A group of high school students from the Seattle Academy (Seattle, WA) came to help us Duke students for the day. As I write this, they are on their way home from a two-week service trip. Their first week in Louisiana was spent rebuilding homes in New Orleans, and for their second week of service they came down the bayou to partner with Bayou Grace on several service projects that were similar to what we have done on DukeEngage. Even though they came to the camp having zero experience working with the kids, the Seattle Academy students were quite helpful and well-liked by all.

Also in attendance were some local AT&T employees. While they weren’t working with the kids, they, like us, were busy preparing them for the upcoming school year. Regional AT&T stores have recently been collecting donations in the form of school supplies, and employees spent the day at camp putting together school supply kits for students whose families cannot afford them. I am sure their work will have a great impact once school starts in the fall.

We were also visited by Hope Extreme, a religious group from Houma that gave a powerful presentation to the campers. According to their Facebook page, Hope Extreme’s “goal is to bring radical change through spiritual, community, and educational development,” and they are committed to improving the lives of the youth that live in the Houma area.

Last, but certainly not least, HTV (the Houma TV station) came to film us for a special segment on their nightly newscast! The kids were super excited at the possibility of being on television, and this greatly increased the overall level of enthusiasm in camp that day. While clips of all of us DukeEngage students were included in the broadcast, my interview with the HTV camerawoman was featured on the Houma nightly news! Check it out here (Note: Adobe Flash Player is required to view the video)

http://permalink.fliqz.com/aspx/permalink.aspx?at=54a1194132b4459facb9f79846a35504&a=4df83fd5293648d6bac53d692de076dc

By the end of the day, I was extremely exhausted, but it was definitely a great day to be at camp.

-Colin Reed

Generally speaking, most people we meet here in Houma or Cocodrie can immediately tell we are not locals. They ask us where we’re from out of curiosity, not hostility, and welcome us to their lovely state. Many of them recommend places for local cuisine or diversions, such as Cajun dancing at the Jolly Inn. We are now regulars every Friday. I wouldn’t quite call us competent dancers, but the men and women there are more than happy to take us for a spin and show us their moves.

Allen dancing with Wandi

We always see Allen and Bettye, an elderly couple, when we go dancing. When the girls are not being waltzed around on the room by the ever-charming Allen, we sit and chat with Bettye, who has offered to host us for a jambalaya dinner. We have her number…call her maybe? (cue Carly Rae Jepsen song that shall not be named.)

When we spend time at the site coordinator’s camp, we are once again bombarded by earnest invitations to fish fries, crawfish boils and any kind of seafood-cooking ritual you can imagine. Even checking into a Microtel in Houma, my boyfriend and I were offered crawfish from an impromptu boil in the parking lot. Just this weekend, our landlord Leland Crochet had us over to his bed and breakfast in Houma where we grilled and relaxed in his pool. He bade us each goodbye with a big hug and kisses on both cheeks (including my visiting boyfriend, whom he had just met) and told us we were welcome to come again anytime. And I’d really like to take him up on that offer.

What strikes me about Louisiana people is the absolute sincerity of their words and invitations. Plenty of times I’ve received half-baked offers of “yeah, we should hang out sometime” that never went through. I know a lot of people back home that use enthusiastic words like “sure, anytime!” but seem surprised when you call them back. What I love about Leland and Allen and Bettye and nearly everybody we’ve struck up conversation with is that when they as you where you’re from, they really do want to know. When invite you over for dinner after just having met you, they mean it. That is genuine, 100-percent authentic southern hospitality.

After a fun yet exhausting first week of camp, on Saturday, June 9, we embarked on our exciting first trip to New Orleans for the Zydeco Festival. The weather outlook wasn’t looking good: 80% chance of rain all day according to the weather channel, and most of our drive up included heavy rain. For an outdoor festival without nearby parking, it seemed as if our plans might be ruined. Fortunately, it stopped raining right when we entered the city, and despite some rain later, none of us got soaked.

The Zydeco Festival took place in the French Quarter at the old U.S. Mint building near the famous French Market where the Creole Tomato Festival was taking place. Before watching some Zydeco bands, we lunched at the tomato festival. Let me tell you, it was delicious! I ate something with a fancy name, but essentially just garlic bread with sautéed tomato slices, basil, mozzarella, and vinaigrette. Everyone else ate a tomato, basil, and mozzarella crepe (I miss the crepe truck at Duke!), which I heard was equally delicious.

As we listened to one Zydeco band, people in the crowd danced and we recognized the moves from our Cajun dancing adventures! We saw the “window” move, where the two partners make a window between their arms in a complicated fashion that involves twisting, and got excited since we spent quite a while practicing that the night before at the Jolly Inn. None of us had the guts to dance in front of everyone, but I definitely took note of some moves I hope to learn while I’m down here.

