2021 January Oak Cliff Advocate

OAK CLIFF

PORCH PORTRAITS

JANUARY 2 0 2 1

C H A M PAG N E A N D OYST E R S

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

T H E R AY P R I C E B E AT

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CONTENTS JANUARY 2021 VOL.15 NO.1

UP FRONT 8 Design: Creating a room for everything else 12 Profile: J. Rhodes Hip-hop producer, college graduate 16 Seafood by the pound And cocktails, too, at Krio

FEATURES 18 Familiar faces Porch portraits captured life at home 31 Back Story: Ray Price Honky-tonk’s golden voice

Wallpaper from Lord Twig depicts scarlet ibises as well as carnivorous plants, and it was a gift from friends for Jessie Ralat’s mom cave. See page 8.

Photography by Haley Hill january 2021

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CLICK WORTHY NEW STORIES ONLINE DAILY

We can’t stop talking about…

O

AK CLIFF-BASED ARTIST Giovanni Valderas parked his latest artwork on a prominent Oak Cliff corner last month. Valderas moved his “Grit/Grind” from the Nasher Sculpture Center, where it was

Spence agreed to display it at TyPo, on the corner of Tyler and Davis.

Cultural Loss

Search “Valderas” at oakcliff.advocatemag.com to read more.

Juan Manuel Campos, a

on display indoors for several weeks and is a tribute to the artist’s

mother, an immigrant who saved to buy her first car, a 1986 Nissan Sentra, and sends a message about the working-class struggle. Real estate developer David

native of Mexico who put the art in the Bishop Arts District starting in the 1980s, died in November from COVID-19.

He was 84. Campos was the last living member of an art collective called Artistas, which also included Alfonso Estrada, Vincent Morin, Filberto Chapa and Anita Cisneros. Campos and his wife of almost 40 years, Rosa, bought their house on North Bishop in 1989. He was inspired from a young age by comic books, Hollywood movies, James Dean and

VACCINE ARRIVES

Elvis Presley, and their house

EMPLOYEES OF METHODIST DALLAS MEDICAL CENTER received the first doses of COVID-19 vaccine in North Texas on Dec. 14. The hospital received delivery of 5,850 doses of the vaccine that morning, and the first injection was given at 10:10 a.m.

outdoor gallery of his portraits

Search “Vaccine” at oakcliff.advocatemag.com to read more.

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became a brightly painted of pop-culture figures.

Search “Campos” at oakcliff.advocatemag.com to read more.

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HAPPY NEW YEAR! Thank you for making Hewitt Habgood Realty Group the #1 Realtor® team in Oak Cliff.

214.686.3593 / swamre@advocatemag.com EDITORIAL Publisher: Jehadu Abshiro

jabshiro@advocatemag.com SENIOR EDITORS: Rachel Stone

214.207.8309 / rstone@advocatemag.com Jaime Dunaway-Seale

214.560.4208 / jdunaway@advocatemag.com EDITOR: Elizabeth Uclés

713-560-7036 / eucles@advocatemag.com digital manager: Autumn Grisby

agrisby@advocatemag.com senior art director: Jynnette Neal

214.560.4206 / jneal@advocatemag.com designer: Christine Smith contributors: George Mason, Patti Vinson, Mita Havlick, Carol Toler, Scott Shirley, Matthew Ruffner contributing photographers: Danny Fulgencio, Kathy Tran, Gabriel Cano, Haley Hill, Owen Jones, Mellissa Cunningham, Marissa Alvarado

BEST

president: Rick Wamre

214.560.4212 / rwamre@advocatemag.com Advocate, © 2021, is published monthly by East Dallas – Lakewood People Inc. Contents of this magazine may not be reproduced.

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ABOUT THE COVER Peeling paint on a Bishop Arts wall reveals vintage brick and makes a pleasing color palette.

Photography by Danny Fulgencio

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ON WEDNESDAYS, WE EAT PINEAPPLES The must-have fruit of the season in Dallas is Del-Monte Foods’ “petit pinkglow” pineapple, which can only be purchased in our area for now. The little pink pineapples are being tested in the Dallas market. The fruit are grown in Costa Rica and take about two years to mature. They can be ordered at myfreshdelmonte.com and cost about $20 each.

AROUND THE WORLD A new restaurant with cocktails and bites is coming to a former retail storefront in the Bishop Arts District. Atlas, planned for 408 N. Bishop Ave., will occupy the space formerly occupied

by Strut boutique. Dan Bui, the chef behind Krio [see page 16], expects to open Atlas as soon as this month. The restaurant will feature German pretzels, a Cuban sandwich and late-night snacks from around the world.

Homeless Housing THE DALLAS CITY COUNCIL voted

unanimously to purchase the Hotel Miramar, on Fort Worth Avenue near the Interstate 30 on ramp, to house homeless Dallas residents who contract COVID-19. The City will pay $3.5 million for the hotel, and the money will come from federal CARES Act funds.

