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LAKE HIGHLANDS ADVOCATE VOL. 32 NO. 11
PROFILE
8 Neighbor Luis Arturo Tapia’s latest film
DINING
12 Future of dining
FEATURES
10 World-class mascot
14 Sixty years at the Dutch Art Gallery
18 Ageless art
22 The Lake Highlands School of Music
The Lake Highlands School of Music utilizes specialized software to allow production students to record and monitor music from their laptops. Read more on page 22. Photography by Lauren Allen.
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Keller’s Hamburgers sign on Northwest Highway. Photography by Lauren Allen.
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One BUFFALO
Two BUFFALO
A Lake Highlands neighbor’s film follows a herd of water buffalo & their champion
Story by AUSTIN WOOD
Photography by JESSICA TURNER
Cunning Boy. Jai Gou. Ngau Ngau. Big Head Boy. Young Joe. Amy.
When Lake Highlands neighbor and filmmaker Luis Arturo Tapia first arrived on Lantau Island in 2019, these names didn’t mean much to him. Close to seven years later, he knows their favorite foods, pet peeves and individual eccentricities.
They’re part of a herd of water buffalo on Lantau, the largest of Hong Kong’s 263 islands. Hong Kong, one of the most densely populated places on the planet, has long suffered from housing shortages, with an August report from the Hong Kong Housing Authority revealing an average wait for public housing of 5.4 years.
It’s against this backdrop Tapia shoots his latest project, a documentary film entitled Mother of Buffalo . As demand for land and housing soars, development has crept into Lantau Island, threatening the herd’s home. The film follows the buffalo and their guardian, Jean Leung, a local property owner who has become an unyielding champion in a fight against encroachment.
Tapia, 46, was born in Mexico City to a Mexican father and a Texan mother. When he was 5 years old, the family moved back to his mother’s hometown of Dallas, where he went on to attend the Greenhill School for most of his education. Film was already an interest, with Tapia remembering a mockumentary he made as a senior project as his first experience with an audience.
moving back to the United States in 2022, Tapia has lived in Lake Highlands with his wife, Xiaoli, and three children.
Tapia was recently awarded the North Texas Pioneer Award by the Austin Film Society to finish shooting Mother of Buffalo To learn more about the film and what the grant means for him, we sat down with Tapia. Here’s what he had to say.
YOU MOVED TO LANTAU IN 2020. HOW DID YOU COME ACROSS THE BUFFALO?
They’re treasured members of the community. They’re really unique, but there was this one lady who looked after them. She decided that she wanted to look after them and I kept seeing her. I would see her sometimes on the beach, sometimes on the side of a mountain
the more time I spent with her, and as I started to try to understand where the buffalo came from, and kind of what their situation is now, I really felt that it was a really deep story there. Not just the site, of course, the beautiful story of this fascinating woman, her connection to these animals, but also to understand they’re threatened. Their habitat is disappearing. There’s the potential for massive transformation of that island. They’re directly in the crosshairs of that.
DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’VE LEARNED ANYTHING FROM THE LAST FIVE YEARS?
More than anything, I just fell in love with her and the animals. It taught me a lot. I went from fearing them to loving them. I just saw them in a totally different light, in the sense that I saw them as these kind of anonymous, beautiful creatures. But they’re alive like us and they have personalities. They each have favorite foods, and so that was like, “Wow. I have to tell that.” And to watch her care for them every day. She’s in her 70s, and she does this every single day, and it’s really hard. She doesn’t do it for money.
HOW IMPORTANT IS A GRANT LIKE THIS FOR YOU?
However, he didn’t see it as a career early on. While completing a degree in East Asian Studies at Princeton University, Tapia interned for a financial firm in Shanghai and a mission specializing in migrant worker outreach in Taiwan. After graduating, he moved to Shanghai and taught English for a while before consulting for industrial firms around China. Filmmaking had remained an interest, so Tapia wrote a script based on his experiences. He eventually used that script to launch a career in filmmaking in China that has seen him shoot corporate campaigns for Alibaba, the NBA, Disney, Toyota and Yves Saint Laurent.
