Country Roads Magazine "The Film & Literature Issue" November 2024

What makes you “a writer”? by James Fox-Smith

NEWS &

NOTEWORTHIES

Video rental returns, poetry in prisons, a bookstore renaissance & more. 34

The power of literature in Louisiana prisons by Jacqueline DeRobertis-Braun

MEET MARK DUPLASS

The Emmy-nominated actor on big budget opportunities and small budget storytelling by Gregory James Wakeman 36 A SLICE OF OUR SILVER SCREEN

5 new projects by Louisiana filmmakers by Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

Harvest season brings, with its bounty, a flourishing of creative events.

Publisher James Fox-Smith

Associate

Publisher Ashley Fox-Smith

Managing Editor

Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

Arts & Entertainment

Editor

Jacqueline DeRobertis-Braun

Creative Director Kourtney Zimmerman

On the Cover

RETURN OF THE MAYFLOWER

A new era at the Jackson institution by Susan Marquez

An NYT nod in Baton Rouge, a boucherie & a new chef at Tujague’s by CR staff

The ins and outs of Louisiana’s original microbrewery by Kristy Christiansen

“CHANGE THE STORY”

A Q&A with Henri Bendel’s biographer by Ashley Hinson

By Christiane Drieling, mixed media: back of a book hardcover, library pocket, watercolor, ink, storybook clippings.

In Ruston collage artist Christiane Drieling’s work, “Change the Story,” she imagines that the mouse—a character in the children’s story, The Rooster, the Mouse, and the Little Red Hen, has decided to leap from the page—to escape from the same old story. “There’s an ocean of possibilities,” writes Drieling. “Let’s dive in.”

In th is month’s issue, we are celebrating the vital artifact that is “the story,” and all its possibilities, as told through the mediums of literature and film here in the Gulf South.

From documentaries about New Orleans—its bohemian artists and its rap legacies—to poetry written by the incarcerated and dystopian feminist fables about dying seagulls: we’re telling stories about stories this month, but especially about storytellers.

GROWS

reasons to plant native grasses in your garden by Jess Cole

REWATCHING THE

How to curb the cringe by Megan Broussard 42 A TASTEMAKER’S TALE

Q&A with Lauren Groff by Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

BABY

History meets Hollywood in the Delta by Susan Marquez

I’M ALWAYS SO SERIOUS Karisma Price on poetry as prayer by Beth D’Addono

Contributors:

Megan Broussard, Kristy Christiansen, Paul Christiansen, Jess Cole, Beth D’Addono, Ashley Hinson, Beth Kleinpeter, Nikki Krieg, Susan Marquez, Chris Turner-Neal, Gregory James Wakeman

Cover Artist Christiane Drieling

Advertising

SALES@COUNTRYROADSMAG.COM

Sales Team

Heather Gammill & Heather Gibbons

Operations Coordinator Molly McNeal

Dorcas Woods Brown

publisher, nor do they constitute an endorsement of products or services herein. Country Roads magazine retains the right to refuse any advertisement. Country Roads cannot be responsible for delays in subscription deliveries due to U.S. Post Office handling of third-class mail.

Reflections

FROM THE PUBLISHER

What makes someone a “writer?” It’s not putting down one word after another. It’s not writing emails, texts, or promotional copy. It’s not filling diaries, or whether we write for ourselves or for others. I think it’s not necessarily writing a publisher’s column, either, since I’ve been doing that for nearly thirty years without managing to string together anything longer than the contents of this page. However, if upon becoming aware of a story not fully told, there arises in you a need to assemble words to deliver the truth you’re sure lies just out of sight, and if that need becomes strong enough that you are compelled to devote years to willing that story into being, perhaps you are a writer. I’ve had the privilege of knowing such a writer for six years now, although Country Roads’ Managing Editor Jordan LaHaye has been one for longer than that. The story she tells in her first book, Home of the Happy: A Murder on the Cajun Prairie, has taken all of her life, and longer, to come into being.

In January, 1983, thirteen years before Jordan was born, her great-grandfather, Aubrey LaHaye, was abducted at knifepoint from his home near Mamou and never seen alive again. Ten days later,

after a massive manhunt, Aubrey’s body floated to the surface of the Bayou Nezpique, making him the victim of Evangeline’s first-ever kidnapping and most sensational murder. In life, Aubrey had been president of Guaranty Bank in Mamou and the head of the large and influential LaHaye family, whose French, Spanish, and German roots reach back to Evangeline parish’s earliest days. In Evangeline, as well as beyond, to be a LaHaye was to enjoy a position of privilege. In Home of the Happy, Jordan writes, “The name LaHaye can get you out of a speeding ticket all over the state or trap you in an hourlong round of stories with an old man who used to be padnahs with your uncle.” The abduction and murder ruptured this large, close-knit family’s deep-seated sense of security and belonging in ways that have resonated across generations, and continue to impact its identity to this day. For the extended LaHaye family, the murder became “Something we do not speak of,” metastasizing into a dark shadow that became a fact of life—like a birthmark—on this local dynasty, until one evening in 2017, when Aubrey’s grandson, Marcel, began to tell his undergraduate English-major daughter “… a story about this place. A story that needs to be told.” Jordan has been working on Home of the Happy, which takes its title from a passage in Longfellow’s Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie, ever since. Published by HarperCollins, her book comes out April 1, 2025.

Yes, Home of the Happy is a book about a murder. But it’s also a memoir—the story of a family and of a place, and of the culture that defines both. From the first page, Jordan’s book brims with detail about life in Evangeline parish—its land- and waterscapes, its ebb and flow of work and play, and the ways in which its people look and talk and act. Taken collectively, her descriptions—of the Bayou Nezpique (“narrow, claustrophobic, more river than lake and more ditch than river), of a local sheriff (“… bearing the familiar potbelly of the area’s riceand-gravy-fed patriarchs”), or the smell of her great-grandmother’s kitchen in the days after the kidnapping, when the house filled with FBI investigators (“the spicy richness of burning roux and frying meats allowed the chaotic space the grace of a haven, for the strangers and the family alike”)—are simultaneously lurid and lyrical, gothic and graceful, surreal and serene. In Home of the Happy, Jordan delivers one of the most vivid accounts of

Cajun-ness I’ve ever read.

If that’s not enough to compel you to pre-order Home of the Happy, there’s also the lingering possibility that the man convicted of the murder, John Brady Balfa, might not actually have killed Aubrey LaHaye at all. Throughout the thirty-nine years Balfa has served at Angola, he has maintained his innocence, and to this day, as Jordan recounts, patients still come to her father’s medical practice in Ville Platte and say, “Dr. Marcel, I really don’t think that Balfa boy killed your granddaddy.” As Home of the Happy unfolds, Jordan interrogates the evidence, attempting to separate fact from fallacy, memory from myth, setting out what is known and not known, against Balfa’s ongoing post-conviction appeal.

Memoir, reportage, and investigative journalism, wrapped in a propulsive narrative that tells the tale of a family and a place across time. Is it the writer in Jordan that compelled her to tell this complex, challenging story? Or is it her upbringing against the omnipresent backdrop of a scarcely resolved injustice that made her a writer? I don’t know, but having had the privilege of spending a few days with Home of the Happy, and six years working with Jordan, I can assure you that she is a writer worth getting to know. Now, our job, and our privilege, is to read. Pre-order a copy from your local independent bookstore, or online.

—James

Fox-Smith, publisher james@countryroadsmag.com

Managing Editor Jordan LaHaye Fontenot, holding galleys of her debut book, Home of the Happy

The Lifelines Poetry Project

POET LAUREATE ALISON PELEGRIN CHAMPIONS WRITING WORKSHOPS FOR THE INCARCERATED

Alison Pelegrin, Louisiana’s Poet Laureate, believes that “poetry touches something that’s kind of primal and universal,” and hso it belongs everywhere, for everyone. That universality extends to prisons, too.

This is the boundary-breaking concept behind Pelegrin’s Lifelines Poetry Project, a sustained effort to infuse poetry and writing workshops into Louisiana’s correctional institutions. The recipient of the Poet Laureate Fellowship from the Academy of American Poets, Pelegrin has received a $50,000 award that includes $15,000 for a civic project; she developed Lifelines as that project. Her community partner, the New Orleans

Poetry Festival, will receive a matching grant of $10,000 at the end of the project for their in-kind contributions.

In February, Pelegrin had visited Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola for a quick stop while at a conference nearby. As she discussed poetry with the men inside, Pelegrin wondered how to make her writing workshop visit there a regular occurrence that could extend to other penal institutions throughout the state. She began conversations to make it happen.

“It matters a lot, I think,” she said. “If you’re serving a long sentence in a prison in Louisiana, you’re building a life, right? This is a way to add richness to that life.”

Armed with worksheets bearing short, digestible

Ziggy Takes Off

ART-STARVED LOUISIANA ALIEN WINS NATIONAL TELEVISION AWARD

In September, when the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA) announced its 56th annual Public Media Awards, no one should have been surprised when the Visual Arts award went to an art-starved alien and a band of punk rock puppets who live in a Louisiana junkyard. Ziggy’s Arts hAdventure, a children’s educational series created by Baton Rouge-based puppeteer Clay Achee and educational consultant Elizabeth Foos, and produced by Louisiana Public Broadcasting, won a NETA Award in the Visual Arts category for its second season, which features Achee’s original puppets and special guests including Louisiana musicians Marc Broussard and Tank Ball, artist Geeta Davé, author Keylonda Wheeler, and poet Ava Haymon, teaching core arts concepts to children ages seven through twelve. Ziggy’s Arts Adventure follows the fortunes of Ziggy, a spaceship-wrecked alien who leaves his home planet in search of rock ‘n roll after discovering the golden record that left Earth aboard NASA’s Voyager spacecraft in 1977 (it included a recording of Chuck Berry singing “Johnny B. Goode”). Eventually Ziggy crash lands in a Louisiana junkyard, where he is taken in by a band of musician puppets—all also Achee’s creations. Early in the show’s development, Achee joined forces with Foos to integrate educational concepts into Ziggy’s scripts, with the goal of introducing important concepts about the arts and Louisiana culture to young viewers. As co-creators, Achee and Foos write episodes in a curriculum-based format, while preserving the original concept’s imaginative joy, compelling characters, and thought-provoking story arc. It appears to be a winning combination: Season three of Ziggy’s Arts Adventure is now in post-production at LPB’s Baton Rouge studios. Until new episodes are released, you can find seasons one and two streaming for free at ziggy.lpb.org. Printable arts activities are also available for download.

—James Fox-Smith

The Bookstore Boom Continues

“On the endangered species list” is how The New Yorker critic Louis Menand described independent bookstores pre-pandemic.

But then, of course, came the shift. In a world still reawakening from the shock and still of the COVID-19 pandemic, the screen lost some of its luster, big box stores became disenchanting, the concept of community became newly vital, and experiences became appreciated all anew. This has resulted in something of a renaissance for the boutique independent bookstore. In May 2024, the American Booksellers Association reported that membership had increased by over two hundred since

last year, bringing it to nearly double the numbers of 2016. We can see evidence of this new horizon for the indie bookstore right here at home.

Earlier this year, for instance, when an out-of-state job opportunity forced James Colvin and Bryan Dupree to put their beloved downtown Lafayette bookstore on the market—the ideal buyer emerged in John Cavalier, who has owned and operated Cavalier House Books in Denham Springs since 2009. He purchased the shop with a promise to keep its spirit intact. Since opening in August as a second Cavalier House Books, John has opened up the space, started outfitting a dedicated corner for author events, and added to the store’s inventory.

poetry prompts, Pelegrin has spent the months since arranging prison workshop visits. During these workshops, she begins with initial ice-breakers, then urges the group to read the poems aloud and talk about lines that stood out to them. She then encourages them to write responses—poems she sometimes saves or shares, with permission.

Pelegrin noted that these worksheets are no different from poetry prompts found in community centers or classroom spaces, a deliberate choice “to emphasize the common humanity” of those engaging with the text and taking tentative steps to become writers themselves.

“Depending on the group, conversations may take different turns, but what was important to me is we were all kind of coming from the same place,” she added.

Pelegrin favors bringing in shorter poems to discuss, so as not to intimidate, highlighting poets such as Lucille Clifton and C.D. Wright. Haiku poets are some of her favorites.

So far, she has visited seven prisons, correctional facilities, and youth lockups across the state, with two more visits already scheduled.

“This is actually pretty easy work in that the people I’m encountering are so eager to have this conversation, and very thoughtful and insightful,” she said. “It’s a pleasure to facilitate in this type of environment.”

Pelegrin plans to highlight some of the poetry written by incarcerated individuals as a result of the project at the upcoming New Orleans Poetry Festival this spring. She has other ideas, too.

“My hope is that after this year, after my platform fades, that I can take really substantive and meaningful steps to continue this work,” she said. “I need to be able to set up a group of people who are approved in the Department of Corrections, and we can go out in groups and continue these poetry workshops.” In her wilder dreams, Pelegrin envisions a multi-institutional creative writing journal.

Either way, she is doing her best, right now, to bring poetry to as many prisons as she can—because even behind bars, “your heart and your mind are free.” Learn more at lifelinespoetryproject.com.

—Jacqueline DeRobertis-Braun

Likewise, in Baton Rouge, booksellers James and Tere Hyfield are set to inhabit a new location (a two-minute drive from the old one, still in the heart of Mid City, right behind Baton Rouge Music Studios) by the end of this year. Red Stick Reads will now enjoy twice the space of its former 700-square-foot home. The new space will include a dedicated room for book club and event use, as well as a café serving coffee and tea—making it better suited for readers to come and stay awhile.

And then, as recently as early October, a brand new bookstore opened up in Breaux Bridge—Bridge Street Books, which will offer a curated selection of rare books, classics, and new releases in a historic building downtown shared with local floral designer Boho Blooms.

Support your local bookstores at redstickreads.com, cavalierhousebooks.com, and find Bridge Street Books on Facebook. —Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

Future Shock

IN NEW ORLEANS, THE VIDEO RENTAL STORE RETURNS

In May, the once-obsolete artifact that was the video rental store made a quiet return to New Orleans. Owner of Future Shock Video, Eden Chubb, has sourced and curated a collection of films that could be placed on hshelves, held in hands—concepts the newest generations have relegated to ancient history. For our Film Issue, we reached out to Chubb about this revolutionary championship of physical media, and why she feels it is a fragment of culture worth preserving.

Can you articulate why you are so passionate about these older formats of film, as opposed to the current streaming landscape?

The biggest advantage of physical media is that once you own it, no one can mess with it. You will not wake up one day and find it disappeared. You will not wake up to find a different version of the movie on your shelf. It won’t be censored, re-edited, or relocated. As more and more people grow wary of being jerked around by streaming companies, it makes sense that they would reconsider physical media as a way to take back control.

I want to re-frame the notion that physical media is inherently antiquated. You’ve got weirdos like me watching tapes on an old tube television because they like not seeing every pore on an actor’s face, but there is a huge subset of physical media fans who prefer the HD picture quality offered by Blu-ray. There is a whole world of boutique Blu-ray companies combining the physical ownership and immutability of discs with crisp picture quality, and they are very much of the present.

Physical media never went away—DVDs and CDs have been chugging along this whole time, while vinyl records and cassette tapes have famously seen a resurgence in sales and new manufacturing. There is a reason physical media could not be killed, and it’s not just out of some nostalgic desire for historical cosplay. It’s because some people just prefer the experience of physical media, and there is no reason to tie that to a particular decade. We’re here now, in the present, and this is what we like.

Can you talk about why the activity of getting out to go and select a film from a store, as opposed to the more passive scrolling on a streaming platform, is valuable?

Value is the key word. I think the value of an experience is intrinsically linked to effort, and I don’t want to live in a world where effortlessness is the ultimate goal. Buying bread is easier than baking it from scratch. Texting your grandmother is easier than visiting her. Buying shoes on Amazon is easier than going shopping with your friends. But the easier option is more isolating, more forgettable, and more disposable. We are being convenienced to death.

If you make the effort to leave your house and go to a local business, see a movie with your eyes, and touch it with your hands, look someone in the face as they excitedly extol its virtues, and then take it home as your special chosen movie, that is inherently a more valuable experience. You are going to give that movie more of your attention because the process from start to finish was a highly deliberate act.

Apart from all that, video stores are just fun. I genuinely believe this is a more fun way to pick a movie. It feels good to browse a video store.

What has the response been like?

Now that we’re sharing a space with another business with shoppers who were not necessarily seeking out a video store, I do encounter people who were completely unaware that physical media was still a thing. It can take a little more explaining, and the phrase I hear most is, “ooh just like Blockbuster.” I’ll take it, I guess!

But for the people who have spent time missing video stores and thought they’d never see one again, it can feel like stepping back into Narnia. I love seeing regulars who come in every week, especially families with young kids. I love hearing people talk about the movies after they return them. It’s the kind of vibe I was hoping for, and the reason it needed to be an honest-to-God video rental store and not just retail. I hate the idea of a tape just sitting on someone’s shelf as retro decoration— that, to me, is a dead artifact. Movies are meant to be watched—otherwise they’re not part of a physical media revival so much as a trendy aesthetic. I love knowing that my movies, especially the tapes, are out there living life.

Visit Future Shock at 2855 Magazine Street (inside Slow Down New Orleans), or online at futureshockvideo.biz.

—Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

Photo by Deen Van Meer, courtesy of Patti Murin.

Events

CARNIVAL FUN

STATE FAIR OF LOUISIANA

Shreveport, Louisiana

Carnival rides, livestock shows, aerialists, flame-spitters, and all the fried food your little heart desires? It's gotta be the Louisiana State Fair in Shreveport. Taking place each fall since 1906, this statewide gathering brings together all of Louisiana's best assets: from agriculture, to art, to live music, to delicious food—and a whole lot of good times. Wednesdays–Fridays 11 am–10 pm; Saturdays and Sundays 10 am–10 pm. Free admission on weekdays until 3 pm; $15; $8 for children 3–12 on weekends and evenings. Carnival armbands $35. statefairoflouisiana.com. 1

NOV 1st

MUSIC

LIVE WITH LPO: LOST BAYOU RAMBLERS & SWEET CRUDE

New Orleans, Louisiana

In this night of exquisite musical talent, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra will join two-time Grammy winners Lost Bayou Ramblers at the Orpheum Theater. New Orleans's very own Sweet Crude will also join the performance for an evocative and sweeping musical display of Louisiana's cultural landscape. 7:30 pm. $40–$82. lpomusic.com. 1

NOV 1st

FATEFUL FEASTS

LAST DINNER ON THE TITANIC

New Orleans, Louisiana

Keep an eye out for icebergs. It's all aboard for this immersive dining experience on the RMS Titanic, hosted by the Culinary Arts and Entertainment Production Design departments at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. Head to NOCCA's Lupin Hall for a five-course meal that will transport guests back in time to Southampton, England, in 1912. Get your boarding pass and a seating assignment for dinner, then later walk the gangplank to the Captain's Private Dining Room. Guests will also experience the sights and sounds of the world aboard the Titanic, while actors will perform historical characters onboard, allowing guests to interact with them. 6 pm. $150. titanicatnocca.eventbrite.com. 1

NOV 1st - NOV 2nd

POLITICAL PLAYS

THE KINGFISH

Lafayette, Louisiana

Many have aimed to tell the story of Huey P. Long, but in The Kingfish: A One-Man Play Loosely Depicting the Life and Times of the Late Huey P. Long, we get a sense of how he might have narrated it himself. At the Acadiana Center for the

Arts, Aren Chaisson as Long recounts, through humor and much drama, the journey of the controversial governor from North Louisiana to D.C. straight into the politics of power and the power of politics. 7:30 pm both nights, with an additional 2:30 matinee on Saturday. $24–35. acadianacenterforthearts.org. 1

NOV 1st - NOV 2nd

CULTURAL FESTIVALS

BAYOU BACCHANAL

New Orleans, Louisiana

In America's most Caribbean city comes the "Original Caribbean Carnival." Hosted by Friends of Culture, an organization run by New Orleans locals native to parts of the Caribbean, Bayou Bacchanal exists to share the festive traditions of the Caribbean with the Crescent City community. Be sure to catch the kick off dance and opening night party with the theme of "Wear White" on the first, and then head to the celebration in Congo Square the next day. Free (except for the opening night party, which costs $30 at the door). bayoubacchanal.org. 1

NOV 1st - NOV 3rd

CULTURAL FESTIVALS

SABINE FREESTATE FESTIVAL

Florien, Louisiana

Turn back time to the days when the "Neutral Strip" between Spanish lands

Events

Beginning November 1

and the fledgling United States fostered a unique "No Man's Land" culture in Western Louisiana (1806–1821). Live out your wildest West adventures with a shootout, or point your guns to the sky for a skeet shoot. Take part in pioneer demonstrations, a parade, a trail ride, a treasure hunt, and more—plus plenty of live music all day long. It all takes place on the Sabine Freestate Festival Grounds at 237 West Port Arthur Avenue in Florien, Louisiana. Details at sabinefreestatefestival.com. 1

NOV 1st - NOV 3rd

HERITAGE & HISTORY

NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE

MONTH CELEBRATION

Lacombe, Louisiana

Head to Bayou Lacombe Museum to kick off Native American Heritage Month with a three-day celebration. On Friday, La Toussaint, head to Buchokwa Garden for blessings at the Hilltop Cemetery, followed by food, music, and celebrating the lives of our ancestors. Saturday will feature local crafts, presentations, and educational discussions about indigenous plant

fantastic slate of live local performances by the likes of Bag of Donuts, Christian Serpas, Four Unplugged, Brother Chris, and Karen Waldrup. Local vendors will be ready to dole out delicacies like chargrilled oysters, smoked brisket, and the obligatory cotton candy, and artisans will be peddling unique wares across the grounds. 5 pm–10 pm Friday; 11 am–10 pm Saturday; noon–6 pm Sunday. Free. festivalofthelake.com. 1

NOV 1st - NOV 3rd

FESTIVAL

HOLY GHOST

CREOLE FESTIVAL

Opelousas, Louisiana

Live Creole and Zydeco music, Creole food favorites, and a gospel choir concert that's drawn crowds for over

IN A NEW LIGHT: American Impressionism

twenty-five years now—the Holy Ghost Creole Festival returns. The fun begins Friday morning with finger-lickin' fried catfish to the tune of the gospel choirs from Holy Ghost Catholic Church. Rise early for more music, and arrive with an empty belly—ready to sample famous backbone stew and barbecue pork steak—

Exhibition Reception Thursday, December 5, 2024

LSU Museum of Art

5th floor of the Shaw Center for the Arts

100 Lafayette Street, Downtown Baton Rouge, LA 6–8 PM | Free to attend On view until March 23, 2025

Join us in celebrating our winter exhibitions, In a New Light: American Impressionism 1870–1940, Works from the Bank of America Collection and Rembrandt, Goya, and Dürer: The Marvel of Old Masters. Enjoy short gallery talks, refreshments, and music, and finish up your holiday shopping with specials in the LSU Museum Store.

