Whitney and I took a commuter train to Deerfield, Illinois Thursday to talk with third graders at Wilmot Elementary about what it’s like to be blind and get around with a Seeing Eye dog.

Whit’s always up for a class visit.

I started by explaining the three rules Wilmot students should keep in mind if they happen to see a guide dog with a harness on: don’t pet the dog, don’t feed the dog, and don’t call out the dog’s name. “Those things can distract a Seeing Eye dog,” I told them. “It’d be like if someone nudged you or kept calling your name wile you were working on your spelling words at school. You wouldn’t be able to concentrate on your work.”

And then I suggested we come up with a fake name for Whitney. “We’re going to be here at your school for a while today, and you might want to say hello if you see us in the hallway,” I said, explaining that if they use my Seeing Eye dog’s fake name to say hello, Whitney wouldn’t look their way and get distracted from her work — she wouldn’t realize they were talking to her.

I asked the kids what their principal’s name was. “Mrs. Brett!” they called out. “Does anyone know Mrs. Brett’s first name?” I asked. “I know! It’s Ellen!” one called out. “No, Eileen!” The entire class erupted for a short minute before it finally was decided. The kids would call Whitney by her Wilmot code name: Eileen.

And then came the questions:

• How do you know what you’re wearing?
• How do you drive?
• What if you’re at home and you lose something and you can’t remember where you put it?
• If you’re blind, how can you teach?
• Can your dog read Braille?
• Do you ever even get into a car?
• How do you know what you’re eating?
• How does it feel being blind?
• When you’re at home, how do you know where your dog is?
• If you’re blind, is it easier to fall asleep when you go to bed, or is it harder to go to sleep when you go to bed?

I had to think about that last question a long while. “When you’re blind, you have to think a lot all day,” I finally answered, describing how we remember which colors match — and which ones don’t — as we get dressed in the morning, picture where we’re going, map out a route in our heads, listen at intersections to determine if it’s safe to cross, count the “dings” on the elevator to know what floor we’re on, make sure to hear the announcement on the train so we get off at the right stop. “All that thinking, and then having such fun with all you guys, I’ll be pretty tired by the time we get home,” I said. “For tonight, at least, it’s going to be easy to fall asleep.”

And you know what? I was right.

This morning my Seeing Eye dog Whitney and I take off for Union Station to head to the Chicago suburbs. It’s Disability Awareness Week at Wilmot Elementary School in Deerfield, and we’re slated to give a presentation to eight- and nine-year-olds. The third graders are studying Helen Keller, and you can bet I’ll be publishing a blog post in a few days to let you in on what questions they ask!

Today, however, I’m treating you to a guest post by Patty O’Machel, a writer, special needs advocate and the mom behind the Disability Awareness Week idea at Wilmot Elementary. Patty’s blog Parenting Outside The Lines collects and shares the stories of parents all over the world who are raising children with special needs, and her guest post today lets you in on another “Outside the Lines” project she launched a few months ago.

by Patty O’Machel

Patty (right) and her daughter (left)

Ability awareness is a passion project of mine. This is where my heart lies, as the mother of a little girl with cerebral palsy and as an advocate for change and acceptance. I want to share Ability Awareness programs in schools all over the country and help to change perceptions in kids of all ages.

And so, early in August, I launched a new business called Educating Outside the Lines. This project stems from my core belief that “kids with disabilities are just kids.” I want the world to see what I see. I want them to see ability.

The overall objective of bringing ability awareness programming into the school system is to break down the barriers between children with and without disabilities, and to help erase the fear of differences.

Every kid with a disability is someone’s child, someone’s classmate or someone’s friend, and today’s schools include children with all types of disabilities or challenges. Every child who has a classmate or friend who is physically or developmentally challenged learns a lesson in acceptance and understanding that they will take with them into adulthood.

Schools are instrumental in breaking down barriers, fears and misunderstanding about disabilities. By celebrating and enlightening kids, school becomes the change agent the world needs to include and accept children with disabilities in every aspect of life.

I have been able to develop my Educating Outside the Lines program into several areas of focus, from assembly speeches to grade-level specific programming. With the help of many partners in the disability world, my passion has come to fruition.

A Chicago-based firm called Small Forces creates short documentaries that highlight the work of grass roots organizations and people making their communities better. As part of a grant project, Small Forces worked with Educating Outside the Lines to produce a video that completely encapsulates the impact of the program. The video launched on The Mighty Parents Facebook page on Friday, August 3, 2018 and was viewed over 18,400 times in its first five days online. The beauty of the short video is in the voices of children with disabilities speaking from their own perspective about what this kind of education means to them personally.

