How do I describe these emotions…? I went to Detroit today, to see Dr. Michael Trese. He specializes in treatment of people whose blindness is caused by damage to the eyes that occurs following premature birth. I asked Mom to go back into the eye doctor’s office with me today–not because I needed her help, […]
Do you understand?
When the Crew of the U.S.S. starship Voyager is stranded in the Delta Quadrant, they meet up with an alien from a planet called Talax whose name is Nelix. Nelix is a wanderer, having lost his family in a war previously; and he joins Voyager as a guide. He brings with him a companion, a […]
Eye damage: is that an emergency?
When doctors see that I have damage to certain parts of my eyes, they often assume that it has recently occurred or needs to be checked by a specialist in case it needs immediate treatment. I have been followed periodically by Dr. Trese, a specialist in ROP who practices in Detroit, since 1998. However, I […]
wondrous things
I had an MRI recently which revealed that I have “shrinkage of both globes (aka the eyes). The MRI was done in order to evaluate potential causes of chronic headaches. The internnist does not believe the eye problem is responsible for the headaches; however, as a person who lives with a condition that often results […]
I wish I could be…
In Survivors, Deanna Troi gives Tasha an intriguing piece of advice as Tasha struggles to come to terms with her past. She says, “Tasha, you want to be the iron woman, able to defeat all enemies with any weapon or your bare hands, all pertinent facts ready at hand. Data has the physical strength and […]
What are we singing?
It has become fashionable to rewrite the words to songs so that they are gender inclusive or otherwise politically correct. Sometimes this has a fairly neutral effect. Sometimes it destroys a song’s theological meaning; and sometimes it is quite powerful. As a songwriter and a minister, and also as a person who is a member […]
sermon preparation strategies
During my fourth semester of seminary, I took a course in homiletics (preaching, for those who are not fond of fancy words). In some seminaries, these courses include a component that requires students to analyze other people’s sermons. Mine did not; but I often found myself listening to other people’s preaching in order to determine […]
dual core Netbooks
If you use a Netbook and have been thinking of upgrading it, or if you think they’re so cute but don’t know that they would really do all the things you want to do on your laptop, it is finally here: the dual core Netbook. This is the upgrade to the Netbook I am using, […]
Melora, self-advocacy, and effective relationships
In the last entry, we met Ensign Melora Pazlar, who was a guest on Deep Space Nine in the second season. Because Melora is native to a low-gravity environment, she uses a wheelchair to navigate Deep Space Nine. The episode entitled “Melora” explores the interplay of her and the crew’s reactions to her situation.When Melora […]
“The Melora Problem”: opening thoughts
I am amazed at the depth of issues the Star Trek writers can sometimes tackle in one episode. In the “disability community,” people often lament the rarity of disability themes in television shows. Star Trek sometimes tackles issues associated with life as a person with a disability amazingly well. One of my favorite such episodes […]
issues of difference: a unique twist
One of the interesting themes explored in Star Trek, Deep Space Nine, is the ongoing societal and personal impact of the use of genetic resequencing. This idea was first introduced in The Original Series but was not really explored again in The Next Generation. In Deep Space Nine, we learn rather late in the series, […]
healthy grief
In season 2 of Star Trek, Deep Space Nine, Commander Benjamin Sisko continues to wrestle with his feelings about Jennifer’s death. In the beginning of episode 9, he says, “Yesterday was the fourth anniversary of the massacre at Wolf 359, the fourth anniversary of Jennifer’s death. I’m not sure what bothers me more, the date […]
coping with the nonlinear
In the second episode of Star Trek, Deep Space Nine, Captain Benjamin Sisko encounters a race of noncorporeal beings who inhabit a stable wormhole leading between the Alpha and Gamma quadrants. The noncorporeal beings do not understand the concept of time; and Sisko tries to explain to them that humans experience life in a “linear […]
why I like Star Trek
As a seminary student, I got into the habit of watching episodes of Star Trek Voyager when I was under stress. I told my roommate that Star Trek made me think. She probably thought I was making a fine excuse for my Voyager addiction. What fun I had when my leadership class spent a class […]
communion: a communal worship experience
In a href=”https://amzn.to/3xa29yA” target=”_blank”>Exploring the Worship Spectrum, Sally Morgenthaler makes the statement that “The celebration of the Eucharist is not simply a private participation in God’s saving work through Jesus Christ; it is an intensely horizontal, bonding, communal rite.” (p. 51) My church shares communion at least once a month; and I often ponder the […]
students with disabilities, old wounds, and liberation
I once proposed to a staff person the idea of launching a support group on campus for students with disabilities, to provide a place for them to talk about experiences, share coping strategies, etc. The idea never went anywhere; and she suggested that students didn’t often feel comfortable talking about their disabilities and even seemed […]
more on the power of choice
When I first began using computers seriously, I was a college student in the early 1990s. At that time, there were four competing products providing access to the IBM-compatible PC. This was before Windows; and it took some time for anything to be developed for the Mac at all. When Windows was introduced, some of […]
How much technology do we need?
