[stylist] Sharing Memoir and question

Thu Jul 19 16:45:10 UTC 2012

ah, I just realized I called you Ashley in my note that I jsut sent. So 
sorry!

I will go and have a listen to it - I love the words.
Thank you.
Lynda Lambert
104 River Road
Ellwood City, PA 16117

724 758 4979

My Blog:  http://www.walkingbyinnervision.blogspot.com
My Website:  http://lyndalambert.com

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Herrin, Amber R." <herrinar at muohio.edu>
To: "'Writer's Division Mailing List'" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2012 10:57 AM
Subject: Re: [stylist] Sharing Memoir and question

> Lynda,
>
> It is not mine; it is a quote from a contemporary Christian band who call
> themselves Kutless.
>
> The name of the song is "What Faith Can Do" and if you go to youtube, you
> can type in "Kutless - What Faith Can Do" and listen to the entire thing.
>
> HTH,
>
> Amber R. Herrin
> ATI Student in Training 2012
> World Services for the Blind
> Mobile: (513) 593-5855
> E-mail: herrinar at muohio.edu
> 2811 Fair Park Boulevard
> Little Rock, AR 72204
> "It doesn't matter what you've heard
> Impossible is not a word
> It's just a reason
> For someone not to try
>
> Everybody's scared to death
> When they decide to take that step
> Out on the water
> It'll be alright
>
> Life is so much more
> Than what your eyes are seeing
> You will find your way
> If you keep believing"
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Lynda Lambert
> Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2012 7:12 AM
> To: Writer's Division Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [stylist] Sharing Memoir and question
>
> Hi Amber,
> Thanks so much for this great information! I have not used JAWS much, and 
> so
> this will be very helpful to me. I usually use ZoomText and then use the
> JAWS reader with it to read my work back to me.
>
> I would also lilke to comment on the quote at the end of your signature. 
> Is
> that your own quote? It is wonderful! I would like to pass this wisdom 
> along
> if you do not mind. Is that ok with you, if I pass this on to some blind
> friends?
>
> Lynda
> Lynda Lambert
> 104 River Road
> Ellwood City, PA 16117
>
> 724 758 4979
>
> My Blog:  http://www.walkingbyinnervision.blogspot.com
> My Website:  http://lyndalambert.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Herrin, Amber R." <herrinar at muohio.edu>
> To: "'Writer's Division Mailing List'" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2012 10:08 PM
> Subject: Re: [stylist] Sharing Memoir and question
>
>
>> Linda,
>>
>> Though the question has already been answered about how to find the word
>> count, I would like to take a moment to show you how to add the function
>> to
>> a quick access toolbar, which will allow you to forget all day long as
>> long
>> as you know how to get to the toolbar.
>>
>> 1-Open MS Word
>> 2-press Alt plus R for review, and navigate using the tab key to word
>> count
>> 3-press applications key (if desktop, located just to the left of the
>> right-hand control key), or, if using a laptop or netbook of some kind,
>> press shift plus f10
>> 4-You should hear your screen reader say "Add to quick access toolbar"
>> 5-press enter on this
>>
>> Now to utilize it whenever you are anywhere in word, you will:
>>
>> 1-press the alt key by itself
>> 2-You will hear the screen reader announce whatever ribbon you were last
>> on
>> 3-Arrow left or right, according to your preference, or whichever will
>> return you to the home ribbon the quickest.
>> 4-arrow up from the home tab
>> 5-you should see any items placed in the quick access toolbar.  You may
>> arrow left and right to navigate through these.
>> 6-Whenever you reach the desired icon, press enter to execute its
>> function.
>>
>> A few notes:
>>
>> 1-You can add almost anything from the ribbons to this particular 
>> toolbar;
>> the list will just grow.  There is a limit, though it is late here, and I
>> am
>> exhausted, so forgive that I do not at this moment, recall what that 
>> limit
>> is.  Be assured that it is a very large number.
>> 2-When you arrow up to access the toolbar, I indicated that you can arrow
>> left and right to access the icons located here.  This is accurate, but
>> you
>> must use caution when first accessing it, as arrowing left may take you
>> onto
>> what your screen reader will call "office button" and then indicate that
>> it
>> is a "dropdown" in a grid.  You may arrow right again, which will place
>> you
>> back on the home ribbon, at which point you may arrow up to reach the
>> access
>> toolbar again.
>> 3-There are other ways to access the toolbar, but for the sake of less
>> confusion, I have only indicated one here.  Please know that I am by no
>> means, claiming that this is the best or quickest or most used way etc. 
>> I
>> am only describing a method that might be used.  Feel free to use other
