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 Jun 26, 2019
Wednesday Jun 26, 2019
If your heart is invested in a creative endeavor, and you're in a relationship, there's almost nothing better than having the full support of your partner or spouse. There is a feeling of uncertainty when you step out into the unknown as a creative. It can feel a bit like shifting sand beneath your feet, but knowing that someone is there for you with faith like mountains can turn shifting-sand to the firmness of rock, making each step more stable. While you're honing your craft, figuring out how to navigate the uncharted way, your other is there with love, encouragement, ideas, and support. That's the type of solidity of faith and support I got to witness between Justin & Emily Martindale when they came to sit at my table on Find the Good News. Between the two of them, you'll find a creative carousel of talents. Justin is an accomplished and talented musician, producer, and designer, while Emily is a sought after photographer and writer. They are both reflective creators that find a great deal of joy in all the works they do. In short, they seem to be having fun together, supporting each other's works, and building a line-up of services that are helping other creatives bring their ideas to life. At the very heart of their relationship is a desire to help each other breath life into their ideas, and that energy and support spill off of them in waves. Emily nurtures Justin's passion for music, while Justin actively cheers Emily into new ventures in writing, and on and on they go and grow. In Justin's music and Emily's images, you'll find an expert quality that appeals to the eye and the ear. In Justin and Emily's story, you'll discover good news, and perhaps a little song that smiles in your heart.
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FOR MORE INFO ABOUT JUSTIN MARTINDALE >> www.facebook.com/justin.martindale.5 or www.instagram.com/justin_martindale_music/
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FOR MORE INFO ABOUT EMILY MARTINDALE >> www.facebook.com/EmilyRoseMartindale or www.instagram.com/martindalemediagroup/
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Wednesday Jun 19, 2019
Wednesday Jun 19, 2019
When you produce a show about good people doing good works, when you open that door, you never know who's going sit across the table from you, or how they're going to end up there. Someone contacts me and says, "This guy really helped my family and me; you should get him on Find the Good News," it's hard to resist making the first contact. I've learned to trust my listeners because they've been right every single time, and that track record didn't change when local counselor Bruce Plauché sat down behind the microphone. There was an instant easiness with Bruce, and our conversation flowed naturally from the jump. Bruce used our natural affinity for comic books and science fiction as the building blocks of our discussion, not all dissimilar from the way he uses them to help the people he works with to build better lives for themselves. He's a natural talker and listener, and I found that he engaged everything I asked with enthusiasm. At Bruce's center, I experienced an authentic nature and honesty, qualities that were flourished by petals of his quick wit and humor. If you tune in to this show because people share openly, then you've picked a good one because Bruce illustrates just how healing it can be to open up in a healthy way. He's teaching children and adults how to develop more robust communication and relationship practices through role-playing, and he sees results. What I learned from Bruce is that it's essential to understand the origins of others, and it's of equal importance to know where you come from as well. Sometimes you have to roll the dice and mix things up to discover your saving grace, your superpower. The good news is that in trying on a lot of masks and cloaks, you sometimes find the one that fits just right, and you may discover your true face in the process.
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FOR MORE INFO ABOUT BRUCE PLAUCHÉ >> www.facebook.com/bruce.plauche or https://nh-cc.com/index.html
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Wednesday Jun 12, 2019
Wednesday Jun 12, 2019
If you want to find a quiet place to think, I can’t think of any place more peaceful than a cemetery. There’s a reason we call it the quiet of the grave. It was in one of these garden’s of the dead where my life found purpose and meaning over 23 years ago. Each year I go that that sacred place, to revisit the cause for my desire to awaken, and my hope that we—that I—can be a more loving and compassionate being. I always go there alone, but I’m never truly alone when I’m there. It was this affinity for sacred spaces and final resting places that drew me to Chris Breaux, the owner of Monumental Life, so I asked if he would share his good works with me on Find the Good News. Chris asked me to take a road trip to visit with him at Orange Grove Cemetery in Lake Charles, Louisiana so I could experience his service to the dead first hand. Orange Grove Cemetery is home to the largest display of flags for American veterans in the United States, and it is the abode for the bones of many of Southwest Louisiana’s founding fathers and mothers. In seeking his own founding mothers and fathers, Chris found a new calling, a way to honor those that have come before us, that lived, loved, laughed, suffered, and cried,… just like us. Since his initial motivation, I would describe Chris’s work as a personal piety, and crusade of sorts, a mission to remind us that everything shiny we chase after is fleeting, temporary, dust and that the most glorious crown we could ever have isn’t made of earthly jewels, or polished gold. Our greatest treasure is a life well-lived, a good heart, and service to one another. Beneath blues skies, with a chorus of birds, and cooled by the shadow cast of 200-year-old oaks, I sat down with Chris for an extended visit and discovered he has made a journey, not unlike mine, or possibly yours. There have been joys, there have been sorrows, and there has been a change of heart. Not only did he share his motivations with me, but he also graciously allowed me to assist him in his holy work, in honoring the lives of those that came before us through the revitalization of their monuments. It was a memento mori, a day to remember that we too must die, but before we cross through that gate and enter the great mystery we should find the capacity within ourselves to truly appreciate the good we see before us, and also do whatever good we can.
