[stylist] color/rainbow prompt response

Sun May 19 21:27:23 UTC 2013

Ashley,
I admire your efforts to catch up on all the e-mails and writing that came
while you were gone. I am so often in that mode myself.
My poem did not place at the ASPS spring festival, but it was well received
in my poetry group. I revised it using the suggestions from some on this
list. All of you would like the revised version much better!
Thanks so much for your comments.
Jackie

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Ashley
Bramlett
Sent: Friday, May 17, 2013 9:25 AM
To: Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] color/rainbow prompt response

Jackie,
Beautiful poem. I could feel the emotion in it.
Did you submit it to the festival and did it get an award?

-----Original Message----- 
From: Jacqueline Williams
Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2013 5:55 PM
To: 'Writer's Division Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [stylist] color/rainbow prompt response

Chris, I am so grateful for your wonderful, insightful article about the
aspects of being blind, and the scientific explanation of the rainbow. And
Barbara, I want to thank you for suggesting the rainbow prompt.
Also, the responses of Donna, Lynda, Bridget, Myrna and also their poems. I
think I forgot someone.
Because of the extensive conversation about color, and some thoughts of
resentment about the sighted looking down on us, I was prompted to write my
own poem.
Though my color vision is dimming so quickly, like Lynda, my memory is as
vivid as though there has been no change.
I have made an attachment as it is rhymed couplets, and in my experience, if
I copy and paste, it will come through as anything but that.
I intend to submit it as a theme poem to the AZ State Poetry Society's
spring festival. The theme is Something simple, or something beautiful. I
would appreciate critiques.
Jackie
-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Chris Kuell
Sent: Tuesday, April 02, 2013 1:05 PM
To: stylist at nfbnet.org
Subject: [stylist] color/rainbow prompt response

Here are my musings about Barbara's prompt the other day.

Reflections on Colors and Rainbows

By Chris Kuell

"We do not understand what this means - to 'see'."

"Well, it's what, what things look like," Meg said helplessly.

"We do not know what things look like, as you say," the beast said. "We know
what things are like. It must be a very limiting thing, this seeing."

"Oh no," Meg cried. "It's the most wonderful thing in the world."

"What a very strange place your world must be," the beast said. "That such a
peculiar seeming thing should be of such importance."

>From A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

What is your favorite color? What color is a rainbow?

These questions were posted on a listserve of blind writers recently. Simple
questions, questions that nearly any three-year-old can answer without a
moment's hesitation, and yet they left me a little dumbfounded. My favorite
color? I suppose I could answer green, because that's the color associated
with money, and I can always use more of that. Or red, because a cooked
lobster is red, and I love lobster. But of course, the meat of the lobster
is actually white, and then I like to dip it in yellow butter, so what color
does that make it? Perhaps flesh tone, because I love my wife, especially
touching my wife. But of course, what color is she? And what color are the
parts of her I like to touch most? Or maybe amber, which is the color of my
favorite beer. At least, I think it's amber. It's a lager, which I think is
darker than a regular beer, but not as dark as a dark beer. Or blue, it
might definitely be blue. The ocean is blue, and I love the feel of the
ocean, the sounds of the waves, the salty feel of the breeze, the refreshing
cold on a hot summer day. But of course, the ocean can appear gray at times,
and I've heard that in parts of the Caribbean it's almost a green color, and
if you are underwater it's actually black.

So what's my favorite color? I don't believe I have one. To me, colors are
things sighted people use to distinguish and describe things, but it has
little to no meaning to me in my life. I don't like lobster because of its
color, but because of its flavor. I don't like money for its color, I like
what I can do with it. It doesn't matter what color the ocean is, as long as
it's cool and vast and full of energy and life. The beauty can't possibly be
in the blue, but in the tides, the power of the waves, the roar in a storm,
and the soothing calm at dawn.

There was a time in life when I was very much a part of the world of colors.
As a teenager, I wanted to become a professional photographer. I had several
cameras, and even set up a darkroom in my parent's basement to process
photos. The right lighting, shades and color were very important in
capturing just the right image. In my early twenties, I fully restored a
1969 Mach 1 Mustang, and lamented for weeks over what color to paint it.
Even when I had narrowed it down to blue, should I go with Acapulco Blue, or
Grabber Blue? And what about racing stripes-flat black, regular, or glossy
black?