>> methods if others are taught or described for you.
>> 4-Finally!  Anyone with questions can feel free to ask me off list about
>> them.  I am happy to help in any way I am able.
>>
>> Hoping this helps,
>>
>> Amber R. Herrin
>> ATI Student in Training 2012
>> World Services for the Blind
>> Mobile: (513) 593-5855
>> E-mail: herrinar at muohio.edu
>> 2811 Fair Park Boulevard
>> Little Rock, AR 72204
>> "It doesn't matter what you've heard
>> Impossible is not a word
>> It's just a reason
>> For someone not to try
>>
>> Everybody's scared to death
>> When they decide to take that step
>> Out on the water
>> It'll be alright
>>
>> Life is so much more
>> Than what your eyes are seeing
>> You will find your way
>> If you keep believing"
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>> Behalf Of Lynda Lambert
>> Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2012 11:18 AM
>> To: Writer's Division Mailing List
>> Subject: Re: [stylist] Sharing Memoir and question
>>
>> OK, I will ask this question - I know I should KNOW this, but, how do I
>> find
>> the "word count" for my writing?
>>
>> I will copy and paste a short memoir I have worked on today. I am writing
>> a
>> series of memoirs about a Great Grandmother's Memories - her reflections
>> on
>> Art and Memory. This is the first of the "Silent Discourses." In this 
>> one,
>> the storyteller speaks of a memory shared by the Great Grandmother. The
>> recollections of the Great Grandmother on her childhood and her love of
>> nature and secrets of the Earth.
>> It should move from the storyteller, to the memories of the grandmother,
>> back and forth, as in the way memories come to us - in layers, shifting,
>> and
>> moving.
>>
>> In my work there is almost never a chronological time line - so don't
>> expect
>> it. Life shifts and moves and comes and goes like the ebbing of the
>> Caribbean waters as one stands on the beach. That is how I approach
>> writing.
>>
>>
>> I very greatly would appreciate any feedback you can give me on this, any
>> suggestions for improvement, or anything else you can offer to me on it. 
>> I
>> consider every comment carefully.
>>
>> I really appreciate feedback. In fact, because of the great feedback I
>> received from a group of writers on another site, my poem "Flotsom,
>> Jetsom,
>> and the River" was selected in the NFB writing contest. The group had 
>> told
>> me it was too vague - so I set to work to figure out what I needed to do
>> to
>> make it stronger and then I submitted it to the contest. Without their
>> good
>> critique this poem would have been too vague, I am sure, to be 
>> considered.
>>
>> Thanks, Lynda
>>
>> Here is the Memoir:
>>
>> ____________________
>>
>> Silent Discourse:  Reflections on Art and Memory
>>
>> By Lynda Lambert
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Silent Discourse #1
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Memories of  her summer days in Western Pennsylvania seemed to silently
>> move
>> in the thoughts of the Great Grandmother today as she thought of the
>> little
>> girl  who stood  alone, surrounded by  a yellow-green world.
>>
>>
>>
>> Great Grandmother's  memory  was taking her back to a distant summer day
>> in
>> western Pennsylvania. She thought it must have been in the late 1940s
>> because she was so very young at that time. The little girl  was 
>> sensitive
>> to the natural world of trees, flowers, birds, grasses, and the brilliant
>> blue sky.  She loved to be outdoors in all kinds of weather but summer
>> time
>> was particularly pleasant because she did not have to wear shoes. She
>> could
>> splash through the falling rain as it saturated her clothing and made her
>> long auburn hair stick to her wet shoulders. She liked to stomp down with
>> her bare feet, into   the puddles of cool squishy water in the yard. Her
>> toes moved about on the wet ground, and it felt so good to her!
>>
>>
>>
>> On sunny days, she climbed into the back yard walnut  tree  quickly and
>> liked to hide amid the foliage to survey the entire world of her deep
>> green
>> grassy  yard. From there, she could watch her father working in his
>> gardens.
>> There were two of them, separated by a path down the middle. When she
>> thinks
>> about her father, in her mind's memory book, he is always laboring in his
>> garden and bringing fresh vegetables to the house for their dinners.
>> Father
>> brought other delights, too. There were rabbits and squirrels, wild game
>> birds , and deer. All were brought by the Father for his family. There
>> were
>> fresh fruits, too, from his trees. And, chickens from the chicken coop
>> behind the gardens.Great Granmother's favorite gift that was gathered by
>> her
>> Father was the assortment of fresh mushrooms he gathered in the woods. He
>> knew exactly what each mushroom was, and exactly when each would be ready
>> for picking. He was a woodsman who knew the ways of the woods and brought
