Columns

About once a month I get a note from someone who lives someplace else, often far away and for a long time, who reads my column in a community newspaper they still get to stay in touch with the town they will always call home. It appears that the roots that bind us to this place spread wide as well as go deep, and I think I’ve found a few clues why that is during the half-century-plus that I have been writing about south Louisiana. It has to do with our sense of place.

French President Emmanuel Macron was offered several choices of places to visit after his duties in Washington were done. Chicago, Atlanta, and other cities were on the short list, but they had no chance to push aside New Orleans with its centuries-old ties to France.
His visit December 2 wasn’t the first time a French president came to Louisiana. Valery Giscard d’Estaing visited New Orleans and Lafayette in 1970, and Charles DeGaulle was hosted by Louisiana luminaries at the end of April 1960.

“Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal -- a commitment to excellence -- that will enable you to attain the success you seek.”

-- Mario Andretti