OH, MY GROGU! North Cliff neighbor Erica Guajardo’s security camera caught a thief hightailing it with her Baby Yoda inflatable on Dec. 12. This property crime was a bummer for the whole neighborhood.

“My kids noticed it was gone this weekend when we drove by!” —Yesenia “My kids loved passing by just to see Baby Yoda, and I intentionally drove back home thought there just to see them smile.” —Stephany Karilly Watch the video at oakcliff.advocatemag.com.

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TOP R E A LT O R S

2019

CANCER SUCKS An innovative Bishop Arts chef had to close his restaurant permanently due to illness at the end of the year. Justin Holt, owner of Japanese concept Salaryman, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in October. He began treatment immediately, but he and partner, Trina Nishimura, couldn’t keep

Here’s to the great that awaits.

2020 has been a year of contingencies, in life and in real estate.

Thank you, Oak Cliff, for trusting us to guide you through these new norms.

We will continue to offer our unwavering commitment to this community in 2021.

their restaurant open. A crowdfunding campaign with a goal

MELISSA O’BRIEN

melissa@dpmre.com

of $100,000 had raised more than $77,000 on his behalf

by December.

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THE END OF 2020 saw a

noticeable uptick in property and violent crime in Dallas.

Between Dec. 4 and Dec. 10, there were 788 property crimes, 227 violent crimes, 19 nonviolent crimes, 33 financial crimes and 568 other crimes.

The city’s crime rate in 2019 was 41.84 per 1,000 residents.

There were over 57,000 total crimes last year with 11,764 violent crimes and 45,279 property crimes.

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MOM CAVE KEEPING SANE WHEN EVERYONE IS HOME Story by RACHEL STONE | Photography by HALEY HILL

W

hen Jessica Ralat used to run the washing machine at the back of her house, you could feel the spin cycle going in the front room.

The old laundry room was in a lean-to tacked on by a previous owner, and an awkward storage gazebo behind it blocked their view of the backyard.

The Ralats might have lived with that for a long time. They’ve been in the house for over a decade.

But when the pandemic kept Jessica — known as Jessie — at home with her husband, Texas Monthly taco editor José R. Ralat, and their son, Diego, she knew it had to go.

They hired a contractor to tear down the lean-to and the weird gazebo and build a new laundry room that is so much more.

It’s also Jessie’s office, her sewing room, a storage room and a place for people to gather.

Jessie, a logistics coordinator, didn’t realize it beforehand, but she built a “keeping room.” That’s the room off the kitchen that, in colonial times, had a hearth and was the warmest room in a home, where a cook would “keep” guests and family out of the way. It’s basically a den.

The Ralat family’s room is about 400 square feet of new living space that makes their small home so much more comfortable, Jessi says.

“For the first time since we’ve lived here, I actually love my house,” she says.

August. But they didn’t realize how much of a disruption the work would be. It took about two months and was so noisy that Jose had to find another place to work. They also had to needle workers to clean up after themselves and wear masks. “I didn’t know what to expect because we’d never done a renovation, and I’m glad it was only two months,” Jessie says.

Contracting The Ralats hired a female minority-owned contractor in

Shelving it This is a multipurpose room, and with no garage and a hard-

Financing The Ralats refinanced their mortgage, a process they started at the end of 2019, switching to a 25-year loan and dropping private mortgage insurance. They made enough on the refinance to pay for the work on their house.

Familiar seating The Ralats came to Dallas from New York City, so even though their house is small by Dallas standards, they scarcely had enough furniture to fill it. So Jessie acquired some furnishings and artwork that had been in storage from her grandparents’ house. The room’s two comfy chairs are hand-me-downs, and Jessie’s sewing center is a piece that her grandfather built for her grandmother. “I’m not usually sentimental about a lot of things, but I really value antiques and quality furniture and things that are beyond my reach to buy new,” she says. “They just don’t make things of the quality they used to for a price that’s achievable for everyone.”

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Top: Jessie Ralat and dog, Ira, at her standing desk, a stainless-steel chef’s table. Above: Everything has a home in the Ralat family’s tidy new room, where Jessie strung white sheets to hide storage. Right: A small window over the sewing center lets in light but leaves plenty of room to store things on the wall.

to-reach attic, storage was a major requirement. They hung their bicycles on the wall and put up shelving to store camping equipment, old papers, cleaning supplies, tools and the like, with curtains made from white sheets strung across to hide the clutter.

“I think rich people probably build cabinets, but this works for me,” Jessi says. “We’re finally at a place where everything has a home. Everything is organized.”

Use what you have With a limited budget, Jessie “shopped” in her own house and reused as many things as possible, including shelving from the gazebo and Ikea shoe cabinets that she anchored to the wall to hold items like the electric drill. She also painted other things the same shade of white, including the sewing center and a freezer.

Resetting expectations Her original vision for the room included a dog wash, but that didn’t fit the budget, so they installed a utility sink instead.

“I love having that. We use it all the time,” she says. She’d also

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january 2021

planned to have a workbench built in to use as a standing desk, but by the time construction was over, everyone was on edge and didn’t want to hear another circular saw for a while. So she ordered a stainless steel chef ’s table, which fits in perfectly.

Pops of personality Initially, she wanted to wallpaper the whole room, but the papers she liked were too expensive, so she chose a coral paint color. Her friends went in together for her birthday and surprised her with a roll of the paper she wanted. It’s from a Canadian company called Lord Twig and features scarlet ibises, as well as carnivorous plants. “I like that dark aspect of it,” she says. [See photo on page 3.]

Happy home “I wait to do things until Jose leaves so that he won’t tell me not to do them,” she says. “Inevitably he’ll come home from a trip and be like, ‘Really?’” She filled the house with fumes from appliance paint while he was away, for example. “I’m

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PROFILE THESE ARE THE PEOPLE IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD

B E AT S I N THE H E A RT OF OA K C L I FF Producer J. Rhodes graduated from college during the pandemic ď ˝

Interview by RACHEL STONE | Photography by OWEN JONES

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O

ak Cliff ’s own J. Rhodes produced a Grammy-nominated album for Houston-based Christian rapper Lecrae.

He crafted a track for Talib Kweli, “Heads Up Eyes Open,” featuring Rick Ross and Yummy Bingham. Two songs he produced have been performed on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” He has a Billboard Music Award and a GMA Dove Award.

He’s also a filmmaker, musician, rapper, author and teacher.

And he just added a new one to the list: college graduate.

Justin Rhodes, 37, received a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Texas in December.

The 2001 Carter High School graduate works at Kipp Destiny Elementary, lives in Oak Cliff with his wife, Adriel, and has four daughters, Savannah, 13, McKenzie, 11, Peyton, 6, and Hallie, 2. He’s the youngest of five children, and his dad owned an auto mechanic shop in Oak Cliff for 40 years.

He got into filmmaking in 2016 with partner Kory Williams. They produced a musical film, “It’s A Wonderful Plight,” in 2020 and an online competition show, “House of Beats,” in 2019.

Rhodes recently posted photos on Instagram of himself in the studio with California hip-hop godfather Dr. Dre. Although he declined to say what they might be cooking up, he says we should stay tuned.

Growing up in the Glen Heights and Red Bird area People just assume that Oak Cliff is like death, doom and gloom. But I’m from a middle-class family, so I’m blessed. We did the same social activities as people from Singing Hills and all that. So it’s like you get the best of both worlds. Well, maybe not the “best,” but you learn how to survive in a lot of crazy situations.

Where I’m from in Oak Cliff, my father works hard, my mother works hard, and they provided for us.

Music education I went to UNT for computer science, but I hated it. I liked video games, so I assumed computer science was part of making video games, but it wasn’t at all. Four years later,

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january 2021

Why he went back to college It’s several things, but really, I found out that having a degree would increase my pay. I spent a lot more time around Oak Cliff during the pandemic, and I just thought, “Maybe I need to get a house back home and teach back home.” You know, just being real community centered. That led to me getting a job here. I signed on [to my UNT account] after a 15-year hiatus, and it said, “You can apply for graduation.”

I only had like 15 hours to finish my degree. So I took nine hours in the summer and six hours in the fall, and here I am. It’s something I never saw happening because I was so comfortable and deep into my career. It was really just God pushing me to do it.

Filmmaking and TV When I left school, I got a job at DFW International Airport in the marketing department, making promotional videos for them. I dusted off the skills I learned at that job when I reconnected with Kory Williams, my friend from college.

We didn’t ask permission. Neither of us had done any of these shows, but we had skills, and we had the drive. He was mainly a photographer to that point, and I was mainly into music, but we learned the skills from my area, that we needed and got the message out.

“The D.O.C. is and he stands for Dallas and Oak Cliff. He’s a Dallas legend and a West Coast legend.”

College was expected I didn’t know about music trade schools. I didn’t know that you didn’t have to go to college. No one was pushing me in the way of pursuing my dreams musically. I always believed I could do it, but I wanted to have something, really just to get people off my back. So I said, “Well, I’m going to do something while I pursue this music,” and that was for me to go to UNT. I didn’t even know what I was going to do, but I was recruited by UNT out of Carter because they were looking for minority students with SAT scores over 1100.

They threw me a shirt and said, “Hey, you’re admitted.” But my two sisters graduated from Texas Tech and TWU. So college was just a thing for our family. My mother always said, “Justin is the smartest kid, but he just didn’t apply himself.”

My sisters were great students. They were always better students than me. I never really liked school. I just think that my genius, my thought process, works in other ways.

14

I’d learned to make beats and all that, but I wasn’t taking school seriously. I wasn’t going to class because I was making music, rapping and making beats and stuff. So it got to my senior year, actually it was that fifth-year senior year, and I was like, “Nah, I’m gonna pursue this music.”

