Support for Louisiana.

The state we're in is provided by Entergy.

Louisiana is strengthening our power grid throughout the state.

We're reinforcing infrastructure to prepare for stronger storms, reduce outages, and respond quicker when you do need us.

Because together we power life.

Additional support provided by the Fred B and Ruth B Ziegler Foundation and the Ziegler Art Museum, located in Jennings City Hall.

The museum focuses on emerging Louisiana artists and is a historical and cultural center for Southwest Louisiana.

And the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting and viewers like you.

Thank you.

Some bad news for Louisiana.

The state's obesity rate is going up.

I'll look at the causes in some helpful ways to manage weight.

Folks are hitting the stores looking for those perfect gifts this holiday season.

We'll head back in our archives for a look at the top tech of the 1970s.

And a teenager from New Orleans is getting honored on the world stage.

Meet Naomi Deberry Coming up.

Plus Louisiana art and culture on display in Arnaudville.

We'll take it to the Festival des Arts.

It's a holiday weekend.

Let's get started.

Let's do it.

Hi, everyone.

I'm Christina Jensen.

And I'm Victor.

How much more on those top stories in a moment on this week's edition of Louisiana, the State.

We're In.

But first, this may not come as a surprise.

Louisiana remains one of the heaviest states in the nation.

According to new data from the CDC.

Nearly 40% of Louisianans are obese.

That's contributing to a wide ranging list of health problems and areas of concern.

I talked to experts at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center for a look at the causes and some solutions, that of.

Louisiana is known for its food, its culture, and its celebration of life.

But behind the rich flavors and traditions lies a growing concern, one placing the state among the highest in the nation for adult obesity.

According to the centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 40% of adults in Louisiana were living with obesity in 2023, ranking the state fourth highest in the country, behind West Virginia, Mississippi and Arkansas.

Statewide data released this year shows a striking divide.

East Carroll Parish recorded the highest prevalence of adult obesity, while Saint Tammany and Lafayette parishes reported the lowest.

Tying at the bottom of the state's list.

But numbers alone don't tell the story.

To understand why obesity rates remain persistently high here, we visited the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, one of the nation's leading institutions studying obesity, nutrition and metabolism.

Living in the state of Louisiana, there are a few things that make it even a little bit more challenging for our families and our children to, you know, decrease their weight and maintain a healthy weight.

So, of course, here we like to eat our delicious food.

Of course.

Yeah.

But also, you know, we do have one of the highest rates of poverty in our nation, which is a driver of obesity as well as we have high rates of food insecurity, which kind of sounds like the opposite of a driver of obesity, but it is related to obesity.

In many communities, fresh produce is expensive or far away for families living paycheck to paycheck.

The challenge isn't simply choosing healthier foods, it's having real access to them.

And while adult obesity is alarming, health experts say the issue begins long before adulthood.

That's where a Louisiana grown initiative called Greaux Healthy comes in.

Developed by the Pennington Biomedical Research Center.

Greaux Healthy translates decades of research into practical tools for parents, teachers and health care providers, all aimed at reducing childhood obesity.

Do you think the initiative is working?

You know, that's a great question.

And I think what the initiative is doing for sure is it's raising awareness of Pennington Biomedical Research Center.

It's raising awareness of how the Louisiana communities across our state have contributed to an amazing body of evidence on prevention and treatment of childhood obesity.

And now we have this opportunity to give these things back to our state, to benefit our families.

And they're not waiting for families to come to them right now.

The Greaux Healthy busses traveling across the state, bringing health resources directly into Louisiana communities.

We have learning and training opportunities for early childhood educators that really help to build that prevention, foundation, nutrition awareness, education, physical activity, engagement, and children from that preschool to school age group.

And then for our health care providers, we want to help support them.

And the use of evidence based guidelines for treatment.

There's lots of great resources that are out there now.

And so our goal is to raise awareness, provide educational opportunities and tools to make it easier for our providers to implement those guidelines.

At Pennington, researchers remain hopeful.

They say progress is possible, but only through coordinated efforts that address both education and access.

That'll take the parents, the policymakers, schools, the teachers, the doctors really a conservative, concerted effort at every level to help improve the state of our children's health.

Do you think Pennington could help move the needle?

