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ladariusx fashion
SOMETIMES THE BEST MOVE IS QUITTING.
Story by JEHADU ABSHIRO | Photography by YUVIE STYLES
the worst outfit LaDarius Campbell has ever worn was to the eighth-grade prom. It was a slightly oversized white suit with a powder pink vest and matching tie. He had his hair pressed and wore a pink hat with a feather in it. He had on what he calls “gator shoes” with shades a little too big for his narrow face.
“I’m just the small guy with these gators and my legs propped up on this GMC Suburban that is making me look even smaller,” he says. “And it’s seared in my memory.”
Perhaps it’s because his college friends found it and they liked bringing it up during his time at the University of Texas, where he was majoring in African and African diaspora studies.
His taste in fashion evolved from the preppy Ralph Lauren and Sperry’s to a post-college formal suit and tie, mixing and matching prints and patterns to creating looks based on how he’s feeling that day.
“That’s when it became a bit more personal for me is when I started to dress for expression more than just like, ‘OK, I want to put on a suit and a formal look today,’” he says.
His love of fashion came from childhood scarcity.
“I was just trying to figure out how to put together looks that look different with a little bit of clothing that I had,” he says. “So with that, I fell in love with the versatile nature of fashion.”
Campbell grew up in Oak Cliff but temporarily lived in East Dallas and attended Bryan Adams High School. When he moved back to Oak Cliff during his sophomore year, he decided to stay at Bryan Adams to finish his junior and senior years. He’d wake up from 5 to 6 a.m. to take a two-hour bus ride to school, then hop on another bus to Tom Thumb near Northwest Highway to go to work and then hop on one final bus to get home.
After college, he spent a maymester in Cape Town, South Africa before becoming a supply chain management broker in Dallas.
“I loved it because it was highly competitive and it helped me develop some very sharp sales skills,” he says.
Nearly a decade into a corporate career, Campbell realized he needed a passion project in 2021. While at a Bible study, he was talking to a fellow member about his life changes. He had gone from being a bachelor living Downtown to a husband and father with a house in a quiet neighborhood within a year.
“I was trying to figure all this stuff out,” Campbell says. “But in that process, I felt like I needed something for just me.”
He reflected on his life. The one thing he’s always loved was putting outfits together, even if it was a pink and white
suit ensemble. He decided to commit to create 100 Instagram posts about fashion every Saturday, consecutively.
“It quickly built a lot of traction from doing it casually to brands reaching out to me to give me free stuff. And then went from free stuff to making a couple of 100 bucks here and there, from there to a couple 1,000 bucks here and there,” he says.
But then the endorsement deals, from the likes of Atlantic Records, McDonald’s and MVMT, started outpacing his six-figure salary.
“I had to make a decision because I’m now a father, I’m a husband and I only have a certain amount of time per day. I was spread pretty thin with the responsibilities of the demand of my passion project. And of course, trying to still be a good steward and be a good employee at my current job,” he says. “So I was in that tension point for quite some time.”
In November 2022, Campbell quit his job to work full time as a content creator.
“I wish I bet on myself earlier,” he says. “I think I took a happy-to-be-here mindset when I initially went into content creation, and I think I did a lot of selling myself short as a result of that.”
There are videos on how to style an outfit from Walmart to how to style a pair of $625 Prada slides. Or how to wear a suit casually in day-to-day living. Some of his posts feature his two daughters and his wife (whom he met at bible study). Others feature fellow content creators, showcasing different styles and sizes.
Recently, Campbell launched his 80-plus piece menswear collection with JCPenny, Stylus x LaDarius Campbell, featuring casual fabrics in more formal cuts. Think suit, but made out of knit materials. Think versatile, capsule collection, but because you choose to limit your wardrobe, not because that’s all you had.
“It’s really crazy to just see that come full circle. This thing that I did because I kind of had to is now this thing that is creating abundance for not only me, not only my family, but just like on a global level,” he says.
Campbell doesn’t always put together an outfit for everyday — he says his wife will say he in fact does. But even if he’s wearing sweats, he’s putting on a watch, jewelry and coordinating a look.
“It’s bringing together as many elements of style as you can into an outfit that looks effortless,” Campbell says. “That is the perfect outfit.”
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WHY IS WHITE ROCK LAKE’S ROCK WHITE?
Unpacking the geological components of our lake
Story by AYSIA LANE
WHITE ROCK takes up over 1,000 acres of our community and has been around for over 100 years. The reservoir and the land around it has become a haven for runners, kayakers, bikers and every other kind of nature-centric person you can think of. But besides what we use it for, what do we really know about it geologically?
WHAT MAKES WHITE ROCK’S ROCK WHITE?
Try to say that five times fast. We know we couldn’t. The answer is quite simple, at least it is to Amy Martin— a veteran journalist and the author of Wild DFW , a book that breaks down the nature in and around the metroplex. She says it’s because the rocks are limestone.
“We’re the land of limestone,” Martin cracks a smile as she says it.
Our limestone is called Austin Chalk which is made up of microscopic fossils from the Cretaceous Era, a period that ended 66 million years ago, according to the Natural History Museum. Martin
says that during this time period “we used to be in the middle of an ancient inland sea.” There would be times that it could be as “deep as a skyscraper “ and a considerable amount of microscopic creatures made the sea its home. When they died, their remains would settle at the bottom and with time and pressure, they became the white rock we see today.
ARE THERE OTHER MARINE CREATURE FOSSILS IN THE AREA TODAY?
Yes. Although it’s rare to find them in our area. More shallow portions of the sea, towards Fort Worth, would catch most of the creatures near the shoreline. Occasionally, if you’re lucky, you could find an ammonite fossil. The remains used to float and have coiled external shells that resembled that of a large snail. Martin alludes to the areas of the park that have these particular fossils as being a sort of invite-only viewing experience. If you know where to find them, then you know.
