'La semaine en français' every Sunday morning at 9:30 AM on KPEL: Entrevue avec Richard Guidry

0:00 - Étudiant de 4ème année à l'Université de Louisiane à Lafayette, dans le Collège d'éducation
-Président du Cercle français
-Richard aspires to be a French teacher; speaking French with his family - mother speaks French with grandparents
-Gueydan in Vermilion Parish - everyone speaks French in Gueydan
-Anglophone 'colony' from Midwest trying to learn French and adopting all of the Cajun customs such as eating rice and gravy, boudin, chaudin, drinking coffe
-rice farmers; Guidry's father is the fire chief in Gueydan and does electrical/plumbing work on the side
-most firemen in Gueydan are volunteers, meaning they get a bonus at the end of the year/Christmas time from the town of Gueydan

4:58 - Son voyage en Guadeloupe - went on scholarship from the French government for future French teachers (about 20 from Louisiana, most from North Louisiana, New Orleans, and Baton Rouge.
-Only 4 from Acadiana. Richard and black girl from McNeese the only two who spoke French at home/with their families
-locals were shocked that Americans could speak French so well - they sang folk songs and showed their custom to the people of Guadalupe
-Richard sang 'J'ai fait tout le tour du Grand Bois'; 'Les Acadiens de la Disperssion' documentary in USL archives - get a copy from Mr. Charles Bernard
-showing film in Gueydan (shocked to see Canadians that spoke just like them using the same expressions)

8:40 - Richard didn't feel completely at home because Guadalupe is a black culture, and Richard was never really exposed to that at home (felt more at more among Francohpones)
-links between Louisiana and French Antilles: both speak Creole
-young girl from Breaux Bridge whose family speaks Creole - not the same language, but close enough to understand one another
-youth in Guadalupe are speaking more French and losing their Creole
-less of a racial distinction between blacks and whites like in the U.S.
-same system Louisiana had after Civil War (pure blacks, mulatoes, caltrons - has more white blood than black blood, Creoles)
-Creoles don't mix with blacks - French mix with blacks because it's been a French state since 1946 (like Hawaii is a U.S.).
-Martinique and French Guiana, Île de la Réunion; three other places where Creole is spoken
-Blacks would speak Creole amongst themselves and were shocked when Richard was able to comprehend and answer them

13:53 - Expressions in Louisiana French/Guadalupe French that are no longer used in standard French like 'un petit bougre'; gombo févi (okra), sugar cane, mirlitons (vegetable pear) both in Louisiana and Guadalupe
-common folk songs; Guadalupe people are mixing their folk songs with modern music to create something similar to Louisiana jazz
-1,500 miles/8-hr flight ($300) from New Orleans to Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadalupe

17:43 - Richard didn't expect how much poverty there was because of the industrialization of the sugar cane industry
-Blacks don't have work anymore, some immigrate to France for work
-they drink wine, eat French bread, drive French cars, they would feel right at home in France
-Some believe Guadalupe's economy would be better off becoming an independent state
-tourism new to Guadalupe; La Plage de Sainte-Anne