[Nfb-or] Student Meeting in Portland

[Bill]

Hi,
The times you suggested sounded fine to me.  We can also,  depending on how
many show, can continue past two,  that was just when Joseph needed to
leave.  For example, the discussion of philosophy can occur without his
input though it would be nice.  I will definatly ask about edibles.
See you all soon,
Bill VP
Oregon Association of Blind Students
503-768-8982
cassonw at gmail.com

On Mon, Apr 27, 2009 at 7:31 PM, Haben Girma <habnkid at aol.com> wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> I suggest we discuss some ideas for what we'll cover in Friday's meeting in
> Portland.
>
> Last time we met it didn't occur to us until near the end of the meeting to
> go around introducing ourselves in length. In fact, we ran out of time
> before everyone had the chance to share their history with the NFB, their
> field of study, etc. I suggest that for this meeting we start off by going
> around the circle sharing background information. This may be a bit on the
> formal side, but I think we can all manage to keep things entertaining.
>
> Then we'll have Joseph update us on the status of the Oregon School for the
> Blind, as Bill suggested. I can follow that with another summary of the
> leadership seminar in Baltimore.
>
> I really hope there will be time left after all of this, because it would
> be great to give everyone the time to talk about the experience of being a
> student in Oregon. What unique problems do students face in Oregon? What do
> we like and not like, and what should be changed?
>
> Also, during one of these meetings I think it would be really great for us
> to discuss some NFB philosophy questions. During the leadership seminar I
> attended in Baltimore, we broke up into groups to discuss questions like:
>
> 1. Your parents or family members are happy with the increased independence
> you have found since joining the NFB, but when going places with you, they
> say, "You don't need to use your cane, you're with me!" What do you do?
>
> 2. You mention in one of your classes that you need a reader. One of your
> classmates offers to read to you and insists that she doesn't want to get
> paid. What do you do?
>
> 3. You sign up for eHarmony (a dating site). Do you mention that you are
> blind in your profile? Do you post pictures of yourself with your cane?
>
> 4. As blind people we are offered lots of opportunities--SSI, reduced
> fares, rehab services, special treatment and lots of freebies. How can we
> decide what we should accept and what we shouldn't?
>
> 5. Constantly feeling like we are ambassadors for the blind community can
> get old. Do we always have to be role models?
>
> Since we only have an hour, or at least that is the current plan, I
> strongly suggest that we create an agenda and allocate time for each of
> these talks/discussions. It could be something like this:
>
> 1:00-1:25: Everyone's Introductions. If there are five of us, then everyone
> would get about five minutes to speak. Oh, and I'm thinking for this to be
> just a rough outline, by know means should we limit ourselves to this
> agenda.
> 1:25-1:35: Joseph's updates on the Oregon School for the Blind.
> 1:35-1:40 Another summary of my attendance at the NFB Leadership Seminar.
> 1:40-2:00 Everyone's  experience of being a student in Oregon, and if we
> have time, we could discuss one of the above NFB philosophy questions.
>
> I feel that all of these things are important and should be addressed at
> some point, but we will probably decide to spend more time on one topic than
> another. Again, I'm suggesting this as only a very rough guide.
>
> Bill, please find out if the meeting space would allow us to bring
> food/snacks.
>
> best,
> Haben
>
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