Have you been wondering what’s happened since I last posted here in late May? Here’s the answer, in the form of a brief slide show inside this holiday e-card. It comes from my husband Hal and me.
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I didn't drive across the country, but I sure did fly across it - several times! Here I am at a car show in Santa Barbara, where I did a talk in May..
As readers of this blog know, my publisher sent me on a book tour this winter when The Story of Beautiful Girl came out in paperback. Between Feb. 10 and March 3, I spoke in bookstores in Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Connecticut, Delaware, and Virginia. After a few days to catch my breath, my speaking engagements for The Story of Beautiful Girl began for the spring and I was back on the road. At that point, I traveled to Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Wisconsin, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Toronto, California, and Minnesota. I returned from the last talk for the season on May 25.
Or, to be more concise, between early February and late May, I did 40 events in 21 states – plus Canada.
Words Bookstore, in Maplewood, NJ, had a reception for book clubs before my actual talk. I'm the fuzzy head in the middle. This was in May.
Of course, I always try to work in extra visits with my many far-flung friends – some of whom drive great distances to meet me. I also always try to make new friends. And I usually take long walks so I can learn about my surroundings, burn off calories, and stay energetic. So whenever I travel, my days are packed.
I know, I know, I’m describing a very demanding schedule. The friends who’ve been following on Facebook and Twitter have been admonishing me to slow down, take a break. And I’m happy to say that I’ve heard you. This summer I’m taking some down time at long last.
On the drive from the Kansas City Airport for a talk in Columbia, MO, Brent and Laura Jackson took me to Kleinschmidt's, a famous western wear store with stuffed animals. This was in March.
But before I sign off, I want to share some of the highlights of this spring. Not every highlight; I wasn’t able to take photos at every program, and I would overwhelm you if I showed you all of the pictures I have. (Though I wish I could! Sorry not to have you here, Tom and Rita O’Neill, Betsy Kachmar, the Arc of Stark County, Loui Lord Nelson, Carol and Derrick Dufresne, Laura and Brent Jackson, Kate O’Neill, Gary Blumenthal, Susan Ashworth, Betsy Small, Harriet Redman, Gretchen Raab, Anne Strainchamps, Teri Derry, Mark Davis, Joseph MacBeth, John Raffaele, Ann Hardiman, Ann Genaro, Ellen Morosoff Pemrick, Genie Cohen, Lee Sherman, Charles LaRussa, Yona Lunsky, Karen Calzonetti, Richard Oldfield, Lori Jasper, Sue Hayes, Nancy Peterson – and so many others.)
So look at these photos as just a small glimpse of my many adventures this spring. May they give you a sense of how exciting and fulfilling the last few months were for me – and why I now need the solitude and silence of this summer.
Enjoy these warm months, and I’ll see you back here in the fall!
Events and Sights – In No Particular Order
Doing the keynote at the ADDP Conference in Worcester, MA, March. 750 people were in the audience.
I was the dinner speaker for 150 people at the Sunset Soiree for Hillside House in Santa Barbara. It was held in in a beautiful outdoor garden in May.
Me in Boston in March. I did a house party there, as well as talks in Worcester, MA and Peterborough, NH.
The fantastic Renaissance Bookstore - used books! - in the Milwaukee airport. I was here in April, between talks in Wisconsin and Ohio.
Keynoting for a crowd of 350 at the INARF Conference in Indianapolis, March.
Signing books at the INARF Conference in Indianapolis, after doing the keynote, March 2012.
The view from the gorgeous Sagamore Hotel in Lake George, NY, where I spoke for 300 people at the NYSACRA Conference in April.
While I was in Neenah, WI for the Fox Cities Book Festival, in April, I went to see the house where my friend Donna Hanchett once lived.
Speaking for 100 people in Toronto for Itanu, the inclusion initiative for the Jewish Federation, in May..
Jonah, owner of Words Bookstore in Maplewood, NJ, introduces me, in May.
I flew to Toronto in May by on Porter Airline, which brought me to an island in the city. This photo is from the ferry.
One of many magnificent views outside Santa Barbara, where I spoke in May.
Keynoting for 500 at OPRA in Columbus, OH. This was the second time I keynoted for them. Great people! April 2012.
Signing books in Columbus. OPRA purchased books for all 550 attendees.
Life-sized model in the Fort Wayne, IN airport, which also had an aviation museum. The Midwest has a few of them.
The view of the Mississippi from my hotel room in St. Paul in May. I had the same view last June, 13 stories lower.
At some point (when? who knows?) I flew through my beloved Detroit Airport. A stranger snapped this picture.
While in Columbus in April, I visited this replica of the Santa Maria. It was tiny - and they crossed the ocean in it!
The book signing line at EuroNest, in St. Paul, MN, where I spoke for Opportunity Partners in May 2012.
