Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home

Episode 107 Russ Mathers - "Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home"

Director of STRIKEWERX, Russ Mathers, sits down with Jeffrey Goodman, Director of Marketing and Development for the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana, to answer the following questions:
 
0:31 1. You are the Director of STRIKEWERX, the innovation hub of the US Air Force Global Strike Command. In a little while, I want you to tell me about a couple of STRIKEWERX projects and the problems they helped solve.
 
But before you do that, tell me about the origins of STRIKEWERX - when, why and how it started.
 
3:18 2. You were part of Operation Secret Squirrel. Take me behind the scenes and tell me about this incredible mission.
 
22:41 3. Choose two projects STRIKEWERX has been involved in. Tell me the problems they were trying to solve and how STRIKEWERX became part of the solution.
 
36:16 4. It has been suggested to me that there are growing needs and business opportunities locally to support the type of work taking place at Barksdale. I would like to spend the remainder of our discussion here.
 
First, what businesses currently exist today in our community that are supporting needs at Barksdale?
 
40:28 5. Lastly, as you see it, what are the gaps that still exist in our community in order for us to best support the evolving needs at Barksdale and for the military as a whole?

Episode 106 Kyle Pierce - "Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home"

Former US and Ghana Olympic Weightlifting Coach, Kyle Pierce, sits down with Jeffrey Goodman, Director of Marketing and Development for the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana, to answer the following questions:
 
0:30 1. Dr. Pierce, you are a world-renowned sports scientist. Let’s start here today. You once said the following:
 
“I wasn’t a very good athlete. It took me five years to get a half scholarship. I wasn’t doing things right. I wanted to figure out how can I do it better, and how can I help somebody else do it better. I’m still learning about how to help people with their performance in sports.”
 
Tell me about some of your day to day work today at LSUS.
 
2:03 2. We had Dr. James Andrews come and speak at the Y a couple of years ago. Like you, I believe, Dr. Andrews is strongly opposed to early sports specialization.
 
Talk to me about the dangers of early sports specialization and your perspective on why our kids should not specialize in one sport at too young of an age.
 
9:10 3. You have been the coach for US athlete, Kendrick Farris, at the Olympics, as well as the Head Coach for Ghana at the Olympics.
 
I thought this was amazing. I read that you had never traveled outside of the US until your 40s but just in recent months you had been everywhere from Saudi Arabia, Burundi, Rwanda, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, and Cuba.
 
Talk to me about some of the work you’re doing when you’re traveling to these different countries.
 
11:54 4. You were inducted into the International Weightlifting Federation Hall of Fame and I believe currently serve as the director of international relations at USA Weightlifting and are a member of the coaching and research committee with the International Weightlifting Federation.
 
On this podcast we often talk about why so many people have self-esteem issues when talking about Shreveport-Bossier being their home. For someone who Shreveport-Bossier has been great to and who has been great to Shreveport-Bossier, how have you managed to see Shreveport-Bossier as a great location for you to use as a home base, as a place that’s not limiting and as a place you can convince great people from all around the world to come to?

Episode 105 Jordan Ring Scroggs - "Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home"

Jordan Ring Scroggs, Executive Director at MLK Health Center & Pharmacy, sits down with Jeffrey Goodman, Director of Marketing and Development for the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana, to answer the following questions:
 
0:30 1. Let’s start at the beginning if we could.
 
The founder of MLK Health Center & Pharmacy was Doctor Robert J Jackson who in 1985 recognized a gap in our community.
 
Talk to me about the origin of MLK Health Center & Pharmacy.
 
8:18 2. There’s a tremendous documentary about MLK Health Center & Pharmacy that KSLA made several years ago entitled Chronically Heal that I recommend everyone seek out. You can find it on YouTube.
 
I want to share a couple of the stats found in the documentary:
 
It is estimated that about 15% of residents of NWLA have no Medicare, no Medicaid, no private insurance and do not qualify under state guidelines for free care
 
There’s between 40 and 45,000 uninsured adults in our area and we suspect that many of them struggle with chronic conditions
 
Our community clearly needs you and the incredible work that you do. You offer a number of different services. Tell me about all the different services one can receive when they walk into MLK.
 
22:00 3. For those in our community who are insured and who do not struggle with access to health care, paint a picture of what life looks like for the uninsured, particularly those who have yet to discover or utilize the tremendous resource that MLK is.
 
27:00 4. In addition to your critical role at MLK, you have been a strong advocate for the Shreveport-Bossier community. For instance you started the I Love Shreveport Instagram and Facebook pages.
 
I’d like to get your perspective now on our community. First, as you look at our community, what concerns you the most?
 
28:51 5. Lastly, on the flip side of the previous question, what gives you hope that we’re headed in a positive direction?

Episode 104 Chef Hardette Harris - "Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home"

Chef Hardette Harris sits down with Jeffrey Goodman, Director of Marketing and Development for the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana, to answer the following questions:
 
0:32 1. For the last two years, 103 podcast episodes, I have been sitting down with folks in our community asking them to help me understand why we don’t take more pride in being from here. I should have just come to you.
 
