1. I am seeking re-election to a third and final consecutive term on the Board of Publications. Have represented the Board on the Board of Directors Ex-officio and currently represent it on the Internet Oversight Committee. I chair the Fitness Equipment Equity Taskforce, and serve on the Voting Task Force and the Walk Committee for ACB, and on CCLVI's Large Print Committee. I am President of the CCLVI chapter in the New York-New England area, and am a Past President of CCLVI. I was born with no central vision and have been legally blind my entire life. I use a white cane. In New York, I serve on boards and committees, including- the Town of Warwick Board of Ethics, the New York State Independent Living Council's Board, the ADA Compliance Coordinating Committee to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Paratransit Advisory Committee of NYC Transit, a neighborhood Transportation Planning Committee, and, the Community Advisory Board of WNYC Radio, an NPR outlet. Two organizations for which I volunteer have honored me as their "Volunteer of the Year", the Dispute Resolution Center which serves four Hudson Valley counties, and Big Apple Greeter. I am one of ten B.A.G.'s volunteer greeters profiled in its most recent annual report (www.bigapplegreeter.org). My three principal occupations, in order of time invested in each, are; advocacy and community service; as a writer; and, as a non-attorney Third-party Neutral (mediator, arbitrator, hearing officer, administrative law judge). The income derived from each is inversely proportional to the time spent in each!
4. The depth and breadth of my writing experience should be a primary qualifier for continued service on the Board of Publications. There was a long hiatus between the time as an undergraduate and graduate student I was pleasing professors with Grade-A term papers, and the time when I had a one-act play on 42nd Street in 1990. In between I did occasionally create press releases for an amateur theatre group which appeared in a local weekly newspaper. And, I created hundreds of memoranda while a government administrator. In more recent times while a dues-paying member of the union representing produced playwrights, lyricists and composers, The Dramatists Guild, my writing has appeared in THE BRAILLE FORUM, VISION ACCESS, THE BLIND CALIFORNIAN, SHARING SOLUTIONS, and, DIALOGUE which lists me as one of its columnists. In 2000 I was delighted to receive ACB's Annual Writers Award. An additional qualifier, I believe, is my experience over the last four years collaborating with my very able Board of Publications colleagues, refining organization communication policy, clarifying publication direction, solving production practicalities, offering editorial guidance, etc.
5. The Board of Publications is charged with broad responsibility for fair, open, and effective communication within and outward from ACB. ACB's presence on the internet and now venturing into social networking, are compatible with that responsibility. Appropriately, the Board of Publications is already a participant in the administration of the ACB website and ACB Radio. It stays well informed by virtue of the inclusion of the Internet Oversight Committee's Chair as an ex-officio Board member, and the ACB Radio Manager's attendance at Board meetings. And the Board is playing a leading role in the nurturing of ACB's arrival onto Facebook and Twitter. Social networking with exploding popularity worldwide, can become important parts of the organization's communication structure too. The Board will be attentive also though, to trade-offs inherent in the engagement of these novel entities. Rapid communication must be balanced with responsible communication, group connectedness with personal privacy concerns, enhancing the contributions of electronically advanced members while minimizing "Techno-stratification". The Board is well positioned by its institutional role and its ability to reach out to other sectors of the organization, to maximize the benefits of all communication modes for all ACB members. As we step carefully into social networking, there is much to learn from the outside world as it bumps up against realities like commercial marketing exploitation, governmental regulatory experimentation, and, monopolistic provider whims.