Last Saturday, a few friends and I visited Historic Pullman in Chicago, Pullman, as in George Pullman, the inventor of the Pullman Palace (railway) Car. Even though I've lived in the Chicago area for nearly fifty years, I'm sorry I've never visited before. The brochure from the Visitors' Center notes that now the area is …
New Neighbors in Millennium Park – 2014
Living in the city, we have lots of interesting neighbors. But the latest newcomers, at 21 to 39 feet, are the tallest. From my living room window, I recently spotted a large white oval resembling the top half of a gigantic egg. So we took a trip across the street, and this is what we …
Iowa Summer Writing Festival – A Typical Day / 2014
I love to go to Iowa. Not just to glide past the flat lands of corn on I-80, or to roll along the miles of lightly forested hills on I-88, or, as a city dweller, to have the chance to drive my 2000 Beetle anywhere, or simply to savor a McD's cone alongside the Mississippi …
Continue reading Iowa Summer Writing Festival – A Typical Day / 2014
Caring Lessons / Prairie Lights / Iowa City / 2014
Thanks to Jan Weissmiller, poet and co-owner of Prairie Lights, Caring Lessons: A Nursing Professor's Journey of Faith and Self will soon be shelved in this much-loved independent bookstore in Iowa City. When I attend the Iowa Summer Writing Festival, as I did last week, I hang out at Prairie Lights between classes and evenings. You'd …
Continue reading Caring Lessons / Prairie Lights / Iowa City / 2014
Caring Lessons / Printers Row Lit Fest / Chicago 2014
Hey, everybody! Drop by this Saturday between 10 and 2 to see that Caring Lessons and I have finally made it to the Printers Row Lit Fest. Special pricing for the Fest will be $10.00 (normally $13.99). We'll be located at the book tent labeled Y, as in Yes. Ever since Caring Lessons came out almost …
Continue reading Caring Lessons / Printers Row Lit Fest / Chicago 2014
NURSES DON’T WANT TO BE DOCTORS
My nurse practitioner friend, Marianna Crane, and I have a long history of dealing with issues of this kind and of sharing similar perspectives. On her blog, nursingstories.org, Marianna serves as a much needed advocate for nurse practitioners and educator of the public. Please read on...
A Nurses Week Tribute to My Sister Kathleen (Kay) Elizabeth Korthuis, PhD, RN,1934-2012
I remember: You blaming me for your hips being uneven, ha ha, because you had to carry me around when we lived in New Jersey when Dad was a Chaplain in the Army from 1943-1946. You telling me that, after the war, we shared a bed in West Sayville and, thanks to me, another ha …
Memoir as Triologue
I’d never heard of memoir as triologue before I attended the Festival of Faith & Writing at Calvin College a few weeks ago. In a session led by three memoirists, Luci Shaw, noted poet, said she liked to think of memoir as a triologue between the writer, God, and the reader. Most of the session …
Metaphor as Mystery
Sometimes I get weird questions from people when it comes up that I underline a lot when I’m reading a book. “Why,” they ask, “would you want to mark it all up?” I want to scream, “And why wouldn’t I? Many writers write so beautifully that I simply have to underline their spot-on character descriptions, …
Write Along with Me 