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Denton Small Business Expands On Demand

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Five stories that have North Texas talking: Bookish Coffee makes way for more beans, "drawing the black bean," the City of Dallas reminds its citizens there's no "BIG" without an "I," and more.

 

Bookish Coffee's Clay Rozell has cracked some doors open with UNT Dining Services after getting the brand on tap at Denton Square Donuts and sold by Earthwise Produce, The Cupboard and Natural Grocers in town. Problem is, he can't expand distribution on a five-pound roaster.

 

"Bookish is growing and what was once the largest purchase for a start-up has quickly become the limiting factor," Rozell says.

In hopes to land Bookish beans a place at UNT's numerous coffee outposts (and in the university's sustainability chorus), Rozell is following in the footsteps of Armadillo Ales' owners and beginning a Kickstarter campaign -- for a $30,000 roaster.

  • Drawing the black bean:” ancient West Texan-ese for bad luck. John Tull dropped the saying on Morning Edition in understated reference to that time he and his wife, Lucinda Marker, came down with the bubonic plague at the same time in 2002 and survived. If that isn't enough, Tull lost both his legs and disappeared into a coma for 90 days before reaching the clear. The hearty New Mexico-an testifies to what sustained him:

"I think there's one of three reasons," he says. "The first reason is because I'm a tough son of a ... The second reason is because God just didn't want me at that particular time. The third reason is, we knew my oldest son and his wife were pregnant with the first grandchild. And by God, I was going to stay alive to see that little grandbaby. If I had just folded into a wet dishrag on the bed, I think it would have let a lot of people down." [StoryCorps] (“Drawing the black bean” appears in Larry McMurtry's Dead Man's Walk.)

  • How much does the City of Dallas want you to buy into its “Big Things Happen Here” slogan and $4 million branding campaign? Enough to place you in between 6-feet-tall plexiglass letters “B” and “G” – becoming the “I” in “BIG” for a photo op. This is part of a plan to turn citizens into “thousands of ambassadors for the city,” says Phillip Jones, chief executive of the Dallas visitors bureau. The campaign kick-off party has been announced – it happens from 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesday outside the American Airlines Center. [Dallas Morning News]

 

  • Kiest Park in Oak Cliff is becoming known for its fierce regulars – pit bulls and German shepherds and other teeth-barers who've frightened residents. Sarah Upshaw's Honda Accord was attacked by a fleet of pit bulls. Heather Jeffers, who frequenty jogs through the park, totes a baseball bat and pepper spray in in anticipation. [CBSDFW]

 

  • Family-friendly festival season's officially on. And this weekend, that means the Texas Indian Market & Southwest Showcase takes over the Arlington Convention Center. More than 110 artists will show their work, and internationally-known Native American acts like Blues Nation and Tom Ware's American Indian dance show perform. Watch Ware mystify onlookers in Denver below. [City of Arlington]

 
http://youtu.be/QYN20w1Y_Dw

Lyndsay Knecht is assistant producer for Think.