Thursday, June 13, 2013
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
A Week at West Dallas Community School
From first through eighth grade, I attended a small, private Christian school called Providence. When I was in second grade (1995), the founders of Providence founded a sister school in West Dallas - a small, low-income area just across the Trinity River from downtown. West Dallas Community School is designed to basically function just like Providence, providing students with a high-quality, Christ-centered education; but instead of paying the high tuition usually associated with private education, parents pay greatly reduced rates while the rest is covered by donations. On the brink of its 20th birthday, West Dallas Community School continues to "provide students with a challenging educational experience designed to help them know, love, and practice that which is true, good, and excellent and to prepare them to live purposefully and intelligently in the service of God and man." I also have many deep personal connections to the school as my third grade teacher, Kathy Stewart, just stepped down as the school's headmaster, and my sister is also one of the art teachers there.
Monday, June 10, 2013
Robert Berry
Last fall, I got a random email from a young man named Robert Berry, a student at H. Grady Spruce High School in Southeast Dallas. I had randomly photographed a game between Dallas Lincoln and his Spruce Timberwolves in the winter of 2012, and he tracked me down through this blog after I posted a few photos from that game. He asked if I would come take some photos of him playing ball during his senior year, and after talking to him on the phone, I agreed. In my few brief encounters with Mr. Berry, I have been extremely impressed by this young man. He took the initiative to contact me and coordinate me shooting his basketball game as well as these portraits; and he was prepared to pay me for my services. He told me his father is not in his life, and I've never even met his mother. I later found out he was the student body president of his high school and does a lot of mentoring with younger kids. He's also 6' 8"! High schoolers these days often carry a reputation of being self-absorbed, shiftless and thoughtless. This young man has been anything but. I wish him the best as he goes on to study and play ball at Tuskeegee University.
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