Author: Emily Gautreaux

Louisiana State Parks Rebuild Following Hurricane Ida

In their continuing coverage of the commercial, regional, and environmental aftermath left in the wake of 2021’s Hurricane Ida, this recent article from The Advocate outlines that because some of Louisiana’s state parks had received monumental damages from the Fall 2021 storm, they are being altered in their rebuilding.

One such state park is Tickfaw State Park, which is located in an isolated pocket of Livingston Parish and encompasses approximately 1,200 acres (most of which are undeveloped). It was reported that prior to August 29th, when Hurricane Ida made its historic landfall in Port Fourchon, Tickfaw State Park was so heavily set in an overarching shadow as a result of a tree canopy, that the sky was very rarely seen. Then the eyewall of Hurricane Idaknocked down an estimated 80% of the trees and buried them mostly in mud so that the 30-foot arm of a rescue excavator couldn’t reach them from the roads running through the swamp-filled state park.

Unfortunately, the damage observed at Tickfaw State Park is too similar to other parks in the state, which has caused the deputy assistant secretary at the Louisiana Office of State Parks, Clifford Melius, to wonder about both the longevity of these parks and the short-term solutions that may be possible. Melius commented saying, “This is going to be a major change to the ecosystem,” and he also wondered “do we repair the boardwalks when there’s no swamp to walk over?”

For decades, the Louisiana State Park system has been very regenerative, despite the annual state parks budget being regularly lowered in favor of Higher Education and Healthcare budgets receiving the attention whenever the state government faced annual deficits. According to the statistics acquired by The Advocate, “between the fiscal year 2008 and the fiscal year 2017, Louisiana reduced annual state general fund contributions by 34% from $29.7 million to $19.7 million.”

Despite this significant decrease in funding, recent years have shown that the Louisiana State Parks system has only grown in popularity. In fact, Louisiana’s 21 State Parks ended the 2021 Fiscal Year on June 30 with 1.5 million visitors, which is the highest number of recorded visitors in a Fiscal year- in recent memory. Additionally, 11 of the total 21 parks made a profit, which is quite the achievement when compared to the system’s owing of $1.5 million on June 30.

After Hurricane Ida, seven State Parks had to close because of severe damages they received, and thorough assessments are still being conducted by park officials, who estimate approximately $4 million in damages. This figure is determined to be roughly one-third of the parks departments’ funds dedicated to repairing and improving facilities.

Melius stated that he would like to see the parks reopened as quickly as possible, which might mean that he and his office will be “short-circuiting the long ponderous path of paperwork and congressional approvals that delays recovery for months.”

For instance, the state park in Fontainebleau, which is located near Mandeville, has sustained damages to their air conditioning facility, which would normally result in a bidding process to hire contractors. Instead, Melius took action and sent in his own staff to replace the air conditioning unit and reopen the park in just two-day at a cost of just $2,500 rather than the $10,000 cost and several weeks of delay that an “out of house team” would have called for.

Melius had said, “in-house saved us money and we didn’t have to wait on contractors to come in and do it,” because otherwise “during all that time I have to keep the park closed because I can’t air condition the buildings.” This improvement to how we assess and process the damages occurring in our state parks is just one way in which theLouisiana State Parks Department is reinvigorating its park system in the rebuilding stage.

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New Conservatory School for Visual and Performing Arts Coming to Baton Rouge

A new arts-focused conservatory school that many are calling “the Juilliard of Baton Rouge” may be going to a vacant campus on Goodwood Boulevard, according to The Advocate. The proposed new school will focus on preparing local area teenagers for career paths in the performance and visual arts, including music, dance, theatre, and more.

The proposal of this new conservatory school is part of East Baton Rouge Parish Superintendent Sito Narcisse’s plan to add more attractive academic opportunities to the parish in an effort to counteract the declining enrollment numbers from the past few years.

If implemented correctly, this arts-focused public charter school could very well attract new families to the district. In addition to these new families, many students begin their public educational career in various elementary arts programs but are left with fewer and fewer options as they get older; this is seen in the Baton Rouge area, as there is no currently no high school dedicated to the visual and performing arts.

