CJ Woods III’s Story Archive

Black Men Can’t Hoop

June 9, 2016 | by CJ Woods III

“So, Dad: when will my black genes kick in concerning basketball?” My son, (whose mother is not black) was about 20 years old when he asked that question. He is a musician, a drummer who liked to  drum on all surfaces; the question filtered its way through the sound of … Read More

Protect and Serve

June 2, 2016 | by CJ Woods III

Early in 2010 a man and his daughter were on the side of the road near Xenia, Ohio, changing a flat tire. They were returning to Indiana from a visit to Maryland when the yawing of the car signaled distress to a tire, which was flapping as the car edged … Read More

Zoom, Zoom, Girl

May 26, 2016 | by CJ Woods III

I saw a picture of a great–looking car on (wait for it…) a social media site. A young girl was standing in front of the car, beaming and holding a plaque that memorialized the car’s first-place win. The car belongs to a man I know from my pool-playing league. Since … Read More

Children of a Greater Fear

May 19, 2016 | by CJ Woods III

During visits with their divorced father at Christmas-time, I would take my two youngest children to Pittsburgh, Penn., to visit my mother. “Grammy Ike” had a computer with games on it, and my son, Chris, would beeline to it; Lauren liked to sit and talk to her grandmother, who would … Read More

I Run into Music

May 12, 2016 | by CJ Woods III

When I was 8, my father introduced me to a man named “Dizzy,” which I thought was a funny name for an adult. Fourteen years later, I knew who jazz trumpeter John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie was, and when I was strolling through downtown Pittsburgh with my new bride, we came … Read More