Saying Goodbye

It is bound to be a busy week here in Shreveport as we are gearing up to leave early Saturday morning. Consequently, I don't think you will get much of the flowing, witty prose that you normally see here. Instead you will get updates, picture and anecdotes. How does that sound?

So far it is shaping up to be a great week for tales of our town. First, my father arrives on Thursday to drive back to New Jersey with me. You should know three things about him. One, that he doesn't own a single pair of shorts. Wait, that's enough. The thought of a native northerner in Shreveport with only his jeans stands on its own, I think.

The second reason this week is poised to be off the chart in the anecdote department is that I have started doing a little tour of Shreveport monuments, both connected with my life here and not. Saturday night I went to the Cub for the first time and met my friend Bryan's (more on him later in the week) drinking team. It was a great night and as Yankees we were quite welcome. However, the highlight was the random 50 year old guy who was grabbing my sister-in-law's butt and trying to explain to us the difference between saying the N word with an A on the end as opposed to an ER.

As I have told you, this town is amazing with regard to its Racism. There seem to be three camps. The non-racist, the outwardly racist (See Uncle Daddy below), and the racists with an explanation, like the guy in the bar with his unique lesson in semantics. Sadly, as a white male I seem to be part of an expected xenophobic fraternity and its members always seem comfortable trying to indoctrinate me.

Speaking of...Bryan and I played golf at another monument to my year, Olde Oaks, and were paired with two Rednecks (their term) named Uncle Daddy and Junior. The specifics of the enlightened conversations that ensued should never be printed anywhere, let alone here. I'll leave it up to you to fill in the blanks.

Oh, here is what is looks like when you combine a baby who loves bananas and playing "So Big."