64 Parishes Magazine

For more than 28 years, 64 Parishes, along with its earlier version Louisiana Cultural Vistas, has served as the quarterly magazine for the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities.

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In Her Nature - 64 Parishes

1 month ago | 64parishes.org | Chris Jay |Alexandra Kennon Shahin

Skip to main content A Louisiana Percent for Art–funded sculpture honoring Natchitoches Parish naturalist, author, and educator Caroline Dormon was dedicated on the campus of the Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts (LSMSA) this past October.
Making Room - 64 Parishes

Dec 1, 2024 | 64parishes.org | Lucie Monk Carter |Alexandra Kennon Shahin

In 2005, a few weeks into junior year, eighty new students enrolled at my high school, a splash in our campus community of less than five hundred. But by the end of September, they were gone and so was I. Hurricane Rita tore into my hometown, Lake Charles, and stripped us of status as a safe haven. When our school reopened a month later, maybe one kid remained from our initial Katrina influx.
“Better Than Doughnuts”

Dec 1, 2024 | 64parishes.org | Christie Hall |Alexandra Kennon Shahin

Just two blocks southwest of the Bayou Teche’s meander through Jeanerette, past a red brick exterior facade and through the side doors of LeJeune’s Bakery, you’ll find a perfect loaf of French bread. The outside is flaky and crisp, and the warm, pillowy middle invites a smear of salted butter.
On the Shapes of Parishes

Dec 1, 2024 | 64parishes.org | Richard Campanella |Alexandra Kennon Shahin

Of all sixty-four Louisiana parishes, Tangipahoa Parish stands alone in the origin of its shape. To understand why, it helps to see how geographers have classified the morphology of political jurisdictions, be they nations, states, counties, or in Louisiana, parishes. Those classifications include compact, prorupted (that is, protruding), elongated, fragmented, and perforated (“doughnut”) shapes.
Time Capsules on Canvas

Sep 1, 2024 | 64parishes.org | Alexandra Kennon Shahin

Editor’s Note:When southwest Louisiana interdisciplinary artist Tina Girouard passed away in April 2020, she left behind nearly half a century’s worth of artworks of various mediums: textiles, digital files, sculptures, and photographs.
Abdalla’s: A Store for All Seasons

Sep 1, 2024 | 64parishes.org | Benjamin Morris |Alexandra Kennon Shahin

Mention the phrase “historic migration” to most folks in southwest Louisiana, and like as not you’ll hear a story about ancestors shoved south from Francophone Canada at the point of a British musket. Yet for all the celebrated history of les Acadiens, Acadiana is home as well to numerous other groups of migrants who put down roots miles away from where they were born—stories that aren’t as frequently told.
Building with Bagasse

Sep 1, 2024 | 64parishes.org | Kerri Westenberg |Alexandra Kennon Shahin

Inside the Senate Chamber at the Louisiana State Capitol, marble columns stand as wide as small cars. Across a grand entrance hall, the House Chamber gleams with richly veined stone walls and pilasters. Elaborate ceilings in both rooms, though, nearly steal the show. Above state senators’ desks, sixty-four recessed hexagons centered by a star represent the state’s parishes. In the House’s workspace, art deco designs in lush earth tones stretch overhead from wall to wall.
A Major Milestone for the Music of French Louisiana

Sep 1, 2024 | 64parishes.org | Ben Sandmel |Alexandra Kennon Shahin

The present robust popularity of Cajun and Creole music, zydeco, and swamp pop belies the fact that, until fifty years ago, these interconnected genres were often scorned, excoriated, and marginalized. In 1974 French-speaking Louisianans had endured a half-century of linguistic and cultural disrespect exerted by aggressive governmental campaigns of forced assimilation. Between 1916 and 1921 the Louisiana legislature enacted laws forbidding children to speak French in the state’s public schools.
All Aboard - 64 Parishes

Sep 1, 2024 | 64parishes.org | Lucie Monk Carter |Alexandra Kennon Shahin

A plastic sculpture of seagrass tendrils hangs from the ceiling of Houma’s new marine education center. Laced through the tendrils are little bulbs, which reflect onto the surface of the kidney-bean-shaped water feature below. It’s a stunning view just to your right as you step into the lobby of Blue Works, the new campus of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON). But while elegantly designed by architects and artists, neither the water or grass are simply for show.
Louisiana’s Place in the Below-Sea-Level World

Sep 1, 2024 | 64parishes.org | Richard Campanella |Alexandra Kennon Shahin

Below sea level” is a peculiarity of Earth’s lithosphere. The very notion of “land” implies a preponderance of soil over water, and one might presume, of soil being above water. But under two circumstances, the apparent absurdity becomes possible. One is natural—that is, geological in origin—and the other is anthropogenic, the product of human tinkering. Troughs in the Earth’s surface tend to form where tectonic plates converge or diverge.