My dad came home sick from work on my third birthday. Two weeks later, he died at home. Heart attack. He was 47 years old. I am the youngest of seven, and at age 45, Flo (my mom), was left to support us. She found a job at a local bakery, got to work on […]

For my blog readers who are blind: the graphics in this blog post are a sampling of thank-you notes and pictures from Lincoln Trail Elementary School. I know from my husband Mike’s descriptions that one note says, “I’m allergic to barking dogs.” Another has wonderful misspellingsinvented spellings: “I injoyed your story and thank you again […]

Hey, I’m going to be on Wisconsin Public Radio tomorrow morning from 11 to 11:45 am (Central Time), and you don’t even have to live near Madison to join the conversation. Would love to hear from you — Use the toll-free call-in number (1-800-642-1234) or you can e-mail your Question to talk@wpr.org. I’ll be appearing […]

Whew! That Youth Literature Festival put on by the College of Education at the University of Illinois the past few days sure kept us busy. Hanni and I visited four classrooms Thursday, three classrooms Friday, and then attended an oo-la-la reception for guest authors Friday night. To cap off the festival, we gave two presentations […]

All your positive comments to my post about Nancy Faust Day at White Sox Park made me think. Hey, maybe the Chicago Tribune would like to publish a blind woman’s view on Nancy Faust’s departure. After rewriting it a bit, I sent the piece off to the Tribune along with a photo of Hanni, me […]