2023 Livingston Parish Library Book Festival. Returning for a ninth year, the event boasts a family-friendly environment and opportunities for kids to fall in love with literature. Photo provided by the Livingston Parish Library. See more on page 22.

not to mention sweet dough pies, boudin, cracklins, and other local delicacies. Or, start with the 5K or 1-mile fun walk, then get to eating. Sunday brings the Creole Festival Parade, running from Landry Street to Union Street. Bring lawn chairs and a blanket. Free. hgcatholic.org. 1

NOV 1st - NOV 3rd

LUMINARIES

LIGHTHOUSE FESTIVAL

Berwick, Louisiana

The Town of Berwick again sets up along the riverfront for a festival of local libations, arts and crafts, cook-offs, and a carnival—not to mention a pageant, bike ride, and fireworks. Live music will play all weekend, featuring Spank the Monkey, Tommy G & Stormy Weather, Swamp Land Revival, Nik L Beer, Foret Tradition, Jamie Bergeron, Kaleb Olivier, and Chubby Carrier & the Bayou Swamp Band. 5 pm–8 pm. cajuncoast.com. 1

NOV 1st - NOV 3rd

FALL FAVORITES

HARVEST FESTIVAL ON FALSE RIVER

New Roads, Louisiana

Make your way down to Main Street in New Roads for the annual Harvest Festival on False River, a celebration of

community and agricultural heritage. This year the festival features carnival rides, arts and crafts vendors, food vendors, contests, and much more to showcase and celebrate the local harvest. This year's live music lineup includes Group Therapy, Keith Frank, Racoon Band, Midnight Stars, Don Rich, and Rockin' Doopsie. Don't miss the parade at 5 pm on Friday, and the Sugar Rush 5K at 9 am Saturday. $10 per day. harvestfestivalnewroads.com. Tickets at bontempstix.com. 1

NOV 1st - NOV 10th

THEATRE "THE LION IN WINTER" AT CITÉ DES ARTS

Lafayette, Louisiana

Watch the performance of a modernday classic filled with sibling rivalry, dungeons, and adultery. Eleanor of Aquitaine takes center stage in The Lion in Winter, to be performed at Cité des Arts. In this riveting, evocative account of the Plantagenet family, the queen has been imprisoned since raising an army against her husband, King Henry II. The play follows the royal family drama as it unfolds over Christmas of 1183. 7:30 pm. Fridays and Saturdays; 2 pm Sundays. $25. citedesarts.org.

NOV 2nd INKLINGS

LOUISIANA BOOK FESTIVAL

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Louisiana's excellent annual literary festival returns this year, bringing hundreds of authors, literary-minded organizations, and bibliophiles together again, at last. Sprawling over the grounds of the Louisiana State Capitol, the State Library of Louisiana, Capitol Park Museum, and Capitol Park Event Center; expect book talks, workshops, signings, an Author Party on Friday night, and plenty more literary loveliness. 9 am–4 pm. Free. Full event schedule at louisianabookfestival.org, and tickets to the annual Wordshops writing workshops at bontempstix.com. 1

NOV 2nd FUNDRAISERS

MUSIC ON THE MOUNT

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Stop by Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church St Francisville this Saturday for Music on the Mount. It's a day of good food, music, and fellowship.

$10–$15. More information at the Music on the Mount Facebook event page. 1

NOV 2nd FOOD

FESTIVALS

INTERNATIONAL FRENCH BREAD FESTIVAL

Jeanerette, Louisiana

Returning for a second year, the International French Bread Festival will fill Jeanerette's Main Street Pavilion with the smells of freshly baked bread in honor of this Louisiana staple. The festival will begin with the "Blessing of Our Daily Bread" ceremony before ushering in live music performances from various artists, including Lil Nate & the Zydeco Big Timers. Catch a competition to see how chefs showcase their culinary skills using French breads, or stop by Lagniappe Market Row for some holiday shopping. There's even a College Football Game Day section for sports fans to keep current on every play. A zydeco competition will be the main event. 11 am–7 pm. Free. frenchbreadfest.com. 1

NOV 2nd MAKERS

SOUTHDOWN MARKETPLACE

ARTS & CRAFTS FESTIVAL Houma, Louisiana

It happens for one day, twice a year in spring and fall—the outdoor arts &

ASK THE EXPERT

CONTRIBUTIONS BY MEREDITH ROUSE, MD

Q. WHAT IS DIABETES?

A. Diabetes mellitus is a disorder of the endocrine system that affects 34.2 million Americans today (that is about 1 in 10!). There are two forms of diabetes, Type 1 and Type 2, both of which alter the way the body processes sugar. All cells in the body need sugar to function properly, and insulin is the hormone that facilitates the cellular uptake of sugar. In Type 1 diabetes, the pancreatic cells are unable to produce enough insulin; whereas, in Type 2 diabetes, the cells of the body cannot process and utilize insulin effectively, which is known as insulin resistance. In both cases, the overall result is a decrease in the cellular uptake of sugar with increased blood sugar levels, which accounts for many of the complications associated with diabetes.

Events

Beginning November 2nd

crafts show that brings scores of local and national vendors to the grounds of Southdown Plantation House and Museum in Houma. They arrive bearing jewelry, clothing, woodcrafts, furniture, pottery, paintings, photography, toys, dolls, metalwork, florals, candles, and more. There are usually books by local authors, home-grown plants, antiques and collectibles, and children’s handson craft projects. $5 adults; free for children 12 and younger. 8 am–4 pm. southdownmuseum.org. 1

2nd

MUSIC FESTIVALS

BBQ BOURBON & BLUES FESTIVAL

Thibodaux, Louisiana

Q. WHY IS SCREENING FOR DIABETES IMPORTANT?

A. Diabetes is the 7th leading cause of death in the United States, and has many complications associated with it. Diabetes can lead to the development of kidney disease, neuropathy, retinopathy, and even increase the risk of cardiovascular disease (leading to heart attack and stroke). Many people with diabetes have no symptoms in the early stages, so screening plays an important role in identifying those with diabetes as well as prediabetes. The American Diabetes Association recommends screening all adults over 45 years of age and those with additional risk factors, particularly those who are overweight. Screening should be performed at least once every 3 years, unless a diagnosis of prediabetes is made, in which case yearly testing is recommended. Screening allows for appropriate interventions to be made in order to control the disease and reduce the risk of the many associated complications.

Louisiana, fund the restoration of the historic Sunset High building for use as its campus in the most Cajun way possible: with a "Fête de la Chaudiere Noir," or black pot cook-off. Held at the Sunset Community Center, the event will feature musical performances from Joe Hall, Cedric Watson, and The Holiday Playgirls, plus family games and activities, French language trivia, and of course samplings of all the delicious, homemade offerings. Noon–6 pm. $10 for five tasting tickets. Details at ecolestlandry.org. 1

NOV

2nd - NOV 3rd

FALL FAVORITES

PETER ANDERSON ARTS & CRAFTS FESTIVAL

Ocean Springs, Mississippi

The name pretty much covers the important stuff—so what's stopping you from heading to the Warren J. Harang Auditorium in Thibideaux for barbecued meat, blues music, and cigars. 11 am–8 pm. $10, $100 for the VIP "Juke Joint Pass" that includes the bourbon tasting. See the BBQ Bourbon & Blues Facebook Page for details. 1

NOV 2nd

FALL FAVORITES

The Peter Anderson Arts & Crafts Festival was created to honor master potter, Peter Anderson, original potter of Shearwater Pottery, and to celebrate the arts community that has grown up in today's Ocean Springs. Come spend a weekend exploring one of the most appealing little towns of the Mississippi Gulf Coast—and take a little bit of it home with you. 9 am–5 pm both days. peterandersonfestival.com. 1

NOV 2nd - NOV 3rd

BREWS ARTS FESTIVAL

Hammond, Louisiana

Celebrate a boisterous night of craft beer with the Hammond Regional Arts Center’s 14th annual Brews Arts Festival in downtown Hammond at the Morrison Park Alleyway off North Cypress. Designed to support the Hammond Regional Art Center's community work, the Brews Arts Festival now includes food, an arts market, and live music—along with an appreciation of craft beer. This year's festival will give attendees access to sixty-five different beers, featuring breweries such as Abita, Anheuser-Busch, Chafunkta, Deadbeat Brewing, Great Raft, Low Road, Parish Brewing, Port Orleans, Tin Roof, Urban South, and others. The music lineup will be led by Byron Daniel & The Five Dead Dogs, along with Will Vance & The Kinfolk. 5 pm–9 pm. $35 for advance tickets; $45 the day of the event.

FÊTE DE LA CHAUDIERE NOIR: BLACK POT COOK-OFF Sunset, Louisiana

Help École Saint-Landry, one of only three full French immersion schools in

EGGS-PERIENCES

GIANT OMELETTE CELEBRATION

Abbeville, Louisiana

The locals of Abbeville will be highly eggcited if you choose to join them for their annual Giant Omelette Celebration. No less than five thousand eggs—five thousand!—go into the giant omelette in question, and there are plenty of other activities to keep festival-goers occupied while the omelette cooks in a twelvefoot skillet balanced over an open fire in historic Magdalen Square. Eggspect one of Acadiana's largest juried art shows, the procession of chefs, kids' world activities, exhibits of antique cars and farm equipment, a charity walk and bike ride, an egg cracking contest; and live music. Visitors from abroad will be present to represent "the sisterhood of cities who celebrate the omelette." Free. 9 am–5 pm Saturday; 6 am–4:30 pm Sunday. giantomelette.org. 1

NOV 2nd - NOV 3rd

EGGS-PERIENCES

BIKES, BREWS, & OMELETTES TWO Youngsville, Louisiana

The back-to-back Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9210's Annual Gumbo Cook-

Works From Home

3 BOOKS TO LOOK FOR AT THE LOUISIANA BOOK FESTIVAL

By Jacqueline DeRobertis-Braun

Tihis year’s Louisiana Book Festival, held Saturday, November 2, celebrates two magnificent decades of elevating literary pursuits in the state.

We’ve combed through the list of featured Louisiana authors to offer you a sampling of some of the most exciting homegrown talent producing bright new works of fiction and memoir. So pick out your favorite tote bag big enough to carry all the books on your wishlist. We’ve got you covered.

The Great State of West Florida

By Kent Wascom

It’s 2026, and Louisiana is hotter than ever. Thirteenyear-old Rally, living with his brutal adoptive family, confronts the unforgiving climate amid fevered discussions of civil war and the rumbles of a far-right politician seeking to transform the Florida panhandle into a white Christian ethnostate. The strange and troubled legacy of Rally’s dead father’s West Floridian family, which once led a botched rebellion to create their own state, underpins this explosive bildungsroman—a storied history co-opted by the politician eager to redraw existing maps.

Soon, Rally is unceremoniously sucked into the drama of West Florida when his Uncle Rodney, one of the only survivors of that failed effort, takes him on a wild journey to the sun-drenched panhandle. Along

the way, they ally with “Governor,” a woman driven relentlessly by her vision for West Florida—all while Rally is falling for a girl wielding a machine gun. During his adventure along the bloody Gulf Coast, replete with robotic warriors and megachurches, Rally faces his family’s violent past and learns what it means to preserve a legacy. From a writer who has been compared to Cormac McCarthy and Joyce Carol Oates comes a sharp and irreverent Western following one boy’s coming-of-age against the backdrop of territorial vengeance.

Season of the Swamp

By Yuri Herrera

Translated from Spanish by Lisa Dillman

For eighteen months, Benito Juárez—who would one day become the president of Mexico and ultimately the country’s national hero—haunted the bustling port city of New Orleans. Season of the Swamp seeks to fill in the gaps where the historical record is silent about Juárez’s year-and-a-half in the sunken city, imagining him as a young exile who finds himself captured by all the vibrancy and villainy of the roiling metropolis.

In 1853, Juárez is an anonymous migrant disembarking in New Orleans, joined by fellow exiles scheming to return to Mexico and topple its dictatorship. Immersing himself in the city and falling easily into its rhythm, Juárez and his fellow exiles work odd jobs, fall ill with yellow fever, suffer a stifling

southern summer, and learn to love the music and food that define New Orleans culture. Yet, they also witness the seedy underbelly of the city that traffics in human beings. In this extraordinary work of speculative fiction, Yuri Herrera writes a Juárez informed by his experiences in this strange, sultry, polyglot city, building a brief history to define the man he would become in a few short years, when he returned to his homeland.

The American Daughters

By Maurice Carlos Ruffin

In this gripping saga detailing an underground resistance movement led by Black women in pre-Civil War New Orleans for the Union cause, curious Ady finds herself devastated, separated from her mother. The two are enslaved, owned by a businessman in the French Quarter, and together often dreamt of a different life and hopeful future. After they are torn apart, Ady is adrift until she meets and befriends a free Black woman at the Mockingbird Inn. Under her guidance, Ady joins a circle of spies called the Daughters who seek to undermine the Confederates. With newfound strength and bravery, Ady begins her journey toward freedom.

The American Daughters, by decorated author and LSU creative writing professor Maurice Carlos Ruffin, has garnered positive attention since its publication earlier this year, receiving acclaim from critics and editors with The New York Times. Ruffin’s novel uplifts a little-known part of the Civil War, highlighting the women who risked their lives as saboteurs and spies for the Union. Daughters explores what happens when a community joins forces to fight for liberation. •

Learn more about the authors and books being featured at this year's Louisiana Book Festival at louisianabookfestival.org.

You’re free to live your life out loud! Because you’ve got the compassion of the cross, the security of the shield, and the comfort of Blue behind you.

St. Francisville

check-in at the Youngsville Sports Complex. Lunch and beverages will be provided at the cookoff. On Sunday, it's on to Abbeville for the second day of the Giant Omelette Celebration—featuring antique cars on display, live music, and the majestic procession of chefs, eggs, and bread to the twelve-foot skillet awaiting its five thousand egg fate. These noncompetitive rides both offer various routes with distances from ten to one hundred miles. This event is hosted by TRAIL, a non-profit organization dedicated to building and maintaining parks, paths, and trails. Tickets start at $30 for individual rides; combo registration deals and bike rentals are available. See schedule for details. latrail.org/bbot. 1

NOV 2nd - NOV 9th

KID STUFF

ROSITA Y CONCHITA A DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS STORY

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

LSU School of Theatre and East Baton Rouge Libraries are offering an enriching cultural and musical experience with Rosita y Conchita, a children's play based on the award-winning children’s book by Erich Haeger and Eric González. The story recounts an emotional, heartwarming tale of two sisters trying to reunite on Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). Children will love the rhyming bilingual dialogue, puppets, and music.

2:30 pm Main Library. Free. ebrpl.org. 1

NOV 2nd - NOV 30th

ART EXHIBITS

GALLOPING

New Orleans, Louisiana

Gallery 600 Julia presents Galloping, an exhibition by artist Carol Scott. Using oil, acrylic, and colored pencil, Scott creates a kaleidoscope of colors and images, pioneering in technique and subject matter. Artist reception November 2, 6 pm–8 pm. gallery600julia.com. 1

NOV 2nd - DEC 8th

YE OLDE TIMES

LOUISIANA RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL

Hammond, Louisiana

Bring your falcon and step back in time every weekend through December 8 to party like it's 1499. Each autumn the festival gathers more than six hundred artists, entertainers, and educational demonstrators, converting the ten-acre compound into a sixteenth-century English "Village of Albright" that features a Queen's Arms Pavilion, Village Common, Blacksmiths Way, and Piper's Pub. Festival-goers enter the turkey-legwaving, mead-guzzling, knight-andpeasant-infested Renaissance village to experience period shows, music, games, food and more. With more than fifty shows, different themes each weekend,

Events

Beginning November 2nd - November 8th

and one hundred booths featuring arts, crafts, and demonstrations, it's a jousting good time at RenFest, as it's affectionately known. Too many special highlights to list here, so be sure to visit the website. At the gate, $30 per day for adults; $15 for children ages 6–12; free for children younger than 6. Weekend camping options. 9:45 am–5 pm Saturdays and Sundays, rain or shine at the Louisiana Renaissance Grounds. larf2023.org. 1

NOV 2nd - JAN 26th

ART EXHIBITS

HAITIAN ART: THE JACQUES BARTOLI COLLECTION

Port Allen, Louisiana

Haitian Art: The Jacques Bartoli Collection, on view at the West Baton Rouge Museum, celebrates all things Haitian art, and will be on display in both the Whitehead and Brick Galleries.

Art collector Jacques Bartoli's collection includes vibrant sculptures, sacred art flags, and paintings. His art has been on display at a range of venues from the Grand Palais in Paris to the American

Natural History Museum in New York. westbatonrougemuseum.org. 1

NOV 2nd - FEB 2nd

LIVE ART

PROSPECT NEW

ORLEANS: PROSPECT.6— THE FUTURE IS PRESENT, THE HARBINGER IS HOME

New Orleans, Louisiana

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina's devastation, New Orleans creatives gathered to ask: "What could the role of artists be in rebuilding the city?"