He called Shanghai home for 17 years before moving to Hong Kong in 2019. Since
or in the wetland, always surrounded by these buffalo. And I was like, “Who is this lady?” It’s incredible. It’s like, I can’t help myself. Literally, on one jog as I was going up the hill to my house, I almost ran into her. And so I was like, “OK, the universe is really talking to me. I gotta say something.” So I said, “I’m sorry. I’ve seen you around. Would you mind if I follow you around with a camera for a day or two?” And she thought I was a real weirdo. But she’s like, “Yeah, OK, no problem,” and really friendly.
WHEN DID YOU REALIZE YOU HAD A STORY?
The next day, I’m in the car with her, seeing what she’s doing. I thought maybe I’d film her for a couple days, I’d have some interesting footage and I’d cut it together as a little personal two-minute video. But then
It’s huge. It’s so hard to do independent film and it’s hard to have the money and time. I put so much time into this. I’m honored by the recognition. It’s an incredible group of filmmakers. Richard Linklater started the Austin Film Study. There’s another guy that’s an absolute hero of mine. It’s nice to be seen.
WHAT DO YOU WANT AUDIENCES TO TAKE AWAY?
I just hope they see the beautiful thing that I saw. Yeah, that’s it. It’s really that simple. And I hope that just because I learned something, I hope that they learned something new and interesting. It’s that simple something: learn something new and interesting . This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Photo courtesy of Luis Arturo Tapia.
Forest Lane Academy AP
Rebecca Herrera scored a win for the school
Story by AUSTIN WOOD | Photography by AMANI SODIQ
What’s yellow, has golden eyes, sharp teeth and spotted fur? A Forest Lane Academy Jaguar, of course.
Until this fall, nobody had ever seen the Forest Lane Academy Jaguar. That all changed when a six-foot-tall Jaguar arrived on campus for the first day of school this year.
Assistant Principal Rebecca Herrera has been with Richardson ISD for 12 years and Forest Lane Academy for eight. The Title I school had 625 students in the 2024-25 school year according to Texas Education Agency PEIMS reports, with 593 economically disadvantaged and 199 listed as emergent bilingual.
For students oftentimes dealing with uncertainties outside the classroom, teacher-led efforts to make sure even the little things are there can often make a big impact, she says.
“We have a high number of students who are either transient or without housing, and that’s something where a lot of times, we’re having to figure out, even though that is the situation that they’re in, how can they feel safe and comfortable and ready to learn when they’re entering our campus,” Herrera says.
PTA. Instead, teachers take over fundraising and event planning for the school. As a result, FLA staff can have trouble going beyond the basics for their students. So, to help create that “world-class” experience for the school, Herrera launched a GoFundMe in June seeking to raise $570 for a new mascot suit.
Herrera says she expected the fund raiser to be a “dud.” However, in less than three days, the campaign met its fundrais ing goal and she was able to order the suit.
“One of my teachers posted it, but then I eventually got a screenshot where a community member had posted it to some type of community page, saying, ‘Hey, we should really try to make this happen for this campus,’” Herrera says. “And I don’t know who that person was, but they posted it, and within a couple of hours, it was fully funded to the point where I had to close it off so that we weren’t getting more money than we ac tually needed.”
The mascot was present for the first day of school, and Herrera says students received it warmly. A name is still under consideration, with “Jag” and “Jaggy” both in contention.
Herrera is originally from Dallas and graduated from Bishop Dunn High School. Her father was also a teacher, and she had plenty of experience with going above and beyond as an educator from an early age.
Herrera lives by the three Es: Equity, Empowerment and Excellence. Those three words exemplify the “world-class experience” Herrera says each Forest Lane student deserves.
The school doesn’t have a parent-run
“I feel like we’ve talked about it for a couple of years of wanting to have a mascot, and this summer, and just as we were talking as a staff, we were really wanting to be intentional about creating just experiences for our kids, one that maybe they don’t have elsewhere, but two, just an experience that helps them feel prideful and joyful when they are in the building.”
“Some of my earliest memories are with just being in his classroom, helping him to be able to set it up, but also just the care that he had towards his students. I remember when it was Christmastime, we would put winter presents together for them, or if we were out at a store, he was going through the dollar section and getting little pocket dictionaries for them.”
America’s Best Contacts & Eyeglasses
Applebee’s
BackMenders Chiropractic with Care
Bliss Nail Salon
Christian Science Reading Room
CVS
Down to Play
Ingram’s Donuts
Kohl’s
Mattress Firm
Medallion Barbers
Milan Laser
Planet Fitness
Pet Supplies Plus
RDA Pro-Mart Beauty Supply
Salata
Satya Yoga
Scrubs & Beyond
Smiley Dental
Subway
Summit Salon Studios
Supercuts
Target
The Skin and Body Co.
