Living in Shreveport these days is turning into some kind of twisted, dystopian experience. It is no exaggeration to note that shootings occur every single day in this city, sometimes multiple times, and often with injuries or fatalities. It is tragic anytime a life is lost to this senseless violence but it seems even more so when an innocent life, or a beautiful child, is lost.
And we accept this.
On March 20, 2021, five-year old Mya Patel was killed when she was hit by a stray bullet.
Wednesday, March 24, social media reflected multiple audio recordings of shots fired early in the evening, shots I heard clearly while reading in my bedroom.
March 30, a woman a few blocks from me was shot in the hip; luckily she is okay.
It is literally every single day or night - doesn't matter what time -- and we are doing nothing about this. You can check the Caddo 911 Active Emergency Events page and almost every single time you'll see a shots fired or a shootings call, and those don't include the ones that never make it to the page or are "holding," waiting for available officers.
We are doing nothing about it.
"But, what can we do?!" I hear you. I don't have those answers. My layman's opinion would be to first work through the local elections process to elect leaders tough on crime, willing to enforce penalties on criminals. From the mayor, to the District Attorney, to the city council and the parish commission, we need support.
We need police officers and the money to pay them. Shreveport ranks woefully low in police pay and our officers do not stay. We need the best and the brightest, willing to work hard for good pay.
We need jobs. We need businesses to come here to grow the tax base and to provide employment. We need all levels of jobs, from the trades to the administrative. We can't continue to depend simply on service industry jobs as our main employers.
Businesses won't come without decent infrastructure. Our streets are literally crumbling, our water system is collapsing (not to mention their mismanaged billing practices), and the city is covered in trash, litter, and empty buildings.
We need a vibrant downtown. The downtown area is trying: there are some places to eat, a few renovated buildings for apartments, you can see a movie, look at buildings. Many people avoid downtown due to safety issues. Maybe we need bicycle or mounted units there. Maybe we need more options for our large homeless population on the streets there.
We need so many things. Old time Shreveporters often speak of the "good ol' days" when we had sports teams like The Shreveport Captains, where families could go enjoy a game on a pretty afternoon or evening. Now, our baseball stadium is empty, crumbling, and filled with bats and toxic guano.
Neil Johnson postcard photo.
For the most part, unless you want to drink or gamble, there is not much for families to do here. There are a few things...SciPort is downtown, and the Aquarium. What else? Someone help me. I know I'm forgetting something -- my kids are grown.
Before anything else happens, safety has got to be addressed. Perhaps I am alone in my concern. Perhaps I am in the minority when I balk at going to Betty Virginia Park to walk or spend an afternoon outside. Maybe I'm the only one who is constantly on guard when I walk my neighborhood. Maybe nobody else has started taking their dogs out at night earlier, or in the backyard rather than the front yard. Maybe nobody else has installed surveillance cameras around their home. Maybe I'm the only one much more cautious about locking their car at night. Maybe nobody else has had packages stolen off their front porch.
Maybe all this is just my perception.
I long to see a thriving Shreveport with businesses like when we had Western Electric, General Motors, Kast Metals, Libby Glass, Poulan WeedEater, to name a few. The Captains played baseball in their new stadium and people sat in the beer garden eating hot dogs and sipping nickel beer. New malls and shopping centers dotted the city, and parks were growing. People ate at local restaurants, like Sansone's, Brocato's, Abe's, Monsour's, The Centenary Oyster House, George's, and Fertitta's, to name a few. Downtown was bustling with department stores like Selber's, Hearne's, Rubensteins, and Palais Royal. You could grab lunch at a nice, fancy place downtown or a quick, inexpensive burger place. You felt safe. You could park in the Selber's parking garage and not worry about your car or about getting panhandled or mugged. Shreve Square was hopping on weekend nights: great bands in multiple clubs, people walking between them, great restaurants, good times.
Have you seen the building where The Sportspage or Humphrees used to be?
Humpfrees, 2021.
We could reminisce about the glory days forever, and everybody knows times change and nothing stays the same, but the truth is, other cities adapt better than we have. When you travel, when you leave the city and see other places, even places within say a three hour radius, it is stunning to see the difference.
It's possible to have a clean city with happy people. But Shreveport feels like a city with a cloud of gloom over it. We can talk it up and pretend to be positive. I know people will jump on me and say that it's the negative people like me that keeps it down. "If you hate it here so much, why don't you leave!?" I've heard it.
