Reid My Mind

Taking over the Reid My Mind Radio Studio once again for a year end special…Rizzle Razzle.
I asked for your help in convincing my daughters to let me be a part of their end of year wrap up. This year, they cover music, iPhone apps and phrases. Find out who made their lists. Find out if I made the show!

Leading into 2017, it’s apparent that finding common ground will be even more important than ever.

If you’re looking for a New Year’s resolution , consider building coalitions. That building for me starts at home! Find out what I mean and then help me take action!

Now… what are you waiting for…
Subscribe to RMM Radio bit.ly/RMMRadioSubscribe

To listen now, hit the Play button below!

Resources

*No Totally Podcast, Ramp Your Voice Episode
*Ramp Your Voice
*Support the movement… Email ReidMyMindRadio

Transcript:

TReid:
I’ve been trying to figure out, what would be an appropriate topic for a year end episode of Reid My Mind Radio ?

A Bloopers reel?
A recap of my favorite episode?

Then I was inspired!

[RMMRadio Intro Music]

TReid:
A few years ago my daughters produced their own end of year show.
They chose to countdown their favorite songs of the year and talked about some of the more memorable news events according to what was then a 16 and 11 year old.
It was the first Rizzle Razzle Show!
It got about 3 to 4 times more listens than anything I put out at the time…

{Obviously slightly annoyed…} Whatever!

I loved listening to it myself. It was something they decided to do together – who could be upset with that.

So, I thought I would suggest Rizzle and Razzle once again return to the microphones for a year end wrap up show. However, this time, I thought they would invite a special guest… me, Daddy!

Sounds great right?

Since Riana or Rizzle was away in college I thought I would first approach Razzle., that’s my youngest daughter Raven

I thought Raven would definitely be up for including Daddy. She’s still here with me and we still get to spend a lot of great quality time together. She’ll love the idea.

Here’s how it all went down…

[Sound of Harp signaling going back in time…]

TReid:
Excited by the idea, I couldn’t wait for Razzle to get home from school. Our routine is when she arrives home, she comes into my office takes a seat on the couch and we talk. She shares the highlights of her day and I usually try to entertain her with silly jokes of some sort.

On this particular day, I decided I would go right into the idea…
After letting her in the front door of the house and getting my hello kiss Raven took her place on the couch in my office and I sat in my chair. With excitement I explained that I had this fabulous idea…

[TReid in conversation with Raven]
Alright, I think we need to bring back Rizzle Razzle this year…

Raven:
I agree!

TReid:
…but

Raven:
Oh no…

TReid:
… you should have a guest…

Raven:
Ooooh, who is this guest?

TReid:
… me, Daddy!

{After several seconds…}

Raven
No!

[Silence]
TReid:
Yeh, I know, you’re probably just as shocked as I am!

After about 30 minutes or so I let it go…

Maybe I went about this the wrong way.
Rizzle is the oldest, she’d be able to influence Razzle.
Even though she’s away at school, we speak everyday…
I’m ready for her call usually in the morning as she’s walking to class.
That’s when I decided, I’ll get her on my side and the show will be a go…

Here’s how that went down…
[Sound of Harp indicating going back in time.]
[Sound of iPhone ringing]
TReid:
You know, why drag it out?

Riana: “No!”

[Jay Z, What more can I say…]

[Audio sequence of both Raven and Riana saying No in various ways.]

TReid:
After several weeks, I’m finally able to speak about it without breaking down in tears.

I’m not mad at my wife’s daughters…
No seriously, those are my babies!
If it’s just supposed to be a Rizzle Razzle thing, that’s cool.
They just better not invite their mother on a show.

[Ooooh!]

Treid:
Right now with the climate in this world feeling even more divided, building coalitions, making relationships with others based on similarity seems like a real opportunity and a good idea.

Recently, I listened to a podcast featuring a conversation between an able bodied Asian American man and an African American woman with a disability. I thought it was a good conversation especially for those not familiar with disability and interested in learning more with the intention of becoming more aware.
These two apparently met online and have learned from one another and seem to be in the process of building an alliance in order to help reduce the levels of misinformation that are all too common when it comes to the so called minority groups.
They discussed some of the ways the misinformation impacts their lives and it was easy to see the similarities. Those were only understood after the information exchange. The differences are easy!

That podcast, by the way is called “No Totally” and you can find a link to it on the post for this episode on Reid My Mind.com.

Focusing on the things that make us different from others could be isolating.
Especially if you have enough differences…

Growing up as a African American man I have been through my share of racial experiences.
I’ve had many instances where white people have tried to intimidate, dominate and even inflict bodily harm.

