By Jennifer Dunnam, President

What does it mean truly to know that it is respectable to be blind?

Volume 74, Number 3

Quarterly Publication of the

National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota, Inc.

100 East 22nd Street

Minneapolis, Minnesota 55404

Many people are involved in getting this issue to you. The writers can write and the editor can edit, but until the material is printed, brailled, recorded, and distributed, it is just a computer file. Therefore, we owe great thanks to the following people for the work they do in producing this publication.

Tim Aune duplicates the cassette tape edition.

Metro Chapter — Twin Cities area; meets at 2:00 p.m. on the third Saturday of every month at NFB of MN Headquarters, 100 East 22nd Street in Minneapolis

Riverbend Chapter — New Ulm area; meets at 9:00 a.m. on the third Saturday of every month in New Ulm; contact Charlene Childrey at 507-354-2250 for meeting location

Exciting times are coming in NFB conventions. Keep these in mind as you plan your activities throughout the coming year.

The Semiannual NFB of Minnesota Convention will be in April or May 2009 at the NFB of Minnesota headquarters in Minneapolis. Members will receive a letter with details about a month before the convention, and the letter will be on our website at www.nfbmn.org.

By Judy Sanders, Secretary

Our 2008 annual convention at the Kahler Grand Hotel in Rochester on October 3-5, 2008 will long be remembered for its continuance of long-held traditional values and its forward thinking approach to changing what it means to be blind. People began arriving early on Friday to get ready to participate in the myriad of activities where there was something for everyone.

By Ben Cohen, Star Tribune

(Editor’s Note: Here is another person who lived the philosophy of the National Federation of the Blind. She and her husband Armand were very active in the Federation in past years, and Armand was a dedicated union leader and a link between his union and the NFB. This article appeared in the Minneapolis Star Tribune on September 23, 2008.)

By Sheila Koenig

(Editor’s Note: This is the winner of the 2008 Metro Chapter essay contest. Sheila Koenig is first vice-president and a very active member of the Metro Chapter. She teaches 9th grade Language Arts at Southview Middle School in Edina, and received the 2007 Blind Educator of the Year award from the National Federation of the Blind.)

By Jennifer Dunnam

By Joyce Scanlan

(Editor’s Note: Joyce Scanlan is the founding Executive Director of Blindness: Learning in New Dimensions (BLIND), and served in that position from 1987 through 2003. She also served as NFB of Minnesota president from 1973 through 2007. She gave this address at the banquet of the 20th anniversary celebration of BLIND on October 25, 2008.)