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Member Bravos

Index of Members Saluted

RFB&D proudly congratulates the following
members on their outstanding accomplishments

While it may be said that riding a unicycle is an art, RFB&D member Mike McCorkle has created new meaning for that expression. For Mike has discovered, and probably invented, "unicycle art." McCorkle began riding a unicycle at around age 11, at the same time he was struggling in school.

Bounced from school to school, and from special education to mainstream classes, it wasn't until he was in high school that his learning disability was recognized. Even after that diagnosis, it would take until adulthood for McCorkle to discover RFB&D. Now, he is using our recorded textbooks to "fill in the gaps" in his education, and especially to read about the lives of famous artists who have inspired him, such as Jackson Pollock, Dawn Ades and Peter Max.

Like Pollock, McCorkle understands what it is to have a canvas "talk" to him, and credits his current artistic expression to a sudden burst of inspiration he had on a hot Texas day. For two years he experimented, using his unicycle, fingerpaint and theatrical background canvas. Friends began to buy his work and give him commissions for paintings, T-shirts, ties, and anything he could roll over.

A part-time photographer, McCorkle has discovered that clients very often wish to use his work as the backdrop to their portraits, even asking him to include the unicycle in the photo. Recently, he had his first art show in Bellaire, TX, and after that he headed to The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles for a show on Halloween. When asked about his technique, McCorkle quipped "I put it down on the driveway and go to it!" McCorkle's work can be viewed on his web page at http://www.hal-pc.org/~mmcork/index.htm.

Across the country, the events of September 11, 2001 stand out as a nightmare - as most of us followed the horrific events on television or radio. For RFB&D member and 1973 National Achievement Award winner, Mike Hingson and his guide dog, Roselle, September 11 is the day they took the longest, most harrowing walk of their lives.

The story of how Hingson, Roselle and their colleagues escaped from the 78th floor of the World Trade Center's North Tower is just one of the tales of terror and bravery from that day. In an interview with Pete Genovese of the Newark Star Ledger, Hingson recounted how he and Roselle made the 78 floor trek to the street. At one point, other people passed water bottles to Hingson so that Roselle could drink.

Once on the ground floor, the ordeal was not over, as the crowd had to avoid falling debris. Several minutes after Hingson and Roselle emerged from the building, the North Tower collapsed. They kept going, through the smoke and debris until around 4 PM, when they were able to get a train home from Penn station.

For now, Hingson and Roselle are working from home, until their office is relocated. And according to writer Genovese, Roselle may "snore a lot and cower under the kitchen table during a thunderstorm, but when the whole world seems to be exploding and crumbling around them, she will get him down the steps, out the front door and across the street."

When asked "How can you write such vivid imagery about the world if you can't see?" Stephen Kuusisto replies, "The great power of language, is to evoke parts of the world not reserved exclusively for the sighted."

As if in testimony to that, Kuusisto's recent book, Only Bread, Only Light, has entered its second printing, a rarity for recent American poetry. This is Kuusisto's second book. His first, Planet of the Blind, a memoir of his life, was named a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times in 1998.

Kuusisto has used the services of RFB&D both as a graduate student in literature and now as a university professor. "Its an invaluable source for students and scholars with disabilities," he says, adding that some of the volunteer reader voices stay with him in his memory. He recalls with particular fondness a "certain lovely volunteer reader from the American Midwest," who read James Fenimore Cooper's novel, The Pioneer.

Kuusisto is currently working on a collection of non-fiction essays about traveling and knowing places by listening. In addition, he is writing a novel about someone he greatly admires, Enrico Caruso, the opera singer. He teaches in the graduate creative writing program at Ohio State University and travels widely for corporate and university clients speaking about issues such as diversity, critical thinking, and the joys of volunteerism.

Only Bread, Only Light is available in bookstores or directly through Copper Canyon Press at (877) 501-1393. Planet of the Blind is in the RFB&D recorded library, shelf number FT613 or on E-Text as shelf number EB993.

Photo: Stephen and his guide dog, Corky

If you have an RFB&D success story of your own, please e-mail us about it (one page or less) at success@rfbd.org. By doing so, you grant us permission to possibly use this information in future publications. Please include your phone number, so we can call you for further information, if needed.

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