Fort Worth Weekly // March 6-12, 2024

Women of Sundance

See pages 14-15 for more information on these women businesses in Sundance Square.

METROPOLIS

Don’t think family-planning is safe in Texas.

BY STATIC

EATS & DRINKS

Running a restaurant is hard, period, no matter your gender.

BY LAURIE JAMES

STUFF

Delivering a baby gorilla via c-section is a “highlight” in this OB-GYN’s life.

BY TERI WEBSTER

MUSIC

Local female musicians discuss what they love and hate about their work.

BY JENNIFER BOVEE

Weekly Women

Since March is National Women’s History Month and Friday is International Women’s Day, we’ve decided to do a thing. By “we,” I mean #TeamWeekly.

While I’d like to say that our inaugural women’s issue was my brainchild, two male advocates — Editor Anthony Mariani and Publisher Lee Newquist — came up with the idea. That’s what marginalized groups need: people who can tip the scales to make the world a little more equitable, one small step at a time.

On a personal note, while the ERA never got passed and civil rights are still being fought for, as a woman in the publishing industry, I feel privileged to say that my voice is heard. On a regular basis, I offer ideas and then see them come to life. Is my experience unique? We’ll see.

It’s also crucial that everyone’s voice — not just feminine ones — can be heard saying “no.” Most of our writers are freelancers, so they are not beholden to an employer and are never “assigned” projects. If they don’t want to write about something, they simply don’t.

Steinem dressing as a Playboy Bunny for an undercover story at her first newspaper job in New York, only to have her co-workers belittle her and make the whole thing into a joke. Our writers, male and female, need not worry that they will be forced to delve into subject matter beyond their comfort level or pick up a story they have no interest in.

work of talented storytellers who say, “Yes, I’d like to write about that,” and this week, those stories are about female artists, chefs, musicians, and more.

she saves the prince rather than the other way around, “A girl does what she can, sire.” We currently have so many women in Fort Worth running the show — from the mayor’s office to most cultural institutions — that we felt we needed to do whatever was necessary to make this issue happen.

Whether

Performing

Femme Ink

Lilac Tattoo Studio isn’t just “cute.” It’s serious, too.

By Madison Simmons

Pressure Cookers

Sarah Castillo, Ruth Hooker, Mary Perez, Charletra Sharp, and more discuss the joy and pain of their women-led food operations.

By Laurie James

Christina

Laurie

Jennifer Bovee

Saving Jameela

Delivering a baby gorilla at the Fort Worth Zoo was a “highlight” for this doctor/mother.

TERI WEBSTER

Aprofound calmness and determination filled the quiet operating room as an accomplished medical team stood united for a common surgery in a setting that was clearly uncommon. Veterinarians and human medical doctors were about to begin a historic mission to save the lives of two western lowland gorillas, a critically endangered species.

Lying on the operating table before Dr. Jamie Walker Erwin was the unlikeliest of patients: Sekani, a 33-year-old female gorilla from the Fort Worth Zoo. Prior to the unusual scene, a sudden and life-threatening pregnancy complication left Sekani and her unborn baby in peril. After a series of rapid developments, the zoo decided to call in a team of medical experts. Erwin, a Fort Worth obstetrician and gynecologist who has worked with the zoo since 2015, said she felt a “range of emotions” before surgery.

“Just seeing this animal, and she’s so huge and beautiful — that was very different than the typical setup, of course,” Erwin said.

As Sekani was prepped, the novelty faded, and the medical team began their work, each of them playing their role with precision.

“I don’t think any of us were thinking how historic this was,” Erwin said. “It was all just very automatic.”

Just days earlier, Erwin and the zoo’s veterinary team were planning a routine sonogram for Sekani in mid-January. Her pregnancy appeared to be normal.

Then the gorilla suddenly began showing signs of distress: She was holding her head as if she had a headache; she had a lip quiver, a common indicator of pain; and a urine test all pointed to preeclampsia, a serious pregnancy complication found in both primates and people.

Erwin was 700 miles away on a vacation in Colorado Springs with her husband, 13-year-old daughter, and 8-year-old son when she began receiving calls from the zoo’s veterinarian team about Sekani’s condition.

When the decision was made to deliver Sekani’s baby via cesarean surgery, Erwin rushed back Fort Worth on a flight filled with anticipation, she said.

“It was all just very exciting,” Erwin said.

The doctor recalled turning to her husband and saying, “I’m going to go to this. We’re going to do this. I’m going to go help deliver a gorilla. I was just trying to process that. I think I’m still trying to process that.”

On Jan. 5, 2024, the gorilla’s birth became the third in the Fort Worth Zoo’s

115-year history and the first c-section birth, the zoo said.

The baby gorilla was named Jameela, a play on Erwin’s first name, Jamie. In Swahili, Jameela means “beautiful.”

Following the surgery, the zoo said Jameela had fluid cleared from her lungs and received respiratory support for several hours.

At the close of the surgery, some zoo staff members were waiting in an adjacent room. They were increasingly concerned about whether Jameela would survive the ordeal, said Linda Roberts, the zoo’s primate supervisor. As they caught glimpses of the medical team working on the 3-pound infant, they braced for the worst.

“I was really nervous, but I tell you, what really helped me is that they were all so calm,” Roberts said. “They were just like, ‘This is what we do,’ and I felt like she was in good hands. We were OK.”

Roberts said she could see the doctors “talking to each other, and their whole effect was really peaceful and calm.”

Although Sekani appeared listless after the surgery, that was primarily due to the anesthesia still in her body, Erwin said.

Still, the moment was tense for Roberts, a 33-year veteran of the Fort Worth Zoo who also served as a lead gorilla keeper for the Bronx Zoo.

Relief set in as both Sekani and Jameela successfully recovered, Roberts said. “Jameela is great. She’s getting top grades in all of her physicals.”

Now another challenging “operation” is underway, one that concerns Jameela’s around-the-clock care and finding an appropriate surrogate mother.

Initially, Sekani showed little interest in her baby, possibly because the necessary

“I wished Sekani had bonded with Jameela, of course,” Erwin said. “That would have been such an amazing, happy ending to this story, but, sadly, that doesn’t seem to be the case. It is still possible, and I know the keepers are still training with Sekani. Ultimately, the most important thing is Sekani and Jameela are both alive and well and [that] Jameela will be raised by gorillas. Families don’t always look the same for everyone, even gorillas. Sometimes we lean on our extended family members and even friends to help raise our kids. I know I do. And I think that is just as beautiful.”

One of the zoo’s gorillas, Gracie, is under consideration as a surrogate mother for Jameela. The 24-year-old gorilla has two offspring and already knows how to present or raise a baby up to the protective mesh barrier that separates the gorillas from the keepers. That allows the keepers to visually examine the baby and provide supplemental feedings or other care, if needed.

As she is watched and cared for by the keepers, Jameela rests in a specially designed hanging bassinet. Her bed is attached to the opposite side of a mesh barrier so the other gorillas can get close to her.

Jameela is also learning to hang onto a jacket designed to mimic gorilla hair and has a shag rug that allows her to crawl and practice grabbing. That’s an important behavior because baby gorillas hang on to their mothers constantly, Roberts said.

hormones weren’t released due to the premature birth, the zoo said. As of this writing, Jameela’s future plans remain in flux.

“The zoo is committed to ensuring Jameela receives the best care possible, which means ultimately being raised by gorillas,” said Avery Elander, the zoo’s director of marketing and public relations. “Here at the Fort Worth Zoo, we are committed to finding her the best possible surrogate, and training is a day-by-day endeavor that continues to evolve.”

If no female from the gorilla troop takes on the role of Jameela’s mom, it’s possible that she could be sent to another zoo, Roberts said. Baby gorillas must learn to interact with and “read” other gorillas to successfully integrate into a troop.

Elmo, the zoo’s muscular 420-pound silverback western lowland gorilla, has shown tenderness toward Jameela, as he has with other youngsters, Roberts said. During an initial meeting, Elmo walked up to the bassinet, sniffed Jameela, and gave a happy grunt.

Behind the scenes, keepers have worked with Jameela in eight-hour shifts that run 24/7, Roberts said. An air mattress in a makeshift nursery allows the keepers working overnight to get some sleep.

