The Great Divide

     The other day on my Facebook page, a rather interesting thing happened ;  I got the opportunity to not only see how a controversial topic garnered a variety of opinions and points of view about the subject, but I also got to have a glimpse into the personal beliefs and morals of those who responded , leading me to the conclusion that although while we are all citizens of what is generally considered the greatest free and independent nation in the entire world, it is those differences  among ourselves that make us WHO we are as country, for better or worse ;  but is those same differences that I believe has created a ‘great divide’ between us all ----- a division of all of us as individuals ;  along lines of race, religion, social status and monetary wealth, political affiliation, moral standards and personal beliefs that seemingly (to me) suggest that we are headed down a path to some sort of conflict in the future…….. a conflict among OURSELVES…….

     Most of you reading this are probably aware by now of the shooting death of a 17-year old African-American teenager named Trayvon Martin that occurred in Sanford (in suburban Orlando), Florida, at the hands of a 28-year old neighborhood watch “captain” (an armed citizen on patrol) by the name of George Zimmerman, in late February. Zimmerman claims that his actions were in self-defense, while the parents and friends of Trayvon Martin believe and have insisted that he was murdered by Zimmerman. Further complicating matters are a VARIETY of factors, including:   what appears to be a ‘questionable’ handling of the investigation by the Sanford Police Department ;  the previous history of Zimmerman having a temper and his penchant for racial “profiling” (it is assumed that because Martin was African-American and wearing a “hoodie”, that Zimmerman had assumed that he was a young “thug”, hell-bent on causing trouble);   Martin’s comments on his Twitter account, that seem to suggest that he had some things about his personality that were less than good –intentioned or honorable, and the fact that he had been suspended from school on 3 separate occasions;  the fact that Martin himself was unarmed, and had nothing on him except a can of iced tea and a bag of Skittles ;  certain members of the media and Martin’s family and friends have surmised that Zimmerman chased down Trayvon and shot him in cold blood, but there are those who have speculated that Zimmerman is telling the truth when he says that he shot Martin in self-defense, by committing an act to protect his own life;  African-American celebrities, in an obvious over-reaction and stepping outside of the bounds of common-sense, going on Twitter and giving out the street address to what they (MISTAKENLY) thought was Zimmerman’s house, which actually turned out to be where an elderly couple now lives.

     The resulting furor has now EXPLODED into people “taking sides” along lines of race and political affiliations  (both liberals and conservatives;  Democrats  versus Republicans , and some that are like me, that fall somewhere in between those differing views) on the issue, and appears to be divided into two camps:  Those who feel that Martin was an innocent teenager who was hunted down because of his appearance  ---   and those who believe Zimmerman himself was ATTACKED by Martin, who was unaware that Zimmerman was actually armed, and was shot by Zimmerman in defense.   Here are just a few comments on a network news website post about the issue, that I just read about 5 minutes ago before I began writing this column. “Micah G.” from Tallahassee, Florida wrote:  “If someone physically attacks you, and pounds your head into the sidewalk, and tries to grab your gun, then you have the right to use lethal and deadly force in the State of Florida. This is clearly a case of self-defense. I bet that Martin wasn’t the “good kid” that his parents want us to believe that he was. I think he was a wanna-be ghetto gangsta ‘thug’ who got just what he deserved”……..   “Flyer  5” from San Antonio, Texas commented that :  “President Obama’s call for Zimmerman to be arrested  is a blatant misuse of his position to incite racial tension and is basically promoting the killing of another person because the Black Community is outraged. His radical past includes his own association with the Black Panther party, and this is indicative of his own true belief in the Black Liberation Theology. These are his guiding principles and the country has seen enough of what 4 more years will be like if Obama is elected.”……..   “Van Grungy” from Ann Arbor, Michigan said that: “Martin was no ‘child’!!! He was a straight-up thug piece of garbage and proved it by attacking a grown man who he thought was unarmed. What a stupid, stupid thug”…….    Guest Comment from location unknown wrote: “When they arrest Zimmerman, they should let him keep his belt and shoelaces in the jail cell. The facts of this case do not reconcile with the version of events that some of you want to believe. The U.S. Constitution states that ‘all men are created equal’, and that means that Trayvon had equal protection under the law. Zimmerman will get what he deserves, when his dumb a** meets the Creator after they fry him in the electric chair”……..  “Tec 9” from Denver, Colorado stated:  “The Republican Party and the Conservatives should be ashamed of themselves for throwing their support behind this liar. Zimmerman is a proven racist, and I commend President Obama and the Black Caucus in Congress for standing up for what is an obvious violation of the Black Community’s civil rights. JUSTICE FOR TRAYVON !!!!!!!!!”…….    “Loose Caboose” from Wheeling, West Virginia says: “The only thing Zimmerman is guilty of is being WHITE”…….. I think it’s pretty easy to see from all of those different comments (out of the 427 that are currently posted on this particular site) , from people from a variety of places throughout the nation, are broken down along lines of race and/or political ideology. And in my opinion, it speaks to the “great divide” that is going on in this nation, and not only about the Trayvon Martin case, but about the way we as citizens of the nation view or “look at things”. Am I the only one who thinks this might just be somewhat of a problem along the way, in a day in the not-so-distant future ????

