[stylist] learning Braille for the wrong reasons?

Wed Feb 4 15:16:27 UTC 2009

okay Robert,
did you intend the pun?
jc

Jim Canaday M.A.
Lawrence, KS

At 04:22 AM 2/4/2009, you wrote:
>John, that was a very --- touching story. In the school for the blind where
>I attended, we too learned more then one form of brailling.
>
>
>
>
>Robert Leslie Newman
>Email- newmanrl at cox.net
>THOUGHT PROVOKER Website-
>Http://www.thoughtprovoker.info
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>Behalf Of John Lee Clark
>Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2009 11:10 PM
>To: 'NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List'
>Subject: Re: [stylist] learning Braille for the wrong reasons?
>
>Hey:
>
>When I went to my files, I realized that Ii had written something about this
>a while ago.  I just played a little with it, and here goes:
>
>You can't blame me for remembering my early lessons in Braille.  I loved
>these sessions.  The teacher gave candy.  The exercises were fun, like
>games.  But the thing that excited me the most about this class, conducted
>in a small room away from the rest of the school, was having a pretty girl
>as my sole classmate.
>
>The girl, as I did, had Usher syndrome.  It was through our sharing these
>sessions in Braille that we established a strangely furtive yet sturdy
>ongoing relationship that lasted well into our high school years.  Although
>we had our other puppy loves and silly romantic affiliations, we considered
>each other our "Usher mate," our most important relationship, and it didn't
>matter what other ties we made or broke.  We were our secret default love.
>
>Now, our teacher was a kindly if eccentric hearing sighted woman who was a
>classic example of that type of female teacher of the Deaf, all too familiar
>to the signing community, who would confess everything to her students.  It
>was almost as if the students were supposed to be her shrinks, and the
>classes she taught were actually therapy sessions.  Problems poured out of
>the poor woman, problems about her husband, her in-laws, her ailments, her
>car, her children, her taxes, her life.  This type of teacher never found
>anything odd about a circle of Deaf children gaping at her, but instead she
>drew great solace in this.
>
>Sitting opposite us two--with Perkins Braillers, slates, styli, and paper
>between us on the table-the teacher went into confession mode at least twice
>every single session.  Whenever she launched into a litany of her woes, we
>settled our chins on an arm on the table, and we gaped appropriately at her
>from this position.  Our respective free hands under the table, out of the
>teacher's view, would then begin to explore.
>
>This was how I learned the lovely Braille, the textured poetry of secret
>parts.  And whenever our teacher winded down after a long narrative, we
>hastily withdrew our fondling hands and smiled sweetly at her.  But feeling
>guilty and wanting to make private amends, we were very attentive and
>serious about the lessons.  Thus, we made good progress in the fine points
>of the lesser Braille of the raised-dots-on-paper kind.
>
>One time we were almost caught.  While the teacher was spilling her beans
>about the evils of taxes, my hand was reading some interesting Braille
>underneath a piece of garment fringed with an elastic band.  But then the
>teacher abruptly came to her senses, and I pulled my hand out too quickly,
>snapping the elastic band.  I didn't hear the sound, but our teacher's head
>jerked to one side and held it at a tilt.  My mind scrambling, I wriggled
>and tugged my pants for dramatic effect before I asked if I could go to the
>bathroom.  She smiled understanding and nodded her permission, and she
>thought no more of what she'd heard.
>
>My dual lessons continued that year without any hitch, and to this day I
>find what I learned from both to be of great value.  I doubt that I would
>have made such rapid progress in either education without the other.
>
>
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>
>
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