Condi's Cool

The Birmingham News provides a nice portrait of Secretary of State nominee Condoleezza Rice today.

Parnell Jones received a phone call in March 2001 that stirred new energy, though he lay in a hospital, struggling to recover from one of his many illnesses.

On the other end of the line was someone he still calls his "baby." The longtime Titusville resident and retired Birmingham school principal, now 87, remembers the days when Condoleezza Rice helped in the office at Hill School and represented the school playing piano, singing and speaking at programs in the community.

That phone call showed Jones that Rice, now President Bush's national security adviser, remembered him, too.

"When she was in town, someone told her I was sick. She is a very, very busy woman, but she took the time to call me. ... Yes, me, just to say she remembers and she cares."