On January 31, 1996, professional sign painter Pamela Raintree pulled into Shreveport, Louisiana in a battered Datsun station wagon, with $1.20 in her pocket and a quarter tank of gasoline. Her plan was to get to the Gulf of Mexico as quickly as possible, where she’d paint signs for the shrimp fleets as they prepared to head out for the season. As fate would have it, Raintree pulled into town just ahead of an ice storm – a rare occurrence in northwest Louisiana – that would trap her in the city. One thing led to another, and Raintree has now called Shreveport “home” for 18 years.
Raintree is a transgender woman, an artist and an activist. During her time in Shreveport, she has made headlines locally and nationally, painting a lovely mural that ticked off a few curmudgeons in Shreveport’s South Highlands neighborhood in 2010 and confronting a member of the Shreveport City Council about his bigotry (Pamela brought a rock into the council chambers, challenging councilman Ron Webb to stone her to death with it) in 2014.
When we reached out to Raintree and invited her to share her story for the “New ‘Round Here” live event, Sara and I didn’t know what kind of story to expect. What we got was a gracefully rendered tale of “blooming where you’re planted,” delivered with Raintree’s deadpan humor.
Pamela Raintree’s mural in South Highlands, photographed by Shreveport-based artist Kathryn Usher.
Just a reminder: The next All Y’all live event, “Under the Influence,” will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 13, 2014 at Marjorie Lyons Playhouse on the campus of Centenary College of Louisiana. Lots more info is available on our blog and tickets may be purchased in advance here. Please purchase tickets in advance, as a capacity crowd is anticipated.