by design | Dec 10, 2018 | Columnist, Ferguson
By Dr. Jim Ferguson Good storytelling is a practiced art, like writing. My wife’s cousin, Sam, is an accomplished spinner of yarns, and I am a better writer now after penning a half million words. As I work on the second novel in my planned science fiction trilogy, I...
by design | Dec 3, 2018 | Columnist, Ferguson
By Dr. Jim Ferguson Sometimes I think I’ve figured things out, at least some things. However, certainty is an elusive, relative and transient thing. As soon as you think you might have it, it slips through your fingers like clutching a handful of beach sand. The...
by design | Nov 26, 2018 | Columnist, Ferguson
Every week my stories are made possible by the staff of The Knoxville Focus and my wife, Becky, who serves double duty as my editress. I appreciate strong and thoughtful women, so this week welcome the other half of our team: essayist Becky! By Becky Ferguson I...
by design | Nov 19, 2018 | Columnist, Ferguson
By Dr. Jim Ferguson Southerners are generally a friendly bunch, certainly by comparison to, for instance, New Yorkers or Parisians during the late summer tourist onslaught. My son-in-law from Ohio tells the story of our trip to pick up a boxer for the farm tractor....
by design | Nov 12, 2018 | Columnist, Ferguson
By Dr. Jim Ferguson One my travel axioms (sayings) is, “Get on a plane, rent a car and you can see the world.” Having visited four continents and after a dozen sojourns in Europe, my wanderlust has dissipated, but not gone altogether. The picture above is a view of...
by design | Nov 5, 2018 | Columnist, Ferguson
By Dr. Jim Ferguson By the time you read this essay I will be in Portland, Oregon to see my new granddaughter, and, of course, her now big sister, Cleo. It’s hard to be contemporaneous when an essay has to be written the week before it runs in The Focus. However, I’m...
