It's Acadiana: Out to Lunch

Here's a question for you. What is Art?
There are various possible answers. From the personal and pragmatic, "I know it when I see it," to the wide-ranging and ideological, "Anything that holds up a mirror to society."
When we talk about art on a show that is about business, I can tell you one thing that art is not. It's not something you go into to get rich. It's hard to imagine any other human endeavor that we regard as essential to our well-being and happiness, being as openly unrewarded. Could you even imagine the National Football League as being a non-profit? It would be laughable. But it's totally acceptable for arts institutions to be un-funded, receive no special tax-credit status, and to make no money. That's why both of Aileen's guests on this edition of out to Lunch Acadaiana have businesses that are blatantly, openly, legally, and factually, "non-profit."

Sam Oliver is the Executive Director of the Acadiana Center for the Arts. The AcA is a home for the Arts with a capital "A." They showcase visual and performing arts. They serve over 300,000 people a year, and pay over 2,700 artists.

Cindie Axtell has a more modest but extraordinarily innovative arts operation. It's called Deuxieme Vie Creative, which is French for "Second Life Creative." It's a unique combination of a recycling program, an arts program, artist studio, art school, and art gallery. The concept is simple - if you have something you are about to throw in the trash that could be used to create art, don't throw it out, take it down to Deuxieme Vie Creative. That something could be as obvious art supplies, or less obvious, like maybe a piece of a vacuum cleaner that's broken that somebody could use in a piece of artwork. And if you're an artist, or an aspiring artist, you can go to Deuxime Vie Creative and use the recycled supplies to create art.

Photos over lunch at Chopsticks restaurant on Ambassador Caffrey Parkway in Lafayette.

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If you'd lived in the United States in the early 1900's, you would have been part of a fierce debate about alcohol. For many years there were people in Washington DC, and all across the country, who believed that alcohol was a drug that was so bad for us, that for our own good it should be totally banned. Eventually, that argument won out. In January 1920, alcohol was banned for sale or consumption in the United States. It was outlawed by a Constitutional Amendment. The 18th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States prohibited the existence of alcohol.
The era that followed saw a tumultuous response to the ban. It included bootlegging, the rise of organized crime that controlled the underground alcohol industry, and the sale in stores of what was knows as "medicinal whisky." Eventually, 13 years later, the 21st Amendment to the Constitution of the United States repealed prohibition.
A hundred years from now, when a historian is recounting the history of Cannabis and Cannabis products in the United States, what do you think they'll say about where we are today on the timeline of events? To help answer that question, and to tell us perhaps where we're going with the future of cannabis products - like CBD, hemp, and Marijuana - Aileen Bennett is joined by two of Acadiana's leading exponents of Cannabis products and of Marijuana, Dr Chad Rossitter and Travis DeYoung.

Travis is probably the better known because he's been the focus of both media and law enforcement attention for a good chunk of early 2019. Travis opened a storefront called Cajun Cannabis in the spot where Radio Shack used to be, on Johnston Street. Travis opened Cajun Cannabis to sell products made from the non-psychoactive version of cannabis plant material. That is, cannabis products that won't get you high. These products were made legal by a 2018 Federal Law called The Farm Act. The Farm Act legalized growing Cannabis and processing it into products like hemp and CBD oil. However, for some reason, local law enforcement didn't believe the Federal law applies to us, and they seized Travis's cannabis products and arrested him. Today, Cajun Cannabis is back open and in business.
In a growing number of states - and in the entire nation of Canada - Marijuana is legal. That's the same Marijuana that according to Federal Law is a schedule one drug. It is defined, federally, as having no medicinal value and a high potential for abuse.
The active ingredient in marijuana is called THC. That's the chemical that gets you high. THC is also the acronym for a medical doctor's clinic, with offices in Lafayette, Baton Rouge, Bossier City, and Lake Charles. THC stands for Total Health Clinic. The name and the link to the active ingredient in Marijuana is intentional. Total Health Clinic describes itself as a "plant centered" medical clinic whose doctors are licensed by the State of Louisiana to prescribe medical marijuana.

The founder of Total Health Clinic is Dr Chad Rossitter.

