A ch A nce encounter

Digital news can’t compete with the surprises newsprint offers

It’s cold and wet and windy outside, and brownish-red leaves whip through the yard. Can I complete the dash without becoming soaked as rain pounds our driveway, bouncing up on the porch?

It’s probably only 60 feet, the distance from our front door to the sidewalk, but this early in the morning, with the darkened sky strangling the light, there might as well be a mile between me and the three rolled-up newspapers on the lawn.

I’m waiting, knowing full well that everything in the Dallas Morning News, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times can be found online, but I still like to feel paper between my fingers as I sift through yesterday’s news looking for things that still have meaning today.

Today, I’m virtually a loner on this trip — the neighbors’ lawns are mostly empty. In fact, given our headlong flight to electronic information, I’m almost embarrassed to be seen with newsprint.

Years ago, if something big happened, we might have been teased with information on television or radio, but we would have waited for the newspaper to make sense of it all. We may have had opinions, but we couldn’t do much with them — sure, we might have wanted to remind Donald Trump he’s an idiot or tell Lindsay Lohan to quit screwing up her life, but by the time we hand-wrote our thoughts and found a postage stamp, the energy driving the hate was pretty much gone.

We don’t have that problem anymore, because in seconds I can join the many thousands on Lohan’s Twitter account or Trump’s Facebook page letting them know exactly how disgusted we are with their antics. No matter if tomorrow I’m not so hot under the collar and maybe even wish I’d held my digital tongue; there will be something else fueling my anger by then.

Social networks and the internet are doing a lot of great things in our neighborhoods these days, as you’ll learn from our cover story this month. Neighbors are finding each other, cops are tracking criminals, pets are being found, stores are selling stuff; while waiting for our monthly magazine, you can even find daily news updates for our neighborhood at advocatemag.com or on our Facebook page or Twitter feed.

The internet makes all things accessible instantaneously, so there’s no wait to have questions answered or information found, as long as you know exactly what you’re looking to find.

But for me, a newspaper on newsprint still offers something more — the opportunity to stumble across something I didn’t know I needed to know. Like the story I read the other day about the death by brain damage of a 28-year-old Minnesota hockey player, or the story about why Army wound up beating Navy for the 1944 college football championship. These stories are on tablets or smartphones, too, but they’re harder to find because we have no reason to look for them.

I could survive without that random knowledge. But the information itself, stumbled across as I randomly flipped newspaper pages, offers something to ponder, to the extent pondering something is possible anymore.

Anyway, the rain finally has slowed to a drizzle, so I’m going to scurry down the steps, across the lawn and out to the street where the newspapers lay coiled in plastic.

I’ll enjoy them as long as I can, because like all of us, their time will end. Sooner, it appears, rather than later.

Remember when: Advocate Radio archives

There was a time when Advocate Magazine was just Advocate magazine, but over the last few years, we’ve evolved into Advocate Media, comprising blogs, podcasts, videos, Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter and email newsletters. Some of the aforementioned items concerned us, and in fact, Advocate editors had trouble becoming accustomed to using social media in our daily routine.

yesteryear, in that, if you want to learn something about a business, you go almost immediately to Facebook, so we needed to have a presence there for that reason alone.

CT: And it’s free.

CHB: And pretty easy to use.

No need to fear the unknown.

At Sunstone Yoga, we have a new series to help ease you into Yoga. Combine this with the affordable $10 introductory offer and you’ll be touching your toes in no time.

No need to fear the unknown.

At Sunstone Yoga, we have a new series to help ease you into Yoga. Combine this with the affordable $10 introductory offer and you’ll be touching your toes in no time.

Intro

Series Two-Class Introduction New Students

Preston Forest Village 11661 Preston Rd #206 Dallas, TX 75230

214.764.2119 x102

North Dallas 14902 Preston Rd #612 Dallas, TX 75254

214.764.2119 x104

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6301 Gaston Avenue Suite 820 • Dallas, Texas 75214 PH: 214.823.5885 FX: 214.823.8866

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❏ Approved with corrections

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Thank you for your business!

Below are excerpts from a 2009 podcast featuring our first web director, Kris Scott — the voices belong to her, editors Christina Hughes Babb, Rachel Stone and Marlena Chavira-Medford, and photo editor Can “Turk” Turkyilmaz. We admit: The audio on this thing is truly awful. And we introduced the podcast with a song. It’s supposed to be funny, but we have a weird sense of humor. We had fun with the podcasts in those days, because we were pretty sure that that none of you listened.

Please proofread carefully: pay attention to spelling, grammar, phone numbers and design. Color proofs: because of the difference in equipment and conditions between the color proofing and the pressroom operations, a reasonable variation in color between color proofs and the completed job shall constitute an acceptable delivery.

Listen to the entire show.

CHB: Today’s topic is Advocate in the age of social media … I guess. I actually just made that up … Kris Scott has been leading the Advocate’s social media effort, so I’ll start by asking her, “Why are you making us do this?”

KS: I read recently that people are spending half their time on Facebook and, less so, Twitter than on destination websites, such as Advocatemag.com. So those who were once going to our website might be spending that time on Facebook now. I kind of think of Facebook as the Yellow Pages of

KS: We used to be a monthly magazine and people read it and then put it down. This way, we can be in your face all the time.

Preston

MCM: And people can now see our faces, on Twitter, rather than just our names and our bylines.

KS: And your pictures are all pretty cute.

CHB: Thank Turk for that … and we get to see our readers’ faces and get to know you.

No need to fear the unknown. At Sunstone Yoga, we have a new series to help ease you into Yoga. Combine this with the affordable $10 introductory offer and you’ll be touching your toes in no time.

