an interview with a doctor

Eng 1001

Interview of a doctor
My English 1001 interview started off bad no one wanted to let me interview them for a freshman level LSU paper that would be posted on the internet. However after about my eighteenth person I finally got someone. Dr. Tim Thompson who agreed to meet with me and allow me to write the paper as long as I agreed to leave out his name. We met on the first floor of the gastroenterologist clinic in his office. He was very professional looking with a white coat and a suit underneath yet when I met him he was very laid back and nice.
I started the interview off by asking him to tell me about what he actually does so he told me “I am a gastroenterologist which if you do not know is a doctor who specializes in intestinal problems” basically a stomach doctor \. He went on to say that “some days he will go to some of the diff hospitals like our lady of the lake and the baton rouge general t see patients or he will just see them at their building which is much more convenient for him because he hates going to places like the lake where no matter how many times you go there you always seem to get lost especially now that they are doing construction on it.” He told me he would start of by getting the patients history then from what they told him he would figure out what was wrong with them and give them medicine. I also asked if he had to do any surgery and he jokingly replied the closest thing to surgery I have to do is to stick a tube up some ones rectum. Which I found out is called scoping which is when they take a tube with a little camera up you rectum to see what is wrong with your insides.
After that first little question I could tell he was comfortable with being interviewed because he didn’t hesitate to make jokes and he answered some common questions before I even asked him for instance he told me his favorite part of work was being able to meet so many new people every day and that you never know when you will meet someone that you become good friends with or the people that give you nice gifts. He also said that the worst thing is the amount of hours he has to work and all the paper work he has to do. He usually works from about seven to nine at night because of how many people he has to see. His schedule is always filled and he usually has two to three hours of paper work at the end of the day. Also everyone is only allowed one holiday off and they don’t really get to choose which one so some times he might get Easter off rather than Christmas or thanksgiving that he wants.
Even with all of the hours he has to do he seems like he still has a good family life. He has two sons who are twelve and sixteen and one little girl who just turned six a few weeks ago. He says that everyone he works with is very nice and if he really has to go watch his son play baseball or something else like that they are usually more than willing to cover for him. He has a beautiful wife too and isn’t afraid to brag about how wonderful she is and how much she helps out around the house and with the kids and how he could never live without her. One of his favorite things to do is when he gets time off to go down to his property his grandfather left him where they can go hunting and fishing and he says there’s a nice cabin up there and they just got a pool put in so it’s like a mine vacation and he takes the whole family up there at least once a month.
My last question was if all the work and studying and years in school was worth it and he said that he loves this job and the hard work was worth it and that now he makes good money too and is confident that he can support his family. However you never stop having to study he gets pamphlets and books all the time that he has to read and take quizzes on and once a year he has to take a big test and if he fails his license is revoked until he retakes it and passes and that it is hard because science never stops coming up with new research and findings and new techniques for this and that and all the new medicine he has to read up on and it can become a real pain, but in the end it was well worth it. After that we shook hands and he went to work and I went home.

Sean Cangelosi

Doug Gunther
Lei Lani Michel
English 1001-109
16 October 2007

Sean Cangelosi is a business man who owns three smoothie kings in the Baton Rouge community. Running three stores is time consuming for Sean. Sean did not have enough time to do our interview in person, so instead we were able to accomplish it through email. The first question that I asked during our online interview was where he attended college. Sean attended Louisiana Tech. When asked why he attended there he replied “I was given a football scholarship there. It was close and the football opportunity was good.” At Louisiana Tech Sean majored in CIS (computer Information Systems). By the time Sean left Louisiana Tech he attained a MBA (Masters in Business Administration).
Sean Cangelosi opened his first smoothie king in Ruston Louisiana in 2002. When asked why he chose to open a smoothie king in Ruston his response was, “I thought Ruston needed one.” He said he was able to open this store through a SBA loan. Sean chose to run a smoothie king because he wanted to run his own business.
The first smoothie king Sean opened in Baton Rouge is the one located near the LSU campus on Highland road. Since that store has been open it has been getting business from surrounding college students.
Sean decided to expand his business when he opened another smoothie king during the summer of 2006. Sean turned an old run-down mechanic shop into a smoothie king. I have the privilege of working at this smoothie king located at the corner of Government Street and South Foster. I was amazed how that store used to be a mechanic shop. Customers still come in jokingly asking if they can get an oil change while they sip on their smoothie.
Shortly after that smoothie king opened Sean began to expand his business again, by placing a smoothie king in the LSU Recreational Center. Sean believes that the Recreational Center was a perfect place for a smoothie king. Sean said that “LSU wanted me in there, and I wanted to be in there”, so he capitalized on the opportunity at hand.
When asked which of the three stores gets better business his response was “They all do at different times during the day.” Sean stated that the Government store is busier in the morning, Highland has its rush during lunch time, and the rec center is busiest during the day, however overall Highland is the busier store. When asked who is his best employ is he did not respond. I believe he did not respond because it’s a known fact that I am the best employ he has.
Sean was asked if he plans on opening up any other smoothie kings in the near future and he was not to sure. He wants to see how things go with the smoothie kings he has now and then decide later on.

Becoming Successful

Nha Bui
English 1001
Ms. Lei Lani Michel

“Ay, can you ask your mom if I can interview her, so I can write my essay for my English 1001 class at LSU”, I commented on MySpace to a friend of mines. She was Laura, the daughter of my ex-boss, and soon after she replied, “oh, haha, ok.” As a desperate attempt to make sure that she will ask her mom, I texted her, “This is a really important student interview and I need it to do my freshman writing, ask her please!” “I will, but she is sleeping now,” she texted back. “Oh tell me tomorrow,” I replied. The next day she texted me and my face put on a smirk. She said to me that her mom was willing to do the interview and asked me when, where and how? I took the phone and read the text joyfully. I started to reply and did not even know what I was writing, but managed to set up a date on Sunday when I come back down to New Orleans.
My interviewee is a business owner in New Orleans, Louisiana. She owns multiple businesses around the New Orleans area; Capt’s Sal and Crystal Palace just to name two. Her name is Nga Thi Vu. I kind of knew her as my ex-boss, but I wanted to know more about her and her life. I wanted to interview her because I wanted to know how she managed to become so successful. I wanted to see what obstacles she had to go through to become what and where she is now. As an entrepreneur, business owner, mother, and wife, she is someone interesting I would like to interview.
I went to one of her business, she owns, which was actually the same place I worked at when I was living down in New Orleans. Crystal Palace, a reception hall, was the name of it and where I interviewed her. I walked through the extravagant doors and looked around. I was in a phase of remembering the moments when I worked here. The place is still beautiful and decorative as I can remember it. The bright chandeliers and the blue sky painting on the wall are still there. I looked around in amazement and there she was standing there waiting for me to interview her. It’s been a while since I saw her, but she still looks the same as I remember. She stands at 5’4, with straight black hair, and peach skin. She is a little overweight I can say, but managed to still look good. Her hair was tied and in a style of a pony tail. She was comfortably dress in a regular shirt and some jeans.
We both smiled and quickly greeted each other. We sat down, talked a little about me, and started the interview. Looking at the questions I wrote on the paper, I started to ask her the basic questions about her life. “Where and when were you born?” I started the interview. “Vietnam, hmmm 1968,” she replied after a moment. “I’m the youngest of six children,” she included. She immigrated to the United States roughly around the age of six or seven in 1975 due to the fall of Saigon, which was when the communist took over the capital city. She fled in a crowded both and soon arrived to Louisiana where many others Vietnamese refugees would start over with their lives.
“What kind of education did you received?” I asked her. “Well I was young. I started kinder garden and finished high school,” she replied after a moment of pause. She mentioned how she moved around a lot in the Louisiana and Mississippi communities. She moved from New Orleans to Harvey to Biloxi, back and forth, and at the end managed to finish high school back at Harvey. “College?” I muttered in a low tone. “Well yeah. I went to a Tech school for court reporting,” she answered back. “Well, you aren’t a court reporter now, what happened?” I reasoned. She explained to me in a story of what happened between her and her day one morning. She didn’t like court reporting and it was too easy for her. It wasn’t the job for her and six months of schooling, she quit.
“So, how did she manage own a business like crystal palace?” I thought to myself and then asked her. “Well, I just didn’t thought up of Crystal Palace and built it just like that,” she snapped her fingers. She built her way up and it all started in the French Quarter when she went into the Flea Market. She saw people bargaining and selling items and she liked the idea of how sales worked. She wanted to open her own business but explained to me why she couldn’t. “You need capital to start a big business, if you don’t have capital than you can’t,’ she said.
She started out as a vendor selling novelty items and making money slowly. “It’s not good in the beginning, but gets better as it goes on,” she expressed happily. Soon after she saved enough money, she bought a grocery store. Growing up, her parents owned a grocery store and she worked there as a young kid. She learned through them and her family business In order to run her own grocery store successfully. She wakes up at six a.m. in the morning just to go to work and it paid off. After a while, she saved enough again to buy another grocery store and success start piling up. “So, where are the groceries stores now?” I asked confusingly. “I didn’t like the stealing and people getting drunk around the stores, so I sold them,” she replied.
As an entrepreneur she took her next big step. She decided to open a restaurant not knowing anything about the restaurant business. With little help from her friends and families and observations through other restaurant businesses, she managed to run a successful one. Her business, We Never Closed, opened twenty four hours a day and soon became one of New Orleans Favorite fast food restaurant. They sold New Orleans style food like Po-boys, gumbo, seafood plates, and fried chicken. The place became so successful and well known that it even catered the St. Louis Rams when they played in the Super Bowl down in New Orleans and many games after that. “Here is an advice and you can trust me on it. Opening a restaurant is the hardest business in the industry to be successful in. It might seem easy, but it is not,” she said.
From there on she grew and opened another restaurant just across the street, called Capt’s Sals. It also became a success and soon after following a couple of years, the business expanded and there are now currently six Capt’s Sals in the New Orleans area. She then decided to take another big step and invested her money to build a reception hall. Just across the street from Capt’s Sal, her new business Crystal Palace was built, but soon after her grand opening and her first wedding function there, the unthinkable happened. Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and her all businesses were ruin. Her restaurant businesses and her newly required hall were damaged, but that did not stop her. Her love for the Louisiana community quickly made her return and rebuild. Without power, water or any utilities, she still managed to clean and restored her businesses. Just after two months, she reopened Capt’s Sals, without even knowing after her business would be successful. Nobody was back yet, but there were the construction workers which they made money from and got back on their feet. “Sometimes businesses do good or sometimes bad. That is why you always have money a side for Rainy Days,” she said. I was unclear and what she meant by Rainy Day, so I asked her. “It is a bad day, where the unexpected can happened. For example like if they store burn down or get total damage somehow,” she explained. I guess this was how she was able to get back so quickly on her feet and rebuild.
We got into the end of the interview and I decided to ask her about her feelings toward her job. “Do you like you job?” I asked. A quick movement from her, nodding her head down and up, she replied loudly, “Oh, yes. I love it!” Besides being a mom, wife, entrepreneur, business owner, and caterer, she loves doing her job and what she does. “It is important to get to like what you do in order to be happy and successful, if you are not happy than you are going to be unsuccessful,” she said. “You can quote me on that!” she laughed and giggled.
She further explained to me how she feels about her success and her accomplishments. She said, “You do not have to be smart to be successful.” She then explained to me how you can make money by doing what you like to do and what you good at. If you know you are not smart, do not try so hard becoming what you can not become. You just waste your time on something you do not like doing. Try to maximize on what your good at and what you can make a lot of money from. We finished talking and soon, I said a goodbye and left. I took in her words on what she told me that day about being successful. I need to find something that I like doing and I can make money from. If I maximize my potential on it, then I also can become very successful.