In 2007, the post-Katrina answer was Prospect.1, an exhibition of international contemporary art inspired by New Orleans, following the model of the Venice Biennale. Organizers hoped that it would drive visitors and muchneeded tourism revenue to the city. And it worked. Occurring every three years, the event has driven over 100,000 visitors to the city for each Prospect and generated over $10 million in total economic impact. This question, in the Fall of 2024, turns inward and outward simultaneously—exploring concepts and interpretations of New Orleans as "home"

from perspectives of environment, global influences, and cultural contributions to the future. Titled The Future is Present, the Harbinger Is Home, the exhibition— which will be displayed and activated in museums, cultural spaces, and public sites throughout New Orleans through February 2—features fifty-one artists from across the globe and right here in Louisiana. Focusing on the unspoken present, the exhibition champions change—interpreted through the readings of each individual artist. Details at prospectneworleans.org. 1

NOV 3rd

GOOD EATS

HEROES WHO COOK COMPETITION

Covington, Louisiana

Gear up for this tasty fundraiser for a good cause. Heroes Who Cook will take place on the rooftop of the St. Tammany Parish Justice Center Parking Garage in Covington, where sixteen restaurant teams will face each other in a competitive cook-off to raise funds for the Children’s Advocacy Center—Hope House. Be sure to take part in the complimentary cocktails, beer, and wine, and enjoy the live music by Groovy 7. An online silent auction will also feature luxury items and one-of-a-kind experiences. 4 pm–7 pm. $90. cachopehouse.org. 1

NOV 3rd

BREWS

CAP CITY BEER FEST

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Baton Rouge's annual Cap City Beer Fest pops tops today in Downtown Baton Rouge. Local, national, and international beers will be here for the sampling, complementing a festive fall mix of food, music, and games—all benefitting the Companion Animal Alliance. 2 pm–5 pm. $45 in advance; $55 at the door. capcitybeerfest.org. 1

NOV 7th

MUSIC

K.C. JONES AT THE ACA Lafayette, Louisiana

As part of the Acadiana Center for the Arts Louisiana Crossroads series, genre-bending K.C. Jones takes the stage for a performance of "Dreams in Dulcet Grey." Joined by her bandmates—a cadre of musicians from the Louisiana French scene including Trey Boudreaux, Jim Kolacek, Joel Savoy, Megan Constantin, and Leah Graeff—Jones joins up with the Austin BLiPSWiTCH dance company for a truly singular evening of music and movement at the James Devin Moncus Performing Arts Theater. 7:30 pm. $35. acadianacenterforthearts.org. 1

November 9th 10AM - 5PM

NOV 7th - NOV 10th

GOOD EATS

PORT BARRE CRACKLIN FESTIVAL

Port Barre, Louisiana

Celebrate over three decades of partying around crispy fried pork skin as you crunch your way through this porkfueled fiesta in Port Barre. In addition to a cracklin' cook-off, there will be carnival rides, live music, a parade, and other blood-pressure-raising kinds of excitement. Live bands, featuring Cajun, zydeco, and swamp pop will be playing all through the rest of the weekend. cracklinfest.com. 1

NOV 8th -

NOV 9th

INKLINGS

FESTIVAL OF WORDS

Grand Coteau, Louisiana

Grand Coteau's annual Festival of Words returns this year with three featured authors and two days of wonderfully wordy events—all for free. On Friday, writers A$iaMae, a Black, non-binary Southern poet, humorist and cultural worker; professor and author Darrell Bourque; and poet Tyler Robert Sheldon will take part in a community reading with Q&As at the Hive (6:30 pm–9 pm), and then on Saturday will host writing workshops a the Thensted Center (9:30 am–5 pm). When you're not in workshops, wander around Grand Coteau to discover students performing drive-by poetry all over town from 9:30 am–11:30 am. Throughout the afternoon, more readings will take place on the Community Stage. Details at festivalofwords.org. 1

NOV 8th - NOV 10th

FARM TO TABLE

LÂCHE PAS BOUCHERIE

Grand Coteau, Louisiana

In an immersive experience of the old Louisiana way, the Lâche Pas Boucherie— to be held in historic Grand Coteau— invites locals and visitors alike to come together in the tradition of community labor and celebration surrounding the harvest of an animal. Over the course of three days, participants (invited to camp on the grounds) will learn about and observe the strategies of farming, harvesting, preparing, and preserving live animals with a sense of honor and appreciation for the nourishment they offer. There will also be panel discussions, live music, local spirits, and lots of good eating. Guests are encouraged to bring home cooked foodstuffs to contribute to the communal table, as well as their own utensils. $75 per day; $150 for the whole weekend. boucherielachepas.com. 1

NOV 8th - NOV 10th

FESTIVALS

C'EST BON SEASONING FEST

Carencro, Louisiana

How did no one think of this before?

A seasoning fest is exactly the spice that Louisiana's eccentric festival lineup celebrating frogs and gators and petroleum needed. Carencro's got it covered, bringing in a lineup featuring Ryan Foret & Foret Tradition, The Coteau Grove Project, Rusty Metoyer and the Zydeco Krush, Lil Nathan & the Zydeco Big Times, and many more. Expect activities like a seasoning tasteoff, a cornhole tournament, a car show, a

midway carnival and plenty of delicious local dishes hopefully seasoned just right (though if not, the options for flavor add-ons will be a plenty). Ca C'est Bon. cestbonseasoningfest.com. 1

NOV 8th - NOV 10th

GOOD EATS

ST. FRANCISVILLE FOOD & WINE FESTIVAL

Saint Francisville, Louisiana

Delicious, innovative food. Lively, danceable tunes. Creative culture bearers and storytellers. All of the things that have inspired this magazine's work for over forty years now come together

in perfect, joyful synchronicity at the annual St. Francisville Food and Wine Festival—now expanded to fill an entire weekend. In the charming and picturesque small town where Country Roads got its start, readers, dancers, and diners will convene over dinners and soirées and a Sunday stroll, all in the company of some of our region's most celebrated chefs. Friday morning—Jazz Brunch at the St. Francisville Inn: Pop the cork on the 2024 festival with this lyrical, luxurious lunchtime feast. Friday Evening—Winemaker Dinner at the Magnolia Café: An exuberant, seated dinner with wine pairings, served

Events

Beginning November 8

under the stars at St. Francisville's iconic Magnolia Café. Saturday Afternoon— Bubbles & BBQ at North Commerce: A day-long champagne, craft beer and barbecue bonanza at North Commerce in historic downtown St. Francisville.

Saturday Evening—Mad Hatters Soirée at The Royal Inn: An exquisitely catered social dinner party at The Royal Inn. Featuring multiple grazing stations and passed hors d’oeuvres created by The St. Francisville Inn’s Chef Jaime Hernandez and Galen Iverstine of Iverstine Farms Butcher, paired with wines and cocktails. Join us in the very town that inspired this magazine's conception, with all of the things, and the people, that we at Country Roads love best. Full schedule and ticketing at stfrancisvillefoodandwine.com. 1

NOV 8th - JAN 10th

ART EXHIBITS

ENCHANTING NATURE

Lafayette, Louisiana

Don't miss this joint art show, Enchanting Nature, from photographer John Slaughter and artist Jesse Poimboeuf at The Frame Shop Gallery 912. Slaughter, whose books include Grand Coteau, Catahoula, and Marfa and the Mystique of Far West Texas, will exhibit images of the Brown Pelican taken in Louisiana, Florida, and California. Poimboeuf, in his fifty-third year of exhibiting his naturefocused art, will show a number of pieces, including a limited edition multi-color lithograph which he has been working on with Brian Kelly at UL Marais Press. Opening November 8, 6:30 pm–8:30 pm. (337) 235-2915. 1

NOV 9th

NOV 9th

LUMINARIES

ALLUMER NATCHEZ

Natchez, Mississippi

Allumer Natchez brings artists and art lovers from near and far to downtown Natchez for dazzling light-based contemporary art installations. Over twenty illuminated installations will be featured throughout downtown Natchez and at the Natchez Bluff. Allumer has blossomed into a full-blown festival, featuring a maker's market of arts and crafts, and food vendors selling snacks and sweet treats. Free. More at allumernatchez.com. 1

NOV 9th - NOV 10th

ARTS & CRAFTS

MERRY MARKET

Gonzales, Louisiana

FESTIVALS

ATCHAFALAYA

BASIN FESTIVAL

Henderson, Louisiana

Settled right on the great water basin itself, Henderson's Henry Guidry Memorial Park makes an ideal site for the annual celebration of this beloved and unique landscape. Expect a day of dancing, eating, fun jumps, rock wall climbing, and more. In addition to a lineup of local musicians, festival-goers can expect car and truck shows, live and silent auctions, raffles, and cooking contests. All funds raised will go towards Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church and Sacred Heart of Jesus Chapel. 7 am–10:30 pm at 103 Park Drive. Free. basinfestival.com. 1

NOV 9th

INKLINGS

LIVINGSTON PARISH BOOK FESTIVAL

Livingston, Louisiana

Revel in the written word at the Livingston Parish Library's annual book festival. Returning for a ninth year, the book festival held at the Main Branch of the Livingston Parish Library system is a family-friendly event that includes book signings, author discussions, face painting, live music, food trucks, games, and other library activities. 11 am–4 pm. Free. mylpl.info/bookfestival. 1

Merry Market, held at Lamar Dixon in Gonzales, is back just in time for your seasonal shopping needs this winter. Check out over 400 booths with both local and out-of-town vendors hawking jewelry, clothing, candles, toys, art, and other dodads. Kids can enjoy a petting zoo, Santa visit, Christmas crafts, face painting, and more. 9 am–6 pm Saturday; 10 am–5 pm Sunday. $10. Free for children under the age of 10. Mimosas in the Morning VIP Shopping on Saturday morning from 8 am–11 am, with advance purchase tickets at $25. Cookies & Crafts with Santa will be both Saturday and Sunday at 2 pm, with advance purchase tickets at $30. merrymarket.shop. 1

NOV 9th - NOV 10th

HERITAGE & HISTORY

SCOTTISH HIGHLAND GAMES & CELTIC MUSIC FESTIVAL

Gulfport, Mississippi

Keeping Celtic traditions alive, the Harrison County Highland Games feature all the classic events: Scottish dancing, pipes and drums, a broadsword exhibition, food, drink, and much more—all at the Harrison

Movie Nights to Come

UPCOMING FILM FESTIVALS ACROSS THE REGION

By Jacqueline DeRobertis-Braun

Here, in the heart of Hollywood South, we are lucky enough to be driving distance from many of the country's most unique and devoted film festivals—from Oscar-qualifying events to small-town celebrations of local talent. Get out your calendar and start making your plans for these binge-worthy weekends.

Southern Screen Festival: November 21–24

Held in the heart of Cajun Country, this iconic festival known for bringing the best of the year’s independent films to Acadiana—and hosting an annual gathering for local film professionals and creatives of other disciplines—returns to the Acadiana Center for the Arts. Details at southernscreen.org.

Baton Rouge Jewish Film Festival: January 15–19

For almost twenty years, Baton Rouge has celebrated its vibrant local Jewish community by showcasing new films exploring and centering issues related to the Jewish experience—all at the Manship Theatre. Details at brjff.com.

Cinema on the Bayou: January 22–29

Louisiana’s second oldest annual international juried film festival will return for its eight-day event—held in venues across Lafayette, which in the past have included Cité des Arts, Vermilionville Performance Center, and the Acadiana Center for the Arts. Dedicated to presenting almost two hundred films running the gamut from narrative to documentary to animation, the festival also dedicates special space to celebrating projects by filmmakers from across the Francophone world. More details to come about the 2025 festival at cinemaonthebayou.com.

Clarksdale Film and Music Festival: January 24–26

In the city called “Ground Zero” of Delta Blues country, a smart and celebratory curation of blues documentaries and Mississippi-centric films returns for the fourteenth year, to be cast upon the screen at the headquarters of Shared Experiences USA. Keep an eye and an ear out for a who's who of Delta blues talents, many of whom will be taking the stage at local juke joints for shows scheduled around the festival screenings. More details to come about the 2025 festival at clarksdalefilmfestival.com.

The Magnolia Independent Film Festival: February 20–22

Mississippi's first, and longest running, film festival, begun under the wing of the poet, journalist, and filmmaker Ron Tibett, has built an esteemed legacy of bringing high quality independent and lesser-known cinema to viewers in the Golden Triangle Area. A favorite of amateur and professional filmmakers, this intimate, hospitalityforward event in Starkville is oriented towards creatives, with a mission to inspire and to foster the state’s vibrant film industry. Details to come at magnoliafilmfest.com.

Oxford Film Festival: February 27–March 2

Called “OxFilm” by regular attendees, this celebration of independent cinema aims to cultivate audience appreciation of film while also encouraging filmmaking in North Mississippi. With a reputation for hospitality and creativity, the festival has been named by MovieMaker Magazine one of its “Top 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee” for several years. Visitors can expect over one hundred quality films from all over the globe, plus a thrilling slate of parties, and an extensive offering of filmmaking panels and workshops put on by successful folks in the industry on subjects ranging from set dressing to distribution to stunt acting. More details to come about the 2025 festival at ox-film.com.

New Orleans French Film Festival: February or March 2025

Hosted by the New Orleans Film Society, this festival is one of the longest-running foreign language festivals in the United States, and annually brings together diverse expressions of experiences across the Francophone world to New Orleans. In recent years, the festival—presented virtually and in person at New Orleans’s historic Prytania Theatres—has been the site of some of the first films presented in the Louisiana Creole language Kouri-Vini. Dates and details about the 2025 French Film Festival to be announced at neworleansfilmsociety.org/french-film-festival.

Christmas Parade

Ice Skating at Alex Winter Fête

Events

Beginning November

9th - November 14th

County Fairgrounds. 9 am–5 pm Saturday; 9 am–4 pm Sunday. $15 for adults; $10 for students 13 and older; free for children under 12. mshighlandsandislands.com. 1

Holidays

11 + 12 (Select Nights) / Holiday Light Safari Enjoy the Alexandria Zoo at nighttime with thousands of sparkling lights. thealexandriazoo.com

12.5 - 12.7 / Alex Winter Fête Explore arts vendors, live music, ice skating, Santa, food trucks, fireworks, Jolly Junction for the kids, and more! alexriverfete.com

12.13 / Pineville Christmas Parade Come see Santa and floats light up the night in Pineville’s annual Christmas Parade! pineville.net

12.14 / Garden District Tour of Homes Take a peek inside the “crowned jewels” of the historic district. facebook.com/GardenDistrictAlexLA

12.15 / Alexandria Christmas Parade Catch the FUN at the Alexandria Christmas Parade with floats, marching bands, Santa and more! alexmardigras.net

12.21 / “Olaf’s Frozen Christmas Adventure” Ballet Join Olaf, Elsa, Anna and more - presented by Get to the Pointe Ballet Academy. gettothepointeballetacademy.com

NOV 9th - NOV 10th

FALL FAVORITES

THREE RIVERS ART FESTIVAL

Covington, Louisiana

As it has each November for years now, the largest juried art festival in the Southeast region will celebrate the work of over two hundred artists from across the country. Across Covington's historic downtown district, discover works of art in every medium, from ceramics to paintings to fiber art to jewelry. In addition to the vibrant parade of art booths, the festival will also present a children's area, an "Arts Alive!" demonstration tent, live music, and an impressive demonstration of our region's culinary arts as well— featuring local vendors, too. Come for the fun and stay for the art. 10 am–5 pm. covingtonthreeriversartfestival.com. 1

NOV 9th - NOV 10th

FOOD FESTIVALS

TREMÉ CREOLE GUMBO FESTIVAL

New Orleans, Louisiana

Back in the day, the Tremé neighborhood was the stomping grounds of the city's free people of color, and since the earliest days the area has churned out countless cultural contributions, including Creole food and brass band music. The annual Creole Gumbo Festival celebrates this legacy, promising over a dozen culinary wizards offering their own carefully-curated takes on the city's finest gumbos, with the annual vegan gumbo contest tipping its hat to those who have gone green. Live music will feature local favorites like Da Truth Brass Band, Brass-a-Holics, Naydja CoJoe & the Lagniappe Section, Charmaine Neville, and The Soul Rebels. 11 am– 8 pm Saturday and Sunday at Louis Armstrong Park and Congo Square. Free. tremegumbofest.com. 1

NOV 10th

KID STUFF

GOODNIGHT MOON AND THE RUNAWAY BUNNY, ONSTAGE Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia is the creative force behind this stage adaptation of Margaret Wise Brown's sixty-year-old children's classic. On tour since 2008,

Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny is the celebration of familiar nighttime rituals immediately recognizable by millions of children (and their parents), while The Runaway Bunny's pretend tale of leaving home evokes reassuring responses from his loving mother. The production features endearing animal puppets, striking scenic effects, and evocative music in an hour-long adaptation of the images that have delighted generations. 2 pm Sunday at the Manship Theatre. $25. manshiptheatre.org. 1

NOV 13th

MUSIC

RIVER CITY JAZZ MASTERS SERIES: JAZZMEIA HORN

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

International Jazz queen Jazzmeia Horn— hailing from Dallas, but making marks everywhere from New York City to now, in the Red Stick—comes to the Manship stage as this month's featured musician for the River City Jazz Masters Series. Horn holds awards from the Thelonius Monk International Vocal Jazz Competition and the Sarah Vaghan Jazz Vocal Competition and has performed with musicians like Winard Harper, Junior Mance, Billy Harber, Vincent Gardner, Delfeayo Marsalis, Peter Bernstein, Ellis Marsalis, and more. She's appeared at the world's biggest and most esteemed jazz festivals and clubs in the world. See her at 7:30 pm tonight. $50–65. manshiptheatre.org. 1

NOV 14th

MUSIC

BRSO PRESENTS "NATURE'S HARMONY"

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Be swept away by dazzling classical music at the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra's third Orchestral Series concert of the season: Nature's Harmony. Featuring guest conductor Louis Lohraseb and violinist Melissa White, the evening will begin with Benjamin Britten's "Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes," capturing the ocean's mood, followed by Max Bruch's "Scottish Fantasy" to transport listeners with lyrical melodies and folk tunes. The concert will close with Ludwig van Beethoven's beloved "Symphony No. 6," evoking a scene of bucolic bliss. 7:30 pm. brso.org. 1

NOV 14th

MUSIC

IRMA THOMAS AT THE ACA Lafayette, Louisiana

The New Orleans Queen of Soul is visiting Lafayette for an evening of timeless soul and R&B at the Acadiana

Events

Beginning

November 14th - November 21st

Center for the Arts. One of the most iconic voices in a generation, Thomas will bring with her beloved blues hits from her Grammy award-winning album After the Rai n. 7:30 pm. $55. acadianacenterforthearts.org. 1

NOV 14th - NOV 16th

INKLINGS

MY FRENCH BOOK FEST

Port Allen, Louisiana

Sponsored by the Consulate General of France in Louisiana, Villa Albertine, and Alliance Française of New Orleans, the third annual My French Book Fest at the West Baton Rouge Museum promises a rich immersion in culture and history. The book fest promotes youth literacy in French and encourages children to learn more about French-language literature and cultural connections. Don't miss literary and cartooning workshops, as well as the L’Acadie s’expose exhibition of art from the comic strip Capitaine Acadie. 10 am–4:30 pm. Free. westbatonrougemuseum.com. 1

NOV 14th - NOV 17th

LUMINARIES

LUNA FÊTE

New Orleans, Louisiana

The Arts Council of New Orleans’ LUNA Fête (which stands for Light Up NOLA Arts) returns to position iconic local architecture as canvases for high-tech displays of cutting-edge, outdoor light installations across the city. This year with a theme of "Melody & Mythology," LUNA Fête merges contemporary light, digital sculpture, motion graphics, and video mapping practices in a series of vibrant installations made even more immersive by innovative music compositions. Projections are nightly from 6 pm–10 pm. lunafete.com. 1

NOV

15th

MUSEUMS

ACADIAN MUSEUM OF ERATH

FUNDRAISER

Erath, Louisiana

Support the Acadian Museum with a soiree in Erath at the local Community Center in City Park. The museum will

honor Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser and Armand “Mondo” Duplantis at the event by inducting them into the Order of Living Legends. Attorney J. Weldon Granger will also be honored for his lifetime of philanthropic work. The night will include an auction, full meal, and live music, as well as book signings from Mary Perrin and Jason Theriot. 6 pm. $40. bellesoiree.cc. 1

NOV

16th

UNLIKELY COMBOS SUNDRESSES AND SHRIMP BOOTS

Saint Francisville, Louisiana

The dress code straddles the best of both worlds when the Child Advocacy Services organization (CAS) hosts a grand return of its once-annual, verypopular fundraiser. So slip on your Cocodrie Converse and head out to historic St. Francisville for an evening of sipping and strolling in support of safe environments for children— starting on the front lawns of the St. Francisville Inn and The Saint, where you can enjoy a signature cocktail. Then head on over to The Mallory for a sunset social in the foyer and garden, featuring live music, hors d'oeuvres, cocktails, and a silent auction. 3 pm–7 pm. $65. childadv.net. 1

