2015 May Oak Cliff

UNBREAKABLE

TALES OF HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS WHO FACED DOWN ADVERSITY ( )

The right partner for your business.

You learn a lot running a business. Time really is money. Customers never forget a great experience. When opportunity knocks, answer. But the most important lesson is this — the right partner makes all the di erence. At LegacyTexas, we’ve been just that kind of banking partner for over 60 years. So if you’re looking for a bank you can trust to help grow your business, look no further than LegacyTexas.

Radiation oncologist Dr. Asal Rahimi was the first physician in Texas to use advanced video monitoring (Vision RT™) to safely treat left-sided breast cancer patients by protecting the heart from excess radiation. Dr. Rahimi and her colleagues also are pioneering the use of CyberKnife for breast cancer. Using radiosurgical techniques, this state-of-the-art robotic tool pinpoints and treats cancerous lesions with extreme precision. This is UT Southwestern—where scientific research, advanced technology, and leading-edge treatments come together to bring new hope to cancer patients.

To learn more, contact: Radiation Oncology at 214-645-8525 | UTSWmedicine.org/radonc. Find us on Facebook

This is where we treat breast cancer differently.

STOP! YOU’RE ON CANDID CAMERA

Success is even tougher in an age of rampant, continuously chronicled idiocy

Justin Bieber is one sad dude: rich, talented and famous but seemingly not too happy.

He had a rich, talented and famous girlfriend at one time; maybe he still does. It’s hard to follow all of the plot twists in their lives.

Neither is much more than a kid. But that hasn’t stopped us from hearing about them and reading about them and watching them and criticizing them from the get-go.

They make pretty easy targets, too, always saying and doing cringe-worthy things, despite their wealth and fame.

They’re good examples of how difficult it is to be young these days. Wealth can’t protect anyone from exposure, or overexposure, when we all carry cameras in our pockets. Thanks to new technology, any of us can shoot and broadcast video to the internet simultaneously.

That’s right: Before we even have a chance to think about the implications of what we’re doing, we’re done.

A college buddy and I had lunch recently, and we started talking about our first years out of school and on the job. It wasn’t uncommon for us or our friends to do some pretty dumb things.

Had any of us back then had the capability to constantly video people’s every step or misstep, instantly slap it on the internet where it would still be visible today, lives would have been permanently altered and history (with a small “h”) would be different.

Back then, we were protected from ourselves by the luck of the times — there was no easy way to forever record what was happening around us or what mistakes we made. For that, I and plenty of

others are eternally grateful.

Flashing forward to this month’s cover story about high school seniors who have turned tough situations to their advantage, the state of the world makes me admire them even more. They are succeeding in a time where it’s more and more difficult to avoid temptation or walk the straight and narrow. They are successful without the support and benefits so many of us have enjoyed in our lives.

Growing up has never truly been easy for a lot of folks, but I can’t imagine growing up in a more difficult time than today. Any mistake can be recorded forever, and there are more than a few people out there willing to cast stones.

DISTRIBUTION PH/214.560.4203

ADVERTISING PH/214.560.4203

office administrator: JUDY LILES

214.560.4203 / jliles@advocatemag.com

display sales manager: BRIAN BEAVERS

214.560.4201 / bbeavers@advocatemag.com

senior advertising consultant: AMY DURANT

214.560.4205 / adurant@advocatemag.com

senior advertising consultant: KRISTY GACONNIER

214.264.5887 / kgaconnier@advocatemag.com advertising consultants

SALLY ACKERMAN

214.560.4202 / sackerman@advocatemag.com

CATHERINE PATE

214.292.0494 / cpate@advocatemag.com

NORA JONES

214.292.0962 / njones@advocatemag.com

FRANK McCLENDON

214.560.4215 / fmcclendon@advocatemag.com

GREG KINNEY

214.292.0485 / gkinney@advocatemag.com

EMILY WILLIAMS

469.916.7864 / ewilliams@advocatemag.com

MICHELE PAULDA

214.292.2053 / mpaulda@advocatemag.com

classified manager: PRIO BERGER

214.560.4211 / pberger@advocatemag.com

director of digital marketing: MICHELLE MEALS

214.635.2120 / mmeals@advocatemag.com

EDITORIAL

publisher: CHRISTINA HUGHES BABB

214.560.4204 / chughes@advocatemag.com

senior editor: EMILY TOMAN

214.560.4200 / etoman@advocatemag.com

editor-at-large: KERI MITCHELL

214.292.0487 / kmitchell@advocatemag.com

editors:

RACHEL STONE

214.292.0490 / rstone@advocatemag.com

BRITTANY NUNN

214.635.2122 / bnunn@advocatemag.com

senior art director: JYNNETTE NEAL

And as for Justin Bieber, I felt sorry for him recently during a “roast” of his career by fellow tabloid luminaries. After sitting through a pretty brutal dissertation about everything he had done wrong in his life, he stood up to have the last word.

“There was really no preparing me for this life. I was thrown into this at 12 years old and I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into,” he said. “There’s been moments I’m really proud of and a lot of moments I look back, and I’m pretty disappointed in myself for.

“But the things I’ve done really don’t define who I am.”

Sadly, Justin, the things you’ve done really do define who you are. Yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Rick Wamre is president of Advocate Media. Let him know how we are doing by writing to 6301 Gaston, Suite 820, Dallas 75214; or email rwamre@advocatemag.com.

214.560.4206 / jneal@advocatemag.com

assistant art director: EMILY MANGAN

214.292.0493 / emangan@advocatemag.com

designers: LARRY OLIVER, KRIS SCOTT, EMILY WILLIAMS

contributing editors: SALLY WAMRE

contributors: ERIC FOLKERTH, SAM GILLESPIE, ANGELA HUNT, GEORGE MASON, KRISTEN MASSAD, BRENT McDOUGAL

photo editor: DANNY FULGENCIO

214.635.2121 / danny@advocatemag.com

contributing photographers: JAMES COREAS, RASY

RAN, JENNIFER SHERTZER, KATHY TRAN, ANDREW WILLIAMS, SHERYL LANZEL

the writers and do not necessarily reflect the publisher’s viewpoint. More than 200,000 people read Advocate publications each month. Advertising rates and guidelines are available upon request. Advocate publications are available free of charge throughout our neighborhoods, one copy per reader. Advocate was founded in 1991 by Jeff Siegel, Tom Zielinski and Rick Wamre.

Back then, we were protected from ourselves by the luck of the times — there was no easy way to forever record what was happening around us or what mistakes we made. For that, I and plenty of others are eternally grateful.

DIGITAL DIGEST

WHAT YOU’RE MISSING

City council makes conservation district status harder to obtain 11 things to know about the new streetcar

Tyler/Polk two-way plan moves forward Griggs: Spend Trinity Parkway funds on ‘sturdier streets’ Lucky Dog Books stays in Oak Cliff, Common Desk moves in

THE DIALOGUE

TYLER/POLK TWO-WAY PLAN MOVES FORWARD

THE $2.1 MILLION PLAN INCLUDES A ROUNDABOUT NEAR CANTY AND A STOPLIGHT NEAR PEMBROKE, AND ABOUT 20 PARKING SPOTS WILL BE LOST DURING RUSH HOUR.

