Loveliest night of the year

"The Loveliest Night of the Year."

This year it was Saturday when 13 Demoiselle Club debutantes made formal bows to society at Shreveport Country Club. They were presented by their fathers and escorted by brothers, cousins or a good friend.

Yes, indeed, they really did curtsey magnificently in their white ball gowns. A lesson learned earlier in the week stands them in good stead for the bow.

But, before the ball began, the 13 posed for a picture for us downstairs in the women’s locker room. Some of them wore more casual shirts so they could grab a bit to eat, put on more makeup or apply one more coat of hairs pray to their formal hairdos.

Also pictured: Ball chair Cathy Campbell in a stunning Chanel evening ensemble bought in Atlanta, her hubby Chris Campbell and daughter Caroline, one of the serving girls selected by each deb — an addition to the ball.

Work force

Are you happy with your career?

If you are a member of the clergy, a firefighter, an architect or actor/director, the answer is probably yes, according to a "happiness index" that illustrated "One Day in America" in the most recent issue of Time magazine.

Actually, the article said statistics show that Americans are remarkably satisfied with what they do.

"For the most part, happiness isn’t about money, Priests and firefighters are the most joyful, and they’re pretty close to the middle of U.S. earners," the article said.

The least happy? Gas-station attendants, roofers, molding-machine operators and construction workers.

Journalists fall about in the middle along with plumbers, mail carriers, hairdressers, physical therapists, soldiers and pharmacists.

For me, the career has been satisfying. It is the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do. (Inspired, in part, by feature stories I read in The Times and Journal when I was growing up in Queensborough.)

In 43 years, done everything from intense investigative work to the more genial though, at times, no less complex — society beat.

The career has been enabled me to tell the stories of so many. I always thank people for letting me invade their privacy to relate their journeys of love and loss, success and failure, fun and frolic and despair.

Among my favorites: Meeting people who live down country roads, who taught many lessons as I interviewed them.

Just a sampling: the woman who lived in the woods and told the photographer and I that when you were hungry, an eight-foot rattlesnake tastes mighty good... The late W.R. Henry who owned a country story in the crossroads of two country roads near Marsalis and with whom I was a regular correspondent until he died recently ... The two women on Lake Kepler, who garden side-by-side, their yards filled with the most unusual plants ... The rice farmer who said that riding through the fields at first light was never lonely for him ... The folk artist who lived on the banks of the Red River near Coushatta and whose outsider art inspired by flags drew people from all over the country to him.

What is your career? Are you happy? Why? Unhappy? Why?

Share your stories with me.

Les Boutiques de Noel

Byron and Bobbie Trust (far left) and a passel of pals arrive in a LSU-inspired limo

Maggie covers Les Boutiques

Tom Williams shows off hot liquid cups

Marjorie bought a bag of baubles for gifts

Jan Hudson of Hudson House shoes off shoes

AWB Promotions’ pulsating massage pillows were the hot hits at Les Boutiques de Noel Gala Wednesday and Thursday.

Kathy Smith and Tracy Pressly were among those walking out of the Les Boutiques with armloads.

"I’m giving them to everybody said," Pressly.

She and hubby Dr. Tom Pressly were among those trying them out at the gala. "Isn’t it fabulous?" asked Tracy.

Why, you had to stand in line just to see what all the fuss was about. (Hubby Paul Schuetze and I were among them. And, wow, do they make your back feel good.)

Perfect, just perfect gifts for that person who has everything.

Another unusual item at Les Boutiques are DRG Specialty cups that change images and/or light up with color when you pour hot coffee, tea or even water into them.

There are scenes of hummingbirds, birds of North America, angels, golfing and a fat cross and pink pigs. They are really neat.

"I love it," said Judy Russo.

"My wife ramrods the business. I just pour hot water," quipped Tom Williams, hubby of Sue.

LSU Health Sciences Center is selling its Bill Joyce cards and the Junior League, cookbooks.

Jan Hudson of Hudson House is thrilled with her glittery "Dancing with the Stars" shoes.

Noreen Dockendorf of Spoiled Rotten, who has the new cropped jackets and evening tops, has been selling coming and going.

Among the things in the King Hardware area are Christmas-themed toilet paper and "Under Wraps" from Dallas is back with its tulle, raffia and paper. New this year: Burgundy matte-inspired paper.

Les Boutiques is sponsored by Shreveport Opera Guild and runs through Saturday at Bossier Civic Center.

We’ve posted some scenes from the gala shot by Paul.

See more gala pictures in a http://www.shreveporttimes.com/ gallery.

A samaritan sermon

The Rev. Uelyss Reed, Roy and Nelva Griggs and Don McDuffy

Samaritan Award Banquet Guest Hazel Harris

Photos by Paul L. Schuetze

When McDonald’s owner/community contributor Roy Griggs received the Samaritan of the Year 2007 Award Thursday, he preached all of us a sermon.

It is the small things we do that make the world a better place, Griggs said.

Things like a smile and a kind word.

"We don’t know how far that will go in someone’s life," he explained, with one of his wide smiles that light up a room.

"It only takes one life, one person to help someone in need and bring about great change," he said.

"Do something just to make the world different. Let’s keep lifting each other up. When we all come together, we can bring change," he said.

"You can bring about change," he added.

Griggs said he was so grateful for the award and thanked the Lord for all he had allowed him to accomplish.

Along the way, "I see so many Good Samaritans," said Griggs. "This is such a good place to live and do business and tonight is an expression of that.

No, we cannot all afford to give $250,000 to Christus Schumpert Sutton Children’s Medical Center, like Griggs did.

