Short Ending

4 months after finishing training, I still find myself
having trouble ending this blog. In part it is because I know that it is
difficult to put away a chapter in your life and continue moving forward, but
also, I’ve come to realize that training never really ends. You never really
learn all there is to learn, or do all there is to do. The one thing you can do
is simply gain more understanding, do more, and never be surprised at the
things you have yet to learn, accomplish, and understand.

Yes, it sounds a little cheesy, but it’s the truth. One day
you’re walking along confidently, having completed 8 months of top notch blindness
training, and thinking absolutely nothing of blindness and you ask someone if
the unmarked door in front of you is the men’s room, and hear someone tell the
person you’ve just asked the question to softly reply: “you know, there is no
one inside if you want to help him.”

That may throw you off for a bit, but you have got to
remember that just because you understand blindness, it doesn’t mean that
everyone else does or will.

My training has ended. It all flew by and I am absolutely grateful
to have put aside time to do so. If you aren’t sure what to expect, are curious
about receiving this type of training, go and visit one of the NFB centers, see
if it is something that you can benefit from. It will challenge you, I will not
say otherwise, but it is worth it.

I no longer live in NY, and have started a new job in a new
city.

This is the last post on this blog.

Thank you for reading and I hope that someone out there has a clearer perspective of
what to expect, what they might think while they are there, and if it is
something worth looking into.

Fashion show

While in Ruston, the NFB of northern Louisiana put together a fashion show in bennefit of an organization dedicated to working with children of the community. Here are some clips of tehat fashon show!

Enjoy!

And of course, I am in it.

Part 1: http://youtu.be/6b8tf1xTdiA
Part 2: http://youtu.be/51NgW6N1BSo
Faces of the Show: http://youtu.be/C8IUUp6dRnU

You can also find them all on
the blog: http://cityoflightsfashionshow.blogspot.com/

The wetness

Thoughts have crossed over and over in my mind as to why this blog has not been updated in months, and the reason still escapes me. I’ve sat down a couple of times and attempted to write about my experiences at the NFB national convention in Orlando this past July, and how great the hotel was, how wonderful the staff was, how I loved eating real Cuban food after almost 4 months of deep fried Louisiana goodness, my fingers wouldn’t type, and when they did, my true thoughts were not in the writing.

So, I’m just updating, complete thoughts or incomplete ones…

Next week, all of the staff and students are going rafting. I’m not sure if “rafting” is the same as white water rafting, but a rubber raft, water, rapids, and adrenalin are involved. Yes, I am excited about this. This seems like the type of activity that I would normally love to do, but perhaps some months ago, might have questioned and wondered how exactly to go about doing it. Frankly now, I just don’t care. It’s something I want to do, and I’ll be enjoying myself. There will be some zip lining, ropes courses and a possible water park included in this trip as well. You may ask yourself, why are a bunch of blind people who are to be receiving blindness training doing this? Well to put it simply: because we can. Seriously, that’s the reason why.

It might not cross our minds every day, but most of the things associated with blindness which are negative, such as being unaware of one’s environment, being clumsy, very apologetic, having this humble still like nature and blah blah yakity schmakity, can typically be attributed to how the public treats blind individuals. It’s never “hey blind person, come and get involved in what we as a society is taking part in.” It’s always “hey blind person, stay out of the way while society gets involved and we will throw ya a bone.”

Think of a blind man. Now, honestly describe that person. Is that person someone you want to hang out with, have dinner with, or how about introduce your attractive single sister to?

We are going rafting because it is a confidence builder, a confidence booster, and a good time. The secret to blindness training, as I’ve discovered, is not necessarily the skill one learns, as those skills can be taught in a classroom, from a book, or online, it is the practice of those skills, and most importantly, it’s how they translate into confidence.

There have been some studies which show that for many people, having a terminal illness would be preferred than simply being blind. AIDS, Cancer, suicide have all been chosen as things which would be better than blindness.

These attitudes strip blind people of not only self-esteem, , but also dignity, respect, and of course Confidence.

It is the enslavement of the mind of a small minority by a society; it is at times the self enslavement of the mind of a minority by its own members, as it perpetuates on itself the stereotypes of the general public; but rarely is blindness enslavement because of lack of useful eyes.

Time flies by, so we must make the best of it

now that we are here, because it's now that we are here together, and we already know each others bad habits. We can work with that...

I've all ready started to do so.

I have 4 months of training still. Below is my last accomplishment.

Dinner for 8, under sleep shades, using only brailled recipes, and having shopped under sleepshades for all of the ingredients.
Starter
- Caribbean ginger black bean soup.
Yeast-Yeast rolls

Main dish
-Grilled salmon with mango avocado relishCurry grilled eggplant (sorry vegetarians, the eggplant was burned at the grill)



-Parmisian garlic mashed potatoes

Dessert
Home made coconut icecream

The meal took forever to make, serve but not digest.