“Just what the area needs ... more traffic confusion, from the many visitors, this area gets, on a weekly basis.” —finski

“Oak Cliff is growing and instead of making more lanes to make traffic better, they are taking traffic lanes away and parking away from small business that are trying to survive in the area. How is this helping the community?”

—Paola Rosas-Molina

“Roundabouts are not difficult to navigate and are often a better option than a 4-way stop.” —Eric

Thegardener

“I’m a fan of most of this. But if the businesses along Tyler feel they’ll be hurt by the loss of rush hour onstreet parking, that’s a concern the city should address before going forward.”

—Brad Nitschke

STAY IN THE KNOW

See more photos online at oakcliff.advocatemag.com.

The art of party

Ever wanted to beat an effigy of Justin Bieber with a bat? How about Barney the purple dinosaur or Elsa from “Frozen”?

If you can wait a week and pay as much as $125, an Oak Cliff piñatero, or piñata maker, can construct one for you.

There is no piñata that ABC Party Headquarters on West Davis at Windomere will not make. At least, there hasn’t been one so far. And the company, one of several custom piñata mak-

ers in our neighborhood, has received some strange requests. It once produced a piñata version of the HP printer from the movie “Office Space.” It has made Elvis, sock monkeys, an SLR camera, Hummers, tractors and even Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.

Some of them, such as a bride and groom created from the picture of a happy couple, seem too cute to batter.

Piñata making is a craft that can take years of training to learn. ABC’s piñatero, Alex Sagrero, learned it by watching the shop’s previous crafter. Sagrero used to paint and detail the piñatas, but when the previous piñatero moved away, he told the shop’s owner, Elvie De La Fuente, that he thought he could do the job. His first piñatas were pretty terrible, De La Fuente says, but after a few trials, he figured it out.

The basic piñatas are made of newspaper, flour and water. Sagrero starts with a paper cone as the base and builds the shape from there. They take about a week to dry, depending on the weather. After that, De La Fuente takes over, adding the finishes.

She gets into it, painting the eyes by hand and adding as much detail as she can.

“My husband tells me, ‘You don’t have to spend so much time on that,’” she says. “But I think it’s fun. I like doing it.”

Her husband, Carlos De La Fuente, opened a produce stand on the corner about 22 years ago. He also sold piñatas ordered from Mexico. Their piñata customers often asked where they could buy party plates and decorations, which gave Elvie the idea for a party store. She opened originally on West Jefferson and moved into the building adjacent to the fruit stand about seven years ago.

Now party supplies and piñatas are their whole business.

A tiny burro piñata from Mexico costs about $4. Custom piñatas range from $35 to $125 depending on size.

A recent trend is the gender-reveal piñata. Pregnant women bring sealed envelopes to the shop. Each baby’s gender is stated inside the envelope, and De La Fuente stuffs the piñata with candy — pink for a girl, blue for a boy. “We’re the second people to know what they’re having,” De La Fuente says.

Later, she knows, she’ll be decorating piñatas for those babies’ birthday parties.

—Rachel Stone

The people are what makes Oak Clif f so special. Both the residents and business owners help make the area so welcoming, open, accepting and connected. They are the threads that make the fabric of Oak Clif f so dynamic and cohesive.

- Steve Habgood

Oppostie page/ Elvie De La Fuente puts the finishing touches on the likeness of Boo from “Monsters Inc.”

Above/ Piñatero Alex Sagrero learned his craft from watching a master. Photos by Danny Fulgencio An Ebby Halliday

Out & About May 2015

Send

events

May 3

Open carry guitar rally

“You have the right to wear your guitar proudly and unashamed.” This secondannual satire of open-carry advocates asks participants to bring guitars and musical instruments of any kind. Just leave your long rifles at home, please. It’s from 4-9 p.m.

MAY 14

CONFAB

This third-annual conference from the Dallas Parks Foundation offers a day of speakers on parks, trails, bike infrastructure and urban planning. Dallas City Performance Hall, 2520 Flora, 972.803.1555, dallasparksfoundation.org, $13

MAY 16

Batgirl day

Red Pegasus Games and Comics celebrates the birthday of Oak Cliff native Yvonne Craig, who played Batgirl on the 1960s “Batman” TV show. Have some cake and watch classic Batgirl episodes. Red Pegasus Games and Comics, 208 W. Eighth, 972.413.8716, redpegasusgamesandcomics.com, free

May 15

Bike to work day

Let Bike Friendly Oak Cliff send you off to work with coffee, breakfast tacos, water and granola bars. Its energizer station atop the Jefferson Street Viaduct, for National Bike to Work Day, is from 7-9 a.m. Jefferson Street Viaduct, bikefriendlyoc.org, free

MAY 17

Brew Riot

Fifty teams compete at the seventhannual Brew Riot Homebrewing Competition from 4-8 p.m. Become a member of the Texas Homebrew Society and your $25 membership includes a ticket to the event, where you can taste all the brews and vote for your favorite. Eno’s Pizza Tavern, 407 N. Bishop, txhomebrewsociety.com, $25

May 18

Golf tournament

Spend a day on the golf course, and help homeless youth throughout Dallas. The 17th-annual fourperson scramble Promise House golf tournament is from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. The day includes 18 holes of golf, lunch and a reception with an awards dinner and a silent auction. Oak Cliff-based Promise House supports homeless and runaway youth.

Bent Tree Country Club, 5201 Westgrove, 214.941.8578, promisehouse.org, $375-$1,500

MAY 22 AND 24

‘Alien’ and H.R. Giger

The Texas Theatre shows the 1979 sci-fi horror film “Alien,” alongside a documentary, “The Dark Star: H.R. Giger’s World.” Giger was a Swiss artist who won an Oscar for his design work on “Alien.”

The Texas Theatre, 231 W. Jefferson, 214.948.1546, thetexastheatre.com

MAY 23-24

Keb’ Mo’

Three-time Grammy winner Keb’ Mo’ brings his contemporary blues to the Kessler for two nights of shows this month.

The Kessler Theater, 1230 W. Davis, 214.272.8346, thekessler.org, $25

MAY 24

Margarita Meltdown

The Margarita Meltdown returns to the Bishop Arts District from 4-9 p.m. Bartenders from around Dallas will compete for best margarita; ticketholders can taste their efforts.

Bishop Arts District, Bishop and Seventh, eventbrite.com, $10-$55

Delicious

TheCheesesteak House is not Pat’s King of Steaks or Geno’s, those iconic Philadelphia sandwich stands. And that’s OK. Here, we have the Rangers and Mavericks games on the TVs. There’s no pressure to order with as few words as possible. And you can have a seat inside a nice, clean restaurant while you eat your delicious sandwich. The counterservice restaurant is in a modest retail strip with a bodega, a barbershop and an Herbalife place. Owner Joel Padilla orders the restaurant’s bread from Philadelphia bakery Amoroso’s, so there is the authenticity of a bun that’s crispy on the outside and chewy inside. The food is delicious, consistent and inexpensive. Padilla and staff are friendly. He might not remember your name, but he will remember you; he greets every customer with a big smile and “hello!” Along with cheesesteak sandwiches, the restaurant also offers chips and queso, burgers, deli sandwiches and salads.