Mellow Mushroom

Alex Kapesis
Ms. Lei Lani Michel
English 1001
15 October 2007
Mellow Mushroom
Mellow Mushroom, located off of Burbank in Baton Rouge, is a schizophrenic place. Mellow is on the corner, across the street from Circle K. It is mostly purple with huge yellow writing that spells Mellow Mushroom. The building itself has a lot of glass and an outside porch filled with tables for eaters and smokers. Even though Mellow Mushroom is a decorative and unique place, the looks are not what defines the place and attracts such a large crowd of customers. During the day, Mellow Mushroom is a simple pizza bakery, but at night, it is an overcrowded nightclub. When asked, “What is the best day to go to Mellow Mushroom?” most people will say to go on a Wednesday night because it is karaoke night and there are tons of LSU students and other people there partying and having a good time. Some people will disagree because they think it is overcrowded and extremely hot, but they still go there. Why? Usually it’s for a couple reasons that people go on Wednesdays. These reasons include: to party, to drink, to sing and to watch karaoke, to meet new people, hang out with friends, and because that’s where a lot of people go out.
After talking to a guy, Luke, who works at Mellow Mushroom cooking pizza’s during the weekdays, I discovered what the place was like during the day. Luke mentioned how plenty of students come in to study and to eat one of America’s favorite foods, pizza. Mellow Mushroom usually has family’s coming by to get some pizzas and sometimes sandwiches for lunch or for a quick and easy dinner. Although I have not yet tasted the famous pizza, Luke stated “many people enjoy the hot, messy, delicious taste of Mellow’s large pizzas, that’s why so many students eat here”. Luke lived in Lakeview, which is an outside city of New Orleans, before attending Baton Rouge Community College and after asked how hurricane Katrina has affected him, he said, “Hurricane Katrina was a disaster. Every street, neighborhood, and building was completely devastated. Our houses had over seven feet of water and are still not rebuilt yet.” After hearing that news, that subject about the hurricane was over and Mellow Mushroom as brought back up.
Luke began saying how the nightlife at Mellow Mushroom was crazy. He told how there are hundreds of people there and he said, “On some nights usually more then half the crowd is either half drunk or completely wasted.” When Mellow Mushroom does its transformation into the party bar, it is a completely different place. There are only two or three tables on the floor and four small booths on the side of bar. They open up a stage for the karaoke singers to sing their favorite songs and behind the singer there are the sober and drunk dancers. In the middle of the bar, there is a large white screen that displays a sign that reads, “Get Drunk, Sing Karaoke”. The few booths are smothered by people standing on them and drinking and the tables outside are completely filled like ants on a dead mosquito hawk. There is barely enough room for the walking traffic to flow inside or outside of Mellow Mushroom due to the amount of people there on Karaoke night.
Another person I interviewed, Chris Trahan, was a student at Southeastern University that lives in Baton Rouge with plans on transferring to LSU. Chris was leaving Mellow Mushroom last Wednesday night when I stopped him and said, “Excuse man, can I ask you a quick question for my English class?” Chris said, without hesitation, “Yeah what’s up?” I didn’t have plans on talking long, but in his drunken state he could’ve talked forever it seems. I asked, “What makes you come to Mellow Mushroom tonight?” Chris responded, “Um, well to chill with my friends mostly. I mean, we usually come every Wednesday night, it’s almost like a reunion, like a chance to hang out together and see what’s going on.” So for the most part, besides a chance to meet some girls or guys, Mellow Mushroom can be a place for groups of friends to get together and get drunk and all have a good time hanging out with each other again.
Although I still have been unsuccessful in going to Mellow Mushroom during the day to eat, I have been every Wednesday night and discovered how different each week can get. Sometimes there are drunken arguments that evolve into fights and sometimes new friends are found. Besides that fact, Mellow Mushroom has different advantages to it for all people for any age, which is a major factor that contributes to their reputation of being a good hangout in the Baton Rouge area. If one is hungry, needs a place to study, or needs a place to party then he or she can always count Mellow Mushroom as being the place to help solve those problems.

Success After Tragedy

Alex James
English 1001
10-16-07
Ms. Lei Lani

Success After Tragedy
Although Hurricane Katrina was a catastrophic event, it provided thousands of opportunities. In Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath, anyone willing to work hard was rewarded handsomely in the end. Most of these jobs involved heavy manual labor and skill. Those who already had experience in trades like plumbing, construction, lawn service and other forms of blue collar labor quickly became some of the most successful men and women of the devastated area. Government programs such as FEMA were scrutinized for much of their hesitation and poor management immediately after Katrina, but were not exactly a complete failure. They provided jobs to many of the locals and out of town helpers alike in the following weeks.
One of the locals that had been deeply affected by this horrific storm was Darren Brown. Speaking to him over the phone you could tell he was an energetic man just by the way he skipped from subject to subject without taking a breath and the enthusiasm in his words. Prior to the storm Darren Brown owned his own landscaping business. It was a somewhat small company normally consisting of him and a single helper to do the lawn maintenance and landscaping to his few loyal customers. He generally had about thirty five yards to maintain in a given week. Darren would cut and edge the lawn, trim hedges and trees, weed gardens and any many other small tasks to please his clients. He told me that “many big companies don’t get on a personal level with their clients and do the small things that make them happy in the long run” which gave me the impression that Darren Brown found customer satisfaction to be a major part of his work.
Before the storm, Darren Brown lived in a small house located in one of the older portions of Slidell. His home was on a pretty large piece of land when compared to other property around him, and was surrounded by huge pine trees, some in excess of eighty years of age. It was a very humble house with old cast iron hand rails on the front stoop, dull paint, and faded terracotta roofing. The inside was a typical bachelor pad with little decoration and just enough furniture to have the occasional guest for dinner or to watch a game of football. It gave me an idea of Darren’s priorities when I saw his garage. He had seemingly spent what money he had on things to further his business rather than his personal comfort such as two brand new, top of the line lawn mowers that cost upward of seven hundred dollars.
Darren enjoyed his work and the satisfaction of seeing his customers happy with their new garden or sprinkler system that he put so much effort into. He told me that his business was very different than others for a few reasons. One was that most companies that are small normally stick to one type of service. Darren does many services such as sprinkler irrigation, lawn maintenance, landscaping, and the occasional construction of fences. The reason why he can do all of these horticultural services is because he manages his time wisely. Considering that he normally only kept one to two helpers at a time he learned to space his jobs accordingly. He calls it “the balance.”
During this time before the storm he would cut and maintain his thirty five yards in the Kenner and New Orleans area during the week and save his larger jobs for Saturdays. Darren described the maintenance jobs as what pays the bills and the landscaping jobs as what keeps him happy. Landscaping jobs are normally much more profitable than lawn care but landscaping is not consistent all year long. Most landscaping services are required in the spring and summer meaning that if it was not for his lawn care customers he would have a very small source of income during fall and winter. His annual earnings because of this was around sixty thousand a year, which is pretty high for a blue collar worker.
Darren did not exactly dream of being a landscaper. He actually was once a mechanic for the Ford dealership. He didn’t enjoy his work very much or the little money that he was getting so he decided to make a change. He started to work for one of his friends by the name of Mike levy, who began to teach him the tools and tricks of landscaping. He worked with Mike Levy for a number of years until Mike finally sold Darren Res/Com, the portion of the company that dealt with commercial and residential lawn care. Twenty years later Darren is still a lawn maintence professional. Over the years Darren lost his original clientele mostly because of their location and lack of profit but kept a good deal of them for over a decade.
All was well for Darren near the end of august of two thousand five. He had scored many large landscaping jobs during the peak of summer and with his assistant leaving for school, he was getting prepared for the less busy season of fall. This was all until one of the greatest natural disasters to ever hit an American city occurred. Darren decided to ride out the storm in his old house despite many of his friend’s and family’s request. That decision could have cost his life. The following morning he was standing in his front yard trying to assess the damage to his home. The large pine trees that surrounded his house were now part of it. Three of these trees that were over five feet in width had cut through his home like a knife through butter. Water had poured through the opening throughout the nitght ruining the little bit of furniture he had. The thing that affected him most was however not part of his home at all, but the destruction of the twin span. Without this bridge that he took every day to get to his customers, he would not be able to have an income until they were rebuilt. In this time of need he looked to FEMA were they had available jobs in emergency roof repair. For the next six weeks Darren made a considerable amount of money from constructing hundreds of the blue roof repairs. This was considered a positive step to getting his house rebuild to Darren.
Because of the storm, there was no shortage of work when it came to outdoor physical labor. This was a profitable outcome for Darren because of his experience and expertise in landscaping. Job after job, Darren would collect paychecks that gave him enough money to not only fix his old home but restore it to even better condition than it was before. He now owns a seven thousand dollar riding lawn mower and other expensive tools that help him complete his jobs more effectively. After the storm he received an annual pay increase of about forty thousand meaning now he makes about one hundred thousand a year. Darren Brown later on tells me that Hurricane Katrina was the best and worst thing that has ever happened to him.