NOV 16th

TASTY TREATS

BEIGNET FEST

New Orleans, Louisiana

Don a white shirt and some fantastically stretchy pants: Beignet Fest is here, bringing with it a veritable truckload of powdered sugar—and some savory concoctions to boot. Head to New Orleans City Park to taste the iconic confection, with more than eighty menu options. Headlined by Jon Cleary, Big Sam, and Amanda Shaw, the entertainment will also feature Sierra Green and the Giants and Imagination Movers, along with the Prism Project. A Kids Village will provide a unique experience for children, with special attention to those with autism and other related developmental differences. Proceeds from the fest will go to nonprofit organizations that provide quality programs for children on the spectrum. 10 am—6 pm. $20. beignetfest.com. 1

NOV 16th

GO WILD FORESTIVAL

New Orleans, Louisiana

A Studio In The Woods once again welcomes the public into its creative haven for the annual FORESTival, a

celebration of art and nature. One of a few live-in artists’ retreats in the Deep South, A Studio in the Woods occupies seven-and-a-half acres on the Mississippi River in New Orleans and fosters both environmental preservation and the creative work of all artists. This year's FORESTival will showcase the work of residents and guest artists—including paris cyan cian, Kristal “M2daE” Jones, and Sweetie Magee—as well as the history and happenings of this unique environment. It's a chance to experience Louisiana’s wetlands set to live music with food, artistic demonstrations, activities, a walk in the woods with scientists, and more. This year's musical lineup includes Kelly Love Jones, Kr3wcial, and Waterseed. 11 am–5 pm. $15; children are free. astudiointhewoods.org. 1

NOV 16th

GREEN THUMBS

"GIVING THANKS FOR VIOLETS"—A FLOWER SHOW

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Sponsored by the Louisiana Lagniappe African Violet Society, "Giving thanks for Violets," a flower show, will spark inspiration with a focus on this delicate blossom. A staple for more than forty years, the show will feature African Violets in full bloom, along with other plants and educational materials. A sale room will

include healthy starter plants, while club members will be available to offer growing advice. 1 pm–5 pm Free. avsa.org/events. 1

NOV 17th

KID STUFF

CHARLOTTE'S WEB

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Theatreworks USA's production of Charlotte's Web is based on E.B. White's loving story of the friendship between a pig named Wilbur and a little gray spider named Charlotte. Wilbur has a problem: how to avoid winding up as pork chops! Charlotte, a fine writer and true friend, hits on a plan to fool Farmer Zuckerman—she will create a "miracle." Spinning the words "Some Pig" in her web, Charlotte weaves a solution which not only makes Wilbur a prize pig, but ensures his place on the farm forever. This treasured tale, featuring madcap and endearing farm animals, explores bravery, selfless love, and the true meaning of friendship. 2 pm at the Manship Theatre. manshiptheatre.org. 1

NOV 18th

THEATRE

"TINA–THE TINA TURNER MUSICAL"

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Experience a powerful comeback story for this one-night-only performance of TINA–

The Tina Turner Musical at the Baton Rouge River Center Theatre for the Performing Arts. The performance is a celebration of Tina Turner's inspiring life, from her defiance of racism, sexism, and ageism, to her global ascension as the Queen of Rock n' Roll. Don't miss this riveting retelling of her iconic musical career. 7:30 pm. $55–$85. theatre.raisingcanesrivercenter.com. 1

NOV 20th - NOV 23rd

INKLINGS

WORDS & MUSIC FESTIVAL

New Orleans, Louisiana

One Book One New Orleans returns with its popular music, literature, and activism extravaganza, the Words & Music Festival. This year, Louisiana Poet Laureate Alison Pelegrin has commissioned local poets to write responses to the Historic New Orleans Collection’s exhibition, Captive State: Louisiana and the Making of Mass Incarceration. These poets include Pelegrin, Dr. Mona Lisa Saloy, Karisma Price, Christopher Louis Romaguera, Jessica Kinnison, Kelly Harris-DeBerry, Gian Francisco Smith, Akeem Olaj, and Sha’Condria “iCon” Sibley. The festival's main events include the announcement of winners of the Patty Friedmann Writing Competition, including the "Beyond the Bars" category—which celebrates the work of talented incarcerated juveniles. This year's festival will also celebrate the Black

Arts Movement and Kalamu ya Salaam. wordsandmusic.org. 1

NOV 21st

FILMS

"GEORGE DUREAU: NEW ORLEANS ARTIST"

SCREENING AT THE BROAD

New Orleans, Louisiana

Screening at the Broad this month: George Dureau: New Orleans Artist, a powerful documentary about photographer George Dureau, following his life, career, models, and the changing New Orleans landscape that no longer exists as it once was. The documentary includes archival footage, as well as contemporary interviews with the artist and his friends and family. Through Dureau's distinctly creative lens, the documentary explores the nuances of sexuality, race, and disability in New Orleans. 7 pm–9 pm. $12. thebroadtheater.com. Read more about this film on page 39. 1

NOV 21st

ART STROLLS GRAD WALK 2024: LSU SCHOOL OF ART STUDIO OPEN HOUSE

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Spend an evening strolling through the LSU School of Art to view Art

HEALTHY SOLUTIONS BATON ROUGE

NEW ROADS, LOUISIANA

FRIDAY, NOV 22

9:00AM-6:00PM

SATURDAY, NOV 23

10:00AM-5:00PM

SUNDAY, NOV 24

12:00AM-4:00PM

Beginning November 21st - November 30th

ceramics, digital art, and sculpture studio

the light of one hundred lanterns made by

NOV 21 - NOV 24

Government Street exploring artist tents, makers markets, and more. Admire the white lights bedecking the streets, enjoy live music, and feast at area restaurants along the way. 6 pm–10 pm. Free. midcitymerchantsbr.org. 1

NOV 23rd

GOOD CAUSES

SOBER FEST

New Orleans, Louisiana

Sober Fest returns for an alcoholfree, family-friendly music festival at the Sugar Mill. Sponsored by Bridge House/Grace House, Sober Fest's musical line-up includes Ivan Neville & Friends, Anders Osborne, Jason Ricci & The Bad Kind, and the Trombone Shorty Academy. Local vendors and food trucks will be available for good eats, and littles can enjoy a kids area. Proceeds from non-alcoholic beverages will go to Bridge House/Grace House to support those struggling with addiction. 11 am–5 pm. $10 in advance; $20 at the gate. bridgehouse.org. 1

NOV 24th

MUSIC

FILMS

SOUTHERN SCREEN FILM FESTIVAL

Lafayette, Louisiana

The Southern Screen Film Festival is again bringing filmmakers and film lovers together for four days of film fandemonium in the heart of Acadiana. Conceived to blend creativity and ingenuity with the unique Cajun joie de vivre, Southern Screen shows award-winning, independent films from around the world in the form of shorts, documentary, and feature-film formats, then presents open discussion panels, workshops, and demonstrations for filmmakers hosted by artists and professionals. This year's event will be hosted in downtown Lafayette and virtually. All access passes are $70; $100 VIP; with discounts for students and industry professionals, plus various piecemeal attendee options. southernscreen.org. 1

NOV 22nd LUMINARIES

WHITE LIGHT NIGHT

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

White Light Night returns to Mid City Baton Rouge as the neighborhood's largest art festival. Wander down

JOANNE SHAW TAYLOR AT THE MANSHIP

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

It's sure to be an unforgettable night with Joanne Shaw Taylor, renowned blues guitarist and singer-songwriter, who will bring her Heavy Soul Tour to Manship Theatre this month. Her soulful music and playing over a decade-long career has earned her accolades as one of the most gifted guitarists of her generation. Attendees will be treated to new tracks from her upcoming studio album, Heavy Soul , and classic hits. 7 pm. $39–$59. manshiptheatre.org. 1

NOV 30th

MARKETS

GRAND NOEL ON THE PRAIRIE Grand Coteau, Louisiana

Knock your holiday shopping out early against the scenic backdrop of Grand Coteau on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. Come for photos with Santa, carriage rides, and the life-sized Nativity on display at St. Ignatious Catholic School. 2 pm–8 pm. Free. cajuntravel.com. 1

For more events, visit countryroadsmag.com/ events-and-festivals.

In Louisiana’s River Parishes, you’ll find uniquely flavorful aromas drifting from the gumbo pots and smokehouses along the Andouille Trail, in the delicate, curling smoke rising from a Perique tobacco cigar, and in the heat emanating from the levees of Bonfire Country, where families gather around giant wooden structures set ablaze in this Christmas Eve tradition dating back to the 1700s.

Explore our history, real and unvarnished, in the historic homes of New Orleans Plantation Country and the museums along the 1811 Slave Revolt Trail. And make adventure your destination in the bayous, swamps, and lakes of New Orleans Swamp Country.

Start exploring today at LARiverParishes.com

“Laissez les bon temps brûler!”

Enter to win an overnight stay in Louisiana’s River Parishes this Bonfire Season, and —Let the good times burn!

VISIT ST. FRANCISVILLE

Christmas in the Country Returns

From December 6—8, the quintessential small-town holiday celebration lights up the homes and streets of St. Francisville's Historic District, inviting residents and visitors to catch the Christmas spirit while joining in events for all ages.

Christmas in St. Francisville has been a picturesque time ever since the nineteenth century, when the little river town still served as a commercial center for surrounding communities. Some things don't change. Beginning right after Thanksgiving, owners of historic homes here start stringing white lights over windows, doors,

gallery posts, shrubbery, yard ornaments, slow-moving pets, and any other architectural features within reach of a ladder, cherry picker, or mountain-climbing equipment.

It all comes to a head the weekend of December 6—8, 2024, when St. Francisville hosts a weekend-full of holiday activities that include free

community choir concerts and live entertainment happening on porches around town, 60+ artists selling handmade wares in Parker Park, a Friday night Jingle Bell Mingle and food truck roundup, a Living Nativity, a weekend-long quilt show in Old Market Hall, and lots more jolly good fun for all ages. Saturday's ticketed events include a Christmas Tour of Homes, with proceeds supporting the West Feliciana Parish Library, Saturday morning Breakfast with Santa seatings at Grace Episcopal Church's Jackson Hall, a Saturday night Christmas Spirits Historic District Stroll event with treats for kids and grownups throughout the beautifully illuminated streets of the Historic District, and fresh Christmas Wreaths available for purchase. Rosedown and Audubon State Historic Sites schedule interpretive Christmastime programming all

weekend, so leave time to visit those iconic antebellum landmarks. On Friday, Gingerbread Man Scavenger Hunt participants can pick up their prizes at the St. Francisville Town Hall from 5 pm, right before the traditional Lighting of the Town Christmas Tree at 6 pm. On Sunday, come back to the Historic District in time to see the traditional Christmas Parade roll along Ferdinand and Commerce Streets from 2pm.

For more information and tickets to all scheduled events, visit www.stfrancisville.net, or point your phone at the QR code below.

NEW HORIZONS

"I am Free When I Read"

FREEDOM READS BRINGS BOOKS AND BEAUTY INTO LOUISIANA PRISONS

By Jacqueline DeRobertis-Braun

Tihe libraries—elegant, curving bookcases packed with hundreds of brightly colored books—are different from your average, purely functional shelving units; these are designed to inspire, to entice, and to uplift.

Reginald Dwayne Betts, who founded Freedom Reads in 2020, wanted it that way. The nonprofit aims to bring hundreds of books into prisons nationwide by opening handcrafted libraries in cellblocks, then filling them with a curated selection of literature. To date, Freedom Reads has opened 413 libraries—many of them in Louisiana. One of Betts’ very first Freedom Libraries found a home in the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, the infamous maximum-security lockup in West Feliciana. Each individual library comprises three handcrafted bookcases and a bench, filled with five hundred books.

Early on, Betts knew he wanted the libraries imbued with a warmth and beauty so often absent in penal facilities. The bookcases would be built from a hardwood, such as walnut, maple, or cherry. They should curve in a graceful, sinuous wave, a visual representation of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous quote that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Critically, the libraries must sit in the center of the dormitory or space where they are opened, with books

accessible on each side to reduce the footprint. Betts hoped positioning the bookcases in the middle of the room would naturally draw people to them, creating a vibrant communal locus where bonds might be forged over the latest literary selections.

“It's something beautiful in a landscape where there’s often not anything that's beautiful,” he said. “It is fundamentally different. It's different from anything that exists in the prison.”

Betts’ interest in bringing literature to carceral spaces is deliberate, informed by his own experiences as an adolescent and, later, as a young man. At sixteen years old, he landed in prison after pleading guilty to a carjacking in Virginia. He was incarcerated for almost nine years, and while behind bars, Betts threw himself into books. Even in solitary confinement, although reading material was contraband, the men there found a way to share books with each other as a sign of solidarity, and of hope. When he emerged from his incarceration, Betts became a lawyer, receiving his J.D. from Yale Law School. He is now a poet and author of six books, his most recent of which, Felon, was awarded the American Book Award and an NAACP Image Award. In 2021, Betts was named a MacArthur Fellow.

Now, his mission is simple: To show up, and to show up with books. It is a tangible, concrete thing he knows

will make a small difference to those inside—and helps lighten the considerable, omnipresent weight he carries of the remaining time his still-incarcerated friends have left before they are released.

“I said I would put millions of books in prison, because we put millions of people in prison,” Betts said. “My work is about mercy and forgiveness.”

During that strange, liminal time behind bars, Betts read too many favorite books to count. The Count of Monte Cristo, A Lesson Before Dying, Sophie’s Choice, and East of Eden stand out, among others.

“Some people read because it is a thing that they need to do to survive prison, and some people read because it is the way in which they breathe in the world,” Betts said. “I was the latter.”

Now so far removed from that time, Betts still struggles to articulate precisely what drew him to books in the first place, and what exactly the written word did for him. He was always a reader, even before incarceration. Saying books “saved him” feels simplistic, too understated, failing to encompass the enormity of their presence in that place. He wasn’t even trying to survive, but rather make himself move forward step by step, day after day.

He settled on the concept of expansion. Books expanded his world—so small and contained during those years confined to a cell.

“Books reminded me that I was getting knowledge of the world,” he said. “That I was getting knowledge of what I might have wanted to be in the world, and what I might not have wanted to be in the world. And books reminded me, constantly, that those things mattered.”

He knows books possess power. Despite all the libraries Freedom Reads has distributed in its brief existence, Betts sees it as barely a drop in the pool when it comes to need. He wants at least 20,000 libraries to be built, total.

His mission brought him first to Louisiana, because that is where he was welcome, Betts said. Former Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections Secretary Jimmy Le Blanc ushered the nonprofit into the state to transform its prisons into spaces of learning. An interactive map on the Freedom Reads website shows there are now libraries opened in six prisons across the state: Eight at Angola, two at Raymond Laborde Correctional Center, two at Dixon Correctional Center, ten at Rayburn Correctional Center, two at Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women, and three at Elayn Hunt Correctional Center. Eleven of these were added as recently as this past summer.

“We are excited about expanding reading opportunities and twenty-four-hour accessibility to the portable libraries in the dorms,” said Le Blanc in an organization press release announcing the opening last summer. “This donation means so much to our prisoners as it will help broaden their horizons through reading. We’re hopeful this will help improve the educational level of those who take advantage of this gift.”

Freedom Reads has brought libraries to other spaces, as well—juvenile facilities, jails, and even the stark, sterile spaces of solitary confinement. Betts knows the

Photo by Karen Pearson

work is important; it’s part of what drives him. He does wonder, however, about how to quantify the impact of the books, to judge how effective they truly are in the right hands.

“What does it mean to put possibility within someone’s reach?” he asked. “I don’t know what you become when you read Don Quixote. I don’t know what you become when you read The Iliad.”

In prison, color is an afterthought. There are often no more than three colors displayed at a time throughout any given facility, according to James Washington, a carpenter at Revival Workshop in New Orleans— which has built every single Freedom Library in Louisiana.

Washington spent much of the twenty-five years he was incarcerated at Angola. In the course of its long, contentious history, the sprawling penal campus has been the subject of numerous books, documentaries, and investigations—many of those regarding alleged abuses and corruption. Washington rattles off Angola’s color palette: white, gray, yellow. Or, in some places, blue, gray, white.

Then there’s the metal and brick, the very skeleton of the prison. Those cold, lifeless materials and the relentless dearth of color drain you, Washington says: “It’s dehumanizing.”

That, in part, is why he builds the libraries, conceiving of the work in much the same vein as Betts himself. “The bookshelves were created for that very thing—to make a man feel like a human,” Washington said.

For those who remain incarcerated, who Washington calls his family, he has to do more now that he has emerged on the other side, free. It affirms that their lives still matter, that they haven’t been forgotten. “That’s my duty,” he said. “That’s my brothers.”

A supervisor at Revival Workshop, he and his fellow

formerly incarcerated colleagues fabricate the libraries Freedom Reads brings to Louisiana—and sometimes other prisons outside of the state.

Revival, owned and operated by former Tulane architecture professor Doug Harmon, is contracted with Freedom Reads as a regional fabricator for the libraries. The two companies share a common goal to give new life to those mired in the often brutal churn of the criminal justice system. At Revival, Harmon offers formerly incarcerated individuals a one-year paid apprenticeship to learn the craft of woodworking—a practice that drew Betts to the workshop and fostered their partnership.

Washington, who was released in 2022, has witnessed first-hand the grace afforded him by participating in the program, and the lessons that extend beyond the craft itself.

“The adversity that you go through while fabricating a piece—it helps you to learn problem solving,” Washington said. “Wood is still alive. It still moves. It bends and it does things you do not want it to do. You have to first learn the principles that govern what’s going on, then learn to manipulate it.”

Christopher Spruill, another formerly incarcerated carpenter at the workshop, believes that with his work building the libraries, he is doing something good; he has completed something to be used for meaningful change.

“I’ve been in a cell,” he said. “And having these bookshelves in there, that just gives somebody incentive to actually want to learn something or to occupy their mind with something other than what goes on in jail.”

In excerpts of letters provided by the Freedom Reads team from incarcerated people across Louisiana, the hope inspired by the libraries shines forth. These are called “kites”—passed to and from people in prison, or

sent to people on the outside.

“Coming out of the hole to see the new bookshelves & books brought a smile to my soul and then noticing that the books were being read brought a smile to my face so I thank y’all for the kindness, love & support in which that one act projects,” wrote an inmate named Terry. “Rushing to the shelves, I started to read the titles & to my surprise there were classics I heard about [ie Raisin in the Sun] but never had the opportunity to read. I must confess, I was like a kid in Toys-R-Us for the first time.”

He thanked the team for doing work that matters for “a group of people who some think don’t matter.”

“I live in the assisted living area and can barely see or stand sometimes,” wrote Jasmine from Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women. “The bookcase is gorgeous and the wide choices of books to choose from make me wish I could read all of them. Thank you so much.”

Other messages are brief, but full of emotion.

“What you are doing means A LOT to people like me,” wrote an inmate named James. “No friends, no family. These books get me out of here, I am free when I read.”

The possibilities for so many people behind bars have already been foreclosed upon, Betts says. They have been sold a lie that they don’t deserve happiness, which he believes is the first step to one’s mind folding in on itself. Through this lens, reading is a form of redemption, of struggling toward the light that has been withheld for so long.

“Many of us turned to books when people said that we were going to be ruined. Many of us spent those years in prison resisting being ruined," he said. “It’s an act of resistance, even when it’s reading a romance novel. To believe you deserve to smile.” • freedomreads.org.

Meet Mark Duplass

THE EMMY-NOMINATED ACTOR ON BIG BUDGET OPPORTUNITIES AND SMALL BUDGET STORYTELLING

By Gregory James Wakeman

Mark Duplass is something of a rarity in the current film landscape.

Through the New Orleans-born-and-raised filmmaker and actor’s production company, Duplass Brothers Productions, which he founded with his older brother Jay, he’s written and directed the micro-budget indie films The Puffy Chair, Cyrus; and Jeff, Who Lives at Home, as well as the television shows Togetherness and Penelope —which premiered in January at the 2024 Sundance Festival and is now streaming on Netflix. The eight-episode series stars Megan Stott as the titular sixteen-year-old character, who feels so disconnected to the modern world that she leaves her home for the wilderness.

But Duplass is also a renowned actor, who has starred in mainstream fare like Zero Dark Thirty, The League, The Mindy Project, and all three seasons of The Morning Show. A fictional inside look at the hugely popular news program, the Apple TV+ show stars Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon, and has explored sexual harassment, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the changing landscape of television.

