As I write this article, several “seasons” are in full swing: the holiday season, football season, and, especially in my wife Sara's world, gumbo season. Winter in our household means that gumbo is on the menu. We like to set aside the first huge gumbo that we cook each year and use it as an opportunity to fundraise – albeit in a small way – for the Renzi Education and Art Center, a not-for-profit organization that we both love. We cook an enormous pot of gumbo, invite everyone we know, and ask that they donate a few dollars to the center as payment.  

Sara's an incredible cook, and handles all of the cooking for this annual feast. My job is to track down, purchase and prep the ingredients. For our Renzi Center gumbo, we usually serve an extravagant seafood gumbo and a vegetarian gumbo z’herbes. Shopping for the seafood gumbo can be quite an adventure, as Sara likes to include fresh blue crabs as one of the main ingredients.

If you're ever looking for live blue crabs in Shreveport-Bossier, the best price in town may be at Bao Bao Food Market, an Asian grocery located at 810 Shreveport-Barksdale Hwy. The last time I went there searching for blue crabs, I found dozens of them, fresh off of a truck from New Orleans, attempting to escape a box at the rear of the store. Another outing led me to visit my friend Duc Duong, owner of Kim's Seafood and Po-Boy in Bossier City. The sweet, succulent meat of the crabs that Mr. Duong boiled for us may have been the best we've ever cooked with. Driving from market to market, calling up friends for advice – I feel like we involve just about the entire community in these gumbos, in one way or another.

Sara and I aren't the only folks in town who do a fundraiser gumbo. Volunteers for Youth Justice launched a new event, Battle of the Gumbo Gladiators, in 2013. Attracting more than 40 “gumbo teams” in its first year, the Battle will return to Festival Plaza in downtown Shreveport, March 29, 2014. Register to compete or get more info on how to make your own “gumbo for a good cause” at www.gumbogladiators.com. 

-Chris Jay

Chris and I often find ourselves in the company of extremely talented pals who create fantastic artistic experiences right here in Shreveport. One of our oldest friends, Keturah Cummings, has displayed her video art in unimaginable venues, from bathrooms in bars, galleries in San Francisco and microcinemas around the world. Our on-again-off-again Shreveport pal and experimental documentarian Bill Daniel's work has been screened in many local venues, on the Independent Film Channel and at the Museum of Modern Art. He exposed thousands of art lovers to the world of boxcar graffiti in his film Bozo Texino.

Somehow, Shreveport seems to be this strange, bizarre link in the art world, connecting the high-brow art world with low-brow DIY work. Seeing our friends creating art (and therefore creating culture) is inspiring and it's contagious. It's part of the reason we've been writing this column and working on our podcast, All Y'all (http://allyallblog.com).

I'm particularly lucky to have a job that puts me in an environment where I've been able to meet even more talented artists, including Adam Volker and Joe Bluhm. The pair recently opened an exhibition at artspace, called "Object," featuring fine artwork. Chris and I most often see their work in an app or animated short film; so, seeing their richly painted works hanging on a wall was an unusual treat.

Each painting portrays an ordinary, everyday object in a context that implies a deeper meaning. One of Volker's pieces that resonated with us was a portrait of a beautiful woman, framed by another figure staring at the screen of an iPhone. Call me guilty: I've been the guy on the phone. Ironically, another favorite was another piece labeled "unfinished," which was a perfectly beautiful portrait of a couple treated with a basic underpainting and some refinement by Bluhm. Because of its raw aesthetic, it reminded me of portraits of my grandparents who looked deeply in love. I hope there's a photograph or portrait of Chris and I like that somewhere, someday.

"Object" is available for viewing until January 18 at artspace, 710 Texas St. in downtown Shreveport.

-Sara Hebert