Gambit Weekly : Author Archives

Tour of Duty 04 18 06
This is it, the thing we can;t stop thinking about or talking about. In some way, I have not gotten used to it, this every-day, every-moment obsession. In some horrible way, it;s worse than ever.

Whistling for Dixie 04 04 06

Words We Live By 03 21 06

In Tribute 03 07 06

The Pelican Brief 02 21 06
"It's good to re-learn the lessons of effort and effortlessness and remember them. Even though, like cats, birds remember us not at all."

Idle Observations 02 07 06

Ragtime Cowboy Joe 01 24 06
In subsequent years, the Western hero became more heroic, less existential, more taciturn. More like John Wayne.

Soldier On 01 10 06

Word Play 12 27 05

Costs and Benefits 12 13 05

Picture of Health 11 29 05

Mid-City: Fingers Crossed 11 08 05

Notes From a Soggy Notebook 11 01 05

Postcards from Ustica 08 23 05
Nearly two centuries ago, a young man named Dominic Verdichizzi left his homeland for New Orleans. This summer, Ronnie Virgets discovered what his ancestor left behind.

Friends in High Places 08 23 05

Up in Arms 08 09 05

Jailhouse Letters 07 26 05

An Open Letter ... 06 28 05
Open letters everywhere. Public missives ostensibly earmarked to Prince Charles, Ann Coulter and Paul Krugman. But more interesting to me were the ones addressed not to individuals, but to groups: Metallica, CBS, Jehovah's Witnesses.

Bewildered 06 14 05

The Cruelest Cut 05 31 05

Berkman at the Bat 05 17 05
A flag football injury sent the Houston Astros' Lance Berkman back to the minors for rehabbing. The climb back up passed through Zephyr Field.

Dog Daze 05 03 05
Cats introduce a note of tranquility into any room they occupy for more than four minutes; a dog will remove that note in an even less time. Dogs live on the edge.

Blue Notes 04 19 05

For Every Model a Name 04 05 05

The Eye of the Beholder 03 22 05

The Dining Divide 02 22 05

A Crazy Little Thing 02 08 05
What is your Walgreen-fetched card with the Valentine symbol next to stuff like this? Only writers are foolish enough to think there are right words.

A New Orleans Boyhood 02 08 05
Ronnie Virgets looks back on neutral-ground football games, science experiments gone wrong, playground know-it-alls and the early allure of the track.

Things Left Behind 01 25 05

Close to Home 01 11 05

Mail-Order Madness 12 21 04

Everyone's a Critic 12 07 04

The Kite Flier 11 23 04

Marshal Law 11 09 04
Like law enforcers at all times and all places, some were cynics and some were idealists.

The Communion of Saints 10 26 04
Saints come in all sizes, shapes and surroundings.

Preserving the Po-Boy 10 12 04
At this first-ever meeting of the New Orleans Po-Boy Preservation Society, there is brave talk of a Po-boy Parade next year and a Po-Boy Festival, too.

Hurricane Hangover 09 28 04

The Good Fight 09 21 04
The fascination is ancient, going deep into the vaults of single combat. When fists began to replace more lethal forms of weaponry, the creative writer was there to note the changes.

The Least of These 09 14 04

The Best (and Worst) Thing That Ever Happened to Us 08 31 04

One May Smile, and Smile ... 08 24 04

Mother's Day 08 10 04

The Cat That Walked by Himself 07 27 04

Day of Rest 07 13 04

The Father of New Orleans 06 29 04
The judgment of history has been kind to John Law, but history can afford tolerance.

My Good Name 06 15 04

Spirits of the City 06 15 04
Half a man's life is devoted to getting out of the neighborhood and half is devoted to longing for what's left behind.

Not-So-Famous Last Words 06 08 04

Marcia, Marcia, Marcia 06 01 04
None of us said a thing. We knew Marcia was serious. We had never heard her say so much without cursing before.

Letter Perfect 05 25 04
"What cannot letters inspire? They have souls, they can speak." -- Heloise to Peter Abelard, 12th century A.D.

Loyal Appositions 05 18 04
I like the idea that as soon as you assert one thing, its contradiction immediately asserts another thing.

Finalities 05 04 04

She Not Busy Being Born 04 20 04

Heads or Tails 04 06 04

The Time of the Horse 03 23 04
The gates fly open. For 5,000 years, history was made on horseback. This is a wee commemorative of all that.

Eire Supply 03 16 04
A brief look at the outsized literary role of this undersized island in world culture yields names like Jonathan Swift, Seamus Heaney, James Joyce and W.B. Yeats.