—Rachel Stone

CHEESESTEAK HOUSE

2015 W. Davis

469.941.4389

AMBIANCE: FAST CASUAL

PRICE RANGE: $4.50-$7.75

HOURS: 11 A.M.-9 P.M. DAILY

DID YOU KNOW?

CHICKEN CHEESESTEAK

SANDWICHES ARE HALF PRICE AFTER 5 P.M. WEDNESDAYS.

Cheesesteak burger, cheesesteak salad and the classic cheesesteak: Photo by Kathy Tran

MOTHER’S DAY HOME TOUR

SATURDAY: 10 AM – 6 PM SUNDAY: NOON – 6 PM

MOTHER’S DAY MUSIC

BRUNCH IN THE PARK, SUNDAY 11 AM – 2 PM TICKETS

Mild spring days call for outdoor dining, and Advocate readers voted VH (Beckley at El Dorado) the best patio in Oak Cliff.

The restaurant, from owner Victor Hugo, opened last year.

“It’s the best possible food, that you’re familiar with, for the best price,” Hugo told us in January. “We’re going to give you the feel of a four-star restaurant for an affordable price.”

The patio roughly doubles the restaurant’s capacity, and in sunny weather, brunch business is good, he says. VH serves brunch from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday-Sunday.

Happy hour, from 4-7 p.m. daily, also makes for a happening time on the patio, Hugo says.

Spring and summer menus are coming soon, with a focus on fresh fish and local produce. But always on the menu are duck and goat cheese taquitos, grilled chorizo with white bean and arugula salad, hearty salads, grilled salmon and wagyu pot roast, for a few examples.

VH also offers more than 20 wines by the glass, local craft beer on tap and cocktails, including a $6 michelada, a peach julep and a tequila version of a Moscow mule. —Rachel Stone

Runner-up: The Foundry and Chicken

Scratch

Third place: Pour House Dallas

NEXT UP FOR ADVOCATE’S 2015 BEST OF CONTEST: Best bar. Vote for your favorite at oakcliff.advocatemag.com/bestof2015

Bacon-wrapped pork tenterloin at VH:

Photo by Kathy Tran

TALULAH & HESS IN LAKEWOOD AND AT SAHD.ORG. $20 IN

NO-BAKE CRÈME BRULEE

Fancy dessert recipes tend to scare us out of the kitchen, but with only a few ingredients, no oven and no water bath, stovetop crème brulee makes it easy to recreate a favorite restaurant dessert at home. With its rich and silky texture and crunchy caramelized sugar topping, this will be your go-to dessert.

GROCERY LIST

1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream

1 vanilla bean, split

4 large egg yolks

½ cup granulated sugar

DIRECTIONS

In a medium saucepan, combine cream and vanilla bean (scrape seeds out of pod) and bring to a simmer.

While cream is heating, whisk egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch in a bowl.

Slowly add hot cream to the egg mixture and continue whisking until fully combined.

Pour mixture back into the saucepan and cook until it starts to thicken (do not

2 Tablespoons corn starch

Turbinado sugar or granulated sugar (to brulee)

bring it to a boil).

Once the custard is thick, remove the pan from the heat and transfer to a bowl. Continue whisking for 2-3 minutes to make the custard extra silky

Spoon custard into individual glass ramekins and refrigerate for 1 hour.

When ready to serve, sprinkle the top of the custard with sugar and torch until sugar is caramelized. Serve immediately.

Kristen Massad writes a monthly column about sweets and baked goods. The professional pastry chef graduated from the French Culinary Institute in New York City and owned Tart Bakery on Lovers Lane for eight years. She blogs about food and lifestyles at inkfoods.com.

An Education

Sometimes the toughest lessons are learned outside the classroom

High school and our experiences there often leave lifelong memories. Or scars. Imagine navigating those formative and frequently frustrating years while bearing an extraordinary burden — illness, disability, poverty, homelessness, parental abandonment or death, for example. The graduating seniors featured herein have endured a lifetime’s worth of adversity in their 18 years. In spite of, or possibly partly because of these challenges, they have managed to shine.

MEET TOMORROW’S LEADERS.

Chima Nsi, Kimball High School

Linda Hardeman lost her job when her son, Chima Nsi, was in eighth grade. Having previously gotten by from paycheck to paycheck, the family was forced to move out of their apartment and into an emergency shelter.

Profiles by RACHEL STONE • Photos by DANNY FULGENCIO

An Education

Hardeman has struggled to find another job. Over the past few years, she has taken odd jobs such as sewing and baking to support her family, which also includes an adult daughter. They stick together as a tight, church-going family, but they still don’t have a place of their own. They live with relatives in Hutchins and their struggle continues.

Chima says his life is more stable now, but there were times when he was uncertain how his family would get by from day to day. Even when he could settle his worries enough to concentrate on homework, it was hard to find the time and a quiet place. He fell behind in his studies, but counselors and teachers helped him get back on track last year.

Despite all the turmoil of his high school years, Chima, a 17-year-old Kimball High School senior, will graduate this month and go to Prairie View A&M University; he plans to study political science.

Taking those steps toward higher education and a career puts Chima ahead of the dismal statistics for homeless youth.

Texas has the highest population of homeless children in America, according to a 2015 study from the National Center on Family Homelessness. The center estimates 337,105 children from newborns to age 17 are homeless in this state; about 31,000 of them are high school students.

The study found that fewer than 25 percent of those students would be likely to graduate from high school.

Oak Cliff-based nonprofit Promise House specializes in helping homeless teenagers.

Paloma Belmarez, now 37, was one of them. Born and reared in Oak Cliff, she ran away from home at age 15. She lagged so far behind in school that she wanted to drop out.

“You’re severely behind in school, and it’s so easy to throw in the towel, and that’s just a catalyst for so many more problems,” Belmarez says.

A little bit of help goes a long way, she says. Belmarez came from a middle-class, two-parent home with no obvious turmoil. Her bad behavior escalated to a point that

she couldn’t see a way of turning it around. She felt rotten. But with family counseling at Promise House, she found her way back. She transferred from a private school to Kimball and was able to graduate on time by taking extra courses.

Eventually she earned a psychology degree from the University of Texas at Dallas and returned to work as a counselor at Promise House.

“We have young adults that haven’t finished their GED or high school because they don’t know how to get back on track,” she says. “It makes me so sad when I see situations like that because I can see how I could’ve become a high-school dropout myself and stayed that way.”

Chima Nsi says his hardworking mother is what keeps him focused on a better future.

“For a long time, I felt like we were never going to be able to make it. But I realized that if my mom is still pushing and still fighting, why should I give up?” he says. “Other than God, she’s been my No. 1 motivation.”

Vice President

Senior

Kenneth Robinson, Kimball High School

Kenneth and Ben Robinson look alike. People who have known them for years still confuse one for the other. Even their names are alike. Which is Ken and which is Ben?

Brothers

The similarities don’t end there. The brothers, about a year apart in age, are both officers in Kimball High School’s ROTC program. Ken is a senior, Ben is a junior. They both prefer staying home with video games rather than going out on a Friday night. And both are expected to be valedictorians of their respective classes.

That’s despite suffering a tragedy four years ago, when they were in seventh and eighth grades. After years of sobriety, their mom relapsed into drug addiction and died.

