By Emily Williams Samford University President Andrew Westmoreland, who has led the institution since 2006, will retire from the presidency effective June 30. According to an email Westmoreland sent to students, employees and alumni on Aug. 28, he announced his decision to the board of trustees during its Aug. 27 meeting. “Including our 15 years at Samford, Jeanna and I will … [Read more...]
Eco-Escape: Homewood’s Sims EcoScape Being Renovated to Make It More Useful to the Community
By Emily Williams Tucked away in a corner of Homewood’s Edgewood neighborhood, between blocks of houses, is a natural sanctuary that is a slice of Homewood history as well as an educational escape. When Amy Milam was hired in 2018 as the sixth caretaker of Sims EcoScape, she also became the first full-time manager of the five-lot property. Her job has been not only to … [Read more...]
Thanks for the Memories: Rob and Emily McDaniel’s New Restaurant Aims to Make You Feel at Home
By Donna Cornelius One of Birmingham’s newest restaurants doesn’t have dancing forks and spoons like the ones that sing out the welcome-to-the-table tune in “Beauty and the Beast.” But “Be Our Guest” could be the theme song for Rob and Emily McDaniel’s Helen in downtown Birmingham. Chef Rob’s favorite food memories of his grandmother and her cooking inspired the name of the … [Read more...]
Murphy’s Law: Drawing On Experience
By Sue Murphy Boy, have we had a lot to process lately! Unexpected changes, tangled up emotions – what is a body supposed to do with it all? Well, maybe put it on paper. Numbers are good. Numbers are useful and charts and graphs and actuarial predictions have their place, but it’s been my experience that alongside the adaptive, functioning adult in your brain, there is a … [Read more...]
From Border to Border: Homewood Friends Bike 2,700 Miles Through the Wild West During Challenging Road Trip
By Rubin E. Grant With their lives moving in divergent directions, five childhood friends from Homewood decided they wanted to do something together in case they couldn’t for a while. So, on July 12, Adam Westfall, Ian Ross, Thomas Gordon, Willis Wood and Reed Whetstone embarked on an arduous bike ride from the Canadian border below Calgary to the border of Mexico, taking an … [Read more...]