     The disagreements were apparent the other day, on my own Facebook page. On my Facebook status (which asks the question  “What’s on your mind?”), I had made this statement (intended as a rhetorical question, to get a variety of responses to help me get a better understanding of the situation;  since I had heard conflicting media reports , including some within minutes of each other, on different networks), which was :  “Well, now I’m more confused than ever ; first I heard that Florida teenager Trayvon Martin was MURDERED, but now earlier I saw a report that he was killed in self-defense , after he ATTACKED the shooter  ---- Could somebody please set me straight on this whole deal, because I don’t know WHAT to believe anymore…….. “  Not long after, the responses to my comment began to appear;  slowly at first, and then at break-neck speed, coming in so fast that it was impossible to keep up with all of them. The responses were divergent, ranging from those who felt Trayvon had been murdered and that his civil rights had been violated in the process, while others were of the opinion that before Zimmerman was found guilty by the news media, that perhaps it would be wise to allow his guilt or innoncence to be determined by the appropriate authorites first. There were some disagreements with each other among the comments by my friends, who themselves are from a wide variety of different backgrounds and beliefs, and were a clear illustration that not everyone viewed the controversial events of this case, in the same light.

   .

     Those variety of comments on my Facebook page, along with the comments above from the people who commented on the post on the network news site, are just a small percentage of an alarmingly HUGE amount of people who, whether they even realize it or not, are taking “sides” , not just on the Trayvon Martin case (itself a polarizing issue, as evidenced by the information I shared with you above). This country is slowly being torn in half, breaking down along lines of race, social status, wealth (and lack of it), moral standards, political affiliations and ideologies ---- the list goes on and on. We are even being broken down recently into having separate social entities, like having “Red States” (Conservative or Republican-leaning) and “Blue States” (Liberal or Democrat-influenced) , and a ”Black America”,  to just name a few. It is the beginning of the “great divide” of a nation founded on UNITY, and it most certainly will be the beginning, of our inevitable ending.


      Make no mistake about it, I realize 'unity' is something that has rarely been present in this nation's history, throughout the years. events like the Civil War and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960's threatened to rip the very fabric of this nation apart; but yet through it all, we have always managed to endure as a nation ------ and as we face this latest crisis that has pitted neighbor against neighbor, may it be the principle of unity that we still aspire to maintain, as a way to bridge the GREAT DIVIDE that keeps us apart........... 

    

Down, But Not "Out" ......

Normally when I write or tell a story, I like to open up with some sort of cute analogy or folksy statement;  much like my literary hero Mark Twain, or my favorite sports writer Peter Finney (of the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper). But today there is no ‘one-liner ’ or poetic prose, but just the simple FACTS. The New Orleans Saints have , for the lack of a better term, been proven to be “cheaters”, after having been found guilty of running an illegal ‘bounty’ program, in which the supposed intent was to purposely and maliciously HURT people , with varying amounts of cash as a reward. While there can be no disputing the evidence, the punishment may have been a little excessive, but that’s not what I have a problem with (believe it or not) ----- what I do have a problem with is the verbal attacks on my hometown from people across the country, some so extreme as to depict the city of New Orleans as a desolate wasteland, inhabited by a citizenry of thugs and unscrupulous individuals who live life in squalor and have no hope for the future. As laughable as those comments were, I take great umbrage at the very NOTION (whether it was meant half-jokingly or not) that New Orleans itself DESERVES TO BE PUNISHED for the less than honorable acts of the members of the team and its organization, as if it is the desire of the rest of the nation to see us SUFFER yet another indignity.

