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Nancy Pendegraph, President
2331 Poincianna Street
Huntsville, AL 35801

nansong@knology.net

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THE LOG OF THE BRIDGETENDER
March, 2009

PUBLISHED BY
FRIENDS-IN-ART (FIA)

www.friendsinart.com  

AN AFFILIATE OF THE
AMERICAN COUNCIL OF THE BLIND

Janiece Petersen Kent and Peter Altschul, Editors

FROM THE EDITORS:

This issue of the Log aims to bridge the gap between our annual conventions with articles about writing a memoir, advocating for accessible spying, and a poem warning us to beware of the false message the winter sun can convey.  More specifically, this issue contains:

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE - By Nancy Pendegrap

The Story of a Book - Carmella Broome

MEMOIR OF a COLLEGE FRESHMAN: A BOOK REVIEW - Peter Altschul

Sometimes in the Winter - Janiece Kent

The Spy Museum That (Reluctantly) Came in from the Cold - Michael Byington

A Small, Successful Government Program - George Will

Resources of Possible Interest - Compiled by Peter Altschul

LIST OF FIA OFFICERS and BOARD MEMBERS

LIST OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS

MEMBERSHIP FORM

Each article is separated by five asterisks (*****).  Enjoy - and we hope you will seriously consider drafting an article for the next issue of the Log!

President's Message
By Nancy Pendegraph

Hello, everyone!

CONGRATULATIONS to Peter and Janiece for getting the second issue of the LOG out this soon so that we will have our three issues within this year.
  
We're in the process of planning our program for this summer.  Some have expressed interest in another workshop with drama.  Others have mentioned jewelry-making.  Lynn Hedl has spoken of offering a workshop to initiate those interested in the joys of playing a Native American flute.  We also plan to offer our usual fare: the MIDI workshop, the Prose/Poetry reading, and Writer's Workshop.  We're also organizing an Art Parlor; applications to enter are available at
 
www.friendsinart.com
  
And then, of course, there's the Showcase - where we're hoping to encourage a greater diversity of performers.  At one time we had almost all classical performances; now, the pendulum has swung almost entirely to pop and country.  We would enjoy having poetry readings, or perhaps a short skit.  So please don't be shy - and encourage your friends throughout ACB to audition.  And if you are interested in singing in the chorus, be sure we have your contact information and the part you want  to sing.
 
In this log we celebrate a writer with a recently published memoir.  Look for a short story prize winner in the next issue.
 
Start making your plans to come to Orlando, and by all means, don't hesitate to let us know your ideas.  Greater participation can only make us stronger.
 
*****
 The Story of a Book
 By Carmella Broome
 
Editor's note: Carmella Broome is a professional counselor and lives in South Carolina.  Her first book, "Carmella's "Quest, is available through Amazon.  More information can be found at
 
http://carmellasquest.livejournal.com
 
My first book, "Carmella's Quest: Taking on College Sight Unseen," is hot off the press.  I'm still having a hard time believing it.  I've had several articles and essays published during the past few years, but being able to say, "I recently had a book published," is a whole different feeling.
 
I wrote the first pieces of the book in the summer of 1995, shortly after completing my first year of college.  I wasn't sure what I'd do with them yet, and at the time, their ultimate destination wasn't my focus.  At that point, I was writing them for myself.  Those first few essays were kind of an extension or spin off of my usual habit of journaling.  I think I was still reeling from all the newness and trying to sort out various experiences, emotions, and insights from recent months.  There were some particularly memorable moments I wanted to paint detailed word pictures of while they were still pretty fresh in my mind.
 
At one point, I decided to just start jotting down memories from that year when they came to me.  Using a CCTV, I would write notes to jog my memory about a certain experience or person on a slip of paper and then add that note to a growing collection I kept in one of those brown manila envelopes.  When I was ready to do some book-related writing, I'd rifle through the envelopes to land on a topic I might be in the mood to write about.
 
