WAIW: Plant a Tree Where It's Needed Most

Where Am I Wednesday?

Fifty points to the first person to identify where this photo was taken.

Answer will be given on Thursday.

Bonus points to the person who knows the name of the sculpture and artist. Don't wait for me to tell you because I don't know.

Operation Mincemeat (2022)

Rotten Tomatoes

Operation Mincemeat (2022): WWII drama about plot to deceive Germany about where Allies would invade southern Europe. Fact-based spy story is padded with a romantic angle. Too much time spent on planning the operation, too little on executing it. Still a good history lesson. B-

Review: Behold the Dreamers

From Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue:

He'd never had to worry about whether his experience would be appropriate, whether his English would be perfect, whether he would succeed in coming across as intelligent enough. But today, dressed in the green double-breasted pinstripe suit he’d worn the day he entered America, his ability to impress a man he’d never met was all he could think about. Try as he might, he could do nothing but think about the questions he might be asked, the answers he would need to give, the way he would have to walk and talk and sit, the times he would need to speak or listen and nod, the things he would have to say or not say, the response he would need to give if asked about his legal status in the country."

Amazon

Immigrant from Cameroon builds a life in the Bronx. Wall Street banker faces ruin in the 2008 collapse. Their lives intersect in a quintessentially American story. Straightforward, simple prose, most authentic in the Cameroonian household.

"Behold the Dreamers" is the 2022 selection for "Richardson Reads One Book".

Quick Takeaways from the Joint Runoff Election

The Richardson ISD held a trustee election runoff for District 2 on Saturday. Congratulations to Vanessa Pacheco for winning. Dallas College held a trustee election runoff for District 1. Congratulations to Catalina E. Garcia for winning.

Follow the Money in Dallas College Runoff

From: source unknown

If you're looking for a comprehensive article on the Richardson ISD Board of Trustees election, go here: "The Wheel's 2022 RISD Runoff Voters Guide". In most of this post, we're going to follow up on how the money trail of Lynn Strawn Davenport (LSD) leaves a lot for her to answer for. An earlier report about the overlaps in campaign finance for the RISD campaign of Jan Stell and the Dallas College Board of Trustees campaign of Davenport left a few curious details dangling. We'll try to tie things up today. Spoiler alert: Vote for Catalina E Garcia.

The Wheel's 2022 RISD Runoff Voters Guide

For RISD trustee in District 2, I recommend Vanessa Pacheco.
For Dallas College District 1, I recommend Catalina E Garcia.

Election Day (again!) is Saturday, June 18. Even if you voted in the May 7 Joint General Election, you have to vote again in the Joint Runoff Election. Have to. Even if you voted for a different candidate in the first election, you can vote for the right candidate this time. ;-)

Even if you didn't vote in the May 7 Joint General Election, you are still eligible to vote in the June 18 Joint Runoff Election. So vote!

Dealbreaker #8: She Thinks RISD is Better Without Dr. Jeannie Stone

In Richardson ISD's June 18th runoff election for its District 2 seat on the Board of Trustees, I'll be voting for Vanessa Pacheco. I won't be voting for Sherry Clemens because of dealbreakers like this: she thinks RISD is better without Dr. Jeannie Stone.

Dealbreaker #7: She Thinks She Speaks for All Christians

In Richardson ISD's June 18th runoff election for its District 2 seat on the Board of Trustees, I'll be voting for Vanessa Pacheco. I won't be voting for Sherry Clemens because of dealbreakers like this: she thinks she speaks for all Christians. Needless to say, she doesn't.

Maybe Your Neighborhood Park Isn't

Source: City of Richardson (p. 53).

When is a park not a park? That's the question I asked in May concerning Point North Park in Richardson. At the City Council meeting on June 6, 2022, I learned the answer. When is a park not a park? When it's "open space." Open space with a playground. Open space with a trail. Open space with a ballfield. Open space with a multi-purpose field. Got it? It's got all the amenities of a park, but it's not a park. It's open space. Definitely not a park.

Bad Things Come in Threes, City Council Version

The Richardson City Council meeting June 13, 2022, has three items on its agenda that could turn out either bad, really bad, or maybe a mixture of bad and not so bad. We'll see.

1. Meet the new Interurban District. Same as the old Interurban District:

Source: Writing for Designers.

The VW dealership in the Interurban District is making another run at ruining Richardson's "edgy, mixed-use district built upon the existing bones of the development." Read what I had to say August 15, 2013, when an auto dealer last tried to pull this on this property: "Lemon". The Wheel's odds of the City Council approving this...again...are set at 10:1 in favor.

Every time we get a car, this place turns into a whorehouse.

Source: Don Draper, Mad Men.