The circumstances, extensive care, and the partnership between human and animal doctors caused a whirlwind of local and national media attention. Delivering Jameela led to recognition Erwin never anticipated, and she called the experience a “highlight of her career.”

She is also learning more about the gorillas’ care as well as the challenges they face in the wild, Erwin said.

Habitat destruction, illegal bushmeat and wildlife trades, and disease are among the threats gorillas face, based on extensive data by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). An estimated 250,000 to 300,000 gorillas are believed to remain in the wild, the WWF said. The critically endangered species is one that plays a vital role in the balance of Africa’s rainforest ecosystem.

As for Jameela, Erwin said she plans on making plenty of follow-up visits. “As much as they will let me. I’m afraid of annoying them. I want to text them all of the time and ask, ‘How is she doing?’ and if I can come see her. They’ll probably get tired of me,” she said with a laugh.

But in an inexplicable way that animals sometimes do, Jameela has left her small footprints on Erwin’s heart.

“I’m a Jameela fan all the way,” the doctor said. l

Dr. Jamie Walker Erwin delivered a premature baby gorilla at the Fort Worth Zoo via a c-section, something she calls a highlight of her career.

Courtesy Fort Worth Zoo

Erwin: “Families don’t always look the same for everyone, even gorillas.”

Teri Webster

defects, preterm births/low birth weights, sudden unexpected infant death (SUID), and maternal complications.

tion (which carries a possible life sentence) because the state’s abortion ban is vaguely worded and relies on doctors exercising “reasonable medical judgment.”

The GOP stands to benefit from keeping the law as confusing as possible for medical professionals in situations like this. It keeps doctors frightened of litigation and less likely to perform abortions. There’s a lawsuit currently before the Texas Supreme Court on this issue –– 22 women have said they suffered pregnancy complications or will face future complications after Texas doctors refused to administer abortions. A lawyer from the Center for Reproductive Rights recently told the court that medical professionals don’t understand the law’s emergency exceptions and “the state won’t tell us” what the law means.

Side note: With the decline in abortion rates in Texas, we’re also seeing an increase in infant mortality. Last year, a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found Texas’ infant mortality rate increased by 8% in 2022 from the previous year. The March of Dimes Perinatal Data Center gave Texas a D- grade for infant and maternal health in 2023, indicating that infant and maternal health conditions are worsening from previous years. In 2021, the leading causes of infant deaths were birth

By the time you’re reading this, the primary election is over, and the results are probably in. If you already cared about the inhumanity that is the Texas abortion law, I hope you voted for someone who will do something about it. If you didn’t vote, you’d better make up for it by casting a ballot in the November presidential election, keeping in mind that Trump’s Supreme Court justices allowed all this to happen by overturning Roe v. Wade. You can be mad at President Joe Biden all you want over Gaza, but if you’re a woman, sitting this one out or protest voting could possibly cost you your life.

Roe v. Wade wasn’t just an abortion law. It provided protection from personhood laws and other threats to reproductive rights. Since the religious right came for IVF in Alabama, Gov. Greg Abbott voiced support for the service but called the topic “complex” and avoided pledging to legally protect IVF in Texas. He said he has “no doubt” Texas will weigh in on IVF and said he “wants to ensure we promote life.”

In other words, we can’t rely on Abbott or the GOP to protect women’s lives — conservatives don’t give a damn about you once you’re born. l

This column reflects the opinions of the editorial board and not the Fort Worth Weekly. To submit a column, please email Editor Anthony Mariani at Anthony@FWWeekly.com. He will gently edit it for clarity and concision.

Roe v. Wade wasn’t just an abortion law. It provided protection from personhood laws and other threats to reproductive rights.

In the words of Fiona Apple, this week we’re all about the “ladies, ladies, ladies, ladies!” In honor of International Women’s Day Friday and National Women’s History Month, we have a unique selection of events for your consideration for March and beyond. The future is female, and it starts now.

7

Thursday

The 39th annual Texas Storytelling Festival is ThuSun at the Denton Civic Center (321 E McKinney St, 940-349-7275). Among the featured storytellers, Fran Stallings tells traditional folktales and science-based eco-tales, and Kathy Hood Culmer does inspirational writing and biblical storytelling. The festival itinerary lists 30 speakers offering 24 hours of storytelling, plus nine workshops and six special events, including a concert, ghost tales, family story time, a liars contest, a poetry slam, and a story slam. Visit TejasStoryTelling. com for access every day ($135) or one day ($60), or pay $15 at the door for individual events.

Happy International Women’s Day! Two significant North Texas events are putting the D and FW in DFW. Here in the Fort, join Katrina Carpenter and Mia Moss noon-5pm at the third annual Watch Women Work pop-up event at Black Coffee (1417 Vaughn Blvd, Fort Worth, 817-782-9867), featuring products and services from 30 local female entrepreneurs. Brews and bites from Carpenter’s

Cafe and Black Coffee will be served. In Dallas, the works of fiber artists Sam Lao and Hannah Busekrus will be on display as part of the installation “Stay Sweet” at Punch Bowl Social (2600 Main St, Deep Ellum) 6:30pm-8:30pm. You can also check out the opening night of a second installation at the nearby Sweet Tooth Hotel (1511 Elm St, Deep Ellum) 5:30pm-9pm. The first 50 guests will receive a free Calirosa cocktail courtesy of Calirosa Tequila and Topo Chico. There is no cost to attend any of the above.

9

My mother-in-law loves butterflies, and her birthday is in March, so this one’s for her. Daily thru Sun, Apr 14, Fort Worth Botanic Garden (3220 Botanic Garden Blvd, 817-463-4160) hosts Butterflies in the Garden, the largest exhibit of live butterflies in North Central Texas. All tickets are for timed entries between 10am and 4pm. Tickets are $12 at the door or at FWBG.org/ Butterflies. Happy Birthday, Donna!

After Lola’s closed (RIP), Tiffany Parish and husband/ business partner Blake Parish scrambled to find a new location for their long-standing rummage sale and farmers market. Well, it didn’t take long for the newly formed Honeysuckle Rose Events to find a new home. The Fort Worth Community Market, every second Sunday of the month, will now be at the South Main Micro Park (105 S Main St, Fort

Worth, 817-923-1649) 11am-4pm. Today’s event features free admission, 50+ vendors selling handmade/homegrown items, and live music by Matt Tedder, Morris Holdahl, and Simon Flory. Sunday is also a perfect day to take flight. The Dallas Wings, the WNBA team that plays in Arlington, is holding auditions for their 2024 cheerleading/dance team known as the Flight Crew at Maverick Activities Center (500 W Nedderman Dr, Arlington, 817-272-3277) 10am-4pm. They are hunting for entertainers at least 18 years old who have dance experience in multiple styles. There are no minimum or maximum height or weight requirements, and all body types, genders, and nationalities are welcome to try out. Should you earn a spot on the squad, you will be expected to attend biweekly rehearsals on Monday and Wednesday evenings and perform at all Wings home games. Register at Wings.WNBA.com/flight-crew/. For questions, email NBarnard@DallasWings.com.

The Hindu tradition of holding a spring festival (Holi) dates back thousands of years. It only took 14 for the Dallas-based Festival of Colors to add a second (hopefully annual) event in Fort Worth. The primarily female team is bringing the Holi Mela Festival of Color to Panther Island Pavilion (395 Purcey St, 817-698-0700) 11am-4pm. Along with getting crazy with some color powder — wear white for the full effect — celebrate the culture of India with dance performances, a drum circle, music, and vendors. Fort Worth singer-songwriter Rylie Dylan is the host, plus she will perform alongside Akhil Bhardaj and DJ Koka. Food, beer, and wine will be available at the food court. Tickets start at $8 on Eventbrite.com.

Please — I implore you — show some support (and by that, I mean donate money) to Planned Parenthood of Texas. Beyond that thing we can no longer have done in our state, PP provides health care and essential OB-GYN services for women in need. An Evening with Planned Parenthood at Bass Performance Hall (525 Commerce St, Fort Worth, 817-212-4280) 6pm-8:30pm will feature an “inspiring, mission-driven program” with craft cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. Organizers

say the goal is to “take strides towards a world in which everyone can access quality health care and information to live their lives fully, without judgment.” Amen to that. Tickets start at $100 at WeArePlannedParenthood.org.

