[Ohio-talk] Fw: Christmas greetings

Mon Nov 30 22:26:21 UTC 2009

What an awsome letter so read on.

jw

Dr. J. Webster Smith
President National Federation of the Blind of Ohio
P.O.BOX 458 Athens, Ohio, 45701-0458
Phone Number - 740-592-6326 
"Changing What it Means to be Blind"
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Barbara Pierce 
To: 'Dr. Smith' 
Sent: Monday, November 30, 2009 11:37 AM
Subject: Christmas greetings

I am running out of time before we leave. Would you please forward this message to the Update list? 

Thanks,

Barbara

November 2009

Dear Friends and Family,

            As usual Barbara begins the Pierces' year-end letter, though for the first time we are completing it before Thanksgiving. I have always envied those of you who get your letters out at the start of Advent. We are usually of the school of thought arguing that one of the reasons Christmas actually lasts twelve days is so that folks like us can get their cards out after the 25th and still have them be Christmas cards. But this year we are leaving November 30 for ten days in England, and I particularly want to have this letter in your hands before we return. You will find a business card in the envelope with information for purchasing the only U.S. coin ever to have Braille characters embossed on it. This is the Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar, a collectable coin. Through the years I have told you about the problems facing blind people. Among them are the facts that only 10 percent of blind children are taught to read Braille. When you consider that 85 to 90 percent of the blind adults who have jobs read Braille, you can understand the magnitude of the literacy problem facing today's and tomorrow's blind people. Ten dollars of the cost of every Louis Braille coin sold by December 11 will come to the National Federation of the Blind as match for funds we raise to attack the Braille literacy crisis.

            Are you looking for an unusual gift for a child, grandchild, or friend? You can purchase an uncirculated or proof coin in a beautiful box to give someone as an unusual gift. At the same time you will help us give the gift of literacy to children who will otherwise miss their chance to live full and productive lives.

            Now that I have helped you with your holiday shopping, I will turn to family news. The biggest story is that I have retired--sort of. With the January issue of the Braille Monitor I will no longer be the editor. I will continue to assist my successor for some time to come, but the day-to-day responsibility shifts from my shoulders to his. That change is looking pretty good, I must say.

            I am completing my final year as senior warden of Christ Episcopal Church. This would not be particularly newsworthy except that our rector was on sabbatical from July 6 to November 22, so I was responsible for keeping the church moving forward in his absence. This included preparation for the 150th anniversary celebration of the building's consecration, which we celebrated the day the rector returned. I am pleased to report that he returned rested and refreshed, and we came through the experience stronger and even more united than we were before. I will say, however, that one of the things I am most grateful for this Thanksgiving is Brian's safe return to us and my return to the usual set of responsibilities of leading the vestry.

            Our family continues to be one of our greatest blessings. My mother is still with us, though at ninety-three she struggles gallantly with pain and physical dysfunction that would tax the stamina of a strong young man. Thanks be to God, she remains the intelligent, articulate, humorous woman she has always been, and Bob and our children are as devoted to her as I am.

            Steven continues to teach history at Manchester University in England though he is looking around in the hope of finding more stimulating students and better working conditions. He now lives in London with his partner Siva and commutes to Manchester three days each week to teach. Margy has 

bought a condo outside Amherst, where she teaches in the University of Massachusetts Graduate School of Education. She loves her home and the two cats she rescued. We were lucky enough to observe her teach a class last winter when we visited to help her move into her new home. I am proud to say that she is every bit as fine a teacher as I believed her to be. 

            Anne and her husband J.J. continue to work at their jobs, where they seem to be making wonderful contributions. J.J. became a principal at Mercer last July. So we are very proud of him. In addition to doing her job as office manager and IT guru for the nonprofit she works for, Anne continues to be a Girl Scout leader and church choir member. In addition she is moderator of First Church in Oberlin as well as volunteering for many other things in town. She takes multi-tasking to a whole new level.

            Their children, Miranda (ten) and Jackson (nine), are still the light of our lives. They now get themselves off to school, but they come here most afternoons. They are bright, responsible, loving youngsters who never take advantage of the fact that they could talk their grandparents into doing anything. Needless to say, they are both possessors of Louis Braille coins.

            This is Bob now. We are about to leave on a ten-day trip for England, travelling to Salisbury and Bath and then spending a week in London, where we will stay with our friends from Oberlin, the Olmsteds, and see Steven and Siva. We will see a Messiah and several plays including Mother Courage, and above all we will get Barbara away from the computer, phone, and email after the ferocious several months she has gone through. We are glad to be contributing to the economic recovery by our spending even if we are consuming way too much carbon flying over the Atlantic. Still if we drive our new Prius for 50 years and save all that gas . . . .

