Dianna Leonard

Getting the Competitive Juices Flowing

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By Nona Haroyan | From BayLines Express, September, 2023 This summer I tried kayaking for the first time. How hard could it be? Sit in a little boat with an experienced guide and paddle around a lake. Well to my complete disgust, I learned pretty quickly, that I had deluded myself into thinking that I … Read more

Talking Book Retrospective

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By Myra Ross | From BayLines Express, August, 2023 This article comes from my memories and a few minutes of research. It is not an exhaustive history of NLS.   “This book is continued on the other side of this record.”  It was time to turn the record over on the big, heavy, gray, Talking Book … Read more

Mobility Man

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By DeAnn Elliott During the Bay State Council of the Blind’s annual convention held May 20th, the organization presented its 2023 Community Access Award to Joseph Kolb, an orientation and mobility (O and M) specialist at the Carroll Center for the Blind. Many BSCB members are among the more than 1000 clients who have benefitted … Read more

A Weaver’s Journey

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By Pam Loch | From BayLines Express, June, 2023 I learned to weave when I was living in Rochester, New York. I participated in weaving classes there for many years and then at The Worcester Center for Crafts once I moved to Massachusetts. I have sold some of my weaving pieces but mostly have woven for … Read more

It’s Time to Make Him a Saint

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By Dennis Polselli | From BayLines Express, May, 2023 This may be an unusual column for Bay Lines, but I think the subject is familiar to you all. Lately I’ve been reading a book: Caution Blind Priest Driving The Story of Father Thomas J. Carroll Changing Public Perceptions of Blindness by Rachel Rosenbaum and all … Read more

Moving to Seattle

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By Tim Cumings | From BayLines Express, February, 2023 People say that one of the most stressful events in a person’s life is moving. I would add that as a blind person this stress is multiplied by a factor of ten. After having lived in one place for twenty-four years, the thought of moving even … Read more

Closing the Door on 2022

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By David Kingsbury | From BayLines Express, December, 2022 As this year draws to a close, we can be proud of several big successes. The Votes Act, which was signed by the Governor in July, introduced fully accessible online voting statewide. This effort built on BSCB efforts undertaken in collaboration with the Disability Law Center … Read more

Carol’s Curiosity on the Harbor Islands

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By Myra Ross | From BayLines Express, November, 2022 Carol Fithian is a woman of boundless curiosity. She has been a researcher, published author, park ranger for the National Park Service on the Boston Harbor Islands, and the Director of Volunteer Recruitment and Training for the Friends of the Boston Harbor Islands. She selected and … Read more

Hike and Ski – Who, Me?

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By Cindy Wentz | From BayLines Express, October, 2022 Cold and wind make me long for my bed – or at least my couch bundled up in an afghan. Flying, buzzing, biting critters give me the creeps. And I am not particularly interested in exercising to the point of heavy breathing and copious perspiration. Isn’t … Read more

MUSINGS FROM THE BLIND BIRDER: A Story of Determination and Passion

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By Martha Steele | Reprinted with permission from Bird Observer October 2022, Volume 50, Number 5:350-352. www.birdobserver.org. Recently, Bob and I birded with Jerry Berrier, who has been totally blind from birth due to retinopathy of prematurity, where the infant receives too much oxygen following birth. Our morning walk along trails in the Middlesex Fells … Read more