By Chanda Temple

When people visit Birmingham and its surrounding areas, they crave two things: a taste for rich history and a plate full of unforgettable flavors. Lucky for you, residents have provided a list of their local favorites, grouped on where they are in the metro-Birmingham area.

AVONDALE 

Avondale Common House

Big Spoon Creamery 

Joyland 

The Marble Ring 

Saw’s Soul Kitchen 

Son’s Donuts 

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By Chanda Temple 

When things got tough, Atlanta artist Lauren Lane turned to painting. 

Through strokes of vibrant oranges, greens and blues, she painted through the worries and pains of family health challenges, a difficult workload and the self doubt of “Is my art good enough.” 

Never one to break, she placed her trust in God. And He delivered. 

Atlanta artist Lauren Lane said this piece was inspired by Joseph from the Bible and his multi-colored coat. She’s at Magic City Art Connection 2024 at Sloss Furnaces. (Photo by Chanda Temple)

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By Chanda Temple

Losing her husband to a massive heart attack was gut-wrenching for Candace Chandler. Then, one month later, she miscarried the couple’s first baby.

Another gut-wrenching moment.

Experiencing the back-to-back losses in 2017 left Chandler lost, confused and severely depressed.

“I said, ‘Lord, I can’t do this anymore.’ I wanted to give up,’’ she said. “I went from being at the mountaintop to the valley.”

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By Chanda Temple

When Birmingham native Jessica S. Smith, founder of “Jess Ask,” the podcast  and Emmy winner and social media star Tabitha Brown took the stage at the Lyric Theatre on Feb. 3 in Birmingham, AL, they enriched the evening by dropping pearls of inspiration, wisdom and empowerment. Near the end, Brown commended Smith on a job well done.

“I’m so grateful you said, ‘yes,’’’ Brown told Smith, recalling how she first asked her to be a part of the event. “You have been amazing. ‘Honey, (doesn’t) it look like she belongs in this space?’ She’s doing what God has called her to do.’’

“So, I pray that whatever it is that you dream, whatever it is that you imagine, that God makes it 10 times even bigger than it is, honey.’’

“I appreciate you. I see you. And God sees you. He hears you. So, don’t ever forget, and don’t ever doubt it. It’s all over you, honey,’’ Brown told Smith.

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By Chanda Temple

On June 10, 2022,  Pyper Brown was feeling good. Really good.

It was her 28th birthday, and it was also the day she and five designers were set to compete in Magic City Fashion Week, a public fashion show that highlighted up-and-coing designers.

Although Brown said the Birmingham crowd cheered for her avant-garde designs, she didn’t win.

Despite the loss, Brown still celebrated with family and friends. “You can’t just let stuff like that take advantage of the moment you had,’’ said the West End resident, now 29. “It was still a good experience. It just didn’t end the way that we wanted it.’ 

But from that one night, Brown gained different kinds of wins.

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Birmingham barber cuts his way into Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 set

By Chanda Temple

When West End native Tommy “TJ” Dudley Jr. was 22 years old, he told a barber shop owner that he wanted to be a barber.

Dudley’s interest in being a barber was met with doubt and discouragement with the owner telling him, “Naw, this ain’t for you’’ and that Dudley had waited too late in life to start a new career.

But Dudley didn’t let the negativity cloud his vision. The next day, he enrolled in barbering school at Lawson State Community College in Birmingham.

“I don’t know if (what the shop owner said) was motivation. But I do know that I don’t like people telling me what I can’t do,’’ said Dudley. “So, it was just like, ‘Let me prove to you I can do this.’ ’’

Today, the 38-year-old Dudley owns two, local barber shops, King’s Grooming Lounge and has been in demand to cut hair in Hollywood.

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Ramsay graduate conquers adversity on road to Miss Collegiate America crown

Birmingham Mayor Randall L. Woodfin and Kennedy Whisenant (Photo source: City of Birmingham)

By Chanda Temple

Ramsay High School graduate Kennedy Whisenant has been competing in pageants since she was 15 years old.

Now at the age of 21, she admits she’s lost more competitions than she’s won.

But in June 2022, all those loses prepared her for the biggest win of her pageant career, and that was being crowned Miss Collegiate America, a scholarship program for female students enrolled in a continuing education program. As a student at Clark Atlanta University, Kennedy’s national win gave her a $10,000 scholarship, a Jeep and a deep sense of knowing that God’s timing is always right on time.

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Dietrich is set to bring his brand of Southern storytelling to Birmingham library event

By Chanda Temple

On a recent Tuesday morning in a Birmingham area park, Sean Dietrich is training his newly adopted dog. which is blind.

Her name is Marigold the Magnificent, and she’s become somewhat of a celebrity. She was blinded from abuse and left abandoned behind a tire shop in Mississippi. When Sean found out about her last month, he took in Marigold. Since then, Sean has written about Marigold’s rescue and rehabilitation, earning thousands of likes about her on his social media pages and website, http://www.seandietrich.com.

“I have a soft spot for the underdog, literally, because I am the underdog,’’ he said. “Watching a creature who has been trivialized, find themselves, if you will, all of a sudden become something very valuable, very special, not just to me but to other people, that means a lot to me. I’d like to prove the person who hurt her, wrong.’’

Sean, a novelist, columnist and podcast host who is commonly known as “Sean of the South,’’ offers commentary on life in the American South. He not only writes about Marigold, but also his love of Waffle House, the people who write him for advice and more. In March 2022, he and his wife of 18 years, Jamie, moved to Avondale. New in town, Sean even wrote about getting a library card at the Birmingham Public Library.

On Thursday, Oct. 13 at 6:30 p.m., Sean will return to the downtown library to share some of his stories, bring Marigold and sign copies of his newly-published book, “You Are My Sunshine.’’ The memoir provides humorous details of how Sean and Jamie cycled from Pennsylvania to Washington, D.C. and the interesting people they met along the way. (Reservations for this free event have sold out.)

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