2024 January Preston Hollow Advocate

PRESTON HOLLOW J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 4 I A D V O C AT E M A G . C O M

ja n 2 4 contents PRESTON HOLLOW ADVOCATE VOL.24 NO.1

PROFILE 4 Feeding the community DINING 14 Jonathon's Diner FEATURES 9 Galleria's golden history 23 Rewriting history COVER 6 The future of gambling BACKSTORY 20 Know your local libraries

The skate rentals on the wall at Galleria Ice Skating Center. Read more on page 8. Photography by Kelsey Shoemaker.

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ABOUT THE COVER A friendly sign at Preston Royal wishing shoppers farewell. Photography by Lauren Allen.

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Ruthie’s was one of the first food trucks Klyde Warren Park included in its now permanent weekend food truck line-up along its streets. Proceeds from Ruthie’s benefit local nonprofits and often they participate in Snacks of Kindness, going to different places in Dallas to feed the community. prestonhollow.advocatemag.com JANUARY 2024

Fueled BY GOOD

Ashlee Kleinert drives for change Story and Photography by KELSEY SHOEMAKER

oing good and helping others is Ashlee Kleinert’s bread and butter – literally. Over a decade ago, Kleinert attended a national conference for event planning where a speaker mentioned food trucks were a new trend on the block. Although Kleinert didn’t have any prior experience with that business, she took the idea and ran with it. Or, drove with it. Ruthie’s For Good, named in honor of Kleinert’s grandmother, is a food truck all about grilled cheese. Its menu takes the classic sandwich and adds savory iterations such as a vegan option, a breakfast sammy and a Ruthie’s fan favorite, The Boss, a grilled cheese that sandwiches slow-cooked barbecue brisket between melted cheeses. “The best grilled cheese is one that’s made with love. And a lot of butter … a whole lot of butter,” Kleinert says. The first day was the hardest. There was an event on Greenville Avenue during one of the hottest days in August 2011, one of those Texas summer days where shoes stick to asphalt. Order tickets were being blown away from a fan in the truck and some people passed out due to the heat. It wasn’t the best start, to say the least. Six years later, Kleinert and her team have gone through other learning curves, but fortunately, found their rhythm. “We learned the hard way because there wasn’t really a manual on how to do it then,” she says. When Ruthie’s partnered with Café Momentum, an organization that helps youth who have been through the justice system find a pathway to new work opportunities, Kleinert was inspired to put a purpose behind the work. Today, almost 95% of the employees come from Café Momentum or Unlocking Doors, a nonprofit that helps former offenders reenter society with service opportunities. “I have the privilege of working with them every day,” Kleinert says about the team. “I learn from them. I love going to work no matter what headache it is because they have incredible stories. If I were in similar situations, I either wouldn't have made it or I'd be locked up forever.” “Since I've been working here, everyone is happy,” Laquita Freeman, who has been working at Ruthie’s since June, says. “From Miss Ashlee down to all of my coworkers, we treat each

Since its first day, Ruthie’s has served over 27,000 custom grilled cheese sandwiches, 73 nonprofits and helped over 5,000 frontline workers at hospitals.

other like a family. I've never worked in a work environment where I can leave my stress behind at home and get a positive vibe. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. It’s changed my life slowly and is still changing my life.” Ruthie’s is not Kleinert’s only mission to help others. In 2017, The Good Foundation was founded by Kleinert and her husband, Chris, to provide grants to local nonprofits with a focus on social issues. They bring awareness to the challenges women and men face and work to rebuild lives. Dallas Doing Good is another initiative Kleinert is behind, a blend of positive news stories shared to the community on social media platforms. Dallas Doing Good also works with youth who might not be interested in the food truck work, but still want to find a purpose. “It's like a mission behind the mission,” Kleinert says. “Instead of just collecting things to do, we're bringing along our team with us so that they are learning business skills that they can use in other ways.” Helping others has always been a fabric of her DNA. Kleinert comes from Dallas’ Hunt family, best known for their successful oil business and charity work. She remembers her mom dragging her to events but was drawn to the work. Now, it’s become more gain than pain. She continues to get lunch with her dad every month to discuss businesses. “My dad has always said a person's principles or moral codes don't change,” Kleinert says. “It should apply at a big bank downtown or apply to my little food truck business.” JANUARY 2024 prestonhollow.advocatemag.com