As someone who survived the flooding of Hurricane Katrina in neck-high water (in a raised house) in the suburb of Arabi in St. Bernard Parish, I KNOW what it takes to be a survivor. I know what it is to FIGHT with every gasp of breath that may be your very LAST, when the odds are against you. In the aftermath of Katrina, our town and its people were left for dead (LITERALLY). But just when the rest of the nation thought we couldn’t come back, we PROVED THEM WRONG ------  we are a proud and RESILIENT people, and we will NEVER GIVE UP, under any conditions. We can be kicked, beaten, battered, and bruised, but our spirit CANNOT BE BROKEN. So the suggestions that New Orleans should be “stripped” of its Super Bowl World Championship won against the Indianapolis Colts just 2 years ago, are bordering on BLASPHEMY.

While the actions of a select few members within the organization are regrettable, it should in no way be a consideration to take away something that the Saints won on the field of battle. That championship was not only about an achievement of success for a football team, but it was a restoration of FAITH in our city and its people, that we COULD come back, and we did do just that. But sadly, to borrow a phrase from today’s younger generation : “Haters gonna hate” (translation: Once they don’t like you, they probably NEVER will) ; apparently our little “feel  good “ story didn’t appeal to EVERYONE , especially the people in other cities who , for whatever reason, wanted to see us lose. In other parts of the nation, it is seen differently ;  that we are DESTINED to be just a bunch of lovable losers, in a swampy back-water of a town that didn’t deserve to be rebuilt, much less win a professional football championship. So now we are supposed to “give it back”??? Just because they’re mad at us ???

No way. Ain’t happening. Bounty or no bounty, New Orleans earned that championship. Because it DESERVED to win. And because it doesn’t give up on ANYTHING ; not NOW, and not EVER. We may be down, but we are not "out". New Orleans WILL be back again. Just watch and see.............

 

You CAN Go "Home", Again..........

     The late, great American author and novelist Thomas Wolfe wrote a book that was published shortly after his death in 1940, which was called You Can’t Go Home Again; which is a story about a book author who has written a novel that makes frequent references to the little small town where he is originally from.  After the citizens of his hometown read the book, they take issue with the author’s characterization of the people and places of the town itself, and he begins receiving hate-filled correspondence, including threats of physical violence and death.  Wolfe (through the fictional character of the author in the story itself) explores themes of an ever-changing American society and culture, and also the seemingly unfair passing of TIME , which inhibits the character in the book (and Wolfe himself) from ever being able to go back to the place that he had always considered to be as “home”.

     “You can’t go home again” is a phrase that has since entered American speech to mean that if you have left your little hometown or provincial region / city that you are from, that you can never truly return to the confines of the life that you previously had; and even more so generally speaking, attempt to re-live the memories from your youth. And while for the most part I agree with Wolfe’s assessment, this past weekend while down in Louisiana on vacation, I decided to put that theory to the ultimate test. But to truly have an appreciation of the place that I refer to as “home”, I first have to provide a little bit of background about it first. The city of New Orleans, where I was born on a late October morning at a hospital called Touro Infirmary some 44 and a half years ago, is comprised of many different parts  ; consisting of people from a variety of different cultural and ethnic ancestries and heritage, each with an unique way of life unto itself. The surrounding parishes (known as a ‘county” in the other 49 states of America) are in effect large suburbs of the city, with each one having its own distinctive qualities that make it stand out on its own. My life growing up was actually split in half between two of these suburban areas :   as a small child in a little suburban township known as Chalmette (in St. Bernard Parish) from  my birth until 1973 ; and then following my parents’ separation and subsequent divorce, I lived in the largest suburban area (at that time), known as Jefferson Parish  --------  first in a little town that is officially referred to as Jefferson (but better known as “Old Jefferson”), and about a year and a half later moving to a little town further down the main highway that runs through the parish (Jefferson Highway) , that is called Harahan.