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FOR MORE INFO ABOUT CHRIS BREAUX >> www.facebook.com/chris.breaux.395 or www.facebook.com/monumentallifelc
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Wednesday Jun 05, 2019
Wednesday Jun 05, 2019
There’s nothing better than a good origin story, especially the ones where the little details and chance encounters could have made everything turn out different. What if the main character had arrived a little earlier, or a little later in their tale? What if they had gone left instead of right? When local potter, Rex Alexander, came by to visit Find the Good News, those were the types of legendary details that stood out to me. It seems to me that Rex has always had a desire to create, a part of himself that was looking for its place in the sun. Rex’s story is of a chance encounter, smoke, fire, a path, when on the right day at the right time—and with the right people—the course of Rex Alexander’s life changed. I personally love Rex’s pottery, especially his mugs, and if you own one, then you’ll know what I mean when I say they look like they crawled right out of the earth into your hand. When I drink from his mugs, it changes the drink, not in any physical way that’s discernible. His containers change your mind if you allow them to because they are imbued with the ethereal energy of his story, containing his passion for sharing what he knows, and the joy he finds in experimenting with the medium he was called to use. These vessels were made by his hands with love. I find I get a lot out of discovering people’s hinge moments, the things that happen in their life that places them on a new trajectory, creating a new timeline. I can’t say that I didn’t wonder what would have happened had Rex Alexander walked past his destiny just a few minutes earlier, a few minutes later, or if he’d decided to take another route on the day that the hinges pivoted, the day his door opened. Perhaps there’s an alternate reality out there where Rex Alexander isn’t throwing, turning, and shaping clay into the great works we know him by. If so, I’d say I’m glad I live in this one where I get to share his good news just as it’s been formed.
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FOR MORE INFO ABOUT REX ALEXANDER >> www.facebook.com/Rexthepotter or www.instagram.com/rexalexanderpotter/
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Wednesday May 29, 2019
Wednesday May 29, 2019
If there’s one recurring theme on this show it is that people feel a little worn down from taking a “business-as-usual” approach to life. Many are looking for a fresh approach to the way they work, play, interact, eat, and move. What’s even more prevalent is that many people are using their disenchantment with the status quo as an opportunity to start over, to rebuild from the ground up, and then they’re sharing their journey with others in the hopes they can make a change to. I recently had the pleasure to visit one of those special people when Meghan Abraham, the creator of Fresh Fuel, came to visit me on Find the Good News. Meghan hit the status quo, got fed up with it, then changed her life, and she continues to change it daily by focusing on critical elements. She wanted to eat better. She wanted to be more active. She wanted the changes she made to areas to be practical for the average person trying to make their way in a 24-hour world. If you follow Meghan on social media then you’ll find very quickly that she values honesty and transparency. Is she living her hashtag “best life?” You bet she is, and as it turns out her best life is her real life. She shares the good days and bad ones because let’s face it,… that’s what real life is made of. In sharing this way she is encouraging others to take that first fresh step toward a brand new life. With Fresh Fuel, she wants to help you start cooking and eating fresher food at home, and by taking the planning off your plate she believes you’ll put healthier food on the table for you, and your family. Beyond that, I believe Meghan follows the “just do something” philosophy. If you want to make a change try taking a different path, but don’t stand still. I gathered that she believes there is a new you on standby, waiting for you do that next simple thing that’s going to put a whole series of fresh new actions into motion, making each day a celebration of life. She’s here to help you so you don’t have to get kickstarted alone. Change can be hard, and Meghan is here to help make it easier. If you’re parked in idle and not sure where to start, Meghan Abraham has good news.
