The IND Monthly was launched in August of 2003 to provide a forum for thinking, educated, involved readers who care deeply about Acadiana's future and help shape the community's vision for it.
Our readers are leaders. Whether they are business people or creatives, college students or grandparents, soccer moms and dads or singles, they don't sit on the sidelines. They are in the game - passionately - and make things happen.
They are influencers in their business and social circles. When it comes to news, they want to know the whole story. The IND's readers also care about the arts, culture and style. They are the essence of the joie de vivre that makes Acadiana so special.
Publishing partners Steve and Cherry Fisher May are veterans of the industry, having published The Times of Acadiana for eighteen years as well as ventures in Baton Rouge, Shreveport and Lake Charles, Louisiana, and San Antonio, Texas. (Under their leadership, The Times was named Newspaper of the Year by the National Newspaper Association.) Associate publisher Odie Terry, also a partner in The Ind, had oversight of special projects for The Times Publishing Group, which was sold in 1998.
The IND's offices at 551 Jefferson Street in downtown Lafayette, Louisiana has also been home to Lafayette Music Store and the Artists Alliance.
Top management recruited some of the finest writers and photographers in the state for staff and contributing positions at The IND. This commitment to excellence resulted in 27 awards from The Louisiana Press Association after publishing only 16 issues in the timeframe eligible for the most recent statewide competition, including first place honors for best feature story, best investigative reporting, best editorial cartoon, best photo feature and most effective use of graphic design, among others.
In the months since that competition, The Ind has routinely scooped the other media and is credited by competitors and colleagues alike as having raised the bar for journalism in Acadiana.
JUNE 17 If anyone ever wonders why Saints fans hate Atlanta with a capital H, here's a good indication. Radio "professionals" at an Atlanta station created an entire segment around making fun of former Saints player Steve Gleason, who is now paralyzed by ALS. Listen, nobody's ever accused DJs of being rocket scientists. But how could someone think it is amusing to pretend to ask a man with a degenerative, fatal disease if he will be alive next week? The DJs have been fired, and are now whining about how gutless their former bosses are. Wow.
JUNE 18 Here's the latest from the Advocate on the fatal hit-and-run accident allegedly involving the president of the Livingston Parish School Board. He's accused by police of hitting a 21-year-old man on a highway early Sunday and driving away. The man died at a hospital later. On Monday, police seized the president's truck and towed it away. But he's available for board meetings: apparently a $500 bond is sufficient for this type of thing over in St. Helena Parish.
JUNE 18 Former broadcast journalist Griffin Scott has posted this plea on his blog for financial assistance from his readers. Scott, who says he was fired after he wrote something fairly innocuous (for Facebook) on his wall, is suing a media giant for his job back. He's framed himself as David going after a bloated media giant, and he's probably not far off.
JUNE 18 Here's a fairly absurd column posted on DIG Magazine about the completely absurd practice of naming killer storms. Tornadoes don't have names. Blizzards don't have names. But hurricanes do, and there's a big process to bestow them, Jacques Cormery writes. He's right about the crazy assemblage of names -- this year, there's everything from Tanya to Humberto -- and his idea that we don't waste good names on killer storms is a good one.
JUNE 17 Political columnist John Maginnis has some advice for Louisiana Republicans: grow up. After the schism that occurred in this past session - fiscal hawks teaming up with Democrats to spank the Republican "majority" and hand Gov. Jindal his, er, aspirations for continued solon control -- they need to figure out how to get along with each other, Maginnis writes.
JUNE 17 Here's the Picayune's obit story for Dorothy 'Miss Dot' Domilise, the lady who made poboys at the uptown restaurant that bears her name. Miss Dot moved to New Orleans during World War II, where she met and married her husband Sam. When she passed away Friday she was 90, and had spent more than 60 of those years working at the restaurant on Annunciation Street.
JUNE 17 This editorial in the Advocate speaks in favor of the consent decrees that have federal judges overseeing police operations and the sheriff's parish prison in New Orleans. Mayor Landrieu and Sheriff Gusman can't get along, so outside forces, like the Inspector General and the judges, are needed to make sure things run right, the editorial opines.
JUNE 18 Here's a post from Manny Schewitz on Forward Progressives that is good for a chuckle. Manny had an epiphany back in November, and is sharing it with us today: he believes that Fox "News" is killing the GOP by pandering to right wing nuts. Now, don't get it twisted: Manny's not broke up about it. He says he enjoys watching the downward spiral with a shot of whiskey and "a schadenfreude chaser."
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