The female-founded team at Don’t Forget to Feed Me, the only pet food bank in North Texas, provides a vital service for pet owners who have fallen on hard times. After all, a (good) girl’s gotta eat! Today from 7:30am (when my cat wakes up) to 11am (when my husband wakes up), those who enjoy jogging, running, and walking more than just the dog can attend the Hungry Hound Hustle 5K at MUTTS Canine Cantina (5317 Clearfork Main St, Fort Worth, 817-377-0151). Registration is $40-45 at HungryHoundHustle.Athlete360.com. If you don’t get up until noon (like me), you can buy the T-shirt for $25 and still help the cause.

Every (Damn) Day

Now, back to Fiona (and yes, please hand me those bolt cutters)! Fiona Apple’s fifth studio album came out in April 2020, and it really helped me get through the pandemic. There’s a track on Fetch the Bolt Cutters where you can hear her dogs barking toward the end, and that felt very real at a time when we all worked from home with our pets. The idea for the title came from a line in a police drama that she was streaming. In an episode of The Fall, Gillian Anderson and company were freeing a kidnapped girl, and Apple told NPR, “I shot up from the couch, wrote it on the blackboard immediately, and said, ‘That’s what my album’s called.’ ”

The takeaway is that we should each “fetch” our own preferred tool of liberation and set ourselves free from whatever is holding us back. For some of us, that means getting out of our own heads and doing the damn thing, but there are others, like those experiencing domestic violence, who have more tangible needs. If you are in an abusive relationship or a relationship you are afraid could become abusive, One Safe Place (1100 Hemphill St, Fort Worth, 817-9164323, OneSafePlace.org) wants you to know that you are not alone. If you need an emergency exit from your situation, they take walk-ins 9am-4pm Tue-Fri, but it’s best to call ahead if you can.

By Jennifer Bovee

Ladies, ladies, ladies, ladies, welcome to Weekly Women!

Courtesy Fiona Apple

ART

Flowers ’n’ Shit

A local tattoo shop owned and staffed by women challenges norms in a men-centric industry.

STORY AND PHOTOS BY MADISON SIMMONS

Dominique Ransom knew she had a cute shop. After all, she had designed Lilac Tattoo Studio with the “divine feminine” in mind. Her bright, airy Dallas space overflowed with flowers, sparkles, and good vibes. The 31-year-old got her first tattoo at 15 and began apprenticing in her early 20s. Though she felt at home in studios better known for dim lights and heavy metal music than charming decor, she knew many of her mostly female clients did not.

Nick Flores remembers the first time she visited Lilac. It wasn’t long after Ransom opened in late 2020. “I just got into the shop and was like, ‘It’s so cute in here. There’s nothing like this, Dom. Do you even know what you’ve got?’ ”

Ransom shrugged.

“Well,” Flores went on, “I’m gonna make a video, and I guarantee it’s going to go viral.”

Flores, a social media content maker, posted a 15-second video to TikTok that night, identifying the shop as a Black woman-owned, all woman-staffed, LGBTQfriendly space.

The video hit 1 million views overnight, and when Ransom walked into work the next day, she found a phone ringing nonstop and a line out the door. The owner hired more artists and in July 2023 opened a second location, this one in North Fort Worth.

On a recent weekday afternoon in Fort Worth, Elizabeth Almendarez lay on a tattoo table for the first time, nervous but excited, waiting for artist Gracie Hackworth to begin. Almendarez’s mother, Cristina Almendarez, looked on from the lobby.

A real estate agent, Almendarez had chosen to get her best friend’s name, in her best friend’s handwriting, on her right shoulder. The name? Cristina.

“She’s my best friend,” Almendarez said.

After much deliberation, Almendarez decided to get her first tattoo at Lilac after watching stories about the Fort Worth studio on Instagram and seeing the friendly attitude and pretty space.

“It seemed like somewhere I’d be comfortable,” she said.

Tattoo shops as a concept, deserved or not, have a reputation as dark, loud, male-dominated joints with intimidating staff.

“Lots of girls don’t want to fucking go in there,” Ransom said. “So, I’ll take them off your hands, so you can tattoo all the cool shit you wanna tattoo, and we’ll take the flowers ’n’ shit.”

Across the room from Almendarez, Jasmine Meyer lay very still on the table while Jordan Wheeler inked flowers ’n’ shit onto her forearm in the form of a sleeve. Meyer said she found the artist on Instagram and liked her work. Wheeler, who has worked at the shop since July, said, “Men in the industry can be intimidating.”

Every Lilac tattooer had a similar sentiment. Skailyr Katt said her time in more old-school shops was “not very fun.” Bella Harrell used three terms: “male-dominated, toxic, just terrible.”

Ransom does not readily relate. At 19, she was asked by her regular tattoo artist to tattoo him to try it out. Then he gifted her the machine. This led to a few years of learning on the fly, followed by a formal apprenticeship at a big-name studio in Dallas.

Ransom, covered head to toe in ink with a big, loud, “straight-shooter” personality, was in her element in more rough-and-tumble environs, but she recognizes that not everyone feels the same.

Once she realized women and queer-identifying people were flocking to her shop, she began promoting Lilac Tattoo Studio as a business for everyone. “As soon as I saw … the clients that were coming, I was like, ‘Bro, I want to push it out there that we are inclusive.’ ”

This softer approach puts people like Almendarez and everyone else who would feel uncomfortable at a traditional shop at ease. It also makes good business sense.

A 2023 survey by the Pew Research Center says that 38% of women have tattoos compared to only 27% of men. The same survey showed 51% of queer-identifying Americans rock ink, compared to 31% of their straight-identifying counterparts.

Lilac is one of several studios in North Texas and across the nation taking a different approach to the art. North Texas has several woman-owned shops, Lady Magnolia Tattoo and Dolls House of Ink among them. Ransom said she wants everyone, regardless of race, sexuality, or life experience, to feel comfortable in her spaces.

“You deserve to decorate your body, pierce it, tattoo it, whatever you want to do,” Ransom said. “I’m just all about expressing yourself because I’ve always been the odd kid that wanted to be … just different.” l

Nick Flores (left) and Dominique Ransom went viral together after Flores posted a TikTok about the original Dallas location in 2020.

Rabbit Jasso renders a popular anime character onto Victoria Freeman’s arm.

Skailyr Katt makes a drawing for a friend in between clients.

Gracie Hackworth tattoos Elizabeth Almendarez’s mother’s name onto her shoulder.

Jordan Wheeler — “like four-wheeler,” she said — works on the front piece of Jasmine Meyer’s sleeve.

Charlie O’Brien labors over a piece featuring an alien cowgirl, a concept she said she had floating around in her head for weeks.

Lilac’s Fort Worth shop devotes multiple spaces to photo ops.

Lilac Tattoo Studio 4550 Basswood Blvd, Ste 170, FW. Noon-9pm TueThu, noon-10pm Fri-Sun.

BUCK U

Frog Female Faction

Women’s

college athletics are more visible now than ever before, and TCU’s teams deserve the hype.

BY BUCK D. ELLIOTT

Last year, around this time, everyone agreed that women’s collegiate sports were having a moment. The faceoff between Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark in the women’s basketball national championship generated unprecedented widespread attention for a sport that had largely been back-page news fodder. Turns out, it wasn’t a moment.

The zeitgeist has grown and expanded as the star power of women’s collegiate athletes is not dissipating anytime soon. Clark, the runner-up in that title game, just last week broke the all-time scoring record for college ballers, irrelevant of gender. Clark’s draw has also sold out nearly every game in which she’s hit the floor this season — including a record 55,000-plus fans at a tilt held at Iowa’s football stadium — as well as inking a Gatorade deal. Clark and Reese, along with LSU gymnast Livvy Dunne, occupy three of the Top 10 spots for NIL valuation among all college athletes.

