Local author is in good spirits
April 3, 2008
By MYRNA PETLICKI Contributor
Jenniffer Weigel is determined to keep in touch with her dad even though Chicago sportscaster Tim Weigel died at age 56 in 2001. The Evanston resident tells of her efforts to reconnect with her late father in "Stay Tuned: Conversations with Dad from the Other Side" (Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc., 2007), a very personal account of her quest.
The warmth and openness that is so appealing in Weigel's writing comes across when you meet the slender brunette in person. Her unpretentiousness and honesty are sure to charm people who attend her Wednesday book talk at Quince.
Author Jenniffer Weigel, "Emmy Award-winning skeptic" and daughter of the late Chicago sportscaster Tim Weigel: "When you lose a parent, there's a hole there."
'Stay Tuned: Confessions with Dad from the Other Side' by Jennifer Weigel
'STAY TUNED: CONVERSATIONS WITH DAD FROM THE OTHER SIDE'
Book signing and talk at 7 p.m. April 9, The Salon Room, Quince at the Homestead, 1625 Hinman Ave., Evanston. $30 (includes appetizers, two cocktails). (847) 570-8400 or www.quincerestaurant.net. Also: 7 p.m. April 29, Evanston Public Library, 1703 Orrington Ave. (847) 866-0300.
Like her dad, Weigel has pursued a career in broadcasting. She has worked in both radio and television, and earned an Emmy in 2000 for on-camera reporting. Weigel started her own production company, JCW Productions in 2002.
Her work has allowed her access to such individuals as world renowned psychic James Van Praagh and Caroline Myss, the noted proponent of sacred contracts with the universe. She had saved transcripts of these conversations on her computer, with the intention of writing magazine or newspaper articles, "never ever thinking I was going to make a book out of some of these encounters," she said.
Long story short
Weigel wrote a longer version of her experiences with Van Praagh than eventually appeared in the book, hoping to sell it to a magazine. "Then I found myself giving it to friends who had lost someone," she related. "It became this thing that was e-mailed from friend to friend. Then they would say, 'What else do you have?' That's when it kind of jarred me that maybe I could compile these interviews to be a book.
"I thought that the book was strictly going to be Jenniffer the reporter interviewing different gurus, mediums and psychics for their take on what happens when we die," she related. "Nobody nibbled on it for a year. Then I had a new book agent who said, 'I want you to make this more about your journey.' He said, 'This is going to touch a lot of people. Write from your heart."
It turned out to be great advice. On the jacket, Sun-Times syndicated columnist and movie critic Richard Roeper is quoted as calling the book "A very touching, very smart and very funny story about the most important journey one can take -- the quest for enlightenment and inner peace."
When in doubt
On the cover, Weigel refers to herself as an "Emmy Award-winning skeptic." But that skepticism faded when psychic after psychic revealed things about her that they had no way of knowing. For some reason, her mother-in-law often communicated to her through psychics. Weigel reported that her husband, Clay Champlin, "is more open to the possibility that anything is possible now because I bring back all of this evidence."
The book allows the reader to peek into the private life of Tim Weigel and his relationship with his daughter. We learn that eating out with her dad always became a communal event. Any fan that stopped by the table to say, "Hello" was invited to join the two of them.
Weigel isn't afraid to reveal her own less than stellar moments, like when she tried to sneak out early from movie critic Gene Siskel's funeral and wound up drawing attention to herself in ways that could have been turned into a silent film classic.
Particularly touching is a description of how Tim Weigel's propensity for wild ties was celebrated on the day of his funeral.
The primary focus of the book, though, is Weigel's relentless search to hear from her dad again. That is so important to her because, "When you lose a parent, there's a hole there," Weigel said. "We all want to hear just one more time that our parents are proud of us."
