CJ Woods III’s Story Archive

Bad Dreams, Bad Wolf

June 1, 2023 | by CJ Woods III

When my first granddaughter was about 4 years old, she developed a need to be reassured about her dreams at night. Her mother came up with a “bad dreams” song. When it was time for Imani to go to sleep, Lisa would sit on the bed beside her and softly … Read More

Save The Littles

May 25, 2023 | by CJ Woods III

My son sent me a text about a small adventure. He was in Irvington’s Ellenberger Park one Friday afternoon and noticed a shoe box under a tree. He has always been a curious person, willing to track down mysteries, and in that vein, he wrote, “I went to take a … Read More

Of Movies and Friends

May 18, 2023 | by CJ Woods III

This column first appeared in November 2017. For Nancy Mahanes, January 26th, 1936-May 9th, 2023 One of the Heartland Film Festival’s 2017 offerings was a documentary about the poet and agrarian activist Wendell Berry, some of whose work was familiar to me. Before I read Heartland’s catalog description of the … Read More

The Noun And The Verb

May 11, 2023 | by CJ Woods III

The owner showed me into the basement of a house that I was interested in renting. As we descended the steps, she pointed out a wooden sculpture of a Mallard, telling me that the previous tenant had left the bird there as a warning to tall people to bend their … Read More

To My Unknown Friend

May 4, 2023 | by CJ Woods III

“How did you let this happen to you?” The kindly worker at the Post Office near Shortridge and 10th streets smiled at me and turned away, chuckling under her breath. I had visited the station earlier in the day and a series of unfortunate incidents had made it necessary for … Read More