[Tn-talk] Tennessee Voice Vol. 1 Summer 2013

[Dwight Johnson]

Tennessee Voice Vol. 1

Summer 2013, Dwight Johnson, Editor

 

Distributed by email and Newsline by the National Federation of the Blined of Tennessee

 

James Brown, President

4113 Tea Garden Way

Antioch, TN 3 7 0 1 3

Telephone: (615) 412-9632

Email address: president at nfb-tn.org

Website address: www.nfb-tn.org

 

Letters to the president, address changes, and subscription requests should be sent to

Dwightej7 at comcast.net

 

Articles, recipes and letters to the editor for the Tennessee Voice may be sent to 

Dwight.Johnson at mtsu.edu

 

Thank you for your interest and support. By donating to the NFB of Tennessee, you can help make a significant difference in the lives of blind people across the great state of Tennessee.



Please make checks payable to NFB of TN and send them to 

 

National Federation of the Blind of Tennessee

4113 Tea Garden Way

Antioch, TN 3 7 0 1 3

 

The National Federation of the Blind of Tennessee is a non-profit organization of the blind working together to improve the quality of life for all blind people in Tennessee.

 

Flash Back to the Past

 Dr. Kenneth Jernigan

 

We hope you enjoy this section that will always highlight a famous Federationist. This quarter we have found a most important tidbit about a Tennessee Federationist who went on to become a longtime leader and mentor in the organized blind movement.

 

Dr. Kenneth Jernigan

1926 to 1998

Teacher, Writer, Administrator

Copyright © 1990, 2010 

National Federation of the Blind

 

     Dr. Kenneth Jernigan was a leader in the National Federation of the Blind for more than forty years. He was President from 1968 to 1977 and from 1978 to July 1986. Although Dr. Jernigan was no longer President of the Federation, he continued to be one of its principal leaders. He worked closely with the next President, Marc Maurer, and he continued to be loved and respected by tens of thousands--members and non-members of the Federation, both blind and sighted.

     Born in 1926, Kenneth Jernigan grew up on a farm in central Tennessee. He received his elementary and secondary education at the school for the blind in Nashville. After high school Jernigan managed a furniture shop in Beech Grove, Tennessee, making all furniture and operating the business.

     In the fall of 1945 Jernigan matriculated at Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville. Active in campus affairs from the outset, he was soon elected to office in his class and to important positions in other student organizations. Jernigan graduated with honors in 1948 with a B.S. degree in Social Science. In 1949 he received a master's degree in English from Peabody College in Nashville, where he subsequently completed additional graduate study. While at Peabody he was a staff writer for the school newspaper, co-founder of an independent literary magazine, and a member of the Writers Club. In 1949 he received the Captain Charles W. Browne Award, at that time presented annually by the American Foundation for the Blind to the nation's outstanding blind student.

     Jernigan then spent four years as a teacher of English at the Tennessee School for the Blind. During this period he became active in the Tennessee Association of the Blind (now the National Federation of the Blind of Tennessee). He was elected to the vice presidency of the organization in 1950 and to the presidency in 1951. In that position he planned the 1952 annual convention of the National Federation of the Blind, which was held in Nashville, and he has been planning national conventions for the Federation ever since. It was in 1952 that Jernigan was first elected to the N.F.B. Board of Directors.

     In 1953 he was appointed to the faculty of the California Orientation Center for the Blind in Oakland, where he played a major role in developing the best program of its kind then in existence.

     From 1958 until 1978 he served as Director of the Iowa State Commission for the Blind. In this capacity he was responsible for administering state programs of rehabilitation, home teaching, home industries, an orientation and adjustment center and library services for the blind and physically handicapped. The improvements made in services to the blind of Iowa under the Jernigan administration have never before or since been equaled anywhere in the country.

