By Steve Graf    

Each and every day we wake up and make a decision in the first five minutes to either be happy, angry or sad. It’s a choice! Now, there are exceptions for those who have a mental illness or might be going through some tough times, but in general, everyone else makes a choice.

As anglers, we also have choices to make when we’re on the water whether it’s in a tournament or just out fun fishing. So much of the time, the choices we make say a lot about who we are as a person.

Today, having so many boats on the water means there are a lot of eyes out there — people who are watching every move you make as an angler.

That’s why it’s important to set a good example and use discretion when fishing around other anglers. Over the last few years, I’ve had a few encounters that had me shaking my head in disbelief. Anglers do dumb things that make everyone scratch their heads and ask, “What are you doing?”

To quote the famous line from the 1994 Tom Hanks movie Forrest Gump as he was told by his momma, “Stupid is as stupid does.” This quote pretty much sums up how too many boaters and anglers alike handle themselves on the water today.

Here are a couple of examples: Last year while on Toledo Bend, I had two incidents on the same day! While fishing a point in the back of a cove, I was casting my Carolina rig directly up on the point in five feet of water. On this day I was scouting for an event I had coming up in three days.

As I’m fishing this point, another boat with two anglers (who looked like tournament anglers) came around the backside of the point (opposite from me) and gradually started to turn and fish their way in my direction about 100 yards away. Now at this stage, I’m really OK and feel like there’s not really a problem since I’m thinking this boat will go behind me.

Then he did the unthinkable as he turned his boat 90 degrees and ran right over the spot I was fishing! He literally trolled right over my line between me and the point! Outranged at his stupidity, I threw my hands in the air and asked him, “What are you doing? How dumb are you?”

He turned and looked at me like I had three heads and seemed bewildered at my question. So, I repeated my question where the entire north end of Toledo Bend could hear me.

As I lectured him on right and wrong and the dumb decision he just made, he turned his trolling motor on high and got away from me as quick as he could without even a response to my lecture. It was as if he never saw or heard me! I mean I was the ONLY BOAT fishing this point after all; how could he not hear me?

Later that same day, I had another incident with an angler who was fishing with his grandfather and his son. Basically, the same situation; I’m fishing a spot just off a bluff close to the boat road when this boat came running down the boat road and shut down behind me about 30 yards away.

As I’m fishing this spot just off the bluff, this boat starts to idle behind me and is going away from me. So, at this point I’m thinking he’s doing the right thing and fishing away from me … or so I thought!

But no, that’s not what he did! He actually turned his boat 180 degrees and cut between me and the spot I was fishing about 20 yards in front of me, right where I was throwing my lure!

Once again, I’m dumbfounded and about to lose my mind by his action. I told him it was a good thing he had his young son in the boat because otherwise he too would have gotten a verbal tongue lashing like the other angler I chatted with earlier that day! Again, I asked him the same question, “How dumb are you?”

But during these times we live in, it’s just another day on the water and incidents like these are now commonplace. Anglers and pleasure boaters continue to do the dumbest things I’ve ever seen.

At the end of the day, I’m exhausted pretty much every time I go on the lake as I’m always on high alert for anglers cutting me off or someone doing something else dumb.

The problem isn’t just on the lake, it’s also at the boat ramp, as people have totally forgotten what the word courtesy even means. So many boat owners have no understanding of boat ramp etiquette and the process of launching a boat! IT’S NOT HARD, PEOPLE!

If you want to be entertained one day, take the time to go to a boat ramp and watch the comedy show of people who can’t back a boat down a boat ramp or load a boat on to a trailer. It’s hilarious and makes for great entertainment!

So, my advice today to all boaters/anglers who understand how to act on any body of water is to have patience and be prepared to help people launch their boat while teaching them how to do this the right way.

On the fishing side of things, you’ll also need patience as other anglers continue to cut you off as you’re going down a stretch of boat docks or a tree line.

So many boat owners and anglers have no idea about the unwritten rules of the water, or as I call it, common sense! I guess it’s up to us old anglers to teach and share our knowledge because they aren’t going to learn it from anyone else. Good luck, good fishing and stay safe!

Contact Steve at sgraf26@yahoo.com

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Artificial intelligence is everywhere right now — writing emails, generating art, passing professional exams, and promising to “revolutionize” just about every industry. Depending on who you ask, it’s either the greatest productivity tool ever created or the beginning of the robot takeover. But for all the headlines about automation replacing human jobs, there’s a quieter truth we don’t talk about enough: some skills just can’t be downloaded. This week’s cartoon plays with the gap between tech-world hype and real-world reality, reminding us that while algorithms may be impressive, there’s still plenty of value in good old-fashioned hands-on know-how.

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March 4 holds a unique place in pop culture as National Grammar Day, a lighthearted observance that has grown in popularity thanks to social media, memes, and the internet’s enduring fascination with language.

