"I loved the feel of those glossy pages against my cheek and the delicious smell of words."
When I was a little girl, I used to smell pages. Not in public, you understand. But in safe
environments like my grandmother's house and my favorite teacher's classroom. I remember holding
that intoxicating aroma of ink and paper to my face and inhaling for all I was worth. Magazines
were the best. I loved the feel of those glossy pages against my cheek and the delicious smell
of words. That's how I thought of it, and that's what all the smelling was about: The essence
of words.
Although I read every braille book I could get my hands on (usually several times), I knew even in elementary school that the language I loved to read was only a taunting taste of what print readers could enjoy. Technology has changed that dramatically for me and for other blind and visually impaired people. I can now find almost anything I want online, save it to disk, run it through a braille translator, and spit it out on my braille embosser. Books are now available in braille on every subject from sex to poetry, fairytale to fantasy, and even on how to use my computer. I can run my hands over any information I need or want, and the paradise is richer perhaps than even the fragrance of pages promised.
I still love libraries and bookstores. I no longer enter them with the same sense of longing and disenfranchisement as I once did, and I don't smell magazines much anymore. I'm too busy gathering, frolicking, and assimilating information.
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Age:
Old enough to have sung Joan Baez songs when they were new!
Occupation:
Nationally syndicated columnist, speaker, poet, mother
Greatest achievement:
With the aid of braille I have raised my children, been a guest at the White House, and judged a Ms. Wheelchair America Pageant!
Recent Family Vacation:
Disney World
Age when first started learning braille:
6
Favorite place to write my articles:
On my personal computer, outfitted with an Alva refreshable braille display and JAWS for Windows.
Technology I rely on the most:
My Braille Lite -- it has everything I really need to know inside - phone numbers, calendar, notes on current stories in progress, and always files of a few braille books!
Favorite website:
Dictionary.com
Books on my bedside table:
A Manual for Living, Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet, Touch the Top of the World, and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
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