Columns

Surely need to get better at praying

The National Day of Prayer is on May 2nd this year. I surely need to get better at praying. Like a lot of people, I don’t pray until things go sour or I have some daunting challenge heading my way. I pray Monday mornings when I’m behind on projects that are due.

Advice for 2024 promgoers

Editor’s note: A version of this column was published in 2017. Social media is driving up the cost of proms, as promgoers are under intense pressure to post glamourous prom photos on their feeds, reports the Wall Street Journal. Some girls are spending $2,000 or more on their custom prom dresses.

Does your town need renaming?

The venerable comic strip “Gasoline Alley” is wrapping up a storyline in which the dastardly assistant mayor schemed to change the town’s name from Gasoline Alley to the ostensibly more modern Electric Acres (without even offering a compromise such as Hybrid Hollow).

Who were the Hoo-Hoos, anyhoo?

In a recent column about early baseball rivalries, I noted that the Orange Hoo-Hoos were one of the teams in the short-lived Gulf Coast League in the early 1900s. That prompted a reader to ask, “Why would a team have such a silly name?” It turns out that it isn’t quite a silly as it appears.

NPR leader shows her true colors

John Paul II once stated that “there can be no rule of law … unless citizens and especially leaders are convinced that there is no freedom without truth.

Trump has fat chance in New York court

Let’s just call it like it is. Former President Donald Trump doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of being found not guilty in his current New York Court case. Now I know the case has just barely started. But you can take that to the bank, and I’ll tell you why.

Take our daughters and sons to grandma’s

“Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day” is on April 25th, and I think we should try something different this year: Let’s take our daughters and sons to grandma’s.

Would Mamou tea kill or cure you?

There was at least a minor hullabaloo in the spring of 1941 when health officials in Washington made the claim that the Mamou plant widely used in south Louisiana to make a herbal tea could kill you.

Ready for the bathroom of tomorrow?

Bathroom floor tiles that weigh you, analyze your gait and evaluate your fall risk. Bathroom mirrors that initiate telehealth conferences based on your complexion or facial tics. Toilet seats that check your vitals (temperature, heart rate, oxygenation).

OJ’s death is an opportunity for us all

I’m pretty sure that the number of people who are mourning the death of OJ Simpson can fit into the trunk of the smallest car Hertz ever rented. He was a man who killed his wife Nicole, as well as innocent stranger Ron Goldman, and was acquitted because he played the race card.