My father and mother both spoke Cajun French--their first language. When Cajuns of their generation went to school they were reprimanded for speaking French and were forced to learn English. Children writing lines like "I must not speak French" and spankings were common. The state of Louisiana enacted laws that forbid the speaking of Cajun French in schools and proclaimed English as the required language for legal correspondence.

Back then, many outsiders looked down on the Cajuns. Although many Cajuns were not able to get a formal education, the outsiders wrongly considered the Cajuns illiterate and unintelligent and the term "Cajun" was considered a slur. By the time that I was a child, the Cajuns of my parents' generation had lost much of the pride that they may have had in their Cajun French heritage and were being "Americanized" by exposure to national media including television broadcasts in the English language.

When I was a child, my parents were more comfortable speaking Cajun French instead of English with those people that spoke the language. I grew up listening to a combination of French and English but was never encouraged to learn the French language. My parents' generation remembered how difficult speaking French was in school and wanted their children to have a better chance. Being around Cajun French conversations as a child, I managed to learn to understand some Cajun French but have never been able to converse in the language except for a few simple communications.

My parents enjoyed listening to Cajun French music and would go to the fais do do's of their time. My generation learned to like popular music formats by listening to radio broadcasts and watching television.

My parents learned to cook Cajun dishes and my family enjoyed many Cajun meals. Meals included gumbos, etouffees, fricassés, sauce piquantes, and jambalayas. Our families were exposed to other methods of cooking common in the rest of the country and from other countries. In time, fast food restaurants arrived. But even with the exposure to other cooking styles, Cajun cooking has survived and is now being popularized across the country (Note: Many restaurants around the country claim to serve authentic Cajun food but the food in reality is very unlike what we Cajuns cook. Cajun food is not necessarily overly spicy. My parents never blackened anything and if they did, it was a mistake and was thrown out!)

After graduating from college (I was the first in my father and mother's families to do so), I worked multiple jobs in New Orleans and Houston for a period of ten years. Eventually, I realized that I missed my family and the Cajun culture of rural South Louisiana and moved back near home.

I began attending many festivals around South Louisiana including many in the Lafayette area that featured Cajun French music. I began to appreciate the Cajun French music that has all but disappeared from the area where I live. I took Cajun dance lessons with my girlfriend, Debbie, who is now my wife. We now frequently go to Cajun music festivals and clubs in Lafayette, Breaux Bridge, Eunice, Mamou, Opelousas, and New Orleans. We have become quite proficient at Cajun dancing and are now learning zydeco dancing.

Most of the Cajun and Zydeco music includes French lyrics and I am now regretting that I never made the effort to learn the Cajun French language when I had the opportunity as a child. I am now trying to learn enough to understand the Cajun French and zydeco music lyrics and to be able to better speak the language.

CAJUN ('ka:-j@n), n. A person born or living along the bayous, marshes and prairies of south Louisiana; devoted to gumbo, etouffee, fricassé, sauce piquante, jambalaya, and crawfish; dedicated to the fais-do-do, Cajun French music, hard work and letting the good times roll (laissez les bons temps rouler!).

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