     In 1960 the Federation presented Jernigan with its Newel Perry Award for outstanding accomplishment in services for the blind. In 1968 Jernigan was given a Special Citation by the President of the United States. Harold Russell, the chairman of the President's Committee on Employment of the Handicapped, came to Des Moines to present the award. He said:

"If a person must be blind, it is better to be blind in Iowa than anywhere else in the nation or in the world. This statement," the citation went on to say, "sums up the story of the Iowa Commission for the Blind during the Jernigan years and more pertinently of its Director, Kenneth Jernigan. That narrative is much more than a success story. It is the story of high aspiration magnificently accomplished--of an impossible dream become reality."

     Jernigan has received too many honors and awards to enumerate individually, including honorary doctorates from three institutions of higher education. He has also been asked to serve as a special consultant to or member of numerous boards and advisory bodies. The most notable among these are: member of the National Advisory Committee on Services for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (appointed by the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare), special consultant on Services for the Blind (appointed by the Federal Commissioner of Rehabilitation), advisor on museum programs for blind visitors to the Smithsonian Institution and special advisor to the White House Conference on Library and Information Services (appointed by President Gerald Ford).

     Kenneth Jernigan's writings and speeches on blindness are better known and have touched more lives than those of any other individual writing today. On July 23, 1975, he spoke before the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., and his address was broadcast live throughout the nation on National Public Radio. Through the years he has appeared repeatedly on network radio and television interview programs--including the "Today Show," the "Tomorrow Show" and the "Larry King Show."

     In 1978 Jernigan moved to Baltimore to become Executive Director of the American Brotherhood for the Blind and Director of the National Center for the Blind. As President of the National Federation of the Blind at that time, he led the organization through the most impressive period of growth in its history. The creation and development of the National Center for the Blind and the expansion of the N.F.B. into the position of being the most influential voice and force in the affairs of the blind stand as the culmination of Kenneth Jernigan's lifework and a tribute to his brilliance and commitment to the blind of this nation.

     Jernigan's dynamic wife Mary Ellen is an active member of the Federation. Although sighted, she works with dedication in the movement and is known and loved by thousands of Federationists throughout the country.

     Speaking at a convention of the National Federation of the Blind, Jernigan said of the organization and its philosophy (and also of his own philosophy):

"As we look ahead, the world holds more hope than gloom for us--and, best of all, the future is in our own hands. For the first time in history we can be our own masters and do with our lives what we will; and the sighted (as they learn who we are and what we are) can and will work with us as equals and partners. In other words we are capable of full membership in society, and the sighted are capable of accepting us as such--and, for the most part, they want to."

     "We want no Uncle Toms--no sellouts, no apologists, no rationalizers; but we also want no militant hellraisers or unbudging radicals. One will hurt our cause as much as the other. We must win true equality in society, but we must not dehumanize ourselves in the process; and we must not forget the graces and amenities, the compassions and courtesies which comprise civilization itself and distinguish people from animals and life from existence."

     "Let people call us what they will and say what they please about our motives and our movement. There is only one way for the blind to achieve first-class citizenship and true equality. It must be done through collective action and concerted effort; and that means the National Federation of the Blind. There is no other way, and those who say otherwise are either uninformed or unwilling to face the facts. We are the strongest force in the affairs of the blind today, and we must also recognize the responsibilities of power and the fact that we must build a world that is worth living when the war is over--and, for that matter, while we are fighting it. In short, we must use both love and a club, and we must have sense enough to know when to do which--long on compassion, short on hatred; and, above all, not using our philosophy as a cop-out for cowardice or inaction or rationalization. We know who we are and what we must do--and we will never go back. The public is not against us. Our determination proclaims it; our gains confirm it; our humanity demands it."

 

Editors note: If you have any suggestions or articles for our flash back section, please forward it with haste.

 

Meet Your Board of Directors

Summer 2013 Profiles

 

     Mr. Courtney Williams was elected to the National Federation of The Blind of Tennessee Board of Directors in March of this year. Please read his thoughts and goals for the Federation below.

