english1001interviews

an interview with a doctor

2007-10-17T19:09:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-17T13:46:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-16T14:30:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-16T12:11:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-16T09:45:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-16T09:41:00.001-07:00

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

2007-10-16T09:35:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-10-16T09:28:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-16T09:18:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-16T09:01:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-16T08:41:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-16T08:31:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-16T08:17:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-16T06:58:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-16T06:14:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-16T05:39:00.000-07:00

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.

A Coach's Perspective

2007-10-16T05:37:00.000-07:00

A Coach’s Perspective

I met Coach Todd Lane on one of the very first days that he had at LSU. I
needed to see about using the facilities for our summer workout program
that he had sent out a few weeks earlier. Although this was my first time
to meet him, he seemed like a very nice person and he welcomed me warmly
into his office. Coach lane is a thirty-four year old man with close
cropped hair and a physique that says he is still very active in
exercise. Coach Todd is a part of the six person LSU Track and field
coaching staff. He doesn’t have the biggest group of people to coach, but
he does work with some of the major point getters for the track team; he
is over the jump and multi-event people.

In addition to his job of coaching the jumpers, coach lane is also in
charge of recruiting more jumpers and multi’s to the team. He does so by
sending mail-outs, watching them at their meets, having them visit to
watch various sporting events, and also going to visit them at their
home. Coach lane is also in charge of maintaining the track and
equipment. He says that he loves to coach, and the reason that he got
into coaching was that he had very good mentors and coaches. He enjoys
the connection that is made between an athlete and a coach, and also
being sort of a teacher with a much larger classroom than that of a
regular professor. He also says that he loves the opportunity to provide
support to student athletes in their development as students as well as
people.

Todd loves to coach; he says that the rewards are very gratifying and
that he wouldn’t trade it for any other job in the world. While attending
grad school he thought that he wanted to be an administrator in
athletics, but while he was helping out with the Georgia Southern team,
he realized he wanted to coach. The reason for this was that he had good
mentors and coaches and he had a strong connection with them. Lane still
keeps in touch with all of his old coaches; one of his college coaches
was the best man at his wedding! Another coach of his was a reader in the
wedding. In college Todd thought he wanted to be a lawyer, “I think I
made a good choice”, he says.

Todd Lane grew up in many places, some of which include Missouri, North
Carolina, Wisconsin, Georgia, Saudi Arabia, and finally Iowa. He went to
high school in Iowa, as well as Luther College in Decorah Iowa. He
graduated from Luther College and then went to Georgia to attend
graduate school at Georgia Southern University, where he began his
coaching career.

Todd’s father worked for Proctor and Gamble, a personal hygiene company.
The reason for the move to Saudi Arabia was that P&G was starting a
pampers plant there and Lane’s Dad was in charge of getting it started.
Lane says that he loved living in Saudi, as well as the other places they
lived in Europe and Asia. He says that he has very fond memories of those
times, and would love to go back to visit, but just doesn’t see that
happening.

As a child Lane liked to play football, basketball, baseball, and soccer.
When the time for high school came, he continued to play basketball, but
picked up the two sports of cross country running and Track & Field.
After high school, Todd continued his Cross country running in college,
where he was an average runner who worked extremely hard. While on the
track team he met his wife of ten years Turena Johnson Lane. She, too,
was a runner, and this weekend she will be inducted into the Luther
College athletic Hall of Fame for her running.

Luther College was a school that Lane wanted to go to, not just one that
was close to home. One contributing factor to this was that he had
attended many cross country camps there, so he knew an older Norwegian
coach there. He was an inspiring man, and another reason that Todd chose
to go to Luther. Lane says that he wasn’t the most mature individual, so
he needed someone to look after him[the Norwegian coach].The college had
a very strong tradition in cross country, which was a very important
factor to Todd.

Coach Lane now resides in Baton Rouge with his wife and two dogs, Tanui
and Tulu, both named after two famous African distance runners. In his
spare time, Lane likes to run. He says that he enjoys the exercise and it
keeps him fit, healthy, and relaxed. Also among his hobbies are spending
time with his wife and dogs. Lane says that he loves to do anything
related to Track and Field, but has found golf to be a growing interest
now that he is here at LSU.

LSU, however, wasn’t the first coaching job Lane has had; the first was
at Georgia Southern University. While at Georgia Southern he was a graduate
assistant coach for cross country and Track in the 1995-1996 school year.
From nineteen ninety six to nineteen ninety seven he was the head cross
country coach/ assistant track coach at Cloud State University, a
Division two school. Cloud State is where Todd coached distance runners,
and got his start coaching jumpers. The cross country team needed a new
head coach and Lane needed an internship to complete his master’s degree,
so he took the job no one else wanted. The job at Cloud State also
brought him closer to his wife-to-be.

Lane got married in the summer of ninety seven, still coaching at Cloud.
Shortly thereafter he received a call that Georgia Southern needed the
position of head cross country coach filled. Georgia Southern was going to
start a track program soon and it looked to have a lot of potential, so
he took the job. It was a great opportunity for a higher paying job, and
a chance to coach a Division one school. While at Georgia Southern he
started a women’s track team within two years of getting there. He
coached the sprinters, jumpers, distance runners, and depending on the
staff at the time, the throwers. Eventually he moved to just sprinters
and jumpers, with his wife coaching the distance runners. At the start of
his career at Georgia Southern, he had to practice at a high school
facility, which was a pain in the rear he says, but during this five year
tenure he laid he foundation for Georgia Southern to build a great new
facility.

Lane left GSU for a job at ball state to coach sprints, hurdles, jumps,
multi’s, and throws. The head coach at Ball State left, so Todd was
appointed the interm. Head coach. He then received a call about a
position at the University of Miami that had just opened up. This job was
much more appealing than the one at Ball, so he took it. However, two
months after arriving in Miami, Lane received a call from Irving
Shexnayder, an important figure in the LSU and Baton Rouge community,
about the LSU jumps coach position he was vacating. Todd didn’t want to
leave Miami so soon, but LSU was a dream job he couldn’t pass up. He says
that it is a place that he wants to stay forever.

Todd did not live here when Hurricane Katrina hit, so it did not directly
affect him. He also did not have cable TV when it happened, so the only
way he knew about it was through the radio. He says the biggest effect of
the storm on him was that it made him realize how unprepared New Orleans
was for such a storm. He goes on to say that politicians love to point
fingers instead of putting those fingers to work on something more
productive. Coach lane was also here on a visit right after Katrina hit,
he says that he can remember looking out of Irving Shexnayder’s office,
the head jumps coach at the time, and seeing helicopters landing on the
limb strewn track.

At Georgia Southern, Lane was conference coach of the year two years in a
row. Last year at Miami, Todd was regional jumps coach of the year. Lane
had an athlete who was field event of the year indoors, and another in
the ACC outdoors. At GSU there was an athlete to win athlete of the year
indoors, as well as freshman of the year both indoors and outdoors.
During his thirteen year coaching career Lane has won many accolades,
something he hopes to add too while here at LSU!

Life in the Fast Lane

2007-10-16T05:32:00.000-07:00

As I called the person I chose to interview I suddenly became very nervous, what if he said no, what if he hung up on me, all of these “what if” questions came to my mind. Although I knew that we had nothing in common I thought that it would be an interesting topic to write on and hoped that he was willing to help me. The phone rang, and rang, and rang again before I heard “Thank you for calling Cycle Gear this is Robbie Bottoms, How may I help you?” My heart stopped for a split second, this is not how I thought it would be, and I figured Brandon would answer. I quickly replied “Yes, Robbie this is Leah Rollinson, Brandon’s fiancée, would you mind if I interviewed you for my LSU English 1001 interview paper assignment?” As soon as he said sure, I became relived but where and when should this meeting take place. “CC’s around seven o’clock tonight?” I asked. I told him that I would wait outside for him and that I had red hair, so he could point me out since we have never actually met each other. As I sat there waiting that night I tried to figure out what he looked like and how he would answer my questions.
I heard this horrific noise coming from the parking lot as I turned around there was this guy on this motorcycle; he had this flashy multicolored helmet on and a blue and black leather jacket. He turned the bike off and sat up, taking his helmet off. He got off the bike and unzipped his jacket and laid it on the seat. He had jeans and a Cycle Gear work shirt on and was about five foot ten inches tall. His motorcycle was a Suzuki GSXR 600, which most people that ride street bikes refer to it as a “gigser”. I hoped this was not the person I was interviewing. He walked up to my table the first thing that I realized is that he is bald, has bushy brown eye brows and deep blue eyes. He nervously asked “Is your name Leah?” I stood up ready to shake his hand and replied, “Yes and you must be Mr. Bottoms. Thank you for allowing me to interview you.” As we sat down, I could tell that we were both nervous. I began to ask him simple questions such as how was your day, have you been busy with work, and how is your son. Once we both bought our coffee, we quickly got to the interview.
Robbie Bottoms was born and raised in Alabama. His father, Charlie, and older brother, John, both enjoy working on motorcycles. Robbie remembers not being old enough to help work on the bikes all he could do was watch and learn. As he grew up his father and brother taught him different things about motorcycles. Working on motorcycles became his main interests and hobby. He knew that he would enjoy having an occupation in what he enjoyed doing. Robbie could have opened his own mechanic shop but that is not what he wanted to do, so he looked around for other options. He quickly stumbled upon the AMA, American Motorcycle Association, and across the idea of working with a pit crew, this interested him.
Robbie had to go to school for two years to be trained properly for the pit crew. He attended one of the best schools for this field MMI, Motorcycle Mechanics Institute, in Phoenix, Arizona. While there he learned the basics and advanced trainings with motorcycles. The basics cover everything that he would need to know for a mechanic shop or dealer ship. The advanced training classes are for people that have the potential to be an asset to a pit crew. Robbie stated that the tests they had to take usually were not written test because the class usually did not do well on these. Upon asking him if the tests were not written then what were they? He explained to me that the students had to go through a series of time tests, these test were to ensure that the students had the skills and was fast enough to be in the pit crew.
Someone that wants to be in a pit crew does not only have to train physically but also mentally. They must be able to detect problems very quickly and be able to do their job with their eyes closed. A pit crew is important to the rider and it also creates several jobs for people that enjoy being around and working on motorcycles. A pit crew is there to make sure that the bike is in the best condition for the track and rider. A pit crew consists of about ten people; this number depends on the size of the manufacturer or company. Every one on the pit crew has trained and excelled several fields. Robbie specialized in engine performance. The other fields are re-building top end, bottom end, and assembling the motor. This is important because they have to be fast, accurate, and efficient in order to be considered for a pit crew. The pit crew members do not have certain tasks that must be completed as individuals but rather as little teams. Several people may be assigned the same job for checks and rechecks. This is good because it makes sure that there is no mistakes or overlooks by the previous person.
Although Robbie enjoyed working with the pit crew he quit shortly after his wife became pregnant. His wife did not want to have to explain to their child that his father was dead. Robbie started working at Cycle Gear, a store devoted to after market performance and accessories specifically for motorcycles. This was a way that he could still be involved with performance parts and motorcycles. He started out as an in store sales associate in Arizona. He was offered a managers position for a new store that Cycle Gear was about to open. He accepted the offer but did not realize that he would be uprooting his family from their home and close family members. Even though they knew that it would be hard to be a few states away from their family, Robbie, his wife, and their son moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Robbie’s first glimpse of Louisiana came from traveling with the pit crews. Louisiana was much different then he expected. “There were houses, streets, people with all of their teeth, regular grocery stores and pretty girls.” Robbie started very jokingly. Robbie never thought that he would one day live in Louisiana. Although he was not directly affected by Katrina; he has realized that the Baton Rouge community has been greatly shaped by the storm. It took him to move to Louisiana to believe the media, stories, and books he read on the effects of Katrina on the Louisiana community.
Robbie’s son, Trace who is a year old, is already fascinated by bikes. Robbie told me that whenever there is a race on TV that Trace stands in front of the television set and makes what he thinks is the sound of a motorcycle. Trace also enjoys sitting on his father’s bike. Robbie plans to pass on the family tradition of fathers teaching their sons how to properly work on the bikes. He hopes that his son has as many opportunities as he did with bikes. But Trace’s mother is very afraid that he will get seriously injured and wants to teach him the safety and responsibility that he must have to ride motorcycles.

Custodian Online Interview

2007-10-16T05:22:00.000-07:00

Jamaal Robinson
English 1001
Ms. Lei Lani Michel
5 Oct 2007
Custodian Online Interview
Coming up with online interview questions for a custodian was trickier than expected. I did not want to ask questions that would cause awkward moments such as: “What’s your favorite aspect of your job?” or “Do you enjoy cleaning other people’s shit and vomit?” If I was the custodian being interviewed by a college student I would say something along the lines of: “Oh yeah, the best part about being a janitor is picking up the rotting, stinky garbage on the ground right next to the trashcan left behind by unappreciative kids. Well, except for you of course, because I’ve known you for over five minutes so I can easily tell you’re a good kid. As for cleaning shit and vomit, I usually hire someone else to do that stuff since my job pays so much.” Avoiding this kind of scenario was one of my major goals because asking someone a bunch of awkward questions then having to see that person the next day was not high on my agenda. My solution was to interview a custodian who worked off campus. Although, I had planned to do an online interview of a custodian who worked on LSU’s campus I reasoned that if the custodian worked off campus, I could ask as many questions as I desired without having to see that person ever again.
I decided to go home the weekend before fall break so that I could interview someone from my old school, Jennings High School. Jennings High had Saturday school and tutoring sessions on Saturday which meant there had to be custodians on campus. After receiving a visitor’s pass from the office, I prowled the halls so that I might find the right custodian to do my online interview. Finally, I found someone who was willing to participate in my “little school project” as he so kindly put it. When we found a quiet, isolated place to get the interview started I began setting up for the online interview when I noticed that his bodily posture was rigid, he shifted his gaze to random objects every now and again to break direct eye contact with me and he made these odd barely audible noises. I attempted to relieve some of the tension in the atmosphere by elaborately introducing myself. I manipulated the conversation so that we were going back and forward about something that was related to Jennings which just so happened to be the town’s high school football team. As I smoothly segued into the online interview, I learned that his name was Doug Higginbotham Sr. When asked him how he was doing he replied, “I’m doin’ fine ‘cept fer my sore ankle which was actin’ up when I buffered the big ol’ central hallway.” “You should get that checked out,” I replied. He came back with, “I’ll get it looked at afer I retire. Then I might have some time for myself.” Apparently, Mr. Higginbotham has worked at Jennings High School for over fifteen years. During this time Mr. Doug Higginbotham drove the bus for away football, basketball, baseball and even volleyball games. Mr. Doug Higginbotham attended every single football and basketball game because his son is a senior who currently plays both football and basketball for Jennings High School and he had done so for each of his years in high school. Aside from sports related activities, Mr. Doug Higginbotham also performed maintenance throughout the school. If a door broke he fixed it; if a table would refuse to stand he fixed it; if some kid caught a tantrum in the halls Mr. Doug Higginbotham fixed him. After hearing everything Mr. Doug Higginbotham does, one might forget he is also a custodian.
When asked about what his occupations were before becoming a custodian, he took a brief pause, chuckled, cleared his throat, then said, “Well nah that’s a nice long list.” As I prepared myself for the flood of information that was on its way Mr. Doug Higginbotham began telling about his early jobs. One of Mr. Higginbotham’s first jobs was working for an independent company where he applied mainly roofing, siding, floorboards, and wiring to houses in this city called Crowley. While Mr. Doug Higginbotham’s worked on houses he also worked numerous “little temporary jobs” on the side. After the company dissolved, Mr. Doug Higginbotham worked at a grocery store called Piggly Wiggly for a few years where he stocked shelves, cleaned the floors, and unloaded the delivery trucks. After Mr. Doug Higginbotham left Piggly Wiggly, he worked multiple short term jobs such as selling t-shirts and cleaning debris from the streets after a large storm. “Times were rough. I had to do what I had to do to make ends meet, ya know I’m sayin’? My family depended on me.” Mr. Doug Higginbotham was in and out of unemployment at that time struggling to keep food on the table for his family. That was when Mr. Doug Higginbotham heard that custodial jobs were being offered at the high school in downtown Jennings. Mr. Doug Higginbotham applied right away and about a week later, it was confirmed that he had been accepted for the position. I had to ask Mr. Doug Higginbotham why he had settled on a custodial job in the high school of a small town when he definitely had enough experience to get a better job in another city. He smiled and said that he actually could have worked somewhere else but the closest place where he was guaranteed a job was Morgan City. Mr. Doug Higginbotham explained that he was very attached to Jennings. For generations his family has “…lived, ate, and sleeped Jennings, Louisiana. The farthest I’ve ever lived from Jennings was Crowley, which was only twenty minutes away.” Mr. Doug Higginbotham also said that moving his family to Morgan City was impractical due to the fact that his only form of transportation was a beat up 1999 Ford Taurus and he would not want to pay money for a moving van when he could work at in his hometown. Mr. Higginbotham made sure to note that even if he could fit everything in his car without worrying about it dying on the interstate, he would not feel like moving anyway.
Finally, I found the nerve to ask Mr. Doug Higginbotham how he felt about his being a custodian. To my surprise, he said that being a custodian for Jennings High School was by far the best job he had ever had. His bosses were pleasant and he could see his son play ball all the time for free, with emphasis of free. Mr. Doug Higginbotham said that he enjoys meeting the fresh new faces that come through the doors every year and meeting so many of their interesting parents and other family members. I didn’t notice Mr. Doug Higginbotham very much when I was at Jennings High School for those two years, but when I think about his face the few times I would notice, there was usually a smile on his face.

In the Clutch

2007-10-16T04:56:00.000-07:00

Ryan Ebberman

S. Furniture began as a small, independent furniture store sixty-one years ago located on scenic River Road on the side of the small town of Reserve in rural Louisiana. The small town is made up of middle class workers trying to make a decent, honest living. The small, slightly yellow building created work and brought more business to the small town. The success of the business grew phenomenally. With success, there was growth. The demand for the great prices on furniture warranted the seeking of a second store. The expansion lead about forty-five minutes northwest to Gonzalez, Louisiana, which has now became the main store for the business. The store’s popularity is continuously growing and the store owner, now the grandson of the original owner, is looking to create a new store in Laplace, Louisiana, replacing the Reserve store. All of this change is affecting the surrounding communities for the better. As I began my English 1001 student interview of the owner, Mr. S, I talked to him about a variety of subjects relating to his store.
On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck southeastern Louisiana with so much force that every business, home, and school seemed to be damaged in some way or another. This crushing effect went on for miles on end in the southeastern region of Louisiana. Right outside of the flood waters was the town of Reserve, Louisiana, and a little further down the interstate was Gonzalez. The two stores were up and running in no time caring to the needs of the people of New Orleans and surrounding cities. Deals were made and the S. Furniture stock went up. With the Baton Rouge community doubling overnight, the businesses around Baton Rouge prospered. With people hundreds of people needing furniture, the Gonzalez area, more specifically around the furniture store itself, thrived off the population. No other business had the great prices that S. Furniture had. The locations of the two stores provided easy access back to New Orleans with “water-less” furniture.
The Gonzalez store did have trouble with the storm however. In the midst of the storm part of the roof got damaged. Many pieces of furniture were damaged as well as the carpet the pieces sat on. The back of the store had to be roped off for two weeks before the carpet could be replaced. All the appliances had to be replaced along with the furniture that was water-logged.
The Gonzalez store received a lot of its income through FEMA, but not the way everyone would think. Located next door to the store was an empty warehouse that FEMA representatives occupied for its use after the storm. S. Furniture became a service to FEMA when the federal agency purchased hundreds of beds through S. Furniture to help those in need. Thousands of beds were shipped into the S. Furniture warehouse from out of the state. The beds were then transferred next door to the FEMA warehouse where they were distributed by FEMA. The store did not have to spend time distributing or selling the beds and could focus on the daily customers.
Still today, over two years after the storm, S. Furniture is getting paid for its decision of getting back quick to serve its local community. People still walk into the store looking for new furniture after the devastation of Katrina. The store is now looking to relocate the Reserve store to Laplace, Louisiana, so the store would be open to a much bigger market.
The store was always busy due the increased need in furniture and appliances. After the first few days, the refrigerators, sofas, and love seats quickly sold out. Mr. S. told me “everything had to go on backorder, the beds and appliances especially.” Box springs, mattresses, and headboards were the parts needed for the bed arrangements. Refrigerators, washers, and dryers consisted of the appliances on backorder.
With the back orders coming in to be sold, and the merchandise already sold, S. Furniture became one of the leading furniture store outlets in the southeastern sector of Louisiana. The Reserve store is looking to move to Laplace, Louisiana, with its stronger furniture market due to other furniture businesses falling from the ranks. S. Furniture, I believe, with the right form of leadership will prosper for years to come.

Dancing to the Sound of Cash

2007-10-16T04:53:00.000-07:00

English 1001
Joshua Pleming
Dancing to the speed of Cash
I recall her expression when I asked about participating in an online interview. She was shocked yet interested. I explained that it was for my English 1001 class. She was hesitant at first. She was worried about exposure of her double life. Being a stripper wasn’t something she wanted flaunted, mostly because of her flying in from Houston every weekend to strip. The purpose behind it being that she didn’t want anyone she knows knowing about it. I assured her that I would leave her name out of it. She said that would work out for her but if I needed a name I could refer to her by her stage name, “Yoshi”.

We were sitting in our friend Paris’s living room of his apartment. Where we had first met about a month ago. She stays with Paris on the weekends and since I’m always over there hanging out, we got to know each other and it didn’t take long for us to form a friendship The room consisted of two glass tables with high leather chairs and also two red and white suede couches. We sat comfortably on the couches going over the interview. She’s a cute little Vietnamese with black hair with a blonde strip for bangs. She’s very light skinned with a well toned body. She was wearing sweat pants and a t-shirt. It was mid-day afternoon. She had gotten off work at four o’clock in the morning, so she was just waking up. She seemed tired and worn out and her face seemed to still contain small amounts of eye make-up. She snuggled up with a blanket from LSU, while I interviewed her.
I asked her small questions first, things like, “where are you from?” and “Why be a stripper?” Her answers were straight forward and to the point. She said she was from Vietnam and she had come over with her family when she was very young. From the serious lack of money, she had developed a fondness for money. That was her purpose in occupying a position as a stripper. Her need for money supplied her with the drive and courage to attempt stripping. Granted, she’s not proud with her choice of work but she knows where the money is. I asked her she came about to stripping. She said that she attended school in Texas but she had friends here in Louisiana. They were constantly calling her asking her to come down and visit. One particular friend, Paris, who she had met in high school, had even told her that his place was always open for her. “Yoshi” began thinking about the possibilities of coming down to New Orleans. She decided that it would be financially beneficial to spend the weekends in New Orleans working.
She knew there was money in being a stripper from once working as a bartender and seeing how the dancers racked up a large sum of money. So, she packed her things and made her way to New Orleans. She stepped into the bar, which I will remain nameless for the sake of the interviewee, and was disgusted at the very sight. It was a cheap and tacky décor for a club. There was red velvet everywhere. The booths, chairs, curtains, even the table cloths were tacky red velvet. She spoke with the owner of the bar and she was soon all set to strip. The owner was surprisingly nice guy. “Yoshi” had been expecting some sleazy, balding guy with a beer belly. The owner was dressed sharp in a button down and black dress pants. He appeared to be in very good shape. He spoke professionally and only took one glance to asses “Yoshi’s” physical traits. They set up payment and set her up for work that Friday.
The physical pain in her legs from the first night of dancing subsided and she settled into the job with ease, while still maintaining another life in Houston. She averages at least one thousand dollars a night. “Yoshi’s” facial expression changed at that moment. It seemed like she was taking a five second breather before starting up again.
She began again by saying that the money is great but it didn’t take her long after starting work to realize that there was more to strippers than she realized. Not just she but the other strippers working at the bar seemed to each hold a different story. “Yoshi” had held a skewed glimpse of New Orleans as being a sleazy town that she had never thought to consider the possibility that there might have been more to being a stripper than wanting some quick cash.
I asked her if the money came easy or were there more obscure things she had to do. She laughed and said there was one particular event that had provided her a lot of cash. She said one night when she was dancing, a customer asked her to go with him to a club. At first she was reluctant. The man was overweight and looked like he had that tired look on his face, as if he had spent too much time on the internet looking at porn. He said he would pay her a thousand dollars. “Yoshi” knew better than to pass up an opportunity like this one. She accepted his offer. The evening went fine. She got her money and just dropped her back off at the strip joint where her car was. I asked her if any of the other strippers did things like that. She said they get asked a lot but most of them more important things going on in their life, so they usually just want to dance and then go home.
“Yoshi” started to tell me how a few of these girls were mothers doing the best they could to support their families. They sacrificed their dignity and morals to feed and clothe their children. Some strippers were actual runaways that had no way of surviving without a means of income. They barely lived off the money they worked for. “Yoshi” gained a new perspective of her surroundings. She didn’t see strippers. She saw women, survivors and fighters. These women do something that many feel they are above. “Yoshi” interrupted herself for a moment to say that not all of these women are all that selfless; that there were a few trashy women that were in it for sick reasons, but the bulk of strippers wanted nothing more than to provide a life for their families or even just survive.
“Yoshi’s” voice got stronger as she said the final part of her interview. She said these women aren’t strippers. They are entertainers, using what they have left to live. In the beginning of her work there, she went in half heartedly, but soon after started going in knowing that she chose to work there and she knew what she was getting into. She stopped looking at it as a job and began seeing it as an artistic expression where she provides stimulating entertainment to the bars clientele. It’s not a job to her. It’s her second life. Sure, she may hide her identity but when she steps out onto that stage, she knows that the audience is there to see her and she gives her all every single time.

