Here and There

by Sharon Lovering

The announcement of products and services in this column is not an endorsement by the American Council of the Blind, its staff, or elected officials. Products and services are listed free of charge for the benefit of our readers. "The Braille Forum" cannot be responsible for the reliability of products and services mentioned.

To submit an item for "Here and There," send an e-mail message to [email protected]. You may call the ACB toll-free number, (800) 424-8666, and leave a message in mailbox 26. Please bear in mind that we need information two months ahead of actual publication dates.

Anniversary

On April 26-27, 2002, the Georgia Academy for the Blind will be celebrating its 150th anniversary. For information concerning this event, contact Tom Ridgeway, Georgia Academy for the Blind, 2895 Vineville Ave., Macon, GA 31204; phone (478) 751-6085, or e-mail [email protected].

Lowell Lightning Beep Ball Team Seeks Players, Coaches, Volunteers, Umpires & Drivers

The Lowell (Mass.) beep baseball team meets on Wednesday and Sunday nights from 6 to 8 p.m. at Ryan Field on Gorham Street. Volunteer once or twice a week. All are welcome. Call Bob St. Germaine at (978) 458-1358 or e-mail [email protected].

Fulbright Scholars

The Fulbright Scholar Program is offering lecturing/research awards in about 140 countries for the 2003-2004 academic year. Competition opened March 1. Opportunities are available for college and university faculty and administrators, professionals from business and government, artists, journalists, scientists, lawyers, independent scholars and many others. There are awards in 37 different disciplines and professional fields as well as a variety of subdisciplines such as gender studies and peace studies. Traditional awards are available from two months to an academic year or longer. A new short-term grants program, the Fulbright Senior Specialists Program, offers two- to six-week grants in a variety of disciplines and fields. Foreign language skills are needed in some countries, but most Fulbright lecturing assignments are in English. Some 80 percent of the awards are for lecturing. Application deadlines for the 2003-2004 awards are: May 1 for Fulbright Distinguished Chair awards in Europe, Canada and Russia; August 1 for Fulbright traditional lecturing and research grants worldwide; and November 1 for the summer German Studies Seminar and for spring/summer seminars in Germany, Korea and Japan for academic and international education administrators. The senior specialists program has a rolling deadline. For more information, contact the Council for International Exchange of Scholars at 3007 Tilden St. NW, Suite 5L, Washington, DC 20008-3009; phone (202) 686-7877, or e-mail [email protected]. You may also apply online at www.cies.org.

Braille Bug

The American Foundation for the Blind recently launched the Braille Bug, an interactive channel of its web site created to teach sighted children about braille, and to encourage literacy among all children. Designed for children in grades three through six, the Braille Bug is the first children's site that combines full accessibility with functionality and an environment that features colorful animated graphics and sound effects. The "Braille Bug" is a ladybug with the six dots of the braille cell on her back; she welcomes all children to the site, helps them understand the secret code of braille, and invites them to play a variety of online games and activities. Want to see your name in braille? Visit http://www.afb.org/braillebug and check it out!

First Talking ATMs

First Union National Bank has a number of talking ATMs in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. Their locations are listed below.

Virginia

• Arlington: Courthouse Financial Center, 2200 Clarendon Blvd.
• Fairfax: Pan Am Financial Center, 3019 Nutley St.
• Hampton: Mercury Boulevard Financial Center, 4100 Mercury Blvd.
• Midlothian: Harbour Pointe Financial Center, 13505 Harbour Pointe Parkway
• Newport News: Hidenwood Financial Center, 2 Hidenwood Shopping Center
• Norfolk: Roosevelt Gardens Financial Center, 2316 E. Little Creek Road
• Richmond: 11th & Marshall Financial Center, 11th and Marshall; St. Mary's, 5801 Bremo Rd.; Stratford Hills Financial Center, 2827 Hathaway Rd.; and Westhampton Financial Center, 315 Libbie Ave.
• Roanoke: Hershberger Financial Center, 1344 Hershberger Road

Maryland

• Annapolis: Parole Plaza Financial Center, 2525 Riva Rd.
• Baltimore: Arlington Financial Center, 5701 Reisterstown Rd.; Crown, 6817 Loch Raven Blvd.; Gwynn Oak Junction Financial Center, 4735 Liberty Heights Ave.; Harford Road Financial Center, 2056 Harford Rd.; Highlandtown Financial Center, 4820 Eastern Ave. & Ponca St.; Joppa Road Financial Center, 2030 E. Joppa Rd.; Milford Mill Financial Center, 3608 Milford Mill Rd.; Monument Street Financial Center, 2008 E. Monument & Washington; Mount Clare Junction Financial Center, 1241 W. Pratt St.; Mt. Royal Financial Center, 1228 Charles St. & Preston St.; North Avenue Financial Center, 2520 Pennsylvania Ave.; Overlea Financial Center, 6817 Belair Rd. & Overlea; Parkside Financial Center, 5040 Sinclair Lane & Moravia Rd.; Pulaski-Rossville Financial Center, 8807 Pulaski Hwy. & Rossville; Roland Park Financial Center, 5121 Roland Ave.; SS Metro, 300 Greene St.; SS Operations, 6401 Security Blvd.; St. Paul Street Financial Center, 7 St. Paul St.; Walbrook Financial Center, 3200 W. North Ave.
• Ellicott City: Chatham Mall Financial Center, Rt. 40 & Chatham-9200 Baltimore Nat.
• Essex: Essex Financial Center, 632 Eastern Blvd.
• Glyndon: Glyndon Financial Center, 4830 Butler Rd.
• Langley Park: Langley Park Financial Center, New Hampshire & University Blvd.
• Linthicum: Linthicum Financial Center, 721 Hammonds Ferry & Nursery
• Pasadena: Lake Shore Plaza Financial Center, 4305 Mountain Rd.
• Randallstown: Liberty Road Financial Center, 8530 Liberty Road
• Rockville: Congressional Plaza Financial Center, 110 Congressional Plaza

