Author: Emily Gautreaux

Hidden Destinations in the American South

As summer begins to come to a close, many look for a quiet getaway to escape to, and Southern Living has curated a list of the region’s hidden destinations to escape to this summer.

As always, due to local regulations, travel restrictions, and COVID-19 surges, it is suggested that travelers properly research all local guidelines and CDC recommendations in order to keep you and those you care about as safe and responsible as possible in these unprecedented times. Luckily, Southern Living’s list of “Hidden Southern Escapes” includes many isolated getaways, allowing for more social distancing and relaxation.

Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Virginia

Once upon a time, nearly one million acres of desert habitat covered southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina, and preserving that environmental marvel in Virginia today is the largest intact remnant of that desert habitat, the Great Dismal Swamp National Refuge. Originally opened as a result of a local forest products company’s sizable 1973 donation of 49,097 acres to The Nature Conservancy, this refuge encompasses over 112,000 acres of an environmentally, biologically, and historically important area. Visit Lake Drummond, the largest natural lake in Virginia, and take part in some one-of-a-kind birding or boating experiences in one of the most diverse and unique landscapes available in the American South.

Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, Oklahoma

In their curated list, Southern Living calls this destination the literal “home where the buffalo roamed,” and they’re not technically wrong because as the National Park Service reports this exact stretch of land in Oklahoma was originally inhabited by tens of millions of bison. Today, this preserve that encompasses 39,650 acres is the single-largest protected remnant of the tallgrass prairie habitat left on the planet earth today. Visit the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve to take part in excellent wildlife watching opportunities, since over 700 plants, 300 birds, and 80 mammals call this prairie home. One highlight of the preserve is quoted by the Nature Conservatory as allowing visitors to “experience the wide-open prairie and the patches of cross timbers forest by circling the 15-mile bison driving loop, hiking along designated trails and stopping to take in the views at various scenic turnouts.”

Palo Duro Canyon State Park, Texas

Second only to the majesty of the Grand Canyon is the Palo Duro Canyon State Park located in the heart of the Texas Panhandle. At this hidden destination, visitors of this massive, other-worldly expanse can explore the canyon as they see fit by foot, mountain bike, car, or horse. The park itself has over 30 miles of equestrian, biking, and hiking trails from which to view the canyon’s highs and lows as well as the wildlife. This State Park originated from a vast ranch owned by the legendary Texas cattleman Charles Goodnight before it was acquired by the State of Texas in the 1930s. The diverse landscape that embodies the park is a combination of sediment, rock formations, and canyon walls, but they are also contrasted spectacularly by the vibrancy of Texas plant life. This makes for a truly beautiful, picturesque expanse of land that was once so unique that it inspired the infamous painter Georgia O’Keeffe.

Daufuskie Island, South Carolina

The final hidden destination listed here in the name of isolation and hermit-try is South Carolina’s Daufuskie Island, a location only accessible by boat. Now occupied by local artisans is the Mary Fields School, a historic schoolhouse where classic author Pat Conroy taught. Conroy, who has written such literature as The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini, was inspired by the students and outside, timeless island landscape on Daufuskie Island to write his 1972 memoir The Water is Wide. Take a self-described “remote retreat from modern life” and visit an island lost to time itself.

For more travel-related news and other hidden destinations to visit, click here.

Louisiana Preserves French Language Roots with New International Hires

Louisiana is once again investing heavily in the preservation of the French Language, according to The Advocate.

The Council for the Development of French in Louisiana (CODOFIL) recently partnered with the Louisiana Department of Education to attract and hire 80 international teachers to teach both French and Spanish immersion programs in public school systems this upcoming school year.

Operating in the third decade since its installation, CODOFIL is a collaborative partnership between the Consulate General of France in New Orleans and the Ministry of Education in Spain. CODOFIL’s mission is to not only preserve the state’s French-language origins but to also prepare Louisiana students for an increasingly globalized economy through the learning from international faculty.