What keeps him driven Once you find your purpose and your passion, there are a lot of other things you need to figure out, but that really is about 80% of it, finding out who you are and the gifts that God gave you and utilizing those every day. Just for a man to know that they’re useful is everything. And of course, just being an example for your kids. My father was a mechanic, and we weren’t that close, but we love each other, and I saw his action in his work. Every day he left the house at the same time and did the same thing, and he was passionate about fixing cars, persistently and consistently just working and building his business and his shop. I’m setting the same example for my kids.

Who he looks up to The D.O.C. He’s from my area, and he stands for Dallas and Oak Cliff. He’s a Dallas legend and a West Coast legend.

I’m a quote “OG” in Dallas, but D.O.C. is the OG’s OG. He calls me little bro, and I call him big bro. He’s really that big brother figure that I honestly never really had coming up in Dallas. But it’s a blessing to be able to look up to someone who is pretty much the standard as far as Dallas, but specifically Oak Cliff. I can’t speak enough about him. It’s nothing but wisdom and spirit from him, and it’s a blessing to call him a friend.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity

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DINING FOOD IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD

Seafood boils at Krio come at three levels: mild, medium, hot and K’Reaper.

BUBBLING WITH COOL KRIO IS ALL THAT AND AN OYSTER BAR Story by RACHEL STONE | Photography by KATHY TRAN

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classic Dallas restaurant Sfuzzi. Later she was the manager of Sisu, the pool resort that Bui owned on Ross Avenue.

Pop-ups helped them reach a larger market, and now they’re the hosts of occasional events for other restaurants, such as Sandwich Hag. A recent “painting with pinot” event drew about 20 women on a Wednesday, which is half-price wine night. By the way, raw oysters from the Northeast are half price on Mondays. Happy hour is from 4-6 p.m. with $5 bites.

Krio serves brunch Saturdays and Sundays, with beignets, blackened cheddar grits and chicken-fried chicken, as well as its regular full menu, and it has a huge outdoor seating area.

Meanwhile, the founders are going all in on Oak Cliff. Bui expects to open a new restaurant, Atlas, just a few blocks away on Bishop Avenue, as soon as late January. It will serve cuisine and cocktails from around the world.

R E A D MOR E ON L I N E OAKCLIFF.ADVOCATEMAG.COM Out of the Mist cocktail at Krio has tequila, aperol, lime juice, yuzu and a mixed-berry smoke bubble.

AN ASIAN-INSPIRED seafood restaurant with a topnotch cocktail program blazed into Bishop Arts, taking a glamorous space that fronts the streetcar station, in July.

With interior design by Coeval Studio, Krio received a mention in Architectural Digest for its pastel palette, unique indoor planters and light-filled space with “wavy” blonde wood accents that evoke a beachy feel without hitting you over the head with it.

The boil menu, with shellfish by weight and four spice levels, is on the chalkboard. Starters like jambalaya egg rolls, served with sweet chili sauce, and andouille sausage baos appear alongside fried cauliflower and okra. There’s also chicken-and-sausage gumbo and fried baskets.

Krio has banh mi and po-boys on the menu, offering 12 sandwiches, including two that are vegetarian.

Kessler Park resident Connie Cheng opened the restaurant with business partners chef Dan Bui and hospitality pro Warren Yip after a year of pop-up events every week.

They considered Lower Greenville, Deep Ellum and Uptown for their permanent location.

“It just felt right here,” Cheng says. “I just had a feeling.”

She says they already have many neighborhood regulars and a customer base among nearby apartment dwellers. Residents who share the building get a small discount and free delivery. Cheng or Bui usually deliver it themselves.

“We’re here all the time. We’re so hands-on,” she says. “The community has been awesome. We’re not a neighborhood bar, but it does have that feeling sometimes.”

Cheng and Bui met while working together at the january 2021

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pandemic on the porch

How it started versus how it’s going

When Dallas County issued stay-at-home orders in March, local photographers took the opportunity to document the moment with socially distanced porch portraits.

We caught up with a few of their subjects to see how the rest of the year went for them.

By RACHEL STONE Photography by LORI WILSON

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A year for change THE WONG FAMILY Ana, Mike, Cohen, Isla and dog, Bailey BACKSTORY Mike built his Kidd Springs house in 2006 and met Ana in 2007. They got married about a year later. She’s a neonatal intensive care unit nurse at Baylor Scott & White Health, and he works in supply chain management. Their portrait was shot in April, and it was their last photo with their dog, Bailey, who died two weeks later at age 13. They used it as their Christmas card because of that.

HOW IT STARTED The family planned to spend a week in Mexico for spring break, but when the United States border closed, they made a road trip to the Texas Rio Grande Valley to visit her parents in her hometown, Rio Hondo.

“Cohen was in second grade, so he was home, and my husband was at home working,” Ana says. “I was still going to work.” Isla went to child care at Cliff Temple. Homeschooling went terribly for them, Ana says. “I was not meant to be a teacher. Props to teachers,” she says. “I was meant to be a nurse.”

The Wong family navigated working in health care, a job layoff and the loss of a pet in 2020.

