Columns

DEAR EDITORS: I was surprised and saddened to hear about Billy Coleman's death. His passing has left a gap in this community that will be hard if not impossible to fill.

The blank spaces in the paper are the stories Billy would’ve written for this week. They are holes in our coverage for the week. They speak to expanding circles of holes in our knowledge, our connection to our community, and to the writing and work that he would have done, that he will no longer do, now that he is gone. Knowledge he would have given you that you will no longer have, not in the same way, now that he is gone.

Tomorrow, students of the Class of 2024 from both local high schools will walk across stages – Briarfield Academy and General Trass High School – and will receive their high school diplomas. This is likely to be the last time that many of them will ever see some of their classmates. They have spent more time around these classmates over the last 12 or 13 years than they have most family members.

I downloaded an app on my smartphone recently that claims it can help me stop procrastinating, build confidence and keep anger in check. It works by what is known as “gamifying”.

My Opinion By Billy Coleman We have again suffered a tragic loss in our community in an unfortunate automobile accident. In similar cases over the past few years, state police officials have stated that these individuals were not wearing seat belts and were not properly restrained.

“Can we check my hormones?” That’s a frequently asked question in the clinic. We are all exhausted and looking for a fix. For both men and women, “hormones” might be the answer. But it's important to know that hormones go beyond the “big three”: estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. We have to look at the total picture.

The local schools had their proms last weekend and someone told me that they knew a parent that spent $2500 on their kid for that event. I was shocked.

I remember flying home from college for the first time – a layover in Atlanta – and on that last leg to Monroe, I caught a glimpse of Lake Providence from the air. I could see all of it, knew what lay at every slight turn of the lake, spotted downtown and the John Deere store and the acres stretching away from all of it.

Many of you will know that my family has been going through a bit of a tough time. The specifics aren’t necessarily pertinent to this article, but if you’re reading this you know what that’s like, trudging through the valleys of life. But for everyone who’s been there, you know there’s a mountain top, at the other side of that valley, and that life is a series of peaks and valleys. However, that is an article for another time.

Over the weekend, I was in conversation with a high school senior who told me that he didn’t know if he would succeed after walking across the stage next month and accepting his high school diploma. His level of anxiety was steered by the fact that he was not a great student during his time in school, and he said he didn’t know what to do next or how he would even access the things he might want to do.