No need to fear the unknown. At Sunstone Yoga, we have a new series to help ease you into Yoga. Combine this with the affordable $10 introductory offer and you’ll be touching your toes in no time.

Intro Series Two-Class Introduction Designed for Beginners *Introductory offer is for 10 consecutive days (1 week 3 days) of unlimited yoga. Attend as many classes as you like for a 10-day period. Limit one time for new, first-time clients only. Not valid with any other offers or discounts. Redeem by 1/15/11 Preston Forest Village & North Dallas Locations New Students! Yoga as low as $29.95 per month! Intro Series Two-Class Introduction Designed for Beginners *Introductory offer is for 10 consecutive days (1 week 3 days) of unlimited yoga. Attend as many classes as you like for a 10-day period. Limit one time for new, first-time clients only. Not valid with any other offers or discounts. Redeem by 1/15/11

KS: It is an amazing dialogue. And it helps you guys do your jobs, too, because, say you are covering neighborhood seafood places, you can get on Facebook or Twitter and get feedback from neighbors about their favorite places. … and we are going to be giving out free things so follow us … friend us?

Intro Series Two-Class Introduction New Students Start Here! Designed for Beginners

Preston Forest Village 11661 Preston Rd #206 Dallas, TX 75230

CT: Friending is on Facebook and following is on Twitter.

214.764.2119 x102

RS: Yes, and Twitter is a good place to find breaking news, right?

North Dallas 14902 Preston Rd #612 Dallas, TX 75254

214.764.2119 x104

MCM: We learned about Bliss restaurant’s new location on Twitter, and we announced that In–N-Out Burger is coming to Dallas on Facebook.

KS: And you can use it for fun stuff, like those photos we posted of the best-dressed fire hydrant.

community | events | food

Q&A: Roger Staubach

Sports fans can rattle off Roger Staubach statistics like a lifelong phone number. Cowboys’ fans, like breathing. To Staubach, however, life is defined by more than total passing yards or trips to the Super Bowl. The same Hall-of-Fame arm that stretched upwards — beseeching the heavens — after releasing the infamous Hail Mary, now wraps around his wife of 46 years. There is another side to Roger the Dodger. It’s funny. It’s wise. It’s grounded and humble. And while it’s no less impressive, it does have to do the dishes after dinner. We sat down with the Preston Hollow resident to get to know this side a little better.

What is your least favorite household chore?

I do the dishes after diner. I’m neat. I put things away. But I don’t like to cut the grass or work in the lawn. I told Marianne, ‘The food will go before the yard guy.’

What do your grandchildren call you?

Papa. I said, ‘No grandfather. Don’t call me granddad or grandfather.’ But Papa is fine.

What is the secret to a happy, lasting marriage?

You’ve got to stay faithful. If you get married, it’s a commitment. Don’t try and compromise your commitment to each other. Trust is really as important as anything else in a marriage.

When did you and Marianne meet?

We met in the fourth grade. Although, I didn’t like girls until the eighth grade. We dated off and on in high school. We got engaged right after we graduated [college], and were married two months later. I was in the Navy, and it was hard to plan a wedding.

The end result is all that matters, right? [laughs] I mean, I think we’d both do it again.

Where do you get your news?

I read Fortune, Business Week and Forbes Then Sports Illustrated, the Wall Street Journal and the Dallas Morning News. I read all of that religiously.

Where do you keep your Heisman Trophy?

Right now, it’s in my home office. We moved into a new home, and my wife did a great job decorating my office. There’s a nice place in there for the Heisman trophy. We used to have it on our fireplace in the first house we were in. The kids used to get on like a hobbyhorse.

Do you have a favorite vacation spot?

We have a home down in Horseshoe Bay near Marble Falls. We have a place on the lake there. That’s our favorite.

Do you have any New Years resolutions?

VirginiaCook_twothrds_01-12_PH_cmy

Sterling O’Donnell

6239 Preston Crest $699,000 Home taken to studs, plumbing, electrical wiring, HVAC, windows, roof and insulation all replaced. Vaulted ceilings, large closets are custom through-out. Granite counters, hand scraped floors, travertine marble and more. If you need real estate assistance give me a call!!! Sterling O’Donnell 214.415.6392

6301 Gaston Avenue Suite 820 • Dallas, Texas 75214 PH: 214.823.5885 FX: 214.823.8866 o Approved as is o Approved with corrections o Additional proof needed

Signed

Thank you for your business!

I’m not a New Year’s resolution person. I work out all the time anyway. I have a whole workout room at home now, but I used to go over to Dr. Cooper aerobics center all the time. In January, the place is packed. Then, all of a sudden, it gets back to normal.

Lori Sparks

What do you always make sure is on the grocery list?

Please proofread carefully: pay attention to spelling, grammar, phone numbers and design. Color proofs: because of the difference in equipment and conditions between the color proofing and the pressroom operations, a reasonable variation in color between color proofs and the completed job shall constitute an acceptable delivery.

I’m a big chocolate milk guy. It’s good to drink after you work out. Of course, ice cream is always on there.

How much fun did you have intimidating boys that were trying to date your daughters?

I’d have a good time with them. Most of them liked sports, so I’d take them out and play a little basketball in the side yard or something. We really didn’t have any bad boyfriend experiences. But you always worry about your daughters.

Did you always know you wanted a big family?

We didn’t really have a game plan. We had three children in four years, our first four years of marriage. I was in Vietnam or else we would’ve had four children in four years.

What is the best part about being a grandparent?

The best part is seeing another human being in your life that you love, and they love you. They are part of the family tree. They are a lot of fun. The best part is enjoying plantation shutters, and gorgeous refurbished pool with water features!

Lori Sparks 972.733.8561

4040 Echo Glen Drive

$279,000

Remodeled, updated and