Shreveport Magazine Issue 11

An Economic Goldmine pg. 36

Upcycling

The Art of Re-Purposing for a More for Beautiful, Sustainable Tomorrow pg. 50

Tracy Thomas: A Shreveportrait

A Cancer Survivor’s Project of Love pg. 16

A Wish For Us “Zippity-doo-dah, Zippity-ay, my oh my, what a wonderful day…

Plenty of sunshine coming our way, Zippity-doo-dah, Zippity-ay”…

“Because I’m happy, clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth…

Because I’m happy, clap along if you know what happiness is for you”…

“Sweet Caroline, (dum dum dum), Good times never seemed so good…

So good, so good, so good, I’m feeling fine, (dum dum dum)”…

“Got that sunshine in my pocket, got that good soul in my feet…

I feel that hot blood in my body, ooooh”…

Do you also keep tunes in your mental memory bank? Is this normal?

Well, I have found it a near must-have in recent years. Each above song brings me a level of comfort that allows for a moment of escape into those memories. This place is a safe and happy refuge from the noise of our daily lives.

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart.”

–Helen Keller In this issue of Shreveport Magazine, you will have an opportunity to read about Shreveport/Bossier City’s very own musical heritage. This rich history is a part of all of us whether we lived it or not. Music can truly transform lives and transcend stereotypes, age, gender, and race.

Together, we can become a destination for music tourism.

This is also true of our cultural heritage and the many people, places, things, and events that follow it. You will meet proud Highland residents, the founder of one of our most beloved Mardi Gras parades, as well as the new creative director of The Meadows Museum at Centenary College.

“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking.

It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.”

–Albert Einstein Shreveport Magazine is proud to support & promote locals with clever ways of thinking, and in this issue about maximizing on our natural resources. Emily McClamroch, John-Paul Young, & Kip Dehart are superstars of rethinking the way we use our local terrain and the nature that surrounds us.

In This Issue Spring 2018 6

FitzGibbons & The Meadows Museum of Art

10

Porches & Patios: A Guide to Local Dining in the Great Outdoors

16

A Shreveportrait: Tracy Thomas A Cancer Survivor’s Project of Love

18

Meet Your Neighbor: Kirk Reedstrom

20

Finding Your Fitness Spirit

24

Urban Foraging & Do-It-Yourself

28

Meet Your Neighbor: Jeremiah Furlow

30

34

What’s With Dalzell Street?

36

Music Tourism: An Economic Goldmine

42

A Thousand Fruit Trees For Shreveport

46

Beauty Isn’t Easy- Even For An Art Museum: Behind the Scenes at the R.W. Norton Art Gallery

50

Upcycling: The Art of Re-Purposing for a More Beautiful, Sustainable Tomorrow

54

Shreveport Clusters

Meet Your Neighbor: Leia Lewis

56

Let’s Ring in Spring

By the same token, we have found Tracy Thomas who has battled cancer, not once but twice, and is currently winning the fight. Through his strong will to live, he has found great inspiration and is championing a program to allow other survivors a way to tell their stories their way.

58

Family Tradition: Krewe of Highland

“Let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.”

-Mother Teresa

Team

Our community is special. We have some of the most wonderfully smart, creative, generous & loving people. In our new segment, Meet Your Neighbor, I hope to introduce a few new faces. We are in this together and a new friendship can truly begin with the simplest act of kindness, a smile.

With love of community, Tara John & The Shreveport Magazine Team

Editor: Tara John

Subscribe for free at: shreveportmagazine.com

Publisher: Pete John

Advertising: sales@shreveportmagazine.com

Lead Designer: Zack Fink

Editorial: editor@shreveportmagazine.com

Designed By: Crawford Design Group

SHREVEPORTMAGAZINE.COM 3

Winston Hall 3

Elles Rock 6

Chris Brown 9

Tara John 2 5

Shannon Palmer 8

Sara Hebert

Pete John 1

AJ Haynes 4

Robert Trudeau 7

Contributors 1. Pete John has been a proud promoter of positivity in Shreveport and is a co-founder of the local lifestyle brand, SHREVEPORTANT. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Greater Chamber of Commerce and is VP of the Downtown Shreveport Unlimited. He’s a true family man, has a heart of gold, and possesses a “make it happen” attitude and grit!

2. Tara John has a lot of interests. After teaching local kids to read, write, and do arithmetic, she became the proud mama of Vera & Nora who bring her endless joy. While focused on rearing her girls with hubby Pete, she wished for a way to instill the “upbeat, feel good, happy” in her littles. Shreveportant & Shreveport Magazine are making these dreams a reality showcasing local stories that warm the heart, encourage activism, and, inspire constructive conversation.

3. Winston Hall is a piano entertainer and founder of the Shreveport-Bossier Music Museum Coalition. His hobbies include kayaking, camping, and exploring all the beautiful corners of North Louisiana. He and his wife Donna have called Shreveport home for ten years.

4. A.J. Haynes loves ginger tea prepared with an ungodly amount of honey and time with her records. When she’s not listening to records, she’s usually writing songs to go on records.

5. Sara Hebert is a designer, marketer and mom to two goofy dogs. She co-produces the All Y’all live storytelling event series and podcast, where helps people in our community tell incredible, true stories from their lives. On the rare occasion that she’s not working, you can find her cooking gumbo or exploring worlds in virtual reality.

6. Elles Rock was born and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana and is the Student Director at Riverpark Church. She graduated in 2017 from LSUS with a Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication and Journalism. When she’s not working you can find her anywhere there is hot coffee, often with her Australian Shepherd, Indie, in tow.

7. Robert Trudeau has been photographing, writing about and fostering dance education for several decades. He says, “My energies as a long-time teacher at Caddo Magnet HS & as a freelance journalist have long included dance as a priority. As a dancer lacking formal instruction I have found my personal dance expression in the New Orleans-style second line. Strutting on the street in the Krewe of Highland parade with the Blanc et Noir Marching Society is an annual thrill for me.”

8. Shannon Palmer is a Shreveport photographer with over 20 years experience who specializes in editorial and portrait work. You’ll often find her exploring the nooks and crannies of Shreveport’s downtown—shooting medium format film on her old Rolleicord to develop at home in the darkroom.

When she’s not shooting photos, she’s in her printmaking studio working on woodcuts, engravings, and copper etchings to exhibit locally and sell on her Etsy store or website, www.shannonpalmerart.com.

9. Chris Brown is the archivist at Centenary College of Louisiana. His hobbies include researching, collecting, and sharing Shreveport’s music history. He hosts the “Romp and Stomp” radio show (Tuesdays, 5-6 PM on Centenary’s radio station, KSCL 91.3 FM) and the Shreveport Songs blog (shreveportsongs.blogspot.com).

4 SPRING 2018

John Paul Young 12

Emily Mills 15

Everl Adair 18

Zack Fink 11 14

Angie White 17

Brian Carlisle

Leigh Lewis 10

Kate Pedrotty 13

Jennifer Hill 16

Contributors 10. Leigh Lewis is a Middle School teacher and an adjunct history professor. She is the mother of three children and is married to her high school sweetheart. She is a lifelong resident of Shreveport.

11. Zack Fink is a graphic designer at Crawford Design Group. A graduate from Louisiana Tech University, he spends his time focusing on web and editorial design. He likes food and loves his wife.

12. John-Paul Young is a Shreveport native and the son of two Centenary College alumni. After more than a decade studying philosophy, linguistics, literature and law in and around New York City, he returned to Shreveport to create a sustainable farm on his family’s land, and show his neighbors how to make soil and food without irrigation or great expense. He and his partner own The Levee, a small farm-to-table restaurant at 520 East Kings Highway.

13. Kate Pedrotty works in marketing & communication at Centenary College in Shreveport and loves the College’s intellectual energy and diverse community.

She and her husband Mike have two busy children who (thankfully) tolerate epic road trips in a minivan with no TV and “Hamilton” on repeat. Kate loves telling stories about interesting people, places, and ideas.

14. Brian Carlisle is a born and raised Shreveport citizen, married with three children. He is a professional graphic designer, relentless repurposer, co-owner of Shreveport Salvage, and owner of GadgetSponge.com. You can usually find him at his store or running the roads looking for the next project.

15. Emily Mills is a clinical herbalist and educator practicing in Shreveport.

She is also the owner of Red Earth Wildcrafted, a bioregional apothecary and wild food project. You can generally find her in the garden growing edible and medicinal plants or in the kitchen.

16. Daughter of a U.S. diplomat, Jennifer Hill grew up overseas and in different parts of the United States before moving to Shreveport in 2012. She has focused on development work for non-profits in the area, including the Renzi Education & Art Center and Hap House, and has volunteered for numerous organizations. She holds a Master of Public Administration and a Master of Russian Studies, and lives happily with her husband, daughter, an oversized puppy named Sherlock and two indoor cats.

17. Angie White is a certified economic developer and is Senior Vice President at the North Louisiana Economic Partnership. She is cheerleader for her hometown of Shreveport, and is a member of the Community Advisory Group that was a local sounding board for the Great Expectations: Shreveport-Caddo 2030 Master Plan. She is actively involved in several local non-profit organizations and works every day to help the Shreveport achieve its potential.

18. Born in Cotton Valley, Louisiana, Everl Adair has also lived in Teas, Tennessee, Virgina, and California, and a brief sojourn in Italy, before returning to her hometown to settle down. Her day job is as Director of Research & Rare Collections at the R.W. Norton Art Gallery. She’s wanted to be a writer since she was five years old and is delighted to be contributing to “Shreveport Magazine” among others.

SHREVEPORTMAGAZINE.COM 5

BY KATE PEDROTTY | PHOTOGRAPHY BY SHANNON PALMER

FitzGibbons & The Meadows Museum of Art S

ean FitzGibbons is guided by a professional principle that is as profound as it is simple: “I work from the idea that art is a basic human right that should be accessible to all.” In his first year as director of the Meadows Museum of Art at Centenary College, FitzGibbons has put this principle into practice and helped reinforce and expand the museum’s role as a cultural hub for the Shreveport-Bossier City community.

FitzGibbons came to Centenary from the City of San Antonio’s Department of Arts and Culture, where he was responsible for curating and managing exhibitions for three venues comprising more than 12,000 square feet of exhibition space. He also worked as a mural consultant for several downtown development projects.

6 SPRING 2018

FitzGibbons is a graduate of the University of Texas in Austin and Washington University in Saint Louis, where he earned a Master of Fine Arts degree. He has trained in sculpture and visual arts and has mounted more than 20 personal exhibitions in the last decade at galleries and conferences in Texas, Saint Louis, and Chicago.

His credentials and experience helped FitzGibbons stand out in the national search to hire a new director for the Meadows, but since arriving in Shreveport last July, he’s also demonstrated a keen ability to read the local cultural scene and shape an expanded role for the Meadows within it. In addition to overseeing the installation and promotion of several previously scheduled exhibits this past fall, FitzGibbons has opened the Meadows to local artists for weekend

family-friendly event called “Art in the Meadow” will transform Centenary’s Jones-Rice Field into an eclectic outdoor festival complete with local art vendors, food trucks, live music, and interactive areas where “makers” of all ages and abilities can participate in hands-on, collaborative art projects. Many of these projects will utilize environmentally sustainable materials and methods. After moving to Shreveport last summer, FitzGibbons immediately took note of a number of popular events geared toward young families like his own, including “sprinkler days” at the Norton Art Gallery and the annual “Wheels in the Hills” at Betty Virginia Park. He also recognized that Centenary and the Meadows were well-positioned to add something unique to the mix, a spark that eventually led to the vision for “Art in the Meadow” and will continue to influence other future plans for the museum.

“In the short time I’ve lived and worked in Shreveport, I’ve experienced a city that embraces the arts and is actively exploring the possibilities for encouraging a new economy using creative capital,” says FitzGibbons. “I’m excited to be part of the arts and culture scene in Shreveport and am proud that the Meadows Museum can play a role in supporting artists engaged in this movement. I hope my efforts at the Meadows will support the city’s growth as a cultural destination.”

