My Life on One Page

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty,--that is all
ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."
- Keats





StardustRanger
"Explore... Discover... Share..."

This is the name of a "Corporate Entity" I created as a project back in graduate school when I was studying communication theory and semiotics as applied to marketing and branding.

It encapsulates all I believe in, as far as corporate thingy type names go. If I ever get a chance to really develop a corporation, this is the name I will use.

The logo for StartdustRanger is simple : a white star, shooting from left to right (the direction on a page that English speakers and readers read) across a twilight sky. The color of the word StardustRanger would be crimson.

I need some artwork done for this. Interested? Contact me. You'll get paid (but maybe not in money at first) !





NewsSouth
"Writing & Pictures about Life in the Slow Lane"

This is the name of a News Service that I have owned since 1979, after leaving full-time journalism for the dream of performing as a storyteller. I have written hundreds of articles and many columns under this moniker, but it has only appeared in print a few times - editors mostly ignored it and went just with my real name or nom de plume of Joe Paris.

Most folks live way too fast for my liking, so writing about life in the slow lane has been a pastime of mine for more than 50 years now. You see more from there, smell more flowers, taste more food, hear more music, and generally have more fun in the slow lane. And you not only live a longer, but also a fuller and richer, life, in the slow lane.





GumboNews
"All the Stuff that's Fun to Know"
"Don't Forget to Stir the Pot"

This is the name of a broadcast news operation I created in March of 2006 when I was given the opportunity to have a weekly hour-long show on Acadiana Open Channel in Lafayette, Louisiana (Cox Cable Channel 5).

The subscripts are favorite sayings of mine as relates to the kind of news operation for which I would love to work / manage / own.





Joe Paris
"Cparisb4udie!"

My performance name of "Joe Paris"came to me quite early in life, during my thirties, and I began using it then, as a storyteller, after realizing for years that folks, despite their best efforts at times, just could not remember nor spell nor pronounce by beautiful family, or given, name ( It's pronounced "shy - YO").

"Chaillot" is a place name in the city of Paris, France, from whence my ancestors came.
It's the neighborhood ("Fauberg Chaillot") that boasts the highest natural hill in town ("Butte de Chaillot") and where the Palais de Chaillot (The Palace of Chaillot) was built in the 1930s (and where the United Nations meets when in Paris).

The Arc de Triomphe is in Chaillot. It stands at the confluence of the "Place D'Etoile,"or "Place of the Star," because six paths used to cross on the top of the Butte de Chaillot at that spot.

The most famous boulevard in the world - The Champs Elysees (Elysian Fields) starts there, under the Arc.

"Chaillot" neighborhood is directly across the river Seine from the Eiffel Tower.

The "Cparisb4udie!" subscript came about after I noticed that one of my lifelong favorite phrases ("See Paris before you die") fit neatly with my son and only child Christopher's name (Christopher Paris Chaillot), and I condensed it into "Internet spelling" after a few years of writing instant messages to friends.

I mean the phrase metaphorically, not literally. Paris is a state of mind (beautiful, romantic, open, free, spirited), not simply a place.

We all need to be Paris, not just go there.





"Our love must not be a thing of words and fine talk;
it must be a thing of action and sincerity."
-1John3:18 Barclay Translation

This is my favorite quote of all time.
It's from the Bible, and I first encountered it in the eighth grade - when I was pondering entering the seminary after being heavily recruited by a priest.

I never officially entered the seminary, but this quote has guided my life ever since, except when it hasn't.





"Choose your lovers and friends
not for money - you can always earn more,
not for knowledge - you can always learn more,
not for looks - you grow older by the season,
choose for disposition - that's the best reason."

If I am lucky, this will probably be the only original quote of mine that will outlive me. It evolved over several years, compiled from numerous pieces of advice my Grandmother Lillian Broussard Bernard used to give me about choices I was thinking about making.

Lillian had the most beautiful disposition I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.