Life + Culture

From Father to Son to Son

Three generations built Selwood Farm on tradition, family, and the great outdoors Article by Blair Moore | Photography by Mary Fehr Some of the best stories are generations in the making. Such is the case at Selwood Farm, where a piece of farmland has become a living family legacy rooted in tradition and values. The property came to the Hill family in 1946, when O.V. Hill purchased it from the family who had settled there in 1834. A county extension agent and natural builder, O.V...

Life + Culture

I Thought I Was Fine

Reflecting on a year that changed everything Article by Jake Callahan | Photography by Mary Fehr It has been one year since I woke up from what I thought would be a routine procedure—only to learn that my reality had changed in an instant. What was expected to be a simple surgery turned into something far more serious: a diagnosis of colorectal cancer. That moment didn’t just alter my health. It reframed my life. Looking back, the signs were there. For nearly two years, I had been dealing...

Health + Wellness

The Physics of Feel

Thomas Twitty answers the one question every golfer is really asking Article by Kali McNutt | Photography by Clay Morrison The lab work wrapped up yesterday. Sensors, movement screens, and two hours of Thomas Twitty watching data tell the truth about golf motion. Today, the setting shifts from lab to fairway. Finn Burkholder, a college-bound senior from Houston, is walking the course with Twitty, putting yesterday’s findings into action. His father follows a few steps behind. Joining them is...

Life + Culture

Soul Man

Twenty years after winning American Idol, Taylor Hicks plays on Article by Kali McNutt | Photography by Mary Fehr From the Saw's Juke Joint parking lot, you can smell smoke, char, and something sweet. It's 10 a.m. on a Monday, and inside the restaurant, deliveries are unloaded and staff prep tables. Taylor Hicks, unhurried and genuinely warm, greets me like an old friend. For the photo shoot, he didn’t bring a guitar. He brought a harmonica — the same instrument that first made people stop...

Food + Beverage

The Umami Hour

At Current Charcoal Grill, Kendall Salgado reinvents a classic where sesame is the star Article by Kendall Salgado | Photography by Caleb Chancey The Shiro Goma Old Fashioned Ingredients: 2 oz Roasted Sesame-Washed Bourbon .25 oz Clarified White Miso Caramel Syrup 3 dashes Fee Brothers Black Walnut Bitters 4 drops of 10% Saline Solution Garnish: House-prepared Premium Nori Snack Method: 1. Add the sesame-washed bourbon, miso caramel, black walnut bitters, and saline droplets to...

Shopping

Celebrating 25 Years of GLS Supply in Alabama

Where It All BeganIn the early 1970s, two young men from modest beginnings crossed paths while working at a plumbing supply company. Neither had money, but both shared a strong work ethic and a willingness to learn the business from the ground up.George Sudderth and Mark Summerville spent years working side by side, learning every aspect of the plumbing supply industry while building a friendship and partnership that would eventually shape their future.After roughly a decade, they moved to Gayle...

Life + Culture

PEARLS OF WISDOM

Three residents of Kirkwood by the River share what time has taught them Article by Blair Moore | Photography by Ambre Amari Nan Wingo Nan Wingo, born in Birmingham in 1930, met her late husband James at Birmingham-Southern College. Their first date was a football game, followed by dinner, where their waiter sang Nat King Cole. Looking back over her 95 years, the advice she would give her younger self is simple: “Don’t sweat the small stuff. I can remember lying awake at night worrying...

Arts + Culture

Girls, They Wanna Have Fun

Maggie Smith is bringing intention back to entertaining—designing celebrations that feel personal, immersive, and anything but expected Article by Kali McNutt | Photography by Gracie Eddins There’s a difference between a party and a feeling, and Maggie Smith knows exactly where that line lives. “As soon as you walk into a room, you know,” she says. “It’s the lighting, the music, the service—you might not be able to pinpoint it, but that’s what makes or breaks a great party.” As the founder...

Beauty

HOW HOLLY GLOWS

Birmingham makeup artist Holly Sims shares the products behind her signature glow Article by Birmingham Lifestyle For some, wandering the aisles of Sephora in search of the perfect product can feel overwhelming. For Holly Sims, it’s always been the fun part. Even as a teenager, she was the one trying new things, testing products, and doing her friends’ makeup—drawn less to transformation and more to bringing out what was already there. Years later, while in pharmacy school, a friend...

Arts + Culture

The Art of the Swirl

Laura Penkava transforms paint, water, and silk into one-of-a-kind designs Article by Blair Moore | Photography by Mary Fehr A tray of thickened water sits on the table in Laura Penkava’s home studio, its surface dotted with drops of floating paint. With a small tool, she pulls the colors through the bath, watching them stretch and swirl into marbled ribbons of indigo, rust, and soft green. A length of silk is laid carefully across the surface. In seconds, the pattern transfers—a dreamy...