Meadows Museum of Art The Meadows Museum of Art at Centenary College was established in 1975 and houses a permanent collection of over 1,600 works, including the Jean Despujols Collection of Paintings and Drawings of Indochina. In addition to the permanent collection, the Meadows hosts a diverse schedule of temporary exhibitions by nationally and internationally-renowned artists. The Meadows is open from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturdays.

Current and upcoming exhibitions include:

JAN 8 MAR 23

popup workshops and has given others the chance to market their art in the museum’s gift shop. In December, he organized the first-ever Holiday Makers Market at the Meadows, featuring original artwork and crafts created by Shreveport-Bossier vendors. The market brought more than 300 people through the doors of the museum during what might have otherwise been a sleepy Saturday, and FitzGibbons already has big plans to partner with other Centenary colleagues and expand the event during the 2018 holiday season (Hint: he’s looking for a lead on finding a live reindeer!).

Approaching much sooner—and emerging directly from FitzGibbons’ philosophy of art as an accessible public good—is another new offering for the community. On April 21, 2018, a free,

FEB APR

NOW MAY

Lost Stories, Found Images: Portraits of Jews in Wartime Amsterdam by Annemie Wolff

A Glimpse of Shreveport from 1918

Meadows Outdoors featuring the found object sculptures of George Tobolowsky

More information available at centenary.edu/meadows

SHREVEPORTMAGAZINE.COM 7

BY ROBERT TRUDEAU

Meet Your Neighbor:

Amy Vu

Texas St resident Amy Vu is a California gal writing on Facebook about Shreveport on a daily basis. Though she is a math teacher in San Jose, her point of view is that of a cultural anthropologist; she seems to revel in offering a fresh way of thinking about Shreveport.

Since she lives downtown, her first forays brought her to face to face with the homeless. “Some people find the mix of people downtown to be frightening or a nuisance, but I am fascinated by all the people here.”

She has learned the names and faces of many of the downand-out and steadily shares her cooking with them.

And, more orthodoxly, “I stopped by Bertha Harris Folk Art Gallery on Kings Hwy and got a print of the Women’s March painting Bertha Harris made after participating in last year’s Women’s March in Shreveport. She has a terrific little gallery in Highland. Hooray for local artists.”

Having written about Shreveport steadily for 6 months, she admits, “Many people are still confused about me. I often get asked the questions, “What do you do? Why are you in Shreveport?”

Her answer: “For half of the year, I taught mathematics in California, a job that I will return to next year. Then, I packed up my belongings, started driving, so now here I am in Shreveport, studying computer systems at LSUS. When I am not working on my sabbatical project or working on my homework assignment, I drive or walk around talking to people, participating in events, trying to understand the world around me.”

welcomes AN OIL & GAS CONSULTING FIRM

In keeping up our relentless march to create solutions and provide opportunities, this is an exciting time for our clients, our people and our community!

Robert Dean, Managing Partner of Heard, McElroy & Vestal, LLC

333 TEXAS STREET, SUITE 1525 | SHREVEPORT, LA 71101 WWW.HMVCPA.COM 318.429.1525

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BY ELLES ROCK

|

PHOTOGRAPHY BY SHANNON PALMER

Porches & Patios A Guide to Local Dining in the Great Outdoors

10 SPRING 2018

A

s the sun comes out, the weather warms up and the birds announce the coming of springtime once again, restaurants in the Shreveport-Bossier area are preparing their patios and porches to give patrons the premiere outside dining experience.

They’re scheduling live music performances, turning the channels on their TVs to springtime sports, readying their staffs for the busyness of crawfish season and even preparing to debut entirely new dishes on their menus. Spring is a time to sit outside, enjoy the cool breeze, share a meal with friends and family, and local restaurants are gearing up to make that experience the best it can possibly be.

Red River Brewing Company, River City Grille, SALT and Cork & Barrel are four local restaurants working tirelessly to ready their porches and patios, their staffs and their menus for the anticipated high demand for outside dining experiences this spring.

RED RIVER BREWING COMPANY If you’re looking for a dining experience with great beer, impeccable food and an unhindered view of the downtown Shreveport skyline, look no further than Red River Brewing Company.

In 2013, Red River Brewing Company opened their pilot operation on Marshall Street and began growing their customer base for draft beers in the community. It took only three years for the brewery to see their dream of having a tap room and outside deck for their patrons realized. In April of 2016, the brewery moved down Marshall Street and officially began operating out of a location their customer base could visit when they wanted to have a couple beers, some appetizers and a good time without breaking the bank.

“The move to the new location has allowed us to try new beers, educate our customers, and provide them with a quality experience,” said Jared Beville, CEO and part-owner.

Upon moving into the new location, the brewery had a constant stream of food trucks cycling in and out to provide food for customers while they provided the beer. In September of 2017, however, popular Shreveport chef, Anthony Felan, parked his food truck, Fat Calf Boucherie, permanently at Red River Brewing Company.

Felan makes his gastro-pub, farm-totable style food from his truck onsite, where one can order anything from the signature Boucherie Burger which has Smith Family Farms grilled beef, smoked tomato aioli, bacon onion marmalade, arugula, and is topped with a fried egg—to Beef Tartare with, once again, locally-sourced beef, root vegetable remoulade and dijon served with rustic toast.

“Our goal has been to provide the community with a warm and inviting environment through our facility and

through our service,” said Beville. “Our deck provides customers with an experience totally unique to Shreveport, and we make great beer. We pride ourselves on that.”

The brewery’s signature lager “Heliopolis Helles” is a popular choice and award-winning beer. The German-style lager won a bronze medal in the 2017 U.S. Open Beer Championship.

This spring, the brewery will be debuting a new beer option—a Northeastern-style IPA called “Controlled Vice.”

The picnic tables on the deck reinforce the community feel of the warm, laid-back, urban environment. In the spring, the brewery hosts outside events such as crawfish boils for customers, as well as private parties on the porch.

“We’re at the perfect location for people to come hang out on the deck and have a high quality experience at a great price point.

That’s the niche we’re aiming to fill in this city,” Beville said.

RIVER CITY GRILLE One of the the most notoriously inviting and engaging outside dining experiences in the Shreveport-Bossier area can be found at River City Grille on Benton Road in Bossier.

For the last three and a half years, River City Grille has established itself as a premiere, local outside dining location. They pride themselves on their front patio that can be covered and heated in the winter, and opened up in the spring and summer to let the breeze drift through as patrons enjoy their meals.

The restaurant serves American bar-and-grill style food and often features seafood. Crawfish season is the most popular time of year at River City Grille, as customers come to sit out on the patio and get their hands dirty with some crawfish.

“We’re a local, family-style restaurant in every way,” said Brad McLeod, General Manager of the restaurant. “We have customers and staff that have been here since the very beginning. People are always met with a friendly face here, whether it be from our staff up front or the kitchen staff in the back.”

Locals enjoying the patio and craft beer of Red River Brewing & craft food by Fat Calf Boucherie

SHREVEPORTMAGAZINE.COM 11

We have a passion for good food, good service and a great experience for our customers.

-Brad McLeod of River City Grill

As far as the menu is concerned, crawfish season, which generally starts mid-to-late January and can last as late as midJuly, is an exciting time for the restaurant to debut new dishes.

“We like to try new things, so our menu is always evolving.

Each time we’re thinking of trying something new we have the staff try it, our regular customers, and even random customers who may have an opinion.” McLeod said.

In addition to the new options that may make their appearances with the the start of crawfish season, springtime starts the weekly “Thursday Night Live” nights on the patio where crawfish platters are discounted and live music is played while customers enjoy an evening out.

“With the action of Benton Road right off the patio, the atmosphere of nights enjoying a meal out there is always fun,” said McLeod. “We have a passion for good food, good service and a great experience for our customers.”

SALT Sharing the historic Barnwell Center with the new Shreveport Aquarium is SALT, a new restaurant that boasts a patio courtyard with the only riverfront outside dining experience on the Shreveport side of the Red River.

When dining on the patio at SALT, customers find themselves in a lushly landscaped space with cafe string lighting and lit up trees overlooking the river. The entire south wall of the restaurant is a sliding glass door which is opened on spring nights with nice weather to give patrons dining inside the restaurant the feeling that they are actually dining outdoors.

“The ambiance and the atmosphere really draws people in,” said Jake Wood, Director of Marketing and Public Relations for the Shreveport Aquarium. “Putting a restaurant in with the aquarium completes people’s experience at the aquarium as well as gives us the opportunity to start a conversation about sustainably sourced food that goes hand-in-hand with the conservation efforts of the aquarium.”

Serving a New-American style of food, the Louisiana Seafood Mac and Cheese skillet as well as the sliders and flatbreads are all popular items on the eclectic SALT menu.

“We’re just starting out here, and so our menu is making constant changes. Our goal is to cater our menu to what we see our customers wanting in a unique, Shreveport dining experience.” Wood said.

12 SPRING 2018

In the spring, the restaurant has plans to implement live music on the patio as well as TVs for customers to come, eat and keep up with all of the springtime sports.

As the restaurant grows and hears feedback from the community, they’re making constant tweaks and improvements to the overall dining experience.

“We keep our ear to the ground to find out specifically what kind of experience the people in this community want to have and what will leave our customers wanting to come back for more,” said Wood.

CORK & BARREL Cork & Barrel, a pub and grill on North Airline Drive, is yet another option in the Shreveport-Bossier area with phenomenal outdoor dining.

Rustic, barrel-top tables and decor on the patio, complete with flat screen TVs and music, create the casual atmosphere that keep customers coming back.

Peter and Debbie Stapa, who moved to Bossier City from South Africa in 1994, opened Cork & Barrel four years ago and have been thrilled to see the growth coming to North Bossier.

“We love the community and seeing the ways it’s growing and changing,” said Peter Stapa. “We’re proud to have created a

While each of these restaurants share a passion for outside dining, they also share a love of the area and a pride of being local.

“Shreveport has a such a rich history, and we’re excited to be a part of that with Red River Brewing,” Beville said.

SALT, while a new restaurant in the area, is working to keep alive the vision of the historic Barnwell Garden & Art Center in which it resides.

“The original goal of the Barnwell Center was to gather the community together. By opening SALT within the building and creating a place for people to gather and share a meal, we’ve found a way to honor the original vision of the center and the heritage of the building,” Wood said.

Shreveport-Bossier is full of local options with a passion for the area, for the people and for creating outside dining experiences enjoyable for the entire community.

Other 318 Outdoor Dining Options: Stem Events and Lunch* Monjunis

Louisiana Ave location

Frank’s Pizza Napoletana Windrush* Marilynn’s Place* unique atmosphere here at the restaurant with great food and great service.”

The restaurant’s most popular spring item on the menu is the Barrel Burger. The burger consists of the customer’s choice of cheese, a fried egg, sauteed mushrooms, caramelized onions, jalepeños and a jalapeño mango sauce. Accompanying their diverse menu with burgers, po-boys, and fresh fish dishes, the restaurant also has a wide variety of wine and keeps over 35 beers, both imported and local craft beers, on draft.

In addition to the laid back atmosphere on the Cork & Barrel patio, the patio is animal-friendly.

“People bring their dogs out to sit on the patio with them all the time. Because the patio overlooks a pasture with some trees in the distance, we’ll have customers who come out, order their food, walk their dogs around the pasture and then come sit back down and eat when the food is ready,” said Peter.

As spring approaches and crawfish season begins, the restaurant is preparing to have live music on the patio on Friday nights.

“In the spring we have local acoustic bands come out on the patio for entertainment,” said Debbie. “It really contributes to the overall, unique dining experience.”

“The restaurant business is always unpredictable,” added Peter, “But things are going fantastically. We love it out here!”

