LABLouisianaboy

LABLouisianaBoy Blog and LABLouisianaBoy YouTube Channel are sites for any and every individual. I'm the primary contributor, a Professor of History with my primary research fields being the New South and United States Political History. My wife is a Political Scientist who specializes in Comparative Politics and International Relations. I’ll write about sports, history, education, political issues, current events, and reflections from my own upbringing.

The reality though is that in ways I'm still the same boy reared in Livingston Parish, Louisiana. I may have moved to different regions of the country, but my roots are still planted in that rural village setting of the Hungarian Settlement between Albany and Springfield. My grandfather had retired from his plumbing and village water works job by the time of my birth and returned to farming in his retirement.

Much of my philosophy results from what I heard and experienced out in the fields and in the strawberry packing shed listening to my grandfather, his twin brother, and many of their friends.

Perhaps one of the greatest blessings in disguise for me was a medical episode for which my efforts to overcome are continuing. Back in 2007 while lecturing a class I suddenly felt like something had struck the building. The building, however, had not been struck. Of everyone in the room only I felt as if I was trying to balance on a piece of plywood bobbing out in the Gulf of Mexico in a storm. Local physicians diagnosed fluid in the ear, but their medications did not help my symptoms. After no evidence of a stroke was discovered, one MD told me that my symptoms were impossible....

I was bedridden for all of 2009, but an appointment and testing at Johns Hopkins after our move to Maryland led to a diagnosis of a severe form of an atypical vestibular migraine which led to a complete vestibular disruption. Ultimately I will make a complete recovery and actually be better than ever.

I’ve learned appreciation and that it is character, commitment, and an ability to adapt and apply what you know that are of real importance. Why not accept the responsibility to make things better regardless of who may be at fault, and then do things to prevent the likelihood of the problems reoccurring.

Today is the first day of my life, and I want to build a solid foundation upon which I or others if I am no longer here can build upon tomorrow and in the days following.