“I’m trying to figure out the balance of working on a really, deeply important TV

series like Penelope, while having the comfort and, quite frankly, the paycheck of The Morning Show, which can help to fund my other work financially and spiritually,” Duplass said. “I’ve discovered I love doing both. That battle keeps me happy and makes me feel vital as an artist.”

Duplass’s performance as Charlie Black, the highstrung and complex executive producer of The Morning Show, have been roundly rewarded, even earning him a Golden Globe and two Emmy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor. “I was actually reading books with my youngest daughter and wife when she told me to check the nominations,” he said. “I didn’t think there was any reason to. Then, I check my phone, and I have all these texts congratulating me.”

When it comes to awards, Duplass questions the need to turn art into a competition, but appreciates the recognition and acknowledges how important nominations are for getting his other work promoted. “The part of me that is business-minded knows that, for the entire ecosystem of my career, it’s important people see me as someone who is nominated for awards,” he said. “It gets people talking. It gives me the chance to get my face out there, which I can then use to make more shows like Penelope, which I’m super grateful for.”

Born and raised in New Orleans, Duplass credits his love of movies to both the emergence of HBO and growing up so close to a cinema. “Me and my brother, we’d get home from school and watch the likes of Sophie’s Choice and Kramer vs. Kramer at like three o’clock in the

afternoon on TV. Then at Lakeside Cinemas we actually won a competition that gave us yearly passes. We’d see Karate Kid and Raising Arizona repeatedly. That’s when I started to understand the art of storytelling.”

As Duplass began to take the first steps in his film making career, he looked to New Orleans’s musical and creative history for inspiration. “We were outside of Hol lywood and had no knowledge of the film industry,” he said. “The models for successful artists in New Orleans were these blues and jazz musicians. They were these workhorses, who’d load their own gear, do their own soundcheck, and do everything.”

Likewise, when it came to making their own movies, Mark and Jay started their careers by doing every job on set, from acting, producing, and editing to making the posters and booking flights. “No one is coming to help you. No one knows who you are, and no one cares,” said Duplass. While they have more help nowadays, Duplass still prides himself on helping out where required. “That work ethic was mandatory at first. But it has stuck as a point of pride. At my core, I am most comfortable with my family and friends, holding the boom, tweaking the lighting, and cleaning up after the day is done.”

has Jen talking about women’s rights to the middle of the country. There’s some cool work being done in it that I didn’t actually expect.”

Even though he’s accustomed to more threadbare productions, Duplass has enjoyed working on the extravagant sets of The Morning Show. “When I don’t have to do all those jobs, like on The Morning Show, it’s frankly glorious. The food is incredible. I’m vastly overpaid for the work I do. And I love it.”

Duplass believes that The Morning Show has struck such a chord with people because its leading stars, Aniston and Witherspoon, bring a “movie star appeal, in their beautiful clothes, and under perfect lighting, with popular music playing behind them,” which is then transposed over by hot button topics. “I try to make art about important things. A lot of the time it feels like I’m speaking into an echo chamber. But

As the co-creator and co-writer of Penelope, alongside Mel Eslyn, Duplass is hopeful that the success of The Morning Show will attract viewers to the self-funded coming-of-age drama.

“I came up with the idea because I feel like a lot of us are addicted to technology,” he said. “It felt obvious to me. Part of me feels like we’ve taken a turn in the last five to ten years that is not bringing happiness to us. Mental health issues have skyrocketed. I feel like a lot of that is related to our connectedness with technology. I really wanted to contribute to that conversation, especially since I have a sixteen-year-old daughter.”

After Duplass and Eslyn finished writing the show,

a bidding war,” he said. “Everyone said the writing was beautiful and they loved the gentle pace. But then they'd say, ‘We can’t make this! We have to make the next Game Of Thrones.’”

Duplass decided to take matters into his own hands. Thanks to his hefty Morning Show paycheck, he decided to finance the show himself. And it paid off; in May 2024, Netflix bought the rights. While he’s relieved to have found a home for Penelope, the whole experience left him concerned about the future of film and television.

“It’s so hard to get things made for so many reasons,” he said. “I feel so fortunate that I have been in this business for twenty years. I have really good relationships. My name means something now. It’s easier for me to get something made. Or, if I've made it myself, find a place for it. It’s a lot of hard work. But it’s what makes me feel alive.” •

Images courtesy of Mark Duplass's team. Actress Megan Stott in the Duplass Brothers film, Penelope

A Slice of Our Silver Screen

5 NEW PROJECTS BY

LOUISIANA FILMMAKERS

By Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

As per Country Roads’ Film issue tradition, our editorial team is thrilled to celebrate five exciting projects by Louisiana filmmakers—exploring the nuance and evolutions of Louisiana culture through documentaries about roots music, the visual arts, and the Black experience. This year, we’re also featuring two narrative feature projects that capture the stories that erupt from the distinct sense of place found in our small towns—inspiring complex characters in communities equally beautiful and fraught.

Musique(s)!

An ambitious addition to the existing body of literature documenting and celebrating Louisiana’s distinct musical heritage, a new project by the New Orleans Foundation for Francophone Cultures (otherwise known as NOUS) aims to capture a snapshot of Louisiana French music today, in the twenty-first century.

Musique(s)!, which will premiere at the New Orleans French Film Festival in 2025, is a twenty-minute documentary, funded by a CreateLouisiana grant, which tells the stories of six modern day musical groups performing a range of musical genres in Louisiana French or Creole.

Directed by Cory St. Ewart, with Autumn Palen as director of photography, the film is an extension of NOUS's project in partnership with Library of Congress, which will culminate in a twelve-track vinyl record featuring two songs by each group.

“The idea,” said Scott Tilton, co-founder and co-director of NOUS, “was to celebrate Louisiana roots music and look at these musicians who choose to sing in these languages, and focus on how they are transmitting them. What’s so interesting and unique about the dynamism of this music is that people who hear it don’t necessarily understand all of the lyrics, but they’re still attracted to the music. And the musicians are adapting it, racking up Grammys.”

Musicians featured on the album and in the film include New Orleans

indie rock band Sweet Crude; Ryan Harrison’s Les Cenelles—a chamber music ensemble performing works by Afro-descendant peoples; Bruce Sunpie Barnes and his “Afro Louisiana” blend of zydeco, blues, and Afro-Cuban music; women from the Baby Dolls New Orleans Mardi Gras traditions; and Grammy Award winning musicians Leyla McCalla and Louis Michot.

Tilton said that he gave the artists full license to choose which songs they would contribute to the album, the only requirement being that they be sung in Louisiana French or Creole. As he and the team at NOUS were organizing the logistics of recording the album, Tilton said that it dawned on them that “this would be a sick documentary.”

Capturing behind-the-scenes footage of the album being made, in combination with conversations and interviews with the artists themselves, St. Ewart approached the film, his first documentary, with a research-heavy, story-first mindset taking inspiration from award-winning contemporary filmmakers Alexandra Kern (Wild Magnolias, 2022) and Jean Chapiro Uziel (Hasta Encontrarlos (Till We Find Them), 2022).

“When we’re watching documentaries that move us, they feel like narratives,” said St. Ewart, referring to the musicians he features as characters or protagonists, rather than subjects. “I’ve seen a ton of documentaries about Louisiana, and Louisiana music specifically, and you can learn a lot from those. But there hasn’t been a lot where I felt like I knew the people and went through a narrative journey. I was informed, but I wasn’t moved. We really, really looked at that in how we wanted to construct this piece.”

In considering this project’s place alongside the existing body of documentaries and books on Louisiana music, St. Ewart wanted to shift the focus from the art itself onto the artists. “We asked the musicians why they create, what moved them to start creating music in French, and their relationships to the French language here in Louisiana,” he said. “I would love for this work to be another blueprint for the kinds of stories that we can tell about our culture in Louisiana.”

Musique(s)! fits directly into St. Ewart’s oeuvre, which aims to broadcast stories from his home state to the larger world, while also inspiring Louisiana

Indie pop/Louisiana French band Sweet Crude, recording the Library of Congress album with the organization NOUS, captured by director Cory St. Ewart for the documentary Musique(s)!

artists to take hold of their culture and “go places they never thought they would go.” Louisiana’s musicians have been the leaders in this transmission, St. Ewart points out, more than any other art form. “Their talents go across the world.”

As St. Ewart makes the final edits on the film, he said that he gets chills every time he presses play. “I’m proud of it, yes,” he said. “But the chills came from it just being so cool.”

Musique(s)! will premiere in 2025 at the New Orleans French Film Festival and will be broadcast on TV5MONDE during the Mois de la Francophonie in March 2025. From February–May 2025, NOUS and the Historic BK House & Gardens will present an exhibition in the French Quarter, featuring an immersive, multimedia experience exploring Louisiana’s musical heritage. nous-foundation.org.

Ghetto Children

“Legacy is something that you carry, something you can’t let die. It’s like a foundation that you get passed on from generation to generation.” This quote comes from T.Y., one of the young subjects of Zac Manuel’s first feature-length documentary. The statement precedes a scene of T.Y., the son of Cash Money Millionaires and Hot Boy$ rapper B.G., going into a tattoo shop in New Orleans to begin the process of recreating elements of the tableau on his father’s chest.

In another scene, Young Juve—son of fellow Millionaire and Hot Boy$ legend Juvenile—discusses his rap career on a video call in a Burger King. “I’m not the type of person who’s like ‘oh my daddy’s Juvenile so I’m a go out there and be like . . . nah,” he says. “Like everything I do is on my own. I’ma do it my way.” He points out that he doesn’t rap like his father, nor does he act like his father. “Like I got dreads with colorful hair and gauges in my ear, you feel me? You woulda never thought I was Juvenile’s son.”

Manuel and producer Chris Haney first discovered the Ghetto Children, the rap group made up of T.Y., Young Juve, and Lil’ Soulja Slim—son of the late Soulja Slim—in 2016.

Haney was listening to a song that he at first assumed was new music by B.G. Except that at the time, B.G. was incarcerated. Haney wondered, “How is B.G. making and releasing music from federal prison?” Then he discovered it was the work of the next generation, the progeny of the legendary 1990s and early 2000s New Orleans rap scene.

Still early in their careers as filmmakers—“really just in a punk rock radical space of let’s go grab a camera and go out and shoot and see what we capture,” as Manuel described it—he and Haney thought that the story of these three New Orleans rap legacies might make a fascinating short film. After the first six weeks of shooting, though, it was evident that this was something more.

“Eventually we decided it needed to be a feature,” said Manuel.

Eight years later, Ghetto Children premiered last month at the New Orleans Film Festival—representing an evolutionary span of Manuel and Haney’s careers as filmmakers, as well as almost a decade in the lives of their twentysomething-year-old subjects and their community.

Today an Academy Award-nominated filmmaker, Manuel’s body of documentary shorts have often explored the dichotomous personality of his native city when it comes to its Black life within it.

HISTORICAL HAPPY HOUR November 15, 2024 • 6-8PM with Bruce “Sunpie” Barnes

Jacques Bartoli Collection November 2, 2024 - January 26, 2025 www.WestBatonRougeMuseum.org

Lil' Soulja Slim and his girlfriend, pictured at a doctor's appointment before their child was born—an emotional centerpiece of Zac Manuel's film, Ghetto Children

“On one hand, New Orleans is really beautiful, and there’s really great culture and rich Black culture,” he said. “And then on the other hand, there’s the prevalence of over policing and over-incarcerating and infrastructural change that kind of destroys Black neighborhoods and displaces people. We’re holding both of those things at the same time. I think that’s what I’m thinking about a lot in my work, how the Black identity and the Black experience intersects with the dynamics of racism and systemic injustice, and specifically how those things intersect for Black men.”

Ghetto Children steps right into these contradictions, as Manuel and Haney embed themselves into the worlds of T.Y., Young Juve, and Lil’ Soulja Slim. “It was really this process of exploring what it means to be in the shoes they fill, and what it means to fill this space that their fathers left behind, and in some cases that their fathers still inhabit,” said Manuel. “What does it mean to move through the world with the weight of those legacies, and to become an adult and start a family and figure out things about yourself, come into your own personhood?”

Haney and Manuel started out shooting around four days a week, calling their subjects in the mornings to find out where they were, and then heading out with their equipment. “A lot of the time we spent together was pretty observational, close proximity observation. We wanted to just be flies on the wall. As we started doing that, we found points of intersection where we’d have conversations and ended up doing interviews, but they were really kind of informal, not-quite-sit-down interviews. Like let’s hang out on a couch and have a conversation.” These intimate snapshots are interspersed with exciting footage of the young rappers in the thrill of their creativity, spitting lines in the studio, making notes in journals, getting nervous for onstage performances in their community, and on tour in L.A. “Rap saved my life,” says T.Y., reflecting on the difficult years after his father’s conviction in 2012.

In placing a magnifying glass to the lives of these young men, Manuel hopes that audiences—regardless of their own backgrounds and experiences—might find “space for grace.”

“One thing I wanted to explore in this film, especially when it comes to stories about Black men, is allowing room for imperfection, space where people are still in the process of growth, of discovery—where oftentimes there is an expectation of having something figured out, or striving toward some kind of righteous goal. It’s a story of what it means to be young and Black and not see many opportunities for yourself, and not see many depictions of yourself that you feel comfortable striving for. I want people to sit with that reality, and acknowledge that it is real for a lot of people, and I think they just offer a sense of understanding, or be inspired to ask questions.”

In the weeks leading up to the film’s premiere, Manuel said that he was anxious to

share it with the New Orleans community, and especially the rap community. “If people from the community watch it and they respond positively and it feels impactful to them, that’s the success,” he said. “That’s the metric.” zacmanuel.com.

The Dirty South

In Louisiana native Matthew Yerby’s debut narrative film, The Dirty South, Sue Parker is fighting for her family’s livelihood. She’s got seventy-two hours, and as the clock ticks away, desperation pushes her to places she never imagined she’d go. At one point, that includes racing down Cane River Lake in a stolen boat, laughing her head off.

The night they filmed that scene, temperatures had just dropped down below thirty degrees. “A lot of the crew and some cast were from California,” said Yerby, the film’s director and writer. “These people didn’t know what twenty-nine degrees in Louisiana is like, on the water, in the dark. But I was so impressed with the team for actually getting through it together.”

The character Sue, played by Willa Holland (The O.C., Gossip Girl ), is inspired by the subject of Dion DiMucci’s song, “Runaround Sue,”—one of Yerby’s father’s favorites. “‘Runaround Sue’ is about a girl who says, ‘keep away,’” explained Yerby. “She’ll break your heart. And in the film, there are a lot of guys trying to get with Sue, but she has no time, no time whatsoever. She has to put food on the table for her little brother, make sure he’s got a roof over his head. And she has no help at home.”

Sue’s love interest, who guides her in her escapades as she attempts to raise (steal) enough money to save her family bar, is Louisiana boy Shane West’s (A Walk to Remember) Dion, a character inspired by DiMucci’s “The Wanderer”— who, as Yerby describes it, “roams from town to town, nobody knows his name. He’s got two fists of iron. And he loves his car.”

In writing the screenplay, Yerby kept in mind advice from a mentor—“Write what you can actually produce.” It’s a huge reason why he decided to set the story in his hometown of Natchitoches, Louisiana. “This was my first ever feature film, so nobody really knew who I was,” he said. “It’s not like people were just going to hand me a lot of money to go shoot wherever I wanted.” In Natchitoches, he knew he’d have access to free sets in people’s homes. The boat they used? Someone lent it to them. And the bar that Sue was trying to save? It’s the bar Yerby worked in while he was in college. “That’s part of why I wanted to make her a bartender,” he said.

The team transformed Point Place Marina—with its bar and parking lot and nearby trailers—into a Louisiana-style studio lot, where most of the film was filmed. “It was originally supposed to be a summertime film,” said Yerby. But when the middle of

winter turned out to be the only time all of the actors were available, they went with it. “I really think it gave a much better tone to the film, this dark winter, this dirty south.” Yerby said that he took inspiration for The Dirty South from the 2016 neo-Western drama Hell or High Water which, despite its star studded cast and a script by Taylor Sheridan, operated on a relatively small budget of $12 million. “There are a lot of great stories that don’t require a ton of locations, a ton of explosions, where the audience really cares about the relationships of the characters,” he said. Momentum can be added with something as simple as a time clock, he pointed out. “And that’s what I love to watch, what I love to write. We’re all flawed people. We want to see how far people will go, what they will go through, to achieve what they have to do to protect the ones they love.”

One of the main factors in emphasizing that momentum is the film’s original score—composed by Tyler Forrest and produced by Blake Phillips. Forrest, along with producer Andrew Vogel, met Yerby when the group of them were working as actors in New Orleans in 2013. He and Yerby locked themselves in a cabin after filming was completed and emerged two weeks later with the film’s soundtrack. “I wanted a very raunchy, rugged, Southern rock soundtrack,” said Yerby. “And I wanted it to show a lot of urgency. Tyler did just that, keeping the tempo of the music up.”

In the year since its release, The Dirty South has been awarded the Best Cinematography award at the 2023 Chelsea Film Festival and been met with positive reception by critics and the public. “This was an incredible first film to have,” said Yerby. “It was one of the greatest learning experiences of my life and solidified that this is most definitely what I want to do for the rest of my life. And I hope that more people from around Louisiana will see that this is a very possible thing. You can shoot a film, and you can attract bigger talent. It might take longer and might take more hard work, but it is one hundred percent possible for someone from small town Louisiana to do this.”

The Dirty South is now available for streaming on Amazon Prime and Apple TV.

George Dureau: New Orleans Artist

In Sergio Andres Lobo-Navia and Jarret Lofstead’s documentary film George Dureau: New Orleans Artist, the subject, in archival footage, tells of the day when—after attending a film with Judy Garland or Hedy Lamarr or Lana Turner—he attended a freakshow on Canal Street. “On the third setup,” he recalls, meditatively, “on the right, on a platform sat a nice-looking man with no arms. He drew with a pencil held between the big toe and the long toe of his right foot. I wanted desperately for him to draw me. He had stared at me twice. He must have thought I was worth drawing.”

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Weeks or months later, Dureau was walking home with a girl from his class, who invited him over to her home. In the front room, sitting on a dining chair, is her uncle, the armless circus performer. And, “He drew me.”

George Dureau (1930–2014) is remembered best today for his figurative works as a painter and photographer, and especially for his renderings of the male body—his models ranging from professional athletes to the disabled, and usually in the nude.

“I’ve always, since childhood, I’ve been more than fascinated, just drawn totally to people who are handicapped. But particularly to people who are triumphant though handicapped,” he says of his iconic paintings and drawings of dwarves, of people without hands, without legs.

The artist’s long life and career spanned the postwar era of New Orleans, the oil boom, the oil bust, and ultimately, the effects of Hurricane Katrina—which made Dureau the ideal subject for Andres Lobo-Navia and Lofstead. The two have been collaborating since 2008 when they met at Loyola, Andres Lobo-Navia as a student and Lofstead as a professor. As filmmakers, they share an interest in discussing and challenging the creative economy that emerged post-Katrina New Orleans, and found in Dureau’s an allegory for a New Orleans that has been lost.

“He was this bastion of the final bohemian part of the Quarter, one of the last holdouts,” said Andres Lobo-Navia. Lofstead added, “a real New Orleanian, who

intersected the white and Black communities, and the disabled community, and the gay community.” Driving down Esplanade in one archival shot, Dureau tells his passenger, “I’ve had so much fun and so much pain in so many houses along here. I’ve known murderers in these houses, fornicators, saints!”

Lofstead recalls seeing Dureau riding his bike through the Quarter shortly after he arrived in the city in the late 1990s. “He was really part of the street, part of the French Quarter, really part of that life,” he said. “And then to learn that after he died of Alzheimer’s, he was kind of forgotten ...”

Backed by an original score by various New Orleans musicians, including several dissonant, dreamlike sequences by pianist Oscar Rossignoli, the film traces the arc of Dureau’s life and career. The story is pieced together with archival interviews, footage, and some never-before-seen photographs largely sourced from the Historic New Orleans’ Collections’ holdings—“just boxes and boxes of videotapes and books, contact sheets, photographs, his journals,” said Lofstead. Dureau’s life is, to a large extent, narrated by the artist himself, who took part in several interviews over the course of his life, in addition to original interviews the filmmakers conducted with Dureau’s models, neighbors, his brother, and other contemporaries, including gallerist Arthur Roger—who represents Dureau’s work in his galleries to this day.