>> the bounty of the w  oods home to feed his family of four children. There
>> was always plenty to eat because of her Father's skills in hunting and
>> gathering.
>>
>>
>>
>> If she was not high up in a tree, then she might be found in the gardens,
>> making trails and roads through the dark rich soil. She liked to play
>> there
>> in the dirt  with her dump trucks and brightly painted metal cars. She 
>> was
>
>> a
>> little girl who did not play with baby dolls or have tea parties with her
>> friends. She read about little girls who liked those things in the books
>> she
>> read from the library. She enjoyed reading about the tea parties and the
>> adventures of little girls in the books. But, that was not really her
>> world.
>> It was the Earth that she connected with. The Earth in all it's many
>> manifestations was her muse from the earliest days of her life.
>>
>>
>>
>> Great Grandmother  was in her late 60s and she still loved the Earth. She
>> liked to feel it in her hands. She liked  to sit on it, and lay on it
>> under
>> the trees in the shade. Her children would often lay there on the Earth
>> with
>> her and they would laugh and tell stories, and dream together. It felt so
>> good to lay there, fixed onto the surface of the earth like a magnet. She
>> taught the children that the Earth was a Positive charge, and that people
>> were a negative charge. It was necessary to join their bodies with the
>> Earth's surface for them to be complete. Just like a set of magnets, the
>> positive and the negative charge have to be together for the magnet to
>> work
>> properly.
>>
>>
>>
>> Great Grandmother believed  it was probably mid-July when she reflected 
>> on
>> it because the days were smoldering and languid because the sun was high
>> in
>> the sky very early in the mornings that particular summer. The days were
>> so
>> intense and hot that her skin felt sticky all the time. Her hair felt wet
>> from sweating as she played in the trees that summer afternoon.  She was
>> aware of the stifling heat of the early afternoon.  The child's  stature
>> was
>> quite small as she  stood beneath the large leather-textured tree. She 
>> was
>> small, but very strong. Neighbors often said she was athletic and wild.
>>
>>
>>
>> She  had glanced up into its gnarled branches, with their downward
>> movement
>> towards the earth. They reached out in every direction over her  head.
>> This
>> hulking giant was her favorite Apple tree - a protective, sheltering
>> hide-away.  This ancient Apple tree stood just behind Mr. Corbin's gray
>> concrete block garage.  As Great Grandmother  recalled, it was the only
>> tree
>> that stood in her  neighbor's yard.  She could   not say that there were
>> no
>> other trees, but it is this giant one that was remembered.   It must have
>> been very old and looking back on the scene through the lens of memory. 
>> It
>> seemed to her  to stand as a sentinel to separate the garage from the 
>> rows
>> of garden plants. But,Great Grandmother
>>
>> knew for sure that even as this tree separated and divided Mr. Corbin's
>> back
>> yard it was also the connection between Heaven and Earth.  It was the
>> space
>> between Here and  There; between the Present moment and the Future.  The
>> tree stands in her childhood memory as a vertical division in a 
>> horizontal
>> verdant landscape - an axis mundi.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> The Great Grandmother  knew then just as sure as she  knows  now about
>> secret things.
>>
>> She  has  always known about hidden things and what they mean. She knew
>> about the life inside of rocks, and the tears that were there. She knows
>> about the silent and quiet things that most people never see. Some people
>> call Great Grandmother a "seer." But she really cannot see because she is
>> now blind. Great Grandmother talked  about seeing wit her inner eyes. She
>> calls this her "intuition." She says she sees the very special places
>> that
>> people with good eyesight have never seen.
>>
>>
>>
>> The secret places are all tucked away in her memories. One by one, over
>> the
>> years, she will share them with her children and her grand children and
>> even
>> now, today, she shares this memory with her Great Grand-daughter. It is
>> the
>> Great Grandmother who is the Storyteller. Just like the Griot in an
>> African
>> village, Great Grandmother is the One who preserves the memories for the
>> family and tells the stories that will give them the information they 
>> will
>> need on their journey in life. She holds the secrets in her memory until
>> the
>> time is right.
>>
>> Lynda Lambert
>> 104 River Road
>> Ellwood City, PA 16117
>>
>> 724 758 4979
>>
>> My Blog:  http://www.walkingbyinnervision.blogspot.com
>> My Website:  http://lyndalambert.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
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