HOW IT’S GOING Ana switched to days in October after 18 years as a nurse on the night shift. Mike was laid off in August, but he started a new job in November. “We’re super thankful and also thankful for my job,” she says. Ana says staying home was hard on her son, Cohen, who is outgoing and gregarious. When school restarted in the fall, she says he came home and said, “That was the best first day ever, mom!

I love my teacher, and I love my friends.” He was jealous that his sister got to see her friends at daycare, and he had a big learning curve doing school entirely online. The kids got to spend two weeks in Rio Hondo over the summer, but they haven’t had visits from Ana’s parents, who normally fly up to visit frequently. “Cooking three meals a day, kids running around, you’re still working. I do all the housework,” she says. “It’s a lot. Sometimes I’m so glad to be going to work.”

THE FUTURE “Who would’ve thought you’d be shopping for masks to coordinate your outfits?” Ana says. She has hope that things will get better soon, but she also has a front-row view of the health care reality. “I’m hoping we can go on a fun summer vacation this year and that we can see more friends.”

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A year of hard choices THE CHARLES FAMILY Lori Wilson,

Wes and Hattie HOW IT STARTED Lori is a small-

business owner providing portraits, wedding and event photography.

Suddenly out of work, she started doing porch portraits in early April.

Her husband, a manager at Ryan LLC, was working from home. “We live in a three-bedroom house, and the third room is my office,” she says.

“So he took the dining room, which was clearly a challenge for calls and concentration.”

“Slowing down and being more present in your life is a blessing.”

HOW IT’S GOING “One of my clients

The Orr family formed new friendships with their neighbors.

A year for community THE ORR FAMILY: Crystal, Travis, Jonathan and Emilio, and Crystal’s parents, Simona and Raul Lozano HOW IT STARTED: Crystal is a stay-at-home mom, and her kids

had planned to go to parents’ day out at Kessler Park United Methodist Church twice over spring break. Travis owns an environmental service company with his brother, and he still went to work. So it wasn’t a big change from their old normal.

HOW IT’S GOING: Unlike many, the Orrs’ biggest challenge has been boredom. But they took the opportunity to get to know their neighborhood better. They started walking on Stevens Park Golf Course every day while it was closed, sometimes taking picnics out on the grass. They made several new friends that way, and they became very close with their next-door neighbors, Padrum and Lindsay Panbechi, whose kids are around the same age as the Orr boys. They formed a pandemic bubble together. “I don’t know if we would’ve gotten to know each other under normal circumstances,” she says.

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said this to me, and I felt it was so true: ‘Working at home with kids during the pandemic is basically you and your spouse choosing whose job is more important,’” Lori says.

“I think that also applies to mental health. Whose mental health is more important and do they need a break?”

Slowing down has helped them reevaluate what’s most important in life and take a reset. “There’s nothing that glamorous in being insanely busy,” she says. “Slowing down and being more present in your life is a blessing.”

THE FUTURE “Like many families

who have had time to really see the flaws or what could be changed at their house, we are now looking into adding a garage apartment so that we can have another office area,” Lori says.

Photographer Lori Wilson Charles lost business after weddings and events were canceled last spring, so she started making pandemic porch portraits. Find her at loriwilsonphotography.com.

Charles family photography by Hilary Cinque

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Above: Katie Schlieve holds her son, Harrison, in the family’s first portraits after he was born in August.

A year for expansion THE SCHLIEVE FAMILY: Katie, Max, Hadley, Hannah, Harrison,

and puppy, Ollie BACKSTORY Katie and Max moved to Oak Cliff seven years ago and have lived in their Kessler Park house, on Edgefield at Colorado, for about four. He works for Vizient, and she is director of donor relations at Southwest Medical Foundation.

She also started a nonprofit, One Wing Foundation, which raises money to support parents in Texas who have experienced infant loss. The Schlieves lost their first son, Hudson, to an umbilical cord accident in 2015.

HOW IT STARTED Katie Schlieve was entering her second trimester of pregnancy with her fourth child when stay-athome orders arrived. They had just surprised their daughters, now 4 and 3, with a gender reveal — blue balloons and a doll cradle filled with a boy’s toys. And they had just adopted a puppy. The porch portrait was a Mother’s Day gift. “This is the most challenging time that I’ll ever see as a mom, and I wanted to document what life was like, in a good way,” she says.

“It was a little snapshot of what was fun for us at the time.”

HOW IT’S GOING Baby Harrison was born at the end of August.

“It was already a high-risk pregnancy because of our loss, so there are a lot more appointments, and every appointment has a sonogram,” she says. The doctor visits filled her with anxiety because she wasn’t allowed to bring anyone with her, and she’d learned of her first son’s death during an appointment when she was by herself. During her other two pregnancies, she’d always had someone with her. “It was hard to overcome

that and just being pregnant and dealing with how the world is now,” she says. “I was due in late August, and I thought, ‘Surely this will all be over by then.’” When Harrison was born, only Max was allowed in the hospital. “It was the staycation we never got this year,” she says.

