Jo Maeder

Author

MASKS FOR LIFE: Wearing a mask is liberating. I’m not saying good-bye for good to mine yet.

by Leave a Comment

It took me a nanosecond to embrace wearing a mask when the pandemic hit. Aside from deterring all airborne infections and reducing the risk to others, it checked these boxes: • No one sees my “phony smile” • No one sees me talking to myself • No one sees my Resting Bitch Face Nor did […]

LEARN MORE

FREE THINKING: The #1 way to increase happiness is…

by 4 Comments

Life is not a bowl of cherries for anyone. We must take the bitter with the sweet, we’re told. But some people seem to have an innate melancholy they can never shake. Studies now show that we stay at the same level of happiness our entire life. There’s only one thing that’s been proven to […]

LEARN MORE

ZERK ‘EM: Another surprise in a pile of old family papers

by Leave a Comment

In honor of Aviation History Month, Veteran’s Day, and my father’s birthday, I’m sharing a peek at a treasure I unearthed when his widow died. I was asked by her executor if I would like his papers. What papers?, I thought. When he passed she became obsessed with ballroom dancing and turned his office into […]

LEARN MORE

Behind NAKED DJ, the audiobook

by Leave a Comment

  I’m thrilled Rachel Butera has been nominated for a SOVAS Voice Arts Awards for her narration of NAKED DJ, as have I for my narration of WHEN I MARRIED MY MOTHER. Known as “The Oscars of Voice Acting” it’s indeed an honor. The awards ceremony is Nov 13, 2016 at the Warner Brothers Studio […]

LEARN MORE

MAMA JO REVISITED: Mother’s Day Without Her

by 4 Comments

This Mother’s Day, 2016, marks the eleventh one without Mama Jo. It’s always been tinged with sadness since her passing, but this one will be particularly hard. I recently completed reading and editing the audiobook of When I Married My Mother. I read it four times, all nine hours, before I had it right. Every single […]

LEARN MORE

CASEY KASEM: His End-of-life Family Drama and Avoiding Something Similar Yourself

by Leave a Comment

In 1997, I was honored to present a prestigious radio industry award to one of my heroes in the business, Casey Kasem. The sordid drama that has unfolded recently around his death made headlines around the world. As author of a memoir about caring for my mother at the end of her life, I’ve become […]

LEARN MORE

MAYA ANGELOU: A Meeting and an Unexpected Gift

by Leave a Comment

I interviewed Maya Angelou for the Greensboro News & Record’s Go Triad arts section in the fall of 2010. She lived in the next town over, Winston-Salem, NC, and was releasing a cookbook for the holidays. I was nervous meeting an icon whose work I had admired greatly for decades, especially after being instructed to only refer […]

LEARN MORE

SHIRLEY TEMPLE: The girl, the woman, the dolls

by 2 Comments

I’ve now been in the doll adoption business about 18 months. If I had to pick the one doll with the most universal, indestructible appeal, it would be Shirley Temple in all her various sizes and outfits. Barbie is too polarizing. Madame Alexander dolls too prissy. No one dislikes Shirley Temple. She appeals to a […]

LEARN MORE