Columns

Shall we sing the praises of public restrooms?

It’s an amenity that most consumers take for granted. It’s an amenity that most retailers and professionals grudgingly accept as a cost of doing business. But I simply must salute those businesspeople who provide the miracle of indoor plumbing to their patrons.

Escape from New York and Southwest Airlines

In the 1980s, I repeatedly watched a recorded copy of the film “Escape from New York” on my family’s Panasonic VCR – complete with tuning knobs the size of hubcaps.

Searching for Fabacher in Acadia Parish

Sometime ago, I wrote about an all but forgotten Acadia Parish community called Fabacher, noting that little remains to mark just where it was. I speculated that “Fabacher Road, which runs west for several miles from Hwy.

Pope Benedict: The Holy War for America

With the death of Pope Benedict XVI, considered one of the greatest theologians in the 20th century, we should stop to ponder what effect he had on America.

Drifting back into ‘The Twilight Zone’?

When you have the beginning of a cold, nothing sparkly to wear and you really hate New Year’s, you watch television.

Laughing your way to happiness

What makes us happy and fulfilled? According to the directors of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, the longest scientific study of happiness ever conducted, the answer is very simple: our relationships.

Florida rescues it’s insurance market

Governor DeSantis and Florida Republicans signed legislation to prevent the state’s property insurance market from collapsing as more than a dozen insurers have failed in the last three years, while an alarming number are pulling back from the market because they can’t get reinsurance.

How Barbara Walters crafted her incomparable career

Barbara Walters might never have become a powerful force in broadcast journalism had she lacked the chutzpah to extract a promise from her bosses at NBC News in 1973.

Given up on your 2023 reading list yet?

The new year reminds me of that classic “Twilight Zone” episode starring Burgess Meredith as a put-upon bookworm. (No, he wasn’t reading on the wing of an airplane! Get your episodes straight, with “The Twilight Zone Companion,” for Pete’s sake!) True bibliophiles are all the same.

LaLa lived simply, and loved it

I think I knew LaLa Lalonde for a year or more before I knew his real name. He was a member of the legislature when I met him, but I don’t think I ever heard him introduce himself as “Raymond” or “Representative Lalonde.” He introduced himself simply. “Hi, I’m LaLa,” sometimes in French.