Bennett and his companion dog Journey.

Remember my post about Vision Forward, the conference about educating kids who are blind? I signed more Braille copies of Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound at that conference than print ones, and this thank-you note from the mom of a five-year-old boy I met there was so moving that I wrote her back to ask if I could share it with my blog readers:

Dear Beth,

I met you at the Vision Forward Conference in Milwaukee this past weekend. I purchased your book, Safe and Sound, for my blind 5 1/2 year old son, Bennett.

My husband read it with him tonight, while I worked on homework with my 9 year old. Bennett was so excited about the book. He told me, “I loved that book you got me. It’s a true story mom. And no one ever writes true stories for kids about people who are blind like me.”

His reaction caused me to think. He is right. If I look on Amazon, there isn’t much out there. Thank you for writing this story and reaching out to children who can not see. Bennett has a Children’s Companion Dog and he said when the story started, he thought for sure it was about his dog Journey.

Thanks again. And it was a pleasure meeting you. Keep writing and we will keep reading 🙂

I swear, any time I’m feeling blue, all I gotta do is read this note. It always makes me smile. A lot of thoughtful people teamed together to make sure Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound came out in Braille the exact same day it was published in print. That hardly ever, ever happens: Braille is so expensive to publish that “braile presses” usually wait until a book becomes a best-seller before putting it out in Braille.

Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound is available in a Print-and-Braille format. The Braille and print match line for line, with the print just above the Braille (no pictures). I can tell you first hand, so to speak, that it’s “good Braille” = the dots are stiff, they stand up straight, They’re easy to read. The only problem for me? The Braille version of Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound was produced in contracted Braille, a form of Braille I’ve never been able to master.

Contracted Braille has a bunch of shorthand symbols (contractions) for commonly used words and parts of words: there’s a cell for the word “and,” another for the word “the,” and so on. Most of the letters of the alphabet are also used as shorthand for common words, such as “c” for “can” and “l” for “like.” Kind of like texting, only you can’t make as many mistakes!

When I wrote Bennett’s mom back to thank her for her note,  I apologized that my book was only available in contracted Braille, and poor five-year-old Bennett would have a hard time reading it. No problem, she said. Bennett started learning Braille this past summer. “He knows the whole alphabet, all of the “secret” words for the letters when they are alone, and he just started the words that have 2 Braille letters together, like bc for because,” she said. “Not to brag, but this little guy is a genius!”

I say she should go ahead and brag. Not only about Bennett, but about herself and her husband, too, and the family they are raising, all of them supporting Bennett’s love for reading. A little known fact about Braille: less than 20% of the 50,000 blind children in the United States are proficient in Braille. The American Foundation for the Blind reports a severe shortage of certified teachers of the visually impaired (TVIs), especially in rural areas or in small school districts, and without qualified teachers, it can be a lot easier for parents of children who are blind to just let their kids listen to books on audio or hear words on a talking computer. Technology is cool, but if children who are blind never learn Braille, how will they ever learn to spell correctly? How will they know where to put commas, quotation marks, paragraph breaks and so on?

My children’s book publisher, Blue Marlin Publications, teamed up with Seedlings Braille Books for Children (a non-profit organization in Michigan that creates Braille books for kids who can’t see) to produce my children’s book at a reasonable price — the Braille/print version is actually less expensive than the print version. .Blue Marlin didn’t charge Seedlings a penny for the rights to publish the book in Braille, and wait, there’s more: Blue Marlin Publications also decided to donate a portion of the sales of the print version of Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound to Seedlings so they can continue creating books in Braille at a reasonable cost for kids who need them.

I do know enough contracted Braille to read the first couple of pages of my children’s book out loud, and with Safe & Sound available in Braille, I’ve been able to read it aloud at school presentations and show kids what Braille looks like and how it works.

I brought a Braille copy along to a visit with the fourth graders at Crow Island School in Winnetka yesterday, but those kids didn’t need any explanation of what Braille is: Jalena, a smart and cheerful 9-year-old in their class, is blind. I invited Jalena to sit with me and help me during the Q & A part of yesterday’s presentation, and she was happy to do so. We answered questions about whether we feel sad not being able to see colors, if we sleep with our eyes open, and how we put our pierced earrings in our ears without looking in a mirror. Not one kid at Crow Island asked about Braille, though: they’re all experts! Lots of Jalena’s sighted friends are in the school’s Braille Club and have learned uncontracted Braille, the version I know.

When the afternoon was over, I thanked Jalena by giving her the Braille copy of Safe & Sound that I’d brought along, and she was delighted. Gail Wilson, her TVI, told me later that after school sometimes Jalena reads with a book buddy who can see. “We have a hard time finding print/Braille books like yours,” she said. “I know for sure what they’ll be reading later today!”

