A skyscraper tour for the blind. Isn’t that an oxymoron? In the past, I’ve been ambivalent about special attempts to make visual things more accessible to those of us who can’t see them. I credit the institutions for trying. I really do. And some special accommodations — like the advance tours before plays — […]
My brother Doug is a jazz trombonist in Louisville, and after retiring from his day job a couple years ago he discovered that when you reach a certain age you can take classes at the University of Louisville free of charge. He’s been formally studying in the jazz program there ever since. Yesterday’s Writer’s Almanac […]
Back in 2002, after he turned 16, our son Gus moved to a residence for developmentally disabled people operated by Bethesda Lutheran Communities. I have a pretty good list of “most difficult times in my life,” as we all do if we live long enough. That time is unsurpassed. But it was made substantially less […]
It’s been a very happy week here in Chicago. Ours started last Friday, when Mike and I took an el to Schaller’s Pump on the South Side to watch a playoff game. Schaller’s Pump has been at 37th and Halsted since 1876, and from Mike’s description it hasn’t changed much since then. The bar is […]
It’s Wanda Bridgeforth’s 94th birthday, and without telling Wanda, I asked her fellow writers in the Wednesday “Me, Myself and I” to surprise her with essays on “What I Learn from Wanda’s Wise Words” and read them aloud to her this morning. Here’s mine. Bee-you-tee-full Wanda Bridgeforth has taught me the meaning of beauty. More […]