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FOR MORE INFO ABOUT MEGHAN ABRAHAM & FRESH FUEL >> www.facebook.com/meghanhanksabraham or https://thefreshfuel.com/
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Wednesday May 22, 2019
Wednesday May 22, 2019
You know the old saying, “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.” I was never fond of that saying, to be honest. I’ve known a lot of people with a surplus of lemons, little strength or help to squeeze them, much less sugar to sweeten things up. That said, I’ve still come to believe it is in the womb of our adversities that our gifts gestate, and eventually bloom into virtues that manifest blessings for others. That’s exactly the type of tale I got to enjoy when I sat down to visit with Susan Riehn on Find the Good News. Susan is the director of “Families Helping Families of Southwest Louisiana,” a non-profit organization and team that puts people with disabilities, their caregivers, and their families in touch with resources they may not have been aware of otherwise. Selfishly, I love to fill my mind and feed my spirit with stories like the one Susan shared. The beauty is not in the story alone, but in the echo and rhyme I sense in it, a set of somewhat common words and tales that reinforce what I hear over and over again on this podcast; “I saw a way I could help my fellow beings, and I chose to act.” That’s really what’s at the heart of Susan’s story. She had a desperate need—she did not know where to turn—and a helper arrived. Her story is now the story of “Families Helping Families of Southwest Louisiana;” a willingness to be a helper for those without one. If you listen to enough volunteers and servants in our community—especially those at “Families Helping Families of Southwest Louisiana”—you’ll hear some version of this story of the able helper. I heard this good news clearly when I spoke with Susan Riehn, and I believe fully that you will hear it too.
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FOR MORE INFO ABOUT AMANDA YELLOTT >> www.facebook.com/charliesuea or www.instagram.com/a._man._duh/
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Wednesday May 15, 2019
Wednesday May 15, 2019
What happens when a fan becomes a guest? That’s what I found out when I asked wonder-fan Amanda Yellott to come in and visit me on Find the Good News. With a young podcast like this one, it’s a little easier to engage with listeners in a personal way, and Amanda is precisely the type of listener a show like this needs. She’s engaged, introspective, encouraging, willing to challenge the thoughts and ideas presented, and open to absorbing new perspectives and practices as takeaways she can apply to her own life. What more could any podcaster ask for? As I got to know Amanda as a fan, I ended up learning about her specific good news, her good works. Amanda is the director of the dance program at the Whistle Stop, a program designed to engage youth using dance as a vehicle, giving them a place to receive mentorship, learn exciting new skills, and work with others. These children may be learning to dance literally, but they are also learning to dance with life metaphorically, to take the right steps, to find the rhythm, and move with the ebb-and-flow. As much as I enjoyed speaking with Amanda about her good news as the director of the Whistle Stop dance program, it was her perspective as a listener that I think I got the most out of. Our conversation was a bit like entering a wormhole, wondering where exactly where we’d travel as we cross the bridge, and wondering where we would come out on the other side. What was quite lovely and refreshing was that we didn’t always agree, or have the same perspective, and that was a-okay. For that solitary reason, my visit with Amanda Yellott was pretty good news to me.