Photos over lunch at Chopsticks restaurant on Ambassador Caffrey Parkway in Lafayette.

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If everything worked out the way you thought it was going to, 10 or 20 years ago, what kind of a life would you be leading today? It's fascinating to ponder how different the world might be if Jeff Bezos didn't quit his job and start Amazon. Or if William Shakespeare had been content to make a living as an actor and hadn't started writing.
We all change course. We change our minds. We fall in love, with a career or a person, and things that were quietly rolling along are suddenly off the rails and we're going in a whole other direction. Heather Degeyter is a prime example.

Heather was, step by step, building a career as an academic. She got a masters degree in language and literature at UL. And she was teaching at LSU, when she gave it all up. To make macarons. In June of 2019, Heather turned what was a passion and a growing home-business, making macarons to order, into a full-time job, and a storefront bakery on Kaliste Saloom in Lafayette, called Bonne Vie Macarons.

And then there's the story of Stephen Verrett, who dropped out of college to become a freelance web designer. If you're waiting for a story about how Stephen became a fabulously successful web designer... well, I could tell that story, but instead I'm going to tell you how he gave that up - to open a restaurant in Lafayette. Along with a couple of partners, Stephen took over what was the old Filling Station restaurant - which itself was originally a gas station - and turned it into Spoonbill. Today, we're sitting a table at Spoonbill, across from its co-owner, Stephen Verrett.

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We all know about the enormous economic challenges that newspapers are facing. With access to information that's posted online almost the minute it happens, it's become more difficult to convince people that reading the news next day in print has any value.
The fact is that a good journalist can frame an issue, give it context, and deliver information in a way that you simply can't get on social media. But newspapers cost money. Reading social media, and pretty much everything else online, is free. To bring together both these worlds, newspapers have begun charging people to read their content online. Even here in Acadiana.

Kristin Askelson is Managing Editor of The Acadiana Advocate. Kristin oversees the newspaper's daily operations in Acadiana. It's a job that's getting more complex every year, and with every social media update.
When a newspaper was a physical object you picked up in the front yard every morning, we called everything in print that wasn't paid advertising, "news." Even news of dubious importance, like the contents of People magazine, was still regarded, technically, as news. Then, along came the internet.
Today, there are multiple avenues for getting the written word out into the world. There are online newspapers and magazines, websites, blogs, and social media. There is such a wealth of written material that we've had to invent a new category to describe it. That category we now call "content." You no longer need a publisher to get your content read. Anybody can publish anything they want. And, as you know, they do.
The problem we have now is, among the millions of pieces of content that are published every day, how do you get someone to find your contribution to world thought?

Content management has become a specialized brand of marketing and publicity. Here in Acadiana one of its leading practitioners is Rodney Hess, Vice President of Rally Marketing, in Lafayette.

This is a fascinating and informative conversation about the changing face of news, and the information you consume online.
Photos at Marcello's Wine Market Cafe by Lucius Fontenot.

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You're probably familiar with the term "Art versus commerce." It's one of the concepts that we take for granted are opposites. "Good versus evil." "Communism versus capitalism." "Left versus right." The problem with lumping art versus commerce into this list is that if you are an artist, you're required to find a place where art and commerce meet, or you're not going to pay the rent or keep the lights on. Aileen's two guests on Out to Lunch today are artists who have found unique and different ways to make a living from their art.

Dirk Guidry is the visual artist's definition of a split personality. On the one hand, Dirk is an abstract painter. His paintings are swirls of color, blending onto the canvas with movement and emotion, but without much obvious representation of anything recognizable. On the other hand, Dirk is a wedding painter. He goes to a wedding and paints the reception. Live. On the spot. The bride and groom leave with a painting of their wedding, complete with recognizable representations of their guests.

Hunter deBlanc has been a singer/songwriter and professional musician for years, playing in various bands. But Hunter dates January 2017 as the beginning of his current career - his push to become a solo artist. Because of an interesting musical journey that saw him land in Australia as a cocktail piano player on a cruise ship, Hunter is better known, and has more records played on radio, in Sydney Australia than in Lafayette Louisiana where he lives. Being internationally famous is not altogether a bad thing. But being a star in Sydney and living in Lafayette has its challenges.