To find out how to order a copy of Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound in print/Braille, or to donate to Seedlings to help them create more books in Braille for kids, link to www.seedlings.org.

Renowned Chicago chef Charlie Trotter died this morning. He was 54 years old. The foodie world will miss him, and those of us who are blind will, too. A post I wrote in 2011 explains. R.I.P., Charlie.

Her specialty is risotto

by Beth Finke

Published October 25, 2011

That's Laura Martinez of Charlie Trotter's.

And, oh yeah. Laura Martinez just happens to be blind.

In her spare time (!) Laura teaches a cooking class at Friedman Place, a non-profit Supportive Living Community for Chicago adults who are blind and visually impaired. Laura doesn’t live at Friedman Place, but she was there last Thursday when I visited to give a presentation about my writing life. The Friedman Place web site promotes the full range of services and activities they provide “so that residents’ days are healthy, dignified, and stimulating.” While I am confident Laura’s cooking class keeps Friedman Place residents dignified and stimulated, I can’t vouch for the “healthy” bit: she served her signature brownies to residents during my presentation, and the luscious chocolaty treats were downright sinful!

I had a chance to talk with Laura before she skedaddled to her day job, and she told me co-workers on the line at Charlie Trotter’s have become comfortable having her there prepping, cleaning and chopping the food. I asked if she had a specialty. “Well, a lot of vegetarians come to Charlie Trotter’s,” she said,her voice betraying a proud smile. “They like my vegetable risotto.”

Renowned Chicago chef Charlie Trotter first met Laura a few years ago during a visit to the Chicago Lighthouse for the Blind. Laura had been working in the Lighthouse cafeteria kitchen at the time, and it was love at first taste. Charlie is quoted in an article in the Chicago Tribune about Laura:

“I was watching her work and saw how she handled things with her hands, touching for temperature and doneness, and I ate her food and it was quite delicious. We got to talking and she told me about her dreams and I said, ‘What would you think about working at Charlie Trotter’s?'”

Laura was still attending the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu culinary program at the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago at the time. Charlie Trotter offered to help with her tuition, and Laura has been working for him ever since.

The staff and residents at Friedman Place absolutely gushed over the presentation I gave with Harper last Thursday, so many of them shaking my hand and encouraging me to return with my new dog next year. I am flattered, of course, but I’m not fooling myself: I’m pretty sure they think they’ll get Laura’s brownies again if I come back.

A portrait of me from Charlie’s Fade to White project.

Remember Charlie Simokaitis? Charlie is a commercial photographer, and a while back I published a blog post about a project he took on honoring his teenage daughter. Faye has a deteriorating eye condition that will soon leave her completely blind, and she was the inspiration for Fade to White, a compilation of portraits Charlie took of people who have visual impairments or are blind.

I learned about a new project Charlie is working on when he left a comment to the post I wrote last month about my friend Jamie Ceaser’s new public television show. His guest post explains:

Finding One’s Voice on Local, USA

by Charlie Simokaitis

Last year I teamed up with fellow photographer Jason Creps to start a filmmaking company called Groundfire Pictures. Up until then, we both were primarily shooting still photography for our own advertising, design and music industry clients. We got the idea for Groundfire Pictures after I spent time photographing a food pantry/community kitchen at Ravenswood Community Services for a piece my friend Anne Ford was writing. During the photo shoot she told me about The Chicagoans, a column she writes for an alternative newspaper in Chicago called The Reader. The column tells stories of everyday people who live in and around the Windy City, and she wanted to sta

Mae Ya

rt incorporating video with the interviews. My filmmaking career was born: Groundfire Pictures has produced 12 episodes for TheChicagoans.tv already, with more to come.

Word about our work got around, and we were approached by producer Jamie Ceaser to participate in a new public TV series called Local, USA. I follow Beth’s blog, and when I read a post here last month saying that Jamie was in Beth’s book club, I was like, “small world!”

Jamie produces Local, USA for public TV, and our short film airs this week as part of the Finding Ones Voice episode. Our film tells the story of singer/protégé Mae Ya Carter Ryan, a young woman Wise beyond her eleven years. Mae Ya is a fascinating subject, and her mother and manager, Ina, is pure warmth. The day we shot in their Bronzeville home, Ina invited the entire crew for an enormous breakfast. And whoa, her little girl sure can sing. An excerpt from The Chicagoans column my friend Anne Ford wrote about Mae Ya mentions her musical mentor, Bruce Thompson. Thompson is a Baptist minister who played with Isaac Hayes, and his review gives you an idea of what makes young Mae Ya so special:

Thompson, who met the famous gospel singer many times, says it’s no coincidence that some people who’ve heard Mae Ya sing have called her “little Mahalia. I am not supposed to believe in reincarnation,” he says. “But I believe that that’s Mahalia Jackson in that little body. It’s the richness of her voice. She has such good control over it.”

