For more, see Thicket’s Sept/Aug ‘09 issue.

There is a personal heritage part of searching your family history that, after you trace back to a certain time period, you have to travel personally to do the research. Read more >

Thicket Summer Issue Pinup from Thicket Magazine on Vimeo.

From my grandmother Mimi I've inherited a love of watching birds in the back garden. Under her corrugated plastic patio roof, suspended above the indoor-outdoor carpet, she hung a wooden bird feeder that attracted the bravest creatures. Read more >

Let me introduce you to two people who make this magazine possible. Amy Bickell, our art director, and Jason Wallis, our photo director, are the other two spokes of the Thicket creative wheel, and like other critical support (legs of a stool, cornerstones of a building), the magazine would not function without them. It is their artistic vision that you see in print every other month—it is their concept, from cover to cover, from font to photos, from color palette to lighting, from point size to point of view.

A little bit about these two: Amy has a deep background in publishing, with several years at Southern Living magazine, many more at UAB as a designer of their many publications, and currently a freelance designer working for several corporations and individuals. I heard about her from our copy editor Barry Wise Smith (another indispensable member of the Thicket team), and called her early on in the planning stages of the magazine. We clicked immediately, and after working early on with Paul Crawford, who functioned as our creative director the first year, Amy has now taken the helm of the magazine’s design and run with it.

Jason and I worked together on another magazine based here in Birmingham when he was a fledgling photographer looking to carve out his niche in the local creative field. Six years later he has become one of the region’s most talented, most sought-after photographers, recently winning Photographer of the Year from the Birmingham Ad Federation. He was also instrumental in early Thicket planning meetings as we identified the look we wanted and remains a crictical contributor in the creative process. Part of his job is to run our photo edit meetings (see pictures below, taken by Alan Barton, another Thicket family member), and good-naturedly tolerates the whims and opinions of Amy and me.

Design and photography are what that make excellent magazine stories shine; when done well, as they are done here, they enhance and illuminate the work that our writers do. It’s a difficult thing to pull off—to be original yet not overwhelming—but these two do it beautifully. As you read this issue, pay close attention to Amy and Jason’s work. I think you’ll agree that they are two of the best in the business.

Julie Keith

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Alabama Miracle - Helen Keller Museum

In one of the more encouraging signs that the Birmingham region is headed in the right direction—at least environmentally speaking in terms of quality of life for it's citizens—Turkey Creek Nature Preserve was officially opened this past weekend. Read more >

I stopped at Durbin Farms in Clanton on my way home from Montgomery today and asked how the peach crop looked this year. "Great!", answered the kind man checking me out at the register. Read more >

Bristol Palin is out promoting abstinence today (despite stats that say it's ineffective), and her former boyfriend is once again offering a counter-arguement on CBS. See video, read blog >