Abby Singer’s Bistro* Well+Fed* Twisted Root*

Shreveport location

Tacomania* Wine Country* Rhino Coffee* Uptown location

South Highlands Pizzeria* Ki’ Mexico* Counter Culture* Line Ave location

*Pet-Friendly Patio

SHREVEPORTMAGAZINE.COM 13

MAsCigars.com

SHREVEPORT

BOSSIER CITY

855 Pierremont Rd. #140 318-861-3138

2917 Old Minden Rd. Ste E 318-584-7152

14 SPRING 2018

855 Pierremont Rd, Ste 138, Shreveport, LA 71106 SHREVEPORTMAGAZINE.COM 15

BY JENNIFER HILL | PHOTOGRAPHY BY SHANNON PALMER

A Shreveportrait:

Tracy Thomas A Cancer Survivor’s Project of Love

T

racy Thomas can pinpoint the moment the idea for his non-profit Project of Love Music began. He was in a room at MD Anderson in 2012, waiting to hear if the kidney cancer he had been clear of for the previous thirteen years had come back. “The big head of the department was going to come in,” he recalls, “and we’re sitting there, my wife and I. I told myself, ‘If he comes in and I get a clean bill of health, I’m going to dedicate myself to love.’” Tracy pauses.

“And then I said, ‘No, I’m going to do it anyway.’”

Tracy found out that day his cancer had come back with a vengeance. It had invaded his remaining kidney (his left one was removed after his cancer diagnosis at age 28 years), parts of his lungs, lymph nodes, spleen, and other organs, many of which were removed. For the past four years, Tracy has taken a powerful drug called Votrient, which has kept his Stage Four kidney cancer at bay. It has severe side effects, including

16 SPRING 2018

vomiting, muscle cramps, fevers, and high blood pressure. It bleaches his hair and skin ash-white. All of the side effects make Tracy’s work as a movie stuntman challenging, but he needs to work to maintain his Screen Actors’ Guild (SAG) membership, so he can continue receiving health insurance.

The insurance pays for his cancer treatment, including Votrient’s $8,000-$10,000/month cost, as well as his 16-year-old son’s health care.

Living with and being treated for cancer is “an arduous journey,” which requires the cancer survivor to have coping skills. Tenets of Hinduism and Buddhism help Tracy push through Voltrient’s side effects and prevent the prospect of death from consuming him. “Every day, I have to make a concerted effort to live, and I do it moment by moment,” he told me. He has never asked his doctors for his prognosis because “that’s using vital energy that I could have right here

and right now.” Instead, Tracy uses his “vital energy” to help survivors of cancer and other “physical, mental and emotional challenges” by creating art, music and film. That is the premise of the Project of Love Music (POLM.) Within POLM, Tracy has developed projects such as HopeLocker, which gives cancer survivors the opportunity “to tell their stories in their own words” using various art forms and media. Tracy supplies audio-video recording equipment to produce the survivor’s creation and will compose music if requested. Other POLM projects in the works include art and music classes taught at the Rustic Barn, an event venue owned by Tracy’s family in Keithsville, and Rock Operaz, where survivors and their caregivers, families and friends can create 1970s-style rock operas.

Tracy also “outsources arts programs… to non-arts-related” organizations and initiatives for survivors. For instance, Tracy has worked with the Smile High Club, started by a movie stuntman. Smile High sets up “a computerized flying system and other equipment at hospitals all over the country,” so kids with cancer and other illnesses can “fly” like superheroes.

Tracy creates music and art with kids while they are waiting for their turn to fly.

Tracy recently became involved in an event called Equestrian Chaos. Created by the non-profit Celisse’s School of Equestrian Arts in Mobile, Alabama, Equestrian Chaos

provides children with special needs the chance to perform horseback riding stunts with professional riders. Tracy was transfixed by the sight of ten-year-old girls standing up on horses going at full gallop in a “sacred circle.” He said the sight of the girls living in the moment and wholly connected to the earth through literal horse power was “a microcosm of perfect harmony.”

In dedicating himself to love through his POLM project, Tracy receives the love that helps him cope with his illness.

When he drew art with the kids who were waiting to ride in Equestrian Chaos, he said, “It made me feel like I was shining inside. Kids with special needs don’t have egos. I can shine like them in my soul.”

To learn more about Tracy Thomas and his non-profit, visit PROJECT OF LOVE MUSIC: projectoflovemusic.squarespace.com

SHREVEPORTMAGAZINE.COM 17

2225 Line Ave, Shreveport, LA 71104 318.221.2225

BY ROBERT TRUDEAU

Meet Your Neighbor:

Kirk Reedstrom

K

nown across the city as an innovative Community Business Development Manager for Barnes & Noble Books, Kirk Reedstrom is one of the young people who have adopted Shreveport as a home and a cause.

He is a multi-media artist who can also teach STEM teachers. He is a coder who teaches coding along with all types of basic art to students of all ages at Noel Community Arts Program.

Raised in Houston, he attended Centenary College and met his wife, artist and performer Sarah Duet, in his art classes. Together their goal is to see that Shreveport’s quality of life—especially in Highland—retains spiritual growth, diversity, stability and literacy.

Inspired by community leaders like LeVette Fuller, Demetrius Norman and John Perkins, Reedstrom uses his post at Barnes & Noble to aid promising local enterprises such as the Robotics Competition, Step Forward NLA and schools across the region.

Beneath the continuous beat of his community activism Reedstrom has an additional pulse: he is

18 SPRING 2018

a children’s book author and illustrator making steady progress towards being published.

As an intern at Moonbot Studios during the Rise of the Guardians period, he was inspired by Bill Joyce. Having worked for the vibrant Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston, he has gotten energy from the authors and publishers who are guest lecturers at Blue Willow. Having worked lengthily on a couple of books for young readers and worked assiduously on his storytelling, writing and illustrations, Reedstrom has reached a most promising new plateau. He says, “It still feels surreal, but I signed with Paul Rodeen at Rodeen Literary Management Inc. in late November.” Caldecott Award-winning authors are among the clients of Rodeen agency.

He designed and debuted his new author and speaker’s website recently—kirkreedstrom.com— where readers can explore his colorful, playful characters and get an idea of the direction of his fractured fairy tale narratives and soak in the vibe of a young artist and storyteller. Expect to find, says former Moonbot designer Beavan Blocker, “ a very kind and earnest person, the kind of person who is easy to genuinely engage in conversation.”

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BY SARA HEBERT | PHOTOS COURTESY OF SHANNON PALMER

Finding Your Fitness Spirit Remington Suite Hotel & Spa’s Russell Heins shares his fitness journey, tips for getting fit this Spring 20 SPRING 2018

I

t was a victory moment. Russell Heins was smiling at himself in a 10 by 8-inch mirror, finally proud of the way he looked in a t-shirt and flexing biceps from his dedicated daily workouts.

Several months before, he’d set his sights on becoming a better person, looking great and thinking he might even be able to score a date with a beautiful lady. He finally was seeing the results of hard work and dedication to his personal well-being.

Today, Heins is the Remington Suite Hotel & Spa’s fitness director and in-house certified personal trainer, helping people in Shreveport meet their fitness goals. Back when Heins stood in front of that mirror many years ago, he was an inmate at a correctional facility serving time for a series of DUIs and a string of mistakes following years of partying hard.

“I was doing my party thing and my competitive spirit was buried under everything else. Once I let that go, all those positive spirits and motivation just came right back. And I never looked back,” said Heins.

“I got out and took my life into my own hands. I finally decided to do something about it. Fitness is just one part, but it is a huge part of the person I am now.” He regularly competes in competitions like the Dallas Spartan race (finishing 9th overall) and the Heroes Run (finishing 5th overall).

By the end of his sentence, Heins had started training his fellow inmates, who saw his results and wanted to achieve the same goals.

The experience inspired him to make a professional change and pursue his certification in personal training. In his new life, Heins brings his passionate spirit and determination to the Remington’s gym members and his personal training clients.

Nestled between office towers in downtown Shreveport at 220 Travis Street, the Remington boasts incredible amenities for guests and locals alike: a full-service salon/spa, beautiful event spaces, daily happy hours and newly renovated suites. A hidden gym for locals is managed by Heins, and features an indoor pool, an array of workout machines, free weights, wet/dry sauna and luxurious locker rooms.

“It’s a completely unique spot in the middle of downtown Shreveport. It’s beautiful. The facilities are great,” says Heins of the

Remington’s offerings, which he says are the perfect complement for the kind of personalized attention needed by his personal training clients and the privacy gym-goers seek.

Heins explains: “Lots of people starting out in fitness are afraid of big gyms. Sometimes people are embarrassed or intimidated by larger gyms because they don’t know what they are doing or are ashamed of what they may look like. They think everybody in the gym is in good shape so they automatically exclude themselves from the gym altogether.” Heins recommends remembering that everyone begins somewhere and finding a fitness routine that supports your goals is step one in a long journey.

TOP TIPS FOR FINDING A FITNESS ROUTINE THIS SPRING: Find motivation. Starting with a short run or a short walk? Put on your favorite playlist or audiobook. Enlist a friend to go with you.

Find a photo of someone with the kind of physique you want and use it for inspiration. Start small—even just walking around the block at lunch can be a great beginning to a long-term fitness plan.

No pain no gain. If you feel discouraged by muscle fatigue after working out, give yourself an extra day of rest. But remember, that small discomfort and soreness means you’re building muscle. Set your own pace for recovery so you don’t lose hope.

Get your heart rate up. By raising your heart rate above the normal resting rate, your body burns calories and body fat while improving cardiovascular health. Ask your doctor or a trainer to help you determine a target rate for your workouts.

Choose the right workout location. Even if it’s just walking outdoors in your neighborhood or working out to YouTube videos in your living room, find a workout location that works for you. When choosing a gym, find one that’s conveniently located and is clean.

Check behind treadmills and look below machines to see if the gym is up to your cleanliness standards.

Do you find Heins’ spirited approach to fitness contagious? Get a membership to the Remington’s gym ($50/month) or book a series of personal training sessions. More info at remingtonsuite.com/fitness

Meet Your Spring Fitness Goal Russell Heins shares his recommended fitness approach for these common goals:

REDUCE STRESS “Use the elliptical or the treadmill. It takes your mind off of what’s going on and you can listen to music. You just get on, press quick start and just start walking or running. 2-3 times a week for 30 minutes at a time is a good beginning.”

LOOK GREAT IN A SWIMSUIT

COMBAT THE EFFECTS OF AGING

“Start by improving your diet and ask a doctor for recommendations. Jump rope, jumping jacks, mountain climbers are all good beginner exercises. Don’t rest too much between sets to keep your heart rate up.”

“Don’t get into the gym and lift a million pounds. Just go in and focus to using your muscle. Try squats, push-ups, upper press, curls and sit-ups to start. Focus on all your main muscle groups: core, shoulders, chest, legs and back.”

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Urban Foraging and

Do-It-Yourself

By Emily Mills Photography by Shannon Palmer

“A town is saved, not more by the righteous men in it, than by the woods and swamps that surround it.”

-Henry David Thoreau

O

ur particular corner of the world here in Northwest Louisiana is a wonderfully rich and diverse bioregion, complete with a variety of ecosystems to explore. It is an area replete with natural resources. We have our beloved lakes, rivers, bayous, forests and even relatively wooded urban and suburban parks and streets. Accordingly, area residents spend a great deal of time outside. Running, kayaking, fishing, and hunting are some of the common outdoor activities for folks in our region (it’s not called Sportsman’s Paradise for nothing). However there still is a disconnect between seeing the natural world around us, and ourselves as separate beings who sometimes choose to spend a little time in it.

It is my belief that we can cultivate a connection to our landscape and nature in general, by learning about the edible flora that grows abundantly here.

Many of us have a good understanding of the local foods movement— why eating food that is grown locally, supporting local farmers and producers and also keeping money circulating in our local economy is important. I think that we can do more of this, AND go even deeper.

We can all get even closer to our food by participating in the gathering of it. Most of us who grew up in the South remember eating dewberries off the bramble during the summer, or picking up a handful of pecans to crack and enjoy in the fall. We can all certainly do more of that, but how many of us have enjoyed gooey caramel sweet wild persimmons, or happened upon a thicket of tart and sweet Chickasaw plums? There are so many more local wild foods to consider—muscadines, huckleberries and sparkleberries, wild onion, hickory nuts, acorns, hackberries, dandelion greens, dock leaves, poke greens in

Chickweed (Stellaria media) is a common and delicious wild edible green.

the springtime and even tender young sassafras leaves.

