The Jambalaya News - Vol1, No. 13

VOL. 1, NO. 13 / SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

C’est Bon! Rouge et Blanc Wine Dinners Antique Sabino Glass Donna’s Lingerie: Assisting Cancer Patients for 27 Years

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SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

Volume 1 • Issue 13

GENERAL 715 Kirby St., Lake Charles, LA 70601 Phone: 337-436-7800 Fax: 337-990-0262 PUBLISHER Phil de Albuquerque publisher@thejambalayanews.com

NEWS MANAGING EDITOR Lauren de Albuquerque lauren@thejambalayanews.com

EDITOR Lisa Yates lisa@thejambalayanews.com

CONTRIBUTORS Kay Andrews Leslie Berman Sara Blackwell George Cline James Doyle Dan Ellender Erica McCreedy Mike McHugh Jeanne Owens Mary Louise Ruehr Brandon Shoumaker Steve Springer, M.D. ADVERTISING SALES CONSULTANT Patricia Prudhomme SALES ASSOCIATES Faye Drake Karla Tullos Lazette Procter Katy Corbello

contents

On Cover: World-famous Chef John Folse.

Photos courtesy of Lake Charles Memorial Hospital

September 24, 2009 • Volume 1 • Issue 13

COVER STORY 22

36

Cookin’ for a Cure

REGULARS 8 13 19 12 16 40 20 18

The Boiling Pot Tip’s Tips What’s Cookin’ The Dang Yankee The Zestful Life Sports Report Doyle’s Place House Call

FEATURES 5 14 31 36

Making Strides for Breast Cancer Bayou Biz: Donna’s Lingerie Rouge et Blanc Events Sabino Glass

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ENTERTAINMENT 35 38 39 42 44 48 51 53

Family Night at the Movies Funbolaya Killin’ Time Crossword Red Hot Books Society Spice Jambalaya Jam The Local Jam Eclectic Company

GRAPHICS ART/PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Darrell Buck

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ART/PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Michelle LaVoie BUSINESS OFFICE MANAGER Kay Andrews

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MARKETING INTERN Leslie Davis

The Jambalaya News is solely owned, published by The Jambalaya News, LLC, 826 Ford Street, Lake Charles Louisiana 70601. Phone (337) 436-7800. Whilst every effort was made to ensure the information in this magazine was correct at the time of going to press, the publishers cannot accept legal responsibility for any errors or omissions, nor can they accept responsibility of the standing of advertisers nor by the editorial contributions. The Jambalaya News cannot be held responsible for the return of unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or illustrations, even if they are sent to us accompanied by a selfaddressed envelope. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher.

Copyright 2009 The Jambalaya News all rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without prior written permission is prohibited.

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16 SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

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A Note From Lauren October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, there will be many events going on in the Lake Area to increase awareness and raise needed funds. In addition, Lake Charles Memorial Hospital’s program, “31 Days of Keeping the Girls Healthy,” has classes and events that cover all types of health concerns for women. We owe it to ourselves and our loved ones to make sure we’re getting the medical attention that we need, so if you’ve been lazy about those mammograms or yearly physicals, snap to it!

Remember, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!”

– Lauren de Albuquerque

The Jambalaya News Keeps Growing!

The Jambalaya News is excited to welcome two new members to its sales team!

Katy Corbello was raised in Fenton, and has lived in Lake Charles since high school. She went to Delta School of Business and Technology, where she graduated in the top percentile of her class. She is the proud mother of Maggie and Tucker Corbello. In their spare time, they enjoy bike riding, fishing, and cooking together. Most recently, Katy worked for The Times of Southwest Louisiana.

Lazette Proctor has 18 years of advertising sales experience, including stints with the Lagniapppe and the American Press. "I'm glad to be back doing what I love--helping local businesses to grow their business. I’m proud to be on the sales team of a wonderful publication dedicated to the people and businesses of SWLA," she says.

Lazette lives in Westlake with her husband, Richard. They have two daughters and two grandchildren, Maci and Vaughan. Lazette would like to invite all of her friends and former customers to call on her for help with their advertising needs.

Welcome aboard, Katy and Lazette! TJN

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SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

Volume 1 • Issue 13

Making Strides Against

Breast Cancer A N I N T E RV I E W W I T H G L E N D A A N D R E P O N T

By Erica McCreedy

For so many people, the introduction of cancer into their lives can seem like an endless disaster with little chance of renewal. For Lake Charles native Glenda Andrepont, who has fought not only breast cancer but also four other types of cancer, a new awareness of the bigger picture came into view.

After losing both breasts to cancer by 2001, Andrepont saw the opportunity to turn negativity around and chose to use her experience to teach others to take advantage of preventive techniques against the disease. In 2003, she left her job to pursue a life of volunteering for the American Cancer Society. “We have to find a cure,” Andrepont said in regards to how she felt about her work with the American Cancer Society. “I just turned 62, and my own goal, as the ACS commercial says, is to blow out another birthday candle next year.”

With the help of Andrepont and other advocates, the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, a nation-wide organization, has found a new home in Southwest Louisiana. With the exception of New Orleans, the Lake Charles / Sulphur area is the only place in Louisiana where the events now takes place.

Andrepont, in her position as chairperson, is thrilled that Lake Charles has been given this opportunity to take the

offensive against cancer. Making Strides’ home office in Birmingham, Alabama, utilizes a database, which shows how many patient services are in a given area. More than 50 percent of Southwest Louisiana’s patient services focus on breast cancer. Despite this dismal factor, it has brought Making Strides here, where it can no doubt quickly expand awareness of breast cancer.

“Cancer never affects just one person. Cancer touches everyone. Our mission is to not only aid patients; it is also to help and support those who are constantly affected by the disease,” Andrepont pointed out.

Making Strides’ walks and runs bring breast cancer to center stage and provide gathering places for patients, families, and friends whose lives have been thrust into catastrophe through cancer. The events and projects that Making Strides brings to Lake Charles are invaluable, from the well-known relays and walks to “Bosom Buddies” and “Look Good, Feel Better,” which brings cosmetologists to hospitals and gives makeovers to women going through chemotherapy.

Andrepont serves on the committee for

the signature fundraiser of Making Strides’ Relay for Life, which occurs in May. Along with the well-known runs and walks, survivors are recognized at a dinner in their honor. The event also brings the entire community together under the flag of a single goal. Awareness and education lie at the center of Relay for Life’s mission.

“Once you are diagnosed, you start learning,” Andrepont said.

“Everything at the event is focused on funding research.” Relay for Life brings the focus to the younger generations by instilling knowledge of cancer and its affects into the minds of those who may be at risk and by giving scholarships to survivors who were diagnosed with cancer as children. With these efforts, the Relay for Life fundraiser shows that those with cancer do have attainable futures.

While Making Strides’ ultimate mission is to provide funding for breast cancer research, the individual projects that have been brought to Lake Charles serve to educate all young girls, daughters, granddaughters, sisters, and nieces on prevention, such as self-breast examinations, and to show them that cancer has neither an age nor a face.

Andrepont focuses much of her energy on boosting educational efforts across the region, but she also

Glenda Andrepont Volume 1 • Issue 13

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

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gives her time to Reach for Recovery, which is another project within Making Strides.

In Reach for Recovery, doctors and nurses call the American Cancer Society office with patient referrals in the area. The ACS passes these names to Andrepont, who then spends time with these patients and their families as they face surgeries and treatments.

By channeling her own experiences with mastectomy and other procedures, Andrepont tries to quell fears and spends valuable time with patients, many of whom are facing a frightening unknown.

Since 2009 is Making Strides’ first year in Southwest Louisiana, the blow-out inaugural event will be the place to be. It will be held on Oct. 3 at Heritage Square in Sulphur. The event will hold a five-mile run or walk that will bring breast cancer awareness out of the classrooms and hospitals and into the forefront.

Registration is free and starts at 7 a.m. In addition to the relay, which begins at 8 a.m., the event will have music, food, booths, and fun, for not

just cancer survivors and families, but also for anyone who comes down.

“We want everyone to come out.

No one is left out. We want everyone involved to have a great time,” Andrepont said, with growing excitement in her voice. “This is going to get bigger and better every year. I look forward to grow with it. This is good for Lake Charles since we have so many cancer patients here. With the research Making Strides funds today, we are given a better future tomorrow.”

The fight against cancer and its ripple effects is strong here in Lake Charles and will only grow stronger with the inclusion of Making Strides’ presence in the area. All of the time and energy given to cancer awareness essentially allows those like Andrepont to tell a story—their own, or of others whose battles with cancer are finally brought into the light.

“Cancer never affects just one person.

Cancer touches everyone...”

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SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

TJN

Volume 1 • Issue 13

Area Businesses “Go Pink” to Make Strides Against Breast Cancer Six area businesses will join the fight against breast cancer by “going pink,” in September and October with special discounts and donations benefiting the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer of Southwest Louisiana.

Businesses “going pink” to find a cure: Accessory Zone/Fashion Express Monday, Sept. 28–Friday, Oct. 2: All pink items will be 25 percent Saturday, Oct. 3: 10 percent of all sales will benefit the American Cancer Society.

Bijoux–Sulphur’s Fine Jeweler Monday, Sept. 28–Saturday, Oct. 3: 10 percent of all sales will benefit the American Cancer Society Thursday, Oct. 22–Saturday, Oct. 24: Gold buying benefiting the American Cancer Society.

Casa Olé of Sulphur and Lake Charles Monday, Sept. 28–Saturday, Oct. 3: Wear pink while dining at Casa Olé (Sulphur and Lake Charles locations) and receive 20 percent off the combination platter.

The Ritz Hair Salon Tuesday, Sept. 29–Saturday, Oct. 3: 5 percent of all services and sales will benefit the American Cancer Society Tropical Spirits Sunday, Sept. 27–Sunday, Oct. 4: 10 percent of all sales will benefit the American Cancer society.

The Wine Store Thursday, Oct. 1: “Wild Wines for a Cure” wine tasting at The Jambalaya News, 715 Kirby Street in Lake Charles. If you wear pink, 10 percent of your purchase will benefit the American Cancer Society.

Everyone can join the fight against breast cancer by patronizing “pink” businesses and volunteering or participating in the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer of Southwest Louisiana on Saturday, Oct. 3, at Heritage Square in Sulphur.

Registration for the 5–mile, noncompetitive walk/run will begin at 7a.m., with the walk beginning at 8 a.m. Individuals of all ages are welcome to participate. The event does not require a participation fee. Participants are encouraged to collect donations that may be turned in on the day of the event or online. For more information, visit: www.makingstrides.acsevents.org/southwestlouisiana or contact Katie McCarty at 433-5817, ext. 2 or katie.mccarty@cancer.org. TJN

WELCOME EMILY PELICAN, Speech-language Pathologist Hope Therapy Center is proud to welcome Emily Pelican as the newest member of our staff of therapists. She graduated from LSU with her bachelors degree and received her masters of science in Speech-Language Pathology from Lamar University.

AT HOPE THERAPY, EMILY WILL BE PROVIDING SPEECH THERAPY SERVICES FOR: • pediatrics with speech and language delay, dyslexia, stuttering, and swallowing disorder.

• young adults with traumatic brain injury, dyslexia, stuttering, and voice disorder • adults and geriatrics with stroke rehabilitation, traumatic brain injury, voice disorder and swallowing disorder

Patients of all ages who are unable to communicate may benefit from the augmentative/alternative communication device evaluation and treatment program at Hope Therapy Center. Along with the staff of Hope Therapy, Emily strives to help people achieve their therapy goals and make a difference in her patient's lives. We welcome her to Hope Therapy Center and know that she will be a valuable asset to our team.

Call today for more information or to schedule an appointment with Emily at 478-5880.

From left to right: Jill Willis,PTA; Sonya M. Brooks, MA, CCC-SLP; Kim B. Anderson, PT, DPT; Mika Doucet, LOTR, MOT; and seated Emily D. Pelican, MS, CF-SLP.

Left to right: Cindy Istre, Office Manager and Cyndy Lirette, Administrative Assistant.

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SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

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The

Boiling

P l

Please submit press releases to lauren@thejambalayanews.com

Kevin Davis has been in radio for 25 years, with 20 of those years at Cumulus Broadcasting. Chad Austin, from Moss Bluff, started his radio career with Cumulus in 1998. For more information on KYKZ 96, please contact Eric Nielson at (337) 439-3300 or eric.nielson@cumulus.com.

From left to right: Annette McCain, Lisa DeFee, Michael Olivier, Hoa Le and Sheakliann Calhoun.

Magical Family Adventures Announces New Disney Specialist Cherie Trahan, who owns Magical Family Adventures, an affiliate of Academy Travel, Inc., joins an elite group of travel industry professionals who have attained a special knowledge of the Disneyland Resort, Walt Disney World Resort, and Disney Cruise Line. As a graduate of the College of Disney Knowledge, Trahan has now become a Disney Specialist. Since 1993, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts has been committed to educating travel industry professionals about Disney Destinations through the College of Disney Knowledge.

For more information, please visit www.magicalfamilyadventures.com.

L’Auberge du Lac Casino Names August Five Star Employees L’Auberge du Lac Casino recently announced its August Five Star Employees and Employee of the Month. The August Five Stars are: Hoa Le, an Asia food server; Annette McCain, an accounts payable clerk; Michael Olivier, a Spa du Lac attendant; Lisa DeFee, a lead call center operator; and Sheakliann Calhoun, a table games dealer. Lisa DeFee was also designated as the August Employee of the Month and is now eligible to receive the coveted Employee of the Year award.

Five Star employees are recognized monthly for their exceptional service skills. All of these employees went to great lengths to uphold L’Auberge’s quality and image as the most successful and respected entertainment destination in the South.

From left, Richard Reid, vice president of development and public affairs and executive vice president of the McNeese Foundation, accepts the donation from Greater Lake Charles Rotary representatives Shayna Sonnier, auction chair, John Hoffpauir, president, and Glen Sharpe, past president. McNeese Photo Greater LC Rotary The Greater Lake Charles Rotary Club recently donated $15,000 from the proceeds of its annual auction and dinner to McNeese State University for the Greater Lake Charles Rotary Scholarship Fund, which was established with the McNeese Foundation in 1992. To date, this event has raised more than $400,000 for the endowed scholarship.

Kevin Davis and Chad Austin KYKZ 96 Forms Exciting New KYKZ Morning Crew Cumulus Broadcasting has announced the formation of the new KYKZ Morning Crew of Kevin Davis and Chad Austin and veteran weatherman Rob Robin. The program airs weekdays from 5:30 to 10 a.m. A Lake Charles native, PAGE 8

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

Mardi Gras of Southwest Louisiana Hires Ryan Mardi Gras of Southwest Louisiana is pleased to welcome Shannon Ryan as the public relations director.

Ryan’s responsibilities include coordinating and cooperating with event chairpersons and serving as the principle promotional and sponsorship fundraising professional for Mardi Gras of Southwest Louisiana as well as other public relations services. A Lake Charles native, Ryan has

Shannon Ryan Volume 1 • Issue 13

close to 20 years in the marketing field with past positions held at the Lake Charles/Southwest Louisiana Convention & Visitors Bureau, Players Casino in Lake Charles and the Dalton-Whitfield Chamber of Commerce in Dalton, Ga. For more information, contact the Lake Charles/Southwest Louisiana Convention & Visitors Bureau at (337) 436-9588 or www.visitlakecharles.org.

Russell Benoit with Christi Kingsley, vice president of human resources at West Calcasieu Cameron Hospital WCCH Employee of the Quarter Announced West Calcasieu Cameron Hospital recently named Russell Benoit, environmental services supervisor, as its third quarter Employee of the Quarter. Benoit has been with the hospital for three years and has been in his current profession for approximately 12 years. Benoit is active in the community, serving as a Mason for the Free and Accepted Masons Lodge in Lake Charles and Sulphur.

He is an honorary member of the Westlake Mason’s lodge and also serves as Habibi Shriner. He coaches Little League baseball and serves as an ambassador for the hospital.

Dr. Nikos Kiritsis, center, dean of the college, accepts the donation from Westlake Chemical representatives Wayne H. Ahrens, plant manager, left, and Joe Andrepont, senior community affairs representative. McNeese photo Westlake Chemical Donates to MSU Westlake Chemical has donated $5,000 to the McNeese State University College of Engineering and Engineering Technology through the McNeese Foundation for the college’s engineering endowment campaign. To date, First Federal Bank has donated over $35,000 to the campaign.

Como Joins Merchants & Farmers Bank Ken A. Hughes, President/CEO of Merchants & Farmers Bank announces that Doug Como has been named Vice President/Commercial Lending at Merchants & Farmers’ Lake Charles location. Como, a Sulphur native, joins Merchants & Farmers with a background of 19 years serving local financial institutions in roles including treasury management, branch management, and commercial lending. Como, who holds a finance degree from McNeese, worked his way up through the ranks of local banks beginning as a paying and receiving teller. His additional areas of expertise including sales team training, management, and indirect auto financing.

Volume 1 • Issue 13

Doug Como

Continued on page 11 SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

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SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

Volume 1 • Issue 13

Boiling Pot continued from page 9 Cameron State Bank Announces Branch Management Appointments New management positions have been announced by Cameron State Bank.

Sumer Jones is now Assistant Vice President/Branch Manager at the University Banking Center and Nick Fuselier is the Branch Supervisor at the main office on Nelson Road. Jones is originally from Ragley and attended McNeese State University where she received a Bachelor of Finance degree. She is currently working on a Master’s of Business Administration at McNeese. Jones has been with the bank for seven years. Fuselier is from Lake Charles and attended Sowela Technical Community College and McNeese State University. He has been with Cameron State Bank for six years.

Cameron Communications Expands Services In response to the high volume of requests by residents, Cameron Communications announced today that it will expand its digital television, high-speed Internet and phone services to include Moss Bluff ’s Woodlands subdivision. This expansion will bring service to all homes in this subdivision.

This additional growth adds to the more than 3,700 Moss Bluff residences and businesses that Cameron passes with its fiber-to-the-home technology. Free activation and service incentives will be offered to new customers in this new service area. Cameron Communications also announced it will continue to monitor requests for service in Moss Bluff and expand into areas where demand is great. Moss Bluff residents can call 855-2009 for answers to questions regarding service.

Building Walls with Alcoa On September 12, 22 volunteers including 17 Alcoans brought their carpentry skills to The Children’s Museum. The volunteer work required the construction of several exhibits including the building of the actual wall structures and the hanging and floating of sheet rock. This is part of the ongoing efforts to enable The Children’s Museum to reopen after the devastating fire earlier this year.

