Columns

Of foreboding signs, feaux-follets, and loup-garous

I’d always thought that the feux‑follet, will‑o‑the‑wisp, and loup‑garou, werewolf, were not discovered by the Acadians until they reached Louisiana. But apparently they were with our Cajun ancestors even in old Acadie. Philip H.

We’ve talked about a seawall for a long time

We’ve talked about a seawall for a long tThere’s been talk of a seawall across coastal southwest Louisiana for more than a century, but most of the talk was about draining wetland, not blocking hurricanes, and most of the talk amounted to nothing more than talk. The great promoter J. B.

The dread of daylight saving time

Springing forward or falling back, daylight saving time was something my father always dreaded. Having to reset all the clocks in his house behind or ahead by an hour twice a year meant he had a lot of work to do — and he didn’t enjoy doing it. The chief cause of his pain was my mother.

Are you spending enough for Halloween?

According to the National Retail Federation (motto: “Proudly middlemansplaining since 1911”), Americans set a Halloween spending record of $12.2 billion in 2023.

Sex, lies, and other distractions

Kamala Harris is making the rounds to friendly media, which is what insecure politicians tend to do. She hasn’t ventured often into the areas where she might not receive fawning attention and wholehearted appreciation.

Don’t count on lower insurance rates

Louisiana legislators are ringing their hands over the increasing cost of property insurance. “How are we going to bring insurance premiums down? What to do, what to do?” Will enforcing stronger building codes work? How about giving grants for people to reinforce their roofs?

High alert: America on the road to serfdom

What Friedrich Hayek, a young Austrian economist, witnessed during WWII in Germany and Britain was documented in his classic book ‘The Road to Serfdom’ published in 1944 for the benefit of a British audience.

Re-embracing the American spirit

When I was a 14-year-old kid in 1977, I rode my bike, played ball with my friends and had virtually no responsibility. During that same time, halfway around the world, another 14-year-old boy named Tony was dragging dead bodies into the street and setting them on fire.

Do you sound unprofessional?

My handy-dandy “column topic radar” lit up when I encountered an internet article called “12 Phrases You’re Using That Make You Sound Unprofessional.

Visionaries’ big ideas needed big money

In the late 1800s newcomers from the American Midwest and Germans settling around Roberts Cove discovered that the south Louisiana prairies were ideal for growing rice — if they could get enough water for their crops.