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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>Dear Colleagues and Fellow Federationists—<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>This morning the Jacobus tenBroek Library
got a phone call from Junerose Killian of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State
w:st="on">Connecticut</st1:State></st1:place>. Many of you probably know
Junerose. She is in her eighties and with her sighted husband, Jimmy (who
celebrated his ninetieth birthday recently), she’s a regular participant at
the NFB national conventions.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>Junerose and Jimmy are graduates of <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Cornell</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>, which this year is asking
all entering students to read <i><span style='font-style:italic'>Homer and
Langley</span></i>, a recent novel by E. L. Doctorow. Cornell sent Junerose
a print copy of the book with a request that she report on what she thought of it.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>Here’s a brief description of the
book, lifted from <i><span style='font-style:italic'>Publishers Weekly</span></i>:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><font size=3 face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>Doctorow, whose literary
trophy shelf has got to be overflowing by now, delivers a small but sweeping
masterpiece about the infamous <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">New
York</st1:State></st1:place> hermits, the Collyer brothers. When WWI hits and
the Spanish flu pandemic kills Homer and Langley's parents, Langley, the elder,
goes to war, with his Columbia education and his godlike immunity to such an
ordinary fate as death in a war. Homer, alone and going blind, faces a world
considerably dimmed though more deliciously felt by his other senses. When <st1:City
w:st="on">Langley</st1:City> returns, real darkness descends on the eccentric
orphans: inside their shuttered <st1:Street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Fifth
Avenue</st1:address></st1:Street> mansion, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Langley</st1:City></st1:place> hoards newspaper clippings and starts
innumerable science projects, each eventually abandoned, though he continues to
imagine them in increasingly bizarre ways, which he then recites to Homer.
Occasionally, outsiders wander through the house, exposing it as a living
museum of artifacts, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Americana</st1:City></st1:place>,
obscurity and simmering madness. Doctorow's achievement is in not undermining
the dignity of two brothers who share a lush landscape built on imagination and
incapacities. It's a feat of distillation, vision and sympathy.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>While Junerose is waiting to get an
accessible copy from the Connecticut Library for the Blind, Jimmy has read the one
sent by Cornell. Junerose told me that Jimmy thinks the book is good in
some ways as it describes Homer, the blind brother, and not so good in other
ways. Junerose wants to know what other people think.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>If you’ve read the book and have some
thoughts on it, please sent them to me and I’ll forward them to Junerose.
If you haven’t read the book, but would like to, the NLS has it available
in Braille, talking book, and downloadable talking book.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=3
color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";
color:black'>Cordially,</span></font><font size=5 color=navy
face="Brush Script MT"><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Brush Script MT";
color:navy'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=6
color=teal face=Mistral><span style='font-size:24.0pt;font-family:Mistral;
color:teal'>Ed Morman</span></font><font size=5 color=navy
face="Brush Script MT"><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Brush Script MT";
color:navy'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=3
color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";
color:black'>Edward T. Morman, MSLS, PhD<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=3
color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";
color:black'>Director, Jacobus tenBroek Library<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=3
color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";
color:black'>NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND JERNIGAN INSTITUTE<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><st1:Street
w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on"><font size=3 color=black face=Corbel><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Corbel;color:black'>200 East Wells Street</span></font></st1:address></st1:Street><font
size=5 color=navy face="Brush Script MT"><span style='font-size:18.0pt;
font-family:"Brush Script MT";color:navy'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><st1:Street
w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on"><em><i><font size=3 color=black face=Corbel><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Corbel;color:black'> at
Jernigan Place</span></font></i></em></st1:address></st1:Street><font size=5
color=navy face="Brush Script MT"><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:
"Brush Script MT";color:navy'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><font size=3 color=black face=Corbel><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Corbel;color:black'>Baltimore</span></font></st1:City><font
color=black face=Corbel><span style='font-family:Corbel;color:black'> <st1:State
w:st="on">MD</st1:State> <st1:PostalCode w:st="on">21230</st1:PostalCode></span></font></st1:place><font
color=black face=Corbel><span style='font-family:Corbel;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=3
color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";
color:black'>410.659.9314 x2225<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=3
color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";
color:black'>410.685.2340 (fax)</span></font><font size=5 color=navy
face="Brush Script MT"><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Brush Script MT";
color:navy'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=5
color=navy face="Brush Script MT"><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:
"Brush Script MT";color:navy'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><em><i><font
size=5 color=navy face="Californian FB"><span lang=EN style='font-size:18.0pt;
font-family:"Californian FB";color:navy'>P</span></font></i></em><strong><b><i><font
size=5 color=navy face="Californian FB"><span lang=EN style='font-size:18.0pt;
font-family:"Californian FB";color:navy;font-style:italic'>.S. Did you know it
is legal in the United States to pay people with disabilities less than the
minimum wage? Let's change this--learn more at </span></font></i></b></strong><font
size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
Arial;color:navy'><a
href="http://www.nfb.org/nfb/Fair_Wages_For_Workers_With_Disabilities.asp"
title="http://www.nfb.org/nfb/Fair_Wages_For_Workers_With_Disabilities.asp"><strong><b><i><font
size=5 color="#810081" face="Californian FB"><span style='font-size:18.0pt;
font-family:"Californian FB";color:#810081;font-style:italic'>http://www.nfb.org/nfb/Fair_Wages_For_Workers_With_Disabilities.asp</span></font></i></b></strong></a></span></font><font
color=navy face=Corbel><span style='font-family:Corbel;color:navy'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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