The Alcoa Foundation was able to donate a $3,000 Action Grant to the museum due to the 17 Alcoans volunteering together for a minimum of 4 hours per Alcoan. Participants included Mark and Holly Struble, Louis Sweet, John Sonnier, Jerry

Sonnier, Jean-Yves Marcotte, Nicole Coutu, Jacques LePage, Donna Doucette, David and Maria Head, Russell Autin, Arthur Babineaux, Daniel Wetzel, Roger and Beth Vachon, Wayne Cormier, David Ritchie, Randy and Mellissa Naylor, Matt Brumwell and Kevin Boll. The museum thanks each and every one of them who made this possible.

The Children’s Museum will hopefully reopen the second and third floors by the end of October. Visit www.swlakids.org for more details or call (337) 433-9420. The museum is located at 327 Broad Street in downtown Lake Charles.

TJN

From Servants’ Quarters to Art Studio The newest additions to the Memorial/LSUHSC Family Medicine Residency Program include (l – r) Rick Edwards, M.D.; Lacey Millet, M.D.; Nick Heinen, M.D.; Fallon McManus, M.D.; Ben Degatur, M.D.; Melissa Rasberry, M.D.; Jean Ancelet, M.D.; and Rajalakshmi Natarajan, M.D. Memorial Hospital Welcomes Second Year Family Medicine Residents Lake Charles Memorial Hospital proudly welcomes Shreveport natives Rocky Fowler, M.D., graduate of The American University of the Caribbean, and Tolvert Fowler, II, M.D., graduate of LSU Health Sciences CenterShreveport School of Medicine to the Memorial/LSUHSC-Family Medicine Residency Program. Second year residents, they will continue to focus on all areas of the Specialty of Family Medicine, and will graduate in June 2011. The Family Medicine Residency Program began in January 1995, with a mission to promote and provide the highest quality physician education through patient care by utilizing the most up-to-date educational methods and information systems.

Memorial/LSUHSC Family Medicine Resident Receives National Honor Ben Williams, M.D., a second-year resident in the Memorial/LSUHSC Family Medicine Residency Program, is a recipient of the American Academy of Family Physicians/Bristol Myers Squibb Award for Excellence in Graduate Medical Education. Dr. Williams joins only nine other family medicine residents nationwide in this prestigious recognition. A Lake Charles native and graduate of Jesuit University in Mobile, Alabama, and Saba University School of Medicine, Dr. Williams was nominated for this honor by members of the Memorial/LSUHSC faculty for his leadership within the program as a chief resident.

TJN

Volume 1 • Issue 13

An open house was held recently at “The Art House” located at 583 Santa Ana Drive in Moss Bluff.

The building had several lives before it came to Moss Bluff. It was a servant’s quarters behind the elegant Eastlake House at 723 Broad Street originally belonging to Mathilde Miller. The law firm of Cox, Cox, Filo, Camel and Wilson restored the main house for their practice; the old structure behind the house was remodeled to serve as a file house.

During the most recent round of expansion and remodeling, the servant’s quarters needed to be either moved or demolished. Artist Marilyn Cox decided that it would be ideal for an art studio, so the firm donated the building to her.

After an arduous move down Broad Street to Highway 171, then down to Highway 378 and finally Santa Ana Drive in Moss Bluff, the house now fits snugly on a bluff next to the Cox home, with a view of the Little Burn

swamp through sliding French glass doors.

Cox has incorporated her own personal design elements in the renovated studio. The original heart of pine floors were stripped and refinished and the ceiling was raised to the roofline. Old wood from the former partitions was milled, refinished and used to cover the ceiling.

Track lights, a small bathroom and an extra sink for cleaning paintbrushes were installed and bins were built for storage.

Cox started her art classes on Sept. 22, offering lessons to beginners and intermediate artists wanting to further develop their landscape painting skills. The setting, including a spacious wharf and gazebo in the swamp, will offer an ideal space for outdoor as well as studio painting.

For more information, contact Marilyn Cox at (337) 855-6766 (home) or (337) 244-3354 (cell).

TJN SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

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Dang Yankee The

By Mike McHugh

The Wal-Mart Experience, Part 1 One evening last week, my wife offered to make a deal with me. She said that she would cook my favorite supper if I’d agree to go to Wal-Mart and do some shopping for her. And since I knew she wasn’t going to be serving me beer and pretzels, I knew that meant I was going to have spaghetti. That was a hard one for me to turn down, not so much because of the spaghetti, but more because it gave me a chance to stock up on beer and pretzels and charge it against the grocery budget rather than my own personal allowance.

She hasn’t caught on to this ploy yet. Someday, I’m sure she will. After

all, I think she missed her calling in life to be a Securities and Exchange Commission Investigator, but at least for now, I’m in the clear.

As you know, Wal-Mart is the most popular store in the country.

I believe that this popularity is not just due to the great values available in the store. They do have Great Values. If you can’t tell from the price tags, it’s written prominently on the packages of all the storebrand items.

No, in addition to the Great Values, I think that Wal-Mart’s immense popularity is due to the wonderful experience people have

shopping there. I’ll walk you through my own experience of the other evening to illustrate this point.

Every Wal-Mart shopping experience begins, of course, in the parking lot. It is here where you search endlessly in the wide expanse to find an available parking space. This is not necessarily because there are a lot of cars, but rather, it seems that most of the spaces are occupied by two or three empty shopping carts.

Now, I don’t think that this happens because people are too lazy to take the carts back to the designated return stalls. No, it’s got to be that they are just a bit disoriented after the wonderfully utopian experience they’d just had in the store. Thus, I tend to cut the rude so and so’s---uh, I mean, happy shoppers---some slack. After all, you can tell by they way they are driving through the lot that they still haven’t completely come down to earth yet.

As you walk in, you’re met by the ever-present Wal-Mart greeter. From the looks on the faces of many of them, I fail to see why they call them “greeters.” I guess I can’t fault them too much; after all, they have to spend all day in Wal-Mart, as

Jana P. Kaimal, M.D. Phillip Conner, M.D. Michelle Zimmerman, N.P.

If you suffer from excessive Daytime Sleepiness, Snoring, Insomnia, Restless Legs or Shift Workers Sleep Disorder, call today and schedule a comprehensive evaluation with SWLA’s ONLY Nationally Accredited Sleep Center. Our caring staff and Board Certified Sleep Specialist are here to ensure that you receive “peaceful nights and productive days”.

www.sleepdisordercenterofla.com

(337) 310-REST (7378) 1-877-597-REST (7378) The Sleep Disorder Center of Louisiana is an AASM accredited sleep center and is considered a provider for most insurance companies.

217 Sam Houston Jones Parkway, STE 102,Moss Bluff, La. PAGE 12

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

4820 Lake Street, Lake Charles, La.

opposed to my lenient sentence of only an hour or so.

The first thing you see is a display that contains a large quantity of some product that they are desperately trying to get rid of. On this particular day, it is two huge palletsized cardboard boxes of Dr. Pepper in bottles that are shaped like footballs. Apparently, most shoppers share my point of view that a football is not the most user-friendly shape for a beverage container.

I’m always in awe at the sheer size of the building. You have to cross two parish lines to get to the other end of it. You would think that they have every item imaginable inside the store, including an inventory of small aircraft, but you find to your severe disappointment that this is not really the case.

Yes, the building is large, and stocked with lots of goods, but upon closer scrutiny, you discover that the inventory consists of vast quantities of just a few select items. For instance, as you walk through the grocery section, you pass the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese aisle, the Nacho-Cheese Flavored Doritos aisle, and the Community Dark Roast Coffee aisle. Then, after the long hike to the electronics department, you pass the Britney Spears CD aisle.

If you are shopping for anything even remotely obscure like, say, Lipton Sparkling Diet KiwiStrawberry Green Tea, you are just plain out of luck. I didn’t get to cross that particular item off my shopping list.

Another let down in the way of selection is that a lot of items are only stocked when they are “in season.” That would be fine, but I think that here in Louisiana, they follow the seasons in the Southern Hemisphere. Want to buy a bathing suit in August? You’re sure to find a wide selection at the Wal-Mart- in Brazil.

To be continued…

Mike McHugh is an engineer at Sasol North America, Inc. He and his wife Susan hail from the border state of Maryland and thoroughly love living in Southwest Louisiana. He is also the author of "Road Kill Gumbo," a newly created blog containing satire about news and life in Louisiana. You can find it on the Internet at www.roadkillgumbo.com TJN

422 Kade Drive STE 2, Jennings, La. Volume 1 • Issue 13

By George “Tip” Cline

History Repeats Itself One of my grandchildren started LSU this fall. You can imagine just how proud we all are of him. One thing that I made him promise to do was to go through Rush. He is not very outgoing in new situations and with unfamiliar people, so I solicited him to just look at the fraternities as an attempt at a broadening experience.

Well to my surprise, he called me the first night of Rush saying how glad he was that I encouraged his participation. When Rush was over, he was pledged. My point here is that we need to promote our children’s educational experiences in many different ways, not just through books. I wanted him to look at something out of his normal realm and make his own evaluation. My grandson was able to take advantage of an new opportunity at a fine university.

Think about how you can encourage a child in your life to reach just a little bit higher up the ladder. *69 A friend of mine received a menacing phone message the other day. It was on his answering machine, so he still has a copy on record. It was obviously a mistaken identity event, as he was accused of things of which he had no knowledge. It is so important to let authorities know of these types of incidents. The world is full of folks that don’t operate with the same propriety and mental balance that we all would hope they possess. They could potentially be very dangerous. You can usually find out who called you with caller ID, but if you don’t have that feature, hit *69 and if no one has called since the threatening call, it can identify the number that placed the call to your phone.

Volume 1 • Issue 13

Check your accounts online Last Friday evening, we met some friends at a local restaurant. I put the charges on my credit card. I routinely check my accounts online just because of what happened Friday.

Our bill was for $80.83, including tax and gratuity (they automatically include the tip in your total). The transaction was posted on my account for $90.83.

I am not accusing that establishment of anything fraudulent, but something happened from the time the bill was presented and when my account was charged an extra $10. I called the restaurant and pointed out this discrepancy to them, and they immediately offered to correct the situation.

This is why I stay on top of all of my accounts. Had I not tracked my expenditures and monitored my account online, this could have easily slipped through the cracks. How many other slips occur if you don’t watch out for yourself? Remember, every dollar that’s taken from you is one that you don’t get to spend for yourself.

generating consumption rather than security, a false sense of reality became a financial entrapment. As long as both worked, getting overtime, bonuses, raises and perks, the opportunity to expand lifestyles was too attractive. Easy credit, eager marketers, greedy merchants, over promotion and outright fraud caused many to overextend themselves to ruination.

The big McMansion, the camp on the river, the sports cars, the plasma TVs, the boats, etc., all became imaginarily affordable. Instant gratification became the norm--no one wanted to wait to obtain something until they could afford to pay for it. It turned out to be nothing but a formula for the eventual collapse that has proved so painful to just about all of us.

The lesson to be learned from this current economic situation is similar to the lessons of the Great Depression of the 1930s. It is obvious that history must be reviewed again and again or it’s doomed to repeat itself. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to improve your lot in life; it is to be commended to do so. The problem occurs when unrealistic goals become

envisioned as a necessity. A careful reflection upon perceived values must be weighed against a realistic assessment.

Keep track of price hikes Recently, I was at the World of Wally, getting ready to purchase some Triscuits, when I noticed the “associate” was in the process of changing the price of my crackers from $2 to $2.98. Keep track of the things that you purchase on a regular basis. Note what you pay and let the merchant know that you’re aware of the increases. In many cases, the merchant is forced to raise the price because of increases being passed on by his suppliers. But the same principal still applies: Supply and demand.

If you reduce your demand for an item, the item is worth less, thereby encouraging a price reduction. Get your message across.

If you find this column of interest, let The Jambalaya News know. Comments, suggestions, ideas, info, etc. are welcome.

Send to lauren@thejambalayanews.com.

TJN

History repeats itself There has been much ado in the news lately over the frugality of today’s American population. It’s about time we come off the buy now/pay later mentality of the past 50 years. The only law of economics that will hold true is that of supply and demand. We can build a much stronger economy based on the real value of items, not unrealistic dreams.

In our recent past economy of very loose credit, all was fine as long as the house of cards did not get jiggled. With both spouses working, SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

PAGE 13

By Lisa Yates

Donna Mier, owner of Donna’s Lingerie

Donna’s Lingerie & Swimwear Helps Breast Cancer Patients with Prostheses Donna Mier, a board certified mastectomy fitter, helps women cope with breast cancer’s body altering changes by fitting them with postsurgical bras and prosthetics.

Her business, Donna’s Lingerie & Swimwear, located at 3518 Ryan Street in Lake Charles, offers breast prostheses for women who have undergone lumpectomies, mastectomies or reconstructive breast surgeries. It also sells bras, swimwear, SPANX undergarments and lingerie.

Wigs and scarves are for sale, as well as skin care for those undergoing chemotherapy, said Mier, who founded the business 27 years ago. The business is Medicare approved and most insurance is accepted.

“We file the insurance and Medicare – both are approved to pay for bras every year, and prosthetics every other year,” Mier said.

ETHEL PRECHT HOPE BREAST CANCER 3K Since insurance doesn’t cover everything, Mier worked with Ethel Precht to put together a fundraiser the Ethel Precht HOPE Breast Cancer 3K. “Insurance doesn’t cover cranial prosthetics – wigs,” she said. “The benefit pays for items people need, but insurance doesn’t cover.”

Mier said oftentimes, patients need new bras and prosthetics more often than insurance will allow. She said because of the fundraiser, patients can get these, as well as wigs,

hats and scarves – even new gowns and robes. Patients can come into Donna’s, pick up an application and walk out with what they need, thanks to the Ethel Precht HOPE Breast Cancer 3K. “The first HOPE Breast Cancer Walk started in October of 2003,” she said. “We originally had over 500 people show up that year to walk. In the years after, we’ve had over 3,000 people. Hopefully, this year it will grow.”

This year, the Ethel Precht HOPE Breast Cancer 3K takes place 7:30 a.m., Oct. 17, at the Lake Charles Civic Center Outdoor Theater. For more information, call (337) 5982093; visit www.ethelbreastcancerwalk.org; or, e-mail Ethel@EthelBreastCancerWalk.org.

Mier invites everyone to the event, which honors cancer survivors. She said it isn’t necessary to walk – just come out and lend support.

“They can come out with their lawn chairs,” she said. “We’ll have golf carts for people who can only walk part of the way. We’ll pick them up when they get tired.”

LOOK GOOD … FEEL BETTER As a board certified mastectomy fitter, Mier has training in sizing clothing and she also understands the emotional challenges patients have.

“The majority of the time only the doctor or nurse has seen the patient’s scar,” she said. “Some don’t even look at themselves in the mirror.”

Mier helps patients to deal with

the changes in their appearance at her shop, which is an accredited retailer to sell and provide services for postmastectomy items. Also, she volunteers her expertise at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital and the American Cancer Society’s program “Look Good … Feel Better.”

“It’s a certified program, free to chemo patients,” she said. “They learn how chemo affects the skin and they get a (free) make up kit with lotions and creams. Sometimes when you look better, you feel better. One of the biggest things to deal with is losing hair; so they learn how to draw on eyelashes and eyebrows, and how to work with wigs. They also learn how to protect themselves from getting colds – chemo lowers resistance. And, it’s a good opportunity to bond with the other patients there.”

“Look Good … Feel Better” is held the third Monday of every other month. The next meeting will take place from 5:30 p.m. until 7 p.m., Nov. 16, at Memorial’s Shearman Conference Center, 1701 Oak Park Boulevard in Lake Charles.

At the meetings, Mier and other specially trained beauty professionals offer practical tips about skin care, make up techniques and guidance for coping with chemotherapy. She said the program is free and includes a group program; one-on-one consultations; self-help materials; and a Web site, www.llokgoodfeelbetter.org.

Reservations for the program are available through the American Cancer Society at (337) 433-5817.

Sponsored by

PAGE 14

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

Volume 1 • Issue 13

IT’S ALL IN THE FIT Women who’ve had mastectomies or other breast-altering surgeries come to Donna’s looking for customized items.“People don’t realize it, but prosthetics help with posture and balance – older women sometimes fall,” Mier said. “Ninety-nine percent of women experience aches and pain in their upper shoulder blade without wearing breastprostheses. An average B cup breasts weighs five pounds. If you remove 2.5 pounds off one side of the body, it makes a difference.”

Mier’s a believer in a good-fitting, well-made bra for every woman.

She said it’s estimated that 98 per-

cent of women wear the wrong bra size. Besides not looking their best, Mier said women can experience health problems as well.

“Women who have had implants often wear the wrong bra size,” she said. “If they don’t wear the right size bra, the heavy implants will break the skin supporting the breasts and the surgery will have to be redone sooner.”

Mier said her boutique beats out competition from department stores by forming relationships with clients, and employing knowledgeable staff who educate shoppers on proper braand undergarment-fitting.

“We’re known for our bra-fittings,”

she said. “If you wear the proper undergarments, your clothes look so much better. That includes panties and girdles.”

Her store carries a large selection of exclusive lines, not found in department stores. It also offers the popular SPANX slimming undergarments and apparel, including footless and regular pantyhose and tights, bras and panties, body shapers, and more for missy, maternity and women.

“Department stores don’t explain how to fit SPANX properly,” Mier said, adding the brand started exclusively in specialty boutiques for that

reason – to be fitted properly.

“I don’t think there is anyone else here doing what we do.”

For more information, call (337) 477-1804; e-mail lingerielady@suddenlinkmail.com; or, visit 3518 Ryan St. in Lake Charles. Store hours are 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Mon.-Fri.; 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sat. TJN

Friday, September 25, Guest Speaker Amy Dunn, LCSW, Executive Director for the Harbour House ETC at noon, at Reeves Uptown Catering.

October 2, 11-2 at Lock Park on Ryan St. Hamburgers or Chicken Fingers w/fries for $7 prepared by SWLA Catering Co. Call 794-8545 for tickets.

For reservations and membership information contact Kay Andrews, President by email at info@lwv-lc.org or calling 474-1864.

Register at

Certified Mastectomy Fitter

3518 Ryan St., Lake Charles (337) 477-1804 Register by Mail by sending the form below to: Ethel Precht - HOPE Breast Cancer 3K 165 W. Precht Road Bell City, LA 70630

Key Guest Speaker!!

Senator Willie Mount

Register Online at: www.EthelBreastCancerWalk.org Must use a credit card or a PayPal account

When we came to Lake Charles we chose Derenda to help us find our new home. We were simply impressed with her exceptional service. She worked tirelessly to make sure our transition to the city was seamless. When work took us to Texas, we had Derenda market our home, and it sold in less than a month! Thank you, Derenda, for all you’ve done for us!

— Chase and Ashley Wilson

Enjoy refreshments; door prizes & entertainment!

