Emma Arceneaux's Autobiography

Growing up in Louisiana was very difficult for me. Well, at least in the beginning when I resisted it the most. Over time, especially in the last few months before moving, I learned to see only the parts I should see. Every part of the south that began as my reasons for resenting it eventually became what I miss the most.

I’m happy I was able to grow up in a place as romantic as the south. I’m not sure what other people’s ideas of the south are, but judging from what I have heard from people here it involves road kill, rednecks, and copious amounts of alcohol. Yes, there is a quite a bit of that if you search for it, but it’s easy to see the bad in any place you go. For all the bad back home there is an equal amount of good (if not more). When I think of my childhood, I think of family trips to New Orleans, passing over the Baton Rouge bridge separating us from the Mississippi River and the barges and the house boats, running around in the woods next to my house in high temperatures in December, waving to people sitting in the beds of their trucks, the sounds of trains passing in the distance.

I grew up in an Acadian style home my great great great grandfather built about one hundred years ago. It had not been lived in for several decades. I still remember move-in day, the white paint was chipped and there was no air-conditioning, save for strategically placed box fans throughout the house. Some fragments of memories come back. My dad hanging the tire swing on the oak tree, mom almost getting bit by a snake in the bathroom, my brothers claiming the biggest room as their own as they hung up Michael Jordan and Super Mario Brothers posters. As I grew up and I entered high school, I began to grow out of the stage of climbing magnolia trees in our yard and quickly adopted new ways to entertain myself at home.I rode my bike on the back roads next to our house and took pictures of myself, I fell asleep on my rooftop listening to locusts and street sounds, I went on adventures close to home everyday it feels like. I tried to avoid the inevitable feeling of being stuck that one comes to feel after being in a place for too long.

Cypremort Point is about a forty-five minute drive away, it’s the southern most tip of Louisiana before the Gulf of Mexico. Sometimes I think the drive itself is my favorite part. Only telephone poles, dreaming fields, train tracks and hole in the wall convenience stores for miles.In fact, one of my last nights alone in Louisiana I was driving home from the point around midnight and got pulled over for speeding, and the only reason I did not go to court for the ticket is that I told the officer I was moving to Chicago the next week. Cypremort Point is my favorite part of Louisiana. Unfortunately, it was covered in oil for my last months at home so I wasn’t able to swim there, but driving as fast as I can to the beach and sitting in my car and knowing that I am looking at one of the ends of the country is good enough for me.

What I am most appreciative about Louisiana is that there’s time to daydream. Yes, it’s known as the “lazy” south, but not any part of it is lazy. I think people just like to be careful with each other, everyone wants to know as many people in the most genuine way possible for as long as they can. Growing up in a place where nature, culture, relationships are seen as the most important things in life has definitely shaped me into the person I am today. I just hope they’re as proud of me as I am of them.