Northwestern State University’s Rodeo Team is preparing for its first collegiate competition since the program was reestablished, with 12 student-athletes set to compete at the Panola College Rodeo Sept. 24-26 in Tatum, Texas.

The competition will mark NSU’s debut in the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association’s Southern Region after the university announced the return of the Rodeo Team in May. The team has since grown to a roster of 14 student-athletes under Coach Cody DeMoss, with 12 set to compete at Panola College.

NSU will be represented in several events during its opening competition. The lineup includes four saddle bronc riders, five competitors in breakaway roping and two barrel racers. NSU will also field a team in team roping, while another NSU competitor will team rope with a student from Trinity Valley Community College.

“This is the very first college rodeo that they are going to get to go to,” DeMoss said. “This one being right here in Tatum, Texas, just 120 miles down the road, is a perfect warmup for us.”

DeMoss, a 14-time National Finals Rodeo bronc rider, was named coach as NSU reestablished the program. He said he sees potential across several events as the team enters its first competition.

“I think they’ve got a chance,” DeMoss said. “There are a couple bronc riders in here that have really got a chance to do some good, quite a few breakaway ropers. The horsemanship on quite a few of them is pretty good, so there’s some real talent.”

Allison Savant, a freshman industrial engineering major from Kenner, competes in breakaway and team roping. She said the team has been practicing nearly every night leading up to its first competition.

“I’m pretty confident. We have a pretty strong team,” Savant said. “Mr. Cody has definitely coached us up. We’ve been practicing almost every night. We have really good calves to practice on, so I think we are going to do a really good job.”

For Savant, the Panola College Rodeo will also be her first experience competing at the collegiate level.

“I feel like it’s going to be a fun experience,” Savant said. “First college rodeo, it’s not going to be like the high school rodeos. It’s going to be a little bit different, so I’m excited to see what’s new.”

Cyler Yeager, a freshman from Montana, competes in saddle bronc riding. He said the opportunity to join a new program helped draw him to NSU.

“When I first got to talking to Mr. Cody, he had a lot of great things to say, and I thought it would be great to be a part of a new organization,” Yeager said. “I thought I might be able to help create history and maybe be history myself.”

Yeager said he feels confident entering his first collegiate competition after weeks of preparation.

“We’ve been training pretty rigorously lately, hopping on horses and on the dummy over there and just trying my hardest to get ready for it,” Yeager said. “You’ve just got to trust in the motions that you know.”

The Panola College Rodeo opens a five-event fall schedule for the NIRA Southern Region. Following Panola, the region is scheduled to compete at Southwest Texas College Oct. 1-3 in Uvalde, Texas, Northeast Texas Community College Oct. 8-10 in Mount Pleasant, Texas, McNeese State University Oct. 30-31 in Lake Charles and Sam Houston State University Nov. 12-14 in Huntsville, Texas.

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Programs that experienced a turnaround can often point to a season, perhaps even a game, in which players, coaches, and the fanbase can identify as a no-doubt turning point.

With Winnfield starting this season 3-0 in the second year of Byron Keller, winning a fourth straight game to start the 2026 campaign would be monumental.

That’s because the fourth game is a trip to Jena, a participant in last year’s Division III Non-Select championship who’s already avenged that loss to Sterlington in Week 2 this season.

The Giants (2-1), who rank No. 4 in the LSWA Class 3A poll and are coming off a 28-12 loss to Class 4A No. 1 Westgate, are going to be chomping at the bit to get back to their winning ways Friday at home.

“We will have to pull off a flawless performance against Jena,” Keller said. “They are a complete team.

“We will have to take advantage of and capitalize on any mistakes that they make to get out of there with a win.”

Winnfield’s defense had been pretty close to perfect through the first two games this season in wins against Glenbrook (20-8) and Arcadia (40-0).

The Tigers defense, a revitalized unit under new defensive coordinator Scott Green, did settle down in a 48-28 win against an explosive Jonesboro-Hodge this past week.

But Keller knows the Tigers have to stay in their lanes and be disciplined against a Jena veer attack that has routinely scored in the 40s, 50s, and even 60s.

