I swear, when I first heard about this I thought it had to be a story from The Onion. A federal judge here in Chicago has entered a consent decree requiring a company to pay $100,000 to a woman whose job offer was revoked after the company’s owner realized she is blind.

How did this happen? Did the woman apply on line? Was she hired, ahem, sight unseen? Was the owner simply not paying attention when the blind woman showed up for the interview? Was she interviewed over the phone?

According to a (subscription only) story in the Chicago Law Bulletin, Jocelyn Snower was hired as a recruiter by the owner of Balance Staffing and had already worked a couple of months before the owner realized she doesn’t have 20/20 vision.

“What’s unique about Jocelyn is that she’s legally blind, but she doesn’t use a walking stick or guide dog, or anything like that,” { trial attorney Laura R. }Feldman said. “When I first met her, I had no idea she was blind.”

The EEOC attorneys said Snower started working for the staffing company in June 2006 and that on Aug. 9, 2006, she received notification that her job offer had been revoked. They contended that the owner of the staffing company found out through another employee that the woman was blind, specifically that she couldn’t drive.

Okay, let’s review. This woman had gone through the application process, passed the interview, was offered the job, and had worked for two months. She must have been capable, right?

“It’s the EEOC’s position that she did not need to drive for the job — that there’s great public transportation, and she takes public transportation,” Feldman said.

{ EEOC supervisory trial attorney Diane I.} Smason said the woman served as a recruiter in the past at other companies, and she had already proved to be a capable recruiter despite her disability.

The EEOC alleged that the owner revoked Jocelyn’s job offer the minute he found out she was blind, even though she had already started recruiting for him. The EEOC further alleged that the defendants refused to pay Jocelyn wages for hours of work that she already performed, because of her disability.

I didn’t use a white cane or a guide dog when I first started losing my sight. I quit driving or riding my bike, but I could still see well enough to walk to work. Most of my day was spent counseling college students on study abroad options, I could have done that with my eyes closed. As my eyesight got worse, though, I started making mistakes in the office. I still remember spilling grounds all over the place on my way to make the morning coffee. I had to sit close to my computer screen to see the words. I ran into tabletops. At one point my boss took me aside and told me I wouldn’t be going to the annual convention with my colleagues. “You’ll embarrass the office,” she said. Months later, my contract was terminated.

But that was way back in 1985, before the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed. This is the 21st century. An employer today would never dream of firing someone simply because they couldn’t see well enough to drive, would they?

The defense, which denied the allegations, was represented by Seyfarth, Shaw LLP partners Gerald L. Maatman Jr., and Christopher J. DeGroff, along with associate Brandon L. Spurlock. They could not be reached for comment.

Wow. Everyone knows the White Sox are red hot right now (7-2 so far against National League teams and seven and one in their last eight games) but who would’ve guessed they’d draw a sell-out crowd against the Nationals in DC last night?! An AP news story says even the President showed up:

Obama’s arrival wasn’t announced inside the stadium, and there wasn’t the stringent security for fans that usually accompanies a public appearance. Joined by daughters Sasha and Malia and sipping a beer in a private box, the president wore a White Sox hat in support of his hometown team just as he did when he threw out the first pitch at the ballpark on opening day.

No doubt everyone was there to see White Sox phenom pitcher Gavin Floyd, who had no-hit the Chicago Cubs through six innings in his last appearance. It was the third time Floyd took a no-hitter into the seventh. I was sipping wine with other authors last evening after a successful day at the Southeast Wisconsin Festival of Books so didn’t get to listen to the game. By the time Hanni and I returned, Safe & Sound, to our hotel room, the White Sox had managed a 2 to 1 extra-innings victory. No surprise, I guess. The starting pitcher for the Nationals last night was just a rookie. Straussberg? Strassberg? Something like that.

Hello from our seat on the Hiawatha train to Wisconsin. Hanni and I are on our way to Waukesha, where I’ll be leading a couple sessions at the Southeast Wisconsin Festival of Books. I’ll be sitting on a panel about blogging, too, and the moderator sent some questions for we panelists to ponder in advance.

Each of you plays a significant role as a blogger, bringing entertainment, news and social commentary to the world. But you also appear to write your blogs in lighthearted ways. Is this intentional?

You’re often connecting to people who need a voice in the community. How does this influence the specific content of your blog?

As a writer I’m often encouraged to keep a blog and although I have a page on my web site, my writing tends to feel a lot like navel gazing. What advice would you give a blogger in this situation?

What is the most heartwarming connection you’ve made with a reader through your blog?

I’ll have to give those first few questions some thought before our 4 pm

That's OJ, Jen's guide dog.

panel tomorrow. I’m ready with an answer for that last question, though.

I’ve made plenty of heartwarming connections through my Safe & Sound blog, but one I find particularly touching is my connection with Jennifer Doherty, a guide dog user an Ireland. I know all this internet-blogging-connecting stuff is old news by now, but I still find it amazing that a woman in Ireland could pres the keys on her talking computer to search for “guide dog” or “blind” or whatever,, come up with my name, link to my blog, type a few words and shazam! She’s responded to me here in Chicago!

If you enjoyed Jenny’s comments here, you’ll be pleased to know Jenny keeps a blog of her own, too. Paws for Thought talks about life in Ireland with OJ, Jenny’s guide dog. Jenny keeps up with blind bloggers all over the world, and last month she asked a few of us if we’d be willing to write a guest blog for Paws for Thought. I was flattered to be asked, and wrote a post about retiring Dora, my first Seeing Eye dog. You can link to my guest post at Paws for Thought. While you’re there, check out the other guest bloggers that week. Interesting stuff!

