Rod Campbell can’t avoid carrying his excitement out in public, projecting it onto virtually every child he sees.

Deep in the night, or perhaps early in the morning of Jan. 25, Calhoun County moved … or rather “shifted” to use the proper idiom of those in charge of such things. In fact, all of Alabama, as well as the entirety of the United States, shifted.

The celebration began a week after the iconic singer was found dead, half submerged, in her hotel bathroom. Whitney Houston’s sudden death wasn’t necessarily the reason family, friends and the Hollywood elite gathered at the New Jersey Baptist Church of her childhood for a four-and-a-half-hour, invitation-only funeral.

Back in the early 1980s, avid gardeners Bob and Martha Sargent noticed an increasing number of hummingbirds visiting their backyard in Clay. The more of the delicately beautiful birds they saw, the more enthralled they became.

Amy thought it would stop. She didn’t respond to the taunts, the name-calling, the anonymous Facebook posts, the whispered insults or the drama. She didn’t fight back. She kept her mouth shut, believing the other girls would get bored and eventually leave her alone. It only got worse.

The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is the Super Bowl of the four-legged, tail-wagging sect. On Monday and Tuesday, dogs of all breeds will prance around New York City’s Madison Square Garden, dressed in their Sunday best, while tuxedoed judges make silent critiques based on poise, personality and everything on the pooch’s body from teeth to tail.

Will Owsley knew it was a good song. His family knew it too, that’s why they asked “Threaten Me with Heaven” be performed at Owsley’s funeral.