[Nfb-or] Student Meeting in Portland

[T. Joseph Carter]

It was 3:30, and if I know about it ahead of time I may be able to 
stay later than that.

Joseph


On Tue, Apr 28, 2009 at 12:38:05AM -0700, Bill wrote:
>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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>>
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