Contributions by Mary Ann Van Osdell, Mark Crawford and Paul Savage. To be included in OTS, e-mail your high-res photos to editor@318forum.com.

Our woody plants (azaleas, camellias, abelia, distylium, sunshine ligustrum ...) took a hit. These plants – although sometimes evergreen – are likely going to defoliate. The brown leaves will fall off. However, we see that most of the woody stems are still green and very much alive.

“Allendale is right there next to downtown,” Brown said. “Allendale is kind of this gateway to the downtown area. A city is only as strong as its weakest neighborhood. Right now, Allendale is one of its weakest neighborhoods. That’s why I believe Shreveport is not strong.

Join in celebrating and honoring these outstanding business professionals from our community at the upcoming 30th Annual ATHENA Leadership Award Program, where one of these honorees will be named the 2020 ATHENA International Leadership Award Recipient.

The quickest way to enjoy his work is to go to YouTube to Brown’s pre-Pulitzer 2015 TEDx talk, “The art of words.” He greets with, “Where I am from, we always begin with a prayer.” But he blesses the audience with the unexpected: a Prayer of the Backhand.