What to do in Shreveport in April

Shreveport is beautiful this time of year. The azaleas, dogwoods, and wisteria are blooming, the trees are leafing out, and the city's gardeners have a riot of blooming daffodils, tulips, and other beauties to admire. If you haven't made it over to Norton Art Gallery to catch the azaleas you better hurry!

There is so much to do and so many events this time of year.  Here are some local events that have caught my eye for April:

On April 4 you can catch the Downtown ArtWalk from 5:00 - 8:00 pm where you can experience art and artists, watch fun new street performers, grab a bite at a food truck or a special at a restaurant, walk through new exhibit openings, learn about some of the history of the area in a History in 5 talk and Sketch the City with AIA architect Mischa Farrell.

April 7:  Kids day at Caddo Parish Animal Shelter:  it's the 2nd Annual Kids Day at Caddo Parish Animal Shelter where they will have books, crafts, and family fun focused on pet education! Kids will be free to watch G rated movies, read pet education books to adoption animals, craft with some fun pet education booklets, and play with adoption animals. Snacks will be provided. The event will be from 10-2 and is free.  The animals love it!

Flying Heart Brewing and BeauxJax will have a block party on April 7 featuring food trucks and local vendors as a benefit for Gingerbread House.  The event runs from 11-6 at 700 Barksdale Blvd.

The Texas Avenue Makers Fair will be April 7 and will feature many local artists.  The event is from 10:00 - 5:00 at 888 Texas Avenue.

Also on April 7, the Shreveport Opera Guild is hosting its first character breakfast: “Beignets with Belle,” from 9:00-10:30 am on Saturday morning, at Logan Mansion in Shreveport (725 Austin Place). This family event will allow guests of all ages to interact with the characters Belle, Prince Charming, and Cinderella while enjoying fresh beignets prepared by Southern Faire’s Cindy Johnson, children activities, a photo booth by PicEnvy, and a short performance by Belle. Not only will children and adult attendees be treated to a morning with the characters Belle and Prince Charming, but Cinderella will also be there.  Tickets must be purchased in advance.

On April 13-15 the Sons of Confederate Veterans will host the Battle of Pleasant Hill Reenactment at Pleasant Hill in Sabine Parish.

Saturday, April 14, The Robinson will have a Family Matinee: Babe.  The cost is $6.50 and there will be pre-show prizes!

The Renzi Center will have a benefit on April 14 at The Shop on Southern Avenue.  The Jazz & Blues Brunch will feature Buddy Flett and will run from 11:00 - 2:00.  Enjoy a delicious brunch courtesy of Marilynn's Place and e a cash bar with beer, Bloody Marys, and Mimosas for the 21+ crowd. There will also be Rhino Coffee's famous hot and cold blends.  In addition to great food and live music,there will be a raffle for a 55" Phillips Smart TV, provided by Lagniappe Foods. Raffle tickets are $5 and can be purchased in advance or at the event.

Red River Brewing's monthly live music jam will be April 15; this is always a fun event with great music and good food!

The Shreveport Little Theater is staging Of Mice and Men from April 19-29.  Contact the theater for ticket prices. 

You can catch Beauty and the Beast on April 20 hosted by the Shreveport Opera at Riverview Hall.  Contact the Shreveport Opera for ticket information.

Centenary College and The Meadows Museum will host Art in the Meadow on April 21 from 10:00 - 4:00.   This is a free event featuring: art, sustainability, kid-friendly activities, and fun for the whole family. There will be Artists Alley, a makers fair featuring many local artists, designers, and makers as well as interactive booths with games, crafts, and activities geared toward kids of all ages that highlight art and sustainability. Bonus: there will be food trucks!

On Sunday, April 28, the Wizard of Oz production will be at the Strand. The national tour features dazzling special effects, sets, and of course the music!

The Foo Fighters will be at CenturyLink on April 24.  Tickets start at $39.

On April 24 the Heels and Reels event at The Robinson will be Working Girl.  The event is from 5:30 - 8:30 at the Robinson in downtown Shreveport.

April 28:  The ARTini fundraiser will be from 7-1l pm at the Louisiana State Exhibit Building.  It is a Casablanca themed event this year featuring live music, local artists, and much more. Twenty-Five area restaurants will create unique martinis and compete for the coveted titles of "Judges Choice", "People's Choice", and "Most M'artisanal".

Also on April 28 you can catch Lonestar at Margaritaville. Tickets start at $30.

If local politics interests you, on April 28 you can attend Leo Savage's announcement party as candidate for Shreveport mayor.  The event is from 4-7 pm at the Agriculture Building at the Louisiana State Fairgrounds.

If that's not enough for you, there is always Mudbugs Hockey which is so fun and the organization does so much for our community.  We have many great museums: if you've never been to the Shreveport Water Works Museum on Common Street you should definitely check it out.  The Spring Street Museum is also a very cool place with many interesting artifacts and history of Shreveport.  The Shreveport Aquarium is a great place to take the kids for a little something different to do.  You can catch a baseball game at Centenary (for free!) through April or at LSUS for a small charge.

There is a little something for everyone!

If you have an event you'd like added send me an email or drop it in the comments! 

Countdown to Books Along the Teche Literary Festival

Second Line at Shadows on the Teche

We are on countdown to the Books Along the Teche Literary Festival which begins April 6 in New Iberia, Louisiana.

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.

This article in The New Iberian details the festival and a few of the events.

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!

Why don't you make plans to come, too?

Drink More Water with the Help of Metta Wella

Metta Wella: making drinking water fun again!

