Olford. “They want someone who

july 2021

lakehighlands.advocatemag.com 27

cares about them. It took me a while to learn that, but now I hug them and bring them in and let them know I care.”

That doesn’t mean it’s all sunshine and rainbows for SROs at LH-area schools. One only needs to turn on the television news to see campus threats are real. Olford’s main focus is to protect kids, teachers and fellow SROs from danger while on school grounds.

“Students bring things to school they shouldn’t bring or do things they shouldn’t do. It may indicate there is something going on at home, and I can often get them to open up in ways they can’t or won’t with teachers or administrators.

I can reach out to CPS or social services and get the ball rolling to help a kid.”

The biggest challenge for Olford and her fellow officers, she says, is developing trust in young people.

“You see it in the news and hear it in the public – our job doesn’t have a great reputation right now in certain communities. Starting with these kids, I try to be the opposite of the negative they are hearing. I want to be the officer who treats people like I want my mom to be treated. I understand why some communities fear the badge. It’s from experience, it’s based on what they’ve seen and heard. I want kids to have a good experience. I may have to be tough, I may have to put handcuffs on them, but in the end I want to help.”

sheron patterson

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r. Sheron Patterson’s role as senior pastor at Hamilton Park United Methodist Church often has her counseling victims of PTSD. Some are war veterans, some are crime victims and some have had traumatic encounters with police. One Black parishioner was driving to work with her young daughter when officers, guns drawn, pulled them over, handcuffed them and tossed them into the back of a squad car. It turned out the cops were seeking a Hispanic man and woman. Weeks later, the family remains fearful and anxious.

Patterson, reared in the heart of the South by a police officer dad and schoolteacher mom, has seen incidents like this in her community before. Over Mother’s Day weekend, she created an online petition on behalf of moms all over the city calling for Mayor Eric Johnson and Police Chief Eddie Garcia to institute reforms. The petition calls for police to stop shooting unarmed persons, de-escalate interactions with citizens, employ social workers to assist with mentally ill and unsheltered persons and limit the use of militarized weapons, among other mandates. It calls for the city to invest in low-income communities, expand community oversight, end unqualified immunity and become transparent with excessive force complaints.

“Now is the time to move forward,” says Patterson. “I gathered a group of interracial moms, and we targeted Mother’s Day because we wanted to stand in solidarity with all the mothers who have lost sons and daughters. Mothers are powerful and strong. We are the givers of life, and I want us to be the protectors of life, as well.”

In the 1950s and 60s, police departments were recruiting officers of color into Black communities.

Patterson’s dad took a job in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“Back in those days, it was a big deal to be a police officer in the Black community. My dad was a celebrity. Everybody knew Bill Covington, and everybody knew me because I was his daughter. It

was a good life. He never fired his gun in 30 years.

The people loved him, and he loved them. He was more of a social worker - he knew the troubled kids. There was crime, but the community was cohesive.

“After he retired, there was an escalation of violence and police brutality, and he would always tell me, ‘It doesn’t take all of that.’ If you want to shoot somebody, how about one time, not 14 times.”

HPUMC has continued to minister to its parishioners despite the challenges of the pandemic. Worship and praise have continued online, and meals have been served to those in need. Patterson believes seeking justice is part of her mission.

“This is God’s work. God cares about the downtrodden and the mistreated. It’s all through the Bible. It’s no coincidence that I preached in Exodus two Sundays ago about Moses setting the captives free, and the Egyptians were the oppressors to the children of Israel. The Egyptians whipped and beat the children of Israel. The pharaoh hated them, and his hate trickled down to his soldiers – the police force – who beat them. It also trickled down to the citizenry who, like the Karens of today, felt they could mistreat the people around them.”

Patterson wasn’t expecting a guilty verdict in the George Floyd trial, but she believes justice prevailed.