Occupation of a Lifetime

George Allen
Profile Essay
Lei Lani Michel
English 1001
Occupation of a Lifetime
While brainstorming about who would be a good candidate for a student interview I could not make a decision about what occupation would be of interest to both students and the Baton Rouge community. Ideas would come and go but as a student myself I realized most of the things popping in and out of my head would not even interest me. I was out to lunch with a friend of mine and his mom at a local restaurant, The Silver Spoon, when it hit me. The conversation at the table was becoming too boring and as my mind wandered I realized that all the waiters in the restaurant were young men appearing to be relatively the same age as me. Soon my mind was stirring and I asked our waiter if he wanted to participate in the assignment and he was more than happy. His name is Beau Landry and he is a 19 year old student who attends Baton Rouge Community College. Over the next ten minutes I question him gaining information which would have appeal to both students and members of the community alike.
Standing at six feet tall with brown hair and lanky arms, Beau would stand out in most people’s minds. As I began to question him about why he chose to work at a restaurant he gave an answer any college student can relate to. He says the job allows him to work every day but still have time to do his school work and have some free time on the side. As an only child Beau grew up here in Baton Rouge but was not accepted into Louisiana State University which was his school of choice. He explained that his parents promised to pay for him to attend if he worked hard in school for a year while maintaining a job. Beau was not shy at all and began to tell me about how in high school he slacked off and that is why his parents are making him prove to them that he is capable of doing well and being productive.
After talking with Beau for a few minutes about the more general things about the job like what his hours and requirements are I started to dig into what is it that makes his job a benefit to the community. As I began to do this he started to become more and more reluctant to speak. I sensed he had never even thought about that before. He just kind of stared at me with a blank face which was unusual because all the other questions had detailed answers. Then out of nowhere it came to him. A big grin came across his face as he began to tell me his explanation of why his job is important. Every day he waits on the same tables at the same time. As with any other restaurant, The Silver Spoon has regular customers who come in weekly or even daily. Beau talked about these three ladies who come in and sit in his section every time they are on their lunch break from their jobs. He describes the ladies as being in their late thirties to early forties and all of them have blonde hair. According to Beau they all tend to order the same thing everyday occasionally changing their orders depending on what the special is on any given day. Beau defended that while his job might not be the most exciting or beneficial job to society but he does make a few members of the community feel like they have a place to come eat and feel at ease.
As I moved on with the questions I observed Beau was still stuck on the question of why his job is important. When I asked him to tell me how he felt about Hurricane Katrina and how it affected his life I could tell I did not have his full attention because the answer he gave me simply was, “traffic”. I tried to gain more insight on that subject but he finally started talking again and it was not about Hurricane Katrina. Beau had been pondering the question of why his job is important to society and his insight is something that never crossed my mind. The significance of his job to society in his opinion is that he has this job to prove to his parents and himself that he can be productive and not slack off. In doing so he better motivates himself to do better in other things such as school. He says if he can keep up his motivation he will eventually attend Louisiana State University and will get his degree. His final point to all his whole rationalization was that the job he has now is not the best job in the world or highest paying or even a hard job but that by having it he can better himself so that in the future he can benefit society in larger ways than just putting a smile on a customer’s face.
Beau Landry’s answer to the question of why his job is significant to society is one of will and desire. As he answered that question I put my pen down and just soaked up what he was saying to me. His outlook on his job and life in general is confident. He believes that what he is doing right now is making a difference in the future. Anyone can take what Beau told me and relate it to something they need to do in their own lives. The interview was a success. I had come from not having a clue to what I wanted to write about to having something that both students and members of a community alike can take to heart.

Little Woman

Logan Madden
Mrs. LeiLani
English 1001
October 15, 2007



Deep within the English department of the number one rated public high school in Louisiana is a little woman who can teach with the big boys. Hidden is her classroom in the back wing of the school, yet one would be lucky not to mistake it for a giant scrapbook. The room is enshrouded with the works, pictures, and gifts of current and former students that are displayed proudly as if they were trophies. With a scent of designer perfume and popcorn, this classroom is an intriguing one indeed. Walking through the door is like going from bass to falsetto. The floor, decorated by forgotten student’s papers, is putting on a display of what was learned on this day and the walls are echoing that sentiment. Daylight protrudes through the open window shades, giving a view of the outside world. Aligning the right wall are four Dell computers and a wooden closet containing hundreds of English books. The desks are arranged in three rows of five on opposing sides of the classroom forming an aisle. The ceiling is tiled and resembles a checkerboard, and the teacher’s desk is lined with pictures of her children and a calendar.

Yet there is a little object in the back left corner of the classroom that commands the most attention. You can’t quite make out what it is because of the object’s small stature in relation to the computer it sits behind. When one takes a closer look, you see a face light up like the Fourth of July. Her smile is so large and evident that you can’t help but smile right back at it. Mrs. Thigpen is short and compact with big, bright eyes. Her skin is an olive-brown and she is lucky to be tipping the scales at one hundred pounds. Her face is easy to look at and you would be lucky not to mistake her for a student. Mrs. Thigpen carries herself a lot larger than she actually is. If you were to meet her through e-mail or on the phone, you would never guess that she was five foot nothing.

As Mrs. Thigpen rolls her chair from her computer to her desk, she grabs a stack of papers and applies one end to the desk to straighten them. Her hair is down, and she is wearing a black button down shirt with heels. “Now before we start, let me ask YOU a question, Logan Madden,” she says with a sly grin. “Now why in the world would you choose to interview me, besides the fact that I’m the best teacher you’ve ever had?” I join her with a smile and explain that I am considering going into education. I tell her I envy the fact that she has the opportunity to influence young people’s lives every day. “Ok, I can go for that. Now let’s see what LSU freshman English is all about!” she says as she gently pins a note on her bulletin board.

Wondering what the early days of a great teacher are like, I start off by asking Mrs. Thigpen about her childhood. “I grew up on the North Shore, both in the Slidell and Covington areas. I would say that I had a good childhood. I have four older brothers so things usually stayed pretty interesting. Most of the time, I was on the outskirts looking in at all of the strange and senseless things they were involved in. I didn’t have any girlfriends so I was pretty much a tomboy until junior high,” she says with a sense of pride. As I write this down, I feel like I already have a deeper understanding of why she is the ways she is. It’s not uncommon for you to hear Mrs. Thigpen call a student a “punk face” or jokingly threaten to beat them up. I concur that this is a result of her growing up with four brothers. I reply to her childhood description by delving into the hurricane Katrina issue. I saw this as an opportune time being that I had just learned Mrs. Thigpen is a lifelong North Shore resident. “Ah, don’t even get me started,” she says as her eyes roll back in a cyclical fashion. “Katrina did not affect me directly that much. I had no damage to my home and I stayed in Lafayette for the majority of the time with electricity and all the conveniences of everyday life. My mother’s house was destroyed, so seeing her go through anguish saddened and frustrated me,” she says with her eyes now looking down at the marble floor. “I think the entire situation was handled pretty poorly all across the board, especially on FEMA’s part.