Email Us At: info@EthelBreastCancerWalk.org Make check payable to: HOPE Breast Cancer 3K

NAME: PHONE: ADDRESS: EMAIL: T-SHIRTS: (Please circle only one) SUPPORTER: S M L XL XXL XXXL SURVIVOR: S M L XL XXL XXXL

Volume 1 • Issue 13

Please feel free to call us at (337) 905-0327 with any questions.

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

PAGE 15

Around Town With The Jam

From left to right: Patricia and Brian Prudhomme, Kay “Spice” Andrews, Jessie Kelly and Lauren and Phil de Albuquerque.

The rain didn’t stop the fun!

TJN came out in full force to sample the delicious entries and

support the Imperial Calcasieu Museum at The Jambalaya Cook-off.

The

Life

Your Child’s Dental Care

By Sara Blackwell

Lauren and Phil de Albuquerque The Holiday Inn-Sulphur recently celebrated their grand opening in style recently. If you haven’t seen the new hotel, by all

means, stop by and take a look at their chic, comfortable rooms and sleek bar and restaurant. TJN

Lauren de Albuquerque and Betsy Granger, sales and marketing manager for Holiday Inn-Sulphur.

PAGE 16

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

Visiting the dentist is a part of life for all of us. Regardless of the importance of regular appointments, it seems an easy thing to postpone when you have a child. It is common to think that saving the time and money is a better choice then watching your child kick and scream every six months at the dentist. However, attending regular dental appointments are tremendously important to prevent serious problems.

Pediatric dentists practice on children from infancy to teenage years.

Two to three years of specialty training after completion of dental school is required, and they must limit their practice to treating children only.

There are some good pediatric dentists in the area, such as Dr. Eric Sanders and Dr. Philip Moses in Lake Charles. All three are well-respected in the community and their offices are known for their kid-friendly atmosphere.

Children should begin to see a pediatric dentist on a regular basis when their first tooth comes in.

Typically, an initial visit includes a review of your child’s medical history, if any; an examination of the mouth, teeth cleaning, fluoride application and any necessary x-rays. Ask the dentist whether there is an office policy on whether or not a very young child can sit on your lap, and whether you can accompany an older child to the actual examination.

Dr. Sanders encourages parents to attend the examination with

Volume 1 • Issue 13

their children, while Dr. Moses discourages it after the initial visit to permit a relationship to develop between the child and the dental staff.

In between regular dental visits, it’s up to you to assure healthy dental practices in your children. Brush your infant’s teeth using a soft-bristled toothbrush with a small head. It is recommended that a baby’s teeth be brushed at least once a day at bedtime with water. There is no need to worry if your baby sucks a thumb or pacifier unless the habit continues beyond the first few years.

Toddlers two to three years of age should have their teeth brushed twice a day with a pea-sized amount of fluoridated toothpaste. They should spit out the excess toothpaste, if possible. As they mature, they can begin to brush their own teeth with parent supervision.

Studies have shown that a balanced diet can also lead to good oral health. Children need fruits, vegetables, breads, cereals, dairy products, meats, fish and eggs. Limit servings

Volume 1 • Issue 13

of sugars and starches to help prevent tooth decay. Interestingly, cheese has been found to assist in the prevention of cavities. It provides calcium, which is vital for oral health, and it also stimulates the body’s salivary glands, which clears the mouth of debris.

This protects the teeth from acids, which weaken the teeth.

It is important that teenagers continue to see a pediatric dentist, rather than a regular dentist. A teen experiences ongoing face and jaw growth and are getting the last of their permanent teeth. These physical changes make teens more like children then adults. Accordingly, pediatric dentists are more equipped to handle the needs of teenagers.

So, instead of skipping regular dental appointments, take your children to your local pediatric dentist for a specialized and fun dental experience.

TJN

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

PAGE 17

By Steve Springer M.D.

The Basics for Women I thought I would include a few basic guidelines in “House Call” for this issue. Not quite as intellectually stimulating as I would like, but sometimes, the basic facts are what we need to hear. These are a few of the most common issues women must address and the most current recommendations from the major medical associations out there: BREAST CANCER The American Cancer Society, American College of Radiology, American Medical Association, United States Preventive Services Task Force, and American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology all recommend starting routine screening at age 40 years. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and American Academy of Family Physicians recommends screening mammography every one to two years for women ages 40 and older.

CERVICAL CANCER Who should have a screening test?

Younger women — The first cervical cancer screening test is recommended within three years of first sexual activity or by age 21, whichever comes first. For most women, the test is recommended every one to three years, depending upon the woman’s age and history of abnormal results. For women who have a past history of an abnormal screening test or who have risk factors for cervical cancer, testing is recommended once per year.

Older women — Most experts feel that women who are at low risk for cervical cancer (e.g., no past history of an abnormal test) can stop having cervical cancer screening tests by age 65 to 70 years. However, testing is recommended for women who are 65 years or older who have never been screened.

After hysterectomy — Women who have had a hysterectomy (surgical removal of the uterus and cervix) should not undergo screening for cervical cancer, unless: • The hysterectomy did not include removal of the cervix (e.g., if the hysterectomy was “subtotal”) • The hysterectomy was performed because of cervical cancer or pre-cancer • The woman was exposed to diethylstilbesterol (DES) during her mother’s pregnancy.

As we enter Hurricane Season, we are dedicated to informing you of any weather threatening Southwest Louisiana. Part of our dedication to keeping you informed and up to date is our KYKZ 96 Hurricane Tracking Chart sponsored by Cameron State Bank and Aggreko.

The KYKZ 96 Hurricane Tracking Chart will be available June 1 at our sponsor locations or at the KYKZ 96 station.

More information at www.kykz.com

OSTEOPOROSIS Recommendations for calcium — Men and premenopausal women should consume at least 1,000 mg of calcium, while postmenopausal women who do not take estrogen should consume 1,500 mg. You should not consume more than 2,000 mg of calcium per day due to the risk of side effects.

Recommendations for vitamin D — The current recommendation is that all adults should consume at least 800 international Units of vitamin D per day. Lower levels of vitamin D are not as effective, while high doses can be toxic, especially if taken for long periods of time.

I hope these few basic guidelines keep your health on the right track!

TJN PAGE 18

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

Volume 1 • Issue 13

If you have a recipe and story you would like to share, e-mail us at lauren@thejambalayanews.com

What’s Cookin’

Healthy and Delicious: Three Recipes from Lake Charles Memorial Hospital It’s not easy eating healthy. There are so many temptations out there that are hard to resist. So make sure you keep these three recipes, courtesy of Lake Charles Memorial Hospital, in mind when you want to prepare a meal that tastes good, and is good for you, too! TJN

Lemon Meringue Kisses Ingredients 2 egg whites 1/2 cup Splenda® 1/4 teaspoon vanilla 1 tablespoon lemon curd * Directions Beat egg whites until they begin to hold a soft peak. Gradually add Splenda® and continue beating until egg whites are stiff. Beat in vanilla.

Drop by teaspoon onto a nonstick baking sheet—or pipe the meringue from a pastry deco-

rator. You should get two dozen kisses. Bake at 300 degrees for TJN 25 minutes. Make a small indentation in each kiss and drop in a dab of lemon curd.

Makes 24 kisses.

A serving of six kisses contains about 24 calories, less than 1 gram protein, less than 1 gram fat, no cholesterol, 2 grams carbohydrate, no fiber, and 14 mg sodium. *Look for commercially prepared lemon curd in the supermarket next to the jams, jellies, and preserves.

Topped Potatoes Sour cream or butter tastes delicious on baked potatoes, but they come with a price: Both contain saturated fat and cholesterol. Here’s a healthy, and tasty, alternative topping for your next baked potato.

Ingredients 4 small russet potatoes 1 15.5-ounce can of black beans 8 tablespoons of bottled salsa, mild, medium or hot 1 ripe avocado, sliced Directions Wash potatoes and prick with a fork. Bake or microwave according to preference. When done, split potatoes lengthwise.

Sponsored by

Broiled Trout with Almonds Rinse black beans thoroughly and heat if desired. Spoon beans evenly over potatoes, about one-third cup of beans per serving. Put two tablespoons of salsa on each potato.

Divide avocado into four pieces for garnish.

NOTE: You can spray a little olive oil on the potatoes to keep them moist while cooking. For extra zest, squeeze a clove of garlic through a press to mix with the salsa.

Serves four Each contains about 307 calories, 11 grams protein, 8 grams fat, no cholesterol, 54 grams carbohydrate, 13 grams fiber and 552 milligrams sodium.

While rainbow trout is native to a narrow band along the West Coast of the United States, cultivation in ponds dates back more than 100 years. Today, farmers raise this sweet, slightly nutty-tasting fish in most of the states. Most market-ready trout comes through Idaho, where farmers send live fish to processing plants for filleting.

Ingredients 2 rainbow trout, butterfly filleted (about a pound each before heads are removed, 9 ounces after cleaning with heads taken off) 1 teaspoon butter or margarine 2 tablespoons almonds, sliced Lemon pepper (use an unsalted blend, about 1/2 teaspoon total) Lemon wedges Directions Heat broiler to high. Rinse trout and pat dry. Open fish and place skin-side down on a foil-lined broiler pan. Dot with butter or margarine and sprinkle with almonds and lemon pepper. Broil about five minutes or until fish is opaque and flakes easily with a fork. Serve immediately with lemon wedges.

Serves two Each serving contains about 309 calories, 3 grams carbohydrate, 36 grams protein, 16 grams fat, 93 milligrams sodium, 0 grams

Enjoy!

Volume 1 • Issue 13

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

PAGE 19

Public Libraries Change Hours of Service The Calcasieu Parish Public Library is introducing a change in service hours for all 14 locations, effective Oct. 4. The changes are a result of the 2008-2012 Bridges for Calcasieu Strategic Plan, a culmination of a seven-month effort by a panel of 20 stakeholders in Calcasieu Parish, coordinating with National Library Consultants Sandra Nelson and June Garcia, all levels of library staff, and approved by the Library Board of Control in July, 2008.

The changes indicate how patrons use the libraries. The hours of the past were decided before the Internet revolution, which provides access to the library resources and services 24/7. Library users can now manage their accounts 24/7 by phone or Internet.

The new hours reflect a 20.5 hour increase in service across the board, and standardize opening and closing times. The new hours will be easier for patrons to remember than the seven possible opening times and seven possible closing times previously in effect.

New hours of operation and total service hours for each branch are: Bell City Library, 7085 Highway 14, 622-3606 (Bell City residents) or 721-7081: Monday and Wednesday, 2-6 p.m.

(8 hours per week).

Hayes Library, 7709 Perier Street, 622-3605(Hayes residents) or 721-7098: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 2-6 p.m.

(12 hours per week).

Carnegie Memorial Library, 411 Pujo Street, 721-7084: Monday through Friday 9 a.m.6 p.m. (45 hours per week).

Central Library, 311 W. Claude Street, 721-7116: Monday through Thursday 9 a.m.

-8 p.m.; Friday 9 a.m.-6 p.m.; Saturday 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday 2-6 p.m. (65 hours per week).

DeQuincy Library, 102 W. Harrison Street, 786-4213 (DeQuincy residents) or 721-7087: Monday through Friday 9 a.m.-6 p.m. (45 hours per week).

PAGE 20

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

Epps Memorial Library, 1320 N. Simmons Street, 721-7090: Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m.

-8 p.m., Friday 9 a.m.-6 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m.-5 p.m. (61 hours per week).

Doyle

By Jim

Fontenot Memorial Library, 1402 Center Street in Vinton, 721-7095: Monday through Friday 9 a.m.6 p.m. (45 hours per week.)

Iowa Library, 107 First Street, 5823597(Iowa residents); or 721-7101: Monday through Friday 9 a.m.6 p.m. (45 hours per week.)

Maplewood Library, 91 Center Circle, 721-7104: Monday – Friday 1 p.m.-5 p.m.

(20 hours per week).

Moss Bluff Library, 261 Parish Road, 721-7128: Monday through Thursday 9 a.m.-8 p.m.

Friday 9 a.m.-6 p.m.

Saturday 9 a.m.-5 p.m. (61 hours per week).

Starks Library, 113 South Highway 109, 743-6560 (Starks residents) or 721-7107: Monday through Friday 2 p.m.6 p.m. (20 hours per week).

Southwest Louisiana Genealogical and Historical Library, 411 Pujo Street, 721-7110: Monday through Friday 9 a.m.6 p.m.

Saturday 9 a.m.-5 p.m. (53 hours per week).

Sulphur Regional Library, 1160 Cypress Street, 721-7141: Monday through Thursday 9 a.m.

- 8 p.m.

Friday 9 a.m.-6 p.m.

Saturday 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Sunday 2 p.m.-6 p.m. (65 hours per week).

Westlake Library, 937 Mulberry Street, 721-7113: Monday through Friday 9 a.m.6 p.m. (45 hours per week).

Any questions or concerns about the changes may be directed to library administration by calling 721-7147. TJN

Another Chance The health care debate rages on and is likely to do so the rest of this year.

While it’s been fulminating, I’ve had a bit of a ringside seat. During the debate, I’ve been fighting my own serious health issue, this one with ramifications of cost, coverage, security, and life itself that made my interest more than simple curiosity.

When you write a column like this, one of the things you have to decide is how personal to make it. As you already know, my nature is to keep things light, funny, a little sarcastic maybe. Hey, this is entertainment, not high dudgeon, whatever the hell that is.

But I’m going to make an exception this one time, not to catalogue the list of my ailments as I approach yet another milestone birthday, just to inform you about something I knew nothing about until I was personally affected.

This adventure started for me about three months ago. I have known for some time I had a kidney problem.

When I had surgery two years ago, they actually unstrapped me from the table, unhooked my lines and sent me to the kidney doc. That’s when I found out that, for most people, you lose about 10 percent kidney function per decade starting in your 20s. Another wonderful side effect of age and experience, I guess. Anyway, at that time I was just a little under the average, nothing life changing, just something else to watch, another chronic condition.

Now, it will come as no surprise to anyone who knows me, or can see the picture above, that I have a little bit of an issue with my weight.

Gravitationally challenged. If there is a diet out there I haven’t explored, it’s because I haven’t heard of it yet.

This year, I went back to a tried and true method: MediFast plus a high protein diet. No carbs. Lots of turkey necks and cabbage (which is great, by the way, when you stew them

together. Call me and I’ll give you the recipe). It worked like a charm, as it usually does. Dropped about 30 pounds in two months.

But I felt, well, pretty crummy. I had been going to my local doc for checkups every month or so and was distressed to see his eyes widen every time he looked at my numbers from the various tests he was running. So, since Stratton had his usual checkup scheduled in Houston, I made an appointment for myself.

On that day, the (more or less) orderly nature of my life changed, and I was seriously worried in a way I had not been through cancer, a couple of bouts of pneumonia, and assorted other ailments of recent vintage. It was a “Holy Pee, Batman” moment.

I was in renal failure. The high protein diet had pretty much killed my kidney function. My Houston doctor debated putting me on dialysis on the spot, but instead sent me to a meeting where the subject was discussed in excruciating detail. Going from a standing start to a meeting with several nice guys, most younger than me, who were either already in dialysis or ready to start it was a complete awakening.

The scariest thing, though, was the matter-of-fact way these very compassionate nurses were talking about an issue that meant a complete end to my current way of life and a new start down an uncertain path. I knew right away I really didn’t want to do dialysis.

But there aren’t many choices.

Transplant surgery is about the only other option. It takes four to five years, on average, to receive a kidney from a cadaver donor. (shameless plug: check the donor box on your driver’s license.

Now.) And bless their little pea-picking hearts, I had four great friends and two of my children volunteer to give me one of their kidneys, but that’s just not something I’m comfortable with. In the Volume 1 • Issue 13

case of my children, as far as I’m concerned, it’s impossible. I did not raise them to adulthood to use as spare parts. The very idea repels me. And in the case of my great friends, I’m honored beyond measure by your offer. But I’d feel self-conscious borrowing a car from you. I know I’m not ready for the responsibility of using wisely one of your body parts.

There are other, less savory, ways to get a new kidney. Some countries allow the sale of organs. But that seems just a little ghoulish to me, taking advantage of our privileged nature as “rich Americans” (hey, everything’s relative) to exploit Chinese or Cambodian citizens willing to give up part of themselves to grab the brass ring.

There is an implantable artificial kidney in development by a team at UCLA Medical School, but it is years away from being a finished product.

So that leaves dialysis, a procedure where you are attached by a series of needles to a machine several times a week to cleanse your blood of the poisons your kidneys used to remove.

Because the method I would have preferred (nighttime in-center dialysis, where you sleep through the procedure and work during the day) is not offered locally, I was looking seriously at a move to Houston so I could attend to my medical needs.

There’s also the matter of cost.

Dialysis costs around $50,000 per year, per patient. There are more than 300,000 Americans currently on dialysis, almost all of them covered by Medicare or Medicaid. That’s $15 billion per year, just on this one chronic condition. And forget about your health insurance. If you’re required to go on dialysis, you have a 30-month transition period from the health care you’ve bought and paid for, maybe for years, into the Medicare system. You have no private care option, unless you have an extra $50,000 per year lying around.

I’m not sure how unpleasant dialysis would be. But I did find out that, if you are on dialysis, you are presumptively disabled for Social Security purposes. In other words, this is as serious as it gets.

So, for the last three months, I’ve been spending my days practicing law and most of my nights worrying about what happens next. And researching the Internet to find ways to restore as much of my kidney function as possible.

The first thing I did was stop consuming animal protein. That means no meat, fish, eggs, mayonnaise, butter, cheese, ice cream, etc. Since I’ve been a vegetarian, my “bad” blood numbers have steadily improved. As of this week, I’m a point above normal. And I’ve continued to lose weight, even though Volume 1 • Issue 13

my diet staples are rice, bread, pasta, and corn. Weird.

I’ve learned through this process that a chronic illness is like a splinter in your foot that won’t go away. Every step you take reminds you it’s there. It is a constant companion you’d never choose, but you can’t lose. It requires a life adjustment in a way nothing else can match. In a very real sense, your security is at stake. And as with every other thing like this, it becomes a constant drumbeat, marching you forward towards who knows what.

It is worth noting that every piece I’ve read on kidney disease and dialysis mentions as an option the decision to have no treatment. But you can’t live without treatment. So they gently guide you through the process of hospice care and the relatively painless end that awaits. Not tempting.

It is not my nature to go gently into that good night. In the first place, I ain’t so sure how good it is. And I sort of like it here, thank you very much. So I’m really not interested in meeting with Sarah Palin’s death panel.

Luckily, this informational diatribe is only meant to give you a look into the same abyss I’ve been seeing for the last three months. I say luckily because, as of this week, my doctor tells me my condition has improved to the point where ultimate failure, and all the things that go with it, is in my distant future, if at all. Maybe you will understand, after reading all this, the enormous sense of relief I now feel. I can live my life again. And with a renewed appreciation of its precious, and fleeting, nature.

