'Wellness Wake Up Call' may be just what doctor ordered

            Many times we roll through life, rushing to our jobs and through the day’s work, hustling to balance career and family and not taking enough time to eat healthy meals and get appropriate exercise. We know it will catch up with us sooner or later, and sometimes it takes a wake-up call to get our attention to change our ways. Dr. David J. Barczyk, a Lafayette chiropractor and CEO of All !N Wellness offers many great arguments on making life changes before disease arrives in “Wellness Wake Up Call” by Old Man River Publishing. The book gives tests on whether you’re healthy or not, then gives solid cases for turning your life around. There’s lots to consider, from simple improvements such as having friends and smiling more (Barczyk offers research to back these up) to skipping junk food which not only improves general health but brain function as well. Most are simple adjustments and easy on the pocketbook, merely choices you can make every day. Barczyk’s book provides an easier to understand alternative to diet and exercise books. If you’re looking to change the insanity we sometimes get caught up in that’s detrimental to your health, try this wake up call.

New releases

            Sally Ann Roberts is co-anchor at WWL-TV’s Eyewitness Morning News in New Orleans and author of “Angelvision” and “Going Live: An Anchorwoman Reports Good News.” She’s just published “Your Power is On!: A Little Book of Hope” which marries inspirational Bible verses with serene photography by Eric Paulsen. The book aims to provide a collection of encouragement when life turns rocky.

            Jean Hulsey of Missouri and Angelena Hulsey Carpenter of Alexandria are mother and daughter who have survived breast cancer after each being diagnosed with the disease four years apart. They shared their journey to wellness through phone calls and visits and have written about the experience in “From One Survivor to Another…to Another…to Another: A Breast Cancer Survivor’s Handbook,” published by Crossbooks.

            Angelena Cortello was lost, dealing with emotional problems, addiction, prostitution and HIV. She turned her life around and now works as a technician at a central Louisiana addition recovery center. She recounts the experience from darkness to light in an inspirational book titled “Angel: The True Story of an Underserved Chance” as told to Rachael Hartman, also of central Louisiana. The book is published by Owl of Hope; for information, visit http://www.owlofhope.com.

            John E. Wade II of New Orleans founded Soldiers of Love, a non-profit organization dedicated to local schools and improving mental health. He has published a spiritual guide for finding peace in “Glimpses of Heaven on Earth: Inspiring Quotations and Insightful Essays” along with author and lecturers Charlotte Livingston Piotrowski and Daniel Agatino, Metta Center for Nonviolence Education president Michael Nagler and inspirational writer Martin Rutte. The book follows up Wade’s “How to Achieve a Heaven on Earth,” both published by Pelican Publishing of New Orleans.

Poetry contest

            The Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival’s Poetry Contest is now open for submissions with Vijay Seshadri, the 2014 Pulitzer Prize winner for his “3 Sections” collection, as judge. The contest winner will receive prize money, publication and access to panels and events at the next Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival, to be held March 25-29, 2015. Full details about the contest, including online submission process, are available at http://con13.tennesseewilliams.net/poetry-contest/. The contest deadline is Sept. 5.

Book events

            Author Sam Irwin will be reading from his new book “Louisiana Crawfish: A Succulent History of the Cajun Crustacean” and showing his video “Je Suis Fou Pour des’Ecrevisse” at 4 p.m. Sunday, June 22, at the Baton Rouge Gallery, 1515 Dalrymple Drive in Baton Rouge. He will also sign “Louisiana Crawfish” at noon Wednesday at the West Baton Rouge Museum, part of the “Lunch and Learn.”

            Barnes and Noble Lafayette will host a Local Authors Expo at 2 p.m. Saturday at the store, 5707 Johnston St. in Lafayette. There will be numerous Louisiana authors present to sign copies of their books.

            Jane Vidrine and Jean Kiesel will sign copies of their new book, “Evangeline Parish,” this upcoming weekend (June 27-28) at the Smoked Meat Festival in Ville Platte.

Cheré Coen is the author of “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic Guide to Acadiana,” both from The History Press, and co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” She teaches writing at UL-Lafayette’s Continuing Education. Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.