Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic
New Jersey Unit
69 Mapleton Road
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
Phone 609-750-1830
Fax 609-750-9653
Reader’s Note
September/October 2007
Tony Gruenewald, Editor
Change the Date!!!!
I’m sure most of you have received “Save the Date” cards for our 50th Anniversary Dinner. Just after the cards hit the mail, reality set in and the event has been moved from November 15, 2007 to April 17, 2008. We will still be honoring ETS, Jim and Peg Hastings, Anne Youngand Cathy Brown. It will still be at the Hyatt Regency Princeton and will be from 6 to 10 p.m.
The dinner will officially close Record-A-Thon 2008 which will run from Thursday, April 10 to Thursday, April 17, 2008. (It’s never too late to start thinking about R-A-T!)
The change will give more time to prepare for and publicize the event and secure sponsorships. Having it with R-A-Tshould create more publicity for both events.
In the not too distant future you will be receiving invitations and information about event sponsorship opportunities. If you have any questions or would like to lend a hand, please see Stephanie Campbell or call 609-750-9614.
“Hi...I recognize you...you must be a volunteer!
The 2007 Volunteer Recognition Luncheon was held Thursday, September 27 at Queenship of Mary Catholic Church in Plainsboro.
This year’s Volunteers of the Year included Phyllis Branin, Karen Frezza, Jean Gunkel and Dot Messineowho were honored for their tireless work in the studio. Susan Kaplan was honored for her work with the Educational Outreach Center and Mana Bhatt was recognized for her efforts with Development. Bob Kolker was given the Newcomer’s Award for his infectious enthusiasm.
Certificates were also give to volunteers who’d donated 100 hours or more from July 2006 to June 2007 and those who’d given 5, 10, 15, 20 or 25 or more years of service to RFB&D. If you feel we’ve missed you, please see Michelle Ioselevich and she’ll see than our records are corrected.
Climb every mountain. This one’s gonna take 9,800 hours to scale!
The Reader’s Note’s own Aunt Bea is trying to scale a mountain! Instead of marking her progress in meters or our stubbornly held onto feet, she’s reporting in hours recorded. That is, hours you’ve recorded. And she only has enough of Clif Gidding’s chewy cranberry squares to last until June 30th and she can’t go on without them. There is, of course, a stash of those culinary delights at the top of the mountain. She’s currently 1,632 hours to the 9,800 hour peak. That’s exacly one-sixth of the way, which is appropriate since we’re one-sixth of the way through the fiscal year.
Don’t leave Aunt Bea hanging! Let’s get her to the top before her chewy cranberry squares run out!
Volunteer happenings
I wonder if Frances Whiteever dreamed that her music would be listed next to Johnny Paycheck’s Take This Job and Shove It rerelease in the new releases section of All Music Guide. Well, it was and we congratulate her on the release of Center Bridge: Electroacoustic Works. Buy a copy or three!
Dave Carta’s former band, B.B. and the Stingers finally had their final album released. Unfortunately the band’s leader, local blues legend Bernie Brausewetter, passed away a few months ago. You can hear Dave’s rock steady bass behind Bernie’s stinging guitar on New Set of Rules. Find it on CDbaby.com.
JoAnna Farrer was last seen in the West Windsor studio in 2001, just before she headed off to Julliard to study violin. She’s just completed her Master’s and is working as a freelance violinist! Find out more at www.joannafarrer.com. She has a link to her myspace page which includes audio samples of her work!
Mike Tchorni is a law clerk for a judge in Bridgeton and hopes to soon pass his New York and New Jersey bar exams.
Congratulations to our webmaster Sandy Shapiro! Her grandson Ezra Aaron Williams Shapiro was born on August 17.
Alison Hankinson read the last Reader’s Note in an Internet cafe in Cambridge (the one across the big pond) where she had been involved in an early music workshop and reports, “...lots of Renaissance (with the accent on the first syllable!) music and being served 3 meals a day in “hall" and having my bed made every day which is part of the fun for me! We’re at Sydney Sussex which is one of the colleges right in the heart of Cambridge so I can walk to the river, stroll in the many beautiful college gardens and watch crazy tourists falling off punts in my spare time, of which there is very little!.” In the mean time she’s come back in time to get her photo on the front page of the Recorder.
And what did Susan Schwirkdo on her summer vacation? “Aweek in Saratoga, NYlearning all about the people who built those beautiful ‘cottages’ and a week in Lyme, NH learning about New England history and The King Arthur Flour Company with some fitness training for good measure (got to work off the calories from the baking classes!). Two weeks back home and then I was off to Israel for two weeks of visiting archeological sites that are mentioned in Biblical and Rabbinic texts. Very exciting, inspiring and exhausting!”
Anne Burnsshielded the Outer Banks from its usual September hurricanes. Charles St. John went to Norfolk for a reunion of members of General MacArthur’s honor guard. Charles said, “I shall return.”
If there’s any news you’d like to share with your fellow volunteers, please tell Tony Gruenewald or send him an e-mail at tgruenewald@rfbd.org.
Dear Aunt Bea...
Aunt Bea congratulates Educational Outreach Director Chris Ranaghan for once again obtaining funding from Trenton to pay for memberships and support for New Jersey’s Abbott school districts.
Dear Aunt Bea,
I’m bookmarking. I’ve got the book. I’ve got the blue sheet with the instructions on how to mark my book. Why do I feel like I’m missing something?
Marky Mark
Dear Marky,
Because you are missing something very important! It’s the ToC (Table of Contents) sheets found at the back of the book’s notebook. It details which page each file begins and ends on the audio file and what marks are within that file. The beginning of the first page of the file should have the ®. The end of the last page of the file should have the EOF (end of file). If they don’t match, then see staff and they’ll either correct what’s on the computer or what’s in the book. Don’t assume the person who worked on the book before you is perfect. Heaven knows it might have been the editor of this rag and you know what a goof he is. And if you don’t know what Aunt Bea is talking about, see staff before you bookmark.
