Columns

You can’t force us to ignore biological realities

The other day I was engaged in a surprisingly civil Twitter conversation with a person who identified as a “trans” woman. I took that to mean that she was a biological male, but presented as a female. I was right.

New Year. New laws. New disparities.

The pastiche of new state laws taking effect as the New Year begins underscores how different we are — at least in the eyes of legislators — on matters small and large.

Hold men accountable when they commit crimes

I regularly deal with women who’ve been sexually abused in other countries. Many of them do not report the assaults to law enforcement, because in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, the police are unlikely to take rape and harassment seriously.

Airing of grievances: Smollett, swimmers and headphones

Back by lukewarm demand, for all of you Festivus enthusiasts, it’s time for the annual airing of grievances. Let’s get right to it. I have to get back to training for the feats of strength. For Jussie Smollett and anyone else contemplating staging a hate crime, you really need to do better.

The AOC’s of student loan debt

‘Tis the season for giving — or, for some legislators, a good time to demand that the government force taxpayers to give others a large gift.

Does baby New Year give you the creeps?

Perhaps one reason I never get invited to New Year’s Eve parties is that I tend to overanalyze things. Take Baby New Year (a.k.a. “Bundle of White Male Joy”), for instance.

Steamer ran ‘between death and destruction’

In the middle 1800s the main route from New Orleans to Bayou Teche, Bayou Courtableau and other points in south Louisiana took steamboats up the Mississippi River to Plaquemine in Iberville Parish, where the boat made a sometimes-treacherous turn into Bayou Plaquemine and followed its winding,...

Are you too old for Santa Claus?

Children all over the United States are currently wringing their iPhone-calloused hands over the possibility that Santa Claus might not make it this year because he’s trapped in a delayed shipping container somewhere off the coast of California. The situation is a little different at my house.

How is your self-image this Christmas?

I distinctly remember what I ate for supper on Christmas Eve 50 years ago. Not the entrée perhaps, but certainly the vegetable. My mother served stewed potatoes (“potato slopters,” as she dubbed them).

A silent night to remember

The Abbeville Progress reported the sorry news on Dec.19, 1914. Pope Benedict I had worked for a Christmas truce to at least interrupt the fighting during World War I, but unsuccessfully.