I really hope you get the point, dear reader, that I’m not whining about this at all; it is what it is. As with most things in my life, I’m grateful for the lesson, if not the experience, and I’m sure I’m better for it. If I could give you one piece of advice when facing similar trials, it’s simple: Don’t give up.

I saw a sign last week in my travels: “Nobody has the right to just give up.” I don’t know the backstory for the sign, but the meaning is plain enough. We have an obligation to live, to take that next step. Maybe something good will happen. And if it doesn’t, learn to live with that, too. Patrick Swayze might have been a movie star, but everything I’ve read about his life, and his death, instructs me that he was first of all a good person who embodied what I’m talking about here. He didn’t give up.

He fought the good fight. And in the end, he was with those who loved him, living until his last breath.

You can’t really ask for more than that, can you?

And with that, I’ll see you (thank God) on the flip. TJN

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Max Trost and his son Max Alajandro

Owner/Pilot Southland Field Airport, Sulphur, La 70665 Office (337) 583-2742 • Cell (337) 802-4209 E-mail: maxairhelicopters@yahoo.com

Visit our website at maxairhelicopters.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

PAGE 21

Story by Lisa Yates Photos courtesy of Lake Charles Memorial Hospital

The event kicks off Lake Charles Memorial Hospital’s ‘31 Days of Keeping the Girls Healthy’ Foodies are in for a delicious treat this October at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital’s “Cookin’ for a Cure.” Guests of this event will get up close and personal with one of today’s most renowned celebrity chefs – Chef John Folse.

Chef Folse is known as “Louisiana’s Culinary Ambassador to the World” for introducing our indigenous cuisine to Japan in 1985, Beijing in 1986, and Hong Kong and Paris in 1987. In 1988, he made international headlines with the opening of “Lafitte’s Landing East” in Moscow during the Presidential Summit between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. In 1989, Folse was the first non-Italian chef to create the Vatican State Dinner in Rome.

Folse is the chef and proprietor of the restaurant “Lafitte’s Landing” in Donaldsonville. He has several other ventures, including a catering company, a food manufacturing company, a radio cooking-talk show, a TV series produced by Louisiana Public Broadcasting and a publishing company. Also, The Culinary Institute at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux is named in his honor. In addition, Folse has published numerous books, including The PAGE 22

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

Encyclopedia of Cajun and Creole Cuisine.

“Cookin for a Cure” will showcase Folse’s flair for Cajun and Creole cuisine starting at 7 p.m., Oct. 1, at the Lake Charles Country Club. In recognition of Breast Health Month, cancer survivors will be honored during the evening.

“Anyone who has battled cancer understands that it takes an army of skilled physicians, dedicated nurses, and other health care providers to conquer the disease,” said Kathy DeRouen, Senior Vice President of Marketing. “Too often we forget the most important person in the trenches – the patient. We are looking forward to the opportunity to honor those who have fought – and won.”

Tickets are available for $75 a person, or $750 for a table of 10. Seating is limited, so advanced purchase is required. For more information, to purchase tickets or make a tax deductible contribution, visit the Hospital’s Web site at www.lcmh.com; call (337) 4942936; or, e-mail myhealth@lcmh.com.

Chef John Folse

Volume 1 • Issue 13

Proceeds from “Cookin’ for a Cure” will benefit The Foundation at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital Cancer Care Fund.

“The Cancer Care Fund helps meet the increasing costs of maintaining a state-of-the-art oncology program,” said Leif Pedersen, Memorial’s Senior Vice President of Philanthropy.

“Support helps the hospital acquire new technology, upgrade the physical attributes of the oncology unit, acquire new chemotherapy chairs for patients undergoing treatment, or even provide educational materials to the community at large.”

Special events Organized as part of Memorial’s “31 Days of Keeping the Girls Healthy” program, “Cookin’ for a Cure” kicks off a full month of activities featuring a different activity each day in October.

Memorial’s special events this month also include “Cork N Canvas” with local artist Sue Zimmerman, on Oct. 10; and, “Kober for a Cure,” Oct. 23, featuring comedian Jen Kober.

Sue Zimmerman is a watercolor artist born and raised in Lake Charles. Proud of her heritage, she uses her art to raise awareness and appreciation of the Southwest Louisiana landscape and culture. Her “Cork N Canvas” event takes place from 4 to 6 p.m., Oct. 10, at Gallery by the Lake, 106 W. Lawrence St. in Lake Charles. Wine and cheese will be served!

Originally from Lake Charles, Jen Kober has taken her Southern-style sassiness to Los Angeles where she has quick-

ly become a nationally recognized headliner performing with the likes of Damon Wayans, Dane Cook, Chris Tucker, Wayne Brady, Dana Carvey and Roseanne, to name a few. In 2008, she appeared in Jamie Kennedy’s new comedy documentary Heckler; and, she was a featured comedian on “Oxygen’s 25iest: Celebrity Bad Girls Gone Good.” Most recently, Kober appeared on MTV’s LOGO Network; and, she played a villainess in the upcoming feature family film Cool Dog. Her original blend of stand-up, story telling, and improvised rock-n-roll comedy will be featured during “Kober for a Cure,” Oct. 23, at The Brick House, 110 W. Pine St. in Lake Charles. Doors open at 9:30 p.m. The show begins at 10 p.m. Attendees must be 21 to enter.

Admission is $20 for each of these events.

Proceeds benefit The Foundation at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital Cancer Care Fund.

Journey towards health The journey towards personal health is not always easy. Women so often do not make their own health a priority.

Sometimes they neglect their own health and focus instead on their partner’s and their children’s. Women can help their families most effectively by taking care of themselves first and maintaining regular physical exams.

Jen Kober

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PAGE 23

This October, women can also devote some much needed attention to their own health and well-being with Lake Charles Memorial Hospital’s “31 Days of Keeping the Girls Healthy” – a program for women to gain the knowledge and tools they need to maintain or begin working towards a healthier lifestyle.

Geared toward women of all ages, from every walk of life, and with varying health needs, “31 Days of Keeping the Girls Healthy” features a different activity every day of the month.

The first week in October focuses on developing good stress-reduction habits for a healthier lifestyle.

When managed properly, stress can provide the energy to meet new challenges. However, when physical or emotional stress builds up to uncomfortable levels, it can be harmful. In the short term, a high level of stress can cause fatigue, sleeplessness, anxiety, poor appetite or overeating, headaches and backaches. When a high level of stress continues for a long period, it may contribute to potentially serious health problems, such as lowered resistance to infectious diseased, high blood pressure and heart disease.

The best way to manage stress is to learn healthy coping strategies. Learn how activities such as gardening and yoga can help counteract the negative effects of stress during “31 Days of Keeping the Girls Healthy.”

Week Two of the program deals with cardiovascular health. Having a strong, healthy heart and cardiovascular system is of paramount importance for living a healthy, happy and long life.

Get moving. Lack of exercise and a sedentary lifestyle weakens the heart and lungs, and promotes overall physical decay. Salsa dancing on Oct. 16, will really get the heart pumping! Also, it’s important to eat lean and green. For delicious heart-healthy recipes, visit www.lcmh.com/Monday.

The week of Oct. 18-24 is all about breast cancer awareness. To help determine if you have major risk factors for breast cancer, visit www.lcmh.com/Sunday. This breast cancer risk assessment tool is simple and confidential. A physician will contact you with the results.

During the last week of October, the focus is on diabetes awareness.

If you are looking for diabetic candy, or just on a sugar restricted diet, visit the Memorial Hospital Atrium this Halloween. Memorial’s Diabetes Education is hosting a special event for folks of all ages. There will be a pumpkin patch; and, celebrated children’s author Tommie Townsley will read to the children!

These are just a few of the activities featured during Memorial’s “31 Days of Keeping the Girls Healthy.” For a complete calendar of events, see pages 26-27.

Most of the events are free and open to the public, but reservations may be required. For ticket or reservation information, visit www.lcmh.com, or call (337) 494-2936. TJN

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PAGE 24

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

Volume 1 • Issue 13

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Volume 1 • Issue 13

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OCTOBER: 31 Days of Keeping the Girls Healthy Sunday Best How Healthy Are You? Find out by taking Memorial’s simple health assessments to learn about your risks for breast cancer, peripheral arterial disease, diabetes, and more. Simple and confidential, these assessments may help identify a risk - before it becomes a problem. Visit www.lcmh.com/Sunday: Sun., Oct. 4 Sun., Oct. 11 Sun., Oct. 18 Sun., Oct. 25

Is Stress Affecting Your Health?

What Are Your Risks for Cardiovascular Disease?

Are You At Risk for Breast Cancer?

Could You Have Diabetes and Not Know It?

No More Manic Mondays Imagine a life made easier - and Mondays without mania. Memorial will provide you with everything you need from quick, easy and healthy recipes to calming musical interludes. Visit www.lcmh.com/Monday for a different week’s worth of tasty treats that you can make at home.

Mon., Oct. 5 Mon., Oct. 12 Mon., Oct. 18 Mon., Oct. 26

Stress-less Dinners for the Busy Family Keep the Beat: Heart-Healthy Recipes Power Eating: Cancer Prevention Foods Sweets for the Sweet: Sugar-free Dessert Recipes

Tuesdays With Memorial Special folks deserve special events, and whether you’re gathering to gossip or decked out to dine, check out these events hosted by Lake Charles Memorial Hospital for Women. Visit www.lcmh.com/Tuesday for more information.

Tues., Oct. 6 Dig It Join master gardener J.J. Window to see just how relaxing vegetable gardening can be. Seating is limited, and reservations are required. Register at www.lcmh.com/seminars/register/89/, or call (337) 494-2936.

LSU Ag Center • 7101 Gulf Highway, Lake Charles • 10 a.m. • Light refreshments Tues., Oct. 13 Beat It Get your heart beating at our drum circle hosted by percussionist Sylvia Hankin. Space is limited, and reservations are required. Register at www.lcmh.com/seminars/register/89/, or call (337) 494-2936.

Sylvia’s Bistro • 329 Broad Street, Lake Charles • 5:30 p.m. until • Cash bar Tues., Oct. 20 Book It Join us for coffee, and meet Angela Tezino, author of Women of Excellence, courtesy of Christian Book Center and Coffee Beanery. Open admission.

Coffee Beanery • 1740 W. Prien Lake Road • 8 a.m. – Noon Tues., Oct. 27 Tech It The Geek Squad from Best Buy will answer all your questions about this year’s must-have tech toys. Open admission.

Memorial Hospital Atrium • 1701 Oak Park Boulevard • 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Wednesday Woman Today’s woman juggles many responsibilities. Between family obligations to career demands, it’s hard to find time to take care of yourself. That’s why Memorial for Women brings you “Wednesday’s Woman,” a series of special reports designed to inspire and educate women on a variety of topics from health and fitness to family and friendships. Visit www.lcmh.com/Wednesday each week. It just may change your life.

Wed., Oct. 7 Stress CAN Affect Your Health As part of a health care series specifically for women, Dr. Chris Thompson, a cardiologist on staff at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital, explains how serious stress can be on your heart health.

Wed., Oct. 14 Is Poor Circulation Keeping You Out of Circulation?

In this special report, Dr. John Winterton, a cardiologist on staff at Memorial Hospital, discusses a cardiovascular condition where arteries in the arms or legs become constricted by fatty build-up.

Wed., Oct. 21 Keeping YOUR Girls Healthy Take a moment to learn why early detection is crucial to the fight against breast cancer. Dr. Richard Martinez, a radiologist on staff at Memorial Hospital, discusses the need for regular mammograms and self-examinations.

Wed., Oct. 28 Don’t Underestimate Diabetes Women with diabetes are at a greater risk for cardiovascular disease. Dr. David Muguku, a family medicine physician on staff at Memorial Hospital, discusses the importance of diagnosing and treating diabetes.

Is Thursday the New Friday?

Get a jump start on the week’s end with a series of events intended to inspire or ignite some fun. At Memorial Hospital, Thursday IS the new Friday in October. Visit www.lcmh.com/Thursday today.

Thurs., Oct. 1 Cookin’ for a Cure Kick-off “31 Days” with “Cookin’ for a Cure,” featuring an evening with Celebrity Chef John Folse and honoring cancer survivors. Tickets are $75 each, or $750 for a table of 10. To purchase tickets, call (337) 494-2936, or e-mail myhealth@lcmh.com for more information.

Lake Charles Country Club • Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Thurs., Oct. 8 Nip/Tuck It If you’ve ever stood in front of a mirror and fixated on a flaw, join Dr. Harold Bienvenu, a facial plastic and cosmetic surgeon on staff at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital, to learn more about today’s cosmetic treatments. Seating is limited, and reservations are required. Register at www.lcmh.com/seminars/register/89/, or call (337) 494-2936.

Memorial Hospital for Women • 1900 W. Gauthier Road • 6:30 p.m. • Light refreshments Thurs., Oct. 15 Attend It From time to time, every woman experiences what she believes is irregular or unusually heavy menstrual bleeding. If your symptoms limit you in the things you can do, join Dr. J. William Groves, an OB/GYN on staff at Memorial Hospital for Women, at the Women’s Commission Fall Conference to learn more about possible treatment options ranging from medication to minimally invasive surgical options, including hysterectomy. Seating is limited, and reservations are required.

To register, visit www.womenscommissionswla.com/home.htm.

Thurs., Oct. 22 Pack It and Stack It Clutter can weigh you down and leave you feeling out of control, but organizing expert Melody Granger will teach you to simplify your spaces - and keep it that way. Seating is limited, and reservations are required. Register at www.lcmh.com/seminars/register/88/, or call (337) 494-2936.

Memorial Hospital for Women • 1900 W. Gauthier Road • 6:30 p.m. • Light refreshments Thurs., Oct. 29 Wake It Up Sleep disorders can cause major health consequences and even be life-threatening. Join Boyace Harlan, Ph.D., a trained sleep technologist with Memorial Hospital, for a look at the various types of sleep disorders and the latest testing technology—the first step in treating sleep disorders. Seating is limited, and reservations are required. Register at www.lcmh.com/seminars/register/89/, or call (337) 494-2936.

Memorial Hospital • 1701 Oak Park Boulevard • Noon • Light refreshments

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SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

Volume 1 • Issue 13

TGIF Kick off this weekend by kicking into gear. Join Memorial around town for some “plain ole” fun events. Visit www.lcmh.com/Friday for more information.

Sat., Oct. 24 Cheer It Fall means football in Southwest Louisiana. If you’re a fan of the game, join Memorial for the McNeese/Southeastern game. Special gift for the ladies!

Cowboy Stadium • McNeese State University, Lake Charles • 6 p.m.

Fri., Oct. 2 Move It You’ll like to move it, move it—with Memorial. Join Dr. Scott Hofer, an orthopedic surgeon on staff at Memorial Hospital, to develop a walking program that fits you—and your lifestyle. Open admission. For more information, call (337) 494-2936.

Prien Lake Mall • 8 a.m.

Sat., Oct. 31 Trick or Treat It No tricks, just sugar-free treats for the young - and young at heart. Memorial’s Diabetes Education is hosting a special Halloween event featuring local children’s author Tommie Townsley, a pumpkin patch, and some (not so) ghoulish pleasures. Open to the public.

Memorial Hospital Atrium • 1701 Oak Park Boulevard • 10 a.m. – Noon

Fri., Oct. 9 Stretch It Discover health, inner peace and the many other benefits yoga has to offer with this introductory yoga session, courtesy of Chelsea Boudreaux with The Yoga Center of Lake Charles. Space is limited, and reservations are required.

Register at www.lcmh.com/seminars/register/89/, or call (337) 494-2936.

Memorial Hospital for Women • 1900 W. Gauthier Road • 9 a.m.

Fri., Oct. 16 Step It Up Upbeat Latin music, exotic dance movements, and vigorous exercise…Salsa may just be the perfect cardio exercise. Join Daniel Gonzalez with “Latin Moves by Daniel,” to try it for yourself. Space is limited, and reservations are required. Register at www.lcmh.com/seminars/register/89/, or call (337) 494-2936.

Memorial Hospital for Women • 1900 W. Gauthier Road • 5 p.m.

Fri., Oct. 23 LOL It At “Kober for a Cure,” laughter really IS the best medicine. Enjoy an evening with Jen Kober and honoring cancer survivors. Tickets are $20 each.

To purchase tickets, call (337) 494-2936, e-mail myhealth@lcmh.com, or visit www.lcmh.com/Friday for more information.

The Brick House • 110 W. Pine Street Doors open at 9:30 p.m. • Show begins at 10 p.m.

TJN Sponsored by

wishes to thank the kind folks at Downtown Animal Hospital and Boudreaux’s New Drug Company for their love and attention to help her get well.

— Phil and Lauren de Albuquerque

Fri., Oct. 30 Shake It Tired of your usual exercise routine? Join Memorial for an introductory belly dancing lesson. Fun and the perfect fit for any age, you’ll combine dance movements with a hint of drama, a splash of costuming, and a touch of self expression. Courtesy of LaDonna with Belly Dancing by LaDonna. Space is limited, and reservations are required. Register at www.lcmh.com/seminars/register/89/, or call (337) 494-2936.

Memorial Hospital for Women • 1900 W. Gauthier Road • 9 a.m.

Weekend Edition Celebrate and make Saturday’s fun and meaningful with Memorial.

Walk. Talk. Visit www.lcmh.com/Saturday for more information.

Sat., Oct. 3 Walk It Make your own strides toward breast health, and join the team from Memorial Hospital at “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer,” American Cancer Society’s premier event to raise awareness and funds to fight breast cancer.

Heritage Square • 1015 Ruth Street, Sulphur Registration begins at 7 a.m. • Walk begins at 8 a.m.

Thursday, October 15, 2009 REGISTER ONLINE @ www.womenscommissionswla.com Online registration closes at

October 13, 4:30 pm Onsite registration opens at

7:00 am

Sat., Oct. 10 Sip It and Dip It Join local artist Sue Zimmerman for Southwest Louisiana’s own “Cork N Canvas.” Enjoy the wine and you may just learn to water color. Admission is $20 per person, and can be purchased by calling (337) 494-2936, or visiting the Memorial Marketing Department at 2800 2nd St., Ste. C (across for hospital main campus) between the hours of 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. For more information, e-mail myhealth@lcmh.com, visit www.lcmh.com, or call (337) 494-2936.

Gallery by the Lake • 106 W. Lawrence Street, Lake Charles 4 p.m. – 6 p.m. • Wine and cheese • Seating is limited

8:00 am - 4:30 pm Lake Charles Civic Center Brochures available at: KPLC TV- 320 Division St. The Perfect Gift- 2712 Hodges St. Allstate – Melisa McMillian 3600 Common St.

Sat., Oct. 17 Frost It Yum…cake decorating.

