The permutations of the circumstances around women’s pregnancies are infinite. I can only speak of Beth’s. In 1985, shortly after we learned that Beth wouldn’t ever see again, she was enrolled at the Illinois Visually Handicapped Institute, later to be nicknamed “Braille Jail” by Beth. Unfortunately, that moniker is less of an exaggeration than you […]

It’s Disability Awareness Week at Red Oak Elementary School in Highland Park, Illinois, and when we arrived there Tuesday the third graders were eager to learn all they could about what it’s like to be blind and use a Seeing Eye dog. Their questions were priceless. Here are some of them: Did you go from […]

It’s been happening steadily and gradually, and…Beth and I are busy again. Busy as in going to plays, hearing music, joining friends for dinner—we went to see our son Gus a week ago and stayed overnight in Milwaukee. We forgot how exhausting being busy can be. Fulfilling, but exhausting. (Play along and imagine that it […]

There’s a lot to fret about, isn’t there? And I was about to fret in this post, but nobody needs that. We need some good news. So, from my working life, I can tell you this: When it comes to climate change and energy, a whole lot architects, builders, engineers, policy makers, and planers who […]

All the talk today in the wake of last Night’s Academy Awards show seems to be about Will Smith slapping Chris Rock. I’ll be honest—in real time I thought it might have been a bit that was supposed to be funny that went bad. But apparently not. (I also completely missed the Janet Jackson wardrobe […]