      It is in Harahan where the fondest memories of my youth occurred , growing up there during my years as an older kid and then entering into adolescence as a pre-teenager ;  in a tiny 2-bedroom apartment in the single-parent household that my late mother Marianne struggled to maintain and hold together , on an income of food stamps and a $140 monthly check from Social Security (surviving only through assistance from my Grandmother in Chalmette, since my Dad didn’t make his child support payments and was non-existent in our lives until she died in June of 1981). It was in that apartment and the town it is in, where my most treasured and fondest memories occurred. I got to participate and be a witness to moments in time such as “Disco” and “Saturday Night Fever”, “Star Wars” and “Grease”, Farrah Fawcett pin-up posters and Fleetwood Mac ; the “Spirit of ’76“ and the Bicentennial ;  ‘boogie nights’ and The Bee Gees ; crushes on the girl in math class and the girl next door ; great friends and schoolmates at  Harahan Elementary (the Home of the Hawks) and Fairchild Junior High (Home of the Wolves); the jukebox and the pinball machine at the Colonial Lanes Bowling Alley; green apple flavored sno-balls , soft-serve chocolate ice cream cones, and hot fudge-covered banana split sundaes topped with whipped cream and a cherry, from Robear’s ;  Hong Kong Phooey and Underdog ;  Wonder Woman and Shazam ! ; Charlie’s Angels and The Six Million Dollar Man;  a plate lunch to-go or a meatball po-boy dressed (with mayonnaise ,lettuce, and tomatoes) along with a Pop Rouge strawberry soda and a Marathon candy bar, from the locally famous Red Wagon Grocery and Delicatessen;  my Mom’s giant stack of .45 records ; “Pistol” Pete Maravich and Archie Manning posters on my bedroom wall, as I cheered for both the NBA basketball New Orleans Jazz and the NFL football New Orleans Saints ; sportscaster  “Hap” Glaudi and weather man Nash Roberts on Channel  4 ; “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow “ , “The Things We Do For Love”, and “Love is Like Oxygen” ;  radio stations WRNO 99.5 FM and WTIX 690AM, and the seemingly short days and the endless Summer nights……..……… It was actually the legendary rock band The Beatles that famously paid tribute to their childhood some 45 years ago with a song called “Strawberry Fields Forever”, followed by another one named “Penny Lane”, which was their recollection of the iconic places where they had grown up in the English city of Liverpool  ---  much in that same manner, that same little apartment that I grew up at has taken on a “mythical” status of legendary proportion in my own life, at the brown-bricked 2-story building at 217 Hickory Avenue……..

     Since we were short on both finances and time, our trip to Louisiana was a brief one. The first place we went to visit was the old street in Chalmette where I lived as a little kid, which is named Lena Drive. St. Bernard Parish took a crushing blow from Hurricane Katrina, and the neighborhood that I can remember as being alive with activity and life, seemed hauntingly vacant and eerily hollow. Where houses and entire neighborhoods once stood, instead now remain empty lots and abandoned buildings (my Grandparent's old house where I lived as a baby, was actually GONE, as well as my childhood friend (Mary Dalon)'s old house on the opposite end of that same street). Some of the natives of St. Bernard Parish have come back home to try and return to some sense of normalcy, while others have relocated within or out of the state, altogether. It was absolutely gut-wrenching to see ……….