While nobody has ever accused me of being a tree-hugging liberal, it is probably true that I do have some tendencies that lend me to be a little bit conscientious about the planet on which I live.  I say this not only in reflection of my last post about the vanishing Louisiana coastline, but primarily in the fact that I am deliberately turning away from the disposable plastic bottle.

For the past year or so I have been working hard to break my addiction to Diet Coke.  Invariably during the teaching day that morning coffee wears off and I'd reach for the caffeine boost of a soda, thinking I was making a healthy choice since it was "diet."

Not.

So many chemicals and things I don't know what they are in that stuff...

Anyway, so I upped my morning coffee an extra cup and muscled through the day with bottled water from the vending machine instead of a soda.  When I got tired of paying $1.25 for a bottle of Dasani, I just started refilling the bottles from the fountain, thinking I was so smart and saving all this money.

Then I remembered hearing something about BPAs; when my daughter was pregnant several years ago she was very cautious about using BPA-free products, which was the first time I'd heard of that.

About this time I decided I should probably cut back a bit on the beer: the waistline and the liver are grateful.

Then one day I was emptying the trash cans around the house and the number of plastic water bottles caught my eye.  There must have been fifteen or twenty and I empty trashcans fairly often.

Long story short, I am now in the no-plastic-water-bottle camp.  I have turned now to Metta Wella for my beverage needs!

I did a little research and found that globally one million plastic bottles are bought every minute; that's about 20,000 bottles per second.  And while many communities have recycling programs (my own community included), most of these bottles do not get recycled.  And less than 10% of the plastic bottles you buy come from recycled material.  When plastic bottles are recycled they are used mostly in synthetic clothing, carpeting, plastic bags, and shipping materials, and then those end up in a landfill.  So one way or another the bottles end up in a landfill.

You can trace it on down further and find that eventually this plastic ends up in the groundwater and in the oceans and then you have another problem.

So I decided to opt out of plastic bottles when possible. I turned to Metta Wella for glass and stainless steel infuser bottles; I was attracted to this company primarily because they donate half of their profits to global clean water initiatives like The Water Project and Charity Water.

I love these bottles!  I use two of them: the first one is the double walled stainless travel bottle.  It fits my Keurig and I can fill it up with my morning coffee and know that it will stay hot as long as I need it to.  I love the bamboo exterior because I think it looks cool and it doesn't sweat or get hot when I hold it.  It also has an infuser basket so you could use it for hot or cold teas, or whatever fruit you might want to add.

Metta Wella Malawi traveler bottle

I also use this very pretty glass infuser bottle with a bamboo lid.. It is also double walled and vacuum sealed.  You can use it for both hot and cold beverages but I use it for my afternoon cold water.  I love experimenting with recipes for it, too!  This one is blueberry, raspberry, lemon, and crushed mint.  The stainless steel infuser basket can also hold tea if you wish, or perhaps herbs or spices.  The possibilities are limitless.

Metta Wella Sunday Bottle

I know I can't save the planet with a reusable bottle but at least I know I'm not adding twenty bottles a week to the local landfill and I am making a small contribution to a global clean water initiative.  I can't get that with just any water bottle. Bonus points for making drinking water fun and the personal health benefits from that!

Metta Wella also has a line of teas they offer as well as a subscription service for those.

Give this small, start-up company a try. I'm more than impressed with their product, their mission, and their service.



Disclosure: I am a member of the Metta Wella Affiliate Program.

Louisiana's Vanishing Coast

"...like disintegrating lace..."

That's how the authors of the NOLA series on Louisiana's vanishing coast describe what's left of the land and marsh that make up our southern parishes.

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.

If you have a good source or recommendation for further reading on this, please share with me in the comments!

Further Reading:
Insects Feast on Louisiana's Coast (NOLA: Feb. 2018)
Buried at Sea: As cemeteries on Louisiana coast wash away, so does history (NOLA: March 2018)
Our Drowning Coast (NOLA: Feb. 2018)
Why the Master Plan will not Protect Louisiana (LSU Law Center: Feb. 2017)

Currently Reading and Looking for Suggestions

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 Dying by 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!

What to do in Shreveport/Bossier in March

Spring is upon us and there is a lot to do in Shreveport-Bossier as we ease into the season. 

Here are just a few of the events going on over the next couple of weeks:

March 13 - 17 is 318 Restaurant Week which provides an opportunity to dine at local restaurants at special prices. Participating restaurants create prix fixe menus for lunch and dinner. In addition, five restaurants will be offering an elevated dining experience led by a local, celebrated foodie each night of the 318 Restaurant Week.

March 15 head over to Flying Heart Brewing in Bossier City for Whiskey Tricks.  Find your inner craic with Flying Heart Brewing & Pub and Jaya McSharma! Sample Jameson, Jameson Black Barrel, Caskmates Stout, Caskmates IPA, and Cooper's Croze. Plus enjoy their monthly special; Reuben Pizza. Tickets are $25 until 11:30p 3/14, after that time you will have to purchase them at Flying Heart ($40).

March 17: St. Patty's Day Adopt-a-Thon by Friends of Bossier City Animal Control - Find your new furry friend from 10 - 3 at Bossier Animal Control, 3217 Shed Road in Bossier City.

Also on March 17 Patty in the Plaza 2018 will be from 5-11 at festival plaza downtown.  Ticket info can be found here.

March 19: Fundraiser for Shreveport-Bossier Animal Rescue from 5 - 8 at Newk's, 5423 Youree Drive in Shreveport.  Eat at Newk's and SBAR gets a donation.  Win-win!

