Michael Saelens:
CLASS OF 1973
Stafford Senior High SchoolClass of 1973
Falmouth, VA
Pare Elementary SchoolClass of 1961
St. clair shores, MI
Featherstone Elementary SchoolClass of 1961
Woodbridge, VA
Occoquan Elementary SchoolClass of 1961
Woodbridge, VA
Marumsco Hills Elementary SchoolClass of 1960
Woodbridge, VA
Michael's Story
Life
For a quarter century I lived the life of a gypsy, going to wherever the next job took me (DC, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Ohio, central and northern Virginia, to name just a few). I'm a loner at heart and although I came close to tying the knot a couple of times, I have never married.
I finally settled down in the late-1990's after returning to my Midwestern roots (I was born in Michigan and lived in both the Lower and Upper Peninsulas as a young child), and for the past dozen or so years have lived by myself in Logan Square on Chicago's Near North Side, about a 15-minute "L" train ride northwest of the Loop.
College
I have degrees in Communications, Elementary Education, and Library/Information Science.
Workplace
I worked for 25 years as a radio/TV, newspaper, and wire service news and sports reporter and editor in more places than I can count. Major stops included Baltimore, Chicago, Columbus (OH), Fort Myers-Naples, Jacksonville, Tampa, and Washington, D.C., as well as time during the late 1970's in Charlottesville and Waynesboro.
However, I burned out on journalism after returning to Chicag...Expand for more
o in 1998 following a two-year stint in Florida, and I abruptly walked away from it all in July of 2001. After going on to spend eight years as a PK-8 teacher-librarian with Chicago Public Schools, I was forced to retire following the 2012-13 school year after being critically injured and permanently disabled (I need a rollator-style walker and knee-to-toe orthotic braces on both legs to get around, but I honestly manage very well and people tend to forget about it really quickly) in a random street attack that cost me my sense of balance and equilibrium.
However, I am very active in community organizing and progressive politics - primarily involving affordable housing and immigrant rights - at the city, county and state levels, served one term as a member of the Local School Council - which serve as elected governing bodies for each of the city's 625-odd public schools - at the elementary school in my neighbothood, along with writing a book, volunteering for various charitable causes and working as an election judge for the past several elections (perhaps the most important public service I've ever done).
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