CJ Woods III’s Story Archive

Resolutions

December 31, 2025 | by CJ Woods III

We are on the cusp of a new year, the year 2026 according to the Gregorian calendar. Many of us have developed a habit of making “New Year’s Resolutions,” notes designed to improve on the lives that we live, or to change the habits that we now eschew. I remember … Read More

Let There Be Joy

December 18, 2025 | by CJ Woods III

When I was an Art Director roaming the halls of the Famous Barr department store in St Louis Missouri, I was in the habit of saying to everyone I met, “Peace. Love. Understanding.” Of course, I was known to have some eccentricities, such as spontaneous outbursts of singing, and mass … Read More

The Ice Not Taken

December 11, 2025 | by CJ Woods III

Mother Nature chuckled as we in the Midwest gloried in the mild temperatures of our fall and early winter. We strode the streets and sidewalks of our neighborhoods, and in my North Irvington neighborhood, dogs pulled their humans behind them. And then, with a great cackle and flourish, Mother Nature … Read More

Encounter

December 4, 2025 | by CJ Woods III

“1 July ’43,” the man said to the clerk. He asked her if she had seen the movie “The Bridge Over the River Kwai.” She crafted a small smile, glanced around nervously and replied that she had. “You have?” There was delight in his voice, and the man raised a … Read More

Finding Reasons For Thanks

November 26, 2025 | by CJ Woods III

In his poem “The World Is Too Much With Us,” William Wordsworth wrote “We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!” Many analyses of the poem have concluded that Wordsworth was raging against the materialism of the First Industrial Revolution (the latter part of the 18th century through the … Read More