March 20:   Girls night out at Heels and Reels at Robinson Film Center, downtown Shreveport.  Watch Emma Stone in her break-through performance. All she wanted was to see what it feels like to be popular, but when a little white lie gets out, Olive’s lily-white reputation gets soiled. She finds her life paralleling the unenviable Hester Prynne's in "The Scarlet Letter."

Also on March 20 you can head to 2John's to see Cole Vosbury and Amanda June from 6-10.

March 23: ARTini Glass Painting at Bossier Arts Council on Barksdale Blvd., Bossier City.
Each year as part of the ARTini fundraiser, artists and community members help paint 300 Martini glasses. Bring a small snack to share and they will provide everything else. There is no cost to attend this event. Students are welcome, but must be at least 12 years old. Registration is NOT required for this event.

Also on March 23 head over to Norton Art Gallery where they will be showing Ferngully: The last Rainforest on the front lawn of the museum for FREE!! Bring your chairs and blankets and enjoy a movie under the stars. Local food trucks will be on hand with yummy treats to enjoy starting at 7:00 PM. Movie begins at 8:00 PM. Food Trucks: Sweetport McCoy's Butcher Block Ono's Traditional Hawaiian Cuisine BeauxJax Mobile Cajun Eatery.

March 24: Fundraiser for Camp Rainmain! The first-ever Corn Dog Busker Arts Festival, hosted by Clark McLendon, will be held, 12-9 p.m., Saturday, March 24 in Bossier City's new East Bank District and Plaza (across the street from the Bossier Arts Council - BAC). This day-long festival will feature free corn dogs and lemonade, with live music buskers performing throughout the plaza. All money raised by performers, as well as any other donations made at the festival, will benefit Camp Rainman of NW Louisiana. There will also be a corn dog-eating contest, which will crown the Corn Dog King and Queen. Admission is FREE!

Also on March 24 is the first Crawfest in Betty Virginia Park.  Crawfest is a FREE ADMISSION, family friendly event held on Saturday March 24, 2018 in Shreveport's historic Betty Virginia Park. This is the first festival of its kind ever to be held in the Park. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the South Highlands Neighborhood Association for improvements in the park. There is an all day line-up of great bands and food trucks.

 March 25:  Come out and celebrate Easter with Rhino and Deuce! Get Easter pictures of your fur baby done by an amazing photographer, take a chance winning raffle baskets, enjoy our costume contest, let your pup take part in our egg hunt, and enjoy food provided by Uneeda Taco.  The event is from 1-5 at Columbia Park in Highland.

If you have an event you'd like included, leave a comment!

Take a Trip to Visit Louisiana's Unique Preservation Sites

Cammie Henry's scrapbook on Shadows-on-the-Teche

Spring is the most beautiful time of the year in Louisiana. There's no doubt in my mind. The dogwoods and azaleas are beautiful and they are everywhere! Everything is turning green and spring's pastel colors paint our landscape. It's no wonder that we get wanderlust and want to hit the road this time of year. I have a trip to south Louisiana planned in a few weeks and could not be more excited.

In preparation for that trip I went to Natchitoches yesterday to dig into Cammie Henry's archives once again. I have just finished reading Morris Raphael's biography of Weeks Hall, owner of Shadows-on-the-Teche plantation.  

Weeks Hall was a colorful character and reminds me in many ways of Lyle Saxon. The Hall family presence can be dated to the very early 1800s on Bayou Teche with large landholdings and a sugar plantation. The plantation house that remains today was begun in 1831 and completed in 1834 so that makes it contemporary with Melrose Plantation in Natchitoches which was completed in 1833.

As I researched my book, Cane River Bohemia: Cammie Henry and her Circle at Melrose Plantation, it was impossible not to fall under the spell of Lyle Saxon as well as Cammie Henry because they were both such vivid people who loved life and lived every moment of their lives. 

 Weeks Hall also falls into this category.  

While both Weeks and Lyle would probably have lived longer if they had taken better care of themselves, they were both a product of their time and they both lived the way they wanted to.  They had a lot of fun, entertained a lot of people, and both made their own unique preservation contribution to Louisiana.  So did Cammie Henry, and let's not overlook Cammie's best friend, Caroline Dormon and her preservation of the Kistachie forest as well as her home, Briarwood..

That all of these people should come together is fascinating to me when I think about the conversations and gatherings they had.  

Weeks Hall is a paradox to me in that he restored this beautiful plantation home and the gardens in New Iberia which naturally attracted tourists and the general public who wanted to see it.  But Weeks also valued his privacy and was a huge practical joker.  Morris Raphael writes that Weeks often walked the gardens in his underwear much to the shock of tourists who happened to be availing themselves of his gardens.  Sometimes people would simply wander into his house, uninvited.

In one one of the letters from Weeks to Cammie Henry dated July 1932 that I read yesterday, he describes encounters with uninvited guests:

I have been locking my gates night and day.  It is now 8:45 p.m. and someone just telephoned.  I answered myself and said I was out.  We have been finding people in the house even. Monday I locked a crowd of fifteen in and made them jump the fence!
...

Weeks Hall letter to Cammie Henry, 1932

Why is it, dear Aunt Cammie, that people pressure on country people, as you well know, in ways that they would not dare in the cities. Two months ago I had my house and gates locked. I was upstairs and sent the boy to the yard for the dog. A man that I know fairly well had jumped the fence and caught the boy coming in the back door. He made him open the gate, brought in eight people, a suitcase of liquors, and had party in my kitchen for two hours. I had hidden in the garret. When they left I asked the boy to bring up my lunch. They had eaten not only all of that but a ham that I cooked especially and promised to my cousins next door.

Can you imagine?!

