2021 November Oak Cliff Advocate

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contents NOVEMBER 2021 VOL.15 NO.11

6 LIFE & DEATH Manuel Pecina’s modern portraits of Mayan gods 10 DOWN TO THE STUDS Inside an understated classic on Kessler Parkway 14 MEAL DEAL Satisfying $4 menu items 20 CANNABIS ENTREPRENEURS Meet these Oak Cliff hemp farmers 24 SUMO CLUB It’s why these guys are half naked in the park 30 BOOK TALK Snuggle up with reading recommendations

A tradtional Swedish wallpaper in the converted attic bedroom of a Colonial Revival in Kessler Park. Read more on page 10. Photo by Jessica Turner.

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1111 S. Canterbury Ct. | 4 Bedrooms | 4 Baths | 4 Living Areas | 3,465

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Welcome to your quintessential Kessler Park Tudor on storied Canterbury Court. Completely updated with a modern sophistication that still embraces the original character of the home. Home features an inviting wraparound porch, large living spaces, tall ceilings, downstairs primary bedroom and large secondary bedrooms upstairs. Gourmet kitchen with commercial range is an entertainer’s dream open to a second living area and overlooking the lush backyard. Don’t miss this fantastic home in the heart of Kessler Park!

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ABOUT THE COVER Seventh Street mural. Photography by Marissa Alvarado.

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Portrait of Manuel Pecina by Byrd Williams.

s eve n d e it i e s

Artist Manuel Pecina’s show of a lifetime opens in New York City this month Story by RACHEL STONE

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arly versions of Manuel Pecina’s art photography employed one makeup artist and an assistant. Those were rough drafts. The portraits of seven deities that comprise his Deidades, which shows at the Kente Royal Gallery in Harlem, New York, Nov. 3-21, required a small team, including costume designer Ricardo Alarcón, two makeup and body paint artists, a hairstylist and an assistant. The 20 pieces in the show were produced within the last two years, but he started making these realistic portraits of modern Mesoamerican gods in 2008. And now this is the end. “I’m going to retire it with those seven deities,” he says. New York-based artist and end-of-life doula Marne Lucas is presenting the show alongside her own, Quietus, “black-andwhite infrared thermal photography and collage works on paper exploring mortality, spirit and transformation.” The two met because of her connection to Dallas as a former artist-in-residence at CentralTrak, the UT Dallas artist residency. He recognized her Bardo Project immediately from reading about the realm that some Buddhists believe lies between death and rebirth, “bardo.” Lucas partners with artists who have life-limiting illnesses, working to advance ongoing “legacy projects” like Pecina’s portraits of gods. “I contacted her because I have a terminal illness, and my only cure is a lung transplant,” Pecina says. Pecina was born in Rockwall and has always been a traveler. He’s lived in Spain, France and various parts of the United States. He moved from Los Angeles to Oak Cliff in 1993 and bought a house in North Cliff with his now ex-wife. They have a son, Sebastian, 22, who also lives in Oak Cliff and has two kids under 2. Pecina’s art career has run parallel to one in computer science. Life in middle management funds life in art. Previously, he was in the aircraft industry, first working on military and commercial helicopters and jets, then on ambulance helicopters at Addison Airport. “I used to fly around a lot and fix things that jiggled or made noise,” he says. Then he started shooting airplane

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We’re Your Neighbors Choose to work with agents that not only know this market, but live it on a daily basis. With superior market knowledge and genuine neighborhood experience, we can help you achieve new heights. Kent Frederick Robb Puckett 972.249.5236 214.403.0098 Richelle Tilghman 469.644.8096

PegasusGroupDallas.com Ixchel as Jaguar, by Manuel Pecina. The Oak Cliff-based artist shows 20 portraits of Mesoamerican gods at Kente Royal Gallery in Harlem, New York, Nov. 3-21.

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interiors as a commercial photographer and wound up getting a master of fine arts degree from UTD. He describes himself as a “busy body,” meaning he can never sit still. From 2012-15 he owned and operated Ant Colony, a gallery at 417 N. Tyler St. The opus culminating in Deidades started with his lifelong curiosity about religion. He was raised Catholic and is of Jewish descent on his mother’s side, and neither faith imprinted fully. Then he started learning about Mesoamerican religion, and he realized that was part of him, too. “I just felt like they were three different religions that I was caught up between,” he says. He was influenced by a book, David T. Raphael’s Conquistadores and Crypto Jews of Monterrey, which tells the story of Jews who avoided persecution during the Spanish Inquisition. That made him want to dive deeper into Mesoamerican religions.

The models’ stances and costumes in Pecina’s portraits drew from his study of books by an anthropologist, UT Arlington professor Julia Guernsey. Ricardo Alarcón is a Mayan dancer who produced all of the costumes and headdresses. “What we worship doesn’t matter, or it does matter,” Pecina says. “In the end, religion is there to provide a therapy for us, whether it’s meditation or prayer or chanting. It’s there to help us stay focused, stay motivated and maintain a certain motivation that helps keep us connected to the earth and helping to elevate others.” Pecina first got checked in April 2016 because of shortness of breath. He says he knew he was in trouble when the doctor called about his test results and asked if he was a smoker, although he never smoked in his life. The diagnosis came about five months later: idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. It’s an environmental disease that results in

