Two days ago our friend Ruth drove my Seeing Eye dog Luna and me to the Admiral At the Lake, a retirement community where I lead memoir-writing classes every Wednesday. I wasn’t there this time to lead a writing class, though: we were there to answer questions from third-graders who attend Goudy Elementary, a Public school for children of immigrants that is located near the Admiral in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood. My group’s graduation picture from the January class, 2020. I’m so lucky I got matched with Luna before the pandemic. The third graders are part of a Friday “reading buddies” prog ..read more

Earlier this week I got word that Hannelore (Hanna) Bratman, a writer in the memoir-writing class I used to lead at the Chicago Cultural Center, had died Monday, just short of her 104th birthday. That’s Hanna in a Photo taken by her granddaughter Nora Isabel Bratman) Hannelore had age-related macular degeneration and found out about my “Me, Myself and I” writing class decades ago from volunteers who read mail out loud to her every week at Blind Service Association (now referred to as Blind Service Chicago). “They are the ones who told me about this blind lady who teaches a writing class,” Ha ..read more

Good news! Soon all of the memoir-writing classes I lead will be back in session, which means our “Senior Class” feature will be back in full swing, too. I’m getting the ball rolling by introducing Al Hippensteel as our guest blogger today. After a long career in the printing industry, Al retired, appropriately, here in the Printers Row neighborhood of Chicago along with his wife, Donna. When I assigned “Taste” as a prompt for the Zoom memoir-writing class he attends, I was prepared for writers to come back with essays about food, restaurants, recipes, people’s interest in books, literature, m ..read more

Todays guest blogger, Lola Hotchkiss. The “I have a Dream” prompt I assigned writers in my classes last month inspired them to write about dreams they have for the world, for their country, and for their loved ones. Some even wrote about recurring nightmares! The one that surprised me the most? This flattering essay by today’s guest blogger Lola Hotchkis. She hasn’t achieved her dream yet, but sounds like she’s pretty close! by Lola Hotchkis My dream began when email brought me Beth Finke’s late summer newsletter. Having lived in Beth’s hometown of Elmhurst for almost 40 years now, my ears p ..read more

The wonderful Wanda Bridgeforth left us a lot of gifts, including this story. I came across drafts from my book “Writing Out Loud“ a week or two ago while searching for something else on my computer. I was delighted when notes about one of Wanda’s stories about a special Christmas popped up. In 1927, Wanda received a very special present from Santa. I knew right then I’d be sharing this story with you Safe & Sound blog readers. Merry Christmas! “I must have been a really good girl in 1927,” Wanda started, going on to describe her new Effanbee Rosemary Doll. “Her curls and eyelashes ..read more

A number of writers from Wanda Bridgeforth’s memoir-writing class came to her memorial service last Saturday. Sharon Kramer was one of them, and she graciously agreed to let me publish this essay she wrote about the event. Mike, Seeing Eye dog Luna, and I were there, too. What an honor to meet — and celebrate Wanda’s well-lived life with — some of the family members and friends Wanda has written about in the many, many years she attended our class. Thanks to Sharon for writing all about it here: A Wanda State of Mind by Sharon Kramer That’s Sharon Kramer to my left and three other writers fro ..read more

We got the news Monday morning. Our dear friend Wanda Bridgeforth had died. Wanda’s daughter, Wanda Jr., had texted me last week to let me know “Mama is in hospice care at home.” She added, “Don’t be sad about this, Mama l-i-v-e-d long…and much!” I was grateful to Junior for that message — her letting me know about hospice made the news about Wanda’s death easier to swallow. Wanda was 101 years old. She’d been in my “Me, Myself & I” memoir-writing class 15 years, sharing her life stories there with us every week. What joy and wonderment I feel now, having had the honor to know Wanda , meet ..read more

I am pleased to welcome Bill Gordon back as our Senior Class guest blogger today. Born and raised in Kansas, Bill lived all over the country during his 45-year career in library and association management. When he retired in 2002, he was the Executive Director of The American Library Association (located here in Chicago) and has called Chicago home ever since. Having just celebrated his 86th birthday, Bill says life so far has been “a great adventure.” Lucky for us, he enjoys remembering his adventurous life through his participation in the memoir-writing class I lead via Zoom on Thursday afte ..read more

Safe & Sound blog readers have been asking me lately if the memoir-writing classes I lead are starting up again now, and, if so, “Will you start publishing essays by your students on your blog again, too? I always like those.” My answers? Yes, and yes! Today is the first of October, I’ll be leading all three memoir-writing classes this week, and each class meets for six weeks. But wait–there’s more! I’m renewing our “Senior Class” feature today, too, with this essay Regan Burke (a writer in one of those classes) wrote about attending a presentation I did with Bindy Bitterman (a writer in a ..read more