     My name is Courtney Williams, and I am the Vice President of the NFB of Tennessee Volunteer chapter in Knoxville.  I have worked for Citigroup previously for the last 16 years, and now I work for Lions Volunteer Blind Industries in Morristown Tennessee.  I feel that I have been out of touch for 16 years with the blind community.  The number of blind individuals looking for employment is ridiculous, and I am excited about what I can do to make my clients marketable to an employer.

     As a technology instructor for Volunteer Blind Industries, I am responsible for providing technology training to blind individuals so they can secure employment.  In addition to my job duties, I visit local schools to talk to young children about what it means to be blind because once we educate the community then everything else will fall in place.  In August of 2012, I joined the NFB of Tennessee as a way for me to give back to the blind community, and I felt it was time after profiting from the numerous resources for the blind that help me establish my career.  There is nothing like the feeling of helping an individual that has recently lost their vision find the resources they need to succeed in life.  I am proud to be on the NFB of Tennessee board, and remember it is a privilege to be blind because the rest of the world does not see what we see!

 

     Mrs. Sharon Treadway has served on the TN Affiliate Board of Directors for many years and in many capacities. She currently serves as State Secretary and has this to say.

     I became involved with the NFB about ten years ago. I went to a couple of national conventions first and then I got involved here in Tennessee. I realized that if I wanted to help make positive change for the blind in this state I needed to be a part of a group that was doing things to help the blind. It truly changed my life. As I work in this organization the joy of helping make a difference is great.

 

     Mr. Josh Harper was elected to the National Federation of the Blind of Tennessee Board of Directors in 2012. Here is what he has to say.

     I came to know the Federation in 2007, when I when to the Youth Slam. I knew nothing about the Federation before this time.  I did not join my local chapter until 2009.  I went to my first state Convention in 2010. I was elected the vice president of the student division.  The next year I was elected as the president. In my local chapter, I was elected treasurer. I was also on the state board of Directors. This past March I was elected to a two-year term on the board of directors.  This year I was also elected vice president in the Stones River Chapter, as well as the Tennessee Association of Blind Students.

 

State News

 

My Blindness Syllogism

By James Brown

     When I attended my very first NFB National Convention in 2007, I honestly didn't know very much about the National Federation of the Blind.  One of the first things I observed at the convention in Atlanta Georgia, however, was an entirely different attitude about blindness.  I became aware of thousands of successful blind people around me who appeared to be proud of their blindness, and this attitude towards being blind was in stark contrast to anything else I had ever experienced.

     Growing up, in the back of my mind, I always viewed blindness as an imperfection.  A common reaction to telling people I was going blind as a youngster, was one of tragedy and often accompanied by the statement "That is the worst thing that could happen to a person".  As a teenager, I even had some people insinuate they would commit suicide if they were to go blind.  As I got older that subconscious view only got worse, and since I was always labeled the blind guy everywhere I went, it had a really negative effect on my personal outlook.  I can best explain the development of my internalization of blindness through the logic of a syllogism.

     For thousands of years, mankind has been using syllogistic reasoning to attempt to arrive at truth.  From the famous philosopher Aristotle, all the way to modern-day practicing lawyers and cognitive psychologists, we continue to use syllogisms to reach basic and complex conclusions about our own selves and the world around us.  Most syllogisms consist of a major premise, minor premise, and conclusion.  For example, blindness is considered to be one of the biggest imperfections in society.  James Brown is blind; Therefore, James is an extremely imperfect person.

     I never actually realized that I thought this negative until this Egyptian lady who I work with at the Tennessee Department of Transportation kept calling me perfect several times a day, and I had to stop and ponder on just how and why it was consistently making me happy enough to do an Irish Jig down the hallway.  After a little introspection of how this was effecting me, however, I did the only thing I knew how to do and changed to a more people's first kind of philosophy, thinking of myself not as the blind imperfect guy, but as a person who is blind.

     This is the frame of mind I was in at convention when I started to take notice of all these people who were proud of being blind, and as convention went along, I began to put all the pieces together.  I started hearing the phrase changing what it means to be blind.  I heard Doctor Maurer talk about how as blind people we are not broken, and started to wonder if the people's first approach was the best way for me to individually think about my blindness.