Unrefined Bakery
Yardstick
7-11
future the isnow
Lake Highlands is trying to figure out what tomorrow’s dining scene looks like
Story by AUSTIN WOOD
The renaissance of Lake Highlands’ dining scene in the 2010s and 2020s likely hasn’t come as a surprise to those paying attention to what is happening in the neighborhood.
It’s easy to view the opening of restaurants like Resident Taqueria, Cedar & Vine and Goldie’s for what they were: major victories for a once-meager neighborhood dining scene where fast food chains have long dominated and options were historically limited.
But they weren’t one-offs. They were symptoms of a wider narrative.
Lake Highlands is first and foremost a residential neighborhood. What passersby saw taking place from Walnut Hill, Audelia and Northwest Highway wasn’t happening in a vacuum – the rebirth was a product of the growth taking place on quiet neighborhood streets like Ferndale, Whitehurst and Church.
The secret got out as the market thawed in the mid2010s. Lake Highlands, touting Richardson ISD schools and a small-town feel in a big city, became a target destination for young families looking for a safe yet still affordable neighborhood.
And as demand rose, so did home values. In 2010, the average home value in ZIP code 75231 was $105,976. By 2020, that sticker price more than doubled to $214,826, according to a report by the Dallas Business Journal
“Lake Highlands was really built for families in many ways; the schools are kind of tucked into the neighborhoods, and there’s parks,” says Kathy Stewart, District 10 council member. “It’s just geared for families.”
Developers and neighborhood leaders looked to build additional housing as the decade progressed in response
to the frenzy. Nearly half of Lake Highlands Plaza was transformed into a single-family development beginning in 2011. On Skillman Street, residential growth stimulated mixed-use development as the Lake Highlands Town Center finally got off the ground with the opening of the Haven and The Lookout in 2014 and 2018, respectively.
In 2017, SHOP Companies bought and began substantially renovating Lakeridge Center, which had grown more attractive with the downsizing of Lake Highlands Plaza.
“What (CPC Commissioner Tipton Housewright) did was shrink the retail on the southwest corner, which I think that’s what Bill Blaydes was going for, because then that opened up the opportunity for the southeast corner to be a bigger, more successful retail center,” Stewart says.
The pieces were in place. Residential growth had led commercial real estate to become attractive in Lake Highlands again. In newly refreshed Lake Highlands Plaza, locally-owned concepts like Resident Taqueria and Cedar & Vine, which opened amid the real estate boom, were flourishing in response to the neighborhood’s evolving demographics and taste.
RIDING A WAVE OF MOMENTUM
The 2010s showed Lake Highlands could support an independent and robust dining scene. The 2020s, so far, have shown the neighborhood is ready for more.
Vector Brewing owner Craig Bradley says the redevelopment of Lakeridge Village, along with the tide of change ushered in by Andrew Savoie’s opening of Resident Taqueria and the need for a neighborhood watering hole,
led him to open Vector Brewing with his wife Veronica.
He, like many Lake Highlands residents, wants to see more of the same in coming years.
“I would love to see more of what we’re trending on. I think there needs to be a lot more locations that are focusing on quality and focusing on uniqueness, focusing on things that bring the best about the dining scene.”
For a relatively newer yet growingly robust dining scene where concepts often open within a mile or less of each other, there’s a surprising lack of competitiveness among restaurant owners in Lake Highlands. They each fill different niches. They each market themselves to different price points.
And yet, they have the same goal.
“I think a rising tide lifts all ships in Lake Highlands,” Bradley says. “(We’re) giving people options. No one has to be the one place that everyone goes. I love sending business to all of our neighbors.”
With the opening of one such neighbor, Goldie’s, in 2024, residents gained yet another spot for candlelit, sit-down dinners accompanied by imported Bordeaux — a thought that would have stretched belief barely 10 years before. That kind of polished experience has historically required Lake Highlands neighbors to drive to Lakewood or Preston Hollow.
“We don’t have to drive Downtown, we can just have a good meal right in our neighborhood,” Clayton says.
“(I’d like) some more eclectic choices,” Perry says. “I’d like to see a little more contrast, selection. But I love it.”
TO GROW OR NOT TO GROW?
