from the editor
I
ON THE COVER
High Notes
Olivia Jackson plays trumpet in the Homewood Patriot Band, which will march in the Rose Bowl Parade for the fifth time on Jan. 1, 2022. Photo by Lindsey Culver Design by Kimberly Myers
In my first job out of college and grad school, I’d take cubicle breaks and step outside for a few minutes. Fresh air is always refreshing, but some fall afternoons I’d get the extra surprise of hearing the beating of drums in a rhythmic cadence. Any echoes of marching band sounds are nostalgic for me, but over the years to come that I’d cover Homewood as a journalist, I’d learn that this wasn’t just any marching band sound I was hearing from Lakeshore Drive. The Homewood Patriot Band is a force, not just of numbers that are now a full one third (yes, one third) of the student body at Homewood High School, but of musicality and tradition. The longer I was around Homewood, the more I wondered just how band became so, well, cool in Homewood, and that’s just what I talked to its director Chris Cooper about in our cover story for this issue as the band prepares to go to its FIFTH Rose Bowl Parade this winter— because how could we not put a band story on the cover of a magazine that covers Homewood? (And props to photographer Lindsey Culver for rocking that photo too!) Be sure to give that story a read and plan to tune in to watch the parade on New Year’s Day at 4 p.m. on ESPN. And that’s just the start of this issue’s ode to Homewood as told through the stories of some of its people and places. We’ve got quite the dramatic before and after renovation story of a home on South Forrest that is likely familiar, and speaking of changes, Amy Holditch takes a look at the slow-smoked heritage of Little Donkey and its upcoming move to 18th Street. Further back you’ll find a storybook-like tale of a mailman whose smile lights up each street he visits. Plus, our annual Holiday Gift Guide is full of ideas for those who are both easy and hard to buy for on your list all while shopping local, and our Hit the Road feature this season takes you to three resorts in the Carolinas where you can be active in all kinds of off-the-beaten-path ways. Oh, and I can’t forget our interviews with Hall-Kent teacher and artist Donna Firnberg, Sorelle Café owner Joy Smith (have you checked out their grab-and-go food on Broadway?) and Shades Cahaba English learner teacher Alli Phelps, who just so happens to be Alabama’s Teacher of the Year Alternate this year. As football season wraps up and we head into Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year, here’s to all the rich stories that our community will continue to live and that our team at Homewood Life has the pleasure to share with you! Feel free to send ideas for them my way any time.
madoline.markham@homewoodlife.com
HomewoodLife.com 13
