[il-talk] Illinois Independent, Fall 2016

Mon Oct 17 22:51:52 UTC 2016

Thanks for the information! When is the convention? Is there a cost to come I do not need overnight accomodations? Thanks! Bill
--------------------------------------------
On Mon, 10/17/16, Deborah Kent Stein via IL-Talk <il-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:

 Subject: [il-talk] Illinois Independent, Fall 2016
 To: "'NFB of Illinois Mailing List'" <il-talk at nfbnet.org>
 Cc: "Deborah Kent Stein" <dkent5817 at att.net>
 Date: Monday, October 17, 2016, 4:28 PM

 ILLINOIS INDEPENDENT

 Fall 2016

 National Federation of the Blind of Illinois

 President: Denise R. Avant, (773) 991-8050

 davant1958 at gmail.com

 Editor: Deborah Kent Stein, (773) 203-1394

 dkent5817 at att.net

 Coeditor: Robert Gardner, (309) 236-6606

 rgardner4 at gmail.com

 Formatting: Glenn Moore and Janna Harvey

 NFB Newsline Edition: David Meyer, (708) 209-1767

 datemeyer at sbcglobal.net

 Print and Braille Editions: Bill Reif, (217) 801-2996

 billreif at ameritech.net

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

 From the President's Desk, by Denise R. Avant

 The Chicago Marriott Naperville Hotel, Convention
 Information, by Patti
 Gregory-Chang 

 Come Spin with Me, by Cathy Randall

 Skiing with the Vikings, by Denise R. Avant

 Playing with Clay, by Deborah Kent Stein

 In Memoriam: LeAnne Mayne

 FROM THE PRESIDENT's DESK

 by Denise R. Avant

 The fall convention season is now underway. But before I
 talk about the
 excitement surrounding our NFBI state convention, I want to
 bring an
 important matter to your attention. The National Federation
 of the Blind
 does many things well. We educate and advocate across the
 country on behalf
 of blind people. And as I write this article, we the blind
 once again need
 to advocate for ourselves and educate the public. To raise
 money for medical
 research, the Foundation Fighting Blindness has launched the
 HOWEYESEEIT
 campaign. The campaign asks sighted people to put on
 blindfolds and try to
 do everyday tasks such as cooking, shopping, and caring for
 children.

 The NFB does not oppose medical research to find treatments
 and cures for
 eye conditions that may cause blindness. However, this
 campaign is misguided
 and dangerous. We in the Federation know that if blind
 people are properly
 trained in mobility and daily living skills, we can perform
 the same
 everyday tasks that are done by our sighted peers. The
 Foundation Fighting
 Blindness campaign fails to tell the whole story. Instead,
 it plays on the
 public's fears and misconceptions about blindness. If not
 confronted and
 addressed, the campaign will perpetuate these misconceptions
 and foster a
 culture of discrimination.

 One of our greatest concerns with the HOWEYESEEIT campaign
 is the way it
 portrays blind people's ability to care for children. We in
 the Federation
 see many cases in which the ability of a blind parent to
 care for his or her
 children is questioned, and we have seen cases in which
 parents lose custody
 of their children based on blindness alone. Several states
 have introduced
 parental rights bills that say children cannot be removed
 from the home due
 to the parents' blindness. The Foundation Fighting Blindness
 campaign serves
 to undermine our efforts to protect blind parents and their
 children.

 As Federationists we know the truth about blindness. We
 work, we play, and
 we take care of children. The list goes on and on. Please
 help educate the
 public by taking a video of yourself doing some everyday
 task. Upload it to
 social media with the hashtag HOWEYESEEIT. Be sure to say
 that you are a
 proud member of the National Federation of the Blind.

 Once again at our convention we will show that blind people
 are able to live
 the lives we want. Everyone in the Illinois affiliate of the
 NFB has been
 busy choosing topics, inviting speakers, making arrangements
 with the hotel,
 and preparing convention materials. This year's convention
 will be held on
 the weekend of October 28-30 at the Chicago Naperville
 Marriott in
 Naperville, Illinois. For more information about convention
 activities, go
 to www.nfbofillinois.org. Following this letter you will
 find an article
 describing the layout of the hotel.