If you don’t, you don’t. Don’t worry, we didn’t get an invite to the cool kids club either.
WHAT OTHER GEOLOGICAL FEATURES ARE NATIVE TO THE AREA?
Our dirt. Hang with us here. Dirt can be special too, especially since ours comes from Austin Chalk.
“Whatever your bedrock is, creates the soil that you have,” Martin says. Since the Austin Chalk is soft, it can be assumed that it was formed in shallow waters with less pressure weighing it down. Over time, Martin says that limestone would leach out and the only thing remaining is the organic matter, and pyrite.
“Over millions of years, that white limestone leaches out and becomes black gumbo dirt, the stuff we garden with,” Martin says.
This dirt, filled with marine plants and microscopic marine organisms from millions of years ago, is extremely fertile. “It’s full of good stuff, and it’s got a lot of minerals in it.”
Illustrations
PETRA AND THE BEAST
No to white tablecloths. Yes to sustainable dining.
Story by JEHADU ABSHIRO | Photography by KATHY TRAN
IT’S A TUESDAY AFTERNOON. MISTI NORRIS IS ELBOWSDEEP BREAKING DOWN A PIG IN THE KITCHEN OF PETRA AND THE BEAST.
This particular pig is marked for aging. Depending on the cut, it’ll cure for two to three weeks before aging and drying
for another eight or nine months. Norris puts aside the riblets to marinate for that Wednesday’s family meal.
Norris, a semi-self-taught butcher, has been breaking down pigs since her time at the now-shuttered New American restaurant FT33.
“I feel like there are certain things in
your career that just clicked to you, and you have a mind for it,” she says. “And I felt like that was one of those things that just made sense in my mind.”
Almost every ounce of any pig will be used in some way, whether it appears as a potato salad lonza (cured meat obtained from the lower back of pigs) or chocolate
lardo (salume made by curing strips of fatback). There’s stock to be made and bones to be bleached for restaurant décor.
“I would not say we’re zero waste,” she says. “I would say we’re low waste, for sure.”
Located in the former Lakewood Smokehouse space near Abrams and Gaston, this version of Petra and the Beast has green velvet booths, a long countertop for tasting and a full bar.
It’s a long way from the BYOB pop-up that launched in an old gas station in 2018. Norris, who lives within walking distance, hasn’t changed the founding principle of her restaurant — thoughtful food with a fine dining foundation. Her trademark emphasis on foraged, fermented, locally produced and sustainable is found everywhere from the food to the décor.
Everything is sourced from vendors within three hours of Dallas. Foraged items are picked by Norris far outside the city — obviously nowhere near White Rock Lake “for so many reasons.” Bread and pasta are made from scratch and every food item is processed in house. Even the skins of the onions are dried and pulverized into allium powder.
You’re not getting an extra dirty martini with blue cheese olives here. There are no olives at the bar. Norris hasn’t been able to source them locally for five years. Instead, fermented blueberries that mimic the flavor are used. No limes, either. And if something tastes like coconut, it’s most likely processed fig leaf, which there’s plenty of around here.
It’s probably the way farm-to-table should function.
“But I hate that term,” Norris says. “It’s been so overutilized to the point where it doesn’t mean anything anymore … But it takes a lot to actually follow that — to really do it.”
Petra and the Beast is quite different from the kitchens Norris trained in. She started working in a retirement home kitchen when she was 16 years old.
“At that point, I was just trying to work in a kitchen and get experience because nobody else wanted to hire me,” she says.
After a very brief stint at Rockfish as “a terrible server,” she worked at Spike, which was located at Mockingbird Station before closing. Around the same time, Norris enrolled in culinary school but dropped out in her second semester. She felt that learning on the job from experienced line cooks and chefs was a better fit.
A pivotal moment in her career was when she started working at Anthony Bombaci’s version of Nana at the Hilton Anatole.
“[It] was probably the most important kitchen job that I had,” she says. “It was the first restaurant that I worked at that really pushed me and made it possible for me to see food outside the box. Anthony was just so extremely creative.”
The critic-favorite white tablecloth restaurant was in a hotel, but not a hotel restaurant, if that makes any sense. Decorated by pieces from Trammell and Margaret Crow’s famed Asian art collection and views of Dallas, the 28-year-old restaurant had a string of revered chefs at the helm. Bombaci’s menu featured items such as scallops with celery root, green olives and capers, or slow-roasted duck with beets, oranges, tangerine and mahon cheese.
“[He was] not hard to work with,” she says. “But he just pushed because he wanted you to be better. Things had to be right.”
Nana was replaced with steakhouse Ser in 2012. Before the restaurant closed, Bombaci told Matt McCallister he needed to hire Norris. McCallister – cooked with Stephen Pyles, James Beard-nominated, Homewood — was opening his first solo restaurant FT33
in the Design District at 31 years old. Norris started as a line cook before becoming the sous chef within a year.
“This is where it gets kind of weird because it was a quick jump,” she says.
Her next stop was the executive chef job at Small Brewpub in Oak Cliff.
“That’s like when we first started getting attention for ‘Oh, full sustainability’ and all that stuff,” she says. “I finally had the freedom to do the food I really wanted to do.”
She took a break from the Dallas dining scene and did some consulting work in New York. While hosting tasting and pairing pop-ups for a liquor brand up and down the East Coast, Norris started thinking about owning her own place.
But banks wouldn’t give her a loan, and she didn’t have much money in the bank. Then she got a check for $10,000 for an event she worked.
She went to LiftFund, which spe -
cialized in funding small businesses and got another $10,000. She used about $5,000 of the money to cover her living expenses.
$15,000.
That’s what it took to open her restaurant. Petra comes from “petrichor,” the smell of the first rain after a dry, hot spell, and “beast” is, well, the butchering part.
