In honor Women's History Month: Bernadette Cahill celebrates our right to vote, UL offers symposium

            Bernadette Cahill of Richland Parish has published two books on women’s struggle to obtain the vote, a right that has only been in existence since 1920.

             “This is a drum I beat all the time ... it’s less than a century since women won the right to vote (they weren’t given it) and their campaign was 72 years long from the first call for woman suffrage in 1848,” Cahill wrote me by email. “When I became a U.S. citizen in September, 2012, I was very aware that my right to vote that came with my new citizenship was due to the work of the women I was writing of then in my two books. When I think of it, it makes me feel very humble.”

            Cahill’s books are “Alice Paul, the National Woman’s Party and the Vote: the First Civil Rights Struggle of the 20th Century” and “Arkansas Women and the Vote: The LittleRock Campaigns 1868-1920.”

The “Alice Paul” book, a story of the national campaigns, examines the pioneering non-violent votes for women campaign from 1913-1920 based in Washington, D.C., while the Arkansas book tells the same story from the local perspective of Little Rock. The campaign for votes for women resulted in the largest enfranchisement of citizens of the United States — 26.5 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau in 1920. The anniversary of the 19th Amendment passage approaches in 2020. 

            Cahill was producer and the host of the former KEDM radio show “Memories” at UL-Monroe, she was a classical music host when KEDM was launched and has been an occasional contributor on women’s history to the Richland Beacon-News. Cahill has made many presentations about votes for women, including one at the Clinton School of Public Service in 2012 when the 19th Amendment document on display at the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock. Her talk is available to watch here.
            She is currently researching and writing about the women’s campaign for equal rights, specifically the vote, from 1776 to 1876, with special focus on Reconstruction, when women were excluded from the equality established for men then by Congress and national reformers. She also often produces specialized articles on women’s history and writes each summer about historic themes and travel for “High Country Magazine” in Boone, NC. 

Women’s History Month

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Center for Louisiana Studies observes Women’s History Month with LA Femme/Women of Louisiana: A Symposium on Wednesday at the Paul and LuLu Hilliard University Art Museum’s A. Hays Town Building. The free day-long symposium­­ culminates with an evening book launch of “Louisiana Women: Their Lives and Times, Volume Two,” co-edited by Mary Farmer Kaiser, dean of the ULL Graduate School and published by the University of Georgia Press.

The program includes sessions on the state of women’s studies in Louisiana, health accessibility and disparity, intimate partner violence, campus culture and gender issues and a discussion of defining women and inclusivity. A Brown Bag Lunch Talk with Dr. Janet Allured will focus on her forthcoming book, “Remapping Second-Wave Feminism: The Long Women’s Rights Movement in Louisiana, 1950-1997.” Speakers are drawn from the university community, including faculty, undergraduate and graduate students, as well as the community.

To reserve your seat and see the full program, visit http://lafemmesymposium.eventbrite.com/ The Brown Bag Lunch Talk requires separate registration and payment for lunch. For more information, visit http://louisianastudies.louisiana.edu/, email clspresents@louisiana.edu or call (337) 482-6027.

Cheré Dastugue Coen is the author of “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History,” “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic Guide to Acadiana” and co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” She also writes Louisiana romances under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.

Cookbook Thursday: Chef John Folse's massive tome to vegetables a treat for the eyes and tastebuds

It’s a magnificent holiday season when John Folse publishes another cookbook and we were lucky in 2015 to be blessed with one. The giant tomes (several pounds and almost 1000 pages!) of Louisiana culinary history — with recipes of course — offer hours of great reading and cooking. Folse’s past books that double as doorstops were “The Encyclopedia of Cajun & Creole Cuisine,” “Hooks, Lies and Alibis” dedicated to seafood and fishing and “After the Hunt: Louisiana's Authoritative Collection of Wild Game and Game Fish Cookery.”

Now, Folse takes on the side dishes in “Can You Dig It: Louisiana’s Authoritative Collection of Vegetable Cookery.” You can well imagine that sides in Louisiana, particularly from the kitchen of Folse and company, are elevated to an art form. There’s wild mushroom fricassee, sweet potato puffs, cassava fries with Peruvian cheese sauce, quinoa- and spinach-stuffed tomatoes, polenta tamale pie and eggplant Belle Rose, a tower of fried eggplant and crawfish tails and sauce. I could go on and on. Like I said, it’ll take you hours to peruse this book and every time you turn a page, you’ll spot some new outstanding dish, such as the corn soup with farm country “chow-chow.” See, I can’t stop!

The shear size of this book requires a team to publish, which is why the first few pages are dedicated to those who helped create it. Michaela D. York serves as co-author and several chefs from Folse’s restaurants worked out the dishes. Like Folse’s past books, there are several chapters of history, this time spotlighting vegetables and gardening, from antiquity to today and the rise of the farm-to-table movement. In addition, there’s a list of notable gardens and markets around the world, how to start your own garden with a list of appropriate vegetables and planting dates for Louisiana and a “Swamp Floor Pantry” for foragers. Fried lotus roots, who knew? (For that lotus recipe, see below.)

Recipes from "Can You Dig It" include every vegetable you can imagine with desserts, stocks, breads and other goodies in the back. If you get lost, there’s a handy index in the back. And as always, Chef Folse graces the cover posing, as he has done in past books, in the same stance as old photographs.

Here’s a simple recipe for fava beans in time for St. Joseph’s Day Feasts.

Fava Beans with Chorizo

1 pound fresh fava beans

1 link chorizo

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon minced garlic

2 dried red chilies

1/2  cup white wine

1/2 cup white wine

1/2 cup chicken stock

1 sprig rosemary

Directions: In a large saucepot, bring 2 quarts water to a boil over medium-high heat. Add beans and chorizo, then cook until tender, stirring occasionally. Using a colander, carefully drain beans and chorizo. Shell beans and set aside. Slice chorizo then set aside. In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chorizo and cook 3-5 minutes or until browned, stirring often. Add minced garlic, chiles, wine, stock and rosemary. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer, stirring often. Return beans to saucepan and cook until heated through. Discard red chiles and rosemary, then serve hot.

Fried Lotus and Taro Chips

1 pound lotus roots, peeled and rinsed

1 pound taro, peeled and rinsed

1 quart cold water

Juice of 1 lemon

Vegetable oil for deep-frying

Salt and black pepper to taste

Cayenne pepper to taste

Granulated garlic to taste

1 tablespoon chopped oregano

1 teaspoon chopped thyme

            Directions: In a large bowl, combine cold water and lemon juice then set aside. Line a baking sheet with paper towels and set aside. Using a mandoline, slice lotus and taro into very thin rounds and place into lemon water to prevent discoloration. Set aside. In a large, heavy-bottomed pot, heat 3–4 inches oil to 350 degrees. Drain lotus and taro completely and pat dry with paper towels. Working in batches, add rounds to hot oil and fry approximately 2 minutes or until golden brown, turning occasionally. Do not overcrowd pot. Using a slotted spoon, remove chips and place on prepared baking sheet to drain. Season to taste using salt, pepper and granulated garlic. Continue until all chips are done. Set aside and allow chips to cool to room temperature. NOTE: Chips will crisp as they cool. Transfer to a serving platter, sprinkle with oregano and thyme and serve.

Cheré Dastugue Coen is the author of “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History,” “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic Guide to Acadiana” and co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” She also writes Louisiana romances under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.

Writes of Spring looking for student submissions

Writes of Spring is open to students in grades K-12 who reside in Lafayette Parish or in the surrounding parishes of St. Landry, Acadia, St. Martin, Vermilion and Iberia. Students may submit their own original unpublished work (in English or in French) in only one of the following genres: Poetry, Fiction or Non-fiction. High school students may also submit their own original unpublished work in the Drama/Screenplay genre.

Submissions should be double-spaced, 12-point font, with numbered pages and title of work on each page. Entry form and submitted work need to be entered by 9 p.m. Thursday, March 24. If you are having problems uploading your work or using the online form, please emailamy.wander@lafayettepubliclibrary.org

First, second and third place winners will be notified in late April before the award ceremonies in May.

For a submission form, visit this link.

PLEASE NOTE:

Please make sure to remove your name, your teacher’s name and your school name from your submitted work.

One entry per person will be accepted. A poetry entry may include 1-3 poems, all submitted with one form.

Students in grades K-6 grade may enter using a paper entry form and a paper submitted work. These need to be turned in by the deadline above to any branch of the Lafayette Public Library System.
This contest is a collaboration of the Acadiana Writers Project, the UL Lafayette Creative Writing Department and the Lafayette Public Library.

Cheré Dastugue Coen is the author of “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History,” “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic Guide to Acadiana” and co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” She also writes Louisiana romances under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.