Columns

Rockford Files? Little House? 50 Years? Really?

Only a handful of the network TV series debuting 50 years ago this autumn managed to survive two or more seasons. But how many would have existed at all if they faced today’s TV/political environment? Sure, Mary Richards’ best friend Rhoda Morgenstern achieved her own CBS spin-off.

Questions linger nearly a century after Long’s death

When Huey Long was shot in the state capitol on Sept. 8, 1935, nobody could understand why Dr. Carl A. Weiss, a mild-mannered specialist from Baton Rouge, would do such a thing. Weiss himself was shot dead during the confrontation, so could not say.

Too many let politics divide them

As I watched the Kennedy siblings close ranks against Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. because of his support for Donald Trump, it reminded me of the fragility of human bonds.

A new year arrives with fall in the air

OK, OK, I know it’s just early September. But to me, autumn is in the air. Sure it’s still hot in the Deep South. But there is a tinge of lower temperatures, leaves are slightly turning and we are witnessing a finality of harvest. Yes, fall is close at hand.

My ‘David Cassidy’ haircut

Editor’s note: This column is an excerpt from Tom Purcell’s humorous memoir, “Misadventures of a 1970s Childhood,” that was previously distributed in 2020. Yahoo News reports that retro fashions from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s have been making a comeback. That makes me grumpy.

Watching for the coffin in the tree

In December 1900 the Board of Control of the Louisiana State Penitentiary bought nearly 3,000 acres of land between New Iberia and Jeanerette to use as a prison farm. They named it, somewhat facetiously, Hope Plantation.

Does your school appreciate ‘Venmo moms’?

For decades, my mother (who was a veterinarian’s assistant during my childhood) gloated about her visit to my third-grade classroom. The dignified Mrs. Shelton accidentally transposed some numbers and Mom quickly corrected her for stating the normal human body temperature is 96-point-8.

Harris bid as ‘one of us’ fall short

Kamala Harris has been trying to connect with the little people, the ones in semi-flyover country who might be a little squeamish about her San Francisco liberalism. In just one example, Harris has stated – inaccurately as it turns out – that she paid her way by working at McDonald’s.

Politicians who are a bit weird

Do you think that our candidates for national office are weird? That word — “weird” — has become the new attack buzz word for both Democrats and Republicans. So how did all these “weird” attacks begin?

Why price controls don’t work, even for pencils

Why do some politicians and bureaucrats constantly forget that when governments meddle in our mostly free market that bad things happen?