“A young Inuit girl lives the violent transition between traditional and modern societies.” reads the description of this episode. One of my favorite shows on the radio, Snap Judgement, tells the story of a girl, now woman speaking about her experiences in cultural loss. I immediately thought of my people, the Cajuns. Not to downplay the treatment of any indigenous people in America but the parallels are strikingly similar. Consider listening to the episode before reading further: http://soundcloud.com/snapjudgment/far-from-home-snap-judgment/
We Are Cajun
On' Est Cadien
Codofil seeks to reinstate funding
After a massive funding cut and crowd-funding efforts, CODOFIL is seeking a budget restoration from the Louisiana State Legislature. It’s budget was cut by $100,000 in the 2012-2013 state budget back in June of last year.
CODOFIL stands for “Conseil Pour Le Development Du Francais En Louisianne.” or The Counsel for the development of French in Louisiana. It was founded by former Louisiana Governor McKeithen and his Executive Secretary but is most known for it’s first director, James R. “Jimmy” Domengeaux who installed CODOFIL’s mission and values and directed the organization from 1968 until 1988.
As of today, two of three of CODOFIL’s original goals are being seen to fruition. One was to establish French education in public schools from Elementary to High School noting that early years were critical for the development of language skills in children. This is of course an ongoing goal that requires constant planning, legislation and development of the program. Currently, about 4,000 students are enrolled in CODOFIL’s French “immersion environments.”
A second major goal was to create a Dictionary of Louisiana French, which was accomplished in 2009 with contributions from many South Louisiana Academics and Regional French experts.
Click on the image below to be taken to the CODOFIL facebook page to read more and find out how you can get involved in their request for state funding.
Welcome to the new WeAreCajun.com
We would like to welcome you to the new site. Having a blog-style website is going to help us to accomplish several things in relation to the We Are Cajun project. We look forward to sharing our plans with you. Until then, hang tight and keep lovin’ Cajun culture!