One of the antagonists of Dureau’s career, as depicted in the film, was the much acclaimed photographer Robert Mapplethorpe—who Dureau himself argued took inspiration from his own work, though he distinguished his own photographs as depicting people “you can’t buy or use or handle”.

Dureau’s contentions with Mapplethorpe were part of a larger rejection of New York City, a city for the ambitious, said Lofstead. New Orleans, by contrast, was and is a city “for the creative, but not for the ambitious.”

“So, part of the underlying question is, you don’t necessarily get the opportunities or options or access here in New Orleans that you get in the big metropole,” said Lofstead. “So, do you stay deliberately? Do you do it unconsciously? Why are we here? And as New Orleans continues to change, what is left that is keeping us here?”

Emphasizing the sense that the city’s spirit has been lost, on the day before he and Andres Lobo-Navia were to finalize the film in 2023, they were walking along Canal Street when they looked up at Harrah’s—where a Dureau sculpture had decorated the pediment of the casino since 1999. “And it was gone.”

George Dureau: New Orleans Artist premiered at the 2023 New Orleans Film Festival; an updated version (which includes the loss of the Harrah’s pediment, among other additions) will be screened at The Broad Theatre on November 21 at 7 pm. dureaufilm.com.

In a Sunlit Spring, 8x10, Mixed media by Krista Roche

On the Bayou, 36x36 Oil by Carol Hallock

Jewel Tones, 15x22 Watercolor by Carol Creel

Layaway now for Christmas.

Pointe Noire

One of Acadiana’s preeminent filmmakers, Pat Mire returns to the screen this year with his second narrative feature film, Pointe Noire

Mire, who made his first film on Louisiana culture in 1988, is best known for his illuminating documentaries, which explore everything from handfishing traditions in the Cajun bayous, to Louisiana folktales and roots music, to the iconic courirs of Acadiana. His debut feature film, Dirty Rice, told the story of a man returning home to a Cajun prairie challenged by the fickle rice industry, where he rediscovers his roots and a new appreciation for his home. The film premiered at the 1997 New Orleans Film Festival, was an official selection at the 1998 London Film Festival, and maintains the record for the film with the longest run (over five months) at Lafayette movie theaters.

Almost thirty years later, Mire’s return to fictional storytelling is ironically one of his most personal projects yet. The story of a criminal defense attorney (played by Myriam Cyr, who also starred in Dirty Rice) and a filmmaker (played by Canadian actor Roy Dupuis) who come together to save the life of a falsely accused man on death row (played by Acadiana actor Michael Bienvenu)—Pointe Noire is a mirror of Mire’s own collaboration with his partner, Rebecca Hudsmith.

Hudsmith, the Federal Public Defender for the Middle and Western Districts of Louisiana, has represented several clients on death row and argued cases all the way up to the United States Supreme Court. She met Mire in 2006 at the inaugural Cinema on the Bayou Festival, of which he is the founder and Artistic Director. Knowing of her work, and hoping to get her number, Mire approached Hudsmith with the line,

“You know, I’m thinking of someday doing a film on folk justice.”

“And now,” said Mire, “we’ve finally done it.”

Hudsmith, who took writing courses at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette under Ernest Gaines, had herself toyed with the idea of writing about her work with death row inmates in some capacity. But the screenplay didn’t come together until 2020, when she and Mire found themselves quarantined and inspired to produce a story that brought their two worlds together. Hudsmith would write every weekend, and while she conducted her attorney work during the week, Mire would write his sections and edit. “We came up with a really beautiful routine and stuck to it for over a year,” said Hudsmith.

“I didn’t shave for six months,” said Mire. “I said I would not shave or take a drink of wine until we had our first draft.”

The resulting screenplay is a bilingual story set in the fictional Louisiana community of Pointe Noire, where years before, two people were killed the night of a traditional courir de Mardi Gras. During the protagonists’ investigation, the place emerges as a character of its own—captured anamorphically in an aesthetic reminiscent of the 1970s and 1980s, a haunted and isolated corner of rural Louisiana bearing the weight of its own secrets. “I think we captured something really, really special that people from here are gonna get,” said Mire. “But people from far away are going to appreciate, too, the power of the story.”

As a first-time screenwriter, Hudsmith said she has never in her life experienced a moment more surreal than hearing, for the first time, the actors speaking the lines she had written. “It was amazing,” she said.

“The story is fictional,” she went on, describing the death row character Joel Richard as a composite of her clients over the course of thirty years. “But at the same time, it goes to the heart of our lives.”

Pointe Noire will have its red carpet world premiere on November 23 at the Festival International du Cinéma Francophone en Acadie (FICFA) in Moncton, New Brunswick and its Louisiana premiere on January 22 at the Cinema on the Bayou Festival in Lafayette. • patmire.com.

SWEET & MERRY THINGS TO DO

Tanger Tree Lighting | Nov. 2

Merry Market | Nov. 9 -10

This That & More’s Christmas Open House | Nov. 9 - 10

Christmas at Conway | Nov. 23

Christmas at Houmas House | Starts Nov. 29

Christmas Stroll in the Park | Dec. 7

Baton Rouge Symphony Holiday Brass Concert | Dec. 8

Gonzales Holiday Market | Dec. 13 - 15

Winter Wonderland Craft & Vendor Market | Dec. 14 -15

Christmas Stroll Along the Avenue | Dec. 14

Scan to view our full calendar of events!

Telling a Tastemaker's Tale

A Q&A WITH TIM ALLIS, AUTHOR OF "HENRI BENDEL AND THE WORLDS HE FASHIONED"

Interview by Ashley Hinson

From the Gilded Age to the era of Gossip Girl, the name Henri Bendel has evoked the modern glamor of the American elite and the women who defined it, all wrapped in the iconic brown-and-white striped box. Bendel’s blend of business acumen and creative genius propelled him from Lafayette, Louisiana to Fifth Avenue, where his eponymous department store pioneered practices that would become the gold standard in luxury retail. In Henri Bendel and the Worlds He Fashioned, published by UL Press in September, Tim Allis chronicles Bendel’s journey as he conquered both the creative and business sides of the fashion industry.

A gay man born to Jewish immigrant parents in 1868, Bendel spoke French, which opened the doors for French designers like Chanel and Molyneux to make their stateside debut. Bendel’s store introduced international aesthetics to New York, which delivered the latest designs from Paris to women’s closets. Everyone wanted to be a Bendel Girl. But until now, little was known about the man himself.

Allis grew up on Bendel’s family’s property—the distinctive, oak-strewn subdivision of Bendel Gardens in Lafayette. Growing up, he frequently biked past the Camellia Lodge, Henri Bendel's former home, unaware that someday his own path would mirror that of the New York tastemaker (Allis spent twelve years as Senior Editor of InStyle magazine).

In light of the book’s release, we connected with Allis to discuss Bendel’s influence, his public and private life, and how Allis turned Bendel’s story into an objet d'art.

From his shop on Fifth Avenue, Bendel introduced American women to French designers, including Chanel and Molyneux. For our modern audience, contextualize what this meant for American women at the time.

He was bringing them the coveted French designs. Previously, only the very wealthiest and most fashionable women were able to go to Paris themselves and select their couture dresses. Now, Henri was bringing couture dresses back to the states—not just the true one-off couture pieces, but also copies of certain dresses and looks, with the permission of the Parisian couturiers. He was also bringing prices down. He was starting a kind of democratization of fashion.

You and Bendel are both Lafayette natives who entered their respective industries as outsiders, yet carved out your identities as tastemakers. What do you think it is about outsiders that uniquely equips them to challenge norms and bring fresh perspectives to the industry?

In Henri’s case, his outsider status fueled him and gave him an edge because he had ambition and a hunger. If you don’t grow up around finery, I think the allure of it is even stronger. Perhaps he felt he had more to prove. That could be a combination of everything—from being Jewish, to being a Southerner, which might have brought its own discrimination in New York back in

those days, and certainly for his homosexuality, which he kept under wraps. But I think all of those things probably gave him a quiet, secret mojo. You have to work harder and want to master it more.

Now I’m thinking about him going to Europe for the first time—I think he was just intoxicated by the beauty and the history. He had probably been a pretty good history student, but that experience must have taken him to a whole new level. He was rhapsodic about French culture, French history, and ancient cultures. He referenced ancient cultures in his fashion writing a lot. I think he was besotted by all of it and wanted to incorporate it—not just in the dresses he was buying and the hats he was making, but in his life. And he did.

A little bit of my feeling of being an outsider comes from my dad being from another part of the country. Like Henri, I think many gay boys often feel like outsiders, so I can relate to him on that level. I feel as if I have one leg in New York and the other in Louisiana.

You have a whole chapter dedicated to Bendel’s status as an outlier. His syndicated fashion column was bold, authoritative, and prophetic in a time when women had fewer resources to guide their fashion choices. How did his voice contribute to expanding the Bendel brand?

In some ways, his fashion commentary was deeply authentic, but he also imbued his comments with a lot of drama because he figured it would have more impact—and it did. He can sound a little grandiose in his commentary, but a lot of old theatre criticism from that era, opera reviews, and other fashion writers all sounded that way back then. Journalism was more baroque. At the same time, he brought a kind of folksiness to his columns and writing; he would throw in an ‘ain’t’ or use some other bit of vernacular. I think he was tapping into his Southern roots and leveraging them, using that charm to his advantage.

I like to think, as a fellow Louisianan, that his Southern charm and some of the special qualities unique to Louisiana helped out, too—such as a sense of humor, self-deprecation, a kind of warmth, but also great enthusiasm. Whether it’s Cajuns or anyone in South Louisiana, we’re quick to put a ‘!’ at the end of sentences. We’re not shy. I think that adds to the effect.

You grew up in Bendel Gardens, which must have given you a unique perspective. How did that personal connection influence your research and writing process for the book?

I knew Bendel Gardens was named for Henri Bendel long before I started thinking about writing a book. Initially, it was just a cool fact—a neat connection to the neighborhood we biked around. I grew up playing all over the neighborhood, so it was interesting to know this land was connected to a famous guy. People in New York or the rest of the U.S. don’t

Tim Allis, photo by Michael Lionstar; Cover image courtesy of the University Press of Lafayette-Louisiana

really know his story, so it started to become a question of, ‘How has there never been a book about this guy?’ That was the incentive. But on a personal note, I love the connection. How cool is that? I write in my afterword about the magnolia tree we climbed, kind of on our property line—was that a tree Henri planted? Was it spawned from a seed he planted?”

The book features archival images and documents— gorgeous sketches of dresses, photos of Bendel’s shop and patrons, and photos of Bendel and his associates. How important was it for you to include visual references to Bendel’s life and career?

It was super important. Any story that is on fashion requires images. A stunning dress can’t really be described with words. Fashion is a magical art form, and you have to see it to really get it. So, it was important to me to show a mix of dresses, hats, and sketches. It’s so great that the Brooklyn Museum is in possession of over 7,000 sketches in the Bendel sketch collection—mostly sketches that Bendel executed. He or his emissaries would go to Paris, look at the collections, and bring back the sketches.

Images were crucial to this project, and it was part of a balancing act I’m hoping I achieved, which was to tell a biographical story about someone who lived and died many decades ago, but also to tell the story of a brand that was only closed a few years ago.

Like Bendel, you are a gay man who left Lafayette and reached the top of his industry elsewhere. Do you feel that there’s a certain sense of pride or responsibility in telling his story?

Very much. I approached that aspect of the story with some trepidation—not out of any shyness or reticence on my part to dive into gay topics in that realm; I had a byline in Out magazine and have been out for a long time. But I wasn’t sure. I had to put the pieces together and feel certain that Henri was gay, but of course, all the evidence was there and quickly found. I discovered things from family

Sketch of a Chanel dress in the Bendel Sketch Collection at the Brooklyn Museum. Courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum and Henri Bendel, LLC.

Henry Bendel. From the Illustrated Milliner, courtesy of New York Public Library.

members years ago who confirmed it and spoke with descendants of his sisters and brothers. It was a happy open secret. I knew I had to proceed, but I wanted to make sure I framed it right because Henri lived freely, but not openly. It was a whole other era. You could hide in plain sight. Who knows how he even felt about his sexual identity, or how he might have characterized it among his companions? He was able to live with them, have them work for the company, and travel with them freely. On some occasions, he even referred to them as his companions, though that wouldn’t have had the connotation it has now. He could do that because he was Henri Bendel. He was famous, wealthy, respected—a gentleman—so no one was going to call him names or blow the whistle on him.

I write in the afterword that I hope Henri forgives my intrusion upon his privacy. I thought, ‘Am I outing him? Is this something he would really hate?’ I’ve concluded that, in 2024, Henri deserves to be liberated. If he were alive now, he would have no shame about his gender identity or who he was living with. He would be out in the open because it’s a different world now. That gives me permission to write honestly about him.

In the book, Bendel is an advocate for beauty throughout his life, including the natural beauty of his home state. Could you describe his relationship to the state?

His devotion was bedrock. I think that speaks to the traditions of old Southern families, where large families are very devoted to one another. I think Jewish families have a great tradition of loyalty, and those family ties were with him throughout his life. He returned to Louisiana frequently, spoke enthusiastically about it, and missed it when he wasn’t there. He loved coming back to Camellia Lodge outside of Lafayette. He was building, or intending to build, a home for himself on the property that was going to be close to the river, which he did not get to see completed. Clearly, he planned to spend a lot of time there once he retired.

I think he romanticized Lafayette at times. But he was passionate, and he found it to be another outlet for beauty and creativity, primarily in landscaping and gardening. He found beauty in the camellias as much as in beautiful fabrics, and he was able to indulge all of that in the dead of winter down in Lafayette. I think it was just one more aesthetic outlook for him.

What do you want the book to accomplish for his legacy and your own?

I would love for Henri Bendel’s wonderful reputation, which was, let’s say, misplaced for about fifty to sixty years, to be restored. He was a line in a Cole Porter song, a syndicated columnist, and a name that still resonates. He didn’t need me to be the great Henri Bendel, but somehow he got forgotten. I’m so happy to try to bring him back into the light, reintroducing him to the fashion history timeline and reminding people of how important he was.

I hope people respond to his story of gumption, hard work, creativity, imagination, and the ability to dream—how all of that can really take you far.

As for me, I’m just happy to reconnect with Lafayette, my southern roots, and my passion for the beauty of Louisiana’s nature. I too love a gorgeous camellia and an elegant live oak. But I also love the theatre, which Henri helped costume, and I have an amateur’s appreciation for the beauty of fabrics and fashion. I think the book has allowed me to explore my North/South, big city/small city dualities in a way that I might not have had the chance to do if I hadn’t tackled this topic. •

ulpress.org

10-14 West 57th Street in the 1960s. Courtesy of Parsons School of Design.

RESTAURANTS

Return of The Mayflower

A NEW ERA FOR THE JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI INSTITUTION

Story by Susan Marquez

restaurant enters its ninetieth year in business, it is now experiencing a rebirth of sorts, under new ownership.

The Mayflower Café was first opened in 1935 as a humble hamburger stand, by George Kountouris and John Gouras, who immigrated with their families from the Greek island of Patmos in time for the Great Depression. Even during those difficult times, Kountouris and Gouras were able to help the café not only survive, but thrive, by providing consistently fresh, delicious meals at a fair price, as well as excellent customer service.

As the restaurant expanded to focus on seafood, calling itself “Mississippi’s Original Seafood House,” French cooks were brought in from New Orleans. But in time, the cooking was left to family

members, many of whom developed the time-honored recipes that were heavy on

oped a special seafood sauce using butter, Worcestershire, lemon juice, and seasonings designed to enhance the flavor of the fish without masking it.

In its heyday, the Mayflower Café enjoyed a prominent place at the heart of downtown Jackson, with its bustling business and commerce scene. Folks who worked downtown ate lunch there, and in the evenings, families made their way downtown to eat at the restaurant. Later, as businesses closed up shop and moved to the outlying bedroom communities, it was nostalgia that brought folks back to the Mayflower. It became an intergenerational place to dine, and the experience was like no other in town.

Like many Jacksonians, George Kountouris’s son, Jerry, holds precious memories of hanging out at the restaurant with

his family, such as watching the Jackson Christmas parade from the Mayflower’s large front windows. In 1990, he left his twenty-year career as a pharmacist to take over the Mayflower for his father.

For years, Jerry held court at front of house, greeting guests and barking orders to staff. People came for the redfish and stayed for the experience. The fifties diner décor hadn’t changed in decades. There was a familiarity about the place that was comforting, if not downright alluring. Nothing seemed to deter people from the suburbs from finding their way to the Mayflower—not even the infamous restrooms, which required a trip outside and around the side of the building, up a steep set of stairs, to a darkly lit hallway. It’s just the way it was.

When Jerry announced in late 2022 that he was ready to retire and close the Mayflower Café, there was a collective wave of disappointment felt by those who had developed a relationship with the restaurant over the years. That’s when Hunter Evans came into the picture.

Evans, a Jackson native with New Orleans roots, owns the wildly successful Belhaven Town Center restaurant Elvie’s with his business partner, Cody McCain. Evans is a James Beard Award finalist, recognized across the region for imbuing his dishes with the stories of the South— treating food as something beyond nourishment, but part of history.

Evans was originally approached about The Mayflower in January 2023. “Our second child was due in October and Elvie’s was booming, so I couldn’t fathom a second restaurant and second child at the same time," he said.

He was approached again at the end of 2023 by former Jackson mayor J. Kane Ditto, who was interested in saving the restaurant as a vital part of downtown Jackson. This time, Evans was ready to listen. “Cody and I met with him, and in April of this year, we purchased the restaurant and started renovating it.”

During the process, Evans began to realize what an important role the Mayflower played in the community. “My parents weren’t from Jackson, and it

wasn’t a place they took us when we were growing up. I had eaten there a few times, but it was just not a significant part of my life.”

The renovation was no small undertaking; Evans hired Kirk Carraway of the Brandon-based Carraway Construction to handle the project. “And yes, the bathrooms were addressed in the renovation. I am amazed how people did that before.” They are now located downstairs, near the back of the dining room.

After just three months of renovations, the Mayflower Cafe re-opened in late July to a full house. “One of the things we hear often—and we love to hear it— is that the inside looks classic, original, and true, although it’s much brighter and cleaner,” said Evans. Then there are the high ceilings. Many years ago, when the restaurant first got central air, the ceilings were lowered so there would be less space to cool. “We took the ceilings up to the original height.”

A Jacksonian myself, I grew up eating at the Mayflower Café, making the trek to downtown Jackson for special occasions, and later, as a favorite place for early dinner before attending the theater or symphony in Jackson’s Thalia Mara Hall. Excited about the “new” version of an old classic, my husband and I made dinner reservations on a rainy Tuesday evening. One of the first things I noticed upon arriving was a large seafood display in the front window. “They used to fill the boxes up front with crushed ice and display the catch of the day for people to see as they walked by,” explained Evans. “When we got here, it was filled with garbage. We cleaned it out and put it back to its original use, displaying the beautiful fish we receive four times a week.”

Despite the inclement weather, the restaurant was full, and we saw many familiar faces. One of those was Lindsay Crawford, our server for the evening. Crawford has worked at the Mayflower Café since the Jerry Kountouris days. “It still looks the same, with the booths on the side and tables down the middle. But it’s better in every way. Everyone raves about the food.”

Photos courtesy of The Mayflower Café team.

At Evan’s recommendation, we started our meal with the broiled oysters, swimming in his version of George Kountouris’s decadent seafood sauce. “Every time an order of those oysters comes out the kitchen window I want to eat them,” he said, explaining that the oysters come privately tagged from near Deer Island off the Mississippi Gulf Coast. “We call them Jackson Jewels.”

An order of frog legs found their way to our table as well—a nod to the live frogs that were once on display in the front of the restaurant in the past. “Now I source them from south Louisiana,” said Evans. They were meaty and succulent, delicately breaded and fried. They tasted (no surprise) like chicken.

One of the biggest changes at the Mayflower Café is the new bar program; the previous owners never had a liquor license, and invited guests to BYOB. Now a fully stocked bar is built into the front corner of the restaurant, and bar manager Sidney Roberts has created an array of sophisticated craft cocktails. We each had one with our appetizers.

My husband chose Mike’s Old Fashioned—a classic made with Old Forester bourbon, smoked cinnamon demerara, and tobacco and orange bitters. I went with the “Let Me Be Clear,” made with Wonderbird gin (distilled in Oxford) mixed with Luxardo bitter bianco, blanc vermouth, and a sprig of rosemary.

