277. Shirah Dedman, part 2

277. Part 2 of our interview with Shirah Dedman. Shirah made a documentary Uprooted, about the lynching of her great-grandfather Thomas William Miles, Sr. in Shreveport in 1912. Racist violence was so severe in Shreveport that the parish earned the nickname, "Bloody Caddo." Shirah is an activist, filmmaker, and attorney. From a high school dropout at 15-years-old to a licensed lawyer by the age of 23, she inexplicably found herself consistently un- and under-employed. So after her last layoff, she decided to relentlessly pursue her true passion: the intersection between media, economics, race and the environment.Last year, Shirah was featured the Equal Justice Initiative and Google produced short film Uprooted, documenting her family's return to the site of her great-grandfather's lynching. She also released You a Nomad, a short documentary about the displacement of Oakland's black population.

1. This week in Louisiana history. September 8, 1954. Ruby Bridges was born in Tylertown, Mississippi before moving with parents to New Orleans at the age of four.
2. This week in New Orleans history. On Thursday, September 8, 2005, President Bush issued an executive order suspending the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931, allowing federal contractors rebuilding after Katrina to pay below the prevailing wage.
   
3. This week in Louisiana.
   2018 Alligator Festival
   West Bank Bridge Park
   St. Charles Parish
   I-310 Exit 7
   13825 River Road
   Luling, LA 70070
   Please join us for the Annual Alligator Festival at the Westbank Bridge Park in St Charles Parish. The festival is our main fundraiser and helps us fund college scholarships for local youth. Play with baby alligators, shop the arts and crafts mall, enjoy cajun cuisine and exciting carnival rides, and listen to great live music all weekend long! Come join us and pass a good time!
4. Bruce listens to the Patti Rambin Band at Coney Island Riverside in Monroe, LA.

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276. Shirah Dedman, part 1

276. Part 1 of our interview with Shirah Dedman. Shirah made a documentary Uprooted, about the lynching of her great-grandfather Thomas William Miles, Sr. in Shreveport in 1912. Racist violence was so severe in Shreveport that the parish earned the nickname, "Bloody Caddo." Shirah is an activist, filmmaker, and attorney. From a high school dropout at 15-years-old to a licensed lawyer by the age of 23, she inexplicably found herself consistently un- and under-employed. So after her last layoff, she decided to relentlessly pursue her true passion: the intersection between media, economics, race and the environment.Last year, Shirah was featured the Equal Justice Initiative and Google produced short film Uprooted, documenting her family's return to the site of her great-grandfather's lynching. She also released You a Nomad, a short documentary about the displacement of Oakland's black population.

1. This week in Louisiana history. September 1, 1715. King Louis XIV died.
2. This week in New Orleans history. Pelican Stadium Closes September 1, 1957. The last baseball game to be played at the old New Orleans Pelican Stadium occurred on Sunday, Sept. 1, 1957. The Pelicans had furnished fond memories at this location dating back to April 13, 1915, when the site was officially opened after having been moved piecemeal from Banks and Carrollton by mules and then reconstructed at the Tulane and Carrollton location.
   
3. This week in Louisiana.
   Linnzi Zaorski
   Monday, September 3
   @ 8:00 PM CDT
    Three Muses
   536 Frenchmen St.
   New Orleans, LA 70116
   504.252.4801
   http://3musesnola.com
4. Postcards from Louisiana. Bruce listens to Tanya Huang play violin on Royal St. 

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275. Dawn Collins, part 2.

275. Part 2 of our interview with Dawn Collins. Dawn is an advocate, public official, and small business owner.  On March 5, 2016, she was elected to the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board with nearly 80% of the vote. It was her first time being on a ballot. Dawn’s desire to empower families had led her into the world of grassroots organizing. She was drawn to President Obama’s message that community empowerment is a true vehicle of change. In 2008, she began work as a paid Staff Field Organizer and has continued the journey of organizing ever since.

