I just made my first Storify. It is about Audrey Hepburn and the impact she has had on the world. Please visit my Storify page to view my story!
Sunset on SMU Boulevard
This is a photo of the beautiful sunset looking down SMU boulevard in Dallas, Texas. (Allred©2014)
Action Shot
Jeremy Crow, 29, plays tennis with friends at Sorority Park in Dallas, Texas while enjoying the weather on Friday, February 28, 2014. (Allred ©2014)
I decided to stroll through the park on Friday afternoon before I went to work because it was such a beautiful day. In Texas the weather is always unpredictable so when there is a perfect day, people have a tendency to get out of their houses and make the most of it. I found a group of guys who came to Sorority Park to play a couple casual games of tennis. It was a little awkward asking to take photos of them but they didn’t seem to mind much. I actually found action photos to be the most fun pictures to take because of the timing required to catch a good photo. I discovered a technique to focus on only one of the players and wait until he reached for the ball. When I tried to volley my camera back and forth as the ball was being hit I didn’t have enough time to focus on a player to get a good shot. I really enjoyed taking these photos because of the fantastic weather and how willing the guys were to have their photos taken, it made my job a lot easier.
Most Influential American of All Time
George Washington is indisputably the most influential American and person of all time. He became the first President of the United States of America on April 30, 1789, but his influence began even before that. As a young man Washington was one of the more influential people of his time, a Virginia farmer with ambitions of helping free his country from the bonds of tax oppression. In the Revolutionary War, Washington grew into a celebrated general, winning improbable battle after improbable battle and becoming a hero to the men of the Continental Army and all the people of the burgeoning United States. While his Articles of Confederation failed miserably, Washington came back from what would have been a well-deserved retirement to help with the ratification of the Constitution. During his presidency, Washington grew our fledgling country with his strong leadership abilities. He insisted upon neutrality in the French and British war–even while having key members of his cabinet lobby him to pick both sides. Upon retiring after only two terms, Washington established a term limit, which would be respected until President Roosevelt and enforced Constitutionally after his tenure. To this day, Washington’s influence persists as it fertilizes the American mythology. Even though he was an incredibly rich slaveholder, Washington has been immortalized not for that but for his values, such as honesty, courage, and resiliency, which are undoubtedly counted as some of the most valuable aspects of the American spirit to this day. His peaceful retirement and transition of power also set a civil tone for American politics which, while certainly not always respected, has at times been an important aspect of the American political system. Interestingly, one area in which his ideas have not been respected are in his distaste for a two party system; obviously, this is what we have developed, but Washington thought that a better system would be based on ideas, not on the parties which were seen as another relic of the past British system.
Here are a few links to more information about George Washington:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/georgewashington
Life in the “Bubble”
Growing up as a “parkie” we are automatically tagged with several stereotypes. To quote Urban Dictionary, “The girls are beautiful, the boys are well-groomed and cocky. The women are nosy and annoying (especially if mothers), and the men are aggressive and self-affirming.” As one might guess, we don’t call ourselves “parkies” due to the negative connotation, however, this term is commonly used to describe us by the “outsiders.”
Many of these “outsiders” include people from Frisco, Plano, Richardson, and McKinney. These people that refer to us as “parkies” do it with a negative nuance because they have formulated the idea that we have a significant disconnection with the outside world and never leave our neighborhood, commonly referred to as “the bubble.”
Despite the negativity associated with the term “parkie,” there are many good things associated with it. For example, we grow up with incredible opportunities such as an amazing school system; despite the fact that it is a public school system, many compare Highland Park High School to a private school because of the money associated with it. Some other great things we “parkies” have are good connections. When the time comes for us to begin looking for internships and eventually jobs, we have a pluthera of contacts to reach out to.
Eventually the term “parkie” will expand to those of us who attend Southern Methodist University and continue to live in “the bubble.” Unfortunately, some see this as a negative thing because in their eyes, we have still failed to leave “the bubble” and experience the outside world. However, to those of us from the Park Cities attending SMU, see this as a fantastic opportunity to have the chance to attend “the Harvard of the South” in our own backyard.
Further on down the road, it is common for many of us to move back to the Park Cities after either attending college elsewhere or moving away for a job. Regardless of the reason, it is very typical for home-grown “parkies” to return to the Park Cities to raise their children (with good reason I might add). The Park Cities offers opportunities unlike anywhere else, and, of course, we only want the best for our children. Needless to say, the term “parkie” will live on for many generations to come and continue to represent the affluent neighborhood of the Park Cities of Dallas, Texas.
Lighting Assignment
Alita Woodworth, junior at SMU, puts on make-up in preparation for a long day of work. She is sitting on friend, Olivia Allred’s couch in her apartment in Dallas, Texas. (©2014 Allred)
My friend Alita was sitting on my couch putting on her make-up. I figured this would be a perfect picture to depict her daily life because she spends a lot of time getting ready for the day. I enjoyed playing with the lighting and the angles while taking this photo. This photo was using only diffused lighting coming through the curtains covering my window.
