Columbus and the Valley Magazine

01/16/2026

This issue marks the final column from our longtime film contributor, Scott Phillips, who has shared years of knowledge, insight and pure love for the craft with our readers. We hate to see him go, but we’re so grateful for everything he’s given us and wish him nothing but a happy, well-deserved retirement. 🎬

We hope he has inspired many local cinema lovers to follow their dreams! Share some of your well wishes in the comments! 🎉

The Most Oscar Worthy Aspects of 2025 Films
Last-minute Oscar contenders are making their rounds at the multiplex with nominations scheduled to be announced on January 22, 2026.

Below is the list of my favorite performances, scenes, films, etc. from 2025. Consider it your personal watch list before the big ceremony on March 15th. Here are some highlights for your consideration:

• The devastating last two lines of George Clooney’s Netflix drama Jay Kelly
• Teyana Taylor’s dominance of the 162-minute One Battle After Another with only
19 minutes and 19 seconds of screen time

Read more here: https://issuu.com/columbusandthevalley.com/docs/january_february_2026_columbus_and_the_valley/61

01/15/2026

A Love Worth Waiting For
Sometimes love happens in unexpected ways; other times, its revelation is so obvious it feels like discovering a best friend that has been right beside you all along.

Sheri Breeden and Peter Bowden met while working together at a local radio station 40 years ago and developed a close friendship and camaraderie built around shared interests. As time went on, they came to enjoy each other’s company at work and a friendship developed.

“Music was a big part of us forming a friendship,” Sheri recalls. “We both really liked the promotional music that no one else at the station was listening to. Then we discovered we both like old movies,” she adds. Sheri was well known by her DJ name, Shelby Guest, but now in retirement she is going by Sheri but still answers to both.

“We’re both off-the-beaten-path type people,” Peter explains. “We’re both always marching to a different beat…A little quirky,” Sheri adds.

Read more here: https://issuu.com/columbusandthevalley.com/docs/january_february_2026_columbus_and_the_valley/15

01/14/2026

FORGED in the VALLEY: PART ONE: METALSMITHING

Iron Lady
Columbus native Elizabeth Brim moved to the North Carolina mountains to mine creative gold out of artistic steel. Elizabeth Brim was more than content when she entered the world of working artists as a part-time professor at then-Columbus College.

Fresh off graduating in the spring of 1979 with a masters of fine arts from the University of Georgia, Brim moved back to her hometown—where she was born at St. Francis Hospital, went to Hardaway High School and earned a fine arts degree as an undergrad—and was told by the late, great Columbus College art department icon Jamie Howard they would need a ceramics professor next year. While accomplished in painting, metalwork and printmaking at that point, Brim lacked experience in ceramics. So Howard suggested she go to the prestigious Penland School of Crafts and learn to make pottery.

The Bo Bartlett Center will have her work displayed from January 20 to April 25 with a public reception on March 26th from 6 to 8 p.m, with a screening of Iron Pearls, a retrospective film of Elizabeth, to begin at 7:30 p.m.

Read more here: https://issuu.com/columbusandthevalley.com/docs/january_february_2026_columbus_and_the_valley/58

01/14/2026

There's only a few tickets left to grab for this thought provoking event! You're not going to want to miss out!

Tomorrow is the day. TEDxColumbusStateU takes the stage tomorrow night, and we’re almost sold out. This is your final chance to be in the room for an unforgettable evening of ideas, inspiration, live performance, and powerful storytelling.

From original poetry and music to talks on creativity, leadership, resilience, and authenticity — this lineup is one you’ll be talking about long after the lights go down.

🎟 Last call for tickets — https://TEDxColumbusStateU.eventbrite.com

01/13/2026

Take a look a some local happy couples who tied the knot this past year! 💕

See all here: https://issuu.com/columbusandthevalley.com/docs/january_february_2026_columbus_and_the_valley/18

01/12/2026

✨ The new January/February "LOVE" issue of Columbus & The Valley is here! ✨

We’re kicking off 2026 (and our 35th year! 🎉) by celebrating love, legacy and life in the Valley. Inside this issue, you’ll find our yearly Wedding Gallery featuring 24 couples who tied the knot this past year, local heartfelt enduring love stories, inspiration to curate your perfect wedding day and our special section Medical Matters: In Sickness & In Health. Plus, we’re honoring our roots with a series of articles celebrating America's 250th starting with "Forged in the Valley," a look into traditional metalsmithing methods demonstrated at Westville and those that honed their craft as a hobby.

On the cover: Sheri and Peter Bowden on their wedding day.

