Getting Started

Ah, yes. Another blog about Cajun stuff. However, I have to admit, this is really an attempt to do something in a way that's not being done. Of course, it only takes a few minutes to lose yourself amongst the plethora of books in your local book store detailing life in Louisiana, New Orleans, even areas around Cajun country. Yet, each book seems to be missing something... a story which isn't being told well. You can speed hours researching the Cajun language, the people's ancestry from Canada and France, the way of life back then. What about the way of life today? Isn't this worthy of discussion?

I like to think that this attempt is somewhat different. It's based on trial and error; a way to experiment on topics ususally cast aside as a "last chapter" or an appendix section. I call it the ongoing vital signs of our culture; a sort of autonomous autobiography which details life down here. It's also a chance to use my new toy: a digital camera.

Given some time, i'm hoping to capture the essence of life down here, not from the viewpoint of an accomplished historian nor from a professional photographer but from a local who has grown up immersed in the culture entirely by default. I want to show the people's emotions, their thoughts, their livelihood, from the lense of a camera and the stories that they tell. My greatest inspiration for this has to be National Geographic. No other publication comes close to describing what I want to acheive in this blog of mine.

I'm not hoping for an audience as much as feeding an spoon ful of home to those who know what I'm talking about. You can't acheive delivering authentic Cajun life and culture unless you have grown up here all of your life and have embraced it. Growing up in L.A. or N.Y. and trying to write about this is like a native of Iowa cooking Mexican food. The food is OK but nothing beats visiting Mexico and having a local make it from scratch. It's that autheticity I hope to bring to the table.