Matt Mick, a spokesman for CODOFIL, had told reporters at the orientation event at the Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center about the difficulty in teaching traditional languages. Mick had said, “traditional language education is really hard to do well. A lot of it ends up being conjugating verbs and learning grammar rules, stuff that’s not necessarily practical in a real-world setting. The research is starting to (show) that neuropsychologically, (immersion) is how humans learn languages — by being dropped into them and letting them learn that way.”

The 80 new hires came from ten total nations, including Canada, France, Spain, West Africa, Mexico, and Guatemala. The selected teachers who had agreed to their dedicated involvement in the three-year program are certified teachers in each of their home countries. The educators had also taken part in extensive background checks prior to their hiring.

After the international faculty’s orientation sessions that took place in Baton Rouge over a four-day period, Louisiana Lieutenant Governor Bill Nungesser arrived to formally welcome and support or exhort the participating teachers. Lt. Governor Nungesser had said in his speech, “these immersion teachers coming from all over the world to teach our kids is so important, especially today. When children learn a second language, it opens up the doors to the world for them. Everything is international now, so I just wanted to be here to say ‘thank you’ to (these teachers) and let them know we’re going to continue to do everything we can to encourage young students to take foreign languages that will give them opportunities beyond the borders of America.”

Despite Louisiana having deep ties to Creole traditions, only 198,784 or 3.5% of Louisianians over the age of 5 reported that they speak French or Creole French as their primary language at home. This statistic comes from 2000 census data, which is the most recent available at the time of The Advocate article.

Since 2000 there have been many strides to increase the preservation of the French language in the state with the installation of new French Immersion programs in public and private school districts across Louisiana. Additionally, Louisiana was formally accepted into the International Organization of La Francophonie in 2018. This is an international organization that represents French-speaking sections of the globe. Also, as of February 2021, renewed accords had been signed by Lt. Gov. Nungesser with France and Belgium, allowing the enlisting of more teachers from those countries.

The latest efforts by the LADOE and CODOFIL to preserve the French Language through immersion education is a wonderful stride for the conservation of our multilingual roots. As of 2021, over 5,500 students are enrolled in 26 French immersion schools across eight parishes. According to CODOFIL, over 100,000 students across the state in schools of all types are studying the French Language.

Mick expressed the importance of CODOFIL’s efforts saying, “it’s not just something that’s beautiful and unique in our history — it’s something we can carry into the future that’s practical and that presents really significant, concrete opportunities for Louisiana’s young people. We like to say it’s not a question of revival or even renaissance, but a question of maintenance, because that stuff never fully disappeared. It’s always been here.”

For more Louisiana-related articles, click here.

Subsidized Internet Service and Free Tablets Available to Qualifying East Baton Rouge Students

After a school year of hybrid, virtual, and unconventional instruction, students in the East Baton Rouge Parish School System will have a chance to receive free tablets and lower internet costs this school year, according to BRProud.

With the influx of technology in classrooms across the country, more and more students become reliant on computers, tablets, and smart devices to ensure equitable education. Educational technology has been called a spectacular “equalizer” in regards to all students regardless of socioeconomic background having equitable access to the same learning materials- as long as all students are in the same learning environment, namely a school.

This equitable education begins to become less attainable when students are kept out of the classroom as they are in the summer months, contributing to learning gaps the following school year. Though the learning disparities had never before become more obvious in Louisiana than when schools closed or adapted to hybrid or virtual instruction as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Suddenly students living at homes without internet or reliable devices on which to access the internet were kept out of the virtual classroom in addition to the physical one.

This lack of access to reliable internet and technology in Louisiana’s more underserved communities is seen by many as a crisis, but a new program has been implemented in East Baton Rouge Parish that has parents applying for free tablets and reduced internet costs thanks to federal funding from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The “Lifeline Program” has been offered by Phoenix Marketing since 1985 to low-income consumers who seek out a discount on phone services. Lifeline is part of the Universal Service Fund, an FCC initiative that connects Americans with telecommunications companies. According to the FCC’s webpage explaining the facets of Universal Service, “today, the FCC recognizes high-speed Internet as the 21st Century’s essential communications technology, and is working to make broadband as ubiquitous as voice, while continuing to support voice service.”