The Giants haven’t put up those kinds of numbers this season without the likes of Sedrick Wilson and Deuce McPherson, but Jena still had the horses to gallop past Class 2A No. 4 Mangham (26-12) and 3A No. 3 Sterlington (34-28).

The Winnfield and Jena programs have similar trajectories, albeit at different points in history.

The Tigers broke through and won their first (and only) state title in 1982, although Winnfield has plenty of history and statewide relevance, including its most recent state championship game appearance in 2011.

Jena is a program that’s been mediocre for most of its history but has found its way since head coach Jay Roark arrived in 2012.

The Giants finally cracked the glass ceiling to the Superdome this past season after deep playoff runs throughout Roark’s tenure, but they are still in search of the program’s first title.

Keller brought Winnfield back to its roots with the veer offense, something in which Jena runs its own version.

The Tigers would love to resemble Jena in other ways as Friday is a measuring-stick type opportunity to see how close to a championship-caliber program Winnfield is.

“We do have very similar styles and philosophies about how to build a football program,” Keller said. “You have to tip your hat to Coach Roark and his staff.

“They have built it and are reaping the benefits of their hard work. We are working to get to that point in our program.”

Winnfield’s offense improved greatly in its Week 3 win, scoring a season-high 48 points as new pieces are finding their places.

The Tigers had two 100-yard rushers (Kenneth Richard 18-127 and Gabe Wren 13-114) and nearly a third as Braylen Butler (16-92) almost hit the century mark.

Keller said the offensive line paved the way while quarterback Nickalas Mockosher is capable of making plays with his arms and his legs to keep defenses honest.

“The offensive line play has continued to improve each week,” Keller said. “With that unit playing as well as they are, it’s making the running back’s nights very easy.”

Mockosher threw for 119 yards on 5-of-7 passing and two touchdowns, rushing for another.

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The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is reminding hunters to carefully identify waterfowl before taking a shot as the state moves through its special teal season and prepares for Louisiana’s first special black-bellied whistling duck season.

Louisiana’s special teal season runs Sept. 19-27. During the nine-day season, hunters may harvest only blue-winged, green-winged and cinnamon teal. The daily bag limit is six birds, with a possession limit of 18.

LDWF noted that identifying teal can sometimes be challenging, particularly when birds are in flight. Blue-winged teal have a large light-blue patch on the upper portion of the wing, while green-winged teal are the smallest of the dabbling ducks and have a green speculum. Cinnamon teal, which are extremely rare in Louisiana, are more similar in appearance to blue-winged teal than green-winged teal.

Another special season will follow in October. Louisiana’s first-ever special black-bellied whistling duck season will be held Oct. 3-11.

Only black-bellied whistling ducks may be harvested during the special season. Hunters will have a daily bag limit of four birds and a possession limit of 12. A free special permit is required to participate.

Black-bellied whistling ducks can be identified in flight by a wide white stripe on the upper surface of their wings and feet that extend beyond the tail. Adult birds typically have bright orange bills, pink feet and a chestnut-colored chest that transitions into a black belly. Juvenile birds may be more difficult to identify because they have grayish bills, less prominent pink coloring on their feet and lack the distinctive black belly seen on adults.

LDWF cautioned that other species of waterfowl may occupy the same habitats during both special seasons, making positive identification especially important.

“Know the season. Know the species. Know your target,” the department advised.

Hunters are encouraged to review identification materials and current Louisiana waterfowl regulations before heading into the field.

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As many of you know, I was adopted by my aunt and uncle, Laverne & Loyd Graf Jr., when I was 10 years old. They quickly became mom and dad for me. My biological mom, Alta Mae, was not capable of raising two young boys. After starting and struggling through the first grade in Rosenburg, Texas, I was failing school and they rescued me from Houston, Texas, and brought me to Mt. Pleasant just after Christmas. 

I was enrolled in Vivian Fowler School at that time and did extra work into the summer as I got caught up enough to be passed on to the second grade. It was also at this time that I started my youth baseball career in 1968 while spending the entire summer with Mom and Dad.

One place that holds a special place in my heart, as I spent many a day there, was my Dad’s ranch. Graf Brothers Ranch was a partnership between my Dad and his brother William Ed Graf (Uncle Bill). Uncle Bill was the proud owner of a trucking company in Ft. Worth and was basically a financial partner of the ranch more than anything else. 