Such angst disappeared from my world sixteen years ago when I lost my sight.
And in all honesty, I don't miss it. My wife asks, "Do you want a red
bathing suit? They also have it in blue, green or black?" As long as it
fits, I don't care. It makes life much simpler. What color phone, what color
ipod, what color suitcase do I want? Doesn't matter to me, as long as it
does the job I need it for. Right now I have no idea what color my jeans
are, or the tee shirt under the hoody I'm wearing, or the hoody for that
matter. All I know is that they fit, and they are comfortable. If I ever
come downstairs in the morning with a combination of clothing that clashes,
my wife or daughter will let me know, and I may or may not change. Because
the truth is, I just don't care that much.

Yes, I know we live in a predominately sighted world, and sighted folks love
their colors. So much that apparently there are 47 different shades of white
indoor paint at the Benjamin Moore store. I've heard people talking about
fifty shades of gray, but most say it's not worth the time and effort to
read. Regardless, I find it hard to believe that whether you choose
periwinkle or turquoise or robin's egg blue as the color to paint your
mailbox, it will make much difference to your overall quality of life.

My ignorance has admittedly had its drawbacks. A couple of years ago I went
on a mission trip with the youth group of my church to rebuild homes
destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Everybody's backpacks were unloaded into a
big pile, and when a guy who wanted to help asked, "What color is your
backpack?" I could only shrug my shoulders. It's a medium sized backpack,
with three primary zippers and a rubberized bottom to keep water out when
it's on the ground. It has a security pouch that velcro's into the first
zippered section for money and valuables, and a mesh divider in the second
section where I keep my diabetes supplies. I know exactly what it feels
like, and I know where everything is inside it. So, I helped pass out
backpacks until I found mine, and we continued on with our day.

A couple of weeks ago my wife and I attended a party where the hostess took
our jackets away and put them in a bedroom. When it was time to go, I asked
one of the hostess's kids to show me where the coats were so I could get
mine. She said, "Oh, I'll get it for you. What color is it?"

Damn. Such a simple question. "It's a winter coat, slippery vinyl type, goes
down about halfway to my knees. It's got a hood, and it's got both a zipper
and Velcro straps, and four pockets on the outside, one on the inside, left
breast. My wallet is in the inside pocket, in the bottom left outside pocket
is my glove, my keys, and a few tissues. Bottom right is my other glove and
some glucose tablets. Upper left pocket has a granola bar in case my blood
sugar goes really low, and the upper right pocket has my cell phone in it."

The girl stood there for a second, then asked again, "But what color is it?"

I had her take me to the bedroom, where I located both me and my wife's
coats without much difficulty.

I've given even less thought to rainbows these last years than I have to
colors in general. When my kids were young, I'd sometimes take them outside
to look for a rainbow if there happened to be sunshine after a rain. Kids
love rainbows because to them, they are magical. They appear and disappear
seemingly at random, and rumor has it there are pots of gold and leprechauns
to be found at their ends. One time when we were visiting my parents on the
coast of Maine, the kids came home from a trip to the store with Grandma
just about peeing themselves with excitement. "Daddy! Daddy! We saw a double
rainbow over the ocean!" For the kids sake, I acted all excited. I was happy
for them. But really, what was the big deal?

So what is a rainbow, anyway? Rather than magic, we must turn to science,
and a little background information. White light, or the light that comes
from the sun, is made up of waves of energy, much like the ocean. Some of
these waves are big, and some are smaller, and there's everything in
between. If we separate these waves of light energy, we find that they have
what the human eye sees as different colors. The biggest waves have a red
color, and the smallest waves a blue/violet color. When white light is
separated loosely into different wavelengths, it's called refraction, and is
commonly accomplished with a glass or hard, clear plastic prism. A prism is
square on the bottom, a point on the top, and all four sides are equilateral
triangles. Light goes in one side, and if the prism is in just the right
position, it gets refracted, then reflected off a different side inside the
prism, so it comes out yet another side 'split' into the color spectrum.

While water droplets are not prisms, they are similar. They're clear, a
perfect point at the top, and spherical on the bottom. If conditions are
just right, primarily after a rain, tiny water droplets remain present in
the air. If the clouds disperse, and the sun shines at just the right angle,
the white light from the sun may be refracted by one side of the water
droplet, then reflected off the backside of the droplet, further refracted
as the light leaves the droplet, and appears as a color spectrum in the air.
Since the walls of a water droplet are curved, rather than straight like a
prism's, the color spectrum appears as a curve, or an arch in the air. The
top of the arch is typically red, because that has the longest wavelength,
and purplish on the bottom, because that's the shortest. However, air
pollutants, the time of day, whether it's fresh or salty water-all these
factors can affect the colors of a rainbow. And as soon as the angle of the
sun changes, or the number of water particles evaporate, the rainbow
disappears. Which does, I suppose, make it a little bit magical after all.

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