Even though she had her struggles, their mom, Carla Robinson, always encouraged them to be good students. She had dropped out of school in 11th grade, and she wanted a better life for her boys, Ken says.

“When we were little, she would take us to the zoo every week,” he says. “She would take us to Six Flags every summer. She cooked. She helped us with our homework as much as she could. And besides that, she was just a cool person to be around.”

Children whose parents struggle with serious drug addiction are more likely to

Brothers Kenneth and Ben Robinson are about a year apart in age. Kenneth, who graduates this year, will be valedictorian of his Kimball High School class. Ben, a junior, is on track to be valedictorian at Kimball as well.

An Education

suffer abuse, mental health issues and their own problems with substance abuse.

But that is not the story for the Robinsons.

Kenneth Robinson is a finalist for the Gates Millennium Scholarship. If he wins that coveted scholarship, an academic full ride, he plans to attend Texas A&M University. If not, it’s no big loss. He has so many scholarships to Prairie View A&M University that he would be paid about $10,000 a year to attend. Either way, his ultimate goal is the same: to earn a degree in nuclear physics and join the U.S. Marine Corps as an officer.

“I want to be a general,” he says.

Kenneth rose quickly through the ranks of Kimball’s ROTC program and last year became battalion commander, even though other students tried to hold him back. He’s put in 200 hours of community service with ROTC and he says “no” is fuel to his fire.

“I got sick of people telling me what I couldn’t do,” he says.

The Robinson brothers have a very supportive family, especially in their dad, Kenneth Robinson Sr., and his girlfriend, Archie Marshall. Their dad takes them hunting in the winter and canoeing in summer. Every Tuesday is “BNO,” boys night out with dad and buddies who are like uncles to the boys.

Kenneth Robinson Sr. is extremely proud of his sons, but they earn so many accolades that it’s almost hard to keep up, he says.

“They’ve always been good students and good kids,” he says.

The younger Kenneth is hard on the members of his ROTC battalion; he expects them to work as hard as he does.

He’s working on his valedictorian speech, and that’s likely to be the gist of it.

“I don’t take anybody’s excuses,” he says. “There’s always a way for you to rise back up to the top.”

“When we were little, she would take us to the zoo every week ... She cooked. She helped us with our homework as much as she could. And besides that, she was just a cool person to be around.”

Oak Cliff Residents since 1985

A greener future

PGA Tour tournament funds Oak Cliff school

The Byron Nelson Golf Championship draws professional golfers from all over the world for a week of competition in Irving each May.

The Oak Cliff-based Salesmanship Club of Dallas produces that PGA Tour tournament, which has raised $137 million since 1968.

All of the proceeds go to the club’s education nonprofits. The flagship of those is the Momentous Institute, a school for pre-k through fifth-graders near Adamson High School.

The charter school serves children at risk for poverty and focuses on the social and emotional health of students and families.

Every 3-year-old child at the Momentous Institute can tell you the three main parts of his or her own brain — the cerebellum, the cerebrum and the brain stem — and what their basic functions are.

One lesson every Momentous child receives starts with a bouncy ball filled with glitter. A teacher shakes the glitter ball: “This is how your brain looks when you’re upset and irrational.” With calming deep breathing techniques, taught beginning in pre-k, children learn to “settle their glitter” and think as their highest selves.

The Salesmanship Club of Dallas started in 1920 with a mission to create better education opportunities for impoverished

youth. It started with troubled adolescents, and over the decades, members realized they had to serve even younger children for the best results.

On average, children raised in poverty are about 1.5 years behind other children by age 4. Once that learning gap exists, it is difficult to close. Poverty can cause stress and poor interfamily relations, among other ills. The institute found that in order for children to receive a good education, their mental wellbeing must be nurtured.

Social and emotional health is part of the fabric of the school’s curriculum. A textured wall outside the library invites students to run their hands over it; this stimulates their brains. Fourth-graders are asked to write down something for which they are grateful every day; this trains their thinking toward optimism. At the end of the day, fifth-graders are asked to talk about things that happened and strategies they learned; this teaches them to analyze and learn from their mistakes and successes.

Students are encouraged to experience their environments, talk about themselves and engage in the school community. They’re expected to take initiative, be leaders. The same goes for parents, who must contribute at least 12 volunteer hours each year. Every teacher visits each of his or her student’s home before the school year begins

Momentous Institute pre-k student Victoria Menendez wears a brain hat made of packing peanuts. Every student in the school learns the three main parts of his or her brain before kindergarten. Photo by Danny Fulgencio

to break the ice between teachers, students and parents.

“We create enough space around kids so they’re not constrained,” says the school’s executive director, Michelle Kinder. “They develop an internal sense of right and wrong rather than just knowing what the rules are.”

The school emphasizes college graduation, and alumni success rates are stellar. About 97 percent graduate from high school, an A plus. The overall graduation rate in Texas is an F, with about 56 percent of those who enroll as high school freshmen completing their senior year. About 86 percent of former Momentous Institute students enroll in college, compared to 59 percent of overall Dallas ISD graduates. Out of the school’s 32 original 3-year-old preschoolers, 25 are current college seniors.

Along with the school, the Byron Nelson tournament and the Salesmanship Club of Dallas also fund a therapeutic preschool in northwest Dallas for children whose behaviors have caused them to be expelled from other preschools.

Beyond that, the Momentous Institute aims to touch the lives of “children we will never meet,” by training educators in

its methods of addressing social and emotional health.

“Teachers are our hungriest audience for this,” Kinder says. “They’re the ones who see these problems first hand, and when we give them the tools for social emotional health, they adopt it very quickly.”

See more photos online at oakcliff.advocatemag.com.

Urban Garden Center 7700 Northaven Rd. Dallas, TX 75230 214-363-5316 www.nhg.com

Dinner and Tour

County Road 2008 Glen Rose, Texas 76043 254.897.2960

Remington Estate Sales Dallas, Texas 972-835-2404 www.remingtonestatesales.com

“Our goal is to maximize your proceeds from the sale and reduce your stress.” Schedule your free consultation today...

Your gardening partner since 1951, specializing in garden education, the best quality plant selection and the most knowledgeable staff committed to your gardening success!

Preservation

Two neighborhood landmarks received Preservation Dallas awards last month. The Kiest Park pergola originally was built in 1934 by the Works Progress Administration but had fallen into disrepair by the 1980s. The city allocated $2 million from a bond election to rebuild the pergola in 2006; however, it took the persistence of the Friends of Oak Cliff Parks to nudge the city to tackle the project, which was completed about a year ago. The “graffiti house” was a vandalized old farmhouse behind the Belmont Hotel, which was renovated starting in 2012. It is now part of photographer Manny Rodriguez’s studio.

Education

The Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce selected Sunset High School band instructor Rametria Smith as its high school educator of the year. Since she took over the Sunset band program about 10 years ago, it has improved significantly. There are now two concert bands, a marching band and two ensembles. The marching band practices about eight hours a week outside of class and has won many accolades, including the high school battle of the bands. The chamber’s other winners are Sue Kavli of Dallas Baptist University, Tonikka “Toni” Dickerson of KIPP TRUTH Academy Middle School, Carmalie Sims of George Washington Carver Creative Arts Learning Center, Barbara McGinley of Rosemont Primary School and Nancy De la Pena of Faith Family Early Childhood Center.