He had two sons who would come to the ranch once every few months. One of these cousins, Matt, and I became close, as we both loved to hunt and fish. With our ranch having three different stock ponds loaded with bass, Matt and I basically taught ourselves how to bass fish. 

We both subscribed to Bassmaster Magazine and would read each one cover to cover while learning about new baits and techniques. Then when he would come to the ranch, we would go and apply what we learned. 

Those stock ponds were a great training ground for learning how to fish and understanding bass behavior. Matt and I shared some great times for years until we got into our teens. Then I got more involved in sports and those fishing get-togethers became few and far between. 

I still cherish those early childhood memories with Matt even though those trips dwindled over time as he also made fewer trips to the ranch. We’ve lost touch with each other over the years, but I’m sure he has fond memories like me.

One thing ranch life taught me was good work ethic. A ranch does not run itself as it takes a lot of man hours to keep things running smoothly. We weren’t what many would call a big ranch, but we did run anywhere from 100-150 head of cattle depending on the time of year. 

A ranch is a constant work in progress with doctoring cattle, building fences, working on barns, and cutting and hauling hay to make sure cattle were fed even when weather was bad. There are no days off when you own a cattle ranch. Cattle need attention and must be checked on daily, especially when cows were getting ready to calf. 

There was one job I absolutely hated! It’s what my Dad called “piling chunks.” On our ranch we owned both sides of the main road with one side all pastureland while the other side was half-timber and pasture. But over time Dad cleared some of the timber to create more pasture. 

We owned a large D9 bulldozer that Dad used to clear the timber. As he dropped trees on the ground, smaller limbs that fell off the trees had to be picked up. We would then pile them up in small burn piles. This is what dad referred to as “piling chunks!” This process was hard work and took many hours over several weeks to get the job done.

There are many things that shaped me as a person, but the lessons I learned from growing up on a ranch were invaluable. My Dad was a man of few words and was not touchy-feely. He never really shared his personal feelings, but he did believe in hard work and taught me the value of this concept and how it builds character. 

The ranch for me was a training ground on not just hard work, but on developing my skills as an angler and a hunter. It gave me the freedom to learn how to hunt deer and squirrels and how to catch a bass.  

The number of hours I spent on my own in the woods and around our stock ponds starting at the age of 10 was endless. Most kids today don’t know how to be by themselves all day, making one cast after another and learning how to catch a bass. 

Kids today don’t grow up sitting on a single 2×6 board nailed between two limbs in a tree for deer hunting. They’ve never built a duck blind on the bank of a stock pond and enjoyed a good hunt, and when you shot a duck over the water, you had to wait until the wind blew the duck to the bank so you could retrieve it. 

Kids today would consider the work I did as kid a form of child abuse. Again, my parents did not sugar coat anything. Love, while not openly expressed much in our family, was understood. They had goals and expectations for both me and my brother whether it was a job to be done or school. 

We never did without anything that was essential. My Mom and Dad provided for us as a family and made sure my brother and I had everything we needed to not only enjoy life, but to be successful.

I literally would not trade anything for the time I had growing up on Graf Brothers Ranch, as it taught me everything I needed to succeed in whatever path I chose for the rest of my life.   

Contact Steve at sgraf26@yahoo.com

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On Sept. 23, 2016, an unusual item went up for auction in Los Angeles: the cremated remains of famed author Truman Capote.

Capote, best known for “In Cold Blood” and “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” died in 1984 at the age of 59. His ashes had been kept by Joanne Carson, a close friend of Capote and former wife of “Tonight Show” host Johnny Carson.

The ashes were housed in a carved Japanese wooden box and were offered as part of Julien’s Auctions’ “Icons & Idols: Hollywood” sale. The auction house estimated the remains at $4,000 to $6,000.

When the auction concluded the following day, Capote’s ashes sold for $43,750 to an anonymous buyer. The sale attracted interest from potential buyers in the United States as well as Russia, Germany, China and South America.

The ashes were not the only unusual Capote memorabilia offered at the auction. His clothing, prescription bottles and other personal belongings were also sold.

