DR. RAY SCO T CRAWFORD

BRINGING HOME THE GOLD

BY SEVA MAY

As we close the book on another exciting Olympics, we applaud our fellow Americans who brought home medals. Think of the hours these athletes must spend training and honing their skills for competition. Making it to the Olympics is a proud moment and bringing home the gold is the high point of their career.

Here in Shreveport-Bossier City, we have a gold medalist— and although he is not exactly an athlete, one could draw a parallel between what he does and that of a trained athlete. The similarities will amaze you.

Bossier Parish Community College Dean of Communication and Performing Arts, Dr. Ray Scott Crawford, has been awarded- ed the prestigious Kennedy Center Gold Medallion for Region VI during the 54th Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF).

Crawford found out about the award through an email and the timing could not have been more perfect. After performing the National Anthem at one of the Mardi Gras Bals, Crawford, all alone in his vehicle, happened to check his phone, and there it was: the notification that he would be the recipient of this honor. “I was coming home from a Shreveport Mardi Gras event where at least a dozen of my present and former theatre students had worked as designers, technicians, and talent. I received the email announcing the award. I was happy and surprised for the honor, but mostly I was reminded of the wonderful opportunities that BPCC theatre and KCACTF have provided for our students,” Crawford recalls.

This is the highest award the festival gives and is considered a great honor in theatre education. Region VI covers Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.

Each year, the eight KCACTF regions honor individuals or organizations that have made extraordinary contributions to the teaching and producing of theatre and who have significantly dedicated their time, artistry, and enthusiasm to the development of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.

With theatre degrees from Louisiana Tech and Texas Tech University, and a dozen years of professional work in and around the Chicago area, Crawford has taught theatre performance, directing, management, and applied voice at BPCC for almost 24 years. He helped establish the Associate of Arts degree in Theatre, along with Stephen W. Slaughter, shortly upon his arrival at the school. The degree continues as the AA in Performing Arts (with concentrations in Theatre and Music) as the only two-year theatre degree offered in the state. He was promoted to dean of Communication and Performing Arts in 2012 but has continued teaching and directing plays and musicals for the school all during his tenure.

For KCACTF, Crawford has served as a regional respondent, traveling to Arkansas, Texas, and within Louisiana to evaluate and respond to other college and university theatre productions hoping to be considered for presentation at the regional festival. For BPCC, he has coached dozens of performers and singers in the regional Irene Ryan acting and Musical Theatre Initiatives (singing) scholarship competitions for KCACTF. Many of his students have been finalists. He has also entered numerous shows in festivals in Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas. BPCC’s productions of The Woman in Black, Echoes, The Turn of the Screw, and A Texas Romance all received the highest recognition at the state level. The Turn of the Screw went on to garner top honors regionally and to become one of the top five productions in the nation at the National KCACTF in 2016, with Craw- ford as Distinguished Director.

This summer Crawford begins his 37th year as Artistic Director of the Canterbury Summer Theatre in Michigan City, Indiana. Each year he offers professional opportunities to many, including BPCC students, some of whom he hires as talent and technicians for the whole season. Others who are the cast and crew of the summer show at BPCC are hired to tour the production to the Canterbury at the end of the summer to complete the season. “It’s a win for both the Canterbury and for BPCC,” Craw- ford says, “as the Canterbury gets an additional show for the summer and the students get a professional gig.”

In April, the Performing Arts Program at Bossier Parish Community College will premiere The Rat’s Tale of Cinderella, an all-new, fairytale children’s musical. Rat’s Tale is one of almost three hundred theatre productions directed by Crawford, which has provided opportunities for innumerable students and young theatre professionals from all over the world. While his resume may reflect his accomplishments (all eight pages), it certainly cannot describe all the hurdles he has had to jump or the rehearsal marathons he has had to run. Although he did not get to stand on a podium on national television (the ceremony was virtual), he was surrounded by a host of his peers, students, and close friends. Shreveport and Bossier City is proud of his accomplishments and happy for this achievement.