F O L L O G R N I E L TH MB GA uses , o h ard r later c s a a l Dal one ye d e t r nsu old. Bu nged e n f a la ty p have to has ch i c A g t ldn’ nothin u o w

Interview by EMMA RUBY | Photography by LAUREN ALLEN

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GETTING A POKER ROOM IN DALLAS WASN’T EASY. Texas Card House was on the forefront of the Texas gambling wave when it opened in 2014, and the company was able to pave the way for poker clubs opening throughout the state by navigating the murky legal waters that the business treads in. While gambling is illegal in Texas, the card houses say that because poker is a game of skill it does not fall under the legal definition of gambling. And, because the card houses do not claim a portion of each game pot, or a “rake,” they say there is no profitable benefit to the establishment through the game. Instead, money is earned through membership dues or hourly club access fees. Texas Card House opened the doors of its first Dallas location in early 2020, following months of negotiation between the card house, city staff, the city attorney’s office, the board of adjustment and the Dallas Police Department. The city population was “clamoring” for poker, Texas Card House CEO Ryan Crow says. Not long after opening, the city changed their minds and revoked the certificate of occupancy that had been issued to Texas Card House, telling the business they were operating illegally. “There's just so much demand in (Dallas.) And the reason clubs haven't popped up all over is just because of the legal challenges that we face here,” Crow says. “Obviously, everyone in the industry is watching. And when we start getting these legal challenges … no one really wants to open.” Crow credits City Council member Cara Mendelsohn as an outspokenly hostile opponent of card houses in Dallas. After a July 2021 incident in a District 12 illegal poker room left one man with a slashed throat and in serious condition, Mendelsohn told constituents that she was working with State Representative Matt Shaheen to shut down all poker rooms in the district. Mendelsohn has since staved off the opening of several poker rooms in District 12, and made it clear to potential operators they “are not welcome.” Throughout several lawsuits and counter lawsuits — which the city had spent $550,000 on as of January 2023 — Texas Card House and the two other poker rooms involved in the suit, Shuffle 214 and Poker House of Dallas, have been allowed to remain open. Mendelsohn has said that if laws have loopholes, like those that currently allow card houses, the gray area needs to be clarified rather than taken advantage of. “If you read the state law, it seems clear that the business model of the poker rooms is illegal since they are receiving a

benefit,” Mendelsohn wrote in a constituent newsletter shortly after the 2021 incident. “Poker rooms are making millions of dollars annually. If it is deemed the poker rooms are illegal, the City of Dallas should not be issuing a certificate of occupancy for an illegal business.” In January 2022, City Council member for District 1 Chad West made a “business-friendly” proposal that he hoped would put an end to the litigation stalemate. “The city manager confirmed that staff will work with the city attorney’s office to craft a land use category that considers current penal code restrictions on card houses and also provisions that will protect neighborhoods, such as proximity limitations,” West said in that month’s city council meeting. In the last 12 months, no such land use category has been drafted. City Staff did provide a brief update at the Dec. 12 Government Performance and Financial Management Committee meeting, after being pulled in “kicking and screaming,” West says. In the briefing, Bertram Vandenberg, interim chief of general counsel for the city attorney, said the Zoning Ordinance Advisory Committee, who will be tasked with developing the land use category, would consider limiting clubs to certain entertainment districts in the city. Vandenberg declined to say whether a new land use ordinance would eliminate the current litigation with Texas Card House, Shuffle 214 and Poker House of Dallas. Just getting an update on the possible land use category was a “very painful process,” West says, in part because a lack of urgency from constituents has left city staff “content” with waiting on the courts to decide on the legal legitimacy of card houses. Homelessness was one of the most urgent issues on the city council’s agenda in 2023. There was a city council election in May, and preparation is underway for a $1.1 billion bond in 2024. Despite the proposed solution in January, poker was not the talk of 2023. “Why would staff put their necks out on the line to provide a legal path when the courts are going to figure it out for us,” West says. “There's not people clamoring for these card houses other than the owners.” Crow disagrees. The Las Colinas poker room is the highest-performing location for Texas Card House, which operates in six cities. The North Dallas location isn’t far behind. On an average night, he estimates between 500 and 1,000 people visit the two locations. Those people didn’t learn how to play poker overnight when Texas Card House opened, Crow said. They were playing