This recognition by the federal government that internet access is an essential resource in modern society has contributed to the funding of Phoenix Marketing’s new program that brings internet service (provided by Earthlink) to qualifying applicants. Any parents or guardians of a student in an East Baton Rouge Parish school who qualify for Medicaid, SNAP, SSI, Section 8, Veteran’s Pension, or a specific income level threshold can qualify to be a recipient of either subsidized internet services or a free tablet.

Applicants can qualify if they have current, active participation in any of the above-listed government benefit programs or if their total household reported income meets Federal Poverty Guidelines. Internet services provided as a part of the Lifeline Emergency Broadband Benefit include unlimited talk time, unlimited texting, and 10GB of data a month for just $8.90.

CEO of Phoenix Marketing, Marcel Miner commented on the ease of the application and acceptance process saying, “once we’ve verified that they’ve qualified, then we go into Earthlink’s tool and we process the order and put their emergency broadband discount on that.”

Calvin Mills is the CEO and Founder of SLT Technology in Baton Rouge; SLT is a workforce development firm that provides Louisiana citizens with technology and certified training to advance their careers and businesses. Mills pledged additional support to East Baton Rouge Schools by announcing their efforts to offer IT certifications to students in the EBR school system and provide a pathway into cybersecurity careers to students who would otherwise be not college-bound.

This investment in the future of Louisiana education and workforce was commented on by Mills who said, “our state wants to put people to work; they want people to find careers that are sustainable for them, cybersecurity pays upwards of six figures.”

For more education-related information, click here.

Lasagna Bolognese Recipe

One of the best Italian dishes to perfect and keep in your back pocket is a hearty bolognese sauce, and if you’re even in need of a more-filling dish that incorporates that Italian classic, then look no further than Food52’s delicious recipefor an expertly-crafted lasagna bolognese dish.

Ingredients for the lasagna bolognese sauce

5 fresh basil leaves

⅔ cup of extra virgin Italian olive oil

3 cloves of garlic (2 peeled and smashed; 1 finely-chopped)

2 teaspoons of crushed red pepper (optional)

8 cups of crushed tomatoes

2 cups of water

2 tablespoons of tomato paste

1 teaspoon of kosher salt

1 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon chopped basil

1 small onion (finely-chopped)

¼ pound of pancetta (finely-chopped)

1 pound organic ground beef (93% lean)

½ cup of nice red wine

1 bay leaf

½ cup of mascarpone cheese

Ingredients for lasagna bolognese

4 cups of bolognese sauce

¼ cup of butter

¼ cup of all-purpose flour

3 cups organic dairy milk (warmed)

9 sheets of lasagna (typically one package)

2 cups grated Parmigiano cheese (half grated)

Fresh mozzarella (sliced)

Directions:

