Almost every year, a student would ask me, in my course Comparative World History (Africa/Middle East): "Are God and Allah the same God?"

He was best known for a short pen name, "O. Henry." The man behind the stories, William Sydney Porter, was a complicated character with a sharp imagination. Porter wrote hundreds of stories in his short career and became one of the best-known short story writers of the twentieth century.

On January 1, 2025, the citizens of Fannin County were stunned by the news that one present and two previously elected county officials were indicted for theft of more than $150,000 but less than $300,000.

Louis Wigfall, an attorney, legislator, and later U. S. Senator from Texas, had many advantages in his life. However, his short fuse and alcoholism eventually wrecked his own life and brought disaster for Texas during the Civil War.

Naming this area the Gulf of the Americas would be a major step in understanding our neighbors and sharing a geographical understanding of our interrelatedness.

One person with the world in ways no one can imagine. One invention, coming from one person tinkering in a lab or workshop can go from science fiction fantasies to an indispensable part of modern life in only a short time now. Some of these remarkable devices, such as the integrated circuit and the hand-held calculator were largely the result of the dedication and imagination of one man, adopted Texan and Nobel Prize winner Jack Kilby.

It is time for us all to reflect on where we, Fannin County, find ourselves. Is the glass half empty or half full? What did we accomplish in 2024, what remains to be accomplished in the new year? We have an opportunity to guide the inevitable tide of development sweeping over our County, and structure our future accordingly. It is time for us to come together resolute to make Fannin County a better place.

One of the many crises in the Mid-East was called the 'Suez Canal Crisis' and it did not involve Palestinians.

Once Christmas has passed, the world looks to a new year. Many wonder what the new year will bring while planning their own ways of ringing in 2025.

Charles M. Schulz created a comic strip that captured the hearts of millions in the nearly 50 years that Peanuts ran in thousands of newspapers around the world.

At the time I am writing this op-ed on Friday, December 20, there is still some uncertainty about our government closing, about the new relationship between President Elect Trump and his advisor, Elon Musk, and many uncertainties about who will manage the various agencies of our government.

2025 will be a year of many changes. At the national level, we will have a Republican president, a Republican congress, and a Republican senate.