Weeks Hall and Lyle Saxon were lifelong friends and both were charming hosts when they wanted to be, apparently, as was Cammie Henry, and all had a sense of responsibility in preservation.

Cammie's efforts in preserving and restoring not only Melrose plantation but the cabins and buildings that she brought there as well as her patronage of artists and writers of the time is invaluable.  Lyle Saxon preserved Louisiana lore and history through his writings for the newspaper as well as through his books, and Weeks Hall, of course, preserved and restored The Shadows.

I'm grateful for all three of these people not only for their preservation of my home state but also for their forward thinking and the records they left behind. They provide an invaluable look at their age and allow us to look into their lives.

If wanderlust strikes you this spring and summer, put both Melrose Plantation and The Shadows on your destination list.  Louisiana is a beautiful place: get out and explore!

Landrieu Pushing His Book on the Backs of the Confederate Monuments

I'm writing this post prior to Mitch Landrieu's appearance tonight on 60 Minutes; I don't plan to watch.

Mayor Landrieu is publicizing his new book which is out March 20 and as the mayor blusters and pontificates all over the media, one can't help but consider how he relished the monument drama as fuel for future book sales.

This week he spoke to the press about his plans for the sites in New Orleans that previously held Confederate monuments.  It's been about a year since Landrieu had four monuments removed: the monument at Liberty Place was taken in the dead of night. In the following days and weeks Landrieu also removed those of  Jefferson Davis, P.G.T. Beauregard, and Robert E. Lee, leaving blighted public areas and empty pedestals in their place. 

During Mardi Gras, he placed a ring of porta-potties around Lee Circle.

The whole issue still makes me angry when I think about it.  My position has always been that these monuments represent history and to destroy public art does not change that history or make it disappear.  Landrieu never engaged the opposing side in any of his plans, an effort that certainly would have been better for the city and reduced tension.  But that wouldn't have sold as many books.

At these sites, Mayor Landrieu plans to place an American flag where the Jefferson Davis monument stood.  As for Lee Circle, he's deferring that to others to decide.  At the Beauregard site, the City Park Improvement Association will landscape and clean up the area and the pedestal will be removed.  Nothing will go where the Liberty Place monument was.

Landrieu says that those companies who didn't make their equipment available to him to remove the statues were practicing "industrial racism" and he continues to insult the ancestors of a great number of southerners:

"Really what these monuments were, were a lie," Landrieu told Cooper on "60 Minutes. "Robert E. Lee was used as an example to send a message to the rest of the country, and to all the people that lived here, that the Confederacy was a noble cause. And that's just not true."

It's difficult to know what to say to people who refuse to see both sides of history.  And I'm a little embarrassed for him for being so blind and uninformed.

The entire monument removal fiasco was questionable on many levels and many questioned various legal aspects of the project, including who paid for the removal, why city workers were used to remove the monuments, and who was behind the foundation that funded part of the removal.

He said the monuments belong in museums but a year later they are still crated up in some city warehouse.

That Landrieu is kicking the can down the road with regard to the placement of the monuments themselves should surprise no one.  As Mike Bayham points out, Landrieu wants to go on his book tour as the guy who removed the monuments, "not rearranged them."

But you can rest assured that whenever (or if ever) Davis, et al leave the city warehouse, Landrieu will be basking in the klieg lights of the media to criticize wherever they go, because that’s his racket and sole source of relevancy in the national media. 

Instead of transferring the statues to an appropriate historic venue that would secure and maintain them, New Orleans is going to be treated to a new round of acrimonious bickering in shouting matches euphemistically labeled “listening sessions”, with the fringes of both sides being prominently featured by the media. Dragging things out benefits Landrieu’s national stature, though not the incoming New Orleans government, which should be focused on the quality of life matters that will be left festering on their doorstep. 

While New Orleans is one of the most historic, vibrant, and beautiful cities in the South, it has suffered greatly under Landrieu's tenure.  Crime has been out of control and the mayor has made little effort to do anything about that.  He is now a lame duck as he prepares to step aside for the new mayor elect, LaToya Cantrell, a Democrat who won the election with 60.4% of the vote.

One hopes that the incoming administration will deal with this issue with more finesse than Landrieu has done.



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Life Lessons from Ernest Gaines and A Lesson Before Dying

In anticipation of my upcoming trip to New Iberia to attend the Books Along the Teche Literary Festival, I have spent the past week reading A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines.

Mr. Gaines will be the featured guest at the festival and I want to read his works before I potentially meet him. The book was published in 1993 and for some reason I've never read it.  As much as I love Southern Literature and Southern writers, I can't fathom how this book slipped by me.  Now that I've read this book I am afraid I will be totally speechless in this man's presence.

I sobbed through the last twenty pages.  It took me three days to finish them.

In my twenty-two year career as an educator, I've known many, many kids like Jefferson.  I've know lots of Grants, too.

The setting of the novel is the Jim Crow south. Jefferson is twenty-one years old and sentenced to death for his presence at the murder of a local store keeper. The public defender calls Jefferson a mere "hog" during the trial and it becomes Grant's role to encourage Jefferson to die like a man, not like a hog.  Grant is reluctant to take this assignment on but his aunt won't take no for an answer.

Grant is a teacher; he teaches the plantation children who live in the quarter. 

As I read, I kept thinking about education. Grant went to college, got a degree, and returned to the quarter to live with his aunt and teach the children, yet he dreams of running away and starting a new life. Jefferson, on the other hand, is semi-literate and spent his life working in the fields.  Would education have saved him? Did it save Grant?

