A good friend of my sister Cheryl in Anacortes, Washington is in a book club, and on Monday afternoon I attended as a guest author. When one of the members said she loved how much Writing Out Loud taught her about Chicago, her fellow members swelled up in a chorus of uh-huhs and yeses. The reaction […]

Greetings from Anacortes, Washington, where Beth’s doing some book-related promotion, we’re visiting with Beth’s sister Cheryl and her husband Rich, we’re breathing pristine air, we’re eating fresh seafood, and I’m consuming some beautiful views. There’s a ton to say about the San Juan Islands and Anacortes, Skagit County…but I’m too tired. I paddled a three-hour […]

Radio host Justin Kaufmann came well-prepared for our short interview on WGN Radio yesterday morning — we even got a couple of call-ins! If you missed hearing us live, you can hear The Air Carrier Act: How new procedures are impacting those visually impaired online now. During the interview yesterday I told my story about […]

In honor of Father’s Day, I asked writers in my memoir classes to put together 500-word essays about the traits they share with their fathers. After reminding them that a trait is a particular talent, characteristic, quality, or tendency someone has, I gave some examples. “Do you and your father share a similar outlook on […]

After receiving so many comments to my Wednesday post about service dogs, I phoned Melissa Allman, Esq,, the Advocacy and Government Relations specialist at Seeing Eye. I thought you blog readers would be interested in seeing what their take is on the plans to amend and clarify regulations implementing the Air Carrier Access Act, and […]