About The Rat’s Tale of Cinderella

This sparkling princess production – adapted by Crawford – tells the familiar story of a mistreated young woman whose life is transformed through magic, love, and her own grit and determination. Audiences will be excited to experience this well-known story told with a nod to Louisiana Mardi Gras culture through the point of view of the animals. Join the Rat Brothers, Alphonse and Gaston as they narrate their version of the story! Brimming with physical comedy, funny jokes, interactive Q&As, and astonishing theatrical effects, The Rat’s Tale of Cinderella includes everything you can think of that makes a show fun for children of all ages: ridiculous stepsisters, a magical and kooky fairy godmother, a beautiful ball, helpful animals, and of course a new twist on Cinderella’s shoe that gets left behind with a handsome prince.

The show opens on April 22 and will run on the 23, 29, 30 at 7:00 p.m. and April 24 and May 1 at 2:00 p.m. The Rat’s Tale of Cinderella is for children of all ages. Call 318-678-6021 for tickets. Or visit www.ticketsource.us/bp theatre for online reservations.

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BY URSULA BRANTLEY

In a world full of careers, bills, extracurricular activities, home management, and a slew of other responsibilities, parents do their best to make sure they’re spending much needed quality time with their children.

It’s not always easy balancing life and parenthood, but consistent one-on-one time with your children is vital to their development. According to Our World in Data, a trusted source of information for publications such as The Wall Street Journal and institutions such as Oxford University, the amount of time that parents are spending with their children has been increasing over the last 50 years. When it comes to getting in that one-on-one time with children, the key things are consistency and undivided attention. That means disconnecting from devices and really focusing on one another.

Quality Over Quantity

Many parents feel guilty when various responsibilities cut into time with their children, but studies have shown that the quality of time parents spend matters more than the quantity. The National Association for the Education of Young Children, or NAEYC, reports that high quality time is what is most beneficial to children and has a positive effect on them as they grow. Having a weekly movie night, participating in a favorite activity, or reading before bed are all great ways to connect.

Individual Time

Strong child-parent relationships help build self-confidence, promotes positive behavior inside and outside the home, helps children with their academics, and strengthens the family bond. Children need quality time from both parents if that is an option for them. It’s true that many children are raised in single parent homes, but if they have access to both parents, it is crucial that they receive consistent quality time with each parent. According to Psychology Today, time alone with mom can be different from time alone with dad, and those differences reinforce the strengths that come from each of them.

Small Gestures

Time doesn’t always permit for certain activities or routines and that’s completely understandable. Something as small as leaving a note in your child’s lunch or telling jokes and singing songs on the way to school can also make a child feel seen and valued. Those moments may not seem like much, but it can mean the world to the child as well as the parent.

Communication

Spending valuable time with your children also encourages positive communication skills. It can be difficult to get more than a one- or two-word answer when asking your child about their day so it matters how you phrase your questions. Instead of asking an open-ended question like, “How was your day?” try asking, “What was your biggest challenge today? How did you work through it?” You’d be surprised at how much information children are willing to share if they are asked the right questions. Participating in quality conversations also teaches children how to properly express themselves in a safe space.

Love

It’s also essential to tell your children that you love them every day. When a child feels loved at home, they won’t feel the need to find love and affection elsewhere. As adults, we know that searching the world for love and attention can lead to the dangerous situations and unwise choices that we try to protect our children from. Building emotionally and mentally strong children begins at home with their parents and families.

Children who are raised in loving environments tend to carry those values with them as they grow up and go on to raise their own families. As the saying goes, it’s easier to raise strong children than it is to fix broken adults. 

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can make you a

BETTER MAN

BY ADAM BAILAY

A gentleman is one who values hospitality, generosity, intellectual curiosity and, yes, chivalry. Day-in and day-out, all gentlemen should seek to incorporate these traits into their lives. To take it a step further, all of these characteristics can be found, honed, and showcased in the most unlikely of places—the kitchen.