“We survived, give God praise. The same God who brought me through the past will cover me and keep me going. The Bible says we walk by faith and not by sight, so I can’t worry about what I see or how ugly it is. I’ve got to keep walking and have faith in God to pull me through. When God called me to the ministry, that said God would order my steps and my stops. God will put a hedge of protection around me, and I operate in the anointing of the Lord. My favorite Bible verse is Psalm 27, ‘The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?’ God gives me a fearlessness – it is not of me, it is of the Holy Spirit.”

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meredith alloway

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ew York filmmaker Meredith Alloway hasn’t spent all of her life behind the camera. She impressed Lake Highlands audiences with starring roles in dramas and musicals at the high school and the Methodist church before taking her talents to SMU. Neighbors figured it was just a matter of time before they saw her name in lights on Broadway or on Hollywood’s silver screens.

Inside Alloway, though, beat the heart of a filmmaker.

30 lakehighlands.advocatemag.com JULY 2021

“I definitely knew I wanted to make movies from a young age,” she says. “The first film I made was in fourth or fifth grade, and any time friends would hang out would me, we made movies together. I made horror movies, and my first, called Consequential Death, was pretty dark for a kid.

I directed it and was in it, and I killed off my character pretty quickly and came back as a ghost.”

Alloway was eager to get to the center of the action in L.A. or New York, but she knew she had lessons to learn.

“I remember playing Andromache in The Trojan Women in high school and thinking I don’t have the tools to do great theater.

I don’t know how to access these emotions or handle the text.” She went on to SMU, where she studied conservatory acting as well as playwriting and directing. She also spent a semester studying acting in London at the British American Drama Academy. Then she headed for Hollywood.

“Being in L.A., being an actress starting off, a lot of it can feel like it’s not on your own terms,” says Alloway. “When you’re auditioning, you feel like you’re waiting for someone to give you an opportunity. So, I wrote something where I was the right actress for the job.

That was a return to acting on my own terms, as my own director.”

Over the years, she also stepped into journalism, writing for publications such as Filmmaker Magazine, Vanity Fair and Playboy. She has traveled to international film festivals to interview artists from all aspects of the business. Olivia Wilde, Dev Patel, Marion Cotillard and other respected talents shared their hard-earned advice with Alloway – and her audience.

“It was like a film school education. There are a lot of people creating things, and you have to find

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your voice and find the story you want to tell. Interviewing a bunch of different filmmakers helped me find what I like and see we need more representation from women and POC (people of color) artists.

I took my time learning who was out there making what, because you have to find your film family.”

After her short film Deep Tissue premiered at SXSW and toured film festivals internationally, Alloway went on to partner with Hulu and the Sundance Film Institute on her next film, Ride. Last fall, she worked with 20th Digital Studio on First Date, which is also featured on Hulu. She directed Paris Jackson’s music video, “Let Down,” and her first feature film, High Priestess, is currently in development with a renowned production company. She’s busy working on her first studio script, which she calls “a fun, haunted movie,” and mapped it out on a massive whiteboard in her home office.

Like choosing your favorite child, Alloway says it’s tough to say which she loves best – writing, directing and acting are enjoyable for different reasons.

“They all lead to the same place – a good story. I always knew I wanted to make my own films, and maybe I’ll act in some, and maybe I won’t.”

Alloway now lives and works in New York’s East Village, where she’s been grappling with the pandemic and its shutdown of projects and theaters. “It’s hard working on a horror script in my office until late, then going to bed six feet away. I love going out to write in hotel lobbies, and my favorite spot just opened up, so I’m very excited about that. I met a woman in her 70s who was also writing there, and we decided to exchange emails and become work buddies.

It was a New York moment.”

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lakehighlands.advocatemag.com 31

tara cavazos

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ara Cavazos’ family health clinic resembles Cheers, that neighborhood bar from ’80s television. Check in with a cough or rash, and you’ll get a hearty reception at the clinic where everybody knows your name.

Cavazos’ training began long before she earned her degree in nursing from Baylor. As kids, she and her three siblings would help fold the sterilized towels in her father’s orthopedic surgery center in Oklahoma. On Saturdays, he’d bring them into the clinic and put casts on for fun. It was good practice for later years, when they played sports and broke an occasional arm or foot.

