Kevin Rabalais takes his large suitcases off and only needs his camera and notebook to travel around Louisiana. He has written for several publications around the world but has made it back to his home, where he said he’s found his life purpose.

“About seven years ago, I came home to Louisiana, and I realized right away that my life’s work is really this place and stories of this place,” Rabalais said.

He’s a jack of all trades — teacher, photographer, travel writer, and journalist. He is a professor of practice in the English department at Loyola and teaches study abroad programs in Prague and Ireland. He has lived in New Zealand, Australia, and France, where he wrote for a number of magazines and newspapers.

As a columnist for local magazine, Louisiana Life, he focuses on stories around the state. He said it forces him to travel and do research to find out what stories need to be told. If there isn’t a story in New Orleans, there would be one in Shreveport or Monroe, he said.

“And you know, our state is just big enough and just diverse enough that we don’t always know what’s happening in the other corners,” Rabalais said.

Rabalais said he strives to bring stories from North Louisiana to South Louisiana and vice versa. He has a particular interest in “Cajun country New Orleans,” he said.

“The Louisiana work allows me to travel around the state and learn about these stories, what people are doing, and I get to tell these stories so that other people know about them,” he said.

Rabalais calls wildlife refuges, state parks, and people from several areas in Louisiana to hunt for stories.

His story, “Shell Game,” in Louisiana Life magazine is about the coalition to restore coastal Louisiana and its oyster shell recycling program. The story won first place in Environmental Science Reporting at the 2024 New Orleans Press Club Awards.

“In a way, you can help protect Louisiana’s coastline by eating at a restaurant that is part of one of these oyster shell recycling programs,” he said.

His current projects include a feature story on the local artists who “make Mardi Gras happen” and a story on Grand Isle in the relationship to Kate Chopin’s recent anniversary of “The Awakening.” In addition, he is finishing a novel about Cajun Mardi Gras.

“Getting out with a notebook and camera and being able to tell these stories has been a privilege.”

He says being both a professor at Loyola and a journalist amplify one another. He can leave campus on a Friday, drive out to cover a story that weekend, and come back to have this “other life.”

They both allow him to be creative in different ways, he said. He connects with his students through travel, photography, and teaching, which he says all creatively flow into one another.

English alum Ruby Zlotkowski went on the Ireland summer program with Rabalais her junior year in 2023, who said his unique style of teaching has demonstrated a personalized approach and genuine care to each individual student.

“At the end of the semester, he brought in a collection of books to his students, selecting titles he thought we would each individually enjoy after learning about our writing styles and interested over the course of the semester,” Zlotkowski said

English professor Tracey Watts co-directed the Prague study abroad program with Rabalais. She said he is a compassionate and genuinely curious person.

While working abroad with him, Watts said she admired his extensive knowledge on other places around the world. She said it was very helpful on their program in Prague and describedRabalais as having an “encyclopedic amount of knowledge” of Czech literature and film.

“I’ve got the internet, and I’ve got Google, and I’ve got Kevin,” Watts said. “I felt very well supported on that trip intellectually.”

Zlotkowski said his book, photography, and film recommendations were memorable.

“He is so knowledgeable and well read, I’ve joked with my peer that I think he knows the title and author of every book that’s ever been published,” she said

Watts noticed how strong his investment in his students was.

“He’s authentically interested in other people, and that I just really respect about him,” Watts said.

Zlotkowski was fond of the conversations around culture, spirituality, and history in the class. The themes discussed were impactful in her exploration with her own work.

“We discussed how the photographs we take tell us about ourselves as our dreams do. The profound themes we explored is what made the class very impactful,” she said.

As Rabalais shares his experiences and teachings with his students, alongside traversing a foreign country, he said he has watched their passions grow.

“It’s wonderful to see someone leave the country and have that realization of the great world that’s waiting for them,” he said.

Rabalais said it is a joy and privilege to travel with his students. All he needs is a camera, a notebook and a “human moment” to tell a story.