Absolutely.

I think Pennington does that every day.

I think Pennington has been working in earnest towards that for the last 30 years as one of the world's foremost nutrition research centers.

And currently we have a number of initiatives.

So we have a study called Pennington Generation.

So through Pennington Generation, that's one of the studies that's in my lab.

We are traveling all across the state in our Healthy Moves bus to reach families and have them join our study if they want to, where we're basically going to track them over time.

Louisiana's obesity ranking is a reminder of the challenges ahead, but also of the opportunities from cutting edge research to grassroots outreach.

The state is working to lighten the load for future generations.

For many, the path to better health begins with information, access and support.

And across Louisiana, from the lab to the classroom to the open road.

Efforts are underway to ensure every family has the tools they need to thrive.

All right.

Let's take a look at what's trending this week.

Victor, do you remember that teacher for Bonnabel in New Orleans whose students gave her gifts every week?

I love the story, mama T, but teaching for 50 years, a huge Saints fan and her students well done.

Got her tickets to her first ever Saints game.

The Saints made good on their promise as well because they made her trip extra special.

Yeah, you know who she got to see her favorite player Alvin Kamara.

Yes.

Outstanding running back for the Saints.

And got to have a chance to go on the field.

Got a jersey signed by Mr.

Commercials.

Got to pose for pictures.

Mama T said it was the chance of a lifetime and a memory she'll never forget.

If only the Saints could have gotten the win, I know then it would have been the perfect choice.

She's still a lucky woman, a great student.

What a grad.

Students, congratulations.

Hey, look, let's stick with football for a moment.

And we're going to stay in New Orleans.

And that's because the saw the Jaguars and the Grambling Tigers are getting ready for this weekend's Bayou Classic in the Superdome.

I'm so excited for this.

As always, there were tons of events leading up to the game, including a parade in downtown New Orleans and the Battle of the Bay.

Just only one battle.

It's the show all shows.

The 52nd annual Bayou Classic kicks off Saturday in the Superdome.

It starts at 1:00.

It'll be televised nationally on NBC.

The Jags have won three in a row in the series.

It's always a great time, always a lot of fun.

It's to be, to see and be seen.

And of course we're going to have more on the game.

When you join us for game notes Saturday morning.

I really want to go.

I've never been to a bye.

It's it's a show.

Let me tell you from start to finish.

It's a show.

Yeah.

It seems fun.

All right.

Well now on to our next topic.

A unique rescue operation is underway along some of Louisiana's waterways.

The Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is working to capture and relocate several manatees.

They range spotted in canals in Lower Ascension, also Livingston parishes and down river near New Orleans.

Yeah, pretty hard to believe it.

Experts say Louisiana waters will soon get too cold for the manatees, which can cause health problems.

Now, a special team from SeaWorld out of Florida is working to capture the animals and then return them to warmer waters down south.

Certainly a unique situation.

Good luck to them on that.

Yeah, and hopefully they get return.

Absolutely.

Well, a lot of people are probably headed to stores this weekend to pick up Christmas gifts.

From toys to technology.

We all have our wish list, I think.

Oh, absolutely.

Well, we are going to dig back into our LPB archives for a look at some of the hot new tech gift ideas from way back in 1978.

Check it out for I'm dreaming.

Of even more than last year.

There will be hundreds of thousands of crates sitting under American Christmas trees in a few weeks, with the notation made in Japan inscribed beneath the wrapping paper, there is now a new TV gadget on the consumer market.

Perhaps you've seen the ads billboards.

To the top of the key shoots.

Good.

The pitch, a swing and a miss.

Strike three.

Ever want to watch two things that are on at the same time?

Well, now you can buy a home video tape recorder.

And while it has actually been on the market for about a year, this is the first season of heavy marketing and competition.

This machine is like a conventional tape recorder, except that it records and plays back TV pictures.

In addition to just sound, it uses special video cassettes a bit larger than the tape cassettes we're used to seeing, but the tape recorder controls are quite similar to those on conventional audio cassette recorders right now.

Their most popular application is for recording television programs off the air that's down the hall.

The recording can be viewed hours, months, or even years later, or it can be used as a kind of instant replay.

That's the one third and goal to go for Army now.