Everybody knows that fast food is an easy, convenient, and generally inexpensive way to stay fed. But it’s also a great way to fill the body with a bunch of unhealthy crap. Want to be a better man? Cooking real food takes time, effort, and skill. Plus, ladies love it— trust me on this one.

Adventure. Cooking should be viewed much more as an adventure than a task. Whether you are fishing, hunting, or simply acquiring goods at the local market—much of the thrill that comes from cooking lies miles away from any stovetop. The idea of spending more time in the kitchen is all relative. Yes, typically it’s in the home—but, too, it can be on the road, a field at a hunting camp, or outside on the grill. To play off the title of one of Hemingway’s memoirs—A Movable Feast—a kitchen is anywhere you hang your cast-iron skillet.

Hospitality. Cooking and sharing food with others allows you to perfect this centuries-old practice. Inviting others into your home to sit and enjoy a meal cooked by hand is one of the most simple yet fulfilling forms of hospitality. Your kitchen should serve as an open invitation to friends, family, and strangers—it’s a place to celebrate the joy of friendship, the miracle of birth, the sting of loss, or the settling of differences. Breaking bread with others is one of life’s most primal instincts. It fosters tradition and community, and creates a warm and welcoming atmosphere in your home.

Generosity. Generosity is defined as the habit of giving without expecting anything in return. And people often showcase this habit to others by the sharing of gifts— whether it be money, talent, or time to help aid and serve others. The key component is giving freely— without expecting anything in return. Cooking and the sharing of food can easily provide a daily platform to exhibit generosity to others. And while generosity is most often connected to serving up generous portions of food to friends and family—don’t forget it, too, can be about teaching your talents so that others might also reap the same rewards.

Intellectual Curiosity. I’m of the mindset that we—as a society—are at our best when we constantly challenge and educate ourselves. No matter how much is studied, learned, practiced, and repeated—no one should ever be able to quench their desire to stop learning! It’s that intellectually curious attitude that should keep us exploring and learning in the kitchen. Cooking offers an autonomous and never-ending challenge to continue to study and evolve. New ingredients, types of cuisine, techniques, and equipment create opportunities for each of us to challenge ourselves. Learning the nuances and complexities of slow-smoking a pork shoulder, or tenderloin, is just as manly and stimulating as finely tuning a carburetor on a motorcycle.

Chivalry. Good behavior and social practices help remind men to open doors, offer up their seat, and stand when a lady enters the room. Still, these are only the outward actions of being a good gentleman; how often do we put them into practice? To truly practice chivalry, one must pursue, understand, and fulfill the heart of a woman. Men must take on a bit of adventure and risk to pursue said heart. To answer your next question, yes, this can be done in the kitchen!

One of the simplest ways to express one’s love and care to a woman is by serving her food prepared by your own two hands. A home cooked meal is just one of the many ways that a man can let a woman know he cares about her. What woman doesn’t love a man who can cook?

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BY SCOTT ANDERSON

Max Mayeaux is not a typical 15-year-old boy. You see, before “Max on the Sax” blows at shows, Max on the Sax rides a horse, of course. And he’s pretty boss when it comes to lacrosse.

Max is a sophomore at Loyola College Prep, where he plays lacrosse and football. He also trains and competes in equestrian events with Hidden Acres Equestrian Center in Stonewall. He’s done that for 10 years. But Max found his love for music at an early age. He remembers listening to the music his parents enjoyed when he was very young. He also performed in plays at South Highlands Elementary, including the lead role in “Aladdin.”

He picked up the saxophone for the first time as a sixth-grader in the Caddo Middle Magnet band program, under the direction of Krista Fanning. Why the saxophone? “My brother played before me,” Max said. “He played the saxophone, so I started with it, too.” His parents, Peyton and James Mayeaux, still remember that first instrument. “We just got a $250 alto sax I found online,” Peyton said.

