Who dated George McGovern’s daughter, met Louis Armstrong, had a father who owned a radio station, is a detailed sculptor, and knows that if it weren’t for lips, the tongue would push the teeth out of the mouth? He lived in Iowa, South Dakota, and Illinois; he had homes on farms, in small towns and big cities. He dabbled in politics and aspired to be an artist. Who is creating a bust of President Abraham Lincoln, capturing his character and his Illinoisan visage, in a labor of love?

Who has so many intelligent thoughts begging to be set free that they sometimes tumble over his tongue, and lodge momentarily between his teeth? It’s Marengo, Illinois’s long-time dentist, Dr. Jim Sweet.

I got a chance to meet this interesting fellow, and my-oh-my,

It’s almost Mother’s Day.  I learned a lot from my mother.  I learned a lot from being a […]

  What does an artistic, recovering drug addict, who spent his jail time in solitary confinement, have in […]

SHG at the beachWhen did I first met Hilary Grossman?  It seems we’ve known each other for years.  We’re virtual friends; part of SheWrite.com and BlogHer.com and we exchange Tweets.  This month I learned more about her by reading her “Chick Lit that happens to be true” book, Dangled Carat.  Over the weekend, I got a chance to meet Hilary face-to-face.  Well, sort of:  we FaceTimed on Saturday morning, she in her beach-house in Long Island, me in my frosty office north of Chicago.

Dangled Carat  is an Indie book about the love of Hilary’s life, Marc:  How they met, fell in love, and well, how the Carat dangled for both of them.

Hilary always wanted to write, but it was a small BlogHer conference about turning a blog to a book that energized her and set her plan in motion.    She hired the author of Orphan Train, Christina Baker Kline, to edit her book.  Hilary also hired an artist to take her vision of the book cover from concept to reality.  These are both tips Guy Kawasaki gives

My sister-in-law took this picture of my brother, her husband.  That’s our grand-nephew cuddled up with a book. […]

Core Curriculum is the new anti-Christ!  Or so it seems.  I hear about how it’s dumbing-down our kids […]

This is Day 5 of Frank Zyber’s memories of WWI.  This is the last in the series.  If you’ve missed Day 1-4, you might want to click on the related articles.  You won’t want to miss what I think is his visit to a cat house.  Today’s recollection continues with Grandpa’s experience at Fort Custard.

It was a cold round ride and what seemed like ten mils before we reached a place that had what looked like new buildings and very dark everywhere.  We were told to get off and find a building that was open and get in and make the most of it.  We found one and after getting in and by the light of a match now and then we found a hot air furnace, but no fuel or beds.  Looked around out of doors, but all we found was a stack of iron beds along side of the building and they were covered with ice and snow.  They were of the folding type and had to be jerked, pulled and pried to get them apart and taken in and set up.  No mattresses or covering of any kind and we

My grandfather, Frank Zyber, got recruited into the military band during WWI.  These are his memories, typed by […]

This is Day 3 of transcribing my grandfather’s memories of World War I, the War to End all […]

Day 2 of a salute to Veterans.  I am continuing with my grandfather’s words, as he wrote them […]