Check out this free online presentation I’m giving next week: Unlocking Memories and Uncovering Stories< Sponsored by the Oak Park Public Library and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Oak Park Illinois Network DATE: Thursday, May 12 TIME: 7 to 8:30 pm central time, Author, journalist and teacher Beth Finke will lead […]

The last assignment I gave my memoir-writing classes before we took our spring break was to choose one of the movies nominated for an Oscar for best picture this year an have its title be the title of their essay. “You don’t have to see the movie,” I assured them. “Just use one of the […]

With baseball season coming to a close, I asked writers in the class I lead via Zoom to choose a baseball term to use as a title for (and the subject of) an essay. A retired school teacher who was active in her union chose “Strike,” a writer who shoplifted as a kid chose “Caught […]

Just got word that Melinda Mitchell, a long-time member of the “Me, Myself & I” memoir-writing class I used to lead at the Chicago Cultural Center, has died. Some of you long time Safe & Sound blog followers might remember Melinda — I wrote about her back in 2014 in a post called Waking Up […]

I am pleased to introduce Al Hippensteel as our Saturdays with Seniors guest blogger today. Raised on the far south side of Chicago, Al has been a White Sox fan since 1957, he’s been married to his wife Donna since 1972, and says he “has never met a donut he didn’t like.” After years working […]