     Let me propose a serious question.  If someone goes from being a blind person, to being a person with blindness, is there a big difference in those two statements?  Now you have just went from being an imperfect person, to being a person with a very significant imperfection.  It might help to a certain degree, but it is definitely not an ideal psychological expression of one's self-image.  However, if we do what the NFB suggests and change what it means to be blind, we have done something revolutionary.

     What if we truly changed the definition of blindness?  What if being blind meant unique, meaning we have different ways of doing things, adapting to a condition that most people are terrified of?  That means that the blind are strong!  Also, as a people, we have created our own written language in braille, which can identify us with a culture and make us a part of something.  You can fill in hundreds of positive things into your blindness syllogism.  Once we do what Dr. Jernigan proposed and start to change what it means to be blind, being a blind person can become an awesome experience!

     I do not want people to take away from this article that I think People's First Language is entirely a bad concept or that I believe my way is the only way that can work.  But I do believe with blindness and certain other disabilities, People's First Language is not always the best fit.  After all, it is universally accepted that if the premises are true, then, the conclusion must always be true.  This means that whether we use People's First philosophy, or fully embrace being blind, without changing what it means to be blind in our own minds and in the real world, we will never truly see the full potential of blind people within society.  Now, I've told you all about my blindness syllogism, so the next question is, how will your own personal blindness syllogism turn out?  I can only hope and pray that we have fun finding it out together.

 

>From The Banks of Stones River

By John Harris

     Mr. John Harris is a long-suffering soldier in the fight for the rights and education of blind Tennessean's. Below he writes his thoughts on his membership in the Stones River Chapter of the National Federation of The Blind of Tennessee, located in the heart of Tennessee, on the banks of the Stones River in Murfreesboro.

     I have been a proud member of the Stones River Chapter since 2009. We have had a busy year. In 2012, we elected Mr. Aundrea Felton as our president and he started out very strong. President Felton has continually fostered the belief that the importance of working together as an organization, will be the thread that will make us a strong and viable chapter.

     In September we held a picnic that included chapter members, State Affiliate Board Members, our State Affiliate President, and several members of the surrounding Rutherford County and Murfreesboro communities.

Once the picnic was behind us, we began preparing to get our chapter to the annual National Federation of The Blind of Tennessee Convention. The March 2013 date was quickly approaching and we wanted to get as many people to the wonderful networking and strengthening that the workshops and seminars would afford our members.

     One fundraising idea kept coming back to the meeting table, and we all joined Mr. Scott Young in promoting a bowl-a-thon at Murfreesboro's famous Lanes, Trains and Automobiles. This fundraiser not only gave us plenty of money to get members to the upcoming convention, but we were able to have funds in the bank to keep our chapter in good standing financially for the rest of the year.

     In April of this year, we held our annual election of Board members, and the chapter reelected President Felton for a second term. Mr. Josh Harper moved from treasurer to Vice-President, Mr. Dwight Johnson resumed the position of treasurer and Mr. James Boehm made his way with a flourish to our one board position. I believe this is a very strong board and look forward to the outstanding things that will come from the banks of the Stones River.

     Having shared all of the amazing things that have happened in our chapter this year, I must take a moment to look back on a very sad event. Longtime Federationist Mr. Scott Young passed away suddenly in December, and our small group was left without one of the hearts that kept us meeting and organizing the blind movement. Scott was an outstanding member of our Chapter, and his work in organizing the bowl-a-thon made it an effortless success for the rest of us, as we tried to continue his dreams without him.

     The Stones River Chapter has donated equipment to the Saint Claire Center, produced Braille constitutions and other materials for our members an the community, have promoted ourselves on local radio programs and worked to change what it means to be blind in Rutherford County.

     If you find yourself near the banks of the Stones River, please come and join with us. We meet every third Saturday at Middle Tennessee State University in the SunTrust Room, located in the Business Aerospace Building. Our chapter has a wonderful working relationship with the University's Disabled Student Services office, which affords us this free meeting space.

