Thibodeaux’s new book, “Hell or High Water: How Cajun Fortitude Withstood Hurricanes Rita and Ike,” is proof of that.

A 1975 graduate of Terrebonne High School, Thibodeaux was a writer and editor for more than 30 years at the New Orleans Times-Picayune until he was recently laid off among 200 other employees to receive notices this summer. He has won awards from the Associated Press, the Louisiana Press Association and the New Orleans Press Club during his career. “Hell or High Water” is his first book.

“The idea for this book came after hurricane Rita came and went. Over time, I noticed that as bad as the impact was, communities in south Louisiana weren’t getting the attention I thought they needed,” Thibodeaux said. “I thought the unfortunate result was that, with Rita following so closely after Katrina in 2005, peope did not appreciate the extent to which a lot of these communities were hit. Just because we didn’t see the loss of life soes not mean it was not a devastating experience.”

Not another book about Hurricane Katrina, Thibodeaux’s goal was to tell this story for a broader audience and capture the story outside of what residents around the rest of America think they know about hurricanes Rita and Ike.

Aside from water and wind damage, Thibodeaux’s book focuses on the storms’ dead aim on a culture and a way of life unique to Terrebonne and surrounding parishes, even when they were lost in the shadow of New Orleans in the media.

Two chapters deal exclusively with Terrebonne Parish, and the parish figures into the story in many other places throughout the book as well.

“One of the things I’ve been very mindful of is the ongoing crisis of wetlands loss in Terrebonne Parish. Places where I would fish as a boy, where there used to be bayous and canals, are now open water,” Thibodeaux said, “Every year the state creates a map of the area and the wetlands and Terrebonne is mostly green, but every time the map is updated, that green turns to blue. It’s not the marshes and swamp we used to know. I thought Dulac was a great example of how the wetlands are not just wetlands. The wetlands are a part of the way of life in the area. So I chose to tell that story within the context of the Native American population that lives there. I thought it was one of the most important contexts to include.”

In travels across south Louisiana, Thibodeaux has written about Cajun culture in all aspects, from hurricanes to dance hall fiddlers, alligator wranglers to the uncertain future of Louisiana’s native Cajun-French language, to area officials’ challenges of keeping the Cajun experience authentic while still marketing it to tourists.

This book details those experiences and how members of the Cajun population “adapted, survived and thrived in hostile environments” when hurricanes Rita and Ike’s impacts disappeared from the American consciousness once the storms trailed off the National Weather Service’s radar.

Thibodeaux takes pride in the fact that the book includes stories never before heard.

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Read the rest of this story @ www.houmatoday.com.

It all started back at H. L. Bourgeious High School, where Jim was given an assignment to do a report on something unique to South Louisiana. He chose duck decoy carving. This report opened up a new door in Jim’s artistic life which lasts till this day, a desire to capture his love of waterfowl. He began carving ducks out of wood in 1984 and now he captures their beauty in sketch art.

Jim Toup’s Louisiana wildlife art is now available for view and purchase in the Gulf Coast Marketplace.

After Patti’s hair fell out following chemotherapy, Annie made a hat for her to cover her head. She was so excited about her hat that she didn’t take it off for days (she even wore it to sleep). Everyone asked her where she got her hat, and her reply was always the same, “It was made with love!”

Cancer recently took Patti’s life. And, Annie continues to crochet hats in her memory, dedicating each creation to Patti’s inspiration. Annie says she is forever grateful for Patti’s appreciation for her art and her help in “spreading the love”.  She feels fortunate to resurrect a craft that has, until recently, lost popularity, while bringing a little comfort into the lives of people like Patti.

Born and raised in Thibodaux, Louisiana, Annie Whitman attended E.D. White Catholic High School and Nicholls State University. She is currently working toward a Master’s degree at Southeastern Louisiana University in speech therapy.

Her hats are now available for sale on the Gulf Coast Marketplace.

The mission of the Gulf Coast Marketplace is to contribute to community recovery by providing opportunities for economic growth and financial independence to individuals and families, especially those impacted by disaster.

The Gulf Coast Marketplace is being developed as a virtual festival to help celebrate and deliver the talents of Louisiana artists, craftsmen and micro-enterprises to a global market. In addition to introducing a unique culture and heritage to the world, the Gulf Coast Marketplace is one important element of a 3-tiered community recovery program led by Options for Independence to bring income into households that have experienced economic challenge.

This vision cannot be realized without the expertise and financial support from individuals and organizations that share in our mission.

Thibodeauxville originated in 1992 in an effort to reacquaint the community with Thibodaux’s beautiful historic downtown area. Since its inception, Thibodeauxville has grown from 13 arts, crafts, and food vendors and a few hundred festival goers to 180 vendors and 15,000 visitors!

The arts, crafts, and music festival is held on the second Saturday of November each year and attracts visitors from as far away as Florida.

The mission of the Gulf Coast Marketplace is to contribute to community recovery by providing opportunities for economic growth and financial independence to individuals and families, especially those impacted by disaster. Developed by Options for Independence with support from an advisory panel of Louisiana economic development, government and business leaders, the Gulf Coast Marketplace is as an online marketplace for hand-crafted products and services.

