So, about Louisiana’s children and journalists who write about their unmet needs. As an advocate for children, I am also an avid supporter of journalists who give children and their needs the attention they deserve. Don’t you see, Louisiana’s children need the proverbial “power of the pen” on their side.…
Posts published in “musings”
Louisiana Ignores Wake-Up Calls about Children’s Needs We know the meaning of “wake-up call.” That’s the early morning phone call from the hotel’s front desk reminding you that it’s time to get up and be about the critical business of the day. (When we have nothing more important to do…
Endings are complicated. Typing was once a more physical experience. Each page of paper was inserted and rolled around a platen. Each keypress was a levered, mechanical event. With each inked letter impressed on the paper, a third of the typewriter’s mass, the part called “the carriage,” would move one…
“Your ache is also your prayer.” Your ache is your prayer. This was on my mind when I woke today. Jesus taught that prayer is a personal experience each of us has with the One who made us. Anyone can pray because prayer is literally your experience with God. There…
Spend time with an infant, and you cannot help but wonder, “why did God become a baby?” I enjoyed spending Thanksgiving week with my 11-month-old granddaughter. She is such a delightful baby! Caring for her on my daughter and son-in-law’s wedding anniversary, I was overwhelmed by how vulnerable a baby…
This morning I read a Twitter post about the success of Medicaid expansion which reported that 97% of Louisiana’s children now have some form of health insurance coverage. In a state with the dubious distinction of holding the average position of 49th for 29 years when ranked for child well-being,…
I love this photograph. The lady on the left, Mrs. Prescilla Dean Fordham, was my great great great grandmother. I think of her sons as the good old boys. Seated beside her is her son Dennis, my great great grandfather. Of course, his three brothers seated to the right of…
A brief discourse on the role of the church in child welfare and well-being, presented to the Louisiana Interchurch Conference’s Fall Board of Directors Meeting, on September 25, 2017, at St. Xavier Cathedral Catholic Church Complex, Alexandria, Louisiana. Good afternoon! You cannot imagine how excited I am to share a…
For 22 years, I searched for something that does not exist. Finally, I quit looking last week while standing in front of an angry, hungry lion. I watched his angry behavior and learned an important truth: with lions, it is not personal. Brody is a male lion living at Turpentine…
I wrote an article recently for my Multiple Sclerosis Caregiver blog. It’s titled “Tears of Hope and Passionate Hate”. In it, I used words I find myself using more frequently as I grow older. The phrase is, “tears behind my eyes”. I’ve used the phrase recently to describe a day…