Glenn Hunter

It’s not every day that a non-profit’s guest speaker makes her entrance from the back of the room before taking the stage and delivering her talk wearing an oversized plastic trash bag. But that’s what happened on Friday, April 17, at Dallas’ Arts District Mansion, where guest speaker Aliscia Brorman addressed 400 guests at Dallas CASA‘s sold-out Cherish the Children Luncheon.

With its new buildings worth billions of dollars going up and its vast, ongoing infrastructure improvements, the Southwestern Medical District stands out as one of Dallas’ most dynamic areas, employing more than 42,000 people and attracting 4.8 million visitors annually. But according to Robert Prejean,* co-author of a book about the origins of the 1,000-acre district, understanding how it developed historically is a necessity for informing and guiding its current transformation.

After days of temperatures being walk-around-the-neighborhood-with-strollers-and-pooches-on-leashes warm, Mother Nature was in a mood to demand some attention. And she did just that starting on Friday, March 6 — not only dumping rain on North Texas, but also pushing high temps down into the 40s.