In addition to the original arts and crafts and delicious Cajun food, Thibodeauxville now features several stages of continuous live musical entertainment. Local entertainers are featured as well as regionally known musical artists. Local residents as well as thousands of visitors to the city attend the festival. Charge no admission fee.

The festival opens at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 5:00 p.m. Participants enjoy a variety of activities for the entire family, including our famous “Thibodeauxville Duck Race” in beautiful Bayou Lafourche and a car show featuring hot rods, trucks, antique vehicles, and more.

Plan to participate in Thibodeauxville Fall Festival on Saturday, November 12, 2011…just in time for bringing in the holiday season and shoppers

For more information, please contact rhonda@ThibodauxChamber.com.

But A Treasure reveals Young and International Harvesters band members Ben Keith, Anthony Crawford, Rufus Thibodeaux, Spooner Oldham, Tim Drummond, Karl Himmel, Pig Robbins and Joe Allen delivering country music both adventurous and well-rooted, with tremendous instrumental flights and palpable joy. When co-producer Keith heard the quarter-century-old recordings (culled from 85 shows: The Harvesters never made a studio album), he pronounced them “a treasure,” and Young had his title.  “(In the Harvesters) it was a natural interplay, all the time,” Young said. “Great musicians, communicating on their own level, all the time. I’m so proud of it. It’s already a huge success as far as I’m concerned.”

Young reunited with most of the living Harvesters (steel guitar legend Keith died last year, and Cajun fiddle master Thibodeaux died in 2005) at a private gathering Sunday night at the Hall to hear the album and catch up. In the mid-’80s, Young’s life and career were in some turmoil. He was sued by Geffen Records for making experimental rock records that were a harder sell (the label described that music as “willfully uncharacteristic”), and he was dogged by the IRS. Yet the negatives of the time now fall away in favor of Young’s nearly giddy recollection of the music that was made.  “There were some bittersweet moments, but the music is so good and so happy, and it felt good to bring everybody together and celebrate,” he said.  Young grew up listening to country music in Canada, and he had long been fascinated by Music City. He came here to appear on Johnny Cash’s television show in the early 1970s, and he recorded his biggest radio hit, “Heart of Gold,” at Quad Studios along Music Row.

He came back in 1978 to record the album Comes a Time, which featured several players who would eventually join the International Harvesters. But he’d never ventured so deeply into country until 1984, when he signed with Nashville booking agency Buddy Lee attractions, appeared on Emery’s program to sing and to engage in some good-natured verbal jousting with Faron Young, and set about proving that his record label chief was wrong when he told Young that he’d never be accepted on country radio.  Turns out the label guy was right but that Young found a musical kinship with the Harvesters that was as satisfying as any radio hit. Monday at the Hall, he spoke about each band member, praising Keith’s steel tone as “pure silk and gold” and calling Thibodeaux “probably the greatest Cajun fiddler that ever lived.” Crawford was the eager youngster in a band of well-seasoned pros.

“I don’t really understand how it happened,” Crawford said. “I think I sang on a Tanya Tucker record and (Young’s producer) Elliot Mazer heard my voice and asked me to come down to (Music Row studio) the House of David. Within five minutes, I was singing in a vocal booth with Neil Young, one of my favorite people of all time. And we had a really good sound. Our vocals were like peas and carrots.”  There were two versions of the International Harvesters, as midway through the group’s run Robbins replaced Oldham on piano and Allen replaced Tim Drummond on the bass. Both ensembles are included on A Treasure, with Keith and Thibodeaux’s mind-bending interplay on “Southern Pacific” and Oldham’s relaxed and soulful piano on the album-opening “Amber Jean” standing as two major highlights.

Famously averse to staying in any one musical place, Young disbanded the International Harvesters in late 1985, and with 1986′s Life he was back residing in rock terrain. But he frequently collaborated with several Harvesters (working nearly constantly with Keith, whom he calls “my brother”), and he returned to Nashville to record 2005′s Prairie Wind album.  He mentioned Nashville and referenced Thibodeaux as “that old country fiddle” in 1992’s “One of These Days,” a song from the album Harvest Moon that found Young reminiscing on his own musical journey.

That song opened with the line, “One of these days, I’m gonna sit down and write a long letter to all the good friends I’ve known.” A Treasure feels a lot like that letter. “A friend of mine said that last night,” Young said. “He said, ‘My favorite song of yours is ‘One of These Days,’ and it feels like tonight is one of these days.’ I gave him a big hug, ’cause that made me feel real good.”

Houma, La., is Cajun country, and it’s not hard to find authentically prepared eats. http://www.bntcajuncookin.com

It became obvious within a couple of days of being out in the field that mainstream law enforcement was not terribly interested in playing along with my search for police officers who were “out of the box” thinkers, with “big personalities,” to be shown on the reality television show, “I Am The Law.”

Anymore it’s hard to be a wild card cop – you’ll find yourself in a lawsuit and fired if you go waving a gun around (too many cell phone cameras about). Even small police and sheriffs departments now send their new recruits to state law enforcement academies, to ensure proper training.