TCU women’s basketball has raked in the attention this season as well but in

an unexpected way. After a raucous beginning under first-year Head Coach Mark Campbell, the Lady Frogs dribbled through a program record 14 consecutive opponents and landed an AP ranking before going cold against 6th-ranked Baylor for their first loss of the season. That skid continued for four games until the Frogs were so depleted from injuries, they had to forfeit two games against ranked conference opponents. The bench, or lack thereof, was so thin that the team held open tryouts from the general student body.

Of the 40 who tried out, four made the team, including TCU volleyballer Sarah Sylvester. The Frogs didn’t even have enough healthy players to run full 5-on-5 practice, but the scrappy squad snatched victory on their home court against UCF in an emotional return after every national press outlet showcased their struggles.

Campbell’s Frogs have improved following a bumpy start to conference play, winning four of their final five tips, though they’ve yet to outshoot a ranked opponent this season. The lady dribblers will try to avenge a close early-season loss to Oklahoma State in the conference tournament this week in Kansas City but are very unlikely to receive a tournament bid despite more than doubling their win total from last year. Nineteen first-season wins is the best mark by a rookie head coach in program history, and the Frogs are likely to appear as a high seed in the women’s NIT.

If anyone recalls, the men’s program experienced a similar resurgence when Coach Jamie Dixon arrived in the Fort, and it’s safe to assume the women will continue to elevate their standard and fare better than they have in a season plagued by debilitating injuries.

The most decorated female athletes on campus, and arguably TCU’s most competitive overall program, are the shooters on the rifle team. NCAA rifle is a co-ed sport, though TCU stables an all-female team. Their national championships will fire off Friday and Saturday on the campus of West Virginia, this season’s host team. The purple rifle team is helmed by 20th-year Head Coach Karen Monez, who boasts an accolade sheet so long, it rivals my personal list of life regrets. Monez is a multiple-time world champion in many categories herself and has led her Frog markswomen to three national championships and five runner-ups

and has hosted the national championships at TCU twice. The Frogs have fired their way to the penultimate podium spot in three consecutive seasons after their last national championship in 2019. (The 2020 season was canceled because of COVID.)

Those three losses in the final shoot have come by a combined 24 points, which may seem like a lot in some sports, but an average score by a team in one of these duals is more than 4,700 points, meaning the margins have been incredibly small. Appropriately, the Frogs are ranked second heading into the championships behind host-team West Virginia and will be eager to punch the bullseye, which is this prestigious program’s expectation.

Another group of Frog females to follow this spring are the sandy strikers of beach volleyball, a young but wunderkind program started in 2015 that has been

making national noise the last two seasons. Head Coach Hector Gutierrez was named coach of the year last season after his second-ranked Frogs reached the national semifinals, losing a tight 2-3 match against USC, who would best their crosstown rivals UCLA in the finals to capture the national championship. The Beach Frogs have already logged two ranked wins this season, against Washington and LSU, respectively, and their only blemish was a 2-3 loss against second-ranked Stanford in Palo Alto.

Beach volleyball operates similarly to a collegiate dual tennis match, in which five pairs play simultaneous matches and the first to three matches claims overall victory. TCU will host four opponents across Friday and Saturday if any of you want to lie out on campus and watch one of the best teams in the nation leave their opponents quite literally pounding sand. l

TCU shooting guard Madison Conner has made a tremendous impact after transferring from Arizona, averaging 20 points per contest for the Frogs this season.

Courtesy TCU Athletics

WINES FROM A BROAD - DENA SHASKIN

Wines from a Broad, Dena, a renowned local chef, whimsically offers Fort Worth a unique wine bar featuring selections from only female wine makers. WFAB showcases diversity and talent of women in the wine industry and powerful stories that come along with each bottle.. Its broad wine selection (literally and figuratively) is expertly paired with light bites to enhance the tasting experience for occasion..

317 Houston Street

Sundance Square www.winesfromabroad.com

“ARTISAN JEWELRY” BY CARY OKEEFE

Recognizing the beauty in natural objects, renown Fort Worth artist Cary Okeefe skillfully and creatively turns them into stunning jewelry. The daughter of a Texas wheat farmer, she describes her lifelong artistic passion as a “big Easter Egg Hunt” constantly searching for beautiful and interesting things. From archaeological and historical finds, to natural wonders & precious stones — each piece is distinctive in style and presentation. Her store is open Friday, Saturday and by appointment.

501 Main St. www.caryokeefe.com

CELEBRATING WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH

HER STORY - TINSLEY MERRILL PAUL

Through HerStory, Tinsley and her partners offer unique luxury fashion & goods from women-led brands around the globe. Enabling customers to connect with the stories of the women behind each product, Her Story empowers women through dignified employment and purchases. Fort Worth shoppers can experience HerStory in-person at their Market location in Sundance Square or through discovering their extensive online offerings.

333 Houston Street

Sundance Square

www.supportthestory.com

SUNDANCE SQUARE ARTS MANAGER - SARAH AYALA

Sarah Ayala is the Community Arts Manager of Sundance Square. She is a visual artist known for her work with cartography, ornamental designs, and now her exploration into film photography and public art. In addition to her own creative art, she manages Sundance Square’s plaza art programs as well as its art galleries (including Caravan of Dreams, Zona 7 and 400H Gallery). Ayala’s goal is to make art more accessible to the public.

www.sundancesquare.com

www.sarahayala.com

THE ORIGAMI DOG - LONDYN MEHARG

At the Origami Dog— Londyn Meharg and her husband Roy are passionate about fury pets (dogs & cats) and their owners. Their one of a kind downtown one-stop-pet grooming salon is known for passionate pet handling and quality pet food+products. Breed-specific grooming is done by appointment by Londyn who is a graduate of the highlyesteemed “Texas AllBreed Grooming School.” Londyn also encourages pet owners to take advantage of the unique opportunity to snap a selfie or glamour shot with their pets after grooming. Complimentary customer parking is provided in Sundance Square Garage #3.

309 Houston St.

www.the-origami-dog.square.site

CONNECT WITH ART THROUGH COCKTAILS, CONVERSATIONS, AND CREATIVITY.

Each month you’ll find something different—from performances, artist talks, and unique tours to art making, music, and films.

MARCH 14 | 5-8 P.M. FREE

Intricate & Immersive

Unravel the connections between artistic creation and the passage of time during an artist talk with Leonardo Drew and explore his imaginative installation Number 235T.

LEARN MORE

SCREEN

She Movies

Women filmmakers go back to the artform’s beginning but have only recently become truly respected and felt.

BY KRISTIAN LIN

On March 22, 1895, Auguste and Louis Lumière held a private screening in Paris of a film they made of workers leaving their factory. This event, which had some 200 spectators, is often considered to be the first-ever demonstration of projected film in history and the birth of cinema itself. Most histories of film mention the Lumière brothers as well as Georges Meliès, the stage magician who attended their first public screening in December 1895 and became a filmmaker himself.

The name you will not find, unless the history you’re reading is fairly recent, is that of Alice Guy-Blaché. An assistant to industrialist Léon Gaumont, she attended that first screening in March 1895, and by the next year, she was operating the camera and writing for her own short films. Where the Lumières used film to capture an environment as faithfully as possible and Meliès aimed to bring impossible visions to life, Guy-Blaché’s films focused on character development. The title of “director” did not exist yet, but Guy-Blaché has a decent claim to being the first woman to direct movies. Her story illustrates that women have been making films since the beginning of the artform.

Even though women have and continue to be denied filmmaking opportunities both in Hollywood and all over the world, detailing the history of women in film would require far more space than this article can afford. We’ll mark International Women’s Day by trying anyway.

The early history of cinema included Helen Gardner, a silent-film star who’s regarded as the first actor (either male or female) to found her own production company, while comedian Mabel Normand was among the first women to step behind the camera and direct, including the short film in which Charlie Chaplin created his Little Tramp persona. A protegée of GuyBlaché’s, Lois Weber was likely the very first American woman film director, and while she rewarded her mentor by stealing away her husband, her films tackled difficult subjects such as abortion, poverty, and birth control. She also included nudity in her films and staged one of the first car chases on celluloid.

