Dear Friends,

Can you remember where you were the last time LSU won the SEC in football? Can you remember 2001, 2003, and 2007? In ten year’s time, I doubt I will remember where I was tonight -- I was supposed to go to Dillard University for their annual Christmas choir concert, but my ride never showed -- so I sat at home alone. I remember 2003 only because I was again alone in my room, furiously laboring on the LSUoverUSC Argument. By the time Kansas State had finished OU, I had emailed the essay to every AP Poll voter and Coaches’ Poll voter in America, not to mention about two hundred other media outlets, from The Times Picayune to the Toledo Blade. I had about twenty media requests for interviews, all of which, due to being as timorous as a convicted felon entering church for the first time, I declined.

Depending on where you place your treasures, there you will find your richest and most vivid memories. In 2003, I cared, not because I cared about LSU but because I saw a great injustice being done on a program in a small media market. When I was ten I vividly remember all the circumstances surrounding my crowning sports achievement: a playground volleyball championship. Now, my most vivid memories come from the Advent season. The smells of my grandmother’s cookies. The twinkling of our tree’s lights. The carols on the record player or from my vocal cords. The taste of peppermint bark.

Where were you during the big moments of your life? What sights, smells, and sounds did you experience? I wonder what it would have been like to witness the birth of Jesus. That, above all other events in human history, stands as the critical, history-shattering moment, when heaven came down and touched this earthen place.

INTERLUDE: The Holly and the Ivy

Many of my favorite memories come from parks and playgrounds in and around New Orleans. Perhaps you too share in these parks being a deep well of memories. Perhaps you too have a ranking of these parks and playgrounds. If you do, please share them.

TulaneLSU’s Top 10 Parks of the New Orleans Metro:

10. Johnny Bright Playground
RummelTiger, or Rummey as his friends call him, was raised on these courts and fields, which opened in 1965. Chicken may also have joined him. Coach Ray and the P.T. Barnum of crawfish, Al Scramuzza, or simply “Coach,” taught them how to hit a curve, the truths of life, proper free throw technique, and coding. TD might not exist without this playground, so it makes the list.

The namesake of the playground was a Heisman candidate at Drake University. An African American player, his brutal on-field attack by a Oklahoma State player in 1951 showed the racial tensions of the time. I found it surprising that a place in the heart of deep Metairie named a playground for Bright, especially since, to my knowledge, he had no connection to Metairie. So I did some digging and it turns out it’s a different Johnny Bright. This Bright was a longtime supervisor at nearby Metairie Playground when Bright opened.

9. Jefferson Playground
Mother used to take me here for horse riding lessons when I was a wee one. I doubt they still have a stable nearby, but I liked galloping on the football field. When the groundskeeper came out to yell at me, the horse had an accident and that was the last time I was allowed to ride a horse.

8. Butterfly Park (The Fly)
This was where I learned to play baseball and kick a soccer ball. In the Autumn, when Mother would let me walk from the house, I would explore the batture when the water was low. I once swam in the Mississippi River here and lived to tell the tale.

7. Morgan Park
This park was memorable because on a trip to watch my cousin play a game of baseball -- he was a Wentwood Indian like Napoleon -- there was a driveby shooting at the park. No one was hit, but it was quite an eye-opening experience for me. I learned that day why people say, “Kenna, brah.” It sparked in me a bit of interest in the beautiful city of Kenner.

6. Girard Playground
This playground is memorable to me for its haunted house in the gym every Halloween. We would start here before going to Sheriff Foti’s. I thought their Viking mascot was the coolest thing. And it was the site of the first, and the last, times I ever held hands with a girl.

5. Fontainebleau State Park
My class went on a field trip here in 1995. It was around this time of year and it was the first time I had ever been to the Northshore. I can still remember seeing the treeline as we approached from the Causeway, a horrifying journey I’ve not since made. The trees, though, were so beautiful, with a smattering of yellow and orange. I had never seen even the hint of foliage before with all the evergreen live oaks in New Orleans.

4.Lafitte National Park
Like the Northshore, I rarely go to the Westbank. Maybe four times in my life. Again, I remember Lafitte from a field trip. There were alligators and snakes and nutria. I liked looking out over the bridge at the end of the walk. One of my classmates saw a nest of snakes in the tree near us and began throwing branches and things at it. He hit the nest and a cluster of snakes fell into the water. It was quite traumatizing to me. My dearly beloved friend, buttocksinclarse, enjoys this park's companion watering hole in the French Quarter. I am still working on refining that foible, however.

This post was edited on 12/8/19 at 12:55 pm