When Cavazos was young, she wanted to become a sports medicine doctor, but she also wanted to be a mom. Her parents later divorced, and she saw how difficult it was for her dad to balance work and home responsibilities.

“I went to nursing school,” she says, “but I realized there wasn’t a lot of autonomy in making decisions for the patient. As a nurse you’re with the patient a lot, but you’re carrying out (someone else’s) orders.”

Cavazos worked in a pediatric ICU while studying to become a nurse practitioner then served in West Dallas, treating mostly uninsured patients who spoke limited English.

“I got to see a different side of health care,” says Cavazos. “It was a great opportunity to understand the costs and how to creatively take care of a person who doesn’t have much money.”

She later went to work for Catapult Health, which specializes in corporate wellness and employee

32 lakehighlands.advocatemag.com JULY 2021

health. She saw the efficiencies of preventing illness instead of treating it, then moved into management, leading 100 nurse practitioners.

“That exposed me to the business side. We talked about budgets, reimbursement and claim processing, and I worked with leaders in disease prevention and health promotion. It prompted me to get my doctorate.”

Cavazos was balancing her job at Catapult, her doctoral program and her third baby on the way when a friend proposed starting a family practice. Husband, Peter, a graduate of Lake Highlands High School, encouraged the idea. Lakewood Family Health opened in 2016.

“We aren’t trying to compete with big box medicine, but we felt they were treating people like a number. When we schedule patients, we block out 30 minutes so there’s time for us to be in the room and not just talk about what they’re coming in for – a rash or cold – but what they’ve done this summer and how is the family. It helps us take care of our patients better.

“We want this to be a Disneyland experience. From the time you walk in the door, every interaction you have with our nurses, our providers, our checkout, you feel valued, you feel taken care of. It should be a place you want to bring your family,” she says.

Lakewood Family Health does a little of everything – cough, cold, runny nose, physical and wellness screenings and chronic disease management. It also has an aesthetic side, doing Botox, fillers, laser hair removal and microneedling.

When the pandemic erupted, Cavazos’ crew adapted quickly. The back parking lot was converted to a drive-up COVID testing center. Telehealth visits became common for simple evaluations.

About 15% of Lakewood Family Health patients choose self-pay instead of Medicare or commercial insurance, and the clinic makes that easy by negotiating reduced lab fees and listing those charges up front. They know budget-conscious patients sometimes skip labs, causing providers to miss issues like diabetes or kidney failure.

“There are so many hidden costs in health care. It’s important to get patient buy-in. I can tell a patient what to do, but if we’re not on the same page – if they can’t afford the test or the medication – we’re not going to get a good outcome. We have to work as a team.”

On social media, Cavazos is often asked about bug bites, sports injuries and allergic reactions. She enjoys helping friends and neighbors but admits she struggles to find those boundaries.

“A lot of our patients are busy working moms like us.

People send me pictures, ‘How serious is this rash? Does this cut need stitches? Should we get an x-ray?’ When things happen there’s a lot of fear. People don’t know what to do. I help patients come up with a plan.”

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lakehighlands.advocatemag.com 33

It takes a village THE STORY BEHIND LAKE HIGHLANDS NORTH RECREATION CENTER’S MOSAIC Story by LIESBETH POWERS | Photography by YUVIE STYLES

34 lakehighlands.advocatemag.com JULY 2021

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or 10 years, a three-panel mosaic has welcomed visitors at Lake Highlands North Recreation Center.

The piece, commission by the Lake Highlands Junior Women’s League and constructed by veteran teacher Christen Christie along with neighborhood volunteers and elementary-aged students, features local sights such as Flagpole Hill Park, White Rock Lake, the Wildcats football stadium and more.

“It took a village to finish for sure,” says Christie.

Christie’s two decades of teaching art, including seven years at Lake Highlands Elementary, culminated in the mural’s creation.