To save myself some energy, I began dictating rough drafts into my tape recorder.  I'd take a look at what was to be included in each chapter and would begin fleshing out these brief "memory joggers" into stories that other people would be able to understand.
 
Attending college full-time didn't leave me much extra time or energy to work on the manuscript.  When I could find a few spare minutes, I continued to focus on writing the parts of the story that interested me.  Inevitably, though, I had to go back and write the sections that were "boring" as far as I was concerned.  I had to just buckle down and fill in, as Paul Harvey would say, "the rest of the story."  It was neat to see all the pieces coming together, though, kind of like a puzzle.  By 2000, I had a working first draft completed.
 
I knew then it was time to seek some solid feedback.  I began sending several chapters at a time to my favorite high school English teacher.  Sometimes, it would take several weeks or longer before she return them.  But return them she did with red pen marks noting mostly punctuation and grammar errors.  When my mother and I could find a few moments during my visits home from graduate school, she would read me the edits and I would make the changes in the copy I had on my computer.
 
Once my grad program was completed, I was focussed on passing two different licensure exams, and finding my first job.  I then became very focussed on my career and establishing myself as a professional.  I hadn't forgotten the book and would read parts of it every now and then and think about what I wanted to do with it but I didn't feel I had the time or energy to begin the daunting process of approaching potential publishers.
 
I'd been receiving the "Writer" magazine on cassette for several years.  The articles made it sound as if getting published was often just a matter of luck, even if you had a great book, and that lots of great writing never so much as got looked at due to the volume of proposals and manuscripts received.  And if I did manage to land a publisher, it would take forever to put out a book that had been hacked to pieces by an editor, and I'd have to be responsible for all the publicity.  However, I did pitch the manuscript to a couple of publishing houses, and received polite rejection letters.  I considered self publishing which would allow me to bypass all the headaches of finding a publisher.  Self published books have a reputation as not being good enough to be picked up by legitimate publishers, though, and I wanted to avoid that stigma.  I wanted an actual publisher who would only agree to work with me because they liked the book and thought it was good enough to be
published.
 
I was trying to decide on my next move when my driver mentioned that she'd recently seen an article about a small publisher in the city I live in.  I learned through a Google search that Red Letter Press was interested in helping new authors get quality work published.  Not sure what to expect, I emailed Bob Lamb, a company contact, a query letter and the first several chapters of the book.  I was prepared to wait weeks to hear back, but Bob responded to my email within several days asking to see the rest of the manuscript.
 
His prompt positive response caught me off guard.  What?  He was interested in reading the rest of it?  I had steeled myself for another rejection.  I spent a frantic weekend pouring over the book again, trying to see it the way a new reader would see it, making a few changes, and obsessing a lot over small stuff.
 
Within a matter of days after receiving the manuscript, Bob emailed again.  He said he was prepared to offer me a book contract.  While reviewing back issues of "The Writer," I kept reading stuff about what I ought to include.  I expressed my concerns to Bob.  Suffice it to say, Red Letter Press almost didn't become my publisher, but after many discussions over several months, contracts were signed, and Bob recruited a team of talented people he knew to help us with editing, formatting, and interior design.
 
When we finally completed the editing process, Bob was pleased with everything except my working title "Along Unfamiliar Paths."  During extensive brainstorming, I suggested "Cane and Class: My Story of Boys, Books, and Blindness."  Bob said that was too cutesy, and suggested "Carmella Conquers College: A Blind Girl Comes of Age."  I said both my boyfriend and I thought it sounded too much like a porn title, and I didn't like "Blind Girl."  We finally compromised on the current title.
 
In July, 2008, I received a final draft to review.  I was so sick of reading and rereading the book I thought I'd scream.  I changed the voice on my speech synthesizer just to try to breathe a little life into it and went through it page by page.  I submitted a few final corrections, and we made sure the Dedication, Readers' Note,

Acknowledgments, and About the Author pages were where they needed to be.  I updated the Afterword so that it would be as current as possible.  We picked out a cover and finally picked a picture a former boyfriend had taken of me.
 