As I listen to the buzz in the blind community about new technology, I find myself in an interesting position. I am old enough to remember when I did without most of this stuff; and I am young enough to think that this stuff is fascinating. … And I wonder just what we really need […]
hospitality in worship
Why am I going on about access to worship, the need for clear sound in worship, etc? Because the worship community is, for many people in postmodern America, the first stop on the way to the encounter with the Holy Spirit on the road to meeting Christ. I have written a chapter about Christian education […]
sound worship
Sound ministry… I am not talking about ministry based on sound biblical principles, though I certainly think this is important. I am talking about the ministry that occurs through your church’s sound technicians. If you send recordings to people who are homebound, offer them at a nominal cost to people who missed the service, or […]
disability studies and the seminary curriculum
During my seminary years, I read a lot (on my own time) about various topics in disability and theology. Some of my reading concerned the need to address disability issues in the seminary curriculum. I am completely in agreement with this. For a time, I considered pursuing a second Master’s degree in disability studies in […]
Does it matter what we sing?
Because I am blind, I have spent a great deal of my worship time unable to participate fully. Unless I know the words by heart or have a braille copy of the lyrics, I am unable to sing along with the congregation. This has several implications for me and for the people around me. I […]
speaking of worship
The encounter with Christ begins with an awareness of the application of the death and resurrection of Jesus to our personal circumstances, sin and shame. Our response to that encounter moves us into the community of the people of God. We become a people of God, one people with a shared heritage, when we celebrate […]
about the call to ministry
Recently a seminary student asked me how I hear God and how I know what I am called to do. I wasn’t surprised by these questions. Many seminary classes open at the beginning of the semester with times of introduction when students share their sense of their call to ministry. In other words, they share […]
external hardware news
Since I do a lot of work with audio, I use external hard drives as storage solutions. I have a 500GB My Passport drive from Western Digital that has served me well for about 18 months. I don’t use the back-up and sync software on it–I’m not certain that it is accessible, and if I’m […]
seminary and learning styles
In many of my seminary classes, things were presented in charts. Obviously, I needed to find a different way of handling this information; for though I am skilled at handling charts, most charts don’t convert well to braille, and I didn’t have ready access to braille in seminary. I spent a fair amount of time […]
daily life in seminary
In order to get my seminary work done, I needed to scan my textbooks into the computer and then take time to read my assignments. I also scanned books from the library that I used for research assignments. In a given semester, I might scan as many as 10,000 pages. My scanning speed was affected […]
getting my feet wet in seminary
When I began my courses in seminary, I had been out of school for seven years. I was advised by a friend to begin by taking one course in order to see how I did, learn to study again, etc. I didn’t have the luxury of doing this. My financial aid providers all required me […]
reflections on scanners and optical character recognition
Optical character recognition software is some of the most amazing stuff I’ve ever seen! It is also one of the technologies that has come the farthest in my lifetime. I first put my hands on a reading machine in the mid-1980s. The public library in my town got a “Kurzweil reading machine”–the hope was probably […]
technology and change
I have been hearing a lot of general discontent lately about the changing state of technology. It ranges from the impact of changes in the Windows operating system on accessibility issues to the advent of touch screens to the fact that a person can no longer go into a cell phone store and buy a […]
disconnected