Keynote Speaker Volume 1 • Issue 13

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

PAGE 27

OSTEOPENIA

Dr. Richard Martinez Answers Your Questions Most of us know about osteoporosis, a progressive disease that causes bones to become thin and brittle, making them more likely to break.

But few of us understand the precursor, osteopenia, where osteoporosis might be halted.

Dr. Richard Martinez, a radiologist on staff at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital, answers your questions about osteopenia.

What is osteopenia?

By the time we reach our 30s, our bones naturally become thinner as existing bone cells are reabsorbed by the body faster than new bone is made.

As this occurs, the bones lose minerals, making them weaker and increasing their risk of breaking.

Osteopenia is often the first stage of a progressive deterioration of the bone.

It actually refers to a lower bone density than normal, but not as low as found in osteoporosis.

Who is most at risk for developing osteopenia?

Women are far more likely to develop osteopenia and subsequently osteoporosis. This is because women have a lower bone mass than men, and because the loss of bone mass speeds up as hormonal changes take place at the time of menopause. But men can develop osteopenia and osteoporosis, as well.

In both men and women, other factors can contribute to osteopenia, including: • Eating disorders or metabolism problems that do not allow the body to take in and use enough vitamins and minerals • Chemotherapy, or medicines such as steroids used to treat a number of conditions, including asthma • Exposure to radiation And the risk increases for those with a family history of osteoporosis, being thin, being white or Asian, getting limited physical activity, smoking, regularly drinking cola drinks, and drinking excessive amounts of alcohol.

What are the symptoms?

Osteopenia has no symptoms. But as the bone becomes thinner, the risk of breaking a bone increases.

How is osteopenia diagnosed?

Osteopenia is diagnosed with a bone mineral density (BMD) test, a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA), although there are other methods. DEXA is a form of X-ray that can detect as little as 2 percent of bone loss per year.

A standard X-ray is not useful in diagnosing osteopenia because it is not sensitive enough to detect small amounts of bone loss or minor changes in bone density.

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SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

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Volume 1 • Issue 13

ommended for women age 65 or older. Women ages 60 to 64 should be screened if they also have at least one risk factor in addition to menopause.

Risk factors include: • Being white (Caucasian) or, to a lesser degree, being Asian.

• A family history of osteoporosis.

• Being thin.

• Long-term use of corticosteroids, such as prednisone or hydrocortisone for inflammatory conditions, or anticonvulsants, such as carbamazepine (Tegretol), phenytoin (Dilantin), or gabapentin (Neurontin) for pain or seizures.

• Eating disorders or diseases that affect the absorption of nutrients from food.

• Being inactive or bedridden for a long period of time.

• Smoking.

• Drinking excessive amounts of alcohol.

• Having a diet low in calcium or vitamin D. Men who are older than age 70, or who have other risk factors for osteoporosis, should also have a bone mineral density test. Since men have a higher peak bone mineral density than women at middle age, osteopenia and osteoporosis tend to happen at an older age in men. But aside from the hormonal change in women as they go through menopause, the risk factors of osteopenia are risks for men as well as women. Men are also at risk if they have low levels of the hormone testosterone.

How is it treated?

Osteopenia is treated by taking steps to keep it from progressing to osteoporosis and, for a few people, by taking medicine. Lifestyle changes can help reduce the bone loss that leads to osteopenia and osteoporosis.

Diet is very important to bone development. Calcium is the most critical mineral for bone mass. Your best sources of calcium are milk and other dairy products, green vegetables, and calcium-enriched products.

Your doctor may also want you to take a calcium supplement often combined with vitamin D, which helps your body absorb calcium and other minerals. Vitamin D is found in eggs, salmon, sardines, swordfish, and some fish oils. It is added to milk and can be taken in calcium and vitamin supplements. In addition to what you take in from food, your body makes vitamin D in response to sunlight.

Exercise is important in maintaining strong bones, because bone forms in response to stress. Weight-bearing exercises such as walking, hiking, and dancing are all good choices. Adding exercise with light weights or elastic bands can help the bones in the upper body. In addition to diet and exercise, quitting smoking and avoiding excessive use of alcohol and cola will also reduce your risk of bone loss.

There are medicines available to treat bone thinning, but these are more commonly used if you have progressed past osteopenia to the more serious condition of osteoporosis.

How can osteopenia be prevented?

Whether you will tend to develop osteopenia is, in part, already determined. Things like whether you have any family members who have had osteoporosis or osteopenia, whether you have chronic asthma that requires you to take steroids, and how much calcium and vitamin D you got while you were growing up are beyond your control now.

But if you are a young adult or if you are raising children, there are things you can do to help develop strong bones and help slow down osteopenia and prevent osteoporosis.

Your bones don’t reach their greatest density until you are about 30 years old, so for children and people younger than 30, anything that helps increase bone density will have longterm benefits. To maximize bone density, make sure you get plenty of calcium and vitamin D through your diet and by spending a little time in the sun, get weight-bearing exercise on a regular basis, don’t smoke, and avoid cola and excessive alcohol.

If you have children, teach them to eat healthy, get regular exercise, and avoid smoking and alcohol. Also, get them to play a little in the sunshine to help their bodies make more vitamin D. Most doctors suggest daily vitamin D supplements for children and teens, starting by age 2 months.

Talk with your doctor about how much and what sources of vitamin D are right for your child.

If you’re older than 30, it’s still not too late to make these lifestyle changes. Talk to your doctor about your risks. A balanced diet and regular exercise will help slow the loss of bone density, delay osteopenia, and delay or prevent osteoporosis.

Sometimes the Best Medicine is Just Being at Home At Southern Home Health one of our main goals is to provide patients with peace of mind as they make the transition from the hospital to home. We have the technology and specially trained staff of RN’s, LPN’s, Aides, PT’s, OT’s, Speech Therapists, Dieticians and a Social Worker to help you regain your strength and independence. We strive to help our patients in attaining the quality of life they deserve. Some of our specialized services include:

• Rehabilitation therapy for joint replacement and other surgeries • Low Vision • Pelvic Floor dysfunction for incontinence • Diabetes management • Wound Care Program • Medication and Nutrition management • Ostomy care & teaching • Catheter/tube care • IV Therapy • Lifeline-24hr Personal Response and Support

TJN

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SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

PAGE 29

OSTEOPOROSIS No Bones About It

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Years ago, osteoporosis—a disease that causes bones to become more fragile and more likely to break—could only be detected after you actually broke a bone.

By then, your bones might already be quite weak.

Today, a bone density test at Memorial Hospital for Women can determine if you have osteoporosis or are at risk—before there’s any damage, according to Dr. William Groves, an obstetrician/gynecologist on staff at Memorial Hospital.

A bone density test uses special digital X-rays to measure the grams of calcium and other minerals that are packed into a segment of bone: The higher the mineral content, the denser the bone.

And the denser the bone, the less likely it will break.

Who is at risk?

“While anyone can develop osteoporosis, women are at risk four times more than men—and the older you get, the higher your risk since bones naturally become weaker as we age,” said Dr. Groves.

Your race also makes a difference.

You’re at greatest risk for osteoporosis if you are white or of Southeast Asian descent. Black and Hispanic men and women have a lower, but still significant, risk.

Other risk factors include low body weight, a personal history of fractures, a family history of osteoporosis, and the use of certain medications that can cause bone loss.

Who should be tested?

A routine bone density screening is recommended if: • You’re a woman age 65 or older • You’re 60 and at increased risk for osteoporosis What’s your risk?

If you’re concerned about your risk for osteoporosis, use Memorial Hospital’s online risk assessment tool located at www.lcmh.com. TJN

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Dr. William Groves

Sidetrack Your If you’re like most Americans, you deal with stress on a daily basis. Whether caused by worries over money, work, kids, parents, your spouse—or even an upcoming wedding or a long-awaited promotion—your stress can affect your health. Physical ailments caused by stress could include serious conditions such as heart disease and cancer, as well as headaches, sleep disorders, backaches, fatigue, irritability, depression, anxiety, upset stomach, and high blood pressure, according to the American Institute of Stress.

Stress checkers “No one can avoid all stress—and a certain amount actually is good for you,” said Dr. Chris Thompson, a cardiologist on staff at Lake Charles Memorial

Sponsored by

Dr. Chris Thompson PAGE 30

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

STRESS

Hospital. “Stress helps you react quickly and can be an effective motivator. But it’s best to keep unhealthy levels in check.”

So, how do we decrease stress?

“Easier said than done,” he said. “But the best ways are to exercise and eat right, try to be more organized at home and work, don’t overextend yourself with tasks or projects, and, if you do, make sure you have a supportive group of friends or family to talk to and lessen your overload.”

Here are some strategies that can help you reduce and manage your stressors: • Make a list of situations or issues that cause your stress. Becoming aware of your stressors can give you an idea of what causes you to tense up. Then you can try to avoid those situations or handle them differently in the future.

• Exercise every day, if possible.

Aerobic workouts—walking, cycling, swimming, or running—can help release pent-up frustrations while producing endorphins – brain chemicals that help counteract stress.

• Learn how to relax. Deep-breathing exercises, meditation, yoga, visualization, or listening to relaxation tapes

can help you decompress.

• Get enough sleep. Stress can make it difficult to get a good night’s sleep. This may lead to fatigue and a reduced ability to cope.

• Avoid alcohol and drugs. Using them to unwind only masks symptoms and can worsen stress.

• Build loving relationships and supportive networks. The warmth of human connection to friends, neighbors, and coworkers is a great cure for stress.

• Count your blessings. Keep a gratitude journal or set aside a few minutes every evening to reflect on the positive things in your life.

Seek support You may not always be able to handle stress on your own. If you’re often depressed or you drink more alcohol than you should, you could be at the point where you need outside support— especially if your family life is affected by your behavior. And if you think stress is affecting your heart health, call Dr. Thompson at Heart & Vascular Center at (337) 494-3278 for an appointment.

TJN Volume 1 • Issue 13

hardson

By Mar y Ric

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Y

ou’re preparing a special dinner.

You want special food and you want special wines. So, which do you pick first – the wines or the food?

Seven chefs have recently considered the question, as they have just completed preparing wine pairing dinners for the dates of Oct. 14-16, leading up to the Oct. 17 food and wine event, Rouge et Blanc.

And each one answered it a little differently.

“You start with the wine,” said Justin Sells, “because you can manipulate the food.” Sells is the chef at Snake River Grill at L’Auberge du Lac Casino Resort. “The wine is set; you can’t change it. But you can adjust the seasoning on the food so that it will exactly complement the nuances in the wine.”

Volume 1 • Issue 13

“You start with the food,” answered both Briant Smith of Blue Duck Café and Mike Sperandeo of The Harlequin. Both men harkened back to their childhoods for inspiration.

“I wanted to create a dinner like we had at the old camps,” Smith said, “where people would cook the fish they had just caught and prepare vegetables right out of the garden.”

Nic Hunter asked Sperandeo to prepare a menu of his favorite Italian foods, so the menu will feature fettuccine, minestrone, osso bucco, risotto and a special Italian ice cream, tortoni.

And Chef Keith Jagneaux of Lake Charles Country Club just thought about his favorite food – lobster bisque. “It’s wonderful, rich, creamy – it just sets off the whole meal,” he said. Jagneaux still remembers the first time he tasted it at Commander’s Palace in New Orleans. “My recipe is

Chef Justin Sells of Snake River Grill at L’Auberge has prepared a menu that will pair with wines from Francis Ford Coppola’s Rubicon Estate. Jay Koeller from Coppola will be at the dinner to introduce his wines.

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

PAGE 31

pretty classical, but I’ve tweaked it just a little.”

One chef started at the end. “I started with dessert,” said Chef David Phillips at Gray Plantation. “We have some amazing apples and I knew I wanted to do a special dessert that would feature them. Then I started thinking about our cheese course and that led to everything else.”

Reservations are being taken now for all of the dinners. The wines for each dinner have been carefully selected by Jared Cooke, fine wine specialist for Republic National Distributing Co. In several cases, representatives from wineries will be on hand to act as a special wine host.

“We think these dinners add immeasurably to our event,” said Lori Marinovich, director of the Lake Charles Downtown Development Authority. “They have been organized independently from Rouge et Blanc, but they add to the overall festivities.”

The dinners are as follows: Snake River Grill: Wed., Oct. 14, 6 p.m., $125 plus tax & gratuity. Call Stephanie at 395-7497.

Chef Sells and General Manager Stephanie Miller are planning a pairings menu that will feature the freshest ingredients of the season. Jay Koeller with Francis Ford Coppola’s Rubicon Estate will present wines that have been hand-selected to match the flavors of Chef Justin’s menu. Limited to 14 people.

Blue Duck Café: Thurs., Oct. 15, 6:30 p.m., $100 plus tax & gratuity.

Call 721-1967.

Chef Smith has come up with a “camp menu” which features freshly caught and home-grown foods – grilled Creole vegetables, grilled shrimp remoulade, mushroom and oyster soup in puff pastry bowls, redfish on the half shell, and chocolate pound cake with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. Limited to 50 people.

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SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

The Harlequin: Thurs., Oct. 15, 7 p.m., $80 inclusive. Call 310-0077.

A five-course meal will celebrate the vineyards of Italy. It will pair special Italian wines with Italian food especially selected by Sperandeo, house manager, including seafood fettuccine, minestrone, mixed baby greens with toasted walnuts and gorgonzola cheese with raspberry vinaigrette, osso bucco (braised veal shank), served with risotto Milanese and tortoni ice cream. Limited to 60 people.

La Truffe Sauvage: Fri., Oct. 16, 6:30 p.m., $245 inclusive. Call 439-8364.

Chef Mohamed will put together a special array of exquisite dishes, paired with wines to match the nuances of each preparation. Limited to 50 people.

Lake Charles Country Club: Fri., Oct. 16, 7 p.m., $85 plus tax and gratuity. Call 477-5511.

Chef Jagneaux will pair foods such as lobster bisque, Chilean sea bass and filet mignon Napoleon with wines from the St. Supery Vineyard and Winery. St. Supery, located in Napa Valley, is known for outstanding estate-grown cabernet sauvignon, sauvignon blanc and meritage blends. Limited to 50 people.

Brick House Catering & Events: Fri., Oct. 16, 7 p.m., $75 inclusive.

Call 433-3108.

A full menu will include a cheese course, lemon sorbet, oyster-stuffed quail, blackened sea scallops, beef tenderloin in port and dark chocolate mousse cake.

Robert Conner, representative from Delicato Family Vineyards in California, will be a special host, and Jerry Zamost, violinist, will entertain. Limited to 50 people.

Gray Plantation: Fri., Oct. 16, 7:30 p.m., $100 inclusive.

Call Holly at 562-1206, ext. 3.

A six-course tasting menu will be paired with a different wine for each course. Penny Kelley, CSW with Kobrand Wines and Spirits, will be at the dinner to introduce the wines. Limited to 40 people. TJN

Volume 1 • Issue 13

Three classes about wine will be held in conjunction with Rouge et Blanc. Nathaniel Allured, District Manager for the wine division of Republic National Distributing Company, gathers the burgundies that will be tasted at the first class, “Demystifying Burgundy; Removing the Confusion.”

1312 Sampson St. Westlake, La 70669

(337) 494-0806

“

T

he trouble with wine,” says Jared Cocke, Certified Specialist of Wine, “is that people think you have to be an expert. But really, you just need to taste enough to know what you like. Trust your taste buds; the rest will follow.”

Nevertheless, Cocke is here to help.

He is the Fine Wine Specialist for Republic National Distributing Company, one of the sponsors of the wine and food event Rouge et Blanc. And he has organized three classes that all delve deep into wine. All three include tastings.

The classes will take place on Sat., Oct. 17 at the Charleston Gallery located at the intersection of Ryan and Pujo Streets in downtown Lake Charles.

Registration is $10 per class and each class is limited to 40 people.

Reservations can be made online at www.rougeetblanc.us, by e-mail at banners@mcneese.edu, or by calling (337) 475-5123.

Although the classes are associated with Rouge et Blanc, people do not have to have tickets to Rouge et Blanc in order to register.

10 a.m.: Demystifying Burgundy: Removing the Confusion Taste seven 2006 Burgundies and one from 2005: William Fevre Chablis Volume 1 • Issue 13

Advertising with The Jambalaya News gave us the exposure across Calcasieu Parish we needed. We never could have expected the additional business we have now. Keep up the good work! We’re a customer for life!

— Justin Gill, J&R Carriage Call for Booking: (337) 570-9909 SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

PAGE 33

Twenty-three restaurants will participate in Rouge et Blanc this year, each providing a taste of the restaurant's signature food.

Pictured are, top row left to right, Pattrick Schaad of Pujo Street Café, Dr. Gene Lampson of Pure Foods & Health, David Evans of Luna's; Thomas Greenlee of Community Coffee.

Second row, Dan Schaad of Pujo Street Café; Chef David Phillips of Gray Plantation; Chef Justin Sells of Snake River Grill at L'Auberge; Cesar Barachina of Desserts at L'Auberge.

Third row, Jack Wong of Chinese King and Diana Dorta of Izzo’s Illegal Burrito.

Fourth row, Nishae Guice of Lake Charles Country Club; Mauricio Vega of Lake Charles Country Club; Chef Dave Savoie of Vista Grill at Delta Downs; Mike Sperandeo of The Harlequin; Ryan Reeves of Reeves Uptown Catering.

Bottom row, Chef Keith Jagneaux of Lake Charles Country Club, Shively Lampson of Pure Foods & Health; Chef Joe Heacook of Cookey's Catering; Patricia Fugitt, Executive Chef Coushatta Casino Resort; Kneeling, Chad Senegal of Big Sky at Coushatta Casino Resort.

Other participating restaurants are Fausto's Restaurant of Iowa, Que Pasa/Casa Manana, Sweets and Treats, Outback Steakhouse, Kinloch Plantation, Brick House, Trailblazin' BBQ & Grill, and Regalia Café and Market.

Champs Royaux, Louis Jadot Chassagne Montachet, Faiveley Montagny Blanc, Domaine Leflaive Macon-Verze, Louis Jadot GevreyChambertin, Laboure-Roi Pommard, Faiveley Mercurey Rouge, Louis Jadot Chateau des Jacques.

Instructor: Jared M. Cocke, Certified Specialist of Wine and Fine Wine Specialist for Republic National Dist. Co. 11 a.m.: The Champagnes of Nicolas Feuillatte: Celebrating the Unforeseen Events of Everyday Life A tasting of six champagnes: NonVintage Brut Rose (two), Brut Cuvee Speciale, Non-Vintage Blanc de Blanc, Cuvee Palmes d’Or Brut, Cuvee Palmes d’Or Brut Rose.