  1. When beginning the bolognese (red) sauce, combine your olive oil, basil leaves, and garlic in a small saucepan. If you prefer a spicy sauce, this is when you can add the crushed red pepper flakes. Let the saucepan simmer on very low heat for 10 to 15 minutes. This process is known as steeping, and it allows the olive oil to become quite fragrant. Be careful that the garlic inside the pot is toasted brown and not black; once it is, remove it from the heat and strain the aromatics, saving your olive oil, setting it aside.
  2. Either in a Dutch Oven or large pot, pour in your tomato sauce, water, tomato paste, salt, and pepper. Afterward, pour in your remaining olive oil into the sauce and mix it together to combine. Bring it to a boil and immediately reduce it to a simmer. Partially cover the pot, allowing the sauce to simmer for at least 45 minutes and at maximum 2 hours. As accomplished chefs can attest, the longer it cooks, the better the final product tastes.
  3. Though this recipe yields approximately 8 cups, you’ll only need 4 to make the actual bolognese. To make it, heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan and brown your pancetta until it’s crisp. Add in your onion and garlic, maintain a low heat, and cook until the onions and garlic are translucent. During this step, keep a watchful eye and be sure not to brown them.
  4. Now, increase your heat to medium-high and add the ground beef. Break the pieces apart with the sides of awooden cooking spoon, incorporating the onions and garlic as you do so. Allow the meat to brown until it’s almost cooked through and all the excess liquid has evaporated.
  5. Using your small amount of red wine, deglaze the pan and let the pan cook until the mhttps://www.thespruceeats.com/what-is-a-bay-leaf-995576eat is aromatic and the wine is reduced by half. Afterward, add 4 cups of red sauce and your bay leaf to the pan, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cover it. Simmer this for 1 ½ hours until the sauce has become very thick. After 90 minutes, remove the sauce from the heat, add mascarpone cheese, and mix it all together to melt it completely and create a slightly pink hue.
  6. When making your lasagna, preheat the oven to 350°F as you make your “besciamella sauce.” In a large pot, melt your butter and then add flour, whisking until a light brown roux forms. Slowly add your warmed milk afterward and whisk the mixture constantly until you create a thick sauce that is able to coat the back of a spoon. Add 1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese to the sauce, and then gently combine it with the bolognese sauce.
  7. In a large lasagna pan (suggested size is 9 x 13-inch), add a single layer of your sauce, followed by 3 lasagna sheets. Cover the layers with more meat sauce, and continue this process until all sheets are used. The top layer should be a very thick layer of sauce. Grate additional Parmigiano on top, cover with foil, and bake it in the oven for 30 minutes.
  8. Afterward, you have the option to add some fresh mozzarella and place it under the broiler for an additional five minutes or simply sprinkle some more Parmigiano on top before serving.

For more delicious recipes, click here.

Suggestions for Visiting Montana’s Glacier National Park

If the summer heat quite literally has you beat, then it might be time to take a load off in the great glacier wilderness with this detailed itinerary from Practical Wanderlust for making the most out of Montana’s Glacier National Park.

Within the Rocky Mountains of the state of Montana and covering the over 1,500- square mile wilderness expanse up until the Canadian border is Glacier National Park with its sweeping valleys, ice-capped mountain peaks, and waterfalls emerging from aquamarine lakes. It’s a truly magical place within the Northern United States that every person should seek out at one point of another.

Though with local regulations, travel restrictions, and COVID-19 surges, it is always suggested that you properly research all local guidelines and CDC recommendations in order to keep you and those you care about as safe and responsible as possible.

Practical Wanderlust is a nationally-renowned travel blog from Lia and Jeremy that has been featured in CNN, Forbes,Travel + Leisure, Buzzfeed, VICE, and The Washington Post. The couple has prepared a longer, 10-day Montana road trip in which this two-day Glacier National Park trip was originally featured in. Ideally, this little outing would make for a breathtaking two-day weekend getaway as long as you have your heart set on prepared adventure.

Beginning their itinerary is the ethical note that like most United States National Parks, Glacier National Park was originally inhabited and maintained by Indigenous peoples, and Glacier was originally given to the Blackfeet tribe as part of their original reservation. With this history and efforts to educate, traverse, and make right in mind, the itinerary continues to offer many suggestions for the optimal national park experience.

One such tip is to not “geotag” or share your exact location within the park on social media so as to keep the delicate beauty of the park alive. Additionally, if you ever come into contact with the various animals within the park, be sure to give them ample space. The general rule of thumb applied in these situations is to keep approximately 25 yards (1 school bus length) away from non-aggressive animals and 100 yards from large or potentially aggressive animals.

Whenever traversing Glacier National Park, be sure to follow the ethos of “Leave No Trace,” which is a conscious effort to not leave anything behind when visiting a park; this includes unnatural items such as waste and garbage as well as items that are natural or compostable. Also, they suggest that instead of booking a rental car, consider taking advantage of Glacier National Park’s fleet of shuttles operating along “Going-to-the-Sun Road” that is free to ride.