Once the editor submitted the final product to Bob, he deemed it "printer ready."  We decided to wait until after the Christmas holidays to upload the book to the printing company Bob worked with.  Our goal was to have the first batch of copies available in February, 2009 at the South Carolina Book Festival.  While waiting for the book's first printing, I created my first blog, set up a "Carmella's Quest" email account, and began sending out announcements locally and nationally to blind, sighted, and everyone in between.
 
I plan to record the book myself at the local NLS office.  Using my laptop and an ear bud to hear JAWS read the text, I will speak what I hear into the recording equipment.  I'm pretty excited about being able to combine technologies so readers can listen to it being read by the author.  I'm also working to get it included in bookshare.org's collection.
 
Bob delivered an actual box of books to my apartment building on February 5, 2009.  Finally holding a copy of "Carmella's Quest" in my hand was the weirdest feeling.  I had said I wouldn't believe it was all really happening until that moment, but then, I still didn't believe it.  I flipped the pages, sniffed it to see if it smelled like a real book, and enjoyed the feel of how heavy it was.  Later that night, I autographed my first copy to give to my boss and her husband who will be hosting my launch party in March.
 
It has been quite a journey.  If I'd known all that was going to be involved, I might not have stuck with it all these years.  As with so many things in life, though, I didn't know what was around the bend and just kept taking the next step.  I'm excited to follow where this book leads and am already thinking about starting work on a sequel.
 
*****
MEMOIR OF a COLLEGE FRESHMAN: A BOOK REVIEW
 
By Peter Altschul
 
Recently, I found an e-mail in my in-box from Carmella Broome announcing that her book "Carmella's Quest: Taking on College Sight Unseen" was about to be released by Red Letter Press, the book's publisher.  I wrote her a congratulatory e-mail offering to write a review of the book if she would send me an advanced copy and write an article for the Log describing her quest to become a published author.  Below are my thoughts about the book.
 
"Carmella's Quest" differs from the "blind-person-does-good-after-experiencing-challenges" memoirs I have read in three significant ways.  The book focuses on her freshman year in college rather than exploring an entire life.  Carmella attended North Greenville College (NGC), "a small, co-educational, liberal arts institution affiliated with the South Carolina Baptist Convention" instead of the larger and more secular northeast colleges and universities featured in other memoirs.  And finally, she was legally but not totally blind during her freshman year while most of the other authors of this genre were totally blind (the exception is Steve Kuusisto, whose "Planet of the Blind" is my favorite memoir written by a person with a visual impairment).
 
Carmella's charming book recounts her experiences as an NGC freshman: her orientation to her surroundings; her interactions with well-meaning but sometimes patronizing faculty, administrators, and fellow students; the technology and other accommodations she used to assist her; and her web of romantic relationships with male students.  Her recounting of conversations effectively chronicles the trajectory of these relationships with people within the NGC community and her family.  She also uses dialogue effectively to educate us about her eye condition and the technology she used.  I empathized with her frustration and her indecision concerning how best to advocate for her dignity when confronted with people who, for example, applauded when she demonstrated her ability to unlock the door of her room.  I was intrigued with her description of the pecking order of the NGC dining hall where the athletes and their friends ate in "hell," the "holy rollers" ate in "heaven," and the "in-betweeners" ate in "purgatory."   And finally, I roared with laughter when she described herself recording a soft-porn message for a male friend's answering machine.
 
After finishing the book, I found myself with three wishes.  I wish that Carmella's major accomplishment of her freshman year had been inserted chronologically instead of as a Prologue.  I wish that she had briefly described her eye condition earlier in the book so that I could better connect with her early challenges on-campus.  And finally, I wish she had used her considerable gifts in nailing dialogues and describing her surroundings, as well as her thoughts and feelings, to write about the major changes that took place after her freshman year and before her graduation.  She alludes to these significant events only briefly in the main body of the book and the Afterword: her leave of absence from NGC due to medical issues; her receiving a guide dog; and her ultimate graduation.  I believe the book would pack a much harder punch if she focused more on these events and less on her freshman year.
 