Of course, women directors have never automatically led to progressive politics, as Leni Riefenstahl glorified Hitler’s reign in her 1935 Nazi propaganda documentary The Triumph of the Will. Distasteful as that is, she can’t be ignored because of her technical talent — her documentary about the 1936 Olympics,

Olympia, pioneered filming techniques that you can still see on TV sports today.

Ironically, she worked at the same time as Leontine Sagan, whose 1931 film Mädchen in Uniform was among the first to depict homosexuality. Over in America, the openly gay Dorothy Arzner spent more than a decade as Hollywood’s only female director. That streak was broken when red-haired actress Ida Lupino took over directing duties on a thriller called Not Wanted after director Elmer Clifton suffered a heart attack during his first day on the set. She would go on to a distinguished career directing psychologically keen noir thrillers that took on rape (Outrage) and polygamy (The Bigamist), and her 1953 serial killer film The Hitch-Hiker is considered a classic.

Second-wave feminism created a surge of filmmakers around the world, with experimental filmmakers like Lizzie Borden, whose Working Girls viewed sex workers without stigmatizing them and whose Born in Flames depicted queer and interracial sexuality via proto-rap music and other postmodern devices. Kinuyo Tanaka, the lead actress of several of Kenji Mizoguchi’s films, parlayed her fame into a career behind the camera in Japan, while Agnès Varda joined the French New Wave (starting her directing career late after trying to become

a photographer) and explored the lives of people on the margins of society through documentaries and features.

I came up at a time when women directors were active (Barbra Streisand, Chantal Akerman, Claire Denis), yet their efforts were scarce enough that critics would take an attitude of “Oh, look at that!” whenever they reviewed a film by a woman. That’s no longer the case, and I find a new crop of female directors every year when I write up my annual feature of best debut filmmakers. French cinema, perhaps the one culture that can rival America’s cinematic output, has experienced a resurgence because homegrown talent such as Céline Sciamma and Julie Delpy and transplants such as Danish immigrant Mia Hansen-Løve and Senegalese immigrant Mati Diop are now directing films. Women filmmakers have even made their presence felt in such inhospitable environments as Saudi Arabia (Haifaa al-Mansour) and Iran (Samira and Hana Makhmalbaf). The world of women-directed films is now too large to summarize, as it encompasses both Kathryn Bigelow’s Oscar-winning war film The Hurt Locker and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, the first movie directed by a woman to be its year’s top box-office earner. On a week-to-week basis, their films are making moviegoing a more interesting experience. l

Alice Guy-Blaché (left) pioneered the way for women directing films.

Courtesy Collection Société Française de Photographie

EATS & drinks

#OwnTables

The food industry may be struggling, but these local women restaurateurs keep on keepin’ on.

BY LAURIE JAMES

Girls run the world, according to Beyonce, but women don’t necessarily run the restaurant industry. While about 65% of all hospitality staff are women, women own only about 46% of all restaurants. The number of minority women owners is infinitely smaller. For National Women’s History Month, we’re celebrating a growing group of local women restaurateurs who have managed to make their enterprises thrive, often balancing the intense pressure of 60-70-hour work weeks while raising young families.

“Fort Worth is a special place to own a business,” said Sarah Castillo

In 2010, when she was creating Taco Heads, Castillo said that other restaurateurs and even the county health inspectors were trying to help make her culinary dreams better.

Castillo is the youngest of the restaurateurs I spoke with. Her food truck is now a restaurant with two locations. She’s currently a partner in and co-founder of three additional enterprises: Tinie’s Mexican Cuisine (125 S Main St, 682-255-5425), Sidesaddle Saloon (125 E Exchange Av, Ste 240, 817-862-7952), and La Pulga Tequila, which is distilled and bottled in Mexico.

Ironically, Castillo, who was born and raised in Fort Worth, didn’t see a future for herself here 14 years ago. The University of Texas grad was working as a server and contemplating a move back to Austin when she saw potential in turning her tasty breakfast tacos into a business. But first, she needed to learn how to back up a trailer.

“I had to learn how to run a business and drive a food truck,” she said. “I was scrimping and saving and building the truck one piece of equipment at a time.”

Her advice to anyone trying to start a restaurant: Be patient, be open to feedback, and “know what you’re working towards.”

Ruth Hooker opened Hooker’s Grill (213 W Exchange Av, 817-378-0873) in the Stockyards seven years ago and honors her family and her Choctaw heritage with what she calls “simple everyday conversations.” Hooker said food is a gateway to those discussions and to education. The native Oklahoman started out making old-school hamburgers –– the good kind, made fresh, loaded with grilled onions and mustard if you want. She also introduced Indian fry bread in both savory form as an Indian taco and sweet with a traditional berry sauce. Hooker also serves what she calls a Rez Dog in the fried bread as well. As an indigenous woman in a part of town full of real and wannabe cowboys, Hooker says her restaurant is a destination and not just a tourist spot.

“The [east] end of the Stockyards is more touristy,” she said. “On the west end, we know most of our customers by their orders. We’re not surviving off the tourists.”

Gigi Howell has spent 35 years in the restaurant business, and, over the decades, she’s discovered that relationship-building is critical. Howell owns Westland Restaurant Group with partner Bourke Harvey. The first restaurant they built was JD’s Hamburgers (9901 Camp Bowie West, JDsHamburgers.com). The two are tied to the area by family memories.

“My mom worked for Bourke for almost 30 years,” Howell said. “Three generations of my family lived on the street where JD’s is now.”

JD’s, named for her grandfather, is technically in the town of Westland, a small community that took a beating last century when I-30 replaced Hwy 80 as the main thoroughfare. Howell envisioned a family-friendly, “really good burger joint” in Westland, a restaurant desert. “Timing and location play such an important part.”

When it came down to buying the building, the constraints of the size forced some critical thinking. The kitchen is built into a shipping container a couple of steps outside.

Along with JD’s Burgers, Westland Restaurant Group also owns West Side Café (7950 Camp Bowie West, 817-560-1996), where, Howell said, they “haven’t changed a thing” about the menu. Westland is also revamping Margie’s Original Italian Kitchen (9805 Camp Bowie West, 817-244-4301), which is essentially across the road from JD’s Burgers. It’s all a labor of love.

“I grew up there,” Howell said of Margie’s. “My mom worked there, and I used to fall asleep in the booths.”

Mary Perez knows how precious work-life balance is. In December, she opened her third Enchiladas Ole location, this one on the West Side (6473 Camp Bowie Blvd, 817-386-4555), in addition to her restaurants on North Tarrant Parkway and Forest Park

Boulevard. While Perez attributes her success to her work ethic –– sometimes restaurants are 80-hour-a-week gigs –– the fact that her kids were high school-aged at the time she opened her first location 11 years ago was a critical factor.

“You’re married to these restaurants,” she said. “It takes a lot for a mom to try to raise a kid and a restaurant.”

Perez started out in food by selling her family-recipe salsa and enchilada sauces at Central Market while working at John Peter Smith Hospital. In 2013, armed with only her savings, her sons, and six employees, she opened the first Enchiladas Ole on Sylvania Avenue. Perez said that one of the functions of her small chain is to lift up people who can’t get a job, like the man in the photo, Mike, who was formerly homeless.

“The locally owned restaurants are the ones hiring kids with no high school diplomas and even some offenders,” she said. “Everyone needs an opportunity.”

Perez also cites her continued determination to network and seek out mentors for her success. To that end, she said, locally owned restaurants can’t consider other small businesses their competition, especially in a friendly town like Fort Worth.

“We’re not in competition with each other,” she said. “We’re competing for those chain-restaurant dollars.”

For as long as I’ve been writing about food, Dena Peterson Shaskan has been a culinary force in Fort Worth. Shaskan left Café Modern to open a catering company, a move intended to improve her work-life balance.

“I joke that I left the Modern because I was tired of earning a regular paycheck,” she said, “but I was working so much, I didn’t get to see the kids grow up.”

Her daughter was 3 when she left, and her stepchildren were still at home.

Unfortunately, COVID closed the catering company that Shaskan says “specialized in weddings and small functions, and that went away overnight.”

