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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103. Martha Serpas interview, part 1

103.  Part 1 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 10, 1781. Formal surrender of Pensacola to Gov. Galvez.
2. This week in New Orleans history. At the Wednesday May 9, 1832 session of the Conseil de Ville (City Council) it was resolved “that the Mayor is and remains authorized to use the stores necessary to complete the sidewalks ‘City Carré Banquettes’ already begun. The paving material left over and that which shall hereafter be had from this should be exclusively used to pave Royal Street. Approved May 15, 1832 by D. Prieur, Mayor.”
3. This week in Louisiana.
   Mid-City Bayou Boogaloo
   May 15th, 2015 - May 17th, 2015
   Bayou St. John
   Intersection of Orleans & N. Jefferson Davis Parkway, New Orleans, LA 70119
   504-488-3865
   Website

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102. Interview with Maggie Heyn Richardson

102.  We interview Maggie Heyn Richardson about her book, Hungry for Louisiana, a book about our food and its relation to our culture.  "Richardson reveals the way that food sets a powerful tempo to life in the Bayou State, a place where eating locally and seasonally existed well before it was fashionable. Whimsically told and thoughtfully reported, the book provides a fresh look at eight of the state’s most emblematic foods: crawfish, jambalaya, snoballs, Creole cream cheese, filé, blood boudin, tamales, and oysters, revealing angles not reported elsewhere. Richardson takes readers on a journey into Louisiana farms, meat markets, restaurants, festivals, culinary competitions, roadside vendors and other spots where she interviews the men and women responsible for producing these memorable items as well as those who cook and enjoy them. An engaging look at the way food informs identity, Hungry for Louisiana will tug at the heartstrings of anyone who has ever lived in this bizarre and homespun state as well as those who want to know more about it."

1. This week in Louisiana history. May 4, 1970. T.H. Williams wins Pulitzer Prize for his biography, Huey Long.
2. This week in New Orleans history. Jennifer Quayle in the Times-Picayune (May 2, 1976): It's said that pralines were named after Cesar du Plessis Praslin (pronounced 'pralin') a grand marshal of pre-Napoleonic France. According to legend, it was Praslin's valet who suggesed his master's almonds be cooked with sugar to prevent indigestion.... The French brought the candy to the New World, ..., when they copied it (since almonds weren't readily available, Louisiana pecans were substituted.' Ms. Quayle goes on to suggest that house servants learned to make the candies from their mistresses and soon began to sell pralines on the streets of the Crescent City.  Many used the money they earned to buy their freedom.
   
3. This week in Louisiana.
   Cochon de Lait Festival
   May 7th, 2015 - May 10th, 2015
   Cochon de lait Pavilion
   1832 Leglise Street, Mansura, LA 71350
   318-964-2152
   Website  

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101. Bill Loehfelm Interview

101.  This week we interview Bill Loehfelm about his detective novels.  “Bill Loehfelm is the author of four novels, most recently, The Devil in her Way, the next Maureen Coughlin adventure and Bill's first New Orleans-set novel, from Sarah Crichton Books. Meet Maureen for the first time in The Devil She Knows (2011).”

1. This week in Louisiana history. April 25, 1862. New Orleans falls to Admiral Farragut's US Fleet. April 24, 1877. Reconstruction ended in Louisiana.
2. This week in New Orleans history. Federal troops captured New Orleans on April 25, 1862. Having fought past Forts Jackson and St. Philip, the Union was unopposed in its capture of the city itself, which was spared the destruction suffered by many other Southern cities. However, the controversial and confrontational administration of the city by its military governor caused lasting resentment. This capture of the largest Confederate city was a major turning point and an incident of international importance. Because a large part of the population had Union sympathies (or compatible commercial interests), the Federal government took the unusual step of designating the areas of Louisiana under Federal control as a state within the Union, with its own elected representatives to the U.S. Congress.
   
