Photo of the view from our kitchen window by Beth Finke and Mike Knezovich

September 30, 2015 • Posted in blindness, Uncategorized by
Mary harris Russell On September 30, 2015 at 4:42 pm

if you are walking on the north-south sidewalk, consider that the opening to the circular park is at 6 on a clock face. The blocks on which you might sit begin at both 8 o’clock on your left or 4 o’clock on your right.
What I can’t figure out is how to signal to you the small trees that stand at either side of the largest part of that opening? Maybe it’s safe to say that if you come maybe 4 steps forward into the circle, then you’ll find the bench slabs at about 4 and 8.
Each alb looks to hold no more than 2 people After u find one with your stick, then find,it’s,end and an interval space,
Oh, dear, Beth, this is difficult.
see you on the 8th.
Mary russell

bethfinke On September 30, 2015 at 5:18 pm

Difficult, yes, but very interesting, too — by describing these photos, perhaps people who can see get an appreciation for things those of us who are blind consider while navigating our lives every day. Not trying to be overly touchy-feely, but if that’s the case, it’s pretty cool, and I appreciate you taking the time to give it a try, Mary.

Mary Russell On October 4, 2015 at 12:14 pm

Now I realize what the problem was with imposing my paradigm on your situation. My paradigm: imagine oneself, seated at a table, with a plate in front of you. Givens of this paradigm: the individual seeking to find something is seated and stable, the table is stable and right in front of one, the plate is graspable with both hands and stays where it is. In your case, walking past the site, none of the givens apply. You are in motion, the semi-circle of stones is too large to grasp and may be filled with people in motion as well. As in much of life, paradigms developed in one situation don’t work in a different one. Hurtling through a 3-D world, in motion just as you are in motion, is complicated and scary. Philosophical analogies — Heraclitus says we can never step in the same river twice — are hilariously and dangerously inappropriate.

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