FUTURE CHALLENGES “We had

no idea how long this was going to persist,” Katie says. “Even with the vaccine, people don’t know how long we’re going to stay like this. In my industry, we do so many events.

Even for One Wing Foundation, our main way of fundraising is through events. People are tired of the virtual world, but everyone’s getting creative and making the most of challenges.

Even though this year has taken so much away from us, the theme of the year is still ‘more.’ There’s been more stress, but there’s been more time together. I’m not a stay-at-home mom. I’m meant to be a working mom, so this was the time I was given to stay home with my kids, and that’s not something I’m ever going to get back, fingers crossed.”

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Nevan Gibbens and his mom, Michelle, Tripp Taylor and his mom, Yolanda, and Patrick Horstman and his mom, Christine, are among the Young Men’s Service League Oak Cliff chapter’s charter members.

SONS AND MOTHERS YOUNG MEN’S SERVICE LEAGUE CHAPTER STARTS UP THERE WERE A LOT OF TEARY-EYED MOMS at the Young

recommended the Young Men’s Service League, but Men’s Service League Oak Cliff chapter’s first all of the local chapters were full. orientation last February.

A couple of years later, when her son, Patrick, was Teenage boys were asked to say one thing they going through Catholic confirmation at St. Cecilia, admire about their moms. he needed to complete service “My son made me cry because hours. So Horstman contacted he said I inspire him,” chapter national organization.

“I just wanted some more things the“They founder Christine Horstman says. were really enthusiastic “I had no idea he felt that way.” that I can do with him. It’s so because they said they’d always The organization, which wanted to start a chapter in the hard when they get older.” southern sector of Dallas,” she accepts membership from mothers says. of sons, provides a way for them The Oak Cliff group is the to volunteer together. organization’s 100th chapter. The mothers are the Horstman, a career coach, was hired to give members, so they have 30 mothers and 31 sons in a workshop for the National Charity League Park the group, which Horstman says is small compared Cities chapter a few years ago. That organization to others. focuses on mothers and daughters. One of its members Story by RACHEL STONE | Photography by GABRIEL CANO

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Mothers can join when their sons are in eighth grade, and they start volunteering in ninth grade. It offers a four-year curriculum. Horstman started the chapter with the support of her son’s school, Bishop Dunne Catholic School, but then opened it to others. New members have come from Townview, Jesuit College Preparatory School and The Shelton School. They’ll recruit eighth-graders, as well as ninth- and 10th-graders, this spring.

The boys run their own meetings, adhering to Robert’s Rules of Order, and they set the agenda for the group, as far as which philanthropies to support.

All of the meetings have been via Zoom so far, but they recently covered public safety, with speakers from the Red Oak police and fire departments. They’ve also touched on topics of relationships and respect.

The moms have their own meetings, where topics have included elder care and preparing financially for kids’ college. Horstman says it’s nice to have some camaraderie.

Parents of teens don’t always get to know their kids’ friends’ parents the way they do when they’re younger.

The meetings also give the boys a chance to develop “soft skills” like communication, leadership and flexibility.

She says recruiters find that younger people have many more hard skills, especially related to technology, but they tend to lack some of the interpersonal skills that are expected in the workforce.

Most of the group’s volunteer activities have focused on outdoor things during the pandemic, including cleanup and painting at Kiest Park and distributing food and clothes to drive-up customers.

Besides that, the organization gives parents an inlet into their kids’ lives.

“I just wanted some more things that I can do with him. It’s so hard when they get older,” Horstman says.

“That’s been the nicest thing.”

GET INVOLVED: Find the local chapter at ymsl.org and on Facebook.

The Young Men’s Service League Oak Cliff chapter’s seven philanthropies: Friends of Oak Cliff Parks — The 19-year-old volunteer group advocates for and helps maintain city parks in our neighborhoods.

Brother Bill’s Helping Hand — A West Dallas nonprofit that provides a free grocery store and medical clinic to residents of Oak Cliff and West Dallas.

Tyler Street Community Service Outreach — Part of Tyler Street Church, this nonprofit provides clothing, food, school supplies and referral services.

Wesley Rankin Community Center — This West Dallas nonprofit is over 100 years old and provides after-school care for children, as well as elder care and other educational services.

Readers 2 Leaders — Founded in 2004, this West Dallas-based nonprofit matches volunteer “reading buddies” with a mission of teaching every child in Dallas to read at or above their grade level.

After 8 to Educate — At the Fannie C. Harris Youth Center in South Dallas, this nonprofit serves high-school students in Dallas who are homeless.

Equest — Now located at the Texas Horse Park in Southeast Dallas, Equest provides horse therapy to children and adults with disabilities.

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WELLNESS

By LIZ GOULDING

Eyes on the prize How to stay focused all year

I

often feel a sense of relief when the holidays are over. There’s a weight that feels lifted, and I look forward to the sense of possibilities that a new year brings.

No matter how you normally approach New Year’s resolutions, most people have discarded their well-meaning plans by February. The energy that comes with the New Year is a great catalyst, but it’s unlikely to be what gets you over the finish line.