 Our national representative and keynote speaker at this
 year's convention
 will be Joe Ruffalo, Jr., president of the New Jersey
 affiliate and board
 member of the NFB. Other speakers include John Olson of 3d
 PhotoWorks, Peter
 Tucic from HumanWare Inc., makers of the BrailleNote Touch
 and other
 blindness and low vision products; John Gordon, chief of the
 Illinois Bureau
 of Blind Services; Karen Woodfork, director of student
 education at the
 Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired; and
 Camille
 Caffirelli, executive director of Horizons for the Blind.

 In addition to hearing from our speakers on various program
 topics, you will
 meet the NFBI scholarship class of 2016: Ashley Eisenmenger,
 Adnana Saric,
 Gabe Stanforth, and Aziz Zeidieh. One of the highlights of
 2016 for the NFBI
 was that all four scholarship winners from 2015 attended our
 NFB national
 convention in Orlando, Florida. This has never happened in
 Illinois before.
 We hope that the 2016 class will fully participate in our
 organization and
 join us in Orlando in 2017.

 We have expanded the Braille Readers Are Leaders contest,
 which began in
 Illinois in 2013. In 2015-2016 the contest was open to
 students from
 Illinois and Minnesota. The 2016-17 contest will be
 regional. Children in
 grades K-12 from most of the Great Lakes states can now
 participate. On
 November 1, 2016, children in these states can begin to
 submit their
 registration forms. From December 1, 2016 to January 20,
 2017, children
 compete for cash prizes by reading as many Braille pages as
 they can. The
 NFB knows that strong Braille reading skills help to ensure
 that blind
 children will live productive lives.

 Do you want to represent Illinois at the 2017 Washington
 Seminar? The dates
 for the next Washington Seminar are January 30-February 2,
 2017.
 Applications can be found on our website, and must be
 submitted to the state
 president by December 1, 2016. Meanwhile, please call
 Senators Richard
 Durbin and Mark Kirk and ask them to support the Marrakech
 Treaty. The
 treaty allows books for the blind to be made available to
 blind people all
 over the world. Also please call your senators and
 representatives and ask
 them to support the Space Available Bill, (HR 2264 and S
 2596) and the
 Accessibility in Instructional Materials and Higher
 Education Act, AIM HI
 (HR 6122).

 I look forward to seeing all of you at convention. I thank
 you for your
 support over the past two years. I could not do it without
 your help!

 THE CHICAGO NAPERVILLE MARRIOTT HOTEL, Convention
 Information

 By Patti Gregory-Chang

 This quick article explains the layout of the Chicago
 Marriott Naperville,
 our hotel for the 2016 NFBI convention. It also gives you
 basic information
 about the facilities and amenities.

 Address and Phone: The hotel is located at 1801 N. Naper
 Blvd, Naperville,
 IL 60563. The phone is: (630) 505-4900.

 Sleeping Room Types: There are two types of rooms, suites
 and standard
 rooms. The suites have a parlor with a sleeper sofa, two
 easychairs, and a
 coffee table. The room rate for standards is $104. The rate
 for suites is
 $129. All rooms have hair dryers and coffee makers.
 Connecting rooms can be
 reserved upon request.

 Keycards and Electrical Power: This hotel is modernized. You
 need to insert
 your keycard in a slot inside your room to the side of the
 door to turn your
 power on. Leave it in the slot until you exit your room.
 When you remove it,
 the power goes off again.

 Check-in/out: Check-in time is three p.m. Check-out time is
 12:00 p.m.

 Wi Fi: There is free Wi Fi in all lobby and common areas.
 This includes our
 meeting rooms.

 Facilities: The hotel offers an indoor pool, fitness room,
 and Jacuzzi.
 There is lots of parking, especially by the side door.

 Shuttles: The hotel runs free shuttles within a five-mile
 radius. Trains are
 scheduled to leave for downtown Chicago at 12:30, 2:30, and
 4:30 PM. The
 hotel has a contract with a limo company that provides
 discounted service to
 and from each airport. The cost is under forty dollars,
 which compares
 favorably to a cab, which would cost approximately
 sixty-five dollars.