The success of both Goldie’s and Cedar & Vine demonstrated a clear market for curated cocktail programs and elevated date night fare in Lake Highlands. And while some may clamor for additional higher-end or even fine dining concepts, others aren’t so sure it’s a direction Lake Highlands can sustain.
Goodwins chef-owner Jeff Bekavac has lived in Lake Highlands since 2010. For him, while the neighborhood has shown an appetite for concepts like Goldie’s, Lake Highlands is still Lake Highlands.
“People want nicer places all the time,” Bekavac says. “It’s hard if you’re running around a bunch early in the week (with kids) and you don’t have time to go sit down and do a two-hour meal. It’s hard to open those places, and it’s hard to support those places sometimes. But I think that there’s a lot of people in Lake Highlands that want more, and I think they want more of everything.”
For all the talk of growth, the fundamental blueprint of the neighborhood remains mostly unchanged from the time the L Streets were developed and Northlake Center first opened in the late ’50s and early ’60s. It’s still the same sprawling, suburban-esque area made up of a patchwork of subdivisions built around Richardson ISD schools. Lunch and grocery trips remain centered around a collection of relatively small, decidedly automobile-forward shopping centers.
It’s not Lower Greenville, it’s not Deep Ellum, it’s not Uptown — and won’t be for the foreseeable future.
That’s part of the reason why Resident Taqueria’s Andrew Savoie isn’t so sure further growth is or should be a continuing theme of the dining scene in Lake Highlands.
“We’re not a street where you can walk down to and shop through different stores. And we’re all driving,” he says. “The future of Lake Highlands is what we see now, I think.”
The idea that room for development in Lake Highlands, both commercial and residential, is scarce is not a new one. It’s certainly not a surprise to anyone who’s taken a look at the last few years’ Richardson ISD demographic reports, which cite a lack of room for new single or multifamily development, compounded by a decline in birthrates seen nationwide, as a leading factor fueling the district’s declining enrollment.
“We’re super limited in space,” Savoie says. “So really, it’s about supporting the businesses that are here right now. I don’t know if it’s about more. I don’t think that we need more … We don’t want to oversaturate this market, because then it doesn’t make much sense.”
Another factor which will play a large part in shaping the future of dining in Lake Highlands is an omnipresent issue throughout the city: rent prices. Proprietors’ preference for oversized floor plans, rising real estate prices, outside investment, and competition from financially well-backed restaurant groups have driven longtime concepts from many corners of the city.
In May, Midway Hollow institution Fernando’s Mexican Cuisine closed after being unable to reach a rent agreement. Suze, also in the same shopping center as Fernando’s, threw in the towel in June after 24 years as chef-owner Gilbert Garza told The Dallas Morning News he was “handing over the keys to one of Dallas’s most talked about and exciting groups.”
“I definitely don’t want to see more chains coming in,” Bradley says. “Nothing will kill this scene more than having rent going up, and then no one can afford rent other than large chains.”
FUTURE
What will the future look like for Lake Highlands’ dining scene? Over 70 years after the development of the first subdivisions in the neighborhood, fast food chains maintain an oversized presence in Lake Highlands, and despite all the progress over the past two decades, the area still lags behind neighboring districts in its independent dining offering.
However, neighbors have clearly demonstrated an appetite and appreciation for varied, chef-driven independent concepts. Chefs, so far, have also shown less apprehension toward taking risks in what is still widely viewed on the outside as a sleepier suburban neighborhood.
In the end, a large part of the answer has and always will lie within what’s happening in our residential neighborhoods and their relationship to development in Lake Highlands.
Much like going out to eat in the area, residential real estate has gotten decently expensive in most of Lake Highlands and now caters to a different type of customer. From 2017 to 2024, the average home value in ZIP code 75238 rose from close to $370,000 to nearly $600,000 as million-dollar valuations became more and more common in neighborhoods like the L Streets and White Rock Valley.
How long can Lake Highlands remain an attractive option for young families with average home values beginning to stretch well past the half-million dollar mark? How much housing can developers build to alleviate demand? Does mixed-use development have a large part to play? Will the neighborhood retain its “small town feel in a big city” as the area begins to ascend in a direction decidedly upper-class?
Similar questions face the neighborhood’s dining scene. Can too much growth oversaturate the area and lead to a spree of shutterings? Where will new restaurants go? Can new arrivals and longtimers truly support more concepts? Will deep-pocketed hospitality groups rear their head anytime soon and skyrocket rent for homegrown concepts?