I seem to be innundated lately with posts here, there, and everywhere about the IPhone, IPad, etc. It sometimes feels as if no other mobile technology is acceptable anymore unless it begins with the letter I. (That is meant to be a little humorous, and earlier I made a joke to someone that perhaps I […]
meditation on a piece of choral music
Last week I went back to choir after numerous weeks at home with migraines and respiratory infections. One of the songs we are working on is called, “This Is My Word.” It is a very powerful song based on a passage from Isaiah. A friend, Marshall, is in the choir and is working on sign […]
quotes seen on Facebook
I feel like I’ve been on a treasure hunt today! Here is what my friends have served up to me on Facebook! “The kingdom of our Lord…. can not come by legal enactment; it can not come by coercion whether applied to the individual or to men in the mass; it can not come by […]
meditation on a hymn
Come Thou Fount of every blessing Tune my heart to sing Thy grace; Streams of mercy, never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise Teach me some melodious sonnet, Sung by flaming tongues above. Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it, Mount of Thy unchanging love. Here I raise mine Ebenezer; Hither by Thy help […]
holy places
Holy places… I think of these as “places that are holy.” In Hebrew the phrase would be translated literally, “places of the holy.” This implies a slightly different meaning. The place itself is not holy. It is a place where the holy is encountered. Without God’s presence, or without the interaction between God and person, […]
It Is Well
Hebrew… The gift that keeps on giving… I love it when that happens! Last week in church, we sang “It Is Well”–all three verses. Singing “My sin, not in part but the whole / Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,” I was deeply moved and thought back to my discussion […]
transgressions
Today in Hebrew, we read in Gen. 50 where Joseph’s brothers tell him that God commands him to “lift up the transgression of your brothers.” I mistranslated it; and this led my professor and me into a discussion of the fact that sacrifices could be offered for sins but not for transgressions (rebellions). The only […]
keep external drives from going to sleep
My computer has been rebooting itself at random. The most recent time made me angry enough to look at the event logs to see whether I could find the evil program causing the problem. There was an error on “disk3” which I determined was my 250GB Western Digital Passport drive. I decided the drive must […]
the dog and the timpani
I’ve been singing with various choirs since 1993, and my dogs have never uttered one noise about being stuck in the soprano 1 section. My last guide dog, Meghan (the yellow one in the picture of three dogs), amazed me by not moving a muscle when I ended up standing behind the timpani when the […]
Capture my memory…
Dr. Lewis says, “Shouldn’t our churches and communities be such that when someone loses their memory, that memory is captured by the community?” My thought: That really would require us to get past pleasantries and get to know each other: hear each other’s stories and learn what matters to each other. I once had a […]
Through
When I saw what lay before me, “Lord,” I cried, “what will I do?” I thought He would just remove it, but He gently led me through. Without fire there’s no refining; without pain, no relief. Without flood there’s no rescue; without testing, no belief. –Gloria Gaither, “Through” This song always tears me up when […]
mosaics
It is the natural thing to want broken places in life to heal and be good as new. But more often than not, they remain broken but are made into beautiful places as they become part of a tapestry of things that get painted over and turned into the groundwork for positive character traits in […]
the wounded place
Morris always acknowledged his debt to uninhibited college friends like Mike Martin. They were invaluable allies, because they regarded the integration of guide dogs in public places as both a challenge and a game. Morris recalled one episode in which he and a dozen friends entered an all-night diner in the small hours. When the […]
image of God
In my Sunday school class, we are discussing [[[The Shack]]]. Someone asked me about my image of God, whether I thought of God as male and white. This is an intriguing question for me. When I was growing up, I experienced audible voices when I had my own thoughts and also when I prayed and […]