Wendy Hodge Articles

Top Hat Tackles Food Insecurity

CONTRIBUTED BY WENDY HODGE OPELIKA —“There are people in the world so hungry that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.” - Mahatma GandhiOpelika and Auburn are blessed. We have restaurants, cafes, delis, bakeries, bistros, coffee shops, mega grocery...

The Turkey Is Dead, and Santa Is Too Skinny

By WENDY HODGE My grandmother’s coffee table was a polished walnut, smooth to the touch. It was an antique even then, 50 years ago. And on it sat the inevitable coffee table book. Hers was a collection of Norman Rockwell paintings. From time to time, I would enter...

Oh Christmas Tree!

By WENDY HODGE Forget the midterm elections and the political campaigns. The real question, the one that is truly on everyone’s mind (whether they admit it or not), is this: “When is it too early/late enough to put up my Christmas tree?” Typically, the people asking...

Marigold and Cadillac

Times are tough. There’s no denying it. Suffering isn’t hard to find, and if you dwell on it for more than a minute or two it can be hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But I have come to lean on these words more and more lately:  “Although the world...
Cracker Barrel

Cracker Barrel

By WENDY HODGE It’s amazing what you may find if you wait about a year and a half to clean out your purse. This past weekend, when I could no longer...

read more
Cracker Barrel

The Wee Small Hours

By WENDY HODGE Alexander McCall Smith wrote “At night we are all strangers, even to ourselves.” Tonight I am relearning the truth in that. I have...

read more
Cracker Barrel

Without Words

By WENDY HODGE Occasionally there are days when I sit in front of a blank screen with only a blinking cursor and the silence of my thoughts to keep...

read more
Cracker Barrel

Carpe Diem

By WENDY HODGE Christmas is behind us. All the gifts are opened, and all that’s left of the feasts are leftovers in second-hand Cool Whip and...

read more
Cracker Barrel

CHRISTMAS LAGNIAPPE

By WENDY HODGE This past weekend, I spent a couple of hours sitting in the living room floor surrounded by a dozen rolls of wrapping paper, a couple...

read more
Cracker Barrel

QUIET

By WENDY HODGE It’s that time of year again. I love Christmas and the whole month from Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve – all the planning and buying...

read more
Cracker Barrel

HELPER PART III

By WENDY HODGE Let me see … Where did I leave off? … Oh, yes — I stood huddled with my sister’s best friend, a terrified girl whose sister had been...

read more
Cracker Barrel

HELPER PART II

By WENDY HODGE When last we met, I was parked on the access road next to the local park in my town — the Monkey Park, as all Opelikans know it —...

read more