📸: .b.wallace

Pick up your copy and fall in love with everything this issue has to offer. 💍🌸

Read our digital issue here: https://issuu.com/columbusandthevalley.com/docs/january_february_2026_columbus_and_the_valley

01/07/2026

Columbus State University Presents Alumni Awards
The CSU Alumni Association has recognized and awarded CSU alumni for 45 years. Recipients of the 2025 awards included:

Debbie Deal Moody ‘82
THOMAS Y. WHITLEY DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS AWARD

Mat Swift
FRANK D. BROWN ACHIEVEMENT
& LEADERSHIP EXCELLENCE AWARD

Brandon Cockrell ’99
Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Army for Energy & Sustainability DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS IN MILITARY/PUBLIC SERVICE

Karen King Cook ’95
Miracle Ride Volunteer and
public relations professional ALUMNI SERVICE AWARD

Brandon Lindley ‘09, ’15 Executive Director of IT Client Services & Administrative Operations, CSU University Information & Technology Services
EMPLOYEE APPRECIATION AWARD

Jason McKenzie ’09
Miracle Rider and Owner, Ride on Bikes ALUMNI SERVICE AWARD

Michael Sumuel ’07
American bass-baritone opera singer EXCELLENCE IN ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT

Sophie Wang ’16
Associate Concertmaster, Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Pops YOUNG ALUMNI AWARD

Ashley Woitena ’06 VisitColumbusGA President & CEO EXCELLENCE IN ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT

Jasmine Reid ‘15, ’17
Chair, CSU Black Alumni Council ALUMNI SERVICE AWARD

See more scenes here: https://issuu.com/columbusandthevalley.com/docs/november_december_2025_columbus_the_valley/67

01/05/2026

Valley Scenes 📸

St. Francis-Emory Healthcare Leader Receives ScionHealth’s Highest Award for Caregivers

Justin Fogt, Director of Cardiac Nursing Services, was honored with the Monarch Caring and Community Award. He was only one of three recipients recognized for exceptional caregivers from the health system’s 80-plus locations nationwide.

See more here: https://issuu.com/columbusandthevalley.com/docs/november_december_2025_columbus_the_valley/69

12/25/2025

12/19/2025

Let's take a look again at the new Rialto Transformation!

Home is Where the Heart Is

Expectations Met
Alayne smiles at the memory of how her husband would wake up, eager and giddy, at 4 a.m. to go meet the concrete trucks at the Rialto during its renovation. “He was very involved, excited to learn from the contractors and other team members.”
“You want to be there, you want to be very involved,” Jason adds, “so you can know exactly where your expectations lie.”
Clearly, expectations for an elevated Rialto Theater, its massive red-brick, 6,500 sq. ft. hull laid more than 100 years ago, were high. A bold vision now a reality has risen to meet them.
Jason says he “caught so much flack”
over the idea at first, outside observers doubting its viability due to the daunting size and scale the renovation required.

Read more here: https://issuu.com/columbusandthevalley.com/docs/november_december_2025_columbus_the_valley/42

12/17/2025

Let's take another look into the Cat's Meow but at her Pine Mountain Location!

Framing the Narrative

On a bright Saturday afternoon in September, her other cat Arnold sleeps curled up in an antique carriage, bathing in sunlight streaming in from the wavy-glass storefront window of the Cat’s Meow Pine Mountain location. Cable calls the carriage her kitty’s “throne.”
Cable purchased the property after considerable due diligence by owner Chad Kimbrough, whose family operated Kimbrough’s General Store for more than a century. Built in 1892 by King Brothers (firm of famed bridge engineer Horace King’s two sons), it features a red-brick front with a side made of massive chunks of granite pulled from the old rock quarry in what is today’s FDR State Park. High ceilings soar above interior walls, lined by a shelf accessed with an attached 12-foot ladder, which showcase Cable’s frames around works by her roster of artists—Gloria Mani, Katie Jacobson, Michele West, Sarah West, Rich Godfrey and Pete the Cat’s painter, James Dean.
The front half of the 2,500 square foot Cat’s Meow Pine Mountain location has aisles of retail wares “that is not random,” Cable says. “There’s a feel to it. Even if it’s not handcrafted, it’s something we liked at a factory we stopped at in Tipperary where scarves are made.” There are also old Kimbrough’s General Store displays, stationery, collectibles (such as carousel horses, a personal passion for Cable), imported wares, knick knacks and gifts.

Read more here: https://issuu.com/columbusandthevalley.com/docs/november_december_2025_columbus_the_valley/17

12/15/2025

Let's take a look back at our sit down interview with Author Allen Levi!

C&V: What enduring life lessons do you hope readers capture from Theo of Golden?
Levi: Remember, COVID was going on while I was writing the bulk of the book, and one of the things that dawned on me during that time is that we are made for incarnational presence with one another. We are not made to relate through screens or wires or pixels. This is my conviction. If there is an underlying theme the story embodied, it is that we love best, we live best and we enjoy life most richly when we are close enough to touch the people that mean the most to us.

You might remember there was a scene when Mrs. Gidley suggested, “Why don’t you just buy the portraits all at once, have a party, give them out and be done with it?” But Theo insisted he wanted to meet each person individually and be close enough to touch them, hear their story and ask questions. I think sometimes in my life, maybe in a lot of our lives, as busy as we are, we sacrifice personal contact for efficiency. But I think the old man in the book was insistent that we miss out on a lot when we try to live that way.

*Theo of Golden is now available in audiobook! Get it here: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Theo-of-Golden/Allen-Levi/9781668173107

Read more of his article with us here: https://issuu.com/columbusandthevalley.com/docs/november_december_2025_columbus_the_valley/34