In New Orleans, my parents live right behind a levee tasked with the dubious job of holding in Lake Pontchartrain. Each morning, they drink coffee while gazing at the large green hill and watching the seagulls drift in the wind. You can’t see the lake – the levee blocks it from view – but you Read More
In elementary school, while studying the Civil War one day, I raised my hand in class and said, “My dad says that the reason so many black people have the last name Booker is because we were slave owners.” Mrs. Rivera shot back, “That’s nothing to be proud of!” I cried in class that day. Read More
I rushed to Louisiana last week to be with my father, who had taken a bad turn while in the hospital being treated for injuries sustained in a terrible accident. The nights were long. I slept/didn’t sleep on the pleather couch while Dad struggled fruitlessly to find comfort from the 10 broken ribs stabbing his Read More
My family, like most Southern gentry before us, thrives on panic and distress. Nothing gets the heart rate going like an unexpected phone call that starts with, “Everything’s okay, but….” “Everything’s okay, but….” is code for SOUND THE ALARMS! DUST OFF THE EMERGENCY PROCEDURES! LIFE HAS GONE AWRY! On September 5, my sister called twice Read More
Seven years ago this week, I sat on my sofa and watched my hometown drown. Hurricane Katrina had dealt her knockout blow and moved on, but the city of New Orleans, at first just reeling and shaken, gasped for air as a sea of brown water crept ever higher. You know the rest. A few Read More
In high school, I dated a really nice guy with a big nose whose deodorant smell was overpowering. I went out with him because nobody else was asking me out. One summer, when I was 16, we went to The Boot, a famous local bar near the campus of Tulane University that didn’t check IDs. Read More
Dear Hot Firefighter Husband, Eighteen years ago, we exchanged vows under the gazebo on the tennis courts of my parents’ country home. Dad had installed a ceiling fan because, in his words, “there’s nothing more unattractive than a sweating bride.” You fretted about how your hair looked; I was afraid I looked fat. We drank Read More
The day after Easter, the Diva asked, “Mom, if I gave up something for Lent, what do you think it should be?“ I explained that she would have to think of something she would miss, something that means a lot to her, like candy or YouTube. “I think I would give up noodles,” she mused. Read More
Did you read the first one? Here, I’ll give you a link. The GREATNESS, Part I Now you’re ready to move on. My friend and I were talking recently, and she lamented that she wasn’t doing more with her life. “I always swore I wouldn’t let myself be like my mother,” she said. “But Read More
My father always wanted to be in the Navy. He joined the ROTC in college, and went to Officers Training School after he graduated. By that time he and my mom were married, and they moved to Norfolk, Virginia, where she endured long months alone while he was at sea. Dad had always loved the Read More
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