47. Interview with Marsha Recknagel.

47.  We interview Marsha Recknagel, professor and author of If Nights Could Talk: A Family Memoir, "Between Two Storms.", and other works.  Marsha has a Ph.D. in literature and an M.F.A. from Bennington College Writing Seminars.  She has taught personal essay writing, creative writing, and writing workshops.  She wrote If Nights Could Talk about taking in her teenage nephew when he needed a place to live and exploring that experience against the backdrop of their extended family's history.  It was listed as one of the Best Books Of The Year by the Los Angeles Times Book Review.  Her book was excerpted in Vogue magazine, listed as recommended reading in Elle magazine, praised in Oprah magazine, and reviewed in the Washington Post, the Houston Chronicle, and New Orleans Times-Picayune, Tucson Weekly, and publications across the country.  

1. This week in Louisiana history. April 12, 1861. Louisiana Gen. PGT Beauregard ordered first shots on Ft. Sumter to begin Civil War.
2. This week in Louisiana.  April 17-19, 2014
   Great Southern Spring Bluegrass Event
   Every day From April 17, 2014 until April 19, 2014
   Website. 985-516-4680
   30338 Hwy 21, Angie, LA 70426
   The annual Fall Great Southern Bluegrass Event will be held Thursday, April 17 through Saturday, April 19 at 30338 Highway 21 in Angie.
   

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46. Interview with Robert Leighninger on the PWA in LA

46.  We interview Robert Leighninger about his book, Building Louisiana: The Legacy of the Public Works Administration.  The Public Works Administration  (PWA) was a depression-era program to put the unemployed back to work building large public works like bridges, schools, dams, and hospitals.  When we speak of Louisiana architecture, our minds tend to go to the French Quarter, plantations, Creole houses, shotgun houses, and dog trots.  But the PWA buildings are all around us every day: courthouses, schools, city halls, post offices, college buildings, even the French Market in New Orleans.  Tbe PWA both offered jobs to people who needed work during the depression; it also helped provide us the infrastructure for a vital society.  These accomplishments remind us that sometimes government is the answer.

1. This week in Louisiana history.
   April 6, 1764. First Acadians actually arrived in Louisiana. 
   March 6, 1929 Impeachment trial of Huey Long held.
2. This week in Louisiana.  April 4-6, 2014
   Bayou Cajun Festival
   307 E. Fifth St.
   Larose, LA 70373
   985-693-7355 Traditional Louisiana dishes, music and dancing. Carnival mid-way, sport events, craft market, piroque races in Bayou Lafourche and a fun walk. Free parking and no gate fee.

The "Alphabet Soup" of Depression-era Programs

1. Civil Works Administration (CWA)
   
2. Farm Security Administration (FSA)
3. Federal Works Administration (FWA)
   
4. National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC)
5. National Youth Administration (NYA)
   
6. Public Works Administration (PWA)
   
7. Resettlement Administration (RA)
8. Social Security (SS)
   
9. Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

For Further Study

• Living New Deal
• National New Deal Preservation Association
• Public Works Historical Society (APWA)
  
• When Government Helped (Book) Collins & Goldberg
• WPA Today

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45. Interview with Chris Stelly

45.  We interview Chris Stelly, the head of Louisiana Entertainment.  You may not have heard of this department, but it has been instrumental in the renaissance in Louisiana entertainment in film, television, music, and interactive games.  Louisiana has become a leader in the number of films made in a state, and along the way we have enjoyed a golden age for films and series about the Pelican State.  Listen in for a peek behind the scenes to learn how this happened.

1. This week in Louisiana history. March 29, 1962. New Orleans--Parochial schools are ordered to desegregate by Archbishop.
2. This week in Louisiana.  March 29, 2014
   Battle of the Gumbo Gladiators
   March 29, 2014
   Website
   318-425-4413
   101 Crocket St., Shreveport, LA 71101
   
   Battle of the Gumbo Gladiators, hosted by Volunteers for Youth Justice, is a gumbo cook-off fundraiser to help abused, neglected and at-risk children throughout Northwest Louisiana.

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44. Interview with Isabel Wilkerson, Part 2.

44.  Pulitzer Prize winner Isabel Wilkerson rejoins us to finish discussing her book The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration, which depicts the move of African-Americans away from the Jim Crow South to the north and west.  We focus on the experience of Dr. Robert Foster, who moved from Monroe, LA to California in search of opportunities to practice his profession.  We also learn more about the experience African-Americans had living in north Louisiana in the 1950s.