Photos over lunch at Cafe Vermilionville by Lucius Fontenot.

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Any conversation about the global economy today is bound to include a discussion of China. Economists and pundits frequently refer to China as "the world's fastest growing economy." Or "the world's second biggest economy." The unspoken intimation in this choice of language is that we in the United States better look out - China is catching up to us. The truth is, the United States has been around for two hundred and some years. China, on the other hand, traces its history back between three and four thousand years.
Chinese influence on the West, and on the U.S. in particular, can be measured in all kinds of ways, economic and cultural. Take, for example, acupuncture. In the U.S. we regard acupuncture as "alternative medicine." In China it's regarded as traditional medicine.

Here in Acadiana, Anne Huval is an acupuncturist. Anne has been practicing acupuncture since 2007, in her private practice, the Spirit of Life Acupuncture clinic in Lafayette.

Phil Devey might seem like an unlikely champion of Chinese culture. Phil is the owner of Frontline Real Estate Group, an Acadiana real estate company that deals in residential and commercial property sales and rentals. Phil is also co-owner of Chopsticks, a traditional Chinese restaurant, in Lafayette. Chopsticks' head chef came here from China and brought his authentic recipes with him. All the dishes at Chopsticks are created from these traditional recipes, using fresh local ingredients.

More and more, we're seeing people who could live anywhere choose to live here in Acadiana, and we see their skills, talents, tastes, and occupations flourish here with them, whether it's specialized acupuncture or fine Chinese dining.
Photos at Cafe Vermilionville by Lucius Fontenot.

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You probably know the line from the 1989 movie, Field of Dreams, "If you build it they will come." Decades after the movie came out this line continues to resonate with us, because it's about faith. Faith in ourselves. In our own courage to follow our dreams. And faith in our fellow humans - that others will recognize our courage and affirm it by buying into our dream.
This is the exact opposite of how we're taught in business school to launch a business. But passion-driven businesses can be just as successful as the more traditional, highly business-planned venture. Aileen's guests on this edition of Out to Lunch are both evidence of this.

In 2013 Todd Buteaux wanted to escape the rat race in Los Angeles. He wanted his daughter to grow up knowing her family. And he wanted to spend time with his parents, who weren't getting any younger. So Todd abandoned his dreams of becoming an actor in Hollywood and moved back to Lafayette. Todd's wife, Rina, is Japanese American. Ironically, it has turned out to be Japanese culture that has fueled Todd's dreams since they moved back here. Today, Todd is co-owner and Marketing Manager of the Japanese restaurant Izumi Ramen, in Lafayette. He's also the marketing manager of the Hawaiian inspired restaurant, Poke Geaux in Lafayette. And he's the co-owner of Poke Geaux in Lake Charles.

In 2001, Mark Falgout came back home from traveling the world and decided to open the type of guest house in Lafayette that he would like to stay at if he was a traveler here. That's how the Blue Moon Guesthouse was born. Because all travelers here want to hear music, Mark gave them that too, in the form of the Blue Moon Saloon.
It turned out that the Blue Moon was a great place for travelers to meet locals, because locals made the Blue Moon one of the most popular places in Lafayette to go to hear music. So Mark gave locals another, bigger, venue - Warehouse 535. And in 2018 Mark came up with another idea. This one does not involve a piece of real estate. It's the SOLO Songwriters Festival. From its early success, it looks like Mark's music-booking skills and the years he spent as a board member of Festival International have paid off.

Photos over lunch at Cafe Vermilionville by Lucius Fontenot.

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Have you ever bought something on impulse?

You see something you really like. You can't afford it. You know it's crazy, but you buy it anyway. Maybe you've done that with a piece of clothing. A pair of shoes. Even a car. How about a business? That's what happened to Camille Carloss.

Camille's husband, Dylan, took Camille on a date to Alexander Books. While they were there, they heard the bookstore was closing. Dylan was the impulse purchase instigator. Camille was the voice of reason. They couldn't afford to buy the bookstore, and they didn't own a house yet. Then they came up with a brilliant compromise. They'd get some other people to go into this crazy venture with them. And that's how Camille, Dylan, and three other people ended up buying Alexander Books.

