When the first pictures of Hurricane Katrina flashed on television in 2005, media used “refugee” to describe those displaced residents.

My father is an unlikely environmentalist. To demonstrate his resistance to environmental consciousness, I could point out that for many years his vehicle of choice has been the anything-but-green Chevy Suburban.

Warm fires and cold nights, these are the things of fairy tales and folk lore. Sitting beside the fire was not only a way to stay warm, it was there that families found the center of their union, where romance and connection flourished.