“I would never suggest anyone open a restaurant the way I did,” she says.
The original Petra was in a 1932 filling station in Old East Dallas. The revolving, curated menu was on chalkboard, and food was served on paper boats. Plus, she didn’t have a dishwasher.
“It was not necessarily what we wanted to do, but there were a lot of decisions made out of pure necessity,” she says. “We started doing a tasting. Every week, we buy like another table, or we buy chairs, so we just kept building as we had the money.”
People started talking about the
Bones from animals that have been used at Petra and the Beast, along with dried flowers and vintage toys, serve as the decor.
charcuterie and all of the things Norris managed to ferment or forage in a restaurant that didn’t charge more than $15 for an item. Food & Wine listed her on their “Best New Chef” list, and she was a semifinalist for a James Beard award, both in 2019 — within a year of opening. It wasn’t a place for champagne and caviar.
“People started showing up in like ballgowns. And I am like, ‘Whoa, this is super chill,’” she says. “It was thought-out food but very casual. You don’t need to be intimidated to come.”
Though her restaurant is certainly photogenic and there’s care to plating, she doesn’t quite care for the frills. Norris went to a tasting menu at Canlis, a 70-year-old fine dining establishment in Seattle, in a hoodie and sneakers. One of her favorite things to eat in the city is Cold Beer Co’s chili cheese dog or The Heights’ pork chop or wedge salad. Her favorite food she remembers making as a child with her younger brother was toasted white bread with an American single melted in the microwave. Her favorite food her MawMaw made was soft scrambled eggs. Lafayette, Beaumont, Port Neches, New Iberia. She’s Dallas-born and Houston-bred, but her family is from all over Louisiana. Food is just part of the culture. Her grandmother had a garden with fresh cantaloupe, tomatoes and chickens in her backyard. MawMaw taught her how to pickle. Sundays in her father’s house were for chores. But it was also for playing blues on 90.1, and making roast, rice and gravy.
“Those memories and that feeling – all the good ones are surrounded by food or associated with food, so that was a big part of why I really wanted to start cooking,” Norris says. “So that I can almost have that power to share that with other people and maybe make other people have those same memories.”
Her father, a master plumber who loved food, would occasionally trade jobs at restaurants for food so that Norris and her brother could broaden their palettes.
“His goal was always for us to not be close-minded,” she says.
Yes, she loved cheese toast, but she was also eating chicken liver mousse when she was young.
Perhaps it’s why, on occasion, chicken liver mousse makes it onto the 38-year-old Norris’ ever-evolving menu. Incidentally, a family with a child who loves chicken
liver mousse have become her regulars.
“And I love that so much,” she says. The menu isn’t really seasonal. Texas produce has many sub-seasons, and the Petra team adjusts the menu with rhyme and reason, but not with a specific rhythm. There’s a good chance an item you ate two weeks ago isn’t available the next time you dine.
Everything under the “Noods” category is under $28, from the chèvre caramelli pasta dish featuring eggplant three ways – buttered shoyu eggplant, eggplant skin licorice and fermented eggplant – to the farfaella with smoked corn vermouth crème, summer tomato jam and saffron pickled corn. And yes, the saffron is from Texas.
Brunch, a new addition to the menu, features gnocchi French toast with Texas honey smoked ham, whipped ricotta and dill pollen. There’s sausage, egg and cheese on the menu, but it’s coming with blazama, a Turkish flat bread, arugula, and smoked garlic and chive emulsion. The eggs are soft scrambled, but it’s not MawMaw’s recipe –she died before Norris figured out how to make them the way her grandmother did.
Everything but the charcuterie is priced under the $30 benchmark.
“I just always want things to be accessible,” Norris says. “ And for people to try something new and that purely comes from growing up the way I did.”
The restaurant is only open for dinner Wednesday-Sunday and brunch on weekends – seven services total. The food cost is low, but it’s more labor intensive. There’s no plans to add lunch.
“My team works so much as it is, I wouldn’t put that on them,” she says.
Norris’ greatest splurges are on her staff – paying them more and figuring out ways to take care of them. Buying large quantities of ingredients, like 140 pounds of blueberries, is another splurge.
“We’re doing well, which [I am] super-grateful, but I think that has a lot to do with the neighborhood,” Norris says. “We’ve had nothing but really great clientele and really great guests, and the neighborhood is amazing.”
You can wear shorts and flip-flops. Norris doesn’t care.
Just have an open mind. And come taste the chicken liver mousse.
Petra and the Beast , 1901 Abrams Rd, 214.484.2326, petraandthebeast.com
Designing dreams. Building them too.
AUDS & ENDS
How Audrey Hanna created a decor one-stop shop
Interview by SIMON PRUITT
Photography by YUVIE STYLES
EAST
DALLAS NEIGHBOR AUDREY HANNA HAS A VISION FOR EVERYTHING. Even though she graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in journalism, her self-taught Photoshop skills are what pay the bills.
She started her interior decor brand, Auds and Ends, in college, targeting dorm rooms. Now, she’s moving her business towards a sleeker, more refined interior style. Most recently, Hanna designed the digital rendering for an experiential new hotel concept from Norwegian DJ Kygo, to be located in Miami. The hotel and her design were featured in Forbes.
Hanna has established Auds and Ends enough to do it full time. At just 24 years old, there’s no ceiling for her brand, and no ceiling that her work can’t be displayed under.
HOW DID AUDS AND ENDS START?
There was a trend going around of people’s colleges with little graphics and then your major on it. I made prints for my school, like we won the national championship in basketball. I put a trophy and ‘national champions,’ and they all kind of match together. I put all those on my Etsy because so many people from my school were wanting them. Obviously that trend went away, but from there at least I had some sales and reviews for credibility. Then I started doing more Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and really looking into what was getting popular.