underground, or traveling to Oklahoma. Each person that travels to Oklahoma represents taxes that Texas has lost, he says. In 2022, Texas Card House brought over $1.1 million in property and sales tax revenue to Dallas. And underground games can quickly turn dangerous because of the hesitation to call the police when there is a threat, a “very common story in the community,” Crow says. “If something happens, we have armed security, and if something major happens, we call the police. A lot of those games that are running illegally, they're not going to call the police because they're running an illegal game and they're going to get arrested,” Crow says. “It happens all the time. It doesn't get reported, unless it devolves into a shooting, or somebody getting stabbed.” It’s a danger that West acknowledged in his 2023 plan, where he warned shutting down the Dallas card houses would only push more games underground. As a small business owner, West says he is sympathetic to the poker rooms that opened under the pretense of operating legally, before the city “changed the rules” on them. He now plans to propose a resolution that will allow the card houses that opened prior to the city’s change of heart to continue operation until a state-wide decision on gambling is made. “These businesses came in, they invested capital and time and effort, in some cases they bought land and buildings,” West says. “I'm hoping to find a path to legalization for them, and then just everyone else can wait until after the state figures out.” The state-wide perception of gambling is a tricky one, Crow says. The lottery and bingo are forms of gambling that have been deemed acceptable, but he doesn’t think the taboo of games like poker or places like casinos won’t be going away anytime soon. It’s going to take people from around the state becoming more comfortable with different types of gambling to legalize it in Texas, he says.

It’s a conversation the Texas legislature has been tossing around for years. A conversation that has been stirred even more since the recent partnership between Dallas billionaire Mark Cuban and Miriam Adelson, the owner of a mega-successful Las Vegas casino and resort company. And a conversation that Crow says will not end overnight. “We want to be friends with the city of Dallas, we want to be wanted here. We've tried to have the conversations when they're willing to,” Crow says. “(In Texas) I think (legalization) is a five- to 10- year project, but I do think ultimately it’s what ends up happening.”

8 prestonhollow.advocatemag.com JANUARY 2024

Beyond the Rink Galleria Dallas' rink has a rich history of holiday shows, Olympian skaters, renowned visitors Story and photography by KELSEY SHOEMAKER IT’S HARDER THAN IT LO O KS, the graceful gliding of athletes on bladed skates. That’s what adult figure skating student Aurora Elza follows. She’s gone through the training sessions and is currently in the advanced group. Last week, it was about mastering skating backward, and today, she plans to work on her Salchow jumps.

“I love it; I was so excited to get on the ice for the first time. I even brought my own skates,” Elza says. The Galleria Dallas Ice Skating School ensures skaters of different ages and skill levels are able to be comfortable and balanced on ice. “ We h a v e l i t t l e s t e p p i n g s t o n e s ,” r i n k m a n a ge r C h r i s

Pearce says. “We also are wellk n o w n fo r b e g i n n e r s k a t i n g h e re. We p r i d e o u rs e l ve s o n that because they learn really good bases.” When Galleria Dallas opened its rink in 1982, Olympic figure skater Dorothy Hamill was in attendance. T h a t d a y s e t t h e t o n e fo r the life of Galleria’s rink. Since

JANUARY 2024 prestonhollow.advocatemag.com

Since its opening, the mall has been frequented by other greats like Olympic gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi in 1992 and the Rockettes in 1993.

its opening, it has been frequented by many shoppers who need a break, students in the training school and more Olympians who ask to come take a spin on the ice. As many as 275,000 skaters use the rink every year, which is more than Rockefeller Plaza in New York. “We’ve always called it the heartbeat of the mall,” Pearce says. “You can hear people having fun from both sides of the mall. People are constantly leaning over, looking and watching, especially little girls who dream of doing that.” T h a t r u s h of e n e rg y a n d ca p t i va t i o n wa s b o t t l e d u p for this year's holiday show, the Grand Tree Lighting Celebration. Students of the G a l l e r i a Da l l a s I ce S ka t i n g

School went through an audition process that started in August and then learned the choreography, trained and got costumes measured. After the school performed, Olympic figure skaters took to the ice. “When I was getting up there today, I was really having fun because I know how much the simple things that we're doing mean a lot to the audience, and I just embrace it and enjoy that,” says world figure skating champion Alexa K n i e r i m , w h o wo n w i t h her pair Brandon Frazier in 2022. “It's more like a treat for them and the treat for us is to have fun.” Olympian skater and Dallas native, Ashley Cain graced the rink with a solo performance. Throughout her career, she’s

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Pairs Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier perform at Galleria Dallas’ holiday show.