Next was a trip out to Kenner to see my dear friend, Walter Soto; an accomplished musician and guitarist (both on lead guitar and bass), Walter is now the bass player for a local New Orleans band called “Riptide”, and had just woken up after doing a concert gig at The Wherehouse Bar and Grill nightclub in Chalmette the night (and earlier that morning) before. A native of El Salvador but an American citizen dating back all the way to since he was just a little kid, Walter is one of the most intelligent and introverted  (as well as multi-talented) individuals that I have ever had the privilege of knowing. His perspective and insights on a wide array of matters ranging from politics, racism, work place discrimination and corporate management bias,  affairs of the heart, and (of course) music  ; made me stop and think about just how much that I MISS being around him  ------- I first met him back when he was driving for a local taxi cab company at the time,  and gave me a ride to my job after my car ‘bit the dust’ one day in late 1994 ; and now nearly 20 years later, Walter Soto is the one of the most special persons that I have ever known in my life, and I am honored to refer to him as “mi familia”……………

     The next day was spent up in Baton Rouge, where I lived as a teenager and went to high school (and had recently lived there again after Hurricane Katrina) ; and where my wife Barbara grew up as a kid and teenager in the nearby town of Gonzales (in Ascension Parish, which I refer to as “suburban Baton Rouge”).  I had originally moved up there from Harahan at age 13, following my mother Marianne’s death from pancreatic cancer in June of 1981; to go live with my Dad (who had since re-married) and his new family. That “new family’ of his soon became MY family, and they remain an integral part of my life to this very day (despite the fact that my Dad has re-married and divorced, yet again).  I first got to see and eat lunch with my step-mother  (my Dad’s then- 2^nd wife and the lady who raised me as a teenager) Genie Bruno, and my step-brother  Jerry Lee Scott (who is essentially just like a REAL brother, since he and I (along with my other step-brother Johnny Scott, who lives with his family in Jacksonville , Florida) were with me every step of the way, as I adjusted to a new life in a new town . Genie, Johnny, and Jerry are still as dear to me now as a middle-aged adult as they were when I was a teenager, and they will remain so ALWAYS……. We made a quick visit to see my Dad and his lady friend in suburban Denham Springs, followed by a pit stop at the Mall of Louisiana (to say hello to my old high school pal Joseph Simon), and then before we knew it, it was time to head back down to Harahan to spend some time with my “baby” brother Steven for his 37^th birthday. But there was still one more pit stop to make……………..

      It turns out that my little brother is not the only person that still lives in Harahan; there is one other person who still calls Harahan “home”, and she is a most special person indeed. Back in those days that I spoke of when I was growing up as an older kid and a pre-teenager, I was a gangly, shy , awkward kid with zero self-confidence and a couple of chipped front teeth , for good measure. Kids being cruel as kids can be (especially at that particular age), I was teased mercilessly, in elementary school and subsequently into junior high. But there was always one person, a classmate and friend of mine who would go out of her way to make me feel special; to let me know that that I wasn’t the person that fit those names that I was being called, and that I needed to hold my head up and smile ------ that special friend and old classmate is now a beautiful and wonderful lady, named Ms. Diane Elazab.  I was nervous about seeing Diane at first. Even though she had always made me feel at ease whenever I was around her as a kid, it still had been over 30 years since I had actually last SEEN her in person (when we were in junior high school).  I recently had re-connected our old friendship when I found her on Facebook (through our fellow classmate and Harahan native, Ms. Cristi Cross (Rogers) ), and she has been incredibly kind and generous enough to send me delectable food items from back home (to help me with my affliction of ‘homesickness’) up to me here in Indiana (packaged in dry ice), which have included some awesome items such as a Mardi Gras king cake, seafood gumbo, and her own fabulous homemade hot tamales (which I happily polished off in one whole sitting) After knocking on the front door of her home, there she was ----- and amazingly enough, it seemed as if she hadn’t aged one bit. She was still the same Diane that I remembered from 30 years ago, except that now she is a beautiful lady instead of that 13 year- old girl that I last saw in junior high. And what was even more special than her physical appearance was the fact that she was STILL as sweet and wonderful as she had been back then.  I am incredibly blessed to have had the privilege, both then and NOW, to call her my friend…………

After leaving Diane’s place, we headed back to my brother’s house, and celebrated his birthday with him (we had gone to dinner with him the night before, as well),and in the process bringing my little “trip down memory lane” to a close (as we had to leave early the following morning) ; and as we headed out on the road to make the long journey back to Indiana, I realized that the famous author and novelist Thomas Wolfe had been wrong ----- because even though I’m no longer there in person, I did discover one thing , which is that : You CAN go “home”, again ………………………………………………………….

