CAMPANIAN ENTERPRISES, INC. TRAVEL PROGRAMS
Campanian Enterprises, Inc., specializes in travel programs for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Our travel programs are designed to meet the specials needs of our travelers and to provide a rich educational experience unavailable on regularly scheduled sighted trips. Each travel program offers unique opportunities for tactile experiences; on-site lectures, readings and audio-description combined with music, enlarge the total sensory and intellectual enjoyment on our programs. Furthermore, our programs offer unique opportunities for relaxation and socialization. Sighted guides accompany all programs. Participants may be accompanied by their own sighted friends, colleagues or family members. In this newsletter you will also find information about our program to Key West in January 2000, as well as information about some our other programs proposed for the millennial year.

KEY WEST IN THE WINTER.
To inaugurate the new Millennium, we will be offering a variety of travel programs to commemorate this new beginning. Our Millennial Year Travel programs will begin with the trip to Key West (January), followed by Washington (April), San Francisco (June), New Mexico (September) and Hawaii (October).

KEY WEST AND DRY TORTUGAS — SUNNY SHORES AND BLUE SKIES (WITH OPPORTUNITIES FOR FISHING AND PARASAILING):
Enjoy sunny Key West and Dry Tortugas when the rest of the country is freezing cold and knee-deep in snow. This island paradise, in the southernmost part of the continental United States, beckons you to visit its historic gingerbread mansions and palm-studded streets where hibiscus and bougainvillea enchant every visitor on this subtropical island. In Key West, history lives, a carnival spirit entices and legendary sunsets are mesmerizing. Key West has been the home and vacation playground for Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams and Robert Frost, Harry S Truman and John F. Kennedy.  In days of yore, pirates frequented the seas around the Florida Keys and have left a rich history and colorful stories of adventure and romance — all of which you will experience on this trip to an island often called “The Garden of Eden.”
Among the highlights in this vacation paradise, seen by Columbus and explored by Ponce de Leon in search of the illusive fountain of youth, are: Audubon House and Gardens where John J. Audubon painted the wild life of the Florida Keys in 1832; the Hemingway House where America’s well-known author penned many of his novels; the Little White Museum, the vacation retreat of Truman, Eisenhower and Kennedy; the tactile sculpture park at Mallory Square where bronze busts of Key West’s legendary citizens are handsomely displayed. Our day excursion to Dry Tortugas, almost 70 miles west of Key West, will offer sandy beaches and America’s largest and most spectacular 19th-century coast fort (Fort Jefferson) — all nestled among spectacular coral reefs. Above all, the weather is balmy, the sea refreshing and the pace of life is laid-back.
On this Key West program, we are offering (for those who are interested) an Optional Opportunity for parasailing, fishing and snorkeling. You will have the opportunity to take to the brilliant blue skies and experience what it might be like to fly like a bird; in addition we have arranged for excursions for deep-sea fishing with an experienced fisherman. For those interested in snorkeling, the crystal clear waters simmering above the coral reefs will provide an unforgettable vista of the aquatic world. If you are into beaches and just basking in the sun, there will be ample opportunity to soak up the rays while enjoying a refreshing drink and feasting on Key West’s very best key lime pie.
Registration Forms (which includes information on cost and detailed itinerary). are now available for this program.
 
ADDITIONAL PROGRAMS FOR THE MILLENNIAL YEAR.
Please contact us if you are interested in any of the following programs. The Registration Forms for Washington are now available; other programs will be available late this Fall but please let us know if you are interested in any of the programs.

(1) TACTILE WASHINGTON IN CHERRY BLOSSOM TIME — April, 5-10, 2000.
Registration Forms for this program are now available. Washington (like every classical city) always has something new and different to offer. Although you may have been to Washington on a previous trip, the itinerary for this program includes new sites: e.g. National Building Museum with a marvelous tactile exhibit; Rodin Sculpture Garden, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Freer Gallery of Art, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Library of Congress, the Folger Shakespeare Library and Statuary Hall in the US Capital.

(2) SAN FRANCISCO AND NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. — June, 2000.

(3) NEW MEXICO: ALBUQUERQUE AND SANTA FE — September, 2000.

(4) THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS: SNARING THE SUN AND MADAME PELEE ON MAUI AND THE BIG ISLAND — October 2000.