The answer is I'd like to be part of a solution, not stick my head in the sand and pretend like it's great. It's not great. Listen to that gunfire every night and tell me how great that is.
So. What's the solution. What do we do, Shreveport? What are the answers?
Somehow in my past I had neglected reading The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. I remember when the book came out and I remember everyone reading it and talking about it. My daughter even read it (I think) because I had it on my shelf here for years; I never picked it up.
When I found out that author Rebecca Wells will be the featured author at the Books Along the Teche Literary Festival this year, I decided it was time to read the book. My librarian friend and fellow book-nerd insisted that I also read Little Altars Everywhere, which I did. Then I read Ya-Ya's in Bloom. I now know the Ya-Ya's like my own family.
Now that I've read these, I'm excited to see Rebecca Wells next weekend at the literary festival! This is a woman that can tell a story! My favorite of the three books is Little Altars Everywhere but they are all wonderful; I have not read The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder yet, I've been so caught up in the Ya-Ya's. They remind me of my mother and her friends in a lot of ways and oh they are so Southern!
So now I'm looking at the events schedule for the festival and trying to plan my events. This is more difficult than it sounds; there is so much I want to do!
We attended this festival last year and had a wonderful time, made new friends, and fell in love with Iberia Parish. That we would return this year was never in question.
Do I want to do the same events I did last year? (Yes!) Do I want to add new events? (Yes!) The festival organizers have spread things out a bit from last year and there are more opportunities to do things; for example, last year I missed most of the authors fair on Main Street because we were doing the Dave's Haunts and Jaunts tour. During the afternoon a nasty cold front blew in and by the time the bus tour was over most of the authors had closed up.
Last year I didn't do the Bouree lessons and I think that would be sort of fun!
This is my tentative schedule this year:
Friday
Louisiana Seafood Great Southern Chefs Foods Demo 9:30 - 11:00: this was great last year and
we got to sample delicious food!
Dave's Haunts and Jaunts Tour 12:30 - 3:00 We did this one last year but two things make me want to repeat this: James Lee Burke has released New Iberia Blues since then, and Danny Bonaventure. Danny is the tour guide and he's terrific, tons of fun, and excellent at his job. This was a blast and I'm all in for doing this again.
Live Oak Walk 3:00 - 5:00 Main Street is lined with beautiful live oaks and I think this would be fun. The walk is hosted by a local arborist and I would probably learn some things. We did not do this last year.
The Jazz it Up Opening Reception 6:00 - 8:00 There is no way on God's green planet that I would miss this. Hosted at the beautiful Shadows on the Teche plantation home of Weeks Hall, this was a fabulous event last year. The Bunk Johnson Brazz Band provides the music and there is a cochon de lait on the grounds under large white tents. If that's not your thing, you have the option of other seafood specialties. Tables are scattered on the grounds along the bayou and you can eat, visit, listen to music, and at the end of the evening there is a really fun second-line around the grounds! We met so many wonderful people last year at this event; it was one of my favorite things we did. I'm all in
for this one.
So Friday looks to be a pretty busy day! So far I've only picked up one new event.
Saturday
The Dave's Haunts and Jaunts Tour runs again at 8:00; it is a possibility we might do it Saturday instead of Friday.
Books Into Movies Panel Discussion 10:30 - 12:00. I'm maybe interested in this event. The panel will discuss what authors should know about making a film of their books. A lot of people tell me Cane River Bohemia ought to be a movie; I'm not so sure about that, but maybe I'll learn something or get some networking in via this panel.
Allons Manger Food Truck and Music Event begins at 10:30 and runs until 1:30 while the Authors Book Fair runs from 9:30 - 3:00. I think I want to participate in both of these and have a fairly unscheduled day on Main Street, eating, looking at books, listening to music, and watching Bayou Teche. This might give me time to visit the Bayou Teche Museum which we did last year and loved.
Bouree Lessons are from 11:00 - 12:00 and I could fit that in, too.
University of Lafayette Academic Symposium 12:30 - 2:30. We attended this last year and it was great; I definitely want to do this again. The topic is James Lee Burke and Louisiana Politics: right up my alley.
Now this is my problem: if I do the Symposium, I can't do the Reader's Theater which runs from 1:00 - 2:00, and I missed this last year, too. The actors are reading from Divine Secrets and this will be awesome! Ugh!
From 3:00 - 5:00 Rebecca Wells will speak and I'm definitely doing this. I wouldn't miss a chance to meet this storyteller/author! I bet this is going to be awesome!
