There are moments, experiences, that change us forever. One of mine was the arrival of my draft notice. Serving in the military gave me a heightened work ethic. I went from flunking out of Boise Junior College prior to military service to making the honor roll at the University of Idaho. Dreams can change our lives. In a dream that I was in imminent danger of drowning, my last thought was that I should have done more to help other people. It was the inspiration for volunteering at a homeless shelter. The 9/11 attack, horrifying as it was, changed us for the better in some ways. It united us, made us safer. We became more vigilant. Our intelligence community has since…
Tim Woodward is a longtime Idaho columnist. His columns appear one Sunday a month, often more frequently, in The Idaho Press and are posted on woodwardblog.com the following Mondays.
Posts by Tim Woodward
Tim Woodward’s new columns will alternate with Woodward Classics for the duration of the pandemic. This one originally appeared in The Idaho Statesman. The Notus High School varsity basketball team, seven strong, filed from the darkness of its locker room to the bright lights of the basketball court at Marsing High School. A group of small boys stopped to watch as they passed by. “You guys are gonna’ lose,” one of the boys said. “So what?” one of the players replied. The little boys didn’t know what to say. Almost anything else would have been expected. “So what” left them speechless. The mood in the Notus locker room had not been ebullient. Five of the team’s 12 players, including…
Tim Woodward’s new columns will alternate with previously published “Woodward Classics” for the duration of the pandemic. All writers dream of seeing their books in print. It’s never been easy, and in today’s publishing world it’s more difficult than ever. Ken Scherer and Ted Bohlman learned that the hard way. Their efforts to get their book printed are a study in frustration. They never gave up, though, and today their book is a reality. Scherer and Bohlman, both of Boise, are the authors of “The Sixth Angel,” a murder mystery. A couple of years ago, they asked me to read and critique their manuscript. I thought it was as good as some books I’ve read by well known mystery writers. If…
( My new columns are alternating with old ones for the duration of the pandemic. This one was originally published in 2012.) With due respect for Time magazine and Barack Obama, my vote for Person of the Year for 2012 is Dorothy Peachock. Dorothy and her husband, Phil, are the former owners of a music store in Kent, Ohio. Spin-More Records closed last spring and is selling some of its inventory online. One of the records – the only one for sale in the U.S. – was a record I’d wanted forever and bought immediately. The package containing it, stamped with Dorothy’s name and return address, arrived just in time for Christmas. Opening the carefully packed box, I momentarily succumbed to doubts. Could…
(Tim Woodward’s current columns will alternate with previously published “Woodward Classics” for the duration of the pandemic.) For many of us who worked there, this month’s news that The Idaho Statesman building will become a storage facility was like hearing that the house where you grew up will become a telemarketing center. The Statesman building, at 1200 N. Curtis Road in Boise, has been sold an Eagle company that will convert it to storage units. Its new name will be StoreLocal. Nothing against StoreLocal, but it’s a bittersweet transition for a building that housed the state’s largest newspaper for nearly half a century. The Statesman and the company that owns it, like most of the newspaper industry, can use the…
(My current columns and older ones will alternate from now on during the pandemic. This one originally was published in The Idaho Statesman in 2007.) Expect to see me any day now in shorts with legs roomy enough to accommodate a small family. On my feet will be shoes Bozo the Clown would have envied. Beneath the shorts with legs the size of pup tents will be the ultimate indignity – a thong. That’s what we’ve come to in men’s fashions. Fashion has always been dictated by young people, of course, mainly teens and twenty-somethings. And that’s fine. They’re the ones who look best in clothes anyway. But why should the rest of us have to wear what…
(My current columns and older ones will alternate from now on during the pandemic.) One of the most unforgettable musicians I’ve ever known has played his final note. A friend for many years, Russ Martin died at 67 of ALS, Lou Gehrig’s Disease. He was one of the most vital, most alive people you could hope to meet. His enthusiasm for life, his passion for music, his twinkling blue eyes and the smile that lit his face like a light on a dark stage … no one who knew him well will ever forget those things about him. We met more than 30 years ago. I was getting into playing in a band again after a long layoff and contemplating…
(My current columns and older ones will alternate from now on during the pandemic. The “Woodward Classics” originally were published in The Idaho Statesman. Many are humor columns. In times like these, we need humor.) I’m writing this in the Spokane airport. I don’t ever want to see the Spokane airport again. Or any other airport. It’s 5:30 a.m. I’ve been traveling for 39 hours and counting. I’ve had seven hours of sleep in the last 48, and if anyone says “fogged in” again I’m going to set my ticket on fire and hitchhike home. The trip began in Florida, where a friend and I went for a wedding. We skipped dinner after the wedding to drive to the airport for…
If in March someone had said it would be October before I wrote another column, I’d have guessed that I’d been in an accident or suffered one of the worst cases of writer’s block in history. A pandemic never would have occurred to me. It’s good to be writing for you again. It was fun reprising some old columns while new ones were suspended, and it was great to hear from readers who said they enjoyed them, but now it’s time to get back to work. The suspension isn’t entirely over – new and old columns will alternate for a while – but it’s a start. What a different world it is from the relatively innocent one that existed when…
(My regular column is suspended during the pandemic, but we’re running some old ones I thought readers might enjoy. They originally were published in The Idaho Statesman. Many are humor columns, slightly modified, from the 1980s. In times like these, we need humor.) No one can ever accuse Boise Mayor Dirk Kempthorne of a lack of salesmanship. The mayor is planning a trade mission to Taiwan, where he said he will be “looking forward to opening doors for local businesses to expand into new markets. … We must become more aggressive in promoting the sale of local products other than agricultural goods.” Kempthorne is one of nine mayors chosen by the U.S. Conference of Mayors to visit Taiwan, courtesy of a…