Columns

I think I knew LaLa Lalonde for a year or more before I knew his real name. He was a member of the legislature when I met him, but I don’t think I ever heard him introduce himself as “Raymond” or “Representative Lalonde.”
He introduced himself simply. “Hi, I’m LaLa,” sometimes in French. That said a lot about who he was.

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. We’ve all grown up hearing this expression. But is it true? Should you be dissatisfied with your situation because you think others have it better?
Regardless of one’s circumstances, chances are that they are jealous of someone else. The wealthy may yearn for the days when their lives were simpler and without the worry of losing what they have attained. Those of modest means might dream of how all their problems would disappear if they only had more money.

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.