If that’s the home you’re looking for, you need a real estate agent to match. scarring of the lung tissue, which makes it hard to breathe, and it worsens over time. “It has nothing to do with autoimmune disease,” he says. “It’s not COPD. I’ve learned there are over 200 different pulmonary illnesses. I happened to be lucky enough to contract one they don’t know how to treat.” He’s independent and loves to roam, but he keeps finding new limitations. This past summer, he drove from Texas to California and up the Pacific Coast Highway. He stayed in Washington state for a while and then drove back down, hitting Utah and Colorado. Driving alone over places with super-high elevation caused his oxygen saturation to drop considerably. “I was lucky that I had my portable oxygen concentrator with me,” he says. But it was scary. “My new limitation is that I can’t go above 2,800 feet without oxygen,” he says. His next trip will be to the Texas coast this winter. He says he’s currently on about a dozen medications. One of them, an experimental drug called nintedanib, costs almost $10,000 a month, which he has a grant to cover. His lung function has improved so much recently that he was downgraded on the transplant list. But he’s considering quitting the medications after meeting people in a support group who’ve lived 10-15 years with the disease already with no transplant or drugs. He manages the anxiety that the disease brings through restorative yoga and opposite nostril breathing. The images in the show were chosen this summer when Pecina and Lucas were in Los Angeles. “It’s been helpful because art is one of the things that helps me forget about the illness,” he says. Pecina, 61, considers himself retired, and he likes to take camping trips. He’s gotten really into making coffee outside, and he enjoys sleeping on the ground with no tent, under the stars. The end of this series is not the end of his work as an artist. His home is currently on the market, and he wants to move into a live/work space where he can focus on his next project: modern portraits set in the Renaissance era.

We can help you leave Oak Cliff, but we know Oak Cliff will never leave you. Our client saying goodbye to Oak Cliff as she starts her next adventure: returning home to Temple, Texas.

Our love of Oak Cliff homes is matched only by our love for this community itself. From the historic districts to the up-and-coming neighborhoods, we are passionate about what makes this community, and those that call it home, special. Our passion stems from one simple ideal: putting the ‘real’ back in real estate. Our professional success hinges on your personal success – if you’re looking for a change in 2021, we would love to help make your dreams a reality.

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design

H O M E O N T H E T RA I L A 1940S COLONIAL REVIVAL COMBINES SCANDINAVIAN AND JAPANESE AESTHETICS Story by JEHADU ABSHIRO | Photography by JESSICA TURNER

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Opposite page: Straightforward furniture and natural textures exemplify Japandi design. Above: The Monocle Book of Homes, published this year, “could change how you live,” according to its authors.

hen Jessi and Daniel Hall outgrew their previous home, they wanted a project. Nothing already remodeled, they decided: Why pay for someone else’s upgrades? After a lengthy search, they found a dilapidated 1940s Colonial Revival-style house that sits off in a corner, not quite part of the Kessler Park subdivision. Rumor has it the home was moved to its current spot from an adjacent neighborhood. “We were looking for something a little odd with some unique challenges,” says 35-year-old Jessi Hall. “And so this place was kind of perfect.” After looking at three firms, the Halls first met Cliff Welch on the property on a Saturday in 2018. His firm, Welch Hall architects (no relation to Jessi or Daniel), specializes in modern new builds. “I’ve been practicing for nearly three decades,” Welch says. “I never in my life thought I’d be doing a Colonial Revival.” The home is protected by a conservation district, but the Halls wanted to simplify and modernize. “It’s just got this really timeless, simple quality of the pitched roof, white clad, kind-of Texas vernacular farmhouse,” Welch says. Blending the two styles and meeting the conservation district’s standards meant stripping decades of modifications

down to the home’s original bare bones. “Colonial Revival was something that allowed for more flexibility. It allowed for a simplification,” Welch says. The bay window in the front was removed, streamlining the facade. Plastic siding was replaced with traditional white board and batten. “He immediately got what we had in mind,” Jessi Hall says. “And he was also extremely pragmatic and solutions-focused.” The timetable was unusual. Texas laws disqualified the Halls from a traditional mortgage since the home had no cooling or heating system. They needed a construction loan, but to qualify, a lender needed to agree on a budget and a general contractor had to be hired before the real estate deal could be finalized. Meanwhile, the house was rotting. There was little that was salvageable, and even the foundation needed work. “Nothing in the entire house was plumb or square or level when we started,” Welch says. “When you’re working with something that was built back in the 1940s or even earlier, that’s a challenge to get things to look good and clean and work.” Hidden behind a door with a barely functional staircase, a 500-square-foot unfinished attic sold the Halls on the house. NOVEMBER 2021

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“It was figuring out how to rework things to access the belly of the attic to create some extra room and a playroom for their daughter, and really expand the house within the existing footprint,” Welch says. Finishing out the attic increased the house’s square footage to a little more than 2,000 square feet. Repositioning the kitchen and dining area allowed for a view of a lush tree line and access to the most private corner of the lot, perfect for outdoor entertaining. A wall now divides the kitchen and dining room. The kitchen includes two islands, one of which doubles as a bar that helps divide the kitchen and living room. “I wanted to accomplish kind of an open-and-closed layout. So if we cook and eat at our dining table, I don’t want to see the mess that I just made, or I’m going to want to clean it immediately,” Jessi Hall says. White oak is used throughout the home, from the floors to the wooden-slat room divider that creates a small entryway. Warm-tone wood pairs well with the couple’s preference for Japandi interior design, a combination of Scandinavian and Japanese design principles. The couple spends quite a bit of time in Japan, since Daniel works for Toyota; they spent three months living in a hotel in Japan during the construction phase while between homes. “There’s a warmth and a simplicity and an attention to craft everywhere you look,” Welch says. “It’s a very understated subtle home, both on the inside and the outside. But there’s a real richness to the materials.”

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White on white makes for clean and cozy living, while a chunky wooden table provides a grounding presence in the space. Opposite: A geometric built-in and slatted wood divider separates the entryway from the living room.