Having said that, I would recommend "Carmella's Quest" to students with disabilities preparing to attend college, as well as their parents and others interested in supporting them in their college quests.  Her honest recounting of the triumphs and frustrations of her freshman year will support those preparing to take the college plunge.
 
*****
Sometimes in the Winter
By Janiece Kent
 
February 7, 2007

Just so you can't believe your eyes
Or your skin,
The sassy sun beams into morning windows,
Leaving an aura of heat
That you should mistrust.
 
Trusting means you grab the light coat,
Leave the gloves in the other coat's pockets,
And wait for the bus in ten-degree chill,
Cursing your notion
That the warm sun
Through that deceptive glass
Will warm your bod and bones.
 
Best you call the Weather number

Next time,

 

When your frost-bitten index finger again works right
 
*****
The Spy Museum That (Reluctantly) Came in from the Cold
 
By Michael Byington
 
When we as people with visual impairments go to an arts museum or other public entertainment venue and find that it is not accessible to us, many of us think about filing a complaint using the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  How many of us actually do it though?   Well, I was in a group that actually did it, and this article describes what we did and the results of our actions.
 
On August 4, 2004, three friends with visual impairments and I decided to visit The Spy Museum.  We did not tell the staff that we were coming in advance, but expected to receive some accommodations to allow us to enjoy the museum: it had opened in 2002, well after implementation of the ADA.
 
The first exhibit room into which we were ushered featured spy personas which we were to read so that each of us could select a persona.  Unfortunately, all of this information was in fairly small print on museum walls.  Through interrogating museum staff, we learned that this information was not available in large print, Braille, or on tape.  We next were ushered into a small theatre where a film was shown - without audio description.  After watching the film, we voiced our concerns to Bree Hagan, Visitor Services Manager.  She said that she was sorry, but that no accommodations had been made for blind or low vision visitors.  She emphasized that the Spy Museum was privately funded, and not an entity of government.  I acknowledged that this means that the title of the ADA which would apply would be Title III instead of Title II.  I observed that since the Museum opened in 2002, certain readily achievable accommodations should have been made as a part of the initial museum and display design.  We offered to continue our tour in order to attempt to provide suggestions to the museum (and possibly ADA enforcement entities) with ideas about how accessibility might be achieved in the future.
 
With the above understandings established, we began our trek through the museum with Bree Hagan and a colleague serving as docents.  I am extremely glad that we continued our tour as both docents turned out to be excellent despite having no training in this area.  The use of a docent is probably the best way to obtain access to about half of the museums exhibits; for the other half, accommodations such as descriptive video; representational models of items that could not be touched; limited access to touch items that could be touched without damage; and information in Braille, large print, and on tape would have provided much greater access.
 
After returning home, I was contacted by Anna Slafer, the museum's DIRECTOR of EDUCATION.  She assured us that the Spy Museum was willing to work on better access.  While we appreciated the call, we decided to file a complaint with the Department of Justice (DOJ).  In the complaint submitted on August 14, 2004, we described the parts of the Museum tour that we had found to be completely inaccessible and attempted to provide constructive suggestions concerning how accessibility might be enhanced.  After receiving calls from DOJ investigators during the fall of 2004, I heard nothing until the fall of 2008 when the DOJ and the Spy Museum released their settlement agreement to the press.
 
While nothing is ever perfect or as complete as it should be, our complaint really did lead to progress.  Many of the suggestions we made are being implemented.  The museum is still asking for advanced notice when patrons want accommodations so they can, for example, bring in a qualified describer.  Nonetheless, the four of us learned that the ADA could be harnessed for good.  Not only that, but the settlement also addresses the needs of those with other disabilities.  While I was not particularly concerned that the restroom doors were quite heavy to open and could not tell if the videos were captioned or not, the settlement stipulates that videos now will not only be audio described, but also captioned for the deaf and hearing impaired.  Physical access issues such as that too-heavy restroom door were also addressed.
 
