American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults
Future Reflections Special Issue on Braille NEWS AND MORE
by Janiece Peterson Kent
From the Editor: In 2009 my sister-in-law, Janiece Peterson Kent, composed a set of lyrics about Braille in honor of Louis Braille’s birthday. The melody came from the song “You Gotta Have Heart” from the Broadway musical Damn Yankees. Before she passed away in 2013, Janiece told me the lyrics were mine, to share anywhere I wished. This special issue of Future Reflections feels like the right place. Enjoy!
If you don’t know the tune, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry8CpIg2fvU.
You gotta have Braille;
Louis’ system blazed the trail.
When your eyes don’t work, and print’s not a read,
Then what you need is Braille.
You gotta have dots;
You can read with zero watts;
Two across and either three or four tall,
You’ve got it all with dots.
Two hundred eighty-nine contractions
Promote our speed and fluency;
If it’s calculus or fractions,
There’s Nemeth code for clarity.
You can do great tricks with this matrix!
You gotta have Braille;
Mark CDs and label mail.
You may listen to memoirs or romance,
But if there’s a chance to miss detail,
Then you’ve gotta have Braille.
Other languages too
Use this system tried and true.
With a symbol set of just sixty-three,
Context is key, it’s true.
There’s Braille music by touch;
Every dot conveys so much.
When you learn each note and nuance of Bach,
Chopin or Bloch, it’s touch.
Louis Braille, as a musician,
Conceived the music code as well,
To read and write each composition
With great precision cell by cell.
Harmony, rhythm, and what goes with ‘em!
And we have computer code;
Put your mind in eight-dot mode.
When we’re switching codes, the signs make it clear
So we can shift gears along the road,
And we won’t overload.
[8 rest]
You’ve gotta have Braille,
Different ways to access Braille:
Slates and styli in their various forms,
Braillers in swarms expand the tale.
Notetakers and Braille displays,
Hooked up to internet highways,
Help us carry books—ten volumes or more,
A hymnal or Shakespeare’s plays.
No more floor-to-ceiling storage,
Unless hard-copy is your thing.
Through WebBraille and Bookshare we’ll forage,
For more than ever choice is king.
It can be pivotal if it’s digital.
Such new options as these
End up saving lots of trees.
Still, here’s to Louis for the systems he wrought,
The battles he fought—
He did prevail.
We salute Louis Braille.
Yes you’ve gotta have Braille.