Mike Tidwell told students that the culture-rich city is already in danger. The day is drawing closer when Americans may have to abandon the city of New Orleans.



Mike Tidwell told students that the culture-rich city is already in danger. The day is drawing closer when Americans may have to abandon the city of New Orleans.

Author Mike Tidwell speaks at Valley Tech

Saturday, March 5, 2005

UPTON -- Noted author and award-winning travel writer Mike Tidwell visited Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School this week as part of the system's participation in the national JASON Project and in observance of "Read Across America Day."

Tidwell has written five books and made a documentary film. His latest book, "Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana's Cajun Coast," is a fascinating first-person account of the ongoing destruction of the bayou country in southern Louisiana.

This year's JASON theme is the Louisiana wetlands and Tidwell's book is raising an awareness of what he calls "the greatest untold story in America."

Tidwell told students on Wednesday that the culture-rich city is already in danger. The day is drawing closer when Americans may have to abandon the city of New Orleans.

"The wetlands, marsh lands and islands which all provide hurricane protection for the more than 2 million people who live in and around New Orleans are disappearing," Tidwell said. "The Red Cross has 10,000 body bags ready and they say that won't be enough...The potential already exists for a massive disaster."

"Hundreds of years ago, people built the levees to stop the Mississippi River from flooding their land, from drowning their children and from destroying their crops," Tidwell said. "But these levees, some of them now even three stories high, are preventing the river from making those precious alluvial deposits that built up the wetlands over 7,000 years. We are now losing an area of the Louisiana coast equal to the size of Manhattan every 10 months. The Louisiana coast is the fastest disappearing landmass on the Earth today."

Tidwell said his book grew out of what started as typical travel writing assignment for the Washington Post. When doing work for the Post, National Geographic Traveler and Reader's Digest among other publications, Tidwell aims to totally immerse himself in the culture of which he is writing. Of his first journey to the bayou country, he said he found that it is still possible to "fall off the map in America." To visit a place were the phone company finally relented to publishing nicknames, because people who have been friends for decades don't know each other's real names. Where the vast majority of people don't own credit cards, computers and few own cars. They work, travel and spend most of their lives on their boats.

He, however, knew nothing about the ongoing destruction of the region before he decided to hitchhike from boat to boat through the Cajun bayou.

"It took a shrimper from Louisiana -- a man who dropped out of the 10th grade -- who speaks Cajun French better than English, to teach me about the greatest environmental calamity in American history," Tidwell said.

Students at Valley Tech were familiarized with "Bayou Farewell" when guest readers shared passages during English classes and a number of teachers are using the book as a reading assignment. Many of the vocational technical shops are also participating in the JASON initiative. In honor of Tidwell's visit, Cajun cuisine was served by the Culinary Arts program in the school's Three Seasons Restaurant and in the cafeteria. In typical empowerment fashion, Valley Tech invited all employees to participate and longtime staff member Rick Kennedy of Upton expressed his enjoyment of the book upon meeting Tidwell during a tour of the school.

When this story was posted in March 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:

The Peace Corps Library Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in over 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related reference material in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can use the Main Index to find hundreds of stories about RPCVs who have your same interests, who served in your Country of Service, or who serve in your state.

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RPCVs in Congress ask colleagues to support PC RPCVs Sam Farr, Chris Shays, Thomas Petri, James Walsh, and Mike Honda have asked their colleagues in Congress to add their names to a letter they have written to the House Foreign Operations Subcommittee, asking for full funding of $345 M for the Peace Corps in 2006. As a follow-on to Peace Corps week, please read the letter and call your Representative in Congress and ask him or her to add their name to the letter.

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March 5, 2005: RPCV Groups in the News San Diego RPCVs host reception with Gaddi Vasquez on March 6 4 Mar Alaska RPCVs speak for dividend 4 Mar Western North Carolina's RPCVs sponsor Africa Night on March 6 3 Mar Maryland RPCVs lobby their Senators for Peace Corps 3 Mar Connecticut RPCVs hold fundraiser on March 5 3 Mar Charles Baquet speaks at Louisiana PC Breakfast on March 4 28 Feb RPCVs: Post your stories or press releases here for inclusion next week.

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March 5, 2005: This Week's Top Stories Senate FR Committee approves $345 M PC budget 4 Mar RPCV's "Kennedy's Kitchen" records second CD 4 Mar Sam Farr asks Army to reconsider burial policy 3 Mar Bayanihan jewelry designed by Philippines RPCV 2 Mar Todd Vetter receives calling during PC service 2 Mar Sargent Shriver still on Washington's A-list 2 Mar Photographer Bill Owens publishes new book 2 Mar Crisis Corps to open new program in Sri Lanka 28 Feb PC wants new stories for "The Great Adventure" 28 Feb Ukraine PCV asks "Is Bush right on Iraq?" 28 Feb Carol Bellamy defends "feminism" in aiding children 28 Feb John Bridgeland discusses role as Bush assistant 28 Feb Paul Theroux recalls high times with Hunter Thompson 28 Feb Elaine Chao Leads Delegation to Uruguay 28 Feb RPCV reunites with friend after 40 years 27 Feb Kay Muldoon-Ibrahim's photography on exhibit 27 Feb Jim Doyle displays political brilliance on tax cuts 26 Feb

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March 1: National Day of Action Tuesday, March 1, is the NPCA's National Day of Action. Please call your Senators and ask them to support the President's proposed $27 Million budget increase for the Peace Corps for FY2006 and ask them to oppose the elimination of Perkins loans that benefit Peace Corps volunteers from low-income backgrounds. Follow this link for step-by-step information on how to make your calls. Then take our poll and leave feedback on how the calls went.

Coates Redmon, Peace Corps Chronicler Coates Redmon, a staffer in Sargent Shriver's Peace Corps, died February 22 in Washington, DC. Her book "Come as You Are" is considered to be one of the finest (and most entertaining) recountings of the birth of the Peace Corps and how it was literally thrown together in a matter of weeks. If you want to know what it felt like to be young and idealistic in the 1960's, get an out-of-print copy. We honor her memory.

Make a call for the Peace Corps PCOL is a strong supporter of the NPCA's National Day of Action and encourages every RPCV to spend ten minutes on Tuesday, March 1 making a call to your Representatives and ask them to support President Bush's budget proposal of $345 Million to expand the Peace Corps. Take our Poll: Click here to take our poll. We'll send out a reminder and have more details early next week.

Peace Corps Calendar: Tempest in a Teapot? Bulgarian writer Ognyan Georgiev has written a story which has made the front page of the newspaper "Telegraf" criticizing the photo selection for his country in the 2005 "Peace Corps Calendar" published by RPCVs of Madison, Wisconsin. RPCV Betsy Sergeant Snow, who submitted the photograph for the calendar, has published her reply. Read the stories and leave your comments.

WWII participants became RPCVs Read about two RPCVs who participated in World War II in very different ways long before there was a Peace Corps. Retired Rear Adm. Francis J. Thomas (RPCV Fiji), a decorated hero of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, died Friday, Jan. 21, 2005 at 100. Mary Smeltzer (RPCV Botswana), 89, followed her Japanese students into WWII internment camps. We honor both RPCVs for their service.

Bush's FY06 Budget for the Peace Corps The White House is proposing $345 Million for the Peace Corps for FY06 - a $27.7 Million (8.7%) increase that would allow at least two new posts and maintain the existing number of volunteers at approximately 7,700. Bush's 2002 proposal to double the Peace Corps to 14,000 volunteers appears to have been forgotten. The proposed budget still needs to be approved by Congress.

Read the stories and leave your comments.