My Louisiana Love: Tragedy and survival in the Houma heartland

My Louisiana Love

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

My Louisiana Love is an intimate account of one young woman's love for her homeland, love for her family, and her journey through tragedy as she struggles to keep alive the beauty of the southern Louisiana bayou.

Monique Verdin, Houma Indian, tells of Hurricane Katrina and how her family members survived. The hurricane, however, is only one of the slayers of the peace and beauty of the Houma heartland.

It is not an easy film to watch for those of us who grew up in Louisiana and see how the oil, gas and chemical companies have gouged out the land, poisoned the waterways, and left a trail of cancer and death.

The film reveals the intrinsic beauty of the southern Louisiana coastline, and the culture that is as alive and vital as the land and water itself. It is the culture of the Houma and the culture of much of Louisiana, where family is a force that survives hurricanes, and revels in great food, laughter, music and love.

It is the culture of a people who know tragedy and now how to rebound from tragedy, how to survive.

PBS featured My Louisiana Love this week on PBS World and America ReFramed. Watch it and your life will be richer for it.

-- Brenda Norrell, Censored News

My Louisiana Love  film synopsis:
My Louisiana Love follows a young Native American woman, Monique Verdin, as she returns to Southeast Louisiana to reunite with her Houma Indian family. But soon she sees that her people’s traditional way of life -- fishing, trapping, and hunting in these fragile wetlands -- is threatened by a cycle of man-made environmental crises. Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil leak are just the latest rounds in this century-old cycle that is forcing Monique’s clan to adapt in new ways. Monique must overcome the loss of her house, her father, and her partner and redefine the meaning of home.