As an African American with Puerto Rican heritage I have even experienced some very unkind remarks from African Americans and
unfortunately I’ve been witness to Latinos insulting African Americans.

And then, just when I thought I had it all worked out, my identity in check; comfortable and confident
in my caramel colored skin with a Tahino tint
I get a whole new category … PWD or person with a disability.
And boy, this one comes with a whole new set of do’s and don’ts and can’s and cannots. Or at least perceived cans and cannots!

So I begin to read about blindness, read about disability and become involved in blindness advocacy.

The majority of my peers involved in advocacy are white.
Furthermore, the majority of those in leadership are congenitally blind or blind since a very young age.

So my group can shrink even further…

If there’s one thing I adapted to naturally throughout my life, that’s being the only one!

The only or one of very few black kids in the class beginning in grammar school.
The only one who was Puerto Rican.
The only Puerto Rican who didn’t speak Spanish….

I spent years being the only black guy in the meeting, on the project team, in the car
returning from a meeting with colleagues as the car travels through the Bronx, past the neighborhood I grew up in only to have several of my white colleagues question their safety.

[Sound as though an inner thought…
“Let the car break down now and I’m leaving all your asses! I’m good”]

If I were driving I would have went off the main road and made them all nervous, just for the LOL’s!

The differences can go even further… I didn’t even touch on the cancer thing.

[Cheers Music and re-mix!]

TReid:
It’s natural for anyone to want to go to that place where everybody knows your name…

To some extent there’s a real level of comfort being around other people who are blind.

Hanging out with friends who are black gives me an opportunity to be me too.

put me in a room with the smells of Arroz con Gandules, pernil
(even though I don’t eat pork!)
Sounds of Salsa music and people talking Spanglish! for those not in the know that’s the combo of English and Spanish… and I feel at home!

But in any situation there’s always that chance to
feel separated. It could be anything…

Hanging out with friends or a work related setting and inevitably the conversation moves to the current sport season…
As a man, I’m expected to participate…
Get ready for a real disappointment yawl, I don’t follow sports like that!

[Sound of Shocked audience response]

I think our differences make us interesting.

the problem though are those who believe that something that separates us makes one superior to another.

As we end this year and enter 2017 with a thick feeling of division in the air
I’m going to continue to respect differences based on what I said earlier and focus on supporting and building with others in those areas in which we have shared interest.

There’s too many things we can accomplish for the good of all. With that said, those who feel the same, I’m asking you to send an email to reidmymindradio at gmail.com asking Rizzle Razzle to do a show with their Dad!

I’m just saying’ why don’t they want their father in the show…
I can do a good job…
I do this… (Fading out)
They use my equipment… (fading out)
Come on, I edit it and put it on my website… {fades out}

[close music]

In this episode of RMM Radio, I take a look at Notes on Blindness, a new film released in the US and premiering in NYC. It’s the story of John Hull who recorded his thoughts, observations and more on audio cassette. This Gatewave story includes a conversation with Co-Director Peter Middleton.

It’s pretty hard to watch a movie about someone going blind without thinking of my experience. Checkout some of my own personal recordings included in this episode.

If you haven’t yet, make sure you Subscribe to RMM Radio bit.ly/RMMRadioSubscribe
– In the meantime, hit the Play button below!

Resources:

• Notes On Blindness
• Radio H
• Notes on Blindness on Twitter

Transcript

TReid:

Today I am sharing a recent piece for Gatewave Radio. A first of sorts for me.
A story about a new film being released in the United States on the topic of blindness.

This was a challenge for me, I’ll tell you why after you take a listen.

Let’s Go!

[Sample from Kurtis Blow’s AJ… “1, 2, 3, 4 hit it!]
Music … Reid My Mind Radio Theme

[Notes on Blindness Audio:
John Hull:
This is cassette 1 , track one, um… fades out]

TReid:
This audio is from the movie titled Notes on Blindness, just released in New York City and playing at the Film Forum.

Theologian, John Hull using a cassette recorder, documented his experience and thoughts as his vision faded beginning in 1983.

The film was produced using both actual   tape of John Hull and his family as well as interviews he and his wife Marilyn had with co-directors Peter Middleton and James Spinney.

Actors portray John and his family, but they are lip syncing to the recorded dialog.

I spoke with co-director peter Middleton (PM) via Skype.

PM:
Using film to try and convey the sightless experience is quite an exciting creative challenge for us. So undoubtedly there was that sense of artistic project which first attracted James and myself to John’s story.

TReid in conversation with PM:
Water seems to play a big role; the idea of the rain, the tsunami…

PM:
We can’t take much credit for that. It’s all in John’s account. After losing sight he had these incredible powerful operatic dreams that were, often water was this kind of analogous feature of them…
He would have dreams of water sort of rushing down and sweeping his children away and dragging him to the depths of the ocean. And all this kind of very powerful imagery that was just absolutely kind of laced throughout his account. And of course the connotation of water as the bringer of life.