If you have an urban or suburban yard, chances are almost 100% that you have something edible growing there. Physically go outside, look at the plants and trees around you, and choose one plant to identify positively. Research everything you can about that plant—the life cycle, if it’s native, invasive or weedy, how it was traditionally used by the people on the land where it is native to, if it’s edible or medicinal, how to prepare it. Then actually do it! If you choose dandelion, actually pick the greens and eat them. You may feel a little silly at first, but as humans we are meant to eat wild foods. It feels more natural the more we engage in this species appropriate behavior. If we compound the fresh air, Vitamin D and the light exercise of walking outside with the health promoting properties of many of the wild plants growing there, we have a doubly effective recipe for making an impact on how we feel and the way that we walk in the world. To be clear, there are as many ways to experience connection with nature as there are humans in existence, but focusing on the plants around us that can co-create more wellness and better health in our bodies and communities is a beautiful and utilitarian entry point.

It is my observation that when we have a vested interest in something, we tend to care more about it. By teaching our children to care about ecology, we have a chance to change the paradigm of consumption in our culture. Learning to use one plant from our landscape can create a ripple effect in our lives. We can reduce our food bills, have access to higher quality foods, spend more time outside and learn new skill sets that we can share with friends and family.

Pine (Pinus taeda) is an emblematic tree and useful herb for our area.

SHREVEPORTMAGAZINE.COM 25

Recipes PINE NEEDLE SUGAR SCRUB

Pine trees are incredibly abundant in our region, but that doesn’t make them any less useful! Pine needles can be made into a lemony tasting tea that is rich in Vitamin C and perfect for cold weather. Here, I am taking advantage of their stimulating and antimicrobial qualities to make perfect sugar scrub.

The first step is to infuse pine needles into oil. I like to use olive oil because it is easily available and economical to use. Simply fill a mason jar with finely chopped pine needles and cover with olive oil, making sure you have an inch or so of oil on top of the pine needles. Any plant material peeking out of the oil could cause mold to appear in your infused oil. Let the pine needles and oil sit for 4-6 weeks, shaking it daily and making sure the oil is still covering the needles. You also want to be vigilant about checking for mold growth.

Once your oil has infused, you want to strain it using a cheesecloth. Now, you can use your oil as a warming massage oil, as well as to make your sugar scrub. You will need: • 1 cup organic sugar • 1 cup pine needle infused oil Stir the sugar together with the infused oil and store in a jar. To use, scoop out about a tablespoon of the sugar scrub before showering. The oil will make your skin incredibly soft, but can also make your bathtub a little slippery, so be mindful!

PINE NEEDLE SYRUP Pine needle syrup takes advantage of the lemony and resinous qualities of pine to create a delicious syrup that can be used in sparkling water, cocktails or even added to teas during the cold and flu season. Pine needles are antimicrobial and expectorant, which is perfect for coughs and colds.

Ingredients

• 2 cups pine needles • 1 quart water • 4 cups sugar

Directions

• To make pine needle syrup, cut your pine needles up into finely chopped pieces.

• Bring water to a boil in a large heavy pot, and add the pine needles.

• I like to let them simmer slowly for a few minutes, then turn off the heat.

• Cover and let steep for an hour or two.

• Strain the liquid and bring it to a boil again.

• Add 4 cups sugar and over medium heat, stir until the sugar is fully melted.

• Let cool, store in the fridge and use within a few weeks.

One of the easiest and most classic uses for pine syrup is in a cocktail, and here is one of our favorites!

THE CADDO

Ingredients • • • • •

1 part yaupon or black tea 1/2 part apple cider or juice 1/2 part pine syrup 1 part sparkling water 1 part bourbon

Directions

• Shake together in cocktail shaker and serve over ice.

• It works wonderfully as a non-alcoholic but still punchy beverage, thanks to the caffeine in the yaupon or black tea.

Straining the needle tea

26 SPRING 2018

Adding sugar to the pot

Pouring the syrup into storage containers

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Where Good Hair & Good Times Roll

3730 Youree Dr. • Shreveport, LA • 318-861-HAIR

BY ROBERT TRUDEAU

Meet Your Neighbor:

Jeremiah Furlow A

large crowd waited on the hillside of Columbia Park for the Highland Jazz and Blues Fest to continue. The transformer that fed electricity to the main stage had blown and the wait for music would be considerable.

Within a short time, however, a brass band composed of Green Oaks Performing Arts Academy high school students was doing a second line through the crowd. They were at the fest to entertain in the kids’ area, but the Green Oaks Show Band ended up playing jazz for the entire crowd. The teens performed with assurance, largely owing to the charismatic leadership of band director Jeremiah Furlow.

A teacher who is a capable performer and writer of music, Furlow has taken his brass band students across the city of Shreveport (Good Times Roll Fest, Centenary College, etc.) and to New Orleans to entertain the public (parading with the Krewe of Orpheus, Okeanos, and Corps de Napoleon). He has taught them posture and attitude in addition to tunes. “He’s stern and direct,” says Centenary student Brandon Armstrong. “His work ethic and drive are outstanding, and it’s inspiring.”

He teaches his players Louisiana’s traditional songs, but Furlow is not from New Orleans. He was raised and began performing in Kansas City. His Deep South musical schooling came from attending the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.

He admits that part of his background comes from being a fan of the famed New Orleans group the Rebirth Brass Band.

At Green Oaks High School, Furlow has a traditional marching band, a concert band, a full jazz band and the show band—which can play pop, r&b, and second line jazz. “The show band is for the kids who can go the extra mile.”

Furlow is known for a couple of maxims, according to the school web site: “Without discipline, there’s no band” and “I will not accept nothing less than the best!”

“Green Oaks is a school for the performing arts,” he says, “and I’m trying to get it right.”

28 SPRING 2018

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BY A.J. HAYNES | PHOTOGRAPHY SHANNON PALMER

D lze l St et Do I contradict myself?

Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.)

-Walt Whitman, Song of Myself

30 SPRING 2018

D

alzell St. begins just past I-49 and runs seven or so blocks to the ever-rushed procession of Youree Drive, extending eastward beyond St. Peter’s Baptist Church. You can make it from one end to the next by car in a matter of ten minutes, barring no frenzied Highland cats or plucky squirrels darting past.

The streetscape constantly shifts, each block its own world, bound by a singular name. What if, however, this metaphorical tie that binds is more than just a name? Studies of toponymy—the study of place naming—explore the relationship between cultural identity and the names of places. So what does it mean to live on Dalzell St.? We must look to the people who have lived on Dalzell in order to fully understand the significance of the street. Their stories help paint a picture of what makes this street tucked away in Highland so special.

THE REVEREND DOCTOR The Reverend Dr. William Tucker Dickinson Dalzell, D. D., the man for whom this street is named, was somewhat of a walking contradiction. His ability to navigate the complicated realities of survival while nurturing empathy within his community made him, as stated by Maude Hearn O’Pry, “an equally welcome guest in the cottage of the poor and in the mansion of the more prosperous.”

Perhaps this is the genesis of the spirit of Dalzell St., a force that lives beyond the man. W.T.D. Dalzell was both a physician and an Episcopalian priest—a man whose vision was linked to both the unflinching eye of scientific fact and awe-filled gaze of religion. He was vocally pro-abolition/Union, but also friends with Robert E. Lee. He served as a Chaplain for the Texan Confederate regimen despite his political leanings as a way to pay tribute to his adopted home. Dalzell contracted and narrowly survived yellow fever in his youth in Jamaica, leaving him immune to the disease. His immunity afforded him the ability to travel to communities stricken by “yellow jack” where most people were fleeing for their lives.

Reverend Dr. Dalzell never meant to stay in the United States. He was born in St. Vincent in the West Indies, educated in medicine in London and Oxford and then ordained in Jamaica. He later served in British Guiana (now Guyana) and then Venezuela before finding his services desperately needed in Savannah, Georgia. He had planned

Nate, Amy & Daisy Dalzell Treme sharing in some relaxed & creative family, fun time.

this to be a temporary excursion, but never left the States again. After serving in Philadelphia, Houston and New Orleans, Dalzell accepted the pulpit at St. Mark’s Church in Shreveport in April 1866. In 1873, Dalzell warned his community about the fatalities of yellow fever after he saw signs of the disease amidst his congregation. He was dismissed as an alarmist, only to be one of the last remaining medical professionals left after the outbreak. Dalzell stayed to set up several hospitals before accepting another position in Memphis, home to one of the worst yellow fever epidemics in U.S. history. He returned to Shreveport after a two-year stint in Memphis and remained here until his death in Feb 1899. According to Eric Brock’s biography of Dalzell, “…at his funeral, the mourners stood in the aisles of St. Mark’s…the building could not accommodate the crowd, and many stood outside listening through the windows.” Reverend Dr. W.T.D. Dalzell, an ever-wandering anomaly, had finally found home. He, like many who now live on the street of his namesake, helped foster the community that became his family.

246 FOR LIFE “I want Daisy to have her own experience of community, the experience where you meet your family outside of your blood,” Nathan Treme said about his hopes for daughter Daisy Dalzell Treme.

He and Amy, his wife and artistic collaborator, thought Dalzell was the perfect middle name for their baby girl, as the story of their family started with an art show on Dalzell. Amy, Dylan Hillman, and Danielle Hillman moved into 246 Dalzell St. about eleven years ago. Amy was a teaching assistant, Danielle was a nanny, and Dylan was a full-time artist. They all made art and needed a place to show

Dacoda Montana Craig believes Dalzell Street within The Highland Neighborhood is an ideal place for art-hungry adolescents to express their craft among like-minded creatives.

SHREVEPORTMAGAZINE.COM 31

their work. “We went to a few places around town and asked if they could put on an art show, but they wanted so much money to rent space. We figured why not just do it at our house?,” Amy candidly remembered with a sweet laugh. After the house art show was a success, the Dalzell kids kept putting on shows. “The Dalzell house community was like my college experience,” said Amy, “it taught me how to live in community and how to accept people for who they are.

That it’s really not that hard.” At first the bands booked were mellow Christian indie bands, but before too long Amy let Dacoda Montana Craig book shows—everything from punk psychedelic-thrash to doom from Tel-Aviv to noise art to hip-hop. When Nathan Treme moved to Shreveport in 2008, he had only planned to be in Shreveport for a few months. Like most small towns, Shreveport had little to offer art-hungry adolescents. Then Nathan heard about a house show at 246 where then-underground (now well-known) rapper Astronautilus was playing. “I walked into the house and was like, Oh! This is what I’ve been looking for,” he recalled. Soon after, Nathan partnered with Dacoda to help book shows. He moved into the house next door, 250, which served as a sort of satellite house for 246 where bands would crash and store gear. “Things used to get ridiculous during SXSW…sometimes there were 4-5 shows a week,” said Dacoda. And almost every show went off without a hitch. To avoid arrests, the shows would stop at 10:00 pm, so time efficiency was key. Nathan reflected, “Living on Dalzell reinforced the idea that if what you want is not happening, you have the power to make it happen.” As with most innovation, things were born out of necessity, cheap rent, and a desire to see things change.

ROOM TO GROW That same industrious spirit brought Andrew and Lindsay Nations to Dalzell to start their brewery Great Raft. The brewery, named after the colossal log jam Henry Miller Shreve cleared to establish the city, represents much more than a place to make award-winning beers. It took Andrew and Lindsay eight months to find the perfect building that met their needs: properly zoned for manufacturing, close to a neighborhood, and most importantly a place with lots of room to grow. Since selling their first beer in October 15, 2013—the first brewery to sell beer in the Shreveport-Bossier City area since Prohibition—Great Raft has expanded their distribution to four states. Each move has been made with integrity and in keeping with the spirit of Dalzell. “Without a strong community, there is no Great Raft,” Lindsay declared. In addition to bringing the community into their space with the tasting room, Great Raft works diligently to give back to various organizations that help the community grow. In 2017 Great Raft Brewing donated over $21,000 through charitable giving.

