That’s us at the Drummond Thomas Montessori school, one of several gigs last week.

Whitney and I visited four different classes at Drummond Thomas Montessori School in Chicago last Wednesday morning. After I told one class that even when my eyes are open, all I see is the color black, one preschooler wondered, “Then how do you know when you’re tired?”

I can tell you this much: I’m pretty tired right now! Stimulated, too –Whitney and I traveled nearly 500 miles last week giving presentations everywhere from Central Illinois to Milwaukee, Wisconsin:

• Tuesday we were in Champaign, Ill., giving a guest lecture in an animal sciences class at the University of Illinois
• Wednesday we were at that Montessori School
• Thursday we spoke to students enrolled in a disability studies class at DePaul University here in Chicago
• Friday we took an Amtrak train to Milwaukee to give the keynote and lead a workshop for an organization called Vision Forward

That Vision Forward conference is all about kids in the public schools who are blind. Many of their parents, some grandparents, and teachers and other staff members who work with them attended the writing workshop I gave after my keynote. These folks hav a lot to say, and I hope the workshop encouraged them to get some of their thoughts down on paper. It’s amazing how therapeutic writing can be.

Oh, and about the keynote: I ended it with that seven-minute Good Stuff video. If you’ve seen What’s it Like to Go Blind? you might recall the part where there’s a jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces on the screen? One mom came up afterwards to compliment the visuals and ask for the YouTube address. “We have such trouble explaining what our daughter’s vision is like,” she said. “Those missing puzzle pieces, that’s a perfect way to describe it.”

I signed books after my keynote and workshop were over, and it was no surprise that we sold more Braille copies of Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound than print ones.

While a 9-year-old who is blind waited for me to Braille my name into his book, he asked a question about Whitney’s harness. I took it off, let Simon check it out firsthand. He returned it when he was done, and before I buckled it back on, I asked, “You want to pet her?” He sure did, and Whitney wriggled and wagged and kissed Simon in return. Don’t look now, but I think we have a future guide dog user on our hands.

Whitney and I had a lot of fun and made a lot of new friends last week, and now that we’re home, you know what? Somehow, someway, even without being able to see, I know we’re both tired!

I met Ryan Hartigan While I was training with Whitney. Ryan is the Online Media Specialist at the Seeing Eye, and he interviewed Whitney and me along with a few other guide dog teams for a one-minute video to promote the school.

Ryan and his wife Sarah volunteer as puppy raisers for the Seeing Eye, too, and right now they’re raising Ike. Ryan sent me an email the other day to report on Ike’s progress, and he agreed to let me share that note as a guest blog post.

A dog with good taste

by Ryan Hartigan

That’s Ike. He just ate my book up.

Apparently the shepherd puppy we’re raising really wanted to remind us about you. This was just too funny and ironic, and I had to pass it along.

Ike, the 11-month-old shepherd we’re raising, is not a destructive dog. Last Sunday, I got up and took Vinny, Watson and Ike out, fed them, made coffee and settled on the couch while the dogs took an extended nap with Sarah.

A while later, I heard Sarah saying, “What did you do?” Ike walks into the living room with a book in his mouth, neatly chewed round at each corner, all the way through, but still entirely readable. I told him to drop it, which he did, only to reveal the title: Long Time, No See. I was floored!

First of all, this wasn’t a setup. I assure you. Ike has never messed with books, magazines or anything similar. My wife keeps a stack of books on her nightstand (probably eight or ten books) so at some point during their nap, Ike carefully selected your book to be customized by a Seeing Eye puppy! We still can’t believe it!

Hope Ike hasn’t offended your writing too much. I like to think he chose your book because it is so good. I have saved the book. It’s readable, and the way I look at it, Ike has made your story even more fantastic!

My book club pick was a flop. Maybe because everyone else read it in print, and I got to hear Academy Award winner Rita Moreno read the audio version? When all was said and done, the only member who liked Sonia Sotomayor’s My Beloved World as much as I did was Jamie Ceaser.

Always knew that Jamie woman had good taste.

Award-winning producer Jamie Ceaser.

When Jamie isn’t reading fascinating books like My Beloved World, she’s busy putting videos and films together. She’s been producing shows for Chicago’s public TV station WTTW for years, and one of her latest productions debuts nationally tonight. Local, USA is a weekly 30-minute compilation of stories produced by independent producers, content creators, and public television stations across the country. Jamie and her co-producer Eddie Griffin have already put 13 Local, USA episodes together, each one exploring a particular theme. It’s a busy time for Jamie, but she was kind enough to answer a few questions about Local, USA for my blog readers.

• Me: How’d you get involved in Local, USA?
• Jamie: V.J. McAleer — He’s Senior Vice President of Production at WTTW — got approached by WGBH in Boston about working with them on a new show. VJ is my boss, and my biggest advocate, too. He called when I was in Florida on a Tuesday and said we’d need a proposal by Friday. So I tanned and wrote.
• Me: Are you doing it all by yourself?
• Jamie: I’m co-producing it with Ed Griffin. Maggie Ness is associate producer.
• You drive me to book club sometimes, and I always love hearing about your work during those drives. You’ve produced programs on everyone from Abraham Lincoln’s wife Mary Todd to baseball icon Bill Veeck. What makes this project different from other ones you’ve produced?
• Jamie: Well, To be honest, this project does bring back memories of something I’ve done before: my first show at WTTW. That was Image Union, also a show for independent producers. But it was way back–way before youtube and iPhones and Quicktime and even DVDs.
• Me: How were things different then?
• Jamie: Films would come on 16 mm reels or videos in VHS cases. Local, USA may end up being a similar show, but the technology has changed so much. Now people send weblinks to screen their films and videos., And i can screen all of the shows I’ve produced so far — on my iPhone!
• Me: What do producers do?
• Jamie: Production can mean a lot of different things – it all depends on the type of show you’re working on, and the studio where you’re working. Show development, researching, interviewing people, shooting, editing, or even gentle coercion — production includes whatever you need to do to get the project completed.
• Me: So what did you have to do to get this one completed?
• Jamie: For this program, basically, we’re screening videos, logging them and cataloging them by theme and seeing what works together organically. After that we script the show and videotape the hosts on location.
• Me: Who are the hosts?
• Jamie: Niccole Thurman, a performer from Second City, and Evan Allen-Gessesse, an independent producer.
• Me: How long did it take to put these episodes together?
• Jamie: It was a lightning-fast season — we started in March and finished 13 shows by the end of June. That’s a pretty quick production schedule.
• Me: What can viewers look forward to on the first episode this week?
• Jamie: The first show has four stories about times gone by.
• Me: Any favorites?
• Jamie: My favorite one is produced by a teenager. It’s about his grandfather with Alzheimer’s Disease. He intercuts old family films to link his father’s early memories with his grandfather, and those memories aren’t available to his grandfather any more. It’s very poignant and sweet.

