June 2026 | Volume 17 | Issue 1
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Monier Emaish styles a client at Saxx Hair Design in Homewood, where he has owned the salon since 2009 which serves around 500 clients per month. Photo by Karim Shamsi-Basha.
From Jordan to Homewood, a life shaped by hands and heart By KARIM SHAMSI-BASHA On most mornings at Saxx Hair Design in Homewood, sunlight slips through the front windows in long, quiet beams, settling on mirrors, chairs and the quiet memory of yesterday’s work. The room is still, waiting for the day to begin. Before the first client arrives, before the hum of dryers and the rhythm of conversation fills the space, there is already a man moving gently inside it, awake to the day as it fully arrives. His hands are ready. They have been ready for more than four decades. For Monier Emaish, work has never been just that. It is rhythm. It is conversation. It is a way of staying connected to the world, one person at a time. And like everything in his life, it began when he was a young boy playing under the olive trees in Aqaba, a coastal city on the Red Sea in Jordan. The youngest of six children, Emaish’s home was shaped by faith, family and creativity. At the age of 5, he watched his much older brother, Hani, sit at a coffee table, painting with oils, a cigarette dangling from his lip, a cup of coffee nearby. The scene never left him.
Judith Wright has left the Homewood Public Library and returned twice — because for her, there’s no place like it By KELLI S. HEWETT If you think libraries are relics of shushing and silence, Judith Wright would like a word. “It’s not quiet,” said Wright, director of the Homewood Public Library since 2022. “We are kind of a community center and a hub for ideas, discovery, imagination — and you can’t do that and be quiet.”
See WRIGHT | page 22 Judith Wright has directed the Homewood Public Library since 2022, overseeing a calendar of more than 100 free events each month. Photo by Kelli S. Hewett.
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Class Acts
State Semifinal
The Homewood Chamber of Commerce honored five standout students and three essay winners.
Homewood and John Carroll high schools’ soccer programs saw their seasons end just short of a state championship.
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