Vivinsha Veduru is undergoing a resurrection of the success she had last year, and hoping for even better ripostes this time.

In fact, it’s becoming a regular recurrence, and with it could come a nice recompense.

Whatever word you use for it, the 11-year-old sixth-grader from Keller’s Bear Creek Intermediate School is returning to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. The competition is scheduled for May 31-June 2.

Last year, she was the youngest of the finalists who advanced to compete at Walt Disney World’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando, Florida. She finished tied for fourth.

”Prior experience of National Spelling Bee participation will help me to better handle competition pressure and time management on the stage,” Veduru said, adding that while she’s now a veteran, everyone starts from scratch when the event gets underway.

”Your previous ranking does not matter in this year’s competition,” she said. “You will start your preparation at ground level and have to work your way up through many levels of competition. One incorrect letter at any level is the end of your Bee journey for that year.”

Also, it’s all against all. There are no age or grade brackets. Participants cannot be older than 14 as of Aug. 31 of the year before the competition, nor can they be past the eighth grade as of Feb. 1 of that year’s competition. Previous champions are also ineligible to compete.

”I feel the competition is always against the dictionary and not against each other, as you get out only by spelling your word wrong,” Veduru said. “Every competitor at the Bee is cheering fellow spellers, and that is my favorite thing about spelling bees.”

Veduru qualified for a return to the national Bee by repeating as regional champion at TCU in March. Now, she and her family (her little sister and parents) are heading to D.C., where the event was held for many years prior to being canceled in 2020 because of COVID and held virtually with the finals at Disney World last year.

”We plan to visit various historical places there. The Smithsonian museum is one of my favorites in D.C.,” she said.

Other favorites of hers are author Roald Dahl (“James and the Giant Peach”) and Leonardo da Vinci as her favorite historical figure.

”Roald Dahl’s books have newly invented words and are pretty humorous,” she said. “Leonardo da Vinci is my role model. He is a polymath and it amazes me that a person can be proficient in various fields.”

For the record, a polymath is a person of wide-ranging knowledge or learning (yes, had to look that up, thanks Oxford Languages) — someone like her.

Though it will be a while before she gets there, Veduru is already thinking about adulthood. She wants to pursue a career in STEM (science, technology, engineering, math).

”I love math as there is more than one way to solve a problem. I would like to contribute in reducing global warming,” she said.

In the meantime, there is a national spelling competition for which she is preparing. Much like an athlete trains their body, she trains her mind. And, just like athletes, it must be daily, she said.

”Spelling Bee is a brain sport. I prepare daily by studying roots, language rules and words. My favorite way to study is by typing words after reading all the required information of the word,” she said.

It also doesn’t hurt to pick the minds of prior competitors, she added.

”I have been active in the spelling community since third grade. It is inspiring and motivating to chat with past national spellers,” which she can now also do for other up-and-comers.

”I would advise not to be intimidated by other experienced spellers. All that matters is to get your word right,” she said.

More than a decade removed from her Disney Channel breakthrough, Debby Ryan’s career as a post-teenage actor is progressing quite nicely.

The Keller native’s latest indie film project, Spin Me Round, finds Ryan in an ensemble comedy about managers in a restaurant chain who win a corporate retreat to the Italian countryside, where a prized meeting with the chain’s founder leads to a strange set of occurrences.

The film enabled Ryan to reunite with director Jeff Baena and his real-life wife, star Aubrey Plaza, after their collaboration on the 2020 Netflix drama Horse Girl.

“I really enjoyed their way of filmmaking and storytelling. Then we became friends and kept in touch during the pandemic,” Ryan said at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin. “They know me and know my sensibilities.”

An avid traveler, Ryan visited Europe extensively while on tour with her husband, Twenty One Pilots percussionist Josh Dun, but she had never worked there. So filming in Tuscany for a month last summer provided an opportunity to deepen her appreciation for Italian culture and food.

Ryan, 29, comes from a military family. She lived at Fort Hood and in Germany during her childhood but was mostly raised in Keller. She began her acting career like so many other Dallas-Fort Worth kids, on “Barney and Friends.” She recalls the joy of earning her first credit on a “Barney” movie on her 13th birthday.

Ryan gradually became more involved in acting and singing before landing the title role in the Disney Channel sitcom “Jessie,” which ran for five years and 98 episodes.

“It’s been eight years since Disney, but it’s still fresh in people’s minds. I have a lot of respect for the work that I got to do there, and I don’t want to tarnish that by feeling like I need to prove something,” she said. “It’s just been about following what felt right in terms of the people I was working with and the types of characters.”

Recent projects have given Ryan more of an opportunity to showcase her talent and break free from any adolescent pigeonholing. After Horse Girl showed her more introspective dramatic side, she flexed her action muscle in the vampire thriller Night Teeth, also for Netflix.

