A number of the writers in the memoir classes I lead are immigrants, and for the next couple weeks I’m planning to feature essays these wonderful writers wrote when I asked them to describe the role food plays in their holiday traditions. Let’s start with Annelore. She was born in Germany and met her American-born […]

As this year crawls toward its end, I’m left struggling to feel just a little bit of holidayness, and to hope that nobody else whom I like and care for – musician, astronaut, journalist, friend’s family member, dog or pet – dies this year. Please everyone, just hold out for awhile, if only to prevent […]

My Seeing Eye dog Whitney and I took an Amtrak train to Central Illinois Monday to give a presentation to an animal sciences class at the University of Illinois. While there in Urbana, we looked in on retired Seeing Eye dog Hanni. Her human companions Nancy and Steven report The 16-year-old star of Hanni and […]

If you follow this blog, you know my husband Mike likes baseball. You also know he doesn’t like the Cubs. Mike Knezovich is a Chicago White Sox fan. He does not think the ivy is cute — crying is OK in baseball, just not shrubbery. He doesn’t think naming a dog Wrigley is clever. He thinks the Cubs manager […]

“Of Course it was Illegal” is one of the many, many writing prompts I’ve assigned over the years out of pure curiosity, and lucky you: generous writers in my memoir classes have given me permission to share some of their confessions here on the Safe & Sound blog. A number of writers came back with […]