Then there’s the familiar transformation Thompson says he’s witnessed in Mae Ya: “If you say, ‘Sing,’ right before she does it, she stops being a little girl and becomes that song. You can see it happening. That’s another thing she does like Mahalia.”

Chicago-based Ebony Magazine invited Mae Ya to sing at New York’s Lincoln Center for tomorrow night’s salute to Berry Gordy, Jr. Her mom says the invite came, in part, due to people at the magazine seeing the Groundfire Pictures video. What an honor. For all of us.

Beth here. If you don’t have tickets to Lincoln Center, don’t fret: You can see – and,more importantly, hear — Mae Ya on public TV tomorrow night from the comfort of your own home. Charlie’s  Finding Ones Voice episode on Local, USA airs tomorrow night, November 4, on World Channel, and Chicagoans can tune in for a re-broadcast on WTTW, Channel 11, this Thursday, November 7 at 11 p.m., too. Charlie and Jamie are two very talented artists who sincerely care about people — I know this TV show will not disappoint.

That’s us at the Drummond Thomas Montessori school, one of several gigs last week.

Whitney and I visited four different classes at Drummond Thomas Montessori School in Chicago last Wednesday morning. After I told one class that even when my eyes are open, all I see is the color black, one preschooler wondered, “Then how do you know when you’re tired?”

I can tell you this much: I’m pretty tired right now! Stimulated, too –Whitney and I traveled nearly 500 miles last week giving presentations everywhere from Central Illinois to Milwaukee, Wisconsin:

• Tuesday we were in Champaign, Ill., giving a guest lecture in an animal sciences class at the University of Illinois
• Wednesday we were at that Montessori School
• Thursday we spoke to students enrolled in a disability studies class at DePaul University here in Chicago
• Friday we took an Amtrak train to Milwaukee to give the keynote and lead a workshop for an organization called Vision Forward

That Vision Forward conference is all about kids in the public schools who are blind. Many of their parents, some grandparents, and teachers and other staff members who work with them attended the writing workshop I gave after my keynote. These folks hav a lot to say, and I hope the workshop encouraged them to get some of their thoughts down on paper. It’s amazing how therapeutic writing can be.

Oh, and about the keynote: I ended it with that seven-minute Good Stuff video. If you’ve seen What’s it Like to Go Blind? you might recall the part where there’s a jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces on the screen? One mom came up afterwards to compliment the visuals and ask for the YouTube address. “We have such trouble explaining what our daughter’s vision is like,” she said. “Those missing puzzle pieces, that’s a perfect way to describe it.”

I signed books after my keynote and workshop were over, and it was no surprise that we sold more Braille copies of Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound than print ones.

While a 9-year-old who is blind waited for me to Braille my name into his book, he asked a question about Whitney’s harness. I took it off, let Simon check it out firsthand. He returned it when he was done, and before I buckled it back on, I asked, “You want to pet her?” He sure did, and Whitney wriggled and wagged and kissed Simon in return. Don’t look now, but I think we have a future guide dog user on our hands.

Whitney and I had a lot of fun and made a lot of new friends last week, and now that we’re home, you know what? Somehow, someway, even without being able to see, I know we’re both tired!

I met Ryan Hartigan While I was training with Whitney. Ryan is the Online Media Specialist at the Seeing Eye, and he interviewed Whitney and me along with a few other guide dog teams for a one-minute video to promote the school.

Ryan and his wife Sarah volunteer as puppy raisers for the Seeing Eye, too, and right now they’re raising Ike. Ryan sent me an email the other day to report on Ike’s progress, and he agreed to let me share that note as a guest blog post.

A dog with good taste

by Ryan Hartigan

That’s Ike. He just ate my book up.

Apparently the shepherd puppy we’re raising really wanted to remind us about you. This was just too funny and ironic, and I had to pass it along.

Ike, the 11-month-old shepherd we’re raising, is not a destructive dog. Last Sunday, I got up and took Vinny, Watson and Ike out, fed them, made coffee and settled on the couch while the dogs took an extended nap with Sarah.

A while later, I heard Sarah saying, “What did you do?” Ike walks into the living room with a book in his mouth, neatly chewed round at each corner, all the way through, but still entirely readable. I told him to drop it, which he did, only to reveal the title: Long Time, No See. I was floored!

First of all, this wasn’t a setup. I assure you. Ike has never messed with books, magazines or anything similar. My wife keeps a stack of books on her nightstand (probably eight or ten books) so at some point during their nap, Ike carefully selected your book to be customized by a Seeing Eye puppy! We still can’t believe it!

Hope Ike hasn’t offended your writing too much. I like to think he chose your book because it is so good. I have saved the book. It’s readable, and the way I look at it, Ike has made your story even more fantastic!