Uh-oh. They’re calling the Milwaukee stop, and I still need to come up with answers for those other panel questions. Better stop blogging about blogging here and think about what I’ll say when I’m blah, blah, blahing about blogging at tomorrow’s panel instead. Waukesha, here we come!

Things sure are exciting lately. Last week I spent my Sunday evening with a crazy Canadian hockey fan dressed in party shoes, party hat, Dustin Time t-shirt and the “all important Crown Royal Black.” A week later? Hanni and I are heading to a Sunday evening cocktail reception at an estate on Chicago’s north shore. We’ll be guests of Gordon and Carole Segal, the co-founders of Crate and Barrel. . From Gulfnews Magazine:

There is something storybookish about the way Crate & Barrel came into being. The inspiration for the store came after college, when Segal and his bride, Carole, travelled across Europe. “We found quality cookware in France and interesting pottery in Denmark,” says Segal. “We were 23 years old, and a year out of university. We didn’t like the gifts we had got for our wedding, and the things that we saw in the marketplace in Europe, and the Caribbean were beautiful and inexpensive. We had never seen anything like these in Chicago.

“A year later, I was washing dishes and an idea came to me. ‘How come there is no store that stocks such items,’ I asked my wife. ‘There must be other young couples like us who don’t have so much money but would appreciate such items’. So I said to her, ‘Let’s open a store!’ Initially, my wife was not so enthusiastic, but I prevailed.”

After spending about $10,000 on merchandise from Denmark, Sweden and Belgium, they only had $7,000 left for making an old and dirty factory site that was to be their store presentable in just 17 days.

“My wife was very clever,” says Segal proudly. “When the packing crates and merchandise came in, we just pitched them over to use as display cases and we said, ‘Let’s call the store Crate & Barrel’”

The Segals have adopted a retired dog from the Seeing Eye and are eager to have their friends learn more about the organization. They invited a number of graduates to join them tonight for cocktails, and I’ve been chosen (along with two other graduates) to give a short talk about our fabulous dogs. Each guest will receive a copy of Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound to take home — I’ll sign them in Braille, and Hanni’s pawprint will be stamped in each copy, too.

I plan on keeping my talk extremely short tonight, as I expect a number of guests might want to gather in front of the Segal’s TV set at 6:45 pm. Blackhawk players are going to be honored before the ESPN Sunday night White Sox/Cubs baseball game, they’ll have the Stanley Cup with them, a few will throw out the ceremonial first pitch and then gather to sing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” during the seventh inning stretch.

So who knows, it may be another Sunday night in front of the TV for Beth, just like last Sunday. Minus the party shoes, party hat and “Dustin Time!” t-shirt,though. Tonight, I’ll be wearing Marimekko.

Some friends invited us to a Stanley Cup party last Sunday. We always have fun with Dana and Art, but I was reluctant to go.

That's Dennis on the left. He was there the whole game except for the times he stood, inches from the screen, yelling at Chris Pronger. Thanks to Dennis, even I could enjoy the game. (Thanks to Bryn Benson for the photo.)

Without being able to see, hockey can be a tough sport to follow. What would poor, poor Beth do at the party while everyone’s eyes were glued to the 60-inch TV screen? I do love a party, so decided I’d figure it out. Maybe rather than try to follow the progress of the game, I should choose one player, follow his progress instead. Which Blackhawk to follow? That, my dear, was a no brainer. Who else but Nick Boynton.

What?! You’ve never heard of Nick Boynton? Well, he was a plus-two on Sunday night, and Philadelphia’s star Chris Pronger was an unheard-of minus five. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Three months ago, when the Blackhawks called Boynton up, he was playing with the Rockford Ice Hawks. The NHL web site says that before Boynton joined the Blackhawks, he had “five assists and 22 penalty minutes in 15 AHL tilts with Rockford and the Manitoba Moose.” Not sure what all that AHL tilt gobbledygook means. The most important fact there is this: my man Boynton played for the Manitoba Moose. How. Cool. Is. That?

And if playing for the Manitoba Moose isn’t enough to make you love Nick Boynton, there’s this, from the Chicago Tribune:

One day when Boynton, a 19-year-old first-round draft pick of the Bruins, was working at his family’s farm in Canada, he couldn’t get out of bed.

A misdiagnosis and 35 pounds of weight loss later, doctors in Boston correctly identified that Boynton’s pancreas basically had stopped producing insulin.

You read that right. Nick Boynton has Type 1 diabetes. Just like me. The Tribune story said that after finally diagnosing him correctly, doctors told Boynton to sit out a year. The mighty moose refused. He wanted to play hockey.

One of the other guests at Dana and Art’s party Sunday was a Canadian-born hockey fan named Dennis. Dennis teaches third grade by day and still plays amateur hockey at night. He sat inches from the big-screen, totally focused on the game. I asked him to alert me anytime #24 was on the ice, and Dennis didn’t disappoint.

Throughout the entire game, the cheers and groans from Dennis gave me a clue of what was happening on the ice. “Woooooooo! Ugh. Ahh. C’mon lads! Woooooooo! Argh. Damn. Wooooooo!” By the second period, I had diagnosed my new Canadian friend with Hockey Tourrette’s.

The best part of the game, duh, was any time the Blackhawks scored. With every Blackhawk goal (and there were a lot of goals scored on Sunday) Dennis would run to my seat, say a polite excuse me, and then crush me in a hug.

I love hockey. Go Dennis! Go Boynton! Go Hawks!