Columns

Thoughts about lives that matter

I was talking to a friend the other day about another friend, who has been going through a difficult period ever since Hamas massacred peaceful Jews in Gaza a year and a half ago. Our common friend is a quiet woman, someone who keeps her sorrows to herself.

So call it the Gulf of what?

Our new president has stirred up a hornet’s nest by declaring that we no longer have a Gulf of Mexico. From now on, all government references will be to the Gulf of America. I grew up along the Gulf Coast, spending just about every summer there that I can remember.

St. Landry Parish civil cases

The following are civil cases filed in the 27th Judicial District Court. Wednesday, Feb. 19 Lee Ben vs Reginald Hutchinson et al, damages. William Rideaux vs Allstate Property Insurance Company, damages. State of Louisiana vs Jamichael K. Moreau, paternity. State of Louisiana vs Tevn M.

Dreaming of tax simplification

I can’t help but dream this time of the year. It’s the thick of winter, you see, which means I’m spending hours huddled in my home office getting a million tax details in order for my CPA. And I’m dreaming of tax simplification.

Will eggs again be as good as money?

The children’s celebration of Mardi Gras in Church Point in the 1920s and 1930s seemed more like Halloween than the rowdy courir we know today, according to the memory of Marie Louise LaCaze. She put down her reminiscences in 1998 as part of a “life and letters” program at UL.

Would it kill you to buy some antiques?

Besides the omnipresence of cellphones (“those little machines”), my mother’s greatest frustration in her final years was the sluggishness of the antiques market.

Hate to say it, but AOC is right about this one

If you listen to some right-wing pundits, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is running a smuggling ring across the southern border. Far be it from me to defend La Cortez, but I find the misrepresentations from those who think there is a Constitution-free zone in this country to be annoying.

Why so much vulgar and crude language in Louisiana?

It would seem that the use of uncouth swear words have become a way of description throughout the Bayou State, as well as across the country, from the president on down in recent years.

The ‘Exodus’ from the public school system

The downfall started in the early 1970s when Marxists redefined the First Amendment with the new term “separation of church and state” and kicked God out of our public schools.

Why fewer Americans are moving

We sold my mom and dad’s dream home last autumn — the Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired mid-century modern house they called home for 25 years. Staying put is becoming more commonplace in America.