The work you have done is extraordinary, inspiring, and exactly what I’ve been hoping and trying to do in my own way. We’re gonna use a couple of quotes of yours today because I love ‘em. So hang in there because they may be a little long but they go deeply to the heart of the matter. You once said,
 
“The reason New Orleans works so well is because they love what they are. They don’t try to fix it up for anybody. They say, ‘It’s just who we are,’ and the world loves it. That’s what I’m trying to do with our food…When you go anywhere in south Louisiana, red beans and rice is listed as ‘red beans and rice.’ They don’t have some fancy name and when you get the bowl, what is it? Red beans. And rice. They don’t try to do anything to it.”
 
You were responsible for creating The Official Meal of North Louisiana. Tell me, what is our food?
 
5:40 2. You once compared our food to a toy that we hurry to put away when guests come, only to serve them more popular food like gumbo or etouffee?
 
Why do you think we “try to fix our food up for people”?
 
16:25 3. You are one of the very best authorities on North Louisiana’s foodways. What’s the best way for the general public to learn from you these days? How do they get on your schedule to spend some time with you and eat some of your food?
 
20:06 4. What’s next for you?
 
23:14 5. You once wrote,
 
“Traditional North Louisiana dishes like smothered pork chops, fried buffalo and catfish, purple hull peas, mustard and turnip greens, hot water cornbread and rice gravy can now come out of hiding. They were told to hush and not make a sound. They obeyed, sat still and quiet until company left. We let out a sigh and rushed to the table to eat and enjoy the foods we know and love. Forgive us.”
 
My last formal question is simply, as you look around at our community what gives you hope that we’re headed in the right direction?

Episode 103 Andrew Gaspard - "Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home"

Sportspectrum Owner Andrew Gaspard sits down with Jeffrey Goodman, Director of Marketing and Development for the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana, to answer the following questions:
 
0:26 1. Andrew, you’re one of my favorite type of guests to have on here. Someone who is not from here but who is doing great things for and in our community.
 
You are the relatively new owner of Sportspectrum.
 
Let’s start here today.
 
Take me through how you came to live here and then to your journey to succeed a local icon, Matt Brown, in a local iconic establishment, Sportspectrum.
 
6:53 2. Tell me a little about all the different things that Sportspectrum sells and offers today and what we can expect to stay the same under your new leadership and some of the ways you might expand in the future.
 
16:10 3. All right, so that brings us to the 2024 Logjammer, the first marathon Shreveport will host in several decades. When is it and why is this an important development for our community and the running community as a whole?
 
20:30 4. You once said, “Running is not fun until it is fun.” Tell me a little about what you meant by this.
 
22:48 5. Lastly, for those out there listening talk to me about what the local fitness community looks like and any advice you might have for plugging into it.

Episode 102 Poetic X - "Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home"

Caddo Parish's Poet Laureate, Poetic X, sits down with Jeffrey Goodman, Director of Marketing and Development for the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana, to answer the following questions:
 
0:30 1. Poetic, you are Caddo Parish’s poet laureate.
 
Let’s start here today.
 
You grew up in Shreveport’s Lakeside/Allendale neighborhoods. I’m always curious to hear the stories of how people first discover a passion. Can you take me through the beginning of when you first became interested in poetry and spoken word?
 
4:18 2. Many folks are intimidated by two things and I’m curious to hear your words of wisdom.
 
First, for people who are intimidated by poetry, who view it as a foreign language and have a hard time understanding what they are reading, do you have any advice for them?
 
10:28 3. Also, you are a multi creative. You have written fiction and nonfiction, created music, performed spoken word, and been involved in numerous visual art projects.
 
For people who have something to say but are reluctant to take those first steps to expressing themselves creatively, what suggestions or words of wisdom could you share?
 
18:18 4. As I mentioned earlier, you are Caddo Parish’s Poet Laureate. Tell me a little about how one becomes poet laureate and some of the opportunities you get to pursue in this role.
 
23:24 5. Paint a picture of your creative process. How do you decide to create something? Is this something you do daily? Is it spontaneous or is there real structure every day to what you decide to pour your energies into?
 
26:48 6. As you look out at our community, what gives you hope that we’re headed in a positive direction?
 
34:31 7. Do you want to share a few lines of something you've written?

Episode 101 Chris Brown - "Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home"

Local Music Historian Chris Brown sits down with Jeffrey Goodman, Director of Marketing and Development for the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana, to answer the following questions:
 
0:34 1. Chris, you are the archivist of Centenary College and the Louisiana United Methodist Church. But today I would like to focus on a hobby of yours.
 
I don’t know anyone in our community who knows more about the history of music in Shreveport than you do.
 
When did your interest in Shreveport’s music history start. And what motivates you to continue unearthing it?
 
16:00 2. I want you to choose 2 of 3 of the following key figures of our musical past and tell us about them – Mira Smith, Dee Marais, and Stan Lewis.
 