 

Reflections of Washington Seminar

By Sheri Anderson

     Being a mentor for the alumni program hosted by the NFB's Affiliate Action program has afforded me many opportunities including the networking and training that took place at the National Center in Baltimore the weekend before Washington Seminar.

     I was able to get first hand knowledge from affiliate action staff and members of the National Federation of The Blind Board of directors on what to expect in the coming days of the Seminar. We studied the fact sheets of the topics to be covered during appointments with our congressmen and senators, and participated in face-to face team building activities with mock senators to help us gain a feel of what to expect when communicating with them.

     But what I want to describe to you this morning is more than networking or training, it is a feeling of being at the National Center for the first time, in the capitol of what our movement has represented to thousands for many many years, and feeling the energy of that place, those individuals and carrying that feeling into the days that followed.

     Having listened to speeches given by Dr. Jernigan, reading about the unveiling of the Jernigan Institute and knowing all that the Center is and does, did not prepare me for the magnitude of emotion that overtook me when I arrived at the center Friday night around 10 on the third of February. I wanted to take in as much as I could of the building, history and love that have gone into every inch of that place. Needless to say, this does leave one a tad bit tired, so I was glad to get a little reprieve when arriving to D.C. on Sunday.

     I was truly overwhelmed at the amount of people at the hotel representing the NFB, taking time out of their busy schedules to continue a movement that affected so many lives. The great gathering meetings that took place on Monday and Tuesday evening contained about as much information and high energy as does the general session during the National convention, only crammed in 2 hours a day instead of 8. But the emotion I found within the walls of the National Center had come with us. It now moved among us in the hotel, on the streets of D.C. and in the appointments. It is like a living thing, this emotion. A feeling of being connected to so much more than our individual selves. A connected energy of the organized blind movement.

     I am not sure if it was being in D.C. itself, reading about the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial that had just been unveiled in October at the National Mall, the fact that our upcoming state convention happens to be in Memphis or the combination of all these things, that helped me connect the emotion of our trip with that of the urgency of the organized movement embarked upon by Martin Luther King Jr. and the nation 50 years ago.

     It was my only goal to get to that monument during the D.C. trip, but by Wednesday afternoon it didn't look as though this would happen. Fatigued from the trip itself, nervous about getting all the way back to the Baltimore airport and finding time to eat lunch didn't seem to give way to making the extra effort to visit the monument.

     But as I stood on C Street in the rain, a little voice came out of nowhere. "This is what it is all about. We can't just expect to live our lives in the task of ensuring civil rights to the blind and expect to do it all in the sunshine. Sometimes we just have to get tired and wet to get it done," and with that, Jessica Beecham drug me back down the sidewalk to the cabstand and to the Martin Luther King Monument.

     Standing in front of that monument, listening to Jessica read the quotes in the pouring rain caused a shift inside me. I heard the quotes as he spoke them, intended for one group of hurting people betrayed by a society of oppression and I felt those words sift into our organized blind movement.

     King found that "Occasionally in life there are those moments of unutterable fulfillment which cannot be completely explained by those symbols called words. Their meanings can only be articulated by the inaudible language of the heart." And, this is what took place on that rainy afternoon with no one near to block out Jessica's voice reading the quotes on the monument and the rain hitting the pavement.

     I could hear King telling hurting scared people, "Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy." "Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom."

     He told us to remember that "The approach does not immediately change the heart of the oppressor. It first does something to the hearts and souls of those committed to it. It gives them new self-respect; it calls up resources of strength and courage they did not know they had."

     His words, "Unity to be real must stand the severest strain without breaking," washed over us that afternoon standing there at the foot of the monument. He reminded us that, "In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." His final thought remained with us long after we walked back to the cab and returned to Tennessee. "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

     So fellow Federationists, friends, what words is your silence conveying? If measured how tall would you be and where would you stand in this time of challenge and controversy? What do you as a member of the National Federation of The Blind of Tennessee intend to do in the coming year, to move this organization forward? For you, is unity worth standing the severest strain without breaking?

