Help the Helpers another success for 10 helpful groups

Published 12:00 am Friday, January 7, 2011

I took the last of my vacation time after Christmas so am just back in the office the past few days, trying to get caught up.

For sure I want to appreciate the generous donors to this year’s Help the Helper’s effort. We were short of last year’s total, but still received an impressive $13,843.81 to help 10 local organizations do their good work in the community.

The organizations that will benefit from these donations include: the Iberia Humane Society; Iberia Parish Homeless Shelter; the New Start Center; Progressive Education Program Inc.; Shepherd’s Food Pantry; Safety Net for Abused Persons; Social Service Center, Solomon House; St. Francis Diner; and St. Nicholas Social Concern.

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Wife Gladys and I enjoyed hosting the family for Christmas this year, with her dad, my sister and her family, my mom, my brother and our two sons, Adam and Daniel, all spending the Christmas weekend with us.

It was great to be together. I especially enjoyed having my two sons around the house at the same time. Adam works for an advertising agency in Lafayette. Daniel’s a senior at LSU and soon to graduate.

I’m sure other parents have experienced it before, but there’s just a little extra peace and comfort to be had when your family is with you, and you know for sure everyone’s OK.

It was a great Christmas.

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Wife Gladys and I spent a few days in Houston after Christmas, enjoying big city life.

We visited the Menil Collection, an art museum that’s free and open to the public centered around pieces that were part of the private collection of John and Dominique Menil. She was the daughter of one of the founders of the oil-services company Schlumberger. John eventually became the director of Schlumberger’s worldwide operations.

I have to say I thought some of the displays would more appropriately be included in the “mental” collection, like the canvas painted in plain white, hung on a white wall. Or the large rectangular white canvas with a simple vertical black stripe painted down its middle.

And especially a room with a chair in one corner with a cover that looked like it came from some grandmother’s bedroom, an empty gin bottle on the floor along the middle of a wall, and two bundles of a New York tabloid newspaper on the floor along another wall.

Sorry, but I didn’t get those.

Neither did I “get” the two empty glass cubes. At first I thought they were cases for some pieces that were out on loan or perhaps being cleaned. But I read the card next to them and discovered, they were the “art.”

There were some interesting paintings and some collages that I found of great interest, but there were a number like those mentioned above where I just didn’t get it.

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The Hispanic influence or impact in Houston continues to grow. Years ago Spanish was heard and seen mostly on the south side. In more recent years, it became more common in the center. Now it seems Spanish was the first language anywhere you went, even on the north side of town.

There were areas where it was hard to find a sign in English. And at most restaurants and stores we visited, Spanish seemed to be more common, among both workers and shoppers.

WILL CHAPMAN is publisher of The Daily Iberian.