Over the 15-plus years I’ve been leading memoir classes in Chicago many many people have suggested I offer an online course as well. “You’d get people from all over the country,” they say. “You could charge a lot, and you wouldn’t even have to leave home.”Not leave home? Being with my writers is what I […]

This past Friday my friend Jamie drove WhitneyLuna and me to the western suburbs of Chicago to visit six groups of third graders at four different schools. we were in Glen Ellyn and Wheaton as part of Educating Outside The Lines, a disability awareness program that uses a hands-on approach to help kids discover how […]

Another writer from one of the memoir classes I lead in Chicago has hit the big-time: a story about the beautifully-named Bindy Bitterman was on the front page of Friday’s Chicago Tribune. Friday being Valentine’s Day and all, the article was about Bindy’s unique collection of three-dimensional “pop-up” Jewish Valentines. An excerpt: Bitterman, who is […]

Okay. Only one dog-related reference in this post. Honest. I promise. Because here’s the thing. We are wayyyy overdue on news about Wanda Bridgeforth. If you’ve followed our Safe & Sound blog for a while, you know who Wanda Bridgeforth is: she’s witty, she’s talented, she’s 98 years old, she’s been attending the memoir-writing class […]

It’s only been three days since Mike met Whitney my new dog and me at O’Hare, and in that short time my new 53-pound bouncing bundle of Labrador Retriever energy has successfully guided me to: The Chicago Cultural Center (to prepare for our walk there Wednesday to lead a memoir-writing class) Grail Café (for a […]