YOU SEEM TO BE PRETTY ENGROSSED IN THE BUSINESS END OF YOUR ART. WAS THAT SOMETHING THAT WAS NATURAL OR DID YOU TEACH YOURSELF?
I definitely like having an entrepreneur mindset. My first Etsy username was ‘audreypreneur.’ I really like the business aspect, I was a business minor.
DO YOU SEE AUDS AND ENDS AS AN INTERIOR DECOR BRAND?
Yes, I would say most of it. Or gifts. All my stuff is very colorful and girly. I love 3D stuff too. Randomly, the one thing I can’t do is sit down and draw a person or a face. I could do it on my iPad or Photoshop, but that’s not what people come to me for.
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THE HOME DECOR SPACE IS PROBABLY HARD TO BREAK INTO, ESPECIALLY AS AN INDEPENDENT, RIGHT?
I think luckily, with my niche, I have followed my age group. I’ve done things for people that I would want in my dorm. I think as I get older, the dorm stuff will slow down and then things that are a bit nicer and more complex can be in people’s houses. I try to follow the times.
YOU RECENTLY DID A DESIGN FOR A DESTINATION HOTEL IN MIAMI. HOW DID YOU GET THAT OPPORTUNITY?
A couple months ago, this realtor for the hotel said she really liked my website and sent me an inquiry. I called her, and it sounded like a really small project. Then we started doing it and she had me do a rendering of what the whole hotel is gonna look like. That was brand new to me. They had a blueprint, I had to turn it into what it’s gonna look like. It was a lot. I textured every little wall and made everything all digital. It did take forever, I worked 72 hours total on it. I didn’t know where it was going, then I just woke up the next morning and she sent me the link that it was in Forbes
HOW DID YOU EVEN KNOW THAT YOU COULD DO THAT?
I don’t know! If I knew what this was going to be before, I probably would have said no, because I wouldn’t think that I was capable of doing that.
DO YOU EVER HAVE TIME TO DO PROJECTS FOR YOURSELF?
It’s really hard for me to design something for myself. I feel like my brain just doesn’t stop with ideas that I can’t choose one thing that I want to do.
YOU’RE ALMOST LIKE A ONE-WOMAN FACTORY.
That’s the way I’ve always seen it. I just really like being able to see other people’s vision come to life. I remember how happy I was when people would send me photos of their order and say, ‘I love it so much.’ I’m so happy to think that it’s in your house, you look at it, and I made it
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Bald Eagles are monogamous, meaning that Nick and Nora are likely paired for life.
HERE TO STAY
After a tumultuous couple of years, Nick and Nora may have finally found some luck
Story by AUSTIN WOOD
Nature Photography by
NICK DIGENNARO
Portrait by LAUREN ALLEN
In 2021, the North Texas housing market was booming and thousands of people and families moved to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.
As it turned out, a pair of bald eagles had similar ideas.
The male and female pair were first sighted near White Rock Lake in late 2021. Their first attempt at a nest was located near Sunset Bay, close to Winfrey Point.
But, as many young potential homeowners experience, getting in the right home can be a difficult task. The first nest didn’t hold up long, and just when the eagles finally seemed to find a home in an abandoned red-tailed hawk nest in Lake Highlands Park, a gust of straight line winds knocked it out of the tree. Remnants of an egg were found close to the debris, and mournful neighbors-turned-enthusiasts put together an impromptu memorial.
Nick and Nora — named after the fictional characters Nick and Nora Charles from Dashiell Hammett’s 1934 novel The Thin Man — eventually returned to Lake Highlands Park. With courtship behavior observed close to Valentine’s Day this year, fans, photographers, city wildlife staff and neighbors alike waited with bated breath to see if the couple would finally become parents.
In late March, it became clear that something was happening in their nest.
“That was the first time that one of our great citizens was able to get a photograph of it,” says Chris Morris, an urban biologist with Dallas Parks and Recreation. “And one of the other chicks had popped his head out. And then later that week, probably like the seventh of April, someone saw distinct two different movements in the nest. And I think another person was able to get two
different heads. So that’s how we knew that we had two chicks.”
Nick and Nora had finally done it. After a series of failed nests and shattered eggs, it seemed as though the young couple could finally raise a few eaglets. Things ran smoothly, and the two hatchlings were seen hopping around.
Then Memorial Day happened.
Heavy rains and hurricane-force winds battered North Texas. Most of their nest — once again — was blown out of the Giant American Sycamore it was nestled in. While the two adult eagles had been strong enough to fly away, there was no sign of the eaglets. It seemed as though Nick and Nora’s stint as parents had yet again met a tragic ending.
THE EAGLES
Bald eagles, the national symbol of the United States of America, have made tremendous strides since facing extinction in the 20th Century.
According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife, as a result of pesticides, habitat loss and hunting, only 417 nesting pairs were known to exist in 1963. Conservation efforts have been largely successful and bald eagles were recently reclassified from endangered to least concern. However, they are still protected by both the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, which makes killing, selling or otherwise harming the eagles a federal crime punishable by jail time or large fines.
As populations have recovered, bald eagle sightings at White Rock Lake are not unprecedented. Typically spotted in one-off instances during the winter, the lake provides ample feeding opportunities for birds of prey.
“White Rock Lake is a pretty decent ecosystem,” Morris says. “It’s just large enough to have several different species of fish, we’ve got all different kinds of wildlife, from the snakes, turtles, multiple different waterfowl. The general area also supports several different other raptor species, from red shoulders, red tails, there are several different owl species all throughout there. So there is a large amount of food available.”
What is a little less common, however, is that Nick and Nora have made the urban area their home. Morris says that while it may be rare to see eagles living this close to a city, White Rock Lake Park provides plenty of tree cover and food sources to sustain them, with fish being their staple.
