A me A sure of hA ppiness

We spend enough time looking for happiness that it makes perfect sense to work at the task, maybe hard enough to burrow a trail in the road of life.

As we all know, though, living your life and loving it don’t always go handin-hand.

But it happens, and that’s why, when I met this particular woman a few months ago, I thought she was one of the lucky ones. She was confident. She walked with authority. She seemed happy.

Turns out she grew up in a small town, went to school nearby and then, for reasons not entirely clear even to her, she came to Dallas to live the dream. She didn’t have a job, an apartment or even any friends here — she just decided she wanted to live in Dallas, and so she did.

It was great, she says of the beginning, full of opportunities and excitement. Anything seemed possible, and trying to make it so was part of the fun.

Her story is a lot like the stories you’ll read in our magazine this month. The high school seniors we’re profiling worked hard to dig out of holes not always of their making to earn a high school diploma and, hopefully, a ticket to a better life.

As you’ll notice from the seniors’ stories, these students are filled with optimism and enthusiasm. Why wouldn’t they be? They’re young, and they have every reason to expect their lives to unfold according to their plans.

Perhaps their dreams will be realized. Then again, perhaps not. Most of us have already been there, right? We may be living the dream, but it’s likely not the dream we had in high school.

After many years of doing essentially the same thing, the woman I met says “fun” and “excitement” don’t pop into many of her sentences or weekends. Life is fine, she says. It’s just not what she thought it would be.

So much promise and so many plans when she first arrived. Now it all seems so long ago.

“I was so brave back then,” she says wistfully. “I wasn’t afraid of anything.”

She’s doing fine, so no need to worry. She just wishes things were different. Not specifically different. Just different.

And she’s using her younger self as the ultimate measuring stick.

That’s not what I wish for our graduating seniors. Instead, to measure their success, I hope they use one of those long, retractable tape measures that can be extended and snapped back with a flick of the thumb. are doing by writing to 6301 Gaston, Suite 820, Dallas 75214; or email rwamre@advocatemag.com.

To measure their success, i hope they use one of those long, retractable tape measures that can be extended and snapped back with a flick of the thumb. That’s what success and happiness are anyway, just quick flicks that can leave as quickly as they arrive.

That’s what success and happiness are anyway, just quick flicks that can leave as quickly as they arrive.

Better than just hoping for success is remaining brave enough to keep trying new things. It’s hard to be bored or unhappy when you don’t allow yourself time to look back at the ruts in your road.

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comments and letters

Advocate

April 2013

DUE

April 10

Continuity and stability prevails under the very capable and experienced leadership at Marsh Middle School of interim principal Jasen Campbell who has been serving in that role for roughly four weeks. Campbell has been at Marsh for more than eight years, first as a teacher and coach and most recently as an assistant principal. One of the many benefits of feeder pattern alignment under an executive director is the director’s close and regular access to these schools.

Marsh is aligned within the W. T. White feeder pattern under the leadership of Anita Hardwick whose personal experience includes her previous service as principal of W. T. White and its neighbor, Withers Elementary. I have great confidence in her leadership and that the appropriate process is being followed. –l ouisa m eyer, commenting on “T. c. m arsh to hold meeting about its search for a new principal,” a pril 10 at prestonhollow.advocatemag.com

Uh oh — any more recent sightings? We live near Northaven and the Tollway and our cat has been missing for two days. –Patrick c anon, commenting on “ c oyote seen roaming in Preston Hollow,” a pril 4 at prestonhollow. advocatemag.com

I saw a coyote at White Rock Trail park at Hillcrest and LBJ the same day at dusk. It ran off into the creek but was unmistakably a coyote. –m ichael Hamm, commenting on “ c oyote seen roaming in Preston Hollow,” m arch 28 at prestonhollow.advocatemag.com

“Great idea. I’d definitely use it.”–m ary yates, commenting on “Don’t you dare throw that toilet paper roll in the trash,” m arch 21 at prestonhollow. advocatemag.com

Preston Hollow resident Tracy Rowlett has informed the community of local news since his days in the Air Force. Now the WFAA and KTVT veteran is back on TV, but on a different channel. Rowlett stars on a TV show called “The Texas Daily” with his best friend, Troy

There was a time when, frankly, if you were a good reporter you were automatically an investigative reporter. I worked covering the capitol in Oklahoma City. Very early in the ’70s, several of us quit the CBS station in Oklahoma because of principle. Byron Harris was a consumer reporter at the time. Byron heard members of the Automobile Association were setting prices, and he did a series on automobile surcharges. I was managing editor at the time, but the station manager said he didn’t want to air the reports until the head of the association saw the reports and could make comment. Well, Byron had tried to get comment several times. The head of the Automobile Association was a good friend of the station manager. Nine of us quit. That’s how Doug Fox, Byron Harris and I wound up in Dallas. It changed the whole structure of what was happening in Channel 8 news. We set a new standard for enterprise news.

Dungan, every Monday and Tuesday. The show airs on KTXD Channel 47 and is geared toward an older audience by featuring other veteran TV broadcasters such as Gary Cogill, Iola Johnson and Robert Riggs. We talk to Rowlett about the past and future of news.

I retired in 2009 because I was old and the business had changed considerably. News is really different today.

TV today is more vapid. It’s almost afraid to tackle the big issues. TV news is everything easy — car wrecks, fire and weather. There was a time where you couldn’t be informed without watching the news. Not anymore.

Troy Dungan came along to WFAA in ’76 and we became fast friends. After I retired and Troy retired, this opportunity came along. I kept telling consultants “no,” that I didn’t want to do it, but my good buddy Troy Dungan and I talked about it. We thought this could be a lot of fun for the two of us. The show is geared toward people who remember us in the market. It’s for an older demographic. Most news TV stations try to appeal to the new key demographic of 25- to-54-year-old women. Any newsgathering organization should appeal to everybody.

What are some of the topics you discuss on the show?

We talk about everything. Issues in politics, issues locally — on this program we unabashedly give our opinions. We’re not tied to contracts here. We are encouraged to express our points of view.

How much prep do you do before the show?

I read everything the Associated Press has out; other than that I don’t know that there’s a whole lot of prep. I don’t think Troy and I are bragging when we say we can talk about everything.

What do you think about the future of newspapers and TV?

We talk a lot about convergence. It’s not necessary for you to have a newspaper anymore. Virtually all papers have websites, and there’s a lot of good info on there. But I’m not interested in car wrecks or some three-alarm warehouse fire involving a bunch of tires. I don’t think that TV reporting is at all about identity. It’s not like watching someone for 30 years on TV and when that person goes away you care. At this station we don’t have a bunch of photographers and reporters. We actually get more comments when we talk about our personal experiences.

Since you’re not working on contract, how long do you think you’ll continue?

Until it’s not fun anymore or they tell us to leave. We aren’t under a lot of pressure pressure to keep the ratings up. We enjoy the people we work with and have good conversation about important issues. It’s a lot different from anything else on TV.

—Monica S. Nagy