Ahalya Lettenberger

The video also highlights a 16-year-old high school hockey player with dyslexia who speaks about his experience with a hidden disability, and his peers’ misunderstanding of what he really must conquer each day sitting next to them in class. My 13-year-old daughter uses a wheelchair to get around her junior high, and she’s in the video, too. She speaks about her overall feelings of invisibility with her peers, and about the misconceptions about the true accessibility of her school.

Prosthetic legs, wheelchairs, and hidden disabilities can often be scary to kids. Our Educating Outside the Lines program lets kids experience these things hands-on and serves to demystify the differences. It erases isolation. It combats bullying. It stifles the urge to stare and exclude. It bridges the gap between fear and understanding, and there is nothing more powerful than that to teach our children.

I am so excited to get my business launched, and praying that our web site and video get noticed by parents, teachers and administrators across the country to help them understand the importance of ability acceptance programs in schools. Please take a look at our new Educating Outside the Lines web site and by all means feel free to email me at pattyomachel[at]gmail.com for more information on ways to bring ability awareness programming to your schools.

The view from our balcony overlooking Mission Bay.

Just a week ago today I was sitting in my own cabana under palm trees working on my laptop. It was 72 or 73 degrees all three days we were in San Diego, the sun radiant and the breeze perfectly balanced the sunshine. Beth attended sessions at the Village to Village Conference—a pretty cool conclave of Village founders, board members, and members from around the country. The Village movement started in Beacon Hill (Boston) and has proliferated. It’s sort of an age in place approach—you pay annual fees, you get rides, educational programs, and other supports. Beth’s been teaching two memoir classes at The Village Chicago (formerly Lincoln Park Village) for years now. She was at the conference to discuss how well her memoir classes have worked, and to promote her new Master Class program—it’s a kind of train the trainer thing.

And this was the breathtaking and, at first, disturbing view after dinner last Sunday night. I learned later that it was a SpaceX test flight.

I took The Coaster, a commuter train (Chicagoans, think Metra with an ocean view) to see an old friend and former boss whose latest startup company is based in Carlsbad, California. The office has a big industrial door—like ones you see in restaurants—that’s left open when the weather permits, which is most of the time. So it’s like working on a patio. We had lunch on the deck of an Italian restaurant, watching surfers as we ate.

Time went fast but I did manage to eat some of the best fish tacos I’ve ever had—at a shack kind of place a short walk from our conference hotel.

A person could get used to San Diego.

Alas, we headed home on Wednesday night and were back at it here in old, rugged Chicago. We were eased back into our day-to-day lives knowing that we’d be seeing Path Metheny Friday night at the Chicago Theatre. He did not disappoint. He was joined by bass, drums, and piano—all three were superb musicians—and he played a lot of old music. I would describe much of Metheny’s music as cinematic—I’m prone to imagining motorcycles carving mountain corners, swooping, climbing, descending. As such, the evening also invoked some nostalgia—I remembered the first time I saw him, 1979, at the University of Illinois Krannert Center. He hasn’t lost a beat.

Last night, we had the privilege of attending the first Chicago screening of a documentary called Art Paul of Playboy, The Man behind the Bunny. It was at the invitation of our friend—who produced and co-wrote the film—Jamie Ceaser. Her film was part of the Chicago International Film Festival.

For those of us who did read the articles in Playboy, we remember a very sophisticated, artistic presentation of fiction and non-fiction long form pieces. I was introduced to any number of writers through the magazine—Joyce Carol Oates, John Cheever, Margaret Atwood to name a few. The movie names a lot more who contributed to the magazine.

Art Paul was the art director at Playboy for 29 years and worked with people like Andy Warhol, Frank Gallow, Ed Paschke, Leroy Nieman tand others to create illustrations and other works to adorn the magazine’s pages. He was also a prolific artist himself, and one of those fascinating and talented people who somehow remain totally humble. Paul was 29 when he joined Playboy founder Hugh Hefner—who was 28.

The film is a treasure chest of little bits of history, and indirectly an ode to Chicago, where Playboy was born and thrived. It’s full of sweeping shots of the skyline, of 60s, 70s, and 80s Chicago.

It made me forget all about San Diego. Almost.

Four weeks ago today I was eating cheese and petting goats on a beautiful, warm, sunny afternoon in central Illinois.