Their concentration in 2017 was to continue building relationships with local and state non-profits through fundraising events at the tasting room. Monthly fun runs benefiting St. Jude’s and quarterly “celebrity” bar tending nights with tips going directly to non-profits were just a few of their successful brewery events “We have so much room to grow,” said Lindsay, and Great Raft’s growth directly influences the community.

KINDRED SPIRITS “An untold number of children have been raised in that house,” said Robert Trudeau about his house on Dalzell St., “a lot of people

32 SPRING 2018

Andrew & Lindsey Nations have found a happy home for their ever-growing craft beer business.

started their families while living there.” Robert arrived in Shreveport from New Orleans in the early 1970s and was immediately drawn to Highland in large part because of its diversity. “Highland was and has been a racially integrated, peaceful neighborhood. At the time, a Bahai family lived across the street. They were a deeply soulful people symbolic of the diversity of Highland.” He took a teaching position at Bethune High and felt a strong connection with his students and the community. “And I didn’t have to cut my hair,” he said. Robert found a home on the 400 block where the streets reminded him of his previous home in New Orleans. He later moved to the 600 block where his home became a hub for artists and musicians.

Highland was alive with sound—between the ongoing housing repairs due to economic stimulus from a tax credit and music in the streets, everything was abuzz. Robert recalled waking every Saturday morning to the sound of timbales. Paul Griffith, drummer for A Train, would sit on his porch and play timbales as a way to salute the neighborhood. “They were so loud, but he was so good that no one complained,” Robert recounted with a laugh. His living room was always set up for jams and get-togethers. Both local unknowns and world renown artists would come through, such as Kevin Russell of the Gourds and Picket line Coyotes, Bruce Flett, and Jim Huckabee just to name a few. Although Robert has since moved to South Highlands, he still keeps and renovates his house on Dalzell to keep it active with family life. “I had children who were born and started their lives in that house, but it’s quite a number,” said Trudeau. It’s hard work maintaining a house from the 1920s, but Robert knows the true value of his labor. “Good landlords are the key life in Highland.

If you’re a bad landlord that lets your property run down, then you are dragging Shreveport down. If you’re a landlord who cares and fixes things and welcome people with honesty, then you are helping Shreveport,” declared Robert. One of Robert Trudeau’s residents, Makalani Jones, has come to discover he is a “kindred spirit to the soil” of Highland. “I came home to seek higher ground,” said Makalani. Makalani left Port Arthur in Beaumont after hurricane Harvey. A former teacher at Central Medical Magnet School in Beaumont-Port Arthur, Makalani is a professional musician and multi-disciplinary artist. Although he has only been in Shreveport for a little over a month, he has established himself as a local, playing at beloved haunts like Bar Chord and Noble Savage with his group the Makalani Jones Trio. He’s found a home where he can grow. When describing Dalzell St., Makalani paints words like watercolors: “If my street had a human personality, it would be very meditative…like it’s some type of temple. There are friendly cats everywhere and the tall trees seem like they stood the test of time.”

and people coming to their aid,” she smiled, “If any of us were in need, we would come to each other’s aid. That street is my home.”

On the same block, Britney Lee and Luke Lee shared their vision for a communal home with Yellow House. “We knew we wanted to create a faith-based communal living situation; we didn’t want to wait until we had families to have family living”, recalled Britney. The started the Yellow House in 2011 and were able to provide internship opportunities when the program was active. “I had heard rumors about Dalzell from when I was at Centenary, but never went to shows.

When we were looking for a house to establish the program, we came across Dalzell and I started to make the connections,” said Britney.

In the true DIY-spirit of Highland, the residents started doing house shows because most of their residents were musicians. What started as a means for community outreach, however, became something far more meaningful. “It took me too long to realize that Highland can be classified in a thousand different ways. I came in with this “save the neighborhood” mentality…and then I found that, I was getting saved.” Although the Yellow House is no longer a program, the Lees felt like Dalzell was too important for them to leave. They now live just across the street from their old house. “I’ve found it’s important to establish connections with your block regardless of what season you are in life,” Britney beamed, “All of that spiritual superiority gets debunked when you start living like a neighbor.”

GET TO KNOW YOUR NEIGHBOR The 400 block of Dalzell has an expansive street, both in size and its ability to demonstrate the multifaceted realities of being human.

The wide block was once a turning station for the city’s trolley. It was lined with trees, many of which were taken out in early 2000 by tornadoes and straight-lined winds. It’s wide open. Local artist Kathryn Usher found herself drawn to the block and purchased a GEOGRAPHY OF OUR MEMORY home there in 1991. She and her late husband fell in love with the We inherit the history of our streets. Dalzell is more than lilt of the word leaving your mouth—it’s the taste of an awkward kiss at a street, “This is the longest I’ve lived anywhere,” she said, “Each house party, of your neighbor’s red beans & rice at a potluck, of the street is its own universe in Highland. I’ve always felt very safe in my home. It gives me space to create.” She and her significant other seasonal stout from the brewery, of cheap beer you bought from Circle James Marks, a wire-sculpture artist, have enough room to hone their K, of late-night cigarettes and coffee on front porches rattling to the cadence of our oral history, guiding the geography of our memory. respective crafts. “He needs enough room to whip the wire around,” she laughed. “It’s a beautiful block.

It’s easy to see the energy of Dalzell was very free-flowing.” Her neighbor Karen La Beau is also an artist.

Karen La Beau and her family moved from New Orleans to Dalzell in 2007. “We knew Highland was where we were going to feel comfortable,” Karen stated, “and the block reminded me of Saint Charles Street. It’s more like a boulevard, a little wider and all of the homes are distinctive.” When she first moved to Shreveport, Karen struggled with the transition, but found solace and wellbeing in her newfound home.

The 400 block is home to many artists and art enthusiasts. “It fed me as an artist. I became an artist when I moved here,” Karen proudly stated, “And my husband Darrel is also coming into his own as an artist and producer of electronic music.”

She’s found that Dalzell is a nurturing place for her and her family. “I love when you see someone in need Since leaving New Orleans in 2007, Karen, Darrell & family have loved living among attentive, loving neighbors in the 400 block of Dalzell Street.

SHREVEPORTMAGAZINE.COM 33

BY ROBERT TRUDEAU

Meet Your Neighbor:

Leia Lewis

2018 KING

WILLIAM “BILL” MCGILL

QUEEN

KELLY RICH

CAPTAIN

JADA DURDEN

CO-CAPTAIN

HOLLY “HOLLYWOOD” ROCA

I

magine yourself in a neighborhood garden near the shadows of the LSU Health Sciences Center. In a grove of oaks and pines in a neighborhood built in the 1940’s you spy an education center named Sankofa Gardens. It is a center conceived and built by Leia Lewis.

Sankofa is a word in the Twi language of Ghana that translates to “Go back and get it.” It is also seen in the Akan and the Asante as a stylized heart shape or by a bird with its head turned backwards, carrying a precious egg in its mouth.

Community leader Lewis (M.A., M.A.T.) is an organizer, teacher and more. She is recognized as a visionary. Her role as teacher, healer and philosophizer has won renown in Shreveport and across Louisiana.

“My business is guiding people to remember their purpose, express their inner genius, and to flourish in their calling,” says the woman known as Sankofa Lady and Queen Leia.

Her original programs and collaborations, including Sankofa Gardens, Maafa New Orleans, and Crossroads Arts Collective, have been recognized as elements of transformation in Bayou State communities.

Lewis is a bridge builder. Speaking the language of educated Shreveport and of impoverished Shreveport, she has quietly brought together a number of the disparate peoples of East and West Shreveport.

With more than 20 years of professional experience in the arts, nonprofit, and education sectors, she continues to follow her passions for, as she summarizes it, “lifelong learning, community building, and expressing entrepreneurial talent.”

She is CEO of Little Powerful Books, a family business. She has a personal brand— BeautifulandSacredThings.com—a global community dedicated to women’s empowerment through sisterhood, spiritual development, and holistic success. “Beautiful and Sacred Things reaches and benefits women in the USA and Caribbean with inspirational content, progressive courses and destination retreats,” she says.

Paramount to Lewis is the legacy of her West African ancestors and African-American elders. When friends refer to her as Queen Leia it is apparent in the bright, Afrocentric fabrics of her kaftans and wraps. Her rings, bracelets, necklaces and earrings reflect the hand-crafted work of tribal peoples from Senegal to Ghana.

She is author of the forthcoming book, Gray Hair Don’t Care: 31 Days of Soulful Insight to Remember You are Beautiful and Sacred.

While her post as a Caddo elementary teacher is an anchor for her life, she enjoys and pursues speaking and training assignments. And, at the end of the day, she defines herself as “the proud mother of two wonderful sons.”

DUKES AND DUCHESSES STEPHEN PEDERSON JENN HARVEY

JARED BEVILLE ANDREA REMEDIES

PETE JOHN PRINCE DARRAS LATTIER LAUREN BRIER ROSE’ ROSS KOURTNEY WASHINGTON BOB THAMES JAZMIN JERNIGAN

PAUL YOUNG VALERIE DELATTE

GRANT NUCKOLLS LIZ SWAINE

BRENT LATIN MADISON POCHE

GRAND MARSHAL

OVERTON BROOKS VA MEDICAL CENTER

W W W . K R E W E O F H I G H L A N D . C O M 34 SPRING 2018

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36 SPRING 2018 Hank Williams (circa 1948). Taken at Menasco Photography Studio in Shreveport.

BY WINSTON HALL | PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF CHRIS BROWN

An Economic Goldmine

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n the vast array of American music, few cities can stake claim to an influence as far-reaching as Shreveport and its sister across the Red River, Bossier City. From jazz and blues to country and rock and roll, Shreveport-Bossier’s musical past has permeated the entire spectrum of America’s music history. Music enthusiasts around the world recognize this fact and honor Shreveport-Bossier’s music history through festivals, commemorative albums, books and documentaries.

The million-dollar question is: why don’t we?

Shreveport’s unheralded music history begins with Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter. Lead Belly’s first encounter with the nightlife— which ultimately influenced his music—came as a teenager in the Red Light district known as St. Paul’s Bottoms just west of downtown Shreveport. With a litany of songs to his name like “Goodnight Irene,” “Midnight Special,” and “Rock Island Line,” Ledbetter is regarded as one of the most prolific and influential folk and blues singers in American history.

The list of notable musicians that Lead Belly influenced goes on and on—from Bob Dylan to Van Morrison and even The Beatles.

The list of those who covered Lead Belly’s songs is also seemingly endless—among them The Beach Boys, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Johnny Cash and Nirvana. Kurt Cobain even included Lead Belly’s “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” on the Nirvana live album MTV Unplugged in New York.

As the earliest and most pronounced patriarch of Shreveport’s music history, Lead Belly’s place in the pantheon of music greats was confirmed by his inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.

Lead Belly’s grave—a popular destination for music enthusiasts—is just outside of Shreveport at Shiloh Baptist Church Cemetery.

Another example of Shreveport’s vibrant yet faded musical past is found in a derelict building on Snow Street—tucked away out of sight from the world. In the early 20th Century, the original Blue Goose Grocery Market, which burned down and was rebuilt, was a full-time grocery store and part time blues house. It is well known to music history buffs but largely unknown outside the academic community.

The bustling African-American neighborhood around the Blue Goose Grocery Market was simply called Old Blue Goose. Adjacent to the long-gone Union Railroad Station, Old Blue Goose was a stopping-off point for itinerant blues musicians traveling through Shreveport by train. Old Blue Goose attracted some of the greatest blues singers of the time—everyone from Blind Lemon Jefferson to

Oscar “Buddy” Woods and Ed Shaffer. Shreveport bluesman Jesse Thomas immortalized the area in the song “Blue Goose Blues” which he recorded in 1929. Due to its location next to the train station, Old Blue Goose was an early and critical purveyor of blues music in America.