Holding On

2007-10-16T04:52:00.000-07:00

Bobbie Wolfe
English 1001-111
Lei Lani Michel

Holding On
When I was thinking about who I should interview for my English 1001 paper, my initial thought was to talk a lawyer, or someone who works for the state. It would have been easy to ask questions that answer how there job affects the Baton Rouge Community. My grandparents were friends with a couple that owned a law firm, so I already had a particular person in mind. I took a trip to the law office and was waiting to make an appointment. A sweet and smiley woman kindly waited on me. She had a smile that radiated the room with light. It was when I met the receptionist, Deborah R., I knew I had to make her the subject of my paper. Her jolly personality was endearing and I felt that there was a story to be told, so I asked her if she would like to be in an LSU English paper.
I was happy to hear that she would do the interview, and so began our discussion. “When did you begin working with this law firm?” I started. “Not that long ago, actually. I’ve only been here for a few months. I am still pretty new to the job.” Deborah replied. She is a file clerk/receptionist for a plaintiff lawyer at the law office. The office had a cozy atmosphere. What was once an old, abandoned mansion had been transformed into a successful law firm. I came across a jar on Deborah’s desk labeled “Deb’s sorry-ass Jar”. I had to ask “What’s with the jar?” She turned beet red as she laughed and explained,
I have a bad habit of saying I’m sorry too much. My boss made the jar and whenever I say I’m sorry for something he deemed unnecessary , I have to put a quarter in the jar. When it gets full, I take him and his paralegal to lunch.

Deborah was quite a character. Her quirky disposition made her seem a bit out of place in the stereotypical world of suits and briefcases. So I asked, “How did you come across this particular job?” She slowly replied “Well, I used to live in Texas until a family emergency brought me over here.” Deborah moved to Louisiana last year to help take care of her parents, and while doing so, she needed a job. “Since I did not complete my college career, I did not have a degree, and that made it hard to find a decent paying job.” Deborah’s parents knew the couple who owned the law firm and they did her family a favor by offering a job at their firm. “With virtually no marketable skills, I took whatever job I could get,” she said, “I was so blessed to be able to find work, especially with three children that needed to be fed.” She giggled as though she felt awkward about telling me her story. I was glad to learn that she had children and was quick to find out more. “How old are they?” I asked. As she began to answer, she looked up to gather her thoughts, “They are 13, 14, and 15.” I was amazed to find out how close in age they were. “They’re my sweethearts,” she warmly replied with a smile. I could tell that she treasured her children.
I would later find out that Deborah was a single mother. My head was beginning to fill with so many questions, and I was anxious to ask the how’s, when’s, and why’s. I felt kind of guilty prying into this woman’s rather personal life; however, I did have a paper to write, so I began. “How is it raising three teenagers at such a close age?” She let out a perky, high-pitched giggle before answering, “It has its moments, but they are so good.” Deborah’s love for her children was obvious. She enjoyed talking about them. “Kyle is my oldest, and he is my sweetheart. He takes care of my two girls, Jenny and Kaitlyn.” As Deborah talked about her children she had a sparkle in her eye. “They get me through the day.” Before Deborah moved to Louisiana, she was a stay at home mom. “When I first started working, it was so hard to not be there when my kids came home from school.” Deborah found the strength to get through the day in her children. I wondered, “Do you prefer staying at home over having a job?” She confidently replied, “Yes! Very much so. I was a stay at home mom for about twelve years and I enjoyed every minute of it.” Deborah cherished the lives of her children, and I could sense the loneliness as she sat there talking about them. I could only understand how she felt do to the fact that my mother went through the same situation.
After I asked her about the role she felt that she played in the community, Deborah’s answer wasn’t what I expected. “I don’t feel like I make that big of a difference.” Her humble reply took me back for a second. I could only think about the sacrifices she was making while Deborah juggled taking care of her parents and children and working part-time at a law firm. “I don’t consider myself to be some kind of saint for what I do. It comes with the territory,” mentioned jokingly. She made no excuses for herself. Taking it one day at a time, Deborah’s outlook on life was inspiring to me. Here is a middle-aged, single mother of three who was making a life for her children in an unfamiliar territory known as “the office”. I think I can speak for others when I say, “Deborah, you are a great encouragement to the community.” Ending on that note, I left the office with a sense of accomplishment. I will never forget that smiling face. Deborah may not be a tycoon; but she can rest assure that the community and her office would not be the same were it not for her cheery and loving disposition.

The Life and Times of a Handyman

2007-10-16T04:35:00.000-07:00

Jordan Zaradich
October 16, 2007
English 1001
Lei Lani Michel

Early one morning, I found myself doing what I could to help the maintenance man repair the light switch in my bathroom. Giving off a grandfatherly aura around the room, the man was tall with a thin build. Initially, he decided to make conversation by telling me his name was Leroy, and he worked as a maintenance worker for LSU. After we began conversing, I found it to be the opportune moment to conduct my student interview required for my LSU English class. Interested in learning more about a job that was essential to our community, I began to ask him questions about his life.

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on July 5th, 1949, Leroy lived with his parents until their unnatural death when he was five years old. After their death, he and his two sisters moved in with their grandfather in Columbus, Ohio. On weekends, he would help his grandfather with his handyman business, which is how he first learned of the trade. He attended Columbus Public High School and was most interested in his woodworking classes. All the work with his grandfather made gave Leroy a fine admiration for anything wooden and electrical. After his graduation from high school, he continued to work with his grandfather, except on a full-time basis. “Working with him was when I learned the most about my job. Technology might be different today, but he taught me how to find new problems and work out solutions for them.” At the age of twenty-five, he married a woman who would be his wife and they moved to the Cincinnati area. While in Cincinnati, Leroy worked for the Saint Peter and Paul church as a custodian. It was his role alone to make sure the building was clean and functioned smoothly. “I was the only custodian working there. It was the first time I had a job on my own, but I knew I could handle it.” After twenty-six years of working as the custodian, he moved to Alexandria, Louisiana. According to him, he wanted to experience a different part of the country.

“It wasn’t what I expected. The dialect was different, mannerisms were different, was all new to me.” Leroy claimed that it was different for him at first, but after a year, he started to grow accustomed to the community. He mentioned that the people were very welcoming and willing to help him acclimate better to their way of living. A few years later, he received a job offer as a maintenance worker for LSU through a friend and gladly accepted. “The Baton Rouge community doesn’t seem as close knit as it was in Alexandria, but I still love it here.” His favorite events are always attending a tailgate at an LSU football game.

Currently, Leroy works as a maintenance repairman for the LSU campus. Working mostly within the Residence halls, it is his job to work on regular household repairs, such as improving fixtures and working on electricity. “The great thing about the job is that every day you get something a little different. Even though it may be a new problem, you use your head and you can figure it out, and you’ve learned something new.” Without handymen, many residents would find that their living conditions would not be as high. Broken air conditioners, flickering lights, and clogged drains are just a few of the discomforts that maintenance workers at LSU are trained to fix. Leroy has been doing handyman work ever since he graduated high school and was first employed by LSU in 2005, just a few months before Hurricane Katrina.

“They gave me the job just a few months before the hurricane hit. When it happened, I was working unpaid overtime for weeks, but I didn’t mind, I knew that it was for a good cause.” As LSU housed Katrina survivors and acted as an operating center, it was his job to make sure that the residences and buildings were running smoothly. There were many problems and in some cases, the temporary residences were abusing their rooms. “One instance, a family had battered down the desks for the scrap wood and in the process, they had dented the walls up with hammers. I was angry, but I did my job and fixed the damage. I was just trying to make things as best as I could for all of them.” Times were very stressful, for he had to stay up for many hours on overtime while working around people who were traumatized from the event. Many had lost all they had, so he did all he could to make sure they were living as comfortable as possible. On some occasions, he had to act as a mediator for different families who had gotten into an argument. “They would argue about silly things. I knew they were all under stress, but I couldn’t believe that some people would actually start a riot when they thought someone from another room had stolen their chair.” Leroy believes his job was important to the relief effort happening in Baton Rouge, but credits most of the hard work to the National Guardsmen who gave up much of their time to help secure New Orleans.

Feeling that I should start wrapping up the interview, I asked him my final question, which was why he decided to work as a handyman for his whole life. “My grandfather was my main inspiration. He did so many things with his life, and I wanted to be like him.” His grandfather was a combat veteran in World War I and an active volunteer within his community. Having served the army and improving the lives of the people around him gave Leroy a high opinion of his grandfather. Besides his grandfather as an inspiration, Leroy said that he enjoyed the work. Working a desk job with a computer, pen, and paper just was not the type of job for him. He wanted to continue doing something that would give him a new challenge every day and would not get old too quickly. “I’ve been doing this since I was a little boy, and I’m still not bored of it. A cup of coffee in the morning and I’m fuelled and motivated for the day. Proud working class and I wouldn’t change that for anything.”

My interview with Leroy gave me a better appreciation for what goes on to keep the campus running, which is what gives this interview significance. Without handymen, we would find ourselves trying to fix problems where we do not know the solution. Leroy, a maintenance employee for LSU, is essential in making sure that our residence halls are maintained so that we may live comfortably on campus. During the Hurricane Katrina crisis, he helped many families by ensuring their living spaces were commodious. Without complaining, he gave up his own time to help the survivors, from their average leak in the ceiling to helping them through emotional stress. Without working men like Leroy, we would not have the functional campus that we have today.

To Game or Not to Game

2007-10-16T02:59:00.000-07:00

Juan Ortiz
October 16, 2007
English 1001-110
Lei Lani Michele

To Game or Not to Game

Some may wonder if the world of platform gaming is taken to far be the male gender in today’s society. To some men it is just a recreational tool, used when there is no other means of entertainment. However, to others, it is viewed as a way of life; where scheduling and rituals begin to come into play and consequences befall any one who so happens to interrupt a gaming session. But however it is looked at, the question still remains: Do men tend to push the limits between reality and what exist within the realm of “gaming”? Is it that they have nothing better to do with there time then to sit around trying to obtain the next level or is it merely an escape from the daily bothers that may range from stress at the job, all the way down to the nagging girlfriend? Well I thought, what better way is there to judge how men think than to ask a woman.

Thankfully I found such a woman who didn’t mind commenting on the views she had towards the relationship between video games and men. Katherine Cantwell is a freshman at Louisiana State University. A tall, slender woman with blonde her and bubbly personality; Katherine would be the envy of many gamers. She works as a hostess at a restaurant and if often knee deep in studying in order to make the much needed grade. However, she occasionally finds the time to accompany a group of her friends to their apartment in order for them to play video games and relax. I met with her in the pentagon court yard just before she left to this apartment in order to understand why men are viewed to be so obsessed with video games.

I began by asking her about her thoughts on gaming. Katherine admitted to being an avid player of Guitar Hero; a game that involves the player to use a mock guitar as a control stick and to strum buttons as if they were actual notes. She said, lightheartedly, that most of her friends played it quite often at their apartment and that they often fought over who would go next. “It’s our favorite,” she said with a smile on her face. On the other hand, outside of that she could not understand the fascination her “guy” friends had with FPS (First Person Shooters) games such as HALO 3, Call of Duty and Condemned. She began to talk about how she could never control the characters and how the constant spinning always seem to make her dizzy.

With the mention of HALO 3, I asked Katherine her thoughts on the reactions of her male friends during the recent release of the game. She began to laugh as she recalled some of the stories she had heard of her friends. One of her friends said that he had waited in front of the store for twelve hours in order to be the first in line for the release. She told me of another of her friends who had turned down sex from his girlfriend in order to play the game all night long, only to be found in the morning cuddled up along side the game box. I asked her if it could be just that the friend didn’t want any one to take the game while he slept after paying so much for it; especially if he bought the Legendary Edition. “I don’t understand what is so important about that game,” she said, “it’s just like the other two.” At that point I had to gather myself after such an insult to the HALO 3 but I was able to continue with the interview.

What about Hurricane Katrina I wondered. How did that affect your friends and gaming? “I lived in the point,” Katherine said as I watched an acorn fall on her head from the tree above, “so the power would go out all the time and it would always mess up the boy’s games, but when Katrina hit they went nuts without power for so long.” We both couldn’t help but laugh at the misfortune of a gamer without power.

Another hot topic in the realm of gamers is the massive movement known as WOW or World of Warcraft. It is a game with infinite possibilities, allowing its users to customize everything about there characters down to how big their nose is, sarcastically speaking. Katherine had again admitted to playing this but not nearly as much as she had played Guitar Hero. “The quest annoyed me and I just couldn’t get into the swing of things like the guys did”, said Katherine as she began fiddle with her phone. She told me of how a close friend of hers had lost her husband due to WOW. Apparently she found that her husband was cheating on her with an elf princess whose user lived in Maine. I asked if she thought her friend might have over reacted just a little bit to the situation. “Of course not, that was just the first step towards actually meeting with that woman.” she said with some authority. I could only sit and ponder.

One could ask if men take gaming too seriously, but why would you. Is there really an issue if a college student would like to spend his spare time, and possible class time if necessary, submerged in a world of complete imagination where the only limitations are how far the controller will reach or how many people are in rotation with the controllers? Who’s to say that sixteen hours of straight gaming with no sleep is a bad thing? It requires concentration, commitment, and caffeine. All the basic needs of a college student, regardless of the practice time put in at the counsel. So what if men play more then forty hours a week, it only shows that we can commit if we truly want to. Who are you to judge: besides our wives and girlfriends.

Rebel With a Cause

2007-10-16T00:01:00.000-07:00

Alexandra Collier
9 October 2007
English 1001 – 111
Rebel With a Cause

Christina Stein, known to most as Chris, is the mother of my best friend. When I was younger, Chris was always the “cool” mom. She was the mom who got to travel the world as a flight attendant and bring us back gifts from exotic places; the mom who did art projects with us, allowed us to color on the walls, and let us play in the rain. As I grew older she became the mother who practiced Rakii (healing with one’s hands); the mother who gave me advice when I couldn’t turn to my own; the mother who went to night school at Tulane University in order to receive her PhD in psychology. Now, as I am continuing to learn, I have realized that Chris is much more than the “cool” mom. She is a woman raising three children by herself, an extremely spiritual woman who has more faith than anyone I have ever known, and a woman in her late thirties living out her dream to become a psychologist.
Chris and I decided that the best place to conduct my LSU English interview with her would to be at her modest Midcity apartment in New Orleans. “If I’m going to tell you about my life, it might as well be in the place where most of my memories are.” On the day of the interview, Chris was dressed in what she usually wore; faded jeans cut off just above the knee, a tank top that exposed her bellybutton which was adorned with a tiny silver stud, white Converse tennis shoes, about twelve bangle bracelets on each wrist, and an assortment of silver rings on about eight of her ten fingers. Her hair, midnight black with the occasional silver strand, was wavy and unbrushed, like always, making her look almost electric. Her smile revealed her braces, a “cosmetic” procedure she had decided to get in her early thirties. Because of the stereotypes that are made about what doctors should look and dress like, most people never believe Chris when she tells them she is one. “I like it better that way. Being a rebel is in my blood. I’m not a doctor because I want people to know I’m one. I love my jobs, and I love that they are all different. It keeps me young!”
Chris was born into a southern, devout Christian family. Her father was a minister and against his wishes she married a Jewish man from Conneticut at the young age of 21. Later, she would come to realize that the only reason she married him was because she knew her family would disapprove. “The only reason I would not trade my marriage to my ex-husband for anything in the world is the three amazing children he gave me.” Right after she got married she chose a career as a flight attendant for Delta Airlines. I asked her why she chose this to be her job, since it didn’t allow her to express her creativity in anyway. She replied, “I didn’t care. I wanted to see the world. And now I get to fly on the weekends and come home to my children during the week.” She went on to explain how being a flight attendant was something that she started because she thought it would be exciting and adventurous to travel to places around the world and learn about customs and the lives of people living in other countries. This was how she picked up the art of Rakii and decided to practice every different religion she learned about.
It was not until Chris’s early thirties, when she was finally free of a marriage that had been crumbling for years, that she decided she was going to pursue her dream of becoming a psychologist. Sitting with her, a cat and a cup of hot tea with herbs and spices that she had grown herself on the table in front of me, I asked her, “why psychology?” She explained to me how from a very young age, she had always found herself helping people with their problems and analyzing people’s behaviors. “I always found it interesting to observe people. As a child I was kind of a loner. I would sit and just watch, making notes in my head about them. Sooner or later I was ready to learn as much as I could about the human mind and to actually be able to talk to people, not just sit back and watch.” She started attending night classes at Tulane University in New Orleans, and took off four years of flying in order to receive her degree in psychology. While studying, Chris decided to specialize in people with serious mental disorders such as schizophrenia.
“So what is a normal day like for you, as a psychologist?” I asked her. She explained how she mostly visits with people who have mild cases of schizophrenia. “I just talk to them, like I would with any other person. I don’t put myself above them or try to create any sort of authority. I think that calms them down and doesn’t make them feel intimidated.” She went on to explain how she gives them tests, and then has therapy sessions with each of them. I asked her what the hardest part of her job is has she told me that working with patients with paranoid schizophrenia was the most difficult. “I try so hard to make them believe that I am not trying to hurt them in anyway, but sometimes they just won’t believe you. It gets frustrating, but I just have to deal with it. Also, seeing families in so much pain that have a loved one with disorder really ways down on my heart. Other than those things, the only aspect of my job that I don’t like is having to wear that long, blinding white jacket.”
My last question for Chris was, “is becoming a psychologist worth everything that you had to give up, like flying and time with your kids and the money?” She got up and left the room. She returned with a large shoebox and set it down on the table. Inside was an assortment of letters, cards, drawings, and other pieces of paper, most of which looked as if they were made by young children. She removed them and spread them out over the table. “What are these?” I asked her. “These are the reason why I look back on everything that I had to give up and don’t regret even one second of it. They are all thank you letters from my patients.” Many of them were illegible, or rambled on about nothing relevant (Chris noted that it is because the mind of a schizophrenic person bounces from one thought to another), yet it was completely apparent that each of them was written to thank her for helping them.

Father To Many

2007-10-15T23:56:00.000-07:00

Brad Esta
English 1001-111
Lei Lani Michele
Profile
Father to Many
For my student interview I chose to write about Joey Schweitzer, I have known him since my junior year in high school, when he was a religion teacher. He is a happily married man with four children and fifth on the way. Many times when walking around school I have seen him on his cell phone talking to his making sure she was okay, and that everything was alright at home. With all of those children, especially at a young age and another on the way, I use to think that he never had time for anything else except for his job, taking care of his kids, and helping his wife the best he could while she was pregnant. On the contrary, just this past year he had taken another job at my local church.
I have no idea how it does it, but now he had another job besides being a teacher. He took over as the leader of the adults (CORE) of my youth group in my hometown church parish. Even though he also had a teaching job, a wife, and four children at home to attend to it always amazed me how he always had time to talk to the teens in the parish if they were having any trouble and needed someone to talk to. It is a job that I have come to believe fits him perfectly. Whenever someone is talking to him, he always gives you the sense of protection that no matter what is wrong you can always go to him to talk about it. He has shown me that no matter how busy he is he will always be there for the teens to turn to.
Joey is the youth minister at my church parish, Our Lady of Divine Providence, (O.L.D.P). Joey told me that this job consisted of many different parts, "We have to constantly keep up with new events to register for, keep up with the budget, have CORE team meetings, and prepare the information we give to the teens." The CORE team is a group of adults that help the youth leader carry out the massage they hope to get across to the teens. Besides all of this Joey told me that he feels that the most important job is to lead the teens closer to Christ. When asked if he had one message that he would want every teen to know he told me, "I think it is important that every teen know that God loves them and they need Christ." Joey has always been insightful to me, and being a youth minister is something that I have considered being later in my life.
Now with his fifth child on the way he has to do even more, especially around the house to help out his wife. But yet he still has time for the young teens in the parish. He is a person that always seems worried about everyone else, doing his best to make them feel as comfortable as possible. He would always thank me for when I would play with his kids, and always tell me, " I hope they grow up to be as caring and helpful as you." I always thank him for the complement, but I believe that they already have a great role model in their dad.
No matter what time it is he is always willing to help, even if he does have other things he needs to be doing. I believe that he puts the teens before every other aspect of his job. He has been a very important role model in my life, he has showed me no matter what’s going on in my personal life I should always try to help others that need help. He is very giving and expects nothing in return, always willing to help in anyway he can just to make the teens lives a little easier, even if it means taking time out of his day. I wish there could be more people like Joey in the Louisiana community.
Even through all of this he still finds time to play guitar in the church band every once in a while. Thinking of all the things he does I am more impressed everyday. He is also always very cheery person; I can not recall a time that I have seen him angry or upset. He might not be happy with things he sees or hears from teens, but he does not judge them he just does his best to help them out so that they can live a better life.
Joey told me that the damage that Hurricane Katrina did to his was downed fences. Other than that he evacuated all the way up to Ohio, when I asked him why he decided to go so far up he told me that he went up there to reunite with old friends that he went to college with but have moved away. Although the hurricane did not damage his house, Joey told how it was emotionally difficult to be away from home for two months without knowing anything about his house. Now that he is back home, and the hurricane past him, he does his best to help out all those teens that seek his help.

Physician's Assistant

2007-10-15T23:39:00.000-07:00

I had a chance to sit down with Cassie James, who is currently awaiting acceptance to become a physician’s assistant, and ask her a few questions about her chosen occupation. Cassie is a twenty two year old fifth year senior at LSU. Cassie took time out of her day to allow me to do my student interview. I began by asking her, “What made you choose to become a physician’s assistant?” Cassie informed me that, “physician’s assistants have very similar responsibilities as well as similar privileges as certified physicians. P.a.’s have the power to write prescriptions within their particular field of practice as well as in all fifty states.” Cassie also informed me that, “unlike doctors, if a p.a. is interesting in changing their particular practice of medicine they simply must shadow a doctor in that field; a doctor on the other hand must go back to school and train in that significant field.” Cassie educated me that physician’s assistants also require a lot less amount of schooling, thus saving her time and money. Cassie settles back into her chair and releases a sigh of satisfaction in her knowledge of that she won’t have to attend anymore schooling.

Cassie briefed me on the context of the numerous personal benefits of being a physician’s assistant. A comforting fact about becoming a physician’s assistant is that you have to practice under the supervision of a licensed doctor; meaning that you can easily switch from any practice to any other practice. “Even though I have to practice under a licensed doctor, he/she is not required to be there in person.” I also found out that there are numerous possibilities for a physician’s assistant; the military offers jobs for p.a.’s as well as going into private practice. Cassie said that the work environment for a p.a. is normally that of licensed doctors. “Having a good work environment is crucial for me.” “I know a lot of people that are very disappointed with their work environments and it seems to be a very big distraction for them.”