"Home"....... 217 Hickory Avenue, Harahan, Louisiana

MYTH and REALITY................

Let’s play a quick game, which just for fun we’ll call “Myth and Reality” ; in which I’ll first state a generalized myth or accepted ideal about a specific subject , and then present either factual evidence to the contrary  or provide my view on what the reality REALLY is. Now that we’ve laid out the framework of the rules for our little game, let’s begin………….

1)      MYTH: The Academy  Awards ceremony (a.k.a. “the Oscars”) is an annual event  held to publicize the presentation of awards for the “best of the best” in their respective fields within  the film/ motion picture industry.

REALITY: The Oscars are actually Hollywood / the entertainment industry’s way of promoting itself to the GREATEST degree of excess possible, to remind us “common folk” just how special that THEY ARE, and that YOU are NOT. Do you really want to see them ‘parade’ themselves on the “Red Carpet” ?  Really ??? So you can be reminded that they are wearing designer suits and dresses /  clothing styles and fashion that cost them what it would require YOU to work (no, SLAVE for) a year or two of your annual salary ? But I digress (tongue in cheek)……..

2)      MYTH: The NBA All-Star Weekend is a 3-day event that is a showcase of talent of the league’s biggest and brightest stars, in a stunning display that is a combination of skill, raw talent and ability, and showmanship designed specifically to entertain basketball fans all over the world.

REALITY:  The NBA All-Star Weekend is merely just a bunch of GROSSLY overpaid athletes, with incredibly OVER INFLATED egos, participating in a bunch of ‘playground’ –type games , passing them all off as having the importance of an national event, with the accompanying hype and shameless self-promotion of hip-hop culture (I’ll get to that in a second), and then over-charging fans to attend the event for thousands of dollars ------- my sports hero growing up as a kid (“Pistol” Pete Maravich) could provide REAL ENTERTAINMENT when he played for fans who could attend the games for the price of general admission ($ 7 ), and he surely would be disgusted with how the game he (and  I ) grew up loving has de-evolved into the “sport” (if we can still call it that) that it currently has become…….

3)      MYTH: The price of gas continues to rise because of a combination of factors which include crisis in the Middle East (affecting oil production), the resistance to open up federal oil reserves such as the one in the Alaska Wildlife Refuge (affecting oil production, or its lack thereof), and the continued greed of wealthy oil companies who know that they can get away with over charging the consumer, since we NEED their product to maintain the ability to drive / transport ourselves from one place to another.

REALITY: While all of those factors are plausible, the current hysteria is actually being blamed (hey, someone deserves to get some ‘heat’ over this blatant GOUGING of our pockets) on “oil speculators”, who are investors who snap up oil contracts that are currently up for bid on the oil production market, in an attempt to bet that they’ll be worth MORE in the future, and by doing so (which is the part that I personally still have difficulty understanding) drive up the price of gas by ‘predicting’ what the cost of oil production will be down the line . My question is WHY are these guys having THAT MUCH influence on the price of fuel ?  An Iranian president bent on causing conflict in international waters --- I get that ; but “speculators” ??? I’m at THEIR mercy??? Give me a break, already………..

4)      MYTH: Hip-Hop performer / rapper/ R&B singer Nicki Manaj is an exciting  and culturally iconic performer, who has taken the music industry by storm , and in the process gaining legions of fans.

REALITY: Nicki Manaj probably does possess some talent (I think), but unfortunately it is not suited to SINGING, as in the ABILITY TO VOCALIZE a song, in the field of musical performance. And as someone who grew up during the “heyday” of the rap music era, her “rapping” is completely INCOMPREHENSIBLE  -------- does anyone even know just WHAT it is that she’s even saying half of the time ??? Another PRIME example of an individual in the music industry with little or no talent, becoming famous because of (and by taking advantage of) a generation of youth that doesn’t KNOW ANY BETTER…………………

5)      MYTH:  President Barack Obama will EASILY win re-election later this year, because much like Bill Clinton in 1996 (when he CRUSHED Bob Dole), he will basically run “unopposed”, since the Republican candidate will be unelectable in the eyes of the voting public.