Recently, Superintendent Narcisse had organized a large delegation, which included six EBR School Board members, to visit several education art schools in Miami. Coming away from the trip, many board members were able to see the benefits of students attending high schools like the New World School of the Arts, a downtown Miami arts high school of about 500 students.

School Board member Mike Gaudet, who was impressed by the survey, said, “after what I saw at Miami-Dade, it makes me jealous that we haven’t had this before. It’s just the kind of thing that we just need to get on the boat and get it going and make it happen. Our students deserve this.”

Superintendent Narcisse has previously worked in school districts with conservatory schools, and he has been pushing the idea that Baton Rouge needs its own school dedicated to a particular focus ever since he took over as superintendent in January. He officially proposed the idea in July, but after it was met with initial resistance from the board, he set is aside to better prepare its introduction.

At the November 18th East Baton Rouge Parish School Board meeting, the board voted to reopen Broadmoor Middle School, a facility that has been closed and vacant since 2019, to be recreated as a conservatory school for sixth through twelfth graders. The newly approved magnet school is scheduled to open in fall 2023 with the school also serving as the home to summer camps and after-school art classes that will be accessible to students across the district.

Executive director of the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge Renee Chatelain had said that this new school will serve as a catalyst for improving arts education in the larger surrounding community. Chatelain has already begun talking to Baton Rouge artists who have left the city to return and teach at the new school at least for short stints. She commented saying, “I’m asking them, ‘Please come back and be adjuncts.”

It stands to reason that charter schools championed by the school district can be a draw for families at their educational options. In fact, preliminary enrollment numbers for East Baton Rouge Parish Schools have increased by approximately 800 students since last school year with nearly all of that growth being attributed to students attending district-sponsored charter schools. On the other end of the spectrum, enrollment is down at non-charter schools. When compared with last year’s data, non-charter school enrollment has decreased by approximately 800 students and a total of 2,200 students from two years ago.

Chair-elect of the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge Ralph Bender said of the opportunity, “investment in an arts conservatory will lead to a sizable return on investment due to retention of talent, recruitment of master teachers and professional artists. If you look at great artists who left Baton Rouge to go elsewhere and make their mark, perhaps they would be here if there were more opportunities like this. It will elevate the artists and master artists who live in Baton Rouge but whose work could be expanded.”

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Lake Charles Theatre Bounces Back After Storms

After a particularly rough year enduring Louisiana storm weather, the city of Lake Charles has opened the doors of the famed ACTS theatre to the community, according to this article from The Advocate.

Many of Lake Charles’s cultural structures and institutions had sustained significant damage from the four natural disasters that have hit southwest Louisiana this past year. Despite much of the outside world seeing Lake Charles as a working-class town mostly comprising industrial plants and casinos, the oft-forgotten cultural structures are left behind in the conversation but not in the damages sustained.

The smaller Lake Charles theatres, though not as profitable as the industry that leads the city’s GDP, often bring a sense of community and spirit to the city’s population of roughly 80,000 people. This includes music venues, art galleries, and other performance spaces throughout the city limits for the area’s collection of zydeco musicians.

But as of Fall 2021, the arts are alive again in Lake Charles as a production of a musical, 42nd Street, has premiered in the ACTS Theatre, standing as the first play the former movie house has “put on” in over a year. Mike Ieyoub is one of the lead actors in the production of 42nd Street, and just before a recent rehearsal began for the show, he assessed damages that the theatre had sustained from Hurricane Laura and worried about the likelihood of reopening the theatre to the public. “We looked around and we didn’t think we’d get it reopened,” Ieyoub told The Advocate.

He and Kristen Harrell both play leading roles in 42nd Street, and they both commented on the audience’s excitement for the theatre’s return as well as the cast’s. They attributed the anticipation to the fact that dramatic performances in a theatre are symbolically representative of a return to normalcy for audiences, and they provide an outlet for cast members as well. Harrell said, “for a lot of us who grew up doing it, myself included, it’s like, ‘I can tap again;’ coming back together and just having fun.”

The cultural affairs director for the city of Lake Charles, Louisiana, Matt Young, said the following regarding the resilience of the city and its residents in light of the past years of storms: “living in Lake Charles is kind of tough these days, but I think the more that we’re able to restore our festivals and fairs and open our cultural institutions and attractions, the better chance we’re going to have of keeping our residents, and not just keeping them, but giving them a great quality of life.”

