Northeast Louisiana Exploration

I spent the first full day of retirement exploring the area of Northeast Louisiana. I had passed through this place once before, many years ago. I had forgotten how poor the people are in this area. It is a shame because they are sitting on some of the most fertile ground in the country. There are still people living in old sharecroppers houses with little kids running around in the yard. With no other houses for miles, these kids are isolated just as if they were on an island. Instead of water surrounding them it is just cultivated fields for as far as the eye can see. It was the same thing in the little towns, except instead of poor country people, it was poor city people. I'm sure it's been done, but it is hard to imagine the kind of determination it must take to break away from that cycle of poverty. 

A Tree Grows in the Country

 

I took the picture above because it reminded me of the book "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith. It too represented hope for the future. I wonder if the planter of this tree thought of it as hope?

I drove through these area on my way to the Louisiana State Cotton Museum in Lake Providence, Louisiana.
 

Freedom at the Cotton Museum

 

 

The museum does a good job of showing the history of cotton production. The lady volunteer said cotton production has been declining every year for the past several years. One reason is because of cheap, imported cotton from China which has driven the price down and made it non-profitable for our farmers. The federal government is not doing it's job to protect the American producers from artificially priced, government subsidized low imports. If the imports represent a true cost and those other countries can produce it cheaper, then by all means it is "free enterprise". But when another country subsidizes their exports like China is doing with cotton just so as to run our farmers out of the business then that is when the federal government should step in to stop it. The other reason is that farmers have switched over to producing corn because the price of it is high due to Ethanol production. Kind of ironic that in that case, "our" government is artificially inflating the price of corn by subsidizing the Ethanol production. A good idea would be for both governments to get the heck out of the way.

Well. I didn't mean to write such a bummer of a post. Oh well, got to take the bad with the good. :)

I'll be leaving here Monday heading to Vicksburg, MS. Hopefully the predicted Sunday night rain will have passed through before I pull out.


Take care of each other. Cya.