CJ Woods III’s Story Archive

Hand Jive

December 12, 2013 | by CJ Woods III

“You must be a doctor, the way your goin’ after those hands,” a man said to me in the men’s room. The only comfort I could take in his observation is that he was waiting to get to the sink; this does not happen much in men’s rooms, and if … Read More

Where Is The Love?

December 5, 2013 | by CJ Woods III

My youngest daughter sent me a message saying that she was “going downtown” to serve meals to the homeless. She had cooked, served and eaten her own Thanksgiving meal and was preparing to serve those less fortunate. I was heart-swollen, and there might have occurred an incident of rain on … Read More

Jingle, Sing and Rejoice

November 27, 2013 | by CJ Woods III

There is a television commercial for a room air-freshener that has music that makes me lift my head, smile, and lip-sync. I am on record as one who finds our national rush to holiday spending a grumpy-maker: Ho-ho, whatever. But a section of my brain is dedicated to “all things … Read More

The Crash of Camelot

November 21, 2013 | by CJ Woods III

Fifty years ago a skinny high-school sophomore, wet from his after-gym shower, stood naked on a locker room bench, drying his body. He stood on the bench because he did not like to have his bare wet feet on the locker room floor. I remember that moment because, as I … Read More

Portrait of The Artist as a Pool Player

November 14, 2013 | by CJ Woods III

My new landlord asked if I had found a poolroom. At my lease signing I had told him that my research into neighborhoods included the locations of places to shoot pool. He told me of a place that he had visited, saying that it looked as if “there was a … Read More