CJ Woods III’s Story Archive

Do The Right Thing

January 16, 2020 | by CJ Woods III

“That’ll be three dollars, hon,” the woman told me. “Oh, it’s more than that,” I chuckled. I was in the convenience store attached to the gas station where I had gone to purchase a Sunday morning copy of The New York Times. The clerk was apparently not well acquainted with … Read More

Cooking With Imani

January 9, 2020 | by CJ Woods III

“Quick question,” my granddaughter said to me. The oven fan was humming above the stove in the kitchen where she was mixing, fixing and cooking. “Do you like your pasta al dente, or a little softer?” I was in New Jersey spending time with my eldest, my son-in-love and my … Read More

Intensely Personal

January 1, 2020 | by CJ Woods III

A new reader said to me that she found my columns to have been written from an “intensely personal” viewpoint. I mulled that over for a period of time before I admitted that she may be correct. The first words from me that were published in the Eastside Voice (now … Read More

We Are The World

December 19, 2019 | by CJ Woods III

“We are the world / We are the children…” “How many languages are you teaching her?” My youngest daughter’s best friend bopped into our home, gathered up my granddaughter, and posed that question to Lauren and me. I loved the sound of that because I am an advocate of listening … Read More

Fashion Intervention

December 12, 2019 | by CJ Woods III

One morning, I reached into the top drawer of one of my dressers and selected a black pair of extended leg boxer briefs; in the drawer below it, I picked out a gray t-shirt, which I paired with a gray Henley. I stood for a moment with the Henley and … Read More