This was only supposed to be a one-semester stint in the Bayou State. A year, maybe two—tops.
Yet, like Business Report, I’ve now been around here for one-quarter of a century. Are you kidding me?
How is it that a lacrosse-playing Yankee from Baltimore, who spent summers renting beach gear in Ocean City, Md., can stumble down here for a little rest, Mardi Gras and South Sea Island (once the greatest non-football weekend on LSU’s campus) and still be in this crazy place after all these years?
It’s a question I ask myself quite frequently—especially after Metro Council meetings, or whenever I hear Kathleen Blanco or Ray Nagin speaking.
The unvarnished truth is this hiatus has become home because of three people: Jay Perkins, Skip Ball and Molly Selleck. For those who wish I was someplace other than here you can blame this trifecta.
Perkins, the greatest professor at LSU’s journalism school, not only convinced me that I could string a sentence or two together but also that being a print journalist would prove more rewarding and allow me to make a greater impact on society than becoming either the director of Monday Night Football for ABC-TV or a First Amendment attorney.
My father, known by most as Ol’ Skipper, worked in television but was also an award-winning thoroughbred photographer. While I was figuring out what to do with the rest of my life in 1985, he offered this sage advice: “Buy a house down there,” he said. “If nothing else it will be a great investment.” Shortly after closing, the real estate market collapsed and it took three years before I could sell for anything resembling a profit. This proved to be my first brush with the local economy, other than the revenue I pumped into Shanahan’s, Murphy’s and Fred’s Bar and Grill.
And then there is Molly, who two months after becoming my wife and 10 years before becoming my ex, refused to leave Baton Rouge after I accepted a job that would have allowed us to live in either Dallas, Houston, Charlotte or Orlando—our choice. The catch? We’d first have to spend six months in Shreveport. She agreed to the move and we were gone, right up until the time I returned from a house-hunting trip only to find her in tears and saying there was no way she was leaving.
So while I never intended to call Baton Rouge home, that’s exactly what this place has become. And I want to thank Jay, Ol’ Skipper and Molly for their pivotal roles in determining my future.
What I never realized in those days was how much potential Baton Rouge possesses. No, it’s not as “big city” as I might like and the pace of play is a little slow, but there’s no mistaking that the place we call home has become the driving economic force in this state.
Baton Rouge was eventually going to claim this responsibility anyway, but hurricanes Katrina and Rita accelerated the clock by some 20 years. The question about us being a big small town or a small big city has been answered for us. The choice is no longer ours.
Getting us to not only accept, but embrace, this reality is why I write my column. Some call me cynical, and maybe they’re right, but I prefer to see it as frustration that our inferiority complex makes us afraid to be great. And, to me, life’s greatest sin is wasted potential.
Fortunately, we’re finally inching ever so slowly in the right direction. And while there’s plenty of credit to go around, I’d like to think Business Report has had a little something to do with moving this city closer to its destiny.
Special thanks
No question, a project as large as our 25th anniversary edition requires the talents of every member of our company. Yet it is zero exaggeration to say this 268-page publication would not be in your hands today were it not for the incredible efforts of Marissa Frayer, who served as our coordinating editor on this project.
Her phenomenal dedication and tireless efforts researching the past 25 years, organizing and editing stories, and keeping everyone on schedule was truly inspirational.
So while everyone—from the receptionist, to our business office, to our sales team, to our writers and editors and talented production team—deserves a round of applause, the loudest cheers go to Marissa, to whom I say, “Thank you.”
Comments
Posted by mnewman24 on September 28, 2007 at 1:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The first thing Baton Rouge should do to take control its destiny is to dissolve the current form of government. I have been opposed to this consolidated city/parish govenrment from the time I was able to understand basic civics. As a life-long resident and with all do respect am tired of the people in Baker, Zachary, the rural residents and now Central City, determining the future of Baton Rouge. The three incorporated towns in EBR parish are independent in that they each have their own mayor and council. I want that same independence for Baton Rouge. I wonder how many other Baton Rouge citizens feel the same?
Posted by fourx5 on September 28, 2007 at 2:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Changing attitudes is tough in the south. Chasing destiny is a nice way to say it, but while you are right about the potential of Baton Rouge businesses, the attitude in the city says everything you need to know - Baton Rouge is stuck in some old ways of thinking.
That's going to have to change before you transform into the next Atanta. As the loudest voice in Baton Rouge business, the BR has the potential to change a lot of minds and shape some attitudes, and some of the articles this year have really encouraged me that the staff there "gets it". But you're going to have to take more than just infrastructure and business lessons back from the progressive cities you visit, and you'll have to write some tough editorials that might make you less than popular in order to change the prevailing wisdom around what could be the next great southern city.
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