For dinner we ordered what the Mayflower has always been most famous

for—fresh seafood from the Gulf of Mexico. I went with the redfish, served with the same delicious sauce as the broiled oysters. A perfectly roasted loaded potato was served on the side, chock full of butter, sour cream, bacon, cheese, and chives. But before our entrée was served, we had the Mayflower salad, with Evans’s version of a classic Greek comeback sauce for dressing.

For the uninitiated, comeback sauce is indigenous to the central Mississippi area. The sauce was brought over by the Greeks who settled here, including those who founded the Mayflower Café. It’s like a souped-up Thousand Island, hitting on the spicy side, and is delicious on everything from salads to French fries, seafood, and crackers.

When I spoke with Evans earlier in the day, he mentioned that because of the Greek heritage of the restaurant, he and his team took a “deep dive” into Greek vineyards and uncovered a lot of interesting, beautiful wines. “We are excited about bringing them to the state.”

The new menu at the Mayflower Café is a simple one, yet full of surprises. A daily blueplate lunch is served with the Mayflower salad and two sides. “Tuesday we serve feta-brined fried chicken,” Evans said. “We

use so much feta cheese here, and we had all that brine, so I experimented with soaking the chicken overnight in the feta brine and it takes it to a whole new level.”

There are also several salad and sandwich selections, including a fried oyster

wedge salad, and a blackened redfish sandwich. While steak is offered on the dinner menu, Evans says seafood is still the star of the show at the Mayflower Café. • themayflowercafe.com.

LATEST IN TASTE

Soupçon

A DASH OF DINING NEWS

By CR Editorial Staff

Meg Gray steps up at Tujague's

Changes are afoot at the second-oldest restaurant in New Orleans—which has the distinct claim to fame of being the birthplace of brunch. With the recent announcement of Native New Orleanian Chef Gus Martin’s retirement, Chef Meg Gray is now stepping up to take the reins. With a culinary background that includes training at Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen, Gray has been training under Martin for the past two years—setting her up with an immersive understanding of the restaurant’s rich traditions and dedication to quality. tujaguesrestaurant.com.

Zeeland Street gets a nod from the New York Times

Earlier this fall, the New York Times published its annual list of America’s best restaurants. Along with Ana Castro’s buzzy new contemporary Mexican restaurant Acamaya in New Orleans, the list includes a quieter, long-beloved spot in Baton Rouge’s Garden District: Stephanie Phares’s Zeeland Street. Since 1992, Zeeland Street has been a neighborhood staple, serving scratch-made cozy casual classic breakfasts and lunches, along with plate lunch specials like “Mama’s Pot Roast,” and pecan smoked brisket with sides—which NYT reviewer Brett Anderson described as “a paragon of the form.” zeelandstreet.com.

An Immersive Boucherie Experience: November 8–10

Toby Rodriguez and the folks from Lâche Pas Boucherie are returning for what is sure to be one of Acadiana’s most popular fall festival traditions in recent memory: a tried-and-true traditional boucherie weekend. Guests will step back in time to a world before the convenience of the supermarket, a world where our connection to our food started at the beginning of its life and followed it to its end. Guests will observe and participate in the butchering and food preparation process (enjoying, in copious amounts, the fruits of that labor), as well as panel discussions, live music, and cultural celebrations. Overnight camping is encouraged. boucherielachepas.com.

Cracklins frying up at a traditional boucherie. Photo by David Simpson.

Inside Abita Brewing

THE INS AND OUTS OF LOUISIANA'S FIRST

CRAFT

BREWERY

Story by Kristy Christiansen • Photo by Paul Christiansen

Louisiana is famous for its food and its cocktails, for its coffees and spices. But where do all these products begin? We (writer-photographer duo Kristy and Paul Christiansen) are on a mission to discover the origins of some of our most famous and unique locally made products through the bi-monthly Country Roads series, “Made in Louisiana.”

Our latest “Made in Louisi-ana” tour brought us hto the quaint Northshore town of Abita Springs. Famous for its natural spring water, the town is also home to Abita Brewing Company—Louisiana’s first and largest craft brewery.

Abita brewed its first beers in 1986 at its original location at the Abita Brew Pub, which still operates as a restaurant on Holly Street in Abita Springs. In 1994, they expanded, moving a mile and a half outside of town and opening the Abita Brewery Visitor Center and Tap Room. “We started to get big in the late eighties and early nineties,” explained Tap Room Manager David Hensley. “Golden was Abita’s first beer, but Amber put them on the map. At the time, no one was making amber beer, and it set us apart. Before, Americans only had lagers, and now they discovered they could have something different.”

Today, Abita produces fourteen varieties of beer year-round, plus several seasonal and limited-edition versions. The Tap Room carries them all, including the most popular, Purple Haze, and the newest packaged combo still waiting to hit the shelves—the Hoppy Pack. Another advantage of visiting the Tap Room is access to the brewery tours.

Ari Pomerleau, our afternoon tour guide, ushered our group of beer enthusiasts beyond the gift shop through the double doors and up the stairs. We emerged in a large room containing several silver silos. Pomerleau gestured to the

viewing window in the top of one, and as I gazed into the depths of the tank, I realized we were only seeing the tip of the silo inside this room. Each one extended far below us down to the first floor. She explained that during the work week, the containers are filled to capacity, busy prepping and transforming raw ingredients into the first stages of Abita’s beer.

“Does anyone know what four ingredients are in beer?” Pomerleau queried the group. Most shook their head no, so she continued, “Water is the most important ingredient. It makes up ninety-four percent of beer, and Abita uses the Southern Hills Aquifer, an underground river, that supplies all of our water. The other three ingredients are barley, hops, and yeast.”

Abita is truly fortunate in its access to Abita Springs’ water, known for its purity and long rumored to contain healing qualities. Unlike other beers, Abita’s water needs no chemical treatments and is free of man-made pollutants. It’s simply perfect, straight from the well.

Barley, featured prominently on Abita’s logo, is a fiber-filled grain that’s first malted, or processed, before being transformed into beer. Abita buys its barley already malted from the locations in the U.S. and Canada. Pomerleau pulled several jars off the shelf and invited us to smell the difference between the light malts, the caramel ones used in Abita Amber, and the chocolate malts used in dark beer.

Next, she passed around a jar filled with pelletized hops, explaining how Abita’s brewmaster travels to dry areas of the country to hand-select the

hops they will use. The hops, which are actually flowers from the hop plant, are then picked, pelletized, and delivered to the brewery. The varying hop flavors determine their use in the brewing process, with bitter hops added to offset the sweetness of the malted barley and flavorful hops used for their taste and aroma.

“And yeast? It creates the CO2 and ethanol, so bubbles and alcohol,” she explained.

The ingredients are added in a methodical process, and the enormous stainless-steel vessels are an integral part of the method. Start with the mash tun, where malted barley is milled and turned into grist. This is then mixed with warm water to convert the starches into sugar and produce an oatmeal-like mash. From here, the mash moves to the lauter tun, similar to a giant coffee press that smashes the grains to release the water. The extracted liquid, called the wort, is then transferred to the brew kettle for boiling. It’s here where the hops are added in at three different stages before the entire mix moves to the whirlpool to separate out the solid hops from the wort. From mash tun to whirlpool, the entire process takes about five hours.

After the wort cools, it’s showtime for the yeast. For the next four to fourteen days, depending on the type of beer being made, the brew ferments. Abita has fifty-eight fermentation tanks, twelve of which are 800-barrel tanks—the equivalent of 42,000 six packs.

Our tour continued into an enormous room containing the first of the fermen-

tation tanks. As we kept walking, the tanks became smaller, downsizing from 400-barrel tanks to 300-barrel ones.

In a corner of the room stood miniature replicas of the mash tun, lauter tun, brew kettle, and whirlpool. Pomerleau explained that this is where the specialty beers are made. Not bottled or distributed, these beers are produced in smaller batches and are only available in the Tap Room.

At the time of our visit, the Tap Room was featuring three different German specialty beers.

The final leg of our tour showed us where the brew is then aged for a minimum of fourteen days. Here, the yeast settles and separates and is drained from the tank and set aside until it’s reawakened to be used for the next batch. The beer is then filtered and ready for packaging. This last step in the process is off-limits to the public, but we were given an overview of the state-of-the-art bottling service, which sanitizes, dates, fills, packages, and labels 24,000 bottles of beer an hour. The finished product is then delivered to forty-two states and twelve countries, including every Shake Shack in the world—and the New Orleans Superdome. “We recently became the official craft beer of the New Orleans Saints,” said Hensley. “It’s the biggest thing we’ve done in the history of this company.”

The tour exits into the Tap Room, where we each received a pint of our choice to personally taste “Louisiana Culture on Tap.” • abita.com.

OUR SUSTAINABLE GARDEN

Where the Grass Grows

4

REASONS TO PLANT NATIVE GRASSES IN YOUR GARDEN

By Jess Cole

Ilive off Highway 61, the “Blues Highway”—a particularly lovely place to find oneself this time of year. The railroad tracks, large empty swaths of land, and seemingly abandoned old businesses and homesteads offer totally outstanding wildflower and native grass displays. I especially look forward to the days when the ironweed, switchgrasses, bluestems, and goldenrods burst open in bloom, bending in the wind alongside this road. My favorite fall plant pair to encounter, though, is swamp sunflower and sugar cane plume grass. The combination, in such mass, is worth a drive from just about anywhere, if you ask me. I’ve jumped out of my car, many a time, to wander through the gilt and burgundy floral dance. Fall is the culminating time for native grasses, which bloom alongside the asters and goldenrods, heralding the changing of the seasons. They come with varying and, sometimes, bold characteristics, yet maintain a special place within the home perennial garden or meadow. I find in my work, as a garden designer and nursery woman, that the general public shies away from grasses. They don’t buy them, they don’t plant them; they don’t seem to understand them.

These diverse and beneficial grasses are just too valuable to be left to the railroad tracks, remaining prairie remnants, and roadsides. So, here I hope to raise their profile, and share why we should be planting more native grasses and bringing them closer to us.

Wildlife

Native grasses are remarkably beneficial to our wildlife. So many people want to garden for birds and other pollinators, yet often overlook the role that grasses play. The sturdy blades provide important habitat and building materials for birds, small mammals, and reptiles. The seed heads, left through winter, offer an imperative food source for birds and other wildlife to graze through the dormant growing season.

If you live somewhere without excess city light, grasses can also make great habitat for fireflies, which use native grasses in their mating process. I have seen clients in even dark corners of major cities (especially when the corner is adjacent to a greenspace of sorts) bring in fireflies, to my disbelief, by using native grasses (planted with other native trees and plants).

It is important to preserve grasses within their natural habitats, but also to bring within the residential realm—especially if we hope to foster a healthy and diverse ecosystem at home, too. Grasses can easily be incorporated into meadows in a yard of grasses and perennials, or into a more curated landscape design.

I choose to leave my grasses untouched all winter. Come spring, instead of cutting them back, I use a soft rake to remove all the spent blades from the previous growing season. This is a lovely trick I gleaned from the horticulturalists at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. The method is better for habitat and looks more lovely than a complete cut-back would.

Helianthus augustifolius. Photos by Beth Kleinpeter

Long Roots: Erosion Control, Drought Tolerance, Water Absorption

Native grasses have deep, deep roots—usually more than five feet, and often surpassing fifteen. These long and vast root systems are of enormous benefit for a variety of reasons. When planted strategically, these valuable roots help reduce erosion and water run-off, storing water deep into the ground and reducing overall flooding. They can withstand drought and, en masse—when established and mature—have the power to store enormous amounts of carbon within the earth. Wearing many hats, these grasses provide excellent ecosystem restoration services.

Design

In landscape design, grasses can add quick growth, medium height, fullness, muted color hues, and above all else, texture. I think one reason many shy away from designing or planting with grasses in the residential realm is a fear they are just “too wild” looking. Yes, they can be wild, but they also can be tamed or used strategically. I find that with a really clean line alongside/near them, they can appear neat and fit within various design styles. As my fancy gardening magazine subscriptions endlessly remind me, the English are masters of this.

Alternatively, in the naturalistic perennial garden, grasses have an imperative symbiotic relationship with flowering perennials. One of my favorite combinations is little bluestem grass planted amongst mass cone flowers (Echinacea purpurea and a variety of rudbeckias, most especially). There are also shorter native grasses (Chasmanthium latifolium and Muhlenbergia capillaris, among many others) to choose from.

A Sensory Masterpiece

Grasses appeal to so many of our senses, creating a really beautiful sensory experience. The textures are unparalleled, offering year-round visual interest. But perhaps my favorite thing about native grasses is their song. They are among the most audible plants, especially come winter when their fronds have browned and grown brittle, and a gentle breeze becomes our norm. I love, in the depths of winter, standing quietly along a creek or river lined with switchgrass or typha (cattails).

November Plant Spotlight: Sugar Cane Plume, Saccharum giganteum

Photo by Nikki Krieg

Sugar Cane Plume Grass is a native cousin to the more familiar plant from which sugar is actually made. Not for the faint of heart, nor the tiny space, this grass reaches tall and possesses great drama. Its bloom is a deep burgundy, almost copper, and it naturally chooses moist areas to grow— bogs, swells, ditches. But I find it does great through drought and have often seen it grow on steep angles and atop roadside hills. It’s a lovely addition to a rain garden or pondside. It can get up to ten feet tall and spreads over the years. Choose the space for it thoughtfully and divide by roots sporadically to help contain it if needed.

52 STRATEGIES FOR LOUISIANANS TO CRINGE LESS DURING THIS ADAM SANDLER MOVIE // 53 BOOK REVIEW: VANESSA SAUNDERS' "THE FLAT WOMAN" // 54 AN INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR LAUREN GROFF • NOVEMBER 2024

SATIRE

How to Hate and Love The Waterboy

TAKING A NEW, MORE FORGIVING PERSPECTIVE ON ADAM SANDLER AND HIS CAJUN ACCENT

By Megan Broussard

IKnow your Cajun H2O history

As a former competitive South Louisiana cheerleader—who even had cheer P.E. in high school—I am appalled that Adam Sandler would insinuate we’d be blackout drunk on school property when the Taco Bell parking lot was always way more convenient.

What makes up for this blunder, however, is the way Sandler pays homage to Bobby Boucher’s Cajun ancestors by making him a water czar.

As you know, Cajun people are descendants of Acadians—the French settlers of Nova Scotia, Canada—known for their skills in constructing dykes for managing their farms. After being deported in the eighteeth century and dumped in Louisiana, this expertise helped them adapt well to the wet, marshy conditions of their new home. I like to believe Sandler Googled this exact fact and fought to put H2O at the heart of our tall, dark, and hydrated leading man’s storyline. I must believe.

Call Your Mama

f I make the same faces while watching a movie that I do while eating a bag of wasabi peas, then I know I both really, truly, equally hate and love it. For me, re-watching the Louisiana-set 1998 sports comedy The Waterboy his a lot like eating fistfuls of wasabi peas, lapping up a glob of horseradish mustard on a pretzel, or biting into the wrong shishito pepper. There are a handful of good, savory moments interrupted by bits so painful they burn my brain. And yet, I want more.

I didn’t always feel this way about The Waterboy. When it originally came out, I was in sixth grade and didn’t understand why Adam Sandler insisted on mocking my backyard, favorite foods, or the way my grandparents talked. At that age, if just one thing put me off, I wanted nothing to do with it. Olives and oysters tasted weird, so I hated them. Meredith Blake put a kink in Lindsay Lohan’s plan to get her family back together in the 1998 remake of The Parent Trap, and you know what? I double-hated her.

But something happened in the last few years of my thirties, when I started re-examining old nineties movies with a more mature (read: older and more tired) lens.

All of a sudden, villains like the mom in Mrs. Doubtfire and Mr. Wilson in Dennis the Menace seemed … sensible. Even the evil stepmother Meredith Blake had a point (Can you imagine if you finally found a decent man and his daughters kept trying to kill you at a campsite?! ). Could I have been too harsh on The Waterboy?

I set out to find out. Well, actually, I sat down on the couch and fired up Hulu to find out. And in the process, I discovered some helpful ways to love—and still hold a massive South Louisiana-certified grudge against—The Waterboy.

Turn Off Subtitles

It really helps if you can’t see what you think you just heard. This is because you have no way of ever confirming if you should be offended or not. Seriously, try it!

Disabling subtitles also makes Farmer Fran’s character instantly more palatable. Instead of seeing “Cajun Dialect” on screen while a man pinches his nipples so hard it makes him garble, trick yourself into thinking he’s speaking fluent Louisiana French. Et voila! You’ll swear you hear him saying our native word for frog, “ouaouarons,” at least twice.

Pro tip: after doing this, note how the long pauses that follow Farmer Fran’s lines don’t feel as awkward as they did before. Now it feels less like people are looking at him like he’s crazy and more like they are envious he can speak a second language.

If you hate Bobby Boucher’s mama because she thinks everything is “the devil,” then stop what you're doing right now and call your own mama. Tell her you’re gonna quit your job to play football and see if she doesn't try to cast a demon out of you. The thing to remember here is that Bobby Boucher’s mama at least apologizes for her emotional immaturity in the end, allowing herself and Bobby to heal and move forward from generational trauma.

Did you hear that? She apologizes! Heals generational trauma! When’s the last time your mama did that?

Heal Your Inner Vicki Vallencourt

Yes, she breaks the law and people’s jaws, but you know what else she breaks? The stereotype. Southern women are often portrayed as damsels in distress. Not Miss Vallencourt. She can take care of herself, and her car, and your ex’s car if he or she makes you mad. You know what else she breaks? My heart. Everyone in the movie treats her like she’s beneath them, but that girl’s got a heart of purple and gold. Her tough exterior may not be polished enough for some Southern sororities, but I know this—she’s a real sister, the type that will help you bury the body.

Imagine the food in five-star restaurants

Braised alligator head, barbequed snake, and frog cakes all look a little crazy when you see them on screen, but when I look at my track record in licking plates clean at my favorite Cajun restaurants, I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t at least try one of those dishes if an acclaimed chef like Melissa M. Martin, the James Beard award-winning author of Mosquito Supper Club, served me a catfish crème brûlée. I'm telling you right now I’d slurp it down like a jello shot, no hands, no questions asked.

Make like ‘Roberto’

Roberto is the name Bobby Boucher’s father “Robert” gives himself after running off to New Orleans with a voodoo priestess named Phyllis. This is a huge revelation at the end of the film that concludes with most characters growing and evolving past their fears. People do shitty things. And people can evolve and change, too. I love this part of the movie, watching the cast become their 2.0 selves. And I believe this movie can evolve and change too.

I think we deserve a sequel, The Waterboy 2.0, with an evolved Uncut Gems Adam Sandler as coach and Channing Tatum as the next Bobby Boucher. Oh, plus his dialect coach, the one who helped him with his gorgeous Gambit accent in Deadpool & Wolverine. Yep, that’ll do. •

Image courtesy of Touchstone Pictures.

The Flat Woman

BIRD TERRORISM, POPS COLA, AND MAGIC REALISM

By Chris Turner-Neal

Iread books I like or enjoy all the time, but less often do I have the opportunity to read something I admire. New Orleans author Vanessa Saunders’ forthcoming The Flat Woman, her debut novel, was so good I didn’t even mind reading it as an e-galley (read: PDF), eagerly sitting at my desk instead of sprawling out in my normal reading posture. The idea of a “feminist magic-realist ecological dystopia” sounds didactic, but Saunders deftly avoids preaching, instead showing us a simplified and constrained view of a world undergoing collapse in a way completely familiar. By the end, I was turning pages as fast as I could click.

Only two figures in the novel have names: Bertha, who owns a diner, and Elvis. The mother, the aunt, the girl (who grows into the woman), the man, Mr. Boss—under Saunders’ pen, these characters exist as both individuals and archetypes. Even heavy industry is reduced to one company: the sinister, omnipresent Pops Cola. The limited, nameless cast also helps us inhabit the mental world of the narrator, the girl, by reinforcing the roles the others play in her life, satisfactorily or not. The nameless girl lives in a world in which environmental degradation’s effects are galloping along unabated, to such an extent that the killing of birds (by means other than industrial pollution) is “bird terrorism,” punishable by hard labor in prisons that provide workers for the cola company. The girl’s mother is convicted of the murder of a number of seagulls and sent to prison, leaving the girl in the dubious, inconsistent care of the aunt. She grows up, drops out of college, and meets a man in a band (everyone who’s ever dated a guy in a band will scream “No!” at this point), ultimately moving out west with him. The environmental problems are even worse in the ashy shadows of the Pops Cola plant, with animals increasingly behaving in ominous and unusual ways and residue accumulating on outdoor surfaces every day.

