(Dec. 21) It soon will be time for a road trip. And, dear readers, I need your help.
Louisiana has so much to offer, so many attractions and unique cultural treasures and, yes, so many quirks as well, that it provides a cornucopia for columnists. Then again, because one need not move around much at all to find rich material for reporting and writing, it’s all too easy to remain relatively rooted.
I’ve been guilty of that. As this year nears its end and I considered stories I never got around to writing, I realized that it has been 11 long years since the last time I really toured Louisiana. The Interstate 10 corridor and points south have been my stomping grounds, but I admit I’ve been no more than a few miles north of the interstate (other than by electronic communication) in more than a decade.
That needs to change.
I hasten to say that changing that state of affairs should be a joy….
There’s more personality in Louisiana than anywhere else in America. And that was all just for politics. Nowhere else, I truly think, is there such a wonderful agglomeration of food, music, friendliness, literature, sports, local customs and so much, so almost infinitely, more.
All of which leads to this, to how you as readers can help me.
Sometime this spring, say between mid-March and mid-May, I will put together a trip of five or six days throughout Louisiana, to reacclimate to the state’s heart and marrow. And, at the risk of having my email inbox overflow, I want your suggestions. I am looking for both newsworthy developments and events and for people or places that have uniquely Louisianan character. I want to know who I should talk to, where I should go, what I should see.
I know I want to make stops in Winnfield and Natchitoches, but apart from that, my itinerary is wide open.
Look at your town’s or parish’s calendars for the spring season, think of your area’s stories you think are under-told, consider local traditions outsiders may not understand. Then write me about them at the email that appears at the end of this column (quin.hillyer@theadvocate.com) …. [For the full column, please follow this link.]
