640. Josh Neufeld, Part 1

640. Bruce's son Kerr joins us for part 1 of our conversation with Josh Neufeld about his non-fiction graphic novel, A. D. After the Deluge. “A stunning graphic novel that makes plain the undeniable horrors and humanity triggered by Hurricane Katrina in the true stories of six New Orleanians who survived the storm. A.D. follows each of the six from the hours before Katrina struck to its horrific aftermath. Here is Denise, a sixth-generation New Orleanian who will experience the chaos of the Superdome; the Doctor, whose unscathed French Quarter home becomes a refuge for those not so lucky; Abbas and his friend Mansell, who face the storm from the roof of Abbas’s family-run market; Kwame, a pastor’s son whose young life will remain wildly unsettled well into the future; and Leo, a comic-book fan, and his girlfriend, Michelle, who will lose everything but each other.”

1.  Now available: Liberty in Louisiana: A Comedy. The oldest play about Louisiana, author James Workman wrote it as a celebration of the Louisiana Purchase. Now it is back in print for the first time in 221 years. Order your copy today!
   
2. This week in the Louisiana Anthology. Walt Whitman came to New Orleans for 3 months to write at the New Orleans Crescent. There he saw things he had not seen in New York. This poem is about one of those. 
   "I Saw in Louisiana a Live-Oak Growing."
   I saw in Louisiana a live-oak growing,
   All alone stood it and the moss hung down from the branches,
   Without any companion it grew there uttering joyous leaves of dark green,
   And its look, rude, unbending, lusty, made me think of myself,
   But I wonder’d how it could utter joyous leaves standing alone there without its friend near, for I knew I could not,
   And I broke off a twig with a certain number of leaves upon it, and twined around it a little moss,
   And brought it away, and I have placed it in sight in my room,
   It is not needed to remind me as of my own dear friends,
   (For I believe lately I think of little else than of them,)
   Yet it remains to me a curious token, it makes me think of manly love;
   For all that, and though the live-oak glistens there in Louisiana solitary in a wide flat space,
   Uttering joyous leaves all its life without a friend a lover near,
   I know very well I could not.
   
3. This week in Louisiana history. August 23, 1714. St. Denis begins his exploration of Red River Valley.
   
4. This week in New Orleans history. The grass-roots organization Levees.org, founded by Sandy Rosenthal and her son Stanford (while exiled in Lafayette after Hurricane Katrina) is devoted to educating America on the facts associated with the 2005 catastrophic flooding of the New Orleans region. On August 23, 2010 the group installed a Louisiana State Historic Marker which reads “On August 29, 2005, a federal floodwall atop a levee on the 17th Street Canal, the largest and most important drainage canal for the city, gave way here causing flooding that killed hundreds. This breach was one of 50 ruptures in the Federal Flood Protection System on that day. In 2008, the US District Court placed responsibility for this floodwall's collapse squarely on the US Army Corps of Engineers.”
   
5. This week in Louisiana.
   Quad Biking
   Juderman’s ATV Park
   6512 Shreveport Highway
   Pineville, LA 71360
   Website
   Trails length: 5 mi/8 km
   Type: Swamp
   Elevation:130 - 160 ft/39.6 - 48.7 m
       This 200 acre park has about 5 miles of marked woods trails, mud bogs and pits plus deep creek water crossings. The park is open every weekend but weekday riding is permitted if arrangements are made in advance. Park amenities include shaded picnic areas, air filling station, vault toilets plus an area for barbequing. The property also hosts various events throughout the year. Visitors should note that camping is not permitted and tire size is limited to 28 inches. The Gone Wild Safari Exotic Zoo is only a couple minutes away making this a good choice for a fun filled family weekend.
   
6. Postcards from Louisiana. "The Hurricane." William Cullen Bryant. Sung by the Keller ISD 5th and 6th Grade Honor Choir.

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