Healthcare

Methodist Health System Foundation appointed Robin Daniels as vice president of development. Daniels will lead key capital campaigns and work with North Texas leaders to further the mission of Methodist Health System. She joined the system in October 2012 as director of community and public relations for Methodist Dallas Medical Center. Daniels was promoted to assistant vice president of external relations in October 2014. Daniels graduated from SMU with a bachelor of fine arts and an MBA. Prior to joining Methodist, Daniels served as president of SONUS, a Dallas-based integrated marketing agency.

Methodist Health System received the distinguished Texas Award for Performance Excellence from the Quality Texas Foundation. The award is the result of “a comprehensive application process that includes a demonstration of performance excellence in the areas of organizational leadership, strategic planning, customer and workforce focus, measurement, analysis and knowledge management, and process management and results.”

HAVE AN ITEM TO BE FEATURED?

Please submit news items and/or photos concerning neighborhood residents, activities, honors and volunteer opportunities to editor@advocatemag.com. Our deadline is the first of the month prior to the month of publication.

LAKEHILL PREPARATORY SCHOOL

Leading to Success. 2720 Hillside Dr., Dallas 75214 / 214.826.2931 / lakehillprep.org Kindergarten through Grade 12 - Lakehill Preparatory School takes the word preparatory in its name very seriously. Throughout a student’s academic career, Lakehill builds an educational program that achieves its goal of enabling graduates to attend the finest, most rigorous universities of choice. Lakehill combines a robust, college-preparatory curriculum with opportunities for personal growth, individual enrichment, and community involvement. From kindergarten through high school, every Lakehill student is encouraged to strive, challenged to succeed, and inspired to excel.

ST. ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY CATHOLIC SCHOOL

4019 S. Hampton Rd. Dallas 75224/ 214.331.5139 / www.saintspride.com / PK3-8th Grade. St. Elizabeth of Hungary offers a full day curriculum for PK3-8th Grade, including English Language, Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, Religion, Technology, Athletics, Art, Music, Spanish, and Library. Caring teachers enhance curriculum with individualized attention and hands-on interactive participation. St. Elizabeth is a model of diversity, rich, and reflective of the ethnic and economic composition of the community it serves. Join us for an informational school tour and see for yourself how easy it is to become a Saint! Call 214.331.5139 for information.

SCHOOL

848 Harter Rd., Dallas 75218 / 214.328.9131 / stjohnsschool.org

Founded in 1953, St. John’s is an independent, co-educational day school for Pre-K through Grade 8. With a tradition for academic excellence, St. John’s programs include a challenging curriculum in a Christian environment along with instruction in the visual and performing arts, Spanish, German, French, and opportunities for athletics and community service. St. John’s goal for its students is to develop a love for learning, service to others, and leadership grounded in love, humility, and wisdom. Accredited by ISAS, SAES, and the Texas Education Agency

214.560.4203

Academic excellence & Catholic spirit since 1958

Our mission at St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic School is to serve God through our ministry of educational excellence and to develop the spiritual lives of our youth within the ramework of the Gospel and the tradition of the Catholic Church. Pre-K3 through Grade 8 4019 S. Hampton Road • Dallas, TX 75224 214.331.5139 • www.saintspride.com

BAPTIST

CLIFF TEMPLE BAPTIST CHURCH / 125 Sunset Ave. / 214.942.8601

Serving Oak Cliff since 1899 / CliffTemple.org

English and Spanish / 9:30 am Sunday School / 10:45 am Worship

GRACE TEMPLE BAPTIST MULTI-CULTURAL CHURCH

Sunday Worship: English Service 9:30 am / Spanish Service 11:00 am

831 W. Tenth St. / 214.948.7587 / gracetempledallas.org

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

METHODIST

OAK CLIFF UMC / 549 E. Jefferson Blvd. / oakcliffumc.org

Young Adult Gathering & Worship “The Cliff” 9:30 am / Contemporary Worship 11:00 am (Bilingual) / facebook.com/oakcliffumc

NON-DENOMINATIONAL

KESSLER COMMUNITY CHURCH / 2100 Leander Dr. at Hampton Rd.

“Your Hometown Church Near the Heart of the City.” 10:30 am Contemporary Service / kesslercommunitychurch.com

PRESBYTERIAN

OAK CLIFF PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH / 6000 S. Hampton Road

Sunday Worship at 9:30 am & 11:05 am 214-339-2211 / www.ocpres.com

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

I grew up 40 miles east of Selma, Ala., so the recent movie about the events surrounding Bloody Sunday in 1965 was especially poignant to me, even though I was born some years afterward. If your heart isn’t moved by the credits, which celebrate known and lesser-known heroes of the movement, with John Legend and Common singing “Glory,” you need to check your pulse.

In “Glory,” Common raps a line that has been ringing in my head: “The movement is a rhythm to us. Freedom is like religion to us.”

Freedom is the great foundation and experiment of America. It also is the heart of true religion, although many may disagree with me. In “Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander,” Thomas Merton wrote that true religion always should make people personally and communally free. It always nurtures “freedom from domination, freedom to live one’s own spiritual life, freedom to seek the highest truth, unabashed by any human pressure or any collective demand, the ability to say one’s own ‘yes’ and one’s own ‘no’ and not merely echo the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ of state, party, corporation, army or system.”

Sadly, when people think of religion, they often think the opposite of freedom: Nigeria’s Boko Haram, ISIS, Westboro Baptist Church, the secretive, abusive practices of Scientology or any other number of negative examples.

Whenever religion’s adherents participate in violence, oppression, hate language or vicious divisiveness, we can be sure that no real religion is present. On the contrary, where God’s Spirit is truly present, there is freedom.

I’m concerned that as a nation we are increasingly embracing “tolerance” as our

central thrust rather than “freedom.” Tolerance could be defined as “the ability or willingness to tolerate something … the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with.” Freedom, on the other hand, is “the power or right to act, speak or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.” Whereas tolerance puts up with something, freedom affirms and acts such that barriers are removed in the exercise of freedom for others. Tolerance leads to separation and exclusion (“you do what you do over there, while I do this over here”) while true freedom leads to reconciliation and embrace. Tolerance is essential, but it won’t bring us together. For that we need true freedom.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. famously said, “No one is free until we are all free.” This idea echoes Jewish tradition with the biblical injunction to “love your neighbor as yourself,” and Hillel’s principle, “that which is hateful to you do not do to your neighbors.” It’s at the heart of every world religion, although some advocate such a posture only toward their own tribe.

When the marchers sang, “My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord,” they sang not only of a far-off hope but also of the light that illuminated and enveloped their steps. Glory shone in the march toward freedom. It is America’s glory and, I believe, the glory of God. May it be in our neighborhoods, workplaces and our civics. And in our religion.

‘No one is free until we are all free’

Glory shone in the march toward freedom. It is America’s glory and, I believe, the glory of God

Brent McDougal is pastor of Cliff Temple Baptist Church. The Worship section is a regular feature underwritten by Advocate Publishing and by the neighborhood business people and churches listed on these pages. For information about helping support the Worship section, call 214.560.4202.

