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.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Sean Cangelosi
Doug Gunther
Lei Lani Michel
English 1001-109
16 October 2007
Sean Cangelosi is a business man who owns three smoothie kings in the Baton Rouge community. Running three stores is time consuming for Sean. Sean did not have enough time to do our interview in person, so instead we were able to accomplish it through email. The first question that I asked during our online interview was where he attended college. Sean attended Louisiana Tech. When asked why he attended there he replied “I was given a football scholarship there. It was close and the football opportunity was good.” At Louisiana Tech Sean majored in CIS (computer Information Systems). By the time Sean left Louisiana Tech he attained a MBA (Masters in Business Administration).
Sean Cangelosi opened his first smoothie king in Ruston Louisiana in 2002. When asked why he chose to open a smoothie king in Ruston his response was, “I thought Ruston needed one.” He said he was able to open this store through a SBA loan. Sean chose to run a smoothie king because he wanted to run his own business.
The first smoothie king Sean opened in Baton Rouge is the one located near the LSU campus on Highland road. Since that store has been open it has been getting business from surrounding college students.
Sean decided to expand his business when he opened another smoothie king during the summer of 2006. Sean turned an old run-down mechanic shop into a smoothie king. I have the privilege of working at this smoothie king located at the corner of Government Street and South Foster. I was amazed how that store used to be a mechanic shop. Customers still come in jokingly asking if they can get an oil change while they sip on their smoothie.
Shortly after that smoothie king opened Sean began to expand his business again, by placing a smoothie king in the LSU Recreational Center. Sean believes that the Recreational Center was a perfect place for a smoothie king. Sean said that “LSU wanted me in there, and I wanted to be in there”, so he capitalized on the opportunity at hand.
When asked which of the three stores gets better business his response was “They all do at different times during the day.” Sean stated that the Government store is busier in the morning, Highland has its rush during lunch time, and the rec center is busiest during the day, however overall Highland is the busier store. When asked who is his best employ is he did not respond. I believe he did not respond because it’s a known fact that I am the best employ he has.
Sean was asked if he plans on opening up any other smoothie kings in the near future and he was not to sure. He wants to see how things go with the smoothie kings he has now and then decide later on.
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.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Becoming Successful
Nha Bui
English 1001
Ms. Lei Lani Michel
“Ay, can you ask your mom if I can interview her, so I can write my essay for my English 1001 class at LSU”, I commented on MySpace to a friend of mines. She was Laura, the daughter of my ex-boss, and soon after she replied, “oh, haha, ok.” As a desperate attempt to make sure that she will ask her mom, I texted her, “This is a really important student interview and I need it to do my freshman writing, ask her please!” “I will, but she is sleeping now,” she texted back. “Oh tell me tomorrow,” I replied. The next day she texted me and my face put on a smirk. She said to me that her mom was willing to do the interview and asked me when, where and how? I took the phone and read the text joyfully. I started to reply and did not even know what I was writing, but managed to set up a date on Sunday when I come back down to New Orleans.
My interviewee is a business owner in New Orleans, Louisiana. She owns multiple businesses around the New Orleans area; Capt’s Sal and Crystal Palace just to name two. Her name is Nga Thi Vu. I kind of knew her as my ex-boss, but I wanted to know more about her and her life. I wanted to interview her because I wanted to know how she managed to become so successful. I wanted to see what obstacles she had to go through to become what and where she is now. As an entrepreneur, business owner, mother, and wife, she is someone interesting I would like to interview.
I went to one of her business, she owns, which was actually the same place I worked at when I was living down in New Orleans. Crystal Palace, a reception hall, was the name of it and where I interviewed her. I walked through the extravagant doors and looked around. I was in a phase of remembering the moments when I worked here. The place is still beautiful and decorative as I can remember it. The bright chandeliers and the blue sky painting on the wall are still there. I looked around in amazement and there she was standing there waiting for me to interview her. It’s been a while since I saw her, but she still looks the same as I remember. She stands at 5’4, with straight black hair, and peach skin. She is a little overweight I can say, but managed to still look good. Her hair was tied and in a style of a pony tail. She was comfortably dress in a regular shirt and some jeans.
We both smiled and quickly greeted each other. We sat down, talked a little about me, and started the interview. Looking at the questions I wrote on the paper, I started to ask her the basic questions about her life. “Where and when were you born?” I started the interview. “Vietnam, hmmm 1968,” she replied after a moment. “I’m the youngest of six children,” she included. She immigrated to the United States roughly around the age of six or seven in 1975 due to the fall of Saigon, which was when the communist took over the capital city. She fled in a crowded both and soon arrived to Louisiana where many others Vietnamese refugees would start over with their lives.
“What kind of education did you received?” I asked her. “Well I was young. I started kinder garden and finished high school,” she replied after a moment of pause. She mentioned how she moved around a lot in the Louisiana and Mississippi communities. She moved from New Orleans to Harvey to Biloxi, back and forth, and at the end managed to finish high school back at Harvey. “College?” I muttered in a low tone. “Well yeah. I went to a Tech school for court reporting,” she answered back. “Well, you aren’t a court reporter now, what happened?” I reasoned. She explained to me in a story of what happened between her and her day one morning. She didn’t like court reporting and it was too easy for her. It wasn’t the job for her and six months of schooling, she quit.
“So, how did she manage own a business like crystal palace?” I thought to myself and then asked her. “Well, I just didn’t thought up of Crystal Palace and built it just like that,” she snapped her fingers. She built her way up and it all started in the French Quarter when she went into the Flea Market. She saw people bargaining and selling items and she liked the idea of how sales worked. She wanted to open her own business but explained to me why she couldn’t. “You need capital to start a big business, if you don’t have capital than you can’t,’ she said.
She started out as a vendor selling novelty items and making money slowly. “It’s not good in the beginning, but gets better as it goes on,” she expressed happily. Soon after she saved enough money, she bought a grocery store. Growing up, her parents owned a grocery store and she worked there as a young kid. She learned through them and her family business In order to run her own grocery store successfully. She wakes up at six a.m. in the morning just to go to work and it paid off. After a while, she saved enough again to buy another grocery store and success start piling up. “So, where are the groceries stores now?” I asked confusingly. “I didn’t like the stealing and people getting drunk around the stores, so I sold them,” she replied.
As an entrepreneur she took her next big step. She decided to open a restaurant not knowing anything about the restaurant business. With little help from her friends and families and observations through other restaurant businesses, she managed to run a successful one. Her business, We Never Closed, opened twenty four hours a day and soon became one of New Orleans Favorite fast food restaurant. They sold New Orleans style food like Po-boys, gumbo, seafood plates, and fried chicken. The place became so successful and well known that it even catered the St. Louis Rams when they played in the Super Bowl down in New Orleans and many games after that. “Here is an advice and you can trust me on it. Opening a restaurant is the hardest business in the industry to be successful in. It might seem easy, but it is not,” she said.
From there on she grew and opened another restaurant just across the street, called Capt’s Sals. It also became a success and soon after following a couple of years, the business expanded and there are now currently six Capt’s Sals in the New Orleans area. She then decided to take another big step and invested her money to build a reception hall. Just across the street from Capt’s Sal, her new business Crystal Palace was built, but soon after her grand opening and her first wedding function there, the unthinkable happened. Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and her all businesses were ruin. Her restaurant businesses and her newly required hall were damaged, but that did not stop her. Her love for the Louisiana community quickly made her return and rebuild. Without power, water or any utilities, she still managed to clean and restored her businesses. Just after two months, she reopened Capt’s Sals, without even knowing after her business would be successful. Nobody was back yet, but there were the construction workers which they made money from and got back on their feet. “Sometimes businesses do good or sometimes bad. That is why you always have money a side for Rainy Days,” she said. I was unclear and what she meant by Rainy Day, so I asked her. “It is a bad day, where the unexpected can happened. For example like if they store burn down or get total damage somehow,” she explained. I guess this was how she was able to get back so quickly on her feet and rebuild.
We got into the end of the interview and I decided to ask her about her feelings toward her job. “Do you like you job?” I asked. A quick movement from her, nodding her head down and up, she replied loudly, “Oh, yes. I love it!” Besides being a mom, wife, entrepreneur, business owner, and caterer, she loves doing her job and what she does. “It is important to get to like what you do in order to be happy and successful, if you are not happy than you are going to be unsuccessful,” she said. “You can quote me on that!” she laughed and giggled.
She further explained to me how she feels about her success and her accomplishments. She said, “You do not have to be smart to be successful.” She then explained to me how you can make money by doing what you like to do and what you good at. If you know you are not smart, do not try so hard becoming what you can not become. You just waste your time on something you do not like doing. Try to maximize on what your good at and what you can make a lot of money from. We finished talking and soon, I said a goodbye and left. I took in her words on what she told me that day about being successful. I need to find something that I like doing and I can make money from. If I maximize my potential on it, then I also can become very successful.
English 1001
Ms. Lei Lani Michel
“Ay, can you ask your mom if I can interview her, so I can write my essay for my English 1001 class at LSU”, I commented on MySpace to a friend of mines. She was Laura, the daughter of my ex-boss, and soon after she replied, “oh, haha, ok.” As a desperate attempt to make sure that she will ask her mom, I texted her, “This is a really important student interview and I need it to do my freshman writing, ask her please!” “I will, but she is sleeping now,” she texted back. “Oh tell me tomorrow,” I replied. The next day she texted me and my face put on a smirk. She said to me that her mom was willing to do the interview and asked me when, where and how? I took the phone and read the text joyfully. I started to reply and did not even know what I was writing, but managed to set up a date on Sunday when I come back down to New Orleans.
My interviewee is a business owner in New Orleans, Louisiana. She owns multiple businesses around the New Orleans area; Capt’s Sal and Crystal Palace just to name two. Her name is Nga Thi Vu. I kind of knew her as my ex-boss, but I wanted to know more about her and her life. I wanted to interview her because I wanted to know how she managed to become so successful. I wanted to see what obstacles she had to go through to become what and where she is now. As an entrepreneur, business owner, mother, and wife, she is someone interesting I would like to interview.
I went to one of her business, she owns, which was actually the same place I worked at when I was living down in New Orleans. Crystal Palace, a reception hall, was the name of it and where I interviewed her. I walked through the extravagant doors and looked around. I was in a phase of remembering the moments when I worked here. The place is still beautiful and decorative as I can remember it. The bright chandeliers and the blue sky painting on the wall are still there. I looked around in amazement and there she was standing there waiting for me to interview her. It’s been a while since I saw her, but she still looks the same as I remember. She stands at 5’4, with straight black hair, and peach skin. She is a little overweight I can say, but managed to still look good. Her hair was tied and in a style of a pony tail. She was comfortably dress in a regular shirt and some jeans.
We both smiled and quickly greeted each other. We sat down, talked a little about me, and started the interview. Looking at the questions I wrote on the paper, I started to ask her the basic questions about her life. “Where and when were you born?” I started the interview. “Vietnam, hmmm 1968,” she replied after a moment. “I’m the youngest of six children,” she included. She immigrated to the United States roughly around the age of six or seven in 1975 due to the fall of Saigon, which was when the communist took over the capital city. She fled in a crowded both and soon arrived to Louisiana where many others Vietnamese refugees would start over with their lives.
“What kind of education did you received?” I asked her. “Well I was young. I started kinder garden and finished high school,” she replied after a moment of pause. She mentioned how she moved around a lot in the Louisiana and Mississippi communities. She moved from New Orleans to Harvey to Biloxi, back and forth, and at the end managed to finish high school back at Harvey. “College?” I muttered in a low tone. “Well yeah. I went to a Tech school for court reporting,” she answered back. “Well, you aren’t a court reporter now, what happened?” I reasoned. She explained to me in a story of what happened between her and her day one morning. She didn’t like court reporting and it was too easy for her. It wasn’t the job for her and six months of schooling, she quit.
“So, how did she manage own a business like crystal palace?” I thought to myself and then asked her. “Well, I just didn’t thought up of Crystal Palace and built it just like that,” she snapped her fingers. She built her way up and it all started in the French Quarter when she went into the Flea Market. She saw people bargaining and selling items and she liked the idea of how sales worked. She wanted to open her own business but explained to me why she couldn’t. “You need capital to start a big business, if you don’t have capital than you can’t,’ she said.
She started out as a vendor selling novelty items and making money slowly. “It’s not good in the beginning, but gets better as it goes on,” she expressed happily. Soon after she saved enough money, she bought a grocery store. Growing up, her parents owned a grocery store and she worked there as a young kid. She learned through them and her family business In order to run her own grocery store successfully. She wakes up at six a.m. in the morning just to go to work and it paid off. After a while, she saved enough again to buy another grocery store and success start piling up. “So, where are the groceries stores now?” I asked confusingly. “I didn’t like the stealing and people getting drunk around the stores, so I sold them,” she replied.
As an entrepreneur she took her next big step. She decided to open a restaurant not knowing anything about the restaurant business. With little help from her friends and families and observations through other restaurant businesses, she managed to run a successful one. Her business, We Never Closed, opened twenty four hours a day and soon became one of New Orleans Favorite fast food restaurant. They sold New Orleans style food like Po-boys, gumbo, seafood plates, and fried chicken. The place became so successful and well known that it even catered the St. Louis Rams when they played in the Super Bowl down in New Orleans and many games after that. “Here is an advice and you can trust me on it. Opening a restaurant is the hardest business in the industry to be successful in. It might seem easy, but it is not,” she said.
From there on she grew and opened another restaurant just across the street, called Capt’s Sals. It also became a success and soon after following a couple of years, the business expanded and there are now currently six Capt’s Sals in the New Orleans area. She then decided to take another big step and invested her money to build a reception hall. Just across the street from Capt’s Sal, her new business Crystal Palace was built, but soon after her grand opening and her first wedding function there, the unthinkable happened. Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and her all businesses were ruin. Her restaurant businesses and her newly required hall were damaged, but that did not stop her. Her love for the Louisiana community quickly made her return and rebuild. Without power, water or any utilities, she still managed to clean and restored her businesses. Just after two months, she reopened Capt’s Sals, without even knowing after her business would be successful. Nobody was back yet, but there were the construction workers which they made money from and got back on their feet. “Sometimes businesses do good or sometimes bad. That is why you always have money a side for Rainy Days,” she said. I was unclear and what she meant by Rainy Day, so I asked her. “It is a bad day, where the unexpected can happened. For example like if they store burn down or get total damage somehow,” she explained. I guess this was how she was able to get back so quickly on her feet and rebuild.
We got into the end of the interview and I decided to ask her about her feelings toward her job. “Do you like you job?” I asked. A quick movement from her, nodding her head down and up, she replied loudly, “Oh, yes. I love it!” Besides being a mom, wife, entrepreneur, business owner, and caterer, she loves doing her job and what she does. “It is important to get to like what you do in order to be happy and successful, if you are not happy than you are going to be unsuccessful,” she said. “You can quote me on that!” she laughed and giggled.
She further explained to me how she feels about her success and her accomplishments. She said, “You do not have to be smart to be successful.” She then explained to me how you can make money by doing what you like to do and what you good at. If you know you are not smart, do not try so hard becoming what you can not become. You just waste your time on something you do not like doing. Try to maximize on what your good at and what you can make a lot of money from. We finished talking and soon, I said a goodbye and left. I took in her words on what she told me that day about being successful. I need to find something that I like doing and I can make money from. If I maximize my potential on it, then I also can become very successful.
Mellow Mushroom
Alex Kapesis
Ms. Lei Lani Michel
English 1001
15 October 2007
Mellow Mushroom
Mellow Mushroom, located off of Burbank in Baton Rouge, is a schizophrenic place. Mellow is on the corner, across the street from Circle K. It is mostly purple with huge yellow writing that spells Mellow Mushroom. The building itself has a lot of glass and an outside porch filled with tables for eaters and smokers. Even though Mellow Mushroom is a decorative and unique place, the looks are not what defines the place and attracts such a large crowd of customers. During the day, Mellow Mushroom is a simple pizza bakery, but at night, it is an overcrowded nightclub. When asked, “What is the best day to go to Mellow Mushroom?” most people will say to go on a Wednesday night because it is karaoke night and there are tons of LSU students and other people there partying and having a good time. Some people will disagree because they think it is overcrowded and extremely hot, but they still go there. Why? Usually it’s for a couple reasons that people go on Wednesdays. These reasons include: to party, to drink, to sing and to watch karaoke, to meet new people, hang out with friends, and because that’s where a lot of people go out.
After talking to a guy, Luke, who works at Mellow Mushroom cooking pizza’s during the weekdays, I discovered what the place was like during the day. Luke mentioned how plenty of students come in to study and to eat one of America’s favorite foods, pizza. Mellow Mushroom usually has family’s coming by to get some pizzas and sometimes sandwiches for lunch or for a quick and easy dinner. Although I have not yet tasted the famous pizza, Luke stated “many people enjoy the hot, messy, delicious taste of Mellow’s large pizzas, that’s why so many students eat here”. Luke lived in Lakeview, which is an outside city of New Orleans, before attending Baton Rouge Community College and after asked how hurricane Katrina has affected him, he said, “Hurricane Katrina was a disaster. Every street, neighborhood, and building was completely devastated. Our houses had over seven feet of water and are still not rebuilt yet.” After hearing that news, that subject about the hurricane was over and Mellow Mushroom as brought back up.
Luke began saying how the nightlife at Mellow Mushroom was crazy. He told how there are hundreds of people there and he said, “On some nights usually more then half the crowd is either half drunk or completely wasted.” When Mellow Mushroom does its transformation into the party bar, it is a completely different place. There are only two or three tables on the floor and four small booths on the side of bar. They open up a stage for the karaoke singers to sing their favorite songs and behind the singer there are the sober and drunk dancers. In the middle of the bar, there is a large white screen that displays a sign that reads, “Get Drunk, Sing Karaoke”. The few booths are smothered by people standing on them and drinking and the tables outside are completely filled like ants on a dead mosquito hawk. There is barely enough room for the walking traffic to flow inside or outside of Mellow Mushroom due to the amount of people there on Karaoke night.
Another person I interviewed, Chris Trahan, was a student at Southeastern University that lives in Baton Rouge with plans on transferring to LSU. Chris was leaving Mellow Mushroom last Wednesday night when I stopped him and said, “Excuse man, can I ask you a quick question for my English class?” Chris said, without hesitation, “Yeah what’s up?” I didn’t have plans on talking long, but in his drunken state he could’ve talked forever it seems. I asked, “What makes you come to Mellow Mushroom tonight?” Chris responded, “Um, well to chill with my friends mostly. I mean, we usually come every Wednesday night, it’s almost like a reunion, like a chance to hang out together and see what’s going on.” So for the most part, besides a chance to meet some girls or guys, Mellow Mushroom can be a place for groups of friends to get together and get drunk and all have a good time hanging out with each other again.
Although I still have been unsuccessful in going to Mellow Mushroom during the day to eat, I have been every Wednesday night and discovered how different each week can get. Sometimes there are drunken arguments that evolve into fights and sometimes new friends are found. Besides that fact, Mellow Mushroom has different advantages to it for all people for any age, which is a major factor that contributes to their reputation of being a good hangout in the Baton Rouge area. If one is hungry, needs a place to study, or needs a place to party then he or she can always count Mellow Mushroom as being the place to help solve those problems.
Ms. Lei Lani Michel
English 1001
15 October 2007
Mellow Mushroom
Mellow Mushroom, located off of Burbank in Baton Rouge, is a schizophrenic place. Mellow is on the corner, across the street from Circle K. It is mostly purple with huge yellow writing that spells Mellow Mushroom. The building itself has a lot of glass and an outside porch filled with tables for eaters and smokers. Even though Mellow Mushroom is a decorative and unique place, the looks are not what defines the place and attracts such a large crowd of customers. During the day, Mellow Mushroom is a simple pizza bakery, but at night, it is an overcrowded nightclub. When asked, “What is the best day to go to Mellow Mushroom?” most people will say to go on a Wednesday night because it is karaoke night and there are tons of LSU students and other people there partying and having a good time. Some people will disagree because they think it is overcrowded and extremely hot, but they still go there. Why? Usually it’s for a couple reasons that people go on Wednesdays. These reasons include: to party, to drink, to sing and to watch karaoke, to meet new people, hang out with friends, and because that’s where a lot of people go out.
After talking to a guy, Luke, who works at Mellow Mushroom cooking pizza’s during the weekdays, I discovered what the place was like during the day. Luke mentioned how plenty of students come in to study and to eat one of America’s favorite foods, pizza. Mellow Mushroom usually has family’s coming by to get some pizzas and sometimes sandwiches for lunch or for a quick and easy dinner. Although I have not yet tasted the famous pizza, Luke stated “many people enjoy the hot, messy, delicious taste of Mellow’s large pizzas, that’s why so many students eat here”. Luke lived in Lakeview, which is an outside city of New Orleans, before attending Baton Rouge Community College and after asked how hurricane Katrina has affected him, he said, “Hurricane Katrina was a disaster. Every street, neighborhood, and building was completely devastated. Our houses had over seven feet of water and are still not rebuilt yet.” After hearing that news, that subject about the hurricane was over and Mellow Mushroom as brought back up.
Luke began saying how the nightlife at Mellow Mushroom was crazy. He told how there are hundreds of people there and he said, “On some nights usually more then half the crowd is either half drunk or completely wasted.” When Mellow Mushroom does its transformation into the party bar, it is a completely different place. There are only two or three tables on the floor and four small booths on the side of bar. They open up a stage for the karaoke singers to sing their favorite songs and behind the singer there are the sober and drunk dancers. In the middle of the bar, there is a large white screen that displays a sign that reads, “Get Drunk, Sing Karaoke”. The few booths are smothered by people standing on them and drinking and the tables outside are completely filled like ants on a dead mosquito hawk. There is barely enough room for the walking traffic to flow inside or outside of Mellow Mushroom due to the amount of people there on Karaoke night.
Another person I interviewed, Chris Trahan, was a student at Southeastern University that lives in Baton Rouge with plans on transferring to LSU. Chris was leaving Mellow Mushroom last Wednesday night when I stopped him and said, “Excuse man, can I ask you a quick question for my English class?” Chris said, without hesitation, “Yeah what’s up?” I didn’t have plans on talking long, but in his drunken state he could’ve talked forever it seems. I asked, “What makes you come to Mellow Mushroom tonight?” Chris responded, “Um, well to chill with my friends mostly. I mean, we usually come every Wednesday night, it’s almost like a reunion, like a chance to hang out together and see what’s going on.” So for the most part, besides a chance to meet some girls or guys, Mellow Mushroom can be a place for groups of friends to get together and get drunk and all have a good time hanging out with each other again.
Although I still have been unsuccessful in going to Mellow Mushroom during the day to eat, I have been every Wednesday night and discovered how different each week can get. Sometimes there are drunken arguments that evolve into fights and sometimes new friends are found. Besides that fact, Mellow Mushroom has different advantages to it for all people for any age, which is a major factor that contributes to their reputation of being a good hangout in the Baton Rouge area. If one is hungry, needs a place to study, or needs a place to party then he or she can always count Mellow Mushroom as being the place to help solve those problems.
Success After Tragedy
Alex James
English 1001
10-16-07
Ms. Lei Lani
Success After Tragedy
Although Hurricane Katrina was a catastrophic event, it provided thousands of opportunities. In Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath, anyone willing to work hard was rewarded handsomely in the end. Most of these jobs involved heavy manual labor and skill. Those who already had experience in trades like plumbing, construction, lawn service and other forms of blue collar labor quickly became some of the most successful men and women of the devastated area. Government programs such as FEMA were scrutinized for much of their hesitation and poor management immediately after Katrina, but were not exactly a complete failure. They provided jobs to many of the locals and out of town helpers alike in the following weeks.
One of the locals that had been deeply affected by this horrific storm was Darren Brown. Speaking to him over the phone you could tell he was an energetic man just by the way he skipped from subject to subject without taking a breath and the enthusiasm in his words. Prior to the storm Darren Brown owned his own landscaping business. It was a somewhat small company normally consisting of him and a single helper to do the lawn maintenance and landscaping to his few loyal customers. He generally had about thirty five yards to maintain in a given week. Darren would cut and edge the lawn, trim hedges and trees, weed gardens and any many other small tasks to please his clients. He told me that “many big companies don’t get on a personal level with their clients and do the small things that make them happy in the long run” which gave me the impression that Darren Brown found customer satisfaction to be a major part of his work.
Before the storm, Darren Brown lived in a small house located in one of the older portions of Slidell. His home was on a pretty large piece of land when compared to other property around him, and was surrounded by huge pine trees, some in excess of eighty years of age. It was a very humble house with old cast iron hand rails on the front stoop, dull paint, and faded terracotta roofing. The inside was a typical bachelor pad with little decoration and just enough furniture to have the occasional guest for dinner or to watch a game of football. It gave me an idea of Darren’s priorities when I saw his garage. He had seemingly spent what money he had on things to further his business rather than his personal comfort such as two brand new, top of the line lawn mowers that cost upward of seven hundred dollars.
Darren enjoyed his work and the satisfaction of seeing his customers happy with their new garden or sprinkler system that he put so much effort into. He told me that his business was very different than others for a few reasons. One was that most companies that are small normally stick to one type of service. Darren does many services such as sprinkler irrigation, lawn maintenance, landscaping, and the occasional construction of fences. The reason why he can do all of these horticultural services is because he manages his time wisely. Considering that he normally only kept one to two helpers at a time he learned to space his jobs accordingly. He calls it “the balance.”
During this time before the storm he would cut and maintain his thirty five yards in the Kenner and New Orleans area during the week and save his larger jobs for Saturdays. Darren described the maintenance jobs as what pays the bills and the landscaping jobs as what keeps him happy. Landscaping jobs are normally much more profitable than lawn care but landscaping is not consistent all year long. Most landscaping services are required in the spring and summer meaning that if it was not for his lawn care customers he would have a very small source of income during fall and winter. His annual earnings because of this was around sixty thousand a year, which is pretty high for a blue collar worker.
Darren did not exactly dream of being a landscaper. He actually was once a mechanic for the Ford dealership. He didn’t enjoy his work very much or the little money that he was getting so he decided to make a change. He started to work for one of his friends by the name of Mike levy, who began to teach him the tools and tricks of landscaping. He worked with Mike Levy for a number of years until Mike finally sold Darren Res/Com, the portion of the company that dealt with commercial and residential lawn care. Twenty years later Darren is still a lawn maintence professional. Over the years Darren lost his original clientele mostly because of their location and lack of profit but kept a good deal of them for over a decade.
All was well for Darren near the end of august of two thousand five. He had scored many large landscaping jobs during the peak of summer and with his assistant leaving for school, he was getting prepared for the less busy season of fall. This was all until one of the greatest natural disasters to ever hit an American city occurred. Darren decided to ride out the storm in his old house despite many of his friend’s and family’s request. That decision could have cost his life. The following morning he was standing in his front yard trying to assess the damage to his home. The large pine trees that surrounded his house were now part of it. Three of these trees that were over five feet in width had cut through his home like a knife through butter. Water had poured through the opening throughout the nitght ruining the little bit of furniture he had. The thing that affected him most was however not part of his home at all, but the destruction of the twin span. Without this bridge that he took every day to get to his customers, he would not be able to have an income until they were rebuilt. In this time of need he looked to FEMA were they had available jobs in emergency roof repair. For the next six weeks Darren made a considerable amount of money from constructing hundreds of the blue roof repairs. This was considered a positive step to getting his house rebuild to Darren.
Because of the storm, there was no shortage of work when it came to outdoor physical labor. This was a profitable outcome for Darren because of his experience and expertise in landscaping. Job after job, Darren would collect paychecks that gave him enough money to not only fix his old home but restore it to even better condition than it was before. He now owns a seven thousand dollar riding lawn mower and other expensive tools that help him complete his jobs more effectively. After the storm he received an annual pay increase of about forty thousand meaning now he makes about one hundred thousand a year. Darren Brown later on tells me that Hurricane Katrina was the best and worst thing that has ever happened to him.
English 1001
10-16-07
Ms. Lei Lani
Success After Tragedy
Although Hurricane Katrina was a catastrophic event, it provided thousands of opportunities. In Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath, anyone willing to work hard was rewarded handsomely in the end. Most of these jobs involved heavy manual labor and skill. Those who already had experience in trades like plumbing, construction, lawn service and other forms of blue collar labor quickly became some of the most successful men and women of the devastated area. Government programs such as FEMA were scrutinized for much of their hesitation and poor management immediately after Katrina, but were not exactly a complete failure. They provided jobs to many of the locals and out of town helpers alike in the following weeks.
One of the locals that had been deeply affected by this horrific storm was Darren Brown. Speaking to him over the phone you could tell he was an energetic man just by the way he skipped from subject to subject without taking a breath and the enthusiasm in his words. Prior to the storm Darren Brown owned his own landscaping business. It was a somewhat small company normally consisting of him and a single helper to do the lawn maintenance and landscaping to his few loyal customers. He generally had about thirty five yards to maintain in a given week. Darren would cut and edge the lawn, trim hedges and trees, weed gardens and any many other small tasks to please his clients. He told me that “many big companies don’t get on a personal level with their clients and do the small things that make them happy in the long run” which gave me the impression that Darren Brown found customer satisfaction to be a major part of his work.
Before the storm, Darren Brown lived in a small house located in one of the older portions of Slidell. His home was on a pretty large piece of land when compared to other property around him, and was surrounded by huge pine trees, some in excess of eighty years of age. It was a very humble house with old cast iron hand rails on the front stoop, dull paint, and faded terracotta roofing. The inside was a typical bachelor pad with little decoration and just enough furniture to have the occasional guest for dinner or to watch a game of football. It gave me an idea of Darren’s priorities when I saw his garage. He had seemingly spent what money he had on things to further his business rather than his personal comfort such as two brand new, top of the line lawn mowers that cost upward of seven hundred dollars.
Darren enjoyed his work and the satisfaction of seeing his customers happy with their new garden or sprinkler system that he put so much effort into. He told me that his business was very different than others for a few reasons. One was that most companies that are small normally stick to one type of service. Darren does many services such as sprinkler irrigation, lawn maintenance, landscaping, and the occasional construction of fences. The reason why he can do all of these horticultural services is because he manages his time wisely. Considering that he normally only kept one to two helpers at a time he learned to space his jobs accordingly. He calls it “the balance.”
During this time before the storm he would cut and maintain his thirty five yards in the Kenner and New Orleans area during the week and save his larger jobs for Saturdays. Darren described the maintenance jobs as what pays the bills and the landscaping jobs as what keeps him happy. Landscaping jobs are normally much more profitable than lawn care but landscaping is not consistent all year long. Most landscaping services are required in the spring and summer meaning that if it was not for his lawn care customers he would have a very small source of income during fall and winter. His annual earnings because of this was around sixty thousand a year, which is pretty high for a blue collar worker.
Darren did not exactly dream of being a landscaper. He actually was once a mechanic for the Ford dealership. He didn’t enjoy his work very much or the little money that he was getting so he decided to make a change. He started to work for one of his friends by the name of Mike levy, who began to teach him the tools and tricks of landscaping. He worked with Mike Levy for a number of years until Mike finally sold Darren Res/Com, the portion of the company that dealt with commercial and residential lawn care. Twenty years later Darren is still a lawn maintence professional. Over the years Darren lost his original clientele mostly because of their location and lack of profit but kept a good deal of them for over a decade.
All was well for Darren near the end of august of two thousand five. He had scored many large landscaping jobs during the peak of summer and with his assistant leaving for school, he was getting prepared for the less busy season of fall. This was all until one of the greatest natural disasters to ever hit an American city occurred. Darren decided to ride out the storm in his old house despite many of his friend’s and family’s request. That decision could have cost his life. The following morning he was standing in his front yard trying to assess the damage to his home. The large pine trees that surrounded his house were now part of it. Three of these trees that were over five feet in width had cut through his home like a knife through butter. Water had poured through the opening throughout the nitght ruining the little bit of furniture he had. The thing that affected him most was however not part of his home at all, but the destruction of the twin span. Without this bridge that he took every day to get to his customers, he would not be able to have an income until they were rebuilt. In this time of need he looked to FEMA were they had available jobs in emergency roof repair. For the next six weeks Darren made a considerable amount of money from constructing hundreds of the blue roof repairs. This was considered a positive step to getting his house rebuild to Darren.
Because of the storm, there was no shortage of work when it came to outdoor physical labor. This was a profitable outcome for Darren because of his experience and expertise in landscaping. Job after job, Darren would collect paychecks that gave him enough money to not only fix his old home but restore it to even better condition than it was before. He now owns a seven thousand dollar riding lawn mower and other expensive tools that help him complete his jobs more effectively. After the storm he received an annual pay increase of about forty thousand meaning now he makes about one hundred thousand a year. Darren Brown later on tells me that Hurricane Katrina was the best and worst thing that has ever happened to him.
Occupation of a Lifetime
George Allen
Profile Essay
Lei Lani Michel
English 1001
Occupation of a Lifetime
While brainstorming about who would be a good candidate for a student interview I could not make a decision about what occupation would be of interest to both students and the Baton Rouge community. Ideas would come and go but as a student myself I realized most of the things popping in and out of my head would not even interest me. I was out to lunch with a friend of mine and his mom at a local restaurant, The Silver Spoon, when it hit me. The conversation at the table was becoming too boring and as my mind wandered I realized that all the waiters in the restaurant were young men appearing to be relatively the same age as me. Soon my mind was stirring and I asked our waiter if he wanted to participate in the assignment and he was more than happy. His name is Beau Landry and he is a 19 year old student who attends Baton Rouge Community College. Over the next ten minutes I question him gaining information which would have appeal to both students and members of the community alike.
Standing at six feet tall with brown hair and lanky arms, Beau would stand out in most people’s minds. As I began to question him about why he chose to work at a restaurant he gave an answer any college student can relate to. He says the job allows him to work every day but still have time to do his school work and have some free time on the side. As an only child Beau grew up here in Baton Rouge but was not accepted into Louisiana State University which was his school of choice. He explained that his parents promised to pay for him to attend if he worked hard in school for a year while maintaining a job. Beau was not shy at all and began to tell me about how in high school he slacked off and that is why his parents are making him prove to them that he is capable of doing well and being productive.
After talking with Beau for a few minutes about the more general things about the job like what his hours and requirements are I started to dig into what is it that makes his job a benefit to the community. As I began to do this he started to become more and more reluctant to speak. I sensed he had never even thought about that before. He just kind of stared at me with a blank face which was unusual because all the other questions had detailed answers. Then out of nowhere it came to him. A big grin came across his face as he began to tell me his explanation of why his job is important. Every day he waits on the same tables at the same time. As with any other restaurant, The Silver Spoon has regular customers who come in weekly or even daily. Beau talked about these three ladies who come in and sit in his section every time they are on their lunch break from their jobs. He describes the ladies as being in their late thirties to early forties and all of them have blonde hair. According to Beau they all tend to order the same thing everyday occasionally changing their orders depending on what the special is on any given day. Beau defended that while his job might not be the most exciting or beneficial job to society but he does make a few members of the community feel like they have a place to come eat and feel at ease.
As I moved on with the questions I observed Beau was still stuck on the question of why his job is important. When I asked him to tell me how he felt about Hurricane Katrina and how it affected his life I could tell I did not have his full attention because the answer he gave me simply was, “traffic”. I tried to gain more insight on that subject but he finally started talking again and it was not about Hurricane Katrina. Beau had been pondering the question of why his job is important to society and his insight is something that never crossed my mind. The significance of his job to society in his opinion is that he has this job to prove to his parents and himself that he can be productive and not slack off. In doing so he better motivates himself to do better in other things such as school. He says if he can keep up his motivation he will eventually attend Louisiana State University and will get his degree. His final point to all his whole rationalization was that the job he has now is not the best job in the world or highest paying or even a hard job but that by having it he can better himself so that in the future he can benefit society in larger ways than just putting a smile on a customer’s face.
Beau Landry’s answer to the question of why his job is significant to society is one of will and desire. As he answered that question I put my pen down and just soaked up what he was saying to me. His outlook on his job and life in general is confident. He believes that what he is doing right now is making a difference in the future. Anyone can take what Beau told me and relate it to something they need to do in their own lives. The interview was a success. I had come from not having a clue to what I wanted to write about to having something that both students and members of a community alike can take to heart.
Profile Essay
Lei Lani Michel
English 1001
Occupation of a Lifetime
While brainstorming about who would be a good candidate for a student interview I could not make a decision about what occupation would be of interest to both students and the Baton Rouge community. Ideas would come and go but as a student myself I realized most of the things popping in and out of my head would not even interest me. I was out to lunch with a friend of mine and his mom at a local restaurant, The Silver Spoon, when it hit me. The conversation at the table was becoming too boring and as my mind wandered I realized that all the waiters in the restaurant were young men appearing to be relatively the same age as me. Soon my mind was stirring and I asked our waiter if he wanted to participate in the assignment and he was more than happy. His name is Beau Landry and he is a 19 year old student who attends Baton Rouge Community College. Over the next ten minutes I question him gaining information which would have appeal to both students and members of the community alike.
Standing at six feet tall with brown hair and lanky arms, Beau would stand out in most people’s minds. As I began to question him about why he chose to work at a restaurant he gave an answer any college student can relate to. He says the job allows him to work every day but still have time to do his school work and have some free time on the side. As an only child Beau grew up here in Baton Rouge but was not accepted into Louisiana State University which was his school of choice. He explained that his parents promised to pay for him to attend if he worked hard in school for a year while maintaining a job. Beau was not shy at all and began to tell me about how in high school he slacked off and that is why his parents are making him prove to them that he is capable of doing well and being productive.
After talking with Beau for a few minutes about the more general things about the job like what his hours and requirements are I started to dig into what is it that makes his job a benefit to the community. As I began to do this he started to become more and more reluctant to speak. I sensed he had never even thought about that before. He just kind of stared at me with a blank face which was unusual because all the other questions had detailed answers. Then out of nowhere it came to him. A big grin came across his face as he began to tell me his explanation of why his job is important. Every day he waits on the same tables at the same time. As with any other restaurant, The Silver Spoon has regular customers who come in weekly or even daily. Beau talked about these three ladies who come in and sit in his section every time they are on their lunch break from their jobs. He describes the ladies as being in their late thirties to early forties and all of them have blonde hair. According to Beau they all tend to order the same thing everyday occasionally changing their orders depending on what the special is on any given day. Beau defended that while his job might not be the most exciting or beneficial job to society but he does make a few members of the community feel like they have a place to come eat and feel at ease.
As I moved on with the questions I observed Beau was still stuck on the question of why his job is important. When I asked him to tell me how he felt about Hurricane Katrina and how it affected his life I could tell I did not have his full attention because the answer he gave me simply was, “traffic”. I tried to gain more insight on that subject but he finally started talking again and it was not about Hurricane Katrina. Beau had been pondering the question of why his job is important to society and his insight is something that never crossed my mind. The significance of his job to society in his opinion is that he has this job to prove to his parents and himself that he can be productive and not slack off. In doing so he better motivates himself to do better in other things such as school. He says if he can keep up his motivation he will eventually attend Louisiana State University and will get his degree. His final point to all his whole rationalization was that the job he has now is not the best job in the world or highest paying or even a hard job but that by having it he can better himself so that in the future he can benefit society in larger ways than just putting a smile on a customer’s face.
Beau Landry’s answer to the question of why his job is significant to society is one of will and desire. As he answered that question I put my pen down and just soaked up what he was saying to me. His outlook on his job and life in general is confident. He believes that what he is doing right now is making a difference in the future. Anyone can take what Beau told me and relate it to something they need to do in their own lives. The interview was a success. I had come from not having a clue to what I wanted to write about to having something that both students and members of a community alike can take to heart.
Little Woman
Logan Madden
Mrs. LeiLani
English 1001
October 15, 2007
Deep within the English department of the number one rated public high school in Louisiana is a little woman who can teach with the big boys. Hidden is her classroom in the back wing of the school, yet one would be lucky not to mistake it for a giant scrapbook. The room is enshrouded with the works, pictures, and gifts of current and former students that are displayed proudly as if they were trophies. With a scent of designer perfume and popcorn, this classroom is an intriguing one indeed. Walking through the door is like going from bass to falsetto. The floor, decorated by forgotten student’s papers, is putting on a display of what was learned on this day and the walls are echoing that sentiment. Daylight protrudes through the open window shades, giving a view of the outside world. Aligning the right wall are four Dell computers and a wooden closet containing hundreds of English books. The desks are arranged in three rows of five on opposing sides of the classroom forming an aisle. The ceiling is tiled and resembles a checkerboard, and the teacher’s desk is lined with pictures of her children and a calendar.
Yet there is a little object in the back left corner of the classroom that commands the most attention. You can’t quite make out what it is because of the object’s small stature in relation to the computer it sits behind. When one takes a closer look, you see a face light up like the Fourth of July. Her smile is so large and evident that you can’t help but smile right back at it. Mrs. Thigpen is short and compact with big, bright eyes. Her skin is an olive-brown and she is lucky to be tipping the scales at one hundred pounds. Her face is easy to look at and you would be lucky not to mistake her for a student. Mrs. Thigpen carries herself a lot larger than she actually is. If you were to meet her through e-mail or on the phone, you would never guess that she was five foot nothing.
As Mrs. Thigpen rolls her chair from her computer to her desk, she grabs a stack of papers and applies one end to the desk to straighten them. Her hair is down, and she is wearing a black button down shirt with heels. “Now before we start, let me ask YOU a question, Logan Madden,” she says with a sly grin. “Now why in the world would you choose to interview me, besides the fact that I’m the best teacher you’ve ever had?” I join her with a smile and explain that I am considering going into education. I tell her I envy the fact that she has the opportunity to influence young people’s lives every day. “Ok, I can go for that. Now let’s see what LSU freshman English is all about!” she says as she gently pins a note on her bulletin board.
Wondering what the early days of a great teacher are like, I start off by asking Mrs. Thigpen about her childhood. “I grew up on the North Shore, both in the Slidell and Covington areas. I would say that I had a good childhood. I have four older brothers so things usually stayed pretty interesting. Most of the time, I was on the outskirts looking in at all of the strange and senseless things they were involved in. I didn’t have any girlfriends so I was pretty much a tomboy until junior high,” she says with a sense of pride. As I write this down, I feel like I already have a deeper understanding of why she is the ways she is. It’s not uncommon for you to hear Mrs. Thigpen call a student a “punk face” or jokingly threaten to beat them up. I concur that this is a result of her growing up with four brothers. I reply to her childhood description by delving into the hurricane Katrina issue. I saw this as an opportune time being that I had just learned Mrs. Thigpen is a lifelong North Shore resident. “Ah, don’t even get me started,” she says as her eyes roll back in a cyclical fashion. “Katrina did not affect me directly that much. I had no damage to my home and I stayed in Lafayette for the majority of the time with electricity and all the conveniences of everyday life. My mother’s house was destroyed, so seeing her go through anguish saddened and frustrated me,” she says with her eyes now looking down at the marble floor. “I think the entire situation was handled pretty poorly all across the board, especially on FEMA’s part.
An announcement comes over the loudspeaker, and I welcome the break from the lowly subject matter of hurricane Katrina. To lighten the mood, I decide to ask Mrs. Thigpen what I really came to find out. I am curious to know her favorite authors and books, the same way I am curious to the religion of my Biology teacher, the political party of my Sociology professor, and the favorite actor of my Theatre teacher. The views of people well-educated in their respective fields, regardless of what they are, have always interested me. She pauses for an instant with a look on her face that screams excitement. “I will read any author who writes a good book,” Mrs. Thigpen says confidently. “I actually don’t have any favorite ‘authors’. I just read a variety. My top three favorite books would have to be Shadow of the Wind, The Feast of All Saints, and The Glass Castle.” Interested, I nod and make a mental note to look up those aforementioned books.
As Mrs. Thigpen crosses her feet and sits straight up in her seat, I ask her if teaching was what she always wanted to do. She pauses for a bit and replies, “I was actually in college to become a cultural anthropologist and had no intention of becoming a teacher. Dr. Shirley Jacob was the head of the education at my university and she suggested that I attend a workshop for educators with her. I was a little apprehensive about going at first but truly enjoyed the experience, and the rest is history.” Now, Mrs. Thigpen is not your stereotypical English teacher, as she is very young, hip, and energetic. She gets to know her students on a personal level which is something I always respected. I always wondered why she chose to teach English. “I always did well in English. I loved to read and was always a good writer.” I end with asking Mrs. Thigpen what she gets out of teaching, yet in my head I’m thinking I already know the answer. “There are so many things I get out of teaching,” she says, now looking at me. “The most significant is when students that I have taught come back and tell me that I have made a difference to them. It satisfies me to know I have had a hand in shaping a young person’s life.” The sincerity in her voice is almost frightening. I try to look straight into her eyes so she knows she has impacted me.
Time is up as Mrs. Thigpen’s off period is drawing to a close. I look around the room as she takes down my e-mail address, and I come to realize that I am fortunate to have had Mrs. Thigpen. She was a major factor in the process of me making an early decision on what I wanted to do with my life. As the son of a teacher, I always saw the downsides to teaching: the pay, the stress, and the demands. Yet taking a class like Mrs. Thigpen’s and seeing how she approaches her job showed me that money is not important and you will never be stressed if you are doing something you enjoy. I thank her for her time as I give her a giant bear hug. As I walk out into the hallway a feeling of bliss comes over me. Before I can get to the exit, I stop by the high school library just to see if I can skim the back summary of any of the books Mrs. Thigpen calls her favorites.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)