A year and a half after beginning the project, the home was complete. Most of the furniture is from their previous home. Hall found a pair of low-seat armchairs to reupholster; they came from an estate sale. The large, framed photo over the couch is an iPhone photo taken by Hall in Japan. They found another art piece in Jessi’s grandmother’s garage. A painting by Oak Cliff artist Charlie French hangs in the dining room. Their daughter, Sophie, has the run of the attic, which features a traditional Swedish wallpaper and a large reading nook tucked under an eave. The 1940s Colonial Revival home sits at the foot of the Coombs Creek Trail. The property line abuts state-protected parkland, and a fence can’t be constructed.

“It’s on a really unique corner piece of property, where it just looks like it belongs here. It feels like it’s been there forever,” Welch says. Since there’s no fence to keep trail users off their property, the lines between public and private are blurred. In one instance, a dog walker circled the perimeter of the home, coming right up against the windows and onto the back porch, Jessi says. But she says trail walkers mostly step onto the lawn to chat to the Halls as they swing their daughter in the front yard. “I’m glad that we saved a building that other people wanted to tear down,” Jessi Hall says. “It’s rewarding to see something that was kind of an ugly duckling and think we can make this like a really nice part of the neighborhood and a welcoming property off the trail.” NOVEMBER 2021

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food

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NOVEMBER 2021

BEEF LEGACY Small chopped beef sandwich, $3.99

Story by RACHEL STONE | Photography by JESSICA TURNER

DINING FOUR DOLLARS

There are cups of coffee that cost close to $10 in Oak Cliff nowadays. Lunch could easily run you $20, and dinner with drinks practically requires a credit check. But there are still places where a fiver can tide you over. Here are four local restaurants whose hearty $4 menu items are just enough.

Chopped beef on a bun is low-key the sandwich of Dallas, with a heritage as relevant as the Baltimore pit beef or a New York City chopped cheese. Get them from a guy pulling a smoker behind his pickup, out of a festival food truck window or from one of Oak Cliff’s Black-owned barbecue spots. Odom’s Bar-B-Que in West Dallas has been one since 1968, when it was built as Hardeman’s Barbecue. No one remembers when Hardeman’s first went into business, but Chester Field Hardeman had two restaurants in Dallas by 1948, and there are still two operating in Oak Cliff today. Another branch of the family bought this building and opened Odom’s in 1990, and it’s still run by Belinda Odom Gaston and members of her family. Odom’s was renovated this past summer after someone in a white F-250 pickup truck backed into the front of the restaurant, while it was closed, in a burglary attempt. The place lost some of its old kitschy charm in the makeover but is now set up for future generations of barbecue eaters.

Odom’s Bar-B-Que, 1971 Singleton Blvd. AIN’T THAT STUFF ENOUGH Arepas, $4 Beer is great, but it’s not for everyone. At Manhattan Project Beer Co., that’s just fine. This West Dallas brewery opens at 7:30 a.m. Monday-Friday for coffee and pastries. A macchiato costs $3.50, and a latte is $4. Tucked behind the old Jack’s Backyard, with a dog-friendly patio, it features a simple lunch and dinner menu that includes fried chicken — a two-piece costs $4.50 — plus burgers, steaks, salads and cheeseboards. Arepas are stuffed with black beans with crumbled cheese and avocado, braised

pork, smoked salmon, pickled green tomato with white cheddar, or bacon, egg and cheese. Each costs $4. Other inexpensive snacks on the menu include pork rinds for $4, and Belgiumstyle fries for $5.50.

Manhattan Project Beer Co., 2215 Sulphur St. COWBOY LIFESTYLE Bowl of beans, $3.99 Here’s one for all the single people. It’s a cheap, hearty meal that fulfills many dietary requirements, without a lot of calories. The bowl of beans from Norma’s is a serving of the “beans of the day,” and hear us out. This is not about the legume. They’re a good source of fiber and will fill you up while providing a vehicle for cornbread. Each order comes with two corn muffins or yeast rolls.

Norma’s Café, 1123 W. Davis St. GAUCHO HAND PIES Empanadas, $4 Argentinian restaurant Chimichurri recently added lunch service WednesdayFriday, featuring an abbreviated menu and some of the Mexican street tacos that made owner Jesús Carmona famous. His Tacos Milagro is now open in Trinity Groves. But empanadas are on the menu at Chimichurri all the time. The restaurant, in the old Tillman’s Roadhouse space, offers six varieties of handmade stuffed pastries. Just one is fairly filling, but it’s fun to try them all. Bring extras home to reheat for a savory breakfast treat the next morning. The varieties are beef, spicy beef, ham and cheese, lamb, mushrooms, and the newest and most popular, chipotle chicken.

Chimichurri Argentinian Bistro and Bar, 324 W. Seventh St. NOVEMBER 2021

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N OSTA LG I A FO R SA L E

f W.K. Jeffus comes knocking at your door, don’t be alarmed. He’s probably there to sell you the history of your house. Jeffus was born in Oak Cliff, grew up on Wentworth, “over there behind the Tom Thumb,” and is a 1965 graduate of Sunset High School. The two-story 1912 Victorian home he bought in what is now considered Bishop Arts cost $12,000 in 1971. It had been divided into six apartments, and he lived in one of them while playing landlord to colorful residents for the first six months. There’s a construction crane in the sky a few lots over from the house now. That developer pays Jeffus $1,000 a month to rent a nearby empty lot for storing equipment and materials. Boxy apartments and cool modern condos now line the opposite side of 10th Street. Jeffus remembers the time a two-story brick apartment building had burned down across the street, and he saw a displaced resident drag his bed springs and blankets into the chinaberry tree to sleep there for the night. This is not the same neighborhood it was back then. “It’s certainly changed a lot,” he says. “I guess for the better, except that the taxes are higher than a cat’s back.” Jeffus lives in DeSoto now, and the house on 10th Street is where he stores the trappings of his

W.K. Jeffus is an old-school dealer

W.K. Jeffus organizes his vast archive of newspaper pages by “route,” that is, they correspond to points on the map so he can put a few stacks in the trunk and drive around looking for customers.

trade. He calls it “the house of history.” People solicit to buy his house all the time, but he’s not selling. “I don’t want to sell it,” he says. “Nobody has named a price, but I’m not interested in a price.” Inside, stacks of newspaper pages are piled on tables or leaned against walls or dusty furniture that was stored here long ago. Jeffus archives each page on cardboard and plastic sheeting, which he salvages from a Jefferson Boulevard mattress store and cuts to size with a razor blade knife.

