This past weekend—a very full one—included a trip to Elmhurst College to root on the North Central College women’s basketball team (the Cardinals) against the evil Elmhurst College Blue Jays. OK, Elmhurst College isn’t evil. And really, we were there more specifically to root on Beth’s great niece, who, as a freshman, gets significant playing […]

Beth’s a voracious reader of fiction…me, not so much. Some of it is lack of patience—I tend toward small non-fiction bites—newspapers, magazines, essays and the like. Novels are an investment of time that I’m rarely willing to make. Which may be why short stories comprise a lot of the small body of fiction I have […]

An explanation of why I’m rooting for Seattle in the Super Bowl. (Note: a version of this post I wrote was originally published on the Easter Seals blog).  If you like that Duracell ad featuring Seattle Seahawk running back Derrick Coleman, the NFL’s first legally deaf offensive player, you’ll absolutely love Derrick Coleman: The Sound […]

My great-niece Floey turns eight years old tomorrow, and gee whiz, what a coincidence that this extremely flattering email arrived in my in box just when I was thinking about what to get for her for her birthday – she wrote it as a report for her second grade class: Beth Finke unfortunaly is my […]

Today’s guest post is by Elizabeth Seebeck, the founder of Oglesby Montessori Foundation. by Elizabeth Seebeck Last February, 31 little bodies sat still in their small, Montessori classroom in one of the most impoverished neighborhoods of Chicago: the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood. The children were absolutely mesmerized by Beth, her dog, and her story. It’s not every day that schoolkids get […]