Act Like You’re Having a Good Time Book Discussion with Heidi Stevens

Join us for a virtual reading with Michele Weldon, author of Act Like You’re Having a Good Time, in conversation with Heidi Stevens on Friday, September 25th at 6:30 PM CST.

In this honest and tender collection of essays, award-winning memoirist Michele Weldon asks what it means to be a mature woman seeking a life of purpose and meaning through work, family, and relationships. Facing ageism and invisibility within popular culture, Weldon examines the effects of raising children, striving for applause, failing expectations, forming new friendships, reconciling lost dreams, and restoring one’s faith. With sincerity and humor, she unwraps family traditions, painting classes, lap swimming, and dress codes. She contemplates privilege and career disappointments. And she asks crucial questions of mortality, finding connection in writing and stories.

Frank, eloquent, and daring, Weldon dissects the intricacies of life, journeying toward self-discovery as a mother, daughter, sister, and friend. Readers of any age or gender will recognize the universal experience of learning to accept oneself and asking essential questions—even if there are no easy answers.

“Weldon writes with scorching depth about what we’re all scared to talk about: aging and failing, visibility and mortality. In Act Like You’re Having a Good Time, her journalistic clarity collides head-on with cinematographic storytelling, giving us a deeply reflective page-turner on how to live truthfully and joyfully, even when it hurts.” –Megan Stielstra, author of The Wrong Way to Save Your Life: Essays

Michele Weldon is an award-winning author, journalist and emerita faculty in journalism at Northwestern University. She is the author of six nonfiction books and has contributed chapters in seven other books. Her work has appeared in New York Times, CNN, Washington Post, TIME, The Guardian, Slate, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, USA Today, NBC Think and more. A senior leader with The OpEd Project, she has led Public Voices Fellowship initiatives at Northwestern, Stanford, Princeton, Brown, Ms. Foundation, Center for Global Policy Solutions and Urgent Fund Africa. She serves on the advisory boards of Life Matters Media, Global Girl Media Chicago, Sarah’s Inn, Beat The Streets Chicago and Between Friends. She is a former member of the board of directors of Journalism & Women Symposium and the mother of three sons.

Heidi Stevens writes a daily column for the Chicago Tribune, where she has worked since 1998. Her nationally syndicated columns reach more than a million print and online readers each day, appearing in newspapers across the country. She’s a frequent guest on local and national TV and radio stations, where she’s called upon to discuss current events, pop culture and issues around gender, race and relationships. She also records a weekly podcast with family therapist John Duffy called “On Purpose: The Heidi Stevens and Dr. John Duffy Podcast.”