According to the auction house, Capote had told Carson that he did not want his ashes to simply sit on a shelf, making the unusual auction an especially fitting final chapter to the author’s colorful public life.

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I met a sentence the other day that has been bothering me—in a good way.

“God, the master of time, never gives the future.”

Read that again. Did your mind immediately go to the future? Mine did.

I have plans for today. Plans for tomorrow. Appointments, meetings, deadlines, things I need to remember, and several things I have already forgotten. All of them are carefully placed on my calendar. Notice the possessive pronoun.

My calendar.

That is how we talk, as though we own Tuesday. We look at a little square on a screen three weeks from now and say, “I have something that day.”

Maybe.

As we say in the South, “The Lord willing and the creek don’t rise.”

Calendars are good things. Planning is responsible. But putting something on a calendar does not mean we possess the day. God has given us this moment. The next one remains in his hands. One of the hardest skills in life is learning to be fully present in the moment we have. We have two favorite ways of avoiding it.

The first is the past.

We call them “the good old days.” The funny thing about the good old days is that when we were living through them, we complained about them too. Personally, I vote for the late 1970s—but only after the leisure suit phase. There are some things even nostalgia cannot redeem.

We remember our younger years as simpler times, conveniently forgetting that we were younger, considerably less wise, and occasionally wearing polyester. Sometimes we look backward because we regret mistakes. Sometimes because we miss people. Sometimes because we realize we were standing in a wonderful moment and didn’t recognize how wonderful it was until it was gone.

Our other escape route is the future. We worry about everything we have to do. We stare at our calendar and wonder who put all that stuff on there, conveniently ignoring the fact that most of the appointments were made by us.

Or we are waiting for something wonderful.

At one point, I was looking ahead to the possibility of praying the invocation at the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony. That was exciting. So there I was, supposedly contemplating the spiritual discipline of living in the present while simultaneously thinking about the 1970s, imagining a future event, examining my calendar—and receiving texts from church staff reminding me of a couple of things I needed to do. I was apparently fully present in about four different decades at once.

It was a busy moment. And now it is gone. That may be the spiritual lesson.

The only moment in which you can love somebody is this one. The only moment in which you can pray is this one. The only moment in which you can notice grace is this one. The only moment in which you can actually live is this one.

We remember the past. We prepare wisely for the future. But we receive life from God now.

So try something. For the next two minutes, be completely present. Don’t revisit yesterday. Don’t rehearse tomorrow. Don’t check your phone. Don’t mentally reorganize your calendar. Just be here.

Now.

If you make it the full two minutes, congratulations. You may already be more spiritually mature than I am. If you don’t, notice which direction your mind traveled.

Did you go backward or forward?

I have a theory that I can come pretty close to guessing your age by which direction you went. When we’re young, we keep asking, “What’s next?” As we get older, we increasingly ask, “Remember when? “Faith may teach us to ask a different question:

“God, what are you doing right here?”

Because God, the master of time, has not given us tomorrow.

But he has given us this moment.

And this moment is enough.

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Hans Riegel was born in Bonn, Germany, in 1893.  After completing primary school, he began an apprenticeship as a confectioner, a candymaker.  During World War I, Hans fought for the Germans.  After the war, he returned to candy making and was hired by the Heinen confectionery company in Kessenich.  On December 13, 1920, Hans left the Heinen company and founded his own candy company.  His capital for his new venture included one sack of sugar, a marble slab, a chopper, a masonry stove, a copper kettle, and a roller.  It was a small operation compared to what he was used to at the Heinen company.  Working out of his small home at Bergstraße 37 in Bonn, Hans was only able to make about 110 pounds of hard candy per day.  As soon as a batch was ready to sell, Hans’s wife Gertrude loaded the candy into a basket on her bicycle and hand-delivered the sweets to customers.  Business was not growing as quickly as Hans had hoped.  He knew he needed a unique product to bring in funds to allow him to expand his business.  But what? 