 Layout: If you enter the hotel through the main doors, the
 layout is as
 follows:

 The Starbucks is to the left. You should walk ahead to where
 the tiled
 flooring forms a cross. If you turn left at the "lobby
 cross," with the
 doors at your back, you can enter Starbucks by taking the
 first left. If you
 take a right, you can go to the elevator bank. If you pass
 the elevators,
 you head toward the meeting rooms.

 From the front door, if you simply bypass the crossing of
 the tiled portions
 of the lobby and keep going straight, you will find our
 information desk on
 your left and the hotel desk on your right. If you pass
 both, there is a
 restaurant directly ahead. You can find the bar, which also
 serves food from
 the restaurant, by turning left after passing the hotel
 desk. The bar will
 be on your right, although people can also sit on the left
 side at this
 point in the lobby.

 If you stand facing the hotel front desk, the elevator bank
 is down the
 tiled hall to the right. There are three elevators on your
 left side down
 that hall a short way. They are fast.

 Our meeting rooms are laid out past the elevator bank. Right
 after the
 elevators there is a cash machine on your left, and there
 are restrooms on
 your right. Past those, first you come to a hallway where
 conference rooms
 A, B, and C are on your left heading away from the lobby.
 Conference rooms
 D, E, and F are on your right.

 Past that hall the hall divides at a Y. There is another set
 of restrooms
 down by the other conference rooms near Bailey. If you go
 left, you come to
 Bailey-Hobson and if you go right you will get to the Naper
 room, which is
 where our general sessions will be held. Outside of the
 Naper room we will
 have exhibits, and we will have our registration.

 There is a dog relief area outside of the Naper room. Exit
 and walk a short
 way, then make a forty-five-degree left turn. There is a
 cement patio area
 on the left about thirty feet up. At the end of the patio,
 you will find a
 grassy area with trees; it will work well for dog relief.
 There is even a
 hydrant!

 Both breakfasts and our lunch are scheduled to be held in
 Conference Room A.
 Hospitality before and after the banquet will be offered in
 the banquet
 room, Bailey-Hobson. The parents' meeting will be held in
 Conference Room C.
 Kids Camp is planned for Conference Room F. The scholarship
 dinner will be
 held in Conference Room E. IABS Idol and General Sessions
 for Friday and
 Saturday will be in Naper 2 and 3. The banquet and the
 Sunday General
 Sessions are in Bailey-Hobson. Registration is outside of
 the Naper room.

 Set-up for Naper Room: When you enter the Naper Room it is
 wider from left
 to right and shorter going ahead from the doors. You enter
 at the back of
 the room. We will have information and IABS tables in the
 back of the room,
 and the head table will be furthest from the doors by the
 windows. If you
 face the head table, audio will be on your right and door
 prizes on the
 left.

 COME SPIN WITH ME

 by Cathy Randall

 Exercise has been an important part of my busy life for over
 forty years.
 Dr. Kenneth Jernigan, my dear NFB mentor, advised me to lead
 a balanced
 life--and I have always tried to do that. Too much of any
 one activity can
 make a person one-dimensional and possibly less interesting
 to herself and
 to others.

 Over the years, I have enjoyed various forms of exercise,
 including running
 and fast walking with guides, floor exercise classes,
 swimming laps, and
 water aerobics. I have taken part in all these activities as
 a totally blind
 person.

 Now, let me introduce you to spinning. To take part in this
 exercise, you
 ride a modified bicycle without wheels in a gym with a
 number of other
 people who are doing the same thing. First you stand beside
 the bike and
 learn to adjust the seat to the height of your hip. Next you
 sit on the bike
 seat, lean over, and put one foot in the stirrup, which is
 attached to the
 pedal. Then you tighten the stirrup as you are shown by the
 teacher and
 repeat the process for your other foot. It is very important
 to have the
 stirrups tight, because you either stand or sit for all
 spinning exercises.