REALITY: Mitt Romney or Rick Santorum ........  who YOU got ??? By the way, I hold no allegiance to either party, but as a former Young Republican in the ‘80’s and a huge supporter and devotee of Ronald Reagan, I know that the Republican Party faces an uphill battle , especially when they spend so much time trying to “take out” EACH OTHER………….

Now see ? Wasn’t that fun ? We’ll revisit this game once again sometime, in the near  future ; and please feel  free  (in the comments section, below) to submit some topics that YOU would like to see discussed, for the next time that we play --------- “MYTH and REALITY”……………………….

Mercy, Guilt, and The Great Man............

     I was overcome with guilt this week, with the aftermath of the death of a great man. You see, as a survivor of cancer myself, everytime some one passes from cancer, I am remorseful that I have benefited from a combination of the miracles of modern medical science and technology, and also (and most importantly) the absolute incredible mercy and grace of the Almighty God above, who has spared my life on MORE than one occasion ; ranging from a gun to my head in the notorious 7th Ward of New Orleans in the late 1990's, to my  then - terminal prognosis with stomach cancer in 2005, and then my subsequent experience  IN Hurricane Katrina (literally) just a few short months later. I should have ALREADY BEEN DEAD more times than I can count (figuratively), and so when ever someone that I've had the privilege to know (and in some cases to love and admire) passes away, especially from the absolute worst scourge against humanity that there has been in the disease of cancer, then I am always torn apart emotionally at the thought that it should have been ME that has suffered the loss of my life ; instead of the ones who have passed on after these recent years of additional life that I have been both fortunate and privileged to live.
    
     Surely I do not kid myself ----- I realize just how incredibly blessed that I am to have been given a "new lease on life" , and while I have been making the most of my opportunities (through my return to college to pursue my degree and my old dream of a writing career), I'm not totally naive to think that at ANY TIME , and at any moment ; that the proverbial rug could be "pulled out from beneath me", and the sobering diagnosis that the cancer has in fact returned ; I live in fear of that possibility every single day, but yet I'm comforted by the fact that God has chosen to spare my life so many times because he has a PURPOSE for me in this world; and one that I hope to fufill at some point when He sees fit to reveal just what it actually is.

      Recently about 3 months ago, I experienced some anxiety when having a procedure done at the Indiana University Hospital in Bloomington ; which was a sigmoidoscopy (a lesser version of a colonoscopy) to see if I have remained cancer - free over the last few years. After originally being diagnosed with colon cancer in May of 2003 (my colon, as the doctor at the time told me, was covered in THOUSANDS of polyps) and having my entire colon removed (I literally have a "artificial" colon, which in medical terminology is refered to as a "J-Pouch"), in March of 2005 I was given the devastating news that not only had the cancer returned, but had spread upward into my stomach (which at the time , I had experienced symptoms that I knew couldn't be good, by coughing up HUGE amounts of blood at a time, but dismissed it as just being an ulcer), and the sobering reality that my prognosis was more than likely terminal ----- a sentence of death for a man who was only 37 and a half years into his life. It was a crushing blow, both physically and emotionally. There has been nothing worse in my life than the knowledge that I was about to DIE, and that there was absolutely NOTHING that I could do about it. I can not even begin to describe just what the mental anguish is like, when you have the knowledge that you ARE going to die. It is sheer agony of the worst kind, a sort of "mental Hell". I had actually tried to come to terms with my situation, and even resolved myself to making light of my unfortunate reality , by making morbid jokes to my close friends and loved ones that I was a 'dead man walking' . But it was certainly no laughing matter, to say the least. My situation slowly began to worsen, and my doctor / gastreonologist had told my brother (who had began looking after me by this point) that there was really not a whole lot else that they could do for me , other than the option of sending me to M.D. Anderson Medical Center in Houston, Texas (the most renowned cancer treatment hospital in the United States) to live out my final months of life.