For a story that is in many respects so grim, The Flat Woman is screamingly funny. The most surreal aspect is the girl’s “unclear boundaries,” which Saunders makes literal by having her briefly take on physical attributes of what she sees while upset: seagull feathers, goldfish scales, the black glass of a skyscraper. (Repeatedly, she is told to try therapy, and that she must tell the man about this before he finds out on his own.) Additionally, the presence of a quasi-homoerotic all-male Elvis impersonator encampment/boy band/cult is gasping-for-air hilarious—and, in general, the kind of thing I expect to be floating around somewhere in Nevada.

At about 150 pages, The Flat Woman goes by quickly: while I think Saunders is right to leave her eerie and sharp-edged world incompletely sketched, it’s so tantalizing that some readers will find themselves jonesing for a tiny bit more. The book doesn’t last long, but its images do. I’ll close with the simplest praise I can give a book: I want to read her next one. •

The Flat Woman will be published by the University of Alabama Press and Fiction Collective 2 on November 12. uapress.ua.edu.

Monday, Nov. 18 & Tuesday, Nov. 19 at 7PM

Premiering Thursday, Nov. 14 on LPB and across PBS streaming platforms.

www.lpb.org

Extraordinary Contradictions

A Q&A WITH NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER LAUREN GROFF

Interview by Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

Lauren Groff, recently named one of TIME Magazine’s Top 100 Most Influential People of 2024, is the author of five novels and two short story collections—including the wildly acclaimed 2018 tome, Florida. Groff has been recognized internationally as one of our generation’s most preeminent voices in fiction, exploring with lyricism and fearlessness themes of womanhood, environmental degradation, and spirituality.

Recently, I had the great pleasure of meeting with Groff to discuss the intricacies of her craft. Among other things, we discussed the particular richness of writing about the South, which she describes as “humid, moist, fertile” like a woman—full of contradiction and susceptible to the condescension and violence of misogyny. “I think any place that has a self-contradictory understanding of its own history and its own future, that place is going to be really, really rich for art,” she said.

Where do the ideas for your stories begin?

I realized like twenty years ago that if I were to sit down with the first initial idea of a short story, like the first thrill of the pulse when I read something or hear something or see something, that story is usually not ready to be told, right? So I learned to throw it into the back of the spinning, like, galaxy … you let the story sort of build for years or months, however long it takes. And then it’s usually the collision of that idea with another idea that the actual story is born. The hard part is really holding back and letting the story accumulate layers through time.

Where do you collect your anecdotes, characters, histories?

The more you read, the more stories you get integrated into your soul. And when it comes to particularly the Florida stories, I think it’s just, you know, living in a place for long enough, talking to people, sitting at the boring dinner party when suddenly the person next to you turns and says something astonishing. It’s really just about living and opening your ears and your eyes. You're not looking for stories. They come to you. And that’s how they come to life. I think often, if you’re trying to push it, these stories won’t come.

You have a lot of recurring symbols and imagery that come up in your work, often illustrating tension between the natural world and the human one. Do you have certain symbols that you turn to, or do they emerge on their own?

Yeah, you know, one hopes that one never reuses things, but it’s inevitable. We’re limited people seeing through a limited filter. So, no, it’s not intentional. Well, actually, yes it is. Once in a while, it’s intentional, and it’s intentional for imagistic rhythm. Sometimes you need to take something, twist it halfway through, then twist it again at the end in a way that the reader will never notice. It’s almost like … it’s music, right? A leitmotif, that you change a little bit all the way through. So that there is a feeling of wholeness, of cohesion, and of change as well, at the same time.

When I read your work, the way you end stories is often a kind of gentle stepping back. I’m curious about when you decide, “This is where I leave them.”

My philosophy is that there should always be a window, all the way through the text, that the reader doesn’t know exists, in the room. And the ending is opening the window and letting the air in, letting a different kind of light in. So it lives there all along, but the ending is really just discovering the slight differential that’s going to change things.

I also think endings are musical in a way. And I’m not a musical person, I wish I were. But I know enough to sort of hear the melody and to know that the ending has to finish things, turn things a little bit, feel satisfying, in the way that a piece of music has to end.

Why do you think self examination through art is really important and worthwhile— maybe not for every writer but for you as a writer?

I love that you said not for every writer, because there’s nothing that I would say about my own practice that I would ever say is the same for the entirety of writers— that is ridiculous. So for me, personally, I think the universal resides in specificity, right? So the more specific you can get, the more attention that you can pay, not to the solipsism, not to the self, but to those larger urges in the work itself. You almost have to turn off the ego and turn on this idea of the work as its own autonomous creature, and pay as much attention as possible to this creature to allow it to grow. And then, when you do that, if you’re pushing hard enough into the specifics of this work at hand, the darkness resides within this, it will at one point crack open, I think, and break out into something that will speak to many, right? And not to many, to others.

That’s the purpose of art, right? Is to sort of almost take the material plane, the human body, and then take an abstract thought and implant it in someone else’s material body, so you’re coming out of the concrete plane into the abstract and then back down into the concrete. And the ability to do that comes out of specificity—

making sure that everything in the work at hand feels right. Right? And even if it’s not aesthetically pleasing, or its difficult, or its hard, it still needs to feel right for the work itself.

What makes the South, Florida, the Gulf Coast region a great source material for art and storytelling for you?

So, it’s incredibly rich. You know, a lot of the ways we talk about the American South are similar to the ways we describe women. It’s hot, it’s humid, it’s moist, it’s fertile. It’s all these things that, in some ways, are extraordinary. But I also think it can lead itself, especially in the Northeast, to condescension. And sort of this ingrained misogyny. This is a place of extraordinary contradictions and ambivalences. And I think ambivalence is one of the richest veins of art because it doesn’t mean wishy washiness, it means really strong feelings and directions pulling in multiple different ways. And that is tension, right? And what is a story but sort of playing with time and tension? And what is art but sort of speaking back into those tensions and those ambiguities and those ambivalences? So I think any place that has a self-contradictory understanding of its own history and its own future, that place is going to be really, really rich for art. And there’s no place like the South that is as contradictory, that has a less clear vision of what it is, that has many different voices saying many different things, all at once. And I think that is so magnificent. It’s, you know, it's a cacophony. And it takes a trained mind to sort of follow one thread all the way through, but that’s what art is, right? That’s what good art does.

In Florida, you have a story where a woman becomes so overwhelmed by the state of things, by the dying coral reefs, that her best friend can’t stand her anymore. How do you make space, living in the South, the first line for many of the major world issues like the climate crisis—how do you make space to hold the knowledge of what is happening, alongside your work as an artist, alongside just trying to live your life and be a person?

Yeah, it’s impossible. I actually think part of growing up for me was figuring out that I cannot do everything that I would like to do. I cannot fix the world, right. I’m going to be very lucky if my kids grow up being unharmed by me, not intentionally but because parents are difficult. But I think it’s a constant process of coming to terms with the extent of one’s failure and one’s longing. And that happens for me through writing. But it can happen through whatever, I mean it can happen through activism, through marching the streets. Or just—and it’s not just, it’s a glorious thing—raising a child to do this work, right? I mean, that in and of itself is enough of a project for a person, so long as we’re not, you know, sitting back and letting things happen. As long as we’re actually trying to move the needle. I think that’s all we can expect of ourselves.

That anxiety, it’s also this low lying sense of dread that almost becomes like a texture in your day. And you know it’s happening, and you can see it happening, but how can you stave it off? •

This past spring, Groff opened up a bookstore in Gainesville, Florida to push back against book bans in the state. Learn more at thelynxbooks.com, and find more of Groff's work as an author at laurengroff.com.

Lauren Groff, photo by Eli Sinkus.

NOVEMBER 2024

Escapes

BLACK COMEDIES

The Baby Doll House

HOLLYWOOD HISTORY IN THE DELTA

HAUNTED

BY

HOLLYWOOD

55 IN THE 1840S, JUDGE JOHN CRAWFORD BURRUS CALLED HIS DELTA PROPERTY HOLLYWOOD. OVER A CENTURY LATER, HOLLYWOOD WOULD COME KNOCKING.

It was the talk of the town when a Hollywood movie crew came to the Mississippi Delta in 1955 to hshoot a “black comedy” feature film—a project that would later be condemned by the National Legion of Decency for its “implied sexual themes.”

Still, Elia Kazan’s Baby Doll was a universal hit with moviegoers. And despite moral objections, when the film was released in December 1956, it garnered favorable responses from critics. Kazan won the Golden Globe Award for Best Director and nominations for four more, four Academy Awards, and four BAFTA Awards.

The movie starred Carroll Baker, Karl Malden, and Eli Wallach. Serving alongside Kazan as director was none other than Tennessee Williams, author of the one-act plays the film is adapted from, 27 Wagons Full of Cotton, and The Unsatisfactory Supper

Set in rural Mississippi, the film’s plot centers around two rival cotton gin owners. Malden plays a middle-aged gin owner, Archie Lee Meighan, who has been married to his beautiful and naïve nineteen-yearold wife “Baby Doll” (played by Baker), for two years. In a deal made with

her now-deceased father, Archie Lee cannot consummate the marriage until Baby Doll turns twenty.

She sleeps in a crib, the only furniture in the house besides Archie Lee’s bed in another bedroom. Night after night, he spies on her through a hole in the door.

Adding tension to their relationship, Baby Doll’s senile Aunt Rose lives in the house with the couple.

Archie Lee and Baby Doll’s house still stands today, in the middle of soybean fields in Benoit, in the heart of the Mississippi Delta. It’s historically called the Burrus House, but, having developed an identity of its own, most folks in the Delta refer to it as “the Baby Doll House.”

Sitting on two hundred acres of farmland, the Greek Revival home looks much the same as it has when it was built in 1858, thanks to the stewardship of the home’s current caretakers, Eustace and Claire Winn, who began restoring the badly neglected home in 2005. Eustace, a descendant of the original owner, in recent years planted a grove of pecan trees on the property, a majestic addition for the future.

Claire, a native of Natchez, works with the Mississippi Heritage Trust and is interested in preserving Mississippi’s old

homes and buildings. “This home is right up my alley,” she said.

But in 1955, the cypress house was in deep disrepair. With its soaring fluted columns, and wide front porch, it offered a Southern Gothic aesthetic perfect for the infamous film’s setting. With four large rooms downstairs and four rooms upstairs, the interior is centered by a grand staircase made of black walnut, built from trees cut on the land. “I think that may have been replaced at some point,” said Eustace. “But I’m sure it is similar to what was here originally.” A wide center hall stretches from the front porch to the back, and with both doors open, the breeze significantly cools the home, even on a hot summer afternoon. The floors are made of heart of pine, which Eustace believes was probably floated down the river from Arkansas.

Judge John Crawford (J.C.) Burrus built the house in the years after he and his wife, Margaret, moved from Huntsville, Alabama to the Mississippi Delta in 1842, settling on the frontier of newly established Bolivar County. After a few years, the judge bought a large tract of land five miles from the Mississippi River, which would become known, ironically, as Hollywood Plantation—a tribute to the abundant holly trees that grew on the property.

Judge Burrus had a roomy log house built (likely by enslaved labor) to accommodate his growing family and their frequent guests while he oversaw the beginnings of construction for the “big house” on Egypt Ridge in 1858. By early 1861, Judge Burrus, Margaret, and their seven children moved into their new home.

Not long after, the Civil War began and both Confederate and Union troops frequented the vicinity. In an upstairs bedroom, Eustace displays Burrus’s 1836 diploma from the University of Virgin-

ia. “The house was spared from being burned by the Yankees because the commanding officer recognized Burrus as a classmate,” he said. During the war, the home was transformed into a military hospital while the Burrus family lived in poverty.

The family occupied the home until 1916, before renting it out to several different tenants. Over the decades, the house fell into a state of disrepair.

After the filming of Baby Doll in 1955, the home—which sat unheeded in the remote Delta—was repeatedly vandalized by fans of the film who would visit and collect “souvenirs.” In 1974 the Burrus family heirs deeded the house to the Bolivar County Historical Society, and upon raising needed funds, the Society partially restored the home, granting it a temporary new life. Ultimately, though, due to a lack of funds, the Historical Society returned the house to the Burrus heirs in 1987, and it once again suffered from neglect.

In 2001, a tornado almost did the house in, causing the front columns and gable to collapse. At that point, Eustace’s grandfather, Greenville resident Dr. E.H. Winn Jr., stepped in and put in a tin roof to protect the home from further decline. He established the Burrus Foundation in 2005 with the purpose of raising funds to restore the house.

Today, under the Winns’ care through The Baby Doll House LLC, the home looks much as Judge Burrus intended it to—though now with modern amenities. Available for rent, the Baby Doll House has hosted weddings and family events, but it also remains a destination spot for devotees of Kazan’s black comedy.

Right as you step inside, along the walls of the entry hall, are a collection of oversized vintage movie posters advertising Baby Doll. Make your way to the bedroom upstairs, and visitors can see a tribute to the movie’s infamous crib in the middle of the floor. • thebabydollhouse.com

Story by Susan Marquez • Photo by Rory Doyle

Albany, LA

Directory of Merchants

Livingston Parish CVB 26

Alexandria, LA

Alexandria Museum of Art 47

Explore Alexandria/Pineville 24

Baton Rouge, L A

Allwood Furniture 48

Alzheimer’s Services 19

Ann Connelly Fine Art 3

Associated Women in the Arts 51

Baton Rouge Clinic 14

Becky Parrish Advanced Skincare 56

Blue Cross/ Blue Shield 16

BREC 43

Calandro’s / Select Cellars 22

East Baton Rouge Parish Library 60

Elizabethan Galler y 40

Lagniappe Antiques 51

Louisiana Arts and Science Museum (LASM) 38

Louisiana Foundation Against Sexual Assault 44

Louisiana Public Broadcasting 53

Burden Museum & Gardens 2

LSU Museum of Art 12

LSU Rural Life Museum 33

Mid City Merchants 15

Pennington Biomedical Research Center 27

Tiger Trails RV Resort 41

Williamson Eye Center 17

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Donaldsonville, LA Ascension of Our Lord 51

Folsom, LA

Giddy Up / Far Horizons Art Gallery 47

Hammond, LA Tangipahoa Parish CVB 59 Jackson, LA Galvez Rum 28

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45

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Natchez, MS

Katie’s Ladies Apparel 51 Live @ Five / Natchez-Adams Community Alliance 44 Natchez Convention Promotion Commission 44 Natchez Garden Club 11

New Orleans, L A

Bevolo Gas & Electric Lights 9 Historic New Orleans Collection 18 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation 34

New Roads, L A City of New Roads 28 Pointe Coupée Parish Tourism Commission 35 Arts Council of Pointe Coupée 56

Opelousas, LA

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LA

Parish Tourism Commission 30

Zachary, LA Lane Regional Medical Center 39

The annual St. Francisville Food & Wine Festival is a weekend-long celebration of the culinary culture of Louisiana and Mississippi with acclaimed chefs, creative wine pairings, cocktail and spirit tastings, craft beer and live entertainment in one of Louisiana’s most beautiful and historic small towns.

Three days of Food & Wine Festivities:

Friday, November 8

Jazz Brunch at the St. Francisville Inn Winemaker Dinner at Magnolia Café featuring Eberle Winery

Saturday, November 9

Bubbles and BBQ at North Commerce

Mad Hatters Soirée at the Royal Inn

Sunday, November 10

Sponsored by Tangipahoa Parish Tourism

PERSPECTIVES: ART OF OUR STATE

I’m Always So Serious

KARISMA PRICE ON POETRY AS PRAYER

By Beth D’Addono

When the poet Karisma Price writes, “Each of my days is a failed manifesto,” it’s just one instance of many in which she ignites, simultaneously, pain as well as hope.

Price’s debut poetry collection, I’m always so serious, holds within it words splayed every which way across eightythree pages, sometimes scaring the punctuation flat off the page. In the critically acclaimed work, the New Orleans native mines a mother lode of loss, musing on Blackness while family and grief stand shoulder to shoulder with a fierce testimony to love and truth.

It’s a remarkable book rooted in New Orleans, a treatise on the flawed American South that manages to be both tender and powerful. She channels and conjures voices from James Booker to James Baldwin, Homer to Beyoncé, a

carry around a toy video camera and pretend to document what was happening. “I started thinking about living through a disaster, and how these things should be captured, remembered.”

Documenting—tragedy, feelings, racism, family—is a skill Price has honed over time. Words have always mattered to her, since she begged her parents to read to her, only to insist “again!” after they read, “The End.” “My mother said I wore them out with the reading,” she said. Price remembers being inspired early on by her parents who were laser-focused on education, then by a series of teachers at the Willow School at Lusher. “I was in the seventh grade when I decided I wanted to be a poet. I wasn’t sure if I could make a living doing it, but it was the first art that I took seriously. To me, poetry is prayer.”

Price earned her MFA in poetry from New York University, where she was a Writer in the Public Schools Fellow. She was a finalist for the 2019 Manchester Poetry Prize and awarded the 2020 J. Howard and Barbara M.J. Wood Prize from The Poetry Foundation. Currently an assistant professor of poetry at Tulane University, Price also flexes her artistic muscles as a photographer, media artist, and screenwriter. But poetry stands alone in the sense that its narrative doesn’t have to be linear, she said. “It can be tangential. It’s driven by emotion. Feelings are encouraged. And a lot of times in life that isn’t the case.”

For the past five years, Price has labored at teaching undergraduates at Tulane University to love words. “I try to give them a place where they can be vulnerable,” she said. “It’s challenging. Sometimes teaching feels like a cross between a standup comedy performance and a group project where you’re the one that does most of the work. As a teacher you talk a lot, but I’m more of a listener. And the students are interesting, sometimes more interesting than the professors.”

Published in 2023, I’m always so serious began as a graduate thesis inspired by both New Orleans and New York. But the collection is ultimately dedicated to her home city. “For the ones that raised me: my parents and New Orleans.”

The book’s title is inspired by something Price has heard all her life. “People, even people who know me, always say to me, ‘Why are you so serious? You have a mean resting face. Why don’t you smile more?’ I’m just standing there. I’m just existing right there. Some people have a serious face when they are focusing on things. My face does that when I’m in my head. There’s nothing wrong with approaching life in a serious manner.”

While seriousness resonates throughout I’m always so serious, the collection isn’t ponderous. It has heft, but also empathy. Many of Price’s best moments shine in single explosive sentences. “Everything you fear soaringly keeps you alive.” It’s a truth that resonates, like so many of Price’s observations, cutting close to the bone, rewarding readers with insights that startle. •

karismaprice.com

powerful chorus seen through her lens.

In a conversation that played out on the nineteenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Price, who grew up Uptown, looks back to that time in her life, and how her journey has moved forward. “I was ten,” she said. “It was a very confusing time. Today, when I woke up, I didn’t realize at first. Then I got on social media and saw the posts. It’s an interesting day to ponder and reflect. It’s been so long ago, and at the same time it hasn’t. Boil advisories still happen. This city’s infrastructure is still broken.”

Her Katrina story, like so many others, involves leaving home and not being able to come back, experiencing crowded sheltering with extended family, being moored in a strange city—in her case Dallas—so far from the familiar. “We didn’t like Dallas, but we lived there for a year,” she said. Trying to figure out what was going on led Price to

What’s it like escaping something trying to kill you

A minister blames this on the slaughter of unborn children. We enter a tunnel, and my breath holds itself for comfort. My father suggests we find a copy of The Green Book and pray over it. A car full of black people driving past confederate statues. A strawberry zooms past my left ear. The wind smashes it against the back of cedar. A fish drowns itself in the Mississippi. The one-eyed tabby is not allowed in the hotel. She too will float, but in a different city. Three Ritz crackers on a plate. There was a bush separating the hotel from a supermarket. The president tries to separate himself from responsibility, but we see him too. Put those back, you’re not wearing hand me down underwear. I eat lifted grapes. You call it stealing, adults call it building credit. Don’t you know I don’t know where we are? What to do in a country that never wanted me here. Did you hear the one about God? I am blamed for laughing the room into an awkward silence. My aunt sleeps, deaf as hands in the dark. Two hurricanes in the same week? Such soraral horror.

—by Karisma Price, originally published in Zócalo Public Square