CJ Woods III’s Story Archive

Barefootin’

June 26, 2025 | by CJ Woods III

On June 3rd, 2025, my neighbor and I walked around the block, looking for the fire trucks that we had seen. The trucks had just passed the “hot corner” intersection of East St Joseph Street and North Hawthorne Lane; the sirens were not blaring, but a bright red spiral of … Read More

Touching and Hitting

June 19, 2025 | by CJ Woods III

When my first child was very young and her mother and I would guide her actions, one of the cautions that we used with her was to “be gentle,” especially when she was overexcited and would slap at those who were trying to calm her. We would rub our hands … Read More

Intensely Personal

June 12, 2025 | by CJ Woods III

This column first appeared in January 2020. 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 … Read More

Community

May 29, 2025 | by CJ Woods III

On May 18th, 2025, the choral group Harmony Collected had a concert in the sanctuary of the Irvington Presbyterian Church. Dr. Webb Parker, the Founding Executive and Artistic Director of the Irvington Arts Collective, waved his invisible wand and directed an outflow of songs from the choir members and music … Read More

Nest Trilogy

May 22, 2025 | by CJ Woods III

This column first appeared in the July 22, 2016 issue. A robin blasted past my head when I neared my mailbox, landed on a branch of a nearby tree and directed a series of complaints at me. It was late in May, and I realized that I had been strafed … Read More