Solutions for both, it seems, may lie in finding creative uses for real estate on the northern side of the neighborhood. A decent amount of subdivisions bounding Royal Lane still boast single-family properties for relatively affordable prices. And who’s to say renovations or redevelopment near important Royal intersections at Skillman Street and Abrams Road couldn’t attract locally-owned concepts as the SHOP renovation of Lakeridge Center did in the 2010s?
Much like its past, the future of Lake Highlands’ dining scene is likely tied as much, if not more, to home values and inventive mixed-use development as it is to inspired chefs and gourmand neighbors.
This is the final installment of a three-part series exploring the evolution of dining in the neighborhood. Check our website for more.
Vector Brewing
Resident Taqueria
Goldie’s
Cedar & Vine
Photography from Advocate Archive
HOW TO FRAME THE PAST?
The Dutch Art Gallery celebrates 60 years
Story by AUSTIN WOOD | Photography by YUVIE STYLES
At the Dutch Art Gallery, it’s not rare for memories to become encased underneath a pane of glass.
In addition to its large, curated collection of original artwork, the gallery specializes in custom framing. Mementos are a specialty for staff, who have preserved Air Force caps, a Native American ceremonial pipe, football jerseys, service medals, Civil War-era Colt pistols and even some delicate glass Christmas ornaments from the 1930s inside shadowbox containers.
Overseeing the framing operation is Nick Massar, the Dutch Art Gallery’s “Framing Guru.” It’s fitting that he oversees such a nostalgic aspect of the business.
After all, it was his grandparents who first opened the store 60 years ago.
Ben and Ann Massar owned a grocery store selling fresh fruits and vegetables in Delft, the Netherlands in the ’40s and ’50s. In the ’60s, Ben and Ann moved their family — consisting of 9-year-old Hans, Nick’s father, and his twin brother — to live in Dallas-Fort Worth after visiting relatives living in Garland. The former grocer, apparently, didn’t have too much of a problem trading paper bags for stretched canvas.
“In Holland, he fed everybody that needed food,” Hans says. “And here, he wanted them to enjoy life.”
In 1965, the same year the Massars moved to North Texas, Ben opened up the original Dutch Art Gallery near White Rock Lake. A year later, he moved the business to its current 7,000-square-foot location in Northlake Center.
The Dutch Art Gallery’s name was originally a bit more than just an ode to the background of its owners. While newer collections tend to feature bluebonnets over tulips and mesas over windmills, Ben Massar first stocked his store with artwork bought directly from Dutch painters, a form of patronage which his family furthers through exhibitions and shows featuring individual artists.
“He wanted to build up the prestige of the artist,” Hans says. “This was a great place for them to support the community.”
Over the years, the Dutch Art Gallery expanded to three additional locations across Dallas, including a storefront in the Adolphus Hotel. The satellite locations eventually closed in the 2000s as a result of economic strain, leaving the Northlake Center location, filled with decades of Massar family memories, as the lone remaining Dutch Art Gallery.
Ben and Anna died in 2000 and 2010, respectively. Before they stepped away from the business, they handed the gallery off to Hans’ wife, Pam Massar.
“It was a complete honor when my mother-and father-in-law came to me and asked if I would be interested in doing it,” Pam says. “It was, in a way, kind of scary at first. The customers were so used to working with my mother-and father-in-law, and I just dug in there and tried to learn as much as I could.”
In her role, Pam manages day-to-day operations, oversees the gallery’s collection of over 10,000 prints, consults with artists and guides buyers in their search for a conversation-starting mantle piece. Original works make up about 98% of the collection found on the gallery floor and are often sourced from Southwestern states like Texas, Arizona and California.
Many of the artists represented in the gallery are found after submitting their work to the Massars for consideration in their two annual juried art shows, while others find their way to the floor through solo exhibitions. Most are commercially established artists. Some, however, sell their first paintings at Dutch Art Gallery shows.
“I just love representing our local artists,” Pam says. “I really do, and especially in this area as well, our working relationship with our artists is very, I think, top notch.”
She says the collection has trended more toward original and modern art in recent years to reflect younger clients’ changing tastes.