It’s hard to believe any of this stuff is organized, but Jeffus has a system. He organizes everything by “route,” that is, they correspond to places on the map. He can put a few piles in his trunk and drive around looking for buyers on that route. He keeps his eye out for renovated commercial buildings or homes all over Dallas whose new owners and tenants could be his next customers. The esoteric Dallas ephemera he might try to sell you likely will be paper — a postcard, an advertisement, a newspaper page. If you’re

Story by RACHEL STONE | Photography by JESSICA TURNER

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lucky, he might even have photos, magazines, blueprints, records or receipts. Besides an engaging conversation about Dallas history, opening the door to him could land you a former resident’s wedding announcement to frame and put in a hallway nook, or a story about a bowling-league champion who once lived in your house. There is no story too small for Jeffus. A former detective and skip-tracer, he’s collected all of this over many years, mostly from estate sales. Much of his vast newspaper archives were cut from a cache of bound volumes he came across years ago. He doesn’t charge much for these nostalgic things, maybe a few tens or twenties. When commercial property such as hotels are redeveloped, sold and resold, it gives Jeffus the opportunity to market his stuff multiple times to various owners. It’s a niche that has kept him in groceries for decades. One thing about W.K. Jeffus, known as Wayne: He’s old school. He points to himself with both thumbs: “Old. School.” Jeffus carries a flip phone, and if it can’t be handwritten, he taps it up on his manual typewriter, and he still uses Mapsco to get around Dallas. To contact him about the history of your home or business, call 214.941.5238.

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medicinal maneuvers HOW THE VELEZ FAMILY GOT IN EARLY GROWING TEXAS LEGAL HEMP Story by RACHEL STONE | Photography by JESSICA TURNER | Portrait by YUVIE STYLES

ebra Velez taught her sons to be helpful and humble. She raised two boys in the old Colorado Place Apartments after her husband went to prison because of a marijuana-related crime. The same hands she used to put food on the table, working from home day and night as a seamstress, she now uses to help trim hemp flowers for her son’s budding enterprise. Eddie Velez and his wife, Martha, are among the first crop of legal hemp farmers in Texas. Their company, Oak Cliff Cultivators, has a farm in Brady, Texas, but they were both born and reared in Oak Cliff, and they now live in Kiestwood. “Cannabis has been part of my life since I was a child, good and bad,” Eddie Velez says. He served in the Marine Corps after graduating from Sunset High School, then earned a degree in emergency management from the University of North Texas. A career in that field sent him to the center of natural disasters all around the country, where he coordinated with local authorities on everything from search-and-rescue to restoring power to mosquito control. After 11 years with FEMA, he went to work as a consultant for private firms, where a lobbyist kept him updated on Texas’ impending

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legalization of hemp farming and certain cannabis products. He could see right away that the opportunity was right. “I grew up with a big stigma,” Martha says. “I was like, ‘You don’t do that. Weed is bad.’” But she was sold on cannabis when she started taking it for early onset menopause in 2018 and found that it helped with migraines and sleeping. She had attended Skyline High School’s education magnet because she always knew she wanted to be a teacher. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and was an educator for 16 years in the Irving and Denton school districts. Now she puts education at the forefront of their business. She organizes events to get Oak Cliff Cultivators’ product out there, along with a message about the benefits of legal, medicinal cannabis use. And she’s one of the few who gets to add “local” to that list. Eddie’s mom, Debra, was the last one to be convinced. “She didn’t want anything to do with it because marijuana had devastated her,” Eddie says.

March 6, 2020 Hemp farming became legal in Texas in 2019.

year. But the timing meant they wound up taking no penalty for the early retirement withdrawal because of post-pandemic relief. “We were already planning to be without our jobs, so it kind of worked out,” he says. Their greenhouse was completed in March 2020, and their first “clones,” cuttings from cannabis plants, went into the ground in April. T he y s tar ted growing while still building. Alongside all that, they were walking a very straight line with state regulations, which is an ongoing education. “You’re dealing with cannabis, so they want to make sure you’re compliant and meeting their regulations, and if you don’t meet their regulations, they destroy your crop,” Eddie says. “And then there goes all the work you’ve just put in for four or five months.”

City slickers As soon as their first crop came in, they started their retail business. Eddie and Martha Velez own Oak Cliff Cultivators and are some of the first legal hemp farmers in Texas.