But we can all smile at that homeless person we see on the street or write a note to someone who is very ill. We can answer the phone at work with a pleasant voice no matter how busy we are. We can befriend a lonely person.

Griggs received the award at the Samaritan of the Year Banquet at Shreveport Country Club. He was honored by the Samaritan Counseling Center.

Griggs' list of community service is lengthy. He is on the prestigious Committee of 100 and the boards of the Hal Sutton and the Independence Bowl Foundations.

But he also teachers Sunday school and is a deacon at Stonewall Baptist Church, Bossier City and he is involved in the Boy Scouts.

Congratulations, Roy. What a special person you are for our community.

LSU-Louisiana Tech Road Trip

Maggie, Russ and Marsha Friedrich and Jim and Marilyn Kirkland

Maggie and Paul in LSU Tiger Stadium

Mike the Tiger

Photos by Paul L. Schuetze

I hadn’t been to Tiger Stadium since I was in grad school in the early 1960s, so when Louisiana Tech grads Russ and Marsha Friedrich invited us to accompany them for a tailgate weekend for the LSU-Louisiana Tech game, I was thrilled.

Husband Paul L. Schuetze and I followed the Friedrich’s RV in their van. LSU fans/close friends Jim and Marilyn Kirkland rode in the RV.

It was a far different trip, down Interstate-49 and Interstate-10 than it was all those years ago on two-lane Highway 1!

But no matter how things have changed, one tradition remains: Lunch at Lea's coming and going.

The ham sandwiches and the pies are still famous and the lunches ... baked turkey, fried chicken, turnip greens, dressing ... delicious. . Among those we chatted with on Sunday: Dale McGinty, Dr. Don and Kathy Smith and Norbert and Martha Johnson. All were headed home.

Down in Baton Rouge, we dined Friday on seafood at Druscilla’s.

Chef Russ prepared the rest of the meals, ranging from blueberry pancakes for breakfast to gumbo and jambalaya for the big tailgate party Saturday. There was beer, wine, Margaritas and lots of water to drink. Chips and dip to snack upon and Syndy Johnson’s (of Fairfield Grocery) famous praline cake to finish off the meal.

The Friedrichs’ daughter Dee Cochran and her husband, Rob, and their children Alex and Colin and Rob’s dad, Bobby Cochran, drove in Saturday.

Russ invited friends from all over the state to drop by for lunch — baked chicken and asparagus — and dinner ... gumbo and jambalaya and salad.

Among those taking him up on it: Kim French, Rodney Reeves, Clayton and Angela Brakeville. Tech grad Patrick Pierce was up from Covington and Tommy and Debbie Albritton, Marsha’s brother and sister-in-law, from Alexandria.

Once on campus, I passed the journalism building en route to the bookstore which was built while I was at LSU. We stopped to see Mike the tiger in his natural habitat enclosure, so different from the bare cage when I was a student..

We never did pass the French House, where grad students were housed — and where we were allowed to stay out as late as we wanted. Believe it or not, that was revolutionary in the early 1960s.

And, the game brought its own set of thoughts. (A good friend gave us his great tickets in the 50-yard line area, so that was certainly different from student seats.)

But it was LSU football in Death Valley on a Saturday night. There we saw Jerry Jones, former U.S. Rep. Jerry Huckaby, Dr. Charles and Catherine Sale and Dr. Mark and Darla Provenza.

The memories ... yesterday's and this night ... don't get much better than this.

It was a weekend adventure that we delighted in.

Thanks Russ and Marsha. Thanks for the memories.

A season for everything

"Shreveport, Louisiana. Ever heard of it? Before Hurricane Katrina, my home town was suffering an identity crises."

Yolanda Young writing a column, "It's Shreveport's Season," in the Washington Post which a friend in the Washington, D.C. area shared with us. Young is a Washington lawyer and author of a memoir, "On Your Way to Beautiful."

Her lengthy column dealt with Katrina and how its aftermath sent the movie industry our way.

As she sees it, there are new signs of progress each time she visits her family here, including Starbucks appearance, the new Hilton, the city’s first black mayor.

A lot of things have conspired to help the city, but it is the movie business that has given it something to talk about, Young writes.

"When I grew up there, the skating rink, Friday night football and the one-story mall anchored by Sears were the major sources of amusement," she said.

And she discusses the pluses movie industry officials have found in our city: No traffic congestion which means crews can move easily around the city ... Housing and rentals reasonably priced.

A minus: No direct flights to Los Angeles.

But that hasn’t derailed the industry here.

"We can only imagine what the meal would have looked like if not for Katrina, but that’s how the dish got served. My home town seems determined to make the most of this course," she wrote.

Good column! Yolanda. Thanks for writing about us.

Hou about a mango lassi?

I love to try new locally-owned restaurants.

Especially those founded by Shreveport-Bossier City restauranteurs from other countries, because it is special to meet new restaurateurs, who are always proud of their enterprise and sample new dishes ... always with different spices and ingredient combinations.

So when Shobha Reddy and LSUS India Studies professor Sanja T. Menon invited me to dine at India’s restaurant, tucked away on a service road off of Youree Drive, I accepted. (It has been there a while and was filled with diners — including nearby Barksdale Air Force Base troops.)

We ate from the buffet.

But, Reddy and Menon recommended I order a "mango lassi," a sort of milkshake.
"It is made with yogurt," said Sri Naidu, who owns India’s with his wife, Rama.

I did. Rich and thick, it is yummy. And would just about provide a meal in itself.

Conclusions: Great food and comfortable atmosphere.

I shall return.