Book excerpt: JOHN RANDALL TABOR grew up in north Louisiana in the town of Homer. In 1962 he earned a bachelors degree in English education at Louisiana Tech. In 1968 he was awarded a masters degree in journalism from Louisiana State University. For thirty-three years he taught English composition and news writing at LSU in Shreveport, where he also was director of information services and director of alumni affairs. In addition, Tabor was president of the Ark-La-Tex chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi. From 20022003 he wrote a weekly column for The (Homer) Guardian-Journal newspaper and throughout his career he has published a number of feature articles, one of which won first place at the Deep South Writers Conference. He currently lives in the village of Bethany, Louisiana, where he is working on a novel, The Glorious Weight of the Noonday Sun.