Part 3: Sewing the Seeds--Creating the Kernel Books

Part III:
Plain Talk and Home Truths:
Sewing the Seeds-Creating
the Kernel Books

Editor's Intro to What Color Is the Sun by Kenneth Jernigan

GROWING UP BLIND IN TENNESSEE DURING THE DEPRESSION

Growing Up Blind in Tennessee During the Depression

by Kenneth Jernigan

Competing on Terms of Equality

In 1992, Dr. Jernigan spoke of his own changing attitude about blindness in an article
entitled, "Competing on Terms of Equality" from the Kernel Book The Freedom
Bell. This is what he said:

To Park or Not To Park

In the same year, 1992, he edited As the Twig is Bent. In this volume he spoke
of the need to think of blind children, to plan for their future and to help them (and
blind adults) gain maturity. The "Editor’s Introduction" and his article,
"To Park or Not to Park," contain the following information.

To Park or Not To Park

TO PARK OR NOT TO PARK

by Kenneth Jernigan

As those who have read previous Kernel books know, I have been blind
since birth and grew up on a farm in Tennessee. After attending the state school for the
blind and going to college for undergraduate and graduate degrees, I returned to the
Tennessee School for the Blind for four years as a teacher, hoping not only to teach
something useful to blind youngsters but also (if I could) to serve as a role model and a
stimulus to accomplishment.

Making Hay

In 1993, Dr. Jernigan wrote about "making hay" in a Kernel Book of the same
name. One of the major concerns of the blind (as is true for the rest of the population of
America) is how to earn a little money. In doing this, Dr. Jernigan taught himself an
important lesson-one that would stand him, and the blind students he taught, in good stead
for decades thereafter. Here it is:

Editor's Intro to The Value of Planning

Also in that year, 1993, Dr. Jernigan edited The Journey. In it he talked about
the need to think for tomorrow-the value of planning. His article, entitled "The
Value of Planning" and the "Editor’s Introduction" contain this
information:

The Value of Planning

THE VALUE OF PLANNING
by Kenneth Jernigan

Blind children are as different from each other as sighted children,
but this may not hold for every characteristic. If, for instance, blind children want to
get along and do well, they have to learn to plan. At least I did.

Intro: Toothpaste and Railroad Tracks

In 1995, the Kernel Book is called Toothpaste and Railroad Tracks, and the
article by Dr. Jernigan "Of Toothpaste and Shaving Cream." Here are the
"Editor’s Introduction" and that article: