“Would you like to dance?” asked the older gentleman with the tanned face covered in laugh lines. Completely flabbergasted, I accepted and was soon swept up in a whirl of lights, Creole music and the pounding of hundreds of feet stomping the dance floor.

In an effort to discover what the Cajuns of south Louisiana – specifically in the Atchafalaya Basin area – were like, I had come to Angelle’s Whiskey River Landing in Henderson. It’s just a short 45 minute drive west of Baton Rouge to the largest swamp in the United States. On my journey I met an array of people whose culture was far more multifaceted than I realized. I barely scratched the surface of a way of life that has survived the best and the worst of south Louisiana with a grin and a hearty appetite for good times, good friends and family.

My dance partner disappeared before I could ask his name, but I did ask him why he lived in his nearby hometown of New Iberia his entire life. His answer was probably the best – and the most accurate – of any I received in my time in Henderson and the surrounding area.

“If you ain’t happy here [in south Louisina], you ain’t gonna be happy anywhere else.”

The Bandito

The first night my coworkers and I ventured to Henderson, some misguided directions led us to a rather unfortunate situation in which our car became stuck in thick clay on top of a levee in freezing December rain.

Dirk Angelle, member of the towing team that rescued us, was the first of several business owners I talked to. He immediately referred us to some relatives who owned a houseboat marina. Angelle was large, loud and not the least bit shy about his membership in the Banditos, a notorious motorcycle gang known for its forays into organized crime. Angelle provided the first glimpse of a trait all the locals seem to possess: everyone either knew one another or knew about one another.

Despite Angelle’s tough exterior, the gang member couldn’t have been more accommodating. He offered my crew a place to stay in his spare trailer on his property, but we politely declined. Meeting Angelle proved to be the starting point of a long chain of connections between a dynamic and engaging community.

The Jack of All Trades

After surviving the fiasco on the levee the night before, we made our way to Atchafalaya Basin Landing. The owner, Tucker Friedman, embodied the classic Cajun. Decked out in a camouflage jacket, worn jeans and work boots, Friedman has lived on a handmade, two story houseboat at the marina for the past decade.

“It’s a unique life. It’s not a prosperous one – there’s one disaster after another,” Friedman said with a grin. “But it’s a good life. Being on the [Atchafalaya] basin and having the ability to just jump in a boat and do whatever you like is a great thing.”

Friedman has lived in the Henderson area his entire life and has been involved in local business for the past 35 years. Having owned a Chevron station, a supermarket, a wholesale ice company, a houseboat refurbishing business and finally a bar and marina, he is ready to take it easy and enjoy his life on the Atchafalaya Basin. After I asked why he stayed all those years, Freidman said he sometimes gets frustrated living there but could never leave the lifestyle and the people.

“When I leave I can’t wait to get back home,” Friedman said. “I’m an outdoors person, so being able to just walk out the back door and hunt and fish is important to me. The people that frequent here are generous and friendly. They’re always lending a hand whether I ask for it or not. They don’t expect anything in return.”

I spoke to Friedman as he was about to leave to restock the marina’s supply of Crown Royal Whisky. A good life, indeed.

The Bridge Tender

When I ran into Gerry Birard on a bridge next to the levee, I wasn’t entirely sure of what he was doing. He was leaning over the side of the bridge, staring intently at a large clump of plant matter lodged next to the support columns of the bridge. Birard, an older man who looked a little rough around the edges, was working on clearing the plants out from under the bridge with the assistance of a tugboat, a task he has dutifully done for the past 20 years.

Birard was once a soybean farmer, a job he said ended when he went bankrupt after “Reganomics” hit the area farmers hard.

Birard said he stays in the area because of the warm and inviting nature of the people in the Atchafalaya Basin.

The Bilingualist

“French is my first language. In school, we weren’t taught French; there was no French immersion program,” Debbie Savoi said in a heavy Cajun accent, in which words containing “th” are replaced with “d” and speech is peppered with francophone words. “To this day, there are certain people I walk up to that I automatically speak French to.”

I met Savoi at the Longfellow-Evangeline Park, a Cajun culture educational museum near St. Martinville, a town about 18 miles south of Henderson. Savoi is an older woman, who looks somewhat world-weary. She works at the museum as a guide, and informed me she was a “real deal” Cajun.

Savoi was slightly more guarded than other people in the area with whom I had spoken, but didn’t hesitate to tell me why she’s never moved from the area.

“I haven’t traveled that much in my lifetime, but when I do go away from here I miss the friendliness of the people. People here are open. They’re more willing to accept and they’re willing to take people in.”

Savoi told me something that seemed the most succinct way of describing the people in the Atchafalaya Basin area: “It’s just the way we are. It’s the joie de vivre.” The joy of life.

The Possum

Savoi recommended I go to a restaurant where she worked for about 15 years, a place by the name of Possum’s. Ignoring the seemingly cliché name, I ended up meeting Possum, otherwise known as Larry Bertrand Jr., after a late lunch. Possum, it turns out, was named so because his grandfather apparently thought Possum looked like an opossum when he was a baby.

Possum fully embodied the joie de vivre Savoi spoke about. A tall, weathered bald man, Possum ambled over to the table and proceeded to talk about everything from hypnotism (or “hypmotism”) to why St. Martinville struggled on even after the devastating loss of an industrial plant that had once supported 3,500 jobs in the area.

“St. Martinville’s changed a lot because the industry closed down,” Possum said matter-of-factly. “Wal-Mart left St. Martinville. Now, all the small Mom-and-Pop places are here. It’s constant evolution. St. Martinville is trying to become a bedroom community.”

Possum, like so many other residents in the area, has lived in St. Martinville almost his entire life, always returning to the area even after he left to work odd jobs.

“I stay here because of family. Everybody around here has large family,” Possum said. “Everybody that leaves eventually comes back.”

Back at whiskey river landing, the dancers left the floor as the Saints game that would determine their shot at the Super Bowl went into overtime. The bar erupted into shouts of exuberance as the Saints kicked the game-winning field goal to win the NFC Championship. I celebrated along with the bar’s patrons and couldn’t help but notice how willing they had been to talk to me about any detail of their lives. Their ability to completely open up to a stranger was the most remarkable thing about any of the people I met throughout the Atchafalaya Basin, a place that seems so far removed from anywhere I had been yet only a short drive from Baton Rouge.

From Dirk Angelle to the dancers at Whiskey River, the residents of the Atchafalaya Basin are a dynamic people whose accepting and easygoing nature is well worth the trip.

See a slideshow of photos from this story >>

All my life I’ve had a strange fascination with unidentified flying objects and the possibility of aliens. I guess any interest in them could be considered strange. Steven Hawking, world-renowned physicist, discounts reports of UFOs saying, “We don’t appear to have been visited by aliens. Why would they only appear to cranks and weirdos?”

My intrigue surged a few years ago. I was showing my uncle some pictures when he blindsided me with a simple question: “What difference does it make?”

I didn’t have an answer. This bewilderment typifies the empty-handed search for proof of the origin and even existence of UFOs. After a couple of years, I still don’t know, but I can finally respond to him. The representation of extraterrestrial objects throughout history, in any medium, makes an argument about their potential culture and in doing so puts ours in its place, regardless of whether or not you’re a believer. And so, the relative nature of our planet and the life it contains can teach us a great deal.

Aboriginal lore talked of “Sky Beings,” and while it’s debatable that they were observing UFOs, it’s worth noting that aberrations in the sky have long been documented by man.

These curiosities are illustrated in cave drawings and hieroglyphics throughout history. Otherwise normal landscapes of man and beast are marked with anomalous figures, completely out of context with the rest of the pictures. Much has changed since they were fresh works of art, but such figures remain no more consistent with our currently constructed reality.

The only modern day pictures of “UFOs” are often inopportunely filmed. They’re out of focus, smeared all over the frame or appearing as just a blip. With today’s technology, why does the best available device always seem to be a low grade cell phone camera?

The ethereal candor of UFOs in so many instances is what makes people question their existence. Say just one of these thousands of images in circulation is authentic. Is it not fitting these airships would be just evasive enough to elude such a relatively primitive mode of photography? Would it make sense that after eons of ambiguity, they are suddenly so readily able to be observed?

For many, seeing is believing. But if you haven’t seen one, how do you know what it’s not? How would you know what to look for? In this case, the real paradox seems to be the pragmatics of continually identifying something as “unidentified.” When does it become something more? Our refusal to consider a transition is a digression of man’s lexicon.

Billions of dollars in brainpower and technology have gazed deep into the universe. What have we learned? Earth is unique. It’s been described as one of the galaxy’s finest, ripest zoological gardens. This analogy casts us as only animals, but do we have the humility to accept that label? If not, we’ve reached a point of complacency wherein we think we’re exempt from our own definitions. And so, the cosmic zookeepers remain hung in the skies, passively waiting, while we turn the other cheek and swim about our fishbowl.

Religions are based on written and oral testimony of seemingly supernatural events, resting solely on the credibility of their authors. Sound familiar? I would argue in this regard, memes of any spiritual dogma can be similar to those of UFOlogical nature. Curiously, the two are not always mutually exclusive, sometimes blatantly overlapping. The following are just a few of the many Christian artworks to contain UFO types: “The Madonna with Saint Giovannino,” 15th Century; “The Baptism of Christ,” painted in 1710; “Annales Laurissenses,” 12th century manuscript.

Like the atheist who bases his godless convictions against only the religious theodicies he rejects, why should a man limit his understanding of UFOs to earthly constructs? We still use rocket fuel to plod through our solar system. There has to be a better way.

Wired magazine’s Jonah Lehrer brilliantly makes this sentiment: “The fundamental point is that modern science has made little progress toward any unified understanding of everything. Our unknowns have not dramatically receded. It’s not that we don’t have all the answers. It’s that we don’t even know the question. Together, physics and neuroscience seek to solve the most ancient and epic of unknowns: What is everything? And who are we?”

Until we give serious thought to the implications of UFO presence throughout history, providing ourselves a celestial point of reference, we might be grasping at straws to answer those questions.

Truth be told, UFOs have been depicted imperfectly. We can’t get a clear shot, and their sandy presence narrowly slips through our fingers as we struggle to place them within the scope of our intellect. If they wanted us gone, we’d have been gone long ago. Instead, they observe us like we might an ant farm. Only we’re not ants. We realize our own existence. We can achieve the abstract.

This planet is the greatest gift we’ve inherited. Like toddlers, we’ve hardly begun to walk, and we’re running out of reasons not to. That’s why this is important. It’s much more than an image or belief. It’s a philosophy. Man needs a reason to unite — that is, take the first leap of faith to acknowledge every life in the universe as part of the same cosmic tapestry.

In his last interview, Robert Dean, retired USAF Sergeant Major, left us with this:

“None of this is an accident. The human species — the human race — in spite of its orneriness, is a beautiful race. And it has a future. I have a deep, deep belief that in time, we’re going to go out there and take our rightful place. Where we began, our home in the stars …”

Dr. Charles E. Coates, a chemistry professor, was LSU’s first football coach. Coates lost the only game he ever coached (34-0 to Tulane) in 1893, according to LSU.edu. He and his quarterback, Ruffin G. Pleasant were responsible for changing LSU’s school colors to purple and gold. They bought “purple and gold ribbon from Reymond’s Store in New Orleans to make rosettes and badges for their jerseys,” according to an LSUNews article by Nancy Little.

Troy H. Middleton was the youngest colonel in the American Expeditionary Forces during WWI in France. He served as LSU’s president until his retirement in 1962, according to “Troy H. Middleton” by Frank James Price.

James Francis Broussard received his undergraduate degree at LSU where he was editor of The Daily Reveille and the first student president of the Campus Athletic Association. He joined the staff of LSU immediately upon graduating, teaching romance languages to the first female undergraduates. It “was joked that he would fall in love with one of his female students, and The Reveille printed humorous poems mentioning this possibility. They were proven correct when he married Nora Mary Dougherty of the class of 1910,” according to history professor Paul E. Hoffman.

Germaine C. Laville received her baccalaureate degree in education from LSU in 1942. Eager to represent her family in the war effort during WWII, Laville enlisted in the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve. She died in one of the military’s Synthetic Training Buildings when a volatile floor cleaner hit exposed wires, causing the building to erupt in flames. She was last seen inside the building helping others escape, according to Linda Cates Lucy’s book “We are the Marines!: World War I to Present.”

Lillian Louise Garig “was one of the first women to attend LSU and the second woman hired onto University staff,” according to history professor Paul E. Hoffman. Her picture in the 1910 Gumbo is “accompanied by the text, ‘Louise says she is going to teach during her whole life, and be an old maid — in other words, never, never, never to marry. She is very exacting with the sterner sex.’”

Josh Harvey, LSU graduate and co-founder of the popular custom T-shirt boutique, Storyville Apparel, gives Legacy the answers. Storyville has locations in New Orleans, Austin, Texas and on 236 W. Chimes Street in Baton Rouge.

Find out more about Storyville at www.wearyourstory.com.

Q: How did you come up with the idea to “wear your story?”
A: My siblings and I grew up wearing tee shirts made by local designers like Mojo Ware in West Monroe. We wanted to create a shop that was dedicated to celebrating local culture and individual spirit.

Q: What was the inspiration behind the ‘Brad Pitt for Mayor’ shirt?
A: A Tulane professor named Thomas Bayer brought the idea to us. He though the “Brad Pitt for Mayor” campaign would be a good way to get some good press for the city of New Orleans, and to raise awareness about the upcoming mayoral election. We agreed.

Q: Did the NFL do anything to pull the “Who Dat?” shirts?
A: We received a “cease and desist” letter from the NFL in early January 2010. We held firm that the NFL – or anyone else for that matter – could own “Who Dat.”

Q: What’s the strangest things you’ve put on a T-shirt?
A: We’ve put lots of animals on shirts. There was an “apple giraffe” one time –half apple, half giraffe (a girapple?). That was odd. We also have a dinosaur sending text messages – a “Tyannosaurus Text.”

Q: What was your favorite shirt you’ve sold?
A: We’ve had a lot of success with “Brad Pitt for Mayor” and “Who Dat Nation,” but one of my all time favorites is “Beign-Yay” (a dancing beignet) because it was one of our earliest hit tees – and it features our original artwork.

Q: What made you decide to expand Storyville?
A: We think the formula of locally-themed apparel and custom tee shirts can work in markets all over the country. And each shop that we open will be a reflection of the community in which it rests.

Q: Where does the Storyville name come from?
A: It comes from the historic red light district in New Orleans, which existed from 1898-1917. It was an early place of experimentation, which included that performance of jazz and racial integration.

Q: What’s the most popular shirt ever sold from Storyville?
A: “Who Dat Nation” recently passed “Brad Pitt for Mayor” as our all-time best selling tee shirt. But we’ve got lots of hot new designs coming out in 2010.

Q: What’s it like working with all of your siblings as the owners and managers?
A: It’s awful. That’s why we have to spread out among so many cities… Just kidding. It’s fun (most of the time). We fight amongst ourselves sometimes, but we mostly get along. We all want to see Storyville succeed.

Q: Who’s the most famous customer you’ve had come to the store?
A: Kevin Spacey, Nicholas Cage, and Adam Yaunch (aka “MCA”) from the Beastie Boys have all shopped in Storyville. MTV Real World filmed there yesterday. We’re still waiting on Brad Pitt to come by.

Q: What did you do before Storyville?
A: I was a lawyer in Manhattan. And before that, I went to LSU. Geaux Tigers!

Titans have been clashing since the time of the ancient Greeks. Now, in the 21st century, the titans of technology continue to battle for control. The two biggest juggernauts? Apple’s iPhone and Motorola’s Droid.

The iPhone has dominated sales with very little competition for the past few years. However, with Motorola’s slogan “Droid Does,” many consumers wonder which of these two phones is the “smart” choice.

Today’s society constantly tries to stay sleek and stylish. The old adage “Don’t judge a book by its cover” is not always true.

The screen sizes are similar, with the iPhone measuring at 3.5 inches and the Droid at 3.7 inches, according to PCWorld.com. Since size does not seem to matter (in this case), the resolution of the two screens is the deciding factor. The Droid has a better screen resolution at 480×854 pixels, while the iPhone measures in at 480×320 pixels.

A noticeable difference between the two phones is the keyboards. The iPhone has a touch screen, which allows users to type faster and autocorrects any spelling errors. The Droid has a touch screen keyboard but also offers a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. While slide-out keyboards can transform a sleek phone to a bulkier version, some prefer the tactile feel of a real keyboard.

However, appearances can only make a relationship last for so long. The insides – applications and memory – are what counts. Since its June 2007 release, Apple’s iPhone boasts over 90,000 applications, ranging from maps, social networking and games – including one where the user can auto-tune their voice like T-Pain.

Despite the iPhone’s overwhelming number of applications, the Droid’s popularity is increasing. Though it was only released last October, the Droid has more than 12,000 applications.

Google developed the Droid’s operating system, called Android. The actual interface is sometimes seen as complicated. For example, changing a setting on the phone could be found in a variety of places rather than everything being contained in one location.

While the iPhone’s operating system does have the advantage of being developed for one specific purpose, the system can be at a disadvantage when compared to the Android operating system.

The biggest advantage the Android system has over the iPhone system is the pure versatility. Android allows a user to truly customize it for one’s specific needs, while Apple holds all the cards when it comes to the iPhone. Additionally, while the Android operating system is featured on different phones and carriers, the iPhone is locked to AT&T.

An important factor in the debate is money. The phones themselves are equally priced at $199 with two-year contracts.

After the dust settles, the user emerges. The differences and advantages are subjective to the user and dependent on the individual’s intended purpose of the phone. With each company continuously trying to one-up the other, the consumer truly reaps the benefits of  all the various technological advances.

iPhone

• Multi-touch: Super convenient way to zoom in on any web page, and faster scrolling and copy and pasting.

• Applications: Is your skin too clear? Wish you had pimples to pop? There’s an app for that, literally. Boasting over 90,000 applications, the iPhone is hard to compete with in that area.

• Phone wide search: The iPhone allows users to search for anything in the phone at one place.

• Simplicity: No one wants to get a brand new phone that takes hours to learn. The iPhone’s interface is so simple a toddler can figure it out (seriously, there are Youtube videos about it).

• Browsing the web: Multiple tests have been run proving that the iPhone 3GS is indeed faster than the new Droid. Even a pro-Droid website, www.androidcentral.com, admits to the iPhone’s accomplishment.

Droid

• Camera Phone: The Droid’s camera offers a flash and more megapixels than the iPhone.

• Keyboard: Not only does the Droid offer a touchscreen keyboard, but it also comes with a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard.

• The screen: The Droid offers a larger screen with higher resolution, making it easier to watch movies

and surf the web.

• GPS Navigation: Each Droid comes equipped with full turn-by-turn GPS Navigation for free.

• Google Voice: With text messaging, voice messaging, e-mails, picture messaging and more being

developed, keeping track of all one’s messages can become quite the task. Thanks to Google Voice, all

messages can be managed in one convienent location.

The Red Stick Roller Derby Girls were founded in July 2007 by Mary Koehler and Brandy Rojas. The Derby Girls are made up of Baton Rouge residents, LSU students and alums. These ladies went helmet-to-helmet against the Mississippi Roller Girls on January 23 in the Baton Rouge River Center. After two 30-minute halves the hometown Derby Girls lost to the Mississippi Roller Girls 153 – 118. For Derby Girl Madie Sans Merci it was both a thrilling and nerve-wracking first-time derby experience. “It was one of the most important days of my life to me, I’ll always remember the first bout I ever played in,” she added.

See the photo essay >>

“As a kid, I saw a veteran as [an old] bum,” said James Wyant, a clean-cut microbiology sophomore with glasses.  “Now, I am one.”

Wyant, 26, received his discharge letter from the U.S. Navy last August. Wyant, like other men and women on campus, made the decision to postpone higher education to serve his country.

Charlie Pruitt, a 25-year-old landscape architecture sophomore, also delayed college for the military. Like Wyant, Pruitt agrees that he does not picture himself when he hears the word “veteran.”  Instead, he conjures up images of his grandfather.

“There is such a greatness associated with [being a veteran], you don’t associate it with yourself,” Pruitt said.

Although these students say they do not feel like heroes, veterans or patriots, they are. They have traveled from Iraq and back – and today, they are Tigers.

By Sea

“I knew that I always wanted to go to college, but I had no way to pay for it,” Wyant said. “Also, joining the Navy was a way to delay the decision of what path to pursue.”

Wyant explained that his family was supportive when he joined the Navy, despite that he did not come from a military upbringing.  In fact, he said his maternal grandfather led a pacifist organization and his father was not drafted into the Vietnam War because he was in seminary to become a United Church of Christ minister.

He said his friends and family thoroughly backed his decision, but he recalled being frequently questioned about what he would do if there were a war. He responded confidently, “There’s not going to be a war for at least 10 years.”

Wyant joined the military in August 2001.

“I was in boot camp when 9/11 happened … I woke up to tanks in the streets, civilian lockdown, and anti-raiding jacks … like you see on the beaches of Normandy in ‘Saving Private Ryan,’ ” he said.  “It was so surreal that we thought it had to be a training exercise.”

Wyant explained that nearly 300 recruits were corralled into a room to watch about one hour of pre-recorded CNN footage.

He was certain the Navy would buy him some time, but Wyant said he never imagined that he would serve six years in the military during wartime.

During the following years at sea, Wyant served on a submarine and received several medals for his service in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.

Wyant, a Los Angeles native, explained that the Navy allowed him to travel.

He said he lived in eight states, and joked that he also resided under water.

“I could never compile a complete list of the admirable people I served with,” Wyant said.  “My most enjoyable moment though, would be riding on the surface [of the ocean] at top speed at dawn without any land in sight.”

While Wyant said he feels his military experience was a positive one, he warns that the military is not for everyone.

“I would recommend the military to very few people. … I think it would be damaging to most people,” Wyant said. “I have seen people literally driven insane.”

Aside from the risks of pirates and battle, he said the day-to-day life in a submarine was unsettling.  He said there was no privacy in the cramped quarters of the submarine.  He also discussed how laborious it could be to do dirty jobs deep underwater.

One particular incident haunts him: A mechanical error shot sewage into the ship instead of the ocean. The crew was not allowed to surface for five days – after everything was cleaned.

“There was a geyser in the kitchen [ruining food],” he said, laughing, finding humor in a gruesome incident.  “It looked like three inch fudge mix.”

Situations like these caused the crew to call the vessel the “U.S.S. Green Evil” instead of its proper name, the Greenville.

Upon coming home from Iraq, Wyant was not only happy to be on dry land but also about how gracious most people were.  He said he surprised by the support for the troops, no matter the political party or opinion on the war.

“I feel like the veterans have gotten unprecedented support from the public, regardless of political belief,” Wyant said.

By Land

“I didn’t value college … I felt really bad for [letting down] my parents,” Pruitt said.

Pruitt explained that he joined the military in 2003 after a failed attempt at McNeese State University in his hometown of Lake Charles, La.

He said he didn’t research the military before joining; his decision to enlist was based on an article in the local newspaper about a friend who served in the initial invasion of Iraq.  He was intrigued by how the story featured his friend as a hero.

Pruitt decided to test the waters.

He told his friends and family he was considering joining the military to gauge their reactions.

“They said, ‘Oh, cool.’  I wanted to hear ‘no, no, don’t do it’  … I felt obligated [to join],” he joked.

With the support of his family and the advice of his military grandfather, Pruitt joined the Marines.

When Pruitt enlisted, he said he felt passionate about the cause he was defending in a post-9/11 world.

He spoke a lot about the camaraderie he felt with his fellow marines.  Pruitt explained that trust was key when it came to ground work in Iraq.

“Knowing that other people suffered through the same things as you really helps forge a relationship,” he said.

He described how interactions with civilians affected his view on the war. He said he was rarely scared on the ground in Iraq, but he warned in some cases he should have been.

“Tuesdays and Thursdays [insurgents] shot at us ,” Pruitt said, laughing at terrorist groups’ failed attempts to invoke fear in American soldiers.  “No one was ever injured … When they got off work, [they would] come shoot [rockets at] us.  They were terrible shots.”

He said Iraq was not how people would picture it.  There were rocky deserts, and he compared the dress of people in rural areas to the garb of “biblical times,” except they carried guns.  He also described the daunting scenery of rusted rockets and vacated buildings from the Persian Gulf War.

He described the Iraqi shepherd families that lived in tents, with only a few pots and pans and how his unit did what they could to help them.  Pruitt said he gave children toys and school supplies, families water and provided whatever other services he could.

Pruitt, like Wyant, discussed how sewage proved to be a problem while in the desert.  He said while protecting a highway in a rural area of Iraq, he and a handful of other men lived in a small, deserted, two-room building without indoor – or outdoor – plumbing.

He said the men had to dig holes to urinate in and other waste had to be put in a bag and burned.  When he finally got to a base with portable toilets he said he remembered feeling like it was “heaven.”

However, there were greater concerns while protecting the highway.  Pruitt said people would come to their fort and threaten them.  No attack ever actually occurred.

While Pruitt feels the Iraqi people are in great need of American assistance, he said they are not always accepting of help.  He added that he felt conflicted about everything he saw in Iraq.

“I didn’t necessarily agree with everything we did … but who am I to question?” he said.  “You want to see it work out for those people.  But at the same time they aren’t helping themselves.”

From Soldiers to Students

While their time in service was always stressful and sometimes scary, both Pruitt and Wyant agree it made them the men they are today.

During his time overseas, Pruitt said he realized how much “better” his life was than those of the Iraqi people.

“I was lucky enough [that] my parents could help me go to school.  It was a maturing process,” he said about how his military experience made him thankful for all of the privileges he had at home.  “I wanted nothing more than to go to school.”

Pruitt decided to go to LSU and worked hard to accomplish his goal.  He first attended Baton Rouge Community College to pull up his G.P.A. in order to enroll in the University.

Pruitt took a summer class at the University in 2008 and received an “A,” proving to himself and his family he could succeed at LSU.

“I want to design, something and see it come to life,” he said proudly, smiling through his 5 o’clock shadow.

While the Montgomery GI Bill helps Wyant with the financial aspects of student life, he also feels his personal growth spurred by his time in the military caused him to be the student he is today.

Currently in his fourth semester at LSU, Wyant has maintained a 3.8 G.P.A. and hopes to become a doctor.

“I know I’ll be in my 30s when I’m done with med school,” he said, laughing.  “In 10 years, I’ll be 10 years older no matter what I do, so I might as well pursue what I want. ”Wyant said that the age difference between he and his peers is not an issue.

“My friends may make fun of me, or call me an old man,” he said with a smirk. “But it’s no worse than what I call them.”

All jokes aside, Wyant said the LSU community is very accepting.

“I am glad to finally be [in college]. I feel that the label of ‘student’ and the label of ‘veteran’ seem to be different in society, but they aren’t,” he said.  “A student is someone who is working hard … and wants to accomplish something for the good of mankind. I would like to think that is the mission of the U.S. military.”

While her child is raped, the opiates in Momma’s veins spread, drowning out her child’s cries. While the pedophile’s murmurs wash over the little girl, Momma counts the dollar bills and nurses fresh scars.

Salvaging her daughter’s childhood is as futile as assuaging her tears.

Sex trafficking is one of the many faces of modern slavery, and it is happening in our own community. Natalie LaBorde, second-year LSU law student and founder of Tigers Against Trafficking, fights daily to rescue human sex slaves in Baton Rouge and beyond. LaBorde said she believes student action is necessary in the effort to free these victims.

“I love Tiger Stadium, but there are more important things to rally 90,000 people around,” LaBorde said.

Baton Rouge is no stranger to sex slavery. Victims of domestic trafficking are people we see everyday — a mother, a teenager down the street or a child runaway. LaBorde said she believes it is difficult for students to find the time to care about the community’s needs while juggling work, school, friends and their futures.

“In the midst of all our own personal pursuits, we have to make a conscious decision to acknowledge that slavery still exists and that we have a part to play in helping those who are enslaved,” LaBorde said. “It’s a long-term commitment, much like that of so many heroes who initiated change in areas such as slave trade, universal suffrage and civil rights. No doubt their lives were busy, but they did it any way.”

LaBorde became attuned to global slavery while living in Sydney, Australia after her graduation from LSU in 2007. She attended events that highlighted human trafficking and eventually went on a research trip, visiting shelters, rehabilitation centers and brothel districts in Europe, Asia and North America. LaBorde said she encountered a 12 year-old girl rescued from a brothel in Phnom Pen, Cambodia. She was 11 years old and pregnant when authorities found her. When LaBorde met her, she was carrying the baby on her hip like a sibling — something LaBorde said she will never forget.

When LaBorde returned to Baton Rouge for law school, alumni Jeremy Beyt and Sarah Kaiser, two of her best friends from her undergrad years, partnered with LaBorde in her mission. Since then, the trio has aimed to mobilize students into local anti-trafficking programs and spread their vision around the United States.

This effort, called Tigers Against Trafficking, was born in October 2008 to raise funds for and connect with the A21 campaign — an anti-trafficking program out of Greece that seeks to “abolish injustice in the 21st century” by benefitting women and children victims. Annie Dollarhide, marketing and communications manager of the campaign, said funds provided by TAT have helped aid the construction of a new halfway house for women rescued from sex trafficking.

LaBorde said the release of the 2008 movie “Taken,” starring Liam Neelson, helped draw valuable attention to the human sex trade. The film recounts a teenager’s journey overseas and her consequent abduction — a realistic teaching tool for LaBorde’s message of awareness and action to combat trafficking.

In March 2009, TAT hosted a 5K walk and run. More than 360 students participated, raising $10,000. TAT raised an additional $7,000 at a benefit concert entitled “Be Their Freedom” in October 2009, which more than 400 students attended. All funds went directly to the A21 Campaign.

TAT has inspired similar organizations at other Louisiana campuses, including the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Cajuns Against Trafficking and Southeastern University’s Lions Against Trafficking.

“Ideally I would love to see this replicate all over the U.S.,” said Kaiser, one. “And I’m not just talking about awareness. That’s important, but what’s the point of making someone aware without doing anything about it?”

LaBorde said Baylor University, Kentucky University and the University of Toledo are following in LSU’s footsteps and creating their own anti-trafficking groups.

The Dream Center, located at Winbourne Baptist Church at 4829 Winbourne Ave., serves individuals and families within our city limits, many of whom have suffered exploitation. Members of TAT volunteer at the center’s primary outreach known as “Café,” which provides clothing, groceries, medical aid and other services to impoverished families and homeless members of the community on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The Rescue and Restore outreach serves victims of many backgrounds, including ex-prostitutes, homeless teenagers who have traded sex for a safe place to sleep and single mothers who have sold themselves to support their children.

“There is such a broad definition of what trafficking is,” LaBorde said. “But at its roots, it is sexual exploitation.”

The mission of the Center overlaps that of TAT, according to LaBorde. Many of the women who pass through the doors have been victims of the sex trade. It is not uncommon to hear tales of women sold for sex by their husbands and lovers or kept in submission by local pimps. The outreach programs aim to provide victim assistance.

Charity Trahan oversees the homeless youth at the Dream Center and said she encounters women and children who have been coerced into the Baton Rouge sex trade. Although Trahan has never been trafficked herself, she said knowledge is the most valuable tool to reach out to victims.

“People think that if they have not been victims of trafficking, they cannot be someone that victims can relate to,” Trahan said. “But if you are educated about the topic and genuinely care, people are going to trust you. Anyone who is informed can make a difference.”

Trahan said she hopes the center will be recognized as an alternative to a life of prostitution — a safe location for homeless youth to gain job and education opportunities and consider a home. In the community’s low-income areas, Trahan said pimps and pedophiles flourish because there is more opportunity to exploit kids from unstable homes.

Trahan, who has worked with the center since October 2007, said child victims of trafficking are easy to spot in the homeless community: They are the majority, and affiliation with the sex industry is often inevitable. Trahan said sex trafficking is a business that caters to the sexual demands of the community. Although cases of female sexual abuse are more commonly reported in Baton Rouge, young boys are also victims of sex slavery, prostitution and exploitation.

“In a crowd of homeless youth, you think about one or two have been trafficked, but it’s actually the opposite,” Trahan said. “Those who have not been bought or sold for sex are the minority.”

Trahan said children raised in sex trafficking are either killed or eventually abandoned when they no longer make enough profit for their pimp. Sex is often all they know, and without any skills or proper education, many support themselves with prostitution. The center often sees women in their 20s who are seeking to pull themselves away from a life of sex, some of whom were sold by their parents as young as 8 years old.

In East Baton Rouge Parish, members of Trafficking Hope are currently aiding a female high school student allegedly being forced into prostitution by an ex-boyfriend – just one example of slavery in our midst.

“There’s no 40-year-old woman who wakes up and says, ‘I’m going to prostitute myself,” Trahan said. “They started at a young age. It’s a life they recognize as normal.”

LaBorde agreed that homeless children are especially susceptible to domestic trafficking, with reported cases of children forced into intercourse ranging from 12 to 14 years of age.

“The term ‘child prostitute’ does not exist,” LaBorde said. “I have always had preconceived notions of what a prostitute was, but that was before I became involved with this.”

As a part of the center’s Midnight Outreach, volunteers meet each month to bring roses to the women at four Baton Rouge strip clubs. The roses bear the center’s information and provide opportunities for groceries, clothing or further education, such as the center’s GED study sessions. LaBorde said one woman kept 13 roses as a reminder she could pursue a life without stripping.

LaBorde said she believes the program helps remind the women that they are cared for and respected within the community. However, the center also seeks to reach women who are potential victims of trafficking.

“You have to find an entry into the girls’ lives, to connect with them and develop a relationship.” LaBorde said. “You never know the situation someone is in. Anyone could be a victim.”

Trafficking Hope, a campaign funded by the federal grant Rescue and Restore, seeks to identify, rescue and restore victims of sex and labor trafficking in the cities spanning the I-10 corridor from Baton Rouge to New Orleans. TAT has partnered with Trafficking Hope, alongside several other organizations receiving the funds. Both programs aim to educate the public on sex trafficking in America and internationally, and provide outreach to communities where people are living at risk.

LaBorde talked about a recent interview with a teenager who came to the center. She was living on the streets, and after discussing the girl’s living situation, LaBorde asked if the girl had ever traded sex for shelter. She had. Trading sex for a dry, warm place to stay is something LaBorde said she believes the homeless community has accepted as a way of life.

“They do not label it by saying, ‘I am being trafficked,’” LaBorde said.

Charlene Merrill, a driver for the Dream Center’s homeless youth outreach, said prostitution is not a choice, but a matter of survival. Kids under the reign of a local pimp are initially attracted by the financial security, the attention they receive, whether negative or positive, and fear of not knowing how to survive the streets on their own.

Mass communications junior Jennie Armstrong became involved with TAT because of her desire to pursue a career in human rights law. Armstrong said she believes every effort she puts into TAT, however small, strengthens the crusade against human trafficking.

“We can’t just sit back and live life in our pretty little apartments when [trafficked] women are being beaten and raped,” Armstrong said. “Knowing what I know, I can’t live my life without helping.”

Beyt said his battle against sex trafficking is personal, as he fights on behalf of the victims as he would for his own loved ones.

“You think about a sister or a daughter and see the big numbers,” Beyt said. “If that was someone in your own family, then all of a sudden it would be a big issue.”

Freedom is our anthem as students – a chance to define lifestyles, decisions and the parties in between. But millions are enslaved on the planet, hundreds in our own backyard, and LaBorde believes it is our responsibility to combat this concern and embrace the millions who live in shackles.

“We all have something, whether it’s our time, our talents, or our finances, that we can use right now to play our part in combating human trafficking,” LaBorde said. “Get up off your asses, stop playing video games and make a difference.”

It’s a typical summer Friday in South Louisiana — the kind of day where you can bottle the air and drink it through a straw — and in an open barn off a derelict highway in Covington, I was just bitten by an alligator.

This alligator — along with 1,500 others — resides on Insta-Gator Ranch in Covington, where 88 percent of the crocodilians will grow up to be wallets, shoes, belts, handbags and sausages. The remaining 12 percent will be released into the wild. One thing they all share in common, though, is the potential to one day save lives.

Insta-Gator Ranch, the only gator farm in the state that allows visitors, takes part in the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries “sustained use management program” of alligators. This system, implemented in 1972, helps restore the species’ population after it’s classification as endangered five years prior.  By 1987, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service announced a complete recovery of the species.

Harvesting for Insta-Gator requires an Ultralight aircraft for egg spotting and an airboat to retrieve the eggs.  However, handling eggs while alligator mothers hover nearby does present its problems.

“[Harvesting eggs] scares the heck out of you,” exclaims Jim Piculas, a substitute teacher-turned-alligator rancher.  “These are monsters.”

Most of these “monsters,” separated in water-filled pens according to age and length, will one day sit on dinner tables or become expensive accessories. Researchers at LSU and throughout the scientific community, however have  found even more practical uses for alligators.

Tucked away in an office in the food science building, Dr. Jack Losso, a jovial associate professor, talks excitedly about his studies with alligators.

“There’s close to two million pounds of alligator waste per year … we wanted to use alligator waste — bones, unused skin … to isolate collagen for cosmetics,” Losso explains.  “What we produce is almost 100 percent pure.”

Losso and his colleagues have succeeded in producing this collagen from alligator carcasses.  The product is already on the market.

Collagen, the most naturally abundant protein in the animal kingdom, is responsible for providing human skin and tissues with strength and protection from certain degrees of sun damage.  The protein is already used in a wide array of cosmetics and injections for cosmetic surgery.

Collagen also has curative properties, as it can aid in regenerating tissues, helping to heal wounds and possibly inhibit growth of tumors.

The natural environment in the marshes and swamps of the Gulf coast is ripe with opportunities for infection and disease. Gators, however, are some of the healthiest animals.

“Alligators can be exposed to bacteria and have never been exposed to them before but their bodies know how to fight them … ours don’t,” says Lancia Darville, a chemistry graduate student at the University.

Darville, who works with Dr. Mark Merchant from McNeese State University, explains that their project began when Merchant took parts of blood from an American alligator, isolated them and exposed them to different types of microorganisms — bacteria, viruses and fungi.

“He found that the majority of those microorganisms were depleted after being exposed … The same thing happened with HIV.  Over 90 percent of it depleted, so that’s really exciting,” Darville says.

All 16 of the microorganisms placed in alligator blood serum were killed, including the herpes simplex virus, HIV, E. coli and the bacteria that causes staph, strep, salmonella and dysentery.  Human blood serum was only successful in killing six of these.

The ultimate goal is to be able to sequence antimicrobial peptides from American alligator blood.  Sequencing these peptides — which are essentially small portions of proteins found in blood — would lead to a basic blueprint for production of future medicines.  Because implantation of alligator blood in humans is deadly, a synthetic chemical version of the proteins could allow humans to still obtain the medical benefits of those peptides.

“Ultimately we would like to be able to mimic them for medicinal use,” explains Darville.

Price has seen the natural immunities  alligators possess first-hand at Insta-Gator.

“I’ve never had a vet come here,” he said about his ranch.  “We’ve raised over 35,000 and only lost a few to unknown reasons.”

Price began Insta-Gator Ranch in 1989.  It was not until twelve years later, in 2001, that it was opened to the public for tours.

Though some found it odd that he went from hunting a species to working to protect it, Price explains that it’s really part of the same cycle.  The money the state charges for hunting and fishing licenses (and even for the tags placed on Price’s released gators) goes toward protecting its animals.

“Hunting of animals is really protection of animals … Ducks Unlimited is one of the biggest supporters of wetland conservation [and they sell hunting goods],” says Price.

Louisiana’s own sustained use policy of the American alligator has actually served as an oft-cited model of animal re-population worldwide.  This intense re-population of the alligator means that Louisiana could stand to be in for growth of a lucrative new medical market.

“We want our Louisiana business to be in a position to take advantage of these new markets,” Losso says.

Until more breakthroughs are made, however, the possible key to fighting the economic recession will be lurking in swamps and marshes of the Gulf Coast.

As I waited for the adolescent alligator jaws to release my finger, Piculas tell me this little guy won’t be able to cause any real damage for about another year.  Though his sandpaper-like teeth only hint at the development of something more menacing, I find the force behind his jaws undeniable.  At 9 inches, he’s only a miniature version of his powerful ancestors, but with scientific advances on the horizon, his potential is ultimately infinite.

Gator Aid Fun Facts:

● There are 60 licensed gator ranchers in Louisiana.

● Ranchers use 88% and release 12% into wild.

● The 12% of gators that are returned to wild represent a larger number than would survive on their own.

● Less than 15% of hatchlings ever renew adulthood in wild.

● Once a gator reaches four feet it is considered an adult.

● Gators can jump 2/3 of their body length.

See a slideshow of more photos from the gator ranch.