The wind started to pick up as the skies darkened, so we decided to make our way to some indoor activities: the aquarium. Since we didn’t have much time before the aquarium closed, we decided to see Hurricane on the Bayou in IMAX and save browsing the actual aquarium for the following weekend. The movie wasn’t my favorite because it followed a rather cheesy storyline of a teenaged musician, but I loved the real footage of Hurricane Katrina. I had forgotten previously how scary hurricanes actually are, since the bayou seems perfectly safe to us now, so it was definitely a wake-up call to some of the struggles South Louisianans have to deal with year after year.

We made it to dinner at Bubba Gump’s Shrimp just in time to avoid a downpour. Surprisingly, they had several vegetarian options, which Louisiana has taught me not to take for granted, and I ate a delicious berry and pecan salad. For Colin’s birthday, the waitresses made him do a butt-shaking dance, which may have been the highlight of the evening. Our table also rocked at Forest Gump trivia!

Although we planned to hang out with the New Orleans DukeEngage group, whom we saw briefly at the IMAX theatre (they happened to be seeing the same movie as us!), every single one of us passed out before midnight after reading for a while in our suite’s common room at Loyola. The next day was taken up with delicious beignets, some trouble with google maps (it was 10 miles off from our destination), and a two hour shopping trip at Whole Foods before heading back to the Bayou. It was a fantastic weekend!

-Lizzie Hoerauf

Later that evening, we went to dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.  Yes, I know, it’s not exactly an authentic Louisiana restaurant, but the shrimp was absolutely delicious.  While our food was being prepared, the waitresses in our section found out that it was (the day before) my birthday; so after we finished eating, they got our entire section of the restaurant to sing to me, and then had me do a birthday dance at the end.  Apparently my dancing was either impressively good or laughably horrific, as one of the waitresses frantically fumbled for her phone to try and capture some footage of me.  I’m guessing it was the latter…

Finally, on my actual birthday, we were able to make a trip to Whole Foods to buy ingredients for my birthday dinner.  Our site coordinator, Noelle, prepared some delicious macaroni and cheese, with even better red velvet cupcakes for dessert.  I even got a brand new squirt gun!  It’s going to be perfect for keeping cool as the weather gets even hotter down here.

All in all, it ended up being a great 20th birthday.

I didn’t realize that these dancers were literally senior citizens, so I was a little surprised when a troupe of ten old white women that could easily be my grandma walked into the gym. There was one male dancer with them who, while of age with my grandfather, had impeccable posture and carried himself with the poise of a ballerina.

First, they performed two routines for us, dressed in sparkly stars-and-stripes vests, white gloves and wide stage smiles. After their performance, we cleared the floor so all of us could learn some dances. The Senior Dancers had choreographed one just for us, called the “Smithridge Shuffle”. Some of the kids were shy about dancing, but once they learned the steps, they seemed to have a lot of fun. I’ll be honest, dancing tired me out.

Don't lie, this is how you sing the macarena

After doing the Hokey Pokey, Macarena, Wobble, Chicken Dance, Cupid Shuffle, Mexican Hat Dance, I was pretty hot and sweaty, made worse by hugs from perspiring children. Despite our overheated state, I think the kids, especially the young ones, enjoyed themselves.

Friday at The Nature Conservancy Camp on Grand Isle, while Jean Landry took half the group on a woods walking tour, Seth Blitch took the other half of the group to go see their oyster restoration projects on the bay-side of the island. I went on the walking tour first but I couldn’t wait until the oyster tour. In high school I spent two years doing research on Crassostrea virginica oysters (about how ocean acidification was affecting their induced defenses that occur when blue crabs come near), and I felt overwhelmingly excited to learn more about them.

Although I researched them for two years, I truthfully didn’t know that much about them in the wild. Don’t get me wrong, I knew a lot about them, but I knew what I learned by communicating with an oyster farmer and restoration scientist for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Tommy Leggett, and reading tons of peer-reviewed articles I read online. I kept a total of 160 oysters in tanks over two years, but learning about something in a laboratory feels much different than learning it by experiencing it in the organism’s natural habitat.

So we took a boat out to the oyster restoration areas and tied it off to a bush on the marsh there. I was surprised the boat could run in such shallow waters because when we got out, the water was just above my knees. The oyster reefs are made out of interlocking steel welded triangles filled with bags of oyster shells, a restoration technique proved successful in Texas. On Grand Isle and the other oyster restoration site in St. Bernard Parish, these structures cover 3.4 miles.