The Boogie on Down Evening Party is from 6:00 - 9:00 and we will definitely do this again. It was great fun last year. Terry Huval and his group will play fabulous Cajun music, the food will be abundant and delicious, and the friendship and fellowship will be heartwarming!
On Sunday, Steve and I will be heading back home so we will miss the Swamp Tours and the
Symphony in the Park. The trip home for us will include lunch in St. Martinville and a stop in Arnaudville to stock up on Bayou Teche Brewing beers and Cajun Saucer Pizza.
It sounds like an exhausting weekend and I can't wait! And even still there is not enough time to do it all. I did not even list the Art Guild Exhibit, the movie screenings, the Poetry and Music event, or the Sir Speedy Run.
And my gosh, you're in Iberia Parish! When is there time to visit Avery Island? Rip Van Winkle Gardens? Konriko Rice Mill? I'm dying to go to Cypremort Point! I've never been to Jeanerette or Loreauville! The docks at Delcambre are cool to see! There is so much to see and do. This is why after we attended the literary festival last year, we have made at least four more trips to the area since then, and I still haven't seen and done everything there is to do.
Guess that means I'll keep on coming back to Iberia Parish!
As my summer vacation comes to a close and the hectic school-year calendar approaches, Steve and I made one more trip to south Louisiana before we become consumed by school schedules, his Masters studies, and my book events. In this sort of calm before the storm, we threw ourselves into the Jeep and headed south.
After our first visit to New Iberia in April to attend the Books Along the Teche Literary Festival, we fell in love with the city and with the people. I am simply enchanted with all of it: the hospitality, the natural beauty, the lyrical Cajun accents, and the complete joie de vivre that we found there. And because the weekend of the literary festival was so fun and so full of activities, we didn't get a chance to see and do everything we wanted to, so a return trip was more than needed.
The attractions around Iberia parish are epic. When we were there in April we did a quick tour of the Tabasco factory (because it was Sunday they were not in production that day), and Jungle Gardenson Avery Island. Both were amazing and call for a return trip. I want to see Tabasco when they are in production and Jungle Gardens is beautiful and deserves more than the quick couple of hours that we were able to give to it before going home.
For this trip we wanted to visit New Iberia again, catch up with some friends we made in April, and tour Jefferson Island.
When we arrived, my friend Wendy asked if we were up for going with them to the Cajun French Music Association dinner and dance with them and so we tagged along for that which was big fun. We danced a bit and learned a couple of Cajun dance steps.
Cajun French Music Association dinner and dance.
The evening ended at Clementine on Main where we had a couple of drinks and the most divine bread pudding on the planet. After listening to our New Iberian friends, I decided I need to brush up on my French! If I lived in New Iberia, I'd go to the French breakfast at Victor's Cafeteria on Thursday mornings and learn a few things!
The next day, our only full day this trip, was dedicated for Jefferson Island. We stopped in Delcambre on the way and looked at the boats which was pretty cool.
Somebody please throw me on a boat and take me out into the Gulf!
Shrimp boat at Delcambre.
You have to see Jefferson Island to believe it. I took lots of pictures and not a single one does it justice. Driving into the parking lot, we had to go really slow to avoid hitting peacocks.
Peacock on Jefferson Island.
The island isn't actually an island, but a rise from a salt dome, just as Avery Island is. In November, 1980, a Texaco drilling rig on Lake Peigneur pierced the salt mine which cause the huge lake to drain into the mine, backed up water from the Delcambre canal and the Gulf of Mexico rushed into the mine and lake bed, and remarkably, none of the mine workers were injured, although much damage was done and property lost. You can easily see the chimney from a home which is all that remains. The litigation dragged out for years.
After his death in 1905, Jefferson's heirs sold Jefferson Island and the 2,000 acre plantation in 1917 to a partnership of John Lyle Bayless, Sr. of Anchorage, Kentucky; Paul Jones, bourbon distiller of Louisville, Kentucky; and E. A. McIlhenny of Avery Island, maker of TABASCO® Sauce. John Lyle Bayless, Jr. affectionately called Jack, developed Rip Van Winkle Gardens around the historic home in the late 1950's after selling the salt mine that tunnels under the island and lake. Bayless donated the home and 800 acres to a private operating foundation which he formed to assure its continued operation far beyond his lifetime to share with everyone, the place he so loved and enjoyed.
The house was amazing:
Joseph Jefferson home.
We spent the entire day in this paradise; the gardens are gorgeous.
Rip Van Winkle Gardens on Jefferson Island.