When you own your own business, you work triple time, as Shaskan found out. Her 3rd Street Market closed just this month, after a relatively successful 16 months. Shaskan said she and her husband were exhausted from working six days a week across several enterprises.

The couple has retained Wines from a Broad (317 Houston St, 682-224-0056), where the focus is on labels made solely by continued on page 21

Courtesy Sarah Castillo

Courtesy Ruth Hooker

Courtesy Gigi Howell

Courtesy Mary Perez

Courtesy Dena Peterson Shaskan

Eats & Drinks

continued from page 19

women or by wineries with a woman owner, president, or leader “with her hands in the grapes in a meaningful way,” Shaskan said. Walk into the wine bar/shop to buy a bottle and enjoy a taste or a glass. “It’s easy to lift up women in male-dominated careers, so why not do it?” Shaskan said.

Charletra Sharp envisioned her Cup O’Vibes (800 E Sublett Rd, Arlington, 817706-1481) as a “third space” –– in social theory, it’s the place between home and work, where people can meet and exchange ideas in a nurturing environment. Sharp’s vison was honed in the aftermath of COVID, when people were still trying to work from home and definitely feeling disconnected. She saw a vision of “atmosphere and opportunity,” and Cup O’Vibes celebrated one year of “Brewing Community, Serving Culture” last October. The shop’s location has been a beacon to other small businesses, and another restaurant joined Cup O’Vibes and an African grocery store last year.

Sharp is one of those people who’s embedded into a community and is a connector, and, like Mary Perez, she sought out other entrepreneurs and learned from their experiences. Because her background is in contract compliance, she knew what needed to be in a business plan.

Sharp also has a young family and says that quitting her job to run a coffee shop

that was open every day was not an option. She’s thriving because she’s a planner but realized quickly that “not all plans will go as planned.”

Her advice? “Be intentional about communication and prioritize your support system.”

Like Sharp, Zameika Williams, owner of Luckey G’s Gourmet Bistro (LuckeyGsLegacy@gmail.com, 817-2967961), couldn’t afford to quit her day job, and good thing, too. She was Chef Instructor of the Year in 2023 at Crowley ISD, and her lessons in culinary arts are peppered with real-world advice for her students.

Williams grew up in a family that owned restaurants in San Antonio, and her food truck’s specialty grilled cheese items are named for family members. Her advice to her students is to always be on their game –– be prompt, execute well, and get the work done because “you never know who’s watching you.”

Williams pays it forward by hiring the best and brightest of her culinary students for summer work at her food truck because, like Perez, she believes everyone needs an opportunity.

I asked all these women restaurateurs whether it was hard to be a woman in a male-dominated field. Ruth Hooker said, “It’s hard to be in the restaurant business, period –– whether you’re a man or a woman.” Gigi Howell chimed in that she’s had male and female mentors but that she’s never been “treated differently” because she’s a woman.

I also asked them whether it was hard for them to acquire loans to start their businesses. Dena Shaskan and Mary Perez used their own money for capital — Shaskan said she leveraged her retirement account from Café Modern to start her catering company.

Sarah Castillo laughed at the question: “Loans are for people who have money,” she said, and she’s not wrong.

Charletra Sharp employed Community Development Financial Institutions Funding –– essentially subsidized dollars to help local businesses in underserved areas. But even though she has a background in

compliance and was familiar with underwriting, it still took a year for her application to be finalized. Mary Perez applied her own funds for the first three Enchiladas Ole restaurants, but she said “for the fourth and fifth, we’re going to use Small Business Administration funding.” The SBA both provides monies through an application and helps small businesses find investors.

Howell philosophically summed up what most of the women said.

“Restaurants are a physical investment,” she said. “Be certain you’re doing what you’re passionate about and surround yourself with wonderful people.” l

Courtesy Charletra Sharp Courtesy Zameika Williams

ATE DAY8 a Week

FWF+WF

Next

month’s annual local culinary celebration features a lot of outstanding women.

We’re less than a month away from the Fort Worth Food + Wine Festival, the signature four-day event that seeks to foster, celebrate, and sustain Fort Worth’s hospitality community. The FWF+WF celebrates a decade of culinary goodness this year, and there’s been a decided shift over the last few years to include more women- and minority-owned businesses. Here’s what some past and present participants have to say.

1.) Julie Eastman (center) has been involved with the festival since its inception and became executive director in 2016. The nonprofit puts on a party with a purpose: Since 2014, donations have funded more than $113,000 in student scholarships and culinary classroom equipment. During COVID, Eastman said the festival raised more than $110,000 for restaurant employee relief. And the yearly FWF+WF Craft Conferences allow local high school culinary arts students to mix and mingle with local chefs and restaurateurs and to attend panels discussing everything from pitmaster tips and urban farming to strategies for making it in the hospitality industry. A few local culinary students assist in booths at the festival, which Eastman says is “an amazing opportunity to work with the area’s best chefs.”

Fort Worth Food + Wine Festival

2.) Gigi Howell is another OG (Original Gal) who’s participated in the FWF+WF for the better part of the last decade, usually as part of someone else’s restaurant. This year, Howell is a partner owner in two (soon to be four) eateries, and you can catch up with her at two events. Howell and partner Bourke Harvey just bought West Side Café (7950 Camp Bowie West, 817-560-1996), and they’ll be at Rise + Dine Sat, Apr 6, for brunch. That night, Howell’s JD’s Burgers (9901 Camp Bowie West, JDsHamburgers. com) will serve sliders at Burgers, Brews + Blues. Her favorite part of the festival? “The city is so supportive of the food industry. We take care of our own here.”

Tacos + Tequila 8-10pm Thu, Apr 4 ............................... ($55)

The Main Event 6:30-9pm Fri, Apr 5 ($135)

Rise + Dine 12-2:30pm Sat, Apr 6 ................................ ($65)

Burgers, Brews + Blues 6:30-9pm Sat, Apr 6 ($85)

Ring of Fire 2-5pm Sun, Apr 7 ($85)

3.) Sydney McPherson brings her signature Brute to Burgers, Brews + Blues. A specialty at Big Kat Burgers (200 Bryan Av, 817-266-5274), it’s a slider-sized jalapeno popper-style burger with buttermilk jalapeno-cilantro ranch and cream cheese infused with jalapeno-bacon jam. McPherson said her grandfather taught her to cook, and the burger is one of the most popular items coming off Big Kat’s grill. Manager McPherson’s team learned last year that they had to account for the time it takes to prep and build their featured item — too many condiments delays the presentation. McPherson’s favorite thing about the fest? “We’re excited to do this. It’s like our team building. We work so hard, but there’s a big sense of community.”

Courtesy Sydney McPherson

Courtesy FWF+WF

Courtesy FWF+WF

ATE DAY8 a week

continued from page 22

4.) Zameika Williams is a culinary instructor, owner of Luckey G’s Gourmet Bistro (LuckeyGsLegacy@ gmail.com, 817-296-7961), and is also Crowley ISD’s 2023 Teacher of the Year. It’s her second year participating, and she’s one of those mom-and-pop businesses Shaskan mentioned. Her food truck is named after her grandparents, who inspired her to cook. At Tacos + Tequila Thu, Apr 4, she’ll serve “a curried beef taco on a wonton shell with whipped goat cheese.” As a culinary educator, she’s passionate about the mission of the foundation and hires youth from her culinary classes to help run her food truck in the summers. Williams calls the event “a chef family reunion — we all know each other, and I love seeing everyone.”

5.) Frances Juru owns Smackin Mac (SmacinMacFW@gmail.com, 682-812-0206), a gourmet mac ’n’ cheese food truck you can find most often at the Alliance Truck Yard. Juru, the winner of the North Texas Food Truck Challenge for Best Comfort Food, is participating for her third year. This year, she’ll provide some side action at Burgers, Brews + Blues. Juru went from being the designated mac ’n’ cheese purveyor at her family gatherings to a small business owner, and for her, her festival participation translates into an increase in corporate jobs she’s been offered over the intervening year. And she said that the increased presence of women-owned businesses at the FWF+WF “helps give us a platform we wouldn’t otherwise have and lets the community know a little bit more about women in the food industry.”

