The Parish Family Blog

My Podcast Interview with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach on the Movie "Desert Bayou"

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach talks with Tom Parish on the G21 Podcast series about his experiences and impressions around the making of the movie Desert Bayou, directed by Alex LeMay.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach is the host of the National TV show Shalom in the Home, airing Sunday nights at 7 pm EST on TLC (The Learning Channel), and international best-selling author of 18 books.  His latest book, Shalom in the Home, based on the hit television series, was released by Meredith Books in March of 2007.  His recent work, Parenting with Fire, was featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show last October.

Desert Bayou Movie - You May Want to See This!

My folks were from Louisiana; in fact, Dad was born in New Orleans. So when Katrina hit I was deeply saddened by the extent of the damage and personal loss to so many families. I had relatives there myself. And we all know about the incredibly slow response to provide aid.

What we don't know is what happened to some of the people that were, for example, put on an airplane and taken to Salt Lake City. Here is a summary of the Desert Bayou Movie:

"In the wake of one of the worst natural and humanitarian disasters ever to visit American shores, nearly 600 African Americans were airlifted to the almost entirely white state of Utah… without their knowledge.  Desert Bayou is more than a Hurricane Katrina documentary. It seeks to examine whether two cultures can come together in a time of utter chaos, or whether their differences prove too great a challenge to overcome. In their own words, evacuees of Hurricane Katrina tell how they survived the storm of the century and out of the rubble ended up at a military installation in the deserts of Utah. With interviews from recording artist Master P, celebrity Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, evacuees, political and military leaders, and community and social figures, the questions of race, politics and religion hurdle toward each other in this truly American story: A story of loss and reunion, of sorrow and rebirth, of anger and rejoicing, but most of all… a story of hope."

To see the preview and hear an interview I did with the director, Alex LeMax, go to http://desertbayoumovie.blip.tv

Let me know your thoughts.
Tom

Justin, Juliet, Lily

Out for breakfast after our workout.

Lily at Volleyball

Looking good!

Tom Parish Tumblr - What's This?

You've probably noticed by now I'm always experimenting with different tools on the Internet. Here is one that has my attention. It's called TUMBLR and you can get yours free at www.tumblr.com.

What it gives you is the ability to put all your feeds in one location for others to see. I have a feed from the Tom Parish Inc. Blog, The TalkingPortraits show at ITConversations, my Twitter feed and, of course, the RSS feed from this blog.

So if you're wondering what else I'm doing and you just want one place to see that, go to
http://tomparish.tumblr.com/

A September Update

It's a been a while since I've posted an entry but as the regular readers know a lot has transpired in the last couple of weeks.

Brad Brown passed away and this weekend hundreds of people are flying out to the West Coast to pay respects at the memorial in northern California. 

Sharon was always very close to Brad the 20 years of her career with the Kairos Foundation. Brad was her mentor and friend.  He was also extremely generous with his friendship when our family experienced financial troubles. Somehow Brad always found a way to help. And for those that knew Brad, this story was repeated over and over.  This picture to the left was on Sharon's desk for years. I miss them both.

This weekend I wanted to stay home and focus on being with Lily and with Justin and Juliet as they prepare for the big wedding.  We've all had a good time relaxing and catching up with each other. I was out of town in Bozeman, Montana, the entire last week of August.

I'll be posting more often as their wedding draws closer.

All the best
Tom