Bald eagles are mostly monogamous, meaning that Nick and Nora have a good chance to remain together for the rest of their lives. To tell which is which, it may be helpful to see them next to each other.
“The females are going to be the larger,” Morris says. “And then one of the things is they have a little bit more of a length in their shoulder wingspan. So definitely when they’re sitting, and if you can see them sitting side-by-side and stuff like that. The female will be much broader.”
Without that side-by-side comparison, it can be difficult for an untrained eye to spot differences between a male and female.
If neighbors encounter the eagles, Morris says it’s perfectly okay to snap a photo but to avoid loud noises and keep pets on leashes.
The distinctive whte plummage fully comes in around five years of age, according to the USFWS.
THE PHOTOGRAPHERS
Nick DiGennaro typically tries to get to Sunset Bay while it’s still pretty dark, but that’s when there’s the most to see.
“I like to get there early though just to kind of get a feel,” DiGennaro says. “You know, that time before dawn is just so magical. So I try to get down there at 6:30, and even if they’re not there I just kind of get a feeling for what’s about to take place or not.”
DiGennaro has photographed the eagles since 2021, and is one of the most dedicated photographers following them. He specializes in photographing birds, saying as subjects, other animals don’t interest him nearly as much.
“It’s something about the flight and just the gorgeous nature of the birds, which I try to portray in the shots,” he says. “And technology actually enables you to do that.”
He says wildlife photography is unique among photography disciplines. For him, while technical knowledge is important, it is crucial to have an understanding of the fauna being photographed. That way, a photographer can become more predictive and proactive in shooting.
One of the most noticeable aspects of Nick and Nora’s time at White Rock Lake is the community of photographers and enthusiasts which has formed around the birds. A Facebook group called “White Rock Lake! thats my hood” which is mostly dedicated to sharing photos of its namesakes’ flora and fauna, especially the eagles, has over eight thousand members. Photographers keep in touch and compare notes.
“It’s amazing. It’s really such a nice group,” DiGennaro says. “It’s really great. The photographers, I didn’t know most of the early ones. But now I get messages every day.”
Another photographer, Mark Fletcher says that ever since he first started shooting the eagles, the community has only grown closer.
“I think everybody who is a bird photographer there, they made the eagles the photograph subject of choice.” Fletcher says. “And so all of us would be there every day, and we all kind of bonded and became a group of friends throughout the years.”
“Everybody knows everybody. Just last week, I think there were like 20-25 photographers that were there at Sunset
Nick DiGennaro typically tries to get to the lake around 6:30 a.m., when there’s the most to see.
Bay on the dock. We’re at a stage right now where [the juvenile] is learning and the parents are teaching the young juvenile how to do that, catching a fish in front of it, and trying to get it to mimic the actions of the parent. So it’s fun to watch the juvenile practice picking things up.”
MORE EAGLES AT WHITE ROCK LAKE?
After the nest blew down in May, Parks and Rec staff received a call that a sole eaglet had been found in a neighbor’s back yard. There was no sign of the other one, but the eaglet appeared relatively unharmed. Staff moved quickly, sending it to Blackland Prairie Raptor Center. Luckily, the eaglet had escaped mostly uninjured.
“So now he’s over at Blackland Prairie,” Morris says. “He stays there for a week. It’s like Airbnb. He gets three meals a day, sleeps in, you know, feather cushions and bells and stuff.”
The eaglet of an unidentified sex was named Henley by Raptor Center staff, a nod to Texan rock legend and eagles frontman Don Henley.
The juvenile was reunited with Nick and Nora
shortly after. Although it has certainly learned how to “Fly Like an Eagle,” there are no confirmed reports of the juvenile eagle drumming or singing, thus far. Henley is now learning how to fish and has grown a full coat of feathers. Since it is still under a year old, the plumage around its head is still brown, like most of its feathers. They will begin to whiten fully around five years of age, according to the USFWS.
Looking forward, Morris says that there is little reason to believe Nick and Nora’s family is done growing.
“They’re young, they’re virile.” Morris says. “I keep singing the praises of White Rock Lake, because it is a great ecosystem. There is plenty of opportunity for them to have more clutches, as well as, if the juvenile finds another juvenile, and they make a couple, there may be enough space. There’s plenty of brush overall. There’s red-shouldered and red-tailed hawks and stuff like that. There’s plenty of food there. We may be able to have two eagle couples, I’m not sure.”
Henley reportedly left the lake in early August, but Nick and Nora seem to have finally accomplished something that’s becoming harder and harder these days — they’ve found a home in East Dallas.
The
As a former Dallas County Prosecutor, District Attorney and State District Court Judge, Susan Hawk has presided over more than 25,000 criminal cases. Susan’s experience gives her a behind-the-bench perspective into the workings of cases, juries and judges that few attorneys can match. And her experience and passion for advocating for mental health brings an added focus on treatment over incarceration.
If you or someone you know is facing criminal charges, make sure they come to court with the advantage of an insider’s perspective. Because in crafting a defense, the right perspective is everything.
THE JOURNEY BACK TO OUTSIDE, TEXAS
Brandon wears two braclets made for him by his sister Kate after his third hip surgery.
How Brandon Yates faced death and survived to tell the story
Story by AYSIA LANE
Photography by VICTORIA GOMEZ
FEVER. STOMACH ISSUES. LOSS OF APPETITE. BODY ACHES. A slew of symptoms plagued Brandon Yates as he traveled up to his parent’s ranch in Sherman, Texas in November of 2022.
They thought it could be COVID. Or maybe the flu?
Eventually the symptoms became overbearing and his wife, Michele Yates, pushed Brandon to go to the hospital as his fever climbed to 104.
After taking a barrage of tests, there was no answer.
“He’s the kind of guy that never gets sick,” Michele says.
It was December 1 when Brandon went into the hospital.
When he finally “came to,” it was February.