The challenge I had with taking this photo was learning how to adjust the aperture and the shutter speed correctly so the image didn’t come out black. It was especially difficult using the dim lighting the cloudy day offered.
Mitchell Maggard, left, with Alita Woodworth, right, pose to be photographed for Olivia Allred’s photo journalism assignment dealing with direct lighting in Dallas, Texas. (©2014 Allred)
For this photograph I asked my friends Alita and Mitchell to pose for my picture. We went all around the BLVD complex looking for somewhere where I could find direct lighting. It was a challenge because there didn’t seem to be anywhere until we were just messing around and it worked! Alita’s face has direct lighting on it coming from the window. I thought this was a really nice picture of them both and I thought the lighting on her face worked out very nicely.
There weren’t really any challenges with this photo, aside from finding the location because it just happened while we were messing around.
Alita Woodworth, junior at SMU, washes Olivia Allred’s dishes because she recently moved in to Allred’s apartment in Dallas, Texas and washing dishes was the chore she was assigned. (©2014 Allred)
I caught this lovely candid picture of my friend Alita while she was so kindly washing dishes. This picture was taken using only artificial lighting from the light hanging above my sink. I didn’t really experience any challenges with this picture either because it was totally candid and I didn’t really plan much in order to take it but I believe it turned out quite nicely.
I Have a Dream
I have many hopes and dreams for the future of humanity. Just as most people do, I am a strong advocate of world peace and ceasing the progression of violence. I feel as though there is an enormous amount of unnecessary violence in the world that is preventable. It is my hope that the citizens of the world will be able to see beyond the physical, religious, and political differences of others and learn to ‘agree to disagree.’ It is not necessary or ideal for everyone to agree on every topic and idea, for that is impossible; however, it is necessary for everyone to incorporate acceptance of others in to their lives.
I am aware that these are high hopes for humanity and perhaps some might say they are impossible, luckily, I am a dreamer and have faith in our race. I believe the first step to this starts from within the individual. Peace will then spread throughout every country and eventually across the world.
With that being said, I would like to express my hopes and dreams for myself because I am a strong believer of living by example. I like to consider myself to be an empathetic and driven woman with all of the love in the world to give. I currently have several goals for myself. First, I am planning on graduating from SMU with a double major in Communication Studies and Public Relations accompanied by a minor in Psychology. I intend to obtain a position with a public relations firm here in Dallas and work my way up the ladder until I reach the top. Second, after I have established a life for myself and am self-supportive, I would love to meet someone to share my life with. I would adore to have children and start a family that I can give all of my love and attention to. Last but possibly most important, I want to be remembered. I want to be remembered as a woman who was driven, intelligent, and as someone who was kind to everyone.
Although this might seem like a lot to live up to, I consider myself capable in every way. I have an open-mind and love to learn any way I can. I believe that with an open-mind and a positive outlook on life, anything is possible.
Christmas in Dallas
We all know that Dallas isn’t the most ideal location to celebrate the holidays due to the inevitable inconsistent weather we experience here. However, we do know how to do Christmas right. I have lived in Dallas my entire life and I have to tell you, I wouldn’t rather be anywhere else in the world.
It is only November and anyone with eyes can see Dallas is overly eager to begin the festivities. Driving around at night, you begin to see all of the houses lined with those gleaming white and colored christmas lights. All of the trees are lighted and it is absolutely gorgeous. Here in Dallas, our lights are extravagant almost every where you look. SMU is already lighting their trees and it always looks absolutely wonderful (obviously because it is our school), Highland Park Village has had their lights up for weeks now, and Lakeside Drive is getting there too.
Here are my favorite places to see Christmas lights.
1) You have to drive down Beverly. The families here spend enormous amounts of money lighting their trees and homes and they are always fabulous.
2) Lakeside drive. Not only are the houses absolutely beautiful but also driving down the street admiring the lights is always great because they reflect into the water and light up the entire neighborhood.
3). There is a single house right off of University on Hunters Glenn (probably shouldn’t give the address) but if you drive around you can’t miss it. This family decorates their house unbelievably for every holiday. Every year for Christmas they always add a new decoration, and when I say decoration, I mean some gigantic motorized lighted Christmas tree or snowman. You must go see this house. Absolutely beautiful.
One last thing, the carriage rides in Highland Park Village. They fill up fast, so you better make reservations now but this is an absolute must during Christmas. It is so beautiful and you wrap up in blankets with a nice hot chocolate and ride around in a horse-drawn carriage.
Hope you all are just as excited for the holidays as I am!!
A week in Stockholm
I am so sorry for the delay on the blogs! While in Stockholm I had some difficulty getting steady wifi but I am back in Dallas and have so much to share!