“So what would you say is the most satisfying thing about your profession?” Cassie responded with a smile spanning from ear to ear, “I love helping people in the LSU community. It is just a satisfying feeling knowing that I am making a difference.” Because college students often change their majors throughout their college life, I asked Cassie if she has always wanted to be a p.a. “When I started here at LSU my major was Pre-Med but as I progressed in my studies I found out that my interests as well as time were better devoted to becoming a physician’s assistant. From there on my passion has been to become a physician’s assistant.” Wondering what kind of carrier plans she has planned for herself in the future, I ask, “Where do you hope to be in five years?” After a moment of pondering, she simply replies, “doing what I love, helping people”. “I hope to be working in correlation with a licensed doctor in Shreveport.”

By now I have fully realized that Cassie, being a p.a. in Baton Rouge, is a very positive impact on the Baton Rouge community. I can best describe Cassie James as a well educated, properly trained individual that dedicates hours of her time a week (of unpaid labor) for the sole purpose of influencing the people of Baton Rouge in the medical field. Cassie has been part of the Baton Rouge community for nearly five years and is closing her legacy on the LSU community. She will be going back “home” to Shreveport, Louisiana in hopes of attending LSUS’s p.a. program. Cassie will soon be remembering merely a glimpse of Louisiana as she goes on to greatly impact the Shreveport community. With her overly sufficient knowledge of the medical field, I feel certain that this one day soon physician’s assistant will be a profitable, benign part of Louisiana’s medical community.

-p.g.

A Free Spirit

2007-10-15T23:36:00.000-07:00

The Rolling Stones’ song "Can’t You Hear Me Knocking" played on Ivan’s phone as his ring tone. He answered right after I heard the line "Ya’ll got cocaine eyes" and I giggled a little to myself. Ivan had been known for his heavy use of cocaine and other drugs. His behavior had prompted a series of arrests and a few stints in rehab, which is where my brother, Derrick, met Ivan. They were on the same floor at Brentwood, a drug rehabilitation center, and had remained close friends after they were released, which is how I met Ivan. He hung up the phone and explained that it had been Christine, his on and off again girlfriend of four years, that had called. The couple had a Sid and Nancy-type relationship; they fought constantly and were both wild. After one night of drinking, Christine once broke a beer bottle over a woman’s head for complimenting Ivan after a show. Ivan said he believed their fighting was due to the fact that they were so much alike. He also said that’s also why he loved Christine so much. "She’s crazy, but hell, so am I."
We walked into Casa Maria, a Mexican restaurant in the Baton Rouge community, and Ivan walked ahead of me to request a booth from the hostess. We sat across from one another; Ivan’s eyes scanned the menu quickly. I put my notebook and pen out on the table, but it felt awkward. I thought it might make Ivan a little uncomfortable and felt conversation would flow more freely if I put it away. I made the decision to stick it in my bag and made a mental note to try to remember every detail. Ivan wore a black t-shirt with words ‘The Ramones’ written across the front in white bold letters. A pair of black aviator sunglasses hung from his shirt neck. Ivan also now sported a short haircut, much different from the long hair I’d last seen him with last. His scruffy facial hair remained and his fingernails were dirty. Ivan was different from a lot of people I knew; he always did what he wanted, whenever he wanted, which made me admire him in a strange sort of way. I guess deep down there are times when I wish I cared less about what other people thought and just did what I wanted. I had heard a lot of stories about Ivan and I was curious to know how he’d been doing, which is what prompted me to call him when my English 1001 teacher, Lei Lani Michel, assigned a student interview at LSU.
Ivan played in a local band Two Hate Harvey that consisted of Jared and Jonathan (twins), Caleb and Ivan. The band’s name originated from an experience Jared and Jonathan had with an elementary school bully. Two Hate Harvey wasn’t the first band Ivan played in; he’d been pursuing his musical career since junior high. In sixth grade, he began playing the guitar with few of his friends. The first show Ionic, his first band, played was a school talent show. "I remember we’d just gotten together a few weeks before the show and we’d only had a few practices. We played the song "Eight Days A Week" by the Beatles. It was one of the first songs I learned to play. We were terrible, but everyone was real nice and acted like they liked it. I’m sure we sounded like shit." I could tell that Ivan recalled these memories fondly; I knew by his big grin how much he liked to talk about his days as an adolescent.
After Ionic had long been dismantled, Ivan joined a band out of Shreveport, Louisiana called The Renegades. "Girls really do love musicians, famous or not. It doesn’t matter." Ivan took the time from his quesadillas to give me a little advice about guys in bands. I laughed and he looked at me with a serious sort of face. He reiterated his point. "I’m serious. I know. Just stay away. They are not good guys." I gave Ivan a polite smile and head nod to humor him for his advice; I’m sure he had good intentions, but I always try to make decisions about people for myself. It was during his time with The Renegades that he became heavily involved with drugs and alcohol. Ten months of shows and parties passed, filled with every drug imaginable. Ivan had become dependent on cocaine and was giving all his money to his drug dealer. These wild nights with the band led to Ivan’s first arrest after a fight in a bar. "I swore I’d get clean after my first time I got arrested, but it’s never as easy as you think. Especially if you keep hanging out with the same crowd." I honestly didn’t believe Ivan was done with drugs yet. I couldn’t tell a difference. Ivan was the type of person that was always trying to kick his habit, but never could just do it. My parents loved Ivan like a son and I thought of him as a brother, but I knew better than to believe his talk of soberness. My brother eventually had to quit hanging out with him because he couldn’t be around the all the drugs.
Then, Ivan told me something I never expected. Christine was pregnant; Ivan was going to be a father. He expressed his fears to me about becoming a dad. "I just don’t know if either of us are ready. I can’t even pay my own rent of my one bedroom apartment." He didn’t make any money playing with Two Hate Harvey; they’d just started, and he had just quit his part time job mowing lawns due to conflicts with his boss. Ivan tried to keep the mood light, but I could tell by his overall body language that Christine’s pregnancy was something that had been bothering him. He looked as if someone had just unloaded a ton of bricks onto his back; his body looked heavy and he looked down a lot while talking about the baby. I asked if he was going to continue to pursue his musical career. Ivan looked down again and then responded with a surprising answer: he didn’t know. I thought that Ivan would say that he was going to quit the band and get a better paying, more stable job to support Christine and his unborn child; however, that was not the answer I recieved. I ate some of the tortillas chips to distract myself from the awkward silence that surrounded us. I think Ivan could tell that I was a little taken aback by his answer. I wished that my opinion hadn’t been so obvious.
Conversation dwindled a little after the baby talk; we became focused on our meals. He told me that he thought quitting the band this soon might be a mistake and I told him that I understood. We finished our meal and Ivan offered to buy my lunch. I politely declined and thanked him for taking the time to let me interview him; we left our tips and said our goodbyes. Walking to his 1992 red hatchback, Ivan lit a cigarette. I wondered when I would hear from him again or what I would hear about him next.
I was honestly a little bit disturbed to hear that Ivan and Christine were going to have a baby. I thought that they both still had too many wild nights left in them and I was still unsure if Ivan was even sober. If I were in Ivan’s position, I would probably quit the band and try to get a full time job. Then again, who am to pass judgement? I don’t know that Two Hate Harvey will not become famous. Staying in the band might be the best decision. I hope that Ivan makes the choices that are best for himself, the baby and Christine. Who knows? Two Hate Harvey might be playing on the radio the next time I get in my car.

First Meetings

2007-10-15T23:25:00.000-07:00

Elaina Rusk
Leilani Michel
English 1001-109
15 October 2007

First Meeting

For this paper I had a long list of people that I could interview such as people from a lawyer to a sugar cane farmer and luckily the first person I chose was more than happy to let me interview her for my English 1001 paper. This time around I decided to talk to her in person rather than have an online interview. The day of this interview was my first time ever meeting Sarah Schexnayder, which could be considered shocking since she is my sister’s room mate and co-worker. I will say that I was insanely nervous to meet her.
I had only talked to her on the phone once and that was to set up meeting somewhere so I could talk to het. We both decided to meet at Raising Cane’s and I could just interview her over lunch. When I arrived Sarah was sitting in the booth comfortably in what appeared to be pajamas with messy hair waiting to be called to receive her order. I sat down across from her and introduced myself. We talked about ourselves for the first few minutes and I was surprised to find out that we are related by marriage.
Sarah was born and raised in the small, on the river town of Vacherie Louisiana and has an older brother Michael and a younger sister Alex. She claims that she is a big family person. “Every Sunday my ENTIRE family gets together and we have this big dinner. I never miss it” She was home schooled during her elementary and middle school years but her parents decided to make her attended St. James High School where she surprisingly graduated in the top five in her class. When I asked her why she decided to attend LSU, she told me, “Football and it is one of the best places in the WORLD!” We laughed and she said that she was obliviously joking and the real reason is because of TOPS, all of her family had gone to college at LSU and because she could get an excellent higher education and still stay close to her home. Sarah started out at LSU wanting to be a Biology and Pharmacy major but quickly changed it when she realized how much she hated Biology. By sophomore year she had a solid grasp on what she wanted her to be major who was and still is Kinesiology.
“I really like science but I hate Biology so much. I though about what I could do that was more hands on as a career, help me get into medical school and help me graduate sooner and then it came to me, so eventually I picked Kinesiology.” She told me that ever since she was five years old she dreamed that she wanted to be a doctor or something in the medical field and that her dream was only made bigger when her Aunt Nettie married Dr. Chris Trevino. When Sarah is not in one of her many classes or studying most of the time is devoted to her job at LSU Health Center and Sciences Department. She works as a student worker in the Legal Department; “I do pretty basic work” she says, “I file, answer phones and run errands for the attorneys and even sometimes transfer audio court records into written ones.” She hopes that her job will help her get into a good medical school if not then her volunteer experience at Earl K. Long hospital will. “I did a lot of different things when I volunteered there. Took vitals for the nurses, changed beds, watched some surgeries, and did paper work.” I asked her when the craziest time to work was was and she told me that right after hurricane Katrina was. “All the patients and even the prisoners that were suppose to go to Charity Hospital had to be shipped to Earl K. Long.” Sarah told me about her Katrina experience; she said that her family did decide to ride out the storm and the most damage her home in Vacherie sustained was a down tree and the power was out for a week at the most. “The one thing I hated the most about after the hurricane was the traffic! The volume of people in Baton Rouge got to be too much. It got to be so bad that if I wanted to go somewhere, it had to be something important.”
I asked her what her feelings were about Katrina now that it is two years later and she said that all she wants people to do is shut up about it and that she it totally sick of it. “I mean, I understand that it’s a big deal and all and we should remember it but let’s not talk about it twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.”
Sarah says her plans for her future are still unclear but she knows she wants to go to medical school. “I will go where ever life takes me in the medical field, as weird as that sounds,” she said laughing a bit, “If it’s in Baton Rouge or Chicago or San Diego or even a different continent then that’s where I’ll go. So basically where ever I can have the best life.” She told me that when she isn’t working or doing school related stuff she spends most of her time having fun doing various things. She admits that even though she finds it a tad bit embarrassing, she has jumped on the band wagon and is currently obsessed with the videogame Guitar Hero II. “Its kinda funny actually,” she said smiling, “I get so into it and I get made fun of by everyone for it, my boyfriend especially likes to pick on me for it. I’m actually up to the hard level so I think I am doing pretty well with it.”
She also likes to cook as much as possible; anytime she gets the chance she’ll cook; she is also the same way with cleaning and as confessed to being a total clean freak and some of her friends say that it is so bad that she just walks around with a can of Lysol cleaner and clean everything and anything.. “I very much like to read about science and anatomy, call me strange but it is the truth. I guess I am really into my major” she said chuckling some.
We finished our food and decided to go back to my sister and her’s apartment and talk some more. When both of us arrived at the apartment, Sarah immediately challenged me to a game of Guitar Hero and let’s just say he kicks butt. The last thing I asked her is if she had any advice at all to share with me. She just laughed hard and said, “You really don’t want to ask me that, I don’t give good advice.” She then said she was joking and told me to never take the easy way out because the hard way will get you farther and to follow my dreams to the fullest because it my life and I should do with it what I want. I have to say, I agree with her whole heartedly.

Student Interview

2007-10-15T23:11:00.000-07:00

Nick Campo

LeiLani

English 1001-110

10/8/07

Student Interview

It was a rainy Sunday afternoon, the last day before our rough drafts were due when I thought all hope was lost. The Baton Rouge community’s homeless had left the city. I thought to myself, “Okay, one last trip down college and call it a day.” Just at the very end of the road, right before the overpass, there he was; my holy grail that had been eluding me all week. He was tall and gangly, had the appearance much like a skeleton. Very thin, sunken in eyes, and a grin that gave his harsh and dirty face a far removed look to it like he was watching life on a television screen. He was smiling at his Cracker Jack box like it was a golden medal earned after much hard work. I actually owe the interview solely to this Cracker Jack box because I would never have even seen this gentleman unless he had not flaunted them so proudly in front of my car. As soon as I did see him I knew he was the one for the job. I pulled over and offered him lunch if he would sit with me and answer a few questions. He was rather skeptical at first but when I told him we would be going to Hooters his distant grin turned into a mischievous one. He climbed into my car and my nostrils were immediately assaulted by the unbearable stench of the man. I did my best to act as if I did not notice, but it was tough, the smell was close to that of a cow pasture and gasoline. His skin was covered in dirt and grime, I noticed this when he shook my hand and I was left with an oily film on my own. I immediately rolled down the windows to the car and asked the man his name. He told me his name was Jake Richards and it had been a very long time since he was able to go to eat at Hooters. It was a short drive around the corner but it felt like forever, I could not wait to get his smell and dirt out of my car.

When we walked into Hooters we were looked at kind of oddly by the hostess but she quickly covered up her surprise to see someone like Jake, who did not really seem to notice or car, coming into the restaurant with a classic Hooters “I’m here to for your pleasure” smile. We got a table outside for the sake of the other patrons, ordered a few appetizers, and I began my questioning.

By the sheer looks of the poor fellow you could tell he has been down on his luck lately. He was wearing jeans that were so thin I do not think they were doing more than just concealing him, his shirt was ripped in many places, and a deeply faded green bucket cap with his long nappy hair protruding from the bottom of it. I began my questions with some basic ones so has not to scare him off or get to personal too soon, I asked him if he had noticed any change due to hurricane Katrina?

“That storm was like a blessing.” He went on to explain that because the storm surged so many people to Baton Rouge he was able to ask that many more individuals for money and in turn make more income. It made me laugh a little and I realized he was not laughing at all. It is hard to grasp, in my opinion, that this is his way of life. That if Jake does not find enough generous people in a week he will not eat for a week. No wonder he was so proud of his Cracker Jacks, they were probably the best meal he had had in a year. This brought me to my next question.

“Have you ever considered getting any sort of job?” This brought on a fit of laughter from my new buddy. He looked down at himself and said four simple words through a mouth full of fried pickles:

“Would you hire me?” I conceded the point, as I had mentioned earlier his appearance is not really up to par and these were probably the only set of clothes that he had. After this I kind of lost him for five minutes or so where he just began singing real low to himself. I have never really been around the homeless or the crazy to much so I just let him work it out of his system. After he finished his concert with a very obtrusive high note he looked at me and asked for more food. I figured this was coming so I got a few more appetizers and continued with the interview hoping that I would have enough information to end it soon.

After an awkward silence I asked him if he would describe an average day in the life of Jake for me. I was met with a blank stare. I was not sure if he was thinking about it, sleeping, or avoiding the question all together so I asked him again. This time he blinked and began talking as if it was the first time he had heard the question. He told me that he usually wakes up whenever it starts getting noisy; I would imagine that would be about six or seven. He then travels by foot up and down the highway until he finds where traffic is mostly jammed and, if he still has his sign from the day before begins begging this Louisiana community for whatever pieces of coin they might have to offer him. If he is hungry when he wakes up, Jake will go over to the McDonalds garbage, he says they have the best amount thrown away. He then continues to move around the city either just passing the time or finding friendly looking individuals to ask for a few cents. He seemed to have absolutely no idea about the jobs set up solely for the homeless, sadly I did not know enough to even point him in the right direction. I just told him to keep his ears open. Although I could tell him about one thing he might look in to trying. That was collecting cans and turning them in for a few cents a can. I told him it was not much but it was better than nothing and he could look into it.

I asked Jake how he ended up here in Baton Rouge and where his family was. He responded to me with something I did not really expect at all. Mr. Richards told me that he was born and raised here and at one time was actually enrolled at BRCC just down the street. I was astonished and needed to know more. He told me that one day he just could not take it anymore and he dropped out, he got by for a little while but he had not spoken to his family in a very long time and had no source of income. Jake said that one thing led to another until he could not afford rent. “At first it wasn’t so bad; it was just one night out of the week your friends wouldn’t take you that you were sleeping in a park. Then it becomes ‘hey, it’s not that bad it’s only two nights in the park,’ next thing you know your living in that park. None of your friends will even speak to you. And here I am.” Jake finished with a very somber look and I was truly sad for him. I asked him if he would have done anything different given a second chance. He shrugged and said probably not, “I just could not and cannot handle all this.” With the end of this question I got the bill and gave him a ride down the road where I dropped him off where I found him. Jake shook my hand and thanked me for the food and began walking off in the opposite direction.

Jake Richards was by far one of the most interesting characters I have ever met before. The interviewing process of this man was perhaps some of the most fun I never want to have again. From the way he smelled to the way he talked there was nothing very pleasant about Mr. Richards, but he is definitely some one I will probably remember for a long time. It was a sad thing to see someone with such obvious mental problems have no chance at succeeding just because he did not have any one to notice the problems early enough to do something about it. Maybe if his family would have been a bit closer they could gotten them taken care of, but who knows. Hopefully Jake will make it one day and be able to turn his life around.

The Jesus Talk Guy

2007-10-15T22:44:00.000-07:00

Lei Lani Michel
English 1001-109
16 October 2007
The Jesus Talk Guy

The walkway in front of Louisiana State University’s Union is commonly known as Free Speech Alley. A place where anyone such as organizations, groups, clubs and individuals can congregate, and share information, their thoughts, and opinions, whatever they choose to, without persecution. Walking through Free Speech Alley I commonly saw the man I deemed “The Jesus Talk Guy” sitting there and every time I passed I was thought he was the most fascinating person in the world. I was touched and intrigued to see someone I did not know sitting in Free Speech Alley openly willing to talk about God.

Mr. Ivan Imes has been sitting in Free Speech Alley with his “Jesus Talk” t-shirt and two foldable chairs for several years now a few hours three days a week. He sets up his two foldable chairs in the shade of one of the oak trees in Free Speech Alley and patiently sits in one of them waiting for someone to come and sit to talk with him.

While I was intrigued about talking with “the Jesus Talk Guy”, I was very apprehensive before my interview. I was afraid he would speak down to me, quoting bible verses and trying to persuade me to believe what he believes is the correct way to live or believe in God. But soon after I sat down in one of his set up chairs with a piece of paper that said “Questions? Prayer Requests?” on the back, my apprehensions were proved wrong. I was pleasantly surprised that he was very nice to talk to and did nothing more than share how he came to sitting in Free Speech Alley with his “Jesus Talk” t-shirt and his passion for giving his time to the students of Louisiana State University. The interview was very informal and was not intimidating for myself. I felt as though I was talking to someone I already knew and trusted; someone I could share anything with.
Mr. Imes said that one day in April 2000, he was sitting at his computer and just typed “Jesus Talk” at the top of the page, thus was born his idea to reach out to students in the Baton Rouge community. He said, “I went to the pastor of the church I was attending and asked if I could do this and he said ‘no’”, referring to his “Jesus Talk” project. After he began sitting in Free Speech Alley, “I later realized that I was not ready at that point in my life”. A few years later he joined a new church and again proposed his “Jesus Talk” idea, this time he received a very different answer. His new church encouraged him to pursue his idea which he says was “undoubtedly inspired by God”. When I asked Mr. Imes if sitting in Free Speech Alley was important he said, “Absolutely. I did not feel like I could sit downtown and I what I wanted to do was strictly for the students”.

Due to his “Jesus Talk” t-shirt and his blatant openness to talking about God, I assumed that Mr. Imes had always had a tie to the church, and I was surprised to find out that Mr. Imes had only been going to church for about fourteen years. He said that one of his sons got involved in the church before he did. His relationship with his family was greatly improved as he got involved in regularly going to church and developing a relationship with God. Mr. Imes is a retired chemical engineer and owned his own business. As well as his “Jesus Talk” project he is in counseling in an Addiction Recovery Program.

Despite the controversial topic of God, Mr. Imes said he has never had any conflicts while sitting in Free Speech Alley. “I do this for the students and no one else”. Mr. Imes makes himself available to the students of Louisiana State University in a non-threatening way. He peacefully sits in his chair and just waits for someone to sit down. He considers himself to be a non-threatening person. “I’m a grandfather figure you can talk to, you usually do not think of a grandfather to be threatening.” Also “I don’t bring a bible out here; that would scare people off.”, he said chuckling. “Students feel like they are able to come and talk because it is anonymous, safe, and spiritual.” After speaking with him I found this to be true, I did not feel intimidated or looked down upon at all.

The number of people who sit down to talk “varies, some days there are quite a few people and other days, only a few”. After I learned how many people came and talked to him I wondered if he ever got discouraged by the numerous amounts of people who walk past him with a cold shoulder, he responded “I could easily get discouraged but I don’t. I pray that God sends those who want to talk to me. I can only help those who want help”. After Hurricane Katrina the students especially needed someone out there willing to give their time and willing to listen to what they needed to express even if they were not quite ready to talk about the tragedy. Mr. Imes said “I pray that God enters the lives of the students and I pray that he helps them through whatever situation they are going through.”

After learning about the amount of time Mr. Imes gives to the students of Louisiana State University in Free Speech Alley I was curious about what he gets out sitting and talking with students as well as his reaction to talking to students. He smiled at my question and said “It brings me great joy and brings me closer to God; it’s a continuous learning experience. I experience different things when talking to students; I sometimes get the chill or cry. God is amazing and restorative force and I’m glad to be a part of that in the lives of students.” I was moved by his answer and saw his passion for the students.

In writing this English 1001 paper I realized that it is sometimes hard to open yourself up to a perfect stranger, even if it is just for a student interview, but the result was enlightening. Mr. Imes’s passion for the students showed when I was talking with him. It did not seem like he was interested in any kind of publicity, he truly believes he was inspired by God to give the gift of his time to the students of Louisiana State University. The giving of his time is the greatest gift anyone can give; time cannot be taken back. It is often the simplest things like the giving of time mean the most to those who are in need. I realized the importance of the interview genre and its place in society.

