[stylist] A New Member

Fri Dec 26 07:12:08 UTC 2008

Shelley, just out of curiosity, were you born totally blind, or no? I know,
I know, we all get tired of that question.   

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Shelley J. Alongi
Sent: Thursday, December 25, 2008 10:50 PM
To: NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] A New Member

HI John, I usually don't have blind characters in my stories because I
respond to the world around me and whatever grabs my attention. A large
percentage of people in the world aren't blind so I reflect what the world
has. Sometimes I imagine myself as one of my characters who's not blind. If
I have a blind character it's because I'm struck by something as part of the
story not because I want a blind character.
Shelley J. Alongi
Your Lifelong Pampered Chef Consultant With Bells On!
Home Office: (714)869-3207
Start your holiday shopping now with great quality tools from the pampered
Chef http://www.pamperedchef.biz/shellbellskit
**
Read my latest instalment of Flirting with Monday
http://www.storymania.com/cgibin/sm2/smreadtitle.cgi?action=display&file=new
titles/AlongiSJ-FlirtingWithMondayChapter14.htm
**
To read essays on my journey through Metrolink 111 or other interests click
on
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SJ&alpha=A

updated Dec 7, 2008
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Lee Clark" <johnlee at clarktouch.com>
To: "'NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List'" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 25, 2008 1:28 PM
Subject: Re: [stylist] A New Member