TReid:
Remember, The original audio used throughout the film was recorded via cassette in the 1980’s. Audio restoration, editing and sound design  are other artistic elements of the film.

It was the inclusion of audio description that gave me access to some of the visual techniques used to tell the story.

Like Shadows, blurred or out of focus fades and sun spots.
Darkness acting like periods, concluding a statement, some times
an exclamation mark or bold emphasis highlighting a turning point in his life.

Peter says audio description served more than giving people with vision loss access.

PM:
Since we’ve been releasing as well we’ve been trying to open this conversation around accessibility and different ways people could approach the film so it has taken on that kind of social angle as well which we’re very  much relishing and very much hoping to push further.
TReid:
In addition to the audio description, a Virtual Reality experience and enhanced audio version were created.

PM:
Which rather than having an external audio narration as you would do in audio description, actually built in  more narration from John and Marilyn, the key subjects of the film, along with sort of sound design and music. We’ve been releasing these audio tracks with a smart phone app that allows audiences to sync that up in cinemas or on TV o\r on DVD or home  or what have you.

TReid:
Director Peter Middleton said John Hull was very specific about assuring that Peter and his Co-director James Spinney understood this was just one experience.

PM:
He was always careful to point out that he didn’t intend to speak for or on behalf of anybody. So we were aware that our kind of knowledge and our experience of blindness is very much refracted through his subjective story and subjective account.

TReid:
Yet a close examination can provide some insight into the shared vision loss experience. Like the strong need to continue.
For some that means continuing an education or a hobby.
In Hull’s case it meant his career.

[Notes on Blindness Audio
John Hull recalling a conversation :
No, look, how do blind people read big books?
They said, they don’t!]

TReid:
Finding new ways for accomplishing a task, well that’s a big part of a person’s adjustment to blindness.

[Notes on Blindness Audio
John Hull:
The first thing I did was build a team of people to record books for me

With ingenuity and a little bit of help there were problems that could be solved.]

TReid:
Resolving some of these basic difficulties offers hope!

Until… the next even more difficult problem arises.

[Notes on Blindness Audio
John Hull:
It wasn’t until The final tiny bit of light sensation slowly disappeared that my mood changed.]

TReid:
Another obstacle in the process of adjusting to blindness, , maintaining or establishing relationships.

Hearing his daughter scream as she plays in the garden,
John tries to quickly get to her aid.

[Notes on Blindness Audio plays in the background.]

When he arrives , Marilyn is comforting her and already has the problem under control.

[Notes on Blindness Audio
John Hull:
That was a frightening moment.]

He struggles with feelings  of inadequacy as a father.

[Notes on Blindness Audio
John Hull:
The discovery that you are useless is not a nice discovery for any father to make.]

Relationships with his wife, parents and even with God are all parts of his own journey.

Notes on Blindness, while a personal portrait of one man’s experience losing vision, is a poetic but practical look at the journey through loss.

Take for example, the role and importance of adaptations.

[notes on Blindness Audio playing in the background.
John his son Thomas saying bye to one another. ]

After Walking his son Thomas to school in the morning,
we watch as the father and son practice their special way of saying goodbye.
It’s the equivalent of both child and parent watching one another move further apart while assuring both the other is just still close
enough if needed.

[Notes on Blindness Audio: Their exchange of goodbyes growing further apart and his son Thomas’ voice fades with each goodbye.
John Hull describing the practice:
Echoing in chorus!]

We witness not only the bonding between father and son, but Hull’s appreciation for these small yet meaningful adaptations in his life.

[Notes on Blindness Audio
John Hull:
“I Love this!”]

Treid:
It’s not a movie for just the audience.

TReid in original conversation with PM:
What have you personally learned about blindness after all of this work?

PM:
Spending so much time with John and being able to listen to his account and researching has lead us to further research on different kind of people’s experiences. It’s been an incredibly fascinating process for us.

TReid:
Vision, often considered as the most feared sense to lose, yet the dialog offered by Hull and the sound design and music have a very calming effect. As if saying, it will all be  alright. Or maybe that’s just my final note on blindness.

The film has been nominated for 6 British Independent Film Awards including:
Best British Independent Film
Best Debut Director
Outstanding Achievement in Craft

You can catch Notes on Blindness beginning November 16  in New York City
at the Film Forum. Other cities are soon to follow. As well as on demand distribution in the future.
Visit BlindnessMovie.com for more on dates and information.
you can find them on Twitter @OnBlindness

I’m Thomas Reid;

[Notes on Blindness Audio
John Hull and son Thomas exchange goodbyes…
John Hull:
Until his voice becomes faint.]