 Once you have adjusted the stirrups, you increase or release
 tension on the
 pedals by turning a knob between your knees. The tension
 knob is where the
 bar would be on a standard boy's bike. The more you increase
 the tension on
 the pedals, the harder you will need to work! When your
 instructor asks you
 to "put on more road," he or she is asking you to add more
 tension.

 Spinning class is very verbal, and you don't have to learn
 many commands. It
 is important that you pace yourself as you learn this
 exercise. You have to
 work through either a thirty- or forty-five-minute class,
 and you want to
 work steadily throughout that period. As your conditioning
 improves, you
 will be able to put more tension on your pedals.

 When you go to a spin class, take at least a thirty-ounce
 bottle of water
 with you. Learn to stretch your water supply so it lasts to
 the end of
 class. Your water bottle is probably the most important part
 of your
 spinning equipment.

 For class I wear comfortable shorts, a T-shirt, good
 athletic socks, and
 tennis shoes. I tuck a bandana loosely around my neck inside
 the T-shirt to
 absorb sweat. I also wear a terrycloth headband, which is
 another good sweat
 absorber. It is handy to wear a fannypack holding your keys
 and phone. Bring
 a towel and several sets of earplugs. Without earplugs I
 find that the music
 can be uncomfortably loud. I can hear the instructor's
 commands easily
 through the plugs. During late fall and winter, you may want
 to wear
 loose-fitting yoga pants and a long-sleeved T-shirt.

 Year round you will really get hot from spinning, so dress
 for your own
 comfort. Personally, I don't like real biking shorts because
 of the tight
 band around the thigh.

 I have been spinning for over nine years with friends, and
 they are now very
 dear friends indeed. Have fun and get fit!

 SKIING WITH THE VIKINGS

 by Denise R. Avant

 I was deep in preparations for the 2015 NFBI convention when
 I received an
 unexpected call from Miriam Omquist, one of the US
 coordinators of Ski for
 Light. She told me I had been selected as one of two US
 crosscountry  skiers
 to take part in a week-long skiing event in Norway, all
 expenses paid!

 I had never traveled outside the United States before, and I
 was thrilled to
 be offered this amazing opportunity. Immediately I began to
 prepare for the
 trip, which would take place in early April of 2016. I
 thought carefully
 about my NFBI commitments, knowing that I would have very
 little email or
 telephone communication for the ten days while I was away.
 The toughest part
 was that I was sworn to secrecy until my selection was
 announced publicly,
 and that wouldn't happen until the end of January. I was
 totally excited
 about my trip, but for months I couldn't say a word to
 anyone.

 Ski for Light (SFL) is a nonprofit organization that was
 founded in Norway
 in 1964. It came to the United States in 1975, but has
 always had very
 strong Norwegian connections. The mission of SKI for Light
 is to give blind,
 visually impaired, and orthopedically impaired persons the
 opportunity to
 enjoy crosscountry skiing. Each skier is paired with a guide
 throughout
 every Ski for Light event. Skiers and guides tend to form
 close bonds,
 developing rapport as they ski together, and joining the
 other participants
 and guides at the lodge for fun in the evenings. 

 I had been taking part in SFL events in the United States
 for five years
 before I was invited to go to Norway. As one of only two US
 participants at
 the Norwegian event, I felt I had a certain responsibility
 as an ambassador.
 I hoped to repay the generous hospitality of my hosts and to
 make a positive
 impression, both as an American and as a blind American.
 People from
 fourteen countries took part in the event, and it was
 exciting to get to
 know them.

 When I arrived in Oslo I was surrounded by people speaking
 Norwegian and
 other languages. It was unsettling to hear a barrage of
 words that I could
 not understand. As a blind person, I could not pick up on
 the cues of body
 language that would have given me at least some rudimentary
 information
 about what was going on. I was almost wholly dependent upon
 people who could
 speak to me in English.

 Hotel buffets posed another challenge. Even when foods were
 described to me,
 most of them were unfamiliar. I had no idea what I should
 put on my plate.
 In the end I took my chances and sampled nearly everything.
 Stretching
 myself in this way was part of the adventure of travel
 abroad.

