[stylist] learning Braille for the wrong reasons?

[LoriStay at aol.com]

Great story.   Can we use it for Slate & Style if there is room?

I'm also curious as to how you got the Chinese symbol into it (instead of a 
T)?   Or is it Japanese?
It's found between the table and "the" teacher, subbing for the T in "the.'
Do you have a special program?   Or was it just a computer quirk?   
Lori

In a message dated 2/4/09 12:30:45 AM, johnlee at clarktouch.com writes:


> 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葉he 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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