Art may take center stage up front, but a speciality for the business lies in custom framing for flat prints and paintings, in addition to mementos inside shadowbox containers made of various materials. Never heard of a shadowbox container? It’s essentially a frame of varying thickness, depending on the object, with a single clear display pane up front. After enough threadwork and container design, objects can appear suspended within the frame.
“(Nick) has an engineering mind,” Hans says.
One notable job, Pam remembers, came when a grandmother decided to frame two baptismal gowns she made for her grandchildren with fabric from her wedding dress. It was easy enough to remove the girls’ gown for the third grandchild, she says.
No. 4 and 5? A little more threadwork.
“Then the little boy outfit came in, and I said, ‘Oh, you’re having another baby grandson.’ She goes, ‘Twins,’” she laughs. “So she had to get her gown, the scraps of her gown, and have the seamstress make another little outfit.”
The Dutch Art Gallery will celebrate 60 years in Lake Highlands this November with a special anniversary celebration and show. Hans says he is looking to the future and would like to further expand while keeping it a family business.
It must be hard to look forward, however, in a space filled with so many memories. He fondly recalls his little brother growing up in a playpen in the back of the store and seeing the care with which his parents grew the gallery. His wife and son both have plenty of warm memories of their own by now.
The gallery has one row of windows toward the front. Through them, passersby can look through 60 years of Massar family history mixed in among the statuettes and landscapes.
It’s become their shadowbox.
“My parents would be very proud of what we’ve done with the business,” Hans says in a voice cracking with emotion. “And I have to thank Pam for that, since she’s just taken it, she has a passion for this.”
paint + purpose
There’s a group of late-career artists finding purpose at CC Young Senior Living
Story by AUSTIN WOOD
i“’ve got to think of something for next year,” 100-year-old Anita Hullum says as she sits in a wheelchair.
Hullum is a resident at the community and the oldest entrant in the CC Young Spirit is Ageless Art and Writing Contest. And even though she’s won awards for both writing and art in several categories over her 14 years participating in the contest, she’s not tied to any one medium. Hullum is looking for her next challenge.
“It has to be something different, because I’m not an artist; it has to be something kind of different and fun.”
Her life reads like a page-turning semi-fiction novel on life in North Texas in the 20th century. Born in rural East Texas, Hullum has ranched, married an oilman, worked in a high-profile finance office in Oak Cliff Tower and even went back to finish a master’s degree in counseling from Southern Methodist University at the age of 54. Through it all, she’s kept busy — especially
in later years. In 2018, Hullum’s potting work was featured in a photography series entitled “The Passions Project,” which documented older people’s late life hobbies and interests.
This year, she attended a workshop at CC Young and decided to enter a necklace made of Palmer clay beads and flowers in the contest’s hard crafts & sculpture category. With past projects including pottery, prose and sculpture, each year brings Hullum a fresh and novel opportunity to express herself.
“I have some friends that are very social in their life,” she says. “That’s what it’s about, tennis, swimming and golf and the bridge, and I have nothing against those things. But to me, I’m a people person, and I like working and doing for people, and this is a place I can continue that.”
And even though she may not consider herself an artist or writer, she’s still got her eyes on the ribbons.
“Does a cat got a jam? Yeah, of course, I’m
afraid I’m very competitive,” she jokes in a gentle Willis Point lilt.
Hullum joined 125 other entrants in the Spirit is Ageless Contest this year. While it originally began as a homegrown arts and writing competition sponsored by local Methodist churches, the contest has grown to include 14 categories spanning everything from Van Gogh-style painting to poetry since coming under CC Young’s umbrella.
Resident and Community Engagement
Director Brian Parman oversees The Point, CC Young’s senior enrichment center which he likens to a “college student union for seniors.” At The Point, Parman organizes guest lectures with speakers from local universities, pie baking contests and performances by jazz ensembles for residents and non-resident members. He’s worked at CC Young for 10 years but says he’s still surprised by what entrants submit for the contest.
Anita Hullum won the Ageless Creativity Award for her entry this year.
Guest speaker Alise Cortez is an organizational psychologist and host of the Working on Purpose podcast.
“It’s fun during art intake. We, as organizers, don’t ever really know what we’re getting until it shows up,” Parman says. “We’ve gotten a little bit more sophisticated with online registration, so we have an idea of who’s maybe coming.”