39:15 3. Okay, now, if you would, please give me some history of Leadbelly and talk some about his worldwide importance.
 
50:08 4. About seven years ago I brought back the City Tennis Tournament because it had died and I thought it was important for us to continue to have it because it was rich with history and a critical part of our local sports past. A history by the way that we seemed to take for granted and so unconcerned with protecting and preserving.
 
For my last formal question, I would like for you to discuss the following. Why do we struggle as a city at knowing, preserving, and rallying around (with pride) our city’s rich musical past?

Episode 100 Twin Blends - "Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home"

Mike and Mark Mangham of Twin Blends: Northwest Louisiana History Hunters sit down with Jeffrey Goodman, Director of Marketing and Development for the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana, to answer the following questions:
 
1:30 1. You guys are the founders and operators of Twin Blends: Northwest Louisiana History Hunters, an incredibly popular group that is preserving the history of our community one photo at a time.
 
We’re gonna get into all kinds of things, Twin Blends-wise today. Let’s start here.
 
One of the centers of operations for Twin Blends is the LSUS Archives. I want to deep dive your research process. Take me through play by play what it looks and feels like when you go to LSUS Archives to begin your research on something.
 
8:39 2. Talk to me some about how you prioritize what stories to tell and what projects to pursue.
 
10:20 3. I can only imagine how fascinating it has been since you first started your work with Twin Blends. Tell me one or two of the most interesting/surprising historical discoveries you have made since first beginning Twin Blends.
 
16:15 4. You guys have developed an extraordinary following since first starting Twin Blends nine or so years ago.
 
Tell me about your marketing approach and process. What have you done to cultivate and grow such a following?
 
24:24 5. I was recently in the newly opened and renovated Cooper’s Corner building on Texas Street in downtown Shreveport and I spotted some incredible Twin Blends work. Tell me about your collaboration with them during the renovation and how it came about.

Episode 99 Ross Barrett - "Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home"

Venture Capitalist Ross Barrett sits down with Jeffrey Goodman, Director of Marketing and Development for the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana, to answer the following questions:
 
0:36 1. Ross, you’re a venture capitalist. Let’s start here today. For the lay people out there, and I put myself in that group, could you explain what venture capital is and how you got into the space to begin with?
 
26:06 2. You are involved in multiple companies. I want to give people a sense of your work and world by focusing on a couple of them. Can we start with you telling me about Esperance Pharmaceuticals?
 
35:53 3. Now let’s shift to another company where you are deeply involved. Can you tell me about the Cancer Focus Fund?
 
47:06 4. My last formal question is - talk to me some about why someone like you with a global reach would want to continue to remain in and call Shreveport home.

Episode 98 Larry Clark - "Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home"

Larry Clark, LSU Shreveport Chancellor Emeritus, sits down with Jeffrey Goodman, Director of Marketing and Development for the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana, to answer the following questions:
 
0:34 1. You have had an incredibly productive and successful career and I know there’s still much more ahead for you.
 
You were the Dean of the College of Business at LSUS from 1985-1994. Then you returned to Shreveport where you served as the Chancellor of LSUS from 2014-2023.
 
Let’s start here today.
 
When you arrived back at LSUS, it had an enrollment of 3,810 students. Fast forward 10 years and, for the first time in school history, enrollment has surpassed 10,000 students.
 
Start, if you could, by telling me the story about how LSUS got into offering online programs - one of the keys to its growth and to its unprecedented success today.
 
5:52 2. In preparing for today, I have spoken to you about your 29 plus years of involvement with the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (or AACSB).
 
What did you notice in your over 30 different university reviews that was different than when you arrived to LSUS in 1981 and that is still different today? And what are some of the factors you attribute this to?
 
17:56 3. During your time as chancellor, cutting-edge places for learning and research have transformed the LSUS campus, including the centralized Student Success Center, Office of Diversity and Inclusion, IdeaSpace, Cyber Collaboratory, Pilot Education Center, Human Performance Lab and Veterans Resource Center.
 
Talk to me some about the process you used, during your time as chancellor, for prioritizing your initiatives.
 
31:06 4. When you first arrived in Shreveport, you didn’t know a single person. You said, “a way to get to know people is to get involved.” And in your time here, you have been deeply involved in so many different aspects of our community.
 
My next few questions focus on your civic involvement.
 
You are one of only two citizens that were on both the Biracial Commission and the Black-White Communications Task Force.
 
We have discussed the subject of race relations a number of times on this podcast. In my opinion, race relations is one of the areas of our city that is hindering us and holding us back. What are some recommendations for change or action items you would suggest as we look to build stronger race relations in our future?
 
39:32 5. Another common topic on the podcast are the low self-esteem issues many people face when claiming Shreveport as their community and home.
 
You are extremely positive about Shreveport and one of our city’s very best advocates. What do you see when you look at Shreveport that so many others struggle to see?
 
42:06 6. Lastly, you are chairman of the Shreveport Capital Improvements Committee, a committee that was formed to help determine what projects should be prioritized in the 2024 bond referendum. What can you share with us about this process?