Old news. Bad news. Fake news. Sometimes you want to shut down and get no news at all! I aim to change that by focusing on good people doing good works. I visit with artists, educators, civic & spiritual leaders, musicians, business owners, students, volunteers, and everyday citizens who are using their creativity, resources, and talents to bring hope, happiness, and goodness to their corner of the world.
Episodes
Wednesday Apr 24, 2019
Ep. 36 - The Chain Breaker Ft. Rusty Havens - Find the Good News with Oran Parker
Wednesday Apr 24, 2019
Wednesday Apr 24, 2019
For a long time, I thought of sex trafficking as something that happened somewhere else, or maybe as a plot device for action films. If I'm honest, I feel pretty ignorant even admitting that. Like, many of the things that plague our world, it was an out-of-sight, out-of-mind problem. It wasn’t happening in my life, and there was not information stream putting it in my view to make me aware. That’s where Rusty Havens comes into the picture, and it’s the reason I asked him to visit me on Find the Good News. Rusty is the founder of the Southwest Louisiana Abolitionists, a local group of volunteers with the mission of creating more awareness on human trafficking in our region, as well providing resources, services, and compassion to victims. That’s the part that seems to be the hardest in this world today—the compassion—but it isn’t for Rusty and the volunteers that work with him. Sitting across from Rusty, looking in his eyes as he spoke, I could see that he looks on the children of creation with eyes of love and mercy. He allows the suffering of others to enter his heart, to wound him with their wounds, turning that energy into loving service. When I get to visit with someone like Rusty Havens it’s hard to leave without a change taking place. I think it’s because the love he’s sharing, the compassion and care that he’s promoting are made of spirit. It breaks chains, enters through locked doors, seeps through the pores in prison walls, it enters where there is no space. Listen to Rusty Havens in this visit and you’ll be made aware of things that pierce through the comfy thin cushion that keeps the worlds suffering at bay, just outside the safe spaces we’ve built for ourselves. There are terrible things out there, tragedies and horrors, even if they are not our own,… but they are happening to our brethren,… they are happening right here at home. Does another’s pain and despair absolve us of right speech or right action, release from the duty of engagement, just because we were the lucky ones? I don’t know the answer to those questions, but I’ve believed for a long time that on some level we should each be asking some version of it. When Rusty Havens sat down at my table, I met a man who is asking that question. When he asked it his heart quivered, and it led him to do something good.
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FOR MORE INFO ABOUT RUSTY HAVENS>> www.instagram.com/rusty_havens or www.facebook.com/swlaAbolitionists
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THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY PARKER BRAND CREATIVE SERVICES >> www.ParkerBrandUp.com
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BEN VON DUKE'S HANDYMAN SERVICE >> www.facebook.com/BenVonDukeMaint or Call (337) 540-1355
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ASAP GLASS >> www.ASAPGlassCo.com or Call (337) 527-5455
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BRIMSTONE MUSEUM >> www.brimstonemuseum.org or Call (337) 527-0357
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Wednesday Apr 17, 2019
Ep. 35 - The Aha! Moment Ft. Devin Morgan - Find the Good News with Oran Parker
Wednesday Apr 17, 2019
Wednesday Apr 17, 2019
Time slipped away when I visited with Devin Morgan, the director of the Imperial Calcasieu Museum. Devin admitted right out the gate that he was a little nervous about coming in for his visit on Find the Good News as he doesn't really care to be a front-facing spokesperson. If he was nervous, I only knew from his admission, because he was straightforward and even to speak with, and for a person that doesn’t care for the spotlight, he settles into it quite quickly. Devin Morgan is the kind of person that steps into a role with a spirit of service and curiosity. He’s the kind of man that doesn’t let not knowing how to do something stop him from doing his very best. It seems his spirit of volunteerism has attracted like minds, creating a network of know-how that he can call on when he has an idea he needs to bring to life for the Imperial Calcasieu Museum. In listening to Devin describe his day trips, it was easy to draw a line back to the way he interacts with visitors to the museum. He has a travelers heart, and it shows in his conversations with the wayfarers visiting Southwest Louisiana. If you’re one of the people that often says, “There’s nothing to do here,” then Devin has a reasonable solution to that—get out there and volunteer at an event. You’ll find plenty is going on, and many good people to do things with. When I invited Devin to the show, I had no idea how long we’d actually visit—I never do with any guest—but visit we did, and our conversation is good. I hope you’ll buckle up and journey with us all the way. If you do, you’ll meet Devin Morgan the way I did, a good man that loves this place we call home, a man that wants to share that good news with everyone he meets.
