Columns

Scientific American describes my mother to a T.

An article titled “The Incredible Importance of Mothers,” by social scientist Melanie Tannenbaum, lays out the argument that a mother’s comfort – not just meeting basic needs, such as providing food and shelter – is essential to the development an

How about celebrating the unsung mothers?

Since you asked, my niece Claire is expecting her first baby in August. Her sister Emma is expecting her second child in October.
I have faith that both young ladies will someday earn a spot in a Hall of Fame for Mothers.

A hunger for normalcy

My recent trip to Florida was glorious for one simple reason: it was normal. You see, I had been hungering for a friendly social gathering for months — any gathering involving family, friends, business colleagues or old classmates would do.

Protest or riot? It depends where you stand

When the Nazis wanted to march through Skokie, Ill., many of the residents were horrified. A large percentage were Jewish, and some had been interned in concentration camps. The memory of those camps was still vivid, since this was 1978, a mere three decades after World War II had ended.

A day I will never forget

It was a Wednesday, April 25, 2018, when I received a call at work from my older brother. I could tell immediately in his voice that he was upset and advised me to get to my dad’s house fast.

Editor floats a bed bug story

In the Spring of 1850, Daniel Dennett, editor of The Planters’ Banner in Franklin took the steamboat Rio Grande to New Orleans and afterwards paid it a complement in his newspaper. “The Rio Grande is well regulated, well managed, and those who go on her are well fed,” he wrote.

Don’t let storage companies skip printed notices

Legislators have their hands full each session with the plethora of bills that come their way, facing the fundamental question: Who benefits if this bill passes? This is a question I hope legislators are asking when it comes to Senate Bill 101, which we urge them to vote no on. This bill, if passed and enacted, allows self-storage operators who plan to sell Louisiana residents’ belongings to notify the public by publishing notices in the newspaper OR an auction website.

Is there a future for wit?

As graduation looms, my son Gideon has been named both salutatorian and Wittiest Boy of the Cornersville (TN) High School Class of 2021. (I myself did well academically “back in the day” — which even then was about 15 years after the hoary phrase “back in the day” had applied for Medicare.