JANUARY 2024 prestonhollow.advocatemag.com

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used the Galleria Dallas rink. After winning her gold medal for individual figure skating in 2022, she now plays Elsa in Disney on Ice. “It's been beautiful to see how the crowds and the skating community in general have grown in this area,” Cain says. “I have stu-

dents in the audience and other people that I see come year after year. It's a special time getting to be a part of this show.” The reputation of the mall’s skating rink continues to live up to its original hype. “When Olympians come to

skate here, it’s because it’s word of mouth,” Pearce says. “When we do our shows, the energy that the crowd portrays is what creates a good performance because they thrive on that energy. It’s really become something that’s evolved into a great thing.”

JANUARY 2024 prestonhollow.advocatemag.com

fo o d

Jon a t hon’s D i ne r The neighborhood breakfast place

Story by EMMA RUBY | Photography by KATHY TRAN

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The seared tuna salad boasts seared, raw tuna atop arugula, seranos, pickled red onion, avocado and feta cheese. The salad is exclusive to the Forestwood location.

TA K E J E F F B R I D G E S ’ C H A R A C T E R F RO M T H E B I G L E B OWS K I A N D A D D A COU P L E I N C H ES, A W H I T E C H E F ’S COAT AND A SIZZLING GRILL FULL OF BREAKFAST STAPLES, AND YOU HAVE J O N AT H O N E R D E L JAC. For the last 12 years, Erdeljac has manned the grill at each of his namesake restaurants with a relaxed enthusiasm and his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Jonathon’s Diner serves as the “neighborhood breakfast place,” known for comfort meals like patty melts and chicken and waffles, made by The Dude himself. Erdeljac’s wife, Christine, manages the restaurant and can occasionally be caught waiting tables during the lunch rush. Both Erdeljacs have a background in the Dallas culinary world. Jonathon served as the corporate chef at Bread Winners, and spent time at Brinker. Christine managed at Bread Winners and the Nordstrom Restaurant. While working in the corporate dining industry, Erdeljac ignored the “If I owned this place,” talk that permeated kitchens, instead focusing on acing every role he took on. “When I was a dishwasher, I like to believe that I washed those dishes like I owned those dishes,” he says. His first restaurant came to fruition in 2011. Jonathon’s Oak Cliff opened with a breakfast-heavy menu in the green house on Beckley that is now home to Restaurant Beatrice. Then he opened Kessler Park Eating House, which specialized in dinner plates, in 2015. “It was kind of a passion project for me, because it was a lot of my own personal kind of family recipes,”

Jonathon says. “And it was a pretty decent success, but it was a lot of work.” He cooked breakfast in the mornings and dinner in the evenings, shifting just half a mile down Beckley each day to transition between restaurants. In the 10 years Jonathon’s Oak Cliff was open, “there was never a point” something wasn’t broken. At one point, construction forced the Erdeljacs to temporarily close down Jonathon’s Oak Cliff, so they moved the breakfast menu over to Kessler Park Eating House. “The first day we were busy all day, but it was Jonathon's all day. It was just like nobody could care less (about the dinner menu) and so we kind of pivoted at that point. When we reopened the original store we decided to transition (Kessler Park Eating House) to Jonathon's Diner,” he says. “For four years, we operated as Jonathon's Diner and Jonathon's Oak Cliff. And we had two restaurants, the same exact menu, same everything, literally half a mile apart.” Once you get out of the dinner game, it’s impossible to go back. As much as the Erdeljacs enjoyed sharing their family recipes at Kessler Park Eating House, the transition to all breakfast-focused businesses meant a healthier work-life balance. “Our life is 100 times better. Our mental health is better, our physical health is better, and our business is thriving even better,” Christine says. “We can actually go out to dinner and enjoy our normal life.” In 2021, Jonathon’s Oak Cliff closed, but the diner has remained a flourishing staple in our neighborhood’s brunch scene. The menu is not trying to reinvent the breakfast wheel. JANUARY 2024 prestonhollow.advocatemag.com