“I was a little nervous about doing it because I really think my best talent is getting the best artwork out of kids,” says Christie. “It was definitely a challenge for me.”

The project took more than a year to complete. Small pieces of glass were placed by hand on the three panels, each taller than Christie.

“I literally took the glass, put it in a pillowcase and broke it outside with a hammer. I mean it was very, very labor intensive,” she says.

Christie enlisted fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade students to help with the process. Parents and volunteers from the neighborhood helped take the piece through the last stretch of creation over the summer.

Ian Stroud, now a junior at Stephen F. Austin University, was one of the young students who helped Christie create the mosaic.

“It was at the rec center right next to my house,” Stroud says.

“I’d always pass by that mosaic and just know that I helped work on it with a group of friends.”

Stroud is studying kinesiology and exercise science, but he hasn’t forgotten his time as an “artist” in elementary school.

“Art was usually like a blow-off class,” Stroud says. “Whenever she made it more fun, that made me want to care more.”

Christie began several of her now-favorite lesson plans when she taught at Lake Highlands Elementary, including her clay series, which involves bringing in 1,000 pounds of clay.

“I was committed to doing clay with every grade level, kindergarten through sixth grade,” Christie says. “I don’t think many other teachers did that, but I felt the joy that it brought the kids. I mean, they absolutely loved it.”

The mosaic at the rec center continues to be a talking point for Christie. Even though Christie has moved to Frisco ISD, she begins each school year by sharing with students a little bit about herself and her work. They always have plenty of questions to ask about the Lake Highlands mural, says Christie.

“They are so excited to see me, in their eyes, as an artist and that I did something for the community,” she says.

Returning to the mural after all these years was a rush for Christie, and a reminder of all the work that went into it with the help of many hands.

“It’s making me think...we maybe need to do a big community project again,” says Christie.

july 2021

lakehighlands.advocatemag.com 35

WORSHIP

WORSHIP

By GEORGE MASON

Toxin or a tonic Re p e n ta n ce i s t h e pa t h to co m m u n a l re n ewa l

O

n Independence Day many of us will wear red, white and blue, line our neighborhood streets and patriotically wave small American flags at Fourth of July parades. It’s a communal paean to national identity and unity, something that feels more ideal than real right now.

We trace our celebration to the year 1776 when the Declaration of Independence sealed our intentions to create a new nation dedicated to the proposition that “all men are created equal” and are “endowed by their Creator” with the rights of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Our Republic was founded on ideas of liberty and equality, not on ancient concepts of “blood and soil” (ethnic identity or native origin). This made America exceptional in the league of nations and in the annals of history.

But the whole story of our country does not begin in 1776. The recent 1619 Project gives a fuller account that stretches back to the landing of the first slave ship on our shores. It chronicles a concurrent history seldom told, that of the plight of Americans of African descent. It too is American history, as is the story of Native Americans who suffered ethnic cleansing in the name of nation building.

Many former Confederate state legislatures, including Texas, proposed or passed laws banning the use of Critical Race Theory or any teaching about race in public or charter schools that would tell history in ways that might implicate white Americans today for continuing racial injustice.

These laws aim to counter teaching that some believe worsens racial tension by blaming white people as white people for things their ancestors did but that they themselves have no cul-

pability for.

Critical Race Theory (CRT) assails the idea that racism is merely an attitude of racial animus. It is instead the institutionalizing of racial privilege by the use of power. CRT claims that racial inequality is baked into law and public policy, preventing some from laying hold of their “unalienable rights.” Ironically and tragically, these laws only prove the point.

Former slave Frederick Douglass was invited in 1852 to give an address at an Independence Day celebration.

While lauding the founding fathers for the principles laid out in the Declaration of Independence, he asked a salient question: “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” More than a century and a half later, Black Americans, Native Americans and other people of color are asking a similar question.

Good religion contributes to the wellbeing of a nation. It seeks, tells and lives the truth — never hiding, avoiding or denying it. Repentance is the path to communal as well as personal renewal. The Bible portrays entire nations, not just individuals, as standing under God’s judgment for unjust treatment of the poor and the stranger.