(This speech was delivered at the NFB of Tennessee 2012 Convention held in Memphis)

 

National News

 

Vehicle Donation

Honk Honk 

WHAT'S UNDER THAT BLUE TARP? AN RV? A BOAT? A PLANE?

Vehicle Donation Program IS HERE! 

 

     Did you know that the National Federation of the Blind has a new, unique fundraising opportunity?  It is a vehicle donation program.  If you have a used truck or car, and you are no longer driving it, consider donating it to the National Federation of the Blind.  This will make you a partner in the good work the NFB does on behalf of blind people all over the country.

     For more information, please call the vehicle donation program toll-free at

(855) 659-9314

and they will assist you with helpful information about how to donate your vehicle.  It doesn't matter what state you are in, they will work with you.

     You may also contact Joanne Wilson via

email, jwilson at nfb.org

or call her at

(410) 659-9314.

 

Recipes

 

Pasta salad

Submitted by Brenda Johnson

 

1 box of bowtie pasta (cooked)

chopped chicken (cooked and as much as you like)

a can or so of pineapple pieces (drained)

a little grated onion (or as some recipes say 'to taste')

celery (diced)

slivered almonds (or other nuts if you like)

[ you can add other stuff if you want]

 

Dressing for salad:

2/3 cup white vinegar

2 cups vegetable oil

1 1/4 cups sugar

2 tsp dry mustard

2 tsp celery seed

2 tsp salt

 

Blend all together and pour over salad.  It helps to blend in a little mayo. This makes the dressing stick to the pasta.  Happy eating!

 

Note the measurements are not precise. That is what makes this so easy.

 

spinach salad

Submitted by Brenda Johnson

 

The hardest part about this salad is getting your serving.

 

Ingredients:

A bag of clean spinach

Fresh strawberries ( washed and quartered)

A can of sugar free mandarin oranges

1/4 cup poppy seed dressing (more if you want)

Mix it all together and eat up

 

Quick and Easy BANANA-PINEAPPLE BREAD

 Submitted by Sheri Anderson

 

This recipe is one of my family's favorites. Its quick, easy, yummy and vegan.

 

1/2   cup sugar

 1 1/2 cup flour

 3/4   tsp baking soda

 1     tsp salt

 1         egg equivalent (we use EnerG)

 3         mashed bananas (extra-ripe ones mash easier or pop into

           microwave for a bit to soften them.)

 1/4   cup crushed pineapple, drained (save the drained juice)

 

  1.. mix the dry ingredients
  2.. Now mix in the wet ingredients.
  3.. If the mixture is too dry, add some of the saved pineapple juice.
  4.. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 to 60 minutes or until the top is golden brown and a toothpick comes out nearly dry.
 

National Federation of The Blind of Tennessee Calendar of Events

 

Please send any chapter or division happenings, community outreach efforts or fundraising activities to the Tennessee Voice Editor at

Dwight.Johnson at mtsu.edu

 

September 2013

Stones River Picnic

For date and location, Contact President Felton at 

adfelto at gmail.com

 

Coming soon at a Chili's near you, Stones River is hosting a fundraising dinner.

For more information, Contact President Felton at 

adfelto at gmail.com

 

The Tennessee Voice is seeking your suggestions, recipes and articles for next quarter's edition. Please also forward any stories, humorous events or blindness related myths you would like posted in our new humor section. As Always, don't forget to get your Chapter, Division or other calendar events in as soon as you know of them. 

 

If you know of a friend who would like a copy of The Tennessee Voice, please have them send a request to the editor. If you would like to receive your Tennessee Voice at another email address, please send a request to the editor. If you know longer wish to receive the Tennessee Voice, please reply to this message and place Cancel in the body of the message.

 

 

The National Federation of The Blind of Tennessee hopes you have enjoyed our newsletter this quarter.