One of the people who bought into the bookstore with Camille and her husband is Jori Bercier. Camille didn't know anything about owning or running a book store. So who better to turn to as a partner than someone else who also has no experience whatsoever in book selling?
Jori Bercier does have a lot of other skills though. Jori has a graphic design business called McCaulley Media that focuses on working for non-profits who can't afford to market themselves. Jori leads mission groups and pilgrimages for Magnificant Travel. She speaks Spanish and French, and has a masters degree in Human Health.

Photos over lunch at Cafe Vermilionville by Lucius Fontenot.

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On this edition of Out to Lunch, Aileen Bennett sorts out the complex web of economic development organizations in Acadiana. Well, more or less.
Aileen says there are so many of these business-boosting organizations that, "If I just read out a list of all the economic development and business support organizations in Acadiana and gave you a one-sentence description of what they do, I would still be reading by the time you got so bored you turned me off. So, I'm going to limit myself to two. One Acadiana, which used to be known as the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce. And Acadia Parish Chamber of Commerce."
If you're not from Acadiana, you're already confused. So here's an attempt at an explanation. One Acadiana is a business support organization that encompasses all the parishes of Acadiana. It's designed to give businesses a voice and to cultivate economic growth throughout the region. One Acadiana has 950 members.

The CEO and President of One Acadiana is Troy Wayman.
And that brings us to the Acadia Parish Chamber of Commerce. Acadia Parish includes Crowley, Rayne, Iota, and Duson. If you're from outside of Acadiana, you need to know one thing: here, size doesn't matter. Crowley calls itself The Rice Capital of The World. Rayne calls itself The Frog Capital of the World. There's a lot of cattle, soybeans, crawfish, and rice in Acadia parish. In fact, there is so much, mostly agricultural-based business going on in Acadia Parish that the Acadia Parish Chamber has over 300 members.

The President and CEO of the Acadia parish Chamber of Commerce is Amy Thibodeaux.
Whether it's in Acadia Parish or any of the parishes under the umbrella of One Acadiana, all kinds of businesses depend on all kinds of economic development. And our towns and cities depend on these economic development partnerships to attract and retain businesses.

Photos over lunch at Marcello's Wine Market Cafe in Lafayette.

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For hundreds of years, philosophers puzzled over the mind-body connection: the relationship between our physical body and the feelings, emotions, and mental abilities that define us as human beings. Eventually, philosopher Rene Descartes summed up the mind-body connection as, "I think therefore I am," which seemed like the final word on the subject.
Then, as we progressed as a society, the mind-body connection conundrum became the province of psychiatrists, psychologists, neuroscientists, and even nutritionists. Today, the mind-body investigation trickles down to a corner table at Caf? Vermilionville in Lafayette Louisiana.

On the body side of the mind body connection is Brian Melancon. Brian is founder and CEO of a company called c620 Nutrition. In body building circles, Brian is known as "The Mad Scientist." He's a fitness trainer with a focus on nutrition, and a reputation for training successful power lifters. Brian is also expanding his love of nutrition to the wider Lafayette community with his purchase of the health-focused bakery, Great Harvest of Acadiana.

On the mind side of the mind-body connection, meet James Huval. James is a psychotherapist. He has a practice in Lafayette called Southdown Consulting. James was a therapist in New York and New Jersey for 20 years before coming back home to Lafayette in the early two-thousands. If you live in Acadiana you might avail yourself of James's services if you need help in any area of emotional or psychological distress, including anxiety, depression, workaholism, sexual dysfunction, grief, anger, relationship issues, and many other aspects of coping with the demands of daily life.

Although we all know there is a connection between our mental and physical well-being, we almost never discuss this overlap in a professional setting. We go to the gym, but there's no psychologist there. We go to the therapist, but there's no physical trainer there. Typically, it's up to us, individually, to make our own mind-body connection. So it's a rare treat to have both isides of the Mind Body Connection in the same place at the same time, taking part in the same conversation.
Photos over lunch at Cafe Vermilionville by Lucius Fontenot.

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