Article Archives: Words with Woods

E-mail From a Stranger

March 28, 2013 | by CJ Woods III

I got an e-mail from a stranger the other day. I did not recognize the name of the sender, but still, I opened it. I was one of ten recipients, and we were all advised to mobilize for the “ham dinner.” This is the thing about the age in which … Read More

Words, Phrases & Sports

March 21, 2013 | by CJ Woods III

By the time this column appears in print, “March Madness,” the term adopted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to describe the basketball tournament it has developed into a spectacularly lucrative business, will be a full-blown epidemic. Official play opened on March 19th, and will end with “one shining … Read More

All Watchdogs, Great and Small

March 14, 2013 | by CJ Woods III

I was sitting in my friend’s kitchen when his “dog alarm” went off. Max The Maltese was barking in the living room. I bent down to touch him: “Keeper Of The Community, Watcher Of The World,” I said. Bill’s brother laughed and mocked the Maltese: “Oh, look, CJ! A leaf … Read More

Memories Hide In Corners Of My Mind

March 6, 2013 | by CJ Woods III

“I think I’m getting Alzheimer’s” my mother said, peeling potatoes at the pass-through window in her tiny kitchen. I was startled, but asked her why she thought so. “Because I forget things,” she said. I smiled. “You’ve been doing that since I was five,” I told her. Which was true: … Read More

Don’t Sicky, Be Happy

February 28, 2013 | by CJ Woods III

I was removing the paper from a mentholated, cough suppressing oral analgesic when I noticed a message written on the wrapping: “High five yourself.” What? I had gobbled a ton of those drops without once reading the wrapping. When I spread it out, I found other sayings. This past December, … Read More