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FOR MORE INFO ABOUT AMANDA YELLOTT >> www.facebook.com/charliesuea or www.instagram.com/a._man._duh/
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Wednesday May 08, 2019
Wednesday May 08, 2019
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Wednesday May 01, 2019
Wednesday May 01, 2019
Tea. Like many things, it’s always felt like there was a layer to uncover. Perhaps I’ve observed it, or read about it, but there seemed to be some type of atmosphere around it, an allure that brings people together in the sharing of the little warm cup, or maybe its the steeping, the waiting for heated water to bring the dried leaves, flowers, peels, or berries back to life. Whatever magic tea holds, it was obviously present when Julia O’Carroll, the owner of Tea at Walden, came to visit me on Find the Good News. Oddly enough, Julia and I didn’t share a cup of tea during her visit. In our sharing, I felt something else brewing. I like to think that from a certain perspective one might even see of our conversation as a type of tea, not one that you can drink or taste, but consumable and comforting nonetheless. Our cup of metaphorical tea contains the ingredients we brought to our visit, our sufferings, tragedies, pains, old regrets, deep fears, with notes of our beautiful hopes and dreams, wonderful wishes for positive change, and our personal desires to help others form new habits that will bring them peace and tranquility in a world that celebrates busyness with new fervor each day. The more our ingredients steeped in the waters of our conversation, the more they flowered into a drink that warmed my heart. Julia O’Carroll wants something very simple, and ultimately accomplishable. She wants you to sit with a cup of tea, to give yourself a moment in time to just be with it, to inhale the aroma as the leaves come to life. Through the tea she wants you to find a space—not unlike Thoreau’s cabin at Walden—where you can simply be, reflect, and perhaps get in touch with a part of yourself that can get muddled in the pulling and hauling that's filled with the pings and dings of our lives. Find a quiet place, put on a kettle, cradle a special cup, and pick a tea that appeals to your palette. Let the leaves steep while your ears listen to something good.
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FOR MORE INFO ABOUT JULIA O'CARROLL >> www.facebook.com/julia.ocarroll or www.facebook.com/TeaatWalden
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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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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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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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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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Wednesday Mar 27, 2019
Wednesday Mar 27, 2019
I don’t think Diana Vallette knew that she was one of the many inspirations behind Find the Good News. How could she? We’d never met face-to-face, and we didn’t really know each other all that well. I’d been watching Diana’s activity online for quite a while before asking her to visit with me, and I was intrigued by the person so willing to share her spiritual journey. Who was this Catholic mother that was making these really personal videos, sharing her inner thoughts, questions, concerns, insecurities, and doubts? After doing a bit of digging what I discovered was a woman whose testimony revealed she had been an atheist, living in a framework that outlined any kind of God or Creator as a fictional story that adults like to tell themselves, not all that different from the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, or Santa Clause, a narrative that had been imprinted on her as a child. As all children do, Diana grew up, and eventually grew out of atheism and into a relationship with God. I might be wrong, but I believe that it was her doubt and insecurities about a Creator that has created her ability to reach people the way she does. Diana is on a path of authentic discovery, and what it seems she’s discovered is a way to approach friendship with God in a humble, authentic way, and she’s been called to share what she’s learned with others. That path isn’t always smooth or pretty. She’s doesn’t pretend to be a bright and shiny Catholic that has all the answers; she presents herself plainly and without a veil. She is showing other seekers that you can approach the Creator in doubt, fear, worry, and confusion. She’s found an embrace waiting on the other side of all those things. She’s been called to speak, to write, to share, even though she’s clearly been terrified to do any of those things. Regardless, she has stepped out front anyway,… and she’s sometimes taken the heat that comes with it. Her willingness to share encouraged me to share many things that I’ve kept to myself, things I’ve doubted, things I’ve feared. I share them for the same reason that she does, in the hope that by sharing the truth it will motivate another to find a spiritual path. I highly value people that allow themselves to be seen as they are; we need more of that in this world. By revealing our true faces we can have more authentic relationships. This is the face God sees, and if we’re being honest with ourselves it’s the face we recognize too, though we may fear to show it to the world. Diana Vallette is touching people by putting her true face forward and there are very real, very good fruits to picked from what she’s growing.
