Local poetess Nadine St. Louis was officially named Eau Claire’s first-ever poet laureate yesterday. I’d proclaim “About damn time!” but I’m kind of thinking the issue of having a poet laureate just hasn’t been brought up before. It’s true – I’m hopelessly uninformed about the history of poet laureates in the Chippewa Valley. 

At any rate, Nadine St. Louis is as worthy a choice as they come. She received the designation at yesterday’s city council meeting. The council feels Nadine – a retired UWEC English professor with several books to her credit – has dedicated her life to filling the Chippewa Valley with poetry. She’s also just awesome. Her duties may include crafting poems to commemorate special city events, so when the new jail opens in 2017, maybe you can expect some verse.

I’m not sure who broached the issue of even having a poet laureate, but it’s pretty cool. The city hopes a poet laureate will help promote culture in the city. I suggest we keep traveling this wonderful path to culture and name more laureates – how about an actress laureate? A composer laureate? A dance laureate? A bangin’ bass player laureate? We could have an elite team of laureates (The Eau-reates, working title) to attack cultural issues.

I’m only sort of kidding.