NORDC FOSTERS FAMILY, GROWTH AND CHARACTER. SEE WHAT’S HAPPENING, ä Page 4G
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THENEWORLEANSADVOCATE.COM
Vets,others share stories ofWWII at museum BY MICHAEL PATRICK WELCH
Special to The Advocate
New Orleans’ massive World War II museum is many things to many people. For the hundreds of schoolchildren who pass through every week, the museum is where they learn about an incomprehensible scene from world history. And for the World War II veterans who volunteer each day, the museum is where they confront war memories in a variety of ways. Bill Cassidy, 90, and Johnny DiFatta, 89, each spend one afternoon each week telling war stories in front of the museum’s Higgins boat — the type of small landing craft used to dump hundreds of American
Literacy program at library open to all
soldiers on European beaches. the Pacific, hot, sweating. ... Difatta is grateful to have But we didn’t talk about it. We had a relatively peaceful tour, got our life together, and we refueling planes on Treasury went on, until Steven Ambrose Island in the Pacific. He said got this museum started.” Jimmy Fried, 95, has volunthat before he worked at the teered at the museum he museum since never talked “We never talked about about the war, the war. ... We got our life 2001. “Yeah, t brings ever. together, and we went on, iup pleasant “ A f t e r until Steven Ambrose got m e m o r i e s , ” the war we this museum started.” said Fried, wiped it out,” who during he said. “My JOHNNY DIFATTA, WWII veteran Wo r l d Wa r brothers and II remained my cousins, thank God, they all came back. stationed in America for 16 We’d all go out dancing, hunt- months before being shipped ing, fishing, bowling, every- overseas to Europe in 1944 as a thing, and we never talked lieutenant. “Being here makes about the war. My brother was me realize how fortunate I’ve in Battle of the Bulge, coldest been, that’s the main thing. I day in history, while I was in can (talk about the war here)
without it getting to me. I accepted what happened to me. I can do it because so many good things have happened to me.” Thomas Blakey, a 94-year-old WWII veteran, was a regular volunteer at the museum until his passing last week. Blakey began 15 years ago on the third floor, telling the crowds about Normandy and his missions as a paratrooper. Almost daily, he sat at a table just inside the entrance — a living, interactive exhibit that drew hundreds of people for hundreds of conversations each day. “I don’t have any bad memoAdvocate photo by MICHAEL PATRICK WELCH ries about anything. That’s all worked out,” Blakey said in an World War II veterans Thomas Blakey, left, and Bill Cassidy interview prior to his death. share their experiences with visitors at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. Blakey was an almost daily äSee VETS, page 6G volunteer until his passing last week.
Making Mardi Gras
Lynne Jensen
THROW ME SOMETHIN’
Services for blind expand at WRBH
BY KIMBERLEY SINGLETARY Special to The Advocate
Learn to read here. These four simple words hang in giant letters across a 20-footby-20-foot banner on the side of the New Orleans Main Library branch downtown. On Jan. 27 and 28, the hope is that illiterate adults will come to the library and enroll in a free literacy program offered by the YMCA of Greater New Orleans. Shannan Cvitanovic, director of YMCA Educational Services, says that of the three locations around the city where adult education is offered, the Main Library, which serves the lowestlevel readers — those who need to start with the ABCs — sees the greatest demand by far. The YMCA is the only organization in the city that caters to this demographic. “We offer programs for all levels of readers, but our beginner program always has the greatest waiting list,” she said. New student enrollment for nonreaders is offered just twice a year. “There are way too many adults in this city that can’t even fill out a job application or read to their kids at night,” Cvitanovic said of the literacy crisis in New Orleans. Recent projections state that an estimated 40 percent of people age 16 and older read below a fifthgrade level. Through the program, students are offered an hour-anda-half of free instruction four days a week. “Within a few months, these people will be reading short sentences,” she said. “And we’ll just continue from there. They can stay with us and keep learning as long as they want.” Decades ago, the YMCA used volunteers as instructors, but Cvitanovic said it eventually became clear that the most successful, efficient way to get people reading quickly was to use qualified teachers. “Plus, currently we can only offer classes during the day, which is hard for volunteers, as well as for those that are employed, but want to get help.” The program currently serves about 175 people a year, a number far below what it could, but Cvitanovic says a lack of funding and locations limits the reach. When the YMCA of Greater New Orleans began, back in 1852, the city’s needs were a bit different. äSee LITERACY, page 3G
Advocate staff photos by SHERRI MILLER
Jack Wilkinson, 7, and Diamond Bolds, 9, help each other out during the shoe box Mardi Gras float craft program for children at the Algiers Regional Library on Saturday. Brandy Holmes helps her son, Lionel Holmes, 3, put the finishing touches on his float.
Young people enjoyed hands-on Mardi Gras activities Saturday at the Algiers Regional Library. Blain Kern Studios artist Alex Sherrod led the free programs that included making shoe box floats, and later, Mardi Gras masks. Read more about the New Orleans Public Library’s free programs on page 3G.
New Orleans is home to WRBH-FM, 88.3, the nation’s only full-time reading service for people who are visually impaired. The station also is an asset to sighted residents who listen to news and information while doing chores such as driving children to school. Now hear this: The recently launched website WRBH.org is advancing the “radio for the blind” mission of turning the printed word into the spoken. The website compiles news and information in a way that allows screen-reading programs to scan pages and find information that is most important to the user. The new website is the second phase of WRBH’s rebranding campaign. Last year, the station partnered with local marketing and public relations agency HEROfarm to create a new logo, tagline and formatting program. WRBH radio traditionally serves Orleans, Jefferson, St. Tammany, St. Charles, St. John, Terrebonne, St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes. Its new website will provide live streaming that can be picked up around the world, delivering both print and online content. WRBH offers a variety of programming, including The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Time and The Onion. It provides readings from magazines, area publications, listings of local events, short stories, and äSee THROW ME, page 4G
Little Rascals parade to feature 19 floats, 275 riders The 2015 Carnival season in Metairie gets underway when the 32nd annual Little Rascals parade begins at noon Feb. 1. “Little Rascals Looks Back at 32 Years” is the theme of this year’s parade, which will feature 19 floats with 275 riders. Reigning as this year’s king and queen will be Aidan Brantmeier and Alicia Perret. The parade will begin near
Eva Jacob Barkoff AROUND JEFFERSON
Clearview Mall at the intersection of Kingman and El Dorado streets. It will turn off
of El Dorado onto Houma Boulevard and then turn right, or east, onto Veterans Memorial Boulevard. It will continue down Veterans and disband at Veterans and Martin Behrman Avenue. The parade will not turn onto Severn Avenue or Bonnabel Boulevard. The krewe will hold its annual ball at 8 p.m. Jan. 29 at
the Pontchartrain Center, 4545 Williams Blvd., Kenner. For more information, go to the website, kreweoflittle rascals.org.
Another parade
Before you head out to the Little Rascals parade, the annual Krewe of Noah children’s parade, sponsored by Christ the King Lutheran Church, be-
gins at 10:30 a.m. Saturday. The parade will begin and end in the church parking lot, 1001 West Esplanade Ave., Kenner. Floats of every shape and size, including wagons, bicycles and tricycles, will be decorated. Food and refreshments will äSee JEFFERSON, page 4G