WCB Newsline Unleashed Washington Council of the Blind

Title: Three Visions of Love without vision
Description: Three Couples with varied levels of eyesight share with us how true love works in their lives.

Welcome to our milestone twentieth episode. WCB Newsline Unleashed celebrates spring and May flowers with this special never before released interview, featuring three couples of Washington Council of the Blind. For context, this interview was recorded in the spring of 2023, well before the state convention. They are John and Chris Coulter, Andy and Colette Arvidson, and Julie and Nathan Brannon, and they were brave enough to volunteer to hang out and share true stories of challenges and triumphs in their marriages with Zack Hurtz and Linda Wilder for this one-of-a-kind podcast. With love and humor, they reveal how their relationships have grown and thrived through the tests of time. Their honest recollections give us hope and guidance in living our own best lives. WCB Newsline wishes to thank everyone involved in bringing this podcast to life. Enjoy with us this unique and priceless gift.

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Welcome to the Puppy raisers Part 2. In this chapter we zoom in with a tight focus on Marilee Richards, and her first guide dog Taryn. Her puppy raisers are Bailey McDermott, Rob McChrystal, and her friend Lisa Comstock. Viola Bentson recorded, produced, and made valuable contributions to the content of this episode.

Marilee provided the following additional information.

Bailey and Rob were Taryn’s puppy raisers. (The best ever)! We all maintain a close family bond. They live in Portland and hope to raise more dogs for Guide Dogs for the Blind in the future. Bailey is a Para Legal for Idaho, and Rob
works for the Port of Portland. Taryn is their second guide dog. Their first dog (named Violin) is also discussed. Lisa Comstock from KOMO Television joins the conversation towards the end and is the one who takes Taryn and I on most of our adventures. She also takes pictures to keep Rob and Bailey up to date on our lives.

As always, we love to hear your comments and suggestions and will pass them on to those involved. You may write to us at TheWCBNewsline@gmail.com, or simply use the contact form available at WCBInfo.com and choose Newsline.

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**The Puppy Raisers Part 1
Raising Guide Dogs - an Act of Joy and Love**
Hosted by Linda Wilder

This is part one of an in depth two part look at the fascinating world of raising and training future Guide dogs, and how these life-long relationships contribute to the program they serve.

For this episode the cast included:
Marie Celeste Condon, Interviewer
Howard Hirshman, Puppy Raiser
Karen Hogle, Puppy Raiser
Paul Hogle, Puppy Raiser
Brian and Carol Gregory, Puppy Raisers
This episode was recorded, edited, and produced by Viola Bentson and Reginald George.

We know you will enjoy hearing the stories of how joyful, passionate and loving each Puppy Raiser is toward each puppy they raise and train, and often, that moment of meeting the future handler who will benefit from their hard work.
The motto of Guide Dogs for the Blind is, “The Making of a Guide Dog; come for the puppies, revel in the people and the purpose.”

We always appreciate hearing from our listeners. If you have feedback for us, or want more information, write to us at TheWCBNewsline@gmail.com


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Show Notes by Heather Meares

I love strong women. I admire and respect their fiery spirits, stubborn grit, and determination. I learn from their experiences in education, travel, love, and loss, and how life events mold you into the person you become. I am one.
 
Let me say that it is not easy to carry the weight of expectations that come with being this type of person. You take risks to accomplish your goals, and your decisions are questioned by others who think they know what’s best for you. Quite often, your opinions differ from the rest of the group, but they somehow just have to jump out and find their way into the discussion anyway. People sometimes assume that you really have your act together and know exactly what you are doing because you are bold and confident in the decisions you make, or resolute in what you think and say.
 
Although these factors may be true, most of the time I don’t have a clue about what I am doing or where it will lead, but I know why I am choosing it in that moment.
 
Recently, I was lucky enough to interview not only one of the women I have heard about since I moved to Washington six years ago and hoped I would get the opportunity to meet someday, but also was able to reconnect with another of the most highly respected women I have worked with since I’ve been here. They just so happen to be mother and daughter, and it‘s been a rare treasure to learn from them both. I think they even learned some things from each other during our conversation, and that, in itself, was worth it all. So, let’s hear what Keiko, a blind parent, and Naomi Namekata, her sighted daughter, have to say.
If you have comments, write to us at TheWCBNewsline@Gmail.com.

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Readers’ Choice Award 2022
Show notes by Heather Meares
 
Welcome to our 3rd Annual Virtual Readers’ Choice Award Gala! Join us as we read and discuss each of the four finalist articles from 2022.
 
Special thanks to Steve Pierce for being our reader and for all his editing expertise throughout the year, and to Viola Bentson, for hosting our Zoom event. In addition, as the editors, Reg and I would like to thank the entire Newsline and podcast committee by name: Beth Greenberg, Chris Coulter, Zack Hurtz, Marilee Richards, Linda Wilder, Viola Bentson, Lucash Uniack, and an honorable mention to Denise Colley, who will always be an honorary member of our committee, no matter where she lives. Each and every one of our committee members contributes their own part to the herculean effort that is the Newsline. We are honored to have such a hard-working and creative team, and appreciate you all.
 
This year’s nominees are as follows:
 
From the winter issue, “Too Hot to Handle” - by Frank Cuta
 
From the spring issue, “I Choose Joy” - by Hayley Agers
 
From the summer issue, “Who Gives a Hoot?” - by Heather Meares
 
From the fall issue, “Train Music” - by Chris Coulter
 
It has been another great year of writing, scribing, creating, and podcasting, and we are so pleased to be your editors. Here’s cheers to another great year ahead!
 

Heather Meares and Reginald George
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Join Dorene, Judy, Zandra, and Zack as they talk about the push in Washington State for accessible medication labels.
They discuss the lack of equal access to the information on medication labels for those who speak another language or who are visually impaired or blind. They discuss what’s being done to address this issue and illustrate the flaws in the current system.

AccessibleLabels@gmail.com
That’s, Accessible Labels at Gmail dot com

Episode Notes
Notes go here

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