March in New Orleans 03 09 04

All on a Mardi Gras Day 03 02 04

Today's Top 10 02 24 04
Maybe I'm partial to black and white because what happens in movies is a special kind of reality, lighter and darker than what we see around us.

Valentine's Verses 02 10 04

Mardi Gras Past 02 03 04

You Are What You Eat 01 20 04

The Battle of New Orleans 01 06 04

Ghost of Christmas Past 12 23 03

The Rest of the Story 12 16 03
The Louisiana Purchase created all or part of 15 states. So just how are the other 14 celebrating our bicentennial?

Saints and Sinners 12 09 03

I Confess 11 25 03
Our method of confession was of the turducken variety, i.e. tucking a major sin within a sandwich of minor sins.

Sounds Like Fun 11 11 03

This Time of Year 10 28 03

"The Shakespeare of Advertising" 10 14 03

Saints Day 09 30 03

Catching the Bus 09 09 03

Happy Birthday, Huey 08 26 03

Sweat the Debt 08 12 03

Just for Kicks 07 29 03
Getting a leg up with Saints kicker John Carney

Photo Finish 07 29 03

The Honeymooners 07 22 03

The Hors D'Oeuvres of History 07 15 03
The current information blitz about the Louisiana Purchase could leave out the tastiest bits of American history.

Bed Head 07 01 03

Recollections About a Bully 06 17 03

Taking Inventory 06 03 03

Daytime Drinking 05 20 03

The Case of the Canal Street Madam 05 06 03

Checking In and Checking Out 04 22 03

Every Dog Will Have His ... Birthday? 04 15 03

Going for the Gold 03 25 03

The Great Tradition of Ernie Pyle 03 11 03

The Place He Was Made For 02 25 03

In Memoriam 02 11 03

Perdido 01 21 03

Insert Headline Here 01 14 03

Why the Butler Did It 12 03 02

The Last Picture Show? 11 26 02

Fish Lips 11 12 02

Exit Laughing? 10 29 02

Blessed Father 10 15 02

The F-word 10 01 02

The Boxer 09 17 02

In Praise of the Neighborhood Bar 09 17 02

Short Stories 09 10 02

Ode to the Mockingbird 08 27 02

Bumper Cars 08 20 02

Slumps 08 13 02

Faces in the Crowd 07 30 02

The List 07 16 02

Washington Avenue 07 02 02

Tiger By the Tale 06 11 02

The Ringer 06 04 02
When it's time for their dreams to come true, couples around the country turn to the Rev. Tony Talavera, proprietor and officiate of the French Quarter Wedding Chapel.

Beyond Forgetting 05 28 02

A Sin by Any Other Name 05 07 02

Treat It Gentle 04 16 02

Phoning It In 04 09 02

A Class By Itself 03 26 02

Veterans' Days 03 12 02
Ronald Drez discusses the art of retrieving memories of war.

Urning Potential 03 12 02

The Verse That Could Happen 02 26 02
Take your best hacks at haiku -- everyone does. Assistant librarians and literature professors. And probably claims adjusters and commercial realtors, when no one's looking.

Snake Oil Salesman 02 12 02

Life Lines 01 29 02

Emptying the Notebook 01 15 02
The columnist devotes a hideous portion of his or her year trailing after events and the people who make them with a notebook, furiously scribbling.

Mixed Nuts 01 01 02

King Louis 12 18 01

Here Comes Santa Claus 12 18 01
He gives and gives, but what does he get in return? Ronnie Virgets and Eileen Loh-Harrist meet the man behind the myth.

For Better or For Worse 11 13 01

A Search for Meaning 10 23 01

The Ones That Got Away 10 09 01

Playing the Lottery 09 25 01
Someone brought a thermos of coffee and styrofoam cups, and L.J. had a bag of Hubig pies. The thing was turning into a regular Sunday-morning-breakfast-with-the-arts thing.

Measuring What's Lost 09 11 01

Pulling Rank 08 28 01

Virtue and Advice 08 21 01

An Audubon Portrait 08 07 01
It wasn't until 1820, Audubon's 35th year, that the idea for his life-altering project came to him: birds of America.

Boog's Passing Parade 07 24 01

Lazy Daze of Summer 07 10 01

Getting His Goat 06 26 01

All Work, No Play 06 12 01
My wife wants to go to one of those bed-and-breakfast places in Charleston or Bangor, Maine. It's like being sent to your room for a week.

Old Soldiers Never Die... 05 15 01
Several wear T-shirts with the insignia of their old military units, and you don't know whether to laugh or cry at the death's head logos stretched too tight or too slack across torsos disfigured by beer or cancer.

Antiques Sideshow 03 06 01

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