Article Archives: Words with Woods

The Tyranny of Little Minds

May 23, 2013 | by CJ Woods III

In 1972 a young couple embarked on a trip to Acapulco, Mexico. They left from the Pittsburgh International Airport, where a jet-assisted propelled plane waited for them on the tarmac. Everyone scheduled to depart on that plane was on it, with the exception of the couple, who had been delayed … Read More

Grace Note

May 16, 2013 | by CJ Woods III

I was listening to someone being interviewed on a program on NPR (yes: I am that “I-heard-it-on-NPR” person) when the interviewee played and identified a grace note. I heard it at night while driving my car, and though I was laboring to change a section of my life, it brightened … Read More

The Squirrels of Orange Street

May 9, 2013 | by CJ Woods III

Squirrels littered the back yard of my house on Orange Street. They laughed at me when I came out there. They chittered in a walnut tree as I hammered another board onto the porch. My lard-butt lab, the yellow Allie, would give me a lifted eyebrow about the noise I … Read More

Crash

May 2, 2013 | by CJ Woods III

“It’s the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We’re always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we … Read More

Kiss the Babies

April 25, 2013 | by CJ Woods III

“Kiss the babies for me.” I was talking to an old friend, and she said this when we signed off. This is something that she has said for years — she knows my babies — but it was still amusing to hear. I have always identified my three children as … Read More