Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I’ve been busy shopping for and celebrating the holidays. And I’ve been busy at work as well. See just how busy when you peruse the new issue of UAB Magazine, now available online (and soon available to pick up at a rack in the central library downtown).

Be sure to take a look at “Green Dreams,” a story I wrote about Birmingham park plans past and present, beginning with the extensive park system planned for Birmingham in the 1920s by the famous Olmsted Brothers and continuing with the major park projects under way today, from the Railroad Reservation to Red Mountain, Ruffner Mountain, and the greenways. The online edition includes an audio slideshow (featuring the Olmsted maps and a more recent design plan for the Railroad Reservation Park) as well as short side articles discussing UAB’s under-construction Campus Green, the elements of the Olmsted plan that were realized, and the Olmsteds’ ideas for the land that became UAB. Naturally, I found this entire topic fascinating, and I really enjoyed writing the story and talking with the sources, particularly Marjorie White of the Birmingham Historical Society, who may actually literally know every detail about the city’s past. The article could’ve been pages longer! Let me know what you think and if you have questions–I might have the answers in my notes.