 Many of the street crossings in Oslo are equipped with
 audible traffic
 signals. However, hotel rooms do not have Braille numbers on
 their doors. I
 was shocked when the hotel staff refused to clean our room
 because of my
 roommate's guide dog.

 Although Norway is in many ways a highly advanced country, I
 discovered that
 very few blind people are employed. Blind people
 automatically receive a
 government stipend. I only met one blind Norwegian who had a
 job; she worked
 at a university.

 After a night in Oslo we went north to the snow fields. We
 skied every day
 from Monday through Saturday. When we returned to Oslo to
 catch our flights,
 I had time for a bit of sightseeing. I visited the
 Resistance Museum, which
 documented Norway's history during World War II. I also went
 to the Skiing
 Museum.

 Crosscountry skiing is a wonderful experience. It's great to
 be outdoors,
 having fun and getting healthy exercise. You can learn more
 about Ski for
 Light by visiting their website, www.skiforlight.org. 

 PLAYING WITH CLAY

 by Deborah Kent Stein

 When I was four years old, my mother set up a child-sized
 table in the
 corner of the kitchen. On the table she put some plastic
 forks and knives, a
 few alluminum dishes, and a box of Plasticene, a brand of
 modeling clay
 commonly sold in toy stores. She explained that while she
 was cooking dinner
 I could make believe I was preparing a meal, too.

 I was the oldest of three children, with two noisy,
 rambunctious little
 brothers. My mother hoped the clay would keep me occupied
 while she juggled
 between cooking and caring for the younger children. As far
 as keeping me
 busy, the plan exceeded her expectations.

 I didn't care about pretending to cook, but I loved playing
 with clay. I
 rolled long coils between my hands and twisted them into
 snakes. I learned
 to make a ball by rolling the clay between my palms. If I
 pressed a smaller
 ball onto a big one, I had the basis for a variety of
 animals. I could add
 long ears and a tiny tail to make a rabbit, or I could stick
 on short ears
 and a snake of a tail to create a cat.

 Plasticene came in sticks, each one a different color. I was
 totally blind,
 and at first I didn't care whether I made a green dog or a
 red banana. My
 mother used my interest in clay to help me understand the
 role of color in
 the world. When I unwrapped a new package of Plasticene, she
 showed me which
 stick was blue, which was red, which was green, and which
 was brown. "Brown
 is a good color for a dog," she told me. "You can use green
 and blue and red
 for birds." Soon I was interrupting her dinner preparations
 to ask, "What
 color is a rhinoceros?" and "What color is a sea monster?"

 Over the years I acquired more clay, more tools, and more
 space, with my own
 table in the basement. I made towns with cardboard houses
 and clay people. I
 made clay forests filled with multicolored birds. I made a
 castle with clay
 walls, a drawbridge of Popsicle sticks, and tall clay
 watchtowers.

 One summer day my family visited the boardwalk at Asbury
 Park on the New
 Jersey shore. We kids stuffed ourselves with saltwater
 taffy, shrieked our
 way through the fun-house, and visited the Ripley's
 Believe-It-or-Not
 Museum. My cousin gave me lurid descriptions of the
 two-headed calf, the
 tentacle of the giant squid, and the baby with transparent
 skin, all out of
 my reach in glass jars.

 At last we came upon an object that was out in the open,
 something I could
 experience for myself. It was a life-sized, sculpted head. I
 studied the
 regular features, the thick, curly hair, and the intricate
 whorls of the
 ears. What was this head doing here, among the oddities of
 nature?

 My cousin read the printed caption. "This head was fashioned
 by a man who
 was totally blind," it stated. "He made this likeness using
 only his sense
 of touch. Believe it or not!"

 I wondered how the nameless blind man felt about having his
 piece on exhibit
 in the Ripley's Museum. Did people really think a blind
 artist was as
 bizarre as a two-headed calf?

 On my thirteenth birthday my grandfather gave me six big
 blocks of clay--not
 from a toy store, but from a store that sold real art
 supplies. He explained
 that this was an oil-based clay that never dried out and
 could be used over
 and over again. If I took care of it, he promised, it would
 last as long as
 I lived.