Common Interest

2007-10-15T22:35:00.000-07:00

Brittany Danna
Lei Lani Michel
English 1001-110
October 16, 2007
Common Interest

When most people think of someone with significance in and around the Baton Rouge community, or even the Louisiana community, what would generally be the first thing to come to mind would be a popular place or person. Such as a politician, well known restaurant, or local celebrity. Every single person that lives within this community is important just by being a part of the culture and community. Though much of my family resides within this state, I am not from here. So to me in my opinion, even everyday ordinary citizens are important because they help those who are unfamiliar with a place learn the ways or culture.
It is for that reason that I decided to interview Samantha for my freshman English 1001 online interview paper. It being the first day of my geography class here at LSU, I wanted to be sure and leave plenty of time to make sure I would not be late. Although it is generally difficult to meet people in college, since in most cases there may easily be over three hundred students in one class, I was fortunate enough to meet Samantha, who also fortunately did not wish to be late to the first day of class. Upon meeting Samantha, she was very friendly, as are most students here on campus, and it was very easy to talk to her. Although I did not talk to her that much over the first few months of school, I decided to interview her for my paper because I wanted to make the point that even the average person is important.
As I began with the interview, I decided that a good place to start would be where she worked, for the simple fact of starting a conversation. “I have worked at several different restaurants, a Smoothie King, and I am currently working at a job where I am involved in PR (public relations).” This is important because it gives an example of how every job is important to the economy of an area. For example, in the food industry around LSU, most of the jobs are held by college students, and are therefore important to helping run this community.
As we continued the interview, the conversation leaned towards current problems within Louisiana. For example, she feels that, “One of the biggest problems right now is how the coastal wetlands are deteriorating but not much is being done to preserve them.” This is important, along with many other current issues, because as a citizen of Louisiana, or any state, it is always good to be aware of the issues and problems that are present. This being because any of these could and probably have an effect on everyone in the area.
When I asked her for her opinions on the culture in this area, she replied with the enthusiastic response of, “Well, for one thing, the LSU football games sure do bring everyone together!” LSU football is a large part of the community in this area. For many students, it is something to get them through the week. With many classes and hours of studying, it gives the students a break once every week or so during football season to spend time with friends, and watch their favorite team win game after game.
Before the interview ended, I needed to be sure and ask her the one question we were required to ask for our English interview papers. That is, how did hurricane Katrina impact the person you are interviewing? As Samantha had already told me that she was from New Orleans, I was almost hesitant to ask her this question, for the simple reason that I was not quite sure as to what kind of response I would get. When asked, however, she responded that she and her family evacuated before the hurricane hit. They left for the house of a cousin of hers who lives in a city not too far north of Houston. She and her family stayed there for several weeks. When she left, she had to leave her car which was lost in the flooding, and much damage was done to her house. I also asked her about her opinions on how she felt the government responded to the disaster. “FEMA didn’t handle it well at all,” she said, “FEMA also left many people without trailers, and took a long time for people to get their money.” It is important for people to know about the truth of what went on with the government, and how it was handled on a city, state, and national level, and in a community such as this, almost anyone you talk to has been impacted in one way or another.
As the interview came to an end, Samantha wished me luck on completing this interview paper for freshman English. Although she is not what would be generally called a person of importance, she is important because she represents many college students who are a vital part of the Baton Rouge community. So in other words, not only are politics, well known people, and well known places important, but each individual is important because each person can work towards a common interest, that is the well being and upholding of the city they live in and the state of Louisiana.

Homer, Louisiana, the "home" of David Haynes

2007-10-15T22:26:00.000-07:00

Eric Regard
English 1001
Ms. Lei Lani Michel
9 October 2007
Homer, Louisiana, the “home” of David Haynes
If someone were to say that they know where Homer, Louisiana is, they probably live near by. In fact, very few people live in Homer or can say that they are a product of Homer. My friend David, on the other hand, isn’t one of those people. In July of 1988, David Haynes was born in this small town to one of the few wealthy families within miles of this city. With a population of just over 3,500 people, Homer is located in Claiborne parish which shares a border with Arkansas, in north Louisiana. With this being said, you may have acquired small picture of my subject’s hometown on this online interview.
Before stepping foot on the Louisiana State University campus I was also one of the many people who had not heard of Homer. This changed the day that my new neighbor in Baton Rouge introduced himself to me. As I walked away from our introduction to one another, I was left with many questions that I wished to be answered. First of which, where the hell is Homer? The LSU freshmen that lives into the same condominium complex as me, is about 5’10’’ with a stocky build. After meeting David, I realized that it was his truck which was blocking me in the previous evening, in the parking lot. The fact that David drives a truck was of no surprise to me due to his country accent and the abundance of people from rural areas, that I’ve met, who own trucks. David’s sister Amanda and I had also introduced ourselves to one another that day. Homer seemed to have yielded yet another unique individual in my perspective, in regards to Amanda. David and Amanda both talk with extremely soft voices and carry themselves in a manner that is very tranquil, as if they have never had a problem in their lives.
This encounter with the Haynes family was followed by a few weeks of separation between them and myself. This time spent away from my newly acquired neighbors, built up an abundance of eagerness to learn more about these people. In our first weeks of residence, David would often be found drinking a beer and sitting in the above-ground swimming pool that was constructed by him and his friends. Assuming that this was a commonly practiced custom in Homer, I did not think too much of this rare site of four college kids swimming together in a pool with a twelve foot diameter.
After my time in Greek Rush was completed, I noticed that David had also undergone the strenuous process of deciding which fraternity to pledge to. David’s choice was Kappa Alpha which was my second pick. Many of my friends from Shreveport had also joined “KA” and became good friends with David. At that time, I still wouldn’t consider myself a friend of David’s, just an acquaintance. My level of friendship with David was altered drastically when I approached him to do a student interview for my English 1001 class.
David and I both had a mutual understanding of the fact that Homer was a city in Louisiana that not too many people have heard of. This small town evidently posted no threat to David having a good time. A barrage of stories, which consisted of crazy country nights and Claiborne Academy football practices, led off our interview. David once found himself in the bed of a truck, speeding down a back-road, in the effort of evading the Claiborne Country Sherriff. The cause of this high-speed chase is still unknown to David yet he has a scar to prove the validity of this story. As his buddy, who was driving this belligerently intoxicated, slammed on the brakes to swerve off into a cornfield, David came flying towards the front of the truck. His head hit the back window, which cracked it and left David with a two-inch gash on the top of his head. David produced many other stories during our interview but none as interesting as that one. I cannot recall a time in my life when a night with my friends, unfolded remotely close to an event such as this one. The only explanation I can find for this is the distance that exists between Homer and Shreveport. A strange fact that David seemed eager to tell me was that the only Wal-Mart in the world to have closed down after opening, was located in Homer. The reason that the closing of this Wal-Mart was such a big deal to David was due to the fact that it was one of the few places for the younger residents of Homer to hang out on weekends. I can honestly say that a grocery store was never on my mind when considering somewhere to meet up with my friends on Friday night. Only a town such a Homer would be able to claim such a feat. David also enlightened me of what it was like to graduate with a class of twenty-one people and enter a state university with more than 40,000 students. “It’s a little different than back home,” was the phrase that David used to describe this change in his life. Knowing the name of everyone in his school didn’t seem to be as big of a deal to David as it was to me but I also didn’t live in a town as small as this one.
I think David’s upbringing in a small town such as Homer is the root of his personality. David doesn’t need to go out every night or get drunk to have a good time. He can sit around with a few of the guys and talk for hours and have as good of a time that “Tiger Land” could show him. I don’t believe that young people now, who grow up in a suburban area or in a big city, possess those qualities. Growing up in Homer was also advantageous in another sense. David was not affected by Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina was brushed upon in our discussion but did not consume much of our time. He told me of a fund raiser that his school sponsored to help those in need yet he was not affected in the brutal way New Orleans was, due to the location of Homer in North Louisiana. David’s feelings towards those affected were summed up in the statement, “I guess it takes something big like that to make you put your life in perspective and thank God for what he has given you.” Knowing that someone who comes across as possessing the “tough-guy” image, could say something to that nature is hard to believe. This is an example of the effect that a tragic event can have on a large amount of people and how something like this can bring people closer together as it did to David and I, in our interview even though we weren’t directly affected by its damage.
Overall, it has truly been an experience to encounter someone such as David and have the time to get to know him and his family. This is truly a friendship that I believe I will maintain throughout my college and adult life. Realizing how a person’s beginning can affect their future was pointed out to me in this essay. This connection was made clear when descriptions of his home life and his current life were evident in my observations during our interview. This interview has produced a lifelong friend of mine and you and I can both now say that we have heard of Homer, Louisiana.

My Interview with an Ornithologist

2007-10-15T21:49:00.001-07:00

Laura Stegall
English 1001-111
10-16-07
My Interview with an Ornithologist

Burning rubber as I left my dorm on my blue Roadmaster bike, I ran through some questions planned for my student interview. I thought to myself, “Okay, where did you grow up, and what was it like studying birds in different countries.” It was ten o’clock in the morning when I arrived outside of Foster Hall, where I was supposed to conduct my LSU English interview with my Biology 1201 teacher, Dr. Fredrick Sheldon. Dr. Sheldon is an ornithologist, someone who studies birds, a professor at Louisiana State University, and the director of the Museum of Natural Sciences on campus. After I parked my bike, I walked up two flights of stairs to room 204 Foster Hall, quietly knocked on his office door and walked inside.

Dr. Sheldon sat comfortably at his desk answering e-mails among scattered papers in front of me. “Pull up a chair,” he replied to my entrance, as he sat in front of a wall adorned with various pictures of birds. He motioned for me to sit down, and I made myself comfortable. Dr. Fredrick Sheldon was born in New Jersey, and was the youngest of three boys. While growing up, his father worked in New York and his mother was a housewife. He graduated from the private school Montclair Academy. After high school, Sheldon was accepted into the prestigious college, Yale. As he leaned back in his rolling chair, he described that he was “overwhelmed as a freshmen as Yale.” “I was not as aggressive as some of my peers; I wasn’t as good of a student either.” Dr. Sheldon played football and lacrosse at Yale University. He leisurely propped his legs up on top of his desk as he said, “I majored in biology in college. At first I was biochemistry major, but I was more interested in studying wildlife.” As a junior at Yale, Dr. Sheldon took an ornithology class and “loved it.” He explained that Yale has a national history museum with an elaborate bird display. This definitely helped spark an interest in his studying of birds. Sheldon realized that he could make money doing what he enjoyed, exploring wildlife. Reflecting on his childhood, Sheldon said that he grew up in the suburbs catching snakes and frogs. “There wasn’t much wildlife to catch really.” When he began high school that fascination kind of diminished a bit.

Dr. Sheldon had to get a PhD to become an ornithologist. He got a job studying birds after he graduated from Yale. “During that time I did a lot of traveling to study birds,” he said. “After that I went to grad school and got my PhD.” Dr. Sheldon worked for seven years in Philadelphia at the Academy of Natural Sciences, America’s oldest natural history museum. He gained a great deal of knowledge about birds working at the museum.

Sheldon travels to many countries to study birds and the way they act in their habitats. He has visited Malaysia, Australia, South Africa, Ecuador, and India. Of course going to these foreign countries has its risk of disease. Sheldon sighed as he said, “I have to get shots and take pills for different illnesses such as, yellow fever, polio, and malaria.” “Other ways we try to prevent disease is by keeping clean, and being careful of what foods we eat.” Dr. Sheldon has gotten sick several times and has gotten malaria twice. His dark eyes gazed off as he said, “I go to Malaysia every year, usually during the summer. Typically, we go to the city, rent a car, and set up camp out somewhere in the bush for about three weeks.” The group of scientists, usually four to five, set up nets to catch birds; they also cut trails in the forest for exploration. The scientists catch the birds and take blood samples to study their DNA and genetic heritage. “This way we can draw the family tree of a specific species of birds.”

Dr. Sheldon is an evolutionary biologist that studies the behavior and ecology of birds. Sometimes they kill the birds for ecological studies; this is known as collecting. “As scientists, we try to figure out how birds have evolved.” Dr. Sheldon would set up on plantations that grow Oil Palms, which are used to make cooking oil and wood. The natives burn up the forest and plant these fast growing trees to use it as bio fuel and other resources. This is horrible for the lush forest and the creatures that dwell in the rainforests. He spends his time looking at how birds react after they are exposed to their new environment. There is relatively simple ecology in these plantations compared to the animals living in the rainforest. I asked him if he made any discoveries. He replied, “The discoveries we make are primarily on how birds relate genetically, for example the relationship between ducks, geese, and swans.” One of the answers they are searching for is, “Why is there so much diversity between birds in the tropics?” As their research persists they will come closer to the answer.

Dr. Sheldon was caught off guard when I inquired if there were any funny or surprising stories from the trips. He sat pensively touching his graying temples for a few moments until he remembered a story that occurred in Malaysia. “Some scientists and I were hunting birds at night on a dirt road. There was a road block ahead of where we were walking. We were scared to death when a bunch of natives came out with guns pointed at us and asked us what we were doing there.” Sheldon and his colleagues explained that they were scientists studying birds. “Luckily, I can speak some of their native language, Malay, so there wasn’t too much trouble.” He learned to speak Malay visiting in Malaysia over the years.

Leaning forward, Dr. Sheldon said that his favorite part of being an ornithologist was seeing different parts of the world. His least desired part is trying to raise money for the expensive trips in order to do research. “I don’t like having to beg for money from the different agencies that sponsor us, such as the National Science Foundation.”

During Katrina, Professor Sheldon said that he had many more students than expected. He was teaching an Introduction to Biology course at the time. “My classes started to get really full, so I had to slow down the course to make sure everyone was up to speed.” Sheldon was relieved to say that “other than that Katrina didn’t affect” him too much. In addition, Dr. Sheldon has been married to his wife for twenty-six years. He has two teenage sons, Kenny and Ricky; neither of them expresses much interest in ornithology. Over the years, his family has accompanied him on some of his trips to other countries. “They like the adventure for the most part, but they get kind of bored with all of the studies I have to do.” Dr. Sheldon says that he is “fanatical about fishing and duck hunting” and that Louisiana is a great place to do both. Additionally, he is the director of the Museum of Natural Sciences located in Foster Hall; Sheldon is also the curator of genetic resources at the museum. He calmly stated that he has “been a professor at LSU for fourteen years.” I wondered whether he liked teaching or studying birds more. Using deliberate hand gestures, he said that he used to like taking trips for research more, but lately he has enjoyed teaching biology.

Dr. Fredrick Sheldon’s research has greatly improved the Baton Rouge and LSU community. Traveling to different parts of the world provides research for further development in evolutionary biology. As an LSU professor and director of the museum, he has the ability to influence the student community and pass on his extensive knowledge of biology and ornithology.

Jay from the Blend

2007-10-15T21:38:00.000-07:00

Daniel Donovan

10/16/07

Interview Paper

Lei Lani Michel

My father works as a plant manager at a gas refinery, and is on call 24/7, in Chalmette, LA. Chalmette, a rather smaller town right outside New Orleans that has served greatly to the Louisiana community, was unfortunately destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Since my dad is on call we receive phone calls quite frequently from the refinery on our home phone line. Over the years the same few people are always calling. One In particular sticks out in my head like a sore thumb. A man, as I know him, called “Jay from the Blend.” I can remember accepting calls from him for a long time, so long in fact, I could tell it was him by the sound of his voice the instant he spoke his first words in a gruff voice of exhaustion, which usually were “Hey, which kid is this?” (He said this because they are 6 of us kids). After which he would reply, “This is Jay from the Blend, is your dad around?” after about a year we would just hand the phone to our dad and say it’s “Jay” as opposed to “Jay from the Blend.”
For years, all I ever knew about the infamous Jay Calen, A.K.A. Jay from the Blend, was the sound of his distinct voice via phone line, and that he worked at the refinery with my dad. After all these years of frequently answering his phone calls for my dad, it took an assignment in English 1001 class at LSU to finally get the opportunity to get to know him a little more. So after the Saints game, I went down to the Chalmette Refinery with my dad to get the chance to interview this man I’ve known as “Jay from the blend” all of these years. Before arriving I created an image in my head of what to expect Jay Calen to look like, as well as his work environment and other office features. I imagined a mid to late 40 year-old with a short crew cut with a scruffy looking beard, glasses, and dressed in your everyday office clothes. I pictured a classic office, with chairs, desks, unorganized papers, water jugs with the cone shaped cups, and some sort of decoration.
When we arrived we had to park in the lot by my dad’s office, which was located nowhere near Jay, due to security purposes. My dad and I rode in a white extended golf cart clear across the refinery to the building where Jay was working. When I arrived in his office my dad pointed out who Jay was; he looked to be out fifty five to sixty years old, gray balding hair, cleanly shaven face, and a bit of a belly that extended out over his belt line. He was wearing this very vivid royal blue suit which had a large ExxonMobil logo on the back, with a hard hat, rather large heavy looking black boots, and eye goggles on top of his hard hat. The real image of Jay just so happened to resemble nothing that I imagined. Just as if I were on the phone talking to me, the first words he said were “Which kid are you?” As I shook his hand I replied “Daniel,” and he began to tell me a little about himself
Jay Calen was born September 13, 1951 in the city of New Orleans, LA. He grew up right outside New Orleans in a city called Metarie. He has lived in Louisiana his entire life and according to Jay “There isn’t a better place in America than right here in New Orleans.” Jay’s favorite part of New Orleans is the food cuisine accompanied by the Jazz music. When he was a youngster he always wanted to go into a field related to automobiles or machinery. “I don’t know what it is, but ever since I can remember I have just always enjoyed finding ways to fix things or make them better.” When Jay was a kid him and his father would always go to junkyards to find old car parts, and attempt to get them working on an extra car they had, just for fun. Jay believes that is why he enjoys dealing with machinery and engines so much, due to the time he got to spend with his father. Jay attended high school at East Jefferson High School, after which he immediately started working. His first job was as a mechanic at Big Easy Automotive Repair. Jay commented about this job “I absolutely hated working there, I wasn’t enjoying myself one bit. The only good thing I got from it was to never give my car to a mechanic for repair.” After searching for a week or two he found an opening as a maintenance man at the Chalmette Refinery.
Jay said he fell in love with the refinery from the first day “The people I was working with couldn't have been a better group to work with; otherwise I wouldn’t still be here after 38 years of it. Although there were some days that I would work 24 hours in a row and I thought about just walking off the job site and quitting, I truly did, and still do, love my job.” After about 10 minutes or so of my student interview with Jay I got a pretty good handle on what he was like. He seemed to me, to be a hard working, blue-collar type working man, that didn’t mind having to do a little hard work every now and again to get the job done. He has plenty of proof to prove it as well, by starting out making slightly above minimum wage, working 40 hours a week, and performing tasks that required constant manual labor to where he is now, which is a supervisor in the Blending Department of the Chalmette Refinery, making “light-years” more than he use to, as Jay puts it.
Upon asking him what it was like working in the aftermath of Katrina he replied “In all my years of work at this refinery, nothing was more draining, both physically and mentally, than having to work through the times directly after Katrina. It was absolute chaos trying to get in touch with those who were displaced, as well as trying to get help for those who were suffering from near depression after they had lost everything they ever had.” Jay said he could remember trying to get through to people on their cell phone from dusk one evening till dawn of the next. “Even 2 whole years after Katrina, this refinery still isn’t what it used to be. The number of employees has dropped a bit, the total mind set of many has changed, and things just aren’t the same as they use to be.”
After a couple of minutes, I got to asking Jay Calen if there was anything he would have change about himself, or what he had done over the past years. He replied “I definitely regret not having more of a priority on academics as student in high school. If I could go back and do it again I would keep up my grades and attend a four year University after high school and pursue a college degree. It would have saved me from having to do a lot of hard work, and earned me a lot better of a yearly income than I am making without a college degree.”
So, even though I’m up at college more than I am at home, one time while I’m on a break from school and at home, and answer a call for my dad from guy named Jay, it will no longer be “Jay from the blend,” it will be Jay the guy who enjoys golfing, or Jay the guy who worked very hard to have the position he has now. I have learned a lot from Jay Calen, he has made an impact on me by showing what hard work, despite the seemingly un-performable conditions can bring to someone. Some time in my life I will encounter a situation that presents conditions that are seemingly impossible to succeed in, upon which, thinking about what an individual like Jay was able to accomplish through hard work, and his ability to enjoy the people he is around will provide me a little bit of guidance to persevere through the tough times.

Profile- Blaine Boudreaux

2007-10-15T21:21:00.000-07:00

Blaine Boudreaux

Lei-Lani Michel

English 1001 Section 110

15 October 2007

Profile

James Corporation, an asphalt construction company in Opelousas, Louisiana was affected by Hurricane Katrina in different ways. I interviewed Mr. Hubert, the co-owner and accountant of the company. The interview went really well and I learned a lot about how this company was affected due to Hurricane Katrina. Business seems to change a lot due to major natural disasters.

James Corporation is located in Opelousas, Louisiana. It is uncertain how the company was started because I was unable to speak with the founder of the company, Mr. Laddie James. Unfortunately, Mr. James passed away recently. However, I was able to speak with a co-owner and the accountant of the company, Mr. Hubert. Mr. Hubert’s father was good friends with Mr. James. This is part of the reason how Mr. Hubert got his job at James Corporation. Mr. Hubert’s father had known Mr. James for many years prior to Mr. Hubert’s employment to the company. Mr. Hubert attended the University of Louisiana at Lafayette where he majored in accounting. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree. He then decided to apply for employment at James Corporation where he is still working today.

Mr. Hubert was born and raised in Opelousas, Louisiana, the same city where James Corporation is located. He has been in Opelousas his whole life. He grew up on a farm in Lawtell, a small town outside of Opelousas. His father was a farmer and his mother was a homemaker. He lived on the farm until he graduated high school. When he graduated high school, he moved to Lafayette and stayed in a residence hall at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Upon graduating from college, he applied for employment with James Corporation. Mr. Hubert is still working there to this day.

During pre-Katrina, business was going pretty well. During pre-Katrina, the main business occurring was mainly road improvement projects. Normal business was about 2-3 road projects per week. Pre-Katrina, the road projects were going fairly well accomplishing 2-3 projects per week. Although business was doing reasonably well during pre-Katrina, it was soon to have drastic changes. Business changed drastically as soon as Hurricane Katrina made landfall.

During Hurricane Katrina, business was at the lowest it had been in several years. The business wasn’t accomplishing anything during Hurricane Katrina. There were no road projects being assigned to them at this time. This caused business to fall drastically. Natural disasters not only hurt businesses right then but also in the future. Natural disasters harm the business greatly because roads are destroyed and the business cannot start working on them until all the rubble and trash is cleared up.

Post-Katrina, in return, helped bring up the business. After the hurricane, business picked up rather quickly due to many much needed road repairs. Many roads had been destroyed during Hurricane Katrina. This caused many projects to be assigned to the company so that the roads would be fixed properly. The business was helped by this and helped even out the business from the loss that had occurred due to Hurricane Katrina.

I found that conducting this student interview for English 1001 was very helpful in getting the information that was needed to write this profile. Interviewing can teach one a lot about a certain subject that could possibly be needed to get information to write a paper about something. Interviewing Mr. Hubert taught me a lot about the company and the effects that occurred in the business during Hurricane Katrina.

Always Faithful

2007-10-15T21:08:00.000-07:00

Andrew Tam

Lei Lani Michel

English 1001

16 October 2007

Always Faithful

Derrick Wilson, 30 years old, has accomplished and seen things that most people will never do or see their entire lives. Derrick was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and raised by strict parents. His father, Eugene Wilson was a manager of Capital Transportation in Baton Rouge, and his mother, Louis Wilson was a sheriff’s deputy. Derrick is the middle child, having two sisters, Lashandra Whitfield and Latoya Wilson. He went to private school from elementary to middle school at St. Anthony’s and Sherwood Middle School. After, he went to Capitol High School where he graduated from in 1995. He decided to join the United States Marine Corp after he finished high school which he was in for five and a half years.
Derrick wanted to join America’s finest fighting force, the Marines, because he wanted a sense of belonging, pride, and to be called a Marine. Marine boot camp is the most physically and mentally challenging training of all the United States armed forces and it was one of the toughest things he ever went through. During training, he felt confusion and fear at the beginning because he didn’t know what was expected, but towards the end he felt honor and pride. His military occupation specialty (MOS), or job, was a refueler. He received other cross-training and harrier pilot training and his job required him to do an extended tour to five and a half years instead of the average four years. Three years after high school, he was called up to go serve overseas. He went to Iraq in 1998 for Operation Desert Fox. During his war time, he felt restless and heavy adrenalin because he didn’t know what was going to happen, plus he was always on the move. This experience also brought a feeling of being lost upon him because he was alone, witnessed disturbing realities, and did some things that he didn’t want to do. Much of his military time was spent at various bases around the U.S. and the world. He went to four bases in this order: Edison Range in Camp Pendleton, CA, Miramar, CA, Camp Lejuene, NC, and finally Okinawa, Japan. His military job was the main reason he moved so often, but he enjoyed it.
After living through war and his past experiences, Derrick found God. He is a very devout man, he goes to Mass every week and he carries himself like many other Marines do by the phrase, “Semper Fi” which means always faithful. “D”, as some people call him, is a fun person to be around, he doesn’t care what people think and he is a nice, outgoing person. When asked about doing the interview for my English class Derrick asked, “What made you choose me?”, like he didn’t have anything good to say, but he helped me do it and he told a very interesting story of his life and his experiences.
Derrick works at AllStar Chevrolet during the day selling car parts, but his day is not over after that. He owns his own business, Wilson Entertainment, where he does a variety of different specialties such as, photography, artist consultation/development, and model development/sponsorship. An average day is about 17-18 hours long and he doesn’t get much sleep so he can keep up and stay on top of things. He has little time for his hobbies of fishing, art, and restoring classic cars, but he does a little at a time. Derrick has been to 13 countries around the world, not all of them through the service. Some of which include Brazil, Australia, and Belize for fun.
He was affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 while working at Auto Zone. He had to move down to New Orleans for six months to help reset stores because of the damage and vandalism. He said, “Katrina made me appreciate life for what it was, and be thankful for family.” He mentioned he witnessed Katrina help and hurt people and it made him appreciate what he has.
Derrick has accomplished many of the goals he has set for himself. Being a Marine and starting his own business were two major ones. In the future he wants to have a wife and start a family of his own. He talked about not really having a hard life, but the hardest thing was not knowing what to expect, what’s in the past is done. He said, “Take life as if it was a grain of salt. Don’t hold it too tight or it will melt, but don’t hold it too loose or it will blow away. Live everyday as it was your last, even if you fail, you tried.”

