"The best Pizza in Metro Detroit"
including Weight Watchers CEO
Florine Mark — who admitted to
being directionally challenged and
were willing to share their experi-
ences, both humorous and poignant.
"Florine Mark told me she lived
in a neighborhood with winding
streets, and sometimes while on a
walk, she would get lost and have to
stop at someone's house and ask how
to get home," says Grekin.
One woman told me she has
trouble finding her way back to her
table at a restaurant after going to
the restroom. And there was one
man who was so determined to find
his way, he put a compass in his car.
But he put it in with a magnetic
screwdriver, and wherever he went,
the compass pointed to the screw!"
Grekin found people whose lives
were altered because of their poor
sense of direction. There was a busy
mother who never joined a carpool,
not because she was concerned that
her child might be at risk in some-
one else's car, but because she was
concerned that if she took other
children home, she would be unable
to find their houses.
Forging ahead, Grekin set out to
get to the root of the problem. She
spent countless hours at the library
and on the Internet, searching for
answers, but could not find any
expert or study on the subject.
"I tried to read as much as I
could, but I had a terrible time,"
says Grekin. "I found a lot of
research about spatial ability and
map reading, and how to construct
parks and malls so that people can
easily make their way through them,
but I didn't find much about why
people have a bad sense of direc-
tion."
So Grekin designed a survey.
With the results of her findings, in
conjunction with her extensive
research on spatial ability, she came
up with a theory.
"I believe that people who don't
have a good sense of direction prob-
ably lack the abilityto mentally
rotate," she says. "Mental rotation
is a spatial ability that people either
do or do not have. I think the
inability to rotate the landscape
when you change directions or go
from upstairs to downstairs is what
causes a disorientation and a lack of
a directional sense."
By the time Grekin finished I'll
Never Get Lost Again, which is her first
book, she was reassured that there are
millions of others just like her.
Grekin, the daughter of Abe and
Ruth Zitomer and daughter-in-law
of Jack and Zivia Grekin, graduated
from Detroit's Mumford High
School. She went on to earn a bach-
elor of arts degree in journalism and
a teaching certificate at the
University of Michigan.
After teaching English at
Belleville High School, Grekin
moved to Boston and developed a
drama program for nursery school
children. Six years later, after return-
ing to the Ann Arbor area, she
taught drama for Ann Arbor's recre-
ation department, where she became
drama supervisor. She also worked as
a poetry and drama consultant for
the Ann Arbor Public Schools.
In the early 1980s, Grekin co-
founded Around Town, an Ann
Arbor company that provides tours
around the area. She also did free-
lance writing for the Ann Arbor
Nezvs. She went back to school and
earned a master of arts in education-
al curricula at the University of
Michigan in the spring of 1997, and
joined the staff at Hillel.
Grekin and her husband have
three children — Joe, a lawyer in
Detroit; Josh, a musician in New
York; and Emily, a graduate student
in psychology at Emory University
in Atlanta.
The new author believes that
both people with and without a
good sense of direction can benefit
from her book. "I want those with
no sense of direction to know they're
not alone, and I want those who can
easily find their way around to be
tolerant," she says. "There is a real
reason why people can't find their
way, and yelling or getting upset
does absolutely no good.
"I also hope that directionally
challenged people will take their loss
of a sense of direction with a sense
of humor," Grekin adds. "I hope
they will have the courage to venture
out, even if they might get lost. And
to know, if they are lost, they will be
found." ❑
Linda Grekin will sign copies of
Never get Lost Again at 2 p.m.
Saturday, March 27, at Borders,
30995 Orchard Lake Road, in
Farmington Hills. I'll Never Get
Lost Again also is available at
Little Professor Books and Rand
McNally.
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January 8th, 1999
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OUVOLMOMMEMZSEMLVAVASUMMISIEdt
3/19
1999
Detroit Jewish News
85