That's down the wall.

Perhaps the most attractive sales point is the automatic timer.

The machines can be reset to record, not TV program.

Even while no one's home.

The prices are stiff, roughly $1,000 as high as 1300.

But salesmen bristle at the suggestion that this might be nothing more than an expensive toy.

They are not expensive toys.

They have real function.

It gives a individual, a lot of latitude in what they want to watch and when they want to watch it.

A lot of people have problems with their work hours against their free hours.

This gives them the opportunity of recording when they're not at home, playing back when they are available to see it.

Not surprisingly, Japanese manufacturers hold a virtual stranglehold on the home video market.

In fact, though, there are 12 brands on the market this month, including RCA, Panasonic, Magnavox and Zenith, there are only two manufacturers Sony and Matsushita, who make all of them.

Moreover, the systems are incompatible with each other.

In other words, because of different cassette sizes and tape speeds.

A Sony tape can't be played on a Panasonic and vice versa.

The industry has gone too far astray to come back into uniformity.

You could, and I think this just equates to a strong survive and the weak will fall.

And the even stickier question is whether videotaping TV programs is even legal.

Several production companies claim it is copyright infringement and have sued Sony and, by implication, the rest of the home videotape industry.

It's a question that will take years to resolve.

But to the consumer, the more immediate issue is one of price.

And here we might take a lesson from recent marketing history.

This is a first generation video game, a ping pong simulation.

Last year, these units sold for 52 over $100.

This year, their prices are half as much, sometimes less.

But even at less than $18, there is not as much interest anymore.

Attention in this corner of the department store is riveted on a new generation of video games.

The Programable games.

With a single control unit, the consumer can buy electronic plug in cartridges to play any one of many dozens of games.

The state of the art has advanced, and in the meantime, the old generation, while no worse in quality than before, has experienced a dramatic drop in price.

It the same thing happened with calculators when calculators first came out.

They they started at a higher price.

Okay.

And in general marketing the calculator.

You can start out with $100, whereas the year after it, the same calculator sold for $25.

Okay.

In other words, it's a. New people are stepping into new territory in both video games and video tape.

New product prices are designed for quick profit and seem to play.

Then on the impatience of American consumers, prices of the Sony videotape unit are already dropping.

For example, one large department chain in Boston will cut its price on the units by $300 within a week.

Even so, by next year, probably a million videotape units and even more video games will be firmly entrenched in homes across the country, well before the forces of competition and savings from mass production can act together to reduce their price.

Christine, it's so fun to look back at that.

But you know, the way technology changes these days, it seems like what you got last year is already a throwback.

Everything changes so fast and furious.

It is so true and it's hard to believe.

Back then, a VCR cost $1,000.

That was the must have given it really well.

Well look, don't forget you can check out many of the stores like that one that LPB has done over the past 50 years on the Louisiana Digital Media Archives.

Just head to LA Digital media.org now.

We have some big news here this week inside this building.

Why?

Because we are happy to welcome the newest member of the LPB team.

That's right.

Johnny Atkinson is joining us here on Louisiana, the state we're in, to help us tell Louisiana's story.

Johnny, think we're so happy you're here.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Excited to be here?

Well, I grew up in Baton Rouge.

I went to Catholic high school, LSU.

Then I got the idea to move to Hollywood and Los Angeles.

I worked at different TV stations.

Radio stations.

I've been in Palm Springs, Los Angeles, Saipan and recently Amarillo.

And now I've been in, Alexandria for the last two years.

And I'm excited to be back home in Baton Rouge.

You know, you're a Baton Rouge boy, so we're excited to have you.

Yes, absolutely.

Welcome to LPB.

Thank you.

I really appreciate it.

And we know you have your first story with us.

Yes.

My first story was LPB.

I got the chance to talk to a young girl from New Orleans who's getting international attention.

Her name is Naomi DeBerry.

She's one of time magazine's girls of the year.

She's being honored for writing a book about her family's journey through the organ donation process.

Take a look.

I'm joined now by Naomi DeBerry.

She's a young author and an organ donation activist from New Orleans.

She was named one of time magazine's She was named one of time magazine's girls of the year for 2025. activist from New Orleans.

Hey, Naomi.

Hi.

