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.