As Max’s skills improved, he outgrew that starter saxophone. It was time for an upgrade. So Max had a choice to make. “He gave up going to Camp Ozark one summer to buy a new saxophone,” Peyton said.

In the music business, landing your first big break sometimes depends on who you know. For Max, it was who his mom knew that opened that first door with Professor Porkchop and the Dirty Dishes.

“My mom gets her hair done by Jason Coffield’s wife,” Max said. “Mom showed her videos of me playing. She told me to come out one night.” Max met bandmember Coffield along with lead singer and Professor Porkchop himself, Chris McCaa, and the rest of the band one night at Superior Grill. They invited him on stage, where he played “Havana” as his debut.

“I still can’t believe I played that in Superior Grill,” Max said. Max caught the attention of Chris Campisi with the band

The Good News. “I was in sixth grade,” Max said. “I didn’t know how to do half the stuff I do now.” That all changed when bandmates Omenka Webb and Dirty Redd stepped in to augment his musical education. “I learned to really play in front of people, to know where I am in the music, to know what’s right and what’s wrong,” Max said.

He started playing in front of people more often, with The Good News and also with Robert Trudeau’s Shreveport Second Line Brass Band.

Max’s mom was aware from the beginning they had a show-man on their hands. “When all this first started, we knew he was a performer,” Peyton said. “That wasn’t a surprise. It was when the switch flipped, and he could hear what others were doing and just play. When all of a sudden he could transpose in his head. That was huge. That’s when we realized we had an awesome responsibility.” It was a responsibility that took some adjustments, she added.

“It was a bit out of our wheelhouse,” she said. “We’d be at Superior, and he’s studying spelling words between sets.”

But the more he played, the more he learned. “Basically, all these bands taught me to play without looking at music,” he said. “I was taught by reading music. But these guys taught me how to improvise correctly.”

Shreveport musician Brady Blade also took Max under his wing as mentor. Thanks to Blade, Max got a behind-the-scenes look at live music in New York City. Peyton said that Blade had arranged for Max to meet the saxophone player from the Dave Matthews Band at a concert. But those plans fell through when the sax player contracted COVID. They still enjoyed the concert before landing at Ashford and Simpson’s bar for open mic night after the show.

“They called him up, and the man asked, ‘What are you going to play for us?,’” Peyton said. “Max said, “I’ll just play what you’re playing.’ “We’re sitting there, in this very strange place. The guy starts singing a Christmas song. I’m filming. I say, “Oh, no. Here we go.’ That guy sang and sang. He never gave Max the chance to get in. Finally, he did, and it was beautiful. I stood there, filming and sobbing. That’s when I realized this is a phenomenal talent,” says Peyton.

Max’s father James adds, “None of this would have happened without Jason Coffield and Chris Campisi. The entire Shreveport music community has embraced our boy and given him amazing opportunities. We will always be thankful for them, and we are incredibly proud of Max.”

Max said the biggest thing he has learned about playing music is the importance of the fundamentals. “Improv is very hard,” he said. “It’s really making sure you know your scales. Knowing all the scales will get you anywhere in the improv world. And sometimes you have to know when to play the wrong note. It’s all about how you make other people sound, too.” Back in Shreveport, Max is diligent about keeping up with his music, his academics, and his athletics. It’s a delicate balancing act, he said.

“I leave the house when it’s dark, and come back when it’s dark,” Max said. “It’s hard to balance waking up, going to school, coming home, and riding my horse, too. It’s hard to get good grades. But staying busy keeps you out of trouble. I’d get bored if I didn’t do it.”

Max does not have definite plans yet for college or beyond. After all, he is a teenager. But he does not foresee losing his love of music. “I really don’t have an idea yet what I want to do, or where I want to go to college,” Max said. “I know I’m not going to go for sports or anything like that. I’d like to keep playing music throughout my life, even if it’s not my paying job.”

Music has taught him one other important lesson he will carry throughout his life. “What I have really learned is how to communicate with people,” Max said. “I have learned to deal with all types of people. I worked with artists and producers in New York and learned what I want to do and what I don’t want to do. You have to know your audience and who you are playing to. Learn to read the reactions of the crowd. If your audience isn’t paying enough attention, play the wrong note to get them back. It’s all of learning how to communicate with someone.”

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The Musical Life

BY SCOTT ANDERSON

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Marilyn Pettiette is the 90-year-old matriarch of a modern-day von Trapp family, spreading a message of faith, hope and joy through song in cyberspace.

Pettiette and her family have a YouTube channel called Three Generations Singing. The channel features family members — actually from four generations — singing holiday favorites, popular tunes, jazz standards and more. In five years, the channel has grown to almost 100 videos and nearly 1,800 subscribers and more than 1 million views.

It all started with Pettiette singing Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” with her daughter, Julia Pettiette Doolin, and her grandson, Sean Doolin. At first, the concept was simple — to create a special memory for the family. Sean wanted to sing with his grandmother. Julia already was working with videographer Brent Latin on a project, so she asked him to record the trio.

“People thought it was so beautiful,” Julia said. Soon after that, granddaughter Kelleen Doolin stepped up and wanted to do a number with her grandmother too. So they recorded “River.”

“That’s when we said, ‘Let’s get all the grandkids in a video,’” Julia said. “That Christmas, everyone comes in. There were probably about 30 of us. We did our first family group recording. Now, every Christmas we do one.”

Pettiette finds a great deal of satisfaction in the success of the channel. “It’s extremely gratifying,” she said. “My whole reason for being… I see it expressed when Sean starts singing. And now the little ones from the next generation (to include great grandson Howell) want to play the piano and sing.”

The family revels in their success. But by no means has it happened overnight for Pettiette. She began performing as a young child, about 4 or 5, on stages in Minnesota. “The church had programs going on constantly,” she said. “Music was a given.” As a child, she also performed as a Shirley Temple lookalike. Pettiette remembers a bit of controversy over a talent show she won when she was 7 or 8 years old. “This guy comes in and says, ‘She’s a professional. I’ve seen her sing before in Minneapolis,’” she recalled.

The Benedictine nuns at the Parish of Our Lady of Lourdes in Little Falls, Minnesota, gave Pettiette her first lessons on the piano. She received instruction in the organ from the Franciscan nuns at St. Francis High School. She continued her studies at the Minneapolis College of Music. She met entertainers there who introduced her to improvisation and jazz. Before long, she was performing in big bands throughout Minneapolis. That’s also where she met her husband, saxophone player Larry “Tex” Pettiette.

“Here is this guy who’s playing sax,” she said. “I didn’t know him well. But there was a band my friend and I wanted to hear playing at this club. Back then, women didn’t go to clubs unescorted. I approached him and asked if he’d escort us to this club. I guess you could say I asked him out for our first date.”

She and Larry got married. During her early days of marriage, Pettiette continued to perform in big band groups. Sometime later, a producer called her looking for someone to fill in on the “Phil Silvers Top Banana” stage show. “He said, ‘I’ve got to have somebody who is small enough to fit into the wardrobe,’” Pettiette said. “I said, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t. I am three months pregnant.’”

Pettiette also saw the music business changing at that time. The popularity of the big bands was waning. With her star no longer on the rise, she told her husband she wanted to move to Shreveport to check out a new musical sensation. “People went whippy over that Hank Williams,” she said. “That shut the big bands down. We came to Shreveport to see what it was all about and to be closer to Larry’s family in Texas.”

Pettiette began a 23-year career teaching music in the schools. “I found talent galore out there,” she said of her students. Even now the family occasionally reconnects with someone who learned music from Pettiette. “We will see someone in the grocery store, and they will recognize her and say, ‘Your mom had such an in impact on my life,’” Julia said. “Music really is what brings people together.”

David Pettiette, Jr., Julia Pettiette Doolin, Howell Pettiette, Marilyn Pettiette, Baby Theo Pettiette, Tim Doolin, Larry Pettiette, Jr.

That unifying power of music is what carried the family when they moved out to Dixie in northern Caddo Parish. “We moved under dire circumstances,” her daughter noted. “But they became some of the most wonderful times in our life because of the people and the music.”

Pettiette founded the Young Americans while in Dixie. The group included her own six children and children from that rural farming community. “Everybody in Dixie wanted their kids in it,” Pettiette said. “I was thinking, ‘What am I out here for?’ And then I find all this talent out there.”

Pettiette took those neighborhood kids to perform at nursing homes, the VA hospital, and for shut-ins across the area. They even made an appearance on Bob Griffin’s Saturday morning television show “Bob and His Buddies.” “It identified us as a musical family,” Pettiette said. “And it never left us.”

The family moved back to Shreveport. The children grew up and started families of their own. Now Pettiette’s clan spans four generations and the country. But the family that sings together, clings together. “It’s creating wonderful memories for our family,” Julia said. “We are so lucky to have these experiences with our mom.”

Three Generations Singing has grown momentum despite some challenges, including a fire that destroyed Pettiette’s home. While they were rebounding from that experience, they shot some of the videos for the channel at Pendley’s Piano Gallery. And the family searched high and low to find a 100-year-old piano they could borrow to get just the right honky-tonk sound for one of the numbers. Clearly, Pettiette is very particular about the pianos she uses for her videos.

Then there was the pandemic. “The channel really took off during COVID, especially when no one went anywhere for two weeks,” said Julia, who oversees the channel. “That’s when we made the most progress.”

The family is pursuing more opportunities to make progress and share their message of faith and family. “I dream of the day I open up the channel and see not just 1 million views on the channel, but 1 million views on the songs,” Julia said. “We are reaching a lot of people.”

The entire family encourages people to subscribe to the You- Tube channel and to follow Three Generations Singing on social media @ThreeGenerationsSinging. Pettiette said it’s a message of positivity that people need right now. “We want to pull this out of people,” she said. “To get them to feel what I feel.”

And even at 90, Pettiette has no plans to slow down. “I’m going to do this as long as I am able to do it,” she said.

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TOP ATTORNEYS

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Marching On

BY SCOTT ANDERSON

Monro Brown marches to the beat of her own drum. It’s a blues beat, but her outlook for Shreveport is not blue at all.

“This has been a journey,” Brown said of her life that has taken a few unexpected diversions. “But I try to keep a good attitude all the time. I’m learning that everyone is different. That’s what makes life interesting. It’s like a Louisiana gumbo.”

That is Brown’s approach to building a stronger community. Through her work with Community Renewal and her own non-profit organization, Seniors First, she seeks to span generation gaps by bringing seniors and young people together. “Seniors First is non-profit organization I founded to fill the gap between seniors and youth,” she said. “It reintegrates seniors into the community to sustain their cognitive ability. They become leaders in their own communities.”

Seniors First grew out of life-altering unexpected circumstances in Brown’s life. The Captain Shreve High School graduate earned a dual Associates degree in Accounting and Business Management from Southern University Shreveport in May 2017. She planned to move to Baton Rouge to continue her education, but her father, Lester “Knockout” Brown, died in February and her mother, Martha, eight months later, so she stayed in Shreveport.

“That’s when I started to realize there was a void in our community among our seniors,” she said. “I decided to do a case study, because I was really bamboozled by the fact that both my parents died in such a short time frame.” Her case study became the launching pad for Seniors First. Still, her initial goal was not to run a non-profit service organization.

“When I first started, I thought I was going to have a program every quarter,” Brown said. “Instead, it has turned into a developmental nonprofit. We react to things in the community. Whatever the community needs, we go out and get it.” “Shreveport is about families that have known each other for years. Seniors First taps into that for the benefit of community as a whole.” Brown is a case manager certified in trust-based relational intervention and crisis intervention.

Brown said her service as a Haven House leader for Community Renewal opened her eyes to a way both seniors and young people could find something they have been missing. “I saw a lack of authority in the community,” she said. “I see a lot of children who don’t identify the difference in themselves and adults. Instead of me trying to implement that connection, I decided to bring the seniors in. The youth are more comfortable with seniors giving guidance. “It helps seniors feel involved and combat loneliness and age- and death-related illnesses due to delayed access to transportation leading to isolation and depression. And there definitely needs to be some sort of pecking order today.”

“I would never disrespect my elders because that’s what I was taught. Today, we have other challenges. At Seniors First, we try to provide basic needs for the children.” And while Brown’s name is on the letterhead, she knows who’s in charge. “I am not the boss,” she said. “Those seniors will tell you, ‘No, you can’t do it that way.’”

Brown said the connections she helps foster through Seniors First meet needs on multiple levels.

“The seniors are a lot more patient after all they have gone through in life,” she said. “The children just need something that you can’t see — that’s love. And the seniors give it to them openly. Children and seniors have lots of common emotional needs. The seniors provide legacy to the children by teaching them things.”

Uniting the community is Brown’s passion, but Seniors First is not her only tool. She is equally passionate about bringing people together through her love of music, which started in childhood. Brown grew up singing in choirs and performing in Caddo Parish schools and at church. Her extensive formal training including competing in state festivals. Back then, Brown saw it as her road to the top.

“I thought I could make it right after high school, without a lot of college,” she said. Stage fright diverted her from the spotlight, at least for a while. But in 2010, she collaborated with Ron Johnson of the band Windstorm and his sons B.J. and Alex to produce an album titled “Reality Check, No Free Rides.” The album was nominated for three Just Blues awards, alongside Denise LaSalle and Millie Jackson. She was opening concerts for Latimore, Bobby Rush, Calvin Richardson, and others. She also got involved with the local arts community, performing at Christmas in the Sky and other local festivals, as well as fellowship and writing grants.

She hit another bump in the road when Vicky Marshall told her she should work on building her portfolio. “I was like, ‘Excuse me?,’” she said. “I was a little insulted. I had met B.B. King and opened for Bobby Blue Bland. I had been nominated for awards. While all those things counted, they really didn’t count in the ways I thought they did.”

Brown realized she did not speak the language of the business side of the music industry. That’s when she decided to pursue a college degree. And while life changed her plans, she eventually completed her education online in 2019 through Southern University in Baton Rouge, receiving a Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies and Psychology. She also learned something else along the way. “Face-to-face classes aren’t always the best solution, because you don’t get a chance to become digitally advanced,” she said. “It was tough, because I felt like everybody expected me to fail after I lost both my parents. I was out to prove to myself I am not going to fail. College taught me patience with people. It taught me how to ask why and how to do research. It opened my eyes. I don’t point my finger as much anymore.”

Music and the arts remain integral in Brown’s life. She has some local projects in the pipeline and is working on a web-based program on the Houston Live TV Network, interviewing movers and shakers in the music industry, like producer Ronald “Slack” Jefferson and global songwriter Michael Garvin, who is a Bossier City native.

Brown believes music and the arts are integral to a strong community. “Music is the core of everything,” she said. “Everybody has a song. Music is a great way to express yourself. Music is therapy. Music is always going to be there. I think we need more arts here. It gives people an opportunity to redefine or find themselves.”

And building a strong community is essential to Brown. “A lot of the things happening here I am concerned about because I have children and grandchildren here. I do care about what goes on here, no matter where I may go. My support system is here. It’s important to me to try to make some changes here. Hopefully, as I follow the example of my leaders, others will follow my example.”

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