> Shelley:
>
> Thank you for your thoughtful response.
>
> If I may ask, why don't you usually have blind characters in your stories?
>
> John
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Shelley J. Alongi
> Sent: Thursday, December 25, 2008 2:55 PM
> To: NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [stylist] A New Member
>
> Hi John, Shelley here; my writing is what I would call sentimental,
> informational stories where people deal with issues and resolve them, or
> just have fun. I don't usually include blind characters in my stories. I 
> am
> a blind person in the world benefiting from the work of others and helping
> where I can, but my stories don't usually include blind characters. I do
> have one story sitting somewhere with a blind character dealing with just
> becoming blind. I would say in all cases that my stories are based on one 
> or
>
> more elements of truth though you would have to be intimately familiar 
> with
> the circumstances from which I drew the idea for each story. By the time 
> the
>
> story emerges I don't even recognize what the element was that created it.
> It may be something as simple as a person's height or profession. It makes
> my writing interesting; makes me do a lot of research and ask a lot of
> questions. I've written articles for the local newspaper and I've been the
> subject of articles, too. The only money I've ever gotten from writing was
> from the two times I placed in the NFB Writers' contest. I don't write for
> money; I just write for fulfilment. At the end of a day I can look back 
> and
> see what I've accomplished.
> Shelley J. Alongi
> Your Lifelong Pampered Chef Consultant With Bells On!
> Home Office: (714)869-3207
> Start your holiday shopping now with great quality tools from the pampered
> Chef
> http://www.pamperedchef.biz/shellbellskit
> **
> Read my latest instalment of Flirting with Monday
>
http://www.storymania.com/cgibin/sm2/smreadtitle.cgi?action=display&file=new
> titles/AlongiSJ-FlirtingWithMondayChapter14.htm
> **
> To read essays on my journey through Metrolink 111 or other interests 
> click
> on
>
http://www.storymania.com/cgibin/sm2/smshowauthorbox.cgi?page=&author=Alongi
> SJ&alpha=A
>
> updated Dec 7, 2008
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "John Lee Clark" <johnlee at clarktouch.com>
> To: "'NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List'" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Thursday, December 25, 2008 9:36 AM
> Subject: Re: [stylist] A New Member
>
>
>> Judy:
>>
>> Hey, I would love to read your book!  I'm curious what you are thinking 
>> of
>> as your options for publishing it.
>>
>> Yes, I read in Braille.  I learned Braille when I was seven.  Although I
>> was
>> not even legally blind then and did not keep reading Braille on my own,
>> this
>> early exposure must've made picking it up again at thirteen a most smooth
>> experience for me.
>>
>> As for grants, what I was referring to are individual grant for artists
>> that
>> arts organizations and state arts programs confer to the winners from a
>> pool
>> of applicants in various categories.  Most often, the grants come with
>> virtually no strings attached, and you can just say it helps you to take
>> time off from work to focus on your project.  In other words, you can buy
>> food with it, pay the rent, pay off debts, buy a nice winter coat to
>> replace
>> your old rags, whatever.  Some use it for travel, to stay in a Spanish
>> villa
>> for a month, or to pay for registration at a conference or workshop. 
>> Some
>> use the money to buy new computers and supplies.  Minnesota happens to be
>> the state with the second highest number of grants and value in dollars
>> for
>> individual artists.  The first is New York.  But most states should have
>> at
>> least two grants you could apply for: The state's council, board, 
>> whatever
>> for the arts and the local chapter of VSA arts.
>>
>> Fellowships are similar but tend to mean a lot more money.  Grants range
>> from one to ten thousand dollars.  Fellowships are a full year's income,
>> ranging from twenty five grand to two hundred fifty--the latter is at the
>> very top, the MacArthur "Genius" fellowships that pay half a million
>> dollars
>> for two-year fellowships.  Those are given to bestselling authors or
>> winners
>> of the Pulitzer Prize.  Thus, grants are usually for what they call
>> "emerging" writers, those who have published from zero to two books. 
>> Then
>> the lower rungs of the fellowship world are for those beginning to
>> establish
>> their reputations after three books.
>>
>> Anyway, that's what I was talking about.  Now, for the type of grant you
>> are
>> thinking about, I am no expert.  However, I've done work in nonprofit
>> fundraising, and most healthy nonprofit organizations get eighty percent
>> of
>> their raised funds from private donations, fifteen percent from grants,
>> and
>> five from corporate donations or sponsorships.  You can tell right off
>> that
>> an organization is misguided or in bad shape if most of its money are 
>> from
>> grants.  So if you want to set up a new program, I would advise that you
>> look into fundraising instead of grants.  Further, it would be wise to 
>> set
>> up a foundation or trust account, so that the donations you get won't
>> vaporize.  What's the point of working hard to get donations only to blow
>> them away almost instantly?  The motto is also that you are not raising
>> funds, but friends.  Make friends, maintain friendships above all, and 
>> the
>> money will come naturally.  Send thank-you notes, add them on the mailing
>> list for the newsletter, organize an annual event geared specifically for
>> your cause's supporters and friends.  Contract with someone with a
>> certificate from the Association of Professional Fundraisers.  Those
>> people
>> know what they're doing.
>>
>> Just some thoughts!
>>
>> John
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>> Behalf Of Judith Bron
>> Sent: Thursday, December 25, 2008 9:57 AM
>> To: NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List
>> Subject: Re: [stylist] A New Member
>>
>> Welcome John!  I'm assuming that you do most of your work in braille.  I
>> am
>> getting ready to find a publisher for muy first book, "Lethal 
>> Disclosure".
>> Lori is helping me in this pursuit.  I'm also working at our local
>> Independent Living Center as a mentor.  My supervisor, Peter Groos and I
>> are
>>
>> also looking for grants to start a program for the newly physically
>> handicapped.  Peter suffered irreversible spinal cord damage in an
>> automobile accident and is paralyzed from the waist down.  You mentioned
>> that you have a background in receiving grants for worthwhile projects.
>> Can
>>
>> you share your wisdom on getting grants?  Thanks and happy holidays!
>> Judith
>>
>> Bron
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "John Lee Clark" <johnlee at clarktouch.com>
>> To: <stylist at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Wednesday, December 24, 2008 11:27 PM
>> Subject: [stylist] A New Member
>>
>>
>>> Hello!
>>>
>>> I recently subscribed to this list, on the suggestion of Lori Stayer.  I
>>> would have liked to lurk for a while before introducing myself, but so
>>> far
>>> the list has been awfully quiet, too quiet even for someone who is deaf.
>>> So
>>> I am going to dip my toes in here.
>>>
>>> To introduce myself briefly: My name is John Lee Clark, and I am a 
>>> native
>>> of
>>> St. Paul, Minnesota.  I was born deaf to an all-deaf family and so
>>> American
>>> Sign Language is my first language.  I gradually became blind in early
>>> adolescence, just as my father did and my younger brother did.  After
>>> graduating from the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf--on the other
>>> bank
>>> of a former river across from where the Minnesota State Academy for the
>>> Blind is--I studied briefly at Gallaudet but jumped up in love, not 
>>> fell,
>>> with Adrean, a deaf girl from North Carolina.  We got married fast and
>>> moved
>>> to Minnesota.  We've been married for ten years now and have three sons.
>>> Currently, I am the head of a new service that provides accommodations
>>> for
>>> deafblind people using video relay service.
>>>
>>> As for my literary pursuits, my wife and I ran for six years a small
>>> press
>>> devoted to signing community literature both in English and ASL.  But it
>>> could not support our family, so we've had to turn to other sources of
>>> income.  I've published many essays, but it's through my poetry that 
>>> I've
>>> won the most recognition--awards, grants, fellowships, all that.
>>> Recently,
>>> my chapbook of poems, Suddenly Slow, came out from Handtype Press.  I've
>>> also done some independent scholarship on the literature of the deaf and
>>> deafblind communities.  In March, Gallaudet University Press will come
>>> out
>>> with Deaf American Poetry, which I edited and which is the first
>>> definitive
>>> text of its kind, covering nearly two centuries of poetry by Deaf
>>> Americans.
>>> I am nearly done with anther anthology, this time of writings by
>>> deafblind
>>> people all over the world and since 1820.
>>>
>>> This should suffice for now!  I would love to learn about who's on this
>>> list, so please do introduce yourself.
>>>
>>> Thanks!
>>>
>>> John
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>>
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>>
>
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>> et
>>
>>
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>
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