The Drunk Bus Driver - DDB

2007-10-15T21:02:00.000-07:00

Ryan Rogers
Lei Lani Michel
LSU English 1001 – Sec 111
16 October 2007
The Driver of the Drunk Bus - DDB

Louisiana State University provides a service to those students in need of a safe way home after a long night of partying. This life-saving service is called the Late Night Bus, but it is better known around campus as the “Drunk Bus.” This service is a free, no questions asked, means of transportation that is used to keep intoxicated students off the streets and away from the wheel. It even proved its worth to me one night, when I was a passenger aboard the bus. On a Thursday night, I had driven to Reggie’s, a popular college hotspot, just to have a sober, fun night with some friends; however, one thing led to another and a few drinks later, I found myself too inebriated to drive home. Mr. Joe Miller, the driver of the “Drunk Bus,” came to my rescue.
Although the “Drunk Bus” appears to be helpful, some people seem to think it may indirectly encourage drinking. As I wondered who to ask about this question, Mr. Joe Miller, a tall, slender, black man, in his mid-forties, with a strong southern accent, and the initials IRM tattooed on his neck, drove up in the infamous bus itself. He was just the man to ask if this were merely fallacy, or if it in fact was the cold hard truth. He has lived in Baton Rouge his entire life, is married to Irma Miller, and is the father of Ebony Miller. Before he was a driver of the “Drunk Bus,” he worked as a janitor at a small middle school in East Baton Rouge.
Joe started driving the lifesaving currier system on September 30th 2005. When I asked Mr. Joe why he had started driving the “Drunk Bus,” he responded laughing, “To pay some bills.” This caught me off guard because I assumed he was doing this because he wanted to protect the young LSU students from endangering their lives by driving under the influence. I asked him again, “That can’t be the only reason you drive this bus, is it?” He said, “Yup, at first that was pretty much the only reason, but through these two years I have drove the bus I have realized that these kids need me.” As Mr. Joe reflected on the years he had realized that his job had turned into not only a paycheck, but a way for him to protect the lives of the students and the others in the Baton Rouge community. While some argue that the “Drunk Bus” has a positive effect, others dispute that it supports the consumption of alcohol. When I asked Mr. Joe this he explained to me saying, “Whether or not it supports drinking isn’t the point, the point is that we are keeping drunk kids off the streets.” When I thought about it, it made perfect sense—whether or not kids are drinking more is not the issue, the issue is protecting the lives of not only the students, but also the others in the community. I wanted to know if the students had shown any appreciation towards Mr. Joe. In response Mr. Joe said that most of the students do either say, “Have a good night,” or, “Thanks Mr. Joe,” but some of them are “little shits,” as Mr. Miller liked to put it. With a perturbed look on my face he explained further, “Some of them are just disrespectful. They curse at me, and treat me like being a bus driver is a bad thing. Like I said only a FEW of them are like that most of them are respectful.” How someone getting a free ride can be disrespectful to the one person who drove him or her is beyond Mr. Joe’s and my comprehension, but most of the students are respectful, thankful, and find that the service is a great thing.
Being a “Drunk Bus” driver, there must some funny stories that Mr. Joe can tell, but I wanted to know if there were any times that were extra trying or even scary. Mr. Joe jumped into a story, “One night around 1:45 in the mornin’, I picked up around eight kids and I figured something was wrong when one of them had to be carried onto the bus by two of the other boys. His eyes were closed and his body was limp and there were no signs of consciousness. Here was my biggest dilemma while on the job, do I intrude and take action or do I sit back and go against my instincts to help this young fella.” With a look of “What would you have done?” on his face he continued, “I stopped the bus, walked down the aisle, and with my job on the line, asked the other two boys, ‘What did he take?’ The two boys said, ‘nothing’ in fear of getting in trouble. There was nothing I could do. As I started to walk back to my seat, I held my breath and said a quick prayer. That was the hardest thing I had to turn my back on in my life.” Because Mr. Joe is not allowed to question any of the students on the bus, he risked his job to even ask what the kid had taken. Even though he did not take any further action, he still could have lost his job. To this day Mr. Joe does not know if that kid is okay or not; consequently, he still regrets not taking any further action. What Mr. Joe takes comfort in is that if he had not picked up that young man and his friends there most certainly would have been at least one more drunken driver on the road.
Although Mr. Joe had not mentioned anything about Katrina, I wanted to know if Katrina had directly or indirectly affected him and his family. When I asked him if he how had been affected he said five words, “Traffic, traffic, and more traffic.” With all of the affects that Baton Rouge has felt, an increase in population, crime on the rise, and countless other affects, I was very surprised that traffic be the one thing Mr. Joe said. Mr. Joe started working as a “Drunk Bus” operator a little over a month after Katrina hit, so he never knew how pre-Katrina “drunk bus driving” was. He, however, had lived in Baton Rouge before Katrina so he knew how the regular driving conditions were. Mr. Joe confidently informed me, “There are at least three times as many cars on the road now than there were before Katrina. With all of the cars on the road it takes longer to get from place to place, which causes drivers to be more pissed off, which then causes more accidents.” Mr. Joe knows that first hand; he was in an accident in 2006, when someone cut him off trying to get to work complaining, "People are just more aggressive in the traffic.” As Mr. Joe said earlier, he didn’t start out driving the Drunk Bus to help alleviate the accidents or aggression “it’s just a plus.”
Mr. Joe finished saying, “Whether or not this service promotes drunkenness or not, if I were to save one life, just one, it would be worth it all.” For Mr. Joe to take that stance has shown that the issue, in his eyes, and now mine, is about saving lives, plain and simple.

Works Cited
http://brgov.com/dept/brpd/csr/
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-02-21-baton-rouge-cover_x.htm

Always Faithful

2007-10-15T20:56:00.000-07:00

Andrew Tam
Lei Lani Michel
English 1001
09 October 2007
Always Faithful
Derrick Wilson, 30 years old, has accomplished and seen things that most people will never do or see their entire lives. Derrick was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and raised by strict parents. His father, Eugene Wilson was a manager of Capital Transportation in Baton Rouge, and his mother, Louis Wilson was a sheriff’s deputy. Derrick is the middle child, having two sisters, Lashandra Whitfield and Latoya Wilson. He went to private school from elementary to middle school at St. Anthony’s and Sherwood Middle School. After, he went to Capitol High School where he graduated from in 1995. He decided to join the United States Marine Corp after he finished high school which he was in for five and a half years.
Derrick wanted to join America’s finest fighting force, the Marines, because he wanted a sense of belonging, pride, and to be called a Marine. Marine boot camp is the most physically and mentally challenging training of all the United States armed forces and it was one of the toughest things he ever went through. During training, he felt confusion and fear at the beginning because he didn’t know what was expected, but towards the end he felt honor and pride. His military occupation specialty (MOS), or job, was a refueler. He received other cross-training and harrier pilot training and his job required him to do an extended tour to five and a half years instead of the average four years. Three years after high school, he was called up to go serve overseas. He went to Iraq in 1998 for Operation Desert Fox. During his war time, he felt restless and heavy adrenalin because he didn’t know what was going to happen, plus he was always on the move. This experience also brought a feeling of being lost upon him because he was alone, witnessed disturbing realities, and did some things that he didn’t want to do. Much of his military time was spent at various bases around the U.S. and the world. He went to four bases in this order: Edison Range in Camp Pendleton, CA, Miramar, CA, Camp Lejuene, NC, and finally Okinawa, Japan. His military job was the main reason he moved so often, but he enjoyed it.
After living through war and his past experiences, Derrick found God. He is a very devout man, he goes to Mass every week and he carries himself like many other Marines do by the phrase, “Semper Fi” which means always faithful. “D”, as some people call him, is a fun person to be around, he doesn’t care what people think and he is a nice, outgoing person. When asked about doing the interview for my English class Derrick asked, “What made you choose me?”, like he didn’t have anything good to say, but he helped me do it and he told a very interesting story of his life and his experiences.
Derrick works at AllStar Chevrolet during the day selling car parts, but his day is not over after that. He owns his own business, Wilson Entertainment, where he does a variety of different specialties such as, photography, artist consultation/development, and model development/sponsorship. An average day is about 17-18 hours long and he doesn’t get much sleep so he can keep up and stay on top of things. He has little time for his hobbies of fishing, art, and restoring classic cars, but he does a little at a time. Derrick has been to 13 countries around the world, not all of them through the service. Some of which include Brazil, Australia, and Belize for fun.
He was affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 while working at Auto Zone. He had to move down to New Orleans for six months to help reset stores because of the damage and vandalism. He said, “Katrina made me appreciate life for what it was, and be thankful for family.” He mentioned he witnessed Katrina help and hurt people and it made him appreciate what he has.
Derrick has accomplished many of the goals he has set for himself. Being a Marine and starting his own business were two major ones. In the future he wants to have a wife and start a family of his own. He talked about not really having a hard life, but the hardest thing was not knowing what to expect, what’s in the past is done. He said, “Take life as if it was a grain of salt. Don’t hold it too tight or it will melt, but don’t hold it too loose or it will blow away. Live everyday as it was your last, even if you fail, you tried.”

Average Joe

2007-10-15T20:17:00.000-07:00

When I first met Joe, he was surrounded by a group of high school teens, laughing and joking as if he was one of them. I acknowledged his sense of friendship, especially with his students, which he claimed to be his key to success. Joe was the director of bands at a well-established high school. He made sure to emphasize how much he loved his job and enjoyed his students’ love and passion for music. He was a middle-aged man, balding (but managed to keep the shine) with hair located mainly on his chin for a goatee. He smelled immensely of cologne, and dressed as if he were going out to eat at a nice restaurant or to a formal party, with his button-down, collared royal blue shirt that brought out his baby blue eyes and went perfectly with his blonde hair, or what was left of it. He was a friendly man and very easy to talk to, and I’m glad I chose to interview Joe for my LSU English 1001 student interview.

He was the leader of one of the finest bands in the state. In the fall his days were booked with two wind ensemble classes, two percussion classes, and two music appreciation classes. In his limited spare time, he had to organize and Xerox music and drill charts, which were lists of field locations of individual musicians for the halftime marching show, paint yard lines on the practice field, organize after school band rehearsals, schedule the marching festivals for the band to participate in and arrange for busses to bring them to and from the event, prepare lessons and homework for his music appreciation classes, and keep up with over 180 students as his own children. Even when Hurricane Katrina hit, the new band members from New Orleans, and surrounding areas, were like his own. He took great pride in his relationship with his students. He treated each of them as his own, loved them all equally, respected them as musicians, and treated them like adults. “The absolute best part of what I do is the chance to work with future adults.” His job wasn’t the easiest, claiming that he hardly had breaks for himself. He was constantly organizing and preparing itineraries for rehearsals, trips, football games, and pep rallies. He would get to school around 6:30 a.m. to teach the fifth through seventh grade students from the high school’s elementary feeder schools and wouldn’t leave the band hall some nights until 8:00 p.m. after marching rehearsals in the fall. He would never complain, however, because he loved every minute of it.

He has played the trumpet his entire life and loves to play it for himself and for others. Joe loves teaching music, “The reason I chose to do what I do is because I thought I could do a good job at it. I can't say it's because I had a life long desire to do it, but I thought I could do it, and do it well. I wasn't attracted to anything other than being successful and giving myself the chance to do something significant. I wanted to be a sportswriter, or have some role in a medical field, and I thought I could learn to do that, but I didn't know if I would be really good at that. When I was looking at things, I tried to look at what I thought I could be good at, instead of doing something I could do. I think that's a big difference.” The gift of music is truly that – it is a gift to be shared and embraced as a natural bond between even the most diverse people. This gift is not one to be kept hidden, but should be given to the public and shared with people, because it’s the only cultural barrier that can be easily surpassed. Anyone can enjoy music, no matter where they are from or what they do for a living.

About a year ago, he was offered a promotion at the school to Assistant Principal and Disciplinarian. Although he loved his music teaching job, he decided to take this position because of the raise in salary. With this came a real job. “It wasn’t fun anymore. I missed teaching and interacting with students.” To him, his job as director was not a job at all, but more of a fun activity that he could play at everyday. Now, he felt trapped in the corner office, with a telephone line and a computer and loads of paperwork. He had to attend all the important meetings because he was the fourth person in-charge. “The meetings I had to sit through all seemed to be related in some way and seemed to never end. They weren’t fun at all.” Consuming the most part of his day, he had to write detention and Saturday School slips and walk around the entire building and hand them out to the students. He began to find his job less and less interactive other than the times when he would be visited by the rule breakers. To add to his new “fun” duties, he was in charge of the discipline. When a student was sent to the front office for acting up in class, they were sent to him. He would constantly listen to the “I didn’t do anything wrong,” and “the teacher doesn’t know what she’s talking about.” He claimed to feel like a police officer questioning the guilty criminal. He quickly got tired of dealing with the trouble-makers of the school, and severely missed his band students. He misses his job so much, that next year he will return as band director. “I love it that much!”

Music is a job that relates to anyone, anywhere. Everyone listens to music and everyone has a style that they enjoy. “I don't think music changes the world, but I think it changes people, and changes people for the better. Therefore, my job is important and is vital to society.” It shapes who we are and has dramatic affects on the culture. Especially in the Louisiana community, music is the root of tradition. Music can influence all personalities. Without music, life would be bland and most would lose their connection to the world and their outlet to express themselves.

Profile Essay

2007-10-15T20:12:00.000-07:00

Blake McDuffie
English 1001

Many people may take for granted the services the Social Services provide to the Baton Rouge and the greater Louisiana communities. We do not take the time to think about the deeds done by the Civil Services. They provide food stamps and prevent people from taking advantage of the system. Sarah Jones has been working for the Louisiana State welfare department since 1974 and can give a glimpse of Louisiana’s Civil service system.
Sarah Jones is responsible for tracking down people who have made fraudulent claims to gain welfare checks and illegal food stamps. Although she never intended to be working in a Civil service field, she does like the basic idea of her job, making sure people are not stealing from the government. Her job was made especially difficult during the "hectic" aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
The U.S. government had set it up so that people who had lost everything and were destitute. However, those who were already on welfare were not eligible to have both benefits and many tried to get them both. Many people, including state employees, took advantage of the fact that at the time, the computer system was not able to look into and check the people’s status and gave themselves, family and friends the benefits.
Mrs. Jones explained, "The people who made false claims and took benefits have since been tracked down and are now being made to pay back the money they took." Although the government cannot always catch people in the act, eventually they will find them. Besides, giving people welfare, when needed, during Katrina many state employees helped set up shelters and homes for refugees.
Mrs. Jones got into the Civil services almost by accident. She studied history while in college and then studied to be a librarian. But she ended up flunking out of her librarian studies and took the Civil Service test. She passed and was offered a job.
"Career aptitude tests I took when I was younger said I would be good at it," referring to the Civil Services. This just goes to show that you never know what career you may end up doing.

Good Morning Class

2007-10-15T19:58:00.001-07:00

Good Morning Class

Terri Braithwaite flipped her red, wavy hair and laughed a little as I explained my assignment for English 1001. For some reason she thought it was funny that I asked to interview her. Before I could ask a question she said “I’ve been teaching for 25 years.” Originally Ms. Terri went to school to become a dental hygienist. However, she decided that she did not want to go to school in New Orleans so she changed her major. Teaching was not a hard decision because her mom was a teacher and “I just felt called to teach.” All 25 years of teaching, though not in the same grade, have been in inner city schools in the Louisiana community. Now at LaBelle Aire Elementary, she is in her eighth year of teaching Pre-K.
“What do I not do?” She said laughing. Ms. Terri goes early every morning to assemble the materials she will need for the day. She has to have everything she needs before her students arrive. “When the kids are there I have to be with them at all times.” This is to help ensure the children’s safety. Not only is she Teacher, but she is Mom, Nurturer, and Doctor. For example, if a child has had a chaotic morning at home she will help them to settle down and transition into their day at school. Ms. Terri is there not only to teach but to be a positive role model and love the children.
Ms. Terri does have a teaching assistant whom she considers a great asset to her class. Around 200 of the students at the school are considered to be ESL or English as a Second Language. Ms. Terri teaches Vietnamese, Hispanic, Black and White children and teaching assistant is able to speak Vietnamese, Spanish and English. This is a great help to Ms Terri when trying to communicate to some of the children and their parents who do not speak English well.
Technology in the classroom is important. “Today’s society is so technology oriented,” she says. Because of this, the school recognizes the importance for this generation of students to become familiar with the computer and internet even at this young age and is equipped with a computer lab and a traveling lab. In her class, Ms. Terri uses the computer lab to teach a basic, general introduction to the computer and the internet.
With the end of the school day brings the only dislike Ms. Terri mentioned about teaching. That is the chaos of after school dismissal. She is personally responsible for making sure each one of her students goes home with the right person. If something happens to a child it is on her shoulders and that is a very frightening feeling for her.
After school, materials and lesson plans go home to be prepared for the next day. This is also when she makes calls to parents to address any problems. Teacher/Parent communication, in her opinion, is a must to best address the needs of the children. Parents can call her or come to the school anytime as they feel the need to.
When asked what effect Hurricane Katrina had on her job she said that about 100 kids from the New Orleans area came to the school. Finding a good spot for that many kids was difficult. Because her class is federally funded, there was a limit of 20 students allowed in the class. Since this had already been met, no children who were victims of the storm joined the class. Even though she did not teach them, she was there to listen and encourage and just to spend time with these kids. It was difficult to hear some of the traumatic stories and from such young children. Some of these kids had seen people die. Ms. Terri said she and the other teachers knew it was important not only to provide for the kid’s physical needs such as uniforms, but their emotional needs as well.
To Ms. Terri it is a joy to nurture and to mold young children and to be the first one to touch their lives and help mold them into good citizens for the Baton Rouge community. She not only teaches academics but social skills. She finds she likes her job more and more and she continues teaching and daily it is a challenge.

A Glimpse of Louisiana Under the Canopy

2007-10-15T19:58:00.000-07:00

Dave Marley Dixon

Ms. Lei Lani Michel

English 1001

Profile

Franklin Williams’ job is to artistically and safely reshape the skyline. Franklin has been a tree serviceman in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana community for six years now and plans to continue servicing for years to come. If you closely observe Franklin, the connection with him and the outside world is obvious. He stands fairly tall with a rugged weathered face and a confident daunting outer appearance. The way he moves about with a slouch suggests that he has seen many years of manual labor while in Louisiana’s lush canopy. Upon starting the interview I eagerly asked Franklin how hurricane Katrina and Rita affected his small business. He replied, “I honestly, despite all the profits, do not like making money off of other people’s misfortune."

Franklin Williams was born and raised in New York State as a child, and when he was nineteen he moved with his family to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He always loved the forest and had a “special connection to the land” wherever he moved. He studied Forestry at Louisiana State University for one year. “During that one year I decided that LSU was not for me, much less any other university for that matter. Education was not helping me get to where I wanted to be,” Franklin said.

Franklin then went to Arkansas and worked for Qualitree, which was a tree planting company. “During that one year I planted 20,000 pines, and I quickly realized it was still not quite what I wanted to do.” Qualitree then transferred him to San Francisco, California still planting trees when he subsequently found himself at a party and was offered a new job. The company was called Arbor Vitae. “This was a creative name because in Latin it means Tree of Life, and it appeals to the educated class,” he said reflectively. His job now was not to plant but to climb and trim or completely cut down trees. Unfortunately, during this time, Franklin was not making enough money and his marriage with his wife crumbled apart. On top of that, Arbor Vitae was bought out by a big lumbering corporation. “I didn’t like this because I had to always answer and respond to this person I didn’t know called the ‘boss.’ I guess I like being more in control of what I am doing.”

Franklin then decided to move back to Louisiana and start his own private tree service: Arbor Vitae. He laughed as he admitted to stealing the same name of his former company. “It was such a great name; it speaks for itself.” Slowly but surely he purchased the necessary equipment for his private company. First, he bought a large dump truck and most importantly he purchased a wood chipper. Over the years from 2002 to 2004, Franklin advertised his company in the Yellow Pages to try to establish a close connection with the Baton Rouge residents of the zip code 70808.

Underneath Franklin there are two people that assist him in cutting and hauling the wood. “I’m a control freak,” he explained. “It’s a mixed blessing but I feel more efficient when in control.” These people come and go over the course of the year, except for this one guy who has been with Franklin for 3 years. “He has a substance abuse problem and has made a few minor mistakes on the job but overall he is a good worker,” responded Franklin when I asked him to elaborate on the situation.

When I asked him about the large amounts of business that comes with hurricanes he said, “I honestly, despite all the profits, do not like making money off of other people’s misfortune.” This showed that deep inside this man’s main goal was based on the intent to help people. Whenever a hurricane forms in the gulf, regardless of its course, people call him constantly in fear of the nearest tree potentially falling on their house. I asked “Do you at least get excited even when the hurricanes do not pose a threat to your area?” He responded “I have seen what they can do to property and it hurts me every time I think about it.” “During Hurricane Katrina in September of 2005 my business received the most calls it has ever received. The phone was off the hook for six months, seven days a week.” He said with a frown, and explained that he did not normally have to work everyday in a week and was at first resistant to the change. During this time, some of the rules of small business were changed by the Department of Wildlife because of the desperate demand of the community. These small changes included the disposal methods of the chopped up wood. Instead of having to dump all the wood off at a designated spot at the levee, Arbor Vitae would just have to drag it to the street corner where the city would handle it from there. This joint partnership with the city allowed Franklin’s team to complete around ten jobs a day.

To end my interview for my LSU English class I asked Franklin a basic question. “What type of tree is your favorite?” He responded happily, “I would have to say American Beach because of the smell, look, and texture. When you realize these key details you know you are doing something that you like.” I agreed, and smiled at a man who could appreciate these intricate characteristics after the devastating era of Hurricane Katrina.

