DAY TWO - Reflections etc.

Reflections from a sighted guy at a blind convention.
And other stuff.

DAY TWO

How weird is this – I’m in Detroit on the 4th of July, watching the New York fireworks on television, on the 43rd floor of a hotel with glass walls – and there are no local fireworks to watch. Apparently their big fireworks was last week. (Probably bribed by NBC so there would be no competition. Or maybe they didn’t want to compete with the glorious sunset – which at 9:43 is still breath-taking.)

Digression – for those of you in the “older” category. Remember when the 4th meant a picnic – maybe a parade – and in the evening you would go to a park or a college football stadium and lie on the grass or gather with your friends and watch the fireworks. Maybe a little food – but that was enough. It was simple, but somehow it was also magnificent and magic and special. As I watched the tail end of the NBC Macy’s Spectacular (or whatever they called it) I had the feeling that NBC and the powers that be don’t trust us to figure out something is special. So we have bands and the Intrepid and guest singers and the dancers from West Side Story and production and more production, as if the fireworks alone wouldn’t be enough. (And of course there are about a million gazillion more pounds of fireworks than anything we ever saw as children.)

End of digression. And certainly the Macy’s fireworks were spectacular. But you know what? Half that many would also have been spectacular. Thus speaketh the crotchety old man. Curmudgeon. And increasingly proud of it. Today local communities are abandoning their own fireworks because of the expense. But I wonder if tomorrow they will abandon them because they can no longer compete with television, because the local children will be comparing the Fire Department effort with what they see on tv, and it will fall short and they will be disappointed. All right, all right, I’m done.

Today was personal contact day for the Fuzzy Jesuit (that would be me, for those not paying proper attention). I arose and after a short argument with myself, which I lost, I betook myself to the 40th floor where the “Health Club” is. All I have to say is if one is going to spend time on a treadmill, a 40th floor glass wall view of the city is the way to do it. And a tv set on every machine. And headphones. And every other machine imaginable and free weights and I had a really good workout. Upstairs to shower and coffee in the room and off to register for the convention. Which took about three minutes and then the first walk through of the exhibit hall.

I spent a couple of hours visiting tables, finding out what they were selling or providing, and introducing myself and the Xavier Society. Made some appointments for longer meetings later in the week, ran into a couple of people I knew from other events and got rid of some brochures and a lot of business cards. Met a lady who had been befriended years ago by someone from the Xavier staff. She didn’t remember who but she was still grateful. Gave away more Braille cards and Braille brochures than printed. I went to the lobby and had a muffin and cranberry juice and worked on my computer for a while. (Wifi is free in the lobby - $12.95 a day in the room. What’s the expression? Oh yeah, "no brainer.”) Met some more interesting people in the lobby, gave away some more brochures – and back for another hour at the exhibition. My thinking being that organizations change their table staff so I got to meet a whole new crew of people. Walked around for a bit and found a grocery store for a cheap sandwich, on to the porch for a cigar – and met more interesting people, including one guy who (on discovering I was a priest) talked about his wife and his marriage and a bunch of stuff.

From there on to the Mock Trial, put on by the Blind Lawyers’ group. Very (VERY!) funny, although a little weak on the law side. The large ballroom was packed and the jury (ie everyone assembled) was decidedly prejudiced. The case was about a divorced couple, each seeking custody of their children. He is claiming that she is an unfit mother because (wait for it) she is blind. Guess what the verdict was.

I left before the end so I could attend a meeting of newsletter editors. The National Federation of the Blind (hereafter NFB) has a federation in each state (or almost each state) and many have newsletters. Most of the people at this session were editors or past editors or people who wanted to be editors. I was hoping for some technical information about doing newsletters for the blind, and I think I gave more helpful information than I received. Ah well, more blessed and so forth.

At the end of the meeting I went down to the bar, to help lower the level on the Laird’s bottle. (If that doesn’t make any sense, you haven’t read Day One, have you?) But the place was crowded and I wasn’t in the mood and while I was peckish, I wasn’t in the mood for a meal, so I went up to the room and dropped off my bags. I had not visited the Hospitality Suite, and I wanted to see the view from the 70th floor so I went up.

WOW. More glass walls, only more of them. Two large rooms and a bedroom and a piano. A piano? Yup, a parlor grand, at which I promptly found myself seated, noodling away. Had a soft drink, some cheese and crackers, chatted with people, including the only other priest at this event, who has been with the group since 2000 and who is celebrating the Sunday liturgy – and up came two pizzas left over from another meeting. Yay! Vegetarian, but thick cheese and really good. Visited with some more people, played a little more and just before sunset I came back down to the room and – see the opening paragraph.

Actually, after the Macy’s extravaganza finished (Blew itself out? Naw, too easy.) I looked out the window, and turned off the lights and there were small fireworks all across the horizon – not big but from my window I counted at least six. That was after I had gone through the whole nostalgic thing.

Which was a lovely way to end what was, all things considered, a pretty good day. Mass tomorrow morning at 7:15, so I’m off to an early bed and I hope a gentle sleep. (Oh and I snarfed a piece of the pizza for breakfast. Hot coffee and cold pizza – day doesn’t start any better than that.)

And thus endeth the second day. And I looked at it and I saw that it was really, really good.