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FOR MORE INFO ABOUT DEVIN MORGAN >> www.instagram.com/devoprinting/ or wwww.facebook.com/dmorgan.printing
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THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY PARKER BRAND CREATIVE SERVICES >> www.ParkerBrandUp.com
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BEN VON DUKE'S HANDYMAN SERVICE >> www.facebook.com/BenVonDukeMaint or Call (337) 540-1355
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ASAP GLASS >> www.ASAPGlassCo.com or Call (337) 527-5455
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BRIMSTONE MUSEUM >> www.brimstonemuseum.org or Call (337) 527-0357
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Wednesday Apr 10, 2019
Ep. 34 - The Beat Goes On Ft. Jeremy Boudreaux - Find the Good News with Oran Parker
Wednesday Apr 10, 2019
Wednesday Apr 10, 2019
Find the Good News has been a healthy mix of people I know, people I don’t, and a lot of good people that I’ve been indirectly connected to through my friendships with others. This show has been an experiment. What happens when you ask this simple question; where are the good people? When you put that signal out there, you get a signal back, and that’s how I met local musician, music teacher, and business owner, Jeremy Boudreaux. Jeremy and I connected online, through a friend-of-a-friend, and not long after we made first contact, we lost a dear friend that connected us across space and time. You see, for a long time I’ve felt that there’s a beat, a drumming, a pulse that’s resounding through the past, the present, and the future. If we take a minute to listen, we can hear it, not with our ears, but somewhere deep in our cells, in a place inside our bodies where we can feel our ancestors, all of our individual histories syncing up, plucking the strings in our spiritual hearts. It’s that beat that makes you look closely at where you’ve come from, all the things that had to happen to get you right where you are today. It’s the beat that vibrates out from your actions, the beat that rumbles inside the people around you, the beat that people will hear long after you’re gone. In speaking with Jeremy, I felt that deep percussion. Where did Jeremy’s cadence come from? While many people in their twenties were enjoying the fresh air and freedom of being a young adult, Jeremy Boudreaux was beating cancer, a fight that tightened snares, refined his rhythm and led him on to plans and achievements he hadn’t considered. He speaks with a sharp tap, honest and direct, and I found he embraces a kind of masculine compassion that I feel is severely lacking in this world. After visiting with Jeremy, I’d say there’s nothing wrong with a little chest thumping if you’re doing it to wake your own loving heart. Listen to this episode, and I think you’ll feel it in your chest too, the thump-thump-thump of something trying to get in, and maybe something trying to get out. Go ahead and let it. That’s Jeremy Boudreaux’s story taking up shop in your mind, then opening the windows so others can hear. So, make a little room. Set up a drum, and let the good news beat go on.
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FOR MORE INFO ABOUT JEREMY BOUDREAUX >> www.facebook.com/jeremy.keith.boudreaux or www.instagram.com/jeremyboudreaux_music_educator/
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THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY PARKER BRAND CREATIVE SERVICES >> www.ParkerBrandUp.com
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SUPPORT OUR ADVERTISERS
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BEN VON DUKE'S HANDYMAN SERVICE >> www.facebook.com/BenVonDukeMaint or Call (337) 540-1355
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ASAP GLASS >> www.ASAPGlassCo.com or Call (337) 527-5455
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BRIMSTONE MUSEUM >> www.brimstonemuseum.org or Call (337) 527-0357
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Wednesday Apr 03, 2019
Ep. 33 - The Mentor Ft. Aleta Barnes - Find the Good News with Oran Parker
Wednesday Apr 03, 2019
Wednesday Apr 03, 2019
I don’t think it would be very hard to Find the Good News in this world if every young person could have a teacher like the one I had between 1990 and 1992. I imagine that many, many students who had this special lady as a mentor would tell a similar story about how she taught them a lesson that they still use today, or that she showed them a side of themselves that they didn’t know they had. Perhaps she encouraged them to do something they didn’t think they could do, pushed them to get outside of their shell, get over their fears. Maybe it was that nudge that has made all of the difference since. All of those stories would be true if you had a speech teacher like Aleta Barnes. Not too long ago I ran into Aleta at the Sulphur High Homecoming parade. I say her smiling face, and we had a chance to visit for quite a while. It was a joy to see that familiar twinkle, experience her , and kindness, and the sound of her familiar voice only made me realize just how much I’d missed her. Time melted away, and I was 16 and 17 again, thrilled to be meeting parts of myself I never knew existed. Sure, Aleta’s class was called “speech,” but in truth, we were learning how to communicate, not only with others but with ourselves. Aleta taught us to look inside at who we really are, to face our fears, to calm our minds, to cultivate understanding and empathy toward others, and retain and recall information, which only made me hungrier for more. For over 20 years I thought fondly of Aleta and her lessons, and people that know me well would often notice how often I would bring those lessons into my conversations. I think it’s important to give credit where it is deserved, and Aleta Barnes deserves a lot of credit for many of the good things I’ve been a part of. In fact, I truly believe that if I hadn’t been blessed to have Aleta Barnes in my life, I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you behind this microphone today. When I asked her to come to visit with me on Find the Good News, she graciously agreed. When she came to visit me in the studio, I got to do something that so many don’t. I was able to tell my good teacher, my mentor, all of the ways she changed my life. I got to express how much she means to me still. We had a wonderful conversation, one I’m so happy to share with you. I hope the voice that imparted all of those lessons on me so many ago, will be good news for you like it was for me.
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FOR MORE INFO ABOUT ALETA BARNES >> www.facebook.com/aleta.barnes
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THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY PARKER BRAND CREATIVE SERVICES >> www.ParkerBrandUp.com
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SUPPORT OUR ADVERTISERS
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BEN VON DUKE'S HANDYMAN SERVICE >> www.facebook.com/BenVonDukeMaint or Call (337) 540-1355
•••••••••••••
ASAP GLASS >> www.ASAPGlassCo.com or Call (337) 527-5455
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BRIMSTONE MUSEUM >> www.brimstonemuseum.org or Call (337) 527-0357
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