In December of that year, Eddie and Martha set a date to quit their jobs. Eddie had taken training in Colorado and at a generational tobacco farm in North Carolina that’s been converted to hemp. Family members agreed to let them use 2 acres of land carved from a vast hunting ground they own in Brady to prove their concept. They cashed out Eddie’s retirement and some of Martha’s and started their company with an initial $200,000 investment. In January 2020, they started clearing raw land to build the farm from the ground up. That is, digging trenches and bringing electricity and water to the site, then building greenhouses and the facility for drying and trimming hemp flowers. Eddie’s last day at work was on the cusp of coronavirus, March 6 last

T he firs t har ves t and trimming — when leaves are removed from the flowers — brought three generations of family members on both sides out to the farm in October 2020. “So we wanted to name it Oak Cliff because that’s where all of us are from. We’ve all gone through the bad things and the turmoil with marijuana, but we want to show that it can be done right,” Eddie says. “And you can be from Oak Cliff and do it the right way.” That’s not to say it’s been

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A cash crop

Oak Cliff Cultivators produces CBG flowers, gum drops, CBD flowers and hand-rolled joints.

without disappointment. Power to the farm went out during the winter storm in February, about two weeks before their second harvest, and all the crops died. The pipes burst, and the pumps broke. They lost their “mother plants,” from which they’d planned to continually propagate crops. It represented about $35,000 actual loss and about $100,000 retail loss. All of the equipment was covered by insurance, but because cannabis is still in a gray area nationally, the plants were not. “Now we know that we have to better prepare for winter we don’t normally have in Texas,” Martha says. “We weren’t prepared.” They bought some seeds and started over. Their third harvest was in October.

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Oak Cliff Cultivators packages its dried and cured flowers, and produces its own pre-rolled joints using unbleached paper. A manufacturer in Austin makes its gumdrops and oils, and Oak Cliff Cultivators partners with another Texas grower to make vape cartridges. All of the packaging is childproof and states that it’s only for ages 21 and older. The pair work with a lawyer to make sure messaging is on point with state regulations. “Our brand is not about getting high,” Martha says. “It’s about health and wellness.” Because of that, “you won’t find it in a gas station,” she says. The products are in about seven stores in the Dallas area, including Davis Street Mercantile and Brumley Gardens. They won “best flower,” “highest CBD” and awards in six of nine categories at the Taste of Texas Hemp Cup last December. Now all of the other hemp growers are gunning for them in this post-harvest season of conventions, conferences and competitions. Every weekend, Martha is at markets and events, explaining to anyone who’s curious the differences between the types of legal cannabis in Texas: CBD, CBG and delta 8. She talks to them about cannabinoids and terpenes and how various elements could comfort what’s ailing them. Eddie compares CBG with a vitamin. It has no THC, the chemical in marijuana that makes you high, and it can be taken every day for stress relief, anti-inflammation and sleep, depending on the strain. CBD is like an aspirin, he says. It may contain up to 1% THC, but it doesn’t get you high. Take it when pain or other ailments are acute, he says. The delta 8 gumdrops are mixed with CBD, which counteracts that substance’s raciness effect. Martha says she was reluctant to carry delta 8 because it does cause a high. But then she learned that veterans find it helpful for PTSD, and it’s

good for pain, she says. Oak Cliff Cultivators created its own bimonthly market at Oak Cliff Brewing Co. with the Sour Grapes art collective, partially because some markets haven’t warmed up to hemp vendors. Eddie and Martha are perfectly matched for this venture, even though they had no farming or retail experience. He’s figured out how to build things and run a farm. She operates the retail side and likes to keep track of all kinds of metrics. They’re both very driven to keep adding products — a balm is next — and growing all aspects of their business. “I think we’re doing really well for one year in business,” Martha says.

Get with the lingo

A family affair

Cannabidiol, or CBD is the second-most prevalent element of marijuana after THC. It is produced from hemp, and it doesn’t have psychoactive effects. The World Health Organization reports that “there is no evidence of public health-related problems with the use of pure CBD.” It is used most notably to treat childhood epilepsy symptoms and can be taken for a list of afflictions, including anxiety, insomnia, chronic pain and addiction.

Meanwhile, they’re just raising their family in Oak Cliff. Their two kids, 6-year-old Esme and 9-year-old Ethan, are students at Winnetka Elementary and have never known a negative side of cannabis, Martha says. The Velezes also have nieces who are 14 and 15, and being on the farm and around the business, she has the opportunity to explain the endocannabinoid system to them. “They just see it as medicine,” she says. Other parents have been leery, but Martha and Eddie have managed to win everyone over with their open communication on the topic. Eddie’s dad got out of prison when he was a senior in high school. He’s now a truck driver, and they have a relationship again. Eddie’s mom, Debra, says she never doubted her son could put together his cannabis business. “When Eddie started to do this, I thought he’d be the perfect person because he’d be legit and by the book and by the rules,” she says. “Eddie is structured. He’s straight and narrow.” She feels lucky that she was able to work from home making draperies for interior designers and clothes for big clients like Units, which was based in Deep Ellum, as well as wedding and quinceañera dresses. There were people who had it worse. She started working at a school about 20 years ago and is nearing retirement. She lives with her younger son, Felipe, who is a welder. She spends a lot of time with her grandkids, and she thinks she’ll take up sewing again for extra money. The trouble marijuana caused her family is not anything she wants to talk about. “That’s behind me,” Debra says. “It happened. I took care of my kids. It kept us together, and I don’t look back to that. It did cause problems for us and for my kids not having a father, but we made it.”

AN OVERVIEW OF CANNABIS TERMS

Cannabinoids The compounds found in cannabis.

THC Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is the psychoactive compound in marijuana that causes a high. Its medical uses include reducing nausea for cancer patients and increasing hunger for AIDS patients. Products containing more than 1% THC are still illegal in Texas.

CBD

CBG Cannabigerol, or CBG, is known as “the mother of cannabinoids,” and it is the one least present in marijuana. It is nonintoxicating and marketed for treating some of the same ailments as CBD. Animal testing has shown that it can reduce bowel inflammation.

Delta 8 Delta 8, tetrahydrocannabinol, is a psychoactive cannabinoid that remains in a gray area legally. While it’s somewhat less potent than THC, it has similar intoxicating effects.

