Canes, Trains, and Literacy - June 4-8
All right, this is ridiculous. A lot has been happening, so I haven't been catching up, but that just makes it harder to do so. Things are calming down, though, so I will catch up...I will!
Monday June 4:
I bumped my head again on the way to work. Come on now, self, this is getting just a bit tiring! Saturday was our big Vision 5K event, which raised money to benefit 5 local blindness organizations. My job was to sit at the NBP table (that was in a line of tables representing a bunch of local organizations – mostly blindness-related). I just had to answer questions and tell people about us while our employees ran or walked in the race or cheered people on. The major problem was that I didn’t know what was laid out on the table, so when people asked me what was on the CD in this nice brochure, I showed how incompetent I was by admitting that I didn’t know. I blamed myself completely for this, though I probably shouldn’t have. I felt I should have been more assertive during the few seconds that I did see one of my supervisors by asking them to tell me what was there and how to answer questions. It was hard, though, because they were really busy. As it was, I expressed my distress to them afterward, and they said it was their fault and that I shouldn’t feel bad. Though I wasn’t as helpful as I could have been, I think I was cordial enough. The 5K was a success, so that’s what matters. Plus, it was a good lesson in being flexible and ad-libbing.
We had a team meeting today, which was really fun for me. It also made me realize just how much my supervisors have on their plates, so to speak. The meeting was for the development department, and was two hours long. They basically laid out a timetable of what needs to get done in the next couple of months – which is a lot. I got coffee at 1:30, because I was so very tired. Note to self: go to bed earlier, even if the Redsox game is on and is running late. The rest of my day was spent on more grant research.
Tue June 5: Do I really look so pathetic when I’m walking to work that it necessitates two different men yelling directions at me, and one person grabbing me by the arm without warning? To say that I’m frustrated would be an understatement. Gave my forehead another bruise. I did more of the same research, avoiding foundations that are localized to places other than Boston, that only exist to give awards and not to give grants, that donate books, or that only support teaching and educational programs. I found something called GoodSearch.com, which is like Google, but allows you to search and raise money for non-profits at the same time. I was told to do more research on it to see how it works. I also tried to finagle a last-minute prize for the team of kids that raised money for the Harry Potter book at the 5K, which meant finding restaurants that might be willing to donate a meal, or tickets to a museum or event that would be fun for blind adolescents (not all that easy).
Wed June 6: I got away from the city last night to visit a friend from Conn. It meant that I took a new train, which a nice kid on the E train helped me find. Bostonians are really helpful. This morning’s commute was smooth (thank God). I started by reading some articles written by the man whose family the second reader profile for our Annual Report will be about. He sure does a lot for his two blind sons – in a way, I think he does too much. He’s such an overachiever it actually made me feel inadequate. I need to remember that all blind people are different, though, and many of them are successful without having had the same opportunities. I got permission to sign us up for GoodSearch.com, so you should all go their and search in support of National Braille Press! I think it’s actually just as good as Google (gasp). I also looked over a draft of an application NBP is constructing for a Touch of Genius prize, which they will award to an innovator in tactile literacy. They wanted me to make sure it will be accessible to blind applicants.
Thu June 7: I met a very nice girl from LSU who lives one floor above me last night, so it’ll be nice to have someone new to hang out with. The driver of the E train actually got out to tell me I was going the wrong way this morning. How embarrassing is that? I swear I’m not as horrible at getting around as you must think I am by now…I actually know what I’m doing 99% of the time. More grant research. More writing of reader profiles. I also had a good talk about what it means to be a successful blind person with one of the other blind people who works here, and how it’s not contingent on being a member of one of the two national blindness organizations – it really helped me feel better.
Fri June 8, TGIF: A bike hit my cane while I was crossing a street this morning and took the tip with it. Luckily a man saw it by the curb and helped me snap it back on. Unbelievable, I know. It just keeps getting better and better. A woman told me to cross last night when a fire truck was coming down the street. Obviously I did not go, as I am not deaf. I stayed up late talking to some other interns from Iowa, Pennsylvania, and Idaho. Two of them are working on Mit Romni’s (don’t know if that’s the correct spelling) campaign, and the rest of us were more liberal, so it was a fascinating conversation. I got lunch at Temptations, which has fabulous paninis. My work was more of the same.