An announcement comes over the loudspeaker, and I welcome the break from the lowly subject matter of hurricane Katrina. To lighten the mood, I decide to ask Mrs. Thigpen what I really came to find out. I am curious to know her favorite authors and books, the same way I am curious to the religion of my Biology teacher, the political party of my Sociology professor, and the favorite actor of my Theatre teacher. The views of people well-educated in their respective fields, regardless of what they are, have always interested me. She pauses for an instant with a look on her face that screams excitement. “I will read any author who writes a good book,” Mrs. Thigpen says confidently. “I actually don’t have any favorite ‘authors’. I just read a variety. My top three favorite books would have to be Shadow of the Wind, The Feast of All Saints, and The Glass Castle.” Interested, I nod and make a mental note to look up those aforementioned books.

As Mrs. Thigpen crosses her feet and sits straight up in her seat, I ask her if teaching was what she always wanted to do. She pauses for a bit and replies, “I was actually in college to become a cultural anthropologist and had no intention of becoming a teacher. Dr. Shirley Jacob was the head of the education at my university and she suggested that I attend a workshop for educators with her. I was a little apprehensive about going at first but truly enjoyed the experience, and the rest is history.” Now, Mrs. Thigpen is not your stereotypical English teacher, as she is very young, hip, and energetic. She gets to know her students on a personal level which is something I always respected. I always wondered why she chose to teach English. “I always did well in English. I loved to read and was always a good writer.” I end with asking Mrs. Thigpen what she gets out of teaching, yet in my head I’m thinking I already know the answer. “There are so many things I get out of teaching,” she says, now looking at me. “The most significant is when students that I have taught come back and tell me that I have made a difference to them. It satisfies me to know I have had a hand in shaping a young person’s life.” The sincerity in her voice is almost frightening. I try to look straight into her eyes so she knows she has impacted me.

Time is up as Mrs. Thigpen’s off period is drawing to a close. I look around the room as she takes down my e-mail address, and I come to realize that I am fortunate to have had Mrs. Thigpen. She was a major factor in the process of me making an early decision on what I wanted to do with my life. As the son of a teacher, I always saw the downsides to teaching: the pay, the stress, and the demands. Yet taking a class like Mrs. Thigpen’s and seeing how she approaches her job showed me that money is not important and you will never be stressed if you are doing something you enjoy. I thank her for her time as I give her a giant bear hug. As I walk out into the hallway a feeling of bliss comes over me. Before I can get to the exit, I stop by the high school library just to see if I can skim the back summary of any of the books Mrs. Thigpen calls her favorites.

Regan Jones
Ms. Lei Lani Michel
English 1001
8 October 2007

We all have our familiar hurricane Katrina stories filled with loss, despair, and no apparent light at the end of the tunnel. For some, it was a bad situation turned worse; for others, what at first seemed as a no way out type of story turned into the best possible outcome despite the road blocks in place. As I ventured out for a positive, influential character set in the backdrop of the worst natural disaster to ever to hit the U.S. Mac Alsfeld is a nineteen-year old sophomore at LSU who also has a similar story to many New Orleans residents. I met him through the fraternity that I am currently pledging. Born and raised in New Orleans, Mac was forced to relocate into a new town as a result of the damages hurricane Katrina left on his home. Prior to this, it was his senior year at Jesuit High School; but due to his high school reopening in Houston, Texas, his family decided to enroll him in University High School of Baton Rouge. Despite the move to a new school, Mac found himself adapting quickly with his new classmates and a new Baton Rouge lifestyle.
The first thing that stood out to me was his demeanor towards fraternity rushing. He went through the motions, preaching to me all the B.S. things he was obligated to say in hopes that I would pledge his fraternity. I could tell he was a character right off the bat, always having something to say, never seeming to shut up. Mac is the type of guy to crack a joke even in the most serious of situations. Everyone sees him as off the wall and a crazy, lovable goofball. Alongside him is his big brother Clark, who seems as more of a sidekick rather than a responsible older sibling. I caught him telling a story to some of the others going through rush about his younger brother clogging the toilet of his aunt’s personal yacht as Mac kept chiming in with this own defense to the attack. They seemed to make an impression throughout the room, during the early days of rush.
Hockey in my opinion is more of northern sport that does not particularly interest me too much. Mac has been playing hockey for most of his life, and he made me promise that I write about his all-star days in the sport. He plays both roller and ice hockey, and in his own words is currently the best player to ever play the sport. When Mac was in high school his roller hockey team was number two in the nation his sophomore and junior year. He also went on to add that the only reason they were not number one was because he had gotten hurt, and missed a few games. If Mac would have been playing, he expressed that the champ could have won them by himself. I personally think he is just full of bull on all this, but he was adamant about me portraying him as the “best hockey player of all time”.
Mac also is extremely involved in the filming industry. He is currently employed by the production company Louisiana Media Productions. He has worked with countless high profile celebrities such as Bernie Mac, Ciara, and Frankie Muniz. Throughout his childhood, Mac grew up making homemade movies with his friends and family. He comes from a home that is also highly involved in the filming industry. As a side project, his dad owns a production company that is currently producing the new Reggie Bush commercials. His aunt is fairly well-known actress, Patricia Clarkson, who has been featured in over thirty films. Mac hopes to one day own and operate his own production company.
As this hockey legend turned film god went to show me a couple of his movies that he had created, I quickly realized his films were more than just his talk. They exhibited the experience that he holds in his hobby. He wrote, filmed, and edited each of his videos. Mac told me that he mostly did these for fun or school projects. With his major being English I began to wonder why he is not a film major or chose a school that offers that. He said he has always loved to write, and the experience of working at a real production company would teach him more than any film school could. With LSU not offering film as a major, English relates the most to it.
The conversation took a dramatic turn when I brought up the topic of his evacuation during hurricane Katrina. He and his whole family decided to pick up and move everything to his older sister’s two bedroom apartment on LSU’s campus. Mac, his mom, his dad, his dog Tootsie, and a Kenner politician were squeezed into a college type apartment with his sister of two and a half months. The one positive event during this time was his enrollment into University High School. This kept him busy all day rather than sitting around dwelling on the situation he was facing. Mac’s grandmother was a city councilwoman for New Orleans and the only politician to stay during the storm with Mayor Nagan. He said “My whole family was really scared. We did not hear from her for a week or so, and had no clue as to what had happened to her.” Once his grandmother returned to safety in Baton Rouge, Mac’s family felt somewhat at ease with the situation. His home was damaged during the hurricane when his neighbor’s tree was thrown through his house, but the Kenner politician they sheltered provided them with early access into the city to check on there home. The daunting task would come later in their lives when the Alsfeld’s used the summer to rebuild their home. Mac turned what could have been a cry for help senior year into some of the best days of his high school career. He expressed his deepest respect and appreciation for the students of UHigh for taking him in, accepting him, and distracting him from the real terrors that most of his other friends faced when they relocated with Jesuit to Houston. He ended what he described to me as an incredible year when Mac graduated from University High School.
My perception of my interviewee has changed since I met him a few months back. At first I saw him as simply a comical, comfortably outgoing goof ball. He was always cracking a joke no matter what the situation became, and gave his thought on everything within the realm of stupidity crossed with his own take on factuality. After my interview with him, I came to realize he is much more than just a regular frat guy. Mac is an extremely talented writer and filmmaker who will one day be producing high budget movies with star actors. His family went through great hardships in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. I know that any normal teenager would have a hard time moving to a new school and meeting hundreds of new people. Mac said by the time he graduated, his reputation got him the votes as the class clown and hairiest boy at University High School. It sounds like he sure made a fast impression in a short amount of time. I would have never expected him to be such an “all-star” hockey player, as he put it. Sometimes you can not judge a person until you walk a mile in his shoes, but a walk from New Orleans to Baton Rouge in the shoes of a senior high school student that has to support the weight of a city and a lifestyle completely uprooted from his sense of normalcy can show that the true heart of a man is not revealed until he responds to a life changing event. I guess some things are not always what they seem until you get to know them.