As I approached those last twenty pages all I could think of was "I teach this kid.  I have Jefferson in my classroom every year.  At least one of him, sometimes more," and by that I mean simply kids that sometimes end up in places they never intended and sometimes through no fault of their own. Life happens. What's going to happen to them?  Are we ensuring that all of our kids, every one of them, are equipped with the life skills they need to survive?  Are we doing our best by them?

In my long career in public education I can honestly say that it's not the same profession now that it used to be.  That's good in some ways and in other ways not so much.  While raising expectations for our students is great, I have real concerns about our "test and assess" culture that has come to define education and I have had kids tell me more and more often that all they feel like they are learning is how to test.  That breaks my heart.

So I try harder to engage and to make our scripted curriculum relevant and meaningful to them. Through the years, with more and more test prep added into the curriculum, it becomes harder and harder.

Kids like Jefferson sit in every classroom across the country.  Are we helping them by endlessly asking them to explain why they picked C over A and to justify that answer?  It frustrates me.  Is this a life skill they need or are we just lining the pockets of test makers?

As educators, we've been told that the shift from novels and books in ELA classes is permanent and that we will likely never return to teaching entire novels in class any longer.  (Kids can read them on their own, we are told.)  That makes me sad because that means that we lose Grant Wiggins, Atticus Finch, Huckleberry Finn, and thousands of other characters who inspire and through whom we vicariously can live and learn.  Are we doing these kids any favors by this?  I'm no longer sure.

As I read the last twenty pages of A Lesson Before Dying, through my tears I picked up my phone and sent a message to an educator friend who is equally passionate about kids and literature.  "I will never understand people who don't read," I said.  "The places they'll never go, people they'll never meet, and things they'll never feel is stunning."  Deep in my heart I believe this.

Through reading we learn empathy and compassion. That printed words on a page can touch a person so deeply they are moved to tears is amazing to me.  Equally important, words on a page can make us angry enough to fight for change, can take us to places we will perhaps never visit, can introduce us to role models, anti-heroes, innocence of spirit, purity of heart, and can teach us new ways of looking at the world.

I lived almost fifty-nine years having never met Grant Wiggins or Jefferson, but now my life is richer and forever changed because I did.

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Lyle Saxon, Weeks Hall, and Shadows on the Teche

Shadows on the Teche, 1938

Fantastic news!  The good people at the Books Along the Teche Literary Festival have offered me a media pass to cover the festival this year and I could not be more excited!

The festival will be April 6 - 8 in New Iberia's historic district but their website promises events all throughout the parish. Their agenda is jam-packed with events I don't want to miss and one of the highlights for me will be the opening reception:  a Cajun Cochon de Lait (pig roast) with music by the Bunk Johnson Brazz Band, hors d’oeuvres and adult beverages at Shadows-on-the-Teche, a National Trust for Historic Preservation site.

Shadows-on-the-Teche was the home of the Weeks family and was built in 1831 and completed 1834 for David Weeks and his wife, Mary Clara Conrad Weeks.  According to Richard Lewis, curator of visual arts at the Louisiana State Museum in New Orleans, the land was granted to Weeks's father, William,  in 1792 through a Spanish land grant.  William continued to purchase property throughout the area and eventually accumulated over 2,000 acres.

David Weeks and his father grew some cotton but focused primarily on sugar cane in the early 1820s. William retained carpenter James Bedell and mason Jeremiah Clark to build the Shadows but he died before the house was completed. When his widow remarried, she kept her property separate from that of her second husband. When she died the plantation passed to her son, William F. Weeks who died in 1895; then it passed to his daughters, one of whom was Lily Weeks Hall.  She died in 1918 and her son, William Weeks Hall returned to the plantation from Paris.  He acquired all family shares and at the age of 25 became the sole owner of the plantation.

Weeks Hall spent the rest of his life restoring the plantation to its original grandeur.  He used family papers and a complete set of construction records to achieve this, according to Richard Lewis in his book, Robert W. Tebbs: Photographer to Architects.  Architects Richard Koch (1889-1971) and Charles R. Armstrong (d. 1947) were retained to restore the home "to its 1830s appearance."  When Weeks Hall died in 1959 he bequeathed the home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.  Koch and Samuel Wilson, Jr. did restoration work for the National Trust in 1961 and since then the gardens have also been restored.

Like Cammie Henry, Weeks Hall spent his life preserving and restoring a plantation home and buffering it against the encroaching modernism that he saw around him.  Both Cammie and Weeks Hall used their plantation homes to paint a picture of the past in which they both lived, while also keeping one foot in the present.  Complicit in this for both of them was their common friend, writer Lyle Saxon.

Lyle Saxon and Weeks Hall, a fine artist and painter, were lifelong friends and when Lyle Saxon had an appendectomy that turned out to be much more complicated than initially believed, Weeks Hall stepped up as a blood donor for Lyle.  Chance Harvey, in her biography of Saxon, says that after this they referred to each other as "cousins."  Lyle even joked, "If you think this is going to make me paint any better, you're crazy."

In The Friends of Joe Gilmore, Saxon devotes an entire chapter to Weeks Hall and chronicles a literal "moonlight and magnolias" visit to the plantation with his servant, Joe Gilmore:

"And so we sat there on the broad gallery sipping [mint]juleps while Joe and Mose brought in the bags...After dinner we strolled out to the summer house overlooking the bayou and some of Weeks' friends came to call.  The moon was nearly full and the bayou was filled with shining ripples.  Great trees arched over our heads where we sat in the shadow."

Lyle's friend and illustrator Edward Suydam was also present that night and Lyle calls the evening "nearly perfect" as ladies in white linen dresses and men in summer suits drifted across the lawn while servants mingled among them balancing trays of drinks.