A desire named streetcar

Members of Bike Friendly Oak Cliff and the Oak Cliff Transit Authority, formed in 2006 with an official sounding name and a goal of bringing a streetcar to Oak Cliff, pose before the Dallas-to-Oak Cliff streetcar April 13. The streetcar cost about $50 million and runs

1.7-miles from Union Station to Methodist hospital.

Extensions to the Bishop Arts District and the Dallas convention center are funded.

Pidge picnic

Methodist Dallas Medical Center invited students from Rosemont Elementary to a picnic in March to promote literacy and healthy minds. The event also promoted “Where is Pidge?” a new children’s book by Michelle Staubach Grimes and Bill DeOre. Grimes visited Rosemont with her book, and at the free picnic, each child was given a copy of the book.

INSURANCE CALL JOSH JORDAN 214-364-8280. Auto, Home, Life Renters.

PET SERVICES

GREEN PET DELIVERS FREE TO OAK CLIFF All natural dog/ cat food, treats/supplies. 214-942-6042, greenpetdallas.com

SMART DOG DALLAS Daycare, Boarding, Training, Chauffeur. 214-884-7529

PET SERVICES

In-Home Professional Care

Customized to maintain your pet’s routine In-Home Pet Visits & Daily Walks

“Best of Dallas” D Magazine Serving the Dallas area since 1994 Bonded & Insured www.societypetsitter.com 214-821-3900

BUY/SELL/TRADE

TEXAS RANGERS AND DALLAS STARS front row seats. Share prime, front-row Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars tickets (available in sets of 10 games). Prices start at $105 per ticket (sets of 2 or 4 tickets per game available) Seats are behind the plate and next to the dugouts for the Rangers: seats are on the glass and on the Platinum Level for the Stars. Other great seats available starting at $60 per ticket. Entire season available except for opening game; participants randomly draw numbers prior to the season to determine a draft order fair for everyone. Call 214-560-4212 or rwamre@advocatemag.com

TOP CASH FOR CARS Any Car, Truck. Running or Not. Call for Instant Offer. 1-800-454-6951

ESTATE/GARAGE SALES

ALL POINTS PROPERTY SERVICES Estate / Moving Sales. Cleanouts. De-clutter Moving organization. 972-686-7919

WITH

Local HOME SERVICES

AC & HEAT

CONCRETE/ MASONRY/PAVING

CONCRETE REPAIRS/REPOURS

Demo existing. Stamping and Staining Driveways/Patio/Walkways

Pattern/Color available

Free Estimates 972-672-5359 (32 yrs.)

FLOORING & CARPETING

WILLEFORD HARDWOOD FLOORS 214-824-1166 • WillefordHardwoodFloors.com

CARPET · HARDWOODS · CERAMIC Quick, Reliable Installation

HOUSE PAINTING

MANNY’S HOME PAINTING & REPAIR Int./Ext. Sheetrock. Manny 214-334-2160

RAMON’S INT/EXT PAINT Sheetrock, Repairs. 214-679-4513

Serving the Dallas area for over 30 years

We

Family Owned & Operated 972-274-2157

www.CrestAirAndHeat.com

TACLB29169E

CABINETRY & FURNITURE

JD’S TREE SERVICE Mantels, Headboards, Kitchen Islands, Dining tables. Made from Local Trees. www.jdtreeservice.com 214-946-7138

CARPENTRY & REMODELING

BO HANDYMAN Specializing In Historic Home Renovations & Pro Remodels. Custom Carpentry, Doors, Kitchens, Baths & more. 214-437-9730

FENN CONSTRUCTION Full Service Contractor. www.dallastileman.com Back Splash Specials! 214-343-4645

O’BRIEN GROUP INC. Remodeling Dallas For Over 17 Years www.ObrienGroupInc.com 214-341-1448

RENOVATE DALLAS

renovatedallas.com 214-403-7247

TK Remodeling

Your neighborhood remodeler

•Repair •Remodeling •Restoration

•Complete full service

Name it — We do it

http://dallas.tkremodelingcontractors.com

Tommy 972-533-2872 INSURED

CLEANING SERVICES

AFFORDABLE, PROFESSIONAL CLEANING

A Clean You Can Trust

Staff trained by Nationally Certified Cleaning Tech. Chemical-free, Green, or Traditional Cleaning. WindsorMaidServices.com 214-381-MAID (6243)

CINDY’S HOUSE CLEANING 15 yrs exp. Resd/Com. Refs. Dependable. 214-490-0133

WINDOW MAN WINDOW CLEANING.COM

Residential Specialists. BBB. 214-718-3134

CONCRETE/ MASONRY/PAVING

BRICK, BLOCK, Stone, Concrete, Stucco. Gonzalez Masonry. 214-395-1319

BRICK, STONEWORK, FLAGSTONE PATIOS Mortar Repair. Call George 214-498-2128

CONCRETE, Driveway Specialist Repairs, Replacement, Removal, References. Reasonable. Chris 214-770-5001

ELECTRICAL SERVICES

ANNA’S ELECTRIC Your Oak Cliff Electrician Since 1978. tecl25513. 214-943-4890

ANTHONY’S ELECTRIC Master Electrician. TECL24948 anthonyselectricofdallas.com

Family Owned/Operated. Insd. 214-328-1333

EXPERIENCED LICENSED ELECTRICIAN Insd. Steve. TECL#27297 214-718-9648

GOVER ELECTRIC Back Up Generators. New and Remodel Work. Commercial & Residential. All Service Work. 469-230-7438. TECL2293

LAKEWOOD ELECTRICAL Local. Insured. Lic. #227509 Call Rylan 214-434-8735

TH ELECTRIC Reasonable Rates. Licensed & Insured. Ted. E257 214-808-3658

EXTERIOR CLEANING

G&G DEMOLITION Tear downs, Haul. Interior/Exterior. 214-808-8925

FENCING & DECKS

#1 COWBOY FENCE & IRON CO. Est. ‘91. 214-692-1991 www.cowboyfenceandiron.com

4 QUALITY FENCING Call Mike 214-507-9322 Specializing in Wood, New or Repair.

FENCING & WOOD WORK oldgatefence.com charliehookerswoodwork.com 214-766-6422

HANNAWOODWORKS.COM Decks, Fences, Pergolas, Patio Covers. 214-435-9574

#1

EST. 1991

COWBOY

FENCE & IRON CO.

214.692.1991

SPECIALIZING IN Wood Fences &Auto Gates

cowboyfenceandiron.com

FLOORING & CARPETING

CLIFTON CARPETS 214-526-7405 www.cliftoncarpets.com

FENN CONSTRUCTION Full Service Contractor. www.dallastileman.com Back Splash Specials! 214-343-4645

LONGHORN FLOORS LLC 972-768-4372. www.longhornflooring.com

N-HANCE WOOD RENEWAL. No Dust. No Mess. No Odor. nhance.com. 214-321-3012.

