Columns

Hoping for a happier Autumn

Autumn is upon us, but it is making me a little bit sad this year. I have always loved autumn. I love the brilliant colors, the chilly air and the smell of oak burning in a fire pit.

Last-minute homemade Halloween costumes?

When I searched online for potential Halloween-column topics, I encountered innumerable headlines screaming about fun, easy, last-minute homemade Halloween costumes. Who are all the people in desperate need of fun, easy, last-minute homemade Halloween costumes?

Curing your cold — and everything else

Practically every south Louisiana community had a store in the middle 1800s like D. R. January’s Crescent Drug Store in Crowley that offered “chemicals, perfumery, fancy stationery, toilet articles, soap, garden seeds, pipes, tobacco, cigars, paints, oil, glass, and everything usually found in a...

Condemn Hamas, those who support terror

One of the very first pieces of verse that I ever memorized was this, from Pastor Martin Neimoller: “First they came for the Communists / and I did not speak out / because I was not a Communist. “Then they came for the Socialists / and I did not speak out / because I was not a Socialist.

Visit to the Holy Land ends just in time

In my column a few weeks ago, I shared my excitement of traveling to the Holy Land for the first time. I had set out a specific agenda to explore my own spirituality as I’ve grown older, and I listed all the places I wanted to go. What an amazing trip. It turned out to be all I had anticipated.

We need a rebirth of empathy

When I read a news piece about the passing of longtime California senator Dianne Feinstein a few weeks ago, some of the comments left at the bottom of the online article made me sad. Feinstein suffered a very public health decline before she passed.

Will Ozempic chew up the food industry?

“Are ya haaawngry?” In the 1990s, that question by the late Harold Rowland became a running gag after church every Sunday, as he inquired where I, my wife and my parents would be eating. In the future, many people may answer “Are ya haaawngry?” with a shrug and a muffled “Meh.”

Was there ever a sentinel oak?

I have become intrigued by the story of an oak tree that stood at the mouth of the Calcasieu River centuries ago. I came across a reference to it in an essay about an expedition led by the Spanish pilot and cartographer Jose de Evia in 1785.

Is this remnant of American culture doomed, y’all?

“Where’s your Bayer?” I vividly remember that question from my high school job working in a convenience market in my Tennessee hometown. A buxom young lady from out-of-town posed the query and I helpfully directed her to the section of the store showcasing our aspirin, bandages, Merthiolate, etc.

The president’s dogs that bite people

President Biden is being dogged by a unique White House problem. About a week ago, Biden’s German Shepherd, Commander, bit a secret service officer — Commander’s 11th secret-service-officer biting since he moved to the White House in December of 2021.