Washington, DC

• 19th and M Street Financial Center, 1850 M St. NW
• Capitol Hill Financial Center, 215 Pennsylvania Ave.
• East River Park Financial Center, 3915-B Dix St. NE
• Howard University Financial Center, 2801 Georgia Ave. NW
• K Street Financial Center, 1510 K St. NW
• Spring Valley Financial Center, 4841 Massachusetts Ave. NW

Creative Use of Braille

The American Printing House for the Blind recently honored Dr. Abraham Nemeth with the Creative Use of Braille Award. This award recognizes a person or people who have made a product, idea, method or promotional effort that increases the availability or awareness of braille. It must be currently in production or use. Nemeth was honored for the development of the Nemeth Code for Mathematics and Science Notation, which became official in the United States in 1952, and has since become official in Canada and New Zealand.

APH also honored Dr. Josephine Stratton with the Virgil Zickel Award for her work to produce the "On the Way to Literacy" handbook and her contributions to the "On the Way to Literacy" storybook series. The Zickel Award is given annually to a person or people who contribute an innovative idea for a new product that can be produced by APH.

Feel the Spirit!

American Stars and Stripes flag pin with USA in Braille! This one-of-a-kind collectible is now available from Christiansen Designs. In cast brass, this lapel pin is just $15 and can be seen on the www.braillejewelry.com web site. The lapel-size pin is about one inch wide and 3/4 of an inch high. It looks like a wavy flag on a flag pole with stars and stripes that can be felt. On the flag is USA in Braille. Visa and MasterCard accepted. To order, or for more information, call (802) 295-2486. You may also e-mail [email protected]. If you have a store or are an organization looking for fund-raising opportunities, be sure to ask about how they can help you.

Hall of Fame

There is now a Hall of Fame for Leaders and Legends of the Blindness Field. It is located at the American Printing House for the Blind in Louisville, Ky. The first honorees include: Natalie Barraga, Burt Boyer, Joan Chase, Phil Hatlen, Cay Holbrook, Michael Nelipovich, Susan Spungin and Dean Tuttle. APH staff members serving on the committee include Dr. Tuck Tinsley, Mary Nelle McLennan, Gary Mudd, Donald J. Keefe, Janie Humphries, Will Evans and Bob Brasher. For more information on the leaders and legends slated for initial induction, and for opportunities to support the Hall of Fame, contact Bob Brasher at (800) 223- 1839 extension 369, or e-mail him at [email protected].

Open Stages

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Accessibility Program is thrilled to announce the first edition of Opening Stages: a Newsletter for People with Disabilities Pursuing Careers in the Arts. This new quarterly newsletter contains interviews with people successfully pursuing careers, highlights exemplary training programs (college, university and non-traditional), and lists extensive useful resources for individuals looking for jobs including 17 carefully vetted on-line job listing services. If you are interested in receiving this newsletter via e-mail, please send your request along with your name, mailing address and e-mail address to: [email protected].

If you cannot open e-mail attachments, don't have access to e-mail, or wish to receive the newsletter as a hard copy, mail your request (along with your address and whether you need the newsletter in regular print, large print or braille) to the Accessibility Program, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 2700 F Street NW, Washington, DC 20566-0001.

Latino Vision Project

The U.S. Department of Education's Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) has awarded the World Institute on Disability (WID) a five-year grant to establish the National Technical Assistance Center for Latinos with Disabilities living in the USA. To be called Proyecto Vision (Project Vision), the center will connect disabled Latinos with employment services and related resources; work with government agencies and private organizations focusing on employment and technology, to increase their outreach to disabled Hispanics; and help Hispanic and Latino organizations to better serve their disabled community members.

To accomplish these goals, the project will offer: bilingual technical assistance via a toll-free hotline, a bilingual web site and listserv, annual employment-centered trainings, and leadership development activities. The project will also build a national Latino disability network based on the regional training seminars, develop unique outreach activities designed with the national Hispanic Radio Network, and carry out an extensive translation program focused on employment-related legislation and training opportunities.

Further details are available from Kathy Martinez, phone (510) 251-4326 or e-mail [email protected].

New Spanish Materials from National Eye Institute

We are pleased to announce that we have new Spanish-language educational materials on age-related macular degeneration, cataract and glaucoma. As with our English-language brochures, the new brochures feature an "at-risk" version and an "information for patients" version for each disease area. These new items are available on the NEI web site, http://www.nei.nih.gov/health/espanol/index.htm.

New Deacon

Phil Jackson of Bristol, Va., recently became a deacon in his Seventh Day Adventist church. Phil would like to make contact with others who are blind who are also serving as deacons. Please contact him by audiocassette at the following postal address: 100 Moore Street #616, Bristol, VA 24201. He also welcomes e-mail contact at this address: [email protected].