So you wrote a book, and this book is pretty amazing that you wrote it when you were just 7 or 8 years old.

How did it come about?

It came about how I wanted other children not to necessarily feel the same way I did when my dad was going through his kidney transplant process, because I didn't really have a support system, and I also didn't have any resources or representation that was available for me.

Did you understand what was going on with your dad?

Not quite.

I knew I noticed something was kind of off because I knew he was sick, but I didn't know what.

The extent of having kidney disease.

Yeah.

so writing this book kind of helped you cope with it and deal with it?

What did people say when you started writing this?

People, I remember after the book came out, people were open to a new perspective.

I wasn't quite sure people would take me as seriously, partly because I'm a kid and I remember, like, thinking to myself, all the books that I've written have been by adults.

And so I didn't know that people like really listen and value my book.

when you wrote this book, you think about other kids who might be going through the same thing and they've got no one to turn to.

They're not sure what's happening.

So they could read this book and it really helped them.

That's my goal.

Oh that's really great.

as far as organ donations go that's a pretty big deal.

And you've been an advocate for organ donations.

How do you do that?

I do that by encouraging people to sign up to be tested.

Again, I know some people are not necessarily comfortable with the fact of organ donation because some might be religious views.

Other people might be really scared.

But this is my story and my perspective.

But I think if we can get more people informed, not necessarily signing up to be tested, but the more people we can get informed, the better.

And so is there a way that someone can test themselves and just kind of see, well, you can go to hospitals, you can sign up to be a match, and if you are, they'll test you with all these different things to see how compatible you are.

And if everything lines up perfectly, you can be an organ donor and really save someone's life.

Yeah.

Well, it's pretty amazing that time magazine found out about your book and contacted you.

And what did you think when they said they wanted to make you a girl of the year?

I was really shocked, honestly, because, like, we don't know how they found me.

We don't.

We didn't really have any backstory.

I remember me and my mom.

I was we were packing for me to go to a medical program at UC Berkeley, And my mom gets an email from time magazine, and at first she thinks it█s spam, which I mean, kind of makes sense because why would Time be contact contacting us, but we realized that, like they really wanted to do this and I think it's great.

I think it's great to see not only organ awareness being represented for the United States, but also seeing all the incredible things that the other girls are doing.

Wow.

So your dad had the organ transplant and how did it turn out?

It turned out good.

He'll be six years in February.

Wow.

So he's had his organ transplant.

That's really great news now.

I heard that you're considering a career in organ transplants, and a medical career.

Are you serious about that?

I am.

My goal is to be a transplant surgeon one day because I want to help, other people.

The way that my dad was not only helped by the doctors, but also how the doctors helped all of our family.

So when you're, like, regifting the gift of life by doing a transplant, it's not only impacting that person that's receiving it, but it it impacts their family as well.

So that's what I want to do.

Yeah.

And they said that in your life right now you've got a lot of things going on.

You're not just going to school every day.

You're also selling your book and going and talk to people and meeting doctors and things like that.

How does that work?

I mean, school is pretty important.

So try to get all that done and homework and stuff out the way.

But I generally around breaks or the weekends and things like that.

We try to go out and talk to people and just spread the word and that's great.

I want to thank you for being here and giving us all this information and giving Louisiana all this information.

My guest is Naomi DeBerry, and she her book is called My Daddy Needs a Gift.

And thank you for being here.

Thank you.

All right.

Johnny, what a great story.

Naomi is such an inspiration.

I was impressed and inspired.

The girl is only 13 years old.

Time magazine's girl of the year.

Amazing.

So incredible.

Yeah, and you can get a copy of that book at Naomi creates Joy-Con Strider.

Thanks again for the story and congratulations.

Welcome to LP baby.

Thank you.

Johnny.

Each year, dozens of the state's top artists gather at a historic Creole cottage in Arnaud Ville for the annual Festival des Arts.

This year's event featured a living connection to famed folk life painter Clementine Hunter.

Through the work of her grandson, who's also an artist.

That's right.

Karen LeBlanc stopped by the festival in Saint Landry Parish during her filming for Le 64.

It's my grandmother's funeral at, Saint Augustine Church in Melrose, Louisiana.

That was the future, my grandmother.