The way you approach goals matters.

Focus on the behaviors that will lead you to achieve them. Here are some suggestions for how to break your objective down and rebuild it so that it guides you toward success.

1. Ask yourself “What do I hope to have when I achieve my goal that I don’t have now?”

2. Take a moment to write down everything you hope to have after you achieve your goal. Be as specific as possible about what you think you’ll gain (not what other people want for you).

3. Take all the outcomes you just listed and choose a few that are most important to you. It’s important that you find them compelling. These are your new long-term goals.

4. Under each one, think about how a person who’s already achieved those things behaves. What do they do, and how do they think and feel?

5. Write that list out as well. These are your new behavior goals.

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Getty Images

6. Ask yourself, “What’s one small step that I can take this week that will bring me closer to my goal?”

This process will help breathe life into your objective. For example, a weight-loss goal could be transformed into targets like having more energy and feeling comfortable and capable in your body.

Now you’re looking forward to cooking meals at home that you enjoy, moving on a daily basis and spending time with supportive friends. This way of thinking opens up the path so that it’s a place of possibilities, not restriction.

It’s important to create a meaningful connection with your goal and then pair that with practical steps that will help you reach it over time. You don’t have to do everything today, but you should do something most days. Each small step will bring you closer to your

achievement, and you’ ll enjoy the process.

Not every day or week will turn out like you planned. I always tell my clients that there is no failure; there’s only learning. When you try something and it doesn’t work, it’s an opportunity to ask, “How does that inform what I’d like to try next?”

There’s nothing quite like setting a goal and then actually achieving it, and right now the world desperately needs you and all you have to offer.

My hope for you in 2021 is that you’re able to find the tenacity, creativity and resilience you need to bring your goals and dreams to life.

LIZ GOULDING is a Certified Health and Wellness Coach who lives in Oak Cliff. She helps clients feel their best so they can make room for more of what they want in life.

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WORSHIP

By ERIC FOLKERTH

Muddy old year Reanimating the dry bones of 2020

M

any years ago now my Father had rotator cuff surgery. It’s a repair to a torn muscle in the shoulder, a fairly common procedure.

When the surgeon came in the room to talk to us afterward, he had a vaguely grim look on his face.

“Well we did the best we could,” he said. “But, honestly, it was like trying to sew together wet toilet paper.”

My Father ended up being just fine.

But a few months ago, that gruesomely rich expression came back to me as a perfect way to describe 2020.

The COVID pandemic made every day of last year feel like we were sewing together wet toilet paper.

We made and canceled plans. We isolated from friends and family. Work and school changed, and everywhere, we lived on top of each other in ways nobody was used to.

We cobbled together a “new normal.”

And then, that changed too. And every time the ground began to feel somewhat solid beneath our feet, things would change again.

“Like sewing wet toilet paper.”

This pandemic hits neighborhoods like Oak Cliff especially hard. In some parts of town, nobody really knows their neighbors and nobody even thinks about it much.

People slip in and out of their rear entry garages, like phantoms, and hardly ever connect with those around them.

Not so here. Folks love to connect and congregate. We walk to each other’s houses. We gather on front porches. In the pre-Covid world at our church, some members stroll over to Sunday worship from their homes.

Oak Cliff has a small town feel that’s rare for any part of a major city. And this horrid and lingering pandemic has, at least temporarily, changed some of that.

But now, the year has turned. Vaccines

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are on the way. And there’s every indication that 2021 may well be a far better year.

Let’s pray that, sooner rather than later, we shall return to some sense of “normalcy” once again.

Yes, it will take time. And certainly, some things might never be the same.

But part of why we celebrate the coming of a New Year is that is allows us to put the old year into a box, off to the side. A New Year allows us to look ahead with some hope.

As I meditate on the “wet toilet paper” metaphor, a story from the Prophet Ezekiel came to me. God gives Ezekiel a disturbingly macabre vision, a “valley of dry bones,” where all life is gone.

God asks Ezekiel to do a ridiculous thing: “Prophecy to the dry bones.”

So, Ezekiel does it: “Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!…I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.”

And in the story, that’s exactly what happens. It’s like a Stephen King novel in reverse. Bones, sinews, tendons and skin come together and reanimate. The breathe of life comes “from the four winds.” And suddenly, there are legions of thriving bodies again.

Friends, let’s keep faith that this will soon happen for all of us. During 2021, God will begin to bring back what might still feel like dry bones. God is able to create what our feeble sewing skills cannot.

Here in Oak Cliff, God encourages us with those same words: “I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land.”

Trust it shall be so in 2021.

Eric Folkerth is senior pastor of Kessler Park United Methodist Church.

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BACK STORY

By RACHEL STONE

For the good times Croon into January with Oak Cliff son Ray Price

E

lvis Presley, born Jan. 8, 1935, receives a birthday celebration every year at El Ranchito, and sometimes, we also celebrate David Bowie, born Jan. 8, 1947, at the Texas Theatre.