 A few months later my mother and I visited a local art
 gallery. Without
 hesitation, the proprietor allowed me to touch all of the
 pieces on display.
 I studied life-sized ceramic heads, bronze nudes, and an
 assortment of
 animal figures. I discovered that art was not confined to
 realistic forms,
 and I found that artists worked in media as varied as balsa
 wood, papier
 maché, plaster, brass wire, and welded steel.

 Inspired by a series of animal sculptures I'd seen at the
 gallery, I went
 home to my blocks of birthday clay. Night after night I
 rushed through my
 homework, eager to get back to my work in progress. It was
 the detailed
 figure of a lion, its head lifted above its outstretched
 front paws. When it
 was finished, my mother set it on a shelf in the living room
 and showed it
 proudly to any friends who dropped in.

 One of the family friends who saw the lion was a
 professional artist named
 Don Miller. To my amazement he offered to buy the lion from
 me for five
 dollars. A few weeks later he returned with a plaster cast
 of the original
 clay figure. It resided on top of the television for the
 next twenty years.

 Don Miller's interest transformed the way my family and I
 thought about my
 hobby. No longer did I play with clay. From that time
 forward, I did
 sculpture!

 At college I majored in English, but for one of my electives
 I signed up to
 take a studio sculpture course. I looked forward to
 exploring fresh
 possibilities and learning new techniques. When I arrived at
 the first
 class, however, the instructor, Mr. D., announced that I
 would have to drop
 the course. "Sculpture is very visual," he explained. "You
 won't be able to
 participate. It would be a waste of your time and mine for
 you to enroll in
 this class."

 I was shocked by Mr. D.'s narrow perspective. He utterly
 dismissed the idea
 that anyone could create or appreciate sculpture without
 eyesight. Even when
 I showed him some of my previous work, he insisted that
 there was no place
 for me in his class.

 I was so angry that I refused to give up. I was determined
 to take the
 class, even if Mr. D. made me hate every moment of it. I
 went to the head of
 the art department, who sent me up the ladder to the dean.
 The dean ruled
 that I could take Mr. D.'s class, with the condition that I
 would have an
 assistant with me at all times--essentially a classroom
 aide. According to
 the dean, the assistant would help me find the art supplies
 in the
 classroom. In reality, he was there as a buffer between me
 and Mr. D. The
 instructor and I barely spoke to each other all semester.

 Despite this unpromising arrangement, I learned a great deal
 in Mr. D.'s
 class. I experimented with wood carving and made mobiles
 with dangling wire
 figures. Most important of all, I gained an invaluable
 lesson in
 self-advocacy. I learned not to give up when a person in
 authority told me
 no. I discovered that I could fight my way past barriers to
 education and
 experience.

 My interest in sculpture has never flagged, though I've
 encountered plenty
 of believe-it-or-not reactions along the way. I create
 three-dimensional
 works with my hands, yet vision-oriented friends and
 strangers often find it
 amazing and inexplicable. I strive to be judged not as a
 blind sculptor, but
 as a sculptor.

 In my study of sculpture I always felt that blindness posed
 one
 insurmountable obstacle. My fellow students worked by
 looking at live human
 models. The only way I could use a model was through touch,
 and I couldn't
 conceive of touching someone's nude body in order to make a
 clay figure. I
 worked from imagination or used plastic models that I found
 in art supply
 stores. I studied a human skeleton to learn about structure
 and proportion.
 Nevertheless, I knew I was missing an aspect of training
 that is critical to
 most serious students of art.

 In 2011 I enrolled in a sculpture class at the Palette and
 Chisel, a
 long-established art school in Chicago. Ralph Cossentino,
 the instructor,
 had taught other blind students, and he welcomed me into his
 class. I began
 by sculpting the head of Michaelangelo, basing my piece on a
 large plastic
 model that belonged to the school. From there I moved on to
 a self-portrait,
 exploring my own face and using myself as a model. But Ralph
 was determined
 that I should have the same opportunities as his sighted
 students. He asked
 me if I would like to work with a live model.