Instructor: Chad Kosina, Louisiana State Manager for Chateau Ste. Michelle Wine Estates Noon: Pontchartrain Vineyards: Louisiana’s Only Non-Muscadine Winery Private tasting of Dah Red, Roux St. Louis, Zydeco Rosato, Rouge Militaire.

Instructor: Cindy Vice of Pontchartrain Vineyards

He won the raffle! Dr. Keith DeSonier was the winner of a bottle of all the white wines tasted at Rouge et Blanc last year. The “Best Ever Raffle” includes four main prizes—1) an all inclusive 5-day trip for two to Napa Valley, 2) a bottle of each red wine served at the event, 3) a bottle of each white wine, and 4) a bottle of each dessert/champagne wine at the event. Tickets cost $50 and the ticket is returned to the hopper after each draw so, theoretically, one ticket could win all four prizes. Details are available on the Web site, www.rougeetblanc.us. You do not have to be present to win. All proceeds support the McNeese Banners Cultural Series.

TJN

TJN

Memorial Hospital Teams Up with Area Schools for “Young at Art” Program Area schools are brightening the hallways of Lake Charles Memorial Hospital through the “Young at Art” program. The program, which spotlights artwork from local elementary schools, was designed to make a positive impact on hospital patients, employees, and the young artists themselves. “‘Young at Art’ gives local schools

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SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

and elementary school children a vehicle to display their artwork, while providing Memorial’s patients and employees with an uplifting and cheerful display,” said Kathy DeRouen, Memorial’s senior vice president of marketing and the program’s founder. “Children’s artwork just makes you smile.”

“Young at Art” will feature a dif-

ferent elementary school from the Lake Area each month. The program launched earlier this month, with artwork by the fourth and fifth graders of Gillis Elementary School.

October’s display will be by the young artists at Hamilton Christian Academy.

At the end of each month, a panel of hospital volunteers will

select the top three works from the featured school. Memorial will award a $50 savings bond to the artists of these favorite works.

Art is still needed to complete the first full year of “Young at Art,” and will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. To register for the program, or for more information, call (337) 494-2934. TJN

Volume 1 • Issue 13

der useum n e l l n E dren's M a D By e Chil Johnny and Susie to of th r o t c e sleep reading them the latest r i D

Race To Witch Mountain (Disney, 2009, DVD) Please help us, Jack Bruno! Do not worry, Jack Bruno will help us! Why do you not believe us, Jack Bruno?

Why can’t I stop saying “Jack Bruno?”

After many months of searching, I’ve finally found a movie the whole family can watch. Only no one will want to. In fact, movies are getting so bad, it actually has driven video stores to selling books. No kidding. Instead of watching a movie, you can now put

Nora Roberts novel.

Race to Witch Mountain, a remake of Disney’s 1975 Escape from Witch Mountain, isn’t really a bad movie. It’s just not the Disney you’re used to. Dwayne Johnson (a.k.a. The Rock) plays Jack Bruno, an ex-con trying to make an honest buck as a cab driver in (where else?) Las Vegas.

His previous employers (the Mob) want Bruno to go back to work for them. (In this movie, he wasn’t a wrestler in his previous life, he was a race car driver.) This part is actually pretty good. The Rock (I mean, Jack Bruno) even cracks a couple of skulls against the hood of his cab.

Meanwhile, not far far away, a crashed spaceship is picked up by the villains of this movie, the United States Federal Government (who

else?). The Feds, a nasty bunch of characters who obviously got their training from watching The Bourne Identity, are also looking for the two passengers that escaped from the spaceship. The aliens, actually big gray bugs, are disguised as two costars from Hannah Montana. It just so happens that they get in Jack Bruno’s cab to escape the Feds. A 20- minute chase scene ensues, in which we find out where all our defense money is going: To buy handguns, automatic weapons, and crash cars for the FBI. Now, you really don’t know what’s going on during all of this, unless you happen to be 42 years old and saw the original Escape From Witch Mountain. Since I missed that one, I was clueless for the first part of the movie. But that was OK, because I could concentrate on the chase scene, the Matrix-like slo-mo, the compelling camera angles, and the clever dialogue. (“We need your help Jack Bruno!” “Oh No! Jack Bruno doesn’t believe us!”)

But eventually he does, the adorable kids win him over, and the rest of the plot comes together in the usual way for a save-the-world film.

So who is this movie for, anyway?

With its offhand references to Terminator (a killing robot-cyborg), ET(cute aliens and kids), Close

Jewelry Design Jewelry Repair Pearl Restringing Diamonds & Gemstones Eye Glass Soldering

Encounters(a secret mountain), the Transporter (the Rock), Snake Eyes (Vegas), etc, it’s obviously for 42-yearold males who aren’t going to NASCAR this weekend. Perhaps they had the job of watching the kids.

Evidently, Disney saw this huge untapped market segment, and pounced. Caution: Although Dad may like it, kids will probably get bored.

On the other hand, this is a great training movie to teach your pre-teen kids about casinos, government operations, reckless driving, fist-fighting, shooting, and Area 51. Seriously, I think the movie industry must see this as a way for children to cut their teeth on these serious adult topics so they’ll be ready to go see PG-13 movies in a few years.

All sarcasm aside, if you can overlook the plot holes, predictable sequences, and most of the movie, the best segment is at a UFO convention in Vegas, when the crowds of trekkies and fanboys all think the real alien chase action going on is part of the show. (Dude, this is the best convention ever!)

Skip this movie and pick up a book at your local video store. Maybe the kids would like Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. (It was the shortest book they had.) TJN

Gifts Watch Repair Effusion Lamps Miche Purses Orleans Home Fragrances

20 Years Same Location • All Work Done On Site 30 Years Experience • Master Goldsmith Jeweler

Volume 1 • Issue 13

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

PAGE 35

By Jeanne Owens, Charleston Gallery and Antiques Antique Sabino glass lies heavy in your hand. Yet it shimmers like pearls, bubbles, oil on water, rainbows at the same time. Some pieces are lithe nudes, or chandeliers and lights that drip like blue ice. Some are plump pairs of pigeons, roosters and hens, geometric

One of the most sought-after Sabino pieces, the large 1920s Paradis vase, is covered with game cocks and stands about a foot high. Because of its rarity, collectors will pay approximately $9,000 for it.

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SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

fish molded into vases, koi skimming around the edge of a bowl. Other Sabino pieces are sleek mascots from luxury 1920s French cars—heavy glass hood ornaments pointing into driving winds.

They are all pure gold investments.

Sabino glass is a French art glass that sings of the Art Nouveau movement and embodies the spirit of that style dating from about 1895 to the 1920s. It is an opalescent glass that is both clear and milky; it’s cool blue, yet it flashes with fire and color. Sabino is a collector’s dream because of its artistry, history, and relative affordability.

The Art Nouveau movement was a reaction against the Victorian style that many artists at the time thought was a little “fussy” and stiff. The Art Nouveau style, which literally means “new art,” was introduced in the Parisian design shop La Maison de l’Art

Nouveau and draws from nature for inspiration—flowers, insects, curvy lines that parallel stems , branches, flowing water, and wind.

Sabino pieces, like other Art Nouveau furniture, lighting fixtures, fabrics, and paintings, have a Celtic influence with inter-twisting lines and somewhat of a Japanese influence reflected in their minimalist style. A good example is the figure of Isadora Duncan, where the innovative 1920s dancer spreads a gossamer gown like butterfly wings and points the graceful, clean lines of her face— almost Asian—over her shoulder.

Marius Sabino Marius Ernest Sabino, a master sculptor trained by his woodcarver father, sculpted the molds for his prized art glass pieces.

The Art Nouveau influence is evident in the profile of Isador Duncan by Sabino.

Volume 1 • Issue 13

Born in Sicily, Sabino moved to France with his family as a young boy and later studied at L’Ecole National des Arts Decoratifs and the Beaux Arts de Paris just as the Art Nouveau movement and the advent of electricity energized Paris.

After a volunteer stint during World War I, he created an opalescent glass made with pure gold and even arsenic, resulting in liquid blue hues that glow with amber and mellow golds. This glass was perfected for his first pieces—chandeliers and light fixtures that lit up Paris and beyond.

Sabino designed and created elegant chandeliers for the luxury liner The Isle de France in 1927, all the electric light fittings and chandeliers for the Shah of Persia in 1936, and was even commissioned to create a throne of Sabino glass for a Middle Eastern Maharaja until interrupted

by World War II. He sculpted numerous vases, animal figurines, and figurines of women.

The French perfume makers provided a ready-made market for Sabino glass resulting in gorgeous perfume bottles a la stoppers filled with magnificent French perfumes.

Sabino was also obsessed with creat-

The famed originator of modern dance in the 1920s, Isadora Duncan, is portrayed in this fabulous original Sabino glass. This piece retails for about $2,200 and stands 11" high.

Volume 1 • Issue 13

ing and expressing the ideal female form as in numerous pieces still on the secondary antiques market today such as Hesitation and Isadora Duncan’s Draped Dancer.

Perhaps the most unique pieces Sabino created are mascots for luxury automobiles such as the Citroen during the 1920s and ‘30s. The opalescent glass hood ornaments captured the sun and split it into brilliant colors; at night, the ornaments glowed from beneath, lighted atop their glass-to-radiator-cap mounts. Some of the fantastical pieces included pigeons, eagles, and, of course, women. They are highly collectible today—even some of the paperweight versions—retailing on the antiques market for thousands of dollars.

World War II stopped production of Sabino masterpieces, and many of the original molds were destroyed. In post-war years, production was picked up again by his nephew/adopted son and continues today. All of the American market pieces are handled through the Sabino corporation home-based in Houston.

However, the modern pieces do not have the same feel or look as the early pieces because they lack the gold content, and, not unsurprisingly, the arsenic content. Some modern pieces are tabletop versions of the automobile mascots, and some are reproductions of Sabino’s originals using some of the molds still available.

Old and new Determining the difference between an old and new piece of Sabino is relatively easy because the marks usually tell the story.

First, if a red Sabino sticker is still on the piece, that means it is definitely pre-1939 and is one of the originals. Second, all Sabino is signed or marked with an impression. The very old pieces are incised with either Sabino Paris, which means it was produced by Marius Sabino himself to be distributed within France, or Sabino France which means it was produced by Marius Sabino to be distributed overseas, primarily to the American market.

Many original small pieces such as the robins, cats, roosters, elephants, and elegant perfume bottles are embossed with the name Sabino but also have the incised name.

Newer pieces may also have an embossed name Sabino France and

often come in their “original” boxes that actually date just from the 1970s.

Two good ways to tell the age of a piece of Sabino is to hold it in your hand and to hold it to the light. The older Sabinos have a soapy exterior feel as opposed to the newer ones that merely feel like glass; this is because the new ones lack the chemical content of the old ones. The older Sabinos held to the light glow golden from within the heart of the glass—a color and light that comes from the pure gold and arsenic. When a light is shone onto the older pieces, the blue opalescence color pops much as in opal jewel stones. Newer Sabino pieces lack the golden glow and do not have the blue fire that opal jewels have.

Collecting Sabino This is a good time to collect Sabino because original pieces are coming available as a generation sadly passes, and the heirs are placing many pieces up for bid online.

Therefore, the prices are low.

Beware, however, that many pieces on eBay or similar online auctions are merely new pieces posing as old ones or are damaged pieces that either have been repaired or have hard-tosee chips or nicks. Always, always

ask the seller to tell you the age of the piece and to describe its condition in detail. Ask to see pictures of the mark and signature as well.

Another good reason to collect Sabino pieces now is that they are relatively affordable and will only go up in value as an investment. For example, the Isadora Duncan piece sold for $1,500 five years ago and retails for $2,200 today—a relatively affordable price to pay for a 1920s classic piece of Art Nouveau. Smaller pieces today sell from $95 with the average 9” to 11” piece selling in the $395 to $695 range, depending on age and condition.

Lake Charles boasts one of the largest collections of antique Sabino glass between New Orleans and Houston at Charleston Gallery and Antiques, including a rare, signed 1920s Sabino glass and copper chandelier made in Paris and purchased from a historic New Orleans home.

The owner, however, is not too sure if the chandelier is for sale now that it glows once again, and the gold shines through the icy, opalescent glass, adding a touch of history and Art Nouveau class to the gallery.

TJN

Bessette Realty, Inc. Phil and Lauren, you have given me the perfect tool for relocation.

I have wished for a way to express the personality of Southwest Louisiana for years. The warmth, charm, and caring of our people for one another is not easily conveyed in a few words. The beauty of our area, the cultural richness and the zest of our food and humor abound in the pages of your magazine. The Jambalaya News captures all of these features within its covers and serves it up as spicy as the dish for which it takes its name. Congratulations on a job superbly done. This will be an integral part of my relocation kits from now on.

— Derenda Grubb - CENTURY 21 Bessette Realty, Inc. (337) 842-2696 • www.derenda.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

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U A B A F N OLY

HEALTH CARE - WORD SEARCH U E S B E D P A N N O

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Ambulance Antibiotic Aspirin Bedpan Doctor

Hospital Medicine Needle Nurse Operation

Prescription Stethoscope Stitches Surgery Thermometer

N T N O P

The Dot Game

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Players take turns connecting two dots. When a player completes a box, they write their initial in the box. When all dots are connected, the player with the most boxes wins.

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SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

Volume 1 • Issue 13

Killin’ Time Crossword

Crossword puzzles provided by BestCrosswords.com (www.bestcrosswords.com). Used with permission.

Volume 1 • Issue 13

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

PAGE 39

r Shoumake n o d n a r B By

Getting My Mojo Working

MSU UPCOMING EVENTS

Sometimes, not often, but sometimes, a sportswriter gets it right.

He makes a prediction : “The Saints will reach the Super Bowl this season,” for example, and through some sort of cosmic mysticism or fervent voodoo ritualizing on the part of the writer, wouldn’t you know it, the prediction comes true.

The writer feels good. Strike that.

The writer feels capital, on top of the

world. Validation! He’s going to predict the next .400 hitter. “That guy over there is going to be the next Joe Montana, just you watch,” the writer says.

More often than not, though, the writer is left with nothing but melted candle wax, various chicken innards and a hearty meal of crow for his efforts. The Saints lose on the final day of the regular season on some last-second, desperation Hail Mary pass, punishment for the voodoo rituals you could say, from some third-string quarterback on a winless team.

The writer feels like a fool. His friends and colleagues mock him.

“Really? The Saints,” they question.

Strangers yell at him in bars. “Nice call, moron,” they slur. The writer, chastened by his experience, doesn’t dare so much as guess at the winner of a soapbox derby race for at least until the start of summer football practice.

Okay, maybe not. It’s in the sportswriters’ nature to play prognosticator.

Hey, I admit it; I’m not above picking the winners.

Like most writers, I’m wrong most of the time. Sometime earlier this summer, not in this forum but in some other place, I said my Chicago Bears would go 11-5 and make the playoffs.

After their Week One national embarrassment against Green Bay, it looks more like 7-9 and a mid-December tee time for the Bears.

Sept. 25-27 Sept. 25 Sept. 26 Sept. 26 Sept. 27 Oct. 2 Oct. 3 Oct. 3 Oct. 4

This week, however, I’m feeling pretty good. I said of McNeese’s game with Appalachian State in my Aug. 27 column (page 33 if you’re curious), “This is a pride game for McNeese. A win over App State on the road means that the Cowboys can still consider themselves a factor on the national scene and gives them a huge boost going into the Tulane game two weeks later.”

I’m not saying I predicted the Cowboys would win, because I didn’t pick the game either way. While I’m sometimes pretty good with the grisgris, and picking McNeese over App State would have been light-years less bold than picking App State over Michigan two years ago, I don’t have my mojo quite working in peak shape just yet.

Textbook Rentals Tennis Tournament at The Sports Club at Graywood – Open to the public!

Volleyball vs. Northwestern St. 7 p.m.

Memorial Gym Volleyball vs. Central Arkansas 4 p.m.

Memorial Gym McNeese Football @ Tulane 2:30 p.m. Be sure to buy your tickets from us!

Soccer vs. LSU-Shreveport 2 p.m.

Cowgirl Field Soccer vs. Sam Houston 7 p.m.

Cowgirl Field Volleyball vs. SFA 4 p.m.

Memorial Gym Cross Country Cowboy Stampede Fun Run – visit McNeesesports.com for details and to sign up.

Soccer vs. SFA 2 p.m.

Cowgirl Field

Please contact Ryan Ivey at least 72 hours before any home event to request accommodations for individuals with disabilities. This includes the need for materials in an alternative format such as large print or Braille, sign language interpreters, accessible seating, and accessible parking information.

Come see th defea e ted A Confe pp. St team that the So rence a te tak uth Ticket Mini-P land Confe e on re la FOR O 4 RESER n on SALE NOnWce. VED .

NE

With t h

LOW TICKE P TS R I is tea m, the CE OF $ 68. ticket s won ’ t last!

PAGE 40

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

Own a small business? Want to get involved with McNeese Athletics but don’t know how? Our “Partner with the Pokes” program is for you. Become a McNeese sponsor for prices starting at only $500 and receive a great ticket allowance, sponsor recognition and many other great benefits. Call 337.562.4MSU or visit McNeeseSports.com and click on the “Partner with the Pokes” link to learn more.

Volume 1 • Issue 13

What I did say is that, if the Cowboys won, they would return to the national forefront. And I was right.

Want proof? It’s right there in the Sep. 13 issue of The American Press (Page 1 if you’re curious). The headline reads “Cowboys back to prominence with upset win.”

Validation!

Sometimes, the writer isn’t 100 percent right Back to that being wrong bit. I all but predicted here two weeks ago that the McNeese State volleyball team would begin the season with ten consecutive wins, breaking the school record for best start to a season.

Well, unfortunately for the Cowgirls and myself, almost as soon as my column traversed the Interwebs and landed in my editor’s inbox, McNeese dropped its first match of the season 30 to Jacksonville State.

Pardon me while I dispose of these chicken gizzards.

Fortunately, McNeese got up off the canvas and fought back to win the Bama Bash tournament and then promptly destroyed all of its opponents at the Cowgirls Invitational.

The Cowgirls equaled the best start in school history with a win over Louisiana-Lafayette in the tournament finale.

Congratulations to them and, if I may be so bold, I think the Cowgirls may enter Southland Conference play with just the one loss.

McNeese next travels to Monroe for the Louisiana-Monroe tournament.

The Cowgirls will face a team they’ve already beaten once this season (Jackson State) and a pretty terrible (in a bad way) twosome of host ULM and Florida Atlantic.

After that, the Cowgirls could possibly be 12-1 heading into their last non-conference match of the season with a tough Louisiana Tech team.

Can the Cowgirls get win number 13? Ooh, wait a minute. Thirteen?

I’ll go ahead and light some candles. You know, just in case.

“I got a fever and the only prescription is...”

More predictions.