1. This week in Louisiana history. August 24, 1955. U.S. Appellate Court desegregated LSU undergraduate classes.
2. This week in New Orleans history. Willy DeVille (August 25, 1950 – August 6, 2009) was an American singer and songwriter. During his thirty-five-year career, first with his band Mink DeVille (1974–1986) and later on his own, Deville created original songs rooted in traditional American musical styles. He worked with collaborators from across the spectrum of contemporary music, including Jack Nitzsche, Doc Pomus, Dr. John, Mark Knopfler, Allen Toussaint, and Eddie Bo. Latin rhythms, blues riffs, doo-wop, Cajun music, strains of French cabaret, and echoes of early-1960s uptown soul can be heard in DeVille's work.
   
3. This week in Louisiana.
   Taste of TABASCO Week
   Saturday, August 25
   Admission: $15 - $60
   Dine out for Taste of Tabasco® Week
   January 28 - February 3
   Celebrate TABASCO® Brand’s 150th anniversary and the City of New Orleans’ 300th anniversary with a week of bold dining experiences during this special edition restaurant week!
   Enjoy dishes and prix-fixe menus inspired by TABASCO® Brand at dozens of the city's top restaurants.
4. Postcards from Louisiana. Bruce listens to the Patti Rambin Band at Coney Island Riverside in Monroe, Louisiana.

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274. Dawn Collins, part 1

274. Part 1 of our interview with Dawn Collins. Dawn is an advocate, public official, and small business owner.  On March 5, 2016, she was elected to the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board with nearly 80% of the vote. It was her first time being on a ballot. Dawn’s desire to empower families had led her into the world of grassroots organizing. She was drawn to President Obama’s message that community empowerment is a true vehicle of change. In 2008, she began work as a paid Staff Field Organizer and has continued the journey of organizing ever since.

1. This week in Louisiana history. August 18, 1769. "Bloody" O'Reilly arrives in N.O. with 24 ships and 2,600 Spanish troops to take possession of Louisiana for Spain.
2. This week in New Orleans history. Lafreniere Park Evolves from the
   Louisiana Revolution of 1768. Nicholas Chauvin de Lafreniere wass Arrested for Treason on August 18, 1769, and executed on October 25, 1769. Part of the family estate was eventually used in Lafreniere Park, which opened in 1982.
3. This week in Louisiana.
   76th Annual Louisiana Sugar Cane Festival
   September 27-30, 2018
   New Iberia, LA
   337-369-9323
   info@hisugar.org
   The Louisiana Sugar Cane Festival has assembled an excellent team comprised of volunteers, who are the backbone of the association. Their love for their community, loyalty to the festival, and experience in the industry sets this group for sweet success.
4. Postcards from Louisiana. Bruce and Lisa Walker listen to Maude Caillat play saxophone in the French Quarter.

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273. Kimberly Jochum Johnson, part 2

273. Kimberly Jochum Johnson, part 2. We talk to Kimberly Jochum Johnson about City Park and about her work as the Processing Archivist/ Records Analyst at the Archdiocese of New Orleans. City Park is as magical and unique as the city of New Orleans. The 1,300-acre outdoor oasis has enchanted New Orleanians since 1854, making it one of the nation’s oldest urban parks. Each year, millions of visitors stroll under the same historic oaks and picturesque moss canopies that served as the backdrop for dances, concerts and even gentlemanly duels or “affaires d’honneur” for generations.

1. This week in Louisiana history. August 11, 1856. A hurricane kills more than 200 people vacationing at Isle Derniere (Last Island).
2. This week in New Orleans history. The 1929 vintage bridge carrying Highway 90 over Chef Menteur Pass was repaired and re-opened to traffic on August 11, 2006 after it had been closed due to  Hurricane Katrina damage. Meanwhile the modern I-10 Twin Span (now Frank Davis bridge) was in need of a complete rebuild.
   