People in the Louisiana Community

The first time I met Mrs. Judie Mellany was at the bus stop, with both of us sitting on a bench. I was nervous about my first day of college, and by the way our first conversation was commenced I’m pretty sure it was because she could tell. Mrs. Mellany was comfortable to talk to, she reminded me of a long lost grandma I never had. She turned to me and said, “Sugar, none of us got anywhere being scared.” Simple as that, that is how I met Mrs. Judie Mellany.
When given this English 1001student interview assignment I was moderately unsure if I wanted to interview Mrs. Mellany and write my paper about her. I was unsure if she had a profession or job that would be substantial to my paper, but I knew it was more than worth a try. The next day when I ran into Mrs. Mellany at the bus stop, I inquired about an interview. She seemed more than happy to have company rather than have a paper written about her, and invited me to her home that day when my classes had ended.
Mrs. Mellany lives in a duplex in a small Baton Rouge community off of a street moderately near the school, alone. Her front yard has flowers and plants; it was obvious a good amount of time was spent on the humble landscape. I knocked and was immediately welcomed inside. Mrs. Mellany’s house was spotless, and had everything in its place. I felt as though I should take off my shoes after entering, you could tell the carpet had been freshly vacuumed, therefore, I took mine off and set them next to her rain boots near the door. No spot in this house had been abandoned of dusting, not a single spot. Her floral designed couch reminded of me of something off of The Golden Girls TV show, but that could be on account of Mrs. Mellany’s age and the rest of the surroundings being typical of a good home owner. It smelled heavenly. “The cookies won’t be ready for another 10 minutes,” she told me, but I was happy there were cookies at all.
Mrs. Mellany sat with her ankles crossed, and her hands in her lap, or holding a pocket book, or her other hand, or just folded and set daintily. She always wore a dress with these tan colored shoes, and her socks always matched her dress. She was not very thin, not thin at all, but a rather hefty woman. Even still it was not hard for her to get around the house nor did her weight limit her from doing anything else normally. Her skin was severely pale, and worn down perhaps from over the years of sun exposure. Her lips were thin and always painted with a vibrant color of red or pink. Mrs. Mellany’s hair was short in length, and had a mixed coloring of gray and white. Her eyes were either a deep shade of blue or a gray color; it was difficult for me to tell. When the oven buzzer beeped, she threw her hands in the air before pushing her chair away from the table, giving the impression she was startled but I could tell she wasn’t by the expressions on her face.
Over a plate of delicious homemade raisin and oatmeal cookies I got to hear Mrs. Mellany’s life story. She didn’t admit to how old she was, but instead told me she was born in 1942 in Italy, indicating she was 65 years old. She is a widow from a marriage to Thomas J. Mellany, her husband of 22 years. Mrs. Mellany and her husband did not have any children. Both of her parents were Italian and immigrated to the United States when she was still very young. Mrs. Mellany and her family lived in New Orleans until the hurricane forced Mrs. Mellany and her brother out of their family’s house and to, how Mrs. Mellany put it, “beautiful Baton Rouge,” her tone was slightly sarcastic. Her brother had not followed her here though; he now lives in Austin, Texas. Mrs. Mellany “grew up in the sixties,” and like most teenagers during the time, she loved the Beatles and hated the war. When she was 19 years old her boyfriend of two years that had entered the armed services was pronounced dead. “I had received two letters from him after his mother told me he had passed on,” Mrs. Mellany told me, her eyes were gazing out somewhere I couldn’t see, and then she looked back at me.
After reviewing Mrs. Mellany’s personal life, I began to infer about her profession, or in her case professions. When she was 15 she got her first job being a cashier at a local convenient store. She said that it was an easy job and she enjoyed seeing all the people she knew come into the store. After that job, and later in high school, she worked at a barber shop sweeping and cleaning. Mrs. Mellany said this job did not require much training either, “the hardest thing I had to do was sweep hair and clean combs.” Later when she turned 20 she worked as a secretary for the local notary. Mrs. Mellany said this was her first “official” job. She enjoyed being viewed as someone of importance by working for someone so well respected throughout the community. She loved being a secretary and being able to interact on the telephone, file papers, and type necessary documents. “I thought I could type faster than anyone until they invented keyboard computers,” she said with amusement, I half way laughed as well. At the age of 25 Mrs. Mellany married her husband, and at the age of 30 decided it wasn’t completely necessary to work. “Tommy always wanted us to settle down and have a family,” Mrs. Mellany told me, but sadly the Mellany’s never successfully had any children. Mrs. Mellany now provides for herself working as a house maid on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
By this time I wanted to bring the interview to an end and asked Mrs. Mellany if she had anything else to say that she wanted included into the interview, and she replied with, “no sweet child.” At this time I thanked Mrs. Mellany for not only letting me interview her but for inviting me into her home, making me cookies, having great hospitality, and being very kind to me even when I was only a stranger. She was modest as I thanked her and told me I was welcome back anytime I pleased, then we said our goodbyes.
Interviewing Mrs. Mellany made me realize that I didn’t have to interview someone rich or famous to hear about a great, well-lived life. Although she was not rich nor held a high position in society, she is still a great, absolutely wonderful person. I discovered that your profession, or what you do, does not define who you are. Who you are defines what you have done or will do. It does not take a fancy title, high class career, or a lot of money to create an interesting wholesome person. It takes experiences and genuine care, and Mrs. Mellany has an overwhelming amount of both. Though she has held many titles throughout her years to me she should be defined simply as a good, interesting person.

Behind Tinted Windows

At least three times a week I drive to my sister’s house and I always pass this place that catches my eye called After Hours Physical Therapy. Each time I pass it, I try to look through the windows to see what is inside but I never can. Even though I know I’m not going to be able to see what’s inside, I still try each time I pass it. The windows stretch across the front of the building and are darkly tinted. It has a huge white and green sign on top the building that says After Hours Physical Therapy with a huge clock next to it. The parking lot is not too big but is always full. Since this place intrigued me so much, I knew it would be the perfect place for me to do my student interview.
As I pulled into the After Hours Physical Therapy parking lot, I noticed a sign that read “If you are NOT a patient, please park around back!” I did what the sign said and pulled around to the back and parked. As I was about to open the door to enter, it opened automatically. Inside looked like a big gym where people work out. There were treadmills, stationary bicycles, weights, exercise balls, and other kinds of workout machines. As I began to look around at the people who were in there, they weren’t regular people who were trying to get fit or lose weight. They were people in wheelchairs, on crutches, and in braces. After I had figured out what was finally behind those tinted windows, I asked the receptionist if I could interview one of the physical therapists for my English 1001 class. She told me to go down the hall and it would be the third door on the right.
There was a gold plaque on the door that read, “Carol McFarland P.T.” I knocked on the door and I heard a high pitched voice telling me to come in. I opened the door and saw a lady sitting at her organized desk with short, curly, brown hair and a warming smile on her face. As I glanced around the room for a second, I noticed many framed certificates in a neat row across three of the walls. She asked, “How can I help you?” I briefly answered, “May I have a little bit of your time to interview you for my freshman writing at LSU?” She leaned back in her chair slightly and replied, “Of course you can.” We introduced ourselves and I sat down in the chair across from her. She had striking green almond shaped eyes with long dark lashes. Her skin was pale with freckles scattered across her face and arms. She wore a name tag on her white t-shirt that read, “Carol McFarland P.T.”
Carol had attended A&M University in College Station, Texas. She first wanted to be a P.E. coach, but realized that she didn’t want to pursue that anymore so she switched to geology. After a short time of studying geology, it no longer interested her. Carol decided she would try health education. She began reading a brochure about health professions and started reading about Physical Therapy. Growing up, Carol was always involved in athletics, so she knew when you get injured during a game; you get treated by Physical Therapist. She liked the idea of helping people get well and she had a real interest in it that kept her wanting to know more about physical therapy.
Carol began observing at a hospital in College Station where she got to help patients learn how to walk again after breaking their leg. She also helped strengthen elderly people’s muscles after they had a stroke. Even though she was not yet a certified Physical Therapist, she felt rewarded knowing that she had helped people in their recovery. As Carol talked she had a pleased look on her face and spoke with such sincerity. I realized how much compassion she has for her job and it made me feel good just knowing that.
Getting into physical therapy school was by no means easy. Carol had to take pre physical therapy classes to prepare to apply to physical therapy school. It’s very competitive to get in. They look at your grades, interview, and experience in physical therapy. Carol met all the requirements to get in. She started taking classes in physical therapy applications, neurology, and gross human anatomy. I asked her what gross human anatomy was because I had never heard of it. After I asked, she pulled her chair closer to the desk and said in a serious tone, “I had never experienced a class quite like it before. It was the hardest class I ever had to take.” She took in a deep breath and began telling me about it. Carol had to dissect cadavers, which are dead that had been donated to the school. At first I didn’t understand why she would have to do that for a physical therapy class. It sounded more like what a surgeon would have to do. I asked her why she had to dissect dead bodies for physical therapy. She answered, “It was the most important class I took. I got to see where the muscles, bones, and nerves were in the human body and how they worked.” It then made sense to me. I looked at Carol in a different way after she told me that. She portrayed a brave and determined woman who was dedicated in becoming a physical therapist.
After two years of physical therapy school, Carol had to take a State Board test before she could get her physical therapy license. She had to study for months and review everything she had learned that last two years. The time had finally come for her to take the exam. I can only imagine how nervous she was after all she had to go through to be a physical therapist. This exam would determine if Carol would become what she longed to be. All her hard work and dedication had paid off because she passed the exam and got her physical therapy license.
Carol’s first job as a physical therapist was at a hospital in Shreveport, Louisiana. She came to learn that being an actual physical therapist was nothing like she had learned in school. She had to adapt to treatments to fit the needs of the patients. For instance, she had a patient that was a burn victim from a grease fire. Two thirds of the patient’s body had second and third degree burns on it. Carol had to take all the burned skin off her body by scrubbing, cutting, and tweezing the skin off. Then she applied medicine to the burns and bandaged it. When she told me this, I cringed just hearing how painful that had to be for the patient and even Carol. She must of saw me cringe because she said, “Don’t worry the patient was heavily sedated to have less pain.”
I was curious to know what other types of patients she had to work with. So Carol went on to tell me about a little boy she had to treat who had been in a car wreck and had a head injury. He was non-responsive and could only lie in the hospital bed. Carol did range of motion on his arms and legs so they would not get stiff. Then she had to stand him up on a table that tilted to an upright position to remind his brain and heart how it was to be standing up like he use to before his head injury. After months of doing this his brain started to heal as the swelling went down. I began to understand that being a physical therapist was not only a physical job but emotional as well. Working with a patient who can’t even respond, then seeing him become coherent would definitely take a toll on someone, especially knowing that you contributed to his recovery.
Carol got the opportunity to open up her own clinic in Baton Rouge, where she continues to work to this day. I asked her how Hurricane Katrina affected her. She told me she had never had so many patients at one time after it hit. She had to get more therapists to come help her. It is an outpatient clinic where she treats neck, back, and leg injuries. Carol asked me if I came in knowing what all physical therapists actually did. “I had no idea all the different types of cases you treat. I thought physical therapists strictly deal with healing people’s muscles.” I answered honestly. Carol replied in a warm voice, “Being a physical therapists is much more than that. You become the hope of so many patients life and they become a priority in your life. Every improvement a patient makes, you know you helped them accomplish. I get to see so many people’s life change for the better which is so rewarding. That is why I love my job.”
Now whenever I drive buy After Hours Physical Therapy I won’t have to wonder what is behind those huge tinted windows. Behind those windows is people in need of treatment and an inspiring woman who is more than happy to help these injured people. Carol McFarland definitely picked the right profession for her and others.