John: 972.989.3533 john.roemen@redicarpet.com

REDI CARPET

Reinventing the Flooring Experience

GARAGE SERVICES

GARAGE ORGANIZATION / Design / Remodel DFWGaragePros.com 303-883-9321

UNITED GARAGE DOORS AND GATES Res/Com. Locally Owned.214-826-8096

GLASS, WINDOWS & DOORS

ROCK GLASS CO Replace, repair: windows, mirrors, showers, screens. 214-837-7829

HANDYMAN SERVICES

A R&G HANDYMAN Electrical, Plumbing, Painting, Fencing, Roofing, Light Hauling. Ron or Gary 214-861-7569, 469-878-8044

BO HANDYMAN Specializing In Historic Home Renovations & Pro Remodels. Custom Carpentry, Doors, Kitchens, Baths & more. 214-437-9730

HANDYMAN SPECIALIST Residential/ Commercial. Large, small jobs, repair list, renovations. Refs. 214-489-0635

HOMETOWN HANDYMAN All phases of construction. No job too small 214-327-4606

HONEST, SKILLED SERVICE With a Smile. General Repairs/ Maintenance. 214-215-2582

Handy Dan

The Handyman “ToDo’s” Done Right Save $25 on Service Call of $125 or $50 on Service Call of $250 handy-dan.com 214.252.1628

Your Home Repair Specialists Drywall Doors Senior Safety Carpentry Small & Odd Jobs And More! 972-308-6035 HandymanMatters.com/dallas

KITCHEN/BATH/ TILE/GROUT

FENN CONSTRUCTION Full Service Contractor. www.dallastileman.com Back Splash Specials! 214-343-4645

STONE AGE COUNTER TOPS Granite, Marble, Tile, Kitchen/Bath Remodels. 972-276-9943 stoneage.dennis@verizon.net

TK REMODELING 972-533-2872

Complete Full Service Repairs, Remodeling, Restoration. Name It — We do it. Tommy. Insured. dallas.tkremodelingcontractors.com

WE REFINISH!

• Tubs, Tiles or Sinks

• Cultured Marble

• Kitchen Countertops

214-631-8719

www.allsurfacerefinishing.com

LAWNS, GARDENS & TREES

A BETTER TREE COMPANY • JUST TREES Complete tree services. Tree & Landscape Lighting! Mark 214-332-3444

A BETTER TREE MAN Trims, Removals, Insd. 12 Yrs Exp. Roberts Tree Service. 214-808-8925

GREENSKEEPER Winter Clean Up & Color. Sodding, Fertilization. Lawn Maintenance & Landscape. Res/Com. 214-546-8846

HOLMAN IRRIGATION

Sprinkler & Valve Repair/ Rebuild Older Systems. Lic. #1742. 214-398-8061

LSI LAWN SPRINKLERS “Making Water Work” Irrigation system Service & Repair. Specializing In Older Copper Systems. LI #13715. 214-283-4673

ORTIZ LAWNCARE Complete Yard Care. Service by Felipe. Free Est. 214-215-3599

TEXAS HARDY LAWN & LANDSCAPE

Complete lawn & landscape maintenance Commercial/Residential, Oak Cliff resident. 469-337-0371

U R LAWN CARE Maintenance. Landscaping. Oak Cliff resident for over 15 years. uwereisch@yahoo.com 214-886-9202

214.560.4203 TO

rais e ou r kid s here , too !

214.560.4203

LAWNS, GARDENS & TREES

PLUMBING

ANDREWS PLUMBING • 214-354-8521

# M37740 Insured. Any plumbing issues. plumberiffic69@gmail.com

Sewers • Drains • Bonded 24 Hours/7 Days

*Joe Faz 214-794-7566 - Se Habla Español*

ARRIAGA PLUMBING: General Plumbing

Since the 80’s. Insured. Lic# M- 20754 214-321-0589, 214-738-7116, CC’s accepted.

CAMPBELL PLUMBING Repairs, Fixtures, Senior Discounts. 214-321-5943

SKYLIGHTS

Installing Since 1995

AM MOVING COMPANY Specialty Moving & Delivery.469-278-2304 ammovingcompany.com

PEST CONTROL

A BETTER EARTH PEST CONTROL Keeping the environment, kids, pets in mind. Organic products avail. 972-564-2495

MCDANIEL PEST CONTROL

Prices Start at $85 + Tax For General Treatment.

Average Home-Interior/Exterior & Attached Garage. Quotes For Other Services. 214-328-2847. Lakewood Resident

Pest-Free · Hassle-Free

M&S PLUMBING Quality Work & Prompt Service. Jerry. 214-235-2172. lic.#M-11523

NTX PLUMBING SPEC. LLLP 214-226-0913

Lic. M-40581 Res/Com. Repairs & Leak Location

UPTOWN PLUMBING. Serving Dallas 40 + Yrs. 214-747-1103. M-13800 uptownplumbing.com

ROOFING & GUTTERS

Allstate Homecraft Roofing

• Roofing & Remodel • Additions • Licensed/Insured

Over 1,000 Satisfied Customers in the Lakewood, Lake Highlands, Preston Hollow, Park Cities Areas

• Respectful service

• State-of-the-art applications 4-340-6969 fehavenpest.com

• Careful methods p e S s 214306969 saf h

ADVOCATE PUBLISHING does not pre-screen, recommend or investigate the advertisements and/or Advertisers published in our magazines. As a result, Advocate Publishing is not responsible for your dealings with any Advertiser. Please ask each Advertiser that you contact to show you the necessary licenses and/or permits required to perform the work you are requesting. Advocate Publishing takes comments and/or complaints about Advertisers seriously, and we do not publish advertisements that we know are inaccurate, misleading and/or do not live up to the standards set by our publications. If you have a legitimate complaint or positive comment about an Advertiser, please contact us at 214-560-4203. Advocate Publishing recommends that you ask for and check references from each Advertiser that you contact, and we recommend that you obtain a written statement of work to be completed, and the price to be charged, prior to approving any work or providing an Advertiser with any deposit for work to be completed.

TRUE Crime

A ROBBERY IN BROAD DAYLIGHT

Jim Gettman was walking his goldendoodle Betsy Ann just before 7 p.m. on a Friday in April when he noticed two guys walking behind him on Thomasson near Turner.

Betsy Ann started barking at them, but Gettman didn’t think much of it. He thought the guys were just out for a walk.

One guy came around and approached the dog, so Gettman leaned over to try and calm his pet.

In hindsight, he says, “I should’ve told him ‘she’ll bite your head off.’ ” But being a friendly guy, he instead said, “She probably won’t bite you.”

A second later, Gettman sensed the other guy behind him, and before he knew it,

214-824-0767 allstatehomecraft.com

BERT ROOFING INC.

Family owned and operated for over 40 years

• Residential/Commercial • Over 30,000 roofs completed • Seven NTRCA “Golden Hammer” Awards • Free Estimates www.bertroofing.com 214.321.9341

the robber had taken Gettman’s wallet out of his back pocket. So he wheeled around and tried to fight for his wallet, but the guys pushed him down. The robbers ran to where a white Ford Excursion was waiting for them on Turner.

Betsy Ann ran home.

Gettman hit his head on the curb and severely bruised his hip. The hip pain was bad enough that he went to the emergency room next day, but X-rays showed nothing was broken.

A neighbor called 911, and the Dallas Police Department sent two patrol cars, but they couldn’t find the robbers.