It’s hoped that the oyster larvae will attach to these structures and eventually a healthy reef will exist again. When we saw the reef though, it looked like progress has been slow. The first group out saw no live oysters, but my group found a few (they got to see dolphins though, so I think it’s more than a fair trade). We couldn’t see what the reefs look like below the murky water, so hopefully there were more there. We found a ton of hermit crabs, one blue crab, and one oyster drill. Many oysters that were attaching to the steel structures were being eaten by the oyster drills, so we made sure not to put the drill back onto the reef after we looked at it.

Once these reefs have restored themselves, they’ll help filter the water and provide homes to valuable marine life. Hopefully anyone who comes back in a few years will see a lot more oysters on the reefs!

-Lizzie Hoerauf

We got up bright and early so that we could leave Cocodrie at 7am.  After several hours in the car, we were all ready to get muddy.  The representative from America’s Wetlands Foundation, Buddy, met us in the parking lot and pointed us to the other groups that had already arrived.  There was a group from the New Orleans public schools called the Green Team and a group from Conoco Phillips.  We listened as Buddy told us about the American Wetlands Foundation then headed out to the air boats.

The place we were going to plant was inaccessible by car, so we took air boats.  Noelle decided to come with us even though she doesn’t like boats, and rode the airboat like a pro.  We went out in small groups, because the airboats only hold so many.  I was in the second group out, and nearly as soon as I got out of the boat I sank into the mud.  The grass we were planting was already at the site, so everyone got started right away.  Almost as soon as we got started, though, we ran out of plants.  There must have been more people planting than originally anticipated because there were not very many plants.  It seemed a little bit sad to us because we felt like we were just getting started when it was time to stop.  We all got incredibly muddy, though, which was a lot of fun.

After the planting, we were given a tour of the marsh in the airboats.  Our tour guide showed us were they were using old Christmas trees as a wave breaker to give grasses a better chance to regrow.  He also showed us around the bayou and went very fast in the airboat.  Although it was a short day we had fun at the planting, and we were looking forward to the conference the next day.

The conference was at the Hyatt Regency. I had never been into such a large hotel, let alone one of the regal ballrooms where the sessions were held. Two massive chandeliers of modern design hung from the ceiling while six rows of long tables filled with panels of official-looking people lined the room. Several screens and televisions were positioned around the room so that everyone could see the presentations that were given. As soon as we walked in, we knew that we were severely underdressed. Nearly every person wore a suit. Still, I felt somewhat official with my very own nametag.

While we sipped on tea and coffee to banish the car-trip drowsiness, the second session began. I will admit I don’t remember much of the first part, being stuck in that uncomfortable limbo between sleep and wakefulness. None of us were used to seeing this side of environmental policy, a side that can be very monotonous. One part I did find interesting was the session concerning home insurance for the communities that continue to live in areas at a high risk for flooding and land loss. Political leanings became very apparent. The tension in the room was palpable and as speakers got curt and tones turned acidic.

Usually we just do the dirty work of restoration, a task that one of the speakers at the conference personally and publicly recognized us for. He asked us to stand up and the entire room applauded us for the planting we had done the day before. They acted like we had saved the world by doing this one short session of manual labor and I felt very undeserving of their praise as I sheepishly looked up from my game of Angry Birds to shake hands with these esteemed speakers and representatives. Still, I am glad I got to experience this conference. It was a sad but needed reminder that saving the wetlands isn’t easy: it requires specific action, representation and adequate funding to effectively reverse the damage.

~Amy

Ms. Jean is an elder lady but it was she that gave us this two-hour tour and kept introducing new stuff to us. I could understand that she really loves this island and this forest. When she took us to see the trees that were burnt by the dove hunters, she was very sad when she mentioned that she knew who set the fire but could not catch them because nobody caught them on the spot. I hope the forest will grow healthily and I am moved by people who are dedicated to protecting the environment.

Later that afternoon, we were in for a real Louisiana treat – a Southern-style crawfish broil.  We drove up to Houma and bought forty pounds of live, freshly-caught crawfish, a bunch of different vegetables (corn on the cob, potatoes, cabbage, celery, and onions, among others), and a special blend of spices to give it all some more flavor.  When we got back to the grad students’ camp, we cleaned the crawfish, prepared the veggies, and boiled water in a huge 15-gallon pot that is specifically used for meals like this.  We then threw all of the veggies in the pot with some of the spices, boiled them to perfection, and then did the same with the crawfish.  Finally, we laid it all out on our picnic table on top of some newspaper (no plates or utensils of any kind), and ate to our heart’s content.  This late in the spring, the shells on the crawfish are relatively hard, so they were a little difficult to pry open.  Even so, we got the hang of eating them pretty quickly, and I ended up enjoying the best meal I’ve had in a long time.

-Colin Reed