7.) Dena Peterson Shaskan from Wines from a Broad (317 Houston St, 682-2240056) was one of the few original female chefs participating in the FWF+WF 10 years ago. Shaskan said that by Year 2, the festival “had exploded.” Although she started participating when she was the chef of Café Modern, Shaskan’s current business ventures prohibited participation this year. “I think the FWF+WF has tried really hard to help the smaller business be able to participate. A lot of mom-and-pop places don’t have enough staff to be at the restaurant cooking the food and also staff the events.”

6.) Host of the Babes of Que podcast, Betina Miller (center) became involved in the FWF+WF two years ago when her family’s M&M BBQ Company brought equipment for participant Brandon Hurtado.

Last year, husband Mike Miller, who owns the company that produces equipment for Hurtado Barbecue and Goldee’s BBQ, had a scheduling conflict, but that didn’t stop Betina from gathering a group of women pitmasters, including Goldee’s Cecilia Guerro and Kimberly Ovalle, and showing out. She and her group will be back at Ring of Fire Sun, Apr 7. “I love the idea of getting women out to show off what they can do. BBQ women are not catty. They’re here to help each other.”

8.) Big Kat’s Brute is one good-lookin’ burger, and if you want to bite into it and so much more, tickets to all the FWF+WF festivities (April 4-7) at Clearfork Heart of the Ranch (5000 Clearfork Main St) are at FWFWF.ticketsauce.com. Ride-sharing will be a must. Volunteers are needed for Thursday and Sunday shifts. Visit FWFWF.org/get-involved/volunteer/ to sign up.

By Laurie James

Courtesy Luckey G’s

Courtesy Frances Juru

Courtesy FWF+WF

Courtesy FWF+WF

Courtesy Sydney McPherson

MUSIC

Love/Hate

In a male-dominated scene, several local women artists talked about what’s great and maybe not so great here.

BY JENNIFER BOVEE

When I told my husband what I was about to tackle for this article for our inaugural women’s issue, he said, “Jennifer, women hate being asked about being a woman.” He wasn’t trying to mansplain anything. He was simply offering his expert advice. Spicoli is, after all, a radio personality with over 20 years of experience interviewing musicians.

In general, and as a woman, I tend to agree, but for the purpose of putting together a piece for an issue specifically about women, would female musicians be up for it? I was at least willing to put myself out there and try to find out.

Women have been involved in music since the dawn of time, but like they tell the gentleman who, when asked where the women speakers were at the March on Washington in The Glorias, responds that Mahalia Jackson will be performing: Singing isn’t speaking. So, I’m glad to play a small part in lifting female voices to a higher level beyond the stage in a scene dominated by mostly straight, mostly white guys.

Question: As a woman in music, what do you love about your work? What do you hate? And if you don’t like the questions, why?

Because of her work over the past few years, Summer Dean feels that the future of women in music is going in the right direction. “I see more and more women getting good slots more often.” She doesn’t think that there are groups of industry people who intentionally avoid hiring women or playing their music. “That’s ridiculous, I think. It’s all about making money. They want whichever artist will sell tickets — a woman, a man, or whatever. There are fewer women in major roles only because of the concept of probability. Less to pick from means less on the roster.” Love: “I love that I work for myself and that the more I work, the better I get. Hard work is rewarded in this industry, even if it takes a lifetime. I love the camaraderie that goes with being on the road. If you poise yourself in the right way, a badass opportunity will come along.” Hate: Dean hates the overhead, the credit card debt, and the feeling of competition. “I also get frustrated and confused every time I try to navigate PROs, publishing, digital

By Blake Sexton

streaming rights, and sync/licensing, even though it’s a big goal to conquer.” As a woman: My gut told me that one or two artists I contacted would be less than thrilled with the womanly question. Dean does get weary of the as-a-woman questions but concedes, “Then again, I am one, so I will answer as honestly and gracefully as I can every time.” She uses her womanhood as a muse in many parts of her music career, like writing and branding. “I don’t ever want to get a job because I’m a woman but because I was the best one for the job.” For most of March, she is on the road, but once back in town, she will play a free show at The Rustic (3656 Howell St, Dallas, 214-730-0596) from 9:30pm to 11pm Fri, Mar 29.

Frontwoman Bethany Doolin of Generational Wealth doesn’t think gender really factors into her feelings about work, though she doesn’t mind talking about all of it. Love: There are some things she loves about being a woman in music. “I love exploring the female experience and what that means to me on a deeper level. I get to sing about things I’d never actually do. Some of my songs are essentially texts that got put in my Notes app so I could write them, get them out of my system, but never send them.” Now, she gets to scream-sing them at people. (Doolin says she has therapy to thank for “that lil’ exercise.”) Hate: “This one’s a tricky question because I don’t feel like my gender plays much of a role in the aspects of my work that I don’t care for,” but she does hate beginnings. “I think the thing I hate most is the beginning of anything: starting a song, getting a gig, or even getting into music in the first place.” She compares it to when couples first start dating. “You’re so over the talking stage, and you just want to skip to sitting on the couch, watching TV, and comfortably farting around each other. Looking back, you appreciate the time you got to know this person, but it’s

so hard when you’re in it. You want to skip steps crucial to building a solid relationship. That’s how I feel about my work. I can be so impatient, but I have to force myself to sit back and realize that things take time and a lot of hard work, but it’ll be so worth it in the end.” As a woman: Although they are all men and have completely different frames of reference, Doolin loves her Generational Wealth bandmates. Together, they jam out songs about “killing shitty boyfriends and telling that situationship to go fuck themselves.” She feels that her bandmates support her wholeheartedly and believe in the music. “They’re not turned off or intimidated by strong women, and I feel very lucky to have each and every one of them.” Generational Wealth has a few shows coming up: the Haltom Theater (5601 E Belknap St, Haltom City, 682-250-5678) on Thu; the Southside Spillover Fest at Tulips FTW (112 St. Louis Av, Fort Worth, 817-367-9798) on Sat, Mar 16; and at The Cicada (1002 S Main St, Fort Worth, @The_Cicada_FTW) on Wed, Mar 20, which is a new residency on the third Wednesday of every month.

DJ Soft Cherry, the moniker of Dominque Patton, is one of only a few female DJs in North Texas, and people are noticing. Having made our readers’ Top 5 list for Best DJ, she moved on to our Music Awards 2023 ballot and won that, too. She kept the answer to my question short and sweet. Only love: “I love being a female DJ to challenge the status quo. I feel like men are still shocked that girls DJ and actually do a pretty damn good job.” The Weekly isn’t the only media outlet to take notice. DJ Soft Cherry is performing at the inaugural Women of Influence Luncheon, in which local philanthropist Dr. Cheryl Polote Williamson, founder of Cheryl Magazine, honors women of color for National Women’s History Month. The event is at Gleneagles Country Club (5401 W Park Blvd, Plano, 972867-6666) 11:30am-2pm Fri, Mar 31. Tickets start at $100 on Eventbrite.com.

Like many women artists, Hilary Tipps started singing and performing at an early age at church and school, but she was also a member of the famed Texas Girls’ Choir. After attending UNT and Texas Wesleyan on performance scholarships, she embarked on a singing and stage career that took her across the globe. When she returned home, she met Steve Obermiller at a local music night, and they began performing as the folk duet Tipps & Obermiller. Love: Communing via music is continued on page 26

Country singer-songwriter Summer Dean is as outspoken in print as she is on wax.

Courtesy Summer Dean

Bethany Doolin loves exploring the female experience through her music and what that means on a deeper level.

Dominique Patton dee-jays under the moniker DJ Soft Cherry. The dog? DJ Soft Pup, of course.

Courtesy Dominique Patton

RIDGLEA THEATER

SAT 3/30 PALE PRO WRESTLING

SUN 3/31 REVIVAL TODAY CHURCH EASTER SERVICE

SAT 4/6 FIGHTING WORDS BOXING, MMA & MUAY THAI

SAT 4/27 CARVIN JONES SPECIAL 35TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW

RIDGLEA ROOM

SAT 3/9 CLASS ACT COMEDY TOUR

FRI 4/12 MR. TIMBERLAKE

RIDGLEA LOUNGE

THUR 3/7 THE DARLING SUNS W/ HUNTER COX & WRONGBIRD

FRI 3/15 BLACK SAND BAY DREADLAND, SMART FELLA & MORE!