There are many oriental influences in the gardens including these gates:
Rip Van Winkle Gardens on Jefferson Island.
I was mesmerized by the lotus garden and took a million photos here.
The Lotus Garden.
The flowers were so delicate and beautiful.
Lotus flower.
Here's another:
I took another million pictures and videos of peacocks. I really wanted to capture their calls on video but wasn't able to do that.
We spend a long time just sitting on one bench or another, listening to the sprinklers, watching butterflies, raccoons, peacocks, and squirrels, or just watching the lake.
There is the chimney - all that remains of the house.
For lunch we went to the Jefferson Island cafe which offered air conditioning (yay!) and a beautiful view of the lake. I imagine in cooler weather (that is, not over a hundred degrees...), people dine outside because there's a nice cooling breeze coming off the lake, fanned by the Spanish moss, and through the trees.
I had a pastrami and Swiss cheese sandwich and Steve had an eggplant dish that he raved over.
We spent a couple more hours in the garden after lunch then went back to the hotel to shower and change for dinner.
We got to Main Street a couple of hours before our dinner reservation so that we would have time to shop. We stopped at Books Along the Teche and visited with Howard and Loraine Kingston for a while and purchased a couple of books. Loraine told me that Burke has a new Robicheaux book coming out in January called New Iberia Blues. I can't wait! Anything James Lee Burke related, Howard and Loraine know.
Books Along the Teche.
It was still too early for our dinner reservation so we walked Main Street, visited with some locals, and finally stepped into Bourbon Hall for a cold beer and a couple of quick games of pool. We went to this sports bar when we visited in April and because the service was fast and friendly, we went back. I lost three games of pool, but hey, I'm out of practice.
On to dinner.
Our dinner choice was Clementine on Main. Clementine originally opened in 1980, closed for two years, and recently reopened under new owners. They describe themselves as "southern casual fine dining" and I can attest to that. The beautiful, old, tiger oak bar is stunning.
Tiger Oak bar at Clementine.
The restaurant was busy when we got there; a lot of the locals were having an early dinner before the Iberia Performing Arts League production of Annie.
We both opted for the flat-iron steak which was divine. Perfectly seasoned, perfectly cooked, and tender as it could be. Steve had a sweet potato/sausage hash and grilled, smoked vegetables for his sides and I had fries and wilted spinach which had just the right touch of fresh garlic.
Our appetizer was Avocado Tartar which was described as a "deconstructed guacamole" and this raised the level of guacamole to new heights. Let's just say that I ran out today to buy avocados and Tabasco's Sriracha sauce so I can try to recreate this.
Avocado Tartar at Clementine
At the end of the meal I sent a text to my friend Wendy confessing that I was eating the bread pudding once again - I couldn't stop myself.
Fabulous bread pudding at Clementine.
After dinner we walked around downtown a little and then walked through St. Peter's cemetery right before dusk; it was serenely beautiful.
There is a lot of history in the cemetery and the city does cemetery tours each year with residents playing the parts of various people and telling their stories.
One more pass through downtown to see Church Alley alight:
and we called it a night.
Our final morning in New Iberia consisted of a tour of Konriko, the Conrad Rice Mill, which is the longest operating rice mill in the country.
Konriko.
Our tour guide was adorable, full of personality, and told us the story of the mill, showed us how everything worked, gave us samples of their signature Wild Pecan Rice (yes, I bought a bag - it's amazing!)
The mill is on the National Register and so they are a little limited as to what modernization they can do, but with over a dozen employees, they still produce a quality product and the thing I loved most: they waste nothing. Nothing! They either sell or donate hulls and broken rice and other by-products to farmers for feed, or breweries for their production needs.
The mill store is a relatively modern structure but a great deal of it was built with salvaged lumber and other items. It was well worth the stop, plus we got to meet the mill cats who we are assured control any rodent problems!
We took one more pass through downtown and hit Highway 31 heading toward St. Martinville.
It is a stunningly beautiful drive with sugar cane fields everywhere and the two-lane highway is lined with towering oaks draped with Spanish moss.
In St. Martinville we toured the Acadian museum and memorial.
The full sized mural that greets you inside the museum is simply gorgeous. It is 12 x 30 and was painted by Robert Dafford.
There is an audio that lasts for about twenty minutes as some of the people depicted tell you their stories. I expect that this is a terrific place to come do research if your family has Acadian ancestry.
We saw the Evangeline statue which was pretty awesome.