Across the railroad tracks from Old Blue Goose is a mostly unknown structure that stands as yet another monument to Shreveport’s forgotten music history—The Calanthean Temple. The Court of Calanthe, an African-American women’s association led by Cora Murdock Allen, constructed the building in 1923. The building on Texas Avenue provided office space for African-American lawyers, doctors, and other professionals in the early 1900s.

The most noticeable feature of the four-story temple still is the roof—a large covered area that served as a party spot where popular jazz bands performed throughout the Roaring Twenties. Known colloquially as The Roof, flyers from that era advertise the likes of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and a young Louis Armstrong performing “on the roof.” Like other buildings in Shreveport with a colorful music history, the Calanthean Temple was almost lost to history. Luckily, the building was saved from ruin. The current owners Jason Brown and his partner Melissa Albritton are currently renovating the building.

In its musical heyday, Shreveport-Bossier also had its own roster of legends. Stan Lewis was a record producer, songwriter and owner of Stan’s Record Shop. Lewis was known nationwide for his vast record

Only known photo of original Blue Goose Grocery. (Courtesy of Richard Hadder)

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Municipal Auditorium postcard (Date unknown)

collection and connections and influence in the music industry.

Lewis later founded Jewel Records which released albums by Dale Hawkins and Lightnin’ Hopkins among many others. One of Lewis’ earliest customers was a young man named Bob Zimmerman, who later took the stage name Bob Dylan.

Stan’s Record Shop, located at 728 Texas Street, was not unlike the famed Sun Records in Memphis. The only difference is that today Sun Records is a museum and Stan’s Record Shop is a parking lot.

The connection between preserving Shreveport’s music history and architecture is self-evident. Kelly Rich, director of the Highland Jazz and Blues Festival as well as president of the Norla Preservation Project is one of those spearheading both.

Stan’s Record Shop (circa 1969)

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“Our local history is entangled with multiple components including the people, places, and things,” Rich said. “Shreveport is full of amazing buildings that were witness to amazing stories that not only need to be protected and honored but shared as well.”

A few blocks from where Stan’s Record Shop once stood is the Municipal Auditorium. The auditorium is the most widely recognized edifice of Shreveport’s music history.

From 1948 through the end of the 1960s, the Municipal Auditorium housed the booming 50,000-watt Louisiana Hayride Saturday night radio program hosted by KWKH. Known as the “Cradle of the Stars,” the Hayride helped launch in part the careers of Hank Williams, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Floyd Cramer, Slim Whitman, Johnny Horton, Webb Pierce, Kitty Wells and later a young-gun country

Stan Lewis inside Stan’s Record Shop (circa 1955)

Dale Hawkins at Louisiana Hayride (circa 1958) Source: LSUS Archives.

singer named George Jones. Author Tracey E.W. Laird called the Louisiana Hayride a “unique radio program of singular influence.”

On tours of the Municipal Auditorium, volunteer tour guides point guests toward a screw in the stage floor that artists used as their mark for performing on the large stage.

It was there that a lanky Alabama hillbilly singer named Hank Williams first belted “the Lovesick Blues” across the airways, ultimately skyrocketing to fame and paving the way for America’s first rock and roll star, Elvis Presley. In October of 1954, 19-year-old Elvis made his first appearance on the Hayride in the Lucky Strike guest slot. Before he played, Hayride announcer Frank Page noted that Elvis had a “new distinctive style.”

When he was done playing a throttled back version of “That’s All Right,” America would never be the same. Elvis’ unimpressive first appearance on the Hayride ultimately became recognized as a seminal moment in American history and the here-to-fore unnamed “new distinctive style” eventually became known as Rock and Roll. Later in his career, Elvis teamed up with Shreveport-native and guitar player extraordinaire James Burton. Burton’s earliest claim to fame was the creation of the world-famous guitar rift at the beginning of the Dale Hawkins song “Susie-Q.” In 2001, the Shreveport native Burton was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, joining Lead Belly Leadbetter as one of two Shreveport natives enshrined in the hall.

In 1958, Shreveport’s musical influence reached beyond even the Iron Curtain. Twenty-three-year-old pianist and Shreveport native Van Cliburn waltzed into Moscow at the height of the Cold War and won the International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition. His victory ushered in a new era of pride in American art and creativity as well as positively affecting US-Soviet relations. The quadrennial

Van Cliburn International Piano Competition held in Fort Worth is named in his honor.

Once rock and roll was rocking and rolling and Van Cliburn was kicking down diplomatic walls, Shreveport’s influence didn’t end.

Prolific Shreveport-born bass player Joe Osborn became part of an informally organized group of Los Angeles studio musicians who recorded with Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra, the Mamas and the Papas and many others. They were later given the moniker “The Wrecking Crew” and their story was made into an eponymous 2008 documentary.

Shreveport-Bossier’s musical traditions have spilled over into the 21st Century. Today the city is home to songwriters, performers, Grammy winners and musicians of all backgrounds. Our latest music history includes Shreveport native Kix Brooks (one half of the prolific country duo Brooks & Dunn), Grammy-award winning bluesman Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Grammy-nominated gospel group Forever Jones, world-renown jazz drummer Brian Blade and Shreveport-born country music wild child Hank Williams, Jr. With the fingers of our music history reaching as far as the grunge-rock epicenter of Seattle, Washington, to the streets of Moscow, and the halls of Graceland, one might wonder where in Shreveport-Bossier is this incredible history highlighted and revered?

Where can tourists and visitors to Shreveport-Bossier go to receive a greater and more comprehensive understanding of our music history?

The answer is that there is not a place for visitors to learn about Shreveport-Bossier’s music history and it is time for that to change.

Now is the time for Shreveport-Bossier to establish a world-class music museum and educational center—to enshrine our music history in more than just the collective memories of those who lived it.

Over the years, valiant individual efforts have been made—but not comprehensive efforts. Priceless recordings have been assembled and archived. A statue of Lead Belly was placed on Texas Street pointing toward St Paul’s Bottoms—now renamed Ledbetter Heights. A Walk of Fame was established under the Texas Street Bridge. The Municipal Auditorium was saved from demolition years ago and has recently been renovated. (Tours of the auditorium are available by appointment only. However, those tours are mostly limited to the history of the

Elvis Presley at Louisiana Hayride (October 1954) Photo by Shreveport Times photographer Langston McEachern

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Louisiana Hayride (circa 1948)

Louisiana Hayride.) Downtown, the exterior walls of Tipitina’s are adorned with posters of Lead Belly, Van Cliburn, and Kix Brooks.

As recently as 2012, local musicians Dan Garner, Blue Martin and Mark Goff formed the NXNW Louisiana Music Foundation with intentions to open a music museum on the second floor of the Woolworth Building on Texas Street. Their effort ultimately did not succeed—but the movement marches on.

Chris Brown is an Archivist at Centenary College of Louisiana. His hobbies include researching Shreveport music history. Brown and others have been actively involved in promoting the importance of Shreveport-Bossier by recognizing its history.

“Every community has a unique story to tell,” Brown said. “For us, the story involves fascinating musicians raised here and plenty others passing through. It’s the story of well-known songs like ‘Goodnight Irene,’ ‘You Are My Sunshine,’ and ‘Susie-Q.’ It’s also about influential

Jesse Thomas - Steamboat Swingers ad (1969) Source: The Spotlight: Shreveport-Bossier City Official Visitor’s Guide (August 1969)

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radio stations, successful record labels, and celebrated venues.”

“Dedicated travelers from around the world already visit our local music history sites like the Municipal Auditorium and Huddie Ledbetter’s grave,” Brown said. “In recent years, Johnny Wessler has also led historic music tours of the city. I think there is potential to coordinate and grow this interest that already exists.”

Cost is often mentioned as one of the main obstacles, however other cities like Nashville, Tennessee recognize the potential of a burgeoning music tourism industry and have taken action. According to visitmusiccity.com, a record 13.9 million visitors traveled to the Nashville area in 2016 largely because of civic investments in music tourism. That translated into hotel tax collections of $61.1 million.

Similarly, Elvis’ famous home Graceland sees a torrent of visitors annually. Since it opened as a Memphis tourist attraction in 1982, Graceland has seen more than 20 million visitors. Guests have visited from 140 foreign countries and the tour is translated into nine languages. Basic admission price for adults next year is $39.75.

You do the math.

From restaurants to hotels to museum fees, music tourism is an economic gold mine waiting to be discovered. It is an untapped source for the North Louisiana economy. If we are going to invest in anything in Shreveport-Bossier, why not invest in ourselves? Why not invest in promoting our own inexhaustible music history?

The Norla Preservation Project recently held a one-day music history symposium. The event included a pop-up museum containing privately owned Shreveport-Bossier music memorabilia. The museum, Kelly Rich hoped, would help kick-start the notion that Shreveport-Bossier should have a permanent music museum facility.

The time is now for our community to come together to ensure that the music history of this region is preserved. A new musical day is dawning in Shreveport-Bossier. Together, we can do better.

James Burton and Linda Brannon (circa 1955) Source: RAM Records Collection, Alton and Margaret Warwick.

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A Thousand Fruit Trees for Shreveport BY john paul young

Illustrations by Shadi Darzeidan

S

hreveport is a city blessed with great natural wealth, which we can easily and cheaply turn into financial wealth.

Our most valuable and accessible natural resource is our rainfall. Roughly four times the volume of Cross Lake falls as rain on Shreveport every year—about 80 billion gallons! Because of our water-repellent roofs, our impermeable concrete and asphalt pavements, and our dense red clay (covered only by a thin layer of grass, and repeatedly stripped and compacted by lawnmowers), almost none of these 80 billion gallons gets absorbed into the ground.

Instead, it flows away in bayous and rivers—and in wet seasons causes damaging flash floods around our region.

There is a simple and free way to change all this. We can reshape the ground to make it dramatically more absorbent and moist.

Absorbent, moist ground is the ideal habitat for fruit trees, blueberry bushes, ornamental flowers, timber, and other valuable plants. In my last writing for Shreveport Magazine, I described how fruitful and productive Shreveport will become after a few years’ effort at converting our priceless rainwater, abundant sunshine, and temperate climate into agricultural wealth through plants. In this article, I hope to show you how.

First, recall a simple fact about water (that will allow you to predict, control, and use the rain that falls on your yard): water always flows downhill. Watching your roof or your yard during the next thunderstorm will illustrate this universal truth—and it will show you where the water is going in your yard.

The simplest, cheapest, and most efficient way to use your rainwater is by editing the slope of your yard in strategic places with a shovel—digging simple trenches that hold rainwater on your land and prevent it from flowing away. A simple trench (dug perpendicular to the downhill slope) can catch hundreds of gallons of water, and hold that water in place long enough to soak into the dense clay ground beneath your lawn.

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1.

Edit the slope of your yard

Water-absorbing trenches can be quite beautiful. They end up looking a bit like terraces, because (while they may curve or be straight lines) they are always level from end to end. That is, they follow “contour lines” (paths of constant elevation) in your yard.

Because they are level, water doesn’t flow out one end or the other.

Once it flows in, water sits in the trench—forming a long skinny pond which nourishes any plants you place nearby or downhill.

All you have to do to find a contour line is use an A frame level—a very basic tool you can make yourself by attaching three pieces of wood in an A shape, with a weighted string hanging from the top of the A. Find two points where the bottoms of the A can sit so that the weighted string rests in the center of the crossbar of the A, and mark those two spots with a stick, rock, or landscape flag. Then move the A over, placing one leg of the A on a spot you’ve marked, and then find another spot that is level. Repeat this until you have a line of level marks in an area where you want fruit trees.

2.

Find a Contour line

(Using an A frame Level)

Now that the math part is over, connect the spots you marked by digging a ditch about a foot wide and eight inches deep that goes through all your marks, just like connecting the dots. Put the dirt and clay you dig on the downhill side of your trench as you go. Some folks call this ditch a ‘swale’ and the mound of dirt you put on the downhill side a ‘berm.’ A line like this in your yard will catch and absorb water every time it rains, while you’re cozy and dry inside. It will also hydrate your yard so that it will be moist in the dry season, while keeping many hundreds of gallons of rainwater runoff out of your street and your neighbor’s yard in the rainy season.