Hans’s target demographic was children, so he thought back to the things that made him happy as a child.  In the late 1800s and early 1900s, showmen brought captive bears into towns to perform for passersby who would give them coins.  The bears were street performers.  The bears walked upright and performed numerous tricks, but the one the children enjoyed most, according to the number of coins taken in, was when the bears would dance as the showmen kept a beat on the tambourine.  They were called Tanzbären, or dancing bears.  In 1922, Hans used his fond memories to mold his candy into the shape of a dancing bear.  Hans shaped his bears with four outstretched limbs so they could sit upright or could stand on all four paws.  Children often played with the bears before eating them.  Hans created an edible toy.             

Sales of the dancing bears quickly exceeded Hans’s expectations.  By 1923, Gertrude could no longer keep up with demand on her bicycle, so Hans purchased the company’s first delivery automobile.  Hans’s candy went on sale in nearby shops and gradually expanded outward.  By 1930, Hans’s candy was available throughout Germany.  By 1933, Hans employed 400 people.  Production stopped during World War II due to the lack of supplies.  Hans died in March 1945, six months before the war ended.  Following the war, Gertrude managed operations until two of her sons, Hans Jr. and Paul Riegel, took over management of the company.  They built the company into a worldwide enterprise who employs about 8,500 workers in 16 factories in 11 countries who make more than 1,000 different sweet treats.  Their top seller is still the product Hans designed after the dancing bears that he remembered from his childhood.  Earlier I said Hans produced hard candy, but the dancing bears were something altogether different.  You may not have heard the word Tanzbären, but it is likely that you or someone you know has enjoyed Haribo’s gummy bears.

 Sources:

1.     “Hans Riegel,” Kessenichy ist Kult, accessed September 13, 2026, https://www.kessenich-ist-kult.de/kessenich-herz-des-bonner-suedens/personen-der-geschichte/hans-riegel/.

2.     “Haribo – About Us,” Haribo.com, accessed September 13, 2026, https://www.haribo.com/en-us/about-us/history.

© 2026 Brad Dison. All rights reserved. Remember This? is distributed for licensed publication only.

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Natchitoches Christmas is pleased to announce that LSU Women’s Basketball Head Coach Kim Mulkey will serve as Celebrity Captain of the 2026 Natchitoches Christmas “Festival of Lights” Parade on Saturday, December 5, in downtown Natchitoches.

Mulkey will help lead the 1 p.m. parade as Natchitoches celebrates the 100th Natchitoches Christmas Festival, marking a century of one of Louisiana’s most beloved holiday traditions.

Her appearance comes during a special weekend for women’s basketball in Natchitoches. The LSU Tigers will face the Northwestern State Lady Demons on Sunday, December 6, at Prather Coliseum on the campus of Northwestern State University.

“We are incredibly excited to welcome Coach Mulkey and the LSU Women’s Basketball team to Natchitoches during such a historic year for our Christmas Festival,” said Sandra Dickens, Natchitoches Christmas Board Chair. “When we learned LSU would be in Natchitoches for the game against Northwestern State, we knew this was a unique opportunity. Coach Mulkey is one of the most recognizable figures in Louisiana sports, and having her help lead our parade as we celebrate 100 years of Christmas makes an already special weekend even more memorable.”

Mulkey also shares a special connection with Natchitoches through the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, where she was inducted in 1990 following her standout playing career at Louisiana Tech. The Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame is housed at the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History Museum in downtown Natchitoches.

A native of Tickfaw, Louisiana, Mulkey has built one of the most accomplished careers in college basketball. She is the only person in college basketball history, men’s or women’s, to win national championships as a player, assistant coach and head coach. As a player at Louisiana Tech, Mulkey helped the Lady Techsters capture national championships in 1981 and 1982 and later helped the program win another national title as an assistant coach in 1988. As a head coach, she won three NCAA national championships at Baylor before returning to Louisiana to lead LSU, where she guided the Tigers to the program’s first NCAA Women’s Basketball National Championship in 2023.

“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to lead the historic Natchitoches Christmas ‘Festival of Lights’ parade as the state of Louisiana celebrates this great tradition for the 100th time,” Mulkey said. “I’m always looking to give back to the state I love whenever I can. The opportunity presented itself, and I accepted. I look forward to seeing everyone on December 5 and, once more, at Prather Coliseum on December 6. We are excited to make our time in Natchitoches a memorable one.”

