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
Tony Gruenewald, Editor
Reader's Note Comics
November/December 2008
Record-A-Thon 2009, Like Other Record-A-Thons,
But With Much, Much More!
If you're one of those people who can't get enough of Record-A-Thon, R-A-T 2009 will be for you! It's going to be so action packed that we're already talking about it. As of this writing, our friends at Bloomberg have already agreed to act as an event sponsor, but we're always looking for other sponsors who'd like to see their logo in the studio, on our Web site and in our publications.
R-A-T 2009 will be the week of April 20-26. Each day will have a special event focusing on one aspect of our impact on the community. It will also mark the 10th anniversary of our Educational Outreach Center, which has grown to have a presence in more than 500 schools throughout the state. There will be a R-A-T kick-off reception on Monday evening, April 20.
The unit will also be featured in a segment of NJN’s “Classroom Close-up” that features the work of Paula Roberts-Hansel in Franklin Elementary School in Trenton. It was shot at the school and in the studio and should air just before Record-AThon.
We'll have the usual celebrity volunteers, open houses, visits from state dignitaries, while pushing to get more books read. Pamphlets about the event are available in the lounge and at the sign-out. All of the money raised for R-A-T is restricted for use by the studio and educational outreach. For more information, visit www.rfbdnj.org/rat.html.
BOOK SALE
Where else can you get a brand new used book for a buck?
Got readers among your friends and family?
Bring them to the book sale for the time of their lives!
In Case You Missed It…
The following were named Volunteers of the Year at the Volunteer Recognition Luncheon in October:
Studio: Joanne Elliott, Barbara Greene, May Okhotnikoff, Sandy Shapiro
Educational Outreach: Gay Rowe
Development: Sheri Tanne
Marilyn Keener
There's an adage, when you want to get something done, ask a busy person. In the case of Marilyn Keener, you didn't have to ask. She was Dean Emeritus of Health Careers at Middlesex County College and continued on as a member of the school's Foundation Board as well as serving on the board of Lutheran Social Ministries and working with the New Jersey Lutheran Synod's AIDS Task Force. When she wasn't involved with those projects she was taking seminary courses, preparing and delivering sermons as a supply preacher and serving as substitute organist at a number of area churches.
I first talked to Marilyn about RFB&D after she gave a sermon about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Lutheran pastor who lost his life for conspiring against Hitler. We were recording an exhaustive biography about Bonhoeffer and I gave her a copy of the book when it was finished. I never dreamt she would find time to come volunteer and read nursing books.
In September Marilyn volunteered to help me run a blood drive I chaired at my church. She greeted donors and helped get coffee, juice and snacks for them after their donation. Of course, she was apologetic about not being able to donate. She was about to go into Robert Wood Johnson for another regimen of chemotherapy to keep her leukemia in check.
I didn't know it would be the last time I'd see Marilyn Keener. To quote our former Production Director Jessie Falcone, “She was a gem.”
Dear Aunt Bea,
A reminder: The studio closed for the holidays
December 24-January 4.
We're used to answering the questions from Car Talk Plaza in Harvard Square, but here's one for you: We've been seeing all these votech books, particularly on auto mechanics. They have an awful lot of figures. What do we do with them?
Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers
Dear Tawmy and Raymy,
The people who we're recording these books for are dyslexic–that is they can see the illustrations. They have difficulty with the words. All we have to do is read the captions AND the callouts on the illustrations. We should orient the listener, for example: “From the upper left, reading clockwise the callouts are: Strut, wheel bearing, lug nut, return to text.”
Dear Aunt Bea,
I know Jessie Falcone went to headquarters…what does she do there?
Color Me Curious
Dear Curious,
Among other things, Jessie finds out how our members like things done. The latest is about announcing page numbers greater than one hundred:
page 501 is read as “page five hundred, one.” Do not say “oh” in place of the zero. It is not necessary to announce “hundred,” “thousand,” or “and.”
page 521 is read as “page five twenty-one,” not “page five hundred and twenty-one.”
page 1023 is read as “page ten twenty three,” not “page one thousand and twenty-three.”
And now you know. (And now I know.)
Does your company or organization have a newsletter or someplace to hang a poster to recruit new volunteers?
If so, please see Tony Gruenewald for a newsletter blurb or a poster!
New Reading Conventions
If you read Aunt Bea you know about how to read page numbers greater than 100. But what else has changed? There are copies in and outside each booth and in the brand new (9/08) Volunteer Handbook. If you'd like a handbook, please see
Michelle.
Volunteer happenings
Anne Burns traveled north to South Dakota and south to North Carolina in time for tropical storm season. Barrie Shaw was in Charlotte for pleasure and Vegas for work. Peter Wulff got to see Election Day in Texas. Tom Lear was in Florida and came back just in time for the subfreezing weather. Heidi Jamieson will be on the Outer Banks. Nancy Beck is traveling in Africa.
Congratulations to Mickie Godfrey on becoming a grandmother! Congratulations to Fred Horowitz for becoming a grandfather! Congratulations to former volunteer Jim Hooker for being named the new anchor of the NJN news.
From all the way out in Arizona Carol Galuskin says, “Hi!”
Your editor spent a weekend at a wedding in Lake City, South Carolina which has no lake and the Holiday Inn is sandwiched between the Cash Cow Gun and Pawn Shop and another motel named Security Inn.
Do you have news to share? Tell Tony Gruenewald or e-mail him at tgruenewald@rfbd.org.
Comings and Goings
We bid adieu to Celia Rechtman and Sherry Deutsch who have left the Educational Outreach Center team. We say bienvenue to Emily Sherman who has joined the team as Project Membership Coordinator. She graduated in May 2008 from Rowan University with a B.A. in Communications-Radio/TV/Film. While at Rowan, she had her own show on the college radio station. Emily grew up in Boston but has spent the last eight years living in New Jersey. In her spare time, you
can find her rooting for the Red Sox, reading, catching up on her celebrity gossip and spending time with her friends.
Judy Wilson-Smith has cut her work schedule down to 164 hours per week and is no longer working in the studio on Saturdays. Feona Evans has joined Lauren Markley on Saturdays. She spends the rest of her week working at the University
Medical Center at Princeton. Feona graduated from South Carolina State University with a BS in Marketing and is newly married!
Wall Street Strikes!
In the recently published Recorder, the letter from the executive director stated that the unit would be purchasing more at-home recorders for readers of technical books. Because of economic conditions this hasn't happened.
We're collecting your printer cartridges and cell phones.
Please support our fundraiser and help the environment.
Bring in empty inkjet or laser cartridges and used cell phones and drop them off in the box by the sign out area or to Grace Alparone in the Development office.
iGive.com
Holiday Gifts that Give Back
This holiday season, send a gift that means an automatic donation to Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic New Jersey Unit! When you shop at any of over 700 participating online stores through iGive, a portion of each purchase comes back to us in the form of a donation check.
It's free for you, free for us, and you pay the same (or less!) than you would by going directly to the store. Shopping online means no wasted gas and no more standing in long lines at the mall. And to all you smart shoppers: don't miss iGive's treasure-trove of coupons, sales, and free shipping.
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What could be better than that?
See for yourself at:
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ebay
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Nordstron
Barnes & Noble
Best Buy
Pottery Barn
Apple Store
Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic New Jersey Unit
69 Mapleton Road
Princeton, NJ 08540
609-750-1830
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