            Last summer as usual we went with our daughter Margy to Stratford, Ontario, for the Shakespeare festival and saw that famous Shakespearian musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum along with Macbeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Ben Jonson's rarely done Bartholomew Fair, etc. We will be going again next summer including a more nearly Shakespeare musical, Kiss Me Kate, and one of my favorite plays, The Tempest.

            I am not teaching this year but have gone to a couple of Shakespeare conferences and keep writing an article here and there. I even published one in an electronic journal, being utterly up to date. I did get a new computer, on which I am as incompetent as on the last one. And now I have to confront a new, digital camera for our trip to England.

 Meanwhile we stay active in the church. I am on a couple of diocesan committees as well as our local outreach board. And our health stays good in spite of Barbara's reaching Medicare age and I a decade further (or rather a decade minus six days, as I point out to Barbara every year in November when she starts to catch up with me).

Best wishes for the holidays for all of you, and we still have bedrooms to spare at 237 Oak Street, Oberlin, OH 44074, if any of you pass by on the turnpike or however. 

                                                Barbara and Bob Pierce

                                                robert.pierce at oberlin.edu 

                                                bbpierce at pobox.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Dr. Smith [mailto:jwsmithnfb at verizon.net] 
Sent: Saturday, November 28, 2009 12:19 PM
To: Barbara Pierce
Subject: Re: Scholarship Committee Members

Ok and safe travelse and Happy Holidays to you and yours as well.

I'll contact them ok?

jw

Dr. J. Webster Smith
President National Federation of the Blind of Ohio
P.O.BOX 458 Athens, Ohio, 45701-0458
Phone Number - 740-592-6326 
"Changing What it Means to be Blind"

  ----- Original Message ----- 

  From: Barbara Pierce 

  To: 'Dr. Smith' 

  Sent: Thursday, November 26, 2009 7:52 AM

  Subject: RE: Scholarship Committee Members

  That is a fine committee. I will do it when I get back from England. If you get to it before then, fine.

  Happy Thanksgiving,

  Barbara

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  From: Dr. Smith [mailto:jwsmithnfb at verizon.net] 
  Sent: Wednesday, November 25, 2009 3:29 PM
  To: Barbara Pierce
  Subject: Re: Scholarship Committee Members

  I'm asking if you'd like to notify them and if a committee of yourself, Bob, Deborah, William and beth is ok whith you before I ask them to serve if you don't want too do it.

  jw

  Dr. J. Webster Smith
  President National Federation of the Blind of Ohio
  P.O.BOX 458 Athens, Ohio, 45701-0458
  Phone Number - 740-592-6326 
  "Changing What it Means to be Blind"

    ----- Original Message ----- 

    From: Barbara Pierce 

    To: 'Dr. Smith' 

    Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 5:14 PM

    Subject: RE: Scholarship Committee Members

    I think the rest are good. Are you telling me to notify the whole group that you are prepared to name them to the committee?

    Barbara

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

    From: Dr. Smith [mailto:jwsmithnfb at verizon.net] 
    Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 4:20 PM
    To: Barbara Pierce
    Subject: Re: Scholarship Committee Members

    Ok Crystal is out and replaced with deborah assuming she consents to serve do you have any others in mind that you'd like to have on the committee?

    I have not spoken with anyone about serving on the committee yet so would you like to do that?

    jw

    Dr. J. Webster Smith
    President National Federation of the Blind of Ohio
    P.O.BOX 458 Athens, Ohio, 45701-0458
    Phone Number - 740-592-6326 
    "Changing What it Means to be Blind"

      ----- Original Message ----- 

      From: Barbara Pierce 

      To: 'Dr. Smith' 

      Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 8:07 AM

      Subject: RE: Scholarship Committee Members

      I can of course work with that committee. Cristal is not a strong member. Deborah was the best interviewer on the committee. I would not assign Crystal to do any interviews. She does not have a strong enough academic perspective to do a good job for the students. As a matter of principle I have not asked Bob to interview, feeling that we have more impact on the students if blind people do the interviewing. On that model, we are down to three interviewers. I have no idea how efficient or conscientious Beth and William would be. I did not ask William to interview last year. He was very good about reading files for the meeting, so I will ask him to do so this year. He is pretty hard to get hold of, as is Beth. These are my thoughts.

      Barbara

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

      From: Dr. Smith [mailto:jwsmithnfb at verizon.net] 
      Sent: Monday, November 23, 2009 7:59 PM
      To: Barbara Pierce
      Subject: Scholarship Committee Members

      What do you think of a committee consisting of yourself, Bob, Crystal McClain, William Turner and Beth Debus?

      jw

      Dr. J. Webster Smith
      President National Federation of the Blind of Ohio
      P.O.BOX 458 Athens, Ohio, 45701-0458
      Phone Number - 740-592-6326 
      "Changing What it Means to be Blind"