That’s Wanda and me at the Chicago Cultural Center. Her favorite invention? The Frigidaire.

That’s the topic I assigned to my memoir-writing class last week, and my stellar seniors did not disappoint. Annelore opened her essay wondering whether there could possibly be one best invention.

In the days when my grandmother told tales about the awesome impressions of seeing her first airplane fly and land, riding in a car or on a motorcycle for the first time, listening to a voice coming from a box or her bewilderment when hearing music coming from a spinning plate, I felt as if there was nothing left to be invented.

By the end of her essay, however, Annelore settled in on one best invention:

The harvest of millions of brilliant minds is stored somewhere on that magical space, called the Internet. What I would give if I could share THAT with my dear grandmother.

One essay was about the polio vaccine, another about the credit card. Hanna’s essay about the radio described how she and her teenage friends snuck to their Rabbi’s apartment in Stuttgart back in the late 1930’s to hear the BBC. “It was illegal to listen to foreign radio stations back then,” she wrote. “If you got caught, there were heavy fines, and if you were Jewish, you’d be jailed.”

Susan, a retired nurse practicioner, knew immediately what she’d choose.

Without hesitation I think “the pill” is the most important invention of my lifetime—not necessarily to me personally but certainly for many women, including members of my family as well as the patients throughout my career.

Wanda described her daily chore emptying the water from under the ice box. The pan was usually full to the brim, unwieldy and awkward for a little girl. Water always spilled during her “delicate waltz” to the sink, which meant little Wanda ended up with two daily chores: she had to wash the kitchen floor, too. The best invention in Wanda’s lifetime? The Frigidaire.

Audrey came up with something I would have never thought of, but anyone who’d endured days without a hot shower might have to agree with her:

I like the silly little mesh sponge or pouf too. And the shower gel is so much easier than bar soap. So as long as I can have my hot shower, I am well placated.

It can be too easy to mourn the passing of the good ol’ days. How refreshing to focus on things that have gotten better! Vaughn enjoyed the class so much he sent me an email message right afterwards describing the session as “outstanding.” He also had a suggestion for next week’s topic: “How do you relate to an opportunity to suddenly find yourself in touch with your first SIGNIFICANT girl (or boy) friend after some 50 years?” I shortened his idea a bit, and assigned this for next week: The Last Time I Saw Her. Students can write about “The Last Time I Saw Him” if they prefer. So much to know, so much to say. Can’t wait until next week’s class.

From the Future of Aging blog (a blog from the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging) about yesterday’s event at the National Press Club:

Perhaps the most compelling story came from Beth Finke. Finke, an NPR commentator, spoke about her personal struggles after becoming blind at 26. Finke was relying on Social Security following the death of her father at age 3. With the help of Social Security funds (still around for college students up until the benefit was cut back to age 18 in 1983), she was able to help put herself through college. However, at the age of 26, retinopathy stole Beth’s eyesight. She credits her college education, attainable only with Social Security’s help, as the sole reason that she has been able to thrive in adulthood as a blind person.

If you couldn’t make it to the Press Club yesterday, don’t fret – you can hear my talk on youtube. My favorite part? The sound of the camera shutter clicking over and over at the beginning of my talk. I’m a celeb!

My dad came home sick from work on my third birthday. Two weeks later, he died at home. Heart attack. He was 47 years old.

I am the youngest of seven, and at age 45, Flo (my mom), was left to support us. She found a job at a local bakery, got to work on her G.E.D., and relied on Social Security survivors benefits to make ends meet.

I'm not going to be at the Capitol, but I will be at the National Press Club.

Back then, Social Security benefits were available for surviving children until age 21, as long as they went to college. Without Social Security I wouldn’t have been able to afford to go to college at all. Years later, when I lost my sight, my college experience and education came in handy when I had to learn to use a talking computer to launch my career as a writer. These days I credit Social Security for helping me support myself as an adult.

An organization called Generations United is sponsoring an event at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. this Monday about the growing interdependence of generations in America. Juan Williams will moderate a panel at the event, and I’ve been asked to say a few words about Social Security survivor benefits. Most people think of seniors when they think of Social Security, but over the years survivor benefits have also helped Millions of young widows, widowers, and children. Like Flo. And Me.