Plates of biscuits and gravy, eggs and bacon and berry-covered waffles are dependable offerings. There are entire days where Erdeljac cooks only chicken and waffles, the Oak Cliff favorite. While relentless waves of the same dish may put any other “food artist” in a rut, Erdeljac says the opening of a new Jonathon’s location, Jonathon’s Forestwood, has sparked his creativity. The new store required a complete gutting and renovation, something the owners are used to at this point. Three restaurants in, the Erdeljacs are the Chip and Joanna Gaines of the restaurant industry. Touches of Jonathon’s Oak Cliff can be found at the Forestwood store. The mirrors hanging from the wall near the back of the restaurant are the original Oak Cliff location’s bathroom mirrors. And, in addition to Forestwood customers ordering a wider variety of plates, the location’s menu offers salads and sandwiches that are not available in Oak Cliff. “I kept saying this is going to be different, people are going to eat differently in North Dallas, I just know it," Christine says. "(In Forestwood) it’s been the chicken salad sandwich. Chicken and waffles rules Oak Cliff, I mean that is what we are known for down there." For now, Jonathon is spending most days cooking in the Forestwood kitchen to give the store the same foundation his Oak Cliff location has. “We're at the point (at the diner) where it's like it's the same people who come in for the same things all the time,” he says. “(At Forestwood) we're not at that point yet where it's like these four guys come in every Wednesday because they love the patty melt and all four are going to order the patty melt.” While the diner may be Jonathon’s middle child, the Erdeljacs are no less devoted to serving the neighborhood that got them started as restaurant owners. “It’s 36 hours a day, eight days a week. I mean, it's as simple as that. It never stops, and even when you're off there’s stuff to do,” he says. "We were getting our nails done yesterday and I remembered I needed to soak the beans. So we ended up back at work after we had our mani-pedis because I had to put the beans in the water so my 15-bean soup would be ready.” Jonathon's Diner, 5337 Forest Lane, Dallas, TX 75244, 214.782.9273

16 prestonhollow.advocatemag.com JANUARY 2024

When opening the Forestwood location, Christine Erdeljac, a Preston Hollow native, encouraged her husband Jonathon to expand the restaurant's salad menu.

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THE CASE OF

Council member Jaynie Shultz discusses crime reduction in D11 Story by ALYSSA HIGH

our Nextdoor app might seem like an endless stream of crime stories, but data from 2023 paints a different picture. In fact, District 11 experienced a decrease in almost every type of crime in 2023. According to City Council District 11 Representative Jaynie Shultz, most crimes are occurring in two concentrated areas — Esperanza and Montfort. “These are the highest poverty areas in the district,” Shultz says. “So, what we are doing is raising the quality of life in those areas and bringing economic value, improvements and overall safety.” The Esperanza District is the area from Interstate Highway 635 to Spring Valley Road and U.S. Route 75 to Coit Road. Shultz sees having a council liaison who is fluent in Spanish to communicate with the largely Spanish-speaking district and the Building Blocks Crime Watch program as supplements to crime reduction in the area. “We have a whole task force that’s working on this, on everything from public safety to community engagement, to early childhood care, to working with the school, to working on traffic safety,” Shultz says. “It took us a while to get the plan going, but we have that and [the city is] in the process right now of hiring a project manager to really launch this multi-pronged approach to changing the quality of life over there and working very closely with the residents who live there to make their lives better.” Throughout the district, violent crimes are down 14.34%, with only murder and fondling experiencing any increases since last year. Of the 11 murders in District 11 this year at time of publication, six have resulted in arrests and three remain open cases, Shultz says. Of non-violent crimes, almost all categories experienced improvement. However, there was a 68.29% increase in shop-