Endocannabinoids Molecules in the body that connect to cannabinoid receptors, which scientists discovered while studying marijuana in the 1990s. They’re similar to cannabinoids but are produced inside the bodies of humans and animals and can effect functions such as sleep, mood, appetite and memory.

Endocannabinoid system This is a complicated system in the body that isn’t fully understood by science, but experts believe its function is to maintain homeostasis. That is, stability of the internal body. Evidence shows that introducing cannabinoids can contribute to overall well-being.

Terpenes Aromatic compounds that make up the characteristic scent of a plant.

NOVEMBER 2021

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RING KINGS IT’S A COOL FALL MORNING in Kidd Springs Park. Sleepyheads are walking their dogs. Ducks are quacking. And up on the dewy grass, four full-bodied men are counting in Japanese while vigorously stretching. One of them is wearing a cowboy hat, a buttocks-baring loincloth and nothing else. This is the Dallas Sumo Club. The guy in the hat is 33-year-old Corey Morrison, who founded the club in January. They meet here in the park’s Japanese garden every Wednesday. Jared Tadlock drives from Fort Worth to attend practice. He’s a former amateur and professional wrestler who says the club helped him get into better shape and drop some pandemic weight. He saw sumo wrestling for the first time

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NOVEMBER 2021

JAPANESE GARDEN ATTRACTS SUMO WRESTLING PRACTICE Story by RACHEL STONE Photography by JESSICA TURNER

in high school, the same way many Americans have been introduced to the sport, on ESPN at 3 a.m. “You see this pageantry, and it’s so ornate, and then guys get in there and they’re just beating each other up,” Tadlock says. “It’s a whole other type of wrestling than what I was used to.” Searching for a sumo club in the Dallas area back in 2015, he contacted Tom Zabel at Mighty Eagle Sumo in San Antonio, one of Texas’ three other sumo clubs, who put him on a mailing list in case of any other interest from Dallas/Fort Worth. Fast forward to January 2019, when Morrison and his girlfriend, a burlesque performer named Siggy Sauer, watched their first livestream of a sumo tournament on Twitch. They haven’t missed one since.

Japanese pro tournaments are every other month for 15 days. There are hundreds of sumo wrestlers, and everyone fights once a day. “We got sucked into the fandom of it,” Morrison says. “We would stay up drinking Japanese beer and sake, and we used to have watch parties.” Morrison is a director of photography for musicals and films. The couple bonds over a mutual admiration of Japanese art and culture. A deep dive on sumo brought him to a video of Chiyonofuji Mitsugu, who in 1981 was the 58th person to reach the sport’s highest rank, yokozuna. Americans always think of sumo wrestlers as big, fat guys, Morrison says. “But this guy was jacked. He was ripped,”

You see this pageantry, and it’s so ornate, and then guys get in there and they’re just beating each other up.”

Opposite page: Sean Byrd squats as part of the Dallas Sumo Club’s warm-up ritual at Kidd Springs Park. Above: Club founder Corey Morrison in his trademark cowboy hat and mawashi. Top: Drew Bramlett tussles with Morrison in the ring.

he says. “He was handsome, he had muscles for days, and he was just tossing people left and right.” Seeing that athleticism made him want to try it himself. Dark Circle Sumo in Austin invited him to practice with its club, which has a few former collegiate and pro wrestlers. Sumo is no joke. He wound up breaking a couple of ribs that day. But he still came back for the club’s tournament in October last year, which attracted wrestlers from around the country. That’s where he found out about the email list of people from Dallas interested in sumo. Morrison, who lives in Turtle Creek, found the Japanese garden at Kidd Springs Park while on a photoshoot a few years ago. “There’s all that Japanese flora in there,” he says. “How cool is it to be doing Japan’s national sport in Dallas but surrounded by both native Japanese and native Texas nature?” The club now has about 15 members, and four or five people is a good showing for Wednesday morning practice. It also has an indoor practice in Carrollton on Sundays. The sumo club doesn’t mind photos. Just tag them on social media. And Morrison always has an extra mawashi, the traditional loincloth, for anyone who wants to jump in the ring. Members don’t take themselves too seriously, Morrison says. But they do enter tournaments, and they want their club to keep growing. That’s why they practice in a public place. “People stop and ask us questions, like, ‘Y’all are half naked; what’s going on?’” Morrison says. So far, none of the club’s members live in Oak Cliff, and none are Japanese. “We’re looking to do some outreach because we’d really like to have Japanese members in the club,” he says. Watch a clip of the Dallas Sumo Club’s practice at oakcliff.advocatemag.com. NOVEMBER 2021

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WORSHIP

By ERIC FOLKERTH

Thank God, ya turkeys H a p py l i ves a re t h a n k f u l l i ves

“O

h give thanks to the LORD, for God is good; God’s steadfast love endures forever!” —1 Chronicles 16:34 The more we are thankful, the more we are thankful. This simple phrase has become a mantra for my life. And as we approach Thanksgiving, I invite you to make it one of yours. It’s been a terribly hard few years. Some of you reading this have no doubt lost loved ones to COVID. In our church, every week I hear the anguished grief of members, mourning the loss of unvaccinated family members or friends. The sense of survivor’s guilt is palpable. And right in the midst of this time, we barrel straight toward Thanksgiving. It’s the only federal holiday that we in the Church can rightly say was ours first. Long before Lincoln made his decree about the day in November, people of faith have been giving thanks day by day. Thanksgiving is a spiritual process. It’s a spiritual discipline. And the more we are thankful … the more we are thankful. Brain science now confirms this truth. One of my favorite podcasts, The Happiness Lab, seems to focus on gratitude in almost every episode. Time and time again they remind their listeners that thanksgiving is a practice we can and must cultivate. And the more we lean-in to our gratitude, the happier we will be, even in our most challenging moments. The more you practice the “practice of giving thanks,” the more things you find to be thankful for, and your thanksgiving will grow. That’s the way it works. Especially for an idealist. If you yearn to change the world for the better, it’s very likely that you need to give thanks more often than you do. So, “put your own oxygen mask on first,” before you charge out to change the world. Let’s be clear. I’m not suggesting that gorging on turkey, stuffing and pumpkin

