My first author event THIS THURSDAY, May 2!!
A homecoming of sorts, talking about autism and mental health.
I’ve written a lot about my relationship with Chicago’s North Shore, where I grew up and was bullied and abused, but I will never say one bad word about the Wilmette Public Library. Since my family moved to the town of Wilmette nearly three decades ago, I always had a safe place to learn and be myself because of this wonderful institution.
The library’s where I first heard such formative recordings for my musical development as Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Song Book and Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks, which quickly became my favorite album of all time, way back when I first heard it a quarter-century ago.
When I started getting into country music around 2003, I remember using the library’s collection to first hear Reba McEntire’s “Fancy” in full on CD—this was back before YouTube was a thing and software for downloading music messed up your computer while not always getting the right version of the song you were looking for. And today I write about country music and that song, including on this blog.
And this Thursday, May 2 at 7:00 PM, I am cohosting an authors reading and discussion with my friend MV Perry at this very library. I’m very excited to return to my North Shore roots, reading and talk some, and engage with a broader community on mental health issues and autism on the North Shore.