I'm fully expecting to "see" Lyle Saxon and Weeks Hall when I visit The Shadows in April!

There is so much history and so many truly cool things to see in New Iberia and the surrounding area that I'm certain one weekend will in no way be enough.  Now that the book is finished I plan to make several trips south to more fully explore the stomping grounds of Lyle Saxon and Cammie Henry.

Cammie was born in Assumption parish (she sometimes says that she was born in Ascension parish) and taught school in Donaldsonville after her graduation from the Normal School in Natchitoches.  There are plenty of places around that area to explore as well.  Another trip!

Once again, The Books Along the Teche Literary Festival will be April 6-8; get your tickets here and make plans to go!


For Further Reading:
Robert W. Tebbs: Photographer to Architects (LSU Press, 2011)
Shadows on the Teche Plantation (Karen Kingsley, Knowla)
The Shadows on the Teche: History 
Lyle Saxon and the WPA Guide to New Orleans (Lawrence N. Powell, 2009)




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Books Along the Teche is the Perfect Weekend Festival

Shadows on the Teche

Books and literary festivals are right up my alley: I love them!  I love book bazaars, book festivals, book fairs, the whole thing.  And it's a good thing I do since I have a side hustle as a writer.

So, when I came across this announcement about the Books Along the Teche Literary Festival in April, well, my heart skipped.  How perfect is this event?!  It will be in New Iberia in the spring and it doesn't get any better than that, except wait!  It does!  The festival is named for local son James Lee Burke.  I've been a fan of his Dave Robicheaux character for years.  In fact, that's one of the things that drew me to Michael Henry's books; his Willie Mitchell character reminded me a lot of Dave Robicheaux.

Nearly every event at Books Along the Teche looks enticing.  On Friday, April 6, the festival starts at 9 a.m. with a food tasting and everyone knows Louisiana food is fantastic.  In the afternoon there is lunch and then a tour of Iberia parish featuring Dave Robicheaux's "haunts and jaunts."

Louisiana author Ernest Gaines will be the featured guest this year and on Saturday afternoon he will lead a reading and then host a question and answer session.  Gaines is the author of A Lesson Before Dying and The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, among many other works.  The film adaptation of Miss Jane Pittman will be featured in a free screening Friday afternoon.  Now, how cool would it be to meet Ernest Gaines!

What would also be at the top of my list is the Jazz it Up opening reception Friday night featuring a cochon de lait and a jazz band but best of all it will be held at Shadows on the Teche, the plantation home Weeks Hall who was a friend of Lyle Saxon and a fascinating character!  This plantation is on my bucket list.  Lyle took Cammie Henry there to see it a couple of times and to meet Weeks Hall.

This festival is filled with events that would keep me running and spinning all weekend!  There is an Academic Symposium, panel discussions, an author's fair, a 5k run (I would skip that one), and even Bouree Lessons!

If I were dreaming up the perfect festival, this would be it.

If you are able to go, I would highly recommend it!  I'd love to go but the package ticket price is $190 and is out of my reach at the moment since this is the year that everything in my house is broken.  (So far this year, since January 1, we've had to replace the blower in the furnace, the washing machine, a living room window, sections of plumbing in the kitchen, had to do some electrical work in the kitchen, replace the battery in one car, and the list goes on and on, right down to phone chargers.)  Given all those expenses, spending money on festival tickets and a hotel seem rather out of my league right now.

New Iberia is beautiful all of the time but especially so in the spring.  This could not be a more perfect weekend trip.

If you go, send pictures!






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Weekly Instagram Feature: New Iberia Travel and Tourism

Crepe Myrtles in the Louisiana sun

One of the great driving forces in marketing these days is, believe it or not, Instagram.  We've always known what a powerhouse social media can be but take note: Instagram has over 700 million monthly users as of April 2017.  Sure, some of those users are teenagers but the research shows that most teenagers prefer Snapchat over Instagram.  More and more, Instagram is becoming the place to market your brand or to launch your entrepreneurship.

There are some powerhouse players who are using Instagram to great advantage: some are big brands you've already heard of like Nike and National Geographic, but smaller, independent sellers are seeing fantastic results from a carefully curated Instagram feed.  New York stylist and former Radio City Rockette Hilary Rushford decided a day job cubicle wasn't for her and formed the Dean Street Society which is a motivational company helping people develop the best of themselves, whether it's personal style, entrepreneurship, defining a business model, or marketing.

Instagram works best if you define your brand, determine your niche, and do your research on your intended market. To that end, I'm going to use this space once every week or so to run a series of great Instagram feeds that I have discovered: people who are doing it right. These are just feeds that I follow and find entertaining, educational, or helpful: nobody has asked me to put them here.

The first page I'd like to give a high-five nod to is the Iberia Parish Travel and Tourism page.

Currently these are the top photos on their home page:

Iberia_Travel

Their posts caught my eye because it just defines Louisiana for me.  The first photo of a Tabasco pepper and a King cake is pure Louisiana love!  In these twelve photos we see Louisiana food, a plantation, entertainment and nightlife, trees draped with Spanish moss, and the featuring of local businesses which is all any travel and tourism page should be.

If you scroll through the rest of their feed, you'll see bayous, churches, community theater, and of course Mardi Gras!

The reason this feed works is because it's consistent: everything comes back to the brand which is "come visit New Iberia!"  Their photos exude Louisiana atmosphere and flavor.

Their homepage also includes a link to their Facebook feed which successfully integrates their social media presence.