This year, Ryan has been filming in Puerto Rico opposite Garland native William Jackson Harper in the acclaimed Peacock series “The Resort.” She will also have a recurring role alongside pop star The Weeknd in the upcoming HBO drama “The Idol.” In other words, her star is still brightening.

“I’ve had a pretty remarkable career in terms of opportunities,” Ryan said. “The last eight years have been marked by every project having such a different DNA.”

Spin Me Round is now available on streaming platforms and is showing in select theaters.

1. Torchy’s Tacos will open a third Fort Worth location at 9700 Hillwood Parkway, Fort Worth, according to a filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. The filing states an interior finish-out of the restaurant will take an estimated three-plus months, wrapping up in February 2023. The estimated cost of construction is $750,000. The future Torchy's Tacos will offer the restaurant's traditional menu, including specialty tacos, queso, burritos, margaritas and more. The restaurant chain's other locations in Fort Worth are at 5030 S. Hulen St. and 928 Northton St. www.torchystacos.com

2. A Wichita Falls ramen noodle restaurant is expanding to Keller with construction scheduled to wrap up by December. Owner Injun Shim said he expects to open Hoshi Ramen shortly after construction finishes at 1301 Keller Parkway, Ste. 200, Keller. The Fort Worth resident opened Taki Ramen in Wichita Falls in 2021 and is bringing a second restaurant to the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The business will offer appetizers such as edamame, gyoza and spring rolls. Entrees include rice bowls; salads; and tonkotsu, shoyu, aka, miso and specialty ramen noodles with brisket, pork, shrimp, kimchi or tofu. Japanese beer, Korean liquor and sake are on the menu, and Shim said he will apply for a liquor license for the Keller location. A website and phone number are not yet available. www.takiramen.com (Wichita Falls location)

3. Buffalo Wild Wings Go is planning to open at 1411 Keller Parkway, Keller. “We are thrilled to introduce the new takeout- and delivery-focused ‘Go’ model in Keller," according to an email statement from Buffalo Wild Wings. "Buffalo Wild Wings ‘Go’ is the perfect spot for wing-lovers featuring a curated menu of wings, burgers, chicken sandwiches, tenders, sides, and all our famous sauces and seasonings." The new location is expected to open this winter as part of the Keller Marketplace development, according to the city of Keller. www.buffalowildwings.com/en/bww-go

4. Portillo’s, which is known for its Chicago-style street food, submitted a permit application with the city of Fort Worth for a 2.068-acre site at 2491 N. Tarrant Parkway near Tehama Ridge Parkway. A spokesperson for the restaurant chain said no further information was available at this time on the Fort Worth location. Portillo’s officials announced plans to open its first Texas restaurant within the Grandscape development in The Colony this fall. The restaurant chain has more than 70 locations across multiple states. Portillo's is known for its Chicago-style hot dogs, Italian beef sandwiches, chargrilled burgers, chopped salad, cheese fries and chocolate cake, according to its website. www.portillos.com

5. In less than a year, Danny and Joy Atkisson have gone from running To Chai For Cafe out of a tent at the Keller farmers market to a food truck and will soon open a brick-and-mortar store. The Atkissons bought Roscoe’s Coffee House at 841 N. Tarrant Parkway, Ste. 100, Keller, on Sept. 1. Former owner Alan Spicer sold the coffeehouse named after his dog to the Watauga couple, according to Danny Atkisson. A small remodeling project is underway, and the Atkissons have applied for the permits needed to open, Danny Atkisson said. He said he hopes To Chai For Cafe will be open for business by the end of September. The food truck will still be in operation and available at local festivals and events. To Chai For Cafe will continue to sell its chai drinks and waffles as well as expanding to include offerings from Roscoe's, such as its cold brew, Danny Atkisson said. The hours and days of operations are still in the planning phase, but Danny Atkisson said the location will be closed on Sundays. www.facebook.com/tochaifor

Editor, Grapevine-Colleyville-Southlake, Keller-Roanoke-Northeast Fort Worth

Cody joined Community Impact Newspaper in August 2022. He covers the local government, education, business, real estate development and nonprofits in Grapevine, Colleyville, Southlake, Westlake, Trophy Club, Keller, Roanoke and Fort Worth. Prior to CI, Cody worked for various Missouri newspapers in Kansas City, St. Joseph, Maryville, Neosho and Joplin. When he is not writing, Cody enjoys attending sporting events, traveling and trying various BBQ establishments.

Large hailstones have damaged car windows and even the roof of a home in parts of Texas following severe thunderstorms, according to images and videos shared on Twitter.

User @Blayne90095403 tweeted: "Gorilla hail!!!! ....Keller TX," sharing a video of the downpour in Keller, Tarrant County of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The video has had over 6,000 views since it was first posted Thursday.

