Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Summer 2008 - (Page 6)

Mardi Gras Indians tell their own story at the Humanities Center On April 19, the Louisiana Humanities Center hosted a performance and panel discussion with the Creole Wild West, the oldest of New Orleans' Mardi Gras Indian tribes. With over 120 people in attendance, the sold-out event was recorded for an oral history project, and will be a part of the KnowLA online encyclopedia of Louisiana. Moderated by Dr. Bruce Raeburn of the Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane University, the panel discussion covered the origins and traditions of the tribe, including the role of individual members and the genealogy of songs and costumes. The LEH and the New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian Council are planning future collaborations of this kind to better preserve the city's culture and connections between citizens. RELIC seeks public input on North Louisiana topics for reading program Throughout its 25 year history, Readings in Literature and Culture (RELIC) has conducted reading and discussion programs in public libraries across Louisiana on a broad range of topics, ranging from literature of the American West to Louisiana biographies to Elizabethan England, to name but a few. A new program concept focusing on North Louisiana is being evaluated. The LEH invites public comments and thoughts about the following reading programs related to the region. Texts under consideration are: Louisiana Power and Light - A novel by John Dufresne set in the northeastern part of the state. Characterized as a contemporary Southern Gothic novel with a catalog of characters, it is one of the few critically acclaimed fiction pieces recently to come out of and be set in North Louisiana. Dufresne uses settings that show the north as not all hill country or river land, Anglo or Latin, Protestant or Catholic. Swaggart: The Unauthorized Biography of an American Evangelist - Ann Rowe Seaman's study is a look into the televangelist’s family origins in the 1930s, his relationship with his other performing cousins Jerry Lee Lewis and Mickey Gilley, and the social origins of the Pentecostal movement. She uses a psychological approach to understanding his ambitions and faults, and the biography has been viewed as even handed — considering Swaggart's sensational downfall. The Gift of the Wild Things: The Life of Caroline Dormon As much an argument for preservation as a biography, Fran Holman's story of the renowned conservationist is also a story of the creation of Louisiana's only extensive wilderness known as the Kisatchie National Forest. White Masculinity in the Recent South - Part of the Making the Modern South series from LSU Press, the essays and articles edited by Trent Watts focus on changing conceptions of white masculinity in the South across that region's entire history. It looks at classic stereotypes and how they change or evolve under the broader transformation of Southern/Louisiana society. Louisiana Hayride: Radio and Roots Music along the Red River - Tracey Laird's history of the radio show is as much regional history as musical, and that becomes an important point in understanding the emergence of contemporary musical genres and the social history of regions such as North Louisiana. E-mail comments about these possible reading programs to LEH RELIC director Jim Segreto at segreto@leh.org. New Orleans philanthropists donate three John Scott sculptures to LEH Noted New Orleans philanthropists and art collectors Sydney and Walda Besthoff have donated three bronze kinetic sculptures to the LEH’s John Scott Collection. The painted art works were created by the late John Scott, a renowned New Orleans artist and recipient of the 1984-1985 MacArthur Genius Award. “This donation adds important elements to the collection and I cannot thank Sydney and Walda enough,” said LEH President and Executive Director Dr. Michael Sartisky. “The Besthoffs understand what we are trying to accomplish through the collection and wanted these three pieces to be viewed by the public as part of the largest permanent collection of Scott's work in the world.” 6 LOUISIANA ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES\Summer 2008 http://www.leh.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Summer 2008

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Summer 2008 Contents Friends Editor’s Column Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities George Rodrigue’s Louisiana: Cajuns, Blue Dogs & Beyond Katrina The Historic New Orleans Collection After The Flood Faubourg Marigny: The Creole “Suburb” Preserving New Orleans Jazz, One Generation at a Time: Conversation & Music with Tom Sancton Louisiana Foodways Louisiana Architecture Baton Rouge Photographs, 1863-1910 Jazz Notes The Ogden Museum of Southern Art Louisiana Association of Museums Nature of the “Beast” Louisiana State Museum Bookstand Sound Advice Forum

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Summer 2008

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