After the settlement, one of my colleagues asked a Department of Justice (DOJ) official what factors had caused the DOJ to choose to investigate this particular complaint, as many more valid complaints are received than acted upon.  The answer was that our complaint was constructively filed with ample suggestions for practical accommodations that could be implemented.  When we spy needless shortcomings during museum tours, we need to expose our discoveries to the education department and sometimes file those cogent complaints.
 
*****
 A Small, Successful Government Program
By George Will Thursday, December 25, 2008
 
WASHINGTON --  In Winslow Homer's 1865 painting "The Veteran in a New Field," a farmer, bathed in sunshine, his back to the viewer, his Union uniform jacket cast on the ground, harvests wheat with a single-bladed scythe.  That tool was out of date, and Homer first depicted the farmer wielding a more modern implement.  Homer then painted over it, replacing it with what evokes a timeless symbol of death --  the grim reaper's scythe.  The painting reminds viewers how much Civil War blood was shed, as at Gettysburg, in wheat fields.
 
Homer's painting is one of 40 works of art that the National Endowment for Humanities is distributing, in 24-2you-36-inch reproductions, with teaching guides, to all primary and secondary schools and libraries that ask for them.  About one-third of them already have done so, according to Bruce Cole, the NEH''s chairman.  So as Washington's dreariest year in decades sags to an end --  a year in which trillion-dollar improvisations that will debase the dollar have been bracketed by a stimulus that did not stimulate and a rescue that will prolong automakers' drownings --  at the end of this feast of folly, consider something rarer than rubies.  It is a 2008 government program that costs next to nothing --  $2.6 million this year; a rounding error in the smallest of the bailouts.  And "Picturing America" adds to the public stock of something scarce --  understanding of the nation's past and present.  The 40 works of art include some almost universally familiar ones --  John Singleton Copley's 1768 portrait of a silversmith named Paul Revere; Emanuel Leutze's 1851 "Washington Crossing the Delaware"; Augustus Saint-Gaudens' bronze relief sculpture "Robert Gould Shaw and the Fifty-fourth Regiment Memorial" on Boston Common.
 
But "Picturing America" is not, Cole takes pains to insist, "the government's 'top 40.'" Forty times 40 other selections of art and architecture could just as effectively illustrate how visual works are revealing records of the nation's history and culture, and how visual stimulation can spark the synthesizing of information by students.
 
The colorful impressionism of Childe Hassam's flag-filled painting "Allies Day, May 1917" captures America's waxing nationalism a month after entry into World War I.  And it makes all the more moving the waning of hope captured in Dorothea Lange's 1936 photograph "Migrant Mother."  This haunting image of a destitute 32-year old pea picker, a mother of seven, is a springboard into John Steinbeck's novel "The Grapes of Wrath."
 
One of the 40 images in "Picturing America" is more timely than Cole could have suspected when the project was launched in February.  It is a photograph of Manhattan's Chrysler Building.  Built between 1926 and 1930 --  between the giddy ascent of the '20s stock market and the Crash --  this art deco monument to the might of America's automobile industry is decorated with motifs of machines and streamlining.  There are winged forms of a Chrysler radiator cap; an ornamental frieze replicates a band of hubcaps.  The stainless steel of the famous spire suggests the signature of the automobile industry in its salad days --  chrome.  ! understand the animal spirits that drove New York's skyscraper competition --  the Chrysler Building was the world's tallest for less than a year, until the Empire State Building was completed 202 feet higher --  is to understand an era.  Two eras, actually --  the one that built the building, and ours, which has reasons to be reminded of the evanescence of seemingly solid supremacies.
 