Let’s start with getting to the airport, or, almost not. We were running about 30 minutes late to start and then hit traffic on every highway, missed our exits about 5 times but finally made it! The flight was long but luckily I was able to sleep most of the time thanks to a little help from the complimentary Chardonnay. We had about a four hour layover at Heathrow airport in London and then hopped on one more two hour flight to Stockholm!
When we arrived I immediately had a flash back to the James Bond movies I have seen because the sirens in the movie sounded just like the police sirens I was hearing. It was quite a trip. We hailed a cab and loaded up our belongings and told the cab driver where we were going… he started shaking his head and began unloading our luggage. He said it was too close for him to drive us and refused to lose his spot in the front of the cab line up!
After dragging our luggage down the cobblestone sidewalk we finally arrived at our hotel. Luckily, the concierge at the front desk all spoke English so we were able to communicate with them in order to get a room with more than one bed for the three of us. We made our way up to the 10th floor and it was an amazing view…
The weather was rather cold and dreary but I didn’t care, I was in Stockholm. We spent a lot of time touring museums and drinking all sorts of local beers. My aunt and I were the ones playing the whole time because my mom had to get up at 6 everyday and take the train to work.
The first day we had planned to walk across the bridge to old town to the port where the sightseeing boats were. After our 30 minute walk across the city, we were told we read the map wrong and that the sightseeing boats were actually right where we came from. ugh. So rather than turning around, we just hopped on a ferry and let it take us where ever it was going. Traveling is all about adventure, right?
We arrived at an island called Djurgärden, where just by coincidence where we wanted to go. Djurgärden is the island right off of Stockholm where many of the famous museums are located such as the ABBA museum, the Vasa museum and the Aquatic museum. We toured them all of course.
This was the Nordic museum which, unfortunately, we were unable to tour. However, all of the museums were amazing. There is so much to do and absolutely no way to do it all in one trip.
In regards to communicating in a country with a different language, we lucked out. Nearly every one in Sweden speaks Swedish as well as English. This made it very helpful when we got lost! The only issue that we experienced with the language barrier was the food. It was very difficult to order food because it was in a different language. Luckily, many of the restaurants we went to provided a menu in English for the many tourist they serve, however, many times when we got the English menu we still struggled with ordering because we didn’t know what the food was. It was very interesting not knowing what you are ordering and receiving some new unique food. Some of the new foods I tried consisted of moose, reindeer, veal, pate, lamb and the most unusual was suckling (for those of you wondering, that is baby pig belly). I actually tried more foods than I have ever in my life and loved all of them! I would HIGHLY recommend visiting Stockholm if you have the chance, it is an amazing city and is very easy to navigate in as a foreigner.
This is my aunt and mom and me having our last beer in Stockholm!
My fav “hole-in-the-wall” Restaurants
Everybody knows about all of the hotspots around SMU for some good eats. There is Bandito’s for killer margs and enchiladas, Zoë’s if you are on a health kick and East Hampton for an awesome sandwich or salad. However, not many people know about some of the best authentic food in Dallas.
We will start with my all time favorite, Roti Grill on McKinney Ave. This place has phenomenal Indian food that is authentic from the staff, to the vibe in the restaurant, to the food. If you enjoy Indian food, this place is absolutely for you, and if you haven’t tried it yet, you need to!! My favorite thing to order is the Chicken Masala (you can order the spiciness you desire, but be careful not to go to spicy, you might regret it!) and you can’t forget the Garlic Naan; but if chicken isn’t your thing, they have plenty of other options that are sure to suit you just fine. I highly recommend this place, they do take out as well.
^chicken masala
Next is Food from Galilee in Snider Plaza. This is a quaint little restaurant that not many people know about. It is a great place for a first date because at night they turn the lights really low and the tables are lit with a candle. It is quite adorable. They have a very minimal amount of staff which creates a quiet and intimate vibe when the same man who took your order goes in the back and brings you your food. My favorite dish they have is their lamb gyros, they are by far the best I have ever had!
My final recommendation for today actually isn’s a restaurant but a cafe I recently found. It is called Mini Cafe located right off of 75 and Knox Henderson. It is a small little coffee shop that serves coffee made from special beans the owner found in Columbia. The coffee is quite good but the concept of the place is great. It is a coffee shop that is connected to a huge study room where you can either purchase a day/night pass (which includes a free coffee) or you can pay a monthly fee and rent out your own personal office space. This place is ideal for all nighters, they have games (shuffle board and arcade games) and all kinds of different locations to study: couches, conference rooms and little individual desks. I love this place and recommend it to anyone seeking a new place to study off campus. Oh and I forgot to mention the best part: IT IS OPEN 24/7.
I would love to hear back from y’all if you end up trying any of these places. Happy eating:)
Olivia Allred's Blog 