Southern Breeze 2007 Holiday Issue

words & notes Unbuckling the Bible Belt by ROSLYN LOWE TRAGICALLY BEAUTIFUL: A TALE OF GOD’S WILL by DEREK BAGLEY Tragedies have a way of inspiring beauty. Chalk it up to the human spirit; catastrophes more often than not bring out the best in people, and nowhere is that more Blanchard not only used his quintet to record the album, he employed a 40-piece string section. The songs blend tense and frustrated jazz beats with sweeping orchestral pieces in a dramatic fashion to reflect what the people must have felt seeing their homes destroyed. An example of this is the standout “Levees,” which was used in Lee’s film. The track begins with a calm, lulling string arrangement, then builds into a wailing trumpet underscored by haunting strings and nervous percussion. From the African beats and chants, “This is the tale of God’s will,” on the opener “Ghosts of Congo Square” to the heartbreaking “Dear Mom,” Blanchard’s tribute to his mother who lost her home in Katrina, this album tells the story of loss, resilience, and renewal. 12 s o u t h e r n b re e z e . c o m BAGELS AND GRITS COVER COURTESY OF UW PRESS, TERENCE BLANCHARD BY JENNY BAGERT, CD COVER ART COURTESY OF MUSE MEDIA. or readers who love “fish out of water” stories, Bagels and Grits—A Jew on the Bayou, by Jennifer Anne Moses, will definitely fit the bill…and then some. Fleeing the soul-destroying rat race of lawyering in Washington, DC, Stuart, Jennifer’s husband, and their three children—12-year-old Sam, and eight-year-old twins Rose and Jonathan—uproot themselves in pursuit of what Stuart calls “a more authentic life.” He has taken a law professor position at Louisiana State University. Once transplanted to Baton Rouge, Jennifer, a sophisticated, educated woman of Jewish heritage (not faith), is inspired after seeing an “excellent production of Angels in America at the University.” Spurred on by Jewish tradition, she performs a mitzvah and volunteers for a few afternoons a week at St. Anthony’s, an AIDS hospice. She is no Mother Teresa; in fact Jennifer has her own affliction—she is spiritually bankrupt. In her work at St. Anthony’s, Jennifer encounters people who are not only at death’s door but who have a profound and lasting impact on her life. The challenges become hysterical—Jennifer goes from resentment of Jesus and these people of limitless love, unquestioning faith, and spirituality to out and out jealousy because of her own lack of faith in God. She frets on endlessly and neurotically about not being connected—Jennifer whips herself into an agnostic frenzy. Desperately seeking Jesus, but in the MosesTorah way. Trapped in the fanatical Christianity of the Bible belt, Jennifer’s longing for her own spiritual connection leads her to reexamine the Jewish rituals and traditions she’s shunned or made fun of. Her desire to relate to the religious traditions she was raised with eventually leads Jennifer to a connection with her father that she always craved. And through probing into the history of her ancestors, she discovers the Jewish community and finds the larger story of Jews in the South. This is a funny and touching book about a lost, funny, and generous woman, who can accept everyone but herself, and is finally able to meet the challenge of making a commitment—not to blind faith, but to spiritual honesty. F evident than in the arts. When Hurricane Katrina ravaged Terence Blanchard’s home of New Orleans, the Grammy-winning jazz genius felt compelled to capture the anger, rage, and compassion that overwhelmed him. The result is A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina), a 13-song epic that encompasses all the emotions Blanchard experienced from actually going through the hurricane and witnessing the aftermath. Some of the tracks on the album were written specifically for Spike Lee’s documentary When the Levees Broke, while others were composed by Blanchard’s bandmates, each bringing his own perspective of the greatest natural disaster in U.S. history. http://southernbreeze.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Southern Breeze 2007 Holiday Issue

Editor's Letter Contributor Gumbo Words & Notes Coastal Calendar Storefronts Sweet Dreams Art of Living Fixtures Our Backyard Make Yourself at Home Beach Bam! A Big Easy Christmas Upwardly Mobile Can't Drive Old Dixie Down Rock On! The Play's the Thing Cheers Dish Chef's Table Let's Eat Reader Services Last Bite

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