Z: Zydeco, Cajun, or Zydecajun

So I ended up going to work yesterday.  Yes, the second weekend in a row, but that's okay.  I like who I worked with.  We listened to Zydeco and Cajun music all morning.  I was telling my co-workers how I was almost done with the A to Z challenge and my ideas for Z.  They said forget whatever you're going to write about. 

Z has to be Zydeco. 

Why did I say Cajun and Zydeco?  Aren't they the same thing you ask?  No.  They do have a similar sound, but Zydeco tends to have more of a blues feel due to the Black Creole influence.  The free men of color and freed slaves were influence by African music, as well as  Caribbean, Spanish, and European to make a completely new sound.  The term zydeco is most likely from a local phrase that means "the snap beans aren't salty", meaning times are hard.  The music was born at a time when life was hard for Creole people.  Zydeco  relies on a washboard and the piano style accordion. It is sung in English as much as French.

Cajun music on the other hand is still sung in French.  It gets it's origins from the French folk music brought from Canada during the Acadian Expulsion.  In Louisiana the music incorporated African and Spanish rhythms and music from Native Americans.  Cajun music uses the button style accordion and still employs the fiddle.  The guitar also has a more prominent role.

Then there's the more modern Zydecajun which combines the two.   Wayne Toups is the musician credited with coining this phrase.

In the 1910's and '20's Cajun music  was threatened due to prejudiced against the French speaking people. Cajun French was banned in schools.  People were looked down on for speaking it.  The culture was considered backward and uneducated.  Luckily, enough people kept the heritage and passed it down so that not all was lost.  Even today,though, Louisiana is continuing to recover from the stigma of that era. 

Many times people hear Zydeco or Cajun music and they think of ignorance.  Swamp People and getting wasted at Mardis Gras comes to mind.  Maybe some are more generous and they think of fishing and festivals and good eating.  The truth is, it's all Louisiana.   
Maybe after reading this, you'll think of a people as diverse as the music that identifies them. Maybe you'll want to know more about this people that has families and friends like the rest of the world.  They have educations and jobs.  They want better for their kids than they had.  They have as much right to be proud of their culture as anybody else does, if not more, for Louisiana culture is a story of not only of survival but also being able to enjoy life despite it's hardships.
To try to fully explain Louisiana music and it's origins is as complicated as trying to explain culture that gives it life. One thing, though, it's distinctive to Louisiana. To hear the music is to learn of the hardships, struggles, triumphs, and joys of the people it represents.
When people hear Zydeco or Cajun music, for good or bad, they immediately think Louisiana.  Does your culture have something unique to it? 

for more on the history of Louisiana muisc: http://web.lsue.edu/acadgate/music/history.htm
for more on the Cajuns and Acadian Expulsion: http://www.acadian-cajun.com/exile.htm
for more on Creole Culture:
http://www.frenchcreoles.com/CreoleCulture/freepeopleofcolor/freepeopleofcolor.htm

Y: Yield or Not to Yield

Yield--to produce or provide, especially by cultivation
Yielding--giving way under pressure.  Not hard or rigid.

Yield is one of those weird words. 
In business, product yield is crucial to company survival.  You don't yield, you don't make money. You have to be yielding.
But, yielding can be a bad thing.  Yielding to temptation.  Like, I'm tempted to yield and not do my housework--ok, I've already yielded to this!
On the job we can be yielding an excellent product or yielding to the temptation of  laziness and mediocrity. 
I've heard the best way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.  But that's not really getting rid of it.  By acting on it we're internalizing it, making it a part of ourselves.  What are you tempted to yield to?
Yielding might not be bad when you're listening to others and learning a new and better way of doing things.  Like a yield sign when driving, we should take the time to slow down and check our surroundings then move in the desired direction.
So, yielding can be good or bad, depending on the outcome. 
Think about your job.  Look at your life. 
What are you yielding?
What are you yielding to? 

Interlude: No Birds Harmed but one HP Sacrificed

I was outside this evening working on my computer.  I had my coffee and cordless phone with me.  By my porch is an oak tree where a mockingbird has built her nest.  There are many birds around that argue and fuss and fight with the squirrels, but tonight that momma bird was being crankier than usual.  It was weird since I couldn't see the usual suspects around, namely the stray cat, squirrel, or other birds.
The sun went down and the skeeters came out so I decided to call the outdoors quits. I gathered my coffee, cordless, and computer and started in.  Well, the bird was still fussing until I got to the carport and my motion light came on.  I didn't think much of it until I got to the backdoor. 

http://trochronicles.blogspot.com

I started to put my foot down and reach for the door handle.  A gecko caught my eye and I watched it run down the door.  Good thing he was there because right below my foot was a baby mockingbird.  I jumped back, dropping the phone and spilling coffee.  I managed to hang on to the laptop.   He was chirping. I didn't hear the momma mockingbird but figured she'd been trying earlier to get him to come back to the nest. 
I tried to get a picture of him.  It was too shadowed for my camera, but this one gives you an idea.   I think the shattering pieces of my cordless scared him enough he couldn't move.  I thought maybe I should do something.  I thought for a second and then did Nothing. 
Having encountered this with both squirrels and birds, I knew to just wait and watch.  Well, let me just say, the bird wouldn't move, and I really needed to pick up the phone parts.  I stood inside the door and watched.  Finally, I realized, he probably wasn't moving because of the light.  Sure enough, when I turned off the light off he went back home.  I heard his momma really fussin now. I'll bet that bird's in big trouble!
I picked up the pieces of my phone--which I bought last week--and put it back together.  It calls but it has no display. I'm thinking it's a funny story because the bird got away safely even if the phone didn't.  So, I'm going to write about it. 
Now, remember, I had that coffee, right?  You know, the coffee that spilled? 
I opened up my HP and fired her up.  Half the screen looks like an amoeba attacked it. The keyboard smells like Deadman's Reach Coffee.  My laptop apparently is another casualty in the bird caper.  I guess I'll be heading to Best Buy Saturday...again. 
I wonder how this will go:  "How did the coffee get in this time?"  "Well, there was this baby bird..."
Can you tell this won't be the first time my computer has been at Best Buy?  It's had a few adventures so I always renew the service contracts.  As I've embraced technology this will only be a minor setback. I'll be finishing out the A to Z challenge on my netbook. 
Now I'm not only going to have to look out for squirrles, rabbits, racoons, armadillos, snakes, lizards, and the occasional baby alligator in my yard.  I'll be looking out for baby birds, too.  I guess I'm a regular Snow White here. I guess that's just the way things go in Louisiana.