Nonresidents aged 55 and up are able to submit one piece of work for free, with a small fee added for additional entries. The Point regularly hosts local artists like 74-year-old nonresident Elaine Jary for monthly solo exhibitions. After Parman saw her paintings on display at the Continental Gin Building, Jary was invited to feature a collection of watercolors. She has participated in every contest since, and says she has no plans to stop anytime soon.
“I don’t feel 74 and yet, I have over 50 years of experience as an adult, lots of memories, right? I do not want to slow down,” she says. “I want to stay active and I want to keep learning. Somebody told me one time, ‘People of above average intelligence keep learning their entire life.’”
Winners like resident Walt Davis, who won third place in the watercolor painting category for his painting of a lighthouse on the Washington State Coast, are selected by a panel of judges. At 82, he says he’s drawing further inspiration from his idols to keep pushing.
“(I’ll paint) as long as I can. As long as I feel like it’s credible work that other people will enjoy. I’ll keep doing it, and I might keep sketching till the very end,” Davis says. “I’m inspired by Matisse. When he was bedridden, he got a cane pole and a piece of chalk and threw it on the ceiling.”
Each competition concludes with a reception recognizing ribbon winners like Davis. This year, for the show’s 25th anniversary, an opening reception was added to the lineup at The Point featuring guest speaker Alise Cortez, an organizational psychologist and host of the Working on Purpose podcast. She has published five books dealing with organizational culture, leadership and grief. The five books, all of which touch on purpose in some way, were each published after Cortez turned 55 years old.
She lists one of her main influences as Viktor Frankel, an Austrian psychologist and Holocaust survivor who pioneered the school of logotherapy, which considers man’s search for meaning a central driver in the human experience. For her, that search for purpose is embodied in the contest.
“All of that is empowerment,” Cortez says. “It’s human agency, it’s mindset, it’s choice, and I can work with that all day long. So aging is a mindset. And so if you choose to say, ‘I’m old, I can’t get around,’ guess what? You’re old and you can’t get around. If you choose to say, ‘I’m going to live my best year yet,’ that’s what’s going to happen.”
Cortez likely has a supporter in centenarian Hullum. Mixed in among Neiman Marcus shopping sprees and lunches in New York, Hullum lost her fortune and marriage. Her husband slid further and further into alcoholism as bad investments piled up, causing Hullum herself to begin drinking heavily following her divorce.
And yet, Hullum still says she’s lived a blessed life. After her sister finally found her a rehabilitation program that stuck, Hullum set out on the path that led her to SMU and, eventually, a final career late in life as as counselor for individuals much like herself. She retired at the age of 80 but still stays busy. She’s still living a life of meaning.
“Without a purpose, what’s life about? And if you can’t help people or let God work through you, you’re not not doing much,” Hullum says. “It’s a pretty dull old life.”
AC & HEAT
WHERE CAN I FIND LOCAL ...?
CONCRETE, MASONRY & PAVING
ALEXANDER HOME REPAIR. AC/HEAT Repair & Install. LIC#28052 469-226-9642
JOHNSON PAVING Concrete, Asphalt, Driveways. New or Repair. 214-827-1530
Relax ...We’ll Clean Your House, It Will Be Your Favorite Day! Bonded & Insurance. Free Estimates. 214-929-8413. www. altogetherclean.net
WANTED HOUSES TO CLEAN. Organize, De-clutter, pack +more. Dependable, Thorough,Honest, Great Refs,15yrs.Exp. Sunny 972-487-6599 / 214-724-2555
WINDOW CLEANING POWER WASHING
No Job To Small. 30 Yrs exp. Lwood resd. 214-360-0120
COMPUTERS & ELECTRONICS
CONFUSED? FRUSTRATED? Let a seasoned pro be the interface between you & that pesky Windows computer. Hardware/Software Installation, Troubleshooting, Training. $100/hr. 1 hr min. Dan 972-639-6413 / stykidan@sbcglobal.net
NEED HELP WITH YOUR COMPUTER, Smartphone or Smart Home? My Tech Guy Harvey. 214-770-2598. hmccall@mtgharvey.com.
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ADVANCE STONE ART CREATIONS
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WALTON’S GARDEN CENTER
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ESTATE HOME NEEDS TO BE SOLD? FACING FORCLOSURE? IG HERON HOMES Call Ricardo Garza @ 469-426-7839
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WATER DAMAGE
cleanup & restoration: A small amount of water can lead to major damage and mold growth in your home. Our trusted professionals do complete repairs to protect your family and your home's value! Call 24/7: 1-888-872-2809
TUTOR/LESSONS
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building a band
The Lake Highlands School of Music performance program brings young musicians together on the stage
Story by AUSTIN WOOD
Photography by LAUREN ALLEN
THE LAKE HIGHLANDS SCHOOL OF MUSIC is not to be confused with the Lake Highlands School of Rock. But that doesn’t mean it can’t bring the bands together.