After seven years of service, Cole, the longest-serving chairman in the 43-year history of the NEH, is leaving to head the American Revolution Center at Valley Forge.  America has thousands of museums, including the Studebaker National Museum (South Bend, Ind.), the Packard Museum (Dayton, Ohio) --  yes, Virginia, there was a time when automobile companies were allowed to perish --  the Hammer Museum (Haines, Alaska), the Mustard Museum (Mount Horeb, Wis.), and the Spam Museum (Austin, Minn.) featuring the sort-of-meat, not the Internet annoyance.
 
There is, however, no museum devoted to the most important political event that ever happened, here or anywhere else --  the American Revolution.  Cole says there will be one, at Valley Forge.  It will be built mostly by private money, for an infinitesimally tiny fraction of the sum of public money currently being lavished on corporations.  Perhaps a subsequent iteration of "Picturing America" will feature a thought-provoking photograph of the gleaming towers that currently house, among other things, General Motors' headquarters.  Looming over Detroit's moonscape desolation, the building is called the Renaissance Center.  Really.
 
Copyright - 2008 Salem Web Network.  All Rights Reserved.
 
*****
Resources of Possible Interest
 
BOOK OF POETRY
 
Handtype Press recently released "Suddenly Slow: Poems," a limited edition chapbook that showcases 16 poems by the award-winning deaf-blind poet, John Lee Clark.  He was born deaf and became progressively blind in early adolescence.  Some of his poems deal directly with deaf-blindness, while others are about broader topics.  Among Clark's accomplishments are: being the first member of the signing community, deaf or deaf-blind, to be published in the prestigious magazine "Poetry;" having a poem of his selected for and broadcast on the "Poem of the Day" radio program on Martha Stewart; and winning a Best Sports Poem prize from Kent State University.  To order copies by mail, send a check for $8 to John Lee Clark, 111 E.  Kellogg boulevard., #3207, St.  Paul, MN 55101.  To order online, visit www.handtype.com or www.amazon.com.
 
INSPIRATIONAL BOOK
 
"You Can, If You Think You Can" by Larry Johnson is a compact how-to book based on the author's more than 27 years of conducting highly successful motivational workshops.  It offers hope, encouragement, motivation and practical strategies to overcome adversity, rebuild self-esteem and fulfill one's most cherished dream goals.  It's printed in 14-point double-spaced pages.  The book is available from amazon.com for $10.75 plus shipping, or from the author for $10 plus $2.50 shipping.  Mail payment to Larry Johnson, 10863 Lake Path Dr., San Antonio, TX 78217.
 
SUPPORT FOR PERFORMERS WITH DISABILITIES
 
I.AM.PWD is a global civil rights campaign seeking equal employment opportunities for artists and professionals with disabilities throughout the entertainment and news media.  Founded in 2008 by the Actors Equity Association (AEA), American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG), TriUnion Performers With Disabilities Committee, I.AM.PWD is dedicated to ending the discrimination and exclusion of performers and broadcasters with disabilities.  I.AM.PWD is uniting labor, industry, community and governmental allies in the fight to combat continuing discrimination against people with disabilities.  Visit I.AM.PWD at www.IAMPWD.ORG.
 
At every year around this time, the OcuSource team is very pleased to announce "Shared Visions 2009-2010", an exposition of works by artists who are blind or legally blind.
 
On behalf of the  Eye Care Center at the Southern California College of Optometry, OcuSource extends the "Call for Artists" for this fifth annual juried art exhibit.  Submissions that are selected will be exhibited in the Eye Care Center for a period of one year, and are available for purchase.
 
The deadline for entries is Wednesday, May 13, 2009.
 
For entry and application details please visit http://www.sccoeyecare/com.news.html#sharedvisions and click on the links "Call for Artists" and "Application Packet" in the section "Shared Visions Art Exhibit 2009-2010 Call for Entries".  On the same page also enjoy information and recordings about previous events.
 