Finishing my dinner talk for Hillside House, in Santa Barbara, May 2012.
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Friends, Old and New
I met Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, among many others, at Brighter Futures in Philadelphia.
I met aspiring writer Ashley Caveda when I spoke in Fort Wayne, IN.
Rebecca Dowling and her staff welcomed me to the Hockessin Bookshelf in DE. April 2012.
When I spoke at Crotched Mountain, NH, I went to a dinner party thrown by the head of the facility.
The night before I spoke in Toronto for Our Jewish Community Reads, Itanu Toronto invited me to a dinner party.
My old friend and former student, InSuk, drove 4 hours to meet me in Indianapolis.
My old friend Dale, who works in transit, came to see me in Columbus in April.
Judy Kresloff, my host at Brighter Futures in Philadelphia. We became fast friends.
John, Bridget, and her daughter at EuroNest in St. Paul, in May.
In Columbus, in April, I visited with Al Maag, a family friend from long ago. I had not seen him since I was 9.
At Brighter Futures in Philadelphia, I got to visit with old friends Jim Conroy, Greg Pirmann, and Jean Searle.
In May, I spent the night at the house of my new friend Shelly Christensen in the St. Paul area. She and I co-wrote the book discussion guide for Jewish Disability Awareness Month.
Sue Barbella, who studied writing with me in the late 1990s, went to great lengths to see me speak for the AAUW in Lower Gwynedd, PA in April.
In Boston, I visited with my college friend Sue Navarre and her husband Tim Olevsky.
The lovely Rosi Amador, who went to college with me and who lives in Cambridge, MA, hosted a house party for readers of my books.
Roz Cummins was also a co-host of Rosi's party, along with Sue Navarre.
My old friend Dan Szczesny came to see me when I spoke at Toadstool Bookshop in Peterborough, NH in March.
My cousins, Simone Tumarkin and Andrea Iskowitz, came to see me at Words Bookstore in Maplewood, NJ in May.
The wonderful sib and writer, Mary McHugh, came to see me in Maplewood, NJ in May.
Kami Simpson, my best friend from nursery school and then boarding school, came to see me in Maplewood, NJ in May.
The great, great Marc Goldman, who handles my speaking arrangements, and who helped make all of this possible. He came to see me in Santa Barbara and showed me the town.
Today, Feb. 13, 2012, is the publication date of the paperback of The Story of Beautiful Girl – and the day my book tour officially begins! My first event will be tonight at the famous Tattered Cover, at the Historic LoDo location in Denver.
But I’ve already been in Colorado for a few days. As you might have seen in my last blog post, I arrived on Feb. 9 and went to Boulder, where I did a talk the next day for the stellar organization, Via – Mobility for Life. On 2/11, I returned to Denver to prepare for another talk – for Jewish Disabilities Awareness Day.
Although the event itself was on Sun., 2/12, it began for me the night before. After I dropped my bags at my hotel, two key people on the Committee for the event, Sheryl Goodman and Pam Valvano, picked me up for dinner at a Chinese restaurant. Over vegetarian dumplings and crispy tofu, they shared their life stories with me, and at times tears were shed. We also discussed the event the next day. The schedule called for me to do a 20-minute keynote about the Jewish values inherent in having a family member with a disability, then a 45-minute breakout session about The Story of Beautiful Girl. This meant that only a handful of people would be able to see the Powerpoint I’d put together for that talk – a handful wouldn’t include Sheryl or Pam.
Pam Valvano and Sheryl Goodman, in my hotel room, after their private viewing of my keynote.
Sheryl and Pam were very taken by the talk. They left lamenting that the set-up for the next day wouldn’t allow me to give the talk as my keynote.
The next morning, Sheryl called. To my surprise and delight, she’d convinced the powers that be to rearrange the day so I could do that talk for my keynote! Certainly, I was prepared to do the other talk, but I knew the one about The Story of Beautiful Girl would be just right for that audience.
I’m happy to report that the crowd of about 200, which included families, people with disabilities, and professionals, was just as caught up in my talk as Sheryl and Pam had been. Fortunately, I was allowed a little extra time, so I didn’t have to compress it too much. People smiled as I spoke, and they wiped their eyes. Ten emails were waiting for me by the time I returned to my hotel.
But before then, I turned my break-out session into a Q&A, as there were many attendees who wanted advice, or had questions about my books. I also hugged many people while I signed their copies of The Story of Beautiful Girl and Riding The Bus With My Sister. A friendly, efficient bookseller from Tattered Cover was on hand, and she was a terrific companion through the afternoon. (So was a staff person, John, who was assigned to be my buddy.) We actually sold all but two copies of the paperback books she brought – and then she bought two copies of the hardback herself.
The book signing line at Jewish Disabilities Awareness Day.
