I lost the right to vote privately and anonymously in 1985. That’s the year I lost my sight.
After that, I needed Mike to help me with a ballot.
We’d squeeze into a voting booth – Mike, me and my Seeing Eye dog — and Mike would read the candidates aloud. I’d tell him who I wanted, he’d help me punch the right candidate, and everyone in the place knew who I was voting for.
Not anymore!
Thanks to speech synthesizers and the hard work of disability rights advocates, I vote on my own now. With sound added to the ballot, I put on headphones, listen to the choices, and punch a button on the keyboard. All by myself.
I live in Illinois, one of the states holding a primary on Super Tuesday. Wondering who I’ll vote for? I’m not telling. I don’t have to anymore!

    A teenager came up to chat with me after last week’s event at the Oak Park Public Library. “I have a poem published on the internet,” she said.
I was impressed, but I was busy signing books. I didn’t have time to ask what the poem was about. “Send me the link,” I told her. She did.
Her poem is published on a web site Called “Lose the Training Wheels.” Turns out the teenager is an identical twin. Without being able to see her, I had no idea she had any sort of disability. She and her sister were born prematurely, though, and the teen writer participated in a bike therapy program.
Here’s her poem. I think it’s great:
Learning to Ride — A Poem About Bike Riding
By Jessica

Unconquerable, undefeated, and proud
The wheels turning,
People whizzing past my face,
I wanted to learn
I wanted to ride
But I just couldn’t

My pink bike with “balance wheels”
People laughing,
As I felt hurt down deep within

I tried and tried but fell
It was frustrating
But I got back up again and tried again and again

Finally, the pink bike – the “balance wheels” gone forever
I felt like a mighty king at the top of a mountain,
Who was now unconquerable, undefeated, and proud.

Way to go, Jessica. You oughta be proud!

    This Thursday at 7 pm I’ll be speaking at the public library in Oak park, Illinois.
Oak park is the birthplace of Ernest Hemingway. I like to think that the Nobel Prize winner and I have a special bond.
It’s not true, of course, but I like to think it.
After all, Ernest and I were both born in Chicago suburbs. We’re both writers, and both of us thought it’d be cool to live in Paris someday.
But wait. There’s more. The company that published my children’s book is called Blue Marlin Publications. Get it? BLUE MARLIN? They’re named for the fish in “The Old man and the Sea.”
And so, considering this tight bond, it will be a special honor to speak at the Public Library in Ernest’s hometown. Ernest Hemingway was born in Oak Park in 1899 and stayed there until his teens. From there he moved to Kansas City to write for a newspaper, then he sailed to Europe to drive an ambulance for the Red Cross in Italy. He was injured there and was awarded the Italian Silver Medal for Valor.
I got the rest of the story from a web site describing the Hemingway House in Oak park.
“Not long after, he would return to the Chicago suburbs to nurse his wounds, and shortly after he was healed, moved on to Paris and a more spectacular life.”
And that, of course, was the beginning of Hemingway’s demise. After all, how could anything be more spectacular than life in Oak park??
Here are details about my spectacular event this Thursday. Magic Tree Bookstore will provide books for me to sign after the event:
January 24 (Thursday), 7 p.m.
Oak Park Public Library
Session: From Memoir to Doggoir: Creative Ways to Get Personal Essays and Stories Published
834 Lake Street
Oak Park, IL 60301
www.oppl.org
Contact: Deborah Dowley Preiser, Public Information Officer, 708.697.6915

This just in: Home Education Magazine highlighted “Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound” in a recent blog post. The blogger said Blue Marlin Publications sent along a flier announcing some of their new books, and “This one caught my attention”:
Block quote start

Hanni And Beth: Safe & Sound
By Beth Finke
Illustrations by Anthony Alex LeTorneau

Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound, is the story of how Beth, who is blind, travels safely around the city–to work, shopping, even to baseball games–with the
help of Hanni, a specially-trained Golden/Labrador Retriever. It’s a touching tale of mutual devotion and teamwork.

Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound includes factual information about how Hanni was raised and trained, how Beth and Hanni learned to work together as a team,
and what it’s like to be blind.

The author, Beth Finke is also an NPR commentator, teacher and journalist. You can learn more about her at her blog…”

Back to me: Home Education Magazine reviews and describes Learning resources (with space for comments) for homeschoolers. Thanks for the recognition, Home Ed Mag — it’s fun to think Hanni & I might be the subject of discussions in home schools across the country.

When I answered a craigslist ad to write blurbs for Not For Tourists – Chicago, I didn’t have my heart set on writing for a guidebook. I was just curious to find out if
1. Not For Tourists would hire me if they knew I was blind, and
2. readers would notice my travel writing doesn’t describe the way things LOOK.
The answer to the first question is yes. Not For Tourists rocks. As for question #2, the jury is still out.
I already blogged about my travel essay in Dog Fancy this month.
As far as I know, Dog Fancy editors haven’t received any letters from disappointed readers. The 2008 version of Not For Tourists – Chicago is out now, too. No word on any letters complaining about my “visually clueless” blurbs. Not yet, at least.
If you’re curious how a person might write about sightseeing without having…well…sight, here’s the excerpt I wrote for NFT about US Cellular Field:
Both of Chicago’s major league ballparks are named for corporations (one famous for gum, the other famous for cell phones) but the similarities end there. Any White Sox fan will tell you: tourists pay big bucks to watch ivy grow in the little place on the North Side, real baseball fans head to see the White Sox play at U.S. Cellular Field.
Straddled by the Bridgeport and Bronzeville neighborhoods on Chicago’s south side, US Cellular Field opened in 1991 to replace the old Comiskey Park. The new park was built for $167 million–a relative bargain even in 1991. Cost-cutting meant altering the original design, though, and not for the better. What the park lacks in beauty, it makes up for with its friendly staff and fabulous food—perennially rated among the best in Major League Baseball. Meat-eaters: Follow your nose to the grilled onions and say “Polish with.” Better yet, say “Polish witt.” You’ll get a sublimely good Polish sausage smothered in caramelized onions. Come hungry on Thursdays: Ball Park Franks are $1 and Best’s kosher hot dogs are $2.50 each at select concession stands during all Thursday home games.

And if you’re hoping to hear about fashion, or business deals, or coffee shops, this ain’t the place. Fans here talk about baseball. They love the game, and they love the team that FINALLY brought a World Series trophy to Chicago in 2005.

Nancy Faust, the hardest-working (and most creative) organist in baseball, has been the official White Sox organist since 1970 and still plays day games. And Roger Bossard—an obsessive-compulsive turf guru who consults to sports franchises around the world—maintains one of the most beautiful, truest playing real-grass surfaces in all of sports. Bill Veeck’s scoreboard explodes with fireworks at each home run, and street musicians serenade fans as they head to the red line or the parking lot after games.

Back to me: If you’re wondering how I know the real-grass playing field is beautiful, it’s because I am one of the few civilians ever allowed to step on it. Back in 2004, I toured US Cellular with a bunch of blind high school students. But that’s fodder for another blog. For now, I’m heading to the kitchen. Writing about those carmelized onions made me hungry.