TBI-Houston E-News April 20, 2001 No. 04-02

REMINDER The reception honoring TBI volunteers will be held Sunday, April
22, 2001 from 2-4 p.m. at 3935 Essex Lane. Plan to attend and meet your
fellow volunteers, plus there will be a table with food! Be there or be
talked about!

THANKS TO DESCRIBERS Saying thanks and acknowledging work done by our most
powerful asset, our volunteers, never ends—thank goodness! We are still
playing catch up but hope to get current soon. Our description services
make it possible for blind and visually impaired people to enjoy a variety
of community activities. Our thanks to Carol Worsnop and Julie Fulks for
their work on "Equus" at the Alley Theater on February 4, 2001. This was
Julie’s first work on description and she did a fine job. Carol also did "A
Flea in Her Ear" at the Alley on March 18—thanks for the good work, Carol.
Taping also did the audio description for "Miss Saigon" at TUTS (Theater
Under the Stars) on April 1, 2001 (your editor wasn’t told who did this
description but thanks to them as well).

Mary Pederson completed work on a described tour of the Houston Lighthouse
for the Blind Technology Center recently—more of Mary’s excellent work. She
also reads "Discover" magazine which airs each week on HTBR.

Ted Pfister gave a talk on audio description to a group hosted by the
National Committee for Accessibility. Many of the attendees were from the
U.S. Parks Service. The meeting was held in New Orleans last December and
the talk was very well received. Ted missed the holiday party so he could
give this talk. We are sorry you missed a good party, but thanks so much
for your work on behalf of Taping, Ted!

NAME THIS NEWSLETTER The contest continues! This newsletter needs a name
and you might just have the perfect one for it. We have received several
entries but the contest continues until May 15, 2001. Your entry (or
entries) should be sent to the editor (rlb19@...) so it can be
logged in. If you are not computer equipped, you can submit your entry in
writing to Cynthia Franzetti. We actually have a very cool prize worth
over $50! The editor and his better half are the judges and their decision
is final, even if it is to turn down all suggestions. (If that happens we
will have a drawing for the prize from among those that entered this
contest.) All volunteers and staff are eligible (except for the judges) so
get those entries in pronto. In case of duplicate suggestions, the
earliest wins. While the prize is terrific, you really want to be the one
that can proudly say "I named the Taping newsletter!"

THANK YOUS Thanks to Fred Dawson for representing TBI at the Pasadena
Disability Fair on March 7, 2001.

Thanks to our runners in the Compaq Houston Marathon and Houston Cellular
5K runs. Dena Marks Sokolow ran the marathon and, thankfully, lived to tell
about it. Ted Pfister and Anita Simpson ran the 5K. Timothy Gehl also ran
the 5K for TBI. He heard about Taping thanks to public service
announcements run on KUHF!

OUTREACH Dr. Bill Gordon is the chairman of our Outreach Committee. He
has secured a good deal of free advertising from the Houston Chronicle for
TBI. We also thank Victoria Bartlett and her friends at Rives Carlberg
for doing the copy writing and editing, and then getting it set into the
preferred format for the Chronicle. All of this good work resulted in a
good deal of recognition for TBI, as well as 65 auditions by prospective
volunteers. The Chronicle has consented to run ads for TBI again this
year. Good work, Dr. Gordon and the Outreach Committee.

WELCOME As a result of those wonderful ads and the auditions that the
Quality Committee judged, we have a bunch of new volunteers. Welcome to
each of you and thank you for joining us at Taping and helping us "Turn
Sight Into Sound"!

RLB