Educational Outreach needs your help!
Got an hour or two to pitch in? See Chris Ranaghan or Debbie Passafiume in the Educational Outreach Center.
Jessie says, “So long...”
Dear Volunteers,
For those of you who I haven’t had the opportunity to speak with personally, I would like to announce that I will be leaving my position as Production Director. While it will be difficult to leave behind the volunteers and staff at the NJ Unit, I am looking forward to beginning my new role as Project Manager in the Production, Training and Support department at the RFB&D National Headquarters.
Saying goodbye to all of you has been a very emotional experience as I have so many fond memories from my years with the New Jersey Unit. It is amazing how many changes have taken place since I first set foot in the basement of the Princeton Theological Seminary eight and a half years ago. We transitioned from analog recording to a navigable digital format, merged the Princeton and West Windsor studios to create the largest RFB&D recording facility in the nation, and began recording New Jersey curricula to assist the Educational Outreach department with serving member schools throughout the state. On top of these achievements we were able to increase our yearly recorded hours goal by over 2,000 hours. Without the dedication, adaptability, and expertise of the New Jersey volunteers we would never have been able to reach such great heights. Thousands of our members are on the path to academic success due to your efforts.
My sincere thanks goes out to all of you for your unwavering support of the RFB&D mission and on a personal note, for your friendship. It has been truly heartwarming to watch several hundred people come together day after day, week after week, and year after year to face the daunting task of producing audio textbooks. I will greatly miss the camaraderie amongst the volunteers that is most evident during lunchtime when everything from Einstein’s theory of relativity to the latest political gaffe is discussed with fervor in the volunteer lounge.
I wish you much success in the years to come, and I am confident that the current studio staff will ensure continued growth in order to meet the organizational goal of serving one million members by 2010.
As I will only be four miles down the road, this is by no means a final farewell. I will be sure to stop by and visit with all of you from time to time, most likely on bagel day ;-)
Best,
Jessie Falcone
Welcome Grace Alparone, our new Director of Development
Grace Alparone has spent over 25 years raising money for healthcare. Her credits include working for Centrastate Medical Center in Freehold, Cadbury Senior Services, Inc. in Cherry Hill, Carrier Foundation in Belle Mead, and, most recently the American Red Cross in Fairfield, where she was the Director of Development. She was responsible for restructuring their development program in Essex, Passaic, and West Hudson counties in New Jersey and raised $1.5 million from individuals, corporations and foundations.
Grace comes to us with extensive experience in identifying, researching, cultivating, and soliciting new donors. She has several certifications in fundraising management and has been a long-time member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP). Graceand her family reside in North Brunswick, New Jersey.
Letters...We get letters...
Yuki Nagasawa, who hails from Osaka, Japan, is legally blind. She is working on her third Master’s degree at UCLA. Her first two Masters’ are in music, but she shifted to Rehabilation Counseling after being inspired by the volunteers and services of RFB&D! Below is an excerpt from a letter she sent to the Los Angeles studio about the New Jersey Unit’s work.
My summer session is over now! And guess what, I finished my final exam, and got an Aagain!!!! Oh, what a blessing! The course is called “Counseling Theory,” and the title of textbook is Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy. Of course, RFB&D had a textbook on CD. Since Professor gave us weekly quizzes, I was listening to the CD every single moment, yes, seriously: during my breakfast, doing my hair, dinner time, and even my relax time. Otherwise, I cannot catch up with my reading.
I remember that this CD is being recorded at the New Jersey Studio, and oh, my goodness, they are doing an excellent job. I loved all of the volunteer’s voices. I would like to thank them for their great effort and wonderful job.I’ve gotten As for three consecutive quarters. I am so thankful to RFB&D.
Oh, since all of you are soooooooo wonderful and supportive of us - people with disabilities, I really, really should give extra credit of 1000000000000000000 points, for sure!
To say bold or not to say bold, that is the question.
Your OFFICIAL guide to the why and wherefore of bold.
Why do we announce bold terms?
When the author has indicated that bold terms in the text are key terms with definitions found either in the margins of the book or in the glossary in the back of the book, we indicate the terms are bold to let the listener know they are defined elsewhere. If there are no key terms or glossaries, we do not mention bold. That means, every book is different.
Whendo we announce bold terms?
The first place to check is your handy orange tip sheet/navigation guide. Did I mention to check the orange tip sheet/nav guide? If not, I’ll mention it again. ALWAYS check the orange tip sheet/nav guide.
How do we announce bold terms?
In the example below, the term prism block will be announce as bold. The reader will say, A bold prism block, a glass prism.... You shouldn’t mention how many words are in bold...you shouldn’t say “bold term”, just bold.
If your orange tip sheet/nav guide instructs you to, DO say “bold prism block.” If your orange tip sheet/nav
guide instructs you to, DO say “A bold sunk cost.” DO NOT announce paragraph headings as bold
Since we’re already in the glossary, announcing bold is redundant, so DON’T DO IT!
Since we’ve just told them it’s a key term, announcing bold is redundant, so DON’T DO IT!
As hard as it is to believe, RFB&D doesn’t randomly make the rules. Our members are part of numerous focus groups and tell us how we should record.
The thing you should always do is...READ YOUR ORANGE TIP SHEET/NAVIGATION GUIDE BEFORE EVERY RECORDING.
Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic
New Jersey Unit
69 Mapleton Road
Princeton, NJ 08540
609-750-1830
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