Opinion

Evenings at our house tend to follow a familiar script – a lineup that features John Wayne one night, Charlie Chaplin the next and a Disney moment when the mood’s right. Yes, we’re talking about Hubby’s movie re- runs. And by “reruns,” I mean the same hand- ful of films that seem to play on a never-ending loop.

In the early days of writing it seemed that the subjectsto write about were endless. There was so much thatcould get fixed and we would see a much stronger futurefor our children and their children. This ranged fromthe price of gas at the pumps to the strangling regulationsto how the country could learn about votingfrom Louisiana. Then a new administrationcame …

My love of writing and sharing experiences beganmany years ago. In the fourth grade I joined 4H andwas elected reporter. Every month I would walk frommy home in the middle of Farmerville to the Gazetteoffice and present my 4H article to Ben Lee, the ownerof the Farmerville Gazette. These in turnwould be published. I loved it and over timeI discovered …

It’s not Jan. 1. It’s not the first day of the month. It’snot the first day of the week. It’s not the first day of aseason.Nevertheless, I am beginning something new– at least new for me after an absence of severalyears.I’m going to watch my weight. And by that, Imean I’m planning to watch it go down insteadof going up.

A child will get sick; that is given. It’s part of thechild’s rite of passage. The child will play and play hard,oblivious to the illness that is overtaking the strengthand vitality of the young human. Eventually the child’sillness will progress to a point that it must be given medicineand if no medicine is dispensed, the childwill become sicker, weaker, unable …

We all know that there is a crisis in the CatholicChurch right now. Allegations of sexually abusive clergyare pouring in worldwide. Unfortunately, the roots ofthis terrible tragedy engulfing the Catholic Church havestrong ties to the Bayou Sate. Here’s how NationalPublic Radio in Minnesota titled their investigativestory on sexual abuse by priests: “ItAll Began in Lafayette, Louisiana.” And it did,back in …

For over ten years America has been fed a steady dietof green movement rhetoric. From a personal standpointI fully agree that we need to look at conserving ournatural resources and we need to do what is needed tokeep the world clean and alive for generations to come. Ialso believe that we do not need to make changein a knee jerk …

Ahhh … spring.It has sprung.Spring. The poets’ muse for centuries. It has inspiredsuch masterpieces as Emily Dickinson’s “A Light Existsin Spring,” William Wadsworth’s “Daffodils”and A.E. Houseman’s “Loveliest of Trees.”Spring. Nature lovers revel in its aspects, andwordsmiths turn their observations into lyricalworks of art.Today, I want to lay the foundation of a poem– to provide the building blocks, so to speak …

When I first heard the term “nuclear family” I thought of some derogatory term that expressed a new modern family which was filled with social media, computer games and not social involvement within the family. What a shock and pleasant surprise when the true definition was discovered.The term has been used to a large extent over the past several years …

t’s been a number of years since the death penalty was carried out in Louisiana. A vicious rapist and killer, a fellow named Jesse Hoffman, was put to death at Angola State prison just two weeks ago. I can look back 21 years ago, as I witnessed the highs and lows of life and death here in the Bayou State.It …