Faith can be a toxin or a tonic; it can make us sick or well. Our spiritual communities can and must lead us to acknowledge the painful truths of our past so that we can share a healthy, just and joyful future together.

GEORGE MASON is pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church, president of Faith Commons and host of the “Good God” podcast. The Worship section is underwritten by Advocate Publishing and the neighborhood businesses and churches listed here. For information about helping support the

BAPTIST PARK CITIES BAPTIST CHURCH / 3933 Northwest Pky / pcbc.org

Bible Study 9:15 / Worship Services 10:45 Traditional, Contemporary, Spanish Speaking / 214.860.1500 ROYAL LANE BAPTIST CHURCH / 6707 Royal Lane / 214.361.2809 Christian Education 9:45 a.m. / Worship Service 10:55 a.m.

Pastor - Rev. Dr. Michael L. Gregg / www.royallane.org WILSHIRE BAPTIST / 4316 Abrams / 214.452.3100

Pastor George A. Mason / Worship at 9 & 11 a.m.

Sunday School at 10 a.m. / wilshirebc.org

BIBLE CHURCHES NORTH HIGHLANDS BIBLE CHURCH / nhbc.net / 9626 Church Rd.

214.348.9697 / Sun: LifeQuest 9:00 am / Worship 10:30 am / Sun: Youth 6-8 pm/Wed: AWANA 6-8 pm

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST EAST DALLAS CHRISTIAN CHURCH / 629 N. Peak Street / 214.824.8185

Sunday School 9:30 am / Worship 8:30 am - Chapel 10:50 am - Sanctuary / Rev. Deborah Morgan-Stokes / edcc.org

E P I S C O PA L ST. JOHN’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH / stjd.org

Worship: Sat 5:30 pm, Sun 8 & 10:30 am / Christian Ed Sunday Morning & Weekdays, see calendar on website / 214.321.6451 / 848 Harter Rd.

LUTHERAN CENTRAL LUTHERAN CHURCH, ELCA / 1000 Easton Road

A Welcoming and Affirming Church / Rev. K.M. Truhan Sunday School 9:00 am / Worship 10:30 am / CentralLutheran.org FIRST UNITED LUTHERAN CHURCH (ELCA) / 6202 E Mockingbird Ln.

Sunday Worship Service 10:30 am / Call for class schedule.

214.821.5929 / www.dallaslutheran.org

METHODIST FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH RICHARDSON

503 N Central Exwy / fumcr.com / 972.235.8385 / Dr. Clayton Oliphint 8:45, 9:45, 11:00 am Traditional / 11:00 am Modern LAKE HIGHLANDS UMC / 9015 Plano Rd. / 214.348.6600 / lhumc.com

Sunday Morning: 9:30 am Sunday School / 10:30 am Coffee Worship: 8:30 am & 11:00 am Traditional / 11:00 am Contemporary

N O N - D E N O M I N AT I O N A L LAKE POINTE CHURCH – WHITE ROCK CAMPUS

Classic Service at 9:30 & Contemporary Service at 11:00 am lakepointe.org / 9150 Garland Road

PRESBYTERIAN LAKE HIGHLANDS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH / 214.348.2133

8525 Audelia Road at NW Hwy. / www.lhpres.org 9:00 am Contemporary, 9:55 am Christian Ed., 11:00 am Traditional NORTHPARK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH / Sunday Worship 9:00 & 11:00 am

northparkpres.org / 9555 North Central Expressway / 214.363.5457 Welcoming Seekers, Thinkers and Doers.

NORTHRIDGE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH / 6920 Bob-O-Link Dr. 214.827.5521 / www.northridgepc.org / Sunday Worship 10:00 am Church that feels like church and welcomes like family.

PARK CITIES PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH/ 4124 Oak Lawn Ave Sunday Worship 9:00 & 11:00 A.M. To all this church opens wide her doors - pcpc.org

Worship section, call 214.560.4202.

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