Your Instagram bio is limited to 150 characters so it's important to be creative in order to capture the interest of your intended market.  The bio for Iberia Tourism reads:

Iberia Tourism Official profile for Iberia Parish Travel. Adventure Louisiana's HOT side and get ready to ditch the beignets for the hot sauce!

One of Louisiana's iconic brands comes from Iberia Parish: Tabasco Hot Sauce.  In New Iberia you can tour the Tabasco factory and museum.  Tabasco tour not for you?  There's also golf, garden tours, an historic district, shopping, museums, and plantations.  What's not to love?!

It was through this page that I learned about the Bayou Teche Literary Festival, thus achieving their goal of education and tourism.  I'm dying to go to this festival April 6-8, 2018.   Author James Lee Burke is featured this year and I've been a Dave Robicheaux fan for years. The festival events will feature food demonstrations, Dave Robicheaux tours, a 5K run, an Academic Symposium, authors and artisans fair, and Bourre lessons, just to name a few.  I'm in!

The bottom line is that this page does great job marketing its brand.  Their photos are consistently brand related and beautiful to look at which is critical because Instagram is such a visual medium. 

The page currently has 637 followers.  If you want a little taste of Louisiana in your Insta-feed, go on over and follow Iberia Tourism!

Is There a Revival of Independent Bookshops?

The Book Merchant, Natchitoches (2010)

Cottonwood Books in Baton Rouge is a small, independent bookseller that has figured out how to survive against the big chain stores and the internet, both of which nibble away at their sales.  This article in the LSU Daily Reveille focuses on how the bookshop is thriving and I am envious.

I always wanted a shop just like  J. Michael Kinny's place in Natchitoches: The Book Merchant.  It was on Front Street and had a large display window facing the street which looked out on Cane River. The deep window was always filled with attractive displays of books, a sprinkling of antique items, and a fluffy cat sleeping in the sun.  Sadly, the shop closed in 2012. It broke my heart.

The shop was exactly like the one I always dreamed I would have; there were inviting comfortable couches and chairs throughout, attractive displays of books on fine oak tables, warm lamps pooling light onto the gleaming hardwood floors, local art on the walls, and two cats.  J. Michael was always friendly and hospitable; I never went into the shop that he didn't have a recommendation for me of some local author or book of local interest.

And that's how Cottonwood Books is surviving - they have a niche.  Their niche is first-editions and hard to find books.  They, too, have a knowledgeable proprietor to help and engage you. It's working: they've been open over 30 years.

In Shreveport we don't have any independent booksellers that I am aware of.  We do have D&B Russell on King Highway which offers unique used books and they have a great Louisiana section.  Their little corner in King's Ransom Antique Mall is always inviting with chairs to sit in and stacks of intriguing books. It's very quiet and I've found some real treasures in there.

The struggle for indie booksellers is real: there is the obvious problem of the internet making books instantly accessible but booksellers also have to deal with rising rent costs and the rising costs to retain employees.  But perhaps there is hope for them.  Discount chains like Barnes & Noble are now struggling to remain relevant against even cheaper prices on Amazon. In our local Barnes & Noble I see as many Funko Pop toys and Legos as I do books.

Perhaps a renaissance for indie books is on the horizon.  Betsy Burton of The King's English Bookshop in Salt Lake thinks so:

In fact, Burton said independent bookstores are experiencing a renaissance as large chains such as Barnes and Noble struggle against Amazon's cheap prices and instant gratification. "People actually like to go browse and turn the pages," Burton said. So, as the chains flounder (with ones such as Borders going under), those who prefer "being able to physically shop" are coming to the independent stores. 

She's not the only one seeing a revival:

But then the saga of the independent bookstore underwent a major plot twist: The customers came back. Between 2009 and 2015, independent booksellers across America grew by an astounding 35 percent, from 1,651 stores to 2,227, ABA figures show. And the upsurge shows no sign of slowing. 

There is truth in this.  I'm as guilty as anyone when it comes to utilizing Amazon, but there are some books I want to be able to hold in my hand, to smell the ink, the age, to feel the paper...I want to be able to flip through them and I want to be able to look at them on my shelf.  I want to save them and to treasure them.  I have first editions of Lyle Saxon's books which are one of the first things I'd grab if my house caught on fire. I have an antique, 8-volume, leather bound set of Samuel Pepy's diary.  I have a tiny red book of Evangeline inscribe on the inside by a Confederate soldier to his lady love, Elizabeth. There's nothing on Amazon like that.

These are volumes that make one's heart skip and causes the spirit to soar.

There is no greater joy to me than to be able to spend hours browsing shelves like those in J. Michael Kinny's shop, getting lost in the books of local history and genealogy.  There are Holy Grail books out there somewhere that I must find: I'd love to find a first edition of Caroline Dormon's Wildflowers of Louisiana.  At D & B Russell's shop one time I found a book by Harnett Kane inscribed to Cammie Henry, Jr.  Fate!  I grabbed it and did not let go.

And yes, I'm speaking of second-hand books here, but if an indie is to survive I think they have to find a niche as Cottonwood has done and offer secondhand books, first-editions, local writers, something.  If, as an indie, all you offer is current bestsellers, you will die.

I really miss the independent bookshops.  I'm not sure if I could ever pull it off but if all the stars line up someday maybe I'll just do it.  I'd try to locate it near a craft brewery so you can buy a book and go have a beer and read it. That way you can support two local businesses (and who wouldn't want to be next to a craft beer place?!)  I'll hang twinkly lights like Meg Ryan did in You've Got Mail;  I'll design inviting window displays and I'll have some shop cats.  There will be local art for sale and maybe homemade baked treats.  A few very unique antiques.  Overstuffed couches and warm rugs on the floors. You will come shop there and you'll find something that makes your heart skip a beat.