The December 6 matchup will bring LSU Women’s Basketball to Northwestern State’s Prather Coliseum, adding another major event to Natchitoches’ centennial Christmas weekend. Natchitoches Christmas also extends its appreciation to Northwestern State Head Coach Alan Frey, who helped make Coach Mulkey’s participation possible by personally extending the invitation for her to serve as Celebrity Captain.

“Bringing an elite program here to play us is exciting enough, but having Coach Mulkey agree to be the Celebrity Captain in Saturday’s parade makes this an unforgettable weekend for Natchitoches basketball fans,” Frey said. “I want to thank Kim for saying yes to the ask and giving our community a great show on the parade route before our historic matchup on Sunday.”

The 2026 Natchitoches Christmas “Festival of Lights” Parade will begin at 1 p.m. Saturday, December 5, traveling from the Northwestern State University campus through the Natchitoches Historic District.

The parade is part of the 100th Natchitoches Christmas Festival, which will feature a full day of activities in downtown Natchitoches, including entertainment, arts and crafts, food vendors and the festival’s signature fireworks celebration over Cane River Lake.

For additional information about the 100th Natchitoches Christmas Festival, visit NatchitochesChristmas.com.

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Louisiana hunters will have an early opportunity to return to the marsh this weekend as the state’s September teal season opens Saturday, Sept. 19.

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries announced the statewide season will run Sept. 19-27, 2026.

During the special September season, hunters may harvest only blue-winged, green-winged and cinnamon teal. LDWF reminded hunters that black-bellied whistling ducks and all other waterfowl species are not legal to harvest during the September teal season. Teal may also be taken during Louisiana’s regular duck season, which begins in November.

Hunters are encouraged to make sure they have the required licenses, permits and certifications before heading into the field.

Waterfowl hunters age 16 and older are required to have a Federal Duck Stamp. Hunters age 18 and older must also possess a basic hunting license, waterfowl license and Harvest Information Program, or HIP, certification. Youth age 17 and younger are not required to have a hunting license.

Several LDWF Wildlife Management Areas provide teal hunting opportunities, including Pass-a-Loutre, Atchafalaya Delta, Pointe-aux-Chenes, Sherburne, Dewey Wills and Russell Sage WMAs. Visitors age 18 and older using WMAs must have the appropriate WMA access permit or a qualifying license.

LDWF is also reminding hunters to positively identify their target before shooting, particularly during the early teal season when other waterfowl species may be present.

The nine-day season concludes Sunday, Sept. 27. Hunters should review current LDWF regulations, licensing requirements and WMA-specific rules before hunting.

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There are two times during the year that are awesome for bass fishing, spring and fall. During the spring, bass are moving up into the shallows to spawn and make more little bass. So, it’s a great time to catch that fish of a lifetime as the big females are full of eggs. In the fall, the bass are going through a feeding frenzy and fattening up for the winter which also makes for exciting fishing.

Of these two times of the year, fall is probably my favorite. If you want to catch fish in the fall, tie on any lure you want as long as it looks like a shad. 

Shad colored spinnerbaits or crankbaits are deadly during the fall. Bass will slowly migrate out of their deep summer haunts and will move up shallow and into the back of the creeks. 

They will literally go into ambush mode and destroy a school of baitfish. If whatever you’re throwing looks like shad, they will eat it! Here are few tips on what to throw if you’re not sure what you need to tie on. 

I love to catch them on a shad pattern spinnerbait this time of year. You can throw either a white or any type of shad color and catch fish. Your hook up ratio with a spinnerbait seems to be really good. But a good shad colored crankbait like a Bandit 100 or 200 series in a pearl color with a black back or a white splatter back will also put fish in the boat. 

It’s also a great time to throw a buzz bait or any kind of topwater bait. Bass love a walking style bait like Heddon Zara Spook in either chrome or white. 

But there’s also another bait that is pretty much a guarantee for catching fish in the fall, a rattling shad bait like a Bill Lewis Rattle Trap or a SPRO Aruku Shad. Both baits truly mimic the bait fish bass are gorging themselves on this time of year. 

Fall can also be an excellent time to go out on the lake and find new places you might want to fish next season. And if the lake is low, it’s really great to try to locate and mark those hard spots bass love to get on in the winter and early spring. 