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FOR MORE INFO ABOUT DIANA VALLETTE >> www.facebook.com/DianaVDorta or www.instagram.com/dianadivulges or www.dianadivulges.com
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Wednesday Mar 20, 2019
Wednesday Mar 20, 2019
I had no idea what was in store for me the day that local historian and author of “Lost Lake Charles" Adley Cormier sat down in my vehicle to do a ride along as part of a historic tour project in Lake Charles, Louisiana. At every stop, corner, street, and ally, Adley had some information or intimate knowledge. I was fascinated by how quickly he could reveal the history of seemingly insignificant places and landmarks, pointing out interesting and forgotten details the brought me back in time. I left that ride along wanting to hear more. Though many years had passed since we’d spoken, I wanted to get Adley on Find the Good News and continue that conversation. When I made the request, Adley enthusiastically agreed. That’s the thing that I enjoyed most about our conversation; his enthusiasm. When he speaks of Southwest Louisiana history there is an energy, joy, and honesty that makes the spaces come to life. Adley moves time backward and forward with ease, bringing you to the Spanish Louisiana coast when the Acadians arrived, on to the business exploits of the infamous privateer Jean Lafitte, through the great Lake Charles fire. These are the legendary people and events we’ve all heard of, the tales we think we know, but Adley reveals a minutia of details—tiny things—sprinkled through our history, binding one thing to the other, an infinite number of dominos falling in every direction building a chain of events that affect the lives of each person living in our region today. His uncanny ability to pull threads between seemingly disconnected moments in local history is really something to behold. Adley sees the web that weaves through the timeline and how it affects every generation in turn. hen you get a glimpse at if from Adley’s perspective you want to see more. What he shares helps generate a sense of place, culture, value, and honestly… tolerance. When we know where we come from we can see that we are not all that different from others. For me, that’s one of the first steps in generating understanding. That’s one of the gifts of Adley’s willingness to share. I’m glad that history put Adley and me together for that ride along all those years ago. That one little moment in my personal history led to Adley sharing his good news with me, and now I get to share that with you.
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FOR MORE INFO ABOUT ADLEY CORMIER >> www.facebook.com/adley.cormier
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Wednesday Mar 13, 2019
Wednesday Mar 13, 2019
Irvin Louque, the Tuten Park Programs Manager for the City of Lake Charles, came by and visited me on Find the Good News. Through his job as Programs Manager, Irvin has an opportunity to impact and educate the community on exactly how important it is to kindly consider and engage the natural world with care. After talking with Irvin, I’ve learned that I need to change my language, because there is no "natural world" over there, around the corner, or in some faraway place that we have to visit. Irvin stresses that the beauty and diversity of the natural world is everywhere, not just in our city parks and nature retreats, and it’s certainly not something to be feared. He reminds that we can touch nature in our yards, our homes, and within ourselves. It seems to me that this is his mission, to cultivate an individual and social awareness about the relationships between people, creatures, and the environments we all share. He’s furthered that mission by forming the Southwest Louisiana Master Naturalists, a group that regularly offers nature observation, study courses, and events, including backyard bird counts, nature walks, insect studies, as well as plant species identification and management. To be honest, I didn’t know all of these activities existed right here in Southwest Louisiana and that I could take part. Making efforts to harbor a high consideration for nature and its processes is not just a paying job for Irvin Louque; It’s a way of life. He has turned his childhood interest in our flying feathered brethren into a profession and message that is sorely needed today more than ever; we share this world and we need to live like it. We should strive towards deeper looking, conscious production and consumption, and consider the relationships, the interbeing, between ourselves, our environments, and the tapestry of life that we engage with each and every day. From Irvin’s perspective, it seems, everything is important and is worth understanding. The energy Irvin Louque puts toward sharing his knowledge is good news for the places and spaces that make up our homes, our communities, and for the other children of creation, we share them with.