2007-10-15T19:49:00.000-07:00

Richie Diaz
Ms. Lei Lani Michel
English 1001
15 October 2007
Behind those Angel Eyes
As I pull up in the driveway, I see her mowing the grass and not evening noticing that I’m there. I watch her for about a minute, thinking how many different questions I could ask her during our interview. After watching her a little while longer, she finally looks up and says in the sweetest voice possible, “Oh hey baby, I didn’t even notice you drive up. How are you darling?” I tell her I’m fine and that I’ll wait for her inside. Soon after I get my laptop settled in for note-taking, she walks inside and tells me that she’s going to take a quick shower. She comes out wearing a red conservative looking shirt with light jeans and ankle socks. Thirty minutes later, we start our interview sitting at the dining table as I tell her a more about my assignment. For my online interview essay, I wanted to write about someone with a dynamic character that has an interesting story to tell, one that portrays a glimpse of Louisiana life, and someone that walks by faith. Michelle Dewey is a 45 year old woman with medium length, curly dark brown hair, green eyes, and rosy red cheeks. For a typical first impression I would use the words happy, caring, and perfect life to describe her personality, yet her life is much more complicated than that. I know this because she’s not afraid to show her emotions; “wearing her heart on her sleeve”, she openly tells me her current struggles and the feelings she has while dealing with them. The obstacles she faces today include divorce, her only son recently leaving home to become a Marine, her daughter moving out, her life as a non-traditional student, and learning for the first time how to be indepedent. With many interesting topics I could focus on, I leave it up to Mrs. Michelle to decide what focus my paper should have. I told her it was her call on what we would talk about during the interview, so whatever subject she talked about, I’d write about.
With no doubt in her mind, she tells me that she wants to talk about her children because it’s her favorite subject, so I ask her to tell me a little about each of them. She takes off talking about Joshua, saying how great of man he’s become. She says he has amazing leadership qualities that he’s just now realizing he had, but something she’s always known her son having. As she starts talking about her daughter Jennifer, she straightens out the table cloth in front of us. Most people would call her an obsessive compulsive because she constantly straightens things out, keeps them in order, and cleans everything. She tells me that her daughter, Jennifer, is the most stubborn, proud, and opinionative person she’s ever met and that raising Jennifer was ten times more challenging that it was to raise Joshua. She quotes Jennifer saying “God gave you me to teach you patience, mom.” Somehow our conversation about patience led to talking about her divorce. Even though the divorce is between her and her husband, Mr. Steve, in the end it all sums to up to the concern of her children, and that’s why she’s fighting and trying her best to get through this struggle in one piece.
Mr. Steve left her two weeks before Joshua’s graduation from boot camp, and all Mrs. Michelle could think about was “Why now? Why does my son have to come home to this?” What she means is that of all the times this could of happened to her, it happened the time her son needed his family most. She says that Joshua has been through hell, with every ounce of civilian stripped out of him at boot camp, and he doesn’t deserve to come home to be hurt by more changes. She tells me that Jennifer is hurt the most and it shows because of how she freely expresses her anger; Mrs. Michelle worries that this divorce has completely ruined her daughter and Mr. Steve’s relationship. She prays that this divorce doesn’t wash away all of her children’s good memories and thoughts of their father, and that they can still see his greatness despite his actions during this situation. Mrs. Michelle says “I married a great man, a man of integrity, and an amazing dad in many aspects.” She tells me that even if their marriage doesn’t make it through, she wants more than anything, for her children to keep a close relationship with their dad. She can’t begin to describe how angry she is at her husband, with the main reason being that his actions are going against everything they’ve taught Jennifer and Joshua throughout their childhood. She tells me that she feels that they’re strong, solid foundation as a family is broken and that she worries about how that will affect her children’s lives.
There was a moment of utter silence that I took this opportunity to ask her if Hurricane Katrina had affected her and her family’s lives during that time. Initially, she had a look of confusion but soon passively shook her heard saying “No, no I don’t think so.” I encouraged her to continue on telling me about her children. I asked her to describe the kind of changes the divorce has made in her life that no one else knows about and she began with talking about her relationship with God. She’s drawing all of her strength from the Lord to get through this obstacle in her life. She believes that she’s going to get through this, one day at a time; because she feels that it’s important to let her children know that she survives this even when it seems like everything is going wrong. She’s optimistic about building a new family, and tries with the best of her ability to stay strong for her children. My next question was regarding how she felt about being independent and she told me that this is the first time she’s ever been on her own since they got married when she was eighteen. She says she’s filled with fear and excitement at the same time. There are days she feels like crying because she’s so scared, and then there are other days where she shakes with excitement just by the thought of being on her own. I ask her if she could end with a quote that would describe her whole experience through this divorce, and she said: “At age 45, you can begin again.” That quote in itself shows her optimism, her faith in her God, and her willingness to continue on.
There’s so much more to Mrs. Michelle than meets the eye, the only thing it takes for anyone to see that is to talk with her awhile, really pay attention to what she has to say, and more importantly is how she says the things she talks about. All of her actions are decided and carried out with the primary concern of Jen and Josh. Mrs. Michelle stands strong, is a smart individual, and has been given another chance to choose a different lifestyle. She’s in college finishing her life-long goal of becoming an RN nurse, while still being the wonderful mother that she’s always been. Although this may seem like a mid-life crisis, she calls it an opportunity for a fresh start. She tells me that she’s trying to see how the positives outweigh the negatives in her situation. Too often than not, things usually turn out best for the people who make the best of how things turn out. Throughout this interview, Mrs. Michelle has taught me to never lose faith and that it’s never too late for a new beginning. Every life plays a role of significance, some more obvious than others, yet none the less touches the life of another. The once stay home mom whose life revolved around caring for her husband and children is now being exposed to a new and different life. She’s done her part in raising wonderful children and has done her best in keeping her family together, and now fate brings her to a new challenge which she optimistically welcomes with open arms.

Police Officers in Our Community

2007-10-15T19:25:00.000-07:00

Adam Milling
Mrs. Michel
English 1001
October 14, 2007

Police Officers in Our Community

In our LSU community there are many people that are over looked. Some of these are by accident, some on purpose, but all in all we do not appreciate many of the things they do. A few of these are janitors, garbage men, and even the people who cook our food every day but I chose another profession. The person I interviewed is a police officer. His name is David Wallace and he works with the Baton Rouge Police Force. He is tall with short brown hair, and a thin yet muscular build. This essay will give a description of being a police officer in today’s world, from his point of view.
Born on March 25, 1972 and raised in Watson, Louisiana David’s mind was set on the fact that he would be a motorcycle police officer when he grew up because his father had been a Baton Rouge Motorcycle Police Officer in his childhood and he admired what his father did and was inspired by the sense of pride he got from his work. Also, when he was a teenager he thought about being a professional bull rider but the actuality was his dream was to follow in his father’s footsteps. After high school he did not pursue further education due to this dream. Now, a thirty five year old man, he has been an officer with the Baton Rouge Police Department. To take a step back for a second, first David had to go through training to get where he is today. His training was a demanding twenty one weeks long at the police academy to become a police officer. Next, each new officer must wait for six months of riding with a veteran officer before they are set out on their own. Once his training was done he became a cadet in the Crime Information Unit. He then attended the 57th Basic Training Academy in 1994. After he graduated this academy he was assigned to uniform Patrol 1st District where he spent approximately eight months. Later he decided to transfer to a different department. He had to go through more training upon making his decision to transferring to the Solo Motorcycle Division. This training consisted of eighty hours of basic riding lessons. After those eighty hours were successfully completed, David was required to ride along with a Certified Motorcycle officer for one hundred and twenty hours to gain his independence. David is now in two different departments. He is both in the Solo-Motorcycle Division and the Special Response Team. There are many duties required by each of these units. One priority of the Solo Motorcycle Division is to enforce the traffic laws throughout Baton Rouge and ensure that there is a safe and efficient flow of traffic through the city at all times. Also, the Solo Motorcycle Division is responsible for all special events that occur as well as the escort of dignitaries. Likewise, the Special Response Team (SRT) is also responsible for special events and dignitaries along with other tasks. One of these is the resolving of situations that have a high potential to for violence and even events that have potential to become a violent situation. A few of these situations include, but are not limited to, barricaded subjects, hostage or crisis situations, sniper incidents, high risk search or arrest warrants, suicidal situations, and as I stated earlier dignitary escort and protection.
When asked how the job of being a police officer affected his life, David answered that it forces him to live at a higher standard because the unstated rule of a police officer is to be a role model for society. During the course of the interview for my English 1001 paper David stated, “after working in this profession for a period of time, all of the high risk encounters becomes a way of life.” He also mentioned that “as a member on the SRT we do a lot of high risk entries. When making the entries we wear special bullet proof entry vest, ballistic helmets, and carry AR15 assault rifles.” David stated that he had to put on this gear approximately two weeks ago, his SRT team was called out on a high risk warrant execution in Baton Rouge. He informed me that the information that was given to his team was that an undercover narcotics officer had made a large cocaine from a single family home and the officer was scheduled to return to the home to make another large buy from this family. David stated the severity of the situation when he told me that, “there were small children known to be present, as well as the grandmother of one of the suspects”. The men they were after were three black males. Their names were unknown but all of them were known to carry guns. Also making the situation more critical was that the suspects were believed to be on high alert because they were having a turf war with other rival gang members in the area. “Our assignment was to make entry into the home, take every one present and securing them. After doing so narcotics officers would search the home for the items they were looking for and interview the people who were detained. Then they will make the appropriate arrest.” These missions sound easy but are high risk when the suspects are armed. They arrived in an Armored SWAT Vehicle, also known as the Bear Cat, when they saw several men standing outside on the front porch. He said one of the men ran inside the house and once they arrived to the front door the men still outside were ordered to the ground and were immediately covered by team members. The team went into the home where they found the grandmother and two small children who were suspected to be inside sitting on the couch. As they continued moving through the home they came to a locked door where the man from the porch ran into. “We did not know if the male was destroying the drugs or maybe arming himself in fear of going to jail” David recollected thinking before entering the room. The door was breached and a flash bang, a device that makes a loud noise, a bright light, and produces smoke) was deployed. Once in the room the team observed the male reaching under the bed. He was secured and they later found out he was hiding cocaine which had a street value of approximately two hundred thousand dollars. Through further investigation of the house large amounts of drugs, several guns, and approximately one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in twenty dollar bills, of drug money was discovered and taken off of the streets. Thankfully no one was hurt during the raid. The three men were arrested, and among them one of which had a warrant for his arrest for murder.
When Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana it rocked our LSU community and with that the jobs of the people in this community. One effect of Katrina on David’s work was there were a lot more cars driving around in Baton Rouge which meant there were more accidents happening along with more traffic laws being broken. Also, another effect of Katrina was that David was required to work more. He had to change from working eight hours days five days a week to twelve hour days seven days a week. Even with the added hours and increase of traffic in Baton Rouge David says there are no doubts or regrets he has about his job. With that said there are still things he does not like about his job like the one hundred plus degree days in July and August. Also, he wishes that the court system would become less lenient and more unforgiving to repeat offenders.
When asked what he believed his future plans for his job were, David replied that he would continue working for the Solo Motorcycle Division as a Supervisor and for the Special Response Team until his retirement in another 13 years at the early age of forty eight. In a more personal note he says after his retirement he is just going to enjoy life and maybe even work for the Harley Davidson Corporation teaching motorcycle lessons to incoming officers. Lastly, I asked David what he thinks the affect on society would be if his profession did not exist and his answer was, “without officers to enforce the laws the world would be chaos.” Hopefully, this essay gave a glimpse of Louisiana and one of its professions that is very easily over looked in our Baton Rouge community.

Health System

2007-10-15T19:18:00.000-07:00

Health System

William Anderson may rarely be seen or acknowledged by the public but his job affects the majority of people in the Louisiana community that have health insurance. He is the Director of Manage Care Contracting and his primary job is to generate revenue for General Health System in Baton Rouge. He does this primarily by working on contracts between the hospital system and insurance companies; however he must also interact with multiple departments within the hospitals to address daily issues pertaining to financial matters. His department is responsible for generating annual revenue in excess of $125 million.

Born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, William started working at the age of thirteen and had to ride the public buses to work, which took an hour each way, downtown at a medical clinic where his father worked. He worked every summer and holiday until he graduated from high school. This instilled a great work ethic in him at a very young age that still shows today through his job and the amount of work he does every day. After graduating from high school, William went to work at an industrial testing company which evolved into the largest environmental lab in Louisiana called West- Paine Laboratories. He eventually went to college at Louisiana Tech University where he obtained BS degrees in History and Political Science.

When asked about how Hurricane Katrina affected his job, William gave out a slight laugh as he recalled what he went through during the days after the storm. The hospital he works at became an evacuation site for medical emergencies in New Orleans and a transfer site for patients in four New Orleans hospitals. They received helicopters over loaded with patients at a rate of four an hour along with patients coming by the bus load the next day. The two hospitals under General Health System also became treatments centers for New Orleans residents including children and continued to treat patients nine months after the storm. The amount of patients put an enormous amount of strain on the staff as well as finances and it was William’s job to find a way to get money from other states to keep up with the care being provided by the hospitals because their care was considered charity and they were seeing no reimbursement. Financial operations had to shut down because insurance companies that were head quartered in New Orleans were destroyed and no money was going in to the hospitals to pay for things such as medicines and life saving operations.

I asked William why he would choose a job that involved so much stress and he replied by saying, “I enjoy the challenge of negotiating contracts and making sure the hospitals are fairly reimbursed for the care they provide.” He also responded by informing me that he had worked for insurance companies and wanted to move to the health care side because he was more interested in the health care industry and wanted to work for the Baton Rouge community. He also finds it rewarding to be in the health care industry because he is contributing to the care being provided to the ill and enjoys that he works for a large company that employs over 3200 people but still feels like a family.

I concluded with asking William what other job he would be interested in doing and he responded with, “I would run a charter boat out of Key West and fish all day or run a Latin American restaurant,” but he didn’t think those jobs would be interesting enough for a student interview.

Saving Lives

2007-10-15T19:09:00.000-07:00

“Animals are not my whole life, but they make my life whole,” says Casey Daigle, someone who saves the lives of animals on a regular basis. She runs a non-profit rescue organization, in the Baton Rouge community, which focuses on companion animals. She has been in this business for nearly eight years now, and claims there is nothing else she would rather do than devote most of her time to these once homeless, but amazing pets who give us unconditional love and in some cases have even saved our lives.

Casey is a middle-aged woman of a petit stature. I have seen her many times when she would bring the rescued dogs and cats to the veterinary clinic in the Louisiana community, in which I work for. Every time I have seen her she would always have a smile on her face and a story to tell. Her blue eyes would light up with every story she told because they were usually stories about how her rescues had delightful endings, as many of them do. She is a compassionate, loving person, and always willing to do whatever she can to help even if that means fostering animals at her own home. I find these characteristics necessary for a person in her line of work because of the endless hours of care one must provide to the sick or newborn animals while receiving nothing more than joy and satisfaction for her hard work. I believe she stated it well when she told me “I have to be devoted to these animals and take on a lot of responsibilities in order to give them the life they deserve.”

Casey grew up in Monroe, which is in North Louisiana, and always had multiple pets as long as she can remember. Her and her brother took on the responsibilities of caring for their pets, such as feeding, bathing, and medicating them when needed; many of the responsibilities she still has in her own clinic. Therefore, she learned the responsibilities that came with pets at a young age. She always knew she wanted to work with animals when she was younger, and as you can see her dream came true. Besides working with her own pets, Casey took a job at a veterinary clinic while in high school in order to take a step in the direction of fulfilling her dream. She worked at a few different clinics after high school for a total of nine years before she was introduced to someone who worked for a companion animal rescue organization. After talking to this person she decided to go work with her, where she later gained enough experience to open her own rescuing organization and finally get to the point in her life where she is today.

Casey owns her own facility where she houses the stray animals. There are several metal cages usually large enough to house three or four of its inhabitants. The cages are large to make sure the animals have more than enough room to move around, play, etc. They are made of metal to keep the animals from chewing through them, which can be a problem if more than one animal gets loose at the same time and they do not get along. The facility also has a large fenced in back yard, in which the dogs are allowed to run around in and develop their social skills with other dogs and peopleunless they are aggressive towards other dogs. In those cases, they are not allowed around any of the other dogs to ensure their safety. The cats have large rooms full of toys to play in and other cats if they can get along with one another, which is rare with older cats but usually common with kittens. Every day Casey or another volunteer for the organization allows the cats and dogs to get out of their cages to have play time in these designated areas. At the facility, she also has a place where she or someone else can bathe the animals that are simply dirty or need a special medicated bath. Both the facility and the animals are kept clean in order to control odor, which is a problem in many boarding or "pet hotel" facilities. Much of the cleaning is done by Casey, which is another responsibility that comes along with the job.

To give the interview significance, I ask her what the significance of her job is, Casey replied, “No one wants an animal that is in the condition we receive them in, except for us. For this reason we take them in, doctor them up, and make them presentable so people will want them. Without people like me the animals that live on our streets and have close to nothing to eat, would only spread diseases and die of starvation and/or dehydration.” She also made a point that these strays would eventually interact with our outside pets and possibly spread diseases to them. She also receives pets from people who simply do not want their pets any more, cannot afford to take care of them, or are incapable of taking care of them. Again, without someone to take those pets in they would be euthanized. Loving pets would be killed for something far beyond their control. Not only does Casey make a difference in the lives of the animals she adopts out, but many people would agree that those pets have changed their lives. Casey claims, “They have found loving companions in these once homeless pets.”

To stress the importance of her job, Casey told me of a time when one of the dogs she rescued and adopted out saved its family’s lives. Their house caught on fire and unfortunately their smoke detectors did not work. The once stray dog woke the mother of the household up by continuously barking and licking her face. If the dog would not have awakened someone they may not have gotten up until it was too late and could possibly be dead right now. When Casey received this dog, it was malnourished and full of several types of worms. If she would not have rescued that dog and nursed it back to health, not only would the dog have died within the next week, but that family it rescued could possibly be dead as well. There is another story she told me that proved the significance of her job. She said that some of the dogs that work for the police force were adopted from her organization. These dogs provide security for our neighborhoods by helping find runaway criminals, sniffing out drugs in certain places, and so much more. Without dogs in these positions, our security would not be at the level it is today.

Casey’s organization received many misplaced and abandoned pets after Hurricane Katrina. Being a rescue organization in Louisiana, she felt she had an obligation to help those pets find their owners or new owners if necessary. She took in close to twenty pets from the New Orleans area, and nursed the injured ones at no expense to the owner when located. She helped to find those pet’s owners by repeatedly placing ads in the newspapers and online. She also made fliers and searched for people via the numbers on the rabies tag. With research, she found some addresses to where the pets lived, which narrowed the search for families a little. Eventually she found most of the owners, but for the pets whose owners she could not find, she kept them for eight months after the hurricane, and then began adopting them out to those who met her adoption qualifications. The qualifications vary with the animals, but some examples are must have fenced in yards, availability to keep certain pets inside, not having children with certain pets, etc.

Casey does not get paid to do this job, so when asked why she does it if there is no cash in return, which is the reason for or at least a perk of other’s employment, she replied, “I love what I do because I know I am making a difference in the lives of both animals and humans. I do not do it for money. I do it because I hate to see animals walking around on the streets full of parasites, starving, not being able to feed their babies, and getting ran over. I save them and allow them to have a good home and the chance at life that they deserve.” She said she did like her other jobs she previously had, but she feels there just are not enough people doing the kind of work she does now and not many people will because it is so difficult. Although she does depend on people in the positions she once held, such as the Veterinarian Assistants, to help treat her rescued pets, she obviously loves her job and will never leave the business she is in now as long as she is capable to work. She is excited to finally have found the perfect job for her. In my opinion she carries out her organization’s motto “Saving lives one stray at a time.”

Publisher: Crystal Dozier

Before Casey's Help

After Casey's Help

Mechanics in Society

2007-10-15T18:47:00.000-07:00

Lazaro Fernandez
Lei Lani Michel
English 1001-109
16 October 2007
Mechanics in Society
How many times have you depended on a motor vehicle for anything? Even if you do not own a motor vehicle you have been affected by them indirectly through public transport, the police department or other emergency personnel vehicles, personal delivery companies such as UPS, or even the ground delivery trucks for your local grocery store. Can you imagine if there was nobody around to maintain those vehicles?
It is the job of a mechanic to keep the vehicles in running order. Those who own a vehicle know how many times it has broken down or even needed an oil change. Vehicle owners also know how many times they have depended on a mechanic to keep their vehicle maintained. For most vehicle owners keeping their car maintained is one of their top priorities because it is their only means of transportation; which is why they are more than likely willing to pay top dollar to get it fixed.
Even those who do not own a vehicle are indirectly affected by motor vehicles. Imagine today’s society without well maintained emergency vehicles. The police department would not be able to get around by means of ground transport, which would mean that they would more than likely fail to catch the criminal. Ambulances would not be able to move around as they do today, meaning that they would not be able to get to the scene of an injury. Fire trucks would not be able to get to a fire, which would mean more devastating infernos. Another way those who do not own a vehicle would be affected is through the public transport system. This would mean no running busses between locations, leaving those people stranded.
The mechanic I interviewed, Paul Gunn, has been in the business for over 25 years. He has worked on General Motors, (GM), vehicles for the duration of his career. He is currently employed at Bryan Chevrolet in Metairie. When I asked him what he liked best about his job, he answered, “everyone is always looking for a good mechanic. If you do your job well, then you will get your name out there, which can lead you to meet some important people.” I then asked him what kind of important people; he answered “I met the former chief of police in New Orleans, and he is still is a pretty good friend of mine.”
I then asked him what he disliked most about his job. He answered, “I would have to say the worst part about this job is the extreme heat or cold. When it is hot outside it is just as hot in the shop, and in the winter when it is freezing outside it is possibly colder in the shop.” I can attest to the statement about the heat as I was only in the shop for the duration of the interview and I was already beginning to sweat.
The truth is that without mechanics in today’s society, society would not function properly. They are the ones that maintain the countless vehicles out on the road; whether it is government or personal vehicles. However, many people are not aware of the conditions they work in. Without them there to keep the vehicles maintained, the cost of virtually anything dependent on a vehicle would rise.

golf

2007-10-15T18:42:00.000-07:00

Kevin Bohrer
10/09/07
English 1001

Golf

Andrew Loupe, a student-athlete who excels at golf, is a freshman at LSU. He is also taking freshman writing at LSU. He has been playing golf in the Louisiana community since he was seven years old. When I told Andrew about the student interview I had to do, he suggested that I do him. This sounded like a good idea because I know Andrew has been one of the best golfers in the state since 8th grade.
I went and met him at the driving range at the University Club golf course. He was wearing a white collared shirt tucked into his crisp khakis with a white LSU visor to match. It was here where I got to see his golf skills first-hand, and I must say I was impressed. We walked up to the range and as he picked up the first ball and put it on the tee he looked at me and said “watch this.” At first I laughed, but I couldn’t tell if he was joking or being cocky but either way I watched. He was amazing, he could drive the ball 300 yards perfectly straight and chip the ball anywhere he wanted to almost flawlessly. When I asked Andrew what he does to keep his skills so tuned, he looked at me almost like I brought up a sensitive subject and said “well not only do we practice every day, we have 6 A.M. workouts three times a week where we do things like running up tiger stadium multiple times, 50 yard sprints and a bunch of different conditioning exercises that you don’t even want to know about.” 6 A.M. workouts is pretty serious conditioning if you ask me, I don’t know if I would want to go through that, so I asked him if he thought it was worth it. “You know, I ask myself the same thing sometimes, but I have to remind myself that I want this to be my career after college, so I can’t let a few sacrifices affect my game.” Before that comment I had no idea he had aspirations of being a professional golfer, which was pretty interesting because that meant I could be seeing this guy on ESPN one day.
When he asked me if I wanted to stick around and watch him play a few holes, I quickly agreed just to see how good a potential professional golfer really is. As we walk in the shop to get a golf cart, there are two guys working, who both turn to the door when we go in. As soon as Andrew gets in the store, both of the guys smile, almost like they are sucking up to him, and call his name out as if they were so excited to see him. After Andrew talked to about 10 different older men that all acted like they were his best friend, we finally got in our cart and headed to the first hole. I guess you could say he was a celebrity over there.
As we pulled up to the first hole there was someone standing by himself at the tee. He apparently was meeting Andrew there to play together, which I was unaware of. His name was Clayton and he was also on the LSU golf team. He set up his ball to hit first, and it looked like a good shot to me, it was almost to the green. Andrew lined up his shot next, but when he hit the ball instead of going straight it went to the left into a sand trap. He screamed a few profane words and almost threw his club on the ground. Clayton and I got pretty quiet, apparently golf is a pretty emotional sport. I was also surprised because I figured he would have hit the ball perfectly, but I realized pretty soon that even the best golfers don’t hit it perfect every time. He made up for it on his next shot when he hit it onto the green from the sand trap. He ended up birdying the hole which was pretty impressive considering how bad his first shot was. I asked him if there were any initiations or hazing involved in being a freshman on the golf team. He said “No, the only thing i’ve ever had to do is carry the ice chest to the tailgate at the football games, other than that I’m pretty much treated as an equal.”
After about the third hole, 30 minutes later, that was enough for me. Andrew had not been playing good and it was making me pretty uncomfortable how angry he was getting. He kept reassuring me that he was better than he was playing at that time, I guess he didn’t want me to write a bad paper about him. We drove the cart back to the club house, and of course we had to stop at both holes before to talk to people he knew. He told me “I don’t even know most of these people’s names,” so I made a joke about him being famous and he got kind of offended. I could tell he took golf extremely serious, but you can’t really blame him if he plans on going pro.
Despite his less than perfect play that day, I looked up some of his stats from high school online. He won the state championship his 8th grade year at Episcopal High School in Baton Rouge. Not only that, but he won it two more times after that. He lost his senior year to another up and coming golf star in Baton Rouge, but he says he just played bad that match. His stats were very impressive and I would have to say he was the best in the state during his time in high school.