Too many anglers miss out on some of the best bass fishing of year as they park their bass boats and load up four-wheelers and head to the woods. Many start to focus on getting deer stands cleaned out or building and dressing their duck blinds. 

So, take advantage of uncrowded boat ramps that the fall brings. Head out to your favorite lake and enjoy some of the best bass fishing of the year. You never know, you just might catch your personal best.   

Contact Steve at sgraf26@yahoo.com

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A benefit concert for Boston Pace will be held on Saturday, Oct. 3 from 3- 9 pm at the Lagniappe Event Center in Alexandria featuring country and Southern music performers from Louisiana, Texas and Nashville. Tickets for the benefit concert are $25 for general admission. Doors open at 2 p.m., with the concert scheduled from 3 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3, at the Lagniappe Event Center, 7521 Coliseum Blvd. in Alexandria.

Tickets will be available online and at the door. Online tickets are available through Eventbrite at Eventbrite.

Boston Pace, 7, became ill with strep throat in March 2026 along with his two brothers. While his brothers recovered, Boston’s symptoms worsened, including vomiting and severe headaches. After initially testing negative for strep, doctors attributed his symptoms to a virus and later to heat-related illness. Despite efforts to keep him hydrated and indoors, his symptoms continued.

On June 14, Pace took Boston to the emergency room, where a CT scan revealed a mass on his brain. Doctors suspected diffuse midline glioma (DMG), an aggressive brain tumor. The family was referred to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, where doctors placed a shunt to drain excess cerebrospinal fluid and performed a biopsy that confirmed the diagnosis.

The event is presented by Buckshot Records LLC and Artist Development.

The lineup includes Jake Whyatt of Nashville, Tennessee; Heads or Tails Band of Alexandria, Louisiana; Thomas Tibbs of Jena, Louisiana; Pat Waters of Longview, Texas; and Big Green Tractor, Nashville’s tribute to Jason Aldean.

Organizers said the event will bring artists, businesses and community members together to show their support for Boston Pace and his family.

Jake Whyatt will travel from Nashville to join the benefit, along with Heads or Tails Band, Thomas Tibbs and Pat Waters. Big Green Tractor will close out the lineup.

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In the early 1990s, video games were entering what I suppose we could call their second generation. Compared with what children play today, they were technologically primitive. But at our house, they were cutting-edge.

Our oldest daughter, Allison, asked for a Nintendo for Christmas—the one with Super Mario Brothers.

Christmas morning, the Nintendo was connected to our enormous twenty-five-inch console television. For those of you under forty, a console television was roughly the size of a small refrigerator, weighed slightly more than a Methodist church, and once you put it in the den, it stayed there until the Second Coming.

And Allison started playing Mario.

She was good at it. More importantly, she was persistent. If Mario needed to jump over something, she learned exactly when to jump. If there was a hidden passage, she found it. If there was some secret way through a level, she kept working until she discovered it.

She accumulated experience. She advanced through levels. She got better and better.

Every once in a while, she would let her younger brother Andrew play.

The rule was simple: You can play until you lose all your lives.

Andrew’s turn did not take long.

Bless his heart.

Mario would start running. Mario would hit something. Mario would die. A few moments later, Andrew would hand the controller back to Allison.

She tried to teach him.

“Jump here.”

“Don’t go that way.”

“Wait until that thing moves.”

“Push this button.”

None of it helped.

Then school started back. One afternoon Andrew got home before Allison. I told him, “Andrew, I’ve been working on a project for you.”

While the children had been at school, Dad had been playing Mario. This was not recreation. This was serious parental research. And while I played, I recorded the television onto our VCR—another ancient piece of technology. I had about thirty minutes of Mario being played reasonably well on videotape.

I told Andrew, “When Allison gets home, I’m going to play this tape. You sit on the floor with the controller and pretend you’re playing.”

Andrew immediately understood the spiritual gift God had given him for irritating his sister.

“Move the controller. Lean from side to side. Grunt occasionally. Act frustrated. Do everything Allison does.”