3. This week in Louisiana.
   Natchitoches Meat Pie Festival
   Front Street Downtown
   Natchitoches, LA
   OR
   450 Fairgrounds Road near the airport (We found both addresses)
   Sept 14-15, 2018
   Hot air balloons, balloon glow, tethered balloon rides,
   live entertainment, children’s activities, meat pie vendors, arts & crafts, spectacular fireworks event and so much more. 
   
4. The Superband plays on Royal St. to raise money for Hector Gallardo, a Cuban drummer who has lived in New Orleans for decades.

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272. Kimberly Jochum Johnson, part 1

272. Part 1 of our interview with Kimberly Jochum Johnson about City Park and about her work as the Processing Archivist/ Records Analyst at the Archdiocese of New Orleans. City Park is as magical and unique as the city of New Orleans. The 1,300-acre outdoor oasis has enchanted New Orleanians since 1854, making it one of the nation’s oldest urban parks. Each year, millions of visitors stroll under the same historic oaks and picturesque moss canopies that served as the backdrop for dances, concerts and even gentlemanly duels or “affaires d’honneur” for generations.

1. This week in Louisiana history. August 4, 1901. Allen Greene school opens in town of Grambling, will later become Grambling State Univ.
2. This week in New Orleans history. The Sun Belt (athletic) Conference was founded on August 4, 1976 with the University of New Orleans, the University of South Alabama, Georgia State University, Jacksonville University, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and the University of South Florida.
   
3. This week in Louisiana.
   Louisiana Shrimp & Petroleum Festival
   August 30-September 3, 2018
   Lawrence Park
   Morgan City, LA
   715 Second Street
   P.O. Box 103
   Morgan City, LA
   Phone: 985.385.0703
   Fax: 985.384.4628
   Festival Information: info@shrimp-petrofest.org
      It all began over 70 years ago, when the placid port at Morgan City and Berwick received the first boatload of jumbo shrimp, fresh from the deepest waters ever fished by a small boat. The very first celebration was held, appropriately on Labor Day, when members of the local unit of Gulf Coast Seafood Producers & Trappers Association, in recognition of the holiday, staged a friendly labor demonstration that has come to be known as the first festival. There were frog and alligator hunters, shrimpers, crab fishermen, dock workers and oystermen parading in the streets. Of course, it was not the grand procession that it is today, but it was the first street parade nonetheless.
4. Bruce listens to a 2nd line band on Royal Street.

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271. Charlie Stephens, Part 2

271. Part 2 of our interview with Charlie Stephens, President of the High School Democrats of Louisiana. Charlie is a high school student at Lee High School in Baton Rouge. Charlie is not only a leader of the Louisiana High School Democrats at Lee High School; he is also the head of the organization for the whole state. Charlie recognizes that we have to regrow the Democratic Party from the ground up, and there's no better place to start than in school.

1. This week in Louisiana history. July 30, 1812. William Charles Cole Claiborne becomes the 1st Governor of the state of Louisiana.
2. This week in New Orleans history. German American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church James Hubert Herbert Blenk, S.M. (July 28, 1856 – April 20, 1917) served as Bishop of Puerto Rico (1899–1906) and Archbishop of New Orleans (1906–1917).
   
3. This week in Louisiana.
   39th Annual Natchitoches-NSU Folk Festival July 20-21, 2018
      The 39th annual Natchitoches-NSU Folk Festival will be held inside air-conditioned Prather Coliseum on the Northwestern State University campus in Natchitoches, Louisiana. The 2018 festival theme is "Celebrating Louisiana's Folk Roots."
      The festival will include a wide variety of traditional crafts, folk foods, Kidfest, three stages with live music, narrative sessions, music informances, and a Cajun fiddle workshop, which will be free for Festival attendees. In addition, the annual Louisiana State Fiddle Championship will be held in the Magale Recital Hall on the afternoon of July 21.
      Crafts, exhibits, and Kidfest will be presented on Saturday from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.
4. Bruce and Kerr talk to a couple of vegans at the New Orleans VeganFest.

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