Allen Gilreath

Austin Hebert
English 1001
Michel
Interview
Allen Gilreath
Allen Gilreath is a solo music artist of the Baton Rouge community. At a height of six feet even, he has a strong, confident figure. He has short brown hair with perfectly straight teeth thanks to his braces from high school. As a child he was raised listening to classical rock music, mostly rock, such as AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Lynard Skynard, Poison, etc. When I asked what his favorite rock band is he responded “there are so many amazing and aspiring bands that it is hard to single out just one.” He is currently a freshman at LSU and must also do an interview for his English 1001 class. When I asked who he is interviewing he told me “I am unsure at this point, but I hope to interview one of the janitors on campus.”
Allen has respect for the janitors because of everything they must endure. Though he himself said that he would not want to be a janitor, he claims that they are classified as heroes and heroines for the work they do in keeping our environment clean. As I attempted to get back onto the subject of his blooming music career, he interrupted me and began explaining his own views on the environment. “[Allen] does not agree with animal cruelty but does believe it is necessary to eat meat because of the possibility of overpopulation.” After making this statement he allowed me to continue with my interview.
I proceeded with my questions and asked him if he follows the rocker’s rule of sex, drugs, and rock and roll to which he responded “Hell yes! I am never going to get into any illegal drugs of any kind though. I never have and never will. I do follow the other two rules however. His reaction to the question was not as shocking as I had predicted. He was beginning to get impatient because I had promised him that the interview would not be that long so I went ahead and began my last question. I asked him where he sees himself going in the music business as a singer and guitar player, and he “has high hopes on making it big like those bands he listened to as a child,” which some are listed above, “they are my idols, and I can only hope to be as great as they are.”
I then wanted to ask him what his definition of greatness is when it comes to bands, but he refused, stood up, and began to walk away. When I yelled to thank him for his time, all he did was flick me a peace sign with his fingers.

Inked

Cade Vanderkamp
english 1001-110
october 16, 2007

Christine Ericson or “Trinity,” as most people know her is a young tattoo artist in Larose, Louisiana. When most people hear about Trinity’s work, they picture a big, tall man with tattooed sleeves going down his arms and sitting on top of a Harley. A lot of people also think that being a tattoo artist is an easy job and that the women cannot hang with the men.
All these ideas will soon change.
When I was on my way to meet Trinity, I assumed like most I was going to be talking to a big guy with lots of tattoos and a Harley, considering I heard Trinity road Harleys. I pulled up to the shop pulled the keys off my bike and walked in. When I walked in I noticed that the only person in the shop was a young girl, only nineteen or twenty, sitting behind the counter. I walked over asking her if this is the shop that Trinity worked at. She looked at me with a smile, “sure is what can I do for you.” Then it hit me, like a ton of bricks, she is Trinity. Wow, I thought I was coming here to interview a guy and here I am and he is a beautiful girl. As I stood there for a moment in shock, she got up and walked out from behind the counter, it was then I saw just how beautiful she was standing 5’7” with long brown hair. “So let me guess,” she said sarcastically, “you thought I was a guy with lots of tattoos and a Harley.” “I get that a lot,” she said with a smile. She was comfortable dressed in a black tank top and a blue jean skirt with a single Harley-Davidson tribal tattoo on her lower back. She was very sweet and very outgoing. When I asked her about interviewing her for a report she said, “of course you can, I’d love to help.”
Trinity was born and raised in Larose, Louisiana. From a young age she loved to watch her father, David, tattoo his clients. She often longed to learn the art, but her father always said it wasn’t a place for a girl. He tried for years to get her older brother Zack to pick up the needle, but he always refused to saying, “it’s not for me dad it never will be.” When Trinity was twelve her father realized that Zack was not going to ever become an artist, and he started to teach Trinity. After years of hard work studying her father’s movements with the gun and needle, she started to develop her own unique style. Once she developed this style she started to really get into tattooing people. She started out slow working on small tribal bands and doing touch up work, but it wasn’t before long that she was tattooing portraits and her own custom designed tribal art work. By age seventeen she had just finished high school at Central Lafourche High School, and was at the top of her game. Her fast track however was about to hit a road block.
Shortly after her graduation her father was involved in a car accident and died. Trinity was devastated and couldn’t even look at the shop or a tattoo. Zack told Trinity she could have the shop, the house, and their dads Harley-Davidson, after telling her this he loaded up his truck and took off to Florida. This did not help Trinity at all. It took two months for her just to walk back into the shop. Once she was able to handle the pain of her father’s death she started tattooing again.
Business was slow and getting even slower with the addition of another shop opening up while she was grieving. The other shop had pulled a lot of her father’s customers away from her, and others thought that a girl could not compete with a man when it came to tattooing. For months she barely scraped by and often thought of selling the shop but she could not sell it. The shop was her father’s dream and part of that dream was to pass it on to her, so no matter how hard things were she could not bring herself to sell the shop.
One afternoon she was just about to close up shop when one of her father’s old friends showed up. He looked at her and saw that she was devastated that the shop was failing. He told her she could turn it around. She looked at him and asked how because she had no customers and in the tattoo business customers are your advertisement agency as well as your income. He looked around the shop for a minute and saw a drawing, “what is this,” he asked. She looked over at him, “that it’s just a drawing I was working on.” With a smile he said, “so stick it,” and took off his shirt and laid across the table. She looked at him confused for a minute, then said, “Ok,” and got everything she was going to need. She carefully set everything she would need in place and prepared to tattoo her creation onto his back. This was going to be difficult though because a tattoo this intricate and this big would have to be done freehanded. She worked for five hours that night and finished all of the outlining. Two week passed and the old man came in again and asked if she was ready to finish. After four and a half hours of work her master piece was done. He stood up and looked into the mirror at his back and saw a perfect tattoo of an eagle soaring over a siloughette of a Harley with an American flag waving behind it. After he left that night and for weeks to come he showed everyone he knew his new tattoo and who the artist was.
The business started coming back slowly a few here a few there, but it was still hard to keep up with the other shops. A few months after the old man left the shop; a few bikers came into the shop and asked her if she was the girl who does the custom tattoo art. Before they left she had three appointments for custom tattoos with the promise of more to come. A few weeks later the bikers tattoo were complete and suddenly business started booming, turns out that those bikers where member of the Red Nights and Iron Worriors, two large motorcycle clubs. They showed their clubs their new tattoos and told them who the artist was and embers of their clubs started to go to Trinity for their tattoos. Since then she has had a thriving and competitive tattoo shop.
Not only is Trinity’s job trying at times, but also nerve racking. She is an artist who only has one shot at every masterpiece; there is no erasing, no back space button, and no undoing anything in ink. She is a woman running at the top of her game in an occupation dominated by men, and yet she preservers and raises above all the competition. Trinity is one tattoo artist who has changed my mind about the field she is in.