Now I’m getting ready for my first bookstore appearance on the tour – at Tattered Cover. I’ll post about that tomorrow.
For now I’ll just share some of the Jewish values I didn’t get the opportunity to talk about yesterday. (A list of Jewish values that tie in specifically with The Story of Beautiful Girl can be found in the Discussion Guide for Jewish Disability Awareness Month. You can see a pdf of the guide by clicking here.)
Of course, I think of this as a human, rather than just Jewish, list. Wouldn’t the world be a better place if everyone lived according to these values?
Having a family member with a disability has taught me:
- Love thy neighbor as thyself.
- Do good deeds.
- Maintain justice and do what is right.
- Have benevolence and compassion for the suffering, be kind to the needy, be honest and ethical. Kindness is what life requires of you.
- Make the world a better place to live.
- Save one life and you save the world.
It’s the weekend after Thanksgiving. While most people had large family gatherings with turkey, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie, I took my sister Beth to see Puss In Boots, followed by a trip to a diner for our holiday dinner. It was a nice, peaceful, private way to say thanks for a thrilling, non-stop, very public year.
In fact, the year has been so non-stop that I haven’t posted a new blog since August. It’s been so long that readers of this blog have gotten in touch, saying, “Where have you been?”
In the interest of answering that question, I’m posting a photo journey through the last four months. It won’t cover everything, but will touch on many of the important episodes and people, and will give a sense of all I have to be grateful for. (And when I mention giving talks, I’m mostly referring to talks related to my novel The Story of Beautiful Girl, though occasionally I also spoke about my memoir, Riding The Bus With My Sister.)
Near the end of the summer, Hal and I made a trip to Baltimore, where we visited the American Visionary Art Museum.
Visionary artists are self-taught individuals, usually without formal training. We loved the museum and recommend it highly.
Soon after that trek to Baltimore, I did a talk for the KY Transit Association, in Lexington. I learned a lot about horses while I was there. I also missed an earthquake, which hit while I was in flight.
I didn't miss the hurricane, which hit the East Coast right after I got home. The Brandywine River, near our house, crested upstream from us. Here it is, much higher than we ever see it. Fortunately we were safe.
My sister Beth got a new TV. We watched The Partridge Family on it. David Cassidy is as cute as I remembered.
Beth also got a new sofa. Her old one was blue, and she wanted one that was purple (though here it looks plum-colored).
In early October, I flew to Wisconsin for some talks, passing through my beloved Detroit Airport on the way there.
Fall had just begun and Wisconsin was quite beautiful. It was also still warm out so I got to do some good walks.
My first talk was for the Fox Valley Sibling Support Network in Appleton. This was my second talk for them over the last few years.
Several people attended who knew me through mutual friends. This woman knew my friend Donna, who went to high school with me in New Jersey.
And this woman is good friends with a bus driver named Dale who I met in North Carolina years ago.
Then I went on to Green Bay, where I met with Kim Nielsen's Disability Studies class. They'd read my book and asked really smart questions.
I also did a public talk. I don't have photos from that, but I do have this picture of Lori Jasper, who drove 300 miles to meet me! She's the COO of Cooperating Community in St. Paul.
I then had a brief period back at home. During that time, my neighbor, the painter Catherine Drabkin, came to our backyard to paint.
Then in late Oct., I flew to Portland, OR for a talk. I stayed at the historic Governor Hotel. This photo is of the stained glass ceiling in the lobby.
The night I arrived, my friends Tim and Jan Kral drove in from Salem to have dinner with me. They are both prominent in the disability community in Oregon.
My event the next day was for Albertina Kerr, which provides support for people with developmental disabilities and families in crisis. I did a reception for 50 board members & donors, a luncheon talk for 350 guests, and an afternoon talk for 50 staff. Sorry - no photos.
My friend and fellow sib, Raphielle, drove down from Washington state to see me speak. After my talk, we went to dinner. She came with her mother, who's on her left, and a friend, who's on my right.
The next day I flew to Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
I was there a few years ago, and returned to speak for South Dakota Achieve. My host was Becky Hansen (on the right). Her daughter (on the left) is hoping to do a public reading from my book.
I met my friend Beth (on the right) when I spoke in SD in 2004, in Pierre. She then met with me when I spoke in Sioux Falls a few years ago. This time she brought her friend Carrie.
As in Portland, I did three events. This photo is from my luncheon talk, which was for 350 attendees. Most were professionals, family, and self-advocates.
I also did two breakout sessions, each with about 75. This picture is from the afternoon session.
I had just enough time to take a walk to McKennan Park - while calling my father, Beth, and Hal - before collapsing into bed.
The next day I flew to Toronto. My layover was in Chicago's O'Hare airport, where I got to pass through their light tunnel. It's not as great as the one in Detroit but it's still a pleasure.
