After two years of teaching memoir-writing classes via Zoom, visiting third-grade classrooms via Zoom, sitting on panel discussions via Zoom, participating in my book club via Zoom, visiting family members via Zoom, I’ve been looking forward to life in person again. Be careful what you wish for. The calendar Gods have conspired. Starting January 26, […]

I am pleased to feature Karen Fontaine as our Senior Class guest blogger today. A Professor emeritus in the College of Nursing and Psychiatric Nursing at Purdue University Northwest, Karen has retired after a long successful career as a nurse, scholar, therapist, author, lecturer and educator. She maintains her private practice in counseling, and somehow […]

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 […]

I am pleased to Welcome Bill Gordon back as a guest blogger today. Born and raised in Kansas, Bill lived all over the country during his nearly 50-year career in library and association management. When he retired in 2002, he was the Executive Director of The American Library Association, located here in Chicago, and has called […]

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 […]