Editor’s note: This column, authored by Blake Guthrie, appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on November 9, 2025.
When he emailed permission to publish, he wrote this personal note to me…
“I have a lifelong love/hate relationship with Birmingham. Having grown up there, all I wanted to do was get the hell out as a young man. Now, I love coming back and seeing all the changes in the right direction.”Continue reading My love/hate relationship with Birmingham→
Bill Smith speaks on May 17, 2022 in Birmingham (William Thornton / wthornton@al.com)
By David Sher
I just finished listening to a podcaston how Chip and Joanna Gaines built a business empire and the extraordinary impact it had on Waco, Texas, their hometown.
Rodney Scott, left, and Nick Pihakis are pictured here at the opening of Rodney Scott’s Whole Hog BBQ in Birmingham, Ala., on Feb. 20, 2019 (Joe Songer/jsonger@al.com)
Frank Stitt, Owner & Executive Chef of Bottega Restaurant, Bottega Cafe, and Chez Fon Fon (al.com)Nick Saban, retired Head Football Coach at the University of Alabama (al.com)
By David Sher
Nick Saban likely never met Frank Stitt on a field or in a kitchen together, but they share something profound: both men fundamentally transformed their domains and elevated Birmingham and Alabama in the eyes of the nation. Continue reading Stitt and Saban fundamentally transformed Alabama→
There’s something undeniably magical about the moment Birmingham’s skyline comes into view as I make my way from the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport. Continue reading Birmingham: Dynamic and thriving→