1. This week in Louisiana history. March 21, 1861. Louisiana joins the Confederate States of America.
2. This week in Louisiana.  March 28-29, 2014
   Smokin' Blues & BBQ Challenge
   March 28, 2014 - March 29, 2014
   800-542-7520
   Downtown Hammond, Hammond, LA 70401

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43. Interview with Isabel Wilkerson

43.  Pulitzer Prize winner Isabel Wilkerson joins us to discuss her book The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration, which depicts the move of African-Americans away from the Jim Crow South to the north and west.  We focus on the experience of Dr. Robert Foster, who moved from Monroe, LA to California in search of opportunities to practice his profession.  We also learn more about the experience African-Americans had living in north Louisiana in the 1950s.

1. This week in Louisiana history. Winter 1713-1714. Louis Juchereau de St. Denis founded Natchitoches.
2. This week in Louisiana.  March 20-23, 2014
   Louisiana Crawfish Festival/Redfish Cup
   8201 W. Judge Perez Dr.
   Chalmette, LA 70043
   504-271-0537 | 504-329-6411
   The Crawfish Festival will be held on Thurs. - Sun. at Torres
   Park. There will be live music, rides, games, food and lots of
   good crawfish.

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42. Interview with Debra Faircloth.

42.  We interview writer Debra Faircloth.  Debra has just released a book of short stories set in Louisiana, The Fifth Guest and Other Louisiana Stories.  We also have one of her stories, "Dinner at the Spindletop Cafe," posted on the Louisiana Anthology.  In addition to her writing, she has worked for many years as an advocate for victims of domestic abuse (Louisiana Domestic Violence Hotline 1-888-411-1333).  Join us as we learn both about her writing and her important work countering domestic abuse.

1. This week in Louisiana history. March 8 1836 New Orleans is divided into three independent "cities": French Vieux Carre and two American areas:
   
   1. The First Municipality included the original city of New Orleans, now known as the Vieux Carre or French Quarter. It lay between Canal St. and Esplanade Ave. In 1852 it became the Second Municipal District.
   2. The Second Municipality, sometimes called the American Sector, lay above (upriver from) Canal St. It included the area of the city previously known as the Faubourg St. Mary. In 1852 it became the First Municipal District.
   3. The Third Municipality, below (downriver from) Esplanade Ave., included the section previously known as the Faubourg Marigny. In 1852 it became the Third Municipal District.
2. This week in Louisiana.  March 14, 2014.
   Ghost Ships on the River
   236 Hwy. 61
   Jackson, LA 70748
   225-654-3775
   Port Hudson State Historic Site, Zachary - Ghost Ships on the River, 6:30 p.m. To commemorate Admiral Farragut's naval attack on the Confederate river batteries at Part Hudson (March 14-15, 1863), a park ranger will lead the visitors on a walk to Fort Desperate and will share stories with the visitors of paranormal phenomena that have taken place in and around the Port Hudson battlefield. The tour will then return to museum where the staff will conduct a special night firing of the site's three artillery pieces including the always popular 42- pounder cannon. There will also have a presentation at the site's pond with the model gunboat fleet and pyrotechniques about Admiral Farragut's attack on Port Hudson.

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41. Interview with poet Mona Lisa Saloy, Part 2

41.  Part 2 of our interview with Mona Lisa Saloy, Author & Folklorist, Educator, and Scholar.  An award-winning author of contemporary Creole culture in poems about Black New Orleans before and after Katrina, as a Folklorist, Saloy documents sidewalk songs, jump-rope rhymes, and clap-hand games to discuss the importance of play.  As a poet, her first book, Red Beans & Ricely Yours,  won the T.S. Eliot Prize and the PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Award and tied for a third. She's written on the significance of the Black Beat poets, on the African American Toasting Tradition, on Black & Creole talk, on conditions  and keeping Creole after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, and her new book, Second Line Home,  is a refreshing collection of poems that captures the day-to-day New Orleans speech, contemplates family dynamics, celebrates New Orleans, and all in a way everyday people can enjoy.

1. This week in Louisiana history. March 1, 1932 La. State Capitol Building completed (in just 14 months).
2. This week in Louisiana.  March 4, 2014.  Mardi Gras!

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