Evangeline
And the Evangeline Oak:
And we ate (again) at St. John Restaurant which was delicious. I had alligator au gratin and Steve had another eggplant dish. Both were excellent and we had a cool view of Bayou Teche while we ate.
We stayed on Highway 31 through Breaux Bridge and on to Arnaudville where we stopped for a cold beer.
Bayou Teche Brewing.
A cajun band was playing outside,
a mobile cigar lounge was parked under the trees...
and a BBQ food truck was there. I could have stayed all day but I filled a growler, listened to a couple of songs, and came on home.
We've been to New Iberia twice now and each time I love it more. And there is still more to see. I want to return to some of the places we saw the first time, like the Bayou Teche Museum. We haven't been to Loreauville or to the Jeanerette Museum. I could spend an entire week on Jefferson Island and Avery Island. I still haven't made it to Cypremort Point, I haven't done a swamp tour on the Bayou, and there are lots of restaurants I still need to try (although you may never get me away from Clementine). And this weekend is the Iberia Film Festival! The Cajun French Music Association has dinner and dancing once a month and there is always some festival or another either in New Iberia or nearby.
I'm so impressed with how these people love their community and work so hard to make it a lovely place for both locals and tourists. New Iberia has recently reinstated their own police force, too, and this has instilled a lot of pride and excitement in the town which saw some spike in crime after Hurricane Katrina.
I love Iberia parish and I hope they'll let me be an honorary Cajun because I'm brushing up my French and plan on coming back really soon!
I am beyond excited about attending this festival. I've never been to New Iberia and can't wait to explore the area. I have a deep love for the southern part of our state and its history.
The only trouble I'm having is trying to figure out how I'm going to pack everything in that I want to see and do into my time schedule. Some of the festival events overlap so I'm going to have to pick wisely! On top of that, there are millions of things to see and do beyond the festival. So, I'm looking at this as an introductory mission so I can plan future trips.
If I don't do any other event at all, I want to see Ernest Gaines speak. That, and the visit to The Shadows on the Teche are at the top of my list. I really want to see the famous autographed door inside the house.
Other intriguing events will include the Dave Robicheaux Haunts and Jaunts tour which will highlight historic sites in New Iberia as well as throughout the parish; the food demonstration on Friday morning will be a great preface to that tour. The reception Friday night at The Shadows should make for a very full day.
On Saturday is an academic symposium of James Lee Burke's work; Steve will probably go find something else to explore while I do this. After that, the authors and artists fair along Main Street should fill up the afternoon as well as my book totes, and then Ernest Gaines in the late afternoon, and a party that evening because Louisiana knows how to party!
Those are the events that I am certain I want to do; now I just have to figure out how to fit in Bouree lessons, three film screenings, and the Live Oak Walking Tour along Main Street. And the Swamp Tour. And Avery Island. And the rice mill. And just sitting still and enjoying the Teche. And a trip to Bayou Teche Brewing in Arnaudville. I'm getting overwhelmed.
The more I read and learn about the area, the more I want to see and do; there is so much history in New Iberia!
I'm anticipating a great weekend and looking forward to filling my belly with delicious food, making new friends, and learning new things. Festival organizers and Iberia Travel have been so generous and kind in making this trip possible that I can't wait to put faces with names and enjoy their hospitality!
I've been searching for reliable sources to read so I can learn more about this subject and this NOLA series, partnered with the New York Times, is my starting point. In a series of articles the authors introduce us to various communities and people in south Louisiana who are watching not only their land but also their homes and their culture and way of life disappear.
It's heartbreaking and from this early stage of my reading it doesn't appear there are any clear answers. It doesn't appear that any amount of money thrown at this problem will be able to solve it.
The series of articles point fingers at a number of culprits: rising sea levels due to climate change, a series of destructive storms, oil companies who built and widened canals but never repaired them when they left, the construction of levees to control the Mississippi, and even plagues of insects and rodents who destroy vegetation.
This article about the community of Jean Lafitte, located just south of New Orleans, chronicles the efforts of the mayor, Timmy Kerner, who has adopted the strategy of improving his community to the point that it would be more economically feasible to save it from erosion than to let it go:
His strategy was to secure so much public investment for Jean Lafitte that it would eventually become too valuable to abandon. In a decade, he had built a 1,300-seat auditorium, a library, a wetlands museum, a civic center and a baseball park. Jean Lafitte did not have a stoplight, but it had a senior center, a medical clinic, an art gallery, a boxing club, a nature trail and a visitor center where animatronic puppets acted out the story of its privateer namesake.