The date itself is a playful nod to grammar rules, sounding like the command “March forth.” Over the years, it has become a day when grammar enthusiasts, writers, educators, and casual word lovers alike celebrate the quirks of language.

Online, March 4 often brings viral debates over Oxford commas, homophones, and common grammatical pet peeves. Brands, news outlets, and public figures frequently join in, posting tongue-in-cheek corrections and wordplay that engage audiences in a way few other observances do.

National Grammar Day also highlights how language shapes pop culture. Catchphrases, slang, and internet shorthand evolve rapidly, reflecting how communication adapts to technology and social trends. What was once considered “incorrect” grammar often becomes widely accepted usage, blurring the line between rules and cultural norms.

In an era dominated by text messages, emojis, and memes, March 4 serves as both a celebration and a reminder: language is alive, constantly changing, and deeply connected to how people express identity and humor.

From classrooms to comment sections, National Grammar Day proves that even the smallest details of language can spark big conversations — and plenty of laughs.

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In 1965, Washoe was born in West Africa. Ten months later, she and four other youngsters, Dar, Pili, Tatu, and Moja, were brought to the United States to be raised by foster parents Allen and Beatrix Gardner. Allen and Beatrix played with them, talked to them, fed them, chased them, ran from them, gave them a comfortable and intellectually stimulating home, and all the other things most parents do to bond with and raise their children. Washoe and the others acted very much like children of their age with one exception, they could not speak. Fostering Washoe and the others was difficult because they were unable to communicate vocally, but Allen and Beatrix both worked as scientists at the University of Nevado in Reno and understood that getting the desired result usually took a long time to achieve. One of the most important tools in their arsenal as scientists was patience. Most doctors concluded that they would never be able to communicate because they all lacked a specific gene, the FOXP2 gene, which is essential for the normal development of speech. They would never be able to speak. They accepted the prognosis that the youngsters would never be able to communicate verbally, but Allen and Beatrix were determined that they would be able to communicate.

Rather than trying to get Washoe and the others to speak verbally, the Gardners stopped using verbal communication around them altogether. When in their presence, Allen and Beatrix communicated with each other using American Sign Language (ASL). The Gardners feared that trying to communicate with them verbally and with sign language simultaneously would be confusing. The Gardners hoped the youngsters would learn by watching them communicate with each other. Washoe was especially interested. They used the proper sign language to each other when Washoe was eating, bathing, and while she was being dressed. They invented exciting games; introduced new toys, books, and magazines; all of which were designed to stimulate sign language. They made scrapbooks of Washoe’s favorite pictures and used the proper sign language for whatever was shown in the photos. Dinner time began with Allen and Beatrix shaping their dominant hands into a flattened “O” with the fingertips touching the thumb then tapping the fingertips to their lips once or twice. In American Sign Language, this is the sign for “food” or “to eat.” Then one day at dinner time, long after doctors and other experts had given up hope that she would ever be able to communicate, Washoe told Allen and Beatrix that she was hungry by signing the word “food.” The Gardners were overjoyed. Within a short time, Washoe could tell the Gardners that she was thirsty and that she wanted to play with her toys by using sign language. She quickly learned the sign for “more” to let the Gardners know she was still hungry, still thirsty, or that she wanted more toys. Her vocabulary continued to grow. Then she began to learn to answer questions such as “Who is that?” and “What do you want?”

As her vocabulary grew, the Gardners noticed something extraordinary. Washoe began teaching the other youngsters the sign language she knew, and they were signing back correctly. With the help of the Gardners, Washoe and the others learned a sign language vocabulary of hundreds of words and expressions. Washoe became the first of her kind to learn a human language and teach it to another primate. Washoe and the others were all chimpanzees.

 

Sources:

1. “Friends of Washoe,” accessed February 22, 2026, https://www.friendsofwashoe.org/learn/chci_history/project_washoe_begins.html.

2. “Meet Tatu and Loulis—the last of the ‘talking’ chimpanzees,” National Geographic, accessed February 22, 2026, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/chimpanzee-sign-language-experiments.

3. “FOXP2 gene,” MedlinePlus.com, accessed February 22, 2026, https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/gene/foxp2/.

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Willie Mae Pennywell
07/19/1950 – 02/24/2026
Visitation: Friday, March 6 from 2:00 – 6:00 p.m. at Jenkins Funeral Home Chapel
Services: Saturday, March 7 at 1:00 p.m.at Jenkins Funeral Home Chapel

Sandra Isbell
December 4, 1955 ~ February 26, 2026
Details not available

DeSoto Parish Journal publishes paid obituaries – unlimited words and a photo, as well as unlimited access – $95. Contact your funeral provider or billvance.erg@gmail.com. (Notice of Deaths shown above are FREE of charge. You may email them to billvance.erg@gmail.com

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