But there is another musical Capricorn who Oak Cliff ought to hail this month.

Ray Price was born Jan. 12, 1926, near Perryville in East Texas, and he grew up between his father’s farm there and the home of his mother and stepfather in Oak Cliff.

Price dropped out of Adamson High School to join the U.S Marine Corps in 1943 but returned three years later, as World War II was winding down, and graduated from Adamson, according to a 2000 interview with the Dallas Observer.

If you finished high school in Oak Cliff and went to college in Arlington, Price is your homeboy. He enrolled in North Texas Agricultural College, now the University of Texas at Arlington. But then he started playing music with his buddies, and with a voice like that, it didn’t take long for him to find a career.

Price got his first professional experience at Roy’s House Café in Dallas, according to the Country Music Hall of Fame. Newspaper archives reveal the address for Roy’s House as 3610 Samuell Blvd., between Tenison Park Golf Course and Interstate 30. The building is now home to a Mexican nightclub.

Jim Beck gave Price his start in recording at his studio at 1101 Ross Ave., in the West End of Downtown. There he wrote songs with Lefty Frizzell, including “Give Me More More More of Your Kisses.”

Price also began performing on the Big D Jamboree radio program, and he went on the road with Hank Williams. They met in the fall of 1951 and were roommates together in Nashville. They employed the same backing band and wrote “Weary Blues (From Waiting)” together, which Price recorded and performed on the “Grand Ole Opry.”

There’s no book about Price’s life, but there is a chapter about him in Michael

Ray Price’s band, the Cherokee Cowboys, employed Willie Nelson on bass. Photogaphy courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame

Corcoran’s 2017 book All Over the Map: True Heroes of Texas Music. Corcoran, who interviewed Price in 2006, writes that Price and Williams saw each other in Dallas for the last time on Dec. 17, 1952. That was two days before Williams’ final performance in Austin on Dec. 19.

The two friends expected to see each other at a New Year’s Day performance in Ohio. But Williams, an alcoholic and drug addict, died from heart failure at age 29 en route to that event.

After that, Price lived with Hank Williams’ ghost for a couple of years, leading Williams’ Cowboy Band and singing his songs. Listen to some of Price’s early recordings to hear how similar they sounded.

Corcoran credits Price with “saving” country music from the popularity of Elvis Presley and rockabilly, whose power Price would’ve witnessed at the Big D Jamboree.

Price leaned into the honky-tonk sound with a shuffling 4/4 bass line, now known as “the Ray Price beat,” that could keep ’em dancing all night.

“Crazy Arms” was his first hit, recorded with pedal steel player Ralph Mooney and producer Chuck Seals, who are credited

with writing the song. It was released in May 1956, and was the song of the summer. It became the No. 1 country hit that year. More important, it ushered in a new honky-tonk era. It’s arguably the first big hit of what would become known as the Bakersfield sound.

Price had a string of hits after that, including “City Lights,” “Heartaches by the Number” and in 1970, the Kris Kristofferson-penned “For the Good Times,” which was a No. 1 country hit that registered high on the pop charts.

Price’s music wasn’t country enough for some fans, who didn’t favor the crossover pop appeal. He’d had it with Nashville by 1974 and returned to Texas, where he lived near his birthplace for the rest of his life.

His 1996 induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame was seen as belated, and his name isn’t as well known as some of the guys who were in his band — Willie Nelson, Roger Miller and Johnny Paycheck.

Ray Price recorded and toured until the very end of his life, and he died in December 2013 at age 87.

He told Corcoran in 2006: “The only thing I’ve ever done is sing my kind of song for my kind of people.” january 2021

oakcliff.advocatemag.com

31

Properties of Distinction.

Agents for Life.

The best of Oak Cliff real estate is at daveperrymiller.com

SOLD, Represented Seller

339brooklyn.daveperrymiller.com

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805 Kessler Woods Trail

339 W Brooklyn Avenue

1046 N. Edgefield Avenue

3 BEDROOMS | 4.1 BATHS | 3,296 SQ.FT. | $1,500,000

3 BEDROOMS | 3.1 BATHS | 3,364 SQ. FT. | $625,000

3 BEDROOMS | 2 BATHS | 1,893 SQ. FT. | $535,000

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1018 N. Edgefield Avenue

802 Thomasson Drive

243 N Waverly Drive

3 BEDROOMS | 1 BATH | 1,717 SQ. FT. | PRIVATE SALE

2 BEDROOMS | 2.1 BATHS | 2,287 SQ. FT. | $520,000

3 BEDROOMS | 2 BATHS | 2,263 SQ. FT. | $500,000

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1512elmwood.daveperrymiller.com

500 N. Montclair Avenue

1522 Arizona Avenue

1512 Elmwood Boulevard

3 BEDROOMS | 2 BATHS | 1,811 SQ. FT. | $425,000

3 BEDROOMS | 2 BATHS | 1,884 SQ. FT. | $359,000

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Price and availability subject to change. Information deemed reliable, but not guaranteed. An Ebby Halliday Company