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lifting, which Shultz attributes to shopping centers like the Galleria Mall. “[The Galleria] had new owners over the last year and we’re working very close with them to improve public safety and try to get more patrols over there, both private and public,” Shultz says. “I do believe that if we had a public improvement district over there, we could really ramp up security.” Unauthorized use of a motor vehicle (UUMV) also increased significantly this year (+42.53%, or nearly 300 more incidents than last year). UUMV occurs when a vehicle is used without permission of the owner or a person who has been granted permission to operate a vehicle for any period of time for any reason refuses to return it with the intent of permanently depriving the owner of the vehicle. The Dallas Police Department says that the most common instances of UUMV are joyriding, often by teenagers; someone re-selling a vehicle for parts or using a vehicle to commit another crime. Taking a multi-departmental approach is key to lowering crime and raising the quality of life in the area, Shultz says. The Office of Integrated Public Safety Solutions, for example, works in areas like the Esperanza District to reduce crime by working with Code Compliance, the Department of Transportation, Dallas PD and the City Attorney’s Office to remedy environmental issues such as vacant lots, abandoned properties, substandard structures and insufficient lighting, according to the office. “We have a long way to go in Esperanza, frankly, and we have a ways to go in Montfort, but we’re working hard and the neighbors can be really pleased with the crime reduction in their neighborhoods,” Shultz says.

District 13 might not have experienced as much of a decrease as District 11, but let’s take a look at what was improved – and what wasn’t – this year.

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IMPROVEMENTS: Simple assault has gone down 17.82% from last year (606 to 498) Burglary at a residence went down 14.36% (181 to 155)

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Thefts of motor vehicle parts or accessories went down 39.92% (506 to 304) Robbery from an individual went down 23.96% (96 to 73) Drug narcotic violations went down 27.13% (258 to 188) Weapon law violations went down 35.19% (54 to 35) INCREASES IN CRIME: Aggravated assault - Family Violence has gone up 18.75% (48 to 57) All other larceny went up 24.14% (377 to 468) Purse snatching and pick-pocketing went up from 1 to 4 and 1 to 5 instances, respectively Shoplifting went up 68.29% (369 to 621) Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle went up 40.56% (779 to 1095)

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OUR NEIGHBORHOOD

By KELSEY SHOEMAKER

Learning at local libraries R i n g i n t h e n ew yea r by c h e c k i n g o u t yo u r Illustration by Frank Ramspott via Getty Images.

n e i g h b o r h o o d l i b ra r y The Dallas Public Library has been a linchpin in the community since 1901, providing community resources at numerous locations including ones close in our neighborhood. With thirty locations in Dallas alone, there’s bound to be one that fits your criteria. Plus, some locations even have notary services and tax help. W h a t ' s h a p p e n i n g a t t h e b ra n c h libraries in our neighborhood? Preston Royal Branch is located at 5626 Royal Lane and is open Tuesday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is closed on Monday and Sunday. The library hosts regular computer classes designed to assist with job applications and technical skills. In January, the branch will host music and movement for preschoolers, a collage class for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, cursive handwriting and trivia. “We’ve also now collaborated with assisted living in our local area where we have been introducing them to the library to do some crafts and we have a senior program on Thursdays,” Branch Manager Bev Christianson says. “Our age range is from babies all the way up to 99 years old. We offer so many things.

NorthPark’s Bookmarks is located inside NorthPark Center at 8687 N Central Expressway and is open Tuesday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is closed on Monday and Sunday. The library is located on the first level of the mall and is a whimsical place to read and learn offering more than 5,000 materials and resources for children. “It’s a very small branch so our collection is not that big, but it's designed just for children. We have little reading nooks and a small space that kids can play,” Bookmarks’ Jessica Hilvitz says. Bookmarks is known for its puppet shows, craft activities and toddler-friendly classes. All the events are free and open to the public. The Preston Forest Branch Library is located at 3421 Forest Lane and is open Tuesday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Throughout January, the library branch is hosting Tai Chi for older adults, crafts for kids, storytimes, computer classes for adults, yoga classes, cafes, literacy workshops and other community events. The location also has a Park Forest Library Friends group that supports programs for children and adults. In recent

20 prestonhollow.advocatemag.com JANUARY 2024

years, the nonprofit has provided funds for a new puppet stage and puppets, monthly teen gaming events, a YugiOh tournament, LEGO time and a LEGO challenge. The group offers various membership levels and hosts events like staff appreciation lunches and a summer bookmark contest. The Bachman Lake Branch Library is located at 9480 Webb Chapel Road, and is open Monday and Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Bachman L ake branch offers events for children and adults, but also focuses on older adults in the communities surrounding the library. Craft events, book clubs and general hang-outs for older adults can be found every month at this branch. In January, the Bachman Lake branch will host New Year Bead Bracelet making, game nights, toddler storytimes, coffee hours for older adults, English learning classes and Pride Book Clubs. Want to learn? Save money? Be creative and imaginative? Go to your local library. Questions? Go to dallaslibrary2.org, contact the branch directly or ask any librarian.

