[nfb-talk] New THOUGHT PROVOKER #154- White Canes and Windmills

Tue Feb 16 02:54:15 UTC 2010

Quite right Mike.  I could not agree more.  A cane is a travel tool; nothing less and certainly nothing more!!!  Well, okay.  ONe could kind of say it's an extension of their right arm; but, that's as far as I'll go with that.

Sincerely,
The Constantly Barefooted Ray!!!

Now A Mac User!!!

E-Mail:
rforetjr at comcast dot net
Skype:
barefootedray

On Feb 15, 2010, at 7:54 PM, Mike Freeman wrote:

> With respect, although I agree with most of your analysis, I think your advocacy of "dress canes" and the like is utter nonsense. It's about in the same category as having cellphones that match one's purse! Sheesh!
> 
> Mike
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Bullis" <mabullis at hotmail.com>
> To: <newmanrl at cox.net>; "'NFB Talk Mailing List'" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Monday, February 15, 2010 4:59 PM
> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] New THOUGHT PROVOKER #154- White Canes and Windmills
> 
> 
>> I began in the seventies spreading the idea that we needed to see our canes
>> as something more than utilitarian travel items.  Most of us began our
>> blindness challenge by hating the cane and although we do come to embrace
>> it's freedoms we still don't really, really, like the darn thing.
>> I have felt that we will know that we are changing what it means to be blind
>> when we appropriate the cane as not just a tool but a dress item.  Elegant
>> canes?  Canes with textured leather handles? I myself can't imagine all the
>> cool things we could do with our canes but I think it's telling that we
>> haven't.  We haven't because, at a pretty fundamental level, we still don't
>> embrace them.
>> Some of this is historical.  When we began to use canes, they were primarily
>> seen by the public as a gentleman's dress item.  We wanted to change that
>> image and so avoided any ornateness.  Now, we need to move back toward a
>> nice dressitem with a utilitarian function.
>> Mike Bullis
>> Baltimore Maryland
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>> Behalf Of Robert Leslie Newman
>> Sent: Monday, February 15, 2010 6:56 PM
>> To: nfbtalk
>> Subject: [nfb-talk] New THOUGHT PROVOKER #154- White Canes and Windmills
>> 
>> NFBTalk
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> RE: White Canes and Windmills
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> The new THOUGHT PROVOKER is all about blind youth and accepting a travel
>> tool, the long white cane and dealing with the pressure of peer
>> reaction/acceptance. If you have not read the PROVOKER, it follows. Recall
>> that I collect responses and post them upon my web site for all the WWW to
>> read and learn from and that URL is-  <http://thoughtprovoker.info/>
>> Http://thoughtprovoker.info  If you wish to receive THOUGHT PROVOKERS sent
>> directly to you, just write me and ask, at-  newmanrl at cox.net
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> THOUGHT PROVOKER 154
>> 
>> White Canes and Windmills
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> In his bedroom, Danny picked up his long white cane, his first. Its weight
>> was easy to handle. Holding it up and straight out before him, he gave it a
>> tentative sword-like, back-and-forth swish. This would be his first day
>> using it at school and he couldn't kid himself, he was nervous about how
>> people would react to him.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> "Danny," his mother called up to him from downstairs. "Come down. You need
>> to start walking to school, son."
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> "Sixty seconds, Mom." Lowering the cane, positioning it at center, Danny
>> tapped it left to right in the two-point touch method he had been taught.
>> "Wonder what the girls will think?" Danny looked inward and began to
>> fantasize.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> It was a warm day. It was after school and he was walking home, using his
>> new cane. At Maple and Main, the usual group of snooty girls was gathered,
>> visiting. Danny knew they saw him coming; his stride was confident,
>> shoulders back, head up, swinging in a steady rhythm, arching his cane, not
>> staring down at shuffling feet like before. He was truckin'!
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> DING-DING, the ice-cream truck drove by.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> "Oh, stop, stop!" Cried all the girls, but the truck kept on rolling down
>> the street.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> "I'll stop him!" In his dream, Danny leaps forward; cane flashing; he
>> sprints down the walk; catches up with the truck; reaches out and taps the
>> windshield with his cane tip; the truck stops.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> "Danny." his mother calls again.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> "Yes Mom, just 40 seconds." Feeling excited about what he might be able to
>> use his cane for, Danny lifts it up, this time in the on-guard sword
>> position. In his fantasy he is now on the neighborhood playground, walking
>> with his cane and . . .
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> "Hey Squint, where's your magnifying glasses and what's that wimpy stick?"
>> The blunt end of a baseball bat poked into Danny's stomach, punctuating the
>> bully's last word.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Danny jumps back, whirls a three-sixty and with the tip of his cane flicks
>> the bully's baseball hat off his head.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> "Hey!" Taken by surprise, the bully retaliates, swinging the bat.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> The WHOOSH of the oncoming danger cues Danny to step back and the bat swings
>> by harmlessly. Countering with his trusty cane, Danny steps forward and
>> spanks the bully sharply on the seat of his pants.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> "OUCH! Grrr, I'll get you for that!" Bat pulled back for another swing, the
>> bully leaps forward.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Danny jumps onto a lower rung of a set of climbing bars; the bully swings
>> again; Danny sidesteps; RING the bat strikes the bars; the bat brakes; the
>> bully yells with the pain of the splintering wood in his hands; Danny
>> thrusts out, inserting the dirty tip of his cane into the bully's open
>> mouth.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> "Danny?" His mother's voice brings him back. "Are you coming?"
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> "Twenty seconds, Mom." Danny's pumped, his thoughts are racing, seeing great
>> potential for him and his new cane; maybe even school-wide fame. . .
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> The scene is the crowded school's playground. He visualizes the towering
>> structures of the wind turbines lining the edge of the school's property.
>> This was recess and the kids were doing what they've done since the
>> windmills were built--they watched the whirling propellers, boasting on what
>> they'd do if they could climb the towers.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Walking out in front of all the gathered students, Danny snaps on a hook to
>> the tip-end of his cane; he jumps skyward; he hooks a blade as it swings
>> down; he is lifted up and rides around waving to the astonishment and
>> admiration of all.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> "Danny, you need to come down, now!"
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> "Yes, Mom." New cane in hand, Danny speeds downstairs, ready to tackle the
>> day.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Robert Leslie Newman
>> Author of THOUGHT PROVOKER
>> http://www.thoughtprovoker.info <http://www.thoughtprovoker.info/>
>> Thought Is The First Step To Beyond
>> 
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>> 
>> 
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> 
> 
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