On Saturday, August 19, I attended a book signing by young authors,Youth Voices in Ink, sponsored by Badgerdog. I was impressed by these young people and their work.
Here, some of the writers pause for refreshments while signing. Three are wearing Badgerdog T-shirts, and they look very comfortable in them. T-shirts have long been a fashion staple, especially when they have clever slogans or designs on them. The girl on the right is wearing some great eyeglasses with rhinestones.
This is part of a poem by one of the young writers,
Upperclassman Bold
by Alix Scarborough
Her lips are like mine
–glossy–
They glint and sparkle
in the morning sun.
Only mine are pale-pink
freshman lips
Hers–a vivacious upperclassman
RED
Her hands perch
casually
on the bus seat in front of her.
Purple nails manicured,
tap a rhythm:
rat-a-tat-tat
rat-a-tat-tat
rat-a-tat-tat
I stare at the sunglasses,
twined in her
(obviously dyed)
black hair.
as if “Prada” was some
portal to her soul.
She feels my eyes
and she glances.
The way she looks at me
doesn’t make me shy away….
This is Michael Espinoza, who participated in the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired summer writing workshop. I asked him if red was his favorite color. He said, “No, I like black, but my mother made me wear red.” He’s wearing a great smile and a really cool haircut–very appropriate for the 100 degree weather we’ve been having lately. This is one of Michael’s poems–
The Chains That Bind
by Michael Espinoza
These chains that bind me now,
are not the ones I know,
nor the ones I love.
Bound by pain and loss,
tormented with fleeting visions of love.
These are the chains that bind.
Why can they not be the chains I know
the ones I trust with all my heart.
Why must they be the chains I fear,
and not the ones you hold in your hand.
The cold metal bites my skin with fury,
no longer the gentle cold caress,
but the pain of emptiness and sorrow,
that burns like acid in my blood.
These are not the chains I love,
these are the chains that bind.
Jessica Espinoza, Michael’s sister, accompanied her family to the book signing. According to her father, Jessica also is an excellent writer as well as an excellent musician. Jessica looks fashionable and comfortable in a tropical print sleeveless dress.
Blind people are very skilled at coordinating their clothing. According to Jessica, braille tags help them to distinguish between colors and even patterns. There is even clothing with braille words. Cafe Press has T-shirts in braille as does brailletshirts. One popular slogan in braille, is, “If you can read this, you’re too close.”
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