Humbleness: Key to Success

Blake Nichols
English 1001
Lei Lani Michel
16 October 2007

Last year, I was given the opportunity to intern at the law firm of Usry, Weeks, and Matthews for a few days. During this internship, I was able to observe the everyday operation of a law firm and the tasks of its lawyers. While I was soaking in all that went on at the firm, one person caught my interest the most. It was one of the partners in the firm, Mr. Freeman Matthews. I noticed that he had a serious work ethic that seemed to inspire the entire firm to work hard and do their best. However, the thing that struck me as most impressive about this man was his humble nature and what seemed like a blue collar attitude to such a white collar job.
When I contacted Mr. Matthews about doing this online interview for my freshman writing at LSU, he was more than happy to do it and told me to meet him at his home in old Metairie. I arrived at his white, three story, antebellum style home and knocked on the door. His wife answered and told me that I could find him working in the side yard. I politely thanked her and proceeded to the side yard. I found Mr. Matthews, shovel in hand, digging up some plants in his garden. He turned around and saw me approaching and walked toward me with a big smile on his face. As he greeted me, I could not help but notice his dirt stained clothes and the sweat protruding all over his body. He looked like a landscaper rather than a great attorney. After the greeting, he brought me to his wine cellar to conduct our interview.
We sat down in a chilled room with what I’m sure is a fortune of wine surrounding us and began the interview. I started with a very general question about what made him want to pursue law. He gave me a quick smirk and said, “My mother thought it would be a good idea.” He then laughed and told me that while that was true, he found that law was something that just came natural to him. He said he always wanted to be somewhere in the criminal justice system and studied accordingly while working on his degree at Loyola university. I then asked where his first job was. “I worked for the New Orleans District Attorneys office for a number of years after college.” He replied. I inquired about the kinds of cases he handled as a district attorney. He began telling me stories of murders, arson, theft, and all of the normal criminal activities of a large city. He had one story that really stuck out to me about a pornography distributor that was distributing bizarre and at the time thought to be material that was criminal, and he and few other district attorneys had to watch all of the videos and decide which to put in as evidence.
After a few big cases, he and two other district attorneys he worked with decided they would start there own firm. Usry, Weeks, Matthews was born, and they began to take on private clients in everything from lawsuits to writing up contracts and everything in between. He then explained that after a few years his firm got a contract through some contacts they made as district attorneys to represent all the sheriffs in the state. I had to ask what kind of cases they had to take on with this contract. He rolled his eyes behind his glasses and said, “Gees you name it. Every time a deputy has to use force or breathes in a way that someone finds offensive, you better believe there is a suit against them.”
I then moved the interview away from his law practices and into where he found his work ethic. I wanted this line of questioning to come about with him answering my questions without me actually asking directly about his work ethic. So I asked, “Mr. Matthews do you do all of your yard work yourself?” He told me that he does, but rarely will he hire someone to help him. Now you would have to see this man’s yard to appreciate this answer to the degree as I did. He has a second lot next door to his home with a perfectly cut green lawn, a court yard style fountain in the middle, a vegetable garden in the back, and two huge beautiful oak trees that give shade to a large iron butterfly bench. I asked him why he finds it necessary to do everything himself. He responded with, “If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.” I had to ask if he had always been this self-reliant or if it had come later in life. He told me stories of how his mother and father always had work for him and his two brothers to do. He said that after a few years of his parents housework regime, any other jobs just seemed easy to him because he was used to finishing jobs all the way through. He told me that he had been working jobs ever since he was thirteen.
In his office, Mr. Matthews has a montage of pictures of what I assumed was his family. It seemed to me that they must be important to him if he had so many pictures of them. So my next inquiry was about his family life. He answered my question by first telling me of his family structure when he was a child. His mother was a full blooded Italian and family is very important to them. Every Sunday, they would eat dinner at his grandmother’s house with his entire family. He said that no one ever missed a Sunday because, “everyone knew that the family came first.” He then concluded by saying that the love he feels for his family only comes natural because of his background. I asked if all those pictures in his office were his immediate family or if they were extended. He said that a few are extended but most are his immediate family. He told me that he has four children, eight grandchildren, and another grandchild on the way.
The subject of hurricane Katrina came up in the end of my interview. I asked how it had affected him, his family, and his practice. “Well you know that was just another challenge in life that we had to face. I just accepted that challenge and did all that I could do to help as many people as return to normalcy as possible.” This was perhaps the answer that set me back the most in this interview, no matter what comes before this man he just keeps an up beat attitude and takes on whatever is ahead of him no matter how difficult the task. The family home had about a foot of water and some roof damage, but he considered himself very fortunate because he saw it as a small task to handle. Mr. Matthews and his family moved to a friend’s house in Lafayette where he and his law partners kept their practice alive. A few weeks later, he moved his daughter to Baton Rouge and his son to Houston so they could continue their schooling; while he went back to New Orleans to reopen his firm’s office and repair his home.
Throughout my interview with Mr. Matthews, I could not keep but silently admiring the answers that he gave to my questions. At no point did I feel as if he was being insincere or un truthful with me, nor did he ever seem as if he would rather be somewhere else. I garnered a whole new respect for him and admire his traits of a good work ethic, humbleness over his accomplishments, and the undying devotion he has to his family. I hope that one day, when I am old in age that I can look at myself and say that I have brought out most of these traits in myself.

Education and Corruption

Jeffrey Wang
Lei Lani Michel
LSU English 1001-109 interview
10/15/07
As I drive toward the destination to fulfill the appointment, the home of my father’s friend, I can not help to feel excited about what’s going to happen, since it will be the first time that I actually get to ask and understand his contributions on his occupation and his views on Louisiana. But then, I still have to focus on the road rather than starring into the empty space and crash into the trees or mail boxes on the side.
After several times of passing by his house not knowing it and turning around and around trying to find it, I finally realized it is on the other side. And so I drive into his parking lot, feeling a bit embarrassed, since I know that they probably saw me passing by a few times. The man opens the door and welcomed me warmly with a smile, as they do not see me as often now as before the summer, when my father or my mother was here with me. I am considered as a rare guest, I guess, since I do not get around much to their gathering of friends and families.
I entered two wooden doors, one after another: one with the color of vermillion with four covered windows, another with milky white, both simply crafted. Then, I am inside their dining room, which I remembered as the main chatting place of his house, rather than the living room. The room has a white ceiling – much like that of the door, with the kitchen by the side, which have sinks, wooden drawers, a refrigerator, an oven, stoves, microwaves… etc, like one that a middle income family would have in their kitchen. The Dining room consists of not much, but a wooden table and chairs, an unused lamp, a fan, and a large window that can be seen through to watch if anyone is entering the parking lot. And it can also see a little part of the children’s playing room and a part of the living room, since these rooms are not isolated by doors.
It was planned that after this, his family and I would have lunch together, since they insisted. After some chats about what is going on recently, and the many worries of my parents about my brother and me, we were ready for the interview. Like I expected, we would have the conversation over the dining room table. He cleared off the table and sited on a chair in a pretty relaxed position as he probably has plenty of experience regarding interviews and is ready at any place, any moment.
“What do you do in your job?” A simple question starts the conversation. “I am a research person in an industry focused on health care.” He then explains how his industry has six main branches, and he being in the part of Home Health. “The six branches consist of Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech Aid Therapy, Nursing, Medical Social Worker, and Home Health.” Since I do not know what Occupational Therapy, Medical Social Worker, and home health do, I raised my curiosity and asked him to tell more about them. He then explains with the hand motions – both hands waving in the air having almost the same motion as another like mirror image of one another. I remembered that I have read something about hand motions during talks a couple years ago, that they help the speaker to think. “Occupational Therapy helps people to get occupational trainings and let them get a satisfying job, so they can get a healthy life.” And then he talks on. It reminds me how whenever I try to ask a question, he still continue on to speak. As if he doesn’t want me to ask about the details on most of the topics. “Medical Social Worker is mostly for family consulting, either psychological or social.” Then he started to organize his thoughts to speak. “The most important mission of home health is to bring care into the patients’ house.” “They would come from the base to the customer on certain times with the medicines and tools needed to take care of the customer,” with his hand with the claw shape and fingers pointing towards table, the home health people, moving up from one place to his other hand, the customer. He uses this motion a lot when he talks about two subjects that are related. “It is important to know what the customer wants and what the hospital provides.” “So we can give them what the hospitals would provide and the business would not be snatched away.”
And after the understanding on what his job is about on the surface, I changed the topic so I can keep asking questions. “How has Katrina affected the business of your industry?” “Not much,” he said. “Since our branches are spread all over the state, the damage is minimal when compared with other industries.” With the confidence in his mind that the new job he got. He was a teacher with a PhD in Human Resource at Louisiana State University, and has taught for a long time. But then recently he found a better paying job at the industry he is in now. What he does mainly in Home Health is research – outcome management, market analysis and financial projection. And he jokes: “I’m not attending my proper duties.” Since his knowledge in human resource does not have much to do with his job. He explains that outcome management is making certain decisions based on financial projection – the financial history in the past. By making the optimal decision or as they thought it would be, they can expect a rise in the business.
Then we talked about education, and how corruption has caused our state’s educational quality to stagger. He suggested that since the state does not change its budget to fund the educational system more money, the teachers do not get more pay, which cause an overall drop on the rank in the nation by its standards. And he talks about how the Texas’s educational quality is a lot better than Louisiana, even though one of its main money maker, oil, is making it the money that is comparable our state. That Louisiana should be richer than what it seems now overall, but it is not. He argued that the fourteen families who control the oil production are corrupted, and that they stole a lot of money from it, saying they are main cause behind the corruption. He said that the only way he can think of to improve the educational quality of the state is to raise the teacher’s pay higher, so it can attract more people with good values to teach.
Then we ate lunch together after this interview, it was quite hard to try to stay on topic when one does not want to talk about it.

