Holiday traditions stink

Mine did, but at least it’s mine

One of our family’s longstanding holiday traditions involved a food called lutefisk. It made its one and only annual appearance at the holiday meal the bigger the family gathering, the larger the pot of lutefisk.

It was our first scent of the holidays, because when we entered the host home, the overwhelming aroma of lutefisk literally seeped through the door.

I’m told that lutefisk is a Scandinavian “delicacy”. But what legitimate delicacy is soaked in lye, gives off a stench reminiscent of rancid meat, jiggles on the plate in the manner of a glob of greasy gelatin, and tastes like something I would never eat except under threat of death?

As far as I know, virtually every relative of mine, young and old, felt the same way about lutefisk — literally no one ate it. But there it was every holiday — in a boiling, hideously large pot right next to the turkey and ham.

Lutefisk was some now unremembered family member’s holiday tradition. And more than 40 years after it first entered my holiday consciousness, lutefisk remains there today as a “tradition” a tradition for all the wrong reasons, but still something I think about every holiday.

That kind of defies common sense, doesn’t it? A food I can’t stand is the most memorable holiday tradition of my youth, a memory that lingers fondly even today?

Of course, our family had other holiday traditions, too.

For example, my mom has a photographic memory for her holiday decorating layout, from precisely where the plastic Santa hangs on the wall to exactly where the intricate (for a thirdgrader) Crayon-colored holiday artwork is aligned on the kitchen cabinets. Even today, I can close my eyes, and tell you whether the Santa peeking from the wreath will be mounted to the left or right of Rudolph and his fellow reindeer.

Moving to current day, we always top our tree with a very juvenile rendition of an angel made from an overturned Dixie cup, rendered meaningful not because of its artistic value but because it was stapled and glued and penciled by one of our very own former juveniles. Same with a string of paper ornaments festooned with shimmering glitter and bearing the smiling face of another former juvenile, who also happens to be a favorite of ours.

And after the presents are opened and the recycling disposed, my wife creates the most majestic breakfast of the year, serving up a holiday-decorated table lined with over-frosted cinnamon rolls and milk and orange juice and fresh-baked butter biscuits and the pièce de résistance: a medley of scrambled eggs, cheese, sour cream, butter and spices so full of calories and fat that it would spin the heads of those people on TV’s “Biggest Loser”. distriBU tion p H/214.560.4203 ad V ertising p H/214.560.4203 advertising coordinator: JU dy liles

By way of continued quirky family tradition, I’ve never seen my wife more than nibble at the feast she spends hours creating, just as her mother did for her. And even though none of those foods are my favorites, it’s a holiday tradition of the highest family magnitude anyway.

This brings me to the neighborhood recipes offered up in our cover story this month; all are something of traditions to the people who originated them, and the story suggests they might become holiday traditions for your family or mine somewhere down the road.

But as it turns out, the odds of specifically setting out to create a tradition and having that well-crafted and laboriously planned idea actually become a lingering family memory are pretty slim.

Because that’s the way holidays go. We endlessly scheme to create traditions, and we cleverly channel our efforts into building them. But most of the time, what people remember is the lutefisk.

Fondly, though.

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It is wonderful to be able to now hear everyone speaking to me. I feel more in control of my life again. It is very hard to feel you are partly shut out of your world because you cannot hear. Never give up. We are in a great world and there are always new discoveries for you and for me.

Below are excerpts from a blog series by Advocate editor Keri Mitchell about changes to subsidized housing and how it could affect our neighborhood. To read her posts in full and to comment, visit and search: subsidized housing

DHA, NOT THE CITY, IS THE AUTHORITY

10.25.10 When the Dallas Housing Authority (DHA) announced plans to place permanent supportive housing units in various locations around the city, it didn’t sit well with some of the nearby residents. In Lake Highlands, neighbors took issue with Councilman Jerry Allen’s resigned approach.

But, as DHA CEO MaryAnn Russ explained at a recent meeting, neither Allen nor any councilman has the authority to determine where the DHA can and cannot place subsidized housing units. The DHA operates as an arm of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and “the city does not have sign-off on this process,” Russ says.