Thanks to all who filled their bellies that day.

Get Wet!

Little Ones

It's overwhelming, microscopic moments in the day in which I want to take the sleepshades off. It does not occur when I'm on a travel lesson, or attempting to locate a misplaced or forgotten itemm in the kitchen; it happens when I step into the bathroom, or for a second when I'm waiting in a line. The mind plays tricks on us all and this is one of those tricks I can't figure out.

Here is another overwhelming and brief thought;much like that Twilight Zone episode where a man complains about not ever having enough time, and he loves to read, then finally time stopsstill just for him and he finds himself in a library, but has the misfortune of breaking his reading glasses. Well, There I was, bored, nothing to do except lose time. There were books all around me, volumes upon volumes, and all in braille. I can't read braille as of yet. Sad, it is just sad.... I hate to say it, but it must be said:If you cannot read print, and cannot read braille, you are functionally illiterate. I'm working on this braille business...


The wood shop is starting to not feel so frightining.

Travel lessons are really testing the boundreis. If I can travel without sight, and by travel I mean I've been doing this for only about 3 weeks and am already feeling the ninja skills growing.

When one comes to a small town, one does begin to gossip. Man I've never trashed talked so much in my life and enjoyed it.

I've gained about 7lbs.

Hitting the gym soon.

Into The Mouth Of The Beast

A radial arm saw, is a DEVICE WHICH CAN GRAB YOUR SHIRT, PULL YOU INTO IT AND SAW YOUR BELLY WIDE OPEN... Well, it’s just a wood cutting machine which has a circular spinning saw attached to an arm which you pull in your direction. This cuts across a piece of wood quite nicely, and I happen to have used the machine while blindfolded. Now, this is some scary, no other word for it but shit! It’s a non-modified, industrial machine which can have quite a bit of bite. All students are required to learn the use of most of the devices in the industrial arts shop, and they are required to use them safely. Our instructor is often under sleep shades so this is a definite, blind teaching blind class which is not for the purpose of creating carpenters, but for creating confidence.

Many of those people who attend these training centers, have lived what one could call “
a “normal” life, and after blindness, have given up that life because they thought that such things were not meant for them. Being blind meant sitting home, getting paid not to work, often just being “humble and still” while life moved all around them, in all directions, leaving them behind to only remember the life which they had previously lived.

A woman in my class, intelligent, witty and with a great job left her work behind because she was going blind. It did not occur to her that having two masters, and having almost finished a PHD, she might have only needed to adapt to the new situation as opposed to walking away from it.

I had never thought of my fear as a barrier before, but when the instructor said, “I can feel the fear in you, you’re very nervous.” It really hit me that the reason why I was afraid was that I could not see what was going on in front of me, and this fear, was probably what kept me from ever playing around with power tools.

“Now you know how to use the machine,” the instructor said, “you’ll be cutting your own wood from now on, I’m lazy.”

So, that’s what I’m doing from now on, relying on myself.

This was not the only experience which would of made most people question their personhood. For the past week and a half or so, I’ve been walking around, learning travel skills under sleep shades. Now, I thought that the coolness of the cucumber was always with me, as it turns out, I was simply feeling safe because the travel instructor was paces behind me. The first time I crossed a street with 4 intersections, the crossing took about 5 minutes. The second time about 40 seconds.

The instructor, who, whether he knows it or not is known all around as one of the best in the business, is also blind. He gave me a call while I was in a home management class making biscuits from scratch and told me that I should do my first route alone.

This meant going from the training center to the student apartments alone, under sleep shades, and when I mean alone, I mean the instructor was eating lunch at Sonic’s.

I thought I was brave, cool, awesome, and then I started stalling… The route was finished and it took me 40 minutes: It’s a 15 minute walk each way.

So, now, conversations only heard in Louisiana, while preparing to use the radial arm saw….

M: I’m telling you, Ima gonna hurt you.

W: now, you do that but listen up, you remember that law don’t ya? For every action there is a what?

M: hmm, an equal positive and negative reaction?

W: uh hum…. You got it…

M: Oh, I see. now who was it that said that?

W: Oh, that was, hmm, what this boy name?

M: What is, that boy name?

W: Boy name is Neuton…. Yep, that him.

Into The Mouth Of The BeastA radial arm saw, is a DEVICE WHICH CAN GRAB YOUR SHIRT, PULL YOU INTO IT AND SAW YOUR BELLY WIDE OPEN... Well, it’s just a

A radial arm saw, is a DEVICE WHICH CAN GRAB YOUR SHIRT, PULL YOU INTO IT AND SAW YOUR BELLY WIDE OPEN... Well, it’s just a wood cutting machine which