      But then, as I like to sometimes now refer to it:  "my miracle happened" ; as I lay in a hospital bed in East Jefferson General Hospital in Metairie (suburban New Orleans) one day, my doctor (and a wonderful and compassionate human being by the name of Dr. David Silvers), burst in through the door to my room, and with an excitement in his voice , said to me: "Mr. Hirstius !!! I have WONDERFUL news!!! I found someone who has agreed to take your case!!!" And that someone just happened to be one of the most renowned cancer surgeons in the entire United States, who just happened to be on staff at a hospital right across town, at Tulane Medical Center in downtown New Orleans. His name was Dr. Ralph Corsetti, who specializes in a rare (but extremely risky) procedure (and in most cases, LIFE-SAVING technique) known as a pancreaticoduodenectomy, or as it is more commonly refered to, "The Whipple" ---- a procedure that is very similar in nature to a "stomach staple" surgery for individuals who have weight gain /obesity issues, with the difference being that in the Whipple procedure, the cancerous tissue is removed , or 'cut out' from the stomach ; the stomach then subsequently is reconstructed, in the hopes that the individual will (with the commitment to lifestyle change and better new eating habits) adapt to the alteration to the stomach over time and be able to maintain a somewhat normal life.  On July 12, 2005 ( I will always remember the date because it is the day that I got a second chance, or a 'new lease' on life), the nearly 6-hour long procedure was done successfully by Dr. Corsetti and his team of surgeons, and I now approach nearly 7 years later , the opportunity to continue LIVING my life, the same life that was nearly lost from this horrendous curse upon mankind that is cancer. Ironically, my life was jeopardized yet again during my period of recuperation after the surgery, when Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29th (I did NOT evacuate from New Orleans). But that of course, is completely an entirely different story that I will save for some other time...................

Whatcha Talking About ???

As I contemplate what exactly to write my first 'true' post about this morning , I first have to take a moment to marvel at the expanse of technology that is allowing me to reach an entire audience that probably would have been completely impossible, even just 10 years ago. Back when I initially dreamed of being a writer, in my days as of the editor of my old high school (Belaire High School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana) newspaper "The Kannada Review"  (I'll save the explanation of that name for a future post), the only way that I could have ever envisioned reaching such a wide array of people would have to been employed as a columnist for a major metropolitan newspaper (the New Orleans newspaper Times-Picayune (nola.com) remains still as one of my "dream jobs", to this very day); the explosion of social media such as Facebook is even responsible for this very article that you are reading , and for my recent marriage (my new wife is my former high school sweetheart, whom I met initially in November of 1984 at that same Baton Rouge high school), when my wonderful wife found me by chance while she looked to see if I had an account on Facebook (which I had just signed up for about 2 months prior). I guess that for many folks such as myself that would be considered "old school" , we have a natural resistance to 'change', and basically anything that we are unfamiliar with or that which makes us feel uncomfortable ( how can I embrace  the new '4G' network , when I still am getting used to '3G' ? )  It is truly an amazing thing, and I can hardly imagine what the future may hold down the line.

Introducing "Nola Nate"......

Back when I was a student in high school English Literature class, I can remember our teacher telling us the story of how a little known aspiring writer named Samuel Langhorne Clemens wrote a story that became famous under the ‘pen name’ of “Mark Twain” , and thereby guaranteed himself a permanent spot among the literary greats, with a name other than his very own. So it was with that story in mind that I decided to use the Blog post name of “Nola Nate” (a play on words which simply means a native citizen of the city of New Orleans, Louisiana);  which is my hometown and to hear my wife tell it, the place where my heart, mind, and soul STILL resides, while my body remains here in a little town just outside of Bloomington, Indiana.  New Orleans was and is a major influence in my life, and there is a famous saying among its people that: “You don’t know what it means, to miss New Orleans” (which essentially is saying that you don’t truly appreciate New Orleans until you’re NO LONGER there) . In what I hope happens to be a long and interesting history for the future of this Blog, I will try not to include the mention of my beloved hometown TOO much, with the understanding that it is part of everything that I think, say, and do ; a part of every single fiber of my entire being -------- As I began this pursuit of obtaining that old high school dream of one day becoming a professional writer (now some 25 plus years later from when I actually first dreamed of it happening), I do it not only for myself ; but for that place so near and dear to my heart , that place that I still refer to as HOME……………………..