Over the past few years, Lake Charles has put in noticeable efforts to address some of the citizens’ concerns that certain neighborhoods and structures in the city have been neglected for quite some time. These efforts include the creation of the Nellie Lutcher Cultural District in the northern area of the city through the use of tax incentives. This creation of a district named after the famed Lake Charles jazz singer and pianist is an effort to spur new development in this area of the city.

Another effort supported by the city is to construct a new performing arts space, and given that the Lake Charles Little Theatre had sustained heavy storm damage recently, it will soon be demolished. Randy Partin is the former president of this once-operating theatre, as it’s the second-oldest performing group in the state, having established itself in 1926, but due to the scheduled demotion, Partin has aligned his goals with the city’s. He founded the Live Arts Venue Alliance in an effort to lobby for and support the establishment of a new performance space in the city.

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Crispy, Cheesy, and Meaty Lasagne

A well-structured casserole dish that’s filled with baked lasagne is a recipe that is thoroughly rewarding, and this particular one from Food 52  is as well because you are able to cook with slight supervision, feed a table full of people with a hefty portion size, and even reheat it later in the week with it being as delicious as ever.

Ingredients:

1 pound of ground beef (at least 90% fat)

2-3 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil

3 ounces of pancetta or freshly-sliced bacon, cut into ⅛ in. pieces

1 large stalk of celery, cut into ⅛ in. pieces

1 medium-sized yellow onion, cut into ⅛ in. pieces

1 large carrot, cut into ⅛ in. pieces

8 cloves of garlic, grated finely

2 bay leaves, dried

1 ½ teaspoons of dried oregano

½ teaspoons of red pepper flakes

⅛ teaspoons of freshly ground nutmeg

Kosher salt, to taste

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

¼ cup of tomato paste (double-concentrated)

1 cup of dry white wine

2 28-ounce cans of whole peeled tomatoes

3 large sprigs of basil leaves

1 large rind of parmesan cheese

1 pound of dried lasagna noodles

2 cups of whole-milk ricotta cheese

1 ¼ cups of grated parmesan cheese

8 ounces of whole-milk mozzarella cheese

Directions

  1. Begin by placing your ground beef into a large bowl and then shred it with forks, breaking up any clumps without compacting it. Set this aside for later.
  2. Next, heat your vegetable oil in a large heavy pot or Dutch oven over medium-high and cook the pancetta while stirring occasionally. Cook this until the fat has rendered and is golden brown on all sides; this should take about 5-7 minutes. Afterward, use a slotted spoon to transfer the pancetta to a large bowl while also leaving the fat in the pot.
  3. In the same pot, spread the beef out into an even layer, and cook it for about 3 minutes until it’s lightly browned. Then, toss it and continue to cook it, break up any clumps, and scrape any remaining brown bits and pieces from the pot. Continue this until the meat is lightly browned on both sides (about 5-6 minutes), and then transfer the meat into the pancetta bowl while you leave the fat in the pot.
  4. Next, reduce your heat to medium and cook your carrot, onion, celery, half of the garlic, bay leaves, oregano, red pepper flakes, and nutmeg along with 2 teaspoons salt and ¼  teaspoon of pepper, and stir the pot occasionally, cooking until it’s all tender but not fully browned (6-8 minutes). Afterward, add the tomato pasteand continue to cook it while stirring constantly until it’s fragrant and rustic red in coloration (approximately 2 minutes).
  5. Then, add the dry wine, stirring it to combine, and bring it all to a boil until it’s reduced, very thick and no smell of alcohol remains (about 6-8 minutes). Add your tomatoes and bring it back to a boil, reduce to low, and add in the basil and parmesan rind. Simmer while stirring occasionally until most has evaporated away and the mixture resembles a sloppy joe-like mixture. This can take about 2½ hours. While it’s cooking, there shouldn’t be any rapid bubbles; instead, the ragù should release the occasional small bubbles. Try to cook this on a small burner, if available, and if the ragù reduced too quickly, you can always add ½ cup of stock and continue cooking. Be sure to repeat this process if necessary.
  6. After your ragù has finished cooking, discard the bay leaf, basil, and parmesan rind from the pot, and use the back of a spoon to break up any remaining clumps of meat, making an even-textured sauce. Season it all with salt, and set it aside until it’s ready to assemble.
  7. Arrange a rack in the center of your oven, preheating it to 350°F. Cook your lasagne in a large pot of boiling salted water, stir them occasionally, and separate them so that they don’t stick to one another. Transfer the noodles to a large bowl of cold water, and set aside. Next, whisk together your ricotta, parmesan, the remaining garlic, and 2 teaspoons of salt in a medium-sized bowl until it’s thoroughly combined. Set this aside.
  8. Take a 9×13-inch glass or ceramic baking dish and lightly oil it. Then, spread about 1 cup of ragù on the bottom of the dish evenly, lay a single layer of lasagne atop the ragù, (5 short noodles or 3 long ones), spread 1 ⅓ cups of ragù over noodles, then add a dollop of the ⅓ cup ricotta mixture over the ragù, and spread it slightly with a small offset spatula. Sprinkle the top with about ½ cup of mozzarella.
  9. Repeat this ordered process with the remaining ragù, lasagne, ricotta mixture, and mozzarella, and create 4 layers of pasta (or 5, depending on the depth of your pan. It should end and come just above the top of the dish, but as it cooks it will sink slightly with the top layer of pasta getting super crunchy when baked. Top it off with the remaining ¼ cup of parmesan.
  10. Cover the dish with a lightly-oiled piece of aluminum foil and set it atop on a rimmed baking sheet (to catch any falling drips). Bake the lasagna until it’s bubbling gently around the edges (about 1 hour).
  11. Remove it from the oven and increase your oven’s temperature to 425°F, uncover the lasagne, and continue to bake until the top is browned and crisp around the edges (15-20 minutes).
  12. Let it sit for 10 minutes before slicing into the dish, serve, and enjoy!

