The original South Loop Neighbors Authors Night was cancelled due to a Chicago snowstorm, and the kind folks at Half Sour are welcoming us tonight. With covid numbers continuing to “retreat” now, we’re hoping more people will feel comfortable attending.

I and three other local authors will make presentations starting at 7:00 p.m. The presentations will be available on Zoom, too. (Be sure to get the updated Zoom link at the bottom of this post.)

Here’s the info:

South Loop Neighbors’ Authors Night at Half Sour, 755 S. Clark in Chicago. It’ll be at Bar 2. Enter Half Sour on Clark, then head all the way to the back and make a left into a cool, art-deco bar room

Wednesday, March 2, 2022

6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. social hour (cash bar)
7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. central time: presentations and Q&A

Authors will give ten-minute talks about our books and our lives as writers. Keeping the talks short should allow some time for questions after the presentations.

Thanks to Sandmeyer’s Bookstore, books will be available for purchase and we authors will be more than happy to sign copies for book buyers.

Oh, and Luna the Seeing Eye dog will be there, too.

Should be a nice neighborhood event. Very flattering to be one of the chosen authors along with Amy Bizzarri (111 Places in Chicago that You Must Not Miss);  Sylvester Boyd (The Road from Money); and Greg Borzo (Chicago’s Fabulous Fountains).

Can’t make it in person? Watch us online instead. Here’s the zoom info:

Meeting ID: 824 2688 5555

Passcode: SLN2022!

https://uic.zoom.us/j/82426885555?pwd=TTd6Z2ZienlaUkhkWG5YTituSldBZz09

Apologies for dereliction of blog duties the past few weeks. To be honest, I’ve just felt a little empty, with nothing to say.

Don’t worry, not that empty. I’m not despondent and no more or less anxious about the state of things than usual. In most ways, my life is as good as it’s ever been, save for the part about having more flesh, less hair, and having started my Medicare research. Gulp.

Maybe it can be summed up as broad dissonance. I’m more or less healthy, my work is meaningful and my colleagues are young and terrific. Beth is healthy and going gangbusters with her teaching. Gus is safe. I am fortunate.

Except recent events recall the height of the cold war, when nuclear obliteration was much nearer top of mind than it has been for a long while. And it’s been long enough since we lost our friend Janet that’s it’s really sinking in that I won’t see her again. That’s never going to be right.

A favorite movie of mine is Grand Canyon. The cast includes Danny Glover, Alfre Woodard, Steve Martin, Kevin Kline and Mary McDonnell. Kline and McDonnell play a couple whose  marriage is teetering—but the movie’s about a lot more than that eternal theme—give it a watch.

Anyway, there are several lines from that movie that are etched in my memory. These are three short ones:

Themes of this movie resonate today.

McDonnell’s character: Everything seems so close together.

Kline’s character: Hmm?

McDonnell: All the good and bad things in the world. Everything.

Last Thursday some generous friends treated Beth and me to dinner, followed by a performance of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The CSO is always magnificent but that night, Riccardo Muti conducted Beethoven’s 9^th. Though Beth and I have been to the symphony plenty, we’ve only seen guest conductors, so this was a real treat.

When Muti took the stage, he took the microphone and spoke briefly about the day’s news of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I can’t remember precisely what he said—it was impassioned and solemn and heartfelt. What I do remember is his point: That the music he and the orchestra were about to perform was the opposite of what was going on in Ukraine. The opposite of hate, violence and war.

And when the 120+ strong chorus belted out Ode to Joy, they made his point

At last! That dress that’s been yearning to come out of the closet ever since I bought it in early March, 202o has a place to go: Mark your calendars for March 2, 2022. South Loop Neighbors has rescheduled its Authors Night!

The original Authors Night had to be cancelled due to a Chicago snowstorm, and the kind folks at Half Sour are welcoming us at a new date and time: 6 pm on Wednesday, March 2. With covid numbers continuing to “retreat” now, we’re hoping more people will feel comfortable attending South Loop Neighbors’ Authors Night in person two weeks from now: Wednesday, February 2 at Half Sour, 755 S. Clark in Chicago.

The event is free, and four local authors will give ten-minute talks about our books and our lives as writers. Keeping the talks short should allow some time for questions after the presentations.

The event includes an hourlong social hour with a cash bar from 6 to 7, then our little talks at 7 pm.

And I’ll be wearing that new two-year-old dress!