 I was stunned by the question. On one hand I was thrilled to
 find an
 instructor so eager to broaden my learning opportunities. On
 the other hand,
 I felt apprehensive and uncertain. Society has strong
 prohibitions against
 touching other people. Artists' models are very comfortable
 with being
 observed visually, but touch would cross a boundary that,
 under most
 circumstances, is strictly forbidden. I worried about how
 both the model and
 I would feel, no matter how professionally we treated the
 situation. 

 In spite of my reservations, I knew this was a chance that
 might never come
 to me again. Ralph talked with the model, a young woman
 named Jessica. He
 suggested that I begin by doing a hand study, and Jessica
 said that would be
 fine with her. As I worked with the clay, I paused
 frequently to examine
 Jessica's outstretched hand. Step by step I worked to
 replicate the complex
 mechanics of muscle and bone. Yet a precise reproduction
 wasn't enough. The
 idea was to convey some form of emotional expression, the
 subtle difference
 between anatomy and art.

 I sculpted another hand piece, followed by a foot study.
 Then I did a
 sculpture of Jessica's head, complete with her magnificent
 braid. At last
 Ralph suggested that I was ready to attempt a full, seated
 figure. By that
 time Jessica and I were very comfortable working together,
 and we both said
 we were ready to give it a try.

 As it turned out, Ralph was more nervous than Jessica and I.
 He confessed
 later that he was worried about the administrators of the
 Palette and
 Chisel. What would they say when they found out that a
 student was touching
 the nude model in one of the sculpture classes? To his
 relief and mine, the
 director of the school had no objections. In fact, he
 commended Ralph for
 his flexibility and spirit of innovation.

 I have now worked with several models, both female and male.
 Each has been
 generously receptive to working with me. The models have
 always approached
 our work together as experienced professionals, and I owe
 them my deepest
 appreciation. 

 I have met many blind people who are convinced that they do
 not understand
 sculpture or raised-line drawings. They are intimidated by
 the thought of
 working with clay or other art materials. To my delight, a
 growing number of
 people in the National Federation of the Blind are working
 to break down the
 notion that art is out of bounds for us as blind people.
 Some have even
 suggested that we expand our efforts in the STEM fields to
 include art. STEM
 could become STEAM--science, technology, engineering, art,
 and math. Few
 people, blind or sighted, ever become professional artists,
 but art can
 enrich life for us all.

 When my mother set up that little table in the kitchen, she
 couldn't have
 imagined where my love of clay would lead me. And my
 grandfather was right
 about that oil-based clay he gave me for my thirteenth
 birthday. I still
 have a three-pound package of it, carefully wrapped, and it
 is as moist and
 moldable as ever. It looks as though it will last for as
 long as I live.

 IN MEMORIAM: LEANNE MAYNE

 Federationists were saddened to learn of the passing of
 LeAnne M. Mayne on
 June 28, 2016. She died at the Leonard Memorial Home in Glen
 Ellyn,
 Illinois, after a long illness. She was sixty-two years
 old.

 LeAnne was born in New York City on December 4, 1953. When
 she was only
 three days old her father brought her to Illinois, where she
 was raised by
 aunts in the Chicago area. She attended the Illinois School
 for the Blind
 (now the Illinois School for the Visually Impaired) in
 Jacksonville.
 Diagnosed with juvenile diabetes as a small child, she was
 not expected to
 live beyond her thirties. LeAnne defied the expectations of
 the doctors and
 lived a full and active life for as long as she could.

 After she finished school LeAnne operated the Mayneway
 Vending Company,
 which had multiple locations. For a time she and her
 husband, Jeff, ran a
 pizza parlor in Rockville, Illinois.

 LeAnne Mayne was a dedicated member of the NFB of Illinois.
 She worked
 diligently on many state and national fundraising campaigns.
 At chapter
 meetings and conventions she was always ready to pitch in
 wherever a pair of
 hands was needed.

 LeAnne was predeceased by her brother, Michael Cramer, who
 was also a
 dedicated Illinois Federationist. She is survived by her
 stepmother,
 Patricia Mayne; and by her boyfriend of sixteen years, Blair
 Alper. 

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