We were able to pet these gals.

I’ve written here before about Marcel’s Culinary Experience, the culinary retail store and cooking school my childhood friend Jill Foucré opened in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. The success of Marcel’s inspired her to open Marché, an amazing little cheese shop (gourmet foods and wine, too) right down the street from Marcel’s, and last month Marché offered a bus trip to Prairie Fruits Farm & Creamery in Urbana, Illinois.

Jill was going , we could catch up with each other during the bus rides, the all-day trip included breakfast on the bus, locally-sourced lunch when we got there, and a guided tour of the farm. Bonus: if we bought any goat cheese while we were there, we could snack on it on the bus ride home. Paired with wine, of course –that was courtesy of Marché.

How could I say no?

Mike was out of town that weekend, so Seeing Eye dog Whitney came along to guide me on and off the bus. I took Whitney’s harness off during the bus ride, and once she was “off the clock” she immediately befriended the girl in the seat behind us. Sydney was there with her mom, and this sweet spunky kid provided Whitney with belly rubs for the entire two-and-a-half hour ride.

Our dear friend Nancy Bolero lives in Urbana, and we arranged ahead of time to have her meet us at the nearby farm to take Whit home to play with her dog, Doug. I wasn’t sure what Whitney the urban Seeing Eye dog would make of the goats during the tour, and vice-versa! When young Sydney saw Nancy taking Whitney away for a doggie-date, she offered to be my sighted guide. Here’s Sydney with a guest post about our day.

by Sydney Schrader

The day I went to the goat farm, I made a friend… or two. The thing that drew me to Beth Finke was her dog, Whitney.

I first saw them on the bus ride there. Whitney curled up next to me, I petted her and scratched her.

When we arrived at the farm, Whitney left so that left me to lead Beth. She would grab my arm and I would walk, her footsteps following mine.

We petted goats and saw caterpillars. We even saw (heard) how goats are milked to make dairy. The food was incredible and we even got to take some home. That day on the farm was a great day.

Agreed! Sydney was an excellent guide, even thinking to place the caterpillar ever so gently in muy palm so I would understand how big he was. We have stayed in touch since our farm visit, and she is now in the throes of a magazine drive for her school. The drive ends this week, and when she asked if I’d place an order I had to remind her I can’t read print. “Oh, yeah!” she said. “But I only need seven more orders to win!” The prize? “I get to skip school and go to Top Golf with a bunch of people from my school”

Isn’t that truancy? Oh, well. Sydney and I made a deal. If she could come up with a guest post about our day on the farm that I could publish on the Safe & Sound blog I’d mention her magazine drive. Sydney came through, and included a pitch. So at risk of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, Here goes with what Sydney told me to tell you all:

Say Sydney needs help with a magazine drive at her school for new school supplies. Make sure to buy a magazine or two from her at www.apmags.com. The code is PVG387CX.

Last week I wrote a little about the trial of a Chicago Police Officer named Jason Van Dyke. He shot a 19 year-old named Laquan McDonald 16 times and was charged with first degree murder plus other lesser charges.

I included a link to the dashcam video of the killing. I’m not going to include it here, and I’m never going to look at it again. It was the cornerstone of the trial, one that made it impossible to buy explanations or excuses for the shooting.

Chicago police have an incredibly difficult job—in many ways, we leave them to deal with what our leaders fail to deal with and we fail to deal with as an electorate. My interactions with the local bicycle cops and beat walkers has always been nothing but friendly.

But there’s a long history of less than fair or friendly interactions with citizens in other neighborhoods. It dates back decades—in my lifetime there has been the horrific John Burge torture regime, which future Mayor Richard M. Daley overlooked when he was Cook County District Attorney. Throw in an alarming number of false convictions over the years, and it’s not unreasonable to conclude that black people in the wrong place at the wrong time have a harder time getting a fair shake than I do. That’s on all of us.

Last week, the jury in the Van Dyke case delivered a verdict. I can’t say I’m happy about their guilty verdicts on 2^nddegree murder, plus 16 lesser charges. I hate to see anyone go to jail and have their lives and their family and friends’ lives changed forever. And McDonald is still dead.

I can say that after listening to the jurors talk about the trial after the verdict, I was heartened. They took their jobs seriously. They took each other seriously and listened to one another. They answered questions articulately. They were proud of their service. They were not sensational.

I was proud of my fellow citizens, because they—in my view—delivered justice.