Hailstones managed to push through the roof of one home in Uvalde County in southern Texas, according to photos shared by user @vortexrfd. "One of many giant hail stones that came through the roof of my friend's house this evening in Sabinal, Texas," the user tweeted along with the images.

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A tornado warning was issued Wednesday evening in parts of Tarrant County following severe storms in portions of north and central Texas.

User @squirtyyy shared video footage of his car surrounded by broken pieces of glass. "Tornado storm shattered my window!!! IM F***ING PISSED," the user tweeted alongside the footage.

Another video of the damage shared by the user showed the top part of the back window was smashed through. Large holes were seen in the remaining portion of the window, while the glass roofing was also shattered.

Christopher Nunley, the chief meteorologist at KAGS in Texas, shared an image of a car windshield in Fort Worth shattered by hailstones. "These photos were sent to me from Fort Worth! #TXwx #Hail #DFW #DFWwx," he wrote in a post sharing the images.

User @scottvickers01 shared an image of another car window in Keller damaged with large holes, tweeting: "My neighbor's car...still w paper tags! #keller #tarrantcounty #hail."

On Wednesday, the National Weather Service (NWS) Fort Worth warned of "damaging wind gusts up to 70 mph" and that "large hail upwards of 2 inches" could be possible.

A 3-inch hailstone was reported north of Fort Worth, near Keller. NWS Fort Worth tweeted Wednesday evening: "One of the larger hailstone reports we received this evening in Tarrant County!"

Around 34,000 power outages were reported across south and central Texas, including nearly 14,000 in Bexar County (the county seat of which is San Antonio), according to the PowerOutage.US website, at the time of publishing on Thursday.

At 12:13 a.m. local time Thursday, NWS Fort Worth said "no warnings are in effect at this time" across north and central Texas, while a Tornado Watch was in place until 2 a.m. CDT Thursday.

A Tornado Watch indicates "tornadoes are possible in and near the watch area," the NWS explains.

A Flash Flood Watch is in place through Thursday morning across portions of north and central Texas, the weather service added.

A Tornado Watch is in effect in parts of south central Texas until 5 a.m. CDT Thursday, the NWS said. They include the following 28 counties:

The Tornado Watch is in effect until 5 a.m. CDT Thursday in the following south central Texas cities:

Burial Cairns are an unusual burial type. Some exist at Mount Gilead Cemetery in Keller, Texas

In today’s modern world, many end-of-life options are available to us. Standard burial. Cremation. Ashes in an urn at home. Ashes in a Columbarium. Ashes scattered at sea. Why, we can even buy containers that will turn our ashes into different trees.

The pioneers that settled in this wild, rugged Texas land didn’t have such choices. It was burial. Their only options were the headstones.

Fancy, granite carved headstone with elaborate etching and figures. Simple granite monuments with the name and dates, and possibly a few carved words. A solitary stone. A hand crafted one created out of whatever materials were available. A hand-hewn wooden cross.

Or burial cairns.

Burial cairns weren’t common over North America, but they were popular in a few locations. One of our local cemeteries – Mount Gilead, in Keller – is home to several unique burial cairns.

While Mount Gilead is not the sole location of these types of burials, they were not the usual burial practice during the late 1800s in this area.

Texas Beyond History reported that archeological findings have located many sites from Native American tribes and other ancient peoples that used this type of burial. In the late 1920s and 1930s, two men – E.B. “Ted” Sayles and Cyrus Ray – excavated areas along the Brazos River and its tributaries. Their exploration resulted in excavations of at least 50 cairn burials.

But Mount Gilead is easier to visit. It’s in our backyard. This step back into history requires only a short drive and a gallon or two of gas. Several cairns have been preserved and we can walk amidst the land that pays tribute to the pioneers from over a hundred plus years ago.

Permelia Allen lies buried in an unmarked grave at Mount Gilead Cemetery. Her ancestral web has links to many other cemeteries in the area. Permelia Allen initially had ties to the Lonesome Dove Church in Grapevine. Eventually, some of the members that lived further out formed the Mount Gilead Baptist Church. Permelia’s sons-in-law, Daniel Barcroft and Iraneous Neace, owned the land here. They donated a portion of land for the church and cemetery.

Permelia was Mittie Ann Medlin’s grandmother. Mittie Ann was the first burial at Medlin Cemetery in Trophy Club. Permelia also has family ties to the Bourland’s, and to many buried in Bourland Cemetery.

A mystery exists about the burial cairns at Mount Gilead. Did the pioneers bring this knowledge with them from where they lived before? Even though this type of burial already existed in areas of Texas, there was no internet in those days. They couldn’t google ‘burial methods’ and find out about the cairns already in existence from hundreds – or thousands – of years ago.

It’s a question worth pondering, as I spend an hour traipsing amongst these stone and granite markers, existence of lives lived long before I - or my parents or grandparents - walked this earth.