He had been in and out of an induced coma, teetering between life and death for months.
His organs were shutting down and chemotherapy was on the brink of killing him.
During that time, Brandon fought to make use of the fleeting moments of consciousness he had.
Three years prior, Brandon and his business partner Josh Florence co-founded Outside, Texas. The apparel and goods store was made to inspire people to get outside.
The pair started the store with no previous experience in apparel and began selling at the Dallas Farmers Market. In time, Brandon and Florence started a social media account for the business. People would tag the account with pictures of themselves wearing Outside, Texas clothes all around the world.
Brandon handled operations, which meant every password, security question and email was in his possession. When he became sick, Florence had to figure
out how to press forward without failing the business and its loyal customers.
While he couldn’t be at the store, when he was awake he would call for his laptop.
“He would be in a half-lucid state, asking about things that were happening at the store,” Michele says.
In early January, Florence recalls getting to FaceTime Brandon during one of his brief spells of consciousness.
“He had his sister Nay Nay and Michelle whiteboarding out how we wanted to distribute holiday bonuses to our employees,” Florence laughs. “And he was laser focused on making sure that I understood exactly the way that he wanted it to be, because it was that important to him.”
By this time, Outside, Texas had become a family affair. Everyone was dialed in and keeping things afloat— Michele and her family, Brandon’s parents and siblings. They joined Brandon in his pursuit to capitalize on his conscious moments, FaceTiming him from the storefront as he directed them to make changes, giving him updates and communicating with the rest of staff.
Brandon doesn’t remember most of those moments.
When Brandon finally became fully con -
scious, he found that his muscles had atrophied, the beard he had proudly sported since the age of 19 was gone due to chemotherapy, his body was littered with tubes and IVs, and he had lost somewhere around 100 pounds.
“I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t talk,” Brandon says. “I looked in the mirror and I just lost it.”
This new look was accompanied by a nagging hip pain that turned out to be a septic infection in his hip joint, which his doctors surgically removed.
Brandon’s lack of mobility meant he was unable to go outside. The very thing he was inspired to share with others through his brand, he couldn’t quite get for himself.
He found pieces of the outside through the skylights of the hospital corridor. Staff would take their time, slowly wheeling him down the hall on the way to another test or procedure, letting him bask in the sun rays.
“He would just close his eyes and soak it up,” Michele’s sister Renee McCalmont says. “You could tell it just meant so much to him.”
Doctors were finally able to diagnose his illness. Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH). The rare disorder, considered to be life threatening, is characterized by dysregulated immune activity that causes inflammation and multi-organ failure.
But the diagnosis didn’t offer much peace. They gave him three weeks left to live.
“It was just all these doctors coming in and you could tell they were doing the best they could, they just didn’t know what to do,” Brandon says.
And then, finally, a breakthrough – an experimental medication named Jakafi. His medical team wavered with uncertainty about whether or not to give it to him. It was new and potentially too strong for Brandon’s withering body.
It was a gamble. One that would take courage, strength and determination. The same things he had when he took a leap of faith and created a business in an industry he had no experience in, but this time the stakes were much higher.
He decided he had to take it.
Within a week or so, his internal bleeding stopped and so did the attack on his internal organs.
Once he proved to be stable, it was time to learn how to start functioning again.
Everything he did without thinking before became laborsome. Talking, eating, drinking, it wasn’t easy.
But again, things had become a family affair. Brandon never spent a night
alone in the hospital. Everyone would take turns being there, even when he wasn’t conscious enough to know they were there.
They did everything they could with him, even watching videos on how to swallow.
By April, he was moved to inpatient rehabilitation. But his body had other plans. A couple weeks into the process, the sepsis in his hip returned and required another surgery.
Returning to rehabilitation after the sepsis removal was a tall order.
“He’s a very determined person,” Michele says. She knew he could do it.
And he certainly did it. He was discharged from physical therapy after being able to take two steps onto a stair.
Brandon returned home April 26, 2023.
In the course of six months, Brandon had undergone multiple hip surgeries, dialysis, chemotherapy, organ failure and physical rehabilitation.
“It’s amazing to see how far he’s come,” Michele says. “It’s actually incredible.”
Still, Brandon was constantly thinking about the shop. How were things running? How could he make it better?
Outside, Texas sits in Lower Greenville, with its circular horizon logo poking out to greet guests just before they enter the store. Immediately to the right is a floor to ceiling mural that has a hawk and coyote in a Texas-sunset-colored canyon. Directly to the left, is a steep set of stairs.
When Brandon came into the shop, now in a wheelchair, he observed them. They would become his next goal. The next thing to overcome. One day he would walk up those stairs. Alone.
By May, Brandon was inching toward normalcy by returning to the farmers market, working at the store and walking up the stairs, all while nursing the remainder of the sepsis in his hip.
He would move around with a concealed drainage bag attached to his hip, draining and cleaning it out daily.
“I hide it because I’m going to keep working,” Brandon says.
While the sepsis complications linger, causing bouts of pain, Brandon’s HLH has completely “gone away.”
“I just keep my head down and grind it out,” Brandon says.
PAWSITIVE
IMPACT
Gary Irvin is feeding Dallas’ homeless population and their pets
Story by LILLIAN JUAREZ
Photography by YUVIE STYLES
CHEF GARY IRVIN wakes up bright and early in his Lakewood home for another day of work in the kitchen. He starts by gathering donated food ingredients and begins preparing meals that will be donated to homeless individuals every Wednesday around Dallas.
This wasn’t always his routine.
With over 25 years of professional culinary experience, Irvin’s background includes working in restaurants and corporate kitchens. As a self-proclaimed animal lover, Irvin always found ways to help the homeless community and their animals as a chef. According to co-worker Robin Perdue, who has known Irvin for over a decade, Irvin’s love for animals often led him to taking in more animals off the street than he knew what to do with.