3.

Swale and berm, baby!

4.

Cover with pine straw

Many neighbors, who are now my friends, have helped me make enough swales in Shreveport to be homes for a thousand fruit trees in sites like Highland Park, Eden Gardens Elementary School, the Friendship House in Allendale, the Food Bank of Northwest Louisiana, and private yards all over Shreveport. My Facebook group, Shreveport Orchard Squad, is planning on adding Southern Hills park and the MLK Center on Russell Road to our list of sustainable orchard projects in the coming weeks. Shreveporters have donated over $2500 to our GoFundMe campaign to buy fruit trees for these sites, and we will be plating them from January to March this year.

In the coming weeks, I’ll be starting up a program that gets young Shreveporters on probation in Juvenile Court learning this method and digging gardens and planting orchards in their own neighborhoods, as their required community service. This will give them a skill that can turn free natural resources into food and a source of income for themselves and their neighbors.

This simple method of turning floods into foods will be on display all over Shreveport, and the way to turn these foods into a cash income is on display every weekend at our farm-to-table restaurant and cocktail lounge, The Levee, at 520 E. Kings Hwy, next to Nader’s Gallery.

I hope you’ll want to learn more about how to capitalize on Shreveport’s precious rainfall. Join the Shreveport Orchard Squad group on Facebook, stop by The Levee, and talk to your friends and neighbors about how we can revitalize our city from the ground up.

I always fill my trenches with rotten logs, sticks, leaves and grass clippings, and cover the whole thing with pine straw for a uniform look. All this organic stuffing decays naturally into soil without any more human effort, and it keeps the trench from having stagnant water that mosquitos could live in.

Soil creatures like earthworms, fungi and bacteria will move into this moist habitat on their own, making it fertile naturally over a few seasons. The areas all around a contoured trench (or swale and berm) are a perfect place for trees to grow, since their deep roots can drink up the water that is held in the ground for months after the last rain.

Once the leaves have decayed into soil, the edges of your trench will be a good place to grow annual vegetables as well.

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BY EVERL ADAIR

|

PHOTOGRAPHY BY EMILY FEAZEL

Beauty Isn’t Easy– Even for an Art Museum Behind the Scenes at the R.W. Norton Art Gallery

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n the fairy tales of long ago, the shoemaker took credit for the work actually done by a devoted cadre of elves. The Norton Art Gallery has its own dedicated elves, but unlike the fairy tales, they like to acknowledge their contributions. These are the men and women who design, clean, and maintain the buildings and gardens, put up the exhibitions, provide security, and welcome and enlighten visitors. They even take on the odd extra duty including acting as a midwife for ducks and quails, or discouraging garden visitors from too enthusiastically emulating the birds and the bees.

Among the chief elves is Gerry Ward, the Grounds and Building Supervisor. Gerry’s been working with the Nortons for nearly thirty years, the last fourteen of them at the museum, so he’s become an expert on what’s needed. Gerry’s keen eye has to be everywhere, from making sure paintings are hung at the correct eye-level to preventing vandalism in the Norton’s botanical gardens. He also oversees work on the big things, such as remodeling a wing of the museum, or adding entirely new and up-to-date electrical systems. Pieces of art are actually very sensitive things, reacting—sometimes disastrously—to the wrong levels of humidity, light, heat, and other variables.

So it falls to Gerry to make sure that all systems within the museum are working properly and replaced when they don’t. In addition, he must ensure that the infrastructure itself is in top-flight condition, as well as the exhibition features like cabinets and vitrines within it.

Fortunately, he has help, mostly in the form of his assistant, Jeremy Hammontree, and longtime Norton staffer, Kenneth “Kenny” Monroe.

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The Norton is home to 12 beautiful chickens. Pepper, pictured here, is a favorite of the garden patrons and enjoys treats like bread and Cheerios.

As Gerry emphasized, “it’s a team effort”. Jeremy’s the lucky staffer who got the afore-mentioned duck and quail duty (with a few chickens thrown in). Five years into his tenure at the Norton, he’s become adept at helping Gerry keep the equipment up-to-date and running smoothly. In his “spare time”, he lends himself to building the beautiful pedestals supporting the sculptures at the museum, based on designs by Lewis Norton. Kenny takes care of making sure the interior of the building is kept spotless and helps Gerry and Jeremy hang and light the exhibitions. He also lends a hand to whichever department needs him the most at any given moment, from the library to the education department and beyond.

Of course, the first member of the Norton family most visitors encounter is a guard. Frequently, this will be long-time Norton employee, Mike Merrit, who has become an expert at greeting visitors and letting them know the ground rules in a friendly and welcoming manner. Head guard Jeff Remedies aids Mike in this endeavor and also keeps an eye out for any difficulties encountered by the staff of seven guards as they interact with guests of the museum. All the guards are warm and personable, in addition to being knowledgeable about the art. They don’t just warn people not to touch—often, they also inform them of interesting information about the piece or the artist not available on the wall text. Some of them go even further.

Kip Dehart, the brains behind the Norton’s beautiful gardens, is a true gem. With a vision for details, Kip has transformed to Norton’s botanical gardens into a true oasis in the heart of Shreveport.

Gerry Ward, the Norton’s Building and Grounds Supervisor, has been with the museum for almost 15 years and is the man to call whenever something needs to be done, from hanging a new exhibition to installing new plumbing for the ponds.

A jack of all trades, Jeremy Hammontree is a builder, technician, and hanger of exhibits to name just a few of his many talents.

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Fred Cox is pictured here giving a tour of the Norton to students from Tulane University. With over 7,000 students seen annually the halls are always filled with inquiring minds.

Guard Fred Cox has begun to provide tours for visitors at regular times during the week.

Along with the guards, the Norton makes sure the artwork, the visitors, and the staff are all safe by arranging for Caddo Parish Sheriff Deputies to maintain a presence in the museum and on the grounds. Led by Rick Farris and Jackie Winston, these armed officers of the law make sure the Norton is a safe and secure environment for everyone. Also great with a quick joke or quip, they too have come to know the museum well enough to offer the occasional insight into the art for attendees.

It can’t be denied that, for some visitors, the real draw of the Norton is its extensive botanical gardens. While the museum has long been surrounded by beautiful azalea gardens and majestic pine and oak trees, the evolution of its grounds into the Norton Botanical Gardens is largely the work of the multi-talented Kip DeHart and her grounds crew of seven. Kip developed the design for the aquatic plantings in the Norton’s water gardens and worked to create various new zones and ecosystems. Visitors love wandering over the course of a day from the desert of the xeriscape garden to the rainforest grotto to the koi and goldfish-stocked pond at the base of the garden slope. In addition to adding new beds regularly—including a Japanese maple bed boasting more than fifty different varieties—Kip and her crew regularly plant and re-plant other beds, making sure the gardens are a visual delight year-round. Recently, two new beds with sitting areas were installed just outside the garden gates, ensuring that walkers, joggers, and passersby have an enticingly lovely place to sit and enjoy even when the gardens are closed. In the meantime, the azaleas that marked the gardens beginning have now extended to roughly 10,000 plants and a large number of different varieties, both native and hybrid.

The work of all these elves will be on display at the Norton’s BLOOM! festival from March 22-24, 2018, providing an opportunity to see what their dedication has wrought. Gerry Ward said, “It’s a great privilege to work here.” It’s also a great privilege for the Norton to have these sometimes unsung folks to make its beauty look, oh, so easy.

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Gerry Ward and Jeremy Hammontree make sure the artwork in the museum is well take care of.

This means hanging, cleaning, and transportation must be done with utmost care.

Always a friendly face, Jeff Remedies is one of the guards you may encounter as you enter the Norton. The guards are full of knowledge about the collection.

DECLUTTER. ORGANIZE. DESIGN. CALL 318-564-8203 FOR A FREE CONSULTATION

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The Art of Re-Purposing for a More Beautiful, Sustainable Tomorrow

BY BRIAN CARLISLE | PHOTOGRAPHY BY SHANNON PALMER

Since the introduction of the blue cans on our sidewalks, recycling is on our mind more than ever—and it should be. We, as humans, waste so much. Whether it’s product packaging, food wrappers and to-go shells, or items around the house that you thought had fulfilled their desired purpose. But wait—some of those things have a bigger calling!

Welcome to the world of repurposing. It’s a world of reinvention and giving older items a new life, hopefully one that surpasses its initial intent. A world where a door knob is now a coat rack hook.

Where a retro water ski becomes a cut up frame for a mirror, and a vintage teapot is now a whimsical birdhouse.

The good news is that any of us can become repurposers. You may have already done it and just labeled yourself as being creative or resourceful. Repurposing can be at any level from a small reuse of an item to putting many things together to make one glorious creation! You’ll find that once you start thinking this way, it doesn’t stop. Before you know it, you’ll have many creations around the house you can take pride in because YOU took a small step toward saving something from the landfill.

Everyone’s process is or will be different. It can be as quick as mounting a clipboard clip to an old license plate for a new clipboard or something dramatic like a cascading water fountain out of random metal platters, cups, and utensils. For me, it always starts with seeing something which becomes a catalyst for a creation. Usually I know the end result and what purpose it will serve from the beginning.

I have reused things here and there throughout my life, but several

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years ago I jumped headfirst into repurposing. I started by making repurposed birdhouses, mostly out of old metal objects. I found satisfaction from pulling all of these items together that most people would say were on their last leg. A teapot was the main housing for the birdcage or maybe an old gas can. That object was the jump off point for all of these other smaller objects to come forward and bound together for a very rewarding creation. Before long, I was creating custom furniture out of mixed objects and making trucks out of roller skate wheels and metal baskets and objects. It’s gone so far that I’ve made things around the house that were needed by me or the family. My daughter needed a clothes hamper so I made one out of a vintage wall radio cabinet. My wife needed something to hold her washi tape for crafts so I used an antique sewing machine drawer as the body and brought in lamp shafts, vintage yardsticks and a hacksaw blade to house them. And, my son needed a desk so I broke down a piano that no one would take and it now has four legs, a flat desktop surface that was the base of the keys board and voila!

So, go as far as your imagination can take you. Chances are that if you always strive to think that far out of the box, you’ll create something no one else has before. The world of repurposing only comes with one warning. You’ll be addicted before you know it. The good news is you’ll be doing everyone a favor by reusing the old items that only need a moment of creative thinking to keep them out of our landfills and to serve a greater purpose.

(All my creations are documented on www.gadgetsponge.com.)

Anna Gleason repurposes found or donated instruments as a hobby.

(L-R) David Rowley finds new use as with this rusted propane-cooker-turned-rustic-side table.

Wil Brown enjoys re-purposing many metal objects including steel drums.

“

Brian Carlisle thrives on giving junk some added spunk. He is quite the magician turning this old space heater into a one-of-a-kind birdhouse.

SHREVEPORTMAGAZINE.COM 51

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BY ANGIE WHITE

Shreveport Clusters

T

he physical layout of a city, and in particular the location of lifestyle amenities, impacts how residents feel about the quality and quantity of those amenities. How can we—Shreveport residents, developers and public officials all together—improve public perception of our quality of life? I believe we can do this by encouraging the development of business and entertainment clusters, and thankfully we have tools such as Great Expectations: Shreveport-Caddo 2030 Master Plan and the 2017 Unified Development Code to help us do it.

The Shreveport-Caddo 2030 Master Plan, adopted in 2011, covers a broad range of topics in thirteen chapters about current trends, the planning process, and all aspects of community life that affect the way our city and parish can develop in the future. It was written by the planning firm Goody Clancy, but it had significant input from a wide variety of community members, including over 1,200 responses to a public poll and hundreds who attended several visioning workshops.