3. This week in Louisiana.
   
   1. Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival Association
      May 1st, 2015 - May 3rd, 2015
      Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival
      1300 Rees St., 520 Parkway Dr, Breaux Bridge, LA 70517
      337-332-6655 | 337-332-5917
      Website
   2. Louisiana Crawfish Gatorfest
      This is the 1st Annual Louisiana Crawfish & Gator Fest @The Ike in West Monroe, La. This is the biggest event to hit NorthEast Louisiana in years. Perfect event to bring your family and friends to enjoy great food, carnival rides, shopping, and live entertainment. This will be a funfilled 4 day event for all to remember from all areas 0f the ArkLaMiss to come enjoy the best crawfish and experience live Gators for your entertainment. So please come support and enjoy so we can make this the biggest event to hit this area, and continue to bring this event back every year.
      Venue:    Ike Hamilton Expo Center Arena
      Address:    501 Mane Street
      West Monroe LA, 71292
      Phone:    318-325-9160
      Web:    lacrawfishgatorfest.com

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100. Interview with Ibrahima Seck about Bouki Fait Gombo, Part 2

100. Part 2 of our interview with Ibrahima Seck about his book, Bouki Fait Gumbo. "Through an in-depth study of one of Louisiana's most important sugar plantations, Bouki Fait Gombo traces the impact of slavery on southern culture. This is a thorough examination of the Whitney's evolution-- from the precise routes slaves crossed to arrive at the plantation's doors to the records of the men, women, and children who were bound to the Whitney over the years. Although Bouki Fait does not shy away from depicting the daily brutalities slaves faced, at the book's heart are the robust culinary and musical cultures that arose from their shared sense of community and homesickness. The release of this book coincides with the opening of the Whitney Plantation Museum, a 'site of memory dedicated to a fuller understanding of the facts of slavery, our national tragedy'." 

1. This week in Louisiana history. April 18, 1864. Battle of Sabine Pass takes place in Cameron Parish.
2. This week in New Orleans history. The Canal streetcar line reopened April 18, 2004, almost 40 years after its close.
3. This week in Louisiana.
   Festival International de Louisiane
   April 22nd, 2015 - April 26th, 2015
   downtown Lafayette, Louisiana
   444 Jefferson St, Lafayette, LA 70501
   337-232-8086 | 337-233-7536
   Website

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99. Interview with Ibrahima Seck about Bouki Fait Gumbo.

99. Part 1 of our interview with Ibrahima Seck about his book, Bouki Fait Gumbo. "Through an in-depth study of one of Louisiana's most important sugar plantations, Bouki Fait Gombo traces the impact of slavery on southern culture. This is a thorough examination of the Whitney's evolution-- from the precise routes slaves crossed to arrive at the plantation's doors to the records of the men, women, and children who were bound to the Whitney over the years. Although Bouki Fait does not shy away from depicting the daily brutalities slaves faced, at the book's heart are the robust culinary and musical cultures that arose from their shared sense of community and homesickness. The release of this book coincides with the opening of the Whitney Plantation Museum, a 'site of memory dedicated to a fuller understanding of the facts of slavery, our national tragedy'."

1. This week in Louisiana history. April 10, 1806. General Leonidas Polk’s birthday.
2. This week in New Orleans history. Treme, the television drama series created by David Simon and Eric Overmyer. which follows the interconnected lives of a group of New Orleanians in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, premiered on HBO on April 11, 2010.
3. This week in Louisiana.
   Bradshaw - Brooks Golf Tournament.  Join Louisiana Tech Athletics, Terry Bradshaw and Kix Brooks for the 11th annual Bradshaw-Brooks Golf Tournament at Squire Creek Country Club.
   April 12th, 2015 - April 13th, 2015
   Squire Creek Country Club
   289 Squire Creek Pkwy, Choudrant, LA 71227
   318-768-7000

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98. Inverview with photographer Deborah Burst

98.  We interview Deborah Burst, author of Louisiana's Sacred Places.  Louisiana’s Sacred Places takes you on a personal tour of Louisiana’s most solemn and revered locales. From New Orleans’ most telling portraits of eternal architecture to St. Roch Chapel’s chamber of miracles filled with relics of pain and suffering. Burst’s vivid photography and discerning eye bring the spirits and celestial wonder to life in every frame.

1. This week in Louisiana history. April 6, 1764. First Acadians actually arrived in Louisiana.
2. This week in New Orleans history. On April 4, 1812, the Territory of Orleans, which had been organized in 1804, was admitted to the Union as the 18th State. It was not contiguous to any other state, since Mississippi was not admitted until 1817, Arkansas until 1836, and Texas in 1845.
3. This week in Louisiana.
   April 5, 2015
   Poverty Point, Epps
   Tool Demonstation
   Time:    1:00-4:00pm
   Come and watch the rangers demonstrate the tools used by early inhabitants to build, hunt and create other articles used in their culture.
   Address:    6859 Highway 577
   Pioneer LA, 71266   
   Cost:    $4 per person
   Phone:    888-926-5492
   Web:   http://www.crt.state.la.us/parks/ipvertypt.aspx

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