Neighbors on social media site Nextdoor reported seeing guys in a white Expedition

Glass •Acrylic Solatubes & Sun Tunnels

972-263-6033

www.skylightsolutions.com

Replacement, Repair & New Installation by Daylight Rangers

SHOWCASE YOUR SPACE

972-985-1700

2830 W 15th St. Plano, TX 75075

www.DaylightRangers.com

on Rainbow the next day. Several people reported having seen the vehicle near the Bishop Arts District that evening.

Gettman has lived in Oak Cliff since 1969. A house he was renovating on Colorado was burglarized about five times while it was under construction. And once, when the Gettmans lived in Winnetka Heights, their house was robbed, and Gettman’s wife walked in on the robbery in progress. But he says, this is the most personally violating crime that’s happened to him.

“I just need to be more alert, like my wife says. Maybe you just have to be real careful when you’re talking to people that they’re not trying to be friendly for some other reason,” he says. —Rachel Stone

BUSINESS BUZZ

The lowdown on what’s up with neighborhood businesses

Send business news tips to livelocal@advocatemag.com

Hooray for Lucky Dog!

Lucky Dog Books closed its West Davis shop at the end of March and is relocating. Its new store is expected to open soon at 911 W. Jefferson between Tyler and Polk. Co-working company the Common Desk is taking over the former site at 621 W. Davis. The 6,000-squarefoot space in Oak Cliff will be the second for Common Desk, which has its original location in Deep Ellum.

Ten ramen and a golden oven

Ten Ramen opened at Sylvan Thirty last month. The restaurant, from chef Teiichi Sakurai of Tei An, is tiny. The dining room is the size of a large hallway and there are no tables or seats. About 10 or 15 people can stand at the bar, right in front of the kitchen window, to be served. In other Sylvan Thirty news, Whisk Crepes installed an exterior sign and electrical work appears to be underway, although the floor hasn’t yet been poured. Cibo Divino is expected to open this month, offering a wide variety of wines, prepared meals, panini, coffee and Neapolitan pizza. Its pizza oven, ordered from Naples, has been installed and chef/owner Daniele Puleo had it tiled in gold. Puleo says he also is toying with the idea of offering a gold pizza. That is, pizza topped with gold flakes.

Kessler Park pierogi

Kessler Park Eating House, the new restaurant from Jonathon’s owners, Christine and Jonathon Erdeljac, opened on Beckley near Greenbriar last month. The menu features homemade pasta, pepperoni rolls, sandwiches and pierogi. There are many items on the bill of fare that sound interesting, but Polish dumplings are rare around these parts. These are handmade, and already are receiving raves from food critics.

Kessler Park Eating House pierogi

IN SEARCH OF FRANK REAUGH

Tributes to the life of one of Texas’ greatest artists

COMMENT. Visit oakcliff.advocatemag.com/backstory to tell us what you think.

When Frank Reaugh began taking art students on sketching trips to West Texas and New Mexico around 1906, he accepted only the best of the best, and he expected a lot from them.

Each student was required to produce four sketches a day out in the West Texas wind and heat for about four weeks at a stretch. This was not glamour camping. Early on, they traveled by horse and mule. Later, Reaugh and five or six students and a female chaperone drove in Reaugh’s converted Ford touring car, acquired around 1920, which he nicknamed “The Cicada.” They slept under canvas tents, bathed in streams and cooked what they’d brought over open fires.

Reaugh, who is known as “the dean of Texas painters” and “the Cezanne of American impressionism,” lived in Oak Cliff, just off of Lake Cliff Park, at Fifth and Crawford.

Oak Cliff resident Bob Rietz has spent

about 22 years researching Reaugh and following in the steps of those legendary summer sketching trips, which ended around 1940.

Reaugh and his family traveled by covered wagon from Illinois to Texas in 1876. Later, he studied art in St. Louis and Paris, and he noticed that the Flemish and Dutch masters had painted livestock, including cows. Back home, Reaugh began painting Texas landscapes in the field and rode along on cattle drives before there were fences in West Texas.

“He knew he was recording parts of Texas that someday wouldn’t be there,” Rietz says.

He could capture the majesty of a bovine like no one before or since. His interpretations of the Texas sky and sunset are incredibly subtle and detailed.

Rietz became enamored of his work after seeing Reaugh’s paintings in the library at the University of Texas at Austin when

Frank Reaugh in the field: Photo courtesy of the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum

he was a student there in the 1960s. It wasn’t until much later that he would learn Reaugh’s connection to his hometown.

Rietz recruited a buddy, Gardner Smith, to take camping trips out into the West Texas wilderness because he wanted to experience what Frank Reaugh had decades earlier.

Reaugh also was a keen inventor. He practiced “en plein air” painting, where the artist paints out in nature on an easel. He found that his round pastels often rolled around too much, so he crafted a new pastel crayon in an octagonal shape. Reaugh also customized his own pastel colors, purples in particular, that would evoke the hues of Texas landscapes. Since he painted 3-inch-by-5-inch sketches in the field, he customized an easel for that size.

Those small paintings inspired Rietz and Smith, who served in the Vietnam War together. Neither of them are artists, but for decades, they traded haiku as a way to stay in touch. On their first Frank Reaugh camping trip in 1990, they started writing haiku in the style of the Japanese master Basho, inspired by their surroundings.

They felt this stripped-down form of poetry was the perfect way to honor Reaugh, who could convey so much in those tiny paintings.

After several camping trips, they had so many poems that they decided to compile them into a book. They produced the book themselves as Sun and Shadow Press, with string binding they did by hand. In all, they painstakingly produced seven volumes of haiku as well as the memoirs of Reaugh’s favorite student, Lucretia Donnell Coke, and the oral history of Reaugh’s life, which Oak Cliff native Coke

las never has been any big champion of Reaugh. Most of Reaugh’s work — about 800 paintings — is in the Texas Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum near Amarillo. When he was alive, Reaugh had wanted Dallas to build a museum for his paintings. Instead, Austin got them. In 1937, eight years before he died, Reaugh gave about 200 paintings to the University of Texas at Austin. The Harry Ransom Center at UT will show all of them in “Frank Reaugh: Landscapes of Texas and the American West” Aug. 4-Nov. 29.

had written out in longhand at Reaugh’s home in the 1940s.

Several of those books are part of the Dallas Public Library’s Frank Reaugh collection, a permanent exhibit on the Downtown library’s seventh floor. Even though Reaugh lived in Oak Cliff most of his life and was the father of the Dallas Nine artistic movement of the 1930s, Dal-

Part of Rietz’s mission, when he started following Reaugh’s West Texas and New Mexico paths in the `90s, was to get a permanent exhibit of Reaugh’s work in Dallas, and now there is one at the library. He also wanted to see someone write a book about Frank Reaugh from an art history perspective. Michael Grauer of the Panhandle museum is expected to publish one this year. And that’s not all. Filmmaker Marla Fields is working on a documentary about Reaugh.

After seeing for himself the places Reaugh painted, watching the sunrises Reaugh watched, Rietz says he is all the more intrigued by the artist.

“He makes me proud to be a Texan,” he says. —Rachel Stone

“He knew he was recording parts of Texas that someday wouldn’t be there.”

“The Approaching Herd,” 1902: Image courtesy of the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum