Posts Tagged ‘frank’

Report from Louisiana: Book your reservation for Fête-Dieu du Teche Now

Posted: July 25, 2022 by Pat Austin in catholic
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By:  Pat Austin

SHREVEPORT – August is upon us and for those in south Louisiana, specifically in Cajun country, that means it is time for the Fête-Dieu du Teche which celebrates the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and also commemorates the arrival of the Acadians in south Louisiana.

On August 15, for the past eight years, Catholics have gathered along Bayou Teche from Leonville (Pop. 2,127) to St. Martiville (Pop. 5,844) to participate in the 38-mile journey down the bayou in a Eucharist procession by boat. The day begins in Leonville with Mass celebrated in French at St. Leo the Great Catholic Church.

Then everyone loads into their boats; the Eucharist is fixed on a altar in the lead boat, under a canopy. Everyone follows by boat down the bayou to Arnaudville (Pop. 1,614) where everyone disembarks. First communicants dressed in white scatter rose petals from baskets and the Eucharist follows, to an altar on the bank at St. Francis Regis Catholic Church. Participants kneel, pray the Rosary and Benediction, and then are back on the boats to the next stop.

By the end of the day, they reach St. Martinville where they process through town to the church, St. Martin de Tours for benediction. Confession is available at each stop.

It is a sight to behold. I’m not Catholic; we are Episcopalians, and my husband likes to say we are “Catholic-lite.” But, we love attending the Fête-Dieu du Teche because face it, what’s not to love about entire communities engaged in prayer?

Last year, as everyone was getting back into their boats at Arnaudville, Steve and I walked over to the bridge so we could see the procession as they passed under us on the way to the next town. Smiling nuns with habits flying behind them waved up at us; the incense perfumed the air and then behind the laity came the families who followed along. All in all it is easy over a hundred boats.

As more people around the world learn about this event, it grows each year. This will be year eight. We already have our lodging reserved and will be there once again to witness the event. I love how this event brings families and communities together; I love how tied to their very Cajun culture this is, too. The journey to St. Martinville commemorates the journey their Acadian ancestors made in fleeing religious persecution all those years ago.

It is a glorious thing to see and I’d encourage anyone to see it if you have the chance. Joseph Pronechen wrote in some detail about the event here and the Facebook page is here. And there is a cool video here. I wrote about it last year on this blog which you can see here.

Report from Louisiana: Working two jobs

Posted: July 18, 2022 by Pat Austin in Uncategorized
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Photo by Yassine Khalfalli on Unsplash

By:  Pat Austin

SHREVEPORT – I am no economist and so would have poor skills in predicting where this incredible inflation will end, but man, it has got to end somewhere.

When I retired from teaching a year and a half ago, my pension was comfortable. Now? It doesn’t go nearly as far as it did then. That’s why when my church needed a part-time receptionist in the office, I took it on. I figured the extra money would ease the pain. And then, when they asked me to add another day and work four days a week, I agreed to that, too.  Picking up that extra four or five days a month looked good. Now I’m thinking I need to ramp up my paid writing sideline a bit and earn even more.

We just returned from a trip to Iowa where my husband’s family lives. From Louisiana, we usually spend about $200 to $250 in gas there and back each year. This year it was literally double, costing us right at $100 every time we filled up. On top of that, rising food prices are causing pain at the grocery store, too. Across the nation, more and more people are looking for supplemental income. According to the Washington Post, “the percentage of employed people working multiple jobs in the United States has steadily increased since March 2020 from 4 percent in April 2020 to 4.8 percent in June 2022…”.  That percentage seems somewhat low to me.

In Iowa, where we just spent a week, we were in the south-central region. I know there are very liberal pockets in Iowa, but there are plenty of conservatives, too, and we met a lot of them. I saw one lady in the grocery store wearing a t-shirt that said, “Buck Joe Fiden.” Uh, okay. I saw a lot of Trump flags, and I saw zero Biden signs although I know there are Biden supporters there.

The chatter I heard at baseball games, in the stores, and in the shops were all full of angst at the state of the economy. My husband’s family is a farming family with a generational farm. The cost of fuel to run tractors and trucks is just crippling and many farmers will not make it because of this. It is devastating in the Midwest.

Like I said, I’m not sure where all this will end up, or who will be left standing when it’s over, if it is ever over, but I, for one, am working double time to get debts paid off and sock something back before everything implodes. I have one friend, an older lady who has seen some things in her day, who is selling off assets and putting up cash. She is downsizing, selling off jewelry with no sentimental meaning, putting up cold cash whenever she can. “I’m scared,” she told me. “I’ve never seen it like this, and I’m scared.” She is not usually this reactive.

She’s not wrong.

Report from Louisiana: renaming, rebranding, and rewriting history in a free country

Posted: July 4, 2022 by Pat Austin in culture, Uncategorized
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Photo by Andrew Ruiz on Unsplash

By:  Pat Austin

SHREVEPORT – We were supposed to be celebrating the Fourth in the Midwest this week, but our plans shifted by a week. We will be on the road next week. I love celebrating the Fourth in the heart of America, the Midwest, in rural America where it is easier for me to hide from the political and cultural negativity and pretend that things are as simple and kind as they were years ago.

Instead, I am here in Shreveport where we have already had one shooting today and I know with a fair degree of confidence that it won’t be the last; as I write this it isn’t even noon.

I sit here and scan the headlines over my coffee and see nothing but foolishness:

Nine Army bases will be renamed because they currently honor “Confederate traitors.” The new names include African-American, Hispanic, and female heroes who have served. “Officials with the Defense Department naming commission said the changes were designed to guarantee that prominent military locations have names ‘that evoke confidence in all who serve.’” This may not bother a lot of people, but I’m just so over this renaming, rebranding, and rewriting of history. When we take history out of context and force events to comply to current, perhaps even temporal thinking, we begin a trek down a path that leads to a point where we have no history at all. Where does it end?

On a somewhat related note, the New York Times reports that many orchestras, including Cleveland, are scrapping the 1812 Overture in their Fourth of July events as it would be upsetting to people in a time of war; the piece celebrates Russia’s victory over Napoleon’s army in Moscow in 1812.

Seriously.

So, now we literally have to rethink everything we name, sing, play, visit because we have to be certain someone somewhere doesn’t get offended or hurt.

Can I just say, you’d have to be looking really hard to have hurt feelings at some of this. When I hear the 1812 Overture, I do not think, “Oh, yay Russia! Good job trouncing Napoleon’s army! Woo!”

Today, on this July 4, I am longing for a simpler time when we as a nation come together to celebrate our independence, to remember those heroes who fought for it, and who sacrificed so much for it. I’m turning off the news today, I’m going to fire up the grill, light a sparkler, and listen to the 1812 Overture as loud as I can play it. I’m going to put out American flags and I’m going to celebrate the fact that I live in a free country and all that that entails.

Happy Fourth of July!

Report from Louisiana: Loose Thoughts

Posted: June 27, 2022 by Pat Austin in Uncategorized
Tags: , , , ,

By: Pat Austin

SHREVEPORT – Random, unconnected thoughts and observations:

HOT: As I write this, it is literally 104 degrees in Shreveport with a heat index of 106. I know it’s summer, but we don’t usually get this kind of heat until August. And rain? What’s that? When I open my door, it is literally like walking outside into a blast furnace. Meh.

HATE: And on the subject of suffering, you might think with the heat driving me indoors, I could take refuge in the mindless distraction of social media. Nope. That’s no place I want to be right now. There’s a lot of hate out there these days, folks. A lot of hate. I’m staying all the way away from that.

PAYWALLS: Am I the only person who gets frustrated by paywalls? I know, we need to pay for good journalism. But I’m talking about The Advocate, for crying out loud! I tried to read three articles today and they are all behind a paywall. I don’t care enough to find a workaround right now.

FUEL: We are preparing for our annual trip to the great Midwest next week to visit husband’s family. And we drive. From Louisiana to Iowa. There and back, we anticipate gas to be $400 of our budget. That is insane. IN.  SANE. Needless to say, we won’t be making the side trips we usually do, like going to see minor league baseball or going out to eat. Bummer.

BOOKS: My reading has slacked off for some unknown reason. I just finished an historical fiction novel, The Tobacco Wives, that was mediocre. The best books I’ve read lately have been nonfiction. Bayou Farewell by Mike Tidwell was awesome. Beautifully written. I’m currently reading Antagonists in the Church and it’s making some valid points. I’m ready for a good, thick Stephen King novel to entertain me. Something I don’t have to think too hard about in this dang heat.

CRIME: If you’re trying to keep up (and why should you, really?) we continue to have at least one shooting a day here in Shreveport; we have thirty homicides so far. The saddest part is that by far the majority of those are teenagers and early twenties. Young people. And no, I don’t blame guns. I blame the poor economy, the lack of opportunity, the lack of a moral compass, lack of ethics, high poverty, much despair. Nothing to lose. Sad.

TELEVISION: Guilty confession – I don’t watch much TV, but when we aren’t watching baseball, our TV is usually tuned to FETV where we watch old stuff. I’ve seen every single Andy Griffith, Hazel, Beverly Hillbillies, Emergency!, and Perry Mason. Every. Single. One. Not sure I’m proud of this.

PUBLIC ART: Oh hey, and if you missed it, check out the new public art installation in New Orleans now that all those pesky monuments are gone. I don’t think this is behind the paywall.

Stay cool, y’all. Peace out.

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