Some of the facilities had been used sparingly, and many at the grand opening questioned whether the seafood pavilion would be much different. To the mayor that was largely beside the point. What mattered was that the structure existed, that its poured concrete and steel beams made Lafitte that much more permanent.
"Do we lose that investment, or do we protect it?" Kerner asked...
The authors, Kevin Sack and John Schwartz, point out that a fourth of our wetlands are already gone and in fifty years 2,000 square miles could also go. In human terms:
The Gulf Restoration Network, a nonprofit conservation group, calculates that there are 358,000 people and 116,000 houses in Louisiana census tracts that would be swamped in the surge of a catastrophic hurricane by 2062. The Geological Survey predicts that in 200 years the state's wetlands could be gone altogether.
As Sack and Schwartz report it, the community of Jean Lafitte and everything else south of that New Orleans levee has basically been abandoned to the elements with the Corps of Engineers advocating relocation of the people. But that's not to say that nobody is trying to solve the problem. There are lots of committees, levee boards, ecologists, politicians, environmentalists, and other experts working to find and agree on solutions. And then there is the ever present problem of funding.
There are so many factors at play in this issue. This NOLA series is a great place to start learning about it, which is what I'm trying to do.
After you read about the community of Jean Lafitte, be sure you read this article about the Leeville community on Bayou Lafourche and the cemeteries that are washing out to sea. It's heartbreaking.
While there are plenty of problems in Louisiana and we've long been known for our notorious politicians and various aspects of corruption, (and tell me where, please, will you NOT find that?) this is one issue on which we should all be united. Whether you believe in global warming or climate change or not, whether you believe this land loss is due to greedy oil companies and their negligence, or whether you believe it's just a natural course of events, what we all need to remember is that this is our state: our culture, our way of life.
There are few places more beautiful in my mind than south Louisiana. The swamps, the bayous, the people and their way of life, is unlike anywhere else. How can we let this go?
There has got to be a way to restore and preserve our coastline and our state.
Doesn't everyone have a stack or two of books around their house just waiting to be read?
I have several of these: there's a stack by "my spot" in the living room and a stack by my bed. There's also another stack on the living room shelf, all just waiting for me to have time to crack the covers. I'm old school and still prefer paper over digital books, but I do read some on my Kindle app just because it is convenient when I'm on the go. But really, I thrive on the feel of the paper and the smell of the ink.
I've been on Spring Break this week and my reading has had a decided geographic focus. A couple of weeks ago I read A Lesson Before Dyingby Ernest Gaines which was quite moving and perhaps life changing. To follow up on that I then read A Gathering of Old Men, also by Ernest Gaines, and for the life of me I can't figure out why I've never read his work before. I highly recommend both of these books. To round out my Gaines-a-thon, I have The Tragedy of Brady Sims sitting at the top of my stack to be read next.
Gaines has a way and creating character and atmosphere that transports you to the time and place while creating empathy and new understanding in a way you never knew was lacking. His works should be included in any study of Southern writers.
Also in my reading this week I am, like a million other people, reading An American Marriage by Tayari Jones. I'm not finished with it yet, but I am indeed having trouble putting it down. The writing and the stylistic choices are simply beautiful and I can easily see why this book is captivating readers everywhere right now. Like Ernest Gaines, Jones has a gift of creating character. I want so badly to place blame in this novel but because of her deft use of perspective, I just can't do it.
Jumping into non-fiction, I'm also currently reading Teche: A History of Louisiana's Most Famous Bayou by Shane Bernard. This book came out in November 2016, but should be required reading for any student of Louisiana history. Bernard goes deep into the history of the region in the first part of the book while the second half of the book is travelogue about his own journey up the Teche in a canoe. There are lots of maps and photographs throughout the book which are an asset and help the reader see exactly what is being described. It's a fascinating book.
I'm really interested in finding some good, objective books about the Louisiana wetlands and the vanishing coastline. I haven't done a lot of research into that and I'm curious but I want to read something by someone without an agenda. Everything I'm turning up is either by big oil and they're trying to deflect blame or by environmentalists who want to blame global warming or big oil.... I just want something true and objective. If you have some recommendations, I'd love to hear them.
My break is coming to an end tomorrow and it will be back to work and I'll slowly work my way through the rest of the two books I'm currently reading. The luxurious afternoons of sitting in the swing under the magnolia tree and reading the afternoon away are coming to an end for now.
Tell me what you're reading: I need to build my stacks back up!