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pie is a secret road to happiness. (In fact, it can be a path to shame and sadness about food choices.) I’m saying the original *point* of thanksgiving — naming, noticing and remembering the ways in which we are blessed — is deeply important to all human happiness. Science and faith teach us this. As we look toward Thanksgiving, start the practice anew for this year. Commit to be thankful and grateful for the things you often forget. Like the blessing of a warm house in winter or being among the wealthiest folks on the planet. You are, you know. If you are reading these words, you are among the wealthiest humans on the planet. Yes, life is hard. Yes, injustice is rampant. But if you want to fight injustice, start with a soul centered on Thanksgiving. This season, I’m grateful for my family and friends. I’m grateful to the beautiful people of Kessler Park. I’m grateful for the breath that moves in and out of me. I’m grateful for long walks through Oak Cliff as leaves turn and fall. I’m grateful for the chance to be able to write you all of this right now. Start with the simple things, as you start your journey back toward gratitude. I love Anne Lamotte’s writings, and especially what she says about prayer. One of her favorite prayers is simply: “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” That’s it. That’s the whole prayer. So, in every small and great thing you can think of to be thankful for, whisper the prayer, “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” It won’t make the mess of the world go away. But it just might help you cope with it. The more we are thankful, the more we are thankful.

WORSHIP BAPTIST CLIFF TEMPLE BAPTIST CHURCH / 125 Sunset Ave. / 214.942.8601

Serving Oak Cliff since 1898 / CliffTemple.org / English and Spanish 9 am Contemporary Worship / 10 am Sunday School / 11 am Traditional GRACE TEMPLE BAPTIST Come to a Place of Grace!

Sunday Worship: English Service 9:30am / Spanish Service 11:00am 831 W. Tenth St. / 214.948.7587 / gracetempledallas.org

C AT H O L I C ST. CECILIA CATHOLIC PARISH / StCeciliaDallas.org / 1809 W Davis St. / Saturday - Bilingual Mass 5PM; Sunday – English Masses 7:30AM & 11AM; Spanish Masses 9AM & 1PM

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST EAST DALLAS CHRISTIAN CHURCH / 629 N. Peak Street / 214.824.8185

Sunday School 9:30 am / Worship 8:30 am - Chapel 10:50 am - Sanctuary / Rev. Deborah Morgan-Stokes / edcc.org

E P I S C O PA L CHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH / ChristChurchDallas.org Sunday School: 11:15am /Mass: 9am & 10am English, 12:30pm Español Wednesday Mass: 6pm English, 8pm Español / 534 W. Tenth Street

METHODIST KESSLER PARK UMC / 1215 Turner Ave./ 214.942.0098 I kpumc.org

10:30am Sunday School/11:00 Worship /All are welcome regardless or race, creed, culture, gender or sexual identity.

N O N - D E N O M I N AT I O N A L KESSLER COMMUNITY CHURCH / 2100 Leander Dr. at Hampton Rd.

“Your Hometown Church Near the Heart of the City.” 10:30 am Contemporary Service / kesslercommunitychurch.com TRINITY CHURCH OAK CLIFF / Love God. Love Others. Make Disciples. Sundays 10:00 am / Worship & children’s Sunday School 1139 Turner Ave. / trinitychurchoakcliff.org

PRESBYTERIAN PARK CITIES PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH/ 4124 Oak Lawn Ave Sunday Worship 9:00 & 11:00 A.M. To all this church opens wide her doors - pcpc.org

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ERIC FOLKERTH is Senior Pastor at Kessler Park United Methodist Church. The Worship section is underwritten by Advocate Publishing and neighborhood businesses and churches listed. Call 214.560.4212 or email sales@advocatemag. com for advertising information.

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CHECK OUT BEST OF OAK CLIFF 2021

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NOVEMBER 2021

TIS THE SEASON TO BE BAKING TIS THE SEASON TO BE BAKING OUR GOURMET FOODS DEPARTMENT HAS YOUR TIS COVERED: THE SEASON TO BEKITS, BAKING BAKING NEEDS BREAD CUPCAKE OUR GOURMET FOODS DEPARTMENT HAS MIXES, YOUR VEGAN FROSTINGS, FOOD COLORINGS, PANS, ROLLING BAKING NEEDS COVERED: BREAD KITS, CUPCAKE MIXES, OURAND GOURMET DEPARTMENT HAS ROLLING YOUR PINS, A GREATFOODS ASSORTMENT OF COOKIE CUTTERS. VEGAN FROSTINGS, FOOD COLORINGS, PANS, BAKINGSHOP NEEDS OUR COVERED: BREAD KITS, CUPCAKE MIXES, OH!!! NEW CRAFT BEER AND WINE PINS, AND A GREAT ASSORTMENT OF COOKIE CUTTERS. VEGAN FROSTINGS, FOOD COLORINGS, PANS, ROLLING DEPARTMENT. GREAT HOSTESS GIFTS AND GIFT BASKETS OH!!! SHOP OUR NEW CRAFT BEER AND WINE PINS, AND A GREAT ASSORTMENT OF COOKIE CUTTERS. MADE IN SHOP. SEE US MONDAY-SATURDAY 10A-6P DEPARTMENT. GREAT HOSTESS GIFTS AND GIFT BASKETS OH!!!