I’ve recently taken to picking the winners of local high school football games on a Web site called www.coachesaid.com. It’s the former www.kenramsey.com for those of you in the know.

For those who aren’t in the know, it’s a fairly comprehensive collection of scores, schedules and other miscellany for Louisiana high school athletics.

The new site, just as much as the old one, is also a fairly comprehensive

Volume 1 • Issue 13

collection of cranks, coots and crackpots from around the state spouting wild theories about why John Curtis always wins the darn state championship regardless of what classification in which it plays. There’s a good amount of trash talk, clean and relatively good-natured for the most part, usually regarding West Monroe and whatever Monroe-area team the Rebels are playing that week.

There are also predictions. Fans aren’t immune to the fever, either.

And, hey, who am I not to indulge them just a little bit. Typically, if you

Brandon Shoumaker is a graduate of McNeese State University and has covered sports for more than seven years for various publications. Coaches Brandon Shoumaker or parents with story tips may contact Brandon at bshoumaker@yahoo.com or send him a message on Twitter (@bshoumaker).

make a prediction, five other people come out of the woodwork to simultaneously insult your pick and make their own.

It’s one of the cornerstones of sports conversation.

In any case, I’m doing pretty well with my high school football predictions there. In Week Two, I went 18-4 straight up and I hope to improve that number as the season goes on.

And if I pick against your team, don’t take it to heart. You and I both know it’s all a bunch of voodoo anyway.

TJN

Save the Children’s Museum Fund

Devastated by a recent fire, the Children’s Museum needs your help to reopen. The goal is $450,000.

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$4

So far, $205,319.44 has been raised! The museum would like to thank all of you who have contributed, including the following: Lake Charles/Southwest Louisiana Convention & Visitors Bureau Junior League of Lake Charles, Inc. Calcasieu Parish Police Jury City of Lake Charles City of Sulphur Sempra Energy Global Enterprises William & Katherine Blake Waste Management Tadlock First Federal Bank of Louisiana Cameron State Bank Charleston Gallery and Antiques Wal-mart (Nelson) Wal-Mart Store # 521 (English Bayou) Lake Area Model Railroaders Crawford Orthodontics Inc. you Atlantic Scaffolding Company hank ays: T ok s a n Devall Towing & Boat Service I lo ua t, and u the Ig Judge Guy E. Bradberry Iggy r suppor all of yo g u o in y e r e Kiwanis Club of Calcasieu fo os e! ard t forw new hom M.N. Davidson Foundation y m in Senator Willie L. Mount Honeywell W.R. Grace

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Ad Sponsored by The Jambalaya News SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

PAGE 41

By Mary Louise Ruehr

Thrillers, Dark and Grisly When selecting reading material, I avoid violence. And I abhor horror.

But something in these two dark thrillers caught me, and I couldn’t put the books down. Be warned: Both have adult language and situations, including some pretty grisly passages.

Undone comes from author Karin Slaughter, who has eight best-selling novels under her belt. This one opens as a couple celebrating their 40th anniversary hit a woman with their car. Emergency workers arriv-

ing on the scene discover that the victim’s extensive injuries are not a result of the crash; the unconscious woman seems to have been tortured.

Moving quickly into her life are medical people at the hospital and members of the police department, all of whom have had or begin to form interesting relationships with each other.

The crime is simply awful. I will not go into detail about it. But think of the Kay Scarpetta books of Patricia Cornwell and you’ll have an

inkling of some of the not-for-thesqueamish detailed physical descriptions.

Then there are the characters.

They are fully developed, with complex back stories that make their reactions — to the action and to each other — interesting. I’m new to Karin Slaughter’s work, but apparently she’s brought along three characters from her previous novels and put them together here: A doctor whose police officer husband was killed in the line of duty, a pregnant

police investigator who finds out her health isn’t what it should be, and a police officer whose intelligence is often overlooked because he has a reading disorder. Then there are the not-so-nice police from another county, who cause animosity and complicate the crime-solving.

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SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

The book is really well written, which is what pulled me in.

Slaughter completely involves the reader, letting us imagine and care about the characters. The plot starts off like a shot and doesn’t let up for quite a while, and the action is intense, brutal, and downright scary.

But there are levels to the action, with calm sections where I could catch my breath and get to know the characters better.

Slaughter can even be funny; I laughed several times, as when one woman describes her lack of a healthy regimen: “I eat PopTarts for breakfast, sometimes for dinner but usually with a Diet Coke. I never exercise. Ever. The only time I run is when I’m trying to make it to the bathroom before the commercial’s over, and honest to God, since I got TiVo, I don’t even do that anymore.”

And one of the investigators comes up with a new word: “investigoogling.” I like it! I was a bit disappointed in the ending, and there were a couple of plot points that seemed out of order, misdirected, or too coincidental, but it was basically a book I didn’t want to put down — a kind of The Silence of the Lambs horror-thriller crossed with a traditional cop-partners crime mystery.

But The Big Machine by Victor LaValle is even harder to categorize. Pick a genre and it pretty much fits; it’s a strange blending of mystery, thriller, horror, science fiction, fantasy, romance and spiritual allegory, with bits of social commentary on religion (nondenominational, not preachy), politics, race and Volume 1 • Issue 13

class. But it works.

Ricky Rice is a 40-year-old drug addict who’s working as a janitor in New York when he receives an envelope containing a one-way ticket to Vermont and a note that reads, “You made a promise in Cedar Rapids in 2002. Time to honor it.” He drops his job and uses the ticket, beginning a journey that’s both geographical and spiritual.

In Vermont, he becomes part of a group called the “Unlikely Scholars,” who are pretty much left on their own to figure out why they are there.

They are all damaged people, and they seem to have a strange, supernatural bond, in that each has made some kind of promise. Later, the scene moves to the West Coast and becomes an action-thriller, turning a bit gruesome in several passages.

hood and his father: “He used to hold me close, so close I could see the life behind his eyes, but his soul always scurried off to hide. I’d run my fingers across his cheeks as he read to me, thinking I could pluck at his spirit as easily as an eyelash.”

At different points, the book reminded me of The Shack by William P. Young, Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl, The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters

by Gordon Dahlquist, and The Traveler by John Twelve Hawks.

LaValle is able to mix unlikely ingredients together and come up with a sur-

prise concoction that makes me think he could be channeling a beat poet.

Finally, I must say, I have a problem with reviewers and marketers who give away too much of the plot.

In the case of Big Machine, the book’s dust jacket reveals a plot point that is better left for the reader to discover, and professional reviewers on the Web revealed more than they needed to about the plot of Undone. Be careful about reading such elements if you want to let a book surprise you.

Copyright (c) 2009 Mary Louise Ruehr.

Mary Louise Ruehr is the Books Editor for the Record-Courier in Ravenna, Ohio. She has a Bachelor of Arts in English from Kent State University. Mary Louise is interested in all subjects and has many favorite authors, including Pearl S. Buck, James Michener, and P.G. Wodehouse, as well as mystery writers Sue Grafton and Janet Evanovich. She blogs at http://blogs.dixcdn.com/shine_a_light/ and you can write to her at Books@recordpub.com. TJN

Meanwhile, we learn about Ricky’s back story involving the bizarre religious cult in which he grew up. His mother and father were missionaries of the cult, gone for much of the year, leaving the children to be raised by the other weird cult members.

The book offers quite a few inspirational or thought- provoking ideas, such as “The face of goodness may surprise you,” “You can’t predict the places where you’ll encounter the unknowable,” and this gem about prejudice: “Go and tell someone the worst thing about yourself. Cheated on a husband. Abused your child. Or, like in my case, that you’ve been addicted to heroin for half your life.

Just tell them that and nothing else.

You find that people come up with an entire history based on that one fact.

They assume the worst about you.”

The writing can be really nice, as when Ricky talks about his childVolume 1 • Issue 13

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

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HOLIDAY INN-SULPHUR GRAND OPENING The management at the new Holiday Inn-Sulphur welcomed an eager crowd to a reception where attendees met the staff and toured the facility. Their brand-new restaurant and bar were open, with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres provided. Among the door prizes was a special package for a posh overnight stay at the hotel, which Spice didn’t win. All in all, it was a crowd-pleasing event showcasing the latest in accommodations for Sulphur and Southwest Louisiana.

Nakul, Dixit and Kishan Patel

Tata Johnson and Kellie Onxley

Brant Parish and Melissa Wilhite

Nick Zaver, Kaysha and Rick Sims

Tim Ardoin and Ajay Patel

Jessica Gray and Loren Strother

Belinda Thidobeaux and Diana Jones

JAMBALAYA COOK-OFF Susan Reed, director of the Imperial Calcasieu Museum, said that “Rain or shine, hail or high water, we’re cooking!” and that’s just what we did at the first Jambalaya Cook-Off on a recent rainy, overcast Saturday. Sponsored

by The Jambalaya News, with proceeds going to the museum, all-you-can-eat jambalaya was the draw as the chefs and their teams dished up samples for the “bowl holders” who joined the fun on the museum grounds.

Volunteers from Citgo, Sasol, the Rotary Club of Westlake, the ICM staff and The Jambalaya News team pulled it all together for a successful first time event.

We’ll be back in 2010 – be ready!

Joe Duffel, Dave Conrad and Betty Rogers PAGE 44

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

Charles and Kathie Snider Volume 1 • Issue 13

Abby and Stan Johnson

Wilridge Doucet, Dana Hebert and Lincoln Trail

Megan Cornejo and Robert Chandler

Rick and Donna Richard

Christopher, Connor, Chelsea and Camille Breaux

Winners – Joe Duffel, Third Place (Sasol); Lincoln Trail and Wilridge Doucet, Second Place (Rotary of Westlake); Donnie and Joshua Istre, First Place (Citgo)

HOUSE O’ SOUL SUNDAY GOSPEL JAZZ BRUNCH Recently, the House O’ Soul introduced the Lake Charles community to a Sunday Gospel Jazz Brunch. Grits, eggs, hot wings, waffles and mimosas were some of the buffet items we enjoyed. It was a time to relax and socialize while enjoying the delicious food and listening to gospel jazz. This is sure to be a regular monthly event. Hazel Wiltz invites you to be watching for the next Sunday Gospel Jazz Brunch at the House O’ Soul.

Demonte Captain, April William and Anthony Rigmaiden

Larrol Davis and Monica Allen Volume 1 • Issue 13

Marvin Brooks and Tashia Coleman

Latoya Batiste and Shoronda Lewis

Wendy Istre and Linda Ceaser SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

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WEST CALCASIEU ASSOCIATION OF COMMERCE MEETING The Spice Girl attended a recent lunch meeting of the West Calcasieu Association of Commerce in Sulphur.

New members were introduced and business was taken care of as members and guests enjoyed a full-course meal. President Lloyd Lauw presided over the meeting and introduced Bob Dewey with Congressman Charles Boustany’s office, who discussed health reform.

Chris Duncan, Brent Clement and Lynn Hohensee

Wilmer Dugas and Brian Prudhomme

Ronnie Johns, Misty Rutherford and Tab Finchum

La. Rep. Mike Danahay, Janice Ackley and Clint Charlie

Nancy Tower, Dana Damron and Bob Dewey

Call our sales department for sponsorship information!

(337) 436-7800 715 Kirby St, Lake Charles PAGE 46

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

Volume 1 • Issue 13

WINE TASTING AND FOOD SAVORING AT HUNTER’S HARLEQUIN A Wine Tasting We Will Go….and if you think they are all the same, think again.

Partnering together, the Harlequin and the Wine Store manage to make each event special and unique. The place was packed as the Harlequin’s Nic Hunter and the Wine Store’s Mike Holleman put their best foot forward to present yet another pairing of fine food and wines. Stay tuned, there will be delectable opportunities for more of the same! TJN Dale and Judy Lee; and, Patricia and Al Prebula

Ellen and Ed Anthony

Kim and Mickey Moss; and, Jeremy and Tonya Stillwell

Every Monday night, feast on juicy mouth watering Prime Rib. Rubbed with our own mix of seasonings and roasted to perfection.

Enjoy a 8, 12, or 16 oz. Prime Rib with aujus and horseradish cream sauces, a loaded baked potato and mixed vegetables.

Come early, supplies are limited.

901 Ryan St., Lake Charles • 439-2054 • pujostreet.com Volume 1 • Issue 13

Suzanne Schram, Louise McDaniel, Tim White and Pam Doucett

Carrie and Chuck Dean; and, Suze’ Latour

Unique Gifts and Accessories

3204 Ryan St. • 337-433-6200 SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

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LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS PRESENTATION SEPT. 25 The League of WoMen Voters is focusing on “Juvenile Justice” and the challenges our youth face in their communities, schools and society for the next two years. The League will host its second presentation on Fri., Sept. 25 at noon at Reeves Uptown Catering, located at 1639 Ryan Street in Lake Charles. Amy Dunn of ETC and Harbor House will be addressing “Juveniles in Crisis.” Find out how our community is making a positive difference in our youth. The cost is $13 for members, $15 for non-members. Please make your reservation no later than 2 p.m. Thurs., Sept. 24 by e-mailing President Kay Andrews at info@lwv-lc.org or calling 474-1864.

MSU FACULTY EXHIBITION CLOSING RECEPTION SEPT. 25 The McNeese State University Annual Faculty Exhibition is currently underway in McNeese’s Abercrombie Gallery. There will be a closing reception from 6–8 p.m. Sept. 25 in the Abercrombie Gallery honoring faculty artists. The reception is free to the public and coincides with the citywide Annual Gallery Promenade 2009 that Friday. The exhibition features 45 recent works by McNeese visual arts faculty members. The Abercrombie Gallery, located in Room 125 of the Shearman Fine Arts Center, is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. For more information about the exhibit, call the visual arts department at (337) 475-5060.

GALLERY PROMENADE SEPT. 25 This year, it’s art at a leisurely pace! The Arts Bus has been replaced by Lake Charles’ newest downtown mode of transportation: J&R Carriage. The Gallery Promenade route will offer four charming carriages for your convenience. Beginning at the Civic Center, the route will run as follows: Stop #1: Associated Louisiana Artists—Gallery by the Lake, 106 W. Lawrence St. Stop #2: Historic Calcasieu Marine National Bank, Ryan and Pujo Streets Stop #3: Charleston Hotel, Ryan and Broad Streets Stop #4: 1911 Historic City Hall, 1001 Ryan Street Stop #5: Central School—Arts and Humanities Center, 809 Kirby Street Stop #6: Lake Charles Civic Center On Fri., Sept. 25, beginning at 5:45 p.m., you can board your carriage to be delivered in style to the participating locations in the Downtown area. Carriages will begin the route in the Civic Center Parking Lot. You may disembark at any stop along the way. A list of participants, as well as maps, will be provided at each location, as well as at the parking area located at the Civic Center.

THE CHILDREN’S MUSEUM’S IMAGINATION CELEBRATION SEPT. 26 On Sat., Sept. 26, The Children’s Museum will hold its 7th Annual Imagination Celebration. The

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JAM

theme this year is “Save Iggy’s Home.” Enjoy fantastic music by the Al Becker Band featuring the Crawford Brothers and John Ieyoub. The event will offer some of the best food from area restaurants, a cash bar and a good time for all. And don’t forget the silent auction and live auctions for unique, must-have items. Tickets are $50; table sponsorships are still available. For more information, please call (337) 433-9420 or e-mail allyson@child-museum.org.

LOGAPALOOZA FUNDRAISER SEPT. 26 This fundraiser is being held to raise money for Sheriff ’s Deputy Logan Armistead, a 26-year-old Sulphur man who was involved in an altercation with two men on August 6. Logan has been in a coma ever since, recovering from multiple surgeries and battling infections. The all-day event will consist of music, food, and games, including a softball tournament, dinner and auction. Entries are available for the Sat., Sept. 26, Co-Ed Softball Tournament.

The entry fee is $200 per team; first pitch is at 8 a.m. at the Westlake Fields, 1401 Grant St. Tickets are available for the Sat., Sept. 26 benefit banquet for $20 if purchased ahead of time; $25 at the door. The event is from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at St. Theresa’s Church, 645 Lori St., Carlyss. Price includes a live and silent auction, dinner and acoustic music by Judd Bares, and Beau Guidry and Jacob Crenshaw of Ashes of Babylon. All events are alcohol-free. For more information, e-mail wakeuplog@yahoo.com or call (337) 370-7741. Another way to help: stop by any Cameron State Bank to donate to the Logan Armistead Benefit Account.

COOKIN’ FOR A CURE WITH CHEF JOHN FOLSE OCT. 1 The Lake Charles Country Club will be the setting for Cookin’ for a Cure on Thurs. Oct 1.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m.; program begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are $75 per person; $750 to sponsor a table of 10. Proceeds benefit The Foundation at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital Cancer Care Fund. Includes dinner, music, door prizes, cash bar, and a cooking demonstration by celebrity chef John Folse. To purchase tickets, call the Memorial Marketing Department at (337) 4942936 or e-mail bfarquhar@lcmh.com for more information. If you are unable to attend, your purchased tickets will sponsor the attendance of Memorial cancer survivors and you will be recognized at the event for your compassionate donation.

WILD WINES FOR A CURE OCT. 1 In recognition of Breast Cancer Month, The Wine Store and The Jambalaya News are holding a special wine tasting event on Oct.

Chef John Folse

Volume 1 • Issue 13

1 at the new Jambalaya News office at 715 Kirby St. from 6-8 p.m. Come and sample some outrageous wines selected by Mike and Martha Holleman from The Wine Store. Admission is $5; proceeds go to the Cancer Care Fund at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital. Receive ten percent off all wine purchased with proceeds going to Making Strides. For more information, call The Jambalaya News at 436-7800 or The Wine Store at 477-7017.

COUSHATTA TRIBE TO HOST ANNUAL POW WOW OCT. 2-4 Hundreds of Native American dancers and singers are expected to gather at the 15th Annual Coushatta Pow Wow Celebration on Oct. 2-4 in Kinder. It will begin with Gourd Dancing on Fri., Oct. 2 at 5 p.m. followed by the Grand Entry at 7 p.m., during which Native American dancers dressed in full traditional regalia will parade in a brilliant spectacle of color and sound. There will be competitions and specialty dances throughout the event and the famous “Indian frybread” and “Indian tacos” will be sold. Talented Native American artists and craftsmen will showcase their wares in the Pow Wow Market. The public is invited to attend this familyfriendly, alcohol-and-drug-free event. For more information, visit www.coushattapowwow.com.