“In a corporate setting, we have stations on campus and we make different things for [employees]. After a couple days we have to throw it away,” Irvin says. “So, I would
just grab some of that stuff and I would just drive around and hand it out. I’m a huge animal lover. I’ve been in animal rescue for a long time. When I would see people with animals, my senses would get heightened and I would pull over say ‘do you have food for your dog?’”
Irvin recalls the helplessness he felt when talking to people in the homeless community and seeing how other organizations would send out bags of potatoes and canned goods.
Three years ago, Irvin discovered a new purpose — founding Rescue Markets, a culinary initiative of Pet Sitters Care.
Pet Sitters Care is a network of pet sitters that aid rescues, shelters and animal-related nonprofits by organizing fundraising events and providing pet food to pet-oriented organizations. The nonprofit was founded by Robin Perdue, the owner of VIP Pet Services, an Austin and Dallas-based pet sitting company. Irvin joined Perdue in founding Rescue Markets in order to make
a more direct impact on Dallas’ homeless population.
Inspired by the impact he could make, Irvin decided to retire from cooking in May and do full-time work to help feed homeless individuals and their animals on the streets.
“There’s so many organizations that are involved in helping feed the homeless. We’ll just be able to go out there and help feed homeless people with their animals,” Irvin says. “The need is everywhere. As more and more people find out about me more and more people keep asking for help. We’re just a small organization. We can’t fill the demand at all. We’re trying.”
The Rescue Markets website offers several ways for neighbors to get involved. Meals made by Irvin himself in different themes, like July’s International Taco Paw’ty, offer a selection of meals with proceeds used to fund Pet Sitters Care projects and donations. Meals are available for pickup or delivery in Lakewood.
“[I thought], ‘what can I do that will really help us raise money?’ Well I’m a chef,” Irvin says.
Users can also donate to the water fund to distribute bottles to those in need, pet food assistance to provide pet food for shelters, senior snack kits for older adults in need to supplement their daily food intake or straight donations.
Irvin gathers the donations and supplies and distributes them himself weekly in the Dallas area. They’d love to expand to other cities, but first they have to get other chefs on board to help, Perdue says.
Irvin recalls asking people “dog food or meal?” to see what the pet owners would say. Most times, he’d see that the owners would choose dog food over being fed themselves.
“[For] a lot of these people, the only reason they’re holding on is because they have this animal,” Irvin says. “They love this animal and they want this animal to survive. So it forces him to want to survive because a lot of them, without their animals, they just want to give up.”
“I wish people would open their hearts up and say, ‘I know that it sucks that these people are on the corner with these animals. But when they [take the animal] they don’t realize what they’re doing not just to the animal, but to that homeless veteran who lost his legs.”
Helping local businesses navigate small business loans.
Passion for Pets
Elyse Thogerson’s love for animals inspired her to open a pet concierge
Story
ABIGAIL
FROM DOGS AND CATS to horses and geese, Elyse Thogerson has kept and cared for animals her whole life. Somehow, she says, they have always found her. During the pandemic, a sheep wandered its way onto her property. When she lived in Hawaii, stray cats would yell out and come up to her. When she was a teenager, she would help out her mother at their horse ranch, grooming and
training the horses. She currently has seven horses, four dogs and five outdoor barn cats.
“I was raised with animals my whole life,” Thogerson says. “I’ve always, always had an animal, no matter all my travels and everything that I’ve done.”
In January 2024, Thogerson decided to “bite the bullet” and
by
FLEEMAN | Photography by LAUREN ALLEN
Elyse dogsits Hanley (left) and River (right).
convert this passion into a business. She noticed a need for pet care in the community. She also saw a myriad of people on social media preferring pet sitters to boarding facilities, so she created a Facebook page offering her pet services to the Lakewood area. When Thogerson texted her mom for ideas about the business, her mom recalled the many animals Thogerson had cared for over the years and immediately came up with the name, Paws Claws & All, and it has stuck ever since.
“Overnight, I just started getting busier and busier and busier,” Thogerson says. “So that’s when I was like okay, this is gonna be my forever career. It was one of those things where the stars aligned and it was perfect timing and I just went for it.”
Paws Claws & All is run solely by Thogerson. She provides a variety of services like dog walking, feeding, pet-sitting and even house-sitting duties like watering plants and checking the mail. She tailors her services to what the client needs when they are away from home, though the only things she does not offer are grooming and certified pet training.
Thogerson aims to create special connections with the pets. She enjoys getting to know each one’s unique personality.
“One of the pet parents told me that they get deliveries around three times a day. They have people coming over constantly, but their dog always thinks that it’s me at the door,” Thogerson says. “[The dog] is so excited that it just runs out and jumps up on the person.”
Thogerson also works two nighttime jobs at different restaurants. Her goal is to gain enough clients to only focus on Paws Claws & All and hire people she trusts to help take care of the pets.
“I’ve actually made my own business cards. I take the opportunity to give them out when I’m waiting on tables or bartending just because I’ve lived so much life I feel like I always have something in common with these people that I meet,” Thogerson says. “And as soon as we start talking, all of a sudden they’re just like, ‘Wow, you have a business card.’ Then they tell their neighbor and then their neighbor tells their neighbor. It’s just been networking and getting to know people.”
She dreams of expanding the business to food, with raw homemade food for dogs with unprocessed ingredients. Thogerson’s ultimate goal is to buy land and create a pet sanctuary. She imagines it having “little dog homes,” fields and a pond with a slide, a more luxurious alternative to a typical kennel.
Until this is achievable for her, Thogerson continues to help pet owners in the community and grow her love for animals through each one she meets.
“Animals are not just pets to me. They are definitely my family members,” Thogerson says. “Even if they are other people’s pets and I take care of them for a week, I am their family member for that whole week and hopefully in the future.”