So when Allison came home, there sat her little brother in front of the television playing Mario. And he was magnificent. He sailed through places he could not get through the night before. He made impossible jumps. He advanced from level to level.

Finally Allison asked, “How did you learn to do that so fast?”

We had her. We absolutely had her. Until Andrew started giggling. He put the controller down, turned around, and grinned at his sister— and Mario kept playing.

“ANDREW!”

For a few wonderful minutes, Andrew looked like a gamer. He held the controller. He made all the right movements. He sat in the right place. He knew when to grunt. There was only one problem. He wasn’t actually playing the game.

I wonder sometimes whether that little scene from our den is a pretty good picture of what can happen in the Christian life. We learn how to hold the controller. We know when to stand and when to sit. We know the hymns. We know the prayers. We know when to say “Amen.” We know how Christians are supposed to look and sound. We can become very good at appearing to be disciples.

But Jesus never called us simply to look like disciples. He called us to follow him. To forgive when forgiveness is difficult. To love people we would rather avoid. To serve when serving is inconvenient. To trust when life is uncertain. To give generously. To pray honestly. To live differently because Christ is alive within us.

Faith is not something we merely watch somebody else do. It cannot be prerecorded for us by our parents, grandparents, preacher, or church. Eventually, we have to play. Every once in a while, perhaps all of us need to put down the controller and ask a hard but necessary question:

Am I really living this life of faith, or have I just gotten very good at going through the motions?

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On Sept. 16, 1992, “Seinfeld” introduced one of the most memorable concepts in television history when Jerry Seinfeld and George Costanza pitched NBC on a sitcom that was, essentially, about nothing.

The idea appeared in an episode titled “The Pitch,” which aired as part of the show’s fourth season. In the episode, Jerry and George are invited to pitch a television series to NBC. George comes up with the idea of creating a show about their everyday lives — with no traditional plot or premise.

The fictional pitch became one of the defining jokes of “Seinfeld,” a show that would go on to become one of television’s most recognizable sitcoms.

The episode aired on Sept. 16, 1992, making the date an especially fitting one for fans of the show — and for anyone who has ever wondered how a show about nothing could become such a big deal.

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In the 1880s, getting mail in remote parts of the United States was exciting.  In the era before electricity, mail and newspapers were the only connection between rural communities and the outside world.  Dorsey was one of the many rural mail carriers for the U.S. Postal Service.  Rural in an understatement in his case.  You see, for several years in the 1880s, Dorsey was the only mail carrier between Barstow and Calico in California’s rugged Mojave Desert because no one else wanted the job.  Dorsey lived in the silver mining town of Calico, about 10 miles as the crow flies northeast of Barstow.  Ten miles may not seem like a great distance by our modern standards, but between Calico and Barstow stands the 2641-foot elevation Lead Mountain.  Going around Lead Mountain would have added another four miles each way to Dorsey’s trek, so Dorsey went up and over the mountain.  Dorsey did not ride in a wagon or on a horse.  He walked.        

Each day, Dorsey donned his satchel and began walking through the heat, dust, and over rugged terrain to Barstow.  He knew what time the train from the California Southern Railroad was scheduled to arrive in Barstow and so he left in plenty of time to meet it.  If Dorsey was ahead of the train, which he normally was, he rested and relaxed in town.  As soon as the train arrived, Dorsey met the postman at the train’s mail car, loaded his satchel with mail destined for Calico, and began the return trip.  On a good day, Dorsey could make the whole trip in about seven or eight hours.          

Half a century later, the people of Barstow began searching for a photograph of the local legendary mail carrier so they could honor him with his own U.S. Postage stamp.  Unfortunately, Dorsey’s likeness was never used on a postage stamp.  To the people of Barstow and the few inhabitants of Calico, Dorsey remains a local hero.  They still talk about his daily walks between their towns… on his four legs.  You see, Dorsey, the rural mail carrier, was a black and white collie.

 Sources:

1.     The Astorian (Astoria, Oregon), November 21, 1885, p.1.

2.     Desert Dispatch (Barstow, California), September 2, 1948, p.3.

3.     Desert Dispatch, August 27, 1973, p.10.    

 © 2026 Brad Dison. All rights reserved. Remember This? is distributed for licensed publication only.

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