Pandemic Pleasures: How to Make a Violet Simple Syrup
There is nothing good about the devastation, the loss of life, and the havoc that is the COVID-19 pandemic right now, but we can use this time of isolation to find moments of connection- if we know where to look. Springtime obviously DGAF about the petty...
In Memoriam Gloria Jean Babcock 1963-2020
My baby, you are supposed to have the most glorious Victorian Voodoo Viking funeral New Orleans has ever seen- your body, perfumed and afloat on a boat full of roses, set aflame on the Mississippi and set out to sea. We should be keening and wailing at the gates of...
On Sobriety and Self Love
On New Year’s Day in years past, I had a long-standing tradition of hosting an open-house backyard-bonfire party, welcoming the whole world with black-eyed peas, collard greens, cornbread, and bourbon, always the bourbon. Today, New Year’s Day 2020, I’m happily...
On Folly
In March of this year- exactly a month after signing the papers that transferred ownership of Short Street Cakes (the business that was my heart and soul for 10 years) to my dear friend and former employee, Olga Perez- I embarked on a writing retreat on Folly Beach in...About Jodi Rhoden
Jodi Rhoden, LCSW, CAADC is a Philadelphia-based therapist, writer, and organizer. Jodi earned her Master of Social Work degree and Certified Advanced Alcohol and Drug Counselor license in 2022 and her LCSW in 2025. Jodi works as a therapist specializing in attachment, addiction, and trauma healing. Jodi is the founder and former owner of Short Street Cakes in West Asheville, and the author of Cake Ladies: Celebrating a Southern Tradition (Lark Books, 2011).