104. Martha Serpas Interview, Part 2.

104.  Part 2 of our interview with poet Martha Serpas.  “Martha Serpas is the author of three collections of poetry, The Diener (LSU);  The Dirty Side of the Storm (W.W. Norton); and Côte Blanche (New Issues). Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Nation, Southwest Review, and Image: A Journal of the Arts and Religion, as well as in a number of anthologies, including the Library of America’s American Religious Poems, The Art of the Sonnet, and Bearing the Mystery: Twenty Years of Image. She holds degrees in English and creative writing from Louisiana State, New York University, and the University of Houston, and a master of divinity from Yale Divinity School. A native of south Louisiana, she remains active in efforts to restore Louisiana’s wetlands. Since 2006 she has worked as a trauma chaplain at Tampa General Hospital. She teaches in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Houston.”

1. This week in Louisiana history. May 16, 1932. In just 17 months, H. Long's new state capitol was completed, dedicated, and opened during the inauguration of Gov. O.K. Allen.
2. This week in New Orleans history. The Southern Baptist Convention founded the institution as the Baptist Bible Institute during the 1917 convention meeting in New Orleans. New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, or NOBTS for short, was the first institution created as a direct act of the Southern Baptist Convention and was located in the Garden District on Washington Avenue. The institutes's purpose was centered on missionary work, and initially established as gateway to Central America. On May 17, 1946, the SBC revised the institutes' charter to enable it to become a seminary, and the name was changed to New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Missions and evangelism have remained the core focus of the seminary.  The Seminary started as the Baptist Bible Institute and relocated to a more spaciouse campus during the 1950s to the current location in Gentilly after purchasing a 75-acre pecan orchard and transformed it into what is now a bustling campus over 100 buildings, including academic buildings, faculty and staff housing, and student housing.
   
3. This week in Louisiana.
   
   42nd Annual Greek Festival New Orleans
   May 22nd, 2015 - May 24th, 2015
   Holy Trinity Cathedral
   1200 Robert E. Lee Boulevard, New Orleans, LA 70122
   504-282-0259
   Website 

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