Kids, here is important advice: If you can’t make a yo-yo do magnificent tricks, don’t worry. What? You don’t know what a yo-yo is. Well, sit down for five minutes and listen to someone who used to be a kid. When I was in grade school — that’s what … Continue reading →

The student slips her books into her backpack, flashes a smile and waves bye. “I’ll miss your class,” she says. I haven’t given final grades yet, but I think she means it. A couple of the male students come to the front of the room and shake my hand. They … Continue reading →

Waitresses carrying heaping breakfast trays from the kitchen unconsciously moved in the same rhythm as the customers who filled the small dance floor. The setting, as well as the music, shouted “Louisiana,” as religious paintings and Christian crosses clung to the walls, even behind the bar. The intensity with which … Continue reading →

The little blue heron stands as still as a stick. Eyes intent on something beneath patches of duckweed, it strikes suddenly and withdraws a wiggling bream. For a full minute the bird wrestles with a fish that appears too big to swallow. Nearby a limb falls. The heron flies off … Continue reading →

For years I’ve marveled at how sports can deflate racism. The movie “42” reminded me of that power. Racism is based on ignorance. It’s a self-perpetuating malady, because racists separate themselves from the group for which they have contempt. Racism isn’t often changed directly by laws, speeches or philosophic discussions. … Continue reading →

When IBM announced a couple of weeks ago that it will open a software development center at The Advocate’s old site downtown, talk focused on the economic prospects. For me, those thoughts were secondary as I imagined a pair of tall buildings on that special spot along the Mississippi River. My first thought was about … Continue reading →

When I was growing up, we had chickens that produced brown yard eggs. Last week, the coming of Easter made me remember that once a year my mother bought a dozen white eggs. Easter had two special rules for my mom. The one about buying … Continue reading →

Listening to the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra last week rekindled a recurring wish. The wish returns whenever live music seeps into my soul. As much as I love listening to well-played music and closing my eyes to be drifted where it will take me, I … Continue reading →

We had the cement pond, Barney with one bullet that he had to keep in his pocket and Hoss with his big white hat. Television hasn’t played much of a role in my life for years, but there was a time when it did. Maybe that was because I was … Continue reading →

While on a business trip in Texas last week, my daughter was given the option of having dinner at a Cajun restaurant. Sarah declined. That showed Louisiana wisdom. How many Bayou State residents have ever been satisfied with “Cajun” food served outside our borders? The happier reason that Sarah decided … Continue reading →

Trying to find two cups or dishes that match would be a challenge. Nobody cares. Chipping a cup or breaking a dish wouldn’t cause angst here. William Faulkner would be comfortable once he figured out how to operate the microwave. A kitchen that … Continue reading →

One of the many great things my father and his best friend taught me as a boy was how to fly fish. In a way I guess I forced them into it. For several years on our fishing trips, I sat in the middle seat of a boat between … Continue reading →

In elementary school everybody brought a shoebox to class for Valentine’s Day. Most of the boxes were decorated in some fashion, and we marked all of them with our names. Each box had a slit in the top so that other students could slide in valentines. Looking … Continue reading →

A half-dozen weaned puppies frolic atop strewn newspaper. All of them have black coats except one, who is brown and has more angular features. He darts and tumbles among the others as if they were his brothers and sisters. Brought to the shelter alone, he was added to the family … Continue reading →

“No pain. No gain!” That idea and even the word combination are traceable for hundreds of years. Coaches have chanted it in some form for decades. In the last few weeks I’ve repeated the phrase in my mind numerous times. High school coaches instilled the idea in … Continue reading →

What was your favorite toy when you were a child? I asked that to my writing class at LSU last week. On the first day of each semester I ask them to introduce themselves by answering a series of questions. After the serious questions I have them answer one that … Continue reading →

Lately I’ve been taking time-travel trips to Asia. Time travel isn’t as difficult as physicists would have you believe. It only takes a good historical novel, and, for me, a pair of reading glasses. I’m particular about the vehicle in which I travel. The book needs not only to tell … Continue reading →

When I was a boy I started a stamp collection. I did it during one of those seemingly endless summers children enjoy before adolescence. As fondly as I remember those summers, they could get boring. Had there been computers, video games, cellphones with texting, DVDs, VCRs or even a television in our house, I may have … Continue reading →

Cries of a teething toddler woke me through the night. Unlike her parents, I rolled back to sleep. That’s a beauty of being a grandparent. Last week with my son, his wife and their daughters — ages 3 and 15 months — reminded me what parenting little ones … Continue reading →

The questions of whom from the past you would like to entertain and what you would ask them have long been fun to ponder. I’ve often enjoyed the game with others and even alone while driving or on nights when sleep evades. At those times, a lot of names run through my mind, including people like … Continue reading →

Lurene Legge Loofbourrow was different than my mother in lots of ways, but they shared a common generation and role. My wife Mary’s mom and mine grew up without electricity, survived the Great Depression and embraced the lifestyle changes that followed World War II. They were stay-at-home moms who sewed family clothes, cooked family … Continue reading →

If I had seen last week’s Fun section before my wife, I would have hidden it. But, then, we never would have seen Gregory Peck live on stage. I wasn’t prepared when Mary asked if I would take her to a show she really wanted to see. Given the childish … Continue reading →

Tales of greed, innocence and eventual justice endeared generations to Charles Dickens. Though Dickens would not have recognized the setting, he would have appreciated the characters I watched on a recent airline flight. The tale began with an angry woman and an amiable flight attendant; but, as with many Dickens … Continue reading →