Now, that was my own, folk art style of of funeral.

James Hunter painted this funeral scene of his grandmother, famed folk life painter Clementine Hunter.

He's the living protege of this Natchitoches born artist who painted life on Melrose Plantation, where she lived and worked.

I'll be the hills with my legs crossed, watching the paint just watching her.

And there's always something about the characters in the in the in the painting.

It always, struck me for some reason because I always wondered who the characters was, I'm.

James is staying in a cottage at Mason, Stephanie surrounded by his paintings which hang on the walls.

And the black Jesus.

My grandmother was fond of painting those pretty much.

He's staying at the bed and breakfast in Arnaud Ville to participate in the annual Festival des Arts.

Did your grandmother or Clementine teach you how to paint?

No, ma'am.

I was just watching her.

And, like I say, I leave Willow when I was I turn 18, I leave with her, and she.

This time she moved in a trailer and and every and I get off of work, take my bath and stuff like that, and I go back in the back and and watch your paint.

His art conveys and captures his grandmother's style with his own interpretations.

What do you think it is about your grandmother Clementine Hunter's work and your work that speaks to people?

Well, for her work was speaks to people's is she she painted her life and what she went through doing life and life on a plantation And sometime when I paint her stuff and, and I'll paint certain scenes that say to myself, when she painted this picture, you know, what she felt in her heart and when she was painting some scenes is fun.

Some of them is sad.

And it's just like in the world of day, you got good and bad and you got sadness and you got fun.

His booth is a big draw at the festival, You.

where people can meet artists and connect with local culture and heritage.

The artists love it, the visitors love it.

They can see 30 plus artists each year make purchases.

The artists get a chance to get reacquainted.

The community loves it.

And we have people from pretty much everywhere.

Jerry Haile is a fourth generation cotton planter and the largest grower of Acadian brown cotton in Louisiana.

He makes textiles using the weaving methods and heritage patterns of his Cajun ancestors dating back to the 1800s.

the Acadians made two type of textiles.

They made a solid textile, which was brown cotton or white cotton, and then they made a striped cotton, and that was any combination of brown cotton, white cotton, and white cotton dyed in indigo.

Those are the only patterns that they used.

an Acadian family would give their daughters a trousseau when they got married of so many textiles, and it would take them 4 to 7 years to make this trousseau to give to their daughters.

Jerry is the keeper of the Acadian brown cotton seed, which has been passed down through Acadian families for 200 years.

The seed was slowly dying because no one spins and weaves like they used to.

And what we do is we hand plant, cultivate and hand pick because Acadian brown cotton is unlike white cotton, it keeps generating like okra.

So we pick it 10 to 12 times a year and we gin our own cotton.

We send the fiber to North Carolina, they spin it into yarn, and then we ship our yarn to our historical weaver in north in New York.

Hand-carved sinkers, cypress, hand-hewn loofahs, duck decoys, metal works, and jewelry all on display.

The region is home to a concentration of artisans carrying on heritage crafts.

There was arts community already before we started this project.

And it seems to be growing.

And there are definitely some incredible local artists, incredible local talent.

Me.

You.

Who?

Victor.

That festival looks so fun.

Great time indeed, I always ask.

Well, that's our show for this week.

Remember, you can watch anything LPB anytime, wherever you are with our LPB app and.

You can catch LPB news and public affairs shows, as well as other Louisiana programs you've come to enjoy over the years.

And please take a moment and like us on Facebook on X and on.

Instagram for everyone at Louisiana Public Broadcasting, I'm Christina Jensen and.

I'm Victor Howell.

We hope you had a safe and happy holiday weekend.

And until we see you next time.

That's the state we're in.

Support for Louisiana.

The state we're in is provided by Entergy.

Louisiana is strengthening our power grid throughout the state.

We're reinforcing infrastructure to prepare for stronger storms, reduce outages, and respond quicker when you do need us.

Because together, we power life.

Additional support provided by the Fred B and Ruth B Ziegler Foundation and the Ziegler Art Museum.

Located in Jennings City Hall, the museum focuses on emerging Louisiana artists and is a historical and cultural center for Southwest Louisiana, and by Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center, visit Baton Rouge and the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana.

Public Broadcasting and viewers like you.

Thank you.