CJ Woods III’s Story Archive

Code Switching

July 22, 2021 | by CJ Woods III

“You have a good vocabulary,” the man said to my youngest daughter. Lauren responded, “My father is the Master of the Language.” The man’s sarcastic rejoinder was, “Self-described?” Lauren’s reply was to the effect that her father could back up the boast. When I was an artist for an electrical … Read More

CJ And The Bee

July 15, 2021 | by CJ Woods III

A friend’s e-mail asked if I could spell the word “murraya.” I laughed, thinking that practically every literate person could now spell the word after learning that 14-year-old Zaila Avant-garde spelled it correctly, and became the first African-American winner of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. I have plans to meet … Read More

In The Cards

July 8, 2021 | by CJ Woods III

When I was in my late teens, my friend taught me to play a card game called Spades. It was a partnership, “trick-taking” game that is a stepchild of the classic game of Whist. I didn’t often play Spades – I was just glad to know a card game that … Read More

Those Who Can, Do

June 24, 2021 | by CJ Woods III

A character in a TV series that I was gorging on said to another person that he always believed that teaching was what you did when you could do nothing else. The man was speaking to a woman who had piqued his interest and the statement he made to her … Read More

Water Watcher

June 17, 2021 | by CJ Woods III

My roommate daughter carefully assembled a small wading pool on the front lawn of our house and filled it with water. The pool was purposely placed within my sightline from my “keeper of the community, watcher of the world” position on the front porch. When the pool was full, Lauren … Read More