Can neighbors have any influence at all? Sure, and the Woodside Condominiums situation in Lake Highlands may be a good example of how. Neighbors raised concerns that the DHA was planning to place 20 formerly incarcerated individuals in Woodside Condominiums at Forest near Abrams, a location known for its high crime rate. When the DHA looked into the concerns, Dallas Police Department data showed that, indeed, the average crime rate right around Woodside was higher than in both the surrounding neighborhood and citywide, so those units were abandoned. For formerly incarcerated individuals — and also for the formerly homeless, who “often have a lot of mental health issues,” Russ says — the DHA is mindful that they “don’t need to encounter issues when they walk out their front door.”

A FAIRER RENT STRUCTURE

10.25.10 “In theory, families have freedom to go wherever they want. In reality, [HUD] came up with one fair market rent structure for the entire seven-county area” that the DHA serves, Russ said at the meeting. The current structure ends up “moderately sucky for people in Dallas County because the money doesn’t go far.”

Right now, roughly $860 a month for a twobedroom unit (HUD’s average size) is the ceiling of what families using Section 8 vouchers can afford. The amount is the same in Kaufman County as it is in Dallas County. When the new rent structure goes into effect in 2011, the formula will change, taking into account rates in 56 zip codes encompassed by the DHA, and families will be eligible for one of eight fair market payment standards that range from $621 a month in lower-end zip codes to $1,368 a month in higher-end zip codes. It will be a couple of years before we begin to see the effects of the new rent structure.

But does this mean we will begin to see subsidized housing spread evenly across the city?

“I don’t expect we’re going to get proposals from Highland Park,” Russ says. “I don’t expect we’re going to get proposals from Preston Hollow. But I do think we’re going to get a wider range than we have in the past.”

CAN IT BE SPREAD ACROSS DALLAS?

10.26.10 Lake Highlands residents voiced a number of arguments when opposing the DHA’s recent roll-out of 160 new permanent supportive housing units. But when the dust settled, their main argument was this: Spread subsidized housing throughout the city so that our neighborhood doesn’t have more than its share.

Thus the steps the DHA is taking to change its rent structure, and as the DHA seeks proposals for 350 more permanent supportive housing units (to be announced in December), it will give higher scores to zip codes with lower numbers of subsidized housing units.

Even so, Russ says she doesn’t think apartment complexes in more upscale neighborhoods become home to permanent supportive housing units. That’s because the complex needs two major things, Russ says: 1) a landlord who wants to participate; and 2) a service provider who has a track record with the identified group (such as Housing Crisis Center for the formerly homeless living in Trinity Palms in Lake Highlands). It’s not likely that a landlord with an attractive property would be interested in participating in the DHA’s permanent supportive housing program.

Similar problems face the new zip code rent structure. Even though residents who qualify for Section 8 vouchers will receive quite a bit more money for rent in high-end zip codes, they still face two major obstacles: 1) credit checks and 2) security deposits. For more expensive properties, the credit checks are stringent, and th security deposit can be as much as two months’ rent (and the government does not subsidize security deposits, Russ says). Not to mention that some neighborhoods simply have fewer rental properties. That’s why the DHA’s attempts at equalization will probably never quite result in equality.

350 MORE PERMANENT SUPPORTIVE HOUSING UNITS

10.27.10 At a recent city housing committee meeting, no city officials called on Russ to hold up or pull out of housing units, she says.

“It was all sweetness and light,” Russ quips. The reason? Through permanent supportive housing efforts, both this spring and those that will be announced in December, the DHA is providing homes for 500-plus individuals and families who are formerly incarcerated or homeless. “Everybody realized we have bailed their butts out,” Russ said. “If we didn’t do this, the city would have to, and in this fiscal year, that’s a big deal.”

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Lake Highlands High’s incredible football season ended Nov. 13, but the players, coaches, fans, drill team, cheerleaders and band showed fierce Wildcat spirit during each matchup. Visit lakehighlands. advocatemag.com/video-gallery to watch game highlights and player profiles from throughout the season.

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