Life in the Louisiana Delta

Absolutely nothing could have prepared me for life in the Louisiana Delta. I am only now starting to love it. When I first saw the Delta for the first time, I was riding up on a school bus with the South Louisiana corp and the Greater New Orleans corp. Yes, Kira Orange Jones was there. Yes, Michael Tipton was there. Some of you in education may know them, but they are kind of a big deal in terms of what they have done for our children in film and education. We arrived with so much dedication and so little resources. That was the fantasy stage. Nothing seemed real. The vast amount of poverty was evident; we definitely saw our fair share of run-down homes, enterprise was virtually non existent upon first inspection and the location is extremely rural. However, it still did not hit me how much I would miss the city, target, restaurants, movie theatres, coffee shops, and yes some form of night-life. I missed it so much, I would drive back to Baton Rouge every weekend. It set in after a few months however that I could not afford that trip so often on a teacher's salary. So, reality was just that. I realized that I had left my friends and my options the day I moved up to the Delta. It has gotten so much better now though. Trust me that there is a lot more to this area than meets the eye.