CAMPANIAN ENTERPRISES TALKING MONUMENTS AND TACTILE PROGRAMS.
In New York City, on November 9th, 1999,  Campanian Enterprises, Inc. will offer the first of its “Talking Monuments and Tactile Programs.” Through the generous support of an anonymous donor, we have received financial support for initial start-up costs for these programs which will be held in various cities throughout the country: New York, Washington, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Honolulu and Cincinnati and Columbus (OH). These one-day programs will offer special guided educational tactile tours of important monuments, sites and art collections often inaccessible to blind and visually impaired persons. It is hoped that these “Talking Monuments and Tactile Programs” will become a regular occurrence and provide an important venue for blind and visually impaired persons to enjoy and to appreciate the rich array of resources available in their own cities. Announcements of these programs will appear in Optical Dimensions and will also be placed on our
Website: http://www.campanian.org
 
“TALKING MONUMENTS AND TACTILE PROGRAM IN NEW YORK CITY.” Tuesday,
November 9, 1999.
On this day-program, we will visit Federal Hall National Memorial (in the morning) and Trinity Church (in the afternoon) in the Wall Street District of Lower Manhattan. In the 18th century, Federal Hall (located at the corner of Wall Street and Nassau Street) was the vital center of New York’s greatest events, including the inauguration of President George Washington on April 30th, 1789. This building is modeled after the Pantheon in Rome; on the steps is the Statue of Washington, sculpted and erected in 1883 by John Quincy Adams Ward. Inside the rotunda are displays of New York City when the city was the nation’s capital in 1789, memorabilia from Washington’s inauguration (including the stone on
which he took the oath of office) and exhibits related to the history of the building itself. In the afternoon, we will visit Trinity Church (at the head of Wall Street on Broadway). Once the loftiest building in the area (with its tower surmounted by an octagonal spire 280 feet high), this church is now overshadowed by gigantic office buildings. Designed in the Gothic Revival style by Richard Upjohn (one of the most famous architect of his time), Trinity Church boasts a set of doors, modeled after the famous Ghilberti doors on the baptistery of the cathedral of Florence. During our tour of the adjoining cemetery we will encounter some of the parish’s distinguished luminaries: Alexander Hamilton (politician), Robert Fulton (inventor), Captain James (“Don’t Give Up The Ship”), William Bradford, founder of the city’s first newspaper, the Gazette, and John Watts, the earliest champion of the freedom of the press. For Registration Forms and more details about this program, please contact us.

THE BOOK CORNER.

CICERO AND HELEN KELLER: BENEATH THE SURFACE ARE POETRY, MYSTICISM AND INSPIRATION:
Cicero, the great Roman orator wrote in his “Tusculan Disputations” as follows: “When Democritus lost his sight he could not, to be sure, distinguish black from white; but all the same he could distinguish good from bad, just from unjust, honorable from disgraceful, expedient from inexpedient, great from small, and it was permitted him to live happily without seeing changes of color; it was not permissible to do so without true ideas.” Cicero might have written this as truly of Helen Keller.
In 1932, Helen Keller visited the Observation Tower of the Empire State Building. After her visit she wrote: "Perhaps I beheld a brighter prospect than my companions with two good eyes. Anyway, a blind friend gave me the best description I had of the Empire Building until I saw it myself. . . . I will concede that my guides saw a thousand things that escaped me from the top of the Empire Building, but I am not envious. For imagination creates distances and horizons that reach to the end of the world. It is as easy for the mind to think in stars as in cobble-stones. Sightless Milton dreamed visions no one else could see. Radiant with an inward light, he sent forth rays by which mankind behold the realms of Paradise.
"But what of the Empire Building? It was a thrilling experience to be whizzed in a “lift” a quarter of a mile heavenward and to see New York spread out like a marvelous tapestry beneath us. There was the Hudson — more like the flash of a swordblade than a noble river. The little island of Manhattan, set like a jewel in its nest of rainbow waters, stared up into my face, and the solar system circled about my head! Why, I thought, the sun and the stars are suburbs of New York, and I never knew it! I had a sort of wild desire to invest in a bit of real estate on one of the planets. All sense of depression and hard times vanished, I felt like being frivolous with the stars. But that was only for a moment. I am too static to feel quite natural in a Star View cottage on the Milky Way, which must be something of a merry-go-round even on quiet days.
"I was pleasantly surprised to find the Empire Building so poetical. From every one except my blind friend I had received an impression of sordid materialism — the piling up of one steel honeycomb upon another with no real purpose but to satisfy the American craving for the superlative in everything. . . . Well, I see in the Empire Building something else — passionate skill, arduous and fearless idealism,. The tallest building is a victory of imagination. Instead of crouching close to earth like a beast, the spirit of man soars to higher regions, and from this new point of vantage he looks upon the impossible with fortified courage and dreams yet more magnificent enterprises.
"What did I “see and hear” from the Empire Tower? As I stood there ’twixt earth and sky, I saw a romantic structure wrought by human brains and hands that is to the burning eye of the sun a rival luminary. I saw it stand erect and serene in the midst of storm and the tumult of elemental commotion. I heard the hammer of Thor ring when the shaft began to rise upward. I saw the unconquerable steel, the flash of testing flames, the sword-like rivets. I heard the steam drills of pandemonium. I saw countless skilled workers welding together that might symmetry. I looked upon the marvel of frail, yet indomitable hands that lifted the tower to its dominating height. Let cynics and supersensitive souls say what they will about American materialism and machine civilization. Beneath the surface are poetry, mysticism and inspiration that the Empire Building somehow symbolizes. In that giant shaft I see a groping toward beauty and spiritual vision. I am one of those who see and yet believe. (Selections from: The New York Times Magazine, January, 1932).
 