TReid:
For Gatewave Radio

[Notes on Blindness Audio
John Hull and son Thomas exchange goodbyes…]

TReid:
audio for independent living.

[Notes on Blindness Audio
John Hull: “I love this!”]

T.Reid:
When I received an email asking if I were interested in doing a story on a new movie called Notes on Blindness, my first thought was …
“I don’t think you’re going to want me to do that!”

I like to profile people who are doing things that ultimately dispel the misperceptions about blindness.

I’m cynical  when it comes to movies  about blindness and disability.
My experience says they are probably going to be the sappy  oh look at this poor guy or wow, isn’t this person so amazing!

This, was not that!

Naturally I thought of my own experience while watching.
I guess you could say it was a comparison of notes!

The scene when he rushed to his daughter after hearing her scream;
I had my own similar experience and questioned my usefulness in emergencies.
Fortunately, I realized there’s no way I’m useless… as Hull felt at that time.

Again, the experience of blindness is specific to the individual.

One scene, John talks about how he can no longer
conjure up an image of his oldest daughter or his wife…

I never experienced that…
In fact I vividly remember both and
way more.

I don’t think it’s a spoiler so I’ll share that Hull comes to see blindness as a gift.
He’s clear to say it’s not a gift he would want for his children, but he recognizes there’s something there.

I don’t think I ever referred to it as a gift, but I know it’s not a curse.

I found myself very much curious about how John’s vision loss impacted his children. Specifically, his oldest daughter Imogen  who was around the same age as my oldest when I went blind.
She reflects on her relationship  with her father both as a child an as an adult in a short film titled Radio H.

[Audio from Radio H]

Notes on Blindness was focused on Hull’s experience with blindness and
not much time interacting with his kids.
At least not much that showed a playful side.
Like the tapes he made of his children performing and
him telling adventure and spooky stories.

It reminds me of some of the early recordings I did with my kids…

[Audio of Thomas and his children when they were younger.]
I’m a  sucker for Daddy Daughter stories!
For more on Notes on Blindness or Radio H;
see the links in the resource section included with the notes for this episode on Reid My Mind.com.

While you’re there, hit that subscribe button or subscribe to Reid My Mind Radio via iTunes.

Peace!

PennyPushUps since 2013 has been my family’s awareness and fundraising campaign to spread information about Retinoblastoma, the childhood eye cancer that is responsible for my loss of both my eyes.

As the parent of a RB survivor it seemed right to try and do something to spread awareness.

The original idea was pretty straight forward; I’ll complete 100 push-ups a day and you sponsor me like a walk-a-thon just 1 cent per push-up… do the math!

The campaign turned into us sharing our story as well as others impacted by the cancer. Probably not a shock considering I enjoy telling people’s stories. The shock was I thought I could easily do this on video. Fortunately, I wasn’t 100 percent wrong. (Non visual video editing is possible… I do it!) Even more fortunately, my wife thought she could do a better job at the video production. She was right and she began to earn her keep and her name… Super Producer Marley Marl now formally known as Super Producer Marlett!

It became apparent that people weren’t really interested in my push-ups. One of the comments on the videos went something like; “Really interesting and important but why is there a guy doing push-ups.” LOL! I guess they didn’t listen to the introduction which summarized everything I just said about the campaign.

Focusing on raising awareness & empowering others while raising funds for World Eye Cancer Hope the name sort of wrote itself when we let the universe take over… The RAE of Hope, “Shining a light on a childhood eye cancer”.

We just finished airing our first full week of videos. We post them to our Facebook page “The RAE of Hope” and via YouTube.

I would love for you to come on over and “Like” our FB page or follow us on twitter @TheRAEofHope. The stories this year feature a bit more in the way of video production but the full story is told via audio. In fact, this year we incorporated closed captions available via YouTube, so we’re fully accessible – the way it should be!

Below is our playlist of all our videos so if this works properly you could pretty much bookmark this post and watch the latest video as we move through the month. We post new videos every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Tell a friend and help us spread the word about Childhood Cancer it can truly save a life and sight!

“Now usually I don’t do this, but…”

Today, I’m taking you on an audio tour of my production process. This is not a tutorial, just a look at how I produce non visually!

Shout out to my daughter Raven for the photo, her cameo in this piece and her featured clarinet playing!

Since the idea for this piece came from a suggestion, I thought I would invite more… If there’s anything that you want to know about or think would make for a good story topic go ahead and suggest it in the comments. If you’re interested I could even include you in the piece! For those who are shy, no worries, you can say no to that with no hard feelings.

Now on to the show…