An Important Weatherman

Angelle Barras

English 1001

October 16, 2007

An Important Weatherman

When it comes to predicting and understanding the weather in Louisiana, particular in the Baton Rouge community, no one probably forecasts and educates the public about it better than Mr. Jay Grymes. He takes the weather to a new level and makes it an art. He delivers an attractive package of probabilities, education and preparedness all wrapped up with a little wit and human. Mr. Grymes is currently the chief meteorologist for a local television station, WAFB. He has received many awards for his work there, but Mr. Grymes appears very modest and shrugs it off as just being part of the job. Before I started my English 1001 student interview I noticed how he was a distinguished looking gentleman with a little touch of grey in his hair and beard. When we began to talk I then noticed how well spoken he was and how he had the ability to put me at such ease instantly. He never seemed to have a loss for words and he transmitted from one subject to the next. He was very opened and engaging and he seemed genuinely happy to do this interview for me, while having on a kind smile. It does not take me long to realize that he has a genuine admiration for the science of climatology of weather. On his television newscast he is always trying to educate the public about his understanding and love for science of climate. He presents it all in a humorous way which makes it easier to understand. I guess he cannot help it since he teaches climatology at Louisiana State University. He said that his teaching is a very important part of his life
Mr. Grymes came to Louisiana in 1985 to study in the department of geography and anthropology. As fate would have it, before he came to Louisiana he had just turned down a job for an assistant supervisor of custodian’s after taking a class in water resources. His new passion for water resources and water resource management gave him the courage to take a course in meteorology and the rest is history. Mr. Grymes major professor was quite taken with him and believed in him, so he helped get Jay a scholarship to study in Baton Rouge at Louisiana State University. He then moved to Louisiana to attend class at LSU, but at the time had no intention of becoming a meteorologist, but he does believe that it was the right thing to move in Louisiana. He then began teaching and got a job at the University and has been there for 20 years now. Mr. Grymes then explained to me how he was, “very fortunate in coming to Louisiana”. He did several guest appearances for WAFB as the state climatologist, which introduced him to the public, and he was well received in these appearances, which eventually landed him the role as WAFB’s weekend weatherman. After the chief meteorologist, Mike Graham, retired he took the job and had to cutback time in teaching.
As a meteorologist, Mr. Grymes biggest impact for the Baton Rouge Community came with the arrival of a hurricane called Katrina. Mr. Grymes was one of the first weather caster’s to point out that the probability of Louisiana landfall was much higher predicted than what was predicted by the National Weather Service. He pointed out all of the necessary climatologically events for a landfall in Florida were not likely and that landfall appeared destined for Louisiana. Unfortunately his predictions were correct and Katrina came smashing down on the coast of Louisiana. He told me that he worked non-stop and simultaneously with the Louisiana Office of Emergency. Mr. Grymes gave them the most up to date reports and his predictions. Because of his accuracy the governor was able to take preparedness while simultaneously updating the public on the storm.
Since technology has evolved, Mr. Grymes believe that the advances of technology have gradually improved with forecasting the weather and the public benefits from earlier warnings that allow more time to repair. He admits that he tries diligently to keep up with the advances but also admits its quite a daunting task with more advances coming all the time. Many people might tend to think that meteorologist just have to pull up the forecast from the national weather service in which he must talk about it for three minutes on television. Mr. Grymes said, “As a meteorologists, I‘m expected to be a graphic artists, weather scientist and a public relations person all rolled into one”. Mr. Grymes has to be more than a news reporter. He also has to use many different types of computers and create the corresponding maps and graphs. Most of the maps he uses are the ones that the public sees on their television. He also must incorporate the science he has learned in his field to assist him in forecasting. He sad that he also has to be able to speak to the community on a level that everyone understands. In addition to his life as a meteorologist, he also teaches classes at LSU in climatology.
In this point of the interview I am wondering how does he have time and energy to do both jobs. With a simple smile, He told me that having to do two jobs can be laborious. He usually starts his day at seven thirty in the morning and does not come home until after eleven at night. He would not change a thing because he can combine his life work with his hobbies. I could not imagine how much work he has to do to be able to give the public just a brief three-minute news report.
As the interview was winding down, I asked him, if he were given the chance to relive his life, would he make the same choices, starting with the move to Louisiana. A broad question, but being so good with words, Mr. Jay then gave me a great answer in responding to all the different possibilities that the question could pertain too. He replied saying that and if he knew what was going to happen in his life he would not change anything. Either way he is more than happy with the way things turned out, and he could not imagined it any other life.
Even though Mr. Grymes role in the community may seem small, his role affects many aspects of people’s lives. He had some difficulty accepting that he does make a significant contribution to the community. Before he ever became a meteorologist, Mr. Grymes never thought that he would be in the position he is today. Every time the weather comes on many people tune in to find out what their day will be like. When I asked him if he thought people respect him and his role, he replied with a grin and a quick nod in affirmation. I believe he knows how much of an impact he makes but he seems to have a hard time believing how fortunate he is to have been given this chance in life.

Life of a Busy LSU student

Caitlin Jackson

Ms. Lei Lani Michel

English 1001-109

Profile Essay

Have you ever had the responsibility of being in charge of a large sum of money such as $240,000? Most 18-24 year old have not been given a chance to bear such responsibility as Ryan Marten. When Ryan was little he never thought about handling such big amounts of money as he does today. Back when he was little he would much rather play around pretending to be a cop. He lived in Baton Rouge with his mom and step dad and attended middle school. He attended high school in Hammond, Louisiana with his Dad and step mom for four years before coming back to Baton Rouge to attend college. He now attends college at LSU, one of the best universities of the Louisiana community, and has a job at Chase Bank, one of the most popular banks in the country.
He wakes up just every morning bright and early to head to LSU campus for class. He chose to take the 7:30 AM classes in order to get a full day in at work. Like many students at LSU, he has the challenge of walking across campus to make it to each class on time. He strongly expressed his anticipation for cold weather to get here by stating “I can’t wait for winter to come so I don’t show up for my classes drenched in sweat every day.” He doesn’t enjoy all the long walks to class in the heat and humidity of Louisiana. It takes him at least 15 minutes to get to his second class but his break allows him only 10, therefore his long walks become more of a sprint to make it there on time. He gets out of class at times ranging from 9:30-11:30. I asked what classes he was taking and he paused for a while before answering. He explained to me that he just changed his major from Civil Engineering to Construction Management so he has fallen behind. He now has to make up for the time he spent in Civil Engineering in order to graduate at a decent time. While I spoke to him about his change in majors he seemed to be nervous and had an awkward look on his face. I didn’t ask him any further I assumed that he is worried he won’t graduate on time and didn’t want to make things so stressful. Although he did say he remembered having to write something like what I have to back in his freshman writing at LSU. He didn’t say much about his college carrier other than the fact that it is a challenge for him to compromise studying with working.
After arriving home from class he has enough time to shower, grab some lunch and pack his workout bag before having to leave again to head to work. He works at the Chase Bank on Siegen Lane which is quite a drive when he lives in apartments off of Brightside Lane. It is a big reason why he has such a short break in between class and work. He arrives to work on time everyday in his black slacks and a blue long sleeve Chase Bank shirt. He portrayed the bank to be empty when he gets there but later to be quite chaotic. Because he has class he is usually the last employee working that day to arrive. He mentioned his managers to be very reasonable so this didn’t seem to matter too much. Although he knows when he arrives to work there is no time to play around because he has a lot of work ahead of him. These responsibilities include greeting customers and helping them with the transactions that are needed, maintaining the ATM, and closing the store properly. From what I was told these tasks seemed harder than it appeared to be.
Every day many customers use Chase’s ATM machine. There is an ATM machine outside in the drive through as well as one inside. These are made in order to make simple transactions quicker for customers in a rush. Although it is quicker for the customer, it doubles the work the employee taking care of the machines. Ryan has to go through and organize all the transactions from the ATM plus all of his transactions that are not made by the ATM. He balances the ATM by counting all the money received and depositing it to each individual customer’s bank accounts. Because he has been there for almost a year they expect him to be able to do this and keep up with his customers that come inside the bank also.
Helping a customer is not always an easy task. He greets everyone who walks in the door helping them run transactions that they need. These transactions can consist of depositing money, making withdrawals, transferring money from one account to another, buying or selling foreign currency, making change orders, and answering customer’s phone calls. It seemed like he wouldn’t have much time to rest after explaining all that he has to do. Seeing how he has so many responsibilities while he in on the job you wouldn’t think he had much to do when they closed but that’s not the case here.
Because he is taking care of people’s money he has to be very careful in what he does. Money is a big deal to most people and they don’t want anything to go wrong or come up missing in the accounts. When Ryan closes down the bank he has to make sure all of the customers information is picked up and stored in the vault. After doing so, he has to gather all the money from the tellers’ drawers and put it away. Next he locks all the drawers carefully making sure none go unchecked. Next he locks and secures the vault. After doing all the security work he cleans all the desktops and takes out the garbage. After making sure his job is done he goes down the road to the YMCA gym to get a good workout in before dinner.
By looking at him you can tell he is a person who likes to stay healthy and keep in shape. He explained this into more detail that made me understand why he was in such good shape. He works out after work every day for about one to two hours. He tries to eat as healthy as possible but this is hard living in an apartment being in college. The one thing that surprised me is when he said “I haven’t have McDonald’s french-fries in over 5 years.” At first I doubted him but he was too defensive not to believe. He is one of the very few people that can say that and I admired his self control. After working out, he drives all the way back to his apartment, eats dinner, and then begins studying. He did mention his classes for Construction Management were a lot less time consuming than his Civil Engineer classes because there was a lot less studying. He only stays up until around 12 o’clock studying now. Then wakes up and starts his day all over again. After hearing about what he does form day to day I wanted to know a little bit about how Hurricane Katrina affected him.
He was living in Hammond at the time Hurricane Katrina hit. He didn’t really have much to say on this subject other than how devastating it was. He wasn’t in the middle of all the chaos of it all and wasn’t affected like most of the Baton Rouge community was. He heard stories from his mother who was still living in Baton Rouge at the time and saw what had happened on the news. He went on to explain that it didn’t really affect him personally. When he moved back to Baton Rouge a year later is when he began to notice the change. “There was a whole lot more people living in Baton Rouge than before and traffic sure did slow down more.” He made some comments about how he can’t get anywhere without getting stuck in traffic. He didn’t seem too happy about the population rising but he was sympathetic in understanding why it did. Like many can relate, Ryan is just a teenager trying get through every day as easily as possible. If you thought you had it tough think of Ryan and the responsibilities he has as a 19 year old full time student and part time employee trying to graduate and find himself a good job for his future.