THE MOVIES:
“At First Sight,” rated PG 13 and a little over two hours long, exposes the struggles of a blind man who reclaims his sight. Val Kilmer stars as Virgil, who is a confident blind massage therapist, living comfortably in a small town. He meets and fall in love with Amy (Mira Sorvino), a sharp, overworked architect from the city. Her love for him drives her to find a doctor who believes he can help Virgil get sight back. Virgil’s love for Amy drives him to go into the city and have the operation. The operation is successful but the results are not exactly what everybody had hoped.
“At First Sight” is a movie that focuses on blindness, the struggles and the oppressive ways people related to the blind. Fortunately  this is a movie that can be enjoyed by blind people. The first few minutes start out with no dialogue and I immediately had to put my sight assistant to work. After a number of scene description things settled down. There were only three main characters with distinct voices, which made it pretty easy to follow. The music in this movie was tasteful, enjoyable and only once was a bit of a deterrent. The picture moved as a reasonable pace with very few abrupt scene changes. There were a couple of romantic scenes with no dialogue as well as a few scenes with some quick flashes when Virgil was having shifts in his vision. (Reprinted from “Movie Reviews” in Dialogue, 38.2 [Summer] 1999).
 
REFLECTIONS ON BLINDNESS AS PORTRAYED IN MOVIES (by Marty Klein, Tallahassee, FL.).
In “At First Sight” ... the main character was portrayed as a confident, intelligent blind man, secure in his ability to get around independently and gifted in his work as a massage therapist. His sister was his
self-appointed, unofficial caretaker, buying him food and clothes whenever she thought he needed them and basically watching out for him whether he wanted her to or not. Some blind people may have been offended by the relationship between the brother and sister, but I thought that movie exposed the care-taking role of the sister as clearly irrational and overprotective. Later in the movie the relationship becomes healthier and less co-dependent.
The reality is that these types of irrational caretaking relationship do exist, probably more than some of us would like to admit. It’s also true that the stereotype of the helpless blind person still exists, epulsing
those of us who have worked so hard at erasing that ancient image. Those of us who have chosen a lifestyle that is a direct contradiction to that obsolete perception are very proud of how independently and self-sufficient we have become. Some blind people though, from my point of view, have gotten a little rigid with their decision to never ask for any help. I understand that when you ask for help you take the chance of being mistakenly seen as being needy or helpless. Once again the reality of our situation is that we cannot see. . . .
It’s also quite useful to learn the skill of receiving help graciously when it’s offered. “Thanks” is not a curse word. There may always be rigid people with sight who refuse to give up the ancient stereotype they have of people who do not have sight. Nevertheless, if we refuse to acknowledge our limits and stubbornly hold onto an image of needing to prove out total independence, I think we than might be living out an attitude of rigidity that closely resembles that kind of attitudes of those with whom we are so furious. Any by the way, asking for help on occasion does not mean that you are helpless in any way, and asking to have a need satisfied every now and then does not make a person needy. Every human being needs assistance from others every now and then, whether they have a disability or not. (Reprinted in part from Dialogue, 38.2 [Summer] 1999).
 
