Maggie

When Cotillion 2022 Chief Eloise Graf graduated from LSU, she ran off and joined the circus.

His Royal Majesty REX LXXIII Mark Pollard Sealy and Her Royal Majesty Regina LXXIII Natalie Ann Lukacs ruled April 8 under the big top at The Greatest Show -- Cotillion 2022. In years past, circus shows have been held at Municipal Auditorium, but this production may have eclipsed them all.

Led by Shreveport Opera's Chief Steve Aiken, SOX singers and "Rigoletto" stars sang at the Petroleum Club for everyone's dinner, an event before the opera's performance.

Well, no! But, some 250 high profilers did channel Hollywood stars when they walked the red carpet on Texas Street for Robinson Film Center's The Robbys. The $150-a-person glam fest channels the Academy Awards.

There are all kinds of kisses performed in all kinds of places, Shreveport Regional Arts Council Chief Pam Atchison told us at SRAC's Christmas in the Sky Reveal.

NEW SOUTHERN U. PRESIDENT DR. DENNIS SHIELDS MAKES A STOP IN SHREVEPORT

For 40 years, artist Bennie Dotie shot photos of Civil Rights leaders and, more recently, "frozen flowers" in memory of his wife, the late Linda Dotie" who died of cancer several years ago. "Reflections," was on exhibit at Martin Luther King Neighbor Association during Black History Month. Portraits spotlighted such leaders as former Shreveport Mayor Cedric Glover, now a state representative, and the late Caddo District Judge Paul Lynch. "Her Elegancy, His Aspiration" was on exhibit at Mavice Wallette Library and featured "frozen flowers" shot artistically during a cold spell in the north Shreveport garden Dotie's wife once tended. A shout out to BTW Student Zikara Woodard, a 10th-grader at Booker T. Washington High School, who named the flower exhibit.

For 21 years -- since it was founded -- Krewe Harambee has handed out $45,000 in scholarships to high school students from single-parent homes. (To read and hear about the experiences of these smart kids, who excel in spite of everything life throws at them, according to their essays, will break your heart -- or it did mine. But let's cheer them on as they reach for their dreams.)