Advocate editorial writer Danny Heitman began writing his weekly "At Random" column for The Advocate's People section in 1991. It appears each Friday and has twice been named Best Regular Column by the Louisiana Press Association. Heitman's writing has also won awards from the Associated Press. He has written essays for Smithsonian Magazine, The Christian Science Monitor, Child Magazine, Disney's Family Fun and other national publications.
In 2004, in recognition of his writing for local and national audiences, Heitman was selected to deliver the H.L. Mencken Memorial Lecture in Baltimore, Md. Previous lecturers have included syndicated columnist James Kilpatrick, radio commentator and public television host Alistair Cooke, and former New York Times columnist Russell Baker.
Heitman, a 1986 honors graduate of Southeastern Louisiana University, began writing for newspapers at age 14 when he joined the staff of The Ponchatoula Enterprise. A native of Ponchatoula, Heitman has worked as a general assignment reporter, environmental writer, film reviewer, music and TV critic and feature writer. In 2004, he joined The Advocate's editorial board.
You can e-mail Danny at dheitman@theadvocate.com or call him at (225) 388-0295.
As Mother’s Day approached about 25 years ago, a poor boy entered my mother’s florist shop and asked what kind of gift he might be able to get his mother for 30 cents.
As this spring’s high school and college graduates hear commencement speeches urging them to look to the future, I’ve been considering a different piece of advice from David McCullough.
According to a recent national report, interest in nature among Americans is on the decline. That probably wouldn’t have surprised the late Washington Post columnist Henry Mitchell, who worried before his death in 1993 that technology was distancing people from the natural world.
Watching “John Adams,” the HBO miniseries based on the popular biography by David McCullough, viewers have been reminded that, in many ways large and small, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were the odd couple of the American Revolution.