Music

continued from page 25

where it’s at for Tipps. “There is a sweet spot where music transcends societal constructs, and we get to commune with this thing, and that is what I love.” Hate: Tipps feels that “hate” is too strong a word. “There are the challenges and magic, all tumbling around together like socks and shirts in the dryer. Particularly in music, though, when it is working, it is incredibly powerful.” As a woman: It is difficult for Tipps to speak as a woman in music because she feels she hasn’t walked in any other shoes. “Being ‘a woman in music’ is the same as being a woman in any business. Sometimes we are treated differently, and there seems to be less of us, but we are often intensely bonded and rooting for each other.” You can hear Tipps & Obermiller every first Wednesday of the month at The Cicada (1002 S Main St, Fort Worth, @The_Cicada_FTW) 8:30pm as part of a new residency with Rick Babb and Guthrie Kennard.

Amanda “Panda” Cuenca is no longer a member of the local alt-rock quartet Phantomelo, but she is still very active in the music scene and has strong opinions. Love: What she loves most about her work is that it gives her opportunities to empower other women to fully express themselves. “Seeing the smiles on young girls and women of all ages never gets old.” Hate: As for what she hates, it has nothing to do with gender biases in music and everything to do with women’s rights. “The thing I hate the most about my work is that I live in a state where rights to my body have been taken away. Absolutely unacceptable.” Agreed.

As somewhat of a newcomer to the local scene, Stacey Barefield, who does lead vocals and plays bass for Hazard County, feels that Fort Worth has welcomed her and

appreciates her talent without bias. Love: Barefield loves that the scene is full of musicians who work hard to see success in their own lives and careers and wish the same for their friends and acquaintances. “Everyone I’ve gotten to know over the past few years that I’ve been gigging has been so kind and willing to go out of their way to help other musicians find success, including sharing info about good venues, helping each other make important/profitable connections, and even passing gigs to other musicians if they’re unable to play themselves.” And she doesn’t feel that the community is genrebased or clique-y either. “You go to a local show, and you’ll see other artists there in the audience supporting their friends even if their musical styles are vastly different.”

Hate: While Barefield didn’t list anything in particular that she hates — about being a woman in a male-dominated scene or otherwise — she is a bit disheartened by the closing of so many venues. “With so many talented musicians in the area, I’d hate to see anyone lose the opportunity to play simply because there aren’t enough places that have live music.” As a woman: “I don’t know if I can say anything specific about how gender plays a role in my work as a musician in Fort Worth — and I mean that in a positive way!”

Hazard County will play College Night at Billy Bob’s Texas (2520 Rodeo Plaza, Fort Worth, 817-624-7117) 7pm Thu. Entry is free with a physical college ID.

R&B band 4 Ya Soul frontwoman Eva Rosja’ let us know what she loves and hates with no reference to gender whatsoever. This musical “squad” (as they call themselves) has 10 or more men and women onstage at any given time during shows. Based on what we saw when they accepted the Best R&B award at our 2023 Music Awards, this crew exudes happiness wherever they go. “Started from the bottom, now we here” is her statement about where they are as a group. Love: Rosja’ loves that she gets to connect with people through her music. “Give them feel-good music for their soul. With so much going on in this world, music is the one thing that unites all of us. To know my music made someone smile, saved someone, or touched someone is the greatest reward/benefit of my work.” Hate: While the word “hate” didn’t come up, she shared what she sees as the hardest part of working in a very hard industry. “Getting fairly paid and appreciated for the music is [the] hardest part of the journey. It’s a lot of work behind the scenes, and you wish that venues and promoters understood that.” However, her fans and supporters

By Bert Torres

have always kept her feeling uplifted. “They speak life into me and my career, and that’s why I can’t stop, won’t stop.” While based in Fort Worth, 4 Ya Soul is quite active all over North Texas. Their two March shows are at The Free Man (2626 Commerce St, Deep Ellum, 214-377-9893) 7pm Fri and Legends Bar & Grill (700 S Cockrell Hill Rd, Ste 100, Duncanville, 972-298-9991) 7pm Thu, Mar 28. Both shows have a $10 cover, but at Legends, ladies get in free until midnight.

While metal and punk are still very much male-dominated, strong women have carved out a place for themselves in those genres. Having the talent and work ethic to earn the ear of and train with legendary thrash guitarist Mike Scaccia of Rigor Mortis originally and Ministry later on, Stephenie “Blaise” Bauer confidently commands the stage as a member of punk outfit The Wee-Beasties and her metal band Maleficus. Did I mention she’s also a lawyer? Love: As a female guitarist, Bauer loves encouraging fellow women, young and old, to engage in music. “When I first started playing as a teenager, there weren’t many femme rockstars or guitarists, especially on the local level. Thankfully, this has changed dramatically throughout my time in music.” Hate: Working with men can have its drawbacks. “As magical as being a female in music can be, it is occasionally difficult when working with men who don’t value our skill or commitment to the art.” She finds that the vast majority of male players and fans are incredibly supportive but says there are a few she’s encountered over the years who have treated her like she can’t play or acted as if she is only successful due to her gender. Still, she says her encounters with disrespectful men have been limited and that they certainly do not speak for the whole. As a woman: Gender aside, Bauer finds music an incredibly therapeutic and rewarding way of life. “Once fully immersed, no other activity holds a candle to it.” l

Communing via music is where it’s at for Hilary Tipps.

Courtesy Tipps & Obermiller

While Amanda Cuenca is no longer a member of the local alt-rock quartet Phantomelo, she is still very active in the music scene and has strong opinions.

Courtesy Phantomelo

Even as somewhat of a newcomer, Stacey Barefield feels welcome on the scene.

Courtesy Hazard County

Eva Rosja’ loves that she gets to connect with people through her music.

Courtesy Eva Rosja’

Stephanie Bauer confidently commands the stage as a member of the punk outfit The Wee-Beasties and her metal band Maleficus.

The Women of the Lake Worth PD Have Your Six

By Elaine Wilder

During our quest to find content across every aspect of local life featuring women for this issue, we heard from J.T. Manoushagian, the Chief of Police at the Lake Worth Police Department (3805 Adam Grubb St, 817237-1224). He let us know that they employ women at a rate of twice the national average. Impressive.

“We have also prioritized the advancement of women in policing by supporting professional development. This has resulted in women being represented in nearly every level and specialty within our department,” says Manoushagian. This includes female officers working in the K-9, school resource, criminal investigations/task force, and patrol units in staff and supervisory positions.

Highlighting and honoring women in law enforcement is important and the benefits of hiring/retaining more women in policing have numerous benefits for the community. Having reviewed research conducted in the United States and internationally about the topic, Manoushagian finds six things to be true.

Six Benefits of Having Women in Law Enforcement

1.) Female officers are as competent as their male counterparts and even excel in certain areas of police performance.

2.) Female officers are less likely to use excessive force.

3.) Female officers are more likely to implement “community-oriented policing.”

4.) More female officers will improve law enforcement’s response to violence against women.

5.) Increasing the presence of female officers reduces problems of sex discrimination and harassment within law enforcement agencies.

6.) The presence of women can bring about beneficial changes in policy for all officers.

In the military, “Got your six” means “I’ve got your back.” The saying originated with World War I fighter pilots referencing a pilot’s rear as the six o’clock position. It is now a ubiquitous term that’s come to represent loyalty and cooperation. It sounds like female officers will definitely “have your six”!

As perhaps the most diverse police department in all of North Texas, Lake Worth PD is made up of people from many races, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, and backgrounds. “Our diversity is what gives us strength and an undeniable bond with our community.”

While positions are not available all the time, if you’re interested in joining the team, visit LakeWorthTX.org/Police-Department and click Police Hiring & Recruitment.

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Diversity in policing provides strength and an undeniable bond with the community.

Courtesy Lake Worth PD

Chief Manoushagian and friends at a recent Coffee-With-A-Cop event.

Courtesy Lake Worth PD

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