[nagdu] Article from the Tampa Tribune

[d m gina]

Now that was a very nice message,
Thanks for sharing with us.
Enjoy your concert on Saturday.

Original message:
> Dear All,
>     Thanks to Barbara Routen for writing this great article about me 
> and my work!

> Fraternally yours,
> Marion Gwizdala, President
> National Association of Guide Dog Users
> National Federation of the Blind
> 813-626-2789
> President at NAGDU.ORG
> HTTP://NAGDU.ORG


> Local musician offers acoustic Christmas concert

> by Barbara Routen



> Reprinted from the Tampa Tribune, December 8, 2010



> BRANDON - Marion & Martin - 55-year-old singer songwriter Marion 
> Gwizdala and his Martin D-35 guitar - will perform "An Acoustic 
> Christmas" in a cozy venue with a fireplace and wood-planked floors.



> Gwizdala's acoustic, finger-style guitar music will accompany his tenor 
> vocal renderings of secular seasonal songs and religious Christmas carols.



> The concert at 7 p.m. Saturday  will include a sale of baked goods and 
> holiday crafts to benefit Brandon Unity, and an opportunity to meet 
> Gwizdala after the show.



> The venue, the Brandon Women's Center at 129 N. Moon Ave., is an 
> historic building and only acoustic music is allowed to be performed in 
> it, said Gwizdala, who prefers the pure sound and doesn't even use a pick.



> The Florida native started playing piano at 6 and guitar at 14. 
> Although he always wanted to play guitar, his mother insisted he learn 
> piano first.



> His stage debut was in theater in third grade as the emperor in "The 
> Emperor's New Clothes.



> "I think I got the role because I was the only one in my class willing 
> to walk around in underwear!" he said.



> He performed in community theater and toured for a while with a 
> Christian rock troupe called The Joyful Noise Ensemble.



> He attended high school seminary and a semester at St. Vincent de Paul 
> Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach before deciding the priesthood was 
> not his calling.



> Gwizdala majored in music in college before earning a bachelor's degree 
> in psychology from the University of South Florida and a master's degree

> in mental health counseling from Nova Southeastern University.



> At 17 he learned he had inherited retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative 
> condition that gradually stole his sight. At 25, after hitting a 
> tractor-trailer he didn't see in the dark, he gave up driving.



> "My cousins, whose father was blind with the same condition, came down 
> from Michigan and told me about the National Federation of the Blind 
> and other resources,"

> he said.



> "They introduced me to other blind people who showed me I could become 
> successful and pursue the dreams I had. These blind people were 
> ordinary, average,

> everyday people living ordinary, average, everyday lives. They were not 
> extraordinary people."



> "I had been told that my uncle was extraordinary, amazing, because he 
> lived a normal life even though he was blind," Gwizdala said. "I saw 
> myself as average - a C student, a little above average athletically 
> and musically - so I didn't think I could be successful if I admitted I 
> was blind."



> He chuckled. "Not admitting it didn't change the fact that I was blind!"



> He has been married twice and has a daughter, 24-year-old Aislinn 
> Woody. She is a personal trainer and Coast Guard reservist in San Francisco.



> Gwizdala is employed as music director at New Life Unity in North Tampa 
> and has a private practice as a certified hypnotherapist.



> He performs what he calls positive acoustic rock, a combination of 
> original music and covers of folk and contemporary songs with an upbeat 
> message.



> He also is a public speaker and advocate for the blind.



> Gwizdala served for many years as president of the East Hillsborough 
> Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind, but because of his 
> greater involvement

> on the national level now, the chapter has been disbanded, he said.



> Gwizdala currently is president of the National Association of Guide 
> Dog Users, a division of the National Federation of the Blind.



> In March he got Sergeant, a 100-pound German shepherd from the Guide 
> Dog Foundation for the Blind in Smithtown, N.Y. Sergeant is working out 
> well, Gwizdala

> said.



> "He's still got a lot of puppy in him. He's a really good dog with 
> quite a personality, and I've found my music puts him to sleep."



> Gwizdala said people have misconceptions about blindness. They expect 
> blind people to wear dark glasses and walk hesitatingly with their arms 
> extended in front of them, and for the blindness to be visible in their eyes.



> Gwizdala's condition is inside his eyes, so there is no cloudy film 
> across them and they move in unison.



> Because of that, and also his confidence and independent lifestyle, 
> people from time to time question whether he's really blind, 
> particularly on or around the local buses he rides everywhere he goes.



> "With my characteristics," Gwizdala said, "I feel I'm on stage all the 
> time. I'm blind, go around with a dog, I'm tall, redheaded - people are 
> always looking

> at me. And people recognize me from all the advocacy work I've done."



> For more information, contact



> Marion Gwizdala

> 813-626-2789

> SwampFox1833 at Verizon.net





> Neighbors at tampabay.rr.com">name="signature">Neighbors at tampabay.rr.com .
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every saint has a past
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