Can You Help Clio: Restoration Fundraiser is Now Underway!

Caddo Parish Confederate Monument

In June of this year, Steve and I went to the Caddo Parish courthouse to take care of some business and as we normally do, we stopped to admire the beauty and craftsmanship of the Confederate monument standing on the north side of the building.

But there was something wrong.

Clio's hand was gone.

Clio is the Muse of History who stands at the base of the monument in all of her classical beauty, holding a scroll in her left hand and with her right she is pointing to a memory book for the war dead.

As it turns out, Clio's arm was broken by a trespassing trumpet player who climbed over the decorative fence that encloses the monument. Mr. Trumpet Player then climbed the base of the monument, scaled his way up, grabbing Clio's outstretched arm for support, and sat on a ridge just above her head to play his instrument. He rested his leg on her arm, and the arm shattered.

Clio's damaged hand

Just a few weeks after that, a vandal armed with paint filled water balloons approached the monument in the dark of night and threw the balloons, thus causing thousands of dollars in damage.  The photos below show some of the paint damage but trust me when I tell you it is much worse in person.

Paint damage

The monument was installed by the Shreveport Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1905 and is the work of Texas sculptor Frank Teich from Llano County.  Mr. Teich has several other monuments in the city, including work at Greenwood Cemetery. It is a 30-foot tall granite and marble centaph depicting not just Clio, the Muse, but also a lone soldier at the top of the column, and four busts of four Confederate generals. While Confederate monuments are present in many towns across the South, ours is unique in its beauty and composition. There is not another one like it.  It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.

The Caddo Parish Confederate Monument 1905

The monument needs our help.

The Shreveport Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy has obtained two estimates from reputable restoration experts to repair Clio and to remove the paint. It isn't as easy as going to Home Depot, getting chemical, and a water hose. The estimates are both very close and both very expensive.

The UDC is raising money to restore this monument. The estimates are in stages - one is to repair the hand, another for the paint removal and that includes overall cleaning from the pollutants that are eating away at the stone.

We need to raise $6,000.

That's a lot of money and the UDC does not have it.  The UDC is a non-profit, charitable group that gives its money to charities, so writing a $6,000 check is out of the question. Your help is needed.

Please consider making a tax deductible donation to the repair of the Caddo Parish Confederate Monument. Your support is needed now, more than ever. Your donation can be sent directly to the Shreveport Chapter of the UDC:

United Daughters of the Confederacy
Shreveport Chapter #237
P. O. Box 52083
Shreveport, LA 71135-2083

No amount is too small.  And those end of the year tax deductions are coming up!

Please share this post on Facebook and via email; you never know when some benevolent soul will see it and see a need to help out!

Trap, Neuter, Return: If Your Cat Comes in My Yard...

Around the first of the year this beautiful stray calico cat showed up at our house.  We tried to find her home and failing that, I tried to find a nice inside home for her where she wouldn't have to live outside, but no luck.  There are too many unwanted cats as it is.  Meanwhile, we figured out the cat was pregnant.

Now we have these two adorable kittens, born on March 17.  She delivered five, but three fell victim to neighborhood tomcats; we have three inside dogs and can't have inside cats.  I constructed the Fort Knox of cat kennels after losing three kittens, and now we have these two precious kittens living inside this modified dog kennel.  

We also have a tabby cat that lives outside; she adopted us when her owners moved away and

Fort Knox Cat Kennel

abandoned her.  Luckily she was already spayed.

We're going to try to keep the kittens but they absolutely must be fixed. Robinson's Rescue is a perfect option for that and will be scheduling that appointment in the next few days.  I don't know how far out in advance they schedule.  

The mother cat must be fixed immediately.  I've scheduled an appointment with the vet for her which will set us back $200; but it must be done ASAP.  The tomcats are already prowling.

I'm going to go TNR on every stray cat that walks into my yard.  If your cat walks into my yard and still has his balls, I'm trapping him and getting him fixed. 

I'm sick to death of irresponsible pet owners.  

If you'd like to contribute a few dollars to my TNR cause, hit the PayPal button on the sidebar.  I'd be grateful!

We Are Learning!

We are working hard in my classes!

The English IV kids are working on research papers already, the Creative Writing kids have joined our online private writing group through Figment and are learning all about writing dialogue, and the English II kids have spent the past three days learning to analyze characterization through diction and syntax.

I'm so grateful for the donations you've sent!  Sarah sent an Amazon card today that will just about give me the balance of a class set of the Rick Bragg books for Creative Writing.  I could still use a couple of extras in case I get another student added to the class.

The Creative Writing kids all got SmashBooks thanks to leftovers from a great donation last year and some new funds received this year.  I had four left over from last year.

We still have a few needs and my Donors Choose project is not yet fully funded.  If it doesn't reach its "goal" and doesn't get fully funded, my class doesn't get any of the donated funds - they are returned to the donors.  So I really need that one to reach its goal!

This is my Adopt my Classroom site and as always, my Amazon links are below which can be shipped directly to my classroom:  Mrs. Becker, Bossier High School, 777 Bearkat Drive, Bossier City, LA , 71111.

My students are working so hard and are so excited by all the new things we are doing this year.  Thanks again and again to you who have given.  I just can't tell you how much it means to my kids when they get Smashbooks, notebooks, flashdrives, or even hi-lighters to facilitate their learning and progress.

Means a lot to me, too.  So thank you!