Since the Glacier National Park scene is more for each individual visitor to experience, this itinerary is mostly aimed at making sure your park experience is as genuine as possible. One of the ways that this can happen is by ensuring that you’re staying somewhere nearby (if you’re not camping within the park). The town of Whitefish, Montana is ideal for this since it’s only a 45 minute drive from the park’s Western Gate.  If staying in Whitefish, it’s suggested that you check out the Pine Lodge which is located off of the Whitefish River and only a 3-minute drive from the downtown area with its collection of boutique and specialty shops. This area is perfect for winding down after a long day within the park grounds. Though, you could always book an extravagant stay at one of Glacier National Park’s historic hotels such as the Many Glacier Hotel.

Completely surround yourself with the beauty and majesty of nature and its many surprises when visiting Glacier National Park thanks to Practical Wanderlust’s well-meaning itinerary.

For more travel-related news and information, click here.

LSU and LA Tech Partnership Creates Structural Integrity Center

In a game-changing decision for the future of engineering, both Louisiana State University and Louisiana Tech University have teamed up to establish a new Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC), according to an LSU press release made by.   The Center for Innovations in Structural Integrity Assurance, also known as CISIA, will serve the industrial and academic community as the epicenter of knowledge and innovations made across many broad industrial sectors in the United States. This commitment to focus on assuring the structural integrity of components for both small and large structures is seen by the involved Universities as a way to instill a sense of industry duty and responsibility in their Engineering students.

This partnership between LSU and La Tech University will, for the first time in the history of either institution, create a single center of structural integrity assurance that aims to focus on innovative solutions, predictive capabilities, and transformative insights for mechanical structures. The center director and professor in the LSU Department of Mechanical Engineering, Michael Khonsari, commented on LSU’s perspective, saying, “our faculty are excited about the establishment of this I/UCRC. It has been one of our long-term strategic goals to form strong and sustainable partnerships with industry, and we are grateful to NSF for making this possible.”

Candidly stated, the potential economic, social, and environmental consequences of infrastructure and component failure can be absolutely catastrophic to the nation on an immensely massive scale. As it stands right now, the predicted failure of aging civil infrastructure is set to result in a United States GDP loss of $4 trillion and 2.5 million jobs over the next ten years. Additionally, there is no I/UCRC that is currently active that is able to match the capabilities of the research and development of CISIA, further proving the importance of its installation.

Dr. Leslie Guice, the president of Louisiana Tech, commented saying, “this Industry-University Cooperative Research Center is a distinct recognition of the excellent research conducted by Louisiana Tech faculty in collaboration with LSU. Our industry partners will greatly benefit from these stronger partnerships with the researchers and talented students, and that will be great for Louisiana.”

According to LSU’s statement, CISIA will be in an optimal position to translate the links between new materials, innovative manufacturing processes, and their “collective impact on reliability across all U.S. industrial sectors.” This advantageous position is a result of CISIA’s integration of validated diagnostics, material testing and characterization occurring on multiple scales, data-driven machine learning, and manufacturing parameter optimization and process characterization.

Unlike the academic and industrial members that make up CISIA, most industrial research and development organizations currently operating in the United States today do not research establishing links among structural integrity, infrastructure performance, and material properties. Because of the depth and scope of their research, CISIA will collaborate closely with industry professionals, LSU, and La Tech to produce a crop of engineers who are expertly trained to utilize modern, innovative methods of structural health monitoring and analysis.

The training of both school’s engineering students will include the studying of state-of-the-art evaluation and testing facilities so that upon graduation, these students will be some of the most highly-qualified, productive workforces in the nation, thus further contributing to the global competitiveness of many US industries.

LSU Interim Executive Vice President & Provost Matt Lee stated, “this is a watershed moment enhancing our efforts to produce eminent engineers of the future, groundbreaking research, and innovative solutions that will significantly further the critical work to address failing and aging infrastructure around the country. We are proud to partner with Louisiana Tech on this cooperative research center, and to better serve our students, the industrial sector, and our nation through the research, training, and collaboration that will be done at the Center for Innovations in Structural Integrity Assurance.”

For more education-related information, click here.