September 2010
7 posts
WatchKaren Hopkins moved from the little Cajun town of Pecaniere to Grand Isle in 1998. Most of the island’s residents work in the fishing industry, and Karen is in the middle of it all, managing Dean Blanchard Seafood, Grand Isle’s largest seafood processor. Business at Blanchard’s has almost completely stopped since the oil spill forced the closing of Gulf fishing grounds. Karen lives on the...
WatchAcy Cooper, Jr. lives in Venice, Louisiana, 75 miles south of New Orleans at the mouth of the Mississippi River. He fishes for shrimp, like his father and his sons. As vice president of the Louisiana Shrimp Association, Acy has spent years advocating for the needs of his fellow shrimpers: fighting against the dumping of foreign shrimp in the domestic market, for instance, or fighting for a...
WatchPhilip Simmons’ family has lived in Empire, Louisiana since the late 1700s. Philip carries on the family tradition of working the land: hunting, fishing, shrimping, oystering, and grazing cattle in the marshes not far from the mouth of the Mississippi River. At 67, Philip has faced many challenges living in south Louisiana. He has rebuilt his house three times – after 1965’s Hurricane Betsy,...
WatchJames Blanchard moved to Houma, Louisiana, in 1993 to be a little farther north of the floods and hurricanes that seem an inevitable part of living on the coast. Still, like his father, his uncle, and two of his brothers, James Blanchard trawls for shrimp “down the bayou,” out of Chauvin, Louisiana. He took his shrimp boat out of the water for its annual maintenance in March, and has not...
WatchWarren Perrin grew up in the little southwest Louisiana town of Henry. He has become a prominent local attorney and cultural activist, working hard to preserve and promote the Acadian history, the French language, and contemporary Cajun culture. Warren was first inspired to become a lawyer after watching his parents struggle to negotiate fair lease agreements with oil companies. He has joined...
WatchDrew Landry is a songwriter and musician who lives in Scott, Louisiana, connected to the great local music scene in nearby Lafayette. In his free time, he crawfishes in the Atchafalaya Basin, the large river swamp that cuts south Louisiana in half. After the oil began spilling, Drew tried to volunteer to help with the cleanup, but he says BP never returned his calls. Instead, he has been working...
WatchIn this clip, Drew Landry plays a song he wrote about the disaster, “BP Blues,” performing it in a medley with a song he wrote after Hurricane Katrina. (A few days after our interview, Drew played the song in New Orleans for the Oil Spill Presidential Commission. A week later, over 90,000 people had watched the song on YouTube. You can follow Drew’s blog at www.dirtycajuns.com.)
August 2010
1 post
WatchCherri Foytlin grew up in Choctaw, Oklahoma and moved to Rayne, Louisiana with her husband, Forest, and their six children, in 2005. Forest grew up in south Louisiana and brought his family back after he found work offshore in the oil industry. Cherri found work with a small local newspaper, and the family bought a new house. Three days after they closed of their house, President Barack...