On Saturday, Jan. 31 hundreds gathered to experience positive hip-hop with a twist at Lowery Intermediate gymnasium at 6 p.m.
"The Hip Hop Doc" and rapper and middle school teacher David Augustine, known as "Dee 1" teamed with several students from Lowery back in December to shoot a video about preventable and treatable diseases and breaking bad habits that students may pick up.
"It is our hope to inspire the young students at Lowery to strive for success in all that they do. Young people in the United States are dying from preventable and treatable diseases. They are also the first generation of young people to have a decreased life expectancy as a result of unhealthy lifestyles and poor decision-making, and we are trying to change this," says Whitfield.
Dr. Rani Whitfield, know as, "The Hip Hop Doc" is a medical doctor in Baton Rouge, but spends most of his time educating the community about good health.
The two came to Donaldsonville during the drug awareness "Blue Ribbon Week" in October. Whitfield felt Lowery Intermediate School would be a great backdrop for two music videos using the songs "Walk the Walk" and "Whatever" from their CD featuring positive hip hop with the school children.
Several weeks later, Whitfield and Augustine came back to allow the students of Lowery to be the first to view the videos that they help create. The duo also gave out academic awards and several video awards to students who showed the best achievement in school and also in the preparation of the videos.
Students enjoyed music from DJ Eagle Eye of Max 94.1 of Baton Rouge and also watched the duo perform a few of their songs.
"We're excited about impacting the community of Donaldsonville with our hip-hop healthy message," says Augustine. "These music videos are just the beginning, we will be back!"
The term "Creole" is frequently found in Louisiana, but the definition of the term has taken on different meanings over the years.
Mary Gehman, author of "Women and New Orleans," "The Free People of Color of New Orleans" and "Louisiana's Great River Road: The Mississippi from Angola North to Venice South," shared her extensive research on Creole culture and history with library patrons at the Ascension Parish Library in Gonzales Wednesday night.
Hurricane Katrina flooded Gehman's New Orleans house and office in 2005. Though she left Louisiana's largest historic district, in New Orleans, she moved some 55 miles up the Mississippi River to the state's second largest historic district, in Donaldsonville, when she relocated in June 2006 to a house in the Ascension Parish city's historic district.
In her library presentation, Gehman focused on her research on Creoles, which has led her throughout Louisiana, the nation and the world.
The first Creoles lived in colonial French Louisiana, prior to the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, Gehman said. They developed their own cuisine based on a mixture of influences from other cultures, they put an emphasis on education and were predominantly Catholic, she said.
The word Creole is an adaptation of the Spanish word criollo. Historically the term was used in early generations to differentiate colonists who had been born in Louisiana from new immigrants.
The 47th Cotillion Ball of Four Seasons at Palazzo Bernardo was an evening of glamorous glitz, elegance, and true beauty as 21 young women were presented.
The debutantes hailed from Assumption, Brusly, Donaldsonville, Dutchtown, and McKinley High Schools.
The narration, by Ms. Wanda August provided the guest with a sample of each debutante's achievements as the atmosphere embraced the theme, "A Whole New World."
The presentation of each young lady was a moment of sheer beauty as each debutante entered the ballroom with her father who brought her to her junior escort. The grand ball was the epitome of royalty as last year's queen, Talasha Aubuert, crowned the queen, Ms. Chantell Landry. Landry took her royal walk across the ballroom to greet her "subjects."
Her court was made complete with Chelsea Davis as first maid, Satearia Thomas as second maid, LaShanthen Russ as third maid, and Kimberly Gipoon as fourth maid.
The presentation ended with the royal waltz and promenade where each young ladies' mother and father joined them and their escorts.
A special tribute to the debutants was provided by five, six, seven, and eight Crystal's School of Dance under the direction of Crystal Davis Gomez, a former debutante of Four Seasons. The "Tiny Toes" dancers were also children of former debutantes.
The distinguished band, 2DAT, under the direction of Kent Guerin of Baton Rouge, provided music.
Red-beet eggs reprise a warmer time in the dregs of winter.
Last July, Vermont legislators passed a bill allowing local brewers to produce and sell beer with more than 8 percent alcohol by volume, an act the Long Trail Brewing Company is celebrating.
There is a good chance many of our readers have a pair of binoculars or know someone with them. Even a lowly pair of binoculars are a valuable instrument for bringing you closer to the night sky.
Weekly canine Q&A, with advice on getting a new dog after a death and how to deal with a piddler.
Have you seen the e-mail circulating about the danger of outdated cake mixes?
With its principles of healthy, balanced living and an awareness of our body’s connection to the elements, yoga is a natural fit with sustainability. The discipline of yoga is based in a centuries-old Sanskrit tradition that includes principles like “ahimsa,” or “doing no harm.”
Martha Stewart, take note. Deryl and Margaret Schertz have been growing and canning their own vegetables for 63 years. They "put up" (that's canning-speak) more than 400 jars - pints and quarts - every year.
Career counselors everywhere are fielding this question: Should I go to graduate school to wait out the economy and re-enter the job market with stronger credentials?
Reading “Ice Cold,” Tess Gerritsen’s newest suspense thriller, in the summer heat seems like it would be a good foil to the ubiquitous whine of the air conditioner. In Gerritsen’s latest Rizzoli & Isles novel, there’s so much snow in Wyoming ski country that it’s tough to find out where the bodies are buried.
Weekly family rail, with tips for a creative kids room, a review of “Takers” and more.
Travel: Since our group’s arrival in South Africa, Arthur had to remind us that it was winter time, even though we were experiencing beautiful sunny, springlike weather instead.
Kevin Shannon, 68, said he believes the art of writing and a chance friendship banished the demons of his post-traumatic stress disorder – a condition not diagnosed until 2005.
Arnold Feliciano remembers fondly his days as a strolling troubadour, walking through restaurants singing love songs to couples over food. Now he is skipping the middle man: Feliciano starts his mornings by singing to a pumpkin. And the pumpkin clearly loves it: It is 3 feet tall and growing every day.
Graffiti artist is starting over after a stint in jail, and now he has message for young people.
She wrote the ultimate tale of blind obedience to tradition - “The Lottery” – that still retains its primitive, chilling power, even as the horror genre nowadays is overrun with pinup boy werewolves and fidgety vampires who sparkle.
School buses will soon bustle down the streets. Students will be armed with lists of items their teacher want them to purchase for the school year, followed by the frantic dash to various stores to find the paper, pencils and notebooks.
