[nfbwatlk] Fw: Fw: [leadership] FW: [AADB-L] Rose Parade report

[Mike Freeman]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sue Ammeter" <sue.ammeter at cablespeed.com>
To: <wcb-l at wcbinfo.org>
Sent: Saturday, January 02, 2010 7:25 AM
Subject: [Wcb-l] Fw: [leadership] FW: [AADB-L] Rose Parade report


>I thought that this was interesting:
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Ray Campbell"
>
> Hi All:
>
> I thought the following description from someone who is Deaf-blind and was
> at the Rose Parade in person was interesting, so am sharing.
>
> Ray Campbell
> ray1530 at wowway.com
>
> Check out my blog: packerbackerray.blogspot.com
> Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/packerbackerray
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Association of the Deaf-Blind Membership List
> [mailto:AADB-L at TR.WOU.EDU] On Behalf Of Jeremy Congdon
> Sent: Friday, January 01, 2010 4:22 PM
> To: AADB-L at TR.WOU.EDU
> Subject: [AADB-L] Rose Parade report
>
> Hi everyone!
>
> I thought some of you might be interested to read about my experience at 
> the
> Rose Parade this morning.  I live three blocks from the parade route, so I
> had no excuse to miss it!  My description is from a DB perspective, with
> extra information provided by my sighted-hearing friend.
>
> First, the Ohio State School for the Blind marching band was great!  They
> were the first marching band, and people cheered them  enthusiastically.
> Imagine marching for 5.5 miles while walking with a guide and playing an
> instrument!  Many people gave them standing ovations.
>
> The parade began with police on motorcycles who make sure that the street 
> is
> clear for the performers to come through safely.  They wore their regular
> police uniforms, but their motorcycles were decorated with bouquets of
> flowers on the back.  My friend said the flowers looked a
> lot like centerpieces you would find on a table.  I asked if they looked a
> little like fluffy rabbit tails on the motorcycles, and he said yes.
>
> The Rose Parade has three types of participants:  floats, marching bands,
> and equestrian (horse) teams.  I will describe each type.
>
> The floats are completely covered in flowers and other natural materials
> like leaves, bark, and seeds.  They are all have different themes.  For
> instance, one was a tall ship with cannons and big sails.  One had a ski
> slope with real pine trees on it, and a house at the top with a chimney
> blowing smoke.  One had a model of the Rose Bowl stadium, and another one
> had a big model of the Hollywood Bowl, which is a famous outdoor concert
> hall.  Several floats were sponsored by cities near Pasadena.  The float 
> for
> South Pasadena had a model of their city hall and their water tower, and a
> children's orchestra rode on it and played music.  It was like the whole
> town was squeezed onto a float!  Near the parade route, there are huge tow
> trucks waiting just in case a float breaks down.  At one point, the parade
> stopped, and Bob's Towing, a tow truck big enough to pull a semi-truck,
> drove along the side of the parade to help a stranded float and pulled it
> along for the rest of the parade.
>
> The marching bands are the most fun part for a deafblind person--or at 
> least
> for me.  They have big drum sections, and I could feel the beat in my
> chest.  Many of the drumbeats were complicated and interesting.  There 
> were
> many excellent high school bands, and one from the Kansai region of Japan.
>
> The equestrian teams had a lot of variety.  There were victorian ladies
> dressed in big skirts, riding side-saddle, which means that they sit
> sideways with their legs togethr on one side of the horse.  There were Los
> Angeles mounted police.  There was a military unit from Ft. Hood, Texas,
> with soldiers in uniform riding horses, and they had huge pack mules 
> riding
> with them.  Behind each equestrian group, there were three people wearing
> white Rose Parade uniforms who cleaned up what the horses left on the
> street.  One person has a broom, another has a shovel, and the third
> person has a trash can with a Rose Parade logo on it.  The audience 
> enjoyed
> cheering for the horse clean-up crews.
>
> Now here is a little behind-the-scenes description of the audience.  Every
> year, people camp out overnight on New Year's Eve so that they can get a
> good view of the parade the next morning.  Every parking lot in Pasadena 
> is
> filled with campers and RVs.  People bring grills and chairs and tents, 
> and
> they sleep in sleeping bags on the sidewalks and in the streets.  It is 
> much
> more orderly than you might imagine.  By the time the parade starts,
> people's chairs are lined up in neat rows like any other audience. 
> Families
> sit together in chairs or on blankets, and some even bring old sofas to 
> sit
> on, even though they're not supposed to.  During the parade, I could smell
> the onions and hanburgers people were cooking on the grills they brought
> from home.  After the parade, it only takes a few hours before everything 
> is
> cleaned up and the city returns to normal again.
>
> I hope you enjoyed this description.  I was surprised how much I could 
> enjoy
> the parade, even without being able to see or hear much.  Especially the
> marching bands.  And especially the Ohio State School for the Blind!
>
> Jeremy
>
>
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