Find the Good News with Oran Parker

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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  

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 

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