Pecan Tree Pediatrics
Dr. Methvin Dr. O’Brien Dr. Drake
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OCTOBER DEADLINE SEPT 10
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD
By PATTI VINSON
Big Tex fanatics
Neighbors think our state fair is a great state fair
Howdy, folks. Welcome to the most wonderful time of the year. No, not Santa’s big scene. The spotlight belongs to Big Tex. It’s time for the great State Fair of Texas, and plenty of your East Dallas neighbors are super fans who can talk about the fair all day long and dole out some expert advice for maximizing your visit.
A tradition since 1886, the State Fair of Texas reigns as the largest state fair in the United States: in its 24 day run last year, almost 2.5 million visitors walked through the gates to celebrate all things Texan.
“I am a fanatic and I’m not afraid to say it,” says East Dallas neighbor and frequent fair flyer Erin Montgomery-Marks. Any doubt of her devotion to the giant slice of Americana is dispelled when you walk into her living room to see a five-foot tall portrait of Big Tex displayed proudly on the wall.
Her love of the fair began as a kid growing up in Waxahachie in a family that attended every year. “I’ve gone on opening day every year as long as I can remember,” she says. Even when she lived in Denver for a few years, it was a trip that she made.
“My favorite things about the fair have to be the excitement in the air, the smells, the people watching. I love checking out the new vendors as well as the new foods!” Her favorite, of course, is a Fletcher’s Corny Dog. She always makes it a point to ride the Crazy Mouse and the Carousel, catch a couple of concerts, see the butter sculpture in the Creative Arts building, and check out the Hall of State exhibit, which is different every year.
Only one trip to the fair won’t do. Montgomery-Marks always buys a season pass as soon as they go on sale and makes good use of it, averaging ten visits each run of the fair. And all those visits have made her a bit of an expert.
Of course, she advises purchasing a season pass. “If you plan on going more than once, the pass pays for itself.” She also recommends visiting at particular times. “Early mornings are less crowded and evenings are great for a concert or a quick dinner.” And she issues this important reminder: “Remember, those food coupons are good for years to come. If you have leftovers, keep them for the next year. I used a vintage 2002 coupon last year that I found cleaning out an old purse.”
Lakewood Heights neighbor Brina Tignor is another fair enthusiast. She first went to the State Fair in 1990 after moving to Dallas from Oklahoma and has been a devoted fan ever since, attending a minimum of four times each season — with a season pass, of course.
“It’s my happy place,” she smiles. “The energy is happy and there are so many things to do, eat, and see in one place. It’s also a launch into autumn for me. My birthday is always during the fair, too.”
One of her favorite sights is the Ambassador himself. “I love icons, and Big Tex rules,” she says of the 55-foot-tall animatronic cowboy in the 95-gallon hat who waves to the crowd. “I have so many pictures in front of Big Tex.”
Tignor attends on opening day every year, making a beeline for a Fletcher’s Corny Dog stand. She’s such a fan, in fact, that she named her dog Fletcher. Apparently he’s a corny dog.
She also lists deep-fried olives and deepfried collard greens as favorite foods from past fairs. Another perk of the fair: amazing musical performances. She treasures memories of seeing Jerry Jeff Walker, Lucinda Williams, and East Dallas’s own Joshua Ray Walker.
Speaking of treasure, Tignor was checking out the midway one year, standing under a ride which flips upside down when “a rain of coins came down on me from people’s pockets! Pennies - and other coins - from Heaven!” Possible pro tip to finance more coupons? Her advice? She seconds the wisdom of a season pass for those who plan to attend more than once. Her favorite day to go is Wednesdays as they always seem less crowded, but she also finds it’s quieter after 7:00 p.m. weekdays and later on Sundays. And she avoids attending on football game days. Hollywood/Santa Monica neighbor Cameron Hernholm loves the fair, too. Growing up in Longview, she made the trip to Dallas
each year with her parents to go to the fair. Now she shares that bond with her eightyear-old daughter Kamiyah. They never miss opening day and closing day, and they always wear matching State Fair t-shirts.
Kamiyah says, “I love saying hi to Big Tex on opening day. Howdy, folks!”
In addition to attending with her daughter and husband, Hernholm spends the day at the fair with her work team each year. She has a particular fondness for the pig races and shopping, and cherishes the special memory of first kissing her now—husband on a Texas Skyway gondola over a decade ago.
Her advice: “Opening day has relatively calm crowds and everyone and everything is new, exciting, and fresh. Closing day is a must attend to be sure to get your favorite fair food, ride and activities in since they won’t return for another 341 days.”
Ask Lakewood resident Claris Sukkar about the fair and she makes a confession: “I know it’s corny but I have to admit to having an affair with the fair.”
Her devotion translates to daily - yes, daily - visits to the fair. There are even some days when she goes twice. “I love everything about the fair but I think if I had to name a favorite it would be opening day. I like showing up just before 10 am and lining up with all the other excited fair lovers. As soon as I get in, I go straight to Big Tex for my first corn dog and beer, then just stand around, people watching and enjoying.”
Add Jack’s Fries, smoked turkey legs, and fried Oreos to her list of must-eat foods. But doesn’t the daily fair food add up to a bigger waistline? She’s found a way to indulge.
“Fair season is also marathon training season. Sometimes I do a long run in the morning and I reward myself with fried food later.”
She offers this wisdom for newbies: “Take your time and wander. Don’t try to ‘fair’ too fast. If you get too hot, duck into the car show and soak up some AC in the bed of a pickup. And always show up hungry!”
Sukkar says the State Fair gives her “a sense of pride for our Texas culture. The fair brings all kinds of people together to celebrate our shared love of all things Texas!”
PATTI VINSON is a guest writer who has lived in East Dallas for more than 20 years. She’s written for the Advocate and Real Simple magazine.