SPECIAL INFORMATION AND RESOURCES:

BLIND-TRAVEL LIST (blind-travel Blindness-related travel issues and recommendations)
This blind-travel list is welcome resource for sharing and posting information about travel opportunities, discussion of books on travel, local travel information and resources. Please join this list and contribute to its success. The list owner is Lisa Carmelle; her e-mail address is: lcarmelle@NTWRKS.COM

The following subscription information gives details about how to join and participate in BLIND-TRAVEL list: Write to listserv@softcon.com
In the body of the text write: subscribe blind-travel First name Last name. You will receive a confirmation message and you only have to reply with ok in the text only.  Provided your mail program is a standardized one you should be able to just hit the reply to the confirmation message and make sure there is no quoted text but include only "ok" without the quotes. Please feel free to share information about BLIND-TRAVEL with your friends and colleagues.
 
TRAVEL MAGAZINE:
A quarterly publication available in Braille and standard two-track cassette. Annual subscription: S32.95. For a sample copy, please send $1.00 for cassette and $5.00 for Braille to: Travel Magazine, PO Box 24236, Cincinnati, OH 45224.

BRIEF HISTORY LESSONS:
The month of September witnessed the birth of several important Roman emperors. On September 18th, Trajan was born at Italica in Spain. He was emperor from 98 AD until his death in 117 AD. Hailed officially and unofficially as optimus princeps, “the best of princes.” he won the respect and devotion of his contemporaries. Both Pliny the Younger (the famous letter writer and witness of the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD) and Tacitus (the greatest of the Roman historians), served under him as Roman officials and praised his abilities and rule. The column which Trajan raised in his Forum to celebrate his Dacian victories and which eventually contained his ashes still stands as a memorial to the period of New Freedom established by his reign. On September 23rd, Augustus was came into the world. Born Gaius Octavius and later adopted by Julius Caesar in his will, he became Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus. Caesar was his great-uncle. The title Augustus was conferred upon him in 27 BC
after he had become sole rule and established his Principate. Augustus his regarded as the first Roman emperor, but he represented his monarch as a restoration of the Roman Republic. During the reign of Augustus, some of the greatest literature and art of Rome was produced.
October might well be called the month of Vergil, for on October 15th, Italy’s greatest poet was born at Andes near Mantua in 70 BC. Vergil was educated in the Po Valley during his childhood and came to Rome about 55 BC. He was always attached to the cause of Caesar, and he may have served in the campaign which culminated in the defeat of Pompey at Pharsalus in 48 BC. The Eclogues, published about 40 BC, won Vergil immediate acclaim as a poet; but shy and sickly, he retired to the villa of a friend near Maples, and the rest of his life was spent, for the most part, in that area. It was at Naples that he wrote and published The Georgics (about 30 BC), a poem about farming but whose real subject is politics and good government: from the fields and farms of Italy came Rome’s greatest leaders; Cincinnatus, Caesar and Augustus — great farmer-statesmen. In was also in the Naples area that Vergil wrote the Aeneid, his most momentous literary undertaking, a poem which he requested to be burned at his death because he was unhappy with it. Fortunately his contemporaries published the Aeneid and it stands today was one of the great literary achievements of Western Civilization.

DESCRIBED VIDEO.
Anyone who has tried just to “listen” to a movie knows that there are missing visual gaps that need to be filled in order to maximize the film experience. National Broadcast Reading Services (NBRS), in conjunction with Ontario March of Dimes, is working to remove many of these missing visual gaps for people with visual disabilities through “described videos.” . . . “What closed captioning is to hearing impaired person, described videos are to people who are visually impaired,” says Steve Mueller, an instructor for Audio Vision Canada (AVC). . . . Producing a described video is no easy feat. “A skilled described is someone who enhances the understanding and enjoyment of the movie while not being the principal focus. It takes special communication skills and training to do this,” says Mueller. . . . There is a huge push to provide described programming on the television networks, coming from a potential audience that is nearly 300-per-cent larger than those with hearing disabilities. (Selections reprinted from: Abilities 30 [Summer, 1999] 36).

CAMPANIAN ENTERPRISES, INC. CUSTOMIZED PROGRAMS.
If you are interested in a special program for a small group (4-6 persons) or for larger groups interested in travel, please contact. We are able to provide you with all services to make your travel as easy and pleasurable as possible. If your have any questions or comments, please contact us.

DON’T FORGET TO CELEBRATE ON OCTOBER 15TH ..... THIS IS VERGIL’S BIRTHDAY.