I was going to Ontario, Canada for the International Festival of Authors, or the IFOA. Unlike my usual trips, I wouldn't be doing talks, but readings and panel discussions. My publisher sent me to the IFOA, which draws authors from all over the world.
This trip was different in another way: Hal came! He met me at the airport in Toronto. It was wonderful to have him there.
A Canadian friend I met on Facebook, Kim Long-Wilkinson, came to my first reading. I was so thrilled to meet her.
The next few days, Hal and I went all over Toronto. We walked to the University, took the subway, ate in great restaurants, and met lots of strangers. Here's Hal, goofing around in St. Lawrence Market.
We also went to Kensington Market, where we bought this wonderfully warm sweater at the Tibetan Village Store. Here I am with Lobsang, the owner.
We passed Occupy Toronto, located beside a historic church.
Of course, I had commitments. Here I am on a panel of authors whose books advocate for those unable to speak for themselves.
We also got to spend time with Richard Oldfield, a bus driver friend. He showed us around Oshawa, where he works.
Richard even got me to pose as if I was driving the bus. But worry not! It was just for the photo. And we were in a park, far from a road.
Here's Richard. We called my sister Beth while we were together. She asked the cost of the fares and whether passengers had to fold up their strollers.
All too soon, Hal had to go home. I stayed one day more, as IFOA sent me and some other authors to the Stephen Leacock Museum in Orillia, where we did a reading.
I also made new friends while on this trip. This is Bert Archer, a Canadian travel writer and excellent conversationalist.
I was sad to return to Toronto and see midnight come one last time before my flight left for the States in the morning.
And I had no time to catch my breath, either! I returned home, unpacked, tried to answer all my email, failed to do so, gave up trying to blog, and got on a plane.
My next trip took me to Los Angeles for a talk at Harbor Regional Center. I don't have photos of that talk, but I do have photos from my walks along the Pacific Ocean.
My former student Caitlin Dowdall (right) and her mother Diane came to my talk, which was in the morning. Then we went to lunch. I so enjoyed seeing them.
That afternoon, I got to meet a fellow alum of my boarding school, Solebury School. Jeff Vespa lives in LA and is, among other things, a celebrity photographer. A great visit.
I spent that evening with the man who handles my speaking engagements, Marc Goldman, of Damon Brooks Associates. I just love him.
The next day I took the train to Anaheim to meet my friend Cynthia, who drove up from San Diego. We try to visit whenever I'm near her. This visit was way too short!
Then I took the train back to LA, where I met up with my friend Vicki Forman. I spoke to her writing class at USC and spent the night at her house. A powerful visit.
Then I went home - and almost immediately left for Atlantic City, where I spoke for the NJ Association of Community Providers. Again, I don't have pictures of that talk. But I stayed a few extra days to see friends. How funny to walk beside the Atlantic so soon after walking beside the Pacific.
I met my friend Frederika when I worked at Barnes & Noble in Princeton in 1995. Now a Direct Support Professional, she attended the conference. She's a warm, intuitive person.
Lisa, my best friend from fifth grade, lives near Atlantic City. We became pen pals when I moved away at age 9 and we still write letters. We visit when we can.
Bobbie and Allan Ginsberg retired to the shore a few years ago. I met Allan at my first talk for Riding The Bus With My Sister, in 2002. I really enjoy him and Bobbie.
Now - finally! - I'm home. It's not for too long, because I leave soon for yet more travel. But for now I'm happy to catch up on my blog, see my husband, and be in my own bed once again.
Signing books at ANCOR's annual conference, June 2011, Washington, DC
When I began doing appearances in connection with The Story of Beautiful Girl, the American Network of Community Options and Resources, or ANCOR, assembled an extremely helpful and easy-to-read brochure that provides additional information about the past, present, and future of the kind of institutions I wrote about in my book – and what we can do to improve that future. The brochure became so popular, ANCOR recently turned it into an electronic flipbook so people could share it online.
I hope you’ll click here to take a look at the flipbook, and then share it with others.
ANCOR also helped me connect with a number of very gifted artists who have disabilities, and who I asked to create artwork that I could use to illustrate key scenes in The Story of Beautiful Girl for my talks. The response was overwhelming, with drawings coming in from adult artists across the country who live in community settings. I chose several of these pieces for my talk (and, yes, compensated those artists for their work), and am including four of them on this blog post.
ANCOR recently created an online art gallery where they posted all the artwork that was sent in, and included biographies about each artist. You can see the art gallery at this link. I’m sure you’ll love looking at this online art show.
Homan helps a pregnant Lynnie hide, then he holds the baby right after the delivery. Artist: John C. Baustian.
Homan and Lynnie make their way down the country road during the rainstorm. Artist: Paul Thompson
Baby Julia sleeps in the basket. Artist: Jennifer Linzie
Martha reaches for baby Julia. Artist: Rebecca David