POKER RUN TO BENEFIT ETC/HARBOUR HOUSE OCT. 3 James Pousson of The Spot Sports Bar and Grill is hosting the first “B.A.A.K. Poker Run” on Oct. 3, with proceeds going to benefit at-risk youth of SWLA and ETC/Harbour House. The run will start at The Spot Sports Bar and Grill , 5402 Common Street, with breakfast and registration from 8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. Last bike out at 9:30 a.m. The run will end back at The Spot Sports Bar and Grill with the last bike in at 3:30 p.m. The prizes, raffle and silent and live auctions will begin at 4 p.m. with music and a steak dinner to follow at 5 p.m. Pre-registration can be done at The Spot Sports Bar and Grill. Entry fees are $20 per rider and $10 per passenger. Regular registration will open up at 8:30 a.m. on the day of the run. Prizes will be awarded for the top three poker hands. For more information, or if you would like to donate a silent or live auction prize, please contact Bob Redmon at (337) 249-7285 or Beth Eriksson at (337) 433-1062.

$40 and are available online at deltadowns.com, ticketmaster.com, or at the Delta Downs Gift Shop. To charge by phone, call (800) 745-3000.

“MUSIC WITH A MISSION” OCT. 15 Come out and see regionally and nationally recognized jazz artists such as James Bill, Chester Daigle, Jay Ecker, Tim McMillen, Huber “Mickey” Smith, Kevin Stone and Eric Sylvester, just to name a few. The concert will be held Thurs., Oct. 15 at 7p.m. in the W.W. Lewis auditorium in Sulphur.

This event is free, but donations will be accepted at the door. The concert will help raise awareness and money for the Maplewood Middle School Band. For more information, e-mail hubersmith2@yahoo.com or call (337)625-3457.

CHAMBER SOUTHWEST’S 10TH ANNUAL GOLF TOURNAMENT OCT. 16 Join the Chamber at the National Golf Course of Louisiana in Westlake on Fri., Oct. 16 for their annual golf tournament. Start times are 8 a.m. or 1:30 p.m.. Fees include green fees, driving range, cart rental, two mulligans, team move up hole, gift, tournament shirt and hat, and food and beverages. Sessions are limited to first come, first served. Sign-up deadline is Oct. 2. For more information, contact ddronet@allianceswla.org. TJN

OLQH ANNUAL AUCTION OCT. 9 Our Lady Queen of Heaven is hosting “Treasures Under the Sea,” its annual live and silent auction in the Life Center Gym on Fri., Oct. 9. Silent auction begins at 5:30 p.m.; the live auction starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $40 per person until Sept. 30; $55 after that. They may be purchased at the OLQH School office at 3908 Creole St. For information, call 477-7349.

KOOL & THE GANG AT DELTA EVENT CENTER OCT. 10 World-renowned R&B group Kool & The Gang has been keeping everyone dancing for decades. On Sat., Oct. 10, they’ll be bringing their classic party hits to the Delta Event Center for a one-night-only performance starting at 8 p.m. Kool & The Gang has sold over 70 million albums worldwide and influenced the music of three generations. Tickets start at

Kool and The Gang

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SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

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A very special wine tasting featuring 16 of those crazy, off-the-wall, sometimes risque labeled wines!

The $5 charge collected at the door will be donated to

Lake Charles Memorial Cancer Care Fund.

FEATURED WINES: Superstition Riesling/Pinot Blanc, Devil’s Lair Cab/Merlot, Royal Bitch Chardonnay, Wing Nut Zinfandel, Black Beauty Syrah, Liquid Love Zinfandel, Made in the Shade Merlot, Ballastic Zinfandel, Bitch Granache, Fat Bastard Sauvignon Blanc, Evil Chardonnay, "The Tryst" Cab/Zin Blend, Moonlight Run, and Sweet Bitch

*In addition, wear pink to the tasting showing your support for breast cancer research and 10% of your purchase will go toward "Making Strides for Breast Cancer!" Wines will be on hand that night for purchase!!

For more information call The Jambalaya News at 436-7800 or The Wine Store at 477-7017.

No reservations needed!

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SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

Volume 1 • Issue 13

To list your event e-mail: lauren@thejambalayanews.com

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23 • John Waller/33 Miles/Pocket Full of Rocks @ Rosa Hart Theatre, 6 p.m.

• Scotty Pousson & The Pointe aux Loups Cowboys @ DI's Cajun Food & Music, Basile, 6:30 p.m.

• The Mike Taylor Band @ Sylvia's Bistro, 7 p.m.

• Alvin Touchet @ Blue Duck Cafe, 7:30 p.m.

• Scotty Doland @ Luna Bar & Grill, 9 p.m.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 • Felton LeJeune & The Cajun Cowboys @ DI's Cajun Food & Music, Basile, 6:30 p.m.

• MotherLode @ Molly's Lamplighter, 7 p.m.

• Lisa Marshall @ Sylvia's Bistro, 8 p.m.

• 2nd Party Program/Destination Sanity/SugarGlyder @ AJ's Bar & Grill, 8 p.m.

• Blues Tonic @ Luna Bar & Grill, 8 p.m.

• T-Broussard @ Gator Lounge, Delta Downs, Vinton, 8 p.m.

• Rumor Mill @ Jack Daniels Bar & Grill, L'Auberge du Lac Casino, 10 p.m.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25 • Jamie Berzas & The Cajun Tradition Band @ DI's Cajun Food & Music, Basile, 6:30 p.m.

• Michael Bryant @ Frey's Restaurant, Jennings, 7 p.m.

• Blues Tonic @ OB's Bar & Grill, 8 p.m.

• Barisal Guns/Liquid Cheese/Handsome Harry Band @ Luna Bar & Grill, 8 p.m.

• The Von Dukes/The Flamin' Hellcats/The Good Ole Boys @ AJ's Bar & Grill, 8 p.m.

• Martina McBride @ L'Auberge Event Center, L'Auberge du Lac Casino, 8:30 p.m.

• T-Broussard @ Gator Lounge, Delta Downs, Vinton, 8:30 p.m.

• City Heat @ Sylvia's Bistro, 9 p.m.

• Briant Lloyd Smith & Hot Gritz @ Blue Duck Cafe, 9 p.m.

• Research Turtles/The Amazing Nuns @ Toucan's, 9:30 p.m.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26 • Briggs Brown & The Bayou Cajuns @ DI's Cajun Food & Music, Basile, 6:30 p.m.

• Southern Death Toll @ Hawg Wild, Sulphur, 8 p.m.

• Martina McBride @ L'Auberge Event Center, L'Auberge du Lac Casino, 8:30 p.m.

• T-Broussard @ Gator Lounge, Delta Downs, Vinton, 8:30 p.m.

• Moss Back @ Sylvia's Bistro, 9 p.m.

• Paul Noyola/Five Star Fiasco/Mission vs. Madness @ AJ's Bar & Grill, 9 p.m.

• Magnolia Sons/Tyler Read/Johnny Apple Eyes @ Toucan's, 9:30 p.m.

• Live Oak Decline @ Luna Bar & Grill, 10 p.m.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 • Blues Tonic @ Mary's Lounge, 5 p.m.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29 • Al Roger & Louisiana Pride @ DI's Cajun Food & Music, Basile, 6:30 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30 • Howard Noel & Cajun Boogie @ DI's Cajun Food & Music, Basile, 6:30 p.m.

• Alvin Touchet @ Blue Duck Cafe, 7:30 p.m.

• Mike Zito @ Sylvia's Bistro, 8 p.m.

• Whiskey South @ Caribbean Hut, 9 p.m.

• Scotty Doland @ Luna Bar & Grill, 9 p.m.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1 • Briggs Brown & The Bayou Cajuns @ DI's Cajun Food & Music, Basile, 6:30 p.m.

• Leroy Thomas & The Zydeco Roadrunners @ Mikko, Coushatta Casino, Kinder, 7 p.m.

• Blues Tonic @ Luna Bar & Grill, 8 p.m.

• Fidelity Maxx @ Gator Lounge, Delta Downs, Vinton, 8 p.m.

• Bottoms Up @ Jack Daniels Bar & Grill, L'Auberge du Lac Casino, 11 p.m.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2 • The Hotel Cazin Band @ DI's Cajun Food & Music, Basile, 6:30 p.m.

• Fidelity Maxx @ Gator Lounge, Delta Downs, Vinton, 8:30 p.m.

• Crooks Carnival/Parallel The Sky @ AJ's Bar & Grill, 9 p.m.

• Plump @ Luna Bar & Grill, 9 p.m.

• Blues Tonic @ My Place Bar, 9 p.m.

• Briant Lloyd Smith & Hot Gritz @ Blue Duck Cafe, 9 p.m.

• Isis @ Mikko, Coushatta Casino, Kinder, 9 p.m.

• Meriwether/Windsor Drive/Two Shots Fired @ Toucan's, 9:30 p.m.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3 • The Von Dukes @ Livin' The Music YMCA Tailgate, Downtown Lake Charles, 11 a.m.

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SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

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• Blues Tonic @ Livin' The Music YMCA Tailgate, Downtown Lake Charles, 1 p.m.

• The Kadillacs @ Livin' The Music YMCA Tailgate, Downtown Lake Charles, 6:30 p.m.

• Mack Manuel & The Lake Charles Ramblers @ DI's Cajun Food & Music, Basile, 6:30 p.m.

• Chris Miller & Bayou Roots @ VFW Post 2130, 7:30 p.m.

• Fidelity Maxx @ Gator Lounge, Delta Downs, Vinton, 8:30 p.m.

• Isis @ Mikko, Coushatta Casino, Kinder, 9 p.m.

• Forever Falls @ Toucan's, 9:30 p.m.

Chris Shearman/Ghostland • Observatory @ AJ's Bar & Grill, 10 p.m.

• Brass Bed @ Luna Bar & Grill, 10 p.m.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4 • Blues Tonic @ Mary's Lounge, 5 p.m.

MONDAY NIGHTS: Abita Beer Night

WEDNESDAY NIGHTS: Mondo Martini Night

THURSDAY NIGHTS: Be Well Night

Thurs. Sep. 24 @ 9:00 BLUES TONIC (from Lake Charles, La.)

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6 • T-Joe Romero @ DI's Cajun Food & Music, Basile, 6:30 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7 • Don Fontenot & Les Cajuns de la Prairie @ DI's Cajun Food & Music, Basile, 6:30 p.m.

• Scotty Doland @ Luna Bar & Grill, 7 p.m.

• Alvin Touchet @ Blue Duck Cafe, 7:30 p.m.

• Colorcast Veteran/Smiley With A Knife @ AJ's Bar & Grill, 10 p.m.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8 • Errol Jenkins & Louisiana Tradition @ DI's Cajun Food & Music, Basile, 6:30 p.m.

• Jason Ricci @ Mikko, Coushatta Casino, Kinder, 7 p.m.

• Blues Tonic @ Caribbean Cove Lounge, Isle of Capri Casino, 8 p.m.

• Prime Time Band @ Gator Lounge, Delta Downs, Vinton, 8 p.m.

• Out On Bail @ Jack Daniels Bar & Grill, L'Auberge du Lac Casino, 11 p.m.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10 • Al Roger & Louisiana Pride @ DI's Cajun Food & Music, Basile, 6:30 p.m.

• Glenn Fontenot @ Frey's Restaurant, Jennings, 7 p.m.

• Thingfish @ AJ's Bar & Grill, 8 p.m.

• Kris Harper @ Cecil's Cajun Cafe, DeRidder, 8:30 p.m.

• Prime Time Band @ Gator Lounge, Delta Downs, Vinton, 8:30 p.m.

• No Idea @ Mikko, Coushatta Casino, Kinder, 9 p.m.

• Lisa Marshall @ Sylvia's Bistro, 9 p.m.

• Red November @ AJ's Bar & Grill, 10 p.m.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9 • Scotty Pousson & The Pointe aux Loups Cajuns @ DI's Cajun Food & Music, Basile, 6:30 p.m.

• Crooks Carnival @ OB's Bar & Grill, 8 p.m.

• Prime Time Band @ Gator Lounge, Delta Downs, Vinton, 8:30 p.m.

• Briant Lloyd Smith & Hot Gritz @ Blue Duck Cafe, 9 p.m.

• No Idea @ Mikko, Coushatta Casino, Kinder, 9 p.m.

• Twangsters Union @ Yesterday's, 9:30 p.m.

• Barisal Guns/Five Star Fiasco @ Luna Bar & Grill, 10 p.m.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13 • Homer LeJeune @ DI's Cajun Food & Music, Basile, 6:30 p.m.

• Blameshift/Sky Tells All @ Toucan's, 9 p.m.

TJN

Fri. Sep. 25 @ 8:00 HANDSOME HARRY BAND Fri. Sep. 25 @ 10:00 COLORCAST VETERAN & BARISAL GUNS Sat. Sep. 26 @ 9:00 LIVE OAK DECLINE Wed. Sep. 30 @ 9:00 SCOTTY DOLAND Thurs. Oct. 1 @ 9:00 BLUES TONIC (from Lake Charles, La.) Fri. Oct. 2 @ 9:00 PLUMP (from Houston, TX.) Sat. Oct. 3 @ 10:00 BRASS BED (from New Orleans, La.)

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SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

Volume 1 • Issue 13

Grammy Nominations and Music for the Days of Awe

By Leslie Berman About 25 years ago, I wrote liner notes for six records so I could join the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and vote on who gets the Grammys. There are lots of awards in the music industry – local awards from radio stations and newspapers, regional recognitions like the Boston Music Awards or the New York Music Awards, and genre kudos like the W.C. Handy Blues Awards or the Americana Music Awards.

But you probably aren’t aware of most of those unless you’re a working musician, music producer or music critic. The Grammys, on the other hand, are the ones which everybody knows about whether they’re in the industry or not, so it’s the gold standard, and everyone wants to win one.

It’s the proof that you’ve arrived; that the wider world has taken notice of your work, and it’s a sign that the insiders in the industry – your fellow professionals – are proud of you.

Which is why Sean Ardoin wants to win one for his recently released awesome Christian Zydeco record, “How Great Is Your Love.” And now the Grammys have added a special Cajun and Zydeco category (so records in those genres aren’t in competition with singer/songwriters and klezmer and afropop and a grab bag of folk and world musics). This came about after many years of lobbying the Academy, an effort that was led by Lafayette’s own Creole ambassador Terrance Simien (who won the first award in 2007) and his wife Cynthia. So Sean’s got a shot at it. If, that is, he gets past the initial nomination stage, where your record company puts you in the running, and ends up among the final five in the final round. That takes some lobbying, too.

So Sean called me the other day to ask me to beat the bushes among our Grammy voting friends, and get them to cast votes for him.

I certainly will – I’m a big fan of Sean Ardoin’s music, as I’ve said before in this same space. But it will be harder to get others to do it, no matter how much they like him. First of all, there are big music companies out there whose employees vote in a bloc for their own label’s acts.

In the 1980s, I heard from a source at one of the majors that Grammy voting in lockstep with your boss was a job requirement, and senior management took ballots away to fill them in for their employees. Second, there are nearly 30 genres of music to vote on and no one gets to vote in all the genres. Apart from four big rock and pop awards,

Volume 1 • Issue 13

everyone who votes has to choose eight categories, which is hard to do if you have catholic tastes like I have.

Most people are happy to vote in rock and pop and have done with it. But as for me, well some years I vote for folk, blues, gospel, country, jazz, liner notes (I was once an early-round nominee for my notes on a Richard Thompson boxed set and I like to return the favor), traditional pop and alternative rock.

Some years I change it up and vote instead for new releases in world music, polka, children’s music, comedy, classical, soundtracks, or album production, depending on who I know who’s in the running. That means you have a better chance of seeing your choice win in a small, alternative category like polka, if an extra hundred people cast their ballots for them too.

And finally, even in a small category, you might find it hard to choose among the final five, who might all be worthy, and as popular with you as your best friends are.

I’ll post my Grammy picks around the time of the awards show, after the votes are all locked in, as I’ve done before, on my Web site, www.leslieberman.com. I do that so readers of my writing can see what my prejudices are, so you can tell when I’m speaking your language, or, as you may believe, speaking through my hat.

And in the meantime, if you’re a professional in the music industry, I urge you to join NARAS, and vote in the genres not only in which you make your living, but also in the genres where your musical heart lives. More info about membership is on the Web at www.grammy.com.

The Days of Awe I’ve also told you that I’m a sucker for different kinds of religious music. Well, last week began an annual religious music feast – the most important

period in the Jewish year. It’s the time of the Jewish High Holy Days, 10 days known as the Days of Awe, between Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

During these long days of reflection, repentance, and judgment, we have the opportunity to apologize to those we’ve wronged over the past year, to make our annual confession of sins as a community and to symbolically cast them as bread into the water, to beg God’s forgiveness, and

Sean Ardoin

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

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to wish each other that our names will be re-inscribed in the book of life for 365 days more.

It is a probably a trick of the ear, maybe caused by the solemnity of the season, but to me, the Jewish liturgy for the High Holy Days is sung to the most beautiful and emotionally-charged music of the entire religious calendar.

Cantors – the official solo singers of synagogues around the world – audition for full-time jobs by taking temp work at High Holy Day services, and are graded in large part on their voices and artistic presence.

Some Cantors make international reputations as recitalists by recording important songs taken from the year’s worship cycle. My dad, a traditional jazz trumpet player, loved the Cantorial singing of Jan Peerce, and we listened to his records at home the way in later years I listened to the Beatles.

This year, for the first time in my life, I will be part of the public singing of that religious music, when I assist Rabbi Charles Isbell in the evening and morning services on Yom Kippur.

Orthodox Judaism, in which I was raised, prohibits the singing of women in the company of men, and so until I came to Lake Charles, and joined Temple Sinai, a synagogue that follows the practices of Reform Judaism, I had never heard a woman’s voice singing solo on the Sabbath or holidays, never participated in services from the pulpit in front of the holy Ark of the Covenant, never raised my voice in song unless I was seated in the women’s section of the Orthodox synagogues I attended, never chanted aloud from the holy books except when my voice was camouflaged among the voices of the entire congregation.

I am excited, and humbled, by the opportunity, and I’m practicing like crazy so I can be sure to do my best. If I’ve offended anyone this year, or hurt you by omission or by anything I’ve done, I’m sorry. Please forgive me. And to all of you, have a sweet New Year, and may you be inscribed in the book of life. TJN

Lake Charles Civic Center October 9 & 10 Garage, Antiques, & Collectibles Sale Do you have unique, one-of-a-kind treasures to sell?

Maybe you have more stuff than house.

We will invite people to shop your new and used merchandise.

ITʼS A FUN AND EASY WAY TO MAKE YOU MONEY!

Booth spaces are first come — first serve.

Contact us today!

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SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

Volume 1 • Issue 13

West Builders has been doing construction since 1994.

We are a locally owned company dedicated to the growth of Southwest Louisiana. Our customers are our top priority and can enjoy top quality construction in remarkable time frames. Call today and see how we can make your residential and commercial dreams come true.

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New Residential Construction New Commercial Construction Outdoor Structures Restorations & Additions

Brad West

Volume 1 • Issue 13

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

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