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

Tue Feb 16 04:03:22 UTC 2010

You and mike need to relax. If we can't dress up our canes to reflect our 
personality, then that drains some of the fun out of life. I would love to 
give some cowboy styling to my cane, for example, like a leather 
handle/grip.

A man who says he has never been scared is either lying or else he's never 
been any place or done anything.
- Louis L'Amour |

Alan Wheeler #8568 on Telespace
Columbus, Nebraska
awheeler at inebraska.com
Msn: outlawcowboy at live.com
wwww.twitter.com/cowboy_alan
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ray Foret jr" <rforetjr at comcast.net>
To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, February 15, 2010 8:54 PM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] New THOUGHT PROVOKER #154- White Canes and Windmills

> 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
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> nfb-talk mailing list
>>> nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
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>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
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