I shuffled behind my parents with complete disinterest until we got to the toy store. Window shopping was a favorite pastime for my mother. Different from the regular shopping for necessities, it was a family affair that occurred while stores were closed in the evenings or on Sunday afternoons. Continue reading →

It’s been a long time since I heard applause in a movie theater. “Lincoln” drew that response in at least one Baton Rouge theater as the credits began to roll last weekend. As awkward as it is for people to clap after a movie, when neither actors nor others involved in the production can … Continue reading →

The first time I remember eating in a restaurant was in Donaldsonville, while traveling with my father. I had ham and Swiss on toast. The chef cut it diagonally, which I thought was neat. Every time my dad's work took us to Donaldsonville, I wanted to eat there and always got the same thing. In ways I haven't changed much from that … Continue reading →

Entering a mega store I’m often confounded at not being able to find the item I’m seeking or anyone who seems to care whether I find it or not. It makes me long for the hardware store that once operated just down the road from my home. There Joe, the owner, pointed me immediately to what I … Continue reading →

Fall’s chill crept in during the night to surprise me with a morning shiver. Stealthy Autumn usually arrives like that — a visitor that doesn’t call ahead, but knocks on your door at midnight. Maybe I just didn’t check my messages to know she was coming. One sign that should have allerted me to fall’s … Continue reading →

I didn’t intend for last week’s column about being burglarized to have a sequel. Unfortunately it does. After going more than 25 years without a break-in, my home got hit twice in a week. Not only did each of the burglaries have unusual twists, but they … Continue reading →

Frankie wasn’t on the job when the burglars came. She had taken one of her periodic breaks to slip into the woods to chase a rabbit or tree a squirrel. Our neighbor, Kim Spillers, proved not only more alert than Frankie, but just as brave and even more tenacious than … Continue reading →

Even in a world homogenized by television and the Internet, some cities hold tightly to their customs. Some of those customs, like New Orleans’ Mardi Gras, Cajun food and jazz funerals, are part of what makes that city unique to travelers from other states and countries. While oddities … Continue reading →

Pressing the button on the clothes dryer Saturday afternoon only brought a screeching sound. Aggravated, I stretched phone wire between a tree and a couple of plant hooks on the house. It wasn’t until I began to hang the clothes that I started to smile. I had plenty of clothes-hanging experience from my … Continue reading →

For those of us who live beyond the limits of cities or even spots in the road that call themselves communities, hurricanes bring strange visitors. The strange visitors aren’t the aunts and in-laws city dwellers might get overnight during a storm. When winds start blowing down trees and water … Continue reading →

The afternoon dream is a pleasant one especially after working for hours on my roof. Friends and I are skipping along the tops of waves at full sail. Clouds block the heat, but don’t threaten to carry winds that would make us reef our canvas. Continue reading →

The darkest of hurricane clouds are lined brightly by the people beneath them. Having covered countless hurricanes as an adult and lived through others with the eyes of a child, one thing I’ve always seen is the goodness storms brings out in people. For every person who loots, throngs open their doors to others. For … Continue reading →

My mother’s coffee pot has an important spot on a shelf in our kitchen. That pot, which she used daily, is one of those tangible items that best evokes memories of her. It’s a little drip pot that wouldn’t hold more than one regular cup. That … Continue reading →

Standing in front of a classroom when you can tell the students have locked into a lecture is an exhilarating experience. Hearing them articulate comments or questions that let you know their minds have been stimulated is even more satisfying. Seeing students then apply what they have learned is … Continue reading →

When a siren wails, so does Frankie. She does it with the fervor of a coyote howling at a full moon. When fireworks explode on holiday nights, she barks as if a burglar were breaking through a bedroom window. When thunder rolls near, Frankie hides under the … Continue reading →

The wake-up call came on time. The cab arrived as promised. A pleasant ride to the airport hit no delays. As my wife and I walked through the airport doors, I felt the sense of relief I always feel when I get to an airport on time. … Continue reading →

When I was little, a couple of older cousins asked what I wanted to do when I grew up. “Go to the moon,” I answered. They laughed and said the moon probably didn’t have air or water and was too far. “It would take you 100 years,” the older cousin, Patsy Burke, said … Continue reading →

When we call his name, Peachy perks his ears. Turning only his head, he usually squints for a moment to make sure it’s Mary and me and not imposters. If it’s the middle of a hot day, Peachy begins a plow-horse plod across the big pasture. Sometimes, … Continue reading →

Watching a boy and his father fly a radio-controlled plane in a park reminded me how much fun I had with planes when I was a kid. Of course, I never had a radio-controlled plane as a boy. I was lucky to have a transistor radio. What I had fun with were wooden gliders. They … Continue reading →

Trudging through a shopping mall in search of a gift when you have no idea what you’re looking for is a trip through purgatory. Some people have a knack for picking the right gift. They not only know the recipient’s likes, but spend time in the selection. With forethought, they purchase gifts long before … Continue reading →

The signing of the Declaration of Independence 236 years ago was an amazing accomplishment. A lot can still be learned from the history leading up to the document. The document required the agreement of conservatives, moderates and liberals. They disagreed, debated and eventually put aside their differences to find a path that led to the … Continue reading →

Through crackle, static and fading radio signals I listened to my favorite baseball team when I was a boy. Ear close to the speaker, I imagined Forbes Field in faraway Pittsburgh. The faces of the players were vivid from baseball cards. At bedtime, I begged God to let me … Continue reading →