tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post3911118485839696333..comments2023-10-03T07:01:41.144-05:00Comments on Always On Watch: Semper Vigilans: The Remarkable Helen Keller (Weekend Blog Post)Always On Watchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-55612277730870919472015-03-15T07:11:00.819-05:002015-03-15T07:11:00.819-05:00FT,
Annie Sullivan was so very determined because ...FT,<br />Annie Sullivan was so very determined because she knew firsthand what Helen would face if condemned to an institution. Annie Sullivan is my personal hero. If only all teachers were as dedicated as she!<br /><br />As for <i>The Miracle Worker</i>, it is accurate according to Helen Keller's <i>The Story of My Life</i>, a book which I've read several times.<br /><br />Always On Watchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-20414465480069145722015-03-14T21:28:05.067-05:002015-03-14T21:28:05.067-05:00FT..Mr Z and I went to Beethoven's birth house...FT..Mr Z and I went to Beethoven's birth house in Bonn, Germany...he only lived there 2 years but they had some of his pianos there (yes, I don't care what the sign said, i just had to touch it lightly), and they had his hearing aids...BIG brass trumpet-types of instruments .... but the most touching thing was a letter he wrote to his brother asking him not to tell anybody but "I think I'm going deaf".<br />Talk about moving...Mr. Z had tears in his eyes when he read the German to me. Very moving.Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15989573357446569262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-66605142654926012252015-03-14T21:27:59.999-05:002015-03-14T21:27:59.999-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15989573357446569262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-89415858109733281742015-03-14T17:23:39.728-05:002015-03-14T17:23:39.728-05:00I didn't want to leave without saying that Hel...I didn't want to leave without saying that Helens poem is very beautiful -- another triumph of Soul over Body.FreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-57278984178144867782015-03-14T17:20:46.829-05:002015-03-14T17:20:46.829-05:00Incidentally, though I never realized I before, He...Incidentally, though I never realized I before, Helen Keller in middle and old age was he spit and image of my Great Aunt Lurline. They could have been twins -- certainly sisters.<br /><br />Aunt Lurline died twenty years ago just three weeks short of her one-hundredth birthday, She was an amazing character in her own rite, and weathered many a storm with notable courage and dignity. She worked through her 88h year, and only quit because her legs were beginning to give out when she climbed the stairs to the elevated train that took her from her apartment near Van Cortland Park in he Bronx to her job in midtown Manhattan. She told us it wouldn't be fair to her employers if they couldn't depend on her to get to work on icy winter days.<br /><br />So her resemblance to the illustrious Helen was more than skin deep.FreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-60682037942321681402015-03-14T17:10:19.323-05:002015-03-14T17:10:19.323-05:00The magnificent music makes a perfect underscoring...The magnificent music makes a perfect underscoring for the series of extraordinary photographs. The presentation is so beautiful, so dignified, and utlimately so touching it brought tears to my eyes.<br /><br />I agree completely with Z's assessment of Langston Hughes' powerful, beautifully stated understanding of who and what Helen Keller really was.<br /><br />To me Helen's life and remarkable example give clear proof that the most important part of each of us is SPIRITUAL not material. <br /><br />I first learned that when I realized that Beethoven composed his very greatest music after he became stone deaf. If I may dare pickaback Langston Hughes' work: <br /><br /><b><i>Beethoven <br />Discovered sounds<br />More beautiful <br />Than many ever hear.<br />He,<br />Within himself,<br />Discovered loveliness,<br />Through the soul's own mastery.<br />And now the world receives<br />From his music:<br />The message of the strength<br />Of inner power.</i></b><br /><br />We can see in Hellen Keller's face an outward sign of inner joy, an uncanny understanding she had of he significance of these distinguished people she encountered who, doubtless, were more than happy to make contact with her.<br /><br />The extraordinary dignity, eagerness, and openness life she displayed in her public appearances seems close to miraculous when you think about it.<br /><br />If we are to believe The Miracle Worker, which I saw when it first came out on Broadway –– and also a superb, but-now-virtually-forgotten TV adaptation with Teresa Wright as Annie Sullivan –– young Helen was little more than a wild animal –– a fiercely feral creature –– when she first encountered the incredible Miss Sullivan.<br /><br />It is good to be reminded -- OFTEN -- that we do no HAVE to accept the limitations adverse circumstances appear to thrust on us. "Where there's a will, there really IS a way" in most cases.<br />FreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-19873928332179697892015-03-14T16:21:23.853-05:002015-03-14T16:21:23.853-05:00Z,
Anne Sullivan's breakthrough with Helen Kel...Z,<br />Anne Sullivan's breakthrough with Helen Keller was a magnificent moment and led to change in people's perceptions about the disabled.<br /><br />The next breakthrough may well be with some of the non-verbal autistics. See <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xx7ch_60-minutes-on-autism_people" rel="nofollow">this</a> about Soma Mukhopadhyay's RPM. <br /><br />Also see <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/breaking-the-silence-14-01-2003/" rel="nofollow">this article</a>.<br /><br />For the first time in my teaching career, I am working with a nonverbal autistic student who makes use of RPM. Astounding! Never mind what the research shows: I know what I'm seeing.Always On Watchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-24832293362946299792015-03-14T12:08:05.174-05:002015-03-14T12:08:05.174-05:00Cover your eyes and stop up your ears...imagine th...Cover your eyes and stop up your ears...imagine that FOREVER? I used to teach about Keller at Preschool and would have the children blindfolded and holding their hands over their ears ... or having them feel the face and hair of a classmate to see if they'd know who it was. It shocked them, and it still shocks me, that this woman could do SO MUCH in complete darkness.<br />Langston Hughes, however, could not have put it better.<br /><br />I don't know what readings were given to her, or who talked to her about politics, etc., but I'm still grateful, myself, for that "small remnant" which continues to build what we need, buy luxurious products that they need, and employ so many. <br /><br />She was an amazing woman.....What's clear, now that I think of it, is that we don't get very many blind/mute people who became so well known, so prolific in their writings, etc. Astonishing. Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15989573357446569262noreply@blogger.com