Emily and Baton Rouge

2007-10-15T17:54:00.002-07:00

I am in freshman writing at LSU. Everyone in English 1001 was required to write a profile about a person that has made a significant difference in the community. This is a profile about a woman whose good humor, relaxed attitude, and friendliness help many people in the Baton Rouge community more than they might realize. She does many things to help out the community, such as being a friendly face and a helping hand for bus riders, working as secretary at her local union, being vice president in her mass choir, and volunteering when she has time.

I rode the bus to the Capital Area Transit System’s bus terminal to interview the woman that is almost always at the customer service desk. I thought that, “This is someone people should know. She always looks happy and never gets upset with customers.” I walked into the bright waiting room, up to the customer service desk where there were people in line. A large clock hung on the wall above the first person in line, who was complaining about having to pay for a bus pass. They stormed past me and out of the door. I looked past the line, to the person behind the desk. Framed in yellow and white by phone books and new bus fare notices taped to the glass partition was a short woman with brown skin, eyeglasses, and curled, frizzy hair held back with a headband. Around her neck was a blue lanyard with many keys on it. Her mouth was turned up in a perpetual grin. Since I was next in line now, I walked up to the desk and hunched over to speak under the glass. A refreshing stream of air moved past my face as I looked at the office. She was in a room about four yards wide and three yards deep. There was a phone on her left and one on her right. Posted on the wall behind her were signs showing the office hours, the refund policy, more new fare notices, and an inspirational plaque.

She looked at me with a level gaze when I started speaking and smiled bashfully and nodded when I asked her if I could interview her. Her name is Emily Maten. She is from Greensburg, Louisiana, a small town with no traffic lights. I asked her what she did when she was a child. She said she liked playing jacks and one of her first jobs was babysitting. Now she likes to read and go out to Live After Five with her friends to listen to old school jazz, gospel, and rhythm and blues. She has two daughters, two dogs, and one cat. She has a car, but takes the bus sometimes.

Emily has been working for CATS for eight years. Hired in 1999, she works six days a week, usually from 8:45 am to 5:45 pm. An older woman walked up to the desk and said, “Emily, Hey.” Emily said, “Hello.” I asked Emily what her favorite thing about her job is. She said the people are because there is “never a boring moment, a lot of drama.” She also is the secretary for her local union -1546 where they discuss bus company issues such as employment policies and pay raises. The phone on her right rings and she answers with, “Capital Area Transit”. It sounds like the person on the other end is asking about the Highland bus. “It’ll pick you up on Florida and 18th street. Yes ma’am, " said Emily. Emily has memorized the routes for 17 buses, but has the stop times at hand. When I asked how she thought CATS could be improved, she said they should have community bus meetings closer to the terminal and advertise more for them.

I asked Emily what her duties are for vice president for her church’s gospel choir. She keeps an account of who is in the choir and tells everyone what to wear for special anniversaries. She also gives the choir members tips on singing. I asked her if she could give me, an English 1001 student, a tip. Two girls appeared at the counter, though and asked, “When is the next Bluebonnet coming?” Emily told me to hold on a minute while she helped the girls. When she came back, she told me, “Always pay attention to the musician and the director of the choir. She also told me, “You got to feel the spirit and sing from your heart, so the congregation can feel the spirit.”

A man walked up and started gesturing with his hands and pointing to the buses outside. I think he was trying to figure out what bus to take. He wrote Emily a note and she wrote back the answer. Next I asked Emily what she did when she volunteered at the Baton Rouge River Center. She volunteered there after hurricane Katrina, while the bus terminal was closed for three days. She helped people find the buses that they needed to get to relatives. Emily helped one lady that was trying to go to Kentucky. Emily put her on a bus to Nashville, Tennessee where she could transfer onto a bus to Kentucky. When I asked Emily if she or the bus terminal was changed because of the hurricane she said it wasn’t. She also helped the Baton Rouge community by volunteering with Hands On Baton Rouge at the Sweet Dreams women’s shelter after work. She smiled and said that it was fun. She helped out at a big birthday party that the shelter held once a month.

When I was ready to go, I thanked Emily for her time and promised to bring her a copy of our interview. She smiled and nodded just like she had when I first asked to interview her. I think that this was a good topic for freshman writing at LSU. Through my English 1001 interview, I learned what it is like to have a good job, how to get leadership experience through volunteering, and how to experience more of the community. I enjoyed meeting and getting to know Emily and I hope that many people read this and go to see her.

by: Katie Clarke

A Glimpse of Louisiana: Louisiana, the New Atlantis?

2007-10-15T17:54:00.001-07:00

The Louisiana community has many problems, but one that people may not be aware of is the loss of wetlands. According to Merriam-Webster Online, a wetland is defined as land or areas (as marshes or swamps) that are covered, often intermittently, with shallow water or have soil saturated with moisture; a technical definition that does nothing for people. So let me put in a way that you can understand.
Wetlands are, as some environmentalist say, “nature’s sponge.” One of the main things that they do is absorb the water before they hit the lakes or river, thus preventing harmful pesticides, factory waste, heavy metals or other pollutants from entering our water supply. Let’s face it, no one wants to become a freak of nature by drinking tap water. Wetlands are also a natural filter, by filtering out nitrogen and phosphorus from the water, which if they stayed would cause an increase of algae causing a decrease of oxygen, thus killing all the fish.
So let me relate this information to you as it affects Louisiana. I had a very interesting conversation with an old friend of my dad. His name is Burt St Cyr. He graduated from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas with a degree in Environmental Science. I asked him why wetlands are so important to Louisiana. He said that in Louisiana’s case it is flood protection. The wetlands absorb or assimilate a lot of water, so when you lose wetlands you are unable to absorb as much water, causing flooding.
He went on to say that there are two major reasons why there is a decrease in wetlands in our state. The number one cause being a loss of sedimentation from the Mississippi River. According to Answer.com, after the Civil War the Mississippi River did not return back to the greatness that everyone so vividly remembers from the writings of Mark Twain. So to help bring the river back to its “Golden Years,” Congress instituted the Mississippi River Commission in 1879. This provided the means to continue improving and maintaining the Mississippi River as an effective and efficient commercial waterway. In later years, this meant deepening some of the channels so large barges and boats could more easily navigate the river. It is well known that now in the twenty-first century that the Mississippi River is responsible for over half of the freight transportation on American inland water. But this is not the main reason for the loss in sedimentation.
Flooding has been a major problem in the Mississippi River Valley. “I remember going fishing with a guy and as we were fishing he told me that he remembered that this spot had been a cow field about five years ago,” said Mr. St Cyr. Even when the Mississippi River was first discovered by Hernando de Soto in 1541, he noted a large amount of flooding. Evidence can be traced back to the Native Americans who lived in the area. They built their homes on the higher land or built their homes upon man made mounds, revealing that they too realized the Mississippi River’s ability to flood. It has been a constant battle with the river over the years, but it wasn’t until in the 1930’s when flood control levees were built to help control seasonal flooding. In return, this has caused and converted a lot of the Mississippi Floodplain into farmland. This conversion has lead to two major problems: the loss of our state wetlands, and the creation of the “dead zone,” which is an area in the Gulf of Mexico where there is a small amount of aquatic life due to insanely and abnormally low amounts of oxygen. Mr. St Cyr continued on saying the second reason why we are losing our wetlands is due to development. “People love to live on the water, but in doing so they end up filling in the wetland so they can build on it.”
Curious about how people could stand by and let this happen, I asked him how the public could be made more aware of this problem. He said that most of the projects for awareness are funded by the state, rather than the federal government. The media has had a lot of information, but they refer to it as coastal erosion which is misleading, due to the fact that erosion is a natural process. The main reason is the loss of the sedimentation. According to Ameriawetland.com, there are currently 598 projects that have been constructed in Louisiana, 44 of those are state funded. Only 35 out of the 598 are federally assisted. About a year ago, a big campaign came across in newspapers called Parish Coastal Wetlands Program (PCWP), better known to you as the Christmas Tree Program. The idea came from the Netherlands who created this erosion control technique. It was first introduced here in Louisiana in 1989 in St. Charles Parish at the La Branche Wetlands. The PCWP says it is so effective because it creates a marsh habitat, more public awareness and education, and it is recycling. This Christmas marks the 17th year of this program and currently 250 acres of marsh have been protected and or created.
So let me put things in prospective for you. According to Mr. St Cyr, there was a study done a couple of years ago that said that there was enough sediment that passed down the Mississippi River each hour to fill up Tiger Stadium, aka Death Valley, to the brim. In doing some research of my own, it was said that between 1990 and 2000 wetland loss was at a rate of approximately 24 square miles a year, which is equal to one football field every 38 minutes. It is estimated that 500 square miles will be lost over the next 50 years with the current conservation efforts taken into account and that 217 square miles of marsh were turned into open water from hurricanes Rita and Katrina. These are the facts. Chilling aren’t they? “There is no simple solution to this,” says Mr. St Cyr, “but it is critical that we do something, otherwise half our state will be gone.” And he is right. If we don’t start coming up with a solution to this problem, then we better figure out a way to grow gills because this ship is going down.

By: Lauren Cates
English 1001-110
Freshman Writing at LSU

Ryan Foret

2007-10-15T17:54:00.000-07:00

Kaitlyn Machen
Ms. Lei Lani
English 1001-109
16 October 2007
Ryan Foret
It was the day of my interview, I walked up the front steps of a charming yellow stucco home, and through the front door into a beautifully furnished interior. I walked through the house and into a dimly lit living room, and there before me, sitting on a plush chenille sofa, was my interviewee, Ryan Foret, manager of the Foret Land & Tree Company. Under a heap of thick dark brown hair, his dark brown eyes gave a warm and welcoming glow. He was seated in a comfortable manner and wearing casual clothes, as to give the interview a more relaxed feeling. As I sat down on the sofa cattycorner to Ryan, my eyes were soaking in the atmosphere of the room. The room was inviting, with its two large sofas, shelves graced with family pictures and books, a large television cabinet, and in the center of the room an ornate rug with a coffee table in the center.
Before we began the interview, I explained to Ryan that I was interviewing him for a paper I had to write for my English 1001 class, which is a segment of the LSU Freshman Writing Program at school. I explained that the class assignment is to interview people in and around the Barton Rouge community, because it would help the class gain different perspectives about people and significance in those people’s lives. When the terms of the interview were established I began my interviewing. Ryan, the middle of three children, was born and raised in Thibodaux, Louisiana. He grew up with a passion for landscape and lawn maintenance; partially because it was a part of his life, and partially because his older brother was largely into landscape and lawn maintenance. He said, “I wanted to follow my big brother because I admired him, and because he was older, and younger brothers look up to their older brothers.” He admired his older brother because of his brother’s goals and achievements.
As he studied more and more about landscape and lawn maintenance, he became increasingly interested in this field of work. It interests him because he “likes the challenge of taking something unattractive and making it beautiful.” When he knows he did a good job, and people come out to complement him on the beautiful job, it gives him an “instant gratification.” He said, “I absolutely love what I do, because making people happy is fun.” He loves to see the satisfied faces of his customers, and knowing that these people’s joy was due to his companies hard work makes him happier.
When I asked him how he feels about his competition in the business, he did not want to trash his competitors, he referred to them as “great businesses.” He listed aspects of his company that he feels set him apart from his competitors, such as always having clean lawn equipment and vehicles, always doing the best possible job, being professional on the job as well as off the job, and having professional uniforms. He tries to gain an edge over his competitors by always striving for perfection and professionalism. He said that the company charges people by the hour per worker, and this cost includes the equipment used, manual labor, fuel, the materials used for the yard, insurance, and a profit.
The significance of the Foret Land & Tree Company is to allow people more time to enjoy their freedom, and not have to be hassled with yard work. “There is an aging workforce, and as the baby boomers get older they don’t want to, or are not able to, spend their time in the yard, they’d rather spend their weekends at leisure with friends and family. The younger generations are having more highly professional, stressful jobs, and don’t want to spend their weekend doing yard work.” The company offers lawn services to those who do not have time, are not able to, or just do not want to have to deal with yard work. People who have stressful jobs don’t always want to be hassled with yard work; sometimes they want to spend their free time at leisure, and this is where Foret Land & Tree comes in to serve.
The effects of Hurricane Katrina came as a “shock.” The aftermath of the hurricane was unexpected. Some of the people who lost their homes in Katrina came to Thibodaux, and stayed at Nicholls University for a time, some people permanently settled. During this time Ryan hired a few of the hurricane refugees, so that they could earn money for things such as clothes and food. Ryan and his company also went to New Orleans and landscaped some of the buildings that were ravaged by the storm. They cleared out the area around some of the buildings, and made them beautiful again. On a more personal note, I asked him what is the most important thing in his life, and he replied, “my family, especially my wife and daughter. I would work every day for the rest of my life to insure their happiness.” He works not only because he loves what he does, but he works to support life and everything in it that has meaning to him, especially his wife and child.
As a final note, there is significance in every part of life. In every person, place, animal, job, etc. there is a purpose and a significance; it may not always be easy to see, but with a little insight it can be found. Landscaping is a beautiful art in which people can express themselves in a positive form. It is the art of making outdoor spaces beautiful, and centers of entertainment and enjoyment.

A Queen in the Making

2007-10-15T17:49:00.000-07:00

Samantha Stein
Ms. Lei Lani
English 1001
16 October 2007
A Queen in the Making

A short balding man with a pointed noise, thin lips, and a slight Louisiana accent, Ricky Bordelon’s job stings and buzzes; he is a bee keeper. Ricky’s grandfather started E.J. Bordelon Apiaries more than 75 years ago in Hamburg Louisiana and is one of only three apiary companies in the Louisiana community. Ricky explained that “an apiary is another word for a bee yard where bee hives of honey are kept.” His grandfather E.J. started raising bees in the 1920’s as a hobby with one hundred fifty hives which were later taken over by his three sons. The three sons began selling queen bees “up north” where it is too cold to raise queens.
Unlike most apiaries in the country, Ricky’s company doesn’t sell honey. “Honey only goes for sixty cents a pound, not nearly enough to raise a family.” explained Ricky. In order for Ricky to make a large profit from honey, he would have to increase the number of his hives which is of no interest to him. E. J. Bordelon Apiaries “fools mother nature” by making queen bees. The fifteen day process starts when tiny eggs are grafted from a breeder queen. Ricky’s company buys four to five breeder queens each year from California; each breeder queen cost about 400 dollars. As he adjusted his glasses, Ricky said “Breeder queens are used as a way to ensure pure breeding among the bees.” This year, Ricky is using Minnesota Hygiene Bees as breeders because they best resist the viruses carried by bees that can kill a hive; Minnesota Hygiene Bees were first created at the University of Minnesota in 1995.
Eggs laid by the breeder queen take 36 hours to hatch into larvae. Ricky and his team of workers collect larvae from the breeder queens. The delicate larvae are handled using a small rod that resembles a “crochet needle” because it has a hook on the end. Ricky carefully places the larvae into “cell builders or cell cups” which are a set of connected compartments made of plastic that house a larva until they are hatched. The cell cups used are larger than a natural larvae cell. The size difference determines whether the bee will be a queen or a worker. Ricky and his workers place about 36,000 larvae into cell builders per day; 85% of the larvae will survive.
Ten days later, the larvae are placed into the cell cups; Ricky’s team of workers places the larvae into incubator for a day until the queen larvae are less than 30 hours from hatching. Ricky explained the importance of tracking the metamorphosis; newly emerged queens will cut a slit in other cells in the incubator and sting the other queens to death in order to insure “a seat in the throne.” The mature larvae are placed into nukes. Ricky used his hands to gesture a shape of a nuke. A nuke is a miniature square beehive made of two wooden frames and a feeder. The nuke contains worker bees left a day without a queen. In the nuke, worker bees realize that there is no queen and begin to feed the larger cell cup with plenty of royal jelly. Ricky explained that royal jelly is secreted by the salivary glands of the worker bees; the larger amounts of royal jelly produce a bee of “royal blood” or a queen bee.
A royal larva will hatches into a “virgin” bee which is a bee that has never mated. Eight to nine days after hatching, a virgin bee will fly off to mate; she returns to the nuke three days later to lay eggs. Ricky then catches the queen, cages her up and ships her to northern state. The next day Ricky places a new queen in the nuke; the nuke is used 6 times in a season.
Ricky ships the queen bee in a small cage with three holes; the cage contains a small candy made of powdered sugar and corn syrup. The small piece of food is mixed by Ricky who claims to have a special eye for the correct consistency; “too soft, the candy will melt, too hard, the bee won’t eat it.” One queen bee from Ricky cost $11 though his son wants to raise the price to make a larger profit. Other bee vendors range in location from California, Texas, Florida, Mississippi, and Georgia. Ricky explained that “apiaries that sell queens are found in the south because the season starts earlier and ends later than northern states. “ The southern season starts in March and ends in August. The northern season starts in June and ends in July. The price an individual queen bee rages from $8 to $16. Ricky also sells two and three pound packages of worker bees; a three pound package cost $44. Packages are used to build bigger hives and are placed into hives with a pre-existing queen. Ricky mainly sells his queens and packages to northerners who collect bees as a hobby. Hurricane Katrina had no affect on Ricky’s business because of his northern location in Avoyelles Parish, all of his customers are from the north, and he was already finished for the season.
During the season, Ricky relies on 5 to 6 workers to maintain and feed the hives. His sons Joey and Jeremy Bordelon also put in their share of work aside from their day jobs. In the off season Ricky uses 1 to 2 workers to maintain feeding. When the weather is cloudy or rainy the bees are more aggressive and sting more. The tips of Ricky’s fingers are hard and callused; Ricky can watch a bee sting his finger and feel nothing. At the peak of the season Ricky’s finger tips peel, crack, and bleed from the amount of stings. So why doesn’t he where gloves? Ricky can only use his bare fingers to catch the queen. The queen must be delicately caught by the wings to ensure her survival. Ricky said “I only wear a head vale to protect me from mosquitoes not really bees.” Ricky and his employees also wear a special body suite to protect themselves from the stings. Ricky estimated that he receives about 100 to 200 stings a day, even with the protective gear. Once, a bee flew into Ricky’s ear; he said “it sounded like it was in my brain.” He tried to get it out with a rusty nail that he found lying around, but the bee remained stuck until he shook his head enough. The bee never stung him; it just flew right out. The gear the beekeepers wear along with the materials used to raise the bees is purchased from a bee supply house. Ricky maintains 11,000 hives in his apiary.
Ricky isn’t sure what will become of his bee company. He hopes one of his two sons will take over the business. Ricky hopes for his business to grow and to continue to supply his customers. Ricky ended the interview by saying “’If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would have four years of life left‘ that’s from Albert Einstein, make sure you put that in your paper!” Ricky wanted to show how important bees are in the pollination of vital vegetation to animals and humans.

Accountant

2007-10-15T16:33:00.000-07:00

Tiffany Shaw
English 1001
Ms. Michel
15 October 2007
Accountant

As I walked through the door of the high rise building the American Tower in downtown; the environment immediately seemed welcoming. People smiled at me, and asked if I needed anything, even though I could tell they were really busy running back and forth from each others offices trying to complete the work they had for that week. The interior of the building was decorated with bright color’s, with beautiful picture’s hanging from the wall, and artificial flower’s surrounding the visitor area. The noise in this building was nothing like other ones I had been in before. It was not filled with silence, but filled with lots of chatter and laughter. Everyone in the building seemed to be enjoying themselves. Another thing that made this building so unique was it was more modern then most buildings that have the old look and it was very spacious. As I sat in the visitors chairs I heard the receptionist say the name Mrs. Digilormo and I knew then that she was the one who I would be doing my student interview on. When I turned around in my chair to see what she looked like there was this lady with short brown hair to her shoulders, a skinny body frame, and blue eyes. She was wearing nice black pants, black high heel shoes, and a white shirt. I could tell by her attire she was a very professional person, because everything seemed so neat and went together perfectly. As I made my way toward the receptionist counter where Mrs. Digilormo was standing, the receptionist said, “Mrs. Digilormo there is the young lady you have been waiting to see to interview you.” She turned around and said, “Hello Tiffany it is nice to meet you. Why don’t we go to my office to talk.” Her office was really nice, and I could tell that she was a very organized person. Everything was neatly organized on her desk; she had pictures of her children on her desk with a beautiful view of the city from her window. Her office had an aroma of fresh clean linen from the candle that she had lit, making her office very relaxing and comforting.
Mrs. Digilormo explained to me that she was born and raised in Shreveport, LA and has a degree in the bachelor of business administration, and majored in accounting from Northwestern University in Natchitoches, LA. I asked, “Why did you choose to major in accounting?” She then explained “I have always loved working with numbers and spreadsheets.” She told me that basically an accountant reconcile bank accounts, collect receivable, cut checks for payables, maintain fixed asset records, handle payrolls, and prepare monthly financial statements. “Wow, that’s a lot of work for a person to do,” I said. She laughed and explained to me that sometimes it can be tough, but that once you do it for a while that you get use to it and can get it done fairly quickly. Mrs. Digilormo also said, “We need accountants in this world because they help to maintain financial records determine profitability of a company, and help people manage their money. I know that sometimes people do not think about being an accountant because it is not an easy major, but the truth is that if you work hard you can do it.”
Mrs. Digilormo has an extensive work experience. Her first real job as an accountant was working for Tango as a public accountant. She said that she really did not enjoy the job she had for that company because of the demanding hours, but she knew with determination and hard work that she could move on to a better job with better opportunity’s. After the Tango Company job she began working for the Campbell Company as a private accountant which is still the job that she has today. “I came about getting the Campbell job because a former employee had given notice, and informed the company she knew someone who would be perfect as her replacement, so you could say that I lucked out and that they found me,” said Mrs. Digilormo. She said that most people hate there job but that she loves hers mostly because of the atmosphere, and the people who she works with. What also makes her job great is that her task can be done at her own pace with only a few deadlines she must meet.
Mrs. Digilormo job starts out at 8 a.m. every day. When she first arrives in her office she gets on her laptop computer, and checks her email to see if there is anything new that she needs to do for that day. In the morning part of the day she prepares the monthly financial statement for that month. “That is the probably the hardest task of my job because I have to make sure that all of the numbers on the statements are precisely correct”, said Mrs. Digilormo. Once she has done that, from 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm she goes, and has lunch with her co-workers. The afternoon part is usually when Mrs. Digilormo will open the mail, answer the phones to answer clients’ questions, and file documents. Mrs. Digilormo day usually ends at 5:00 pm unless she has extra work to do in the office to meet a deadline. Outside of the office, Mrs. Digilormo enjoys spending time with her children and husband on the weekend since she only works Monday through Friday. She is like any other person and enjoys doing the normal things like cooking dinner for her family, going on vacations, and watching her children play soccer. She explained “I am the same person in the office as I am out of the office.” To me that meant that she is still a nice and wonderful person outside of the office like she is inside the office.
Since I knew that Mrs. Digilormo was living in Louisiana when Katrina had struck I decided to ask her if she had been affected or had anything to do with her job been affected. She explained to me that Katrina had not affected her personally, but that many companies in the Louisiana community had lost money because of hurricane Katrina. “I could not see anywhere in our financial reports after hurricane Katrina where it had affected the company that I work for majorly except for a little, and that is only because so many people were hurting financially,” said Mrs. Digilormo.
When it was my time to leave, I turned to Mrs. Digilormo and I said, “What advice can you give to inspiring students who are thinking about being an accountant?” “Public accounting requires lots of overtime, but is a great experience to make lots of contacts that can help you later in finding a better job. I would suggest you start in public accounting if you do not have children, and then move to corporate accounting, such as a factory or hospital, where the work house are more traditional and overtime is minimal. You might even get lucky as I did and work as a private accountant for a wealthy individual that can include more flexibility than the public or corporate world,” said Mrs. Digilormo.
After getting to know Mrs. Digilormo, she taught me that being organized, experience, and hard work can help to pay off to get a great job. I always thought that lots of business people who had really good jobs were always snobby, but I learned from Mrs. Digilormo that it pays off to be nice no matter if you are at work or out of your work environment and what it really takes to become an accountant. I have also realized that it is not worth staying at a job that you do not enjoy because better things are out in the world with great opportunities.

