Savoring Sundays

In 1977 my mom and dad took me and my younger sister to see the original Star Wars movie on the big screen at Cortana Mall in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which housed a new theater that had just opened a few months earlier. I was almost 7 years…

by Jeff Young In the heart of Tremé — a historic New Orleans neighborhood dating back to 1812 and recognized as America’s oldest African-American neighborhood — sits a restaurant that has hosted countless celebrities (such as the Jackson 5,…

The winter months aren’t always kind to us, and the months of January and February are the most notorious for snatching joy right out of our hands and hearts. And that’s just for “normal” folks. But additionally, according to Psychology…

Thanksgiving embodies the idyllic family feast, at least for us here in America. Our literature, movies, television shows, and commercials (!) all pick up the theme: Thanksgiving is for family.  Even our statistical data bears this out: 95…

Words — and names — are powerful. My youngest daughter, Zélie, is learning words, sentences, and questions. Watching her young mind develop simply amazes me. At age 2 she is only at the beginning of life, and everything is new for her. I…

Turkey can be tough. And so can life. As Thanksgiving approaches, I can’t help but recall all the dry, overcooked — and tough! — turkeys I’ve had over the years. But don’t get me wrong, I’m not criticizing the cooks! It’s just that when it…

The summer heat in south Louisiana can be oppressive. It’s not like the dry heat of southern California or Arizona. No. It’s a heat with teeth ... and a fiery humid tongue that licks right through you. It’s a heat that bakes your…

Growing up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Sundays were all about family and food — good food. During the formative years of my childhood and beyond, my mom and dad would drive me and my younger sister to my paternal grandparents’ house after…