Remonstrations

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....

Traveling reflections

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...

Grandchildren

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...

Monsters and zombies

By Dr. Jim Ferguson Fall is finally here and the chill will turn our unseasonably green tree leaves to warmer colors of orange, red and gold. Leaves are green because of chlorophyll a pigment that absorbs and transfers light energy from the sun and transforms carbon...

Paying attention

 By Dr. Jim Ferguson One thing that really irks my wife is people who walk on the wrong side of the road. Folks, it’s dangerous to walk with your back to oncoming traffic. And it is especially dangerous for pedestrians when cars pass each other and have to choose...

Standing in the gap

By Dr. Jim Ferguson Perhaps by the time you read this essay, my daughter in Portland, Oregon will be bringing her second daughter into the world. And what a landscape awaits my fifth grandchild. Antifa blocks city streets in Portland and accosts citizens. Becky and I...