The process involved asking our community members to imagine the kind of place we want Shreveport to be in the 21st century. It provides a plan for how we get there, and gives specific action items to get us started. It has key themes that are important to me and to others who invested a lot of time in its development: • We should take a BOLD APPROACH to taking charge of our future • We need to GROW SMARTER • We should CELEBRATE OUR UNIQUENESS • We will INVEST IN PEOPLE • And we will INVEST IN PLACE In thinking about the physical location of new businesses, arts and entertainment options in our city, several of these themes should be in the front of the mind of city planners, developers, elected officials and residents.

Unless you are in the urban planning or real estate development business, it is unlikely you often consider how the physical layout of your community impacts your feelings about it and the level and quality of amenities and activities it offers residents. Until I volunteered to be a member of the Community Advisory Group (CAG) for the Shreveport-Caddo 2030 Master Plan in 2009, this concept was not one that ever crossed my mind.

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As someone who regularly stares, head-cocked, at locals who lament “there’s never anything to do here,” I have begun thinking more and more about clusters as a way to solve this perception problem. I used the term “clusters” to mean complementary retail and entertainment businesses located in close proximity to each other, like movie theaters, coffee shops, ice cream parlors, restaurants, breweries and bars, so residents can park once and easily move from one activity to the next. It is similar in concept to what planners call mixed-use developments, where businesses like those described above coexist in the same building or blocks as residential housing, usually with the retail shops on the ground level and housing on the upper floors.

Clusters can give the perception of improved quality of life choices by allowing residents to easily create an afternoon or an evening of entertainment within a particular cluster of business without ever having to move their car or bike once they park it. Another benefit of the cluster concept is when multiple restaurants or bars are located adjacent to each other, allowing patrons to choose from many options or giving them additional options if their first choice has a waiting list. After observing a few clusters that exist or are emerging in Shreveport since I moved back in 2006, I believe this is the direction business owners should consider when selecting a location. Districts made up of businesses of a compatible nature or with a neighborhood’s character in mind are now encouraged through the recently adopted Unified Development Code—a tool called for in the Shreveport-Caddo Master Plan to help regulate development and create a more simplified and predictable zoning and building process.

To help clarify the point, consider an established cluster and one that has been emerging over the last few years: LINE AVENUE-PIERREMONT ROAD CORRIDOR Travel down Line Avenue within a half mile in either direction of the intersection with Pierremont Road and you will find restaurant after restaurant, interspersed with coffee shops, yogurt shops, nail salons, dessert bars, clothing boutiques and yoga studios. After grabbing dinner with friends at Giuseppe’s Pastacaffe, round the corner and you can have a glass of wine at Wine Country Bistro,

coffee at Rhino Coffee or a sweet treat at Whisk Dessert Bar. Or after you’ve survived a challenging class at Explore Yoga or a successful shopping spree at Imelda’s or John Pickens Clothiers, walk across the street to treat yourself with a Humphrey Yogart from Counter Culture. This cluster of businesses offers lots of options to keep you engaged for several hours.

renovated boardwalk promenade to the south of the aquarium, this could become a vibrant cluster for outdoor concerts and maybe, just maybe, the return of Picnic Pops with the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra (we can dream, right). Envision weekends along the river with food trucks, Sweetport Ice Cream and live local bands.

WEST EDGE ARTS DISTRICT, DOWNTOWN SHREVEPORT The West Edge is the part of downtown Shreveport starting a few blocks east of First United Methodist Church, and a couple blocks on either side of it. Shreveport Common and the West Edge commingle, but Shreveport Common has a defined master plan of its own, and will not be covered in this discussion. The West Edge cluster of arts and entertainment businesses really began seeing the sprouts of its growth more than a decade ago with the addition of Artspace and the Robinson Film Center, which brought companionship to The Strand Theatre and the pre-renovation Municipal Auditorium. Fast forward a few years and along came Parish Taceaux, Joseph Guin Salon, the Emmett Hook Center, the Marlene Yu Museum, Crystal Stairs restaurant, Lofts@ 624 and its lobby retail space housing Rhino Coffee and a hair salon. Renovated historic buildings adjacent to the Lofts@624 are yet to be inhabited, though they have been home to a few pop-up business initiatives. And though it is but once a year, the West Edge is the central hub of the Louisiana Film and Food Prizes in the fall, with a little Music Prize thrown in for good measure.

Personally, I spend a lot of time and money in this part of town.

Referring back to the key themes of the Shreveport-Caddo master Plan, these clusters and potential clusters in some cases are bold approaches to shaping our community, they involve smart growth by creating less need to drive from one business to another and rejuvenating the city’s inner core, they feature locally owned businesses and thereby our community’s uniqueness, and they demonstrate an investment in place.

My wish for 2018 is that more Shreveport residents will get out and explore these existing and emerging hubs of activity and learn what our local businesses and arts organizations have to offer. I frequently feel overwhelmed at all the options for spending an evening with friends in the city, and I would love to see more of you out there experiencing it with me. Make these clusters stronger with your patronage and they will grow. Happy new year to you and to Shreveport!

With these examples, I hope my cluster concept makes a bit more sense. To leave you with food for thought (or potential business plan strategizing), below are some physical locations in Shreveport that seem ripe for cluster development with the right mixture of energetic entrepreneurs and supportive customers willing to show a little extra love in the early years. The Unified Development Code spells out the type of business activity that is allowed in each zone on an interactive map on the Metropolitan Planning Commission website.

LAKE & MARSHALL STREET CORRIDOR: Already anchored by the Agora Borealis and its block neighbors iArchitecture, Vintage Design Group, Nicole Spikes Photography, and Red River Brewing just a short walk south down Marshall Street, this cluster could see some real momentum with the recent addition of Chef Anthony Felan’s Fat Calf Boucherie at Red River Brewing.

There is also the anticipated opening of a new meat processing facility and mobile butcher for Smith Family Farms of Doyline, supplier to Fat Calf Boucherie, on the same property to look forward to. If the sweet little nook at the corner of Marshall Street and Fairfield Avenue that was designed to be a hub for food trucks ever comes to fruition, I imagine we will see a significant increase in foot traffic along this stretch.

RED RIVER DISTRICT, SHREVEPORT AQUARIUM AND ADJACENT RIVERFRONT PROMENADE: With the creative and energetic owners of Fatty Arbuckle’s and Bon Temps Coffee Bar bringing folks to the Red River District for open mic poetry nights and concerts under the bridge, the recent addition of the Shreveport Aquarium and restaurant SALT, and the newly

RESOURCES TO LEARN MORE: Great Expectations: Shreveport-Caddo 2030 Master Plan: bit.ly/2030MasterPlan Unified Development Code, City of Shreveport: bit.ly/UDCode Shreveport Common Plan: shreveportcommon.com

If you want to explore these hubs but need a little nudging, here are some events to help guide you: Shreveport Downtown Artwalk: Curated by the Downtown Development Authority, this monthly event places local artists and their works in downtown businesses and art venues. First Wednesday of each month from 5-8 pm. Learn more at DowntownShreveport.com

Cirque du Lake: An annual party at the 400 block of Lake Street with local art, food and live music. Follow Facebook for updates.

Prize Fest: Taking place in the fall, centered around the West Edge of Downtown Shreveport. Learn more at PrizeFest.org.

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Let’s Ring in Spring Handpicked Ideas to Find the Fun Feb. 24

Dining in the Dark //lablind.com/dining

318 Restaurant Week //March 13-17, 2018

318 Restaurant Week, a popular event showcasing local restaurants with one-night-only dining experiences and daily prix fixe lunch and dinner specials, has been one of Shreveport-Bossier’s most popular events. 318 Restaurant Week will return to Shreveport and Bossier City March 13-17,2018 and will offer $10 or $20 menus for breakfast, lunch and/ or dinner. There will also be several special elevated dining experiences offered at select eateries during 318 Restaurant Week. sbfunguide.com/events/restaurant-week March. 3

Best in Sheaux

//Benefiting Robinson’s Rescue Mar. 17

March 6-7

Riverdance

Shamrock Shuffle + Kid’s Fun Run //9AM starting at Marilynn’s Place

//at The Strand Theatre

Crawfest

//March 24th at Betty Virginia Park Crawfest is a FREE ADMISSION, family friendly event held on Saturday March 24, 2018 in Shreveport’s historic Betty Virginia Park. This is the first festival of its kind ever to be held in the Park.

A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the South Highlands Neighborhood Association for improvements in the park. Crawfest is organized by PinPoint Local Marketing, Twisted Root Burger Co. - Shreveport, and Rhino Coffee.

March 9-11

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Just for Miles //3 Day Triathlon

LIVE MUSIC at the Clarke’s Jewelers Stage

Mar. 24

BLOOM Festival

//RW Norton Art Gallery

Mar. 24

Jason Mraz

//at Municipal Auditorium

CORK Wine Festival //April 7th at Festival Plaza

A Red River Revel Wine Event designed to be a fundraiser for the Red River Revel by providing the community an opportunity to experience a premier wine event.

April 27-28

May 5

Grilling for Grads BBQ Cook-off //Festival Plaze

Derby Day

//derbydayshreveport.com

Shreveport Symphony presents Philippe Quint //May 5th

April 7

Defenders of Liberty Mud Run

April 14

Holiday In Dixie Parade

//Barksdale Air Force Base

Grammy-nominated violin sensation Philippe Quint returns to Shreveport to perform Korngold’s lushly romantic, cinematic Violin Concerto. The program and the season conclude with a performance of Brahms’ monumental Symphony No. 4. shreveportsymphony.com.com

//Festival Plaza

May 10

April 20

Micro/Macro Fashion Show //Marlene Yu Museum

May 12

Peter Pan 3D

//at The Strand Theatre

Run With The Angels //at Holy Angels

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BY LEIGH LEWIS | PHOTOS COURTESY OF MATTHEW LINN

FAMILY TRADITION KREWE OF HIGHLAND

T

he Krewe of Highland Mardi Gras parade has become a family tradition for many Highlanders and Shreveporters alike. The inception of the Krewe of Highland started in 1994 by longtime Shreveport supporter and Caddo Commissioner Matthew Linn. The idea of a family friendly, daytime parade in the historic neighborhood of Shreveport has turned into an iconic tradition. For over twenty-three years families, friends, church groups, school groups and many more have made the Highland parade a must attend event.

Preparations begin well before the big day, with floats being crafted or rented from local krewes and throws purchased, made or grilled for the big day. The preparation is as much fun as the actual event.

This year’s theme is Highland Ever After XXIII and as usual almost anything goes and this year’s parade rolls on February 11, 2018 at 2:00p.m. There may be a special incentive this year for parade goers who watch the parade north of Kings Highway.

The family tradition vibe of the Highland Parade runs deep in my family. I can remember riding on the back of a lawn mower trailer with my extended family in the first parades throwing candies to the parade goers up and down Creswell and Highland Avenues. As the years passed I rode with my own children, grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles along the same streets. I can say that since the beginning of the Krewe of Highland, my family has been a part of

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the revelry as have so many others. Several area schools have their own floats for students to ride together to celebrate our Louisiana tradition. St. Mark’s Cathedral School has an eighth grade float where the entire eighth grade class gets to ride together, adding to their understanding of Louisiana History and culture.

The route the parade takes allows for all citizens of Shreveport to experience Mardi Gras fun. As a float rider, my favorite part of the parade was looking out over the crowd of people and seeing a familiar face and throwing them a throw. One of those familiar faces was the auto mechanic from Kings Highway Exxon who always took such good care of me and my family. The community comes together to put on the Highland Parade, with the logistics alone taking the coordination of the Shreveport Police, Fire Department and Public Works and we all are grateful for all of the men and women involved in making this family fun event happen annually. The parade is also a time for people to meet their neighbors, get out of their houses and share a moment. Parade founder, Matthew Linn stated, “By keeping the parade within the original Highland District, the Krewe’s original mission is to promote the historic beauty of the area and to bring neighbors outside their home to meet each other on a day that everyone would agree was full of wonderment.” Friendships blossom and relationships form over the simple phrase “Throw Me Something Mister.”

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