Sharriitt Christmas Letter 2023

  Dear Sharritt friends and kin, [Roger drafted this letter in time for Christmas. Bev usually adds to Roger’s first draft and edits his wordiness and leaps of context. This year she dropped the ball. She is sending it out with only minor changes as a self-imposed consequence.] We hope that this finds you healthy, wealthy and wise. We woke up to a glorious new day. Today the daylight is longer than yesterday. Do you ever wonder if early persons despaired around December 15th? They probably did.   “The sun is going away! It will never get light again! We’re all going to die!” We don’t have an Amazon account so we can’t buy a seasonal affective disorder light to help us get through the winter!”   We are three for three (see opening line). Unless you think that growing even more flowers at Roger’s age isn’t a wise thing to do.   Then we are two for three. A 666 batting average.   That would get us into the Hall of Fame. Yes, we are growing more and more flowers and...

  A year ago in March  I shared with you my excitement about some amazing news coming out of Purdue about a huge figure making history. Of course, you remember the engineer, Dave Schleppenbach, the CEO of Tactile Engineering . He is the one that headed up the team that created a new dynamic braille display called The Cadence. From the company’s website:  The revolutionary Cadence tablet is the first tactile device able to display tactile graphics that move and change beneath your fingers. Experience a whole new way to access dynamic content and multi-line braille, including pop-up highlights and labels, graphs that update in real time, live camera feeds, and fast-paced entertainment apps. This device will bring so many opportunities for braille readers to experience STEM activities with more agency and independence. As a teacher for the blind, especially interested in assistive technology, and with a background in science education this device is like a blocked shot ag...

A year ago in March  I shared with you my excitement about some amazing news coming out of Purdue about a huge figure making history. Of course, you remember the engineer, Dave Schleppenbach, the CEO of Tactile Engineering . He is the one that headed up the team that created a new dynamic braille display called The Cadence. From the company’s website:  The revolutionary Cadence tablet is the first tactile device able to display tactile graphics that move and change beneath your fingers. Experience a whole new way to access dynamic content and multi-line braille, including pop-up highlights and labels, graphs that update in real time, live camera feeds, and fast-paced entertainment apps. This device will bring so many opportunities for braille readers to experience STEM activities with more agency and independence. As a teacher for the blind, especially interested in assistive technology, and with a background in science education this device is like a blocked shot against t...