It all takes place in the “back room” at Half Sour, a large, lovely, open room with plenty of space for social distancing. Books will be available for purchase, and we authors will be more than happy to sign copies for book buyers.Very flattering to be one of the chosen authors along with Amy Bizzarri (111 Places in Chicago that You Must Not Miss), Sylvester Boyd (The Road from Money), and Greg Borzo (Chicago’s Fabulous Fountains).

Can’t make it in person? Watch us online instead. Here’s the zoom info:
Topic: SLN Speaker Series: Author Night
Time: Mar 2, 2022 06:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82425447490?pwd=OW5VWjlGUWJTTHRqa1JtVWRlSzh2Zz09

Meeting ID: 824 2544 7490
Passcode: 517444

We’re back! This past week my Seeing Eye dog Luna and I visited three different schools in person to talk with third graders about guide dogs and what it’s like to be blind. Pretty wonderful to be back with the kids in person, but I gotta be honest: two years without any in-person visits to schools left me a little rusty.

As always, lots of questions from the kids. (photo by Jamie Ceaser)

During our first presentation, the one at Indian Trail Elementary, I forgot to give Luna the “Outside” command at the end so they could see how well a Seeing Eye dog maneuvers around obstacles (including 3rd graders sitting criss-cross applesauce on the floor) to guide me to the door to the hallway.

At the second presentation, the one at Braeside, I never took the Braille version of “Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound” out of my bag to show them how Braille works.

Third time’s the charm, though: the kids at Ravinia Elementary School got the whole show. And here’s the good news:no matter what I did or did not remember to do in those three presentations, the questions the kids asked afterwards were as thoughtful and sweet as ever. Here’s a sampling from the third-graders Luna and I met at Indian Trail, Braeside and Ravinia elementary schools this past week:

• So is going blind like closing your eyes for the rest of your life?
• Do you remember what colors looked like when you were a little kid and could still see?
• Was it hard to make friends after you were blind?
• You said you only see the color black, but if you got really, really close to a bright light, would you know the light was on?
• How do you swim if you can’t see where you’re going?
• So if you see the color black, but you can tell close up if something is white, does it look brown?
• Did you ever drown?
• When you drive, do you, like, have to use a navigator thing or something?
• So if you still remember colors, then when you are imagining things, do you see them in color then?
• I know we’re not supposed to pet your dog when she’s working, but when you pet her, how does she know it’s you who is petting her?
• If you don’t drive, then, well, do you, like, do you take a taxi?
• How do you get on the plane if pets aren’t allowed on planes?
• Where does your dog go when you take a taxi?
• Is your dog blind, too, or just you?
• Do you inspire other people?

With all of us wearing masks, some of the questions were hard to hear. Did that little boy just ask me if I inspire people? How do third-graders even know the word “inspire?” Repeating his question out loud gave me time to think about how to answer that.

These schools all participate in a weeklong ”Disability Awareness” program, and from what I’ve observed, it really works.

Days before my visit, the kids had met a para-olympian who uses a wheelchair to win track and field medals. During her presentation she showed them how her prosthesis works. “It was awesome!” one of the third-graders told me. After I left they’d be learning to say “hello” and “My name is…” in sign language. “It’s pretty cool to meet people with disabilities,” one of them said.

That was my cue.

Do I inspire people? “Well, I do a lot of things, you know, like go to concerts and eat out at restaurants and swim at the health club and travel in taxis and airplanes. Maybe getting used to seeing me out and about having fun will inspire people to make friends with people who have disabilities,” I said. “Because like you already know, we can be pretty cool.”

And you know what? Those kids inspire me. They’re pretty cool, too.

A note from Greg Borzo, the organizer of the Author’s Night event at Half Sour:

Good morning,

I regret to say that we’ve had to postpone the South Loop Neighbors’ Authors Night on 2-2-22 at Half Sour. The snow is building and expected to continue until Wednesday evening. The timing could not be worse! Five to nine inches are predicted, with winds up to 30 mph. Bummer. We could push through and have the event, but the snow would drastically decrease the turnout. And we wouldn’t want to take the chance that someone might get hurt coming to the event.
Thanks for your understanding,

Greg Borzo, South Loop Neighbors board member
gregborzo54@gmail.com
Author of “Chicago’s Fabulous Fountains”

Please note: Half Sour at 755 S. Clark in Chicago will be open for food and drinks tonight, it’s just the Author’s Night that won’t be happening. Greg is hoping we do Author’s Night on a Wednesday later in February — I’ll post information about that here on the Safe & Sound blog once it is scheduled. In the meantime, be careful out there!