Online Interview

2007-10-15T16:32:00.000-07:00

Michael Boutte
English 1001-110
Lei Lani Michel
Profile Paper
Online Interview
The first time I meet Like Louis was at Woodruff Boy Scout Reservation in Northern Georgia. On Tuesday a thunderstorm came across the camp, therefore Mike, five of the adult leaders, and I gathered under a wooden pavilion that could barely fit the seven of us. While we sat under the pavilion, I noticed Mike seemed introverted, like me, because he sat on the end of the bench not saying anything; he just stared at the rain. Eventually, the adults began to talk about the Iraq War, as they always do, and then another side of Mike came out of nowhere. He began to debate with them about an exit strategy, our purpose for beginning there, and etc. During the argument all five adults singled out Mike, but he still had an instant reply for every statement they said. This particular event amazed me because whenever I converse with a group of people I do not have anyone that shares my views on the topic. Also, Mike never made up information when he debated with people, for he used the facts about the subject. His vast knowledge baffled people and they wondered where he received his education; he answered Syracuse University.
Mike discovered Syracuse University when he vacationed in the Northeast with his family during the summer of his junior year. They drove to upstate New York and decided to visit Syracuse University. Originally, Syracuse did not interest him but he decided to take a tour since his dad, Brett Louis, heard they were a high ranked school. Once he entered the campus his thoughts about the university began to change rapidly. First, he noticed the abundant green healthy trees and the round topped mountains in the background. Then, he went on a tour of the campus and he said, “Everyone seemed very happy, and they looked like they loved the school they were in.” The first building he viewed was their three story red-orange bricked library. He walked in and saw rows of shelves filled with all kinds of books, periodicals, and magazines. He also noticed hundreds of brown desk with numerous students diligently doing their school work. Mike asked the tour guide if he had a calendar of the events that take place on campus, so the guide brought him to the university calendar on one of their black dell computers. The calendar showed at least two events every day ranging from speakers, concerts, and club meetings. This was exactly what Mike wanted to see because he did not want to be bored in college. Later, he came across the tan photo journalism building with its six towering Roman columns. Also, dark green bushes followed the side walk to the entrance and formed a perimeter around the building. They went inside and the tour guide stopped an old gray and white haired professor who cheerfully came to speak with them. He proudly said, “I have worked at Syracuse for twenty years,” and he spoke about their highly ranked status among other universities. At the end of the tour, Mike enthusiastically told his father, “I want to go to Syracuse!”
Mike enjoyed his time at Syracuse and participated in many extra curricular activities. During his freshmen year he joined the newspaper staff and became a photographer since he wanted to major in photo journalism major. He became friends with the newspaper staff, for they did homework and went to movies and concerts together. As hobbies, Mike took pictures and played pranks on his friends. One day Mike got offended when his friend, Dan, made fun of him for watching “The Cosby Show”, which aired on Nickelodeon, because Dan believed the show seemed childish. Two days later Mike decided to play a prank on Dan who was homophobic. Mike and Dan’s roommate, Roger, taped pictures of nude men on every square inch of wall in Dan’s room. Dan came home from class at about 3:00 p.m. while Mike and Roger quietly waited in the living room on the black sofa as if they did nothing wrong. Dan walked straight into his room, completely oblivious to the situation, and furiously said, “What the hell is this guys.”
While Mike knew how to have fun, he was focused on his school work. He knew the difference between the time to play and the time to work. He did not find his class to be difficult except for his mathematics courses, for he struggled with math since he was in highs school. He had difficulty with it because he could not understand why he needed to know subjects like calculus. Outside of his “useless” math classes, he took a psychology class as an elective during his freshmen year, and the class became a changing point in his life. The class interested him even more than photo journalism. “That was my first psychology class I ever took and I never really knew how interesting it really was,” said Mike. The following semester he not only signed up for another psychology class but also a political science course. He wanted to learn more about both sides of the political world since he was born into a republican family and attended a majority democrat college. These classes intrigued Mike so much that during his sophomore year he changed his major to psychology and minored in political science.
Mike had no regrets about his change in majors. He loved every class he took that related to either psychology or political science, and he enjoyed psychology that focused on children the most. During his junior year, he joined a research club that conducted psychology projects. One of the projects required him to teach second and third graders. He and his classmates volunteered at a local grammar school and offered after school tutoring. Some of the students had mental disorders such as autism. These students became a challenge because they did not want to talk to Mike and would kick and scream randomly. During his time tutoring, he believed that explaining to the parents the effects of their child’s disorder was the most difficult aspect since the parents did not completely understand the disorder.
After multiple tutoring sessions and classes, Mick’s graduation, May 2005, finally arrived. Two months after his graduation he enrolled in Louisiana Sate University to attend graduate school. He chose L.S.U. not only because his friend, Peter, agreed to share an apartment with him near campus, but also his girlfriend, Diana, lived in Baton Rouge whom he kept a long distance relationship with for the past four years. Unfortunately, Hurricane Katrina gave Mike a poor glimpse of Louisiana for his first year of graduate school. The storm’s wind, rain, and flooding did not directly affect him, but his family from New Orleans did cause several conflicts. They rented an apartment directly under Mike’s apartment for about three months. Mike did not want them living that close to him because they treated him like a child. They tried controlling every aspect of his life, for they asked him what he was doing and where he was everyday. As a result from Mike’s obnoxious parents, he scored a letter grade below what he wanted on his test. Luckily before the next semester began, his parents moved back to New Orleans and he was able to focus on school and his new job as a psychology teacher assistant.

Recalling The Past

2007-10-15T14:57:00.000-07:00

Lauren Herbert
English 1001
10/8/2007
Profile

Think of how it would be like to walk around with cardboard in the soles of your shoes instead of going to the store and buying a brand new pair. Imagine having to ration the food you eat everyday with coupons so you and your family won’t run out later in the month, or having a birthday with no cake on your special day. Now I want you to picture having a loved one, an uncle, a brother, or a father, leave you to fight in a war and you will most likely not hear about them for months at a time. As millennials, those born in the 1980’s, our generation has yet to experience a war that has completely altered our way of life. With this in mind, it was enlightening to talk with Mrs. Dorthey Modeen and listen to her experience of a teenage girl’s life during World War II.
Mrs. Modeen has lived in my neighborhood for over 26 years and has known my family and me for 19 of those years. She is a sweet, eighty-one year old lady who always has a healthy appetite for conversation, whether it be a concern for a fellow neighbor’s health, what kind of weather to expect that week, what kind of recipes would be interesting to try, or simply to enjoy having company to share time with. Since Mrs. Modeen lives a lone, my mom and her will occasionally run errands together and when Mrs. Modeen goes out of town to visit family, she will ask me to watch her cat, Rudy. At eighty-one Mrs. Modeen is real trooper, she is a breast and colon cancer survivor for the past five years, just gone through knee replacement surgery, and still finds the energy to walk through her yard with her cane, picking up fallen branches from the past storm. When I called Mrs. Modeen on the phone and asked her if it was possible for me to interview her for my English 1001 class, she said she was more than happy to be interviewed and for me to come on over. She seemed really pleased at the opportunity of having a guest over at her house.
Twelve seconds later I knocked on my neighbor’s door and was greeted by Mrs. Modeen where she proceeded to usher me into the living room and have a seat. It was a cozy setting; a fireplace was in the middle of the wall, next to the back door I had just come through. The fireplace mantel was completely decorated with photographs ranging from the old black and white pictures of Mrs. Modeen’s late husband to the digital photos of her grandchildren. In the middle of the room was a small coffee table with magazines such as Better Home and Gardens and Time on it. Flanking the table were two chairs, an antique wine colored wingback, and an adjustable Lay-Z-Boy recliner. The third wall was lined with a small library of mystery and suspense books, a large collection of movies by Alfred Hitchcock, and an old fashion radio from the 50’s.
I took a seat in the antique wingback while Mrs. Modeen shuffled over the recliner; she picked up a remote and the chair rose up to meet her halfway so she wouldn’t strain her knee. When she was finally situated, I asked her if she could tell me a little bit about her life during the 1940’s. She immediately dove into a brief history of the war, going into events such as the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Her left hand would twist and flick on her wrist as she lectured me on significant events of the war. It was a good ten minutes until I could ask her about her life personally during that time.
Mrs. Modeen’s teenage years were during a time of national uproar with the bombing of Pearl Harbor and careful management with ration coupons. Mrs. Modeen and her younger brother lived with her aunt at the time, while her mother worked. The three would give their weekly food coupons to Mrs. Modeen’s mother, so she would pick up their rations. She explained that items such as gas, tires, sugar, meat, butter, shoes all were strictly rationed or unattainable because they were going to the war effort. Even luxury items such as nylon were impossibly hard to come by, “They would use the nylon to make parachutes for the paratroopers.” I asked her if she and her friends just went without stockings at the time; she shook her head, “Ohh no,” she softly cooed with a small chuckle. She went on to say that even though they were in ration, the stockings were still in style, so instead of going out in public with no stockings, Mrs. Modeen and her friends would paint their legs with make-up. It would work for a little while; until the make-up started to rub off on the skirts the girls would wear.
I asked Mrs. Modeen what school life was like, especially with a draft in effect. She told me that many of her schoolmates were either drafted or volunteered. When I asked her if this bothered her seeing her friends leave and maybe not return, she said no. She went on to say she felt proud of what her friends were doing for their country and thought it was the right thing for young men to do at the time. There was one thing about school at the time she was upset about, and it involved her math teacher. The teacher was in charge of not only teaching senior math, but also in the training of the young men in the signal corps. While in the math class, the teacher would purposely ignore the female students and only call on the male students. When I asked Mrs. Modeen what the purpose of that was, she said she wasn’t positive, but it must have been because the math teacher wanted his boys properly prepared for when they left to go fight in the war.
Mrs. Modeen also participated in the war effort during that time. She was a member of what she called the Senior Girl Scouts, basically Girl Scouts for older members. She and her troop would volunteer at the hospitals; this included visiting the patients and carrying trays of food to different patients, this way they would relieve the nurses. Saving things like newspapers became routine for Mrs. Modeen and her family; all the cans from the canned food that they bought would be saved, cleaned out, the ends cut out, and then flattened. All these materials would be recycled and put to use in the war effort.
Mrs. Modeen’s older brother was stationed in the navy at Okinawa a few months after Pearl Harbor. When I asked her if it was a difficult time for her then, her eyes widened, “Ohh yes.” She went on to say that even though radio had come a long way, the news still didn’t travel fast enough. All she and her family could do was wait on letters, which were not that reliable, or on news reports. The combination of the fear for her brother, along with the constant tension of not knowing, was something she said she never wanted to relive.
Another subject that was brought up was politics, mostly Mrs. Modeen’s opinion of the actions of the government during World War II and the present day government. She felt that even though the government in 1944 went to extreme measures to end the war, the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it had to be done. “It was the lesser of two evils,” she said. I asked what she meant by that comment, she explained that it was better that the United States bomb the two cities, than have the world powers continue fighting the war, which she believed would have stretched on far longer than it originally did. I asked her what she thought of the administration during the Hurricane Katrina disaster compared to the administration under President Roosevelt and President Truman, she replied she believed the political parties present during her teenage years were much more competent than the present administration. “Political parties back then [in the 1940’s] could have a different opinion and argue about it, then go out that same night and have dinner together.” The point she was trying to make was that even though the politicians had their own opinions and ideas, the different parties had a common goal back then, and that was what was in the best interest for the people of the United States. Mrs. Modeen went on to explain that the current politicians now are too involved with their own political careers and party affiliation to have the people’s best interest at heart. She pointed out the disaster of hurricane Katrina for an example, she believed that the Louisiana community didn’t receive help right away because its governor at the time was of a different political party than the president. I had to agree with her that there did seem to be more political corruption now than there was fifty years ago, but when I asked Mrs. Modeen if she had lost all faith in the current government, she said she was somewhat content with it. Even though there was much corruption in her opinion, she believed there were still a few politicians out there that did not cater to lobbyist.
When we were done with the student interview I got up from old wingback and Mrs. Modeen pressed the remote again and her recliner began to tip forward so she could get up. She walked me to the door and I thanked her for her time, she smiled, said it was a pleasure and to call her if I had any more questions. I thoroughly enjoyed talking with my neighbor; it was interesting to find out Mrs. Modeen’s personal prospective on her life during that time. I find it fascinating how different generations all go through the same phases of aging, but we take such different routes along the way. In Mrs. Modeen’s generation, the majority were contributing to the war in anyway they could; the generation that would come soon after would be know for their passionate protests against the war in Vietnam. One comment that really stood out from the whole interview was Mrs. Modeen’s opinion when said she felt very proud of they way the U.S. government handle World War II. She admired the way the government worked hard to unify the country in a common goal and inspire patriotism in its people.

Survivor

2007-10-15T10:51:00.000-07:00

Robby Gunther
Lei Lani Michel
English 1001-109
16 October 2007
Survivor
Nikita King, simply known as Nikki to most people, is a worker at Smoothie King. Nikki is a New Orleans native and has been part of the Louisiana community since she was born. Nikki use to call New Orleans her home but now, like plenty of other New Orleans natives, calls Baton Rouge her new home because of the devastating hurricane Katrina.
The first question I asked Nikki was if she stayed in New Orleans through out the hurricane and she told me she did. I could not believe some one would stay so I asked her why, and she told me she decided to stay because she had to watch over her grandmother and her fragile ninety-two year old great grandmother. Hearing her say that made me realize how loving and considerate she really is. She could have decided to leave with her husband and head to Baton Rouge to safety, but instead she decided to stay at her grandmother’s house to be with her family and watch after them.
Nikki stayed in New Orleans a total of seven days after Katrina. She spent three days in her grandmother’s house and four in the Convention Center. “7:30 a.m. I woke up and stepped off the bed and water was up to my ankle. Then some one went to the door and opened it and water just rushed in and every one started to panic and moved to the second floor of the house. There was about eighteen feet of water by the end of it.” She remembers being on the second floor of the house looking out the windows and wondering how could the government let this happen. I asked what part of the government was to blame and she said President Bush. On the other hand I asked her how come it wasn’t the mayor’s fault, and she believes Mayor Ray Nagin was not to blame because he was too worried about his family during the storm.
After three days in the flooded house Wildlife and Fishery picked them up and brought them to the Convention Center. “Instead of going to the Convention Center why did you not go to Baton Rouge to meet up with your husband?” I asked her. She said because there was no way for her to leave.
I asked her when she finally reached Baton Rouge and she answered quickly like it was yesterday “September 7.” “Was it difficult to live in a new town?” I asked her. Surprisingly she said no, and she explained to me that she was part of the Baton Rouge community for six months prior to hurricane Katrina. I wondered why she moved back and she simply said “It wasn’t home, even though I had family here.”
Even though Nikki knew the region well it was hard for her to adjust from New Orleans to Baton Rouge. “It took me nine months to get a job here, and it wasn’t like I was only going out looking for a job every other month but I was out there every day looking for a job.” “I believe people here are prejudice.” I looked at her with one eyebrow raised and said “Prejudice?” Nikki said she would go in to get a job and would mention she was from New Orleans and just seemed to go down hill from there.
Nikki finally got a job at First Baptist Church because she said she kept calling them asking them about the job. I asked her why she did not just give up on that job and keep on searching for another job, and she said because she was going to be able to work with kids and she loves kids. Two weeks after she got the job she said she was fired because they did not have enough room on the payroll for her Nikki swears it was for other reasons. I asked her “What other reasons could there have been?” This is what Nikki had to say “While I was there I asked if we celebrated Martin Luther King Day and I was told that they do not and not to teach the kids about him, and that’s why I think I was fired.”
What did you do after that I asked, and she replied she got a job at Shell and at the same time Smoothie King. She worked at both places for awhile she told me, but decided to quit working at Shell because it seemed like a dangerous job. I wondered what was so dangerous working a the Shell gas station and she told me that she had the night shift and it was not in the best part of town.
I asked Nikki if she was every going to move back to New Orleans. Nikki told me no because she does not see any steps forward being made for the city of New Orleans. The final question I asked her was why she chose to live in Baton Rouge after all the hassle she got from people here, and she simply answered that she already had family here and that Baton Rouge is not to far from New Orleans.

Head Coach

2007-10-15T08:57:00.000-07:00

Ashley Applegate
English 1021
Ms. Lei Lani
10 October 2007
Yvette Girouard is a lady who has accomplished outstanding things no other coach has been able to do. In her first season at LSU, Girouard was able to lead the Tigers to their first appearance in the the national competition for softball formally known as the Women’s College World Series, with a victory over her former school, UL-Lafayette, in the NCAA Regional Championship game. Her office sits on the fourth floor of the coaches building with an amazing view of the campus. She enjoys looking out her office window at seven am, observing the campus and the students that roam while sipping on her morning coffee. Her office has many trophies and plaques that show her accomplishments as a head coach at LSU and UL-Lafayette. Her office has an aroma of fresh pine saw and coffee that was brewed in the morning.
I began the interview by asking her basic questions regarding her job. Being a head coach at LSU is a fun job and is something that she enjoys to do. She has been a head coach for LSU for eight years now and she has loved every day of it. “My favorite part about my job is being able to come to work every day in shorts and a tee-shirt.” She goes on to say that it is comfortable and convenient. She benefits from her job because it keeps her young. Her basic responsibilities as a head coach are: scheduling, organizing, and planning both season and off season. Her basic duties for scheduling consist of approving regular season, arranging extra-season tournaments, and arranging the logistics
for all your travel. “This is done during the fall, but I work on it all year,” said Coach Girouard. “Organization is something I do at the beginning of the season every year.” This step includes assigning team managers, setting up a team budget, and managing inventory on things like; team apparel, uniforms, warm-ups, shoes, and team jackets. “I get lots of help from my assistant coaches Megan Smith and James Defeo. We split up this part to get things done more efficiently.” The season plans are something that is agreed upon with all of the coaches, but is ultimately up to Coach Girouard. She has to decide on the direction she wants to take her team, and what strategy approach and style she wants to use. The off season planning is the easiest part. She hosts camps for extra money for the tiger softball program, she assigns a summer workout program for her players, and schedules her annual awards ceremony.
As we continued, I began to ask her about how she affects the LSU softball program and the Baton Rouge community. She brushed back her brown-bobbed haircut and smiled with a spark in her eye which reflected her heart for her players. At this point I realized that my coach truly loves her job. Throughout her time being a head coach for the Lady Tigers, she has accomplished many great things. For instance, she was inducted into the National Fast pitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame in December of 2005. Another outstanding accomplishment that occurred following her induction to the Hall of Fame was that she became the sixth coach in NCAA history to earn 1,000 career victories. As a result of her outstanding efforts, the LSU softball team was rewarded a 3.5 to 5 million dollar softball stadium that was set to open in 2006, but postponed due to Hurricane Katrina until 2008. At this point she knew she was blessed with this
opportunity and said, “You never have a second chance to make a first impression, and our facility is our first impression.” Coach has affected the hearts of young girls in the Baton Rouge community. She hosts many camps throughout the year. “I enjoy doing these camps, because they allow me to give back to the community. Like my momma always taught me, you always leave something you used better than you found it.” She uses this motto every day. Building a new softball stadium for the Tigers was an honor, because she got to travel all around the nation picking out little things she liked and put them all together for her new stadium.
After we discussed her many accomplishments as a coach, I asked her about how Hurricane Katrina affected her and her team. With a sigh, she began to talk about how the atmosphere of LSU changed: “It affected me because I was in the middle of evacuation and triage area. Seeing firsthand the misery and devastation to people was just horrendous. Baton Rouge became New Orleans overnight and doubled its population. It was weird to walk around campus seeing rifles attached to the militaries hip at our school. It was just absurd.” She went on to explain that the inventory in the grocery stores was empty. Things like bread, milk, and water were scarce, because this catastrophe was unexpected. Next she began to explain how the storm affected the team. She said “the team and other student athletes tried to help out as much as possible, but it was just too depressing. Our locker room was a nursery for kids without parents for the entire semester and the LSU volleyball team was on the road all season. The PMAC was used as a hospital and Jamarcus Russel, who is now a pro football player had twenty people living in his house during this episode! This disaster made the team and me aware of how lucky we are.” She continued to talk about how the school and community drew closer.
One of her players on the team that year was affected directly. The player’s family had a house uphill in New Orleans. There house did not flood, but their electricity was out for a long period of time and the family was forced out of their house and relocated.
After hearing all of hard work and accomplishments, I knew that my coach was a very strong woman. She not only made an impact on me, but also all of her players and the young girls of the Baton Rouge Community. Playing a sport my whole life has taught me good characteristics like, responsibility, courage, endurance, and has given me the extra bit of juice to finish everything I start. I credit these morals to Coach, because with her she has made me become a better person and taught me the good things in life. Coach Girouard serves as my counselor. She leads me the right way before I even get the chance to stray away from my goals. She helps me set long-term goals and short-term goals that will help me succeed in softball and school. When I’m down she picks me up, when I’m cocky she knocks me down to make me better. She is like a mother to me; always making sure I am okay and healthy, reassuring that everything is going to be okay. At times I just want to pack up my bags and go home, but in the end I smile and shake my head and think to myself she always has her way to make things better.

English 1001 Interviews

2007-09-25T05:34:00.000-07:00

This assignment is for English 1001 (Fall 2007) in part of the LSU Writing Program's Profile assignment.

For this essay, you are to write a Profile of a person or a place (or a person and place) that you think would interest LSU students or Baton Rouge readers. This should be the kind of essay that you could submit to the campus newspaper, The Reveille or The Tiger Weekly, both of which frequently feature articles profiling a person or place. So do The Advocate and Country Roads. Your subject has to be a person or place with which you are unfamiliar, such that you will have to complete one or more interviews and at least two close observations to get interesting information on the person and/or place.

Your writing task will be to get that information and then put it together in such a way that other LSU students or Baton Rouge readers will be interested in reading your Profile. Your readers will want to get specific information and also be able to picture the person and/or place you are writing about. Your essay should tell your readers the kind of things they don’t know or haven’t realized and they should also enjoy reading what you have to tell them. The one question I would like you to ask of your interviewee is how Hurricane Katrina affected them . Finally, you will be required to associate a picture with this interview, and we will discuss what types of images may be most useful.

Central Features of Profile

Like a photograph, a good Profile will keep the focus on a specific place or person. The details of the subject are in sharp focus while the surrounding context is more quickly drawn or blurred.

The consequence of a clear focus is vividness. In a narration of an event, the good writer knows when to close in on the details of an event rather than merely summarize action of characters. Likewise, in a Profile, good writers know how to close in on the subject and present a vivid portrait. Whereas the details of the Firsthand Portrait were recovered from the writer’s memory, in the Profile, these details are discovered through the writer’s careful observations and interviews. The writer has to look closely and take good notes when interviewing to recapture these details. A good Profile writer has to be a good reporter—which is tantamount to being a good researcher.

As with the Firsthand Portrait, the Profile will have a controlling purpose revealed in the significance of the essay. The significance of the Profile is an answer to why the writer chose this particular person or place to profile.

And finally, a Profile will have both an engaging and informative plan. The writer needs to draw readers into this kind of essay. Thus, the writer might open with information that is surprising and interesting and promise more of the same. Part of the writer’s investigation will focus on discovering surprising details that casual observers miss. The writer has to organize her essay so that those details get highlighted. Because Profiles tend to present a fair amount of new information, which makes the subject interesting, writers have to present that new information in small doses. Readers can only digest so much new information in a sentence or paragraph, so the writer can help readers—and keep them interested—by organizing the distribution of information.

We have discussed how information circulates and to maximize the scope of readers, we will be placing these interviews online. The final draft of your paper will be a blog entry.

Blog

Blog website: http://english1001interviews.blogspot.com/

Username: on handout

Password: on handout

TH 27 September 2007 Reviewing the central features of a profile

TU 02 October 2007 Considering the interview genre (homework due)

TH 04 October 2007 Pictures, text and tagging lecture (in-class writing assignment)

TU 09 October 2007 In-class workshop (peer review)

TH 11 October 2007 Fall Holiday (No class)

TU 16 October 2007 Final draft due (upload to blogger)