I was fortunate to have received Social Security benefits when they were still available to college students. I graduated from the University of Illinois in 1981, and the student benefit was discontinued by Congress in 1983. Now Social Security survivor benefits end when a child turns 18 (exception: if a child is 18 and still in high school, the survivor benefit  lasts until s/he graduates, or until two
months after reaching age 19, whichever comes first). A Generations United Fact Sheet says a college education is more necessary in today’s economy than it was back in 1981, when I graduated: college graduates earn, on average, 61 percent more over their lifetimes than high school graduates do. And as the value of a college education grows, so does its cost (roughly double since 1979). The fact sheet says the Social Security actuary estimated it would cost .07 percent of taxable payroll to restore the benefit (measured over the traditional 75-year Social Security window). There was no estimate of how much these additional College graduates (making higher wages and paying higher payroll taxes) would offset the cost of restoring the student benefit, but it doesn’t take a Ph.D. in economics to figure this out. I pay into Social Security now, and Flo paid into it for more than 20 years. After she passed her G.E.D., she worked as an office clerk until she was 70 years old.

Survivor benefits helped Flo and our family make it through hard times, and student benefits helped me become the independent person I am now. Restoring the student benefit could help today’s vulnerable young people, too. That’s what I’m going to say to the policy-makers at the National Press Club on Monday. I just hope they’re out there listening.

Hanni and me enjoying the out-of-doors at the University of Illinois quad.

What a fun time Hanni and I had on our visit to Champaign County! We made lots of new friends at the Philo Library, Countryside Day School and St. Thomas School, and the weather was absolutely sensational. Between school and library visits we managed to meet up with a few old friends, take long walks, linger on park benches and catch up on each other’s lives. An excerpt from my first book, Long Time, No See describes the beauty of a Fall day in central Illinois:

I’d fallen in love with the twin cities of Champaign-Urbana back in my freshman year at the University of Illinois. It didn’t matter that there was nowhere to hike or canoe, or that the campus was surrounded by, even included, corn and soybean fields. It seemed a vibrant place. I was caught up in the rush of thirty-five thousand students hustling from class to class.

Champaign-Urbana may lack a striking natural beauty—it defines the word “flat,” and the creek that trickles through it, more of a drainage ditch, is known as The Boneyard. But what the two towns have, especially Urbana, is trees. Huge, magnificent old maples and oaks with an unearthly gift for turning brilliant scarlet and sunset yellow. A few white clouds set against a deep sky on a fall afternoon—we could watch them indefinitely from our vantage point on the porch swing.

I may not be able to see those brilliant scarlet and sunset yellow leaves anymore, but c’mon – don’t you think you can smell the colors? My friends and I felt the sun on our faces and heard the leaves crackling under our feet as we walked arm in arm and shared our stories. One talk reflected on a reunion, another on a retirement, a reconnection with a long-lost friend, a dear relative who had just died. Change was in the air, and in our conversations, too.

How perfect it was to be surrounded by all those falling leaves as we talked, reminding us that hey, depending on how you look at it, change can be a beautiful thing.

For my blog readers who are blind: the graphics in this blog post are a sampling of thank-you notes and pictures from Lincoln Trail Elementary School. I know from my husband Mike’s descriptions that one note says, “I’m allergic to barking dogs.” Another has wonderful misspellingsinvented spellings: “I injoyed your story and thank you again for coming to Lincoln Tail.” One young artist drew a four-panel cartoon depicting Hanni preventing me from falling into a hole, then me on an airplane, and finally Hanni seated on the floor while Mike and I sit at a restaurant enjoying dinner — all things I’d talked about during my presentation. Another drawing is a close-up of Hanni and me, and we’re surrounded by hearts. The letters “B and E appear on the left side of my head, and T and H on the right. Other drawings in this little montage are, well, beyond description.

In the next four days, Hanni and I will be visiting three Illinois elementary schools in Deerfield, Champaign and Philo. Looking forward to the train rides, visiting with old friends and especially…meeting the kids.

He's allergic to barking dogs. But not non-barking dogs.



Hanni as alligator.

Love the airplane.

Thumbnails of Hanni and Beth rock.

Dig the skyline!