Hi Layne,

Having been born and raised in Terrebonne Parish, but not being cajun, I do have a different viewpoint. Even though my nieces and nephews are half cajun, they are not "practicing". And I dated many a cajun woman, and had many a cajun friend. I'm a quasi-outsider, but then again, quasi-not. I never, EVER, imagined someday I would be so involved with cajun music. But here I am.

It is wearing on me to learn cajun lyrics because its all phonic memorization, which makes we think again about signing up for some french classes.

It is your culture, it is your music. My take on things will tend to be somewhat removed and less emotional than yours. Things that do get to me though are people from outside the culture who, in order to garner some authenticity for themselves, will try to outdo the locals with their angry reactions to the things that also upset locals about their music an culture. They stomp around demanding that others have to do things a certain way, you must say that, you must not say this, etc, etc, and tend to act in a very insulting manner. Its a joke to watch them, really.

I think I digressed again.