This means two things. One, all officers tend to have a similar demeanor (stern), and two, they know better than to get involved with something like this show. It would be one thing if we were talking about “Cops,” where life as a police officer was being depicted.

These folks are more going after a Buford T. Justice-type character, made famous in “Smoky and the Bandit.” Even if I found an individual officer willing to participate, most likely their agency, city or state would put the kibosh on this endeavor before it got started.

The mural outside Boudreau and Thibodeau’s.

A discarded diving bell or abandoned flying saucer along the bayou.

Located 60 miles south of New Orleans, you might say it’s out in the middle of nowhere – and that would be correct. I felt this way too at first, but then came to realize Houma is actually the last stop before venturing into no man’s land.

It’s kind of an outpost community, situated on the edge of the abyss. I see the ocean in many ways as the equivalent of outer space – a vast unknown. Well for anyone that does business in the Gulf of Mexico, Houma is the place where you have your land-office, and where you resupply before going back out. It’s the jump off spot. That also means you have a bunch of fishermen and off-shore oil platform workers who come back from being out in outer space, that haven’t seen land or women in a while, and these boys have pockets full of money. You could say Houma can get a little politically incorrect in the evenings.

It took me a couple visits to find my way into the place. With a population of 33,000, it’s much larger than my target community, but with so many small towns orbiting this city, it seemed a good place to spend some a moment getting to know folks.

The sun peaks through the canopy of the swamp to shine down upon Mother Mary.

Black Guidry striking a pose outside the trappers cabin in Wildlife Gardens.

After a brief introduction, Black was excited to talk further about the project, and we arranged to meet the following morning at Bob’s Bayou Black Marina, http://bayoublackmarina.com, where his swamp boat tours originate. With this settled, and feeling triumphant, I went back inside A-Bear’s Cafe and ordered up a mess of red beans and rice, with a side of gumbo from Ms. Jane. Nothing like some tasty vittles to take the edge off.

A big fellow out for a swim – he’s fond of raw chickens.

Black runs, A Cajun Man’s Swamp Cruise, http://cajunman.com. While his boat is nothing fancy, just a flat-decked steel job, with some red carpeting, white benches and a canopy for shade, the tour is full service. In addition to gliding through the dense flora, and wild fauna, Black narrates throughout the journey, there’s an alligator feeding, and the Cajun Man sings a few songs in English and French.

One of the alligator pens at Wildlife Gardens, where the reptiles are raised for their hides and meat.

Over the years Black has picked up a fair amount of notoriety. He’s been seen and heard on all the networks, and the late Steve Irwin, aka The Crocodile Hunter, went out with Black to meet his alligators. Still, standing on his dock I felt I had discovered a remote treasure. Two things changed this idea.

One, I was informed that 20 miles down the road, in Thibodeaux, at Zam’s Bayou Swamp Tours, ABC filmed an episode of “Wife Swap.” Who knew? And second, Black himself had been featured in multiple Kia auto commercials run nationally and internationally. A clip for one is provided below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjiKv4A-7OY

Peacocks and other critters roam free at Wildlife Gardens.

Black remains an interesting character – part of a dying breed. The Cajun culture is running on its last true generation, and Black is doing his part to let people know this fabric of culture is bordering on extinction. It was blind luck that some advertising executives took his swamp boat tour and picked him to do the Kia ads. That was good publicity and good money, but doesn’t fix how the new generation of kids in Cajun country don’t speak French, and that corporate America has found its way into the swamps. Wal*Mart, video games, Internet and cable have taken a serious toll.

Still life in motion on Bayou Black.

Gibson, Thibodeaux and Houma aren’t what I thought they would look like. These folks don’t live in some hybrid-houseboat looking structures out on the bayou. They’re normal ranch and two-story jobs, that look like any other suburban home – it’s their backyard bayous that set them apart. You need a boat out here, but roads, canals and drawbridges allow folks to get around normally by car.

Meet Troy, he’s the stud in residence at Wildlife Gardens. Measuring 12 feet, Troy and his mate, Helen, produce 40 to 50 offspring annually.

Saints fever is rampant in The Big Easy and quickly spilling over into towns across America. But the epidemic is understandable. For the first time in history, the New Orleans Saints are going to the Super Bowl!

Sure, bring on the Cajun Thibodeaux and Boudreau jokes about hell freezing over. (CLICK HERE and scroll down to the fourth joke.) But the fact remains: The Saints have achieved an amazing feat.

So fans are buying up T-shirts as they would a bumper crop of succulent crawfish. One particular tee, “Our City, Our Home. Finish Strong,” is making record revenues. The amazing thing is that the slogan wasn’t masterminded in response to the playoff win.

During summer training, each player received Dan Green’s book, “Finish Strong: Amazing Stories of Courage and Inspiration.” It’s a book about choosing to respond courageously to the challenges before you. As a writer, I’d like to think Green’s book played a big role in influencing the Saints’ phenomenal season.

The season has one game left, and the Saints haven’t won it, yet. But wouldn’t it be nice if they did? Because things like that inspire. Things like that make me want to write.

How about you? What inspires you?

(By the way, Aunt Bev, I’ll take a small!)