The gumbo and the water

My real introduction to south Louisiana’s bayou country occurred in 1992, the year Hurricane Andrew roared into the Gulf of Mexico after strafing Florida.

A New York native, I was living in New Orleans at the time, covering the storm for the Washington Post, and hitched a ride with a disaster recovery team from the Crescent City to Houma, a place I had never heard of before.

After walking in waist and then chest-high water to a trailer in Dulac with two people who held their babies on their shoulders, I saw a mother who had lost all of her own children’s clothes and toys brighten up when she saw that the clothes they grew out of were safe atop a closet shelf.

“We can bring them to people at the shelter,” said the woman, whose name was Elve Verret.

From that moment on I knew that I wanted to know more about these incredibly resilient people living in this special corner of the world, and set about doing so by getting a job at a local newspaper.

For many years it has been my privilege, since then , to report and write on the tragedies and triumphs of men, women and children living here. I have been welcomed by hard-working commercial fishermen, earned the trust of local political officials and gotten to know the place well enough to give the truest, best picture I can of what’s going on when news occurs.

I have taken several side-trips since then, working in California, North Carolina and Florida. Most recently I lived on a boat in Key West, about a half-mile out at anchor, learning about a unique place and trying not to let bad weather overturn the 10-foot skiff I used for commuting to and from shore.

Recently, as at other times, I heard the bayou calling to me. The time had come to return if possible, and that’s just what I did.

The experience is new because I found myself here at the Tri-Parish Times, a weekly newspaper that I believe has been doing an ever-better job of telling folks here what they need to know about the local world surrounding them.

That the paper is a weekly will allow me to delve into areas that need attention, with in-depth articles that will help readers.

In this space – my column that will run each week – it is my plan to write about special people who live right here among us. Some might be working hard to preserve living culture of south Louisiana’s people right here among us. Some of what I write may concern what I think is an unusual or valuable view from others of issues that we cope with in our attempts to make our part of the world a better place to live.

This space, below my picture, is something I see as a peoples’ space that belongs to readers. And as I settle in to my duties as a reporter here, I hope you will help me by staying in touch.

If there are things in our communities you want me to know about email me, or call my cell phone which is 985-413-9889. Or email john@tri-parishtimes.com

I will be happy to hear what you have to say.

They say that once you’ve drank the water and eaten the gumbo here in this special part of the world, you never really can leave. I have found this, for me, to be a truth.

That’s why a friend recently described me as a “bayou boomerang.” Toss me out of Louisiana and somehow I’ll find a way to return.

So I’’ll get ready now to eat a lot of gumbo and drink a lot of water, because I intend to stay for quite a while.

And I look forward to hearing from all of you to help me better do what I came here to accomplish.