LHSM owner and neighborhood native Zach Galindo spent much of his 20s touring as a guitarist for various bands following his graduation from the University of North Texas. After growing tired of life on the road, he switched over to teaching private guitar, piano and voice lessons for up to 50 students at a time.
He eventually hired his first employee in 2015 to help with the workload, giving rise to what would become the Lake Highlands School of Music. With a staff of 30 these days, the school has settled into a 10-room studio at the Creekside Shopping Center. It offers piano, guitar, voice, production, drum, ukulele and violin lessons, in addition to audition preparation, for its close to 300 students.
Galindo, perhaps, is most proud of the school’s performance program. With 50 students split among eight bands, he’s helped young musicians create memories of their own on the stage.
“Playing in a band was one of the most amazing experiences for me. It was completely life changing, just like the most potent experience of my life, getting to bring music to life,” Galindo says. “So for me, that’s always been something that I’ve wanted to offer to kids that are interested in that.”
The band members are mostly recruited from among the school’s current students, although there are open auditions. Musicians in the program typically range in age from 10 to 18 years old. They are grouped by age and skill level, with program director Joe James organizing the talent into punk, rock and pop bands.
“We’re fine tuning a little more,” he says. “I try to, if I can, pair based on taste. If I’ve got one kid that’s showing up wearing Slayer shirts, I’m going to try to put him in the band with the other kid that’s wearing Slipknot then.”
James, who writes and produces soul music when away from the school, took over the program two years ago following the departure of its previous director.
He says there are occasions when bands might not agree on everything, but the music normally brings everyone back together.
“Sometimes it’s not so great, sometimes it’s just fine,” James says. “I have groups that fight, groups that fall out. It’s like any working environment. But most of the time, the kids can find some commonality. I think a big part of that is curating music that everybody can find something in. Because no one’s going to be happy with everything. It’s a group full of 13-year-old kids.”
A venue he and Galindo recently got his bands into was the performance stage at Oktoberfest Dallas. On Sept. 27, almost all of the bands jammed out on Flag Pole Hill for Lake Highlands neighbors.
One of the bands who played at Oktoberfest has spent the majority of their time in the program with him — the first such group he’s had. Seeing them perform was a moment that put things into perspective, he says.
“Two of them worked with (the previous director) in the past, but they were pretty young. So this is the first advanced group I’ve had. They have a very special place in my heart. We’ve grown together. We have fought. I have lectured them often, maybe a little too much. And anyway, (that) Saturday, they really just trusted me. It felt really good. It kind of reminded me why I’m here.”
At the Lake Highlands YMCA, our Winter Youth Sports Leagues are about more than just the score, they’re about teamwork, confidence, and community. From basketball and volleyball to skill-based clinics, there’s something for every young athlete. With leagues and clinics designed for ages Pre-K through 8th grade, kids can sharpen their skills and stay active all season long in a supportive environment. Registration is open now, don’t miss your chance to be part of the action this winter!
Water safety is essential year-round, and our Winter Swim Lessons help children of all ages build confidence and develop strong swimming skills. Whether your child is just starting out or ready to refine their technique, our certified instructors provide personalized guidance every step of the way. With morning, evening, and Saturday lessons available, it’s easy to fit swimming into your family’s busy fall schedule—so your child can dive into safety and fun this season!
We worked with Bart during one of the hottest housing markets in recent history. Bart stuck with us through several offer cycles, and each new house he found was better than the last. His background in architecture and construction is a huge plus. He always has a flashlight in the car and is ready to crawl down below a house. You won’t be disappointed with his skills and work ethic. Thanks Bart for everything!
SAVE THE DATE! HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE & STOREWIDE SALE!
Come catch the Holiday Spirit at our Open House, Tuesday evening, Dec. 2nd, from 6-9. Enjoy “Holiday Sips & Snacks” while shopping our Storewide Sale of the Season! Come meet many of our great dealers who will be on hand to help you! Happiest of Holidays to all of you from all of us!