For more delicious recipes, click here.

Best Resorts in Texas

It’s true what they say: “everything’s bigger in Texas,” and according to Travel + Leisure’s list of the best resorts in the state of Texas, the state may also be known for everything being “better” in addition to “bigger.”

Travel + Leisure, or T+L, publishes a “World’s Best” awards list each year that serves as the travel and tourism industry’s standard benchmark for critically acclaimed destinations for the publication’s readership and many more. Among dozens upon dozens of other Top 10 lists, this year’s “The Top 10 Resorts in Texas” points out a gem of the nation’s second-largest state (in both landmass and population) that often goes unnoticed- the incredibly bewildering decadence of the Lone Star State’s resorts.

Featured across T+L’s annual survey, Texas offers a variety of experiences for the Travel + Leisure reader such as the mesmerizingly unforgettable history of the Alamo, world-renowned music festivals of Austin, the invitingly adventurous expanse of Big Bend National Park, and the capital city of Houston’s notable collection of contemporary art–just to name a few. Though, if you’re up for visiting Texas in opulent style and luxurious spectacle, then be sure to look no further than the full list which features Austin, Texas’s Commodore Perry Estate, which stands alone as a unique pinnacle of the Auberge Resorts Collection, among many other finds.

Horseshoe Bay Resort; Horseshoe Bay, Texas

Horseshoe Bay Resort is a premier luxury lifestyle vacation destination set on the shores of Lake LBJ and just a short drive from Austin and San Antonio. You’re sure to be inspired to partake in a period of rest and relaxation amid the beautiful landscape of Texas Hill Country, as seen from the resort’s modern rooms, suites, and villas with their views of the lake. The resort is located in close proximity to all sorts of creative local cuisine from Horseshoe Bay Report’s world-class restaurants, and you’ll somehow always be able to fit a tee time in on one of the campus’s three championship golf courses. It’s true, whether you’re partaking in an exhilarating boating excursion or indulging your inner sense of groundedness and peace with the resort’s Bayside Spa, you’re sure to find heaven on Earth at Horseshoe Bay Resort.

 JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa; San Antonio, Texas

This otherworldly decadent resort rests amid 600 acres of unforgettable oak-covered hills in San Antonio, Texas as a luxury haven set within a stunning landscape. This Marriott resort is located near the area’s most notable wineries, the Natural Bridge Caverns, Six Flags Fiesta, and Seaworld, just to name a few, but it’s the offered amenities such as the balcony-laden suites and rooms, eight spectacular eateries, and the reliably transcendent Lantana Spa and Resort Health Club that will make you never want to leave the grounds. This especially holds true if you’re a fan of aquatic attractions, as the resort offers the one-of-a-kind River Bluff Water Experience, which is an exhilarating experience you won’t want to miss.

This year’s “World’s Best Awards” survey, which was developed by the editors of Travel + Leisure in association with the M&RR research firm, was administered to the publication’s readership from January 11, 2021 to May 10, 2021. It was additionally noted by the T+L editors that the voting period was occurring amid many of the world’s destinations lifting COVID-19 restrictions to travel, accommodations, etc. This being said, the editorial staff still views their survey data as an accurate representation of its readership because the survey is known to allow readers to reflect on the past three years of travel experiences whenever responding.

 As always, any vacationing travelers should look into properly researching all local guidelines and CDC recommendations due to new local regulations, social distancing measures, and travel restrictions occurring due to COVID-19 surges. It’s always a good idea to remain proactive in order to keep those you care about as safe and responsible as possible in these unprecedented times.

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LDOE App Brings Parents and Community Together for Student Growth

The Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) recently announced a new initiative that’s focused on encouraging parents, community partners, and families to work together to improve student outcomes, according to this statement from the school board.  The initiative is called “BE ENGAGED ®,” and its focus of bringing students’ educational stakeholders together is not a new one, but it is an incredibly important element in ensuring student growth, success, and sustainability. The initiative is “powered” through an intuitive app called “PimPoints.” The app will essentially reward parents with a digital reward currency also called “PimPoints” for simply engaging in their child’s education in ways that they likely already participate in.

For instance, parents attending their child’s school’s open house or participating in a parent-teacher conference are two activities that a parent is likely already making time for, but they would also reward parents with “PimPoints” for their time. This way, parents already thoroughly engaged in their child’s educational life are receiving additional rewards, and this incentive will also attract other parents to keep a closer eye on the child’s school calendar of events.

In addition to reward tracking, the app will also track the school’s events for parents and alert them with notifications for additional opportunities to be engaged at their child’s school. Parents will also be notified on behalf of the school with general information about student learning. Parents participating in these student learning engagement events will be able to exchange their earned PimPoints for coupons and digital rewards that have been provided by local businesses. And it’s this specific exchange that brings together a student’s community, school, and parents/guardiansin a way that not only keeps everyone engaged in student growth but also at the forefront of educational synergy.

Additionally, this initiative could not have come at a better time, as November has recently been announced by Governor John Bel Edwards as “National Family Engagement Month,” making this initiative quite timely and beneficial.

The Parent and Family Engagement Coordinator for the LDOE, Dr. Antigua Hunter said of the initiative, “LEAP assessment results show that there is a great amount of intervention that has to take place at all levels and innovative methods and unconventional thinking is warranted. We cannot sit around and watch our children be impacted by the lack of engagement. Now is the time for parents, families, and communities to be engaged!”

As defined by the LDOE’s newly-developed Birth-12 BE ENGAGED® Framework, family engagement is “an empowering partnership among families, educators, practitioners and communities with shared responsibility for the personal success of children and youth.” The state also cited a 2018 Global Family Research Project study that called family engagement “one of the most powerful predictors of social-emotional development, educational attainment and success in both school and life for children and youth.”

The PimPoints app will officially launch on Apple and Android devices starting November 15, 2021. Additionally, local businesses can find out how to include their services within the app by contacting their nearest school district’s Parent and Family Engagement Coordinator, particularly the roster of the 2021-2022 Parent and Family Engagement Coordinators, organized by district.

The LDOE has shared its reasoning for establishing the Birth-12 BE ENGAGED® Framework,

in saying that “the Department of Education gathered various stakeholders (families, community partners, educational professionals) to collaborate to ensure the development of a comprehensive family engagement framework for Louisiana families and children. The Framework was developed to guide the school systems and early childhood community networks to support intentional planning of policies and practices and implementation of high-quality family engagement practices.”

For more education-related information, click here.