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FOR MORE INFO ABOUT IRVIN LOUQUE >> www.facebook.com/ilouque or www.instagram.com/ilouque
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Wednesday Mar 06, 2019
Wednesday Mar 06, 2019
Carl & Chelsea Boudreaux—the owners of the Yoga Center in Lake Charles and Stellar Beans Coffee House and Edibles—came in for a visit on Find the Good News. The three of us used to orbit some of the same friend-groups in high school. For as much as you think you know about people, there’s an ever-unfolding amount that you don’t. This was especially true for me regarding this couple. It had been over 20 years since I’d spoken to Carl or Chelsea, and as it turns out, we had a lot in common back in the 90s, and even more in common now. Most people open businesses to make money—I mean that’s the bottom line and quite the point—but in visiting with Carl & Chelsea I picked up on something else, a motivation outside the realm of profit-and-loss. Life, as it does, put stress on these two. They took the hint. They intuited that they needed to make a change in their professional lives, a change that would reduce their stress levels, increase their overall well-being, and refocus their energies toward being a service to others and to each other. That’s exactly what they did. With Carl’s early interest and practice of Zen Buddhist meditation and Chelsea’s adoption of Yoga for health benefits, they were poised to be the right people at the right time to do what they did next. Carl & Chelsea Boudreaux took the individual elements of their lives, the raw goods they’d gathered in their journey together and fused them into a direction that gave birth to The Yoga Center of Lake Charles, providing a solid center for peace, health, and equanimity in downtown Lake Charles. They’ve spread that energy from the Yoga Center to Stellar Beans—the living room of Lake Charles—which is right next door. Between the two spaces, you’ll find a karmic loop of events and activities open and accessible to everyone. Sometimes we know the spaces and the places that make a city home, but we don’t know the stories, the little details, the auspicious circumstances and synchronistic events that have to tumble into place to bring good things to life. With the pairing of this lovely couple—my new old friends Carl & Chelsea Boudreaux—the stars aligned, the bones fell just right, and some really good things were planted right here at home.
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FOR MORE INFO ABOUT CARL BOUDREAUX >> www.facebook.com/boudahhh CHELSEA BOUDREAUX >> www.facebook.com/chelsea.g.boudreaux THE YOGA CENTER OF LAKE CHARLES >> www.yogalakecharles.com or STELLAR BEANS COFFEE HOUSE & EDIBLES >> www.stellarbeanscafe.com
Wednesday Feb 27, 2019
Wednesday Feb 27, 2019
Sometimes to talk about good things we need to talk about bad things. We have to go into the darkness of the cave, but make sure we’re lighting lanterns along the way. Laura Grantham Broussard sat down with me for a visit on Find the Good News, and our conversation was a bit like that. Laura caught my eye online because she was one of the few voices ringing out in our area taking an active position of compassion and mercy for immigrants and asylum seekers. She’s one of the one’s lighting those lanterns on the way into the cave. If I’m being honest, I typically feel a good bit of fear when the subject of migrants, foreigners, asylum seekers, or border walls come up. These are volatile times, and as a past guest of the show once said, “You can’t change anyone’s mind anymore.” Still, that’s one of the unwritten missions of this little show, isn’t it? Shouldn’t we all make an effort to have honest and elevated conversations—even uncomfortable conversations—that might cause a shift in thinking or a change of heart? I’d say that’s the kind of conversation I have with Laura in this episode. She speaks frankly about the immediate needs of the families that she serves through the Immigrant Families Together network and reveals many of the catalysts for their migration to safer lands. What I really love about Laura Broussard is that she’s actually doing something. She’s not sitting on the sidelines. She’s using her voice on new media networks to help bend the bow toward social justice, but she’s also putting actual energy into serving our brothers and sisters, these children of creation—and that’s what they are—manifesting resources for families that are totally at the mercy of a stranger’s kindness. That hope for kindness is not what they always receive. Laura has that unique knack for looking at history to help generate her compassion. Because she can see where she’s come from, she can see others as herself, and in turn, treat them as she would want to be treated. She sees the common ground that we all share, the things that bind us, and that many of the comforts and securities we enjoy simply come from being born in the right place and the right time—good old fashioned luck. It’s easy to find voices stirring the pot with the long end of the stick, voices that use degrading rhetoric that dehumanizes immigrants, making their troubles easier to disregard. Laura understands that they are people—just like you and I—and they are the ones getting the short end of the stick in this pot we stir with our words. Laura Grantham Broussard, all of the locals that support her efforts, and the Immigrant Families Together network are using their words and works to help these people in desperate situations. Maybe there are lanterns hanging along the walls of the deep, dark cave. Maybe there’s a light on outside as well. Maybe people like Laura are helping to transform these dark spaces into comfortable and safe homes filled with love, friends, and resources. For mothers and fathers wandering far from their homes and wondering what’s next, I believe it’s the good news they’ve been praying and hoping for.