SHOP OUR NEW CRAFT BEER AND WINE

YOUR CHILD. READY FOR LIFE. Looking for a great school? Life School is a free, public K-12 school that emphasizes character and leadership.

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ACCEPTING NEW STUDENT APPLICATIONS 2020-2021 SCHOOL YEAR

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private schools.

214.560.4203 OR SALES@ADVOCATEMAG.COM TO ADVERTISE *2019 CVC Audit

NOVEMBER 2021

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B O O K TA L K

By CLAUDIA VEGA

L i te ra r y h u n ge r F i n d t i m e fo r rea d i n g t h i s fa l l

ou’ve heard of a “grocery desert,” neighborhoods where fresh food is scarce. But how about a book desert? It turns out all but the wealthiest parts of Dallas still lack food for the mind as well as the body. The red on this map represents areas where 0-10% of homes have more than 100 books. As a champion for literacy, on a mission to eradicate the book

desert in Dallas’ southern sector, my nonprofit bookstore, Whose Books, is in the works. Look for our pop-ups around Oak Cliff starting this month. Look for us here, too, as this column, “Book Talk,” could be appearing regularly to recommend books for all ages and reading levels. This list celebrates Latinx stories and can also be found at bookshop.org.

Bright Star by Yuyi Morales Juvenile fiction

Infinite Country by Patricia Engel Fiction

Bright Star is a stunning book. Yuyi Morales weaves together the intricacies of the borderlands with language, texture and color, transporting readers into a landscape that goes unseen by many. Morales researched the Sanora desert landscape, learned about the “No Border Wall Campaign” and visited with migrant families in developing the story. The illustrations, colors and textures of her travels and research come to life as we journey through the borderland with White Star. Fear, hope, courage and community are evident as readers journey through the pages of Bright Star. The book is bold and beautiful and can be enjoyed and shared across age groups and grade levels in a variety of ways. Interactive resources online show the making of Bright Star, and Morales reads it aloud at KidLit.tv.

This New York Times Best Seller is the kind of book that’s hard to put down. It’s just shy of 200 pages, but rich in style and stor y. Talia, th e main charac ter, is b eing held at a correctional facility for adolescent girls in Colombia and desperately works to escape, so that she can reunite with her mother and siblings in the United States. Her family’s decisions and indecisions come together to paint the very real story that is diaspora. Engel presents a universal, ye t extremely intimate story, of a family s e p a rat e d a c r o s s c o n t i n e n t s a n d mixed status. The voices within this novel explore home, allegiance, opportunity, parenthood and love. Infinite Country is a great bookc l u b r e a d a n d d e fi n i t e l y o n e t o share with loved ones.

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NOVEMBER 2021

We Are Not From Here by Jenny Torres Sanchez Young adult fiction Won the Pura Belpré 2021 young adult author award We Are Not From Here takes readers on a journe y of hopeful fear. Jo i n C h i c o , Pu l g a a n d Pe q u e ñ a on the treacherous journey on L a Bestia, as they leave Guatemala for the U.S. Told from two different points of view, it compels readers to look at and acknowledge the p l i g h t o f m i g r a n t s . I t ’s w r i t t e n with poe tic prose, and its dreamlike sequences are captivating. Sanchez does not shy away from the jarring realities that people face on the journey for a new possibility and life. She handles each part of the passage, and the people me t along the way, with care and dignity. It ’s timely, rele vant and honest. The story explores the perils of immigration and the love and hope that resides within family and friendships. If you are looking for a book that will spark conversation, provide insight and understanding, and explore humanness, this i s i t . A g r e at r e a d t o s h a r e w i t h your teenager or young adult, and a m u s t h av e t o a n y h i g h s c h o o l classroom librar y.

White Rock

Kessler Park

*estimated percentage of home with less than 100 books

>90 TO 100

>40 TO 50

>20 TO 30

>0 TO 10 NOVEMBER 2021

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Competitor C

Competitor B

$110M

Competitor A

There’s no subtle qualifier to this statement. It’s fact – backed up by extensive market data and analysis. We pride ourselves on data transparency, and that means that apples should only be compared to apples. When you’re ready to make a move, contact your favorite Dave Perry-Miller Real Estate agent and work with the top producing real estate brand in Oak Cliff.

NORTH OAK CLIFF AREA SOLD VOLUME, YTD SEPT ‘21

Dave Perry-Miller Real Estate

Many brands claim to be Number 1. We actually are.

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3 BEDROOM | 2.1 BATH | 1,979 SQ. FT. | $665,000

3 BEDROOMS | 3 BATHS | 2,246 SQ. FT. | $625,000

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Andy Scott & Deirdre Van Rensberg

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214.460.5565 susanmelnick@daveperrymiller.com

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1231marsalis.daveperrymiller.com

SOLD, Represented Seller

1217 Kings Highway

1231 S. Marsalis Avenue

1702 Cascade Avenue

3 BEDROOMS | 3 BATHS | 2,345 SQ. FT. | $599,000

3 BEDROOMS | 3 BATHS | 2,130 SQ. FT. | $435,000

2 BEDROOM | 1 BATH | 1,133 SQ. FT. | $330,000

Joanna Robben

Rob Elmore

Susan Melnick

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An Ebby Halliday Company

Price and availability subject to change. Information deemed reliable, but not guaranteed. Claim based on sold volume, 75211, 75208, 75224, 75233, 1/1/21 through 9/30/21. Includes Ebby Halliday Companies.

2021 November Oak Cliff Advocate

Articles inside

SUMO CLUB

BOOK TALK

CANNABIS ENTREPRENEURS

LIFE & DEATH

DOWN TO THE STUDS

MEAL DEAL