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TUTOR/LESSONS WANTED: OBOE TEACHER needed for 14 year old student. Call 214–235-7429

On The Go Physio ORTHOPEDIC PHYSICAL THERAPY IN THE CONVENIENCE OF YOUR OWN HOME

Zak Keller, PT, MPT OWNER/PHYSICAL THERAPIST

Serving the DFW metroplex Advocate is now a 501(c)3 not-for-profit public media organization. Donations are gifts to the Advocate and tax deductible.

phone: 469-571-2399 email: zak@physiodfw.com web: physiodfw.com

Photo courtesy of Dana Rubin.

HER-STORY

Dana Rubin opens the dialogue about women overlooked throughout history Story by KELSEY SHOEMAKER

“L

et your women’s sons be ours, and let our sons be yours. Let your women hear our words.” The words come from Cherokee tribe leader, Nanye’hi, who spoke about a land dispute to U.S. government representatives in July 1781. It’s just one of many speeches found in Dana Rubin’s book Speaking While Female: 75 Extraordinary Speeches by American Women that works to fill in gaps of history by showing female speeches missing from pages of countless anthologies. Rubin is a professional speechwriter, speaking coach and consultant focused on bringing women’s voices to the forefront of conversations. She is a New York resident and alumn of Hillcrest High School, the University of Texas at Austin and Yale University. While working with clients and teaching students as an adjunct professor at New York University, she would first ask people to list famous speakers. Of course, Abraham Lincoln, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and others were among the mainstream answers Rubin would get, but when asked about female speakers, the room would hit a lag. “Everybody could quote a man and nobody could quote a woman,” Rubin says.

A question led to a discovery. One book Rubin read, Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History by William Safire, documents over 202 male speakers and only a mere 15 women. Open another book, she would find the same result. Rubin combed through 250 anthologies, biographies, newspapers or anything with a hint of words from women. “I started making a speech bank and it was like the scales fell from my eyes,” she says. “I realized this is a treasure trove of information.” In 2019, she founded and curated the global online archive Speaking While Female to share over 2,500 of women's speeches and counting to emphasize how often they are overlooked. It’s become the world’s largest collection of women’s speeches to date, according to The Coordinating Council for Women in History in 2021. “It breaks my heart that so many women's voices aren't recorded and that we don't have an understanding of their power and leadership,” Rubin says. This passion led her to compile women’s words into a companion book form. Speaking While Female, released in June 2023, is the first anthology of its kind to include American women speakers from 1637 to the present with short information blurbs about each one. “One of my hopes is that this book will encourage more students and scholars to join the quest for missing women’s speeches,” Rubin writes in her book’s forward. “So many more remain to be uncovered, and without them, the historical record is not only incomplete – it’s inaccurate. To know American history, we must hear these women speak.” The pages come alive with speeches from familiar names like Eleanor Roosevelt, Helen Keller and Michelle Obama. It also features names that may be new to readers, such as Madeline Davis, an American LGBQT activist and historian who spoke at the Democratic National Convention in 1972, or Nanye’hi, the fearless tribe leader. “[The book] is not just a handy anthology of powerful speeches. It is also a rediscovery of forgotten American history going all the way back to the 1600s, an unearthing of the voices of indigenous women, and women of color,” one reviewer notes. The book and online archive highlights females of different backgrounds and touch upon topics ranging from politics to social issues. “Women's words have been discounted, ignored, put down, rejected and overlooked by gatekeepers in history,” Rubin says. “They didn't care what women had to say.” “I want to speak to women everywhere,” Rubin says. “I want to speak to young women and I want to speak to women of every age and make sure they know the true history of women's speech and make sure that they feel emboldened and inspired and encouraged to also use their voices. The book is just the beginning. I want to change the situation for women today and future generations.” JANUARY 2024 prestonhollow.advocatemag.com

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