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FOR MORE INFO ABOUT LAURA GRANTHAM BROUSSARD & THE IMMIGRANT FAMILIES TOGETHER NETWORK >> www.facebook.com/lg.broussard and https://immigrantfamiliestogether.com/donate-to-a-mom
Wednesday Feb 20, 2019
Wednesday Feb 20, 2019
Brook Hanemann, the director of Banners at McNeese State University, agreed to visit with me on Find the Good News. Like other guests, I knew very little about her before our conversation. Also, like other guests, it was an absolute pleasure to get to know her. There’s something thoughtful and poetic in the way Brook speaks. She often closed her eyes when she would recount stories of her youth, and her descriptions of her childhood haunts were sweet, dripping with heavenly honey. I could feel the light on my own skin in her words, as Brook took me back to the places and people that shaped her, those forever-experiences enshrined in her mind, the catalysts for all of her talents, passions, and dreams. Theatre, art, dance! It’s all there in her timeline. She shared joy and loss, life and love,… death… and birth. As her name implies, we meandered gently downstream, from one lovely experience to the next, never regretting a single ripple or eddy as we babbled along around sharp rocks and soft sandy banks. Brook has a knack for sharing the experiences that shaped her, and this gift gives more merit to her insights. Her story of the sugar bowl—the name of this episode—is revealed in her retelling of a great blessing. You see, Brook was baptized on the isle of Ireland, the land of shepherds and saints, at the hands of one of the most insightful and good-hearted men to have ever walked the earth. Her delivery of this spiritual experience is not something I’ll soon forget, and it imprinted upon me the importance of being truly present and always humble as a child of creation. Brook looks deeply into her own timeline, the whole of her history, and she captures that energy, the full force of that magic, then puts it to work manifesting new and glorious things. I have to believe that some of that mystic, ethereal dust is sprinkled on offerings of Banners at McNeese State University. The good news is that if we look closely at this cultural program we’ll see a bit of Brook Hanemann’s history flowing comfortably into it, fusing and melting directly into our own.
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FOR MORE INFO ABOUT BROOK HANEMANN & BANNERS AT McNEESE STATE UNIVERSITY >> www.facebook.com/brook.hanemann and www.facebook.com/bannersatmcneesestateuniversity
Wednesday Feb 13, 2019
Wednesday Feb 13, 2019
There are people in our lives that everyone knows, and that everyone holds in high regard. That respect often comes from the actions and good works of those individuals. Sometimes it’s their good nature that places them in such high regard. More often, it’s some combination of both. I’m always looking to meet them, these people who bind good works with their good nature, and share their heart and soul with you on Find the Good News. Matt Young, the director of 1911 Historic City Hall Arts and Cultural Center in Lake Charles, Louisiana, is one of those people. I’ve spoken to Matt many, many times over the years, and while our conversations were never very long, I was always left feeling better than I did before the encounter. Some have said that's Matt’s special gift, the ability to make a person feel like their conversation was the most important one that he had all day. I wouldn’t disagree with that. Matt’s friendly, charming, articulate, and professional; precisely the person anyone would want representing their project, group, organization, or movement,… but I’m always interested in the source. Where do these good qualities come from? What gives rise to them? What’s holding them all together? For Matt, like many of us, it is in the golden seam, the gilded glue that celebrates the cracks and fractures instead of running from them or denying their existence. Like many—like all—Matt Young has faced his own doubts, insecurities, and personal pains. He’s covered his true-and-best self—as many of us have done—fearing that in revealing all our parts we would lose many in our circles of friends, family, and peers. By bringing all the parts of his life out into the open, Matt has actually been witness to something wonderful, something that I would wish for all people. It is the golden seam that binds people to each other, the shining goodness that can be found in the beings around us if we give them a chance to be brighter, the glimmer of hope that invades the cracks and fractures, that heals, that unites. Yes, we talked about his professional journey to where he is today, as well as the new and exciting things that he, and those working with him, have in store for us at 1911 Historic City Hall. While all of those things are soaked in good news for Southwest Louisiana, I believe it’s Matt Young’s heart, radiating genuine kindness and goodness, that will make all of his good works and future endeavors pure gold.
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THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY PARKER BRAND CREATIVE SERVICES >> www.ParkerBrandUp.com
FOR MORE INFO ABOUT MATT YOUNG & 1911 HISTORIC CITY HALL >> www.instagram.com/mattyoung84 or www.facebook.com/mattyoung84 and www.facebook.com/historiccityhallartsandculture