One of my college alma maters recently celebrated its 100th anniversary. A highlight of the celebration was the unveiling of a giant class ring that is bound to become an Instagram must-do moment for anyone connected to Stephen F. Austin State University. I have not had the opportunity to view it firsthand but am planning a trip soon to Nacogdoches, where I lived a total of 18 years in two different stints.
After graduating from high school in May of 1973, I spent a year attending night school at Kilgore College while working at the Made-Rite Bottling company during the day. The intent was to transfer...
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It’s official. Gatsby, our great rescue cavapoo, is now an American Kennel Club-certified Canine Good Citizen. This does not give him the right to vote or drive a vehicle, but our beloved pup — now 18 months old — can enter a therapy-dog program, starting in mid-October. He has completed 18 hours’ worth of lessons under Jamie, who has been instrumental in his transformation. When Gatsby began his weekly lessons in January, he cowered under my stool, refused to walk on a leash, and was afraid of everything. His early months as a puppy-mill dog, largely imprisoned in a crate, meant he did not even...
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SHREVEPORT – We stayed up way past our bedtime Thursday night.
Months ago, I bought tickets to see Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit at Shreveport Municipal Auditorium, a venerable venue just off downtown. I nearly forgot about purchasing the tickets until I heard a promo on Red River Radio a few weeks back and reminded my Beautiful Mystery Companion of our rare weeknight date. We headed east for an early dinner before the concert.
Isbell, 44, is a four-time Grammy award winner whose evocative lyrics and impeccable musicianship have drawn a legion of fans, including me. I jumped at the chance...
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Yes, I am a pirate, two hundred years too late
The cannons don't thunder, there's nothing to plunder
I'm an over-forty victim of fate
-- A Pirate Looks at Forty by Jimmy Buffett
I last saw Jimmy Buffett in concert in the mid 1990s, when I was about 40, though far from being a pirate. We both had a lot more hair back then. Buffett performed at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in the Woodlands, a vast planned community between Conroe and Houston. The Mitchell Pavilion is a lovely outdoor venue when it isn’t 100 degrees. It was a lovely autumn evening when we saw Buffett, a soft...
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