Contact: Rebecca L.  Kammer, O.D.  Assistant Professor Chief, MaryAnn Keverline Walls Low Vision Center Eye Care Center Southern California College of Optometry Phone (714) 992-7865 SharedVisions@scco.edu

Attention artists and designers
 
The National Coalition for Disability Rights (NCDR) has partnered with www.logotournament.com and is hosting an "ADA Watch" logo contest to better brand and increase the visibility of our national advocacy initiative to advance disability rights. 
 
A cash prize is available and the winning design will help increase the effectiveness of ADA Watch as we work towards access, inclusion and opportunity for people with disabilities.
  
The contest is time-limited so help us quickly spread the word!
  
For more information, go to:
 
http://logotournament.com/contests/ada20%watch20%.org
 
*****
LIST OF FIA OFFICERS and BOARD MEMBERS
 
Nancy Pendegraph, President
2331 Poincianna Street
Huntsville, AL 35801
Ph.  256-539-5678
E-mail: nansong@knology.net
 
Lynn Hedl, Vice-President
521 Oxford Circle
Birmingham, AL 35209

Ph.  205-942-1987
E-mail: lhedl@bellsouth.net
 
Lisa Altschul, Recording Secretary
4317 Vermont Court
Columbia, MO 65203
Ph.  573-445-5564
E-mail: lwb6c9@mizzou.edu
 
Peter Altschul, Corresponding Secretary
4317 Vermont Court
Columbia, MO 65203
Ph.  573-445-5564
E-mail paltschul@centurytel.net
 
Arlo Monthei, Treasurer
1304 39th Street
Des Moines, IA 50311-2607

Ph.  515-277-0442
E-mail apmonthei@aol.com
 
Carrie Hooper, Board Member
601 Robinson Street
Elmira, NY 14904

Ph.  607-732-6788
E-mail hoot751@yahoo.com
 
Gordon Kent, Board Member
1629 Columbia Road, NW, 800
Washington, DC 20009
Ph.  202-332-9696
Email dbmusic@cybernex.net
 
Elsie Monthei, Board Member
1304 39th Street
Des Moines, Ia.
  50311-2607
Ph.  515-277-0442
Email apmonthei@aol.com
 
Linda Braithwaite, Board Member
8 Hillside Avenue, 405
Salt Lake City, UT 84103
Ph.  801-532-5443
E-mail: kitten87@cisna.net
 
Janiece Kent, Board Member
1629 Columbia Road, NW, Apt.  800
Washington, DC 20009
Ph.  (202) 667-2747
E-mail: kentata@starpower.net
 
Mike Mandel, Immediate Past President
400 West 43 Street, Apt.  20L
New York, NY 10036
Ph.  212-868-0345
E-mail mjmandel@nyc.rr.com
 
*****
LIST OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS
 
Membership Committee: Amy Monthei, Chair; Elsie Monthei, Mike Mandel, and Christie Killion
 
Scholarship Committee: Linda Braithwaite, Chair; Harvey Miller, Carrie Hooper, and Gillie Presley
 
Exhibits Committee: Lynn and Bill Hedl, co-Chairs; additional members are being sought from the general FIA membership.
 
Visual Arts Committee: Elsie Monthei, Chair; Amy Monthei
 
Publications Committee: Peter Altschul and Janiece Kent, Co-Chairs; Amy Monthei and Lynn Hedl
 
Constitution and Bylaws Committee: Gloria Broderick, Chair; Michael Byington and Janiece Kent
 
Advocacy Committee: Michael Byington and Mike Mandel, Co-Chairs; Gloria Broderick and Gordon Kent
 
Website Committee: Paulette Monthei, Chair; Amy Monthei, Lynn Hedl, and Roger Petersen
 
Finance Committee: Arlo Monthei, Chair; Gordon Kent and Lisa Altschul
 
Program Committee: Lynn Hedl, Chair; all board members and officers.


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