It will be fabulous!

Further Reading:
Bookstores escape from jaws of Irrelevance (Boston Globe, 12/2017)
The Independent Bookstore Revival in Brooklyn (Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 2/2018)
Why Indie Bookstores are on the Rise (Slate, 9/2014)

Can Shreveport Attract Independent Baseball?

Postcard photo by Neil Johnson of Fair Grounds Field

I've got baseball fever.  Spring is coming; I can almost see it from here, and spring means baseball.

Shreveport does not have a professional baseball team; no minor league team, no independent team.

We had the Shreveport Captains, the Shreveport Sports, and  the Swamp Dragons, among others.  Now we have nothing. Our taxpayer-funded, once beautiful baseball stadium sits as an example of urban decay at the Shreveport fairgrounds serving primarily as a home for the city's bats (and I don't mean baseball bats.)  The stadium opened in 1986 and the last baseball game there was in 2011.

It is a crying shame.

In 2015, KTBS reported that the City of Shreveport still spends $200,000 per year to maintain the facility:

It costs $200,000 to maintain it but this isn't money the city is actually spending on the park. They're using staff and supplies from neighboring Independence Stadium to walk over and do things like maintain the exterior and power wash to keep down the smell of the poisonous bat droppings.

Now the field is covered in weeds and trash. SkyPixel has several drone photos of the park from 2015 which show an overgrown field, broken seats, broken windows in the press box, and with home plate and the pitcher's mound still covered as if someone is actually coming back to play.

In recent years there has been talk of demolishing the stadium which would cost about $450,000.  On the other hand, there are people in this community who would like to save Fair Grounds field and offer, if not professional baseball, something else there for people to enjoy.  There is a Facebook page, Rescue Fair Grounds Field, with over 500 followers, but nothing has happened.

In Shreveport we can still see baseball at the college level.  Both LSUS and Centenary have excellent teams and our community colleges also have baseball.  The Centenary field is within walking distance from our house and I can hear batting practice from my front yard. There is no sweeter sound.  We regularly attend those games and it is great fun!  Wouldn't it be fabulous if the baseball community came out to watch, too?  We sit among parents of the student players mostly.  There is little community support, although there is some.

There is no charge to get into a Centenary baseball game: it is free.

There is something about the game of baseball that is just magic to me.  I don't understand all of it and I'm not a lifelong student of baseball although I have always enjoyed watching it.

When we go to the Centenary games, I love sitting in the warm spring sun, getting that first blush of tan on my winter skin, listening to the songs on the PA system, the walk-up songs, the chatter and laughter of the parents around us.  Most of the time there are parents in the parking lot boiling crawfish or getting some BBQ feast ready for after the game and the scent infuses the air around us. I'll get some hot roasted peanuts and a coke, prop my feet up on the rail in front of me and get lost in the game before me.  The antics of the boys in the dugout are always hysterical; I love their camaraderie and love for each other and the game.  It's all-American.  There is nothing better.

I recently watched The Battered Bastards of Baseball on Netflix.  It's a 2014 documentary about the independent Portland Mavericks who played for five seasons under owner Bing Russell.  Narrated by his son (and former player himself) Kurt Russell, the film is a hilarious and nostalgic romp through the life of this team.:

Built around speed and reckless play, the Mavericks were initially looked upon as a joke - until Mavericks pitcher Gene Lanthorn threw a no-hitter in the team’s first game, and it was off to the races. The Mavericks proceeded to clobber their competition and set attendance records, becoming overnight media sensations covered by NBC, Sports Illustrated - even The New Yorker.  

 With a roster of ragamuffin players culled from open, public tryouts, the Mavericks shocked the baseball world in 1977 by achieving the highest winning percentage of any team at any level of the game (.667). The Mavericks became the team nobody wanted to play - a cocky, hard-partying Wild Bunch that regularly whipped squads boasting future major leaguers like Ozzie Smith, Dave Henderson, Dave Stewart or Mike Scioscia.

All that's missing is Annie Savoy.

But the documentary also makes one painfully nostalgic for local baseball.  One point the film makes is that the fans knew the players and the players were part of the community.  There is archival footage of the players in uniform sitting among the fans during the game. The locals supported the team in record breaking numbers. When corporate baseball came and forced the team out, attendance dropped like a rock.

So baseball comes and goes within a community.  It's a business -- a big business these days with million dollar contracts and personalities.  The price of a professional baseball ticket can set you back some serious change, but whenever we go to Des Moines we always go see an Iowa Cubs baseball game which is excellent baseball and costs a fraction of what you'd pay to see the Chicago Cubs, for example.

Is Shreveport a sports town?  Is it a "baseball town"?  We have hockey, rugby, soccer, even roller derby.  Will this town support minor league baseball? 

In 2016 a new independent league was announced: the Southwest League, which will include Louisiana.  They will reportedly begin playing in 2019 with six teams in Texas with growth expected in coming years. 

Could we tempt them to come to Shreveport?  Do we have anyone with the cash backing to lure them here?

Baseball started in Shreveport in 1872 and existed under various teams and leagues until 2011.  Isn't it time to bring it back?

What is stopping us?



Related:
Roy Lang:  Fair Grounds Field turns 30 Today (April, 2016)
What's to Become of Fair Grounds Field?  (KTBS, 2015)
Cal Ripkin, Sr.  Foundation
LSUS Baseball Schedule - 2018
Centenary Baseball Schedule - 2018
For the Love of the Game: Talking with Kurt Russell about The Battered Bastards of Baseball
The Southwest Baseball League