Today's Wall Street Journal has a whole section on "The Future of Transportation," and the lead story is entitled "The End of Car Ownership." Come again? The thesis is "Ride sharing and self-driving vehicles will redefine our relationship with cars." My relationship with cars is just fine, thank you very much.

Reputable sources for international news report that the newly elected President Moon Jae-in of South Korea ran on a platform that included seeking peace with North Korea.

I am a fairly new septuagenarian, but I should have known better. But I made the mistake of bragging to my granddaughter that I did cartwheels when I was young, and she wouldn’t let it go. She. wouldn’t. let. it. go.

Summer has arrived in the Red River Valley with a vengeance. Our lives go from air-conditioned homes to air-conditioned cars, to air-conditioned offices, to air-conditioned stores, and back again. No doubt air-conditioning has made Texas a more livable place. But like most advancements, there is a trade off. We gain on one side of the balance sheet, and lose something on the other side.

As we drove around central Illinois last week, our trek took on the character of a presidential tour. We set out to spend some time in cities and towns that had played key roles in the life and career of Dr. Redshaw, but any time we are in Springfield a visit to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library is almost obligatory. The excellent facilities are matched by interesting exhibits that are regularly updated with special events, making it the best attended of all the presidential libraries.

My dad and me

My family's tradition of holding hands during prayer began almost a lifetime ago.

After 20 years in the men's clothing business, I learned that truly successful people dress like mental patients. Prince Charles is a prime example. He constantly shows up in public wearing ludicrous Sergeant Pepper-style outfits featuring hats with enormous feathers. Or he'll visit some remote fungal nation and cheerfully wear ritual native vegetation around his neck.

The naturally occurring groundwater that is a vital part of the ecosystem that makes up the unique red soil area of Fannin County is being destroyed by the sand mining companies.

The naming of subdivisions, apartment complexes, and even office buildings has become a growth industry. When the ad guys and branding managers get into it, the result can only a financial elevator for the buyers.

When I try to remember what I learned in school, it's rare that a specific subject or set of facts comes to mind. I remember in Mrs. King's fifth grade class we memorized a list of prepositions that started with "about, above, across," but that’s as far as I can get.

About forty years ago we traded our old Volkswagen Beetle for our first piece of new furniture: a mauve sofa. It was roughly the shade of Pepto-Bismol, but because it represented to us a substantial investment, we thought "mauve" sounded better.

People often say that gerrymandering is causing extremism in America. On March 11, 2017 a federal appeals court ruled that several current districts in Texas were gerrymandered to decrease the influence of minority voters. (illustration by Steven Nass)