Jamie says the first season (13 shows) focuses on human interest stories and art pieces. “The shows we’re working on right now are more social justice-oriented.” Local, USA debuts on The World Channel tonight, October 21, at 9:00 p.m. Central Time and will continue to air on Monday nights after that, at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Blog readers who live in the Chicago area can also tune in to WTTW Channel 11 to catch it on Thursday nights at 11:00 p.m.

That’s Floey helping me field questions during a school visit last year.

I have a seven-year-old great-niece with a big name: AnnMarie Florence Czerwinski. I call her Floey for short, and you know what? She kinda likes it. Here’s Floey now with a guest blog post about our visit to the Chicago History Museum last Friday.

The Great Chicago Fire: Chicago is Burning!

By AnnMarie Czerwinski

Last Friday, October 11th, I went to the Chicago Historical Museum and learned about the Chicago Fire. I went with my Aunt Beth and my mom and my brother.

It was my job to help my aunt Beth, who is blind. I did this by leading her around and read her things that were in the museum. So, I will tell you what I learned.

The Great Chicago Fire all began in 1871. Here’s how it began: In Chicago, there was an Irish neighborhood. In that neighborhood, there was this Irish lady named Mrs. O’Leary. She had a cow to sell. One of her friends smoked a lot and probably dropped a cigar on the grass. Then the grass caught on fire and that’s what we think caused the Great Chicago Fire.

Floey is returning this Saturday to join a friend and me for a New World Symphony concert at the Harris Theatre in Chicago’s Millennium Park and a slumber party afterwards. Sorry this blog post is so short: gotta go lie down for a nap to prepare.

Some members of the memoir-writing class I lead at the Chicago Cultural Center. Wanda is to my left in the photo (the far right as you look at it).

Wanda Bridgeforth is 92 years old and has been attending the memoir-writing class I lead in downtown Chicago for seven years. She grew up in Chicago and her mother worked “in private family,” which means Mama lived at the houses she took care of. Wanda lived with one relative one week, a friend the next, and sometimes, with complete strangers.

When I asked writers to describe their favorite plaything as a child, Wanda came back with an essay about her doll, Geneva. Wanda is compiling some of her essays to self-publish as a gift for friends and family this Christmas. I have a feeling this one about Geneva will be included in that collection.

My Favorite Toy

by Wanda Bridgeforth

I must have been a really good girl in 1927 because Santa left an ironing board, electric iron, sewing machine and the Effanbee “Rosemary Doll” all of my friends and I had asked for that year.

Her curls and eyelashes were natural hair. Every time I sat her up or laid her down she opened and closed her eyes and said, “MA-MA!!!” That was enough to melt a little girl’s heart. Without hesitating I named her Geneva, after my Mama.

In late spring 1928, Dad’s company closed their chemistry lab and he was laid off. Mama and I moved into a bedroom with Aunt Gert and Uncle Larry on 51st Street and Dad went to live with Uncle A.S. and his wife at 42nd and Vincennes. Mama showed me how to wash and iron Geneva’s dress, panties and bonnet.

Mid summer, Mama went to work “in private family.” I abandoned all of my toys except Geneva. She became my confidant and bedfellow. I guess you could say she was my security blanket. I took her everywhere. The kids began to tease me and called me a “big baby,” so, when I left home I hid her under the pillow on my bed.

Every Tuesday after school I washed her clothes so she would be nice and clean when Mama came home on Wednesday, her day off. The three of us would sit at the kitchen table and exchange the events of the week. Geneva’s clothes were almost faded white.

Christmas 1931, “Cousin Sugar” the lady I was staying with made Geneva a new outfit. Mama and Cousin Sugar assured me the new clothes did not need weekly washing.

Some of my friends boasted about their dolls made of rubber that could drink milk or water from a tiny bottle with a tiny nipple on it. I looked at Geneva, her mouth was open and she had a space between her lips. I bought a tiny bottle with a tiny nipple on it from Woolworth’s 5 & 10 cents store and fed Geneva.

After a while Geneva developed a horrible odor and her body became damp. Cousin Sugar and Mama cut a slit in her body. The straw stuffing had mildew and mold and her plaster body had melted. Only her head was intact. I didn’t realize her straw insides absorbed the liquid instead of passing it through like the rubber dolls did.

I was inconsolable. Geneva was DEAD!!!

I decided she must have a funeral. Mr. Brunow, the janitor, dug a grave in the far corner of the back yard. Dressed in our parents black clothes, my friends and I marched behind the Radio Flyer Wagon lined with black crepe paper.

We sang a hymn and sent Geneva, My Favorite Toy, dressed in her Christmas Outfit to live with the Angels.