447. Bob Mann, part 1.

447. Part 1 of our interview with Bob Mann. Bob has a new memoir, Backrooms and Bayous: My Life in Louisiana Politics. State history, behind-the-scenes stories, funny anecdotes, and life lessons come together to form Robert Mann's indelible memoir about his life and career alongside some of the most powerful lawmakers in the South. Offering an in-depth, personal perspective of working in government, Mann shares the lives of major politicians and how they affected his own beliefs, eventually shifting his ideological views. Mann has known every Louisiana governor--aside from Uncle Earl--since 1944. He has interviewed past presidents, senators, and aides as a journalist and served as press secretary to two of the most influential Louisiana legislators. He acted as press secretary to the 1990 US Senate reelection campaign of J. Bennett Johnston when he defeated former Klan leader David Duke. He helped elect Mary Landrieu to the US Senate, and his engaging stories range from Russell Long's struggle with his father's past to how Mann lost John Breaux's suitcase. Through it all, Mann writes with humor and empathy, casting politics and politicians in a refreshing, human light.

1. This week in Louisiana history. December 11, 1901. The Rice Association of America organized in Crowley.
2. This week in New Orleans history. A storm, with a cold-core upper low, developed on December 11, 2012 behind the first one and spread snow across parts of the Gulf Coast states including the cities of Houston, Texas, Baton Rouge, Louisiana and New Orleans, Louisiana as well as parts of southern Mississippi. Four inches fell in Lumberton and Beaumont in southeast Texas as well as just outside the Baton Rouge area and south central Louisiana. Some areas of west-central Louisiana received as much as 6 inches, while areas just south of Jackson, Mississippi received 8 to 10 inches. It was the first snowfall for the downtown New Orleans area since 2004.
   
3. This week in Louisiana.
   Festival of the Bonfires.
   The Great River Road between New Orleans and Baton Rouge can lay claim on one of the more unusual public December holiday lighting displays. It’s here on the earthen levees containing the Mississippi River that local Christmas lights aren’t colored bulbs, but instead dozens of 20-feet-high flaming pyramids of burning logs. The Christmas bonfires, as locals call them, are mostly teepee-shaped, but some can be odd shapes paying tribute to the river’s heritage—shapes ranging from miniature plantation homes to tiny replica paddlewheel steamships. Bonfires are built by families, friends and co-workers who visit, cook and mingle between the fires. It’s a local celebration with an environment akin to football tailgating, and the practice has continued for generations.
      The bonfires are up and down the river, but the highest concentration is in St. James Parish, in and around Gramercy, Lutcher and Paulina. The best viewing is by car along the east- and west-bank River Roads (La. Hwys. 44 and 18, respectively) and by walking along the levees. Bonfire parties are not necessarily open to the public, but onlookers will likely be offered kind words and holiday greetings should they mingle on foot.
   
4. Postcards from Louisiana. Robert Desmarais at a voting rights protest.

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