Columns

A Collier’s Christmas

I don’t know why I kept it in the first place, or even how it fell into my hands, but one of the things that I haul out every Christmas season, along with the tree lights and decorations, wreaths for the door, and an old nativity set, is the December 23, 1950, edition of Collier’s magazine.

Can we please have the right Christmas sounds?

“Hello. I’m Grandpa.” Christmas 50 years ago, my parents splurged and bought me a compact reel-to-reel tape recorder. My father had whetted my appetite with remarks that one could build a primitive voice recorder along the lines of Thomas Edison’s prototype, but this was the real store-bought deal.

At Christmastime, let children be children

We are approaching the anniversary of the most horrific gun massacre in the history of the United States.

Viruses and responses differ. Human nature doesn’t.

The way my siblings and I responded to my family’s chicken-pox outbreak in 1973 may shed light on Americans’ responses to COVID-19 in 2020. I was about 10 and remember how differently my five sisters responded to that highly contagious bug.

A romantic case of abduction

This the way the old news story began: “On Christmas Eve, Dec. 24th, 1879, was witnessed the pleasant sequel of one of the most romantic cases of abduction that it has ever been our lot to recall.

A Christmas (cell phone) miracle

I’ve always taken great pride in the tender care I give to my cell phone.

Vile is vile, regardless of your political party

I have been pretty honest and clear about my refusal to sing Kumbaya with the other side on policy. But I’m not willing to demonize people with whom I disagree in areas where politics and policy, ideology and integrity are irrelevant. Case in point: Phil Murphy.

COVID Grinch can’t steal our Christmas

Sorry, COVID-19, but you’re not going to stop our Christmas cheer this year. You remind me of the Dr. Seuss Christmas classic, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” The Grinch, you see, is a miserable old grouch.

White Americans and the civil rights movement

People might get tired of stories about my father Ted and his summer in Mississippi. They might roll their eyes when I, once again, write about how he faced hostility and the KKK during his time in the places that have become legendary for their ferocious efforts at silencing Black voices and votes.

A ‘reminder of birth of nature’

On the official Louisiana road map, the town of Plaquemine on the Mississippi River and St. Martinville on Bayou Teche are only 3.5 inches apart. That’s about 35 miles.